I’ve been wanting to do a post highlighting Kanan Jarrus and why I think he’s the perfect Jedi but then I watched The Clone Wars the other day and I realized that he and Ahsoka are both fine examples of the perfect Jedi. And it is two distinct scenes that I think of to prove this point.

SPOILERS FOR The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels AHEAD!

For Ahsoka, it is this scene here that made me realize how she embodies the role of a Jedi in a way that is far superior to others in the Jedi council. In case you don’t know what this scene is let me get you up to speed.

It’s the last episode of The Clone Wars. Ahsoka has just been attacked by her clone troopers after the deployment of Order 66. She managed to save Rex from his brainwashed state and now they’re trying to find a way off of the Republic cruiser that they’re trapped on with a miniature clone army that’s trying to kill them.

It seems like there is no hope and as Ahsoka notices Rex’s despair she takes off his helmet and speaks to him. Rex doesn’t want to but he feels their only chance of survival is to kill his fellow troopers. Ahsoka addresses Rex: “You’re a good soldier Rex. So is every one of those men down there. They may be willing to die, but I am not the one who is going to kill them.”

It’s this moment, this refusal to kill the clones even if it means she may doom both her and Rex, that showcases her true Jedi spirit.

See, it is a deep love, a love that the Jedi would teach is wrong, that prevents her from attacking the troopers that were once her friends.

The Jedi taught that love is forbidden and that attachment would lead down a dark path. They taught to let go of your emotions for those you may have a connection to. And it is this line of thinking that turned one of their greatest Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, against them in the long run.

His secret relationship with Padme sent him to seek counsel from a hidden Sith Lord who used Skywalker as a pawn in his terrible plan.

Ahsoka, however, learned to reject the teachings of the Jedi. She learned to embrace her feelings for her friends and it didn’t turn her down a dark path. Instead, she is known to be one of the wisest characters in Star Wars whose story, thankfully, is still continuing.

She understood the hypocrisy of the Jedi. In an impactful moment between her and Rex in the next to last episode of The Clone Wars she says to him, “As a Jedi, we were trained to be keepers of the peace, not soldiers. But all I’ve been since I was a padawan is a soldier.”

It’s yet another sign that leaving the Jedi Order had enlightened her and helped her grow into what the Jedi are supposed to be.

And for Kanan, it’s this scene that makes such an impact on me. Gosh, I’ve only seen this scene twice and both times I have cried my eyes out. It’s Kanan’s literal last moments but they speak to the character and the Jedi that he is.

In case you don’t know this scene either let me tell you what’s happening. Hera had gotten captured by the Empire and Kanan Jarrus had gone to rescue her. While waiting for their pickup from Ezra and Sabine, Kanan and Hera have a moment of privacy with each other.

It’s at this moment, that Hera finally admits her love for Kanan, speaking the words “I love you” aloud and giving him a kiss. It’s an important moment for the two who have placed aside their deep love for one another to fight the Empire but it this moment that the truth officially comes out.

And then, just as the two share this tender moment, the Empire arrive on the scene and fire missiles at Kanan and Hera’s position; their rescue spot is on the top of an oil tankard by the way.

Kanan uses the Force to stop the deadly blast just long enough to allow his family (Hera, Sabine, and Ezra) to get away before sacrificing himself in the blast. Just thinking about this scene is getting me emotional, if I’m being honest.

So why do I find this scene so impactful for Kanan as a Jedi? Because he fully embraces his romantic feelings for Hera and not once did it make him susceptible to the dark side. In fact, it is during this very scene when he and Hera practically tie the knot, that he is at his most heroic as a Jedi.

His love for Hera and his found family never made him dark side prone. In fact, he became one of the wisest Jedi in the franchise and was always there for those who needed him.

The Jedi taught that love, specifically romantic attachments, would lead one down the dark path and yet is their stuck-up ways that turned against them. If Qui-Gon Jinn hadn’t taken Anakin from his mother and instead made sure to find a way for Shmi to be freed she would’ve never died, hence Anakin would never have begun to embrace the darkness. It was that fear of attachment that let Qui-Gon keep Shmi on Tatooine…and we all know how that turned out.

And it was that fear of loss that made Anakin begin to have nightmares about Padme and, of course, we know where that fear led him.

So, is the true power of the Jedi their ability to love?

Luke Skywalker understood the hypocrisy of the Jedi but it was his love for his sister that spurred him on to saving the Resistance and sacrificing himself.

And how did Kylo Ren, a boy who felt unloved by everyone around him, turn back into Ben Solo? His love for Rey. A love that he was willing to die for.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderul day. May the Force be with you.