Why did this character abstain from fighting?

Question

As of the end of Star Wars: Rebels, we see that

Ahsoka survived her battle with Vader.

Further, at some point after the defeat of the Empire, but likely before the rise of the First Order, she seems to have returned to Lothal to meet Sabine and presumably find Ezra. So she survived the war against the Empire.

She had previously been very active in the Rebellion, both in combat and administrative roles. Why did she stay on the sidelines after her battle with Vader (in particular, during the final battle against Thrawn)?

Answer 1

First of all, we don't know that she stayed completely out of the Rebel Alliance. She very well may have continued to help them out with things, but from a distance, much as she did in the early days of the Rebellion and the first season of Rebels. We know there were quite a few Fulcrum agents besides Ahsoka, including Cassian Andor and ex-Imperial Alexsandr Kallus, as well as people who operated Fulcrum missions but may not have been full-time agents themselves, like Miara Larte. There are several unidentified Fulcrums mentioned in the novels throughout the time period of the Original Trilogy films (including in Lost Stars and the Aftermath series), and it's very possible that any of these could be Ahsoka herself, choosing, for whatever reason, to not use her real identity.

It's also perfectly believable that it really took her that long to escape from Malachor. We know that Maul was stranded there for many years, and with the way time works in Jedi Temples, it can be assumed that Sith Temples would work similarly. So maybe she didn't have a good grip on what was going on in the rest of the galaxy and instead decided to wait until the Force let her know her time to reemerge had come. And anyway, it makes a lot of sense that Ahsoka would want to lie low from the Empire; she had the advantage of Vader and everyone else (except Ezra, who at this point could very likely be in an entirely separate galaxy) believing that she was dead, and she could be a huge asset to anyone attempting to rebuild the Jedi after the war had ended. This is the theory I'm personally sticking with: that she chose to play Obi-Wan and just wait until her time came, most likely meditating in the Force almost constantly, keeping an eye on what was going on in the rest of the galaxy, but not getting involved herself.

Answer 2

We don't know that she didn't, atleast indirectly help the Rebel Alliance and we just haven't seen that yet. But it's also possible she was stuck on Malachor for the duration of the Galactic Civil War.

Answer 3

Consider what we've actually seen of Star Wars between the last two times Ahsoka was seen.

In "Rogue One", the story is focused on a small group of people and the battle at the end was a hastily thrown-together affair. Ahsoka could have been off doing Rebellion-related activities and didn't happen to be at the base when people scrambled.

In "Star Wars", we only see Rebellion personnel right before the attack on the Death Star, and that attack is going to be fighter-based. Even if she happened to be at the Yavin base, there's no particular reason for her to be a flying a fighter and again, she might not have been there in that brief period of time between the Falcon's arrival and the Death Star battle (implied to be only a few hours).

In the "Empire Strikes Back", she might not be on Hoth at the time of the attack. If not, again, that's the only time the main characters are among large numbers of Rebel troops or see what the Rebellion in general is doing. Otherwise, they're off on their own. We don't know what anyone else in the Rebellion might be doing.

In "Return of the Jedi", it's only right before the attack on the second Death Star that the heroes aren't off on their own little private mission to rescue Han that Ahsoka would have no reason to be party to. As for the attack itself, she has good reason not to be with Han's team trying to infiltrate because she knows there's a risk Vader and/or Palpatine might sense her, and that would blow the plan. She could be out fighting with the fleet, but if so she could be anywhere from in a fighter to on one of the capital ships, and if so, there's no particular reason to see her. She'd just be one of many others.

In essence, Ahsoka could be the hero of her own story fighting in the Rebellion, it's just that she doesn't happen to be in proximity to Luke and the others, since we're following their stories, in the very brief periods Luke and company are seen with other Rebels.

Answer 4

I have a theory that when Ezra saved Ahsoka from Darth Vader in "The World Between Worlds", he altered history creating Alternate timelines with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi remember the prophecy that was given to Ahsoka. That her death was supposed to happen in the hands of Darth Vader, and because of Ezra even Ahsoka knows that he had altered history by saving her, although it's just a theory

Answer 5

  Officially, for better or worse, time travel and alternate universes are now part of SW, along with "whales ex machina" :)

We know that Ezra pulled Ahsoka from her fight vs Vader on Malachor to "World Between Worlds". That fight happened in Season 2, since that time lots of things happened (Maul died, Jarrus died, etc ...) before Ezra entered "World Between Worlds". In the end of that episode Ahsoka returned to Malachor but we do not know at what timeline ( right after her fight vs Vader with Maul and Kanan being still alive, or in Ezra's time with both of those dead, or somewhere else) .

Therefore it is quite possible that she did not exist in original trilogy so she did not participate in the fight, only returning after battle of Endor to search for Ezra . Or simply Disney messed up story so bad we are all grasping at straws trying to explain something that simply has no sense whatsoever :)