The new Disney+ series Ahsoka premieres August 23rd, giving Star Wars fans what they've wanted for years. But a new trailer for the series is dividing the faithful. In Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka said, "I am no Jedi." And indeed, she left the Jedi Order and struck out on her own after the Clone Wars. Yet scenes from the new series hint at resurrecting her status as a student of Anakin Skywalker, who refers to himself as Ahsoka's master. Star Wars fans know that Anakin never achieved the status of Jedi Master.
Which brings up the question of what a Jedi really is. In the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker received a very rudimentary introduction to the Jedi Order from Obi-Wan Kenobi before he was killed. He was instructed to go on to train under Yoda, but even that was cut short by circumstances in which Luke had to go save the day again. Then the prequel trilogy went back and laid out a strictly constructed hierarchy of Jedi training and achievement levels. Ahsoka trained as a Jedi for years, in both the religion and the fighting skills. While she may have walked away from the order, she retains that training and spirituality. In some ways, she will always be more of a Jedi than even Luke. Who knows? She might even feel differently about the order if she had known how easy it would be for Luke to skip over those years of her life that she gave to it.
Another question this raises is how important Star Wars canon really is. Disney is making television for Star Wars fans who don't memorize the complete timeline, while the most hardcore fans who kept the universe alive for 45 years find it blasphemous to get the narrative wrong. Read more about the conundrum at Gizmodo. More will be revealed when the first two episodes of Ahsoka debut next Wednesday.