Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker have one of the most impactful relationships in Star Wars, but one Ahsoka-related fact makes their dynamic even weirder. Ahsoka was first introduced in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie after being chosen to become Anakin’s Padawan. Though he saw no need for a Padawan learner at first, they quickly became fast friends, learning a lot from one another and navigating the complexities of the Jedi Order together.
While Ahsoka and Anakin’s relationship has been (understandably) confined to the animated series, including The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, along with a brief mention in The Book of Boba Fett after Ahsoka’s live-action debut in The Mandalorian, there’s no denying the depth of their friendship. Ahsoka leaving the Jedi Order at the end of The Clone Wars season 5 definitely contributed to Anakin’s fall to the dark side, even if it wasn’t the sole reason. Given the importance of their partnership as Master and Padawan in the Skywalker saga, the date Ahsoka was inducted into the Jedi Order is all the more interesting.
Ahsoka Tano Actually Joined The Jedi Order Before Anakin Skywalker
It’s strange to put together Ahsoka’s Star Wars timeline, realizing she actually joined the Jedi Order before Anakin did. The recently published Star Wars: Timelines book by Kristin Baver, Jason Fry, Cole Horton, Amy Richau, and Clayton Sandell confirmed that Jedi Master Plo Koon found Ahsoka on her homeworld of Shili in 33 BBY when she was only three years old. This is a year before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and as such, a year before Anakin Skywalker himself was introduced to the Jedi Order.
Anakin was, of course, somewhat of a prodigy, and so it’s no surprise that with his skills, combined with his older age, he was a Jedi Knight long before Ahsoka ever could be. But for Ahsoka, the Jedi Order was all she’d ever truly known. Anakin, on the other hand, had experienced an entirely different sort of life before joining the Jedi. Granted, it was marred by trauma, but he had a loving mother that he was taken away from at an age where he could still remember her. The fact that Anakin ended up training Ahsoka, despite his being inducted into the Jedi Order at a later date, makes the parallels and differences in their respective Jedi journeys all the more compelling.
Anakin & Ahsoka Had Similar Jedi Stories – For Very Different Reasons
Anakin and Ahsoka became incredibly close as Master and Padawan. They learned from one another and grew together. In the end, they were a lot alike; both ended up seeing the faults of the Jedi Order before others did, and they each became disillusioned with how the Order conducted business. But how they both got to that point was very different. Ahsoka was essentially abandoned by the Jedi – as soon as they believed she had committed a crime, they punished her for it, without doing due diligence and trying to track down the true perpetrator. Only Anakin stood by her side, but it wasn’t enough, and she soon left the Jedi to become something more than just another soldier in an unending war.
Anakin, similarly, became frustrated with the Jedi; the necessary secrecy of his relationship with Padmé and the never-ending manipulation from Palpatine began to push him over the edge. Anakin had always been emotional, wearing his heart on his sleeve, and Palpatine used that to his advantage. Where Ahsoka left the Jedi because of what she believed was right, Anakin betrayed the Order because of what he was led to believe was right for him. Despite their closeness, Anakin and Ahsoka still drifted apart. Together, they might have been able to make a difference. Separated, they struggled to understand their roles as Jedi. It is their similarities and differences that make their relationship one of Star Wars’ most compelling and tragic dynamics of all time.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
