How Our Heroes Navigate Uncharted Territories

How people face new challenges varies from person to person and it’s no different for Ahsoka, Sabine, and the other characters in the show. We see in Part Six that they are all staring down at things that none of them have ever stared down before.

It’s an interesting character study, and analyzing how each of them handles these “uncharted waters” can bring new insights into how we might handle experiences we’ve never faced before.

Give the episode a listen and maybe you can pick up a thing or two from Ahsoka and the rest of the gang.

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Transcript: Path of the Jedi
Ahsoka Part Six – Far, Far, Away

[Preview clip: “My guess is that it’s because Ahsoka has just been a lone wolf for so long. She’s not used to having to consider another person’s perspective and opinion.
And maybe this is why they had a falling out in the first place.”]

[Show intro: You’re listening to Path of the Jedi with your host, Ronnie Cruz.]

All right, welcome to Path of the Jedi, the podcast where Star Wars meets Personal Development.
My name is Ronnie Cruz, your host for this uncharted adventure.

That’s right, “uncharted”, because our characters, our heroes – well, all our characters, not just our heroes, but all our characters in Ahsoka, the episode of Ahsoka that we’re going to be discussing today, are stepping into uncharted territory.

That’s right, UNCHARTED.

So it’s an uncharted adventure… which as an aside, this entire time, I thought the word was “unchartered” but it’s completely incorrect.

It is actually unchart-ED. I’m glad I looked it up. I’m glad I looked it up.
I’m not sure what urged me, what pushed me to actually look that one up, but I’m glad I did.

It is uncharted.

Before we get into all of that, I do want to take a moment and thank you for your patience and understanding for allowing me to release this episode later than normal.

Still the same day, but much later in the day than I would usually release an episode. Yeah, yeah, it’s just one of those things.

I was unable to record during my regular recording time slot because of weather and… not really weather – I record inside – but the amount of noise that weather can sometimes bring up here on the mountain.

Um… if you’re new to the show, first of all, thank you and welcome. I appreciate you tuning in… but I live on top of a mountain.

I live out in western North Carolina on top of a mountain. And a lot of times when we get weather, that weather is accompanied by strong winds. And it’s not just like a gust here and there. It’s like consistently… constant strong wind.

So, yeah, it was impossible to get a clean recording. And, yeah, I just had to put it off and record it same day, release same day.

So I appreciate your understanding with that.

Also, because I have to get through this production process pretty quickly, it might end up being more of a “shotgun” episode… which I don’t really know what that means. But in a sense, I have to get it… I have to get through it pretty quickly.

I will do my best to not sacrifice any of the content as far as like the value in the content, because I still want to make sure that it is worth your time listening to Path of the Jedi.

So again, I appreciate your patience and understanding for this week’s foible.
And well, yeah, we always continue to try to do better.

So thank you.

[Rey soundbite: “That’s just Tito. Wants you for parts.”]

OK, so this week we are discussing Ahsoka Part Six: Far, Far away.

And I chose the word “uncharted” because, as I said earlier, all our characters are really facing unchartered territories, both the literally and figuratively.

And of course, on this podcast, we speak more of the figurative side of things.

You know, what it means to them, what it means to their individual journeys as, as they’re making their way through this galaxy, right? Making their way through this thing called life.

For me, this episode is really, really interesting in the types of uncharted territories, quote unquote, that each character is facing and how they handle it, how they deal with it, right? How they respond to the, to the situation that they find themselves in.

Now, we’re going to take a look at this through the lens of four characters, Ahsoka, Balin, Sabine and Thrawn.

Of course, the other characters were facing uncharted territories as well. But again, shotgun episode.

A few things I do want to note about this show before moving on.

In this episode, we get introduced to a handful of characters. As I mentioned earlier, Thrawn makes an appearance finally, after, you know, waiting all this time. But also Ezra. We see Ezra in this episode.

And then there are the Night Sisters [clears throat] Night Sisters, excuse me. Three of them, all of whom are referred to as Great Mother.

So I, you know, we don’t really get a lot of info. They’re just kind of there, serving some sort of purpose to the storyline. So yeah, yeah, it’s just kind of, yeah, it’s just kind of a detail.

But I bring this up to suggest maybe watching Ahsoka, along with listening to this show, if you haven’t seen it for a while, or if you’ve never seen it at all. That way you at least have an idea of what I’m talking about.

Not that it’s needed necessarily, but it’ll give you more details and it’ll give you a deeper understanding because of the context of the situations and the characters that we’re discussing here and analyzing here on the show.

The other thing that I wanted to make note of was episode length. This show has different episode lengths.

So, it’s not a conventional TV show per se, as in like old school TV where every episode had to be the same length.

My theory behind this – and it’s not confirmed or anything, but this is just my theory – is that they wrote, filmed and edited and produced this show as one long story, right? As with one long through line. As opposed to other shows whose episodes have, you know, a distinct beginning, middle and end.

Yes, they might have a through line through the entire season, but you know, there are shows that have episodes that have a contained, you know, story. They’re contained within themselves.

This particular show, it seems to be just one ongoing thing, right? And because of that, they’ve had to find places to cut, you know, to cut the episodes up. But if you look at it, if you sit and watch the entire season, it’ll play like one long movie.

Now, because of this, I’ve also found myself being a little bit repetitive with the themes, right?
The word of the episode.

If you listen back to last week, the word for that episode was “uncertain” adventure, right? It was “uncertain.”

This week, it’s “uncharted”, which is practically the same thing. It’s practically the same thing. Different context, of course, but it’s very, very similar.

And again, I think that’s because of the one storyline, right? The one long through line that’s happening. The themes kind of blend in from one episode to the next.

And so we’re just going to go with it.
We’re just going to go with it.
This week’s word of the episode is “uncharted.”

[Rey soundbite: “Classified, really? Me too. Big secret.”]

Starting with Ahsoka, beyond the obvious and literal uncharted adventure that she’s on right now, I think she’s facing some uncharted things in regards to relationships and perspectives, right?

Realizing that there are other people’s perspectives that she has to consider and that it’s not just all about her own agenda.

In the opening scene, we have this beautiful conversation between her and Huyang, and we see that Ahsoka is really still hung up on Sabine making quote-unquote wrong decisions.

I think what Ahsoka is struggling here with isn’t so much that Sabine made a decision that prevented, or not prevented, but did not make the decision that could have prevented the potential for a galactic war.

I think Ahsoka is struggling with the fact that she now has to actually consider other people’s perspectives. I mean, surely there are other ways of preventing the galactic war without having to sacrifice the ability to save Ezra.

And so I think Ahsoka is frustrated with the fact that things did not go the way she wanted them to go, and then she’s pinning it on Sabine for making wrong choices.

Which isn’t fair because there is no right or wrong, and there are many ways to achieve an outcome.
It’s just a matter of individual perspective of how to get there.

My guess is that it’s because Ahsoka has just been a lone wolf for so long. She’s not used to having to consider another person’s perspective and opinion.

And maybe this is why they had a falling out in the first place.

[Jyn Erso soundbite: “Trust goes both ways.”]

Moving on to Baylan.

I’m going to read this quote from Balin that will kick off his side of the conversation. In the scene with Shin Hati, he says, “As you get older, look at history, you realize it’s all inevitable.”

And that’s a comment on the fact that history repeats itself. He talks about how things are just this endless cycle.

And so, you know, given that world view, you would think that there’s nothing uncharted for him, because if everything’s inevitable, if everything is just a repeating cycle, then everything is predictable.

So there’s nothing that’s “uncharted” necessarily.

However, however, he has also a deep belief that he can bring that cycle to an end, that he can break that cycle, if not for the galaxy and the universe, for himself.

And in essence, create a new beginning.

Uncharted territory, right?
An uncharted adventure.
I mean, this is why he’s participating in all of these shenanigans in the first place.

So I think this is a really cool perspective to have, especially at, you know, a later age.

But no matter what age, I think it’s really important to have an open mind to doing new things or doing things in new ways.

Baylan could have easily accepted a reality where this is “just how it is”, history repeats itself, everything is inevitable.

Instead, he chooses to break those cycles.

And really what he’s doing is he’s breaking himself free of the mindset that “this is just how it is” and embracing a mindset of “this is how I want it to be.”

[Binary Sunset music begins]
I think the lesson for us is instead of accepting circumstances or situations or a life that we don’t want, thinking that that’s just the way it is, we can actually choose a different path.

We don’t have to just lay down and accept the trajectory of our lives if we don’t like it. We can actually choose to change that trajectory.

And through Baylan’s example, it’s never too late.

[silent break; outro music begins]

Okay, so I’m actually going to wrap it right there.
Again, shotgun episode. I’m running a little on time and I got to get this edited and out into the interwebs.

So yeah, we’ll save the second half of this conversation for next week where we’ll talk about Sabine and Thrawn and how that all fits into the conversation of “uncharted territory” and “uncharted adventures.”

So we might have a double episode or at least a double themed episode next week because I do want to move on to Ahsoka Part Seven because the story, the show is just so good. It gets better and better with each episode.

So yeah, I appreciate your understanding for this shotgun episode.
And we’re going to go ahead and move on to the shout out.

Okay, this week’s shout out goes to Mike Upton and the Bright Suns Podcast and Bright Suns Media, of course.

Mike is awesome.
Mike is awesome.

He is an incredible podcaster.
I love his content. I love his material.

Go check him out. I’ll leave a link to his show in the show notes. I’ll leave a link to his socials as well.

But he had a similar situation or circumstances I did. Well, okay, different circumstances, but similar situation where he had to take a pause on the podcast.

I started following him and listening to his show back, I think, in 22. So it’s been a while. It’s been a while, but, you know, circumstances happened. Some life stuff happened.

And he, for his own health and for the health of his, his beautiful wife had to take a pause, right? And so, you know, I totally understanding.

And you know, there’s always a question, well, is he ever going to come back? I follow him on socials and even on the socials, he was relatively quiet during that period.

But recently, I’ve been seeing him getting more and more active. He started getting really active on socials back in the fall, which is always great to see because I love his perspective.

But then he started his show back up again!

So I’m going to leave all the links to his socials and of course his show in the show notes of this episode.
Please check him out.

Mike is an incredible guy.
He’s been through some stuff and he’s always willing to be open and vulnerable about the stuff that he’s been through.

I mean, not in the TMI sort of way and just dumping.

He shares his perspective very much like we do here on Path of the Jedi. He shares it, I think, with the intention and purpose of hopefully helping you expand your own perspective and help you see things in different lights.

And he does it in such a positive and productive way, like there’s no toxicity or anything behind it. It’s very well thought out. It’s good critical thinking, right?

And again, I just really, I really appreciate his perspective and I appreciate his honesty and his vulnerability when it comes to just sharing life experience.

Because ultimately, as polished as you may want to sound, as polished as you may want to come across on your podcast, I think what connects people more to your content is the fact that you are a human being, right?

It’s that humanity that you bring to the table. And Mike really does that very, very well.

On top of that, he’s just a cool guy and he likes cool things, right?

So check him out. Again, I’ll leave all his links in the show notes of this episode.

But Mike, if you are listening, this week’s Shoutout goes to you.

Okay, so one piece of housekeeping before we go. I do want to let you know that the Shoutout Community is now officially live!

That’s right. I announced it a few nights ago. You can find the information at pathofthejedai.com, our blog. There’s an article there that gives you all the details. I’ll leave a link to that in the show notes of this episode.

But in short, it’s a community of podcasters like myself.

If you’re a podcaster listening to this and you’d like to get featured on a Shoutout, find me on Bluesky and connect with me. Follow me. Follow me and let me know.

Shoot me a message that you want to be added to the Shoutout Community.

Now, the Shoutout Community then is a growing list of podcasters in the geek culture slash fandom category.

And my idea behind that is, you know, to, as a community, to pick a podcast that you’ve never heard of or you’re unfamiliar with, give it a listen.

And if you like that show, if you like that podcast, give it a shoutout on your own show.

Very much like we do here on Path of the Jedi.

Now, of course, the shoutouts for us here aren’t always going to be podcasts, and you don’t have to do all podcasts all the time.

But I really want to get this shoutout idea to start clicking with other people, because I think we need more celebration, right?

The Shoutout is all about celebrating each other, celebrating the things that we appreciate about each other, whether it’s podcasts and geek culture and fandom. But you know, really anybody in your life that you want to celebrate.

So if you’re a podcaster and you want to participate in this, if you think it’s a good idea, if you think it’s cool, and if you think that, you know, you can spare a minute or two segment in your own show to do this, then hit me up on Bluesky, follow me on Bluesky, I’ll follow you back, message me that you want to be added to the Shoutout Community, and we’ll just go from there.

[Star Wars soundbite: “I’m going in. Cover me, Porkins.”]

Now, if you’re a regular listener or a non… not that you’re regular… a non-podcasting listener and you have somebody that you want to give a shout out to, please send it to me. Send it to me.

I’ll leave a link to all my socials in the show notes of this episode.

Threads and Bluesky, especially Bluesky, those are the two main ones that I’m focusing on, so that would be the best place to reach out to me.

But you can also send an email to info@pathofthejedi.com and leave your shout out, right? Leave your message that you want me to read out on the show, or you can even record a message yourself.

That would be really cool to have a shout out in your own voice.

And so that, yeah, if there’s anybody that you want to celebrate, if there’s anybody that you want them to hear their name celebrated on a podcast, I think that would be really cool as well.

So send me your shout outs on either Threads or Bluesky, or you can email info@pathofthejedi.com and put “Shoutout” in the subject line.

[Rey soundbite: “Your antenna’s bent.”]

Okay, one last thing before we go.

I’m trying to get into the habit of asking you this every week, but if you know just one person, one person who you think would enjoy and appreciate this content, this episode, this show, please take the three to five seconds, hit that share button and send it to them.

I really would appreciate it. It would go a long way to helping us grow this show.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, really growing this grassroots, I’m not taking out advertising or anything like that. And I also really suck at like SEO and stuff like that. [laughs]

So, you know, your help would go a long way. You sharing this with just one person would go a long way to helping me grow this show, and getting these ideas and these principles and, you know, these discussions out there into the world, right?

All I’m trying to do is share and spread more light and life into the world.

I think that’s very much needed.

So, just sharing this with one person, one person would go a long way to helping us do that.

Okay, that’s going to do it for today’s episode.

Thank you again for your understanding of and your patience with the fact that it’s really late, but also with the fact that it’s an abbreviated episode, that it’s a shotgun episode.

I really, really appreciate your understanding.

But of course, more is coming next week.

So, if you haven’t yet subscribed or follow, go ahead and subscribe and follow.
And we will catch you next week with a fresh new one.

So until then, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and may the Force be with you.

[Disclaimer]

This podcast is not endorsed by the Walt Disney Company nor Lucasfilm Limited, and is intended for entertainment, educational and informational purposes only. The official Star Wars website can be found at www.starwars.com. Star Wars, all names and sounds and any other Star Wars related items are registered trademarks and or copyrights of Disney and their respective trademark and copyright holders.
All the original content of this podcast is intellectual property of Path of the Jedi unless otherwise indicated.

[Yoda giggle soundbite]