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The most heartbreaking Tales of the Jedi line will destroy you

By Meg Dowell

A decade before the Clone Wars, Aurra Sing found herself on Tatooine, where she witnessed the podrace known as the Boonta Eve Classic – won, to her surprise, by a young human slave named Anakin Skywalker. Courtesy StarWars.com
A decade before the Clone Wars, Aurra Sing found herself on Tatooine, where she witnessed the podrace known as the Boonta Eve Classic – won, to her surprise, by a young human slave named Anakin Skywalker. Courtesy StarWars.com /
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In Episode 5 of Tales of the Jedi, unsatisfied with the test Ahsoka is given to assess the progress of her lightsaber training, Anakin Skywalker decides to put together an exercise that will truly test his padawan’s skills.

Standing in front of a group of clone troopers with their blasters set to stun, Ahsoka is instructed to deflect the shots with her weapon. When she is stunned, as soon as she wakes up, she is expected to try again. And again. And again.

In explaining why the test matters, Anakin speaks a line that might haunt you if Tales of the Jedi isn’t your first dive into Star Wars animation.

“The best way I can protect you is to teach you how to protect yourself.”

It’s not the line itself that hurts the most. It’s the moment you realize Anakin’s unique training technique — having Ahsoka defend herself against a group of clone troopers — is the reason she survived Order 66. By defending herself against a group of clone troopers.

The final episodes of The Clone Wars Season 7 show the intense and immediate aftermath of Order 66 as Ahsoka and her starcruiser full of clones travels through space to transport Maul back to Coruscant.

As the clones begin to fire on her with the intent to eliminate her as ordered, she deflects shot after shot, managing to escape before the blasterfire becomes too overwhelming.

It’s quite possible she would not have lived through the ordeal if her former master hadn’t unknowingly prepared her for it.

So even though Anakin tragically turned to the dark side, and this is the trigger that eventually set off Order 66, his former apprentice survived because he was a good teacher, and would have been an even greater mentor if it weren’t for his fall.

Just when you thought Star Wars animation couldn’t possibly hurt you more … well, there you have it.

All episodes of Tales of the Jedi are now streaming exclusively on Disney+.

Next. Let’s talk about Tales of the Jedi and the Ahsoka novel. dark

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