#I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about how people want to bring mace windu back | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gffa · 4 years

Photo

OKAY, IF I’M GONNA DO THIS, I’M GONNA DO IT PROPERLY. WHICH MEANS YEAH IT’S GONNA GET REALLY LONG. A couple of things to say ahead of time: Lucasfilm’s Story Group has always said CANON > WORD OF GOD when it comes to these matters, so when I quote canon examples from supplementary materials that contradict what he says, that’s LF’s official position, but that doesn’t mean that an influential person like Dave’s views couldn’t affect how things will be shaped in the future, like Deborah Chow listening to this may be influenced by it on the Obi-Wan show, despite that Master & Apprentice contradicts him. It’s an incredibly murky area! Mileages are going to vary. Another thing to keep in mind is that Dave Filoni never worked on The Phantom Menace, that was long, long before his time at Lucasfilm (which I think he joined sometime around 2007? and TPM was released in 1999), that he has worked with George more than probably anyone else, but we cannot and should not treat him as infallible or the True Authority on things, because even Dave himself has said things like: “I mean, I know why I did that and what it means, but I don't like to explain too much. I love for the viewers to watch stuff and come up with their own theories -- and they frankly come up with better things that I intended.” --Dave Filoni, Entertainment Tonight 2020 interview Or, in the same episode as the above Qui-Gon interpretation:

So, when I dig into this, I’m not doing this out of a sense of malice or even that I suddenly hate Dave or don’t appreciate all the incredible things he’s brought to SW, but in that I disagree with his take, Dave understands that he doesn’t always get it right, that he enjoys that fans come up with different things than he does and sometimes he likes those even more. There’s room for both of us and, for all that Dave mentions George a lot (and, hey, fair enough, the guy worked with George and I’m just quoting what George Lucas has said) doesn’t mean that this is straight from George, especially because I have never seen George Lucas utter so much as a peep about how the Jedi were responsible for Anakin’s fall. He has explicitly and frequently talked about how Anakin’s fall was his own choice, as well as I’ve never seen him say anything Jedi-critical beyond “they were kind of arrogant about themselves”. I have read and watched every George Lucas interview I could get my hands on and maybe I’m still missing something, but that’s literally the extent of him criticizing the Jedi I have EVER seen. (It’s from the commentary on AOTC where he put in the scene with Jocasta to show they were full of themselves, but I also think it’s fair to point out that Obi-Wan immediately contradicts this by going to Dex for help, showing that it’s not necessarily a Jedi-wide thing.) Before I go further, I want to say: this is not a post meant to tear down Qui-Gon, he is a character I actually really do love, but the focus is on showing why the above interpretation of him is wrong, which means focusing on Qui-Gon’s flaws. He has many wonderful qualities, he is someone who cared deeply and was a good person, I think things would have been better had he lived! But Anakin’s choices did not hinge on him, because Anakin’s choices were Anakin’s, that has always been the consistent theme of how George talks about him, the way he talks about the story is always in terms of “Anakin did this” or “Anakin chose that”, and the Jedi are very consistently shown as caring, they believed very much in love and Dave’s own show (well, I say “his own show”, but honestly TCW was George’s baby primarily and he had a lot of direct, hands-on say in crafting it, through at least the first five seasons) is plenty of evidence of that. I’m not going to quote the full thing because this is already a monster post, I’m just going to focus on the Jedi stuff, because I like the other points a lot, but if you want the full text, it’s here. The relevant part is: “In Phantom Menace, you’re watching these two Jedi in their prime fight this evil villain. Maul couldn’t be more obviously the villain. He’s designed to look evil, and he is evil, and he just expresses that from his face all the way out to the type of lightsaber he fights with. What’s at stake is really how Anakin is going to turn out. Because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi and you get that in the movie; and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows he’s the father that Anakin needs. Because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact that the Jedi are supposed to actually care and love and that’s not a bad thing. The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But Qui-Gon is ahead of them all and that’s why he’s not part of the council. So he’s fighting for Anakin and that’s why it’s the ‘Duel of the Fates’ – it’s the fate of this child. And depending on how this fight goes, Anakin, his life is going to be dramatically different. “So Qui-Gon loses, of course. So the father figure, he knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother when he had an attachment, and he’s left with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he makes to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him. When they get Anakin, they find him on Tatooine, he says “Why do I feel like we’ve found another useless lifeform?” He’s comparing Anakin to Jar Jar and he’s saying “this is a waste of our time, why are we doing this, why do you see importance in these creatures like Jar Jar Binks and this ten-year-old boy? This is useless.” “So, he’s a brother to Anakin eventually but he’s not a father figure. That’s a failing for Anakin. He doesn’t have the family that he needs. He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made, “mother, I’m going to come back and save you”. So he’s left completely vulnerable and Star Wars is ultimately about family. So that moment in that movie which a lot of people I think diminish, “oh there’s a cool lightsaber fight”, but it’s everything that the entire three films of the prequels hangs on, is that one particular fight. And Maul serves his purpose and at that point died before George made me bring him back, but he died.“ --Dave Filoni I’m going to take this a piece at a time to show why I really disagree with the content of both the movies and The Clone Wars supporting what Dave says and, instead, contradicts it a lot. The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. He doesn’t explain what this means, but I’m pretty sure that he’s referring to this conversation: OBI-WAN: “I am concerned for my Padawan. He is not ready to be given this assignment on his own yet.” YODA: “The Council is confident in its decision, Obi-Wan.” MACE WINDU: “The boy has exceptional skills.” OBI-WAN: “But he still has much to learn, Master. His abilities have made him... well.... arrogant.” YODA: “Yes, yes. A flaw more and more common among Jedi. Hmm... too sure of themselves they are. Even the older, more experienced ones.” MACE WINDU: “Remember, Obi-Wan, if the prophecy is true, your apprentice is the only one who can bring the Force back into balance.” OBI-WAN: "If he follows the right path.” None of that has anything to do with being “detached” and, further, I think this is something that’s come up with Dave’s view of Luminara a lot, because he’s described her (re: the Geonosis arc): “We were trying to illustrate the difference between the way Anakin is raising his Padawan, and how much he cares about her, and the way Luminara raises her Padawan. Not that Luminara is indifferent, but that Luminara is detached. It’s not that she doesn’t care, but she’s not attached to her emotionally.” Here, he says that the Jedi care, in the above, he says that the Jedi don’t care, which makes me think there’s a lot of characterization drift as time goes on, especially when fandom bombards everyone with the idea that the Jedi were cold, emotionless, and didn’t care. However, look at Luminara’s face in that arc, when she’s talking with Anakin:

That is not the face of someone who doesn’t care. She even smiles brightly in relief when Barriss is shown to be okay, that this really doesn’t convey “detached” in an unloving or uncaring way. (We’ll get to attachment later, that’s definitely coming.) (I’m also mostly skipping the political thing, because I think that’s just a fundamental disagreement of whether Jedi should or should not lean into politics. My view basically boils down to that I think ALL OF US should be leaning more into politics because we are citizens who live in the world and are responsible for it, and the Jedi are no different. This is evidenced by: - M&A’s storyline has Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan saving the day specifically because they play politics, that’s how they manage to free the slaves, through playing politics and being part of the Republic/having Senate backing. - The Clone Wars has shown that the Jedi believe “lasting change can only come from within” and “it’s every citizen’s duty to hold their leaders accountable” when Ahsoka teaches the cadets on Mandalore, as well as that politics are not inherently bad, given that Padme and Bail are working to make the system better or “create lasting change from within [the system]” - "Trying to serve the greater good does not always make you popular” says Padme Amidala in a very caring speech - Star Wars Propaganda makes the case that the Jedi might have won the war had they leaned more into politics. - Sometimes the Jedi get unfairly accused of playing politics when there’s just no good choice and they still have to choose one or the other.) But Qui-Gon is ahead of them [re: caring and loving] all and that’s why he’s not part of the council. This is flat-out wrong in regards to canon. Mileages are going to vary, of course, on how much one takes a novel into consideration, but Dave Filoni is not a fan with the luxury of deciding what is or isn’t canon, he works on Star Wars where canon is canon. Now, does that mean canon will never contradict itself, especially if Dave gets to write something for Qui-Gon? Of course not, SW isn’t immune to continuity errors and they themselves have never said otherwise, even when fans want to hold them to that standard. However, this is still pretty much a big “that’s not what happened” instance. In Master & Apprentice, the Jedi Council offer a seat to Qui-Gon on the Council, specifically BECAUSE he has different opinions from them and they welcome that. (Excerpt here.) “We hope it will also be our gain,” Mace replied. “Qui-Gon Jinn, we hereby offer you a seat on the Jedi Council.” Had he misheard? No, he hadn’t. Qui-Gon slowly gazed around the circle, taking in the expressions of each Council member in turn. Some of them looked amused, others pleased. A few of them, Yoda included, appeared more rueful than not. But they were serious. “I admit—you’ve surprised me,” Qui-Gon finally said.“I imagine so,” Mace said drily. “A few years ago, we would’ve been astonished to learn we would ever consider this. But in the time since, we’ve all changed. We’ve grown. Which means the possibilities have changed as well.” Qui-Gon took a moment to collect himself. Without any warning, one of the turning points of his life had arrived. Everything he said and did in the next days would be of great consequence. “You’ve argued with my methods often as not, or perhaps you’d say I’ve argued with yours.” “Truth, this is,” Yoda said. Depa Billaba gave Yoda a look Qui-Gon couldn’t interpret. “It’s also true that the Jedi Council needs more perspectives.” Ultimately, Qui-Gon is the who turns them down and gives up a chance to shape the Jedi Council because he doesn’t like the shape they’re taking. That he does become less political, but this is after he’s argued that the Jedi should be working to push the Senate harder, so when he has a chance to help with that, he turns it down. It has nothing to do with caring and loving, it’s about Qui-Gon’s desire to not have to deal with the work himself, when he wants to be more of a hippie Jedi. (I’ve written a lot about Qui-Gon in M&A, why I actually think it’s really spot-on to someone who can be both really kind and really kind of a dick, but it’s not the most flattering portrayal, even if narrative intention likely didn’t mean what came across to me. I think this post and this post are probably the most salient ones, but if you want something of an index of the web that’s being woven with all the various media, this one is good, too.) So he’s fighting for Anakin and that’s why it’s the ‘Duel of the Fates’ – it’s the fate of this child. And depending on how this fight goes, Anakin, his life is going to be dramatically different. I have only ever seen George Lucas talk about Anakin’s fate in one instance and it’s this: “It’s fear of losing somebody he loves, which is the flipside of greed. Greed, in terms of the Emperor, it’s the greed for power, absolute power, over everything. With Anakin, really it’s the power to save the one he loves, but it’s basically going against the Fates and what is natural.“ –George Lucas, Revenge of the Sith commentary I’ve made my case about why I think Anakin’s fate is about that moment in Palpatine’s office, and so I’m not fundamentally opposed that “Duel of the Fates” is about Anakin’s fate, but here’s what George has provably said about the “Duel of the Fates” part of the story: - In the commentary for The Phantom Menace during “Duel of the Fates” and none of Dave’s speculation is even hinted at, there’s more focus on the technical side of things and the most George talks about is that it’s Obi-Wan who parallels Luke in going over the edge during the fight, except that instead of a Sith cutting off a Jedi’s hand, it’s a Jedi cutting a Sith in half, drawing the parallels between them. - He does say of the funeral scene that this is where Obi-Wan commits to training Anakin and how everything is going to go (though, in canon we see that Obi-Wan still struggles with this a bit, but Yoda is there to support him and nudge him into committing even more to Anakin, because the Jedi are a supportive community to each other). This is some solid evidence for that Obi-Wan is already caring about Anakin beyond just Qui-Gon. - Then here’s what he says about the “Duel of the Fates” fights and themes of them in "All Films Are Personal": George Lucas: “I wanted to come up with an apprentice for the Emperor who was striking and tough. We hadn’t seen a Sith Lord before, except for Vader, of course. I wanted to convey the idea that Jedi are all very powerful, but they’re also vulnerable — which is why I wanted to kill Qui-Gon. That is to say, “Hey, these guys aren’t Superman.” These guys are people who are vulnerable, just like every other person. “We needed to establish that, but at the same time, we wanted the ultimate sword fight, because they were all very good. It sort of predisposes the sword fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan later on. There’s real purpose to it. You have to establish the rules and then stick with them. The scene illustrates just how Jedi and Sith fight and use lightsabers.” “So Qui-Gon loses, of course. So the father figure, he knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother when he had an attachment, and he’s left with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he makes to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him. We’ll get to the “attachment to his mother” thing in a bit--but, for now, let’s just say, George Lucas’ words on this are not that attachment to her was a good thing. Fair enough that “not because he cares about him” is up to personal interpretation, but canon has also addressed the topic of Obi-Wan’s treatment of Anakin and Obi-Wan stepped up to the plate on this. In addition to how we see Obi-Wan REPEATEDLY being there for Anakin and being concerned and caring about him, they specifically talk about Qui-Gon and overcome this hurdle.

No, Obi-Wan is not Anakin’s father figure, on that we definitely agree. Anakin never really even treats Obi-Wan like a father--he says “you’re the closest thing I have to a father” in Attack of the Clones, as well as he says Obi-Wan practically raised him in The Clone Wars “Crystal Crisis” story reels, but Anakin has never actually acted like Obi-Wan is his father--”then why don’t you listen to me?” Obi-Wan points out in AOTC--as well as Obi-Wan glides past those remarks, which I’ve always taken that he doesn’t want to reject Anakin’s feelings, knowing that Anakin can be sensitive about them, but neither does he want to confirm them. This does not mean Obi-Wan was not supportive, caring, and loving. He says, “I loved you!” to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, he asks after him and if he’s sleeping well in Attack of the Clones, and even George Lucas himself said that the elevator scene was set up TO SHOW OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN CARE FOR EACH OTHER:

PUTTING THE REST UNDER A READ MORE FOR A BETTER LENGTH REBLOGGABLE VERSION, IF YOU WANT.

This is further evidenced by how the Jedi do see themselves as family, they just don’t need to put it into strict nuclear family dynamics: - “You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!” [–Obi-Wan Kenobi, Revenge of the Sith] - “We are brothers, Master Dibs.” [–Mace Windu, Jedi of the Republic - Mace Windu] - “Did your parents bicker?” she asked. “The adoptive ones, I mean.” A slow smile broke across Ashla’s face, curling first one side of her mouth and then the other. Whatever she was remembering, Kaeden could tell it was good. "All the time,“ Ashla said, almost as if she were talking to herself. [–Kaeden Larte, Ahsoka Tano, Ahsoka] - Vos, brought to the Temple even younger than most, felt that he had hundreds of brothers and sisters, and it seemed that whenever he went into the dining hall he ran into at least half of them. [Dark Disciple] - “It was not his birthplace, exactly, but the Jedi Temple was where Quinlan Vos had grown up. He’d raced through its corridors, hidden behind its massive pillars, found peace in its meditation hall, ended-and started-fights in rooms intended for striking blows and some that weren’t, and sneaked naps in its library. All Jedi came here, at some point in their lives; for Quinlan, it always felt like coming home when he ran lightly up the stairs and entered the massive building as he did now.” [Dark Disciple] Brothers, sisters, and other more non-traditional kinds of family are not lesser and Obi-Wan and Anakin absolutely were family, just as the Jedi are all family to each other, so, no, there was no “failing” Anakin, except in Anakin’s mind, perhaps. (In that, I can agree. But not on a narratively approved level, canon too thoroughly refutes that for me.) Rebels as well pretty thoroughly shows that non-traditional families are meaningful and just as important--we may joke that Hera is “space mom”, but she’s not actually Ezra or Sabine’s mother, Kanan is not actually their father, and even if they sometimes stray into aspects of those roles (as the Jedi do as well in the movies and TCW), that they don’t need that traditional nuclear family structure. Mentor figures--and Kanan is Ezra’s mentor--are just as meaningful and needful as a “dad”. And I’m kind of :/ at the implication that anyone without a dad/father figure or mom/mother figure is being “failed”. When they get Anakin, they find him on Tatooine, he says “Why do I feel like we’ve found another useless lifeform?” He’s comparing Anakin to Jar Jar and he’s saying “this is a waste of our time, why are we doing this, why do you see importance in these creatures like Jar Jar Binks and this ten-year-old boy? This is useless.” Whether or not Obi-Wan is being genuinely dismissive in this movie (I think you could make a case either way), the idea that Qui-Gon is better than Obi-Wan about this, as shown through Jar Jar isn’t exactly very supported given how Qui-Gon and Jar Jar first exchange words:

QUI-GON: “You almost got us killed. Are you brainless?” JAR JAR: “I spake.” QUI-GON: “The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.” Qui-Gon is just as bad as everyone else to Jar Jar, he’s not somehow elevated above them. It’s also baffling because, Dave, I have watched your show. The Jedi are specifically shown to be kind to people and creatures, not considering them “useless”. Henry Gilroy (who was the co-writer for The Clone Wars and frequently appeared in featurettes on the same level as Dave Filoni) explicitly draws this to The Jedi Way, that “life is everything to the Jedi“, when he said this about the Ryloth episodes:

(Caps cribbed from Pan’s blog, because I cannot make another gif, save me, please.) Henry Gilroy in an Aggressive Negotiations Interview: "Obi-Wan truly is a Jedi in that he’s like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to murder these creatures [in the Ryloth arc of The Clone Wars]. They’re starving to death. They’ve basically been unleashed against these people as a weapon, but it’s not their fault. They’re just doing what they do. They’re just animals who wanna eat.’ "So the idea was–and I think there was an early talk about how, 'Oh, yeah, he’ll go running through them and slicing and dicing them and chop them all up or whatever, and save his guys. And I’m like, 'Yeah, but that’s not really the Jedi way. He’s not just gonna murder these creatures.’ "And I know the threat is [there], to save one life you have to take one, but the idea of him [is]: why can’t Obi-Wan just be more clever? He basically draws them in and then traps them. "It says something about who the Jedi are, they don’t just waste life arbitrarily. And someone could have gone, 'Oh, yeah, but it would have been badass if he’d just ran in there with his lightsaber spinning and stabbed them all in the head!’ And 'Yeah, you’re right, I guess he could be that, but he’s trying to teach his clones a lesson right then, about the sanctity of life.’ "That is the underlying theme of that entire episode. Which is: A tactical droid is using the people as living shields. Life means nothing to the Separatists. The droids. But life is everything to the Jedi. And even though he doesn’t have to say that, it’s all through the episode thematically.“ It’s also Obi-Wan who teaches Anakin about kindness to mindless creatures in the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic:

"These beasts are nearly mindless, Anakin. I can feel it. They are merely following their nature, they should not die simply because they crossed our path. Use the Force to send them on their way.” Now, fair enough if you want to say Obi-Wan was taught by Qui-Gon, but also Qui-Gon is dead by that point and Obi-Wan growing into being more mature is his own accomplishment, not Qui-Gon’s, especially given that we see Qui-Gon himself being pretty dismissive to Jar Jar in TPM. This isn’t unique thing either, Padme is incredibly condescending to Jar Jar in “Bombad Jedi” and expresses clear annoyance with him to C-3PO when sighing over him. Jar Jar is a character you kind of have to warm up to, pretty much the only one we’ve seen consistently being favorable to him is Yoda (and maybe Anakin, though, Anakin doesn’t really interact with him a ton) and Mace Windu warms up to him considerably in “The Disappeared” and even specifically is shown to be teaching him and helping him, which is a huge theme of the Jedi and how much they care.

So, ultimately, the point I’m winding my way towards is--the other Jedi do show kindness and consideration to Jar Jar Binks, including characters like Mace Windu, so if you’re judging the Jedi based on that, the conclusion of Qui-Gon somehow being more compassionate and loving is really pretty thoroughly disproved by The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars themselves. So, he’s a brother to Anakin eventually but he’s not a father figure. That’s a failing for Anakin. He doesn’t have the family that he needs. He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made, “mother, I’m going to come back and save you”. So he’s left completely vulnerable and Star Wars is ultimately about family. You could be charitable and say this is just from Anakin’s point of view that it’s a “failing”, but within the context of what Dave’s saying, it’s clearly meant as a more narratively approved take, not just Anakin’s point of view, and I really, really dislike the idea that Anakin--or anyone, really--needs a traditional nuclear family, ie a “mom” and/or a “dad”, or else it’s a “failing” for them. Setting aside that the idea that Qui-Gon would need to be Anakin’s dad to be kind to hi (which is ?????) is contradicted by The Clone Wars as well. Yes, Qui-Gon is warm with Anakin in several scenes, which is what Dave is presumably drawing on to show that Qui-Gon believed the Jedi should be caring and loving, but you know who else is warm to younglings? OTHER JEDI COUNCIL MEMBERS.

Those two scenes have the exact same kind of warmth to them. Ie, THE JEDI ALL BELIEVED IN BEING LOVING AND KIND, NOT JUST QUI-GON. The things evidenced to show Qui-Gon was loving and kind are evidenced just as much in other Council members, in Dave’s own show. As a bonus--have Mace Windu, known Jedi Council member, being super kind and loving towards a young Twi’lek girl he just met in a canon comic:

But I know that this is about the way the Council treated Anakin in The Phantom Menace testing scene, but here’s the thing--when I go back and I watch that scene and the Jedi aren’t ever mean to him, they’re neutral in an official testing situation, where they are trying to determine if he’s able to adapt to the Jedi ways. They never once say he’s bad for holding onto his fear, only that he does--which Anakin digs his heels in and gets angry about, he can’t really even admit that he’s afraid and that’s a huge deal for the Jedi. I’ve made a longer post about it here (and here), but the basic gist is: - That scene has Yoda giving the famous “Fear leads to the dark side” speech which is almost word for word how George Lucas describes how the Force works, showing the Jedi are narratively correct - “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi” may be from the sequels, but it is thoroughly supported by the movies and TCW and Rebels and even supplementary canon material, including that the Jedi literally design their tests around both Masters and Padawans for it (Ilum, the Jedi Temple on Lothal, etc. - Anakin cannot admit to his fears in that TPM scene - We have examples of Jedi younglings do admit to their fears and the point isn’t not to have them, but to face them--the younglings in “The Gathering” are the most blatant example of this, but it’s also pretty much the entire theme of Jedi: Fallen Order, especially when Cal goes to Ilum to face his fears and get another kyber crystal. The point isn’t that Anakin--who has very good reasons to be afraid! nothing in the story or the Jedi have said he didn’t!--is wrong or bad, but that he’s not a great fit for the Jedi life because he is “unwilling to accept [Jedi philosophy] emotionally”. And they’re right about this, because this is how George Lucas describes Anakin in commentary: “The fact that everything must change and that things come and go through his life and that he can’t hold onto things, which is a basic Jedi philosophy that he isn’t willing to accept emotionally and the reason that is because he was raised by his mother rather than the Jedi. If he’d have been taken in his first year and started to study to be a Jedi, he wouldn’t have this particular connection as strong as it is and he’d have been trained to love people but not to become attached to them.” --George Lucas, Attack of the Clones commentary And so this brings us to A T T A C H M E N T, which, yeah, we’ve been having this discussion forever, but I’m going to state it again: Within Star Wars, ATTACHMENT IS NARRATIVELY A BAD THING. It is consistently tied to possessive, obsessive relationships, to greed and an unwillingness to let things go when it’s time (letting go is a huge theme in Star Wars) and equating love with attachment is fundamentally wrong according to George Lucas’ Star Wars worldbuilding: “The Jedi are trained to let go. They’re trained from birth,” he continues, “They’re not supposed to form attachments. They can love people-- in fact, they should love everybody. They should love their enemies; they should love the Sith. But they can’t form attachments. So what all these movies are about is: greed. Greed is a source of pain and suffering for everybody. And the ultimate state of greed is the desire to cheat death.” --George Lucas, The Making of Revenge of the Sith If attachment and love were the same thing, then he would be saying, “They should love their enemies, they should love the Sith. But they can’t love.” The way George makes the distinction shows that, no, attachment and love aren’t the same thing at all, attachment is not caring. Further, there’s another instance of him showing there’s an important distinction between relationships and attachment and the association of attachmets with possession: "Jedi Knights aren’t celibate - the thing that is forbidden is attachments - and possessive relationships.” --George Lucas, BBC News interview So, yes, when Anakin is attached to people, it is directly tied to obsession, possession, and greed, all things of the dark side: “He turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can’t let go of his mother; he can’t let go of his girlfriend. He can’t let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you’re greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you’re going to lose things, that you’re not going to have the power you need.” --George Lucas, Time Magazine “But he has become attached to his mother and he will become attached to Padme and these things are, for a Jedi, who needs to have a clear mind and not be influenced by threats to their attachments, a dangerous situation. And it feeds into fear of losing things, which feeds into greed, wanting to keep things, wanting to keep his possessions and things that he should be letting go of. His fear of losing her turns to anger at losing her, which ultimately turns to revenge in wiping out the village. The scene with the Tusken Raiders is the first scene that ultimately takes him on the road to the dark side. I mean he’s been prepping for this, but that’s the one where he’s sort of doing something that is completely inappropriate.“ --George Lucas, Attack of the Clones commentary ATTACHMENT IS BAD IN STAR WARS AS THEY DEFINE IT. Finally, I’m going to circle back to: Because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi and you get that in the movie; and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows he’s the father that Anakin needs. Because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact that the Jedi are supposed to actually care and love and that’s not a bad thing. Here’s the thing about this: You know who else, by this logic, Qui-Gon should have been a father to? OBI-WAN KENOBI. This isn’t said as “Anakin specifically needs a father” (which I think would be an interesting idea to bandy about and I’m not disagreeing, though, it’s complicated because of what Anakin refuses to accept emotionally), it’s said in a bigger context, that Qui-Gon is better than the other Jedi because he understands the need for fathers (and thus this ties into Return of the Jedi) and he’s ahead of the other Jedi, who apparently think loving and caring about people are bad things, but Qui-Gon does not treat Obi-Wan like his son. Or, if he does, he’s not exactly a stellar dad about it. Within Master & Apprentice, there’s an incredibly consistent theme of how Qui-Gon thinks supportive things about Obi-Wan, but never says them aloud. He thinks he should talk to Obi-Wan about the upcoming decision to be on the Council and then never does. He could have explained why he kept Obi-Wan training the basics but he never does. There are multiple instances showing that Qui-Gon is actually really, really bad at actually handling a young apprentice who needs him to talk to them about important things. Qui-Gon continues this in From a Certain Point of View where he still never talked to Obi-Wan about everything that happened, even after he became a Force Ghost. Damn, damn, damn. Qui-Gon closed his eyes for one moment. It blocked nothing; the wave of shock that went through Obi-Wan was so great it could be felt through the Force. Qui-Gon hadn’t thought Kirames Kaj would mention the Jedi Council invitation. It seemed possible the soon-retiring chancellor of the Republic might not even have taken much note of information about a new Council member. --Master & Apprentice That comment finally pierced Qui-Gon’s damnable calm. There was an edge to his voice as he said, “I suspected you would be too upset to discuss this rationally. Apparently I was correct.” “I thought you said my reaction was understandable,” Obi-Wan shot back. “So why does it disqualify me from hearing the truth?” Qui-Gon put his hands on his broad belt, the way he did when he was beginning to withdraw into himself. “…we should discuss this at another time. Neither of us is his best self at the present.” --Master & Apprentice Obi-Wan walked toward the door, obviously outdone. “At the beginning of my apprenticeship, I couldn’t understand you,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s just as true here at the end.” Only yesterday they had worked together as never before. How did Qui-Gon manage to get closer to Obi-Wan at the same time he was moving further away? Just before Obi-Wan would leave the room, Qui-Gon said, “Once, you asked me about the basic lightsaber cadences. Why I’d kept you there, instead of training you in more advanced forms of combat.” Obi-Wan turned reluctantly to face him again. “I suppose you thought I wasn’t ready for more. The same way I’m not ready to believe in all this mystical—” “That’s not why.” After a long pause, Obi-Wan calmed to the point where he would listen. “Then why, Qui-Gon?” “Because many Padawans—and full Jedi Knights, for that matter—forget that the most basic technique is the most important technique. The purest. The most likely to protect you in battle, and the foundation of all knowledge that is to come,” Qui-Gon said. “Most apprentices want to rush ahead to styles of fighting that are flashier or more esoteric. Most Masters let them, because we must all find our preferred form eventually. But I wanted you to be grounded in your technique. I wanted you to understand the basic cadences so well that they would become instinct, so that you would be almost untouchable. Above all, I wanted to give you the training you needed to accomplish anything you set your mind to later on.” Obi-Wan remained quiet for so long that Qui-Gon wondered if he were too angry to really hear any of what he’d said. But finally, his Padawan nodded. “Thank you, Qui-Gon. I appreciate that. But—” “But what?” “You could’ve said so,” Obi-Wan replied, and then he left. --Master & Apprentice "I owe you that. After all, I’m the one who failed you.“ "Failed me?” They have never spoken of this, not once in all Qui-Gon’s journeys into the mortal realm to commune with him. This is primarily because Qui-Gon thought his mistakes so wretched, so obvious, that Obi-Wan had wanted to spare him any discussion of it. Yet here, too, he has failed to do his Padawan justice. --From a Certain Point of View, “Master and Apprentice” (Further, in Master & Apprentice, Qui-Gon thinks that the Jedi give Rael Averross--who is HUGELY paralleled to Anakin--too many exceptions, were too soft on him because he came to the Jedi later than most and has trouble thinking of them as his family, and he thinks they should have been stricter with him.) It’s also readily apparent within The Phantom Menace itself:

You can take some charitable views of this scene, that Qui-Gon was pushed into a corner where he had few other options (and this is the view I generally take even!), but this is after the entire movie where he’s never once indicated that Obi-Wan was ready, has instead indicated that he still has much to learn (not just of the Living Force, but in general), as well as made it clear that he’s still teaching Obi-Wan, like on the Trade Federation ship. And I do think Obi-Wan got over this because he understood, because Obi-Wan actually is a very selfless person, he clearly cares (which is furthered by how we see him warm up to Anakin very quickly), but look at their faces. This was not a good moment, and they do somewhat make up, where Qui-Gon says that Obi-Wan has been a good apprentice, that he’s wiser than Qui-Gon and he’ll be a great Jedi--but if we’re counting that as Qui-Gon being this great Jedi, then you can’t say Obi-Wan failed Anakin, given that we show him doing the exact same thing, except better. He tells Anakin, “You are strong and wise and will become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be.”, echoing Qui-Gon’s words, but also he never threw Anakin aside for someone else. This is kind of a major undercurrent throughout The Clone Wars, where Obi-Wan never takes another apprentice, where he continues to teach Anakin, to support him, even to the point of occasionally co-Mastering Ahsoka with him. “This has been quite a journey for our Padawan.” Qui-Gon’s treatment of Obi-Wan in this scene isn’t the worst, he’s kind about it later (though, he never actually specifically apologizes for this), but we can see that this is a moment where Qui-Gon hurts Obi-Wan and knows it. And you know what George Lucas has to say about Qui-Gon? This: “So here we’re having Qui-Gon wanting to skip the early training and jump right to taking him on as his Padawan learner, which is controversial, and ultimately, the source of much of the problems that develop later on.” –George Lucas, The Phantom Menace commentary There’s nothing about Qui-Gon being right or better than the other Jedi, but instead that Qui-Gon’s actions here are a source of much of the problems that develop later on. So, ultimately, I liked some points Dave made in that speech, it’s a beautiful and eloquent one, but I thoroughly disagree with his interpretation of George’s intentions for Qui-Gon and I thoroughly disagree that that’s what the movies, The Clone Wars (DAVE’S OWN SHOW), and the supplementary canon show about Qui-Gon and the other Jedi. I still stand by my appreciation of Dave’s contributions to SW as a whole, I think he does a really good job at making Star Wars, but he doesn’t always get everything right and this is one thing where I think the canon and George’s commentary show otherwise, as much as I love his desire to defend the prequels’ importance in the story. Because, my friend, I have felt that every single day of my SW life.

#anakin skywalker #qui gon jinn #jedi order #george lucas #dave filoni #meta #long post #really long post

963 notes · View notes

detroitbydark · 4 years

Text

Chapter 11

Characters: Fox/Mouse (reader), appearances from Hound, Thire, Rule, Mace Windu, Yoda, and Padmé Amidala.

Warning: angst (y’all want me to hirt you right?)

A/N: so get ready to read nearly 6000 words of Fox’s self loathing, the CG being supportive vod, Jedi being Jedi, and Mouse being hurt yet again.

Current

The choices had been fresh ink or gut-rot barracks hooch. Fox chose the ink.

He’s down in the levels, he can’t remember which one exactly, far enough from prying eyes and questioning vod, that was all that had really mattered. The artist, a pantoran with a nice portfolio, was busy laying out the design. He can feel the cool transfer as it’s pressed over his heart and he drags in a ragged breath. This was penance. This was the closure he needed. He’d messed up. For two weeks he’d messed up and now any chance he had was gone along with her.

“You wanna talk about it, man?” The tattoo artist asks as he peels away the flimsy leaving the outline on his skin.

“No”

Two weeks earlier

Fox hates the sterile smell of the hospital, the beige walls, the gleaming metal all around. It reminds him of Kamino and a medbay he’d spent more than enough time in. He was never quite as strong or quite as fast as the other CCs in his batch, men that would go on to bear monikers like Gree and Bly and Wolffe. He made up for it in other ways. His mind was sharp, quick to come to a plan of action, he could think on his feet.

He remembers Sargent Kal coming into the CC classroom one day for a talk on urban combat- something that had piqued CC-1010’s interest from the word go- and how by the end of the lesson he’d ended up the star of the day. His observations as they’d talked through scenarios had left Kal remarking that he was “Sly as a Fox” and that the Triple Zero would be a good place for the likes of him. He was only the second in his batch to earn a name and he wore it around like a badge of honor.

Now he didn’t feel so honorable or so sly. He felt a lot of other things though. The psych droid, a loathsome device of he'd ever seen one, had talked him through what had happened in the Supreme Chancellor’s suite. It had questioned him over and over, maybe expecting the answers to change, about what his part in the assassination of Sheev Palpatine had been. He was tired. He wanted to wrap himself around his cyar’ika and pretend the whole day had been a nightmare.

That was impossible, she was somewhere else in the hospital being treated, shoved into a bacta tank. It had only been Rex’s firm voice that had convinced Fox to let the medic’s anywhere near her. When he’d let them take her limp body away from him-

Fierfek.

The handprint- a bloody partial across the left side of his breastplate, was still there.

“Commander Fox” a familiar voice cuts through the silent world of the room“ Much to think about you have“

He recognizes the Jedi Master, Yoda, immediately. There was no one else the ancient green Jedi could be mistaken for.

“I prefer to not“ being around a force wielder was not high on Fox’s current list of things to do.

“Such Is life”

“With all due respect sir,” he can hear the petulance in his own voice but he has neither the energy nor will to rein it in “I didn’t ask for this life.”

“But given to you it was, nonetheless. Choices you must make with what to do with it.“

Fox is quiet and the small Jedi Master matches it until the door opens again and General Windu joins the pair. Fox meets his gaze and the Jedi nods solemnly.

“Much discussion Master Windu and I have had these last few hours-“

“So it’s back to Kamino then? Reconditioning or Termination?” Fox can’t hide the bitterness in his voice. He doesn’t want to. He wants the world -or at least the two Jedi in the room- to see his pain. To feel it like he was.

Yoda sighs and moves to him, walking stick clicking in time with his steps. He hops up on the cold metal table next to Fox in a way that makes Fox think that the walking stick was not really necessary. He fights the urge to move away.

“A great disservice has been done to you, Commander. No, Kamino is not where you belong, deserve punishment you do not.”

The words burn. Fox is trapped between relief and a slow simmering rage, one that demands he be punished for his inability to protect those most vulnerable. First Fives. Now Mouse. He failed because he was weak-

“Stop” General Windu’s voice is firm. The look on Fox’s face must read pure terror because the Jedi huffs softly, “I don’t need to see inside your head to know what you're thinking. It’s all over your face. Do you know the kind of power Sidious possessed? To fight off that kind of insinuation would have been nearly impossible and that was before the chip-“

“The chip?” Fox attempts to rise to his feet but three green fingers press down on his arm. He looks down at the tired, ancient face of the Jedi Master and sits back down. “What of the chip? What has it got to do in all of this?”

The answer is simple. Everything.

Fox sits in cold shock as the Jedi describe to him what they’d learned of Palpatine’s- no, Sidious’ plans for the clone army. He stops them once to go to the bathroom and vomit. It wasn’t just Tup and Fives and him. It was all his vode. The entire clone army programmed to turn on their leaders, their friends with the utterance of a single phrase. He thinks of the hints Bly had made about his Jedi when they’d last spoken.

For a moment it’s more than he can fathom, and he holds a hand up for quiet. The Jedi allow it. He gives himself a minute, just one, before he pulls himself together, before he sits up straight and pushes the anguish, hurt, and the dirty feelings deep down.

“What now?” The implications of what has happened are finally becoming clear “The Republic can’t know the truth. There’ll be chaos in the streets. They’ll turn against the clones entirely” Fox worries more for his brothers than ever before. If the citizens knew…

“Correct you are, Commander” Yoda agrees..

“It needs to stay under wraps. The only people that will ever know it was anything other than an sudden death by natural causes will be us and the others that were in that room. Skywalker, Captain Rex, and-“

“Don’t say her name” it comes out as a growl, “leave her out of this.”

“There she was, Commander. Secrets she must learn to keep.”

Fox’s nails bite into the palms of his hands, “you won’t-“ he can’t bring himself to say the words.

“We will not force thoughts into her head.” Mace clarifies. “From what I’ve heard of her I think she’ll understand our reasoning for secrecy. Her injuries will be said to come from a mugging. You’ll fill out the report. Wrong place wrong time”

Wasn’t that the truth.

Fox nods slowly, “and what of my brothers?”

“Come out the chips must.” Fox flinches when a green finger taps at his temple, “but uncomplicated and quick it is.”

“We will let it be known that the chips are faulty and to continue to use them puts the clones in danger of having unforeseen medical problems.” Mace’s eyes narrow as Fox scoffs. He raises a brow challengingly, “do you think they’d rather know that they were all ticking timebombs? That at any moment they’d be triggered into mindless killers? Pawns?”

A tense moment passes with the two men glaring at one another. Of course Fox doesn’t think that would be any better.

“We’ll begin rotating troops through the nearest medical units capable of removal immediately.” Mace explains. “We can have the entire Coruscant Guard done by the end of the week and it appears with minimal down time. A day, tops.” He explains.

A quick nod is all the acknowledgement Fox can muster. He doesn’t like the idea of keeping the Guard in the dark and he hates having them undergo any medical procedure even more. He wasn’t the only clone who had lingering emotions when it came to the medbay, not by a long shot.

“I’ll go first.”

The Jedi at his side makes an agreeable hum. General Windu nods.

“As I would expect a good leader to do.”

Fox isn’t sure how much he buys into their approval.

13 days earlier

The official story was that Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine had succumbed to a sudden illness. The holonews was ablaze with stories: from the official release to the tabloid fodder. Fellow politicians waxed poetic on him as a man and a leader, someone who stepped forward when the Republic was in its darkest hour to take control of the chaos.

It was said his last words were, “and sorry I couldn’t give more for my people and the galaxy.”

If Fox’s eyes rolled any harder he was sure they’d fly from his head and ping around in his bucket. Sidious was dead. He didn’t deserve the adoration of billions or the high honors of his burial. He was a hu’tuun. The skanah was better suited as feed for the carrion birds than the marble burial chamber he’s laid to rest in with military honors provided by clones he’d have used as weapons against the very Republic they swore to protect.

10 days earlier

Four days without Mouse and Fox feels twitchy. It’s been over a year since he’s gone more than two days without laying eyes on her. Knowing that she was recently released from the bacta tank doesn’t make it any easier. He’d not wanted to see her floating in the tank for a plethora of reasons, the least of which was his own guilt. That didn’t stop him from setting up a guard rotation at her door as soon as he was cleared to return to duty. It also didn’t stop him from demanding regular updates on her care from the kits he was setting up at her room.

Ryk had been present when she’d been taken out of the tank and said she’d seemed in good spirits as she’d slowly come too.

Wren had gently indicated that she’d love some company while she was on bed rest.

Rule had given him a look that screamed, ‘don’t be a scum sucking piece of nerf fodder.’ As he’d explained that Mous’ika had been asking for him.

She’d been asking for him. Even after everything she wanted to see him.

And he couldn’t do it.

He’d made his way twice to the nurses station before turning and making an excuse to leave.

He couldn’t look at her. Sidious’ words still swirled in his head. even though General Yoda had reassured him that he was no longer under the sway of the Sith, the thoughts still lingered.

You were supposed to use her to fuck your baser urges out.

She’s using you to obtain a foothold in the guard.

She’s fooled you all.

The underlying message was unmistakable.

Why would anyone choose to care for a clone?

Fox almost wishes the headaches would return so he could focus on the pain in his head vs. that dull empty ache in his chest, a black hole behind his rib cage, but he hasn’t had one since both the Sith Lord and the chip were removed from his life.

9 days earlier

Bail Organa is voted into the Chancellorship by an overwhelming number of his peers.

It’s the best choice, as far as Fox is concerned. With Senator Amidala announcing a leave of absence to give birth to the best guarded secret since the clone army, it’s the only choice Fox finds acceptable.

Not like anyone would ask his opinion.

Organa is a good man, even if he is a politician. He’s only ever looked out for the Republic, never given in to self indulgent whims, never taken more than he deserved.

Fox touches the fresh scar on the right side of his head gently as Holonet News continues to replay the new Chancellor's inauguration from earlier. Barely more than a week and everything has changed.

General Windu was correct, medical had been able to get through the entire guard in rapid fire. All of his men were sporting matching scars, many were more than a little curious as to the actual reason their chips had been removed. He’s both insanely proud and horribly frustrated at the theories being bandied about. Some far too close for comfort.

They can never know. Nobody can ever know.

But somehow Bail Organa knows.

He’s only had one meeting, early this morning before the inauguration, in private with the new Chancellor but he’d alluded to things that left Fox speechless. He’d known Bail to have friends in high places, but he hadn’t realized how high.

“Think he’ll do better than the last one?”

Thire hovers in the doorway, unmoving until Fox inclines his head toward the open seat across his desktop.

“Can’t be any worse.” There’s no humor in his tone but Thire huffs out a quiet laugh.

There’s a lag in the conversation, not like one has truly begun, and Fox takes a breath before setting down his datapad and flicking the holo off. “How long have we known one another?” He asks looking up at his lieutenant.

“Long enough.”

“So, you and I both know that you're here for something else and It's not just to make quips about the new Alor.”

“I suppose that’s true” Thire’s face gives nothing away. Fox liked that about the shock trooper. He was reserved, yes, but also pragmatic. A problem solver, not ruled by his emotions. Which was all well and good but something about the way he’s staring makes Fox feel like he’s the problem needing solving.

“Spit it out.”

“Go see her.”

Fox raises a brow in his vod’s direction. “Is that an order”

“Respectfully sir” the corner of Thire’s mouth quirks almost imperceptibly before it falls away.

The little shit.

In reality, Fox had known this one going to come from one of his men. He’d expected Rule or Hound, the more brash and aggressive boys, to be the ones but Thire is not a complete shock. He’d never seemed particularly close to Mouse but the lieutenant did play things close to the chest.

“She had a nightmare last night while I was on watch. Woke up crying your name.”

Inside Fox crumbles. No amount of talking to a psych droid was going to fix that feeling. No amount of time would make him feel ok about what he’d allowed to happen to the woman he loved. Thire continues.

“A clone's lot is not much. They decant us. They train us. They ship us out to fight in their war. We live, maybe. We die, more likely. Nothing is given to us.” Thire runs a hand over his head, fingers scratching at the crown. “Sometimes though, a di’kut like you gets a break. That woman in that bed cried in my arms. Talked to me like I was you for over an hour and I let her. You know why?”

Fox has to unclench his jaw, work past the jealous ache rising up in his chest to respond, “why?”

“Because it’s the closest I’ll ever have to feeling that kind of emotion. I’m not ashamed to say I pulled your girl into my lap, held her close and said soft things I didn’t even know I knew into her pretty hair until she calmed down. I was happy to pretend to be your atin’shebs but you know what the real kicker is, Vod?”

Fox’s hands are like vice grips on the edge of his seat, knuckles pale white as a shinies armor. The thought of Mouse hurting is one thing, but to have someone else be the one to comfort her? It tears at him. “What?” He asks through gritted teeth.

“When she calms down she says, “I know you're not him. Thank you for letting me pretend for a minute”.

7 days earlier

He pretends like he doesn’t know where he’s going. Like talking to the kriffing psych droid really had him so out of sorts he didn’t realize he was getting on a turbo lift and heading up three flights after his appointment.

He tries to act like he doesn’t know his feet are carrying him to the room with the familiar red and white sentinel outside the door.

Rule quirks his helmet before snapping to attention.

“Commander Fox, sir?”

“At ease Sargent.” It's late, well past visiting hours but the few sentient nurses and the droids assisting them make no move to rush him along. Perks of the armor.

Rule relaxes and glances through the small transparisteel window on the door behind him before turning back.

“She just had some medicine.” He explains, “pain was getting pretty bad again.”

Fox’s bucket hides his cringe, allowing him to outwardly remain impassive and aloof, his voice even as he asks simple questions about visitors and any possible issues arising.

“No problems here sir. I think I heard her Doc say something about discharge tomorrow. She’s doing ok” what isn’t said hangs in the air.

She’d be doing better if you were with her

“That’s good. That’s good” Fox agrees, readily avoiding the things left unspoken. “Have you been relieved for dinner?”

“I have a ration bar in my pack sir.”

“Do I need to say it?”

The sunny tone of Rule’s voice tells him everything he needs to know. He can imagine the shit eating grin that accompanies it. “I’m not entirely sure what you mean, sir?”

A quick glance up and down the hall shows nothing but gleaming white tile. No staff. No visitors. No one but Rule to bear witness to his moment of weakness.

“Take the night off Sargent. I’ll cover the watch.”

He stares at the emotionless visor for a beat waiting for his kit to argue, for him to make a smart comment.

It doesn’t happen.

Rule rolls his shoulders, stretching slightly as he makes his move past Fox. At the last second, Rule's hand shoots out, resting over Fox’s vambrace. The moment lingers without either speaking until Rule gently pulls the Commander in and knocks his bucket against Fox’s, pressing his forehead to his Commander’s.

Fox, claps a hand behind the sargents head and they sit there frozen for a moment in time, Rule offering more comfort in that one gesture than he’s felt in days. A Keldabe kiss to ease his fragile psyche.

“Alverde.” Rule offers quietly when the pair finally part.

“Sargent” Fox gives a minuscule nod. “Enjoy your night.” He watches the youngster head down the hall until he turns a corner and is gone from sight.

Fox manages to avoid looking in the room for five minutes exactly. He’s able to fight off the pull to enter it for another twenty. The draw of her is too much in the end and he finds himself slipping into her room before the first thirty minutes are even past.

The lights are low and the monitors and electronics surrounding her hum and buzz steadily. Everything is white and stark. His cyar’ika is nearly the same color as the sheet she lays under.

She looks small, and so achingly fragile Fox is afraid the weight of his look alone will break her. She shivers lightly and he lurches into motion, dragging the itchy comforter over her legs and tucking it around her shoulders. Her body stirs as his gloved hand grazes along her cheek.

He freezes as her eyes flutter open. Her pupils aren’t quite right. It seems to take her a moment to piece together what’s going on but when she does the realization that washes over her is visible.

“Fox” his name sounds like a long lost friend rolling from her lips. She struggles to sit up. A look of pain flashes across her face as she twists under the blankets.

“Stop that” he demands impotently, his gloves moving to press gently against her chest. “you’re going to hurt yourself.”

She blinks owlishly up at him in the way only a person on good pain meds can, like she doesn’t quite understand what’s been said and she’s not sure whether she should comply or question it. It’s somewhere between bemused and scared.

He cups her cheek in his hand, “easy precious girl.” He soothes. Mouse relaxes into his touch as his gloved thumb rubs softly. Her eyes flutter shut and he can feel the soft sound she makes against his palm.

This was already far past what he intended. He just wanted to see her, to prove to himself she was really alive and in one piece despite him.

Now, he finds himself already slipping into old habits.

More focused, her eyes open. Her hand slips up and grips his vambrace. Slowly she pulls his hand away from her face. She lets her fingers slip down into and through his. Her voice is thick with sleep when she speaks and Fox has to lean in to hear her.

“I knew you’d come”

Of course she had. Fox wonders if she knew him better than he knew himself. This was always going to happen no matter how many times he’d lied to himself. He pulls his hand away. Mouse’s hangs empty in the air for a moment before she sets it down over her chest.

The quiet burr and hum of the monitors around her are the only sound between them until he reaches up to his bucket and lets the seal pop with a soft hiss.

Her eyes scan his face as he sets the helm off to the side. There’s a question there he can’t decipher. “What can I do?”

A harsh laugh escapes Fox’s lips and Mouse frowns at him.

“I think you’ve done enough, cyar’ika.”

“Fox-“ it’s a scolding tone that holds no weight when she looks like a battered doll in a too big hospital bed. She closes her eyes when he doesn’t give in and offer her more.

The bed dips under his weight as he sits at the edge of it. “I just wanted to make sure you were, ok. Alright?” He holds back from touching her again. It takes an enormous amount of will.

“I’m ok, Fox. Because of you.”

It’s a lie. All of it. It can’t be anything else. “You're in a hospital bed,” he growls, pushing up to his feet and stalking toward the window. He can’t look at her. “You spent days floating in bacta. You-“

“I’m alive.”

“That’s not because of me.”

He hears the ruffle of sheets as he looks out over Coruscant. The lights of the buildings and speeders in the sky lanes, like stars in the polluted evening light.

“Fox-“ her hand touches his arm and he spins to steady her. Anger swells up in him.

“Kriff- Mouse, get back in bed” he orders lowly, “you’re going to get hurt.”

She sways gently on her feet in the too big hospital gown but her jaw is set, “will you listen to me?”

“Will you get back in bed?” Fox pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath before looking at her again. “Get back in bed and I’ll listen. Please.”

Mouse stands, arms crossed, glaring pointedly. Fox has had enough. Quick and smooth like a tactical insertion he scoops her up. Mouse makes a small noise as his arms slide behind her knees and his other arm cradles behind her shoulders. She breathes heavily as she looks up at him.

“You’re going back to bed.” He covers the small room in just a few steps. When he goes to set her down she slips her arms around his neck and holds on for dear life.

“I’m not getting back in that bed unless you come with me.”

“You’re not in the position to make demands.” But that’s a lie because, with him, she was always in the position to make demands. She just never had to.

“Please, Fox. I just want one good night. You can leave as soon as I'm asleep.”

It’s hard to say if it’s the tired tone of her voice, the smell of her skin so temptingly close, or just his own beaten down need to be close to her, regardless Fox gives in.

“The armor stays on.” He says as he settles into the bed, he tries to keep his boots off the bed the best he can. Mouse curls tighter against him. It can’t be comfortable against the plastoid but to look at her he’d never know. One hand rests along his jaw while the other wraps around his back keeping him from easily disentangling himself.

Fox can’t help himself as he slips one glove off and cards his fingers through her hair, stopping every so often to work out a tangle. Mouse sighs against him.

“Precious girl,” he hums lowly as her fingers trace along the stubble at his jaw, “go to sleep.”

“You're going to leave once I do.”

“Yes, that was the deal.”

“You’re not going to come back.”

Again, he’s struck with how well she knows him. “No, cyar’ika. I’m not.”

6 days earlier

His knuckles are wailing in pain and it feels so kriffing good. His hands, wrapped in protective tape are held tight and safe as he tenderizes the heavy bag in front of him. A low, guttural growl works its way up from his chest with each landed blow.

It’s the first time he’s felt in control in days. Even if it only lasted for his duration in the sparring rooms he didn’t care. When he closes his eyes he doesn’t see Mouse at the end of his blaster, the way her body recoiled and convulsed at the first shot. He doesn’t hear the scream that rips through her when the second bolt burns through her side. He doesn’t dwell on the voice in his head demanding the kill while Fox did everything to drag his near perfect aim away from center mass.

He pictures Sidious’ face on the bag and the pile of sloppy mash his fists were making it into. There’s catharsis in the exertion that a psych droid couldn’t give him.

“Commander, sir?”

Fox turns to see Hound stripped down to just his black under armor pants. He was a burly boy as far as clones went, thicker and more muscular through the torso, next to Hound, Fox looks almost lithe.

Fox pants lightly as he dips to grab a bottle of water and straighten back up. “What can I do for you?”

“I- do you need to-“

Fox watches as the man chooses his words carefully, finally gesturing first toward the mat.

“You wanna go a few, rounds? Looks like you could use it?”

A roll of tape is flipped through the air in answer. Hound catches it smoothly, giving Fox a happy grin as he begins wrapping his hands.

5 days earlier

There’s a neat hole in his wall, fist sized and fresh, less than a week old. Fox pretends like he doesn’t see Chancellor Organa eyeballing it with some amount of apprehension. What he can’t pretend is that a visit from the newly minted Chancellor to his office isn’t a surprise.

“Commander, you can drop the title with me.” The Chancellor says for the second time since his arrival.

“Sir, it’s frowned upon-“

“-not by me”

Fox huffs and closes his eyes to hide the roll of them. “Ok, fine. Can I get you something to drink? Some caf?”

Bail waves off the offer, “I won’t be long and it looks like you're woefully underserved.” He tips his head back toward the door and the empty desk.

A bristle of irritation tingles down Fox’s neck. “She was in the hospital. She was…” the words trail off. Part of protecting his little Mouse was keeping her involvement in the Sidious event quiet.

“I know, Commander.” Bail says quietly, “we share a friend on the council who’s made me aware of many interesting things.”

It feels like he’s being baited. He likes to think Organa wouldn't try to try to weasel information from him but his trust is a very delicate thing at the moment and he’s not willing to give an inch. His loyalty is to his men and the republic, after that only one other person had earned any devotion from him and that was not Bail Organa. At least not yet.

“If there’s anything I can do for her, anything she needs we can make that happen.”

Fox glances at the picture on his desk. It had come by courier earlier in the day. It’s been neatly matted and framed to be hung, a children’s drawing of a small green twi’lek child and him holding hands. He’d stared at it on his desk in silence for far too long before he felt something ugly bubble up. Now he had a hole in the wall. He hoped the picture would cover it.

Fox continues to look at the picture. He needs a second to pretend like he knows what Mouse needs. He doesn’t listen to the nagging voice inside of him saying it to him. He hates that voice, would smother it if he could.

“She needs time to heal.”

“I can make that happen.”

“Thank you.”

Earlier this day

“Senator Amidala” Fox greets the senator at the door, “this is a surprise. If I keep receiving politicians in my office I’m going to have to have it made more suitable.”

The senator gives him a bright smile, “it’s good to see you Fox.”

He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “it’s good to see you too Padmé.”

They were friends, of a sort. They’d seen enough together that Fox would gladly file her under battle buddies in his short list of friends. She looks lovely, as always, absolutely glowing. Her hand rests softly over the growing baby bump she was now proudly displaying.

“You look wonderful. Congratulations on the coming Ik’aad.” He offers gesturing toward her belly. His eyes linger and he remembers laying Mouse across his bed, placing kisses in a ring around her naval and imaging what it would be like someday when he-

Fox gives his head a quick shake and refocuses on the senator.

“Thank you.” He watches her eyes travel to the child’s drawing on the wall behind his desk before returning to him. “And how are you doing?”

“As well as can be expected. Chancellor Organa keeps a busy schedule and he’s insistent that I go with him. He’s got a lot of ideas and he asks my opinion. It’s different… but it’s nice.”

Padmé slips into the chair across from him.

“That’s wonderful” but she doesn’t sound like it’s wonderful. She sounds like she was here on a mission that he hasn’t been briefed on. He raises a brow at her. They’ve known each other long enough that she should know to just come out with it.

“We’re leaving for Naboo today. I want to have the baby in the lake country. It’s beautiful and peaceful.” She lets out a tired laugh, “and far away from the prying eyes of the holonet news.”

“They’ve been very… interested in you as of late” he offers diplomatically.

Another small laugh, “to say the least” Padmé sobers. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok with her going?”

Confusion must show on his face. Her?

Padmé frowns gently, the look of pity is out of place on her serene features, “you weren’t told, were you?”

“I’m afraid you’ll need to speak clearly.” Fox tries to bite back the tension but it slips into his voice.

She says Mouse’s name. Her real name.

“The Chancellor asked if we would take her with us. That she needed a place to finish recovering.” Padmé is watching his face. She’s trying to gauge his reaction.

He tries to give her nothing.

“She’s an amazing woman. She said if she went then she had to be useful. She’s going to be my assistant while I’m on leave-“

Fox holds up a hand. “She’s excellent at what she does. You’ll never be in better hands.”

“What about you?”

“I’m not her keeper. Mouse deserves to be safe and happy.” He shoots her a forced smile. “That’s not with me.”

Current

He had the rancor etched into his arm after Thorn had been killed in action on a mission Fox was supposed to have led. It was an inside joke they’d heard as shinies. Something about a Jedi and a rancor walking into a cantina. He can’t remember the punchline. It wasn’t funny anyways.

The Pantoran works the needle over his freshly shaven chest. Back and forth, outlining and filling. Pressing the ink into his skin to permanently mark him with another mark of regret, penance. Everytime he looks in the mirror, stripped down from his armor and his blacks he’ll see the reminder of what never was supposed to be, the thing that he went after when he knew it wasn’t allowed. The love that nearly destroyed the person he cared for beyond all others.

“So, this picture is pretty wicked” the Pantoran says conversationally. He glances back and forth from the reference picture Fox gave him, a partial hand print pressed against his armor, the fourth and fifth finger only partially visible and the heel of the hand smeared red. “Was it done in ink?”

“No. Blood.”

The Pantoran makes a sound of understanding. The buzz of the tattoo gun fills the quiet.

Seconds, minutes, hours it’s all the same as Fox sits still as stone in the chair, the press of the needle intimately familiar.

He thinks of Mouse on a shuttle to Naboo.

This was what he’d needed. Mouse far away, somewhere safe. Somewhere no one could hurt her. Where he couldn’t hurt her. No matter what he’s told he still doesn’t believe there isn’t something in him that can be persuaded, to be flipped on, that won’t harm her.

He needed to focus on his job, his men, the Galactic Republic. There was no world in which he and Mouse would work and it was better that she wasn’t there to know that.

“Alright, mate.” The Artist sets the gun down and claps his hands once before rubbing them together. “You’re all set. Why don’t you take a looksy in the mirror while I grab the bacta gel and a dressing?”

Fox nods and pushes himself up. His back is stiff from laying still and he takes a moment to stretch and twist before stepping in front of the mirror. His eyes trace the ink. It’s a perfect replica of the picture, deep vibrant red fingers pressing into his armor, only now pressing into his heart. A reminder of what happens when he becomes selfish. When he wants more than the greater design allows for.

“It’s perfect.”

#fox and mouse #commander fox/reader #cc 1010 #commander fox #fox fanciers #tcw

152 notes · View notes

dotontop · 3 years

Text

So I’m rewatching the Rako Hardeen arc for... reasons, and not even 3 minutes in and I’m already having thoughts (and emotions).

I’ve already seen many people talk about this, and they are all way more eloquent and qualified than I am, but I thought I’d put in my two cents.

If you don’t remember (which is valid because there are a lot of episodes), the Rako Hardeen arc is a 4-episode arc in which there is a plot by Moralo Eval and Count Dooku to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan is sent undercover to stop the plot from happening, and hopefully gain some information that can help end the war. He takes on the guise of Rako Hardeen, a hardened assassin that supposedly “killed” Obi-Wan. He gets taken to prison, breaks out, almost dies in “The Box”, and ultimately stops the bad guys (Moralo Eval and Cad Bane). While Obi-Wan is doing all this, Anakin is on a murderous rampage trying to find “Rako Hardeen” and bring him to justice, but he doesn’t know it’s Obi-Wan.

It’s all very dramatic and good, but I’ve always been one to focus in on the little things.

In the very beginning when the narrator guy is setting up the plot, we get a shot of the Council, and it’s obvious that something is wrong as soon as you see Obi-Wan. (sorry it’s bad and blurry I’m not very good at this)

Usually Obi-Wan is sitting up straight in his seat, calm and collected, relaxed yet attentive. But here, he looks defeated, more than we usually ever see, especially in the Council chambers. Also, when you’re watching the scene, it kind of looks like he’s breathing heavily, as if he was just yelling or at least raised his voice. I sincerely doubt that he actually yelled at the Council but his body language is interesting enough that I had to point it out. It might also have been a really heavy sigh, but either way it’s not... good.

The scene right after is when he, Anakin, and Ahsoka are on the street talking. While Anakin and Ahsoka are joking around, Obi-Wan is clearly somewhere else entirely. I’ve noticed that in other episodes when the three of them are together, he’s usually pretty open and looking at them fondly while they’re teasing each other.

This time, (after he answers Anakin’s question about what’s going on) he’s looking down at the ground, he’s looking up at the roofs, he’s looking away. Whether this plan doesn’t sit well with him (which it doesn’t) or he’s nervous about how exactly his staged death will happen, you can tell there is discomfort there. It’s kind of subtle and I might be exaggerating because it’s such a short scene + I already know what’s going to happen, but still. While Anakin and Ahsoka are joking around and actively interacting with each other, Obi-Wan seems disconnected from them.

(again, sorry the screenshots are bad)

Then, of course, this part.

He takes a deep breath, then walks out from behind cover. I don’t remember how I reacted to this the first time I saw it, but I imagine someone else might be sitting in shock as he is shot on purpose. We know he obviously can’t be dead because of plot armor and all that jazz, but it’s still jarring.

I do find it telling that he has to take a deep breath before stepping into the sniper’s path. You could definitely find a physical explanation for this: he’s trying to slow his breathing and heart rate enough to seem dead, he’s activating the vitals suppressor somehow (?), etc. I like to think, though, that he’s steeling himself for what he’s about to do.

He’s about to “die” in front of his best friend/brother and his grandpadawan, both of which have some attachment issues (just like Obi-Wan, but that’s a different conversation). The entire galaxy except for a select few are going to think High General Obi-Wan Kenobi was killed by a solo sniper on Coruscant, and that’s going to have repercussions that he probably doesn’t want to think about.

So he takes a deep breath, then dives into the deep end. Inhale, exhale, jump.

This is only the first 3 minutes of the episode! Even though these are short shots, like I said, I still like the emphasis that they put on Obi-Wan’s body language for these 3 minutes, because it tells us a lot about how he feels about this. He’s reluctant and concerned, yes, but he’s also determined to see this through. This is shown without him saying anything about it at all, until later in the medical ward with Mace Windu and Yoda.

(Side note: now that I think about it, most of what we know about what TCW Obi-Wan is thinking at a given time is shown through body language. That one post about Obi-Wan hugging himself in discomfort while watching Maul kill civilian kids comes to mind, but I can’t find it :/ )

I have my grievances with the Rako Hardeen arc, mostly that it makes absolutely no sense, but it does give us an interesting look into Obi-Wan and how he would act when the lines are blurred and his moral code is put to the test as an undercover assassin.

I... don’t really know what I wanted to say in this post or where I was going with it, except that rewatching this show with the benefit of hindsight is incredibly thought-provoking, and posting helps me put my thoughts on metaphorical paper. Hopefully this was semi-coherent.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! And may the Force be with you :D

#clone wars meta (?)#rako hardeen arc #the clone wars #obi-wan kenobi #long post #dot has thoughts #and perhaps a few braincells #p.s. i love obi-wan a lot

27 notes · View notes

shierak-inavva · 4 years

Note

please ma'am i would like to know more about this 'obi wan gets sent to protect padme' au pls 👀

ok so like, i’ve talked about this on twitter and i am gonna bring it here:

basically, my biggest gripe with the AOTC plot is why in the heck did a PADAWAN get sent on a high profile mission like protecting former queen and senator from naboo Padmé Amidala? even palpatine, at the beginning of the movie, mentions ‘master kenobi’ by name as a suggestion for a guard for padmé (and yes we know why, but still) so i went ahead and imagined a ‘what if’ for obi-wan getting sent instead of anakin—since on top of being a ‘familiar’ face that padmé AND her handmaidens trust and who already is a known name on naboo, obi-wan also already has bodyguarding experience under his belt.

now, factoring in that anakin stays at the temple for a bit and obi-wan DOES get like 3 days of vacation for the first time in....his life....then he gets a few days of just actually RESTING--in varykino, of all places, and with padme, who would literally let him rest anyway. so obi-wan gets a mini vacay. he gets to relax in one of the most beautiful places in the galaxy and padmé does, too--they talk about the battle of theed, about the senate, the jedi, about qui-gon, and for a little while obi-wan and padmé both get to just...breathe, and be...people. which is nice, and which tbqfh they both deserve.

there might not be a floating pear at dinner but there would be padmé watching him go through lightsaber forms in the early morning sun (either shirtless or yknow in some light clothes because fuck you i said so)

there's no balcony kiss, but there are some very lingering glances and smiles when the other isn't looking and some 'accidental' hand brushing...because they would ABSOLUTELY be slow-burn. obi-wan and padmé are both adults at this point, and both of them have obligations, obi-wan even moreso. but he's already known what attraction (physical and emotional) is like, what romantic emotions are like--he's not incapable of these things, he’s just reserved about them because he understands them, but his jedi teachings dictate restraint, and release. satine was still a figure in his life--he just made a choice, in the end, and do i think he regrets it? i think here and there he thinks about it, but i don’t think he fully feels regret over it by the time AOTC takes place. i think that comes later, when he sees her again during the clone wars.

now on naboo with padmé, he's faced with the same sort of emotions blooming up, and he would for sure think to himself about the choice with satine, about the jedi order, and about the repercussions there. so he might let himself get a little closer than he ought to, but ultimately nothing really WILD AND OVERT would come of it in AOTC, even if they'd been alone on naboo. there would be some very close calls, i think, for sure, but both of them are very good at keeping themselves guarded and very good at abstaining when necessary. again, these are two grown adults that have lived both of their lives with expectations weighing on them, and a certain behavior and standard expected of them. they aren’t two horny teenagers with nothing to lose and obi-wan would 100% respect padmé’s boundaries without hesitation while she would offer him the same respect, if maybe not so staunchly. padmé is for sure more flexible with her boundaries, but pair the two of them together flirting....i mean that’s a dangerous amount of chemistry right off the bat 👀

meanwhile anakin would be on coruscant and FRUSTRATED. not because he didn't get the assignment, though that would be part of it--the responsibility aspect—no, because they chose someone else to go protect padmé instead of him. hell, they could have sent mace windu and he'd still be frustrated and jealous as all fuck. but he still does as he's told. he just...looks into the dart. checks in more on the bounty hunter aspect of things because he’s SURE that’s a good lead after the zam situation. he's determined to prove himself, and if he can figure out who's trying to hurt padmé then she'll be impressed too, of course. and he wants that. a lot. obi-wan might have been sent to naboo but at this point anakin:

> is still VERY infatuated with padmé

> does not know about obi-wan’s romantic history and likely would assume he’s just boring her to death/that nothing would happen anyways

but instead of just consulting the council or the archives, anakin goes to palpatine.

palpatine offers NO help with the bounty hunter stuff.

but he DOES sow more seeds of jealousy in anakin's horny teen brain, and in the end anakin ends up jetting off of coruscant on his own. the movies just downplayed the everloving heck out of this but you KNOW palps was in anakin’s ear CONSTANTLY about obi-wan and padmé, stirring the pot.

now, anakin doesn't have the contacts that obi-wan does, but he's determined. i'm thinking he probably susses a few things out about the dart via the force; possibly with help from another master. kit? someone would help him focus if he asked. likely kit, or ki-adi, or plo, imo—he gets enough to at least send him looking for a bounty hunter and possibly towards kamino--but then the stuff with his mother comes up.

and he ends up on tattooine, with the lars family.

and shortly after the Sand People Incident™ is when he gets in contact with obi-wan--and padmé insists on seeing what's going on because she senses something is wrong and obi-wan agrees. (you can pry force sensitive!padmé from my cold dead hands) so anakin meets them at the lars homestead, tells them about his visions with the dart, about the bounty hunter and the feelings he got

and what better place than mos eisley to look for someone Seedy?

mos eisley has them run right into jango.

jango leads them to geonosis.

geonosis gets them all caught.

padmé is the one who sends a message to the jedi council about the geonosians and jango fett before she gets captured too--because you know they told her to stay with the ship while they investigate but then they took too long and she was like 'oh boy i better call the cops'.

the arena plays out like it did in AOTC, minus the secret kiss & love declaration. there’s a lot of ‘how did we get into this mess’ and ‘well you two took too long’ and ‘i told you i should have come in as a senator first’ and anakin trying to be very convincingly brave about ‘i’ll get us out of this’ which is aimed directly at padmé. honestly the rest of the movie would be VERY similar; i think whoever assisted anakin with the dart would wind up on kamino when anakin went to tattooine, and from there things progressed with the clones and the army gets to the republic.

but there's no clandestine wedding.

anakin returns to coruscant with the other masters, commended for his work helping the senator and with the dart. obi-wan and padmé likely have a small 'meeting' scene where she thanks him and he tells her he barely did anything—but there's some hand-touching, and some very meaningful looks, and they do kiss, just once. it's soft and quiet and not under the pressure of possibly dying or anything rushed by adrenaline or hormones, it's just a gentle kiss between two people who've had this building up for weeks; and in the end neither one of them apologize, but there's A LOT of body language that says they're into it and would kiss again--but obi-wan steps back, and padmé just smiles, and there's a shared understanding between them even if it's clear there's some amount of wistfulness.

“i hope your trip back to coruscant is safe, master kenobi," she smiles like nothing's just happened, nothing's different.

"and yours, senator amidala. may the force be with you." and he bows, smiling back.

but they do look back at each other again, and everything is different.

and then you get into TCW—and PLEASE imagine all of the tension there because these two AREN’T married, they ARE sneaking around but only a little; obi-wan isn’t near as brazen with things as anakin and he and padmé get enough time together in the first few seasons to really build some THICK tension between them. like i’m talking dangerous rescue missions, them having to fight their way out together, getting smooshed in tight spaces together, S O M U C H accidental touching, SO MANY almost-kisses....and then there’s the clovis stuff, which would play out way differently because obi-wan isn’t the jealous type at all and would absolutely trust padmé; and then satine shows up again and we get a whole arc of obi-wan dealing with these conflicting emotions and padmé coming very close on multiple occasions to just telling him she loves him but! supporting his decision no matter what and respecting his emotions, because she understands, and because she knows love is selfless and not possessive and she wants to be with him...if that’s what he wants, too.

but then satine dies—and she worries about him once he's back from mandalore, and there is possibly some very gentle and sweet comforting for the audience to enjoy 👀 the big season finale after that is maul holding padmé and another senator or two hostage and it's an ultra close call but maul dips out, bc it was just bait—and the season ends with him admitting as clearly as he can in Obi-Wan Terms™ that he loves her and padmé reciprocating. they kiss and it's very sweeping and dramatic, but now maul knows kenobi has yet another weakness uh oh...

anyways honestly all of this leads to ROTS being about anakin dealing with the jealousy that palpatine’s been feeding into: jealousy towards obi-wan about padmé, and about being overshadowed. it’s about anakin feeling like he can never have enough, about wanting more and more, about obsessive love and doubt—and when it turns out padmé is pregnant, anakin’s suspicions get confirmed and he turns to palpatine yet again.

IDEALLY padmé survives this movie and she and obi-wan go into hiding together with the twins, (or their child? i mean this is for sure up to interpretation for this specific au) and anakin/vader combs the galaxy for them, resulting eventually in padmé’s death and the separation of the twins, and giving some actual meaning to leia remembering her mother in ROTJ.

so yeah i just. have a lot of feelings about things and at any given moment i can and will talk your ear off about ‘what if’ scenarios like this hdkdjdk 😭💦

#obidala #padmé x obi-wan #padme x obi wan #padme amidala #obi-wan kenobi #some ‘what if’ snackies for yall #i know i’ve seen some folks talk about this before and here is. my 2 cents #like i have way more thoughts about all this but #for the sake of time and all ur dashboards djdkshsk #also i am so sorry about the spacing and lack of readmore YET AGAIN i’m on mobile please forgive me

184 notes · View notes

jasontoddiefor · 4 years

Text

Chapter 3 of As Lightning to the Children eased Aka that eldritch Anakin being terrifying AU

Read on AO3

“Do you know what every parent has to do?” Shmi asked Qui-Go over a cup of tea.

“Raise their child to the best of their abilities,” Qui-Gon answered easily.

Shmi hummed and turned to look at Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka meditating in the living room. Obi-Wan was the only one who actually sat like he was meditating while Anakin was draped over his lap and Ahsoka was resting her head on Anakin’s legs. Nevertheless, all of them were meditating, the Force swirling around them.

“I was prepared to leave Anakin here,” Shmi spoke up again.

“What?”

Qui-Gon couldn’t stop himself from exclaiming. Shmi smiled at him and nodded. He couldn’t correlate the idea of Shmi leaving Anakin at the Order’s steps with the image of the woman who just five years ago had forced Mace Windu to his knees with a single question. That Shmi, so headstrong and bright, hadn’t seemed like a woman who would cave in to the Council’s demands. She still wasn’t. She questioned the Council left and right, had made the crèche her chosen starting point for change. It was good for the Order. Qui-Gon was fairly sure that if his Master would just step into the Temple again these days, he’d actually stay, witnessing how much change had been quite literally forced upon them.

“If there was no other way, I would have left Anakin here because he needed to be here more than he needed to be at my side. This is what every parent has to do sooner or later. We need to let go.”

Shmi was looking at him and for all that she was still wondering about why the Force chose her, Qui-Gon knew. She had the same eyes as Anakin, the kind that saw right through you and stripped you bare.

“You need to let go, Qui-Gon,” Shmi repeated directly. “You’ve done everything you can for Obi-Wan. He is ready, more than most of young Knights I’ve seen. Now you need to give him the space to stretch his wings.”

“And fly away with Anakin?” Qui-Gon inserted, his tone bordering on the edge of upset.

Shmi smiled and sat her teacup on the table. “Why do you keep expecting everyone to always leave you?”

Because that was what people did, they left. But he couldn’t say that, probably didn’t even need to, Shmi knew anyway.

Let him go, the Force trilled. He’s not yours to keep.

“I want him to stay.”

Shmi rolled her eyes and with the mischief of a youngling, she actually kicked his legs under the table. “You are of the Force, are you not? Then he will always stay by your side.”

When Qui-Gon finally recommended Obi-Wan for his Trials, Yaddle had the audacity to cackle. The old Master had taken quite a liking to Shmi, it shouldn’t surprise Qui-Gon they had been gossiping. In the Jedi temple, the only thing traveling faster than the Force, was gossip. In fact, all of the Masters seemed to have been expecting it. The only one who hadn’t gotten the message was Obi-Wan who nearly lost his composure.

“A great Knight, you will be,” Yaddle said. “Your Trials you may take, Padawan Kenobi, if you think you are ready.”

Qui-Gon had talked to Obi-Wan about his Trials, of course. He wasn’t as sadistic as his own Master had been and just dropped him in front of the Council without any warning whatsoever. Still, Obi-Wan glanced at Qui-Gon for reassurance.

“I am ready,” Obi-Wan said, his voice not wavering once. Maybe he hadn’t been the one who needed reassurance.

Objectively speaking, Obi-Wan knew the Trials were difficult. They certainly challenged him and he hadn’t been able to sleep the night before because of his nerves, but during his tests, he was laser-focused and having fun. He’d become a Jedi Knight like he had always known he would and he’d be one step closer to where we ought to be.

He did his best not to smile too widely when Qui-Gon cut his braid and said “Rise, Knight Kenobi.”

No blade shall ruin you. Fulfill your calling, go, go, go!

All the pieces were suddenly assembling on the board. Obi-Wan didn’t know what game they were playing yet, but he had his sights set on winning.

“Honorable Council,” Obi-Wan began to speak and Qui-Gon was immediately about two seconds away from dragging Obi-Wan right out of the chamber. He knew that tone and his just knighted Padawan had no business sounding like that yet. “May I make a request?”

It was deceivingly polite; Obi-Wan used that tone when he was informing someone of a decision he had already made and couldn’t be talked out of. Qui-Gon suppressed a sigh. He had hoped his former Padawan would wait another year at least before committing to his bond. Obi-Wan had surpassed all of Qui-Gon’s expectation, already a much more formidable Knight than many were after a decade, but he was young still. He had time, another four years at least he needn’t take on such a heavy task.

“You may speak,” Mace said.

“I want to take Anakin Skywalker as my Padawan,” was what Obi-Wan said, but what Qui-Gon, and every other Master actually heard was “I am taking Anakin Skywalker as my Padawan”.

Master Yoda frowned and Qui-Gon wished he’d be able to determine what he thought. His relationship with Obi-Wan and the Skywalkers was strange to say the least. He claimed the Force was clouded around them, it made him wary, yet, like a clockwork, he showed up for tea at least once a week.

“Certain of this decision, you are?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes.”

Destiny, fate, my dear Chosen, my children, keep them close, the Force laughed and then, with the might of a karyt dragon, they pressed down on them like they were guarding their treasure, forcing the air out of their lungs.

“Then go fetch your Padawan,” Mace pressed out.

Ilum reminded Anakin of Tatooine in all the best ways. There were not so many people here as on Coruscant, listening to the sounds of the universe was much easier than it was on the crowded city-planet.

Obi-Wan had told him to have fun and enjoy the peace and Anakin was sure there had been a reminder in there as well about not causing any trouble, but he had been too distracted by how easy it was to breathe here. If not for the burning cold, Anakin was sure he could have stayed here for years and years to come. It was so easy to feel, his parent so close. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to pick just one crystal for his lightsaber. Not all of them called out to him, but he’d know how to use them anyway, how to shape them so they would fit perfectly.

“Anakin?”

Anakin turned around and saw T'Seely awkwardly standing behind him. Anakin didn’t have too many friends his age. It wasn’t their fault. He still didn’t always know how to whisper instead of shout, keep all the light inside instead of burning and how to cut off the decay infecting others without his teeth. He was much better with Ahsoka’s age mates who only knew him as Ahsoka’s friend who taught them that they were all infinite possibilities. Their minds weren’t restricted yet. T’Seely was Anakin’s friend though.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t like the dark,” T’Seely said. “Can I- can I go with you? You make it go away.”

Anakin beamed and all around him the crystals lit up, singing their own distinct song. Anakin was sure that if he concentrated, he could bring every Initiate the crystal they needed, but he supposed everyone else was supposed to face this trial on their own. “Sure!”

Anakin held out his hand and T’Seely quickly took it, staring at the caves surrounding them in awe. The artificial lights the Jedi had hung into the tunnels couldn’t even begin to this mirrored night sky surrounding them.

“It’s beautiful,” T’Seely said.

Anakin was glad he could make others see the universe the same way he did.

Training Anakin would be a lot easier if everyone else would finally start minding their own business. Life at the temple was almost back to normal for Obi-Wan again. The other Jedi had become accustomed to them and for all of their snide comments, Jedi were protective of their own. Once you become a part of their community, they wouldn’t abandon you. Obi-Wan was sure that if anything ever happened to him, or Anakin was in danger, their brethren would fight to protect them. They were stronger when they all worked together, were united in the Force.

But that didn’t mean that they could shrug away centuries of teachings about restraining yourself, even when the sun itself was scorching you.

“I still scare them,” Anakin murmured into the crook of Obi-Wan’s neck, tears dried by now.

Anakin always smelled like storms and fire, but this time his scent was tinged with the distinct burn lightsabers left when they cut through hair. Perhaps Obi-Wan hadn’t told Anakin to let loose completely while fighting. Anakin had been the strongest Initiate, but from practice Obi-Wan knew he had been holding back while training even then. His Padawan might be only nine, but Obi-Wan was fairly sure he could give even a couple of the older students a run for their money. They didn’t just drop into the Force entirely unless they were fighting for their lives, unlike Anakin who had troubles staying out of it to actually learn proper stances.

“I know, I know,” Obi-Wan said, trying his best to comfort his Padawan. “I’m sorry. It’ll get better.”

“I’m not scared!” Ahsoka proclaimed and sat up straight, her elbows digging painfully into Anakin’s thighs. The child paid no mind to the abuse she forced upon her older brother. “You’re not scary.”

No, Anakin wasn’t scary, he was terrifying. In all his blazing glory and chaos it was so easy to feel like you were drowning. He was always watching, you were incapable of escaping Anakin’s grasp and Obi-Wan honestly couldn’t claim that he wanted to. There was a sense of belonging pulling him in and for all that he knew Anakin was so small he barely reached Obi-Wan’s hips, an entire galaxy was lingering within in, painfully constricted so it wouldn’t devour everything within reach. Even Obi-Wan got a headache when he attempted to perceive Anakin for too long. The sensorial input was simply too much, leaving him with the vague impressions of stardust and blood dropping from razor sheep teeth, a darkness so void of life that the crown of light around his head was so bright it could cut, claws sharper and so much more dangerous than any ‘saber that Obi-Wan wasn’t even sure if Anakin had needed instructions on how to use his saber.

And the wings of stained glass that never failed to remind Obi-Wan of the meditation hall in the highest tower of the temple.

“Not scary,” Obi-Wan reassured Anakin. “Not to us.”

Ahsoka was a big girl. She was four years old already and the bravest of all her crèche mates. She would not cry when Anakin and Obi-Wan both had to leave the temple for a mission. If anything, Ahsoka should be celebrating. Skyguy was a Padawan now so he would be her Master very soon and then Ahsoka would be a Padawan and they would all go on a big adventure together.

“It’s our first real mission!” Anakin said excitedly.

He kept tugging on his Padawan braid. Ahsoka still thought it was strange that it was attached to him, though Obi-Wan’s had been the same.

“Just some diplomatic meet-up and Master Qui-Gon is coming, but we’re going back to Naboo!”

“What’s Naboo?” Ahsoka asked.

Anakin opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again thoughtfully. He frowned the way he always did when he thought about some very difficult things that didn’t seem all that hard to her. Like always, Ahsoka just held out her hands for Anakin to take. Ahsoka liked speaking, singing, telling stories and making noises, but sometimes it was just easier to let Anakin show her laughter, happiness, home and love and peace.

Oh.

“Are you gonna stay there now?” Ahsoka asked.

“No, not yet.”

Not yet, that only meant he would be leaving her in the future and suddenly all of Ahsoka’s resolve of before was broken and she started bawling.

“Don’t leave me! You can’t- I don’t- you have to stay!”

It wasn’t fair! She didn’t want Anakin to leave her, not even for some stupid mission!

I’m never leaving you, Anakin sang, voice like a thousand choirs. You’re mine.

Promise?

Her brother smiled down at her, gently tracing all her markings before wiping away her tears.

Promise.

Sometimes Shmi felt like she had just arrived at the temple. She still had a hard time calling any of the Jedi above the rank of Knight by their proper titles, nothing to say about her lack of education. Studying with Anakin had been for her own benefit as well, and her son was not lost to her, but Shmi wouldn’t be learning at his side anymore.

“Gone your son is now,” Yaddle said.

Shmi liked the mischievous Jedi. Whereas Yoda often hid his weariness beneath his amusement, Yaddle had no such troubles. She said what she believed and treated Shmi’s thoughts with the same importance she gave the great philosophers preceding even her.

“Ani will be fine,” Shmi said. “He has Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.”

“Yet troubles you sense.”

There were always troubles when Anakin was concerned, but not so much that Shmi had to be concerned. She had raised her son well, he knew he was cherished and loved. It wasn’t a job you could be done with after a while, parenting and children didn’t work that way. For all that the Jedi said a lot about attachments, they were fiercely protective of their lineages.

“A mission I have for us, my Padawan,” Yaddle spoke up again after a while.

Other times, Shmi felt like she had lived at the temple all her life. She knew their customs,

“Master Yoda won’t be pleased,” Shmi said, her smile an exact mirror of her son’s.

Yaddle shook her head. “Pah! Never happy he is. His Padawan we must track down, lost he has become. Old Master Yoda is, and old his Padawan is. A stubborn lot they are and easily rile each other up. Good you are with younglings, good you will be for the whole Order. Help me cause some more chaos, my Padawan.”

Shmi began to walk beside her new teacher, retuning back into the temple and walking away from the ship hangers. When she had arrived at the temple, she’d never expected that her life would turn out like this.

“Yes, Dai Yaddle.”

Her teacher looked up to her, a proud look on her face. “A fine Jedi you already are, Shmi Skywalker. A great one you will be.”

#star wars #Anakin Skywalker #obi wan kenobi #qui gon jinn #shmi skywalker #ahsoka tano #yaddle #fanfic #everyone gets an upgrade in this chapter #qui gon finally graduates from parenting

58 notes · View notes

jabbajambler · 3 years

Text

When We Were Young

Obi Wan Kenobi x f!OC

Word Count: 2,141

*GIF by @obimauls*

The sun was bright on Coruscant. I always loved how the city would glow and beam. Even on the darkest days, it could lift my spirits. Thankfully, today was not one of those dark days. Today was a day that could easily make history, the day the Jedi called in me for assistance in their war.

I never had a huge opinion in the war. Of course, I wasn't a fan of it, but no strong opinions. I only wished it would end. Hopefully with my help, it will.

"Aaryn Skywalker?" An orange, armor-cladded clone asked. Their helmet resembled those of the Mandalorians. I always thought that was silly. But of course I couldn't put it past the Jedi to steal their ideas.

"That's me." I sighed, holding onto a large bag that I had packed for my time. They told me to pack the necessities and for me, there was a lot.

The clone trooper grabbed my bag and led me onto the small ship. I assumed we would be traveling to a larger Republic station. It was a simple ship, nothing too fancy. It was old, though. Something I'm sure I once flew back when I trained under the Jedi Order.

"There's another Skywalker in your ranks. Any relation?" The trooper sparked up a conversation as we took off into the air. My stomach sunk while I gazed out the windows. I would miss my city, but I hoped this wouldn't take too long.

"Yes. I have a brother, Anakin." I couldn't help the smile on my face as I thought about the once blond haired boy. Our mother was never sure of who either of our dad's were so I always assumed it was the same. It was strange, though, that she never knew our father. In fact, she was never sure about how we even came to be.

"That could get confusing." He chuckled. He had a nice laugh. It was warm and inviting.

"Oh, I'm sure we won't be around each other too often. The council will want us as far away from each other as possible. They probably think I'm a bad influence."

"You certainly have similar taste." He joked. I cocked my head to the side. I didn't quite understand what he was getting at.

"Your clothes, I mean." He gestured towards the black cloak that was wrapped around my shoulders. Despite the warm, rising sun of Coruscant, the mornings were still quite cold. "General Skywalker tends to prefer the darker colors as well."

"Did you say General Skywalker?" He nodded. "He's practically a child. How did he land that position?"

The clone shrugged and relaxed in his seat as another clone in the same color armor flew the ship.

"I'm not sure but he's a hell of a leader. His Padawan, Ahoska-"

"Excuse me, his Padawan? You must be joking!" I smiled as I spoke with the clone. He was easy to talk to.

"No, I am not. Wish I was, sometimes. Those two are quite the pair."

I laughed as a darkness had settled in the ship. We finally reached the stars, the glowing, ever changing stars.

"You know, I never got your name, Commander."

"Cody. Commander Cody of the 212th Attack Battalion."

"Well, Cody," I smiled, "relax. We have quite the ride ahead of us."

And it was quite the ride. Cody told me stories of how he trained with his brothers.

Brothers.

The term was endearing. They were able to form a connection with someone right from the beginning. It was nice to know that our soldiers were real men regardless of whether they were all duplicates, grown at a rapid rate. They had feelings and formed connections. It must have been a slip-up on the Jedi's part. I'm sure they formed attachments to their men all the time.

"General Skywalker, we have arrived." Cody stood, stretching his body from the ride.

I rolled my eyes and rose from my seat. "Please, call me Aaryn. I don't want things to get too confusing."

"Aaryn Skywalker." A deeper voice spoke up as the ramp rolled down to the metal floor. "We've been expecting you."

"Well I'd assume so since you invited me." I looked up to meet the cold stare of Mace Windu. I always wanted to see if I could get him to crack his tough exterior. Today was apparently not that day.

He sighed, his eyes trailing down to the bag in Cody's hand. "I thought we said to bring only what was necessary."

"You did. And I brought everything I deemed absolutely essential." I beamed. "I like what you've done with your hair by the way."

I could see his eye twitch in subtle annoyance, something I deemed a small win. I even earned a chuckle from Cody.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Shall we get going?" I sauntered down the ramp, expecting to find ourselves in some crowded landing dock, but we weren't. Well, there were plenty of ships but no people. "What? No welcome party? After all those years, I would hope that you'd remember I love to make a grand entrance."

"We're in a war, Skywalker. We have greater concerns than your welcoming." Windu hissed through his teeth.

"Aren't you a bundle of sunshine." I rolled my eyes. Windu was never the warmest person, but the war turned him into a complete ass.

He led us down the cold, metal halls. For some reason, I expected the ship to be just a bit more inviting. After all, we're in a war. Everything else is dark and horrifying, why should the mother ship be the same?

My face turned down in a small frown as my eyes shifted around. There were kids growing up in this, their childhood turned into a war zone. I couldn't imagine the toll that took on them. I was already afraid of what it would do to me.

"I'm sure it must be strange for you to be here." Mace Windu spoke calmly beside me. "It is strange for us as well. We did not want to call you in."

"It was weird to receive the notice." I spoke honestly. Being here was weird. Hearing from the Jedi Order, however, was even weirder. I'm still not sure how they managed to find me in the first place.

"You've heard all about the war, I assume."

"Please, it's all anyone talks about." I chuckled. "Besides, it's great to rub it in all of your faces that after all this time, you called me back."

Mace stopped in the hall, turning quickly on his heel to face me. His dark eyes narrowed as they met my brown ones. "Now Aaryn-"

"I know, be civil." I smiled and played with the loose strands of hair that fell down my shoulders. It, too, was a dark brown. Someone once told me that I simply didn't look the part of a Jedi. My aura was tainted, dark.

I glanced around the hall again, avoiding Windu's eyes. No one was there but the Master Jedi and I. The walls were bright but cold and plain. I suppose that was the 'Jedi way.'

"Commander Cody brought your things to your quarters. You can explore that later once it's time to settle down. Since you're so antsy to meet everyone, I'll introduce you to who you'll be working with."

"Of course. Who needs time to relax." I rolled my eyes, receiving another stern glare from Windu.

"You have had eleven years of rest." He snapped and ushered me along the sad hall.

My eyes wandered once we entered a large meeting room. There were clone troopers everywhere. Before Cody, I had never seen one so close. Soon enough, I'd be working with entire squadrons of them. Was I truly fit to lead an entire battalion of men into a war? I wasn't a Jedi, not anymore. I wasn't trained for something like this.

"Captain Rex." Windu addressed one of the troopers that stood around a large hologram of a separatist-occupied planet. His armor was painted a vibrant blue, a stark contrast to the white and gray. What color would represent my men? "I'd like you to meet General Skywalker. You've been notified of her presence, I assume."

"General Skywalker?" He chortled. "I don't think so."

"And why not?" My smile turned into a scowl at his mockery. Or, what I assumed was mockery. Did I not seem capable of being a General? My hand reached for the brown and silver hilt on my hip. Surely that would prove this trooper wrong.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but General Skywalker has been with us for quite a while now."

"Oh." The word barely left my mouth in a whisper as I dropped my hand back to my side. "You mean Anakin."

"Yes." He spoke quietly. It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Mace scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You mean to tell me that Anakin has not told you about Aaryn's arrival?"

"You're Aaryn? Anakin talks about you all the time but never about you being here." Rex laughed lightly. It was so similar to Cody's but that shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did.

"I told him to do one thing." Windu grumbled to himself. "Where is he-"

"Aaryn?" I heard a voice behind us. There was a tall man dressed in all dark robes. I had never seen a Jedi dressed in such a way - well, not since I was one. His hair was a light brown, wavy and soft. He wore a bright smile across his face, matching his beaming blue eyes.

I recognized his eyes, first. They were similar and gave me a subtle sense of déjà vu. Honestly, I was ashamed of how long it took me to recognize him. It had been so long since I'd seen him, but I would never forget the eyes of my baby brother.

"Anakin." I smiled. Before I knew it, he rushed towards me and crushed me in a tight hug. He had grown so much, standing nearly 8 inches taller than me. I returned the embrace with what strength I had left from his suffocating hold. "You're going to crush me."

"Sorry." He let out a nervous laugh and stepped back, his eyes darting from mine to the undoubtedly angry glare of Mace Windu. "It's been a while."

"It has. I mean, just look at you! You're a general now? Who decided it was a smart idea to give you that rank?"

"All Jedi Knights became Generals once the war started. The council thought I was ready to graduate from my training." He smiled proudly. My smile, however, was lost.

Only nineteen and he was already a Jedi Knight. How was he so different than me? I was 20 and they told me I still wasn't ready.

Oh.

Right.

He was the chosen one. A title that once belonged to me.

"I doubt I'll compare to you, though, General Skywalker." He joked, giving me a small nudge in the ribs with his elbow.

"You forget that I've gone eleven years without training. I'll struggle keeping up with you and your Padawan that I am so excited to meet!"

Anakin rolled his eyes at the mention of his Padawan. I still couldn't believe that he was training someone. "If you think you'll struggle with us, just wait till you see Obi Wan on the battlefield."

"Obi Wan?" My eyes lifted at the mention of the name. It felt foreign on my tongue.

"Did someone call for me?" An auburn haired man stepped into the room, dressed from head to toe in earthy robes. His blue eyes were soft and once they landed on me, grew wide in an emotion I couldn't quite detect. Fear? Remembrance?

I'm surprised I recognized him, really. He changed so much in the last eleven years but then again, so did I. His Padawan braid was long gone and his short hair was grown out and swooped to the side neatly. A soft, red beard adorned his handsome face. I must say, he looked good with it.

"Master, look who it is!" Anakin wrapped an arm around my shoulders, looking to me with a subtle wiggle of his eyebrows.

"I see." Obi Wan breathed out. His back was straight, his entire posture was as stiff as a board. I wanted to run into his arms just as Anakin had done but I was sure that wouldn't be well-received by the other Jedi. Instead, I smiled a fake, but confident smile and held my hand out towards the man.

"It's nice to see you again, Obi Wan."

#obi wan kenobi #Obi Wan Kenobi x OC #obi wan needs a hug #daddy wan kenobi #star wars #jedi #OC #clone wars

4 notes · View notes

tigereyes45 · 4 years

Text

Melancholy

(Summary: Obi-wan and Ahsoka have one last conversation before they go their separate ways forever. Kenobi wrestles with his own emotions, such as anger over her actions as they talk.)

AO3 link here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24049534

Obi-wan finds himself once again alone watching out the hanger bay window. The admiral and many of their forces were already on the ship. Soon, Ahsoka would be leaving with Commander Rex and what was practically her new force. If it was anyone else he would have stepped in and stopped this whole fiasco before it happened, but despite her leaving the order, and the complete lack of respect she had displayed earlier this was Ahsoka. Reckless as she may be, she wasn’t a fool. Not any longer. Obi-wan takes solace in her change, even though he can not bring himself to respect all of them.

The door opens with a quiet hum, and it’s clear why his thoughts were still on her despite the great many other issues he had to consider.

“Ahsoka.”

“Oh Obi-wan, I didn’t expect to see you in here. I was looking for,”

“Rex or Anakin I presume. They are currently busy hiding yet another call.”

“Padme?”

He tries not to look back at her as she comes closer. He was so on edge lately. The drop of clarity and his connection to the force was coupled with the warning signs of many dangers. More than he had felt coming during the entirety of the war. Ahsoka wasn’t a danger to him. Her being here had actually helped calm the clones from the 501st and 212th not to mention it grounded Anakin who had still been reeling from her poor departure, and Padme.

“You know my master once said that I had to focus on the here instead of letting my mind wander.”

“Your master sounds wise.” Was this the first time he spoke of Qui-gon to Ahsoka? He can’t recall another time, and yet he can’t really imagine why he wouldn’t have.

“He was, but he was wrong in that instance. I was right to warn him of the dangers I sensed because that allowed us to escape with our lives. I was going to laud that over his head once we got back to the temple from Naboo but,” Obi-wan’s eyes collapse from the weight of the memories. His body tries to follow but the Jedi master was fast enough to press his hand against the window, holding himself up. He hopes it looked casual. As if he was trying to support his weight during another one of his headaches.

“What happened to him?”

There was so much curiosity in her voice. Once upon a time, he would have taken pride in that trait, but it was the same thing that sent her away from the order. Curiosity, and resentment. “He didn’t heed his own advice. He stopped focusing on the moment for a chance to fulfill a prophecy. That brought about his death.”

A pregnant silence fills the few feet between them. There she stood. Anakin’s padawan. The girl that had been more of a lesson to him than anything Obi-wan himself could offer his former student. Anakin had given him a lot of trouble. He was hasty, and violent, and threw caution to the wind for any chance at recognition of his abilities. Ahsoka had shared so few of those traits with Anakin, and the ones she did were never to the same degree. So how did he get so lucky that Anakin stayed when he had so many reasons not to, while Ahsoka walked away? Why does she feel so comfortable talking to him, yet he can barely bring himself to meet her eye?

“Why are you telling me?”

“Because Ahsoka there are different times for wise words to carry their truths. Adaptability is the strongest skill for any Jedi to have, and it is the one thing Anakin has in spades. However, what helps him in battle holds him back in life. He does not adapt to changes in his personal reality the way he can on the battlefield. If he did, then it is possible that not even the Jedi council could stop him from what he dreams.” Can you be there for him Ahsoka? He wants to ask for this one last favor. This one last chance he may ever have to confide in her. Can she stay and watch out for her old master the way she always had? Last-minute he purses his lips and keeps his silence. It isn’t her job to be there for Anakin. That had always been his.

“What are you talking about Obi wan? Not even the council? I-why would he-”

“Because he is in love with the senator.” And there it was.

“Padme.”

“Yes.” The truth.

“I thought Anakin had hidden that from you.” Of course she already knew. Everyone but the high council knew, and even then Mace Windu appeared to have taken notice of it.

“He’s tried Ahsoka, but let’s be honest. It’s a known secret. The whole 501st, and 212th squads know. I’ve known, and you knew it too.”

“Anakin has never been great at discretion.”

“Padme is better but she’s reckless when he’s around.”

“From what they’ve told me she gets her most reckless ideas when it comes to protecting her people, and that it appeared to have worn off on Anakin.”

So the senator had shared far more with Ahsoka then him. Another reason she would have been useful during this time. Perhaps he could better understand the chaotic emotions in Anakin if she was. There’s no changing the past though and Ahsoka made her decision long ago. It feels so distant now, that time where he and the others were forced to judge her. She lost all trust in them, and maybe that was fair, but she also abandoned Anakin. Is that the sin he can not forgive? Is that why he feels the claws of anger constantly tugging at the edges of his mind whenever he sees her walking around as if she never left. Ahsoka won’t even acknowledge the change in their dynamic, even now, but he knows better. They will never be the same, because he betrayed her, and then she abandoned Anakin. There could never be peace until this war is over. Perhaps then there will be enough time to meditate on these feelings further. If they are lucky.

“I should go now Ahsoka. May the force be with you.” He blinks open his eyes. Giving her one more polite smile, Obi-wan takes his leave. The hanger bay feels warmer as he steps outside it.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #swtcw #swtcw season 7 #spoilers #clone wars spoilers #obi wan kenobi #obi wan #ahsoka #ahsoka tano #fanfiction #fanfic #ff #ao3

24 notes · View notes

duhragonball · 4 years

Text

Talkin’ ‘Bout Star Wars

I just realized someone might see this title and think it’s a review of Episode IX, which I kind of forgot about. Actually, I was gonna talk about this Count Dooku audiobook I bought, but I guess I only got back into Star Wars books because of Episode IX, so maybe I should back up.

I liked Rise of Skywalker. I went in unsure of what to expect, because a lot of people hated Episode VIII, and I thought it was awesome, so when I saw scathing criticism of IX, I had no idea whether to take that seriously. “Man if you thought VIII was bad, IX’s even worse.” Stuff like that where I didn’t know how to interpret it.

The fundamental problem with IX is that they were going to do a Leia-centric movie and Carrie Fisher died before they could get started. I’m pretty sure this had a lot to do with why Darth Sidious is all over the movie, but maybe he would have been in it regardless. He definitely brings a lot of star power to the movie. He makes it feel more important than it would have been if it was just Kylo Ren horsing around as the main bad guy. And while I enjoyed Carrie Fisher as the hardboiled-but-sensitive General Leia, she never seemed quite as comfortable on-screen in the sequel movies as Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. I mean, she was in VIII, but she spent most of it in a coma, and Laura Dern seemed to be her understudy. Maybe Carrie was just waiting for the spotlight of Episode IX, and maybe she would have risen to the occasion, but if not, they would have done well to have the Emperor in the same movie, just to carry some of the load.

I’ve seen complaints about how fast-paced Episode IX is, and how ridiculous some of the revelations are, but you know, Episode IV realllly drags for the first half-hour, so I’m happy they made a new one that caters to six-year-old me’s desire to get on with things. As for the whole Rey Palpatine thing, I don’t know, was that any less absurd than whatever fan-theories were floating around in 2016?

I liked Rey’s character arc in this movie, where she goes from having no family to being terrified of her pedigree, to declaring herself to be “Rey Skywalker”. Also, I dig her yellow lightsaber, even if she never got a chance to use it in the movie. In fact, let me get a picture of that up here....

Niiiice. Whenever I look this up, I see all these links to fan theories about what this means, or how it’s a callback to eight other characters from the comics who had yellow lightsabers, but I’m pretty sure she only ended up with this color because they wanted to give her something different and uniquely her own. If she had a blue or green blade, fans would think she took the crystal out of one of Luke’s old lightsabers, but this indicates that she built her own from scratch. Also, Rey even having a lightsaber is probably intended to demonstrate that she still has a mission in the galaxy, even after the First Order and Sidious are defeated.

Anyway, the main issue I have with the movie is that it does play fast and loose sometimes. It felt like they had a plan for Finn and a plan for Poe, but both plans sort of got lost in the shuffle, and we sort of have to take their big victory as newly minted generals to serve as a finish to their character arcs. Leia’s big moment is basically her lying down to take a nap, and I get it, that was probably the best they could do, but still. I read Nein Numb got killed in the movie, and that kind of pisses me off.

Mostly, it just doesn’t hold up as well as “The Last Jedi”. I think part of the reason “Revenge of the Sith” is the most popular prequel movie is because it pays off the thing everyone wanted to see: Anakin becoming Darth Vader. I remember the first time I saw “Attack of the Clones”, and I was kind of surprised to see Anakin kill all the Sand People, like they were turning him evil a little too early, so that had me wondering if he might turn to the dark side in that movie, which sort of distracted me from what was actually happening on the screen. With Episode III, you knew exactly what you were getting, because they couldn’t save any big moments for “Revenge of the Sith, Part 2.” In a similar vein, I think the big thing audiences wanted from the sequel trilogy was to find out whatever happened to Luke, and Episode VIII answered that question completely. It sort of undercut Episode IX, and I guess that was what J.J. Abrams was complaining about.

Darth Sidious’ whole comeback is kind of a problem. I love the character, and it makes sense that he could somehow survive and come back. In the movie, he just quotes his line about “unnatural” abilities and that’s the only explanation we get for how he survived Endor, built his new fleet, and made Snoke. People call it a cop out and they’re not wrong, but he’s the one character who can get away with it. That said, his return raises far more questions than answers, and somehow he’s even stronger than he was before, which raises even further questions. I mean, if he could just go to this secret planet and build a fleet of planet-destroying ships, why did he bother running for public office?

I’m sure there’ll be a novel that tries to tackle some of those issues, but the bigger problem here is that Episode IX made me realize that I missed the more vulnerable Darth Sidious from the prequels. What I love about Episode I is how you’ve got the Sith, looking very similar to the Emperor and Vader in Episode VI, except they don’t have the might of the Empire behind them. In Episode I, Sidious can’t just force choke his subordinates when they displease him, because he needs those guys. Darth Maul can’t send a legion of troops to capture Queen Amidala; he has to do it by himself. They have to be sneakier and trickier than they are in the original trilogy, because they’re still trying to get the Empire set up, and that’s really fascinating to me. Even in the original trilogy, Palpatine is supreme, but still vulnerable. He dissolves the Senate, but only once the Death Star is available as an alternative. He worries that Luke Skywalker “could destroy us.”

In Episode IX, he seems to have no worries at all, I guess because he’s counting on Rey to murder him for whatever essence transfer he was planning. I suppose this was why he finally died to his own Force Lightning, with Rey deflecting it with two lightsabers. Critics ask why he didn’t just stop shooting lightning, but that’s kind of his deal. He kept shooting at Mace Windu, even when it wrecked his face, and he kept shooting when Darth Vader turned on him. I mean, if he stopped shooting lighting at Rey, what then? His fleet would lose the battle, and Rey would refuse to kill him, and he’d just be stuck. The Sith crave power, and power only matters when you exercise it, so it makes sense that all the Sith characters get wrecked because they bit off more than they could chew. If you asked Sidious why he didn’t just turn off his lightning, he probably wouldn’t even understand the question.

I think it might have been cooler if Darth Sidious had been a ghost, or maybe an electronic backup of his brain, or something like that. He looked pretty cool hooked up to that life support system, and I liked the idea that he was reduced to a shell of his former self, but even that would still be a grave threat to the heroes, especially if he got Rey or Kylo Ren to take orders from him. Maybe he should have actually gotten to possess Rey, and then he would finally get all the gonzo powers he displayed in the movie, and Rey would have to kick him out of her body. I dunno, maybe that’s not so different from what we actually got.

I see fans talking about all these alternative versions of Episode IX, like that leaked script, or the concept art, etc. They lament “Why didn’t we get this movie?” and I think that misses the point. Maybe one version or another would be better, but in the end you really only get one movie, one shot at telling the story. At some point, someone has to make the decision as to what makes the cut and what doesn’t. The problem with writing a story is that the version in your head always looks better than it does in print, because in your head it’s this nebulous, ever-changing thing. When you sit down to write it, you have to commit to one version, and decide whether to do this or that. In this day and age, it’s a lot easier to find out about alternate versions and unused drafts. You can watch the “This” version of a movie, and then go on the internet and see details about the “That” version they didn’t use. And it’s easy to complain that they made the wrong call. “Justice League” fans are convinced that there’s a secret “Snyder Cut” of the movie that would somehow be better than the version that actually made it to theaters. That’s kind of sad, because they clearly must have enjoyed the theatrical cut to some extent, or they wouldn’t care about some other version of the same movie. But instead of appreciating what they got, they obsess over a supposedly better version that may not even exist.

I’m probably no better, because I sort of went into Episode IX figuring that it didn’t matter if it was good or bad, because there would be comics or novels that might expand on the stuff I wanted to see. I think what I really want is a story of how Sidious survived Endor, and how he got set up on Exegul or however you spell it. That, and Rey buckling some swashes with that yellow lightsaber. Everyone’s mad about Rose Tico getting a small part in Episode IX, but to me it almost doesn’t matter, because she can be in whatever Rey comic series they make after this. I mean, that doesn’t do Kelly Marie Tran any good, but I think she’s got a good career ahead of her, with or without Rose Tico.

I don’t know, maybe this is why I don’t watch movies very much. I’m mostly into franchises, where the movies themselves are just tentpoles for all the other media. They don’t really need to be good, so long as some good lore comes out of them that someone else can use. I was thinking the other day about how Episode II is widely considered one of the weakest Star Wars movies, but every Clone Wars story that came after it was directly inspired by that film. And there’s a lot of good Clone Wars stuff out there. It just makes me wonder if Episode II can really be as bad as they say it is. Then again, it probably doesn’t make sense to say that spinoffs can retroactively fix what should be a standalone work.

Anyway, I started this post because I wanted to talk about how YouTube keeps recommending me Star Wars meta videos, mainly about the Sith, because that’s what I’m into, and they’re usually covering stuff I already knew. There’s at least three channels devoted to recapping stories from comics and books, or just straight up repeating information that was directly stated in the movies. “Did you know Palpatine wanted to KILL Darth Vader?” Yes, I’ve known since 1983. He told Luke to kill him and he wouldn’t do it. Then he and Vader killed each other. It’s not complicated. The funny thing is that I watch all these different Star Wars videos, and I can tell they’re narrated by different people, but they all sound like the Burger King Foot Lettuce guy.

I got bored with these, so I started listening to the Dooku audiobook that came out last year. It’s been pretty decent, but I was hoping for more Sith lore, and this book seems mostly focused on Asajj Ventress learning about Dooku’s Jedi career. I’ve only got a half hour left in the book, and Dooku hasn’t even resigned from the order yet, so I don’t think I’ll see much of what he was up to between Episodes I and II.

#/#//#///#////#/////#star wars

2 notes · View notes

notbecauseofvictories · 5 years

Note

hello Sarah!! hope you're doing great. who are your three ABSOLUTE fave minor characters from star wars?

That’s…a very hard question to answer, which I did not realize until this moment! I never saw myself as a minor characters person, but something about those star wars lends itself to collecting a whole bunch of secondary characters and developing intensely specific headcanons about them which you would die for, probably.

However, I decided I would just pick my favorite minor characters from Rogue One/Solo/each of the Trilogies, since that’s easier.

Prequel Trilogy — Mace Windu

I’m not much of a Jedi person—my preferences are clearly oriented to the Rebellion and the regular old humans of the galaxy far far away. But I once wrote myself into having a lot of feelings about Mace Windu, and since then have never recovered. I’m still stuck on a Mace Windu who is stubbornly good, good in the most absolute sense, but also pragmatic and unyielding and cold and ambitious.

I always liked the idea that Mace had a particular grudge against Qui-Gon—not for any particular personal reason, but. Well, they were approximately the same age, and where Mace had been playing the long-game to advance through the Order, Qui-Gon was off running all over the galaxy with his mouthy padawan, rescuing whoever he felt like and talking about mystic Force nonsense. Mace sees it as the waste of a good Jedi. (Qui-Gon has no idea.)

Original Trilogy — Mon Mothma

I realize this is sort of cheating, since Mon Mothma’s role is expanded on a lot in Rogue One, but she was original first, so it counts.

Anyway, I love Mon Mothma. I’ve come up with a whole world of headcanons for her, from her studying poetry in university to her relationship with Padme and Bail Organa (she and Bail don’t actually like each other much—but they respect each other and are too civilized to let anyone else know about it.) To how, after Palpatine became Emperor. she basically just said “fuck it” and made it her entire goal to make his life miserable and shout about tyranny on the Senate floor. (The Partisans smuggled her offworld just before the black squad had a chance to strike; that’s how she knows Saw.)

I just really like Mothma, this woman who is clearly more of a liberal politician than a glorious revolutionary, yet clearly is determined to have that role. She’s also…literally the only person who witnesses the Republic, the fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire, the fall of the Empire, and the rise of the New Republic. I have to imagine that after the Empire falls, she becomes the George Washington of the New Republic, which in itself is a cool idea. (I keep meaning to write that post-war fic about Leia adjusting to peace, and how badly she fits inside it, how guilty she is about it, when Mon Mothma is thriving amid the rebuilding…)

Rogue One — Saw Gerrera

I love Saw Gerrera. I love him, specifically, in three ways:

1) Separatist-turned-Anarchist-for-Hire! I firmly believe that Saw spent most of his younger life as a Separatist, and learned all the ways of violent resistance there. So when the Republic becomes the Empire, he’s already ready to go, he’s got knowledge that’s suddenly very valuable and needed by a lot more worlds than used to want it. I still picture the Partisans as kind of roving band of violent revolutionaries for hire—if you’re the anti-Empire insurgency on planet X, you can send Saw Gererra a message, and in exchange for food & lodging, they’ll teach your people how make bombs and tap into frequencies and spy on your local Imperial outpost.

(this fic is tentatively entitled “saw gererra and his anachist’s cookbook crew kickstart the rebellion by building a huge network of insurgent cells on every planet from the outer rim to the core”)

2) The imagined agony that is Lyra/Saw! Listen, I realize I talked myself into this one, but—Lyra Erso was the one who knew Saw. Once Galen realized how deep in shit he was, she and Saw arranged to get them out of the Empire and into hiding. Their love affair was conducted almost exclusively via transmit, ala this headcanon I came up with ages ago.

3) Feral Affection-Starved Wolfchild Adopted By Emotionally Ill-Equipped Radical, aka, Jyn Has Complicated Feelings About Saw Gerrerra, Who Is As Much Her Father As Galen Ever Was.

I literally did write a fic about this.

Solo — Enfys Nest

The minute she took off her helmet, I was sold. I love that she’s young, that she’s inherited this enormous burden from her mother. (If you’re going to kill off everybody’s mom, star wars, then you’re correct, the least you can do is make those moms baller freedom fighters.) I love that her gang is called the “Cloud Riders,” and that they’re integrated with the local people. I love her cape.

Solo, for all its faults, had very good capes.

I will, someday, write that fic where Enfys and Saw and Mon Mothma bring their disparate factions together to talk about The Future of Rebellion In The Galaxy and everybody fights a lot about it, and there’s probably fraught sex, somewhere. It’s not a rebel convocation if no one’s having emotionally and politically fraught sex.)

New Trilogy — Phasma

I don’t pay attention to any star wars that doesn’t happen onscreen, but I heard through the fannish grapevine that Hux’s dad was the one who set up the new stormtrooper program. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with the idea that Phasma was the first-ever New Stormtrooper, like a proof of concept. A stolen child herself, raised by Hux the Elder to be a monster and a prodigy. (Literally, the translation of “Phasma.”)

This also means that a) Phasma has complicated feelings about Hux the Elder, who is the closest thing to a father she’s ever known, but definitely doesn’t see her as a human being; b) Phasma and Hux are weird sibling-like things, except not siblings at all; and c) Phasma can take all these awful twisted-up narratives about ownership, love, and humanity, and foist them all on FN-2187 in the most fucked up way.

I have a partial draft of this fic, and the google doc is literally titled “frankenstein, but space.”

#Anonymous #star wars #the warry stars #god what an completely unforeseeable coincidence that all my favorite minor sw characters are serious and dedicated idealists #who nonetheless adopt pragmatic and sometimes morally grey approaches to accomplishing their goals #it's almost like I have a type!!!!#long post for ts

125 notes · View notes

my-insanity-is-an-artform · 6 years

Text

Fake Dating! Star Wars Prompt

ok so it’s like 2am here, have a prompt that’s been hovering in my mind over the past few days before I hit the sack.

Everyone from the Senate to the Jedi Council to The GAR to the Hutts knows there is something between Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Naboo Senator Padme Amidala. The pining looks, the ‘secret rendezvous’, the rumours of hidden kisses and how to put one in danger is to guarantee the other coming after you! There are at least 10 bets in Torrent Division alone on when they will make the official announcement (odds favour just post-war)!

Everyone knows that they are at the very least in a relationship with each other (whether friends with benefits or something more is being bet on).

There is only one problem with this knowledge.

Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala are not actually married, dating or even romantically into each other. They’re just fucking with everyone.

The first thing that changes is that 19 years old is old enough to realise that a childhood crush is not a good basis for eternal love. That putting someone on a pedestal will only result in hurt. (He’s had enough of that with Jedi whispering that the Chosen One should be better.) So Anakin is able to mostly move past his hero-worship of Padme Amidala.

(He’s still a little bit in love with her, but according to him, anyone with a working brain is. She’s amazing!)

Hiding out on Naboo brings not love but a friendship between the two. Anakin learns to put (most of) his hero-worship aside and really see the real Padme while Padme finds herself charmed by Anakin-the-adult and moving past the image she’s had of him the past 10 years. They have their differences but mostly agree on core aspects of justice and freedom. It also makes Padme a lot more willing to call Anakin out on his shit when he calls to complain about things.

So Anakin and Padme form a good solid friendship without the complication of falling in love. The rest of AotC goes mostly as Canon but (because I’m a sucker for happy endings), Padme talks Anakin into going after his mother a little sooner and as such, they avoid the whole Shmi dying thing.

HOWEVER

While on Naboo, Padme was approached by several would-be very-unwanted suitors that were swiftly turned away by Anakin who stood menacingly behind them and Padme who took Anakin’s protective stance and fucking ran with it.

“Oh, have you met my fiance?”

‘Cause what is the point of trying to court Senator Amidala if she has a looming possessive Jedi Knight boyfriend? You’re just asking for an ass whooping.

And if this is what gets Padme out of having to go to one more boring as hell date, she is taking it. It also acts as a deterrent for Separatists because which idiot is going to go after the Hero Without Fear’s S/O.

Anakin is doing this for two reasons.

Partially to help one of his friends.

Mostly to fuck with the Jedi Council.

(He hasn’t seen Master Windu’s eye twitch this much since the droid incident when he was 15.)

When Padme finds someone she genuinely wants to marry, Anakin demands Maid-of-Honour Privileges (that fact he is male is irrelevant) and Godfather rights to any children, but until then, he’s happy to play fake boyfriend.

Knight Skywalker noticed sneaking out of Senator Amidala’s quarters, clothes rumpled? They just sat around, watching crappy holo-films, talking about boys/girls/people and now he’s late to a meeting.

Senator Amidala was spotted kissing Skywalker’s cheek? Padme was deterring a Senator with aspersions to create a marriage alliance.

Both of them have badly hidden hickies? While both of them were willing to bite each other, Anakin found that using the Force was much quicker and less painful.

No one, not even Sidious, spots the deception. (Which is his downfall in the end... )

(Holo-call during the Outer Rim Sieges: ”Padme, have you ... are you pregnant?” “No. Why?” “I’ve been having really weird visions.” “...Try talking to Obi-Wan.”)

Either way, the whole deception comes to a close when the war ends and Padme decides she wants to start dating and find someone to eventually settle down with.

The Economy nearly crashes.

Six corrupt Senators are bankrupted.

Two systems try to sue Padme for deception.

The remnants of the Separatists surrender because if Anidala isn’t real, maybe the reasons behind the war was an illusion too.

A surprising amount of people are devastated at the news including the entire 501st Legion, two-thirds of the 212th, half of the Senate along with the Senate Guards, most of the Jedi (including six Jedi Councilors) and Hondo Ohnaka.

(Hondo is so upset, he comes to Coruscant and manages to get into the temple for half an hour before getting booted back out. [”Skywalker! How could you not tell me?! I thought we were friends! This will break Mama’s heart!”])

Obi-Wan is questioning everything he ever knew about Anakin. After the initial feelings of betrayal, Ahsoka thinks the whole thing is hysterical.

Anakin has never seen Mace Windu and Yoda look so conflicted. It is glorious.

(And maybe someone is very relieved that Anakin or Padme is in fact romantically available?...)

#Star Wars #Clone Wars #star wars prequels #Faked! Anidala #Fake!AnidalaAu #Anakin Skywalker #Padme Amidala #Fake Dating AU #Insanity's Prompts #Basically Padme and Anakin fake date to deter Padme's suitors but then devolves into 'how long can we fuck with absolutely everyone?'#Without the Romantic side Padme and Anakin talk a lot more #Meaning Anakin gets a lot of stuff of his chest and gets a non-Sidious pov #Which actually helps #Padme is willing to knock some sense into Anakin more than she did in canon

489 notes · View notes

gffa · 6 years

Photo

18. what is your favorite star wars book or comic? THIS IS A REALLY HARD QUESTION. If you absolutely made me choose, I would probably pick Wild Space because we all know how much I love that book, but I’m going to choose a different one because it’s been so strongly on my mind lately--Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith. I love many of the Star Wars comics (especially the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic and Mace Windu: Jedi of the Republic comic!), I was reading them well before this one came out, but I think it’s the one that actually legit vaulted me into wanting to dig into the comics hard. It’s certainly a very large chunk of why I have any kind of feelings about the Darth Vader parts of Anakin’s life, where before this I didn’t really care that much at all. This comic is drawing the connections between Anakin and Vader in amazing ways, it’s highlighting everything about the choices he made and how he had other options, often shoved right into his face, and he still denied that they were there. It’s illustrating beautifully all the worst parts of the character, when they’re dialed up to a hundred. It’s just straight up fun in all the extra-as-hell moments! It’s the comic that really engaged me in a way that dragged me into this part of the Star Wars franchise. I dunno if it’s the best written one, but it’s the one that’s gotten me to do the most talking and the most at showing the bridge between Anakin and Vader, how they’re absolutely the same person. And it’s the one I most look forward to reading! 19. what’s your opinion on legends/expanded universe? I LOVE IT. Parts of it are absolutely terrible and so many people just doing whatever without any kind of oversight led to a gigantic mess and a lot of the writers in Legends were just Not Good At Writing Star Wars, but there’s a lot of really great stories and characters that were told there. I still read tons of Legends stuff and find them very valuable and worthwhile experiences to have, they can still have some great insights or just be fun to consume! The sticky thing, of course, is that they’re not canon and they kind of never really were. George Lucas made that super clear and I think it’s actually a really, really smart idea on Disney’s part to just make Legends and canon two separate worlds. You cannot piece them back together anymore, you couldn’t as soon as Ben Solo existed, but even as far back as the prequels material, the Jedi Apprentice books, etc., cannot work with The Clone Wars anymore. It’s fine to enjoy them! It’s fine to live in that space! I really love Mara Jade, for example, and I love Ben Skywalker a lot, too! And I’m sad that I’ll probably never get to see them in a Saga movie or in anything new again, but I’m also willing to roll with it because canon has brought some amazing things with it (including a whole lot of queer characters that Legends N E V E R gave us), as well as all those people who didn’t have any idea how to write the Jedi? *gleefully drop-kicks them over the side of a cliff* 25. which character do you have a love/hate relationship with? I’ve already covered Qui-Gon and Palpatine, so this time I’m going with: JAR JAR BINKS. About the time I started coming back to Star Wars after a long hiatus, the Darth Darth Binks theory had just been posted and I was so taken in by it, I LOVED IT. Looking back, I’m not sure if it actually was intended (that quote about “Jar Jar is the key to all of this” is taken WAY out of context for example, George was specifically talking about special effects, that if they could nail the way Jar Jar looked, then the effects would be pulled off), but I still enjoyed it. And I think what happened with Ahmed Best is a fucking shame, like, JFC, Star Wars fandom, this is a really ugly look for us. It makes me defensive of Jar Jar’s character, including that a lot of kids actually really loved the character! But also, yeah, Jar Jar is really kinda super racist and I get that they didn’t intend for him to be that, as well as he is at least played by a black guy, but it’s still pretty awful. And, yeah, he is annoying. Yet, I can’t help but feel sympathy for him when it’s super clear that people find him annoying all the time. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were annoyed by him, Padme in TCW makes it R E A L clear that she’s annoyed by him, nobody actually treats him like the Galactic Senator that he is, his ending is actually really sad--and this is someone who genuinely wanted to help people. Being mean to Jar Jar, someone who was trying his best to be cheerful and helpful, feels kind of cruel after awhile. Still. I can never bring myself to like him or the storylines he gets. He’s really, really annoying! And the space Jamaican accent still makes me cringe the way it’s played. So, I am really, really ambivalent about Jar Jar, I’m really torn about the character.

#meta #jar jar binks #star wars ask meme #saintpadme

19 notes · View notes

throwingideasatthewall · 3 years

Text

Clone Wars Episode 3

Shadow of Malevolence

Okay I have to admit I did not look at the episodes title before giving my review at the end of episode two

Which was in fact “Rising malevolence,” in which I noted hesitance towards the seemingly unfinished project and uncertainty To whether it would be finished or not or if this was just a standalone episode with a semi inconclusive ending Given that ‘Ambush’ Seemed to be a self-contained story

Well I got my answer

When I checked the next episode title for my ‘next’ segment So this is going to be a seralized Built up Thing

Alright

Point I was actually going to start with

Was theorization About this episode’s plot Seeing as how wildly different they are Despite focusing on Jedi Masters And if that meant that we’re going to be seeing Mace Windu this episode

How this would mix with the scene I’m interested in Now on with the episode

[Logo]

“Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by ego,”

This one is complicated....

On one hand, Yes, the path to accountability

“Wisdom” Is easy for those not set against it

On the other hand, “easy,” the path of accountability Is not, It takes noticeable effort

but...

You’ll have fun doing it

Blue

Narrator

“A deadly weapon Unleashed,”

Deadly, only if you are Plo Koon

Approach space weapon

From

It’s obvious space firing point

and

Have no one approaching a different angles

Aka don’t use Jedi Council logic

This really is the Jedi Council propaganda station

Ooh The Separatists’ Ship Is called malevolence probably would’ve known that

(Had The Jump Cuts Not Given Me Sea Sick- Ness) My B Nvm Name makes perfect sense

(Thought it meant Malevolence As in the overall feeling, Makes sense...)

Unopposed Again

Jedi

enablers

After A ‘Daring’ rescue

The only thing daring was Which Enabler To Take Orders From (That Was My Fav orite Part)

Sky walker Prepares HaHAHAHAHAHA

You’d think they’d let him prepare anything

(Also teenagers can’t prepare)

Thought; I’m really Gonna Like Seeing Anakin In This Episode (They Specifically Mention Him)

They managed to write Pretty Realistic And Consist ent Child Characters (With Little Bumps) Last Time Around And I’d really like to see them continue that consistency with (maybe) some (slight) bettering

“Droid Commander,”

Oh, who could that be...

“ General grievous,” Sweet

[Flighters Landing]

Omnious

Oh it’s our ‘good’ guys “Strike Force,”

They’re sending a teenager

“ As the bulk of our Fleets are engaged on the front line,”

You are the sacrificial sleep!

Also I love how the super weapon isn’t even a priority

Like oh yeah that going off in it’s own little isolated corner

What must the rest of the galaxy look like?

“ We’ll be on our own,”

Plo Koon is just here to babysit

(And find out who gave Skywalker those orders)

“ prepare our attack strategy,”

“ Thank you admiral,”

Okay first line from Skywalker

Can’t tell anything yet

Sound ed a bit sleepy (?)

Pretty Okay

Not exactly monotonous

But functional

The angle they are holding on his face though...

Bit weird

“And general grievous,”

Odd

Softening... of voice

And... facial.. features...

Whispering to each other

“ Ha, the head clanker,”

Okay other adult

“ Skywalker’s getting ambitious,”

No the Council just really wants to throw teenage bodies at it

To see what happens...

We destroy general grievous and the ship will fall with him

No That’s not how ships work

This isn’t ties his life force

(That we know!)

“ just point us to where that metal head is Sir,”

Everyone’s✨ prepared to die!

Yeah!

“Alright, men settle down”

The fact that they actually listen to him on this

“ this is an important mission,”

That’s why they assigned it to a teenager

Also, War

There is no important in it

Battle over someone’s grievances

(And a lack of accountability)

“ we destroy grievous we can bring the war to a quicker end,”

THAT’S NICE PROPAGANDA YOU GOT THERE! Anakin!

“Skywalker...”

(I swear if he complements him)

“ this is an aggressive plan,”

Thanks, my handler came up with it!

“ are you sure your squadron can complete this mission?”

I don’t know you assigned them

“Let’s ask them, Matchstick,”

That’s too much emotion

“ you sure our boys can pull it off,”

Little too much emotion

“Yes, Sir!”

Like that but much less emotion

“There hasn’t been a mission shadow squadron couldn’t complete!”

Which Plo Koon should know

Having their service records

“That’s right, minimal casualties,”

Some asshole still died

In this petty war

“ Maximum efficiency,”

Maximum pettiness! Sir!

“That’s us,” We’re enablers!

“ I admire your confidence pi-”

But?

“Even so, minimum casualties may be enough to prevent you from breaking Grievous’s defenses,”

‘ You don’t throw your troops willy-nilly into harm’s way boring,’ - General Plo, probably

‘Master Plo is right,”

“Ahsoka” orders

“ it’s bound to be well protected,”

Ok, here we’ve got a role reversal this time - it’s Anakin being over emotional - with Ahsoka being on point Interesting But still worth criticizing

Children don’t talk like that

“ Master Skywalker seems to inspire great confidence,”

Still focusing on Plo

And his re assumption of authority over Ahsoka

So so far

We’ve got Ahsoka taking orders from Plo

And Anakin under Chancellors’ control (Possibly till the end of the series) though with Obi-Wan showing possibilities of a second contender And Plo showing vested interest (Though unlikely) Considering we don’t know how much time each Jedi spent with Anakin and it’s generally assumed Obi-Wan spent the most time around him

Until the Chancellor Just keeping track

You could say that someone gave Anakin orders obey the Chancellor But there’s no hesitation when he orders Anakin Like with Obi-Wan

Making me think these two are neck and neck...

just keeping track to see who’s screwing over who

In this power dynamic

“ he does lead by example,” Little risky there

Still leaning in on the monotonious

Ship leading out out Red sparks

You could homie?!

Like that thing is sparking!!

That can’t be alright!

Ship is a fecking safety hazard

Before it even left the dock!

Oh, wait that’s fire

My bad

They are not good homie

Point taken

Also your strategy is to back up in live fire

Ship literally puts herself in all of the live fire

What kinda-

Is that supposed to be reassuring

* General grievous coughing*

you good-

Possible assassination target ?

“-escort”

Pretty Sure that was a decoy ship

They just stood around and let you shoot them

Like pretty sure they weren’t even trying

I didn’t even see any escape pods this time around

The last transport is fleeing General

Or pretending to?

Would’ve been nice to see that

Never mind there it is

They won’t get far

Just kind of floating like that

Like are their engines even on

Charge the plasma rollers

“ They’re moving to attack position sir?”

Which is what?

We’ve never actually seen this weapon’s firing to action compared to the rest of the ship

Either getting just a close-up of the firing port

Or the ship running away from it

Never this thing’s direct area of effect

(Probably because the Jedi never think to go either left or right,)

And it’s painted as a sort of ‘end all be all weapon,’

(Despite every time we’ve seen it’s effect, there being a clear radius

A logic sin more than a storytelling one

And farther proves my resolve that Anakin was sent on a baby mission

With enhanced importance put on it

“Are we clear to make the jump to hyperspace?

Took Anakin like five seconds

But at least it establishes that these guys are more accountable than Plo (and likely the Jedi Council)

Fire ion weapon

Oh hey Count Dooku is there in holographic form

Neat

Did say he had to be somewhere else so that makes sense

Also oh no they’re at the same exact place Skywalker was

And can be rescued very easily!

(Even if not!)

We’ve lost all power

Surprise, surprise

Very light shooting

Well they died of their own stupidity

(If they didn’t get an escape pod)

Boy this is a lot more fun when they aren’t shooting back - said every Narc ever

“ I still can’t seem to hit anything,”

Dude...

Grievous Hits A Robot

Dude you program med them

Don’t abuse your Roomba?!

Just don’t be a dick

“ Grievous,”

Oh he actually has more lines in this

“ Those battle droids are expensive,”

Hmm,

And a bit of a personality

Good for him

When we saw him last time he didn’t really say or do much

Except for the last scene where he emoted kinda scared

Of course how power levels are bullshit Especially for humans But that was chilling

“The Jedi are never so harsh with their-”

A little moment of things

Also possibly teasing Grievous due to the last time we saw them, Dooku had threatened to report Grievous to Sidious and we opened up with that coughing line

(is it supposed to be laughing? I can’t really tell and sorry if I’m jumping to incorrect conclusions with That-)

“Clones,” - With their child soldiers -

Or I guess soldiers

(Based on their reaction)

Then, again

Positive grooming Is still grooming

And Anakin gets a fair bit of both

(Verbally speaking)

The care these Jedi show for their Troops

Hahaha - ha

Like if they had been shown to be remotely accountable

Like still breaking the toxicity rule

And looking back And referring to them

Too many Unwarranted

Times

Causing distress

Okay

But here it is not the Jedi’s treatment that has gotten the better

It’s Grievous’s treatment... that has gotten worse

He brought the standards are lower so that the Jedi seem nice

Which is a pretty hard thing to do Those enabling assholes

“A weakness we shall continue to exploit,”

Yeah, toxicity!

Screw being nice to people

Or even a smallest sense of accountability!

Honestly, I’m kind of pleased This is the first time we’ve seen them plan any sort of malicious attack

Up to this point it’s been I want to screw up Yoda’s day, and I want to do it, now

Juveniles shenanigans

This is the first time we’ve ever seen them have an actual plan

And I Hope they get a scale of escalation

Going from Whoopy cushions to War

Really earning that enabling insult I’ve been throwing at Yodi and all the other Jedi

“ I have the coordinates for a new target,”

What??

You’re in war!

They know and are planning to mess your shit up

Still I like the fact they are in fact planning to mess something up

Good Job

“ The Republics...”

Oh cool a base (medical)

“Secret”

Okay...

“Outer Rim” Okay!

“Medical station...”

Wait, no you can’t do it that- there’s people on there!

Seriously 1 to 10

Went from let’s go to blow the Jedi, to let’s go screw up medically ill people

Real quick....

I mean I guess it matters who’s on there...

“ it’s unprotected,”

“ 60,000 wounded clones,”

Oh, well they did agree for War

On one hand it’s pretty clear with my stance is on death vs accountability On the other, Enablers

Well.... Looks like we’re not getting that scale of escalation today Still I do like how they set it up

And... the consistency they have going

The more consistent a villain is the more fun and terrifying they are

I’m also assuming all those clones in the introduction are going to die from tragic means

Fully irony

Possibly with one dude left to enjoy it

A mark on their casualty record...

We will do them a favor

That eye twitch

Like are you sure about this, dude?

🔹Welcome to enabling ✨

“ Misery”

This job is misery...

“ There would be no place for the Jedi to send their wounded,” Except where they send their non-clone wounded

Like we’re skipping right to

Bombing And destruction Of hospitals (This being apparently the only one in the entire galaxy,”

No one else knowing first aid

Or not willing to enable this bullshit

During a war...

“And they will die,”

Geez I was just joking about no one knowing any first aid

That’s what we’re going with

OK harsh geez Guess to the bombing of a hospital...

“ it will be my pleasure, my Lord”

Will it though?

I feel very confident leaving the ship under your command General

Do you though?

Like that’s a nice complement

But do you?

“General!”

Shit’s gone wrong

Hey, there ware those escape pads...

Several minute.....after everyone else Supposedly got blown up

What ship....

Oh wait is that ship they just got electri.......

Did they just get blown up.....?

Like you’re still telling me They don’t have any sort of Back up power source for this now?

WHOO -O

Jedi Council

With leaders this bad who needs enemies

“ Target get those escape pods,”

Those escape pods should be well out of sight

“ I have a reputation to uphold?”

Didn’t you lose them last time?

Like I know pride

Oh - back these guys

I suppose

Then again I suppose we didn’t need that

Since it was just showing how ruthless this guy was And our ‘brave’.... totally not gonna die through tragic means

* as well as Ironic

Soldiers

‘Lol’

Aawwwwww

It’s adorable!

(The Worrying since the other guy has the expert of tech on their side

Easy To Hack)

The only acceptable Garbage Friend : )

“lol” It’s Very Cute

And R2- D2 Nice

Which one’s mine?

Wouldn’t you know?

“ You’re with me,”

“ you’ll be my gunner,”

Both of them now have too much...

emotion

[Ahsoka turned back]

This is either going to be OK or very bad

Asoka turns around with a pretty surprised frozen reaction

ERRR

“ What? I need someone to watch my back,”

That, Just no

Bad line read...

“Broadside could do that.....” That, just no

The clanky animation

The enthusiasm

The Voice

It is just really isn’t working together

Which is a shame

Because child characters does can generally be excused for their stiff actions

But...not here

Bad

This really isn’t working

Just

No-

Ack-

Skip- - -

“ you don’t like my flying,”

There is just so much wrong with this...

......

Well I needed a break

The switch to Skywalker

The Admiral?

The last episode it was the introductionary Cut scene that did me in, this time I get the feeling it’s going to be the character interactions (Specifically Skywalker and Ahsoka’s) Conversations

Like it’s not the most Egregious example Just a little too much emotion

But then it ramps it up

And the dialogue

And the Anim-

(-Ack-)

That scene just does not work

Now hopefully contin -uing

At a much slower pace-

The Admiral

-Ack-

The acting

Is not getting better

Might have to skip this episode At least the Asoka parts

(Ashame)

“only general grievous would go out the clones that can’t fight back,”

Why?

Are you talking like a Narc pretending to be a baby with the pursued lips

Doing that faked pouting ‘thing’?

TRAIN WRECK!

I’m skipping

Up to 17:03

Plo looks strict

That’s All I can deal with in that whole conversation

(Sorry)

On wards;

Oh, a cool looking space station!

And cool looking aliens

And a strangely smooth sounding voice

“Transports,”

It is not possible

To Evacuate all the wounded in time

Well get the Jedi Council

Have them play Distraction

Or just straight kick those guys back

Just because it can take a while doesn’t mean you consign everyone to death

Also hear that - if they still manage to get everyone on the ship there’s no place for them to go

Oh, so well I’m totally buying

That the Jedi Council pull something out of their ass

Like ‘we do’

I’m just noting that

This mission was doomed from the start

Everyone was doomed to die

Completely of their own accord

Human beings can lift mountains when stressed enough

Can’t tell me any of this nonsense happens on accident

Playing Death tag with bullets

Especially from Mister no mistakes

“You must try,”

Yeah Doctor Who is fully prepared to let people who played Death tag die

Like they admittedly signed up for it

You know in the movie I jokingly called this guy COMs Guy

But now that really is starting to come true

Like; Does he have nothing better to do?

Then moderate the Coms?

Like up to this point it made sense

Obi- wan was trying to communicate with Anakin

Makes sense that his guy would pick up

But why here?

Like Aniken’s launching an assault On Grievous’s ship his admiral should be busy As the rest of his crew

And an in superior or someone further down the chain of command should be handling that

“You won’t stand a chance against their battleship,”

And I’m not putting faith in my child soldier superior

Obi-Wan

Got caught snitching

“ I only just received word,”

Because the COM‘s officer was busy

Jumping the chain of command

“ we’re sending troops to help you and I’m on my way,”

This is why we don’t skip over things Admiral

(And maybe this is brought up)

Thank you master Jedi

“ If they reach us in time,”

“Do you really think they can stop that thing?”

If they assume some level of accountability

Yes

I’m sorry a better way of putting it was responsibility

It’s still tox responsibility

But using their brains

Initiative

Tox initiative is what I’m thinking about

So that negative outlook isn’t helping

“It is our only hope”

No...

Not really

There’s-

Ships Are all of these supposed to be medical ships?

Person

Ad mir al

Launch The Fighters

I’m honestly surprised that the council forces managed to be organized enough To fly in formation

I hope

you know what you’re doing Anakin

‘ I hope you’re following my orders’

Well if I don’t I won’t be around to hear the I told you so

The emotion Needs to be lower

“ that’s reassuring,”

The fact that he’s suddenly developed unchildlike behavior?

Not.. too bad

Not movie bad

But edging too close for my comfort

Not tox levels yet

Take your shortcut

And I’ll take the long route

You know this could’ve been a great moment To contrast Obi-Wan and the chancellor’s ordering style

Specifically The comment “Take your shortcuts,” And the possible betrayal Of the chancellor lead up

“But you better be there before I arrive,”

Or what?

Probably just trying to find out who ordered Anakin

“i’ll be there Obi - wan

“R2 - Ooie”

Oh yeah let’s put the apprentice in the most exposed part

Great idea

whoever gave those Orders

“Cut the chatter Ahsoka,”

Hey that line worked!

Fighter escort ready

Wait why??

Wasn’t his troops injured?

Shouldn’t he be helping with the evacuation?

You know having a personal connection?

Also connecting back to Anakin’s troops?

(Going off the offensive defensive theme)

Seriously, what happened, back in that meeting that made this the plan

“This is Admiral (U-Lot-in) ?”

Now he’s on command

“ Good hunting sir,”

“ Okay, boys,” Too much personality

“ Drinks are on me,”

Great just don’t fly into the one major weapon

Or stand around doing nothing

Aka don’t be Plo Koon

Like I love how they just side eye ing this bas tard like “it’s” “Going” “to” “be” “so” “easy”

Mean while Plo Koon is like, :|

Like you die next

(Dude watched as a unit died you can’t tell me he isn’t planning on getting them in front of that the plasma cannon)

“I can already taste it”

Eat shit Plo Koon

Then again this is a squad with a minimum casualty rate So they are clearly the Mom friends

In this pile of enabling

Ship

Less emphasis on the shark design

As anyone else

(Also, forgot earlier: Tragic irony)

Including the ship’s location

“ What’s taking so long,”

“ I want to be there,”

“ Before too many wounded clones escape,”

That’s something a hero says

“Sorry, Sir,”

What a polite droid

A large nebula

“They told me this ship was fast,”

Dude you’ve been on this ship, you know how fast it is

Also it’s HUGE Or Supposed to be

Common sense dictates it’s not going to be as fast as a speeder

Ooh Setting The Scene

Navigate through shortcut...

“ We’ll be alright,”

You tell anyone else about this?

“ A nebula can be very unpredictable,”

So, why are you here?

Clearly you knew the plan

“ I would advise caution,”

“Don’t worry master Jedi we can hold our own,”

“We’ll hold your hand,”

“Right Shadow Squadron?”

Aww, that’s nice

“Copy that,”

Re-assurance

Over Con Fid Ence

“Does any one care-”

SHUT- I’m Sorry But This is Reach -ing Movie Levels Of Toxic Children Writ ing Child- ren Aren’t Devel -Op -ed Enough To Be Male-cious Never Mind This!

Bad Writ ing

“Of course we care snips,”

That’s- not how children talk

Think I Might’ve-

“We’re Still Going Through That Ne bul -a-”

[That line is so creepy]

New timestamp: 9:24 Entering the nebula seems pretty well done and I can’t wait to see more of

Back to the station

Weirdly Designed Shuttles

(Looking a bit more beat up Than they actually are Due to the logo and insignia Placement)

The evacuation is proceeding slowly ma’am

How?! Like we are led to believe that they were shuffling out patients at that rate

But how??

Even if all the patients were dragging their feet I don’t think it would go this slowly

And these are soldiers Standard don’t slouch- Stereotype

Some of them can clearly move right?

(Otherwise what kind of heckin hospital is this?)

Those emergency vehicles to be moving in and out a lot faster

(This is a bunch of systematic paperwork designed to kill you, slowly speed,”

Also only two -four evac Vehicles

That’s Titanic levels of bad planning

In general I don’t really call Logic storytelling Sins but I’m struggling to come up with any explanation of why things would go that slow and it’s bordering on the author literally forcing everyone into their rooms

The author isn’t playing sad music and trying to make us feel sad about these obviously preventable cas.

But still I honestly hope the storytelling gets better (and smarter) Slightly

“We have to move the patients in stable condition first”

You weren’t already doing that?!

Also no you move the patients in the most vulnerable condition first because they are less likely to survive

You can get the people in the most stable condition to help you

And if shit does hit the fan and the ship does reach the station most likely to survive (And continue increased speed rate)

This isn’t (Disease) triage system lady

They can’t catch a cannon ball to the face because they’re around a person who was

ALSO?! HELLO?! Shouldn’t there be idk ALARMS going off??

Like I know you don’t want to alarm the patients but Idk this seems like the occasion

* I don’t know if this place even has a working sprinkler system

Like everyone’s about to die and everyone’s just chill with it Everyone’s just accepted death

.....

Like there are steps there and we see none of them

IDK, this one just seems the most unrealistic and hard to buy

“ The more critically injured will have to wait”

For what?

A cannonball to the face?

“But what about the bacta tanks?

Many of those men Can’t be moved at all,”

???

Okay, That’s really stupid

Like beyond stupid Even life support can be moved

They been at war for how long?

This medical station is a fecking nightmare

A straight up trainwreck

No wonder the transportation is taking so long

And (The Cap Ab L e) people in the hospital aren’t flee ing

There aren’t any

“I know Commander,”

I made it that way

By not putting any time or resources into researching movable Bacta tanks As the hospital’s head

Should be fired

- cheapest excuse for non existent tension ever

Close up

-Ewwww

“Guide the patients that can be moved onto transports,”

Again what were you doing before

“ At once, Madame,”

In the next 3000 years

No urgency

Whatsoever

[Inside the Nebula]

Dusty

Nice

“ The soup is thick,”

So...

“ can you see anything,” Don’t look away!

“ just keep your eyes on my thruster Shadow 2,”

Did- you not give them instructions - on how to navigate the thing

What if you get lost-?

“The scanners are useless,”

You typed it once, on your ship

Also-

No other to navigate

“this is old fashion flying,”

Anakin has gone full boomer

“You have to feel your way through to stay on course,”

Asoka’s face Sums up my emotions

Annaaaakin have you been hitting the shrooms?

Like the tone of voice

And the animation

Something in that nebulae is driving Anakin a little loopy...

Can’t even blame drugs

It’s just un ...canny valley

Creeps me the fuck out

“- Ahsoka, clear your mind,”

Ok, Master Plo and Anakin are now out of it

Clones, you want to speak up and stop the shroom trip

“Youngling” Gross

“I can’t see anything at all,”

“I always know where I’m going,”

That one clone has the force confirmed?

“ Yeah, where’s that Broadside?”

Called out “I’m going to blow up that battleship,”

Fair point

“A Clear a path if ever there was one,

Yet you somehow missed

Ohh, blue

I really like blue

The slower move to the back of the ship is nice too

More acceptable red

“ We have one para sec,”

Oh so they’re getting closer

Hospital might be 3/4 done

3/4′s being the amount left

Casualties with this attack

They’re already wounded

And the hospital has probably already done that

“ There’s an incoming transmission from Count Dooku,”

You mean he left?!

“ General grievous,” Stiff

“ I have a received information from Lord Sidious,”

Yeah how did that -conversation- go?

“ The republic has launched a small strike team,”

When was this information was this information received?

Also, they sent the teenager

And probably got lost in a nebula

“ To attack the male volence,”

To attack the car

“ Our ship is unstoppable,”

No they’re just stupid

Also; Weren’t you just bitching about it five seconds ago

“Skywalker is leading the mission,”

Again; the teenager

He can follow orders

And nothing else

“ Do not underestimate him,”

He might be given orders by someone with slight bit more accountability

* Or toxic initiative

“Ha if anything Count,”

“It is Skywalker who underestimate this ship,”

You really like this ship don’t you

And It’s power

Again, ship

Back to the dust cloud

“So sky guy how do you know about this shortcut?”

Don’t like the way it was asked

But still a valid question

It’s an old smuggler’s route

Aight

Pilots used to talk about it on Tattooine

Fair

But also did they say ‘tell everyone’ right after?

Or was that the Jedi?

“ smugglers’ route that makes me feel better,”

HaHA

So funny...

“ AlMorrow run,”

“Al Morrow Run?!” *Slightly panicked*

Plo you know this shit was going down

“I think I’m picking up a contact,”

I ThOuGhT the SCaNnErs DIDN’T WoRk

“ Skywalker listen to me,”

Listen to the guy that got his fleet killed

* 3/4 but still

We need to turn around

You can turn around General

Every one else is High on Mur der

“ if we’re going to catch grievous,”

Another Contact

“ this one’s much larger,”

Still, just smugglers

“Is the nesting route, ~~~ ~~~”

Again they’re just smugglers

Another

Sounds

Oh it’s just an animal

that’s fine

Taking evasive action

Why?

You’re made of metal it’s made out of flesh

Also not the least bit threatening at all

Also cute visual

* R2- D2 beeping*

Those Gasovers are huge

Yep sure are

Don’t shoot or they’ll panic

Thank you, Mister- I- want to- turn- back- because of completely harmless animals

Also the smugglers picked a pretty very scenic route

“I’m about to panic,”

Completely irrationally

“There’s so many of them!”

Don’t sound so panicked

Aww

How did you miss that? You can stop in space mate

“ I’m hit!”

“i’m an idiot!”

Pull it together match stick

A Valid criticism Also Ha matchstick is on fire!

“ I’m okay I got it,”

By doing absolutely nothing

These things are going to make a meal out of us

* SHut up Ahsoka

Always lineup behind me

Why?

Oh evasive maneuvers *smack*

Dude... that was your own fault

Hurry, they will not follow us beyond the nebula

Dude, stop having a phobia about it These are just space whales

That one looks hungry

Nah it’s just smiling at you!

Seriously Asoka is trying to start an international incident

Plo Koon is not happy

“We’re coming out of it,”

Seriously, does everyone have a fear of the space whales

Out they come

“ let’s hope your shortcut pays off,”

Oh yeah cause they were just going to let the troops die

Or Obi-Wan is

We’re not far behind Grievous now

Oh yeah he’s still in blue

This Could’ve worked

Oh, no wait

It’s Obi won

“ 50% of patients evacuated,”

How?!

“That’s not good enough,”

Again, how did they even manage that?!

“ They’ll never be finished...”

Hey you wanna know why?!

“ General skywalker still has a chance to catch Grievous,”

Because you’ve done absolutely nothing

Except comment

“ If he does we have to be ready,”

What!?

“Yes Sir,” I already knew this Back to space

Every -one form att ing

Plo Koon looking out his window

Dude on fire

What is the Damage To Your Ship?

He already said his stabilizer was out

This is just highlighting that he’s a dead man

At this point

Designated weak link

“Just a scratch Sir,”

Not when you were yelling about it two seconds ago

“ Don’t take any more un necess ary risks,”

Are you gonna stop and fix his shit or you just gonna constantly rem him out for it?

“ if we lose even a single ship,”

Weren’t you just advocating for eugenics a few moments ago?

The mission is that much closer to failure

Wow you assumed authority is really putting the pressure on these guys

Also...

“ Understood Master Plo,”

You’re a failure

But we didn’t lose any ships And I didn’t

“ Sir, another contact

“ I thought those things,”

Seriously not everything is space whales

Not following us coming out of hyper-space

The Whales??! A ship

Oh that’s interesting too

I like the Sharks vs whales Design

They got going here

I hope they use them against General grievous To show the problems with harming innocence

And a great metaphor for accountability

“The malevolence,”

Here we go

Time to kick ass

Wait

Okay

Why didn’t we see the station behind our heroes?

Why were they in open space?

Why aren’t they shown in front of General Grievous in this shot

Is that’s supposed to be them?

“ A squadron of a Republic fighters are approaching,”

Oh so they’re there somewhere

“Skywalker,” Teenager

Launch fighters and actually bring the ship around

That’s actually a smart move

“ There are several medical transports surrounding the station,”

Dude you’re involved in combat right now why would you relay that information?

Also hey mate you really want to screw with the station? Turn the power off

There they are

Intense death music

Target the transports first

Who has no emergency engine, boost or backup power supply

I want every single ship destroyed

Yeah you really need to a heavier ship

If you were planning to play things this close

Instead of distracting them

With the Station

(And transp orts,)

Clearly out of fire range

“Roger, Roger,”

Would’ve been clever if one of the droids screwed up As revenge for killing The earlier droid Showing Grievous getting screwed over by his own petard

Well They shot the ambulance Those Apparently can’t do hyperdrive

I love that guy’s reaction Like Well we’re dead

Surprised they don’t have emergency power on board

Given that reaction

“This is too easy,”

Yeah it is even for orders

Slow Order -s

We’ve got fighters coming in

Very slow ly

Like a video game

“ Charge the ion cannon,”

But sir our fighters will be caught in the blast

Back to that theme of don’t abuse your. in - superiors

Fire at my command

The dangers of assumed authority And the lack of taking initiative

[Also a bit about humans ability to do so

And echo chambers

“ your fancy flying is making it difficult,”

They’re robots; are program med to be unpredicta ble and organiz ed

You’re just a bad �� shot

“Fire,”

Well don’t just dodge

“Make towards the edge of the ray,”

Oh so we’re actually going acknowledge That And that Plo Koon is just an idiot

Give it everything you’ve got

Why

“ shadow 2 your speed is dropping,”

Oy! Stop distracting him!

Assu -med Autho rity

“What’s W -rong,”

I mean isn’t that the same dude that got his stabilizer taken out?

Isn’t a question what’s wrong

Nothing, sir, just trying to keep it together,”

Voice says liar

You can keep it Match stick

*Spark

They put so much pressure on him he exploded

Seriously all that thing does is turn your power off

Someone could’ve covered him

Took Him Back

As there are no fi ghters-

Oh great took someone else with him

Who Couldn’t Dodge

Also,

whoa,

whoa

wait

how

can

you

drop

altitude

In SPACE?!

Like Foul play On Storytelling!

You cannot change the laws of physics for a cool set piece

Especially when several other scenes (even plots) depended on it working!

It’s not immediate (Or bad Enough) To warrant A “Tox!”

That’s the fate they avoided

“Shadow Squad ron,”

This is not the time for a quiet moment

That should be a two minutes are you there

Call In

(When they realize they aren’t being shot at)

And that’s it

(No Asoka knowing the answers because why)

“Tag” Poor dude

Needs to learn to dodge

Also just not gonna verify that from anyone else are we

“It looks like Skywalker has failed,”

Again Teenager

Also hey he lost two guys

Mission failure

And Obi-Wan the adult responsible for this mess

Nowhere to be seen

Didn’t he give Skywalker an ultimatum to be there before he was?

Shouldn’t he be arriving at the same time as Grievous?

He lost almost half his ships

He had like Five

“We should go,” Oh yeah never mind the unconscious patients that are only in that circumstance because you didn’t-

“ I will stay,”

POINTLESS!

Back to fighting

Good

“ Stay on course,”

Ok guys you know what to do

Do the exact opposite of what Plo Koon orders you to do

He lost his whole fleet

All deflectors double front

How do they not already know this?

“Master,”

What?!

Why would you just randomly say his name?

“ We need a new plan,”. WHO MADE HER Chief Strategist??

One bullet shot nearby;

“ we need a new plan,”

“ we can make it Ahsoka,”

Question ing your authority?

“ let them come,”

They can just bomb the shit out of you

“Prepare the ion cannon,”

When they’re on top of your ship

“First we will destroy the medical station,”

Should’ve. done that a bit of time ago

Still works

But wouldn’t that just manage to turn their power off

“ and we will finish off Skywalker,”

Again he lost two ships

Everyone’s ready to pro- claim him dead

Plo Koon Must Be A Ghost

-Fleet

“I have a bad feeling about this”

Boss gave an order to attack a hospital

Somehow still not exactly closer to the ship

Bad Aim

“We’re too close loosen up,”

Who made you Leader

Whelp

“Ion Cannon, ready,”

“They’re targeting us,”

They’ve been targeting you this Whole time

No surprise

Alarms should be blaring

[Tumblr Refresh]

[Giving up an almost complete mission for an idea that might just barely work is a bad idea

Ahsoka is not commander

There is no way that should’ve worked

Ahsoka gets unjust credit

“Three Republic ships,”

Oh, goodie

Did Obi-Wan...

Rainbow explosion

Obi-Wan literally waited for the last possible moment

There’s no way he could’ve been that slow

Anakin do you copy

How the heck

Congratulations it looks like your mission was a success,”

Without your help

And beyond any logic

Partially

But Grievous is still alive

How do you??

The battle was pretty rough on my men

You haven’t said bullshit

Ahsoka. has been answering all the questions

We’re heading for the medical station,”

No one got that badly injured

“We’ll take it from here”

Hope so

Since Anakin is supposed to be a child

And his ass would’ve gotten kicked!

[Obi-Wan... don’t let Grievous Go]

Back Here again

“ you didn’t do so bad yourself”

Screen writers killed off a character with selective physics so he’s happy

“Ah, excuse me?”

You did nothing this entire time

“ My suggestion to change the plan,”

Com pletely Irrational ly

“ From a certain point of view,”

Don’t get snippy

You have no reason to be snippy

Blah, blah

Wrapping things up...

Cheap

That’s how I would describe this episode quality

Not referring to actual production value

(Though the Asoka and Anakin scenes have a noticeable drop in quality)

Nearly earning a logic sin Of “tox”

I normally don’t criticize aesthetic choices

Given that this is a war movie (Based off one at least) And unsatisfactory end ing s

Are par for the course

I really think it could’ve done better in terms of satisfactory Setting up a lot of plot points that could’ve came into play [General Grievous’s requirement to chase things down to protect his reputation...) ]

Most notably

How ever

That it seem to be trying to make me to eat every compliment I had given to it’s prodecessor

[Seeming more like an apology for everything the previous episode than an actual finished product

- Plo Koon getting an actual successful role

The characterization of the child characters was worse

The tension was worse off....

Nearly earning that logic sin from me

Excluding the increased intelligence from the villains

Which I did like

I hope to see things get better

Continuing on...

0 notes

i-aim-to-overanalyze · 6 years

Note

For the Star Wars Q&A (P.S. I love your writing and I miss your Star Wars stuff!!!): 5, 6, 11, 12, 20, 21, 23, 35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 59, and 60.

Aw thank you!

5. Empire or Rebellion?

Rebellion !

6. Bounty Hunter or Clone/Storm/First order Trooper?

Bounty hunter all the way. Clone Trooper is a close second tho.

11. Top 5 favourite female Jedi?

It’s a sad state of affairs when I can really only think of five female jedi to begin with.

Ahsoka Tano, Rey, Ahsako Tano Shaak Ti, Jocusta Nu, Depa Billaba

12. Top 5 favourite male Jedi?

Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Obiwan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Qui Gon Jinn

20. Top 5 favourite planets?

1. Tatoonie. Death planet ftw!! No, in all seriousness, I love the surprising amount of depth it has, with the hutts, bounty hunters, moisture farmers, and sand people all crawling around it. It’s basically the Wild West in Space, now that I think about it. Plus, I think we all have a special place in our hearts for the first planet introduced in the SW universe :)

2. Naboo. Not only does it boast beautiful architecture and ridiculous elaborate clothing but it’s a planet where two different species, two different governments essentially, coexist on the same planet. Most Sci-Fi’s have a planet governed by a single entity for the sake of simplicity but I like that touch.

3. Coruscant. It’s essentially a planet turned into one huge city, how cool is that?? It’s almost an imaging of what Earth could look like if we ran into an overpopulation problem.

4. Alderaan. A moment of silence for the millions of people obliterated by the Death Star’s blow.

5. Mandalore. I love it’s design in TCW! Not to mention, I find the culture of the Mandalores fasnicating. I know some people hate what TCW did to them and don’t understand Satine’s motivations but I think it makes sense for a Duchess who underwent a brutal civil war to swing the opposite way entirely and want to avoid war after seeing its’ devastation.

21. Where would you live in the Star Wars universe?

Naboo, definitely.

23. What ship would you own?

Padme’s ship. The J-type star skiff (the one she uses in ROTS).

35. Would you customise your ship?

Definitely! I’d probably weaponize it, since it’s a civilian ship to start off with.36. Would you customise your Droid?

I’d probably give them a paint job every now and then.

39. 1 lightsaber, 2 lightsabers, double lightsaber, or 2 double lightsabers?

This was a tough choice! Since I’m a fan of duo-wielding in videogames, I’m gonna go with two lightsabers40. What colour would your lightsaber(s) be?

Green! I really wish Luke faced off Kylo with his green lightsaber :( also everyone always seems to forget that Anakin’s first lightsaber was green before it was destroyed by Dooku41. If you’re a Bounty Hunter, what armour would you have?

If you’re not wearing Mandalorian armor, then what even is the point? I kid, but honestly their armor is too cool not to wear. The color would be dark purple with light purple highlights

42. Would you customise your armour?

Um, probably? Depends what type of armor we’re talking here. Because apparently the stormtrooper armor is actually pretty uncomfortable kinda like the German uniforms in WW2 lmao and I’d definitely make it more comfortable to wear. If it’s the First Order armor, definitely getting rid of that hugely unnecessary black hole in the back of the armor that just screams SHOOT ME.43. What colour scheme would your armour/robes be?

For Jedi Robes, I’d think the inner rubes would be a rich maroon color with the outer robes a dark grey or muted purple.

46. Pod racing or ship racing?

Ship racing--although I doubt it’s any less dangerous.47. Space battle or ground battle??

Ground battle, because like @au-where-everyone-lived said, you get to swing lightsabers around!

59. If you could bring any Star Wars character back to life who would it be?

LUKE SKYWALKER. Although, I’m not a fan of how they handled his character in TLJ, I still think he shouldn’t have died. Especially since Yoda made it sound like it was his responsibility to teach Rey, meaning he had a reason to live. I mean, there’s a reason ghost!Obiwan brought Luke to Yoda, the still-living Jedi, to continue his training, right??

60. If you found out the Star Wars universe was real, would you move there or stay here?

That’s a tough choice. Because on one hand, there’s a lot of awful stuff that happens in SW universe. I mean just speaking within seventy years, there’s been two regimes terrorizing and taking over entire planets--not to mention one succeeded in ruling the universe in an oppressive reign for over twenty years of that period. But there’s so many cool and wondrous things about the universe that I’m not sure I’d stay there permanently but it’d be cool to take a long visit to it.

3 notes · View notes

hubskitchen · 6 years

Text

Hub’s Kitchen Entry 1: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review: Move on from the past and learn from failure

Man oh man, this is going to be a fun movie to talk about. If this were a voiced review, the sarcasm would be huge. Anyway, hi guys, the name’s Hub Pie, but you can just call me Hub, and welcome to the first entry of Hub’s Kitchen, a blog where I talk about all kinds of stuff. If you’ve read my introduction post, you would know that my first real post will be on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the most recent movie in the Star Wars franchise, and Disney’s third Star Wars film that they put out. I should get this out of the way now, but there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for this movie, The Force Awakens, and Rogue One. I think The Last Jedi is a movie that you can’t really talk about without getting into spoiler territory. Talking about this movie without spoilers wouldn’t do this film justice.

I’ll just say right off the bat that I liked this movie, like a lot. I’d say this is my favorite Star Wars movie Disney’s put out, with The Force Awakens being the middle child and Rogue One being my least favorite. Rogue One wasn’t bad, but that’s only because the third act of the movie saved the entire movie for me. Yeah, that end sequence with Vader killing the Rebels was awesome, but that does not single-handedly save a movie. Rogue One was brought down by an incredibly slow pace, and outside of K2-SO and Donnie Yen’s character, I didn’t like any of the characters in the movie, not even Jyn Erso, who’s easily the most boring Star Wars protagonist in my opinion. The Force Awakens was pretty good. I didn’t mind that the movie took a lot of inspiration from A New Hope other than the Starkiller Base, because the characters were really likable and the movie actually felt like Star Wars, unlike the prequels. I’ll talk about those movies in a different Hub’s Kitchen entry. The Last Jedi is an odd film if you ask me. As an overall package, I’d say The Force Awakens is superior to TLJ, and at its worst, this movie reaches Rogue One levels: Not bad, but nothing that good either. At its best however, this movie is excellent. So now that I’ve said my overall general opinion of The Last Jedi and my thoughts on Disney’s previous Star Wars films, let’s dive deeper into this movie.

The Last Jedi is about failure. Every character’s arc in this movie connects to this theme. A good example of this is Finn and Rose Tico’s subplot, which has been heavily criticized amongst the detractors on this movie. I have mixed feelings on this subplot. On one hand it does connect to the theme of the movie, as Finn and Rose fail to destroy the First Order’s tracking device, the crucial element that prevents the Resistance from escaping the First Order. On the other hand, this subplot feels like a drag compared to the rest of the movie and the subplot is always cut back to when I was getting more invested in the other better parts of the movie. I guess I should talk about Rose now. She’s okay. I won’t be getting into the whole race thing about Kelly Marie Tran because I don’t care about that kind of stuff. When we first see her, we know that she’s a maintenance worker for the Resistance and because of that necklace she has, we learn that her sister was killed when Poe decided to destroy the First Order’s Dreadnought ship (more on Poe in a bit). My issue with Rose is that she doesn’t really have any sort of development throughout the story. I was reminded of Mace Windu with Rose, and that is not a good thing in my opinion. Rose is still pretty likable though, so it didn’t ruin the character for me. The other problem I have with Rose is the forced romance with Finn after he was going to sacrifice himself to stop the First Order’s battering ram cannon. It just showed up out of nowhere and wasn’t really hinted or implied throughout the movie. Speaking of Finn, he easily had the worst treatment out of the new characters from Force Awakens in my opinion. Not only is he treated to the worst subplot of the movie, but Finn felt stoic this time around to me, whereas he felt more like a fleshed out character from the last movie. Maybe that’s just me, though. Finn’s still cool, but he didn’t really get a whole lot to do in this movie. I honestly would have preferred if he weren’t in the movie, at least not much, but eh, whatever. So yeah, not the best part of the movie, I can tell you that. Though, seeing a casino in Star Wars was pretty cool, I guess. I mean, it’s still kinda weird to see a casino in Star Wars, though it’s not as weird as the Ewoks defeating the Empire in Return of the Jedi if you ask me.

Next up is Poe Dameron, General Leia and the Resistance. Like Finn, I don’t like Poe as much as I did in Force Awakens, and that has to do with his arc of the movie. So at the beginning of the movie, Poe leads the Resistance to take down a First Order Dreadnought, but despite General Leia telling Poe to fall back, he says “fuck that,” and ends up destroying the Dreadnought, but at the cost of the entire bombing unit of the Resistance being destroyed. This is Poe’s failure: His recklessness got the entire bombing unit destroyed. I know he was trying to take down a big First Order ship, but at what cost? It’s a net negative than a net positive and Poe gets demoted because of that. Recklessness doesn’t always win the battle. Then the First Order catch up to the Resistance after they went into hyperspace thanks to their tracking device. In the midst of this, we see Kylo Ren again (and I’ll talk about him when I talk about Rey and Luke), but he hesitates to shoot his mother down (again, more on that later). A couple of TIE Fighters don’t get the memo and blast Leia’s portion of the ship and we think she’s dead, but Leia ends up using the Force to bring herself back to the ship, but she needs to recover. This scene has been one of the most controversial moments on the film, and like the Finn and Rose subplot, I have mixed feelings on it. It is really silly and is a little hard to take seriously, but in the original trilogy, particularly with The Empire Strikes Back, we know that Leia is Force-sensitive. How else would they have found Luke hanging from that pole after his fight with Vader? So it makes some amount of sense that Leia would be able to do this. Who knows? During the period of time between the original trilogy and now, she could have been more attuned with the Force, only not in a Jedi kind of way. Given Carrie Fisher’s death from last year, I feel like the movie was in a tight spot with her. Giving Leia a death so quick in the movie might have been disrespectful to Carrie Fisher, but on the other hand, that “Leia Poppins” scene as people are calling it is a bit odd. Carrie Fisher was great in this movie, in fact, all the cast was great in this movie, especially Mark Hamill, but we’ll get to him later. Rest in peace, Carrie Fisher.

Back onto the Resistance subplot, once Leia is in recovery, we get Vice Admiral Holdo in command (the woman with the purple hair). Not much of this subplot is really explored until later when Poe sees Holdo’s plan to evacuate the Resistance into small pods as cowardly so he starts a mutiny which ends with Leia coming in and stunning him. Then Vice Admiral Holdo decides to buy the Resistance time by ramming the ship into the First Order battlefleet which gives us the most gorgeous moment of the movie. That shot was amazing. Though, if we want to talk about Leia having a good send-off, I think that would have been. Imagine Leia ramming the ship into the First Order battlefleet. Would have circumvented the “Leia Poppins” thing.

Finally, let’s talk about the BIG subplot of this movie: Rey, Kylo Ren, and Luke. This is easily the “make it or break it” section of the movie, and for me, it made the Last Jedi. Let’s start with Luke. The theme of failure symbolizes Luke as a character. 30 years after that happy ending of Return of the Jedi, and here he is, a broken man after seeing darkness in Kylo Ren, to which Luke thought of killing him, but hesitates and ends up losing all his students in the process. Luke brings up that the Jedi are failures, which is an interesting point. In the prequels, the Jedi deemed Anakin Skywalker as the “chosen one,” but that resulted to him turning to the Dark Side and Order 66, which killed the majority of the Jedi, leaving Obi-Wan and Yoda left. By the time of the original trilogy, the Jedi were romanticized and thought of as legends. Then we get to the sequel trilogy and Luke is deemed a legend, and he decided to pass the Jedi teachings down to future generations. Luke wasn’t really a Jedi Master in the way the prequels contextualized them. The prequels defined a Jedi Master as having really excellent Lightsaber skills and being stoic, not falling into extreme feelings. Keep in mind that I haven’t seen the Clone Wars TV series so I don’t know if this is expanded upon in that show. I’m only going off the movies, and the prequels and the original trilogy’s definition of a Jedi differed greatly. Putting all the movies into context and given what we know, Luke was never a Jedi Master. He had a good understanding of the Force, but never did all the amazing stuff the Jedi in the prequels did. And given that one mistake he made cost him the death of his students, I’d be a broken man too. Though I did love the callback that R2 made with Leia’s original message to Obi-Wan. That was great.

The way the movie portrays Rey and Kylo Ren as characters is interesting. Throughout the movie, Rey and Kylo talk by using the Force, though we later find out that this was a plan from Snoke (more on him in a bit). We see that these two are conflicted about their sides and both try to convert the other. There’s a bit of darkness in Rey, so Kylo tries to convert her to the dark, and vice versa. Hell, we see early in the movie that Kylo does not shoot Leia, his mother, down. He hesitates, symbolizing the conflict within him. Rey meanwhile wants someone to show her her place in the world, given how part of her huge character flaw is not letting go of her past with her parents. That’s why she was attached to Han in TFA and why she’s attached to Luke in this movie. Now, we have to talk about those things about the movie now: The big stuff.

So, The Force Awakens left a lot of questions for the audience when the movie ended, starting with: How will Luke react to seeing his father’s old lightsaber again when Rey gives it to him? The Last Jedi says: Luke chucks it over his shoulder. A lot of people saw this as a cheap gag, and with the way it was shot, yeah, it kinda was, but it makes sense given what Luke has been through. To him, that lightsaber means nothing because of what he went through. While to us, the audience, it’s a huge deal because it was Anakin’s lightsaber in the prequels, Luke’s lightsaber in The Empire Strikes Back, and that was somehow in The Force Awakens, to Luke, it’s nothing more than a tool, a reminder of a past he wants to forget about.

What about Snoke? He was built up to be the new big bad guy for this new trilogy, the new Palpatine, if you will. What happens in The Last Jedi: Kylo proceeds to “Darth Maul” him. What I mean by that is that just when Snoke was going to be really interesting, he gets killed off. I hear Darth Maul is in the Clone Wars TV show, but I’m talking about movies exclusively here. Personally, I felt that the movie knew that Snoke was a lame character, and decided to kill him off. I’m a little disappointed that Snoke didn’t have the same level of presence Palpatine did in the original trilogy and even the prequel trilogy. I didn’t really care about his backstory being fleshed out that much, because that’s not really important. It’s why the Palpatine’s backstory was never mentioned in the original trilogy. All we needed to know was that he seduced Anakin to the Dark Side of the Force and became Darth Vader from that. The prequels built upon this backstory, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.

Rey’s lineage? She was the daughter of junk dealers on Jakku, who traded her away for drinking money. This is something that I love. A lot of people were hoping for Rey to be Luke’s daughter or Obi-Wan’s daughter or something, but nope. I love this because not only does it not pointlessly make Rey a part of the bigger Skywalker conflict by making her a family member, but it also states that greatness can come from anywhere (which is also signified in the last scene of the movie). It just felt fresh to me. If Rey were were part of a great Jedi lineage, I would have been pissed, personally.

I know I said The Last Jedi was about failure, but it’s also about letting go of the past. This is symbolized with Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren. Luke’s past events haunt him, and at one point, he decided to burn the tree that had the ancient Jedi, but not before ghost puppet Yoda did it for him. Yoda basically tells Luke to let the past go, which I think is a good message, especially to a man who’s as broken as Luke is in this movie. Rey has to eventually accept her lineage and move on from that. Both Luke and Rey come to accept their fates in this movie. Kylo Ren, however, doesn’t, and what’s funny is that he’s telling Rey to “bury the past,” yet he’s obsessed with wanting to get revenge on Luke and kill him. We see this on the entire scene on Crait. Kylo furiously tells the First Order to fire on Luke. Doesn’t work (along with Luke’s badass shoulder rub). He rushes to Luke with his lightsaber, but sees that Luke is using the Force to project himself on Crait. “See you around, kid,” was a badass line from Luke. So was his death. Oh yeah, it’s time to talk about Luke’s death.

Luke’s death was really well handled in my opinion. A lot of people criticized that he didn’t make his way to Crait, but early on in the movie, we see his old X-Wing in the water. It’s likely that it’s out of power and won’t work. So we see Luke project himself using the Force. I don’t know if the Force can allow people to do this, then again, Force lightning exists, so I guess it makes sense. Because Luke puts so much energy into this technique, he ends up dying as a result. He looks to the distance where he sees two suns, very much like he did in A New Hope, and accepts his fate. As Rey says “He didn’t die with anger or sadness, but acceptance.” Besides, he gave the Resistance time to escape and had a heartfelt goodbye with Leia, which was a great scene. He even gave her the dice from the Millenium Falcon, sort of. So yeah, really good moment in my opinion.

Now we have an awkward spot where there’s other things to talk about the movie that don’t have a major role sooooooo…

Captain Phasma: Man, what a disappointment. She’s essentially Boba Fett all over again. If she is confirmed for Episode 9, I hope she gets a good fucking send off.

Porgs: Eh, they were cute but that’s about it. Yeah, it’s obvious the Porgs were made to sell toys but so were the Ewoks. To give credit to the Porgs, they weren’t huge players like the Ewoks were.

The Codebreaker: He was an oddball character. Benicio Del Toro was good in the role, but he wasn’t too memorable.

Vulptexs: These things (the crystal wolves) were awesome. I definitely want a plush of that. What? I like plushies. Sue me.

This is where I’d give my final thoughts, but I want to talk about how the audience reactions to this movie have gone down. The Last Jedi, while a hit with critics and general audiences going off of the A score from Cinemascore, with Star Wars fans, it’s more divisive. I’ve taken the time to watch some YouTube videos about The Last Jedi, both positive and negative reviews (which the majority are negative) and went to the Star Wars subreddit, and I have to say: I’m not surprised by the behavior that some of these fans have displayed. I mean, disagreeing with people is one thing, but making accusations and hating others for their viewpoints is pretty fucking dumb, even if I find some of them to be ridiculous. It’s just a movie guys, and no, I’m not saying that as a way to undermine your anger. I’m saying that because a movie is only a movie. It’s not something super serious like education or your financial state. I’m not saying you can’t be mad at this movie, but think about how much energy you can give it. You can be angry for so long before you come off as obnoxious. Whether you liked The Last Jedi or not, just let other people be. They’re not right or wrong for what they think. Trust me, you’ll be a lot happier.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a complicated film. It has a lot of deep themes and is a pretty challenging movie on a thematic perspective. It’s also incredibly bold by taking the Star Wars franchise in a new direction, a direction that it should be taking if you ask me. It’s not flawless, however. Finn and Rose’s subplot drags down the pacing, there are some comedy bits I didn’t mention that didn’t land, and as an overall package, The Last Jedi is inconsistent, ranging from being amazing to being just okay. Like I said, I liked the movie, and consider it to be my favorite Star Wars movie that Disney has released so far. I know I’m going to get some shit from people, especially diehard Star Wars fans, and hey, that’s cool, whatever gets me more attention. I’m just being honest, something that I take very seriously. I don’t give ratings to things because I think that’s pointless. Just know that I think The Last Jedi is a good movie despite its faults. Anyway, my name is Hub Pie, and thank you for reading.

#star wars #the last jedi #tlj #review #blog #hubskitchen

3 notes · View notes

adambethyname-blog · 7 years

Text

What I’m Hoping to Learn From “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

Tonight during Monday Night Football, we are going to get to see what will most likely be the most comprehensive trailer for December’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

Director Rian Johnson has been warning fans through his Twitter account that the trailer might be a tad “spoilery” but honestly, my experience dealing with properties of Lucasfilm in the past tells me that the trailer will not give away anything pivotal.

I have to admit, the trailer has snuck up on me this year. Normally I am pretty in tune with all things Star Wars, but this one took me by surprise. That being said, I won’t be disappointed if there is something in there that could be considered a spoiler. I remember two years ago when “The Force Awakens” came out, I read every single “leak” and “spoiler” to hit my Facebook wall.

Absolutely NONE of them were accurate. None.

It has taken a while for me to form an opinion regarding “TFA.” I did like the movie although it was pretty much a reboot of “A New Hope.” My only real complaint about it was that JJ Abrhams treated the movie like an episode of “Lost.” There were so many dangling threads, it was as if he was expecting us to tune in next Wednesday at 9 to find out what happens.

And here we are two years later.

I made a list of the top 10 things I’m hoping we find out from The Last Jedi. Granted, I don’t expect all 10 to get answered since there are two movies to go in this new modern trilogy, but I hope we can knock a few of these out.

How did they get Luke's lightsaber from the ventilation shaft in Bespin? And who got it? And why? No one knew it was there except Vader and Luke.

The lightsaber ends up in the coat closet at Maz’s bar in “TFA” where it “calls” to Rey. Maz gives it to Rey, but how did she get it? No one knew where it was. Even Luke didn’t think to go back for it. In Episode VI, Darth Vader comments that Luke constructed a new lightsaber. So how does this piece of hardware get to some remote bar, stuck in a steamer trunk?

When does Kylo Ren go to Endor and retrieve Darth Vader's mask? How did he know it was there? Obviously Luke told him but why?

Just like the lightsaber, Vader’s helmet was on Endor, smoldering on a funeral pyre. At some point, Kylo Ren has to go back to Endor, find it, and bring it back to his ship so he can put it on display to impress the dates he brings back to his room. Did Kylo road trip to Endor? And this is a PLANET. How did he know exactly where it was? Did he go kicking over Ewok corpses looking for the remains of a barbecue?

Under what circumstances is the Falcon stolen from Han Solo?

Apparently this question gets answered in the novelization of “TFA” but we didn't see it in the movie. A gunrunner named Gannis Ducain, who was first introduced in the novel Smuggler's Run, is the guy who stole the Falcon from Han and Chewie before the events of the movie. But how did he do it? Did he grab Han’s keys off the dresser when he wasn’t looking? Did he hot-wire it?

Leia and C3P0 reference a Republic Army. Where is it? What's it doing?

This is a very brief reference in “TFA” but both Leia and C3PO mention that the “Republic Army” is somewhere in the galaxy just.... waiting. What’s this Army doing? How big is it? It’s hard to believe they couldn’t help as they took on Starkiller Base.

Who are the other "Rens" in Rey's flashback?

When Rey has her flashback by mind-melding with Kaz, you can see very clearly that Kylo Ren is leading some kind of black-masked ANTIFA group that’s looking to do... something. It looks like there are six of them, plus Kylo. Who are these people? What was their purpose? Where were they found? Were they recruited? Do they have names? Are they still around, cooling their jets until needed again?

These First Order Stormtroopers are not Clones. What are they? Where are they from? And why not use clones anymore?

When Finn explains to Poe in “TFA” that “FN2187″ was the “only name they ever gave [him]” it implied that he was basically a Stormtrooper since... birth? is that even accurate? Did the First Order institute a draft of some kind?

If you go into "exile" why do you leave a map that tells people where you are? Doesn't that negate the purpose of exile?

There better be a darn good explanation for this one. You’re going into exile. You want no one to find you. So you make a detailed map and leak it via USB drive? This reminds me of the dumped girl, calling her ex-boyfriend to see if he called. Yoda did it right. He went into exile after “Revenge of the Sith,” told no one where he was going, but maybe leaked it to a Force ghost (Obi Wan) who can’t tell anyone because the Empire isn’t talking to “good” Force ghosts.

There are Empire AT ATs, a Star Destroyer, and an X Wing crashed and abandoned on Jakku. Why? What happened there? Who was involved? And why?

This got answered in the god-awful “Aftermath” trilogy of books that was supposed to fill in a lot of the details between “Return of the Jedi” and “The Force Awakens.” They didn’t - not even close. Apparently, there was a major battle between the remnants of the Empire and the Rebellion who were trying to close the door on the old Empire, but couldn’t. The story was told through ancillary characters that do not show up in “TFA” and will never appear in the movies, so the battle details in the book are inconsequential. I’d like to know how the battle affected the characters that showed up on the screen.

Lor San Tekka (Max Von Sydow) obviously knew Kylo Ren, who he was and what he did... But how? And he lasted less than 10 minutes of screen time as a result.

We barely get any screen time with one of the most mysterious characters of “TFA.” The opening line of the movie is “This will begin to make things right,” as Lor hands Poe the USB drive with the missing part of the map to Luke’s super-secret exile. So he’s acknowledging that things are “wrong.” How did HE get the map? Are we going to learn more about him in some flashbacks or something? There needs to be some exposition that fleshes him out.

There are only 2 Sith at any time. A master and an apprentice. Vader and Palpatine were both killed in Episode VI seemingly extinguishing the Sith. Is Lord Snoke a Sith? Better yet, is Kylo Ren? It's never said. Assuming they both are, how was the Sith side of the Force resurrected?

This is the one I really need an answer to as I am a huge fan of the Darth Bane Trilogy of books. Darth Bane introduced “Rule of Two” (see above). Essentially, it says that there can only be two Sith at any one time. If you remember in “The Phantom Menace” at Qui-Gon’s funeral, Mace Windu and Yoda realize Darth Maul was a Sith, but they didn’t know who Maul was, the master or the apprentice. There was a point in Star Wars history where there were hundreds of Sith who were considered equals; however, the order was weakened by their own actions because several Sith would gang up and murder the leader, weakening the order. Bane undid that practice. At the end of “Return of the Jedi,” the Emperor is killed, Vader dies and that’s it. Master and apprentice are gone. At some point, the Sith order has to be started up again. So is Kylo a Sith? Is he the master or the apprentice? For two years I’ve been reading ridiculous fan theories about Snoke...

...is Snoke the master? It seems that Kylo is subservient to him. And if he IS the master Sith, where has he been? He was obviously doing something between the time the Emperor was tossed down the elevator shaft and the events of “TFA.” He’s never mentioned in the original trilogy. Further, the word “Sith” isn’t even uttered in “TFA” so does Kylo represent some new manifestation of the Dark Side?

I really do hope that this is the beginning of a sprawling space story that completes its own tale like the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. I don’t mind cliffhangers as long as they pay off. December should be the first step in filling in the blanks.

5 notes · View notes