Ahsoka Featured A Tricky Lightsaber Move Both Jedi & Sith Agreed To Never Use
"Ahsoka" has treated "Star Wars" fans to some of the most impressive lightsaber fights in the franchise's history, but one move used during Episode 4 is a major faux pax for both Jedi and Sith. If you look closely at the move Marrok (Paul Darnell) pulls at the 15:08 timestamp, you'll see that he briefly deactivates one half of his double lightsaber as Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) parries it, moving past her and then reactivating the blade as she stumbles. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but that nifty little maneuver is an established lightsaber technique found elsewhere in "Star Wars" lore.
The move set it comes from is called Tràkata, and it's a specific lightsaber form that can be highly effective when used with perfect timing and movement. However, it is generally frowned upon by both Jedi and Sith due to its deceptiveness. The Jedi find it dishonorable because deception is the way of the dark side, and the Sith disavow it because they believe it shows weakness. But when you're in a fight to the death with the deadliest weapons in the galaxy, honor can sometimes go out the window.
Faced with Ahsoka's highly trained fighting style, Marrok attempts to use Tràkata, perhaps sensing that, without a few dirty tricks, he will be outmatched. But he doesn't pull it off completely. A more trained Tràkata user would have used the move to slice Ahsoka in half, whereas Marrok only manages to unbalance her.
Marrok took advantage of the Tràkata lightsaber style
Tràkata was first named in the tabletop roleplaying game "Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition," issued by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes "Dungeons and Dragons." With a certain progression in lightsaber focusing and a high enough Attack stat, players could use the Tràkata form by taking two actions during a combat turn. Fittingly, the move also required a deception check if Tràkata was used to feint.
The deadliest move within the Tràkata form takes place when a lightsaber wielder deactivates the blade midway through a strike as an opponent moves to block it, then reactivates on the other side and cuts through the opponent. Of course, lightsabers take nearly a second to fully extend in some cases, meaning a Tràkata user would need a very finely tuned saber and perfect timing to execute the maneuver.
The use of such a rare lightsaber technique is but a single example of the attention paid by the showrunners and writers to the finer details of "Star Wars" lore, which is perhaps why it's gone largely unnoticed. "Ahsoka" abounds with Easter eggs for completionist fans, from special armor to powerful Force abilities, so if you're the kind of person who owns volumes of "Star Wars" encyclopedias, the series is a spoil of riches.