Former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
#AhsokaWatchAlong
Join us to watch Ahsoka on Disney+ each debut Wednesday Tuesday at 8:30 PM Mountain time. If you are unable to watch along with us at that time, you can still join the Discord and chat—just be careful of spoilers!
| Event | Part | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 22 | 1. Master and Apprentice | A valuable prisoner escapes New Republic custody; a search for answers reunites two old friends. |
| 2. Toil and Trouble | Ahsoka and General Hera Syndulla travel to New Republic shipyards and make an unexpected discovery. | |
| Aug 29 | 3. Time to Fly | Hera tangles with New Republic politics while Ahsoka and Sabine Wren voyage to a distant planet. |
| Sep 5 | 4. Fallen Jedi | Hera risks her career to help her friends while Ahsoka and Sabine confront enemies. |
| Sep 12 | 5. Shadow Warrior | Ahsoka confronts her past, while Hera and her allies undertake a rescue mission. |
| Sep 19 | 6. Far, Far Away | The search for Grand Admiral Thrawn reaches beyond the limits of the galaxy. |
| Sep 26 | 7. Part Seven | |
| Oct 3 | 8. Finale |
Where does Ahsoka fit in?
Ahsoka Tano is a former Jedi trained by Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars. She left the Jedi Order after being falsely accused of a plot against the Jedi and the Republic.
Ahsoka developed a friendship with Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, and later helped the Mandalorians and Republic capture Maul. Later on she joined early Rebels of Phoenix Squadron including captain Hera Syndulla, Jedi Kanan Jarrus, Mandalorian Sabine Wren, and Jedi-in-training Ezra Bridger. Ahsoka fought alongside the rebels, going up against Maul, Darth Vader, the Inquisitors, and the Empire’s Grand Admiral Thrawn.
During her time with the rebels, she experienced the mysterious World Between Worlds in a Jedi temple on Ezra’s home planet, Lothal. She later parted ways with the Rebellion on a quest to find Ezra Bridger, who was last seen along with Thrawn on his disabled Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer, being pulled into hyperspace by giant hyperspace-faring whale-like Purrgil.
What to Watch & Read
You should probably have seen The Mandalorian, at the very least. The Book of Boba Fett helps fill in some events between The Mandalorian seasons 2 and 3 as well.
If you want to better understand Ahsoka and her backstory, I would recommend The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series—you don’t have to watch every episode (but might appreciate the character more if you do); I have a guide for The Clone Wars, and here is another site’s recommendation for both shows which looks good at a glance.
For extra credit (and if you have time…), I would highly recommend reading/listening to the two most recent Thrawn trilogies: Thrawn (2017), Thrawn: Alliances (2018), Thrawn: Treason (2019), plus Thrawn Ascendency: Chaos Rising (2020), Thrawn Ascendency: Greater Good (2021), and Thrawn Ascendency: Lesser Evil (2021). Thrawn will likely play an important role in the Ahsoka series, and these books provide an excellent back story and motivations to a fascinating character who is much more than a classic villain. The author, Timothy Zahn, has been involved with the Ahsoka series as well.
The original Thrawn books (from 1991 through 2006) may be interesting background material, but are considered non-canon legends. The Ahsoka series may pull characters/traits, locations, plot lines, references (like calling Thrawn “Heir to the Empire”), but they aren’t required reading for the series at all.
Star Wars Gets Weird
Ahsoka was created as a character by Dave Filoni and George Lucas for the Clone Wars to give Anakin a Padawan learner, helping round him out and make his leaving the Jedi Order more impactful. She has been around in some of the most mystical times in Star Wars canon, especially in the Clone Wars and Rebels animated shows.
This section contains potential spoilers for Clone Wars and Rebels, but might explain more of the heavy lore behind Ahsoka.
Mortis
During the Clone Wars, Ahsoka visited a mysterious ethereal Force realm on Mortis with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Mortis was home to the Ones: the dark side embodiment Brother, the light side embodiment Sister, and the Father who maintained the balance between the two.
The Brother sought power; he killed Ahsoka and ultimately tried to kill the Father, with the Sister intervening and sacrificing herself at the last second. The Sister revived Ahsoka’s life with her own dying breath. After their encounter at Mortis, Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan woke up in their ship seemingly when and where they were before.
An owl named Morai was often seen with the Sister, and was later often seen with Ahsoka after Mortis.
Dathomirian Nightsisters
The planet Dathomir was home to the magick-wielding Nightsisters, often referred to as witches. The Nightsisters were not exactly Force-wielders, but had similar capabilities with their dark magick which manifested as a green mist.
During the Clone Wars, Ahsoka had many run-ins with Asajj Ventress, a Nightsister who left Dathomir to be trained as a Sith apprentice by Count Dooku.
Malachor
In a Jedi temple on Lothal, a Force vision of Yoda instructed Ezra Bridger to travel to Malachor to unlock the secret to defeating the Sith. Ezra, his master Kanan Jarrus, and Ahsoka found an ancient Sith temple and Maul on Malachor.
Maul saught to use the temple—apparently also an ancient Sith superweapon—against Palpatine, Vader, and the Empire. Ezra sought the temple’s Sith holocron for its knowledge. They were interrupted by Imperial Inquisitors who were hunting the Jedi, and ultimately Vader himself arrived to finish the job.
Maul escaped by stealing an Inquisitor ship while Ezra successfully retrieved the Sith holocron, rendering the temple unstable. Kanan and Ezra escaped back to their ship while Ahsoka stayed behind to duel Vader in the crumbling temple.
Vader appeared to defeat Ahsoka, who sacrificed herself to ensure Ezra’s escape.
World Between Worlds
Ezra’s master Kanan Jarrus sacrificed himself on Lothal to allow Ezra and the rebel crew to escape an explosion. Emperor Palpatine was aware of the Jedi temple on Lothal and sent a Sith archeologist and Imperial crew to try to unlock its secrets.
Ezra traveled back to the temple where he and Sabine Wren discovered an ancient mural of the Mortis Ones. The mural unlocked a portal into the World Between Worlds, a mysterious ethereal realm seemingly bridging time and space with a number of portals. Ezra entered the portal while Sabine distracted the Imperials.
Ezra saw Ahsoka and Vader dueling on Malachor through a portal in the World Between Worlds. He reached in and pulled Ahsoka out before Vader’s finishing blow and as the Sith temple crumbled.
Ezra wanted to use the realm to save Kanan, but Ahsoka cautioned that doing so would mean Kanan would have been unable to save Ezra and the crew, preventing them from continuing on in their fight against the Empire and its oppression. Around this time, Emperor Palpatine used Sith magicks to see into the realm from a portal on Coruscant, and tried to pull Ezra to him to unlock the realm’s secrets.
Ahsoka escaped back into the Malachor portal while Ezra escaped out of the temple on Lothal. The rebels destroyed the Jedi temple and Mortis Ones mural in an attempt to keep the Emperor and anyone else from using the realm.
Timeline
The Ahsoka series takes place around the same time as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, which is around ten years after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and 20 years before Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
For more context, see my compiled timeline.