History Recap / AhsokaS1E5Chapter5ShadowWarrior

* FountainOfYouth: A variation when Ahoska and Anakin travel back through their "greatest hits" together from the Clone Wars. Ahsoka is aged down to her 14-year-old self when reliving the battle of Ryloth before aging up slightly to 17 during the Siege of Mandalore vision.

* NotNowKiddo: Jacen tries to alert Hera that he senses something about the water. Hera initially brushes Jacen off due to discussing matters with Carson, But as the things he mentions start becoming more and more supernatural, she increasingly begins to listen to him.

* FountainOfYouth: A variation. When traveling back through their "greatest hits" together from the Clone Wars, Ahsoka is aged down to her 14-year-old self when reliving the battle of Ryloth before aging up slightly to 17 during the Siege of Mandalore vision.

** On Ryloth, Ahsoka's younger self reflects on the cost of war and the many lives lost under her command, showing that the events of ''Storm Over Ryloth'' continue to haunt her so many years later. The music also calls back to the series finale of ''The Clone Wars'' to show an event, in particular, she feels guilty about.

** On Ryloth, Ahsoka's younger self reflects on the cost of war and the many lives lost under her command, and the music calls back to the series finale of ''The Clone Wars'' to show an event, in particular, she feels guilty about.

** Anakin himself has been dead for over ten years, but his spirit meets Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds to teach his old Padawan learner one last lesson.

* SignificantWardrobeShift: After being rescued and getting an idea of how to follow Sabine and the Remnants, Ahsoka puts on a white robe and changes the clothes underneath to white. As she had spent so much time lost in one way or another, Ahsoka has finally been purified in demeanor and ideology. It's also reminiscent of the robe she wore in the epilogue scene in ''Rebels'', before it was retconned in this show.

** For that matter, Anakin's willingness to appear both as himself and as Vader within the Force has been seen before in ''Legends'', during an apparition to his descendant Cade Skywalker in ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy''. Likewise, he appeared to be trying to teach Cade a valuable lesson by evoking his harsher persona as Vader, but with less success.

* NotNowKiddo: Jacen tries to alert Hera that he senses something about the water, though she initially brushes him off until he mentions hearing the sound of lightsabers clashing.

* DramaticIrony: Hera asks Huyang what Ahsoka's master (Anakin) was like, presumably not realizing that she and the rest of the ''Ghost'' crew [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsTheSiegeOfLothal encountered him during the Rebllion era]].

* ForgivenButNotForgotten: Ahsoka is certainly glad to see her old master again, especially since he is no longer the Sith Lord who once sought her death, but after Anakin brings up his own better qualities, she reminds him of his dark, dangerous legacy.

* OutOfFocus: Having shared screen time with Ahsoka prior to this episode, Sabine is completely absent, only being mentioned in regards to finding her. This is in part because she's now Morgan and Baylan's prisoner, and the episode is heavily focused on Ahsoka coming to terms with her past. Baylan, Shin, and Morgan are also absent from this episode.

** In the flashback scenes, Anakin's uniform is the same as it was in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]''.

* CerebusRetcon: Ahsoka’s relived experiences on Teth and Ryloth are depicted with more gravitas than the lighter tone of ''The Clone Wars''’s early seasons. Greater emphasis is placed on the chaos of war, the many dead and wounded afterward, and that Ahsoka was trained as a ChildSoldier instead of the diplomatic role Jedi aspire to be.

* AdaptationalModesty: The flashbacks to Teth and Ryloth have Ahsoka wearing a much less revealing outfit than the tube top and skirt she initially wore during the same battles in ''The Clone Wars'', resembling the outfit she wore at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/TalesOfTheJedi'' episode "[[Recap/StarWarsTalesOfTheJediS1E5PracticeMakesPerfect Practice Makes Perfect]]" instead.

* AdaptationalModesty: The flashbacks to Teth and Ryloth have Ahsoka wearing a much less revealing outfit than the tube top and skirt she initially wore during the same battles in ''The Clone Wars'' and resembles the outfit she wore in the ''WesternAnimation/TalesOfTheJedi'' episode "[[Recap/StarWarsTalesOfTheJediS1E5PracticeMakesPerfect Practice Makes Perfect]]" during the beginning of the episode.

* AmbiguousSituation: Was Ahsoka ever in the World Between Worlds? Her being thrown into flashbacks by falling instead of going through a portal and Chopper detecting something before her encounter with Anakin was over seem to imply that it was all a Force induced vision in her mind. With Anakin acting as her SpiritAdvisor.

* MaleMightFemaleFinesse: In their duel, Ahsoka is more agile than Vader, which allows her to dodge several of his strikes and eventually get the upper hand. However, in his fully human incarnation, Vader is quicker than before, no longer being encumbered by his armor and prosthetics, while still able to use his more brutal style of lightsaber combat, as in his duel with Obi-Wan in ''Revenge of The Sith''.

** Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber gaining a red blade, held by him in full Vader mode, gives us what it would have looked like if he was allowed to bleed it himself--unlike what Palpatine forced him to do canonically in ''ComicBook/DarthVaderDarkLordOfTheSith'' (or, as recently shown, how Dagan Gera did it in ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediSurvivor'').
** For that matter, Anakin's willingness to appear both as himself and as Vader within the Force has been seen before in ''Legends'', during his apparitions to his descendant Cade Skywalker in ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy''. Likewise, he appeared to be trying to teach Cade a valuable lesson by evoking his harsher persona as Vader, but with less success.

* SheatheYourSword: Ahsoka disarms Anakin and holds his lightsaber to his throat, but then shuts it off and chucks it off the platform, telling him she chooses to live. He simply smiles and reverts back to the uncorrupted Anakin, demonstrating that she has passed the test.

** For that matter, Anakin's willingness to appear both as himself and as Vader within the Force has been seen before, during his apparitions to his ''Legends''-continuty descendant Cade Skywalker in ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy''.

* NotSoDifferent: During Ahsoka's visions of the Clone Wars, she sees Anakin leading Republic Clones into battle flickering into Darth Vader leading Imperial Stormtroopers in the same pose. The visual similarity of the shoulder guards of Anakin's Clone Wars armor to that of Vader's armor is thus easily juxtaposed. This visually summarizes not only her traumas with Anakin and her being a ChildSoldier, but was the central thesis of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' to the very end.

* NotSoDifferent: During Ahsoka's visions of the Clone Wars, she sees Anakin leading Republic Clones into battle flickering into Darth Vader leading Imperial Stormtroopers in the same pose. This visually summarizes not only her traumas with Anakin and her being a ChildSoldier, but was the central thesis of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' to the very end.

* MythologyGag: Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber gaining a red blade, held by him in full Vader mode, gives us what it would have looked like if he was allowed to bleed it himself--unlike what Palpatine forced him to do canonically in ''ComicBook/DarthVaderDarkLordOfTheSith'' (or, as recently shown, how Dagan Gera did it in ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediSurvivor'').

* MeaningfulTitle: Considering the centrality of Anakin's Force Ghost in this episode, it is very likely the title all but refers to him and his grim countenance as Darth Vader. On a more thematic note, the episode is essentially a discussion of LossOfIdentity and wavering convictions (Ahsoka's and the New Republic's, for the most part)--which was at the heart of the samurai films of long-acknowledged influence to the franchise Creator/AkiraKurosawa. The title itself also happens to be the literal translation of the Kurosawa film that was co-financed by Creator/GeorgeLucas himself, ''{{Film/Kagemusha}}''.

** Very briefly at the end of the duel with Anakin, Ahsoka's eyes turn yellow signifying her coming close to crossing over to the Darkside, but she quickly pulls away.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Hera basically went AWOL when she took Carson's squadron with her to Seatos, an unauthorized action using official New Republic military and hardware. As a result, the Senate Committee who denied her the use of the fleet decided to send the fleet instead to bring Hera to Coruscant so she could face an inquiry where she could face permanent suspension. Mon Mothma even stresses that without any hard evidence, such as Morgan Elsbeth under arrest or any trace of Imperial Remnant activity, or Ahsoka testifying on her behalf, Hera stands next-to-no chance of coming out on top against the inquiry.