#baze talks

[angel-bazethiel]

About JC's Courtesy Name and Title

I've been seeing new fics that use Wanyin and Sandu Shengshou so freely, when in the 100+ chapters of MDZS, LWJ is the only one who regularly calls JC Wanyin and WWX calls him as such only when he's truly pissed off.

No one ever uses Sandu Shengshou except for that scene with the children playing as Sect Leaders. Not even during the talks and celebrations among cultivators during the prologue and Dafan Mountain Hunt--they call him Jiang Cheng.

Which leads me to believe that Jiang Cheng hates his courtesy name and title. He might still introduce himself as Wanyin out of courtesy but he doesn't use it. Preferring his milk name or Jiang-gongzi when he was young and Jiang-zongzhu when he was older.

And there could be an interesting explanation for this:

Wanyin (晚吟) comes from a poem about someone who has ended up alone on a nightly stroll with "no one to recite the poem to." It is a very inauspicious name to give your child. It's like you're cursing them into a life of loneliness.

But I think Jiang Fengmian gave JC such a name with Sandu (JC's sword) in mind.

Sandu (三毒) refers to the Buddhist belief that the root of all evil are the three poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance.

So JFM is telling JC that every time he wields Sandu (AKA he has let greed, hatred, ignorance rule his heart), he would end up alone.

And that's exactly what happens in canon LMAO. And people started calling him Sandu Shengshou (Master of the Three Poisons) which is a lowkey way of saying he's greedy, hateful, and ignorant.

Not only that, but cultivation has always been closely tied to enlightenment. Even for something as genre-subversive as MDZS, this is still true.

(The guy who has no desires and no envy has easily excelled and surpassed others even when he started cultivating later than his peers. When WWX made the ultimate sacrifice, he [arguably] broke through so many cultivation bottlenecks and has become even more powerful than when he had his core.)

So by calling JC the Sandu Shengshou, people are lowkey saying that he has cultivated such heart demons. So much so that he will never grow as a cultivator and will never amount to anything more than what he already has.

[tending-the-hearth]

oh okay but the final shot of andor being bix holding hers and cassian's child looking at the sunshine and the final shot of cassian being him holding jyn looking at the light of the death star and the lighting being so similar and bix and cassian both having such a peaceful look on their faces can i go home i don't feel good

[shield-and-saber]

So feel free to ignore this but I am literally so intrigued by your HCs about Sol's childhood?? Spare a crumpet pls???

P.s. thank you for filling my dash with Baze and Chirrut (and Sol) <33

so a lot of my headcanons come from a combination of trying to add context to what little we know about him in canon + my own self-projections lol. buckle up, we're going for a ride (my ideas span from his pre-jedi childhood on his homeworld probably up to his teenage years as a padawan!!)

(banner is an edit made by the blorbo from my blogs @/armoralor)

so first off, jj actually spoke very briefly about sol's childhood in an interview from july 4 where he mentions that sol was very lonely and kind of struggled with his training when he was growing up. plus we have that line from vernestra in ep 1 about how sol was shy when he was a youngling

funnily enough, i hadn't seen that interview when it first came out but i was thinking a lot about sol's childhood around that time, so i'd made like a whole post about it literally a week after, which i'll add my favorite parts here:

i keep thinking about what would make a man so dedicated to being a jedi so reckless and selfish when it comes to wanting a padawan, and all i can think about is him growing up lonely he's so shy that he's unable to connect with his peers and thus feels closest to his mentors and the adults in his life, but nothing feels satisfying to him the way he wants it to. he doesn't feel like anyone truly knows him bc his peers see him as odd and the adults see him as a child, and he feels somewhere in between

^ especially in regards to the 2nd part, i kind of headcanon sol as being neurodivergent or on the autism spectrum. now this is much more of a me-specific headcanon bc i'm also on the spectrum and i grew up feeling much the same way, so i ended up projecting onto him a lil bit. but i digress.

me personally, i was a very lonely child bc i loved books and learning more than being with my peers (and i couldn't socialize to save my life). i got along better with the teachers & other adults in my life than kids my own age. similarly, bc of sol's deep friendship and connection with vernestra, i like to think of her being a mentor to him when he was a youngling, that she was the jedi master he always turned to instead of any of his peers bc she made him feel safe and heard (maybe she was the one who found him???). plus she had her own "gifted child who advanced too fast too early" complex, so i think she would've understood sol and tried to support him (i also like the idea of her being sol's master & i know that's not canon/wouldn't work bc of qimir, but i still like to headcanon it anyways lol)

as for his family life before the jedi, i get p much all of my thoughts on that from ep 3 & 7. he tells osha that he was taken from his family at the age of 4 & that not only was he different from the rest of his family, but he discovered that with the jedi there were other children like him. so again, on his homeworld he was probably very lonely and separated from his peers bc he (and everyone else) knew he was somehow different (which would again relate to him being on the spectrum. when ur growing up and ur not neurotypical, you kinda just know that you don't fit in with everyone else but you don't understand why)

where my other thoughts on his childhood come is also ep 3 & 7 related. like i mentioned in the tags of this post, you can see how sol is reacting to his observations of the baby twins in the forest. my biggest takeaway from this scene is when koril shows up and says "there will be consequences for breaking the rules"

^ tell me that's not the face of a traumatized man. my very first thought when i realized this was, oh god he was abused. maybe that's dramatic of me, but i think that either emotionally or physically, baby sol was mistreated by his family (if he's this terrified of "consequences", did he get hit as a kid for disobeying/breaking rules/not doing the right thing?). he literally has that ptsd deer in headlights stare, he's visibly shaking, and for the rest of his time on brendok, sol is acting under the impression that the twins (but mostly osha) are in danger. he's projecting his own trauma and fears onto osha bc her predicament reminds him of his own

other less angsty headcanons i have of his childhood/homeworld have just gradually developed from wanting to see him happy, things i've seen explored in fics, etc etc. but i like to think that sol grew up in a little farming community, like a foresty rural korean village, and i think he had a mom, dad, and some siblings, altho i definitely think he was the youngest. (this also leads into my thoughts that, if sol had never become a jedi or he'd left the order, he would have been really happy becoming a farmer on his homeworld and getting married, starting a family of his own. or maybe he would've been a teacher to the local children. either way tho, i think a quiet and peaceful life with a family of his own that he absolutely treasures would've been so wonderful)

i also think maybe he was also very fond of nature. he probably enjoyed the river, exploring the woods, feeling the force energy that emanates from every living thing. so ofc when he gets taken to coruscant, that's an incredibly jarring experience for him bc everything is cold, hard metal or stone. even as beautiful as the jedi temple is, it's all stone. there's no grass or flowers or gardens or animals except for like, the one singular tree in some meditation garden i think?? and the last surviving piece of the planet is the highest mountain that you can only see the very top of. so i think maybe that contributed to sol feeling alone as a young padawan bc he was disconnected from nature and it left him feeling really unmoored for a long time

so like, all of that combined with sol's inherent fondness for children really screams to me about a boy who grew up feeling very alone, probably didn't have a lot of friends, and had a very emotionally painful life, and then he saw all these little younglings who want to become jedi and he thinks to himself "i could show them that they don't have to be afraid, that there are no wrong answers when it comes to the force, i won't let any of these children feel the way that i did". which is, i think, why he connected so much to osha ("you're going to be okay, osha. you will never feel like this again."). he saw that she didn't want to be on brendok, she felt like an outcast among her family, and he really connected with that 💔

[spookythesillyfella]

uhm ..... uhmmm .... selfship doodlez ....... uhmm ...... !!!! getz shot

[gudakdalee]

omg im SCREAMINGGGGGGGG

I've never been so AWESTRUCK and SHUUUUUUKETH. my GAWD, what a performance!!!!!!!

[thevalleyisjolly]

So I just rewatched Rogue One after finishing Andor Season 2. And it really has made me see the movie in a different way. This past season, I've read many critiques that Cassian in Season 2 seems to be a different character from the Cassian we see in Rogue One. The two primary concerns are commitment and obedience; Cassian wavers in his commitment to the Rebellion, and Cassian disobeys orders much more frequently which appears to undermine his decision not to kill Galen in the movie.

I've delved into the issue of commitment before, the TL;DR being that Cassian expresses these doubts and despair after surviving a horrifically traumatic event and that he never actually follows through with quitting even though there is little to functionally stop him. What I want to look at now is the issue of disobedience, and in order to do that, I think we have to start by understanding that Rogue One is, fundamentally, Jyn's story.

Yes, Rogue One is an ensemble cast movie about the many unnamed soldiers who give everything for a sunrise they'll never see. But the driving force in the narrative is Jyn. We start the movie with Jyn's childhood, and apart from occasional scenes necessary to advance the wider plot, we're following her perspective for much of the film. She's our viewpoint character for understanding the narrative as well as the other characters. It's a Star Wars story told through the story of Jyn Erso.

I want to point this out because it means that nearly every major character we meet, apart from legacy characters like Vader or Bail or Tarkin, exist in the film's story primarily through their relationship to Jyn's story. We don't get extensive Chirrut or Baze or Bodhi backstories because they are not in the story to provide different viewpoints. Bodhi reconnects Jyn to her father both through his official message and his personal memories of Galen; Chirrut and Baze provide faith and guidance through the doubt and darkness.

And then there's Cassian. Rewatching Rogue One through the lens of it being Jyn's story, I'm struck by how his role in the narrative is to Call Jyn, not to a grand adventure but to a home, to be the person and the leader she has the potential within to be. He challenges the self-interested worldview she's adopted out of necessity and trauma, he makes her look at herself and her decisions, he inspires her to hope and to fight and he's the first to welcome her home when she commits to the cause.

On the other hand, we're not told or shown very much about him (I'm deliberately not going into the novelization because the novelization, while incredibly written, top tier movie novelization, was written as a companion novel after the film was made and is there to enhance the film rather than be part of it structurally). Yes, Cassian has the biggest presence in the film and the story other than Jyn...but we aren't following Cassian's story. The things he tells us and shows us about himself -being in the fight since childhood, struggling with his orders to kill Galen- are things which exist in the context of his role in Jyn's story, to challenge and parallel her. He, like Jyn, has been in affected by the Empire since childhood but where he had to fight, Jyn chose to run. He cites his orders (and his disobedience) as Jyn is confronting him for trying to kill her father, and Jyn even directly calls him out for trying to "talk [his] way around this."

Yes, I agree it's a hugely significant moment in the film for Cassian to disobey the order to kill Galen, but I think the "why" is just as significant in the film as the act of disobedience itself. Cassian uses his orders as a justification when he's being confronted by Jyn, and a last resort justification too. He first dismisses her accusations as shock ("You're in shock. You don't know what you're talking about. ...You're in shock and looking for somewhere to put it."), then when Jyn continues, he defends himself by saying that he never actually did the deed ("I had every chance to pull the trigger. But did I? Did I?"). When Jyn counters with the evidence of the Alliance bombing raid, at last Cassian falls back on, "I had orders! Orders that I disobeyed!"

This isn't to say at all that it wasn't a huge struggle and a huge moment for Cassian to not kill Galen. He did disobey his orders in that moment and you can see the weight of the conflict on him. It's a turning moment in his journey within the movie; the moment he looks in on himself, at what he's about to do, and doesn't like what sees. The point I want to bring out is that everything he says and does afterwards is in the context of Jyn's story.

Jyn herself is at a crisis point in the narrative; her long-lost father has just died in her arms, thanks to the actions of the Alliance, and her father's dying wish is for the Death Star to be destroyed, something she cannot accomplish by herself. By the time she gets back to Yavin, she's standing up in front of the Alliance demanding that they take action. She's already made her decision. What happens now, in the stolen Imperial shuttle with Cassian, is the moment where she has to choose. Cassian, representing the Alliance who killed her father but also the billions, trillions of unnamed people who've had no choice but to fight the Empire since they were born, calls her out for her self-interest even as she challenges his culpability in her father's death. Yes, he admits, he had orders, but he didn't go through with them. You [Jyn] though, you wouldn't understand because you've chosen inaction. Jyn has not had to make the difficult decisions about whether to follow orders and do something she knows is wrong; she's only just decided to start caring.

Later, in Cassian's speech in the hangar, he says, "Everything I did, I did for the Rebellion. And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself it was for a cause I believed in. A cause that was worth it. Without that we're lost. Everything we've done would be for nothing." In that moment, he admits to Jyn and the audience that he's been holding onto the Rebellion and the cause as a reason for his actions. Every good or bad thing he's done, he's been able to justify it to himself as part of a fight that he's been forced into since childhood. In admitting this out loud, he both acknowledges that Jyn was right when she pushed back against his excuses ("Orders? When you knew they were wrong? You may as well be a stormtrooper.") and signals to Jyn and the audience that this mission now, this cause is worth it. He was lost but has found a purpose once more; just as Jyn was lost but is now home, in the right place at the right time as the leader she has inside her. This is Cassian's role in Jyn's story, the story through which we understand this Star Wars story. He challenges her and us to think about commitment and privilege and the unheroic side of rebellion; he inspires her and us to action and to hope.

Andor, on the other hand, is a Star Wars story through the story of Cassian. For that reason alone, the Cassian we meet is already going to be different because we're not seeing him through Jyn's eyes now. We are seeing Cassian the character through Cassian's perspective and for a much more longer period of time - five years where he is the main vessel for the narrative as opposed a few days where he is a character in someone else's story. We watch Cassian succeed and fail many times, we hear him doubt everything and inspire others, we see some of the events which shaped him and we come to understand his role in the events which we've come to know.

When Andor was first announced and throughout since, it was marketed as the story of how Cassian becomes the rebel we meet in Rogue One. And I think given that pitch, it's fair to criticize the apparent dissimilarities in character between Cassian in the show and Cassian in Rogue One. At the same time, I don't think Cassian in the show is an entirely different person from Cassian in the movie. Many of the same building blocks are there (charismatic, capable, deceptive, clever, manipulative, determined), but we're seeing the development of these traits now through Cassian's experiences rather than viewing them through Jyn's perspective. It definitely feels different, sometimes radically so, and it's not wrong by any means to prefer the more streamlined character we meet in Rogue One. Nor does this mean that ten years' worth of fan discussion and insight into the character is wrong! It just means that unless they remake Rogue One from Cassian's perspective, everything the character does in the film is structured and interpreted through the lens of Jyn's story and not his own.

So having said that, let's return to the issue of disobedience. In Andor Season 2, Cassian disobeys direct orders several times, each time in relation to information from Luthen (which goes a ways towards showing why everyone the Council except Mon is so mistrusting of him). So what orders is he disobeying? Both times he leaves Yavin, he does not have permission to go - although the first time, when he leaves for Ghorman, the rebels on Yavin are very loosely organized, Draven only makes a token effort to rein in Cassian, and they have no issue coming back. And...that's it. The second time, when he goes to Coruscant, he's ordered to stand down and he does not. Then, when they come back hot without a flight plan filed, they're confronted by an X-wing escort and afterwards, Cassian complies with what he's told (even though he vehemently disagrees with the Council about it).

When we look at Cassian's disobedience in Season 2, we see that the orders he disobeys are primarily related to permission. He has not been given permission to undertake these unsanctioned missions but he refuses to stand down and he leaves Yavin under false pretenses that everyone can see through. The charge is insubordination, and post facto, potentially exposing the rebel base and thus endangering the Alliance. Contrast this with the order he's given in Rogue One - do not extract the target but rather kill him. This is not an order related to his position within the Rebel Alliance; this is a mission directive to eliminate a perceived threat. And while I think there's a definite criticism to be made of the "lone agent" elements of his insubordination in Season 2, I don't think it fundamentally undermines his moral and personal struggle in Rogue One about refusing to kill Galen.

There's a difference between not listening to your boss' orders because you want to pursue a personal matter, and choosing to disobey an order to kill someone because it would be wrong. One is a decision that anyone can be faced with at any time, the other is a fundamentally moral issue and one that is complicated into a struggle for Cassian because of the nature of the situation. When you've been fighting a fascist regime your whole life, living through atrocities and doing some terrible things in the name of the cause, and you now have the opportunity to take out an important engineer in the regime's weapons program, is it a greater crime to kill them or let them live? At this point, they don't know what else Galen Erso has been working on, if he hasn't been developing other devastating weapons for the Empire. And what if you had to look their daughter in the eye afterwards, the daughter who believed that you were going to save him, whom you lied to about his safety?

This is getting long, so the last thing I'll say is that it's absolutely valid (and important!) to critique Andor over how well it executed its goal of showing Cassian's journey. There are elements that I personally agree were a little rougher and inconsistent, such as the hints that he's some kind of "destined" chosen one or the development of his relationship with K-2SO which could have done with more time. What I really want to say though is that Cassian is a complex character, whom we now have multiple hours of story and screen time through which to examine (and re-examine!) him. And this opens up so much room for discussion and textual criticism, and I hope that we're able to keep talking about and enjoying Cassian Andor long after his story ends.

[llamaqueenprompt]

Not Today

Characters: JJ Maybank, Reader

Not Requested

Word Count: 0.8k

Inspiration: “You’re not dying on me. Not today.”

Spoilers for season 4 finale

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

❁ Find out who I write for HERE

❁ Go to my Masterlist HERE

❁ See the requests guidelines HERE

❁ Send me a request HERE

One second JJ was standing in front of her, the next he was falling backwards holding his side.

It happened so fast.

One blink, one breath, and JJ was no longer on his feet, but on the ground, gasping and crumpling into the rocks with a soft, broken groan.

Y/n’s scream cut through the air like a blade. “JJ!”

She ran the short distance to him, dropping to her knees so hard ir hurt. But she didn’t care. Her fingers flew to his side before she could think, already soaked with warmth. Blood.

No, no, no, no.

His face was twisted in pain, lips parted, eyes bazed. “Hey, babe…” he murmured, almost casual. “It’s not that bad…”

“You’re bleeding, JJ!” she cried, pressing both hands over the wound, ignoring how slick and sticky everything already felt. Her voice cracked. “You’re… Oh my god, JJ, look at me.”

He blinked up at her, like he was trying to focus, like her face was the only thing keeping him anchored. “You’re here.”

“Of course I’m here.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, broken and frantic. She ripped off part of her shirt and pressed it against his wound. “You think I’d leave you? You idiot.”

He smiled, a weak, crooked thing. “That’s why I love you.”

Tears tung her eyes. “Don’t say that like it’s a goodbye.”

JJ grimaced, trying to breathe, trying to stay with her. For her. “Not saying goodbye. Just… in case I pass out.. Wanted to make sure you knew.

“I do know,” she whispered, her forehead pressing against his as she held the makeshift bandage tighter to his side. “I’ve always known. And you’re not dying on me. Not today. Not ever.”

“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay.”

He trusted her like that. So completely. It made her heart hurt in a way that had nothing to do with dear and everything to do with how much she loved him.

And just when it all felt too much, the panic, the pain, the weight of what she could lose, Pope’s voice broke through the rocks.

“Y/n? JJ?”

She screamed their names back, relief hitting her like a wave. “Over here! He’s hurt!”

Seconds later, the other appeared, their faces exhausted, and Y/n let them take over only when she was sure JJ was breathing. His hand remained wrapped in hers, none of them letting go.

Later that night

The room smelled faintly of ocean dalt and antiseptic. The onld twin bead creaked under JJ’s weight, and he looked more like himself again, color back in his cheeks, blue eyes a little less glassy. Still banged up, still bandagded, but alive.

Y/n sat cross-legged next to him, one his hands holding her waist, while hers playing with her hoodie.

“You’re hovering,” he said with a lazy smile.

“I almost lost you,” she replied simply.

His smile softened. “But you didn’t.”

“No. Because you’re a stubborn pain in the ass.”

JJ chuckled. “Takes one to know one.”

They sat in silence for a moment, just the soft rhythm of the fan spinning above them and the occasional creak of the floorboards from the others moving around downstairs.

Then, JJ tugged lightly at her hand. “Come here.”

Y/n didn’t need to be asked twice. She climbed into the bed, careful of his injury, and curled up beside him. His arm wrapped protectively around her, despite the pain he was clearly still in.

“You scared me so bad,” she whispered into his chest, her fingers brushing along the hem of the gauze. “I didn’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

JJ kissed the top of her head. “I’m not going anywhere, babe. Not now. Not when I finally have something that’s good.”

“You have everything now,” she murmured. “You have me. Forever, if you want me.”

He tilted her chin up, eyes warm and soft and so unlike the reckless daredevil the rest of the world knew. “I’ve always wanted you.”

“JJ,” she caressed his cheek. “We need to talk about tonight. About Gerard…”

“I know, but not now. Now I need to love my girlfriend.” he kissed the tip of her nose before moving to her lips.

Their kiss was gentle, slow, just lips barely brushing, but it said more than any dramatic speech ever could. It was a promise. A quiet, desperate kind of love that clung on even in the middle of chaos.

When they pulled apart, JJ grinned. “So, does this mean I can milk this stab wound for at least a week of cuddles?”

Y/n rolled her eyes, cheeks flushed. “You can milk it for exactly one week. Then I start teasing you again.”

He laughed, winced, and held her tighter. “Deal.”

And for the first time in what felt like hours, she felt her heart settle.

He was okay. He was here.

And so was she.

Together. Always.

[andorerso]

Sorry for bringing negativity but I saw a tweet saying than 'Jyn was nothing, she just joined to his (Andors) team' which is just INSANE and it shows how deeply misogynistic this fcking fandom is.

It was to her Galen's message was directed to.

It was her the one who transmitted the information. Saw was dead. No one else new heard it. Just her.

It was her who tried to convince the Rebel Alliance.

Characters like Chirrut and Baze were following her.

It was her who sent the data.

Now, I think everybody on board Rogue One did something important. Big or small. All heroes, but the way Andor is giving the incels the perfect excuse to undermine Jyn's role is infuriating. They should know by now how the fandom is towards the female characters and yet, they still do shit like this.

It was too difficult saying her name once at least?

Ugh. Sorry for the rant but it's so frustrating.

yeah, the thing about Rogue One is that they needed all of them to complete the mission and get the Death Star plans (which is part of what makes it so good imo). it wouldn't have happened without Cassian, it wouldn't have happened without Bodhi, it wouldn't have happened without K2, it wouldn't have happened without Chirrut and Baze. and it definitely wouldn't have happened without Jyn who is literally the main character. it's true that Jyn is joining Cassian's mission to help with Saw, but that's only true so far as they go to Jedha. from there, Chirrut is following her, not Cassian, and Baze is following Chirrut. Scarif is Jyn's idea, but Cassian recruits the army. I always saw Scarif as a co-led mission, but it's definitely untrue that she joins his team or whatever. it's still her movie. I think some people just don't understand the concept of ensemble cast - and of course, they'd rather elevate the male character over the female character. it's just too bad that Andor gives them ammo for this by not even mentioning her.... (I don't even wanna talk about how Andor took Cassian, completely cannibalized him, and then used him to reduce Jyn's importance, turning him into a chosen one figure all the while sidelining him as well from his own story. like Andor was meant to be Cassian's story, but it wasn't, certainly not in season 2. it was only about Cassian when it was a convenient tool to make him overshadow Jyn, which the incels of course bought hook, line and sinker. it makes me feel sick - and he would be too, if he knew how he was being used...)

[girlrandomstuff]

rewatched rogue one today due to it's anniversary and just wanted to talk about moments and things that altered my brain chemistry cuz THAT MOVIE sended me straight to teraphy each freaking time

the Rogue One logo and "A long ride ahead" score

"the strongest stars have hearts of kyber"

Galen's message to jyn and the whole secuence of Jedha's destrution

Baze taking Jyn's hand after she saw her father die

Jyn's speach

"make 10 men feel like a hundred"

Bail Organa talking about Leia "I will trust her with my life", walking out (with that cape of him, classy) saying "Captain Antilles, I have a mission for you, sir"

Mon Mothma's smirk when she's told Admiral Raddus has gone to fight

Jyn and Cassian bond in the final moments

Leia's cameo

[blue-mint-winter]

I rewatched Rogue One after Andor and I have to say that the show fits pretty well and enhances the movie experience. Here's some comments:

Cassian's character gains a lot, mainly you understand where he's coming from when he shoots the informant and then one of Saw's group (to save Jyn from a hand grenade). Also, his choice not to shoot Galen Erso, when he tries to call off the attack on Eadu because Jyn is there. Jyn challenging his beliefs, justifications and then Cassian preemptively gathering the squad to go to Scarif because he knows the Rebels leaders won't take action. All of it makes sense.

One thing is for sure - not once during this entire movie Cassian thought of Bix. He had his eyes on Jyn the entire time and those were definitely heart eyes. Man was smitten from the start (I'm sure it was from the moment she saved the little girl in Jedha).

I loved when Cassian shot Krennic. It was incredibly satisfying. Finally someone nailed him. When you think of it, Krennic building the Death Star was the cause of most suffering in Cassian's life. However, killing Krennic was Jyn's revenge for her parents, but Cassian did it for her, while Jyn transmitted the Death Star plans, which confirmed Luthen's information and finished Cassian's mission.

Jyn is still the heart of the movie. I noticed how in the beginning, she was angry, snarky, always frowning. She was in the cynical mindset, keeping her head down. But then both Saw and Galen (through his message and Bodhi) inspire her to rebel. And despite meeting her fathers again after years only to lose them, she can smile again because she took up their cause. She becomes kinder, more empathetic, she starts to trust others again, help and be helped. That moment when she gave K2SO a blaster was so important. I think Jyn hiding in the beginning was just her doing the same as Galen did in the start of the movie. Galen was hiding with his family as a farmer. He didn't oppose the Empire, he just laid low but that wasn't enough, they still went after him. So it was huge when Jyn heard what he really did after he had been taken, how he was working against the Empire all this time, right under their nose. That changed her enitre view of him and helped her find her own identity as his daughter.

Bor Gullet makes sense as now without a shadow of doubt, after watching Andor we can say that Saw Gerrera IS crazy. Lol

Krennic was another character that was enriched by Andor, but mostly because it was great to see after how he treated Dedra in the show that he's not as important, there are people higher in the Imperial hierarchy that can and will wipe the floor with him like an old rag. After bragging how he talked with Palpatine in the show, pretending to be so important and close to the Emperor, it turns out Krennic has no access or way of contacting him, to the point he goes to Vader for help. I love how Vader chokes him - it's because Krennic is an annoying, powerhungry bitch and only cares about "being in command". Vader giving him a warning like that is appropriate. I actually find it a very mild and restrained reaction from a Sith Lord.

Btw, Vader's corridor scene is still fantastic and gave me chills.

After Andor, I love how the movie finally allows the characters to be heroes. They have cool, heroic moments. Their sacrifices mean something! It's wonderful. The feeling of hope is so strong.

I loved that they find the way forward - Galen Erso inspired Bodhi, then Jyn, then she inspired Cassian who gathered the other Rebel agents who once did all the dirty work to finally do something heroic for the Rebellion. They all learned to believe in the cause again, even Baze in the end regained his faith in the Force.

Jyn always had to climb, take the dangerous, difficult, life-threatening road both on Eadu and Scarif, just to receive and send the message. Meanwhile Krennic was taking the easy way, a ride, a lift to the same top of the tower.

On this rewatch I better understood the battle of Scarif and everything that was going on there.

I like that Mon Mothma was still so idealistic after the show events. She literally said she wanted to take Galen Erso to testify before the Imperial Senate. Meanwhile, Draven just didn't want to take the risk and ordered a hit on Galen.

I love how the movie is all about how difficult it is to transmit a message of hope and rebellion. How all the Rebels had to do their part, figure something out and if one of them failed, it would all be over. Their success was definitely the work of the Force.

[angel-bazethiel]

Yiren Disco 2025 Day 2 (Part 2)

Equal to Heaven – Who is your favorite character and why?

Aight, since this coincided with WIP Wednesday, let me share a little bit of what I've been working on the past couple of months!!! It kind of tackles why I love Wang Ye, so I figured I could post an excerpt of a WIP as an extra entry for the event~

--

Excerpt from too heavenly not to build him a sanctuary (sequel to settle our bones like wood and stone, but can be read as stand alone)

Tags: QingYe ; ABO ; Alpha/Qianyuan ZGQ ; Omega/Kunze WY ; POV ZGQ ; established relationship

Wang Ye grew up thinking that his wants and needs were somehow lesser because no one had shown him the compassion that he needed. Not out of malice, but because nobody understood him—how could anyone empathize with someone they don’t understand? How could someone so finite, who could never catch up to the infinite, even comprehend how lonely the vastness could be? 

So, the Kunze compensated by him understanding others instead, empathizing with them because they could never with him. That then led to him prioritizing others’ needs over his own—after all, the closer you were to divinity, the more you should help those who were more unfortunate, right?  

When he needed money, he gave it away because he chose to help his friend. When he needed support and stability, he chose to stay away from his family and friends to keep them safe. 

And now, he was choosing this stupid Qianyuan’s need for comfort over what he wanted. But the thing was... “I do want it too,” Zhuge Qing’s voice cracked, “I’m just—I'm so scared.” 

“Didn’t you say we’re a team? I’m scared too, but knowing you’ll be with me is actually what gives me the courage to stand my ground in this. So... if you really don’t think we can do this, then okay. I’ll stop being stubborn. Because I can’t do this without you.” Wang Ye grabbed his hand again, looking at him with imploring eyes that were shiny with fresh new tears. 

“It’s okay to be scared. Fear keeps us smart. Anxiety keeps us safe. We just have to be careful not to let it rule our lives, right? Not having the power to change what is written in the stars shouldn’t be the point of understanding them. The point is to learn how to make peace with them. How—how to reconcile our choices with an unforgiving, impatient world that’s constantly evolving. 

“I am a patient man. I can endure just about anything the world has given and will give me. But I don’t want to get left behind. I don’t want to be stuck, unchanging, in a world that is constantly changing. I would’ve stayed in the mountains if I did.” 

That reminded him of another thing the Kunze had told him at their first meeting, “‘If we simply avoid misfortune and chase good fortune, then there’s no point,’ right?” 

Qimen Dunjia did not just calculate what you should and shouldn’t do. If Zhuge Qing used it to simply avoid misfortune and chase good fortune, then all he needed to read was the Earth Plate, right? But he also learned how to read the Gods and Heaven Plates, shouldn’t that mean something? 

No matter how much Wang Ye lived a simple life, he could never be simple. His father once told him that to chase the infinite with the finite was to endanger yourself. What could he do if the infinite was the one chasing his very finite, very fragile mate? 

What else could he do if not support him—if not stand by his side no matter the risk? What was achieving samadhi for if he went back to that little boy who couldn’t amount to anything because he was too scared in his powerlessness?

--

What are they talking about? Well, you just have to wait for me to publish the whole thing..........

[bikananjarrus]

love that in star wars i can say “i miss my old gay men who live on jedha” and you can ask “which ones?” Am i talking about baze and chirrut or am i talking about vildar and tey? the answer is yes.

[mirrorofliterature]

chirrut isn't sure if he likes the jedi temple.

sure, they are great scholars and warriors, but -

but.

when he refers to baze as his husband, they act oddly. they get even weirder when he references his mother's cooking, or buying a trinket on coruscant to take home to his little sister.

he is a guardian of the whills. he is sworn to serve the force

but that doesn't mean -

serving the force and loving people are not mutually exclusive, and the way some jedi act about attachment is simply concerning. they say they obstain from attachment, but they live and breathe for the republic.

chirrut sighs, walking through one of the endless gardens in this luxurious temple - they have nothing but this opulence - the breeze ruffling his cloak.

the guardians of the whills are part of the very fabric of jedha.

the temple does not feel like it is on coruscant; it is like it is in another realm altogether.

he stops, hearing the feather-light footsteps of another.

chirrut can feel the force, the way it is the life-blood of the universe, weaving between every nook and cranny.

but he cannot manipulate it like the jedi. the guardians of the whills is largely philosophical. the jedi scoop up most force sensitive, anyway, although they leave jedha alone.

'who are you?'

it is a young boy; suspicious, naturally. the force convention has been made up of scholars, not younglings.

and the jedi have so many younglings. too many too young, chirrut sometimes thinks, but it is not his place to disparage another religion's practices.

'a guardian of the whills,' chirrut answers the inquisitive boy, 'from jedha. we follow the force... differently to the jedi, but we are all one in the force.'

the boy comes closer. 'you can do that?'

chirrut nods. 'you can do that.'

the jedi are inescapable.

the guardians of the whills are not.

the wind whistles, again.

chirrut spends the rest of the afternoon talking to the young jedi, a boy named anakin skywalker, who is curious and reticent and -

lonely, chirrut thinks, to be here in the gardens alone, talking to a stranger.

the conference ends. chirrut gives anakin his comm number - the boy wanted to learn more about other force traditions: he is like a sponge, constantly seeking more information.

chirrut wonders if he is wasted on the jedi: there had been little give or take on their part throughout the conference. a boy that asks that many questions could so easily be quashed under their inflexibility, their dogma, their strange, no-attachment compassion

the conference over, they are to return to jedha

but first, he says to baze: 'do you want to go to tatooine?'

baze snorts. 'what's there to do on tatooine?'

chirrut's next words are carefully chosen. 'slavers. it's where a jedi padawan I talked to was from. and the jedi left his mother behind in slavery after freeing him.'

baze sighs. 'that's fucked up. yeah, I'm up for fucking with some slavers. some of our humanitarian missions have been a little too peaceful, recently.'

chirrut smiles, warmth flowing through him.

it has been a while since they took part in directly rooting out evil.

he leaves the jedi temple behind. he learnt barely anything of value, but it gave him his next humanitarian mission:

cleaning up their messes.

honestly, what kind of religious order takes the kid but leaves their family behind in slavery?

chirrut wonders about their definition of compassion. it is hollow, cracking.

the force is clearer once they leave coruscant behind.

what chirrut doesn't know, will never know: his one act of compassion will save both the jedi and guardians of the whills from complete annihilation.

[ambafaerie]

The Yavin Barber would’ve come for the Rogue One squad if they lived to escape Scarif.

Jyn is picked as the new model for the Rebellion’s recruitment posters but she is a little hesitant to have her hair cut since she is used to styling it herself or Saw braiding them when she was still with the Partisans. Cassian assures her the barber styles haircuts that make people trust them so Jyn decides to trust his word and have the barber cut her hair but what comes out is a messy blown out bob cut with thick bangs that belongs more to a party scene than advertising for the Rebellion. Jyn swears vengeance on Cassian while he is dying from laughter because he and Melshi have agreed to haze rebel newcomers by persuading them into having their haircut by the Yavin barber.

Bodhi is also tricked by Cassian into having his haircut by the Yavin barber so he wouldn’t have trouble while piloting, but in truth it is part of a running bet. The barber is oblivious or doesn’t listen at all while they hum when Bodhi tries to tell them very politely after the fifth or seventh cut his hair is okay so please stop ruining it. Bodhi gets an undercut that veers too close to completely shaving his head bald which he does not like at all because it ruins his cool pilot look and makes him miss his little ponytail. He joins Jyn in dyeing Cassian’s hair in different colors by replacing his shampoo bottles as revenge. K2SO knows about their prank but he looks the other way.

Baze is told by rebel higher ups like Draven his hair is a violation of the military rebel dress and hair code. He pointedly refuses to listen to them to go to the Yavin barber and stands his ground because keeping his hair long and personally taking care of it is a point of pride and a way of keeping and remembering his culture. If the Yavin Barber or anyone else tries to talk him into getting a haircut he will quietly raise his blaster to get the message across he does not want to have strangers messing with his hair until they leave.

Chirrut has clean cut hair he maintains by himself or has Baze do it for him, another relaxing bonding session for them together. So he is not in trouble with the higher ups but he does have pleasant conversations with the Yavin Barber from time to time who tries to convince him to let them cut his hair which he politely declines. Chirrut does inform the Barber of the tumultuous emotions he senses their clients feel in the Force after they get their haircut which they both laugh off.

[colleybri]

Reading the Rogue One novelisation really brings home the failure of the Rebel “Alliance” in this scene. Unlike in the film, the novel emphasises that this was a meeting that took place over several hours, with presentation of all the available evidence regarding the Death Star … And still the Alliance voted against attempting to steal the plans. No wonder Jyn feels abandoned, as has happened so many times in her life already.

Andor season 2 will hopefully explore the conflicting voices within the disparate rebel cells (the groups Saw scornfully lists as “Lost!”)… the deals and compromises needed to make the Rebel Alliance as well as the cooperation. But I think it's quite telling that the Alliance effectively fails at the moment when it's needed most. In the face of the odds, the consensus is… not to fight. Jyn simply can’t believe her ears when she hears talk of surrender. She had at least thought that the Alliance would do something! Honestly, it’s one of the darkest moments in the entire film. In the entire Star Wars franchise.

The official decision leaves it to Jyn, Cassian, Chirrut, Baze, Bhodi, K-2SO, Melshi and a relative handful of other brave volunteers to take Jyn's words to heart. They know that they might well run out of chances. They accept that. They feel they have no choice.

Cassian first made that discovery five years previously, but it's implied that he has been gradually spiritually brow-beaten by the accumulated darkness of what and who he has lost and what he has had to do. Jyn has rekindled the flame in his soul… she’s reminded him of his purpose because when he looks at her, he sees so much of himself. When he volunteers, she says "I'm not used to people sticking around when things go wrong."

His reply is the beautiful "Welcome home". It's as if the union of the Rogue One mission is the family she's been looking for all her life. Cassian’s already proved unswerving loyalty to her by disobeying his order to kill her father. These people have known each other only a few days, and some of the unnamed volunteers now are complete strangers to her. But in giving their lives as individuals, devoting themselves to this their new family, - the true "rebel alliance" as in an alliance of a handful of genuine rebels - will ultimately triumph.

Mon Mothma looked suitably ashamed when she told Jyn "I'm sorry… the odds are too great". She seems aware of the failure of the political method. Thank goodness for the bravery of those who sometimes decide that the right thing to do is to disobey orders. Even if that means paying the ultimate price. 

“Make 10 men feel like 100” is a great line. But honestly… for every 10 men here, there should have been 100.

Rogue One: thank you for your sacrifice….

…A sacrifice that unites them forever.

[ask-ltmoth]

Moth ztuff + zoap hcz! ↓

One time the entire Tazk Force 141 had been looking for Zoap juzt to find out Zoap and Cazzidy making out in the locker :0

zoap and Moth conztantly flirt over commz during mizzionz and EVERYONE hatez it! One time Gaz had to zit between the two after they zaid some freaky azz zhit on the way back to baze and he waz zo uncomfortable... Gaz either ztarez at the ground or lookz at them with FEAR. He'z like thighz together handz in hiz lap trying to keep away from them

↑Lazwell haz to tell them to be quiet over commz or elze they don't zhut up.

Ex ↓

Soap: “Just put it in there, ain't that hard.”

Moth: “Oh yeah you like putting things in don't you.”

Laswell: “Stand down, boys..”

If they are together on a mizzion Moth getz ZUPER handzy.. Azz grabbing, arm touching, etc!

↑One time he literally pulled Zoap back by his mohawk and Zoap MOANED. Everyone got quiet after that. Ghozt didn't zay a WORD the rezt of the mizzion.

Alzo everyone haz moved roomz farther away from Zoap and Moth.. It getz zo bad at night after mizzion becauze Moth is zuch a freak after them!

↑The two have roomz right next to each other and take turnz zleeping in each room!!

Juzt Moth↓

Ghozt iz, az you know, quiet. But Moth iz the more chaotic one of the two lieutenantz.

Moth iz zharp and focuzed on important mizzionz of courze. He knowz what to do and doez it well. He'z alzo talkative and goez for what he wantz.

Ever zince the incident and how he got his callzign, mothz are EVERYWHERE. He kind of attractz them zomehow it'z almozt zcary. Moth haz to literally bite hiz lip hard az to not zcream when he zeez them.

A more zocial avoidance perzon half the time. But he iz nice when you get to know him! Though Moth doez have anger izzuez.. They aren't az bad az they uzed to be zince the Tazk Force zwitch

Before joining the army, Moth wanted to be a librarian becauze he zpent a lot of hiz life in one az a kid. He zoon lozt motivation when he went through zomething... Traumatic!

Moth LOVEZ flowerz! He getz them a lot for himzelf or partner, zpecial occazionz, meeting new people, etc. Hiz favorite flower iz the Orange day-lily!