Ahsoka episode 5, “Shadow Warrior,” brings viewers back in time to one of the most critical battles of the Clone Wars. In the episode, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) speaks to Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) in the World Between Worlds, where her former Jedi master says he wants to finish her training. That “training” takes the form of a test as Anakin brings Ahsoka back to her time as a padawan when she fought alongside him in the Clone Wars. In doing so, we see a few critical moments of the war that were previously captured in animation in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. However, we also see a few things from a new perspective, including just how young Ahsoka was when she fought as a soldier, and how Anakin’s training methods and ideals were a bit extreme even back then.
Eventually, Anakin brings Ahsoka to a battle that he’s not familiar with. This is the Siege of Mandalore, which occurred at the tale end of the Clone Wars. Anakin wasn’t there because he was at the Battle of Coruscant, as seen in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Fortunately, Ahsoka was not completely alone in the battle as she had the aid of Captain Rex and his 501st Clone Battalion. While Ahsoka only shows brief moments of the Siege of Mandalore in live action, the battle was crucial to Ahsoka’s development—and the Star Wars universe as a whole.
What happened during the Siege of Mandalore?
The Siege of Mandalore stemmed from Darth Maul’s (Sam Witwer) interference on the planet of Mandalore. During the Clone Wars, the neutral planet was suffering from internal conflict as Duchess Satine Kryze (Anna Graves) attempted to lead the planet into an era of peace but faced opposition from those who wanted to return to their peoples’ martial history. The opposition to Satine was primarily led by the terrorist faction Death Watch, which Maul allied with to gain control of Mandalore. Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) later formed a resistance within Death Watch to oppose Maul, and he was temporarily defeated.
However, Maul soon returned to lay siege to Mandalore once more. This time, his intentions were to lure Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi to the planet to seek revenge following the events of The Phantom Menace. At this point, Ahsoka had left the Jedi Order and was subsequently recruited by Bo-Katan to help fight Maul. As Maul predicted, Bo-Katan and Ahsoka reached out to the Republic for aid to combat Maul’s siege. Since Anakin and Obi-Wan were preoccupied, Captain Rex and part of the 501st Clone Battalion were sent in their place to aid Ahsoka.
Together, Rex and Ahsoka commanded the Battalion and managed to defeat and capture Maul. Given the success, the Siege of Mandalore should’ve been a significant victory for the Republic. Instead, it ended up being one of the darkest battles of the Clone Wars: While Ahsoka was fighting on Mandalore, Anakin was turning to the dark side. She even learns of the plan for Anakin to become Palpatine’s apprentice from Maul himself before their final duel, but she refuses to believe it. Unfortunately, while she and Rex are transporting Maul off of Mandalore after his defeat, Order 66 is carried out.
All of which is to say that the Siege of Mandalore is very important in Star Wars. As one of the final battles of the Clone Wars, it sent Mandalore back into civil war, eventually leading to the Purge of Mandalore. It’s not just monumental for its important place in the Star Wars timeline but also because it was one of the most defining moments of Ahsoka’s life. At this point, Ahsoka was disillusioned by the Jedi Order but ultimately chose to become her own hero during the Siege of Mandalore. It also marked her departure from Anakin Skywalker, and the beginning of forging a separate path from her former master to become the person we see in Ahsoka.
(featured image: Disney+)
