#STAR WARS the Essential Guide to Characters

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"ELEPHANT MAN" OF A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a lesser known character of the "STAR WARS" galaxy -- Ephant Mon was a Force-sensitive Chevin male from the planet Vinsoth. His previous occupations included: mercenary, gunrunner, and chief security officer to Jabba's Palace.

Artwork by Michael Butkus, from "STAR WARS: The Essential Guide to Characters" (1995), published by Del Rey Books.

SW/ROTJ/FUN FACT: The name Ephant Mon is likely a pun on the real-life Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick (1862-1890). Indeed, Ephant Mon was referred to as Elephant Man during pre-production of "Return of the Jedi."

Source: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ephant_Mon/Legends.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Star Wars: New Essential Guide to Characters - Bria Tharen by Michael Sutfin

[pinspec]

i really like the way arcane is exploring police brutality and class essentialism through caitlyn’s character. i’ve seen a lot of people getting upset about this, and yes—it is supposed to be disturbing. caitlyn’s position of power, her anger regarding her mother’s death, and her increasing hatred of the people of zaun is going in a dangerous direction because that’s what happens when privileged people lash out against their “aggressors” who are, in reality, oppressed.

many people seem angry at both caitlyn and the showrunners for developing caitlyn’s character in this direction. it’s upsetting. it’s tragic. caitlyn hitting vi with the butt of her gun like a true cop and leaving her to cry wrenched my fucking heart.

but this is why i love stories. corruption arcs and dark nights of the soul can make them extremely interesting.

i love analysing the layers of characters. my instinctive reaction towards caitlyn’s corruption arc was excitement—the path she’s going down is like that of a star wars villain. she is a dangerous (and simultaneously vulnerable) person who is grieving and lost and is therefore malleable, and ambessa medarda has decided to use caitlyn’s grief and anger to serve her own purposes. this will leave caitlyn with blood on her hands and a hard path towards redemption.

i would urge my fellow arcane enjoyers to remember that characters are not real individuals and the aim of telling stories is not necessarily to guide them towards happy endings, perfect relationships, and moral correctness. i obviously don’t support caitlyn’s actions (just making this clear after receiving a confused comment on a previous post).

my heart breaks for vi after act 1. i hope she’s able to find her feet again after the awful shit she’s been through—losing not two but three parental figures, being pushed to become an enforcer despite her serious cognitive dissonance surrounding this, deciding to take it upon herself to kill her estranged sister, and finally losing caitlyn whom she had come to think of as a reliable constant through everything that has happened.

i’ll enjoy watching her punch her sorrows away with some awesome rhea ripley-esque makeup on, though.

[starcurtain]

hihi sorry to rant in your inbox but i hate when people use aven's line about jade that says her kindness comes with a price to make their relationship seem worse than it is. while the ipc is. well. the ipc i dont thinl it would benefit her to harm him like theyre both stonehearts AND hes her subordinate. personally i think the price he mentions is like, testing him like she did in her social media post with the ores. it certainly would be less incongruous with her want to guide those that come after her..

I think that people really struggle with Jade. They took one look at her dommy mommy appearance and her status as one of the top three in the Stonehearts and they just want her to be unrepentant evil soooo bad.

Don't get me wrong, she is definitely a master manipulator and she definitely has a specific personal goal she's working toward using the IPC as her vehicle to do so. Her overall idea of creating an endless vortex of desires that can't ever be sufficiently met is very Voracity-coded and not really the kind of idea a very well-adjusted person would be espousing. We have no idea how loyal she really is to the IPC's goal of aiding Preservation against Destruction in the War of the Aeons.

But she's also, over and over again, been painted as having "True Neutral" moral alignment in-game. She's literally xxxHolic's Ichihara Yuuko with a bad case of capitalism: She always demands a price, but never asks more than is fair.

It's literally Fullmetal Alchemist's first law of alchemy: Human kind can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.

All of Jade's exchanges are equivalent and none of her customers enter into a bargain without understanding the price they are paying. In fact, she won't even let Firefly try to make a deal at all without doing her research in advance to truly realize the extent of what she is asking for. Jade is inherently an honest businesswoman.

The issue is that greed is all-encompassing. The ability to have any wish granted is a temptation that virtually no one can escape in the end.

Therefore, I think the best way to understand Jade is as the Honkai Star Rail equivalent of Mephistopheles. In the legend of Faust, the eponymous Dr. Faust longs for more in his life--he is endlessly pursuing knowledge and power, but has hit the limits of his own ability. He meets the devil, Mephistopheles, who agrees to enter into a pact with him: Mephistopheles will fulfill all Faust's wishes while Faust is still alive, but then Faust's soul will belong to the devil when he dies. The deal is fairly presented. The terms are not unclear: If Faust agrees to the bargain, he knows what will happen to his soul in the end.

Mephistopheles doesn't trick him or force his hand when it comes to this bargain. Faust could say no. He could resist. But he doesn't. He agrees, because human greed and pride are simply that overpowering. He thinks he's smarter than the devil; unlike the thousands of others who have come before and suffered damnation for their deals with the devil, Faust thinks he is different, better than others, more deserving... The actual temptation doesn't come from the devil. It comes from human hubris.

Like Mephistopheles, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Jade merely presents the choice--it's humanity's endless desire that leads to the downfall.

It's a snake and an apple and a contract for a reasonnnnnn, Jade haters.

So, I don't think that Jade represents any danger to anyone who can resist temptation. Firefly walks away from Jade's exchange entirely unscathed. Trailblazer isn't pressed into surrender.

But Aventurine?

To be honest, I think his relationship with her is a bit more complicated.

Aventurine likes Jade. She did him a solid when he was at his lowest in life. His character stories make it clear that he views her as, essentially, someone "safe" in the IPC, unlike other Stonehearts.

But... I do agree that Aventurine approaches Jade more cautiously than he approaches others. And I think that probably stems from a couple of different factors:

Jade has positioned herself as Aventurine's "pseudo-mother," and Aventurine responds to her as if she, indeed, a mother figure he has to obey. He is more respectful of her than anyone else we see him interact with in the game--Diamond and Opal get called by name, but Jade is always "Ma'am." Which is very close to "Mama;" this is not an accidentttttt. When Jade disrupts his banter with Topaz, Aventurine immediately does as he is told, hands over his room card, and simmers down. Even in joking social media posts, when Jade asks Aventurine to do something (judge the uncut jade stones she sent him), he does it even when she rejects his high demand for profit sharing.

But:

2. Jade actually failed Aventurine's moral litmus test. From the beginning of his adulthood flashbacks, we see Aventurine explicitly troubled by the fact that his human dignity was denied and that a market value was assigned to his existence. And not even a high value. He was sold for pennies. It's the ultimate mortification, and we can tell it is still bothering him to this day because even "future" Aventurine brings up the sting of that bone-deep insult during Aventurine's long walk through Penacony. In response to the indignity, Kakavasha gave his original master a moral test: Kakavasha says that he'll go willingly into the hellscape of the death maze if his master will give him 30 copper Tanba, just half his market value. His master refuses, demonstrating that he does not view Kakavasha as a human being, worthy of any respect. By refusing this tiny, insignificant request, the master exhibits his utter moral depravity, from which there is no return. In response, Kakavasha ultimately kills him and takes the 30 copper coins he asked for (nothing more, nothing less) from his corpse.

When Kakavasha meets Jade, he then makes the exact same demand: He wants 30 copper coins and exactly 30 copper coins. At this point, it is very clear that--to Kakavasha--the coins are emblematic of his value as a human being. (I promise you, somewhere in his apartment right now are the 30 bloody coins he took from his master's cold corpse.) His freedom, his dignity, his worth... All of these things hinge on being able to acquire the original 60 Tanba coins. Thus, those who refuse his requests for the coins also symbolically refuse his request for basic respect, his request to be seen as an equal human being who deserves to not be reduced to mere pennies on a bill of sale.

And Jade refuses this request. She treats the demand for Tanbas like a paltry sum and instead ignores the specificity of the request to give a general "We'll give you riches beyond your imagine, more than you could have ever thought to want." But that isn't what he asked for. She stepped over the request he actually made in order to supplant her ideas, on her terms. Kakavasha made the tiniest, most easily completed request in the world, and in failing to actually just respect what he personally wished for, Jade demonstrated that she ultimately will not really respect him.

Just like his slave master, Aventurine represents a value on a page to Jade. For this reason, even if she extends pseudo-maternal behavior to Aventurine and he laps it up like a starved kitten drinks up milk, we see that he remains more cautious toward her than he does to any other female character in the game. Aventurine comes across as more comfortable talking to Acheron than he sounds when he talks to Jade... Because in failing the most basic and seemingly meaningless test, Jade revealed exactly to what extent Kakavasha can--and cannot--trust her.

Does Jade actually mean Aventurine any harm? No, I really don't think so, and you're right, those who claim that she does are really over-exaggerating Jade's negative traits, mostly because they've almost universally got a strong anti-IPC agenda and hate everything from the IPC except Aventurine on principle. Everything in Jade's character stories points to her honestly wanting to develop the hidden talents of others, to "polish" rough cut stones into true gems, and to see her fledglings thrive. Kakavasha is someone she picked up out of the dirt and dusted off. If he excels, that means her faith was well-placed, her judgment was correct, and her team as a whole excels.

It's exactly like a business owner who takes great pride in producing a fantastic product. Only when the product succeeds can the business itself succeed.

But business owners see their products as objects, not equals.

Jade is a fairly neutral figure and I think she wants to see Aventurine grow and achieve greatness. But at the end of the day, their relationship is very predicated on the notion of investment (Jade puts up the original capital to make Aventurine great, and he repays her faith in him by generating wealth for the IPC). It is clear she just can't be trusted to value Aventurine as a person above a means of profit--and Aventurine knows (and accepts) that too.

[electricnik]

Early version of Thrawn from Star Wars, An Essential Guide to Characters by Andy Mangels.

[velvetvexations]

This is an edited version of something I posted to r/DaystromInstitute, a Star Trek sub. I'm proud of it and, having deleted my account, want to preserve it here.

Dukat is a fantastic example of Narcissitic Personality Disorder

I'm an individual with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It's very, extremely frustrating to see people claim everyone from Dolores Umbridge to Donald Trump also have NPD because they're like, just the worst. NPD doesn't mean "selfish", or "controlling", or even "self-absorbed", and certainly is not a synonym for abusive, despite all the self-help books that say sniping a narcissist who came within eight hundred yards of you is legally permissible under Stand Your Ground laws.

You might expect me to not be so appreciative of Dukat, who is, after all, a pretty horrible person. I actually have a worse opinion of Dukat's supposed nobility than many, as fairly often the fandom prefers to back the idea that he really was a misguided anti-villain who only succumbed to devil-worshipping when the writers assassinated his character.

Well, unfortunately, it's harder to recognize authentic NPD traits in heroes, and "recognize" is a term I use loosely, since most writers certainly didn't have NPD in mind at all. Nonetheless, I love Dukat because he exemplifies a nuanced, if not overly flattering, portrayal of a personality disorder that actual human beings deal with, and 99% of the time is just flattened into a thing you call people you don't like.

As a child, one thing that did a lot to mitigate the more negative social aspects of NPD was having it imprinted on my brain by anime and video games that being a Hero and as good as possible was the best thing to be. While praise and attention in general does scratch a powerful itch too, once my child-self internalized the values of the media I consumed - helped along by also being autistic - the standard for which I judged myself was set. I would literally cry if I accidentally picked up dark side points in a Star Wars game.

I think Dukat went through a similar process. Not all narcissists cling to a model centering morality, but Dukat, for one reason or another, did. He sincerely believes everything he does is altruistic and fair, and more than that, he wants to be altruistic and fair, having misidentified the origin of his cravings.

Another thing that helped me a lot growing up was a book called The Screwtape Letters. If you're unfamiliar, it's by CS Lewis and is presented as a series of letters from a high-ranked demon to his nephew, who works as essentially a shoulder devil attempting to guide his patient into sin and disconnection from God. I feel like Lewis would probably be annoyed with me not getting anything properly Christian out of it, but it is an amazing manual for teaching you how to examine your own thinking and subconscious impulses. It started me down a path of being very self-aware, which made it easier to navigate NPD, because I'm incapable of tolerating the flaws in my internal logic that I'm able to catch. If I may be excused for saying so, I think I do a decent job on that count, with the downside that I'm often far too hyper-critical and it results in regular anxiety.

But Dukat never learned that skill. As a result, his attempted nobility clashes with his other competing impulses, and all his actions are reinforced, rather than rejected, by his conscious, which his NPD assures him is being followed to the letter. As Lewis said:

The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point may be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the Inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely more because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.

Dukat's inner struggle is fueled by the need to be a revered benefactor while also having served at the head of the bastard offspring of the Iraq War and Holocaust. His solution at the time was to make it more like the Second Boer War, the conflict that originally popularized the term "concentration camp" despite the fact that those concentration camps weren't even meant to eliminate the thousands that were killed in them.

DUKAT: So in my first official act as Prefect, I ordered all labour camp commanders to reduce their output quotas by fifty percent. Then I reorganized the camps themselves. Child labour was abolished. Medical care was improved. Food rations were increased. At the end of one month of my administration, the death rate had dropped by twenty percent. Now how did the Bajorans react to all this? On my one month anniversary they blew up an orbital dry-dock, killing over two hundred Cardassian soldiers and workers. "KIRA": We didn't want a reconciliation. We wanted to destroy you. DUKAT: So I had to order a response. But even then it was a carefully tempered one. I ordered two hundred suspected members of the Resistance rounded up and executed. Two hundred lives for two hundred lives. That's justice, not malevolence. Justice.

Throughout the episode the Kira hallucination embodies the disrespected and ingratitude he feels he gets for being "nice". Cardassian values, attitudes, and objectives came first. Dukat, however, was smart enough to understand some of what was being done to Bajor was wrong, but not quite able to tear himself away from his own identity as a Cardassian and the protagonist of the universe. That was just too much to totally upend, as would be required to fully comprehend the reality of the situation.

So he tries, in his own way. Because he wants to be a good guy, the hero, the main character, and he truly believes that he is. Unfortunately, it remains pointed solidly in the direction of his own ego. He's unable to recognize that to err is Cardassian, but repentance divine, because he's already invested in so much. His identity as a Cardassian, his own past actions, his impulsive grabs for power, and being convinced he's such a good man shields him from thinking critically because it would necessarily mean criticizing himself. Dukat can only truly appreciate that he's made mistakes when it makes him feel like he's being the bigger man willing to compromise and graciously admit fault, but he was in charge of the Occupation for twenty years. It's hard to walk back from that.

And I should know, because even understanding I'm the one at fault, it's pulling teeth to force myself through accepting I did wrong, much less admitting it to someone else. I don't want to be someone who fucked up, no matter how minor. Pulling teeth. Quite a lot of NPD can be described that way, in fact. While half-brained wannabee psychologists present narcissists as being sociopathic manipulators who skillfully terrorize those around them, most of NPD is horrible, chest-thumping anxiety. It's not fun at all to want to break my controller in half every single time I get got in a game of Splatoon, even when the round is far from over.

Most Cardassians involved with the Occupation seemed to be either outright monsters or falling under the "banality of evil", like Damar. They considered the Bajorans as, at best, a bunch of backwards hicks who needed to shut up and listen to their betters. Dukat, though, fetishized Bajor and the Bajorans themselves, as quite creepily seen in his string of Bajoran lovers and his dogged pursuit of Kira throughout the show (which horrifically took Nana Visitor putting her foot down to keep from being canon!). He pursed his tenure as head of the Occupation with the zeal of someone who truly wanted his subjects to see he was doing all this for their own good.

The Dominion and most other Cardassians don't give a fuck if your subjects like you except insofar as it's convenient and makes them less likely to rebel. That's the Dominion's whole thing, they just want control, and if the carrot doesn't work they'll shrug and without a hint of emotion give you the stick. It doesn't matter to them how they're in charge as long as they are. When Dukat makes his point about having only executed two-hundred (suspected!) members of the Resistance, the Weyoun hallucination comments:

"WEYOUN": The Dominion would never have been so generous.

It's telling that Dukat is fixated on the contrast between him and the people he allied with enough for it to show up in his breakdown. Just a little before that, Dukat says:

DUKAT: Major Kira knows full well I made every effort to heal the wounds between Cardassia and Bajor. Since the very beginning it was my intention to rectify the mistakes of the past and begin a new chapter in our relations.

Dukat is capable of saying, vaguely, abstractly, "mistakes were made", but it infuriates and honestly baffles him that it's not enough for him to be recognized as the most brilliant and loving extraterrestrial patriarch the Bajorans could ever wish for. In an earlier episode, he has this conversation with (the real) Weyoun:

WEYOUN: If you ask me, the key to holding the Federation is Earth. If there's going to be an organized resistance against us, its birthplace will be there. DUKAT: You could be right. WEYOUN: Then our first step is be to eradicate its population. It's the only way. DUKAT: You can't do that. WEYOUN: Why not? DUKAT: Because! A true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place. To force them to acknowledge your greatness. WEYOUN: Then you kill them? DUKAT: Only if it's necessary. WEYOUN: I had no idea. DUKAT: Perhaps the biggest disappointment in my life is that the Bajoran people still refuse to appreciate how lucky they were to have me as their liberator. I protected them in so many ways, cared for them as if they were my own children. But to this day, is there a single statue of me on Bajor? WEYOUN: I would guess not. DUKAT: And you'd be right. Take Captain Sisko, an otherwise intelligent, perceptive man. Even he refuses to grant me the respect I deserve.

Weyoun ends the scene laughing at Dukat. Because he was just advocating they exterminate all life on Earth, and yet he's amazed, truly stunned by how crackers Dukat is. The sheer depths of Dukat's psychological need for validation is as clinically fascinating to Weyoun as it is to the audience.

As it is to me, anyway. Like Narcissus and his pool, I peer into Dukat and see myself. Unsurprisingly, he's one of my favorite characters.

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

"Cabaret 2024 Musical Ending Explained"

By Gillian Blum Posted: June 29, 2024, for The Direct.

Elusive by nature, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is not exactly the Cabaret audiences are used to, and its ending reflects that.

At its barest of bones, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club starring Eddie Redmayne tells the same story as the four Broadway productions of the show before it. A writer checks into a Berlin boarding house, meets and becomes intimately involved with a tormented Cabaret singer, and watches as the city falls victim to the atrocities of World War II.

Beyond this basic skeleton, though, the 2024 take is not the Cabaret theatergoers are familiar with. Audiences are fully immersed in the story being told on the circular center stage, with the August Wilson Theatre having been transformed into the nightclub from the show itself.

How Does Cabaret 2024 End?

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club uses its signature shock value to bring a message to the conclusion of the show that audiences familiar with Cabaret might not expect.

In all versions of the show, the Emcee (Eddie Redmayne in 2024) speaks directly to the audience over the course of several interludes throughout the musical. Sometimes he moves the story along, akin to a narrator, sometimes he is part of the story, sometimes he is simply commenting on the story or its setting at large.

The Emcee has been portrayed differently over the years, which will be discussed in more depth later. But at his core, the Emcee is always a unique enigma. He does not fit into any sort of box or label, he is in the show but he exists outside of it, he is crazy but he is also an intelligent guide.

As it repeatedly says on the revival's website, the Kit Kat Club is somewhere to "Relax. Loosen up. Be yourself." So, as Berlin is falling to the Nazi regime, the Emcee exists inside of the club that allows others to escape the chaos of the outside world.

In 2024, the Emcee's intense individuality is portrayed in many ways, including the Emcee's costumes (and those of the ensemble at large). Throughout the show, he wears elaborate, often androgynous, costumes that match the strange, almost Eldritch-like way Redmayne portrays the character.

That is, until the show's finale, wherein the Emcee bids the audience auf Wiedersehen dressed in a plain, gray suit.

In fact, throughout the show, more and more of the ensemble and cast start replacing their loud, colorful, extravagant costumes with this identical gray suit, ending the show all wearing the same, dull outfit.

2024 Cabaret Finale Meaning + Changes Explained

At its core, Cabaret is a show about the dangers of political ignorance or indifference. Sally Bowles quite literally chooses to ignore the outside world, in favor of losing herself to drugs and alcohol in a desperate attempt at escapism.

The Emcee's role in that messaging differs from production to production. In the original Broadway version from 1966, Joel Grey's Emcee represented the city of Berlin itself, his malevolence most obvious in the dark conclusion.

When Sam Mendes re-imagined the show, first in London in 1993 and then on Broadway, with Alan Cumming taking on the role of the Emcee, the character's metaphorical significance was drastically changed. Rather than being the perpetrator, the Emcee represented the victim.

Instead of through extravagant costumes like in 2024, Cumming's Emcee displays his uniqueness through unabashed sexuality. He spends the show essentially seducing the audience and wearing revealing costumes, seemingly without shame.

This version ended with the Emcee taking off an overcoat to reveal a striped concentration camp uniform, with badges denoting him as Jewish, Communist and/or Socialist, and part of the LGBTQ+ community. This was done in an effort to highlight the tragedy faced by the victims of the Holocaust — people like the Emcee who were perceived as "different" in some form or another.

In the 2024 Broadway revival (another reimagining that originated in London, this time by director Rebecca Frecknall in 2021), the Emcee's role in the show's messaging has changed once again.

Redmayne explained to the Washington Post that in playing the Emcee, he shows that even the most silly and out there people "can then shape-shift their way into being something that is serious and is quite dangerous:"

“It was intriguing to me that those people that perhaps you don’t take seriously can then shape-shift their way into being something that is serious and is quite dangerous.”

Throughout the show, there was this idea that no matter what is going on in the outside world, within the Kit Kat Club, "life is beautiful." Despite the spread of Nazi ideology, the Kit Kat Club remains a place where people can express their individuality. The Emcee's (and ensemble's) extravagant costumes demonstrate this.

The gray suits represent the cracks in this fierce escapism, with the darkness and chaos of the crumbling city around them slowly infiltrating the Kit Kat Club. But whereas the ensemble is seemingly forced to conform, the Emcee just shifts into a new role, one that perpetuates this loss of individuality.

Talking to the Washington Post, Redmayne described this new role as the Emcee "being puppeteer, conductor, perpetrator," and not "a victim:"

"Individuality was stripped away as fascism rose and people had to become more homogenized ... So the idea, therefore, of our Emcee as being puppeteer, conductor, perpetrator — rather than the version of the Emcee as a victim — was important."

The Kit Kat Club could not remain somewhere to escape to, it was swallowed up by the chaos many characters hoped it would protect them from. Those who saw the club as refuge, a place to be their unconditional selves, lost the individuality they once proudly demonstrated within the Kit Kat Club's walls.

And the Emcee simply embraced it, just as he had previously embraced the individualistic culture the Kit Kat Club had once been home to.

Why Did Cabaret Change Its Ending?

The 2024 revival of Cabaret is a drastic re-imagining of how the musical can convey its story most effectively.

By immersing the audience in the Kit Kat Club, the show is able to reinforce the feelings of escapism the club offers, before stripping it away and turning it into another place consumed by Nazi conformism.

For her version of the story, Frecknall wanted to emphasize "it being the ensemble’s tragedy," not the Emcee's. Part of this, she explained to the Washington Post, is because, Redmayne is a "a cis, White, beautiful Aryan man," and so "would have been okay" in the eyes of the Nazis.

Despite the Emcee being the pinnacle of individuality throughout the show, when push came to shove, he could adapt and become the Nazi ideal. So many others did not, and those were the people whose story Fracknell wanted to highlight:

"“Productions often land on the tragedy of the Emcee, which works really successfully ... But I was interested in actually getting to the end and it being the ensemble’s tragedy. You know, Eddie would have been okay. Eddie is a cis, White, beautiful Aryan man. I thought it was interesting just really acknowledging that and going, 'Actually, you would walk out of this and these people wouldn’t.'"

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is now playing at the August Wilson Theatre.

[charmwasjess]

acolyte acolyte acolyte ->

Wow. Okay. I am pleasantly surprised by the return to Brendok and the sort of Jedi POV of the tragedy with the coven after we got Osha's memories of that day. The Jedi were acting with compassion and discretion, actively (and articulately) not trying to interfere in another Force-using culture, and the breakdown of what happened was depicted in a way that felt very human and realistic and full of character moments that I loved.

Indara, a character I had sort of written off, absolutely shines in this episode. I love the way Sol clearly structured his own team (RIP) in a similar leadership style to her own in the flashback. It was cool to see a full Jedi Master working among lower rank Jedi and leading them, what that actually means practically in the field - she's instructing her Padawan, she's spiritually guiding Sol ( her whole "is this what the Force wants, or what you want?") she's able to help Kelnacca when the witches get into his mind, and she does it all with warmth and humor and light.

And I actually LOVE the sort of understated-ness of Torbin's part/his guilt for what happened. A young talented man with a lot of natural power essentially creating a disaster out of boredom and immaturity - not star-crossed love, not a desire for unnatural power over life and death, not a misguided effort to save the galaxy at any cost...

So often Star Wars is about those big climactic decisions for a character who knows they are making a huge, often irrevocable choice. Torbin acts out of spur-of-the-moment rash impulsiveness for a fairly mundane motivation - he's bored, he's been stuck doing nature fieldwork for seven weeks and he wants to go home. It's so realistic. And the moment with the witch possession creating the instability necessary to push him to that point, which goes on to clearly regret for his entire life, even to his death. Because he isn't a bad guy, he's just a kid who made a mistake for a kid reason.

I really like it - and I think it comes back to something I liked about this whole episode, which is that it explored Jedi as characters with emotions and flaws, as people, without me feeling like I was getting preached to about flaws of the Order. I'm sure there will be those who disagree with me, but for myself, that was successful.

Let me see, what else? Did Koril make it out of the fire? Because if anyone we already know is the Sith Master, she might make a good candidate.

Anyway, I'm still having fun with this show. I love the weekly episodes and the space that gives me to think and react to them, the way the narrative is building. We're getting to the end, so I'm eager to see how they tie up these threads.

[kaijudyke]

alright, as promised, here is my personal venom reading guide as of right now, october 2024. disclaimer that this is not in any way intended to be definitive or universal and i am not an authority, i've just read a bunch of venom comics in the past five or so years and have strong feelings on the matter. there's some early stuff i would consider just objectively important for anyone who wants to read and understand venom, but there's also a lot of stuff that's on here because i personally like it (or not on here because i don't). it's highly subjective and informed by my personal opinions and biases. this is also specifically a guide to (primarily) eddie brock venom comics so if you're more interested in other hosts this will not be of much use to you. i have not read every venom comic in existence (there are a lot of them) and either way this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of The Only Comics You Should Read but if you're looking to start exploring the comics i think these are a pretty good place to start if you have remotely the same sensibilities as i do regarding these characters (which to be quite honest if you're getting your comic book recommendations from tumblr dot com you probably do). long disclaimer sorry but comics are SUCH a big and kind of scary topic. anyway the list is under the cut. starred titles are ones i consider particularly high priority if you're skipping around, either because they're plot-critical or because i think they're especially good. have fun

The alien costume arc — If you're able to read a collected edition you'll probably have an easier time than if you manually jump between comics, but I've included the full list anyway. This is a stupid way to publish a story. Comics are stupid. Unfortunately this one is also essential.

Setup — Mostly regular Spider-Man stuff with minor symbiote subplot; skippable or skimmable for symbiote highlights if desired. I would suggest skimming rather than skipping, since seeing how this arc actually played out in the comics is crucial to understanding the ways in which adaptations have warped people's perceptions of the Venom symbiote and of this storyline, which I personally think is a key part of learning to understand the symbiote as a character—there are some misconceptions you've probably picked up through cultural osmosis that you'll need to unlearn if you want to get to the heart of the character, and this is the place to start.

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8

The Amazing Spider-Man #252

Marvel Team-Up #141

The Spectacular Spider-Man #90

The Amazing Spider-Man #253

The Spectacular Spider-Man #91-#92

The Amazing Spider-Man #254

Marvel Team-Up #142-#143

The Amazing Spider-Man #255

Marvel Team-Up Annual #7

Marvel Team-Up #144

The Spectacular Spider-Man #93-#95

Marvel Team-Up #145

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #256-#258 — Even if you decide to skip the rest of the setup, you should read #258.

Marvel Team-Up #146

The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #4

The Amazing Spider-Man #259

The Spectacular Spider-Man #96-#97

Marvel Team-Up #147-#148

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18

The Amazing Spider-Man #260-#261

The Spectacular Spider-Man #98

Marvel Team-Up #149

The Amazing Spider-Man #262

The Spectacular Spider-Man #99

Marvel Team-Up #150

The Amazing Spider-Man #263

The Spectacular Spider-Man #100

Climax — Absolutely not skippable! You will never understand the core of Venom without reading the end of the alien costume arc.

★ Web of Spider-Man #1

Later takes on the alien costume arc:

★ The Amazing Spider-Man (2018) Annual #1 by Saladin Ahmed — MANDATORY. Essential reading for symbiote sympathizers. I have this comic on display on a shelf above my bed.

Deadpool: Back in Black (2016) by Cullen Bunn (5 issues)

Venom's appearances as a villain in David Michelinie's issues of The Amazing Spider-Man — Important if you want to understand Venom's history and motivations. Also fun!

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #300 — Venom’s first appearance.

The Amazing Spider-Man #315-#317

The Amazing Spider-Man #332-#333

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #344-#347

★ The Amazing Spider-Man #361-363 — Carnage’s first appearance.

The Amazing Spider-Man #374-#375

★ Venom: Lethal Protector (1993) by David Michelinie (6 issues) — Venom’s first solo comic and introduction as an antihero. 

Venom: Separation Anxiety (1994) by Howard Mackie (4 issues)

★ Planet of the Symbiotes (1995) by David Michelinie (5 issues) — An important piece of the puzzle in terms of understanding the symbiote as a character.

Part 1: The Amazing Spider-Man Super Special #1

Part 2: Spider-Man Super Special #1

Part 3: Venom Super Special #1

Part 4: The Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1

Part 5: Web of Spider-Man Super Special #1

Venom: Carnage Unleashed (1995) by Larry Hama (4 issues)

★ Venom: The Hunger (1996) by Len Kaminski (4 issues) — My favorite Venom comic!

Venom (2016) by Mike Costa (22 issues) — Symbrock central. As noted below, #159 and #160 are part of Venom Inc. and should be read in combination with the other relevant comics.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Venom Inc. (2017) by Dan Slott and Mike Costa (6 issues) — Really fascinating as an examination of how different characters view symbiotes.

Part 1: Venom Inc. Alpha (2017)

Part 2: The Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #792

Part 3: Venom (2016) #159

Part 4: The Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #793

Part 5: Venom (2016) #160

Part 6: Venom Inc. Omega (2018)

★ Venom: First Host (2018) by Mike Costa (5 issues) — A story that is interested in the ways in which symbiotes are vulnerable to their hosts in a way a lot of Marvel comics simply aren't. Also once again Symbrock central. Costa is probably the #1 Symbrock warrior, even if Kaminski is my personal hero on that front.

★ Venom: Lethal Protector (2022) by David Michelinie (5 issues) — There are no words I could possibly say that would be sufficient to convey to you how ecstatic I was when this comic was announced.

Venom: Lethal Protector II (2023) by David Michelinie (5 issues)

Venom: Separation Anxiety (2024) by David Michelinie (5 issues)

Supplementary material: 

Venomverse

Edge of Venomverse (2017) (5 issues)

Venomverse: War Stories (2017) (1 issue)

Venomverse (2017) by Cullen Bunn (5 issues)

★ Extreme Venomverse (2023) (5 issues) — Even if you read no other Venomverse comics, do yourself a favor and read the Black Cat story in Extreme Venomverse #2.

Death of the Venomverse (2023) by Cullen Bunn (5 issues)

Venomverse Reborn (2024) (4 issues) — Unfortunately colored by the bizarre nature of current Venom canon even more than Death of the Venomverse is, although neither are bad comics in and of themselves. If you want to avoid all of that entirely you can read from Edge of Venomverse through Extreme Venomverse and stop there. I don't really keep up with post-Cates Venom canon and every time I see anything about it it baffles me so deeply.

★ Superior Carnage (2013) Annual #1 by Cullen Bunn — I'm kind of obsessed with this comic. Please read it.

Hybrid (1996) by Evan Skolnick — Makes up the second half of each issue of the following comics. Definitely dated in some ways, but introduces some great symbiotes and a great host.

Venom: Along Came a Spider (1996) (4 issues)

Venom: The Hunted (1996) (4 issues)

Venom: Seed of Darkness (1997) by Len Kaminski (1 issue) — A oneshot about Eddie encountering a different mysterious shadowy alien being before he ever bonded with the symbiote, written by the author of The Hunger. Not essential reading but it's a fun little standalone sci-fi story with some nice Eddie characterization.

Phenethylamine by Leah Williams, in Marvel Comics Presents (2019) #5 — Not really a recommendation so much as... a public service announcement, I guess. Is this my favorite comic in the world? No, but it would feel negligent not to tell you it exists. There are better comics. There are comics with a better understanding of the characters. But this is the only one that's explicitly about Eddie having sex with the symbiote, so do with that what you will.

[lets-try-some-writing]

So I'm a sucker for Dadimus Prime, and a sucker for major angst, and I have had this idea for a while that...what would have happened if Bee had stayed dead, either forever or just for a longer period of time, after Megatron shot him?

How would the team have reacted to, and dealt with, such an event, and especially how would Optimus have reacted?

I always liked the trope where a usually stoic and collected character finally breaks after losing a child, and figured that for once I might allow myself to indulge in my guilty pleassure. :P

You are an individual after my own heart. I am also a great lover of Dadimus and that same trope. You came to the right writer with this request. But good gracious I suddenly feel the need to turn this into a one-shot or something.

Fallen Sunbeam

When Bumblebee was shot, Optimus felt his spark cry out in absolute agony. His only sparkling, his joy and hope for the future had been extinguished by the mech he had tried to redeem for millennia. He hardly registered what he was doing when he tore into Megatron, mercy and reason completely gone as one burning desire blazed in his spark.

Megatron would die, or Optimus would fall trying and join his sparkling in the Allspark. He did not care which option ended up becoming reality.

When he came back to himself he stood over the body of his foe as he kicked Megatron's corpse off his star saber where it was impaled. The body fell and the Decepticons fled without their leader to guide them. But Optimus merely stood on the edge of the Omega Lock for a long while, not moving as his spark wept and burned from the loss of his child. He clutched at his chassis and was distantly aware of the streams of coolant that trickled down his cheeks as the pain and emotional torment of his loss took its toll. He couldn't think, he couldn't act, all he could feel was overwhelming grief as he finally fell to his knees, still holding his chassis as he stared blankly out into the void.

He was not aware of it, but all around the team were in their own various states of shock and grief. Ratchet looked more lost than ever before, his optics blurring with coolant as he looked to where Bumblebee's body floated in the Cybermatter in horror. Arcee was distraught but stoic, not a tear was shed as she did her best to step up and gather the team with both of their eldest members being out of commission. And Smokescreen seemed to be in a state of shock, not believing that Bumblebee could really be gone even as he saw the body remaining lifeless in the pool.

After what could have been minutes or hours, all the team save Optimus came to at least recognize the loss and got to their pedes, ready to finish their quest in honor of their fallen warrior. Optimus was the only one who remained completely drowning in his grief and he did not budge until Ratchet came to him and held him as best as he was able while muttering sweet nothings to try and bring him back. It took a while, but the Matrix numbed Optimus enough that he eventually stood with Ratchet's aid and took a shuddering vent. With renewed, albeit grim resolve, Optimus went and retrieved his sparkling's frame and carried him back to base with utmost respect.

The omega lock was secured but ignored while Optimus brought his sparkling back to the base and laid his lifeless body on the medical berth for funeral preparations. With the war there was no opportunity to have proper funerals, but when it came to Bumblebee, Optimus was unwilling to only perform the bare necessities. Before the day was done, Optimus vainly scanned Bumblebee once more as if looking for a miracle. He received odd results that told him that Bumblebee's frame was technically alive in the same way that an unsparked protoform was. Bumblebee's frame could live again with no issues should a spark be introduced, but without that spark, it was essentially dead. As such Optimus grit his denta and gently covered Bumblebee's frame with a sheet while he began preparations.

The children were completely heartbroken when they returned from their own battle, saw Bumblebee's absence, and then his frame. Rafael was inconsolable and clambered onto the medical berth to hug Bumblebee's body even as Miko and Jack weakly tried to call him back. Ratchet was the one forced to remove him even as he too struggled to keep his composure. In the end the children and the team took what they needed onto the nemesis and set course for Cybertron, intent of finishing their mission to honor the fallen. Optimus only remained present while the coordinates were punched in, at which point he ensured that Bumblebee's body was safe in the nemesis's medical bay and retreated to continue his solemn work.

Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack were equally distraught up on seeing Bumblebee's frame. They did not cry nor did they make a sound, merely enduring the loss in silence so that others might grieve in peace. They would have their chance later, and so instead focused on trying to comfort the children as best as they were able.

Optimus was not seen for nearly three days. No bot was entirely sure what he was doing, but he sent a message to Ratchet over a private link asking him to clean Bumblebee's frame. That gave them a hint, but none tried to ask for further details as they worked and they grieved.

Ratchet blamed himself and spent many long hours crying as he did his best to focus on cleaning Bumblebee's frame and fixing it up, polishing and making it presentable. He had helped raise the youngling, he had stood by Optimus's side as a Nurturer for Bumblebee and a secondary caretaker when required. He had not bonded to Bee on the level Optimus had, but he still felt the agonizing loss of the bond he did have. Ratchet could hardly force himself to work with the crushing emptiness that came without the scout's presence weighing on him. But out of sheer devotion to the sparkling who should have never fought in a war in the first place, Ratchet pressed on and did what was required of him.

Arcee stood strong at first but broke after Optimus left to do whatever it was he was doing. She retreated to some unused quarters and cried long and hard, beating a punching bag until it broke as she sobbed and then destroying anything else within sight on until she literally shattered her servos. At that point she fell to her knees and cried until she had nothing left to give, eventually curling up on the floor emotionally exhausted. She did not go to Ratchet for medical aid and endured her pain without a peep as she grieved the loss of the brightest hope for the future in her life.

Bulkhead had his own emotional breakdown in another part of the nemesis. Wheeljack stayed by his side all throughout, comforting his friend and doing his best to reassure Bulkhead that it was not his fault and that there was nothing he could have done. Bulkhead appreciated the comfort, but it did not stop him from mourning for a day and then grieving alongside Miko for another. He had failed Bumblebee as a guardian and a teammate, and in doing so he had failed in his duty as a wrecker.

Ultra Magnus did everything in his power to shake off the grief, patrolling, guiding the nemesis toward Cybertron, and getting the Vehicons that were on their side in line and prepared to begin rebuilding Cybertron. But once he ran out of things to do, Ultra Magnus found himself at an empty desk in a far forgotten corner of the nemesis where he quietly grieved with his face in his servos. He made not a sound as his frame shook and coolant dripped onto the desk he sat at. Much like Ratchet, he had been there throughout all of Bumblebee's youth. He had seen the scout grow into himself and go through all his ups and downs. He had been a teacher to him, a guardian, and a replacement for Optimus when the Prime was out at war when Bee was younger. His spark ached and cried out at the emptiness that came from Bee being gone.

And then there was Smokescreen. The rookie was unsure how to feel for the first day after Bumblebee's death. He stood around and was left in a state of shock above all else, unsure where to go or what to do. Then when he lay down to try and recharge later that cycle, he found himself awake and aching in loss, missing the happy chirps of the mech he had come to see as a friend and brother during their short time together. He didn't recharge that night and instead found himself crying as the memories really hit him hard. He did no leave the room he had taken up residence in until long past noon either. He didn't want to.

As for Optimus? He hid himself away in a dark corner of the nemesis and there he first prepared himself for what was to come. In accordance to tradition, first he gave himself a day to grieve. He cried, he cursed Unicron, Megatron, and the universe at large, and then he sobbed himself into recharge. When he woke he removed every inch of color from his frame, his red and blue paint scrubbed and sanded off as a sign of mourning. Then once he was left in only the gray tones of the dead save for the glowing energon lines that crossed his frame, he painted murals upon his plating in black. Every mural depicted experiences he had with Bumblebee and his relationship to him. It was not necessarily an Iaconian tradition, and was in reality a mishmash of cultures from all across Cybertron. But to Optimus it felt fitting. Then to top it all off, Optimus carefully carved surface level scars around his optics and highlighted them in black. They would heal with time, but for at least a stellar cycle they would be a stark reminder of his loss.

Once Optimus was satisfied with his appearance, he gathered up his painting tools and went to he medical bay for the most important part of the process. He spent a day painstakingly painting glowing glyphs reading Bumblebee's every achievements and glory in life onto the scout's frame in glowing blue paint. Then he injected Bumblebee's body with a reasonable dose of energon to allow a faint glow to emanate from his frame, an event that spoke of what he looked like when he lived. Only once this was done did Optimus return to his team and stand before them in time for Cybertron to be restored.

The children were given the honor of pressing the activation key as none of the bots wanted to do so after the loss of their scout. Rafael ended up being the one to do it at Jack and Miko's prompting. The bots watched Cybertron's restoration with grim resolve, and then once complete, they too went to go and scrub their plating clean of color to emulate their leader.

Optimus personally carried Bumblebee's body to the surface of Cybertron and built a small altar for his frame to lay upon. Then in front of the whole team, Optimus laid his servos upon his sparkling's helm and there proclaimed him a warrior of Cybertron. After which he put the star saber in Bumblebee's lifeless servos and covered the altar in protective glass so that his sparkling's frame may not be harmed or damaged. The team bore witness to this stoically, their time for personal mourning having past.

Once Bumblebee was laid to rest, Optimus left to retrieve the Allspark immediately, unwilling to remain on the world that had so many bad memories and the body of his only sparkling. Ratchet returned the children home and remained on earth to process the loss and keep away from Cybertron for similar reasons to Optimus. Meanwhile the rest of the team stayed on Cybertron under Ultra Magnus's command and prepared for the arrival of refugees from the war. Time passed quickly and Optimus returned without issue, the Allspark in hand. The team were gathered again, and together the Allspark was returned in an explosion of newsparks.

The team celebrated, even Ratchet as they took the arrival of newsparks to mean the coming of a new age. Optimus on the other hand was almost bitter. He had given everything for this moment, but if he had killed Megatron sooner or performed better, his sparkling would still be alive. He couldn't find it in himself to be joyful as the newspark emerged and instead returned to the grave of his sparkling, unwilling to move on. The team let him and did not comment when he did not return to his normal colors, instead keeping the gray and continually highlighting his mourning scars even once the murals he had painted had washed off. They did not so much as touch Optimus when he fell at the foot of Bumblebee's grave and sobbed ugly tears, muttering over and over again one thing.

"We did it little warrior. Cybertron is restored... we've won..."

Optimus was not begrudged by anyone when he retreated from the team, shutting himself off near completely and instead throwing himself into restoring the one place he had truly seen as home. He returned to the remains of Iacon and worked in the hall of records, repairing and restoring what was lost. Then once it was acceptable, he moved Bumblebee's grave there, taking his covered altar deep into the archives where it would not be touched by mecha or the tests of time.

Cybertron grew around Optimus, the team working to establish a government and set things straight as refugees came and newsparks emerged. Optimus did his part when required, emerging from the hall of records and sharing the history of their world and stepping in to handle conflict when needed. But he never completely shed his gray paint or allowed his mourning scars to fully fade. He devoted himself to his work, not wanting to leave the place he had taken to be a sanctuary as a way to deal with his pain and the great many traumas that plagued him from the war. When he wasn't working or training apprentices, he was deep in the archives with what remained of his only sparkling. There he would speak of all that happened, telling Bumblebee what was happening on the surface and of all the changes that were happening.

Young apprentices swiftly learned of the warrior in the deep archives, and it became a right of passage to travel to see Bumblebee's grave and pay respects. An archivist who had finished their training would go to the altar on which Bumblebee's frame lay and there they would tell the fallen warrior their oath and their ambitions. Then if Optimus acknowledged their claim, they were recognized and told the stories of the fallen warrior before them. It did not take long for Bumblebee to be heralded as both a hero and a guardian of the archives due to both the stories and the star saber he held. None dared try and touch the relic and outsiders were never allowed near. Only the archivists saw the fallen warrior, for they knew how much he meant to Optimus. They respected the honor they were granted and they never once commented on Optimus's forever dark plating because of it.

But eventually the team worried for Optimus, and only grew more so once a full vorn had passed and Optimus had yet to move on. And so in an act of desperation designed to draw Optimus out of the shell he had built so thoroughly around himself, Ratchet came to his oldest remaining friend with a gift and a duty.

It was a dark day on Cybertron, the day of Bumblebee' death in fact when Ratchet came. He arrived at the archives with a small bundle in his arms and entered in without issue. The young archivists ushered him deep to where Optimus generally worked, and there they let him be. The Prime was mourning silently, his field held close as he worked and gently cleaned the glass that separated Bumblebee's frame from the outside world. Seeing this Ratchet sighed and pulled Optimus away, careful not to dislodge his precious cargo.

Ratchet: Optimus, it has been a vorn. This needs to stop... you need to let him go.

Optimus: I cannot do that... I failed him as both his Prime and his Sire... it is only right I remain in mourning to repent.

Ratchet: No Optimus. He wouldn't want that for you. He wouldn't want you to spent the rest of your functioning in the dark down here forever grieving his death.

Optimus: ...

Ratchet: Cybertron is restored. It's time for a new beginning, a new chapter in your life.

With his declaration made, Ratchet carefully passed his small charge to the Prime whose optics blew wide at what he saw. Bundled up in organic made cloth was a small sparkling, hardly a few cycles old and with plating still soft to the touch. Already the sparkling's armor was a shining red and orange, bright and powerful like a flame in the gloom of the deep archives. The sparkling cooed upon seeing Optimus's face, little sparkling fangs on display as the little ones optics glowed with innocence.

Optimus wanted to object and give the sparkling back. He had failed once after all...

But as the sparkling held onto one of his digits with such purity and joy, Optimus felt at peace for the first time since his firstborn had fallen. It still didn't feel right. He still couldn't be completely content with himself, not after Bumblebee's death. But... as he looked upon the sparkling, he found himself wanting to try again, to give this sparkling the life he couldn't give Bee.

Ratchet: You will take him?

Optimus: ... I will.

Ratchet: What is his name?

Optimus: His name... his name is Hot Rod. My blazing flame, my new hope for the future.

[randomnumbers751650]

So, I finished watching Ideon a few days ago and one thing that I thought to be really unique is how Ideon is a theodicy or has elements of a theodicy. Just to let you know, a theodicy is a question on the problem of evil: if God can and wants to prevent evil, and if God is good, then why does evil exist? It should be noted that a theodicy doesn’t necessarily require that God exists or not (I know actual economists and political scientists who unironically call their disciplines theodicies), because questions on the origin of evil are things that are with humanity since immemorial times. Also spoilers for a 40 year old show.

In Ideon, as they learn more and more about the power of the Ide, the Giant reveals itself more and more of a god. In fact, it is called a god in mid-season episodes, but they stop that after a while, probably the writers thinking it might be too much on the nose. But still, the characters are constantly debating why Ide allows that, if Ide is testing them, if Ide is good or evil, since it is orchestrating the meteor falls. A curious thing is that we have Ide’s perspective just once, with Bes’s dream – it wants to survive – and the rest of the discussions is what humans believe to Ide’s will to be, like as if they were some sort of amateur theologians.

In the end, they conclude Ide is trying to kill them because it deemed them unworthy of salvation due to their inability of stopping the cycle of war, but, again, this is their interpretation. And, in the end, Ideon is finally destroyed…but it was already established it had infinite energy, so it is kinda certain that it just allowed itself to be defeated.

Ideon is a story of how war is hell, using a super robot in a real robot story. It portrays conflict escalation, hypocrisy of ideals of honor in an environment that gives power to petty people, capable of selling their comrades for a promotion, or committing war crimes without any tactical advantage – it’s kinda obvious the Buff Clan is based on Imperial Japan, while humans seem to be inspired from Star Trek’s idea of federation – and, above all, the process of dehumanization: it starts with a sense of technological pride, impulse by miscommunication, which constantly evolves into incapacity of recognizing the other as anything but insects, and overall mutual hatred. It ended with parents disowning their child, a father trying to kill his daughter for a frivolous reason such as “blood purity” and what essentially was an attempt to make a human sacrifice to Ide (with Sheryl). No wonder, Ide decides that enough is enough, its patience wouldn’t last forever. The series goes out of its way to show that humans and buffs brought that to themselves.

Personally, I don’t think Ide is evil. I feel it genuinely wanted for humans and buffs to live in peace. The way it cares for children isn’t just because it’s an amalgamation of children from the previous civilizations, but because it genuinely likes them and see them as symbols of hope (or else it wouldn’t protect and support the adults as well) or innocence (when it protected the giant worm children). I could tell when Sheryl attempted to sacrifice Lou to make Ide work, it was beyond pissed off, to the point of destroying their homeworlds and colonies. This is why I don’t buy Ide was setting up a trap to kill both species, it could’ve done any time. It still preserved the ones in space, using the last of hope that they could solve their differences, but its hope drained with every advance, so if it wanted to destroy them, it wanted to make clear that if it was destroying them, it wanted to make them understand why before doing it.

In spite of that, Ide still loved life, including the lives of humans and buffs until the end. When all of them die in the final moments of the movie, they all reunite and, upon seeing the greatness of the universe, they can see how petty and a waste of time their squabbles and wars were. So, Ide had Messiah to guide them to a new planet, to restart the cycle again, hoping this time they would learn the lesson. In spite of Tomino showing a bleak pessimism throughout the series, I feel the end is optimistic.

[cienie-isengardu]

Adi Gallia: Human vs Near-Human source material

Because lore can't agree on this matter, so here examples of tie-in source material.

Star Wars Episode I - Visual Dictionary (1999)

Tholoth headdress

The New Essential Guide to Characters (2002)

"Though she looked young, the near-human Adi Gallia was a member of the Jedi Council for more than a decade prior to the Battle of Naboo [...]"

Star Wars Fact Files #122, 2004

Species: Human

"Adi Gallia was Corellian by birth [...]"

Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (2008)

"A beautiful brown-skinned Jedi Master […] born to Corellian parents who were diplomats on Coruscant. [....] Adi Gallia chose to dress in the plain brown robes of a Jedi, but wore a Tholoth headdress."

Star Wars - The Clone Wars - Character Encyclopedia (2010)

Species: Tholothian

Ultimate Star Wars New Edition (2019)

Species: Tholothian

Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition (2021)

Species: Tholothian

[augustmourn]

Fic Writer Questions

Tagged by @saiditallbefore, thank you!!

(Of note, I have written... very little in 2024, so that relates to some of my answers.)

how many works do you have on AO3?

169

what's your total ao3 word count?

579,513

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1 - Unexpected (Bojack Horseman, Bojack/Mr. Peanutbutter fake dating to romance) has over 1.4k kudos. It's the second most kudosed fic in the fandom, and used to be the top before being surpassed by a massive crossover fic. I'm actually really proud of it--it's pretty different from what I usually write, and I think it's both pretty funny and feels true to the canon.

2 - you know what they say about assumptions (Star Wars, Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padme modern AU) has just over 900 kudos. It's the first fic of mine that someone podficced. I haven't reread it in a while, and I was in high school when I wrote it so I'm sure I can find a lot of flaws, but it got a good response.

3 - Into the Dark (IT Movies, Richie/Eddie, time loop) has just over 750 kudos. I wrote a lot of Reddie fics in the approximate 9-13k range and at this point they all sort of blend together, but this was one of the earlier ones I wrote and it's fix-it for the canon, so I assume that's why it's popular.

4 - The Kids Are Alright (IT Movies, Richie/Eddie, teenage getting together fic) has just over 700 kudos. Another longish Reddie fic from this era, and I have fond feelings about this one too!

5 - Lights Will Guide You Home (Star Wars unfinished epic fix-it fic) has just shy of 650 kudos and is almost out of the top five, thank god. This was an ambitious attempt that was the first fic I posted on this account, and I did not finish it and have not touched since high school. Sometimes I contemplate going back, but I have not updated it in... seven years, wow. I've grown and changed a lot as a writer since that time and have freed myself from Star Wars, so I'm not up to date on the lore.

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I used to, and I also used to go back and respond in batches, but I've fallen off of that in a few years. Partly because I used to just do it as soon as I saw the email and then when I started doing exchanges I wanted to wait until author reveals, and then the backlog became overwhelming. As well as often feeling like I had very little to say and feeling kind of embarrassed about it, lol. I do try my best to go back and respond after author reveals of an exchange, at least to the recipient, but it doesn't always end up happening. I do read and appreciate every single comment, though.

what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Probably quiet birds in circled flight -- IT Movies, AU where Richie commits suicide instead of Stan. It's been a while since I've written just a straight up Grief Fic and I enjoy that writing headspace.

what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

That feels hard to define, haha. I write a lot of noncon and darkfic, and even the ones that aren't noncon or entirely dark have some darkness to them, but I think in IT fandom I did write a few longer, earn-your-happy ending fics. The two listed in my top five above fall into that category--and I guess the Bojack fic as well. full heart and other organs is a fairly sweet, essentially pre-relationship AFTG AU.

do you write crossovers?

I have not written one. I tried to write one for a fic event once and didn't finish it... and I found buried in my google docs two Magnus Archives/The Good Place crossover fics that I didn't finish. But none published, haha.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

I got a barrage of hate comments on a werewolf sex fic because it was a full form shifted werewolf and people thought that was the same as the character fucking an animal, but other than that, no lol.

do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Yeah...

I've written a very wide variety from fluff to kink to noncon. I enjoy writing it and I think it's probably the kind of writing I'm best at, just based on sheer amount written.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

I think someone posted some of my Reddie fic on Wattpad but tbh I don't think I even looked at it until it had already been taken down.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! One of my AFTG fics has been translated into Russian.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I'm interested in the idea, but writing is a very solitary activity for me, and I don't think I've ever had a specific idea that aligned enough with someone else (and both with an interest in writing it) to try it.

what's your all-time favorite ship?

Lol, I don't think I can confidently say! I tend to leave fandoms and then not really get pulled back in. The fandom I'm most confident in calling a forever fandom is AFTG, where Neil/Andrew is like, the better ship, but Neil/Riko lives in my hindbrain as a noncon ship of all time.

what's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Well, that Star Wars fic from 2017 >__> most of the others have not seen the light of day. Actually I finished a very long Danganronpa fic about a year ago and I recently realized I don't think I will be able to edit it or reread it maybe for a very long time, and probably not publish it even if I do, which does make me sad. Too tied up in my ex.

what are your writing strengths?

Porn. Lmao. But I think I'm also good at comedy, though maybe not consistently.

what are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not good at writing long or writing subplots. I struggle with research and being intimidated by the idea of research, so that feels very limiting in terms of what fandoms I can try to write.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't think I've ever done it. I can see narrative utility in certain cases, but most of the time "they said in French" or whatever will do just fine. A nickname from another language that is not the primary language the characters are speaking is not something I've written personally--I would probably only do that if it was established by canon.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Hunger Games, when I was 12, on FFN. The first fandom I posted on AO3 was Star Wars.

what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I am between hyperfixations at the moment and the only thing I've started and have some hope for is... a bit embarrassing, so I probably won't talk about it until I publish it if I do so haha

what's your favourite fic you've written?

I like a lot of my fics, and I've had a lot of fun going back and rereading ones that I haven't read in long enough that I actually don't remember everything that's happening, but I think the fic I am proudest of is the fic I wrote for a TLT big bang last year, Crashing. It's the longest piece of fiction I have ever completed and it felt like a massive accomplishment.

Tagging @ladyculebras, @hearthouses, @queermccoy, @gregwambsganss, @witchoil, and anyone else who wants to!!!

[high-mackrels-musings]

In Defense of Ki-Adi Mundi … Again

Look at that, one of my favorite Jedi from legends is relevant again … for all the wrong reasons. But regardless I’ll take any chance I can to talk about my favorite Cerean.

With that said I’ll just say two things with regards to the acolyte and Mundi, I’ve watched two episodes and have little interest to watch anymore, canon isn’t my cup of tea, if you enjoy it good for you, Star Wars is a big enough fandom that both old EU and canon fans can enjoy their respective parts of it. And please understand that Ki-Adi Mundi of legends is not the same as canon, unfortunately people are woefully ignorant of who he was in canon.

With all that let me go ahead and repost one of my old posts from reddit where I defend the now seemingly popular Ki-Adi Mundi. Original post found here.

Introudction:

In recent days it has become quite common to bash the jedi for their perceived arrogance, hypocrisy, and coldness. Seemingly a few jedi are always quick to be singled out for their actions Mace Windu is directed plenty of ire for his role in ousting Ahsoka, as is Shaak Ti for her inaction in the clone chips, and Luminara for her response towards the death of the Martez sisters’ parents. However, I shall be focusing solely on one whom has recently been getting a lot of attention with (reddit posts like these), (articles like these), and ( videos like these).

This is a horrible video, please don’t watch this.

It seems apparent to many that Ki-Adi Mundi deserved his death and that he is a prime example for the Jedi losing their way. However, I felt it necessary to attempt to put things into some perspectives. Not only because I feel people are taking things heavily out of context, but also Ki-Adi represents one of the best Jedi Masters of his era in my opinion.

Common Criticisms:

Mundi’s denial of the Sith Existence (The Phantom Menace):

One of first instances that many will bring up will be the hubris that Mundi’s quick denial that the sith might have returned as Qui-Gon reported to the council. While it is true that Mundi was perhaps just a little too quick to judge. However, one needs to consider the viewpoint of his and the rest of the council. As he states, the Sith are believed to have been extinct for a millennia, following the supposed death of Darth Bane in Darth Bane: Rule of Two. But while the Sith had believed to be extinct there were plenty of examples of Dark Jedi and other Dark Side users well into the clone wars, as exhibited in the stages before the Clone Wars such as Aurra Sing and Komari Vosa, and before The Phantom Menace as seen by Qui-Gon’s own former apprentice Xanatos.

Red lightsaber, familiar in the Jedi arts, but not a Sith.

Thus, to the Jedi on the council it would have made much more sense that Qui-Gon had been attacked by a possible fallen Jedi, rather than a long believed to be dead group.

While Mundi was at times sure of himself, this is not such an example that can be used to discredit him. Rather what we can see here is an example of the arrogance of Qui-Gon to always listen to his first instinct. The Jedi Council rightfully so declares that such a matter should be looked into more closely with Mace Windu stating, “We will use all our resources to look into the matter more closely.” Of course, it looks bad in hindsight, but as viewers we have more information than the characters on the screen.

Mundi’s defense of Count Dooku (Attack of the Clones):

In Attack of the Clones following a failed assassination, Padme is quick to bring up the name of Count Dooku for whom might be responsible for the attempt on her life. This is quickly followed by the Cerean master’s words, “He’s a political idealist not a murderer.” It is backed up by the words of Mace who describes him as being a former jedi. One needs to remember the context of this. Dooku while having left the Jedi Order, did so amicably as seen by his statement when leaving the Jedi as found in Jedi VS. Sith The Essential Guide to the Force where he states:

It is my plan to return to Serenno and serve my people as a philanthropist. It is my last request as a Jedi Master that you Respect my decision, as well as my privacy. Good-bye old friends, and may the Force be with you.

Further as seen in the deleted scene Jocasta Nu states, “He disappeared for nine or ten years and reemerged as the leader of the separatist movement.” Dooku thus is thought of as only being a political leader, which would fit the description of him in the Revenge of the Sith novelization, where he is described in the common consciousness as:

The political heart of the Separatist Confederacy, Count Dooku, is known for his integrity, his principled stand against what he sees as corruption in the Senate. Though they believe he’s wrong, many respect him for the courage of his mistaken convictions.

Thus, this viewpoint by both Ki-Adi Mundi and Mace Windu is well supported in universe. They have yet to see any reason for such a quick accusation that Padme makes, instead they must stand behind the evidence at hand, that being that the attempt on her life was that of spice miners as intelligence pointed. It should be kept in context that Dooku was still seen at this time, by the Jedi at least, as a good friend who had simply become disillusioned by the Jedi and the Republic.

Ahsoka’s Trial (The Clone Wars Season Five):

Perhaps one of the most spoken criticisms against Mundi, is his role in expelling Ahsoka from the Jedi Order. With Ahsoka being a well-beloved character of the fanbase, it’s no wonder everyone would come to her defense against what most would consider an unfair treatment of a fan favorite. Yet, should one look at the evidence that was available to the character’s it is not so cut and dry. Indeed, should one look at this without any outside insight they would have come to such similar conclusions.

Indeed, the case against Ahsoka was much stronger than some might very well remember. In the second episode of the arc The Jedi Who Knew too Much the murder of Letta, the one responsible for the explosion, was caught on camera. The visual for anyone would have been obvious. Ahsoka is seen holding out her hands while Letta floats in the air visibly running out of air. This is just the first piece of damning evidence. Further there is the statement that Letta makes in plain earshot of the clone commander to Ahsoka, “I was told if I ever needed help you were the Jedi to contact,” further implementing Ahsoka into the role of mastermind of the temple bombing. In this same episode Ahsoka is let out of prison, though to anyone apart from the audience it appears that she has fled, along with reportedly killing a few clones. And then there is Ahsoka being spotted, by Anakin nonetheless, with Asajj Ventress, a known separatist and war criminal. Finally, when Ahsoka is captured by the clone and Jedi team, she is found next to more explosive nano droids. All this culminates in showing Ahsoka in the worst possible light.

Furthering the matter is the fact that this was no longer a Jedi Matter that could be investigated internally. As Admiral Tarkin explains to Anakin and Ashoka in *The Jedi Who Knew Too Much* Letta was moved because the matter was now in the hands of the military, “Clones were killed, which makes this a military matter.” A statement Anakin agrees with. And as mentioned in the same episode, Palpatine had made sure to remove the Jedi from such military matters. It further complicates the matter. And thus, one may see that the Jedi had little choice but to expel Ahsoka. Not only did all the evidence point to her. But they simply were not in a position to set up their own trial.

Further it should be noted that Mundi had very little involvement in the decision to expel Ahsoka other than simply voting, a vote that was split according to Yoda in the final episode of the arc stating, “Reached a decision the council has, though not in total agreement are we.” Indeed, Mundi himself never actually voices an accusation against Ahsoka. In To Catch a Jedi he simply asks Anakin if there was any chance to stop Ahsoka. And in The Wrong Jedi he merely asks that everyone consider that the evidence points to Ahsoka being the mastermind behind the attack, which is correct. Perhaps why everyone holds it against him is that he is the one who reads to Ahsoka what the consequences are for her being expelled from the order are. Regardless Mundi himself is not solely at fault for Ahsoka’s leaving of the order. Nor, was it outlandish for Ahsoka to be accused of said crime, as all there was strong evidence against her.

But what about the droid attack on the Wookie’s (Revenge of the Sith)

It seems a bit odd that this is constantly brought up as a point as to why the Mundi was an idiot. The Council were the military command of the republic. It was their duty to plan out the movements of the republic army, and where best to send them. While the scene first begins with Anakin’s appointment to the council, it quickly shifts to discussion about military matters, with Mundi informing the council that they do not know where General Grievous is. This prompts Obi-Wan to mention how little ships they have to spare. Naturally with how thin they are spread; Mundi asks what they will do about Kashyyk. As should be known Yoda volunteers to go to the aid of the Wookiees, stating, “Good relations with the Wookie’s I have.”

Some might see this as Mundi indirectly helping Palpatine’s plan. However, it should be noted that Obi-Wan is not exaggerating. Kashyyk really is a system that the Republic could simply not be allowed to lose. As noted in the Starwars.com encyclopedia, “Kashyyyk was of prime strategic importance, serving as a major navigational point for the entire southwestern quadrant of the galaxy.” There were also several oil refineries located on the planet which the confederacy wanted to take control of. One can also make an argument for the Humanitarian reasons to get involved. The Wookiee’s had always been loyal to the republic and were a group often targeted for slavery and hunted down. They were a marginalized group, and thus it makes sense for why Ki-Adi would want to support the Wookiee’s.

And it should be noted that Yoda himself volunteered in his desire to go and aid the Wookies, as he states he had very good relations. And it makes sense that he would want to go, and help them. The Jedi Council thus made perhaps the best decision that they could in sending not only their most experienced Jedi, but one who would have had the trust of the natives.

Common Misconceptions:

Mundi did not love or care for his family:

One of the most notable differences between Mundi and most Jedi of his time was that he had a family. As Cerean’s generally had a low birth rate, and because males were outnumbered one to twenty per *The New Essential Guide to Alien Species.*Thus, Mundi was granted a special exemption from this rule taking on one bond wife and four honor wives. Between them Mundi had seven daughters. He would spend much of his time with them as he was the appointed Jedi watchman of the sector which Cerea formed a part of. Strangely one of most common misconceptions is that Mundi somehow did not care for them.

However, in Star Wars: Prelude to Rebellion one can see quite the opposite in fact. In Part 1 we see him openly comfort his honor wife Mawin, after their daughter has run away. And he states with regard to his bond wife Shea the narration states:

”Four honor wives have given him seven daughters. He loves them all, but his heart longs for a son. He can hide his disappointment from the others. But from Shea, if she should bear him another girl? No, not from Shea. He can hide nothing from her.”

This quote shows two things. It demonstrates for us the love that Ki-Adi Mundi actually had for his family. And that he loved his bond wife Shea so much he could not bare to let her see any semblance of disappointment in his eyes. This shows the actual empathy of Mundi. And in Part 5 of the comic, we again see him demonstrating his fatherly love towards his daughter Sylvn saying, “He had not realized until she was brought so close, and then wrenched so cruelly away. How much he loved his daughter.”

Mundi demonstrates in these early comics just how much he loves his family. And indeed, it goes contrary to the popular opinion that Mundi somehow did not care for his family.

Mundi was cold and lacked empathy.

Mundi has also been characterized as lacking empathy or feelings for others. Indeed, one of the most common examples of why Mundi is a prime example of everything bad with the Jedi of the Rise of the Empire era. Mostly I have seen people point to one scene in Star Wars: Republic 62 where following the supposed death of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mundi relates to Anakin how he felt about the death of his family saying, “I cared for them, but tried to remain unattached.” I have seen some point to this being proof that Mundi did not care for the death of others. One can get into a debate about the Jedi and their views on death, however as noted above, Mundi absolutely cared for his family. And his advice was to tell Anakin that while death is hard one can move on from it.

Further we have evidence of how deeply Mundi cared for the deaths of other sentient beings as seen in Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures Volume 6 we see Mundi mediating under dripping water. His exact words as to why he does this are: “It helps my meditation in these dark days. Each drop reminds me of every life that has been lost.” This shows us once more how much Mundi felt empathy for the death of every single life that had been lost.

In the same comic, Mundi shows concern for the life of the young Jedi Knight Rivi-Anu who runs to try to save the lives of clones and Jedi. Mundi sees her goal of stopping a crash landing Venator from crashing knows that she is trying to save them all, following her death Mundi states, “Greater love has no being than to lay down their life for a friend. Rivi-Anu is now one with the living force. It will make me proud to one day join her.” Mundi shows once more how much the death of others matters to him when he thinks of Rivi-Anu while mediating under dripping water once matter.

These two examples demonstrate that Mundi was far from a cold unfeeling Jedi some portray him as. While it is true Mundi did not stop to weep at the death of everyone, he undoubtedly felt every death touch his heart. His attempts at teaching Anakin the difference between mourning and holding onto these feelings is evident. And indeed we see that Mundi concentrated on the death of his fellow Jedi.

Conclusion

While it is entirely possible that one may have feelings towards Mundi, still perhaps you may feel he was incompetent or the single embodiment of everything wrong with the jedi. I would hope that this little essay does a decent job of trying to correct some of the possible misconceptions that have faced the Cerean Master. I believe it’s important to contextualize many of these criticisms. To try to make one see things from the perspective of the character, and indeed to provide direct quotes from many of his most famous stories. Ki-Adi Mundi is a character I grew up with falling in love with his stories in early comic run.

I certainly believe that Mundi was a very noble Jedi holding up the ideals of one. Growing from a young arrogant Jedi Knight. Into an introspective master. Who after losing every one of his daughters and wives still remained on the Jedi path. Who did his best to pass on wisdom to the young Jedi who would follow him. And who wanted nothing more than to preserve the republic all the way to the end. Hopefully putting some context into such claims can quell the ire driven against one of my favorite characters in Star Wars.

[electricnik]

Early illustration of Thrawn from Star Wars the Essential Guide to Characters by Andy Mangels.

[oh-no-eu-didnt]

Concord Dawn was an agricultural world located in the Outer Rim Territories. A Mandalorian colony, a sizable portion of the planet was destroyed during an ancient conflict. Concord Dawn was politically important in the Mandalore sector, and was the homeworld of Jango Fett.

Source - Star Wars Rebels: “The Protector of Concord Dawn“ (2016)

First Appearance - The Essential Guide to Characters (1995)

Read more on Wookieepedia.