What Exactly Is Star Wars Ahsoka’s World Between Worlds?
If you watched Ahsoka episode 4—and if you haven’t, stop reading this and go check it out—you know that the episode ended with Ahsoka falling off a cliff and ending up in a weird force-purgatory known as the World Between Worlds.
The World Between Worlds is a mystical plane of existence located within the force itself.
As if that wasn’t crazy enough, the orange-hued ex-Jedi was greeted by her former master, Anakin Skywalker, looking just like he did in the prequels. Anakin was noticeably missing the traditional shimmery blue glow of a force ghost—as well as any hint of Darth Vader—leading many fans to wonder just what Anakin was doing there. To answer that question, we first have to answer a different query: What is the World Between Worlds we just saw in Ahsoka?
The World Between Worlds is a mystical plane of existence located within the force itself. This plane consists of an infinite number of pathways, all leading to a different time and place. A nexus that links all moments in time together.
Think of it as the room with all the doors from Monster’s Inc.
The World Between Worlds is sometimes referred to as the Vergence Scatter and is described at length within the Sacred Jedi texts, a series of ancient Jedi writings that were kept in the Jedi Temple on the planet Ahch-To.
The ending of Ahsoka episode 4 wasn’t the first time the Togrutan force user found herself in the nexus of all time and space, although it might be her first visit as a dead person.
It first appeared in an episode of Star Wars: Rebels when Ezra Bridger managed to enter the nexus ahead of a power-hungry Darth Sidious. Upon reaching the World Between Worlds, Ezra looked through a portal and saw Ahsoka Tano dueling with Darth Vader at a point in the past.
Ezra hopped through the portal, grabbed Ahsoka, and dragged her into the World Between Worlds, saving her from certain death at Vader’s hands. That’s right, the ending of Ahsoka episode 4 wasn’t the first time the Togrutan force user found herself in the nexus of all time and space, although it might be her first visit as a dead person.
Another theory regarding the World Between Worlds is that along with a nexus point between every event that has happened or will happen in the Star Wars Galaxy, it also functions as the Star Wars equivalent of the afterlife.
Force ghosts are extremely rare, and most people in the Star Wars universe instead become “one with the Force” when they die. Thanks to several official Star Wars books referring to the World Between Worlds as a “netherworld,” many fans interpret becoming one with the Force as joining the vergence scatter. As such, it’s entirely possible that Ahsoka didn’t survive the fall off that cliff at the end of episode 4 and arrived at the World Between Worlds as a result.
Now, that’s not to say that we expect Ahsoka to be “dead” dead. There are four more episodes of the show, after all. Rather, Anakin will most likely tell her it’s not her time and help her find a doorway that leads to a time before she goes over the cliff.
This opens up a world of storytelling possibilities for Ahsoka and her former master to go on one last adventure as she helps him find the right door that would lead him back to his time.
Speaking of Anakin, what the heck is he doing in the World Between Worlds? The obvious answer would be that he’s also a ghost, except we know that Anakin is capable of manifesting himself as a Force ghost. That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t hang out in the World Between Worlds between Force ghost manifestations, but it’s unlikely.
Instead, Anakin might have somehow entered the World Between Worlds at some point between episodes 2 and 3, and this is his past self that Ahsoka meets. This opens up a world of storytelling possibilities for Ahsoka and her former master to go on one last adventure as she helps him find the right door that would lead him back to his time.
Whatever Anakin’s story is, it’s sure to be interesting, especially if it’s tied to the mysterious World Between Worlds. What other Star Wars concepts will the remaining four episodes of Ahsoka pluck from animated obscurity and drag into the more popular realm of live-action? Star Wars fans will just have to wait and see.
