What happened to Sabine’s family before ‘Ahsoka?’

Now that Ahsoka season 1 has wrapped up its final episode, one of the biggest questions overall revolves around the strained relationship between Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren and the titular Togruta. This has to do with a tragedy that occurred to Sabine’s family before the events of the show. But what happened?

You see, in episode 4, Sabine hands over an important MacGuffin, a star map, to one of the baddies, Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll, despite Ahsoka’s instructions to destroy the chart. While Baylan wants to use the map to locate Lars Mikkelsen’s Grand Admiral Thrawn, Sabine is motivated to work with the reformed Dark Jedi to find her friend, Eman Esfandi’s Ezra Bridger. So what is it that pushed Sabine over the edge to basically betray Ahsoka in the course of her mission even as her master was herself knocked over the ledge of a cliff by Baylan moments before?

Baylan’s button-pushing reveals Sabine’s backstory

Baylan clearly knew what buttons to push by telling Sabine “Your family died on Mandalore because your master didn’t trust you.” This is the catalyst that finally convinces Sabine to hand over the map to Baylan rather than destroy it. As a result, she is held prisoner by him but eventually strikes a deal with Thrawn in which he provides Ezra’s location.

The mention of Sabine’s family dying on Mandalore is clearly a reference to the Great Purge of Mandalore and its genocidal climax, the Night of a Thousand Tears. This was an event orchestrated by Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon, the main villain from The Mandalorian. With the backing of the Imperial Army, Gideon bombed Mandalore to the point that its surface was turned to glass. The remaining inhabitants of Mandalore — including Sabine’s entire family — were killed, as explained in The Mandalorian season 3.

It isn’t explicitly stated when the Night of a Thousand Tears happens, however, it is estimated to have taken place sometime off-screen during the events of The Mandalorian season 1, as Collider inferred. So why did Baylan say Sabine’s master, Ahsoka, “didn’t trust” her? More is elucidated about their damaged relationship in Ahsoka episode 8.

Ahsoka and Sabine’s rift finally explained

You see, Ezra picks up on the tension between Sabine and Ahsoka and asks the loyal but sassy droid, David Tennant’s Huyang, what went on between them. Huyang explains that when the Great Purge of Mandalore happened, Ahsoka was afraid Sabine would become dangerous if she unlocked her full potential. It’s likely that Sabine was being trained by Ahsoka at the time when the purge happened but the Jedi Master would not let her Padawan go to Mandalore as it was unfolding. Whether that was to prevent Sabine from getting killed or to prevent vengefulness from seeping into her heart and turning to the dark side from witnessing the horrors of the genocide is up for debate.

By the end of the season finale, Ahsoka and her apprentice appeared to have patched things up, despite Sabine failing to destroy the map. It’s obvious that the Jedi training will likely continue as the Mando-verse expands, whether that’s in Ahsoka season 2 or in a forthcoming movie. We’re just glad the rift between Ahsoka and Sabine ended up being temporary in the end.

You can currently watch all eight episodes of Ahsoka season 1 on Disney Plus now.