Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano couldn’t be any more separate across the canon of the Star Wars franchise than any two characters can be in an octopus-esque franchise like Star Wars.
However, their close relationship with the ultimate antagonist Darth Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker, has had fans obsessed with the duo of Luke and Ahsoka for a while now.
One of the most popular points of debate has been the question of who is more powerful – Anakin’s son or or his Padawan.
While there are all kinds of ways to define power, both in the Star Wars universe as in real life, for the sake of objectivity let us limit ourselves to who will win in a one-on-one duel.
Now I promise to touch on some more subjective questions too like who is the greater hero or morally stronger.
But for most parts we will be discussing an imaginary duel between two of the closest aides of the Chosen One – Luke and Ahsoka. Here we go!
If push came to shove, and I absolutely have to choose the more powerful Jedi between Ahsoka and Luke, it has to be Ahsoka.
While Luke may have natural Force advantages being the son of the Jedi with the highest Force potential, Ahsoka’s diligent training and vast experience in channeling the Force gives her a definite edge.
There’s no second opinion that the woman is a sheer force of nature who never limited herself to a single house of defense.
Didn’t mean to offend y’all at the Luke Club! So let me step back and explain myself.
It goes without saying that Luke was born with a naturally high Force, courtesy his dad. In an exceptional show of strength, the Jedi stood up to his own father Darth Vader and won! He is a born hero, I aint contending that.
All I am saying is that if pitched against a fighter like Ahsoka, the most heroic Jedi of all time, I think (read, know) Ahsoka will just kill it!
(Ahsoka may not actually kill Luke considering she’s the empathy queen of the galaxy but you get the point!)
Here are my reasons.
1. Raw Force vs Expert Training
As a young teenager manning the frontlines of the Clone Wars, Ahsoka has definitely faced more than her fair share of battles and duels.
Padawan to one of the most powerful Jedis ever born – Anakin Skywalker – she has been trained by some of the best masters.
On the other hand is the main protagonist of the central Star Wars trilogy, son of the Chosen One who redeems his father from the dark side and restores balance in the world – Luke Skywalker.
He may come across as a blue-eyed boy of the Jedi knights and especially Yoda, but Luke has strengths of his own, after he did defeat Darth Vader.
However, there are some basic differences between Ahsoka and Luke’s brilliance. When in a one-to-one combat, which of these strengths will power through is up for questions. Let us take a look.
2. Ahsoka’s Strengths
When it comes to Ahsoka, the physical attributes and training competence are a definite upvote. She is taller than Luke by at least six inches and has an athletic built tailor made for nimble and agile combat.
She has further trained in a mix of different combat styles, never limiting herself to one ever since her mic-drop exit from the Jedi Order.
Ahsoka mostly exhibits an out and out acrobatic style and is the full embodiment of Ataru, which teaches you to use your entire body as a weapon.
She has taught herself to wield two lightsabers with a unique inverted grip with a vigor matched only by her master Anakin.
3. Luke’s Strengths
Luke’s forte is his Yoda-inspired intuitive application of the Force and a quick witted approach to combat. Trained both by Yoda and Anakin, Luke has learned to respect the Force and also manipulate its dark side to his advantage.
His combat techniques may not be as sophisticated given that he has barely fought a bunch of duels in the original trilogy, but the guy manages to defeat Anakin after he becomes Darth Vader, earning him points for performing under pressure.
Stamina and strength are Luke’s strong points which are also the reason for strength-based offense and a solid defense.
He has a well-rounded acrobatic style as taught by Yoda. His biggest lack has to be lack of familiarity with different kinds of combat styles.
When duelling each other, Ahsoka is bound to have an upper hand with moves which Luke will not see coming.
But on his part, the raw Force he has inherited from Anakin could give Ahsoka a hard time to avert with just agility and acrobatics. She could very well fall short of the sheer strength of Luke’s Force if faced with it head on.
Now I consider the probability of that happening as pretty slim since Ahsoka will know better than give Luke the leeway to attack her head on. Which is why I say Ahsoka is most likely to come out the winner.
4. Comparison With Darth Vader
Why the need for a separate analysis of how Luke and Ahsoka fare against Darth Vader, you may ask? Well, the duo has never actually duelled each other but have fought, at different times, Darth Vader aka Anakin Skywalker.
The comparison with Darth Vader also becomes important because both Ahsoka and Luke’s combat styles are influenced by Vader.
5. Luke vs Darth Vader
Until their final duel at the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have encountered each other a number of times, with Vader coming out as the winner every time.
But when Luke Skywalker finally killed Darth Vader in the Return of the Jedi, there was a clear winner in the battle. Luke Skywalker was the last man standing.
But at the same time, we have good reason to believe that Darth Vader wasn’t technically fighting him anymore.
This is not to say Luke was not powerful just that a different kind of power was on display in the final take down of Darth Vader than just combat skills.
It was the power of light against dark, good against evil, and with Vader realising he was up against his own son, the match was rigged from the start.
Add to it the injury inflicted on Vader by Kenobi on Mustafar and we know for sure that Vader was far from the all-powerful Dark Lord in his last battle against Luke.
6. Good vs Evil
The truth remains that Luke could never have beaten Vader when he was still committed body and soul to the dark side.
Luke was not trained extensively like most Jedi while Anakin was a child Force prodigy as we saw in The Phantom Menace. Vader was faster, had a better grip on Force, and was much more experienced.
In the end, the goodness in Luke’s soul overpowered the Dark Side’s charms within Darth Vader. In fact, Vader goes on to die to save his son. By getting Vader to walk away from the Dark Side, Luke Skywalker finally overcame his father’s strength.
7. Ahsoka vs Darth Vader
Before he turned into Vader, Anakin Skywalker had only one Padawan all his life – Ahsoka. This unlikely matchmaking was done by Master Yoda, with a probable collusion of Anakin’s master Obi Wan Kanobi.
Having Padawan helped the maverick Anakin a sense of responsibility while Ahsoka learnt the importance of good leadership, in return.
The duo went on many missions together, Ahsoka making a prominent name for herself throughout their many battles. Unlike her master, Ahsoka was always playing situations tad closer to the book.
But Anakin also inspired her to understand that certain situations needed a more reckless Anakin-esque approach.
8. Master Stroke
In their battle at the Sith Lord’s Temple in Malachor in the season 2 finale of Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka was nearly killed by Vader, and had survived only due to Ezra’s timely rescue.
However, it may be remembered that Ahsoka was fighting Vader in his prime while he was intent on killed her. She may not have won but she managed to scrape off Vader’s mask, which many say helped in Anakin’s redemption at the hands of Luke.
For some fans, Ahsoka displayed exceptional courage in standing up to her master at a time when he was at his strongest and willing to kill her off in the duel – a feat Luke cannot possibly brag about.
Besides, Luke’s biggest strength – the goodness in him – will find an equal if not greater competitor in Ahsoka who gave up the prestigious Jedi life to fight for the folks on the ground, ‘the little men’.
There is no using goodness against a woman who sacrificed all comforts and privileges for her integrity and morals.
9. Conclusion
Now I may have sounded pretty confident of what I had to say about who was more powerful between Luke and Ahsoka.
But in the end, the Star Wars universe is so vast that we can always cherry pick facts to prove me wrong. Maybe one day I will find out that Ahsoka was not the empathy queen after all and had quite silly egoistic reasons to disown the Jedi name.
Maybe Ahsoka was really just a reckless and overqualified Jedi outcast all along! (It hurts even writing this!)
So we might never know for sure. If Ahsoka and Luke were both in their prime and poised to battle to death, it’s next to impossible to tell what would happen.
Simply put, there are so many factors in their strength to take into account, no one really would be able to tell what the final answer is!
But, you the reader, please do leave a comment below if you liked what I had to say about Ahsoka and Luke in this little rant here and share it with fellow Ahsoka Fans if you liked it!
Source: Youtube
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