Ahsoka Tano’s story was far from over after the Clone Wars, but what was she doing between the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the original trilogy? Ahsoka Tano was originally introduced in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, chosen as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan. Their service during the Clone Wars made them incredibly close friends – closer than a Padawan and a Master should have been, arguably – and when Ahsoka subsequently left the Jedi Order in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 5 after having been falsely accused of treason, part of Anakin’s wavering faith in the Jedi was chipped away.

Ahsoka’s decision to leave the Jedi Order sent her on a path separate from Anakin’s, though that didn’t mean she had escaped the danger that was still to come. Ahsoka was caught in Order 66, surviving narrowly with a little help from Maul (formerly Darth), a lesson from her old Master, and a chip-less Captain Rex. Ahsoka, like all Jedi, was traumatized and grief-stricken after Order 66, navigating the galaxy’s newly shared reality while constantly on the run. However, as a former Jedi, Ahsoka couldn’t ignore the action for long, even if she wasn’t present during the Rebellion’s final stand against the Empire.

Ahsoka Tano Initially Went Into Hiding After Order 66

Order 66 wasn’t the end of the Empire’s genocide of the Jedi. As revealed in Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, and other Star Wars projects, Jedi who had survived Order 66. The Inquisitors were mostly former Jedi themselves – they either chose to the dark side of their own volition, as was the case with the Grand Inquisitor, or they were tortured into doing so, like what happened with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s Second Sister.

As such, after having faked her death by leaving her lightsabers for Darth Vader to find, Ahsoka was forced to lie low, though she did attend Pé Amidala’s funeral on Naboo before truly going into hiding. On Naboo, she spoke with Senator Bail Organa, one of the Jedi’s few remaining allies in the Imperial Senate. Before Ahsoka could leave, Bail provided her with a special communication device, which she could use to reach him if she ever needed help. Though Ahsoka initially refused the offer, she took it with her anyway.

After Naboo, Ahsoka went by the name “Ashla” and settled on a small planet, integrating into a farming community. Ahsoka’s life was peaceful for a while, until she was forced to save one of her new friends from being crushed under a stack of hay bales. Though the girl promised to keep Ahsoka’s secret, her brother wasn’t as forgiving, and he eventually ratted Ahsoka out to the Empire, revealing her status as a Jedi.

What followed was a confrontation with an as-yet-unnamed Inquisitor, though Ahsoka easily held her own, even without a lightsaber. She kills the Inquisitor with his weapon, and finally leaves the planet, calling Bail Organa to bring her and the remaining farmers to safety. When Bail tells her that “things have only gotten worse,” Ahsoka decides to get back into the fight, once and for all, and officially s the fledgling Rebel Alliance.

Though this is now the canonical version of Ahsoka’s post-Order 66 story as told in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi episode 6, “Resolve,” the animated short did retcon Ahsoka’s previously established journey. Tales of the Jedi’s story was inspired by E.K. Johnston’s Ahsoka novel, even though it left out a significant chunk of the narrative and Ahsoka’s emotional arc. Most importantly, Tales of the Jedi left out that Ahsoka took the kyber crystals from the Inquisitor’s lightsaber and purified them, using the newly purified crystals to forge her now iconic double white lightsabers.

This wasn't the first time an animated Star Wars show retconned a previously established backstory from publishing. Star Wars: The Bad Batch also retconned the Jedi Kanan Jarrus' escape from Order 66, which had already been written in the comic series Star Wars: Kanan by Greg Weisman. Stories depicted on screen are always considered canon over published stories.

Ahsoka Became An Early Part Of The Rebel Alliance

As revealed in Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka became an undercover informant for the Rebellion, operating under the code name Fulcrum. She worked closely with the Ghost Crew, finding a bond with two other Jedi still operating in the galaxy – Kanan Jarrus, an Order 66 survivor himself, and Ezra Bridger, his newly discovered Padawan. Ahsoka was also eventually reunited with Captain Rex, as she tells Kanan and the rest of the Ghost Crew where to find him and two other former clone troopers, Wolffe and Gregor.

Though Ahsoka disappeared now and again, she did help the Ghost Crew save the lives of Force-sensitive children, fought with them against the Inquisitors, and tried to help them unlock the secrets of the Sith, hoping to find a way to defeat Vader and Palpatine. In the Star Wars Rebels two-part season 2 finale, Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra travel to the Sith planet Malachor, on a mission to collect as much information about the Sith as possible. The mission went awry when Ezra discovered a stranded Maul and a few Inquisitors showed up, right before Ahsoka’s worst nightmare arrived: Darth Vader.

After the Inquisitors fled Maul, Kanan, and Ahsoka’s combined wrath, Ahsoka chose to fight against Darth Vader herself, giving Kanan and Ezra a chance to escape. They engage in a desperate, tragic duel, Ahsoka holding her own against her former Master for a long time. During this duel, Ahsoka finally accepted that Anakin was now Darth Vader, though that didn’t stop her from trying to save him. During the duel, the walls of the Sith Temple crumbled around them, and that was the last the galaxy would see of Ahsoka Tano for a while.

Ahsoka Was Trapped On The Sith Planet Malachor

Though Darth Vader managed to make it out of the rubble alive, it seemed Ahsoka was not so lucky. Neither the Ghost Crew nor the Rebel command heard from her again, and everyone thought she was lost forever, having succumbed during her duel with Vader. And yet, that still wasn’t the end of Ahsoka’s story.

In Star Wars Rebels season 4, Ezra Bridger accesses the World Between Worlds, a separate dimension connecting all space and time through the Force. Ezra rescued Ahsoka from her fate on Malachor, pulling her through a portal just as Vader was about to strike a killing blow, presumably saving her life. Ahsoka went back to that point in time and lived the rest of her life until, as revealed by the Star Wars Rebels epilogue, she eventually reunited with the Mandalorian Sabine Wren on a quest to find Ezra Bridger, who had by then been lost in Wild Space.

It's still unclear how long Ahsoka was stuck on Malachor or where she was during the original trilogy. We do know that Ahsoka met Luke Skywalker at some point, though, as she already knew him when they were first seen together on screen in The Book of Boba Fett. It’s also unclear when exactly she took on Sabine Wren as her Jedi apprentice, as the live-action Ahsoka show partially retconned and changed the timeline of events from the Star Wars Rebels epilogue, which took place following the Battle of Endor, four years after the Battle of Yavin (ABY) as seen in the first Star Wars movie.

Ahsoka’s story is one filled with heartache, grief, loss, trauma, and tragedy, but also hope, friendship, and love. Her Star Wars journey is far from over.

Whatever the case may be, Ahsoka’s story is one filled with heartache, grief, loss, trauma, and tragedy, but also hope, friendship, and love. Her Star Wars journey is far from over – perhaps we’ll learn more about Ahsoka’s movements after Ezra pulled her into the World Between Worlds in Ahsoka season 2, as Ahsoka and Sabine are stuck on Peridea in another galaxy. There’s a lot we still don’t know about Ahsoka Tano, after all.