Lucasfilm concept designer Brian Matyas recently explained why Ahsoka Tano’s live action appearance looks different from her final appearances in Star Wars Rebels.
The confusion between Ahsoka’s final appearances in Star Wars Rebels and her live action appearance comes from the fact that Ahsoka’s montrals in The Mandalorian are much shorter than her montrals in Star Wars Rebels.
If you are unfamiliar with montrals, the official Star Wars website explains, “What sets Togrutas apart from other humanoid species is their interesting head cones, or montrals as they are properly called.”
Not only are montrals what set Togrutas apart from other humanoid species, but the official Star Wars website also explains that the montrals grow as a Togruta ages.
They state, “”Starting as just small bumps in infancy, the horns grow as Togrutas age, soaring high above their heads and reaching to their waist.”
So, it’s strange that they would make Ahsoka’s montrals in The Mandalorian shorter than the ones seen in Star Wars Rebels, especially since The Mandalorian is supposed to take place following the events of Star Wars Rebels, which ended congruent to the events of the Return of the Jedi.
And as you can see below, Ahsoka’s montrals are much shorter. In the final episode of Star Wars Rebels, you can see that her montrals come down almost to her waist.
Meanwhile in The Mandalorian, her montrals just barely come down to her chest as seen below.
Given, Lucasfilm’s previous statements about montrals, they should be longer than the ones seen in Rebels given The Mandalorian takes place after Rebels.
Given the confusion, The Mandalorian concept designer Brian Matyas answered a question concerning the length of Ahsoka’s montrals.
The question came from Twitter user jrkisbad, who responded to Matyas’ revelation that he did a ton of work on The Mandalorian Chapter 13: The Jedi.
Matyas stated, “Huge congrats to Dave Filoni for not just another fantastic episode 🙂 Did a ton of work on this one in particular, hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did designing on it!”
In response, Twitter user jrkisbad asked, “Can you share at all the conversations you had regarding the size of her montrals/lekku?”
He added, “Theres some confusion among fans as they much bigger in Rebels around this same time period. Figured it was just impractical for the actors but wondering if there’s anything else to it.”
Matyas responded, “Yea pretty much that was the chief concern. From animation to live action I did a ton of design exploration for her and their appropriate size for the actor with consideration for stunts and movement.”
He added, “I’m sure I’ll get to discuss at greater length in the near future!”
Despite Matyas’ explanation a number of Star Wars fans were not happy with the decision.
Twitter user lman8bsa, shared a piece or artwork by Moonlitalien and wrote, “Sadly, I think this was a bad call. Biggest complaint with the show so far but man, it’s not cool to see the continuity messed with.”
They added, “Found this rendition posted earlier and it looks so much better following Ashoka’s age relative to others of her species and following Rebels.”
Twitter user SYLOVideo added, “100%, terrible call. Feels almost like Brian was only thinking about teenage Ahsoka, rather than adult Ahsoka that we see from Rebels (or any adult Togruta in general).
This argument appears to hold water, as a screenshot from Star Wars: The Clone Wars “Downfall of a Droid” shows Ahsoka’s montrals just below her shoulders similar to the length in The Mandalorian.
Another user criticized the decision for the shorter montrals stating, “they had one of the best characters in the entire franchise, and they designed her so poorly, and you could argue that its because of adaptation to live action, but I just dont buy it, they removed a crew guy from an episode please make lekkus right.”
Twitter user SilentTrumpet also added, “I havent even seen Rebels or Clone wars but I have seen enough episodes and read enough “books” to know that Ahsoka isnt suppose to look that young.”
What do you make of Matyas’ explanation? Do you buy it?