#(still so angry about the tuskens)

[engagemythrusters]

I will stop my live-blogging now, sorry. I don’t ever MEAN to start doing it… but it happens anyway.

But overall my message about the film is this:

I don’t believe Anakin is without the ability to fall to the dark side. He does make his own decisions that could lead there. The second film proves as much with Tattooine.

But I cannot accept that the man so happy with his wife, with his unborn children, would pick the path he ended up on. This is not his choice. This one is manipulation. That is where the choices end. I fully believe had he not gone to intervene in the chancellor’s chambers, Darth Vader would not exist. The choice to go to the chambers was Anakin’s last.

It just was absolutely the wrong one.

[jedi-enthusiast]

I just came across a post someone made where they basically just said that Padme telling Anakin “it’s human to be angry” after he commits the Tusken Massacre is fine because she was “empathizing with him” and also criticizing the SW fandom via satire for criticizing Padme for that and saying that there was still good in him.

So one thing I need people to understand before they ever start getting on the- “you can’t criticize Padme, she did nothing wrong, she was just in love” -soapbox, is that her and Anakin’s love story is inherently toxic on both ends.

There is no version of their story that ends well if they stay together.

Anakin is a narcissistic abuser*, and Padme is an enabler of his behavior.

(*Keep in mind, when I say “Anakin is an abuser,” I mean the emotional abuser sort—as he doesn’t ever physically harm her until RotS)

This post is primarily about Padme, though, so I’ll just make another post analyzing Anakin—if that’s something y’all would be interested in.

—————

Think about it, though.

Anakin commits mass murder, including the murder of literal children, and Padme—someone who the fandom loves to point to as being morally perfect—basically says that it’s fine because being angry- (and committing mass murder because of it ig) -is normal.

She even rewards him by marrying him like, what is it, a day later? And she never tells anyone about it because god forbid Anakin face any consequences.

Anakin almost beats a man to death and then blames Padme for her own assault, she says he scares her and they need to take a break…but then she goes back to him soon after and apparently forgets all about the whole- “almost beating a man to death” -thing and is so excited to raise a family with him.

Because growing up in a household where their father regularly gets incredibly angry, and physically violent when he is, totally won’t traumatize the kid or anything! Raising children with a child-murderer totally isn’t cause for concern!

Anakin takes part in a genocide, massacres the Temple, ONCE AGAIN MURDERS CHILDREN…and she’s still begging him to stay with her so they can raise their perfect little family on Naboo.

And apparently he’s still a good person.

Right.

—————

Anakin never receives any consequences or pushback from Padme for his actions/behavior and, on the rare occasions she does push back, she goes running back to him—plowing over her own boundaries—almost immediately because she refuses to let go of her own delusional fantasies about their relationship.

That is what people are criticizing for, not for falling in love in the first place.

Anakin has his own set of issues that make the relationship toxic, but Padme also takes part in that toxicity by enabling his behavior—and people are well within their rights to criticize her for it, just like they should criticize Anakin.

[shootingstarpilot]

at some point I'm gonna write a oneshot where obi-wan gets de-aged (to like bandomeer age or something, so we still got a nice lil sprinkle of trauma in there)- the old sith artifact trope, or something like that, that's not important because what i want is baby obi-wan sensing some deep and dangerous darkness in anakin and absolutely refusing to let him near him (or any of the other medics), and anakin's growing more and more frustrated and angry and helix is just about to hit him with a stunner because he's not leaving when obi-wan's eyes widen and in an instant he's off the bed and darting around anakin (who tries to grab him, but he's too slow) and into the hallway and then they hear an oof--

helix glares down skywalker and strides out--

and nearly trips over mace, kneeling on the floor, with obi-wan clinging to him like a koala.

the 187th had been the next-closest, after the 501st. and when cody had commed the council with the news, well... no one had to ask who would go to them.

anyway head empty no thoughts only anakin having to reckon with the fact that this kid version of his master absolutely adores mace windu, of all people, and wants nothing to do with his own padawan.

featuring mace and obi-wan fluff and h/c (because the concept of mace being his finder is SO IMPORTANT TO ME), anakin being an ass, the 187th and 212th fighting a custody battle to end all custody battles, and an eventual tusken massacre reveal, because what do you mean when you say darkness, obi-wan?

(and listen i know he's a fictional character but i think a mace windu hug would fix me.)

[david-talks-sw]

Since people were talking about it recently: is there any official reason given of why Padme forgave Anakin immediatly after the Tusken Raider massacre? I always see a lot of diferent reasons given on the internet, from long and deep analises of theirs characters to "the writers didn't think about it".

Okay, folks (or single person who messaged me three times) I'm finally talking about this XD !

I got no official answer.

That said, here's a few points that I do think merit consideration, and I haven't really seen them mentioned anywhere.

1. Anakin is more regretful in the script.

If you look at how the scene is portrayed in the Attack of the Clones July 2001 draft of the screenplay, in Scene 118, pages 83-84...

... he's sorry and ashamed. He is in absolute shock of what he did. We get a bit of this, in the film...

... but in the script it's much more explicit. It starts out with him lashing out at Obi-Wan, at his own lack of power, but it ends with him breaking down and just apologizing over and over.

He didn't just kill them, he went Wolverine-style berseker and murdered EVERYTHING in his path, and he's thinking back on it with a clear-ish head now and realizing the gravity of his monstrous act.

When it's on paper, it reads very differently, to me. He's more remorseful, so Padmé's reaction makes more sense.

But there's a big difference between what you write in a script and what comes out in the film. Once you're shooting, myriad other factors come into play. So Anakin's dialog changes as the delivery and the rhythm are narrowed down, the beats in the scene shift around... but Padmé's reaction stays the same.

And that's where you get the disconnect.

Because what sticks with the audience more is this moment, now.

The anger. Not the shock and remorse.

So why the change? Well, George Lucas had this to say:

"He's very unhappy about that. Very sad and depressed. There was some dialogue here before that I took out, because it seemed to get in the way of the emotional moment of this scene where she says, "To be angry is to be human," and he says, "But to control your anger is to be a Jedi." And so that issue was actually laid out in dialogue at one point, and I decided to pull back from it... because it seemed to me that it was pretty obvious that was what was there. And I didn't think I needed to state it quite as boldly as I did. And that issue will come up at a later time, and I just felt it took away from the moment of his sadness. And I thought the sadness pretty much said the same thing without words." - AotC, Commentary Track #2, 2002

The reasoning was: too much dialog takes away from emotion.

An audience member will have a stronger emotional reaction from Anakin crying than Anakin crying while screaming "woe is me!"

I get (and generally agree) with the reasoning. But, personally, I have mixed feelings about this particular artistic choice.

On the one hand... if the intent is to show that Anakin made a big mistake and is sorry and sad because of his actions, then I think it's safe to say that it's not what most people took away.

Which then leads to things like John Ostrander writing Anakin as thinking he'd kill them all over again.

Also, it makes the viewer question the wisdom of Padmé's judgment.

But on the other hand... whether Anakin was feeling apologetic or not, he still did it. He still effectively massacred a whole tribe, he made that choice.

And whether the intent in that specific scene is conveyed efficiently or not, Anakin's character flaws (which the Prequels are really about) aren't really impacted and still tie together perfectly.

The only real change to that scene is that Padmé goes from having a more understandable reaction to "missing a lot of red flags".

2. Padmé thinks she can fix Anakin.

Here's what Natalie Portman had to say on the scene, which I think is an interesting take.

"She's this very powerful woman, and I think Padmé is sort of intrigued by this darker side she sees to him, especially because she's such a person who tries to fix everything. She sees problems in the world and she still has that idealistic passion… to think she can change everything, and she can change people who have darkness to them. And she sees goodness in him. She sees this passion. And she sees that there's a lot of anger in that passion, that it's not just the goodness and purity of her passion. So I think that is definitely attractive for her- that there's something that she can try and help heal or mend. That might be a big surprise for her when she can't." - Natalie Portman, AotC, Commentary Track #2, 2002

A part of Padmé is intrigued by Anakin's darker side, the "handsome bad boy" part... but that's coming from a place of "I can change him".

But the only thing that can change Anakin... is Anakin himself. Unfortunately, he keeps:

indulging his darker selfish impulses because he lacks discipline, acting on emotion despite knowing better,

regretting it for a moment and acknowledging that it was wrong,

starting again, never learning from his mistakes.

Which is part of the reason why their relationship is sort of doomed from the get-go.

[writerbuddha]

Narratively speaking, is Padmé trying to save Anakin with love through their relationship a good or bad thing?

Well, narratively speaking, the way how Padmé deals with Anakin is certainly not a bad thing, because Luke saves Anakin with love as well, by following Yoda's teaching and choosing his light side - his selflessness, compassion, kindness, generosity and hope - over his dark side, thus defying the Emperor.

In Episode II, when Anakin is ashamed and guilt-ridden and confesses that he massacred the Tusken village, including its women and children, Padmé consoles him, "to be angry is to be human." That's because Lucas tells us, evil behavior is arising as a result of being under the sway of fear, anger and aggression and hate, and Anakin's horrible revenge is a powerful warning against allowing fear of loss, stemming from attachment, turn into anger over loss, which results in terrible acts that you later really regret. The scene is about Anakin basically beating himself up for failing as a Jedi Knight, since a Jedi is someone who controls his anger instead of being kicked out of the driving seat by it. And Padmé reminds him, these are human flaws, and he fell victim to them. This is why I compare Padmé to Luke, because they both see humans as continuums: one is either good or evil based on whether they’re currently controlling their dark side - selfishness, fear, anger, hate, aggression, greed - or being controlled by it. This is the core of Yoda's teachings.

Their relationship, however, was a bad idea, and they both knew it. George Lucas explicitly said, they truly love each other, but they both know that it's a doomed relationship. So, it's important to realize that they genuinely loved each other, but they weren't supposed to allow their love to take the form of a romantic relationship and marriage.

Later on, in Clone Wars, Anakin' attachment to her spirals him to a place where he is afraid of losing her to Clovis, both in the sense of Padmé choosing Clovis over him and in the sense of Clovis getting her into danger, and this leads to anger, leading to hate, and he is almost beating him to death. Some people wish to interpret this as him saving Padmé from being sexually assaulted, but he makes it pretty clear that he perceived the situation as Padmé is about to kiss Clovis and he accuses her with having feelings for him. This is also an example of how Anakin fails to control his dark side, and how it leads to actions that he later feels bad about. This is when Padmé admits, "sometimes I don't know who is in there" and that she doesn't feel safe. And this shows that Padmé senses that their relationship is harming them, given that they live in secret, they lie and deceive and so on. And that Anakin is struggling with his dark side and their relationship is probably catalyzing things. They both agree that they should spend some time away from each other, but eventually, they continue a relationship that they know it's doomed.

In Episode III, Padmé tries to bring Anakin back to the light side, knowing that there is still good in him regardless how far he went, but she fails, because he basically thought "yeah, sure, it's messy but she will get it eventually, this will be good for us!" whereas in Episode VI, when Luke shows selfless love for him, rejecting the dark side and the Emperor, that awakens his selflessness as well, and he shifts, bringing his dark side under the control of his light side. Which is bringing balance to the Force within you.

[cobbssecondbelt]

Dincember 2023 - Day 2: Fire

Night time fell quickly on Tatooine. Without warning, the burning air turned bitter with a chill, blowing a breeze that felt like a blessing at first, before giving up all its mercy like everything else having to fight its way through the desert. Beige dunes and orange ridges turned blue, carefully looked upon by the watchful eyes of three moons. Tatooine had a unique way, especially at night, of making anybody feel always and never alone all at once, as if the planet herself was a constant silent looker, frowning upon every stranger who dared stomp over her cracked skin.

Din had camped among Tusken company more than once, but if he had to guess, he would affirm with confidence that Marshal Vanth never had. The jitter in his leg, the jitter in his eyes, the jitter in his fingers; he was a man ready to run and scowl and shoot, boiling with the anger of a prey who had grown a little too comfortable in the wolf skin it was hiding under. Din could understand, which doesn’t mean he pitied, for he knew the man was plenty competent. Few were those who got to live long enough to see their hair turn gray on this planet, and any silver mane was a trophy in itself, a well-earned one at that.

Vanth remained quiet after his little hissy stunt. He only began to settle once the Tuskens left one by one to retreat to their respective tents, until they were the only ones left by the fire. Din couldn’t help studying him from the corner of his eye. What a strange man. Loud but quiet, calculated but impulsive, angry but kind. Decades of bounty hunting had given Din a keen eye for puzzles, and this was an enigma he was oddly determined to solve.

‘’So,’’ Vanth eventually said. ‘’You really think this’ gonna work?’’

‘’Yes. The Tuskens know those territories better than anyone.’’ It didn’t seem enough to convince the antsy marshal. ‘’I know what you think of this, but you have to trust them. It’s the only chance we got.’’

Cobb kept his eyes on the fire, watching the embers pop. He choked out a scoff. ‘’You think I’m a bastard, don’t you?’’

Well, 

‘’I do.’’ The answer startled a quick chuckle out of Vanth. Although, for once, he didn’t seem shocked. Din rested his elbows on his knees with a tilt of his head. ‘’But that’s not my problem to fix.’’

Cobb rolled his eyes. 

‘’We’ll see about that…’’ he mumbled, the rumor of a smile ghosting over his thin lips.

They fell silent, letting the minutes stretch, easily, lazily, and for the first time in probably way too long, Din almost felt as if he had all the time in the world. 

Unsurprisingly, Cobb broke the silence first.

‘’Can I ask you somethin’?’’ he asked, voice gone soft, gaze up towards the night sky. 

‘’Yes?’’

‘’You must travel a lot, right?’’

‘’I do.’’

Cobb toyed unconsciously with a string coming out of his right glove. ‘’What is it like up there? In space?’’

Din turned his head to look at the man properly, before leaning back to look at the sky. The stars had fully come out by now, hundreds visible from the ground, and so many thousands more to see from up way above. Thysk was shining bright tonight, always by Chenini’s side.

‘’It’s quiet. Quite… quite beautiful. Peaceful.’’

‘’Doesn’t it get lonely?’’

Din’s fingers stilled from where they were rubbing idly at his vambrace.

‘’Sometimes.’’ he murmured.

Cobb nodded. ‘’Good to know.’’ he said, mostly to himself.

‘’You’ve never been?’’

‘’Mm?’’

‘’In space.’’

Cobb chuckled with a rise and fall of his eyebrows. ‘’Nope.’’

‘’Oh.’’

‘’Yeah.’’

The fire was dying out. The chill in the wind was getting more biting. At Din’s feet, Grogu groaned in his sleep, curled up in a heap of beige robes.

Cobb sighed and brushed the sand off his lap. ‘’Better hit the sack, got quite the day tomorrow.’’ he got to his feet with a grunt and a few pops from his joints. He eyed the tent that had been assigned to them through eyes still squinted in apprehension. 

‘’I’ll be right behind you.’’ Din replied as he bundled Grogu in the crook of his arm and kicked some sand over the remains of the fire.

He watched the marshal go, the lanky length of him swaying through camp with what could have been mistaken for nonchalance, if it hadn’t been for his right hand hovered over his holster, still ticklish. 

Soon he was swallowed by the night, and Din followed him, a fuzzy kind of amusement fluttering against his sternum and an absurd proposition juggling in his mind he would never dare to offer.

[ilovescarletwitch]

Anakin's Tusken Massacre

I just completely reject that part of the plot. Because it's insanely racist, misogynistic and out of character and counterproductive to the plot and character development.

First, the Tuskens. They are supposedly the native species of Tatooine, have suffered because of the settlers and because of their suffering and their own harsh culture they lash out at every settler, even those who don't deserve it. So far, so good. If Shmi was killed during a raid to the farm for water they feel the settlers steal, the story would make sense.

But they don't. They just find her out gathering mushrooms and kidnap her. Why? Why not just kill her and try to raid the farm for medical supplies, food, water? Shmi probably had very little things of use on her and those could be taken off her dead body. If they wanted to intimidate the farmers, to remind them they were there and willing to keep killing them until none was left, Shmi 's corpse would work better than kidnapping her.

Moreover, let's say a small group of them kidnaps Shmi and takes her back to the village so they can satisfy their sadism by torturing her. Why did the rest of the tribe allow it? Even among harsh societies, they are still people that will protest someone else's mistreatment. Especially after thirty or so angry farmers gathered to get her back. Yes, the Tuskens won but even fighting was against their best interests. It meant they still risked their own people dying, valuable supplies destroyed during the fight and after it was all over they would possibly have to expend medical supplies to treat their wounded. Why not use Shmi as a bargaining chip against the farmers, to try to get asupplies, food, water, anything of value the farmers could get more easily than the Tuskens could?

Lastly, it makes no sense that they kept Shmi alive for so long. They had her for weeks. Which means that they must have given her food and water and even treated some of her wound for her to last that long. Why would they do that? So they could keep torturing her? Hadn't the novelty worn off after the first couple of days? They weren't using her as a work slave for all the jobs they didn't want to do themselves either, or she would have been kept in a far better state. Even if a small group of Tuskens wanted to keep her as a convenient outlet for their own violence, I see little reason everyone else would allow it and spend their limited resources on her, especially after they were already made the targets of an attack by the farmers. They would just dump her body and move on.

Essentially the subplot is, those native savages are a danger to struggling farmers and will absolutely kidnap women and torture and abuse them for fun, but it's wrong to kill all of them and their families because we are the Civilised White People. Further carried across by the white man, the son of the white woman they kidnapped and tortured for no reason, killing them all and then feeling bad about it and the other white woman telling him that he had no choice.

The Tuskens were made to act against their own best interests by the story and we are all just supposed to accept that of course they would act like this, nothing unusual about those savages kidnapping a woman and torturing her for fun.

Then, Padme. Why wouldn't she tell anyone? Let's say that Anakin had an honest psychotic breakdown, wasn't in control of himself etc. The best thing for Anakin would be to get help. She wanted to protect him, but let's be real. It's highly unlikely the Republic would ever care about a group of Tuskens. It was out of Republic borders, ,the Tuskens were notorious for being violent and xenophobic and either way the Republic had a bad track record of treating decently those different than them and had ignored worse crimes on Tatooine for longer. The Jedi didn't as of yet have the authority to imprison anyone, Anakin's resignation and Padme's power should be enough to protect him. Padme should have urged Anakin to check himself in the space equivalent of a psychiatric clinic. At the very least, advice him against continuing to wield a lightsaber and go to the battlefield where his mental health would deteriorate further.

Shmi herself. The prequels have to include her death. She is a narrative device, the force pushing her son to firm his resolve that he will stop people he loves from dying. But there is some glaring misogyny in having one of the two female characters in the prequels randomly kidnapped and tortured to death just to cause the male character pain.

The plot. What was the point of that scene, why was it even included? Yes, Shmi needed to die. It's the prequels, the outcome is already written in stone. Anakin needs to develop an obsession with stopping people from dying. But this subplot just throws a wrench into the storytelling. Because t is never mentioned again. Anakin kills everyone, innocent along with the guilty and then goes along and remains a hero and a good guy for three years. His crime, his guilt, it becomes irrelevant. His visions are only mentioned again when he starts having similar dreams about Padme but they make no reference to what Anakin did.

Anakin killing the Jedi children, right when he is about to become a father himself, is supposed to be the climax of the prequels. He is Fallen. Padme decides she can't follow him anymore. Obi-Wan hunts him,fights him and as a result of that Anakin loses everything. Padme, his children, his freedom, his health. He spends years trapped in what is essentially a torture device, bound to a monster who delights in his misery, trapped in a cycle of suffering and evil deeds. Anakin killing children in the past and remaining good and nothing changing, essentially cheapens the whole thing

Finally, Anakin's character development. Anakin was supposed to be a good person. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any good for Luke to appeal to. Darth Vader was terrible. He was complicit in the destruction of whole planets, he tortured prisoners, he killed his own officers. What was the point of having him commit atrocities as a literal teenager, except contradicting the OT trilogy where Luke says his father was once a good man? The OG movies had been out for literal decades by that point. Everyone knew that Anakin Skywalker would become Darth Vader and would do terrible things. It would be far more important to to show Anakin's potential fo compassion, for love , for good. To essentially make the audience forget Anakin would inevitably become Darth Vader and have everyone mourn his Fall as a great tragedy, a loss for good. Similar to Rogue One when we all knew they would die and yet people still cried about it or were at the edge of their seats waiting for a miraculous last minute rescue.

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Episode 12 Thoughts

Spoilers for TBB Season 2

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH

Omg this episode was good but it hurt so much! 😭 We got Crosshair back but at what cost? 🥲

I'm gonna write this as I rewatch the episode so let's go!

The opening is so bleak, especially with the soundtrack and the sepia hue that everything in the opening shot has.

Seeing clones being forced out of their role hurts. 😭

Love how we all thought that it was going to be a clone Lieutenant.

It wasn't. It was a fucking arsehole instead. 😡

Ugh, I missed Crosshair so much. 😭

"I don't like used equipment"

BITCH THE FUCKING AUDACITY! 🤬

Mayday's beard is ✨️ fabulous ✨️

Also a clone named Mayday? That's just asking for him to get into trouble. 😭

Why do I recognise the name Veetch??? Have we heard it before or am I just making stuff up now???

I knew something was going to happen to Mayday but let's be real, we all fell in love with him in under half a second. 🥲

I can see why DBB loved him!

The slight hesitation before he said "Crosshair". 🥲 Cody was the last person to use his name. It probably still throws him off when people actually want to use it.

The clone helmets arranged on the boxes. 😭

The clone designs with the wraps!!! 🤩 It's kind of giving Egyptian Mummy Chic but I'm not mad about it. It looks awesome!

Ice vultures. Just what this planet needed.

I was right about the tower shot being this episode!

THE PANIC I FELT WHEN CROSS HURT HIS EYES

Ngl, it's not often you see blood in SW animation. But it was used really well in this episode! Enhances the creepy vibe.

R.I.P Hexx and Veetch. 😔

THE RAGE I FEEL EVERY TIME LIEUTENANT FUCKFACE TURNS UP

Crosshair I don't need you stepping on pressure mines!!! 😭

I actually love this moment so much. Low on action, high on tension, good dialogue.

Crosshair talking about CF 99 😭😭😭

The raiders sound almost Tusken. 🤔 Wonder if they're Tuskens that left Tatooine and evolved to a lifestyle on this planet or whether they evolved completely separately.

Crosshair, mate. I understand the explosion plan but I don't need you setting off an avalanche.

The way they slide down the hill! 🤣

Ugh everything in this episode just makes me sad.

"We're good soldiers. We followed orders. And for what? " 🥲

CROSSHAIR WHAT WAS I SAYING ABOUT AVALANCHES

Crosshair looking genuinely terrified always hurts

If anyone comes out with the "Crosshair likes working for the Empire" bullshit- 🤬

The way he puts Mayday's helmet on to make sure his head is protected 😭

Jeez, they weren't kidding about "heartbreaking". This is painful to watch.

This entire episode is proof that while Cross may be an arsehole, he isn't completely heartless or evil like some people want to believe.

THE WAY THEY'RE HUDDLED UP AND SHAKING YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME 😭

He gave his rifle to Mayday as a crutch

THE PAIN IN HIS VOICE WHEN HE SAYS "HELP HIM" AHHHHH I FEEL SICK WHY DOES THIS SHOW HAVE TO HURT SO MUCH??? 😭😭😭

MAYDAY NOOOOO 😭

Crosshair is so fucking angry

GOOD! GET ANGRY! LEAVE THE EMPIRE!

The bird circling and Crosshair looking over at Mayday, panicked. He knew that they were just going to leave him to be scavenged. 😥

GOODBYE LIEUTENANT FUCKFACE!

CROSSHAIR YOU POOR THING! 😢

He's so broken and defeated. Help.

The next bullet point is an accurate recreation of how I reacted the first time to the ending. 👇

WHAT? NO NO NO NO NO NO YOU CAN'T END IT THERE! YOU CAN'T END IT THERE!!! Oh, it's not the end... wait what... oh no I've changed my mind I'VE CHANGED MY MIND GO BACK GO BACK THIS IS WORSE THIS IS SO MUCH WORSE

Parallel to when we see him wake up in Ep 3 ☹️

FUCK NO

DON'T MAKE HIM ANOTHER CLONE X!!!

LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU BASTARDS!!!

Someone come and save him 😭

I feel sick. Everything hurts. 😥

So errr.... hahaha... ha... ouch...

This episode was so good but omg it was so painful! People weren't kidding when they said "bleak" and "heartbreaking". ☹️

I can see why DBB loved Mayday so much. He was great! I knew it wouldn't end well for him but it's impossible not to love him. But the fact that Crosshair collapsed before he could bury him means that he was probably still left to the vultures. 😭 It's poignant really. The clones don't get a heroic end. After everything they did, the Empire are just gonna cast them out and leave them to rot...

And Crosshair! 😭 That man was in so much turmoil this episode. Him opening up to Mayday just the tiniest fraction by telling him his name and squadron. The quiet fear when he stepped on the pressure mine. The panic when he was covered by the avalanche. The panic when he dug himself out. The fear when he found Mayday. The anguish as he carried Mayday all the way back. The heartbreaking pain when they were huddled up and shivering. The desperation when he asked for them to get a medic. The anguish of "help him". The panic when he knows that they're going to leave Mayday for the vultures. The pure, visceral, seething rage when he kills Nolan. The pain when he collapses. The fear and delirium when he wakes up in the lab. It's all too much.

And what breaks my heart even more is the close up of his face after he collapses. He looks asleep, calm. The only time in this entire episode when he actually looks peaceful is when he's passed out from exhaustion!

This man is going through it so badly and it's so painful to watch. I'm scared to see what's going to happen to him but if the later episodes are of the same quality as this one then the end of this season is going to be incredible.

Tagging @snarkyfina @saturn-sends-hugs and @phis-writing because they normally want to see people's thoughts on this!

And also tagging @eriexplosion if they want to add anything. But I know that they are also suffering after this episode. 🥲

Edit: Just went back and fixed a few typos I didn't realise I'd made. Probably still missed some but this episode stressed me out too much to care. 🤣

[yuristarwars]

One of the things that make’s Palpatine interesting is that he staggers his plans. He will let one wait so that the other can be built, one rest so the other can work.

During The Phantom Menace, his entire plan was to kick off the economic and political setting that would allow the Clone Wars to take place. Making The Trade Federation and a very important Republic planet at war would definitely make people angry for one side or another. However, during this movie as well, he takes out Qui-Gon Jinn, allowing Anakin to be groomed by him when the time came.

Now, for the latter of these plans, he wouldn’t interact with Anakin at all throughout Attack of the Clones. His goal here was to: 1) start the war, 2) get the Jedi militarily involved, 3) reveal the Clones. The plan was never to assassinate Padme Amidala, the plan was to lead the Jedi to the clones, to their demise (”I show you the stone in my hand, you miss the knife at your throat”). What he allowed to happen naturally, however, was Anakin’s radicalization. I don’t think he knew about Anakin’s mother’s death and the Tusken Massacre, which would play a role in his turn to the Dark Side, but he definitely knew that he would start getting attached to Padme, which Palpatine could easily take advantage of, what with the Force visions and all. While one of his plans is passively happening, he takes an active role in assuming emergency powers, leading to the dissolution of the Senate.

This leads us into Revenge of the Sith. He has now officially laid the groundwork for 1) Anakin’s turn to the dark, 2) Order 66, and 3) the dissolution of the Senate. Because of his plans in AotC working out, he knew Anakin would choose Padme over Jedi, leading to his defeat at Obi-Wan’s hand, and giving Palpatine the perfect chance to entrap Anakin in lightning-sensitive armor so that way he would never be able to betray him.

Palpatine was always playing a different game than the Jedi expected him to. If Palpatine was idiotic, he would simply be financing the CIS with Republic funds and nothing else. Instead, he has a backup plan for a backup plan. Hell, if all really does go to shit, he just pulls out a frickin laser sword and takes care of his problems then and there, no politics needed.

The past few episodes of The Bad Batch shows us he’s still one step ahead at every turn. The Empire is still in its baby stage and he needs to make sure he retains support of the people while launching his next plan.

He’s always one step ahead...

[airyairyaucontraire]

Thoughts on The Mandalorian S303, "The Convert"

I forgot this was on last night and I hear it kind of sucks but I'm hoping it will at least not suck quite as bad as episode 3 of The Book of Boba Fett, which made me spit fire. (Am I still angry about it? Yes! At least, I am angry in a banked-fire way, ready to flare up again when given oxygen. It just made me furious that they would make such a wonderful episode depicting the Tuskens as fully-rounded people with a worthwhile, interesting culture and making a statement against colonialism, and then fridge them all. As if Boba didn't have a tragic fucking backstory already, HAVE YOU SEEN IT, IT'S CALLED ATTACK OF THE CLONES)

Anyway I gather it's time for the adventures of Din and Bo-Katan (hereinafter BK [Burger King Kryze]), but mostly not, as for some godforsaken reason a big part of this episode is given over to Dr Pershing, that wormy-looking guy with the big glasses (when have you ever seen someone in Star Wars who wears glasses? he's such an anomaly) who wanted to do mad science with Grogu's blood. Like he wasn't even a mad scientist with flair. Give me the fucking Herbert West of the Star Wars universe or stop wasting my time. I can't really imagine that this is going to feel like it was worth the budget. On we go, though.

Previously on The Mandalorian, there was Werner Herzog. There were mines. BK read a plaque and Din got dunked. BK had to haul his soggy ass out because he can't do anything without getting drowned or maimed.

I like how BK is just sitting there like "much to ponder" while Din gradually revives from DROWNING

how is that little stoup of water going to prove anything? Does it have a special flavour the Armourer is supposed to recognise, like Paeroa water? Mmm. Lemon and Paeroa.

okay, so he didn't see shit, only she knows there's a Mythosaur

Grogu trying to say "This is the Way" like the grown-ups is precious and I want him to do it again.

see the people making this show don't understand that we're in it for the infant developmental milestones

we don't give a shit about TIE interceptors

I am happy to see Din continuing his trandition of never sticking a landing unless Timothy Olyphant is there to see it and gaze at him adoringly

So Kalevala is another of those planets that basically looks like Craggy Island

R5 would like to go back to Tatooine please

I did enjoy the way Din swipped his head over to one side when BK told him "Go right," it reminded me of how I move my head in the car when a part of a song that I like is going to go off.

No! They're blowing up... BK's moping castle.

oh he's started calling her Bo now? seems a bit familiar but w/e

okay it's a big fancy city, I suppose Coruscant or some shit, and now it's the Dr Pershing show, giving a "I was just following orders" speech.

I still can't get over him wearing glasses.

what a wormy-looking little guy.

c'mon I don't want to talk about cloning if I don't get to see clones. Where is Rex? Give us Rex! Give us Temuera Morrison as multiple old-fart clones Tatiana Maslany-style!

Why are people still wearing the fascist-style uniforms, by the way?

and why are people being given serial numbers in place of their names? Are we being told the New Republic is dehumanising?

a mind flayer?

is it just a deep cynicism thing that they are making the New Republic look so awful and hollow and oppressive? As if leaders like Leia Organa and Mon Mothma really didn't have anything better to offer? Because if so I am fucking offended on their behalf

okay, so someone gave you Imperial cookies, again, why do we care? What reason do we really have to be interested in what happens to Dr Pershing? Is this supposed to connect up to something? But you know what? This The Mandalorian. It's not supposed to connect up. It's supposed to be about the leftover, out-of-the-way places and people to whom the changes of regime really didn't mean much - not because they didn't matter at all but because of the sheer distances involved. And Dr Pershing isn't someone who we genuinely know to have been morally conflicted about working for the Empire, like Galen Erso. He's just a wormy guy who tried to hurt Grogu!

"The ethics of cloning are complicated" - I was draining blood out of magic babies

I can't believe they are wasting an entire episode of precious time during which we could be having infant developmental milestones on this drip

I mean the actor is doing his best, but he doesn't have any special charisma. He was convincingly cast in the first place as a wormy little dweeb.

If his research is as important as he says for what? For cloning organs for life-saving transplants, the way he talked about with his mother? Or for draining magic babies' blood to try to make clone soldiers with Force talent?

WHY DO WE HAVE TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON THIS GUY

I CAME TO SEE A SHOW CALLED THE MANDALORIAN

ABOUT A MANDALORIAN

this is not a bold story-telling experiment this is boring

ugggghhhhhhhhhhhh

boooooooooooooooooooooo

if anyone had a right to hijack an episode of this show for himself it was Boba Fett, not this loser

I would rather just see 57 minutes or whatever of Boba Fett pottering around, doing maintenance on his armour and weapons, training his baby rancor, having a bit of lunch with Fennec and Cobb, taking an after-lunch nap, sitting down to try and bash out another chapter of that book he's been meaning to write...

this episode is so fucking long! It's not over yet and I think it's already longer than the season premiere!

hey so I'm not sure I've conveyed how little of a crap I give about Dr Pershing and this not-really-reformed space fascist gal

yeah you geniuses, trains do generally have an end

is all this fucking worth it to steal lab equipment

see this episode hasn't convinced me at all that what these two are trying to do is worthwile, or that they have a compelling reason (like fanaticism, even) for believing that it is. They keep saying it'll help the New Republic. How? With what?

oh GOD I don't CARE

you lost me, congratulations, you lost me

I have bought Lego sets of this show and you have lost me

there still isn't an official Cobb Vanth minifig, by the way, I've got a Peli Motto but no Cobb Vanth!

this is so bad

this is so weak

this is so boring

Anakin Skywalker didn't ruin his life and kill his wife and massacre Jedi kindergarteners so you could droop around being this fucking boring!

OH BIG FUCKING DEAL YOU BOTH HAVE NAMES

WE'VE ALL GOT NAMES

SOME OF US HAVE GOT CRAPPY NAMES LIKE GROGU

OR ELAN SLEAZEBAGGANO

OR SIO BIBBLE

I wonder how Elan Sleazebaggano's doing after going home and rethinking his life

GIVE US A WHOLE FUCKING EPISODE ABOUT ELAN SLEAZEBAGGANO WHY DON'T YOU

about his struggle to reform from dealing death sticks and make something of himself, trying to turn his life around right on the eve of a war that would change everything

so... she was playing him all the time? for what? what was the point of all the resources deployed here? just to test the loyalty of a totally unimportant cog in the machine?

I mean, why are they doing this whole fucking 1984/One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest shit? Do they think it's deep to be like "What if the New Republic... was actually Bad???"

he keeps saying he was just trying to help but help with what? What specific problem does the New Republic have that he hoped to be able to solve? No one ever articulated with what!!! it's all meaningless!!!

oh the callously bitten biscuit of villainy

what the FUCK did all of that MATTER

FUCKING FINALLY A MANDALORIAN

hi Paz you big fucking side of beef boy am I glad to see you and I don't even particularly like ya

get over here let us smack that ass

I'm sorry

"I have been to the Mines of Mandalore. We all thought it was going to be an arduous season-long quest but it was actually simple pimple. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Really very anticlimactic."

remember when we thought IG-11 was coming back

I have a tube of WATER that could presumably have come from ANY PLANET WITH WATER but okay I guess it's proof

does it have some unique mineral profile? NOT THAT THEY WOULD EXPLAIN SOMETHING I'M INTERESTED IN

well BK you never actually wanted to be part of this and I don't think it matters at all to you but now you are I guess?

WOW THAT WAS A BAD EPISODE

THAT WAS VERY BAD

UTTERLY POINTLESS

NOT ACTIVELY GENOCIDAL LIKE EPISODE 3 OF TBOBF BUT STILL PRETTY FUCKING IRKSOME

[veneskaa]

I rewatched the phantom menace last night and even though it's still the worst prequel i was actually so compelled by Padme's disillusionment with the Republic—even after the vote of no confidence she tells Palpatine it's clear to her that the Republic no longer functions. At all. And while we're maybe supposed to read Palpatine's election as restoring her faith in the Republic (to whatever extent) i'm so much more interested in Padme as a fundamentally disillusioned politician nevertheless devoted to working within the system, someone who criticizes the Republic but firmly believes in its necessity and even relative goodness. Or even as someone who, since her election as a child to the queenship, finds herself stuck in the political world and leaving it isn't an option anymore. It'd mirror Anakin's relationship to the Jedi Order to some extent, these two individuals who choose to stay in their respective systems despite major ideological reservations, systems which, frankly, should not overlap as much as they do—and this is their downfall. i could also make more sense of an educated and strong-willed woman like Padme walking into a marriage with a nineteen year old who just weeks beforehand expressed his support for a fascist dictatorship, or responding to the unhinged slaughter of an entire Tusken village with "to be angry is to be human." conditioned is a strong word but there's something v compelling to me about 2 people initiating such a deeply problemed relationship as a result of their conditioning to work within and around corruption

[burnwater13]

Grogu looked at the little calendar that Din Djarin kept on the windowsill on their cabin on Nevarro. He thought about all the adventures they had been on. Some of them had actually been fun and others had just been awful. But they had survived them and Grogu was grateful for that. 

Now he had a whole day to play or meditate or train with the Mandalorian. His dad. Yup. Din Djarin was officially his dad and he was pretty happy about that. What was there to be sad about?

The Mandalorian had made him an apprentice. He was going to learn to be a bounty hunter! But that wasn’t happening today. Today they were just going to hang around at the cabin and get everything sorted out and talk about the future. 

Grogu wasn’t sure how they were going to do that last part. He still didn’t speak much in the way of Gal Basic and the Mandalorian had stubbornly refused to learn his language. It was very frustrating. Especially considering that Din actually knew languages other than Gal Basic. 

He knew some Jawaese. Some Huttese. Tusken. A little Mando’a (he knew how to count to four, but Grogu hadn’t heard him say anything more complicated than that.) There was no telling if the bounty hunter knew other languages, but Grogu had a sneaking suspicion that he did. 

Maybe he could learn another language while they had a day to kind of just exist. If he did, which one should he choose? Not Huttese. Huttese was too guttural sounding. Jawaese just made his dad angry for some reason. Maybe Tusken? But there weren’t any Tuskens on Nevarro… which was too bad. Grogu thought they would really like it here.

He considered Mando’a. There were more Mandalorians here, even though a bunch of them had gone back to Mandalore to try to fix it up. Not all of them had the same enthusiasm for that work. Grogu didn’t blame them. As long as there was a Mandalore, then the Imp Remnants would be targeting it. 

Hmmm. He could learn binary… R5 had offered to teach him. Grogu had liked the idea of that. Being able to communicate with the droids more directly would help him with their repairs and upkeep and programming. Then maybe he could spend more time with the Anzellans. 

Grogu sighed at that. He’d really gotten off on the wrong foot with the Anzellans. They were so smart and had great skills and did such detailed, important work, he just wanted to celebrate them! And then they were also kind of like dolls. Living dolls! Considering the silver ball was his first toy ever he just couldn’t resist. But he forgot how much stronger he was than them and how much bigger too. That was a rare experience in his life.

He had explained to them and apologized and promised to not do it again. Grogu found it funny that the Anzellans understood him perfectly once he did apologize. No one needs to go around being called bad baby. Especially when they weren’t a baby. 

He whistled to R5 and watched the droid trundle over to him.  Beep Beep. Grogu began to explain what he wanted to learn and why and R5 whistled and beeped their reply. R5 was happy to teach Grogu as much as he wanted to learn, but R5 couldn’t promise that the Anzellans would let Grogu back into their workshop. Maybe they could invite the Anzellans over for a meal and they could show Grogu how to give R5 a proper oil cleaning. 

Grogu giggled at that. The Mandalorian had been trying to give R5 a proper oil cleaning, but it hadn’t been going well. Every time Din Djarin got out the oil and the cleaning tools, R5 hid. The time he hid in Grogu’s pond had been memorable to say the least. He’d needed twice as much cleaning and Din Djarin had decided to use that as an opportunity to instruct Grogu on droid and mech care and maintenance. 

Grogu was pretty sure that the first thing you learned to do with a mech was not aim a blaster at it and tell it you could make it cold if it didn’t stand still. But maybe his dad needed to learn some things from the Anzellans as well. According to the calendar, they had plenty of time to get that sorted out. 

[thechaoticfanartist]

the truth that nobody knows

Angstpril Day 1: Liar

Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Gen

Characters: Grim Kennet (OC), Anakin Skywalker

Relationships: Grim Kennet & Anakin Skywalker

Summary: Anakin knows Grim doesn’t have visions. He has confronted her about this time and time again. She always lies. Now he confronts her about her lies. When he calls her a liar, Grim sees the wrong man.

Who would give up first?

Both Jedi are the most stubborn people you could ever meet.

And this particular argument had been going on for the better half of a year. It was always the same, and it goes like this:

Anakin: “How do you know so much of what you do? And don’t say visions - I know you don’t have them.”

Grim: “Skywalker, I do have visions. Mine just don’t work the same way.”

Anakin: “Liar!”

Wait - that’s new.

A beat. A pause in the argument. Anakin’s accusation hangs in the air.

Grim seems frozen in time - but not the right time. Or the right place. Her face has fear written on it. She had taken a step back. Afraid.

Now here’s the thing. Anakin is right. Grim does not have visions, and she lies about them all the time. But what she knows from these quote-unquote “visions” are indeed factual. To understand this - and the reason Grim suddenly froze with fear - there is something you must know about her.

Grim is not from Star Wars. She is from Earth. She is from another universe than the one Anakin Skywalker is - or any other Jedi for that matter. And on Earth, Grim was a fan of Star Wars. Her favorite part of the franchise? The Prequels - The Clone Wars and Revenge of The Sith to be exact.

With Anakin’s accusation Grim was no longer at the Jedi Temple. In her mind she was suddenly on Mustafar, and from there Anakin shifted into Darth Vader.

The wrong time, the wrong place, the wrong man.

Anakin does not know any of this. He does not understand why his accusation made her freeze in the way it did. He is too angry to notice in any case. He feels as though Grim is mocking him.

And he has yet to forget that time where she had accused him of killing a village of Tuskens on Tatooine. Something he had in fact done, but he had told only two people of this fact, and neither of them would ever have told Grim. She couldn’t have known. Visions couldn’t show her that - and it happened before she became Master Kenobi’s newest Padawan. It didn’t make sense.

Grim faded back into the right time. Her fear settled for a moment. Just for a moment. She took more of a step back. Frozen in place still. “And if I am a liar?” she whispered.

“I just want to know the truth,” Anakin told her. “Why won’t you tell me?”

A long pause.

“I can’t,” she replied, her voice broken. “I wish I could.”

“Why can’t you?”

“I-” she tried to find an excuse. One that didn’t tell the truth. “I don’t know.”

And why couldn’t she? Neither of them knew. Not really.

Tag List (let me know if you want to be added or removed) : @padme--amygdala @soclonely @mrfandomwars @jgvfhl @starlonkedd @milfspectre1 @togrutanduin @jedi-valjean @one-real-imonkey @traygaming @roseofalderaan @keoxus  @tranakin-thighhighwalker @veiled-in-stars @sentineljedi @spicysucculentz @purgetrooperfox @amelia-song-pond @kohtoyah @saturnsokas @thejediprincessqueenofnaboo @veradragonjedi

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

Personally I feel like Anakin crossed that line when he decided dictatorship was a good choice of government and massacred an entire village of Tuskens down to the last child. Anakin is unrepentant about BOTH of these things and so I find it hard to believe he can be "saved" at that point in any way that matters.

However.

Star Wars is all about choices. Anakin is making some irrevocably bad ones by AOTC already, he's not a good PERSON truly in AOTC (I find it hard to believe that someone who is as racist, sexist, arrogant, and selfish as Anakin is in this film can truly be considered "good" still). But that doesn't mean he can't still make BETTER ones. He recognizes that he's made a bad choice regarding the Tuskens in the sense that he knows a good Jedi wouldn't have done it, so there's like... a GLIMMER of hope in that, the last vestiges of Anakin recognizing that he's making bad choices. And maybe if someone OTHER THAN PADME "THE ENABLER" AMIDALA had been there with him in the wake of the Tusken massacre, someone like Obi-Wan or another Jedi maybe, they'd have been able to grasp onto that glimmer and help him move back towards the path he can still see but is choosing to walk away from. But what he gets from Padme instead is an excuse. He KNOWS the Jedi would consider it a bad choice, but Padme, like Palpatine, tells him that what he's done is okay, that it's different because it's HIM, because Anakin is SPECIAL. "To be angry is to be human" gets translated in Anakin's head as "It was okay to kill the Tuskens because I was angry over what happened to my mother and this was a normal and natural reaction to have" which allows him to DISMISS what he knows the Jedi would've believed about it as unimportant.

So like. Anakin CAN be saved. That's always true. It just won't be by Padme, or Obi-Wan, or Ahsoka, or even Luke. Anakin HAS to be saved by his own choice. He can be saved because he can ALWAYS make better choices. That's the whole point of his choice in ROTJ. He's been Vader for over 20 years, he betrayed the Jedi, destroyed the galaxy, killed his own pregnant wife, upheld a fascist tyrant, allowed Alderaan to be blown up and forced Leia to watch, enslaved the clones, and chopped off his own son's hand. And he can STILL make a better choice. And that's just as true on Tatooine after the Tusken massacre and on Mustafar after Order 66 as it is on the Death Star over two decades later.

The problem is that Anakin, generally, doesn't WANT to be saved because that requires acknowledging he NEEDS SAVING TO BEGIN WITH, which requires acknowledging he's done something wrong. And Anakin is just incapable of actually being able to admit he's actually IN THE WRONG about anything and constantly finds ways to excuse the things he does and the way he feels in order to see himself as in the right and as the hero of the story because it's easier and less painful.

So when Padme and Palpatine offer him excuses and tell him he's special and it's the Jedi who are wrong, Anakin grabs onto those excuses with both hands and refuses to let them go. He uses them to paper over what he's done in his head so he never has to look at them again and if he does, that he can interpret them as his triumphs instead of his failures. On Mustafar, this becomes particularly obvious. He yells at Obi-Wan that he "turned Padme against him" despite that being an utterly ridiculous thing to think. He tells Obi-Wan that from his point of view, the Jedi are evil, because it's easier to excuse murdering them all if they're the villains. He claims he has brought "peace, freedom, security, and justice" to "his" new Empire, even though he has brought none of these things and the Empire is not his at all.

Anakin is the King of lying to himself about his own crimes because he refuses to do the work of acknowledging his own failures in order to do and be better. So he CAN save himself, but it will only happen when he is actually willing to take that first step. When Padme shows up on Mustafar, that isn't something he's willing to do. When Obi-Wan tries to talk to him on Mustafar, that isn't something he's willing to do. When he sees Ahsoka on Malachor, that isn't something he's willing to do. When Luke comes to Bespin, that isn't something he's willing to do. Anakin CANNOT and WILL NOT make a different choice until it benefits him to do so. And that's exactly what happens. He only is capable of making the selfless choice when he has no other option if he wants to save Luke.

So COULD Anakin be saved on Mustafar? Yeah, sure. He COULD save himself. He just won't. It's not a choice he's willing to make at this point in his life, so it isn't going to happen even though the choice is always available to him.

[mnmovdoom]

DAY 17 - Reluctant Caretaker (Boba Fett & Luke Skywalker)

Boba Fett had a strong policy of not giving a kark if it wasn’t about him. That kept him out of trouble and saved him plenty of time and headspace that he could employ into being the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.

By all means, leaving that moisture farmer in the middle of the desert was legitimate and alright for Boba. It was time to start the speeder again and drive off, deliver the bounty to Jabba, get paid, and catch some sleep.

And yet, Boba couldn’t take his eyes off the body. It was small and lithe, and the typical moisture farmer attire was dusty and bloodied. The back of the tunic was torn where whips had hit it, drawing angry red swells on the skin beneath the fabric. The wrists were bruised from restraints, and one of them was still wrapped in rough rope. Boba figured this was someone who had somehow escaped Tusken Raiders only to die in a different but no less gruesome way.

Looking around, Boba jumped from the speeder and turned the body with the toes of his boot. It was a young man, and his chest was still rising and falling. His face was bruised and swollen, bloodied, and his blond hair was caked with dried sand and blood. He was unconscious, and stars knew how long he’d been out here.

By all means, Boba should leave him, hop back on the speeder, and go his way. The galaxy was no place for charity and this was none of his business. And yet, he couldn’t make himself turn away and leave that unfortunate sod under the suns. It was… wrong. Not that Boba cared for right or wrong, he just cared for getting paid for his trouble. Maybe… if he took this farmer back to civilization, he’d still get some credits for that - he’d either have some credits himself, or relatives, or friends who’d like seeing him again and be willing to pay his rescuer.

With a grunt, Boba loaded the unconscious farmer on the back of his speeder (he wouldn’t mind sharing it with a dead Twil’ek, certainly) and drove off, already thinking about how to get this farmer into Jabba’s palace without trouble.

                                                          ~~~~

A pounding headache and the impression that his mouth and throat were filled with sand brought Luke back into consciousness. Slowly, he turned his head from side to side, becoming gradually aware of all the soreness and aching on his body. And of a hard surface under his body, which was… odd. Luke’s last memory was running on sand, desperately trying to make progress while feeling like the shifting sand under his boots kept him in the same place.

With a groan, he raised clumsy, shaky hands to rub his eyes. His lids seemed to weigh tons, yet he stubbornly forced his eyes open to find himself… staring at a ceiling. To his right, a wall with a window. To his left, a bed with a man wearing armour sitting on it, reading from a datapad.

Luke was pretty sure he’d seen that armour around Anchorhead at times.

Staring at the man seemed to be a good way to get his attention, because he lifted his helmet from whatever he was reading and the dark T-shaped visor looked straight at Luke, filling him with sudden dread.

But the man said nothing, and resumed reading.

That only unsettled Luke some more, and he looked around again, with a little more urgency this time. He was seemingly in the man’s room, and there were two closed doors on opposite ends, so one should be the fresher and the other the exit. If only Luke managed to figure which one was the exit, maybe he’d get to crawl away? Tentatively, Luke tried to move his limbs, just to test his strength - but it appeared his body had turned into jelly, and his fruitless attempt at moving only made him more sore.

To make things better, he broke into a coughing fit that was very unkind on his bruised ribs. With tears blurring his vision as he coughed, Luke was vaguely aware of the man looking at him again. Was he just going to sit there?? Wasn’t he going to help??

“C-can I have w-water?” Luke gasped between fits of cough that eventually subsided, leaving him panting and lightheaded. For a moment, the armoured man simply stared at him, until he grabbed a flask from his nightstand and approached Luke, to leave the flask next to him. With a grunt, Luke propped himself up on his elbows, then reached with a shaky hand for the flask, opened it one-handed, and in a matter of seconds emptied it.

Kark, he hadn’t had water since last morning! Which reminded him that he’d been gone for too long and his aunt and uncle must be worried sick!

“I have to go back home!” Luke said urgently, only to cough some more and feel even thirstier. But again, the man was sitting on the bed and just staring at him. He was a little… dense, wasn’t he? How come Luke was the one who was injured and had been just left on the ground? Still, Aunt Beru raised him with manners… “Thanks for taking me from the desert.”

“I don’t do rescues, you owe me,” the man said, and as he spoke in that modulated voice, Luke finally put a name to the armour. Oh, great. It really was as they said, Boba Fett was the most heartless man in the galaxy!

                                                         ~~~~

Boba was used to sentients either handing over the credits to get rid of him, or to try killing him to get rid of him.

So when the farmer looked at him like he had grown a second head, Boba felt personally offended:

“You call this a rescue?? I had to escape those Tuskens by myself! I’m injured and lying on the floor and I’d be dying of thirst right now if I hadn’t asked for water!!” the farmer said, widening his eyes - or at least the eye that wasn’t purple and swollen. “I’m leaving right now…”

Stunned with the sheer nerve of that twig, Boba could only watch as the farmer grunted in effort as he scrambled to his feet… only for his left leg to buckle the moment he stood up. Judging by how the farmer cursed and curled in on himself to clutch his ankle, he probably had a sprain.

Well, that was none of Boba’s problem. Like the farmer had so eloquently put it, he had rescued himself, so…

“I’d like to watch you leave Jabba’s palace on your own, now…” Boba commented. That made the farmer look up at him again, shock written all over his face:

“Jabba’s palace???? But he’s a slaver and a monster and I’m the first free-born Skyw-” Then, the farmers’ eyes narrowed to blue slits. Bloodied and dusty like he was, it was borderline feral. “Are you going to sell me??”

“No…” Boba bared his teeth in a disdainful snarl. He could be many things, he could even be working for a slaver… but he wasn’t a slaver, and it wouldn’t be him giving Jabba more slaves.

“Then why did you bring me here??” For someone who was in such a delicate position, injured and in the palace of a slaver (and seemingly descending from a family of slaves?), this young man was quite bold. Or very stupid.

“As I said…” Boba swung his legs over the mattress and grabbed his discarded datapad again, then lied back down. “... I don’t do rescues for free. You owe me.”

“I don’t have credits and I’m not letting you extort my uncle and aunt…” Slowly, Boba turned his head to stare at the farmer, still curled in on himself and clutching his ankle. He was rather pathetic. “It seems you’re stuck with me.”

That young man was the most insolent thing Boba had ever crossed paths with, but he wasn’t a treat - not injured, at least. Still, he needed to learn respect and Boba reached for the blaster on his nightstand, then aimed it at the farmer’s head. Realisation seemed to hit him, and while he set his jaw defiantly, the way he cut the cockiness was almost palpable. Just to make sure that di’kut knew Boba was serious, he moved his wrist minutely and pressed the trigger.

                                                       ~~~~

Luke shut his eyes and flinched when he noticed the bounty hunter press the trigger, and though the blaster fired… Luke was never hit. Still, he didn’t immediately open his eyes, not while he could feel himself shaking. When he did open his eyes, Fett was reading like he had been when Luke had first woken up, and the bolt had hit the wall behind Luke. Ok, Luke got it…

“I’m a good mechanic…” Luke muttered, but again, just the fact of looking at Fett made him turn his head to face Luke. “You said I owe you. I… I can work for you for free. A ship is cooler than vaporators anyway.”

“You’re a moisture farmer, do you really think I’d let you anywhere near my ship?”

“Try me! Give me something to fix!”

For a moment, it seemed that Fett wouldn’t do anything. But then he tossed his datapad aside again, swung his legs over the mattress, opened a drawer of his nightstand, and tossed Luke a broken transmitter and a small tool box. Alright. Without hesitation, Luke began to work on the transmitter - he had fixed a few, but this one was a little more complex. Nothing that Luke couldn’t handle, even with Fett permanently staring at him.

At first, Luke was doing just fine. He was focused and willing to prove himself. But the throbbing pain from his ankle began to be distracting, and being curled in on himself hurt his ribs. Luke shifted position, sitting up with his legs forward and his back a little hunched, but it still hurt his ribs and turned out his back throbbed as well. A pounding headache began to hammer at the back of his skull.

But what he really couldn’t ignore was the thirst, and he eventually looked up at Fett with a guarded expression:

“Can I have some water?” he asked. There was no response, and after another moment of just staring at him, Fett eventually stood up and made his way to a cabinet in a corner, from where he returned with a flask that he opened and handed over to Luke. Eagerly, Luke snatched the flask and downed the water in a blink. That improved his situation a little, and he resumed working, immersing himself in the task at hand in order to ignore all the aches and pain in his body. He was vaguely aware of wiping sweat off his face to his sleeve, and of an uncomfortable, itchy heat on his back.

He wouldn’t even have noticed the new flask if Fett hadn’t nudged him with a boot, and while Luke was still very thirsty, he wanted to finish the transmitter. He didn’t know how long it took him, but when he finally looked up to find Fett standing right in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest, the room was darker than earlier.

“I fixed it, see?” Luke muttered, switching on the device and again wiping sweat off his brow to his sleeve, wincing when the dusty fabric touched a cut on his temple. “ ‘m Luke, by the way.”

                                                             ~~~~

The transmitter was fixed. Boba had been tinkering with it for weeks and had never gotten it to work, so while his pride was grievously injured, he had to recognise that this moisture farmer - Luke - had a talent.

He still wouldn’t let him near his ship, but he had other stuff that needed fixing and that Luke could handle. It was actually convenient for his business that Luke didn’t stay at the palace - moisture farmers lived in relatively isolated settlements and whenever Boba needed, he’d go over to Luke’s place and he wouldn’t have to worry much about being spied on.

Problem was… Luke was shivering a little. That wouldn’t do for a speeder ride, and Boba wasn’t about to needlessly fly around in his ship. Luke did have some open wounds on him that Boba hadn’t bothered to tend to because that would be costly on his supplies and because the young man was so disgusting that it would be a waste of perfectly good bacta.

But… maybe he could look at things like an investment, now. He had gotten himself a mechanic, so even if he didn’t immediately receive anything for taking this sorry twig home, he’d still profit in the long run.

“You need to wash,” Boba said, grabbing Luke under the armpits and helping him up. He was a much lighter build than Boba and flailed his arms uselessly as he tried to balance himself on one leg:

“You don’t say…” Luke breathed, loud enough for Boba to hear, yet Boba opted for ignoring it.  But it was soon evident that Luke was too weakened to hop around on his good leg, even leaning onto Boba, and so Boba had to drag him into the fresher.

Then he went to sit on the bed and waited.

And waited.

And maybe Luke had passed out or something, but just as Boba was about to go knock on the fresher door, it swished open to reveal Luke, wrapped in a towel and looking dead on his feet. His face was unnaturally pale, and it became evident why as he slowly stepped into the room again, his jaw clenched and his lower lip trembling as he put weight on his sprained ankle - that was a little bruised, and a little swollen.

The detached man that Boba Fett had grown into didn’t think much of it. But deep down, just standing by felt… wrong. After a little hesitation, Boba stood up and approached Luke, offering him an arm as support. He felt awkward, but Luke just latched onto his arm with a bone-crushing grip and allowed himself to be guided into sitting on Boba’s bed.

Without all the grime covering his features, Luke had a really young, really exhausted face. His eyes had a faraway look, and after a moment of just standing there awkwardly, Boba decided to get him more water and a ration bar. And tossed a pillow at his feet, just in case he needed to get his ankle more comfortable.

“I feel like kark…” Luke muttered, looking down at the ration bar on his lap but showing no interest in eating. Maybe because the wrapping was closed and he needed both hands to hold the towel closed around him. After a little hesitation, Boba opened it for him, and immediately, Luke’s hand darted from inside the cocoon to grab the ration bar - he pretty much swallowed it all. “Karkin’ ‘uskens…”

Boba had to admit Luke deserved respect for having escaped the Tusken Raiders, beaten as he was. Which reminded him that Luke had some open wounds, and all these bruises. Well, he was clean now, so spraying bacta on him wouldn’t be a complete waste.

                                                           ~~~~

Lightheaded, Luke watched as Fett rummaged through his nightstand, until he found a bottle of bacta-spray and sat next to him on the bed, with a generous gap between them.

“Let me see your back,” he commanded. Honestly, Luke was too tired to do anything else, so he shimmied out of the cocoon and let the towel pool at his waist. Getting the coarse fabric of the towel away from the wounds on his back was a massive improvement to Luke’s situation, but his relieved sigh turned into a hiss when Fett began to spray his back with bacta.

“That stings!” Luke complained, but Fett just kept spraying his back, then the cuts and abrasions on his arms and wrists, then the cut on his temple, and even his ankle. And alright, after the initial sting… it actually felt nice. Fresh, soothing. Luke had never had bacta before, it was too expensive. But it didn’t fix his thirst. “Can I-”

Luke didn’t need to finish, because Fett turned around and went to the cabinet to get him more water. It took about three flasks for Luke to feel his throat and mouth back to normal, but now he was really tired, so even if he needed more water, that would have to wait. Pulling the towel over his shoulders again and keeping it closed tightly, he slumped to the side, lying awkwardly on Boba’s bed.

“When am I going home? My uncle is gonna kill me for this…” he mumbled, eyes sliding shut. There was no answer for a moment, then his legs were lifted and dropped onto the bed - it all jolted his ankle painfully, but Fett shoved the pillow under Luke’s foot again.

“Tomorrow. Get some rest, you look like kark,” Fett grunted in reply, and even though his face was covered by a helmet, Luke could see his displeasure at having his bed occupied. Well, he wasn’t injured, he could sleep on the floor! Which, judging by how Fett walked away to sit on the floor against the wall, he was going to do - with the blaster resting over his thighs. Luke would’ve rolled his eyes at that if only he had the energy.

The sight of the blaster should’ve unsettled him. After all, he had spent the entire evening trying Boba Fett’s patience.

“Thanks f’the res’ue…” Luke slurred, genuinely grateful.

[symeona]

Nobody asked, so: For me, the hardest scene to stomach in all of Star Wars, is the night where Anakin killed everyone in the Tusken camp.

Not because Anakin killed a bunch of ppl, I have no issue pinning that on him, but because I know Tuskens are a racist and crude caricature of indeginous ppl, both from the Middle East and the Fiji islands.

I can't imagine Tusken ppl kidnapping and torturing a random woman for no reason? And in front of their kids?

From where I stand, Tusken ppl are angry at the outsiders, especially anyone dealing with the Hutts. There's that whole part about how sacred water and wells are to them. And how basically outsiders don't give a shit so they destroy or build over important landmarks (#relatable frustration). Letting Krayt dragons and weird creatures loose, in the process. So of course they're angry. But they aren't savages??? They're just trying to keep their lands safe.

On the other hand, I can totally imagine Gardulla Hutt finding out that Shmi was freed, and thinking she's setting a bad example for other slaves. I can imagine Gardula, a gangster, sending her ppl after Shmi. And I can also imagine that Gardulla's ppl wouldn't care or know about Tusken people's territories. So if they attacked Shmi at the wrong place, it's likely the Tuskens would've fought them off.

If Cliegg arrived there late, he would've probably assumed the Tusken ppl took Shmi to kill her. When really, they just took her to mend her wounds.

Idk, that scene needs to be remade. The Tuskens' clothes should be redesigned. There's so much crap in there............

I've heard there's a version of the story where the Tusken ppl attacked because it was a moisture farm but it still doesn't explain the torture stuff. It's too weird and I don't like it. I don't even trust that it was written in good faith....