#Dark Rendezvous

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Count Dooku: You're violent. Yoda: Yes, but so short I am that it's adorable.

[bluntblade]

Dark Rendezvous has a few passages just turning over and over in my head right now. That beautiful moment when you see a writer cut right to the core of who a character is:

"But another way to solve the war there is. If you will not join with me, perhaps join with you I should. Tell me more," Yoda said testily. "If power over beings need I not, what else can your dark side do for me?"

"What do you want?" Dooku snapped. "Tell me what you want and I will show you how the dark side can help you achieve it. Do you want friends? The dark side can compel them for you. Lovers? The dark side understands passion in a way you never have. Do you ant riches--endless life--deep wisdom...?"

"I want..." Yoda held up the flower in his hand and took another sniff. "I want a rose."

"Be serious," Dooku said impatiently.

"Serious am I!" Yoda cried. He bounced to his feet. Standing on the desktop, he was almost as tall as Dooku. He held the flower imperiously toward his former pupil. "Another rose, make for me!"

"The dark side springs from the heart," Dooku said. "It isn't a handbook for cheap conjuror's tricks."

"But like this trick, do I!" Yoda said. "The trick that brings the flower from the ground. The trick that sets the sun on fire."

"The force is not magic. It can't create a flower out of thin air. Nobody can - not you, not the lord of the Sith."

Yoda blinked. "My Force does. Binds every living thing, the Force I understand."

"Master, these are games of words. The Force is as it has always been. The dark side is not a different energy.To use it is only to open yourself to new ways to command that energy, that have to do with the hearts of beings. Want something else. Want power."

[legobiwan]

Every time I read this book, it gets better and better.

[askjaelyn]

I really wish that we could have gotten adaptations of shatterpoint and dark rendezvous in some form because those are some of my favorite Star Wars books, and I know that it's far too late now, esp with how dark both books get and the death of Christopher Lee and all the changes made to the lore and canon, but it would have been so good to see them adapted in some form

[daxromana]

i love this wise & ancient tiny green chaos machine

[anakinsadwalker]

holy shit how do i get obsessed with the most obscure star wars novels. anyways anyone wanna talk about yoda dark rendezvous im starving

[amarcia]

Morning Tea

@jedijune 01 Fun / Joy / Comfort

✨🌙 ART LOG -> @404ama

[lotusblue234]

There's definitely a story of generational trauma to be told about the Disaster Lineage, and I agree that a lot of it can be traced back to Yoda. The worst part is that I really think he was trying his best and doing what he thought his Padawans + students needed.

People pay a ton of attention to the things they teach on purpose, and ignore the things they teach by accident.

I've been on a Dooku kick lately, and one thing I've noticed in the extended universe stuff about him is that Yoda consistently pushed him too hard as a kid.

If you'll indulge me: Picture kid Dooku, who is by all accounts very gifted, excels for his age, and by one means or another has come to understand that he was abandoned (read: discarded) by his parents. Any savvy adult with eyeballs and half an ounce of empathy would look at this kid and see that "Oh. Shit. He must be really compensating hard for some deep seated lack of self worth." Healthy, balanced, secure kids don't throw themselves into their studies like their life depends on it, to the detriment of their social life and own mental health.

I read the young Dooku we're presented with in the EU as someone who believes that others only value him for his achievements. Between the bullying of kids his age and the positive reinforcement from adults, he's convinced that if it weren't for his exceptional talents, nobody would want him around. If he can't perform up to their standards, nobody will love him.

Now, enter Yoda, who is by all accounts a fantastic Jedi and a practiced teacher. But. He fails to see facade Dooku's facade. He doesn't realize it's an act. That the pomp and pride are covering for deep feelings of inadequacy (perhaps because the kid is by no means inadequate, and from the outside that's obvious) But Yoda takes one look at this prideful rising star of an initiate and says "This kid needs to get brought down a peg. Stat." (MILD SPOILERS FOR JEDI LOST AND DARK RENDEZVOUS AHEAD)

To be fair to Yoda, he's doing it out of concern for kid. Pride is an easy route to the dark side (as are fucking, most things in Yoda's eyes, but that aside) and if Dooku's gonna become a good Jedi one day then he needs to cut that boastful shit out. So what does the Grand Master of the Order do? Does he sit down and have a serious talk with the initiate? Tell him a parable over tea maybe, as he is wont to do?

No. He starts pushing all of Dooku's buttons. In Dark Rendezvous, we're regained with the story of how initiates were taught to play "push feather," which is a game where two people try to knock each other over using only the force. Dooku is really fucking good at it. Yoda plays with the initiates often, and is happy to sandbag so they can beat him, at least once in a while. But not Dooku. No, Dooku he roundly puts on his ass, every single time, usually instantly.

Now, honestly? Is that a big deal? With most kids maybe not. With a kid who's secure in their self worth, the message would probably get across quickly. "You're not always the best, so maybe you should chill out. There are more important things than winning." But Dooku is NOT secure in himself AT ALL and he is also HELLA STUBBORN. So he doesn't quit. He keeps trying desperately to beat Yoda, even though he knows it won't work, and as he gets stronger and more determined his defeats just keep getting more and more spectacular. Eventually he's so fed up with the fact that NO ONE IS ACKNOWLEDGING how Yoda has singled him out that he decides to sort of, throw a match. He's gonna make sure when he loses he gets hurt, bad- breaks his arm even. Everybody will have to acknowledge the situation then.

Yoda picks up on the kids intentions, and refuses to play, claiming he's already won. Which is when it finally hits Dooku what the Grand Master has been getting at all this time. He stutters a thank you, and then they have the cute little "When you fall, catch you I will" hug that everyone loves.

I love that moment too, don't get me wrong. I think it's super informative for their relationship. But I have some c o n c e r n s.

Namely that Yoda A) didn't make any attempts to verbalize his intentions and B) didn't stop, or even just TALK to the kid when it became apparent his plan wasn't really working. I feel like Yoda would be like "Work in the end it did! Better than platitudes, experience is!" To which I'd say, "Yea, as long as the harm the experience inflicts doesn't outweigh the lesson!" Yoda seems to think that the lesson of humility is more important than whatever reasons Dooku has for his behavior, or whatever feelings may be driving his actions. When it took WEEKS for Dooku to even start to catch on to the lesson, that should have been a sign that this kid isn't just a little cocky- something is WRONG here. People don't throw themselves against brick walls incessantly when everything is hunky dory in their heads. Yoda isn't just intent on teaching people lessons. He's intent on teaching that lesson his way, even when his way is obviously not working well for the person learning.

Now, my interpretation probably seems harsh. And for that example, it is. But there's context.

I've held off talking about Jedi Lost because the example from that book (play?) Is honestly so extreme it's kinda preposterous. And that book, in my opinion... Is not good. Not because of it's take on Dooku, I just don't think it's very well written. But hey, I'm a Dooku fan, we out here looking for scraps. So here I am.

In Jedi Lost, we're shown the beginning of Dooku and Yoda's apprenticeship. They're made Master and Padawan, and Dooku eagerly arrives at their first training session, ready to learn and do his best.

But... Yoda is just meditating under that one tree we see in TotJ and TCW. And he won't respond to a thing Dooku says.

And he CONTINUES meditating and COMPLETWLY IGNORING HIS PADAWAN FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH.

I can't write about this calmly. It gets me so riled up. Yoda gave his fucking apprentice THE SILENT TREATMENT FOR A WHOLE FUCKING MONTH!!! ?!?!?!

And Dooku is making it very clear that he's not cool with this and he's not handling it well emotionally. He's asking advice from other masters, openly asking Yoda what it is he's doing wrong, and at one point he even lifts like four stone pillars at the same time just to try and prove to Yoda that he's worthy of this apprenticeship. (Which is a neat parallel to him and Savage later but anyway)

And Yoda takes none of this as a red flag that, "Hmmm. Undue emotional distress, I may be subjecting my Padawan to." He just sits/floats there, cool as a cucumber, while Dooku is pulling his hair out wondering if all his worst nightmares have finally come true because he can't perform well enough and he really isn't worthy of praise or affection unless he's being The_Best.jpg.

(SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH) And keep in mind, in the Jedi Lost continuity Dooku has had multiple encounters with Sith artifacts at this point, and he doesn't just know that his parents called the Jedi to come take him, he's met Count Gora in person, and watched while Yoda got chewed out for etting this little "freak" ever set foot on Serenno again. He's got MAJOR daddy issues, and Yoda knows damn well how much it's gotten to the kid. He just thinks that ignoring it is the best way to fist it.

And Yoda decides it would be a good idea to fucking hit this kid with the SILENT TREATMENT for a MONTH. "Exacerbate his underlying self worth issues, I am sure this will not!" Like DAMN Yoda! Abusers do this shit on the regular SPECIFICALLY to fuck with their victims emotions. It's textbook TERRIBLE RELATIONSHIP ADVICE. If you wanna make someone resent you the silent treatment is one of THE fastest ways to do it.

So anyway, yea, I have not been okay since I read that passage, I just cannot get over it. And I haven't even touched on the way Yoda recklessly endangers Padawans in Dark Rendezvous, or any of the shit that happens later in Jedi Lost.

I also have some qualms with the way Yoda approaches his confrontation with Dooku in Dark Rendezvous. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that I don't get the impression Yoda came into their encounter wanting to learn something about the other man. The charitable interpretation would be that he already does know his former student's mind, but the more I reread it and think on it the more I'm convinced that he just isn't interested in knowing the man Dooku has become. He showed up to save his Padawan, but that person doesn't exist anymore, and he would rather kill the man who stands before him than try to understand how the Padawan became the Sith Lord. I think that reading is supported by the text too, by some lines near the end of the book about how a mother was waiting for a baby to come home, but the baby just didn't exist anymore.

This really got away from me, but the Dooku brain rot has been strong with me lately, and it feels good to give voice to the many, many thoughts. So many thoughts.

TL;DR Yoda is very, very set on doing things Yoda's way. Even when Yoda way seems to be hurting more than it's helping. This is definitely a big factor in the generational trauma affecting the Disaster Lineage.

The fact that the disaster lineage produces multiple sith lords multiple hermits and multiple people who left the faith is kind of terrible and funny.

I think maybe we should blame Yoda. Like it was just generational fuckery so like it's Yoda's doing for reals. I mean thinking down the line there were a lot of mistakes made.

Like I love these stupid little space wizards but I think we should blame Yoda tbh

[charmwasjess]

just thinking about Christopher Lee's "loneliness of evil" thing again and how Sean Stewart gave Dooku the mantra "What are we, Dooku? Alone, alone, alone" throughout Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

[niaruschxl]

Check out my first music video Rendezvous!

[beccawise7]

Those private rendezvous you crave... ~beccawise7💜🖤

[ossidae-passeridae]

Might be some selection bias in your recollection of canon? Here's just a few examples off the top of my head of Jedi (members of the council) expressing love, mostly from central [George Lucas approved] canon. All emphasis mine.

Starting with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover, the official Lucas approved novelization of the movie:

The man he faced was everything Obi-Wan had devoted his life to destroying: Murderer. Traitor. Fallen Jedi. Lord of the Sith. And here, and now, despite it all... Obi-Wan still loved him.

"The Jedi are your family-" "No." Anakin turned on his former Master. "No, the Jedi are your family. The only one you've ever known. But I'm not like you—"

(Interestingly enough, later on in the book Anakin calls the Jedi his family when talking to Palpatine.)

"The greatness in you is a greatness of spirit. Courage and generosity, compassion and commitment. These are your virtues," Obi-Wan said gently. "You have done great things, and I am very proud of you."

Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice had gone soft, and his hand was warm on Anakin’s arm. “There is no other Jedi I would rather have at my side right now. No other man.” Anakin turned, and found within Obi-Wan’s eyes a depth of feeling he had only rarely glimpsed in all their years together; and the pure uncomplicated love that rose up within him then felt like a promise from the Force itself. “I… I wouldn’t have it any other way, Master.”

(there are honestly so many examples in the RotS novel, I've just picked a couple.)

***

Then there's Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover, which is all about Mace and his old Padawan Depa:

"She grew to girlhood in the Temple, and to womanhood as my Padawan. The proudest moment of my life was the day I stood and directed the Jedi Council to welcome its newest member."

Then later when fighting her:

These images burned in Mace's brain as he fought for his life against the woman who should have been his daughter.

***

Finally in the list of "ebooks I have on my phone right now" there's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous by Sean Stewart:

“The Universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light that can save me. Murdered Jai Maruk was when the looking after him I had; and Maks Leem; and all the many, many more Jedi I have lost. My family they were,” — Yoda on the Jedi

The Jedi show love and compassion all the time, at every level; from core canon all the way through to fully retconned works. When the "bad", "wrong" examples are the only ones fandom brings up 95% of the time, it's easy to forget the fullness of what canon entails. But it's still there :)

13 :)

Question from here

13. Were the Jedi right or wrong to ban attachments? What constitutes an attachment?

SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Attachment, as the word is used in Star Wars, is an attempt to translate the Buddhist idea of upadana. I… don't think it's a good one — I would have used rapacity personally — but uh, points for effort I guess. 

More than anything else, it's specifically and explicitly a cause of suffering. 

It's not love, not in any positive connotation of the word. It's coveting. It's greed. It's wanting to possess someone, not caring what their feelings are on the matter. Not letting them go, even if they beg. It's needing the next hit of a drug to function, even if you hate what the drug does to you, hate the person you become under the influence.

GFFA has an excellent post on attachment as we see it in the core lore (movies, TCW, word of god etc) if you want further explanation/examples.

So, back to the original question: are the Jedi right to ban attachments? (An aside: they don't ban it, they're not the church, but we'll ignore that for now.)

The Jedi are magical space wizards, with the power to cause mass destruction. They choose not to, because they've grown up understanding that they must be responsible, and live harmoniously with the world around them. This keeps both them and their society safe(r). 

Do I think people with built-in abilities to raze cities should be controlled by greed and fear? No, actually. I think that's a terrible idea. We had one darksider with Jedi-level powers completely destroy democracy in what was once the Republic after plunging the entire known universe into a years-long war. One. There are 10,000 trained Jedi Knights. 

I don't want to even imagine that universe. 

(All opinions expressed above are solely those of pass e. ridae and do not express the views or opinions of any affiliates or associates, passerine or otherwise)

[legobiwan]

So I just finished rereading Dark Rendezvous for the third or fourth time. Yes, it's a spectacular meditation on Dooku but something that I think gets overlooked is that it is also probably the most nuanced portrayal of Yoda found in any of the Star Wars media, Legends or Canon.

[daxromana]

i hate "stimcaf" and "chrono" because they have no elegance. you expect me to believe that dooku has hidden himself away in an abandoned bloodstained mansion full of elegant chronos where he drinks stimcaf? it throws off the picture entirely!

[legends-expo]

Would you want to see Dark Side Yoda? Check out the full panel video from "A Clone Wars Novel" with Sean Stewart and Matthew Stover next week!

Transcript: "And Yoda takes a step towards the Dark and basically says 'How much do you want this to happen?' and Dooku goes 'Ohhhhhhhhhh... Dark Yoda would be annihilating. Let's totally not, I was sort of joking... let's let's... would you like that?' Because there's a moment, and it's, it's one of those things, it's very important to me in the book; (if you haven't read it, think about it) is the moment at which everybody gets a good long look at what Dark Yoda would be like and decides that maybe they don't want to see that."

[bg-11]

Vjun is such a cool setting. Constant acid rain, creepy castles and a population that was mostly driven mad when the locals started messing around with the Force. What’s not to love? And it’s where Vader’s (real) castle is during the Imperial Era.

Yoda: I want…I want a rose. Dooku: Be serious. Yoda: Serious am I! Another rose, make for me! Dooku: The dark side springs from the heart. It isn’t a handbook for cheap conjuror’s tricks. Yoda: But like this trick, do I! The trick that brings the flower from the ground. The trick that sets the sun on fire.