#din rereads jedi quest

[bellassan]

let’s hear it for one of the best minor characters ever

[ryehouses]

So I’ve been rereading all the Jedi chapters in AST after,, recent events so I wanted to ask something. Through the lead up to Din visiting the Jedi we have several scenes where he goes out of his way to find out information about Jedi and the Jedi order through several biased sources. We later learn that Luke also doesn’t know shit about mandos and at first thought Din was Boba (mando bounty hunters must have gotten that a lot I expect). So, was Luke doing a mirrored version of Din’s quest for information? Did he get like scraps about the mando political system from Leia and just like a “don’t fuck with Mando’a they’re all insane” from Han or something along with Grogu’s memories?

Hello hello!

You are 100% correct -- Luke is doing the exact same thing 😂 Luke's primary source is of course Grogu, who is EXTREMELY biased and basically Force-projecting about how cool his dad is 100% of the time.

However, Luke has also asked Han's opinion on Mandalorians -- poor, given that Han's probably brushed elbows with at least a few Mando hunters and mercs -- Leia's -- also poor, since we know from Rebels that Gar Saxon kept Mandalore serving the Empire until just a bit before Yavin-4 -- and other Jedi, who have a skewed view due to the long history of Jedi/Mando violence. He's got a few among the Jedi survivors -- Quinlan, namely -- who can provide a more current, less biased view, and there's also the Mandalorians under Fenn Rau who fought for the Rebellion to consider!

It's all very confusing for Luke, given how loudly Grogu adores Din to anyone who will listen.

[jate-kara]

34, 35, 36, 37!

From this ask game

34. Which trilogy is the best?

I like the prequels, honestly. (Obi-Wan!!) I read all the Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest books a lot as a kid (and am rereading them now!) and they tie in very nicely with episodes one through three.

Also? The Musfafar sequence in ROTS?? how can i not love those movies for that alone

35. Opinions on the animated series?

Clone Wars (2008) is amazing. I’ve only seen like 1.5 seasons of Rebels. I remember not liking it a ton the first time around, but it’s been a few years, and I’ve mellowed out about the clones’ designs and the decision to keep the accelerated aging around, so I want to go back and watch it with a fresh eye and give it another shot!

Clone Wars (2003) is a masterpiece. It’s the source of all the ‘Anakin eats bugs’ jokes and I’m here for that.

36. Opinions on the Mandalorian?

I really like it! Din Djarin is the best buir.

37. Opinions on the Jedi?

Largely selfless and well-intentioned, but ultimately just as complex and flawed as anyone else. I love them, though.

[tachiisms]

okay so.... if I was a good, responsible rper, I would clear my drafts (both here and on my other blog) before adding anything else. but, I’m really tired because I’ve been busy both at work and mock trial coaching, and I’m not particularly feeling the greatest about writing (for reasons that have nothing to do with this blog and that I’m not going to get into) but I find character analysis to be fun and relaxing, and also I’m good at it and want to remind myself that I’m good at it. 

and also I’ve been greatly enjoying Din’s re-read (that has sparked liveblog reading from Kassie and Zanna, too, which is also fun) so I think we all could guess this was coming: I’m gonna be rereading Siri’s source material, too. I’m probably not going to go as quickly, but I’m going to be making commentary where the metas call me (and also.... using it as reason to make myself finish some of the work-in-progress metas that have been works in progress for years now...) 

I also think that I’m going to go chronologically, which for Siri means: Jedi Apprentice, the first half of Secrets of the Jedi, then Jedi Quest interspersed with the flashbacks/memories from Last of the Jedi, and finally the second half of Secrets of the Jedi. but that might be ambitious of me to try to guess which flashbacks go where. (definitely going to split up Secrets, though.) 

if you want to opt-out of the liveblog/metas at any point, please feel free to blacklist the tag reading time with liesl which I’ll be using for all of the books. 

[bellassan]

either reymet is equally lonely af for him to consider ferus his best friend, or ferus is actually a really cool friend now when someone has given him a chance to be their friend

also I’m laughing at this comment about obi-wan and siri looking like his parents cause ... ferus: dark hair, dark eyes, gold streak

siri and obi-wan: both blonde, both blue-eyed

if reymet wasn’t a human I’d love to make a joke about how all humans look the same to him but I guess there must be really something about the facial structures huh 

[bellassan]

darra is still perfect, ferus is an anxiety case and it’s finally showing

[bellassan]

it’s kind of interesting to me that siri pairs ferus up with obi-wan and anakin again despite what happened last time it was the three of them without her. like, I don’t think she thinks so poorly of obi-wan that ferus would get hurt or kidnapped again, and she also of course prioritises the mission over personal slights, but still. this looks like it comes easy to her, and ferus does what she says without question. you have to wonder how much they’ve talked about what happened at andara for this to appear easy, or if this comes up between the two of them again after this. 

[bellassan]

siri.gif: 

[bellassan]

there’s too little ferus in this book goddamn

[bellassan]

siri being COOL AS SHIT with her borrowed lightsaber haha. I also like the visual difference presented between her and ferus here, with her being ‘pleasant’ and ferus is just :|||| next to her. he hasn’t totally gotten around to her sense of humour yet, clearly, at least not in public. 

he switches his expression and mannerisms really quickly though, and I think that’s interesting to note as well. I don’t have a lot to say about it, just that ferus is adaptable and competent and good at reading situations. 

this holds up with what anakin told us last book about how all masters are impressed by ferus and keep talking about him. the jealousy and bitterness around that is expected, particularly after their last interaction where ferus really got under his skin.

we’re also explicitly told in this book that anakin is 14, making ferus 16 at the time. while watson keeps no track of ferus’ age, the two year difference is one I have adopted and I use his age here as a rough timeline for the rest of the books. 

bonus siri because she’s THE BEST. 

[bellassan]

oh look ... it’s me about the EU ......... 

[bellassan]

ferus very calm but probably internally like ‘ha fuck you for locking me in I have your ass’. 

I like siri jumping in for him here too. not like she needs to, but there’s a kind of protective/proud vibe here. of like don’t talk shit about my boy - he’s a jedi. he outsmarted you. 

[bellassan]

they locked him in this is fine, I’m fine. I mean of course they locked him in but like? honestly? yikes anyway. 

this? this is just really sad to me. like, he was obviously frightened or at least rattled enough to reach out to siri over obi-wan earlier, but he can’t allow himself to be relieved or frightened in the moment. he apologizes for needing rescue, because he feels he’s let them down. because he holds himself to impossibly high standards. 

this is really sad, this is telling, and it’s upsetting. thanks 

he’s beating himself up so goddamn hard for having gotten himself into this situation and again, honestly? sad. upsetting. I don’t like this. 

[bellassan]

ferus just 

[bellassan]

last quote to look at from this book.

soara antana is described as one of, if not the most, proficient lightsaber fighter in the entire temple at this point in time. she teaches darra thel-tanis, who we are told has incredible technique as a result. basically we’re supposed to believe what she tells us here.

meaning that ferus is - at least for now - very good at disconnecting his feelings from his fighting. like she says, he has feelings, but absorbs them and moves on, focusing on the fight and nothing else. this absolutely 300% goes away when he’s an adult, but it does tell us a lot about how controlled he is when he’s leaning on what he’s been taught.

(I do think that’s why we see such a lack of control in his interpersonal relationships, particularly with anakin - he has received basically no social training, but he’s gotten a ton of jedi training, and so he knows how to be a jedi but not really how to navigate disliking someone/making friends/etc.) 

this is also a really good setup in terms of their rivalry and hostility towards each other, since anakin here feels that ferus robbed him of a really good teacher and humiliated and ‘exposed’ him somehow. shit will keep escalating. 

[bellassan]

siri gets flushed when she’s mad and I just wanted to point that out for everyone because I find it kind of endearing