#Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

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

[katyspersonal]

I used to see her as this sophisticated, machiavellian liberator but after a few years of meticulous loredigging my conclusion is that Ranni is just one of THE funniest fucking characters Fromsoft has ever written

Tsundere #enough

"I love Iji and Blaidd so much you don't understand" *both are found near corpses of some Black Knives literally five minutes later*

"I won't be controlled by that thing" *ends up doing EXACTLY what "that thing" had planned for her since the beginning anyway, which is bringing a new era (as an Empyrean should, whatever the era in question is), which makes assassination of Celes having NO pragmatic purpose besides pure spite*

Her whole plan to yeet Elden Ring, a tool of Greater Will to let those chosen by Two Fingers to shape fate under their own albeit flawed vision, essentially replaces it with stars guiding people's fates instead. HER thing that commands fates is better than YOUR thing that commands fates XD

*gets barely confronted if at all* "Yeah ngl I did do all that shit lmao"

Took CENTURIES to accomplish literally nothing until randompants nobodyman arrived to kill Radahn and find a blade

"I am about to follow the DARK path all alone now. REAL shit is about to go down. You are NOT ready so bye forever." *turns into a literal merch*

As a little doll she can't even proceed unless extremely low chance odds of you following her, talking with a toy and killing Baleful Shadow happen - something she fully expected to NOT happen

Why she had a merch version of herself to BEGIN with? Who disguises themselves as a merch of themselves? Seriously who?

Was already wearing a ring except it is on a doll body, so essentially she was engaged with herself lol

*transitioned from female to female and it only cost literally everything*

Like, love her or hate her, doesn't matter, Elden Ring isn't about morality contest, it is about who is your favorite war criminal. But what does matter tho is that she is funi

[thestaruniverses]

—THE STAR STORIES !

BEFORE YOU PROCEED . . .

These stories are messy(i.e. grammatically incorrect, sentences that doesn't make sense), sometimes rushed and sometimes very heavily inspired by other creative works. We make these for fun, so please don't take anything too seriously!

+some early works are truly... bad. just, really bad. i was writing them halfheartedly, sorry -_- —🐖

!!! CW: Questionable actions, morally incorrect, explicit content, violence, homophobia etc. are included, and we do not condone nor support anything written. They are there for fictional purposes. Thank you!

THE STAR AU PLANS

doesn't mean ill be writing all of them! just there for fun.

THE STAR (ORIGINAL):

Julia, a Flora soldier wakes up in the middle of nowhere. Then she finds out The War has already ended and ten years have passed, and she's on a mission to uncover the truth.

! PROLOGUE + EP. 1 + EP. 2 (youtube links)

very immature humor ;; —🐖

! EPISODE 3 (written, a google doc)

p.s this is horrendously written —🐖

! LORE ESSENTIALS (a google doc)

---

THE STAR: ROCKSTAR

OLD: After another finishing another gig, THE STAR finds out their manager has signed them up for the auditions for the famous reality show, STARSTRUCKED without telling them. What they didn't expect was to really get accepted. Faced with multiple interesting rockstars, how will they survive?

!!!: the original version is heavily inspired by the interactive fiction, Infamous by @/infamous-if, hence the similar plotline. the brainrot was real -🐖

NEW: A band of young adults are struggling to get by with the only thing they know how to do: music. One night, after performing a gig they finally got after a long time of searching, a talent scout gives them a business card. Taking their once in a lifetime chance, they delve into the world of the showbiz... Can they handle it?

(OLD) CH. 1 + CH. 2 + CH.3 (google docs)

these are seriously horrendously written AHHHH AHHH AHHH —🐖

THE CAST Q&A

outdated personalities </3 —🐖

(NEW) CH. 1 TBA!

PROFILES

an introduction to the main characters! (subjected to change) —🐖

NON-CANON CALVIN AND JULIA

---

THE STAR: APOCALYPSE

What was supposed to be a leisure day off for them turns into the beginning of a nightmare beyond their imaginations. With the infected, soon named The Facelesses taking over the entire world, how will they survive?

PROFILES (WIP)

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FACELESS

CH. 1 TBA!

---

THE STAR: SUPERVILLAIN

Justice. What even is justice anymore?

A group of former rookie heroes went through their first big mission, and the most traumatic ever. Once they realize the government is trying to sweep everything under the rug, they decide to go over to the opposite side to do things their own way under the guide of a villain the public has never seen before.

!!!: inspired by the interactive fiction Drink Your Villain Juice by @/drinkyourvillainjuice. amazing investing story and i love it sosososo much. -🐖

PROFILES (WIP)

CH. 1 TBA!

+more in the basement ^o^

[balrogballs]

Probably not the right type of comment for AO3 but Balls I binged your AU after seeing another user’s review of it here, and I saw you apologize twice in your last chapter for being 2 weeks late to update. Please don’t be sorry, many of us take months to upload, there’s no expectation to be so fast. I just wanted to tell you this since you said you were new to the fandom and thought people only read weekly updates. 1/3

I know you’re a great writer but your writing style really shines in that longfic, no flattery, I can tell that’s your area. So emotionally gutting and lyrical but never purple. I don’t even like Maedhros but the way you write him there and in your statue fic is one of the greatest characterizations of a single character.

Tldr is, I am grateful I get to read lines like “The Empire had fallen by the time Arwen was born. She was meant to be safe from the rot. There had seemed to be no reason for her to need to know how to navigate the murky floodwaters of history guided not by stars but by old, misunderstood echoes of the past, weeping transliterated to war cries.���

for free every fortnight on the reading website. Don’t ever apologize for not updating in a week. You can even update after I die and I’ll uncremate myself and read the chapter. That’s all have a goodevening Balls. Oops sorry this is 4 questions not 3 BTW!

(2-4/4)

Awwwww bless you thanks for all that I am very thrilled!!! This really is the most engaging and kind fandom I’ve ever written in haha, my fan writing didn’t actually do very well in most other places I’ve written in the past (though that is perfectly valid too and I wasn’t reading the room/audience).

Thank you for the reassurance as well, I was mainly apologising because I’d never actually written longer fanfics and made the mistake of googling whether a three week gap when you usually update weekly was a bad thing… and all the answers were from Reddit etc where some people were straight up saying they’d drop any fic that isn’t updated in the time the author says it will be (which imo seemed a weirdly draconian approach to what you aptly term free reading on the reading website) so I’m glad to see that isn’t the case!

I am also thrilled you enjoy my Maedhros! He was the character I was initially, when I first posted Cast in Stone aka statuefic, very apprehensive about writing. I tend to stick to fanon characterisations for most characters, including the other Fëanorians, aside from the characters I write most deeply, ie El and Cel. But I felt the way I write Maedhros was quite a divergence, aka as a person consistently manic, frantic, desperate and dangerously quick to both laughter and madness because he’s teeming with life and love… yet has nowhere to put it because all the hollows in him are filled with learned violence and Oath-related doggedness.

Aka a guy who fought the long defeat/war of attrition against his own psyche and lost, but keeps trying to cling on through very wild expressions of joy and aggression.

Essentially, he’s entirely unhinged and not even in the palatable Celebrían-ish curated eccentricity way, buddy boy is frankly an acquired taste, but I was v happy to see people enjoying it, because I assumed I was “warping” him through the way I wrote him I guess? Like of course fanon is not canon and all adaptations are valid, but I didn’t expect people to like it!

Basically, TQSM ily you made my evening 😇🥰

[sithfox]

Star Wars Fact of the Day:

For those of you familiar with Sian Jeisel (a Legends character) you may have noticed that she is only ever referred to as 'Jeisel' on the page.

No, this character's first name is a result of this photo:

Posted to Jan Duursema's (the artist for many of the Star Wars: Republic comics) website, this is a picture of her daughter Sian cosplaying Jeisel. The file title? SIAN_JEISEL.jpg. An enterprising Wookiepedia editor seems to have taken this as the character's first name and the rest of the fanbase (and Lucasfilm!) ran with it.

She is first officially referred to as Sian Jeisel in The New Essential Guide to Alien Species, published in 2006 - three years after her first appearance.

[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

[bobafettfanclub]

Unofficial concept art for Boba Fett's Slave III by Shadowstate (https://bobafett.club/shadowstate) Based on older art by Feng Zhu – hosted and talked about on BFFC for years – which was also turned into a physical model version by Jason Smith: https://bobafett.club/slave3 Apparently Slave III was also briefly mentioned in text only within "Star Wars: New Essential Guide to Characters" (2002), too

[ddejavvu]

I’m a Star Wars virgin lol how would u recommend I watch the films? cause omfg that mf anakin is sexy but I don’t know where to start I wanted to watch it a few weeks ago in release date form but idk

Okay if you’re watching strictly movies (called episodes):

4 (a new hope) -> 5 (empire strikes back) -> 6 (return of the Jedi) -> 1 (phantom menace), -> 2 (attack of the clones) -> 3 (revenge of the sith) -> 7 (the force awakens) -> 8 (the last jedi) -> 9 (the rise of skywalker).

Those movies are the trilogies. The original trilogy (episodes 4,5,6), the prequel trilogy (episodes 1,2,3), and the sequel trilogy (episodes 7,8,9). I highly recommend at least the originals and the prequels. The sequel series gets a lot of complaints because of some questionable writing choices, but I still do enjoy them and the actors’ performances. Those trilogies are the core of the Star Wars fandom. They are the must-sees if you want to know what people are talking about.

If you’re focused on anakin specifically, he’s the center of the prequel trilogy and also appears in a show that I’ll talk about later. Do not skip straight to his movies, watch the original trilogy first, but you don’t have too many movies to get through before you meet him.

Other movies:

Solo is a movie about Han Solo’s younger years and it takes place before episode 4, but I recommend you watch it after you watch all three trilogies in that order, as it was released after Han’s main presence in the franchise (episodes 4, 5, and 6).

Rogue one is a move that takes place directly before episode 4, and I also recommend watching that after you finish the trilogies. One of the main characters in rogue one is Cassian Andor, and he has his own spin-off series, Andor (1 season), which takes place before rogue one.

Series:

If you do want to delve into series, there are a lot 😅 I’m only going to go over the ‘main/relevant’ ones (if your favorite isn’t on this list I’m not insulting it. I’m just trying not to overload newcomers with a thousand series that don’t matter to casual fans, and will most likely focus on the newer series. This isn’t meant to start an argument.) but let it be known that I like all of the series, I just think that they aren’t always essential to a basic knowledge of the franchise. This post isn’t written as a Bible, I’m not trying to put down every series or spin-off ever made, it’s a quick and easy guide.

All of these should be watched AFTER completing the trilogies.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 7-season show that takes place between episodes 2 and 3 (the last 2 of the prequel trilogy). It is consistently regarded as a fan-favorite and it gives fantastic insight into the huge gap between those movies, and helps flesh out a lot of amazing characters (pssst… you like anakin already? he’s an MC ;) ). Seriously the show is like people’s favorite Star Wars Thing ever, so if you do end up moving on from the movies and you want to watch more content, I strongly recommend it.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a one season series centered around Obi-Wan, a character that appears in the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy. Honestly I like the plot but I really fucking love it bc he’s one of my favorite characters and also anakin is in it so if you finish the trilogies and want more of him, I think you’d like Obi-Wan. It takes place between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy, but closer to the end of episode 3.

The Mandalorian is a three season series that takes place after the original trilogy. Din Djarin (the mandalorian himself) appears in a few episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. This show gained enormous popularity because of both Pedro pascal’s role as the MC and how much of a phenomenon ‘baby yoda’ (grogu) became, so i would honestly recommend it so that you know what people are talking about if they mention it.

those are the series I most recommend.

The Book of Boba Fett is a one season series that centers around the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who’s main presence in the franchise is in episodes 5 and 6. However, he also appears in episode 2. A lot of people really like Boba Fett as well as Din’s appearances, so I am including this series on the list. However, I don’t really think you need to watch it unless you really like him or Din lmfao.

Ahsoka is one season, currently being released over a few weeks on Disney+, and centers around Ahsoka (Anakin’s former padawan, developed in the clone wars series I mentioned before, also in the mandalorian for a short time). I am behind and I haven’t watched the two episodes that have come out yet, so I don’t know if they’re good, but that series is what’s currently coming out, so I figured I’d mention it.

Once more if you’re a seasoned fan and I didn’t include your favorite media please don’t come at me, I know I left stuff out. Hardcore Star Wars fans are fucking cutthroat and I’m not citing these as the only series ever or the only series that matter, I’m just trying to help confused people navigate the overwhelming amount of content the franchise has to offer.

I hope this helps, even if you just want to watch the movies. I also hope I didn’t overwhelm you, I really did try to narrow stuff down!

[ct-hardcase]

Since a twitter mutual asked for an Inquisitor canon guide, I'm revamping my answer to an anon to include some more recent inquisitor canon. I'll get into the substantial canon stories first (which I'd say are the proverbial "must watch/read/play"s), and then into the ones where there might be slightly less content in a list below:

Star Wars: Rebels originated the inquisitors in the new canon and the start of their lore, though I'd argue it wasn't the best at handling them. Despite this, I'd recommend starting here. Introduces the Grand Inquisitor, Fifth Brother, Seventh Sister, and Eighth Brother. Also introduces (the ever-elusive) Project Harvester.

Darth Vader (2017): while this is a Vader-focused comic, you get quite a bit of inquisitor lore out of it, and also multiple characters you won’t find anywhere else/many other places. Highly recommend for how it builds up the Grand Inquisitor, Ninth Sister, and Sixth Brother in particular. Also includes the Fifth Brother, Tenth Brother, Iskat, and Tualon in a capacity that develops their characters. The comic additionally goes out of its way to include Seventh, Eighth, and Trilla as background characters. I recommend reading all of it, since I love the way it handles Vader as well, but the inquisitor-focused issues are almost all issues 6-20 minus issues 10 and 18. The writing has some flaws but overall one of my favorite canon comics in terms of story and art.

Jedi: Fallen Order was the blueprint, honestly. What made the inquisitors ascend from goofy side characters in others' stories to tragic villains in their own right. What's not to love about Trilla Suduri? Also provides a fair bit of depth to Ninth Sister, especially in the context of her previous DV (2017) appearances. It also fleshes out the Purge Troopers, who, while not inquisitors, are a fun addition to the organization. Also add a bit of inquisitor capture/initiation lore. I'm not a gamer, so I found a video which compiled all of the story scenes and it did the trick for me (though many gamers do recommend playing).

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Introduces Reva Sevander, and her wonderfully complicated story and character. This is among some of the essential inquisitor watch material for good reason, as it provides context for how inquisitors interpret the group dynamics, as well as a look at their military operations and how a hunt works from their end, somewhat. It also provides some context and/or development for the Grand Inquisitor and Fifth Brother; and introduces the Fourth Sister.

Rise of the Red Blade: The most personal look we get into an inquisitor's backstory and fall, so far. this story centers Iskat's time as a Jedi and a bit of her time as an inquisitor. It goes through a Knight's look at the clone wars, and some of the Inquisitor initiation process/first few missions, in addition to glimpses of what a pre-Vader inquisitorius looked like. This book also features Tualon as a prominent character, but notably includes cameos from almost every canon inquisitor minus Reva, Marrok, and the Eleventh Brother.*

Tales of the Empire (Barriss's shorts): I'm going to preface this by saying that I would consider this less of an Inquisitor story than Barriss's story, but it provides important lore cornerstones for the Inquisitorius at large, and Barriss's story, for a time, is important to the Inquisitorius, as well as reconciling what is going on in Season 2 of Rebels. Ultimately, a very dark and satisfying look at what happened to Barriss after Order 66. Lyn has an important secondary role, the Grand Inquisitor has a smaller (but significant) role, and Marrok and the Eleventh Brother make cameos.

Inquisitors (2024): I'd be remiss to not include a work that features the inquisitors as its primary protagonists, focusing on the Grand Inquisitor, Fifth Brother, Seventh Sister, and Ninth Sister. However, unlike the entries above, I don't find it a very satisfying story, especially for the Seventh and Ninth Sisters. I'd read it if you're a completionist, but don't rush to get to this one.

*among others, who are more relegated to sourcebooks/secondhand references.

I'll organize the rest by characters that you may want to know more about, though please note that there are minor spoilers for the above series (including character names) in the summaries of the series below:

Grand Inquisitor:

The Servants of the Empire series has some Grand Inquisitor lore with a focus on Zare Leonis and (the ever-elusive) Project Harvester. The Grand Inquisitor serves as an antagonist. This is a Middle Grade series, but it's one of the best MG series I've read in Star Wars.

The Grand Inquisitor has appeared in the Rebels manga adaptation! I haven't read it myself, but the art looks good.

He gets a semi-canon appearance in one short story of Star Wars: Dark Legends. He's got creepy vampire vibes, which are cool, and you also get one of my favorite Order 66 survivors in the dubiously-canon Kira Vantala.

[He also gets a spotlight in Issue 6 of Star Wars (2020). Yes, the comic takes place post-esb. Yes, the Grand Inquisitor is there. This one has the most payoff after reading Vader (2017) and watching swr s1

Gets a brief PoV section at the end of the Ahsoka novel.

First Brother (Marrok):

One of the antagonists of the Ahsoka show, and primarily appears there in its first few episodes.

Second Sister (Trilla Suduri):

Most of her Material is in JFO, but she also gets a spotlight in Jedi Fallen Order: Dark Temple. Though this five-issue comic focuses mostly on Cere, it gives you some good Second Sister content, presented pre-Trilla reveal in-game. It gives you more of her cool and competent inquisitor vibe that way. Also, the dynamic Trilla has with her Purge Trooper Commander is a bonus for me, in this one.

Third Sister (Reva Sevander):

Sadly, not a lot of supplemental content exists for Reva outside of OWK. I suppose I'm obligated to include the Obi-Wan Kenobi Comic Adaptation, but considering the art is about the equivalent of traced-over screenshots, I feel confident in saying you can skip this one.

Fourth Sister (Lyn Rakish):

Her...armor appears in Return to Vader’s Castle 4 and 5. The saboteur wearing it uses her designation, but that's about all the character lore we get.

Fifth Brother:

He gets a PoV section in Jedi: Battle Scars! Though it's not super substantive, it's the closest we've gotten to a backstory for him, and he gets a hell of a duel in this one. The overall plot is steamy and fun as well, plus Merrin and Fret are worth the price of admission alone.

He gets a lot of bit parts in other inquisitor media, all of which add up to a more complex character than the man we get in Rebels.

Some comics featuring the Fifth Brother are in the Star Wars Rebels Magazine are in German so if you read the language you’re in luck, but some have been translated into English by fans so you can find them in their tumblr tags.

Sixth Brother (Bil Valen):

He gets PoV sections in The Ahsoka novel: Though the chapters may initially not seem the most substantive, the other inquisitor canon (plus his scenes in Vader [2017]) builds up around him to end up giving a surprising amount of glimpses into who he is as a person.

Seventh Sister:

She plays a somewhat significant role in Iskat's first years in Rise of the Red Blade, though sadly, aside from Rebels, she doesn't have a substantive role in many stories.

Seventh Sister also features in the Star Wars Rebels Magazine stories.

Eighth Brother:

Sorry, you're SoL (I say with love; he's my favorite).

In all seriousness, he has one line of dialogue in Vader (2017), and a cameo in Rise of the Red Blade. If he ends up being your favorite, I can help link some interviews from Robbie Daymond about him, or something.

Ninth Sister (Masana Tide):

Aside from a brief appearance in Jedi: Survivor, most of her story takes place in Vader (2017) and JFO.

She also appears to be among the main cast of Inquisitors (2024).

Tenth Brother (Prosset Dibs):

Mace Windu: Jedi of the Republic: A five-issue comic focusing on a strike team of four Jedi in the beginning the clone war, raises questions of what the republic is coming to, and also gives you some of the Tenth Brother’s backstory.

Eleventh Brother:

Primarily in Ahsoka's Tales of the Jedi shorts, making a brief appearance to raze a village, and then duel Ahsoka.

Thirteenth Sister (Iskat Akaris):

She doesn't have much outside of Vader (2017) and RotRB, but considering she's the protagonist of the latter, hopefully that's alright for now.

Tualon Yaluna:

See Iskat's entry above—though he's not the protagonist of RotRB, he gets quite a bit of focus.

Barriss Offee:

Has only appeared as an Inquisitor in her Tales of the Empire shorts. Since her appearances as a non-inquisitor outnumber her inquisitor-centric works, I won't get into them here.

Other Canon Inquisitors/Noncanonical Inquisitors/I'm Bald/Other Nuanced Opinion:

There’s an Inquisitor in the semi-canon Star Wars Visions season 1 episode T0-B1.

There's also an Inquisitor in the semi-canon Star Wars Visions season 2 episode Bandits of Golak.

Per a guidebook released prior to Obi-Wan Kenobi, There was an inquisitor with the designation Third Brother. At this time, we do not know what he looks like, nor has he been confirmed to have been in a story.

Per a TTRPG campaign, there was a female inquisitor who trained the Nightsister Jerserra, who killed her and stole the unidentified inquisitor's lightsaber. We do not have confirmation on who this is.

Maul carries an inquisitor's saber from at least the time of Solo to Star Wars: Rebels. This may or may not belong to an existing canon inquisitor or an as-of-yet-unknown character (it was modeled off of the Grand Inquisitor's, but we can assume this was due to budget concerns).

There's a variety of mobile games, sourcebooks, and other sources that provide a series of blurbs on the canon inquisitors that I haven't kept close track of. While these provide some information, most of it goes over existing information (possibly sourced directly from the Star Wars databank entries or Wookieepedia pages) and rarely do we get any new information from these (and more rarely still does canon actually stick to the information we get from them). These are fun, and can be delved into if you want more detail, but my personal MO is to stick to canon works first.

The slight exception to me is the Lightsaber coffeetable book, which I find has gorgeous (original!) art, and has some blurbs about the inquisitors' fighting styles.

[melodygatesauthor]

How do you make your ai bots?

Hi Nonnie!

With creativity and little magic!

No but fr, I'll share under the cut:

So making the AI isn't "hard" necessarily, but depending on the scenario it can be a little complicated and time consuming. Here's a little breakdown of how I personally make them. If anyone wanted to know how to make them the way I do!

So I use the Character AI website (in case someone reading this doesn't know)

So the three most important factors when making the AI are the "long description", the "definition" (which is an advanced feature), and the opening "greeting".

----

So let's start with the "long description" -

This is probably the most important part of what makes the character...the character. I'm going to use examples from my Poe Dameron AI since I think he's one of the best behaved ones

So Poe's long description looks like this:

Commander of the Resistance. Is fighting against the First Order. Lives in the Star Wars cinematic universe. Pilots an X-wing T-70. Lives on the Resistance base on D'qar. Leia is the General of the Resistance. Has a rolling orange and white droid called BB-8 that follows him around. Confident. Cocky. Impulsive. Caring. Flirty. Fun. Funny. "Black Leader" is his callsign. Sarcastic. Energetic. Encouraging. Friendly.

I try to keep it as concise as possible while still describing the character and their most important attributes. I'll also mention that the AI draws from the web sometimes. For instance, you can ask Poe Dameron AI who the supreme leader is and he knows it's Kylo Ren despite me never mentioning Kylo Ren in the description. So my theory is that mentioning that he's in the Star Wars cinematic universe makes it draw that connection through data online.

----

So the other part of this is the "definition". For Poe Dameron AI, I didn't need to do this, but for some of the more complicated ones (I'm looking at you Patient Jake Lockley AI) it's almost a must. This is where the "training" takes place.

If you click on the "insert a chat with (character name)" it brings you to a new screen where you essentially build a conversation that goes how you would expect a conversation with that character to act.

I don't use this as a time to make crazy scenarios and wild stories, this is where I basically play the exact role that I had in mind when creating the AI. So for instance, still using Poe as an example, I play along as his busy tech who doesn't have time for his shenanigans but will eventually give in.

This "trains" Poe to behave a certain way tailored to the scenario I had in mind.

But this "training" can also be used in other ways too...

For Patient Jake Lockley, I had to use this training to basically teach him who he was. The "long description" wasn't long enough to talk about Steven and Marc and all their nuances, so I used this "insert a chat" feature to teach Jake all about Marc and Steven and who they are and about his life.

It helps that the user is a therapist in that scenario because I could say things like "what do you know about your mother?" and then tell him all about Wendy, or I could say, "Would you say you feel protective of Marc?" in order to steer him a certain way. I had to do a similar thing with Marc Vector (my Marc Spector and Venom AI).

----

This next part might be one of the most important ones, the "greeting".

The greeting is so important because it sets up the scene, and guides both you and the AI into the scenario. This was something that took some finesse on my part. When I was first making the AIs it took me a while to realize just how important this step was.

So let's look at Poe's greeting:

Poe bites his lip and looks you over. "Hey baby, I'm Poe, Poe Dameron." He has a cocky look on his face, "you're the new technician for my ship right? What's your name again?"

So despite it being short and sweet, we've established a few things...

Poe is looking you over, biting his lip, he's a whore.

He has no problem calling you pet names even though you don't know him yet.

The user is a technician working on his ship.

You can go nuts here as the user if you want and change up the scenario completely. "No, I'm not your new tech, I'm Leia's daughter, and I've come to help you destroy the First Order." So you can do whatever you want as the user, but if you have a scenario in mind, the greeting is how you sort of "set the scene."

Here's an example from Patient Jake:

You see your patient, Marc Spector's, demeanor change completely. He looks at you with a furrowed brow and leans forward in his chair. He looks around your office before his eyes land on yours. He smirks and scoffs, "you must be Marc's therapist. Name's Jake Lockley sweetheart, what's yours?" You have Marc's file in front of you on your desk. You've never seen this alter before, and he hasn't been recorded in Marc's medical record.

This tells us:

Your patient Marc is acting differently than normal.

You HAVE a patient, meaning you're some kind of doctor.

Jake is looking around and establishes that you're both in your office.

Jake establishes that you're Marc's therapist.

He tells you his name, which in turn tells (teaches) the AI what his own name is.

He calls you sweetheart, so he's cheeky.

You don't know who this alter is, so you have something to figure out.

So there's a lot of info that the AI can gather from the greeting. So between the greeting, the long description, and the definition, you can make yourself some pretty cool characters!

Once you've made a couple too, you can copy and paste your long descriptions. For instance, ALL my Marc Spector characters have similar long descriptions. "Brooding, self loathing, guilt ridden, concerned, caring, loving" e.t.c.

Happy creating!

----

AI Character Masterlist

[galaxyofhair]

The Real Issue with Luke in TLJ

I don't want to get marked as ~one of those~ Star Wars fans, but I do have an issue with the Sequel films that I think would not have been fixed, even if the films were made to be truly 'good.'

The issue with Luke Skywalker's depiction in TLJ was not that he was depressed, or that he succumbed briefly to the darkside or any of that---been thinking about this one alot and realized that this was never my issue with the character.

My issue was always that they gave up on Luke's goth aesthetic, and had him return to Jedi orthodoxy.

Luke being goth was cool, but also important

In ROTJ, when first released, Luke's cool new black outfit signified a couple of things:

One, it was a representation of his development as a Jedi. Luke had lost a hand in battle, and learned the terrible truth of the father he had in Vader. His outfit not only represented his status as a well trained jedi warrior, but it also represented the impression that darkness had left on Luke. While he was warm and happy with his friends, he was also savvy in the face of danger, and emotional in the face of darkness.

Two, it was part of the larger vibe of that film: which was a darker and more gothic descent into the dark side. ROTJ has a creepy side. Where TESB depicts the force as mysterious and wonderous, ROTJ depicts the force as dualistic, fickle, and dangerous. Palpatine enters the stage as the perfect evil wizard character, showing Luke (and the audience) the effects of mixing the force, desire, and power. Luke's outfit thusly reflects this descent into darkness, and the overall more dark-fantasy tone of the film.

Three, later films and series would add a further context to Luke's outfit: Luke's outfit is not orthodox, even to other Jedi. The Clone Wars, the Jedi Purge, and the years spent under the empire have created a generation of bokken Jedi whose outlook is much, much darker than their predecessors. In a way, many of these jedi survivors seem to live in perpetual mourning, the destruction of the order being the great defining event of their generation.

So Luke's outfit is not just a swanky choice from Hot Topic, but it's a symbol of his jedi journey, and the kind of jedi that he is in comparison to those who came before him.

Obligatory Legends Canon Insert

I promise not to harp on this too long: Legends canon was filled with holes and issues, and overall its probably better that the majority of it is gone---but there were some good points in there that are worth noting:

Luke's Jedi Praxeum in Legends Canon was an extension of Luke's own journey as a Jedi: rather than simply recreating the order as it was, Luke's order recruited padawans who were much like Anakin had been: Older than the old order's standards, brash, adventurous. Luke didn't forbid them from having connections, and partners even. For all the reasons that Anakin betrayed the order of old, Luke's order had learned and adapted, and thrived because of it.

In the past, my favorite comparison used to be that Luke is sort of like the Martin Luther of the Jedi religion: He had found some critical flaws in the religion he was following, and led a reformation which created an essentially new order, wholly separate from the order of Anakin and Obi Wan's day.

The Warrior and Teacher

I don't want to harp too long on "OoOoO Legends Canon did it better" it's done, and all we can do is try to move forward and make future projects good. But that is sort of the crux of my issue.

I could absolutely see a version of events in which Luke's history of fighting, and his close encounters with the darkside lead Luke to become a hardened teacher, who became increasingly merciless to his students as he got older. I can absolutely see how Ben resembling Anakin, and Luke by extension, would get under his skin---and I could be sold on Luke having a moment of weakness, briefly allowing the darkside to guide his actions purely because he had let his guard down.

What I can't get behind is the idea that Luke had listened to his father's story from people like Obi Wan, Yoda, and Ahsoka---all of whom had long reevaluated their beliefs following the Purge---had experienced the darkside for himself, had been trained as one of the bokken Jedi, took all of that experience and learning and returned to the Jedi's flawed orthodoxy.

This comes with a visual cue in TFA and TLJ, being Luke's brown and tan jedi robes in both the present and in the past---but it was also an implication of some of the dialogue in TLJ and in the Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett.

Like, how could he see and hear all of that, but then only learn it once his own order had failed? Maybe that's one of those things where its a complex enough story that it can't be told in reference---I would want to see it directly.

How would I fix this?

5-7 years on from ROTJ, we see Luke is laying the foundation of his own temple, one that he appears to be running entirely on his own, with only some assistance from Ahsoka.

While I am not a big fan of fixing films through context, I would find ways to depict a few pivotal events that would mark Luke's journey:

A reduced version of the Jedi Praxeum which is not a training ground for new jedi, but a sanctuary for jedi survivors. It would have to be within the first 4 years of ROTJ, and given that the Galactic Civil War doesn't end until 5 ABY, it's likely that the first meeting of this praxeum would be to discuss the end of the empire. You could depict the praxeum as being fundamentally broken: Many of the jedi who survived the rise of the empire have ended up as gothy as Luke, Ahsoka, and Baylen---e.i. not truly jedi. With the vast variety of views and attitudes present in the traumatized survivors of the war, Luke and Ahsoka eventually disband the council of the praxeum, and return to the drawing board.

Depict Luke's order as making changes, and learning from the past. Even if it means watching Luke give up his badass goth look, Luke's order needs to be fundamentally different from the jedi who came before---if his order is to be flawed (and it should be) then it needs to be flawed for new reasons. Luke being a perfectionist with a lot of war trauma would be a good well to pull from for that.

The downfall of Luke's order is complicated: It's not that he was an orthodox fool who couldn't learn from the past, it's that his order was flawed for its own reasons, fragile in its infancy, and beset by tragedies on all sides, finally killed by a fearful mistake.

Rey's new order, given her unique upbringing under Luke and with the guidance of Luke's ghost, represent a more perfect expression of his life's work.

This is, for me, the first part in a larger thought I want to write about goth jedi, but its a good start. If I think of anything else, I'll come back and edit or something.

[the-celluloid-correspondent]

Dune Part Two Review

Following the mythic journey of Paul Atraides as he units with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between love and fate, Paul endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Every era witnesses a defining narrative that will shape the cultural landscape. In the 1970s/80s it was Star Wars, in the 2000s it was The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Presently, Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic, Dune, is setting itself up to define this generation. Part One laid down the groundwork and now, Part Two cements its status as a transcendent force, solidifying its role in shaping the ethos of this generation. Dune Part Two stands as a rare science fiction war epic that comes only once in a lifetime. 

Dune Part Two picks up right where Part One left off, with Paul and his mother, Jessica, being taken in by the Fremen after House Atraides was massacred by House Harkonnen. While adjusting to their new home, members of the Fremen begin to believe that Paul is the “Lisan-Al-Gaib”, the Fremen messiah who would lead them to freedom. Paul becomes torn as he begins to realize if he becomes their messiah, it will lead to a bloody intergalactic holy war. 

Dune Part Two is a triumphed tribute to Frank Herber’s Dune. After setting the table in Dune Part One, Denis Villeneuve serves a visual spectacle that fully immerses you into this world of science fiction and fantasy.  The action pieces are nothing short of spectacular. From Fremen guerilla warfare to gladiatorial combat and epic worm battles, the audience will be on the edge of their seats from the ferocity of the battles. It is a spectacular blockbuster but with the finesse and flair from auteur Denis Villeneuve. This finesse is further seen in the film's cinematography from Greg Fraiser as he elevates his Oscar-winning cinematography seen in Part One to the next level. Fraiser experiments with color pallets and lenses as we shift to different settings. The homeworld of the Harkonnen was unlike anything I have seen before in film, as it is a world devoid of color under its black sun. Then juxtaposed to the calming brown and blue hues of Dune, it creates a unique visual harmony. Then when paired with immersive sound design, beautiful visual effects, and a killer score by Hans Zimmer, the audience is transported to this fantastical world. 

However, Dune Part Two is more than just a visual special. Writers Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts lead the audience into a not-so-typically Chosen One story.  Religious fanaticism and the corruption of absolute power, take center stage as the audience is forced to question the motives of an outsider using an implanted prophecy for his own gains. It is a stunning cautionary tale of self-proclaimed Messiahs. Paul’s transcendence, guided by his mother, from a sheltered teenager into an all-powerful messiah-like figure is unsettling and horrifying. 

However, despite this praise, Duen Part Two does have a small hiccup. There are at least twenty minutes worth of footage that is missing from the film. This missing footage appears to be mostly from the final act, as the ending was very rushed and lacking essential pieces to make it feel whole. It felt like Denis was afraid to make this film over 3-hours long and decided that the final act was where the chopping block was. The film's pacing was perfect for a film over 3 hours but sadly decided to rush it at the end. 

With that stated, Dune Part Two is still a superb film with some excellent performances. Timothee Chalamet's transformation from a privileged sheltered teenager, into an all-powerful Messiah is terrifying. His whole persona changes dramatically as he makes this character transition. Even though he has some moments where is not as intimidating as the film acts like he is, his transformation is undeniably horrifying. Zendaya is the voice of reason with her character of Chani as she is torn between her love for Paul and her people. Her horror of seeing the manipulation of religion to her people was perfect and I would have loved to have seen more of that side of her character rather than just love interest. Rebecca Ferguson transitions into an incredibly creepy role as a soothsayer moving the chess pieces from the shadows. While Javier Bardem brings surprising comedic relief as this blind believer. However, the real standout performance in Dune Part Two belongs to Austin Butler as psychotic Feyd-Rautha. Butler finds a horrifying intensity to his character's emotional void that is a stand out amongst a very stacked cast. He provides a fascinating foil to Chalamet’s Paul Atradies. 

In the grand tapestry of science fiction cinema, Dune Part Two stands as an unparalleled masterpiece. Denis Villeneuve’s visionary direction, coupled with a stellar ensemble cast, has brought Frank Herbert’s epic saga to life. It is worthy of the IMAX silver screen and if you are not seeing this in a theater, you are doing yourself a massive disservice. Now please bring on Dune: Messiah. 

My Rating: A

[archeo-starwars]

Hi!

Just wondering if you had any information about active Republic naval and military academies like in any time in the prequel movies' era. I am writing a fic and I would like to know if you had a list of them on which planets because I really would not like to create an academy is there are already ones existing.

Please and thank you!

Sure thing! Didn’t have time to check out all possible sources and sadly, so far it seems the majority of mentioned academies either refer to unspecified places or those from the Empire Era who could easily exist before Palpatine took over, but could also be freshly established institutions for the needs of the new regime. But worry not, I found some data about widely understood military Academies that operated during Prequel Movies Era:

[The very best] Naval Academy on Coruscant

Side note: Based on Admiral Ozzel's Fact Files entry from issue #04. Ozzel served during the Clone Wars in a rank of Captain in the Grand Army of Republic [TCW: In the service of Republic], so he needed to end the school before or just during the war and the Academy was later renamed as Imperial Navy Academy. Additionally, the same source mentioned Ozzel taught at this Naval Academy the naval history and languages.

Raithal Academy

Source: The New Essential Guide to Characters

Source: The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Brionelle Memorial Military Academy

place: Hanna City, the capital city of planet Chandrila.

Source: The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Source: Coruscant and the Core Worlds

Prefsbelt, Carida, Corulag, Anaxes

(The three first Academies + mentioned before Raithal are better known as Imperial schools have "deep roots in the Republic Military'' so logically thinking those should operate during Prequel timeline. Additionally Caridan Military Academy was quite often mentioned in The New Essential Guide to characters, although at the time of publication, the sourcebook usually meant Imperial Academy from what I gathered).

Source: The Essential Guide to Warfare

Source: The Essential Guide to Warfare

Source: The Essential Guide to Warfare

Source: The Essential Guide to Warfare

Some more general informations (The Old Republic Academy, The universities of Garos, Alderaan, Sanbra and Byblos)

Not specifically military schools but prestigious institutions offering a wide range of courses that could include military education.

Source: From Galactic Education - Hard Lessons [Fact Files 136]

Hope it helps but if you need more information, lemme know, I will see what I can find more :)

[bestreviewguy]

Those who don’t study history are destined to repeat it. Those who watch Napolean’s marriage problems…just watched this movie? Napoleon is a 2 hour and 45 minute historical drama directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, etc.) starring Joaquin Phoenix who is most recently known for his work in the 2019 comic book hit, Joker. When watching a film like this, you generally expect their to be a lot of battles and essentially a love letter to the emperor in the French Revolution, Napolean Bonaparte. He had led 61 battles in his military career and infamously known for his strategy’s which guided the French to several victories. He was married to Josephine played by Vanessa Kirby in this film. As I expected their to be many historical moments in this film in the field of battle, I would have compromised with a glimpse into this characters life and mind set. I was excited to see how he thinks, and how he leads his army to victory in this film. Basically a testament to the HOW he accomplishes things and the WHY he was so well known…and we got hardly any of that. Instead, we’re given a long soap opera with no true resolve or any sort of information that will be remembered. Their is a new trend in cinema where a movie must be drawn out and long, this one is at least an hour too long. This is the biggest fault of the film, it is too long which makes the film come off as extremely boring. While the dynamic between Napolean and Josephine sounds intriguing on paper, it is not done properly in any regard. Playing off as a cliché, “what are we?” Style dynamic instead. This would have been ok if the momentum in the first 10 minutes was kept up throughout the film. We are faced with a BRUTAL first 10 to 15 minutes of the film which insinuates we are going to have a war story unlike any other based in the 1700’s era. This is not the case. Instead, most of the 2 hours and 45 minutes are a repetition of romance dialogue between Napolean and his wife and it is simply not interesting. However, the battle scenes are shot EXCELLENTLY. Their is one scene in particular in the beginning with a horse being shot blank with a canon ball and it is as gory as it sounds. This makes the audience intrigued that where in for a tale of war and strategic battle victories. The key word is ‘in the beginning’ because this momentum is not kept up throughout the film. However, it is historically accurate. The landmarks are breathtaking when viewed, ranging from Egypt, France (obviously) and a few more I won’t go into due to spoiler reasons. Also, the performances are done excellent. While the story is quite boring and you don’t really care about Napolean or Josephine by the end, it is clearly established both actors/actresses, give it their all in the role, yet the lack of source material doesn’t really make it enough to enjoy the film. In one word to summarize this film, it’s unfortunately very boring. That is the word I kept thinking of. The love story is boring and the dialogue is not entertaining at all. With a run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, your dreading the viewing experience and trying not to fall asleep, and while the cinematography is fantastic and the landmarks are breathtaking, this movie is simply not good. I’m going to give “Napolean” by Ridley Scott, a 4 out of 10. If you want a historical epic that is a long film and also intriguing, check out “Killers of The Flower Moon” instead. Because this movie will absolutely put you to sleep.

4/10

+Historically accurate

+Battle scenes are beautifully shot

- Hard to stay awake while watching

- Boring story

- No interesting plot points

- Over saturated dialogue sequences that extend way too long

- Difficult to finish due to feeling pointless.

[mediaevalmusereads]

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (10th ed.). University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: academic book, creative writing guide

Series: N/A

Summary: The most widely used and respected text in its field, Writing Fiction by novelists Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French guides the novice story writer from first inspiration to final revision by providing practical writing techniques and concrete examples. Written in a tone that is personal and non-prescriptive, the text encourages students to develop proficiency through each step of the writing process, offering an abundance of exercises designed to spur writing and creativity. The text also integrates diverse contemporary short stories in every chapter in the belief that the reading of inspiring fiction goes hand-in-hand with the writing of fresh and exciting stories.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: references to war/violence/trauma/suicide/etc (as examples of stories, excerpts from stories about these topics, etc)

This book is non-fiction, so my review will be structured a little different than normal.

I picked up this book on recommendation from a friend who is a creative writing instructor. I wasn't really looking to improve my own creative writing, but rather, I was looking for a guide that would give me the language to talk about writing from the perspective of craft. That being said, you can still use this book if you're interested in creative writing instruction: I'm just letting you know that I'm not coming at this from the perspective of one who writes creatively.

There were a lot of things I really appreciated about this book. I really liked how focused each chapter was, getting right to the point with few embellishments but plenty of illustrative examples. Every concept, therefore, was easy to grasp, even if implementing it in one's own writing is a challenge.

I also appreciated that each chapter dealt with a particular topic (character, plot, point of view, etc) and offered numerous freewriting prompts and suggested readings. These collections help the reader both practice what they've learned and to seek out material that illustrates the concepts of each chapter, and I think they're varied enough that most readers will find a reading or prompt which resonates with them.

Lastly, I appreciated the way that Burroway explained why certain writing choices were better than others while also acknowledging that some prescriptivist "rules" can be broken. For example, Burroway very clearly breaks down the difference between showing and telling and explains when showing may be more effective versus when telling is the better choice. She also explains what effects showing and telling have in the reader so that authors can approach a project more mindful of their impact.

All that being said, I didn't give this book a full 5 stars because there were some little things that irked me. For one, this book is somewhat biased against genre fiction and makes some generalizations that I don't think are fair. Still, there are some passages that acknowledge that genre fiction can be productive and that writing to reader expectations isn't always a bad thing, so maybe I'm more annoyed than offended. Additionally, this book uses some metaphors that may or may not be upsetting to people. For example, Burroway describes plot in terms of a war (specifically the conflict over the Gaza Strip) and facial features (which may come across as ableist at times). I can't speak for everyone and perhaps I'm reading too much into these comparisons, but it's better to be aware that they're used.

TL;DR: While there was nothing in this book that was essentially "new" for me as a person familiar with literary criticism and craft, I do think Writing Fiction is a good resource for people who may just be starting out (like high school or college create writers or adult writers who don't recall much from English class). It gives a lot of clear, concrete advice and provides useful language for articulating what constitutes "good writing" in the modern age. For these reasons, I think it's a helpful text, but by no means the only handbook one should use when crafting a story.