Epilogue

Anakin Skywalker never became a Jedi Knight again, although he had a hand in training all four of his children over the course of time. Additionally, he helped train the children of his best friend, Benjamin and Holly Kenobi. Anakin never carried a weapon again, despite the fact that he taught many young padawan learners how to build a lightsaber. In time, Anakin had a hand in the training of his grandchildren, each of whom he cherished nearly as much as his own precious children.

Nightmares about the past haunted Anakin for the rest of his life, despite the happiness he knew with his beloved wife and children. He felt that the dreams were an apt punishment for the past he was ever able to forgive himself for. Padmé was there for him each and every time the past revisited him in the middle of the night.

Anakin was in his ninetieth year when he lost the love of his life, his beloved Padmé. She died peacefully, surrounded by her four children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Padmé Amidala Skywalker had served the galaxy as queen, senator and, later in her life, Chancellor. In addition, she had helped, through her progeny, plant the seeds for the new Jedi Order. Anakin himself delivered the eulogy at her funeral, which was attended by the entire Jedi Order, as well as half of the Senate. That very night, Anakin became one with the Force, leaving the confines of corporeal life, unable to go on without his Angel. He joined his dear brother, Obi-Wan, who had become one with the Force twenty years earlier, and his first master, Qui-Gon.

The Jedi Order flourished in the decades to come, and it was almost as if the Purges had never happened. But they had happened, and the lessons of that terrible time would never be forgotten. The progeny of Anakin and Padmé Skywalker told the story of Anakin's fall and redemption to each new generation of Jedi so that the lessons of the past would never be lost. And they never were. The stories of the Chosen One turned into Jedi lore, his memory living on into the future, a future that remained full of hope and promise.

THE END