Thanks to her own series, Ahsoka Tano is finally getting the mainstream recognition she deserves. However, live-action fans might not realise just how much Ahsoka has changed over the course of Star Wars lore.
Even in a golden age of timeline-reliant franchises, few characters can be so clearly charted. Ahsoka doesn’t just grow up in front of us, but her presence can be felt in almost every era of Star Wars’ rich history.
While many have plotted her path through the galaxy on a timeline, it’s also worth appreciating just how interesting her personal development is as a Jedi living through some of the galaxy’s most turbulent decades.
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Discover: Ahsoka Tano: All Star Wars Appearances
Ahsoka the Jedi Hero
Ahsoka’s first major contributions came during the Clone Wars animated series, set during the Prequel Trilogy. Aged around 14 at the time, she appears at first to be the model Jedi Padawan.
Despite, or perhaps because Anakin was her master, Ahsoka is the ‘good cop’ of the duo, a wide-eyed hopeful who believes in the Jedi’s duty to save people in need above any politics or war games.
In some senses, this young Ahsoka almost feels like the definition of a comic book superhero. An immensely talented teen with strong morals and enough charisma to inspire a small army to follow her. She’s nearly a picture-perfect definition of what a Jedi should be.
It’s not surprising Ahsoka quickly became one of Star Wars’ most popular characters, and equally unsurprising that her righteous air annoyed others.
However, just like her master, Ahsoka never loses a rebellious edge. Young Ahsoka regularly questions the decision-making of the Jedi Order and Anakin, following her moral judgement at every turn.
Eventually, though, Ahsoka’s judgement fails her, starting her down the winding path towards her exit from the Jedi Order.
Discover: Ahsoka's Best Moments in Star Wars Before the TV Series
From Commander to Commoner
During Storm Over Ryloth, Ahsoka betrays battle orders and makes a move that causes most of her squadron to die. This is arguably the first time we see Ahsoka suffer a lack of self-confidence and sets up a crucial development in Ahsoka’s story.
Later in the episode, when Anakin hatches a plan for a reckless counter-attack, he leaves Ahsoka in command of their forces. Initially hesitant, Ahsoka grows into her role for the sake of her master.
By the end of the episode, there’s a permanent change in Ahsoka Tano. We start to see more balance in her personality, her delusions of grandeur around the Jedi starting to shed.
Interestingly, despite Anakin being largely responsible for Ahsoka’s mini-redemption arc, her loyalty towards him doesn’t notably change. Their relationship is strained from the start – two rebellious teenagers largely forced to grow up together – but their sheer talent makes them believe in each other.
Then comes the bomb incident, where Ahsoka Tano is framed and charged with an explosion at the Jedi Temple.
But is the bomb incident really enough to leave the whole Jedi Order behind, including Anakin Skywalker?
Maybe it was the final straw, one time too many that she had to fight against her superiors.
Or maybe it was something much bigger. Maybe while on the run, after seeing the protests in the slums, interacting with conflicted Separatists and delivering those knowing words to Anakin Skywalker, she finally knew not just that the Jedi Order was going to lose but that it had to.
So, Ahsoka leaves the refined, uptight confides of the Jedi Order and heads down into Coruscant's Industrial District, where she quickly meets and starts working with the Martez sisters.
The Martez sisters are classic salt-of-the-earth characters: deeply proud workaholics who protect themselves, are generally aggressive to outsiders and will take any opportunity to better themselves, through good means or foul.
Ahsoka initially keeps her former life as a Jedi secret from the sisters, striking up a good relationship with Trace and helping them with jobs involving gangsters, dodgy droids and, eventually, illegal drug smuggling.
Ahsoka still rallies her moral cause against the drug smuggling mission, but this is a moment where we see her iron-clad commitment to doing ‘the right thing’ start to bend.
Maybe it’s more accurate to say her moral view becomes narrower, more refined: she’ll do what’s right for the people she cares about in the moment, detached from the broader idea of what’s good for the galaxy.
The change in Ahsoka’s character while with the Martez’s isn’t as profound as at other times in her story, but its’ impact might be more sizeable than we imagine.
The Outsider
Eventually, she is recruited by Bo-Katan to help the Madalorians against a common enemy in Darth Maul.
Despite seemingly wanting no more to do with the war she grew up with, it finds a way of bringing her back into the fold. However, the Mandalorians are a perfect, neutral home for this new, mature Ahsoka
The Ahsoka that Anakin sees at this time is a markedly different person to the one he trained – the Mandalorian Ahsoka is colder, her words more to the point, perhaps showing an eagerness for the fighting (and her role in it) to end as soon as possible.
Ahsoka even forges something of an awkward friendship with Darth Maul, someone who, like her, is tired of the old warring powers and wishes it would all be over.
Ahsoka and Maul both quickly get their wishes granted with the enactment of Order 66. Both survive but are essentially stranded, the galaxy’s axis forever shifted.
The next time we see Ahsoka after Order 66 is during Rebels, where she adopts the codename Fulcrum, a spying position perfectly suited to the new Ahsoka and her narrow moral obligations. She seeks as small a role in the conflict as possible, wanting no part but still pulled by obligations to her remaining friends.
It’s during Rebels that she discovers that her former master, Anakin, has become Darth Vader. Their fight is pretty much the last time we see her chronologically before her appearances in the live-action universe.
Master Ahsoka
The biggest time jumps through Ahsoka’s life appear to happen between Clone Wars and Rebels, and then between Rebels and the live-action TV series. Partly because of the change from animated to live-action, Ahsoka’s transformation here is perhaps the most interesting.
The Ahsoka we meet in The Mandalorian is a remarkably different character to the Ahsoka that we first met, but is also just another step on her path towards distant neutrality.
Now, Ahsoka is an even colder character to both friends and foes. Her desire to find Thrawn feels less about supporting the Republic and more about avoiding another war, her back heavy from the weight of wars gone by.
Many of Ahsoka’s most notable traits when she was younger – her strong moral compass, her natural charisma and leadership – have almost been erased by a lifetime of struggle.
Ahsoka’s fight against Vader probably played a sizeable role in cementing this final, dramatic shift. However, there’s still a big piece of the puzzle left to be filled in – what happened during her time as Sabine’s master?
Ahsoka’s original stint as a master has already been compared in early Ahsoka episodes to her own experience under Anakin. Given how that relationship ended, could Sabine have inadvertently made Ahsoka’s emotional scars worse, pushing her down this colder path?
If so, what does that mean for Ahsoka’s emotional development through her own TV series, which has already seen her return as Sabine’s master and reunite with Anakin?
We’re already starting to see a slight softening of Ahsoka’s cold demeanour in her TV series. Given long-standing rumours about her potential death, could Ahsoka give Ahsoka the closure she sorely deserves?
If so, she may finally be recognised as one of the greatest Star Wars characters ever created.
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