Ahsoka Tano: Lightsaber History
Few Star Wars characters have gone through as many drastic changes as Ahsoka Tano. Her lightsaber history reflects her journey from a bright-eyed, optimistic young Padawan to a Force-sensitive outcast disillusioned with the Jedi Order. While Ahsoka Tano’s lightsabers were initially green, and she wielded blue ones for a time, it’s Ahsoka’s white lightsaber blades that are perhaps her most iconic.
As a skilled and acrobatic duelist with masterful control of Force powers, Ahsoka’s lightsaber abilities are as impressive as her grit and determination. Let’s look at everything you need to know about the lightsaber history of “Snips” (as Anakin Skywalker called her) across Star Wars lore, including Ahsoka’s lightsaber color and more.
The First Ahsoka Lightsabers: Green & Yellow-Green
Upon becoming Anakin’s Padawan, as seen in The Clone Wars film, Ahsoka also ranks as a commander in the war. Despite her young age, she proves to be up to the challenge. She’d already built her first green lightsaber with a cylindrical silver hilt by this time.
Eventually, later in the Clone Wars, Ahsoka adds a second lightsaber — a short-length shoto lightsaber with a yellow-tinted blade — and begins using the Jar’Kai style of dual wielding. It’s not that Ahsoka has a yellow lightsaber exactly, but it’s more of a yellow-green than her standard blade. She became known for using a reverse grip, as well.
In a defining moment of Ahsoka’s life, she is framed for bombing a Jedi Temple — and the culprit behind the framing turns out to be her friend Barriss Offee. Ahsoka’s lightsabers must be relinquished after she’s put on trial and forced out of the Jedi Order. The entire ordeal causes Ahsoka to become disillusioned with Jedi, and she decides not to return to the Order even after her name has been cleared.
Why Does Ahsoka Have Two Lightsabers?
Ahsoka has two lightsabers because she practices Jar’Kai. Other well-known practitioners of Jar’Kai include Asajj Ventress and Darth Sidious, although others have been known to use this method when the moment calls for it — like when Anakin uses two lightsabers to fight Count Dooku. Grand Master Yoda helps train Ahsoka in the art of Jar’Kai, though he is not known for employing the method himself.
While Ahsoka uses her lightsabers together most often, she has resorted to using only the main one on occasion. One instance is when she fights Barriss Offee, having lost her shoto — this duel exposes the fact that she’d come to rely too heavily on having both lightsabers.
When Does Ahsoka Get Her Second Lightsaber?
Ahsoka gets her second lightsaber, the shoto blade, after she helps save Chi Eekway Papanoida, who the Separatists abduct. This occurs during season 3 of The Clone Wars series (first shown in the “Heroes on Both Sides” episode).
Ahsoka’s Lightsabers Change to Blue
Anakin Skywalker watches over Ahsoka Tano’s lightsabers while they are in the Jedi Order’s custody. While away from the Jedi, Ahsoka meets up with Bo-Katan Kryze, a Mandalorian, and helps dethrone the returned Darth Maul who has taken over Mandalore (long story). While she still doesn’t want to return to the Jedi Order, she decides to ask Anakin for help and meets with him, Obi-Wan Kenobi and clone Captain Rex.
Where Did Ahsoka Get Her Second Lightsaber Set?
While Anakin and Obi-Wan cannot stay to help with the Siege of Mandalore, Anakin gives Ahsoka her lightsabers back. They’re technically the same as her original set, but he’d made some improvements. The hilts were the same, but the blades had changed to blue — like his. It’s with these blue lightsabers that Ahsoka confronts Maul and aids in the final battles of the Clone Wars before going into hiding after the execution of Order 66.
What Happened to Ahsoka’s Blue Lightsabers?
As Ahsoka, Captain Rex and their allies leave the Siege of Mandalore on the Star Destroyer Tribunal, Palpatine executes Order 66. Ahsoka is able to remove Rex’s control chip, but the ensuing chaos (with a little help from Maul) causes the ship to crash on an unknown moon. Ahsoka and Rex erect a memorial to the lives lost in the Clone Wars, and Ahsoka leaves her lightsabers at the Tribunal crash site, which helps fake her death.
In The Clone Wars series epilogue, we see Darth Vader recover Ahsoka’s lightsabers from the snow-covered wreckage
Ahsoka Tano’s White Lightsaber Blades: Her Final Set
For many fans who think of Ahsoka Tano’s lightsaber, white is the color that comes to mind. This is likely because Ahsoka’s lightsabers in The Mandalorian are her white ones. But there is a lot of symbolic meaning behind these admittedly cool blades.
Ahsoka builds two new curved lightsaber hilts from scrap metal she acquires while in hiding on the remote moon of Raada during the Imperial Era, as seen in Star Wars Rebels. She is attacked by the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother, and after defeating him, she takes his bled kyber crystals and uses the Force to cleanse them of their dark side influence, turning them white. This is where Ahsoka’s white lightsaber blades come from, and she eventually upgrades the curved, samurai-esque hilts. Like her older lightsabers, one is a shoto blade.
Ahsoka Tano’s white lightsabers are used while she’s running Bail Organa’s spy network, gaining intelligence for the growing rebellion. She goes by the name “Fulcrum” during this time and must use her sabers in duels with the Inquisitors and Darth Vader.
Later, after the events of Star Wars Rebels and the original trilogy, we see Ahsoka’s lightsabers in The Mandalorian when she’s on the hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn and crosses paths with Din Djarin, Grogu and Luke Skywalker.
Why Does Ahsoka Have White Lightsabers?
White lightsabers are not common in Star Wars canon. In fact, Ahsoka is the only white lightsaber wielder currently recognized. Her use of white lightsabers symbolizes her status as someone who adheres to the Jedi philosophy even though she rejects the Jedi Order and the High Council for the corruption she witnessed firsthand when framed. In this sense, Ahsoka is a Force-sensitive outcast, nearing the status of a gray Jedi who exists outside of the binary “Dark” and “Light” sides of the Force.
What Lightsaber Form Does Ahsoka Use?
For Ahsoka, lightsaber form is crucial because she’s a dual wielder. While Jar’Kai is the method of dual wielding, Ahsoka Tano’s lightsaber form is a variant of Form V, much like her master, Anakin Skywalker.
“You don’t have to carry a sword to be powerful. Some leaders’ strength is inspiring others.” —Ahsoka Tano
Forge Your Future Like Ahsoka. A Lightsaber Is the First Step.
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Sources:
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ahsoka_Tano
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Force-Sensitive_Outcast
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Barriss_Offee
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jar%27Kai
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ahsoka%27s_lightsabers
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ahsoka_Tano%27s_white_lightsabers