“Battles leave scars… some you can’t see.”- Kanan Jarrus

In the beginning of season three, Kanan spoke of the scars of battle with reference to Rex and his PTSD from the Clone War. Little did he know that these words would refer to his newest trainee, Sabine.

On first glance, it would seem that “Trials of the Darksaber” is about family and becoming a warrior. But if one were to ask oneself, “Why are they even talking about family and being a warrior?” the answer would be “Scars.”

Sabine’s scars are something that have been alluded to in the past, when speaking of her time as a bounty hunter or in the Imperial Academy,  but never have they bleed so much.  We have been close to Sabine, but never have we known her so well.

As a teacher, I always appreciate the episodes where we get to see Kanan training. Seeing him deal with a difficult student really hit home. Yet, what hit home even more was seeing Sabine struggling with her past.

On the recent episode of “Star Wars on Tap,” a great podcast by “Unmistakably Star Wars,” I spoke about some of the issues I have had in the past when it comes to an eating disorder. This stemmed from a lot of unresolved issues with my family, that for sake of boring you to death, suffice it to say were very painful. But not dealing with them was even more painful.

Not dealing with my past, facing my demons, and trying to heal my wounds left me homeless, without a penny to my name, and with a family that wanted space from me because of how badly I had hurt them. I do not blame them for that or hold a grudge, because I have now dealt with those things and, although the scars remain, the wounds are healed.

We learned in this episode that Sabine still has a lot of healing left to do. She has a lot of growing, and growing up to do. The only way she can do that is by facing that which she fears most: her family.

We have seen this in the past when it comes to Rebels. Kanan facing the Inquisitor, both real and as the Force vision version. Ezra dealing with Maul. Ahsoka dealing with Anakin being Darth Vader. All of these things have one thing in common, which is they were not resolved until dealt with. We may not like the result, and it still may hurt to look at the scar, but the truth is it will bleed and bleed until we do something to change it.

Sabine has not had an easy life. I doubt there is a such thing as an easy life in the Empire. Nonetheless, she has to become the best version of herself in order to build the best version of the galaxy. She has to heal herself before she can heal the galaxy.