Tom Norton

Thomas Norton, more often known simply as Tom Norton, was a Human male Jedi Padawan during the. He had known fellow Padawan Ahsoka Tano since he was five and she was four, and was her closest friend. Tom became the Padawan of Carmen Conrose, before the latter's death at the hands of Sora Bulq. Norton then became the second Padawan of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Childhood
"Hello, I'm Thomas Norton from planet Bespin."

- Tom introduces himself to Ahsoka

Tom Norton was discovered by Jedi Master Adi Gallia on Bespin while he was a baby and brought to the Jedi Temple to be raised as a Jedi. At five years old he met Ahsoka Tano who became his best friend. They got up to mischief together and sometimes got in trouble during their training. One notable occasion was when they slipped Whoopee cushions onto every Jedi Council Members seat. Most of the Council was furious but Plo Koon thought it was amusing though he warned Tom and Ahsoka that he wouldn't be so playful if they did it again. Whoopee cushions were banned from the Jedi Temple after that.

Tom and Ahsoka were almost inseparable and they liked to train and spend time in the library and occasionally went swimming in the room of a thousand fountains. Tom also became close friends with Plo Koon through his friendship with Ahsoka. Tom's friendly feelings towards Ahsoka eventually evolved into a crush and he considered her very attractive despite being a different species.

During his childhood Tom developed a rivalry with a boy called Abron Strife and lost to him in his first fighting tournament when he was twelve before beating him in his second the year after and winning the third. After winning his third tournament Tom became a Jedi Padawan.

First mission
Tom was assigned to a green skinned Twi'lek Jedi Knight named Carmen Conrose, who had been the only Padawan of Saesee Tiin. He, his new Master and Jedi Master Sora Bulq (who ironically would become the very person who was responsible for Carmen's death) were sent to the planet Ryloth to rescue Senator Orn Free Taa from a group of terrorists. On Ryloth they met Cham Syndulla who led them to the canyon where Taa was being held prisoner. The three Jedi and their guide found a large cave which would eventually become Cham's headquarters during the clone wars, and were surrounded by about fifty blaster wielding terrorists.

The leader of the terrorists, who looked almost identical to Orn Free Taa, except thinner and had one eye cut out told the Jedi that he intended to replace Taa in the Senate and become the successor of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. It turned out that the terrorists were not interested in a ransom. Tom, Bulq, Conrose and Syndulla fought the terrorists and Tom felt slightly disturbed about harming living beings, especially when he saw Sora using Vaapad to kill most of them. Without Sora, Tom, Carmen and Cham might have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers. They defeated the terrorists and the leader agreed to hand over Orn Free Taa. Carmen meanwhile set about healing the terrorists with the Force. Then the group handed the terrorists that hadn't been killed by Sora's Vaapad frenzy over to the Ryloth authorities. Tom, proud about the success of his first mission, was looking forward to telling Ahsoka what had happened though he still felt a little uncomfortable about Sora's massacre.

Visit to Korriban
At some point before the Clone Wars Tom and Carmen were forced to land on Korriban on their way back from a mission because of a malfunction in the hyperdrive. While Carmen fixed the hyperdrive Tom went exploring. The Padawan accidentally stumbled upon the Valley of the Dark Lords, an ancient burial ground for dead Sith Lords. Tom sensed the dark side of the Force in the valley and, unsure what he was up against, he debated about whether to go in or not. He eventually decided not to go in and returned to his Master, asking her about the valley. Carmen told him a little about the Valley of the Dark Lords which she had read about as a youngling.

Shortly before the Clone Wars, Carmen began to teach Tom to heal wounds with the Force but Tom's healing abilities were limited.

Battle of Geonosis
Four months after his first mission Tom and Carmen were sent on a negotiation mission on Demos 4. The mission was successful but the two of them had barely gotten back to the temple when they set out again, along with over two hundred other Jedi to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Armidala from Count Dooku on Geonosis.

Tom and Carmen fought bravely in the arena and Tom managed to kill the fearsome Ackley during the battle. Shortly before the end to the battle in the arena Tom was temporarily distracted by Jango Fett's helmeted head shooting past him and received a wound to the shoulder. Despite the wound Tom was one of the few survivors though his old rival Abron Strife was cut down in the battle. Tom had never been fond of Strife and they got on rather badly as younglings but even so the Padawan was slightly upset by his death.

Tom wanted Ahsoka to be his last thought when the droids finished him off but then Master Yoda arrived with clone reinforcements and all the Jedi in the survivors circle, with the unfortunate exception of Joclad Danva, managed to get into a gunship and flee the arena. Tom used the Force to heal the wound on his shoulder as he'd been taught by his Master and then he and the other surviving Jedi fought alongside the clones against the Separatist droids. The battle was ultimately a victory for the Republic.

Beginning of the seige
"I'm an...okay pilot."

- Tom being slightly doubtful about his flying skills

About five months after the beginning of the Clone Wars, during the beginning of the Battle of Falleen, Tom was sent along with Barriss Offee to take down a Separatist blockade with a squad of and another squad of. Carmen and Luminara Unduli planned to bring the cruisers out of hyperspace as soon as someone in either squadron activated their tracking beacon. That way the cruisers wouldn't be a target until later in the battle and they might not lose as many men.

During the space battle Tom was chased by a vulture droids missiles but Barriss used the Force to move the missiles into an enemy cruiser, saving Tom in the process. Tom managed to keep his ship in one peice long enough for Barriss to call reinforcements as planned. However, though Tom was, in his own words, "An okay pilot" he was shot in the wing. Barriss used the Force to guide his ship back into one of the Republic cruisers, saving his life for the second time within half an hour and Tom felt that he'd made a new friend. Barriss and Tom became closer during the siege.

Carmen's death
"Padawan...Let her go"

- Luminara Unduli to Tom Norton after Carmen dies

A month after the beginning of the siege Tom and Carmen fought on the outskirts of a forest. Luminara and Barriss had promised to help Carmen and Tom as soon as they could. Tom and Carmen were lured away from the main battle by a cloaked figure who revealed himself to be Sora Bulq. The three of the dueled in a forest but even together Tom and Carmen were unable to overcome the Dark Jedi who stabbed Carmen in the chest. Tom attacked in a fit of rage, weilding Carmen's lightsaber along with his own, but was no match for the Weequay who quickly sliced Carmen's lightsaber in half and knocked Tom's lightsaber out of his hands. Tom would have been killed if Luminara and Barriss hadn't arrived and forced Bulq to retreat. While the two mirialans duelled with the Dark Acolyte, Tom crawled to his dying masters side and had a short talk with her before she passed away. Tom was devastated by Carmen's death.

After winning the battle Tom had a nightmare about Carmen's death and was comforted by Barriss.

Reunion with Ahsoka
After winning the battle of Falleen Tom was sent back to the Jedi Temple to be assigned to a new Master. In the Jedi Council chamber Tom was assigned to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon told him that another Padawan was going with him but he didn't tell him who the Padawan was.

When Tom got onto the ship that would take him to Christophsis he was delighted to find that his companion was Ahsoka. Tom temporarily forgot about Carmen's death in his happiness to see his old friend as he hadn't seen her often since becoming a Padawan and they went to Christophsis together to meet their new masters.

Battle of Christophsis
When Tom and Ahsoka arrived on Christophsis they met Anakin, Obi-Wan and CC-7567, more often known as Rex. The two Padawan's informed them that Master Yoda wanted them to return to the Jedi Temple but since the droids had trapped them on the planet they couldn't go anywhere. The four Jedi successfully managed to contact Yoda and managed to tell him about their predicament just before the hologram shut off.

After contacting Yoda, Obi-Wan introduced himself and the rather moody Anakin, properly. When Anakin blurted that he didn't want a Padawan, Tom glared at him before telling Obi-Wan that he would be his Padawan and Ahsoka would be Anakins.

Ahsoka and Anakin visited Rex at a lookout post and Ahsoka called Anakin "Skyguy" for the first time before Rex pointed out an incoming energy shield. Tom, Obi-Wan and R2-D2 joined them and Obi-Wan told Anakin and Ahsoka to go inside the rayshield and destroy the generator while he, Tom and the clones distracted the droids. After Ahsoka and Anakin left, Obi-Wan ordered his clones to try and blast their way through the shield with their large cannons but they had no effect. Meanwhile Tom was brooding quietly on his lost Master and perhaps worrying that Ahsoka might die too during the war. Obi-Wan noticed that he was upset and asked what was wrong but Tom said he'd tell him later.

The Jedi and clones waited until the energy shield past over them and Rex noted that they wouldn't be able to stop the droids so Obi-Wan ordered him and his troops to protect them while he and Tom delayed the droids. The droids surrounded them and General arrived in his tank. Tom was astonished when Obi-Wan surrendered but the Jedi Master mouthed at him to do the same. The droids took their lightsabers and Obi-Wan distracted Loathsome by negotiating with him. Tom was amazed at his calm demeanor and was even more astonished when he requested refreshments.

When Loathsome realised they were merely stalling he threatened that he would kill them both unless they called off their troops. Obi-Wan and Tom freed themselves from the droids and took Loathsome hostage in order to stop the droids from shooting them. Meanwhile Anakin and Ahsoka destroyed the generator allowing the clones cannons to finish off the droids.

Tom, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Anakin then met up with Yoda who assigned Tom and Obi-Wan to negotiate with Jabba the Hutt while Anakin and Ahsoka went to rescue Jabba's son, Rotta.

Negotiations with Jabba the Hutt
On the way to Tatooine, Tom and Obi-Wan spent the journey talking about their lives. Tom told Obi-Wan about Carmen's death and admitted that he was attached to Ahsoka. Obi-Wan told him that he hoped he wasn't too attached but other than that he did not lecture Tom on the detachment part of the Jedi Code, most likely because he too had attachments. In turn, Obi-Wan told him about the death of Qui-Gon Jinn at the hands of Darth Maul, to show that he understood the pain Tom was going through from losing his own Master.

When they arrived on Tatooine, Tom and Obi-Wan began negotiations with Jabba who promised them that he would allow the Republic to use the hyperspace routes in his territories in exchange for the safe return of his son,. Obi-Wan reported this information to Anakin, who was on his way to Teth where Jabba's son had been located, before informing Yoda and Chancellor Palpatine. It was suspected that the kidnapping was a Separatist plot, which aimed to turn Jabba against the Republic.

Personality and traits
Tom Norton was a nice person but in the first five years of his life, he was rather shy and solitary and spent most of his time by himself. Most of the other younglings didn't even attempt to interact with him and though they sometimes let him play with them, none of them became friends which sometimes made Tom feel lonely. During his early years, Tom would seek the company of Jedi Masters if he felt lonely and enjoyed listening to stories that they told him and they sometimes gave him treats. Though Tom got on well with the Jedi Masters, and was often content to be by himself, he secretly wanted to have at least one true friend that was around his own age, but didn't know how to get one. Yoda told him that unless he tried to interact with people he would never get a friend.

Tom listened to Yoda's advise and was the first youngling in his class who tried to welcome Ahsoka Tano when she began her training, as he knew how she felt about entering a class full of strangers. Ahsoka was the first true friend Tom ever made. As he grew older, Tom started interacting more and became more confident about being among others. Along with Ahsoka, he even got confident enough to start playing pranks on the Jedi Masters, which he would have never done before he met her. However he could suffer from a certain degree of stage fright and disliked talking to or being in front of a large number of people. With Carmen's help, Tom became more confident about speaking in front of numerous people, sometimes talking to large numbers of Clones during the clone wars.

Despite finding difficulty in interacting with others and suffering from nerves, during his first few years at least, Tom was confident in his lightsaber skills, and rather enjoyed combat preferring to fight first and ask questions later, which sometimes exasperated Carmen and later Obi-Wan. However Tom felt disturbed about killing living beings and was uncomfortable about Sora Bulq's massacre on Ryloth.

In his early years Tom was curious about life outside the Jedi Temple and was interested about what ordinary people did for a living. He was also quite adventurous, exploring a little during his and Carmen's brief landing on Korriban and stumbling upon the Valley of the Dark Lords though he decided not to enter the valley due to the dark presences he sensed there.

However there was a darker side to Tom's personality and he was known to get angry or downright furious if people insulted, threatened, harmed or worst of all, killed, people he cared about. Because of this he got into a brief fight with Abron Strife after the older Youngling bullied Ahsoka. Tom was both grief-stricken and furious when Sora Bulq killed Carmen Conrose, attacking Bulq with all his rage and grief but was nevertheless defeated. Unlike many Jedi, Tom wasn't very good at letting go of people he cared about. Carmen's death made Tom more aware of his friends mortality and therefore he tried his best not to let any of them die.

Ahsoka Tano
Tom Norton had a very close friendship with Ahsoka Tano and over time he developed romantic feelings for her despite being a different species. These feelings got stronger as time went on. Tom and Ahsoka became friends very quickly despite the fact that, before they met, Tom was rather solitary. Tom was kind to her when they first met and helped her with her training and she felt that she owed him her friendship in return. Despite the fact that they had both been shy during their first few years, Tom and Ahsoka both became far more confident as time went on, partially because of their friendship and partially because they were both among the most talented Younglings in the Jedi Order.

Ahsoka and Tom were virtually inseparable - until Tom became a Padawan - and did almost everything together. Tom was a bit more cautious about the pranks they played on the Masters but usually went along with them and sometimes he and Ahsoka got told off for playing them. They were also known to tease each other from time to time. Tom missed Ahsoka when he was a Padawan and though he was very fond of his Master he wished he had more time to be with Ahsoka. He was delighted when he discovered that Ahsoka was going with him to Christophsis, so delighted that he temporarily forgot about Carmen's death though it would return to haunt him later.

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Tom became close with his second master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. However he was incredulous about Obi-Wan's calm attitude when they were unarmed and surrounded by Separatist droids, indicating that Carmen, despite being a skilled negotiator, had never acted that calmly when surrounded by enemies. He was also amused by the Jedi Masters dry sense of humor.

Carmen Conrose
Tom also had a close relationship with his first Master, Carmen Conrose and loved her like a big sister. Tom also felt that Carmen was a good teacher despite her lack of experience in training a Padawan. He was devastated when Carmen was killed and it took him a while to get over her death. Carmen's death actually made the Padawan cry and Tom was rarely someone who was reduced to tears.

Plo Koon
Tom took a liking to Plo Koon and through his friendship with Ahsoka he became friendly with the Kel-Dor though he wasn't as close to the Jedi Master as Ahsoka was. While Ahsoka considered Plo to be like her father, Tom considered him to be more like an uncle.

Barriss Offee
During the Battle of Falleen, Tom befriended Barriss Offee who saved his life twice at the beginning of the siege. Barriss later tried to comfort Tom about the death of his Master. Tom liked Barriss but noted that she wasn't Ahsoka and never became as close to the Mirialan as he was to Ahsoka.

Lightsaber training


Despite his age Tom was a skilled fighter and was Ahsoka Tano's equal in lightsaber combat, having sparred with her countless times. They each won and lost sparring matches roughly an equal amount of times and became friendly rivals as Younglings. Tom managed to outmaneuver and defeat Ahsoka during his third fighting tournament before being promoted to Jedi Padawan. He practiced Ataru, Soresu and Shien and during his training with Obi-Wan Kenobi he became fond of using the Niman opening stance, mirroring his masters habit of using the stance. However Tom used a slightly alternate version on the Niman stance; instead of pointing his index and middle finger at the enemy, Tom simply showed them his palm. This was because using his middle and index finger in the stance made him feel like he was swearing. Strangely he didn't mind swearing with his voice but he didn't like swearing with his fingers.

Tom sometimes sparred with his Master, Carmen Conrose and though he had never bested her, Carmen admitted that it did sometimes take her some effort to beat him. Carmen taught Tom the Lus-ma technique which he tried to use on her during one of their sparring matches. By using Lus-ma, Tom nearly managed to land a blow on Carmen but was once again defeated. Carmen admitted that Tom adapted to Lus-ma more quickly than she did.

Tom managed to survive the Battle of Geonosis with only a minor wound to the shoulder which was impressive for his age and he briefly held his ground against Sora Bulq after Bulq stabbed Carmen on Falleen, but the Dark Acolyte easily overwhelmed him and he only survived because of the arrival of Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee. During his duel with Bulq, Tom displayed some skill in Jar'Kai weilding his masters lightsaber along with his own.

Force powers
Tom possessed a strong connection to the Force and according to Plo Koon his Force connection was the equal of Ahsoka's. Though Tom's Force powers required more training he was capable of a reasonably strong Force Push from a young age, using it on Abron Strife after Strife bullied Ahsoka while they were Younglings. His Force pushes became stronger over time. Tom was also able to use Force Jump and Force aided acrobatics.

Tom also had a degree of healing skills but his healing abilities were limited since Carmen didn't have time to complete his healing training before she died. As the clone wars progressed, he became reasonably proficient at healing flesh wounds but was useless at healing damaged organs. Tom found healing more difficult to use than other Force powers.

Other abilities
Despite Tom's advanced lightsaber skills and strong connection to the Force, the Padawan was slightly doubtful about his flying skills. During the battle of Falleen he was saved twice by Barriss Offee whom he later became friends with. Tom was, in his own words "an okay pilot" but preferred fighting on the ground, feeling safer when he was using his lightsaber rather than flying a space craft.