What Sabine Wearing Her Mandalorian Armor & Cutting Her Hair Means

Sabine Wren's transformation at the end of Ahsoka's second episode symbolizes her new role in the story and parallels another character's journey.

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Ahsoka episodes 1 and 2.

In Ahsoka’s first two episodes, Sabine Wren went from being a civilian to donning her Mandalorian armor again – but what does that transformation mean? The Mandalorian Sabine Wren was an integral member of the Ghost crew and the Rebellion in Star Wars Rebels, utilizing her vast inherited combat knowledge and her artistic and engineering skills to aid the Rebel Alliance in the fight against the Empire. Throughout Rebels, Sabine was hardly ever seen without her armor on, aside from one or two undercover missions. As such, seeing her in civilian garb in the Ahsoka premiere was quite a shock, though it made her transformation at the end of Ahsoka’s second episode all the more poignant.

Despite Sabine’s complicated family history and the destruction of Mandalore, she never lost sight of who she was or where she came from. But back then, she was at war and always needed to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. After Lothal was liberated and the Empire was defeated, Sabine could presumably finally relax and try to discover a new version of herself, one she could only find if she left her prior obligations behind - not just her combative nature as a Mandalorian, but presumably her Jedi training with Ahsoka Tano, as well. Now, however, Sabine Wren the Mandalorian is back, so what does that mean for the rest of her story going forward?

Sabine donning civilian garb in Ahsoka episodes 1 and 2 teases what might have happened to her between the end of Star Wars Rebels and the beginning of Ahsoka. Her journey as Ahsoka’s Padawan will be fleshed out as the season continues, as well as why they fell out in the first place. Sabine choosing to pick up her Mandalorian armor again now, however, signifies how important her upcoming quest to find the Jedi Ezra Bridger is to her. She’s willing to fight for him, to work side-by-side with Ahsoka once more so that they may finally bring him home and prevent another war with Grand Admiral Thrawn in the process.

Before, while wearing her leather jacket, she was just waiting for something to happen, tortured by the knowledge that Ezra may never come back. Perhaps Sabine’s ordinary clothes weren’t simply a sign that the fight was over, but rather that she had lost hope that he would ever find his way home. Whatever may have motivated Sabine’s wardrobe change back then, seeing her back in her iconic and colorful Mandalorian armor now certainly bodes well for her future in Ahsoka. Sabine Wren is well and truly back in the fight.

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One of the Ahsoka premiere’s most striking moments was Sabine cutting her hair before putting on her helmet again. This is a direct parallel to a scene with Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, both thematically and visually, in Star Wars Rebels season 4, episode 10 “Jedi Night.” Before embarking on a dangerous mission to save Hera Syndulla from the Empire’s clutches, Kanan cuts his hair, shaves his beard, and sets aside his mask. It’s a transformative moment for him – not just physically, but spiritually, too. It’s implied he sensed that there would be no going back for him after that mission. Something in his life was about to change, and sadly, he proved himself right when he sacrificed himself to save not only Hera, but Ezra and Sabine, too.

Sabine cutting her hair is a transformative moment for her as well. She has hope again, a real sense of optimism that she and Ahsoka will be able to find Ezra and bring him home. It makes her want to fight again, to get back in the game, and she cuts her hair to shed the weight of her solitary time on Lothal and become, as Sabine implies in Ahsoka’s second episode, herself again. Sabine and Kanan were close – she looked up to him. It makes sense that she would try and find some way to honor him in Ahsoka, not just by bringing his former Padawan home, but by recognizing who Kanan was and what he stood for.

Ahsoka releases new episodes Tuesdays at 6pm PT / 9pm ET on Disney+.