#and that he probably died on the order 66 cause Vader being Anakin was a whole ass kept secret

[penelopwgarcia]

thinkin about the fact padme tried to hide her pregnancy at best with clothes and less staff so likely those who loved and knew her only found about it in her funeral and they probably thought her child died with her too

[stealingpotatoes]

Skywalkers apart au! It's so precious that Anakin gets to be a dad, a rebellion general Dad but he gets to be there for at least one of them and Padme survives and gets to be a mom and maybe someday they get to meet and it's so good.

Also the concept of General Skywalker of the Rebellion feels like it has so much potential cause he was such a big figure in the Clone Wars, he was the Hero, the General, he could probably get the various splinter rebel cells (they were very divided in the early Rebellion) to follow him by sheer reputation and charisma. Imagine Anakin being at Hoth, like the attack is going along the usual Imperial imminent victory and suddenly an AT-AT has been thrown clear across the landscape and an announcement sounds out "General Skywalker has entered the field" cue Rebel Counterattack due to morale boost and Imperial Panic.

What happened to the 501st here? Did he go to the Venator's crash site where Ahsoka was during Order 66 what did he think when he saw all the dead folks?

Fun thought, Starkiller being the apprentice in this AU, means that Sidious has probably been comparing him to Anakin (in part because he's bitter he didn't fall, in other part cause it's great for fueling the darkside) for years so the first time they face off he's gonna be full of spiteful hatred (all going according to plan) before Starkiller gets styled on by the Skywalker, cause Anakin isn't crippled by the suit and that means he's still massively powerful in the force and skilled in the blade (Vader was too, but less than a whole Anakin), I could see Anakin pulling a Lightside version of the Rogue One Hallway scene against Stormtroopers (or even inquisitors).

Rebel General Anakin Skywalker would be an Imperial Boogeyman.

Leia would probably appreciate it for a while but also she'd get a bit annoyed about her dad's reputation and "Legend" and the fact that she's probably got that entire thing to measure up to, making her more reckless or foolhardy. That's a big shadow to live under.

Padme on the other hand is probably in a very different situation reputation wise, she was the senator for the new Emperor's home planet, she's the old queen of naboo from the Trade Federation attack, she's a founding member of one of the oldest discrete rebellion cells but that still leaves some stigma. She's probably so very worried about Imperial surveilance on her or Luke or the rest of her family, and it doesn't help that the Inquistorious has probably been sniffing around for a while.

ok this is a veeeeery long ask so i'm gonna have a veeeery long answer which is gonna go under this readmore:

YES!! yes absolutely! tbh i decided a while back he never gets an official promotion to general, everyone just calls him General Skywalker for so long that it sticks loll. BUT YEAH I mean working with a Jedi is rare and awe-inspiring enough for any rebellion cell but working with the hero with no fear??? half the rebels are wondering if they can interrupt this mission to ask for his autograph

its extra funny bc for the first few years of the empire he's lowkey depressed and like agh i failed the order republic AND my family i'm a terrible horrible no good jedi who nearly turned to the dark side and while he's having this spiral there's some rebel standing next to him pointing and pogging

and yeah he's SO useful in big battles like that!! he's half a legend, half a ghost story, given most ppl think he died in the Purge but here he is, enacting justice on the empire!! tho he does struggle on quieter missions (which happen a lot more at first bc gotta hide from the empire) that you cant just blaze into. its a difficult shift to go from clone wars general skywalker to rebel general skywalker

yeah 501st same as canon ): but OHHH MY GOD yes thats SUCH A PERFECT IDEA, Anakin going with Rex and Ahsoka to the site and mourning them all (and probably going into another depression spiral lbr)

youre so right lollll obvs leia loves the one up she has in an argument of "well my dad's general skywalker, beat that" but as u say she absolutely wants to live up to that (+ is a very independent/stubborn person and would like Leia Skywalker, not just "General Skywalker's daughter" lol)

AND YEAH ABSOLUTELY Padmé and Anakin's roles in this au are both so interesting (is that egotistical to say) bc they're these upside down versions of their clone wars roles, both very loud people forced to quieten down and be Discreet about how they go abt helping ppl. Padmé is really struggling hiding so much (luke's force sensitivity, her rebel activities, all relations to anakin) and trying to protect Luke while helping the Rebellion WHILE trying not to seem suspicious. a lot on her plate -- only made worse by palpatine keeping a close-ish eye on her, and she can't tell why (is it bc of luke? the rebellion? anakin? or is it just his old favouritism or patriotism being VERY inconvenient??)

on the inquisitors, obvs you don't see a lot of them on coruscant -- but padmé's SO scared abt ppl (MAINLY SIDIOUS WHO, YA KNOW, TRIED TO TURN LUKE'S DAD SITH) finding out abt him and she hates that she's making him repress this part of himself but what choice does she have???

[zazzander]

Could you elaborate on the Octavian and Darth Vader parallels?

I would love to because it's currently on my mind. I'm mostly think of this in terms of how the opening of TSATS (as far as we have seen) begins with Will and Nico talking about Darth Vader. Sure, it's light hearted, but maybe it'll be important.

Because if the voice is Octavian that would open up a lot of interesting ties between him and Darth Vader...

Starting with their early years. Anakin was recruited as a child, like all the jedi, but his recruitment was different. The jedi council were not keen to allow him to join, he wasn't "ideal". Anakin was too old, too full of emotion.

We don't know a lot about Octavian - but as I've talked about before, we know that he's not seen as the ideal warrior. Plus he's associated with Apollo, who isn't well regarded in the legion. This could have been a cause of tension in his early years at the legion. We also know that Octavian is very much full of emotion! Especially the kind the jedi would shun.

Anakin is taken under the wing of manipulative Emperor Palpatine. His view of the world is twisted and controlled. Palpatine draws him over to the dark side.

In Octavian's case, we know that he was being manipulated by someone and that someone was probably Nero. Emperor Nero. We know that Apollo didn't want Camp Half-Blood destroyed, so we have to wonder who put that idea in Octavian's head? Well, we have our suspect...

Order 66 - the infamous masscare of the jedi, including the younglings. This feels super similar to Octavian's attempt to wipe out Camp Half-Blood! (Of course Anakin actually succeeded but that's neither here nor there)

Due to his choices, the people who love Anakin the most become his enemy. Characters like Michael Kahale and Dakota turn against Octavian in Blood of Olympus.

I don't have the book in front of me right now, but in Blood of Olympus, Will says something like "Don't make them choose, Octavian!" talking about how the legion was wavering between following Octavian's and Reyna's orders - and that feels a lot like the classic "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy" line from Anakin.

Anakin fights Obi-Wan on that volcano planet. He's supposed to have "died" in fire - burning to death for his own arrogance and need for destruction. But he didn't die.

Octavian was also supposed to have died in a fire, burning to death for his own arrogance and need for destruction. But we didn't see him die. If he's the voice coming from Tartarus... maybe he isn't as dead as everyone thought.

The voice calling for help is Nico haunting him. It is not a kind voice. Whoever it is will lead Nico back into Tartarus, back into a place of pain. And if that voice is Octavian... well, it would be an interesting parallel.

[gch1995]

The question would rather be, would Padme forgive Anakin?? Even in an AU where he doesn't choke her, and she gets to him before Sidious, she'd still have to live with the fact her husband murdered countless people, inculding children. That's harder to forgive than what Obi-Wan does imo.

Yes, I think she would be willing to forgive Anakin for his crimes, and I do think he would have snapped out of his psychosis and turned back to the light, if Obi Wan hadn’t shown up right in that moment on the ship to kill him. Would it be something that I would forgive someone for doing in real life? No, but the Jedi Order of adults, not including the younglings, weren’t innocent either. While not as bad as the Sith, nor deserving of being wiped out, we could still list child abuse, child conscription, child endangerment, child neglect, cultism, enablement of a Republic that allowed slavery on the outer rims, raiding, usage of the clones as slaves, plotting to overthrow the government, treason, and other war crimes, including endangerment, mass murder, and murder whatever innocent people or races of people who got in the way of their mission to “the greater good.” This is a space opera fantasy tragedy in which most of the characters are very flawed in one way or another, so, even if Anakin is one of the darkest shades of gray on the morality spectrum, I can rest assured that he did not singlehandedly cause the fall of the Jedi Order/Republic. It was falling apart even before he came along and it still would have fallen apart without him. Maybe not as badly as it did with him becoming Vader, but it would still be a corrupt mess.

Even if Anakin hadn’t killed those kids for Sidious, they still would have died, or their chances for survival would have still been severely compromised, anyway. Not that that makes Anakin killing those kids okay for Sidious at all. It was wrong, and Anakin knew it. However, Order 66 was still going to happen, with or without him. Anakin made the decision to become an active weapon and tool in Order 66 for Palpatine/Sidious in his desperation to avoid potential abandonment from his wife, and then he became psychotic on the high of the dark side, which was awful. He is responsible for picking Palpatine over Mace in that moment and for carrying out the crimes asked of him against the Jedi Order/Republic. He was absolutely selfish in his desperation. He did deserve punishment for those crimes, not as badly as the one he got, but like a clean and quick death penalty when Obi Wan got the high ground on Mustafar, or a long term prison sentence with lots of proper therapy. However, he’s not responsible for creating the plan of Order 66. Palpatine and Dooku had been plotting this for 14 years beforehand. Anakin only found out he was wanted as a weapon by Sidious like two days before his execution of Order 66. Palpatine already had all the troops ready to shoot down that temple of kids.

Yeah, the Jedi Order probably would have been better equipped to take down Palpatine if Anakin hadn’t joined him, but those kids would still be in danger from Order 66 in that temple either way.

I still don’t think that Padme would easily forgive Obi Wan for cutting off Anakin’s limbs and leaving him to burn alive, though. Yes, objectively speaking, at this point, Anakin’s crimes were worse than Obi Wan’s. You could argue for a clean death penalty or a long term prison sentence. However, think about which pain would cause more long-lasting suffering. For all of his crimes against innocents, inexcusable as they are, at least none of the victims Anakin killed had to live through injuries that were so awful, crippling, and painful that it would be better off if they were dead because they can no longer eat normally, speak normally, or survive without a life support system with a built in voice synthesizer and respirator, and get physically, and emotionally, psychologically, and physically chained to their abuser for the rest of their life. Yes, Anakin is complicit in his crimes because he has more agency than he thinks, and he can feel guilt. However, his chances of escape from his abuser are pretty limited to non-existent after he’s put in that suit.

Padme is someone who looks at how people she cares about are affected by pain and suffering in the immediate sense of how they’re living on a day to day basis, though. Obviously, she is against Anakin turning to the dark side, murdering Jedi kids, murdering the Council, and murdering Separatist leaders. She had absolutely every right to hate him and want nothing to do with Anakin ever again after he committed all those crimes and blindly and recklessly force choked her in his anger and fear of potential abandonment. Sure, the intent wasn’t conscious murder, he’d never laid a hand on her before in the movies, and he was high on the dark side for the first time. However, that still doesn’t make it acceptable at all.

Therefore, if she had survived childbirth, she found out what Obi Wan did to her husband, she talked to Anakin, and she saw him again in that life support suit, I think she absolutely would have trouble forgiving Obi Wan. She’d be ready to start her relationship over with Anakin again tentatively, the moment he acknowledged he fucked up, begged for her forgiveness, and expressed a desire to turn back to the light for her and their kids. I think if she had survived after Mustafar, Anakin would be willing to turn back for Padme. With what Obi Wan did to Anakin by leaving him to burn alive, though, she’d see that Anakin physically suffered more than any human being deserved to as punishment for his crimes. It would break her heart and make her very angry with Obi Wan because she’d see that Anakin suffered a fate that was worse than death after being left to burn alive. I also think she’d be angry that Obi Wan tried to kill Anakin when she specifically asked him not to, rather than trying to talk to him first.

It’s not necessarily logical, but Padme is Anakin’s biggest fan. If she knew that Obi Wan left her husband to a fate worse than death by cutting off his limbs and leaving him to burn alive, and she saw how much Anakin suffered because of that for the rest of his life, she would definitely hold some deep seeded anger and resentment towards Obi Wan for some time. It’s not like he just lost all his limbs, could get some prosthetics, and then be good to go again after a few days to weeks recovery. Anakin’s entire body was burned and damaged, both internally and externally. He had to live in a life support suit. He had to have his internal organs replaced with mechanical ones. He had to eat bland flavored food as paste from a squeeze tube! If Padme survived after he got put into that suit, they could never make love again because Anakin couldn’t survive without that suit on, and even if he could, the pain from the injuries would make such a thing feel unbearable, which means they could never have kids again either. He’d have to be sponge bathed.

If she had survived, Padme would absolutely be pissed off that Obi Wan did this to Anakin because he would have to live that way for the rest of the his life in that suit. She would hate having to see her husband deal with a horribly painful fate like that, no matter his crimes.

[brandywine-tomatoes]

Dark Ahsoka Thoughts

Inspired by art on Pinterest that I'll show later on:

Buckle up, I love dark Ahsoka and I finally put my thoughts into semi-coherent sentences.

A load of what-ifs, questions, ideas, predictions, and realizations.

Masterlist

The Kamino Power Supply (WIP sharing)

Imagine... (Kamino)

-

Ahsoka and Maul:

So what makes the Maul and Ahsoka fight in season 7 so intense and high stakes is that they are literally both the purest forms of their orders.

Ahsoka left the Jedi order because she felt the Jedi weren’t adhering to the code.

Maul left (more or less, there are other reasons) because the sith weren’t adhering to the code as much as he wanted.

They’re both some of the purest sides of the force battling it out on Mandalore.

But what if Ahsoka lost so much faith, not only in the Jedi, but in the light side, that she fell so far she ended up just like Maul?

-

More Realistic Fallen Ahsoka:

I’ve been stewing on this ‘what if Ahsoka actually did take Maul’s offer of joining him on Mandalore’ idea, but it doesn’t really seem realistic or in character for her.

What would be more in character for Ahsoka is that she’s gradually convinced that the dark side suits and fulfills her values and morals but of course it doesn’t, so then her values and morals would also have to slide, thus an even deeper fall to the dark.

So that led to this:

After Order 66, she sees that really the light caused all this destruction and death.

She sees the light side users were trying to force their perfect ideals (that they themselves didn’t even achieve) onto the galaxy, but in their force, they became the very thing they were fighting against.

Light always becomes the dark in a way I guess is what I'm getting at. Powerful light, powerful darkness, but powerful dark side users don’t deviate from their code so much, light side users always do.

-

Ahsoka and Anakin:

I know Palps was after the power Anakin had and his potential to be the most powerful sith in history. Anakin would’ve been twice as powerful as Palps had he reached his full potential after all.

But what if Palps went for Anakin and Ahsoka? Both Jedi master and apprentice? He had the power right there (Anakin) and he has the loyalty (Ahsoka). Plus, both of them wouldn’t want to leave each other, so he would've had a fail safe if he also turned Ahsoka.

If Ahsoka was actually turned by Palps, she’d probably be half as powerful as Anakin at her full potential, but probably twice as loyal since she’s incredibly loyal to the causes she’s apart of/believes in.

Anakin would just be loyal to Ahsoka by a fault, forget Palps. He’d do anything for Ahsoka, and if she stayed loyal to the Empire, so would he. They’d probably be unstoppable in terms of skill and force ability.

I know Vader was so distraught that Padme died and wanted to kill every part of Anakin’s life, including the people who were apart of it, but I honestly think they have such a deep bond that he’d probably embrace a new, dark Ahsoka.

DOUBLE PLUS, he'd probably see Ahsoka as a whole new person since that's how he viewed himself when he became Vader. Anakin was separate from Vader, so Jedi Ahsoka would probably be viewed differently from sith Ahsoka

Anyways, that’s a very long-winded way of saying that dark side Ahsoka kinda makes as much sense as her being the purest light side user in Star Wars history ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

INSPO ART:

Top left - Commissioned work by Raikoh Illust (tumblr)

Top right - Sithsoka by kickfliptano (tumblr)

Bottom left - Darth Charcharodon Unmasked by RaikohIllust (deviantart)

Bottom right - Dark Experiments of the Empire by RaikohIllust (deviantart)

this is going on my WIPs list, so this whole post is just me sorting out my ideas and what not

[calltomuster]

Ooo these look fun. 16 for hurt Obi-wan and caretaker of your choice? 👀

Of course, @coalmine301! Thanks so much for the prompt!

From these caretaker dialogue prompts: 16. "I've got you."

Ahsoka didn't recognize him at first. He was curled in the corner of the room, flinching away as the bright lights of the hallway flooded into the dark space. His limp hair curled long over his shadowed face. He kept his arms and legs drawn close to his emaciated body, like he could somehow shield himself from whatever was entering.

"Hey, buddy," Ahsoka said, extinguishing her lightsaber. She didn't need it anymore after having used it to cut into the cell, it wasn't as if this man was in any shape to attack her. "Don't hurt me, okay? Come with me if you want to get out of here."

Dumb thing to say. Of course he wanted to get out of here. She didn't know why Vader had kept him in a cell in his personal quarters, but it couldn't have been for anything good, and clearly the man was being severely mistreated.

He raised his head hesitantly. "...Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka drew back, startled. "You know me?" She'd been doing a pretty good job at keeping a very low profile since the Empire rose to power, doing her best work helping the flourishing rebellion from the shadows. Why would this man know her, instantly?

"Of course," the man croaked. "It would take a lot more than this to make me forget the sound of my grandpadawan's voice."

Ahsoka gaped, staring more closely at the man. "Master Obi-Wan?"

He chuckled weakly. "I don't know if I'm a Master of anything anymore, but yes."

She rushed closer, letting the light flood in behind her. It illuminated the room a bit more, allowing his face to be more visible. Now she could tell that -- yes, behind the grime and pale skin, it was Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Master Kenobi!" she said, kneeling before him. "You're dead!"

He arched an eyebrow. "Oh? That would be news to me."

Even though he was clearly too weak to even stand on his own, Ahsoka had to push down a smile. This was the Master Obi-Wan she remembered. The one she -- and everyone else -- had thought died on Mustafar.

"C'mon, we have to get you out of here," she said, carefully drawing his arm over her shoulders and standing up. He tried to get his legs under him, but they just wouldn't support him. That was alright. Ahsoka just scooped him up, arm under knees. He felt like he barely weighed anything at all.

"No!" Obi-Wan suddenly cried, clutching to Ahsoka. "Vader! He's -- he's -- you have to --"

"It's alright!" Ahsoka soothed, jogging through the corridors of the ship and doing her best not to jostle the man in her arms too much. Who knew what sort of injuries he could be hiding? "We've got him distracted, we sent him on a wild bantha chase planetside."

"Vader..." Obi-Wan said again, grief staining his face briefly. "He's... It's Anakin."

"I know," Ahsoka replied, heart cracking in two before she shoved the feelings down. Of course she knew, it wasn't exactly as if there was anything hiding his face when he went out and slaughtered civilians who were uprising against the Empire, or Jedi who had managed to escape the initial purge. But Obi-Wan had presumably been kept away from the rest of the galaxy for all the time; maybe he didn't know how the stories of Vader had spread, how Palpatine used the legend of Anakin Skywalker to further his cause.

Or maybe Obi-Wan was just slightly delirious. He couldn't seem to keep his head up on his own, Ahsoka noticed.

"We just have to get you off this ship and then it'll be alright," she said, pausing in the middle of an intersection, trying to remember which way she had came. She chose left and continued making her way quickly through the ship.

"Who's 'we'?" Obi-Wan mumbled.

"Some members of the rebellion," Ahsoka replied. "No one you'd know, except..." She paused. "Rex. And Cody."

Obi-Wan startled at that, and it took Ahsoka a second to remember that the last memory her grandmaster probably had of Cody was of Order 66. And she knew for a fact that clones were among the troopers stationed on the ship, meaning there was a good chance they'd participated or at least been complicit in Obi-Wan's torture.

But that was for another day, another hour. Right now, they had to get Obi-Wan away.

"It'll be okay," she said, finally reaching the hanger and spotting her ship. "I've got you."

Thanks for reading! Requests are open! Requests are currently closed!

[gemmaswriting]

Anidala Fanfiction Recommendations!!

I’ve been asked for a long time for my fanfiction recommendations, so I’ve finally taken the time to compile them. If there are any you love that I missed out (this includes Vaderdala!) leave them as a reply so we can all have a good time reading together. 

Writer: Shelivesfree (fanfiction profile) This wonderful girl has some of the most amazing Anidala stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Unfortunately, a lot of them have been hiatus for a while but her Boy Next Door trilogy has two amazing parts completed. 

The stories I recommend: 

“The Boy Next Door”: “When Padme Naberrie returns to her home after 10 years, the last thing she expects to find is her childhood friend, Anakin Skywalker; the boy next door. But 10 years is a long time, and he has changed more than she is prepared for. How will she react when little Ani is now a grown man, impulsive, handsome and completely infatuated with her? Modern AU.”

“The Girl from Harvard”: “Sequel to ‘The Boy Next Door’ Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It also makes it grow more paranoid. Padme is in her last year of Harvard. Anakin has just started at the University of Chicago. Though they won't admit it, their long-distance relationship is taking it's heavy toll. Will their love prevail or will the distance prove too much for both of them? Sequel to The Boy Next Door. Modern AU.”

“look into my eyes, that's where my demons hide”:  ”Each time he comes back to her, a little piece of him is missing... left out there, in the field, with his brothers. She can see it in the way he smiles and it doesn't reach his eyes. In the way he cries to himself when he thinks she's not awake. And all she can do is hold him. Modern AU.”

“I Know Your Type”  “Am I dead?" It slips out, accidentally. She turns her head towards me, a confused look on her face and tips her head. "Excuse me?" Flashing her an impish grin, I lean casually against the wall. "I must have died and gone to heaven, because you look like an angel." The look she gives me is far from impressed. "Do you use that with all the girls, or am I just lucky?"

“we both know what we want, so why don't we fall in love?” “Rhythmic Gymnast Padme Naberrie has dreamed of being an Olympian since she was five years old. Now, after years and years of training and preparations, she's finally made it to Rio, and nothing is going to stand in the way between her and a gold medal. Except a certain Canadian beach volleyball player, perhaps.”

“Infinite” “ My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”

“for a moment” “And, just for a moment, all the worries and concerns that troubled the young couple cease to exist. Fade away to just this. Husband and wife. Asleep. Dreaming of the sweet little life they will soon bring into the world and into their hearts. Set somewhere in ROTS.”

“Procrastination” “Padmé is busy with a new bill she must bring before the next Senate meeting. Her husband has other ideas, it would seem.”

“There’s a million reasons I should give you up”  “Padmé struggles to deal with Anakin's frequent departures for weeks, even months, at a time during the Clone Wars. It's in these moments she contemplates the practicality of their marriage. Grief-stricken with loneliness, she stumbles across something she wrote a long time ago... a list of sorts. The find brings about a whole host of emotions she'd rather not deal with.”

“all I need is you” “It was her fault. His pain, his jealousy, his insecurity. It was all her fault. Padme looked up at the beautiful man in front of her, her husband, her Ani, and decided she needed to make him remember. Remind him of how much she loved him. Because no one, no man in the entire galaxy, could take the place of Anakin Skywalker.” 

“Her” “A glimpse into the Cosmic Force after Darth Vader's redemption and return to the Light Side. Anakin Skywalker is consumed by guilt and Obi-wan and Yoda are there to appease him. But it's been twenty-four years and all he wants is to see her.” 

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  Writer: SphinxScribe (Fanfiction profile/ Tumblr account @sphinxscribe ) This fantastic writer has many, many alternate takes on the plot of Revenge of the Sith - often allowing our favourite couple to have a happy ending. Their writing captures the world of Star Wars perfectly. 

The stories I recommend: 

“Where Catalysts Stand Down” “Palpatine issues Order 66, and Anakin and Padmé flee Coruscant. ROTS AU. Anakin/Padmé, Anidala.”

“Viability’s Edge” “Anakin tells Obi-Wan the truth. ROTS AU. Anakin/Padmé, Anidala.”

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Writer: Disco Shop Girl (Fanfiction profile) This writer’s take on Anidala is so well written within every story of theirs I have read. They truly capture their dynamic and relationship perfectly. 

The stories I recommend:

“Your helmet cracked” “He'd been restrained, forced to watch while her helmet cracked and the Mon Calamari sea water threatened to drown her before his eyes. Now they're free. And alone. Set at the end of the Clone Wars season 4 Water War arc.” 

“Order 66-S” “The order was to exterminate all Jedi: Past, Present and Future. Captain Rex has a different plan. Order 66-S: to save General Skywalker.”

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Writer: Rogue Darth Skywalker (Fanfiction profile/ Tumblr - @roguedarthskywalker) This wonderful person has been one of the biggest supporters of my own writing for a long time and I value them immensely! They have many delicious Anidala/Vaderdala stories for you to obsess over for hours and hours. I highly recommend following both profiles linked above.

The stories I recommend:

“Pin up Problems” “He hated the nose art. He hated seeing others degrade her other exceptional qualities by depicting her as some pin up girl. He hated thinking about how many other beings across the stars fantasized about her in such a way. At the same time, he can't deny that the art makes her look… hot. He can't deny that the sight turns him on.”

“Letting Go” “It was their custom. Every year on that fateful day, Anakin would make his way to the cemetery with his children and seek out the mausoleum where she rested."

“Far from Perfect” “Darth Vader is dead. Anakin is redeemed and lives on Naboo with Padme and their children. But not all happy endings are perfect.”

“Far from Easy” “Sequel to Far From Perfect. Redeemed Anakin Skywalker tries to make things right with his wife and kids.

“Perfect” “Happy Family style AU post ROTS. Padme wakes up in the middle of the night and ponders the most recent events in her life.”

“A Dangerous Fantasy” “Pure Smut. Padme helps Anakin fulfil a fantasy he has had since they were married- one that involves the Jedi Council Chambers.”

“Untitled” “Anakin and Padme deal with having to tell their young twins they are having another baby.”

“Strictly Professional” “There are times she hates that she has to resort to this- that rather than being in a long term relationship with someone, she chose to instead pay someone for sex. Modern AU.”  

“Out of his Depth” “I fought in a war. I commanded legions of soldiers against battle droids. I think I can handle my own four-year-old twins."

“Love and Jealousy” “Anakin gave the binders an experimental tug, testing his chances of escaping. There was none. A light chuckle left his lips after a few moments, letting his head fall back to rest on the chair. What a compromising position for a Jedi Knight to be in. Handcuffed in a respected senator's bedchambers practically naked… oh, how the holonews would rave should the story get out!” 

“Against all Odds” “He shouldn't be here. The election was only a few weeks away and the final debate was due in the next few days. There were so many other things he should be doing. He shouldn't be here, in enemy territory wrapped in the arms of the woman his boss despised. Modern AU. Smut.” 

“What we Hope is Never Found” “The impending existence of a recording of them together held dangers that went a little deeper than if they were found naked and tangled together in her office or on his cruiser. The physical proof of their relationship would cause an uproar if it were discovered. But she trusted Anakin. Smut.”

“It was Found” “Sequel to What We Hope is Never Found.”

“Things that go bump in the night” “Luke and Leia think there is a ghost in their home. Their parents know better.”

“Preparations” “She couldn't wait to meet their little ones. It hadn't been too long since they learned she was having twins, and as stressful as that idea was at first, she was quickly growing accustomed to the idea of having two perfect little babies. Her husband, however, seemed to be taking it a little worse than her.” 

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Writer: Skywalkersamidala (Archive of our Own profile/ Tumblr @markantonys) I absolutely adore the Anidala stories created by this author whether they’re aus or canon! They nail the couple’s dynamic throughout their many wonderful stories. 

The stories I recommend:

“Snow Place like Home” “For genre-typical convoluted reasons involving ill-timed blizzards, Padmé is forced to spend the holidays at Anakin's house. Anakin isn't as upset about his boss staying with him for Christmas as he probably should be.“

“Soulmates R Us” “Anakin works at a toy store, and single-mother-of-twins Padmé is becoming one of the store's best customers.”

“Heirs of Light and Darkness” “After escaping the Jedi purge two years ago made him the most wanted fugitive in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker has at last been captured by the Empire. He expects to be killed, but Lady Padmé Amidala, the imperial heir, has other ideas.”

“Friendly Competition” “Playing Quidditch is awfully difficult when you’re in love with the rival Seeker. Snapshots of Anakin and Padmé’s 7 years at Hogwarts.“

“Perfect” “The war is over, Luke and Leia are five years old, and Anakin and Padmé finally have the peaceful life and big family they've always dreamed of. But their life is about to get a little less peaceful and their family a little bigger.“

“Nos Cedamus Amori“ “Anakin is a gladiator and a slave. Padmé is the wife of the Roman emperor's heir. Circumstances should never even allow them to meet, let alone fall in love.“

“I Do Take Two” “Thirty years after their clandestine wedding on Naboo, Anakin and Padmé decide to finally do the proper wedding ceremony they never got to have, with all their friends and family present.“

“Flat Tire” “Who knew something as simple as getting a flat tire could change the entire course of your life?“

“Strays” “Anakin had always had a penchant for taking in strays.”

“Five weddings and a funeral” “Padmé's feeling gloomy about her perpetual singleness, but everything changes when she meets an attractive stranger at her sister's wedding.“

“Pipe Dream” “Padmé's new plumber is the most attractive human being she's ever laid eyes on, so naturally, she keeps faking plumbing emergencies so she can keep seeing him.“

“Birthdays and Birth days” “Anakin gets a birthday surprise — two of them, in fact.“

“Spouses with Benefits” “Anakin and Padmé wake up after a wild night in Vegas and discover they accidentally got married—and that Ahsoka posted about it all over social media, so now every single person they know is texting and calling them to offer congratulations. They decide to save face by pretending the marriage was totally 100% intentional and not a drunk mistake at all, keeping up the charade for six months, and then quietly getting divorced. But a lot can change in six months…“

“Two Halves Make a Whole” “Anakin is the single dad of Luke. Padme is the single mom of Leia. Luke and Leia meet in kindergarten and become best friends. The rest is history.“

“Home” “In which "Darth Vader" is no more than Anakin's playtime alter ego (happy Skywalker family AU)“

“Someday” “At age fourteen, Padme receives a marriage proposal from the nine-year-old boy next door and tells him to ask her again when she's thirty. Surely he'll have forgotten all about it by then.“

“Across the Centuries” “They meet each other in every century, but something always goes wrong before they can make it to happily-ever-after.”

“Madam President” “Between late nights and headaches and mountains of paperwork and fierce opposition from her political opponents, President Padmé Amidala already had enough on her plate. And then she just had to go and fall for one of her bodyguards, a relationship which would ruin her reputation and his career if anyone were to find out about it. Also, someone's trying to kill her.“

“Scars” “How do Anakin and Padmé go from "I love you" to "I do"? Missing scene from Attack of the Clones.”

“The Bet” “Anakin's had a crush on Padmé since fourth grade, and after putting up with his pining for seven years, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are finally stepping in and making a bet that he can't ask her to junior prom in the spring. Meanwhile, Padmé is realizing that Anakin isn't as annoying as she'd always thought. In fact, her feelings towards him are starting to go in quite the opposite direction...”

“Three” “His and Padmé’s first wedding anniversary isn’t going nearly as well as Anakin had hoped it would. Until, suddenly, it’s so much better than he could have ever imagined.“

“The Anakin Disaster” “Padmé is mortified upon waking up beside her strictly platonic childhood best friend Anakin Skywalker the morning after a drunken one-night stand. A couple weeks later, she discovers that's the least of their problems.“

“Will You Fake Marry Me?” “Anakin's boss may or may not have accidentally given her family the impression that she's engaged to him. Anakin may or may not be pleased about the situation”

“Aggressive Negotiations” “Empress Amidala invites Lord Vader to her private rooms to persuade him to form an alliance with the Empire. Her methods are very effective.”

“Troubling Implications” “Perhaps he hated himself for it—Padmé thought he probably did—but he came that night (several times, in fact). And the night after that, and the next one, and the next, until it became a habit that neither of them seemed especially inclined to break. (Sequel to "Aggressive Negotiations")

“Imperial Obligations” “Padmé's advisors suggest that she get rid of Vader and make a politically advantageous marriage. The Empress is less than pleased. (Sequel to "Aggressive Negotiations" and "Troubling Implications")”

“Welcome Home” “Anakin Skywalker closes his eyes on the face of his son. When he opens them again, he is in Naboo, and someone is waiting for him.“

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Writer: Shawn30 (Fanfiction profile) The one, the only, the deservedly famous! I think every Anidala fan is aware of this f a n t a s t i c writer’s work. Deliciously smutty. Unbelievably well written. Unfortunately, many of their works have been left uncompleted for years but the stories are still worth reading!

 “Whisper” “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but can also whither your soul and breed doubt in your heart. AP angsty erotica.”

“The Ties that Bind” “Given a brief period of time off during the Clone Wars, Padmé and Anakin visit her family at the Lake Country estate on Naboo. A family that still doesn't know they are married, although they are about to find out. Complete.” 

“The Light and the Dark” “Chapter 1 in the Hearts and Souls series. An unexpected Separatist attack 'accidentally' reunites two star-crossed lovers, giving them a brief moment of peace at a time of war. Complete.”

“Shadows of Winter” “Chapter 2 in the Hearts and Souls series. With six days to spend together celebrating their two year anniversary, Anakin and Padme travel separately to a remote planet in the Hoth system. Romance, passion, and danger await them. Complete.” 

 “Beloved” “Chapter 3 in the "Hearts and Souls" series. When faced with the most horrific news imaginable, Padme's utter desperation forces her to turn to Obi-Wan and even Chancellor Palpatine for help. Her greatest personal challenge awaits... Complete” 

 “Paradise” “The sequel to "Beloved." Following Padme's daring rescue of her husband, the Skywalker's return to Naboo for eight days to heal, unwind, spend time with family, and deal with their connection to the Dark Side of the Force.” 

 “Salvation” “After facing his moment of truth, Anakin and Padmé must finally deal with the consequences. Obi-Wan reveals a startling discovery. Complete” 

“Scandalous” “The sequel to Salvation. On the eve of Padmé Skywalker's official ascension to the role of Vice Chair of the Republic, Anakin steals her away for a wild vacation to Cloud City. Complete.”

“Sacred” “Chapter 2. Ahsoka and Jo'Seth grow closer. Padme's trip to the Jedi Temple on Republic business turns a bit more adventurous. Anakin and Obi-Wan have a heart to heart talk about moving forward.”

“Belonging” “A private afternoon lunch to catch up with an old friend during the Clone Wars reveals a great deal to ObiWan Kenobi. AP”

“Before the Seasons Change” “With the Darth Sidious finally defeated and the Clone Wars ended, Anakin and Padme consider what comes next in their lives. Anakin/Padme”

“Amor Vincit Omnia” “AU. After a three and a half year separation Vice Chair Amidala and Jedi Master Skywalker have some unfinished business as the Clone Wars have finally ended and Palpatine is dead.”

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If there’s any stories I missed, let me know!

[cloudyskywars]

Back to December is about Anakin and Obi-Wan and here’s 2,000 words why

So there I was, listening to Back to December, you know, as one does. And then I nearly started crying because this is without a doubt an Anakin and Obi-Wan song. I roped my friend @renegadeontherunn into doing a full song analysis with me. The whole analysis is based from Anakin singing this to Obi-Wan immediately after the events of Return of the Jedi. So everyone’s a Force Ghost, and feelings ensue. Enjoy the angst! 

The analysis will be below the cut, because as I said, it’s approximately 2,000 words. 

I'm so glad you made time to see me/ How's life? Tell me, how's your family?/ I haven't seen them in a while - Obi-Wan’s family was the Jedi. And Anakin has spent the past twenty five years hunting down the Jedi, eliminating them one by one. And now that he’s one with the Force, he’s gotta be wondering, “Are the other Jedi here too?” because he may not have realized it, but they were his family as well. I’m just imagining Anakin asking Obi-Wan where everyone else is, and Obi-Wan having to tell him that not everyone stayed with the Force the way that he and Yoda did.  

Your guard is up and I know why- Obi-Wan’s guard probably wasn’t up, but Anakin would expect it to be. He rightfully feels guilty, and probably expects Obi-Wan to hate him and not trust him anymore. 

Because the last time you saw me/ Is still burned in the back of your mind - on Mustafar, Anakin literally burning, the image no doubt haunting Obi-Wan ever since. In Obi-Wan’s 20 years on Tatooine, how many times do you think he replayed that memory in his mind? You were my brother Anakin, I loved you/I hate you. (grouped with previous two lines)

So this is me swallowin' my pride- Anakin as a Force Ghost, standing in front of Obi-Wan. He’s asking, begging for forgiveness, even though he knows he doesn’t deserve it. Anakin was always prideful for a Jedi, and this is him humbling himself and asking for Obi-Wan’s forgiveness (for so many things; Order 66, turning to the dark side, killing the Jedi, killing him)

Standin' in front of you sayin' I'm sorry for that night - the night Anakin fell to the Dark Side, their fight on Mustafar, and also probably the last 20+ years of him as a Sith and causing so much death and destruction. He’s sorry for so much, but especially that night when everything went wrong. 

And I go back to December all the time - he revisits that battle in his mind constantly, still hating Obi-Wan as Vader, but feeling deep (deep deep) down, an enormous sense of regret and guilt, and especially at the end when he reunites with Obi-Wan

It turns out freedom ain't nothin' but missin' you - We see in Episode 2 that Anakin feels that Obi-Wan is constantly holding him back, preventing him from reaching his full potential (feelings no doubt put there by Palpatine) Once he turns to the Dark Side, he believes he is stronger than ever, (“I’m stronger than the Emperor, I can overthrow him.”)and so most likely feels “free” from Obi-Wan and the duty of being a Jedi. But we know that he learned, eventually, that all the Dark Side brings is loneliness and despair. “It is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith — because now yourself is all you will ever have.” 

Wishin' I'd realized what I had when you were mine - Anakin spent much of his time as Obi-Wan’s Padawan feeling less than and like he was never good enough for Obi-Wan. Then, when he finally became a Knight, he still felt held back by the Jedi. In reality, he had a substantial support system there waiting for him, ready to help him, that he never realized existed. He had the tools and the people he needed to be a successful Jedi and to have a happy life and to stay in the Light, but he didn’t use them. And now he’s wishing he had. That he’d recognized his and Obi-Wan’s friendship when he’d had it.

I'd go back to December, turn around and make it alright- Can you IMAGINE the regret Anakin is feeling right now? After 25 years of being the terror of the galaxy, Darth Vader, he has finally returned from the dark and knows all the bad things he’s done, and now recognizes that they were bad things. He slaughtered younglings, helped strike down the remaining Jedi, even took away the clones’ free will. Just imagining the pure regret that he must be feeling at this moment. 

These days, I haven't been sleepin' - REVENGE OF THE SITH ANYONE??? We know for a fact due to the Matthew Stover novelization of ROTS that Anakin was getting almost no sleep during the events of the movie. I believe when he Fell he had been without sleep for,,,, at least three days? (I think it was five but I’m not sure)  Anakin please take a nap. Nightmares!!! But also, as Vader, I’m pretty sure Anakin doesn’t actually need to sleep or at least doesn’t need a ton of it, so again he’s literally not sleeping and only sustaining himself on the Dark Side.

Stayin' up playin' back myself leavin'- Do you think- do you ever think that during his time as Darth Vader, he would constantly replay those days when everything fell apart in his head? I’m specifically thinking about the scene where he marches on the Jedi Temple. Granted, in that scene, he isn’t leaving, per say. He’s returning home, but it is no longer the place he calls home. I imagine that scene playing on repeat in his mind, because that’s the moment that he passed the point of no return. Before that, yes, he had already screwed up, big time. But he hadn’t crossed the line yet, I don't think. 

Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times- At this moment I’m sure he’s feeling loads and loads of guilt and regret, as discussed above. But I can’t help but think he’s also thinking about the good times he shared with Obi-Wan and Padme. (Padme specifically because of summer and Naboo for that one good week, where they fell in love and it was beautiful.) And although his relationship with Obi-Wan was strained near the end (and eventually fell apart) there were good times, times that they both cherished. During his time as Darth Vader, he probably looked back on those memories with hate. But now that he’s Anakin again, he is probably remembering those times fondly.

I watched you laughin' from the passenger's side- [insert gif of Obi-Wan smiling in the speeder] 

And realized I loved you in the fall - in the Fall. This could be for either Anakin or Obi-Wan. There must’ve been a part of Anakin that knew he was lying when he shouted “I hate you!” and felt happy when Obi-Wan said he loved him. And for Obi-Wan, he knew he loved Anakin, he had just never said it to him before. The only time he did was when Anakin had Fallen and was dying. And he probably regretted that with every piece of himself during his exile on Tatooine. 

And then the cold came, the dark days - There are so many instances where Palpatine is connected with the cold, with darkness, with everything that is the opposite of the Jedi and, more importantly, of Obi-Wan. The darkness referred to here is the Dark Side, when it became overwhelming and Anakin fell.

When fear crept into my mind - Anakin’s already-intense fears of never being good enough or Obi-Wan not reciprocating Anakin’s love were intensified and heightened by Palpatine’s influence and him planting even more fear and doubt into Anakin’s head. This fear and this doubt in his friendship with Obi-Wan was ultimately one of the reasons he fell. Yes, it was his fear for Padme’s life that really did him in. Anakin was known as “The Hero With No Fear.” But there at the end, he became a person full of fear, and as we know: “Fear is the path to the dark side … fear leads to anger … anger leads to hate … hate leads to suffering.”

You gave me all your love and all I gave you was goodbye -Again, this is Anakin finally realizing that Obi-Wan did love him, that he was a good Master for him, and it was Anakin who hadn’t seen it, who had betrayed him. There is a quote from the book Lords of the Sith in which Vader acknowledges his betrayal of everyone he loved. Palpatine: “‘You were a traitor, were you not, Lord Vader?... To the Jedi. To Padme. To Obi-Wan. To all those you loved.’ Vader: Vader did not know the answer his Master wanted to hear, so he simply answered with the truth. ‘Yes.”’

I'd go back to December, turn around and change my own mind- Talking about guilt, again. Without a doubt, Anakin would go back to where it all went wrong if he could. He wouldn’t turn, he’d save Padme, he’d do everything differently if he could.

I miss your tan skin, your sweet smile/ So good to me, so right- Obi-Wan was so good to him. Obviously in a platonic sense. But Obi-Wan was the best Master for Anakin, and you can’t change my mind. Even if they had a rough start and maybe Obi-Wan should have had some time to recover from his Master dying before he took on his Padawan of his own, but I digress. He did the best he could with Anakin, and was most likely far more patient and understanding than other Jedi Masters would have been. Of course at the time, Anakin did realize this and only resented Obi-Wan. Hindsight is 2020, and Anakin would have only realized after everything went down how good Obi-Wan was to him. 

And how you held me in your arms that September night/ The first time you ever saw me cry - This one doesn’t exactly fit because apparently Anakin and Obi-Wan never hug in canon and that is a crime (Filoni and Lucas I’m coming for you). But I am pointedly ignoring canon and choosing to believe that when things got really hard or bad, (after Satine died, maybe even after Ahsoka left the Order) they hugged. Maybe it was a sad hug, the kind where one of them breaks down in tears and the other just holds them as they cry. But I am confident that they have hugged, so this line applies to them. Fight me on it, I dare you. (I’m kidding but only partially) 

But if we loved again, I swear I'd love you right - After realizing how wrong he was in becoming Vader and how his relationship with Obi-Wan wasn’t one-sided, and especially after seeing the pure, selfless love of Luke, which ultimately brings him back to the Light, Anakin is no doubt thinking of the millions of ways he could’ve done better. He wants Obi-Wan to know how sorry he is and that, yes it took him all these years, but he’s learned his lesson. If he could do it all again, which he probably wants to, he would do it right this time. He swears to himself (and to Obi-Wan) that if he just gets this second chance, he’ll do everything right. 

I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't- Anakin knows he can’t go back and fix everything, no matter how much he may want to. All he can do is ask, beg, even, for Obi-Wan’s forgiveness

So if the chain is on your door, I understand - the metaphorical chain isn’t on Obi-Wan’s door, of course, he’d always welcome Anakin back. He wanted nothing more than to see Anakin succeed as a Jedi and be happy, and so of course he’s ready to see Anakin again, to forgive him. But still, Anakin doubts Obi-Wan’s love and his own worth and braces himself to be rejected, even though Obi-Wan’s arms are open. (this might be niche but think: doctor who, “You betrayed my trust, you betrayed our friendship, you betrayed everything I ever stood for. Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?”)

And, that’s it! If you read this entire thing, Fiona and I love you from the bottom of our hearts. As you can tell, we feel a lot of things about this song, and hope you enjoyed our analysis! 

[redeemed-wren]

AU where order 66 happens, but Anakin doesn't fully commit to being Vader. When Palps is like 'hey go murder all the children in the Jedi temple," Anakin takes a second and thinks and is like "Yknow what, maybe that's going a little too far" and nopes out of there. He heads over to Padme and is like "look so I may have done something really bad and been involved in Master Windu's death and I know who the Sith lord is and I nearly joined him but look, we gotta go" and Padme's like "excuse me?" and Anakin's like "yell at me later, Sidious knows about you and I know he's gonna come after me and he may use you to do that let's go" and they yeet off later. (Anakin is extremely unstable cos he just helped to kill Windu, plus he probably thinks his last chance to save Padme is gone)

Meanwhile, Obi Wan's playing hide and seek with Cody on Utapau, and Ahsoka and Rex are making a mess on their way back from Mandalore. Obi Wan and Yoda make it back to Coruscant, see what happened at the Jedi temple, Obi Wan sends his message, but there's no Anakin to go after so I guess they go after Palps together? Anyway, all three survive, (tho Yoda might die idk) and Obi Wan yeets off to hide.

Ahsoka and Rex, fresh off order 66 start trying to find Anakin and Obi Wan and any survivors. Somehow, they all manage to meet up, Anakin is somewhat settled by the fact that his closest family are all alive and the twins are born not long after, safely and happily.

The five of them plus the babies then proceed to goof off around the galaxy, causing shenanagins and kidnapping clones to remove their chips (Cody is first, Rex insists on it) Sheev, who Did Not see this coming is frantically trying to hunt them down but they're too sneaky and keep avoiding him, all the while building a rebellion of Jedi who survived and rescued clones.

Anyway Palps probably chokes on a carrot or something and dies and then the gang work to make the galaxy better again the end.

[bardicindignation]

For @rhea-imagined and @cross-d-a: my star wars fix-it ideas for question...49 I think? in that star wars ask game from over a week ago (Will I write all of these? Probably not! At least one or two? Hopefully I'll get to them eventually) 😅 Also! If you two (or anyone else for that matter) has any questions or comments, please feel free to jump into my ask box or my DM's! :

1. the No Time Series (yes, I am planning a series, I've already gotten most of the timeline written down) fix-it where Anakin doesn't fall to the darkside, but as a backup plan Palpatine punts him into the timestream (bc he clearly has some kind of access to that force nexus thing in rebels) and sends out a clone he made of Anakin (complete with warped memories) to play out the rest of RotS and become Vader

The title, and also all of the titles of the fics in the series come from the lyrics of No Time because while I was coming up the idea, that song was frequently stuck in my head and the lines seemed oddly apt despite the fact none of the actual subject matter has anything to do with star wars, or anything that happens in the fic

This also includes:

Qui-Gon lives (bc of Dooku shenanigans) but is trapped on a planet neither he or anyone else who lands/crashes there can leave until Ahsoka, Rex, Feemor and their respective battalions (I Do Not See Victory and Death what do you mean Jesse died he's right there) crash shortly after order 66

Anakin finding his way back to his own time and stealing back his men (and then a bunch of other battalions) from Vader

Ahsoka having her own time travel shenanigans

Fives and Tup both live bc reasons

A reunion on Vader's star destroyer in which everyone shows up to rescue either the person undercover, the person who got captured, or the people who hared off do do the rescuing by themselves and everyone has a very, very, weird day

2. Another Qui-Gon lives au set during the Clone Wars where he has very specific amnesia caused by hiding so thoroughly hiding the force that he couldn't be seen or sensed. Ahsoka finds him by accident after leaving the jedi and shenanigans ensue This also includes:

Echo getting rescued a few months early

Ventress the (at first) reluctant ally

Tup and Fives live again

Obi-Wan and Anakin spend a lot of time being Very Confused and Suspicous

Order 66 is avoided

3. Same as before except Qui-Gon ends up on the Trandoshan game-hunting world and meets Ahsoka when she ends up there

Also Including:

more of the trapped padawans/younglings living because they have full fledged (if amnesiac) jedi master with them who can do aforementioned hiding in the force

coded messages/distress calls disguised as lunch orders at Dex's

4. What I'm calling the Informant Sergei au even though that's really only a small part of it: this is the undercover Anakin au which (along with bullying Tarkin) also includes

Secret jedi padawan Mara Jade (also a lot of other ppl undercover)

Han and Chewie getting roped into everything when Luke and Obi-wan need a ride to go pick up Leia, who got into trouble trying to find Luke (they were dreamsharing) and then didn't end up actually needing to be rescued

Obi-wan getting a very weird present from Ventress

Freaks-of-the-force!skywalkers

More Ahsoka time travel shenanigans

The Mandalorian happening a good decade earlier for the express purpose of fitting in some background Bobadin and also Fennec, because I love her.

the aforementioned bullying of tarkin, most of which consisted of a running joke involving supposed-to-be-dead Quinlan Vos. I've actually written the first part of this and you can find it here :)

4. Vader finds out about the chips after seeing post order 66 Cody, is freaked out into coming back to the light and manages to get all of the clone troopers he possibly can onto his star destroyer and successfully fakes all of their deaths, including his own, gives them all the information the Empire has on the Jedi and their brothers and also a list of planets they can use to hide, then peaces out to go it alone with only his guild complex for company. Also including:

A memorial wall(s) of murals that the clones paint on the star destroyer

Gratuitous ghost imagery

Plo lives and is in charge of the little ones

Anakin's planet sized guilt complex

the jedi younglings live

5. Time travel fix it where a whole bunch of ppl find themselves back in the clone wars during the Umbara campaign, some in their old bodies, some not. Includes

Tarkin biting the dust a few decades early

Luke and Leia (and Ezra) stuck in, like, 4 yr old bodies with all of their memories intact

Anakin's List of Acceptable Murder Victims (including Palpatine, Tarkin and Krell)

Qui-Gon unexpectedly finding himself both alive/corporeal and in the past, and immediately making it the Council's problem

Order 66 happening early, but to much less effect

Anakin and Kanan's fun across space roadtrip to save the galaxy

[crazyclonefan]

(Un)breaking bond

Characters:

Ahsoka Tano

ghost!Anakin Skywalker

ghost!Obi-Wan Kenobi

Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Summary:

For the first time in many years she feels it again. It was Anakin. Their connection was restored again. His light flashed brightly, so that after a couple of moments it would die out forever. // Ghost!Anakin come to Ahsoka.

“If we survive this, Snips, we will have a serious conversation.”

Ahsoka frowns. She absolutely does not like the new nickname, but it is too late to argue, and there is no time for it. She must protect the new Master while he does something reckless, keep an eye on Stinky and ensure that the first day as a Padawan does not become the last. And besides, wasn’t she the first one who awarded her Master with a new nickname?

“Hey, Snips!” “Hey, Skyguy!”

An endless battles, training and rare hours of respite. But Ahsoka is happy. For the first time she is not being held accountable for the fact that she is not like the rest of the Padawans. Nobody looks at her disapprovingly, if she allow herself to be herself. Anakin is the same. She realizes this pretty quickly, watching him in the temple. Probably, the Council expected to moderate his ardor when she was assighned to him... Well, the Council was wrong. A more chaotic duo could not be found in the whole galaxy.

“Snips!” “Master!”

Ahsoka feels that Anakin become overprotective more and more. He tries to shield her from dangerous missions. Unsuccessfully of course. But Ahsoka knows that he will try again when he feels that the mission may be too dangerous. Mortis has changed a lot.

“Ahsoka ...” “Master...”

Ahsoka feels so alone and betrayed for the first time in her life. The Council, which was supposed to protect, turned away from her in a moment of need. She was persecuted as if the criminal were those whom she had recently called friends. Anakin believed in her, but not the rest of them. There was no apology, there were only words about the possibilities of the Force... Does this need to be said to a falsely accused person?

Ahsoka cannot and does not want to lie to herself. She leaves, trying with all her might not to turn around. She knows how much it hurts him. But can she stay after everything that happened? Time. She needs time to collect herself in pieces anew and to understand who she really is.

“Hello Master. It’s been a while.” “Ahsoka!”

Ahsoka is not sure she is ready to return. She is not sure that she found all answers she was looking for after leaving the Order. She got confused and angry at this whole situation. The Jedi should not turn away from those who need their help. She is tired of the Jedi playing politics, she is tired of being a soldier. She is tired of the war.

“Master Kenobi always says there is no such thing as luck.” “It's good that I taught you otherwise.”

She is overwhelmed with emotions. She wants to tell him so much: that he is dear to her, that she may be back someday. But there is no time. They both know that they are not saying goodbye. They will meet as soon as Ahsoka returns to Coruscant. She didn’t know that she was seeing Anakin for the last time...

“Anakin!”

She feels something terrible has happened to him. But there is absolutely no time to think about it. Order 66 divides her life into before and after, leaving behind only pain and regrets. She no longer feels Anakin.

When she senses him years later, she is horrified. The man who scared the whole galaxy with his name could not be Anakin. She could not believe it. What could happen that day to turn him into a monster?

“Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka turns around, not believing her ears. This is Anakin. The same Anakin, whom she knew and jokingly called Skyguy. The master, whose death she mourned for many years. He was alive. Somewhere deep in those terrible black armor, her mentor's heart still beat. But this impression is fleeting. There is Darth Vader agan, a man who would not stop at nothing to achieve his goal. But ... Why didn’t he fight in full force? Why didn’t he kill her when he had so many opportunities? Ahsoka wants to believe. Ahsoka can't give up so easily.

***

For the first time in many years she feels it again. It was Anakin. Their connection was restored again. His light flashed brightly, so that after a couple of moments it would die out forever.

No one's ever really gone. Obi-Wan and Master Yoda have proven this. Ahsoka knows that he will come. When she feels the slight vibrations of the Force next to her, she knows what she will see when she turns around.

"Ahsoka?"

She turns around. Anakin has not changed at all since their last meeting aboard the Resolute. He’s still young and young, as if his age hadn’t touched him at all.

“You... haven't changed at all.”

Anakin smiles awkwardly.

"And you grew up a real beauty, Snips."

The nickname flies from his lips a little uncertainly. As if he was afraid that she would not want to talk to him.

“Despite all the efforts of Darth Sidious, I'm still here.”

She involuntarily recalls the order of sixty-six and what happened in the world between worlds. If Anakin had not been her mentor, she would not have make it. A smile disappears from his face, giving way to pain and regret.

"I'm so sorry. I will understand if you no longer want to see me and talk to me. I have done many terrible things. Too many people died because of me ... All that I was thinking then was Padme and my child, and I did not think at all about the consequences. I was hoping to save her, but in the end I became the cause of her death ..."

Anakin trails off for a few moments and looks up at Ahsoka.

“I let Palpatine kill Master Windu and ... there was no turning back for me.” I saw the wreckage of the ship on that snowy moon ... I did not want everything to turn around like that. You, Rex and the guys were dear to me, and to lose you like that ...” “Enough.”

Ahsoka closes his eyes, trying to ward off painful memories. After all these years, it’s still hard to remember that tragedy. Yes, probably, partly Anakin was guilty of what happened. But she was no less guilty. It was she who liberated Maul, and he destroyed not only their ship, but also destroyed many innocent lives after that.

“No need to say anything about that moon and the wreckage. I do not want to remember this. "

She sighs. The thought that she could do more to save him did not give her rest all these years.

"It was my fault... I freed Maul to distract clones, but... I did not think about the consequences and... If you want to apologize for these wreckage, then you must apologize for this to Rex. He went through a lot of worse than me. These were his brothers..."

They were silent for a while.

“To be honest, I also need to apologize to you. For leaving you when you needed me the most. If I told Master Yoda that Maul told me about Sidious... Maybe it would have been completely different. I wanted to return to the Order after Master Kenobi defeated Grievous and the war finally ended. I hoped that we would have more time, and I could tell you everything that I did not say then at Resolute."

Anakin hesitantly approaches her and does what Ahsoka wanted to do for a long time. He hugs her so tightly, as if he were not dying at all. It was as if they were back in the days when the Republic and the Jedi Order existed, and they themselves were a Master and a Padawan. Ahsoka no longer holds back tears, hugging him.

“Forgive me, I let you down as a Master and made you go through hell,” he whispers. “I forgive you, Skyguy. If you were not my Master, I would have died on the day that order 66 came. I survived thanks to all that you taught me. All these years, I regretted that we could not say goodbye. I am glad that we now have this opportunity."

Anakin lets her go and shakes her head.

“You need to thank Luke. He believed in me, no matter what ... I could not let Sidious kill him. He is all that is left of Padmé and the best that is left of me. There is Leia, but ... I don’t think she can ever forgive me for everything that she had to endure through my fault."

Ahsoka put a hand on his shoulder.

“She just needs more time.” Let her get used to the idea of who her real father is." “Thank you, Snips.” He sent her a grateful smile. “You, Leia and Luke are the best that I left behind.” "Not only this. You left behind something no less important. You defeated the emperor and restored the balance of the Force. This is much more than any of us could do."

They did not notice how Obi-Wan appeared. He smiles into his beard and puts his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

“Thank you, Master, but could you stop talking about balance? It seems to me that my children and Ahsoka are much more important than that! “Anakin...”

Ahsoka can't help laughing. For a moment, she returned to the good old days, when Anakin and Obi-Wan argued about something, competing in wit and sarcasm. But the impression quickly passes, leaving a place of bitterness. They are both dead and this is probably the last time she sees them.

“It's a pity that we have to say goodbye after such a short meeting,” Ahsoka finally voiced her thoughts.

Obi-Wan smiles at her, touching her shoulder.

“You can always find us by trusting in the Force. No one ever leaves forever.

“I will always be there if you need to, Snips,” Anakin nods.

They disappear, leaving her alone. Ahsoka closes his eyes and listens to the Force. Peace and tranquility. This is exactly what Obi-Wan was talking about. Balance. Anakin’s sacrifice was not in vain. Now everything should work out.

“I will look after Leah and Luke for your sake, Master. I promise. "

[ilonga]

Got some Avatar Au Questions! So I'm assuming mustafar deviates significantly from canon, but how do obi-wan and anakin sort things out? How do obi-wan and Ahsoka escape palpatine's purge? When Anakin joins up with the rebellion, what is the reunion like for obi-wan, anakin, & Ahsoka? (The last one might be spoilery, so I completely understand if you do not want to elaborate on it)

oooh these are questions I’m super excited to answer!!

ok, to start with answering these questions, let’s first explain how Order 66 goes down in this au. 

As I already mentioned, Palpatine has some sort of team up/deal with Vaatu that allows him quite a bit of control over the spirits, and he’s been using this power to orchestrate the spirit attacks starting with Maul so long ago. As the years passed, Palpatine increased the spirit attacks and the destruction and death they caused, and used this to gain more power himself and, eventually, create an army to fight them. At the end of the AOTC-adjacent era, he, despite Padme’s fighting against it (”We have had peace with the spirits, respected them, for centuries--we must find out why they are attacking, not escalate the conflict!”), creates the Grand Army of the Four Nations to fight back against the spirits in the first Spirit War in centuries. He then conscripts nonbenders into the army and places members of Raava’s Order, benders, at the head of various battalions. 

When it comes time for Order 66, Palpatine orders the spirits to posses various nonbenders and has them attack their Generals/Commanders with intent to kill, taking most of them by surprise. Similar to canon, most of the benders are slaughtered while some manage to escape. A lot of the nonbenders are then killed/disposed of, so Palpatine doesn’t have many people who know the truth in the way (and also, he can claim that the benders killed them in their quest for power and turn the public against them even more). In addition, for benders not in battles/in the temple, Palpatine sends the Inquisitors, firebenders that he’s kidnapped and trained in secret over the years. 

Ahsoka in this au (an airbender) is a bit like Jinora from Legend of Korra; she has a strong spiritual connection and connection to the spirit world. Because of this, she’s able to save herself and Obi-wan, and save some of the nonbenders from the spirits’ possession, such as Rex and some others. In the chaos, they get separated and don’t really have time to figure out what just happened, but they both know, to an extent, that Palpatine is behind this, and that most of Raava’s Order has just been slaughtered.

Then, Obi-wan learns that Anakin killed the avatar (Shaak Ti).  

He’s betrayed, and confused, and furious, and in complete shock. He’s also mentally not in a great place; he’s just seen his friends and comrades slaughtered in cold blood. He thinks that Anakin was in on the plan to wipe them out completely (Anakin, meanwhile, doesn’t know about Order 66 and doesn’t learn about it until he wakes up after the Mustafar-adjacent battle), and had been working with Palpatine (because why else would Anakin kill Shaak Ti? How could Anakin kill Shaak Ti?). 

So he goes to confront Anakin, and in a bit of a reverse of canon, Obi-wan’s the one who’s angry and on the offensive here, and initiates the fight. It’s worth noting that Anakin’s also not in a great place mentally; aside from having just killed the Avatar, he thinks his wife and unborn children were murdered because of the Order and that the Order he’s spent years fighting for has just been trying to gain power and suppress nonbenders all along (Pong Krell, anyone?). When Obi-wan attacks him, the conclusion he draws is “Oh no, he was in on the conspiracy too. He was in on the thing with Padme too.” because why else would Obi-wan be attacking him so viciously out of nowhere? So now they’re both sure they’ve been betrayed by the other, and they’re fighting. Usually, in a fight between benders, there’s some tradition, some honor. The swords, a big part of duels according to the traditions of the Order, are used. In this fight, none of that is used. Obi-wan forgoes them entirely; it’s a very much “how could you”, emotional, blunt force, unrefined kind of fight. Obi-wan blasts water, shards of ice, waves at Anakin, Anakin dodges, responds in turn with spurts and jets of fire. Both know each other’s techniques inside and out, obviously; it’s a very even fight. At one point Obi-wan yells something adjacent to his “you were my brother” line in canon, a “how could you betray me, us, like this?”, or a “how could you?”, smthing like that, and Anakin has a split second of distraction because what is Obi-wan talking about? What happened to the Order? 

Obi-wan takes advantage of this distraction and his next hit knocks Anakin unconscious; he then freezes Anakin in a massive block of ice. He flees, then, it all being too overwhelming. He can’t bring himself to strike any kind of killing blow. He doesn’t know, then or later, if he left Anakin there hoping he would die or hoping he would survive. Years pass and Obi-wan seriously regrets the fight, especially regrets that he never found out why Anakin sided with Palpatine, or killed Shaak Ti. He realizes that there must have been something he didn’t know, and wishes he hadn’t attacked him so rashly and had at least gotten answers.

As for Anakin, Palpatine’s lackeys find him hours or maybe even days after the fight, and get him out of the ice. The time spent in the ice leaves him with frostbite and he ends up having to get three limbs amputated (his right arm and both legs). It also leaves him with permanent tremors. He gets prosthetics, which he can power with a low level-lightning type technique, and armor and a helmet, which Palpatine forces him to wear. He’s forced to wear the armor for a couple reasons; to hide his identity as a former member of Raava’s Order and a beloved hero, to hide the tremors, which Palpatine views as a sign of visible weakness, and because Palpatine enjoys the feeling of owning Anakin and the armor is a way to mark that.

Anakin physically joining the Rebellion happens right after he tries to sacrifice himself in Palpatine’s throne room so that Luke can escape, and though he manages to take out all of the guards/inquisitors and hold off Palpatine for some time, he gets blasted with a hell of a lot of lightning and fully expects to die right there. Luke goes into the Avatar state and gets them both out, and is able to do enough healing so that Anakin survives the encounter. He gets them to the Rebellion and basically? Begs Obi-wan to heal Anakin. 

“I know he’s Vader, I know what he’s done to you, to the Order, but he sacrificed himself to rescue me and he’s dying, you have to help him--”

Obi-wan, of course, does, and has been living with his regrets and missing his little brother for so long that he probably would have done it without the begging anyways, at the very least so he can finally get answers from Anakin.

So Anakin is being slowly but surely healed by Obi-wan (it probably takes him months to recover tbh), and there’s plenty of angst because Obi-wan sees the extent of the injuries he caused and guilt, and because the first time Anakin wakes up--

Well, Anakin fully expected to die, right? And now he’s not dead which makes no sense, he was ready to die (and he wakes up and he thinks, even if I’m not dead now, I’ll be dead soon enough--either the lightning will do me in or Obi-wan will, if he had any sense he’d kill me--obviously he’s not mentally in a great place but being tortured and manipulated and slowly fighting back against the Firelord for years will do that to you), but it’s also good because he’s been Blue Spirit, a double agent, for years ever since Luke revealed himself to Anakin, and this means he has a chance to give the vital information he has on the Empire’s attack plans, ship schematics, etc. 

So the first time he wakes up, when he can finally get his eyes to focus, he gets Obi-wan’s attention and basically starts babbling about attack plans, schematics, weaknesses, etc etc. And Obi-wan’s like “no, wait, you’re still weak, you need to recover, go back to sleep--” and Anakin’s like “no time, you need this information before I die--” and a stressful time is had by all. The next time he wakes up, he’s a bit less all over the place and it slowly starts to sink in that he is going to survive after all, so the urgency dies down a bit. Obi-wan gets the full story of how Palpatine manipulated him, what happened that night, etc, and Anakin gets the full story of what exactly happened during Order 66, what actually happened to Padme, what happened to his kid (kids, he has two--major shock is had). Ahsoka is the one to tell him that Palpatine was controlling the spirits all along. 

He’s surprised, of course, but also somewhat resigned. The grandfatherly veneer of Palpatine has fallen further and further away as the years have passed and his true nature has been clearer and clearer; Anakin has known for a long time that Palpatine is not the good guy (hence his personal rebellion).

Ahsoka, like in canon, manages most of the intelligence networks of the Rebellion in this au. So she’s been getting and processing Blue Spirit’s messages for years, and when she realizes it’s Anakin--well, lots of emotions all around.

Obi-wan and Anakin do mend their relationship, as do Anakin and Ahsoka. Some of the kids Anakin saved over the years are at the Rebellion and recognize him--this also helps things along. And his information as Blue Spirit has saved many lives. 

Obi-wan has been Luke’s waterbending teacher for a while, and Ahsoka has been his airbending/spirit world teacher, so eventually Anakin does take his place as Luke’s (and Leia’s!) firebending teacher.

Thanks for these asks and sorry for making the response so long!! Honestly I think I’ve been hoping for these questions, I’ve been wanting to talk about how this goes down forever :) 

shorter summary: Obi-wan encounters Anakin just after Order 66 occurred and Anakin’s killed Shaak Ti. Believing Anakin to have been in on Palpatine’s plan all along and having betrayed them all, he attacks and initiates the fight in something of a reverse of canon. Anakin, seeing Obi-wan attacking him, comes to the conclusion that Obi-wan must have been part of the Order’s conspiracy (that Palpatine has convinced him of), which he would have never believed of him but why else would Obi-wan be attacking him like this? Neither of them are in a particularly good state of mind or particularly mentally sound during the fight. Obi-wan knocks him out and freezes him in ice, then flees. Palpatine finds Anakin a sizable amount of time later, and Anakin is left with three amputated limbs (which he gets prosthetics for) and permanent tremors (which the Vader armor hides). 

Obi-wan and Ahsoa escape the purge because Ahsoka has a spiritual connection akin to Jinora’s in LOK, and is able to purge the spirits from some of the army such as Rex. In the chaos, the two are separated.

Obi-wan and Anakin reunite first, when Luke brings Anakin back to the Rebellion severely injured from the confrontation with Palpatine. He begs Obi-wan to heal him and Obi-wan agrees. It takes some time for Anakin to move past the fact that he’s not dead, but eventually, he and Obi-wan communicate, they both get the full story of what happened twenty years ago, and their relationship starts to mend. It’s faster once Obi-wan and the Rebellion realize that Darth Vader and Blue Spirit (the Imperial double agent whose information had saved so many) are one and the same. Same with Ahsoka, although it’s a quicker fix for her and Anakin’s relationship since she only found out about his actions secondhand, from Obi-wan, and it makes so much more sense once he gets his side of the story, and because she’s the one who’s been processing his info as Blue Spirit. 

hope you liked!!

[kalinara]

I know you love Lukey Lou, so I wanted to ask: Why did you like his character arc in TLJ? A lot of people, including myself and Mark Hamill, felt it was poorly written and out of character.

A lot of people who hate TLJ LOVE to pass around Mark Hamill’s extremely out of context quotes about his INITIAL reaction to learning about Luke’s arc.  When he discusses the final product, he is a lot less negative.

But even if he dislikes TLJ, that’s okay, that’s his business.  Death of the Author applies to everyone involved in the creative process, and it’s okay for fans and showrunners/writers/actors to see a character in a different way.

I think though that a lot of critics of Luke’s arc in TLJ miss that it’s just that.  An ARC.  Luke at the beginning of TLJ is not the same person as Luke at the end of TLJ.  He has his own despair and trauma to face.

Luke, in TLJ, doesn’t read all that different from Luke in Legends to me, fundamentally.  It’s just that they’ve faced different things.  There are points in Legends where Luke suffers despair and depression just like he does in TLJ, but there are also other factors going on.  Luke has his order, for one.  And the Yuzhan Vong war.  He has Mara, and Ben (Skywalker), and Jaina.  He has his students and everything else to help him keep from giving in to those emotions.

Luke in TLJ is from a continuity that doesn’t have these things.  He doesn’t have a wife and child.  He doesn’t have his Order.  And Luke has a more personal connection to Kylo’s fall than he had with Jacen’s in Legends.  By the time Jacen had fallen, he’d graduated Jedi training.  He had his own life and issues.  And Jacen never really retaliated (or was the unwitting tool of retaliation) against the Jedi Order itself.  

But as Luke sees it, he’s directly responsible for Kylo’s fall.  He blames himself.  I personally disagree with Luke’s assessment, and I think the Last Jedi does too.  Luke gave in to a moment of weakness and fear.  He had a vision that told him (correctly!) that Kylo was or would become a monster.  A lot of folk hate the idea that Luke would, for one instant, even consider killing his innocent nephew.  But I think they miss or ignore that a) Kylo was a grown adult, not a child, b) the Force vision WAS CORRECT: Kylo DID become a monster that would massacre (multiple!) villages, murder unarmed old men, and be a direct participant in child slavery and genocide, and the most important c) Luke STOPPED HIMSELF.

I don’t personally think it’s out of character for Luke to momentarily give into fear and despair.  If he had ACTUALLY killed Ben Solo, that’d be one thing.  But he didn’t.  He stopped himself.

It’s interesting though to parallel Luke’s reaction to those events with “Ben Solo’s” own, because as much as I’m skeptical of the comic book series’s retcon of Kylo’s responsibility for the destruction of the Jedi Temple.  I do like how it expressly puts Kylo and Luke in the same position.

Ben (a grown adult, I reiterate) wakes up to find his uncle standing over him with a lightsaber.  His uncle doesn’t actually strike, but it’s understandable that Ben lashes out at that moment.  He thinks he killed him.  He’s horrified.  And Palpatine acts.  The Temple is destroyed.

So when you think about it.  Ben and Luke are in EXACTLY the same position in the immediate aftermath of the Temple’s destruction.  As far as I know, neither one of them is aware of Palpatine’s direct role in events.  All both of them know is that they suddenly found themselves in positions causing great fear and anger, they lashed out in said fear and anger against someone that they loved, and as a result everything was destroyed.

Now both characters had the option of going back to Hosnian Prime.  Leia and Han love both characters.  They would have listened to their explanations as to what happened.  They would have been horrified and angry, but they would have forgiven them and focused more on what they could do to help fix things.

But both characters blame themselves for what happened.  And both characters believe that they’ve done something unforgivable.

What’s important though is what happens next.  Now me, personally, I don’t mind the comic retcon because to me, the destruction of the Jedi Temple was always the least of Kylo’s crimes.  It was awful, of course.  But there’s a difference between a sudden act of fear and rage (see also: Anakin’s destruction of the Tuskan village) and the kind of deliberately evil deeds that Kylo Ren does later.

Regardless of whether or not Kylo lashed out and brought down the temple at that moment, he DEFINITELY stood in the middle of Tuanil, looking out at the army he helped to enslave and brainwash, and ordered them to fire on disarmed, pacified civilians.  (If Finn, who was brainwashed and surrounded by commanding officers and comrades who could kill him in a heartbeat, could realize “no, I’m not doing this”, then Kylo, who was GIVING THE ORDER, could have stopped this as well.)

There’s a point where characters have to own their choices.  Even if Kylo didn’t feel like he could go home, he didn’t HAVE to join a organization that’s been enslaving children and planning genocide.  He didn’t HAVE to take part in the violence and murder.  He could have done what Luke did.

Luke went into exile.  And I see fans attack that choice as “cowardly” or “selfish”, but I disagree.  Yes, Luke could have chosen instead to go to Hosnian Prime.  He could have gone to Han and Leia and he didn’t.  He could have tried to hunt down Kylo.  He could have joined in the fight against the First Order.  He could have been a hero here, like he’d been before.  

But we’ve seen what happens when a very powerful man, prone to self-loathing and despair, decides to do the “selfless” thing and become a hero.  That’s the Clone Wars in a nutshell.  What if Anakin had, after Attack of the Clones, looked around and said “Oh my god.  I just lost my mother.  I just massacred a village.  I  can’t be a soldier right now!  I need to deal with the horrible thing I’ve just done!”

We might still have had the Fall of the Republic and Order #66 (Palpatine isn’t one to discard his whole plans), but we probably wouldn’t have had Darth Vader.

And Luke knows that.  He saw what his father became.  And if anything, Luke’s more powerful than Anakin ever was.  Look at what he did on Crait.  We’ve never seen anything like that.  Look at what he can do AS A FORCE GHOST.

Now imagine what THAT would be like on the Dark Side?

I don’t know if I believe that Luke was ever seriously in danger of going Dark Side.  He isn’t prone to externalizing anger and lashing out in the same way Anakin was.  (Leia, I think, might be in more danger of that, depending on circumstances.  But thankfully, Leia has always known how to focus her anger in constructive ways.  She gets that from Padme and Bail.)  But I believe that LUKE believes he was.  And that through his exile, Luke was trying to protect the galaxy.

And that’s the BEGINNING of his story in the Last Jedi.  Because Luke has his own arc there just like Rey and Kylo do.  Luke starts off the Last Jedi in a very bad place: full of despair and self-loathing.  He blames himself for what happened to Kylo.  He’s convinced himself that he had been wrong to try to bring back the Jedi.  (But even then, he’s still preserving the books.)

Folks compare his role to Obi-Wan on Tatooine and Yoda on Dagobah, and I think that’s fair, to an extent.  But there are differences.  Obi-Wan was never in exile.  He was on Tatooine for a purpose.  He ALWAYS meant to teach Luke about his father’s legacy and protect him and train him going forward.   He leaps at the call to go help Leia, and immediately uses that opportunity to sweep Luke along.   

Yoda’s a closer comparison, really.  Since his exile is really an exile.  (Though Rebels shows that he’s not completely inactive.)  But for all that Yoda eventually helps train Luke, his story pretty much ends there.  He doesn’t take an active role after that point.

Even as he trains Rey, Luke has to come to terms with his own very complicated emotions about Kylo Ren, his fall, and the loss of the Jedi Order.  He has to move past his self-loathing and accept that Kylo made his own choices, and that he’s made HIS own choices.  He realizes/remembers that the Jedi are more than just books/old knowledge, they’re people too.  And his “I am not the last Jedi” is a really important moment that a lot of people like to ignore.  (Especially those edgelords who love the idea that TLJ showed us why the Jedi shouldn’t exist, which seriously misses the point of the movie.)

Luke at the end of the movie is not the same person he was at the start.  He’s remembered who he is.  He faces his own failure, and the parts that aren’t his fault.  He reunites with his sister, gets her forgiveness, and goes out to face his nephew without hesitation or self-blame.  He dies, but in the process, he buys them the time they need to escape.  And well, as we’ve seen in Star Wars, becoming one with the Force is not always the end of the story.  :-)

So yes, I like Luke’s arc in the Last Jedi.  It’s hard to watch, because it’s not what I would have wanted for the character.  I don’t like the thought of Luke being unhappy and traumatized, and having lost everything.  But that’s not the end of the story.  Luke at the END of the Last Jedi is everything he was always supposed to be.  He just lost his way a little bit before that.  What matters is that he found his way back.

[galaxysedginess]

Conversations in a Quiet Room- Chapter 2

In a universe where everything is the same except Satine survives the Clone Wars and bears witness to the fall of the Republic.

Characters: Satine Kryze, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bo-Katan Kryze, Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala

Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze & Satine Kryze

Tags: Satine Kryze Lives, Post-Order 66, Reunions, Return to Mandalore, Fall of the Republic, Heart-to-Heart, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Mess, The Twins Are Safe

Rating: G

Read on AO3:

Chapter 2: Saying the Word

20 years too late, Satine finally breaks the stalemate.

That night, much like all the others, was impossible to sleep through.

On top of there being far too much to do to prepare for the plan she and Bo-Katan had ultimately decided was most effective, her head was swimming with agonizing bouts of anger- no, sadness- or was it fear? She hadn't even realized how lost she was to the throws of despair until droplets began to stain the parchment she'd been using to keep record of her plans. And for what? Sitting at her desk and crying about it certainly wasn't going to save her people or bring friends back from the dead or pry the fate of the galaxy from a dictator's hands.

She ran a hand through the blonde ringlets that were unceremoniously hanging just above her shoulders. No headdress or hairpins or clips to dress it up in any fashion. The moment didn't call for any glamor for there was nothing glamorous about anxiety.

No, she had to believe that Mandalore would prevail. It managed to thrive in spite of its planets being 'unlivable' on some standards. It banded together as a collective in times of strife for thousands of years and continuously adapted. It picked itself up after a horrific civil war and dragged itself into a new age under the tutelage of an inexperienced leader with little more than hopes and dreams at her arsenal. And it would survive this.

She pushed her chair away from her desk, determined to use this spark of faith to warm her through the night. She gazed out her window reverently and took a moment to appreciate the Sundari skyline. She wondered what the Empire would change- who would they exploit. Invasion rarely came without the prospect of exploitation, particularly since they recently showed her they were fond of genocide. One of the Republic's last acts was to technically invade Mandalore- though that was at the deliberate demand of Bo-Katan, who knew it was the only way to drive Maul off planet.

It was one of the moments that defined Satine's choice to pass the mantle over to Bo. She made a call that Satine might have never made and it saved countless lives. Tomorrow morning, she would be the new Duchess of Mandalore and the Empire would have her to deal with. It was poetic justice in a sense, because Satine reasoned that they were getting the scrappier of the Kryze sisters. They just didn't know it yet. She would play her part and build Mandalore up in the shadows- a place her people had been for far too long. They would think Bo stole it all and that Satine was weak, but anything to elevate them to the best possible outcome.

A strange ship entered the biosphere and Satine felt something within her seize up.

Had they come?

"Don't be ridiculous, they wouldn't just send one ship." She thought. "And certainly not of Alderaanian make."

She did her best to quell any nerves that crept up on her. The ship had landed on one of the royal landing pads.

They'd announced Obi-Wan's death on the holonet earlier that afternoon. It happened on Utapau weeks prior, just a mere minute after the cursed order had been given. He was shot from behind by Commander Cody, who Satine remembered. She met this man. She shook his hand after being introduced by Obi-Wan. They seemed to be friends on and off the battlefield.

And he shot him in the back. Obi-Wan fell into the water below and never resurfaced.

How had they phrased it? Oh, he was apparently "fleeing arrest", which couldn't have possibly sounded less like Obi-Wan.

Anakin's death was announced shortly after, evidently a casualty of the initial burning of the Jedi temple. Ahsoka's lightsabers had been recovered, but no trace of her. She was no longer a part of the order, so Satine absently wondered if they'd look for her with less scrutiny.

She was only a child.

Satine was convinced that none of this information fully resonated with her just yet. She was in a meeting when it had blasted across the screens without warning. Before she could even have the opportunity to turn it off, there was Obi-Wan's handsome face staring back at her with the confirmation that he'd been accounted for. The room was silent after the message ended and her entire round table looked to her, waiting, gaging, trying to see what she required of them. Because what does one say when the murder of a close friend was announced in the middle of a budget meeting?

Satine went with, "And as for the transportation tax..."

Business, as usual.

She would deal with it. She'd have to. It seemed after this transition of power settled in, she would have bounties of time to come to terms with the loss of her... Obi-Wan. His place in her world was never clear, but his place in her heart was extensive and for that, she would have no choice but to mourn him and the piece of herself that laid dormant for too long... Reignited only by his tendency to boomerang back to her whether by his own volition or not. She'd taken care to never pine for him in the years they'd been apart, because Satine Kryze does not pine and certainly not for someone that was always just out of her reach. She'd even had the occasional suitor here or there, but she'd be a liar to say anyone truly inspired her the way he had.

Thinking of him in past tense cracked something hollow within her, especially when he felt so present.

The doors behind her swished open swiftly and she had half a mind to snap at one of her attendants for their lack of courtesy. How dare they interrupt her pity party! She thought better of it, of course, and waited for whatever news they had for her.

"Hello, there."

She whipped around to prove that no, her ears were not deceiving her, because leaning against her doorframe like he'd always belonged there was one disheveled and battle-worn Obi-Wan Kenobi. For a woman that rarely had the breath stolen from her, she gasped. A swell of emotions overtook her- the first of which was notably relief, followed by confusion and anger, of course there was anger. She could not decide whether she wanted to run into his arms or smack that ridiculous beard off of his cocksure face.

That anger seemed to boil to the top of her priority list, forming from an intense manifestation of the fear and anxiety that had riddled her for the past few weeks- all coming to fruition towards him whether it was fair or not. She'd thought he was dead! He let her believe he was dead for nearly a month! And the best he can do is appear without warning in her room, with a stupid smirk on his face?

Oh, she had words. Words were her fire and now that she had the affirmation that he was somehow alive, she was going to use them, dammit. She stormed towards him, a finger outstretched and ready to point at him for emphasis.

"Why, you-" They died on her tongue the second she got a better view of him and could see how ragged he truly looked. He looked like he hadn't slept in ages with dark circles under his eyes, a definitive slouch in his stance which offset his usual air of perpetual confidence, and an overall weary look in his eyes. His tunic appeared to be singed and marred with ash. That very same ash speckled across his beard and on his boots. On top of that, he seemed to have a slight limp as he was clearly favoring one leg over the other.

Overall, he looked like a broken man. And for as stressful as these past few weeks had been for her, her chest felt like it could concave at the thought of what he'd been through; what he'd lost.

Still, the only thing Satine could seem to say was, "You look dreadful!"

"And you as lovely as ever." Such sentiments used to make her blush across the campfire what felt like ages ago, but not now. "I do apologize for any worry I might have caused you. I was slightly tied up."

His casual quip did not frustrate her this time for it was obvious he was deflecting. Instead, she approached him and took his face in her hands, running her thumbs across sharp cheekbones and down his bearded face to hold his chin. He somehow looked even more exhausted up close and there was a carefully crafted coyness in his eyes that was thinly shielding a heavy weight. Someone who knew him less might fall for the levity he attempted, but she was not so easily fooled and knew more layers of him than he'd probably care to admit.

When she determined that he was physically functioning, she met his eyes again and felt her heart break all over again as he shifted in his stance. "Satine..."

He did not stare at her with the caution of someone flying too close to the sun as he seemed to lately. He looked at her with his heart as near to his sleeve as a man like Obi-Wan could allow. She sought that as her opportunity. As much as drinking in his being alive was soothing to the fire of unrest that raged within her, it was not enough to extinguish it altogether.

"The holonets say you're dead."

"I've never been very good at dying." He laughed weakly.

"Yet you always seem to be trying." She said softly.

"For as horrible as I seem to be at dying, near-death experiences happen to be a primary skillset of mine."

"I do remember that about you."

"Those weren't all because of me." He emphasized.

"And what about Anakin and the others? Do they..." She held in a shaky breath. "Do they share your predilection for close calls?"

He reached up and held her hands in place over his face, running a thumb along her wrist. They'd not been this affectionate since their year on the run all those years ago during the Mandalorian Civil War, but simply having the knowledge that he was still a tangible and living presence was just not enough at the moment. She needed the absolute physical proof that he was here and not about to evaporate into existence or into the Empire's evil clutches. As for him, he looked like he hadn't interacted with someone that wasn't pointing a blaster at him for quite some time.

"They did." And it was the ever purposeful utilization of past-tense along with the defeat in his tone that made it all too real. It was one thing to hear it on the news or to spread it from word of mouth, but to be standing in front of a man that was already becoming a relic of a different time... Was a different experience altogether. The knowledge of the Jedi's increasing obsoletion certainly made her all the more grateful that this relic was in front of her at all.

She dropped her hands, which suddenly felt too heavy to keep held in one place. They didn't go far, settling instead on his chest over the scorched lapels of his tunic. He wobbled forward a little too much and it became obvious that he was unable to stand and continue this conversation. She reached down and guided him to the edge of her bed so he could sit. Had he been in better spirits, he would have made some smart comment about her wasting no time in getting him to bed while she would have returned with some well-articulated slight suggesting performance issues.

Instead they sat with knees touching, feeling grounded for the first time since the galaxy decided to open up beneath them.

"Anakin's dead, Satine." Was what he went with, which she knew was the crux at what really ached him. She was not force-sensitive in the slightest, but could feel that specific pain emanating off of him. The love Obi-Wan had for his former padawan was evident. The Jedi were never allowed attachment, but were given children to care for and practically parent. No, it did not make sense, but she never voiced this contradiction. She questioned a lot about the Jedi Order in her time spent with Obi-Wan, but never in the love or camaraderie they felt for each other.

Forgoing her initial desire for answers, she reached a hand up and dusted some of the ash from his auburn hair. "I'm so sorry, Obi."

"And it's my fault." He said.

Always the guilt-martyr. "That's not-"

"-I sliced off his limbs and left him to burn." He choked out and turned to her, all pretenses shattered from behind his dark blue eyes. "I killed him."

She pulled back, but only slightly, eyes wide and posture frozen. At this point, she felt like she'd heard everything in her life. "Explain?"

He sighed and leaned forward, pinching his brow between his fingers. "Mace Windu did try to kill Palpatine."

"Okay?" Satine could see that Obi-Wan was definitely not in the spirit to have the life shaken out of him, but her resolve on the matter was growing thinner and thinner as he continued to drop short and curt details that made absolutely no sense in the present universe that she lived in. It did not help that he did so with an expectation that she understood.

"But..." He shook his head. "Not because there was a Jedi Uprising."

"I know that." She said indignantly.

He lifted his head with great effort to meet her gaze. "Palpatine is a Sith Lord."

She did not know that.

Satine's jaw set. She did not know nearly as much about Jedi history or lore as she did Mandalorian history, but she did know enough to know that Sith typically traveled in pairs. This entire Clone Wars, the Republic was on the hunt for this other Sith Lord after first encountering the evil Darth Maul and finding him to be the apprentice. Then, there was Count Dooku, who was yet another apprentice. That horrid Ventress somehow did not count. And the war ended without any mention of another Sith.

Which she felt horribly stupid for not coming to such a conclusion on her own. Of course the present leader of the galaxy was a Sith Lord.

"That's why the Jedi confronted him then." She said and at Obi-Wan's nod, she grimaced. "And I'm guessing he meets his end after the video cuts off."

"Curious how they managed that, huh?" He sighed, "In doing so, they also cut out the part where Anakin falls."

"Falls?" She wrinkles her brow. "From where?"

"No... He..." And it looked like Obi-Wan would rather vomit than speak his piece. "He fell to the dark side of the force."

She gasped. No, that couldn't be right. Not Anakin. She remembered him clear as day at their doorstep a mere few months ago. He was impetuous and rebellious- definitely not one to color within the lines- but radiated goodness all the same. He cared for his soldiers and respected his elders. He cared so greatly for Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, if not always in line with the rest of the Jedi. This was beyond clearer than anything else.

But Obi-Wan would not be slumped over beside her if this was not true. His elbows rested on his knees as he rubbed his face. "He was the one who gutted the temple."

"How..." Her voice was small and so unlike the regal or firm tones she typically used. "How could he do that to his friends? His mentors?"

"They were not his friends and mentors." He shivered. "They were predominantly padawans and..."

"Younglings?" She asked, but it sounded like a desperate plea.

The silence was damning enough.

She choked down a sob of her own, but had little to say in response to that. Even for someone as eloquent with words as Satine, there wasn't anything you could say to appropriately respond to the news that someone near and dear not only crossed the line of evil, but went so far as to take the lives of the most innocent.

"And I still couldn't follow through. Even after knowing that." He shuttered. "I failed. I- I failed him."

She slid off the edge of the bed and into a kneeling position on the floor in front of him, imploring him to look at her. "No, you did not. If anything, he failed you."

He did not reply to that just as she knew he would not. She'd been right before at assuming he was accepting responsibility at its entirety for this whole mess. She just did not know the angle of it. In a sense, she could not blame how he came to that conclusion. She'd witnessed firsthand the bond between a Master and an Apprentice up close. It went beyond a simple mentor/mentee process, but had familial and friendship layers to it. It was a lonely galaxy for a Jedi and oftentimes the family found within that order was their reprieve. Now, all of that was torn to shreds and the very same way Satine blamed herself for the path Bo-Katan chose, Obi-Wan blamed himself for Anakin's fall.

"He failed you, Ben." She repeated and used the name she'd coined for him when they were undercover on the run. It became something of a fond pleasantry only reserved for serious moments. She'd never lived a moment more serious in her life and she'd been close to meeting her end at the hands of a former Sith.

He looked up to meet her gaze with glassy eyes. He looked so unlike his normal self- so the very opposite of a Jedi, and maybe he could sense that she noticed this, because he reached out and took her hands in his, like he needed to explain to her that everything horrible in the galaxy was, in fact, his fault.

"I raised him."

"Would you sooner blame me for Bo-Katan's indiscretions with Death Watch?"

"That's different."

Considering Bo-Katan never touched a single hair on a child's head, yes, it was miles different, but the principal at the core still remained. Satine was a master negotiator and could triumph Kenobi yet.

"You are certainly not perfect," She squeezed his hands and he snorted, "But you were a good Master and you did what you could. Anakin was free to make his own choices and failures. I know you will not allow me to absolve you of entire guilt nor will you ever hate him, but I encourage you to think back to what your Jedi Master would say."

"Qui-Gon would say it was the will of the force." He sighed, "Said that about everything, didn't he?"

She smiled softly. "He certainly had a way about him."

"I miss him." Obi-Wan admitted, which under any other circumstance he would not voice, even if he felt it. "I am glad, in a way, that he did not live to see this."

At some point during their maudlin conversation, it had begun to rain outside, which while the rain on Mandalore was scheduled, it always seemed to catch her off guard. Even more shocking, Satine hadn't noticed it until an artificial crack of lightning broke across the sky. The flash reflected off of Obi-Wan's face and for a moment she could see the young padawan that came to her aid so long ago, who absconded her heart during stolen glances across a makeshift campfire and proceeded to break it when he left. After all this chaos, there was still hope in the man's eyes.

"There's more." She prodded.

He quirked a brow. "You've always been nosey."

She scoffed, "Well if you don't want to tell me-"

For a second, his hardened features softened and it was clear he was giving in. "Padmé's children survived the birth and I must ensure their safety."

She let that factoid linger in the air for a moment before adding to it the detail that Obi-Wan would not, for reasons that he was likely coming to terms with, because if Satine could really take a wild gander, had been the source of all of this. "They're Anakin's aren't they?"

For a second, Obi-Wan snapped out of his sorrow and look at her in an almost comical surprise. "You knew?"

"Was it not common knowledge that they were together?"

He stuttered. "No! I was not- I mean I had my assumptions that he- No! We're Jedi- We..."

"Hush now, Obi." She sighed, "Do you really think you are the first and only Jedi to play with fire?"

Her gaze was knowing and he returned it in kind and for a moment, she was transported to memories that seemed a millennia away- one where they were treading from planet to planet, through all terrain, not quite sure what the next day would bring. It was easy to grow close with someone after being forced together by the elements. It was all the easier when that someone was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Of course, nothing could ever be easy between the two of them. A figurative mountain of obligation stood between them. Still, they'd managed to poke cracks through the surface and allow some light to peak through, whether allowed or not.

But Obi-Wan walked away that day in a way that Anakin could not. For Obi-Wan, it had always been one or the other- never both, and Satine could never bring himself to make him choose. It would have made her too guilty... To take him away from his lifestyle. She certainly would have grown to resent him had he made her choose between him and Mandalore. She could not do that to him and she could not do that to herself. Instead, they stood with the sun casting shadows on their faces on that last day, staring at one another and waiting for something until the thing they waited for could never come and before they knew it, they were parting ways.

He was so very much the strong and faithful Jedi back then and his future was so very bright. She had a community to turn into a city all by herself, but believed her future could also be bright.

No such promises existed now.

And with that, along with how terribly it hurt to look at him like this- to see how the force managed to chew him up and spit him out and still have the audacity to request more of him, she realized that she'd take the burden of his possible resentment if it meant their lives would be better than what they had now. The tiny voice inside her head told her that Obi-Wan could never resent her and she still hoped that rang true.

"I'm calling it." She said abruptly as though she was adjourning a business meeting.

He furrowed his brow at her in a way that let her know it was her turn to elaborate.

So, she gathered all the courage she could muster and went on with a conversation that likely should have occurred much sooner. "Forgive me if this is 20 years too late, but I have to ask. I cannot bear to see you continue on like this and frankly, I'm not sure if I can either. Stay with me... Please?"

For a moment, it was just them in the entire galaxy. There was no genocide or newfound tyranny or impending invasion. Just them and Satine swore she could hear her own heart thrumming in her ears. She waited for this frustrating man in front of her to decline. How could he step away now when the galaxy needed him most? There were children involved, evidently. The leader was a Sith Lord! He was a wanted criminal. The list of why they should not seemed to grow longer by the second, but she banished all of those thoughts, because all she wanted right now was for his safety.

"You're saying the word." He said incredulously.

"I am." She never broke his stare.

He choked out what she could not tell to be a laugh or half a sob of relief, but he lifted her hands and kissed them both. "Shouldn't I be the one on bended knee?"

Shock permeated across her chest for a moment, before stubbornness settled in. She patted his knee gently, to which he winced; making the silent point that he was in no shape to make such a gesture. "I asked you first."

There was a softness in his features that she always adored and this moment, despite his being through hell and back, did not change the way he looked at her. He reached out and framed her face with his hands. She took comfort in the familiarity of the callouses that brushed along her cheekbones and leaned into his touch.

"I accept."

Her heart was still filled with a world of hurt, but she pushed all that away in favor of a true and genuine smile to break through the sorrow. She was delighted to see that through glassy eyes and frown lines, he mirrored her expression. A glimmer of light in a dark space. Love would not cure all of their problems or heal them whole, but it would help. They'd spent too many years rejecting it and they still ended up where they sat, so maybe, a different tactic would be useful to them.

It was small, but it was enough for right now.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into." He joked and smirked when she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut-up." And she closed the unbearable distance and kissed him soundly.

After a gratuitous amount of that, she made a curious sound in the back of her throat and he pulled away instantly with a vulnerability she was not entirely used to (but certainly fond of). "What?"

She shrugged and ran a hand along her own face. "I'll have to get used to the beard."

He scoffed, "It can never be easy with you, can it?"

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into." She mimicked with his drawl and all.

"I do love you anyway." He sighed and perhaps the confession shouldn't have startled her the way it did.

That being said, she would not resist the urge to return the sentiment. "And I, you."

There was still a child to look after somewhere across the galaxy and a Mandalore to distantly keep tabs on. The Empire would call them back to oppose them and there was the fact that both of them were about to become wanted criminals. Their obligations still pulled them every which way, but Satine felt warmth flow through her bones with the knowledge that she was finally allowed to be attached. She'd never known herself for being capable of crying and laughing at the same time, but it worked all the same.

[emperorren]

"tho it still bugs me that he was ready to have his mother and rey killed on the spot don't tell me he didnt know rey was there" why do you think they wrote it like this? makes me doubt the whole 'he would never hurt rey' assumptions made by a lot of reylos tbqh. i want him to be redeemed but these things bug me too (did he know leia was alive at the time? or did he believe she had died when the resistance command blew up?)

why do you think they wrote it like this?

I’ve wondered about that too, because admittedly it is a bit jarring considering that up to that point he NEVER wanted her death, and even got rid of his master when Snoke commanded to kill her. And tbh I still can’t completely reconcile with it, but I have a few considerations to do:

“no quarter, no prisoners”—this is an impersonal order he’s giving. To his troops. Who will get rid of her on his behalf. He doesn’t have to look at her face. He doesn’t have to actually look into her eyes and kill her. If he had to, he couldn’t do it—I think that has absolutely not changed. Heck, he can’t even say her name or issue a specific order to kill “the scavenger” or “the jedi girl” if they find her on the battlefield. Even when he orders to “shoot that piece of junk out of the sky”—I think he’s distantly aware that Rey is probably on the Falcon, but not actually seeing her there allows him to give in to his animalistic rage at the ship that is now essentially the symbol of his rejection. He’s using his army as a proxy to wipe out all the stuff that is giving him excruciating pain without actually having to lift a finger or risk to be sucked back into that pesky compassion of his.

It’s all actually extremely in character for him. Ben Solo doesn’t cope well with rejection. Rey is no longer the intriguing stranger that defeated him on Starkiller, he’s the person he was ready and willing to have at his side for the rest of his life, and her rejecting his offer right after he bared his soul to her was like reliving the nightmare of his childhood, being cast out of his family then almost executed by the last relative that was tasked to take care of him. He’s doing what he knows: loving people that don’t want him causes him so much pain that he feels the only way to achieve some sort of peace is destroying them, wiping out of existence altogether.

Seen in the context of the /reverse anidala/ theory, this is the equivalent of Anakin choking Padme (except way less extreme and thankfully devoid of the troubling subtext of spousal violence, because like I said it’s an impersonal and generic order to kill). It’s supposed to be a(n apparent) point of no return, where Kylo/Anakin’s inner demons make him cross a line—blinding him into seeing an enemy in the person he loves the most who, as a result of his terrible actions, is lost “forever” to him (Kylo’s tear-streaked puppy dog face at Rey in the last connection is, consequently, the equivalent of Anakin screaming “NOOOOOOO” when Palps tells him Padme died). Between this, and the proposal, and “please don’t go this way”, and “I’ll destroy her… and you… and all of it”, and that shot of him walking into the Resistance base with the stormtroopers, the entire third act is chock full of references to Mustafar and Order 66. We’re supposed to see this as Kylo sealing his fate as a villain and entering his “Darth Kylo” phase, except he’s not a shell of a man artificially kept alive by his master’s “magic”, he’s got no strings pulling him and no one to answer to but himself, and most importantly his wife girlfriend is very much alive, and PISSED AT HIM, but also still force bonded to him. IX will be the “what if Padme didn’t die, and could actually fight Darth Vader on equal footing, and also be able to meet him in secret while they’re on opposite sides of the war” au we’ve all been waiting for.

[lunarspiral1127]

*SPOILERS*

Surpise! Reva was one of the younglings from the Order 66 scene in episode one.....not really, cause it was obvious. I mean many people figured it out, cause why else would that scene be shown. 😒 Y'know, that flashback is probably the closest to actually showing Anakin killing children.

Also, this once again proves that getting killed by getting stabbed or sliced with a lightsaber is bullcrap now. Like, many characters survive from that, hell, Darth Maul got sliced in half and fell into a pit and survived in Clone Wars. Reva? She had to have gotten stabbed as well, in order to play dead. Otherwise, how could she play dead right in front of Anakin? And, I guess you can't use the force to sense if someone is dead apparently, even though many Jedi sensed others getting killed when Order 66 happened. So, how did Reva survive? Was she not fatally wounded like all the other younglings? How did she get healed? What did she do after she survived? Seriously, the only ones in live action that died from getting stabbed were Qui-Gon and Han Solo.

Then there's her plan which is why she became an Inquisitor. We don't know exactly when she was taken in, but it could've been years or weeks later. But, she became an Inquisitor to get close to Vader to kill him in order to avenge her Jedi family.....yeah, that's not gonna work. It's not just because Vader is an OT character, but Reva's not strong enough to beat him. Plus, if they're setting a redemption arc for Reva, I'm not buying it. Do I feel sorry for her for losing her family and friends? Yes. Do I think that she needs to be redeemed? I don't think so. In the show, she cut off a lady's hand for talking back, she traumatized and tried to torture a child, orchestrated a kidnapping of said child, and is gonna let innocent people and children die for the sake of getting her revenge. Hell, in the years of her being an Inquisitor, she must've murdered innocents as well if it was to keep up the act and maintain her revenge plan. I don't think the ends justify the means with Reva, and she sure as hell hasn't acted like she regretted what she did or felt any guilt over hurting anyone. Maybe she felt a little guilty of trying to torture Leia, but she still went through with it. The only remorse I've seen so far was what she felt when the younglings were killed in Order 66.

Then there's her asking those questions to Obi-Wan. "Where were you?" "Why didn't you save us?", etc. etc. Like, Obi-Wan has thought about those questions for ten freaking years, possibly every night, and beating himself over what happened! Also, Obi-Wan was also attacked by the clones on another planet when Order 66 happened! I get why Reva blamed Obi-Wan and doesn't trust him, but this is just beating him up even more than he already is.