I know that many of you were disappointed in the ending of this story. I will explain to you why I did what I did, and what I plan to do.
Ahsoka Tano is my favorite character from The Clone Wars. And, like many fans, I have been wanting to know what will happen to her when Order 66 is issued. This story was written as an interpretation of what I think should have happened. I've actually been planning this story in my head since I began writing my first story, The Clone Wars: The Final Season, which was right after the finale of season three. That being said, I am not taking the events at the end of season five into account in my story.
I believed that it was only poetic for Anakin to kill his apprentice, just like he killed his master. But I wanted to experiment with Ahsoka living after Order 66 and meeting Luke. She could continue his Jedi training to account for some of the Force knowledge he exhibited in The Empire Strikes Back, specifically, the scene where he summons his lightsaber in the Wampa cave. And her death would explain why she didn't appear in Episodes V and VI. So, originally, instead of throwing Ahsoka off the roof, Vader stabbed her in the back the same way General Grievous killed Shaak Ti in a deleted scene in Revenge of the Sith. And that would be that.
But, when I began posting this story, I didn't realize that it would become so much more popular than The Final Season. I figured that the reason for the popularity of The Civil Wars the inclusion of Ahsoka. That was when I realized that there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of The Clone Wars fans who would be outraged by Ahsoka's death at the end. At first, that sounded deviously cool; lure in thousands of fans and then drop a bomb on them and send them all into anarchy! Ha-ha-ha! But I'm a nice guy, so I decided to change the story to let Ahsoka live.
This presented several problems. The main problem was, how do I account for Ahsoka's absence from Episodes V and VI now? I didn't want to rewrite the Star Wars saga, so I had to find a way to get rid of Ahsoka temporarily. So perhaps she could be defeated by Darth Vader anyway, but instead of killing her, he captures her to use her as bait for Luke. Then, after Return of the Jedi, Luke could rescue her and they could go on rebuilding the Jedi Order.
Also, I didn't want to change the ending too much, so I wanted to make it look like she was dead, even though she really wasn't. I came up with a very easy (but cheap) solution. Have her fall from a great height, but have Boba Fett catch her in midair using his jetpack and lower her to the ground, which is similar to an event that happened in Chapter 14 of The Final Season. I figured, even though he was mad at her for forsaking her life as a bounty hunter, he had enough heart to save her, even if he decided to leave her to the Empire.
I also wanted to explain one of the most hated characters in the story; Don Dain. Dain began as an original character in my first fanfic from when Revenge of the Sith was released. I didn't think much of the character at the time because he played a fairly minor role in a very short novella. When I began writing Chapter Two of The Final Season, I wanted to use a Separatist who would become a rebel. And since no such character existed, I decided to use Don Dain.
So, Dain had his role in The Final Season as a Separatist Admiral, but I had to include him in The Civil Wars to show the progression of his character. Eventually, he became the tool I needed to bring Vader and Ahsoka together. In the reviews for this story, many fans have expressed their hatred for Dain, and were hoping that he would get discovered or killed. He would have been, if I didn't already have big plans for him for one of my future stories. So, as painful as it was, he had to get away with the perfect crime and never be discovered. But don't worry; his story is far from over!
So, now I have my plans for Ahsoka's survival laid out, except I don't have a story to depict her rescue. I could have just gone on to my next planned story and give fans a summary of what happened, but I knew that they would want the whole story. So, I have written a sequel, which is now available! It is called, The Civil Wars: The Liberation of Coruscant! Here follows the preview:
It's been one year since Luke Skywalker destroyed the Emperor and freed his father from the Dark Side. The Rebel Alliance has continued to grow in strength and the Empire is dwindling. Now, only one Imperial planet remains secure: Coruscant, the Imperial City. The rebels launch a desperate campaign to drive the Empire off of Coruscant and end the Galactic Civil War. But, for Luke, the mission becomes personal when he learns that an old friend, long believed to be dead, is being held prisoner in the dungeons of the Imperial Palace!
Keep reading, keep writing, and keep reviewing!
- Lola Jeery