#what is palpatine if not the evil sorcerer? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

firelordgrantham · 2 years

Text

DnD Campaign, Star Wars edition

DM: soooo... I saw you're character sheets, y'all, and... well, I love your characters, you four, the Wizard Obi-Wan, the Rogue Princess Leïa, the Rogue Han and the lawful good paladin Luke... but it takes us to... er... you, dude. What the hell is that doodle you gave me?

C. (plays Chewbacca): A chaotic neutral wereyeti stuck in his primal form around the clock because of a curse.

DM: okaaaaay... that's not gonna be possible, ok? I mean, how are we even gonna put him in the story? There's no way that kind of thing lives in a desertic planet.

H. (plays Han Solo): Hey, I know! He's my wingman. In the spaceship and in bars *winks at the only girl in the group*.

Leila (plays Leia): Looks like a walking carpet to me.

H.: I know! Don't I look so hot compared to him?

DM: this campaign didn't even start and I already hate you all. Oh, and of course we've got the only person here who played before today, and to end this casting, you created two... er... two what?

Ken (plays R2D2 and C3P0): two walking, enchanted armors. One doesn't talk but in whistling sounds, the other speaks a few thousands languages.

DM: And who created this armors? I thought you had this artificer planned out?

Ken: Yeah, we talked about it by mail.

DM (remembering all of a sudden about that Sorcerer Artificer guy wearing all black he stole from Ken to put as one of the bosses): ooooh, right. So yeah. Everything's great. We've got a wereyeti. A whistling magic armor. And four characters who are more or less normal.

Lu (playing Luke): about that, I thought maybe Leia and my character could be siblings.

Le: Hey! I thought you said we were gonna be lovers in this campaign!

Lu: yeah, because they don't know they're siblings.

DM: Okay, I'm putting a stop to that. You are allowed one act of physical intimacy and that doesn't involve sex, and then you discover you're siblings. OK?

H: hey, that means I'm the only human male of your age around here, uh, Leia?

*Leila stands up and goes sit on Ben's laps*

Le: Now! We can start!

DM: I know I said it before but I hate y'all. Let's start. So! Rogue Princess Leia is in a spaceship currently fleeing from the evil Emperor Palpatine's fleet. Suddenly, your ship is taken ahold of by they tracting rays. You've got three actions' time before they get to your part of the ship. You're travelling with two enchanted armors...

Ken: One whistling.

DM:... one whistling. You have a few dozens men with you, not more because your cover was a diplomatic mission. You also have a laser firearm. What do you do, Leila, Ken?

Le: hmm... what are the offensive capacities of the enchanted armors?

DM: the golden one can deal... er... can't deal any physical damage, but with enough time, they can deal psychic damage by boring their opponents.

Ken: and the blue and white one can do up to two physical damages by rolling over peoples' feet.

Le: you never create useful characters do you?

Ken: hey, I started like y'all with boring, possible characters. I mean, a wereyeti is alright, but all the others are, like... plausible. Okay so wait a minute, I'm using the first action to go to an escape pod.

Le: Darn, I wish I had thought of that.

DM: roll for natural.

Ken: 10.

DM: OK, you're going there and see all the soldiers going to the doors to hold the ennemy, but you cant go into the pod because you need a human being to open it.

Le: Oh yes I know! Does one of these armors have the capacity to transmit a message?

DM: what does that have to do with you getting in the pod as I'm strongly suggesting?

Ken: Yes, the blue and white one.

Le: Ok I use my action to give him a message. To... er... Ben, does your character remember mine? We had this whole thing about him being the one who gave me to my adoptive parents the king and queen of Alderaan, but did we meet after?

B: yeah, sure, whatever.

Le: OK, so the message is... General Kenobi, years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. Sorry I can't be here in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've gave information vital to the survival of the rebellion to this weird armor.You must safely deliver dat armor to Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope of salute. Let's kick some arse and defeat the evil emperor together.

DM: (sighs) roll for charisma.

Le: 9.

DM: (smiling) some parts of the message won't make it. Namely, the last part. Ken, Leila, which one of you is taking up the third action?

Le: Wait, is opening the pod and launching it an action in itself?

DM: yup.

Le: I cant buy more time?

DM: sigh, okay, the boss just entered the ship and you're level one. The only way I'm saving time is by sacrificing your right-hand-npc.

DM (thoughts): She won't sacrifice a npc. Players never do that on their first campaign.

Le: Okay, have him die a painful death or whatever.

DM: wait, what?

Le: I open the pod, put Ken's armors in it, launch it and take my gun.

DM: WHAT

Le: Narrate, dude!

DM: er, yes, sure... so (i've got to make her regret killing him off, I'll give him a great death) you're right-hand-man stands up to the boss and tells him it's a diplomatic mission, they have no right to enter the spaceship. the villainous Sorcerer takes him into a chokehold. Raises him in the air, while the npc suffocates. He's trying to buy you more time but he can't resist the sheer strength of Darth Vader, because if I may remind you he is a FRICKIN' BOSS and you're all level one, and his neck is broken then he is thrust against the wall. As he lies there, limp and broken, dying, he tries to remember the reason why he fought by your side and remembers the reason smiling at him before he went, telling him he is the best father in the galaxy and that she hopes he'll bring her a doll back from his travels some day.

Le: DAMN IT! Why do you have to...

DM: shhhh! Then the light leaves his eyes and he leaves this world for a better one, one where his boss won't give up a chance to escape death just to fire a gun at someone. Now, you've got time for one for action, and you'd better make it count.

Le: OK, so, I took my gun and now I'm going back to fire at the boss.

DM: right, now you're in a room full of machines and there are soldiers coming towards you. Soldiers in the imperial uniform, under the orders of Darth Vader, who is not quite here yet. What do you do?

Le: I shoot at them.

DM: Roll.

Le: 1.

DM: not only do you miss, but they see you, and, pressed by some kind of uncomprehensible urge, you jump out of cover to run away in broad light. They take a shot at you... You'd better prepare another character sheet...

*rolls*

Okay first time I roll a two. They get you but you're only paralyzed. You're taken prisonner. Great. Love this campaign so far. None of that was supposed to happen except for the escape pod. I was gonna have a great chase scene but since you soured my mood and there are no forms of life in the pod, they don't fire at it. Ken, you crash in the desert, something like twenty miles from Luke's farm, what do you do?

Ken: er... bonne question, je vais y réfléchir...

DM: why the heck are you talking chinese?

Ken: that's french, and the talking armor speaks multiple languages.

DM: oh, great.

Ken: I said good question, I'm gonna think about it. Do I know in which direction is the closest farm?

DM: roll for perception.

Ken: six.

DM: you don't know what direction but you know the planet is inhabited. Roll for constitution, so I know when you'll stop working because of the sand getting in your gear.

Ken: eleven.

DM: yeah! we're going back into the two-digits results! Hmm... So, you're going over a few dunes, in the wrong direction of course. Then... oh right you cant deal damages. Welp, guess you're both captured by a tribe of magic armors enslavers.

interact if you want me do to the rest of the movie, it's time consuming and I'm not doing that for my own amusement frankly lol, at least not after that point.

Or better yet, reblog it with the next scenes.

#star wars #dnd #dnd campaign #dungeons and dragons #obi wan kenobi #c3po #r2d2 #r2d2 and c3po #luke skywalker #leia organa #princess leia #han solo #chewbacca #ben kenobi

20 notes · View notes

redrascal1 · 1 year

Text

Browsing through the SW fan forums I have either quit or been banned from...

....makes me realise I don’t belong with this fandom anymore.

I’ve never been a fan of the spin off shows or EU books. As a fellow reylo once wisely said, they are the dessert, the films the main courses. That’s how I feel.

I’m reading some genuinely nice posts where fans are full of excitement for the forthcoming films, for the Mandalorian, and it just leaves me....cold. I see posts from Rey fans looking forward to her new film, from Finn fans thrilled he’s coming back...

....it leaves me cold.

I have had to resign myself to the fact that post Ben Solo’s untimely death, there is absolutely nothing left about SW that appeals to me. Unlike many ‘olde fans’, I can’t watch the OT again and pretend the sequels didn’t exist because the ST is where I found my all time favourite character...Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, aka Adam Driver.

Heck, I loved that character.

He has even eclipsed Han Solo in my affections.

I find it hard to believe that DLF could create such an amazing character...then throw him away...for what?

I really really would like to know just exactly why they chose to sacrifice this character.

He’s more interesting than a dozen Reys, or Finns, or Poes.

Yet Rey is getting her own film, Finn will be alongside her and Poe may yet appear. While there do not seem to be any plans to resurrected Ben. Ironic, as they brought Palpatine back.

I have to say, I have not one.jot. of interest in the forthcoming film. Who wants to see the tired old Jedi order with its tired old dogma being restored yet again. Even George Lucas saw their faults; in the PT they were shown in what to me was a very unpleasant light - they took Anakin because of his potential, not to save him from slavery - they couldn’t care less about that. Who wants to see Rey continue her journey into goddess hood? TROS made me sick of the sight of her. And frankly - post his nasty comments on twitter and his behaviour towards Loan Tran, I’m not one bit interested in seeing John Boyega pick up a lightsabre and strut across the screen as Rey’s adoring consort.

No thanks. Leave that to his obsessed fans on the JCF.

TLJ opened the door to so much new material. A war that didn’t involve an ‘evil sorcerer’ but two factions believing they were right. Two souls coming together to completely reinvigorate the ‘Jedi’ order. A brainwashed child soldier liberating his former comrades.

But, Rian’s masterpiece got trashed and we, the audience, ended up with TROS, a film so awful it’s hard to accept as ‘canon’. And DLF intend to continue where it left off.

I must say....there will never be another Star Wars franchise for me. But, there will never be another Ben Solo. And the loss of the latter has sadly, driven me permanently away from the former.

6 notes · View notes

theold-ultraviolence · 3 years

Text

The Crystalline Knowledge of You (2/13)

Armitage Hux/Reader

Practical Magic au

AVAILABLE ON AO3 (@irma7x)

Rating: Mature // Chapter warnings: vague mention of the reader’s parents having passed away. It is not explicitly described, merely implied briefly.

MASTERLIST

2. Amas Veritas

When Kylo and you finally go to bed, it’s already too early, with the moon bidding its farewell and the blackness of the night fading to shades of blue. All you do is toss and turn with your head spinning, unable to find the right position to sleep in.

After what feels like hours later, when your eyes feel heavy at last, you’re taken by dreams that are really memories of the past, triggered by the events that had gone down earlier…

...“In this house we have chocolate cake for breakfast!” Aunt Leia exclaimed.

“And we never bother with silly little things like bedtimes, or brushing our teeth!” Added uncle Luke.

In your eyes, at 7 years old, aunt Leia and uncle Luke were the most eccentric characters that you had ever come across. Their clothes seemed to be an organized chaos -- drapey and colorful -- and their hair was always up in disarray as if a bomb had gone off in their heads. Regardless, their eyes were as clear as day and their heart was made out of the purest gold.They lived in Yavin’s Island, in a three storey, white-wooden house with tall, crystal windows that seemed iridescent when the sunlight bounced on its walls, reflecting all the greenery that surrounded the house like a whole magical realm of its own.

They weren’t blood-related to you, but rather close friends with your family. They were your coven. And for that same reason, the same curse that damned the Skywalker family, also fell on you.

“When you hear the sound of the deathwatch beetle, the person you love dies. But that's why you came to live with us!”

Aunt Leia told you the story that evening over the fireplace, with a huge piece of pumpkin bread and an even larger mug of hot chocolate -- decadence was truly the Skywalker preferred way to live.

“It had all started with the grand master, Anakin. The first of us who arrived on this island.” Luke began the tale as he sat beside you on his own armchair.

“He had been lured by the evil sorcerer, Sheev Palpatine, to become his successor -- a master of black magic. Anakin would have given all to aid his sick wife, Padme, and had come all the way to meet Palpatine right by the ocean with the promise that he could cure her if he delved into the darker arts. He was ready to accept it all but had a change of heart at the last second. Enraged, Palpatine cursed Anakin and all the witches here at Yavin -- all those who fell in love with a witch from the coven, died. Legend remembers it as the 66th curse. Padme, right after giving birth to Leia and me, passed away. And so it happened with Han, after Ben was born; and my love Wedge Antilles, who died on a plane crash…”

“And my parents…” you spoke. Leia could only nod mournfully and hug you closer to her, where you sat atop her lap. At that moment, Ben -- who was only a year older than you -- came into the warm room with chocolate cookies, fresh from the oven, and all ailments of the heart were soon forgotten as you spent the rest of the evening playing with him.

Until later, when the mood was disrupted by a desperate knocking on the door and the cries of a woman from town.

Hiding in the staircase, you and Kylo watched in awe as your family lit candles, burnt sage and tossed several ingredients on what appeared to be an age-worn cauldron. Steam rose from it, ribbons so high and mighty that reached the ceiling, like the volume of the woman’s cries.

“I want them so much I can’t hardly stand it!” The woman choked as she held onto a picture of her love. “I want them to want me so much that they don’t know what to do!”

“Careful what you wish for, dear…” said Leia as she held the head of a dove on her palm, while Luke poured the contents of the cauldron into a crystal vial from which the woman gulped to the tune of Luke and Leia’s quiet chants.

With every drop consumed, the woman calmed until her heavy breathing was no more. It was unlike anything you’d ever seen in your own home before, your mother rarely performed magic in front of you.

“I never want to fall in love” you muttered. And with your heart as wild as a beating drum, you slipped away to the back where the greenhouse was.

The night was darkest then, only icey blue threads of light illuminated dark greenery, beams slipping through the glass walls as if the moon herself was guiding your path through the spots that kept the components you needed.

“They will have fiery hair, as bright as the sun…” You whispered as you plucked a leaf out of a yellow potentilla with full conviction.

“They will eat waffles with their hands, like sandwiches,”

“--What are you doing?” Ben gently inquired as he walked in the middle of your tour.

“I’m summoning a true love spell called Amas Veritas.” You spoke with an ancient wisdom for someone so young.

“I thought you never wanted to fall in love” Ben murmured as he came to stand beside you and observe each little leaf that you had dropped on a ceramic bowl.

“That’s the point. If the person of my dreams doesn’t exist, I can’t die of a broken heart.”

Ben simply looked on as you continued on to a Yarrow plant “...They will be marvellously kind, if a little stern at first…”

“Their favorite shape will be a star” at last, you grabbed the prettiest rosemary pod that caught your eye as you stepped outside in the garden, cupped your plants in your palm and extended it like an offering.

“And their eyes will be of two colors, seafoam green and grey” You wished, as the night wind blew the leaves away from your hands, away into the horizon, following the dusty path of light emanating from the moon. Your spell danced away to the singing of crickets and night birds and a distant melody, thrumming like a mellotron.

Ten years later, that same moon would bear witness to the promise that Ben -- who had now changed his name to Kylo Ren -- had made you, as he climbed down the second storey of the house to run away from Yavin with his new friends, the “Knights”.

“I’ll be back, (Y/N). We’re a duo, remember?” He said as he hanged onto the bars of your balcony.

“You worry me, though. You don’t need to leave to perfect your magic.”

“I’m just so bored with this! I want new experiences.” He took your hand and kissed it, sealing the pact. “We’ll grow old together just like the two old hags.”

You snorted out laughing at how he referred to Luke and Leia. They had had their ups and downs lately, but you knew that deep down, no matter how much they fought and nagged one another, their love was endless and the strongest of all.

“Be safe. And please, come back.”

“I will.”

You hugged one last time before he jumped from the balcony and disappeared into the obsidian night…

taglist: @starlightsearches @starlightreadings @liceforlunch @wayward-rose @rosevon7975 @pradahux let me know if you’d like to be tagged for updates! <3

48 notes · View notes

passionesolja · 2 years

Text

First off, shoutout @everlastinq for bringing up this wonderful point.

I wanna give my thoughts on why I think this is.

Okay, so at the core of Pre-Disney Star Wars was this idea of corruption and politics. It’s all pretty naturalistic and doesn’t beat you over the head.

In the end of the OT, we meet Emperor Palpatine and he’s this decaying 40 year old man in face paint elderly sorcerer man who faces a justifiably anti climatic end. Which I think is fitting. Long live Sheev.

So as a viewer, you’re like “wow that guy is scary as hell. No one would willing vote him in. He had to be a dictator coup guy.”

But then you go to the Prequels and you see that Emperor Palpatine became Emperor through non-nefarious means on a surface level.

He started off as Senator, got legally and ethically voted in as Chancellor, then in a great time of turmoil and unrest hailed himself as Emperor and basically everyone wanted Sheev to be that because he was beloved.

That’s pretty realistic like it can happen anywhere. Even in a place as esteemed and long standing as the Republic.

The dictators don’t come in as people you hate, they typically are disguised as people you like.

We move on to the Sith.

The Sith. The Darkside. Scary bitches because in the OT, we see them as inhuman monsters like Palpatine and Vader.

As an audience member, you’re like “man fuck the sith I would never be one”.

But the Prequels come in and basically say “yeah the darkside is just when you use the force while giving into negative emotions like anger, hatred, greed, etc.”

Then shit becomes complicated. Because those are normal emotions to have.

If you don’t hate anything, you’re complacent in life.

If you never get angry at anything then you become apathetic.

If you aren’t greedy, then you never strive for better because you’re fully content.

The water is muddled by this further explanation. Hell, it’s complacency and going with the flow of the force mentality that causes the Jedi to fall.

They’re so invested in the Force that their eyes are closed, meanwhile the Sith have their eyes on the prize and are ambitious enough to play a thousand year long game while the Jedi chill with the force—doing jackshit besides revel in their republic given power.

And by all means, the Sith legally get rid of the Jedi with the same laws that the Jedi used to get rid of them.

This is pretty complex and shit is still the cause of debate even today because all of this shit depends on your perspective in life.

These are just two examples of countless.

However

Disney buys Star Wars and disney has a very simplistic moralistic message. Shit is easy to digest.

You’re basically watching hugbox films.

I’ll be real, mostly all their films are pretty boring but then again I’m not a small child so I accept they’re not for me.

Which is fine if you’re watching a Pixar movie but Star Wars is a political science fiction drama.

And disney being disney, they can’t give you anything but a “heroes are always heroes and no nuance allowed”.

This is why shit just doesn’t hit the same. Characters aren’t allowed to be anything but good if they’re heroes, and pure evil if they’re bad.

Hell, we see this bullshit with Cruella in that stupid flop ass live action film.

A character just can’t be bad, no we gotta have a so sad pity party because her dumbass mom got jumped by dogs.

Dumbest shit ever, whoever wrote that script should be ashamed.

What we’re seeing with Star Wars is an active and premeditated sterilIzation of any nuance, edge, or depth the series once had because Disney doesn’t operate in anything other than comfortable hugbox movies for small children and disney loving adults.

Shit is sad. And I don’t fuck with it. I never will.

#star wars #sw prequels #sw sequels #original trilogy #sw #sw hc #sw headcanons #sw memes #sw meta #long post #sw discourse #star wars meta

11 notes · View notes

sk1fanfiction · 3 years

Note

hey darling, eleventhboi here! i was just rereading your character analysis for tom, and i must say i agree with you on so many levels and it’s wonderful to see all my compicated thoughts about him written down wonderfully like you did!! but, i assume just like you, i can’t really understand his motives later in his life no matter how i try to look at it from different perspectives from time to time. but there is this one analysis by @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta -a controvertial but great one definitely- but i’m not so sure if i agree with that or not. if you’re up to answer; since we think quite alike, i wonder what’s your take on that one? you can just say ‘idk bro’, or make an explanation or not answer at all darling- it’s your call. lots of love!!

Hi!!

I love to ramble and especially about Tom Riddle, thank you so much for giving me the excuse. The analysis you linked is definitely a really good one, Carnivorous Muffin has a lot of interesting points on Tom's character.

Long post ahead!

Link to my five-part character analysis here, in which I have opinions about Tom Riddle.

A Second Attempt: Demystifying Voldemort the Villain

Tom Riddle has the potential to be an interesting villain, but unfortunately Lord Voldemort is a shallow, unmotivated and disorganised Hitler metaphor, right down to the claim that Hitler’s grandfather was Jewish neatly coinciding with Riddle being half-blood.

Now, this wouldn’t be so bad if he were Sheev Palpatine, but he’s not. The attempts to give his backstory depth in COS and HBP only serve to make him more frustrating, because Tom Riddle is an infinitely better character and villain than the not very scary bogeyman Voldemort, and this leads me in Part 5 to come to the same conclusion as @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin’s starting point — Lord Voldemort as presented doesn’t make sense. Unlike Carnivorous Muffin, I didn’t offer a serious solution (other than Voldemort becoming some kind of immortal non-human or the actual Grim Reaper, which is very weird and a bit tongue-in-cheek).

I think, going chronologically, where Tom’s characterization starts to annoy me (see Part 3, where I explain why it doesn’t make sense given his criminal profile, psychological profile, style of the murder itself, or family history) is the murder of the Riddle family. So, I ended up here:

Point being, I think the patricide bit was just put in to make Tom sound more evil.

Although this isn’t mentioned in Carnivorous Muffin’s analysis, this is going to be relevant; because I think from here, Tom's characterization generally starts to go south.

Here's the premises of Carnivorous Muffin's argument:

We know very little about Tom Riddle or Voldemort

What we do know of Tom Riddle comes to us from suspect sources

I’m just going to go out there and start with the basis that Tom is not crazy

I'm going to look at (3), because I think it's the most important one, as (1) and (2) have ample support, as CM elaborates.

While crazy is one of those terms that makes less and less sense the more psychology papers you read (along with its shadow cousins, mad and insane), I think if I can distill the common-sense idea of 'craziness' into two things, it would be (A) irrationality and (B) psychosis, or a break with reality.

I'll tackle (B) first, because it's simpler.

Does Tom suffer from breaks with reality? Delusions?

We don't know, because unfortunately we never get to poke around in his head, but I wouldn't rule it out 100%. The guy does have an unexplained pathological fear of death that leads him to rip his soul seven times. This could be the result of a delusion.

Not only that, but sixteen-year-old Tom floats around the Chamber, telling Harry how wonderful and awesome he is, and how he's Lord Voldemort, the greatest sorcerer of all time. Now, we know he's not far off, but both this and his fear of death, although we don't have nearly enough data points, are enough to raise a few eyebrows IMO.

And then (A). Is Tom Riddle unable to reason?

Again in Part 3, I believe Tom knows right from wrong (especially in the case of murder).

Emphasis on the noble. A noble thing is worth doing; a thing worth doing is good. Ergo, Diary Tom believes in the concept of good (and perhaps, by extension, evil). In fact, this is the last time we will hear ‘moral duty’ reasoning out of Tom for reasons that will be discussed below. And what I find really interesting about this, is what it suggests about Tom’s internal state: he either doesn’t believe in right and wrong (because murder is wrong), or he does, and just doesn’t adhere to it.

The latter is more likely than you think: Here’s a conclusion from the linked paper (about young children, but still interesting) that I think could apply here: "In summary, a concern for relative advantage may prevent children from enacting their knowledge of fairness when actual resources are at stake.”

Furthermore, canon tells us that creating Horcruxes did not affect Voldemort's mental abilities.

Evidence #1

But here’s a weird thing Tom says in HBP:

“Yes, sir,” said Riddle. “What I don’t understand, though – just out of curiosity – I mean, would one Horcrux be much use? Can you only split your soul once? Wouldn’t it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces, I mean, for instance, isn’t seven the most powerfully magical number, wouldn’t seven – ?”

Evidence #2

Although we think that such a destructive process must weaken Tom, even Dumbledore doesn’t seem to think that’s the case:

“Yes, I think so,” said Dumbledore. “Without his Horcruxes, Voldemort will be a mortal man with a maimed and diminished soul. Never forget, though, that while his soul may be damaged beyond repair, his brain and his magical powers remain intact. It will take uncommon skill and power to kill a wizard like Voldemort even without his Horcruxes.”

In summary, although Tom may or not suffer from delusions, I agree with something approximately close to (3):

3*. Neither Horcruxes nor genetics nor environment impaired Tom Riddle's mental faculties sufficiently that he was unable to reason effectively and rationally, moral or otherwise. The thing is, oftentimes rational people reason that it is rational to kill.

Now, onto the actual argument:

Of course, I will address things out of order.

CM: I’ve gone over this before, but I don’t believe Tom had minions early and I think he was effectively treated as a muggleborn (see here and here) until he took on the Voldemort persona many decades later. I’m hard pressed to believe someone as intelligent, angry, and proud as Tom Riddle would willingly believe and accept he was inferior to the likes of Abraxas Malfoy. More, even if he wished he was a halfblood, I think the evidence of him being muggleborn would be stacked too high against him to deny even to himself (and when he finds out it’s not true, he has maybe a month or so before he realized that he’s the bastard son of a squib).

Which is about identical to my assessment in Part 1 except for a single, but important point:

While of course, this does NOT excuse ANY of his actions, I find it vastly implausible that the likes of Malfoy, Mulciber, Carrow, etc… would have been welcoming in any way, shape or form to an assumed ‘Mudblood’ in scruffy secondhand robes from a London orphanage, and as such, indoctrinated him into his fanatic belief in blood-purity via antagonizing him.

...

In other terms, I think Tom was bullied for having dubious origins. That’s often the swiftest way to radicalize someone, and would have left Tom with a crippling sense of self-hatred that I don’t think he would have even picked up from the orphanage.

I think one of the reasons, perhaps, that our opinions differ, is that I believe Tom discovered very early that he was a Gaunt on his mother's side (first or second year at the latest). Why? Because in COS he says he's been searching for the Chamber for a long time, meaning one or more years, and that means that he's known he was descended from Salazar Slytherin for a while. But of course this is Math of Throwaway Villain Lines; your mileage may vary. So I believe this Gaunt heritage (see Part 2 where I discuss the Gaunt Ring) was something Tom became obsessed with and really clung to, and that at the same time, he developed a lot of resentment towards Riddle Senior (because that's about the only way to resolve the annoying patricide subplot). Plus, seeing as the Pure-blood Directory existed, it was just a matter of Tom finding Marvolo Gaunt's name in there.

There's a second reason I think Tom really does, if not outright hate Muggle-borns, consider them beneath him. It's this.

While CM points out that this is Tom at a point of crisis, right now he's not actually fighting for survival. Right now, he's in control, and he's in control until Fawkes deus ex machina's Harry from dying of basilisk venom in Voldemort's most airtight and well-thought-out murder attempt.

Here's the shallow basis of why Tom does have at least contempt towards Muggle-borns (from Part 3, section on cognitive dissonance):

1. He believes murder is wrong. 2. He’s murdered someone. 3. We know that in order to successfully make a Horcrux, you can’t feel the guilt or remorse associated with your actions (or else you’ll end up healing your soul). 4. Tom has to rationalize his actions in order to not feel guilty.

Solution: Well, she's a Mudblood, so her life didn't matter. Or perhaps she even deserved to die.

Something like this, perhaps?

Salazar Slytherin is revered by my housemates, who I look up to -> Salazar Slytherin is good -> His ideals are good -> purging the school of Muggle-borns is good, plus it benefits me in that I get to make a Horcrux -> killing Myrtle Warren is good.

Now, do I think Tom is the #1 Muggle and Muggle-born hater in Britain? Uh, no. Not even close. But does Murder Justifiable, Mudblood Bad enter Tom's moral reasoning set? Yes. Definitely yes.

I'll summarise this post, where CM says that Tom opening the Chamber was basically an unplanned power trip with no end goal -- in their words, a mental breakdown.

CM: “Something” is releasing the basilisk, murdering all the roosters, and painting the walls in blood.

He watches the students run around in terror, feeling very important, very much like the Heir of Slytherin. LOOK, TOM IS IMPORTANT TOO!

And then someone dies and reality crashes back down.

Whenever writing pre-Voldemort Tom Riddle, we have to justify why:

(1) Tom does the Dumb Shit he does

(2) Tom does the Immoral Shit he does

(3) How TF he doesn't get caught doing the Dumb and Immoral Shit he does

Of course, me being me, I'll start with (3), in which case there's a major issue.

Namely, Dumbledore.

Love the twinkly-eyed bastard or hate him, he's an extremely skilled Legilimens, and I don't like sixteen-year-old Tom's chances over an entire year. Maybe Tom avoids looking him in the eyes. Maybe he practises Occlumency. Maybe Dumbledore's having a major depressive episode that saps his magical abilities.

Even so, Dumbledore is onto Tom, and Tom knows that Dumbledore is onto him. Furthermore, out of the several people who were attacked, only one died, which means that all the victims but Myrtle saw the basilisk's reflection... perhaps someone with mind powers made sure that this happened?

That in itself is a hint that a lot of thought went into this; Tom intended to Petrify, not kill Muggle-borns for whatever reason.

(I have my own headcanons about Salazar as a toxic father figure who Tom tried to emulate/please but that's unfounded and just a personal headcanon.)

However, my why is pretty close to CM's. First off, like CM, I think that Tom Riddle hates the status quo in the wizarding world. And I don't know if fifth year is his breaking point, necessarily. I think Tom is just generally in a quagmire of emotional crisis and mental turmoil which the Horcruxes are very much part of and a metaphor for self-harm (see Part 2 and especially Part 4 for an in-depth discussion of institutionalised childcare).

I think Tom assumes that his Muggle father most likely died before he was born, which is why Merope named him after him. Tom hates his father because he’s learned pureblood supremacy from his fellow Slytherins, and covets the respect and power that would come with being pureblood himself as he’s sick of being mistaken for a Muggle-born (we’ve seen Dippet do it) and feels that he has to prove himself as the Heir of Slytherin by opening the CoS, having no proof of magical heritage. I don’t think he’s that stupid to go around flashing his Parseltongue, especially given Dumbledore’s response to it, and it doesn’t prove that he’s the Heir of Slytherin, anyway.

And eventually, I came to a similar conclusion as CM, albeit that I think a lot of careful planning went into the Chamber openings. After all, transporting a fifty foot basilisk discreetly and quickly is no small feat.

Seeing as the public doesn’t know that Lord Voldemort opened the Chamber of Secrets (and thus don’t know that he’s the Heir of Slytherin, either), I think Tom did it all for the good of his own ego, insecurity, and of course that self-harming behaviour turned outwards that we discussed before.

Getting back to the point.

Anyway. So Tom is a petty, self-hating yet egotistical adolescent murderer who has had blood purist ideology drilled into him and solidified by his own actions/solving his own cognitive dissonance, and hates that the world where he should belong discriminates against him for being a Muggle-born/low-class, bastard half-blood who has a pureblood imaginary alter ego he uses to cope (did I mention Lord Voldemort is one of Tom's maladaptive coping mechanisms?) somewhat reminiscent of Pecola's blue-eyed reflection in The Bluest Eye.

CM: Second, I never really bought Tom’s racism. It’s too convenient and too contradictory with his backstory.

So, I suppose the main thing we disagree on here is that I think it's plausible and quite likely that Tom both has a massive ego and is self-hating.

CM: And it’s just so convenient. All the people with the power, with the money, who are itching for a cause against a threat that doesn’t really exist believe in blood purity. Ergo, Voldemort shows up suddenly espousing over the top blood purity rhetoric (rhetoric that directly clashes with his “there is only power” philosophy at that).

Now, this I do agree with. It's convenient. Tom is a rational being, and purebloods have money. Why not tell the people what they want to hear? But that doesn't mean he doesn't agree with it, even a little.

Tom Riddle is an Ineffective Big Bad... Or Is He?

CM: For a guy who has had the entire country in the palm of his hands twice, one time taking it over in a bloodless coup, he’s really big on causing collateral damage and really small on actually doing the ruling thing.

The problem with the Hitler metaphor, and where it falls apart big-time, is that Hitler was a German nationalist.

Voldemort is...

His motive is to...

His intentions are to... kill all Mudbloods... but he doesn't try to kill all of them... or even most...

His goal is...

Uh...

Voldemort is not well-characterized. I don’t understand his motives, and the ones that I do understand are not compelling.

Not to die? Well, he’s already made several Horcruxes. Why not sit back and relax? Why start a war and risk himself?

JKR said that Voldemort’s great desire was to become all-powerful and eternal. But that’s… boring! It does little to tell us about Voldemort, other than that he’s a villain and a wannabe dictator.

Not only that, but as CM says, Voldemort is already the greatest Dark wizard of all time and has control of the government of Wizarding Britain. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Remember how I said patricide is when Tom Riddle stops making sense?

Yep.

First, Tom turns down several Ministry offers to work at Borgin and Burkes. CM posits that it's possible that the Ministry positions were not offered and Slughorn told Harry a fib perhaps; because although Dumbledore points out that after several years, Tom was able to use his job to get Hufflepuff's Cup and Slytherin's Locket, there was no guarantee that he would find anything. He just got lucky, because plot.

Like CM, I don't think it's plausible that Tom turned down government positions to work in a disreputable shop in Knockturn Alley; yet, I don't think Slughorn was lying. Perhaps, they were only temporary positions, refused to pay Tom enough to live on or at all, et cetera.

Sometime before 1970, Tom pays a visit to Dumbledore to apply for the Defence position, and ends up stashing the Diadem Horcrux, then cursing the position, because petty.

But herein lies the issue; no one who wants to take over the world becomes a teacher. They just don't.

And it's not the first time Tom asked to teach, that being immediately after graduation. He even seemed interested at the beginning of his sixth year during the Pensieve scene. Furthermore, I don't think Tom was seriously considering World Takeover while at Hogwarts. I think, because as Harry says, Tom and Harry share a first love = Hogwarts, he may possibly have been quite content to be the Defence professor??? Teaching was good enough for his equal in skill and intelligence (Dumbledore), so why not for Tom?

I just don't see how he would corrupt the youths further than they already are, what with the pureblood supremacy in Slytherin and the Horcrux and Dark magic books easily available in the library. There is nothing in the Voldemort Handbook that hasn't been done before. He simply, as CM points out, mines and refines blood purity ideas that are already there.

No. I think Tom, having left his shitty job, picked up a few pureblood wannabes using his new Lord Voldemort persona (like CM, I don't think the Knights of Walpurgis existed early on as Tom's followers. In my opinion, Tom got a bit of street cred in his last two years for claiming the Gaunt ring, but idk if it's enough to regard him as anything more than a curiosity given he ended up at Borgin and Burkes), and completed his seven-part soul, intends to sit back and relax at his favourite place in the entire world and be showered with respect, admiration, and Christmas cards, which is of course the sensible thing to do.

But... Tom has poor impulse control at times.

By at times I mean often.

Temper, temper, temper.

He jinxes the Defence position (which could have been a savvy move to make Order fighters ineffective, but it would also impact Death Eaters since they're drawing from the same pool), hides the Horcrux like he was intending, and storms out.

Why start a war?

CM: I believe Tom was systematically destroying the very foundations of the country through its core aristocratic families. Within a few short years Tom decimates the Black family, it goes from having five heirs to none, and while some of this isn’t Tom’s fault he does take care of quite a few of them. He brands Lucius for life, while Lucius rises high in politics he never escapes the stigma of being a known Death Eater and in the end cannot escape the consequences for his actions. The Malfoy family is very nearly destroyed by the end of the series, had Draco died in the Fiendfyre. The LeStrange family, presumably decimated as well.

I'm going to go way back in time here. One of the chronologically first things we learn about Tom is this:

"Billy Stubbs's rabbit. . . well, Tom said he didn't do it and I don't see how he could have done, but even so, it didn't hang itself from the rafters, did it?"

"I shouldn't think so, no," said Dumbledore quietly.

"But I'm jiggered if I know how he got up there to do it. All I know is he and Billy had argued the day before."

While some might point out that Mrs. Cole isn't the most reliable source, I actually really like this detail; because it tells us that Tom has a hell of a vindictive streak. When he feels he has been wronged; you'd better believe that there will be consequences.

And yes, Tom Riddle is a very smart guy, but I'm not sure if CM gives him a little too much credit here.

Yes, he has no particular love for the pureblood leaders of the not-free world, but this kind of long-term planning requires unparalleled chessmaster-ing that makes me go ehhhh, especially when said chessmaster gets outsmarted by his old teacher, a twenty-one-year-old Muggle-born, one of his very own Death Eaters, and his very own vendetta against a certain green-eyed teenager.

In fact, let's talk about Voldemort and Harry. He fails to kill a baby due to the Power Of Love (canon) or the Power Of Love Plus Lily Evans's Badass Invented Sacrifice Spell (headcanon) and ends up as a wraith for nine years.

And what does Voldemort do a year later, when presented with the options to (1) get the Philosopher's Stone and his body back or (2) kill Harry Potter even though at sixteen, Tom Riddle KNOWS about the sacrifice spell/power of love?

Yeah. Tries to kill Harry. Because to Tom, Harry is the Bogeyman, he is Fear, he is the Grim Reaper, he is Tom's destiny, he is Death.

Voldemort is terrified of him; he is the number-one priority.

Tom has poor impulse control. Someone who makes this kind of mistake can't do long-term planning like that, IMO.

CM: By the time we get to Harry Potter’s canon, it is now only a minority that are anti-muggleborn, and they’re perceived as raving lunatics. Nobody wants to be grouped with these people. Which, just goes to show, how much Voldemort rattles the wizarding world in a very small amount of time.

This is true, but I don't think it's by design in the least. I don't think Tom cares for the fate of Muggle-borns, or anyone but himself.

Exhibit A: Tom is a selfish prick.

Yes, sometimes Tom is rational. He is often rational.

But he is very, very far from infallible. It isn't because Tom is 'crazy.' We all do irrational things and act on emotion rather than thinking things through.

Hanging Billy's rabbit was not rational. Releasing the basilisk, though it required strategy and precision and attention to detail, was not rational. Killing Myrtle to make a Horcrux because he has a pathological fear of death was not rational. Killing the Riddles was not rational.

To reason that murder is rational, you have to be operating on very flawed logic, a very flawed worldview, or both.

When he is in pain, he wants everyone else to be in pain, too. When he is scared, he wants the world to share his nightmares of the Reaper coming to collect his soul.

In short, Tom's pattern of poor impulse control and terrible planning makes it hard for me to believe he could pull off CM's version of events. Sure, he'd like to knock everyone off their pedestal, but... I don't think it was his main concern.

Tom is a generally very frustrated person. That much, everyone can agree on.

What I can't fathom, is why start a war? It's an odd style of revenge.

Here's what CM suggests:

CM: Given the results we see, that more than any others it seems to be the purebloods and often Tom’s own followers that suffer colossal losses, I think Tom’s actions are, in part, a means of vengeance against the entire damn wizarding world (but especially the purebloods).

Who the hell is Lord Voldemort, anyway?

But I must wonder if Lord Voldemort, with his yew-and-phoenix wand (which carries heavy symbolism of immortality and rebirth) and almost deified figure is meant to be a personification of Death himself? His name, Lord Voldemort, is a shade close to Lord Death.

In Part 5, I come to the amusing conclusion that Voldemort is Persephone. Deal with it.

But in all seriousness, I think Lord Voldemort is originally Tom's private coping mechanism/alter ego invented while at Hogwarts -- the greatest sorcerer of all time, a foreign Dark Lord who looks down upon the likes of Abraxas Malfoy.

Here's how it might have went down.

Once he's sufficiently changed his appearance, he decides to take the Voldemort persona out for a spin with the pureblood crowd, flaunts his charm and leadership skills, and chats his blood purity bullshit.

And they eat it up. Voldemort is a hit.

So, once he's turned down from the Defence position, perhaps Tom decides to see just how far he can go with this. How much he can humiliate and enslave these people who treated him like scum.

His life is meaningless. He's going to live forever, but the world is worthless and he hates everything and everyone in it. He installs a puppet minister, because he can't be bothered, he has no interest in ruling the damn world anyway. World Takeover was never the plan.

In fact, Tom doesn't have a plan.

CM: He makes fools of these people, brands them as his slaves, and has them participate in the most over the top ridiculous rituals (the cloaks, the masks, the entire theatrics of it feels like Tom got drunk one night and planned this whole thing out).

And so, I think Voldemort's not the Big Bad, but nor is he an iconoclastic, cloak-and-dagger chessmaster revolutionary. However, the fame, the veneer of being the Big Bad goes to his head, and not really having an identity of his own, I think Tom starts to believe his own hype, right up until the point where he gets killed by a fifteen-month-old.

CM: Basically, I think by the time the series begins Tom is fueled by a nihilist rage that knows no bounds. But dammit all, the wizarding world is going to burn.

Yeah. I'm still not satisfied and Voldemort's motives are unclear. But this is probably the closest you can get.

#the many faces of #tom riddle #tom riddle jr #lord voldemort #character analysis #character study

25 notes · View notes

thevibraniumveterans · 3 years

Text

“What If…?” Wednesdays! 1.04

Wednesday, September 1, 2021.

WHAT IF… Doctor Strange lost the love of his life?

Okay, first things first, I got major, major Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith vibes from this episode alone. In RotS, Anakin receives a premonition of Padme dying, and he seeks to prevent her death. In his fear, for love of her, he turns to Sidious and becomes Vader in an effort to possibly reverse the inevitability of Padme dying, but not even that can save her.

It’s the same in this episode. One version of Strange turns to the dark side all because he wanted to save Christine, but luckily for the other version of him, Stephen knew what would happen.

Padme and Christine die anyway, given that their deaths are Absolute Points in time and cannot be reversed, erased, and they cannot be brought back from the afterlife. Their lovers, Anakin and Stephen, have sought to bring them back, but where did it bring the two men? Down a dark path, destroying them forever.

Holy shit, the parallels.

Here are my notes for today’s episode…

Date night?

Tailgate. Car crash. Overboard.

Christine died.

“Tinkering with time can weaken the very fabric of the universe. We protect reality. We’re protect reality. We don’t threaten it.”

He can’t let go of what’s happened. He’s grief-stricken for 2 years.

Wong is a moral compass, of sorts.

He goes back to the point of time before the accident. Makes changes, but the accident is unavoidable.

He tries to tamper with time. But is unsuccessful. Time and time again. He cannot avoid what is inevitable. Even if she’s not there, he’s not there. The death still happens.

It’s like WandaVision, but worse. (Dealing with grief, trying to prevent what cannot be prevented.)

Palmer’s death is “an Absolute Point in time.” Like the Sacred Timeline, kind of. The Ancient One says, “Unchangeable. Unmovable. Without her death, you would never have defeated Dormammu and become the Sorcerer Supreme and the guardian of the Eye of Agamotto. If you erase her death, you never start your journey. You’re risking the universe. You cannot reverse an Absolute Point.” She also says, “this path [of wanting more power] only leads to darkness and the end of this reality,”

He ends up in a library…

“It’s Strange.” “Not any stranger than any other name in this world.” (What a throwback to Kaecilius’ “Who am I to judge?”)

He calls up a spell…. AND IT’S THE TENTACLE MONSTER FROM E1?

“Is she worth the pain? A man does not suffer like this for his own glory.”

“There is a fine line between devotion and delusion. Love can break more than your heart. It can shatter your mind.”

The Watcher: “I could warn him, intervene, but the fate of his universe is not worth risking the safety of all others.” Hmmm…

Strange can’t accept death “But perhaps the other Strange will.”

He’s not the only Strange in the universe.

He sets down the stone, and goes out, only to meet the Ancient One. Strange asks what’s going on, who’s causing this, and AO says, “You are.” (Like Loki E1 when he’s told there’s a Variant of himself out there.)

AO drew power from the dark dimension to split the timeline, so there’s one who sought power and one who didn’t. Hmm. “Allowing for two of your possible timelines to occur in one universe.” Sounds a lot like ‘creative adjustments’ from Loki E6…

The Strange who did not seek power is the only one strong enough to defeat his evil Timeline-twin.

“When are you?”

Stephen meets not-Strange, and Stephen says, “You can’t bring her back. The world out there is breaking.”

Strange wants to save Christine from certain death - this is very much like Anakin in the prequels where he has been foretold of Padme’s death and he wants to save her, knowing she’ll die. He becomes a bad guy because of it, and this is exactly what Strange is at this moment. Stephen and Strange is basically the angel and the devil, the superego and id. The light and the dark of the same person, the conflict within. Strange has sought out power like Anakin sought out Sidious. Anakin feared the loss of the loved one, and as such, sought to learn what he could to prevent the inevitable death.

- (ROTS: “You have turned her against me!” - “You have done that yourself!” - “You will not take her from me!”)

- (Palpatine: Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise... he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create... life. He had such a knowledge of the Dark Side, he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. Anakin: He could actually... save people from death? Palpatine: The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.)

- (Anakin: I will do whatever you ask. Sidious: Good! Anakin: Just help me save Padme's life. I can't live without her. Sidious: To cheat death is the power only one has achieved. But if we work together, I know we can discover the secret.)

“This isn’t love. Look at this. This is arrogance. This is our need to fix everything. It’s what drove us to study the mystic arts in the first place.” Hmmm… It’s a little like E6′s conversation “I’ve been where you are, I know what you feel.” It’s kind of the same sentiment but different emotions.

“I’ve gone too far to turn back now.”

Not-Strange brings Christine back, but doing so has irrevocably destroyed him. Much like learning of the dark side has turned Anakin into Darth Vader.

Christine freaks out, and it’s like that scene on Mustafar where Padme pleads with Anakin but he’s too far gone to hear her.

Strange/Not-Strange pleads with the Watcher to help, but as is the nature of the Watcher, he cannot intervene.

The Id and the Superego have coalesced into the ego, and Stephen has to live with the choices he made. Actions have consequences.

“One life, one choice, one moment can destroy the entire universe.”

14 notes · View notes

short-wooloo · 3 years

Text

The Cruella movie has me afraid of the possibility that Disney will try to make a Palpatine origin movie

Just, the whole bit where they tried to make the puppy murder sympathetic

Cruella is the easiest, textbook definition of evil, killing puppies

And that's kinda what Palpatine is, only applied to an evil sorcer/galactic dictator level

Based on how Disney tried to justify Cruella by having dalmatians kill her mom, I can only guess that a Palpatine movie would somehow make the Jedi responsible for the death of Palpatine's family

Instead of the far more interesting option of "Palpatine killed them all because he's a horrifyingly evil sociopath"

#star wars #cruella #disney #fuck disney #cruella 2021 #palpatine #darth sidious #these characters are not meant to be sympathetic

10 notes · View notes

blackkatmagic · 4 years

Note

What is going one with that curse and Grey? I am so intrigued. (And of course Depa/Grey are lovely but-) curse? Storm? What?

xD Tbh i have only a vague idea, but - Grey is cursed, and he’ll turn into a wolf if he leaves the island. The storm is there to block out the star his transformation is linked to, controlled by instruments at the top of the tower. My thought was eventually evil sorcerer Palpatine comes for Depa and Caleb, forcing them to flee, and Grey is in love with Depa and loves Caleb like a son so he just...goes after them, even with the curse, and Depa helps him control himself because she’s a fairy who’s been hiding her power to keep away from Palpatine.

#pretzel-log1c #kat answers

44 notes · View notes

ellatholmes · 4 years

Text

Tropes: Evil Sorcerers and Sorceresses

Throughout my many years of reading historical fiction novels and consuming other forms of media that also play host to one evil sorceress or another, I’ve picked up on several things that I believe go a long way when writing said characters. This is by no means an official guide, but rather a culmination of ideas, tropes and themes that I’ve observed. Really this list could be used for villains that are not magical, but hey, I’m a sucker for a wicked sorceress!

So, what is an evil sorcerer? An evil sorceress is someone who causes chaos. They can be unpredictable. Horrible. Nasty. They usually work by understanding people, using manipulation as a tactic to get what they want. They offer you everything you’ve ever wanted, but of course, it always comes with strings.

Traits and Tropes:

Tricking people

Voldemort was a young, good looking and charming man who manipulated those around him. He was charismatic, able to play on peoples ego’s and emotions to get what he wanted from them.

Lady Oonagh from Daughter of the Forest (Juliet Marillier). She appears to be a nice woman who is in love with the king but is really manipulating him and others in the castle for her own benefit.

Their appearance changes:

Think the evil Queen from Snow White. She’s vain and envious of her stepdaughter's beauty. When she finds out that Snow White is still alive, she transforms herself into an old hag.

They use dark magic, or have taken natural magic and twisted it into something hideous and terrible.

Their corrupt morals are given a physicality. They’re so far off the deep end, so into the darkness that even the pure magic they once practised is now malignant. Sometimes the twisting of their magic costs something.

The dark side of the force - Star Wars. The more someone uses the dark side the more it costs the user. Palpatine's appearance changes drastically. It seems to take a toll on the mentality of the user, like Anikan, who’s emotions take ahold of him. His eyes change colour.

Voldemorts Horcruxes. Using magic to create Horcruxes required him to split his soul into pieces. The use of this magic and the creation of said items resulted in his human appearance fading away, replaced with snake-like features.

They’re very obviously evil.

Think classic Disney villains. They’re almost all colour coded in Black, green, purple or red to signify their villainy. Sometimes they have black, possessed eyes. Horrible, scary, pointy teeth. Sometimes they give an evil smirk when nobody is looking.

They have lackeys and henchmen/evil minions

Palpatine in Star Wars has a large number of henchmen. They might perceive themselves to be business partners, or as loyal followers. In reality, Palpatine punishes them cruelly for their failures and does not respect them as he does those whom he deems powerful.

The clone troopers are a good example of evil minions. They are expendable and are only being used as a tool to complete a task. Stormtroopers are raised and indoctrinated from a young age to serve ‘the cause’. They are dehumanised and expendable.

Their worship is cult-like:

Voldemort. Though not quite like a religion, Voldemorts following was large. There was a clear split between who followed him or not, who believed in his ideologies or not.

Grindelwald. Perhaps even more so than Voldemorts, Grindelwald's following was cult-like. There are heavy themes from our own history (Hitler). A clear divide between those who follow him and those who don’t. People who do follow him believe that it is their right, that what they’re doing is right, and that anyone trying to stop them is being oppressive.

They want more power, prestige and stature

Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Ursula only agrees to make Ariel a human so she can use her as a form of ransom, to get King Tritons crown. She is the main villain, grows very large and powerful (controlling the ocean) towards the end of the movie.

Genvissa from Hades Daughter (Sara Douglass). She is beautiful and powerful, but still, she wants more. She needs a particular person to help her gain more power, and has no qualms tricking anyone she needs to. She loves the attention and praise from the people she rules over.

They’re Xenophobic

Lucifer from Supernatural. He is a very powerful Archangel who wants nothing more than to trigger the Apocolypse, thereby ending humanity. He views humans as maggots, along with demons and other creatures that are not celestial in nature.

They appeal to your fears

Valentine from The Mortal Instruments. He says things like “If you don’t listen to me / do what I say, the thing you’re most afraid of will happen!”. He convinces people to join him based on their fear of ‘downworlders’ (vampires, werewolves, warlocks etc) and what they might do. These fears are real, based on experience (eg. someone they know was attacked by a downworlder) or word of mouth. He convinces Jace that killing downworlders is the only way to stop innocent people from dying.

They're beyond redemption, or simply don’t want it

Anikan Skywalker. He becomes evil, dark and lost in the ideologies of the dark side of the force. His mentor and friend, Obi-Wan, tries to bring him back to the light. Anikan does not want it.

They're narcissistic

The Master from Doctor Who, who is completely and utterly obsessed with himself and his abilities. He shows off. He is smart, and he knows it.

They're 'mad’

The Queen of Hearts. They’re moody and don’t tolerate disagreement. They hate being told things they don’t want to hear. They punish, brutally. Their rule is absolute and strict to the point of insanity.

They view themselves as a ‘necessary evil’

Thanos. He sees a problem, the overpopulation of the universe and its lack of adequate resources, and tires to ‘fix’ that problem by wiping out 50% of all life. He has the sad back story to go with it, and ultimately, what he does was done in an attempt to prove to himself that he was right - that all the tragedy he experienced on his home planet could have been stopped by someone doing what he did.

They’re disgustingly dark

They eat rotten food, or worms or bugs. They’re into dead things. They love things that other people find disturbing. Maybe they kill for fun, to add a new person to their table of dead guests.

The mysterious one

Otherwise called the ‘unknown employer’. This character is pulling all the strings from behind a curtain. Only a small number of their loyal followers, the most devout and most trustworthy, may see them. The face or identity of This character is usually revealed as a plot twist, something that shocks the characters and the audience. This can be because it’s someone nobody suspected, their appearance is so gruesome, or maybe because they look nothing like a villain at all.

Annnnd that’s all! This is just a small list that I compiled and there are, of course, many other traits and tropes that sorcerers may embody, through all forms of media. Hope you found it insightful!

#trope #tropes #writing advice #writing #evil #Villains #villain #sorcerer #sorceress #how to write #fwadvice

315 notes · View notes

the-rancor-battalion · 4 years

Text

When White Sand Turns Red

Medieval AU!

“By the Maker, there’s no end to the treasonous bastards...”

Lord Havoc, Commander of the 1st Kamino Infantry Battalion of King Palpatine’s Grand Army of the Republic of Galaxa spoke gravely as he stared down at the white sanded beach below.

Said beach was absolutely covered with men in in tan uniforms and armor, all bearing the insignia and flag of the Confederacy of Independent States, a group of minor kingdoms and baronies that had broken away from the Republic of Galaxa. Today the vast armies of the CIS were landing on the famous white beaches of the Island of Kamino. The Kaminoans were a species of sorcerers that had used black magic to create an army of identical soldiers to combat the CIS at the request of King Palpatine. Or so the story went.

Lord Havoc turned to his right as another man just like him, a clone of sorts, barked out to the archers on the wall. “Fire at will!”

Lord Colt, Commander of the 2nd Kamino Infantry Battalion of King Palpatine’s Grand Army of the Republic of Galaxa turned to look at his brother. “We have to hold them here, if they break through the gates they can overwhelm us.”

Havoc nodded, taking a moment to examine his brother’s armor. Colt’s armor was a light grey color, almost white. The same as Havoc’s own. His pauldrons however, were different. His right being red, and left blue. Colt’s chest-plate was also a darker grey than Havoc’s, and his crimson shield was attached to the warrior’s back for quick access.

Taking no time to look at his own armor, Havoc turned, only to hear Colt speak. “I’ll lead the counter-charge. I need every man we can spare.”

Havoc whirled, catching Colt’s elbow. “No. I will lead the charge.”

Colt rolled his eyes. “You’ll never make it back.”

Havoc threw him a rare smirk. “I can hardly let you have all the glory now, can I?”

They both knew it was fake bravado. Especially with the sounds of catapults firing, and swords clashing in the background.

Colt looked at the ground, then sighed before clasping Havoc’s forearm tightly before letting go, letting his fellow commander prepare for the worst decision of his very short life.

—————————

Havoc tightened his shield on his arm and rolled his shoulders as he neared the gate. The portculass had been destroyed by a CIS catapult, so he had ordered two dozen men to form a permenant shield wall in lieu of the fallen fortification. He passed the bodies of fallen Kaminoans and fallen Clones as he made his way towards the gate with a procession of almost a hundred men behind him. He spied armor from a dozen and a half different battalions.

The deep grey of the 104th Wolves Battalion. They originated from the Forests of the Kingdom of Naboo.

The cerulean blue of the 501st Steel Battalion. From the Blue Mountains on the eastern coast.

The orange of the 212th Ascension Battalion, from the underground cities that made up the United City States of Utapau.

The list went on.

No matter.

He reached the shield wall, and could see the men prepare to move.

He drew his sword from its scabbard and raised it high in the air.

“Forward!”

The shields parted, and Havoc was the first of a hundred men to sprint into the sand, thanking the Maker that the Kaminoans had imbued his armor with magic to make it weigh almost nothing.

He knocked a CIS war-axe to the side with his shield and cut down its wielded with one swing of his sword. Without even stopping, he reared back from that swing and stabbed another man straight through his ribs. Another quick move forward, he slammed his shield into the face of a towering enemy swordsman, knocking him to the ground and slitting his throat with one fell swoop. He walked forward as three more came at him.

The first, he parried the axe swing and shoulder barged the warrior before stabbing him through the heart.

The second he knocked the war hammer aside with his shield and span on his heel, slitting the back of his attacker’s throat and bringing his blade back fast enough to end the third attacked with a swift disembowelment. All around him, men fought desperately to stem the tide of CIS warriors.

And they were holding.

—————————

Colt was amazed. He’d expected CIS to cut them down, but they were ac—

He was not expecting a Rancor to emerge from the water with a screaming Asajj Ventress on its back.

Rancors were beasts from the untamed jungles of Felucia. He’d faced one before. It killed half his unit.

Ventress was an evil type of war monk known as a Sith. Suppose that explains why she could tame a Rancor.

They needed help.

Colt walked down off the wall and drew his sword and shield. “4th Battalion, to me!”

—————————

“My lord, we can’t hold them back for much longer!”

Lord Blitz, Commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion of King Palpatine’s Grand Army of the Republic of Galaxa turned from his position atop the wall to face the mere Knight in the colors of the 212th Acension Battalion who stood before him.

“Sir! I don’t know for how much longer we can-“

A chilling wind tore through the island.

“The Makers do not favor us!” The Knight cried. “We must-“

“Fallback?” Blitz snapped, pulling his helmet off to look the man in the eye. “Flee?” He asked, stepping closer. “Is that what you left your post to tell me? Is that why you left your men?”

The Knight opened his mouth, then closed it as Blitz walked closer. “We have been summoned, by the Makers, and you want to flee? I should kill you myself. You bring dishonor, to your men. You bring dishonor, to me. You bring, dishonor, to Galaxa!”

The Knight dropped to a kneel as Blitz shouted.

“I swear to you, Sir. Kamino will not fall. Not today. Today. We. Fight. Signal whatever’s left of the 41st to come about and reinforce the west flank. Pull the 91st out of the Old Quarter to do the same. I’ll find whatever’s left of the 3rd and reinforce Colt and Havoc. Go!”

“Understood!” The Knight replied as he ran off.

Blitz sighed, placing his helmet on roughly, “The frontline will hold,” and drew his sword. “even if I have to hold it myself.”

#rancor battalion #arc commander colt #arc commader havoc #arc commander blitz #Inspired by Ryse: Son of Rome

10 notes · View notes

redrascal1 · 2 years

Text

There's nothing quite like Star Wars.

Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek....hardcore sci fi with a touch of mysticism...but SW is - or was - a fairytale, a LOTR style fantasy set in space. Just looking at the stills from the Obi Wan series reminds me of that.

We had a dark sorcerer, a pirate, a would be knight, a feisty princess, a dark knight....all set against a contemporary space background. I'll never forget when I first saw ANH at the tender age of 12. Those words..

'A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away'....they gave me a thrill which forty odd years later has stayed with me.

But SW isn't just a 'good/evil' fable. Our heroes were fallible, human, they made mistakes. And as such we could relate to them. And the villains...yes, we had some truly evil ones, but we also had villains that were once good, whose fall from grace was because of their humanity. SW gave us bad guys we could relate to, that could be redeemed. It gave us hope.

Then we got TROS.

I'm one of those people who defended the ST. Yes, TFA ripped off ANH a lot, but it also gave us new twists. A heroine who wasn't a 'royal', or a leader, just a girl from nowhere who wanted nothing more than a family. A sidekick who fled the bad guys army and wanted nothing more than to escape.

Most of all a tragic 'anti villain' who turned out to be the last scion of the Skywalkers...and also the most fascinating and relatable character in the sequels.

Then we got TLJ...and Rian Johnson's wonderful film, which took each character and made them grow, and learn. That threw all kinds of possibilities into the mix, and left us with a terrific cliffhanger. I was so very hyped for TROS.

And it turned out to be the most disappointing cinematic experience I have ever had.

It was as if TLJ had never existed. Instead we got a tired rehash of ROTJ, mixed with obvious rip offs of several other, better films, no decent plot and dialogue so cringeworthy it made the acting look bad.

Worst of all...the character assassination of its principal cast. Rey, our likeable, relatable heroine, turned out to be neither, a lofty self important 'fembot' without a soul who was unrecognisable as the young woman we all embraced in TFA. Finn, her sidekick, had his character growth in TLJ trashed (along with his love interest) and became a creepy obsessed stalker whose purpose was nothing but following Rey around like a dog following a bitch in heat. Leia, whose character was destroyed beyond repair in order to make Rey look good.

But worst of all.....Ben/Kylo. The most interesting, promising character in the entire ST is reduced to a cardboard cut out villain for most of the film, then has a rushed redemption for the last 20 minutes in order to fulfil his purpose.....donating his life force as 'giving Rey back to the galaxy' was apparently all he was good for. The last Skywalker, in the last ever chapter of the Skywalker saga, reduced to Rey's 'organ' donor.

And to finish it off...Palpatine returns and Rey's his granddaughter. The Last Skywalker dies saving the last Palpatine ...and she eagerly takes everything that was his as her due, without even acknowledging what he did for her.

What really hurts is all this was the work of Disney, the company which once made fairytales real. Who gave us such beautiful, romantic works as Beauty and the Beast (original), Bambi, Once Upon A Time the series....all stories based on love, and hope and redemption.

They've crushed me. They've broken the hearts of thousands of fans. And why? Because they are ashamed of some of the less savoury parts of their history, and now want to prove how 'woke' they are? How can throwing away Finn/Rose, a lovely inter racial love affair, be 'diverse'? How can turning Rey into a heartless creature who promptly forgets the other half of her soul because he's seen as 'unworthy' promote 'strong women'?

And how on earth can erasing the entire Skywalker family, the heart and soul of Lucas's epic, and replacing them with the villain's 'get' be hopeful? A satisfying end to the Skywalker saga?

How in the name of sanity can this satisfy anyone, other than the toxic harpies who think 'reylo' is racist and the fanatics who think women need no one to be happy?

Disney haven't just destroyed SW - they have destroyed themselves. I am no longer interested in anything they put out...I'm a depressant who wants something that makes me feel good, not a wrist slitting suicide glorifying obscenity.

My only regret is that I defended them.

3 notes · View notes

wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 4 years

Text

Psycho Analysis: Emperor Palpatine

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

There are villains. There are memes about villains. There are villains who are memes. And then, high above all of them, sitting on a lofty throne all his own, is Emperor Sheev Palpatine, a character so insanely incredible that it’s frankly quite baffling that even George Lucas at his worst still couldn’t make him awful… No, that was good old J.J. Abrams. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Palpatine is pretty much the archetype for the evil emperor in modern fiction, a mysterious evil sorcerer in dark robes who commands the main villain from afar and contains power beyond anything thought possible. But what’s interesting to note is that Palpatine really has three distinct eras to him: the original trilogy, where he was basically an outside context last minute threat who only had a presence in the third act of Return of the Jedi; the prequel trilogy, which is his best showing and where the Sheev we’ve all come to known and love really got to spread his wings and fly; and finally, the sequel era, the worst showing of Palpatine hands down, where he is randomly slapped into a film with no foreshadowing or buildup to pander to nostalgia.

So let’s take a look at our old pal Sheevy and see what makes him one of the greatest villains of all time, and one of the worst.

Motivation/Goals: Palpatine is motivated by one thing, and one thing only:

He spends the entire prequel trilogy building this up, working behind the scenes and manipulating both sides of the Clone Wars to his advantage so he can be given more and more political power. This works out beautifully for him, allowing him to dispose of his pawns like Dooku, take over the senate, seize absolute power, amass an army of clones, and of course execute Order 66. But most importantly, he is able to manipulate the frustrated and hurting Anakin to his side, mostly because the Jedi are a bunch of bumbling, archaic morons who put so much restrictions and belittle him so much that this creepy, predatory man is able to feed into his insecurities and send him tumbling to the Dark Side.

In the original trilogy, Palpatine is pretty content with letting Vader handle the affairs of the Empire, at least until Luke shows up and the Rebels become a substantial threat. Once the time comes, he has Luke and Vader get together and puts them up against each other, thinking the outcome is either that he gets a new apprentice/keeps his old one in check, or corrupts Luke somehow into killing his father and joining him as the new Sith. He didn’t count on Vader turning, but ah well.

The thing is that throughout these six films he remains remarkably consistent in his goals. He wants power, and if he can’t keep that power he’s going to make sure as many people suffer on his way down as possible. He’s almost cartoonishly evil in the best way possible!

And then came the sequels.

His motivations in the sequels are, quite frankly, impossible to discern, because they seem to change every scene. If he’s behind Snoke and the First Order, it’s easy to guess that he probably wanted Rey dead, right? Because that’s sure the vibe Snoke gave in The Last Jedi. But no, after it seeming like he wants her dead for most of The Rise of Skywalker, as soon as she shows up his plan is suddenly for her to kill him so he can transfer into his body. And then he changes that a short time later to “I am going to suck the life out of Rey and Ben so this shitty clone body can be great.” It’s like they’re cramming three or four different Palpatine plots into the twenty-five minutes of screentime Palpatine has in this film, and there is just absolutely no thematic cohesion anywhere. It’s just a mess.

Performance: If there is one thing that is always consistent with Palpatine, it is that Ian McDiarmid is absolutely fantastic as him. This man is able to take the most cliché, generic evil overlord archetype imaginable and transform every single line of dialogue he spouts into a meme, and even when he’s the absolute worst version of this character possible and strapped to a giant Sith dialysis machine on some Sith planet where he makes Snoke clones and verbally berates Adam Driver, he still finds time to be hilariously awesome.

Final Fate: Palpatine seriously underestimated Anakin, and ended up chucked down into the Death Star, where he died. He certainly didn’t have a poorly-explained clone backup of himself anywhere that would rise up decades later to completely override any victories the heroes ever had by ensuring that the entire lineage of the Skywalkers was destroyed and then usurped by his own spawn.

Best Scene: In a scene that justifies the entire existence of the prequels, shows off McDiarmid’s acting chops as he pulls off some actual subtlety as Palpatine, delivers some great background lore, and helps make Revenge of the Sith as awesome as it is… well, have you heard of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

youtube

Best Quote: Look, I could put just about anything he says in Revenge of the Sith here. I could put just about anything he says here. This man is an absolute meme machine who spits out only the finest quotable soundbites you will ever here. But look, I’m tired of not singling out great lines, so let me give you the one I quote the most. It’s one of his greatest quotes, and yet it is unbelievably simple. Two words and a ridiculously hammy inflection is all this man needs to be a meme:

Final Thoughts & Score: Sheev Palpatine is a man of extremes. Every aspect of him is so large that when he does something, he does it with the full force of his entire character. Revenge of the Sith will eternally be his best showing in the entire franchise, because he just spends the entirety of his screentime being the most insanely impressive scheming, manipulative bastard imaginable while somehow managing to cram in time for a sick spin through the air or a monologue about his former master at the space opera house. He manages to singlehandedly redeem the prequels if only by existing in them, and he helps elevates Revenge of the Sith into being the only one of those films that is generally accepted as being legitimately awesome. And while he is absent for much of the original trilogy, seeing as he wasn’t exactly conceived of right off the bat, he manages to make the most of his appearance in Return of the Jedi by being just as delightfully malevolent as ever, goading Luke and Vader into a duel and shooting lightning from his fingertips.

There are few villains who are just this completely basic and cliché that could ever hope to be great, but thanks to McDiarmid’s portrayal, he has gone on to be one of the single most iconic villains of all time, and one of the most iconic characters of all time. The guy is practically a living meme, from his name to his actions in the prequels, and he has certainly inspired many an evil overlord after him. For a character so seemingly unoriginal, it can be hard to believe he probably deserves an 11/10, but he most definitely does. He’s just become a staple of the franchise, to the point where some people feel it just ain’t Star Wars without him…

...Including, unfortunately, J.J. Abrams and a few other writers. Palpatine managed to be shoehorned into the prequels by being a surprise twist villain for The Rise of Skywalker (and as we’ve all seen from their recent animated movies, out-of-nowhere twist villains are great!), and it is without a doubt the most stupid and embarrassing showing one could possibly imagine for a character of this caliber. His motivations seem to change every time he opens his mouth, a lot of his dialogue is just uninspired, and while he does get a somewhat striking design here it’s hampered by the fact that his entire existence and role are really unexplained in the film and he feels like he was slapped in for the sake of being there.

There’s also the fact that his mere existence and the fact he ends up being responsible for Ben Solo’s death means he completely overrides the entire franchise, comes out on top with his granddaughter usurping the Skywalker name, and succeeds entirely at wiping out the Skywalker lineage. This entire nine film series was just buildup to Palpatine ultimately winning, and just when things couldn’t get worse, Disney decided to take away the one thing that made this Palpatine hilarious – the idea that, with his hideous scarred face, he was able to bang a woman and conceive a child – and completely toss it out the window by saying this Palpatine was actually a clone. Not in the movie, of course, because that would make way too much sense, no; it was confirmed on Twitter.

I think it goes without saying Clone Palpatine gets a 1/10. And this is through no fault of McDiarmid; he’s still genuinely great in the role, even if the role is stupid, his character’s actions are stupid, and just everything about the character’s existence is stupid. He’s certainly not phoning it in at all, and ignoring everything else about the film Clone Palpatine is at least somewhat amusing on his own. There’s also the fact that this Palpatine most definitely has an incredibly striking design and looks really cool, despite the unbelievable lameness of what he actually is:

But how he is utilized within the franchise and what he ultimately accomplishes and represents is too much for me to actually forgive in the context of Psycho Analysis. When the most redemptive thing I can say about Clone Palpatine is that his actor is at least trying and his design is cool despite the awful writing and story relevance, that is not the sign of a great character. That is the sign of a great actor desperately trying to salvage a trainwreck.

But it’s like I said earlier; Palpatine is a man of extremes. If he’s gonna be a great villain, then by god is he going to be one of the greatest villains of all time. And if he’s going to be a crappy villain? Well then he’s gonna sit among the worst ever. I kind of respect that about good ol’ Sheev; he just can’t do anything in half measures. I guess as a Sith he really does deal in absolutes, be it absolutely amazing or absolutely awful.

UPDATE: I stand by all my criticisms of Sheev Clonepatine, but dammit, there’s just too many hilarious memes, and I can’t really hate Ian McDiarmid’s performance. Yes, I’ve come around quick, but I guess it is true: when Palpatine succeeds, he succeeds epically and hilariously, and when he fails, he fails epically and hilariously. His role in the story and the stupidity of him being here at all is a 1/10 for sure, but I think he’s just hilarious enough to edge into the “So bad it’s good” category of 3/10 alongside his bouncing baby boy Snoke.

Just remember: No matter what Disney tries to tell you, Palpatine fucks.

#Psycho Analysis #Emperor Palpatine #Sheev Palpatine #ian mcdiarmid #Star Wars #Revenge of the Sith #The Rise of Skywalker #Return of the Jedi

25 notes · View notes

thehobbem · 4 years

Text

On stories and interpretation: Kylo/Ben

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a long ride.

Stories are an essential part of the human experience. We have told stories to each other throughout millenia, stories that capture human imagination, that teach us or make us feel smthg, that inspire us. But above all else, stories that mirror ourselves.

That includes Star Wars.

A boy living a boring life with his family, without exciting perspectives for his future, who just wants to be Out There, Doing Stuff, Living the Dream, Saving the Princess and the Day. Who hasn’t been that Luke? We’re all looking at that (perhaps not binary) sunset and wondering when it’s gonna be our turn.

Other connections we make, however, come from parts of ourselves we hate to acknowledge -- cue Kylo Ren/Ben Solo.

When I look at Kylo/Ben, I see someone born to a lot of privilege, but who felt abandoned by those he loved; someone who was painfully convinced he would never be able to live up to all the expectations. Who didn’t feel loved, who hated himself, and only found one outlet to all that self-hatred: lashing out. Someone who couldn’t control the voices in his head telling him he would never be loved, and decided that, if the voices wouldn’t go away, he might as well be friends with them. Embrace them. If he can’t be loved, he’ll be hated. And every time he does smthg to be hated, he hates himself a little bit more. I see myself.

I know many see Kylo/Ben as an abuser (and consequently, reylo as a toxic ship). There’s nothing wrong with that, the way you read this character is also valid. Your connection is different from the one I made, and that’s okay.

“But the war crimes!”

Yeah, no one’s condoning war crimes, let’s all calm down. No one thinks it’s cute. I’m not going around saying Hitler deserved love and redemption. But fictional stories deal in symbols. Just as the Lars moisture farm stands for "humdrum, unexciting life we all want to escape”, Kylo Ren’s war crimes and killing of Han are a symbol of “he hurts those around him with his actions”. The truth is that there is no moisture farm, and there is no First Order. No one is leaving the cinema thinking genocide and torture are cool; if all it takes to convince someone that genocide and torture are an acceptable life choice is a few scenes in a movie, then that someone already walked into the movie theater with a problem.

Any story, regardless of the media through which it’s told, demands that we interpret it. They rely on our understanding of universal symbols.

Remember Darth Vader’s very first appearance? All clad in black, wearing a mask that doesn’t allow us to see his face, breathing like that, a few ominous notes playing in the background? We immediately know he’s the villain. No one told us. We know bc those are universal symbols. And Kylo Ren’s first appearance is just the same: all black, a mask, ominous music, voice altered by a filter. This is the villain.

And then smthg happens: we find out he’s Han and Leia’s kid. Next, he removes his helmet. These are symbols as well: he’s no longer some faceless evil, he’s a young man with actual facial expressions and a voice of his own. He’s also the only child of heroes we love. These tell us we’re supposed to care. Not like him, that’s a different conversation. We may like him or hate him, but we’re definitely supposed to be invested in what happens to him, to want to know.

The Last Jedi doubles down on humanizing Kylo: he’s always maskless, he’s constantly being told he’s a failure by a character who, through words and gestures, is coded as an abuser, he has a story of betrayal in which he’s the one betrayed. He begs the heroine to be with him, and shies away from blowing up the ship his mother is on. This is the story clearly telling us Kylo Ren is not some faceless, shapeless evil. He’s a person.

“Well, yeah, duh, all villains are people.” Are they, though? Technically, yes, of course, but is this what the story is telling you? What do we know, say, about Jafar? He’s the vizier, he’s a tall, evil sorcerer, he wants to be the sultan. That is it. He’s a flat character. What do we know about Palpatine? He wants to rule the whole galaxy and uses the Force for evil. He’s from Naboo. That is literally it. These are not people, these are just vessels for evil the hero must defeat.

But we do know a lot about Kylo, don’t we?

It’s important to recognize what the story is trying to tell you. I don’t mean “the message of the story”, because that’s more difficult to pin down, and way more subjective. Each one of us will have a different, valid interpretation. But we have to acknowledge how a story treats its characters, to remember that, when a character is not flat, it’s for a reason. It’s trying to make you think, and maybe to make you connect with them. No one connected to Obadiah Stane in Iron Man, bc the story didn’t want you to. It only wanted you to see him as the embodiment of evil, corporate greed. But lots of people found themselves slowly nodding at Killmonger in Black Panther, going “well, yeah, Wakanda could be helping black communities around the world, couldn’t they?” because the story wanted you to consider it.

The same goes for Kylo/Ben. You don’t have to like him, or think he deserved redemption. Those are valid conclusions to get to. But if you’re surprised that others like him, well, then you’re not paying attention to what the story is doing. It’s telling us how inherently human his failures are, and how they come from the inherently human failures of his family. And isn’t that something that is bound to resonate with a lot of people?

You don’t have to like Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and reylo. Do feel free to dislike him and the ship, to mute/block/black list people who do like them. You should, in fact, bc fandom and stories are supposed to be fun. You’re under no obligation to put up with things you don’t like. But you are not free to go around pretending your reading is The Only Good, Valid Reading, bc not only does it show you don’t understand stories, but also that you disregard other people’s experiences, inner demons, and hopes.

Stories are for us to connect with and make us think. Characters are for us to love or hate, and maybe throw our own reflection back at us. So don’t be surprised, or indignant, when stories achieve just that, and remember that fictional stories, and their possible readings, don’t belong exclusively to you.

No piece of art has One Answer To Rule Them All.

#kylo ren #ben solo #reylo #star wars #star wars the rise of skywalker #star wars spoilers #sw meta #and don't @ me being rude #I'm not even gonna pretend to acknowledge it bc I'm a very busy woman #stories are supposed to be fun #you don't wanna have fun with them that is on you

17 notes · View notes

bread-tab · 5 years

Text

so i think when this little exchange in rotj happened:

luke: your overconfidence is your weakness

palps: your faith in your friends is yours

like? that revealed a LOT. about luke, the sith, and especially palpatine.

first of all, palps didn’t say “lol, wrong.” he didn’t even say, “no, you,” which is near the front of the villain playbook and pretty reasonable in this situation. he basically said, “yeah, but YOU—” which, uh, did that hit a nerve palpy?

and then there’s the content of what he said: luke’s friends aren’t trustworthy. he also spends the whole conversation saying “fRiEnDs” in this dripping-with-disdain tone. like, it’s condescending, standard Invincible Evil Sorcerer material right? but it also shows a little bit of palpapickle’s background...how did he *get* that idea, that friends are untrustworthy and gross? that the concept of friends is laughably, annoyingly naive?

because iirc at this point in the conversation palpers was getting high-key irritated at luke. which as we later learn means he was halfway to frying him, which is very yikes but also only something he does when stressed? i think luke was making him nervous.

logically, the rebels aren’t going to win this. they’re super outnumbered and the imperial forces are theoretically better trained, better equipped, have better tactics, basically all the advantages. why would palpalingadingdong be nervous about the outcome? well, look at it like this: he’s stuck in a room with two skywalkers.

palpistachio doesn’t like jedi. he thinks they’re icky. he’s better at the force than them, in his opinion. they’re just dumbasses. but every time the skywalkers come along, the most random crap happens and screws up his plans. a ten-year-old blowing up a space station. like, alright, i can deal with that, i’ll creepily groom him to become my apprentice and that mary sue force power’s mine. oh, now he’s like nineteen and being a regular jedi dumbass except uh...he has a wife? fine, whatever, that’s gross but useful for manipulation. just chuck him in the front of the war, he’s sensitive about that stuff—yep, got him! oh now he’s depressed and only has 0.5 limbs, that’s so boring.

what do you mean he has a secret kid and that kid blew up my freaking superweapon that took like 30 years to make? okay. okay, second try at apprentice, this time with more limbs and less depression. vader go get the kid. vader why can’t you catch your own goldarned kid, what kind of a father are you? oh, you carbon-froze his fRiEnD? that’s great, i don’t care, sell it to the hutts or something. alright vader, lure him onto my new death star, leave the mind stuff to me because you suck at it. oh wow, you actually caught him, how the f—oh, he’s trying to turn you to the light, sure, all according to my design. you better not get any funny ideas. what is this, a mon calamari bubble opera?

so palpateenybopper is just d o n e with skywalkers at this point and a hair away from frying them both to a crisp because they’re agents of chaos and entropy who gunk up the works of his nice new galactic order. why is he so threatened by them? well, palpating is a nerd. anakin and luke are jocks. palpinterest’s main talent isn’t silly laser-sword-waving. it’s thinking ahead, with a little help from the force. when there’s a lightsaber duel, sure, he can turn into an angery fidget spinner of death or try to squash a gnome with a floaty government space couch booth thing, but he doesn’t like to. someone like windu comes along who’s actually talented at that stuff, and he finds himself smashing his nice picture window and lightninging his own face (like, try to tell me that was on purpose). probably there’s a reason he never got into a direct fight with anakin and it’s not ‘oh i didn’t want to have to find another apprentice what a bother’ because the dude went through apprentices like they were pringles. something to do with how an anakin with the right motivation could, hypothetically, hoist him like a sack of electrified potatoes and yeet him down a convenient reactor shaft.

so these two jedi that don’t follow the jedi rules are annoying. you’d think they’d be good sith material, like dooku was, but nooo, they’re all about love and peace and all that hippy-dippy crap. self-loathing worked pretty well on vader but the dude’s always pulling crazy stunts and getting into the most dramatic confrontations possible and pulling secret relatives out of every dump in the galaxy. and the kid is just as bad. palpantaloons can sense it and he’s getting the worst headache of his life just imagining another three decades of this.

on top of that, the kid has the nerve to call him “overconfident.” in your dreams, you little dork, i’m the ruler of the galaxy and we’re literally sitting in the biggest superweapon that ever existed, and it’s *my* finger on the big red button. but then the force is very quietly like, ‘he’s right, you know.’ and palparanoia has a very bad feeling about this all of a sudden. maybe the stupid jedi kid knows something palpepperoni doesn’t. why else would he be so darned sure of himself?

oh wait, but would require the kid’s fRiEnDs to be actually competent. psh. this kid isn’t a threat to palporpoise; he doesn’t even have minions, he’s relying on people who don’t even fear him: obviously the other rebels are just using the kid for his abilities because they have a whole braincell somewhere among them. and then they sent him right into palparasite’s waiting arms, the fools. who’s overconfident now?

maybe i’m reading too much into this line, but i think it gives ol’ palpatriarchy some extra depth.

#star wars #palpatine #i think he’s on the line between 2D cookie-cutter villain and actual character depth #but it’s good writing #he’s got more to him than uhhhh lot of villains #including other star wars villains #anyway #i had to post this just to get my brain to stop thinking about it #so there #villains #fandom #star wars meta #long post #abuse cw

29 notes · View notes