#I don't even understand the nightsisters

[now-you-sound-like-a-jedi]

Hot take: Mandalorians don't speak Mando’a in the Clone Wars not because of anything that Satine or the New Mandalorians did, but because it's a kids show and it's unreasonable to expect kids to read subtitles for dialogue in another language for entire conversations.

Death Watch does not speak Mando’a either for this exact reason. It's also why the Nightsisters primarily speak Basic to each other and not Dathomirian, even though they do know it.

Like, yeah, I understand the desire to create in-universe explanations for real-world creative/practical choices, but that is a very hit-or-miss approach. Sometimes you do just have to suspend your disbelief and accept that this was done for the benefit of the audience and not for some deeper hidden meaning that you have to extrapolate from nothing.

[thelibrarian1895]

Mandalorians hate Jedi because...

"the Jedi are child stealers" NO

And again I say NO. I saw someone claim this and it absolutely infuriated me.

First point, THE JEDI ARE NOT CHILD STEALERS. That accusation is sithspit anti jedi propaganda. If a parent or guardian told the Jedi no, they didn't want their kid to be a Jedi, the Jedi respected that. They would, however, remove children from danger. But would you call a social worker who took children from environments where they were being molested, starved, beaten, or worse, a child stealer? No? Then don't call the Jedi child stealers for the same actions.

Second point, the average Mandalorian didn't really know or care too much about Jedi. In all honestly, most Mandalorians, like the rest of the galaxy, had no real idea about the difference between Jedi or other force sects like the nightsisters or general darksiders or even the sith except perhaps the color of their lightsabers. Some Mandalorians, like our beloved Din Djarin, knew nothing at all about Jedi and only cared when in became relevant and then did as much research as possible regarding the Jedi. Others, like Jango Fett, had very personal interactions with Jedi and formed their opinions of the Jedi as a whole based on those interactions with no further reason or desire to look further into the Jedi.

Third point, for Mandalorians who studied history or listened to old stories, they knew why the Mandalorians disliked the Jedi and it was for a very simple reason that they liked to avoid actively admitting. That reason? The Jedi kicked the shebs of the Mandalorian armies.

Twice.

Quite possibly there was another point when the Jedi suppressed the Mandalorian empire but there were two times for certain. Granted, the republic played a large part and the Jedi definitely didn't all interfere in one of those two conflicts, and actually actively avoided one of those two conflicts except in a few cases, and there were definitely some terrible things done, but the fact remains that when the Mandalorian empire attempted to expand and basically take over the galaxy, the Jedi were key to stopping this. And no, the Mandalorian empire was not a good thing. But more importantly, if you thought your ancestors or your cultures' armies were in the right and they were beaten, would you like the descendants of those who beat your side?

Fourth point, would you like the side that beat your side if they refused to give you a proper rematch? The Mandalorians who know anything about Jedi know that Jedi have access to all this power, plus generally have a super cool plasma sword, but the Jedi won't fight or they'll de-escalate or generally indulge in pacifistic behavior and we all know how Mandalorians feel about presumed pacifists, right? A Mandalorian denied a fight is often a frustrated Mandalorian. A Mandalorian who sees someone who has all this strength and power often doesn't understand why that person doesn't use that power, doesn't take revenge or slaughter their enemies or a million other things that they would do with such power. So those that don't understand choose to dislike. Why won't the Jedi fight them?! (please imagine the sentence immediately previous spoken in an extremely whiney tone of voice)

Fifth point, the Mandalorians frequently throughout history worked with the Sith or were on the Sith side of conflicts because of a lack of knowledge about force sects meant the Mandalorians didn't generally realize how absolutely stupid it is to side with the Sith but beyond that the Mandalorians often learned about the Jedi from the Sith. So the Mandalorians got stories from the Sith about the Jedi being weak and cold and blah, blah, blah stupid sith propaganda that I don't want to perpetuate. And those Mandalorians would then think themselves Jedi experts, because hadn't they learned about the Jedi from another Jedi? Granted, a dark Jedi but still a Jedi, right? So they'd tell other Mandalorians the propaganda and so the Mandalorians had that Sith skewed idea of the Jedi perpetuated throughout their history.

So the Mandalorians have their own reasons for not like the Jedi, which have NOTHING to do with child stealing, just as the Jedi have plenty of reasons to want to avoid the Mandalorians. Personally though I'm going to blame a lot of those reasons on both sides on the Sith and be grumpy about the Sith and the effectiveness of their propaganda.

And finally, I'm pretty sure at least a tiny bit of the animosity between Mandalorians and Jedi arose from the Mandalorians being jealous that the Jedi had lightsabers and they didn't. To be fair, I'm a little jealous too. Lightsabers are cool.

[jewishcissiekj]

hi let's talk about her

Honestly I have so much to say about her. so much. so here's some of it

-Asajj (NOT VENTRESS THAT'S HER LAST NAME ISTG PEOPLE JUST HATE USING HER ACTUAL NAME AND IDK WHY I GUESS IT'S A COOL NAME BUT ASAJJ IS ALSO A COOL NAME AND)

-Asajj was last seen in canon in the Dark Disciple novel. Where she died. I would never recommend that book to anyone so if you haven't read it yet please don't. In short, after becoming a Bounty Hunter in The Clone Wars she grew out her hair, got a cool yellow Lightsaber and for some reason teamed up with Quinlan Vos to try and kill Dooku. They didn't manage to do it. And Asajj died (was fridged) trying to protect Quinlan. The Bad Batch will not contradict that, as was said by the creators. So this is just a summary for anyone who hasn't read it because I wholeheartedly believe that book is bad

-I have not watched a single Bad Batch episode in my life. As a disclaimer. I started the first one, watched their TCW arc and saw memes screenshots clips and spoilers but I do not know this show. I will watch it now that Asajj's there tho

-She does not have the same outfit anymore! It's a change, and we haven't gotten a clear look at her new design so idk how to judge it yet. Might be to look less recognizable, but it has a very different vibe than any of her prior outfits. There's a leftover shoulder pad and probably some other stuff from her last design but I feel like they kinda clash with the new one and tbb's design language in general. The Bounty Hunter look has a very TCWish feel to it and this one is a sharp turn in another, much more casual direction. I'm not inherently against it but I guess we'll see how it looks in action soon

-In my opinion the hair looks like shit. I don't think she should have hair ever. I don't understand why she can't be bald. Why is she bald when she's evil and has hair when she's a padawan (good) and when she is "redeemed"? guess we'll never know. It's a leftover from the cancelled Dark Disciple TCW arc design (and the Dark Disciple cover and promotional material ofc) and it's bad if you ask me but to each their own and if you like it good for you

-Her Lightsaber!!!!! Same case as the hair in terms of irl development but I like it so much better. The yellow just fits her character and it's pretty. Would love for her to find another one and get back to dual-wielding (I know that won't happen)

-The bag and pouches make me so happy as a design element do you think she carries a (tooka) cat in there

-Now, visually she looks great and the animation style is smoother and nicer than TCW (as is the quality), but what about the direction the character's going in? I didn't like her being dead before, but I felt like it was somewhat better than her being shoved into being a cameo character in new content. If you can't touch her after a certain point, you also can't mess her up. But I do wonder where they're going with her. A few questions:

-Asajj in canon is a directionless character. Also, a partially nonsensical and inconsistent character in her choices and storylines. I've talked about it a lot but in short she just feels messy. What's her purpose in life? Her motive? Her origin story doesn't really make sense, even. She's a Bounty Hunter, sure, but why? If all she wants is revenge on Dooku and maybe money (which was pretty much the case in Dark Disciple), what's she doing after the Empire? And more importantly, why?

-Obviously, the question I haven't asked yet because I don't like it: How the fuck is she alive? Nightsisters have a weird relationship with death but seriously, how?

-She's a Force User after the Rise of the Empire now, so what does he do about that? Is she founding The Path? Fucking around and finding out? Making a not-Jedi-not-Sith order with other force users she finds? Is the Empire after her? Do they know she's live?

-What about her girlfriend? Is Latts Razzi safe? Is she alright?

-Why is she in The Bad Batch show? Are we making her into a cameo character or is there a purpose? Why'd they bring her back? For fun? What is she doing after the show? Floating in dead space? Cameo-ing? Will we have a book?

-OK enough for tonight but if we see Quinlan Vos in the show I'll become violent (/neg). We probably will (he might just get mentioned idk).

[thatgirlinskullz]

i've been reading a lot of reactions and thoughts and reviews of the first 3 episode of Acolyte and i just don't, and cannot comprehend how so many people are just so against this show from the getgo.. some are even reviewbombing other shows and movies called acolyte because they're just so hung up on making this show fail. its sad, to be honest.

Is The Acolyte perfect? No, none of Star Wars is perfect, and i say that as someone who LOVES everything SW that i've seen so far, and if you say that "no, star wars is flawless" you're kidding yourself, but more power to ya i guess. i am not here to argue with anyone on their opinions and i never will, so if thats what you're looking for.. good for you???

anyway, obviously a lot of the "criticism" aka outright hate that Acolyte is getting is rooted in racism, homophobia and misogyny, cuz of course.. BUT ignoring that part, because i just can't deal with that part rn, people are saying that it's "lore-breaking" and that "it destroys anakin's uniqueness and makes him less special" and that it "recycles ideas" or whatever to which i'm just like ??????

i don't see it that way at all.

introducing another witch coven, essentially another religion, that has its own interpretation of the Force is nothing new or lore-breaking to SW. it has been done before when the midichlorians were introduced or when we learned of the Nightsisters and their magiks or when we saw the Mortis arc or The World Between Worlds or when we saw the Force Witches that Yoda meets ??? It doesn't intend on replacing any of the previous concepts we've known so far, it just EXPANDS on the idea of the Force. it builds on it and adds more interpretations.. might i say, "ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW" ?! cuz remember "from a certain point of view" ?? that's been a core idea in SW for so long i don't understand why this is so hard to fathom for some people.

this also connects to the ridiculous idea that the show "makes the Jedi look evil and destroys their significance" or something. people are saying that the Jedi are supposed to be heroes and the Acolyte shows them as invaders who steal children and possibly cover up crimes.. no, i don't see it that way. we've already known from the prequels and the Clone Wars that the Jedi were not perfect and that their beliefs were very limited to their beliefs and nothing else and they acted like they knew the answers when they obviously didn't. aka they were a liiiitttllee bit problematic, even if the core idea of them was to be "keepers of peace", they didn't always succeed or they took measures that may have been questionable to say the least. so showing a different perspective of the Jedi, in a different era, showing that their corruption and downfall was a loooong process and was building over time, just adds to the Jedi's complexity. they're not villains, but they're also not always heroes. to a family whose children they may "invite" to the Jedi Order, they may actually seem like invaders, because THEY ARE kinda enforcing their own religious beliefs and ideas on these people and especially the small, impressionable children. i don't see this as "lore-breaking" or erasing the Jedi's significance as "the good guys", i see it expanding in the idea of the Jedi and adding more depth to them and showing that there DOES need to be a balance between Jedi or Sith, good or bad, light or dark, one cannot exist without the other.

and the way the Twins in Acolyte erase how Anakin was special, how he was supposed to be the only one concieved of the Force? again, i don't see it that way. i see it as: Anakin was concieved BY THE WILL OF THE FORCE, he is still space jesus, HE is meant to bring balance because THE FORCE WANTS BALANCE. the Twins were concieved USING THE FORCE by the will of 2 mothers who wanted children. those two are not the same in my mind. i feel like until this point Anakin was the only one we knew of who'd been made with/by the Force, but that doesn't mean there had never been another similar case before, right? its just that we weren't aware, now we are. plus, knowing that some witches could use the Force to create life, adds to the idea that Plagueis and Sidius were researching creating life and cheating death, it means what they wanted to do was possible, and maybe they came across these exact witches? or their writings? and maybe used some of their techniques to experiment, maybe these techniques are part of how Palpy managed to return.. we don't know yet, but The Mothers creating the Twins doesn't erase any other previous concept or remove the significance if Anakin whatsoever. in my mind at least..

and the idea that "the show is recycling ideas" aka using the idea of twins again.. have you ever heard of a little quote by George Lucas " It's like poetry, they rhyme" ?? this has been a MAJOR part of SW ever since the prequels and they have been making references and nods and parallels between shows/movies/books/games for decades now and i think its a beautiful part of SW because they need to think of things that can work as "rhymes" in the given contexts, and that is ART in my mind..

yeah, the writing and line deliveries are a little wonky here and there, but it wouldn't be Star Wars otherwise. it has never been 100% perfection and that is fine. and i LOVE Star Wars and i will always sing its praises but i also see its flaws but as someone who has spent years in this fandom and has experienced the ups and downs of the franchise, i still don't see the Acolyte as "bad, lore-breaking fanfiction" as some claim it to be.

anyways, that's just my 2 cents, i don't intend to fight with anyone about this, i just needed to get this out of my system.

if you like Acolyte, cool. if you hate Acolyte, cool.

just.. try not to spread the hate too much? that's one part of SW that i am not proud of, how much hate some of can spew even when one of the main points of the franchise is that hate is bad and dangerous.. oh well.

anyway, again, I love Star Wars.

[cosmicmordecai]

I don’t know what is about witch covens and the inherent idea any complications they have with a well-known religious faction of any sort is an allusion they’re getting persecuted ala the Salem Witch Trials but thinking the Acolyte shows the the Jedi actively engaging it and its inherent to them is not only incorrect in terms of Lucas’s “intended vision” of them but the High Republic quite LITERALLY introduced/re-introduces other force sensitive groups.

The Jedi aren’t alone & those groups made it known

The High Republic comics explore other force sensitive groups and in one of the very first issues, it is made clear various force sensitive groups don’t hesitate to remind Jedi that they don’t rule. Now you might think the sentiment means at one point, they’re perceived as that and it may come from SOMETHING but the same is later accused of all those within the Covocation of the Force, a group based on Jedha established to promote dialogue & understanding between different cultures.

The Chairman is a representative of the Church of the Force, notably mentioned in The Force Awakens movie, whom is non-Force sensitive but believes in the Force nevertheless. The Convocation is also joined by other factions including the: Disciples of Whillis, the Lonto, Matukai, Fallanssi, Sorcerers of Tund, Guardians of the Whillis, and of course the Jedi Order. That is nine Force Sensitive groups and a few of them have complex histories.

The Jedi have aren't actually THAT judgmental

In the same second story in the High Republic comic that introduces the Convocation, we see a Yacombre representative apply to join the Convocation and while two of the representatives of both the Fallansai and the Matukai were quick to regard them as a dangerous threat due to their alignment with the dark side, both a Jedi representative's aide and a Lonto representative physically and verbally vouched for them while the Church of the Force and Disciple of Whillis representatives also vouched for them, revealing that the Yacombre have rejected the dark side generations ago and strive to be both neutral and balance and spoke through proxies because that's how they are. We don't learn a whole lot but we see the (then) Jedi representative's aide be among the voice of reason and at no point, does their dark side affiliations, former or current, has her involved in the "oppress the dark side".

Later in the comic series, after dealing with a openly bigot group aiming to cause trouble for them and accuse them of misusing the Force before unleashing a monster that preyed and feeds off Force sensitives, the new Jedi representative (who had a initial bias against Sorcerrs of Tund for a traumatic event as a child, which he works through in the same comic) also advocates for a a independent member who was a former Guardian disgraced for a crime later proven he didn't commit.

Given people are complex and nuanced, it's hard to say NO JEDI EVER could be a bit more judgmental or hold inherent biases or notions because the character development for the eventual new Jedi representative included him working through trauma and learning to disassociate the evil acolyte he encountered as a child from the rest of the Sorcerers of Tund, as it both made him act strange around a simple member of them and later impeded his full connection to the Force in a situation that was life and death for him and others BUT the order, as a whole, is clearly for supporting the allowing, understanding, and respecting fir other force sensitive groups.

This stayed until the very end

What's more, the Prequels Jedi showcased they kept this idea intact: they were okay with the Nightsisters enough, they respected the Bardottans and the Dagoyan Order, and they held high regard for the Guardians and Disciples of Whillis as well as the Church of the Force. This isn’t even addressing the cultures that held the Force highly like the Chalactans, the Miralians, the Lasats, and more, which has influences on both Jedi culture & some of the characters in LEADERSHIP.

Many forget that despite being accused of kidnapping Bardottan children, they left them alone for a millennia and it was MACE WINDU himself whose selfless actions with Jar Jar Binks at his side led Julia to consider the Jedi Order and the Dagoyan Order to interact once again. People were quick to pick out the accusation but not the fact that Mace Windu’s actions rectified that after a milennia & they found themselves wrong about them.

I’ll see posts every week about how so called pro Jedi blogs can’t accept Jedi being “deeply flawed” but blaming a religious minority for shit perpetrated by elected officials of a government, implicitly thinking they simply enabled the behavior, and accusing them of things like child kidnapping & persecution of other religious groups like that’s a flaw when that’s a actual crime is a bit too crazy.

Then it’s done when discussing events in the literal period they were restraining others from jumping down other people’s throats for having connections to the dark side.

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Episode 9 "The Harbinger" Review

Ah Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer... you love to watch us get all worked up don't you? But in all seriousness, I really enjoyed this episode. It's so beautifully animated and scored. I need the Kiners to drop the OST asap because man was the music stunning. (This episode also further proves that Echo clearly was the braincell of the group and I'm cackling).

As always, spoilers below:

BEHOLD! THE RETURN OF OUR QUEEN VENTRESS! I loved how she was utilized. I was surprised to see her actually be there on Pabu, but it makes sense since Fennec told her to find them. However, I am wondering how she did find Pabu. My guess is that Ventress was given Hunter's photo and meditated with it until she felt his presence... somewhere. Or she knew a guy who knew a guy who knew Phee. Everything from Ventress' design to voice acting was perfection. The animators really popped off with her Dark Disciple look. But, how did she survive? Nightsister magic? There's probably some explanation, but it'll be left ambiguous for reasons.

Her relationship with Omega was very well done. She's changed so much since her first appearance in CW. I liked the balance between her ability to still kick butt while also being a good person at heart as shown with Omega. She doesn't kill the Batch even though they got defensive (and I understand why they did). The scene where she calms the giant kraken-like creature was so so good. It's a nice way of showing how Ventress has found the light with the Force. Her line about being on a side of her own was also good and pretty much sums up her character perfectly. She's neither dark nor light, she's just right.

It's also obvious from the title that she's the harbinger. Harbingers are people that herald the approach of someone or danger. For the Batch, she's a harbinger of doom. That doesn't mean she herself brings the danger, but she tells them that their time is up. Repeatedly, she tells the Batch that they aren't safe even on Pabu. Which means that Pabu is gonna go down next week *cue sad yaying*. Even the lighting this episode signified doom. Pabu is shrouded in fog and the only light we see is from a sunset, indicating the end of the Batch's peace and safety.

Speaking of the Batch, they really do share one braincell and even then, it's usually with Echo. It's so awesome to see them work together again in combat. And we got to hear their theme again!! It was so triumphant and such a great moment! I know we'll hear it again, but this was such a good moment. I love that most of their moments were them just watching out for Omega. I know we all joke about the Jango Fett Mandalorian dad genes, but it's so true. Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair love their sister so much. Every time Cross was like "we're not handing her over," I got excited. Omega aside, the smaller moments like Wrecker teasing Crosshair or Wrecker mimicking his brothers were gold.

My favorite moment with the three was when Crosshair threw Hunter and Wrecker's weapons to them. The music went hard and the camaraderie between them is so heartfelt. These brothers will always have each others' backs. (Also, this is the first time we hear Cross call Tech by his name. Tech is still with them, even if it's in their hearts).

And of course there's our sweet bean, Omega. Next week will definitely be about her conflicted over the possibility of being Force Sensitive. It breaks my heart to see her so lost and confused. The Batch can try and help, but they're so out of their depth. I honestly think Omega will go back to Tantiss simply to see if she is capable of using the Force. There are so many questions about her identity. Why was she created? Why is she so important? I know a lot of people now think that she will off with Ventress in the finale if we do get a confirmation that she is force sensitive. Honestly, I hope she stays with her brothers. If they kill the Batch off, then I can see the Ventress end working, but I really hope that's not the case.

I wonder how the Empire will find Pabu. They could get really lucky, find a bounty hunter to track them, or even have a brainwashed Tech. I know the theory about Cross having a tracker or something was popular, but if that was true, then the Empire would've already descended upon them. Maybe Palpatine finds them through the Force; that I would believe. Either way, it will be very angsty and Pabu is doomed. But what do you guys think?

Anyways, that's all I have for now. Let's all prepare mentally for next week. Our little family is gonna need all the therapy and support they can get.

[lykomeraki]

The Ahsoka series should have been animated

Personally I am of the belief that the Ahsoka series should have been animated. It sucks that there is still a belief that animation is just for kids, and live action would draw in a larger audience. Animation brings more range and opportunities that live action just can't capture, and the fact that something is animated does not even slightly mean it is solely for kids. And honestly, viewers of Ahsoka would have had to watch both Clone Wars and Rebels to even understand who half the characters were and why Ezra and Thrawn were important.

There would be a much better range for fight scenes, and the actors apart from a few, like Eman Esfandi, David Tenant (even as a voice actor) and Lars Mikkelsen were very wooden and didn't really bring the characters to life. And that scene in the finale where they're deflecting the shots from the stormtroopers inside the fortress was choreographed horribly. Animation would have allowed for more of the action filled fight scenes we saw in Rebels and Clone Wars.

They also put to much focus on Sabine becoming a jedi, I didn't really see any hints of that in Rebels, and I think it would have been really cool to see her use some of her mandalorian gadgets. and animation would have provided much better opportunities for them to be used like we were able to see in Rebels.

The show was also essentially Rebels season 5. I think that was actually confirmed somewhere (don't remember where though). I think they should have named it differently, like Specter Crew or something. and animation would allow them to include characters like Zeb and Kallus. But unfortunately, much like the Kenobi series Ahsoka ended up being turned into a side character in her own show.

Animation would also provide more opportunities for continuation, as well as making effects like nightsister magic (the way they used this in the show made no sense at all) and explosions fit in better with the setting. Animation also means that you can get acrobatics and fluid movement from the characters you expect them from like Ahsoka, without actors having to worry about prosthetics.

Thoughts?

[breakfastteatime]

hope you don't mind the rant but argh i finally realised why i feel so disconnected to survivor in comparison to how close jfo is to me

spoilers for those who haven't played survivor

but i really dislike major decisions made and i'm gonna babble on a little (i've had like eight panadol and two sleeping meds as of the last hour n a half so if this doesn't make sense that's why)

one that's been swirling around my head ever since i played us that it really felt like they brought cordova back JUST to kill him off. this also ties into my next point that i find bode's betrayal hard to believe as well. every role he had in the story could easily be replaced by someone such as cere, and i felt like the only reason he was there was to have someone for bode to kill to show how really evil he was but respawn didn't want to kill any of the main cast off. he's such a useless character in the plot that killing him off didnt effect anything LMAO

my next major dislike is, understandably, about bode :,) yes i know this can come off as making excuses for a character i was attached to since the trailers dropped but the more i think about it the more i really cannot understand both the timeline and the motive that was behind bode's betrayal. i kind of get the idea he was lax about betraying them UNTIL cal mentioned using tanalorr for the hidden path but according to the echoes you get after the game bodenis plotting and scheming the whole time... plus, you think that his whole motive relies on creating a safe place for kata on tanalorr where no one can find them but also like. you have two (technically three) jedi, a nightsister, and a whole clan of anchorites that kick the empire's ass every day. "will you be able to protect her when the empire comes?" fuckass have you SEEN cal use a lightsaber?? kata is safer with cal then she is bode

dagan was hella underwhelming too which disappointed me tbh i was excited for this high republic jedi to show us all this cool stuff only for him to die in like three seconds 😔

ANYWAY i hope this ain't too long but i'd love to hear your thoughts/criticisms on js bc i love the game and all the little bits are amazing but some of the decisions made have me a bit hrghh

Okay, friend, you asked for it ;)

The decision to bring back Cordova was an unexpected one, but the sight of him makes me cry happy tears every damn time, so it doesn't bother me at all. I take your point re: Cere being able to do everything he does, but part of Bode’s betrayal also hinges on him betraying Cere to Vader, who clearly wants vengeance after Nur (which is SO IN CHARACTER for Vader I can only lol. Petty bitch.), so Bode killing her wouldn't have had quite the same impact.

Because I was so convinced he was dead that him *actually* being dead didn’t strike me as ‘brought back only to die’. I would argue that killing him off did put them at risk of not being able to reach Tanalorr and defintely drove Cal to Nova Garon, but yes… Cordova's character probably lacks development and definitive purpose compared to the others… Although even as I say that, I find myself thinking of the logs he left behind in the various ruins on Jedha and the words of advice and I just can’t get mad. Plus there's that teeny hint that he's been unwell when Merrin asks how he's feeling. I see your points, yes, but I'm not too fussed by any of it.

Moving onto Bode...

So, here’s my interpretation of Bode, based on the post-game echoes and the little nuances that take on a totally new light on a replay. Bode is playing Cal from the very beginning. They are never friends from Bode’s perspective, and he is a master manipulator. He’s a textbook abuser – he lovebombs Cal with compliments and praise to cement their relationship, and does the same with everyone in his family. Plus, he used his knowledge of Cere’s location to further his cause with the Empire.

There’s also a power dynamic at play here because Bode was a Jedi Knight during the war while Cal was still a Padawan. Bode is older and more experienced with the world than Cal. He knows Cal longs for friendship, and he wields that against him more effectively than any weapon. Every action, every word, every choice Bode makes is solely to dig in deeper with Cal so he can and Kata can escape the Empire. Had Cal agreed that Tanalorr would just be for them, *maybe* Bode wouldn’t have betrayed him the way he did, but Bode is well on his way to the dark side because of his attachment to Kata. And Cal very nearly follows him because of his attachments to his family.

To me, this is what the Jedi Order meant by 'no attachments'. Jedi are allowed to love, but when that love becomes all consuming, when it becomes an obsession, that’s when the attachment becomes dangerous. Bode’s story is very similar to Anakin’s, he’s just not as powerful. Hasn’t got those Skywalker genes 😉  

Bode’s motive to me is clear – he *thinks* everything is about Kata, but actually it’s all about him. It’s about his grief and rage and fear because of his wife's death the terrible choices he made. Denvik promises that if Bode gives him what he wants (Cal and Cere), he will reveal which Inquistor murdered his wife. Bode is already in it for revenge, not his daughter's wellbeing. His choices are very pre-meditated. He is a parent, yes, and I can understand that overriding love of a child, but he is also a grieving husband who is so broken by his loss that his love for Kata has become too possessive. He is terrified of losing his daughter, and it eclipses his love for her. Kata is aware of this, and her love is also turning to fear. Bode is neglectful (he's always leaving Kata behind) and bordering on abusive at the end. He trusts no one but himself, and he even asks Cal at the very end if he can protect Kata. Cal says nothing because he knows he can’t – he’s tried protecting so many people, and he’s lost nearly all of them. He won’t make a promise he can’t keep, and that’s what completely breaks Bode. Bode doesn’t believe anyone *but him* can protect Kata because he has become completely consumed with fear and anger. Cal gave him a chance to make a better choice when he disarmed him. In fact, Bode had *so many chances* to make a better choice, and he didn’t. So, when Bode responded by choosing to try and kill Cal, Merrin *and* very nearly his own daughter, Cal had no choice but to put him down – hard. That second shot took my breath away both times I played the game because Cal knows he cannot save Bode and protect the people who matter, and by showing Bode mercy, more people will die. It's also about control - Bode tries to control everyone. Cal knows he can't, so he takes the only option left - killing Bode. Honestly, the more I think about that finale, the more intense it becomes. It's an astonishing moment.

I do wonder if the reason people struggle with Bode is because he is so nice, and he fits in so well, but it’s all fake and it’s all an act. Whether you saw it coming or not, that hurts. Cal – and the player – want so badly for Bode to be better than he is, and that’s the tragedy. Bode’s not capable of that. He has suffered losses just like Cal, but he couldn’t overcome them. It’s a lot to deal with emotionally!

And as for Dagan, I quite like him! Mostly because that final battle with him incorporates my favourite Star Wars thing – WEIRD FORCE SHIT. He’s also a mirror held up to Cal – this is what you could become if your obsession takes over you. I also think his relationship with Santari Khri is meant to show Cal the potential pitfalls of his relationship with Merrin if his attachment overcomes him… but we’ll have to see what happens next…

Gosh this got long. It's always fun to see other people's perspectives and share my own! Hope you've got some rest and feel better soon :)

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

I've given up even trying to ask why Luke, Leia and the others aren't appearing in these galactic events, especially in a time period it makes most sense for them to be involved in. I dislike gratuitous cameos as much as the next person, but some fans don't seem to understand how glaring it is that these characters are absent.

But let's be honest, we know why Luke isn't there. Filoni of all people knows why and he doesn't care. It's what he wanted after all. If it means he can continue stealing from Legends stories like the hack he is, remove original trilogy characters and reduce their relevance for the sake of centering Ahsoka then who's going to stop him?

Not watching this show anyways or giving that transphobic lead actress more attention.

I've been mulling over this for days, even before your ask dropped in. I mean, who really knows how information is disseminated throughout the gffa but I 1) have a hard time believing that the Big Name Heroes of the Rebellion that we followed through the OT wouldn't even be mentioned wherever the New Republic is involved, and 2) have an incredibly IMPOSSIBLE time believing that Luke would not be on any Force user's radar. He is the unstoppable force and immovable object. If you're going to give us a story about ex-Jedi, Nightsisters, magic, and the Force, he is the one Force user you can't fucking ignore. I can understand Ahsoka choosing to actively ignore him for whatever reason when he could be such a powerful ally but I can't understand Skoll and Hati not even acknowledging that he exists on their Force radar. His absence, Leia's absence, Han's absence, Lando's absence, are gonna be so goddamn fucking loud when you're gonna get this fucking close to the New Republic and the likes of Thrawn and the bigger name Imperial remnants, you Felonious Clown.

I'm just here to take some notes on how this guy is making this Star Wars story such a Star Wars story while ignoring the contributions from the Star Wars story that started it all.

[lorrainestea]

Morgan Elsbeth: The Scarecrow

If you follow any of my blogs - this one or @sarcasteacdraws - or just find the Morgan Elsbeth tag under my posts, you probably noticed I often connect my posts with Morgan with song lyrics by Tobias Sammet and his music project "Tobias Sammet's Avantasia". Even from the pieces of lyrics you can make a picture about his work, but I wanted to make a deep dive in one specific album (or more wise trilogy) - The Scarecrow, because the similarities between this story and Morgan Elsbeth's journey are insane.

Tobias composed three albums known as "The Wicked Trilogy" - The Scarecrow, Anger of Babylon and The Wicked Symphony. The trilogy tells the story of the main character simply known as Scarecrow. Scarecrow comes through a lot of pain because of tragic love, he is unhappy, broken hearted, on the bottom of his strength and probably in the darkest places he's ever been. Besides pain, depression and sadness he also feels rage and anger. And this is where Mephistopheles comes to a scene - he uses Scarecrow's weaknesses against him, promises glory, strength and revenge if he offers his soul. And Scarecrow agrees. At first you can hear in the songs how he enjoys the feeling of power in the delusion this will lead to happiness again. By the end of the trilogy Scarecrow realizes he made a horrible mistake. In the moment of weakness he traded himself for something as vain and unstable as power and glory. This battle is lost for him.

Morgan lost everything - her family, home, people and even her own heritage when the magic of Nightsisters left her. She was left scarred forever, she carried the trauma ALONE as there was no one who would understand. People who should take care of her let her down. It left so much pain and she wanted revenge. Rage and contempt were Morgan's guidance aside with her ambitions.

So yes, she is a perfect Scarecrow.

And who is Mephistopheles then?

It's simple - Thrawn.

Thrawn saw in Morgan an opportunity when no one else gave her a chance. He showed a real interest in what she wanted to achieve and thanks to his brilliant mind, he somehow made Morgan trust him and give him her devotion. Both Mephistopheles and Thrawn are smart enough to in final get what THEY want by supporting Scarecrow's/Morgan's hate and encouraging them to act in their rage. They feed the anger so it became an attachment and both Scarecrow and Morgan are stuck in place, blinded by their hate instead of finding how to heal.

In the song "The Toy Master" (sung by Alice Cooper - Mephistopheles and Tobias Sammet - Scarecrow) there is a part where Mephistopheles says: "I'm dealing in pain" which is a great parallel to Thrawn's line "Offer accepted" when Morgan offers her anger. And later there a verse in which Scarecrow responds "It's their turn to crash and burn" and again, parallel to "My world has been burning since I was a child, why this one should be different?"

It Tales of The Empire sadly is no deep dive in Morgan's and Thrawn's relationship so this is more of my theory and point of view. However it would actually make sense, don't you think? Thrawn is clever and think is much larger spectrum than the other Imperials. He sees in Morgan a potential - as long as her desire for revenge and the old pain buried under her anger live. She is basically willing to do anything, even risk it all and build a hyper space ring to travel in another galaxy because she believes Thrawn is alive. Her devotion makes her believe in him and his survival even though everyone else thinks she is just crazy.

And later on Peridea Morgan also realizes she maybe lost everything, same as Scarecrow lost his soul. For some reason (Filoni explain!) Thrawn left her behind and sends Morgan to death. She dies knowing she never felt peace again and she will never find it, she will never turn her pain in bringing her people back, she will never have a chance to finally let go of her attachment and that she probably served as another insignificant piece of Thrawn's mastermind plan. Who else would have the ability to help in such a hopeless situation then obeying, devoted, loyal Nightsister he let taste power and glory for some time?

And no, I'm not saying Morgan would achieve nothing without Thrawn - she was already a Magistrate when they met, but I think if he never got her a chance, maybe she would find a new purpose as she would slowly heal. Perhaps she would stop living in the past as she would realize causing pain to others can't change what happened and it can't change anything now.

Both Scarecrow and Morgan are tragic characters that can't be excused for causing so much pain to others, but they can be understood - they were hurt and the smart game master encouraged them to stay this way.

[jewishcissiekj]

The Rattatak origin for Asajj and Ky is very important to me because there's something so special about this bond between someone who's been raised to fight, whose parents were warlords, and a Jedi, a peacekeeper. That part is present in the canon origin, but not as much, and is only brought in later on, with Dooku: Jedi Lost's expansion on their story (which draws from the Rattatak origin so much!!!). I also think that, while Asajj is lost as a character, she should think she's right. She should think she has things backing her, at all times. Having her legacy of war and becoming a warlord herself on Rattatak means so much to her and TCW just... misses that point. The way I understand her, which is my interpretation from everything about her in Legends, she strives for power even though she has a lot of it. She has a castle on Rattatak, at least one loyal guard, a prison, and a life. Republic #60 presents this unexplored part of her story that actually adds so much to the depth of the character. She didn't choose it, not at first, but she uses the power Dooku gave her, and she has power of her own.

There's something about her in her (only) 12 Legends comic issues that gives her much more independence and character depth than I feel TCW has ever done. She is a blind servant of power, of Dooku, yes, but there's more of her. another thing that almost doesn't exist in canon, and doesn't exist in TCW at all, is Asajj and Ky's role on Rattatak.

"On her own, Asajj would have died. Left to his own devices, the stranger would have undoubtedly been captured and killed. But together they became something our world had never known... They became heroes. They ended wars and united armies. And as their legend grew..." -Osika Kirske, Republic #60

In TCW, Ky's a savior to her most of all. Rattatak isn't that much of a hostile and unfamiliar environment, and Dooku: Jedi Lost even implies he could have taken Asajj to Coruscant. But here, it's their partnership that saved them both. And they weren't only partners, they were heroes to Rattatak, a land of war and conflict. It's important that she's more than a Jedi. Rattatak was her life, not a place she as taken to as a baby. It's also important that she is from Rattatak (while Ky isn't), to not be a, you know, foreign (white) savior story. Another quote from Kirske in Republic #60 while I'm at it, about Asajj after she met Dooku.

"After her mentor's death, Ventress assembled an army. She learned new tricks from other off-worlders. She waged war on us all... She killed or captured all who would oppose her..."

Again, I don't think her being from Rattatak gives her any more right to conquer the planet (which she didn't do in TCW because god forbid she does anything but look sexy while fighting Obi-Wan in season 1), but it does make sense for her. Meeting Dooku changes her perspective, and while she still views herself as a Jedi, she feels she has more right to be a Jedi than Obi-Wan or anyone else (calling him a false Jedi). I don't think George Lucas thought all of that through when he said he wanted to make Asajj a Nightsister. Hell, I don;t think he read Republic #60. I think elements from that issue were even incorporated into the show in the first place because they just had to fill the gaps. Still, I talk a lot about how I hate that retcon and I truly do, but I never really explained it. Can't imagine this was clear as a rant but I did just want to write some of this down.

Lastly, just the concept of a fully grown Jedi learning from and teaching this feisty child how to fight in this war and how to be on this planet is. priceless. I love it.

[twin-sun-archives]

Nightsister Gem’s Journal

Day 2

An undead vessel is an unstable one. You don’t carry the water of life in a shattered pot. Why did she choose me? The power that sustained me was tearing me apart, it needed to be stabilized. I searched the temple ruins for any remaining grimoires from the fire, possibly an amulet or talisman i could channel the energy of the goddess into. No, no physical item from man can withhold the power of the raw force. Attempting the first spell was when the hunger started. The spirits always demand their depts to be paid, and this spirit within me, was hungry. I could not control myself when two Zabrak warriors came surveying the wreckage for survivors. The hunger took them, the winged goddess did. When i came too and realized the cost of my actions, a part of me was disgusted, scared even, but what i truly felt was an odd feeling of a satisfaction. Not from the hunger, or goddess being sated, but something ive come to understand that happened in my first life. It was a Zabrak that took my life from me in the first place. I should have felt remorse for killing those men but I would do it again, to anyone who stepped foot in the mist. My humanity faded with my memories, i know if i don't figure out how to seal this power inside of me it will destroy me or all of dathomir. At least what’s left of it that is.

[kimageddon]

A Prince of Dathomir - Chapter 117

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Maul x Nightsister OC (Zaiya Valessa) - Slight Canon Divergence

Word count: Approx 3300

Contains/Warnings: Death, violence, blood, child death.

Chapter Summary: Zaiya and Feral find some Jedi for the hunt.

Notes: So... hi. It's been a hot minute... or 6 months... Well then. This is awkward. As it turns out, my burn out was a bit more severe than anticipated. But here we are! So, what's been happening in my absence? I had a few wonderful comments and check ins from readers asking if I plan to update.... I think this answers that question. As for the rest, uh... I was nearly made homeless, moved house, drew a bunch of stuff, deleted a bunch of social accounts and went ghost for a bit... had a massive breakdown, then put my big girl pants on and decided to try writing again. Next thing I know, I have written like 5+ full chapters. So that was cool. As for APOD and Sins, I don't think I'll be able to keep up with a weekly schedule again, as much as I would love to. But we'll see how we go with it.

Did ya miss me?

Hunt - Part 1

So often when the other Masters and Padawans would go out on assignment with their clone battalions, while Farley Korro was left at the Temple to meditate, only hearing about all the action days after it happened. 

Not today! 

He and Master Avona Teller had been assigned to a small mission, not his first, but among the very few he’d been granted permission to attend alongside Master Teller. He assumed it was because she didn't have enough faith in him yet.

It bothered him sometimes. Yeah, he was still young, but he was a Padawan, not a youngling! Farley was a little frustrated, he wanted to be a good Padawan and an even better Jedi… but he didn’t always see eye-to-eye with his Master. She seemed to see the Force differently to him. Maybe it was because she was Umbaran? As a species, they tended to perceive the worlds in a different way to humans. Maybe that was why Farley sometimes found it more difficult to understand his Master?

“Keep up, young one,” Master Teller’s smooth and calm voice cut through his mind and he realised he’d been lost in thought again. “Keep your mind on what you’re doing, my Padawan.” I have told you this a thousand times. Her tone was gentle but firm. 

“Yes, Master,” Farley replied brightly as he adjusted his pack and hurried his pace to catch up. Another thought occurred to him as he reached her side, “Master…?”

“Yes?” Master Teller asked knowingly. 

“You’re Umbaran.” 

“Astute observation, Farley,” Master Teller replied dryly. 

“I mean,” he continued, “your people, your homeworld, they’re… Separatists.” 

“They are,” she replied with a sage nod. 

“Doesn’t it bother you? They are your people after all.”

“We are Jedi,” she began calmly, it was rare she ever raised her voice, though Farley could tell when she was disappointed in him. “We are more than just Separatist or Republic.” 

“But we serve the Republic,” Farley replied, confused. 

“Yes we do, but that does not mean we are the Republic,” she gestured to the path ahead, “I am Jedi. To be Jedi means the individual and the group are one and the same. We are with the Force and the Force is with us.”

“So without the Republic, the Jedi would still exist?" Farley asked, trying to get his head around it.

"Correct."

"So if the Republic were to disappear and something else -"

“A grim thought, but yes, that is the idea,” Master Teller conceded. Farley frowned. What would that even look like? A Galaxy with no Republic? He couldn’t really picture it. Though, he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to, considering his Master was always telling him to remain in the present. 

“I guess…” While he was contemplating it, his Master interrupted his distracted thoughts again. 

“What is our mission here, Farley?” the Jedi Knight asked serenely. Farley patted the strap of his pack and smiled. 

“Delivering aid to the Troopers and civilians.” He grinned, as he finally felt a part of the action. Sometimes he felt it wasn’t fair. Other Padawans like Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano got to go out in the field and have amazing adventures so often. He tried not to feel jealous… but sometimes, he couldn’t help it. 

Today however, he had the important task of bringing a pack full of rare herbs to a local village so that they could make a very special healing salve, one the Jedi thought lost to time. 

A small squad of Troopers were sent ahead to protect the village while he and Master Teller had been sent to collect the special herbs. The village elder was going to assist them in making the medicine and bring it back to the Temple. It wasn’t a lot of excitement, but the chance to work with some Clone Troopers and finally be able to be a Commander! That was something he’d been waiting for. 

He was going to finally be a part of the war; fighting for the Republic and stopping the Separatists! 

The teenager picked up his pace and continued along the path; his head filled with visions of glory and fighting bad guys. Yes he was a Jedi, and they weren’t supposed to have such silly little fantasies, but the Jedi were known as “Heroes of the Republic” and he wanted to be one too. 

Suddenly everything went dark. 

It was like smoke had flooded the forest. Farley couldn’t see a thing. 

“Master!” he cried. He heard the sound of a lightsaber. He could make out Master Teller’s bright green blade through the darkness. 

“Run Farley!” she implored, and though Farley did not want to, he obeyed her. He had to get to the village and deliver the medicine. 

He leapt along the path, his heart demanding that he turn back around, that he help his Master! The village was not far, if he could get help-- Another flash of green -- but it wasn’t Master Teller’s lightsaber. 

An unsettling face stared back at him, inches away and he recoiled with a start. One blue eye, one glowing green and long white braids, dressed in red and black. He knew her from the holos and from the discussions he’d overheard between Master Teller and Master Shaak Ti. 

“S-Siren…!” he gasped. The tall woman pulled back, a single long, curved knife in her hand. it had green flames flickering over the blade. 

“Padawan,” she replied, assessing him with the tilt of her head. Her voice made him shudder, there was something about the way she spoke that made the Force ripple around him. 

“You don’t scare me,” he cried, reaching for his own weapon and tossing the pack aside. “There is no fear.” The Siren's eyes never left him, but she noticed his focus on the pack.

“What is your mission out here, child?” she asked, rather calmly. Was this some trick? Master Kenobi said she was aligned with the Sith!

“Like I’d tell you anything,” he retorted, taking the defensive stance Master Teller had taught him. She let out a sigh, but her eyes tracked him like a predator. He recalled another Jedi noting something about how this Siren was not human, and the way she watched him with absolute stillness confirmed it. She was creepy. When she did move, it was fluid, almost feline, predatory. She made him feel like prey.

She was scary to look at: her scarred face, spiralling yet jagged tattoos and that steady gaze. She looked like some kind of monster from a youngling story book. Just like the kind of witch that might eat children, towering over him with her evil mismatched glare. 

“You are a child,” she hissed with a curled lip. “Why would the Jedi send children into warzones?” Clearly she was unimpressed with what she considered a lack of a challenge. Farley had enough of being toyed with, left behind and underestimated. He let out a cry as he launched himself at the witch. 

“I’ll show you what this child can do.”

----

The colours in the Force changed, right before the attack. Lights sparking in reds and yellows moments before the Jedi Knight was set upon by her unknown attacker and her physical vision went dark. She had called for her Padawan to get clear-- she was not sure of the extent of the danger, and their mission came first. The medical supplies were the most important. Farley had to get them to the village, Avona had to hold off the enemy. She was the Master. She would protect her Padawan.

The man was revealed as he launched through the now clearing smoke, Avona saw that he was Zabrak: though little of him could be seen, only a set of distinctive horns. His face was partially covered from the nose down by a cloth mask. She did not recognise the patterns in his ochre skin, but she recognised the anger in his eyes. The hatred. The colours of light that flared and faded in the Force as he moved with all the grace of a seasoned warrior. 

He struck at her with a curved blade, flaming green, the shade similar to her own lightsaber. It sliced mere inches from her pale face. Her equally pale eyes darted to him as her blade clashed against his. When it met with her saber, she couldn’t cut through it.

His movements were swift and full of rage. The colours flashed around him in lights that only she could see. Her connection to the Force was steeped in the hues of the living world: she perceived it uniquely and unlike most other Jedi. The colours warned her with a spark that allowed her to anticipate her enemy's movements.

The young Zabrak was angry, though she had no idea why, nor did she have time to think. Avona’s training ensured she stayed in the moment. But she was aware that this Zabrak was unfamiliar. 

She fought him back with swift and measured movement. He dove left, she blocked. He swung a kick to her chest, she backflipped. She waited for a break in his guard, after a flurry of strikes, and she hit back. 

He was a brilliant warrior, but unrefined. He was vicious, but untrained in the way of lightsaber combat. It did not mean he was not a strong match for her -- as she quickly realised when she saw the spark too late and was shoved back hard against a huge tree by an unseen blast of pressure. 

He could wield the Force.  Who was this warrior?

"What is it you want?" she bellowed at him. She reached out in the Force, sensing the proximity of her enemy, and her Padawan. The Zabrak before her did not speak, but his pale and almost translucent, colourless eyes glared at her. It gave away his desires.

To kill. 

She sensed her Padawan some distance away, but not nearly far enough! Had neglected to obey her instructions again?

She leapt back from the Zabrak assassin and turned, only to witness a white-haired figure, fending off Farley’s lightsaber attacks. He was in danger.

She moved to rush to his aid, but the assassin stepped into her vision, the wicked blade driving downward. Avona only just blocked it. She required focus. This warrior was no match for her in battle. She was a Jedi Knight, skilled in the art of combat. She needed to put him down quickly, so she could assist her Padawan.

She dug in her heels, and faced him, raising her blade. She charged. It was life or death -- she had to kill him. 

----

A child. 

The boy was a child! Little older than the Togruta Zaiya had met some weeks ago. It wasn’t supposed to be a child! 

Zaiya fended off the attacks from the miniature Jedi with relative ease, though he had been trained very well. Why had Feral insisted on taking on the Knight? Why had the Jedi sent out a child for this?!

There were supposed to be two Jedi but no one mentioned he was a kid! She grit her teeth and kept the younger one at bay while she tried to figure a way out. If she really focused, she could kill him rather easily, but she wasn’t trying to. Surely the Knight was enough. She could help Feral… then they could go! Just leave the human behind, he could finish whatever mission he was on. 

Maul could get mad later, but she was not planning to kill him. She was just going to keep the kid out of the way so Feral could finish his fight. A quick glance told her he was keeping his own for now, but this Jedi was clearly skilled. 

“I’d rather not kill you, kid,” she said, looking down at him. There was something in his eyes that unsettled her. Something that reminded her of someone else. 

A long time ago. 

“I won’t go down without a fight,” he replied confidently and slashed at her knees. She leapt back, circling the boy while keeping her blade high. He was feisty, and strong willed… he also had the classic streak of arrogance she had seen in many Jedi she had met. It might have been too late for him. 

“How about you put the weapon down before you hurt yourself?” she retorted and gave him a shove with the Force, knocking his legs out from under him, though she didn’t chase him, just watched him tumble. 

He leapt to his feet with a competent, yet slightly clumsy back spin, and circled around to protect the backpack he’d tossed away. 

“I won’t let you take the medicine,” he warned, slashing at her side. She twisted away, deflecting the blow. 

“I don’t have any interest in your medicine, boy,” she snorted back at him. 

“Liar. You’re a traitor to the Republic!” he growled, his mouth curling in determination. 

“Can’t be a traitor if I never believed in it in the first place,” she countered, kicking him back again, if she could at least knock his weapon away-- 

“Argh--!” She heard Feral cry out, and Zaiya was distracted, seeing Feral clutching at his arm. The boy charged; only to be met with a wave of the Force, mingled with green smoke as Zaiya leapt to the aid of her brother. 

The pale Jedi swung her blade down to deliver the killing blow -- when Zaiya’s blade blocked its target. 

“Not today, Jedi,” she hissed. The Jedi’s eyes widened, as she too recognised Zaiya. 

“The Siren…” 

Zaiya shoved her back and began to circle, while Feral stumbled to his feet behind her. 

“My reputation precedes me, I see,” the Nightsister responded grimly. 

“Master!” the boy cried, rushing forward to aid the woman. 

“Stay back, Farley,” the woman warned calmly, holding out a hand, but not looking away from Zaiya. “Take the medicine and go.” Her instructions were clear, steady. Zaiya saw no reason to interfere with Farley's orders. By the time he reached the village and alerted the Republic troops they had scouted, the Jedi would be dead. She and Feral would be gone.

The boy hesitated. After a moment turned to grab his pack and run. At least he knew when to listen.

The Jedi - an Umbaran from what Zaiya could tell - regarded the equally pale Dathomirian with narrowed eyes. 

“You are… different than I expected,” the Jedi said slowly. What was that supposed to mean?

“Sorry to disappoint,” Zaiya said sarcastically. 

“There is conflict in you.” Immediately Zaiya’s expression hardened and she curled her lip. How dare this Jedi think she knew more about her than herself! Conflict?!  

“Is there.” She spoke flatly, more a challenge than a question. 

“Where’s the other one?” Feral asked from behind her. 

“A Padawan is no test of skill, the Knight will do,” Zaiya replied sharply, leaving no room for argument. The Jedi gave her an infuriating, knowing look. 

“What is your name, Jedi?” Zaiya demanded, before Avona could speak.

“Why do we need her name? We’re just going to kill her,” Feral snarled. He blamed the Jedi for attacking his brothers, hurting them… for not saving them, or any of the other Nightbrothers. But he also held true to the Nightbrother belief of strength prevailing. For him, he had begun a challenge, and now he must win. 

“An opponent must be respected,” she told him. “We must remember the dead.” The Jedi regarded her coolly. 

“I am Jedi Knight, Avona Teller. If you are to kill me, may I at least know the names of my murderers?” she asked with a calm only a Jedi could hold. At least a Jedi would not grovel and beg for life. 

They did not fear death. Feral gave a snort behind her, he was not so in touch with the spiritual aspect of death, but he respected Zaiya enough to honour her wishes, she knew. 

“I am Feral of the Nightbrothers of Dathomir.” 

“You know my name,” Zaiya began but the Jedi Avona just looked at her. 

“I know the name you use as a title… What is your true name?” It was a bold question. No one but the family knew her name. Did it matter now? She had left Dathomir. Avona was about to die…

“Zaiya,” she said, keeping her blade in the ready position, “Zaiya Valessa, formerly of the Lu’Lupta Clan.” Her face was impassive, but a hint of amusement curled at the edge of her lips. 

“Zaiya Valessa,” Avona repeated. Zaiya grimaced, her name sounded wrong coming from this Jedi, souring the entertainment she felt at this Jedi’s presumptuousness. Still, it felt correct at least that Avona would be granted this respect. She was a worthy opponent after all. 

“Avona Teller,” she replied, “you are going to die.” She stepped back, ready to let Feral finish what he started when she heard a cry to her left. 

She saw a flash of plasma and jerked her blade up instinctively. Only to realise it was the boy. 

The Padawan. 

He gasped and sputtered, coughing up blood as his lightsaber dropped and his eyes lowered to Zaiya’s curved blade buried in his chest. 

“No,” Avona lamented and Zaiya heard the Force around them become a torrent of pain and rage and sadness. The once calm Umbaran launched at her and Zaiya could only stare at the boy with wide eyes at the end of her blade. 

What was he doing?! Why had he not fled as he was told?! 

Feral intercepted the strike meant for Zaiya, pushing the distraught Jedi back with all the fierceness of a warrior. Zaiya pushed the shock aside, the rage rising in her. 

Idiot! Foolish child! What was he thinking?! She withdrew her blade slowly, and he fell back onto the mossy ground. His brown eyes searching, his face contorted in pain. He was fading fast, but he was suffering. 

She heard a cry and leapt to one side, avoiding Avona’s blade by mere inches. The boy’s condition had to wait. 

----

No… 

Farley. 

She couldn’t let this happen. Everything moved so fast. One moment, all was calm, she was talking them down. It was just her, and the two Zabraks. Farley was safe. Why did he come back?

Avona attacked. She had to keep the panic at bay, she had to save her Padawan. The colours of the Force flared in sharp, frantic blasts. Her emotions were too raw to be fully controlled. Farley. She had to protect him.

The Nighsister was a traitor to the Republic. She had stabbed Farley. Her Padawan. A child. Her vision was filled with the clashing of green on green as the offending witch faced her. Avona let out a cry as she charged. 

She flipped back to get some distance, if she could grab him-- 

But Siren was too quick, closing in and slashing at her. Avona blocked, pushing the witch back to attack again-- 

“Ahh!” she cried out as pain bloomed across her back. The Jedi stumbled. Another cut across her arms, and her grip faltered. No. Farley. Her breath caught as she felt agony searing in her middle. The long blade of Feral’s weapon stuck out from her belly. The marked warrior and traitorous witch had bested her. She tried to reach for her weapon, but her knees gave out. 

Avona collapsed; her vision and the colours began to fade. 

As she stared at the sky, her pain began to dissipate. Her training had cushioned her fall into death, but she couldn't go. 

Not yet. 

She sensed Farley's life-force draining across from her: it wouldn't be long now, until he was ready. She was determined to wait for him, to guide him one last time. They could return to the Force together.

She reached out to him, calming, soothing. 

I'm here. Then she stretched herself across the galaxy, in the Force and the spectrum of colours. She called to her, one last time. Vibrant memories of burnt orange skin, a soft embrace. Warmth, acceptance, a lifetime of neglected touch. A vow to something bigger than them all. 

As Avona lay dying, committed to her order until the very last moment, she made her final promise, and knew that Shaak-Ti could hear her.

I will find you.

Notes: For those of you paying attention, the Jedi and Padawan are not in fact mine, but belonging to the amazing, the talented, the legendary @eloquentmoon - if you haven't checked out their stuff on tumblr or AO3 then I would offer a recommendation. Moonie is a phenomenal writer and has actually written a piece for me as a gift of Maul and Zaiya and wow, it really knocked my socks off. Check her stuff out if you have a moment.

As always I ask for comments, reblogs or the like. I love feedback, it really helps in the creative process and I very very very much appreciate any and all comments of support.

If you wanna support me further in my artistic or otherwise creative endeavours, check out my Patreon. I hope you all have a fantastic day!

----

Tags: (If your name is crossed out then check your settings or username -- Tumblr is not letting me tag you!) @alwayssnivellus @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @ashotofspotchka @justalittletomato @nahoney22 @eloquentmoon @stardustbee @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius @rain-on-kamino @bacarasbabe @lifeless-being @lazarithebellydancingmime @robotswithscarves @herbalinz-of-yesteryear

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[jessepinwheel]

happy may the fourth as a treat here's the entire uncut first chapter of race condition for you to chew on while I spend the next year or so finishing the story

All interrogations are kind of the same. The walls have slightly different coloring or there's a few chairs more or less, but in the end it's always a depressing room you're not allowed to leave, locked in with a person who thinks you've done something wrong and will do just about anything to get you to admit it.

It's not really about truth at that point. By the time you're under the hot lights, they've already decided you'll swing and are just waiting for you to supply the right noose. They know the game. They can twist your words around until they've got you saying things you never did or even thought of, anything so long as they can pin you and send you off to rot. It's like that every time--they'll tell you it isn't, but they're lying. You don't make friends in an interrogation.

I sat there, cuffed, across from a man with the same face as mine and sad eyes that could break even the hardest heart straight down the middle. He didn't look like a High General or a Master Jedi or an interrogator--he looked like a tired man who was trying his best, and maybe that's what he was. Maybe it really was breaking his heart to have to handle me this way, but it didn't matter. I'd known my plans would hurt people, even decent ones like him, and that made me sorry, but not sorry enough to stop. If he was anything like me, he would understand in the end. Maybe not enough to forgive me, but I wasn't doing all this for forgiveness.

At that point, we'd been at it for at least two hours, going around in circles. He was good at the questions game, but I was good at being difficult.

"Obi-Wan," he said in that Coruscanti accent of his. "Why did you do it?"

"You'll have to be more specific, dear," I replied.

"Infiltrating the army. Sabotaging Republic military engagements and stealing classified information. Collaborating with Sith. What's the point? What's your goal?"

I shrugged. "I didn't tell you the first ten times you asked, Master Jedi, so I don't see why you think I'll tell you now."

"I'm trying to understand," he said. "You're a reasonable man. You're loyal and intelligent and kind. Why would you betray everyone like this?"

It was flattering, I guess, that he thought so highly of me, despite what I'd done to him and was still planning to do in the near future.

"Betrayal only depends on your point of view, doesn't it?" I asked.

His brow furrowed. "Then what is your point of view, Obi-Wan?"

"You won't believe me," I said, leaning in towards him. "But Master Kenobi, I am trying to save the Jedi."

---

That's not where the story starts.

The story starts a lot earlier on a small trash-covered world on the Outer Rim called Lotho Minor. I'd never heard of it before a witch's Dark talisman had led me there. Even feeling the Force twine tightly around it as I approached, I had a hard time believing that anyone would end up on such a hellhole planet, much less stay there for any amount of time, though I suppose that hadn't been a choice. It wasn't my place to say how the Nightsisters' Dark magic worked, and wasn't as if Lotho Minor had a lot of functioning ships to go around.

It was obvious even from atmosphere that Lotho Minor was not a beautiful planet. Its entire surface was mottled gray and brown, covered over with refuse from other systems--the natural result of interstellar transport being simpler and cheaper than efficient recycling measures. Clouds of steam wafted off of the mountains of trash, either from the planet's natural heat or from bacterial decomposition. I landed my ship on the most stable-looking pile I could find and it creaked and cracked precariously under the weight. It didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

I stepped out of the ship, and even with a respirator the smell was revolting. From where I stood, the steam rising from the unpleasantly warm mountains of trash became endless fog that made it hard to see further than maybe a hundred meters and the sky was stained deep red from all the atmospheric contaminants. The very ground had an unsettling texture from the mix of broken droids and discarded electronics and rotting clothes and food, squelching under my boots on one step and crunching under the next. None of it felt very stable, and I could hear the low rumbling sound of piles shifting and resettling in the distance. I didn't like to think what could be hidden in these enormous mounds--they almost certainly didn't bother to sort their sharps or biohazards in a place like this. Not a safe place, indeed.

I ventured out, following the witch's talisman as its Force pressed against my mind and tugged me forwards. It was not a comfortable sensation--it felt almost like a compulsion and a malicious one at that, trying to claw into my psyche. It had been uncomfortable before, when I had reached orbit, but it was much stronger now that I was planetside, like an invasive weed putting roots through the back of my mind. It felt like obsession, as much of the Dark Side did, and it tried to push me faster and into recklessness.

I breathed deep and took hold of the feeling, then with a practiced hand, excised it. I was not a Master of anything, of the Force or the Light or the Dark, but only I controlled myself and I'd gone through too many of my own angers and obsessions to let someone else's undo me. I was here because I wanted to be, and I would go where I needed to in my own time.

Slowly and carefully, I descended the mountain, watching out for jagged edges and uneven footing all the while. The talisman led me through to a cave which appeared to be the hull of an ancient starship, corroded by chemical waste and partially collapsed from the weight of all the refuse piled on top of it. It was easier to navigate inside than outside--at least the floor was less likely to fall apart beneath me--but there was something supremely creepy about a dead dark rotting starship with all the systems down. Like walking through a towering corpse.

I lit a glow stick and held it out. Small device casings were littered everywhere, shucked for any valuable components and discarded. There were dark streaks across the floors, which I could only assume was blood or other body fluids, and heavy scrapes and scratches across the metalwork like from enormous claws. A few parts of the corridors looked like they had been haphazardly slashed with a lightsaber--out of anger or frustration, if I had to guess.

Even without the talisman, I felt I was close. The Force grew colder with the Dark Side the further I went, flowing slowly and thickly like sludge. It clung to me as I ventured deeper, like hands trying to drag me down into a deep dark hole where I couldn't escape. Someone had hurt here, very badly and for a very long time. I didn't like to think about the implications.

I followed the tracks back to what may have once been the ship's command center. Through the door, there was a muffled humming sound of a working generator. The door jammed slightly when I pushed, and I had to lever my mechanical hand against the frame to get it open. The inside reeked of death.

The first thing I noticed was a jury-rigged broadcasting box sitting on what used to be the data terminal dashboard. It was pretty big, large enough that I wouldn't be able to get both arms around it, and it seemed powerful, like the long-distance transmitters used for distress signals. Chances were, that was its intended purpose, though it wasn't currently operational--my ship would have received the transmission.

The second thing I noticed were the piles of discarded food containers and small animal bones and rotting skins littered across the floor. It seemed that even on a planet that consisted of only refuse, there was still a little sustenance to be found, whether it was refused packaged foods or vermin. Having scavenged for food in much the same way in the past, I could sympathize, though even I would balk at having to survive on it for as long as the size of the piles implied.

The third thing I noticed was the body.

It lay in the corner of the room, a Zabrak with red skin and black tattoos that were stark even under the dim light. It was sprawled on a mass of twisted metal, and it was only when I stepped closer that I realized the body was missing a bottom half.

"Oh, Maul," I murmured. "What happened to you?"

Maul remained senseless as I approached him. He was breathing shallowly and I could still feel the Force moving within him, so he was alive, though not by much. Closer inspection revealed the pile of metal was not droid refuse as I had suspected, but an actual cybernetic prosthesis, a grotesque one with too many limbs. It seemed to have been grafted directly to Maul's abdomen, without even a proper neural port or other surgical mount.

I grimaced. My experience with cybernetics was limited to what was necessary for my mechanical hand, but it didn't take an expert to realize that a bad surgery and a non-matched species prosthesis made for a very bad time.

I took it apart. I didn't really have a choice--Maul was clearly in no state to move himself and there was no way to carry both Maul and his enormous arachnid lower half all the way back to my ship. He could get a new prosthesis--a proper one--after we got off this hellish planet.

I was careful, but there's only so much you can do with a prosthesis that isn't designed for removal and I felt Maul's Force curling in pain as I used my multi-tool to cut connections and pry away layers of metal. It took maybe an hour to strip everything down to the crude socket, an ugly thing like a ragged and open wound in durasteel alloy. Looking at it directly, it was obvious that Maul had not had the luxury of a proper cybernetic technician, nor of any sort of post-op care. The socket was badly fitted, chafing against inflamed scar tissue all around his abdomen, and the prosthesis itself didn't look like it had been serviced once in the last decade. Maul's entire experience with cybernetics must have been excruciating.

I pulled my cloak off to make a sling for carrying Maul back to the ship, and it was in the middle of easing him into it when his eyes snapped open, the Force around him swirling like tongues of fire.

His red-and-gold gaze directly met mine and his lips curled back into a snarl. "Kenobi."

So at least he remembered me. They didn't seem like good memories.

I couldn't feel the Force the same way that Jedi did, but I didn't need that to feel the utter hatred spiraling out of him. I felt him lash out with the Force, whether trying to choke me or otherwise, and I tightened my grip on him.

"Maul," I said. "Calm down. I'm getting you off this planet."

Maul screamed something at me that sounded like a threat of bodily harm, which was pretty impressive considering his physical state.

I didn't have the time or energy to deal with it. I wanted to be off this planet as soon as possible, and the last thing I needed was Maul trying to strangle me on the way there. I pressed hard against Maul's diaphragm, driving the air out of him, and pushed my Force to my voice and said, "Sleep."

Maul flinched from the command, the scream dying in his throat.

"Sleep, Maul," I said, the Force vibrating through my words. It sank into him easily--he was too unbalanced or too unaware to keep it out. "You're safe now. I'm getting you out of here. Sleep."

Maul growled at me again, fighting it, but his eyes slipped closed as unconsciousness took him. When he was well and truly asleep, I secured him in the sling across my back. He was feverish and one of his horns dug uncomfortably into my shoulder, but he was so light that he was easy to carry--and not just because of the missing legs. He needed a lot of care, the professional kind. He needed it a long time ago.

"All right," I said, more to myself than to him. "Let's get off this dump."

---

I'm not a fan of hyperspace.

I'm not a fan of space travel in general, but hyperspace is the worst--it's a big reason why I settled down in Coruscant ten years ago with the intention of staying indefinitely. Hyperspace is empty and endless, and for someone like me who can feel the Force a little bit but not nearly enough, it's like staring straight into a black hole.

Dead and dark.

The only good thing about hyperspace was that it was dead time with nothing better to do, which meant I could finally sit down and think about what the hell was going on.

I had a lot of questions. I'm not unobservant--I can tell when things don't add up, and at the moment, a lot of things were not making sense. Least of all the half-a-Zabrak laying on the cabin bed, deep in Force-induced sleep.

Less than a tenday ago, I had killed Maul. I had shot him dead, a bullet through the heart, and held him until he breathed his last. Three days ago, I had arrived on his home planet of Dathomir and spoken to his family and buried him there according to his last wishes. His mother, the witch, wasn't happy about the situation, not that I expected her to be. She must have taken issue with Maul's death, because she did some kind of Dark magic on him, and maybe on me, though I don't know what--between the strength of the Dark Side on Dathomir and her magic, I blacked out pretty early on in the process.

When I awoke, she shoved a talisman into my hands and led me to a ship and told me to retrieve her son. I asked questions, obviously, but she wasn't in much of an answering mood. From what little she deigned to explain, Maul who was dead was no longer dead, and also on another planet several light years away, and this somehow made it my job to get him.

Fine, okay. I had killed Maul, so the least I could do was grab his resurrected self off whatever planet he'd landed on. I'm not the kind of scumbag who only cares about someone once they're dead, and I'm not the kind of idiot who tries to get on the bad side of a witch who's powerful enough to bring her son back to life, so of course I took the ship and the talisman and went. Magic could bring Maul back to life and resurrect him on a completely different planet than the one he'd been buried on? Sure, whatever. I didn't know a damn thing about magic, and as Master Jinn had once said a lifetime ago, through the Force all things were possible. I could suspend my disbelief long enough to check it out for myself.

I couldn't suspend my disbelief for this.

Maul--this Maul--was not the one I remembered. It wasn't just that he was missing his legs. It wasn't just that he was even more gaunt than the last time I had seen him.

It was that he had a cybernetic socket that looked like it was installed several years ago. It was that he had clearly lived in that alcove in that ancient starship for months, if not years.

The Maul lying on the bed beside me had no scar over his heart--not one where I had shot him dead, nor where Master Jinn had run him through with his lightsaber eleven years ago. I could believe that a magical resurrection might give him more injuries and scars, but to take them away? And not even all of his scars--only the one? That didn't make sense. It was too arbitrary.

This Maul was not my Maul. I could believe that. So why, then, had he recognized me? That didn't seem possible. I was missing something big. Until he awoke and answered some questions, I had no way to find out what.

I sighed and left the cabin. Maul would wake up in his own time, and I would feel it through the Force when he did. Hovering wouldn't help either of us.

I paced the ship slowly, Maul's lightstaff a heavy weight on my belt. That was another thing I couldn't reconcile, when to my knowledge his lightstaff had been stored in the Jedi Archive vaults eleven years ago after Master Jinn collected it from Naboo.

I didn't like to carry it--it's not right to carry a kyber crystal that isn't yours to begin with and the Force around this one was so volatile it was almost physically painful to touch. The crystal felt like it was weeping.

It made my heart hurt in a lot of ways. I hadn't ever seen a kyber crystal treated so cruelly--they were sacred to the Jedi and the Guardians of Jedha both, and respected as companions and for their connection to the Force. Kyber wasn't sentient the way a creature is, with discrete thoughts and feelings, but it was still alive in the Force, and it could hurt and care as much as anything else. For a Jedi, a chosen kyber crystal was practically an extension of the soul, and mutilating one this way was desecration of the worst sort, both to the Force and one's self.

I didn't know why Maul would do something like that--I asked the crystal, but my connection to the Force wasn't deep enough to understand anything from it except vague impressions of pain and blood. I suppose that was answer enough.

It would be nice to believe that Maul had been coerced into it all by his Sith Master and that he was really a decent person deep down, but chances were, that wasn't true. I already knew he was cruel. He had hurt himself and he had hurt others, and all things remaining equal, he would do it again.

Until I knew what was going on, until I knew it was safe, I would hold onto his lightstaff. I don't think Maul's kyber liked that very much, but it seemed to accept the necessity of it. It didn't like me much, either. I could respect that.

I went to the ship's kitchenette, not really out of a desire for food but just to keep moving. Hyperspace made me restless no matter the circumstances--a tendency that had greatly annoyed Jango in the years we had collaborated. Only now, I didn't have Jango to spar me to exhaustion. I was effectively alone in a two-cabin cruiser that was older than I was, whose previous owners were now assuredly dead by the Nightsisters' hands. I supposed I ought to be grateful it still worked at all.

It was a good thing I wasn't hungry, because the kitchenette had very little in the way of sustenance--mostly nutrient powder and other preserved foods which were edible enough, but whose taste, I had found out, had not improved over the years. Food was food, but I sincerely hoped that once we landed I could restock with something a bit more palatable.

Just then, the door slid open and the ship's astromech rolled in, a somewhat junky KY4 model that had gone through some hard times. Its chassis was a small box of about knee height with three omni wheels for movement and a wide-angle ocular sensor on top--an outdated style, but functional enough. I moved to the side so it could roll without tripping me, and it chirped to me in response. My Binary wasn't great, but I got the gist--that all systems were running steady. It was the third time in as many hours it had come to tell me so.

"Thank you, KY4. How much longer will we be in hyperspace?" I asked.

KY4 chirped that it would be about two more hours, then rushed to reassure me its navigation processors were completely functional and that there would be no problems with its calculated course. This was, again, something it had done multiple times over the course of transit.

"I believe you," I said. "Did you need anything else?"

KY4 chirped a negative and skittered off without waiting for a response.

I let it go. Droids might not have feelings the way a person did, but they tended to develop personalities if they went too long without refreshing their firmware, and for better or for worse, KY4 had been alone long enough to discover anxiety. Considering the fate of its previous owner, that was understandable. I didn't know much about dealing with skittish droids, or droids in general, but I'd give it space and maybe once it was used to me it wouldn't feel like it had to flee the moment it stopped talking. Chances were, it didn't know what to do with me under these strange new conditions. It would probably take a while before it felt like it was on level ground.

I guess that made two of us.

---

True to KY4's calculations, we dropped back to sublight just over two hours later. The two of us piloted the ship into low orbit over a small ocean moon known as Bantu IVb, the only inhabitable moon of six orbiting a gas giant in the Dothikan system on the Outer Rim. It was excessively obscure and there was very little notable about it except that I knew a medical professional lived there--Solis Greer, a Mandalorian Duros and acquaintance-slash-sort-of-family-member of Jango Fett. I knew about her because thirteen years ago, when Jango had picked me up with a crushed mechanical hand and a shoulder recently stabbed through with a lightsaber, he had brought me here for treatment.

It was a stretch to say that Solis and I were friends or even friendly--she had obviously known Jango well, but I was only ever her patient. Still, she was level-headed enough that I felt confident she wouldn't shoot me in the face before I could ask her to help Maul.

We held the ship in low orbit and I sent a transmission requesting landing clearance. Even on a planet without a spaceport, that was only polite.

The responding transmission arrived not ten minutes later, to the effect of "who the hell are you?" and also "where did you get those landing codes?", except in much coarser language. I guess Solis didn't remember me--it had been thirteen years, after all.

I responded that I was an old friend of Jango's, and that I had a patient in need of medical care. There was a little more back-and-forth, but about half an hour later she sent me a set of coordinates where I could land safely and said that she would meet me there. I thanked her and started the descent to the planet's surface.

It wasn't an easy landing--Bantu IVb had heavy winds and my ship was not designed for a single pilot with only one fully functioning hand, but between me and KY4, we made it down with only a minimum amount of damage. We landed on a rocky outcropping a few kilometers inland from the shore.

I stepped out onto the bluish shale, getting a feel for the slightly lower gravity, and breathed deep. The air smelled just like I remembered--damp and a bit metallic from dissolved mineral deposits. There were no trees on the island--or at all, if I remembered correctly--giving me a clear view of the moon's enormous oceans with gray hydroturbines and clumps of red algae floating in the distance. The skies were cloudless and tinted greenish-blue, with a large hazy orange crescent hanging a few hand-widths above the horizon--the gas giant this moon orbited. Despite the apparent barrenness, it was far from dead. I could feel the Force all around, flowing in slow currents from plant and animal life hidden just below the water's surface. It wasn't for me, but it was as good a place to live as any.

I felt eyes on me before I heard the footsteps. I turned to face them.

Solis stood ten paces back, in full armor with her blaster rifle aimed at my face. It was not, in short, the welcome I was hoping for. I held up my hands slowly.

Solis did not put the blaster down. "Why come here, Kenobi?" she asked in heavily accented Basic.

Okay. So maybe she did remember me, though everyone seemed unhappy about that lately. "Solis," I said. "I'm sorry for arriving without warning. There's a patient in the ship who needs medical care. You were the only medic I knew who could also do technician work. I have credits--I can pay." I didn't have too much, but it would be enough for this. "If you don't want me here, that's fine. Just tell me where I can go, and I'll leave."

"How do you know this place? Where do you know my name?" Solis demanded.

"I…what?" I asked. "Solis, you treated me, remember? Jango brought me here after I got stabbed with a lightsaber. You told me to get phrik plating for my hand."

This, if anything, made her angrier. "Do you hear words you're saying? Do you think I'm fool, jetii?"

My mind came to a screeching halt. "Jetii? Solis, I'm not a Jedi. I can't even use the Force. You knew my name; don't you remember me?"

"Only fool doesn't know your name. It's on all the HoloNet for the last year." I could hear the sneer in her voice. "High General Obi-Wan Kenobi."

That froze me.

That's a title I had never wanted to hear--one I never thought I would hear. I'd had my war on Melida/Daan and it had cost me my place with the Jedi Order, my hand, and the Force. That was enough war in a lifetime for anyone. Given the choice, I would never pick up that mantle of command again.

My mind whirled. Solis had recognized my face from the HoloNet, because I was apparently High General Obi-Wan Kenobi. A Jedi Master, maybe even a Councilor. That didn't make sense, but it was the start of a picture I could just about see the outlines of.

Solis didn't remember me from thirteen years ago because I hadn't come here thirteen years ago. Like Maul, this Solis was not my Solis.

Or, perhaps more accurately, I was not their Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The very idea of it was absurd. Not just that I could have somehow slipped from one reality to the next, but also that it could happen without my realizing it.

…But I had blacked out. The Force had taken me on Dathomir when the witch had done her magic, and she could have done anything then. Maybe even send me to another universe entirely.

I had a hard time believing it--anyone would--but it fit. It was why Maul was stranded on a distant trash planet for so long, bisected at the waist. It was why Solis would call me a Jedi when I had never told her about my connection to the Force or the Jedi Order.

The whine of a charging blaster coil shook me out of my thoughts.

"No words to say, jetii?" Solis asked.

"I--Solis…" I trailed off weakly. I didn't know how to play this. I didn't have enough information. "Solis, I don't know how to prove this to you, but I am not a High General." Just saying the title made me feel sick. "I'm not a Jedi."

"Playing no-memory now?"

"No, that's not--that's not what I meant. I mean, I'm not the Obi-Wan you know. I'm not a Jedi, Master or otherwise--I don't even have the Force. I'm a private detective on Coruscant and have been for the last ten years. I have my license in my pocket if you want to see it."

Solis tilted her head to one side. I couldn't see her expression under her helmet, but she seemed willing to humor me. "Give it," she said.

I tossed my wallet to her. She caught it with one hand and flipped it open, all while keeping the rifle aimed at me. She looked over my license, then went on to my other ID cards, which was frankly rude. When she seemed satisfied with what she saw, she closed it and tucked it into a pouch on her belt.

"Uh," I said.

"You get it back when I think I trust you. You say you know Jango?"

"I lived with him for two years. We worked together on jobs."

"Jango Fett works with no people," Solis said, then switching to Mando'a, "He certainly did not work with a beansprout like you."

"Don't call me a beansprout until you've fought me," I said, switching languages myself. "I've sparred Jango with or without weapons and won. I could do the same with you."

She paused. "You've got his accent."

"I should think so--he taught me the language," I replied. "He taught me a lot about fighting, too, which I'll happily demonstrate sometime after my friend gets medical attention and when you don't have a blaster pointed at me."

She looked over to my ship, where KY4 was sitting at the base of the ramp, doing the droid version of pacing nervously. "What condition is the patient in?"

"He's stable, but it's pretty bad. It's best if you see him yourself."

Slowly, Solis lowered her blaster and gestured to the ship. "Fine. Show the way, Detective. This isn't over, though. You owe me an explanation--one that isn't full of shit."

I was pretty sure that in this particular case, even the correct and full explanation would sound full of shit. Still, I said, "I'll be happy to explain what's going on as soon as I know what's going on. You said you have a HoloNet connection?"

---

The first thing I did once we transported Maul back to Solis' infirmary and she kicked me out to do her work was lock myself into a fresher and make sure my body was still mine.

I looked at myself in a mirror, visually tracing my features--same gray eyes, same nose, same mouth, same beard. I went on to catalog the scars across my body, from Melida/Daan to the lightsaber scar through my right shoulder to that time I got shot pushing Bail out of the way of an assassin--scars that a hypothetical Jedi version of myself shouldn't have. Everything seemed accounted for.

My hair was still the same length, coming down to my mid-back with singed edges where it had been recently sliced by a lightsaber and my mechanical hand looked like it was supposed to--prosthetic halfway up my right forearm with phrik plating. It was the same simple but robust Jedha model with limited motion in the wrist I was supposed to have. A Jedi wouldn't have chosen a model like this--it wasn't flexible or sensitive enough for saberwork.

I let out a slow breath in relief. By all accounts, I was still me. I didn't know how it could be otherwise, considering my clothes had remained the same through the transition between worlds, but there was so much I didn't know about the situation. I had to be sure, that's all.

The second thing I did was use a borrowed datapad to search myself on the HoloNet. Doing so was…overwhelming.

It took no time at all to find that Jedi Master--a Master at thirty-five? What the actual hell?--Obi-Wan Kenobi was a highly-regarded diplomat known for his calm disposition and charisma who had resolved hundreds of cases of governmental unrest or other diplomatic affairs across the galaxy. Now, with the Clone Wars, he had become notorious for his strategic brilliance as a High General of the Republic army. He wasn't just at the head of the war. He was the face of it.

My stomach churned at the thought.

There were holos of me--of him--everywhere. Candid snapshots, publicity holos of him interacting with younglings and soldiers and senators, blurry holovids of him deflecting storms of blasterfire with his lightsaber--

It was too much. Just about everyone in the Republic must know his name and face, and that was absolutely horrifying.

I found myself staring at a short holovid of him at some kind of Senatorial event--it didn't matter which one. He was dressed up in traditional Jedi robes and tabards and his hair was cut short, cropped at the nape of the neck, and he talked with a distinct Coruscanti accent, the way I used to when I was younger. His face looked just like mine.

That could have been me. In another life, in this life, that would have been me. Not a Temple reject who left the Order after less than a year of padawanship, but a man who fulfilled his dreams of becoming a Jedi Knight. A man who never had to leave his family in the Temple or become permanently disabled in both body and spirit. A man who was respected for doing good across the galaxy.

A perfect Jedi, they called him. Serene, level-headed, and competent--not angry and impulsive like I had been. Not a failure like I had been.

I didn't want to see this. I accepted a long time ago that the Jedi life was not the life for me, but what was I supposed to do when I saw evidence to the contrary so starkly? Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi fit. The life fit him so well that there wasn't any other path he could walk. He devoted himself to the Force and to helping others because that's where he was meant to be.

What did that say about me?

I don't know how long I sat there, staring at that holovid, looping again and again. All I know is that when I came back to myself, I had my face in my hands and the datapad was somewhere on the floor, timed out to sleep mode. I shook myself roughly to snap out of it. Time and place. There was a time and place for those thoughts, and it wasn't now. Jedi Obi-Wan was a personal problem, and I would deal with it later.

Right now, there were more important things to find.

I reached the datapad off the floor and booted it up again to search recent events--surely, my failure to become a Jedi was not the only divergence from what I remembered.

Well, it didn't take long to find out two key points: First, the Battle of Geonosis was fifteen months ago, making it now almost an entire year later than when I had left my world, and second, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic was still one Sheev Palpatine.

Sheev Palpatine. The Sith Lord.

---

"Solis."

Solis looked up from her data terminal in the infirmary. She wasn't wearing full armor anymore. She'd never explained that to me--maybe as a medical professional it was inconvenient, or the years in near-isolation since Galidraan had made it less important. She looked just as I remembered: purple scaled skin, red pupil-less eyes, thin face, no hair, and a cybernetic left arm with a hand that didn't match--I vaguely recalled she swapped out different hands for different types of work. She had the same strange ageless quality that most Duros seemed to have, and except for modifications to her arm, she hadn't changed at all in the last thirteen years.

"Detective," she said tonelessly in Mando'a. I guess I'd made a good enough showing that she assumed I was fluent--which I was. "What do you want?"

"Is there a test you can run to see how old I am?" I asked.

"Shouldn't you know that already?" she asked. "You know what year you were born. Surely basic arithmetic isn't beyond you."

"I want to make sure I didn't black out for an entire year." Most likely, I had traveled through time as well as across dimensions, but the idea that I possibly hadn't--that I had been in the grip of the Force for an entire year on Dathomir where the witch could have done anything to me--made me nervous. I had already meditated for a while and verified that the Force within me was all mine, but I wanted the extra reassurance.

"Is that a…common issue with you?" Solis asked.

"Nothing that drastic, but I've had episodes," I replied, which was a mild way of saying my soul occasionally, annoyingly, left my body. "Can you find out my age or not?"

Solis hummed. "Hypothetically, yes. There's no magic indicator in a human body that tells you the age of the germ cell, but I can make an estimate based on certain biomarkers and gene sequences." She glanced back at me. "I would need to take needle biopsies."

"That's fine," I said. "Can you do it now?"

"Impatient, aren't you?" she tutted. "You haven't even explained what's happened to you or your friend yet."

"I don't think you'll like the explanation, but I'll tell you what I know now, if you want."

Solis thought about it for a bit, then said, "Fine. Go change into a gown and sit. I need to finish something first."

I nodded and did as she asked. It was a quiet wait, and not too long--maybe only fifteen minutes. Solis finished what she was doing, then had me lay prostrate on a bed and hooked up a vitals monitor to my arm.

She paused before prepping my back. "That's a lot of scarring," she said. "Does it hurt?"

"No. They're from a long time ago."

"Okay." Solis wiped the area clean. "Do you need general anesthesia?" She asked as she set up the appropriate medical droid.

I shook my head.

"All right." She held up a small hypo. "This is a mild nerve disruptor--it's to suppress pain and make it so you'll stay still while the medical droid does its work. It'll last about ten minutes. If you don't want that, the droid can use mechanical restraint instead."

"I can't use most painkillers--I'm allergic to spice."

"This is a different class of drug. It's not a spice derivative."

"Injection is fine, then."

"Okay. You'll feel a pinch in the side of your neck." She jabbed me with the hypo. It did, in fact, pinch, and I could feel an uncomfortable pins-and-needles sensation move down through my body. She stepped back and disposed of the hypo, then took a seat in front of me. "Now we let the droid do its work and in the meantime, you can explain what the hell is going on."

Considering the circumstances of my arrival, she had been very generous. An explanation was the least of what I owed.

I gave her what I could. I told her about where and when I had come from, and about Dathomir's witch and retrieving Maul from Lotho Minor and finding what I'd found on the HoloNet. She let me say it all without interruption, though all told, the story wasn't very long--I had only been in this universe for about two days, of which large parts were spent in hyperspace. Even for me, that wasn't a lot of time to accomplish anything.

"You realize this all sounds insane," Solis said after a long pause.

"Sure, I do. I hardly believe it myself, and I'm the one it happened to, but it's my best guess for what's going on," I said. "I don't really know how to prove it to you."

The medical droid beeped, indicating it had finished its work, and Solis checked its console report. "All three samples are good. I'll have these processed and I can calculate your results after I deal with your friend." She put some bacta patches on my punctures, checked my vitals, and helped me sit up as the drug wore off. "Crazy as it is, Detective, I believe you."

"You do?" I asked, rubbing my lower back. It throbbed a little, but it wasn't bad. With the bacta, it would probably be better tomorrow.

Solis nodded and returned my clothes, turning away so I could put them on with some privacy. "You seem smart enough to come up with a more believable cover story if you were lying, but honestly if you ignore the ridiculousness of it, your explanation makes the most sense. I checked your IDs--they're all legit, except for the fact that they shouldn't exist. You have Jan'ika's landing codes and you speak with his accent."

Jan'ika. Cute. He would have strangled me if I ever called him that.

"And of course, there's your hand," Solis continued. "I'd know my own work anywhere--it would be a pretty big coincidence if anyone besides me designed that. You said I suggested the phrik plating?"

"For defense against lightsabers, yes," I said as I got dressed. "The good news is: it works. The bad news is: even if it can stop the blade from cutting, the heat still gets you. My port got seared pretty badly and I had to get a new hand." I straightened out my shirt and sat back down on the bed. "I'm decent."

Solis nodded. "Well, we already knew the heat would be a problem, but the phrik kept you alive, didn't it? That means it did its job." She handed me a glass of water. "This will help with the pain."

I accepted the glass and drank. It made me feel better, more because of the water than the medication in it--I couldn't remember the last time I'd had anything to drink. Back on the ship, probably.

Solis sat down. "So. You've traveled from one universe to the next. What are you planning to do now, Detective?"

That was the million-credit question.

This galaxy was at war, and had been for over a year, Separatist droids against Republic clones. It was even worse than I had imagined it could be--worlds burned out, millions of people dead, and there was no end in sight. That alone made me ill, but there was more to it than that.

Chancellor Palpatine, the single most powerful man in the Republic, was Maul's Sith Master. He had told me that back in my universe, and there was all the evidence that it was the same in this one--the man had risen to office in the same way, and operated the Republic in the same way, accumulating power towards some horrible end that I couldn't yet see.

And nobody knew. This universe had progressed a year further than mine and nobody knew that the poison was coming from the very top of the system, flowing down to everything underneath--the army, the Jedi, the Republic itself. The circumstances that had led to my discovery of this deceit simply didn't exist here.

A low voice in the back of my mind murmured that I didn't have to do anything with that. This wasn't my universe. This wasn't my business. My concern should be returning to my own world, perhaps with Maul in tow, and going back to Coruscant to my life as a private investigator. It would probably even be easy--the witch had sent me here, so she could very well bring me back.

But I couldn't do that. Palpatine was plotting for a genocide--the genocide of my people. It didn't matter that they weren't my Order or my family. They were the Jedi Order, and while I could never be one of them again, I couldn't let them die just because this universe wasn't mine. I couldn't let a war so great and terrible go on when I could reasonably find a way to end it.

That only left me one option. "I…think I have to end this war."

Solis, to her credit, didn't laugh. "Easy enough to say. How will you do that?"

"I don't know. I know who's behind it and I know what he wants--the end of the Republic and the Jedi Order, and a powerful apprentice to serve him." Maul had told me that much, back in my universe. "I can't let that happen."

"If your problem is one man, then remove the man," Solis said. "Jan'ika taught you how to do that, yes?"

I shook my head. "It's not that simple. This man's got support that runs deep and his pieces are already moving. He's had years to prepare. If I go straight for him without any preparation, he'll kill me and a lot of other people, too. I don't even know if killing him will stop his momentum. I…need to figure out what he's trying to do, first."

That was the crux of the problem.

Palpatine was not stupid--he had a plan, and he was putting it to work as we spoke. How did you destroy a Republic and a people and a culture? Orchestrating a war and forcing Jedi to serve at the head of it was all well and good for thinning the numbers, but it wasn't as if all Jedi could serve in a war, nor would every Jedi who fought in the war fall. A war would find the Order depleted and weary, but they would recover, and I couldn't imagine Palpatine being satisfied with that. Attrition wasn't enough. There had to be something more. Something decisive.

I thought about the Republic's army, the millions of men with Jango's face, commissioned to fight for the Jedi. Jango had hated the Jedi, yet he had agreed to help build an army to fight for them. The Jango I had known wouldn't have done that--he would have died before helping the Jedi who had destroyed his home and his people, so why had he agreed? Even beyond that, the Jedi Mind Healers had detected some kind of Darkness within Captain Rex's mind--was that coincidence or somehow part of this plot, too?

That was the problem--I simply didn't know enough. I knew the man behind it and I knew the end goal, but not the path between the two.

Back in my world, I had gathered evidence against Palpatine--fraud, corruption, and other unsavory deeds--and given them to Bail, who had the resources and the support to raise a political movement against him. I had informed the Jedi High Council of the Sith Lord in their midst. I had spoken to soldiers about the conspiracy that might be brewing from the moment they were commissioned. In my world, a world where the war had only started, that may have been enough.

In this world, with a war that had dragged on for so long and a Chancellor who had gained unprecedented power and influence and the time to place his agents everywhere he needed them to be, there was no way. He was too well-rooted to be taken down unless I uncovered all of his schemes one by one and burned them out beyond any hope of recovery. If I couldn't do at least that, nothing I did to Palpatine would matter, and people would die.

"If you want my opinion," Solis said after a long silence, "I think you will need help to pull this off. I don't know what man you're trying to hunt down--and I don't need you to tell me--but he sounds powerful."

"He is very powerful."

"Then you'll need to fight smart, and you'll need help. Even the strongest fighter can't be in more than one place at a time, and it sounds like you'll need to be in more than one place at a time."

I nodded. "Is that an offer, dear?"

Solis sighed and clasped her hands. "No. You're a friend of Jan'ika's, so I'll help you if you come here, but this fight is yours, and I have my own duties. You're not the only one who comes flying in needing medical treatment."

"I understand."

"I have no love for the jetiise," she continued. "I can't blame them for killing us the way they did--it is only appropriate that the strong survive and the weak perish, and if we did not want to be cut down we should have been stronger before challenging them--but their victory ushered in the end of the True Mandalorians. I can't forgive that."

I bowed my head. "I understand."

"But the jetiise are yours, so you fight for them. It's one thing to hunt and kill in battle, but another thing entirely to purge an entire people, their home and culture and younglings included. There's no honor in that. I wouldn't wish it on anyone." She folded her fist over her chest. "So fight, Detective Kenobi. If you think you can end this war and save your people, then do so. Destroy the man who threatens your family and make it so he can never hurt anyone again."

I folded my own fist over my chest, hardening my resolve for what had to be done. "I will. I'll learn his plans, I'll dismantle each one in turn, and when I've rooted out all his traps and contingencies…I will kill him."

[voteformightyclocks]

The Clock's Guide To Using The Force

So. You want to be a Jedi Master. Your first step is to be a Jedi Knight and then successfully train someone into Knighthood yourself, so how do you become a Jedi Knight? Apparently at least 2 decades, but no one wants to spend THAT much time training, so I'm going to boil down for you exactly what the Force is, how it works, and how you use it

This article is an analysis that takes into account many parts of canon, including the Original Trilogy, the Prequel Trilogy, the Nightsisters, and the Chiss. But first, let's cover what the Jedi, Sith, Dathomirians, and Chiss believe about the Force, and how this ties into how they use the Force

The Jedi The Jedi are an interesting case because everyone knows the Jedi. They believe in peace, defense, and faith. As such, they teach their students how to block out negative emotions, embrace the unknown, and lay down their lives for others. Their Force abilities include Telekinesis, Mind Tricks, Clairvoyance, Physical Vitality/Agility, and Healing. But those are just the most notable ones, there are many more abilities in canon

The Sith The Sith are the other faction pretty much everyone is very familiar with. They believe in embracing emotion, and using said emotion to strengthen their abilities and power. Their Force abilities tend to include stuff like Force Choke, Lightning, and Mind Probe

The Nightsisters Dathomirians (and specifically the Nightsisters) believed in the Force as a type of life essence, and broadly a power beyond the universe. While I don't know much about their specific beliefs, I know this manifests in their ability to raise the dead, teleport, and change the properties of objects around them

The Chiss The Chiss only really had access to two Force abilities: "Third Sight" (which acted as a form of Clairvoyance) and "Second Sight" (which acted as telepathy)

After reading all of that, I want you to try to draw some connections, dots, and patterns out of that mess. It all seems disconnected, but it's not. The Jedi Mind Trick, Sith Mind Probe, and Chiss Second Sight were all pretty similar, albeit with notable differences. Force Choke and Telekinesis share roots in the same ability, just focused differently. Healing and raising the dead could be considered similar (although that particular one is a stretch). And it's worth noting both the Jedi and the Chiss cultivated Clairvoyance in their cultures (a feature that even the Nightsisters and Sith take advantage of, even if they don't strictly speaking specialize in it)

Each faction takes on the same Living Force, and has their own system to what is essentially the same set of core abilities. Each expands on it differently. The Nightsisters and Chiss are pretty excluded, and the Chiss especially don't fully understand the Force, so neither of their cultures have incredible potency in the Force, not compared to the Jedi and Sith with thousands of years of history spread across the entire galaxy. What does this tell me?

The Force is an extension of the one who uses it. That is the ONLY restriction

Let's use Cal Kestis as an example. We see flashbacks of him getting training in various Jedi techniques: Force Push/Pull, Force Jump, using the Force to wall-run (Force Agility), but we never see him use Force Slow...or any Jedi use Force Slow, really, until Order 66 happens and Jaro Tapal is wounded. Only then does Cal unleash a burst of Force energy to freeze the clones and buy him and his master a chance to escape, and we know Cal doesn't use it again until Prauf begins falling to his death. Force Slow is Cal's signature move because Cal needed it. He unleashed the Force as an ability that worked for him and his needs, an ability that connected with who he was as a person and who he needed to become in the future

That explains why the Chiss only have clairvoyance and telepathy. They don't have need for all these fancy powers, they simply have a need for information. And their only two Force abilities are centered around information. The Nightsisters practice a form of magick that is honestly more powerful than any other culture's Force usage because they believe it to be a system greater than the universe, so the Force manifests as something capable of shaping the world around them. The Sith teach emotion, and their abilities are the result of letting one's emotions take control: violent outbursts of lightning, twisting the minds of others, and taking life. The Jedi teach peace and defense, and their most iconic ability is literally the ability to shove powerful enemies backwards without physical contact

The Force is what you shape it to be. It listens, it allows the user to guide it just as it guides those within the galaxy towards their eventual fates. So how do you manipulate the Force?

By manipulating midi-chlorians. Tiny, microscopic organisms that possess a direct connection to the Force, unlike any other species in existence. The higher your midi-chlorian count (number of the little critters inside of you), the stronger your own connection to the Living Force is. Think of it this way: you are a region, and the more building (midi-chlorians) are within your region, the more activity you are going to see

Beyond that impossible barrier, however, it's worth noting that all you really need is to know what you need, and what you believe about the Force

This has been a Clock Talk with your favorite Clock, and no I am not running for US President in 2024, sorry folks :D

[ladyzirkonia]

OLLO!

I HAVE ASKS FOR DOC, ZANE AND KAZDAN👀👀👀👀

14) What about any siblings, do they have any and is their relationship good?

18) What is your OC’s greatest fear?

15) Has your OC ever fallen in love before who their intended love interest is, or is the intended love interest their first love?

Honestly, whichever you want to answer for which one (where the joy is sparked) however 👀 I would like to urge for 15 for Doc cuz I think it'd be interesting

😘💜💜💜

Hey Kassy, thanks for the ask! 💗

The first one I will answer for Kazdan because Zane is an only child which would be boring, so..

14) What about any siblings, do they have any and is their relationship good? For Kazdan:

Kazdan (Dathomirian) has a younger sister named Zeldin, a Nightsister. Their relationship is complicated by Kazdan's departure from their clan, leading to strained ties. While Kazdan deeply loves and misses his sister, their bond is tested by his divergent path and Zeldin's allegiance to the Nightsister clan. Despite the tension, Kazdan respects her strength and mystical prowess, though he struggles to understand her connection to the Force. Despite their differences, Kazdan yearns for reconciliation, longing for a time when their bond can be restored.

18) What is your OC’s greatest fear? For Zane:

Zane's greatest fear is losing the people he holds dear, driving him to take risks and make sacrifices to ensure their safety. He also fears being consumed by his inner darkness, constantly striving for redemption and seeking ways to make amends for his past mistakes.

15) Has your OC ever fallen in love before who their intended love interest is, or is the intended love interest their first love? for Doc:

To be honest, I'm still not sure who her ultimate love interest will be or if she will ever have one. But no, I don't think she's really experienced what love means before. Even with Ghoul (the first intended love interest), her feelings are driven by her obsession to feel responsible for his fate and her helper syndrome. Having never experienced the love of parents, the only understanding of love she has is to sacrifice herself for others, as her brother did for her.

My asks are still open :) OC ask game