Warning: Spoilers ahead, there are!
When Ahsoka Tano was introduced as a character in the Star Wars universe, her appearance caused much controversy among fans. Not to mention, she was the first female Jedi lead in the franchise. Fast-forward seventeen years, and Ahsoka Tano is now perceived as one of Star Wars‘ best-written (and well-loved) characters.
The padawan
Ahsoka and Anakin go on dangerous missions throughout the show, such as destroying a brand-new droid factory on Geonosis, where the war began. During that particular heist, Ahsoka meets Barriss Offee, the padawan of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, and they work together to bring down the droid factory from the inside and respectively stop a plague of mind-controlling brain worms from getting out.
Ahsoka also learns important lessons after seeing more of the damage from the war firsthand, such as when she goes to Mandalore to teach cadets, which ends up being essential to outing the planet’s prime minister as corrupt.
She is also single-handedly responsible for preventing bounty hunter Aurra Sing from escaping the planet Florrum. Ahsoka later also stops Sing from assassinating Padme Amidala at a conference on Alderann, showing that she is growing stronger in the Force.
When Obi-Wan taught me, we were keepers of the peace. But now, to win this war, I have to teach you to be a soldier.
Anakin Skywalker
The effect of the clone wars
Many of the Jedi have narrow views of the war, Ahsoka included. That changes when she goes to the Separatist planet Raxxus with Padme and meets Lux Bonteri, son of Mina Bonteri, the Separatist senator of the planet Onderon. Lux shows Ahsoka that Separatists can be regular people, not just assassins and warlords like General Grievous and Asajj Ventress.
While on Mortis, Ahsoka has a vision of her future self, warning her to leave the planet and saying that she may never see her future if she remains Anakin’s student. After a series of events, Ahsoka is kidnapped by the Son and unwillingly turned to the Dark Side. Eventually, Son kills her and then tries to kill his father, but accidentally kills Daughter instead. Daughter’s dying wish is to revive Ahsoka, which Anakin does successfully. This makes Ahsoka the first Jedi (to my knowledge) to die and be brought back to life, and the only Jedi to carry on the life-force of a Mortis god.
Ahsoka steps up in other places, like preventing Lux from joining the Death Watch in a scheme that involves them pretending to be married (a joy for Luxsoka shippers) and then single-handedly massacring many Death Watch soldiers. This includes a standoff with Pre-Vizla, which ends in a draw.
She also manages to survive one-on-one combat with General Grievous, not once, but twice, which is a simple testament to her force abilities.
leaving the jedi order
Never give up hope, no matter how dark things seem.
Title card for Season 5 Episode 20 of the Clone Wars, ‘The Wrong Jedi.’
Before the events of the Clone Wars, back when all the lore the fans had to rely on was the prequels, it wasn’t canon that Anakin Skywalker had an apprentice. Since Ahsoka was not mentioned in Revenge of the Sith, there had to be a reason, and it had to line up with the film’s events.
At the end of season five, Ahsoka and Anakin get called back to the Jedi Order after a bombing happens at the Jedi Temple and are tasked with finding the culprit. After they do, Ahsoka is told that a Jedi orchestrated everything, but before the name is revealed, the woman is force-choked to death, and Ahsoka is arrested.
Ahsoka manages to escape but is framed for killing clones and goes on the run, only to be chased by her master and a clone battalion. Though she fights bravely, she ends up being cornered by Anakin, who begs her to come back and prove that she’s innocent, saying that running will make her look more guilty. “No. I’m not going to take the fall for something I didn’t do,” is Ahsoka’s response, and then she escapes into the Coruscant underworld, hoping to find answers.
Asajj Ventress helps Ahsoka look for clues, and she gets intel from Barriss about a warehouse containing evidence she may need to clear her name. Once she makes it there, she parts ways with Ventress. However, she is caught by the clones and taken back to the Jedi Temple.
She is put on trial by the Jedi, expelled from the Order, and sentenced to a military tribunal, helmed by Admiral Tarkin with Padme as her defense.
My master abandoned me, and that’s exactly what you did to her. You and your precious Jedi order.
Asajj Ventress to Anakin Skywalker
Anakin rushes into the trial just as Ahsoka is about to be condemned (possibly to death, but we will never know) with evidence that Barriss was the villain to a shocked Jedi Council, court, and Ahsoka, mainly because of how close she and Barriss were.
When the council offers Ahsoka the role of Jedi Knight and an invitation to return, Ahsoka declines by handing Anakin back her Padawan braid. The final shot of the season (and the series at the time) was of her walking down the steps of the temple, crying as the sun set.
Life after the jedi & The siege of mandalore
One of the three arcs from season seven follows Ahsoka, presumably a few years after she left the order. Here, the viewer sees Ahsoka come to terms with the war and why the common folk have lost faith in the Jedi.
Ahsoka is recruited by Bo-Katan Kryze, the sister of late Duchess Satine Kryze, to help her take back the planet Mandalore from the crime syndicates and Darth Maul.
Ahsoka contacts Anakin and Obi-Wan for the first time since she left the order and meets up with them shortly before the events of “Revenge of the Sith” begin.
The reunion between Anakin and Ahsoka is quite short, with the 501st painting their gear in Ahsoka’s colors and Anakin giving her back her lightsabers (now blue, of course.) Anakin then gives Ahsoka and Rex half of the 501st to take with them to capture Maul.
This is also the last time Anakin and Ahsoka see each other before he becomes Darth Vader.
When Ahsoka arrives on Mandalore, she faces Maul, who drops pivotal information about Darth Sidious being the mastermind behind the Clone Wars.
The duel between Maul and Ahsoka showcases Ahsoka’s killer dual-wielding skills, which she never lost, and shows just how powerful she has become as the apprentice of the legendary Anakin Skywalker.
While on the way back to the Republic with Maul in custody, Order 66 is initiated, and although she feels it in the Force, Ahsoka doesn’t entirely understand what happened.
Ahsoka saves Rex, and the two manage to escape their ship, which Maul had sabotaged, sending it into the gravitational field of an unknown moon. They bury their fallen brothers before they leave the wreckage.
Ahsoka leaves her lightsabers at the scene so she can be presumed dead, which truly signifies the end of an era.
“fulcrum” & the rebellion
After the Empire comes into power, Ahsoka goes into hiding because being a Jedi is a death sentence, but not before going to the funeral of Padme Amidala.
The book Ahsoka reveals that she lived as a humble mechanic named Ashla on backwater planets, trying to survive until she decided to come out of hiding. “In my life, when you find people who need your help, you help them, no matter what,” she says to the Martez sisters, as this is something she carries through her life, forged by her experiences.
She then works with Senator Organa and the Rebellion as “Fulcrum,” a codename Anakin often used, to rebel against the Empire. Eventually, she meets the crew of the Ghost, the protagonists of Star Wars Rebels.
In Rebels, we see more of Ahsoka’s grief over Anakin, showing that her leaving the order affected her strongly enough that she doesn’t even refer to herself as a Jedi anymore. Her guilt over the turn of events follows her for the rest of her life.
One of the most pivotal moments for her in Rebels was returning to Lothal with Kanan and Ezra to a Jedi temple. There, she is questioned by the ghost of her former master, who pushes her to accept that she was right in their original force encounter: Anakin Skywalker is a Sith Lord.
ahsoka vs vader
Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka go to Malachor, which houses an old Sith temple for knowledge. When Vader shows up, Ahsoka is forced to confront him.
“I was beginning to believe I knew who you were behind that mask, but it’s impossible. My master could never be as vile as you,” Tano says to Vader while Vader disses his old self. Ahsoka vows to avenge her former master while Vader chides her, saying, “Revenge is not the Jedi way,” something he said to her often while she was a padawan.
The two fight, and Ahsoka breaks off part of his mask. When Vader next speaks, he sounds like a fusion of Vader and Anakin, and you can also see one of his eyes as he makes eye contact with her. Ahsoka refuses to leave him again, and for a moment, there is a glimpse of Anakin Skywalker. Still, Vader takes over, and Ahsoka sacrifices herself to save Kanan and Ezra from the Sith Temple.
I am no Jedi.
Ahsoka Tano – Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Ep. 22, Twilight of the Apprentice Part II
After this episode, Ahsoka is presumed dead, but Ezra saves her in the World Between Worlds, a pathway between all events in the canon Star Wars timeline.
So, what’s next for Ahsoka?
Ahsoka’s fate has been up in the air for two years since the season finale of the show Ahsoka. A second season is happening, and filming recently started, and it is set to be released hopefully within the next year.
Ahsoka’s legacy went from being one of Star Wars’ greatest failures to one of the most important parts of the Skywalker saga, and her character is an inspiration to girls everywhere.
I am always going to love Ahsoka and what she stands for. She is one of the strongest characters in Star Wars, the padawan of the Chosen One, and someone who makes being exceedingly stubborn look cool.
And the greatest thing? Her story isn’t over yet.