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The new Ahsoka series om Disney+ is a continuation of Ahsoka Tano’s story and builds on many plotlines established in Rebels, The Clone Wars, and The Mandalorian. As such, there are plenty of easter eggs and references to these series, as well as the wider world of Star Wars. Keep reading for our guide to every easter egg in Ahsoka—so far.
Spoilers ahead for Ahsoka!
Episodes 1 and 2: “Part One: Master and Apprentice” and “Part Two: Toil and Trouble”
“I am no Jedi”
Upon infiltrating the New Republic Prison Transport, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) tells the ship’s captain that he was right and that “[they] are no Jedi.” This is likely a reference to one of Ahsoka’s most famous lines from Rebels, in which she tells Lord Vader, “I am no Jedi.” Turning this into a layered easter egg, the original line is likely a shout-out to the moment in Return of the King when the Witch King of Angmar claims that no man can kill him, and Éowyn responds by saying, “I am no man.”
The Nightsisters of Dathomir
Morgan Elsbeth (the character Ahsoka fought in her episode of The Mandalorian) claims to be descended from the Nightsisters of Dathomir, to which Shin Hati calls her a witch. The Nightsisters are not Sith, but they are a race of warrior women who use the Dark Side of the Force. Prominent Nightsisters in Star Wars include Count Dooku’s Sith assassin Asajj Ventress, Mother Talzin (mother of Darth Maul and leader of the Nightsisters during the Clone Wars), and Merrin from Jedi: Fallen Order / Survivor. Technically, Sabine Wren has encountered the Nightsisters before, having been possessed by them as part of a magical deal gone wrong.
We later see Elsbeth using green flame Nightsister magic to unlock the star map.
Jedi archaeology
Speaking of Jedi: Fallen Order / Survivor, the entire opening of Ahsoka feels very reminiscent of some of the puzzles from that game, with Ahsoka using the Force to solve a puzzle and reveal the star map. She even appears to use Force echos (imprints of the past, essentially) to figure out where to turn the pillars.
The presence of the droid Huyang (David Tennant) also somewhat mirrors ZN-A4’s role in the game as an ancient droid with exclusive knowledge that helps the heroes on their quests.
Hera Syndulla
General Hera Syndulla makes her live-action debut in Ahsoka, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who also happens to be married to fellow Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor). The scene in which she and Ahsoka reunite is full of easter eggs, with the whole meeting taking place aboard Home One, a.k.a. Admiral Ackbar’s command ship from Return of the Jedi. Hera also teases Ahsoka for how “it’s never a straight line with you Jedi,” acknowledging her past with the Jedi—specifically Kanan Jarrus, Hera’s partner who died on Lothal. However, there is no mention of Hera and Kanan’s son, Jacen Syndulla, who would be about nine years old at this point, the same age as Anakin during The Phantom Menace and Leia and Luke in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
There’s also a moment when Hera and Chopper get into an argument mid-battle as they fly The Phantom II (named such after Ezra Bridger accidentally destroyed The Phantom I on a mission in Rebels).
Independence from the Empire Day
The planet of Lothal, a mainstay in Star Wars: Rebels, has recovered from the blight of Imperial rule in the decade since its liberation. The capital city now features ivory towers much like the ones Ezra envisioned when he imagined a Lothal free of the Empire. During the independence celebration, we also learn that former Governor Ryder Azadi is now Governor again (with voice actor Clancy Brown reprising the role) and that Jai Kell (an Imperial cadet-turned-rebel who may have had some Force sensitivity) is now the planet’s Senator in the New Republic. All of Lothal celebrates this day … except for Sabine Wren, who is still suffering from the loss of her best friend.
Ezra Bridger’s message
In the Rebels finale, Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger left a hologram message behind as a goodbye after predicting he would have to sacrifice himself to liberate Lothal. We find out in Ahsoka that he left an additional message for Sabine Wren, whom he asked to watch over his home world in his absence. While we don’t know for certain, that request may have saved Sabine’s life as it kept her from going back to Mandalore and getting caught up in the Night of a Thousand Tears (a.k.a. Moff Gideon’s “glassing” of the planet via orbital bombardment); despite Sabine’s family being close allies of Bo-Katan Kryze, we have seen no mention of them in The Mandalorian, which does not bode well for their fates.
Sabine herself is clearly still missing Ezra, having moved into his communications tower and adopted a Loth-cat, much like the wild ones he befriended.
Sabine the artist—and Jedi?
Sabine Wren was previously one of the few non-Jedi to wield a lightsaber, having been taught to use the Darksaber by Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger before passing it on to Bo-Katan Kryze. However, Ahsoka goes a step further by revealing that Ahsoka took Sabine on as an apprentice, despite not being Force-sensitive in the traditional sense. However, Ahsoka cut off Sabine’s training for reasons unknown.
Still, Ahsoka knows that, as an artist, Sabine can see things she can’t and thus brings her the star map. This is not the first time Sabine has used her knowledge as an artist to decipher Force codexes. Notably, Sabine was the one who understood the symbolism of the hands, which unlocked the Lothal Jedi Temple’s portal to the World Between Worlds.
Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren
I want to take a moment to analyze Ahsoka and Sabine’s relationship as it is somewhat buried under layers of context.
Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order, and while she did consider returning, Order 66 happened before she could make that decision. She also lost her master, Anakin Skywalker, to the Dark Side and initially blamed herself for not helping him. Anakin’s fall is why she discouraged Din Djarin from finding a Jedi teacher for Grogu, as she was worried Grogu’s attachment to Din would make him more vulnerable to the Dark Side (like when he Force-choked Cara Dune).
We don’t yet know why Ahsoka chose to teach Sabine the ways of the Jedi, but the show seems to hint that she stopped teaching Sabine out of concern that she was making a lot of the same mistakes Ahsoka and Anakin made. Sabine is very much like teenage Ahsoka; a headstrong young woman who sometimes leaps before she thinks. But Sabine is also like Anakin in that she has few qualms about using violence to protect the people she loves.
Near-fatal lightsaber injury
Sabine is stabbed through the torso with a lightsaber but ultimately survives with only a scar. Some may claim that lightsaber wounds don’t work like that, but characters have survived much worse in Star Wars. Finn was on his feet mere hours after getting his back sliced by Kylo Ren’s lightsaber. Not to mention Darth Maul, Darth Vader, and Darth Sidious all survived being cut in half, losing multiple limbs, being set on fire, and being thrown down a reactor shaft.
The Inquisitors
We also get the return of the Inquisitors with the new character Marrok. The Inquisitors are former Jedi turned to the Dark Side by Darth Vader to hunt the remaining Jedi. They were frequent antagonists in Rebels, Fallen Order, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Marrok appears to be an Inquisitor who turned mercenary after the fall of the Empire. Some have theorized that this masked character could be someone we already know, with some even thinking he could be Ezra Bridger in disguise. However, many of the Inquisitors wear masks in some form, possibly for intimidation or as a tribute to Darth Vader. Some fans also previously thought that the Seventh Sister Inquisitor in Rebels could be Barriss Offee, a Jedi padawan and friend of Ahsoka’s who betrayed her and turned to the Dark Side. These theories were ultimately disproved.
Sabine’s return
Sabine’s entire arc in the second episode seems to focus on whether she will rejoin Ahsoka in her quest. When she finally does commit, she is shown unpacking her Mandalorian armor. While Sabine was not a member of the Children of the Watch like Din Djarin, she was rarely seen without her armor and helmet in Rebels, which makes her introduction sans armor in Ahsoka a bit jarring. Sabine donning her armor once again shows that while she is committing to the path of the Jedi, she is also honoring her Mandalorian heritage (and giving herself extra protection against getting stabbed again). Sabine cutting her hair also provides a visual callback to Kanan Jarrus cutting his hair before going to rescue Hera, while also making Sabine look more like her animated version, whose hair was kept short and practical.
Rebels epilogue
We also get an almost shot-for-shot remake of the Rebels epilogue in these two episodes, starting with Sabine first seeing Ahsoka’s ship and then ending when she commits to finding Ezra.
Episode 3: “Part Three: Time To Fly”
Training
Continuing in the traditional way of teaching the Force, in episode 3 Ahsoka teaches Sabine to use the Force by having her wear a helmet with a visor to prevent her from seeing her opponent. This technique was first used by Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Luke Skywalker, as well as by Yoda with his younglings. Sabine asking how she can fight if she can’t see is almost word-for-word what Luke says to Obi-Wan.
Jacen Syndulla
We also meet Jacen Syndulla, son of Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus. He seems excited to know that his “Aunt Sabine” is training to be a Jedi and wants to be a Jedi too. Considering that Kanan was Force-sensitive, it’s likely that Jacen is, too, though that has yet to be confirmed. Hera doesn’t seem eager to have him trained, possibly because she knows that training means he will be putting himself in more danger. Additionally, Mon Mothma is the character to ask how Hera’s son is doing, likely a reference to Mon herself being a mother, though we don’t currently know the fate of her daughter after she left the Empire to join the rebellion.
Pilot and Gunner
Ahsoka and Sabine find where Morgan Elsbeth and her forces are rendezvousing, and they find a hyperspace ring much like the ones used by the Jedi starfighters in the Prequels. The space battle that follows is a general reference to many Star Wars space battles, especially the Millennium Falcon’s escape from the Death Star, where Luke got over his grief over losing Obi-Wan long enough to excitedly yell that he shot down a fighter.
When the fight goes down into the cloudy planet atmosphere, it more closely resembles Han Solo making the Kessel run in Solo: A Star Wars Story, complete with giant Kaiju-like monsters to navigate around.
Space Wars
Ahsoka fighting on a ship in a spacesuit calls back to multiple space battles in both The Clone Wars and Rebels where combatants invaded ships using spacesuits rather than boarding tunnels. Arguably, this goes all the way back to the original concept art for Star Wars, where concept artist Ralph McQuarrie sketched Darth Vader’s suit to be a spacesuit, allowing him and his stormtroopers to board ships.
Purrgils
While we got a look at the purrgil traveling through hyperspace in season 3 of The Mandalorian, we see them fully rendered in live action for the first time in the third episode of Ahsoka. This episode also confirms that Ezra and Thrawn were taken along a purrgil migration path, explaining why the map to a different galaxy also shows their location.
Episode 4: Fallen Jedi
Huyang’s Got Moves
Huyang, the lightsaber craftsman droid, is attacked by a droid while repairing Ahsoka’s ship. At first, you might think it’s an unfair fight, but Huyang is very capable, being a droid who has trained Jedi for millennia. He first showed off his fighting skills in his debut episode of The Clone Wars, where even without his arms and head, he fought off several pirates.
Marrok
Marrok appears at first to be another faceless antagonist who is hyped up by fans but quickly killed off to make room for the real primary antagonists, as was the case with many of the previous Inquisitors. However, the burst of green energy as he dies indicates that there may be more to him than meets the eye. The burst of energy as Marrok collapses greatly resembles Nightsister magics and may indicate that Marrok was a Nightborther or resurrected force-user, under the control of Morgan Elsbeth.
Going Rogue
Hera Syndulla continues the long tradition of rebels going rogue against their own high command. In a scene that feels like a direct reference to Rogue One, Hera and some X-wing pilots who agree with her fears about Thrawn’s return take off, with Hera casually saying to her son, “When you’re a general, you can disobey orders.” Of course, The Last Jedi showed how going against orders can lead to bad decisions and consequences, which Hera quickly discovers after trying and failing to stop the hyperspace ring.
Sabine’s Family and Jedi Attachments
We also now have confirmation that Sabine Wren lost her entire family during the Purge of Mandalore, making her desperation to save Ezra even more tragic. Sabine had a mother, father, and brother, all of whom were originally Imperial loyalists, but rebelled after Sabine discovered the Darksaber and beat Governor Gar Saxon in a duel. Much like Anakin before her, Sabine is ultimately tempted into making a deal with a dark sider, giving Baylan Skoll the map in hopes of being reunited with Ezra.
A new Holdo Manuever
We’ve seen ships crash into other ships at lightspeed, ships pull other ships out of hyperspace, and ships come out of hyperspace in atmosphere in Star Wars. The Ahsoka show now shows us the wake left behind when a Star Destroyer sized hyperspace ring takes off in front of other ships, sending out waves of energy that leave X-wings and the Ghost struggling not to hit each other.
The World Between Worlds
We also got the live-action debut of the World Between Worlds, a place that connects all of time and space in the Force. Ezra Bridger previously used it to save Ahsoka from her fight with Darth Vader. This makes it an especially fitting site for Ahsoka and Anakin’s reunion. Unlike traditional Force-Ghosts, Anakin looks very solid, indicating how strong the location is with the Force.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
(featured image: Disney+)
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Kimberly Terasaki
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