Some bts on the Anakin/Ahsoka stuff. Mostly fluff and talking heads, but it's interesting to see how they used the volume a little differently on this one: a white screen with tracking markers. Not sure how easy that would have been to key out, but I look forward to the inevitable corridor crew episode about it . . . Speaking of tracking markers; unless I missed something, I noticed there were none on Hayden's face while filming the fight. It's possible the freakishly good de-aging on this one may be down as much to old fashioned make-up artistry as any digital work. I hope they put some real effort into the Disney Gallery release for this show. The last Mando offering seemed rather phoned in.
My speculation on the WBW is that Anakin was never there, it was Ahsoka dealing with her subconscious/Force Dream. I'm open to the dying reborn theory that WBW manifested the spirit of Anakin.
I can see Jacen being sensitive such a thing, but Hera? Sorry, you're welcome to your own interpretation of the scene, but I don't buy it.
Pretty sure these were filmed for it, but are being released now because there’s not actors or writers to do interviews to hype it up because of the strike
Pretty sure it was a Force Ghost Anakin. There are a few clues. 1. He references his last duel with Luke ("I've hear that before" to Ahsoka's "I will not fight you".) 2. He did not recognize the Siege of Mandalore because he was not there. 3. He actually appears as he did on Mustafar, before losing the High Ground. Ahsoka never saw him like that. 4. Commenting on Ahsoka's age. Last time he saw her, even as Darth Vader, was over ten years ago (getting closer to fifteen years ago).
The WBW kinda reminds me of the Nexus in Star Trek, a place where time and space collide and what's left behind of people who go there is an echo of the person.
So far as how Hera could sense it too; she couldn't at first. It took Jacen to even tell her it was there, and a clearly conscious effort to quiet her mind and open herself up to it. I think people forget that Hera is every bit the Jedi philosophy convert that Sabine is. She lived with Jedi for years, saw what they could do, even had a child by one. Indeed it was her idea for Kanan to take on Ezra as an apprentice, and it seems for Ahsoka to take on Sabine . . . twice! She doesn't need to unlearn what is possible, because she already has, many times over. Couple that with her very strong connection with her naturally force sensitive son, and the fact that her innate piloting abilities may be part of a latent sensitivity in and of itself. Then I could see her sensing what Jacen feels through that connection; though it takes a conscious effort, and focus. Yup, the balance of evidence is in favour of that really being Anakin's presence. Of course the distinction between this and "force dream" is rather meaningless considering that Anakin is a part of the force now. If it's the will of the force that it manifest a vision of Anakin Skywalker, why bother with a mere illusion when the real thing is right there? Of course the whole thing is deliberately ambiguous, so we might never know 100% . . . but it's still clearly leaning pretty heavily in the "yes of course it's Anakin" direction.
I agree with you totally about Hera. If she doesn't have latent Force abilities she's spent enough time around Jedi to understand that even without the abilities one could still tap into Force sensitivities. Rogue One has already canonized that anyone who can open their mind to listen enough can use the Force, although there is a huge difference between Chirrut and Luke, for example. While I think your explanation of WBW is absolutely spot on, for me it feels different. I'm sure DF explanation comes closer to your theory. For me, Ahsoka didn't leave the planet. Instead of drowning though, she had a vision. This vision, dream, whatever manifested itself as Anakin as he was before Mustafar, when he and Ahsoka were master and apprentice. But who says that being a dream doesn't make something not real?
Hardly. Chirrut appears to be Force-sensitive on the level of, say, the Knights of Ren, but not at Jedi/Sith level. This says precisely nothing about anyone else.
First time it was made more explicit within a narrative perhaps. As I illustrated a few pages back, this idea has been around since the very beginning, right alongside the idea that some people just have a natural aptitude. It was largely the fans and the EU authors that confused matters for themselves. Even so we already had other edge cases in canon such as Talzin admitting that unlike Ventress and Maul; she was not a "natural force user". Presumably shortcutting to it through Nightsister magiks, just as they imbued Savage Opress with a heightened force sensitivity. My personal suspicion is that it was a Schrodinger's Cat type situation. Had Ahsoka not chosen to live and to stop fighting, then I think what Hera would have found would have been a body that had been dead since the fall the previous night. By choosing life Ahsoka essentially collapsed the wave function and thus was alive the whole time. Whether she was ever actually clinically dead or not remains an open question. But yes, when it comes to this kind of thing "dream" and "real" are not mutually exclusive concepts.
It's virtually a given that that all the top pilots have low level force abilities, but only end up refined in the ways that affect flying. Not enough to be recruited by Jedi, but solidly present nonetheless.
By his appearance he doesn't seem to be all that much. I'm not familiar with Knights of Ren In Ep4 Obi Wan says that the Force is in all living beings. Doesn't go outright and say that technically, anyone could be sensitive but there does seem to be a natural divide between those who can - with the right training and discipline - sense or even touch the Force, and those who have a natural ability to really use the Force; what in the EU would be referred to as Force Sensitive. TPM tried to fix this ambiguity with midichlorians but I prefer to headcannon that out
Being Force sensitive should not automatically be looking for "Jedi/Sith" levels. By their nature, they are trained to be more adept. Looking for all Force sensitives to be at that level is like looking at all basketball players and looking for Lebron James. You're going to be disappointed.
Not in material released to the public. There are in effect two stories here. One story was told in a series of films released between 1977 and 1983. Another was told in a series of books released between 2007 and 2013. Thirty years after the fact. So it's all well and good to say that Lucas always had these ideas, but he didn't exactly do a great job of getting the message out in a timely fashion.
Which doesn't make it contradictory to past stories. Only contradictory to fan assumptions or novel assumptions.