Star Wars: The Mandalorian: Who Is Ahsoka Tano?

This week's episode of The Mandalorian, "Chapter 11: The Heiress," featured the live-action debut of a significant character from Star Wars animation. The Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryze -- played in live-action by her voice actress Katee Sackhoff -- rescued Din Djarin and the Child from pirates and offered to help him find a Jedi, for a price. Bo-Katan points Mando towards Ahsoka Tano, who's status as a Jedi is a matter of some debate. Whether or not she thinks of herself as a Jedi, Ahsoka is the breakout character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, whose journey continued in Star Wars Rebels, and whom Rosario Dawson will reportedly play in live-action. If you haven't seen those series, here's a summary of Ahsoka's adventures up until the era of The Mandalorian.

Ahsoka debuted in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie when, in its wisdom, the Jedi Council saw fit to bestow Anakin Skywalker with a Padawan. At first, Anakin -- ever the man of action -- didn't like the idea of having a newcomer under his care, especially not while a war was raging. But Ahsoka soon earned his respect. The two became more than teacher and student, but friends.

Ahsoka trusted Anakin implicitly, but she came to question the Jedi Order's wisdom over the course of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. Ahsoka believed that the Jedi's duty was to help people above all. She felt that the Order's rigid adherence to ancient traditions and involvement in the war between the Republic and the Separatists had caused the Jedi to lose their way.

Her concerns about the Jedi came to a head when another Padawan bombed the Jedi Temple and framed Ahsoka for the act. The Council expelled Ahsoka from the Order, but Anakin, never doubting his Padawan, found the real culprit. He cleared Ahsoka's name and the Council offered to restore her status, but Ahsoka declined, realizing that she wanted to walk a different path.

Ahsoka tried to live in Coruscant's lower rings for a time, but it wasn't long before she was drug back into the Clone War. She crossed paths with Bo-Katan, who asked for her aid in removing Darth Maul from power on Mandalore. Captain Rex led the 501st Legion to back up Bo-Katan's squad of Mandalorians. Meanwhile, Ahsoka dueled and defeated Darth Maul on the eve of the Republic's fall.

Ahsoka felt her former master fall to the dark side before she truly understood what happened. During the events of Star Wars Rebels, she dueled Darth Vader and confirmed her worst fears. She discovered, without any lingering doubt, that the Dark Lord of the Sith was once Anakin Skywalker. She would have died there when the old Sith Temple they fought in collapsed around them, but the young Rebel and aspiring Jedi Ezra Bridger entered the World Between Worlds and pulled Ahsoka Tano out from the moment she would die and forward through time, saving her life.

The last fans know of Ahsoka Tano was shortly after the fall of the Empire. The Star Wars Rebels finale confirmed that Ahsoka fought for the Rebel Alliance. At the end of the war, she and the Mandalorian Sabine Wren embarked on a quest to find Ezra, who had gone missing.

It seems Ahsoka returned from that quest by the time of The Mandalorian's second season. It shouldn't be long now before Star Wars fans find out what happened to Ahsoka next. New episodes of The Mandalorian stream on Fridays on Disney+.

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