Alternate Universe Retrospective

Now, before you go any further, those who are expecting this to be a new chapter of the story, stop! It is not that. The story is over. Instead, this is merely me, the author, rounding off this AU with a look at the series overall, as well as the main characters within it. If you don't wish to read it, that's fine. If you do, by all means go ahead.

Roughly six months ago, I decided to write a fanfiction. At the time, I had only ever been a reader of such things. There were so many ideas out there, and so many variation of different stories that it was something of a nice escape from the harsh realities of life. But as time wore on, I began to want to write one of my own.

The only issue was that I was a coward. What if my story wasn't liked? What if I was a rubbish writer? What if I couldn't create a good story? All of these questions circulated round in my head for a long time, and I kept putting off writing one.

And then, one day I decided. Screw it. So what if no one likes it? I've never had a problem with people not liking me before. Why should it stop me now?

So I decided to go for it, regardless of what happened. But first I needed something to write about. After some experimenting within the Mass Effect universe, I settled on an idea, one that I had never really seen anyone else do.

I decided to write a fanfiction in which Ahsoka Tano killed Darth Vader. It all started with me wanting to change the one thing I disliked about 'Twilight of the Apprentice', that being the line of dialogue from Ahsoka, "I won't leave you, not this time." I was fed up with every character who knew Anakin seemingly forgiving him for his crimes as Vader, and I wanted to explore someone other than Leia, who didn't know Anakin, only Vader, being angry with him and wanting to kill him, and in my eyes, Ahsoka makes perfect sense. At the time, I thought it was a crazy idea, that people would loathe it because I killed Vader. But I pushed forward regardless. Who knew, maybe, just maybe, there would be one person who would like it. That would have been enough for me.

So I began to write my first proper story, 'The Former Apprentices'. Originally it was supposed to be one story and then I was done, but as I got through it and changed things on Malachor, I began to think of other ideas, ways of continuing the story. Furthermore, I got far more positive reviews about the story that I had expected, and it seemed that next to no-one (that I am aware of of course) was angry that I snuffed Vader. So I decided to plan out a sequel.

This very quickly took the form of 'A Tale of Two Fulcrums' a sort of side adventure that brought in Kallus and Thrawn as mainstays of this AU. This time round, I tried to focus more and more on the Rebel vs. Empire conflict, rather than Jedi vs. Sith. I think I did ok with it, even if it is my least favourite story out of the four I have written.

And then, when the second story was finished, I had discovered that I had inadvertently planned out a whole AU. Oops!

And so the third story came around, 'Vendettas and Strategems'. With this story, I tried to balance the more personal story with the Tatooine arc with the combat centric ones on Atollon via the use of the perspective switching technique, alternating out between characters until I brought them all together. By the end of the third story, I had set up all of the conflicts I wanted for what I planned to be the finale. If only I knew at the time how long it would have been.

And thus, I started writing my finale, and from the start I knew this one was going to be different from the others. Whereas the past three stories had essentially been rewrites of episodes of rebels that had aired, 'To Take Down an Emperor' was planned as an original storyline that didn't follow the events of rebels. Instead, I used inspiration from 'A New Hope', mixed with a bit of 'Rogue One', and the endgame to Mass Effect 2. Together, I aimed to create a series of small side stories to give every character a chance to shine, before promptly throwing them all into a suicide mission where not everyone would survive. In this aspect, I think I succeeded in writing a strong story, however in my opinion, the best elements of the fourth story came from Thrawn and his side story in finding out what the Death Star really was. Personally, I think that was the highlight of the story, rather than the suicide mission aspect.

And after 45 chapters, I was finally able to finish up my AU. It was a challenge to write, no question, but I have enjoyed every minute of it, even when I had writers block. I like to think that I am the sort of person who takes controversial ideas and shapes them into good plotlines. At least, that is the way I see it. I tried to be as original as possible, tackling ideas that no one else had yet.

All in all, I will miss this AU greatly, but at the same time I am glad it is done. I can now take a break for a bit before I begin work on the one shots I have planned. As for what comes next, (one shots aside) I am still trying to figure that out. An Anakin and Ahsoka related story will most likely come, (unless rebels reveals Ahsoka died at Vader's hands, in that case, fuck Anakin Skywalker!) but aside from that, I can't promise anything yet. I kind of want to try my hands at another universe, but rest assured more Star Wars is coming.

So yeah, thanks again for all of your support and help through this journey with me. It has been fun, and I hope you all join me for the one shots, and anything else I have planned.

Character Retrospectives

The Ghost Crew

The crew of the Ghost played a key role in this story, despite not being the protagonists in any of them. I love the Ghost crew. I personally think their story is one of the best in Star Wars. (yes, I like rebels more than clone wars… shoot me!)

I tried to give them all their due I this AU, but with the focus mainly on Ahsoka, I feel they were left out sometimes. To rectify that, they will appear in the one shots a fair amount, so yay.

However, I will talk about Kanan now. I am almost certain he is going to die in rebels, so I had him live here. Out of all of the Ghost Crew, he played the most significant role in this AU, being one of the four to face Sidious and then go on to help Obi-Wan and Vos with the Jedi Order. Kanan is my favourite rebels characters, and I will be sorry to see him go. You already blinded the poor man Filoni! Don't kill him too! What's the point of blinding him if you're just going to kill him?!

Alexsandr Kallus

Kallus was the deuteragonist for the second story, and I had great fun writing him. I wanted to make him defect earlier in canon, and have more personal exposure to Thrawn, whilst also setting him up to play a key role as Fulcrum by having him meet Ahsoka. I feel that I succeeded, but that after that story concluded his importance diminished quite drastically. Thus, I gave him that epic scene on the bridge in the fourth story, and fully intend to have him feature in a multi part one shot series.

Rex

Good old reliable Captain Rex. So many people love him, and for a while I couldn't understand why. Sure, he was loyal, but unlike Fives and Wolffe he had no real personality to me.

However, in writing this AU, I have come too really like Rex. I get it now. I know why people like him.

And thus, when I could have killed him, I chose not to.

Darth Sidious

With Sidious, I tried to keep him as evil as I could, whilst also showing a new side to him. We have seen how he corrupted Anakin, and I wanted to explore that in a similar if not different way with his attempt to do the same to Ahsoka. After all, it makes sense that if he could no longer have Anakin, he would go for Anakin's apprentice right?

Still, in the end, he had to die. I only hope that you enjoyed the way he fell, and that is was believable.

Maul

Maul's arc in this AU is not one of redemption, but more of him finding out that there is always another path he could take. By pairing him up Ahsoka, who like him had been cast aside by those she trusted, I was able to create an interesting dynamic. Over time, they began to trust one another, and very much see the other as their equal.

It is a shame then that we have not really seen them interact in canon. All of it is hidden either behind the unfinished scripts, or just not scene. Thus, I decided to take the characters and create something with them that was unique. An odd sort of friendship in a way.

And when it came time for Obi-Wan vs. Maul, I just couldn't kill him off. He was a different character by that point, and all he wanted was some help, for which Ahsoka gave.

And thus, a new Maul was born.

The Eighth Brother

Oh boy, this guy. What a character. When the first story was being written, I decided to expand his role to give him more screen time. In canon, he receives about five minutes' worth, and I wanted to explore him some more. Say what you will about the Inquisitors, they are interesting characters who got short changed in rebels. (aside from the Grand Inquisitor of course)

That being said, originally, the Eighth Bro died on Malachor as he did in canon. It was only after I had finished writing the story that I decided to go back and change the last scene and have him survive. To begin with, it was done for giggles. I didn't know what I was going to do with him as a character, and so he sort of disappeared for a while.

That was until the third story came around. With the Sith holocron becoming important I decided to bring him back as a wild card character, one that you weren't sure what he was up to. For this, I used 'Transformers Primes' characterisation of Starscream as inspiration, and personally, I think it worked perfectly.

Having him go back to the empire (even if it was a deception) allowed me to further confuse everyone with him intentions. At points they weren't even clear to me. By the time I got to the ending, I still wasn't sure what to do with him. I only knew that I wanted him fate to be ambiguous to some extent.

Originally, I had him conscious when Sidious died, and when Ahsoka came to help him, he refused, pushing her away and forcing her to leave him. He would essentially call her out on all the things he does in the actual story, and then Ahsoka and team would leave him on the station. His fate would then be left ambiguous as to whether he got out in time. (spoilers, he would have)

But then I changed it, as I did with so many others things, at the last second, having him unconscious and thus carried out without his acceptance. This allowed me to put the last scene between him and Ahsoka in the Ghost instead, whilst still leaving his fate ambiguous.

So yeah, there were many different ways I could have taken his character, and he remains my favourite aspect of this AU. Unlike the others, I could do whatever I liked with him, as he has no real in depth canon screen time to develop a personality that I had to follow, unlike the next character in this review.

Grand Admiral Thrawn

I never really saw what the deal with Thrawn was before he showed up on rebels. People always went on about him being the best character of all time, and I was worried that he might be slightly too overrated for me. Usually, I end up hating the fan favourite character, but love the one that is despised by the fans, even if said fans warm up to the character in the end. (case and point – Ahsoka)

That being said, when Thrawn showed up in season three, I was very surprised to find that he was in fact, awesome. I know some people don't really like rebels Thrawn, but I loved him. So it was only natural that he come across into this AU.

However, with a character like Thrawn I had to be very careful. Fans have a very specific interpretation of what Thrawn must be like, and I didn't want to deviate from that. So for his first appearance, I had him hardly show up at all, only doing so when necessary. I tried to show his analytical side mainly, showing how he deduces things from scraps of information, and showing that he is a long game planner.

And then for the third story I went to the opposite end of the spectrum, showing him as a military genius capable of eradicating an entire fleet of rebels. In the third story, he was at his most brutal.

But when it came time for the finale, I wanted to do something different with him, but still keep him Thrawn enough for the fans. By having him have his own arc in that story, he quickly became the deuteragonist of it. His quest to find out the truth, and help stop it in a way that he doesn't reveal his true agenda was great fun to write, and I only hope that it was well received.

So while I was scared at writing Thrawn (and still am), I feel that his arc is the best in this AU as a whole, and am greatly looking forward to continuing it with the one shots.

Ahsoka Tano

And of course, I can't talk about the main characters of this AU and not mention Ahsoka.

Ahsoka is without a doubt, my favourite character in Star Wars, and I make no secret about it. I wanted to do a story for her because I felt that she was the character I would feel most comfortable writing for, and that I would enjoy doing it in the process. The only issue was figuring out what sort of story to write for her.

As you can see, I settled on a very personal story about her fighting her own inner demons. Throughout this AU, she is tempted again and again by the dark, as she struggles to maintain her position in the middle as best she can. At times she begins to shift in different directions, especially when her friends were threatened, but in the end I wanted to affirm the fact that unlike Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka has more personal balance. She is able to control her inner demons and not let them corrupt her. Furthermore, unlike Anakin, she does not rely solely on the support of her friends to keep her balanced. When everyone turned on her in canon, she didn't fall to the darkside, unlike her master. That is, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of Ahsoka's character. She is her own person, completely independent.

Of course, if you have read this entire AU, you are also aware of the direction I took her personal life, specifically with her growing romance with Kaeden Larte. I was sceptical at first about doing a romance that wasn't Kanera, but I decided to challenge myself and write a compelling bond between Ahsoka and Kaeden. The Ahsoka novel didn't really do much to flesh out their bond aside from a few damsel in distress moments, and I wanted to explore what might have happened if they had met again in later life. This, coupled with Ahsoka's fluctuating mental state, allowed me to hopefully write a somewhat compelling, and not forced, romance. I guess you readers will be the judges of that.

In the end, when it came to the last story, I stated that many people would die. No doubt some of you were concerned about Ahsoka. Well, let me now put your minds to rest. In every single draft of the story, Ahsoka survived. She was one of two characters that I was never going to kill off (the other was Thrawn). The reason I chose this route is simple.

Ahsoka is my favourite character, and I have said time and again how against the idea of her dying I am, especially at Vader's hand. It is hard to explain just how much the character means to me. She came around at a difficult point of my life, and it was nice to finally have a character in Star Wars that I connected too. If she was to fall… I dread that my depression might just go to the extreme this time.

And to be honest, her dying at Vader's hands makes no sense in my eyes. If she does, not only does it undermine Kenobi's sacrifice in 'A New Hope' by being another one of those heroic sacrifice moments, but it wastes a golden opportunity to explore a story that has not been taken yet. We've had the one Vader killed. We had the one who 'redeemed' Vader. What we haven't had is the one who knew Anakin, and survived Vader. Out of all the characters who have encountered Vader, I strongly believe that Ahsoka should be the one to survive him and live to tell the tale. That way we get to see the emotional aftermath of it.

Plus killing her off would be entirely predictable and stupid, as well as the easy option, something which Filoni has said time and again he will never take. (let us see if he upholds his word)

So no, I do not want Ahsoka dead. I want her alive in her Togruta form. Not a force ghost, nor some sort of spiritual entity as all the mortis theories seem to suggest. I want her alive. Or else!

Most of you will no doubt disagree with me, saying that she should die to be tragic and fit into that familiar loop of storytelling in Star Wars. That being said however, I wonder how many of those people also complained about 'Force Awakens' being 'A New Hope 2.0'.

Right, rant over. Sorry about that. It wasn't intended to cause offense, so sorry if it did. I respect your opinions none the less. (unless you violently disagree with mine and get hostile with me, in that case…)

So yeah, Ahsoka is my favourite, so I wrote a story about her. Hope you liked it.

Final Summary

And so this retrospective thing draws to a close. Once again I just want to express my gratitude to those that had read and reviewed my story, whether it be from day one or in the middle of this story. You guys are the best, and you made me feel wanted. I only hope that you enjoyed this AU as a whole, and that you are looking forward to the one shots I have planned.

Speaking of which, since you have just sat through about 3000 words of me giving an author's note, have some more teasers as to what is to come in the one shots.

1. The bleeding process of kyber crystals

2. Galen Erso searching for his daughter

3. The darksaber

4. The treatment of scars (featuring Kanan, Ahsoka and Ezra's scars)

5. Zeb attempting to set Kallus up on a date. (even more #HotKallus jokes)

So yeah, hope those spark your interest.

So this review is pretty much over now. And since the story is maybe now I can begin to get back to reading other people's fanfic for a while, especially those written by my fellow authors who kindly reviewed my stories. I will read pretty much everything, so no worries there people. However, I have only one request. If Ahsoka is in your story and you intend to either kill her or have her dead at any point in any way, warn me away please. I don't want to risk spiking my depression, even with a fanfic. Sorry.

That being said, it is your story, and you are entitled to write what you want. That is the beauty of fanfiction, as I have now discovered. Thanks again to everyone who read and reviewed, or just read. It means more than I can say in words, truly.

And now, for the last time in this AU, I am going to respond to your comments from the epilogue chapters. Bear in mind that any comments made to this chapter will most likely not be responded to in a similar fashion, but I will read them. If you have any questions that you definitely want answered, PM me.

Anyway, now for the reviews, and my comments:

TerminatorJedi1995: Thank you for your kinds words. I'm glad you liked the ending, even if you are sad it is all over now. I tried to make the ending as nice and peaceful as possible, with a sense of 'everything is going to be ok' in it.
Ahsoka has been through some terrible hardships in her life, and she deserves some rest, hence why I gave it to her. Now let us hope that her canon counterpart gets to enjoy a similar plotline.
I'm glad you liked the Luke and Leia scenes. Of course I was going to end with them, it made the most sense.
Ahsoka keeping Vader's crystal is a way of showing that she sort of forgives him for what he did, but not completely.
And yes, this last scene was supposed to be a complete full circle of the first scene on Malachor. I love full circles. At one point, it was going to be Maul showing up rather than Ahsoka, but I decided to change it as Ahsoka made more sense.
Never say never to a sequel, but not anytime soon. Thank you again for your kind words and support. :)

Cranky Paws: I am glad you felt the ending was fitting to the story. I wanted it to end nice and peacefully.
Operation Cinder will be in the one shots at some point, so no worries. :)
Thank you for coming along for the ride. Glad you enjoyed the story.

Chiara Polairix Edelstein: You are very welcome. I had great fun writing this story and seeing people's reactions to all the twists I put in. Thank you also for your kind words, they mean a lot to me. :)
I'm glad you are looking forward to the one shots. Hopefully they will be well recieved.

WillUnknown: Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you enjoyed the story, even if you are sad that it is over... for now at least.
Pretty much all of the ideas you have suggested are already in my list of one shot ideas, so thank you for confirming that I had ideas people wanted to see.
As for a prequel... never say never. :)

jamese765: Thanks, glad you loved the ending. It was great to finally finish, if not bittersweet.

Travis Middleton: I'm glad you liked all aspects of both epilogue chapters. It was great to finally bring everything to a close in a nice way that made sense. Having it end with Luke and Leia made sense to me, thus the reason it was included. Thank you for your support from the start. It is nice to know that I have been able to keep people around since the first story. Here's to more hopefully. I can only hope that the one shots are just as enjoyable to read. :)

Mogor: Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you enjoyed this story. As for a sequel, I don't have any plans for one at the moments, however the story will be continued in the one shots I have planned, so stayed tuned for that. All of your questions will be answered in them... hopefully.

FossilQueen1984: I'm glad the ending was memorable and enjoyable. I was worried it would be anti-climatic and boring, but if you enjoyed it I am glad. Thank you for your support and constant reviews since day one. It has been nice to have someone that has seen all of the story from the start with me, of which I am sure there are a few.
You are welcome for the shout out, and I only hope that I can continue to produce enjoyable stories with the one shots.
As fof the James Bond themed one... bear in mind I said it was a 'spoof', so don't expect it to be too serious. It's more 'Johnny English' than 'Bond'.

ahsokathechosen: Tears of joy are good. Better than tears of rage, or tears of being upset. Wait... I made you cry. Oh no! I'm sorry. Here, have a tissue. (passes tissue)

Maliwan: Glad you loved the ending. Hopefully the wait for Thrawn and the others will be worth it. Thanks for your support.

SLE's fave guest: Thanks for the congratulations. I couldn't have done it without my audience who seemed to want more and thus encourage me onwards. You guys are the true heroes.
I'm glad the one shots have you interested. I do already have something planned for Ahsoka and Bail/Mothma. However, it might not be what you expect.
As for your question regarding the cuffs... the line was written with the intent of them belonging to Hera for use on Kanan in their 'private time' together, if you know what I mean... ;)

LukeDude: I'm glad you liked the last three chapters, and that you feel that I rounded up the story well. The idea of Ahsoka becoming some sort of Jedi/Sith temple/tomb raider was something I wanted to do from the start. Someone has to go around finding all the ancient powerful relics right?
Thank you again for the help you provided me in this story. It proved to be greatly benefical to my writing, even with all my mistakes.
I'm glad you are excited for the one shots. I am too. Hopefully people enjoy them, even of a few of them will be a bit silly.
And, for one last time (for now at least), here are your questions answered:
1-3. To be answered in one shots
4. The Eighth Brothers fate is left ambigious. I know what happened to him in my opinion. Yours might be different. One day I may reveal what happened. One day.
5. Ahsoka collects all sorts of trinkets, and does all sorts with them. Jedi related ones she gives to the Jedi for example, and Sith ones she might give to Maul. However, the ones with truly dangerous information on she hides where no one can ever find them.
6-9. Also to be answered in the one shots. :)
10. At this moment, no large sequel is planned. Since I have still not seen 'The Last Jedi', I can't really plot out what to do with things like Snoke. So for now, I have nothing except the one shots. But in the future, you never know.
11. Once again, with feeling. To be answered in the one shots. :)
Thanks again for your support. May the force be with you too.

Mysterious guest one: I am glad you thought the ending was excellent. It means a lot. Hopefully the one shots live up to expectations.

Mysterious guest two: Oh boy, didn't mean to suggest that Ahsoka was a ghost. Oops! I will never kill her off in any story I write, as evidenced by the rant I made above. :)
As for your idea, I'll admit I didn't think you that idea. I might have to do something like that. Thanks for the idea.

Mysterious guest three: I am going to assume that the three guest reviews asking about the Eighth Bro are the same person commenting multiple times. I could be wrong. If I am, sorry. :(
Anyway, the Eighth Bro's fate is left ambigious as I have said. If you believe he is alive, then he is. In time, I may reveal what happened to him.
At the moment I have no plans for a sequel, but in the future you never know. As for writing a romance between Ahsoka and the Eighth Bro, not in this AU or the one shots. She is with Kaeden in this AU. However, in the future I could write a new AU of Malachor I suppose. You never know.

So now that is over, I just want to say thank you again. You have all been great, and I have had fun writing this story. At the start I mainly did it for personal reasons, and to create a story with an idea that has been rarely done. But as I progressed further, I did this AU for you all, so I could see your reactions to it. So thank you. Hopefully the one shots will come soon.

May the force be with you (unless you are a sith of course... or an imperial)

Till next time
SirLoozElite