Star Wars: Is Ahsoka Dead in The Rise of Skywalker?
Ahsoka Tano's cameo in The Rise of Skywalker could spell doom for the character. Or it could simply be an easter egg. We break down Ahsoka's story since Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
This Star Wars article contains spoilers.
While The Clone Wars season 7 brings Ahsoka Tano’s Prequel era story to an end, this is only the end of the first part of her story. Even if she’s not physically in any of the movies, Ahsoka’s presence is felt all the way to The Rise of Skywalker when she speaks to Rey through the Force during the film’s climactic battle with Palpatine. Although it’s just as likely that her inclusion in this scene is simply a wink at the Star Wars fans who love the character, Ahsoka’s single line in The Rise of Skywalker has led some to wonder whether this means she died prior to the events of the Sequel Trilogy.
There is some “evidence” that this might be the case, primarily that the other Jedi who speak to Rey in The Rise of Skywalker — Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, Kanan Jarrus, and Adi Gallia — are all dead. But the difference is that we’ve seen the deaths of all of these other characters, whether it be in the films, the TV series, or in the pages of the books and comics. (While we don’t see how Master Unduli died, her death was confirmed in Rebels.) But if you track Ahsoka’s adventures after The Clone Wars, you’ll see that she survives not only the Jedi Purge but the Empire itself.
After The Clone Wars, this fan-favorite Togruta hero plays a major role in Rebels, the Star Wars animated series set just a few years before A New Hope. As a spy working for an early version of the Rebel Alliance, Ahsoka aids the show’s heroes from the shadows in season 1, feeding them valuable intel on the Empire for their missions.
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When Ahsoka finally reveals herself to Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, and the rest of the Spectres, it’s a big moment of hope for the galaxy. Here’s this former Jedi hero ready to help. Yes, Ahsoka does leave her lightsaber behind at the end of The Clone Wars, but by the time she returns on Rebels, she’s constructed two new, white-bladed lightsabers as well as a new reason to fight. And unlike going to war for the Republic during the Clone Wars, helping the Rebellion is truly the right cause.
Ahsoka’s big moment in the series comes in Rebels season 2 when she confronts Darth Vader, the Jedi-hunting Sith lord her former master became in Revenge of the Sith. Despite her suspicions and a not-so-subtle Force vision in the penultimate episode of The Clone Wars, Ahsoka doesn’t truly accept that Anakin Skywalker has fallen to the dark side until she faces Vader in the season 2 finale, “Twilight of the Apprentice.”
In this episode, Ahsoka accompanies Kanan Jarrus and Ezra to an ancient Sith temple on the wasteland planet of Malachor in search of something that may help them in their fight against the Empire and the Sith. What they find instead is trouble. Not only have two Inquisitors followed them to Malachor, but they’re also surprised by Maul — who’s searching for a Sith holocron — and Darth Vader himself. It’s basically the Sith showdown of a fan’s dreams and Ahsoka, Ezra, and Kanan are caught right in the middle.
The last time we see Ahsoka in the season 2 finale, it’s in a duel against Darth Vader. She stays behind on Malachor, keeping Vader so that Kanan and Ezra can escape. While the two rebel heroes zoomed off for another season of adventures, Ahsoka’s fate was left up in the air for all of season 3 and a good chunk of season 4 until she was brought back in “A World Between Worlds,” one of the most significant stories in Star Wars history? Why? Because it introduces the concept of time travel to the galaxy far, far away.
Ezra enters this timeless realm in an effort to bring back Kanan, who’d sacrificed himself for his friends earlier in the season, but instead saves Ahsoka, using a portal to pull her out of her duel with Vader on Malachor. Yet, after the Emperor tries to use Ezra to enter the world between worlds, Ahsoka is zapped back to Malachor, where she’s forced to stay until she finds a way off the planet after the Battle of Endor.
The last time we see Ahsoka on screen, it’s on Ezra’s home planet of Lothal. She meets former Spectre Sabine Wren there and the two plan to head out on a mission to find Ezra, who disappeared into hyperspace with Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Rebels series finale.
While we don’t know where Ahsoka and Sabine went after Rebels, we know that the Republic and Rebel hero is still active five years after Return of the Jedi since she’s set to return in The Mandalorian season 2. Rosario Dawson will bring the character to live-action for the first time.
According to our calculations, Ahsoka will be in her early 40s when we next see her on screen. As far as what her role in The Mandalorian may entail, your guess is as good as ours. Will the show represent the end of the line for Ahsoka? Or will the end of her story come in the rumored spinoff series that will allegedly follow Ahsoka’s appearance on the live-action series?
Whatever may be in store for Ahsoka in the next few years, you can rest easy for now: neither Disney nor Lucasfilm have confirmed that the fan-favorite character is dead. Her cameo in The Rise of Skywalker seems to be nothing more than an easter egg, at least for the time being.
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John Saavedra is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Den of Geek. He lives in New York City with his two cats.