Ahsoka "Snips" Tano is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe and is the primary protagonist in the 2008 animated film: Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the following series. When the series began with the Clone Wars movie she was depicted as a 14 year old Togruta female. However, according to Lucas, she was only 11 when the Clone Wars began.^[1]

Development[link]

George Lucas stated that the character of Ahsoka was developed for the series as a means of illustrating how Anakin Skywalker develops from the brash, undisciplined Padawan in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones to the more reserved Jedi Knight in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.^[2]However Master Yoda (Frank Oz) worries about Skywalker's realtionships with everyone from Padme Amidala to Master Obi-Wan to R2D2 to C3PO by giving Skywalker his own Padawan would place the character into a paternal role where he would be forced to become more cautious and responsible. It would also give Skywalker new insight into his relationship with his own mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and explain how their relationship matured. Lucas stated that, having raised two daughters, he "knew something about the subject," and decided to make Skywalker's apprentice a young female.

Depiction[link]

Ahsoka Tano was discovered by Master Plo Koon. Abandoned by her parents she knew little about them and so is raised in the Jedi Temple. She graduates to Padawan at an early age, both due to the ongoing Clone Wars and as an effort by Master Yoda to teach Anakin Skywalker a greater sense of responsibility. She wields two green lightsabers and wears a Togruta-inspired outfit that includes the akul-tooth headdress (a surprising feat for someone her age).

Ahsoka displays the same type of rash and rebellious behavior that Anakin is known for. She adopts a highly informal attitude towards her new master and tends to address individuals by nicknames; for example, Anakin is known as "Skydive" and R2-D2 is referred to as "Artooie". Anakin in turn refers to her as "Snips", in reference to her "snippy" attitude when they first met.

She first appears in the Clone Wars film as a messenger sent by Yoda to Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin initially believes that Ahsoka is to be Obi-Wan's new Padawan, but she claims that Yoda has in fact assigned her to him, much to his chagrin. It is later revealed that Obi-Wan and Yoda engineered the confusion over who was to be Ahsoka's master as a means of forcing her upon Anakin in order to make him a more responsible Jedi. After earning Anakin's respect on a dangerous mission to destroy a Separatist shield generator, Ahsoka joins him on a quest to rescue the infant son of Jabba the Hutt. Her impetuous nature both annoys and endears her to her master, and by the end of the film, Anakin reveals a newfound affection for his new apprentice, abandoning a duel with Count Dooku when he believes her life to be in danger.

In the Clone Wars series, Ahsoka and Anakin fight against General Grievous' ship, the Malevolence, which is armed with an ion cannon. They eventually destroy the Malevolence, but Grievous escapes.In another episode, Anakin and Ahsoka have to rescue R2-D2 from falling into the hands of the Separatists. Afterwards, Ahsoka and Luminara Unduli have to defend a Republic ship in which they have as prisoner Nute Gunray, viceroy of the Trade Federation. Asajj Ventress, Dooku's apprentice, fights against Ahsoka and ends up escaping with Gunray. In another episode, Ahsoka, Anakin and Aayla Secura end up shipwrecked in a far away planet inhabited by the Lurmen people. Although Anakin is gravely injured, Aayla Secura tells her she shouldn't get so attached and should focus on her mission. This planet is to be a test for a Separatists' new weapon. The Jedi rescue the Lurmen people from dying, and take the Separatist leader back to Coruscant. In another episode, Ahsoka, Anakin and Obi-Wan discover a secret Separatist lab, controlled by Dr. Nuvo Vindi, on the planet of Naboo. In this lab, Vindi had planned to spread a deadly virus known as the Blue Shadow Virus across the galaxy. Ahsoka, Padmé Amidala and Clone Captain Rex are trapped inside the lab, when a bomb with the virus explodes. Anakin and Obi-Wan have 48 hours to get the antidote, and arrive in time to save their lives. In the last episodes of the season, Ahsoka fights against the Separatists to liberate the planet of Ryloth from the occupation made by Wat Tambor. Ahsoka, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Mace Windu free the planet and capture Tambor.

In the second season, Ahsoka helps Anakin, Obi-Wan and Plo Koon to defeat the Separatists in Felucia. However, she disobeys orders to retreat, and instead she continues fighting the battle droids. Anakin and Obi-Wan retrieve Ahsoka in a gunship and they are forced to leave. The Jedi Council removes Ahsoka from active duty as punishment for disobeying order, and assigns her to guarding the Jedi archives. However, bounty hunter Cad Bane appears and steals a holocron. Anakin and Ahsoka then go to capture Bane and retrieve the holocron. In a space battle, Ahsoka and Anakin manage to corner Bane and enter his ship. However, Ahsoka recklessly chases Bane. After a short battle, Ahsoka is captured, tied up, and placed inside a force field. Anakin tries to rescue her but Bane threatens to kill Ahsoka if Anakin does not unlock the holocron. Anakin unlocks the holocron and frees Ahsoka, but Bane escapes. They are forced to escape the ship, after Bane has put it in self-destruct sequence. Later, Ahsoka finds out that Bane is in their ship. Ahsoka tries to stop him, but Bane escapes. The Jedi Council find out Bane's plan: To kidnap Force-sensitive children and bring them to Mustafar. Ahsoka and Anakin find Bane on Naboo and capture him. After interrogating him, Obi-Wan and Windu recover the holocron, but Bane escapes. Ahsoka and Anakin find volcanic ash in Bane's ship, and they go to Mustafar. Ahsoka and Anakin manage to rescue the children. Ahsoka later goes with Anakin to help destroy a droid factory on Geonosis. And after the battle, Ahsoka and Barris Offee run an errand to go to get supplies, not knowing that Geonosian worms have infected the crew. On a mission to apprehend an arms dealer with her master, Ahsoka loses her lightsaber to a thief, but recovers it and captures the thief with the help of an elderly Jedi Master. In another episode, Ahsoka, alongside Anakin, Obi-Wan and four bounty hunters, endeavors to protect a village from Hondo Ohnaka and his pirates. She would later aid Master Plo Koon in the capture of Boba Fett on the planet Florrum and seemingly dispatches Aurra Sing, who was aiding Fett in his bid for revenge against Mace Windu.

The third season features Ahsoka in many other episodes. At one point, Ahsoka travels with Senator Riyo Chuchi to investigate the Trade Federation blockade of Pantora, uncovering evidence of links to the kidnapping of Chairman Papanoida's daughters. She also aids several Mandalorian cadets in putting a halt to black market dealings there. Another episode explores Ahsoka's friendship with Padmé. When Aurra Sing reemerges, despite her apparent earlier death, Ahsoka must thwart her attempts to assassinate Senator Amidala. Ahsoka and Padmé team up once more when they venture to the Separatist capital of Raxus to negotiate an end to the war, which proves inconclusive following a terrorist attack on Coruscant. However, Ahsoka meets a new friend, Lux Bonteri, during the journey, and is forced to rethink her previously narrow views of the war. Ahsoka doesn't appear again until the Mortis trilogy, when she finds herself stuck on a mysterious planet with Anakin and Obi-Wan, and becomes embroiled in a power struggle between powerful Force users. Later on, Ahsoka sneaks on a mission to free Jedi Master Even Piell and Captain Wilhuff Tarkin from the dreaded Citadel, and aids the group in accomplishing their objective. Ahsoka finally features prominently in the last two episodes of Season 3, when she's captured by several Trandoshan headhunters following a battle, and taken away to a jungle planet. There, she teams up with three Jedi Padawans and Chewbacca to defeat the Trandoshans and escape the planet.

In Season Four, Ahsoka features in several episodes. She first appears in the Mon Calamari arc, wherein she is part of a Republic task force alongside Anakin Skywalker, Kit Fisto, Padme Amidala and Jar Jar Binks, helping to defend Prince Lee-Char and aid his military commander Ackbar in defending the planet Mon Calamari against Separatist forces allied with the opposing Quarren. After the Mon Calamari forces and the accompanying Republic taskforce are forced to surrender to Separatist leader Riff Tamson, she helps the prince to evade capture and later assists in negotiations with the Quarren, who eventually turn against the Separatists after realizing their mutual mistreatment and marginalization at their hands. Afterwards, Ahsoka doesn't make another appearance until the series adaptation of the Slaves of the Republic comics, wherein she helps recover the enslaved Togrutas of the planet Kiros from the Separatist-aligned Zygerrians, though briefly at the expense of her own enslavement, as well as that of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Captain Rex. Following this appearance, Ahsoka features prominently in a stand-alone episode wherein she rescues her old friend, Lux Bonteri, from the clutches of Count Dooku's forces and is later forced to contend with Bonteri's alliance to the rogue Mandalorian terrorist group Death Watch, who plan to aid Bonteri in getting his revenge on Dooku. Managing to convince Bonteri of their dishonor and brutality, the duo manage to escape from the murderous brigands, before Bonteri departs from Ahsoka's presence yet again. Later in the series, when Obi-Wan Kenobi is seemingly assassinated by bounty hunter Rako Hardeen, Ahsoka helps her master in apprehending a transformed and disguised Obi-Wan Kenobi, posing as the would-be assassin, before assisting Anakin Skywalker in tracking down "Rako Hardeen," and his newfound partners Cad Bane and Moralo Eval, in an effort to prevent a conspiracy to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine and hold him as a hostage. Ahsoka is last seen with her master at a diner on the planet Stobar, where her master senses a sinister force arising in the galaxy following an altercation involving Savage Opress at the location.

Star Wars Transformers[link]

Ahsoka Tano was added to the Star Wars Transformers line of toys in 2009; it was a remold of the toy first used for Saesee Tiin. She becomes a Delta-7B Aethersprite starfighter with Astromech droid R7-A7. She is the only female character in the toy line.

Reception[link]

IGN reported Ahsoka Tano as the 43rd top Star Wars character.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars Databank
• Ahsoka Tano on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki

Ashley Eckstein
Eckstein in June 2011
Born	Maria Ashley Drane (1981-09-22) September 22, 1981 (age 30) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001 – present
Spouse	David Eckstein (2005–present)
Website
http://www.ashleyeckstein.com/

Maria Ashley Eckstein (née Drane; born September 22, 1981), credited as Ashley Eckstein or Ashley Drane, is an American film and television actress known to audiences of Blue Collar TV and as the voice of Ahsoka Tano on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She also plays a small role as Allicia in the movie Sydney White and plays the teacher Ms. Cole in the movie Alice Upside Down. To younger audiences, she played a minor character named Muffy on Disney Channel's That's So Raven. Eckstein also had a small role on one episode of Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh portraying Susan, Drake's girlfriend. She often plays an antagonist on television programs.

Eckstein was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised in Orlando, Florida. She married former Major League Baseball player and 2006 World Series MVP David Eckstein on November 26, 2005, in his hometown of Sanford, Florida, followed by a reception at Walt Disney World.^[1]

In addition to doing film and voice work, Eckstein also started Her Universe, a company that produces licensed merchandise targeted specifically for girls.^[2]

Filmography[link]

• Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (2011) (video game).... Ahsoka Tano
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–present) (TV series).... Ahsoka Tano
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) (film).... Ahsoka Tano
• Sydney White (2007) (film).... Alicia
• Alice Upside Down (2007) (film).... Miss Cole
• Blue Collar TV (2004) (TV series).... Various Characters
• Ancient Warriors (2003).... Dylan Paccione
• Prey for Rock & Roll (2003) (film).... Punk Rock Girl
• The Brady Bunch in the White House (2002) (TV movie).... Jan Brady
• The Rerun Show (2002) (TV series).... Series Regular

Guest appearances[link]

Eckstein in June 2010

• Phil of the Future (January 6, 2006)....Grace
• Drake & Josh (January 25, 2004).... Susan
• That's So Raven (2003–2006) (TV Series) 8 episodes.... Muffy
• That '70s Show (December 17, 2003).... Julie
• JAG (October 9, 2001).... Lisa Rossbach
• Nickelodeon GUTS (1994).... competing as herself

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ashley Eckstein

• Official website
• Ashley Eckstein at the Internet Movie Database
• Official StarWars-Homepage