The first appearance of the planet Carlac in the “Star Wars” canon came in “A Friend In Need”, the 14th episode of the fourth season of “The Clone Wars.” Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and Lux Bonteri (Jason Spisak) make their way there to talk with the Mandalorians of Death Watch, led by the villainous Pre Viszla (Jon Favreau). They meet in the icy climes of Carlac and Ahsoka Tano is forced to fight her way off the planet after Pre Viszla marks her for death. Fortunately, R2-D2 was traveling with her and was able to help her escape so she could fight her way off the planet.

Carlac worked as a remote hideout for the Mandalorian dissidents as they bided their time to make a move to take over Mandalore, but of course, this was all long before the Empire committed their atrocities against the Mandalorians on the Night of a Thousand Tears. The planet itself was home to very few indigenous villages, but Death Watch used them for target practice and abused them.

This episode and location was an important nexus point between characters. It had Lady Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Ahsoka Tano at odds and fighting, a relationship they would patch up in later years. It also set some of the groundwork for the unrequited possibilities of a love story between Ahsoka Tano and Lux Bonteri, though Lux eventually joined the Imperial Senate and worked on his own to subvert the Empire.