A year following the conclusion of the Clone Wars, the Raada Uprising unfolded on the agricultural moon of Raada, directed against the Galactic Empire. Triggered by restrictive Imperial policies and the introduction of crops that devastated the soil, the local farmers formed a resistance movement guided by Ahsoka Tano, a survivor of the Great Jedi Purge. Tano's strategies were disrupted when farmers Kaeden Larte and Hoban initiated an unauthorized assault on the Imperial administration building. The rebels proved inadequate against the Imperial forces, resulting in casualties including Hoban. Tano utilized her Force abilities to rescue the rebels, inadvertently revealing herself to both the Empire and Senator Bail Organa, a Jedi sympathizer who was building a rebel movement.
Tano, along with the remaining rebels, escaped to a network of hidden caves near the moon's primary settlement. After liberating Kaeden from Imperial capture, Tano, following Kaeden's advice, went into hiding off-world. However, the Empire deployed the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother to pursue Tano. The Sixth Brother located the rebel hideout, captured Kaeden, and eliminated most of the rebels, except for Kaeden's younger sister, Miara Larte. Upon Senator Organa's request, Tano returned to Raada to investigate the Sixth Brother. After eliminating the Sixth Brother, Tano successfully rescued Kaeden once more and aided in the evacuation of the moon's inhabitants with assistance from Senator Organa's rebel forces.
In the wake of the Clone Wars and the Great Jedi Purge, Ahsoka Tano, the Togruta who formerly served as a Jedi Padawan, sought refuge in the Outer Rim Territories. Under the alias "Ashla," she initially took up residence on the planet Thabeska, finding employment as a mechanic with the Fardi clan. Tano developed friendships with Fardi's daughters, particularly the youngest, Hedala. On one occasion, Tano intervened to save Hedala from being crushed to death by a falling crate. As the Galactic Empire began establishing a presence on Thabeska, Tano departed on one of the Fardi clan's freighters during the Empire Day celebrations in 18 BBY.
Following her travels, Tano found a home on Raada, a sparsely populated farming moon with no central governing body. There, she established herself as a droid mechanic known as "Ashla." Shortly after her arrival, Tano began exploring the numerous rock formations, cave systems, and canyons surrounding the outskirts of the settlement. Within a few weeks, Tano befriended local farm worker Kaeden Larte, her younger sister Miara, and their guardian Vartan, who introduced her to the small farming community. Tano secured work repairing threshers and other farming equipment. In her spare time, Tano also explored the hills and caves near Raada's sole settlement, identifying them as potential hiding places in case of trouble.
Shortly after Tano's arrival, Imperial official Jenneth Pilar suggested that the Empire exploit the moon for agricultural purposes due to its small population. The Empire desired to cultivate soil-killing plants for rations without attracting the attention of the Imperial Senate. These modified plants were intended for Imperial personnel in low gravity environments. Consequently, the Empire established a presence on Raada, including an administrative building, prison, and a base at Raada's spaceport, housing several military walkers and tanks. Under Pilar's leadership, the Imperial administration imposed new restrictions on the local population, including night curfews, prohibitions on large gatherings, and limitations on local cantinas' operating hours, food, and alcohol.
Recruited, non-clone stormtroopers enforced the occupation; while the Stormtrooper Corps was not yet formally established by the Defense Recruitment Bill at that time, an early generation of recruits known as TK stormtroopers were already active under Project War-Mantle. Such troopers would begin seeing certain deployments in the place of clone troopers before the bill's formal passage. Stormtroopers in armor closer to the final stormtrooper armor design were also seen in the invasion of Mon Cala. The Imperials also conscripted the local farmers into work crews to plant their new crops. The farmers were forced to work long hours with inadequate rations and rest. These harsh conditions and restrictions fueled local resentment towards the Empire, further aggravated by the fact that the new Imperial crops were depleting the soil's nutrients, rendering it unproductive. When a local farmer named Tibbola confronted an [Imperial officer](/article/imperial_officer] while intoxicated, he was publicly executed as a warning against dissent.
In response to the Imperial occupation, Tano advised the farmers to reduce crop production as a form of non-violent protest. She also encouraged the local farmers to establish a resistance movement among the work crews. Vartan successfully recruited forty resistance fighters from the farming workers. Drawing on her experience training Felucian farmers and the Onderon rebels during the Clone Wars, Tano felt prepared to lead the Raadian farmers. To prepare for the upcoming uprising, Tano, with the assistance of Kaeden and Miara, smuggled food, medical supplies, and water recyclers into the caves. Over a fortnight, Tano and the Larte sisters assembled explosives and corrosive charges. The farmers also acquired old blasters.
Tano's strategy involved planting corrosive charges on the Imperial walkers stationed at the spaceport. She led a team including Miara, Neera, and the Rodian Kolvin, successfully infiltrating the hangar bay due to lax security. While planting the charges, Tano discovered Miara had smuggled real explosives against her instructions. After evading stormtrooper sentries, Tano and her team returned to Selda's cantina, where they learned Vartan had sent Kaeden and Neera on an unauthorized mission to storm the Imperial administrative building with explosives.
Recognizing the Raadian insurgents were not yet strong enough to confront the Empire, Tano ordered the fighters to return home and deny any knowledge of the attack. However, Miara refused to abandon her sister, and Tano decided to support the Raadian farmers. Meanwhile, Hoban divided his group into three teams and forced their way into the Imperial admin building with explosives. Although Tano's team had disabled the walkers with corrosive charges, the Imperial garrison still possessed tanks, which inflicted heavy casualties on the Raadian fighters.
Tano and her team joined the battle, distracting the tanks by hurling explosives. This allowed five survivors, including Kaeden and Hoban, to escape. Tano also engaged a stormtrooper in combat and stole his blaster. While fleeing, Tano and the farmers were trapped by a crater created by a tank. Stormtroopers approached and shot down Hoban when he attempted to surrender. Unwilling to witness further deaths, Tano used the Force to disarm the stormtroopers. Tano and the farmers then retreated to the caves.
The uprising resulted in the destruction of the Imperial walkers. While the tanks were damaged, they were repairable. In response to the rebel attack, Pilar tightened the curfew, increased patrols, and ordered the torture of troublemakers to demoralize the local population. Pilar also instructed the local Imperial commander to report the encounter with the Jedi to their superiors. Reports of the Jedi presence reached both the Imperial government and Jedi sympathizer Senator Bail Organa, who was organizing a secret resistance movement against the Empire. The Empire dispatched the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother to hunt the Jedi.
Tano and the Raadian resistance fighters retreated to the caves, tending to the wounded, including Neera. With limited options, Tano revealed her true identity as a Jedi fugitive to Kaeden and Miara. Kaeden expressed anger that Tano had not revealed her identity earlier, as she could have provided more assistance. Tano felt responsible for Hoban's death. Shortly after, Kaeden returned to the main settlement and attempted to enter Vartan's house but was captured by eight stormtroopers who recognized her as a rebel fighter due to a wound on her forehead.
Kaeden was interrogated by two sets of Imperial interrogators but refused to yield despite being tortured with various devices, injections, and sustaining a broken arm. The Imperial commander questioned her about the Jedi's identity and the location of her fellow rebels, but she refused to cooperate despite facing execution. Tano used her Force powers to infiltrate the building and rescue Kaeden from her cell. Despite being cornered by stormtroopers, Tano escaped with Kaeden by Force jumping out of a high window. After escaping into the wilderness, Kaeden advised Tano to leave, as the Imperial commander was pursuing her. Tano promised to return and help her Raadian friends.
After Tano departed off-world in her freighter, Kaeden and her fellow rebels hid in the caves for several weeks. By the time the Sixth Brother arrived on Raada, Tano had already fled. After meeting with the military commander and Pilar, the Inquisitor learned the Imperial base on Raada was understaffed and lacked the resources to fully patrol the moon. Considering Raada's agricultural region and town were heavily patrolled, the Sixth Brother considered searching the hills for the insurgents. However, after receiving reports of seemingly random heroic Jedi actions off-world, the Inquisitor decided to investigate Tano's presence first before returning to Raada to complete his mission.
When the Sixth Brother's off-world investigations yielded no new leads, he decided to return to Raada and deal with the Jedi fugitive's local insurgent allies. Since the local garrison had made no progress in capturing them, the Inquisitor met with the chief interrogator and inquired about Kaeden, the girl who had escaped Imperial custody. After learning Kaeden's physical description, the Inquisitor headed for the hills to hunt the rebels. Meanwhile, with the artificial crops due to be harvested in a few days, Pilar departed Raada, leaving behind a ruined world and a resentful populace.
Elsewhere, Kaeden and the other rebels spent their time hiding in the caves. Due to limited medical supplies, Kaeden's broken arm had not fully healed. Kaeden, Miara, and Neera passed the time playing crokin. As a result of injuries sustained during the attack on the admin building, Neera limped around the cave. While the girls were playing another round of crokin, the sentry Kolvin reported something approaching the cave entrance, which was locked. While the other camouflaged entrances were secured, the sentry door was not.
The three girls and Kolvin decided to secure the sentry door. Miara wanted to come along, but Kaeden objected. Before the older girls could stop her, Miara rushed to the sentry door. Before they could collapse the tunnel leading to the entrance, the Sixth Brother discovered their presence and ordered Kaeden to surrender, threatening to collapse their hiding place. After some argument, Kaeden decided to surrender to save her comrades' lives. When Miara insisted on coming, Kaeden gestured to Neera, who stunned Miara with her blaster.
With difficulty, Kaeden crawled out of the cave and surrendered to the Sixth Brother. However, the Inquisitor broke his promise and used the Force to drag Kolvin out of the cave and Force choke him. The remaining insurgents attempted to shoot the Sixth Brother, but he slaughtered them with his double-bladed spinning lightsaber. The Inquisitor announced this would be the punishment for those who resisted the Empire before slicing Kolvin's body in half. Knowing Neera had saved her sister Miara's life by stunning her, Kaeden allowed the Sixth Brother to take her into custody. The Inquisitor hoped to use Kaeden to lure Tano out of hiding.
After establishing contact with Organa, Tano agreed to participate in a mission on Raada. Organa's contacts had transmitted visual footage of a new, mysterious Imperial agent, identified as the Sixth Brother. Through the footage, Tano learned her friend Kaeden had been captured by the Empire and decided to honor her promise to return to Raada. Tano traveled to Raada in a freighter, parking the ship on the far side of the moon. After walking for two hours, Tano encountered Kaeden's sister Miara, who informed her of recent events on Raada. By then, the Empire had finished harvesting Raada's fields, leaving much of the moon as a wasteland.
As they approached the main settlement, Tano instructed Miara to bring the holo she had recorded in space to Seldar or Vardan. Tano then confronted the Sixth Brother in the settlement's streets. Following a verbal exchange, the Sixth Brother activated his double-bladed spinning lightsaber and attacked her. Despite lacking her former lightsabers, Tano defended herself using the Force. After hearing the Kyber crystals inside the Inquisitor's lightsaber resonate with her, Tano amplified her touch with the Force and destroyed his lightsaber hilt. The Sixth Brother died when his lightsaber hilt exploded. After tending to her fallen foe, Tano purified the kyber crystals, turning them from red to white.
Armed with her new white lightsabers, Tano then fought the stormtrooper sentries guarding the main admin building. She freed the prisoners, including Kaeden, and led them to Selda's cantina. At the cantina, Selda reassured Tano and Kaeden that Miara had transmitted Tano's message and Vartan was gathering the farmers for an evacuation. As the population headed to the town's edge, six or eight of Organa's A-wing starfighters attacked the Imperial compound and destroyed several parked Imperial starfighters. Some Imperial starfighters managed to take off, but were pursued by the A-wings.
Two A-wings were shot down during the dogfight. The first A-wing's pilot ejected to safety, but the second crashed into the Imperial compound. Several rebel transports and cargo ships, including the CR90 corvette Tantive IV led by Organa's lieutenant Captain Raymus Antilles, landed at the settlement's edge. Tano helped Antilles evacuate the farmers aboard the ships. Before they could evacuate the remaining hundred aboard the three remaining ships, three Imperial tanks opened fire on the refugees.
Using her Force powers, Tano charged at the tanks. She jumped onto the leading tank and sliced off its gun turret. After throwing out the pilot, Tano overloaded the cannon and destroyed the tank. The explosion toppled one of the two remaining tanks, causing it to crash into one of the houses. The third tank headed towards Vartan, who was coordinating the refugee evacuation. The tank opened fire on Vartan, seriously wounding him. Tano used her Force powers to crush the tank turret, destroying the gun and incapacitating the vehicle. Tano then helped Antilles evacuate the grievously wounded Vartan aboard the Tantive IV.
Following the Raada evacuation, Antilles' medical crew treated Kaeden's broken arm and fitted Vartan with prosthetic limbs. While most of the Imperial facilities and forces were destroyed, the rebels lost only one pilot and fourteen evacuees during the evacuation. Tano convinced Organa to resettle the Raadian refugees on remote worlds that could provide agricultural produce for the rebellion. Organa also agreed to train the Raadian volunteers interested in becoming pilots or soldiers. After discussion, Tano agreed to join Organa's rebel movement as his spy coordinator, adopting the code name "Fulcrum."
Meanwhile, the main settlement on Raada was destroyed during the fighting. By the time Imperial Star Destroyers arrived to provide backup, the buildings and former farmlands had been razed. The Grand Inquisitor visited the ruined moon and concluded Tano posed a significant threat to the Empire due to her ability to train insurgents and summon large numbers of ships for assistance, although the Empire remained unaware of the "Jedi's" identity. After finding the Sixth Brother's corpse, the Grand Inquisitor informed Darth Vader he had found evidence of another Jedi Purge survivor.
Despite her alliance with Organa, Tano lived in another farm village sometime after the Raada Uprising. However, an Imperial-loyal citizen reported her existence to the Empire, leading the Eleventh Brother to track her down and massacre the village. She quickly killed the dark side adept and contacted Organa, agreeing to work with him in an active role, subsequently becoming a key member of the rebellion.
The Raada Uprising was first depicted in E. K. Johnston's young adult novel Ahsoka, published on October 11, 2016. The Uprising is divided into the abortive uprising attempt and the Evacuation of Raada in the book, serving as the rising action and climax of the novel. Besides Ahsoka, the events of the uprising are also narrated from the perspectives of secondary characters Kaeden Larte, Jenneth Pilar, and the Sixth Brother.
An X-wing starfighter is featured as part of the Raada Uprising on the cover of Ahsoka. Given the uprising's early timing in the context of the rebel movement, it remains unclear whether this is meant to be taken literally or is simply an artistic representation of rebel involvement.