#Watto's Junkshop

[sw5w]

I'm a Person and My Name is Anakin

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:33:14

[padawanlost]

Anakin's nightmare

“Do you know where [Shmi] is?” “Why, I should expect she’s at Watto’s junkshop. I’m afraid he’s had her doing quite a lot of work there, ever since you ran away.”

Anakin winced. “But I didn’t run away,” he said. “I left. To become a Jedi.”

“Oh, of course you did, sir,” said C-3PO, his voice filled with good cheer. “I never meant to suggest that you abandoned any responsibilities you might have had here, when you were just a child. After all, we’re so very proud of you and your achievements. Not that we actually know about what you’ve accomplished in the past nine years, since we’ve never received any messages from you, but I do get the distinct impression that your mother still cares very much about you. And she does have a vivid imagination, so she very easily assumed that you must be…”

The droid was still talking as Anakin ran out of the hovel and into the broiling radiance of Tatooine’s twin suns. Although it appeared to be afternoon, when the city of Mos Espa should have been teeming with street vendors and pedestrians, there was no sign of life.

Anakin felt a sense of panic. He ran as fast as he could through the empty streets until he arrived outside the tall, bell-shaped structure that was Watto’s junkshop.

Like his own hovel, the junkshop appeared to be exactly as Anakin remembered it. Yet when he ducked through the shop’s entrance portal and entered the cluttered interior, he found that Watto had added something new: In front of a workbench, there was a low cage with thick metal bars.

A filthy figure, clothed in dirty rags, was huddled within the cage.

It was Shmi Skywalker. Anakin’s mother.

She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “Who are you?” she asked. Her voice sounded old and tired.

“It’s me, Mom,” Anakin said, dropping to his knees before the cage. “Anakin. Annie. I’m grown up now. I’ve come to rescue you.”

“Anakin?” Shmi said in disbelief. She slowly shook her head. “But you can’t be. You can’t be here. You’re gone.”

“I’ll get you out, Mom,” Anakin said as he gripped the bars. He looked around. There was no sign of Watto.

“It is you,” Shmi said. “It really is you.”

Anakin tugged at the bars with all his might, but they would not yield. Then he remembered he was a Jedi. He could do anything!

He reached to his belt, expecting to find his lightsaber, but his fingers slapped against his side. His lightsaber was gone. He tried to recall if he had clipped it to his belt before leaving his hovel, or if he had even brought it with him to Tatooine.

He tried to remember when and where he had seen it last. He felt confused. How had he arrived back on Tatooine? He could not remember.

Desperate, he glanced at Watto’s tool shelf and saw a fusion-cutter and power pry-bar. He grabbed for them, but he could not pick them up. He tried again, tearing at them, but the tools would not budge. It seemed they had been welded to the shelf.

Anakin collapsed beside the cage, his head smacking against the bars. “I swear, I’ll get you out!” he sobbed.

Shmi reached between the bars and pushed her oil-stained fingers through her son’s blond hair. “Oh, Annie,” she said. “Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry. I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”

“Mom, look at you! Watto left you in a cage!” Anakin said, outraged.

“No, he didn’t, Annie,” Shmi said sadly. “Watto didn’t leave me. You did.”

Suddenly, Shmi, the junkshop, and all of Tatooine were swept away from Anakin’s vision, and he was engulfed in darkness. It wrapped around him like a cold, black shroud that cut him off from the entire galaxy.

Unable to see, his only awareness was of the steady rise and fall of his own breathing.

Something was wrong.

The breathing sounded mechanical and labored, as if it were being done through some kind of respirator. Anakin wondered if the breathing were his own, or if he had been mistaken about the sound’s origin. Perhaps, he thought, I’m not alone in this dark place. He held his breath and listened to the void. The sound of mechanized breathing stopped. And then Anakin felt his throat constricting.

The darkness coiled even tighter around him, working its way through his skin, seizing his lungs and veins and muscles and bones until he knew it was about to consume him.

Then the dream ended as it always did, with Anakin trying to shout but fearing that no one, not even he, would ever hear his cry. And then he awoke. [Ryder Windham. Star Wars Adventures - The Hostage Princess]

[exonerin]

17

So, Anakin calls Padmé an angel right? Or at least, he asks her. And that has me thinking. It has me thinking Obikin, to be precise.

There're two alternative here:

Option 1: Anakin meets Obi-Wan first.

Option 2: Stewjoni biology: slap wings on Obi-Wan and there we have an actual angel.

So, we know the angels Anakin refers to in the Phantom Menace look more akin to butterflies in CW2008. But I imagine Obi-Wan having fluffy wings. And because I'm cruel, he loses mobility over one wing in his fight with Maul. Listen, I have a plan here. A plan that includes Qui-Gon being Anakin's teacher and Anakin chasing after Obi-Wan because wings and angel.

Currently, it's more vibes than plot, though. So, if I were to write a fic, I would first need to sit down and work on an outline.

Either way, here's a snippet:

A girl, so pretty he was instantly enchanted -- charmed -- by her appearance and grace, stepped into Watto's store. Her presence was an incongruity, ill-fitting in the dingy junkshop.

Questions burnt on the tip of his tongue. Nevertheless, he waited until Watto left them in the shop.

"Are you an angel?" he asked, drawing the girl's attention to him.

"What?" she asked, amusement coloring her voice.

"An angel," Anakin repeated. "I heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They're the most beautiful creatures in the universe."

The girl approached him while he talked, her expression inquisitive.

"They live on the moons of Iego, I think," Anakin offered helpfully.

"No, I am not," she responded, her voice heavy with indulgence. "But one of my travel companions is, though I do not know whether he hails from Iego."

Anakin's gaze wandered the gungan inspecting their wares.

Definitely not him.

Then, he craned his neck to look at the yard, where Watto escorted a man dressed like a moisture farmer past rows of rickety spaceships and parts.

"Are you sure?" he asked the pretty girl.

She smiled warmly.

"He's not with us, currently. But all angels have wings, right?"

Anakin's brows furrowed as he tried to recall what he had overheard -- eavesdropped.

"I don't know," he admitted eventually. The angel's beauty and grace were the only reasons Anakin could begrudgingly force the admission past his unwilling lips.

The man dressed like a moisture farmer stepped into the shop again, and his angel lost all interest in Anakin. Her brown eye focused on the man instead. Anakin wilted, his shoulders hunching and his lips twisting into a morose moue. He had hoped his angel would praise his humility, but she had forgotten he existed!

Determined to set this right, Anakin followed them from a safe distance when the trio left the stop, their goal still unaccomplished. All the heroes in his mother's stories needed was an opportunity to woo their princesses.

Anakin would make sure he could showcase his talents to the pretty angel.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Panic had given him tunnel-vision, his being focused on the fight raging outside the cockpit. So, he didn't the realize the other man dressed like a moisture farmer possessed a set of large wings until he crouched by Qui-Gon's side.

When he closed his eyes, the clashing green and red plasma blades still danced on the insides of his eyelids, burnt into his retinas.

Briefly, he wondered whether this was the life he had signed up for, but the thought passed as quickly as it arrived.

"Anakin Skywalker," Qui-Gon said, "meet Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Anakin turned to face this Obi-Wan Kenobi. He had planned to make a good impression. Qui-Gon was watching, after all, and he looked like someone who would appreciate good manners. Anakin could put on an act.

Any notions of feigning politeness disappeared when wings filled his vision. A soft gasp escaped him, loud in the confined space of the ship's entrance bay. His gaze flitted from Obi-Wan Kenobi's kind eyes to his wings, where they remained glued. He was transfixed despite knowing it was rude to stare.

"Are you an angel?" he asked, his voice breathless in wonder. Fascinated he reached for this possibly an angel Obi-Wan Kenobi. In response, Obi-Wan Kenobi shucked a sleeve of his cloak back to offer Anakin his hand, but Anakin had aimed for the thick layer of feathers.

They were soft under his palm, and so large in comparison. Awed, he stroked the feathers, unintentionally ignoring the proffered hand.

"I… well, yes," Obi-Wan Kenobi responded, sounding bewildered. The wing shifted away from Anakin's hand, who retreated. His cheeks heated in embarrassment as he realized how uncool he had been.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Your apologies are accepted, though I would much rather know what you're called," Obi-Wan replied kindly.

Anakin nodded before shaking Obi-Wan's hand. "Hi," he said, though no new greetings could erase his initial forwardness. "I'm Anakin Skywalker. Nice to meet you."

Obi-Wan smiled fondly.

Although Anakin wished to ask whether he could touch Obi-Wan's wings again, he didn't dare to. He wished he could tell his mother he had met an angel. Although he couldn't touch, he trailed after Obi-Wan, staring at the wings. The outer layer was russet, copper-colored feathers that were several shades redder than Obi-Wan's hair. The inside, on the other hand, was pure white down, and Anakin knew it would be soft.

Softer than fluffy bread or his mother's hug.

===========

As you can probably imagine, Anakin doesn't want Padmé's blanket. No, when he gets cold on his first night on a spaceship, he'll shiver very obviously and pin Obi-Wan with hopeful puppy eyes.

Obi-Wan caves in. I mean, of course he does. And Anakin can just sleep under a wing. So, yes. This is something that exists. Not sure whether it has a future, though.

[princeblack]

cleaning the fan switches takes forever, using a rag that’s quickly becoming too greasy for the job. the winds of tatooine are heavy today, making the sand sting his eyes as he works. he pulls his scarf up over his face, squinting as he reaches to clean the last switch.

no one bothers him in his work because he belongs to watto, resident toydarian, junk dealer and human trafficker. regulus grew up in slavery, being put to work as soon as he was old enough to pick up a wrench. his mother always told him he was a miracle, her gift from above when she was purchased by the hutts. she said she was given him to save her; her one and only joy in a bleak, unforgiving life.

and regulus tried to be a good son, despite how difficult it was sometimes surviving the harsh weather of tatooine, bringing food home for his mother and learning tasks most would consider too complex for his age. but he became an expert pilot as young as eight years old, building droids on the side. watto found out about most of them, selling them so he couldn’t make any money. but he managed to get compensation for at least a few he built in creative places, slowly stockpiling his family’s meager savings. if it weren’t for the transmitters he needed to disable, he could’ve escaped this planet by now.

he’s almost done with his task, letting the scarf fall from his face. just then he’s interrupted by the rumbling voice of watto, beckoning him into the shop in huttese. regulus begrudgingly gets up, hurrying back into the dusty junkshop. it’s empty except for watto and two figures; an older man with dark brown hair, dressed in a poncho, and a young girl around his age. her beauty makes him do a double take, surprised by the sight of the prettiest face he’s ever seen. people aren’t often beautiful like this; in fact, they never are. she’s almost ethereal, from her soft auburn braids to her perfectly sculpted features. she has big blue eyes, full lips and a delicate bone structure. there’s almost an innocent, clean look about her, as if she doesn’t belong on this planet. regulus has seen many traders and pilots and sometimes their children, but none looked like like her.

“coona tee-tocky malia?” watto demands angrily in huttese, asking regulus what took so long.

“mel tassa cho-passa,” regulus responds, assuring him he was cleaning like he was tasked.

"chut! chut! gando doe wallya. me dwana no bata." he practically barks the words, demanding regulus watch the shop so he can do business out back. his yellow eyes are narrowed almost greedily at the man in the poncho, who regulus assumes is about to be swindled out of whatever money he owns. the blue toydarian’s wings flap as he leads the older man from the building, a nasty smirk revealing those yellowed tusks jutting from his mouth.

regulus wonders if the princess still standing in the junkshop has ever seen a toydarian before. he strides over to the counter, taking a seat on it and fixing curious green eyes on her. “you must be from one of the moons of iego. i heard from a space pilot once that angels live there– the most beautiful creatures anyone's seen in the known universe.” his tone is light-hearted, although he means every word. she’s the most gorgeous person he’s ever met, and there’s something angelic about her. 

he doesn’t know that she’s the naboo queen undercover, anonymously trying to help a jedi find parts to repair their ship so they can make it to coruscant and report on an invasion on her planet from the trade federation. he only knows that she’s beautiful and far too clean for tatooine, seeming like a fish out of water. he’s drawn to her; some tug that he can’t ignore. he knows better than to ask for details about her business or how she wound up in the outer rim, because one of the first lessons he learned as a slave was not to ask customers for details. it was bad for business. / @devcted

[marvelstars]

I am sucedenly fixated on child Anakin meeting Rex and the rest of the 501, they get along great because that´s their tiny general there and he´s so cute but then Ani starts talking casually about pod-racing and protecting himself from Sebulba by telling him how he can´t pay for him so he can´t kill him or joking with Watto about how he can´t make him explode because then, who´s going to take care of his junkshop? and Rex and his brothers decide, you know what, that kid is ours now, he´s their newly adopted little brother.

Then they tell him about how they were created to fight for the republic and little Ani gets sad and says, "I am so sorry but well at least you dont have bombs that´s something" and Rex doesn´t know what to answer.

[anakinbun]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader & Watto Characters: Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader, Watto (Star Wars) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Son Relationship, Tatooine (Star Wars), Luke/Vader Writers Challenge fic Summary:

Vader goes to Tatooine, where he sees Watto, who happens to have a very interesting slave. (A Luke/Vader Writers challenge fic entry.)

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Jedi of the Dune Sea pt 7

Anakin supposes he can just leave. He has been through each of the doors, spoken with each guide...but…

But the Force is telling him he should stay.

So he stays.

He settles back onto the stone and sand floor and he meditates on what he has seen here. What it all means. 

Should he leave the order? 

Should he try to change it from within? 

Should he tell the Council that he’s still going to be a Jedi, but he won’t follow their rules anymore? 

What freedom looks like is up to you.

Has Anakin Skywalker ever been truly free? 

He went from being Gardula’s slave, to Watto’s slave to being a Jedi Padawan learner under Obi-Wan. He’d never been on his own before. Never really let himself guide his own actions, though he’d chosen to become a Jedi. 

But the choice between leaving Tatooine and staying there as a slave wasn’t really a choice at all. He’d thought that before, when he was younger, though he now realized that was Palpetine’s meddling. He had eventually decided to stay with the Order, thanks to Obi-Wan’s influence, but those thoughts have continued to linger through the years. 

When Anakin opens his eyes again, he is not alone.

Or perhaps he is. But with himself.

Sitting in front of him is a tanned little blond boy with freckles and blue eyes, gazing at him curiously. 

“Hello, Ani,” he says to the little boy. 

“Hi, Anakin,” the little boy says. “Welcome home.” 

“Well, it’s not really home anymore,” Anakin tells him. 

The little boy rolls his eyes. “Sure it’s not.” 

Anakin chuckles softly. “You’ve come a long way from Watto’s junkshop.” 

“Have we seen all the stars yet?” Ani asks, tilting his head at his older self. 

“Not all,” Anakin admits. “Lots. Lots and lots. But not all.” 

Ani nods, looking thoughtful. “DId we ever see Padme again?” 

Anakin smiles sadly. “Yes. Plenty of times.” 

“Good. She makes us happy.” 

Anakin nods and swallows, staring at the little boy. “I’m sorry about Mom.” 

Ani looks equally sad. “But that wasn’t our fault. You know that, right? That that was something bad that happened to her that we couldn’t stop?”

“Yes,” Anakin agrees. “But we’ve learned much since then. We’ve learned control. We’ve learned temperance.” 

Ani frowns. “But we’re not very happy.” 

Anakin takes a breath. “No. I suppose we’re not. But Jedi are supposed to focus on making the galaxy a better place. That is where they are supposed to get happiness from.” 

“But if they’re not happy in the first place, how can they make the galaxy happier? Better? Don’t they need to be happy first?” Ani asks. 

“I wish I had the answers,” Anakin admits. “But I fear I’m just as confused now as when I first stepped into this place.” 

“I don’t think that’s true,” Ani says. “I just think you don’t want to do what you wanna do because you don’t wanna rock the boat anymore than you already have.” 

Anakin snorts. “What do you know about boats? You live on a sand planet.” 

“I’m you, dummy,” Ani tells him with a wrinkled nose.  

Anakin stares at his younger self and nods slowly. “That’s a good point.” He gazes at his younger self and sighs. “So. You think we should rock that boat.”

“We already do,” Ani shrugs. “What’s a little more? You know, if you listen to me, I’ve actually got a ton of good points,” Ani grins widely. “But you don’t listen to me much anymore, cuz I wasn’t a Jedi like you, and we keep thinking the Jedi have all the answers.” 

“They don’t,” Anakin acknowledges. “Not all of them.” 

“But maybe I have the ones that they don’t have,” Ani goes on. “Maybe Mom did, too.” 

Anakin swallows and looks away. 

“You should be more sorry about the Tuscans,” Ani tells him again. “Mom wasn’t our fault. But the killing…” 

“Yes,” Anakin agrees. “That was on us.” 

“No more of that, okay?” Ani asks. “That was bad.” 

“I promise,” Anakin tells him. “No more of that.” 

Ani holds out his hand, pinkie jutting out, and Anakin grins sadly as he hooks his pinkie with his younger self’s in a swear. 

When they touch, a bright light fills the Temple, and when it clears moments later, Anakin is alone again.

It’s time to go.

[synapticjive]

Thesis: Anakin is a childhood survivor of trauma and is symptomatic for a range of mood disorder(s.) To ensure Anakin's well-being, he needed the unconditional love, support, and validation of primary caregivers. Anakin's relationship with Padme is misplaced, imbalanced in power, and damaging to Anakin's self-image and self-worth. Anakin deserved more, and he deserved better.

--

I've reflected on Anakin and Padme for weeks and am certain that this response will not do any justice to how I'm feeling about them.

As someone new to the franchise, I immediately didn't understand the fandom-wide hunger for #Anidala. From the meadows of Naboo to Padme's penthouse on Coruscant, every moment between these two characters that we are allowed as the audience to see makes me uneasy. I don't sense an authentic, unconditional love between both characters. If the films are an operatic portrayal of Anakin's demise, then what we see- what George is intentionally showing us- is a heightened depiction of immaturity, impulsiveness, insecurity, manipulation, and, ultimately, harm. By no stretch is this a mature, aspirational pairing, and I'm concerned at the level of cognitive dissonance- even denial- among staunch Anidalas. The reductionist "Padme is a #girlboss Senator" and "Anakin is a knight in shining armor" tropes are harmful to Anakin's trajectory as a survivor of real psychological damage and misrepresent who he is as a character in his own arc.

--

The parallel between Shmi and Padme was so clearly made in Phantom Menace. That alone was suffice for me to think of the Freudian undercurrents that would drive Anakin's adolescent behavior. Again, this is a space opera: the ways that environments, characters, and dialogue are depicted are intentional. Anakin's desire for Padme- with her clear Freudian adjacency to his mother- makes me uneasy, especially since we know that Anakin develops a deep-rooted fascination with Padme as a nine-year-old. What's more, Anakin's alignment of Padme as Supreme Good and Immaculate ("are you an angel?") is likely because he readily recognizes the aspects of Shmi in her- and as a child, he would. He is a child. But what is heartbreaking to witness is Anakin's own developmental arrest when it comes to the way that he develops and maintains this relationship with Padme as an adult. One can argue that this is a trauma response- to project the attachment and characteristics of a primary caregiver onto others. This, in turn, creates the expectation of caregiving in a non-parental relationships. [More on this later.]

--

This fixation on Padme as a "maternal turned romantic" interest develops into Anakin's adolescence, where he is forthcoming with his persistent interest in her. His feelings are misplaced and skewed by his image of Padme as an Immaculate Woman/Madonna. It makes sense that he wants her as desperately- as deeply- as he does: she is a long-held constant in his life since the age of nine. He's built his entire perception of the world around his idea of her, enshrining her as the teenaged queen that he met in Watto's junkshop, that sat at his dinner table, that comforted him the first time that he was on the Naboo cruiser. She was his second caregiver, and she listened to him. Ten years later, the way that their relationship is depicted in AoTC is not a boyish crush. It's uncomfortable for the audience to watch. So much is left off-screen and unsaid with the weight that Anakin feels for Padme. He wants- he expects- her to want him back. He's enslaved- for lack of a better word- by his raging infatuation with her. He is his Madonna, a core belief that he has held since he was a child.

Because Anakin has symptomatic CPTSD and is also symptomatic for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) by AoTC, it's during these formative years that Anakin needed help. He was deeply in his own head, and this was only fueled by him being concurrently groomed by Palpatine. Once he started to have a body count in the wake of Shmi's death, Padme should have not played caregiver: she needed to get Anakin help. Assuming that she could hold this secret and help him (or taking advantage of him when he was his most vulnerable, take your pick) was misplaced and damaging to who Anakin would become in their relationship, in his relationship with the Order, and in his relationship with himself. Being a caregiver and enabling (by condoning) his behavior after his first major psychotic break fulfills Anakin's Madonna fantasy of Padme for the first time in the film- further building an imbalanced dynamic as the foundation of their relationship.

As @cptsd-skywalker notes in their post, Padme is suddenly attracted to Anakin sexually, and this drives her willingness to entertain a romantic relationship with him. She begins to fulfill the roles that he wants her to play, that he knows that she needs to play- what in his head, she's always played. (I do think that the Force also played a role in their relationship, don't @ me.) And throughout the course of their relationship, that's how it unfolds: she picks and chooses when to play caregiver, while always playing Senator. Anakin, now submissive in his complete devotion once she has taken that step toward him in reciprocity (culminating in a precocious marriage,) seeks validation and intimacy from Padme. She's his wife; that's an organic expectation in any romantic, intimate relationship. Instead, Padme coaxes Anakin to stay in the Order and to continue to fight in the war when he does not want to. She denies him of his core wants and urges him to do things- to perform the role of the dashing war hero- that he explicitly says that he does not to. He does not want to become a hero at the beginning of the war, while he was still a Padawan; he wants to be her husband and the father of their children. She projects courtly romance onto him, believing that he needs to serve her political and career goals in order to get access part of her. And so he does it, to his own detriment, he becomes the Jedi "Hero with No Fear" because she's Padme, his Madonna, and that's what she wants.

And that game of withholding intimacy and making love conditional on the other person fulfilling your fantasies is how we get a disastrous, emotionally abusive relationship.

--

Throughout the Clone Wars (Tartakovsky, Filoni,) we see Anakin and Padme change. Anakin fulfilled his Madonna ideal at the end of AoTC: he was married to her, a bond and title that he defends, even when he suspects Padme of infidelity. All he wanted thereafter was a family, something that he was robbed of as a child. Enter Ahsoka and Obi-Wan: these two characters are the closest chosen family to Anakin throughout the war, as he gains celebrity across the Republic. This was intentional by the writers. I've seen Anidalas up in arms over how the ship is portrayed throughout the series, but that's what was supposed to happen. This star-crossed mistake was never supposed to last. Whenever we catch glimpses of Anakin and Padme together, there's resentment and a thread of codependency. Their romance is gestural and masking of their true innermost feelings: distrust and neglect. Anakin's need for validation and intimacy go largely unfulfilled by Padme; Obi-Wan and Ahsoka step up and step in to provide for Anakin as their friend. Padme dangles sex in front of Anakin unless he fulfills his duties to the Order, and when he does, she feels dismissed. Anakin explicitly resents having to "save" Padme, and Padme doesn't "want" to be held back by Anakin (enter Clovis.)

What's important to note, however, is that Anakin never walks away. No matter how hurt and hollowed out he is becoming because of the relationship, the war, and Palpatine's continued grooming, he never leaves. He has nowhere else to go. Padme leaves, and he readily takes her back when she returns.

--

The two project their fantasies onto each other, living in the denial of a relationship that expired shortly after it started.

It's important to understand that love is intimacy, and intimacy is beyond gestures. You can perform it, and they both perform it to a degree. However, performing love could not rid Anakin of his own insecurity in the relationship as it progressed into RoTS. Padme was fundamentally incapable of providing safety and security to Anakin, as she was married to the Republic/Senate (and thus Palpatine, if you want to go there.)

Anakin and Padme become abusive to each other (Clovis,) and their codependency is the reason why they cannot leave each other. It's the reason why they try to have a family despite the fact that (I headcannon) that Anakin couldn't be fully sure if the children were his. (Why else would he strangle a pregnant Padme?) It's the reason why Padme strategically works against Anakin while also covering for him in front of Obi-Wan.

--

I'll return to this post and add more to it in time. But like @cptsd-skywalker, I also think that Anakin needed to be with someone who made him feel seen, secure, and loved. The closest people who fulfilled that were Obi-Wan and Ahsoka (I would argue Ahsoka more than Obi-Wan, but that's a story for another time.)

What do you think?

Hello again! Wanted to ask about Padme. Most pro Anakin bloggers also tend to like Padme. Why are you indifferent towards her beyond the reasoning of the power imbalance of Anidala? Would you like her better if she were lower class?

What kind of woman do you think Anakin should have married?

@synapticjive , this is for you dear. Also @fanfic-lover-girl for bringing this ask to me, as I’ve been meaning to make a long post about this for a while.

TLDR;

Besides the power Imbalance, (not to do with age but to do with Padme’s class status) in my opinion Padme is more in love with her fantasy of Anakin and not as much the real Anakin that exists. She sweeps under the rug massive red flags about his mental health (the sand people situation anyone ) when he’s been on the verge of a mental health crisis long before Revenge of the Sith. It isn’t her job to fix him, but as his partner I do think she should have encouraged him to seek mental health help or encouraged him to tell others about the Tuskens. I also don’t think she is as invested in Anakin as he is with her. In my opinion, she likes to keep him and her fantasy world totally separate from her loved reality as a senator (using Anakin as a kind of escape from that life) and so any real world or serious problems he has she puts away until they blow up massively.

Explanation:

In the new cannon material “The Queens Hope”, the newest novel by E.K. Johnston in a trilogy including “The Queen’s Shadow” and “The Queen’s Peril”, Anakin and Padme’s relationship is discussed and illustrated in detail. In combination with this book, the novelization of ATOC and TCW series, I have come to these conclusions about Anidala:

Padme is Anakin’s last in the flesh reminder of his mother. Anakin was raised in a single parent household, and I believe a portion of his love fro her stems from his desire to have a family again after losing his mother, and Padme remember his mother. This ties them together in his heart for importance. After shmi dies, Padme is Anakin’s only lifeline, meaning if their relationship goes south (for whatever reason) that Anakin’a chances of going off the deep end mentally are high.

You would think that stress that he is under to fulfill others expectations of him to his own detriment would be a red flag for Padme to encourage him to leave the Jedi or to at least lessen the power imbalance between them so he wouldn’t feel like he had to live up to these expectations where she is concerned. That he could be himself around her, so that he can form a healthy attachment to her. Instead she continues this idea of burdening him with her own high expectations of him by convincing him time and time again to stay in the Jedi Order to remain as a Jedi Knight. She does this even when he states multiple times how unhappy he is there, how badly the Jedi treat him (btw she always sides with the Council and Obi Wan when he brings up how they make him feel. She goes as far as to laugh at him in ATOC) and how much stress he is under living up to their idea of what he should be.

In the novels and in TCW she is quite taken with Anakin as this masculine adventurer ideal, a role that he plays for her but struggles with in moments of insecurity and difficulty. She makes him feel like he is supposed to always be a strong hero when he really needs someone who can understand his need to have a safe place to feel weak. It’s natural to want to relax and to not to want to be at war all the time. However, She loves him as her knight in shining armor, so when he wants to leave the order she is horrified. He says “I don’t care about all this deception I don’t care if they know we’re married” and she immediately corrects him “Anakin don’t say things like that”

Padme encourages his codependency by placing herself on a pedestal with him, and accepting her role as his Courtly Lady/Madonna. This is particularly important when we consider why Padme, an accomplished politician with charisma, grace, social accumin and wealth would want to marry someone she just spent a week with. The answer to me is that the danger, the adventure, the forbidden aspects are exactly why Padme wants to be with Anakin at all. Padme has lived her whole life in a super serious responsible bubble, and Anakin is her chance to let her hair down and be wild. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with this if this wasn’t the only thing holding them together, but honestly to me it is.

1. They have totally different personalities that do not mesh. Anakin is passionate and firey with an intense insecure while attachment style Padme is cool and detached and rational at all times. Really Padme makes a better Jedi mentally than Anakin (don’t shoot me for this, Obi Wan says almost the same thing “you should have been a Jedi) for how Padme conducts her life, emotions can be dangerous. Even Sabe warns her that her love for him will prove fatal as well stating “You always said when you gave your heart to someone it would be a disaster”, because Padme in love throws caution to the wind for her idea of fantasy romance. Padme in love is Padme entrenched in her deepest ideal with blinders on to everything but what she wants. The problem with Anakin is that he has severe mental health issues that can not be ignored. He is being groomed by sidious and he is being emotionally abused by the Jedi, yet Padme doesn’t see any of this becuase she only sees what she wants to see; Anakin the Hero With No Fear conquering all and coming home to sit at her feet and do whatever she needs him to do. Anakin loves Padme because she is the Madonna who gives his life purpose. These are two incompatible ideals.

2. Anakin needs Padme more than she needs him. Padme had a life before Anakin, and she would have a life after him if she were to leave him. Padme has a sister and parents and nieces and nephews. She has a network of best friends she has known since she was 14, and a further network of senate colleges and friends on planets all over the galaxy. She has a job she loves and finds worthwhile and she has a childhood of safety and love to draw on.

In contrast if Padme left Anakin, Anakin would lose all he has left. He does have Obi Wan in a sense, but considering his desire to leave the order and Obi Wans attitude towards those who leave the order it wouldn’t go well, (he no longer associates with them the same way, he wouldn’t antagonize Anakin but he’d make it known he didn’t approve and would probably shun him like Ashoka). Anakin lost his mother and all of his childhood friends remain in slavery. His childhood was hard on him.

Thus, Padme became Anakin’s sole personal emotional support. This brings an imbalance to their relationship which fuels Anakin’s attachment insecurity. This causes the jealously and the fear of losing her to increase 10 fold. In the Queen’s Hope, Anakin thinks of Padme all the time while on missions while he almost never comes up to her when she is on her own time with friends or family. Even though they just married she barely reflects on Him, never thinks of him personally except to remark how handsome he is (Anakin is so much more than just his looks), which leads me to believe that her reasons for marrying him were mostly sexual. Since I headcannon Anakin as demisexual based on his interactions with her this screams incompatibility to me.

3. Lastly, when Padme Anakin are at home they are always without exception doing one of 3 things, having sex, discussing the war, or fighting. The only positive interactions they have are when they are physically intimate(cuddling or getting in the mood). They talk about the war but never about what towels to buy or what food to eat. This has some issue to do with the action style way that the movies and books are written. There is very little room for domesticity. However, even in The Queens Hope, a book revolving around issues of them trying to balance domestic life with duty, Padme never compliments Anakin’s personality, just his looks, and to that end whenever we seen them together they are either , A.) Cuddling, or B.) Being erotic with each other. Padme does rearrange her schedule so that Anakin can sneak in at night to see her, but because of their need for secrecy Anakin is treated more like a secret affair than a marriage partner. Which brings me to my last point.

4. We’ve discussed that Padme is unable to bring up Anakin’s mental problems to him and prefers to bury them, but a similar thing could be said about Anakin. He is unable to accept any moral ambiguity in Padme at all. Any time she strays a hair from her ideals he is in her like a flea. It’s understandable to me that Anakin feels this way considering Padme is all he has, but in the long run he has to be able to see her as a fallible human being capable of being wrong. At the same time she needs to stop feeding into this desire he has of putting her above him. Even as a submissive he should not feel actually beneath her.

I’m conclusion: I think Anakin would have fared better with someone who either A.) was born in similar circumstances with similar trauma that could help him through his complicated feelings or at least relate to them; or B.) was able to remove themselves from the pedestal Anakin puts them on to make a more equal partnership that he can lean into. Anakin is needy and while for me I don’t consider that to be a bad thing it can be a bad thing of the other person doesn’t help the insecure person to feel safe and secure in the relationship. Padme is not capable of this to me for a number or reasons, namely the fact that she is more married to her job and ideals than to Anakin.

I hope that clears up some of my thoughts for you all. I know I probably left things out, please feel free to comment on here with your opinions. I know that was long.

[sw5w]

He Smashed Up My Pod in the Last Race

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:44:57

[padawanlost]

Star Wars: Complete Locations: Watto’s Junkshop

Written by Kristin Lund, Simon Beecroft, Kerrie Dougherty and James Luceno/ llustrator(s): Richard Chasemore and Hans Jenssen.

“Fun” Facts:

His next door neighbor is a exclusive casino that fronts as arms dealership to keep out uninvited guests.

Whenever the shop is running smoothly Watto flies up to his nest to rest.

In the middle of the shop there's an unopened gift from an secret admirer.

The security is provided by two customized droids wielding motion detectors and blasters.

[weeklyhumorist]

Ethics Training for the Galactic Empire

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Introduction

Welcome to the Galactic Empire Ethics Training. Upon completion of this learning module you will take an aptitude test graded by your managing Sith Lord. A failing score is punishable by a force-choke that may result in death, but what we’re really looking for here is effort!

  Ethics and the Dark Side of the Force

This means behaving with dishonesty, unfairness, and evil intent.

  Dishonesty

“I do my best to be deceitful every day. Plus, I’m 200% committed to supporting our military-industrial complex, which is also the truth.”

–Major Toby Floop, TIE Fighter Pilot

  Unfairness

“I believe in treating everyone unjustly to remind the Resistance that we run the Galaxy, and I always ensure the stormtroopers under my command are treated poorly, but not so poorly that they stage a mutiny.”

–Buck Quasario, Stormtrooper Captain

  Evil Intent

“To me, being evil is showing no mercy and cutting off a head with my lightsaber first, then never asking questions. Sometimes I have to use Jedi Mind tricks to exploit people, even if I just discovered that I’m related to them.”

–Darth Paul, Sith apprentice

  Immediately Reportable Outer Space Work Incidents

You must immediately report the following events to Dark Side Compliance:

–          Sanctioned Bribery

–          Drunk Piloting Starfighters on the Clock

–          Fraud or Theft of Greater than $100,000 Imperial Credits

–          Exotic Creature Ownership (e.g. rancors, porgs, tauntauns, space slugs, etc.)

–          Sith Brand Reputation Risk

–          Death Star Information System Hacking

  Sanctioned Bribery

Is the receiving, offering, or giving anything of value (including Imperial Credits, blueprints of Starkiller bases, gifts of Corusca gems, discounts on Star Yachts, donations of captured Rebel spies, or favors from corrupt members of the New Republic) in order to obtain improper benefits for the Empire or influence anyone. All bribes are highly encouraged as long as they are recorded in your monthly Bribe Report. Without proper bookkeeping, you will mysteriously die by falling down a reactor shaft or publically, via Force Lightning. It’s easy to avoid!

  Agreements of Interest – Gifts & Entertainment

Imperial Employees should accept gifts of any kind from everyone and coerce the giving of gifts from those who do not offer them as tribute and pledge undying fealty to the New Order, unless it’s from a Gungan. Never accept gifts from a Gungan.

  Examples:

You’re invited to be the keynote speaker at an All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) event on Tatooine. The supplier offers to pay for all expenses, including an open bar from 6-10PM at Mos Eisley Cantina.

  Should you let them?

  A supplier of Mon Calamari cuisine has asked you out to dinner at Lando Calrissian’s restaurant in Cloud City and has offered to pay for your meal.

  Should you accept?

  A Gungan in front of you in line at a Watto’s Junkshop tells Watto to charge him for the parts you planned on buying and tells you to, “Passa itta onna.”

  Should you kill him?

  Manipulative Personal Relationships with Suppliers

We strive to never honor our deals and threaten those who complain with the complete obliteration of their planet (see: Alderaan) to demonstrate that we are the most powerful regime in the Galaxy with which no one must trifle. This also enables us to save money by purchasing things like Speeder Bikes, Probe Droids, and Star Destroyers at low, low prices!

  Examples:

A Clone Trooper supplier has offered me a glass of Green milk straight from the teat of a female thala-siren and a Gart Frozen Fruit Snack during a Tusken Raider business meeting.

  Can I accept?

  A former associate left 9 weeks ago to join the Rebel Alliance.

  Can I work directly with him?

  During a training session, one of our Imperial Navy Trooper uniform suppliers gives overlarge black open-blast helmets and key chains away to attendees.

  Can I accept one?

  I work in Sith Finance and received a birthday gift from Jabba the Hutt who happens to have hired Boba Fett (a Dark Side Freelancer) to kill a prominent Ewok Elder on Endor.

  Can I accept the gift?

  Death Star Information System Hacking

Involves conduct by an associate (e.g. a rogue Sith, a rogue stormtrooper, or a rogue Sith disguised as a stormtrooper) maliciously gaining unauthorized access to Death Star Information Systems. Suspected breaches should be reported to Emergency Space Defense Operations. All golden 3PO unit protocol droids and R2-series droids (especially silver ones with blue decals that produce cute, emotive beeps and boops) must be destroyed without question.

  Focused Harassment & Discrimination

Even though 81% of our workforce lives on moon-sized space stations in the cold, dead of space, it’s important that we make everyone feel even more unsafe to create an atmosphere of impending doom. You should always try to offend others to foster instability and remind your colleagues that any grievances will earn you a one-way ticket…to the nearest trash compactor!

  Can you correctly identify which of the following actions are acceptable, and which are preferred?

  – You comment that you like the way your coworker’s new blaster “hangs” on her body.

– You compliment a colleague’s new squash blossom haircut.

– A colleague shows you an inappropriate photo of a Wookie woman wearing a bikini on his personal transmitter at work.

– You offer a colleague to, “take her to hyperspace” repeatedly, even after they’ve declined.

– You say to a coworker, “I’ve noticed you got a tan; did you get that in the Dune Sea while watching people be sentenced to death in the Sarlacc pit?”

Congratulations!

  You’ve reached the end of your Ethics training. Please report to Detention Block AA to take your exam under the watchful gaze of an IT-O Interrogator droid. Don’t worry, this is not a trap!

Ethics Training for the Galactic Empire was originally published on Weekly Humorist

[sw5w]

Watto's Junkyard

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:33:41

Here is a behind the scenes view of Jake Lloyd as Anakin with the unidentified WEL-series welding droid seen above.

And here’s a photo from page 57 of the Secret Life of Droids, showing what looks like the darker WEL-1708 droid in the lighter colored welding droid’s location in Watto’s Junkyard. WEL-1708 appears in a later scene outside the front entrance to Watto's Junkshop with R2-T0.

[sw5w]

This is a Strange Place to Me

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:33:18

[sw5w]

Watto's Droids

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:32:24

[sw5w]

Heading Out Back

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:32:21

[sw5w]

Hi Chuba Da Nago?

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:31:47