#Tired dad qui gon jinn

[backpackingspace]

Qui gon covered in bites and scratches: shaking obi wan like a naughty cat: why did you bite that diplomat we have talked about this Padawan

Tiny feral obi wan who is not sorry: master his vibes were rancid.

[buckys-baby-boy]

Qui-Gon on the phone: Hey Master, do you know what my blood type is? 

Dooku: Of course, it’s B-                   

Qui-Gon: Oh, I guessed wrong. Excuse me nurse-!

[vaguely-concerned]

I’m on a Star Wars books roll so here we go with my — unhinged thanks for asking! — thoughts on Dooku: Jedi Lost, specifically the audio play. Short version: I fucking loved this one! For maximum emotional devastation, pair with Master and Apprentice and Padawan the way my stupid ass did and then be sad about it forever I guess that's what I’m going to have to do.

 Long (LONG oopsie) version:

- So. First of all, let’s get the most important thing out of the way on this here old man yaoi website. We all agree dooku and sifo dyas explored each other’s bodies right. Or at least definitely would have if not for the laws of this order etc., potentially. That’s not just me. Good. Thank you. We can now move on 

- Secondly. Well. Guess I’m just going to be inconsolable about Sifo-Dyas forever now. I miss the days in which he was just a throwaway line in AotC spawned by a random misspelling to me, rather than an eternal raw aching wound in my heart

- poor poor ventress just reading through all the proof that dooku absolutely does have it in him to be a good dad I mean master and just — idk got tired of that and went the force lightning route with her. I love the move of having her dead master hang out with her all that time as well (having her slip up and refer to ‘us’ did something to me, god this is so sad. Is he actually there in spirit or is it just her grief dreaming him up because dooku is awful and cold as a cliff  wall and she needs some kind of attachment figure even if she’ll have to reinvent him herself, rebuild him word for word, gesture by gesture. Pain. sorry about your terrible track record with father figures asajj) 

- Lene: (About Averross): He hasn’t changed. 

Dooku: (In the warmest fondest voice you ever heard) And I hope he never does

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH MYSELF? MUST I SET MYSELF ON FIRE TO ESCAPE THE PAIN???

Another strong showing for Rael in general, btw. He’s so warm and charming as a presence even though he’s also a little chaos gremlin. (He’s quite similar to how Sifo-Dyas was when he was young in some ways, I can definitely start to see what Dooku responds warmly to in terms of character traits.) 

- the fact that good ol’ sheev showed an interest in rael, dooku and anakin… interesting huh! He’s just got a soft spot for the disaster lineage I suppose, maybe there’s an element there of luring yoda’s most direct lineage into the dirt with him without yoda even noticing for the longest time. Also cackling at the idea that he looked at qui-gon ‘too fucking stubborn and insufferable to fall to the dark side out of sheer spite’ jinn and went ‘...not that one tho’ fhdskjfa. And obi-wan is more like ‘that one blorbo all my little guys seem wild about but I just don’t get it guys’ 

IF rael’s refusal to join dooku at the end of ‘master and apprentice’ is the last word (which I am not convinced of ;___; be safe cowboy jedi we never see in mainline canon so far), then he’s the only one who has dodged palpatine’s attentions. Wonderful if true love that for him

ALSO rael is one of the few people we know to be on (or at least to consider himself on despite what palps might think lol) first name basis with palpatine. Hilarious. I concur with dooku never change rael 

- Sifo-Dyas: That’s insane. 

Dooku, deadpan: Yes.

Sifo-Dyas: The worst plan I’ve ever heard.

Dooku, somehow even more deadpan: Most probably. 

Sifo-Dyas: I’m in. 

Crying… weeping and dying………… what if someone could have helped sifo with his unfortunate prophecy propensity and they hadn’t drifted apart. Clone Wars averted methinks if dooku still ended up leaving the order he would have been too busy having tender gay sex with the love of his life (and only person who can call him out on his shit and have him actually listen) to be a war criminal (I am being extremely facetious of course this is very much a ‘time traveler killing baby hitler’ situation where the underlying forces causing this point in history are way too powerful to avert the catastrophe in one move. but at least palps would probably have had to pick someone else to wreck the galaxy through and sifo-dyas would be kissed & held instead of going slowly mad. A net plus some (I, me) would say) 

- I just wanted to applaud both the writing and the voice acting for the characterization of Dooku in this, from his young self trying so hard to be haughty and self-possessed but also being like, y’know, twelve and a dweeb and easy for Sifo-Dyas to pull into trouble, to the dry wit and warmth he shows with Rael and Qui-Gon or his sister later. It took me a little while to get into the voice acting specifically (the actor makes no attempt at going the full Christopher Lee, which in hindsight was probably wise), but now I love it. It gets a bit goofy in places but you know what, I am a long time lover of audio plays, that’s part of the charm 

- “Master, have I done something wrong?”

My heart is clenching… do you think… that master yoda’s deal with leaving his student to try fucking everything to have some kind of relationship with him until he just breaks down in tears of despair… is the kind of thing that maybe started a little bit of a generational trauma cartwheel through the ages. The point that bb!dooku is arrogant isn’t without merit and he strikes out incredibly ungracefully about it (in fact I would be a lot more worried than yoda seems to be that he decides to try to kill a tree about it, ‘I felt like destroying something beautiful’-style)  but I just don’t think a… fourteen year old? A teen anyway, Is going to learn what you think he learns from this. I simply don’t believe that silent treatmenting kids will teach them emotional intelligence I guess especially if they already struggle with that naturally lol 

(It is exactly the same mistake (in my opinion) that Qui-Gon makes with Obi-Wan, too, just leaving the kid completely alone and forcing them to come to you every which way for comfort or guidance instead of meeting them or reaching out to them. Especially once you see that really Dooku’s prime emotion/big core wound right from the beginning is loneliness. And that doesn’t only come from a feeling of superiority (which to be sure is also a big factor), because he has no idea where he comes from until he meets his sister. I don’t think the jedi as a whole were unsalvageable by any stretch of the imagination, but Yoda specifically… you are on such very thin ice with me at this point you little green fuck. You’re very funny and moving in yoda dark rendezvous and that’s all that’s keeping you in my somewhat good graces.)

- Okay, coming back a bit later I think I’ve found the right words to say this. more precisely dooku has two big issues which you can later see haunting all the way down his lineage — loneliness and control. (and not incidentally the intersecting elements of the two haha.) We see from his relationship to sifo-dyas that he’s not incapable of having close mutual relationships with an equal, but that kind of crashed and burned for reasons neither of them could really help and after that it seems quite telling that he has the easiest time with deeper connection in a teacher-student sort of form. I think his affection is unconditional and real, but you can’t get away from the fact that he also has the most control in that relationship structure by default, he gets to dictate what form it takes to a big extent. He doesn’t trust other people — the underlying idea ‘Only I can do this’ that eventually leads him down the Separatist path is there the whole way. It speaks both to a sense of superiority and an utter lack of faith that other people can or will help him. And then that echoes down through the master-padawan line: 

Qui-Gon with his self-righteousness and utter refusal to compromise leaving him isolated among the jedi (only he is right. Yeah the Force told him so. Don’t worry I’ve got a permit *insert parks and rec I can do whatever I want meme here*), Obi-Wan with his anxiety and perfectionism and incredible sense of shame and responsibility that he should be able to carry the whole world on his shoulders alone and beating himself up for failing, all feeding into not knowing what to do with Anakin and his complete lack of control of himself and his desperation to gain and maintain connection and love (which earns him the title of ‘Dooku’s least favorite family member’ fhdsa his immediate disdain for him is so funny and so in character. Repress and go slowly mad like a normal person anakin the way you’re carrying on is just undignified and that is much worse than being evil)… 

- Rael gently telling Dooku to take on another padawan soon… so sweet, so sad, local cowboy jedi looking out for his dad. Also highlights something about Dooku I think is true: that he does much better and seems to have an easier time holding to the light when he’s responsible for someone else. Again, I do feel like Dooku’s core problem is loneliness, but it seems like raising kids is the one point where that relaxes somewhat. Maybe if Sifo-Dyas had stayed in a better mental place and they kept in touch it could have been different.

- Lene Kostana is SUCH a character! Charismatic and deeply fucked up, when it’s revealed how her and Sifo-Dyas’ relationship remains long after his padawan stage is done I felt a little bit sick, to my surprise. Because that could just be kindness on her part, of course, it’s good that he has someone he trusts to look after him when he can’t himself, but also there’s something… queasy about the way it keeps him continually young, in a way. (Notably he still calls her ‘master’ even as an adult, when they’re working together. Not uncommon in Star Wars, of course, but together with everything else going on vibes-wise… hm.) The inherent unreliable narration of this story really worked for me in this regard especially — do we know that young Dooku was entirely wrong when he sensed the dark side in her? She certainly is willing to go to lengths that are… worrying! in her fascination with sith shit, she tempted children into a dangerous place they didn’t understand and couldn’t know the consequences of and she continually puts sifo-dyas in situations that are implied to be a risk to worsening his condition. Run of the mill incredibly irresponsible at best, sincerely sinister at worst. Did she choose Sifo over Dooku because he’s more vulnerable and shapeable? There is an undercurrent of something icky and emotionally incest-y going on with how she relates to Dooku and Sifo-Dyas in general (right down to the ‘NO, no one can know about this’ intensity after the… evil moss cave. I can’t believe I’m this emotional about a book with an evil moss cave). I don’t think she’s a proper sith in any way and I also believe there is real affection there on all sides, but idk something about the whole thing makes me deeply uneasy. Yoda where the fuck are you your son is out there with his irresponsible mom again they’re looking for dirty needles in haystacks and they’re not even wearing any gloves

- dooku telling sifo-dyas he can come back to haunt him if he likes as a joke… well well well I’m sure that doesn’t ring with some dramatic irony at some point down the line lmao

- honestly looking back at master and apprentice after reading jedi lost makes qui-gon's apparent lack of reaction to dooku leaving seem — let's call it highly suspect haha. rael asks him if he's spoken to dooku after and qui-gon is like 'no. why would I. it's literally fine. anyway this topic is done now'. (and rael seems to just go ‘*older brotherly knowing* uh-huh’) meanwhile he's thinking about dooku *all the time* trying to figure out his role as master to obi-wan, thinking about being a padawan himself, the parts of his life he shared with both dooku and rael. The jedi doth protest too much methinks  

ALSO how much of qui-gon thinking the council was too lenient with rael after he had to kill his padawan is about that actual situation, and how much is a ‘our family still likes my older brother more than me even though he Fucked Up so bad and breaks just as many rules as I do’ sort of deal mixed with his own neuroses about how he’s failing obi-wan (to which rael’s situation symbolizes the worst possible outcome, i.e. the kid dies and it’s basically your fault). Many thoughts. 

- moment of silence for jenza of house serenno. Girl your only sin was being surrounded by asshole male family members and I’m so sorry I think you did all you could with what you had to work with here.

Not… entirely sure how dooku’s claim to the title supersedes hers — is he a year older than her? (she’s eleven when they first meet, he might be twelve or older at that point I don’t remember haha) Does she just give up her place in the inheritance order? Are primogeniture and male heir preference factors in Serenno inheritance law? Not the most important thing honestly it works anyway thematically but could have been clarified quickly!

- interesting to see that the council’s restrictive policy against engaging with prophecies had a surprisingly big impact on how things went down. Kostana has a lot of responsibility in Sifo’s fate for insisting he keep it secret, but there is genuine fear for what might become of him if the rest of the order finds out he’s got 24/7 futurevision hovering over him threateningly… listen it’s not like the poor guy can help getting the future constantly pumped into his brain at nightmare resolutions, I think maybe if there had been more willingness to at least engage curiously with the concept of prophecy and how it works, even if you don’t put your faith in the particulars of what the prophecies say, this wouldn’t have had to be such a shitty isolated secretive life for him. hearing him slowly fall apart over the years considering how bright and lovely he started out... oof is all I can say 

- when dooku was a good jedi he was such a good jedi!!! The scene where they’re saving the kids from the collapsing hospital, every time he teaches his students anything…the impulse of someone has to do something about this! that made him so good at saving lives turning dark with the tarnish of frustration and rage over the years… nooooooooo problematic grandpa why did it have to be like this :(

- …do you think infant jedi can sense what’s going on around them in the Force. Because it makes a very sad kind of sense if dooku on some level remembers bodily or in the Force that he was not only abandoned but rejected in disgust as one of the first things he discovered in the world. Oh boy. With all the ways attachment relationships can go wonky in the first few years in real life I don’t even want to consider how much more wrong it can go when the baby is fucking psychic lol

- vaguely related: the way dooku seems to find the very idea of being truly reliant on anyone, emotionally or otherwise, personally offensive, terrifying and humiliating lol. Yoda saves him from being crushed by rubble and he is outraged because that means he can’t save himself (and his newfound sister) without anyone’s help like he thought for one glorious moment he could. The fantasy of perfect emotional self-sufficiency, doing away with all the messiness and risk of interpersonal relationships and cutting off the possibility of really being abandoned again. It’ll get ya every time. This is also a thing you see reflected in his lineage — they’re all quite inward-turning that way until you get to anakin, to different extents and with varying presentations but it is there I think. Qui-Gon turns to the Force, Obi-Wan to perfectionism and shame and rumination, Rael to the bottle and depression and hedonistic apathy, but they all struggle hugely with letting anyone in to help them. Dooku’s line are all much more comfortable being the helpers rather than the helpees, as it were.  

- “Thank you for everything, Lene. Tell Rael and Qui-Gon — tell them… tell them the Force will be with them, always”

Emotional terrorism against me specifically and personally. You asshole you just excused yourself from the non-attachment rules there’s literally nothing in the world except you to stop you from reaching out and telling your children you love them yOURSELF why are you like this

- the recurring theme of dooku seeing something beautiful (the tree in the temple, the tirra’taka as a child and an adult) and ending up lashing out to destroy it… but the tree was old and mighty and he was young and new and couldn’t truly harm it, so he was saved from his own impulsivity. And then when he sees the tirra’taka as an adult he loves it immediately. And in the end he still mangles and destroys it. He didn’t mean to, but he did. He woke it up and hurt it just by existing as a child and then he had to kill it as a mercy because he was too powerful at that point for anything to buffer his mistakes. The parallel with the bird he loved that he also couldn’t protect. He starts out with an aching loneliness somewhere at the core of him through no real fault of his own but by the end it is entirely his own fault that it’s worse, because he starts wrecking everything he loves in an almost absent-minded but definitely intentional way, like it’s a nightmare he’s listening to through the door as it happens in the next room over. He really IS the ‘I just felt like destroying something beautiful’ central of the jedi.

at the end qui-gon is dead and through dooku’s own influence, however indirectly. Rael has had to turn away from him. Sifo-Dyas is dead on Dooku’s own orders and so is his sister, he might as well have done it with his own hands. (though I think it’s very interesting that in each case he didn’t do it with his own hands, he consistently uses a middleman.) He lives within the coldness of his sterile empty castle and horrifically mistreats the one person he might have found something like connection with the way he did with his students before (Ventress), deliberately trapping her in a similar state of utter desolate isolation and telling her, essentially, ‘We’re like this as people and nothing can be done to change it. We can’t escape, we’re already doomed, stop trying, it’s too late. You are just like me (and if you aren't already I'll make you like me)’. And that’s the closest thing he gets to love anymore. When he accused Ky of using her ‘as a salve for his own loneliness’ and you’re like well well well mr projection man how’s that working out for you. He is completely, shatteringly alone and he is so entirely as a consequence of his own actions and he's too far gone to understand or care. I’m howling you useless fucking FOOL dooku  

- dooku 🤝 john gaius

“Hm. I have observed that there are in fact many flaws in our society and the government is deeply corrupt. So if I kill a few billion people here and there in order to fix it, is that not basically okay when you really think about it” 

Dooku making salient points about the political and ethical failures of the Republic and then, just when you think he’s onto something, he goes and makes The wildest fucking decisions about what to do about it. Sure. dark magic and genocide are probably the only ways out of this you’re so right bro. If we make enough minuses to add together surely we’ll end up in plus sooner or later

- *head in my hands once more* I can’t believe I am genuinely emotionally invested in someone called Count Dooku with the looks of a knockoff dracula and ultimate moral character to match right now this is terrible. hey. hey dooks. what you have to go and fuck everything up so bad for huh I’m so incredibly sad now

there is something to be said about how getting to see glimpses of what dooku looked like in the light makes it so much more heartwrenching that he never came back. he could have, a thousand times. and every time he chose not to.

[gods-sugar-daddy]

No wonder Obi wan is such a disaster. Qui Gon just straight up abandons Obi because Qui Gon didn't want to deal with small child Obi when he wanted to stay to help a child revolution, *which was the reason they were there in the first place*

[kiwikipedia]

Disaster Lineage and How Well They Can Cook (based off of vibes)

Dooku Can cook a basic meal. Nothing super extravagant (why bother when he has people who can do it for him?) but decent enough to taste very good.

Qui-Gon Jinn Can cook boxed dinners or cans of soup. Lived off of wild mushrooms once, so he knows how to cook those, but nothing else.

Xantos Can’t really cook but he tried his best ™ 

Feemor Who do you think kept Jinn alive during his padawanship?

Obi-Wan Can cook and can cook well. Though baking is his downfall. At least he hasn’t burned down his quarters yet. Anakin swears he’s the best cook, though, so at least he has that going for him.

Anakin The kitchen is on fire and God is dead

Ahsoka Doesn’t know how to cook, eats raw meat right out of the package or lights it on fire. Best to just let one of her like seven dads or Shaak Ti do it for her. 

Cin Tired, but cooks very well. Someone has to make sure the Temple Guard get fed. Sucks at determining the correct amount of food though, so he always ends up with a shit ton of leftovers. Once fell asleep while making soup for Bene when they  both got sick

Serra She can follow a recipe but that’s about it. She does her best though, but any deviation from what’s written is bound to be really weird.

Bene She’s really good at baking and making sandwiches. Literally any type of sandwich. It’s kinda weird how good she is at making sandwiches.

Kit Either everything is on fire or its a goddamn full course, five star meal. there’s no in between and really, Kit would rather get take-out. Doesn’t want to risk burning down the kitchen or blanking out and suddenly there’s a full course meal

Nahdar Does not know how to cook. Thought that beating the eggs meant hand to hand combat

Bant She’s good but she never has time to cook due to being busy in the Halls of healing. She’s really good at making Caf too, so that’s something that she can do while working. Ikrit Is still missing in action, therefore unable to cook.

Yoda No.

[willowcrowned]

Mini Star Wars AU Ideas

Listed in chronological order (from the author's point of view, not the characters').

Anakin Doesn’t Murder Children - a list of possibilities for an AU where Anakin doesn’t— you guessed it— murder children

Luke and Leia Go Back in Time and Bully Qui-Gon

Obianidala in the Princess Bride

Time Travel AU Chaos; an Idea Compilation

Ahsoka and Qui-Gon— Not Actually the Force Avatar the Other Thinks They Are

Goose Anakin. No Explanation Given.

Han Solo Goes Back in Time and... Meets Anakin and Padmé

Obi-Wan gets so tired of Tatooine he shows up on Vader’s doorstep with baby Luke

Obi-Wan goes back in time and bitches about Tatooine with Anakin

Padmé/Han/Obi-Wan — the AU

Time Traveling Babysitter Han AU

Yoda Gundams the Zillo Beast and Names It Gorf

Cell Block Tango AU (originally @dykerory ‘s idea)

Han Solo, the Rebellion’s Resident Honeypot

Riza Hawkeye— The GFFA’s Newest Resident

Anakin gets a Tattoo

The Disaster Lineage Gets Stoned

The Problem with Jizz— A Meditation on Obi-Wan and Differences in Linguistic Context

Hobi-Wan— A Han/Obi-Wan Rumination

The Multitudes of Qui-Gon Jinn, or my Favorite Five Characterizations of the Twenty Seven that Live in My Head

HanLeiaObi (VERY SPICY)

Anakin Skymulaney

Obi-Wan’s Breakdowns– a non-exhaustive list

Sith Qui-Gon AU

Sith Qui-Gon AU, but different and also horny

The Mysterious Case of the Disapearing Temple Frogs

Anakin, the girl who gets married right after high school

The Dark Side: MLM (the pyramid version, we already know they’re all gay)

Obi-Wan: Just a Gay College Student

Howl’s Moving Castle AU

Pride and Prejudice AU

Old Ben— Classic Time Traveler, Classic Take

Time Traveler Hondo

Padmé, and why maybe it was a good thing the Clone Wars ended when they did

BobaHan Vegas Wedding AU, because why not

Rael, the Family Flirt

Maul—Obi-Wan’s number one... fan?

Sidious’ Biggest Problem Yet—the Film Industry

Qui-Gon, Ex-Jedi, Problem, and Doting Weird Uncle Extraordinaire

Vader Loses His Memory

Anakin the (Dubious) Poet

Anakin Skywalker, Resident Irritating Tiny Voice

Ahsoka and Maul ...and Anakin

Vader, Deadbeat Dad Extraordinaire

Qui-Gon + Ahsoka, After the Fall

Padmé/Anakin Roleswap

Sequel Trilogy... but not really

Qui-Gon comes back, Obi-Wan goes spacation (space vacation)

Time To Go (Now)

Well That's Weird

Ghost Padmé

This Is The Line

Maul, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan (and Rex)

Cool Ranch Vader

Rael Averross: Vampire Hunter

Sane Maul

Qui-Gon's Jury Duty

Boba's Ex-Boss's Son

[meantforinfinitesadness]

Padawan Obi-Wan Rec List 2

I told you there would be more! And...maybe a third list?

When I Almost Lost You by  TwilightOfHope -  After a heated argument with his Padawan over a disagreement with the outcome of a mission, Qui-Gon Jinn is completely unaware of how hurtful his words are until Obi-Wan is dangerously hovering at death’s door. Only then does he realize how much the young boy means to him—and how shattered he would be if he lost him.

Morningrise by Sideral -  A diplomatic mission on Labaris took an unexpected turn after the local terrorist faction kidnapped Padawan Obi-wan Kenobi. With the arrest of the culprits, Qui-gon Jinn deals with the aftermath.

A Promise To An Old Friend by @sirikenobi12 - “I told you I had a bad feeling...” the core accent was heavier than normal, thick with emotion. “I’m sorry I misstepped and got seperated...I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough…” he struggled with a coherent thought, until finally he said. “It should’ve been me.” “Do you have any idea how much of a headache your Master would be causing me right now if it HAD been you?” Mace folded his arms into the oversized sleeves of his robe. [Mace and Obi-Wan have a heart to heart before Qui-Gon’s funeral.]

Better Days Lie Ahead by Wolfcry22 -  A mission to a forest planet with a sick Obi-Wan means some learning on Qui-Gon’s part.

Tired Young Dad’s and Incredibly Force-Sensitive Insane Teenagers by Big_Geek - In his scrawny arms, bundled in the thickest blanket he crèche had, laid the fruit of Palpatine’s eye. An infant born with a midi-chlorian count ever recorded; even higher than Grandmaster Yoda’s. Anakin Skywalker. [Or, Palpatine isn't fooling one, tiny Padawan; and the Padawan takes the "Chosen One" and fucking books it.]

Blue Herons by @darka-3363 -  What if Quinlan Vos finished his mission on Tatooine early and went to look for Obi-Wan Kenobi?

I’m only brave when I have to be by @silvermoongirl10swfics - 'While his Padawan had many strengths, his main weakness was that he was too self-sacrificing. And Qui-Gon was determined that he would not lose his child to something that could have been avoided, he would see his child Knighted and live a long and happy life.' Qui-Gon is left standing in horror as he can only watch as his fourteen-year-old Padawan is caught up in a mudslide, he is left wondering can he save his young Padawan before it is too late? (Set when Obi-Wan is a Padawan aged 14.)

Fire Beetles by @stolen-pen-name23 -  After a nearly 14-year-old Obi-Wan is stung by dozens of fire beetles, he suffers through the effects of their stings. Qui-Gon tries his best to take care of him in the meantime.

The Music of the Spheres (Series) by @eirianerisdar - An AU of Obi-Wan's apprenticeship where he was born mute - and yet, the course of the galaxy changes because of it.

Clone Wars Senior Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi AU (Series) by @silvermoongirl10swfics - At the start of the Clone Wars, Senior Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi is given the rank of Commander of Ghost Company of the 212th Attack Battalion, while his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, is given the rank of General of the 212th. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s second-in-command, Commander Cody, is a man they can both depend on. Qui-Gon assigns Cody to Ghost Company, hoping the Commander will be able to stop his Padawan from performing reckless stunts. Cody is wondering what did he do to deserve a reckless Jedi Commander.

[glimmerglanger]

(public) In transactional states I'd love to see Obi-Wan somehow encounter the Jedi again... Do you think this ever happens? Is Jango known as an "enemy" because of taking the bounty on that one guy who was probably Qui-Gon?

Oooooh, I think the Jedi are definitely popping by more frequently after Quinlan confirms that, yes, this really is Obi-Wan. The Jedi are probably leery of Jango after Galidraan, to be honest, more than what turned out to be a rescue from a prison. In any case, I...definitely took this opportunity to have Ben and Jango run into Qui-Gon. Because I couldn’t resist.

This is after the coda on TS. No major warnings for this snippet, though, of course, there are major warnings for TS. Mentions of past trauma and abandonment issues. 

~~~~~~~

There was a little town not far from their home. It had barely been a settlement when they first arrived on Yulion, but it had grown over the years. There were markets there, regularly, where off-worlders could bring wares and the settlers around the area could swap their produce or buy what they needed.

Ben enjoyed going to the markets, walking through the streets and stopping at every stand along the way. Jango never felt exactly happy about being in crowds, but walking around a bunch of farmers was hardly a major concern. 

His level of concern raised a little after Ben’s old friend from the Jedi stopped by their home. They’d stayed mostly tucked away for five years. He’d taken a few jobs, here and there. But for the most part...no one had known where they were. 

He’d liked it that way.

Ben had found it important to tell the Jedi about everything that happened with Komari Vosa. Jango had watched him send the message with a tight feeling in his gut, knowing it meant the end of their time set apart from the galaxy.

A Jedi had shown up less than a month later to prove him right. Still, Ben had seemed happy enough to talk to Quinlan, and the man had left again without causing trouble. Jango had even liked Quinlan, he had a sharp sense of humor and seemed to understand how the galaxy actually worked.

It didn’t change the undercurrent of tension he’d felt each day since the man left. It was the feeling that came from tasting the air and knowing a summer storm was on the way. An itch down his spine that whispered warnings into his head.

So, Jango was already tense when Ben went still while leaning over a stall selling sweet fruit pies and then reached out, grabbing Ani’s shoulder and pulling him closer. Ben’s eyes had gotten bigger, all at once, and the color had drained from his expression.

Jango adjusted his hold on Jas - she’d gotten tired halfway through the morning and insisted he carry her - and turned, following Ben’s line of sight through the crowd. 

Ben was staring at a man across the road. Tall. Long, graying hair. A beard. Robes that proclaimed him to be a Jedi, to anyone bothering to pay any attention at all. And Jango had done his research, in the years they lived on the moon. He’d wanted to know the man who left Ben behind on sight. And so he knew what kind of trouble was coming, even as Ben grabbed his arm - painfully tight - and said, “Master Jinn is here.”

“I see him,” Jango said, frowning, because the man had noticed their attention, had drawn himself up and started walking across the street. Ben’s grip tightened further, and Jango shifted, said, quietly, “Take Jas.”

Ben took her automatically, releasing Jango’s arm. He cradled her close, still, Jango noticed, keeping a hand on Ani, who was looking around with wide-eyes and pressing closer to Ben. Ani picked up on emotions even easier than Ben did, Jango thought. 

He wondered what Ani was picking up on at the moment, as Ben edged back a step. Whatever it was, it had Ani balling a hand up onto a fist down by his side, eyes wide and mouth thin.

Jango put his back to Ben as Jinn made it across the street, his expression some strange and anguished thing. Jinn said, “Sweet Force, it really is you, I--”

And he cut off - satisfyingly - when Jango kicked one of his knees to the side. Jinn was tall, much taller than Jango. But he dropped with his knee to the perfect height for Jango to land a punch across his jaw.

It was...less than Jango had wanted to do to him, some nights. But his children were behind him. Ben was behind him, breath gone all erratic and wrong. And so Jango snapped, “You’re not welcome here,” turned on his heel, and left, ignoring whatever it was Jinn called after them.

The trip back to their home was a blur. Jango asked three times if Ben were alright and only got a nod each time. He resisted the urge to swear, ushering Ben and the kids through the door and tugging Ani to the side, bending to tell him, “Take your sister upstairs and play with her for a while, yeah?”

Ani stared across at him, eyes too big when he asked, “Is dad okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Jango told him, which was not a lie, and Ani nodded, took Jas by the hand, and guided her off up the stairs. Ben hadn’t moved from the front door, just standing there, staring at something that must have been years in the past.

Jango swore, then, moving to get into Ben’s line of sight, unsure what to say or how to help or--

“He left me,” Ben rasped, quiet, with a shudder that started at his shoulders and traveled down. “He left me behind. He--”

And it hurt, watching Ben’s expression slowly crumble. Jango blurted, not sure what else to do, “I know, Ben. I know he did. But I won’t.”

Ben sucked in a breath, blinked like a man waking from a dream, and lurched a step forward. He tucked in against Jango, face pressed down, holding on the way he did when he needed whatever Jango was feeling. Jango curled an arm around him, and wished the galaxy had left them alone, just a little while longer.

[hannagoldworthy]

AWOL 24

(The Return of the Ghost Buddies!  Also, Savage is a Worried Dad, Maul is the worst babysitter but he and Merrin make a good acting team, and Barriss finally starts getting honest with herself about her feelings.)

It figured that the only person in the haphazard group of castaways who could actually hear him would be the one stunned and put in Force restraints.

Nilam sighed.  He’d been able to follow Barriss to Florrum ahead of the turtle tanker, by virtue of being unfettered by mere mortal bonds.  There wasn’t any point in staying; Maul was ignoring him, Savage covered his fear of him by making snide ‘Darth Pregnant’ jokes, Feral had enough to think about without poltergeist activity beside his sickbed, and Merrin seemed the type to try to capture him in a bottle and set him on a shelf for purely aesthetic purposes.  However, if he could not get through to Barriss, his hands were tied.

“Hello again, old friend.”

If he had been corporeal, the speed at which he whipped around at the sound of this other voice might have sent him into an undignified fall.  The ghost of Master Qui-Gon Jinn smirked.

“Didn’t expect to see me, did you?”

Nilam gave him a tired smile.  “No, but your presence is greatly appreciated.”

“What happened?  It’s only been three or four days since we last spoke.  I thought your charges were safely away from mine.”

“Yes, well, my charges are idiots.”

The Jedi chuckled.  “So are mine.  This one,” he pointed to the Togruta girl, “is my great-grand-Padawan.  She and the boy with her sacrificed their freedom so the younglings in their care could escape these pirates.  I’m both proud and somewhat annoyed that their cockamamie plan actually worked.”

“It sounds like she fits right into Yoda’s lineages.  At least you have something to be proud of her for.  Mine just bolted right into Ohnaka’s arms when her commitment issues suddenly came face-to-face with her marriage and the feelings that chased it.”

Jinn’s eyebrows shot up.  “Wait…she’s married?”

“Yes, to Maul.”

“When did that happen?”

“Before I got involved.”

“Is this one of those Dathomiri kidnappings?  Because Barriss could just renounce her Claim; my Master once had to force a Nightsister to renounce her Claim on me.”

“...Long story, huh?”

“Not nearly long enough, that was the end of it…at least, it was for me.”

“Well, this isn’t quite the same situation.  Barriss is essentially married according to Mirial custom as well, only she either doesn’t know it or is as heavily in denial about it as she is about the fact that she’s fallen in love.”

Jinn gaped.  “…And I thought Anakin’s ‘secret’ marriage was bad.”

“…Anakin, as in the Chosen One?”

“Yes.”

“Is secretly married.”

“If by ‘secret’ you mean ‘they haven’t told anyone but they don’t have to because it is blatantly obvious’, then yes.”

“…Tell me everything.”

“Are you sure?  It’s a long story.”

“And I’ve got time to kill.  It’s either that or tossing glasses around in the bar area to cause a little chaos.”

“I think I’d honestly prefer to do that.”

“Ah, but we can haunt and talk at the same time.  Come with me…”

***

Savage insisted that Merrin wear her long mourning veils when she went with Maul to the pirate compound.  She nodded agreeably.  “It will conceal the knives on my person.”

The Opress got on one knee and looked her dead in the eye. “It will conceal your body, child.  I wasn’t joking when I said they’d make you a concubine if they could, whether you like it or not.  Keep them on; being out of sight will be half the battle here.”

“The other half will be fighting back against those particular individuals who don’t care what you look like,” Maul said.  “Stay close to me at all times; that will hinder them, but not necessarily stop them.  If someone touches you, stab them, instantly.”

“Killing a pirate will get us noticed.”

“Immediate and violent reprisal against harassment and assault is not only expected in places such as these, it’s encouraged.  You might be promoted on the spot for your perceived vivacity.”

“Or I might stab the wrong person and get us both killed.”

The brothers shook their heads.  “That’ll only happen if you kill the monkey-lizards,” Savage drawled. “Little brats have the run of the place. Anyone else will just respect your boldness.”

“It’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy, little Nightsister. If they push you, push back.”

She took a deep breath, and nodded.  “Very well.”

Savage smiled.  “Good woman,” he murmured, pulling out a hidden communicator.  “Now, Maul has one of these, but you need one in case something happens to his.  Tuck it under one of your bangles…yes, that works…and here’s how to use it.”  Once he got done explaining the simple little two-button system, he patted her on the head.  “Feral will be listening at all times.  Send the distress signal, and we’ll come to your location immediately.”

“I will.”

He nodded.  “Safe journey to you, Sister.”  And then he slowly stood, and watched with troubled eyes as she and Maul started across the wasteland.  When they were out of sight, the ship took off again; it would cruise through the atmosphere, so that it could hopefully avoid the Ohnaka gang’s ‘toll collectors.’

Maul set off at a harsh pace, so that Merrin had to jog to keep up.  “Brother Maul, I must insist you slow down.”

“We haven’t time to dally.  We need to get in, assess the situation, get Barriss, and get out.”

“But our cover story is that we are father and daughter. We have to at least look like we have some care for each other.”

He stopped, turned abruptly, and considered her.

A minute later, Maul was speed-walking across the putrid sulfur fields with Merrin seated uncomfortably on his back.  “They will see that I am far too old for rancor-back rides,” she muttered, pouting.

“I’ll wave it off as nostalgic zeal.”

“They will see that you are not the type to develop such sentiment.”

“Pipe down and let me concentrate.  You’re heavy.”

“That is because I am too old…”

“Shut up.”

***

He set the little Witch down on her feet when they were in sight of the compound, and approached slowly, grabbing her hand and pulling her to his side.  “Try to seem somewhat afraid,” he murmured.  “Walk just slightly behind me, and tuck your face against my arm…yes, just like that.”

There weren’t terribly many guards – in the open at least. It was actually fairly clever how the patrols hid themselves by acting drunk and chatting, but Maul could sense the focus behind most of the pirates’ attention.  An inexperienced observer would think them undisciplined, rowdy, and easily led, but Maul had seen them empty their freighter’s stores as efficiently as if they were in a factory.  It would be a welcome challenge to lie successfully to their faces.

And then, two Nightbrothers stepped out from behind one of the ships in the yard.  “Hey,” said one, a sturdy fellow with vibrant gamboge skin and deep brown markings.  “Speak of the horned god…”

The other Nightbrother had terracotta-colored skin and blackish markings.  He waved brightly at the duo of newcomers.  “Come over here, my Brother!”

Merrin drew closer to his elbow, feigning shyness to speak softly. “Were there Nightbrothers with the pirates before?”

“No.  Stay calm. I can amend our story.”

“You here for the dental benefits too?” the yellow man said as Maul and Merrin came closer.

“…Well, it’s among my reasons,” Maul replied in a passable imitation of Savage’s accent.  “Really, we just needed to get away from Dathomir.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”  The orange man grinned, and extended a hand.  “Name’s Tare, and this is Ryp.”

“Malign,” good code names were ones he would answer to instinctively, “and this is my daughter, Ilyana.”  He wasn’t too sure about that name, but Merrin seemed to be closely connected with it, so he allowed it.

“Your daughter?” Ryp cried.  Maul and Merrin cringed, expecting him to reveal their lie, but he was happy, not outraged.  “Where did you find a woman who let you see her?”

“Well, I didn’t really find her.  My parents defected to a Day clan shortly before I was born; I was raised with her.” There, believable and succinct; easy as breathing.

“Lucky bastard.  But what are you doing here, of all places?”

He allowed a hitch to creep into his voice.  “There were wildfires a few months back.  The women tried to fight them, but…well, there’s nothing left for us there.”

In a stroke of artistic brilliance, Merrin hid her face in his shoulder, and he squeezed her hand comfortingly.

The Nightbrother duo was appropriately affected.  Tare even looked like he might cry.  “Well,” he said.  “You can definitely stay with us, for as long as you need.  We’ll even put in a good word with Hondo.”

“In fact,” Ryp eyed Merrin.  “We might not even have to.  Daysisters know how to drive out ghosts, right…?”

***

“We’re doomed,” Merrin muttered as loudly as she dared.

“…What do you mean?” he asked.  “Did you not protect…?”

“I reminded them that he was the son of…someone important, who could do more to them than I could.  But I’m not an Expectress.  I have no real training.  If this is really a ghost…”

“Just walk into the kitchen, declare that it is yours, and command the spirit to go whence it came.  Simple as that.”

“You say that now…”

“I’ve seen it done.  I’ve done it.  You can do this.”

As he said that, they entered the Ohnaka gang’s pub, in which pandemonium reigned supreme.  Merrin was surprised to see that there wasn’t any broken glass; instead, it almost looked as if an invisible person a few centimeters shorter than Savage was calmly juggling several differently-colored flagons, while a jaunty tune whistled from elsewhere in the room.  The bartender seemed more exasperated than afraid, but the tables were greatly enjoying this, setting bets on which bottle would break first.

“…I know that tune,” Maul murmured.

“From where?”

“Your…mother used to hum it while she cleaned her utensils,” he replied.  “She said it was an old folk tune from her tribe.”  He narrowed his eyes.  “I think I know this particular ghost,” he said in her ear.  “Don’t command him.  Ask him nicely to leave.”

“But that won’t make him leave.”

“Do as I say.”

He’d been pretending to be a father for less than an hour, and already the man was putting on airs.  Merrin sniffed.  “Fine, but when it goes wrong, remember it is your fault.”

She walked forward to where the flagons were tumbling midair, and cleared her throat.  “Excuse me, good sir,” she had only Maul’s word that it was, indeed, a sir, but that was better than nothing.  “Would you mind setting the alcohol down?  These good people are very thirsty.”

“Love, I got money riding on the red one to fall first!” a raucous voice called out.  “Let it alone!”

Merrin shrugged.  “You heard what he said.  Set the red one down first.”

The flagons stilled in midair, then, one by one, came to rest on the table, starting with the red one.

A cheer erupted throughout the tavern, and money began changing hands.  Maul sidled up close to Merrin just as an unsavory character called her ‘darling’ and offered to buy her a drink; when she felt his hand on her shoulder, she grinned. “And how about a lively song? Something we can dance to!”

The whistling voice quieted for a moment, and then broke into ‘Drunken Spacer’.  Another, louder, cheer went up, and several pirates began to sing along with varying degrees of skill.  Ryp started to jig, while Tare laughed and waved to one corner of the room.

“How’s that for some Dathomiri magic, boss?”

The Weequay in goggles dancing on a table to the chagrin of his ever-present monkey-lizard threw up two thumbs in approval.  “This is the best investment Hondo Ohnaka has ever made!  Do the Seppie-man next!”

Maul smiled down at Merrin.  “We’re in.”

***

Barriss was fairly certain she hadn’t had a decent sip of water in two days.  She wasn’t certain how long it had been for Ahsoka or Jinx.  Ohnaka was a shrewd judge of their limits; they were all of species who could go for a week or so without properly rehydrating, and so he only allowed them half a mouthful of water at midday.  There was no chance they were going to be able to run away on their own.  They were going to be sold, plain and simple.

Oh well.  She might as well go to Mirial; every other bridge had been burned at this point.

Stars, she was such a coward.  For all her talk of despising division and desiring compassion, when the chips were down and her hand was weak, Barriss Offee folded.  She’d run from the Order.  She’d run from the GAR.  And now, she’d run from the only viable allies she had left, all because she could not bear the way Darth Maul looked at her.  Even now, whenever she closed her eyes she saw his, and felt the fire behind them…she’d gotten too close to that fire, too close, and now she’d been burned, and it was her own damnable fault.

What was wrong with her?  She’d had crushes before; all Jedi did.  But she’d been able to move past her childish flirting with Tutso Mara, and her flattery at Anakin Skywalker’s hand in a Temple dance, and her awe and admiration for Ahsoka Tano’s wit and tenacity.  All of them had become simply friends, but with Maul, she couldn’t do that. He was the enemy, but he had never been her enemy.  He was cunning and grace, and yet more forthright than anyone else she had ever known. He was deadly, and he was beautiful, not in spite of but because of his deadliness.

And she’d hurt him, by leaving in the way she did.

She might as well go to Mirial, and work herself into an infarction in the shipyards.  She already felt like dying.

“And this is stash number five.  Pay close attention; we have valuable prisoners stowed here for now.”

Hondo Ohnaka passed by her face.  She didn’t budge, listening to him talk; this was an obvious tour for a new recruit, and her participation was decidedly not wanted.

“You keep prisoners in here?  Don’t you have jail cells?”

…It couldn’t be.  The accent was all wrong, but the cadences of his voice, the way he sang through each of his sentences…

“Of course we have jail cells!  But these are Jedi!  They break out of jail cells for a living!  Better to keep them here, where we can have more eyes on them and more guns on them.”

“Jedi, huh?”  Barriss opened her eyes; she was cut off from the Force, and she could still feel the effort it took for him not to snarl at the mention of his ancestral enemies.  The angle at which her head was tilted only afforded her a look at his boots; his footwork was achingly familiar.

“Yes, Jedi!  We have a great many resources here, my fine fellow.  We can handle a Jedi or three!  Now…since you mentioned it, let me show you the detainment levels.  You can work as a guard there as well.”

“Right behind you, boss.”

There was only a hint of hesitation, the slightest delay, which let her know that he had seen her looking.  He did not bring his eyes into view, or touch her, or even draw close; his intention had been to let her know he was there, and it ended simply.  But…he would be back.

Her heart was racing, her stomach was fluttering, and it took every ounce of willpower to avoid hyperventilation.  With every fiber in her body, she wanted never to speak with him again – and yet every atom of her being longed just to look at him one more time.

She might as well go back to Mirial.  But for some reason, Barriss thought that that wasn’t the hand she was going to be dealt.

[angelqueen04]

Fic title: Shadows of the Coming Dawn

Okay, so everything should be hunky-dory. Palpatine has finally gotten what was coming to him at the hands and power of his granddaughter representing eons of Jedi just itching to kick his ass. The First/Final Order has been brought down, and already the many (ex)child soldiers are looking to find where they came from. There is celebrating all across the galaxy. Again.

Except that things are not hunky-dory. The Force is actually pretty pissed off. Palpatine was not, repeat, *not* supposed to get to wreck havoc for 3 straight generations, only to be stopped at the last minute. Now, the Force can influence things and events (like, say, impregnating a woman and thus spawning its own bloodline), but it can’t just come down on an individual like a ton of bricks and smashing them to smithereens because omg the Force *hates* Palpatine. It requires surrogates - hence the whole ‘spawning its own bloodline’ thing. 

The problem is, most of the Force’s bloodline is made up of monumental fuck-ups and yes, we are looking at you Anakin and Ben. Even Luke and Leia had their moments, but they managed better for the most part. But anyway, back to the main point - the Force isn’t happy with how things went. So it decides to try again. Is it cheating? Sure, probably. Does the Force care? Not a bit.

The thing of it is, its entire bloodline is dead, what with Rey being more-or-less adopted and all. But the entire Skywalker is caput, having shuffed off their mortal coils. The Force can’t go back on that. But there is, as we all know, life after death in the form of Force Ghosts, which gives the Force the wiggle room it needs.

The Force proceeds to take up the ghosts of its grandchildren and hurl them back to the beginning to save their father and thus nip Palpatine in the bud. The thing of it is - they’re still ghosts.

So basically, the entire plot is Ghost!Luke and Ghost!Leia trying to keep their father on the straight and narrow and also keep him the fuck away from Palpatine. One problem - neither is completely happy about it. Luke is tired, and not exactly in the best frame of mind even now, owing to the fact that he cut himself off from the Force for so long. Leia is tired *and* pissed. She’s earned her rest and was anticipating a reunion with her husband, her son, and all those she’s loved and lost over the course of her life. But nope, now she has to go ride herd on her idiot of a bio-dad to keep him from falling into the machinations of the smoothest political operator to walk the galaxy in who knows how long.

Oh, and it turns out that only a few people can see them at the start, mostly Anakin and a few Jedi. Which makes things interesting as the Jedi rumor mill starts whispering about ghosts being angry and upset when certain things happen. And not just when Anakin Skywalker does something problematic. Like when Anakin gets sneered down at by other Padawans for being a former slave - both Leia and Luke get a fair bit furious when that happens and cause the environmental controls to malfunction on said Padawans. 

And you know how Qui-Gon Jinn learned the whole Force Ghost secret and was subtly trying to help over the years before he finally got into contact with Yoda toward the end of the Clone Wars? Well, Skywalkers don’t do subtle. They are going to drag Anakin, the Jedi Order, the Republic, the entire *fucking* galaxy into getting their collective shit together no matter what anyone else has to say on the matter. And then *they* can all deal with Palpatine effectively. So then Leia and Luke can finally rest. 

[backpackingspace]

thinking about how for like the first two years of obi wans apprenticeship qui gon did not give a fuck what obi wan did (or even really what happened to him) before snapping out of it and realizing he was actually very much responsible for this child and course corrected into being a helicopter parent and how obi wan always read this as mistrust instead of concern and guilt.

[buckys-baby-boy]

Qui Gon: Hey, wanna hear a funny joke? Dooku: I only like dark humor. Qui Gon, turning the lights off: What do you call a fake noodle? Dooku: Qui Gon: An IMPASTA!

[tessiete]

“Perhaps, I killed a Jedi and took it from him.” Clumsy fingers beneath sleek synth leather gloves close over the hilt, the silver of it glinting merrily in the grasp of a cold fist. “Impossible,” Lord Vader says. “I am growing tired of your games, boy. I shall only ask once more: who gave it to you?” “I cannot say,” he replies. “Cannot?” says Vader. “Or will not?” “I will not.” His voice is firm, and does not shake. He reaches again for that serenity: a flash of copper hair, [...] of blue eyes.

This is for the writer’s ask where you ask about 500 characters of one of my fics, and I do a deep dive analysis! <3 Thank you for indulging me.

Alright! Better late than never but I’ve been overthinking this because I DO SO LOVE process and meta! So let’s dive in. The commentary.

First of all, let me say that I am a huge proponent of  Korkie Kenobi - and yeah, I’d love to see it canonised - but I think my relationship with this character is a bit more nuanced than people give me credit for.

I was all for arospec/acespec Obi-Wan. That’s the canon I loved. And I was very much not interested in Satine when she first appeared in TCW. But the thing was, once it happened, once they introduced a love interest who played a significant enough role in the story, I felt I could either ignore it...or roll with it. See what it changed. See what it created.

Obviously, the relationship - on a surface level (and tbh probably the only level which the writers considered) is meant to mirror Anakin and Padme. They are the road not taken. Where Anakin and Padme chose each other, Obi-Wan and Satine chose their duties.

This is a...I don’t like this take as an exclusive one, and here’s why: it implies that Padme was also selfish, and made the wrong choice. And yet everything in canon tells us the opposite. She continued working. She jeopardised her career and her reputation to fight against the rise of the Empire. She gave her life trying to prevent it. To put her as a direct mirror of Satine is messy, and to me, cannot justify the creation of Satine enough to convince me.

But I also don’t want to throw away such a huge chunk of TCW narrative. So the other option is to reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally lean in.

At which point, you have to examine not just the immediate symbolism of the relationship, but what each character individually brings. You have to give Satine her own agency. She has to become her own person. Suddenly, all the little bits of information that would normally be overlooked become important. We get so little of her, that everything becomes significant.

And Korkie - who hangs around for a couple episodes, but otherwise has no real importance, suddenly becomes significant.

And that, for me, is the crux of the issue. I hate, hate, hate wasted story elements, and if Korkie is so superfluous as to be negligible, then why did we waste not just money, and time, but story on him. And if he is unimportant, then his relationship to Satine is unimportant. And if that relationship is insignificant, then we lose something integral and revealing about Satine, and now suddenly there is less of her to relate to Obi-Wan, and so anything revealed about him becomes less important, too.

Maybe this feels like a stretch, and maybe it is, but to me, Korkie feels very much like Chekhov’s gun.

And it would drive me CRAZY if he were to go unexamined, and unused.

So this whole story was an examination of “What does Korkie tell us about Obi-Wan that we didn’t know before? And what can Korkie tell us about Vader?”

Because what is Vader if not Obi-Wan’s Fallen son?

This was essentially the thesis for this piece: despite the fact that Vader/Anakin had all of Obi-Wan’s attention, love, and time it is Korkie who truly embodies the legacy of his father.

And while I know that “found family” is a massively important part in the SW universe, I think there’s a larger discussion to be had about other aspects of family. The answer isn’t always that Blood is Bad, and that heritage is shameful or unimportant. Sometimes, where you came from does matter. Some people do find strength, and pride, and hope, and motivation, and support in their origins - even if it’s something they’re divorced from in a physical or temporal way.

For me, Korkie is an opportunity to examine a father/son relationship where neither of the two people have an attachment beyond blood, but -

There is still one of love. 

But instead of Anakin’s selfish, possessive love for his family, both Obi-Wan and Korkie relate to each other, and treat each other with empathy, compassion, and respect. Their love is noble. Selfless. They put entire worlds before each other. And Korkie learned that from his dad.

A personal pet peeve is this constant depiction of kids whose parents are in high stakes jobs feeling neglected or abandoned. How many cop shows have bratty kids acting out because their dad is never home to share dinner? How many medical dramas show the children of doctors lashing out because mom spends more time at work than at ballet class? 

It drives me crazy.

As the child of a medical worker with an on-call schedule, I can say that neither I, nor my siblings, nor any of the other children of my mum’s coworkers have EVER felt neglected. We have never felt unfairly or selfishly entitled to our parents’ time. Because we knew - because someone (another parent? A grandparent? A teacher?) explained to us, and taught us at a young age that what our parents were doing was important. We understood that there were life or death stakes, and that we were very loved, and very much the priority - just not every second. Because sometimes, a life was on the line.

And Obi-Wan Kenobi was fighting to save a galaxy. 

I just cannot in any way believe that a child whose mother was a ruler of a planet plagued with civil unrest and a significant terrorist group, and whose father was a Jedi Master, and in charge of securing peace and freedom across the stars would ever be so selfish, and so uncompassionate as to begrudge the sacrifice of his parents.

Korkie Kenobi is an abject example of selfless love. The kind of love the Jedi aspire to. The kind of love that Anakin absolutely does not understand, and fails to embrace.

And it’s not because Qui-Gon died (Korkie never had that kind of paternal relationship), and it’s not because Shmi was killed (Korkie’s mother also dies tragically), but because of the maturity of the person, and the quality of Korkie’s character.

So to pit a Korkie just coming into his own as an adult, aware of his father, and recently bereaved of his mother against a Vader just coming into his own as a Sith…

That, to me, evoked very interesting narrative avenues to explore.

In this universe, Korkie and Obi-Wan have recently reconnected (Korkie having helped Boil retrieve Obi-Wan from an ill-advised trip to Mandalore where Obi-Wan learned that Anakin had become Vader for the first time), and they both know what they are to each other. Obi-Wan has begged for forgiveness, and given Korkie his lineage, and his legacy in the form of Qui-Gon’s lightsaber - something that Anakin never got. Vader wants it.

So let’s get into it:

“Perhaps, I killed a Jedi and took it from him.” 

This first line - it’s like poetry, it rhymes.

Vader asks where Korkie got the blade, and Korkie replies...in Qui-Gon’s words. He doesn’t know this, of course. It’s just a coincidence. But the remains of Anakin hear it. Anakin recognises it, and it galls him that this boy - Obi-Wan’s replacement of him - seems to be able to claim the lineage he wishes he had. Korkie is stealing his family. And he doesn’t know them. He doesn’t deserve them. He’s not entitled to them the way Anakin is. 

And this is also one of the first things Anakin ever heard a Jedi say. This was the beginning of Qui-Gon’s promise. This is a moment in which Anakin first thought he might find salvation. It was the start of his life, in some ways. This was pure, good, and trusting Anakin Skywalker. 

It’s an absolute anathema to him, now. Now, when he’s lost everything. When he’s filled with doubt, and hate, and fear, and suffering. It makes him angry. Because he doesn’t want to see that he was Korkie. He doesn’t want to see that he had this chance, and blew it. And Korkie - who never had Qui-Gon, who never had Obi-Wan - can speak the words without even (in Anakin’s mind) earning them.

Also, and most obviously, Anakin killed the Jedi. And yet...he didn’t kill Obi-Wan. He did not kill that Jedi, and take this blade.

Korkie is alive. Obi-Wan is alive. Anakin resents it. Obi-Wan should not exist without him. Obi-Wan should have no legacy but Vader. Because Anakin doesn’t. 

Clumsy fingers beneath sleek synth leather gloves close over the hilt, the silver of it glinting merrily in the grasp of a cold fist. 

To me, it was important that we see the weakness of Vader. His hands are not his own. The flesh of Anakin Skywalker is gone, and beneath the serenity of the mask, and the shadow of black, he’s fumbling. Korkie’s wrong-footed him, and he feels young, and insufficient in the face of this boy. This is all about Anakin’s insecurity.

Korkie speaking words he shouldn’t know - speaking in the voice of a literal Jedi - so calm, and so collected (negotiating with the serenity of his father) scares Anakin. He’s hearing and seeing the ghosts of the people he betrayed. 

And the blade itself is merry because it belongs in the hand of Korkie. It knows (and the narrative knows) that it won’t be long in Vader’s grasp. It transcends the dark. It glints, and is optimistic. It’s a symbol of faith. It’s delight in being claimed by Korkie is symbolic of Qui-Gon’s own approval of his legacy. Qui-Gon Jinn chooses Korkie Kenobi.

But the thing is, it’s not because he’s a Kenobi. It’s because he chooses to act, and speak like a Jedi. Anakin fears - and knows - he never received this blade because Qui-Gon Jinn would not approve of what he’s done. This is Qui-Gon’s repudiation of Anakin Skywalker. The blade is laughing at Anakin.

“Impossible,” Lord Vader says. “I am growing tired of your games, boy. I shall only ask once more: who gave it to you?”

And then Anakin answers the same way he did as a child. He is still a selfish, defiant, fearful child. He denies the possibility that Korkie could have killed a Jedi. 

Now, of course, he knows that the Jedi are dead, he knows that Korkie is not a Jedi, and he’s also denying the possibility that Korkie could have done it.

And, more than that, he’s denying the very possibility that Korkie could speak - could somehow know - Qui-Gon’s words. There is no way that this boy should be speaking with that voice. It’s impossible.

It’s a three-fold denial.

As a more technical thing, Vader’s voice was really hard for me to do, because this Vader still had to be recognisable as Anakin. He’s only been Vader for about a year at this point, maybe a little longer, and he’s just been thrown back into his childhood by memory, so the voice had to hit this balance point between Anakin and Vader.

This is an Anakin who uses language to build himself up. He doesn’t quite buy his own authority - it is so easily undercut by an unarmed boy, here, after all - so he makes himself sound like the seat of power...Obi-Wan. He mimics the slightly elevated phrasing of his former master, and condescends, calling him “boy”. He speaks to Korkie in the voice of Korkie’s father. But it’s distorted, and clunky because it is not Anakin’s voice to claim. And he hasn’t had all the practice that the next 18 years will provide him with, yet.

So theoretically, if I did it right, the motivation - the drive of the sentence - is Anakin, but the pattern is an echo of Obi-Wan.

I also think this is probably the third time Vader’s asked Korkie (iirc), and that’s just a classic storytelling technique - things, especially questions, lessons, or events, happen three times. 

Korkie replies differently every time.

“I cannot say,” he replies.

So, at first, Korkie answered a question with a question. He was brash, young, and openly defiant. He replied in the way that Anakin or Obi-Wan may have if they’d been captured. He asked who Vader was. He didn’t know him - he doesn’t know him.

Vader is his brother, and yet Vader - Anakin - has been erased. His own family doesn’t know him. Has no reason to. He isn’t a person anymore. He’s a monster with no face, no name, no history, and no future. He has no claim to his own past.

Then, when Vader asks again, Korkie asks why it matters.

It’s a slight change of tactic, but one that Korkie thinks might put him on a more even playing field. If he knows why it’s important, then maybe they can work out a deal. Maybe he can...negotiate. Again, Vader hears shades of Obi-Wan’s cunning in this kid’s voice.

It also forces Vader to confront the reason he wants this blade - but that reason is intimately connected to Anakin. So Korkie is humanising him. He’s offering Vader a piece of himself. But Vader won’t take it.

Then, after Korkie’s spoken like Qui-Gon, Vader asks again, and Korkie denies him utterly. He cannot say. It’s impossible. It’s something beyond his control.

“Cannot?” says Vader. “Or will not?” 

“I will not.” His voice is firm, and does not shake.

Or is it? Because then, Korkie does what Vader does not. He takes responsibility for his choice. It’s not out of his hands. He’s choosing - deliberately, and decisively - to deny Vader. And he does not flinch. He does not hide. He looks into Vader’s face, knowing he might condemn himself to suffering, and death, and chooses that.

This is Korkie as a Jedi. He makes the same sacrifice the Jedi make - he looks into the Dark and chooses the Light.

And in this instance, he has replaced Anakin because he’s protecting Obi-Wan. Korkie is at Obi-Wan’s back. Korkie is making a choice to shield the person he loves - though he hardly knows him - because it is right. He loves freely, and selflessly. He loves Obi-Wan in a way that Anakin betrayed, but Korkie will not betray Obi-Wan here.

 He reaches again for that serenity: a flash of copper hair, of soft robes, of blue eyes. 

Korkie Kenobi is Force sensitive. Of course, he is. He is the culmination of a series of Light choices, and selfless sacrifice. He, at the end of the Clone Wars, comes out as the very thing they were fighting for. It’s not lost. Obi-Wan isn’t lost - he still shaped Korkie. He still saved something - something of the Force, something of the Light, and something of himself. He saved Satine. He saved the Jedi. He’s not fought and sacrificed in vain.

And so, though it is still rough, and untrained, though, like his relationship with his father, it’s still new, Korkie instinctively seeks to soothe himself, to find peace, so stay calm. In this moment where he is confronted with a Sith Lord, alone, and unarmed he chooses to reach for peace…

And his peace, his hope, is Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He reaches for his dad.

Just like Obi-Wan reaches out for Qui-Gon’s ghost. Just like Anakin reaches out for Obi-Wan (seriously can’t have one conversation without mentioning him). Just like Luke reaches out for Anakin.

Korkie seeks comfort in the Force through the person he most finds solace in. And it doesn’t matter that he and Obi-Wan are nearly strangers, because they choose not to be. And because Obi-Wan is the ideal that Korkie strives for.

Obi-Wan has taught him something about serenity, and bravery, and hope. So when Korkie thinks of calm, and thinks of making his father proud, he sees Obi-Wan. Just flashes in his memory.

And the colours of Obi-Wan are symbolic - the fire of his hair, the chaos of the galaxy and war, the colour of the sand on Tatooine, the heat of its suns, and the shared blood between them. The blue of his eyes like water in the desert, an oasis, a salvation, an open sea, the clear sky, something vast and all encompassing and cool. The soft robes are an embrace. Obi-Wan is a home in the Force.

(Ironically, this is also what Anakin as Vader thinks of, and is thinking of because he also knows Obi-Wan, and so the next beat of this scene shows Vader and Korkie accidentally sharing thoughts. An easy mistake, as they’re essentially running into each other at the same restaurant!)

ANYWAY -

A, um, brief analysis of this passage from Or Else I Shall Be Lost

I hope you enjoyed it!!! And thank you so much @tree-scapes for tagging me!!!!! 

[rogueclonesftw]

hello! i don't know anything about your OC's, but i saw your post. could you perhaps list all of them with a short summary? 🙏🏻💕

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry this took so long to answer. I moved house and it was A Lot. My OCs are legion so for the sake of everyone else’s dashes I’m putting this under a read more

These are just for the clone wars era I’m leaving the rebels out of it

Thanks for asking!! Feel free to ask about anyone if you want to know more.

fair warning this is long af

I’m splitting it into sections to make this easier

Heretics

Jedi

Bela Rant

Togruta Jedi Master and mother Master of four Padawans children. Not a favourite of the Council due to differences in interpretation of the Code. Had an ongoing feud with Qui Gon Jinn that lasted until he died. She died in the war ten years later and Col took over her command.

Alask Racor

Grumpy Twi’lek first Padawan of Bela, had two Padawans of his own but was killed by pirates before the second was knighted.

Reya Meraska

Alask’s first Padawan. A human from Jedha and compassion incarnate. Had an uneventful apprenticeship and grew up to be comparatively quiet compared to the rest.

Ben Edo

Reya’s first and so far only Padawan. The model of a perfect Jedi except for thinking their interpretation of the Code is bullshit. Would have made one hell of a politician if he could stand the Senate. From Dantooine.

Tol Koden

Alask’s second Padawan, a very polite Zabrak. Alask died when he was 17 and Jos took over his training. He and Ben are the same age and were raised basically together.

Jos Vel

Stubborn and opinionated Kiffar. Bela’s second Padawan. Had her own (equally stubborn and opinionated) Padawan and then took over Tol’s training when Alask died.

Harlan Konshi

Jos’s Padawan. Also a Kiffar. Would also make a fine politician because being raised by Jos taught him to argue. He’s a bit of a jackass but in a charming way. Like, he’s a prick but you still like him.

Azaana Tyl

Harlan’s sweet, quiet, shy Togruta Padawan. Jos laughed so hard when she heard about that. Harlan is trying to teach her self-confidence. The baby of the family.

Col Blackmoor

Bela’s third and most disastrous Padawan. The former Temple Problem Child (now Temple Problem Adult). Not that he spends much time in the Temple. Was so far out on the Outer Rim he didn’t find out there was a war on until he had to come back and take over Bela’s legion. The worst case of ADHD the Temple has ever seen.

Lena Sola

Col took her in after an incident with her former Master almost saw her kicked out of the Order. Col intervened. She’s still uncomfortable around most Jedi, but they’re working on it. Sweet kid. Kage.

Aden Jadus

Bela’s final Padawan, knighted just before Geonosis. Yes, she’s from Tatooine. No, that does not mean she knows Skywalker. Stop asking.

Not-Jedi

Vale

The oldest of the bunch, Reya’s Commander. Has enough Big Dad Energy to build a deck at 20 paces. Meat grills in his presence and the shinies all fear his disappointed frown.

Nill

Jos’s Commander. Deeply claustrophobic. A nice, likeable guy unless you piss him off. Caffeine demon.

Jax

Clone Commander and Col Wrangler in Chief, Col regards his Commander with barely disguised awe. He considers him his closest friend. For his part, Jax thinks similarly highly of Col. He likes to draw when he gets spare time (rarely). Grew up with Sonny and Cody. Very protective of Lena.

Crater

Professional Ray of Sunshine, the exact opposite of his twin. Crater and Crash grew up with Wolffe. Crater was assigned to Ben, and he likes his General, really, but the man never sleeps. It’s starting to stress him out.

Click

Professional Salt Mine assigned to the Galaxy’s Politest Jedi because apparently the GAR runs on irony. Makes Wolffe look like a ray of happy, happy sunshine.

Pip

The perpetual optimist to Aden’s incredible pessimist. Remains stubbornly cheerful by choice, because if he doesn’t laugh he doesn’t think he’ll ever stop crying.

Dexter

Professional Grouchy Bastard. Likes Harlan well enough but will absolutely tell him he’s full of shit. If Azaana likes you, Dexter will tolerate your existence. If you make Azaana sad they will never find your body. A training accident left him with scars and a deep growl in his voice that makes him sound angrier than he is.

Stitch

Col’s CMO and the only person Jax legitimately fears. Deeply wishes his siblings and General would get injured less and look after themselves more. Is willing to enforce this with sedatives.

Zip

The Right Hand of God (Stitch’s second in command). He who wields the big needles.

Layne

Cheerful but stressed Captain of a company of reckless idiots who really should know better but apparently don’t. He should be used to it. He grew up with Rex.

Trip and Tap

Two survivors of Krell reassigned to Col. Tap has a nervous habit of tapping his fingers. Trip can trip over thin air.

Jazz, Snap and Void

A trio. Jazz likes to wander off. Void likes to hide. Snap likes to complain they’re giving him grey hair from the stress of having them disappearing all the time.

Ray and Rico

The product of an embryo that split, Ray and Rico lived in fear of being culled as defects on Kamino. They’ve since left Kamino, but the fear hasn’t left them.

Lys

A tired medic who would like Dexter to drink something that isn’t caf please.

Tyke

The medic with the most agreeable Jedi (Tol). He barely has to bully him into seeking medical attention at all. Such a shame that his Commander seems determined to make up for it by being a complete bastard. If Click wants to get tackled in the hallway, that’s his lookout.

Rill

Has a particular interest in medical research. Or he would if he ever had the time. 

Corrie

The youngest CMO in the GAR. Just barely 18, only on the field for six months and never meant to be CMO at all. But she’s the only medic Pip’s got left after that clusterfuck, so they’re all doing their best. She might be young but she will absolutely yell at a commander you see if she doesn’t.

New Dawn Crew

Not-Clones

Mira Vin 

A female Kiffar former Jedi whose Master died on Geonosis. The Council were going to knight her and make her a General, so she told Windu to stick it up his ass and ran away to the Outer Rim to harass slavers and save “defective” clones.

Kell Vekarr

An Alderaanian former Jedi who was rescued from slavers as a child. Finally took the 20 remaining members of his command and ran when the rest were killed over Ando. Jaster’s boyfriend. Autistic.

Jaster Toran

True Mandalorian bounty hunter who was betrayed by a client and sold into slavery. Joined the crew upon his rescue four years later. Kell’s boyfriend. Autistic.

Riye Toran

Jaster’s older sister who joined the crew to look for him and then stuck around because she liked it there.

Volya’tar

Twi’lek former slave who freed herself and stole a ship. Pilot, mechanic and Mira’s best friend.

Pash Colton

Dyspraxic dyslexic Corellian with more brains than sense. An engineering genius who has wisdom as his dump stat. Also sometimes a smuggler.

Jaina Bell

Tiny and terrifying. Orphaned at a young age and grew up to be a smuggler, mechanic and pilot.

Ela

Nonbinary Lorrdian. Has a long horrendous Lorrdian name they never use. Joined the crew because slavers suck and anything that makes their lives difficult is a good thing. Stuck around for the people.

Black Company

Halcyon

An ARC Captain known for his green hair and endless patience. Considers Kell a close friend but calls him Commander regardless. Used to fight Rex a lot as a kid. Please let this man rest.

Bones

Halcyon’s batchmate and Black Company’s CMO. A cranky bugger, but that’s understandable considering what he deals with daily.

Pax

The peacemaker between his idiot brothers and everyone else for as long as they can remember. A chill guy, but even chill guys have limits.

Tracyn and Carud

Two of the Nightmare Children. Their names are fire and smoke and they cause a lot of both, raising Pax’s blood pressure and driving Bones into apoplectic rage.

Isa

Jaro’s long suffering sister. Usually has to track him down to make him go to sleep. Has a weekly commiseration session with Ari (alcohol optional but recommended).

Jaro

Named for the Mando’a word for reckless and boy howdy is it accurate. The ADHD doesn’t help.

Ari

Rio’s batchmate and she loves her brother dearly but she is so done with his shit.

Rio

The last of the original Nightmare Children, ADHD disaster and source of most of Bones’s workload.

Kee and Jam

Nonbinary comms officers who bicker very cheerfully. Usually with each other. Often at high volume through the halls of the ship.

Torin

Gay artist baby.

Kol

Gay artist bastard.

Charly

Honestly he’s just here for a laugh and his brothers respect him for it. You’ve got to find your joy where you can get it these days.

Dys

Takes great delight in moving Set’s things just a couple of centimetres. Just enough to annoy him. Will deck anyone else who tries the same thing.

Set

Also known as Corporal Square Corners. Everything has to be neat and tidy. He was a godsend before inspections. Now he’s just the reason people have somewhere to sit.

Slip

Known for giving his trainers the slip and disappearing into the bowels of Kamino when they were doing training exercises he didn’t like and then getting stuck and having to be retrieved by Chase.

Chase

More like chase-ing his brother through the halls of Kamino to keep him out of trouble. There’s a running joke that he should have ended up in search and rescue.

Bright

Was he named for his bright red hair or as an ironic comment on his general outlook on life? Who knows? Not him. A pessimist if there ever was one.

Impulse

Full name Have-You-Ever-Heard-Of-Impulse-Control and no, he hasn’t.

Cuyan Squad

Sonny

A naturally blond, autistic, Force-sensitive Commander who survived Kamino by the skin of his teeth. Grew up with Cody and Jax. Hyper efficient Can, will and has broken people’s faces for saying shit about the Coruscant Guard.

Zak

Force-sensitive Captain who despises soup and has incredible claustrophobia. Good with kids though. Autistic.

Ru

Force-sensitive autistic Lieutenant. Quieter than Zak, and fully supports his vendetta against soup. Has his own vendetta against food that stabs you in the mouth.

Bang

Force-sensitive bomb-tech. Partially deafened in an explosion which also gave him some pretty intense scarring. Gets nervous when he can’t see people behind him.

Bit

Force-sensitive techie with a penchant for weapons modification and data slicing. Gives the best hugs in the squad.

Tink

If it’s broken Tink can fix it. The resident ADHD Force-sensitive techie. Has a tendency to hyperfocus on projects to the exclusion of all else.

Flow

De facto squad medic because he’s the best at Force-healing of the lot of them. He does not appreciate this, this is not what he trained for, you’re voiding his warranty, vode please. Dyed his hair purple because he could.

Edge

Thrill seeker with electric blue hair and boundless energy. The ADHD doesn’t help with the fidgeting, but he likes to go fast so Force-augmented speed is pretty great.

Ry and Cas

True twins born from the same tube, they’re the Fred and George Weasley of clones. They’ve got the red hair and everything. Judicious use of the Force makes pranks far easier.

Other

Caj, Chess and Blade

The brothers in charge of the homebrew alcohol. The taste is a work in progress, but the last batch didn’t make anyone go blind.

Rictor and Sike

Survivors of Krell who deal with their trauma in very different ways. Rictor is terrified of authority in case they turn out like Krell. Sike figures if he survived that he can survive anything and mouths off constantly.

Kano and Oly

Batchmates who were reconditioned separately (for nightmares and injury, respectively) and reunited upon Kano’s rescue. Oly had been with the crew for months by then. They both cried.

Sitrep, Conn and Sig

Three more nonbinary comms officers. A cheerful bunch who like to argue. Usually with each other. The problems started when they started arguing with their General.

Aran, Orar and Tay

Three heavy gunners who fight TJ a lot because the little twerp is asking for it (literally). Tay is relentlessly cheerful, Aran the exact opposite, and you’re lucky to get three words out of Orar in a row.

Ani, Mirdir and Dajun

Techies and mechanics who prefer wires to people. Mirdir and Dajun have known each other since birth and bicker a lot. Ani mostly ignores them.

Dane

A captain who finally snapped and told his General where he could stick his suicidal orders.

Sprint

Full name Slow-Down-There’s-No-Need-To-Sprint, a six foot ball of energy and barely contained enthusiasm. Usually found hurtling around the place at ludicrous speeds.

Crash

An anxious, autistic pilot who has never crashed his ship. He has, however, crashed himself into doors, siblings, training sergeants.

Rainer

A really chill guy who got shipped off for being too violent after a misunderstanding about a sparring match. TJ’s favourite sparring partner.

TJ

Likes to fight, does not care if his opponent could physically snap him in half. Sometimes he just has to beat his brain into submission via getting the crap beaten out of his body. Usually succeeds in provoking the heavy gunners into fighting him.

Zero

TJ’s perpetually worried brother. Really wishes TJ would chill. Dyslexic and has a recurring leg injury that won’t heal. Gets bored easily.

Brook and Storm

A pair of total nerds who get so engrossed in arguing that they don’t realise they’re about to walk into a tree. Frequently wander off and have to be returned.

Jai, Tala, Teek, Niko and Galaar

Five ARCs who got sent back to Kamino for telling their General to go kriff himself. Jai is Force-sensitive. Galaar is just a prick with a terrible sense of humour.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #427

Top Ten Saddest Deaths in Star Wars

In retrospect, I should have swapped last week's list and this one; it feels more appropriate to do a Star Wars Day thing just before May 4th, rather than the better part of a week later. But ah well.

Loads of people die in Star Wars. Off the top of my head, Empire Strikes Back – which is meant to be the dark one! – is the only film without a major character death. Daughter #1 once told me she preferred Harry Potter because not as many people die (she was only up to Goblet of Fire, bless her). So right from the start Star Wars is synonymous with characters kicking it.

So this week, to celebrate Star Wars Day last Monday, I'm honouring not the most notable, not the most epic, but the most sadder deaths a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. There’s plenty to choose from; SW is often at its best when it's being overly emotional. There are a lot of “Nooooo!”s in the franchise. But in selecting these ten bucket-kickings, I was a bit surprised by which purchased farms did not make my entirely arbitrary cut. Basically, when I sat and thought about what I felt or feel when that character carks it, just how sad did I feel? The answers may surprise you.

I wanted to do something else to tie (fighter) in to the whole May the Fourth be With You of it all (or, indeed, the Revenge of the Fifth, which is like the hipster Star Wars Day). But to be honest I'm still reeling after the cavalcade of disappointments and banal decisions that plagued Rise of Skywalker. In fact, I was going to write a piece about how all the problems in the Sequel Trilogy could be traced to decisions made in The Force Awakens, which is supposed to be the one everyone likes; but it just kept sounding whiney and sensationalist, which wasn’t my intention. I think my emotions are still running a bit too high on the subject, which obviously would make me a crap Jedi. I even thought of doing “Ten Things I Love about the Sequel Trilogy” but it ran the risk of being “the young cast” and then nine things that happen in The Last Jedi.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, people getting killed real good in a Star War. Oh, one final thing, before we commence the bloodbath: this is just the films. I've not seen nearly enough of the shows to include deaths from there too, even though The Mandalorian would definitely have featured here.

Right. Spoiler alert, natch. Don't fear the reaper.

K-2SO (Rogue One, 2016): the best droid in Star Wars dies a noble death, defending his friends, buying them enough time to complete their suicide mission, suffering multiple tragic blaster hits, proving his worth and his compassion. The Star Wars equivalent of Boromir defending the hobbits.

Han Solo (The Force Awakens, 2015): doomed from the moment he stepped onto the bridge, he risks everything to try one last time to bring his son back. Shockingly run through, his tender caress of Ben/Kylo’s cheek before his death plunge is heartbreaking.

Luke Skywalker (The Last Jedi, 2017): benefits from one hell of a twist and a superb Jedi power move, but Luke wistfully fading away beneath the image of twin suns, his legend restored and his heroism secure, after saving the Resistance and inspiring a new generation, is beautifully poetic. Pity the next film kinda made it redundant.

Padme Amidala (Revenge of the Sith, 2005): much is to be made of the failure of Star Wars’ obstetric medicine and the whole “dying of a broken heart” thing, but there is real tragedy in this superb woman – a leader, a warrior, a devoted wife – just expiring on a table having been thoroughly deceived and then abused by her husband. A darker death than the film is willing to address.

Yoda (Return of the Jedi, 1983): Yoda pretty much just dies of old age, fading into the Force before our eyes, a tired and sad-looking little figure. But even as his eyes drift closed and his voice becomes croaky, he’s still able to chastise Luke and offer tantalising hints to the future.

Owen & Beru Lars (A New Hope, 1977): they took Luke in and raised him like a son, despite the fact he was potentially dangerous. And then they’re unceremoniously killed, off-screen, and Luke barely mourns them! Tragic. But a dope pair of skeletons.

R4-P17 (Revenge of the Sith, 2005): many droids die in Star Wars, but R4’s gruesome demise – decapitated by buzz-droids during a space battle – sticks out as a nasty one. It’s made worse by Obi-Wan’s casual droid racism. He basically doesn’t care that she dies.

Aayla Secura (Revenge of the Sith, 2005): Secura is – in the films at least – essentially just a cool-looking nameless Jedi who crops up in crowd scenes and cutaways, and then dies during the “Order 66” montage. But her death is nasty. Shot in the back by the Clone Troopers she ostensibly commands is bad enough, but then her corpse is riddled with further blaster fire. Seriously grim.

Qui-Gon Jinn (The Phantom Menace, 1999): let’s face it, Qui-Gon’s fate seemed secured even before we all read the track listings on the back of the soundtrack CD. He fights valiantly against Darth Maul, but is run through, a shocked expression on his face. His sad, plaintive urgings of Obi-Wan to train Anakin have further tragic consequences.

That Ewok (Return of the Jedi, 1983): everyone bangs on about the Ewoks being silly or unrealistic or whatever, but I don’t wanna hear about it; they rock and they always will. Cute teddy bears who properly rip up the Empire? Here all day. But the moment when two of them are shot at, and one of them realises his friend isn’t getting up – will never get up­ – is really, really sad and a soft moment of quasi-naturalism among the laser fire. His friend’s resigned sinking into the earth is so touching. Kids will weep. Incidentally, Wookieepedia informs me that our deceased Ewok’s name is Nanta, and his bereaved mate is Romba. Never forget.

There we go, Star Wars’ cavalcade of tears. A litany of sadness to drown a fleet of weirdo Star Destroyers hidden in an ice planet, or whatever the hell was going on at the end of Rise of Skywalker. There are couple of Big Deaths here that I’m half-surprised I missed off; principally Leia’s sad expiration during Rise. But to be honest I was so annoyed by the film in general at that point, and the muddy nature of her death – complicated, I know, by Carrie Fisher’s tragic real-life unavailability – that it kinda rang a little hollow. I just didn’t feel it. Ditto for Ben Solo, whose death was even more stupid than his bizarre redemption. Sorry, this is turning into the sort of whiney post I was expressly trying to avoid.

Anyway, never mind. Star Wars is plenty sad already. And these are just the emotional deaths; there are all kind of cool and epic deaths, too, such as Admiral Holdo or Mace Windu or Boba Fett (falling in a hole, ha!). His dad, incidentally, nearly made the cut, because while his death is hilarious and stupid, the scene of Boba cradling Jango’s helmet (steady) is totes emosh.

That’s Star Wars, I guess: sad and silly all at the same time.

[ace-beef]

Jedi Cats AU

Y’all ready for this shit? An AU where Obi Wan Kenobi has to look after some cats while he’s doing Jedi Stuff. These four cats are: Anakin, Qui Gon, Padme, and Ahsoka. 

It’s kinda like a modern au at the same time, purely because I’m thinking of the dumb shit that cats do in this day and age… but like,, the Jedi order still out there doin’ Jedi things…

For now it’s just the Jedi but I may also make a post containing information about Palpatine’s cats. If I do any more posts for this au I’ll just use the tag ‘jedi cats au’

Anyway, the details are under the cut, enjoy! 

Obi Wan Kenobi  - himb human  -  he’s very tired from looking after these troublesome cats while being a Jedi - “I’m sorry Master Windu I must rush home and attend to some important business” *rushes home and finds Anakin staring out the window into the back garden meowing angrily at Dooku* “*sigh* Anakin...” - if the mission isn’t going to be that dangerous but requires him to be gone for a while, then he’ll bring the cats with him - “Master Kenobi, do you really have to bring all them with you?”  *with Anakin clawing his way up Obi Wan’s leg and Qui Gon prowling across his shoulders* “yes, Master Windu”  - constantly has to stop his cats from fighting with his neighbour’s cats (especially after Qui Gon got a nasty clawing from Maul one time): Dooku, Grievous and Maul, even though Obi Wan isn’t particularly fond of those cats himself - said neighbour is a seemingly friendly old man called Palpatine, who all of Obi Wan’s cats seem to like, especially Anakin - he’s so tired,, blease let himb rest - will often fall asleep on the sofa by accident, and then will wake up to find Qui Gon in his lap and Anakin on his face, while Padme and Ahsoka are on the sofa and pressed up against his legs - “Anakin nO” - often looks to both Qui Gon and Padme to help with the other two - have I told you how tired this man is? 

Anakin Skywalker  - he a black cat, v slim and slender, has a slight bit of extra fur around his face, yellow eyes - you may only pet him when he wants to be petted, if you try and pet him when he does not wish to be touched you sHaLL fAcE tHe CLaWs oF dEaTH fOuL hUMaN - touch the tumby and YOU WILL DIE - try and touch the toe beans and YOU WILL DIE - very rarely purrs, except for when in the presence of Obi Wan, the only human who can pet him almost 24/7 - will always obey Qui Gon, will listen to Obi Wan most of the time, proteccs Padme and Ahsoka constantly  - quite playful, give him a droid toy and/or a lightsaber toy and he enters the Silly Zone - is the kind of cat that will stare at you straight in the eyes as he quickly pushes something breakable off the table - is very territorial and hates it when there are any other cats in the back garden, especially the neighbour’s cats  - although he actually likes the neighbour human Palpatine quite a lot, although Palpatine is not privileged enough for extra Anakin pets like Obi Wan is - a very loud cat, meows constantly and loudly, as well as hissing at those he doesn’t like and doing that fuckin ‘mmmmrrrrrrrooowwwwwowooww’ aggression noise  - is also a very active cat, is constantly running around the house and often goes for walks in the neighbourhood, mostly to get into scraps with other cats (this is how he got a scar over his right eye) - “Mrow!” “Anakin no it’s not time for food yet” “mrrrOW!” *sigh* “Anakin what did I say about arguing back?” “mrrOOWW!” “Anakin!”  - when he’s not running around being a nuisance, he’s cuddling up with Padme - often takes Ahsoka out with him on his adventures - when Obi Wan takes them on missions with him, Anakin is somehow more mischievous and disobedient than he normally is - will absolutely bring Obi Wan ‘presents’, all the time - a sharp and pointy boi who is also a fuckin dumbass

Qui Gon Jinn  - one of those cats with the super long fur, mega soft fur, soft green eyes, clearly used to be a brown tabby cat but has turned more grey with his age, a slender cat but himb big because he tol - old and wise cat that always has this knowing look in his eyes - do not be fooled by his calm appearance, he will fuck u up if he wants to - you may touch the tumby, but only if you are Obi Wan, otherwise you will die - try and touch the toe beans and you will die, unless you are Obi Wan, then you’re allowed to - will break shit and mess shit up when nobody's looking, then act like he didn’t do anything when they discover the mess… this mess is often blamed on Ahsoka or Anakin  - having said that, he is also the kind of cat that will slowly push something off of the table while remaining eye contact the whole time; he doesn’t do this with Obi Wan though, Obi Wan must not see his crimes - when is brought on missions with Obi Wan, will also be more mischievous than normal, but Obi Wan never knows this - “Master Kenobi! One of your cats broke something again!” “Oh no, really? I bet it was Anakin, hey Anakin!” “Is Anakin this grey-brown fluffy one?” “No? That’s Qui Gon, he would never break anything” “well he just did” “what?” - all of the other cats respect him greatly, even Palpatine’s cats  - he must protecc his human at all costs, as well as the other cats, Obi Wan can’t help but feel slightly flattered at the fact that one of his cats is so willing to protect him - he may be a cat but Himb Still Dad - a calm and relaxed cat, likes to lounge in the sun, and will make that little ‘mrrrp?’ noise whenever he is awoken - not really that playful, will just sit and watch the human do silly shit in an attempt to try and play with him - most of the time he is relatively quiet, gently purrs when he is petted - himb soft and smart

Padme Amidala  - a pretty, white cat with piercing blue eyes, she very elegant - will allow most people to pet her, unless she knows that they’re Not Nice and will therefore take a swipe at them (this is the same for the tummby and the toe beans)  - Obi Wan and Anakin want her to stay inside as like,, an indoor cat, but she wiLL nOt bE cOnFiNEd - most of the time the noises she makes are relatively soft and quiet, unless she’s fuckin angry then she’s loud and constantly making noise - you can tell when her and Anakin are having a spat because there’s a constant stream of very loud angry cat noises that drown out some slightly fearful loud cat noises - overall is a very well behaved cat, respects Obi Wan and doesn’t break anything - when encountering Palpatine’s cats, she doesn’t make any noise, she just glares at them (which is somehow more scary and intimidating than Anakin’s constant stream of aggressive noises) - she probably won’t, but everyone knows that she has the power to kill them at any moment - is the best behaved out of all of the cats  - her fur is somehow constantly clean and perfectly groomed, Obi Wan doesn’t groom her more often than the other cats and whenever her and Anakin go out together, Anakin always comes back dirty with his fur in a mess but Padme will still be pristine - if Obi Wan takes her on a mission with him (which he doesn’t really want to do but sometimes he has no other choice) she is on her best behaviour, she’ll snoop around if she has the chance to but she won’t actually cause any trouble, unlike Anakin and Qui Gon - only plays when she’s in the mood, doesn’t go quite as crazy as Anakin does, but she can get quite into playtime - she soft and elegant but has the potential to be sharp and pointy

Ahsoka Tano  - the smallest of the cats, a bright ginger tabby cat with a white tummy and white paws, bright green eyes - she’s also the youngest of the cats, still has a vague kitten look about her - highly energetic and literally will not stop moving, constantly goes outside, often with Anakin - will let most people pet her, but only if she’s in the mood to be petted - do not underestimate this tiny kit, she may be inexperienced but she can and will fuck you up… although on occasion she does have to be rescued by Anakin or Qui Gon - Ahsoka: gets into a fight with Palpatine’s cats and takes on more than she can handle Qui Gon: feels his dad cat sense tingling and goes to rescue her, must protecc the smol at all costs - is the same as Anakin when it comes to territory, and will do the same shit as him if she sees any unwelcome cats in the back garden, except she’ll also claw at the window - very impatient with everything *insert let me in meme here* - she breaks shit, but most of the time it is actually accidental, she very rarely causes destruction on purpose - if taken on one of Obi Wan’s missions she’ll try her best to be behaved but she just can’t help but get into trouble - has a lot of respect for Obi Wan and the other cats, but much like Anakin she can’t help but not follow the rules sometimes - fuckin’ LOVES to be played with, she’s down for that shit anytime and will often enter the Silly Zone - has a loud and high pitched meow, will make noises frequently, so much so that Obi Wan sometimes just has to put his face in his hands and focus on drowning her constant meowing out - she must ZOOM at 3am most nights and will not stop until she has no more energy left - a very sharp and pointy smol that is not to be underestimated