One of the big questions as Star Wars: Ahsoka continued week after week was whether Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), the Mandalorian turned Jedi apprentice to Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), would develop any Force abilities. For much of the run of the series, despite her proficiency with a lightsaber, something that dates back to Star Wars Rebels, we saw almost no evidence that Sabine had any real Force sensitivity. But Ahsoka believed she had the potential. In the final episode of Ahsoka, “The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord,” Sabine is finally able to wield the Force.
Sabine Became Ahsoka’s Apprentice After Rebels, But Struggled
Throughout the series, we learn details about Sabine’s time as Ahsoka’s apprentice. Apparently, she took her under her wing after the end of Rebels, and the destruction of the second Death Star. But Sabine’s whole family, Clan Wren, was killed in the Night of a Thousand Tears, when the Empire completely devastated Mandalore, leaving the planet a burning ruin. Ahsoka thought with so much anger and resentment in her, that it would not be wise to train Sabine in the ways of the Force. So she abandoned her training for many years as a result.
There’s also the fact that Sabine, at least in Rebels, had shown little to no abilities using the Force. Unlike Ezra Bridger, who showed a natural talent from the get-go. However, little abilities do not mean none. Because Sabine trained with Kanan Jarrus on how to use the Darksaber. And as Star Wars lore tells us, wielding a lightsaber is more than just being good at swordplay. To be truly good at it, there must be some connection between the user and the blade that involves the Force. And Sabine got pretty good at using the Darksaber in battle.
Ahsoka Showed Sabine Resume Her Training, But Still Failing at Using the Force
Early in Ahsoka, we saw Sabine try (and fail) to use the Force many times. At one moment, she tried to bring a cup towards her, and she couldn’t do it. The Jedi training droid Huyang told her that in all of his years helping build lightsabers for Jedi younglings, he’d never seen anyone with as little Force talent as Sabine. (We don’t need to verbalize all our opinions Huyang.) We don’t know what Sabine’s Midichlorian count was, but it surely would not have been enough to get her into the Jedi Temple as a child.
Luckily, Ahsoka Tano had a larger view of the Force. This is possibly due to her dissatisfaction with the dogmatic ways of the Jedi Order when she herself was a Padawan learner. She believed, as Master Yoda once said, that the Force resides in all living things, not just beings who show extra abilities at a young age. Ahsoka believes anyone can learn to wield it with proper training and patience. And we saw that training finally paid off for Sabine in the Ahsoka finale.
Sabine Finally Wields the Force in the Ahsoka Finale
At the climax of the episode, Sabine and Ezra Bridger are fighting off a battalion of Thrawn’s zombified Night Troopers, as the Grand Admiral tries to get away in the Hyperspace Ring. At one moment, Sabine loses her saber, which once belonged to Ezra. As a Night Trooper has her by the throat, Sabine is finally able to use the Force to summon her saber to her. She then takes the trooper out with a lightsaber to the head. Later, she gives Ezra a bit of a hand when she helps Force push him back onto Thrawn’s Star Destroyer. This act allows him to get back home. After eight episodes, Sabine Wren finally can call herself a Jedi. Or, at the very least, a true Jedi Padawan.
With Ahsoka and Sabine now stranded on the planet Peridea, Ahsoka will have plenty of time to train her apprentice even further. So we imagine the next time, she’ll be doing more than just summoning her lightsaber in a life-or-death moment and more than giving a little extra Force push to a friend. Sabine Wren is living proof that with a little patience and perseverance, any living being can use the Force.