Honestly props to the netflix casting director or whoever that read the character description of Kaz Brekker and was like "Oh shit! Get that emo stablehand from the tween girl horse show on the phone!"
so i might have started watching free rein as a joke bc of Freddy Carter and i might be fully invested now and googled free rein season 4 at 3.30 in the morning?
alright, so if I’m going to write about luke, leia, rex, and ahsoka post-endor, I’m going to need some headcanons from you guys 😏 I’ll get us started.
luke finds a way for anakin and obi-wan’s force ghosts to appear to ahsoka and rex, and the four of them have a solid hour-long sob session in the forest because the disaster group is finally back together
ahsoka and leia are immediately best friends and ahsoka fills in the gaps in her jedi training that luke is shaky on
also rex makes the best babysitter for baby ben
rex and han have constant snark-wars. luke tries to intervene, but rex is stubborn and has nothing to lose and han is absolutely relentless, and they just…..tear each other up
rex won’t stop calling luke “sir,” no matter now often he corrects him. “we’re the same rank, rex.” “I know, sir.” “please, it’s just Luke.” “of course, sir.” “okay, should I just address you as ‘commander’ constantly?” “I wouldn’t mind, sir.” “ahsoka, help-”
rex tries to tell the twins stories about anakin and the clone wars, but ahsoka keeps interjecting and making them sound a million times more unrealistic cooler, and eventually rex just goes with it like, “yeah you know what? general skywalker did scale a smooth durasteel wall with only one hand while fifty vulture droids fired at him at once and took down a separatist base singlehandedly”
rex may be the best babysitter for ben, but the baby immediately claims ahsoka as his favorite, surpassing even his own parents. he pulls himself around right behind her wherever she goes, and when he can walk he just bumbles around, smashing into her calves if she stops walking. his favorite place to be is on her hip, his head resting gently on one of her lekkus. and if someone offers to take him for a while, they immediately have to back away, because ahsoka just silently glares and ben does a perfect impression of anakin’s angry face
the guy you’re talking to losing interest in you so suddenly that you don’t even know why.One day he is apologizing for leaving without saying goodbye, talking about relationships and family, the next he is completely ignoring you.
Their silver eyes flashed with cool intelligence as their harmonizing laughs echoed off the stone walls in the cavern. Even separate, they were terrifying.
There was a hard glint in the girl’s eyes that almost seemed to find the present situation insultingly beneath her, and the crude humor from the boy further unnerved their captors.
Every echo seemed to ask, “Do you know with whom you are dealing?” Their reflective steel eyes taunted the monsters on the other side of the bars, saying, “I can tear you apart with a glance.”
They had been awake less than five minutes before the first guard was found inexplicably dead, run through without a visible weapon.
The next guard was stabbed in the back after the girl disappeared, leaving nothing but a pile of dust within the frame of her cell.
The boy disappeared in the confusion, the hinges of his cell door sliced with only residue of bone steel, slain monsters, and echoes of a third laugh left in the room.
No one messes with the Chase cousins and gets away with it.
Might as well try then lol 38 please don't forget me + Luke and Annabeth if you're feeling up to it :)
Luke learns a lot during his years on the run. He learns how to patch wounds, how to weave shelter out of plants in a literal swamp, how to pick the pockets of well-off strangers. He learns that Thalia needs space when being woken up from a nightmare because her battle instincts are too strong, that blood is nearly impossible to get out of clothes without a home to wash them in, that home is a concept more than it is a house. He learns that he really fucking hates his dad.
Annabeth stirs in her sleep. She’s swimming in the only sleeping bag that survived the most recent monster attack, squirming under the weight of Thalia’s dead arm. Luke is on watch for the next several hours, a duty he lets himself get distracted from as Annabeth’s unruly hair gets caught in Thalia’s open mouth. Serves her right for snoring like a foghorn. Luke doesn’t smile much anymore, but the smiles that do escape him come as this one does: despite everything. Their little family is here, despite everything that has tried to divide it.
A small sound comes from the girls’ direction, too small to be from anyone but Annabeth. Unlike Thalia, she’s a quiet sleeper. She does most things quietly except talking, and even then only when she’s sure she’s going to be listened to. Luke knows it’s leftover habit from a lifetime of being a ghost in her own home. His fists clench. What he wouldn’t give to hightail it to Virginia and kick Mr. and Mrs. Chase right in the teeth.
Her eyes flash open, already brimming with tears she was never taught how to handle. She’s a quiet crier too. Only through weeks of coaxing was Luke able to figure out that Annabeth likes to be held when she cries.
He unzips the sleeping bag and lifts Thalia’s arm for Annabeth’s escape, surprised when she barrels into his chest and knocks the air out of him. She’s not the kind of kid to seek comfort like that. She’s never known how.
“Hey, kid,” he whispers. “Bad dream?”
Annabeth nods, and her lungs shudder in that horrible way as she attempts to stifle a sob.
Luke smooths down her hair and rubs the back of her head. “It’s okay. You’re safe. I’ve got you.” He doesn’t know what else to say. Protecting this little girl has fallen to him, but he’s only a child himself.
“It’s okay to cry,” he tells her. Usually Annabeth doesn’t want her tears acknowledged—she’s a stubborn thing—but she exhales like that’s what she needed to hear. It feels good, giving her something she needs. It doesn’t happen often.
She cries, ugly and loud. Thalia doesn’t stir. The girl could sleep through anything when she feels safe enough. Luke rubs Annabeth’s small back until her breathing only hitches occasionally. Eventually she’s able to let go and look at him. He takes a moment to wipe her eyes and nose with his sleeve.
Moonlight shines down sweetly on her, and though Luke doesn’t particularly like or trust Artemis, he’s glad there’s at least one other person looking out for the girls. Annabeth mumbles something to her lap, her hair glowing silver.
Luke leans in. “What was that?” She lost her two front teeth a few weeks back. Sometimes it’s hard to understand her with the lisp.
She fiddles with her sleeves. “Please don’t forget me.”
Sticking fingers in an open would would’ve hurt less. He forces down the pain. “How could we ever forget you, Annabeth? We’re family.”
She shrugs her little shoulder. “Family leaves. They stop listening. They forget.”
She says it in the horribly casual way that little kids say things they don’t understand to be abnormal. This isn’t self-pity—it’s the only idea Annabeth has ever had of family. A mom who leaves. A stepmom who wishes her away. A dad who doesn’t care when she goes.
Watching her says these things offhand, as fact, Luke swears he’s going to be better for her. He would rather take a dagger than hear her cry over family ever again. He’s her family now, and he refuses to fail her.
“Well this family doesn’t,” he says, scooping her hand into both of his. Her fingers are freezing without the warmth of Thalia and the sleeping bag. “This family stays. No matter what. We listen to each other, we protect each other, and we love each other, because no one else is gonna do that for us. You, me, and Thalia. ‘Til the end of the world.”
Annabeth’s eyes widen, sparkling in the moonlight. She extends her pinky toward him, beaming all the while. “’Til the end of the world.”
The Jedi in Yoda’s vision of a world at peace say so much about who he is.
I plan on extensively yelling about Yoda’s visions in the immortality arc in the future, but for now please consider this.
Okay, getting this quick remark out of the way: it’s Katooni (the little Tholothian girl) who guides Yoda there. Children are a symbol of innocence, and what’s interesting is that Yoda takes her hand without hesitation after seeing all of the Jedi dead (and specifically Mace, Petro and Ahsoka). Throughout this scene here Yoda is the one asking questions and Katooni is the one answering - she speaks slowly and patiently, almost as if she’s talking to a youngling.
–> The embodiment of wisdom manifested to Yoda (in a vision meant to tempt him through his dearest wishes) is a child. Talk about humility.
Now please pay attention to the Jedi in the background.
Here, the three Jedi right in the center of the set are Mace, Ahsoka and Petro - the exact three Jedi Yoda just saw dead and cried over (boy, s6 is so much fun, isn’t it?). So a significant part of Yoda’s deepest dreams is seeing other Jedi safe. He knows how to let go - that’s what this whole scene is about - but he still very much yearns for his fellow Jedi’s safety and happiness.
Onto the even sadder part: have you noticed what’s going on here? Younglings are playing around, and the older Jedi are all talking. Quinlan with Saesee Tiin, Tera Sinube with Gungi, Anakin with Aayla Secura, and Mace with Ahsoka. And not just talking, look at the gif above! Mace is openly laughing at whatever Ahsoka said.
And Ahsoka looks at him like this. (Again, this is right after Yoda’s vision of her dying, desperately asking how the Council could expel her.)
One of Yoda’s greatest hopes is seeing Ahsoka happy with her fellow Jedi, at ease with the embodiment of authority that is Mace.
Yoda loves Mace - he’s the first person he reaches for in the vision of the devastated Temple - and he loves Ahsoka, and part of his greatest temptation? Is to see the rift between the lost child of the Order and its Head healed.
Same thing with Quinlan - the known loose cannon - and Saesee - another Council member.
And Tera Sinube is an elder Jedi, talking to a youngling.
And Aayla is “just” a Knight, almost a random one, and Anakin is chatting with her.
This follows a pattern: the rogue and the conventional, the very old and the very young, the common and the extraordinary - each pair shows opposites enjoying each other’s company, differences embraced.
(Anakin talking to Aayla instead of sticking to Obi-Wan’s side like he does in the real world is especially interesting - he’s part of the community here, not ostracizing himself like he tends to do. Again, for this to be part of Yoda’s great temptation says so much about how caring he is. He wants Anakin to belong, more than anything.)
And finally, we get this:
(I couldn’t make this part into a gif because of technical reasons, so enjoy the beautiful family picture.)
Once again we find that central theme of healing and wholeness. This part is what convinces Yoda to briefly let go of his (well-founded) doubts and to embrace the vision. It’s his biggest, greatest, deepest desire. The one that could have made him abandon reality itself to stay in this idyllic dream. It’s his unbroken lineage, happy, in the light.
Yoda just wanted them all to be a family. Obi-Wan clearly adores Dooku in this scene (check it out, his awestruck look is amazing), their body language is incredibly warm and open, and they are completely at ease with each other and delighted to be sharing stories. It just screams domestic life.
And that’s it, that’s all Yoda ever wanted. For the young and the old to be content together, a community bathed in light, the gardens filled with the sound of windchimes and the laughter of children. He just wanted to have his family alive and safe and smiling.
We know that Hayden Christensen's Anakin is coming back for the Obi-Wan series, right? And we also know that Ahsoka is going to appear in (probably) multiple shows, not only The Mandalorian, riiiiiight?
And now think.
Ahsoka is coming back. Anakin is coming back. Obi-Wan is coming back. EVERYONE'S COMING BACK. This can mean only one thing - WE'RE GONNA GET CLONE WARS FLASHBACKS WITH OUR TRIO AND OH MY KRIFFING GOD, THIS IS GONNA BE KRIFFING GOLD, I'M SCREAMIIING