Star Wars: Why Ahsoka Is The Greatest Jedi Ever
TheStar WarsOver the years, the franchise has had many beloved villains and heroes — Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa have all been beloved characters. Recent additions to this series have also established a place among the galaxy’s greatest heroes.
The Sequel Trilogy was controversial for many reasons. However, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren found fans to be compelling and likable, even though their endings were not what they wanted. Baby Yoda and Grog, the bounty hunter, are now huge fan favorites. They’re not the only Star Wars icons the series has featured.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian featured many beloved characters, including Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker. Rosario Dawson played Ahsoka Tano. She was one of the most anticipated guest stars. To casual viewers, Ahsoka was simply a mysterious Jedi Knight who aided the Mandalorian in the battle against the Empire. For Star Wars enthusiasts, Ahsoka’s appearance was the debut of a beloved character in the franchise’s history. Her story is intertwined with some of the greatest legends.
Ahsoka Tano was first seen, voiced by Ashley Eckstein in the 2008 Star Wars animated movie. This feature-length pilot was released theatrically to promote the TV series with the same name. It aired later that year on Cartoon Network. Yoda assigned her to be Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, and she introduced Ahsoka as a Jedi Padawan. This was a surprise to many fans. Ahsoka’s whole character was a huge retcon to the series. Ahsoka’s immature and impulsive personality was a problem. This made her less interesting than the other characters in the series.
Although Ahsoka initially was not popular with fans, this slowly changed during The Clone Wars’ run. Ahsoka matured from her childish, cocky nature and became a skilled, well-rounded warrior with each season. And with her newfound maturity, she also found a newfound skepticism towards the Clone War itself. As her understanding of the conflict deepens, Ahsoka stops seeing the Republic and the Separatists as clear-cut good and evil. Padme joins her to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but it is ultimately futile.
In The Clone Wars, Ahsoka’s character development reaches its climax in Season 5. She is accused of murder and forced to flee the Republic. Though Ahsoka ultimately clears her name, she becomes jaded after witnessing how quickly her former allies turned on her and decides to leave the Jedi Order behind. But even so, Ahsoka continues to serve as a Jedi by deed if not by title, traveling the streets of Coruscant and helping those in need. In the war’s final days, she joined her Clone unit to defeat Darth Maul on Mandalore. Her own squad then betrayed her during Order 66. Ahsoka was a key ally of the Rebellion in its early days, many years later, as shown in the Star Wars: Rebels animated television series. She fought the Empire and even got into conflict with her mentor, Darth Vader, who is now her dark lord.
Although she was an exile from the Jedi Order for most of her adult life, Ahsoka Tano is a shining example of what a Jedi should look like. She is selfless, brave, compassionate, determined, and lives a life dedicated to helping others and defeating evil wherever it may be found. She is a hero for both the Republic and Rebellion and continued fighting until the Galactic Civil War. Star Wars has seen many iconic heroes throughout the years. Ahsoka, however, is perhaps the most committed to fighting for the good fight.
Ironically, Ahsoka’s exile status is what brings her closest to the Jedi ideal. The Star Wars series has a recurring theme: that traditional Jedi teachings are flawed, that it is better to reject emotion for discipline and live by the love of others. Every Star Wars film protagonist rejects the Jedi Order in some way. Qui-Gon Jinn, a rebellious and manipulative trickster, trusts Anakin despite all the council’s warnings. Anakin is so entrapped by the Order’s rules against attachment that he rebels and betrays his friends under Palpatine’s control. Luke believed his father would be saved, even though Obi-Wan or Yoda had told him otherwise. Luke’s persistence saved the galaxy. In The Final Jedi, he tells Rey that the Jedi Order was hypocritical and too confident.
More than any other character in Star Wars, Ahsoka Tano is a living example that Jedi Order teachings are not the only thing you need to follow. She rejected the Order to find her own path, and in doing so, she finally came into her own as a true hero. Ahsoka lives by the Jedi ideals of protecting life and keeping the peace, but she does so without being held back by the flawed code that led to the Jedi Order’s eventual downfall. Every decision she makes is based on the right and wrong of what she does, not whether it’s against the Jedi Code. Despite her disdain for Jedi teachings, or maybe even because of them, she is undoubtedly one of the greatest Jedi ever to live.
It could be argued that much of Ahsoka’s character, from her rebellious impulsiveness to her strong sense of compassion, is derived from Luke Skywalker, right down to their rejection of the traditional Jedi teachings. Ahsoka’s story is spread over multiple TV series rather than one trilogy of films. This makes her character arc feel more nuanced and in-depth. She’s the most complex, a multi-dimensional, fleshed-out character in Star Wars. However, Ahsoka Tano will not be moving away from the spotlight soon, no matter where she ranks in your list of favorite characters. And with a spin-off series of her own in development for Disney Plus, it’s clear that Ahsoka Tano’s story is still only just beginning.
