Star Wars Finally Explains What Ahsoka's Head Tails Are For

Star Wars has just explained how Ahsoka Tano‘s head tails – technically known as montrals – work. A fan-favorite character who debuted in 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars (and who’s now played in live-action by Rosario Dawons), Ahsoka is noted for her distinctive head tails

Two Star Wars alien races possess these montrals; the Togruta and the Kessurians. They’ve been described as sensory organs, but the precise nature of these montrals has never really been explained. All that’s now changed though, in the latest Star Wars audiobook by Cavan Scott.

We Finally Know Why Togruta and Kessurians Evolved Montrals

Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars season 7 looking serious

Cavan Scott’s Jaws of Jakku audiobook is narrated by a Kessurian named Lisa, who lives on the desert world of Jakku. Because the story is narrated by Lisa, she can’t help mentioning how the montrals work; it seems they evolved to sense movement in the dark. It makes sense; they’re known to allow for a degree of echolocation.

We know the Togruta evolved on the jungle planet Shili in the galaxy’s Expansion Region. Shili is noted for its dense jungles, and it’s reasonable to ᴀssume the canopy layer prevents sunlight penetrating through to the ground level. Togruta must have evolved montrals to allow them to track prey and sense predators.

Kessurian montrals are very different to those of the Togruta, looking more like horns than head tails. Given they don’t grow as large, it’s reasonable to ᴀssume they have reduced ability to sense movement in the dark.

A Togruta’s Montrals Grow As They Age

Ahsoka Tano looking pensive in the Ahsoka show

Togruta montrals grow with age, presumably meaning an older Togruta is able to hunt more effectively and evade predators. This biological trait seems to have led to a culture that venerates age, with older Togruta serving as leaders. It’s notable that Ahsoka’s own montrals have indeed grown as she’s aged.

Ahsoka is aged around 47 years old in the Ahsoka Disney+ TV show. In the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, it wasn’t unusual for Togruta to reach 95 years of age or more; some Force-sensitives lived as long as 200 years. This means Ahsoka Tano will potentialy still be alive when the entire Skywalker family is just a legend.