This is a reposted blog post from when I was blogging as The Star Wars Historian, which was around the time that The Mandalorian Season 2 just dropped. At the time of writing, we had not yet seen the live action reveal of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka and LONG before the first season of her solo series.

It is mainly my thoughts on the character, so I have shared it verbatim.

Let me know your thoughts.

Ahsoka freaking Tano.

She’s my second favorite character in the entire Star Wars galaxy, being beaten by Obi-Wan Kenobi only by a hair (and even sometimes that is a little fluid).

When I first started watching The Clone Wars, I was only watching it for my kid.

On his fourth birthday, I sat him down and we watched A New Hope. We then watched the remainder of the films in release order until we were done the original two trilogies. I even made him a special edit of Revenge of the Sith because at that age, he wasn’t ready for some of the content; but deserved to see the film.

I have always loved Star Wars. The first time I saw Episode IV it imprinted in my brain; a core memory so to speak. I went and saw all the Special Edition rereleases in theatres with my Dad and I even loved the prequels (not so much Attack of the Clones, but it’s grown on me since. Still the weakest of the films in my opinion). I read Legends novels in my teens and well into adulthood.

But I have to admit something. I had never given Clone Wars a chance. I saw a couple of clips of the film and I thought it looked so stupid and childish. Above all else, my biggest issue with it was the fact they gave Anakin Skywalker a Padawan. She looked ridiculous and the fact that none of this was mentioned in Episode III didn’t sit well with me.

So, needless to say when my son saw that it was on Netflix and wanted to watch it, I was less than excited; but because I have always encouraged my son to find his own interests, I threw it on without so much as an eye roll.

I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the first few episodes (and to be fair, those earlier episodes are a little more childish than the franchise as a whole).  For whatever reason though, I was fully paying attention to the tenth episode and, boy, am I glad.

In episode ten, “Lair of Grievous,” we see Kit Fisto and his recently knighted apprentice, Nahdar Vebb, locate General Grievous’ lair. They follow bread crumbs left by Count Dooku, all a big test of the General’s loyalty.

Long story short, Grievous ends up alone with the over confident Vebb. They duel sabers for a bit before Grievous, while Vebb is distracted by a blade clash, pulls a blaster with one of his spare arms and just fricking shoots Vebb in the gut in cold blood.

This content was just so unexpected and more adult that my opinions on the show immediately changed; and though it still had a childish air for the first season, its tone darkened and grew immensely by the end of the series.

The point of this digression is to simply annotate that after I watched that episode, my opinion of the show immediately changed and I began to view with a new eye. The kid and I began to binge it, with me at the helm and we absorbed it all in no time.

Ironically, the character that originally left the worst taste in my mouth (based on strictly nothing but me being one of the elitist Star Wars fans I now despise) became my favorite original character by the end of the series.

Ahsoka, like Anakin, is slightly rebellious. She likes to test the rules and question many things. Yoda pairs her with Anakin in the hopes that they will help balance each other out. She was a little whiny, but so was Anakin. Especially as a Padawan (remember Episode II? ugh).

The episode that really solidified Ahsoka’s bad-assery for me was “Lightsaber Lost.” The first time I saw Ahsoka jumping across the Coruscant rooftops after the Torellian Jango Jumper that was in possession of her saber was unreal. That is, to this day, my kid’s favorite episode and I legitimately have seen it forty times; easily. It still hasn’t gotten old. Also, big shout out to Terra Sinube.

Ahsoka started becoming a favorite with her wardrobe change in Season 4 (much like my opinions on Ezra in Rebels) and every arc that she was a part of progressively got better.

Another of my favorite arcs is when her and the Padawans are kidnapped by the Trandoshan hunters and brought to their hunting planet. After rescuing Chewbacca, with his help, they take out all the Trandoshans. It’s absolutely beautiful Star Wars cinema and definitely one of the most fun fan-service episodes.

I’ve been rambling on, trying to avoid talking about when she leaves the Jedi Order. It’s absolutely gut-wrenching and I am beginning to tear up just a little now thinking of it.

When a bomb goes off, destroying a part of the Jedi temple and killing many innocents, the investigation points directly at Ahsoka as the culprit. She is removed from the Order, despite her pleads of innocence. I have to say, it absolutely disgusts me how quickly Mace Windu is able to bring himself to be like “Ya, just kick her out.”

But with the help of Anakin and (another of my personal favorites) Asajj Ventress, the killer is brought to light and it is none other than that bitch Barriss Baskin (Offee), someone who was a dear friend to Ahsoka.

I would like to mention here that if you watch the saber duel between Anakin and Barriss, there is quite the similarity between the way Anakin fights her and Darth Vader fights in the future. There is no way it was a coincidence that Anakin, fueled by anger here, fights like he will as a Sith; and I think it’s some foreshadowing at it’s finest.

Once that matter is settled, they invite her back in, but she refuses.

The hurt she feels (and Anakin feels, I guess) moves me to tears every time. Honestly, I don’t even blame her. These people who were literally her only family throughout her entire life, the people who taught her everything she believed and held so close, just cast her aside the second her membership was even slightly inconvenient to the eyes of the Republic.

I would have left too.

This, though never mentioned, is some of the early stages of Sidious’ grooming of Anakin as Sidious’ next Padawan.

The next chapter in Ahsoka’s life, canonically, is her return to Coruscant to aid Bo-Katan Kryze in what is known as The Siege of Mandalore. However, we didn’t get this story for many, many years.

We were blessed with E.K. Johnston’s spectacular Ahsoka novel that bridged the gap from her leaving the Order to who she became when we saw her again in Rebels and this touched on matter briefly, but barely. Even what was mentioned of the Siege, is now canonically changed.

I could go on about Ahsoka for pages and pages, but I will finish up by talking about her duel against Darth Vader (cue me getting emotional again).

“Anakin…was weak. I destroyed him.”

The altercation initiates as Vader is about to strike down Ezra, Ahsoka’s voice cutting the anxiety of the moment. Ahsoka states that she thought she knew who was behind Vader’s mask, but obviously she was wrong. There was no way it could be who she believed it to be.

“Then I will avenge his death.”

“Revenge is not the Jedi way.”

“I am no Jedi.”

Chills.

Every single time.

Every time Ahsoka battles someone, she just solidifies her position as one of the greatest Force users in the entire series and debatably one of the greatest lightsaber duelists. She took on Grievous at like 14. She took on Maul a few years later and then, almost 20 years after becoming Anakin’s apprentice, she took on Darth Vader. Something no other Jedi really can say they successfully done.

Her live action debut in The Mandalorian is such a big deal. Not just for me, but for thousands of Star Wars fans across the globe. I know we won’t get as much of her as we’d hope, but you know this is just going to be a stepping stone for Ahsoka to finally get the series she deserves.

I’ve said it before, but I need to reiterate how hopeful I am that Ashley Eckstein voices her and not whoever (we still can’t confirm entirely that it’s Rosario) does the acting. Ashley Eckstein is, without a doubt, Ahsoka’s biggest fan and the real-life embodiment of all the virtues that Ahsoka represents. If you aren’t in the know of everything she is doing with Disney and her clothing line ‘Her Universe’ you are absolutely missing out.

She is an embodiment of child-like wonder and the constant (sometimes rebellious) questioning of the world around us; the never-ending quest for knowledge that we should always be on the pursuit of. She resembles courage, strength and unity. She shows us that love and compassion are some of the most important of traits. She shows us that sometimes the best choices aren’t always the easiest and that sometimes you have to sacrifice the ones you love most to become who you are truly meant to be.

I guess I will finish this off now by clarifying what I am trying to say.

Ahsoka is not only an amazing character, but also an amazing real-life archetype for us to follow in our every day lives.

I know that after I have finished and posted this writing, I will think of 1000 more things that I should have said about Ahsoka and didn’t; and I’m certain that that will still be after everything I add to this post during the first edit.

So, to all the Little ‘Soka fans out there, this one’s for you.

Leave your favorite Ahsoka moments in the comments.