The Star Wars Universe is vast. So much so that it took me WAY too long to finally sit down and watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. It seemed daunting with so many episodes and seasons, but once I started, I had to finish. There are so many unforgettable characters and stories, and I could go on and on about how it fleshed out so many characters. But, there is one character that stands above the rest: Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka, above all others, had an unrivaled character development arc. To help get you prepared for the upcoming live-action Ahsoka series, I have laid out WHY Ahsoka has one of the best story arcs and put together some essential episodes of The Clone Wars and Rebels.

“I am no Jedi.”

#5 Single most multidimensional, fleshed-out character in the entire Star Wars franchise

In the first few seasons she appears in, she seems like an annoying child that is just thrown in the mix to test the development of Anakin’s character, but she matures and grows outside of Anakin’s growing shadow. She learns that war is not always about good and evil. Ahsoka has an enormous power of empathy and begins to understand that everything is more than “us vs. them.”  There is no black and white. She has seen the worst of the Sith and the Jedi. She has been through more than most characters in the Universe. 

Watch Clone Wars: Season 1, Episode 9

Throughout her life, Ahsoka gains the respect of the Clones, fellow Jedi, and people from many backgrounds, including Bo-Katan and the Mandalorians.

“You don’t have to carry a sword to be powerful. Some leaders’ strength is inspiring others.”

One thing Anakin taught her was to question everything. She eventually questioned her role within the Jedi Order when she was falsely accused of bombing the Jedi temple and killing someone. She felt the Order had lost its way when they couldn’t see her truth. She stayed true to herself and her beliefs, despite being betrayed. When she left the Jedi Order, it was a massive blow to Anakin, who felt abandoned. Was this the first hit that led him down the path to the dark side? 

Watch Clone Wars: Season 5, Episodes 17-20

In the Mortis arc, three Force beings represent the balance in the Force (Father, Daughter, and Son). Anakin is prophesied to be the Chosen One, meant to bring balance between the light and dark once the father dies. Long story short, the Daughter ends up sacrificing herself to save Ahsoka after the Son does some heinous things. She imbues her with special properties that seem to counteract the dark forces represented by the Son and Anakin’s future. Even though the Mortis arc has Ahsoka as a secondary character, I believe it is essential to show that she is the light to Anakin’s growing darkness. 

Watch Clone Wars: Season 3, Episodes 14-16, Mortis Arc

#4 Learns from her mistakes

Ahsoka learns tough lessons about leadership and responsibility when she is given command of her own squadron and suffers significant losses when she disobeys orders. 

She disobeys Anakin’s orders and loses most of her squadron during the Battle of Ryloth. She quickly learns to believe in herself and her troops. Following Anakin’s lead, she becomes a commander in her own right and follows the new plan set to defeat the Separatist forces and bring relief to the Twi’lek people. This initial failure was critical to her development, and she carried the lessons learned from those mistakes for the rest of her life.

Watch Clone Wars: Season 1, Episode 19- Storm Over Ryloth

She goes from a temperamental and caustic young Padawan to a patient and wise Jedi. She learns patience and persistence from Jedi Master Tera Sinube. After a thief steals Ahsoka’s lightsaber, Sinube is forced to interject on the thief’s behalf to keep Ahsoka from causing bodily harm in her anger. Using his wits instead of his emotions, he was able to track the thieves and take them down easily while teaching Ahsoka a critical lesson. Ahsoka then went on to teach younglings in Master Yoda’s class what she had learned: the responsibility of never losing your lightsaber (among other things). 

Watch Clone Wars: Season 2, Episode 11- Lightsaber Lost

#3 Refuses to kill the Clones following Order 66

One of Ahsoka’s shining moments is her treatment of the Clones. She takes a page straight out of Plo Koon’s book and treats them as people and friends instead of numbers and cannon fodder. They continue to call her Commander even after she has left the Jedi Order. There is even a company of Clones (332^nd Company) informally known as Ahsoka’s Clone Troopers. They even paint their armor to match her Togruta markings. 

“You’re a good soldier, Rex. So is every one of those men down there. They may be willing to die, but I am not going to be the one who kills them.”

Palpatine hands down Order 66 while Ahsoka is in transit to deliver a defeated Maul to the Jedi Council. Even though Ahsoka is no longer a Jedi, the brain inhibitor chips force the clones to try to comply with the Order. Rex resists long enough to tell Ahsoka to find information on the clone Fives (the first clone to find and remove the chip). Ahsoka and a group of brave droids were able to remove Rex’s chip. She does everything she can to save the other clones, but an escaped Maul causes the ship to crash, killing almost everyone on board. She mourns the Clones she cannot save (*sob* Jesse) and buries them after the ship crashes.

In anguish and defeat, Ahsoka leaves her lightsabers (gifted by Anakin) in the graveyard of the fallen Clones. 

Watch Clone Wars: Season 7, Episodes 11-12

#2 Pivotal in helping the rebellion as “Fulcrum.”

“You don’t have to look tough to be tough.”

After the Empire came to power and she survived Order 66, Ahsoka went into hiding, determined to hide her Force sensitivity. But after an attack by an inquisitor, she joined Senator Bail Organa’s growing rebel movement (again, determined to help people).

Ahsoka becomes a vital member of the Rebel Alliance, and we see her again during Star Wars: Rebels with her neutral white sabers and her code name, “Fulcrum.” Fulcrum was later used by agents such as Agent Kallus and Captain Cassian Andor within the rebel intelligence network. The Fulcrum symbol (often used during holo-communications) was based on Ahsoka’s forehead markings. Fulcrum was pivotal in helping supply the Spectres‘ rebel cell leader, Hera Syndulla, with information about Imperial targets. 

Watch Star Wars Rebels: Season 1, Episode 15

#1 Holds her own against the strongest adversaries

On Mandalore, Ahsoka faces Darth Maul in a mighty clash of sabers (one of the best duels), and he gives her hints into Anakin’s growing darkness. No one would have faulted her for helping or joining him if it meant saving Anakin. In the end, she didn’t join him after learning that he wanted to kill Anakin to prevent him from becoming the new apprentice to Darth Sidious. She uses her learned patience to defeat the stronger but overconfident Maul. She becomes a decisive and virtuous warrior.

Watch Clone Wars: Season 7, Episodes 9-10

“I won’t leave you, not this time.”

We watched Ahsoka’s heartbreaking realization of what really happened to Anakin as she fought Vader on Malachor. Ahsoka, Kanan Jarrus, and Ezra Bridger traveled to the Sith temple on Malachor to find a way to defeat the Sith. Sith Lord Darth Vader arrives to take the secrets of the temple to the Emperor. While Kanan and Ezra managed to escape the crumbling temple, Ahsoka stayed behind to confront her former master, dueling him as the temple collapsed around them. 

Watch Star Wars Rebels: Season 2, Episodes 21-22

“The place is ancient. Like a world between worlds.”

Ahsoka is presumed dead, but in a later episode of Rebels, Ezra finds himself going through a portal of the Force Wielders and hears the voices of Force masters echoing through time (past, present, and future). He finds himself in the World Between Worlds. Ezra encounters a convor that points him to a portal where Ezra sees Ahsoka battling Vader at the temple in Malachor. (I believe this convor that Ahsoka calls Morai, is the spirit of the Daughter from Mortis.) Ezra reaches in and pulls Ahsoka out just as the temple collapses. Ezra had gone there to find a way to stop the Galactic Empire, and he saved Ahsoka in the process, so the idea that Ahsoka is the key to defeating the Empire is a real possibility. 

Watch Star Wars Rebels: Season 4, Episodes 13 and 15

“I like firsts. Good or bad, they’re always memorable.”

We watched Ahsoka go from an annoying teenager to the very essence of the Force. She has had so much time to develop and grow on us through the years of Clone Wars, Rebels, and now her live-action series. She forged her own path upon leaving the Jedi Order as a Force user, free of the council’s demands. Qui-Gon Jinn would have loved her. I can’t wait to see how much further her character grows as she hunts down Thrawn (the one Star Wars villain that scares me more than the Emperor himself). I am excited to see where the stories will sync with Din Djarin, Sabine Wren, Hera, and hopefully back to Ezra Bridger. 

To say that I am hyped for Star Wars: Ahsoka would quite literally be the understatement of the century. What are your predictions for where Ahsoka will go? What do you think will happen with the live-action show? Stay tuned to Couch Soup for a “Watching Now” podcast about the Ahsoka series. 

The list of essential episodes again in case you need a concise version:

Clone Wars: Season 1, Episode 9

Clone Wars: Season 1, Episode 19

Clone Wars: Season 2, Episodes 5-8

Clone Wars: Season 2, Episode 11

Clone Wars: Season 3, Episodes 14-16- Mortis Arc

Clone Wars: Season 3, Episodes 21-22

Clone Wars: Season 5, Episodes 2-5

Clone Wars: Season 5, Episodes 17-20

Clone Wars: Season 7, Episodes 9-12

Star Wars Rebels: Season 1, Episode 15

Star Wars Rebels: Season 2, Episodes 21-22

Star Wars Rebels: Season 4, Episodes 13 and 15