#master & apprentice series

[causalityparadoxes]

The Moon and the President's Wife // BOOM

Bonus:

[lightwise]

THEY REFLECT EACH OTHER

[rancidsugar]

[providence-park]

AHSOKA - Part One - MASTER AND APPRENTICE

[inthedarktrees]

SHIN HATI & SABINE WREN

“Master and Apprentice” | Ahsoka

[mylordshesacactus]

God though the fight choreography in Ahsoka really is next fucking level.

Like. Every so often I think fondly about the lightsaber duels in the OT because, bluntly, there weren't lightsaber duels in the OT. There were a handful of scenes in which two characters who didn't like each other much both happened to be holding lightsabers, and on some occasions they tapped the lightsabers together to make very satisfying noises. But we've now come far enough in the star war that we're getting detailed attention to genuine fighting styles, and fighting styles as character essays in themselves.

I just love it.

This show does SO MUCH characterization through physicality in combat; there's a whole meta-dialogue happening just through the portrayal of lightsaber forms and it has SO MUCH heavy lifting to do and does it WELL.

Like, for example, all the little character details that have to be PERFECT in the first two confrontations. I'm just gonna do the tower fight at the moment because the forest battle is its own whole thing and the wolfwren meetcute tower fight illustrates it just fine on its own.

Things that had to be established with little to no exposition in those two fights:

Sabine and Shin are pretty much equals, overall, in combat; BUT

Shin has her VASTLY outmatched as a duellist specifically, because she's been training in solely lightsaber combat more intensely and for longer; BUT

Shin doesn't KNOW that, because she's never fought Sabine before and all she knows is that she's facing an unfamiliar opponent who was Jedi-trained; AND

Sabine DOES know she's outmatched in this fight--she's unarmored, not a small deal for a Mandalorian, and armed only with a lightsaber that while she has trained with it pretty extensively she explicitly hasn't touched in years; BUT

Sabine is ALSO, separately, a highly skilled martial artist and hand-to-hand fighter even with the disadvantage of not being in armor. She's not a pushover or a flailing idiot.

Like it's obvious before Shin even draws that Sabine is not going to win this fight--and Sabine at least is visibly aware of it.

It's clear from their stances alone. Sabine stands and moves like a novice--not untrained, mind, but a novice. She's very cautious, very aware of her footwork, and while that's a good ready position it's extremely hesitant, she's not comfortable in it. She wastes more movement. Shin on the other hand is solid, confident, and grounded.

But not arrogant. Sabine is moving like someone with experience in combat, and Shin doesn't know her or her abilities, so she doesn't rush in at the first sign of weakness. Shin might be more immediately confident with saber combat, but she is also proceeding with extreme caution.

She lets Sabine come to her, ceding the first move in favor of giving herself a chance to read her opponent before committing to anything. And when they do start exchanging blows:

Don't get me wrong--Sabine is NOT a flailing idiot, for all this specific shot makes it look like she's leaving herself open. She's just....not fluid with her lightsaber. She drops her guard when she runs, because running with a plasma sword without burning yourself is actually extremely difficult and she's keeping that thing away from her body while moving at speed.

Her strikes are decent, but her technique is sloppy and she wastes movement--again, not in a way that suggests she doesn't know what she's doing, but in a way that highlights the gap between knowing what a technique is supposed to look like and actually being able to pull it off in a live-combat scenario.

Shin, meanwhile, is fluid, deliberate, efficient, fully in control of every movement--but, frankly, she mostly looks like an impressive threat in this fight because it's an apprentice-level skirmish between two evenly-matched opponents, and Sabine is at a stark disadvantage.

Don't get me wrong, Shin's doing very well--but in a way that highlights her main strength as being extremely solid on her fundamentals. None of these are high-level moves, almost all of them would show up in a youngling kata, and the few that wouldn't are mostly flair like this dramatic-ass battle pose.

We do see some signals that Shin's saber training is at a meaningfully higher level than Sabine's, though--she's had time to develop some of her own technique! I love the way she uses her cape as a combat asset; that's not something Baylan would have taught her, he doesn't have her highly-mobile fighting style (to put it lightly) and it feels just practical enough.

So they feel like viable rivals, Shin feels like a viable threat, and there's still a visceral awareness in the kind of choreography they're given that if Sabine fought Baylan, or Shin tried to 1v1 Ahsoka, they would not last ten goddamn seconds.

[lenaskzorel]

realized i haven't posted this shin & baylan sketch i did few weeks ago... just a wholesome father&daughter moment 😊

[moodboards-aesthetics]

Qui-Gon Jinn aka The Maverick

[itsjayro]

What if a reason why Sabine wanted to be trained by Ahsoka to be a Jedi is because she saw the strong, beautiful & unbreakable relationship between master (Kanan) and apprentice (Ezra)

After all she’s been through, after all she’s lost. She thinks maybe she could have that with Ahsoka. And if she has that bond with Ahsoka maybe in a way she has a part of Kanan & Ezra with her! 😭

[roguegona]

Okay, theory time, so grab your tinfoil hats, folks.

My theory as to why Ahsoka and Sabine had their falling out is because of the Mandalorian Purge. And here are my reasons:

"I go where I'm needed." "Not always." Those 2 simple words spoken by Sabine were dripping with unresolved hurt. She's still carrying around a personal grudge toward Ahsoka for abandoning her in what was likely her (and her people's) greatest time of need. My theory is that Sabine begged Ahsoka to help and Ahsoka refused, presumably because she knew there was nothing they could do.

She's no longer wearing her armor when we first see her. Initially, we all assumed it was because the war was over and she didn't need it anymore (and she was mourning Ezra). But I don't think that's it. Sabine is a Mandalorian through and through--she was damn proud of that armor, which had been handed down through her family for generations. For her to take it off and essentially shun her heritage, speaks volumes. I think the fact that she was able to help save Lothal but not Mandalore (and her family) damn near destroyed her. She took the armor off and shirked her identity as a Mandalorian as a way of mourning the genocide of her people. The scene where she lays it out, piece by piece, has an almost reverent, mournful tint to it. Like it's this great weight she's once again picking up and choosing to shoulder. I wouldn't put it past her to think that she's the only one left, and that it's now her responsibility to carry on the traditions. Ahsoka and Sabine weren't ready to truly become Master and Apprentice during the Rebellion. But now they carry around a shared hurt--both have seen their people slaughtered to almost extinction. And I think at some point, they're going to confront this shared reality and it'll be the thing that really binds them together.

[marvelstars]

I can go anywhere I want just not home: Ahsoka and Anakin

So my favourite part of the chapter was the way the actual ages of Ahsoka and Anakin played a part in their interaction, Ahsoka tells Anakin that he looks the same and Anakin answered that she looks old, which is true, Ahsoka is close to aging beyond Anakin´s age of death at 46 and while Anakin "looks" like clone wars Anakin, he isn´t just Anakin, this is post ROTJ Anakin, someone who already lived 23 years in the light and 23 years in the darkness, he is Vader, he is Anakin, he isn´t young at all and he is living in a whole other level in the force compared to the one Ahsoka lives, because she is still alive.

In fact the first question Anakin ask Ahsoka is if she still remembers Baylan Skoll, because that means she is still alive, she can still come back, "That´s good" he says.

I love how adult Ahsoka automatically reverts to her teenager personality when she noticed Anakin, she smiles, her eyes bright up, she makes jokes and teases Anakin just like in the good old times, because she missed him so much, in many ways he is her home and if he wasn´t there anymore she could not return home, as simple as that, she could not act as if Vader was Anakin, he was a broken version of her master, consumed by darkness, she probably was happy to hear from Luke Anakin died in the light but he was dead and she didn´t get the chance to say goobye but THIS, this is her brother/father, he is back, he looks the same, she can lower her guard, smile and tease because he is here to take care of things like he used to do when she was a child.

She only gets serious when Anakin isn´t automatically teasing her as well, when he says he needs to teach her one more thing, when he gets serious, then Ahsoka remembers Anakin isn´t just Anakin anymore, she knows him but he´s grown into someone she doesn´t know anymore either.

So Anakin begins by teasing her back, putting her at ease and then, he sends her to the heart of what´s bothering her, the clone wars. In many ways, she is still that child fighting over and over again, she no longer has a particular reason to keep fighting and she is tired. It´s such a good contrarts how while adult Ahsoka is teasing with Anakin, child Ahsoka is grumpy, she complains, she questions, she asks, just like she did in the past, this child is adult Ahsoka allowing herself to be a child again, to not have all the anwers and to complain to Anakin to give her a reason to keep fighting and explain why does it matter anymore. She could not do this with Hera and Sabine because Hera is her friend but they are not that close and she is also her superior in the alliance and Sabine depends on her to make the decisions and guide her but Anakin? He is family, she can complain all day long knowing he will try at least to listen to her and try to guide her to the best of his hability and this isn´t teenager Anakin either, this is post Vader Anakin so she knows she can get snippy, angry, mad and hostile with him all she wants, she has all the right to be and he will take it.

Anakin doesn´t just listens anymore, he counsels but he also pushes her into talking about what she doesnt want to talk about

"Do you really want a padawan?" "Being a teacher isn´t all that"

Low key Anakin is giving her the freedom of not being a teacher if she doesn´t want to be, Ahsoka looks at him affronted but it´s true, she accepted Sabine because Hera wanted her to and Sabine wanted her to but she herself isn´t sure she wants a padawan, in fact she already abandoned Sabine once, what is keeping her from doing the same again? and part of the reason she doesn´t know the answer is that she wants to be able to give Sabine or any other padawan something more than war, death and the training to be a warrior as a legacy but she is convinced there isn´t anything else she can give, because emotionally she is still that little girl forced to fight in a war, mourning for each death, mourning for her master fall and she believes that´s all she is ever going to be in the future. She fears her master fate because she believes that is going to be her fate too.

So Anakin, Vaderkin, tries to explain she has to adapt to the times, his master teached him to be a guardian of peace because that´s what he was, Anakin teached her how to be a soldier because they were fighting in a war and she would have died if he didn´t teach her how to survive war but this doesn´t mean she can´t adapt to the times she and her padawan are living and this is precisely what Ahsoka is refusing to do, she is stil in mourning so she can´t enjoy her present.

Anakin tells her she is more and even if she believes she can´t because she has his teachings in her, she is more because he also is way more than Vader.

So when Ahsoka answers him "you are more but more dangerous and powerful than anybody thoguht" and if that´s what he is, then what hope is there for her if she has inside herself his legacy, his teachings?

Is this what this is about? I gave you a choice live or die

Here Anakin gets mad because she isn´t understanding, she has his legacy but she isn´t him, his fall, his redemption, his good and his bad side are his own, not hers and in time she will have to make her own decisions, adapt, grow and teach her padawan what she had learned, they are the legacy of previous masters but they are also MORE, they are also what each one of them adds to that legacy.

So Anakin brings his other half, Vader, to teach her and test her with the same lesson Anakin learned along with Luke, his Son, you are more, you make your own choices and you can choose again and again and that´s what defines you, only you can define yourself, not others. He pushes Ahsoka with Vader´s persona to defy her to live once again but he also pushes her by showing her , her deepest fear, her falling, her becoming a darksider and he gives her an ultimatum, kill him and die herself, not just physically but the light inside of her, or live and stay in the light.

Ahsoka chooses the light and lets her lightsabers fall, just like Luke did, her lightsabers are no longer her life, she is more than war, she is more than just a warrior fighting in an eternal war but more than that, she is still herself and it´s her choice if she wants to stay being herself or die and fall.

Anakin reverts back from Vader to himself again, proud of her, happy with her choice, he reverts to show her how if he, who was in darkness for so many years, buried and dead inside could still come back, then there´s so much hope for her to make her life anew by not letting her past or her lightsabers define her anymore and this is symbolized with her being taken away from the water towards safety.

In the end, he didn´t just wanted to teach her how to live physically again or how to leave behind her past, enjoy her present and enjoy life, he also wanted her to learn she must live by not falling to the darkness and even if she falls, there´s "Hope for her still" because there was also hope for him as well and now Ahsoka can remember him without mourning, without regret.

Just so many great interactions between them. Loved this chapter. Hope we see what other scenes Anakin is going to have because this story isn´t done yet.

PD: Post ROTJ dead Anakin is so relaxed, happy and vibing, love it, honestly, good for him.

[dtrizz94-blog]

Master, and Apprentice

[fulcrum-art-fox]

Oh god the amount of trust and faith in Shin’s eyes when she looks at Baylan in the first few episodes is so goddamn heartbreaking when you compare it to the wordless gaze she gives him after he bails and sends her away. Just, the amount of pain and rejection and hurt. Not a new statement by any means but the amount of emotion the actress gets into Shin’s staring, just her eyes, with no dialogue, is just amazing

[podsn]

Savior

Okay so I saw this theory somewhere that Shin was an infant during order 66 and Baylan rescued her so now I’m rolling with it cuz I’m a sucker for this shit 🤧 idc if the theory doesn’t add up age wise let me have fun

[inthedarktrees]

SHIN HATI

“Master and Apprentice” | Ahsoka

[snowyhobbit]

I'm so happy for Ahsoka because she's finally go what she's been craving for years: closure.

Whilst she had (presumably) heard about Anakin's redemption in his final moments from Luke, it didn't do anything to heal her own residual trauma from that relationship. Arguably, Ahsoka and Anakin have a lot more history than he had with Luke and yet Luke got that feeling of closure whilst simultaneously denying it to Ahsoka. She had to move forward knowing that the last memory she has of her former master is him trying to kill her on Malachor.

This damages most of her relationships going forward as she tries to reconcile with the idea that Anakins legacy is death and destruction. It's why she pushes Sabine away and refuses to train Grogu - she's terrified of one day being in Obi-Wan's position having to face a padawan who has fallen into darkness.

But now Anakin has finally shown Ahsoka that his legacy isn't just fighting for the sake of fighting - it's choosing to live, choosing the light and finding balance between what you want to hold onto from the past and what you want to carry with you in the future.

In the closing moments of the episode, it just seems as though Ahsoka has had a weight lifted from her shoulders and she can finally properly heal from her past.