Star Wars: Ahsoka Tano’s Different Lightsaber Colors Explained

Star Wars’ Ahsoka Tano has gone from being a breakout character from Star Wars animated series like Clone Wars and Rebels to being a mainstream star thanks to her live-action debut in The Mandalorian Season 2. Now Ahsoka is set to headline her own live-action Star Wars series (played by Rosario Dawson); however, a lot of fans are still learning the finer details of the character’s origin and role in the larger Star Wars franchise. One of the most confusing things about Ahsoka’s Star Wars storyline are the dagger-style lightsabers she wields. When we first met Ahsoka as Anakin Skywalker’s padawan she had green lightsabers, but by the end of The Clone Wars, she was toting blue sabers. When an older Ahsoka eventually resurfaced to aid the Rebellion during the battle against the Empire, she fought with a new pair of lightsabers that were pure white.

So what happened to Ahsoka’s lightsabers to change them along the way? Here’s what we know:

When fans first met Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars years ago, she dual-wielded green lightsabers, while her appearance in Star Wars Rebels saw her with white-bladed sabers. The final season of Clone Wars revealed Ahsoka with blue-bladed sabers, igniting speculation about how the blades evolved into a new color. Despite previously surrendering her green-bladed lightsabers to the Jedi Council, An episode of Clone Wars final season (“Old Friends Not Forgotten”) saw Ahsoka reunite with her former master Anakin Skywalker, who returned the two lightsabers to his former padawan confirming that he took good care of them and that they were “maybe a little better” after he had done some tinkering. Fans who are familiar with lightsabers and their Kyber crystal power sources know that the crystals often reflect traits of the owner, with Anakin having clearly influenced Ahsoka’s weapons, whether he intended to or not.

The novel Ahsoka by E.K. Johnson details what ends up happening to the blue lightsabers, as Star Wars Rebels depicted Ahsoka with pure white lightsabers, which denotes her independent spirit. In the novel (which is set after Clone Wars), Ahsoka is in hiding from the Empire, but gets exposed when she uses her Force powers to save some innocents. The Empire sends Sixth Brother – one of its Jedi-hunting enforcers known as The Inquisitors – to take Ahsoka out; instead she kills Sixth Brother in battle, and takes the kyber crystals from Sixth Brother’s lightsaber to make new ones for herself, having ditched her blue blades after escaping Order 66. Sixth Brother’s crystals had been bled red with dark side corruption, but Ahsoka purified them white. The new Star Wars: The High Republic series has expounded upon the meaning of white kyber crystals and lightsabers, through the character of Jedi Orla Jareni, who chooses the path of a “Wayseeker,” i.e. a Jedi who chose to operate independent of the Jedi Council and its views. Orla’s independent nature is defined by her white lightsaber; given her conflicts with both the Jedi Council and the Sith, Ahsoka’s independent path following the Force is similarly reflected in her own white sabers.

By the time of Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka resurfaces as a major agent in what will become The Rebellion. Her white sabers and zen-like demeanour denoted the change in Ahsoka’s character, as she embraced her own path as an agent of the light side of the Force. Star Wars fans are still wondering if the Ahsoka TV series will re-cover the moment of the Ahsoka novel that showed the white lightsabers being created. Since the novel’s continuity has already been disrupted by Clone Wars‘ final season, it’s a definite possibility.

Were you glad to learn these details about Ahsoka Tano’s lightsabers? Let us know in the comments below!

Star Wars continues with new The High Republic novels and comics this summer, with The Book of Boba Fett coming to screens in late 2021, and The Mandalorian season 3 comics in 2022.