#cleigg lars

[reconstructwriter]

So I Finally Finished Attack of the Clones

...for the very first time. When did this movie come out again? I am late, is there still room on this bandwagon? Anyway more thought vomiting on this movie...

Sith Pattern: I do appreciate that Palpatine is old, rich, white male fascist. Dooku is old, rich, white male fascist. Anakin shakes things up a bit by starting out young and poor but he’ll get there and has the rest down. Meanwhile our heroes are Padme Amidala, Mace Windu, Yoda, Bail, etc. Would have loved for George Lucas’ original casting of Obi Wan to have gone through! This does make Mirror!verses and morality flip AU's very weird because the Galaxy is being saved from aliens by three white guys? Unfortunate implications aside I can suspend a lot of disbelief about laser-swords and magic IN SPACE but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

Anakin’s attachment: Is well-shown here with convenient comparison to Cleigg – her husband and her son, the two who should love Shmi the most. At her funeral Cleigg is all ‘you’re in a better place. Thank you for the time we had,’ vs Anakin’s ‘I wasn’t strong enough to save you, I won’t fail again’ and ‘I miss you’. Exact opposites. Cleigg was entirely focused on Shmi while Anakin was focused on himself.

Also Anakin’s focus kinda screwed up Obi Wan’s mission when he wasted precious moments FINDING Anakin to get his galactically-important message through.

Mace Windu Not Killing Dooku: Shatterpoint, along with some fanfics, has Mace beating himself up for not ending the war by killing Dooku but my man you’re too hard on yourself! You only killed Jango when he decided to fuck around and find out with you in the death arena. Dooku did not fuck around and find out so your only chance would’ve been to throw away all your Jedi morals and stab him in the back! Thus risking becoming Darth Tyrannus 2.0 and screwing the galaxy.

Jango why did you fuck around and find out? I get Mace held a laser sword to your throat and you had a working jetpack going into the arena…but that arena is No Man’s Land. Even if Galidraan was canon you could’ve stayed back and taken pot shots.

The scene with Boba giving one last keldabe kiss to his father’s helmet is heartbreaking! Ouch!!!

Padme: So I kinda get being willing to confess her terrible taste in men on Space Fantasy Death Row. She doesn’t want to live a lie and is straight up expecting to die so what does it matter if she confesses? And then she does live so consequence time! Still feels like she’s ignoring the genocide – or George Lucas is ignoring the obvious implications. Genocide does work for foreshadowing Jedi genocide and Nazi comparisons (boy howdy does it!!!). But murdering every single member of an entire tribe down to the babes in arms doesn’t work for ‘Anakin doesn’t Fall here, he just dips his toe in the Dark’.

Padme otherwise doesn’t seem too terribly out of character throughout. She stands her ground against Anakin and where she does give in – rescuing Shmi – or chooses to go after Obi Wan? Well both did do her immensely big favors it’d be weirder if she brushed them off. Plus, rescuing both comes with additional benefits – no assassin will look for her on Tattooine (it worked before) and Obi Wan’s rescue could offer the opportunity to discuss peace with the Separatists before war happened.

And it did – in the cut scene :P

Dual with Dooku: So Anakin did put his duty first when Padme fell in the (barren, sans enemies) sand with an ally but damn if his attachment to her wasn’t still affecting him. The hot-headed idiotic attack was the worst possible timing! Why does everyone beat Mace up (including the man himself) for not killing Dooku but give Anakin a pass when he had every chance of ending the war Right There if he’d been able to keep his head on straight for two minutes.

The End: As with the first movie, we end with Mace and Yoda clearly knowing what the Sith are doing, though they're split with Mace believing Dooku while Yoda thinks its a trick. And I think they’re both right because I read somewhere Dooku and Palpatine were hoping to sow doubt between the Jedi and the Senate but also was telling the truth – from a certain point of view. Anyway, they aren't oblivious. Yoda straight up says the Shroud of the Dark Side has Fallen.

The last scene really drives that home! How the beginning of the war is the beginning of the Empire. The war kills the Republic and this is repeatedly smacked into our brains with the imagery of Palpatine standing at the head of everyone else, the most powerful Supreme Chancellor ever as the army of white-clad troopers marches out into the galaxy below him. The Destroyers lift off. The Empire’s freaking theme music plays.

Overall the movie had its high points and stinkers but that was a damn fine end!

[aj-artjunkyard]

I think the prequels should’ve made Owen Lars Anakin’s full brother. I think we should’ve had gruff 19/20 year old completely Force-null Owen in TPM and make the audience assume for a moment that that’s young Darth Vader, but nope, it’s the tiny blond Yippee boy who’s playing with droids.

I want to play with old Ben’s line about Uncle Owen in ANH “He thought (Anakin) should’ve stayed here, not gotten involved (in the clone wars)” as Owen urging Anakin to quit the Order in AOTC because a war is brewing in the Republic, telling him their mother sent Anakin away to be safe, and would never approve of him becoming a soldier.

Then Uncle Owen in OWK with that same dismissive attitude towards Obi-Wan but this time it’s not just protectiveness of Luke but also because he blames the Jedi for corrupting his little brother

[tranakin-skywalker]

Wait you're making a fic for your torgruta au?? Tell me more please

Yeah, I've been thinking about writing a fic about it for a while now. Most likely it's going to be a series of oneshots so I can hop around to different parts of the story I find interesting.

A lot of the ideas are coming from the hyena discord, so I can't claim them as my own. But they are just too good to pass up. Like togruta making infrasound with their montrals and constantly projecting their moods. So when Anakin first gets to the Temple he's constantly screaming for him mom at a pitch that only other togruta can hear.

I've decided that that's actually how he first meets Ahsoka. She hears him making his lost, scared, where's mom, where's family sounds and seeks him out to comfort him. Ahsoka would be about four here, and would have left Shili recently enough that she could still remember what those noises mean, even if Tatooine togruta sound different from Shili togruta. (to a Shili tog Anakin's distressed noises sound like he's being maimed, but that's just because of the generational trauma and general awfulness of being a togruta on Tatooine. What they would think of the vocalizations he makes when actually being maimed we will not think about)

So Anakin and Ahsoka end up growing up together right from the start, and the main reason Anakin is so insistent on being knighted early is so that Ahsoka can be his padawan. It's a private thought he has to himself at first, but as Ahsoka gets older and no masters are showing any interest in taking her on she starts to panic. Anakin tells her that he'll just have to get knighted before she ages out so that he can be her master. And then the Clone War starts and he realizes that keeping his promise means bringing her onto the battlefield with him where she could die and he's not sure if he'll be enough to keep her alive :)

Because Shmi is a togruta too she does not get bought by Cleigg Lars. I am just. not dealing with the implications of that. (Listen. I want to read Shmi's marriage to him as a good thing, but I have a very hard time doing that.)

Now, there's actually a comic (Legands, I think, not Disney canon) where Gardulla goes to Watto and tries to buy Anakin back after he wins the Boonta Eve Classic. So have some fun thoughts about what would have happened to Anakin if he hadn't gone with Qui-Gon.

In the fic, Gardulla goes to buy Anakin but of course he left with the Jedi, so Gardulla decides she'll take Shmi as payment for Watto's debts. After all, if Shmi already had one child who turned out to be a talented podracer, well, she might have more. Hence the younger sibling that comes about shortly after Anakin leaves.

When Anakin goes back to Tatooine because of the nightmares about his mom he finds out that Watto sold his mom back to Gardulla and has to go to her to buy his mom's freedom. Which would be traumatic, on multiple levels. Anakin finds out that a month before he arrived, Shmi tried to escape with the sister Anakin didn't know he had, and Gardulla had their chips detonated. Gardulla even gives him their triggered remotes as proof.

(Of course unbeknownst to Anakin, Shmi and the sister survived and are living with a village of other escaped togruta.)

A lot of canon still happens the same, including Anakin's fall, Order 66, Mustafar, etc. But when Bail Organa sees Ahsoka at Padme's funeral he tells her that he can take her to a mutual friend of theirs. Ahsoka thinks (hopes) it's Anakin at first, and is devastated when she realizes it's Obi-Wan (and then hates herself for feeling disappointment because she should be happy that Obi-Wan is still alive, but he's not Anakin, and this means that Anakin must be dead).

There's no Lars family and the Organas would have a harder time explaining a non-human daughter, so Ahsoka and Obi-Wan end up taking care of the twins. They eventually find their way to Tatooine because it's out of the Empire's notice and, well, because it's a connection to Anakin (Ahsoka's trying to hold onto anything she can that connects her to her brother and Obi-Wan is in his self-harming phase.)

And it's there that they eventually run into a little community of togruta and a woman who looks suspiciously like Anakin who has the last name Skywalker. But hey, Shmi gets to meet her grandkids at least. Even if it happens at the same time that she finds out that son she thought she'd sent away to a better life and hasn't seen in 13 years is dead. (Obi-Wan sees how much Anakin's death destroys Shmi and decides to never, ever tell her what he became. Vader will be his burden and it's a secret he will take to his grave. Anakin Vader is dead, and he'll save them from ever finding out how it really happened)

Of course, 15 years later Ahsoka goes to rescue some rebels from a walking death omen in black when she realizes the infrasound calls he's shrieking out of his mangled montrals is devastatingly familiar.

[roseunspindle]

a different path 2

- meanwhile back on tatooine, after becoming free, Shmi sets about the long task of officially starting the slave revolution. There’s has always been one, sort of, but it was more just the underground, and no real intent/genuine way to change things.

- it’s different now, now there is hope, there is help, there is the start of a plan.

- Cleigg Lars is not part of the plan. Well, he and the other moisture farmers are part of them plan but not...the plan does not include him smiling shyly at Shmi, nor bringing her her favorite fruits from the market when he comes to town. These were not part of the plan, but, but it’s nice, he’s nice. Shmi remembers when she was young wanting dashing and daring, but now. Nice is wonderful, and while Cleigg may not be dashing, he is gentle and good, and he’ll hold the hand of an escaping slave while Shmi or Beru cuts out the transmitter. Daring he most certainly is, if not in the way young Shmi envisioned. This is a man who built a small, hidden surgery in his home to keep slaves hidden. This is a man who built a small hide space in his speeder to transport runaway slaves to his farm. If that is not daring, Shmi does not know what is.

- two years after they meet, Cleigg asks her to marry him, and with all her free ability to say no, Shmi says yes.

- Anakin comes to the wedding. Her boy is growing like a weed and Shmi and his Jedi mother commiserate on this. His Jedi father merely scoops the gangly fourteen year-old up even now, like he weighs nothing, giving a laughingly protesting Anakin purring kisses on the top of his head. 

- Shmi is happy when Cleigg, Owen and Anakin appear to get along. Anakin is not a farmer, but he has helped farm on dozens of worlds, and Cleigg and Owen are not warriors, but they are fighting a war, and above all that, all three speak mechanic and are happy with it. Beru takes to teasing Ani immediately who accepts it was eye rolling complaints, becoming siblings in the way only a freed boy and first freeborn child can.

- Padme, who has been in contact with Shmi and has made sure Naboo one of the stops on the freedom trail (the ease which this happens is aided by the fact that a former slave boy had helped free the entire planet, not once but twice, first with pod racing and second with destroying the droid control ship) is also in attendance.

- Shmi wonders when she will attend the wedding of this brave young woman and her son. For the age gap has grown smaller as Ani gets older and the smiles the two exchange are shy and sweet.

- Shmi and Cleigg get married in the light of the setting suns, with their family surrounding them. The desert wind blows and in the distance and Kryat dragon screams. It is a wonderful day.

- Four years later and all is ready, the slavers know something is happening, Ani, his Jedi parents, Obi-wan, Padme, her handmaidens, and many Nubian volunteers and well as the resistance fighters themselves are gathered. It is a bloody week. But by the end the Hutts are run away or dead, slavers await either republic trial or some have gone to feed the sarlac.

- Anakin and Padme have little time to talk, it isn’t until a week and half after the end of the rebellion that they truly speak, and Anakin is still bloody, though this time due to having just delivered a baby. He is washing his hands when Padme finds him and she hands him a towel.

- Anakin is a much different person than the one in another universe, this one does not take himself to seriously, for sure he has just aided in the freedom of his people, which brings him unending joy, but odds are when they return with the prisoners to Curoscant, Master Nu will set him to work putting away returns or maybe reading stories to younglings. He is a Jedi and no task is to big or to small, which i the biggest lesson he has learned. 

- He is also not stifled by a code that simply couldn’t fit him, instead, Yananna had given her nine year old padawn a different version, one that suited the emotion driven boy better and would help him embody the Jedi she knew he could be. 

- Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force

- in many ways one would assume this was the same as the other code but it is subtly different and Ani has fixed many machines, plowed many fields, and performed many kata’s while contemplating this version of the code.

- however, this code comes with the acknowledgement of emotions, but that even with them, one can find peace, anakin is angry and part of him will always be angry by the fact that he was a slave, the peace comes from knowing that he has a right to this anger, but also that he will not let anger be his new master.

- Padme invites the Jedi and Shmi and Cleigg to visit Naboo, and after a few months of making sure Tatooine is settled and peaceful, they make the trip.

- Anakin and Padme, however more amture Anakin especially is, ares till young, idealistic, and have a tendency to follow their hearts before their heads ever catch up. So Anakin is barely eighteen when he and Padme get married.

- It is different though. They know each other better, both view the other person as a living breathing, flawed person, however wonderful they find the other to be.

- Their families know, sure, the rest of the Galaxy must be kept in the dark but the people they love most know, and are happy for them. (Pooja and Ryoo make adorable flower girls).

- Obi-wan is uncertain about all of this, but cannot deny that the force had sung with joy as each slave breathed free for the first time. And it is glorying now in this marriage. 

- He must meditate on this, and if perchance his meditations stray towards what this might mean for himself and a certain duchess of Manadalore well...

[originaljediinjeans]

Me: *inhales* SHMI SKYWALKER AND CLEIGG LARS ARE THE MOST UNDERRATED RELATIONSHIP IN THE STAR WARS SAGA. THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK. 

[redrikki]

The thing the cool kids do: « Cleigg Lars set aside his breakfast and began to write. » … … … Look at how I ask for a new chapter! Isn’t it smooth? B)

It was surprisingly hard to know what to say. Something told him Anakin wouldn’t appreciate coddling, no matter how much he needed it. Since he lost his leg, Cliegg had been coddled within an inch of his life. He’d been a man once, able to do a man’s work, and now he was treated like a child in his own home. Anakin may have been forced into battle before he was healed, but at least he was spared that.

[gch1995]

The apologists are exhausting- Attachment =/= Love but baby Ani's problem was for being too attached to his mother at nine and she is left a slave. Oh and the Jedi completely had plans to free her but Cleigg Lars did so immediately so no skin off their nose. They just didn't bother to tell Anakin about it. These people need to watch the Phantom Menace again.

Yeah, there is such a thing as healthy loving attachments. It’s impossible for human beings to be emotionally/psychologically healthy without forming them. Look what happened to Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the overall Jedi Order of the prequels when they tried living in total denial of attachments. They destroyed themselves and helped destroy the the galaxy around them. The Jedi were definitely overdoing it with that whole no attachment rule in them

As a child before getting involved with the Jedi, Anakin seemed to be a pretty normal kid with healthy attachments. it’s only after he gets involved with their fucked up space cult of emotional denial that he starts developing BPD like symptoms of mood swings, a rather obsessive love, and intense fear or abandonment.

I agree that the Jedi Council, Obi-Wan, and the Republic did Anakin, Shmi, and the people of Tatooine very dirty in the prequels.

[ashthewaterghoul]

“What if Qui-Gon Survived”

Chapter 10

Padmé’s silver Noobian ship exited hyperspace and was confronted with Anakin’s home planet, Tatooine. Anakin landed the ship at the coordinates that Qui-Gon had sent them and waiting just outside the homestead was Anakin’s Master and a young man, who looked not too far in age from Anakin. After introductions were made, they all went into the homestead and padawan was reunited with his old droid, C-3PO. When he saw his mother, bruised and scared, he fell to his knees and a silent tear or two rolled down his cheek.

“Anakin?” Her weak voice croaked

“Yeah, it’s me, Mom. I’m here.”

Her pale hand reached for his face “Oh, my handsome, grown-up son.”

“It’s okay Mom, it’s all over.”

“I’m so proud of you, Ani. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

Anakin wanted to give his mother the biggest hug he could, it had been ten years since he’d seen her after all. But, the frail state of her body simply wouldn’t allow it, so he just lightly held her body and her weak arms hung around her son’s neck. Qui-Gon walked into the room.

“Come, Anakin, your mother needs rest.”

The young Padawan reluctantly agreed and gave his mother a kiss on the forehead before leaving the bedroom.

The Jedi Master put his hand across his Padawan’s back and guided him through the homestead to the small dining area, where Beru poured some blue milk for everyone.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Anakin.” Owen said shaking his hand “Your mother has told us many stories about you. I only wish we could’ve met under better circumstances.”

Anakin nodded his head, “It was Tusken Raiders, you say, that did this to my mother?”

“Yes, it was.” Another voice answered “Cleigg Lars, Shmi is my wife. I’m sorry I didn’t go and look for her, I just can’t ride again yet” he motioned to the stump just above where his kneecap used to be. After a brief conversation about how Cleigg met Shmi, Anakin excused himself and went out of the homestead and walked towards a speeder.

“Where do you think you are going, my Padawan?” Qui-Gon’s voice said from behind.

“I’ve never seen this part of the planet before, forgive me if I want to explore it.”

“No, that’s not it. I know of your intense dislike of this planet and a fair few of the creatures that inhabit it.” Anakin sometimes forgot how skilled his Master was with people and their emotions.

“How would you feel if your mother was beaten and tortured to within an inch of her life?”

“Anakin, you know that is a question I cannot answer. I was taken to the temple as a baby, I have no recollection of my mother.”

“I can’t bear to think that those animals could roam after what they did.”

Anakin’s shifting presence in the force unnerved the old Jedi.

“Revenge is not the Jedi way, my young Padawan.”

Anakin finally turned to face his Master, fury emblazoned across his face, and the look in his eyes resembled that of a confused, frightened young boy.

“I almost lost Padme, then there was no contact from you for days, I haven’t heard anything from Obi-Wan for just as long and my mother almost died.”

“Anakin, I know you are angry right now, but remember your first night in the temple? When I told you about Tahl? How I acted when she died?”

“Yes.” The young man said hanging his head.

“That’s one part of my time as a Jedi I don’t want you to go through. And look, you didn’t lose Padme or me or your mother. I’m sure Obi-Wan will be in contact soon, he’s doing his job, the same as you and me. Now, come inside and spend some time with your step family.”

“But, Master, Jedi aren’t supposed to have attachments.”

“So the council says, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.” Qui-Gon winked at his padawan and walked back inside. Anakin chuckled in disbelief and followed him in.

View all chapters here

[starsandthedyad]

Headcanons I have for the au where Anakin didn’t slaughter all the sand people, but did defend himself, and left the Jedi Order after the Battle of Geonosis:

He establishes a good relationship with his step father and step brother and considers them his family. He does visit them from time to time throughout his life.

He ends up establishing his own droid repair shop on Coruscant with Padme’s help. His business flourishes, especially during the Clone Wars. He ends up having several apprentices who were either orphans in the lower levels or Coruscant or Jedi younglings who never were able to become padawans and decided to leave the Jedi Order instead of joining on Jedi Corps or freed slaves. He later establishes a second shop on Naboo.

He and Padme get married like a year later than in canon because they had to make preparation. You know their wedding was fabulous and romantic.

Padme’s (and Anakin’s once they get married) nieces were the flower girls at their wedding.

I imagine he and Padme got married on Naboo.

Cleigg and Owen Lars and Beru (still Whitesun) were invited to the wedding and came.

His and Padme’s marriage is healthy and loving.

He helps Padme and her friends (former hand maidens) free slaves from non-Republic planets.

Anakin earns the nick name of the Senator’s husband, which he loves. He becomes well known for being supportive of his wife and treating her as an equal and even willing to listen to her practice her speeches before she says them on the Senate floor.

At some points during the Clone Wars, he works as a pilot under Padme’s friend, Senator Bail Organa, to help deliver supply and help planets torn apart by the War. He also helps Naboo with their relief missions as well.

Probably at some point, the Jedi Order does recruit him as a soldier to fight for them.

He and Obi-Wan do reconnect. 

I will leave this up to Obi-Wans, of course, but possibly Obi-Wan takes on Ahsoka as his next padawan learner or potentially follows Anakin’s example and leaves the Jedi Order to be with Satine. If Obi-Wan does go to be with Satine and Anakin and he maintain a friendship, Anakin would totally visit Mandalore from time to time

Anakin and Padme get invited to Owen and Beru’s wedding and attend.

After several years of marriage, he and Padme becomes pregnant with Luke and Leia. Since Anakin is not in the Jedi Order, they obviously don’t have to hide their marriage, much less that they are having a child together. This also enables Padme to have regular check ups and prenatal care. I imagine that Anakin can sense the twins, but at times, it feels like two lights and others one. They get the confirmation that they are having twins during one of Padme’s check ups.

They relocate to the lake house on Naboo just before the twins are born.

Luke and Leia are born on Naboo and Anakin cried tears of joy when they were born.

Since the twins are Force sensitive, they could communicate instinctually through the Force to their parents their needs, which honestly made them relatively easy babies to care for.

I’ll leave it up to the Padme, but after Luke and Leia, they could have more kids.

They do get a visit from the Jedi Order so that they Jedi could take the Skywalkers kids to train them. Padme and Anakin flat out refuse, deciding that their children should be old enough to make a decision to be a Jedi on their own. Also, the Order wouldn’t risk kidnapping the Skywalker kids because they don’t want to look bad and Padme and Anakin are too well known at this point.

I imagine that Owen and Beru had a child or two together of their own and Anakin and Padme bring their kids to Tatooine to visit their cousins.

Anakin also helps his step father, step brother, and step sister-in-law when they need help paying the water taxes.

The Skywalker family was there for the funeral of Cleigg Lars.

At some point, they adopt a Tooka cat or two that they found on the streets of Coruscant.

Anakin is the kind of husband and father who carries around holos of his family to show to people.

Anakin teaches all of his kids how to build and repair droids and fly.

He and Padme totally frame and put up their kids’ art work.

At one point when the twins were kids, the family went all over Naboo to see every single waterfall because Anakin likes waterfalls. This also served as a study to know how many waterfalls there are on Naboo and where they are located.

@orphicdawn, @beautiful-kind-but-sad, @afaroffadventure, @thesarcasmofasoldier, @tofeelthecold, @vxderlordofthesith, @sinsof-ourfathers

[ironmaidenhead]

cleigg lars really bought shmi and then married her🤢🤢🤢🤢

[january-summers]

Have some fridge angst Star Wars AU not!fic.

Obi: You look tired

Ani: I don't sleep well anymore

Obi: Because of your mother?

- guarding Senator Amidala on Coruscant, Attack of the Clones

They've had this conversation before. They've spoken of Anakin's dreams before. Persistent dreams mean things amongst Jedi, so why would Obi-Wan be so 'dismissive' of them?

Because he thinks he's protecting Anakin.

After Naboo, after Qui-gon and the Sith, after making his stance so strongly about training 'the boy', Obi-Wan found himself floundering. He knows about the force, he can send Anakin to the healers when he's sick, but he doesn't know how to raise a child, he certainly doesn't know how to raise a child from outside the order.

He always thought when he took on a padawan of his own, he'd have his master to ask for advice.

But he doesn't, and after Anakin's somewhat tumultuous entrance to the Order, Obi-Wan worried that his padawan would suffer for Obi-Wan's failures as a teacher.

So he called in a favour on the sly, to track down the one person he was sure could help him.

It took a few weeks, but just as he felt like everything would fall apart, it happened. Contact.

Shmi Skywalker was bemused by his request for aid, concerned to hear about Qui-gon, and happy to give him advice. Their communications became common place, updates and advice exchanged, and they reached a point where Obi-Wan considered the woman a friend.

When Shmi began speaking about a man named Cleigg, Obi-Wan is supportive, and offered what aid he can. Called in a few favours to supply the last of the needed funds for the two to buy Shmi's freedom.

And then Obi-Wan got a call, not from Shmi, but Cleigg. Just hours after Obi-Wan finished consoling a nightmare addled Anakin that his mother was fine, Shmi's husband told Obi-Wan that Shmi had been taken by raiders, that she couldn't be found, that she was dead. (Obi-Wan doesn't know her force signature well enough to search her out, can't dispute it, must accept what he's been told.)

How could Obi-Wan tell Anakin any of it?

How could he tell him his mother was dead?

Anakin never tells Obi-Wan that his mother survived for a month after that call, and maybe it was an unknowing kindness for Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan never has the chance to give Padme the recordings of Shmi singing the lullabies and reciting recipes for Obi-Wan to learn for Anakin, for the children Anakin won't tell him they're having.

(Also, because I couldn't figure out how Obi-Wan even knew about the Lars, like? when did Anakin tell him about them? Or did Padme? but when?! Like, I know he knows they were on Tatooine, but did the boys ever talk about it!?)

(Edit: just finished RoS, I had forgotten it was Yoda who said 'send the boy to his family on Tatooine', because Yoda? knew about the Lars family?)

[reconstructwriter]

Had Another Breakdown and Watched Attack of the Clones

And wow, what a B-Movie title but I’m already committed to this terrible life decision so I might as well continue. Got through the Phantom Menace so how much worse can this be?

Warning! Another long post! Also tw for Attack of the Clones shit including genocide and slavery.

The Watto scene: Not only does it double down on Watto as a Jewish stereotype – seriously, WHY?!? – but a scene where a former slave meets their enslaver after ten years of growing up and mystic training with a laser sword? I expected a lot more. Watto should’ve voided his bowels because this has to be Worst Case Scenario for a slaver! At best he was a little ‘nervous friendly’. And Anakin is already well-established as ‘man-child who Loses His Shit at the drop of a hat’. Like dude, where’s your angst and teenage fits now cause boy does this situation fit the bill! But nope, NPC fulfills their NPC duty and off they go.

Fanon Anakin vs Canon Anakin: I was introduced to the former and slowly learned what he’s really like and oh wow is he such a terrible mess of a human being no wonder Mace Windu noped his training. His Fascist statement is extra YIKES for Padme since she’s one of those Senators who’d be forced to agree. The first temper tantrum alone sounded way out of line given the relatively professional setting, let alone the creepy boundary-breaking stare. The ‘I’ve been dreaming about you for ten years’, the ‘my feelings are suffering’ speech – also taking place with him in shadow for extra broody effect. And his first genocide (I can’t believe we’re already keeping track here!) And he KNOWS BETTER is the worst thing. He admits, out loud, that he knows better and still does the thing Padme why did you say yes to this mess?

Padme being mind controlled: a fairly common fan theory to answer the above question, but in-movie Padme straight up asks Anakin if he will use a mind-trick on her (in the context of a 20 questions game so not serious). Anakin’s response is ‘mind tricks only work on the weak minded’. On the one hand, implies Padme is too strong-willed for Anakin to influence through the Force – but on the other hand this also suggests to me that he would if he could!?!?

Though Anakin was the one to suggest keeping the relationship a secret, which did surprise me so no guilting Padme about ‘wanting a marriage like a free man’ like I thought. Padme is the one who says she won’t live a lie. Good to know for future reference.

Are droids sentient or not? Dex outright says droids can’t think but I honestly don’t know if this is in-universe how droids work or if Dex is having a Cleigg-on-Tusken-People moment.

Jedi are Arrogant? Lots of people have cited Madame Nu’s confidence in her archive’s integrity as evidence the Jedi are arrogant and horrible justification of Sith crimes follows. But Obi Wan thinks there’s something more going on and Yoda encourages everyone to help find his lost planet in one of the only nods to ‘funny trickster teacher Yoda’ we get in the movie. To me this seems a hint that the Jedi are unprepared for betrayal from within. Which Dooku’s, Anakin’s and the Clones’ mind-controlled betrayals all blindside the Jedi Order.

Jango: I’ve been torn about him since I learned about him. On the one hand, understandable vengeance motive (per legends anyway), on the other hand selling his own kids into slavery and probably knowing something about the chips and genocide order because I can’t otherwise imagine the legends version assisting the Jedi.

Jango does state in-movie ‘they’ll do their job well’ in a way that sounds just a bit ominous but I don’t know if he’s being accidentally vague or deliberately giving a subtle hint he knows about the Jedi betrayal plan. If this version is just in it for Boba and the money and doesn’t have the motive of his Legends counterpart, why would the Sith ever need to tell him? Dunno, but I was surprised to not hear him say anything derogatory about his clones. I mean he’s still selling his children into slavery in a way George Lucas doesn’t grok but he doesn’t actively deride them like I’ve read in fanfic. It’s a low bar but not as low as Anakin’s.

Made for the Jedi? So the Kaminoians confirm the clone army is specifically made for the Republic but commissioned by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. Glad the movies cleared that up.

Scene Contrast: Kamino is Dark and Stormy with creepy sterile whiteness everywhere in complete contrast to Naboo’s sunny and lush green paradise. The clone army is grown and trained in creepy white lab while the robotic army built in a dark but organic underground hive. Obi Wan sneaks onto Geonosis through the light of day to investigate galactic concerns. Anakin on Tattooine stalks the Tusken people in the dark of night for personal stakes.

The (Other) Horribly Racist Cliché: Speaking of which, I get we’re supposed to assume Shmi was abducted but, um, Cleigg isn’t even a witness – like I initially thought – but is guessing abduction based on tracks in the desert sand and his incredibly racist bias. Are we supposed to doubt every word out of his mouth? If Shmi had been in a bed (even tied) I’d have assumed patient before prisoner.

Anakin’s Genocide: He goes off to save Shmi as ominous music plays and the suns go down, at which point he doesn’t just walk the fascist talk and do baby-Vader’s first genocide but also foreshadows his betrayal and genocide of the Jedi! Which really reinforces the Sith/Nazi and Jedi/Jewish parallel here – Hitler and the Nazis got their Holocaust ideas from White America’s treatment of our native and PoC counterparts. So too does Anakin the future Sith start his genocidal tendencies with the Native people of Tattooine.

But nobody in-universe seems to get that?!? Blorbo!Anakin authors recognize that thar was some FUCKED UP SHIT!!! (Usually by pretending it didn’t happen or re-writing the scene into something less Moral Event Horizon.) Padme’s response would fit better Anakin murdering the literally disarmed Dooku – morally wrong, against the Jedi Code but somewhat understandable but genocide? Cleigg is narratively supposed to be kind and sympathetic but he practically sent a demon after people who’s land and water he’s stealing! The person acting most realistically is the perpetrator and all Anakin admits (again) is he’s a Jedi and therefore should be better. But this still feels like he should have come back to Padme yellow-eyed and Dark Sided!

Once again, George Lucas’ racism screws up the story he’s trying to tell. Ugh. Okay, enough movie time for now. Sorry I’m a hopeless binger despite my friends and kitties’ best efforts.

[becamealegend-a]

Thanks to an ask I did last night for @sinsof-ourfathers, I realized that as far as we know, Owen and Beru didn’t have any kids and I’m not sure if there are any more Larses on Tatooine and not sure about the Whitesun family. But if Tatooine inheritance rights goes by the similar inheritance rights in the United States (unless you specify an heir in your Will), then any money and their farm would go to their next of kin, which includes blood and adopted relatives. While Luke is technically their step nephew, he was adopted by them, so he would be the heir to the Lars moisture farm and any money left by his aunt and uncle. 

I also headcanon that before he came back to Obi-Wan to train to be a Jedi, he managed, despite his grief, to bury his the skeletal remains of his aunt and uncle. I like to think he buried them in graves next to Shmi and Cleigg.

[tranakin-skywalker]

Fuck it, we're making this a Shmi lives au

Instead of being bought and freed by Cleigg Lars, she escapes from her owner but her chip is detonated in the process, leading Anakin to believe she's dead when he goes back for her in AotC

Realizing that the implications of the Shmi/Lars thing is so so much worse in the togruta au

[redrikki]

Pen Pal AU (part 1)

There was a message from an unknown sender waiting on Anakin’s com channel when he finally stumbled into his bunk after three straight days of fighting on Muunilinst. According to the time stamp, it had been there for awhile, but he must have missed it under the constant barrage of orders and battle updates of the last few days. Anakin could barely keep his eyes open, but his heart raced at the sight of the blinking notification. Padmé. It must be from Padmé. Who else would be writing him from an unlisted com frequency?

It wasn’t from Padmé. Anakin, it read, you hardly know me, but your mother would have wanted us to look after each other.  I know the Jedi are involved in the fighting. Are you alright? Please, don’t be a stranger. Cliegg Lars.

Cliegg Lars? Cliegg Lars?! How did he even have Anakin’s com frequency? Anakin certainly didn’t remember giving it to him. But then, he didn’t remember much about that last trip to Tatooine. Just the rattle of his mother’s dying breath, the weight of her body, and the stench of burning flesh as he cut down Tusken after Tusken. The rest of it was lost in a haze of rage and grief and sand.

For a moment, Anakin wanted to ignore it, delete it, smash the comlink on the floor. He didn’t need this reminder of his failure as a Jedi and a son, not when he’d just spent the last three days failing over and over again to protect his men.  No, Anakin didn’t need this, but maybe Lars did. His mom always said that the biggest problem in the galaxy was that no one helped each other.  She would want him to look after her widower.

Yawning hugely and struggling to focus his eyes, Anakin sent out a quick reply and feel asleep with his boots on.

****

Cliegg woke alone to the smell of caf and frying eggs. Lying with his eyes closed, he imagined Shmi must have gotten up before him and started making breakfast. But when he reached across, her side of the bed was cold. A few of her dark hairs still clung to her pillow, but it had lost the shape of her head.  His wife slept in sand now and Cleigg would sleep alone until he joined her.  He let his grief was over him, then pushed it aside and started his day.

In the kitchen, Beru puttered around the stove while Owen methodically shoveled forkfuls of egg into his mouth.  He grunted a greeting as Cliegg floated to the table on his power chair. Since Cliegg’s injury, Owen had taken over more and more of the farm work. He needed to eat fast if he had any hope of staying on top of it.

“Good morning,” Beru said as she set a plate and steaming mug of caf down in front of him. Cleigg took a sip of the caf before digging in. The eggs weren’t quite like Shmi’s, but the caf had just the right about of blue milk mixed in.  Beru joined them with her own breakfast a moment later. “There’s a message for you on the comm channel,” she said as she settled down on the bench next to Owen.

“Really? Who from?”

“Anakin,” Owen grumbled between mouthfuls. “Days late and a few hundred credits short as always.”

Beru frowned at her husband, but Cliegg just sighed. After years of Shmi’s stories about her sweet, talented boy, the strange young man who had walked off into the desert and came back with her corpse had been something of a disappointment. He’d fixed every broken thing on the farm, but had barely spoken to any of them. What Cliegg chalked up to grief and shock, Owen put down to Jedi pride and standoffishness, and no amount of tutting on Beru’s part would change that. Cliegg had hoped that maybe getting to know Anakin would.  It had been a disappointment that when Cliegg reached out and the boy never reached back.

“What does it say?” Beru asked, leaning forward to get a glimpse as Cliegg pulled the message up on a data pad. He read it over, then read it again, and a third time just to make sure. Weren’t the Jedi supposed to have educated the boy? Shmi had been a slave her whole life and she wrote better than this.

“Well?” Owen put his fork down and joined his wife in trying to sneak a peek. He had a man’s shape and bore a man’s burden, but, by the suns, he looked just like a boy at that moment.

Cleigg chuckled and read Anakin’s message aloud, word for word as he’d written it. “Sorry. Tired. Three days fighting Muunilinst. Lost rt arm Geonosis. Hop u r well. Anakin.”

Owen and Beru blinked at him as they tried to process Anakin’s incoherent jumble of a message. Owen took a long gulp of his caf to help and shook his head.

Beru’s fork clattered on the table as it slipped from her fingers. “He lost his <i>arm</i>?!” Beru exclaimed. She pulled the data pad from Cleigg’s hand to read it over herself. “He lost his arm and they sent him fight?” She slapped it down on the table with a bit more force than necessary.

What? Cleigg pulled the pad around read the message again. Lost rt arm Geonosis. The fighting there had happened just after Anakin and his woman left, a little over a standard month ago. Even with all the medicine a Hutt could afford, there was no way he’d be well enough to tie his own boots, let alone fight in a war. Yet, from the sound of it, that’s just what he was doing. The Jedi had promised Shmi that they would take care her son and provide him with an education. Based on Anakin’s message, they’d done neither. Well, someone needed to look after this boy and it might as well be his family. Cleigg Lars set aside his breakfast and began to write.

Right, so, this thing needs a title and also an end goal. Help a fangirl out with suggestions. 

[ashthewaterghoul]

“What if Qui-Gon Survived”

Chapter 8

Qui-Gon once again landed on the outskirts of Mos Espa as he did 10 years previously. He made his way into the town and asked for a certain Toydarian, Watto. He found him, poor, unshaven and surrounded by flies.

“Da wanga!” he cursed at a droid.

“Watto?” Qui-Gon said.

“What? What do you want? Wait! You’re a Jedi! Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

“I am looking for Shmi Skywalker.” He said

“Wait, you’re that Jedi that cheated at the Boonta Eve and took Ani away! I won’t deal with-a you!” he declared.

“Just tell me where Shmi Skywalker is and I promise our paths will never cross again.”

“Uhh, fine. She’s not mine-a no more-a. I sold her.”

“You sold her?”

“Years ago. You know, business is business, huh? I sold her a moisture named Lars, I think. I heard he freed and married her! Can ya beat that, eh?”

“Where can I find this Lars?”

“Ooh, long way from here. Someplace over on the other side of Mos Eisley, I think, mmm.”

“I’d very much like to know.”

“Eh, sure. Absolutely! Let’s go look at my records, huh?”

These records gave Qui-Gon the exact location of the Lars’ homestead. He ran back to his ship and uploaded the coordinates and got to this homestead quickly.

Qui-Gon landed and started to walk towards the small hut on the surface. A dusty, humanoid droid was pressing some buttons on a device when he realised someone new was here.

“Oh! Um, uh, hello. How may I be of service? I am C-“

“3P0, wasn’t it?”

The droids photoreceptors looked deeply at the old man.

“Thank the maker! Oh, Mister Qui-Gon! I thought you would return. Bless my circuits! I’m pleased to see you, sir!”

“The feeling is most definitely mutual. I’ve come to see Shmi Skywalker. Is she here?”

“Oh. Um, I think perhaps we’d better go indoors.”

The home was larger than it appeared to be and inside stood a young man and woman.

“Master Owen, might I present a most important visitor.”

“I’m Qui-Gon Jinn.”

“Owen Lars. This is my girlfriend, Beru.”

“Hello” She said.

“How can we help you?” The young man asked.

“You may know of my padawan, Anakin Skywalker? Or his mother Shmi Skywalker?”

“I guess I’m his step-brother. I had a feeling he might show up someday, not his mentor. How can we help Master Jedi?”

“Is Shmi here?”

Despair crossed both of their faces.

“No. she’s not.” A mysterious voice said from behind. He turned to see a man missing his leg in a mobility chair. “Cleigg Lars. Shmi is my wife. We should go inside, we have a lot to talk about.”

Inside the dining area, Cleigg explained how the Tuskens came out of nowhere, how Shmi had gone out early and halfway home they took her. He then went on to explain how 30 people went out after her, but only 4 returned and how he wished to look as well but couldn’t because his leg hadn’t healed yet.

“I don’t want to give up on her, but she’s been gone a month. There’s little hope she’s lasted this long.”

Qui-Gon hung his head and stood up.

“Where are you going?” Owen asked

“To find Shmi.”

“Shmi’s dead, Master Jedi. Accept it.” Cleigg said.

“Unfortunately, that is something I cannot do. I made a promise to Anakin to see Shmi with my own eyes. Until that has happened, I will not assume or accept anything. Thank you for your time and hospitality.” He bowed his head as he left and went to his ship.

He flew low for a few hours until he came across a Tusken village, he used the force to see if Shmi was there, and she was. He landed the ship behind some rocks so that they wouldn’t see it. He snuck past multiple huts until he was at the right one. He cut a hole in the side with his lightsaber and climbed in to see a horrific sight. Shmi was bound to a wooden frame and was heavily injured. Qui-Gon untied her and held her weak body.

“Shmi? Shmi, can you hear me? It’s me, Qui-Gon Jinn. Do you remember me? I’m the one who took Anakin to the Jedi temple 10 years ago,”

“Qui-Gon?” her voice was sparse “Where’s Anakin? Is he alright?”

“Oh, yes! He’s better than alright. He’s on Naboo on his first solo assignment. He is a powerful Jedi, Shmi, you should be proud of him.”

“I always am.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

He picked her up and carried her through the huts to the ship and placed her in the small med bay where a droid attended to her. Qui-Gon flew quickly to the Lars homestead. When he landed, all the inhabitants quickly came out to see what had happened. They were shocked to see Shmi, alive but hurt.

“Shmi?!” Cleigg exclaimed.

“She need rest, where is the bedroom?”

“Through here, I’ll show you.” Owen said as he frantically re-entered the homestead and Qui-Gon quickly followed.

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