Star Wars: What Are Ahsoka’s Headtails Made Of?

Ahsoka Tano is a Star Wars character who first made her appearance in the animated series ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ and ‘Star Wars Rebels.’ Recently, the fan-favorite character received a live-action solo TV series, and fans were quick to point out that her headtails seem a bit shorter than they were in the animated shows. So, what are Ahsoka’s headtails made of?

Ahsoka Tano is a female Togruta, a species known for their distinct appearance that includes montrals, or cone-shaped horns, and lekku, or headtails. Although they might look like a headpiece or hair, they are made entirely of flesh and are, in fact, quite sensitive.

The reason why Ahsoka’s headtails seem shorter in live-action shows isn’t because she shortened them or ‘cut her hair’ – as that would be extremely painful, even deadly in some cases. They are shorter simply due to practical reasons – it was easier to do stunts with shorter lekku on Rosario Dawson’s head. Now, let’s get a bit deeper into the Togruta species and their distinct head features.

What species is Ahsoka Tano?

Ahsoka Tano belongs to a species, or race, known as the Togruta. They were a sentient, intelligent humanoid species native to the planet Shili within the expansion region. However, they also had a colony on Kiros, although it wasn’t their home world.

The Togruta were easily recognized by their vibrant skin tones, which varied between white, orange, blue, red, purple, etc. Many Togruta had distinct facial pigmentations, too, depending on their genetic dispositions and DNA heritage.

Another distinct feature of the Togruta are their horns and headtails, also known as montrals and lekku. These head protrusions, or organs, are often mistaken for hair, wigs, or headpieces, but they are actually distinct, flesh-made organs that serve certain purposes.

Each Togruta can have distinct colors and patterns on its montrals and lekku, again, depending on their genetics. They can be in a single color or multi-colored, and they can be the same as the rest of their skin or completely different.

Now, the Togruta aren’t the only species that has lekku on their head. In fact, there are two other known species that have similar head protrusions as Ahsoka Tano’s species. Likely the most well-known race to have lekku are the Twi’leks. They had two lekku, whereas the Togruta had three, and their two lekku were usually longer (but not always). Also, Twi’leks lack montrals.

Another species that had lekku was the Ozrelanso. They also had two tentacle-like headtails that grew on the sides of their skull. Interestingly, only male Ozrelanso had lekku.

What are Ahsoka Tano’s headtails & what are they made of?

As I’ve mentioned, Ahsoka Tano’s headtails are head protrusions or organs that naturally grow from the Togruta species’ heads. They can be used to grasp things, gesture and communicate with them, or even for hearing and echolocation.

Lekku is actually the plural of lek, and Ahsoka Tano, as well as other members of the Togruta race, have three lekku on their heads. Two grow on the sides, usually falling over the chest and abdomen (depending on how long they grow), while the third grows downward at the base of the skull, falling right across the middle of their backs.

Lekku are entirely made of flesh and covered in skin. They also evidently have a ton of nerves in them, as a Togruta’s lekku are quite sensitive, and they can hurt pretty badly if injured. There were cases where the loss of one lek eventually led to the demise of a Togruta, while in other cases, they could survive losing their headtails.

As for their length, it varied between specific members of the Togruta. The lekku (and montrals) grew until a Togruta reached maturity, usually reaching as far as below their waist. Also, female Togruta usually had longer lekku than males.

So, if Ahsoka is older in the ‘Ahsoka’ TV series than she was in ‘The Clone Wars’ or ‘Rebels’ – how come her headtails look shorter? The truth is, it was just a practical choice from the costume designers to make stunts, choreographed moves, and overall acting easier for the actresses and actors.

Does Ahsoka Tano have horns?

Apart from her headtails, you might’ve noticed that Ahsoka Tano has two other protrusions on her head pointing upwards. Those protrusions are called montrals, and they are like cone-shaped, hollow horns.

Like lekku served several purposes (grasping, gesturing, communicating, etc.), the montrals of a Togruta also served a unique purpose. They used montrals for hearing, or better said, for echolocation. Togruta could use montrals to sense vibrations and very low sounds from up to 80 feet (25 m) apart.

Montrals grew upwards from the skulls of the Togruta, and the ‘border’ between their two front lekku and their montrals was often indistinguishable. The cone-shaped horns grew for as long as the lekku – until they reached maturity. Although female Togruta had longer lekku, male Togruta had more branched and distinguished montrals.

Does Ahsoka Tano have hair?

Now that we know all about Ahsoka’s headtails and horn, and we know that they are made of flesh, the simple question remains – does Ahsoka Tano even have hair?

Well, from what we know canonically about the Togruta, Ahsoka doesn’t have any hair on her head. In fact, the Togruta are a hairless species, meaning they don’t have hair anywhere on their bodies. If you look closely, Ahsoka doesn’t even have eyebrows – they are simply pigmented differently than the rest of her facial skin.

The bottom line is – Ahsoka Tano and the rest of the Togruta don’t have any hair. They have two different sets of organs on their head – lekku, aka headtails, and montrals, aka horns. They are made out of flesh and skin, serve different purposes, grow until maturity, and are highly sensitive to external stimuli. 

Hope you now know everything you wanted to know about Ahsoka’s headtails!

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