Before the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars fans were treated to another heart-wrenching duel between Darth Vader and someone he once cared about. In Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka Tano crosses lightsabers with her former Jedi mentor, Anakin Skywalker — or what’s left of him anyway. When Star Wars: The Clone Wars ended its original run, Ahsoka sees Anakin for the last time when she walks away from the Jedi Order.
Anakin, the only Jedi who truly stood by Ahsoka’s side when she was framed for the bombing of the Jedi Temple, pleads with her to reconsider. But Ahsoka feels too betrayed by the Jedi Council. They tossed her aside without a second thought, and then failed to recognize their mistakes. Ahsoka’s abrupt departure deepens Anakin’s resentment toward the Jedi Council, which comes to a head in Revenge of the Sith. As Clone Wars fans know, Anakin and Ahsoka’s relationship is one of the most compelling in all of Star Wars, which makes their inevitable face-off years later all the more searing.
Does Ahsoka Ever Meet Darth Vader?
In the Season 2 premiere of Star Wars Rebels, Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, who survived Order 66 and joined Hera Syndulla’s rebel cause, fights Darth Vader. Padawan Ezra Bridger joins the battle alongside Kanan. Later, Kanan and Ahsoka sense that the Force is strong with the pilot of a TIE fighter that’s attacking them. When they try to learn more about the pilot by tapping into the Force, Ezra realizes the pilot is the Sith Lord he and Kanan fought earlier. Meanwhile, Ahsoka learns something that terrifies her. She senses Anakin when she reaches out to the pilot — and Vader realizes that Ahsoka, his former Padawan, lives on.
In Season 2, Episode 18, “Shroud of Darkness,” Ahsoka’s guilt manifests as a vision of Anakin, who’s angry with her for leaving him all those years ago. Heartbroken, Ahsoka realizes — or maybe fully accepts — that her former friend and teacher has suffered a fate worse than death, and that Anakin is, in fact, Darth Vader.
But Ahsoka finally meets Darth Vader face-to-face in the Season 2 finale. In the two-part episode, “Twilight of the Apprentice,” Ahsoka accompanies Kanan and Ezra on a journey to Malachor. It’s said that Jedi avoided the once off-limits planet: not only is there a prominent Sith Temple on Malachor, but it was also the site of a brutal battle between the ancient Jedi and Sith.
Still, the three visit in order to learn more about their enemies. For Kanan and Ezra, that means the Inquisitors — mysterious, Force-sensitive dark side agents who serve the Sith-ruled Galactic Empire and hunt down the Jedi who survived Order 66 and the purge. Ahsoka clarifies that the real enemy they’re learning about is the Sith; after all, the Inquisitors answer to Darth Vader and his master, Darth Sidious, who created the Inquisitorius Program.
Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka venture into the Sith Temple, only to find themselves dealing with several threats. The Inquisitor known as the Eighth Brother attacks the trio, and Ezra, split up from the others, meets Maul, who’s also seeking knowledge of the Sith. To advance through the Sith Temple, Maul encourages Ezra to harness his anger at the Empire and the Sith, even though such an approach is forbidden by the Jedi. Eventually, they reach the Sith Holocron — a device capable of storing knowledge — at the temple’s center, and Ezra helps Maul take it.
Ahsoka Vs. Darth Vader
When Ezra and Maul meet up with Kanan and Ahsoka, the unlikely foursome band together to fight off the Inquisitors — the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister have come to aidthe Eighth Brother. After the Inquisitors are taken care of, Kanan duels Maul, upset that the former Sith tried to tempt his Jedi apprentice. That’s when Darth Vader himself arrives on Malachor, eager to procure the Holocron for his master.
Vader threatens Ezra, but Ahsoka intervenes. She can’t quite believe that her former master could become as treacherous as Vader, but the Sith Lord assures her that Anakin Skywalker was weak, and that he destroyed the Jedi Knight. When Vader chides Ahsoka, telling her revenge isn’t the Jedi way, she assures him that she isn’t a Jedi anymore.
To keep the Holocron (and ancient Sith knowledge) out of Darth Vader’s hands, Ezra and Kanan remove it from the temple’s obelisk, causing the temple itself to crumble around them. Vader and Ahsoka trade lightsaber strikes, until Vader knocks his former Padawan off the edge of the temple wall and into a chasm. The Sith Lord pursues Ezra and Kanan, attempting to pull the Holocron away from them with the Force. Ahsoka reappears, knocking away Vader’s lightsaber and destroying the right half of his mask.
With the voice filter malfunctioning, Vader — in Anakin’s voice — says Ahsoka’s name. With Vader’s mask seared and broken, Ahsoka can see the scarred face of her former teacher and friend. Her anger quickly dissolves into compassion, and she promises Anakin that she won’t leave him, “Not this time.” As the temple continues to fold in on itself, Vader reignites his lightsaber and warns Ahsoka, “Then you will die.”
What Was Anakin and Ahsoka's Relationship In the Past?
During a battle with the Separatists on Christophsis, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker find themselves outnumbered. When a Republic shuttle arrives with an important delivery, Anakin is shocked to discover it’s not additional troops, but a young Padawan, Ahsoka Tano. Insisting that Master Yoda sent her to be Anakin’s Padawan, Ahsoka joins the battle. Anakin doesn’t necessarily want to be tethered to a Padawan learner, especially given his impulsive style. But, as fate would have it, Ahsoka is a bit reckless, too.
Although it takes some time, “Snips” and “SkyGuy” warm up to each other, discovering they have more in common than they thought — and much to learn from one another. As time passes, they’re more than mentor and teacher, but closesfriends. Their dynamic is reminiscent of siblings — full of banter and eye rolls, but also love and trust.
After all, the Jedi Order, which frowns on personal attachments, ends up providing a kind of found family for its acolytes. The strength of Anakin and Ahsoka’s relationship is one of the most unexpected and beautiful aspects of the series. But, like all doomed relationships, it’s also tinged with tragedy. Viewers know what’s coming, and, in the end, Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader irreparably fractures their bond.
When Did Ahsoka See Anakin For the Last Time?
Technically, Ahsoka sees a glimpse of Anakin Skywalker for the last time in that episode of Rebels, “Twilight of the Apprentice,” but it’s incredibly fleeting. The last time Anakin and Ahsoka see each other properly — before Anakin becomes Darth Vader, that is — is in the seventh season of The Clone Wars. Released in 2020, the 12-episode season finally wraps up the canceled-too-soon show, which ended in an unresolved manner about years earlier.
With the end of the Clone Wars in sight, Anakin and Obi-Wan are tasked with rescuing Chancellor Palpatine from Separatist leaders Count Dooku and General Grievous. Meanwhile, Ahsoka is pulled into the fray because they need someone to lead an unsanctioned battalion on Mandalore. The goal is to capture the Darksaber-wielding Maul, and help the Mandalorians reclaim their planet. Before the former master and Padawan go their separate ways, Anakin presents Ahsoka with a gift: her lightsabers. However, he’s made some modifications. When she ignites them, they’re blue — like Anakin and Obi-Wan’s weapons — instead of green.
Anakin tells his friend that with any luck the war will be over soon. Ahsoka, always ready with a witty remark, says, “Master Kenobi always says there’s no such thing as luck.” Anakin and Ahsoka have always shared a reckless streak, and put their intuition and sense of justice above all else. That's what makes it both so fitting and so devastating when Anakin replies, “Good thing I taught you otherwise.”