How Does Bo-Katan Know Ahsoka Tano? The Two Worked Together in ‘The Clone Wars’ but Weren’t Always on the Same Side
For fans of Star Wars that haven’t gotten into the animated series yet, Ahsoka Tano is still a name that might be familiar. That’s how popular her character has become in the franchise. But for fans of The Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels, she’s a major character. And while Bo-Katan isn’t as well know, she’s still significant, and more so now. But how do the two know each other? [Spoiler alert: Spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 3].
Bo-Katan helped Mando get 1 step closer to delivering The Child to the Jedi
The third episode of The Mandalorian’s second season, “The Heiress,” was probably one of the most exciting yet. Frog Lady reunited with her husband and made some tadpoles and Mando finally found more Mandalorians. But they weren’t just any Mandalorians. Din Djarin ran into Bo-Katan and her two other members of the Night Owls.
Bo-Katan, as she explains to Mando, is a member of Clan Kryze and made her debut in Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Season 4. She’s sisters to Duchess Satine Kryze, who established a pacifist rule on Mandalore. This was, of course, opposite of what Bo-Katan believed in, because she was a part of Death Watch. They were a terrorist group of Mandalorians from Mandalore who wanted the ancient warrior ways to be reestablished on the planet. And that didn’t coincide with the pacifist, neutral stance Satine put into place.
Bo-Katan did leave Death Watch when Maul took over, though, and Mando is a Child of the Watch, which is a form of Mandalorians who went on to keep that ancient form of their culture. Which is different from her version, which is just straight from the planet’s people.
Regardless of their differences, he helps her and in turn, Bo-Katan tells Mando where Ahsoka Tano is. She can help him with The Child.
Bo-Katan and Ahsoka were enemies early on
For fans of the animated shows, seeing Bo-Katan was the obvious and necessary link to Ahsoka that many were waiting for. The characters were on two very opposite sides of the Clone Wars, even though Death Watch wasn’t specifically aligned with the Separatists. But they also definitely weren’t with the Republic and Jedi.
In one episode in Season 4, Ahsoka is taken on Lux Bonteri’s mission to hire Death Watch to avenge his mother’s death. However, Death Watch aren’t the most trustworthy people, and they already are taking the native people of the planet they’re on hostage. Ahsoka, of course, isn’t OK with this. And when Death Watch and Pre Vizsla, their leader, find out Ahsoka is a Jedi, they attack.
Ahsoka, being the majorly skilled Padawan she was at the time, killed four Mandalorians at once in one of the coolest maneuvers on the show. She escapes with Lux, and it’s not until later in Season 5 that Bo-Katan leaves Death Watch after Maul kills Satine, Pre Vizsla, and takes over Mandalore.
This brings us to the main portion of time when Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano worked together. Because even though they weren’t on the same side at the start, they were at the end.
Bo-Katan defected and sought Ahsoka’s help during the Siege of Mandalore
Maul held control of Mandalore through Almec, who was acting as Prime Minister of the planet after Satine’s murder. Maul was, of course, pulling the strings behind the scenes. Bo-Katan found Ahsoka on the planet Oba Diah in Season 7.
This is after Ahsoka left the Jedi Order in Season 5. Long story short, Ahsoka was framed for bombing the Jedi Temple, and she didn’t feel like she trusted herself enough to stay in the Jedi Order, even after her name was cleared. Plus, underneath it all, there was an underlying distrust with the Order in general that she doesn’t quite grasp until later. So she left.
Bo-Katan recruited Ahsoka’s help because she thought Ahsoka was still with the Jedi and the Republic. Even though she wasn’t, Ahsoka still agreed to help and got in touch with Obi-Wan and Anakin, thinking they’d take on the mission because Maul was involved. It turned all bureaucratic, though, because Mandalore wasn’t a part of the Republic so technically they couldn’t get involved.
In the end, though, they did send Ahsoka with a small squadron of troopers, and they defeated Maul and his group of Death Watch that were faithful to him. However, right at the end is when Order 66 was ordered, and the rest is (unfortunately) history.
As Bo-Katan told Mando in this last episode, they lost control of Mandalore again, but there’s still a group of them, just like there are Children of the Watch like Mando. And next week (maybe), fans will see a live-action Ahsoka Tano.
