Before Ahsoka: 5 best arcs in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, ranked

1. The Siege of Mandalore

After Ahsoka’s exit from the Jedi order, the final arc of the  show opens with her making contact with Anakin and Obi-Wan to inform them of the whereabouts of Darth Maul. She and Bo-Katan make their way to Admiral Yularen’s Venetaor cruiser for a formal meeting where they explain that Maul is again in control the capital city of Sundari on Mandalore. Since Bo-Katan’s faction lacks the bodies to conduct a full siege, they ask for the Republic’s support in a joint operation.

Anakin is happy to see his former padawan, and he has a surprise for her: when they walk into the hangar bay, Ahsoka finds Captain Rex and his troopers standing at attention with their helmets painted to resemble Ahsoka’s face in a touching show of respect for their former commander. Just when things start to get emotional, the alarms start blaring and Obi-Wan runs in to inform everyone about a jump to lightspeed; they need to stop General Grevious from attacking Coruscant. Anakin proposes splitting the 501st Legion into two division so Ahsoka and Rex can take a force to help Mandalore. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan agree, and Anakin gifts Ahsoka a pair of blue lightsabers before they part ways. She wishes him luck. This is the last time she sees Anakin before the events of Revenge of the Sith.

The joint Republic and Mandalorian force begin their invasion of Mandalore to apprehend Maul. After making their way into Sundari, Bo-Katan goes to deal with the puppet prime minister Almec while Ahsoka goes with Captain Vaugn into the sewers to pursue Maul’s lieutenant Gar Saxon (voiced by the late Ray Stevenson). This was all a trap by Maul to kill Obi-Wan, but Ahsoka springs it unknowingly. Maul and Ahsoka talk, and he theorizes that Sidious is about to make his make his big move to eliminate the Jedi. He flees before Ahsoka can apprehend him. Maul then captures the Arc Trooper Jesse, using the Force on Jesse’s brain to mine information about Ahsoka.

Back in the Sundari prison, Bo-Katan and Ahsoka interrogate a captured Almec who says that Maul had a vision about Anakin prior to the invasion. Gar Saxon then executes the puppet prime minister before he can reveal more. When Bo-Katan complains about the Clone occupation, Rex and Ahsoka assure her that the Republic will leave when Maul is captured. When they walk into the great hall, they find Maul sitting on the throne waiting for them. He returns Jesse to them just as his Mandalorians start attacking the city. Rex and Bo-Katan go to deal with them while Maul and Ahsoka speak. Maul tells Ahsoka about the new world order that Sidious is about to enact and how everyone will be powerless against it. He tries to Ahsoka to become his apprentice.

Just before Ahsoka accepts, Maul reveals that he orchestrated the Mandalorian siege to lure Anakin to the planet to kill him and deprive Sidious of his new apprentice. Ahsoka draws her lightsabers and contends that Anakin will not turn. The resulting battle is spectacular, and features motion capture by original Darth Maul actor Ray Park and stuntwoman Lauren Mary Kim. By the end of the fight, Maul is captured by Ahsoka and the clones. He is taken aboard a Jedi cruiser inside a chamber designed to hold force wielders.

With the siege over, Ahsoka contacts the Jedi Council in a direct continuation of a scene in Revenge of the Sith. Mace Windu is apprehensive to share too many details with Ahsoka since she is no longer a Jedi, so Ahsoka chooses not to divulge what Maul told her about Anakin. Ahsoka and Bo-Katan say their goodbyes and the Republic leaves Mandalore.

On the Jedi cruiser, Ahsoka reflects on the hypocrisy of the Jedi order. Rex and Ahsoka share a heart-to-heart minutes before Sidious implements Order 66, where all the clone soldiers turn on the Jedi. When she walks into the briefing room, Ahsoka is astonished to find Rex pull his blasters on her, but he seems to be the only clone we’ve ever seen pyysically try to stop himself from carrying out Order 66. She escapes and makes her way to Maul’s cell to use him as a diversion while she escapes.

With Maul’s help, Ahsoka pieces together that the clones are being forced to act this way because someone is hijacking the inhibitor chips each clone has implanted in his brain. With the help of some astromech droids, Ahsoka is able to capture Rex and remove his inhibitor chip. However, the rest of the Clone’s aboard are still trying to kill Ahsoka and Maul is now destroying the engine room.

Maul’s actions pull the ship out of hyperspace and it starts to crash into a nearby planet. Ahsoka and Rex make their way to the hangar bay to escape but are blocked by Jesse and dozens of clones. Rex plays semantics with Jesse by pointing out that Ahsoka is no longer a Jedi, so technically the clones don’t have orders to kill her. Jesse doesn’t buy it and accuses Rex of treason, threatening to execute him as well. Meanwhile, Maul commandeers the only transport in the hangar and escapes. As the ship plummets to the planet’s surface, Ahsoka and Rex narrowly escape in a Y-Wing bomber.

A time jump shows that Ahsoka and Rex buried all the clones who died in the crash, including Jesse. Ahsoka leaves one of her lightsabers at the burial ground. Another time jump shows an Imperial Lambda shuttle landing at the crash sight while snowtroopers and probe droids search the area. Darth Vader exits the shuttle and makes his way to the burial sight. The final scene shows him find the lightsaber that he gifted to his former padawan and ignite it in the snow. He looks to the sky and sees the phoenix from Star Wars Rebels flying above.

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