#knightwolf

Notes: At the start of Ahsoka (9ABY), Marrok is 29 and Shin is 27.

>14 BBY

Shin and Marrok both grew up poor on a planet in the outer rim. They got lucky and found or stole or made the money to send Marrok off world to an imperial academy. The plan was that, once he had graduated and made enough money, he would come back for her and their families.

He got picked up by the inquisitor program, but his family was told he was killed in some sort of accident. Everyone was devastated, but life had to go on.

1 BBY - 3 ABY

Baylan found Shin at 17 and she went to train with him. She sent portions of what they earned as mercenaries home to her and Marrok’s families when she could.

4 ABY

Marrok ran into Baylan and Shin after being seriously injured while fleeing the fall of the empire. He stayed with them for about a week or two until he was healed. It had been almost 10 years, so he and Shin didn’t recognize each other.

Stuff happened. Marrok left to go do his own thing but bumped into them a few more times. He started working as a mercenary.

He and Shin weren’t quite close friends, but they would check up on each other every so often over the next year or so. Something felt.. familiar about the other. But they didn’t know how to explain it and never brought it up.

If Baylan and Shin were not already working for Morgan Elsbeth full time, they begin doing so during this year. They still took other jobs, but she always had work for them and she always paid the best.

5 ABY

Marrok was looking for work and Baylan introduced him to Morgan.

After a trial period, Morgan had Marrok sign a contract with some very fine print. She used some sort of Force power to make him “resistant to death” and to strengthen him physically. (He had chronic pain due to nerve damage from that injury.) In return, he would “serve her.” He quickly learned that meant literal headaches if he deliberately disobeyed her, but he didn’t find out what “resistant to death” meant until later.

Morgan did not reveal that she was a nightsister until Ahsoka. Marrok had no idea how she did what she did and his research afterwards wasn’t turning up much.

Marrok and Shin’s skill sets complimented each other’s, and they were frequently assigned on missions together. They became close friends.

They obtained a space Wii. Shin was very competitive when it came to Mario Kart

Time passed. There was a late night “let’s talk about our pasts” bonding session, and they finally realized who the other was. There was a lot of crying. They were basically attached at the hip for a while afterwards.

6 ABY

They fell in love at some point in the first half of the year. It was absolutely adorable.

Shin had a near death experience and Marrok promised her forever if she’d just stay alive. She got better and they had a conversation about it. They agreed they were officially together. (They were basically already partners anyway, but the experience prompted them to actually talk about it instead of just vibing)

Marrok died for the first time. They were on a mission and something went wrong, but he woke up a few hours later at Morgan’s home base. Huh. Guess that’s what “death resistant” meant.

7 ABY

Morgan and Marrok got into a disagreement and she held the fact that his life was in her hands over his head. Marrok and Shin started quietly trying to figure out how to break his enchantment without permanently killing him.

I’m calling it an enchantment here for simplicity’s sake. They don’t know what to call it because they don’t even know what it is.

Marrok began to notice that his body was a tad less corporeal than it should’ve been. He started dropping things occasionally. Every once in a while, Shin’s hair would fall through his fingers unless he was thinking about it.

They finally had enough money to help their families move. Marrok wasn’t ready to see them yet, so Shin went alone. He gave her a pre-recorded message to give to his mom. It let her know he was alive, he didn’t chose to fake his death or to leave, he wasn’t ready to come home or explain what happened, he was safe now, and he still loved her and his dad. (and also that they owed Shin’s parents whatever they’d jokingly bet on them getting together someday when they were younger)

Marrok had a whole angst train when it came to his family. He’d done awful things, but Shin had too so he wasn’t ashamed around her. But them? He’d left. He hadn’t come back. He’d grown up to be someone he was sure his parents would hate. It was one of the things he’d had to bury in order to sleep at night. The inquisitor program had messed him up real hard, and his life with his family felt a whole other world away.

Shin and Marrok had gathered a list of Force traditions whose depictions were similar to whatever Marrok remembered Morgan doing.

The outlook wasn’t great. Most of the cultures that practiced these traditions had disappeared or been destroyed in the last 30 years. Primary research would be difficult.

Nightsisters were on the list. They were hoping that wasn’t them because what little info they could find was old and contradictory. Much like irl info on nightsisters 🤠 (give me the secrets cowboy hat man 😫)

8 ABY

They were getting desperate enough to start taking turns snooping around Morgan’s spaces. Research was still going slowly. They did figure out that Marrok’s soul was connected to one of Morgan’s crystals though.

They ended up at a point where they knew that Morgan knew that they wanted to break the enchantment. She kept the crystal poorly hidden. It would’ve been easy to steal but they didn’t know what to do with it or if Morgan could cancel the enchantment—and kill Marrok—from a distance. Shin swore she was taunting them.

Marrok died a second time and came back visibly transparent. Almost everything phased through him now unless he was wearing it. He didn’t seem to need to eat or sleep anymore. He started wearing his armor almost full time because it was easier for him to concentrate on making it interact with stuff than himself.

It was becoming obvious that Marrok didn’t have a lot of lives left. They’d been trying to break his enchantment for almost 2 years and had made little progress. Marrok still had some hope, but was preparing himself to say goodbye. Shin was absolutely in denial. They were going to figure it out. They had to.

Morgan had them busier than ever. They started having less and less time to devote to researching his enchantment. They didn’t know it yet, but the latter stages of the plan to bring back Thrawn were now in motion

9 ABY

Ahsoka captured Morgan and Shin and Baylan went on the mission to free her.

Episodes 1-4 of Ahsoka happened.

Morgan was having the time of her life being all cryptic and mysterious. Marrok wanted a nap. Baylan was glad they made bank working for her, because listening to her antagonize his daughter Shin at every opportunity would not have been worth it otherwise. Shin was fuming that after all this time Morgan just casually admitted what type of magic she uses and started performing it in front of them. They could have spent the last 2 years looking into nightsisters, maybe found an excuse to slip away to dathomir, but nooo they were breaking into academic libraries and playing nice with village elders to hear old wive’s tales.

When Ahsoka cut his armor in half, Marrok disappeared into a cloud of smoke. This hadn’t happened before. Shin was shocked but didn’t have any time to think about it because she was busy with Sabine. He didn’t show up for a while, and once the adrenaline wore off Shin thought he was well and truly dead. He came back as barely more than a shadow. It was a rough night. [Link to post]

Marrok wasn’t able to make himself show up super consistently and she hadn’t learned how to recognize his new force signature yet. The first few weeks after ep 4 were really angsty.

Post Episode 6

At the time of writing this, episodes 6 and on have not yet aired. I’ve got some ideas for what happens post canon, though I may eventually develop an alternate timeline that better fits what happens in the show.

Marrok embraces his ghost era and pokes around Morgan’s stuff whenever she’s gone. He finds a few key bits of information that become important later.

Marrok and Shin have redemption arcs. Shin apologizes to Sabine for stabbing her. And choking her. And taking her prisoner. It’s super awkward but Sabine appreciates it.

Ezra and Sabine settle down together on Lothal, and absolutely no one is surprised when they’re married before the year is out.

Shin and Marrok do eventually find a way to safely fix his enchantment.

Ezra and Marrok become total bros, but Sabine and Shin are still working through their issues with each other. They agree not to actually try to kill each other anymore, but they still end up fighting in a space-Dennys parking lot like once a month for a while.

The “everything all at once” era begins.

slaps the roof of the metaphorical knightwolf car: “these two can fit so much trauma in them” 🤠

for real though, nothing bad happens to them in this time. They’re just safe and stable for the first time.. ever. So now it’s time to process all that, and even with good professional help that’s going to be messy.

Also Marrok is dealing with chronic pain again now that his body isn’t magically buffed, which is never a good time. He’s in and out of surgery a lot for the first year or two.

Marrok brings home a completely black tooka. Shin is 100% that person who doesn’t want a pet but turns into a cat mom after 2 weeks.