On the Jedi recruitment angle, it's clear from looking at older, untrained Force sensitives like Luke, Ezra, and Rey that beginning training at a very young age is not necessary to master the Force. Also, up until TPM, the Jedi believed that they had defeated the Sith over 1,000 years ago, so clearly keeping young Force sensitives from Sith hands had long since ceased to be an issue. Getting them young and keeping them from interacting with their families and the outside world was all about getting and maintaining control. In the Ahsoka tie-in novel, Ahsoka talks about how Plo Koon brought her to her true family at the Temple when he took her from her birth family. They were all raised to think that way so their primary loyalty would be to the Order.
Them letting her leave actually makes sense to me. They don't want to think of themselves as a cult. Restricting the liberty of people and forcing them to do things against their will is what cults and bad guys do. They want members who are utterly committed to the cause of their own free will (and indoctrination) not unwilling prisoners. So, they let her go, and then during the Utapau, Obi-Wan paints her decision to leave as a personal moral failing and selfishness.
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On the Jedi recruitment angle, it's clear from looking at older, untrained Force sensitives like Luke, Ezra, and Rey that beginning training at a very young age is not necessary to master the Force. Also, up until TPM, the Jedi believed that they had defeated the Sith over 1,000 years ago, so clearly keeping young Force sensitives from Sith hands had long since ceased to be an issue. Getting them young and keeping them from interacting with their families and the outside world was all about getting and maintaining control. In the Ahsoka tie-in novel, Ahsoka talks about how Plo Koon brought her to her true family at the Temple when he took her from her birth family. They were all raised to think that way so their primary loyalty would be to the Order.
Them letting her leave actually makes sense to me. They don't want to think of themselves as a cult. Restricting the liberty of people and forcing them to do things against their will is what cults and bad guys do. They want members who are utterly committed to the cause of their own free will (and indoctrination) not unwilling prisoners. So, they let her go, and then during the Utapau, Obi-Wan paints her decision to leave as a personal moral failing and selfishness.