#Sifo-Dyas is so done

[charmwasjess]

I really am crazy busy, both at work and life, and of course, finishing RH, but Vampire Dooku Turns Sifo-Dyas AU won't leave me alone, so you get a little piece of the morning after Sifo-Dyas returns from his Oba Diah moon:

Cut to be safe, cause discussion of sex

“So, who even was this?” Sifo-Dyas tilted the cup of blood accusingly in Dooku's direction, but he didn’t let go of it, either. “Some poor soul from Serenno? Someone’s parent, or treasured child? Disappeared up into the big castle like so many others, but who would dare question the noble Count Serenno?”

He was not sure who he was trying to shame more: Dooku, who did not seem to care, or himself, who cared a great deal more than he could currently handle. “I wonder what color her eyes were, or what she dreamed of being in life before you–”

“Not to interrupt your maudlin fantasy,” Dooku looked almost as tired as he felt, “but I do not go about exsanguinating peasant girls in my own kingdom, Sifo-Dyas. For one, that would take a tremendous deal of time.” 

“So difficult to fit more murder into your busy schedule? I ought to be grateful you spared the time for my own!” 

“In fact, hunting and killing live beings is rather impractical. Messy, and, if we must discuss your own death, that is a fine example of the kind of loose ends left by such practices.”

Sifo-Dyas glared at him, even as he grudgingly sipped the blood. It immediately soothed the static throb in his temple, but he did not enjoy being referred to as a “loose end.”

Oh, of course Dooku wasn’t done. “Most of what I consume is sourced from medical blood banks. Supplying my own would be a logistical nightmare.” Dooku paused wryly here, tolerant amusement curling his lip. “And… the effect of drinking live blood can cause quite an ardent physical response in the body, as you may have noticed last night. To both of our enjoyment, I believe. But it would be impractical at other times.”

Ah, that was right. Last night, he’d ended up in Dooku’s stupid bed again. Their first time, mere days ago, Dooku had shamelessly used the opportunity to turn him into an undead monster. And yet, knowing that, fully aware of that, Sifo-Dyas had still gone back for seconds.

Honestly, Sifo, where is your damned common sense? He was a Jedi Master and former member of the High Council. Why did Dooku still possess the ability to make him behave like a teenage boy navigating his first crush? And why, by the black stars, why, why did his own internal voice of admonishment still sound like Lene? 

“When the time is right for your first true hunt, a ceremonial rite of passage for our kind, I’ll arrange–”

“No thank you,” he cut him off tersely, “I’ll eat rabbits.”

“Rabbits?”

“They have rabbits on Serenno, do they not?”

Dooku paused. He actually looked like he did not know and was genuinely curious.

“How did I not know about this curse of yours, anyway?” Sifo-Dyas blurted out before Dooku could tell him about any stupid theoretical Serennian rabbits. “All those years ago, when we were everything to each other.”

Dooku’s quick glance up might have been wounded. Are we not still everything to each other?

Sifo-Dyas ignored that, still feeling a little too sore and betrayed for such sentimentality. “You must have taken such pains to keep it from me.”

“No more than any other urges I hid from you.”

“Urges?” Sifo-Dyas repeated, incredulous. “Other urges such as biting me in the neck until dead?!” 

“The ritual to make you was more complicated than that.”

“Oh, right, yes, the complicated ritual. For the vampirism to properly stick, you must first be fucking me and whispering romantic lies in my ear!”

 “Sifo…” Now Dooku decidedly looked pained. “I had my reasons for–” 

“Mortis gods, do you ever shut up?” 

“–I thought it would be more comfortable for you. Endorphins from intercourse dampen any pain associated with the bite. And, if I may consider my own feelings in this, your obvious happiness and pleasure made the experience …” 

“It made me taste better?!” Sifo-Dyas shoved up from the bed. He’d had enough of breakfast with Dooku. 

[itstimeforstarwars]

I’m so glad I made the inspired series because it’s so nice having a place to trial run ideas and throw my most excellent plots and scenes that could never actually be in the galidraan au.

[saphronethaleph]

Comparative Healing 202

“...he had such a knowledge of the Dark Side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying,” Palpatine explained.

“Really?” Anakin asked. “That’s strange… I wonder how that works.”

“It’s a power that you can’t learn from a Jedi,” Palpatine said, delicately. “The Dark Side is a path to many abilities that some consider… unnatural.”

Anakin frowned. “I guess,” he said. “But what I mean is, how it’s different from the Light Side way of doing it.”

Palpatine looked at Anakin.

“What do you mean?” he asked, a little puzzled.

“I asked Master Kcaj, I think he’s attending the performance actually,” Anakin explained, with a little shrug. “He took me through Light Side Force Healing 201, he said it was good that I was learning to solve problems in ways that didn’t involve a lightsaber.”

The Knight frowned. “Well, he just called it Force Healing 201, because I don’t think he knew there was a Dark Side version, but I guess that makes sense, because that kind of thing would have to be really, really old by now. Was Darth Plagueis killed by one of the Jedi during the Jedi-Sith Wars or was he a victim of infighting?”

“He wasn’t-” Palpatine began, but Anakin was shaking his head.

“Actually, now I come to think about it, the way the Light Side version of Force Healing works, the way it’s Light Side is that you have to personally pay for the cost,” he said. “I guess it’s kind of ironic, really, because it means that Jedi can keep other people from dying, but we can’t keep ourselves from dying… we’d have to take on our own wounds and we’d be back where they started. There’s other things we can do to make it so that injuries aren’t as serious, but those only work for ourselves, so it’s… actually a way that you can combine two techniques to get a net benefit.”

Palpatine blinked, still about one and a half sentences behind and trying to catch up. “I… suppose it is ironic, yes,” he said. “Darth Plagueis the Wise had the same problem.”

Anakin frowned. “Chancellor, how do you know about this? Are you sure that it was a Sith? Because the Force Healing technique you’ve mentioned sounds a lot like it has the same limitations as the Jedi one, so maybe it’s actually been distorted and corrupted over more than a thousand years. It could even be that he wasn’t called Darth Plagueis but was called something that sounded that way and the story’s been corrupted over the centuries. You know, like Sifo-Dyas and Sidious, that only took a few years.”

“I’m sorry, Anakin?” Palpatine said, after a pause to try and avoid panicking when Anakin linked the two names. “What do you mean? This isn’t… it’s the story of a Sith.”

“Sure, that’s what you’re aware of,” Anakin replied. “And maybe it’s correct, but there’s lots of possibilities even then, right? It could be that he discovered the Jedi healing technique independently, or it could be that he stole it from the Jedi. Maybe the Jedi stole it from him and they don’t tell the story because it’s embarrassing to admit that the most highly restricted healing techniques are something originally invented by the Sith. Or maybe they let this Darth Plagueis guy borrow some holobooks from the Jedi library and he stole them, and they’re embarrassed now.”

Anakin ticked off points on his fingers. “Oh, and there’s also the possibility that if a Sith stole holobooks on Force Healing he’d have done it in a way that couldn’t be traced back to him, so the Jedi wouldn’t tell the story because they just flat-out didn’t know.”

“This is not a story from a thousand years ago,” Palpatine said. “It’s a story from only a few decades ago, as it happens, so it is definitely not warped by time!”

“Not more than the Sifo-Dyas thing,” Anakin pointed out, helpfully. “But yeah, it’s now really obvious why the Jedi don’t tell me about it, because it’s either really catastrophically embarrassing because it would mean that the Jedi literally didn’t realize the Sith were back despite a Sith stealing some library books, or they just have no way of knowing in the first place. I guess I’m more interested in the second one, though… does this story go into any more detail about how Plagueis did the Force Healing? If they genuinely are Light Side and Dark Side and that’s different, then it’s interesting.”

“I… didn’t take you as someone to be interested in healing,” Palpatine admitted, since it was about the only response he could think of at that point.

“I didn’t think I’d be interested either,” Anakin said, readily. “But Master Kcaj had this great analogy, he said that it was like being a mechanic of the body. Isn’t that such a cool concept? The heart’s the motivator, that kind of thing… and the better I understand that the more I can work on not needing to use the Force to heal people, except in a real emergency anyway. All I need is to use it to stabilize someone, and then I can get them the rest of the way to safety.”

Palpatine nodded.

“A… useful endeavour,” he said, in as fatherly a tone as he could manage, and tried to get back on script. “As I said, Plagueis could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He taught his apprentice everything he knew, and then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. He never saw it coming.”

“Oh, right,” Anakin replied, nodding. “Yeah, I think this sounds like a badly garbled origin story for the Sith.”

“Excuse me?” Palpatine asked.

“If Darth Plagueis was a Sith who’d taught his apprentice everything, then how would he not expect to be betrayed?” Anakin asked. “It makes much more sense if this apprentice was actually the first Sith and Plagueis being a Sith got read back into the story at a later date… but I’m still not sure how to get the midi-chlorians to create life. They’re our connection to the Force, it’s not about a connection to the Dark Side specifically. Unless what he’s doing is forcing the midi-chlorians to create life when it shouldn’t be, that would be a Dark Side thing that violates the balance in the universe while Light Side techniques are about balance – that’s why Light Side healing involves paying for taking away a wound by taking on a wound. Balance.”

Anakin glanced at his chrono. “Huh, I should probably get going… I need to tell the Council that thing you mentioned about Grievous hiding in the Utapau System.”

“Come, now, Anakin,” Palpatine said. “You can’t find yourself running around doing the bidding of the Jedi Council all the time. We were talking about this. They don’t necessarily have your best interests at heart.”

“I know, Chancellor,” Anakin replied, nodding. “But I don’t speak Quarren and I think if I need to watch five more minutes of this ballet I’m going to pass out from boredom.”

“This ballet is in Mon Cal,” Palpatine said.

“Yeah, I don’t speak that either,” Anakin shrugged.

“Did you know the Chancellor’s really interested in old stories about the Sith?” Anakin asked Obi-Wan, back in the Temple. “Fascinated by them.”

“He is?” Obi-Wan replied. “I’ve never got that sense.”

“No, it was a surprise to me, too,” Anakin agreed, shrugging. “But he was telling me this story about a Darth Plagueis who could heal people. It’s a weird kind of healing, though, using midi-chlorians to create life? At least that’s what the Chancellor said… he said the Jedi didn’t know about it, so I guess it must be an old story, even though he said it was recent. I wondered if maybe it was twenty generations ago instead of twenty years, or something like that.”

“I won’t lie, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “I don’t know what I expected your assignment to result in, but this isn’t it.”

Anakin sighed. “Master… I can’t do it, okay? I can’t spy on someone who’s been such a friend to me. Sithspit, all I’m really doing is sharing gossip he brought upand that still makes me feel dirty.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “I understand, Anakin,” he said. “The problem is really that there’s… a question about how independent the Jedi Temple is.”

He indicated the nearest landing pad, which had a trio of gunships waiting there. “We’ve been acting as generals for the last two years at least… the Chancellor feels that he can make decisions about who becomes a member of the Council… regardless of your abilities and suitability for the role, Anakin, after he suggested you it was impossible for us to put you on the Council with the rank of Master. It would set a precedent that the Jedi are simply another department of the government for the Chancellor to control.”

Anakin looked thoughtful.

“I hadn’t realized that,” he admitted. “I don’t think the Chancellor would do that, though.”

“The problem isn’t with this Chancellor,” Obi-Wan replied. “It’s with the next Chancellor. Or the one after that.”

He spread his hands. “Really, I think part of this is my fault. I didn’t try hard enough to make sure you learned the political skill a Jedi needs.”

“Master, you’re really good at that kind of thing,” Anakin protested. “I’m more into… aggressive negotiations.”

“Indeed,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin waited.

“...you’re supposed to tell me I’m not that bad,” he said, eventually.

“I know I’m supposed to,” Obi-Wan said, virtuously.

Anakin rolled his eyes.

“Oh, before I forget,” he went on. “The Chancellor did say General Grievous is on Utapau.”

“Noted,” Obi-Wan said. “Now, what’s this story about Sith healing that the Chancellor told you? I’ve never heard of Darth Plagueis before.”

When Anakin had finished recounting the conversation, they were most of the way to the Council chamber, and he shrugged.

“You get what I mean… right?” he said, then took note of Obi-Wan’s disturbed expression. “Is something wrong, Master?”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied, firmly. “Anakin, what you’ve just described is exactly how it would look if Palpatine was trying to hint that he could teach you a Sith technique.”

“Really?” Anakin asked. “The Chancellor be able to use Sith techniques? There’s no way that is possible…”

He got out his datapad, and began flicking through records. “He’d have to be able to use the Force, and his midi-chlorian count is… is… not here?”

Anakin looked up. “Didn’t the whole Senate get tested to see if any of them was Darth Sidious?”

“Now I’m very worried,” Obi-Wan declared. “I know he’s your friend, Anakin, but how possible is it that Palpatine is Sidious?”

Anakin considered that.

“Do you think that explains why he ordered me to cut Dooku’s head off and leave you on a starship that was about to explode?” he asked.

“Definitely need to teach you politics,” Obi-Wan muttered.

[david-talks-sw]

Debunking more myths in the GFFA: the Jedi and the clones.

I wrote a post debunking the various myths about how "the Jedi condone slavery", a while ago. Something I had omitted (because it's such a big topic) was the following two statements that concern the clone troopers' relations with the Jedi:

"The clones were genetically bred to have accelerated growth, so they're technically child soldiers."

"The clones were slaves of the Jedi."

Both the above statements are inaccurate, let's explore why. 

"The clones were child soldiers"

Let's get the easy one out of the way first, because it's a logic that cuts both ways. If age is our only determination of the maturity of a Star Wars character, then Grogu is not a baby. He is aged 50, and is thus a middle-aged man.

Who cruelly eats the babies of a woman...

... and knowingly tortures animals for his own sadistic pleasure.

Of course, I'm kidding. Grogu's none of the above things.

The narrative frames him as a cute baby who does innocent baby stuff. Him eating the eggs is played off as comedic, as is him lifting with the frog. To this day, some fans still call him "Baby Yoda".

Conversely, despite the clones being 10/14-years-old, their actions, behaviors, way of thinking, sense of humor, morals etc, are all those of an adult.

Like, Ahsoka is technically older than Rex in this scene.

The scene doesn't portray them as peers, though. This isn't written as "a teen and a tween talking". No, Rex looks, acts and behaves like a grown-up and is thus framed as such by the narrative.

You can make the argument "they're child soldiers", but (unless you're doing so in bad faith) you'd also have to argue that "Grogu's an adult".

"The clones were the Jedi's slaves"

Nope. For all intents and purposes, they're in the same boat as the Jedi, who George Lucas stated multiple times had been drafted to fight in the war.

Again: both the Jedi (monk/diplomats untrained for fighting on a battlefield) and clones (literally bred en masse only to fight) are being forced to fight by Palpatine and the Senate.

Though, on paper, the clones were commissioned by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, it was actually done by the Sith (who either manipulated or assassinated Sifo-Dyas then stole his identity, depending on the continuity you choose to adhere to). The rest of the Jedi had no idea these clones were being created.

So while the clones are slaves... they're not owned by the Jedi.

They're the army of the Republic, they belong to the Senate. This isn't exactly a scoop, they refer to the clones as something to purchase...

... and manufacture.

As far as the Senate’s concerned, clones are property, like droids. 

Like there's a whole subplot in The Bad Batch about this very point: after the war, the clones are decommissioned and left out to dry because they literally have no rights, they served their purpose.

The only trooper to ever canonically blame the Jedi for the clones' enslavement is Slick, who the narrative frames as having been bribed and manipulated by Asajj Ventress into betraying his comrades.

Also, the only canonical Jedi shown to ever be mean, dismissive or mistreating the clones in any way, is Pong Krell.

And it's eventually revealed he’s in fact a full-on traitor, hence why the story frames him as an antagonistic dick from the moment he's introduced. He doesn’t represent the Jedi in any way.

We know this because the other Jedi we’ve been shown are always prioritizing their clones’ lives over theirs, if given the chance.

Finally, if we wanna get even more specific... as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the clones belong to Palpatine. 

Palpatine who is a Sith Lord. 

Palpatine who arranged for the creation of the clones and had them all injected with a chip that would activate upon hearing a code-word...

... and forced them to murder their Jedi without hesitation or remorse.

When you bear all that  ⬆️  in mind and when you read this quote by George Lucas...

"The Jedi won't lead droids. Their whole basis is connecting with the life force. They'd just say, 'That's not the way we operate. We don't function with non-life-forms.” So if there is to be a Republic army, it would have to be an army of humans."    - The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, 2020  

... narratively-speaking, everything falls into place.

Sidious knows that:

If he orchestrates a war designed to thin the Jedi's numbers, corrupt their values and plunge the galaxy into chaos...

If he wants to draft the Jedi - peace-keeping diplomats who’d never willingly join the fray - to fight in his war...

... then the only way they won't resist the draft and abstain from fighting is if they think joining the conflict will save lives.

So he creates a set of cruel, sadistic villains for them to face, opponents who will target innocent civilians at every turn...

... and instead of lifeless droids, he prepares for the Jedi an army of men... living, mortal people who, despite being well-trained, will be completely out of their league when facing the likes of Dooku...

... Ventress...

... Grievous...

... Savage Opress...

... or the defoliator, a tank that annihilates organic matter.

Thus, in order to save as many clone and civilian lives, the Jedi join the fray despite knowing that doing so will corrupt their values. 

And as the war rages on, a bond of respect is formed between the two groups.

Clearly, the Jedi don't like the fact that the Republic is using the clones to fight a war, but for that matter, they don't like being in a war, in fact they advocated against it.

However, it's happening regardless of their issues with the idea or personal philosophies. Said The Clone Wars writer Henry Gilroy:

"I’d rather not get into the Jedi’s philosophical issues about an army of living beings created to fight, but the Jedi are in a tough spot themselves, being peacekeepers turned warriors trying to save the Republic."

And bear in mind, the Jedi are basically space psychics, the clones are living beings that they can individually feel in the Force... 

... so the Jedi feel every death but need to move on, regardless, only being able to mourn the troopers at the end of every battle.

We see this in the Legends continuity too, by the way.

(that is, when the writers actually try to engage with the narrative)

Also, if you ask the clones, they’re grateful the Jedi have their backs.

When Depa Billaba voices her concerns about how the war is impacting the Jedi's principles, troopers Grey and Styles are quick to make it clear how grateful they all are for the Jedi's involvement:

So the clones aren't the Jedi's slaves. If anything, they're both slaves of the Republic (considering how low the Jedi's status actually is in the hierarchy).

Only I'd argue the clones have it much, much worse. 

The Senate sees the Jedi as "ugh, the holier-than-thou space-monk lapdogs who work for us"... but a Jedi has the option to give up that responsibility. They can leave the Order, no fuss or stigma. 

A clone trooper cannot leave the GAR! If they do, they’re marked for treason and execution. Again, they’re not perceived as “people”.

And it doesn’t help that the Kaminoans, the clones’ very creators, see the troopers as products/units/merchandise. A notion that the Jedi are quick to correct whenever they get the chance.

How The Clone Wars writers describe the clones' relationship with the Jedi.

George Lucas hasn’t spoken much about this subject aside from the quote from further up. But to be fair... the Prequels aren’t about the clones’ dynamic with the Jedi, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t talk on that subject so much.

He did mention that part of The Clone Wars’ perks is that he could:

“Do stories about some of the individual clones and get to know them.”

But that’s as far as it gets. 

So for this part, I'm just gonna let Dave Filoni, showrunner of The Clone Wars and the upcoming series Ahsoka, and TCW writer Henry Gilroy - both of whom worked closely with Lucas - take the wheel. They make themselves pretty clear on how the clone/Jedi dynamic is meant to be viewed. 

Here’s Henry Gilroy:

"In my mind, the Jedi see the clones as individuals, living beings that have the same right to life as any other being, but understand that they have a job to do."

"The clones see the Jedi as their commanding officers on one hand, but also, at least subconsciously, they look to them for clues to social/moral behavior."    

"Some clones may find themselves getting philosophical leadership from the Jedi that helps them answer some of the deeper questions of life."    

"We thought this was a great opportunity to show how the Jedi interact with clones. Specifically, Yoda in a teaching role of the clones, who were socially new, who kind of grew up— who were created to fight, and he really broadened their horizons and helped them realize there was a great big universe out there that was bigger than just fighting and killing."    

And here’s Dave Filoni’s comments:

"I truly believe that the Jedi try to humanize their clones and make them more individual, as Henry says."    

"I think we saw that in Revenge of the Sith, when the Clones were colorful and named under the Jedi Generals, and then in the final shots of the film with Palpatine and Vader near the new Death Star, the ships are grey, the color and life is sucked out. The Stormtroopers are only numbers and identified by black and white armor or uniforms in A New Hope." 

"The soldiers have become disposable to the Emperor."    

"That is something the Jedi would never do."    

"Yoda teaching the clones much like he taught Luke. ‘Cause that was kind of natural for [the Jedi], a natural instinct to take to these clones like they’re students."    

None of the above quotes from two different writers of The Clone Wars, who had many interactions with George Lucas, frame the Jedi and the clones’ relationship in a negative way. 

How much more proof do we need that "the clones were slaves of the Jedi” isn’t the intended narrative?

My point being that while the clones' ordeal is indeed horrible, the Jedi have nothing to do with it. The narrative of The Clone Wars always frames it as the fault of the Sith, the Senate and the Kaminoans.

If you go by the intended narrative, the Jedi were the clones' teachers and brothers-in-arms. The clones and the Jedi were not just comrades.

They were friends.

[evilminji]

My ONGOING "SI-OC Ponderings that my Muse is haunting me with but I may never get around to write" Series!

Because, fuck it, might as well. Maybe it will inspire somebody?

Jedi Youngling! Staring down that double barrel Order 66! FUCK.

Now, see, they don't blame the Clones. They don't even blame the Jedi. Whole lot of "victims of circumstance and our Wrong Place Wrong Time environment" going on. But? Are they gonna lay down and take it? Fffffuck no!

They JUST got this body!

Also?

THESE ARE BABIES.

They, An ADULT, have a god damned MORAL OBLIGATION to save as many of this itty bitty alien babies as they can. They warn the adults, obviously. But they FULLY expect? And are unsurprised? When they DON'T LISTEN.

There is a Force Damned PRECEDENT for that. (May you finally rest in peace now, Master Sifo-Dyas.)

The younglings though? THEY didn't get to make a choice. THEY are innocents. And as the only ADULT with knowledge of what's to come? It's HER moral, ethical, and Force given obligation to PROTECT them until they can do so themselves.

As a Jedi... she has to PICK.

Try to save the adults? Those who willfully chose ignorance AND have the ability to defend themselves? To fight and flee under their own power? Or... save the younglings, the infants and babies. Those whose ignorance is that of the young and still learning? Who CAN NOT fight. Can Not run?

It's no choice at all. And if they truely understood? She can only hope they would command her to do EXACTLY as she is doing. Would demand no less. Consider it UNTHINKABLE to ever choose them.

She searches out the hidden passages. Practices lifting things instead of sword stances. She will need to carry so much. Move so quickly. She KNOWS where the attack will come from... Force willing, if she plans well? The Creches will be EMPTY by the time the soilders arrive.

But for that? She must steal. Redirect. Take things from where they should be. It is easier then it should be. First because no expects true mischief from a child, then? Because a war has begun.

Restriction Bolts of the Temple droids and a simple explanation is enough to gain their assistance. It's illogical not to have a plan, even if you never use it. And through them? "Liberated" data jewels. Already plumbed for all the information they're good for. High end, too.

Perfect.

She wipes them all. Fashion's a belt that, one day, Force willing she might wear as a necklace. Then sets to work coping EVERYTHING about the Jedi. When the temple is lost? Their history should not be.

So long as this string of jewels alone survives.

The Jedi are remembered. Luke with not have to start over from half memories and hearsay. They can learn from the past AND still have it. She puts diaries, prophecies, books the jedi wrote for fun. Various Force sects both past and still alive. Teaching methods. Anything. Everything.

A time capsule.

It HAS to be enough.

She fears it's not. Sneaks into the hall of retired Sabers. Sits. And opens her mind to them all. Please. Please! She knows. She's so, SO sorry. You were done. You EARNED your rest. She would not ask this if youngling were not on the line. If Illum might not become to dangerous to travel too.

....if she did not fear what would become of you, should you stay.

The Sith is coming. He WILL take the temple.

Will you come with me now?

Some do, some promise to die, and die VICIOUS. Swear to blow to deadly shrapnel in the hands of any who dare come for them. Others leave their casings. Willing to come, but not as they were. She apologizes for the indignity, as she stuffs them all in the hidden paths.

Honestly? They muse. They've seen worse. Remember that-? WE DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT. HE WAS TRYING HIS BEST, OKAY?!

And all throughout? One must wonder. What do the other younglings think? That OC is strange? Mad? To be ostracized? No, of course not. She is nice. Listens when they're upset. Does not judge or make every emotion a test. Hugs come readily and her mind FEELS older. Like the Creche Master.

And? If Master YODA can be short? Why not OC? She just lives with them. The other Knights and Master's don't listen to her because she Sees things. It scares them. They SAY they do. But children know the difference, don't they? Between what you promise you'll do... and what you'll ACTUALLY do?

But see, the Creche Master's? Increasingly distracted. Preparing the eldest of their charges for WAR ZONES. It's stressful. The fact that the youngers are quiet? SHOULD raise alarm bells. They KNOW better. But they are distracted.

The ones who DO notice? Are the orphan Padawan. The older initiates. People assigned to "help out".

There aren't enough mind healers. Not enough hands to help around the Creche. It was considered a good idea. Young children are full of uncomplicated Light! Yes, Yoda. They are. But as with Obi-Wan, so too with the Crechelings? Children are NOT here to mend the hurts of their elders. That is NOT their purpose.

They are exposing the youngers to Fear and Grief. Broken bonds and the echos of war. This is NOT good for young force sensitives.

Yet... are THEY not young Force Sensitives? Children too? OC knows they are. And it is a bitterness on her tounge. She does what she can. Because SHE is and adult. They notice too. How can they not? The other children turn to her, she guides them through their day. She gives "projects" and listens to concerns. Walks everyone through meditation.

......runs everyone through the Evacuation Plan? WHAT Evacuation Plan?

Oh.

It... it helps. Having something they are PART of. Doing TOGETHER. Something to combat the growing, creeping, darkness that is not violence and death. This? This is planning. Preparation. It... it feels like have some sense of control again, after everything has become senseless and OUT of control. Yet? It is not DARK. Not seeking to force control on others.

It is just... quietly stepping back.

One foot, then another. Calmly and with grief. Letting go, knowing you have tried, as you leave those who have made their choices to the fates they chose. Silently slipping out the door before the building begins to burn. Just as you warned them. Just as they refused to hear.

It's okay to grieve.

Even those who are still alive.

Of course, Shadows ARE supposed to notice unusual movements. Spies and Falling are a concern. Heeey, little youngling! How's things? Just swinging byyyy~☆ soft interrogation tactics~! Gonna admit to any of the Blatant Theft?

Yes, actually. Good you are here. Saves OC the trouble of trying to figure out who is and isn't a Shadow. Kinda convenient, Master Vos, that it's you. What's the fastest set of ships you could stash at the exit to this and THIS hidden path? By this date?

He's sorry, what?

You heard her.

Tiny youngling, unflinching, staring him down and asking for ships like that's a thing she has any right to do? Why? Well... that depends. Are you actually going to listen, Master Vos, or do you want an answer that will comfort you?

Excuse me.

Do you remember? Master Vos, the suffering of Sifo-Dyas? A temple full of Jedi, a seat upon it's council, yet not a single soul would hear him. Would truely listen. How many Knights? How many Masters? Tell me, Master Vos, exactly how many have DIED for willful ignorance and attachment to peaceful days?

There could not POSSIBLY be Sith. So we will not train or prepare. There can not POSSIBLY be a war, Sifo-Dyas, so be consumed by your fear alone. Die, alone. Let Padawan and peacekeepers be Generals. Because what the Force has shown you? It is happening today.

So we refuse to see it. Cling to the present, Master Vos.

Isn't it so COMFORTING here?

You don't have to know what might be. Don't have to ACT. Can be blind and choose ignorance.

A vision then? He surely concludes. For he is no fool. And the Youngling just looks tired. Eats their meal. Answer the question, Master Vos. Do you remember? Was Master Kenobi's suffering also ignored? How well did that work out. Will you LISTEN or have you already come to your conclusions, and now simply seek information to support them?

....he wants to. He does. But you're like, four.

OC nods. Fair. She can see the genuine conflict on his face. He HEARD her. But can not let go of what his eyes tell him. The Force is too muddled here. She too, would have a hard time trusting a small child with something so serious. But.... she can not change her path. And neither can he.

May the Force Be With You, Master Vos.

Plan Besh it is.

She is a small adorable child. The Coruscant gaurd are overworked and filled with spite. Who wants caff and bribery~? Do they clock her immediately? Yes. Is this hilarious. Also yes. Who did you kill, small child? We promise not to be mad.

No one, yet. Could change. She would prefere it not. But who knows. Anyway~☆! Do any of YOU caff loving (here have a refill) gentleman happen to know of any asshole Goverment Officals with REALLY fast ships that run primarily of droid piloting? With potentially easily disabled trackers? Not that she, a small child, would be DOING anything with this information!

It's just neat information to know! *innocent blinking of innocence*

Uh huh. And they were decanted yesterday.

That SAID.... they have a list. Oh noooo! They dropped the list! So much effort to pick it up. Hey, kid, could pick that up and definitely not steal it for us? Good baby Jedi. Thanks for the Caff. Tell Vos to stop haunting the lower levels. It's OUR job to hunt criminals for sport, not his.

Yes, sir o7

Of she goes? To the Senatorial Garage. It's mostly droids. Of LOOK! I have this handy little tool! Pop. Pop, pop, pop~! Hey? Wanna fuck over the asshole who doesn't appreciate you, steal this ship, AND save the lives of small children?

BOY WOULD THEY! Says local every droid in the Ship pool.

Great! Just figure out where the trackers are, how to turn them off, and when it's time? Meet a one of these locations for pick up. We're gonna NEED you. Like... actually NEED. Not "I'm throwing my money around on the latest and greatest then not USING THEM FOR ANYTHING" supposedly need. You'll have SO MUCH WORK.

(They're gonna cry in Binary. Omg? Fuckin FINALLY???)

And so... inevitably. The clock ticks down. The drama of adults ramps up. They smuggle a few clone troopers through surgery. Try to warn the others. Know it won't be enough. The momentum is too great. The gears of War will grind over everything.

Like a forest fire... the old has to burn away for new growth.

But like hell is she letting that come at the cost of tiny bodies. Clones trapped in their minds forced to fire upon children. There will be enough horrors this day. This can be on less. They WILL be ready. And... they are.

She sees the council running out. Knows what it means. And she does NOT hesitate. Her signal goes out. Her Padawan helpers dropping everything to BOLT for the Creche and the go bags stored there. They are followed by friends. Who do not understand, but trust them. Who's Master's do not understand, but assume this is some plan they were not told off.

It certainly seems so, when in the distance? They hear the temple gaurds fighting to hold the line. Hear blasterfire. They race down the hidden paths. Are met with droids, loading up food and medicine, leave as soon as each ship has the assigned numbers. Again and again. Senatorial chips mean instant pass into space. Important business, you understand.

The droids will follow, with everything. Including what was nailed down. Probably the nails too.

Might steal the hammers while they're at it.

Next stop? Wild Space.

Explorcorps newest finds. FRESHLY deleted. All points warning already being sent. A Fuck You Very MUCH, Sith-y Pants. You'll not be getting ANY of the Corps workers if THEY can help it. And hey... the Masters and a few knights were a pleasant suprise. Them and their squad of rescue troopers? Almost make enough adults to take care of everybody!

Now all they have to do? Is hide, rebuild, and regrow.

Return when Luke has down his Luke thing.

Who knows... not her. She made a plan and she DID it. Some one else can decide for a while. She's just a kid. Tell her when they get there, okay?

[cosmicmordecai]

Something we don’t talk about a lot is how Yoda’s first vision in Season 6 Episode 11 depicts a alternate timeline where Order 66 is done differently and the Jedi Order has to fight the Clones directly. If you look closely, you can see Mace, Luminara, and Agen in the scene as it plays out. Agen is pretty much an educated guess but Luminara & Mace is definitely there. It’s the only vision Yoda has that isn’t lined up with what happens in Star Wars.

I’m surprised it’s never brought up because throughout more recent media like the Son of Dathomir & Rebels, it’s revealed that Sidious uses the Force to look into potential futures. It’s one of the ways he is able to seemingly stay steps ahead of his enemies, constantly ensuring no danger to him comes. (ex. he stated the death of Kanan altered the original fate of Lothal, he had Vader & Inquisitors prioritize kidnapping children to prevent future Jedi rising late into his reign)

This changes a lot of the idea that Sidious winning was “inevitable” because he has to go out of his way to ensure his plans worked out AND eliminated other threats. He verbatim erased whatever Maul’s future proposed and replaced it with one where he’s eventually running away from Inquisitors, is a crime lord that like later mysterious disappears, and searches to kill Obi-Wan & amounts to zero.

This also counts the idea the Jedi simply lost because they weren’t compassionate enough or too arrogant a bit. The Sith manage to throw the balance off & cast the dark side out so wide it dimished their abilities. Only hypersensitive Jedi that extended towards visions (Cordova, Sifo-Dyas, Pong Krell, Kanan to an extent) could see through it wheras trained Jedi who normally could (Yoda, Mace) couldn’t & Mace in the Living Force (over a decade before AOTC & ROTS & just before TPM) was actively trying & could only get vague impressions for events that happen days later & commented nobody could replace Sifo-Dyas’s sensitivity in reading the future. Unfortunately, no matter how sensitive, the Council was skeptical when others manage to see something because it was too vague.

[rainintheevening]

I guess a really big thing that I want folks to remember when criticizing the Jedi about anything to do with the war, whether it's about the clones, or whatever, is that Palpatine set everything up. Literally everything.

Palpatine is really the one writing the narrative. He's doing it long before Anakin comes into the picture, he is planning everything. He wants to destabilize the Republic till they beg for one person to run everything and save them. And at the centre of that is tearing down the Jedi.

Everything that notably goes wrong in the Republic from before Episode 1, is being engineered by Palpatine.

The corruption in the Senate, the Trade Federation, Naboo Crisis, Dooku’s fall and the birth of the separatist movement, the clone army, ALL OF IT WAS SET UP BY PALPATINE.

None of it was happening naturally. Palpatine was putting people where he wanted them, was setting this and that and the other thing up, and he had back up plans for everything. Even his back-ups had back-ups! That man was playing out the culmination of the longest long game in history, and he was not about to mess it up.

The Jedi had already seen a decline in the numbers of Force-sensitives coming to the Temple, even in those being born I think. Gotta wonder if the Sith had something to do with that too.

Rising crime and chaos across the galaxy, keep the Jedi busy, and worn down, and then that hits a whole other level after Dooku’s Raxus Address and the start of the seperatist crisis. They're always on the move then, hardly ever home.

And they're Jedi, they can see the big picture enough to know that the Republic is splintering apart, and there is only so much that can be done to save it.

The Jedi did not make the clones, Palpatine and Dooku did under Sifo-Dyas's name. You wanna talk about who 'owns' the clones? Palpatine and Dooku, probably more Dooku, he's the one with the money. And of course Palpatine made them human. Because he knew it would hurt the Jedi on a whole other level.

Palpatine was also hard at work twisting public perception of the Jedi, and that culminated in the war.

Palpatine set up the war so that there would be NO perfect morally correct choice for the Jedi.

This is an enormous part of the tragedy of the Prequels. How do good people make choices when there are no good choices? How do you choose when it seems you have no choice?

Palpatine set it up so that no matter what choice the Jedi made, they could be dragged and vilified for it, because that was what he wanted.

Breaking the Order apart as one person's 'least of the evils' clashed with another's, and every choice cost someone's life.

Physically scattering them across the galaxy so they're often alone to process the pain and horrors of war.

He was playing one-man chess with the Jedi and the clones vs Dooku and the droids. They were ALL pawns in his game.

Did the individual choices of the Jedi, and the senators, and the Republic citizens matter? Yes. Yes, they did. Our choices always matter.

Because it was a near thing at the climax! Palpatine was mortal and there were absolutely moments when his plan hung in the balance of another's choice. There were close calls, there were near misses. He had his weaknesses. It's those close calls that make the tragedy even more desperate, isn't it? Those are the moments that grab us by the scruff and make us write fix-it fics, yeah? Because we all want him to fail. We all want the bad guy to lose. We all want to see that our choices can make a difference.

(In the end it was those choices of people trying their best in the face of a conspiracy so vast I doubt anyone other than Palpatine and whoever he chose to brag about it to grasped it, it was individual choices that took him down in the end.)

(Because sometimes evil wins, but it never wins forever. The Jedi were not destroyed because they were morally corrupt, Palpatine created a morally corrupt environment, and crushed them in it. But their spark lived on, and it lit a brand new fire decades later.)

Anyway, all this to say, I absolutely do want to hear about what exactly the Jedi 'should' have done, particularly to help me write different perspectives into my stories. (And I'll only debate directly with an individual if I am invited.) But when it comes to 'how' they were supposed to have done those things, I really hope people will stop and consider whether or not Palpatine would have allowed it.

I'm not saying you have to like the Jedi, but I do hope y'all have at least some sympathy, and acknowledgement of the impossible situation they are put in. (Not unlike the situations more and more of us are being put into in this world.)

[awesomestarfighter]

I Should Have Known Better Then To Debate My Brother On Star Wars But I Did It Anyway

That's a lengthy way to start a post, I know, but I'm in a very riled up mood right now.

I remember the first time I argued with him about this. Our family did a rewatch of the Star Wars series (prequels than originals) at my request (and I usually never get emotional, so they were very concerned when I started crying my eyes out during Order 66 and asking if we should stop) and afterwards we talked.

Since I'm an avid Pro Jedi fan, there was a lot of arguing about 'The Jedi could have done this/should have done this!'. A bit with my family, but mostly with my brother since we're an argumentative pair and he's the only one who's watched extra materials such as TCW to further why the Jedi failed/should have done more.

We had to agree to disagree, so it ended there. Now here I am years later, having already talked to him about why glorifying this particularly abusive M/F is not peak romance or good writing, what defines bad writing, and general amatonormativity, and since I'm back in a SW swing, I thought about bringing it up to him, hoping he'd gotten a little more flexible since the last time we talked about it.

Clearly, I was too optimistic to think that.

Cue the usual tangent of (which I've already seen from. . . So many fans):

-The Jedi should have known Palpatine was a Sith.

-They should have treated Anakin better.

-They should have made him a Master.

-They shouldn't have given him that advice about death.

-Obi-Wan wasn't ready for a Padawan.

-They should have investigated Sifo-Dyas's murder.

-They should have investigated more.

-That's just the way the story is written and how the characters would react in real life, so of course Filoni is a good viewpoint on the Jedi.

. . . And just the general, 'they should have done more' statement that's been uttered countless times before.

I tried to point out the flaws in this way of thinking, I really did.

-It's established right in TPM that the Sith have been extinct for a very long time, and they verbally acknowledge that they don't know whether the one killed was the Master of the Apprentice, so it wasn't like they just up and forgot about the enemy that could still be out there. And it's literally stated in the very next movie that their ability to use the Force has been diminished, so it's not like they could have seen the Sith in plain sight in the force. Minor note, I know Force Signatures are mentioned a lot in fanon, but I don't remember anything like that ever being mentioned in canon (I know there's Legends but that's a separate continuity). With all that to keep in mind, why would they think he was a Sith? We have a different view of things because we're the audience, but they don't! Even though they didn't magically know he was the Sith Lord, that doesn't mean they're blind to his dealings or the corruption within the Senate, unless I completely hallucinated the part where the Jedi Masters were on their way to arrest Palpatine even before they learned he was a Sith Lord.

-Questioning a kid to see how he would respond to your ways of life is not being nice enough apparently (people can debate about his trauma and the authorial intent all day, but the basis is that the Jedi are not supposed to be framed as the bad guys). Apparently adopting him and treating him as a part of their family just isn't enough. Clearly, they should have coddled him even more, maybe then he wouldn't have murdered them down to the last child! (This is sarcasm because they never treated him differently or anything, even the Chosen One thing is barely brought up, and all his darkest moments are ones the Jedi were never made aware of). I know people will just say to put him in therapy because I've seen them say that many times before, but the truth is that he's already in therapy with the Jedi, he just doesn't absorb any of it because he doesn't want to.

-Yeah, because an adult throwing a temper tantrum when he's been appointed to a leading authority by a shady government leader who should not have any authority over their organization isn't sketchy as fuck, that response alone proves he WAS not ready, because he still didn't understand what the Jedi were about, much less mastery of himself. My brother at least admitted that was a good point when I outlined it, so score for me, I guess.

-People give Yoda grief all the time for his advice, but they always seem to forget that, firstly, Anakin is asking this during a war they've been fighting for three years, one they've lost many friends and family to, and secondly. . . Anakin was really fucking vague when he brought this forward. He doesn't even specify who he's talking about isn't a fellow Jedi, clone, or otherwise (And I can't help but draw a parallel to how he didn't tell Obi-Wan about his visions of Shmi and people will blame Obi-Wan when Anakin's the one who can't bother to properly fucking communicate) and he doesn't listen because it's not what he wants to hear. He doesn't just want to save Padme; he wants to cheat death because he's possessive and greedy and doesn't want his loved ones to ever leave him. Yoda's advice was actually very useful, but since when has Anakin ever listened to good advice? Once again, my brother admitted that was a good point, so the second score went to me.

-I know fandom loves to portray Obi-Wan as this self-hating mess that's barely keeping it together (who also does a lot of medic dodging for some reason?). . . But that's not who he is in canon? The real Obi-Wan is controlled and capable, and he was a young adult when he was Knighted, not a kid, who went on to become the youngest member of the Council when he became a Master. It wasn't like he was left to teach Anakin alone, because he had the Order, and they're canonically big on communal teaching. Even just in the movies, we frequently see that Obi-Wan's the one who reaches out to Anakin and Anakin's the one who shuts him out. Obi-Wan was a great teacher, Anakin was just a shit student.

-The Jedi learned about Sifo-Dyas's unauthorized role in the creation of the clone army literally right before the war broke out, so it wasn't like they were in a position where they could look more into it. Even before that, they were under the impression that he died during a failed peace negotiation. My brother still said this even though there was a literal WHOLE ASS ARC IN TCW WHERE THEY INVESTIGATED HIS DEATH. He watched that arc to, and he still says they should have investigated his death even when they literally did. I have no words for such a contradictory way of thinking.

-I know it's easy to say stuff like that, but Star Wars isn't written for adults who want all the messy bits, but for kids for a good vs evil story, so of course investigation stuff is shoved to the side. Even in TCW where we do see them investigating, they're hampered by the Senate, by Palpatine, by the war, and by the narrative. Even ignoring that, Anakin literally said in ROTS that Palpatine was the Sith THAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR, so that means they were investigating even though we didn't see it onscreen.

-Filoni. . . God just thinking about him makes me angry. I could write a whole essay on how he's twisted the narrative for Star Wars so badly, and I hate essays, but plenty of people have already done it better, so I won't.

-But still, I think it's hilarious that I can point out certain things he's written terribly (TCW, TOTJ, TTB, and Ahsoka) to show that he doesn't like the Jedi, and my brother is still saying, 'well that's just how the story is written and how the characters will react so he doesn't really hate the Jedi with that sort of evidence and blah blah blah.'

-Of course, for TCW, my brother brought up that stupid arc where AsHoKa iS pErSeCuTeD - I just think it's funny how, with trying to make his special oc look good and the Jedi Council unlikable, Filoni accidentally made her unintentional unsympathetic and made the dOgMaTiC lEaDeRsHiP unintentionally sympathetic. And of course, who could forget the infamous s7 moment of her not being fair to Obi-Wan? I know people will say she's a teenager and she's confused and she's still feeling betrayed - but the thing is, that doesn't hold up because the narrative never follows up on it. It's not a personal flaw of hers, it's solely there to frame Ahsoka (and Bo-Katan/the Mandalorians by proxy) as right and Obi-Wan (and the Jedi Council/Order by proxy) as wrong. I'm sure there are more examples that can be noted, but those are definitely two of the biggest offenses in my book.

-Tales of the Jedi wasn't even about the Jedi, it was about two specific individuals who LEFT the Jedi. One who went on to become invincible/immortal/a sanctimonious prick/even more of a mouthpiece then she already was, the other went on to become the undisputed head of an enemy who went full throttle on genocide, slavery, and war crimes. Mace's treatment and Yaddle's treatment was more poorly veiled racism and even more poorly veiled Jedi hate. And of course, the super special training from Anakin that allowed Ahsoka to survive Order 66 unlike those useless unprepared Jedi who were too soft on their kids - but really just made him look like an incredibly abusive parent. Frankly, while I do hate Anakin and can see him pushing too hard as in character, even I can see that it could have been written a lot better than it was. Tales of the Jedi was a fucking joke because it should have been titled 'Tales of The Super Special Creators Pet OC and the Asshole Who Falls And Spearheads A War', and if we ever get Jedi content that is actually positive for them without the usual criticisms coming up (Kenobi's the only one so far that's come the closest) I'll be throwing a fucking party.

-Of course, I have to point out TBB's whitewashing, consistently carried over from TCW except even whiter, though I forgot to mention how that show just completely fucking forgot the Jedi existed. Though frankly, I wouldn't want them to be mentioned in the utter waste of time that TBB is.

-Ahsoka was made into even more of a mouthpiece in her show then she already was. I didn't even watch Rebels in its entirety because I don't care for it, but even with some of the more frustrating decisions with her in that span of time she never said the Order wouldn't have fallen if they had just brought in more non-Force Sensitives to train them into being Force Sensitive (another part of canon that Filoni has fucking taken a hammer to) singing Anakin's praises after she's 'saved' by him (though even in Rebels it got pretty egregious how she just fucking abandons the Rebellion and the Jedi because she won't leave him again) just being a general fandom anti on how the Order was at fault for everything and Anakin was actually predestined to become a Sith (instead of defying his destiny by attacking Mace and siding with Palpatine as per Word of God) so everything he did was justified. All written and directed by Filoni, just as the other pieces where he's had narrative control will label the Jedi as arrogant, as forgetful, as unworthy, as not ENOUGH. And as soon as he can, he shoves them aside for characters who are 'to cool to be a Jedi, a cooler Jedi than those useless old Order jerks who spent too much time playing politics and being too stringent because they were cautious rule followers and not plucky rebels and weren't loving enough to poor widdle Anakin and -'

Though frankly my brother had some pretty ludicrous takes in general. There was this whole tangent we had about how since Rex removed his chip and voided death, that makes him gray/puts him in a gray zone. I just bluescreened at that, because while I've never cared for morally gray characters/storytelling, a character stepping out of their slated place in the narrative so obviously isn't gray it's not even funny, it's infuriating. While I know a part of me being a writer is what helps me look at stories more critically, it still makes me feel so confused how people will just take in bad writing or come up with bullshit takes like this. Whatever happened to thinking critically for the good of storytelling?

. . . I don't usually write my own posts (even though I'm usually better at wording things than actually voicing an argument as it started with my brother) because I prefer to just reblog stuff on my blog, I wrote this primarily as a vent post because my argument with my brother really got me stirred up, but I've been in a salty sw mood lately so it was kind of cathartic to get this out.

Also, if any Jedi anti or fan comes at me with 'but actually the Jedi should have -' no. Please just don't. I always try to tag stuff properly so people who won't agree will know what my blog themes are about, I'm never in the mood for the run of a mill gotcha takes that infest this fandom and I will not hesitate to block you if you come onto my post for that.

[calcedon79]

I was bored

Okay, to prevent total withdrawal, I'll serve you guys from the mine crew a little treat from a nonsense story I write on from time to time. It's only roughly translated and not stylistically polished (and it's late). So have mercy.

Boli, this opening chapter was heavily inspired by your Mud story, but somehow our chaos-blorbos have to run into each othe

Random acquaintances

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sifo-Dyas brushed a few sweaty strands out of his eyes. His hairband had fallen victim to a low-hanging branch. (Message to self: pack a second one for next outing)

"Of course," Jocasta Nu gasped stubbornly, struggling the last few meters up to the ledge of the old castle wall, "Master Sinube did say we could look around a bit."

"Yes, but we were supposed to stay in sight," grumbled the third of the group, his normally immaculately groomed initiate tunic soiled and torn in one place. (Stupid thorns)

" We are, Yan." The petite girl took a deep breath and put her arms on her hips. " We can see the big plaza from up there."

"I don't think that's what he meant," the slender Minashee boy dared to disagree.

"Mmmpf. Then he should phrase it better next time." She stared calculatingly up the half-collapsed defensive wall. Why did all the masters thought that Jocasta was the voice of reason in their trio? (Laughable!).

"Come on, exploring an old fortress like this is much more exciting than listening to lectures about textiles all day."

The two boys looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "True enough."

*

From the courtyard of the old fortress, there was the sound of metal hitting stone.

"Let's go and have a look."

"Jo, do you really think that's a good idea?" Sifo-Dyas made no secret of his skepticism.

"Oh, don't be such nunas." The eldest of their group rolled her eyes. "Come on. Let's go and see what this is."

"If we ever die trying out one of your ideas, I won't say another word to you," was Yan's reply as he walked past her.

After all, it had also been Jo's idea to bypass the fuse on the old turbolift and travel to the lower levels of the temple. (Maybe they should have checked the power supply first. Their two-week stay in the Halls of Healing had been no fun - neither had the trouble they'd gotten into with Master Sinube).

*

Jaster lowered his Beskard. (Okay, actually, it wasn't his.) Why did ba'buir have to take this job? No fighting, no proper libraries, how dull!

"That looks interesting," a friendly voice interrupted Jaster's exercises.

In front of him were three other children his age. Locals? Although, the other people's clothes were much more colorful than those of the newcomers. Maybe it was a school uniform or something. Jaster shrugged inwardly.

"Did you hurt yourself?" the tallest boy asked cautiously, taking a step towards him. "We didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no. Everything's fine." Jaster hurried to his feet. "I just didn't hear you coming."

"It's important to always keep an eye on your surroundings." The second boy's dark eyes scrutinized him coolly. At least until a blow to the back of his head from the girl sent the little guy staggering forward.

"Yan! Behave yourself and be polite," she hissed, to which the black-haired boy immediately muttered an apology in Jaster's direction.

Wow, the petite figure had her companions well in hand.

"Uhh, no problem. No harm done," Jaster waved it off. "My name is Jaster Mereel, by the way, and who are you?"

"The tall one with the long hair is Sifo-Dyas, the rude one is called Yan Dooku," introduced the girl with the turquoise ponytail. "And I'm Jocasta Nu."

Before any of the boys could make a sound, she continued: "Is that a traditional Midrim sword? I didn't know swords were used here. What metal is it made of?"

"What?" Jaster blinked, caught off guard by the volley of energetic questions. "Uh, no… it's a beskad and it's made of beskar."

"Beskar?" the boy introduced as Sifo-Dyas now asked with interest. "Ohh, that super cool Mandalorian metal."

"How did you get your hands on a weapon like that?" the Dooku boy wanted to know with narrowed eyes.

"How do you think?" Jaster rolled his eyes. They were asking strange questions. "I am a Mando'ad." "Uhh… Mandalorian?" he added slowly. Stupid basic. Jaster still had trouble with some words.

*

Oh.

Mandalorian?!

Dooku exchanged an alarmed glance with Sy. "'Mandalorian'?!"

Like in "Mandalorians - the enemies of the Jedi Order"?

Jo didn't seem to share their concern. A sparkle appeared in her eyes, showing her two companions that she had caught fire for a topic. Oh oh!

" Mandalorian? How exciting. I thought all Mandos wore armor."

*

"But not from the beginning," protested Jaster - horrified by so much ignorance. That couldn't be allowed to stand! "You have to earn it bit by bit. Look, I've already got bracers and a back plate. And my beskad."

"Yours? It's much too big for you." Oh, did this Yan know his way around swords? As professionally confident as his words sounded, that seemed to be the case.

"Well," Jaster admitted. "It's not mine. My ba'buir lent it to me."

"Your … ba'buir?" Sifo-Dyas tried to repeat after him and tilted his head questioningly.

"Ba'buir means … mmh grandparents in Basic. He is my grandfather"

"And he just lets you go off on your own with that?" The tall boy seemed taken aback by this.

"Of course." What was the problem? On safe planets and as long as he was back at the ship at the agreed time, he was always allowed to do what he wanted. Apparently this was a foreign concept to his new acquaintances. Poor things. "Ba'buir has to work, after all. How else am I supposed to practise? Besides, ba'buir always says it's too dangerous to go out without a weapon."

*

Okay, that was pretty sensible of said grandpa. The youngsters nodded in understanding. Children were kidnapped and sold into slavery all the time. That's why they were also allowed to take their training swords with them on their excursion. These weren't as dangerous as real lightsabers, but at the highest level they could still inflict quite serious injuries.

"Hmm, can beskar really withstand a lightsaber?" Jocasta suddenly wanted to know.

"A Jetii kad'au?" Mereel looked at her questioningly, as if he couldn't imagine how she had come up with this idea. "Hmm, I don't know."

"Maybe it should be tested." Jocasta's scientific interest was obviously piqued.

Yan didn't even bother to shield his alarm in the Force. "Yo! I don't think it's such a good idea…"

"Testing?" Jaster interrupted him curiously. "How is that supposed to work?

"Well, with this." Jo nonchalantly pulled out her training sword.

Cursing, the other boy flinched and then stared at the three of them like a Tooka in a thunderstorm. "Jetiise!… ah Jedi…. You're Jetiise?"

"Well, not quite yet," Sifo-Dyas clarified sheepishly, deliberately ignoring the other boy's raised weapon. "Strictly speaking, we're initiates. At the moment, anyway. You can only call yourself a Jedi once you've become a Padawan, built a proper lightsaber and then passed your knight's trial."

"Ohh." From one moment to the next, Jaster seemed to have overcome his shock and he lowered his sword again. "There are different Kad'aue … ah lightsabers? And how do you become a Padawan? Can anyone become one or do you have to fulfill certain requirements? How old do you have to be to take your trial?"

"Did you have a good day, ner ad?" Athas Mereel added the last of the spices to the boiling stew. A balanced diet was important for children. He may not have been the best chef in the galaxy, but he insisted on serving his grandson fresh food as often as possible. Ration bars were for emergencies. "Did you experience anything exciting, meet other children?"

"Hmm," Jaster barely lifted his head from the datapad, whose contents he was studying intently. Good boy. So studious. "I met some nice kids. We exchanged our com numbers."

(Communicators that the little Jetiise were apparently not allowed to have. "Don't you dare call us, Mereel. Only write, understand? Otherwise we'll get into real trouble with the masters.")

"That's nice," Athas nodded happily. Sometimes he was worried: Jaster was a bright boy, clever and resourceful, but he had a hard time making lasting friends. They had moved so often in the last few years, and each time his boy was forced into a new routine. Jaster's initial enthusiasm for adventure and new places had waned considerably in recent times. The new contact could only do him good.

*

On the other side of the planet, Sy, Yan and Jocasta didn't get a chance to talk about their Mandalorian encounter. When they returned to their quarters far too late, sweaty, tired and with dirty clothes, a highly annoyed Master Sinube was already waiting for them.

(Before the next outing, Yan would remember to pack some ration bars. Being sent to bed without dinner after a two-hour meditation was not acceptable to him or his body).

[purple-ant]

IT'S WIP WEDNESDAY, MINES

here is a tiny snippet from the next chapter of my silly marriage au fic, Single Seers

“So...?”

“Yes, sorry,” Dooku slowed down to their previous walking pace and let go of Sifo-Dyas’s hand. “Servants. The first days the castle was empty, only a couple of droids left by Ramil, but Jenza was not happy with this way of things, so one day I returned from the city and was greeted by all these “my lord” and “your grace” from every corner.”

“You've dealt with servants before.” For a Jedi negotiator like Dooku, many missions involved luxurious houses and meetings, and they required maintenance.

“Yes, but not like that...” Dooku waved his hand, as if unable to convey the entire palette of emotions in words. “...Devotees. It is their honor and greatest joy to serve House Serenno, behavior that is familiar in other contexts of course, but has never been directed at me. And not within a month!”

Sifo-Dyas couldn't help but laugh as he saw Dooku get worked up, earning him an offended look.

“Laugh, laugh, I’ll ask you again after a week of “Mr” and “Sir” and “Will you allow me to accompany you every step of the way, sir, so that, Forebears forbid, you don’t need to do something yourself, sir?”

“Of course,” Sifo-Dyas smiled. “Should I also thank you for hiding information about my arrival?”

“Yes, believe me, none of us wants to find out how they imagine the future consort should be greeted.”

“Hah, I guess...” curiosity killed the loth-cat, but Sifo-Dyas felt that if he didn’t ask now, he would never be able to. “You know, you might not have waited for me to answer.”

“I wouldn’t even think of doing this without your consent!” Dooku was indignant, then frowned. “I’m not sure that this can even be done without the information and consent of the other party.”

“No, I’m talking about the call,” the seer’s smile twisted. “I bet there would be a line of nobles out the door if you had even mentioned that you were looking for a partner.”

“And I would spend the rest of my life listening to the Force, waiting for a stab in the back, or, even worse, watch their attempts to manipulate me,” the future count winced.

“Well, you would spend the rest of your life with me,” Sifo-Dyas did not know what emotions he put into these words. Something very similar to hope.

“And, you know, I don’t take my words lightly,” Dooku apparently wasn’t finished. “I still honor my knightly vows, even though my allegiance may no longer lie with the Order. Serenno and its people are my priority, and I intend to fulfill my every oath as a Count. Marriage will be no exception.”

Sifo-Dyas's heart stumbled, leaping to his throat and falling into his stomach, skipping a stop in his chest. He wanted to hit himself first for such a childish reaction, and then Dooku for such a choice of words.

“I had no doubt,” he managed.

“Seriously,” Dooku turned to Sifo-Dyas, and yes, there was not a hint of joke in his gaze when he looked into the eyes of the seer. “If I had to choose one person to spend the rest of my life with, sharing everything this world tries to throw our way, it would be you.”

[purgetrooperfox]

15 Lines Game

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture their character/personality/vibe. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you’re free to include those as well.

I'm here from someone's open tags heehoo

passing on npts to @hamburgerslippers @totentnz @killerspinal @kiwikipedia @alwayskote @galacticgraffiti @certified-anakinfucker and anyone who wants to do it!!

“It's not like I frequent these events,” he mutters, feeling like a broken record. “I would appreciate the help though, thank you.”

“A great many things might seem unbecoming when their purpose is obscured, Master Tapal.”

"Peacekeeping has many faces. The diplomats and negotiators do work that I can hardly even imagine." [redacted context] "You're right, all the same. There's a certain naivete and unconscious bias in a lot of Knights. Lack of perspective about what it takes to survive."

“The artist who gave my father his markings was the one to give me mine," he continues, a touch wistful. "Going back home was strange. Seeing the ways it had changed and the ways it was still stuck was… hard.”

"You would be wise not to show your condescension so openly, Skywalker. If I can feel it, so can most beings on this planet. Need I remind you that ties with the Force run deep here?"

“Just Bastra is fine,” Vargdan sighs. The look he fixes on Kenobi is equal parts irritation and resignation. “You said it was urgent, so I didn't pit stop on Coruscant."

“Not the way you do, but my Master did.” His smile is sad, but free from the weight of grief. “He took them very literally, and if you know what they’re like, I imagine you can see how that would toy with one’s mind.”

“The Order is all I have. This is the only reason I ever got off Dathomir.”

“It's not safe to be out here alone,” he says without turning, forcing her to jog a few steps before matching his pace, “especially for unsubtle thieves.”

“Don't say that. Not now. You had your reasons, you had Sifo-Dyas, and I got that. Eventually. It doesn't matter anymore.”

“I know.” A silence, then an admission, “She's not as angry as I was, I don't think.”

"I mean, it's not like I know how to conduct an army. Bones is miles more qualified than I am, so I'll gladly defer to his judgment."

"This was kept from you for a reason. Some stories are best left buried."

"Obi-Wan was killed in action on Utapau," he repeats. "I know nothing more of it."

“I nearly did, after Sifo-Dyas died.” [redacted context] “I was on my own out there, after, no contact with the Temple to replace him. In all that– with that gang, the things I had to watch. The things I had to do. I was right at the edge.”

(nocte and des under there ⬇️)

“It’s not just the job.” Still, Nocte pulls off his gloves and dumps them in a bin. His expression settles into something hard to read. "You're one of us now, whether you're ready to act like it or not."

"I've put myself on the line enough at least one lifetime, but here we are."

"I don't pity you, MacTavish. I didn't come here to fight with you either."

"What was it you said? No room for morality in war?"

"Well," he grunts, "call it a lapse in judgment if it helps you sleep at night. Not like I'd take offense."

“It doesn’t matter, Soap. It’s just not my bloody name.”

"It's exhausting. The upper crust is exhausting. Aren't you exhausted?"

"Price is going to kill me and it'll be your fault. Me and Lee, both," he complains, though it rings hollow when he doesn't stop her.

"It'll grow back, probably faster than the higher ups would like."

"I don't care whose fault it is. Get your asses back here and fix it."

"Are you threatening to blackmail me, Captain? Because that's a two-way street after–"

He whistles, low and appreciative. "That is one big bastard."

"Quit trying to pick me apart, Lieutenant, I'm fine."

"We shouldn't," he forces himself to say. "We can't."

"How do you ever get anything done with your head that far up your ass?"

"You will mind your goddamn manners or you'll see a different 'doc. Do you understand?"

“You came in with a referral, made my life a little easier, so I'll give you a discount. I respect you, Viktor, you're good at what you do. Not to mention your days in the ring – I was such a fan.” His expression twitches toward something that might even be genuine. “How about this, I'll dig up this chrome for you and you'll owe me a favor.”

"I doubt Royce would've let me walk away from that. Heard he's got a new right hand."

"Hard to believe that's true," he said, laughing a little. "Reckon this is more memory than imagination."

“The crew called me Eyes, which was a gonk ass nickname. Stuck, though."

“I’ve known Hands for a long time, grew up in Pacifica. Don’t get me wrong, I heard about you on the street, but didn’t really pay it any mind until he started asking after you.”

"I think you answered your own question. It's a clinic, ain't it? I'm getting doctored."

"Fucking disgraceful is what it is. You build something, pour your blood sweat and tears into it, just for some upstart leadhead to run it into the ground."

“So I’ll talk to him, clear this up,” he says, even though it’s an uncomfortable prospect. “He probably respects me enough to halfway listen.”

"No. No one ever made me do anything. I lost a lot, but I won't lose that."

[charmwasjess]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like). 

AWW thanks for the fun tag, @rochenn!! :D

I am of course feverishly working on Rabbit Heart, which I am so damn close to finishing, but last night I was editing a little The Thunder Answered Back, my post-Order 66 Not-Fix-It-Fix-It. Jocasta is trying to decide whether or not to execute Dooku, Dooku is trying to make sense of what his life's purpose even is anymore, and Sifo-Dyas is a VERY reluctant ghost (?)/spirit guide/hallucination. Lot of folks got tagged in this round - hmm, did I see @calcedon79? @wonderland-s-angel @stellanslashgeode @dapurinthos ! Anyone else who'd like to play, consider yourself tagged! :D <3

Sifo-Dyas plucked one of the roses and studied it like it might be a clue. He began methodically picking it apart. “You know, you should be pruning these things with your lightsaber, and then we could work in a kind of psychosexual identity angle into this dream, some phallic symbolism.” 

"You choose to haunt my dreams so you can criticize the metaphors?"

“Lack of metaphors.” 

“This is a rather profound violation of my privacy.” 

"Oh, so now we're even for you murdering me!" Sifo-Dyas sputtered a laugh. “Don't give me those big, sad eyes, you know they don't work on me. At least, not anymore.” He flung himself down next to Dooku. “What’s even the matter with you now, anyway? Why are you upset?” 

“Jocasta hates me.”

“Dooku,” Exasperated, Sifo-Dyas always made his name into two separate words, stretching the vowel until it might break. Doo Koo. “She doesn't hate you – that's probably why this is so hard for her. She loved who you were, and mourned that person’s passing when you lost yourself. Now it's confusing to see you acting like him again.”

“So I should behave like a Sith Lord?”

“I think even you know that's not the answer.”

Dooku glanced sideways. “You might talk to her?” 

"Hey, that’s a great idea!” Sifo-Dyas pitched his voice higher in cheerful mockery. “‘Hello Jocasta, it’s me, your old, dead friend! Sorry about that whole situation where I wasted my life trying to save the Order and instead doomed us all to the exact ruin I foresaw! Classic! Anyway, you were right about that hunch that Dooku murdered me, but he's really trying to do better now. Could you try being a little nicer to him?”

About halfway through the bit, Sifo-Dyas seemed to lose control of his own irreverent humor. He deflated, looking up at the dream sky.

[dapurinthos]

@charmwasjess

there are approx. 300 words of the leia meets sifo-dyas, alive, while she's being kidnapped by reva on daiyu.

Leia watches this new man with interest. He’s older than Ben, who was already pretty old, so this man with the greying hair and the wrinkles around his eyes must be very close to ancient. Maybe he’s as old as the Emperor, who looks like the wrinkled-up pile of abandoned nylon on her floor after she frees herself from the itchy tights her aunts make her wear to parties because ladies don’t have bare legs even when they’re ten, Leia, you’re a Princess of Alderaan (always said with the capital letters implied), you must uphold The Standard. He, on the other hand, is not upholding any standards. Leia’s seen the Inquisitor’s blades, how they flash out of their hilts and can cut through anything. She thinks the man has one. Only his doesn’t have a circle around it and hasn’t lit it up yet. Instead, he had smashed a cylinder that looked like a very strange hourglass against the Inquisitor’s head. She hadn’t even see him coming. Neither had Leia. “—cleared out of there two weeks ago.” “Yes. However, I forgot something.” “You didn’t forget anything.” “I did. It just hadn’t arrived yet.” The disgruntled sigh is loud enough that it makes the speaker on the old spaceship crackle even more than it already is, the signal somehow getting through the Imperial jamming. Leia doesn’t know how it’s being done.

reva is unconscious in the back of the ship, tied up. cere is on the comm, very annoyed because she has to pack up all her new archives (the timeline of 9bby goes: hunt for obi-wan THEN destruction of the hidden path's jedha location, which i like to think of as vader & inquisitorius going 'fine. can't get obi-wan gonna fucking obliterate the path that helped him'). it has a plot, i'm just not in the right headspace to write it right now (i'll probably end up working on it once galaxies is past sifo's death).

[jedi-lothwolf]

Codywan Week Day 5: Sith Au

Summary: Obi-wan mysteriously disappears halfway through the Clone War. Cody is left wondering what happened to him and one day gets his answer.

Note: Mando'a used: Hut'uun (coward, the worst insult) and Cyare (beloved/loved). More at the bottom for after the story. Enjoy!

When Count Dooku told Obi-wan everything the Jedi had done to Sifo Dyas he started to think harder about his life. Slowly Dooku clawed his way in Obi-wan's mind and prospective.

They talked around the beginning of the war and now a year and a half had gone by. A lot happens in eighteen months. Including Obi-wan falling in love with his commander. He told him how he felt around six months before the Jedi disappeared.

Cody had a difficult time adjusting to his new general and even longer to realize Obi-wan was gone. The 212th watched his closely. They hadn't known that the two were so close.

Now, a year and eight months into the Clone War a new sith emerged. The Jedi panicked internally as they could barely contain the ones they had.

The sith was around 5'10 with auburn hair that had a single braid in it. He wore long, black robes with red accents. His face was concealed by a black mask. Some said he had bright red eyes while most said they were brown or burnt orange.

One thing was for sure. He was dangerous. Even if he didn't seem to be fond of killing things; which was strange for a sith; he could and would if necessary.

Somewhere in Cody's mind be wondered if it was possible for the sith to be Obi-wan. Even if it didn't make sense and Obi-wan would rather be dead than a sith, in the back of him mind he hoped it was him.

It made the clone sick to think about. Why would he want Obi-wan to be behind that mask? He knew that it was cruel to hope, but he did.

Learning he wasn't the only one was strange. Anakin and Cody had gotten close, both sharing the unimaginable loss of a loved one. Cody even told him about their relationship.

The 212th marched to the battlefield. As the fight raged on, they found themselves facing the new sith.

Obi-wan wasn't ready. He saw Cody's armor through all the chaos and suddenly he regretted everything. Designing to ignore it was his best idea.

Cody took one look at the man and sent a message over the comms, "Sith." That was all he needed to say. He looked back to the field and dreaded the fatality number this battle would have.

As the two got closer, Cody noticed something. The hair, the style, the almost knee high boots; they all looked familiar. His eyes had a look in them the man had long seen a few times. "Obi-wan?" He whispered. No that couldn't make sense. Obi-wan would never turn.

The sith turned to face Cody. The air was gone from the field as they realized something. No longer were they on the same side.

"Obi-wan!" Cody's voice ran through the field. This couldn't be happening. Obi-wan wouldn't do this to him. He wouldn't hurt anyone he didn't have to.

Obi-wan looked away. He never wanted to hurt Cody. He never truly wanted to hurt anyone. Dooku wanted control. He had wormed his way into the Jedi's mind and manipulated him into helping him.

Obi-wan Turned to face Cody again. They approached each other. "You fucking traitor!" The clone yelled, his voice cracking.

"I know." Obi-wan spoke softly.

As Cody approached the man he called off his droids. He allowed the clones to shoot them down, all he wanted to do was talk to his commander.

"Hut'uun! Take off that mask!" He swung to take it off but Obi-wan beat him to it.

"Of course, cyare" He let it rest in his hand.

"Don't you dare call me that!" Cody met Obi-wan's eyes. They weren't cold or hateful. They were just... sad.

Cody's hatred faded. Obi-wan was lost. The darkness had scuffed out the little flicker he had left. He wasn't sure what to do.

The clone couldn't just let Obi-wan drown. He loved him dearly but he couldn't let him leave. Resting a hand on the sith's shoulder, he sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"What?"

"Why are you doing this?"

Obi-wan was silent for a moment. Cody knew what to do. Carefully he switched his gun from kill to stun. Kenobi knew but didn't stop him.

Quickly Cody pulled his gun and shot Obi-wan. With tears in his eyes he turned back to his men. "Finish the droids off. Someone take Kenobi."

One of the men grabbed the man and took him into custody. Cody wasn't sure how he was going to explain any of this. He wasn't sure that he was right or that he should have given Obi-wan a chance. The truth would just have to come out when he was on trial.

@codywanweek

Another note: I wasn't sure how to write it but Obi-wan did fall because of manipulation from Dooku. I think that can be gotten from the story but I wasn't really sure and wanted to explain it lol.

[dukedooku]

So I have a star wars fic I started writing in highschool and haven't updated since the summer before I was in college, but I'm reworking it so the timeline makes sense and there's an actual end point plot wise

It's a fix it where Plo Koon receives a vision and stops Sifo-Dyas from dying when he was supposed to die from Dooku's conspiracy with the Pykes (32BBY), but I've done more research and now plan on adding mandalore and jedi reformation plots to it as well

Do I just make a new Ao3 story or rewrite chapters and just say in the newest chapter that old ones have been updated?

[ilovescarletwitch]

Oblivious Yoda is canon!Yoda

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Pro Jedi I have a bone to pick, be warned.

Recently I have seen so many Oblivious Anakin is Canon Anakin fics and I really want to know what movies they watched. Anakin was an incredibly perceptive 9 year old who saw Qui-gon's lightsaber and immediately realised he was a Jedi and also knew that Watto wouldn't be able to resist a bet and thus they could trick him. During the First Geonosis Battle he tells a pilot where to aim to cause more damage. When they were escorting Satine he catches on pretty quickly that she has history with his master. During the episode with the Talc he is the first to notice the Talc use picture to communicate and draws a picture to show them they wish to be friends. At the end of the Rako Hardeen arc everyone is congratulating themselves on a job well done and Anakin is the first to realise something is wrong and run to stop Dooku. At the Wrong Jedi he is the one who figures out who the bomber is.

What is he oblivious to? Fandom calls Anakin oblivious in a disgusting display of victim blaming because he didn't realise when he was ten that his new friend was trying to groom him.

Yoda has been the Grandmaster of the Order for centuries. And yet he is oblivious to the survival of the Sith, even when Qui-gon reports it he refuses to believe it and sends Qui-gon to his death. He is oblivious to the Sith master serving in the Senate and then being elected Chancellor. Seriously he is in the same room so many times and fails to sense anything.Chancellor Sith grooms one of their most powerful students right under his nose and he never catches on.He is oblivious to someone, maybe Sifo Dyas maybe not, using the Order's names and funds to order an army of clones that are essentially slaves. According to the new Disney Canon, Dooku has already fallen and in cahoots with the Sith before he left the Order but Yoda is oblivious to what his former apprentice is doing and remains oblivious until Dooku chooses to show his hand. He is oblivious to someone tampering with the Jedi Archives. He is the one to first bring the clones into the battlefield and essentially make them the army of the Republic and yet he remains oblivious to the fact they are a Trojan Horse meant to destroy the Jedi Order. Why is Anakin the oblivious one and not Yoda who is a lot older than Anakin, has a lot more experience and is the one leading the Jedi Order?

Same goes for the rest of the Jedi council, Master Ti in particular. She is stationed on Kamino and her job isn't just to train troopers but also to keep an eye on the Kaminoans. Yet she remains oblivious to so many clones being fitted with chips that would make them turn on the Jedi. During the Fives arc she is completely oblivious to Nala Se dragging Fives before his meeting with the Chancellor. But she has already heard Fives words and yet never investigates after he turns up dead immediately after. People love to crucify Anakin for not listening to Fives but at the time Fives had lured them in a warehouse, stolen Rex's weapon, trapped them behind a ray shield and proceeded to accuse the Chancellor of treason. Anakin had every reason to believe Fives was mad, it's Shaak Ti that was there the entire time and whose job it was to keep an eye on Kamino. Yet nobody says oblivious Ti is canon Ti.

Luminara Unduli's padawan is so traumatized by the war that she not only grows disillusioned in the Jedi Order but carries out a whole terrorist attack on the Temple and frames another Padawan for it. And Luminara remains oblivious to her padawan's actions until Anakin exposes her. Yet there is no tag calling oblivious Luminara canon Luminara.

Obi-Wan Kenobi remains oblivious to Chancellor Sith grooming his student for ten years. He is the adult charged with a small child's care and he never notices that he is under someone else's dark influence. He remains completely oblivious to any personality and behaviour changes that should be huge red flags. Yet, nobody calls Obi-Wan oblivious for not realising that the politician who arranged to meet his underage student alone is hurting his student.

Nobody calls Bail and Mothma oblivious for not realising that their head of state is colluding with the enemy and orchestrating a crisis after another so he can gather more powers and thus name himself emperor.

It's only Anakin who is either a literal child or the age of your average college student during the entire prequels that is called oblivious because he didn't realise that his mentor was manipulating and using him.

@tragicfantasy-girl @riana-one you have some of the best takes regarding hypocrisy in fandom. Do you have any instances where Anakin is actually oblivious?