The Fan Favorite Star Wars Hero Inspired By Roman History
In the animated show Star Wars Rebels, one of the most fascinating characters was Sabine Wren, the unconventional Mandalorian who formed a close friendship with Ezra Bridger. Certainly, Dave Filoni shares this fascination, bringing this character back in a big way for the live-action series Ahsoka. All this Wren love caused us to look back at what inspired the character, and we were surprised to discover that her name was inspired by the Ancient Roman story of the Sabine women.
Sabine’s Name
Incidentally, this information about Sabine Wren comes to us courtesy of the official Star Wars site. A now-defunct page for the site reviewed the inspiration for the names of various characters in this great cartoon, and multiple characters were inspired by mythology.
For example, the site (still available via Waybackmachine even after it was purged from the official site, Kamino-style) mentions Hera’s name (remember, she’s the fearless den mother of this found family) comes from the Greek god Hera whose name means “protector.”
As for Sabine Wren, her name is taken from some Ancient Roman mythology, but the specific tale is a bit sad. The story goes that the earliest days of the Roman Empire were one big sausage party, causing the leader Romulus to fret that the city didn’t have enough women in it to sustain the population of his growing empire.
Therefore, Rome began to negotiate with nearby societies, with the goal of securing wives for Roman men.
The Sabine Women
None of these societies were interested, and that included the Sabines. Romulus then plotted to kidnap the Sabine women, which is why this tale is sometimes called The Abduction of the Sabine Women or, more darkly, The Rape of the Sabine Women.
In Ancient Roman mythology, this led to a war with Rome that ended with the surprising revelation that the abducted women were actually happy with their lives in Rome; the two societies proceeded to merge together.
Nothing In Star Wars
Obviously, the mythology behind Sabine Wren’s name is a bit more complex than the mythology behind Hera’s–it’s one thing to be named after a Greek goddess and quite another to be named after the victims of the Roman Empire.
So far, nothing in either Star Wars Rebels or Ahsoka has hinted at Sabine being like the women in this ancient Roman tale. It’s possible, of course, that Dave Filoni simply liked the name “Sabine” regardless of its problematic origin.
Star Wars Names
If that is truly how Sabine Wren was named, it wouldn’t be the first time a Star Wars creator went with something because it sounded cool. By now, everyone knows the story that “Vader” is the Dutch word for “father” and that the name “Darth Vader” is supposed to make you think “dark father.”
Here’s the thing, though: George Lucas developed the Darth Vader name well before the “I’m your father” twist,” meaning that he just kinda liked how the name sounded.
Ahsoka
Learning this history about the origin of Sabine Wren’s name has us curious if the next season of Ahsoka might directly connect this character’s story to her Roman roots.
Whether or not that happens, though, we can all agree that Sabine is one of the most unique and compelling characters in the entire franchise. Forget Ancient Rome–this wild card character in a galaxy far, far away is an entire mythos unto herself.
