Before Ahsoka was a fan favourite, she initially drew a lot of flak for her appearance in The Clone Wars.
Why was this so?
In the early days of The Clone Wars series, she was badly perceived because in the movies Anakin did not have a padawan.
Here’s what you need to know why she drew the ire of fans initially.
Why was Ahsoka hated by the fan base at first?
Here are 4 reasons why Ahsoka was hated:
- Anakin did not have a padawan in the movies
- Ahsoka was a child
- The writing in the early seasons weren’t that great
- People could have been rather judgmental
Anakin did not have a padawan in the movies
For me, the main reason people really disliked Ahsoka was the fact that she was never once mentioned in the prequels. However, she was introduced in the 2008 Clone Wars movie.
Most of the watchers of The Clone Wars show did not get why Anakin needed to have a student.
In Episode III we find out that he is not granted the rank of Master.
As such, it was quite intriguing that Anakin had a padawan while he was still a Jedi Knight.
Ahsoka’s addition to the saga was seen as unnecessary and forced.
While this might have been the case – she grew into her own and became one of the universally loved characters in the series.
Here is a video of the moment she becomes Anakin’s padawan.
Ahsoka was a child
With her being a teenager – many of the older fans of Star Wars and especially of the original trilogy weren’t feeling any real connection with her.
Most of the problems with her were that she was always opposing her masters. She had a big mouth, which for me was completely normal for a normal teenager. She was rarely punished, which seemed unreasonable to some viewers.
One such example was the Battle of Ryloth, where she insisted on continuing the attack which resulted in the loss of her pilots.
She was not punished that severely, apart from being reprimanded by her Master.
Her dry sense of humour was also deemed a little bit annoying by some fans.
Here is a video of her “problematic” attitude.
All of the above was just not setting her up for early success!
The writing in the early seasons weren’t that great
The writing in the first one or two seasons of The Clone Wars animation series may not been that great as compared to the later seasons.
Although, when talking about Ahsoka – Dave Filoni and George Lucas had exactly what we saw in mind.
She was a child (in the early seasons of The Clone Wars), and that gave her the opportunity to grow throughout the whole series.
She was ‘purposely’ created to be ‘whiny and annoying’, so that she could have a character arc to develop her more.
In this way, the fans could join her on her journey and begin to connect better with her.
Slowly, fans warmed up to her, and she even became a fan favourite!
One of the turning points was when she left the Jedi Order, after she was being wrongly accused of bombing the Jedi Temple.
You can find out who thought she was innocent during the Jedi Temple bombing here.
Eventually, she appeared in the series Star Wars Rebels, where we could see this girl as a much older and troubled adult.
She played a role in assisting the Ghost crew during the show, and fans were able to relate with her more.
Here you can see a video of Darth Vader finding out she is alive.
She eventually fought with Vader on Malachor, and you can find out how she managed to survive here.
People could have been rather judgmental
There were some intriguing reasons why Ahsoka was not well received by the fans at first
Some people didn’t like her, because she was a female. Many more were opposed to that and claim they would’ve hated her even if she was male!
Their issues were related to the alleged retconning that was done in the saga, in particular, due to Anakin having a padawan.
Others didn’t like her clothes in the first season, as she was too “naked”.
To be fair, there are some Star Wars fans that just want to find something not to like about changes to the story!
Conclusion
Early Ahsoka was heavily disliked for various reasons, from being a child to being a female to being an unnecessary addition.
However, as The Clone Wars progressed, she ultimately became a fan favourite.
You’ve really got to give it to Dave Filoni who had this whole plan set in his mind!
Ahsoka will now be having her own show, which is quite a huge achievement!
You can discover 6 things you may not know about her lightsabers here.
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