In Star Wars Rebels, fans got to finally witness Ahsoka Tano’s life after she quit the Jedi Order. The once young apprentice to Anakin Skywalker became the Rebel leader “Fulcrum” – the connecting link of a pan-Galactic movement.
The first season of Star Wars Rebels followed the Ghost crew, a team of misfits traveling across Lothal, carrying out missions to disrupt the Empire.
They considered themselves rebels, but they were not part of the larger Rebel Alliance just yet. They were mostly finding their ways to contribute to the movement. Whenever they needed to coordinate with other Rebel cells, they used the help of a mysterious informant known as “Fulcrum.”
The elusive, secretive rebel agent Fulcrum is none other than Ahsoka Tano. After leaving the Jedi Council and surviving the Jedi Purge, she joins the Rebel movement as a mediator of all the allies across the Galaxy.
However, Fulcrum is not just one person but a title that is eventually shared by all those in a particular intelligence network. Ahsoka was not the only Fulcrum, but she definitely was the first.
1. Who (or What) Is Fulcrum?
With the Galactic Empire’s birth, the Alliance was also born to restore the Republic it had replaced — called the Rebel Alliance. Throughout the Rebels series, we realize how many moving parts and loyal supporters it took to build the Rebellion for over two decades. These supporters called themselves ‘Fulcrum.’
Former Senator Bail Organa and Mon Mothma masterminded the infrastructure and reinforcements needed to go up against the Empire.
But they weren’t operating alone and had help from some secret agents who went by the codename Fulcrum. In Rogue One, we see the Fulcrum intel network grow big enough to change the course of the fight against the Empire.
It might seem a little grandiose that these supporters were named after the word for a lever’s central support point, indicating that the Fulcrum role is the essential role in the whole Rebellion.
However, it is undeniable that all the Fulcrum agents we know have made some of the most significant contributions to the rebel movement.
2. Who Was The First Fulcrum?
According to E.K. Johnston’s Ahsoka novel, it was Ahsoka who proposed the idea of an intelligence network to Bail Organa.
Having come up with the idea of an underground intel network, Ahsoka Tano became the first agent. So Ahsoka was also the first Fulcrum. As the first Fulcrum, Ahsoka was responsible for many of the Alliance’s early successes.
Ahsoka had left the Jedi Order long before Order 66, but she was still a threat to Palpatine, who had personally ordered her execution.
After surviving the death sentence, Ahsoka took the alias “Ashla” and wandered the Galaxy. But her cover was soon under threat when the Palpatine celebrated the first Empire Day, and the Galactic forces were multiplied wherever Ahsoka found refuge.
Ahsoka soon created enough ripples with her Force capabilities to come to the notice of the Empire. As soon as an Inquisitor was assigned to hunt her down, she also made her presence felt to Senator Organa, running the fledgling Rebellion at the time.
When Organa approaches her to join the Rebellion, Ahsoka comes up with the idea to improve the communication within the Rebellion by uniting the pockets of resistance, like the Fardis, the Raadians, or individuals like Ahsoka.
Then it would be easier to coordinate efforts against the Empire across the Galaxy. Ahsoka offers to fill this role before telling Bail to call her “Fulcrum.”
Clone Wars later revealed that Ahsoka got the idea for the name Fulcrum from one of Anakin’s secure channels. In a silent tribute to her master, Ahsoka kept his memory alive through the codename.
When Ahsoka was presumed dead, the Ghost crew learned that Fulcrum wasn’t a title exclusive to Ahsoka. It was used widely to refer to several secret agents risking their lives to fight against the Empire. So the name long outlived both Anakin and Ahsoka’s tenure in the Galactic Empire.
3. Is Kallus a Fulcrum?
Ahsoka was presumed to be dead when she seemingly sacrificed herself against Darth Vader on Malachor at the end of Rebels season 4. But her legacy was to live on through the next Fulcrum, the Imperial Security Bureau Agent, Kallus.
As an Imperial agent, Kallus was to hunt down and destroy the very Rebel cells he ends up joining. On his mission to target the Ghost crew, Kallus realizes a principle and camaraderie among Rebels that didn’t match that of the Empire.
For the first few seasons of the show, Kallus was a sworn enemy to the Spectres and the rebels as a whole. His rivalry with Zeb was the deepest due to one of his greatest past mistakes.
But he soon realizes that Garazeb Orrelios is an honorable Lasat, once the two were stranded together against their will. They eventually agree on a truce, which is also when Kallus takes up the name Fulcrum.
As Rebels fans would know already that Kallus eventually became one of Organa’s informants even as he continued to fake allegiance to the Empire. Agent Kallus ended up supplying valuable waves of information through the rest of the show, warning the crew of upcoming threats every now and then.
However, Kallus’s cover soon blows, and his true identity is revealed to the Empire. Yet, the legacy of Fulcrum does not end with him. We know that at least one other notable Rebel Intelligence agent, Cassian Andor, goes on to bear the title.
4. About Star Wars: Rebels
Set between Episodes III and IV, the Star Wars: Rebels follows the spaceship crew Ghost, which completes smuggling missions and has a growing connection to the fledgling Rebellion against the Empire.
Ezra Bridger (voiced by Taylor Gray) is an orphan on the planet Lothal, who encounters the starship Ghost crew.
Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), a former Jedi apprentice who survived Order 66, senses Ezra’s abilities with the Force and recruits him as a Padawan.
Rounding out the crew are Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall), the ship’s pilot, Sabine Wren (Tiya Sirdar), a Mandalorian former bounty hunter and graffiti artist, and Zeb (Steven Blum), a Lasat who is the last of his kind and the heavy combat member of the team.
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