People have been joking around that The Mandalorian is the only thing that’s carrying the whole Star Wars franchise right now, and for good reason—the show has so far shown us nothing but awesomeness (and an adorable Baby Yoda to boot). But while Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett is one of the most highly anticipated appearances in the show, something else is equally as nerd-gasmic—Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano.
With her live-action debut nothing short of fantastic, Ahsoka Tano is actually one of the most popular characters in the franchise. Skyrocketed to fame by 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the character was voiced by Ashley Eckstein and made her first appearance there. She went on to great success in George Lucas and Dave Filoni’s The Clone Wars animated series, as she kicked butt as Anakin Skywalker’s padawan.
In the series, Ahsoka Tano actually helped liberate Mandalore, so even there, she already had a strong connection to Mando’s people. When Bo-Katan (as portrayed by Katee Sackhoff) referred to her in Episode 3, “The Heiress”, she was likely already referring to what happened in the animated series.
Amidst misguided ideals of peace and the subduing of the Mandalorians, Bo-Katan rebelled along with an insurgent group called the Death Watch. Ahsoka Tano helped in the efforts to liberate the planet. The Darksaber was supposedly transferred to Bo-Katan, but since Moff Gideon (as portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito) now possesses it, something must have happened along the way.
It’s definitely something to look forward to, as Bo-Katan likely won’t be making her last appearance on the show just yet. Bo-Katan is also privy to Ahsoka Tano’s whereabouts, so they still must have some connection to each other.
As for the frustrating fact that Ahsoka Tano won’t train Baby Yoda (sorry, Grogu), it may make you want to shake your fist into the air and cry out in despair, but there’s actually some logic behind it. She did say that she senses much fear in Baby Yoda, all because of a past trauma that makes him vulnerable to the Dark Side. Grogu is also very attached to Din by now, so, like she said, things can take a turn for the worst (it can happen to a “fully-trained Jedi knight, to the best of us”).
While it might seem unlikely that sweet and innocent Baby Yoda could turn evil, it’s not entirely impossible. He Force-choked Cara Dune (as played by Gina Carano) once during a friendly arm-wrestling match, and let’s not forget how he ruthlessly ate Frog Lady’s eggs (yes, we’re still not over it). Add that to the fact that he was revealed to be present in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant when Anakin Skywalker committed the horrible slaughter of the younglings during Order 66.
Ahsoka Tano doing what she did not only means everything is falling into place about the mysteries of Grogu, but it also proves how well she knows what she’s doing, and won’t fall for the charms of one Baby Yoda.
Aside from Ahsoka Tano’s spot-on live-action physical looks, what else do you think The Mandalorian did right about her character? Sound off in the comments below!
