#YA SHEEVHOLE

[jerryb2]

*dead silence*

…well, I’ll say this: it kind of makes the other one feel like a cheap knockoff. It took me a couple of months, but I finally finished this monster. A special build for a special dark lord, indeed.

[threadsketchier]

@gigi-mari​ submitted:

Hello! I love your blog and wanted to share an excerpt of a book about Luke and Vader with you... Of course each fan must be able to have their own interpretations and I would never shove George Lucas’ takes down anyone’s throats, but I always wondered why Vader delivered Luke to the Emperor and why he blocked Luke’s lightsaber when he tried to strike the Emperor in RotJ, and George’s take is fascinating that I decided to share... I hope I’m not bothering!

“What is operating in his head is: ‘The Emperor will turn Luke to the dark side because I can’t do it, because I am not strong enough; he will turn Luke and then I will be able to join with Luke and eventually turn him to destroy the Emperor. Once he is on the dark side, then it will be easy; then we are a team, then we are father and son.’ [...] Vader also knows that the Emperor is toying with Luke. He has been told by the Emperor, ‘When he starts to strike me, you’re going to have to take him out.’ If Vader doesn’t block Luke’s lazer sword, the Emperor could just raise his hand and that would be the end of it. [...] So Vader knows what the Emperor is doing to the kid—instead of Vader turning Luke to the dark side, maybe the Emperor can. Vader doesn’t care who does it [because then father and son can unite]. [...] He thinks that his job is to kill the kid, but of course he can’t really kill the kid, and the Emperor knows that he can’t really kill the kid. [...] His son refuses to kill him—and that is such a revelation to Vader—it reminds him of what he once was. [...] He does [kill the Emperor] not out of thinking or fear. He does it out of the super energy of wanting to protect his son, out of compassion.” George Lucas in The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

The fact that Vader was so desperate to have Luke at his side that he delivered him to the Emperor in hope that the Emperor would do the job of turning Luke for him... The fact the Emperor was never helpless when Luke attacked him and could just end it all right there and that’s why Vader blocked Luke... But this line... “Of course he can’t really kill the kid, and the Emperor KNOWS that he can’t really kill the kid.” Wow. What a ruthless, cruel manipulator Palpatine was. He was convinced Luke would win, one way or another. But then, Luke is full of surprises, isn’t he?

And ahahahaha, no problem, I have that book thanks to a friend, I’m just still slowly working my way toward reading it (I’m almost done with The Making of ESB).  XD

Yeah, that adds another sad layer to their conversation at the garrison when Luke first surrenders - Vader’s not just saying, “You don’t know the power of the Dark Side...I must obey my master,” as a self-aware reference to his slavery, he’s admitting as openly as he dares, “I don’t have the guts to turn you myself anymore because THE DAD VIBES ARE STRONG WITH THIS ONE.”

But of course he’s being a blind idiot about it because Luke don’t need no steenkin’ Dark Side to be willing to team up with his father.  He just told him right there, “Come with me.”  Vader thinks Palpatine is insurmountable by any other means.  And apparently he still hasn’t learned that much about the Dark Side even after 2+ decades, because there’s no such thing as a mutually supportive relationship with it.  There’s nothing but pain, betrayal, and hatred all rooted in despair.  It’s tragically laughable to think that Vader seriously believed he could have any semblance of a decent working relationship with his son once he was corrupted - precisely because Palps is a Magnificent Bastard™ and of course he’d seek a way to turn Luke while simultaneously turning him against his father.  At the very least, even without prompting, a fallen Luke would deeply resent his father for not standing up for him and giving him up to the wrinkled nutsack while everything and everyone else he loved and fought for was destroyed.  You can see the hurt and desperation in his eyes in that scene when Luke glances up at Vader while Palps is taunting him - he’s thinking, Father, how can you let this happen?

Good thing Luke had enough cajones for the both of them to bitch-slap some sense back into his dad.

[threadsketchier]

If they managed to turn Luke on Death Star and Palpatine decided to use luke and Vader against each other to tighten their lashes, how would Vader react to Dark Luke? I feel like most of Luke's hatred rage despise would be toward himself and the emperor 🤔

Vader would hate himself.  He’d hate himself the most he’s ever hated himself in his miserable life.  Because this is technically what he wanted - he wanted to turn Luke in order for him to survive.  But he never wanted Luke as his enemy.  He wanted his son by his side so that they could team up to kill Palpatine, and then Vader would hand the reins of the galaxy over to Luke, just as he likely intended to do with Padmé.  But Luke isn’t his anymore.  He’s Palpatine’s plaything.

And yes, if Luke gave in to his rage and hatred, you can definitely bet he’d have a great deal of self-loathing - he’d be a failure, he couldn’t keep what Obi-Wan and Yoda kept telling him to heart - and naturally he’d despise the Emperor for providing the impetus for his fall.  But he would also hate his father deeply as well, for not listening to him, for dragging him into captivity and corruption and not standing up for both of them, for being so cruel and spineless to just let this happen.

“I told you my father was truly dead,” I could picture Luke saying to him.  “Now your son is dead as well.”

[threadsketchier]

If I’m right....Luke telling Palpatine off in the throne room with a straight eye in ROTJ is equivalent to Padmé confronting Palps about his emergency powers as chancellor in ROTS both also managed to startle and surprise Anakin/Vader

Big get rekt energy.

[threadsketchier]

Today my friend pointed something out and I can't stop thinking about it. We all know how much Leia hates Vader and Emperor. And even tho we don't see Luke and Leia talk about his lineage in OT, she struggles to understand Luke's ties with Vader and lashes out at him in Bakura. She hates them and she has every right to. But, would she be as understanding and accepting toward Luke himself if they weren't twins? If Luke was Palpatine's son instead of Vader? Could she trust him with his powers?

Hmm.  I think Leia would feel more of a dilemma if they weren’t related.  She has her personal experience with Luke for the past several years during the OT; she’d see that he’s his own person and how strong his convictions are toward virtue.  It’d be wrong to pass judgment on him just because of his bloodline - obviously everyone is different and anyone can grow beyond a toxic family, and Leia would be reasonable enough to comprehend this.  However, I do think that kernel of fear in the back of her mind would be a little more entrenched, that someday it could all change and he’d go down the road his father - whoever it was - did.  She’d never quite be able to banish that paranoia and it may or may not put a subtle strain on their friendship, depending on how forgiving Luke is about her harboring those misgivings or whether it would bother him.  He probably would feel more guilt and shame and perhaps more worry about how she views him and always feel a sense of needing to prove himself to her.  It could certainly be a major source of contention whenever they pick fights for whatever reason.

[laureas76]

Not even gonna bother...

[threadsketchier]

Whumptober #25 - Humiliation

Because I can’t write just one of this scene, like eating Lay’s potato chips.

(However, Palps has a little extra dialogue here because this is the LTE version of ROTJ.)

“If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed.”

Both Yoda and Obi-Wan had warned him of the Emperor’s power, and he believed he’d understood what they meant the moment his binders had been loosened by the Force, and he’d begun to slip and crumble under the onslaught of fiendish manipulation.

Then lightning was arcing toward him, blinding and ear-splitting, slamming into him with the brutality of an oncoming speeder.  Luke was flung back and aside, his legs giving way beneath him.

Oh.  Oh no.  I think they meant this too.

He’d collapsed painfully onto a large canister set on the edge of the walkway, hugging it for dear life to keep from falling down into what looked like a bottomless chasm.  Just like old times at Bespin, he thought hysterically, before another bolt struck and crackled across his body, sending spasms through all of his limbs that nearly had him lose his grip.

Luke didn’t want to scream, didn’t want to give Palpatine the sadistic pleasure of relishing his suffering, but the profound agony wrenched it from his throat against his will.  No pain he’d ever felt in his life even approached this torment.  His dismemberment paled in comparison.  Not only was every muscle tensed to its breaking point and every nerve set afire, but his very soul seemed to be lashed by a tempest of utter darkness.  Was this what it felt like to be annihilated by a black hole, devoured atom by atom?

“Young fool,” the taunting continued.  “Only now, at the end, do you understand.”

The only saving grace of the next onslaught was that it convulsed his body back onto the deck and away from the chasm.  Gasping, Luke curled up in a vain attempt to protect himself.  There was nowhere to hide and no way to lessen the assault.

“You have paid the price for your lack of vision!”

It was a price Luke had already prepared himself to pay.  He’d accepted death in his denial of striking down his father, in hurling away his lightsaber, and standing defiant before the Emperor.  But his end was even crueler than he’d anticipated.  Of course Palpatine would want to wring as much anguish from him as possible; he should have expected no less.

His father.  He’d glimpsed Vader having risen to his feet and just...standing there behind his master.  Just watching impassively.  Was he so far gone as to watch his son be murdered before his eyes?  Had the mercy Luke had just shown him been for naught?

It was difficult to breathe, let alone speak, but Luke mustered what remained of his strength to stretch a hand out toward Vader and cry out, “Father, please, help me!”

His only answer was the lightning burning through his bones.  “He is my servant,” the Emperor declared with triumphant contempt, “not your father.  As will be your sister.”

Luke sobbed openly, shame driving an even deeper blade into his heart than the dark power coursing through him.  Obi-Wan hadn’t failed her, he’d failed her.  He hadn’t been able to keep Leia shielded from Vader’s scrutiny.

“Your dear sister.”  Palpatine’s hideous voice dripped with mockery.  “Her grief at your loss shall stoke her hatred, and oh…”  He inhaled and smiled in infernal bliss.  “She will make an exquisite apprentice.”

Leia, Luke wept in his spirit, hoping that she could hear him the way she had at Bespin.  Leia, forgive me.

[threadsketchier]

Thank you sir, now all I want is a reveal fic where Vader finds out, after spending last 15 years abusing, annoying, hating this blond kid, it's actually his son. A son that once he sacrificed everything for. Anakin did everything to keep Padmé and their child safe and at the end he messed up massively. He imagines Padmé watching him hate and fight their son for years. Imagine his shame, his hatred ughh the darkness

Really, this could go in a million directions, but honestly what I love the most about this situation is the same shit that got Palps killed in the original film:

He just doesn’t fucking take into consideration that family will always be the greatest priority of his melodramatic, self-loathing dumpster fire of an apprentice, no matter how deeply it gets buried underneath all the trauma and rage and murder and apathy.  You don’t fuck with a Skywalker’s loved ones.

However, this is not a Luke who’s simply on the wrong side of the war and needs some “aggressive negotiations” to come over to the Dark Side and eat the cookies.  This is a Luke who has been thoroughly entangled with and contaminated by the Emperor, steeped in Sith and Imperial ideology.  As furious as Vader would be at being hoodwinked and robbed like this, both he and Luke would also despise each other, something that would be very difficult to undo.  Luke is now as much the Emperor’s creature as he is Vader’s lost son.  I think this would be an even steeper hole for them to climb out of to be able to accept each other, let alone team up to kill Palpatine or do anything else remotely positive and/or healthy.

[threadsketchier]

I keep wondering what would happen to Luke if not Vader but Emperor himself discovered his existence when he was a child. Obi is dead and out of the picture, we all know he alone doesn't stand a chance. So, would Emporer take Luke in and lie to Vader about his true identity (some random kid, not Anakin's) or would he feel threatened by Luke's potential and kill him when he was still young and easy to destroy? Would he torture Luke to shape him like a puppet?

More than likely he wouldn’t kill Luke - because we all know Skeevy Sheevy’s greatest boner is manipulation.  He already got his rocks off grooming Anakin for almost two decades, but getting to twist his son from childhood?  Delicious.  Finally, some good fucking depravity.  Bonus points for both stoking Vader’s jealousy and sticking the knife in whatever’s left of his heart every time he has to see this kid with the blond hair and blue eyes and cleft chin he once had, and could have had with Padmé.

As How to Fight Write has stated before, though, torture does not make good child soldiers.  Palps would probably take a similar approach to what he would have logically taken with Mara Jade, just the full Sith Edition™ - raise Luke steeped in Dark Side philosophy in a grandfatherly manner to ensure his total devotion.  He’d only use intimidation when he felt it necessary for Luke’s brainwashing, aka when Luke would feel he deserved it out of a sense of failure, weakness, or disrespect.  He’d want Luke to feel obligated to him while simultaneously craving the chance to overthrow him someday to gain the throne.

Having Luke revere and even love the Emperor like a grandfather would make the eventual revelation of him as Vader’s son all the more excruciating - because of course Palps would eventually let the cat out of the bag to torment his older apprentice.

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@miriannemiri replied to this post: Honestly, the worst possible scenario in that case (and in some ways the most likely) is Palpatine telling Luke after. Not a happy moment and might just work in driving Luke to the Dark side. That gives me shivers.

MMMMMMMMMM YEP THAT’D BE INFINITELY WORSE AND YEAH HE’D TOTALLY DEW IT

[threadsketchier]

Thursday Three

I’ve been back-to-back sick and work is murderous and I should do my taxes this weekend and...blech.  *lies facedown & issues muffled groans*  So instead of waiting until Sunday I figured I’d post a teeny bit just to show that I am slowly starting on the next part of LTE.

Her troubled and sympathetic demeanor came into sharp clarity for Luke.  Indeed, he could recall his experience, though only in snatches of unbearable pain and blinding light; of Palpatine’s rotting leer cast in stark white relief and his father standing aside to watch, torn with indecision.  The hatred, the pitch black tide of smothering, burning, roaring hatred battering him and eating away at the edges of his soul…

A childhood memory was dredged up in its wake, of studying a module on gravitic anomalies, and how he’d conceptualized a black hole’s destruction of matter - of a human body, in particular - as the fibrous strings inside a hubba gourd.  Luke wondered now if that fate was better than being ripped apart by a living singularity’s darkness.

Her hand squeezed gently, taking his hesitance as a sign that he wasn’t ready, was too afraid.  Luke blinked away the horror, remembering to breathe again, and focused on her calm face.  He could say it, but how could he quantify it to them?