Every New Character In Ahsoka Explained

Contains spoilers for "Ahsoka"

"Ahsoka" might not have quite the ensemble cast of "Andor," but it still features a lot of "Star Wars" characters both old and new. Many of the familiar faces might seem new to some, as they previously only appeared in Dave Filoni's animated "Star Wars" shows, "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels."

The ancient Jedi droid Huyang (David Tennant), New Republic general and ace pilot Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), her son Jacen (Evan Whitten), and Lothal governor Ryder Azadi (Clancy Brown) all fall into that category, appearing in live-action "Star Wars" for the first time in "Ahsoka." And of course, major players Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), and Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) make the jump from animation as well.

Fans who haven't seen Filoni's past work may only be familiar with the characters who've previously appeared in "The Mandalorian" — Ahsoka Tano herself (Rosario Dawson), Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), and the villainous Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) — as well as the more established "Star Wars" characters who pop up. But what about the brand-new faces? The heroes and villains who've never before been seen in the franchise? If you're feeling lost, worry not. We're breaking down every new character in "Ahsoka," what we know about them, and where they could show up next.

Baylan Skoll looms large over "Ahsoka," both because Ray Stevenson's performance is so captivating and because the character himself is such a physical titan. In many ways, Baylan evokes characters from the old "Star Wars" Expanded Universe — a Dark Jedi of sorts who survived Order 66 but ultimately decided that the Jedi Order deserved what it got. He still holds onto the Force and several core Jedi tenets, even taking on an apprentice to train. But while he's far from a Sith, he's not exactly a hero — or is he?

Baylan keeps his cards pretty close to his chest throughout "Ahsoka." His orange lightsaber blade suggests he hasn't fully turned to the dark side, as his kyber crystal would have bled red if that were the case. To Morgan Elsbeth and Thrawn, he's treated like a common mercenary, and indeed, it seems that's how he's made his way through the galaxy. In Episode 6, he tells Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) that he was her age — still quite young — when Order 66 came about. However, Thrawn refers to him as a former general, which means he had graduated from padawan to Jedi Knight before the end of the Clone Wars.

In that same interaction with Shin, he explains that his true aim is to end the cycle of violence in the galaxy and that he believes the power to do so rests on Peridea. What exactly Baylan seeks has yet to be revealed, but that doesn't stop the late, great Stevenson from stealing every scene he's in.

Standing beside Baylan at all (or at least most) times is his padawan, Shin Hati. Wielding her own orange-bladed lightsaber and wearing the distinctive padawan braid of the Jedi, Shin falls somewhere between a Sith acolyte and a true Gray Jedi from the "Star Wars" Legends timeline. As with her master, her true ambitions are kept shrouded in a healthy layer of mystery. However, it's also clear that she doesn't know all of Baylan's plans either.

In "Ahsoka" Episode 6, Baylan says that he's trained Shin to be "something more" than a Jedi. He says that he misses "the idea" of the Jedi Order, but not "the truth." This suggests that his goal in training Shin is to make a new kind of Force warrior — one who isn't constrained by the corrupt dogma that Baylan blames for the fall of the order. To her credit, Shin seems quite adept with both the Force and the blade, as well as the pilot's chair of a starfighter. She also has a lot of obvious respect for her master, obeying him without questioning and listening attentively to his teachings.

Shin's age means that she grew up during the age of the Empire, and as a Force-sensitive child, she likely would have been a target for Palpatine and his Inquisitors. It's possible that Baylan encountered her while on the run and took her under his wing to protect her, raising her like a daughter while also keeping her safe from prying eyes. It's no wonder that she has such fierce loyalty to him.

At the beginning of "Ahsoka," Morgan Elsbeth's dark Force mercenaries are a trio: Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, and Marrok (Paul Darnell). Of the three, Marrok is both the most mysterious and the least important, as he gets his ticket punched by Ahsoka herself in Episode 4, "Fallen Jedi." He only gets a couple of lines and two fight scenes for us to pick apart, but there's a lot of interesting stuff within his brief time on the screen.

According to official synopses from Lucasfilm, Marrok is a former Imperial Inquisitor. And in true Inquisitor fashion, he wields a spinning double-bladed red lightsaber in battle. We see him use the Force to throw and pull the weapon back to him during his first duel with Ahsoka on Corellia, and we also see what a skilled pilot he is in Episode 3, "Time to Fly."

All of that information would suggest that Marrok went rogue after the Empire fell, eventually joining up with Baylan, Shin, and Morgan to survive. However, his death on Seatos throws all of this into doubt. When Ahsoka delivers the killing blow to Marrok in his final battle, a cloud of dark green smoke erupts from the wound, followed by a blood-curdling scream. Some have speculated that this could be the result of Nightsister magic, which is often marked by green smoke. Since Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister, she could have worked some mojo on Marrok or even brought him back from the dead. Whatever the true explanation, he's a cool-looking character who provided some fun action moments before his demise.

Myn Weaver (Peter Jacobson) isn't exactly a central character on "Ahsoka." He only appears in one episode for just a handful of scenes. Still, he's an important character because of what he shows us about the galaxy.

Weaver is an Imperial sympathizer and spy, and he uses his position as a supervisor in the Corellian shipyards to aid Morgan Elsbeth and the Imperial Remnant. As he himself confesses to Ahsoka and Hera when they arrive to investigate the facility, many officials of all levels within the New Republic formerly worked for the Empire. It's just an inevitability when a regime of that size is overthrown. Filling all the needed roles for infrastructure, commerce, and politics demands a lot of people, and many of the properly trained individuals are, you guessed it, former Imperials. This dilemma is explored in "The Mandalorian" Season 3 as well, showing the cracks in the New Republic system that eventually led to its destruction by the First Order.

Is Weaver some evil mastermind? No. But he's indicative of a larger problem that the New Republic Senate seems willfully ignorant of. As Ahsoka says, greed can be a stronger motivator than loyalty, and as long as Imperials somewhere are funneling money to the right people, they'll be able to buy all the spying and subterfuge they need.

Lieutenant Lander might have the smallest role mentioned on this list, but he warrants his own spot for a reason. The character — a New Republic pilot who accompanies Hera Syndulla and Carson Teva to Seatos — is played by Brendan Wayne, who's more notable in the "Star Wars" universe for playing Din Djarin in "The Mandalorian." Sure, Pedro Pascal might be the voice and the face when the helmet comes off, but he's not the one under the armor all of the time. For a lot of the show, the man beneath the beskar is either Wayne or Lateef Crowder — two seasoned stunt performers who've helped build out the character.

Because of his huge contribution to the franchise in "The Mandalorian," it's only right that Wayne would eventually get some face time, even if it's in a small role. As an X-wing pilot in Teva's squad, Lander sees Morgan Elsbeth's Eye of Sion hyperspace ring take flight firsthand, and he aids in the search for Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren on the planet's surface. Presumably, he also gets a severe chewing out from New Republic high command afterward, as the mission to Seatos is a renegade act taken by Hera and not an officially sanctioned mission.

If you had "tons of new Nightsister lore" on your "Ahsoka" bingo card, then congratulations. After it was revealed that Morgan Elsbeth was secretly a member of the dark Force witch order, we maybe should have guessed that more Nightsisters would be coming. But nobody probably guessed that we'd learn the true origins of the race by meeting the three "Great Mothers" on the extragalactic planet of Peridea.

The three are clearly inspired by both the Fates of Greek myth and the witch trio from "Macbeth" (right down to their cryptic advising of a dangerous military leader). Their names are barely any different from the names of the Fates themselves — Clotho becomes Klothow (Claudia Black), Atropos becomes Aktropaw (Jeryl Prescott), and Lachesis becomes Lakesis (Jane Edwina Seymour).

The Great Mothers have resided on Peridea for an unknown length of time. "Ahsoka" suggests that this is the true birthplace of the Nightsisters, not Dathomir, meaning that the witches hail from an entirely different galaxy. That could explain their unique Force magic, as the laws that govern such things might work differently in this corner of the "Star Wars" universe. Regardless, their powers of prediction are impressive, though they miss certain things, like the arrival of Sabine Wren. Given how powerful the Nightsister leader Mother Talzin is in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," it's likely that the Great Mothers are even stronger than they seem, which makes their partnership with Thrawn particularly unsettling.

The senators of the New Republic don't play much of an active role in "Ahsoka," but they have a huge impact on the story from the background. One particularly telling scene in Episode 3 shows Hera speaking via hologram with a number of government officials. Chancellor Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) is present, as well as several senators representing groups across the galaxy.

Senator Rodrigo (Jacqueline Antaramian) and Senator Mawood (Maurice J. Irvin) are the two named representatives who appear on the call. Though we don't learn much about either of them, they seem to agree with Senator Hamato Xiono (Nelson Lee), who makes his live-action debut after previously appearing in "Star Wars Resistance." Xiono denies Hera's request for military support on Ahsoka's mission, writing off her concerns about Thrawn as a fairy tale. As a unit, the senators embody an establishment that clearly wants to pretend everything is fine, rather than deal with the difficult process of truly erasing the Empire.

Though Mon Mothma is sympathetic to Hera's plea, she bows to the demands of her subordinates. It's obvious that much of the galaxy would rather act like the end of the war completely healed everything. However, as the leaders of the New Republic, these senators aren't the ones who should be sweeping worries under the rug.

In addition to the new senators we meet in "Ahsoka," there are some fresh faces in the military ranks of the New Republic. One such character appears at the very beginning of Episode 1 — Captain Hayle (Mark Rolston), who leads the ship escorting Morgan Elsbeth to her new prison.

Like the senators seen later in the show, Hayle demonstrates just how complacent many within the New Republic have already become. He knows that Shin and Baylan's ship is some kind of trap, but he lets them come aboard anyway, confident that he and his men will have the jump on them. Of course, that's not what happens at all, and Hayle dies at Baylan's hand.

Another high-ranking New Republic officer we meet is Captain Girard (Eisa Davis), who's sent after Hera and her X-wing squadron. Girard arrives at Seatos just in time to see Ahsoka and Huyang depart the galaxy, nestled safely in the mouth of a massive Purrgil.

"Ahsoka" embraces the tried and true "Star Wars" tradition of masked mystery characters with little development but tons of style. Marrok is the first such character to appear in the show, but he isn't the last. When Morgan, Baylan, Shin, and the rest of their crew finally arrive on Peridea and find Thrawn, he introduces them to Captain Enoch (Wes Chatham), the head of his guard.

Enoch doesn't get much screen time in "Ahsoka" Episode 6, but his look alone is enough to make him instantly memorable. Like all of the stormtroopers under Thrawn's command, Enoch has replaced broken pieces of his armor with black, gold, and red patches — signs of the many trials the group has faced since being exiled to this strange new galaxy. Enoch has by far the most distinctive armor, though, as the entire faceplate of his stormtrooper helmet has been replaced with an imposing golden mask. When he speaks to Sabine, his voice almost sounds mechanical, though that could just be whatever modulator he happens to be using.

One thing's for sure: If Thrawn trusts Enoch enough to make him the captain of his guard, then he can definitely hold his own. The casting of Wes Chatham also suggests a larger role for the character, as Chatham is a pretty well-known actor who's had major roles before, including on another sci-fi series, "The Expanse."

Peridea might look like a barren wasteland at first, but Sabine quickly discovers that it has a thriving ecosystem in "Ahsoka" Episode 6, "Far, Far Away." Though the most powerful denizens of the extragalactic world are certainly the Great Mothers, there are far kinder and cuter locals in the form of the Noti — small, sentient, bipedal aliens with rock-like shells on their backs that hide them from predators.

As it turns out, Ezra Bridger has been living amongst the Noti during his time in exile. He speaks their language, knows their customs, and appears to be a trusted member of their society. And while his robes might be a bit different from the dapper, Dickensian swag of the Noti, he still fits right in, despite his height.

Communal and coordinated, the Noti are the kind of aliens that have always made "Star Wars" so much fun. It's a shame that our heroes will have to leave them behind when they return to their home galaxy.

While the Noti show that Peridea has a sweet and loyal side, there are also more dangerous corners of the strange planet. On her way to find Ezra, Sabine is attacked on the road by a group of bandits. And though she does ultimately come out victorious, she has to use her lightsaber to do so.

Like the Noti, not much is revealed about these bandits, and we don't even get a look at their faces because of the helmets and armor they wear. That armor is new, but it bears a striking resemblance to that of the Elite Praetorian Guard from "The Last Jedi" and "The Mandalorian" Season 3, both in its red hue and its sharp angles.

These bandits don't seem to be directly affiliated with the Nightsisters or Thrawn, as Sabine is warned about them before she leaves. But that doesn't stop them from being downright dangerous. As the secrets of Peridea continue to be revealed, it's possible that these unassuming bandits could start to play a larger role in the story of "Ahsoka." Only time will tell.