#Bad Parent Darth Vader

[byfulcrums]

Something I love about Star Wars is how Luke didn't fix Anakin, he gave him the courage to save himself.

Anakin Skywalker is both a villain (and an abuser. I mean he tortured his own daughter and cut off his son's hand, come on) and a victim, that much is obvious. He is, most importantly, a slave. There has never been a single moment of his life where he wasn't/hasn't felt like he was a slave to something. Watto, the Republic, Palpatine, maybe even himself — you name it. He has never been free.

When Luke goes to the second Death Star, he is going to his father, to the suffering Palpatine is putting Anakin through (he is the main victim of Sidious's abuse and torture, something many people tend to forget). To the suffering Anakin is making himself go through, because, while it was heavily influenced by Palpatine, Anakin's choice to never leave was his own.

He Fell, and that wasn't his fault, but he chose to stay there. Many people — namely Padm�� — gave him second chances. Padmé gave Anakin the chance to leave and stay together, but he didn't take it. He did all of it to save her, and it the end, he ends up believing he was the one who killed her (he 'destroys' his goal, because that's what the Dark Side does. You may begin as a noble person looking to save someone, but the Dark Side isn't good, and you will lose track of yourself along the way.)

And now here he is, inside a prison that is seen as his own suit. A prison he was put in, a prison he chose to stay in. By the time of ROTJ, he truly believes that it's over for him. That nothing can save him. That there's no hope. Anakin, the lifelong slave, is resigned to his fate. “It is too late for me, son,” he tells Luke, who willingly came to him wearing shackles.

And Luke, still believing that there is some humanity in Darth Vader's armor, doesn't deter. He doesn't let his father's words stop him. He shows that he's willing to give himself away, to die, just to save him.

Luke Skywalker, son of Padmé and Anakin and the last Jedi Master left, shows a man turned monster that he loves him unconditionally. He shows him that no, it's not too late for him, not now and not ever. And this — his selflessness, his compassion — is what finally gets through Anakin. Someone loves him, and he loves them back. And he would do anything to keep them alive, including killing his own Master and breaking his chains.

It's Luke's own sacrifice that inspires Anakin to give up his life. It's Luke's undying hope that motivates Anakin to finally break his own chains. It's Luke's trust in him that gives Anakin the courage to save himself, and in that single act, he saves the entire galaxy.

The light comes to him in the form of one Luke Skywalker, extending his hand for the last time — the light comes to him when he takes it.

The Prophecy is fulfilled when Anakin kills Palpatine and leaves the dark. The galaxy is saved when a father dies for his son.

[gwempire]

Imagine, for a moment, that you're an evil sinister Dark Lord battling an uprising against your empire, and you notice a young pilot with the same magic powers as you, is the age that your child who died when your wife gave birth would be, shares your old surname, and has the preferred boy name you and your wife picked out. Would it take your evil sinister Dark Lord Overlord telling you that that's your son?

And IMAGINE, for a moment, that you're an evil sinister Dark Lord who's just come to power. You see that a close politician friend of your pregnant politician wife, who has recently died by your hand, has adopted a young girl who has the preferred GIRL name you and your wife picked out, would you be suspicious? Or would it take using your magic powers in a battle against your son by pluck his fears from his mind to realise you have a daughter as well?

Anyway I think Darth Vader was in active denial or dumb as a rock because dude?????

[angels-in-overcoats]

We talk a lot about how Anakin's fall affected Ahsoka and Obi-Wan but I never hear anyone talking about how it affects Luke

He's only 22. He spent his entire life thinking his father was a hero who died tragically young. Hell, Anakin is probably the reason he took up piloting in the first place.

But then... in his lowest moment, he finds out that the father he's been idealizing in his head is false and that his true father is the man who has just brutally beaten him and destroyed countless other lives.

Can you imagine the turmoil it must cause him? The scream of anguish he gives upon learning the truth should be enough to churn anyone's stomach.

To find out your father is the right hand man to the most ruthless fascist dictator the galaxy has ever seen... shit dude it's like finding out your dad is Hermann Göring

That's gotta take a toll on a kid, yanno?

[kylo-skywalkerr]

One of my favorite things to come from the early sequel fandom days were the Vader and Kylo posts. Not the one where Vader's like "wtf are you doing, dumbass" (too easy), but the ones where he understands Kylo. Where he reaches out to him in pity or sympathy for a path his grandson has mistakingly glorified. The mutual understanding that even if they're forgiven, they've harmed and killed too many innocents to ever truly be redeemed. They're a duo with a lot of potential.

I also loved the art where they were chaotic together. Vader being all.. well. If Luke doesn't want to rule with me, his nephew is obsessed with me and willing to do anything to reach my legacy, so why not? It pains me that we didnt get that type of interaction anywhere but the lego special, and even then Vader had no idea who Kylo was and assumed him to be some crazy random guy who thought he was Vader's grandson.

I miss the art of it and I miss the bond between two irredeemable and broken members of the same blood.

[my-pjo-stuff]

*YAPPING AHEAD, THIS IS LONG*

As someone who has circled through a LOT of fandoms, you know what differentiates the PJO fandom from most of the others? Their raging hatred for what normally would be a very popular character archetype. "Who's that character archetype then" you ask? The answer is Luke Castellan. Unirnonically, I'm complety straight with this.

Luke Castellan is one of the most popular character archetypes in most other fandoms I am/were in.

Now before I get further into this meta, we should establish what archetype Luke actually is and what the criteria are. To me, Luke is the classical Sympathetic Fallen Hero. Someone who only wanted what's best at the end of the day who was wronged by an unjust system, and pushed into straight-up villainy and evil deeds in a desperate attempt for revenge or justice. Oftentimes that push happened by him joining up with a larger, more evil figure who manipulated his hatred into serving this larger, evil goal. Generally also has some deep-rooted trauma in the form of a DARK backstory.

Like literally, that guy is TEXTBOOK. He checks all the boxes. -Someone who only wanted what's best at the end of the day

Check. His goal was a "golden age" for demigods, a future where they would no longer have to die during quests or would be abandoned by their godly parents.

-and pushed into straight-up villainy and evil deeds in a desperate attempt for revenge or justice.

Check. Luke wanted both revenge and justice, which led him to form the Titan Army and all the bad stuff he did. Some include attempting to kill Percy multiple times and leading attacks on camp. The obvious superiority the gods would have over a demigod army led to Luke allying himself with Kronos and other evil forces. (Thus the "desperate" part)

-Oftentimes that push happened by him joining up with a larger, more evil figure who manipulated his hatred into serving this larger, evil goal.

Check. On multiple occasions has it been mentioned that Kronos punished and pressured Luke, using fear tactics to get him to do what he wanted. I mean- Kronos himself said that he would have preferred Percy because he "did things easier" referring to taking the CoA ("I had to pressure Luke in many ways(.....)")

-Generally also has some deep-rooted trauma in the form of a DARK backstory.

Check. His mother went insane when he was still an infant. Hermes practically abandoned them, leaving Luke to be raised by his mentally unstable mother having episodes that scarred him so bad he hid in closets. He proceeded to run away at 9, living on the streets completely alone before meeting Thalia. From then on he went around with her having to deal with monsters. Hal happened, they met Annabeth and Luke started to get parentified/parentified himself. He proceeded to watch Thalia die as he attempted to get to camp at 14. At the same age he had his quest, which he failed and got himself a nasty scar. Luke proceeded to get no discernable mental help or sufficient support to deal with the mental strain resulting from that. Instead, he was put into a caretaker role for younger children not only showing him the results of the system's neglect first hand but also effectivley robbing him of any semblance of a childhood. Once Kronos got to him he continued to the plagued by nightmares.

All that being said, we now established that Luke in fact is a textbook example of what I call the Sympathetic Fallen Hero. (SFL for short from now on) Now onto my point that the other fandoms generally really love the SFL archetype that Luke is. That I will do with examples. Before I list these examples, a short disclaimer. I HEAVILY shortened and abridged the plot and storylines on here as to not make this post overly long. I definitely recommend checking each of these media/characters out for yourself.

Anyway, here we go : STAR WARS :

A big part of the fandom LOVE Anankin/Darth Vader whom they view as a SFH. (Even though him not really being a SFL in the way that he checks all the boxes. But I'm going with the majority fandom view here so ig Vaderkin counts. For those who want, I made a post on my main comparing him to Luke here and how Luke is what the star wars fandom pretends Vader is.)

MY HERO ACADEMIA/BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA:

I want to talk the Villain Deku AU. Which is basically just an evil version of the MC who also checks all the SFH boces. The AU is hugely popular in the fandom with tons of fanart, animatics, cosplays and even a fan song. Honorable mention to the main anatonigst from the League of Villains, but especially Shigaraki and Dabi. They may not check ALL SFH boxes but an overwhelming majority. They are very popular with the fandom and generally regarded very kindly. Another honorable mention goes out to Stain. Also doesn't check ALL the SFH boxes, but most, and is also regarded generally positivley by the fandom.

THE PROMISED NEVERLAND

Norman, one of the main trio, spends a good part of the later manga seperated and leading his own resistance group against the main bad guy race (of monsters eating human brains- long story but I recommend the manga(don't watch s2 of the anime tho, it's basically the pjo movies for the manga)). Later on it is revealed that the main bad race isn't pure evil. Norman however got to the point where he wanted to commit a straight-up genocide against the race. Women, children, and elderly included. Bit of an outlier for a SFH, since he has no higher figure manipulating him into wanting to commit that genocide- but I'll let it slide. I did use the words "oftentimes" and "generally"- he also get's "redeemed" at the end/stopped from committing said genocide. Again the fandom regards him positively, even having him as a fan favorite.

NARUTO CLASSIC/NARUTO SHIPPUDEN

..... I mean most of the villains are SFH in that show. To the point where we would be here ages if I wanted to list them all. The two main examples most popular with the fandom tho would be Pain and Sasuke. Pain is a main villain whose home got destroyed, partially because of the MC's own home village. He watched his own parents die, and later lost one of his two best friends which finally pushed him over the edge (among others). Pain is also an outlier in terms of a SFH since he didn't have a major bad guy to manipulate him, instead leading his own evil (basically) terrorist cell. His goal was to achieve world peace by harnessing an ancient power, wanting others to suffer as much as he did so they recognize the value of peace. He killed a BUNCH of people. Pain did later revive a good chunk at the price of his own life however post redemption by the MC. Sasuke is the secondary MC and rival of the protagonist. Honestly he has so much going on I couldn't possibly mention it all. Basics are that his family got killed by his own brother due to difficult politics, he was the only survivor. His drive for revenge against his older brother caused him to join up with the main bad guy of Naruto Classic who rly only wanted him as a vessel (flashbacks much). Sasuke betrays his home for the bad guy to get the power he needs to take revenge. All that was stoked by the main bad guy and his comments. More plot happens, turns out the brother rly wasn't entierly bad and was also just used by other higher powers. Sasuke switches sides again and kills OG bad guy and joins up with Pain's previously mentioned terrorist group. The main goal from there is to destroy his home village who used his brother. He was not shy to kill ppl at that point, and was also basically ready to just commit a genocide on his own home. More plot happens, he get's redeemed eventually. Again in both cases the two are CRAZY popular with the fandom.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS

I talked about this once already on here, but the fandom seems to LOVE AUs where dark!Percy just opts to straight up overthrow Olympus. I don't think i have to elaborate more on that tbh, but for those that are interested: Here's the post I made about the fandom's hypocrisy concerning dark!Percy and Luke.

And those were only 5 examples, there are many more SFL examples LOVED by the fandom I haven't mentioned here. I'm sure of that.

Seeing this pattern really makes me wonder why Luke seems to be so despised. Logic would dictate him to be rather popular.

My personal theory ? It's a mix of a few factors. Those being : A) The fandom over-sympathizes with Percy Jackson

Percy is easily the most popular character in the fandom. He is the MC afterall. The fandom tends to take his side no matter what, without properly and honestly empathizing with his enemies. It's similar to having rose tinted glasses with a relative or friend. You take their side no matter what- not even wanting to hear out the other side. The fandom seems to have an inherent bias towards Percy, those nice to Percy are viewed positivley. Those having more negative interactions (,even if the interaction is relatively low on the nagtive scale, like a character being critical of Percy for example,) are generally viewed more negativley.

B) The First Person POV of the books and the average age of the fans when they first read the books.

This relates to the first factor in the way that the very Percy-centric set up of the fandom AND the books influence the fandom's perception of characters. The books where Luke appears in are all in Percy's POV. Luke as a character in very complex and needs a lot of empathy and reading between the lines to properly understand and analyze. The books being in Percy's POV hurt Luke in the way that Percy's opinion of Luke is omnipresent with him. Any First Person POV is inherently unreliable, thus Luke often gets presented as a rather one-dimensional evil since that's what Percy views him as for most the book. Luke lacks his own POV, meaning he doesn't really get the chance to truly explain himself. Then ontop of that is the fact that everything he does is filtered through Percy's eyes which are inherently hostile towards him ost the time. Such delivers a wrong first impression of Luke throughout the books. The fandom, due to their attachment to Percy, often do not take their time to objectivley reevaluate his POV or confront the fact that he's an inherently unreliable narrator. Especially for Luke. Furthermore, from what I have seen are a lot of the fans in the fandom "old timers". People who read the first few books as young children and were children when their opinions of characters formed. Them having been so young when first getting introduced to the characters saw them often unable to even really realize all I said above. It also further glorifies Percy as he get's the nostalgia bonus. People generally do not like to challenge their own believes, so large parts of the fandom never took their time to reevaluate Luke and his story once they got older and learnt about the concept of Unreliable Narrators.

C) The fandoms views Luke as a threat to Percy and Percabeth.

This relates to both factors above, while also including the popular false narrative of Luke being a "pedo" or "groomer" If you read the first five books you will see that besides his last question to Annabeth at the end, nothing Luke does can be even remotely read as pedophilic or grooming of nature. Quite the opposite acctualy! He has stated on multiple occasions canonically that he sees his relationship with Annabeth as platonic. The ONLY canonical romantic relationship he had was with a grown monster. He's only ever portrayed having interest in adult women (monsters) , and even that romance plot is just barely there. The fandom, again, is overly attached to Percy however. And they do not like it when other characters challenge him. Luke however is the MOST challenging character for Percy. Not only does he serve as main antagonist, but he also serves as a narrative foil to Percy. He is what Percy could become. He's the canonical dark!Percy AU. He's the other side of the coin toss. Furthermore, Luke also challenges Percy not only on the physical department (fights) but also in terms of morals. At the end of the day Luke was right afterall. One could argue that Percy wasn't really fighting for the "good guys"- he was simply fighting for the "lesser of two evils" Luke brings moral challenges to Percy. He doesn't allow Percy to be a wholly good , squeaky-clean hero. Percy was fighting for the upkeep of an oppressive system. (If U wanna argue with me on the gods being oppressive, take it up with the offical wiki article first : found here) Percy killed other demigods. Percy had flawed views. The fandom who over sympathise with Percy didn't like that Luke was an active threat towards the "goodness" of their favorite. The easiest way out eliminate that "threat" was to demonize Luke. Thus making his points "invalid" as he now was a pure evil villain only aiming to hurt. (Same for the entier TA btw) Percabeth is just as popular as Percy. Annabeth had a deep and important connection to Luke- at the time of the books arguably even deeper and more important than her connection to Percy. Throughout the book has Percy expresses annoyance at Annabeth's insistence in holding onto Luke. This combined with the points above saw Luke being viewed as a possibly threat, due to him being arguably the most important person of the other gender in Annabeth's life. And an obvious point of contention between Percabeth. Inorder to lessen that "threat" the fandom turned to demonizing Luke (again). Annabeth's and Luke's relationship can easily be swept away by saying that Luke was interested in her romantically thus making him a pedo, no ? As for the grooming....... honestly? People just used a buzzword there, because if Luke truly had groomed Annabeth she would have been on his side on the books. All I can say there is please you guys, read a dictionary and know what words mean before you use them.

D) Rick fumbled HARD writing Luke

Luke may just have been the biggest continuous mistake Uncle Rick made in terms of writing. His characterisation in the first two books made him seem VERY evil and unlikable, which is bad as a first impression for a character such as him. SFL like Luke need a lot of focus and insight aswell as sympathy to get behind them. In most examples I mentioned for SFL they backstory was known very early on and they had a lot more focus outside of villainy. Rick simply didn't give that. The backstory reveal with Luke happened far too late, he was far too evil with too little insight for a SFL in the first two books. His "redemtion" was a bit rushed. We got basically nothing on his relationship with his army. His goods sides and his doubts weren't really highlighted enough early on. His last words and questions to Annabeth were frankly said stupid. It broke the themes of family between Luke and Annabeth to some degree and only served as fodder for later accusations. The fact that it was (apperantly) later confirmed that he romantically loved Annabeth was just straight up stupid. It wasn't in character at all and just broke the themes even more, not to mention that it goes against everything we previously saw or heard of Luke. Not to mention that it also just served as further fodder for the fandom to demonize Luke.

Thanks for everyone who stuck around to read this absolute giant of a meta XD Probably was the largest Tumblr post I have written so far.

[ultraericthered]

Vader was just...a monster. Especially in those games.

You know when you think about it, all Star killer ever wanted was to get his masters approval, but he realized that Vader was just using him as a slave to the dark side and he lied to him through out all those years.

[athenaluthor]

The Beginning

pairing- darth vader x reader

summary: A morning with his wife and son, what could go wrong? Vader's faith in Palpatine has finally begun to crack. Is this the beginning of the end?

warnings: SFW, Unburnt!Vader, Husband!Vader, Dad!Vader, Pregnant!Reader, fluff, Vader being a dad and lovesick husband, nameless son, slight child abuse(by Palpatine), mentions of Palpatine

Word count: 1.7k (unedited)

side note: any ideas for their kids' names?

masterlist

Vader creeps into the room quietly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping boy despite him being a heavy sleeper. His son's bedroom is warm and cozy, a stark difference from the imposing skyscrapers of Coruscant just outside the window. The sight that greets Vader tugs at his heartstrings.

His little boy lays sprawling on the bed, small blond curls poking out here and there, with small snores escaping him. Blankets are falling off the bed and his plushies lay messily on the floor, yet his son remains unbothered. He reckons the boy could sleep through anything. An invasion could take over Coruscant long before his son would wake.

The boy was such a deep sleeper it worried Vader at times. The force drains you a great amount especially during childhood, which is enough justification to have a chef curate meal plans for his son. Thankfully, Vader feels everything through the force. If something is ever amiss with his son or wife, he would know.

Vader sits down on the bed, hand instinctively reaching out to stroke his son's head. The boy is a carbon copy of him, from the hair, to the face and even the way he sounds, all reminds Vader of Anakin. The little boy's curls felt so soft between his fingers, a stark contrast to Vader's calluses.

Luckily for Vader, his son is far more well-mannered and kind than he ever will be. Courtesy of his wife, he supposes. The little boy is intelligent and cheeky like Anakin was, but he is far more empathetic and good-hearted. Only his wife, that kriffing angel of a woman, could turn his child into this beautiful and kind boy.

Suddenly, a sleepy voice snaps Vader out of his thoughts, “Papa?”

“Good morning. Did you sleep well,hmm?” replies Vader, smiling at the boy.

“Mmhm. No bad dreams.” Says his son in between big yawns and a stretch.

Vader takes this opportunity to pick the boy up and bring him onto his lap. Sleepy, the boy falls right back asleep with his head on Vader's shoulder and arms tightly wrapped around his neck. Vader melts each time the boy does this and today is no exception. Feeling his little boy's body melt onto his and the soft little breaths, it makes him want to stay like this for eternity.

Vader kisses the boy's head, breathing in the smell of his baby shampoo that seemed to fade each day the boy grows older.

Then, Vader wraps his arms around the boy and stands up to carry him. He adjusts the boy a little, making sure the boy is comfortable and wouldn't slip before moving out the door. The walk over to Vader's room does nothing to jolt the little boy whose sleep takes priority over everything else. His breathing is steady and Vader swears the boy is starting to snore softly.

“Snoring? Already?” Vader muses to himself.

Once there, Vader lays the boy on the bed and within seconds, the boy sprawls out on the bed. Vader supposes your parents bed is always much more comfortable than your own since his son seems so happy on his bed.

“He's sleepy.” says his wife, looking at their sleeping son as she steps out of the bathroom.

“He always is. The world is dead to him until he decides to wake.” Vader replies, smiling at he boy's antics.

Vader turns to look at his wife when she walks past him to the closet. Belly swollen, full of his child, Vader could barely take his eyes off her.

She waddles instead of walking now, careful with her steps in an attempt to not slip. These days, all she asks from him is a massage here and there. Vader can't complain. Soon, his wife will give birth to a second child. All she asks him to do in return is to bring her food and make her feel good.

Joining her in the closet, Vader merely leans against the doorframe and stares as she moves about the room. Picking her dress, jewelry and fussing about how the tones of her shoes didn't match everything else. He adores to see how she moves, the way her hair shifts as she does and the look on her face when she finds the right combination of clothes.

They eventually fall into their usual rhythm. A comfortable morning routine of getting dressed and ready before facing the chaos of the galaxy. In a way, it was reprieve from the stress of the Empire that is certainly suffocating.

Just as his wife finishes her hair and makeup, their son stumbles into the room sleepily. The little boy immediately catches the attention of his parents.

“Mama? Papa?” His little voice fills the room, all shaky and sad.

Without hesitation, Vader crosses the room from his side of the closet to the door where his son stands. Vader kneels down, face-to-face with his son. His son is all red-faced and full of sobs.

Vader wipes the boy's tears before picking him up. He looks at his wife, who looks just as concerned beside him. Seeing their boy like this tugs at their heartstrings greatly, considering their son is rarely reduced to tears like this.

Vader gently strokes the boy's back while his wife softly asks, “What's wrong, sweetheart?.

“Don’t want to see it again!” The boy lets out through his sobs. His wife softly brushes their son's curls out of his face, cooing at him, trying to help him calm down.

“See what, hmm?” Vader asks.

“The man! The old man! He's scary and he hurt me!”

At his son's reply, a chill washes down Vader's spine. A foreboding feeling washes over him like no other.

“Hurt you?” his wife asks.

The question only spurs on their son's tears. Now, he's buried his face in the crook of Vader's neck.

Vader doesn't take notice of the tears that are soaking his collar. Instead, his thoughts are light years away. Somehow he knows that the man his son talks about is none other than his master. In his guts, Vader knows Palpatine is responsible for this.

By noon, their son is much calmer. The sobs and tears are gone, leaving behind a very tired little boy.

Vader decides against leaving and opts to work from his study at home. The dining room is also set up for his assistants and officers to use while they work.

His wife stays with their son who refuses to leave his parents’ room. Though, Vader is sure his wife wouldn't have let their son leave in the first place because Vader wouldn't either.

When Vader left his bedroom earlier, he made sure breakfast had been served and both his wife and son were comfortable. Eventually the little boy fell asleep listening to his parents chatter.

Vader wanted to stay with them both, unwilling to leave his pregnant wife with a hysterical child. Ensuring the attendants and maids weren't far away from his wife, he also increases the guards around the house. The latter more for his sanity than their safety, truly.

Even then, it took his wife a ridiculous amount of convincing before Vader agreed to leave and attend to his work. Vader doesn't say it out loud but something still feels wrong and he can't put his finger on it.

The force feels quiet, too quiet in Vader's opinion. The quietness reminds him of the calm before a storm and he despises every part of it. As a child, he often had this feeling on Tatooine before the sandstorms would hit. Vader's mother, Shmi, would often be on the receiving end of his ranting.

Tonight, he decides, he will meditate on it. With enough focus, the force will show him everything he needs to know.

The dark side in Vader thrums in anticipation. Undoubtedly, it is digging its claws deeper and deeper into him today as anger takes over him. These days, Vader cares little for anything else except for his little family and the thought of anyone hurting them is enough to fuel his dark side.

Perhaps he should cast runes all over his home. Vader's knowledge of the dark side runs as deep as his knowledge of the Jedi. During his travels, Vader has found several Sith holocrons containing different rituals, spells and incantations previous Sith Lords had used. All were far more powerful than anything he'd seen in his Jedi days.

Suddenly, one of his wife's handmaid rushes in.

“L-lord Vader! My lady has requested you come quickly.” comes her voice.

The sight makes Vader want to burn down the entire galaxy. Their son's entire back is covered in force lightning marks. Unfortunately, easily recognisable to Vader as he had been on the receiving end of it for many years.

Now, Vader is entirely sure that Palpatine has done this. Even if indirectly, Vader is sure Palpatine is involved.

Thoughts course through Vader's mind, "Are there other Sith Lords he is unaware of? How and why could his master have done this?".

No wonder the little boy was so distraught. He had refused any attempts of taking a bath which were miracles at calming him down. Both Vader and his wife found it odd.

Now, Vader knows he was just in pain. Vader is reeling, he feels as if he's been plunged into the freezing ocean's depth. The sight of his son has his stomach lurching, "he's a child, he's only a child!" he angrily thinks to himself.

Vader's gaze turns to his wife who's distraught is palpable through the force and Vader moves to her side when she clutches her bump with a whimper. Vader helps her sit down as she nearly falls to her knees, groaning in pain.

Helping her calm down, he sits beside her and embraces her. Hand stroking her back until he breathing evens and the tension in her body subsides. Pulling away, Vader moves to gently stroke her cheek and wipes her tears away.

In tears, she heartbreakingly asks him “Why has this happened to him?”

Vader leans his head in until his forehead and hers are flush against each other, choosing not to answer. He tucks her hair behind her, letting her lean into his touch.

Vader's faith in the Emperor has always been constant and unbending. The galaxy is certainly well aware of Vader's loyalty in carrying out the Emperor's orders.

How could Palpatine have done this? Let him believe he could have another chance at a family and go after his child. Has this been the plan all along? Was he blind all this time?

Has Emperor Palpatine truly betrayed him?

banner by @cafekitsune

[lizartgurl]

How Do You Know? (Han Solo x Leia Organa)

Hanleia Week Day One: Tradition. Feat. Anakin Solo. @hanleiacelebration

"I love you."

"I know."

"Why do you guys always say that?"

"Huh?" Han tried not to jump in surprise as he looked down at the budding adolescent beside him. His children had a nasty habit of being able to hide their presence until it was too late.

Young Anakin's nose crinkled. "Why do you always say 'I know' whenever the other one says 'I love you'? Aren't you supposed to say 'I love you' back?"

Han couldn't help the lopsided grin that tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Do you want to tell him, Princess?" he asked.

Leia laughed softly, haloed in the blue light of her hologram, "It's a bit of a tradition at this point. We said it to each other once, and now it's just natural."

"But doesn't it sound kind of... Smug?" Anakin asked. He'd always had trouble with social norms and expectations. Han squeezed his baby boy's shoulder in reassurance.

"Your father is smug, honey," Leia explained in the same reassuring tone.

"Your mother's not off the hook either," Han insisted.

"How did it start?" Anakin asked, "Were you fighting, or...?"

"All the time."

"Han!"

"Your mother and I had been kidnapped by Darth Vader, the bait in a trap for Uncle Luke. They were going to freeze me in carbonite, which they usually just use for storing tibanna gas to ship out to other planets. The carbon freeze is great for preserving the gas and fuel, but they didn't know if it would kill me or not."

"But it didn't!" Anakin said quickly, his face pale and eyes wide.

"It didn't," Han reassured him, "But it was pretty scary. And that was the first time your mom told me that she loved me."

"In front of Grandpa?"

"Darth Vader is not your grandfather," Leia said in her no-nonsense tone, the one that still made Han's head spin.

Anakin looked thoughtful, "So when Mom said that she loved you, you just said 'I know'?"

"Okay, well it sounds bad when you put it like that-" He looked to Leia on the holo, hoping she would back him up.

Leia's hologram was smiling, that ice-melting, full body smile that must have been a Skywalker trait, her chin propped in her hand as she watched Han flounder.

"Wanna help me out here?"

"No, I think you got it, hotshot. Why did you say 'I know'?"

Han realized he had never really thought about it before. In the heat of the moment, in front of Vader, Fett, and half a platoon of stormtroopers, it just felt right. But why?

"Your mom's pretty tough, Nik," He said at last, "A senator, a princess, a general, she had to be. Back then, after everything that happened to her, she hated letting anyone get under her skin."

"Even you?" They were his parents, of course Anakin wouldn't be able to imagine a situation where they hated each other.

"Especially him," Leia grinned, "He was the worst."

"So when I told her 'I know', it was a way for me to tell her that I understood that she loved me, but also that I understood who she was as a person. That I knew how big it was that she told me this in front of people that hated us, and that I knew she would move the stars in order to save me."

Anakin was quiet now, deep in thought over this confession. Han glanced back at Leia, and caught a glimpse of her trying to wipe away her tears. He could hear Threepio in the background somewhere, asking if she required a handkerchief, but Leia dismissed him.

"Did you ever tell her you loved her back?" Anakin asked.

"Absolutely," Han beamed at his son. "When we were destroying the Death Star on Endor, she got shot protecting me. When I tried to help her, some stormtroopers cornered us and I thought it was all over. I'd have done anything to protect your mom then and there, but before I could do anything, Mom showed me that she was still holding her blaster. Since the stormtroopers didn't see it, she could take them by surprise.

"I knew I loved your mom before then, but that reminder of how strong she was, how smart she was, I was a goner."

"That's when he told me he loved me." Leia said. She sounded like a giddy schoolgirl rather than the chief of State, her chin propped up in her hands as she listened to Han talk about how much he loved her.

"And you told him that you knew?" Anakin asked.

"Yes, I knew. And I still know." Leia said.

Anakin's brow crinkled again, "When was the first time you told me that you loved me?" he asked the hologram of his mother.

"Oh, Anakin, I told you that I loved you before you were born," Leia said. Anakin's face grew red and shy, but he was the one who asked.

"Alright, Mom's gotta go now, kiddo, say goodbye."

"Bye, Mom!" Anakin waved to the hologram, and was quickly distracted by the puzzle games on his holo pad once again,leaving Han alone with his wife. Finally.

"I love you sweetheart. More than you know."

"Well I don't know about that," Leia teased. She blew a kiss through the holo.

"I'll see you tonight."

"Don't be late, I'm making grilled nuna and mashed potatoes."

Leia sighed, "I'm so glad I had babies with you."

Han couldn't stop a cocky grin, "I know."

[roxannepolice]

I have a hot thoschei take: I don’t think most of doctor who tumblr is ready to confront the idea that Missy allowing the Doctor to “fix” her was almost more a form of self-harm for her than anything else. Which makes the confrontation between her and the Master even more upsetting to me than if it was a simple ‘Missy good, old Master bad and sabotages her goodness.’

It’s more like looking on your future self and seeing her restrain herself further and further in ways you’d rather die than do, in ways that are slowly erasing what makes you/her yourself/herself. and when you realize that she will happily push you into this fate, too, (and has the audacity to preach about it), how else can you react but cut her loose.

And it also makes Missy and Twelve more interesting to me, because you can’t really argue the Doctor doesn’t know that he’s contributing to this. He locked her in a box. He knows her far too well to really believe she’d want to live so long in confinement, but he does it anyway. I don’t even think it’s that divorced from love or a need for them to come to an understanding; the Doctor just wants it to be completely on his terms and for the first time ever, that control is entirely possible and he doesn’t even have to feel guilty about it because she’s letting him.

Anon, I'm kissing your brain. And wish I could transplant it into Moffat's head.

I suppose my own brain is a bit too of a "they are characters in a text, serving a purpose to the point made by the author, not self-aware people making choices" bitch to really view it this way. But I absolutely agree this whole situation was much more effed up than fandom gives it credit for. I mean, the basic message of the vault arc is "here's the fool-proof way to develop empathy: a human lifetime of solitary confinment! Let's just ditch all those resocialisation programs in prisons and put all violent criminals in solitary boxes with only psychologists visting them! :DDDD".

Yeah, ok, that last point was a bit over the top in social engineering area even as far as fan bashing is concerned. And, tbh, I think a positive side of the vault arc is the not-sure-if-intended idea that it in fact wasn't decades of solitary confinment with Twelve coming to banter through a locked door only actual interaction with Bill that had Missy introspect, but wtv, it all just needed to go tragic in the end. I think the really unawarely messed up part here is this underlying insistence on. well, basically writing the Master as Darth Vader. There's still good in you, I can feel it!, as in just go back to being a child that I will be idealising in the penultimate episode, which frankly sounds to me the extact same as GO2 Aziraphale asking Crowley to just go back to being angels only even nicer :) (sth sth angelhood as a metaphor of pre-selfaware childhood when you can't even tell yourself apart from other people and especially God-the-Parent). Basically, the big idea being the Master's villainy isn't a result of conscious choices of a hundreds year old eldritch horror only not hearing the music whatever that means.

Of course, it was backwards engineered, in a "ah, but what if there really, really, reeeaaaallly wasn't any other way for the Master to survive than as the Doctor's prisoner?" way, which could work considering how survival focussed the character is (like, surely that wouldn't be worse than becoming a cat? or a 90s effects goo snake? or a man eating emo electroskeleton? or a tooth?)... but then we have a "yeah, but there's like an evil past that does value their independence (and evilhood) over survival, ain't that tragic?" ending.

Basically, I think the problem is not so much Missy accepting being the Doctor's prisoner, as not trying to escape even freaking once? Like, if we started off with her being dishonest about the whole teach me to be good :((( and then easing into living like this, this might have been an interesting idea? But yeah, as we are, you're right, it just. Comes off as trying to amputate a limb that got caught in a mousetrap rather than snares...

[bestdemigodarcherever]

Sup World, I Am Here To Grace Your Lives With My Amazing Presence‼️‼️

Hey, It's Kayla Knowles, your favourite child of Apollo and the best demigod archer EVER!!!!

I am 15 and Canadian🇨🇦🇨🇦

A Greek Daughter of Apollo that isn't a year-rounder because my super amazing dad, Darren Knowles, is still alive and teaches archery!!

People will tell you I'm not Apollo's favourite. They're wrong😜😜

I'm bisexual and female-leaning 🩷💜💙

I'm also super cool and single, plus open to relationships!!

Now for cool people I know!!

@totally-percy-jackson Percy! Cool dude, saved the world twice, blue food enthusiast🌊🌊

@wise-girltm Annabeth! Extremely smart, aspiring architect, also helped save the world twice, dating Percy🧠🧠

@goat-boy-underwood Grover! Best satyr, loves eating cans, did what no other satyr could do and found Pan, god of the wild🌱🌱

@gemstonequeen Hazel! Kind, pretty, apparently died and came back to life, dating Frank💎💎

@fire-boy-official Leo McShizzle Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme! (there I said it Leo happy?) Flirt, coolest Hephaestus kid I know to be honest, fun, annoying🔥🔥

@thalias-amazing-brother Jason! Cool dude, helped my Dad become a better person, stickler for the rules, Superman🍃🍃

@iguanaurwayoutofhandcuffs Frank! Can transform into animals, Canadian (partially) so kinda like me(!), dating Hazel🐻🐻

@miss-beauty-queen / @tis-i-piper-mclean Piper! Made two blogs to mess with people, pretty, cool💞💞

@king-of-the-ghosts Nico! Honorary Apollo camper, Will's boyfriend, would choose to date Darth Vader(worst choice ever dude)💀💀

@sunshine-and-socialanxiety Will! Nico simp, my big brother, dork, head counselor, probably needs a pay raise🔆🔆

@not-so-dead-sister Bianca! Beautiful, super cool, Nico's big sister, honestly amazing🩻🩻

@jasons-amazing-sister Thalia! Was a pine tree(formerly), another super cool kid, girlboss🏹🏹

@reyna-dontcallmerara Reyna! Very cool, one of my favourite Romans, strict👑👑

@silenasblogies Silena! Pretty, kind, very fun💄💄

@official-drakon-slayer Clarisse! Honestly not exactly very friendly, pretty cool, fierce🗡️🗡️

@i-can-see-stars-again Zoë! Old-timey, cool, pretty⭐⭐

@best-country-singer Ms Naomi Solace! Will's mom, mother of the year, VERY cool🎤🎤

@arisdaughter Serene! My favourite sister, also cool, great archer🎯🎯

@kit-kat-flowers Katie! Also needs a pay raise, my favourite Demeter kid, the BEST🌱🌱

Gods!!

@ex-god-apollo My dad, god of the sun, Apollo! Though, he's currently stuck as Lester, a teenage mortal with acne☀️☀️

@yes-im-aphrodite Aphrodite! Extremely beautiful, goddess of love, mostly cool💖💖

@by-the-decree-of-my-bolt Zeus! Needs to keep it in his pants, worst parent ever, god of lighting⚡⚡

@my-sisters-and-the-moon Aunt Artemis! My favourite goddess, coolest aunt ever, goddess of the moon🌙🌙

@yes-im-hades Hades! Pretty good dad, my favourite Big 3 god, god of the dead, kinda deserves better☠️☠️

Back to me!

I am a girl of many talents! I'm an aspiring Olympic archer, a great musician and skilled at physical contests and games!

I can also heal people by singing to my dad in Ancient Greek, curse people to only speak in rhyming couplets and again, a really amazing archer!

DNI if racist, transphobic, homophobic, NSFW, aphobic, sexist!!

Tags!!

#shut up everyone i have arrived☀️☀️ (ic posts)

#blesses you with my presence and acknowledgement☀️☀️ (ask answers)

#(zah)rawr🗣️🗣️ (ooc)

hey!! tis i, @/sillylilpinkblob, the admin of this blog!! im a minor, and so is Kayla, so no inappropriate stuff, kay? great!!

dividers by @samspenandsword

[brunossan]

So, lets go with part 2 of the resume of The Beniko Order in Sith resurgence

In the part before i talked about the origin of Beniko and their Curse, but now lets continue getting deeper on this star wars fanfic.

1-Darth Alora and The Clone Wars

Remembering what i said before about the Curse of the Force hating on Beniko clan, life was not easy for them, because their numbers were already small, but having the Force attempting to ruin your life all the time is basically a herculean task. The Beniko clan however managed to survive until the events of the prequel era, where we can talk about 2 sith that are referenced in the fic but were given more info outside of it.

The first one is Darth Safik, the greatgrandmother of Aliana, who was the Master and adoptive Mother of Darth Alora, who was Aliana's Grandmother. Safik and Alora lived normal lives, however Safik was killed by a Bounty Hunter, leaving Alora alone. The bounty Hunter is never specified or talked about by Lily, but knowing that she dislikes Mandalorians, i headcanon it was either Jango Fett, Cad Bane or Durge.

Mostly Jango because of personal spite

After that, Alora wanders around during the Clone Wars but eventually she went after the jedi after discovering Darth Sidious was a Sith Lord. However, they dismissed her and didnt cared about her warnings. So one day she invaded the Jedi Temple and copied at least 80% of all their archives. Alora then went hiding and decided to watch the Clone wars ending from afar, without getting involved. However, she eventually got found by Palpatine, who sent Darth Vader after her. After a long fight, Alora got killed by Vader, leaving behind her apprentice Darth Mayrik, also known as Tahleea Beniko.

Who swear revenge on Vader.

2-Darth Mayrik and the New Republic

After training by herself for years, Tahleea go after Vader and fights against him, almost winning until Starkiller (Yes, the events of Force Unleashed games are slightly canon in this fanfic, but lily never specified HOW MANY because in future Galen Marek becomes a senator who is on Aliana side) stopped her and made her retreat, eventually this failure making her give up on revenge and focusing on her being an ally from Rebellion while hiding her identity as a Sith Lord. Eventually, after the fall of the Empire, she joins the New Republic with an objective...

DECRIMINALIZE THE SITH

Tahleea believed that the Sith Creed got a bad reputation because of lots of Rotten Apples and the Jedi influence, and also believed that erasing the Sith history and regarding it as a Darkling Cult was erasure and historical genocide, so she tried using the New Republic to change the views of People about the Sith. However, it didnt ended well as even Mon Mothma, her friend, did not liked the sith neither saw the good side on preserving their history. So Tahleea decided to leave to the Outer Rim and as her ancestors did, not care about how route the Galaxy would go.

However before Tahleea left, she had a romance with a Senator from Dantooine named Yensin Tiralli, where their forbidden love generated the main character of this fanfic...

Aliana Beniko.

3-Today's Subject: Slavery

After Aliana was born, Tahleea realized that she needed money to raise her daughter well, so she went after a job. In Outer Rim you must be wary of what kind of job you want, specially if you want to be paid well. So the job she chose?

Slave Trafficking for the Hutt Cartels.

Yes, you read it right. Tahleea Beniko was a Slave Trafficker, but not the kind of capturing and enslaving ones. No no no she was just the one who drove the ship and took them to their places. Its not that bad, right?

That was a Lily excuse about People calling her out about it. But lets continue for the worst part about it.

Her job really paid her well, even if she disliked it and hated herself for doing what she did. However one day she "Lost" a slave in Jakku. A small Child who was sold by her parents.

Yes, in this fanfic that one ship we see in Rey's flashbacks is actually The Fury, the Ship used by The Beniko clan for at least 3.000 years, and is the one who left her in Jakku. How can a relic from such a far past still works? I dont know. But the fic sells it as being better than the Milenium Falcon anyways.

Detail is that Rey in the fic remembers feeling comfortable inside The Fury because of Aliana being there with her. And its because when she was sold and taken to The Fury she was ugly crying until Aliana comforted her. So the fic literally goes "awww you already knew eachother as children, you were made to be together". GAL, you were trafficking her.

Also Rey is implied as being the only one Tahleea left behind, wich means there were lots of People who got trafficked and no one saved them, while she was filling her pockets with dirty money. But the excuse its heard much is this.

"She needed to take care of her daughter."

Well, she took care of her. Until the Curse decided to act...

And a Skywalker ended their peace.

Thats it for now, part 3 is on its making and will focus more on the fic itself instead of its lore as its the route im going with this resumes.

Bye bye

[kittyandco-archive]

I just think it's funny how people will act like i'm not aware of the (very fictional!) crimes that my favorite characters commit and their supposed implications... yeah buddy i know he killed 39838949837029802398 people and frowned at puppies but those people are also not real! if i say "oh he looked hot while doing it," does that make me an accessory? does that make me culpable because i didn't try to stop it or constantly condemn it? what would functionally change about the (real) world or myself if i paraded around and screamed about the horrors that Bad Fictional Character committed? absolutely nothing. that's the crux of this, i think. it's about wanting to look morally upstanding in every facet of your life, which is, of course, the same aesthetic evangelical puritans go for. are we not allowed to wear red, now, too?

i'm not virtue signaling for you. i know where my ethics are and it's certainly not accusing people of being somehow inherently bad because they like (or god forbid, RELATE TO) a fictional character you think is evil incarnate that can somehow hurt you in real life

is finding a fictional dictator intriguing on every level there is make me into an Atrocities Apologist? those didn't actually happen... i love thinking too hard about fiction, and many stories have a great impact on my life, like art can do, but i can at least understand the difference between real events and fictional events. and if you don't, then... damn, if it's that serious, i guess we'll all have to condemn the little kids (and their parents) who dress up as Darth Vader for Halloween because they think he's cool 🤷‍♀️ were they somehow brainwashed into BadWrong so early?

it does not automatically carry over. understanding the origin of characters who have a relatable backstory who make terrible choices or even just being like "he's so awful but/and he's really cool" and leaving it at that doesn't mean i'm immediately like "omg real life war criminal i totally get where you're coming from let me try to fix you!!!!!" idk how those could even be comparable or how that could happen to anyone, if i'm honest.

and i hate the argument that like "you can find real life parallels though! so that's what makes you Bad if you like Bad Man!" THAT'S HOW ART IS MADE, YOU MAKE FROM EXPERIENCE AND HOW YOU VIEW THE WORLD CAN MAKE ITS WAY INTO YOUR WORK THAT'S HOW THINKING WORKS. but people who believe in this concept i'm arguing against really don't have imaginations, do they? and you can absolutely Make A Statement in anything. any piece of art can be a statement about society in some way. does that make the characters and the events therein any less fictional?

[jessicas-pi]

📔

Ooooh.... Here's a crack AU I made up ages ago!

So, in this AU, when Ezra was young (like... three, maybe,) there was an accident and his parents were killed. And something happened in that accident that revealed he was Force-sensitive. He was brought to Vader, and Vader sees this child—small, but VERY Force-sensitive, and born almost the exact same day Padme died—and his reaction is just, "SON?????"

So... Ezra grows up believing that Vader is his dad.

Anyway, several years pass. Ezra is about twelve now, and he gets his first mission.

It's on Mandalore.

One of the instructors there is beginning to suspect that Sabine Wren is considering treason. Ezra is sent there, disguised as a new student, to "befriend" Sabine and discover if this is true. It backfires spectacularly!

Ezra decides that Sabine is The Coolest Ever, Actually, and sticks to her like a barnacle. They run away from the Academy together (though Ezra does leave a voicemail for Vader telling him everything is OK. He just doesn't want his dad to worry!)

Ezra says he'd like to go live quietly on Lothal (he doesn't remember it's his home, but something about the name sounds Familiar and Good), but Sabine doesn't want to. She says she'll drop him off and then she'll go and be a bounty hunter, but Ezra, who REALLY doesn't want to lose his new bestie, insists that he could be her bounty hunter apprentice. He's, like, really good at being an apprentice. Honest.

Sabine kind of has it in mind that he's this pathetic kid that she needed to babysit and rescue from the Empire (she doesn't know who he really is; Ezra honestly just forgot to ever mention it), but he convinces her to give it a shot.

So, here's the thing. Ezra was raised by Darth Vader, and though he's not actively evil, Ezra's moral compass is a pinwheel and in his mind, the only reason to not do something is if either Vader or Sabine have specifically said Ezra No That's Bad.

After a lot of bad luck, they finally get a bounty puck, and set off to bring the person in. They get to the planet, and Sabine suggests they split up, because she thinks she'll catch the bounty much faster on her own.

She doesn't.

By the time she realizes she needs to follow the sound of people screaming and running, Ezra has already located, ambushed, and messily dismembered the bounty.

"Did I do good?" Ezra asks eagerly.

Sabine quickly switches mindsets from I have to keep this kid from getting himself killed to I have to keep this kid from having a villain arc.

"Um, are you okay?" Ezra asks. "You look kind of weird."

"I'm fine," Sabine says, smiling nervously. "Y'know, maybe we should just go live quietly on Lothal or something."

As it turns out, "living quietly on Lothal" is fun for about a month (which is how long it takes Sabine to paint the entire inside of the comm tower they've claimed as their headquarters, install bunk beds, dye Ezra's hair, and make mini cardboard mandalorian helmets for the two Loth-cats he brought home.) Then boredom sets in, and Sabine takes to vandalism. Ezra goes with her. He thinks it's almost as fun as bounty hunting.

Ezra also spends time exploring the Force. He's been trained in the Dark side but the peacefulness of Lothal starts to draw him towards the Light. He starts to find an equilibrium.

Sabine and Ezra have the time of their lives.

Then, one afternoon, about a year later, when Sabine and Ezra are working on an art project, Darth Vader barges into the comm tower and demands, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in, young man?!"

"Aww, Dad!" Ezra whines. "You never let me do anything!"

In hindsight, Sabine thinks, that explains a lot.

(EDIT: part two)

[writerbuddha]

This is gonna get a bit negative, but I don't understand how some say that they love the George Lucas movies but yet the Jedi were wrong and forbid love and family. Like how???

It's quite complex, Anon...

This has its origins in the way how fans reacted to Episodes I, II and III. When they did not get the young Darth Vader they imagined for themselves, they started to insist, the reason why Anakin Skywalker is nothing what they imagined, is because George Lucas cannot write and/or direct and Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen are terrible actors and they can't portray the character in the correct way. This resulted in that the idea, the story that you can derive from the actual movies is not the real story, embedded itself into popular culture, and it mutated into the idea that you have to "find out" the "real" story behind the fall of Anakin Skywalker.

This idea, "the Jedi were wrong and forbid love and family" is just the latest mutation of this phenomenon, and it fits neatly into the "good idea, bad execution" narrative fans perpetuate, but most importantly: some fans are more comfortable with declaring compassion being unconditional love and attachment as selfish grasping as nonsense and even unhealthy and malicious, than to accept, Star Wars is, in fact, challenging them to think about how they relate to their loved ones. So it makes perfect sense that they insist on this narrative. In addition, there is this cultural notion that you have this list of "must have" things that you need to be content and happy. Just look at Legends stories: they couldn't rest until Luke Skywalker got laid and ended up in a marriage with kids, because, "duh, that's how normal people are" and anything that deviates from that must be in need of a reformer, someone who enlightens/fixes/liberates them. When you add the even more central notion, that children "belong" to their parents because they "made them" and a "truly loving parent would never bear to be without their children" and the idea that when parents are making decisions for their children is somehow letting the children to decide for themselves, you end up with "the Jedi were wrong and forbid love and family" very quickly. And the biggest issue in the Star Wars fandom is that fans are so caught up in fanon that they're no longer able to tell the difference between what is actually in the movies and what they more or less agreed to be in the movies.

This reaches a new level when people are trying to impose this kind of narrative because they want one of the most popular stories of the globe to affirm their values and ideas and way of life, I wrote this about in detail here:

[starr234]

Time For You - Chapter 4 - starr234 - Star Wars - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

In which Vader has a breakdown