The Rise of Skywalker left lots of questions unanswered, and even after the novelization filled in some canon and background details, there's still plenty we still don't know. But in another corner of the Star Wars franchise, the galaxy's most influential storyteller could be working on a clever retcon that uses one beloved character to change the way we think about Star Wars: Episode IX.
With Ahsoka Tano fresh on everyone's mind after the excellent Clone Wars series finale, and her character set to make a live-action debut in Mandalorian Season 2, old Snips has never been more integral to Star Wars. So, assuming she's still alive during The Rise of Skywalker, why wouldn't she be playing an integral role offscreen? (Kinda like how Clone Wars injected her into the story of Revenge of the Sith.)
Now, a new theory uses Clone Wars's most mysterious arc to explain why Ahsoka might be destined to play an even larger role in the events of Rise of Skywalker.
Reddit user Master_of_serpents used the Mortis arc to explain why Ahsoka could now be living with supernatural powers granted to her by the Force, allowing her to intervene with events while remaining off-screen, possibly even during The Rise of Skywalker.
The Mortis arc of The Clone Wars finds Ahsoka and Anakin on the planet of Mortis, home to three god-like figures representing the Force: the Father, the Son, and the Daughter. The Daughter represented the Light Side of the Force and assisted Ahsoka and Anakin as they tried to keep the Son (the Dark side) from murdering the Father (balance).
However, this didn't work out exactly as planned. The Son zapped the Life Force out of Ahsoka and attempted to stab the Father, and the Daughter stepped in at the last second and took the hit. She died, but her leftover Life Force was transferred to Ahsoka, reviving her.
Later, in Rebels, an owl-like convor called Morai assists Ahsoka. It's heavily implied she's either a servant of the Daughter or perhaps even a manifestation of the dead god. She can also be seen flying around during the Clone Wars finale. There seems to be a part of the Daughter inside Ahsoka that she's either unaware of or unable to access.
However, if Ahsoka ever figured how to access the powers given to her by this exchange, she could gain incredible powers and use them to influence the balance of Light side and Dark side well into the sequel trilogy. Perhaps she was the one who was influencing Ben Solo to balance all his Dark side influences. This would be interesting as she was trained by Kylo's grandfather, but not the grandfather Kylo idolizes, the Anakin who basically raised her. Maybe she was even at the Battle of Exegol, just working behind the scenes to defeat Palpatine.
Ahsoka's status as a former Jedi would also fit with this theory. When you hold the spirit of basically the God figure of the Light Side of the Force, there's no real need to conform to the council of people who control how that Force is used.
Finally, it contributes to how Ahsoka could be portrayed in Mandalorian Season 2, which is all-but-confirmed at this point. An all-powerful Ahsoka would not only be able to help Mando and Baby Yoda, but would be able to sense the danger they're in and pose a major threat to Moff Gideon, even with the darksaber.
As a fan-favorite character, Ahsoka's absence from the live-action films was always unfortunate, so it's comforting to know she could have been a major part of the story, just not visible to the audience.
