In a galaxy far, far away, the stories remain untold...until now.
"Everywhere there is life, but you must face death. Honor it. Do not fear it."
— Pav-ti
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi is a Disney+ animated anthology series set in the Star Wars universe, and serves as a spinoff of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with much of the cast and crew returning from that series. Set in intervening periods before, during, and after the Clone Wars, the show focuses on Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), Count Dooku (Corey Burton), and Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson and his son Micheál Richardson) at various points in their lives, showing how they came to be the characters the audiences first meet them as. In addition, Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter), Mace Windu (Terrence C. Carson), Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bail Organa, Tera Sinube, Yaddle (Bryce Dallas Howard), and the Clone Army put in an appearance. Janina Gavankar, who played Iden Versio in Star Wars Battlefront II (2017), appears in the series as Pav-ti, Ahsoka's mother.
The show premiered on Disney+ on October 26, 2022. A second season was announced to be in development on April 8, 2023, later revealed to be Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, set for release on May the Fourth, 2024.
Watch the first trailer here
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Not to be confused with Tales of the Jedi, another series from the Legends continuity that helped codify the Old Republic era, though the two share the same name and a similar logo.
Tales of the Jedi provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Innocence: Mace Windu reports Dooku's Cowboy Cop methods on Raxus to the Council, which leads to Dooku being passed over for a seat on the Council (which he had hoped to get into order to enact reforms) that goes to Windu instead. Dooku clearly suspects that Windu's actions were a politically motivated power grab, while Windu insists he was just following protocol and was just as surprised as anyone when he was offered it. It's not clear which is true, as to Mace's credit he has always been duty-bound, but Dooku's suspicion worsens his disillusionment with the Order.
- Art Evolution: The series does have the same art style as The Clone Wars, but advances in technology have given it a much more realistic look in terms of lighting and presentation. There are also some subtle tweaks to the character models; look closely and Obi-Wan, though wearing his Clone armor over his robes, has his mullet from Attack of the Clones.
- Ascended Extra: Big time for Yaddle. She goes from being a background character in The Phantom Menace before suddenly disappearing afterward and never brought up again to becoming a big part of Count Dooku's backstory.
- Back for the Dead: "The Sith Lord" marks Yaddle's first canon appearance since The Phantom Menace (Aside from a brief appearance in the canon novel Star Wars: Out of the Shadows). She is killed by Dooku at the end, explaining why she never appeared again.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: Dooku thinks that Palpatine's big conspiracy is this, bending the rules and manipulating the system to restore the Republic to its former glory. Naturally, it's just about giving the power-hungry Palpatine control of the galaxy, but Palpatine is more than happy to play into and encourage Dooku's misguided belief that everything they're doing is for the greater good.
- Black Shirt: A young man on the farm Ahsoka retires to is an avid supporter of the Empire, believing the propaganda that Palpatine has brought peace and order to the galaxy by ending the war and that the Jedi were traitors. He learns his lesson the hard way when he learns of Ahsoka being a Jedi, calls the Inquisitors to report her, and an Inquisitor promptly shows up and burns his village down while killing most of his friends and coworkers in search of Ahsoka.
- By-the-Book Cop: Well, Jedi aren't cops per se but Mace is adamant on following the official procedure to the letter, in comparison to Dooku's wish to investigate. Mace later ends up reporting Dooku to the council for his actions and (possibly) costing him a council seat.
- Call-Forward:
- At the end of "Justice", Dooku refers to Qui-Gon as a much wiser man than himself. Qui-Gon would say the same to Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace.
- Qui-Gon and Dooku have a brief conversation, where Qui-Gon "speaks very highly" of Obi-Wan, just like Dooku claimed he did in Attack of the Clones.
- In Attack Of The Clones, Dooku said that despite being his former master, he very much valued the aid and wisdom of Qui-Gon. After the events with Senator Dagonet, Dooku confides in Qui-Gon that he considers him the wiser of the two.
- During her test with the probes, Ahsoka uses the same blocking sequence that Anakin demonstrated on a Holocron recording in Rebels.
- Ahsoka is attacked by clones as part of a training exercise set up by Anakin. By the end of the war, it won't be an exercise, and those blasters won't be set on stun, a fact Rex lampshades at the very end of that episode.
- Ahsoka comes face-to-face with an Inquisitor while hiding in a village, others of whom she will later face in Ahsoka and Star Wars Rebels.
- The planet Dooku and Mace go to in the third episode is Raxus, the future capital of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a.k.a., the Separatists. Fittingly, it is also where one of Dooku's most radicalizing experiences occurs.
- Also in the third episode, Dooku said to Senator Larik about his fellow Jedi Master's death that it's rare for a Jedi to succumb to a surprise attack unless it comes from someone they trusted, foreshadowing how the majority of the Jedi will be slaughtered by the clone troopers that they trusted when Palpatine activated Order 66 during the final days of the Clone Wars.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: After the war, a traumatized and disillusioned Ahsoka tries to simply retire to a quiet, lonely life as a snakebitten handywoman on a farm on a backwater planet. Then she accidentally outs herself as a Jedi by instinctively using the Force to save a coworker from getting crushed by falling hay bales, and within a day, an Imperial Inquisitor arrives and burns down the farm while slaughtering most of her coworkers to find her. She realizes she can't run anymore and joins up with the Rebellion, setting up her role as Fulcrum in Star Wars Rebels.
- Canon Immigrant: Pav-ti hunts some kybuck in the first episode. Kybuck are animals from the Legends continuity, particularly Star Wars: Clone Wars where one acted as Yoda’s personal steed.
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: The premiere of the first season is a hopeful and low-stakes episodes showing Ahsoka's infancy and her home village, depicted as a loving and nurturing environment that worshipped the Jedi and the Force. The three subsequent episodes are about Dooku's fall to the Sith, caused by the corruption of the Republic and the death of Qui-Gon Jinn, ending with Dooku permanently joining Darth Sidious. The fifth episode is lighter in comparison, revolving around Anakin training Ahsoka and being reminiscent of the earlier episodes of The Clone Wars. The sixth episode then goes back to being bleak by showing Ahsoka post-Order 66, including her attending Padme Amidala's funeral on Naboo.
- Continuity Nod:
- Padmé's funeral, as seen in Revenge of the Sith, is shown in the final episode — and it's revealed that Ahsoka was in attendance.
- Overlapping with Mythology Gag, the assassin droids that Larik's guards use to attack Dooku and Mace (and which they implicitly used to kill Master Katri) are either old HK models or a more advanced model in the same line.
- Jedi characters have said they’ll leave politics to the politicians or some variation multiple times and we are outright informed that Jedi are forbidden from involving themselves in politics without the High Council's permission who themselves need permission from the Senate.
- Corrupt Politician: Both of the Republic senators seen are scumbags of the highest order, symbolizing the Republic's larger decay;
- Senator Dagonet is a selfish, cruel man who lets his people starve and suffer in the name of his political ambitions, only to crackdown with brutal force when they retaliate by kidnapping his son (who is so shocked by how his father's subjects are faring that he agrees with and supports his kidnappers).
- Senator Larik is a greedy coward who tries to sell off and exploit Raxus and its people for his own gain, which eventually provokes his Praetorian Guard into trying to stage a coup. Then Dooku and Windu find out he was the one who led Jedi Master Katri into an ambush by said guards, so they could kill her before she exposed their plot to use Larik as a Puppet King.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Inquisitor who hunts down Ahsoka in the final episode underestimates just how powerful and skilled she is, assuming her to be just another Padawan rather than an apprentice to one of the strongest Jedi Knights by the end of the war. He pays the price for it when Ahsoka effortlessly evades, disarms, and beheads him despite not even having a lightsaber on her.
- Darker and Edgier: Dooku’s episodes are grim and tragic, taking an unflinching look at the Republic’s corruption and Dooku’s fall to the dark side. They’re some of the darkest Star Wars content out there, on par with Revenge of the Sith and the last few episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Death by Looking Up: Yaddle nearly dies when Dooku drops a cargo bay door on top of her. She manages to just barely stop it with the Force, but the extreme exertion that doing so puts her body through leaves her easily finished off.
- Destroy the Evidence: Dooku uses Sifo-Dyas's access codes to erase Kamino from the Jedi Archives, explaining why Jocosta tries to explain to Obi-Wan that Kamino is not present in the Archives during Attack of the Clones.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Even after his fall from grace, Dooku clearly loves Qui-Gon as a son, and is heartbroken and filled with rage when he dies dueling Maul on Naboo. At the same time, it's darkly subverted with Palpatine, who tries to act as if he's equally affected by Maul's own apparent death ("you lost an apprentice and so did I!") to get sympathy from Dooku, but clearly doesn't care that much.
- While Dagonet is a corrupt and uncaring ruler, he also loves his son dearly and retaliates brutally when the boy is kidnapped.
- Not quite evil (though certainly ruthless), but the leader of Senator Larik's guards and the head of the conspiracy on Raxus is horrified and grief-stricken when Mace is forced to kill one of his younger men, with the implication that said man was the leader's son.
- Fluffy Tamer: Ahsoka's first use of the Force is calming an angry and hungry wildcat that stole her for food while her mother was hunting, even compelling it to carry her back home. This confirms to her village that she is Force-sensitive.
- Hard-Work Montage: The fifth episode is largely dedicated to one for Ahsoka, being taught how to be Crazy-Prepared for anything through Anakin's unorthodox teaching methods.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: The Jedi Council, as per their characterization in the Prequels;
- In "Choices", they have no interest in investigating the suspicious death of one of their own members, Master Katri on Raxus, simply ordering Masters Dooku and Windu to retrieve her body and bring it back to Coruscant. They even punish Dooku for conducting an unauthorized investigation by denying him a seat on the Council.
- In "The Sith Lord", which overlaps with the events of The Phantom Menace, most of the Jedi are uncertain of Qui-Gon Jinn's claims he encountered a Sith Lord on Tatooine. Even Yaddle, who is more sympathetic to Qui-Gon and Dooku, would prefer to wait for more information before acting on Qui-Gon's warning.
- He Knows Too Much: Palpatine and Dooku murder Yaddle after she sees the two of them together discussing the results of the Blockade of Naboo, which they orchestrated alongside the now-dead Darth Plagueis and MIA (but presumed dead) Darth Maul.
- A Hero Is Born: The first episode begins with Ahsoka Tano's birth.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Lampshaded and discussed in regards to the Separatist Battle Droids, which are mostly lousy shots due to their simplistic programming that mostly amounts to "hold gun, shoot gun" and make up for it through numbers. Ahsoka complains about Anakin's test involving clone troopers shooting at her for this reason, pointing out that her clone allies are better shots than the droids she'll actually be fighting. Anakin agrees and says it's the point; if she can learn to dodge and deflect clone blaster fire, the less dangerous droid blaster fire will be even easier to deal with, and she'll also have valuable experience with fighting living creatures that are inherently less predictable then droids with weak AI. Sure enough, the training pays off during Order 66.
- Inherent in the System: Dooku and Qui-Gon initially see the growing corruption in the Republic and the complacency of the Jedi Council as a minor problem, something that is rare and can be easily dealt with. Several decades of trying and failing to be an Internal Reformist ends up convincing Dooku that the system itself is fundamentally broken and there needs to be radical changes to get the Republic back to health. Palpatine is all too happy to exploit that disillusionment to prod Dooku into more and more "moral compromises" in the name of social change until eventually Dooku is deep into Sithism and sees no way out.
- Instant Death Bullet: Averted. Ahsoka's mother shoots a kybuck while hunting then has to Mercy Kill it with her hunting knife when it ends up being merely wounded.
- I've Come Too Far: After taking part in Palpatine's conspiracy by helping orchestrate Sifo-Diyas' death, the creation of the clone army, and the Blockade of Naboo, an increasingly horrified Dooku questions if this "benevolent" plot to "save" the Republic is going too far. But when Yaddle confronts him and demands he turn in Palpatine and publicly admit his wrongdoing, he — with a little extra manipulation and egging on from Palpatine — instead chooses to murder her in order to keep the plot going, believing that he's already gone too far and that to quit now will render the sacrifices he's made meaningless.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: At first, Dooku is just a political idealist justifiably upset with the Republic's decay and how the Jedi have lost their way and become tools of the Senate instead of servants of the people and religious teachers. He gets involved in Palpatine's plot under the impression that it's a Benevolent Conspiracy to restore the galaxy's freedom and prosperity. He gets manipulated into lots of little compromises for the "greater good" and doesn't realize just how far he's fallen until he's given the choice of coming clean and exposing Palpatine or murdering Yaddle to keep their plans in motion… and he chooses the latter.
- Make an Example of Them:
- Dagonet's declaration that he intends to utterly destroy the town that kidnapped his son, even though they only did so because he mistreated him and even his son agrees with them, simply to make an example of people who act against him is what angers Dooku enough to nearly Force Choke the man.
- The Inquisitor who hunts down Ahsoka burns down the farm she was working on and kills most of her coworkers, implicitly to make an example of what happens to people who "harbor" Jedi. He does not know or care that only one person there even knew about Ahsoka being a Jedi.
- Mercy Kill: Ahsoka sees death for the first time as a toddler when her mother takes her hunting, then makes her watch as she mercy kills a kybuck that she shot but failed to immediately kill.
- Morality Chain: it's subtle, but Qui-Gon fulfils this role for Dooku. He's the one who stops Dooku from killing Senator Dagonet, and once he's no longer Dooku's apprentice is when Dooku begins getting ensnared in Palpatine's web. After Qui-Gon's death, Dooku has little or no compunctions about murdering Yaddle in cold blood.
- Mythology Gag:
- The sequences of Ahsoka training with numerous clones surrounding her bear a striking resemblance to a similar scene in a trailer featuring another of Anakin's apprentices...
- While hiding undercover, Ahsoka uses the alias "Ashla"; the term that George Lucas originally intended to use as the name of the Light Side of the Force, which is how it's canonically used, though as an ancient and obsolete word few know of by this point of the timeline (hence why it makes a good fake name).
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: One of the biggest moments in Dooku's radicalization comes when his willingness to bend the rules allows him to solve the murder of a fellow Jedi and uncover a plot by a senator's guards to seize control of Raxus… and his reward is Dooku being passed over for a seat on the Council in favor of Mace.
- It doesn’t help that his actions directly caused the death of a senator which Windu implies is the main reason he didn’t get the seat.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Bail speaks to both an out-of-sight Ahsoka and two Clone Troopers questioning him by making friendly conversation about how teamwork and how they can always count on him. The Clones just think he's being weird, possibly drunk, but Ahsoka gets the real message that she can always count on Bail to help her out if she decides to fight the Empire.
- Psychic Strangle: One of Dooku's earliest steps towards Sithism is when his anger and disgust with a corrupt, amoral senator gets the better of him and he uses a Force Choke to nearly kill the man before Qui-Gon gets him to stand down.
- Puppet King: Senator Larik's Praetorian Guard try to stage a quiet coup on Raxus by turning Larik into one, threatening him into undoing his corrupt policies and instituting new ones more beneficial to Raxus, while also killing anybody who learns of the truth behind Larik's "change of heart". Dooku and Mace Windu's investigation of Master Katri's death throws a wrench into that scheme, ending with Larik dead and the guards either dead themselves or arrested for treason.
- "Rashomon"-Style:
- The fourth episode is essentially the events of The Phantom Menace from Count Dooku's perspective.
- Padmé's funeral is seen from Ahsoka's perspective, who is disguised in the crowd of mourners.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: Yaddle's fate, which was left ambiguous following the discarding of the Legends continuity, is shown here. She followed Dooku to Darth Sidious' hideout and was killed by Dooku.
- Retcon:
- Obi-Wan is shown with his Attack of the Clones mullet in "Practice Makes Perfect", which takes place in The Clone Wars, where he sported his short haircut from Revenge of the Sith from the beginning. While it's possible that Obi-Wan temporarily grew his mullet back, this is likely how he was supposed to have looked all along in the early episodes of The Clone Wars (his original short hair was likely the result of technological limitations).
- Played With as the final episode of this series basically follows the key plot points from the Ahsoka novel, while cutting out a lot to fit a 15-minute run time. The only things to remain are; Ahsoka hiding as a regular worker, accidentally outing herself as a Jedi by saving someone, befriending a local girl, the Empire going scorched earth to find her after someone reports to them about a Jedi, Ahsoka killing a masked inquisitor, contacting Bail in order to find refuge for the survivors, and finally Bail being the one she contacts in order to return to the fight.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Dooku is initially a borderline Technical Pacifist, and while he's sympathetic to the nascent Separatist movement and agrees with all their criticisms of the Republic, he is disturbed by and rejects their willingness to use violence in the name of social change. His Start of Darkness begins in earnest when years of trying to be a peaceful Internal Reformist are undermined by restrictions placed on the Jedi’s ability to act and the Republic's own corruption. Palpatine exploits his frustration to manipulate him into questionable deeds for "the greater good", causing him to slowly lose his aversion to violence and come to instead see it as a viable, even necessary, tool of societal improvement.
- Rite of Passage: The first episode shows Ahsoka as a one-year-old, being taken on a traditional hunt by her mother Pav-ti, despite her father Nak-il's protest that it's old-fashioned. Things go awry when a predator intrudes and ends up grabbing Ahsoka as the other villagers try to drive it off.
- Sidequel: "The Sith Lord" takes place during the events of The Phantom Menace, beginning just after Qui-Gon finishes his report to the council about the return of the Sith, and ending just before his funeral on Naboo.
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: The episodes focused on Count Dooku depict his gradual decline into evil, following him as he goes from a valiant and noble Jedi Knight to an embittered political idealist to a ruthless Sith Lord who will do anything to bring order to the galaxy.
- Start of Darkness: Dooku's progression from Jedi Knight to disaffected Jedi Master to burgeoning Sith Lord is chronicled through his episodes.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The sabertooth cat-like predator in Episode 1 only seems to want to eat Pav-ti and Ahsoka, despite the freshly killed and much larger kybuck right there for the taking.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Yaddle's role in "The Sith Lord" seems very Yoda-like. Aside from being a member of Yoda's species, she serves as a mentor to Dooku (Yoda was Dooku's master), friendly with Qui-Gon while also agreeing with Yoda's stance that the Sith may be back, but not to jump to conclusions until more info is obtained. Her lightsaber blade is even green like Yoda's, even though it was orange in Legends. This may have been intentional (see
Actor Existence Limbo on the Trivia tab.) - Tamer and Chaster: Ahsoka's first outfit from the first two-and-a-half seasons of The Clone Wars is toned down considerably from the tube top/skirt combo. She now has a sleeveless shirt with padding along the shoulders, although still baring a bit of midriff.
- Time-Passage Beard: The passage of time and Dooku's character arc is symbolized by his Beard of Evil. At the start, when he's a Jedi serving the people, he's clean-shaven. In the middle, when he's growing increasingly disillusioned, he has a Beard of Sorrow but it's clean and well-groomed. In the end, when he makes his final steps into Sithism and political violence, he has his trademark scraggly, sinister full beard.
- Training from Hell: Anakin's idea of training for Ahsoka is decidedly more harsh and pragmatic than typical for Jedi; having her stand in a circle and be shot at (with stun on, obviously) by her own clone trooper comrades, to improve her reflexes, ability to think outside the box, preparation for any scenario, and ability to take a hit (since getting stunned repeatedly helps her develop resistance to it).
- Villain with Good Publicity: Immediately after the war, the general public — unaware of his true nature — still view Palpatine as a noble and strong wartime leader who led the galaxy to peace in a turbulent time and was the victim of a betrayal and assassination attempt by the Jedi. The tide of opinion is already turning, however, as shown by the overseer of the farm Ahsoka works on, who is contemptuous of his son's fervent support of the Empire and points out how the "peace" they're under was created through the persecution of Jedi and former Separatists, raising the question of who is safe (nobody is, as it turns out).
- Vocal Evolution: Corey Burton's voice for Dooku in his early days sounds higher-pitched than before, reminiscent of his voice for Cad Bane or V.V. Argost. It's likely deliberate to make Dooku sound younger.
