Our previous two articles focused on some of the villains of The Clone Wars, both of whom originated elsewhere but received the lion’s share of their development within the 100-plus episodes of the TV show. There were many notable characters who were created specifically for the show as well, on both sides of the conflict. But none of them received the spotlight as much or as harshly as Ahsoka Tano.
Behind the scenes, Ahsoka was created as part of the initial outline of the show, which involved her and an elder Jedi Master, along with other more motley crew members, traveling the Outer Rim and involving themselves with various adventures. George Lucas saw the concept art and initial sketches of her and proposed that she be apprenticed to a more notable Jedi instead: Anakin Skywalker. Ahsoka, in his eyes, would be the ideal tool to help Anakin develop from the brash, undisciplined apprentice he was at the end of Attack of the Clones into a more mature, reserved Jedi Knight in Revenge of the Sith.
Like Asajj Ventress before her, however, Ahsoka would grow into a full-fledged character in her own right. Though apprenticed to Anakin, throughout the show’s run she often left Anakin’s side and joined other Jedi on adventures through many scopes of the war. This, along with her unorthodox lightsaber style and penchant for giving nicknames (and snark) to everyone she met rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way as she made her debut in the Clone Wars movie. On the other hand, she has become a favorite character for a large portion of fans for some of those same reasons, especially among young girls.
But we aren’t here to discuss arguments, we’re here to dissect the development she goes through from episode-to-episode and season-to-season. This will be a much broader sweep of material than the previous autopsies, because while Grievous and Ventress have a few over a dozen episodes featuring them, Ahsoka features in 60 episodes (not counting the movie) with more than one line of dialogue, giving her more appearances in the series than any character aside from Anakin, Obi-Wan and R2-D2.
Fortunate, then, for her own sake that Ahsoka had other teachers aside from her Master, as her impressive abilities and eagerness for combat led to her being assigned to a variety of Jedi in a variety of theaters. She worked with Luminara Unduli to help guard Nute Gunray, a mission pitting her against Asajj Ventress one-on-one, and Ahsoka again showed that despite her abilities, which allowed her to match blades with Ventress, her impetuousness and inexperience allowed the assassin to manipulate her and then free Gunray, with both the Viceroy and Ventress ultimately escaping. Ahsoka would later be paired with Aayla Secura after a rescue attempt gone awry resulted in a crash landing and Anakin being badly wounded. Both Secura and the extreme circumstances they found themselves in would teach Ahsoka about the dangerous nature of her attachment to her Master, and that sometimes the Jedi had to put the concerns of many above the fate of one. The battle to defend the Lurmen colony on Maridun, where she butted heads with the colony’s pacifist leader, taught her a lesson the headstrong apprentice appreciated: the necessity of courage when standing by one’s beliefs.
Ahsoka’s first major mission on her own was investigating the outbreak of the Blue Shadow Virus on Naboo. With the release of the virus through an underground Separatist facility, she, Padmé Amidala and the clone troops with them sealed themselves inside in order to destroy the remaining enemy droids and prevent the virus from escaping, cured in the nick of time by an antidote provided by Anakin. Ahsoka would again strike out on her own as she led a fighter mission against the Separatist blockade of Ryloth, disobeying direct orders from both Anakin and Admiral Yularen in her eagerness to smash the blockade and aid the planet below. The resulting fiasco lost half the pilots under her command and left Ahsoka badly shaken, both at the deaths of her pilots and her own mistakes and lack of command abilities. Rather than relieve her of command, Anakin devised a plan to both win the battle and give Ahsoka her confidence back: leaving her in command while he flew a damaged cruiser into the enemy blockade to serve as a battering ram. Despite her vehement protests against his plan, Ahsoka rose to the challenge, ultimately able to destroy the enemy, preserve her own forces and recover her master.
Ahsoka would make a friend of some importance during the second invasion of Geonosis, where a mission into a Separatist facility paired her with Barriss Offee, Luminara’s Padawan, a far more orthodox and traditional student. Rather than forming a friendly rivalry as she had with Anakin, Ahsoka and Barriss clashed over the importance of rules and instructions, the differences in their teachers’ philosophies clear. The pair ultimately worked together and destroyed the facility, but not without trapping themselves inside, only being rescued because of Ahsoka’s hotwiring a power cell to send a signal. The two would be shipped off with the supplies meant for a medical station, having to fend off brain-worm infected clones and forcing Ahsoka to fight Barriss when the latter became infected herself. Barriss, unable to control her own actions, urged Ahsoka to kill her, but Ahsoka refused and sought a less permanent solution, successfully freezing the worms out and saving Barriss’ life once again.
Ahsoka would return to the temple and, while aiding in the arrest of a local arms dealer, lose her lightsaber. This led her to Tera Sinube, an elderly Master who helped Ahsoka reclaim her weapon while teaching her the value of patience and foresight to temper her energy and enthusiasm. She also began, at his urging, a mentoring role of her own as she taught a group of younglings the responsibility they had to their lightsabers. Later, when Anakin and Mace Windu lost their cruiser while on a training mission, Ahsoka paired with Plo Koon to hunt down their assailant, Boba Fett, and his accomplice Aurra Sing. Despite Ahsoka’s lack of subtlety, they tracked the bounty hunters to Florrum, subdued them and appeared to kill Sing. Ahsoka would further grow in experience through her ventures in the political world, as she escorted Senator Chuchi to negotiations with the Trade Federation, aided an investigation into corruption on Mandalore, and thwarted the not-quite-dead Sing’s assassination attempt on Padmé thanks to visions she received.
Ahsoka accompanied Anakin and Obi-Wan as they investigated a Jedi distress signal and found themselves on Mortis, a Force nexus where Ahsoka had a vision of her older self warning her that unless she left Skywalker’s tutelage, she would never see her own future. She was later kidnapped by the Son, who, when his efforts to convince her of Anakin’s failings as a teacher and friend failed, poisoned her and turned her into an aggressive, rage-filled creature of the dark side. While not of her own volition, her fall did bring out all of her frustrations and fears at her Master’s teachings, that she would never measure up to his standards and was too-often belittled and shuffled aside like a child. Ahsoka fought her Master and Obi-Wan while aiding the Son, stealing a mystical weapon for him, a deed which earned her a painful reward as he drained the life from her body. Ahsoka was resurrected by a dying Daughter’s life-force, but had no memory of her dark side escapades, and was thereafter assigned with repairing their shuttle so the three could leave the planet.
There she encountered a now-orphaned and embittered Lux Bonteri, who teamed with Death Watch in a scheme to get revenge for his murdered mother. Ahsoka posed as Lux’s betrothed until Pre Vizsla’s treachery necessitated their escape, and she and the young Senator again parted ways. Ahsoka next encountered Lux when the Jedi Council sent her, Anakin and Obi-Wan to Onderon to aid the resistance against the Separatist-backed regime. Though jealous of the attention Lux paid to the rebel leader Steela, Ahsoka helped train the rebels and then plan out their moves against the enemy’s droid forces. During the climactic battle, she saved Lux’s life but was unable to save Steela, a failing that ate at her. Re-assigned to temple duty in the aftermath, Ahsoka would aid Yoda in instructing a band of younglings as they crafted their lightsabers and strove to become Jedi, serving as their guardian against both Hondo’s pirate forces and General Grievous’ army.
The investigative efforts soon turned sour as someone impersonating Ventress knocked Ahsoka out and left her at the mercy of the Coruscant Security Force in the midst of the same materials used to create the bomb used at the temple. Faced with the prospect of the betrayal of one of their own and under pressure from both Tarkin and the Senate to charge her with both the bombing and the deaths of the clones in her escape from prison, the Jedi Council expelled Tano from the Order and allowed her to be put on military trial for treason and sedition. Dismayed and in tears at the betrayal of the ones she looked up to most, Ahsoka could only repeat that she had been framed, an argument the prosecution easily brushed aside. As the verdict was about to be read, however, Anakin entered the court, dragging the true guilty party, Ahsoka’s friend Barriss, with him. Barriss, disenchanted with the war and convinced that the Jedi were as corrupt as the Republic they served, had constructed the entire plot. When the Council offered to restore Ahsoka to her place among the Order, even proposing a promotion to Jedi Knight, she refused, disgusted and saddened by their lack of faith in her. Anakin, confused and angry, tried to convince her to stay, but Ahsoka’s mind was made up. She left the temple, her Master and her way of life without looking back.
Like the show itself, Ahsoka was far from perfect and didn’t conform to everyone’s expectations. Her role within TCW, as close to a main character as the series had, rubbed those who found her abrasive and overly capable the wrong way. However, her development from an idealistic and headstrong young Padawan into a mature, more experienced Jedi mirrored the series as it left the more simplistic storytelling of the early seasons and moved into more serialized and serious multi-part plots. The creative decision for her to voluntarily leave the Order, rather than taking the easy road and have her die in the events of Revenge of the Sith along with the other Jedi, was one of the most daring of the show’s run, despite a rather compacted and rushed series of events leading to the conclusion. And as with Ventress, many fans wait in both dread and anticipation to see what role Ahsoka might play in future stories as the franchise moves forward.