#i'd swap my ability to take a punch for NEVER HAVING HAD TO TAKE A PUNCH any day

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Omg! Im going through some of your fandom asks and I love Anakin so much! Like it pains me how much I love him but I cant stand Kylo......

All right, here’s the breakdown I’ve pretty much established on why I like the one and not the other.

Anakin, for all that he willfully made bad choices, was ultimately a victim.  He started his life as a slave, was immediately taken from that life (alone) into the Jedi--and I’ll add that if the Jedi really had turned him away, he wouldn’t have had anywhere else to go because he probably would not have been taken back by his previous owner, so Qui-Gon literally gambled Anakin’s life on that--and then he was isolated from any support system he was familiar with and an ideal candidate for Palpatine to prey on.  Like, yes, Anakin makes some objectively horrifying choices out of his own anger and bullheadedness, but the things that turn him into a monster are mostly things he’s driven into by someone he trusted.  An adult that everyone assures you is trustworthy can make you do horrible things, especially when they’ve had you more or less at their disposal since you were a kid.  It never occurs to the Jedi that the man they’re telling Anakin to trust is actually doing a lot of harm by playing off their own teachings, and of course the Jedi...kind of are not the people you want working with a traumatized kid who just got ripped out of his life.  Anakin needs a therapist, not training in pushing away his emotions.  At the end of the day, of course Anakin becomes Darth Vader, because literally everything and everyone else who he had a bond to is dead (some because of him and what he’s been pushed to do), and Palpatine is all he has left.

Kylo Ren, on the other hand, is not.  I’ll believe a lot about Han and Leia, but I really really doubt they’re bad parents.  A little alarmed by the whole concept of Having A Child, maybe, very busy, almost certainly, but that’s...like, that’s why they send him to Luke.  Neither of them has any formal Force training, and their kid is showing signs of being really powerful, so like, yes, send him to the only available Jedi to learn some shit.  That’s a completely rational thing to do.  Until I see some hard evidence of brainwashing, I am holding Kylo Ren personally accountable for his actions, because he wants to Be Like His Grandfather, who...was miserable.  Like, objectively, all the time.  

I think a lot of the core reason I have less sympathy for Kylo Ren than Anakin is that Anakin is a really abused kid who grows up into a really manipulated adult, but Kylo Ren thinks that it all sounds great as long as he gets to be jacked up on whatever Force ‘roids the Dark Side doles out.  And that’s just really uncomfortably familiar.  Like, I’ve had people tell me out loud to my face that “wow, I almost wish I’d gone through something like [one of my issues], it makes you so naturally generous/so in control of yourself/so forgiving.”  And like...no, you don’t.  I’m not naturally generous, I’m afraid of owning things that could be taken away.  I’m not sure of myself, I put on a good front of being a cocksure asshole because showing weakness is dangerous.  I’m not forgiving, I’m terrified that if I don’t forgive people they’ll leave me.  Likewise, Anakin might be naturally powerful, but the power of Darth Vader is the result of a lot of horrible shit that left a human being so isolated from anyone else who cared about him even just as a tool that he submitted to the Dark Side.  And I’ve got a hell of a lot more sympathy and interest in that plotline than I do in Crylo Ron’s naive belief that it’s worth the trade.

#star wars #tfa #anakin skywalker #darth vader #crylo ren #starlight has issues #listen i recognize that snoke exists and probably has a hand in kylo ren's whole situation #but counterargument: crylo had all the support he could have asked for outside of snoke #and again: if i see some hard and fast evidence of brainwashing i'll be glad to eat my words #but until then kylo ren just wants Power at any price and he believes that darth vader made his choices with a clear and sound mind #which i think we can all agree is not true #and i just SUPER hate the whole thing of like 'being abused made you so [fill in the blank]' because like listen bitch #i'd swap my ability to take a punch for NEVER HAVING HAD TO TAKE A PUNCH any day #i'd rather slog through learning to write emotion in my novels than being 'naturally gifted' because of my damage #that whole mentality can get fucked #so i will freely admit that this breakdown is colored by my own issues but i also stand by it #anyway here's wonderwall #idiot teenagers with a queue #anonymous #asked and answered

[diancie-talks]

The Cost of Getting Lost (Part 2)

"Go, Skarmory!" Steven started the battle by setting a layer of spikes with his armour bird, as Serena, his opponent sent out her Flareon to immediately attack with a super-effective Lava Plume, the former only holding on due to its 'Sturdy' ability. I'd already heard of it from my cave, surprisingly. He had to swap it out for his Aggron to take the next Lava Plume more comfortably, and counterattack with a powerful Stone Edge that knocked out her Flareon in one hit.

I haven't mentioned it yet but both trainers agreed to only use three of their pokémon to prevent the battle from dragging on for too long. Anyway, on with the next turn:

Serena got to send out her 'Greninja', a pokémon that I've never seen before, but before it could attack, Steven managed to switch Aggron for Skarmory to 'sacrifice' him to a Water Shuriken and send out his Metagross without damaging it, it's silver body glistening in the sunlight. "Now this is where I would Mega Evolve my friend here, but my Metagrossite was stolen" he informed us, however the lack of a Mega Stone didn't stop the iron legged behemoth from surviving a Dark Pulse from it's ninja frog opponent and doing a considerable amount of damage with a Meteor Mash, then before he could react, pummelling with Bullet Punch to finish him off, it was... brutal, to say the least.

Finally, the Kalosian up-and-comer sent out her last pokémon, an Absol, along with a comment similar to Steven's about her Absolite being stolen, I wonder what those 'Flare' goons even want them for? He attacked Metagross with a razor sharp Night Slash, using its horn to take it out. Then they were down to their last 'mon each, a weakened Aggron staring down a battle-hungry Absol, it was anyone's game. The foreboding beast put his full force into the next attack, another Night Slash, but Aggron didn't seem to flinch with its fully armoured body, then able to spin its body around and cause a swift knockout with an Iron Tail to close out the battle.

The trainers shook hands, agreeing that it was a very close battle and either of them could have won. Despite being the victor, Steven congratulated Serena for being such a commendable battler. After that, she took up her end of the deal and showed us the quickest way out of the route, leading to Laverre City 'The city of otherworldly dreams'.

#pokemon #pokeask #in character #diancie #steven stone #daigo tsuwabuki #serena pokemon #lore