#ghez hokan

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact, Chapter 3

"The Neimodians had a taste for elaborate and wholly inappropriate grandeur, and Ghez Hokan despised them for it.

Lik Ankkit's huge villa was set on top of a hill overlooking a kushayan plantation -- a foolish choice given the prevailing winds, but it seemed to satisfy the Neimodian's need to show he was boss. The location might have made sense from a military perspective, but -- as Ankkit was a bean-counting coward like all his kind -- he didn't need defensibility, either.

No, the Neimodian was a di'kut. A complete and utter di'kut."

Say what you like about Hokan, but he's a great person to kick off the Di'kut Count.

I've always felt that the Neimodians get way too much hatred in-universe. The novel Brotherhood agrees with me.

I agree with Hokan's feelings on ostentatious grandeur; in fiction or in reality, it gives me a massive headache.

Di'kut Count: 3

"Fulier couldn't have been good at calculating odds or he'd have never on Gar-Ul in the tavern. But at least he was prepared to stand up for himself, despite all that mystical nonsense he spouted. Hokan admired guts, even if he rarely tolerated them. They were always in short supply."

This is coming from the villain, so I was debating whether or not to put it on the Jedi-Bashing count; after all, we aren't supposed to side with him. But, as I've previously mentioned, I am not cutting this series even a molecule of slack when it comes to how it regards the Jedi. Can't you just hear Traviss behind the page, commenting that a Mandalorian would have calculated the odds and defeated Hokan easily?

Jedi-Bashing: 4

"Niner wanted to laugh, but you didn't laugh at a Jedi, especially one who seemed to care what happened to you."

This is one of the lines that wouldn't be a problem if it was written by anyone else.

Also, "seemed" to care? Again, if it were anyone else... I'll just say that Plo Koon is living proof that the Jedi genuinely care about the clones.

Jedi-Bashing: 5

"Ah. For all their skills and wisdom, there were still some things the Jedi didn't know. Niner hesitated to to lecture Jusik.

[...]

It wasn't Jusik's fault. He had far bigger issues to worry about. There was no reason for a Jedi commander to concern himself with the details of a clone commando's life. But Niner thought he probably would, and he admired the Padawan all the more for that."

I don't know how many times I'm going to end up saying this (I suspect a lot), but I would not have any issues with these lines if they weren't written by Karen Traviss.

Jedi-Bashing: 6

"He meant good luck. He wanted them to survive.

Niner, who had known for as long as he could remember that he was a soldier bred to die, found that intriguing."

Okay, this is just depressing. The clones' lives are incredibly sad and become more so with every new installment.

Jedi-Bashing: 6

Di'kut Count: 3

Main Post

[shield-and-saber]

Ghez Hokan is a nasty, nasty man, but a very interesting villain and I appreciate good villains (really hoping I'm not jinxing it seeing as I'm still not quite halfway through)

my repub. commando book finally came in the mail today!!!!! Darman, my beloved, I'm coming for you!!!! be prepared for liveblogging (live reading?) as I make my way through the series. also be prepared for this to become a repub. commando blog 💀

[trudemaethien]

If you're still looking for writing prompts, I got:

Echo/Fi for the ship and "Exchange, Integrity and Trouble" for the word prompts! (You did say words, so hope 3 is enough!)

They sorta took the bit in their teeth and ran away with it, lol. prompts what prompts? 😅

“Hey, is that Ghez Hokan’s— I thought you died!”

“No, but didn’t you die?”

“You two…know each other?”

The commando in the grey beskar doffs his helmet and in unison two eyebrows on two different faces go up as they swing in incredulous unison to Hunter, as if questioning their acquaintance is the abnormal part of this encounter, and not an RC and an ARC somehow knowing each other on sight. Those groups didn’t usually play well together.

“How do you know each other?” Tech interjects.

The commando grins, brilliant and lopsided and says, “Well, y’see what ha’happened was, Eya’ka here—”

Echo promptly makes a rude noise over him. “Nuh-uh, you lost the right to baby-name me fair and square, Ei-Oh-One-Fi.”

“You cheated,” Fi slings back, immediately heated. At least one of the other commandos is laughing under his T-visor.

“You wish I had to—”

“—if I coulda proved—”

“—cheat to beat your ass.”

Echo’s smile is out in full force, cocky and blinding, dimples and all. Hunter glances at the rest of the batch to see if they’re seeing what he’s seeing. The commando’s squadmates look just as far behind.

Fi purses his lips and visibly decides to take the better part of valor on this particular battlefield. “Cadet 21-0408,” he resumes, “did not beat my ass. He had a gambling problem. He bet outrageously against my trainee squad on some trumped up bullshit dare, and then mercilessly extorted us for all we were worth when he won on a technicality.”

This must not be his trainee squad, then. Hunter winces internally, but Echo is shaking with silent laughter. “You sure know how to hold onto a grudge, Fi’ika,” he quips.

“That’s n-not all you held onto,” Fi grumbles, fondly disgruntled.

Echo is still smirking. “No, no it was not,” he says, and that’s—he’s flirting? With this asshole? It almost sounds like they had a fling… The commandos look like it’s news to them too, but not all that shocking. Good. Some of those cohorts could be real pricks about inter-unit relationships.

Wrecker’s picking up on it too. “You guys…?” He points from one to the other eloquently and then ruins it with a blatantly obscene gesture that means a lot more than fucking.

“No!” Fi squawks, but Echo is still laughing, so Hunter really doubts the veracity of his denial. “I meant his kama,” he tries to excuse.

But hadn’t Echo not gotten that until he’d passed ARC Training?

“Can hang onto that anytime,” Echo flirts.

The laughing commando in purple and brown beskar’gam leans over, even with his comms muted, obviously dying of hilarity.

“I never—” Fi protests, trying futilely to defend himself but only making it seem more and more likely to be true.

“Mmm, I seem to recall—” Echo says, gearing up to cause even more trouble no doubt, and Fi has had enough. He tackles him to slap a hand over his mouth. Echo stumbles and twists, Fi slips, and the entire audience of two squads starts forward abortively to try and help.

With a whine of servos, Echo manages to turn their fall into something less drastic, but they end up in a tangled heap of grey and red-edged kamas on the ground anyway.

“Osik,” Fi says, winded, “can’t tussle like tubies anymore, can we?”

Echo pats his ass. “A repeat of last time is right out too.”

“Everyone who witnessed anything that may or may not have happened is dead,” Fi says hastily, the grief being trotted out old and worn, barely remarkable. “You can’t prove a thing.”

“Just us left, old boy,” Echo agrees pensively, then turns wicked again, helping Fi sit up. “Bet I could make you make that noise again, though.”

The atmosphere shifts back from the precipice of grief to a much more pleasant sort of remembrance. The Mandos call that aay’han, Hunter recalls due to their current company.

“No! What noise? There was no noise. There was no noise!” Fi protests as around them the rest of their adopted squads join in the laughter.

Young and Old, Merry and Bold 🔒 https://archiveofourown.org/works/51930292

[mamuzzy]

MAMUZZY READS HARD CONTACT: Chapter 1.2.

In case you need to hear it from someone: reading this book won’t make you misogynistic, queerphobic, terf, ableist, genocide-supporter and [insert whatever antis may have called you]. In fact, no book or movie, or game makes you one of these. How you behave with a flesh-and-blood person is what defines you, not the media you consume.

But maaaan… you can’t believe how hard this was to write. We are at still only on chapter 1, yet heavy themes such as grief, survival guilt and possible caste-system among the clones was already mentioned. And now as we follow a different point of view by introducing the secondary protagonist in Hard Contact, Etain Tur-Mukan, we’ll get into more darker topics. Getting the right words to talk about sensitive and serious topics like misogyny and sexism, rape and xenophobia was truly a challenge.

While I’m grateful to those repcomm-critical people who actually sat down and pointed out the problematic parts of the book for me in the past, I still feel that being critical of RepComm is like an exclusive club, where you can get inside if you already possess the secret of knowledge of… well, being critical thinker, and other “basic” criteria.

I mean, these are supposed to be serious problems. They fucking are. Misogyny is a serious problem all around the world, helping people to understand why you find certain parts problematic might be much more effective instead of going on full rage and tearing people heads off and make a fucking joke out of real people’s misery by gatekeeping information about serious topics.

In this essay, I will use related quotes from this section of the book to talk about an issue what I’m struggling with lately: relearning english language to be all-gender and sexuality inclusive. I know that lot of non-native english speakers are struggling with this, especially around my age or above, so I try to explain what does it mean to have addressed as female/male instead of woman/man in an everyday conversation, without calling you derogatory names for not knowing. Sorry that this has to be specific, but I’m truly angry about how antis rhetorics are basically about “if you don’t already know this, the problem is with you”. You can never assume with what background the readers come. Never.

-- FEMALE vs. WOMAN --

I started to recognize the differences between Hungarian edition and the original English release. Hungarian translations can be really good when a passionate and professional hand touches it and the more I read the English version, the more I think that the translation is faulty at some places. I often had that feeling that yeaaah, I get what the original english sentence would have sounded like. Karen Traviss’ style is much more simple, less-artistic and surprisingly easy to read despite the military topics.

Because of these differences, nuances can be lost in the translation.

Also, I started to feel the influence of the constant exposure of critical voices toward the books, and made this segment truly hard to read. Because when you hear certain voices, labels and slogans all the time, you are unconsciously trained to notice these things, I mean, that's how real life propaganda works. Immediately getting focused on certain words or expressions and immediately have the "appropriate" emotional response. And then you spend hours to figure it out if this is how the author intended or the curtain is just blue and that was it.

Here are some examples:

A friend of mine once told me that the book uses the word “female” a lot instead of woman and that is usually a telltale sign of someone being a TERF. Because of this, I immediately noticed that Ghez Hokan referred to women as such, moreover, he was talking to an alien.

I thought that our culture uses these terms entirely differently, but now that I researched a bit, it is not that different: the only difference is that english language uses “female/male” terms are incorporated in everyday speech like it’s nothing, while in Hungary, you don’t use such terms so casually.

What does this mean and why is this important in connection to queerness and especially trans-related topics?

In what context you use female/male?

You refer to people by their sex.

It is used in scientific context.

You use this when talking about flora and fauna.

You use this when you are talking other species that are not human and fantasy species.

If you use female/male terms on a human, you basicly degrade them to their mammalian status and reproductive abilities. You basicly call them animals.

A little Hungarian lesson: Hungarian language doesn’t have a word for gender. We use the same word for sex and gender, so basically there is no difference. Government use “dzsender” as a slur against transpeople in their propaganda, and deliberately don’t invent a Hungarian word for it, so it will still sound like english, therefore, it makes easier to alienate people even more from the “rotten west” when you use scary foreign words which meaning you don’t know and you don’t care to look up.

Because we don’t use female/male in our everyday language, only in scientific context, calling a women “female” sounds exceptionally rude and people will give you a weird look because of it.

You would say how our country is progressive language-wise (I love how people are going crazy over how we have a single gender neutral pronoun <3), but actually we are far from it. Yeah, it sounds nice that we use respective language when addressing women, but when a women are culturally encouraged to be treated like a breeding cattle based on their reproductive organs and constantly associated to motherhood, nice words just simply lose their meanings. That’s why I don’t really hung up on single words usages and labels. You totally focus on one thing and miss everything else around it. Women are treated shit no matter how appropriately you call them.

So imagine the confusion that I was introduced to a culture where you call women or men casually as animals and I’m expected to learn this language so the majority of the world may understand me, only to encounter with other people who will call me TERF and I don’t even know why. Progressive fandom spaces don’t automatically come with unconditional friendliness and patience.

Just for curiosity, I upload the hungarian version of this scene.

English in comparison

Because hungarian used the term of “nőket” (woman+plural+accusative), the potential problematic usage of “female” are completely lost in the translation. Even if you have the misogyny-lense on, in hungarian, you won’t find this scene problematic... well apart from the obvious that someone is getting killed brutally. “Nő” is a completely acceptable way to talk about women in Hungary, and you use “hölgy” if you especially want to be polite or talking face-to-face.

-- ABOUT XENOPHOBIA --

Other thing I wanted to show you regarding this scene, that beside misogyny and terf-associations, Karen Traviss is often accused by fans by being xenophobic to alien species other than humans. If you remember in what cases we call living beings female/male, anything that is not human are referred like that in everyday English language.

I honestly can’t decide if the word usage of “female” was due to the guy being weequay (an alien, other than human), or because Ghez Hokan don’t respect women or it has some significance at all. We actually see Hokan talking to a woman later so we can check this later.

Also I can’t decide if comparing the “incoherent animal sound beings made when pain overwhelmed them” is just a description of sound or the so-called KarenTravissness. See what slogans and labels do to your brain? If you are fed that this book is xenophobic, you will see xenophobia everywhere.

I’m not here to make judgment about english language, but I hope I could provide help in translating one of the common slogans and catchphrases people usually don’t bother to explain, because this is something you are supposed to know on your own.

Don’t gatekeep important information to make yourself feel more intellectually and morally superior!

-- WEEQUAY LORE --

Etain actually has opinions about the Weequays. She starts the chapter being on the run, chased by a Weequay mercenary. First of all, Etain is not having a graceful entry because she spends her first minutes hiding in a barq-field (very expensivy luxury grain), most precisely, in manure, and this scene alone made me fall in love with her. But also the Weequay didn’t hide what intention he has when he founds Etain.

A certain someone in repcomm tumblr said that Etain should sort out her racist and xenophobic thoughts because Hondo Ohnaka definitely has a diverse vocabulary. I don’t know, but if I was chased by a someone in threat of getting raped, I wouldn’t think nice and politically and socially correct things either, but it's probably just me. People really should sort out their priorities. But it only made me wonder and research further. Because I played old Star Wars games, I know that Weequays are fluent in Huttese but it made me wonder: do weeqays have their own language?

LORE TIME!!!!!!!!!

The first weequay appeared in the Original Trilogy serving Jabba the Hutt, called Pagetti Rook.

But who are these guys actually?

Weequays are a humanoid race originating from the desert planet of Sriluur, The Outer Rim with a neighbouring Hutt Space/Hutt Sector. Their appearance evolved due to the harsh weather conditions. They have clan-based, harsh society with a mindset of “only the strongest will survive”, and what is especially interesting about them that they don’t use speech as their primary communication form, they use pheromones to communicate. When a weequay is from another clan, there is no guarantee that they will understand each other, let alone people from other races. They don’t use names (only when they are blending among non-weequays), because they identify each other by smell. This is one reason other species find them inferior and uncivilized and unintelligent. You can see braids on his head which has cultural significance, weequay women are bald.

Weequays already appeared in the Original Trilogy serving Jabba the Hutt, and usually in this role you will find them: due to their neighbouring influence of Hutt Space, they serve Hutt clans. It’s one of the very common star wars cantina scenes, where you see women of different alien species entertaining guest, and if the bar is Hutt affiliated, there is a chance that they are slaves and kept against their will. Weequays are different: they remained independent from the Hutts, but they will lend their aid, lend their mercenaries to serve them, so they are mostly associated in with gangs, crime syndicates, drug cartels, smugglers etc. Weequays and Rodians often associated with criminal gangs in Legends.

On the bright side, there were force-sensitive weequays in the Jedi Order: Que-Mars Redath-Gom - Died in the Battle of Geonosis Master Kossex - died in the First Battle of Kamino Master Tyr - died in the Battle of Thustra Master Sora Bulk - Betrayed the Order and joined Count Dooku General Sev - Died during O66

So according to Legends-lore, Etain’s little comment about the weequays’ communication skills is not entirely out of place. Now if Etain was aware that they had weequays in the Jedi Order or not is another question, or more like, if Karen Traviss was aware. From what I know about her, she wasn’t well versed in the Extended Universe’s (now Legends) lore.

… I really hope that my little lore-detours don’t bore you. It will happen again.

-- ABOUT MISOGYNY --

UFFFFFF-!!!!!!! Reminds me of a time, when once I walked late at night to home, I looked behind my back because I heard someone and the guy yelled after me with hurt self-esteem: YOU especially don’t have to worry!

The swift comeback indicates that maybe this isn’t the first when Etain got such comments about her looks. We actually got a glimpse about her appearance by that weequay.

Scrag-end is a derogatory slang for thin and veiny people.

I want to make clear another thing. Misogyny is present in this book, and I truly believe that depicting misogyny itself is not misogyny. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MISOGYNY, but like a mature person, and not treat it like a fucking fandom trope!!!

It’s the sad reality that things like this exist in the real world. Erasing it from literature because it makes you uncomfortable - regardless if you are affected or not - won’t help anyone. “It should be actively condemned by the narrative!!!!” Like you would actively condemn misogyny happening before your very eyes? Would you be brave enough to step between a guy and her girlfriend who is being yelled at or you decide it’s not your business? Will you call out a woman (and your boss) who claims that women should make the environment clean because boys are just stupid boys who can’t do shit on their own (which is now a road to misandry as well. LOL! Misandry is not recognized as a legit word in scrivener)? You would probably just politely smile while serving a woman customer who just told you that you shouldn’t lift heavy things and do man’s job because your uterus will be damaged and you can’t have kids. I’ve got more misogynistic remarks from women than men actually.

Nobody will teach you how to protect yourself from misogyny and people like these. I never feel protected and loved by couch activists who are supposedly on women-side preaching about fictional misogyny but I can protect myself from actual assholes face-to-face, because I had to learn to do it. This book won’t teach either the how-tos, but maybe you can recognize speech patterns. This is how you use a “problematic” literature. You learn from it. If you learn from all this that it’s okay to talk about women like that, the problem is with you, my friend.

-- ABOUT ETAIN --

We get to know about Etain that she is not very good user of the Force, or at least she is not mindful in stressful situations like this. She is exhausted and not have any strength left, emotions completely overrun her.

It made me really wonder what Etain was through if her first thought was to cut down a farmer with her lightsaber.

You know… the more I read about Etain (and what I remember about her in the other books), I would say that she is written as a child soldier. Which is weird because Jedi are ultimately are not trained to be soldiers

There are a lot of paragraphs where she compares herself to the clones and comparing their upbringing to hers, but her reactions in this scenes, it made me really wonder.

*SNORT* This part made me chuckle. Clever girl.

Etain definitely has doubts in her own abilities. It is not known if Master Fulier truly thought about Etain this way, some gestures indicated that in the past, or simply Etain’s low-self-esteem is talking. In this part, we don’t get to know more about her relationship with her master, but Fulier is described a challenge-loving person, and that could explain Etain’s jumpiness as well.

Interesting parallel that for a clone’s punishment is decomission if they fail their tests.

While it’s not supposed to be a punishment for a Jedi, those padawans who are not suited for knighthood are sent to one of the four service corps (Medical, Agricultural, Educational and Exploration). Etain is certainly feels it as a punishment to be sent here. Imagine you are trained for one thing in your life, and if you fail, you ultimately failed everything in life. Not exactly death, but almost.

-- JEDI AND THE TERRITORIES OUTSIDE OF THE REPUBLIC --

Another so-much-heard critic about Karen Traviss’ work that she wrote everyone hating on the Jedi, even the civilians.

But: Qiirula at this time (and probably before) is a Neutral planet in the midrim. Meaning, they have no ties with Republic. They don’t get aid, they don’t get Jedi visitors because it’s not their jurisdiction to care about. Ultimately the Senate decides where a Jedi should go and maintain peace. I don’t see why should an average quiirulan look at the Jedi like a godly entity and positive figure if they never see one before. Legends and hero stories won’t feed your stomach after all but you have bullies like Ghez Hokan and his mercenaries and the Neimoidians traders who will exploit you shitless.

There is no active war on Qiirula, but the Jedi are here - Padawan Etain and her master, Kast Fulier -, and that means, there is something here that is worth something to the Republic and something requires a Jedi presence after all.

The Jedi are not obligated to help the neutral systems or those under the CIS unless the Republic sends there forces to occupy and then they have maintain peace and enforcing the political decisions that had been made. At least that's what real life peacekeepers are doing in contries with tension. Do what you will with this information.

I certainly don't vibe with the Jedi Order as a government supported religious order.

That’s it for now, Chapter 1.3 will be the next, a smaller post introducing Fi and Niner and that will sums up the entire Chapter 1. ^^

Sorry if this one sounded like a rant, but I hate when people are throwing labels here and there and words eventually lose their impact.

[thesummerstorms]

Don't ask me why I'm having SW feelings bc I don't know where they came from, but I'm back on my Eldritch!Last Fullier Force bullshit.

I don't normally even like horror, but for some reason I've got this ghost story in my head of Kast Fullier's ghost testing Etain, except it's more like the Force is wearing him as a cloak. And as they have their exchange, his face slowly morphs closer to what it was at the time of his death, tortured to his grave by Ghez Hokan.

Etain still calls him "Master".

His face ripples again, until the stream changes and it's a face Etain only knew from holos. Rhosaar, her master's master, whose dying blood stained the belly of a slave ship. She smiles gently at Etain, her throat still slit.

Etain calls her "teacher".

And finally They become a shadow from millennium before Etain was born- but one who knows her path better than most ever could. Targe Vizsla extends his open hand, his eyes gone as black and vast as galaxies.

Etain calls him "ancestor". It's presumption on her part, but his laugh would be kind if it didn't echo so.

A ghost The Force hands her back her lightsaber, and she accepts it with all its weight. These are the lessons the Purge taught her, that she is learning still.

(There is no Death, there is the Force.)

(technically, no non-Forse sensitive should be able to see this, but at the same time it would just add to the vibes if one of her family is there watching all this like "what the fuck what the fuck what fuck-")

[archeo-starwars]

NOTICE TO QIILURAN CITIZENS Anyone found with Republic personnel on their land will have that property confiscated and will forfeit their freedom. They, their family, and anyone employed by them in any capacity will be delivered to the Trandoshan representative at Teklet for enslavement. Anyone actively aiding or sheltering Republic personnel will face the death penalty. A reward is offered for anyone providing information leading to the capture of Republic personnel or deserters from the former militia or the Separatist armed forces, in particular Lieutenant Guta-Nay or Lieutenant Pir Cuvin.

By order of Major Ghez Hokan, commanding officer [Republic Commando: Hard Contact]

[cienie-isengardu]

Hi! Sorry to bother, but I couldn’t find a clear answer when trying to research. What were the Mandalorians role in the Clone Wars in Legends/EU? I know in TCW they were a neutral planet and largely pacifist (outside of Death Watch), but do we know anything about the Legends Mandalorians at that time? Thank you so much!

Hi there! You are not bothering me at all, I’m always here to talk about Mandalorians.

The Legends gives some clues about Mandalorians and their role in the Clone Wars, though I wouldn’t say sources provided the full perspective in a political-economic sense. Prequel Trilogy and tie-in materials retconned some already existing elements to fit with the general course of history but the Mandalore sector and Mandalore planetary politics wasn’t flashed out much. The overall idea was that [modern] Mandalore was ”a destitute homeworld historically marginalized by the Republic”.

The earliest information (albeit Mandalorians weren’t outright named) comes from The Empire Strikes Back novelization

A human bounty hunter, Fett was known for his extremely ruthless methods. He was dressed in a weapon-covered, armored spacesuit, the kind worn by a group of evil warriors defeated by the Jedi Knights during the Clone Wars. [The Empire Strikes Back by D. Glut]

which indicated that Mandalorian warriors fought against Jedi / Republic. And frankly, this sentiment was repeated in most sources.

So we have Marvel’s Star Wars 68: The Search Begins that introduced Fenn Shysa, Tobbi Dala and Mandalorian Supercommandos / Protectors. From Shysa’s own words:

The three Mandalorians who survived were Fenn Shysa, Tobi Dala and… Boba Fett. The original version of Fenn Shysa’s backstory was retconned to fit with the new lore of Attack of the Clones and summed up in The History of Mandalorians by Abel G. Peña [Insider 80]. Here we learn that alleged Boba Fett was in fact a rogue clone known as Alpha-02/Spar, one of the Advanced Recon Commandos. He managed to run away from Kamino some years before Clone Wars and once Jango Fett died, took the mantle of Mandalore and led Mandalorian Supercommandos against Jedi:

or

Then we have Star Wars Republic comics series [issue 65: Show of Force] that mentions Mandalorians attacking New Holstice, the medical facility.

And Galaxy at War provided another informations like this:

and how Mandalorian Protectors were effective and dangerous during war:

or

Protectors were the biggest, organized group we were told about that joined CIS for ideological reasons and/or because of poverty of Mandalore. Republic Commando book series on another hand focused on individual Mandalorians while the planet of Mandalore was more or less neutral. The big difference between sources about Mandalorian Protectors and the Republic Commando’s characters is that the first had Death Watch reunited with other Mandalorian warriors to some degree, while the latter kinda ignored it completely, making DW the hated group by main heroes (the former trainers of Great Army of Republic known as Cuy'val Dar). Anyway, because of the civil war and massacre on Galidraan, part of Mandalorians was spread through the galaxy doing their own things. Some, like Ghez Hokan (supposed ex-Death Watchman [RC: Hard Contact]) worked as mercenaries and ultimately agreed to work for Separatist. In the case of Ghez, at first it was about money / work, later about personal dislike of Jedi & Republic for using Jango Fett’s clones. Some, like Kal Skirata or Walon Vau (ex-True Mandalorians, the mentioned Cuy'val Dar) who trained clone army on Kamino decided to support Republic out of loyalty to their trainees (clone commandos). And though they worked for the Republic, it did not stop them from stealing supplies from the army (Skirata and Nulls) or even robbing a bank (Vau) during one of republic military operations - their first and foremost motivation was to secure the well-being of their “boys” (clone troopers) and that desire expended soon to protect their growing “clan” by any means.

Like I said, there is little of proper informations about Mandalore and its status or politics during the Clone Wars era. It is hard to tell what a Mandalorian “civils” thought about the conflict or how it affected their daily life. We know that there were Mandalorian Protectors under Alpha-02/Spar and Fenn Shysa who joined CIS either because of hate for Jedi or ideology and Mandalorian individuals fighting on both sides - for money or as a mean to protect their family (including clone troopers).

Hope it answer your question! :)

[stuffedeggplants]

Remember in Hard Contact where Niner pretends to be mortally wounded so everyone can lure Ghez Hokan into a trap and kill him? Niner “realizes” he doesn’t know how to scream and imitates dying men he’s heard before, but in Ghez’s POV it turns out that Niner is so good at it that he fools our Mandalorian mercenary who has heard plenty of people in pain, sobbing at death’s door before. Ghez buys this completely, at no point realizing that Niner is “acting.” 

And I just had the scary thought that Niner might not be acting, and Niner himself maybe doesn’t realize it?

He’s had neither the time nor the space to process the pain and trauma of Geonosis. He does reflect on it in the first chapter where we meet him, but after that it’s non-stop go go go for Omega. Then Darman gets separated from the group almost immediately on Qiilura-- the cherry on top would be if Omega does end up losing him too--and later Etain uses the force on Niner twice to help him be calm and have more confidence while worrying less. Things are high stress, they do not stop, and Niner’s constantly trying to be controlled and aware of how others might perceive his behavior. When Niner has to scream as he pretends to be dying, he really doesn’t have to do anything but let out all his built-up negative emotion in one of the most visceral ways possible. 

[niner1309]

Niner’s Sarcasm

I think fanon sometimes forgets about Niner’s sense of humour. It’s sarcastic and dark, and he will only use it around his brothers or very close friends. I have been taking character notes and have some highlights from Hard Contact by Karen Traviss.

“Yeah, we could always wait till they die of liver failure.” -page 88, discussing the drinking trandoshians in the camp Niner, Fi, and Atin are staked out at.

“Don’t go gallant on me. You’re coming the rest of the way because I’m not lugging all that gear around. I want a break some time.” -page 105, when Atin tells Niner to leave him behind.

“What do you prefer,” Niner asked. “Dry rats, dry rats, or maybe dry rats?” -page 128, asking his brother what he would like to eat.

“Nice job with the custom ordnance, you two. I think the villa’s got a new indoor swimming pool.” -page 242, after setting off an explosive distraction.

“And where were you, Fi? Thanks a bunch. I could have been filleted. You were supposed to slot him.” -page 288, after Niner plays the bait to draw Ghez Hokan out. Padawan Etain kills Hokan, even though  Fi was supposed to shoot him in the head.

Obviously there are more, but these were the best one liners. Sure, he’s a serious guy but he’s got a sense of humor. 

[notarobot1006]

Ghez Hokan, clone genocide enthusiast, waxes poetic on honor. Good way of illustrating you can be an Honorable Warrior type without anything resembling an actual conscience.

Here he is learning about a virus meant to kill all clones, for context:

[mistflyer1102]

first meeting

Read on AO3 here.

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He had the urge to clear the ground, to take point and look for threats.

But Darman refrained from moving ahead, and instead kept pace with the young Padawan Commander Etain Tur-Mukan as she led him through the woods, along the river, only coming to a stop when they came to the edge of what looked like a dirt road.  Qiilura looked stranger, more threatening in the darkness, he decided, but the commander had been there longer, and he trusted that she knew where she was going, and what she was doing. He could see she was still wet from where he’d had to push her into the river to avoid her lightsaber, when she had mistaken him for Ghez Hokan and charged, but the squelching from her movements wasn’t as loud as he had initially feared. 

She knelt, staring intently across the grasses that lined both sides of the road for a few moments, and he knelt beside her, using his scanners to check the area for threats. Aside from the gdans and the occasional warren, he couldn’t see or pick up anything remotely close to a severe threat, but he also knew that she could pick up things through the Force. True to her word, she didn’t seem to be straining under the weight of the packs he’d allowed her to carry, but she was also shivering however minutely. He could see it in the glow of the moon above them.

“Ma’am—” he began carefully.

“Shh,” she whispered back, not turning back to face him as she looked across the grasses again. He fell quiet, briefly wondering as to what she was picking up that he was missing, but he waited, checking their surroundings again through his helmet’s scanners. She then shifted in place, catching his attention. “What is it?” she whispered, tilting her head slightly to glance back at him.

“What is the plan for getting to our destination?”

“Plan?” she repeated, sounding uncertain. Darman blinked, but before he could clarify his question, she whispered, “Oh. Um, we’ll follow the river back to the woods, cut through, and then through barq fields to get back to the farmhouse, er, specifically to the place where I’ve been lying low for the past week or so.” She shuddered, moving into a lower crouch. “We’ll have to follow the paths that have already been made in the fields, some of Hokan’s men already crashed through it. I’ll, uh, lead the way on that one.”

Darman nodded, not missing the way her voice caught at the end there. “And then once we are through the fields?”

“We keep a low profile while walking through the farm. There’s a barn on the opposite side that I’ve been staying in, we’ll both stay there for now. If all goes well, then the owner will already know about you being there with me. At least, we’ll stay there until it’s time to find the rest of your squad. From what I have seen, Hokan hasn’t been methodical about searching for me. And you, if he already knows you’re here,” she whispered, turning around in place and kneeling as she faced him. “Does he?”

“It is possible, we had a crash landing. That’s how I got separated from my squad,” Darman said, shifting so that he was kneeling in front of her. “We should operate on the assumption that he knows that someone from the Republic is here.”

She let out a small snort, startling him. “Oh, he definitely knows someone from the Republic is here,” she whispered, eyes scanning his face before she finally made eye contact with him. It was a bit unnerving, given he was still wearing his helmet, but she finally looked away again. “Master Fulier and I were here for some time before Master Fulier was arrested, we were investigating Doctor Uthan at the request of the High Council,” she admitted, placing a hand on the ground to steady herself. “Master Fulier…he got involved with a local brawl, and then got arrested. He was killed recently,” she said, voice wavering so slightly that he wondered if she realized it herself.

He had to ask, however insensitive it may be. “Are you certain?”

She nodded stiffly. “We Jedi…teachers and students, we become attuned to each other in the Force. I could find Master Fulier better than, say, my former classmates since I haven’t seen or interacted with them since we became Padawans,” she whispered, almost absently pushing the dirt around with her fingers. “I felt the moment Master Fulier was killed, and I can’t sense him anymore.”

Darman nodded. He’d learned that while he was still on Kamino, that Jedi could sense not only non-Force-sensitives, but each other as well. What he hadn’t realized, was the level of the connection they had with each other. Almost like us with our original squadmates. And maybe I will get to that someday with Niner, Atin and Fi, once I catch up to them here. “General Zey wasn’t sure when he briefed us on this mission. Commander Jusik said that General Fulier hadn’t reported in for a few weeks at that point,” he said, tilting his head slightly when he saw a minute flinch in her silhouette. “Valaqil, a Gurlanin native to Qiilura, he said that he believed Fulier was betrayed by a local and possibly killed, but that was also a few days ago,” he added after a moment, wondering if she was curious about the Republic’s perception of her current situation.

“Oh.” She was quiet for a moment, but a second later, he thought he heard her mutter something under her breath about Jusik and ‘picture perfect’. He surmised that she knew Jusik then, despite the two Padawans having different masters. Were rivalries common among Jedi? He didn’t know, and hoped that she would stay focused on the here and now whatever the case may be with her and Commander Jusik. Rivalries amongst squads were common on Kamino, especially between Sergeant Skirata’s squads and Sergeant Vau’s squads, but at least Darman knew they were all trained to set those aside and stay focused on the target when on a mission.

Before he could ask, however, she shook her head. “Okay, well, at least we know that the plans are out of Hokan’s hands,” she finally whispered, shifting in place to turn back around. Ignoring the faint squelching sound of wet fabric as she moved, she shifted from her kneeling position back to the crouch. “It was a local who betrayed Master Fulier, which is why we need to use caution around Birhan, the farmer who owns the place we’re going to,” she added as she began to tiptoe forward, hugging the edge of the road while still remaining in the grasses. “The gdans will only be scared of us for so long before they decide that they’re hungry. Jinart will probably be even more irritated with me if I can’t get you back to the farm in one piece.”

“Yes, ma’am. Who is Jinart?”

Another twitch. Had he overstepped his boundaries by asking?

“Jinart…I’m not sure how she’s connected to Birhan’s family, but so far, she’s the one person on Qiilura who knows who I really am, knows who you are, and hasn’t turned either of us in to Hokan and his men yet. Which means she has a reason invested in our survival, but I don’t know what that is yet,” she said as she started to move forward again, head turning as she scanned across the grasses again.

He saw the warren hole through the infrared before she did. Darman reached out and caught her shoulder, keeping her from pitching forward onto her face, pack and all, as her foot slid forward into the warren. She froze, then muttered something under her breath again as she gingerly eased her foot out. “Thank you, Darman,” she whispered as he released her shoulder.

“You’re welcome, ma’am.”

[rayn44]

Am I the only one who felt sorry for Ghez Hokan and Hurati?

[fettoftheday]

(via Star Wars Republic Commando Ghez Hokan by ~FoxbatMit on deviantART)

[thesummerstorms]

Rev Recaps: Hard Contact (Chapter 2)

CW: None except some mentions of series-typical past violence.  LONG ASS POST beneath the cut.

TL;DR Recap:  Darman meets Jedi General Arligan Zey, Jedi Commander Bardan Jusik, and his new squad members. This blogger loves Zey entirely too much. The gurlanin are introduced and exposition happens. Jinart is vague. 

So this is the chapter where we first meet Zey, who is honestly one of my favorite characters, and Jusik... who is not. That said, Jusik is actually pretty likeable in this first introduction, probably because he’s not on screen long enough to be vaguely perfect and lecture people.

We actually hear from Zey before we see him. The quote itself is before he technically takes command of the RCs (they’re still in stasis) but is otherwise pretty standard fare for a Traviss novel. The one thing that got me to highlight it is that the attribution lists Zey not as a General but as “Jedi Master Arligan Zey, intelligence officer.” Raise your hand if you really want to know what Zey was doing before the war. 🙋‍♀️

Anyway, we’re back in Darman’s point of view again. The commandos are being briefed for their mission in a glorified fridge as “Fleet support”. 

Yeah, you kind of understand why the Nulls flipped out about going into stasis if not waking up because you were reconditioned in your sleep is apparently on the table. (I still have questions about how the Kaminoans could AFFORD to deliberately kill as many soldiers as this book seems to imply, but I’ll save it for later.)

I don’t know why this description of Zey tickles me so much, but I enjoy it. Zey, sit down and stop pacing, you’re making the commandos nervous. Also, he was probably actually better suited to taking Etain as a Padawan than people thought...

Anyway, Darman watches Zey’s Gurlanin contact for a while and then.Atin shows up and everyone is very focused on his scarring (which is still fresh at this point.) We know in retrospect that he got the scar when Vau cut him open, but the hell if I know how that timeline works out. It’s three months post Geonosis, the squad has been chilled down and then just woke up on Ord Mantell, and apparently Vau stuck his nose in there somewhere before this meeting.

Zey: “Padawan, stop. You’re embarrassing me.”  I don’t know, I just really love Zey, okay? But also, again, it’s been three months since war broke out, but for all that Darman’s thrown off by the terms of address, Zey feels fairly... comfortable/practiced at this?

Zey gives all the needed exposition on Qiilura, which I never spell right on the first try, and on Ghez Hokan. 

I think “Death Squad” is meant to be “Death Watch” here, especially given Hokan’s characterization and the mention  of being so violent that it’s a surprise this other violent group kicked him out. If it was clarified somewhere else that something else was meant, I’ll accept it, but in the mean time I just need everyone to reflect on how embarrassing and cruel you have to be to be kicked out of Death Watch. Because Hokan lives up to it,

I... I am pretty sure the commandos speak Basic. Just saying. Jusik is awkward as fuck, so I choose to willfully misinterpret this as “Jusik has another emotional outburst which leads Zey to have to pause in embarrassment, again. Dar misinterprets this as emphasis.” Darman already has some really weird, Kaminoan-taught ideas about Jedi so-

Zey briefs them about the military base, which Etain knows about on planet, and also the very specific anti-clone bioweapon being developed there, which she does not, and lets them know Fulier has been out of contact for “some weeks”. (Etain also doesn’t know there IS a war or a clone army, and the weird ass timeline here is a whole rabbit hole so I’m just gonna move on.)

We get to one of my favorite moments in the chapter:

“The situation is Nemoidians.” *is confused when Omega does not immediately understand his pithy comment* Zey also stares at Niner expecting discussion, which Darman finally provides because he’s worried Zey will feel embarrassed otherwise. Nemodian stereotypes baked into the setting aside, it’s a pretty great little piece of characterization.

Seriously, what the hell did Zey and Jusik DO before the war???

I don’t know, again, I just like the characterization here. Anyway, the commandos talk shop a bit, Dar notes that Atin’s wound is still “weeping” and has to hurt “like fire”. :( 

“Darman was embarrassed for him”. Dar then does some tech talk which leads Niner to decide he’s the demolitions guy. He notes that he “was happy to have the demolitions role”. Which I guess makes sense since commandos are cross trained for all the potential roles, but I wonder if he did that with Theta Squad too.

Okay, but again, I have so many questions about back story here. Jusik is a maverick or intended to be one from the get go, but ... why is he so protective of Fulier’s reputation as to become defensive when the Gurlanin starts talking shit? Is it just because he sees Fulier from afar as a kind of kindred spirit? Or have he and Etain and Fulier and Zey run missions before? 

Jusik’s line to Etain in Triple Zero about “I know you well enough now” [to sense her pregnancy] makes me think they probably weren’t close friends, and Zey’s reunion with Etain at the end of the book is “remarkably formal” from Dar’s pov, including calling each other “Master” and “Padawan”, not by names. But she also doesn’t ask who he is, so it’s possible they have worked together, I guess?

Anyway, Jusik breaks the news that they only have eight hours until the hit Qiilura. I’m resisting the urge to check my copy of Essential Atlas on this one, because KT has a history of not thinking about hyperspace travel times and that prior knowledge bugs me. Then we cut to Etain, who is hiding in Birhan’s barn, being vagued at by Jinart.

I’m super biased of course, but I’m interested in Etain’s relationship with Kast Fulier, so this passage just feels like a weirdly... dispassionate description to me, coming from Etain, Kast’s likely orphaned Padawan, who is alone and afraid with out him, and as we’ll later find out regards Kast as the “only person who’d shown her kindness” other than Darman. (Paraphrasing).

From a Watsonian perspective, you can probably make the argument that Etain is, if not in shock, still dealing with a lot of mental trauma and stress in a short time, and responding accordingly. But it bugs me a little that Etain’s thoughts about this person who would have been her whole lifeline in the order are so neutral to even slightly negative, especially when you compare it to Jusik’s slight line the chapter before. 

And  especially when you consider that these faults are also Etain’s exact faults that are also sometimes her strengths. Reckless compassion, a bit of self-righteousness, impatience, and an inability to walk away when she could do something about an injustice.

And especially when you compare it to Niner (and Dar and Fi)’s never ending praise and affection for and memories of Kal Skirata later in the book. And you can’t even make the case that it was purposeful/Etain’s relationship is more strained than theirs, because again, it gets so little development/mention (plus paired with the “kindness” comment.)

You know I’m biased if you’ve been on this blog long at all, but it bugs me.

Again, this is just to say... people give Etain a lot of shit but “ ...or get a data transmission out in her stead. She still had a mission to complete, if only to justify Master Fulier’s sacrifice.”

I still don’t 100% understand how this scene actually played out, practically speaking, especially as everyone addresses Kast Fulier as a Jedi MASTER, not even a Knight with the courtesy title of Master, but a Master in his own right.

We get some more info about Hokan, which still tracks with what you’d expect of a Death Watch drop out, and also again shows that Etain was pretty fucking exhausted/traumatized before Omega even gets there.

Again, people give her some shit about her break down or moments of inner turmoil at various places in the book, but if she’s been there since before the war was declared, she’s been dealing with all of this, largely alone, for at least 3 months now. And this in addition to the attempted assault last chapter.

Anyway, the chapter ends with Jinart vaguing, but it’s just ~foreshadowing~ so it’s not super important to anything.

My big take aways for this chapter are that I love Zey and I really need a prequel to this novel, to be honest. 

[archeo-starwars]

Hokan stood up and held his helmet in both hands. He had always been proud of that tradition, proud that it hadn't changed in thousands of years except for a technical enhancement here and there. What really mattered was what lay under Mandalorian armor-a warrior's heart.

Hard Contact by Karen Traviss

[cienie-isengardu]

My RepCom Musing: Arla Fett and Death Watch

or: what the IC:501st could (should) give us but didn’t.

One of my biggest problems with the Republic Commando book series is the lack of presenting different point of views in regard to groups the main heroes (or more precisely, main Mandalorian ex-training sergeants) disliked or outright hated. Obviously, the Jedi Order was an usual target for critique with little counter-arguments, especially from Jedi characters themselves. And yes, Etain and Jusik Bardan had right to feel negative about it too, although I will not lie, there is something concerning how Jusik couldn’t stay in Order due to disagreement of its politics and use of clones but threw away any regard for law or morality that was so important to him in the first place (the reason for quitting) to be one of Skirata’s boys. 

Like the Jedi, Death Watch did not get a fair chance to present its values or actual similarity to generally presented mandalorian society. The Hard Contact had Ghez Hokan, the alleged member of said organization, said to be so brutal he was kicked out from Death Watch itself but who was both competent soldier and interestingly our first source of informations about Mandalorians before Kal Skirata and Walon Vau entered the series for good. Especially in regard to admiration for Jango Fett (who presumably should be his enemy). But of course, then came Order 66 and for whatever reason Hokan’s allegiance was retconned. Instead the Death Watch was represented by Dred Priest, who was described as a man that ran a fighting club on Kamino because of which clone trainees got seriously injured and some died(?). Vau was also presented as a sergeant who brutalized his commandos (and was the boogeyman to some characters in second book), but I guess it is more forgiven since Vau did it to “raise survivors” and through the storyline we could see him soften somehow toward his - and Kal’s - boys, while Dred was allowing the fighting for… his own amusement? Or at least, Mij drew such a picture, since Dred showed up and spoke for what? A one chapter overall just to be killed?

Then we have his girlfriend, Isabet Reau, who is known for speaking about Mandalorians returning to times of their glory. Like her boyfriend, Dred, most things we know about her comes from Mij who hated both with passion but they did not get any special focus as real characters. Ironically, Kal Skirata talked or thought about how Mandalorians should reunite and become one strong nation. So spoke also his biological daughter, Ruusan (“Don’t you think it’s time we started fighting for our own interests?” Ruu took the mug out of her father’s hand and peered into it as if checking up on him. “I’m not saying this guy’s right, but being at every aruetii’s beck and call and doing the dying for them doesn’t sound smart to me. Look at this world. It’s dirt-poor. That’s not much to show for the lives we’ve spent on shoring up other governments.”) and apparently this sentiment run deep enough in the family that Venku “Kad” Skirata at some point became the leader of a political faction who wanted to see a resurgence of the Mandalorian people (and even demands it from Mandalore Boba Fett). And by this also means making Mandalore strong in political and economic sense. So maybe not really a return to the Mandalorian Empire but for sure closer to it than farther since both visions demand from Mandalorians to have a solid economy like own production of weapons and food and standing army.

We have also Arla Fett, who was taken by Death Watch warriors who killed her family at Concord Dawn and at some point, presumably due to Mandalorian Stockholm Syndrome, became one of them, only to end in hospital for the mentally ill, from where she was abducted by clan Skirata and if IC would sequel, her memory would be wiped out on her wish and Arla would married her captor (Jusik).

And here is a thing: by using Death Watch as only boogeyman to main characters, we don’t only lost a chance to actually explore the complex nature of mandalorian society from different perspective but also, by examining the similarity between the “good” and “bad” Mandalorians we actually could have a solid critique of them all as a contrast to the overwhelming glorification of Skirata growing with each book. Even more! This could create a possibility for Kal to see his own - or in general, mandalorian culture’s - faults mirrored in action by Death Watch (taking in Arla) and maybe finally get some understanding of his own traumas, especially related to how he was trained by Muunin Skirata.

(There is something ironic that Jango and Arla Fett, though separated and taken by opposite sides of conflict, were allowed to keep their names and connection to their biological family. Jango didn’t need to take Jaster Mereel’s surname to be treated as son and apparently Death Watch did not keep Arla in the dark about the fact her younger brother survived. Meanwhile Kal Skirata’s “adoption” started with Muunin - intentionally or not -  erasing his identity by taking away his name and giving new, despite the boy's protest. 

"You can do all kinds of things when you're wearing armor that ordinary folks can't do, Kal."

Munin called him Kal. In the man's own language, it had something to do with knives and stabbing. Munin had nicknamed him Kal because Falin had tried to stab him with the three-sided knife when they first met; the Mandalorian seemed to think it was funny, and hadn't been angry at all. But Munin fed him, and didn't hurt him, and in the weeks since Falin had been part of the mercenary camp, he'd felt better even if he wasn't happy.

Sometimes Munin called him Kal'ika. The mercenaries told him it meant "little blade," and showed that Munin was fond of him.

"I'm Falin," he said at last. "My name's Falin." But he was already forgetting who Falin was. His home in Kuat City seemed like a dream mostly forgotten when he woke up, more a feeling than a memory. His family had moved to Surcaris while his father did engineering stuff on the new KDY warships there. "I don't want another name."

Munin ate with him. When he wasn't shouting, he was actually a kind man, but he could never take Papa's place. "Starting over can be a good thing, Kal'ika. You can't change the past or other folks, but you can always change yourself, and that changes your future." [Order 66]

And what kid wouldn’t finally gave up after a year or so of such treatment? And yes, Munin comforted him and was kind, unless he was pushing 7 years old past the boy’s limits and insults to the point other Mandalorian asked if he was trying to kill the kid. And somehow, somehow Vau brutality always set Kal in the wrong way and not for the first time I wonder how much it was just Skirata’s empathy toward clones and how much his own trauma?)

And here comes the main point of my thesis. Arla Fett’s subplot had one of the greatest potential to explore but sadly, the opportunity, as with most subplots in regard to female characters, was brutally dumped. Because we could see the parallels between her and Jango by learning more about her life under (presumably) Tor Vizsla’s leadership or we could have an actual storyline dealing with survivor of traumatic events coming with terms with what happened (instead of the easy solution of “wipe out memory with Force” and marry her to another male character, when so many heroes of the story assumed she was repeadly raped and/or brutalized). Or actually make Arla Fett the die-hard Death Watch member who wanted to return to the only family she knew and had at this point in life. But above everything else, we could explore the parallels between Arla’s introduction to Death Watch AND Kal Skirata’s introduction into mandalorian life and maybe, just maybe finally got more objective view of Mandalorian culture, when people attempt murder or kill ‘cause they hate each other’s guts and there is no one out there to control it since everything revolve around “the law of stronger (clan)”, or how they take orphaned kids into their clans and don’t ask if said kids even want to be Mandalorians themselves (or, as Kal did to his biological sons, decided to make them soldiers at age of 8), they just put them for long-termed “assimilation” and even brutal training to the point Mandalorian Stockholm Syndrome kicks on good. How they don’t mind killing people for money or for their own (political?) goals. 

Because Death Watch and True Mandalorian may have different goals and approach to what they are and should be, but ultimately, they all came from the same culture and were shaped by the same traditions, faith, mindset. Going on how Death Watch are the worst scum but not presenting much to support this claim (as in, letting us see their POV instead of forcing us to rely solely what main heroes think) while praising Kal and his clan for doing similar stuff, just for “good reason” makes the overtone of the Mandalorian culture, the glorification so… hypocritical.

To be clear, Death Watch is a brutal and dangerous group with a specific mindset but all Mandalorians are brutal and dangerous to outsiders if it fits their goals. And I would like the books actually to examine the similarities and differences, to give us as much as possible objective view on Mandalorians and to actually use Arla Fett in meaningful way by expanding our knowledge about her and Jango’s past or generally about Tor and Jaster’s conflict or at least let her to heal and find peace without making a survivor of trauma another “wife” to make one of favorite boys a happy man.