Deep in the GalaxyThings you (probably) didn't know about the people, places, creatures, droids, organizations, and other things in the Star Wars universe.
Who is Ahsoka Tano? Anakin Skywalker's apprentice Ahsoka Tano is a Togruta female, incredibly gifted in the ways of the Force. Like her master, Ahsoka was brash and eager to prove herself. But over time, as she worked alongside other Jedi and met people across the galaxy, she grew and gained a wider understanding of both the universe and the ways of the Force. In some ways, she surpassed many of the Jedi Masters who taught her, realizing the Jedi Order had become so consumed with following tradition they abandoned compassion for the sake of protocol.
Audiences were introduced to Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and reintroduced to a more mature Ahsoka in Star Wars Rebels. She was assigned to Anakin to help temper his brash nature, and while it seemed to work for a while, the two would later enable one another, plunging head first into any action that came their way. However, these facts about Ahsoka Tano show how the young Padawan eventually outgrew her master, as well as the Jedi Order itself. These Ahsoka Tano stories will leave you in awe of a woman who is arguably one of the best characters in the Star Wars universe.
Darth Vader was, without question, one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy, capable of destroying entire squadrons of soldiers single handedly. It's pretty incredible, then, that Ahsoka was not only able to hold her own in a duel against him, but that she was able to land a hit, destroying half of his mask with her lightsaber (you can, and should, watch the fight in the video above).
Her skill with a lightsaber should not come as a surprise. After all, she was trained by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, two of the best lightsaber duelists in the Jedi Order.
Her Headdress Celebrates A Brutal Animal Murder
Photo: Lucasfilm
Like Jedi Master Shaak Ti, Ahsoka wears an intricate headdress atop her montrals. The triangle pieces in the headdress are supposedly made from the teeth of an akul, a dangerous predator found on the Togruta homeworld.
This headpiece could only be worn by those who had slain an akul themselves. So, at some point during her youth, between listening to Yoda’s lectures and study sessions at the Jedi archives, Ahsoka went out and slaughtered a giant, carnivorous beast.
While Darth Maul was criminally underused in The Phantom Menace, Dave Filoni breathed new life into the character in The Clone Wars and Rebels. Everyone’s favorite ex-Sith duelist fought Ahsoka two times. The first was in an episode of Rebels. The two locked lightsabers just moments before Ahsoka had her long-awaited reunion with her former master, (the now evil) Anakin Skywalker.
Long before that, Ahsoka dueled with the Dathomirian Zabrak during the Siege of Mandalore, where Maul taunted the former Jedi before Ahsoka cleverly trapped him in a ray shield. She had the chance to kill Maul, but she chose to save her friend and fellow soldier, Rex, instead.
After witnessing the fallout from Order 66 (which caused the death of most Jedi), Ahsoka and her friend Rex decided to fake their own deaths, hoping it would throw the Empire off their trail.
They created a fake grave marker for Rex, and in the inscription they noted that the clone trooper captain had slain Ahsoka in battle. Ahsoka even planted her lightsabers in the dirt around the grave site, which made her “death” appear even more convincing. Jedi, of course, are rarely willing to part with their lightsabers.
She Can Actually Deactivate Enemy Lightsabers With The Force
Within the Star Wars canon, only a few characters have been known to deactivate an opponent’s lightsaber with the Force. It’s a skill reserved for people who are particularly strong in the Force. During a duel in the show Rebels, Ahsoka uses the Force to deactivate the Seventh Sister’s lightsaber, shocking her enemy.
The only other characters we have seen deactivate an opponent's lightsabers (in canon) are Yoda, who deactivates Ventress’ lightsabers in the first episode of The Clone Wars, and The Son, who deactivates the Jedi’s lightsabers in The Clone Wars Mortis arc. Yoda is one of the greatest Jedi masters of all time, and The Son is basically a living embodiment of the Force, so Ahsoka is in elite company.
She Probably Knew About Anakin And Padme’s Relationship
Photo: Lucasfilm
In this instance, Ahsoka was probably more perceptive than Obi-Wan. In the last moments of the episode “The Wrong Jedi,” Anakin tries to convince Ahsoka to stay, telling her, “I understand. More than you realize, I understand wanting to leave the Order,” to which she replies, “I know.”
Anakin appears taken aback by her response. Ahsoka spent a lot of time with Anakin and Padme, both separately and together, unlike Obi-Wan. In an interview, The Clone Warsshowrunner Dave Filoni said that the final scene in “The Wrong Jedi,” “shows that [Ahsoka] knows and that she knows Anakin so well that she knows this about him. I don’t know that she knows they’re married, but I know that she knows that he cares very deeply about Padme, and Padme about Anakin, and probably that it’s crossed a line.”
Also, in the Ahsoka novel, Bail Organa notes that Ahsoka must have known the true nature of Anakin and Padme’s relationship, even though he was certain she didn’t know about Luke and Leia.
