#get to the Clone Wars era and he's still around & is the companion of another haughty force-user like 'aw you're just like the tiny sith'

[blueburds]

totally not me doing more screenshot edits of A’lea and Khem Val

[padawanlost]

I fully agree on your stance with the Yoda problem the Old Jedi Order had got going on, but why do you think the order was corrupted? Is the EU a source? (Because I haven't seen them as corrupted in the films.) Thanks for the great blog and sorry for my bad English!

Because the Prequels are about corruption, about how power corrupts (all kinds of power). Because George Lucas literatlly spelled it out to everyone who was interested in hearing. Because the Prequels are allegory for political instability and the role society and organizations play in the rise of authorianism.

The story being told in ‘Star Wars’ is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not. – George Lucas in 2005

[The Jedi] sort of persuade people into doing the right thing but their job really isn’t to go around fighting people yet there are now used as generals and they are fighting a war and they are doing something they really weren’t meant to do.They are being corrupted by this war, by being forced to be generals instead of peacemakers. – George Lucas for E! Behind the Scenes - Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith

The prequel trilogy is based on a back-story outline Lucas created in the mid-1970s for the original three “Star Wars” movies, so the themes percolated out of the Vietnam War and the Nixon-Watergate era, he said. Lucas began researching how democracies can turn into dictatorships with full consent of the electorate. In ancient Rome, “why did the senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew?” Lucas said. “Why did France after they got rid of the king and that whole system turn around and give it to Napoleon? It’s the same thing with Germany and Hitler. “You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control. A democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody’s squabbling, there’s corruption.” [x]

I’ve said this before and i’ll say it again: corruption is so more than embezzling money or bribing officials. Corruption is dishonesty; it’s a change of purpose. It’s not as simple as being ‘evil’. And it’s not just about the big events, it exists in our daily lives too. It’s in our behaviors, our choices, even in our beliefs.

When you create a organization with the purpose of protecting all human life but then you take control of an army of slaves, that’s corruption. When you’re an elected official lying to the public and your superiors to protect your romantic interests, that’s corruption.

As I wrote before:

In the Jedi’s case, they corrupted themselves when they, by choice, failed to perform their duties. The Jedi Order maintained its status by promising to defend the Republic and all its citizens. When they failed to act on that promise and still claimed the rewards that function provided, they became corrupt. They were no longer providing the service they promised they would but they still were collecting the rewards of that position.

They corrupted themselves when they failed to stop slavery; when they allowed the rampant corruption in the Senate to go unquestioned, when they failed to investigate claims about criminal activities; when they caused mass starvation; when they refused to return missing children to their parents; when supported untrustworthy politicians to maintain their own political status; when deployed children into war zones; when they refused to send any kind of help to protect people from criminal activities; when they expelled their own members without a proper investigation or trial; when they put political prisoners in secret prisons without trial, investigation, legal council, visitation or chance of parole; when they allowed themselves to become militarized; when they played a role in the enslavement of clones; and when they lied and withheld information from the Senate.

These are all examples of the Jedi council putting what *they* thought was right above the law and above their own initial role in the Republic. It’s them breaking their promise to the Republic. Palpatine kept pushing them into making terrible decisions, and to keep their position, they wielded, thus, they corrupted themselves. Ahsoka’s trial is a perfect example of this. All the evidence was circumstantial and they were not entirely sure she was guilty but because of the political pressure they were under, they expelled her and forced a 16 years old to face a potential death penalty by herself. That’s corruption. That’s putting your own interests above the interest of the greater good. It’s doing harm to keep your status.

Anakin’s relationship with Palpatine is another great example: it was forbidden for padawans to leave the Temple with a Jedi companion, especially to spend alone time with a political. But, the moment Palpatine used his influence, they wielded even though Palpatine had no legal claim over Anakin. But, because pleasing the Chancellor was more important than keeping tradition, the rules were broken. It is another example of them forsaking their own rules and tradition for political gain.

Want another example of the Jedi corrupting their purpose and believes in the movies, just look at how Yoda and Obi-wan handled the Vader situation. They lied to Luke to get him to kill his own father. Instead of showing compassion, they plotted to kill Vader without any sort of real attempt to reach him. if luke had listened to them the rebellion would’ve been destroyed and all hope would have been extinguished. That’s why Luke is the best Jedi, because he didn’t corrupt his purpose.

I know I’ve said this a million times already but NONE of that makes the Jedi the bad guys, or worth of extermination. It only serves to make them human.

It’s not that hard to see. I mean, we are living pretty chaotic and desperate times, people are angry and afraid and it seems more and more people are letting themselves be influenced by such times. fear makes people do desperate things. that’s what happened to the Jedi. they weren’t evil people who needed to die. They were just people, normal people who were pushed into a desperate situation and in their fear and despair, they made some wrong choices that led bad things.

PS: thanks <3

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Star Wars Wednesday

Because Disney can pry the Finn Skywalker headcanon from my cold, dead, fingers. And because Disney can’t stop me from reworking their movies if I darn well please.

Most of the fortress had been picked over by scavengers years ago. Any Imperial memorabilia had long since been looted and either auctioned off or confiscated by the First Order. Really, that was the only reason the scout team had considered it as a potential base at all. It had already been gutted, and was pretty well beneath the notice of Kylo Ren unless he was up for sentimental tours.

The general didn’t find that very likely.

Mustafar was far from a hospitable world for most species, but the heat shielding of the fortress was still highly efficient. The scouts had set up a base camp in what looked like it had once been some kind of audience chamber. Nobody had felt like exploring alone. The whole castle just felt...off. 

The young leader of the scouts sat on a pile of rubble, head tilted like he was listening for something. He frowned and glanced down at his team.

“What, Trache?” he asked.

The Twi’lek raised his brows at Finn. “I didn’t say anything.”

Finn seemed confused. “You sure? I could’ve sworn-”

Finn?

Finn looked up again. "Rose, you heard Trache call me just now, right?"

Rose Tico set down a power lamp and plugged it into their Artoo unit, then shook her head. “Sorry Finn,” she said, “All I heard was Artoo.”

Finn.

He whirled, squinting into the darkness of the derelict fortress. “There! You guys heard it that time, right?”

Rose fidgeted awkwardly. "Finn...I didn't hear anything."

Finn.

Finn turned again. He felt as though someone had tied a string around his soul and was pulling. As if under some other power than his own, the boy began to stumble into the shadows.

"W- what are you doing?" Trache hissed.

"Gotta check something out," Finn mumbled. He could just make out what looked like a figure, standing at the end of the corridor. "It's...it's okay. I think it's the Force."

His scout team's protests faded into static behind him. There was nothing but the voice.

Finn. Come to me.

Finn slowly reached down and loosened his blaster in its holster. There was a possibility that he was hearing this voice in his mind. And that had to mean enemies.

"Where are you?" he asked, tensed and ready to fight.

The shadowy figure he had glimpsed before reappeared, further away. It stood, as if waiting. Then it raised one arm, beckoning.

Finn didn't sense anything particularly hostile about the stranger, but he was wary nonetheless. He eased forward, following the dark shape into another chamber. The closer he got, the more he realized that it wasn't made of pure shadow after all. A faint flicker of blue light outlined the person, if a person it was, slowly illuminating more details. A black tabard. A heavy gauntlet. A cape that fell to the floor and seemed to swallow all light that touched it.

The rhythmic hiss that Finn had taken for some kind of machinery in the fortress took on a new volume.

It sounded like breathing.

Finn stopped dead in his tracks. He had seen that shape before. In the First Order barracks, as a little boy, he had seen that shape in the propaganda forced down the children's throats. 

"Aren't you dead?" he blurted out before he could stop himself. 

The giant inclined his head -- or, well, his helmet -- regally and turned. He gestured to one side.

"Walk with me."

The authoritative voice brooked no argument. 

Finn knew he should have been running. That was Darth Kriffing Vader, or his ghost, or a clone, or something. But...he didn't sense the kind of painful storm he'd always experienced around Kylo Ren. There was no hatred, filling the air with danger. Just a strange echo of regret.

With one hand firmly on the butt of his blaster, he gritted his teeth and stepped closer. 

"The Force is with you, young one," the late Sith Lord remarked, "but you are not a Jedi yet."

That rankled a little bit. Finn knew he couldn't do all the things Rey could yet. The General had told him that his connection to the Force was more like hers than Rey's, but he still didn't know what that meant. That didn't mean he wasn't learning. He was just going at his own pace.

"Maybe I'm not," he said, "But I will be."

Will I be?

Darth Vader began to walk. Hands clasped thoughtfully behind his back, steps slow and measured. Relentless. What did he want? And why was he even here?

Reluctantly, Finn followed a half step behind. 

"I'm not hallucinating this, right? Because my team can't see you." Getting lured into the depths of the castle by the ghost of a Sith probably wasn't a good thing. "Why'd you call me?"

"I have been expecting you for some time," Vader said, tipping his helmet down as if observing Finn. "It was inevitable that you would find me here."

His footsteps echoed on the stone, but did not disturb so much as a single mote of dust. The hair on the back of Finn's neck rose when he looked down and saw only one set of footprints behind them.

"You know who I am." It was not a question. 

Swallowing hard, Finn nodded. His mouth was dry, and despite himself, his fingers trembled. Like a death sentence the name fell from his lips.

"Darth Vader."

Abruptly, the man turned on his heel. His cape flared out around him as he raised a finger almost in warning.

"That name no longer has any meaning for me," he said sternly.

"Then..." Finn wrinkled his brow and tried to remember the legend. "You're um, you're a Skywalker-?"

His companion nodded. "I suspected that if I had chosen my true form, you would not have known me."

He raised his helmet as the chamber emptied out into another set of corridors. "Come. There is something I must show you."

Well. This was going to make an interesting story to tell the General later. Finn pulled the collar of his jacket up and shivered.

"Dar- I mean, uh...Master Skywalker? You didn't answer my question before. Aren't you dead?"

Anakin did not slow his steps. "The Force, young one, is a pathway to many abilities that some may consider to be...unnatural."

A wry chuckle wrenched itself from Finn's lips. He shook his head and took a jogging half step to keep up with the ghostly warrior. "You're telling me."

Anakin glanced down at him again. Finn wasn't sure how he knew the ghost's eyes were on him, but somehow he could guess where to look.

"You show remarkably little trepidation in the face of the impossible," he commented.

It was strange, but Finn was almost beginning to feel comfortable with the conversation. He shrugged. "Nobody ever told me how the Force was supposed to work. How am I supposed to know what's possible and what's not?"

He jumped when Anakin tipped back his helmet and laughed. It was a deep, rolling sound, utterly at odds with the mechanical whoosh of his respirator. 

"Indeed! Do not lose your open mind, Finn. It will serve you well."

"Did anybody ever tell you," Finn huffed, "That you make even compliments sound ominous?"

Another low chuckle. "Yes. Your father did."

His father?!

What was the ghost talking about?

Finn scowled at him. "Whoa, hold on. How do you know my father? I don't even know my father!"

Under his breath he added, "I don't even know what I'm doing here."

Abruptly, he began to sense a complicated tangle of emotions from the ghost of Anakin Skywalker. Regret, anger, concern.

"You remember nothing, child?"

Sometimes Finn thought he did remember. But they were just images. Feelings. A woman's voice and strong arms. A man's smile. Sometimes he heard snatches of a song in his dreams, always just out of reach by the time he opened his eyes.

Other times, the dreams were not so kind. Flashes of an old man, reaching for him even as he was shot in the back. His own tiny hands reaching desperately for an old woman screaming a name he couldn't hear. He wondered sometimes if they had been his grandparents. 

The Resistance was his family now. Rey and Chewie were his family. Poe and BB-8 were his family. The General was his family. But in his heart, Finn still wanted closure. To at least know where he had come from. 

"I...remember my grandfather dying." Finn said haltingly. 

"Not your grandfather," Anakin corrected him. "Your mother's cousin. Your grandfather died long before your birth."

He quickened his pace before Finn could insist on an answer. Through stone galleries and ominous archways he continued with a single-minded determination. He did not stop until he had reached what had once been an impressively secure door, long since reduced to ruin by looters. Inside sat a strange dome-like structure that reminded Finn of an egg.

"Did you see that in my head? Is that like a thing you can do?" Finn demanded. He was determined to get the truth. Maybe he could "sense" it somehow. "How did you see it if I can't?"

Anakin did not immediately answer. He waved his hand over the dome, and with a rumbling groan it separated neatly into two halves. It was an old-fashioned hyperbaric chamber. A few lights still flickered dimly inside. Anakin reached down to touch one small screen, and a hologram sprang up. A young man in Rebellion era fatigues smiled up at them from the hologram. Old though it was, the holo was still recognizable. 

"What the- That's Luke Skywalker!" Finn realized.

Anakin nodded. "He was no older than you are now when my spies brought me this image." He seemed almost lost in nostalgia for a moment. "Truly, I would have torn the very fabric of the universe apart to find him."

Finn watched the ghost, noting that he cupped the hologram in his hands as though he held something infinitely precious. 

"You...kept a holo of him in your chamber?" Seemed a little odd for a Sith.

He was pretty sure Ren didn't keep holos of his parents.

"Of course." Anakin did not look away from the tiny, grinning face of Luke. "He is my son."

Finn sat down carefully on the seat within the chamber. His feet didn't even touch the floor. "Hey...Master Skywalker?" he asked, "How did you know my grandfather died before I was born? If it was before I was born, I wouldn't have had any memory of that. Buried or no. Did you...meet him in the afterlife or something? Do all ghosts know each other?"

He sensed hesitation as Anakin answered, "No, I...I was...there."

That could mean a lot of things. "Did you kill him?" Finn guessed, "Like, was he a Rebel? Or a Jedi?"

He heard the creaking of leather as Anakin's hands tightened into fists.

"He was a rogue and peasant Sith. A knave who chased after power at the cost of his kin," Anakin snarled. 

Finn jolted back. A Sith?

A horrible thought slid into the back of his mind. What if his family had given him willingly to the First Order? What if they expected him to follow in his grandfather's footsteps?

"So...what does that make me?" he rasped. 

The tension drained quickly from Anakin's shoulders. He turned away from the hologram of his son and raised a spectral hand to rest against Finn's cheek. It did not pass through him, as he had expected it to. Instead, it lingered, like the brush of a curtain. 

"You are," Anakin said, almost reverently, "A valiant son of a worthy father. And the beloved grandchild of a grandmother who deserved a better life than she was given."

The Force was almost screaming at him that the answers to his questions were at last before him, but Finn was afraid to believe it. Afraid to get his hopes up and be wrong. If, after all this, his growing suspicion was wrong, he wasn't sure he could bear it. 

"Master Skywalker, please," he begged, "I don't know why I'm here, I don't know what you want from me. Just tell me the truth? Did you know my grandfather?"

The other glove rose, and Finn found his face being gently cradled by an ex-Sith Lord.

“No,” Anakin answered, quiet and inevitable. “I am your grandfather.”

[shouldntcryoverit]

the art of discordance

captain rex x jedi fic during clones wars era...

CHAPTER TWO

Pure chaos resonated as the small team fought to overcome the controls. The panic bubbling over from the separatist attack didn’t diminish as the smaller ship shot through lightspeed, leaving three half crazed jedi, a few clones, and one injured general.

“Turn the power back on! Turn it on!” Jaida yelled into the cockpit. The victory of avoiding the burning sun they were previously on course to crash straight into was short lived as they swerved dangerously close to another planet.

“I’m... trying!” Aayla groaned, hand outstretched to the lever. It clunked downwards and Jaida, Rex and Aayla fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

The ship plummeted towards the ground, having lost all control over the engines. Smoke encased them through a straight course at least an inch into the growth, leaving a scorched dent in their path. The clones and jedi scrambled to get out the burning wreckage of the ship, though when they all collapsed in relief, they found their situation to be no better.

Anakin was in a bad condition, one that looked to be deteriorating quickly. Ahsoka and Jaida carried him to rest under a makeshift tent, but the young padawan didn’t move as he lay unconscious. Jaida watched with concerned eyes, for her friend yes, but also for the young togruta that shuffled anxiously. The pair hadn’t spoken much; Ahsoka had spent her time training or at the temple whereas Jaida remained very much rooted in battle rooms, but the times they did spend with each other Jaida found the kid’s attitude refreshing. She knew why Anakin spoke so highly of her.

“he’ll be okay kid” Rex reassured. Ahsoka nodded solemnly and sighed, walking forward to talk over her master.

“Jaida and Rex will watch over you, be strong master” the togruta uttered, before resuming her position beside the knights.

The two watched as the rest of the group ran off into the tall grass, leaving them to stand in silence.

Jaida let out a shaky breath as she folded onto the ground, Anakins feet in front of her.

Rex spoke first “he will be okay, sir” it was an attempt to reassure her, though she had not admitted she was worried.

Her response was another huff of breath, followed by a hand running through her hair.

“Anakin has always had the ability to bounce back from injuries, it seems even his body is too stubborn to stop fighting” her words fell heavy as she watched her friend’s chest rise and fall slowly.

Rex’s smile settled “you care more than you let on, don’t you?”

Her eyes lifted from Anakin’s form and met his in a rigid glare. Rex regretted his boldness instantly, but her eyes softened in admission.

“i saw your order” he continued bravely “the men wondered were it all came from” he was referring to the extra order of cotten blankets she had placed a week previously. Rex assumed it was out of compassion as she realised the coldness of the Resolute.

“good, men work better if they actually manage a decent night sleep” She got up and brushed herself down, peaking her head around the corner to check for any signs. Rex felt a twinge in his stomach of her disregard; her kind act now seemed tainted as nothing more than a battle strategy, and it left a bad taste on his tongue.

Rex took a moment actually size up the new general. Her robes were similar to Skywalker’s, but they fitted her form more. She wore black boots and gloves up to her elbow, her collarbone hidden with the same material. Her hair was lighter in the sun, but Rex could still see the way it framed her face and fell loosely from its plaited hold. Her face was still set in that expression of neutrality, though it broke slightly as the hint of serenity curved her alluring lips. Her eyes were young and bright, full of a mixture of gold and blue.

Before she could say anything else, a roar broke the silence, followed by the pounding footsteps of two animals.

Rex shot up, blasters ready, and Jaida ignited her duel blade. They shared a look of panic, before they each dove away to block or attack whatever strike came at them.

After quite some struggle, the pair had overcome their attackers, and the two animals lay dead on the ground. Before the interruption, Jaida had felt a new sense of gratitude towards the captain. That maybe she had misjudged his professionalisms and could enjoy his company further than what protocol dictated. It was when Rex propped himself up that Anakin groaned awake. At the noise, Jaida hurried to his aid.

“Anakin! You okay?” she helped him sit up. He groaned once more and faultered against his injuries.

“this mission- sucks” he managed. As he came to, the surroundings became clearer. “you look like hell”

“always a charmer” she grinned as he helped him up.

“what happened to the others?” Skywalker quizzed

“the went to look for help, actually they should be back soon.”

“so we don’t have a ship, communication or supplies, great” Anakin grumbled

“negativity doesn’t suit you”

“you got a better outlook?” before Jaida could reply to his question, the rest of their team stumbled out of the grass, along with a new companion.

By the time it took to take Anakin back to the village, his condition had deteriorated. Jaida couldn’t budge the irrational feeling in her stomach, but held face as Ahsoka trudged next to her.

“I understand staying neutral, but really? i mean you gotta have an opinion at least!” she ranted

“some people just don’t care about what doesn’t involve them” Jaida countered absentmindedly

“selfish”

“perhaps”

They made it to the village, and despite the old chief’s disgruntled disagreement they were allowed to seek refuge. It was no retreat, that was for certain, but Ahsoka for one felt entirely more secure knowing that her master was getting the medical attention he so desperately needed.

He was whisked away by the village medic almost as soon as they arrived, and the three Jedi left remained cautious of theyre situation.

Time passed, with Ahsoka helping a few villagers carry out daily tasks, and Jaida scouting the near area; it actually felt like time had stopped. There was a peacefulness that none of the visitors had experience in such a long time, for clones maybe never. Rex had never been able to sit and watch as children laughed and played, without thinking about how he should escape if need be. It was tranquil and calm, and it made Rex think.

When Jaida returned, she returned quickly.

“Ahsoka! Tell Aayla we’re gonna have company!” her shouted alerted the relaxed captain into a far more rigid standing.

“who is it?” Bly questioned with furrowed brows

“seppies”

—————————————————-

Everytime she looked his way there was something that sparked, or snapped maybe - he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t anything good, but he doubted that it was hate. Rex just couldn’t stand the feeling he gave her. So he figured he couldn’t stand her.

It was no different now as the pair waited behind the stacks of nut pods for the enemy to near. A plan had been formulated after they left the village so quickly, and by seeing the extent ifthe seperatist forces it was no wonder they had scrambled to do so. Jaida had already irked him today, by seeming so unbothered by the idea of a new ion canon, one that was able to wipe out all organic matter.

His distractions dissipated when the first shot flew past his head. That was certainly enough to wipe his mind. He ducked behind a pod and began shooting, knocking droids down like a pin ball game at 79s.

The disctractions, those that humanised into the form of a woman standing of few metres to his left, seemed to have a mind of their own. Jaida slunked away from her position, and walked straight out into the battlefield. Rex grinded his teeth as she put away her lightsaber. He had to remind himself that yes she was putting herself in unecessary danger, and that no, that wasn’t what he was angry about.

“im sure your a smart man” Jaida called out, hands calmly behind her back “there’s certainly a more pleasant way to deal with situations” the words fell fruitlessly off her tongue.

“what’s she doing?” Bly muttered with spite, though Aayla dismissed his question with a wave of her hand.

“don’t try to trick me, jedi”

“there is no trick. You are the one with canon of course” she smiled coldly at the separatist, patronism seeping through her tone “although, if we do manage to reach an agreement, your day might just turn out swell”

“was that a threat?!” the hast in his voice caused a loud clunk to be heard as the droids aimed they’re guns once more.

“nope” Jaida said, popping the ‘p’, just before a clankers took a shot, and she dodged it. Perfectly.

It looked like some sort of game on the holonet, Jaida avoiding each bullet carelessly and without struggle, as if they bent around her path instead. She reached a safe distance, and smiled pleasantly, reaching into a pocket behind her back and drawing a small explosive. She threw it into the canon opening, and the problem was solved with a rattling boom.

Her solution did work, but Rex still kept a stern look. Even when the support ships finally rescued them.

He kept it until she rested beside him, both standing against a wall bored and tired.

“you look tired” he commented

“hm” Jaida’s eyes never left the datapad she was staring at. “you should get some rest too, it’s been a long few days” she deliberated carelessly. When the captain didn’t reply she turned her head to face him.

“what is it?”

The captain tittered antagonisingly “why is it that you always have to go off script?”

Jaida looked at him with a more confused look than anger.

“i saved those villagers, you know that was my only intention?” her tone was clear, informative.

“you do never fail to keep battles interesting” Rex quipped

“i think i’ll take that as a compliment” she grimaced

“perhaps you should”

She spoke after a moment of pregnant silence. “captain if there’s something you have to say i suggest you say it”

“with all due respect, you ought to realise that you have a responsibility to your men, to yourself even” he began after a beat.

“it isn’t something i’ve failed to notice”

“you brash, careless- you act like you have nothing to loose”

“we’re fighting a war” Jaida countered

“and we don’t need anymore casualties than we already have” Rex’s voice was no longer as angry as it began, now growing colder as exasperation clawed at his tired mind.

Rex paused, taking a deep breath of his own and trying to rid himself of his own irrational and unprofessional nags.

“i am not a liability, you need to trust me” she was stern now. It wasn’t that the captain had irked her, his anger came from a very real place, but she was just annoyed that she couldn’t find the words to calm it.

“and you need to trust that we know what we’re doing, even without your last minute strategies”

Silence. Jaida clicked her tongue, acceptance though Rex didn’t know to recognise it.

“goodnight general”

She locked eyes with him once more. A second passed, before he left her in silence.

He didn’t hate her. That he knew for sure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hope you liked this let me know if you want to be tagged in next chapters! :))

Taglist -

@pinkiemme

[seasidewriter1-writes]

Secret valentine exchange of some sort for Canon era lol (does Canon era make sense? I don't think that's the right terminology but whatever)

I got carried away, this is at least 1K in length! I got to do some fun research about Star Wars holidays, and I thought this fit closes to Valentine’s Day!

Fete Weeks on Coruscant were celebrations that Elara had grown to both love and look forward to each year. They were colorful and lively, and the entire planet celebrated, all the way down to Level 5. It created a kind of comradery that was wholly unique to the citizens of Coruscant. Rivalries between shop owners fell to the wayside. Rival criminal families called a week long truce. Unlikely friendships were formed between strangers, some of which lasted for years afterwards. The types of festivities varied depending upon what Fete was being celebrated. For example, whenever the Festival of Stars came around, it wasn’t uncommon to find flashy speeders cruising the city in impromptu parades. The Festival of Life often involved the exchange of meaningful gifts, but it was the celebration of loved ones that made it Elara’s favorite Fete.

This was the first Festival of Life after the start of the Clone Wars, and it felt particularly poignant. They’d been at war for just about a year, now, and life seemed all the more precious. Being with your loved ones seemed all the more special. And though Coruscant had remained largely unscathed by the war––save for its occasional Senate scandal––its peoples seemed to feel much the same. For this Festival of Life was the most vibrant, energetic one that Elara had ever witnessed. People flooded the streets in droves, music spilled out of almost every shop front, and laughter and smiles were plentiful.

“We’re lucky not to have missed this,” commented Obi-Wan.

With a bright smile, Elara bobbed her head in a nod. “I was worried we would,” she admitted. Both she and Obi-Wan stood observing the Fete crowds from the balcony of a tea house. It was nearing sunset, so the light was positively golden. “I’m glad we didn’t; it makes me feel… hopeful.”

After what had felt like week after week of violence, seeing beings of all sorts embrace and laugh and exchange gifts was heartwarming. A reminder that there was still good in the galaxy; and that, one day, things could be good again. There didn’t have to be blaster fire and explosions and death all the time. That folks exist beside one another in peace. It gave Elara hope that there would be more days like this, where she and Obi-Wan could sit side-by-side at their favorite tea house, enjoying one another’s company in quiet bliss. They didn’t have to worry about being Jedi or Generals––they could just be with one another.

“It does, doesn’t it?” There was a smile in Obi-Wan’s voice, one that Elara didn’t have to see to know existed. But she turned to see it anyway. It was soft and gentle, a blissful juxtaposition to the seriousness that so often creased his face. She allowed herself to admire the beautiful regality of his profile, the peacefulness of his expression. These moments were rare and she savored them when they came. This image of him, bathed in the warm glow of golden light, was something she’d cling to in the hopeless heat of battle. It would give her hope.

Elara slipped her fingers into one of the pouches on her belt. Her fingers touched against something thin and cold. She drew it into her palm and squeezed it there, warming the small metal tag against her skin. It was traditional to give gifts to your loved ones over the seven days of the Festival of Light. While Elara appreciated the sentimentality of it, it had never truly been an imperative part of the holiday. Spending time with those close to her had always mattered most. But the Fete felt different this year; and it suddenly felt incredibly important to partake in this tradition.

Elara angled her body so she faced her companion a little better. A small table separated them, leaving only a foot of space between them; but she found that she wished he was closer. “Obi-Wan,” she said gently. He turned towards her, eyebrows gently raised, a smile still playing across his lips. With a smile of her own, she gestured to him. “Give me your hand.”

With a curious look, Obi-Wan offered his hand to her. Elara placed the thin piece of metal into his hand and curled his fingers around it. He drew his hand into himself before opening his fingers once more. What he saw was this: a metal, oblong shaped tag with rounded corners, across the front of which was etched the image of a flower. The Gleannish Snow Blossom. Obi-Wan stared at it a moment before he looked back to Elara, expression impossibly soft.

“This is lovely,” he told her. He looked back to the tag and flipped it over. On the reverse side was a set of carefully etched symbols. “What do these mean?”

“They’re traditional Gleannish symbols that mean ‘my heart,’” Elara admitted in a manner almost endearingly shy.

Obi-Wan’s thumb swept over the symbols, and the most heart warming smile appeared on his face. That smile was turned her way, and it predictably caused her heart to melt. “I shall keep it with me always. A good luck charm.” He smiled back down at the hand-etched tag, which he then placed on the table beside his tea cup. He reached for a pouch on his belt as he said, “I fear this may be entirely underwhelming, now.”

What he pulled out of the pouch was a small, circular piece of gold colored glass. Twine had been threaded through the top of the ornamental piece and created a loop. He then removed a second one from another pouch, this one a bright, vivid red. As he extended them to her, it caught the light and glowed brilliantly. There was a peculiar wrinkling of his forehead––he appeared worried, almost.

“For your window,” he explained. “You… mentioned, once, that the only thing you missed of home were the sunsets.”

A laugh of pleasant surprise left Elara’s mouth. For as harsh as they were, the suns of Tatooine did create spectacular sunsets. There were none like them anywhere else in the galaxy; every other sunset she’d ever seen had paled in comparison. It was one of the very few things she ever felt homesick for. She reached out to take the glass ornaments from him, which she smiled at as she held them up to the light.

“Not underwhelming at all,” she said as she admired the way they caught the light. Elara lowered them to her lap, her smile softening into a lovely, gentle look. The sunsets of Tatooine were something she’d mentioned in passing months ago. The fact that he’d remembered caused a warm, blissful buzz to circulate through her system. “Thank you, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan, who looked relieved that she appreciated the gift, held his hand out to her. Elara reached out and slipped her hand into his grasp, reveling in the warmth of his skin and the callouses that roughened certain spots. Their eyes met with that wonderful shock of electricity, and he lifted her hand to his mouth. His lips gently pressed against her knuckles in a sweet, subtle, stolen kiss. Their hands then came to rest on the table between them. These moments were rare. It was hard to get a moment alone together, let alone one where they could be openly affectionate in some sort of way. It felt perfect, somehow, that they were allowed this moment during the Festival of Life.

It reminded them there was still a life to live; and that they were lucky to get to live it with one another.

[galaxygolfergirl]

Things to make Attack of the Clones possibly a better movie

Stuff about Anakin

Anakin would take after Matt Lanter’s portrayal in the Clone Wars in terms of charm and personality, though not that Hayden Christensen doesn’t do a good job. Here me out; when not speaking that terrible dialogue, Haydensen brings the right amount of sensitivity, physicality, and frustration in Anakin’s evolving maturity. 

I’d like to think Anakin would be like a romantic-era poet in the body of a jedi (like a samurai John Keats?). After all, I can see some of Lucas’s intent with him spouting off that half-baked prose in the movies. When he’s Darth Vader, he does a better job with wordplay and Shakespearean themes. Anakin more likely resembles a Byronic hero, “Historian and critic Lord Macaulay described the character as ‘a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection’”

In wooing Padme, Anakin has secretly been an avid scholar of galactic literature (reading stuff the Jedi order would frown upon) in hopes to try and meet her on her level and mature. He’s a fan of space fantasy novels (in the likes of Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars, but for Star Wars), and is a hopeful romantic. He wishes to explore more that the galaxy has to offer and feels constrained by the rigidity of the Jedi order. He and Padme connect on that level of Byronic romance.

As I said in my previous post, the age gap between Anakin and Padme is considerably smaller. (only about 3 years; he’s 23 and she’s 26)

Anakin is much less predatory around Padme than in the original film. I’d more rather have it that they’re both into one another but tragic pining ensues because they find out how much they get along after they’ve been apart.

I don’t know how to solve the mass murder of the tusked raiders scene; I wish it wasn’t there and I wish his mom didn’t get fridge as hard as she did

If there had to be a more docile option, maybe Anakin arrived on Tatooine and learned his mom died years before and he didn’t know about it until just then. It’s too literal to have him holding his dead mother in his arms, and I would think it’s much more cold and painful to learn that your loved one died years ago and you were unaware of it. 

His “early turn to the dark side” scene could involve him being more reckless and cutting down flesh and blood enemies during the arena scene, perhaps he kills Jango???

Stuff about Padme

Padme is much more proactive and #thatbitch when it comes to standing up against the rising imperial/fascist mentality within the senate, one of the reasons why some people might want her dead; make her AOC but in spaaaaaaaaaace

Darth Sidious wanted Padme killed for her opposition to the Military Creation Act which would allow the creation of an army to fight the Separatists for the Republic. Since Sidious was manipulating both the Separatists and the Republic, he put a bounty on Padme's head as Nute Gunray's grudge against her was powerful enough that he demanded her death as the condition for secession of the Trade Federation from the Republic

However, not only because of that, but also through her own investigative journalism, Padme discovers the Trade Federation’s shady business practices and ties to the growing separatist alliance and exposes this to the public, thus causing more of a demand for her death and exacerbation of tensions

She’s been having a hard time forming true relationships because of her position of power and being under public scrutiny all the time, thus after coming to respect and care for Anakin, resolves to minimize that scrutiny as much as possible

Stuff about Obi-wan

Jedi Mullet? I don’t think so. Make it more like this

(something a little less mullety, still luxurious, and he keeps the beard)

He’s not necessarily a paragon when it comes to no attachments, and he uses his attractiveness to his advantage and he knows it. 

Anakin does serve as his foil, but when he’s on his own it would be nice if he had a companion as well to mirror Anakin and Padme’s journey together. Perhaps an introduction of Satine, thus developing their relationship early on? A different female foil? Or just a buddy from work like Quinlan Vos? Idk.

He’s still in the sort of learning curve when it comes to being a master, and there can be a few times Anakin can prove him wrong. Obi-wan comes to respect his initiative by the end of the film and not be so critical of him (I mean Anakin had just lost an arm and all)

His relationship with Padme is still amicable, but meets a point of tension when discussing Anakin’s behavior and development. Their points of view differ when it comes to how Jedi can express themselves and she critiques some of the more questionable morals and practices of the Jedi

Things about the plot

Officials within the Republic government knew about the clones (and so did some Jedi). Palpatine organized a committee (engineering the pointless war behind the shadows) and they ordered the clone army after the whole Naboo crisis ten years prior to the events of Attack of the clones. Everyone knew tensions were brewing between the potential Seperatists and the Republic and the Republic wanted to beat them to the punch.

Which Jedi in particular knew? 

(Ooh! Ooh! What if some Jedi, even on the council, had already turned to the dark side and were working for Palpatine, and in the end by the time of Order 66 they help bring down the order, only to then be killed themselves by Palpatine and Vader (rule of 2)?)

The fight scene between Sidious and the jedi would have them turning against each other while Sidious finishes them off to show the ineptitude and corruption of the once pure Jedi order

Syfo Dyas was the Jedi ambassador to the senate and was convinced/manipulated to assist Palpatine; he helped order the clones and was ready to defend the republic, but when the full plot was revealed to him, he tried to make a run for it and tell the Jedi Order, only to end up assassinated. The order of the clone army a secret was kept until the Separatists fully declared war on the Republic. 

Count Dooku also knew when he was still a jedi and on the council. However, he had secretly turned to the darkside and was working for Palpatine/Sidious as a spy until he ultimately left the order to become the leader of the separatists. He had prior knowledge that Palpatine had engineered the war (note: an addition to my Phantom menace post, Syfo Dyas and Dooku would make appearances in Episode 1 to establish a precedent to the plot of this movie).

@whatlomalikes​  @cinna-wanroll​ y’all like Star Wars, right?

[brokeco]

Far-Flung Hopes, ch3

Summary: The force had two children, six thousand years apart. Dooku imagined it was about time these children meet, whether they liked it or not. ———- The fic where Revan possesses Anakin.

When Revan entered the galley, it was the most awkward moment Fives had ever experienced outside of basic training. There were way more awkward things during basic, but this was right up there. Especially when Revan sat right next to him with no food but a protein shake in a glass with a straw. The straw awkwardly disappeared under the mask, Revan taking big gulps of the chocolatey-looking drink.

“So you must be Fives, if your tattoo is anything to go by.” Revan finally said when their drink was about halfway done. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.” Fives replied automatically, still a bit unsure. “I don’t have to ask who you are, Revan.”

“I seem to be very recognizable in this era.” Revan noted. “I’ve been told you are quite personable.”

“Oh? Thank you.” Fives replied, still unsure. “And, uh, yeah, you’re more than a little recognizable.”

“ ‘More than a little’? Have I made such a large impact in my time?” Revan asked innocently.

“We study your tactics growing up. Your guerilla warfare is taught to Republic-backed rebellions.” Fives replied with a sudden comfortability. “You’re a genius when it comes to winning wars, really.”

Revan let out a deep, rumbling laugh. “Well, I’m glad I wasn’t forgotten.”

“Well, you’re hard to forget if you’re like the rest of us.” Fives said, not really thinking about what he was saying.

Revan seemed very interested, however, in that statement. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, we’re all clones of a Mandalorian.” Fives answered, not really getting why Revan was interested. “His name was Jango Fett.” Fives was surprised when Revan let out a loud and boisterous laugh.

“A Fett! Truly, the Force laughs at me!” Revan said between gasps of laughter.

“Why is that, sir?” Fives said, catching bits of Revan’s contagious laughter.

Revan was still trying to suppress their laughter when they began speaking again. “I fought your patriarch six thousand years ago. Now I am surrounded by the clones of his descendant. As I said, the Force must find this humorous.”

Fives finally laughed too, the irony too much to not laugh at. “Yeah, I can see that.” Cautiously, Echo approached the laughing duo, taking a seat on the other side of Fives, looking suspiciously at Revan.

“So, uh, how’re you guys doing?” Echo asked, poking at his food uninterestedly.

“Fairly well, I’d say.” Revan answered, taking another sip of their protein shake. “How about you, Fives?”

“I’m fine.” Fives smiled. “Though I have to ask: after six thousand years, aren’t you hungry? Why not eat food?”

Revan sighed, a disappointed sound. “It turns out I can’t remove my mask.” Revan pulled at their mask, but it wouldn’t budge from where it was strapped to Anakin’s face. “So I can’t remove it to eat anything, so all of my food has to be blended down into something I can drink through a straw.”

“That’s rough, bud.” Fives replied while Echo made a sad noise. “Well, hey, at least they put chocolate in it, right?”

“I won’t complain about chocolate.” Revan agreed. “It’s not bad.”

“So do they just blend down food?” Echo asked, a bit horrified by Revan’s means of survival. “Just put a meal in a blender?”

Revan thought for a second before answering honestly. “I’m not sure. This is the first thing I’ve had so I’m not sure how it’s going to continue.”

“Oh.” Echo said simply, finally taking a bite out of his own food.

Suddenly, Obi-Wan entered the galley himself, seemingly looking for someone before his eyes landed on Revan, who stood up immediately. “We’ve detected a distress signal on a nearby planet. You’ll be accompanying us while we retrieve the escape pod and whoever it contained before we continue on to Coruscant.”

“Of course, Master Jedi.” Revan answered, bowing respectfully to Obi-Wan even as the shorter of the two left. Revan turned to their new companions as Obi-Wan walked out of the galley. “I don’t think he likes me quite yet.”

“He’ll warm up to you.” Fives tried, shrugging his shoulders. “Just give him time to come around.”

“And hey, he’s pretty friendly, so I don’t think it’ll take very long.” Echo amended, smiling to Revan.

Revan sat back down, grabbing their shake again. “I’m sure he will.” They took a long sip of their drink, not very convinced of his own statement. “For whatever reason, I seem to be receiving Anakin’s emotions whenever I see Master Kenobi.”

This peaked Echo and Five’s interest. “General Skywalker’s emotions ?” Echo asked. Revan simply hummed in confirmation. The batchmates looked to each other before going back and eating their protein squares.

[dumners]

my tes ocs

also known as, i focus way too much on the messy dunmer and sadly no one else

The Seryiils (+the Gimayns)

Just the most dramatic family in Tamriel

oh my god there’s so much for Llirala im so sorry

Indrasi S (nerevarine) 

Dunmer - Any pronouns (tho i’ll use they)

Actual reincarnation of Nerevar, and their repressed memories affect their life in ways they don’t realize until later. Born and raised in the Imperial City. Raised in an orphanage after being abandoned there by unknown parents. Grew up to be an alchemist in the city and ran the store The Main Ingredient. Met Raldis when he delivered ingredients, they grew closer and got married, and Indrasi took his last name bcuz they didn’t have one. The two have a daughter, Llirala. Raldis dies in a bandit raid when Llirala is 6, and afterwards, Indrasi becomes distant bcuz they are working to provide for Llirala. Llirala grows up making bad decisions in an attempt to get Indrasi to pay attention to her, which eventually leaves Llirala abandoning her newborn son, Calden, with Indrasi. They raise Calden, but rarely sees Llirala during that time. Eventually, they take on an apprentice at The Main Ingredient, Ogier Georick (the actual in-game owner). Calden grows up and goes out on his own. Llirala comes back after a lotta of her own nonsense. She ends up framing Indrasi for murder, which gets them noticed by Uriel Septim VII and sent to Morrowind. 

They really only do the Main Quest in Morrowind and maybe a few side quests, but no faction quests. They slowly get their Nerevar memories back during the course of the Main Quest. They then do the Tribunal and Bloodmoon dlcs in that order. During the Tribunal dlc they basically just ignore Helseth, and during the Bloodmoon dlc they side with the Skaal. They help build Raven Rock, and then just kinda never leave. They try to go through everything with as little death as possible. By 4E 201, they are still on Solstheim, drifting in and out of Raven Rock, hanging out with the Skaal, and mooching off of Neloth.

Raldis S

Dunmer - He/Him

Pretty chill dude, kinda unfortunate that he strongly resembles Voryn Dagoth, but what can you do. Born and raised in Gnisis. Later joined a Hlaalu trading company and made deliveries mainly to Cyrodiil. Met Indrasi on one of those deliveries. They became closer, eventually married, and had Llirala. He dies in a bandit raid when Llirala is 6.

Llirala S (hok)

Dunmer - She/Her (later Daedra - Any)

Ah, my favorite shithead. Born and raised in the Imperial City. Born to Indrasi and Raldis Seryiil. Raldis died when she was only 6, which caused Indrasi to throw themself into their work so they could support Llirala. Llirala grows up to be a self-destructive mess who keeps making bad decisions in an attempt to get Indrasi to pay attention to her, and this turns into her just craving any kind of attention from anyone. She had a fling with a friend that ended in her son, Calden, who she abandoned with Indrasi. She then proceeded to travel around Cyrodiil doing favors for basically every single Daedric Prince. She joined the Arena and killed her way to the top, loving every second of the validation from the crowd. Now with the idea that “murder is okay actually” in her head, she stabbed a man who catcalled her, and proceeded to frame Indrasi for the murder, killing two birds with one knife. This got her noticed by the Dark Brotherhood. She loved her time in the Brotherhood and loved her Family, and she killed them all when ordered to. This messed her up pretty badly, but she just went “if I keep my body moving and my mind occupied at all times, I will avoid falling into a bottomless pit of despair.” She managed to convince herself that she was fine bcuz she still had Shadowmere and Lucien. But then Lucien died, and Llirala killed Mathieu but it was too late bcuz everyone was still dead. Llirala basically had an epiphany like “oh, maybe killing is bad,” and she abandoned the Dark Brotherhood leaving it to fall into ruin. She joined the Thieves Guild and found out that she kinda liked helping people, but by the end she didn’t want to be the Grey Fox, so she gave the job to Armand Christophe. After that she bought shoes from the Copious Coinpurse and got arrested for grave-robbing.

Then the Main Quest happened, Llirala made some good friends in Martin and Baurus, and she constantly mocked Jauffre. I’m cliche and like angst so Llirala and Martin liked each other but didn’t say anything about it until right before Martin sacrificed himself, he kissed her. Yay cliche angst! When Dagon was breaking down the Temple roof, Llirala pushed Martin out of the way of falling rubble, but it ended up falling on her instead, breaking her leg and pinning her under it. Martin sacrificed himself, and Llirala was stuck under the rubble until someone showed up. Baurus helped get her out, and Jeelius healed her leg, but she wouldn’t be able to fight the way she used to, no more sneak. Llirala spent two depressed weeks in the Imperial Palace, before being presented with the Imperial Dragon Armor. She basically snapped and ran away again, leaving behind everything that could identify her as a the HoK. 

She threw herself back into adventuring in the hopes of getting herself killed. She did the KotN, but didn’t find any peace with the Nine, and left when that was over. Immediately after being resurrected, she left and went straight to Bravil, where she heard rumors about a door out in the Bay that no one came back from the same, if at all. Before leaving, she spoke to the Night Mother who called her out on constantly abandoning everything, and berated her for still having Shadowmere and the Blade of Woe despite leaving the Brotherhood. So before Llirala left for the door, she said goodbye to her oldest companion and sent her back to the Brotherhood with her Blade of Woe. 

In the Isles, Llirala fit in, but she kept refusing to acknowledge that. She killed the Gatekeeper despite it not attacking her, and she wielded a perfect order sword for the majority of it. She tended to pick Dementia when she had to make a choice bcuz she was too depressed to deal with the brightness of Mania. Over the course of the questline, she began to really love the residents of the Isles and by the time Sheogorath turned into Jyggalag, she refused to abandon the Isles bcuz she didn’t want everyone there to die. In the fight with the Tree Clone, her order sword shatters, so after that she wields a madness sword. She became Sheogorath with the thought that it wasn’t going to be permanent, so when Jyggalag disappears she’s left standing there like.

Calden S

Dunmer(+Altmer) - He/Him

Born from a fling between Llirala and one of her friends. Raised by Indrasi in the Imperial City. Practiced destruction magic mainly. Tried to join the Arcane University many times, but was always rejected. Later traveled to Skyrim to study at the College of Winterhold (pre-Collapse). Met his future wife, Nephelle, there. Great Collapse happened. Him and Nephelle have Viri, but Nephelle dies in childbirth (bcuz i need her gone and im lazy lol). Calden loses faith in his ability to raise Viri, and when she starts speaking a strange language (dovahzul) as a baby, Calden freaks out. He asks around, is pointed toward the Greybeards, and leaves baby Viri with them due to a lack of Indrasi to foist the kid onto. 

Calden just kinda fucks off after that, but if tes vi takes place within 100 years of tes v, then he’ll be the protag if it works.

Viri (ldb)

Dunmer - She/Her

Raised by the Greybeards. Grew up only being called Dragonborn, so she had to name herself. Got the name Viri from Akaviri. When she was 2, young (like 8) Ulfric arrived to be trained, so Viri grew up with him as an older brother*. Most of Viri’s childhood was spent training her Thu’um, and reading the books available. She became fascinated with magic and practiced what she could by herself. She had a strained relationship with the Greybeards, but was very close with Paarthurnax. When the Great War started, Ulfric left, and Viri tried to go with him, but she was like 12 so she couldn’t. Later, she ran away from High Hrothgar at 17, but the war had already ended. She spent some time in Ivarstead before going up to the College of Winterhold to study magic. During her time at the College, the whole Eye of Magnus business happened, but Mirabelle survived it. After a while, she tries to leave Skyrim to explore the rest of Tamriel, but she walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there. She does the Main Quest up until the point that most people break off, bcuz she does not want to go back to the Greybeards just yet. She does the Thieves Guild, becomes the Guildmaster and returns it to its former glory. She does the Dark Brotherhood bcuz she is trying to find the familial love she never had with the Greybeards, but she just ends up being a murderer with a weird ghost friend and a demon horse. Finally finishes the Main Quest, does not touch the Civil War. And through all those questlines she completes all the Daedric Quests for one reason or another. Then she does Dawnguard, sides with the Dawnguard, gets a vampire gf, and then that vampire gf leaves to see the world, but promises to return**. Then Viri goes to Solstheim. There she meets Indrasi and manages to convince them to help her rescue Miraak, bcuz she is sick and tired of playing into the hands of the Daedric Princes, and saving Miraak would be an excellent “fuck you” to Hermaeus Mora.

*i don’t like ulfric at all, but this creates an interesting dynamic.

**Serana just needs to figure out who she is in the Fourth Era away from Viri, bcuz she doesn’t want to end up constructing her whole life around her.

Sethesi (Seth) G (kinda silly* vestige)

Dunmer - She/Her

Seth is baby and I love her so much. I made her 15 bcuz I wanted to make a shonen protag, but I also made her a mage, so she’s also a magical girl, but I also made her a necromancer, so she’s a dark magical girl. She was born and raised in the Worm Cult with her older brother, Llondryn. She had a knack for necromancy, and never really saw a problem with it bcuz she was not immune to propaganda. Llondryn managed to convince her to leave the Cult with him, but on the way out, Llondryn tried to sacrifice himself to save just her, but she didn’t realize that was happening so she ended up saving Llondryn instead. The Cultists found her, and she ended up being sacrificed to Molag Bal as an example of what happens to traitors. Escapes Coldharbour, but ends up on the Daggerfall Covenant questline bcuz I think that one fits the Main Quest best. Seth spends most of the Main Quest hiding her necromancer origins and trying to pass herself off as a templar, but finally snaps during the fight with Mannimarco and reveals her true power. She also does the Fighters and Mages Guild quests during the Main Quest, but she’s much more fond of the Mages Guild. Basically everyone who interacts with Seth adopts her as a younger sister/daughter/niece bcuz she is baby. She does quests pretty normally, and always tries to save as many lives as possible. At some point she becomes a vampire as a “fuck you” to meridia, but I’m still considering when. She also abandons her morals after that and joins the Dark Brotherhood bcuz I really need her to do that questline*. I’m not actually done with everything in eso yet, so Seth’s progression might change.

Unless something happens to contradict this in eso, after eso, Seth just wanders around Tamriel, occasionally checking in on how the world is doing.

*I say kinda silly bcuz in the spirit of mmos I gave Seth a travelling party. However, that party is Indrasi, Llirala, and Viri after their games. Yeah, that’s kinda op but all of them are hiding their true abilities, and Llirala is just not at full power bcuz of the original sheo still being around. I’m doing this bcuz it is so funny to me, especially bcuz of how many references to those games there are. The reason they are there is bcuz Viri pulled some time travel bullshit. 

Llondryn G

He/Him

Born and raised in Worm Cult with younger sister, Sethesi. Never showed much aptitude for necromancy, which made him expendable. When people started getting executed, he convinced Sethesi to try to escape. While trying to escape, Sethesi sacrificed herself to let him escape. 

I don’t know what he does later, but he eventually has kids and the family tree eventually leads to Indrasi.

Unrelated - i dont have much on them :(

Korabi

Khajiit - They/Them

Mage. Travel partners with Andenyerinwe (the Oblivion Duo). Does the Oblivion Mages Guild quests.

Andenyerinwe (Andy)

Altmer - She/Her

Goes by Andy. Battle-ax wielding, heavy-armor wearing warrior. Travel partners with Korabi (the Oblivion Duo). Does the Oblivion Fighters Guild quests.

Laurri (blades hero)

Khajiit - She/Her

Uuuuhhhh....... idk..... she’s dating Saashi?? 

Haj-xo (serious ep vestige)

Argonian - She/Her

Shadowscale. I think it’s funny if she dates Naryu bcuz it’s like assassin romeo and juliet. Also that means Veya gets two murder moms.

Nhaz (serious dc vestige)

Redguard - They/Them

I need more on them. 

Mizar (serious ad vestige)

Khajiit - He/Him

I need more on him. But he is trans. I’m also not done with the Aldmeri Dominion quests yet.

[butterflyinthewell]

My old af crappy art lmao

So my one kaiju oc is Shezilla, a female of Godzilla’s species. She exists to me in the Heisei era, if anyone is curious. She is distinguishable from Godzilla by her lighter granite gray coloring (as opposed to Godzilla being charcoal gray), her longer claws and her smaller dorsal plates.

Shezilla has been around since I was 17 and now I’m almost 39. Godzilla totally loves her. 😇

So anyway...touching noses is how they kiss. So here’s them smooching in front of sunset colors.

Godzilla ‘flirts’ with her by rearing up. They’re on a beach before dawn and Venus, the morning star, is in the sky.

And Shezilla takes a walk. The pink 80s zigzag bg is because Shezilla is a girly girl who would wear pink nail polish and use cute flowers and hearts frames for her Instagram pics if she used that.

Shezilla is supposed to have an agile build, like Final Wars Goji, but I sucked at drawing that properly, lolz. She can run and jump because she is less bulky than Godzilla. Her footsteps are also less concussive because she doesn’t announce her presence by stomping. At night she can get quite far into a city before the alarms sound. There is another reason she can move in ways Godzilla can’t, but I’ll get to that later on in this post. Her long claws allow her to dig and it’s not uncommon to see her save some nuclear reactor cooling rods for later by burying them.

Shezilla’s main personality difference from Godzilla is she can be driven away by the military because the noise and artillery impacts are confusing and scary to her. She will turn around and fight back if she gets hit in the face, though, cuz that pisses her right off and then it becomes total decimation same as it would with Godzilla. But she is a bit of a 'fraidy cat on land, less so in the water. Another thing is she doesn’t like to get dirty, though she will if she has to. You’ll find her grooming herself clean as soon as she’s able to do so. 

She’s not one who likes to charge into fights without a good reason. Trespassing on the island she and Godzilla like to hang around on is one good way to get on her bad side. She will fiercely defend her territory. You’ll get a couple of warning roars, a warning blast of the death breath, and then she charges after the invader looking for a fight. 

Most of her fighting moves are similar to Godzilla’s, but she has a couple that are all her own. Like she will run and pounce her opponents to knock them down. Sometimes, if the terrain allows, she will jump off a higher point and smash her opponent underneath her. Her long claws allow her to dig them into an opponent and cause some serious bloodshed. If she hooks them into you and starts thrashing you into the ground, you’re screwed. XD Her fave water move is to come after her opponent from below, and she will come up with such force that she’ll jump almost totally out of the water with the poor loser caught in her teeth or claws. (And it’s a hell of a wave when gravity takes over.)

But her coolest move is she will pick up something big (like a boulder), hurl it at her foe and nuke it with her death breath, which makes the thrown object explode and shower the other guy with superheated shrapnel. Sometimes she sends another shot through the blast while they’re blinded, or she charges through the blast as it’s hitting and pummels the hell out of whoever made her mad. It can be quite devastating.

Btw, Godzilla gets mean over a lot of things, but if he sees somebody hurt Shezilla he goes into smash mode and nothing is safe. He’ll decimate whoever hurt her, go off to smash whatever city is nearby to calm down and come back to tend to her if she needs it. The same is true in reverse-- even if Shezilla is retreating, if she sees or hears Godzilla scream / fall down, all bets are off and she will destroy whoever knocked him over. The only difference is she won’t go off to smash a city after, she’ll get Godzilla up and tend to him as soon as the threat is gone.

Her temper isn’t quiiiiite as bad as his, though she’s got her rage buttons and I already covered those.

And finally, here’s the other reason Shezilla moves a bit more gracefully than her dudebro counterpart. I incorporated the stiffness of the Heisei era Godzilla suit into Godzilla’s character-- Godzilla was the runt of his pod when he was a Godzillasaur because he has a heart defect that affected how his brain developed. 

He’s got some neurological issues due to chronic hypoxia in early life, and they carried over when he mutated into Godzilla. If he was human he’d be diagnosed with spastic CP and use a cane when he walks. Since he’s a kaiju his tail is his “cane” and acts as a counterweight that stops him from falling forward all the time. He can go short distances with his tail off the ground, but he won’t feel as secure. His muscles resist him a bit when he moves and his range of motion is limited. He doesn’t run because he can’t run without falling forward on his face. That’s why he stomps when he walks and his footfalls are so heavy, he has to stomp to feel stable on his feet. 

He turns his tight muscles into brute force and he’s so dang buff because his muscles get a lot of work holding him upright and beating the hell out of other kaiju. Sometimes he’ll be really, really, really stiff and tight when he wakes up after a long sleep, but he swims into warmer water because it feels good to his sore muscles. He’ll stretch and loosen up to his version of normal, sort of a kaiju version of occupational therapy. It’s a painful process, but for the big G moving is a matter of survival. 

He’s got a few cognitive issues too, mainly a lack of a fear response to things most animals would be terrified of. The only things that really incite fear in him are being thrust into pitch blackness unexpectedly (as opposed to going somewhere dark by choice) and an uncontrollable fall like the time he plunged into Mt. Mihara. That was a scared Goji scream. On the other side of that, he’s got a memory like Kim Peek and can remember all the way back to when he was a hatchling. If he sees a human up close, he will remember their face forever and may recognize them decades later, even when age alters their appearance-- Shindo brought back some very bad memories. 

He still has the hole between the ventricles of his heart, but he’s so massive and his resting heart rate is so slow that he doesn’t feel the effects of it unless his heart rate climbs up past 50 bpm and stays there for long periods of time. Then he gets woozy and loopy / confused, but the rapid regenerative healing caused by his mutation prevents this from doing more damage to his brain and body. He shouldn’t be alive at all, yet he is and he persists. If you magically “turned off” Godzilla’s regenerative healing abilities, he would probably die of heart failure in a few weeks. He’s a big, scary force of nature on the outside and fragile on the inside with organs and cells constantly working to maintain a delicate balance.

(This headcanon is 20+ years old, y’all, just so you know.)

Basically, Godzilla is a big ol’ dorky klutz most of the time, sometimes he’s a bit slow to catch up on a situation, and Shezilla sees those as part of his charm.

Oh, and his silly smile helps, too. That always gets her. ;)

Anybody that’s got a problem with the idea of disabled!Godzilla can go ride a cactus.

Shezilla is a clone in my imaginary Heisei era version of her. She was created by a kaijuologist named Kenpachiro Satsuma...yes, I named a character after the dude who wore the Godzilla suit for the Heisei era. When I was 17 I wrote him to be eccentric, but today I’ll shamelessly say he’s an adult diagnosed autistic whose special interest (and expertise) is Godzilla. He figured Godzilla was lonely and that a companion might keep him out of cities...and it does. Sort of. LOL

[gffa]

Guess who’s crying because STAR WARS is full of feelings again? ALL OF US, THAT’S WHO. This is another collection designed to have at least a little something for almost everyone, whether you’re here for a ship or a certain era of the Saga or the greater SW tapestry, whether you want to cry about Anakin Skywalker or want to keep crying about the Rebels, whether you’re here for Leia Organa feelings or just want to roll around in a time travel that will hopefully eventually fix everything, there should hopefully be at least one fic that appeals! Star Wars fandom is so good at providing things to read (so much so that I still have at least a dozen novel-length fics on my reader that I haven’t even been able to start yet!) and so many of them are so, so worth your time to read. Bless all the authors making it even better to be a fan of this ridiculous series about space wizards and aliens and smugglers and good kids doing their best against an evil regime that wants to crush everyone! STAR WARS FIC RECS: TIME TRAVEL RECS: ✦ Drifting Starlight by Pandora151, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & qui-gon & cast, time travel, 60.3k    Just before the fateful Battle of Naboo, Qui-Gon Jinn is brought to the future, to the Clone Wars. He doesn’t know why or how, but he knows one thing for sure: He never, in a million years, expected the galaxy to end up like this. ✦ The Dark Path Lit by Sun and Stars by A_Delicate_Fury, obi-wan & luke & leia & han & cast, time travel, 33.8k wip    After a disaster on the cosmic scale that Obi-Wan is still trying to wrap his mind around, he finds himself back in the early days of the Clone Wars, Commander Cody loyally at his side, Anakin at his back, and Sidious plotting against the Jedi at every turn. ✦ Death, Yet The Force (so rise and shine) by EclipseMidnight (EternalEclipse), obi-wan & mace & tahl & cin drallig & qui-gon & depa & cast, time travel, 14.9k    In which the most eclectic group of time travelers wake up in 949 ARR (51 BBY) and attempt to unravel what the Force wants them to do and begin to take the necessary steps to ensure the survival of the Jedi in the future ✦ In Time by Ripki, obi-wan & anakin, time travel, 23.6k wip    When a mysterious holocron sends [Obi-Wan and Anakin] through time, they don’t only have to confront their past and future – but the present as well. ✦ Worldwalker by rainglazed, ezra & kanan & cast, time travel, 25.5k wip    Time travel AU where Ezra Bridger meets Caleb Dume the day after Order 66. ✦ twin suns by tripletmoons, obi-wan & cast, time travel, 1.5k    Obi-Wan Kenobi is six years old when he meets Ben. It goes like this: he falls asleep in the Temple and wakes up in the sand. PREQUELS RECS: ✦ So, How Was My Funeral? by Ibelin, obi-wan & anakin & yoda & mace, 5k    “Obi-Wan, I need you to know two things. First, I love you so much.” Anakin looked his master in the eye, demanding full acknowledgment. “And second, I am going to kill you.” ✦ Though Lovers Be Lost by panharmonium, obi-wan & cast, 4.5k    When they tell stories about his life, will they speak of loss or love? You cannot have one without the other, after all. ✦ Catechin by ambiguously, mace & depa, 2.1k    Three times Mace Windu and Depa Billaba took tea together. ✦ untitled by swhurtcomfort, obi-wan & anakin, 1.7k    Anonymous asked: Hey, can I request an Obi-Wan with a bad fever getting taken care of by Anakin who is too stubborn to admit hes also sick? ✦ Old Sins Cast Long Shadows by zarabithia, ahsoka & obi-wan & anakin & padme (& building background obi-wan/padme), 12.8k wip    In this universe, when Palpatine asks if Anakin is going to kill him, Anakin does. While Anakin ultimately wins, it costs him his life. In this universe, the twins are raised by Ahsoka, Padmé, and Obi-Wan. ✦ We Will Abide by naberiie, plo & shaak, 10.3k    Light. Dark. Balance. Beneath the Jedi Temple, far below the chaos of Coruscant’s Galactic City, ancient halls and corridors sleep in silent darkness. Padawans Shaak Ti and Plo Koon are determined to explore them. ✦ memories like ashes at our feet by ambiguously, anakin & ahsoka, 4.2k    Darth Vader was gravely injured in the explosion of the Sith Temple. Now Anakin Skywalker has no memory of what he’s doing here with Ahsoka. ✦ valley of the shadow by darlingargents, obi-wan & luminara (& barriss), 1.6k    In which Luminara finds out. ✦ Queen of Peace by Sassaphrass, obi-wan & padme & cast (background anakin/padme), 20.2k    Padmé Amidala lives. Democracy is dead, The Jedi are Dead, and her beloved husband Anakin Skywalker is dead. But, Padmé is still alive. Her children are still alive. And maybe, just maybe, there is still hope. So, she’ll just have to keep going, and pray that someday all these terrible sacrifices will have been worth it. ✦ The Mathematics of Repair by panharmonium, obi-wan & anakin, 4.6k    For raw teachers and rough-edged students building in the rubble: tiny steps are enough, provided they carry you in the right direction. Immediately post TPM, in short snippets. ✦ Scavenged Parts of Broken Hearts by crowleyshouseplant, mace & paxi, 3.1k    Paxi Sylo meets Mace Windu a second time. ✦ On the Third Day by victoria_p (musesfool), anakin & bail & breha & leia, 3.4k    Vader’s patience has run out. ✦ Nothing by Pandora151, obi-wan & anakin & dooku, ~1k    A single split-second decision changes everything. ✦ A Ghost’s Embrace by AceQueenKing, shmi & padme & leia, 1.4k    Shmi Skywalker watches over her granddaughter, but she isn’t alone. ✦ Space Twins by glorious_clio, obi-wan & luke & leia & bail, 1.1k    Obi-Wan is tasked with bringing Luke to Tatooine. For his part, Bail brings Leia home to Breha. ✦ Eternal Darkness by Darth_Vodka, jedi & cast (& jocasta), 5k    When the newly anointed Darth Vader leads the 501st Legion to the Jedi Temple to execute Order 66, a last ditch effort to preserve the Jedi Order has unintended consequences. ✦ these little things called pyrrhic victories by RestlessWanderings, obi-wan & anakin, 3.6k    Or, the one where Obi-Wan follows Yoda’s orders and kills Anakin, which changes some things but leaves others the same. ✦ Tag by Imadra Blue, obi-wan & yoda, ~1k    A three-year-old Obi-Wan follows Master Yoda around the Temple. ✦ See No Evil by GirlwithCurls98, ahsoka & anakin & yoda & cast, 9.7k wip    When Ahsoka suffers a head injury, she loses something she thought would always be there. With the help of her friends, she learns how to adapt to her new reality, and how she can use it to her advantage, all while searching for a cure. ✦ A First Time for Everything by Ossian, obi-wan & anakin, 1.1k    Post-TPM, Obi-Wan and Anakin find a connection ✦ Time to Go by JediShampoo, obi-wan/padme & cast, 4.9k    Obi-Wan is leaving Alderaan and taking Luke with him. He and Padme must say their goodbyes. Stuff happens. ✦ An Interlude (The Passing of Some Days) by victoria_p (musesfool), obi-wan & leia & bail/breha, 1k    Bail makes some calls. ✦ buy a dog by panharmonium, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon, 2.4k    You ask of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog as large as myself that my father bought me. They are better than human beings, because they know but do not tell. -Dickinson OBI-WAN/ANAKIN RECS: ✦ Titles, Traditions, and Other Forms of Attachment by MarchofBirds, obi-wan/anakin & cast, NSFW, 25.5k    Or: How Anakin’s relationship to the term “Master” changes throughout different stages of his life. ✦ Both Deserve Happiness by zarabithia, obi-wan/anakin, 1.3k    The Republic falls, but Anakin doesn’t. Together, Obi-Wan and Anakin lead the hunt to find Palpatine. Eventually, they have to face the fact that their relationship has changed. ✦ Tumblr Prompt Drabbles by Adelphrexia, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, 1.5k wip (sort of)    A collection of Obikin drabble requests originally posted on my Tumblr. Mostly smut, any warnings will be posted on the chapter they apply to. ✦ Lucky me by orphan_account, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, hooker au, 1.9k    Anakin might never have been found by the Jedi, Obi-Wan and he still are lucky enough to meet each other. ✦ Cuddle by Captain Starseeker, obi-wan/anakin, 1k    When having a rough, over worked day, it’s nice to just sit down and cuddle with your loved one. ObiAni fluff ✦ Yes, Master by Little Green Voice, obi-wan/anakin, 12.1k    It wasn’t only the words. It was the way they were said. And, if he was completely honest, it was also a little the words. Not so much about the ‘yes’ though, as it was about the “Master”. ✦ Pursuit by Icse, obi-wan/anakin, nsfw, modern au, 16.3k wip    Ben Kenobi wasn’t interested in taking on a working student, […] still, he can recognize talent when he sees it and agrees to take on Anakin as his working student. He certainly didn’t plan on falling for him. ✦ Tagalongs by zarabithia, obi-wan/anakin & luke & leia, modern au, 3.4k    Leia has cookies to sell, and her father is along for the ride. Had he known that someone as handsome as Obi-Wan Kenobi was going to purchase some, Anakin might have taken more than five minutes to get dressed. ✦ Naughty Padawans by salixbabylon, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, spanking, 1.4k    Obi-Wan, completely fed up with his padawan, tries something definitely *not* in the Master’s Handbook. ✦ Secret Fire by ambiguously, obi-wan/anakin, nsfw, 2.7k    Masters, especially human masters, would sometimes take their young students aside and offer them this experience. It was perfectly normal. ORIGINAL TRILOGY RECS: ✦ As Old As Rhyme by ambiguously, padme & luke, ~1k    Every night, someone sits next to Luke on his bed and sings a lullabye in a low voice in a language he doesn’t know. ✦ The Belonging You Seek by WiliQueen, luke & leia & ahsoka & cast, 30.9k wip    A chance discovery gives Luke and Leia a glimpse into who Anakin was, and leads them to more than they ever expected. More questions, more answers… and more family. ✦ Hear Me by crowleyshouseplant, anakin & leia & luke & cast, 3.2k    Leia struggles to reconcile Luke’s experience with his father and hers with Darth Vader. ✦ Spar by glorious_clio, liea & luke & wedge & han, 3.2k    Luke is desperate to learn the ways of the Force. Leia can’t really help him there, but she knows how to wield a blade. REBELS RECS: ✦ Is It Gremlins? by ncfan, sabine & kallus, 8.3k    This was not how Sabine expected to spend her afternoon. ✦ pas de deux by glorious_clio, kanan/hera, 1.9k    After spending all day in the cockpit, and with one more chore to complete, Hera Syndulla feels the urge to move. But even a simple moment can come with a hangup or two. Luckily, she has a supportive partner. ✦ Celestial Navigation by ambiguously, zeb/kallus, 1.7k    Kallus doesn’t understand why Zeb’s not sad. ✦ Bank of Coals by Eclectic_Goddess, kanan/hera & ezra, 1.4k    “You should get some rest.” “I’m fine.” “That would be more convincing if you could keep your eyes open when you said it.” ✦ The Joy of Nescience by ambiguously, kanan & depa & ahsoka/rex, 2.1k    Three times Kanan Jarrus did not want to know. ✦ Symbios by bam_cassiopeia, ahsoka & sabine & aphra, 4.1k    Sabine and Ahsoka go on a quest for a boy and his purrgils. ✦ An Unexpected Encounter by codenametargeter, kanan/hera & hondo & katooni, 2k    It’d been enough of a surprise when Ahsoka Tano had turned out to be alive. Kanan definitely wasn’t expecting to find another member of the Jedi Order so soon and definitely not amongst Hondo Ohnaka’s pirate gang. SOLO RECS: ✦ Feelings Are a Luxury and This is War by igrockspock, han/qi'ra, 1.3k    Feelings are a luxury Qi'Ra can’t afford. ✦ tell me, get my shit together by paperclipbitch, han/lando & chewbacca & cast, solo spoilers, 5.3k    “I thought we were actively avoiding each other after the Trandosha Shitshow,” Han says. “We’re actively avoiding each other after the Iridonia Shitshow,” Lando corrects him, “the Trandosha Shitshow is That Which We Do Not Speak Of.” ✦ Falcon Heart by crowleyshouseplant, lando & l3, solo spoilers, 3k    Lando is reunited with an old friend. SEQUELS RECS: ✦ Relax and Fly Casual by igrockspock, han & ben & cast, 4.1k    A father-son smuggling trip is not the kind of quality time Ben had in mind. ✦ each offering of tenderness by victoria_p (musesfool), rey & leia & finn & poe & chewbacca & rose & r2-d2, 3.1k    “I can fix it,” Rey insists. “I can fix anything.” ✦ Waste Management by shadydave, leia & rey & finn & poe & rose, 10.4k    “Uh, hi,” says Finn. “We’re here to rescue you?” FULL DETAILS + RECS HERE!

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks Review

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This Doctor Who review contains spoilers. Our spoiler-free preview is here.

It may be the start of a brand new year, but ‘Revolution of the Daleks’, an episode of Doctor Who that’ll need to tide us over for a while, is more focused on looking back and taking stock than teasing what’s ahead. As the pre-title sequence informs us, courtesy of some Big Chunky Captions that the show currently favours, not only is this episode a follow-up to the events of ‘The Timeless Child’, it’s also a sequel of sorts to the 2019 New Year’s Special, ‘Resolution’.

Things pick up a few short hours after that adventure, which saw a buried Dalek mutant hijacking a human host and eventually constructing a scrapyard casing. It’s the abandoned husk of that same travel machine that now gets carted away by an unwitting driver, a man who’s so obviously doomed from the second he signs the paperwork that you can’t help but feel sorry for him. (But then, who can’t sympathise with someone who gets through their day one cuppa at a time?)

The Dalek shell soon finds its way into a pair of grasping, familiar hands, and this is where a selection of festive snacks are likely to be flung at the screen by some of the fandom. The mastermind behind the theft turns out to be Jack Robertson – the Trump-envying, Scooby-Doo villain last seen burying toxic waste during the divisive ‘Arachnids in the UK’. Robertson, played once again by Chris Noth, hasn’t managed to realise his presidential ambitions, but his character is unapologetically the same.

This time around, Robertson is accompanied by a ruthless Defence Secretary with her eyes on Number 10. Given that this episode was almost certainly conceived back when Theresa May was still Prime Minister, it’s not hard to see the inspiration for this particular pairing. Together, their intention is to reverse-engineer the Dalek technology – which as far as they know is nothing but a very advanced robot – and mass-produce them to roam the streets.

The idea of these caricatures conspiring to build an army of alien neo-Nazis in the name of “national security” is the kind of brute-force political allegory that has proven extremely hit-or-miss in recent years. If the dastardly duo had stayed in control of the Daleks for any length of time and we’d seen Britain slowly fall into the depths of fascism while the companions looked on helplessly, the episode could have come across as both derivative and ham-fisted, particularly when compared to ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. Thankfully, the Daleks themselves are having none of it, but more on them later.

Shortly before the titular revolution, we find the companions kicking their heels back on Earth with no word from the Doctor, and no clue as to whether or not she’s even alive. Yaz is spending most of her time in the new-build TARDIS that brought them home, having gone a bit Zoom-and-Enhance as she tries desperately to concoct a rescue plan. Graham and Ryan, meanwhile, have all-but accepted the Doctor’s fate and are doing their best to look after the planet in her stead.  

Alongside the exterminations and screaming that are a given whenever the Daleks are involved, this episode asks itself two questions, the first being: how do Doctor Who companions save the world without the Doctor? Ahead of transmission, the idea that Team TARDIS would need to tackle the Daleks by themselves was played up as being the meat of this story, leading to speculation that Captain Jack would step in as a sort of surrogate Doctor – he’s certainly got Dalek experience.

For better or worse, though, life without the Doctor isn’t really a question the show cares to dwell on for very long once it’s been posed, despite what the trailers might have led us to believe. It seems that what Graham, Ryan and Yaz have learned from travelling through time and space is that when someone’s threatening to take over the world, you should march right up to them, issue a few vague threats before being unceremoniously arrested, then go home again and sulk. Graham grumbles that without a sonic screwdriver or some psychic paper they can’t follow in the Doctor’s footsteps, but given how often the show teaches us that the Doctor isn’t defined by her gadgets, their half-hearted attempt to confront Robertson and save the day still comes across as a bit of a damp squib.

Luckily for the human race, it doesn’t take too long before the Doctor’s broken out of space-prison. Not from our perspective, anyway – as far as Thirteen’s concerned, she spends a good few decades in the company of some returning alien races, all of whom have supposedly gone through the judicial process. (A Weeping Angel on trial is a Big Finish production just waiting to be written…) There’s even an imprisoned P’Ting, which seems a bit harsh, though it might just be locked up to keep it safe from Yaz.

When Captain Jack finally springs the Doctor from her cell, the two characters get their first proper interaction since ‘Journey’s End’ (not to mention a callback to Jack’s favourite smuggling technique). It’s a sweet, slow moment, as is the Doctor’s reunion with her TARDIS, even if it’s all a bit too straightforward to be a genuinely thrilling escape. The Doctor was obviously going to bust out of prison sooner or later, of course, but given all the hype surrounding her absence, it’s hard not to feel her reunion with the companions happens a bit too easily and without complication.

The next few minutes are more interesting. While Whittaker’s Doctor has always claimed to be fiercely devoted to her ‘fam’, she usually can’t wait to get out of the room as soon as she’s required to interact with her companions on an emotional level, meaning they normally have to lean on one another for support. This time, the dynamic is reversed – the Doctor, still stewing over being the Timeless Child, is being particularly clingy while the companions are keeping her at arm’s length, with neither group really able to conceive of what the other has gone through.

These scenes culminate in a line of dialogue from the Doctor that would be wildly out of character in most other situations: “New can be very scary”. The Doctor normally claims to adore ‘new and exciting’, citing it as the reason they travel – so long as it’s new and exciting on their terms. Failing to escape on her own, encountering resentful companions and a loss of her cultural identity have left this Doctor feeling very much out of control.

And then, like a roller-coaster lurching into motion, the episode kicks into high gear and we’re off to see the Daleks.

Read more

TV

Doctor Who: A History of Dalek Redesigns and Fan Reactions

By Andrew Blair

TV

Doctor Who: revisiting each Doctor’s first encounter with the Daleks

By Mark Harrison

Having been cloned back into existence by Robertson’s scientist-slash-flunky Leo, the mutant from ‘Resolution’ has been practicing its two favourite tricks – puppeteering a human host, and online shopping. With an army of freshly-farmed mutants just waiting to slither inside empty Dalek casings, it doesn’t take too long before the cries of “Exterminate” ring through Downing Street, putting an end to the new Prime Minister before she’s even had time to feed Larry the cat. Team TARDIS, along with Robertson for seemingly no other reason than so he can betray them later, now need to sort out humanity’s DIY alien invasion. The Doctor’s solution: call the Daleks!

Skaro-variety Daleks, that is, further adding to the cast of aliens we haven’t seen in a while, and they’re not too happy that their racial purity is being threatened by human-fed knock-offs. Dalek civil wars were quite common in the show’s classic era, and there’s definitely mileage to be had watching the pepperpots squabbling among themselves. With so much to wrap up in one episode, though, what we actually get isn’t a war. It is, to borrow a phrase, pest control. The 3D-printed Daleks are so much cannon fodder for the bronze originals, who – thanks to Robertson – decide that taking over the Earth sounds like a bit of a lark so long as they’re in the neighbourhood.

This leads to some running around on a Dalek saucer that accomplishes little. Despite repeatedly reminding everyone just how immortal he is, Jack gets spared a horrific series of deaths this time around, and before long the Doctor arrives to taunt every last one of the infuriated mutants into her TARDIS. Except it’s not really hers – it’s the new-build TARDIS in disguise, and its destruction takes out the Dalek forces and ties up that loose end in a neat bit of storytelling.

With the threat eliminated and Robertson once again weaselling his way out of punishment, there’s one last issue that needs to be tied up. We’d all been made aware that Tosin Cole and Bradley Walsh were going to be departing Doctor Who this week, so when we saw them demand to board a Dalek saucer alongside the immortal Captain Jack… Well, there was precedent for things to go badly wrong.

Companions old and new have died in Dalek stories. A heroic grandfather/grandson sacrifice to save the human race wasn’t too likely, but it wasn’t completely out of the question, either. Here are Ryan and Graham alive and well, and this is where the show has to confront its second question. What does it take for a companion to leave the Doctor?

It was quite common for assistants to jump ship in the classic serials. Sometimes they were travelling with the Doctor only reluctantly and would leave the TARDIS whenever they happened back to their rightful home, especially when the Doctor could barely control their next destination. Others fell in love, elected to remain somewhere they could make a difference or, sometimes, sacrificed their lives. Whatever their fate, there was always a sense they knew that their relationship with the Doctor was a transitory one; a journey into the unknown, but one that definitely had a final destination.

Then came the Time War, and the Doctor was suddenly the most amazing, brilliant, astounding and important figure in the universe. Last of the Time Lords, destroyer of Gallifrey, spoken of in myth and legend. He could take his companions anywhere in time and space and show them the delights of the universe. Showrunner Russell T. Davies made it abundantly clear that if you could handle the challenge, there was absolutely no drug more addictive than setting foot inside that TARDIS.

A few companions still chose to leave, or else got left behind. Mickey Smith lingered in a parallel universe where he was needed and loved. Martha Jones departed to care for her traumatised family. On the whole, though, increasingly convoluted ways have been concocted to forcibly separate the Doctor from his companions without actually killing them. Parallel universes, mind-wipes, temporal paradoxes… For many years now, the Doctor’s friends haven’t walked away – they’ve been ripped away.

Here, Chris Chibnall chooses to confront the scar that ten months has left upon the companions’ relationship with the Doctor. It’s something of a tell-don’t-show moment – Ryan makes reference to having reconnected with friends and family, but we don’t see any of that. It’s clear, however, that the past year has given Ryan enough time to realise how much home and a stable foundation still means to him. His decision to say goodbye doesn’t stem from any close call or tragic loss, but a new-found self-confidence and a desire to grow up. The Doctor may be a Timeless Child, but Ryan is not.

Ryan’s departure means that a clearly torn Graham must also say his goodbyes, although his reasoning is far more straightforward – if he leaves to travel with the Doctor, he’ll miss his grandson taking those first steps into adulthood. And so Yaz is left in a TARDIS control room that suddenly seems a lot bigger, her trust in the Doctor tarnished but intact thanks to a surprisingly earnest heart-to-heart with Jack earlier in the episode. And then, as is fitting for an episode that has spent so much time in its own recent past, we return to the same Sheffield hillside where the companions began their journey – and to Ryan Sinclair, cheered on by his hopeful Grandad, learning how to ride a bike.

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This is unlikely to be anyone’s all-time favourite Doctor Who episode. It won’t sit proudly in the number one spot when YouTubers rank the Christmas specials. It’s a little too reliant on navel-gazing for that – but what the episode does is try and tackle questions raised by the Doctor always being the centre of the series’ universe, and what it takes to overcome her gravitational pull. Even if you don’t care to chew over those metatextual issues on New Year’s Day, however, ‘Revolution of the Daleks’is still an enjoyable hour-and-change of telly, and one that ultimately chooses to (mostly) wipe the slate clean ready for adventures yet to come.

The post Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks Review appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[doctorwhonews]

The Diary of River Song - Series 3 (Big Finish)

Latest Review: Written By: Nev Fountain, Jacqueline Rayner, John Dorney, Matt Fitton Directed By: Ken Bentley Cast Alex Kingston (River Song), Frances Barber (Madame Kovarian), Peter Davison (The Doctor), Ian Conningham (Kevin / Rindle), Julia Hills (Sharon / Rindle), David Seddon (Mr Quisling / Tarn 2), Leighton Pugh (Lake 2 / Dave / Tarn), Sophia Carr-Gomm (Lily), Joanna Horton (Brooke), Issy Van Randwyck (Giulia), Rosanna Miles (Antoinette / Maid / Constanze), Teddy Kempner (Viktor / Mozart / Stefan / Apothecary), Jonathan Coote (Maitre D' / Chef / Assassin), Nina Toussaint-White (Brooke 2), Francesca Zoutewelle (H-One / H-Two / Mission Captain), Pippa Bennett-Warner (O / The Deterrent). Other parts played by members of the cast. Producer David Richardson Script Editors Matt Fitton, John Dorney Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs When Big Finish began their River Song series, I was initially quite excited. I had really warmed to the character, and so the idea of her living on for further adventures on audio, at a company that consistently releases entertaining stuff, thrilled me, to say the least.  But the first boxset actually left me quite indifferent to the idea of even listening to more. It wasn't bad, and it had Paul McGann in it...but it felt like it was missing something. In preparation for this review, I decided to give the second boxset a whirl, just in case it had some lingering plot thread I might need to fully understand this newest set...and I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I had the first set.  Maybe it was better plotting, a more engaging story, or if it was just the timey wimey Doctor crossings featuring both the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in the tales...but whatever it was I felt was missing from that first set, seemed rectified by Series 2. Some SPOILERS may be ahead, as it would be somewhat impossible to talk about certain episodes without discussing plot revelations in earlier episodes.  Reader Beware! So we come to this third box set of River Song adventures, and from the word go it is quite exciting.  The opening story, The Lady of the Lake is slightly intertwined with the Eleventh Doctor story A Good Man Goes To War, which was the episode that finally revealed just who River was. We find out here that River wasn't the only thing Madame Kovarian experimented on at Demon's Run, they also took River's DNA and created seven other Time Lord hybrid babies...basically River's own brothers and sisters...and she has to stop one of them that has gone a bit mad due to the mysteries of his regenerative nature.  It's an exciting opener, with lots of wonderful bits, character moments, and a tremendous pace. The second story has the River playing companion to the Fifth Doctor, along with a previously unknown companion known as Brooke. They land in Vienna in the 18th Century and end up on the trail of murders and mystery...as things so often tend to go when you travel anywhere or anywhen with the Doctor.  It is basically a solid Fifth Doctor story, from the point of view of River Song.  The big reveal of this episode is that Brooke is not who she says she is when in the end she attempts to kill the Doctor. using the same means as the murders of the episode. River is able to save the Doctor, the question remains what to do with Brooke, and just who is she?.  It is quite clear that the River Song series is taking it’s time travel shenanigans and story structures from the Eleventh Doctor era, and that is probably most evident in the third story in the set, My Dinner With Andrew which plays with time travel and hopping around more than most. it is a quite entertaining, though just like the Eleventh Doctor era it moves fast and sometimes needs a bit of relistening in order to get the full picture of what is going on. I rather liked this one, but I did find a few things hard to keep track of...such as which River is which, but ultimately it is a fun story with good performances from Kingston, Davison, and co. The story also brings back Madame Kovarian, and reveals that Brooke is, in fact, another DNA clone of River hoping to succeed in killing the Doctor...which she does, only his Fifth Incarnation. The final episode of the set reveals that there are several other clones of River still alive, with Brooke being the favorite. Kovorian's plan seemingly succeeded, but killing the Doctor so early in his time stream has catastrophic results for her.  She begins to see ghosts and then becomes the target of a new radical faction that wants to destroy her, for just as her plan to kill the Doctor was meant to stop him from destroying the Universe, her killing of him ends up doing just that, so now she is seen as the cause of the Universe ending.  The episode is really, at its heart though, about River and her sisters.  Brooke has a taste for killing now, even killing one of her own sisters, and the sisters are all completely warped by Kovarian, can River somehow get them to come around against Kovarian and maybe undo the killing of the Doctor and thus save the universe?  SPOILERS...the Doctor lives.  This should be surprising to no one that they haven't killed the Doctor off in his Fifth incarnation, the means about how he is saved is where the story is interesting though, and that I will not spoil.  This is a good box set, with a story and structure that heavily ties into the Eleventh Doctor's era of stories, any fan that enjoyed the time hopping and intricate plotting (and even major plot elements) that shaped that era of the series will probably find something to enjoy in this set.  http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2018/01/the_diary_of_river_song_series_3_big_finish.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[anonysquirrel]

Part three of the MollyLives worldhopping AU

In which we run into another refugee from the first crossover universe (Star Wars, Clone Wars era). Continued from part 2...

The signs on the ships and shops and metal-ship-shops were sometimes hard to read, especially for someone with only a few years’ casual experience with the written form of common. They made the letters fancy and twisty, and sometimes he was pretty sure it wasn’t common at all. But the artists usually got the ideas across one way or another. 

Molly veered toward the wood-ships and actual-buildings; instinct said he’d have a better chance at playing his usual routine in a place following rules of architecture he understood on some level, and at least an initial scouting run would be called for before he tried a place that might have races he’d never even seen before. 

There was some basic similarity in the common races’ physical tells -- pupil dilation, breath rate, flinches and the like -- but he prided himself on being a better cold reader than mere ‘basic similarity’ would allow. So the Millennium Hand would take further investigation at a later date.

Storefront, storefront, inn, but that one looked to have substantial structural integrity issues; it must have fallen a fair distance when it came through. He preferred his lodgings not to be life or limb threatening, on the whole. Another storefront. A tavern, but small enough not to have lodgings beyond the owner’s.

What he really needed to find was either a decent whorehouse with a tap, or a marginal dancing hall with clean whores. It let him offer the proprietor their choice of any of his skill sets, not just the family-entertainment ones. And he knew the place would come with beds and a bath on offer, and even the fair to middling chance of a companion or two.

Hmm. The Tilted Quilt. That was an enticingly saucy name with a great deal of insinuation.

A quick glance in the window showed curtains, lace, frills, plushly velveted chairs with an array of people sipping at beverages and clearly killing time until something else happened -- yes, this looked like a whorehouse for the well-enough-to-do with enough coin and enough leisure time to wait their turns.

The door even chimed his arrival at a dramatic touch: marvelous.

Standing poised in the door with one ankle tucked behind the other and the curve of his hand very precisely ‘casually’ draped against the doorframe, Melandrix flashed his most brilliant smile around the room.

“Good gentles all -- I bear the duty and honor of introducing you to a world of wonders beyond mortal ken! Rejoice, for you find yourselves in the company of Melandrix, the clarion herald of the Carnival of Dreams. It will be my privilege to introduce you to all the delights that dreams made incarnate may bear.”

He swept a dramatic bow, came up to glance around the room, and… recalculated. Very, very quickly.

It still looked like an expensive whorehouse’s waiting room, was the problem. But upon actual sight, none of the elderly to middle-aged townsfolk in the seats looked anything like either whores or clients, and several of them looked a bit gobsmacked.

There were a couple tatter-sleeved and elbow-patched teenaged scholars hovering over a pile of books in a corner, but neither of them would have been able to afford a whore in a place with velvet sitting-chairs, and the only one who pinged Molly’s instincts as more-than-he-seemed looked like a bloody monk.

He was pretty sure he knew what this place wasn’t, but he had no idea what it was. Some bizarre blend of a wizard’s book collection and a high-class drug den, from the way people were clutching at their cups as though in need of sedation they expected to find at the bottom?

Well. Melandrix was nothing if not adaptable.

So the sword-dancing, fire-juggling, and stripping to the smallclothes for a display of the vividly peacock-tattooed purple wares for sale were put on hold. Stepping it down a few notches seemed called for. Cards, crystals, palm-reading, romance and charm, coming right up.

A moment’s hand-flourish and a touch of prestidigitation had a spray of fire-lilies blooming in his hands; he strode confidently across the room to the stunned-looking elderly woman in an apron drying a vase. (Had to be the shopkeeper, nobody else would bother.)

“Here, my dear, allow me.” He plucked the vase from her hands,and set the ember-shedding lilies into them.

She made a small squeak of surprise and patted at the sparks dancing across the tabletop; smiling, he patted the back of her hand.

“No actual flame! As I said, I am the herald of the Carnival of Dreams. A lover of literature such as yourself should find herself surrounded by magical, senseless wonder.” He brought her hand to his lips to kiss, just to take the impression entirely over the top; she turned a gratifying shade of pink.

“I don’t suppose we might come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement, my dear? All I seek is a meal and a night’s bed; in return, I place my talents at your need or whim. You seem to have no need of storytellers in a place of so many books, but perhaps a touch of the mystic arts -- a world out of dream, a breath of the Moonweaver’s mists, a glimpse of the future cast in crystal, a reading of the marks of fate written into this very hand...?”

“I don’t -- I mean -- you’re new hereabouts, aren’t you? I’d think I would have noticed -- well, anyway, you can have the guest room for the night if you don’t mind the books on the desk. I don’t need my fortune told, lad, but if you’re sure there’s no risk of fire, those lilies are lovely.”

“Oh, I can do better than that, dear lady.” Hands on his hips, looking around the room, he noted all the marks of wear and age and overuse on the furniture, the chipped plates, the faded paints.

It would take a substantial portion of his power, but it was already too late in the day to find himself a proper outdoor performance space and drum up a paying audience. He’d put on a show for his hostess instead, and pour enough of himself into it to let it last the night for her.

He didn’t need to call the sheen of moonlight to his eyes and fingertips, but this was going to be a showpiece for the patrons who might murmur of what they’d seen to other ears the next day.

He also didn’t need to touch every surface in the room, but it was a good spot of theater: the faded paint brightening to new in a ripple that spread from the touch of a finger. The chipped sculptures of the mantlepiece glittering with starbursts before mending themselves to match a claw’s carving through air. A languid brush of fingertips that renewed the worn and crushed velvets and the cup-stained woods -- and then a vase of fire-lilies at each table, surrounded by fragrant snow-clouds of night-jasmine and damask roses, and creamy candles that would never flicker as the evening fell, to read their books by.

(He couldn’t quite have refilled each of their pots for them; maybe a couple, but the rest would have been an illusion they couldn’t manage to pour, and he had no idea what the different pots were meant to contain anyway. Better to leave them impressed with what he could pull off seamlessly than to overreach on a first major working in a new city.)

“Oh goodness,” the shopkeeper said, sounding entirely overwhelmed.

And all of a sudden Molly understood how a place could have red velvet chairs and satin drapes and small intimate tables for two with time-wasting cups of beverages and call itself the Tilted Quilt and not be a whorehouse. This woman was someone’s bookish great-aunt, and she’d meant it as a cosy little pun, and somewhere the gods were laughing at his misconceptions.

“I’m afraid it won’t last through tomorrow,” he admitted, carding fingers through his hair and adding a couple of flowers because he could. “Still: a worthy exchange for a meal and a bed, I should hope?”

Something nudged his ankle firmly and said mrrrt.

An excessively fluffy orange cat blinked lantern-gold eyes up at him suspiciously.

“Well, hello there, beautiful.” Sinking to one knee, he offered his fingertips for inspection. “Good of you to keep an eye on the place, what with questionable sparks of sorcery drifting about rapscallions like myself. More shops ought to keep themselves under the protection of a clever-eyed shoulder-lion.” Glancing up at the shopkeeper, he asked, “Has this lovely beast a name?”

“That’s Master Raffles,” the shopkeeper said faintly, sinking into the nearest chair as though uncertain of her knees.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Master Raffles. I do solemnly swear I seek no harm to thee nor thine -- merely a warm place to sleep and a fresh bite to eat, like cat-kin of all kinds.”

He broke a piece off the dried meat he kept in his pouch for travel-rations, and a little spark of magic gave it the scent and semblance of fresh river-fish; Raffles’ whiskers quirked forward. A moment’s snuffling was promptly followed by a bite, and the cat deigned to permit Molly to rub behind his ears for a brief moment before pulling back to gnaw his tribute.

Satisfied that the overseer of the place would at least tolerate his presence, he stood and turned toward the shopkeeper again - and then made an undignified yelp as the cat swatted at the tip of his tail.

“What now? Further tribute is demanded?”

“Don’t let him get away with that,” the monk dressed in dull sand-and-mud browns advised. “He already thinks he owns the place.”

“Is he wrong?”

“Probably not, no.” The monk turned back to his steaming cup of what had to be some boringly innocuous herbal brew.

Molly wanted to know why this mud-brown house-sparrow of a monk was setting off every instinct he had for scenting out what powers hid beneath the surface. But Melandrix advised lulling the mark into security, letting him think himself unnoticed -- at least until it was time to play-pounce. And Mel definitely wanted to play with this one.

Well, the little table was sized for two. Molly swung a leg over the unoccupied chair, leaned back into the upholstery he’d just refreshed, and grinned at the monk’s careful little face-blanking.

“So what are you drinking there?”

“...I don’t actually know. Miss Isabel calls it ‘soothing.’”

“Of course she does.” Molly stole the monk’s cup and took a sniff, then a sip. “Soothing, see also: boring, see also: not even a whiff of medicinally mind-altering substances? Where’s your taste for adventure? Excitement?”

With a peculiar expression flitting across his face, the monk said almost reflexively, “A Jedi craves not these things.”

“I have no idea what a jedi is, but it has my most profound sympathy for such a desolate and soul-crushingly dull existence.”

“A Jedi would be, uh, me.”

“Fascinating. Is your syntax always so involuted? No, I’m sorry, that was horribly culturalist of me, and I of all beings have no business treading in that realm. Also, entirely the wrong question! The better question: Have you actually taken a literal monastic vow against having fun, or can I play with you?”

There, that was just a hint of a flicker in his eyes, but the facade of calm really was impressively maintained. (As a fellow professional, Molly appreciated the skill set involved.)

“Why would you wish to? As you’ve noted, I am quite dull and ordinary. I’m sure you could find better entertainment elsewhere.”

“Now, see, that’s where you’re mistaken. You are very, very good at imitating dull and ordinary! But I have a nose for these things, and you’ve just pulled your foot back so you’re balanced enough to throw yourself or this table any way you choose, should the need arise. And I find myself thinking that’s not a very bookish reflex for a pious young monk from a scholarly or hermetic order. From a martial order, now, that would be a different matter entirely, wouldn’t it? Are you sure you’ve no taste for adventure?”

“I’ve had more than my share of both adventure and excitement. These days, I prefer my boring cup of some herbal tisane. Really, you don’t wish to bother with me.”

Feeling the faintest brush of suggestion-pressure against his mind, Molly clicked his tongue against his teeth.

“A note of courtesy, one professional to another, good sir: I don’t know whether to be more disappointed that you thought that would work on me, or that you thought to use it for something so utterly banal.”

The monk blinked, and then sighed a little. He didn’t relax back against the chair, though, still too cautiously balanced.

“What do I need to say to get you to go away?”

“Now, that’s the challenge, isn’t it, darling? Your overcareful affectation of utter mundanity is in itself far too fascinating. I suppose you could try the Lesser Rite of Tiefling Banishment: ‘bugger off, Mel.’”

“‘Bugger off, Mel.’”

“No, see, I don’t think you really meant it.”

With quite a bit more force, the monk said, “Bugger off, Mel.”

“Much better! See, I knew you had that spark of fire in you somewhere.” Leaning back with his fingers laced behind his head, he added, “You say you’ve had your fill of adventure and excitement, with a face that young and pretty -- and yet you aren’t even convincing the locals to buy your drinks? Lad, take it from an old hand at the game, you’re wasting literally golden opportunities here. Tell me of your adventures. Let’s see how we can polish up the retelling for market.”

Oh, now that was a reaction. That was ...possibly even a flashback. For a long still moment, the monk’s eyes were seeing a world a million miles away.

“Or tell me someone else’s story, if you’d rather,” Molly offered. He reached out and put a hand over the monk’s. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. ...Because, of course, you haven’t told me.”

The monk’s hand was far too still for a brittle moment, and then he breathed out a sigh half caught in a laugh and looked up at Molly with something resembling a crooked grin.

“So what’s the Greater Rite of Tiefling Banishment?”

Delighted, Molly said, “Come outside and I’ll demonstrate! Bring your swords. Dance with me.”

“Wait, I -- swords? Plural? How did you--”

Patting the back of the monk’s hand, Molly said brightly, “Your hand’s too whole. Too intact. Not enough scars and broken knuckles for a punching-monk or a stick-monk. Knives are not terribly sporting, and you’re too mild for one of the orders that swing in the unsporting directions. You’re not a bowman, you hold yourself like a close-range fighter; and yet you don’t favor your lead hand as much as a single-blade wielder would. Also, I just took your lead hand and you didn’t pull back in the slightest, which suggests you have absolutely visceral confidence you could dismember me with your preferred blade in your off hand just as readily. And now I have to find out whether you’re correct! Where are you keeping them?”

“And you don’t know what a Jedi is,” the monk said, a little incredulous.

“Well, I do now.”

“And what is a Jedi, then?”

“Besides ‘a jedi is you’?” Molly said, studying him through half-lidded eyes. “Monks of some sort, martial inclinations, various and sundry moral strictures, substantial repression issues, couldn’t guess about dietary restrictions, but overall very beige. Excruciatingly beige. The robes, the hood, the hair, all of it as bland as you can possibly manage. Possibly an allergic aversion to color, passion, or vivid expressions of personality in your initiates.”

The monk looked a bit as though he’d bit into a sour pickle and it had sprayed vinegared tickledust up his nose.

“Well, from a certain point of view,” he said, half strangled between laughter and indignation. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever considered blending in to anything, have you?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but here’s the thing: I’m bloody purple, mate. There is no ‘blending in’ to any group, anywhere.” With an expansive flourish of one hand, he added, “Fortunately, I am the uncrowned monarch of making purple and horny look devastating. Long may I reign! --Wait, we’re supposed to drink to that, and there is no rum. Fine. Here.”

He stole the monk’s cup again, took another sip, and made a face. “Not the same. Still, needs must. Do you drink anything stronger than water?”

That shook loose the first actual laugh he’d heard from the man. “‘Do I drink,’ he says. Oh, no, good sir, you’ll never find a pious soul like myself anywhere near alcohol.”

Nose scrunched, Molly waved a hand in the air as though to clear away a nasty smell. “Don’t do that,” he begged. “You’re absolutely terrible at that. The gods themselves weep. Raised in a temple, were you? I may have to arrange a few enlightenments. Purely for my own entertainment, you understand.”

A little wounded-looking, the monk said, “I can be disreputable!”

Molly didn’t intend to laugh in his face. It just kind of happened.

“No, seriously, ask my student; she’ll tell you I’m the most disreputable Jedi she’s ever met.”

“And was she also raised in a temple, hmm?” Noting the sheepish expression, Molly said, “I believe my point is made for me. So, what’s your name, or shall I keep calling you the sparrow-monk?”

“Jeren-Lir Andramic.” With an ironic quirk to the corner of his lips, he added, “What’s your real name?”

“Melandrix is a bit ostentatious, isn’t it? You can call me Mel.”

“Hmm. Try again.”

Molly clapped his hands together. “Well spotted! Mollymel Haversham, to the best of my admittedly limited recollection. Mel is onstage; my friends call me Molly. I didn’t even feel you leaning on me that time, so is that some sort of innate truth-sensing? Or do you know a name older than what I know myself?”

Jeren-Lir shrugged a little. “I pay attention to the flow of the Force around you. ...Seriously, why me? I was trying to look harmless.”

“Oh, you do,” Molly assured him. “You look so carefully harmless that you’re the second most interesting thing I’ve seen today.”

“And what’s the first?”

“Well, you’ve got stiff competition, but you’re in good company,” Molly said, smiling. “The most interesting thing I’ve seen today was a vast hole torn in the sky and some giant’s playtoy metal wing-ship thrown through hot enough to boil the ocean around it.”

“A what?” But that wasn’t fear or confusion; that was shocked recognition. “Where? Show me where -- please!”

Jeren-Lir caught him by the hand this time, already on his feet, and Molly thought wildly, Well, I’d wondered what would motivate him.

“All right,” he said, following along willingly enough. “Miss Isabel, I’m sure we’ll be back, we’re just off for a bit of sightseeing!” He managed a quick wave as the door closed behind them.

[aion-rsa]

How The Mandalorian Captures the Spirit of the Star Wars Prequel Era

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This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.

Among The Mandalorian‘s many influences, at the top of the list is the classic Star Wars trilogy which started it all. Showrunner Jon Favreau, executive producer Dave Filoni, and the rest of the team have done a great job of incorporating lore from every era of the Star Wars saga in ways that make sense. Folding in elements fans know from A New Hope, for example, adds to the show’s sense of groundedness, showing us the weathered sci-fi locations that George Lucas made a staple of Star Wars while also picking up several loose threads unresolved after Return of the Jedi. 

The season 2 of the Disney+ series doesn’t forget the Prequel era, though. With Bo-Katan and Ahsoka appearing in season 2, and Grogu revealed to have grown up at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, more and more direct connections to the Clone Wars are becoming important to Din Djarin’s quest.

The Prequels were characterized by bright colors (see Padmé Amidala or Shaak Ti), cartoonish CGI (Jar Jar Binks), and a mix of high adventure and impending tragedy. The Old Republic, when The Phantom Menace opens, is about to begin its decline. The election of Chancellor Palpatine, who is scheming behind the scenes as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, heralds the rise of the Empire. Several in-universe decades later, The Mandalorian is still dealing with the fallout from the events set in motion in Lucas’ second trilogy.

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

Because the Prequel Trilogy ran from 1999 to 2005, it’s a generation removed from fans of the original films and the sequels. Yet, The Mandalorian manages to blend all of these different eras into a cohesive narrative and setting, while also exploring them with a new lens. With season 2’s focus on beginning of the saga, here are a few things The Mandalorian brings back from the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars: 

Ahsoka Tano

Season 2 is not only interested in the Prequel movies, but in the Expanded Universe stories that fleshed out the galaxy around it, particularly The Clone Wars TV series. And Lucasfilm wasted no time in creating a narrative throughline between the Star Wars animated series and the first live-action series, giving us both Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze and former Jedi hero Ahsoka Tano. While both fan-favorite characters act as quest-givers during Mando’s journey, Ahsoka is the one who gives the bounty hunter the most immediate answers about his little companion’s past.

The former Jedi apprentice appears in “The Jedi” after working with the Rebellion for years. Now, she’s chasing the trail of Grand Admiral Thrawn to the planet Corvus, where an Imperial magistrate might have the answers she needs to find both Thrawn and missing Jedi friend Ezra Bridger (see: Star Wars Rebels).

Although Ahsoka left the Jedi Order over disagreements with the Council’s decisions, she now takes the role of a Jedi mentor, guiding Grogu toward the next step in this journey, even if she won’t outright train him. She doesn’t want to train Grogu because the loss of Anakin is still fresh in her mind. Anakin became Darth Vader due to his attachments, and may see the same fate for Grogu if he can’t let go of Mando. Even after Darth Vader’s death and redemption, his fall still affects Ahsoka.

Bo-Katan Kryze & the Darksaber

“The Heiress” brought Bo-Katan Kryze back into focus. Played by Katee Sackhoff, her armor and hair style are a direct translation of her look in The Clone Wars. She even has two Nite Owls, her original group of commandos, with her, and their fast-paced, competent fighting brings some of the shine of the Prequel Trilogy into the more laid-back Western style of action in The Mandalorian.

At this point in the timeline, she is the rightful leader of Mandalore, a planet that changed hands a lot even before the Empire got ahold of it, with the politics there making up a sizable part of the plot of The Clone Wars. Although The Mandalorian takes place after a Great Purge that wiped out most Mandalorians on the planet, Bo-Katan reveals in her live-action debut that she’s determined to get Mandalore back once and for all.

Her mission on Trask is part of that quest. She needs to capture a shipment of stolen Mandalorian weapons in order to arm her growing group of followers. By the end of “The Heiress,” her trajectory is clear. Now that her group is adequately armed, she can go find Moff Gideon and take back the darksaber, which appeared in the villain’s clutches at the end of season 1.

While initially part of the old Legends continuity, the darksaber became a major part of the Mandalorian storyline on The Clone Wars, as the ceremonial weapon wielded by a Mand’alor, the ruler of the race’s warrior clans. Although there doesn’t seem to be many rival Mandalorians left to question her right to rule, it’s still pivotal that Bo-Katan reclaim the darksaber, as it being in Imperial hands is a major insult to her people.

Grogu

“The Jedi” revealed that the Prequel era actually paved the way for another member of Yoda’s species. In reality, Grogu is a puppet, at least in some shots: Werner Herzog famously called it “heartbreakingly beautiful” when he saw two technicians performing the Child’s facial expressions. The character’s slick look combines Original Trilogy puppetry with Prequel Trilogy cartoonishness.

Now that Ahsoka has explained it, we know Grogu has an even more direct connection to the Prequels. He was raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant alongside all of the characters we know and love. Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan Kenobi might have known him, and Yoda surely did. The fact that someone snuck Grogu out of the temple during the massacre of the Jedi during Order 66 adds a significant new event to the Prequel timeline.

Another way the Prequels paved the way for Baby Yoda is with Yaddle, the third known canon member of the species. Yaddle was developed based on concept art for a younger Yoda, but became her own character. Lucas wanted the origins of Yoda to remain mysterious, but Yaddle changed the mold by confirming there were others like the beloved Jedi Master.

Grogu explores the mystery of Yoda’s species further. Where did he come from? Is there a planet of Yodas? Would the planet of Yodas irreparably break the internet? 

Jango & Boba Fett

Jango Fett’s role in Attack of the Clones led to some confusion as to whether the legendary bounty hunter’s father was technically a Mandalorian. For years, Jango’s origin was a hotly debated topic both in the fandom and in-universe. Members of the New Mandalorian government that ruled Mandalore during the Clone Wars, for example, denounced Jango as a phony, claiming he’d stolen the traditional Mandalorian armor for his own gain. The Mandalorian confirms that the truth can be found somewhere in the middle.

In “The Tragedy,” a resurgent Boba Fett confirms that his father was a foundling like Mando, raised to be a Mandalorian warrior and follow the race’s traditions. The episode even re-canonized a piece of Jango’s Legends backstory. As revealed in the armor chain code that Boba shows Mando, it was a Mandalorian named “Jaste” (very likely a nod to Jango’s adoptive father in Legends, Jaster Mereel) who mentored a young Jango.

Decades later, Boba Fett wears this heritage with pride. While not born on Mandalore (or by natural means), Boba feels every bit as Mandalorian as his father did. “The Tragedy” even confirms that the former Imperial-allied bounty hunter still follows a code of honor among Mandalorians. Indebted to Din due to his actions on Tython, Boba agrees to help his fellow Mandalorian track down Grogu and bring him to safety.

The Cloner

One character operating in the background of The Mandalorian is the mysterious Imperial scientist Dr. Pershing, who briefly appeared in season 1 to run experiments on Grogu and made his return in season 2 episode “The Siege.” Not much is known about Pershing or his twisted experiments except that he needs Grogu’s M-count-heavy blood to accomplish something for the Empire. “The Siege” reveals that he’s been injecting subjects with Grogu’s blood, a process that has resulted in twisted corpses floating inside of lab tanks on Nevarro.

While Pershing’s true motives and mission are yet to be revealed, one theory concerning his identity points to a direct connection to one of the Prequel era’s most important elements: cloning. The biggest clue is the patch on the arm of his lab coat, which matches the one worn by Kaminoan cloners in Attack of the Clones. It’s true that cloning has touched every part of the Star Wars saga, whether it’s a brief reference in A New Hope or Palpatine’s final scheme in The Rise of Skywalker, so it only makes sense that it would also pop up in The Mandalorian.

So far, all of the cloners we’ve seen have been aliens. It’s possible Pershing was trained by the Kaminoans or, judging from the mangled bodies on Nevarro, learned from them in secret and advertised himself as an expert cloner when he in fact is not. But the show is less interested in his back story; the important part is what his skill set might mean for the future of the Empire, the New Republic, and the Jedi. The Kaminoans were never able to replicate Force-sensitivity in their clones. Were Pershing to solve this problem, could this open up a new possibility for Star Wars?

Zabraks 

One popular race on the show are the Zabraks, the same species as Darth Maul and a staple of The Clone Wars. The short, curved horns on their skulls give them a devilish aspect to a human viewer, making them a perfect, unsubtle choice for villain characters. That said, the Armorer’s helmet also features what look like Zabrak horns, although whether this is decoration or a necessity is unclear. 

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In terms of design, the Zabraks on the show are a mix of Original and Prequel sensibilities. Their red skin is drab—after all, these are background characters, not main villains like Darth Maul. Since they are mostly human, there is no reason why this type of alien couldn’t have been created with prosthetics in 1977—and the show imagines what the Prequel race would look like had Lucas put them in the Mos Eisley cantina in A New Hope. 

Bestiary

The Mudhorn of Arvala-7 looks a lot like the Reek, the one-horned, rhinoceros-like creature Obi-Wan and friends fought in the Geonosian arena at the beginning of the Clone Wars in Attack of the Clones. Its lumbering gait and the way it attacks with its swinging head are very similar. The arena battle is a high point in Episode II, perhaps because of the strength of the fight choreography and the way it evokes the creature features classic Star Wars drew from. With better and better CGI technology available to Lucasfilm, The Mandalorian essentially updated the reek for a new era.

Unlike the Mudhorn being a reek look-alike, the blurrgs Mando rides on Arvala-7 are straight from the Prequel era and is unchanged. This species of top-heavy reptilian bipeds has previously appeared in animated form in The Clone Wars. However, they aren’t strictly a Prequel creation, even though many of today’s fans know them from Filoni’s previous work. They first appeared in cartoon form in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor in 1985. 

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