Obi-Wan and Anakin swap places with their younger selves due to the intervention of The Daughter.
During the Battle of Naboo, Master Obi-Wan and Knight Anakin appear in place of their younger selves. Meanwhile during the Battle of Coruscant Palpatine is horrified to find a nine-year-old Anakin in the pilot seat of Grievous's crashing flagship.
Contains Examples of:
- Back to the Early Installment: Obi-Wan and Anakin from the beginning of Revenge of the Sith are sent back to the final battle of The Phantom Menace, while their younger selves take their place.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mace Windu and the young Obi-Wan and Anakin are saved from the clone troopers by Rex.
- Brain Bleach: A minor example is suggested when Ahsoka blushes and buries her face in her hands after being introduced to the younger Obi-Wan.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Master Obi-Wan remarks to Palpatine that Maul was so poorly trained that a padawan could defeat him, and that whoever trained Maul was a terrible teacher. Obi-Wan is aware that Palpatine is a Sith and Maul's master at this point.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Invoked; once the Anakins and Obi-Wans establish that their timelines will be separate even once they return to their proper times, Qui-Gon asks Master Kenobi for some details of his future. While they each acknowledge that they are not the other’s master and apprentice respectively, Qui-Gon apologises on behalf of his counterpart for how he seemed to push Obi-Wan aside in favour of Anakin, assuring Master Kenobi that he’s long believed his padawan is ready for Knighthood but just liked having him around too much that he kept putting off the discussion.
- Future Badass: After Padawan Kenobi and Anakin meet Mace Windu in the future, once Mace has established when the two come from he swiftly Knights Padawan Kenobi in acknowledgement of his future skills, reasoning that he was just about to complete the task that 'officially' earned him Knighthood and had long been ready to move on from Padawan status anyway. Likewise, Anakin is very enthusiastic when he meets Ahsoka and learns that he was her teacher in his future, amazed that he taught someone to be that 'badass'.
- I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Anakin's force abilities. When attending births with his mother, he noticed that the air sang when a healthy baby was born. After being made aware of his abilities, he guesses that it was the Force singing instead.
- Internal Reveal: Knight Anakin confesses everything to Master Obi-Wan after they save Naboo.
- Obi-Wan also explains his Jedi Apprentice Back Story to Anakin, including how he was enslaved for a time, which he had previously held back out of respect for Anakin's own trauma as a slave.
- Lazy Alias: Master Obi-Wan and Knight Anakin use the names of their clone seconds, Cody and Rex, as their aliases while in the past.
- Maternity Crisis: Padme goes into labor during Order 66, after finding out her husband has been replaced with his nine-year-old self.
- Meanwhile, in the Future…: Each chapter is divided between two time periods: The events of the Battle of Naboo and the events of The Battle of Coruscant and their aftermaths.
- Parents as People: Not only does the temporal displacement help the older Obi-Wan and Anakin face some of the issues in their own relationship, but Master Kenobi is able to talk with Qui-Gon, his master's own views on Anakin's history helping Obi-Wan see that his master would have made the same mistakes as he did raising Anakin and thus acknowledge that he isn't as flawed as he thought he was.
- The Purge: Palpatine commands the clone troopers to kill all the Jedi due to the Spanner in the Works that is the time-swap.
- Powerful and Helpless: No matter how skilled, young Anakin can't do anything other than attempt an emergency crash of their ship. Likewise, Palpatine is forced reveal his Sith powers to prevent the ship from falling off a cliff.
- Spanner in the Works: Obi-Wan and Anakin being swapped acts as this to Palpatine's plans.
- Squick: Invoked when Obi-Wan notes that Anakin is disgusted with himself for being instinctively attracted to the younger Padme despite her only being fourteen at this point due to his memories of her older self as his wife.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: At one point, Qui-Gon and the older Obi-Wan are aided in fighting Palpatine by Darth Maul, based on Maul fulfilling the Sith doctrine of killing his Master, but the two Jedi and Maul are only ‘allies’ in the sense that they’re all attacking the same target, as even the young Anakin can see that Maul isn’t doing anything to help defend the Jedi from Palpatine’s attacks.
- Time Travel: The entire premise.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Younger Obi-Wan and Anakin. They discover Palpatine is a Sith Lord during the crash of Grievous's flagship, so Palpatine initiates Order 66 immediately.
