Tom Norton

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. After becoming a Padawan Tom became the apprentice of Carmen Conrose before Conrose's death at the hands of Sora Bulq. Norton then became the second Padawan of.

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

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 woopie cusions onto every Jedi Council Members seat. Most of the Council was furious but a few, like Plo Koon, thought it was amusing though Plo warned Tom and Ahsoka that he wouldn't be so playful if they did it again. Woopie cusions were banned from the Jedi Temple after that but a lot of younglings thought it was worth it.

Tom and Ahsoka were almost inseperable 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 twilek 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 terorists.

The leader of the terrorists, who looked almost identical to Orn Free Taa, except thinner, 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 creatures, especially when he saw Sora using Vaapad to kill many of them. Without Sora they probably wouldn't have survived since the terrorists were not mere droids. 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.

At some point in his time with Carmen the Twilek began to teach him to heal wounds with the Force but Tom's healing abilities were limited.

Battle of Geonosis
Three months after his first mission Tom and Carmen were sent on a negotiation mission on Demos 4. The mission was succesful 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 recieved 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.

Battle of Falleen and aftermath
Carmen's death

"Padawan...Let her go"

- Luminara Unduli to Tom Norton after Carmen dies

About four months after the beginning of the Clone Wars Tom fought alongside Carmen during the battle of Falleen. Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee were also on the planet and 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 duelled 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 but was no match for the Weequay and would have been killed if Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee hadn't arrived and forced Bulq to retreat. Tom was devistated by his masters death.

Reunion with Ahsoka

After winning the Battle of Falleen Tom was sent back to the Jedi Temple to be assigned to a new Master. The Padawan remained upset about Carmen's death but tried to hide it from Yoda when he contacted him as he went back to Coruscant. 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.

Personality and traits
Tom had a very close friendship with Ahsoka Tano and eventually developed a crush on her despite being a different species. They became friends very quickly though how they became so close has not been properly confirmed since, before they met, Tom was rather solitary. Ahsoka and Tom were virtually inseperable as Younglings 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 also had a close relationship with Carmen Conrose considering her to be like a big sister to him. Tom also felt that Carmen was a good teacher despite her lack of experience in training a Padawan. Tom was devistated when Carmen was killed and it took him a while to get over her death. Jedi detachment was not one of Tom's strong points.

Tom preferred fighting over talking and rather enjoyed combat. However Tom felt disturbed about killing living beings and was uncomfortable about Sora Bulq's massacre on Ryloth. As a youngling Tom could get embarrissed when standing in front of loads of people but he didn't mind fighting in front of loads of people, possibly because the thrill of the fight caused him to forget they were there.

Powers and abilities
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 amout 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 put a few elements of Djem So into his style though Djem So was the syle he had the least training on. 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. However he would have been killed if it weren't for Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee.

Tom possessed a strong connection to the Force and according to Plo Koon his Force connection was only a shade weaker than 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 only allowed him to heal flesh wounds as Carmen didn't have time to train him in advanced healing before she died. Tom found healing more difficult to use than other Force powers, possibly because he was, at heart, more of a fighter than a healer. Though he was a fast learner at Force powers that were used in combat such as Force push, he wasn't so fast at Force powers that weren't used in combat such as healing.