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charmwasjess · 1 year ago

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Strap in for the Soresu form III Obi-Wan lightsaber post. This is gonna be a sad one, girlies. We’re getting into Obi-Wan’s Fucking Trauma.

Qui-Gon’s death changed literally everything about Obi-Wan’s life, right down to the lightsaber form. Still a Padawan himself, he had to watch as an extinct monster from his nightmares* utterly took apart the form he’d learned since he was a child, and then, to complete the destruction, slaughtered the teacher who’d taught him the form and raised him. The devastation of Qui-Gon’s actual death had to be the last in a cascading series of horrors that started with the gut-sinking realization that Qui-Gon was losing. And if all of that weren’t enough, Obi-Wan also loses his own lightsaber in the same duel, a psychological blow to his personhood which we don’t have to guess at the significance of. Obi-Wan tells us the cost of it himself in AotC: this weapon is your life.

The Duel of the Fates on a sheer physical level is a devastating thing to consider. It’s a grueling, full out running battle, the likes of which we don’t see elsewhere in the saga. The beauty (and pounding musical score) of the fight distracts from the sheer brutality of it. Maul is physically attacking them at every turn; he manages to kick Qui-Gon hard enough to knock all 6’3 of him off his feet; he dumps Obi-Wan into a fall that seems to be several stories high. We don’t see Obi-Wan get back up off the floor with Qui-Gon’s body at the end of the duel, and I’d be surprised if he was physically able to even stand again so after the adrenaline faded and the soreness and exhaustion took over. He just been whirled in a lightsaber blender.

I can’t imagine how hard it was for him to pick up a lightsaber again after the trauma of that battle - much less, a new, unfamiliar one, not the kyber crystal that had been his since he was a child. The new canon’s emphasis on the spiritual relationship between a Jedi and their crystal makes this detail even more excruciating. The Ataru form itself must have felt broken and unusable. How can you put your trust in a form once you watched it be broken so ruthlessly?

And this is where Obi-Wan is so endlessly beautiful as a character. He goes through this horrifying experience of violent unmaking, and instead of avoiding lightsabers as an understandable trauma response, or picking up an overwhelming power and dominance form like V, he remakes himself into a master of Soresu: a form of simple, complete defense. He doesn’t attempt to become a weapon of attack like Maul did to disintegrate Ataru; he makes himself invincible, untouchable, with a perfect defense. Soresu works the pieces that fell apart for the Jedi in the Duel of the Fates to an advantage. It is a form of ultimate endurance, of playing out your opponent and staying up in a fight until the attacker is exhausted or angry. It preserves and it lasts. It is philosophical. It is considered. It lacks the showy flash of Makashi or Ataru and returns to the basics, even working in some of that battlefield meditation that Qui-Gon so believed in. And in that simple economy, it’s gorgeous and effective.

I have to wonder: is Soresu, on some level, a form of kinetic self-soothing for a person who faced an incredibly traumatic battle at a young age? Does Obi-Wan use it that way?

All of this is perfectly in keeping with the themes of the character. Obi-Wan’s story remains about life, about hope, about survival. The word he uses to describe the Jedi to Luke in the OT is important to me. “Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice.” Guardians. And what better lightsaber approach for a person who sees his role as one of protection than a form whose signature move is called “The Circle of Shelter?”

*Maul, of course, is a tragedy in his own right, but that’s a different post.

#star wars analysis #lightsaber nerd stuff #lightsaber forms #qui gon jinn #obi wan kenobi #disaster lineage #the clone wars #duel of the fates #the phantom menace #soresu #darth maul #star wars meta

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ineedsleepsoleavemealone · 2 months ago

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I had a thought about this, and this has probably already been done, but... Reasons Anakin Skywalker and Rory Gilmore are the same person. I hear you saying, "They're just the same archetype of character. They're not similar at all!" However, I strongly disagree. Their similarities go much deeper than the same basic story line they both share. (And, also, this is just an excuse to mash two of my hyperfixations together, plus an excuse not to write a scene I've been stuck on for a month.)

They were both without father figures in their youth for a significant amount of time.

Both Anakin and Rory lacked a father figure in their youth. Firstly, like Anakin, Rory only lived with her mother, Lorelai, during her youth. She had a strained relationship with her biological father, Christopher, who came in and out of her life frequently and lived in several states while Rory had lived in Connecticut her whole life.

In addition, Rory, whose mother ran away from home at sixteen with an infant Rory, had very little to no contact with her grandfather until the age of sixteen.

A counter argument could be made that Rory had Luke Danes, a neighbor and local diner owner who is good friends with her mother and is shown to have a parental bond with Rory throughout the show. However, Lorelai and Luke didn't meet until Rory was twelve in 1996. This is based on a line during Lorelai and Luke's first date in 2004. Luke pulls out a piece of paper that Lorelai gave him on the day they first met "eight years" ago, which puts them meeting sometime in 1996. Rory was born in 1984. Therefore, it's safe to say that Rory didn't have a stable father figure until after she was twelve in 1996.

Anakin, however, didn't just have a strained relationship with a father, he literally doesn't have one. He was born because the Force impregnated his mother, Shmi. In actuality, Anakin didn't have anyone resembling a father figure until he was around six to ten years old, (I don't actually know how old Anakin is in The Phantom Menace, but six to ten is generally the age range I see for him.), when Qui-Gon Jinn takes him in to become a Jedi. Even then, Qui-Gonna Jinn dies and doesn't have the proper time to build a father-son relationship with Anakin. Other options for Anakin's father figure are Obi-Wan Kenobi, who looked out for Anakin for many year and has a Master-Padawan relationship with him, but may be more of an older brother to Anakin, or Palpatine, who guided Anakin through life and generally took on a more parental role towards him even if his teachings were misguided and manipulative.

If you're insane, you might say that the Force or Watto count as father figures towards Anakin. The Force, a foundation of nature or type of energy that Anakin didn't know about until Qui-Gon's arrival, is technically Anakin's father, but I don't think it counts as an actual father figure. It's more of a concept than something a child can lean and depend on to get them through tough times. Additionally, Watto, the alien that enslaved Anakin and his mother, is also not Anakin's father figure because... no... absolutely not

Both Anakin and Rory only lived with their mothers until they moved out.

This is a point I made in the last section, but neither Anakin nor Rory lived with anyone but their mothers. This is plain and simple, so I'm not going to expand on this much.

Both Anakin and Rory came from simple beginnings. (AKA: They were poor.)

In addition to them bith living with their mothers, both Anakin and Rory were poor growing up. Rory lived in a potting shed behind a inn with her mother before Lorelai made enough money to buy a house. They didn't have very much, and it can be inferred that Lorelai made some of her and Rory's clothes because she makes costumes and dresses multiple times throughout the series.

Additionally, Shmi and Anakin lived in the slave quarters on Tatooine. While we don't know much about this time in Anakin's life, we can infer that they very poor because they were slaves.

Both Anakin and Rory were put on pedestals and had lots of expectations burdening them.

The members of both Rory and Anakin's communities put expectations on their shoulders which no child should bear. Rory always had high expectations put atop her because of her intelligence. She always loved reading and school in addition to being incredibly smart for her age. She was always expected to go to an Ivy League school, not because of a prestigious family name, but because she was so smart. She was always expected to get A's in her classes and be the smartest person in the school. Also, she was also expected to be a good person all the time. As a teenager, she fit into the "good girl" stereotype and was expected to keep that up 24/7. In addition, her grandparents put their grand expectations originally meant for Lorelai on Rory, and when Rory fulfilled these expectations, they put her of a higher pedestal and believed she could do no wrong. Even her whole town thought she could do no wrong. Everyone around her put the burden of being perfect on her shoulders. Basically, she was expected to be the perfect girl/daughter/granddaughter 24/7/365.

Anakin, on the other hand, was expected to be perfect, not because he was a "good boy," but because he was expected to save the galaxy/bring balance to the Force. He was expected to be the picture perfect Jedi because that is what the Jedi believed would save the force. He always had a lot of pressure on him from the get go because of the prophecy that dictated he would bring balance to the Force. There's really nothing more to say on Anakin's behalf because putting the pressure to save hundreds of trillions of lives on a child is not fine nor healthy even if there's a cyptic prophecy about them.

Rory and Anakin both had a downfall.

Rory and Anakin both had a long, hard fall from the pedestals the members of their communities put them on. Rory, after realizing her years of being a straight-A student and goody two shoes were useless in the real world, decides to stop trying to be the person she was raised to be. She drops out of Yale, an Ivy League school, and moves in with her rich grandparents. She joins the social club her grandmother is in, the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). She starts going out with her rich boyfriend, Logan, every night, and she completely cut contact with her mother, who she had been very close with before she dropped out of Yale. In addition, she steals a yacht with her boyfriend and goes to jail and, after she's been convicted, community service for 300 hours. Essentially, she goes against everything her mother raised her to be. Her personality does a complete one-eighty. From being a goody two shoes, to not caring about school, the law, or her mother.

In the second prequel movie, Attack of The Clones, Anakin massacres the men, women, and children of the Tusken Raider clan which murdered his mother. After a few years and the Clone Wars, in Revenge of the Sith, he goes on to, after a dream about his wife, Padmé, dying in childbirth, switch to the darkside to acquire the powers to save Padmé's life. He massacres most of the younglings at the Jedi temple, kills Master Mace Windu, tries to kill Obi-wan, and, finally, kills his wife believing that she had betrayed him for Obi-wan. His "fall" is because of his attachment to the people around him. He kills because he either: thinks they deserve it after hurting his loved ones or thinks he has to so he can save them. Unlike Rory, his personality doesn't do a complete one-eighty, rather his negative emotions start to outweigh the positive ones which starts a slow progression of a burning grief turning into hatred.

Anakin and Rory both had lovers that helped them "fall" from their pedestal.

Rory and Anakin's downfalls were aided by the help of their lovers unintentionally. Logan, Rory's boyfriend, brought out the worst in her. He never cared about school, was a privileged brat, and was an overall asshole. His charismatic demnor and eventual change of character unknowingly led Rory down a path of self destruction. He was the one who suggested dropping out of Yale and stealing the yacht. I'm not suggesting that Rory's downfall was all Logan's fault, she should've recognized that what he had wasn't what was best for her, or she should've stayed broken up with him after the first break up, but I am saying he played a significant part in her downfall.

Padmé's influence, however, was good for Anakin. She loved him and tried to set him on the right path, tried to fix him after the Tusken Raiders incident. Unfortunately, this had the opposite affect on Anakin. Her influence made him love her so much that he'd do anything for her, and he did. He couldn't stand to lose her, so he killed and massacred children all for her sake, and it was all because she was too good for him.

Both Anakin and Rory's downfall was helped along by a man.

Both Anakin's and Rory's decisions were influenced by a man in power that they held in a high regard. Rory got her dream internship under the guidance of her boyfriend's father working in a big newspaper company. At the end of this internship, Rory has worked her butt off trying to impress this man by being a goody two shoes. He crushes her dreams saying something along the lines of, 'You don't have the guys for this job, you don't speak up, you have to be mean in this world.' Something like that. Directly after this conversation, Rory runs to Logan and says she wants to do something spontaneous. They then steal a yacht and a few weeks later Rory drops out of Yale. The conversation about Rory not having the guts for the job directly influences what happens during her downfall. She becomes more spontaneous and she doesn't care what people think anymore which were problems she had at the internship.

Anakin, on the other hand, has manipulated throughout his life as a Jedi by Palpatine. He fed lies and made Anakin trust him as a young boy. As Anakin grew older, he started confiding in Palpatine about how the Jedi council treated him and about his wife. Palpatine then sewed seeds of distrust between Anakin and the Jedi and seeds of unhealthy attachment with his wife. Once Anakin was in a vulnerable state, worried about his wife dying in childbirth, Palpatine used his influence to turn him to the darkside. In addition, he also influenced Anakin to kill Count Dooku even though Anakin was worried about the killing "not being the Jedi way." These actions directly influenced why Anakin behaved the way he did once he was vulnerable. He turned Anakin paranoid against the Jedi and his wife, compelling Anakin to slaughter them.

At the very end of their stories, both Anakin and Rory get a redemption.

Fortunately, there was light at the end of the tunnel for both Anakin and Rory. For Rory, after a wake up call from Jess, she reunited with her mom, went back to Yale, moved out of her grandparents house, and quit the DAR. While she had made mistakes and burned bridges, she made amends and tried to own up to her mistakes. At the end, she became a better person than she was previously.

As for Anakin, he finally realized that the love his son, Luke, outweighed the desire to rule the universe and killed Emperor Palpatine. While he can't undo the millions of people he killed, he killed the man who would kill millions more. In his final moments, he did the universe a final service and turned to the light side again because he loved his son so much. Fulfilling the prophecy that ruined his life.

《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》《☆》

We now go into claims that are a bit of a stretch, but I still wanted to include because I spent too long thinking of them.

After reaching a big milestone, both Anakin and Rory traveled a lot.

After graduating highschool, Rory travels the world by going to Europe several times with her mother, grandmother, or boyfriend.

After becoming a padawan, Anakin travels to other planets for missions and battles.

Anakin and Rory both come from lines of failure.

Rory was born to a teen mom in a rich/conservative family. Lorelai was a failure to her parents and overall family because she A) got pregnant, B) didn't marry the baby's father, C) ran away from home, and D) made a living by working as a maid in an inn and worked her way up. Rory, therefore, came from a failure.

Anakin came from the infamous Disaster Lineage, where Count Dooku turned into a Sith, Qui-Gon died, Obi-Wan can't train a padawan to save his life, and Ahsoka left the Jedi order. Anakin, therefore, came from a lineage of failures.

Anakin and Rory were both taught life skills from a young teacher.

Everything Rory was taught was by her sixteen year old mother, and Obi-wan was barely a knight before he started training Anakin.

Hope you enjoyed my mad rambling session. Here's how I felt writing this:

Last minute change before I post this, I'm not trying to compare Anakin and Rory to see who had the better character arcs, trauma, or whatever. I just had a thought and ended up writing several paragraphs about why I thought this. All I am saying is that both Anakin and Rory share some of the big strokes of their character arcs and personalities. I am a huge fan of both Star Wars and Gilmore Girls, and I love both Anakin and Rory. If you want to hate on Rory or Anakin this is not the post to do that on. Please and thank you.

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