#TOTJ text post

[ventresses]

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (1/?)

Star Wars + Text Posts & Headlines

[mimi-noelle]

Thinking about Tales of the Jedi and that episode with Qui-Gon and Dooku and how at the end of the episode they have that conversation that can be summarized as:

Qui-Gon: You almost killed a man

Dooku: You are very wise, my young padawan

[ireallyamabear]

the state of Star Wars in 2022: next project will be an animated series about those two clone troopers that actually think Bail Organa was talking to them doing a heel turn and joining the rebellion but as it turns out they're special clones that have Count Dooku DNA mixed in (don't ask why he just accidentally spilled some on Camino or smth) that's why they're also very white when they take of their helmets; also the series will feature some incest (because it worked well for that GoT spin off), but in a kid-friendly consumable way-

[merrysithmas]

I loved your post talking about what great teacher Anakin actually was to Ahsoka. Since totj came out I’ve seen people talking about what a terrible teacher he was because he turned up late to Ahsoka’s (his only student) test. Which I feel like misses so much of the point. This was also clearly still early on in their relationship so they definitely still had to figure out how the whole thing worked. While I do think he should have been on time to say he was a terrible teacher just seems a bit much.

Also, I feel like the trailer made it seem like his Dark Side was slipping through while the show made it seem like he was upset with the training the Jedi were giving, and that he found it inadequate. Which isn’t wrong. It seemed like Anakin very clearly saw the flaws of their training and how it related to the situations Ahsoka was headed towards.

Anakin was late to her test because, in the text of the episode, he personally felt the test was not only meaningless but singlehandedly preparing the student he deeply loved for a fast-tracked death on the field of a war he'd already been fighting for years.

Something Ahsoka herself understood by the end of the ep - and an incredibly valuable lesson Anakin also taught her by proxy:

If you're being tested to succeed at false goalposts, then you're failing anyway.

[maeve-on-mustafar]

I've been seeing a lot of discussion and negative reaction surrounding Mace's characterization in TOTJ, and honestly, while I understand people's frustration with the treatment of Mace, I'm kind of surprised by the amount of surprise I'm seeing across the fandom? Because to me, it seems like Mace's character getting thrown under the bus to make other characters look more sympathetic has been going on for a while now.

TBH, though I understand TV series reach a wider audience than books ever will, I do wish there was some more interest from fandom in discussing it whenever it happens, not just when Dave Filoni does it.

Like, I loved the Star Wars: Brotherhood novel by Mike Chen for its portrayal of Anakin and his relationship with Obi-Wan. But I will be the first to say that this book treated Mace terribly, characterized him as a blind pawn of Palpatine and a constant antagonist of Anakin, and didn't portray him with any redeeming qualities. I made a post about it here with various examples from the text.

But only a few people seemed upset by this characterization of Mace. Over and over, I saw his extremely unpleasant characterization dismissed as, "Well, Anakin is an unreliable narrator," even though there's a scene where Obi-Wan thinks to himself that Mace has a grudge against Anakin. The most critical discussion I ever saw of Mace's characterization was the Tapcaf Transmissions podcast.

I also want to talk again about this scene from the Obi-Wan and Anakin comic by Charles Soule:

I typically see a lot of defense of Mace for this moment, and I kind of get it, because I do think it brought about even more bad faith interpretations of his character. And I often see this moment discussion from a Watsonian perspective--that in the moment, there was nothing Mace could do to help Anakin, and he had to obey Palpatine, and therefore, he didn't do anything wrong.

But I want to talk about this moment from a Doylist perspective. I discussed it a little bit in this post, but to summarize this interaction and my problem with it, the author chose to use the only prominent black character in the Prequel trilogy (Mace) to make a white character (Anakin) look more sympathetic. There was no reason to include Mace in the Anakin-Palpatine origin story. So why would the author choose to have him there at all, much less in such a direct and aware way, when nothing in the films or TCW or previous canon media indicated Mace Windu had a role in facilitating the relationship between a 12yo Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine?

Well, because it reduces Anakin's responsibility in the matter. There's a reason Charles Soule opted to make Anakin very young when Palpatine started to sink his claws into him rather than a couple of months before AOTC. There's a reason Palpatine starts honing in on Anakin's past trauma of being a slave and using it to manipulate him. Because it reduces Anakin's eventual culpability in betraying the Jedi and makes it look like he's not a grown man making his own decisions, but a young adult who's been preyed upon and manipulated by the ultimate authority figure all his life.

And I believe that reason of making Anakin is the same reason for the addition of Mace being the person to give permission for Palpatine to meet with/counsel Anakin. Because it changes the Jedi from only being suspicious of Palpatine and his relationship with Anakin from the time of ROTS to a sudden ten years prior. Now it comes across as less like the Jedi being blindsided by the Chancellor interfering and pulling strings for Anakin to him doing so for a decade, half of which when Anakin was underage. And by extending the timeline this length of years, the narrative makes the Jedi look kind of dumb for never acting on their uneasiness about Palpatine and Anakin.

But if you're not convinced by any of my arguments so far, I want to close with this final point: let's look at the source material. Let's double check what Mace's views were on Anakin spending time with Palpatine in ROTS, and if there's anything to indicate that would lead Charles Soule to believe Mace would give the okay to Anakin hanging out with Palpatine.

And in ROTS, we have the following:

MACE WINDU: It's very dangerous putting them together. I don't think the boy can handle it. I don't trust him.

So, yeah. Charles Soule opted to change an element of Mace's character and introduce this unnecessary retcon so that Mace could be the one to allow the Anakin-Palpatine relationship to foster and therefore play an unwitting role in his own demise.

And that's my main reason for disliking Mace's part in Obi-Wan and Anakin. His role isn't about his own character, it's about making Anakin look more sympathetic and Palpatine look more predatory. And I love Anakin, but I hate that Mace was treated this way, and I hate the way he was treated in Brotherhood.

To be clear, I'm not blaming anyone for being upset about how Filoni characterized Mace, but I do want to point out that this is an issue that exists outside of just Filoni.

[journen]

Mullet-wan Kenobi for the wiiiiiiiiiin!!!!

Thank you for giving us this invaluable gift

It was my pleasure!

[memesofthejedi]

[image description: white text on a black background that reads, “Kun takes his booty and escapes”]

[ventresses]

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (2/?)

Star Wars + Text Posts & Headlines