#And how the jedi brought about and deserved their own slaughter

[auxxrat]

Kamino's Lullaby

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

This little oneshot is based on a post from @fisharela, and I was just too inspired and heartbroken by it not to write something. Added a bit of my own headcanons and lore to fill in the blanks !! I'll be posting it on my ao3 too if you want to check that out! I hope you all enjoy !!

Tags ↓

angst/comfort(as much as we're gonna get in this situation), parental!shaak ti, jango mention, SMALLEST BIT of jango/shaak mention, child!clone ! Mention of death !

Kamino was cold. Not just in how it chilled any warm-blooded species to the bone, but in how it froze the heart. Everything was the same color, making it feel like the hallways were never-ending paths, pulling you in further to mindless walking. It was quieter than an abandoned city, footsteps were more common to the ear than any sort of laughter, the color grey scaling every wall and voiding any room or person of personality–

Not any place for children. 

Shaak had come to terms with it long ago. She had walked these halls so many times, back and forth for hours on end, yet she couldn't find a justifiable reason that children would need to be raised for war. A Jedi had no business letting life be created for the sole purpose of dying, letting Padawan’s on the front lines…. But what else could be done? Shaak searched for the answers, but there were none. This war was being played out with unfair rules, but when had they become so desensitized to disaster? To suffering? When had they forgotten that the clones were people?

And then the question of what was to come after the war. The Jedi allowed these innocents to be brought up for slaughter, so it was their job to make sure that they lived– after all of this fighting. There was still no compensation for this loss, for the lives lost, the brothers missing. 

Shaak had watched so many of them grow. She had watched the face of Jango be reborn thousands of times at this point, watched as the versions of himself that he would never be walk past. Five, then six, to the teenage years, then back again to an infant. From a smiling child to an age he never got to reach. They grew and reminded her every day of what she lost, what she’ll never see again, not really. They had peace, as much as Shaak could give them, then grew and marched off to war. 

They never came home, not all of them. Some came home in bodybags, some only pieces made it back, and others never made it back home. 

But tonight, those children were tucked into bed tightly, or at least they should be….

The softest of smiles broke across Shaak Ti’s face as she did her nightly walk, hearing the little whispered voices and hushes. After doing so many of these nightly walks Shaak found that no matter how many times she tucked them into bed, the little solider boys still found a way to crawl out of bed and a way to wake the others. The smile faded quickly though, Shaak got closer and closer and the voices became clearer with each step. Tears.

It was no wonder. Today was… a hard day on Kamino, an even harder day for the little ones. A long funeral had taken place at the very bottom of Kamino, where a large platform braved the waves and hovered just above the water. Shaak had found it during the first few years of the war, when bodies just continued to come home and she accepted this is what Jango had left for her, it was a quick decision on what to use it for– the clones deserved a proper send-off. 

What they deserved was to be dressed in their culture, alive in some other place where there is no war, where there are no parentless children. The best she could give them was the waves, and an old Mandalorian song to honor them. 

It was always hard on them, especially the nights following. Nothing exempted these boys from nightmares, writhing in their sleep drenched in sweat until Shaak or one of the older clones wakes them. They can never recall what the nightmare was about, no matter how many times she’s asked, across all of them– they can’t remember. 

It caused many hard nights. 

Shaak didn’t know if there was anything she could do anymore. The kaminoan scientists were strict, they were the ones who treated the clones like nothing more than investments, in their eyes these were not children– they were property. Nothing but walking science. It was hard to even… care for them in the presence of Lama Su… or any of them for that matter. Showing any sort of parental action towards the clones was met with scorn and a warning that–

“If this continues any longer, The Jedi Council will hear of it, Jedi Master Shaak Ti”

And she had already been warned once before. 

These poor boys… Shaak could barely round the corner before her knees were being smashed into. It’s like they could sense whenever she was near. She scooped the upset boy into her arms and quickly tucked him back in before it started a domino effect of them all waking up, but there was no doubt they were all already awake. Awake, with a fresh new set of nightmares. 

She couldn't hold them all, she couldn't fight away what they were facing. It was just like on the battlefield, forced to watch them fall with the expectation of not being crushed beyond repair. She can’t help them, she can’t help them, she can’t help them. 

The boy didn't go down without a fuss, the big brown eyes that she had once looked into so long ago, on a different face– stared back. He gripped her hand tightly to his chest, lying there in his bottom bunk with a horrified look. Shaak already knew not to ask, he already knew not to even try to explain. They just sat there in silence, a mutual understanding that they couldn’t help each other, just comfort. Shaak sat there and brushed his dark curls from his forehead, dabbing the sweat away with her robe. 

“Go back to sleep darling, the night isn’t over yet” 

“I can’t,” the boy said quietly, defeated. 

“The nightmare again?’ Shaak Ti asked, and the boy nodded.

“It’s different this time,” He interrupted Shaak’s next words, “He’s there, watching me”

“Who’s watching you, dear?”

“I don’t know.” His lips pressed into a thin line and his eyebrows drew together, as if in deep thought, “He looks like us… but he’s not. He’s just watching me”

Shaak hushed the boy, her hand still caressing his wrinkled forehead. It was a common theme in all of their dreams, ones that they slowly stopped talking about when they got older. It was just another endless thought for her to mull around in her head over and over again, it was useless trying to decipher it now when she could never fully wrap her head around it in the first place. Was it Jango? It couldn't be, his soul was part of the Force now and there was nothing left of him. 

“Is something wrong with me?” 

“No. Go back to sleep, it’ll all go away in the morning” She cupped her hand around the boy’s chubby cheek, still hushing him quietly, “I’ll be right here”

“The whole night?” His baby brown eyes widened.

“The whole night, I promise” 

The promise must have stuck because he snuggled himself back under the covers, hand still holding onto three of Shaak’s fingers tightly– still scared she would leave. She wasn't going anywhere, not if it meant leaving them behind. 

His dark eyelashes began to flutter, eyes no doubt heavy with sleep after getting so worked up. But like any stubborn child, he refused to close his eyes just yet, fighting the sleep that he so badly needed. 

“Can you sing me to sleep, please?” The whisper was so soft that Shaak had barely heard it under all of the shuffling of his brothers.

She had sung many of the clones to sleep throughout the years of this war, so many with their own personal song after having fits that only she could calm. 

Shaak tucked the blanket up to the boy’s chin, nodding while urging him to roll over and sleep– slowly beginning to hum as he closed his eyes contently. 

She hummed an old tune, rubbing the boy's back and threading her fingers through his curls, watching him succumb to a more peaceful sleep. Shaak sat there for a very long while, just humming, looking at the soft sleeping face in front of her. He was so small in her hands, with such chubby cheeks, and the most perfect curls. Everything she wanted was just out of reach, given to her in the most cruel and twisted way. All of them were perfect, such joyful children despite their situation. They deserved to be loved, to be mothered. Jango…what have you done? 

Long after the boy was asleep, Shaak got up and continued her rounds while humming her song. Even more little ears were awake, rocking themselves to sleep in sadness until her soothing voice reached them. 

Kamino was cold and colorless, yet Shaak managed to be the warmth and color that the clones needed. Her song echoed through the barracks, reaching anyone who would listen, to any child up rocking themselves to sleep. After all the bombs and gunfire, after seeing all that blood… she was the only comfort. So much so they could almost mutter her name as ‘mother’.  

So many lonely children sat up in the hallways that night, listening to her echoing song, finally feeling the comfort of what their books call mom. 

[calyssmarviss]

You know i’ll always side-eye people who talk about characters deserving anything. first off, they are devices, not people. (and, well, i don’t even think i agree that much with the idea of living people deserving things.. aside from you know, things like equal rights and basic respect, but only for the virtue of being alive and having to deal with life, not because they’re particularly good) they’re just as bad or as good as the author wants or needs them to be and with star wars, which now has had dozens upon dozens of people involved in the writing, that could mean fucking anything.

the Jedi were always meant to fail and fall, which means that, when writing anything that happened before that point, they had to think of reasons things were allowed to get so bad. but that doesn’t change their original purpose, which is to be the good guys. now that may mean that in individual stories they may be serving as the antagonists or shown to stray away from the right path, but ultimately the goal is to show that even good people are not above being duped, influenced and corrupted and made to look like the ones at fault by, ya know, the characters and forces (internal or external) that are actually evil. like, it’s the whole point. besides selling toys and subscriptions, that’s the point of having all that pre-RoTs material.

look, i can bend myself into shapes for hours sorting out my personal feelings and opinions over any bit of jedi or sith philosophy and actual practices and have thoughts experiments and write fics and draw fanarts where everyone is terrible actually, only some are just having more fun and looking cooler while doing it, it won’t ever change the roles they were assigned by the narrative and the fact that they were designed to be an illustration of what good meaning people can be brought to by ill intentioned agents that know how to cultivate and take advantage of a flawed society.

Now Imma assume the video this anon refers to is about the Acolyte, and the last episode (good shit, btw). and that Jessie probably had a knee jerk reaction of “woman only community gets violated by space cops”. don’t quote me on that, again, just assumptions, i haven’t seen the vid (tho i have seen a few others from that channel and was kinda split on them, tbh, on one hand, some very good stuff, on the other, i have face palmed a few times for sure, because the point was, imo, completely missed). which, yeah, that one scene when the ascension is interrupted was… pretty uncomfortable to watch. but, again, it’s the point, isn’t it? the Jedi are, relatively speaking, a very very small part of the galaxy and they have this huge ass responsibility and powers. they have to work within the system or the system will start to see them as a threat and either crush them or force them into hiding, which will seriously impede their mission of peace and balance keeping. and they have to root out potential corruption because if left to fester it will upset the balance and the peace which will force them to take even more drastic action (like using an army of millions of identical enslaved men) which will make the system see them as a threat.

Sure those women seemed to just be having a baller time and are not seen hurting anyone but each other but they’re still getting high on that dark hole power which we all now is code for “physical embodiment of bad”. and as i’m writing this, yeah. i think the logical conclusion you’ll find at the bottom of that hole is that radfems suck. like, isolationism and complete rejection of men and being obsessed with your own feminity and persecution and thinking other women are just a reflection of yourself until they start to want and think different things are bad actually and i think that’s what the hole represents??? but you absolutely don’t need to go that deep (into the hole, ha), because in star wars, bad hole of darkness is bad. and enjoying slaughtering your enemies will give you bloodshot yellow eyes and force ghosts are blue. like, as much as the whole concept of the force being able to judge you and mark you based on moral principles bugs me, it’s how that universe works.

this actually disturbed me less than playing as Cal Kestis and mowing through Zabraks who were just chilling on their own planet. which i actually try and avoided to do by the end of it when it’s really not my playstyle (just ones and zeroes, ya know). I just didn’t fit with what i thought a jedi should do. And yet, I have yet to organically come across someone who also had an issue with that (maybe it’s something that came up with Survivor tho, idk, i’ve been staying away from spoilers). I had to actually look for them. And Cal is pretty up there on the greater fandom good jedi list, isn’t he? people get that dathomiri zabraks are, well, pretty fucking corrupted by the planet itself and generations upon generations of nightsister fuckery and sith influence and they will attack you on sight, so. I mean, they have glowing green eyes. Plus Cal is figuring it all out, isn’t he, like Luke was when he blew up the Death Star - not like the mean old jedi order with all its money and power and influence and warships and clones and rigidity and emotional negligence and baby stealing and war crimes, right?

I just need a hug. A YouTuber I respected, Jessie Gender, tweeted that the Jedi deserved to end (though at least she had the decency to say it shouldn't have been in genocide). Ugh, it's hard to exist in fandom when everyone seems ready to judge the Jedi as cops and not a culture that palpatine eradicated.

Virtual hugs, anon. It's really hard to lose respect for a creator you once admired--and going to check out their tweet, oh, I see we're calling the Buddhist Christians again--and I try to be understanding, not a lot of people really know enough about non-Western dominant religions to realize the often xenophobic/imperialistic undertones to describing Buddhism as such (or my other favorite, calling the Buddhist-inspired religion a "cult"), as if Christianity is the default. At least they acknowledged that what happened was a genocide and didn't say it was their own fault/something they did. But here's my real advice, the only way I've found to make myself feel better after something like this: Go on a Jedi-positive spree. Don't vagueblog, that won't make you feel better in the long run, but address some of the things that frustrate you. Like, I would tweet out a, "Hey, you wanna see a list of all the times the Jedi said really nice things about Anakin?" or "Hey you wanna see a list of all the times the Jedi died to protect someone?" or "Hey you wanna see all the times the Jedi express emotion and said feelings were normal?" or "Hey you remember that time TCW explicitly showed us how the Jedi actually had no real power within the framework of the government? And we can see that they were were only there to better facilitate saving lives, because that's how you effect change on a galactic level, instead of idk charging people money to fly around the galaxy in ships and eat food?" Tweet out a series of George Lucas quotes about how the Jedi were right about stuff or how they were limited in Shitty Choice A or Shitty Choice B. This builds something positive, it makes it more fun to be around you and draw more people to you, and you will feel better. It sucks to lose respect for someone you liked, but just remember. No amount of fan opinions can touch what the movies and TCW and George Lucas' interviews, and ultimately it's still just Star Wars. We cannot live and die by a made up fictional story, I've tried and it sucks so much more than just shrugging my shoulders, saying to myself that someone has Bad Star Wars Takes, and sailing on off. Lots of hugs, anon, and I hope you can find comfort that there are still lots of us having fun over here in our Actually The Jedi Were Pretty Right About Everything corner. ^_~

[spacerocksarethebestrocks]

What are your fav Star Wars ships and why?

Obvs you like Vox, but what do you think about Assaj and Vox (Dark Disciple)?

Um my fave ships are many, too many to list here. I am polyamourous, and I like to construct polycules of varying sizes and members and imagine how they would go together.

But I've got to be honest I hated Dark Disciple.

I hated that Quinlan became romantically attracted to a woman younger than his padawan, a girl he basically raised. I hated that that woman was someone who had previously slaughtered and tortured clones for fun. I hated that he fell and the way he fell. I hated that what brought him back to the light wasn't his friends or family, but when a woman (Asajj) sacrificed herself for him. It's a sexist trope that I really detest, personal feelings about Ventress aside.

It was unfair to both characters. Quinlan, who struggled so much throughout his life against the dark, and Ventress who deserves to die for herself, to be the star of her own story, whether she be redeemed or not.

What made it worse is that the legends version is infinitely better. Quin infiltrated the separatist leadership early on in the war to act as a mole, with Tholme as his handler. His cover was so deep he even betrayed information about the Jedi to Dooku, and Agen Kolar even attempted to kill him.

Dooku knew it was an act however, and used the true reason his parents died to tip Quinlan to the darkside. He became a top assassin and was brought back to the light by his long time friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his Master, Tholme.

Isn't that so much better? Without any sexist tropes and creepy romantic relationships with a girl younger than the person he considered his child???

[padawanlost]

Hi, I dont read alot (of books) but I was just wondering, did Anakin/vader ever see people he helped/freed (during his time as a jedi) being oppressed by the empire. Did he feel pity or sorrow for them? Or had he totally unplugged from those emotions at that point ?

No. Anakin was to broken to feel sorry for anyone but himself. People have this idea of Vader being a sadistic monster who thrived on the suffering he caused but the truth is he was too lethargic to care. He didn’t stay with Palpatine out enjoyment or even loyalty. He stayed because he had nowhere else go, no one else to be with.

You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were thinking about yourself … It is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith— Because now your self is all you will ever have. And you rage and scream and reach through the Force to crush the *shadow* who has destroyed you, but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only droids around you that implode, and equipment, and the table on which you were strapped shatters, and in the end, you cannot touch the shadow. In the end, you do not even want to. In the end, the shadow is all you have left. Because the shadow understands you, the shadow forgives you, the shadow gathers you unto itself— And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame. This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker. Forever … [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

What Vader appeared to be  - no fucks given BAMF – were very different from what he truly was: Palpatine’s slave. Vader, once you get to know him, is not a scary monster. He’s a quite pathetic and hopeless man.

He wasn’t a sadistic control freak like Palpatine and he didn’t *enjoy* hurting people he didn’t feel deserve to be hurt but he was too damaged and broken to do anything about it. he kind of just went with it.

In one of the comics, he has to face the truth that the Empire is enslaving people and he is upset about it. but he does nothing because there's nothing left in him. for him to pity them, he’d have to empathize with them and that’s something he couldn’t afford to do. He was too trapped in his own private little hell to feel bad for people.

Again the smile or snarl from his Master. “You were a traitor, were you not, Lord Vader?” Vader’s breathing caught on the hook of sudden anger. “What did you say?”

 “To the Jedi. To Padmé. To Obi-Wan. To all those you loved.” His Master turned to look at him, his eyes reflecting the flames. 

Vader didn’t know the answer his Master wanted to hear, so he simply answered with the truth. “Yes.” [Paul S. Kemp. Lords of the Sith]

If he couldn’t even care enough to defend himself from his master abusive behavior, I doubt he’d ever care enough to pity a stranger.

When it comes to Vader’s apathetic, one of the best examples I can think of is his ‘relationship’ with Drua. In one of the books, Vader and Palpatine are stranded. They run into a girl and Vader saves her life:

“Come here, girl,” the Emperor said, putting the power of the Force into his command. Unable to resist, the girl walked out of the tree line until she stood, small and vulnerable, before him. With preternatural speed the Emperor drew, ignited, and slashed at the girl with his lightsaber, but Vader had sensed his Master’s intent and moved with greater speed, igniting his own blade and intercepting his Master’s blow before it could land. The girl, under the sway of the Emperor’s power, seemed scarcely to notice the danger. She simply stood there, staring vacantly, her face aglow in the red light of the crossed blades. The Emperor’s mouth twisted in a snarl, and Vader felt his power gathering. Behind Vader, Deez raised his rifle and aimed it at Vader’s back, but Vader stretched his free hand back and unleashed a blast of power that lifted the guardsman from his feet and flung him into the trees. Branches cracked audibly under the impact of Deez’s body. Vader and his Master stared at each other across the sizzling glow of their crossed blades. “Has it come to this?” his Master said. He sounded calm, almost resigned, but not at all surprised. The tone surprised Vader. “Forgive me, Master,” he said, and deactivated his blade. “I think the girl can be of use to us.” [Paul S. Kemp. Lords of the Sith]

The girl, Drua, takes them to very home and does everything she can to help them. After everything was said and done, Palpatine orders Vader to kill her and everyone in her village. And Vader does it. Not because he wants it. but because he’s too apathetic to care. Too trapped in his toxic relationship with Palpatine to see things for what they really were.

“There’s work for that yet, my friend,” the Emperor said, nodding at the hilt of Vader’s blade.

 “Master?”

 “The villagers, Lord Vader. Drua and her people. We can’t allow so many witnesses to live. I’ll wait for you here.” 

Vader looked from his Master to the dark mouth of the mine inside of which Drua and the rest of the villagers had fled. He felt the Emperor’s eyes on him, the intensity of the gaze, the weight of his expectations, and Vader knew that the day’s events had been only half about depleting a rebel movement before it could grow. They had also, as Vader had suspected, been about testing him, forcing him to face the ghosts of his past and exorcise them forever and fully. He saw that more clearly now; saw, too, that his Master was right to administer the test. It also explained why his Master had shown so little of his true power throughout the day. Perhaps he’d wanted Vader to rely on himself to overcome the challenges they’d faced. Or perhaps he’d wanted to seem weaker than he was, to draw out any treacherous ambitions Vader may have held. “I hear and I obey, Master,” Vader said. He ignited his lightsaber and strode toward the cave, his mind drifting back to another day, a day when he strode into the Jedi Temple filled with nothing but younglings. He’d slaughtered them then, and he would slaughter the Twi’leks now. His Master’s laughter followed him into the cave, and it lingered in his mind, louder even than the screams of the Twi’leks as they began to die by his blade. When it was done, he returned to his Master’s side. “Well done, old friend,” Darth Sidious said. He wiped his hands, as if to clean them of dirt. “And now let’s move on to more important things.” [Paul S. Kemp. Lords of the Sith]

The only time Vader cared enough to influence his behavior was with Luke. All the other times, there were a glimpse of something – of the old Anakin – like when he saw C3PO or even Ahsoka. But not enough for him empathize with people.

Qui-Gon had a interesting theory about this. He believed Anakin – to survive – had to bury that side of him so Vader could exist. An Anakin who cares cannot be Vader. He buried all the good things about Anakin.

“Master, is Darth Vader Anakin?”

“Yes,” Qui-Gon’s voice replied. “Although the Anakin you and I knew is imprisoned by the dark side. […]The core of Anakin that resides in Vader grasps that Tatooine is the source of nearly everything that causes him pain. Vader will never set foot on Tatooine, if only out of fear of reawakening Anakin.” [Ryder Windham. The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi]

As terrible as life as Vader is, facing Anakin Skywalker’s decisions and living with them would be much, much harder. That’s why only when Luke demonstrated his unconditional love that Anakin allowed himself to reemerge.

Vader saw his son crying, and knew it must have been at the horror of the face the boy beheld. It intensified, momentarily, Vader’s own sense of anguish—to his crimes, now, he added guilt at the imagined repugnance of his appearance. But then this brought him to mind of the way he used to look—striking, and grand, with a wry tilt to his brow that hinted of invincibility and took in all of life with a wink. Yes, that was how he’d looked once. And this memory brought a wave of other memories with it. Memories of brotherhood, and home. His dear wife. The freedom of deep space. Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan, his friend … and how that friendship had turned. Turned, he knew not how—but got injected, nonetheless, with some uncaring virulence that festered, until … hold. These were memories he wanted none of, not now. Memories of molten lava, crawling up his back … no. This boy had pulled him from that pit—here, now, with this act. This boy was good. The boy was good, and the boy had come from him—so there must have been good in him, too. He smiled up again at his son, and for the first time, loved him. And for the first time in many long years, loved himself again, as well.  [James Kahn. Return of the Jedi]

Vader didn’t hate the world. He hated himself.

And because of that he bury everything that was remotely good and positive about himself as deep as he could. So his behavior, his lack of empathy wasn’t about him being sadistic. He was simply too broken and trapped in a deeply abusive relationship to care for the world around him.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Okay but Jedi having survived Order 66 calling the genocide of their people “a good thing” is sure something I’ve seen in fanfictions, and I cannot accept it.

Yeah, your self-indulgent rebuilding of the Jedi Order to what you imagine it needed to be is fine, write what you want. 

But Order 66 was not “a chance at a fresh start.” 

It was not “what the Jedi deserved for their hubris.” 

I can imagine Jedi having massive cases of survivor guilt. I can imagine the self-loathing that would come with it. I can imagine Jedi suddenly being hyper-critical of their own culture and seeing their flaws magnified tenfold - because to accept that they got wiped out for no goddamn reason at all would be infinitely worse than to believe they brought about their own destruction. 

I can imagine them struggling to reconcile the will of the Force and what happened, asking themselves “Did the Force want this? Then, how could I trust it?” “Was the Force powerless to stop this? Then, how could it protect me?” 

I can imagine that. 

But I can’t imagine one single Knight or Master believing that the death of their children was good. I can’t imagine a single Knight or Master, whose entire life was built on principles of compassion, believing that genocide is ever the answer to a flawed society. I can’t imagine a single youngling or Padawan remembering their caretakers’ flaws as deserving of death.

The Padawans we see in canon held on to the Order’s beliefs. Kanan became a Jedi again, Cal became a Jedi again. Ahsoka never once expressed the view that the Jedi needed to die, and she was never afraid to criticize the Order. If she didn’t see Order 66 as a “fresh start,” who would?

Go ahead and call the Masters “too set in their ways,” call the Padawans “indoctrinated, brainwashed.” Say “their arrogance caused them to fall.” But to push such a frankly alarming view of genocide onto the survivors and to frame it as healthy critical thinking? Please don’t do that. 

I know they’re fictional characters and I know everyone is entitled to an opinion, but please, don’t try to pass off a survivor approving of their people’s slaughter as healthy, good, rational or positive in any way. 

Goddammit, Star Wars fandom.

[padme-amitabha]

Is Anakin a Mary Sue?

Now it may shock you to learn this but it turns out that Disney Star Wars is kind of a contentious topic. The fandom's been more or less divided between those who like the sequel trilogy and those who like good movies but both groups spend a great deal of time slinging [ __ ] at each other over every form of social media known to man and truly no battleground is more fiercely contested than the protagonist of each trilogy. People who hate the Disney trilogy tend to criticize Rey for being an overpowered, flawless, perfect, invincible and unrelatable character for whom everything just kind of happens with no real struggle or difficulty a Mary Sue if you will.

Meanwhile supporters of the sequel trilogy are quick to leap to her defense usually with one of two potential counter arguments:  1. You just hate strong women 2. So what if she's op as [ __ ] Anakin Skywalker from the prequels was a Mary Sue too and you don't criticize him. You just hate strong women. This argument was brought into sharp focus for me the other day when I was perusing twitter in search of calm, logical, rational discussion about the merits of the sequel trilogy and I chanced upon this little gem of a comment. Ah yes that famously perfect protagonist who wins everything, always makes the right decisions, has a selfless and compassionate personality, and is universally loved and respected by everyone. Well random twitter [ __ ] as it turns out, I am ready to have that conversation right now. So saddle up y'all because the drinker's here to round up this [ __ ] and put an end to this argument once and for all. Let us journey deep into the world of the Star Wars prequels and see if we can figure out whether Anakin Skywalker really is a Mary Sue.

Now in order to do this, we have to nail down what exactly a Mary Sue is. Well according to the dictionary definition it's a term used to describe a fictional character, usually female, who is seen as too perfect and almost boring for lack of flaws originally written as an idealized version of an author in fanfiction. Now the finer points of what makes a Mary Sue can vary depending on who you talk to but after consulting multiple sources and drawing upon my own experiences as a writer, there's a few common traits that I think most people would generally agree on:

1.      Mary Sues usually possess skills and abilities that are not consistent with their situation and personal history. They can do stuff they shouldn't realistically be able to and they can do it better than anyone else.

2.      They usually possess flawless idealized personalities that no real person could measure up to they never give in to negative emotions like anger, greed, jealousy, selfishness or arrogance.

3.      They're universally loved respected and embraced by every good character they encounter even when there's no logical reason for this to happen.

4.      They never get seriously challenged, fail at anything or get beaten by anyone, success and victory come easily to them.

5.      They always make good decisions and strive to do what's right in any situation so why is this actually a problem.

Well I think the answer should be obvious, Mary Sues are boring as [ __ ]. If a character has got no flaws or weaknesses and never really gets challenged or tested by anything then what is there to get invested in?

It's the flaws and failings of a character that make them interesting in the first place and their struggle to rise above and overcome these flaws that make them so compelling. If these things are missing from a character, then there's nothing for the audience to latch onto or care about. There's nothing to like or root for. That's the essence of a Mary Sue and that's what we're going to be looking at here. So, with that in mind let's see how Anakin stacks up against this list shall we?

Point number one: Being overpowered and having abilities that he shouldn't. Now this more than anything else is what people tend to latch onto when they criticize Anakin and who can blame them really? On the surface it seems pretty ridiculous to see a nine-year-old boy doing stuff like this autopilot but let's put it into a wider context, shall we? When we first meet Anakin in The Phantom Menace, he's a slave living with his mother on Tatooine. He's spent most of his life salvaging junk and using it to make new stuff that can marginally improve their quality of life. As a result, he's become pretty good with technology. Well that makes sense, I guess. He's even applied these technical skills to pod racing where he's been fairly successful despite suffering at least one major crash that we know about. Again, this kind of makes sense when you consider he's strong with the force which would likely give him heightened perception reactions and understanding of the world around him, you know qualities that are important to high performance racing drivers. Anyway, his racing abilities allow the main characters to win an engine part that they need to repair their ship as well as enough money to buy his freedom. Sensing his importance Qui-Gon Jinn takes him under his wing and begins to teach him about the force. Remember when older mentor characters were allowed to teach the protagonist things? I miss that. He also takes part in a space battle that destroys an enemy mothership at the climax of the movie. Now as goofy as this scene is in its execution, it's not actually inconsistent with Anakin’s abilities and experiences. If you've worked around technology vehicles and ships your entire life and you can pilot a racing pod to a high standard then it stands to reason that you could probably operate other types of spacecraft as well, particularly if you have a droid on board to manage most of the ship's systems for you. However, for the sake of argument let's concede the Anakin in The Phantom Menace is indeed more skilled competent and capable than your average person.

So, what kind of effect would this have on a young man from an impoverished background suddenly thrust into a much larger world of power, politics and opportunity? Well that brings me neatly along to point number two: Mary Sues are supposed to have flawless personalities never giving in to anger, jealousy, resentment, vengeance or ambition. All throughout the second and third movies in the prequel trilogy, Anakin displays an increasingly severe set of personality flaws that begin to undermine his position in the world and his relationship with other characters. He's impetuous and hot-headed, frequently rushing into dangerous situations without waiting for backup or considering the risk to himself particularly when someone he cares about is in danger. Keep that one in mind because it'll be important later. He's ambitious but also impatient, feeling like he's been unfairly held back by other characters, particularly Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this resentment causes a growing rift between the two men that eventually spills out into open conflicts. Rather than taking the longer and harder path to wisdom and understanding, Anakin wants everything right away. He also cares deeply about people close to him and this attachment often manifests in explosive bites of anger and jealousy when he feels that they're being threatened like when his mother gets kidnapped and killed by Tusken Raiders, causing Anakin to go on a violent rampage that escalates into wholesale slaughter. Afterwards even he's shocked by what he did or when he believes that Padme has turned against him by Obi-Wan Kenobi, causing him to lash out violently against both of them. By this point he's been totally consumed by uncontrolled jealousy anger resentment and betrayal. All of the emotions that lead to the dark side of the force. The point here is clear: if you [ __ ] with someone he cares about then mercy and compassion go right out the window.

All of his skills, abilities and potential which seemed so overpowered and unnecessary in the first movie in fact serve a very important purpose for his character development. They've generated a sense of superiority, arrogance and overconfidence, and a reluctance to listen to criticism or advice no matter how well intentioned they might be. These are dangerous flaws in his personality all by themselves but combined with his overwhelming emotional attachment to people he cares about it creates a potent cocktail of reckless ambition and deep-seated insecurity that makes him uniquely vulnerable to manipulation something which will later prove disastrous because while Mary Sues are universally loved respected and trusted by everyone, Anakin certainly isn't in the first movie. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Yoda are all against training Anakin to become a Jedi despite his obvious potential because they know he's already too old to be inducted. This lack of early discipline in his life would leave a dangerous gap in his personality, making him unpredictable and less able to control his emotions, two factors which are extremely dangerous for Jedi. These misgivings would carry over to the next two movies where Anakin is elevated to the Jedi high council on Palpatine’s orders but the council itself refuses to grant him the rank of master because they feel he hasn't earned it yet. Now a different man would see this as an opportunity to prove himself by working hard and earning their trust eventually winning them over and gaining the recognition he deserves but Anakin takes this as a personal insult from the council which drives a deeper wedge between him and a Jedi order which he believes will never truly respect or accept him. Wow it's almost like Palpatine knew this was going to happen and engineered the whole thing to pull Anakin closer to him portraying himself as the only one who can help Anakin realize his full potential. It's a surprisingly smart piece of characterization that's completely consistent with everything we know about both men. The higher Anakin rises the more it stokes the fire of his ambition and superiority and the more he comes to see anyone who doubts or cautions him as a threat to his success. This arrogance and overconfidence also causes him to test himself against powerful opponents before he's actually ready for them and unlike Mary sues who easily win every battle they have to fight, Anakin’s recklessness causes an escalating series of losses like here where he tries to take on count Dooku all by himself and it ends with Anakin getting his [ __ ] arm sliced off. But his desire for revenge against the man who defeated him ultimately causes a more powerful and better prepared Anakin to execute him in the following movie, again proving his willingness to give into vengeance and anger even against helpless opponents or here in his climactic confrontation with Obi-Wan where his enemy has the advantage but Anakin presses the attack anyway and well I think we know how that turns out. Just as a side note I love how this carries over to Return of the Jedi. See Luke’s taking the high ground here just like Obi-Wan did.

What we have here is a clear pattern of behavior from a man whose ambitions consistently outstrip his abilities. Rather than demonstrating patience and restraint and taking the slower and harder path to lasting wisdom and fulfillment, Anakin’s inherent character flaws cause him to push himself beyond breaking point with increasingly disastrous consequences which brings me neatly along to the final points: whereas Mary Sues consistently make good righteous decisions and always strive to do the correct thing, Anakin on the other hand demonstrates a consistent pattern of mistakes and misjudgments that ultimately cost him everything. As I've already shown you the flaws in his personality are exacerbated by his powers and abilities making him easy prey for a ruthlessly ambitious man that knows exactly how to flatter his ambitions and prey on his weaknesses this eventually causes him to commit terrible crimes like murdering an entire tribe including unarmed civilians murdering children, executing a helpless opponent, helping to kill a jedi master, trying to murder his own wife, trying to kill his mentor and best friend, joining forces with an evil dictator to overthrow the republic, delivering this scene…

What I’m trying to say with all this is that Anakin Skywalker is the very furthest thing from a Mary Sue that you can get. Trying to label him as a Mary Sue for no other reason than because he's good at lots of stuff demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of what a Mary Sue is and also of who Anakin is. The reality is that he's a powerful but deeply flawed man whose unique combination of circumstances and abilities have created a dangerous personality that's vulnerable to manipulation and corruption his greatest strengths ultimately proved to be his most terrible weaknesses with consequences that echo across the entire galaxy. Now I have my own thoughts on the prequel trilogy as a whole and I’d be lying if I said they were great movies but fundamentally I think the story they tell is actually pretty [ __ ] good and I’m just gonna say it: Anakin’s rise to power and fall to the dark side is a damn good piece of character work that Disney would have done well to pay more attention to. Anyway, that's all I’ve got for today. Go away now.

I would argue the prequels are great movies but he makes some very good points. I have seen so many Disney fans claim Anakin is a Mary Sue, when he’s anything but a Mary Sue. 

[mneiai]

This was inspired by a discussion on my fanfic discord. It’s slightly angsty.

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Alpha-17 didn't think much of the Jedi, for all they'd been made for them. He'd had too much instruction directly from Jango Fett to think they'd be worthy of the army they were getting.

It was why he was pleasantly surprised when General Kenobi ended up...not being completely worthless. He'd understood war like it was an instinct for him, slotting into the army like a perfectly sized space had been planned the whole time.

That gave Alpha-17 hope...up until he started working with the other Jedi. Skywalker was one thing, he was a cadet and Kenobi coddled him on top of that. But the other Generals, the ones who were older than Kenobi, who had higher ranks than him in their Order, were something else.

Whenever he had to work with one of them, there were betting pools among the Vod'e of how long they'd last. It wasn't as if Alpha-17 was killing them himself, he just didn't feel the need to point out their mistakes to them. As long as it wasn't getting any of his family killed, he'd let them throw themselves into whatever fucked up situation they'd completely misunderstood.

Even though he was never to blame, eventually he just started being assigned to Kenobi all the time. It was what he wanted and it was what Kenobi deserved, an ARC Trooper at his side who would push him away from his useless Jedi morality and help him become even better than he was.

The curiosity over why Kenobi was so much better was natural, even the rest of the Vod'e whispered theories in their bunks at night. Some thought he might have come from some warrior race (when they found out he was fluent in Mando'a, some even wondered if he'd been Mandalorian all along, stolen or lost). Others thought there might be some secret sect of warrior Jedi among the Order, but Kenobi was the only one bold enough to reveal himself so early.

Alpha-17 was no coward, but it still took him months to finally ask.

From the look Kenobi gave him, he almost wished he hadn't.

"When I was a Padawan, my Master and I were tasked with rescuing another Jedi who was being held hostage on a wartorn planet," Kenobi finally stated, long after Alpha-17 thought he might just ignore him. "A local insurgent group who was trying to stop the fighting assisted us and when we had our charge and were ready to go...I couldn't. I couldn't leave them there, seeing how they were being slaughtered by the armies. So I stayed."

Kenobi gave a wry smile, a look Alpha-17 had grown to know well. "In those days, Jedi didn't fight in wars. We were peacekeepers, negotiators, not soldiers. I had to leave the Order to fight. I spent months there, living underground, traveling through the sewers, fighting. Eventually, we won." His face spasmed, some emotional too strong for his usual calm trying to break through that mask, before settling. "For a certain measure of 'winning.' I ended up back in the Order, though I was ostracized for much of the rest of the year."

"'In those days'?" Alpha-17 repeated, raising his eyebrows--Kenobi was in his mid-thirties but was talking about the whole situation like it had happened a long time ago.

He took a deep breath, shrugging off his next words like they wouldn't be a punch to Alpha-17's gut. "I was thirteen, at the time."

Thirteen. Natborn thirteen. A Vod'e would be six. Alpha-17 would expect them to be able to fight, to defend themselves and their home, but even he wouldn't deploy them to an active warzone without backup.

"Don't look at me like that, I was a Padawan, I'd grown up in the Temple and knew how to fight. Most of the others were younger than me."

"The Jedi just left you there?"

He'd heard the stories from Jango, about just how awful the Jedi were, but his impression so far was that they were inept, not...not this. It put a whole new perspective on the Padawan Pack, on how desperate Kenobi seemed to keep those kids together with some semblance of supervision. Who knew what the Order would have done with them, what they would have gotten thrown into alone, if he hadn't.

"I had left the Order."

"You were thirteen, I know how young that is in the Republic." He'd had to study all sorts of Republic laws during his training, had chafed at many of them compared to what he'd learned of Mandalore. "Fuck. Fuck."

He got up, hands clenching and unclenching into fists at his side as things fell in place in his head. Kenobi's Master had abandoned him in the worst way, no wonder he was so tender and forgiving of Skywalker. And whatever had happened to get the Jedi to take him back must have done a lot to keep him from questioning--from even looking like he was questioning--their Council.

"Alpha, there's no need to get worked up." Kenobi telegraphed his movement as he placed a hand on Alpha-17's arm, clearly knowing better than to take him by surprise even though they'd never had a single interaction to warn him about it. "This all happened long ago. Some of the people involved aren't even alive anymore. And I believe you've been praising the results, as much as you can."

And wasn't that a slap in the face? Knowing everything he'd liked about Kenobi, all the reasons he found himself unexpectedly wanting to be around a Jedi, came from something like that. It made Alpha-17 feel dirty, thinking about it.

"That shit making you a better general doesn't excuse it, Kenobi," he growled. "There's a middle ground between being kriffing useless at war and being good at it because you were a child soldier."

Kenobi tried to dismiss his words with a gesture and Alpha-17--Alpha-17 wouldn't stand for it. He caught Kenobi's wrists, holding them as gently as he could without letting him easily break away. Sometimes, watching him fight, he forgot how fragile Kenobi was, but at the moment he couldn't help but notice. He might be a touch taller, but Kenobi was more slender in build and thinner still from an emphasis on lean muscle and a willingness to skip rations for the soldiers.

He must have been a tiny thing, as a child. Even moreso after a few months of war.

"I know it's too late for us to do anything about it. But after this war is over? You need to do a lot of hard thinking about just how much the Jedi are willing to use you, sending a former child soldier to the front like this."

His face collapsed. "Alpha...you're all child soldiers."

"It's not the same thing and you know that. We weren't just created for this, we were raised for it. And we're fully mature when we get out here, our brains and bodies all the way developed. And we're not alone." Even as an ARC Trooper, trained for solo missions, Alpha-17 was always with someone out here, normally Kenobi.

He'd have to make sure Kenobi was never sent out solo. And more than that, that he wasn't ever sent out without a Vod, because the way the Padawans were being flung around the war, he doubted the Jedi knew the first thing about battlefield trauma. The Vod'e did, were trained in how to deal with it. Thinking about it now, Alpha-17 could see the little hints behind the Jedi facade where Kenobi's had shown through already.

To think he'd given the Jedi the benefit of the doubt on something and they'd turned out to be even worse than he'd thought they could be.

"It was my choice."

Alpha-17 grimaced. He knew how Kenobi (and Skywalker) felt about the Vod'e and they weren't exactly wrong. But he wasn't about to let that be used to excuse what happened, either.

"You were thirteen, you shouldn't have been given that choice. You should have been dragged back to Coruscant and talked down." When Kenobi opened his mouth to protest, Alpha-17 played an unfair card of his own, "Would you have left Skywalker there? In the same situation?"

The stricken look was all the vindication Alpha-17 needed. Kenobi didn't have to say anything, because they both knew he could barely stand to part with his nineteen year old Padawan when they were both on the same planet with all the resources of the Republic war machine at their fingertips.

Kenobi's shoulders slumped, his arms going lax. With a gentle pull on his arms, Alpha-17 brought him into a firm hug. He wished he wasn't in armor, that they were somewhere safe to do this, but he doubted they'd have many opportunities like that during the war.

This was a secret he'd been entrusted with, but not one he could keep. He'd tell the other Alphas, fold this into their plans. Maybe tell it to the rest of the Vod'e that he knew could be trusted with it, destroy their worldview, their hero worship of the Jedi, a little more, and keep them alive just a little bit longer.

[maulsscream]

(gif by obimauls)

HOPE Maul x Ahsoka

First of all, I’m so sorry for using that gif. Second of,  don’t know what this is. It was supposed to be a Hurt/Comfort fic but then it... became this and lost its purpose. All I can say is that I can write everything you want but I could never bring myself to retcon “Running away again, Lady Tano?”.

SUMMARY Rated G - 2,007 words

There is a gap. A moment in which neither of them know what to say, but they know what to do. The fate of the galaxy is on their shoulders.

                                 -----------------------------------

Ahsoka had sent Maul to his death. She could never have brought herself to inflict the kind of atrocities Maul was unleashing upon the clones. They had been her friends, all of them. By not providing the former Sith with a weapon, she had hoped to even the fight if only a little. Still her conscience didn’t feel clear. She felt sullied by the implications of the chaos she had asked for.

As she made her way down the hallways with caution, she clearly understood just how much she had doomed her troopers. It was what Maul had been raised to do after all. He was an unrelenting killing machine on a mission. If the scene in front of her was to draw any conclusion, it was that it had been a slaughter. The clones had stood no chance against him. They had been decimated.

She walked across dismembered bodies, a feeling of darkness overtaking her. She had been witness to the horrors of war. She had been victim to it. This was different. This reeked of carnage and destruction. There was no necessary evil in what she saw.

The people she had called friends minutes ago were laying dead on the floor, limbs scattered across the hallway. She was thankful that their helmets were still on. It was hard enough having to deal with their betrayal, even if she knew how blameless they were, she didn’t want to add insult to injury by having to take their death in one by one. They were casualties of war nothing more, she reminded herself.

She reached another corridor and halted. Rex was right behind her as he always had been, making sure they were covered on all sides. He didn’t trust the renegade to not kill everyone, Rex and Ahsoka included.

“Maul?”

Her voice ringed in his ears. She sounded surprised to find him slumped over a wall but still standing. He was aware of what her words had truly meant when they had parted ways. She wanted him dead, just as much as the rest of them. Whether he survived the battalion of clones was none of her concerns. She had needed him to clear the way for her escape and he had done exactly as she had ordered. Perhaps he was hoping for her to see his value as an ally so that they could survive this. Clearly they couldn’t do it alone.

Maul sank down to his knees on the floor as Ahsoka rushed to his side, kneeling down as well. She could see he was wounded. The injury wouldn’t be fatal and knowing Maul he could recover from it. He had recovered from behind cut in half. This was merely a blaster shot to the chest. Still, if they didn’t bring him to the med bay, he would have been picked off by clones easily. Right now, he was their only chance to escape alive.

“Can you walk?”, Ahsoka asked.

There was no concern or care in her voice. Maul scoffed, causing him to go into a coughing fit. Out of pure spite, the former Sith tried to stand but quickly fell into her arms. Could he walk? Ridiculous... Pain was simply a state of mind that he didn’t even register anymore.

“I’m fine.”, Maul hissed.

He wasn’t. As Ahsoka took hold of his side she could feel a warm wetness dripping down through her fingers. There was no doubt in it, he was bleeding. Upon further inspection she saw that a piece of metal had lodge itself in between Maul’s ribs. The cut seemed to run deep enough to make him hack up blood again.

“Rex, make sure the way to the medbay is clear.”, Ahsoka instructed.

Maul glared down at her. He didn’t need to be coddled like a child. Especially not by someone who didn’t care if he lived or died unless he was useful in doing either. Why was she trying to save him when he was clearly a lost cause? He would only slow her down. One of them had to survive and it was not going to be him. He had resigned himself to his faith.

“You have to go. Now.”, Maul groaned.

“I’m not leaving you.”

So she had changed her mind. Ahsoka was aware that Maul was her ticket out off of that ship. She needed someone to hold off the clones while her and Rex jumped on an escape pod. And Maul had just proven himself to be a more than valuable meat shield, if nothing else.

Ahsoka tossed Maul’s arm across her shoulder. He was ridiculously heavy and massive, something she hadn’t accounted for. If they were to make it back in time, they’d need to hurry. She could tell he was trying his best not to be a burden and was carrying most of his own weight while holding his bleeding side. It was a true testament to his strength. With the injuries he had sustained, Ahsoka wondered how the Sith was still conscious enough to talk. Let alone do it while making sense.

“Don’t waste your time. You and I both know I will only slow down your escape. You need to hurry.”

After all she had said to him, Maul was still trying to help her. This time felt different. He had nothing to gain by telling her to abandon him there and flee. It wasn’t his style to be selfless. Perhaps what they had felt in the Force had given him a change of heart.

Ahsoka didn’t even reply to whatever rambling were coming out of his mouth, too busy focusing on dragging herself back to the medbay where the trio of droids still were. With the help of Rex, she loaded the Zabrak onto the table. One astromech guarded the door while two others were running diagnostics.

Maul grabbed her hand tightly as she moved to set up his surgery. Kriff knew what she was going to find out about his anatomy and all the modifications he had suffered over the years. But this wasn’t what concerned the former Sith. There was a beat were they stared at each other.

“Lady Tano, a favour please.”

She cast a glance to Rex who got the hint. This was a private conversation. The trooped took a few paces towards the door, his back turned to them. Ahsoka leaned in closer to Maul who had a resigned look in his eyes. There was no doubt about it, he had seen death before. It didn’t scare him. She wondered if anything in his life had ever truly frightened him.

“I’m going to do my best to fix your injuries so that we can--”

“In case you don’t...”, Maul interrupted.

He could tell the former Padawan was talking to reassure herself rather than him. She had a wild look in her eyes, panic settling in. She was scrambling to hold to the old world she knew where she needed to save everyone. This had never been Maul’s reality. Death was inevitable and welcomed if the time was right and enemy was worthy. But to a Jedi, the lack of control and certainty created a void where she couldn’t even trust the Force to guide her.

“Destroy the ship. There can be no trail left for him to follow.”

His grip on her hand tightened and Ahsoka brought her other hand to hold his. It was a strange act of comfort but she simply couldn’t help herself. He was a being in pain and against her own judgement and instincts, he deserved a chance... maybe. He had proved himself to be useful and even when he had had no reason to follow her orders, he had done as he was told. If anything were to happen to Rex, Maul would be her only reliable ally on that ship. She knew she couldn’t lose that.

She also knew that Maul wasn’t talking about the trooper in the room. If she was to be hunted down after her escape, it would be by Darth Sidious and his new army. The only mention of that name had terrorised the former Sith down in the tunnels of Mandalore. Only he knew what he was truly capable of.

Maul didn’t let go of her hand throughout the procedure. It wasn’t so much for comfort as it was for assurance that she wouldn’t terminate him on the spot. He could feel her energy through the Force linked them together. It was an unspoken understanding. They could guess each other’s intentions and how desperately they wanted to survive. Maul reached out to her and it took Ahsoka a moment to decide wether she wanted to respond to his call or not. Yes.

He rose from the table with a snarl, stretching his side. Ahsoka stepped back and observed. She had concerns about teaming up with someone like Maul and it read on her face. But what choice did she have? She was incapable of ploughing through squads of clones as he had, it wasn’t her style. They’d have to rely on each other.

“Lead the way.”, he said as his hand extended towards Rex and the corridor before them. 

None of them had a good feeling about heading back out there. Who knew how many clones were still out there, hunting them down? Were they planning an ambush? The way to the escape pods wasn’t an entirely straight line and they would have to trust each other not to get slaughtered.

They made their way through quietly and rather unbothered by any troopers. Maul and Ahsoka exchanged looks. Something was up. As they reached the hangar, it all made sense.

Blaster shots were coming at them reluctantly, barely giving them a chance to strategise about their best option. Maul had his back to Ahsoka’s while Rex was flanking them. They deflected as much as possible but it was clear that they were outgunned and outmatched. The clones had had time to set up their ambush. Ahsoka felt glad that she had her back turned and didn’t have to witness whatever Maul was doing to the them. She could only hear shouts and bones being crushed underneath their armours as their bodies got tossed against the walls of the hangar. Maul grunted as he took another blaster bolt to the shoulder, only enhancing the anger and speed with which he fought. Ahsoka could feel his presence in the force, shrouded with darkness. He was almost having fun.

“This way!”

She shouted and the three of them broke from the troopers swarming them. They weaved through shots fired in every direction as they reached the other side of the docking bay. The escape pods were right there, two of them still locked into their compartments. They were so close!

Maul was sealed the doors behind them, clenching his fist and causing the metal to bend on itself. It wouldn’t hold them off for long. He could already hear them trying to break down the door. Maul turned around slowly to observe Ahsoka who was scrambling to unlock the pods.

Her hands were shaking, her aura unsettled. She stopped as if she’d been hit by a freighter. She was drowning in her own panic while Maul had never been so calm in his life. There was no longer rage and anger in his eyes when they locked with her. He knew what he had to do.

“May the Force be with you, Ahsoka Tano.”

His arm rose and before she had time to shout at him to stop, Maul had force-pushed her into the pod. The door blasted open in a flash of light and dust.

The last thing she saw as she tripped into an escape pod and onto Rex was Maul looking back over his shoulder at her, his hands outstretched in front of him while pushing back an onslaught of clones.

Ahsoka remembered his words. They swirled in her head. She owed him as much for saving their lives.

Destroy the ship.

[colehasapen]

(ONE SHOT) kir'manir STAR WARS

He had gotten them out.

They were free.

Pirates had attacked the spice rig, and Jango had taken his chance when he saw it, gathering Ob’ika to his side the moment the ship had started to shake. He had taken the pick he had been using to crack stone open and turned it on the nearest slaver. Jango had made sure to keep his tiny adiik behind him as he brought the improvised weapon down on the overseer’s head over and over and over again until it was nothing more than a mess of fractured bone and gore. Obi-Wan was just a child - freshly thirteen by the boy’s own estimate, but still an adiik until he either triumphed in his verd’goten and earned his beskar’gam, or turned eighteen by Human Core-standards - and he didn’t didn’t need to see the damages Jango’s rage had wrought. He had kept his ad’ika behind his back as they’d made their way through the transport, picking off slavers and pirates alike as they hurried down the halls, weapons in hand. He’d found the keys for the cuffs on the fourth guard he’d killed, and he’d watched with pride as Ob’ika had grimly helped him pat down any bodies they came across, coming up with credits and weapons and the small pouches of spice they’d need to use to wean themselves off the drugs in their systems.

They’d come across a dead Jawa pirate that had been killed by a shot through the head, and he’d stripped the being of it’s belongings, long robes included, to offer to the adiik as protection. It would offer him more warmth than the shredded, bloodstained tunic he had already been wearing, and would fit him better than anything they’d get off of the taller beings. His adiik was only a little taller than a full-grown Jawa after all, and the sizes of the weapons would fit better in his hands. It would do, at least until Jango could get him a kute that would fit him.

They had gotten off the transport, had stolen the Master’s own ship out from under him while the overseers were attempting to fight the pirates off. They were finally free.

The shuttle had been fully stocked, thankfully, and Jango had made sure to clean and dress all of Ob’ika’s wounds before he had carried the sleeping child to the large bed in the main quarters, clean for the first time since before Jango had claimed him, and looking so small and delicate as he slept. He had stitched every lash on his tiny back closed, generously applied bacta to the wounds and hoping they wouldn’t scar, and then he had sat back and watched over his ad’ika as he slept peacefully.

He had wondered, watching as the little boy breathed, if Obi-Wan had a family to return to, beyond the brother that had sold him. Obi-Wan hadn’t brought it up, not over the months they had spent together as Jango taught him Mando’a and told him stories of happier times. He had seemed hesitant to mention anything from his past, like he couldn’t bear to think about it, and Jango couldn’t help but wonder if, with their freedom won, Obi-Wan would want to go home.

Jango didn’t want to give the adiik back, he didn’t want to be alone again. But if Obi-Wan asked it of him, he’d fly their stolen ship into the heart of the Core and deliver him safely into the arms of his family. Jango already loved the child as if he were his own ad’ika, it didn’t matter if he wasn’t old enough to be the boy’s buir or that their respective ages put them closer to being vod’e, but if Ob’ika didn’t want to stay with him, he’d let him go. He’d find the adiik’s family, or find him a new home if Obi-Wan didn’t want him, because that’s what Jas’buir would have done for him.

Jango hadn’t slept that night cycle, and he couldn’t bring up those thoughts afterwards. He had gone about cleaning himself up instead. He had shaved for the first time since that last morning on Galidraan, in camp and with Myles cheerfully draped over his shoulders, ever the disgustingly happy morning person. It had been the last time he had touched his venriduur’s skin, the last time he had kissed his lips and seen his face, because they had gone on patrol afterwards and returned to find the Jetiise murdering their aliit. Jango had forced himself away from those thoughts. He had let Obi-Wan trim his hair for him when the ad’ika had wanted to feel useful, and Jango had ended up with a choppy look straight out of his childhood - he’d even let his ad’ika pull it back in a nerftail with a gold ribbon they had found lying around.

It was a fitting colour, though he doubted Obi-Wan knew - their lessons hadn't covered what colours meant to a Mando’ad yet.

Now, once again clad in beskar’gam, and feeling like himself again for the first time since he had been stripped of his honour and purpose, Jango marches towards the clearing that had once been used as a Haat’ade camp, a quiet Obi-Wan clinging to his back and a burning mansion left behind them. He feels whole now, having been reunited with his armour, and maybe he should have thanked the aruetyc shabuir Governor for stripping his beskar’gam of it’s paint before he had shot him between the eyes. It would save him the trouble of having to find the specialized solvent himself.

But he hadn’t, of course, because the shabuir would have needed to comb through the Haat’ade belongings for the kind of solvent that was needed to strip beskar'gam of the specially made Mando paints.

“You killed him.” Obi-Wan says quietly, resting a freckled cheek against Jango’s pauldron, and his voice sounds wet. He’s not accusing, or scared, but instead he sounds confused.

“I did.” He acknowledges, because it was what Jas’buir would have done. Jaster had always been honest with him, and it was the least Jango could do to be the same with Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan sighs, warm breath fanning across the sliver of skin that was showing between the neck of his kute and his buy’ce. “He wasn’t armed.” The kid murmurs, “He wasn’t a threat.”

“Not yet.” Jango replies roughly, swallowing around the lump in his throat. He hadn’t thought the Governor was a threat either, and his people had suffered for it. “But men like that don’t need to be armed to be dangerous.” He tells the adiik, “They have connections, and power they abuse.” Jango sighs angrily, pushing away the images of all the verde who died because Jango chose the wrong contract.

“But does that mean he deserved to die?” Ob’ika asks, and - Ka’ra, Jango doesn’t think he had ever been that innocent.

His innocence had died with his Buire and Arla, and he had learned quickly what lengths he was willing to go to for vengeance and aliit. It was a shock that Obi-Wan’s hadn’t been beaten out of him, but his ad’ika had already proved that his innocence wasn’t a weakness - he had killed to get them off that rig too. He had shot one of the overseers through the eye to protect Jango.

“He would have never paid for his crimes otherwise, kid.” Jango states bluntly. “There’s no justice in the galaxy, not unless we make it.”

“That’s not right!” Obi-Wan says shrilly, jerking in his arms. “That’s not justice - that’s vengeance! The Jedi-”

Anger flares in Jango’s gut, burning and all-consuming. “The Jedi killed my people!” He snaps, and Obi-Wan flinches. Vibrating with the amount of fury in his bones, Jango lets the kid slide off of him, and he turns to face him. His body is tightly wound with restraint, and clenched fists shaking at his side. “They saw Mando’ade and decided that we deserved to die for some perceived crime. They slaughtered them, and when I was the last one left they gave me to the Governor and had me sold into slavery!”

Obi-Wan curls away from him, eyes wide and teary, and he whimpers. The sound makes Jango flinch. He steps back, tries to reign his rage in, and the weight of it sends him crashing to his knees.

Jango chokes on a breath, pulls off his buy’ce, and lets out a harsh sob as he curls around it, hugging the beskar like he had once hugged Jaster, looking for comfort it couldn’t give him. “Is that right?” He gasps, tears and salty as they pour down his cheeks in over a year’s worth of grief and anguish.

Small, wrapped hands reach forward hesitantly, before they press against Jango’s cheeks and pull his attention away from the dirt his people died on. Obi-Wan is crying too, silent tears dripping down freckled cheeks, and he looks horrified. “The - the Jedi killed them?” He asks, and Jango nods.

“‘Lek.”

The kid lets out a shuddering breath that turns into a hiccup, and Jango reaches forwards, carefully telegraphing his movements to give the adiik plenty of time to move away if he wants to. Obi-Wan doesn’t, and Jango curls his hand around the back of his verd’ika’s neck, pressing his thumb to his pulse to ground himself. “I’m sorry, Jango.” Obi-Wan whispers, blinking quickly, tears caught on his lashes, and Jango makes a nonsensical noise of denial, but the frantic shake of the adiik’s head quiets the Mando. “I-I’m not a Jedi - I wasn’t good enough to be one.”

Jango jolts, as if struck, and he stares at the little redhead in shock. “You’re-” He can’t bring himself to say it. He’s angry, for a moment, that Obi-Wan had kept such a thing from him, but he knows how much Force Sensitive children go on the slave market - it had probably been safer that Obi-Wan hadn’t said anything.

“Not anymore.” Obi-Wan sniffles, “They sent me away.”

“They sent you away.” Jango echoes, a different kind of anger blooming in his stomach. They had sent him away, they hadn’t protected him, and Obi-Wan had been sold into a life no one deserved.

“Anyone can choose to leave the Order,” Obi-Wan explains quietly, “We’re taught that as we grow. The life of a Jedi isn’t for everyone - we’re supposed to dedicate ourselves to bringing peace and balance to the galaxy, and it’s not the life everyone wants for themselves. There’s no shame in leaving, everyone gets a choice.” Ob’ika shivers slightly. “I didn’t.” He admits, and Jango draws him closer, into his lap. His own problems seem unimportant now, in the face of the adiik opening up and trusting him. “They said I was too angry to be a good Jedi - that I liked fighting too much. They tell us that if a Jedi needs to fight, then they’ve already lost, because we should always find the peaceful solution. I was just going to Fall, so it wasn’t worth training me.” Obi-Wan hiccups. “They didn’t give me a choice - they just sent me away.” And with those words, his ad’ika crumbles into tears, sobbing with lost opportunities and the choices that were stolen from him, and all Jango can do is hold him closer.

“Do you have anywhere you can go, ad’ika?” Jango asks quietly as the tears slow, and the thin arms around his chest tighten. “Any family you could go to?”

Obi-Wan sniffles again, “Kenobi means child of no-one in Joni.” He says, and it enrages Jango to hear such a statement said so flippantly. “And Obi-Wan means cursed child - I think the answer is obvious.”

“Shabuire dar’buire.” Jango says passionately, and Ob’ika snorts wetly, pressing his runny nose against Jango’s neck. The Mando’ad takes a slow, determined breath. “You could stay with me, if you’d like. I don’t have much, not anymore, but I’d look after you.”

Obi-Wan stills, and he pulls away just enough to stare up at Jango with shock, something hopeful dawning in blue-grey eyes. “You-” his voice shakes, “-you want me?”

“Ni kyr’tayl gai sa’ad, Obi-Wan be Fett be Mereel.” Jango says fiercely, and Obi-Wan blinks. “I know your name as my child, Obi-Wan of Fett or Mereel.” He repeats in Basic, and his ad’ika sucks in a shuddering breath, eyes widening in awe. He slides his hand up to cradle Obi-Wan’s head, and he pulls him closer to give him a gentle kov’nyn. “If that’s what you’d like.” Jango tacks on hesitantly, and he watches as a wide, heart-breakingly sweet smile grows on the adiik’s small face.

“Gedet’ye.” He warbles, wrapping his arms around Jango’s neck, leaning into the kov’nyn, his eyes fluttering shut.

Jango does the same, breathing in another person’s runi and sharing his own for the first time in over a year. “Olarom, ad’ika.”

“Olarom, Buir.”

(In which Cole forgot to post something, like a fool)

[damn-stark]

Blinded ch.7

A/N- finally uploaded! And this chapter is a long one! I’m excited to write more for this series so I really hope you guys like this :) also thank you to @arsonistvoyager for being beta-reader and helping me out! (So I forget the reader is still considered a princess... because of her mothers last name so!! Yeah that’s all, Ima have some fun with that)

Warning- violence

Pairing- Poe Dameron x Solo!reader

Tagged- @chloe-skywalker , @arsonistvoyager

—

Who am I now?

That same questions repeated in your mind over and over again – day after day. You weren’t the First Order’s princess of darkness anymore... but you also would never be who you were before the darkness blinded you.

That was clear to you; that girl died years ago. You weren’t that girl from a couple months ago either. So again.

Who am I now?

You saw your reflection through the small mirror in your new quarters. The white light shining from above made you see yourself clearly.

You faced the tiredness behind your eyes, you saw your fingers ghost over your scar with your new metal hand. Even in the quiet and loneliness of the room you could still hear voices. The rumors that resistance fighters spread about you when they thought you weren’t listening.

Besides having the feeling that you could hear the rumors play in your ear. You saw your reflection and it felt like you could see their words in the mirror next to it.

“She’s a monster”

“A pretender”

“How long until she throws a fit and kills us all?”

“She’s a destroyer”

“A killer.”

“Just a sad little girl.”

“Worthless monster”

Your eyes gleamed with the tears that threatened to fall at any moment. Hearing the rumors hurt more than you thought they would. You didn’t want them to be scared of you anymore and see you as the monster that you used to be. You weren’t that person anymore.

Running your metal fingers through your hair you looked back into the mirror and when you did it showed the same girl you saw when you were in the First Order.

I’m not that person anymore.

Your hand slowly reached for the scissors that were placed inside the cabinet next to your mirror. You brought the scissors to your hair and stared at it for one last time.

As you cut the long strands of hair, tears flowed down your cheeks. Even if you couldn’t forget who you were or what you had done, it felt like with every cut something was lifted off yourself. When your fingers went down your hair this time they stopped at your shoulders where your hair ended. You looked at yourself again and saw the same girl – but this time maybe you had changed.

—

You stepped into the dining hall and saw it was alive with the chatter of many people. People that were all strangers to you. Making friends was much easier when you were younger and when you had not been a First Order leader. You sat down at a table and as soon as you did the people in it stood up and left, not so discreetly. Soon enough though a group of a few younger Resistance members sat in their place. You immediately knew they weren’t just looking for a place to sit – they wanted trouble.

They looked very young – like they had just joined the fight. Naturally their ego was too big to know what was best for them.

You could hear their whisperings and see their side glances as they waited for the perfect moment to cause trouble. You continued watching as they got up one by one until they stood around you, circling you. Taking a deep breath you waited patiently for what they were going to say. Something offensive mostly likely; to see if they could get a reaction out of you. Which you obviously weren’t going to give them.

“Look everyone our new HOPE! The person we’re supposed to get inspired from – now that she’s joined us! She sits here walking free, eating our food like she didn’t slaughter hundreds of people!”, the young man shouted. He thought of himself as some sort of voice to inspire a fight but it lead to nothing. You couldn’t lie to say the words didn’t sting but they wanted a reaction to prove something that wasn’t true anymore.

“Only pardoned because of who her mommy is...but I don’t pardon you – we don’t! You’re nothing but trash! A monster who deserves to be locked away for what you’ve done!” You rolled your eyes, yet kept eating but it was beginning to get hard to ignore what other people were saying around you as they watched the interaction. “You’re nothing but—”

“Hey! Leave her alone!”, you suddenly heard someone shout. You peeked over your shoulder and saw a certain pilot marching your way. The young man turned around with a wide and not so innocent smile.

“Come on Dameron, you know she deserves it. You can’t defend her or what she’s done. She must get what she deserves.”, the young man replied.

“No I can’t defend what’s she’s done in the past but that’s it; the past. If you don’t remember correctly she was the one who saved you not so long ago when you were about to get blown up by stormtroopers.”, Poe argued, only getting the young fighter angrier. “Just leave her alone. You don’t want to cause a fight you won’t win.” The young man chuckled and sent for his friends to push Poe back but Poe’s own friends were quick to defend him. Not enough to fight – just enough to warn them.

You stood up to leave but the young man stopped you. He gave you a mischievous smile. “I just want a little justice.”he said and you didn’t have to look down to know he was pulling out a dagger. You stopped his actions before he did anything, his face contorted into one of fear as his smile fell as soon as he noticed that he couldn’t move. You tilted your head slightly to the side with a mischievous smile of your own.

“You say all these words, claiming to know who I am, but you don’t. Yes I admit I was someone horrible before but that’s not me anymore. You’re young and arrogant and naive so I forgive you for your childlike bullying.” You force pushed him slightly back and moved past him and his friends who were now to quiet. BB8 rolled past you and zapped the same young man before rolling back to your side. Poe was let go and followed behind you as well.

“Thank you for trying to stop them and especially thank you, BB8.”, you said to Poe and BB8 when you had some distance between your little group and the dining hall.

“You didn’t deserve them saying that kinda stuff to you.”, he said as you both stopped. You chuckled softly at his words in which he responded with a confused reaction.

“I did but let’s not get into that because I fear it will end up in an unnecessary argument... Thank you once again, really.”, you said with a warm smile.

“No problem.”, he replied, returning the smile. You both didn’t break your gaze on each other until you heard something beginning to walk towards you. You turned and saw a certain golden droid making his way over to you.

“C3PO hey.”, you called as you turn away from Poe and began to rub your metal hand.

“Princess Solo, Commander Dameron. I came to look for you both because General Organa has asked for your presence.”, the golden droid announced.

“You know what for?”, Poe asked.

“A mission.”

—

The mission seemed easy enough, it was just a rescue mission. The First Order had planned to take over a planet that was allied with the Resistance and the Resistance couldn’t let them do that. The First Order had then invaded said planet and had begun imprisoning natives who resisted. And before the First Order could take complete control your mother was sending Poe and a couple of squadrons as well as you to help.

You shouldn’t have been nervous because the mission was easy but you still were. Maybe it was because you heard the squadrons reluctance to having you join them but your mother made it clear they needed you. Because no one else knew the First Order like you did.

As you grabbed your blaster and your blue lightsaber to finally make your way to the hangar you were pulled in by the way the red lightsaber almost seemed to glow under the white light that it was boxed in. Without turning it on it seemed to shine making its presence known and making it known there was something about it that called you to it.

“Take it the lightsaber, Y/N, it’s a part of you as well.”, you heard a voice say. Your turned around to see the force ghost of your grandfather standing there, watching you. You shook your head and closed the box so the temptation wouldn’t grow. “You feel it don’t you? You feel it call to you?”

“Yes and I’m scared of what it could mean... I don’t want to fall back into the darkness again.” He got closer to you and opened the box himself.

“Many years ago in my youth as a Jedi Knight I once trained a padawan. When I turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader I of course lost her. Almost a decade later I saw her again; with two white lightsabers. I later found out that she had turned the crystals inside her lightsabers back into their pure form – white. Perhaps it’s not the darkness but the crystal that’s calling out to you. Tell me – what do you feel coming from this lightsaber?”, he asked as he closes the box and turns to you.

“I I feel it call to me I...I feel like how it’s trying to say something to me but I just don’t know what it’s trying to say.”, you said, before you went back to what he had said about the crystal inside. “How did your Padawan purify the crystal?”

What if it was the crystal itself and not the lightsaber? You thought. Because when someone wants to turn a lightsaber red; they bleed it. They release their hate, anger, fear and pain into it. What if the crystal wanted for me to release it from all of that – all the anguish.

You looked back at the lightsaber and took it in your hands; you then looked back at your grandfather and saw he had a knowing smile on his face.

“How do I purify it?”, you asked.

“Search your feelings Y/N because it might seem you already know the answer. You’ll do it when you’re ready.” With one last smile he vanished leaving you to your thoughts.

You looked down at the red lightsaber and ignited it, releasing its blood red blade. You examined it and a slight smile grew on your features before you turned it off and hung it from your belt like you had done with the blue one.

—

The soft light coming from the rising sun in the distance gave off a soft vibrant light. The orange and yellow hues making your eyes almost shine a brighter brown that you yourself didn’t notice – Poe however did. There was something he had noticed earlier but it wasn’t clear to him; until now.

“We should get going before more troopers show up around the area and spot us.”, you murmured as you shoved the scope you had used to observe the area back into your jacket pocket.

“Maybe someone should stay behind and keep watch.”, one of the pilots said, making it obvious that they thought it should be you. They were all more worried and more cautious than usual. Not because of the mission itself but because of you – you were in fact going to see the party you once played a big part in from the other side. The squadron was scared and distrustful that this was a trap you were leading them into. “Wouldn’t want to end up getting ambushed...surprisingly.”

“No sh-“

“No one here knows the First Order more than I do. You need me and I’m not staying behind. If you want to then maybe you can stay behind and watch.”, you said interrupting Poe who you noticed was kinder to you than before.

The pilot stayed silent with no response to counter your comment with. The pilot looked to the ground and then nodded, her head motioning to be on the way to the location where you needed to be. But she still made sure that you were nowhere near the front and instead to her side like she was some kind of babysitter.

You passed by large cages with people inside them, the sight sending shivers down your spine as you tried to hold back and not free any of them just yet. You entered a cantina with Poe and one of the squadrons and noticed it was invaded with stormtroopers. You kept your head low just in case any of them would recognize you.

BB8 who was next to Poe and you chirped worryingly. “It’s going to be okay.”, you ensured the little droid. You grabbed a drink from the bar and examined the room carefully, counting how many troopers there were. Suddenly he back door slammed open making you immediately turn to see more captives and stormtroopers. The prisoners were quivering in fear as they were being taken out. But you had to stick to the plan.

“Why are girls like you hanging out with scum like that.”, one of the stormtroopers said to Jessika Pava and you after approaching you. You looked at Jessika and raised an eyebrow to which she responded by tilting her head to the side and motioning for you to take a verbal hit to the stormtrooper.

“Who am I supposed to hangout with? You? You can’t even take your helmet off without permission.”, you snapped as you turned to face the stormtrooper. A couple of other pilots that had come with you laughed at your comment to the trooper.

“Why you scum-” He pulled out a blaster and pointed it at you. From the corner of your eye you saw how Poe was getting ready to pull out his but you placed your hand on top his to stop him. Now all eyes were on you and the trooper.

“You’re going to put your blaster down and leave us alone – now.”, you whispered, as you used the force to mind trick him into doing what you wanted.

“I’m going to put my blaster down and leave, now.” He didn’t hesitate to leave but you still had the attention of the other troopers that were around the room.

“Just ignore them.”, you said to the rest of the squadron but they too had shocked expressions adorning their features after witnessing what you had just done.

Minutes passed and there was talking and murmuring from the stormtroopers while all of you whispered to each other here and there but tried to stay on task. One of the stormtroopers came over and sat a few feet away from where your group was. You sensed his hidden eyes on you but tried to hide your face, however he moves his head and caught your glance. “I knew it! You’re Hale Ren! The Supreme Leader will reward me well for bringing you back to him.” He was about to grab his blaster but you were quicker and froze his movements. Now all the stormtroopers around you had their full attention on you.

The squadron then stood up and brought their blasters up, aiming them at the stormtroopers. The one you had frozen in his seat began to groan loudly but you silenced him by silently breaking his neck. And so the shooting began and you all jumped behind the bar for cover. “We can’t stay here to long! They’re going to start surrounding us and we’ll have nowhere to go; it’s better if we get out and fight out there.”, one of the pilots yelled.

“Alright, then we’ll all get out in three.”, another pilot said. You all looked at one another and nodded in agreement. Three seconds later you all got out and you ignited your lightsabers, swinging them from side to side to block all the blasts that came your way.

“Go out now I’ve got you all covered!”, you yelled over your shoulder. A few of them, especially Poe, hesitated, but they got out like instructed. You kept blocking the blasts – those very blasts returning to hit and paralyze the stormtroopers. You turned off your blue lightsaber and hung it to your side while you continued using the red one.

You lifted one of the stormtroopers up to the ceiling as he tried to approach you. With a blast that was meant for you, you then took out said stormtrooper hanging from the ceiling by redirecting it towards him, making him hit the ground hard. The stormtroopers that were left kept shooting at you but you force pulled their blasters out of their hands. The force showed you their fear as they were defenseless but even it that position they tried to fight you. With one swift hand motion you made them float up and then tightened your hand into a fist, making them all fall to the ground with a loud thud.

When you joined the rest of the sqaudron outside they were spread out over the area, fighting the stormtroopers. A stormtrooper spotted you and began to shoot but you swiftly force pulled them right into your lightsaber. You thought it would be over soon while you tried to fend off the remaining few stormtroopers, but not far away a First Order ship landed, sending more men to fight you.

You kept fighting with all your power until you saw Poe fall to the ground disarmed and wounded. You forced pushed the stormtrooper that was about to shoot him out of the away; quickly going back to your own fight. You would’ve helped him up but there were troopers shooting at you from both sides, trapping you momentarily.

More stormtroopers went to Poe and he seeing was still disarmed, you searched around the battlefield and spotted his blaster far from him, laying on the ground. He looked over at you and you looked at his blaster and back to him. You used the force once more to throw it over to him and he caught it with ease as if he had done it a thousand times before.

You kept fighting until a blast sent you flying back making you hit a wall hard. You groaned in pain but you pushed yourself up. “You alright?”, you heard Poe yell over to you.

“Always.”, you shouted back with a small smile as you rubbed your neck with your metal hand. He tore his gaze away as you both heard screaming.

“Dameron they’re taking the prisoners.”, one of the pilots said through the ear piece you had been given. You ran over to him and saw what the pilot had meant. A couple of pilots that you had come with were in between the many stormtroopers and the prisoners trying to prevent them from being taken and killed. You saw Poe marching towards them but you stopped him.

“Don’t. They’re all crowded there; one sees you running and they’ll overwhelm you within seconds. Then you won’t be able to save any of your friends.”, you said to him but you knew immediately he was sick with worry and yearning to do the opposite of what you had just told him.

“What do you want me to do then? Stay here and do nothing when they could kill all of the squadron at any time now?”, he asked with a hint of anger in his voice. You took a deep breath and looked at the squadron that was beginning to get overwhelmed with stormtroopers. You needed to do something fast. Looking at Poe you knew that what you were just thinking was not the best plan; but it was the only plan.

“Do you trust me?”, you asked him and he looked down at you and nodded. “Okay good get into position and when I say go you begin to run and jump up. I’m...going to give you a little push.” You looked back at the squadron and you knew this was the best chance you would have. You handed him a rifle that was on the ground; next to a dead stormtrooper. “Don’t lose focus on what I’m about to do okay?”

“Okay.”, he answered with a hint of worry. You then took a deep breath and extended your hand.

“Go.”, you said and he began running. As soon as he jumped up you force pushed him and he flew farther than humanly possible, before landing in between the stormtroopers and alongside the squadron. He landed so swiftly; as if both of you had practiced this move and done it many times before.

Now it was your turn though.

You looked over at the fight and then at the wall to your side. You began running towards it and jumped up smoothly. Shortly running on the side of the wall you jumped off at it’s edge and flipped mid-air to land swiftly next the squadron. You ignited both of your lightsabers as soon as you landed and ignored the impressed faces around you.

“Okay, that was awesome.” You heard Jessika say to you as she moved to shoot one of the troopers. Once you started helping them out in the fight you noticed the amount of stormtroopers dwindling by the second.

Pain radiated throughout your shoulder as a blast suddenly hit you, making you drop one of your lightsabers. You were about to pull it back towards you but then you saw a stormtrooper tackling the same girl that had been rude to you when you had first arrived on the planet. You rushed to her side and got your blaster out, skillfully shot the stormtrooper. The girl pushed him off of herself and saw you standing above her – she looked surprised to say the least. You put your blaster away with a quick and swift motion, a trick your father had taught you many years ago. Then you extended your hand out and surprisingly she took it, as you helped her up. “Thank you.” She said softly.

Soon enough the fight was over and the First Order driven out of the system. You helped the prisoners out of their cages and before you and your team left the planet made sure that they were okay. You assured them the Resistance was going to send their Troops to ensure the planets safety in case the First Order decided to come back.

It wasn’t long before the sun was beginning to set, giving off beautiful, intense orange and yellow colors. The fight was long but it was finally over and won. “You’ve got to teach me that little hand trick you did with your blaster earlier.”, Poe said as he walked to your side. A smile grew on your lips and you nodded in agreement.

“Also the way you ran on that wall was so cool! And the way you landed in front of the stormtroopers? If only we could see their reactions under those buckets”, he joked but before you could say anything in return or he could say anything else, Jessika ran to your side and wrapped her arm around your shoulder.

“You know you guys sure do make a good team! I saw the way you threw him his blaster and later threw himself towards us. You were so awesome, Solo! With your lightsabers and the force! You’re a true Jedi Master! You were great, really!”, jessika blabbered with excitement. It was hard not to be flustered by this many compliments as you weren’t used to them anymore. And she was also one of the few who was beginning to talk to you without fear and mistrust lacing their voices.

“Oh I’m not a Jedi, but thank you Jessika. You were just as good. I’ve seen you fly, you’re a great pilot.”, you replied with a warm and genuine smile.

“That means a lot coming from you, thank you! Your uncle Luke Skywalker has been my idol for a long time hopefully I can be a great pilot like he was.”, she says and your smile gets wider.

“Trust me you already are.” She smiles back at you happily and lets you go. You make it to your X-Wing with the smile still on your face. Maybe there was a chance you had won a new friend or two.

You put your helmet on and as you all began to head out Poe’s voice was heard on the radio.

“Okay guys great job out there, now it’s time to go home.”

.

.

.

.

[counterspelling]

okay i have regained the energy to articulate exactly why and how tros was so fucking stupid

a non-exhaustive list of things they just didn't bother to explain unless i blacked out with rage or the sheer mediocrity

HOW palapatine fucking survived, other than that it's literally impossible for men in star wars to die and not get resurrected

why leia is so weak all of a sudden that reaching out to her son kills her

rey's parents NAMES?????????

how rey constructed her new saber from the end scene

who finn or jana's parents are

if palpatine was controlling everything the whole time why did snoke want kyle ron to kill rey

WHY DO THEY HAVE A FUCKING FORCE BOND IF THEY'RE NOT COUSINS WHEN ALL HE EVER DID WAS ABUSE AND TORTURE HER

a non-exhaustive list of things that this series irrevocably fucked up

by keeping the original trio apart and expecting them each to ~get their own focus~ in a movie instead of letting them BE TOGETHER, THE MAIN DRAW OF THE OT, they completely wasted leia. so we know she trained as a jedi with luke, but we NEVER GOT TO SEE IT. i waited my entire life to fucking see jedi leia and got nothing. and her stopping, just because she saw the death of her son? "ALWAYS IN MOTION, THE FUTURE IS" that's......... that's so dumb!!!!!!!!!!

will never be over luke abandoning the jedi order!!! of never getting to see him and leia stand side by side, lightsabers in hand, to defeat evil!

rey, again getting completely undermined and turning her story into the redemption of fucking kyle ron, when it's NOT HER RESPONSIBILITY TO SAVE HIM. HE DOESN'T DESERVE REDEMPTION. you don't get to slaughter millions and be a literal nazi and then decide at the last minute, actually, i inexplicably fell in love with this girl i've only ever tortured and abused so now i get a half-assed redemption

rey KISSING HER ABUSER bc the narrative will never let us see him as what he is!!! a nazi who continually, for years and years and years, CHOSE to be evil, to murder people who were fighting for freedom from tyranny, for no fucking reason

rey palpatine??????????? really??????????? they scavenged the internet crack theories for that????????? and decided to canonize it?????

palpatine fucks????????????????

the fact that they brought palpatine back at all, instead of letting kyle ron be the ultimate villain as he should have been. that they were too cowardly to let the nazi be a nazi and die unrepentantly

i was never invested either way in force-sensitive finn but the fact that they confirmed and yet did nothing with it

in general this entire trilogy continually setting up expectations for things that NEVER HAVE A PAYOFF, just dropped storyline after dropped storyline. it’s almost like if you’re gonna make a trilogy for a billion dollar franchise you should have some oversight and overarching plan from the beginning instead of deciding that letting three separate straight white men come in one after the other with no input or collaboration between them

finn and poe in general not having storylines??? because we just had to keep giving scenes to kyle ron! gotta waste a third movie on will or will he not finally decide to not be a piece of shit!

every skywalker is dead.............. if rey is not luke’s daughter, the skywalker line is gone forever and we did not live through 6 movies of watching skywalkers for it to end this way

the st trio not even being a trio. rey and poe didn’t even MEET until the end of the second movie. i just. never giving us a reunion scene between the ot trio. how does disney so fundamentally misunderstand the biggest draw of the star wars universe, THE BOND BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS, and how they pull together in the face of impossible odds to triumph together

it took 23 years to half-finish two death stars and now every star destroyer can have a planet destroying weapon??? really???

the things i needed from this movie were for rey to be luke's daughter, since narratively that is still the ONLY satisfying resolution for this trilogy, for her to kill kyle ron and NOT INEXPLICABLY HEAL HIM. WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT. ALL HE EVER DID WAS LIE AND TORTURE AND MURDER, THERE IS NO FUCKING REASON FOR HER TO HEAL HIM, and for rey and finn to get together and......... none of those things happened

even if i never would have forgiven tfa and abrams for the complete fuckup of the galaxy at large, invalidating everything the ot was about, keeping the original trio apart, there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL for rey and finn and poe in tfa. and then they just so completely dropped the ball. fucked all their characterizations, never gave them bonding as a team, weren’t even consistent across movies. there was still HOPE after tfa, but tlj came in with johnson’s arrogance and ~subversion~~~~~~ and blew every possible good ending out of the water. we could have had a trilogy for the first time not about a white dude, but about women and poc, about rey discovering her skywalker heritage and struggling with the legacy and responsibility that comes with it, of finding her blood family and forming a new one with her companions, of seeing her growth as a jedi and determination to make the galaxy a better place as her loved ones did, of finn discovering his force sensitivity and seeing them train together, seeing them join with luke and leia to rebuild the jedi order. and instead we got this. a woman who spends two movies inexplicably wasting her life and time trying to redeem an angry white man who only ever worked for tyranny and oppression and trying to call that love. fuck disney.

[hail-the-supreme-leader-kylo-ren]

**TROS SPOILER WARNING** I saw it and ... 💔💔💔

Well after waiting 2 years, I finally saw The Rise of Skywalker and wow I’m devastated, confused, and angry. The worst thing that they could’ve possibly done they did. They killed Ben Solo Skywalker. I don’t know why screen writers today do this bullshit “bittersweet romance” thing where the two lovers finally have each other, only for one to die when it’s not necessary?!? It’s so cruel. The way the entire ending played out after they killed him, was like the knife they’d stabbed me with was being twisted. I can’t stop crying.

Rey defeated Palpatine, Ben pulled himself out of the pit (lol yes), cradle Rey is his arms lovingly, decided to try to Force heal her (I always had a feeling Ben would bring Rey back to life, because Anakin could never save Padme). Rey is alive again she says “Ben”, caresses him, they kiss, he smiles, REYLO IS CANON, and then shock twist he slumps and then instantly fades away. He’s dead.

LIKE WHAT THE ACTUALLY FUCK IS THAT JJ???? The final Skywalker, the one you’ve been building up as a tragically misunderstood, abuse victim dies sacrificing his life for Rey’s. Han, Luke and Leia all died and hoped that Ben would return to the light. And yeah sure he did, but I would’ve thought that his family would have wanted him to return to the light and LIVE out the rest of his days happily. Doesn’t he deserve that??

There’s so many confusing aspects to this, like A) why did he become “redeemed” then die sacrificing himself just like Vader? I thought that was the problem with the OT and why we have the ST... being that Vader died too soon and didn’t complete the full redemption journey and return to that innocent happy boy he once was and teach his story to others? B) does Rey love Ben? Because the whole movie was framed like she did. But the second he died, I don’t think she called out or even cried???? She goes back to the Resistance and is happy and hugs Finn and Poe. UGH THE “TRIO”. Isn’t she devastated she’s lost her love Ben? And then when she goes back to Tatooine, she sees Force ghost Leia and Luke but no Ben??!???!? A final slap in the face. C) since Ben and Rey were a “Dyad” and were one through the Force, I feel like they should’ve been able to both easily live??? Why bother making them Dyad if it ain’t going to serve the story at all? Is it supposed to just be a cop out and explain the Force Bonds? It’s all so infuriating.

They only reason I can think of why they’d kill Ben Solo is because they wanted to close the loophole of the “Skywalkers” so that they didn’t fuck anything up with the Force’s balance again. But even then that’s seems like a very thin idea, because Rey still exists and she’s a “Palpatine” and is uber powerful? How exactly was the Force finally brought into balance through this movie? Palpatine was defeated and the Palpatine bloodline/legacy “redeemed”? It doesn’t make much sense. GAH I would’ve preferred both Ben and Rey die, since their equals, why would one live and not the other?

They only reason I can think of why they’d kill Ben Solo is because they wanted to close the loophole of the “Skywalkers” so that they didn’t fuck anything up with the Force’s balance again. But even then that’s seems like a very thin idea, because Rey still exists and she’s a “Palpatine” and is uber powerful? How exactly was the Force finally brought into balance through this movie? Palpatine was defeated and the Palpatine bloodline/legacy “redeemed”? It doesn’t make much sense. GAH I would’ve preferred both Ben and Rey die, since their equals, why would one live and not the other?

To be honest, I was enjoying the film for the first half. It opened with Kylo/Ben so that’s a great. And the Force Bond scenes with Kylo/Ben and Rey screaaaaamed Reylo love. But so many of the leaks were right, it was becoming quite comical. And looking back of the film now it was all very clunky and had a lot of convoluted stuff in there that was so illogical and didn’t really serve a strong purpose to the narrative or any character development. When the watery Death Star scene went down, it seemed like (trope wise) that this would be the moment the Reylo kiss happens, but the dialogue wasn’t right it wasn’t angsty. And I thought, “oh no Reylo is not happening”. But then Bendemption happened and I was okay again. And by the time Rey went to confront Palpatine, I’d realised Ben really hasn’t been given enough screen time in this film, he wasn’t going to be the “hero” in this finally showdown, this was very firmly Rey’s story/saga. Which seemed odd, because they’re equals “dual protagonists”??! As Rey defeated Palpatine I was confused as to what the hell, because there was an obvious emphasis on all the Force ghosts telling HER alone to “Rise”, including Anakin. This was deeeply concerning because what about his own grandson Ben Solo??? At this point I didn’t know what was going to happen with Ben. But then like I said before he pulled himself out of the “pit”, very romantically came back for her and saved her and then just D I E D like it was nothing. I repeat W T F.

Now here’s all the other stuff I didn’t like about the film: - There was zero character development, except for Ben finally turning to the light and then he DIED - SNOKE WAS A PALPATINE CLONE???????? WTF JJ ARE YOU SMOKING CRACK? This was an early red flag that I should have heeded. I feel like all the fanboys finally feel satisfied with knowing Snoke’s backstory. - Where the fuck was Rose? Why didn’t she say like 3 words and get .5 screen time? that was some bulllllllllsshit. Why was she introduced in TLJ just to be sidelined? - Why the FUCK did they bother to make Finn Force sensitive? They hinted at it, and he never even got to tell anyone. It didn’t serve the story at all?!?!? Such a waste of time - Poe got to have a romantic happy ending with Zorri, while Reylo did not. - The C-P30 memory wipe had no lasting consequences, R2-D2 restored him in like 2 hrs? This screentime could’ve been used for Ben. All of Kijimi could’ve been scrapped to be honest. - The Knights of Ren were extremely useless, you could’ve swapped them for stormtroopers and it wouldn’t have made a different. Very disappointing. - Jannah was also useless, this screentime and scripttime could’ve been used for Rose. Her stormtroopers rebellion story was so heavy handed and terribly done. - Same goes for Dominic’s character, why did he exist? - Lando being back was also under-utilised, he had history with Ben why didn’t they use that? - Sooo many of the terrible leaks were true: the necklace grab, Luke/Leia training, Hux being a mole which was confusing and then he just died, Rey thinking she killed Chewie, the Sith dagger and C-3PO blah blah, Ben falling into “a pit” lol, the film finishing with Rey going to Tattooine and saying “I’m Rey, Rey Skywalker.” As soon as I saw Tatooine, I wanted to vomit because I knew that horrible horrible line was coming. - It wasn’t explained as to why Kylo remade his mask - Ben and Rey didn’t say I love you. And tbh, it’s probably good then didn’t since JJ killed Ben. - The finally “war” was very underwhelming and took place on one star destroyer - I was really hoping for some awesome Force Bond “world between worlds” jumping location stuff, and/or awesome new Reylo powers (but it was just healing)... so this was underwhelming. - I don’t know why Ben didn’t kill Palpatine instantly, opening scene? - They really emphasised babies and children on Pasaana with Rey, so I thought this was obvious foreshadowed of her and Ben’s future.... but no. - Pyrde wasn’t that interesting of a character, well acted but one-dimensional. - I really really hated Rey being a Palpatine. It makes no sense? I loved her being a no body and getting her powers from herself. What about her father, Palpatine’s son?? Did Palpatine try to get his son to kill him as well??? It’s so illogical. Also if everyone has to be if legacy blood, does this mean that Finn is a Konobi?! HAHAHA. I also hate how they added the fact that Leia and Luke “knew” she was a Palps all along. BAHAHAHAHA. Terrible. - Palptine wanted Rey to kill him, so he could live through her as a vessel. But then he Palpatine took Rey’s and Ben’s life essence, but they didn’t die? But he was back to his 100%. Then Rey killed Palps with the power of “all the Jedi”, and somehow Palpatine died? I thought he was going to go into her if she killed him? Or is the clause that she has to be angry and kill him with hatred? Boyyyyyyyyyy it’s so stupid. I can’t even.

Here’s the stuff I did like: - The Reylo kiss and Ben’s smile. - Ben offering his hand to Rey again, and all their Force Bonds of them trying to one-up each other with how well they know each other’s fears etc. - Him crushing the Sith wayfinding was hawwwwt. He was like if you’re going there, you’re gonna have to go with me. (Also leaves open a plothole of how the fuck did Ben navigate his way there in the finale) - Rey not killing the snake but healing it, yeah it was really odd but I don’t like how previous Jedi always slaughter animals so this was a plus for me. - Ben Solo in his “redeemed” outfit, he looked soo fine, and it reminded me of Han too which was sweet. - Leia’s death being the prompt to finally turning Ben back to the light. Finally a mother she did something right, looool. - I thought it was weird for Star Wars, but I did like Han being back as a memory, to talk with Ben. And the “Dad....” “I know” killed me. I knew they needed to resolve the one evil deed Ben performed, so this worked fine. - I loved Rey mediating with the rocks at the start of the film, and I loved her and Ben’s prequelsque Force jumping. - I loved that Jodie Comer was Rey’s mum!!!!! (I love Jodie) - I did like how the Luke’s water sunken X-wing from TLJ was used in this film, it was predictable but satisfying somehow. - There was so much FinnPoe tension through the film like Poe was jealous of Rey, it was hilarious. - I liked the queer kiss, even though it wasn’t much.

So there that’s everything I needed to say. I would’ve been sad and confused if Reylo didn’t happen, (because they’d set it up for 2 films), but I’m devastated that they killed Ben. Bendemption isn’t truely complete if he doesn’t get to live. I know he means so much to people, people who connected with him/who faced similar trauma as him. I know they’ll be a devastated as I am and that is what makes it so much worst. I saw someone say on Twitter a few weeks ago that it’s be horrible for Ben to die, who had suffered so much only for Rey to take the name of “Skywalker”, basically stealing his identity.

And yeah that’s exactly what happened. Ben deserved better, the fans deserved better, and the Reylo’s deserved better. 💔💔💔💔💔💔 In a few hours I’m seeing it again with my family this time, and I really don’t want want to rewatch it.... isn’t that horrible.

[roxannepolice]

How do you think precious Rey will react when she finds out that her saber was used to slaughter jedi kids?

Better question: can we really expect DLF to confront her with this slightly problematic detail, given that their attitude is to take what is good from the legends?

But giving them 8 months of benefit of doubt that they have stumbled upon this angst gold mine...

I generally hope that TROS will take a closer look at the Skyfam, good and bad parts alike. Basing on the movies alone, I'm not sure how well known the Anakin-Vader identity is and more importantly if Rey knows about it (and from additional materials I can only conclude DLF footsoldiers aren't sure either). If that indeed is an issue then I think the fact that the Excallibur turning out to not only strike at the ones force holds in its wrath would definitely come forth, hopefully even placing the well deserved shadow on the kybers' moral sentience lore.

Additionally, I still hope Rey will build her own lightsaber from a new kyber like a grown up she's supposed to become and the legacy saber will be allowed the place of honour as a symbol of both the light and the dark sides of legacies.

That being said... I can't see this info alone being a drop to overfil some chalice. Given that Rey's means of coping with problematic news is to either force fit them into the puzzle or go to the gym and forget about them, I can't imagine her for example refusing to use it when pragmatism calls.

So, essentially I can either see it as an element of a longer Skyfam morality clean up scene or, unfortunately, having little plot consequence, if it's brought up at all.

[corellianangel]

Fan Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

May contain minor/some spoilers after the cut.

I suspect that Solo: A Star Wars Story might be a bit like its title character. A bit rough at the start, maybe shady, pretty good-looking, and definitely out to get your money. But, as it goes on, it becomes more and more apparent how good and truly nostalgic and lovable it is.

This is a film that “nobody wanted.” Which means...what? I wanted it. When I saw Star Wars ANH, I wanted to know all about that cool Solo guy. And finally, 41 years later, I got my wish. And yeah… I’m mostly happy. After Last Jedi, I was pretty much done with the franchise, so it’s not like I went in with high hopes.

Solo is a relatively low stakes reprieve from the “we must save the world/galaxy/universe” all-or-nothing epic trope that has plagued us for the last few years. This is an adventure, a coming of age, and a western heist. Stakes are high, but only for the characters you are relating with onscreen, making it a curious addition to this year’s blockbusters.

Make no mistake; This is a love-letter to original trilogy Star Wars fans. It’s Han Solo in an Indiana Jones style adventure ( and what could be more fun than that).

4 out of 5 stars.

The first minute of Solo is exactly how a movie about the titular character should begin. But then it immediately lags, then even more so under ill-paced exposition. As soon Han goes solo though, it gains momentum. Then a short few minutes later as Woody Harrelson appears, things get rolling outright.

Alden Ehrenreich takes a bit of time to slide into Han’s scuffed boots, both onscreen and in our fan hearts. But when he does, it works wonderfully. He’s not the sexy gruff cynic Harrison Ford portrayed. No, he’s a “Kid,” who's got dreams. He’s a romantic. He’s wide-eyed, immature, and even petulant at times. But like Harrison’s portrayal, he’s arrogant, talented, goofy, jealous, easily embarrassed and will gladly spin a terrible lie. And oh yes… he can turn it on. Not at first, no… that’s really awkward ( more on that with Emilia). He’s not Harrison Ford by a long shot, but when given the chance later in the film, he makes a scene his own, and it’s HOT.

Unfortunately though, Alden is easily five inches shorter than 6’ 1” Harrison. And it’s glaringly obvious (especially to me, as I am quite a tall person). Sadly, Alden’s 1” platform 2”+ heel boots can only add so much. Otherwise, I’m satisfied with his portrayal. Alden’s a great actor, he had huge boots to fill, and I think he’s really been treated unfairly by the fans. Give the kid a chance, he might win you over.

Donald Glover IS Lando Calrissian though.  He’s sexy, sauve and even a bit silly ( in all the right ways… make no mistake).  I daresay Mr.Glover has taken Billy Dee William’s place in my heart as the epitome of Lando. Whether he’s coming on to Han, or Qi’ra or some unspecified alien species, he’s a pansexual on the level of Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones. An arrogant playboy badass, who loves all the finest things. He is willing to enjoy everything life has to offer, and why not? It’s hard not to love him as a result. Lando movie, anyone?

Tobias Beckett is everything Han wants to be. Beckett is also in love with fellow crook Val, and his attachment to her is cemented firmly in a couple of scenes, which unlike the Han/Qi’ra scenes–have great chemistry. And Woody Harrelson’s portrayal of yet another grizzled mentor is stunning. I found him much more appealing than Harrelson’s equivalent character from Hunger Games. Though the mantel is starting to wear. Don’t get me wrong. I adore Woody Harrelson. His being in this film gave me a reason to think I might just like it. I’m just not sure I want to see him as yet another badass mentor after this.

When Thandie Newton appeared in Beloved back in 1998, I was an instant fan. I’d seen her before in a few other flicks, but she blew that one out of the water as the title character. Since then she had worked steadily in a number of critically acclaimed roles. I was absolutely thrilled to see her in this as Val. And utterly heartbroken that she was totally underused. When Val is onscreen, she overshadows everyone else, even Beckett. It’s a shame we don’t see more of her than we do. Boo!

Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra…Hmm.  She’s cute, charming, and tries her hand at swordplay here. But honestly, the Queen of Dragons is a poor fit. The original casting call was for anything other than yet another white brunette. And with amazing ladies like Tessa Thompson in the running, why oh why did we end up with Emilia? If not racism (God, I hope not); Ang’s answer: Think $$$, from Game of Thrones fans in theatre seats. I can think of no other reason. Her chemistry with Alden is tepid at best ( and any of that comes much, much later). I feel bad for Emilia here. I think she was miscast, and that tarnish will always stay with the fans. ( P.s. : the three adult heterosexual males I watched the movie with, were over-the-moon smitten with her. To each his own. I guess…)

On to the non-humans...

Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca is physically brilliant. He’s stolen my heart as Chewie from the lovely Peter Mayhew (sorry Pete) over the last three movies. But honestly, we discover nothing new about Chewbacca in this. Zero. It’s rather unfortunate. I wish I could say more. But we learn more about Chewie in episode three than this. A missed opportunity. Sorry Chewie. For some reason Disney put your character in the doghouse here.

L3-37 is another definite weak spot in Solo. We have a snarky female droid (yay!) as a droid-rights advocate (cool!).  But it’s so completely overwrought. Only Lando’s constant eye rolls save this character from being as ridiculous as Jar Jar Binks. Which is another shame, because I felt she fills in the current canon equivalent of Lando’s copilot droid Vuffi Raa, from the EU/Legends novels from waaay back in the 1980’s, (interestingly they are both pilots, are both self-aware droids and have vaguely parallel fates) Some editing issues arise as far as L3′s character is concerned too. She’ll be leaning, casually watching,  while droids are being slaughtered in front of her, but only interferes with other robots later in the same scene? Why?? Were the first dead droids not good enough for her to save? It’s inconsistent, poor editing; and that really hurts the character. Sorry Phoebe Waller-Bridge, you did great job with what you had. I’m not sure that the script/editing was as good as you deserved.

The spaceship the Millennium Falcon is 100% a full character in this too. Without giving too much away, she represents her pilots as they sit at the helm. She’s treated with more respect - reverence even -  in this, than any other film. And I can say this is her movie as much as it is Han’s. Millennium Falcon fans, you are in for a treat!

And the bad guys...or one guy anyways....

Paul Bettany is chilling and utterly convincing as the gangster Dryden Vos. He also has much better chemistry with Qi’ra than Han.  I’m fairly certain this is mainly due to Paul’s astonishing acting ability.  He first came to my attention as the title character in the darkly funny UK crime film Gangster No.1. I was floored by him then and he’s still blowing me away, even as the rather challenging character Vision in the MCU. Bettany does not disappoint in Solo either. He took over this role with zero preparation, with the weight of replacing another respected actor at the last minute in an extremely troubled production. And the optics of having a white European actor taking over from an African-american are...ermm...not the best. He pulls it off, though. But I can’t help but wonder what Michael K Williams would have brought to the role. Vos is a soulless psychopath under Bettany, not unlike his character in Gangster No.1.  Would Williams have brought the tragic–almost romantic deep spirit and inner strength he brought to his gangster Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Vos instead? It’s rather sad we will never know.

I don’t think I can say much else about the other antagonist(s) without spoiling a bunch. But let’s just say...wow! Well done! Surprises and fan service all around!

There is something missing here too. We never see Han as an imperial pilot. Nor the promised Shakespeare-inspired comedic comic book characters that Ron Howard teased last fall.  These gems may be reserved for DVD releases, but I feel Han’s missing academy stint is definitely a gap in this story. And the movie lacks because of it.

Importantly, I do recommend seeing this in IMAX 2D as it is a very dark and muted film.

The usual amazing, special effects, costumes and sets we’ve come to expect from the Star Wars film franchise are all present here.  The styling is different from the previous films, as it takes place about halfway between Episode Three and Rogue One.  It’s neat to see the evolution of the Empire’s gear. 

And the easter eggs are everywhere; prequels, Rebels, Clone Wars, Star Tours ( the Disney Park ride), the comic books from the 1970′s and 80′s, the EU/Legends Han Solo novels by Brian Daley, the Lando Calrissian novels from the same era are especially referenced numerous times. Even the Indiana Jones franchise gets a significantly placed nod.

To say the least, the fan-service is strong with this one.

But not the Force. Not at all. None of that simple tricks and nonsense here at all.

Because I’m a pretty hard-core fan, I pre-bought two showings on initial release. The first time I saw Solo, I was unsure if I actually liked it, but it seemed to be a decent film.  The second viewing ( the same night) was an absolute joy. Times three and four were with different groups of adults, and they all had a blast. Five was with a group of 13 year old girls, and they all enjoyed it too.

So let’s call my rating of Solo then, 4 out of 5 stars. 

Honestly I don’t get the backlash against it.  Don’t take your Last Jedi hate out on this. It’s a fun ride with decent jokes and no space-boob-milk monsters—honest!

And if you think Solo offers nothing different, new, or imaginative. You are 99% correct...Remember, we got that full package of “different and innovative” in Last Jedi. If that’s your schtick, watch that one instead then.

Oh, and one more thing- that 1%?... two words:

Shower scene.

[keigo-birdies]

My thoughts on The Last Jedi

Warning in advance, I’m giving my full HONEST opinion about the movie. If you can’t bare to read any type of criticism, I suggest you to ignore this.

Anyway, this movie was all over the place and I have so much to cover; good, bad, and unnecessary. 

This is a long one so let’s jump into it.

First, let’s start off with what good moments this movie did have:

Finn and Rey constantly on one another’s minds; worried about each other’s safety and well-being. Finn doing everything he possible could to make sure Rey would come back to him safely. 

Billie Lourd getting her moment in this movie. Just so proud of her.

Rose admiring Finn’s actions that lead him to the Resistance. She’s basically a teary mess but her smile could melt any cold heart. (Kelly deserves the world.)

Rose and Finn giving the weapons manufactures, rich from blood money, hell in Canto Bight. Rose getting her own form of revenge against the people who oppressed and basically enslaved her and her sister.

>Speaking of revenge, Finn getting his well deserved revenge against Phasma and his oppressors. That was everything. Plus, did you see my boy with that electro-staff.

Leia being a total badass, honing in on her force abilities to pull herself back to the ship. (She really did drown in moonlight.)

Rey being a total badass, ready to kill Snoke at any chance she can get; not backing down once. She’s such a spitfire and I love her with all my heart.

Rey refusing to accept Kylo’s offer to rule the galaxy and force pulling that lightsaber, ready to cut his hand. You know that’s what was going to happen if Kylo had tried to pull it back.

Our Luke and Leia reunion. It’s not what I hoped for, but considering the outcome of the movie, I’m glad we got some sort of reunion. Even if Luke wasn’t physically there on Crate.

Another reunion to make the list; our long awaited FinnRey one. The look on their faces once they catch just a glimpse of each other. Finn running to Rey, wrapping her up in the tightest embrace. Both of their eyes are closed and a smile of peace and relief is plastered to her face. They’re so happy to be by one another’s side again.

Rey and Leia talking on the Falcon. Just that whole moment was very sweet.

Some of the little things I enjoyed:

The visuals were nice.

BB-8. Just BB-8.

Porgs.

Luke ‘yeeting’ his old lightsaber over his shoulder. (Relatable when it comes to adult responsibilities.)

Chewie busting down the door like the god damn S.W.A.T.

Rey with a lightsaber. She definitely knows how to wield that thing.

Finn and Rose’s dynamic. (When she isn’t tazing him.)

Poe Dameron’s beautiful face.

Luke’s dramatic ass.

And that all black Return of the Jedi throwback ensemble is everything.

And his goddamn moves. Like DAMN.

Rey and Poe’s little meet up.

The ending shot of our heroes on the Falcon.

Now onto the bad, and boy was there bad in this movie.

The characterization was so off.

Poe is a arrogant, trigger-happy, hot-head. He’s rude and very chauvinistic to his female superior officers. He goes against orders and puts his friends and fellow Resistance members in danger because of this behavior. This was not the Poe Dameron we seen in TFA and that pisses me off.

Rey, for a moment, is very much in character. At the beggining of the movie, her integrity and hopeful spirit from TFA are there. She is determined to get Luke back to the Resistance to bring hope to the galaxy. However, after a few days she loses said trait, going from “This man is a monster”, to “There is conflict in him. I can turn him back”. That’s where her characterization from TFA just falls off completely. I’m honestly supposed to believe this after all the horrible things Kylo did to her and her friends. No. Uh-uh. Not gonna happen. This sets such a bad and toxic example for young girls who admire Rey. (Thankfully, after she refuses his offer to turn, her characterization returns somewhat.)

Luke “wide-eyed-full-of-hope-optimistic-there-is-good-in-you-i-know-it” Skywalker did not appear in this movie. That man is gone. His characterization was butchered. Instead we are given a shell of a man who is nothing more than that. Just some old, grumpy hermit who lives on an island. He’s made out to be someone so consumed by paranoia that he would murder one of his student, his own nephew, in cold blood. Nah man. I could go on about this but we’d be here until ep.9. He’s a complete 180 in this movie.

The plot was all over the place and consisted of inconsistencies that don’t align with the information given to us in TFA.

The movie is tangible shitty writing.

For two-thirds of the movie, the Resistance is basically just trudging through space trying to fly away from the First Order with no avail. It becomes very boring after the Resistance jumps to light speed to escape. It’s just a stalemate space battle that seems never ending. Like I said, it became very boring to watch.

The treatment of our characters of color for “comedic” purposes was anything but funny.

Finn, Poe, and Rose’s arcs are sidelined; not in the fact that they hardly got any screen time, but that their arcs were basically for nothing. Their arcs had absolute no purpose in this movie. No matter what they did, their actions didn’t matter. In the end, the FO was somehow always a step ahead. Their arcs were pointless in moving the story along, meaning Rian Johnson lied to everyone when he said their arcs were important to the story.

When Rey gets to the island, after a day or so trying to convice Luke to come back, he asks how did she find him. He says that he came to the island because he knew that no one would find him there. Yet, in TFA, Luke was the one who left the map fragments across the galaxy for someone to come find him. That inconsistency bothered me so much. You said you watched TFA Rian, yeah right you lying bitch.

Also, the temple attack described in this movie contradicts what was shown to us in the TFA force vision. In the vision, the attack on the temple was shown to be a premeditated slaughter, but in TLJ were are led to believe that it was a panic fueled event that happened in one night. 

Kylo Ren is made out to be a conflicted boy who doesn’t have a say in his choices; who can’t be blamed for all the terrible things he has done and shouldn’t have to face the consequences of said actions. Were supposed to feel sorry for him but it just makes us hate him more. He whines and throws his little temper-tantrums. He isn’t conflicted. There is no light in him. He is pure evil and there’s nothing anyone can say that will make me think different of his character.

Speaking of blame, all the blame is put on Luke for Kylo turning to the darkside. Not Kylo himself or even Snoke. Again, they turn Luke into a paranoid freak, ready to kill his own nephew, which takes all the burden off of Kylo from his choice to turn, onto Luke’s shoulder. Luke has to carry the blame while Kylo can continue living carefree, free of consequence. Luke takes the blame for Kylo turning to the darkside. It wasn’t Kylo’s fault or choice, Luke pushed him too hard, and Kylo was just a poor helpless boy. 

Snoke was made to be a treacherous villain in TFA but was ultimately underwhelming in this movie, being so easily killed, even with the power he possess. Or should I say possessed. 

Kylo’s treatment of Rey in this movie is absolutely disgusting and very toxic. First, he’s invading her mind time and time again. Even if it was Snoke pulling the strings on that (shitty writing) he still went through with it. He gaslights her. He manipulates her. He talks down to her. He calls her nothing, uses her parents against her, says she’s no one special, that she doesn’t matter to anyone but him. And he only says that in hopes he can use her for his own power hungry needs. And yet, with Rian’s writing, he persistently keeps wanting Rey to redeem Kylo. That’s it. It’s terrible and disgusting to watch.

Speaking of her parentage. That was not a fucking satisfying reveal, Rian Johnson. In fact, from a story-telling perspective, it makes absolutely no goddamn sense following the events of TFA. Plus, how the hell who Kylo even know who her parents are. Again, it makes no sense. SHITTY WRITING!

Also, the whole ‘he’s conflicted and I can bring him back’ came out of nowhere for Rey. It’s as if Rian tried to recreate Luke’s arc from ROTJ and failed miserably. It made Rey look naive and her ‘mission’ to bring Ben Solo back from the dark is completely useless. “Because she heard the story of how Luke brought Vader back” is not a good enough reason. Again, more crappy writing.

There are so many inconsistencies in TLJ that contradict with TFA.

Luke just dying on the island. He uses the force to project himself on Crate and then just disappears. Okay, yeah, he’s at peace, sure, whatever. It doesn’t mean that made this writing decision any more shitty. This, and along with everything else in this movie involving Luke, was unsatisfactory. Luke could’ve done so much. Luke could’ve been there for Leia and for Rey and for the Resistance. No, instead we got this. And it makes absolutely no sense. We don’t know why he just dies/vanishes. There is no explanation.

Also, Rey and Luke’s relationship was suppose to be the heart of this movie. It wasn’t. They’re constantly fighting and at each other’s throats.

Even some of the acting seemed forced and off, as if the actors really didn’t want to be a part of this but were under contract so they had to.

Maz Kanata had more screen time in TFA than in TLJ.

Also, they tried to make Rey and Finn look like complete idiots at least once in the movie. Finn’s walking around naked in the bacta suit, dripping water everywhere, and looking as lost and confused as ever. Rey literally holds out her hand when Luke tells her to reach out. Luke then scratches a leaf or something against her hand and she says she can feel the force from that. Both of those moments were so cringe-worthy, even though to some people it was cute or hilarious. It wasn’t. It made a lead character of color and a lead female character look like idiots. But hey, it was for comedy.

There was so much bad and I’m probably missing a few more things. If I were to try and remember it all, we’d be here until ep. 9. Anyway, let's get into the unnecessary. Which, a lot of this can be qualified under the bad as well and some of these are extremely cringe-worthy..

Every sacrificing death, or every sacrifice in general, made by the Resistance are all for nothing. It doesn’t change the outcome. Every sacrifice, every death in this movie, is for absolutely nothing. They don’t make a damn difference. Again, shitty writing because Rian had no idea how to move the story forward, apparently.

The physical abuse of our POCs.

That stupid shirtless scene of Kylo.

That stupid scene of Luke milking that creature.

Holdo and DJ, or whatever his name is, are pointless characters in this. They’re introduced and then either turn against our heroes or sacrifice themselves for nothing.

The humor was terrible. There was no need for that many terrible, middle-school jokes in this movie. Seriously, it’s one joke after the other or humor that really isn’t funny at all.

Chewie eating a porg in front of the others.

Those island caretaker creatures.

The end with the three children, and the one boy force pulls the broom to him. There was no need for that. It’s not as if that child could fight in the war now. That just came out of nowhere and felt like a young self insert in my opinion.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of at the moment. This list is so lopsided. Goes to show you that shitty writing will never be accepted or ignored, no matter how far back you stuff it behind aesthetics. To finish off, I have a few more statement to make and it’s centered around a certain part of the SW fandom.

Any chance of R/eylo, after this movie is dead. She refuses his offer. She knows there is no light in him. She knows the only way to end the war is to kill him along with the rest of the FO. There is no chemistry there and there is no romance between them.

After he captures her twice, tortures her and her friends, manipulates her, gas-lights her, you should not be shipping this. He uses basic abuse tatics by talking down to her and calling her nothing to everyone but him. He’s only doing that to get what he wants. Again, mental manipulation and mental abuse.

ONCE MORE, R/EYLO is dead.

What I had hoped to see and never got/What I would’ve done:

Rey and Luke’s relationship should’ve been more like Luke’s and Obi-Wan’s in A New Hope. There should’ve been an actual bond rather than them constantly fighting.

Much more Finnrey, more of Rey and Poe interacting, more of the ot3 together kicking ass and taking names. Just better and more interactions between our heroes in general.

Luke actually training Rey like Obi-Wan did with Luke. Just Luke training Rey without hesitation.

An actual satisfying answer to Rey’s parentage. (You could’ve made her a Skywalker and still have made her her own character too. It could’ve prevent this: During and after the original trilogy, the Skywalker family/name is a beacon of hope to the galaxy, yet in this movie, the family/name is written to be a genetic mistake that should be whipped out. You can see what’s wrong with that, right?)

TFA characterization carried over to TLJ.

I could add so much more to the list. But seriously, Rian Johnson should’ve used the information that J.J. Abrams left in TFA to build a story, rather than scraping it to write his own that made absolutely no sense in correlation with TFA.

In conclusion, TLJ was a slap in the face to the fans. It was just a big fuck you to fans of the franchise and to fans of our heroes both old and new When coming up with this story and directing it, Rian Johnson did not care about the fans. In the end, he did not make this movie for the fans. This movie was made for him. It was about making his own mark on the franchise no matter how good or bad that mark was; no matter what he did to the characters and story from here on out to peruse this. It was self-service.

And Kathleen Kennedy did not care about the story, characters, or fans either. This was just another movie to line her pockets with more money. She’s just as much fault here as he is.

So in the end, we’re left with this mess of a movie, (if you could even call it one) that’s ridden with a shaky plot, meaningless sacrifices, and character assassination (both metaphorically and literally), rather than a movie with a meaningful story, sturdy plot, and character development that builds off of the events in TFA.  But hey, the visual aesthetic of the movie is nice, huh?

Anyway, I’m just hurt and disappointing overall. I know I’m not the only one to feel this way. I, along with many fans, invested time and ourselves into these characters and into the story TFA left off with. We were excited to see where those events would take us in the next two movies of the trilogy. I was hopeful aft TFA, and now, I feel nothing. In all honesty, I wish they would’ve just let J.J. Abrams direct all three movies. Hell, I would’ve rather seen rehashes of the original trilogy from these movies than what Johnson threw at us. And if they couldn’t have gotten J.J., they should’ve had Dave Filoni (Rebels) direct this movie. He could have done amazing. But no, we were left with Rian Johnson and is terrible story and his crappy treatment of the characters.

*long, exasperated sigh*

Thanks for your time and feel free to add in anything I missed; good, bad, or unnecessary.

[gffa]

Talk of child death (both fictional and real) in the post, following up from here.

mochibuni said:

I think the youngling slaughter meant less to me because we saw him and he told us he basically committed genocide in the previous movie. Which is when I was like WEOO WEOOO PADME RED FLAG. While Padme had more of an emotional impact since we didn’t expect that at all, the genocide and youngling slaughter is morally worse. Just omg those little kids and the horror in their eyes.

thewillowbends said:

I agree, fundamentally, with your point, but in terms of narrative impact, Padme is the more significant emotional device for me. Of all things I’d change about RotS, the children are probably the one I’d cut. Not because Anakin isn’t capable of it, but because it’s such a reductive cheap shot. Even used a kid who looks like baby Anakin for it. I know SW isn’t known for subtlety, but that’s a little much even for me.

I get why a lot of people felt the slaughter of the Tuskens in AOTC was a mistake or that the slaughter of the Jedi children in ROTS was a mistake, but for me the sequence of those two things showed what the movies were trying to say about him--that Anakin is someone who can be so good at times, who obviously comes from a place of deep care and wanting to help, but that there’s a rage in him that’s been there for a long time.  We see that even as far back as when he beats up Greedo in the TPM deleted scenes, there’s a rage there that he doesn’t want to let go of. His murder of the Tusken children works for me, because even when a part of him very obviously doesn’t believe it, he justifies that they’re not anything more than animals, he rationalizes it that they deserved it, that they’re not really people.  This pulls the double duty of showing us that Anakin has the potential to really, really ignore reality when he’s justifying something and that, look, even if they had been nothing more than wild animals who attacked the settlers for no good reason (they’re not, we get material showing that they’re a sentient race with their own culture), the idea of slaughtering a bunch of living creatures in your grief is really, really not good. He puts that behind him, though!  He slipped a bit, but he can get over it!  The problem is that Anakin doesn’t want to let go of his feelings and once he started justifying things and not facing up to it, that’s the problem, not that he slipped in the first place.  It haunts him and he does nothing about that haunting except to tell himself that it didn’t matter, it was justified, it’s in the past.  (Which is a whole other really important aspect of Anakin’s character!) Along comes ROTS and it’s just that much easier for Anakin to justify killing the Jedi children because he’d already done it once.  It shows that the first time was an unstable lashing out of grief.  Now ROTS is where he makes a very considered choice to do it again, there’s no justifying it this time, there is no excuse.  Those children are part of his family, they’re part of his people, they asked him for help and he chose to violently take them out of the world. The weight of that is something I see as a major part of Anakin’s character and that gives it a hefty narrative weight as well.  I think a lot of why I feel so intensely about this is due in part to my own loss of a 2 year old nephew to violence like that (unintentional here, but it’s still different for me from losing a child to illness) and seeing that kind of loss (the choice to cause that kind of loss) as a moral event horizon isn’t cheap, but instead exactly what it’s meant to convey--it’s Anakin having justified himself into such a monstrous choice that we never would have thought him capable of when we first saw him as a cute little moppet, but he does. Nobody is obligated to feel the way I do about that, I get why a lot of people see it as totally over the top, but it’s in the movies and it so often seems to get dismissed because, oh, lol, that’s so completely OTT that I can’t take it seriously! As someone who’s had to look that kind of loss right in the face--this child will never grow up, will never get to figure out his favorite hobby, will never find out what his favorite subject in school is, will never meet his best friend, will never learn to ride a bike, will never travel to see the world, will never become the person he was going to become--having that kind of impact so utterly dismissed gets to me sometimes. I get it, nobody’s doing that in real life, obviously!  Star Wars is a made up show about made up people!  And I get that it can feel cheaply used to a lot of people because, oh, it’s just SO awful that it’s not believable!  Lots of people can’t connect to it in any way because it’s so far over the line.  Probably some people who’ve experienced the same thing I have feel that way, too, that it was cheap and poorly used. But I do feel it’s often dismissed as part of what we have to accept that Anakin did.  Of course we have more emotional investment in Padme as a character, we’ve spent three movies with her and we see the effects that continue on, because she lived enough of a life to have that legacy.  And I’m going to continue crying about every single time it’s brought up and feel that she deserved SO MUCH BETTER. At the same time, though, when we’re discussing Anakin’s character, his murder of the children and what it says about the content of his character, is far worse for me because I cannot fathom choosing to cause that kind of gut-wrenching loss to the world, but I can understand a young woman’s crushed soul giving up on life because she cannot bear it. I can get that it comes off as ridiculously over the top to some people (not to me, though), but too often in dismissing the deftness of the filming of the scene, the impact of such a choice gets dismissed as well.  Whatever we think of how it was done, it’s still part of his character, and there’s just no justifying it and, no matter what else I feel about Anakin, how much I love him, how much I feel for him, how much I want to help him, how much I want to fix him, there will always, always be that sentiment haunting him--he chose to kill those children through the justification to save Padme’s life and I will say it over and over and over again because nothing can ever mitigate it.