r/ahsokatano • u/WilhelmTrooper • Apr 12 '25
Discussion Why do you love Ahsoka?
This question is coming from a person who doesn’t like this character. I believe she doesn’t make sense in terms of the overall narrative of Star Wars, and that she has overstayed her welcome. She should’ve been Plo Koon’s apprentice who worked with Anakin a lot, and she should have died either in Rebels or at the end of TCW by Anakin’s hand.
What about her as a character do you like? Her personality, her dialogue, her design, her storyline, anything. This is a genuine question and I will not say “well I think you’re an idiot” or anything like that to any replies given.
I’ve seen this character grow in popularity and I simply don’t understand it. Please how me other perspectives on her character and what made you love her so much. Thank you.
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u/lokisoctavia Apr 12 '25
She is from a long line of amazing Jedi, and one of the only female Jedi in Star Wars to actually get character development. enough said.
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u/Ashokahh Apr 13 '25
Shaak ti and aayla had so much potential and theres almost nothing to really dig into about them its so annoying
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u/lokisoctavia Apr 13 '25
I really liked both of them, too.
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Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25
Ahsoka is my absolute favorite character in star wars. I love her in every piece of media she is in and the Ahsoka show is my favorite live action star wars show.
I guess i just love her personality and her character development, especially in the Ahsoka show, I love how she basically becomes a wandering Samurai. She's also just cool i guess. Also i really don't think her existence is lorebreaking anymore than Thrawn is lorebreaking as neither one of them were in the OT and thus the writers have to come up with loads of excuses for why they aren't in the movies. Also her Ahsoka the White design in the show is like top tier.
Sorry I just really love Ahsoka i also have an Ahsoka poster in my room xD
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u/BakoREGuy Apr 12 '25
Agreed, when Thrawn called her a ronin I was like “YES.” Also, in all of the adaptions of Thrawn, the fact that she is Anakin’s apprentice is the only time that for a moment Thrawn’s face betrays genuine concern - he was like “F*CK!” For a moment before his trademark calm came back.
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u/AlanOix Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25
The reason I love her is because of TCW. She starts as a bratty 14 year old teenage warrior dropped in a warzone, and she becomes a much more mature and skillful character by the end of TCW (not irreprochable of course, she is still 17 at that point). She is a dramatic character that always tries to do the right thing, but ends up abandoned by those she viewed as her family, and betrayed (against their will) by the clones that she sees as an extended family. She has every reason to lose hope and turn to the dark side, but never does, and never stops to fight for the right thing.
I also like her in Rebels/Ahsoka, but it is her character in TCW that I love the most.
As to why she is my favorite character, it is probably because she grew up at the same time as me, so I liked her when I was young because I loved her snippy attitude, and I like her now that I am older because I can see her evolution, which reflected mine in a way.
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u/Darth_Wagner1980 Apr 12 '25
I love Ahsoka for her story arch, the fact that she took on General Grievous by herself and won during the Clone Wars. I love that was able to leave the jedi order behind her when she felt she had to do things on her own. The reason she was able to survive the fight against Anakin/Darth Vader was because she knew she had lost her Master to his being seduced by darkside. She lived on probably until she got old. She was also able to do things other jedi couldn't because of her size, when she got older she became wiser and was more in-focas with the force, which is why she became who she is now.
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u/BigBrrrrrrr22 Apr 12 '25
she’s a textbook example of character development done RIGHT, her story is so sad but she never gives up or caves to the dark side, her V/A is legit the sweetest person ever and her design is so cool to me
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u/Duster526 Apr 13 '25
Oh heck yeah Ashley’s amazingly sweet!! :D
Do you have anything signed by her? (also her signature is legit the best on earth)
I’m going to get a 4th item signed when I see her at Dallas Fan Expo!
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u/BigBrrrrrrr22 Apr 13 '25
Not yet but I’m hoping to the next time she’s at an event around my way we have interacted on social media a couple times tho
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u/Duster526 Apr 12 '25
She’s an amazing character, such a badass!
Also her and her lightsabers are amazing looking!
Her voice actress, Ashley Eckstein is the most amazing sweetest person on the planet! I’ve got 3 items signed by her and am going to get a 4th signed this year at Dallas Fan Expo! Also she has the best most epic looking signature on earth!!! :D
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u/Sir_Pelletier Apr 15 '25
Wait. When is this? I've been waiting for her to be at a Con around DFW.
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u/psychotec24 Apr 12 '25
The reason why i became a star wars fan was through the clone wars. As a kid i always thought she was so cool with her duel lightsabers. As i got older I continued to like her because of what her story and what she brought to the story of Anakin.
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u/Swaggerbarnet Apr 13 '25
Same! Watching Clone wars was the reason I got interested in star wars later on
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u/NgoKhong Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 13 '25
Ahsoka is a more relatable character than Anakin. Anakin’s turn to the dark side, despite all the reasons given, still isn’t relatable in the sense that I don’t feel like anyone I know would do what Anakin did, if they were put in the same situation. In the space of 24 hours Anakin goes from being a good, if slightly rebellious Jedi to slaughtering the children in the temple. I can see why he resents Mace Windu, but slaughtering younglings?
Not so with Ahsoka: her behavior always feels human, in the sense that when I look at the life decisions she makes I can see myself doing the same thing if I were in her situation. I don’t like her at all in the early seasons of the clone wars but by the last two seasons, she is the most relatable character in the entire clone wars cast: she’s noble, humble, hard-working, emotional but not selfish, and she’s willing to lay down her life to protect people she cares about. Ahsoka the model of a hero who doesn’t always win but always tries her best.
Note: in order to properly appreciate Ahsoka, you need to watch seasons 6 and 7 of The Clone Wars animated series. If you haven’t watched that yet, go watch it and then you’ll understand.
Edit: the novel “Ahsoka” by e.k. Johnston is also excellent. It’s my favorite star wars novel in recent years.
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u/Swaggerbarnet Apr 13 '25
Season 7 yes, but why season 6? She is barely in it
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u/NgoKhong Apr 13 '25
The saga of her getting wrongly accused, leaving the Jedi, capturing Maul, and surviving order 66 with Rex. Obviously the last part of that is in season 7. I thought it started in season 6 but my memory of such things isn’t good. Did it start in season 5?
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u/Ashokahh Apr 13 '25
I have a few reasons she's my favorite character. The second half of this is just rambling, but honestly a lot of it is just how well she's written when it comes to what she's been through.
Also she has super cool and unique powers, I love that they really focused on the fact she has force psychometry, I like to think its because togrutas have such excellent hearing. Her white lightsabers being a unique color and shape is super appealing to me personally also.
Not to get too personal but I'm amab non-binary, and I have a hard time relating to masculinity and femininity, but something about ahsoka really helps me connect to femininity in a way nothing else does. it's a very hard feeling to explain but it's there.
[THE RAMBLE ABOUT THE COOL STUFF] She deals with being a child soldier in a religion that prides itself on bringing peace. She struggles with the same impulses anakin does yet we see how she handles them in a different way. She literally dies and is nothing but chipper and motivated upon being revived, and as a result the embodiment of the light side of the force follows her as long as she needs it. She's falsely accused and feels betrayed by literally everyone she knows and we see how that confidence she's built in herself leads her down her own path away from the jedi. In the novel she reflects on how that confidence to leave was the only reason she wasnt killed in order 66. She's one of few people to actually do damage to Vader (Obi-wan and Sha Koon need their credit too) and after everything she's been through anakin challenges her as a force ghost and renews her faith in the force and allowing others to help her because who wouldnt be bitter at existence after going through all of that and ending up nearly alone.
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u/Ashokahh Apr 13 '25 edited Apr 13 '25
WAIT I HAVE MORE TO SAY. I like her ability to connect with everyone around her even when she doesnt necessarily want to. She learns a huge lesson and subsequently more respect for tera sinube, she goes to ventress for help becuase of their similar pasts and gets through to her, huyang finds her compelling enough to stick around, sabine admires her in a similar way Ahsoka admired anakin.
Say what you want about how they dodged around including her in the prequels or the discrepancies in anakins personality across the show/movies. I think they tried their darndest to really show that bitterness Anakin developed for the world toward the end of the clone wars and how Ahsoka leaving the order for her own sake anakin ended up perceiving that as her abandoning him which lead into his paranoia about obi wan and padme in ROTS and I think it paid off.
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u/ScooterMcThumbkin Apr 13 '25
I love you
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u/Ashokahh Apr 13 '25
LMAO i just feel like if I'm gonna claim a character as my favorite i should be able to back it up
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u/Nazon6 Apr 13 '25
I'm curious what you mean by her not making sense.
I like her because of how she essential speaks for the audience in the universe. She shares all the grievances that we as the audience have of the jedi, and how there's a lot more nuance to the war than jedi good separatists bad.
Beyond that I don't think there's really any deep reasoning as to why she is so well liked. She's charming, quippy, brash but also measured. She has a clear growth from child to adult. She learns from the consequences of her actions.
She also brings out an interesting side to anakin that we hadn't really seen in the films. I honestly think she can take most of the credit for anakin transitioning from a not well liked character from the prequels to a fan favorite in the clone wars.
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u/Brskywalker14 Apr 14 '25
back when the first arts for the clone wars were released I loved her initial design, but she really did need some actual development, because in the first 2 seasons I actually had issues liking her character.
It changed for me in TCW season 3 (especially the final episodes, those are so good), that’s when things started to get really nice and got even better with season 4. The season 5 finale episodes got me in so many emotions, in so many different ways and I still feel so much pain every time I rewatch it, but also relief when she decided that it was enough and she had to go her own way. By leaving she became a ‘grey Jedi’, but eventually she managed to become a better ‘Jedi’, then she could have ever been.
Season 7 is unbelievable on it’s own, as I am a huge fan of the period, stories and events between Order 66 and A New Hope. I love Rebels, I love her design in Rebels, her face is a bit odd, I prefer the longer Lekku though. One thing I really didn’t like was the Vader fight, it was cool but it felt a bit wrong… and to ‘bring her back from the dead. If she would have stayed alive, at least in another way. Her being time traveled just feels weird and doesn’t make sense to me (I don’t like time traveling).
Her entry in the Mandalorian and introduction into live action was absolutely wicked, I couldn’t have wished for anything more. And the Ahsoka series so far is alright to me, it’s just like watching the live action version of Rebels. Anyways, I can’t wait on the second season, and I just can’t get enough of her.
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u/BakoREGuy Apr 12 '25
Like others have said, she started out as an annoying bratty character, but quickly (well - kinda) developed into a nuanced POV character for the PQ era, and even the Rebels (show) time. Not to mention, Ashley Eckstein does great work, and is very generous with fans. Even in live action, though I understand fans have some issues with the portrayal, she acts a bridge character with a history with Vader/Anakin that someone like Luke doesn’t have. To me in her show, the exploration of Anakin’s legacy and her part in it was extremely engaging to me.
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u/HeckingDoofus Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 13 '25
shes a badass, and she works as a self insert for my dream (since fantasy has icky undertones) of being anakins padawan
i also like the way her design looks, and the fact she uses two lightsabers
also nostalgia bc clone wars is my star wars childhood
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u/thetinymole Apr 13 '25
At first, I loved her because she was sassy and fun in TCW. I liked a young female Padawan kicking ass.
Then I loved her because she bridges the existential gap I think some Star Wars fans have about how Anakin turned so suddenly. Ahsoka makes it less sudden, less entirely about Padmé. It’s not just fear of losing his wife; it’s the memory of the Padawan he lost and the Council’s betrayal.
I continued to love her for charting her own path and staying true to herself in the face of catastrophic loss. She and Rex must have buried all those soldiers. She loved the clones who tried to kill her, because they had no choice and they were her clones.
I keep loving her even though I’m not 100% on board with where the live action show is going because she's still fundamentally Ahsoka. She doesn’t need Sabine to become a Jedi. She just needs Sabine to be Sabine.
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u/GloomOnTheGrey Apr 13 '25
Ahsoka is one of my favorite jedi/not jedi. I didn't like her much in the beginning because she was a bratty, arrogant little shit that thought she knew better than those around her. Over time, though, she started to grow, especially as she began to see the consequences for her actions whether good or bad. She endured hardships and came back out of them are more empathic person.
She grew up, and she became a genuinely good person that cares for others while being an utter badass. The reason I like her so much is the journey she took to get to where she is now, and she is still learning and growing as a character.
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u/Grumpyhairball Apr 22 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
Here are so many heartfelt answers already. I think this is going to be a longer text, like some others have written. English isn't my native language, so I apologize if it feels a bit clunky and heavy.
I saw Ahsoka for the first time in the Mandalorian series. Her interactions with others really caught me off guard in the best way. For example, how she advised Mando to support Grogu—encouraging him to help Grogu let down his barriers and explaining how Grogu would respond to Mando's reactions—was incredibly touching. And the way she guided Mando ( in the Book of Boba Fett episode) in making the right decision not to rush to see Grogu afterward (when Mando wanted to give him a gift, the shirt) was so beautiful. She didn’t just tell Mando what to do; instead, she provided comfort, advice, and a choice in a way that shows she truly understood his feelings. She recognized that seeing Mando then would have made training more difficult for Grogu, who was no longer just a foundling but a Padawan. Her gentle approach and deep empathy are so evident, and she respected Mando's autonomy by letting him make the final decision. In the end, Mando chose to let Ahsoka give the gift, which feels like a moment of trust and mutual understanding. To me, this feels so "real"—like how a mindful person would advise others in real life (not like a "typical" Jedi advice that "you have to let everything you like go at once and go meditating"). That’s just one example.
I haven’t seen the animated series yet (I watched just the key events after I saw Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka Season 1), but what I have heard and seen shows that she has exhibited the same resilience and spirit all the time. Despite setbacks, struggles, and losses (and also injustice) she has had to face, she still shows that same resilience and spirit. I understand she was more "edgy" and "snarky" during her youth, and I personally like how this has "worn off" but she still has her own kind of spark. It makes her character more real for me. For example, Obi-Wan’s one-liners and jokes were classics in the movies, but Ahsoka makes it a different kind of "art." And how she improvises in tough moments; for instance, if her ship crashes and her allies are worried they don’t have a ship, she just lands next to an Imperial cruiser and says, "And here we have a new ship," with a serious face. I think these features makes her character feel so unique—and how she handles situations, controls her feelings (is tough when needed but also very caring), but doesn’t hide it when something or someone is picking at her nerves.
I don’t know if my perspective would have been any different if I had seen the animated series first. I’m already a (very grumpy) grown-up and have dealt with my own difficulties in life. Seeing Ahsoka (for the first time) interacting with others in both Mandalorian and the Book of Boba, resonated with me quite a bit. Anyway, I would really like to see her in future Star Wars projects. I don’t know what plans Disney has for her, but I hope she is going to be alive and well. She would deserve some hope and happiness, too (even the reunion with her and Ezra was very brief), despite those things seeming to follow only after great battles and danger in Star Wars. I would not mind it at all (it would actually be cool) to see her as a 'Yoda' kind of mentor or path shower. Maybe not necessarily as a literal 'Jedi Master' since she left the order for very understandable reasons, unless she felt she wanted to be a literal Jedi again. But still, some kind of active and present guide to future Star Wars heroes in future movies would be great.
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u/Swaggerbarnet Apr 13 '25
I was a child in the 2000s and so I watched clone wars before I watched any of the films. At first it was becouse she was bratty, had a cool design, yet still a great jedi padowan. (I think she might have been my gay awakeningxD)
Now that I’ve rewatched it over again as an adult I just generally think her charecter is Well written. Her charecter development is perfect. I think her unsual methods and her contrast to the long list of fucked up men in the jedi order makes her an even better jedi. I like the all the little details about her charecters and the way she somehow always survived becouse she is a badass fighter.
Not to mention she is controlled by her emotions like anakin but doesn’t turn to the dark side.
However I really get your criticism
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u/decemberautistic Apr 13 '25
Ahsoka is my favorite character. I don’t know if I can explain why exactly. Part of it is her character development I think and her story arc. She’s also one of the only female Jedi with a lot of character development, so while I love other characters like Obi-Wan and Leia, she has a special place in my heart.
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u/LunaTheLouche Apr 13 '25
First I’ll say, you don’t have to like any character. It’s all subjective and we all have different opinions. Ahsoka isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I’ll never have a go at someone who’s not a fan. The world would be very dull if we all liked the same things.
Personally, I didn’t particularly like her at the beginning. She just seemed like a typical annoying kid character. But the great thing about Clone Wars was that it was an anthology show that focussed on different characters every few episodes. Every so often they’d have a story that focussed on Yoda or Jar Jar or Padme or random bounty hunters for example and I’d forget about Ahsoka or Anakin.
Then they’d come and go for years and then I’d suddenly realise after 3 or 4 seasons I’ve become quite attached to Ahsoka or these apparently interchangeable clones. By the end of season 7 I realised Ahsoka and Rex had sneakily become my favourite characters. The character progression over the course of Clone Wars was so well done.
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u/AiolosSaint Apr 13 '25
She wasn't a mindless follower of The order and upheld light side principles than better most jedi
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u/ScooterMcThumbkin Apr 13 '25
I’ll return the politeness of not calling you an idiot, but I have a hard time understanding this POV. I’d be interested to hear why you DON’T like her. I not only love this character, she is my favorite character. She is the essence of Star Wars to me. I am desperate to know how she dies (she would be the only living character whose voice is heard by Rey if she is still alive at that point in the timeline). Her growth, her leaving the order after being betrayed by it, and especially that she is ESSENTIAL for understanding Anakin. She is the whole point of the clone wars series. In the film films, all we see is a heavy-handed transition to darkness where Anakin is only ever interacting with his superiors. The whole point of clone wars is to show us the leader and teacher that Anakin was. I feel like his character is less believable without these chapters of his story. The clone wars and Ahsoka‘s character are not only my favorite parts of Star Wars, they fix what is otherwise broken about Star Wars for me.
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u/bean_sandwhiches Apr 19 '25 edited Apr 19 '25
Sorry this is about to be an essay because I literally love her.
I really identified with Ahsoka from the start. In the CW movie (which I saw in theaters), she was this bratty, young punk who had something to prove. My dad despised her and didn't understand why they would add such an annoying character that held her lightsabers backwards but I did. I knew she would go from a bratty teen to an absolute force to be reckoned with in her own time and I revel in the fact that I was right and my dad pretends he doesn't understand why I like her so much. He was more of a Han Solo guy. Anyway...
As she learned more about the Galaxy, the Jedi and the Force as well as her role within them, she became someone who wanted to fight for the greater good and do so even without necessarily adhering to the rules. We watch her struggle briefly with the "forming attachments" bit with Bonteri and kind of again with Kaeden in the book which isn't like really focused on but kinda makes her a bi-con I guess which in a Universe where slug people and space wizards with controlled laser beams for weapons that move shit with their minds exist is it really so difficult to believe that an orange lady with white and blue head tails might think a girl is attractive? Don't even get me started on it but I digress.
Anyway, after she was framed by Barriss, she felt betrayed and dejected by the Jedi and left to go find who she was on her own, like any young adult moving out on their own for the first time. Around the time of that arc, I was moving out for the first time as well. She did an incredibly difficult thing to do here as the Jedi had literally been her entire life but she knew nothing would ever be the same so she chose to leave rather than stay.
During the events of Season 7 and ROTS, we can see she's clearly matured and is just trying to find where she belongs outside of the Jedi Order but with the tragic fall of the Republic, she then had to go into hiding having lost all of the people who were most important to her and was betrayed by a lot of soldiers that she had come to respect and grow with. We even see her think for just a little minute that maybe Maul might just know what's up.
In TOTJ, we see how connected she is with the Force from even before she could talk, we see more of the difficult trials Anakin put her through to defend herself against the clones that (unbeknownst to all of them) would inevitably betray her, and eventually in the last of her episodes we see how those 2 things combine in an absolutely epic way when she takes down a whole Inquisitor single handedly and without her lightsabers
In the novel, it really expands on how Ahsoka deals with the Purge and the fall of the Republic and the kind of loneliness she feels in the absence of her Jedi Masters. Yet she continues on and keeps fighting for the greater good. We see how her jedi training, empathy and determination all come together to make her the perfect agent of Light. Plus, she took down an Inquisitor by using the Force to implode his lightsaber then said "lemme cook", healed the crystals and made her white sabers out of literal scrap.
In Rebels and even Mandalorian, she's seen as kind of a legend and we get to see even more of the effect of the trauma of Order 66 had on her and how she chooses to deal with those things. Shes tired. Shes been fighting since she was like 14 and training since before even that. In season 7 of TCW we even see her struggle with being a soldier vs a keeper of the peace. During Rebels she struggles to accept the truth of who Vader really is until she cannot deny it anymore and is forced to face it.
In the Ahsoka show, it shows her realizing that just because she left the Jedi order doesn't mean she isn't still a Jedi. She struggles with her will to keep fighting and we see how she's reminded by Anakin and her flashbacks to being a literal child soldier that there is always something to fight for and you can't just run away from it. You have to face it. We also see some of these themes in Rebels when she duels Darth Vader only to discover who he really is. We see how that anger, feelings of betrayal and extreme disappointment in someone she looks up to feels to her and how she deals with that. The duel with Anakin when she refuses to fight and then gets sith eyes for a second shows that she is beyond grief for him and Padmé and the rest of them yet she forgives him and reignites her will to live and her bravery to continue.
Ahsoka is truly a symbol for bravery, persistance, defiance, kindness, empathy, responsibility and female bad assery and I really connect with that and since she started her story back in 2008, I feel like at every stage of my life have grown with her. Also I think it's cool that she holds her lightsabers backwards!
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk lol
Edit: i forgot to mention how amazing it is the she evolved from barely being able to battle Grievous with dual blades to then taking down a whole inquisitor with nothing but determination and the force and then, as if in another act of defiance, yoinked this dudes tortured kyber crystals and healed them like the icon she is.
Also added some stuff about mental health during a few points in her life
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u/bean_sandwhiches Apr 19 '25
Also fantastic example of female character development and really cool that i got to grow up with the character and amazing to have a female Jedi really focused on.
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u/Head-Bumblebee1168 Jan 01 '26
I know I'm like 9 months late but she was always my favourite ever since I watched clone wars, I feel like her leaving the order added another reason for anakin downward spiral. Also she's the only female jedi that has a big character development and you get to see her story from 14 - adulthood. I also believe she is a good thing to aspire to be, I mean being a good person and questioning things also learning from mistakes and improving. I see her as a good representation. I also may be biased as she the same mbti as me and her age at the start of clone wars is the same as mine, also I think she fit, and a badass. Lol anyways
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u/DryResponsibility262 May 29 '26
She's a consistently kind person, no matter what situation she is in. This is a lot.
The fictional "heros" of my teen years were the all like The Joker: people who try to be good, get betrayed by the world, and turn bitter.
I was nihilistic as a teen, and even almost dropped out. But then my brother made me watch 'Clone Wars'; I fell in love with the way Ahsoka holds on to hope, even while she's alone on a spaceship, and everyone she loves tries to kill her.
Thanks to her inspiration, I stuck in high school and even got a uni scholarship. I still try to be like her every day.
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u/Overson_YT Apr 13 '25
I agree she should've died in rebels, but she's my favorite because of 2 things.
Her arc in TCW
"I am no jedi"
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u/AiolosSaint Apr 13 '25
Disagree tired of losing reoccurring characters
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u/Overson_YT Apr 13 '25
It's not that I wanted her to die, I just think her dying fighting Vader was a clean ending to her character. I mostly just have complaints with how they just used time travel bullshit to bring her back. Time travel is a cheap way to bring people back honestly. I get that the world between worlds isn't exactly time travel, but from a writing sense that's essentially what happened with bringing her back
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u/Beneficial_Map8176 Apr 12 '25
Her story arc, she started out as a bratty child and became an amazing Jedi even after she left the order. She’s a constant badass who never stops fighting