#information vital to the survival of the rebellion { canon }

[empiresbane]

There is a point at which pacifism, while seeming good, can serve the Dark Side ... when pacifism becomes evil. If beings are capable of protecting others but refuse to take action to preserve their own sense of peace, they are being selfish. They place themselves and their sense of peace over the peace of others, and so they defend a philosophy instead of lives. In this way, they fail everyone.

Jedi Knight Ylenic It'kla

[darksunvibes]

The Case for Dark Sun

Dark Sun is a campaign setting for the Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying game beginning with 2E in 1991. Dark Sun sits amongst other settings such as The forgotten Realms, Eberron, Planescape, Spelljammer, and Greyhawk as a world or universe in which D&D campaigns might be set. 

The world of Dark Sun, called Athas, is a world where magic has ravaged the landscape, turning it into a barren desert dotted here and there by oppressive city-states. It deviated in many ways from both its contemporary settings and from epic fantasy as a whole and remains a beloved world for many. This break from the typical canon of D&D included things such as magic being rare and despised, many of the familiar races being changed or absent in the setting, and an emphasis on day to day survival over lofty goals of heroics or righteousness. We see evil Sorcerer-Kings ruling over an oppressed and enslaved populace in lavish, cruel cities. We see nomadic tribes wandering through a harsh wasteland filled with bizarre and vicious monsters, searching for water and shelter. We see ruins in the desert, symbols of a bygone age of peace and prosperity, destroyed long ago by wars and reckless sorcery. This setting represents a synthesis of design, visuals, mechanics, and themes that is unmatched by few if any other campaign settings for D&D. For these and reasons I will go into further, Dark Sun is the best campaign setting either TSR or Wizards of the Coast have ever produced.

Dark Sun came out of a period of D&D’s history where TSR were furiously producing campaign settings left, right, and centre. This period, 2E, lasted from 1989 to 1996, at which point TSR went bankrupt and sold D&D to Wizards of the Coast, of Magic the Gathering fame. During this period they produced such settings as Spelljammer, Dark Sun, Planescape, and Birthright, all of which pushed the boundaries of D&D in some way beyond the older heroic fantasy of Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Greyhawk. Many of these new settings were only modest successes, and TSR’s dilution of their brand with all of these conflicting products likely had a part in their downfall. However, before they fell they gave us intriguing, genre-bending, and in many ways inimitable campaign settings. Dark Sun is the best of these and as such has a large fan community to this day and has received some degree of support in both 3.5 and 4E.

Dark Sun was developed by Timothy B. Brown and Troy Denning and draws on the typical pulp-fantasy sources of D&D, like Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and to an extent, Moorcock’s Eternal Champions books. However it also draws on things such as Frank Herbert’s Dune, Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom series, incorporating Sci-Fi elements just as Spelljammer did. In terms of genre, Dark Sun might be described as belonging to Post-Apocalyptic, Dying Earth, Swords and Sorcery, Dark Fantasy, and even Science-Fiction. Gone are the mystical forests, noble knights, and sagacious wizards of almost every other campaign setting. In their place are hulking barbarians, callous rogues, desperate gladiators, and despised sorcerers practicing their arts in secret. With these concepts in place, the world of Athas is populated by cities and cultures inspired by a variety of peoples and empires from earth’s past. The Aztecs, Ptolemaic Egypt, and Hammurabi’s Babylon to name just a few. This helps to cement Athas as being more akin to the Asia and Northern Africa of antiquity rather than the nauseatingly familiar medieval Europe we’ve come to expect from D&D.

Dark Sun is notable for its pulp adventure art direction, spearheaded by Brom whose artwork can be found everywhere. A young artist at the time, his work inspired many of the monsters and creatures that appear in Dark Sun sourcebooks. While it is by no means unusual to see Dungeons and Dragons products accompanied by amazing artwork, Dark Sun stands out for the clarity of its vision. The pieces share similar designs and its products are easily identified at a glance. Brom’s work sets the product line well apart from anything else before or after. This ‘art-inspired’ design would never again be matched by any Dungeons and Dragons product, with only the Planescape line coming close.

The history and truth behind Athas’ present ruined state is kept deliberately unclear by both the designers  and powerful figures within the world itself. This leaves multiple interpretations of canon (at least in the original boxed set). Essentially, Athas has gone through at least three ages, typically referred to as the Blue Age, the Green Age, and the present Desert Age. The Blue Age was a world ruled by Halflings who lived on small islands amidst a vast ocean. These halflings had a great degree of control over nature and could grow almost everything they needed, making them masters of bioengineering. The Green Age was the period of Athasian history most resembling the standards of settings such as Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and Eberron, but leaned more heavily on Psionics than magic in its varied and verdant cultures. The Desert Age is the standard time of play and is a world controlled by a vengeful environment and the whims of tyrannical sorcerers. This final age is the one expected in typical play in the Dark Sun setting and is the world presented in most if not all the art and stories of the various Dark Sun product lines.

Like all good stories and worlds, Dark Sun has important messages built into it. These messages are evident everywhere in the world and its characters. Like Dune before it, Dark Sun has strong and deeply ingrained environmentalist messages. The world was once vibrant and lush, filled with a variety of lifeforms. Now the world is drained of all material resources, the vast grasslands and forests are almost completely gone, and the sea vanished, leaving only silt behind. The animals that remain are twisted, violent mutants, and the scattered plant-life is little better. This environmental collapse was not an accident and has been, at each stage, the result of irresponsible and reckless magic-use on the part of a sorcerous or naturemaster elite. The unfortunates of the Desert Age are, for the most part, innocent in this environmental degradation and simply have to endure the ruined world they were born into. Most only have a vague understanding that ‘sorcerers did it’, not fully understanding that their rulers, the Sorcerer-Kings are responsible for almost all of it.

Their origins are left vague in the original boxed set, Troy Denning and future product releases make it clear that the Sorcerer-Kings are the cause of most of the world’s destruction. These immortal psionicist/wizards ruined the world and then divided up the last oases amongst themselves, ruling the people that flocked there. The Sorcerer-Kings and their Templar priests are cold tyrants who brook no threat to their authority and violently suppress rebellions or even attempts to learn the truth about them. Many of these tyrants claim to be gods or ‘responsible sorcerers’ and blame others for the destruction that they themselves wrought. With the modern spectre of climate change looming and our leaders refusing to act or take responsibility for it, Dark Sun is more relevant than ever.

Dark Sun is infamous for tweaking, breaking, or outright removing typical elements of whichever D&D edition it exists in. Arcane magic draws life from the plants and even creatures around the caster, draining their vitality to fuel spells. Instead of magic being common and widespread it is rare and feared, in its place stands psionics; the Will and the Way. Due to the scarcity of metals such as iron and bronze, armour and weapons are typically made of salvaged components such as obsidian, stone, bone, or chitin. Dark Sun has a very minimalist cosmology compared to most other campaign settings with only really the Elemental planes having any real impact on the daily lives of most Athasians. Athas can’t be accessed from other worlds and there is no Heaven for Athasians’souls to go to after death.

Many of the recognisable races such as gnomes, orcs, and goblins are gone, replaced by strange new races like the half-dwarf Muls, the unnatural Half-Giants and the insectoid Thri-Kreen. Existing races are tweaked in large and small ways; Halflings are cannibals, elves care nothing for nature, and dwarves are completely hairless. All of this means that the typical adventuring party looks very different to what you might expect in other worlds. Instead of magic they employ psychic powers, instead of gleaming armour they wear ramshackle insect-shells, and instead of magic weapons they have obsidian axes. survival is more important than glory and clean water is worth more than all the gold in the world.

Psionicists use their mind to conjure strange effects, to control others, and to fight, and are everywhere. The plants and animals of Athas are almost all psychically sensitive in one way or another and this is in part due to the timing of the Complete Psionics Handbook’s publication aligning so closely with the Dark Sun product line’s beginning. As such, this focus on psychic rather than magic ability suffuses the setting and informs what kinds of characters exist there. Spell components are illicit and hard to come by, but any living person can focus their mind to create a psychic effect of some kind. Psionics has had a troubled time throughout DnD’s long history, having difficulty differentiating itself from magic and facing balancing and theming issues aplenty. Nonetheless, psionics is an engaging and essential part of the setting and any interpretation of Athas without it would be hollow.

Dark Sun doesn’t cater to the lowest common denominator by adhering to the heroic and epic fantasy of its contemporaries. It also sets itself apart by striving for uniqueness and pushing the boundaries of what people expect from a Dungeons and Dragons setting. It can be a difficult world to play in and exist in, what with its strange aesthetics and stranger rules.

However, its combination of groundbreaking world design, powerful artistic direction, and compelling lore make it a classic, and in my opinion, the greatest campaign setting ever produced by Wizards of the Coast or TSR.

[ilonga]

Got some Avatar Au Questions! So I'm assuming mustafar deviates significantly from canon, but how do obi-wan and anakin sort things out? How do obi-wan and Ahsoka escape palpatine's purge? When Anakin joins up with the rebellion, what is the reunion like for obi-wan, anakin, & Ahsoka? (The last one might be spoilery, so I completely understand if you do not want to elaborate on it)

oooh these are questions I’m super excited to answer!!

ok, to start with answering these questions, let’s first explain how Order 66 goes down in this au. 

As I already mentioned, Palpatine has some sort of team up/deal with Vaatu that allows him quite a bit of control over the spirits, and he’s been using this power to orchestrate the spirit attacks starting with Maul so long ago. As the years passed, Palpatine increased the spirit attacks and the destruction and death they caused, and used this to gain more power himself and, eventually, create an army to fight them. At the end of the AOTC-adjacent era, he, despite Padme’s fighting against it (”We have had peace with the spirits, respected them, for centuries--we must find out why they are attacking, not escalate the conflict!”), creates the Grand Army of the Four Nations to fight back against the spirits in the first Spirit War in centuries. He then conscripts nonbenders into the army and places members of Raava’s Order, benders, at the head of various battalions. 

When it comes time for Order 66, Palpatine orders the spirits to posses various nonbenders and has them attack their Generals/Commanders with intent to kill, taking most of them by surprise. Similar to canon, most of the benders are slaughtered while some manage to escape. A lot of the nonbenders are then killed/disposed of, so Palpatine doesn’t have many people who know the truth in the way (and also, he can claim that the benders killed them in their quest for power and turn the public against them even more). In addition, for benders not in battles/in the temple, Palpatine sends the Inquisitors, firebenders that he’s kidnapped and trained in secret over the years. 

Ahsoka in this au (an airbender) is a bit like Jinora from Legend of Korra; she has a strong spiritual connection and connection to the spirit world. Because of this, she’s able to save herself and Obi-wan, and save some of the nonbenders from the spirits’ possession, such as Rex and some others. In the chaos, they get separated and don’t really have time to figure out what just happened, but they both know, to an extent, that Palpatine is behind this, and that most of Raava’s Order has just been slaughtered.

Then, Obi-wan learns that Anakin killed the avatar (Shaak Ti).  

He’s betrayed, and confused, and furious, and in complete shock. He’s also mentally not in a great place; he’s just seen his friends and comrades slaughtered in cold blood. He thinks that Anakin was in on the plan to wipe them out completely (Anakin, meanwhile, doesn’t know about Order 66 and doesn’t learn about it until he wakes up after the Mustafar-adjacent battle), and had been working with Palpatine (because why else would Anakin kill Shaak Ti? How could Anakin kill Shaak Ti?). 

So he goes to confront Anakin, and in a bit of a reverse of canon, Obi-wan’s the one who’s angry and on the offensive here, and initiates the fight. It’s worth noting that Anakin’s also not in a great place mentally; aside from having just killed the Avatar, he thinks his wife and unborn children were murdered because of the Order and that the Order he’s spent years fighting for has just been trying to gain power and suppress nonbenders all along (Pong Krell, anyone?). When Obi-wan attacks him, the conclusion he draws is “Oh no, he was in on the conspiracy too. He was in on the thing with Padme too.” because why else would Obi-wan be attacking him so viciously out of nowhere? So now they’re both sure they’ve been betrayed by the other, and they’re fighting. Usually, in a fight between benders, there’s some tradition, some honor. The swords, a big part of duels according to the traditions of the Order, are used. In this fight, none of that is used. Obi-wan forgoes them entirely; it’s a very much “how could you”, emotional, blunt force, unrefined kind of fight. Obi-wan blasts water, shards of ice, waves at Anakin, Anakin dodges, responds in turn with spurts and jets of fire. Both know each other’s techniques inside and out, obviously; it’s a very even fight. At one point Obi-wan yells something adjacent to his “you were my brother” line in canon, a “how could you betray me, us, like this?”, or a “how could you?”, smthing like that, and Anakin has a split second of distraction because what is Obi-wan talking about? What happened to the Order? 

Obi-wan takes advantage of this distraction and his next hit knocks Anakin unconscious; he then freezes Anakin in a massive block of ice. He flees, then, it all being too overwhelming. He can’t bring himself to strike any kind of killing blow. He doesn’t know, then or later, if he left Anakin there hoping he would die or hoping he would survive. Years pass and Obi-wan seriously regrets the fight, especially regrets that he never found out why Anakin sided with Palpatine, or killed Shaak Ti. He realizes that there must have been something he didn’t know, and wishes he hadn’t attacked him so rashly and had at least gotten answers.

As for Anakin, Palpatine’s lackeys find him hours or maybe even days after the fight, and get him out of the ice. The time spent in the ice leaves him with frostbite and he ends up having to get three limbs amputated (his right arm and both legs). It also leaves him with permanent tremors. He gets prosthetics, which he can power with a low level-lightning type technique, and armor and a helmet, which Palpatine forces him to wear. He’s forced to wear the armor for a couple reasons; to hide his identity as a former member of Raava’s Order and a beloved hero, to hide the tremors, which Palpatine views as a sign of visible weakness, and because Palpatine enjoys the feeling of owning Anakin and the armor is a way to mark that.

Anakin physically joining the Rebellion happens right after he tries to sacrifice himself in Palpatine’s throne room so that Luke can escape, and though he manages to take out all of the guards/inquisitors and hold off Palpatine for some time, he gets blasted with a hell of a lot of lightning and fully expects to die right there. Luke goes into the Avatar state and gets them both out, and is able to do enough healing so that Anakin survives the encounter. He gets them to the Rebellion and basically? Begs Obi-wan to heal Anakin. 

“I know he’s Vader, I know what he’s done to you, to the Order, but he sacrificed himself to rescue me and he’s dying, you have to help him--”

Obi-wan, of course, does, and has been living with his regrets and missing his little brother for so long that he probably would have done it without the begging anyways, at the very least so he can finally get answers from Anakin.

So Anakin is being slowly but surely healed by Obi-wan (it probably takes him months to recover tbh), and there’s plenty of angst because Obi-wan sees the extent of the injuries he caused and guilt, and because the first time Anakin wakes up--

Well, Anakin fully expected to die, right? And now he’s not dead which makes no sense, he was ready to die (and he wakes up and he thinks, even if I’m not dead now, I’ll be dead soon enough--either the lightning will do me in or Obi-wan will, if he had any sense he’d kill me--obviously he’s not mentally in a great place but being tortured and manipulated and slowly fighting back against the Firelord for years will do that to you), but it’s also good because he’s been Blue Spirit, a double agent, for years ever since Luke revealed himself to Anakin, and this means he has a chance to give the vital information he has on the Empire’s attack plans, ship schematics, etc. 

So the first time he wakes up, when he can finally get his eyes to focus, he gets Obi-wan’s attention and basically starts babbling about attack plans, schematics, weaknesses, etc etc. And Obi-wan’s like “no, wait, you’re still weak, you need to recover, go back to sleep--” and Anakin’s like “no time, you need this information before I die--” and a stressful time is had by all. The next time he wakes up, he’s a bit less all over the place and it slowly starts to sink in that he is going to survive after all, so the urgency dies down a bit. Obi-wan gets the full story of how Palpatine manipulated him, what happened that night, etc, and Anakin gets the full story of what exactly happened during Order 66, what actually happened to Padme, what happened to his kid (kids, he has two--major shock is had). Ahsoka is the one to tell him that Palpatine was controlling the spirits all along. 

He’s surprised, of course, but also somewhat resigned. The grandfatherly veneer of Palpatine has fallen further and further away as the years have passed and his true nature has been clearer and clearer; Anakin has known for a long time that Palpatine is not the good guy (hence his personal rebellion).

Ahsoka, like in canon, manages most of the intelligence networks of the Rebellion in this au. So she’s been getting and processing Blue Spirit’s messages for years, and when she realizes it’s Anakin--well, lots of emotions all around.

Obi-wan and Anakin do mend their relationship, as do Anakin and Ahsoka. Some of the kids Anakin saved over the years are at the Rebellion and recognize him--this also helps things along. And his information as Blue Spirit has saved many lives. 

Obi-wan has been Luke’s waterbending teacher for a while, and Ahsoka has been his airbending/spirit world teacher, so eventually Anakin does take his place as Luke’s (and Leia’s!) firebending teacher.

Thanks for these asks and sorry for making the response so long!! Honestly I think I’ve been hoping for these questions, I’ve been wanting to talk about how this goes down forever :) 

shorter summary: Obi-wan encounters Anakin just after Order 66 occurred and Anakin’s killed Shaak Ti. Believing Anakin to have been in on Palpatine’s plan all along and having betrayed them all, he attacks and initiates the fight in something of a reverse of canon. Anakin, seeing Obi-wan attacking him, comes to the conclusion that Obi-wan must have been part of the Order’s conspiracy (that Palpatine has convinced him of), which he would have never believed of him but why else would Obi-wan be attacking him like this? Neither of them are in a particularly good state of mind or particularly mentally sound during the fight. Obi-wan knocks him out and freezes him in ice, then flees. Palpatine finds Anakin a sizable amount of time later, and Anakin is left with three amputated limbs (which he gets prosthetics for) and permanent tremors (which the Vader armor hides). 

Obi-wan and Ahsoa escape the purge because Ahsoka has a spiritual connection akin to Jinora’s in LOK, and is able to purge the spirits from some of the army such as Rex. In the chaos, the two are separated.

Obi-wan and Anakin reunite first, when Luke brings Anakin back to the Rebellion severely injured from the confrontation with Palpatine. He begs Obi-wan to heal him and Obi-wan agrees. It takes some time for Anakin to move past the fact that he’s not dead, but eventually, he and Obi-wan communicate, they both get the full story of what happened twenty years ago, and their relationship starts to mend. It’s faster once Obi-wan and the Rebellion realize that Darth Vader and Blue Spirit (the Imperial double agent whose information had saved so many) are one and the same. Same with Ahsoka, although it’s a quicker fix for her and Anakin’s relationship since she only found out about his actions secondhand, from Obi-wan, and it makes so much more sense once he gets his side of the story, and because she’s the one who’s been processing his info as Blue Spirit. 

hope you liked!!

[undignifiend]

Trollhunters Fanfic AU idea: Heartstone Sun

A stupidly long ramble about themes I’m obsessed with. Warnings: mentions of people getting eaten, other horror elements, redemption speculation, and pontificating about hatred, dehumanizing propaganda, and the cycle of abuse (and an idea of how to break those three things). I’d love to write this if I can figure out how to do it justice, but that may take a while. Criticism is welcome; I can’t hone an idea to proper sharpness if I don’t see its dull spots.

What if the sun is actually a Heartstone - like The Great Gramma of all Heartstones (in this solar system, at least)? And was placed under an enchantment/curse by a prehistoric human coven that Had Enough because trolls outclassed humans in pretty much every arena, and people were getting eaten with impunity by extremely durable apex predators that laughed at their sticks and slings and fire? It's not like trolls really needed to eat humans - these mofos were powered by the sun (and could probably do crazy magic with all that excess power, to boot) - they just like how we taste.

Though perhaps humans also have a knack for passively absorbing Hearstone energies, and that's what they used to essentially poison the Heartstone against Trollkind? And that same passive absorption is why humans make good supplements for trolls who don't have a Heartstone to rely on, as shown in the comics? Since trolls couldn't gain Heartstone energy directly from the sun during the night, if they were injured and/or had a hankering, they'd have to eat creatures that still could. So maybe trolls tended to mostly eat people at night back then when they needed a quick boost because they couldn't get sunlight? And perhaps this contributed toward a more intense, visceral fear of the dark in humanity's evolution - like our common fear of the dark, but on steroids?

Gunmar's comment about "They try to make the night brighter. They fear the darkness," not only speaks to real human fears of the dark, but a mentality that was essentially beaten into Pleistocene-Era humans by impossibly strong and scary opponents (though I love the idea of some troll groups teaming up with humans and having various mutually-beneficial symbiotic shenanigans).

You could see all manner of behavioral, instinctive differences in these humans based on that. From a death-like, numbing paralysis intended to spare them the agony of their last moments, to an overwhelming itch to hide when it grows dark, to a need to sleep in groups for protection, etc... I imagine most beds in most cultures would be in hidden places within a house. Some cultures might even develop "false bedrooms" as traditional parts of their home to trick trolls or evil spirits that are more inclined to hunt with stealth.

This is partly inspired from a weird experience I had one night where I got this sudden, intense fear, and I've never experienced it since, and I still can't figure out what caused it. But some part of me felt a hostile presence in the woods by the house, and I knew it was far too powerful to fight, and I had the overwhelming urge to shut off all the lights, quiet everything that was making noise, and huddle in a closet until whatever it was passed. "Don't let it know you're here," kept playing in my head. I imagine being a human in this AU, especially in the Bad Old Days, would feel a lot like that.

After the Sun Curse (but before humanity regards trolls as myth), I imagine a common survival rule would be: Travel by day (when trolls can't, or at least have a harder time of it), and hide by night (so you don't run into them; if they find you, make them work for it, don't give yourself away).

Humans in this AU love to fancy themselves apex predators not simply as a power trip, but a denial of their true position in the food chain as prey. They can lie to themselves all they like, but their instincts remember and know better.

So to give humanity a fighting chance, this prehistoric coven developed a powerful spell to make the sun toxic to trolls, which would allow humans safety under the sun, which until then, had been a main source of power and sustenance for trollkind.

As an unforeseen catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, much of trollkind's lore at the time was lost as they scrambled to deal with this development. Their cultures had to adapt, and new lore and methods of dealing with this catastrophe overtook lost histories (mostly verbal at the time). There was very little evidence left of how the sun was cursed, or that humans were behind it - the coven responsible did their utmost to destroy any sign or record of what they did, knowing that such information would rally trollkind against humankind. And even if trolls were weakened without their most sacred life source, they were still a dangerous enough threat that, if they could cooperate with each other, they'd surely wipe humanity out.

They almost succeeded in destroying all knowledge of it, but a certain tribe connected to a certain Heartstone found out, and their resulting fury at this act of desecration gave rise to Gunmar the Black.

This curse would be a deep source of anger and resentment at humanity for having stolen not only trollkind's ability to roam freely on their own world (which they were the dominant species on), but for poisoning a vital and sacred life-source. This is what Gunmar would be talking about when he talks about 'taking back the surface lands'. It's not just propaganda to him, it's his peoples' birthright, and it was stolen from them, and he emerged to set it right. This coven may have acted out of self-defense, but what they did was an unforgivable act of desecration. Gunmar and his Gumm-Gumms would still see it that way, but over time, as humanity loses their knowledge of trolls and turns their attentions toward each other, the rest of trollkind moves on and adapts and forgets their hatred, or their history of having once owned the world. The Gumm-Gumms are still angry about an ancient injustice, and the rest of trollkind, now believing themselves to have always lived underground, sees this 'take back the surface lands' talk as warmongering propaganda against a group that is seen as relatively ridiculous and tasty, but now off-limits depending on who follows the Pact.

While on that note, I imagine Gunmar would find the Pact outrageous and absurd. Humanity has no end to hold up in return, it's basically a heavy restriction on trolls who have already had so much taken from them. It's adding insult to injury, and that any troll would agree to it galls him to no end.

Before the curse, trolls ate fleshlings because we taste good and are satisfying sources of indirect Heartstone energy. Now, Gumm-Gumms also eat humans as an act of rebellion and punishment for what their ancestors did.

CHARACTER PROFILES:

JIM

I love Jim. But I think I'm going to handle him a bit differently in this AU than how he is in canon because I see an opportunity to say something important and relevant to a possible theme of this AU, and I'm not sure canon Jim would really be up for that.

I love the warm, nurturing, gentle side of Jim, and how he likes taking care of his friends. I love how he loves cooking for them, which is the quintessential nurturing act. I love how protective he is of his friends and his mom, and how even though he has made mistakes, he makes those mistakes with protective intentions. His heart's in the right place. This is the side of Jim who looks at Rule #2: Always Finish the Fight, and says "No," and spares Draal's life, and takes care of Chompsky instead of 'taking care of him', and risks precious time to go back for Nomura. This is the Jim I love, and the side of him I want to focus on in this AU.

And that side of him (it seems to me) clashes rather loudly with the other side of him that refuses to apply Rule #1 to Strickler in favor of rebellious mouthing-off, and treats the deaths of his enemies with sassy quips.

With regards to my attitude about that last part, I blame Faramir from Lord of the Rings. His brief monologue about 'the enemy' was formative for me. He fought to protect his people, and in doing so, he had to kill other people. And he didn’t hide from that fact. He had the strength and honesty to both do what he had to do, and to acknowledge that tragedy. He didn't try to diminish their deaths, and I cannot stress enough how important that is to me to see in a protagonist. So in this idea, Jim can be sassy in some cases, and he will kill if he believes he has to, but #2 is a last resort, and when it comes to that, he won't lie to himself or diminish what has happened.

Seeing someone as an obstacle or problem is a crucial step in making it easy to hurt or kill them, and it's one of the goals of particularly dangerous forms of propaganda: dehumanize the enemy. It's a perspective shift that makes fighting easier, but I believe it's one of the very worst lies we can ever tell ourselves or each other.

Acknowledging someone as a person, and not an obstacle or a problem, is (potentially) a powerful way to break the perception that you yourself are an obstacle or problem. If you want a chance to see someone’s relatability/"humanity", you first have to show yours. And they won’t always see it, and even if they do, they won’t always care – you might be hurt or killed anyway. But I think this re-framing is a crucial step in non-violent conflict resolution (in particularly intense cases). It’s risky as hell, so it’s not very popular, but when successful, it broadens perspectives and opens new paths in their minds. And I think that's a powerful and worthy theme; one that Jim could champion. A better way to Finish The Fight.

GUNMAR

In this AU, Gunmar has plans that stretch far beyond the Eternal Night (which, in this AU, would instead be a cure for the curse). From his perspective, he's trying to piece the world back together after several Apocalyptic-Grade Disasters. He's bitter and stressed, but he has stayed tenacious and ambitious despite millennia of warfare, failure, and being forgotten by the vast majority of the world while trapped in the Darklands. He's trying to lead his people out of a bad situation and restore their birthright, and he's annoyed and angry with the significant number of trolls who accept the current status quo when they could have so much more.

Because Gunmar emerged from a corrupted Heartstone and doesn't seem to have parents (perhaps no tribe/clan/colony? I love the extra-spooky supernatural vibe it grants him) I like the idea of him wanting his own tribe. He had a son whom he seemed to care for, and their regard for each other was the one and only thing in canon (in my mind) that elevated Gunmar. I'd like to capitalize on that in this AU. Gunmar was born tribeless, as a symbol of trollkind's general animosity toward humanity, but he obviously doesn't want to stay tribeless. He wants to establish his own line; he wants to create a future for his descendants to thrive in. His ultimate goal isn't so much about putting humans in their place as it is about giving his own people the prosperous future he thinks they deserve. To those who follow him, he's not their tyrant; he's their hero. His aggression is largely directed at humanity, but his goals are NOT human-centric after all.

Gunmar’s backstory (in canon) fascinates me. He was born from a Heartstone that had been transformed by the trollish population’s animosity toward humankind. I think this was supposed to reflect the classic Evil Corruption you see in a lot of fantasy, and leans on a kind of Victorian notion of "bad breeding" and the idea that because he emerged from evil conditions, he is evil by nature. But I think it’s more interesting to look at it as a wound, because that gives his anger a sharper sense of purpose that I think it otherwise lacks. Gunmar manifested from a rift between two populations, and has used the hatred that formed that wound to try and heal it – by taking the surface world and devouring the impudent humans who stole it. The method of devouring them didn’t simply develop because we taste good – it’s also a punishment, born of that same hatred, that says: “You thought you were better, but you are lesser. You wanted a vaunted place for yourself at great cost to us, but your true place is as nothing more than our food. This is what you deserve for trying to shut me and my kind out of our own world, and poisoning something sacred against us.” (referencing the curse on the Heartstone Sun, not the Killahead Banishment, which would come much later).

That may seem to him like a perfectly reasonable way to fix what he sees himself as (both literally and symbolically) born to fix. But even if all his dreams were to come true, that hatred would persist throughout the myriad abuses he would inflict upon humanity (if he’d bother to keep us around as livestock and/or slaves), and long outlast the last of the human population. It would linger, it would continue to fester, and it would be poised to be unleashed upon whatever other sufficiently threatening group crosses trollkind next. After all, that method ‘worked’ on humanity.

But you don’t quench hatred or fix abuse by indulging it. You fix it by learning (and accepting) the truth: no one is a mere obstacle, object, problem, or hated symbol. You did not deserve the abuses you suffered, but re-creating them and re-living them will not put you in control of them or absolve you in any way. (Though the temporary illusion of control may become addictive, it will remain fleeting and false). Abuse, if you let it define you, begets abuse. If Gunmar had achieved all his goals, sooner or later, he’d see his own reflection in a human born of the horrors he inflicted, and of the hatred humanity would have for him and his kind. This human would not see trollkind as anything other than a problem that they were born to solve, just as Gunmar sees humankind. But this would not surprise him at all, because that’s how Gunmar already thinks humans see trollkind. It’s easy to hate someone if you think they hate you. And it would not matter who would win that conflict, because the hatred and abuse would survive to be re-created and re-lived and inflicted on whoever the winner meets next. Nothing would be learned, and no one would heal.

I don’t know what would show Gunmar the truth, much less in a way that would matter to him. But in keeping with Jim's best tendencies in avoiding Rule #2, I think it's necessary for Jim to make the attempt in this AU. Whether or not this would result in Gunmar getting a redemption arc doesn't exactly matter - this is really about Jim's efforts to be the best guardian he can be for two interlinked worlds with a lot of bad blood between them, and I want to do those efforts justice. I don't currently know how, but I have some idea of where to start.

I think two key parts of non-violent conflict resolution are convincing the other party that 1) you care about the same thing they do, and 2) you either can make it easier to achieve, you see a better path to achieving it, or you may be able to improve the final outcome beyond what they originally thought or hoped was possible.

In this case, the goal for both sides is to heal that ancient wound between trollkind and humankind. It’s the plan that everybody disagrees about. Protagonists and antagonists (often, but not always) both ultimately want the same thing – they just disagree about what that’s supposed to look like, or how to achieve it.

Currently, I think that to truly heal, trolls and humans have to come to terms with each other. This is no small undertaking - it would change the world irrevocably - and might never be fully achieved, even after centuries of dedicated work on both sides. A healthy relationship (regardless of it’s nature) isn’t something you achieve and consider Done; it’s dynamic, it’s lived, it requires constant attention and respect, and the acknowledgment that it may change irrevocably as life throws its weird curve-balls. Most of all, it requires a dedicated effort to understand the other person. The surest way to kill a positive relationship is to allow oneself, during times of hardship, to slip into the mindset of seeing that person as an obstacle, problem, or symbol, rather than continue the effort of trying to understand them or why they’re acting difficult. And that’s just taking failing positive relationships into account. Consider all the hardship that comes from starting from a mindset of seeing people as obstacles or problems, and you could see hate-crimes between the populations. Now consider how many trolls and humans may interact with each other as they try to move forward together, and you can get some idea of how easily everything can fall apart, back into the same attitudes that led to the same wound that Gunmar manifested from.

And that’s not even touching on how trolls would have to watch their strength and their tempers around delicate little humans (even the ornery ones), and how humans would have to put a certain amount of trust, patience, and good faith in a group that was, in the past, known for eating them (and that still thinks they taste delicious). It will be easier for some than for others, but for those others, it may feel impossible.

I’m not saying it can’t be done. I believe it’s necessary and worthwhile. But I also believe it’s important to not downplay how difficult it would be. It would be stressful, it would come with times of crisis and doubt, and some might give up entirely, and it would be up to the rest to persevere despite the inevitable tragic incidents; to be brave, and not take such incidents as proof that peace is impossible. “Fear (if you don’t let it rule you) is but the precursor to valor.”

There would be hate-crimes (committed by both sides) between the groups. And there would be heroes (from both sides) rushing in to stop them. And there would also be vigils, gatherings of both humans and trolls, in honor of the victims who couldn’t be saved in time, and in solidarity, in honor of the peace they’re working for together. And I think, in that act of mourning and solidarity, therein lies their victory.

Love and grief are some of the most powerful, relatable (rather than ‘humanizing’ which is an embarrassingly ironic and limited word, especially in this context) emotions out there. And I think it’s that relatability that has the power to reveal people as more than obstacles or problems.

I doubt witnessing it would cause every Gumm-Gumm to reconsider their stance on humanity, much less Gunmar himself, but it could be a little step toward a better path; a seed of doubt – a check to keep them honest when they try to tell themselves tales of what humans and troll ‘traitors’ want, or deserve.

Another thing I imagine might challenge Gunmar’s perceptions has to do with the Decimaar blade. At first, I wasn’t sure what it’s supposed to symbolize in the show other than as an explanation for why anyone would follow someone so careless with their lives. It would also explain why no one assassinated him while he was weakened and starving in the Darklands. (Curiously, no one else seemed to be starving, and I’m not sure what to make of that. I think I missed something important.)

At first, I thought the Decimaar blade symbolized the ultimate hatred/abuse: it enslaves, it wipes out its victims' identities; it turns people into objects to be used by their master, and obstacles to be rid of by their enemies. There’s no loyalty involved, no sacrifice – nothing of meaning that is gained from willing service is preserved. It is simply the use of others – abuse made manifest. In that, I saw the Decimaar blade as an extension of Gunmar himself; a symptom of the conditions of his birth. The cruel irony here was that he had the power to turn his own people into the exact, flat, threatening (obstacles/problems) monsters humanity expected them to be. So from this, Gunmar wasn’t just born from trollkind’s hatred, but humanity’s, too. And just like with abuse un-dealt with, un-treated, he perpetuates it.

And then I learned that the Decimaar blade was won from Orlagk, so there goes that idea. Or at least the part of it being a part of Gunmar. But somehow now, I feel that helps it fit even better; I don’t currently think the Cycle of Abuse starts with Nature (in the whole Nurture vs Nature argument). I currently think abuse (in all it’s myriad forms, intentional or not) is inherited. Gunmar may have emerged from hateful conditions, and he may have inherited a direct metaphor for coercive abuse, and he may pass it on, but it’s not truly a part of him. Therein lies a little glimmer of hope that he might eventually see it for what it is - what it's doing to him and his people (who he was born to protect and provide for as a leader) - and reject Decimaar not only as a weapon, but as a way of thinking.

I'm a sucker for redemption arcs. I'm not sure I can give Gunmar one, or if I should even try. But I think in this, Jim has to make the effort to try to understand Gunmar and what he wants, and to convince him that there is a better way. Whether this version of Gunmar (eventually - I imagine it wouldn't come easy if it happens at all) takes him up on it or not, I don't know.

IF I go for it, though, I want to do it justice. Redemption is not about forgiveness or acquittal. Redemption is about climbing, no matter how far you’ve fallen, and even if you can never reach the top, you can still try to give others a boost along the way. Redemption (just like a relationship) isn’t achieved; it’s lived. And it doesn't necessarily mean joining the Good Guys. You won't see Gunmar Reformed agonizing about all the blood (human and trollish) he has spilled, or asking "Haven't I redeemed myself?" Gunmar Reformed (at least the way I'd hope to write him) may still have a great deal of contempt for humans in general, but he has learned enough about them that he can no longer see them in simplistic terms. He may privately think on What Could Have Been had he changed his perspective sooner, but he doesn't have the time or patience to dwell on regrets - the world is still hecked up, and he still has work to do (although the nature of that work has changed dramatically). I imagine if Gunmar changes his plans, he'll chase his new objectives his own way. The Trollhunters might have occasional, tenuous, scary, and unpredictable alliances with him when their goals align, but it might be a stretch to call them allies - a lot has happened, both sides are still angry with each other, but they've come to an understanding and have a degree of mutual respect, and can demonstrate enough good faith in one another to surprise each other. Gunmar will still have all his old ferocity, he'll just be channeling it in a new direction.

[absolxguardian]

Rey Palpatine Theory

Now the problem with a lot of Rey parentage theories is they can’t present a good reason why she would be on Jakku of all places. You know, the site of a battle and really just a really bad dead-end planet, worse than Tatooine, and even then Luke was left in the care of his aunt and uncle, not a scrapper like Unkar.

Well, there is one theory that answers that, and even hinges on it. Rey Palpatine. All because of Palpatine’s contingency plan.

So for those of you who don’t know Palpatine’s contingency plan, it is in the case of his and Vader’s death:

However, one thing is off about this plan. Palpatine believed in a Sith Empire as much as he believed in a Galactic Empire and well, Rax wasn’t force sensitive.

A scorched earth policy on several planets, called operation Cinder(you might know that from Battlefront 2)

A series of tests to gather the best and most loyal remaining members of empire led by an orphan on Jakku Palpatine groomed named Gallius Rax.

After choosing who is worthy out of the empire that failed their emperor, as much of the empire as possible should make a final stand on Jakku, an out of the way planet with a building called The Observatory on it. (There were several, but this one was important for the contingency)  This building contained information about paths through the unknown regions and presumably instructions for creating the first order.

However, one thing is off about this plan. Palpatine believed in a Sith Empire as much as he believed in a Galactic Empire and well, Rax wasn’t force sensitive.

But what if there was a reason? What if Rax wasn’t his only heir? What if the Jakku Observatory contained more than unknown regions maps, a replica of the emperor’s yacht, and a Sith thingie to blow up Jakku. A child, created by the force, to be the heir of the Sith Empire.

The thing is, the contingency plan didn’t fully work. Rax was killed by Rae Sloane and she was the one who led the first order. And she didn’t know the whole plan. What if part of the plan was that there was a child, grown part through cloning tech, genetic manipulation, and force/Sith magic? Galius has hidden information in his POV before, so it makes sense to hide the existence of a Sith heir from the reader. But how did Rey come into the possession of Unkar? Well, there were most likely many or at least a few stormtroopers and other low ranking imperials who survived Jakku and stopped fighting. Not every imperial was a zealot. We already saw this in the Poe Dameron comic with Terex and Corlac. And with both Ciena and Admiral Veriso calling an evacuation of their ships before crashing it, many escape pods could have landed all over Jakku. And that’s only counting the ships we know had time for people to get to. And that’s who Rey’s “parents” are. They could have come from the Inflictor somewhere else, been stormtroopers or officers. That part doesn’t matter. What matters is that they shed their allegiance to the empire, were desperate, and were left on Jakku after the battle. Or they could have even been people who were already stranded on Jakku. Whomever they are, all that matters, is that years after the battle they found the Observatory.

And there they found Rey in stasis. They released her and since the child had no memories but a blank developed mind, she naturally bonded to her rescuers. Eventually, they reached Niima outpost and met Unkar. Desperate to get off planet, they traded their “child” and possibly some relics from the observatory to get off planet.*

Sounds a bit far-fetched? Well, if we use the criteria from MatPat’s Rey parents theory, I can answer each of them, most importantly the left on Jakku part. Those criteria were:

1. British/Core World accent 2. Strong connection to the force 3. Luke/Anakin’s lightsaber calling to her 4. Good piloting skills 5. Left on Jakku as a child 6. Thematic meaning/“It’s like poetry, it rhymes” In addition, I will also apply my theory to a few key scenes:

Kylo’s reaction when he first hears of her Rey’s flashback Kylo’s “you still want to kill me?” line Rey’s ability to use a mind trick untrained The Leia-Rey hug Some lines from trailers The Chosen One Prophecy 

So let’s begin. First the core world accent. A lot of people have used this as evidence for Rey Kenobi, however, accents are barely genetic. And a lot of people including Phasma and probably Tarkin changed their accents to seem more respected and from a core world(rather than post-apocalyptic and outer rim)

MatPat’s point about her picking it up from Unkar stands, but if the first words Rey heard were imperials, who odds are adopted core accents, that could also explain how she picked it up. And strong connection to the force? Palpatine would have made his clone-child extremely powerful with the force, as powerful as he could make her. So that’s pretty much covered. Also, her main displays of force powers were from the dark side. The pushing back on Kylo’s mental connection and use of a mind trick were both motivated by fear. Being able to hold her own against Kylo could be the force assisting her via the dark side. And as we saw from Ezra in season 1 of Rebels, the dark side is much easier to call on than the light. As for Anakin’s lightsaber calling for her, that doesn’t even have to do with familiar relation. The inquisitor’s kybers called to Ashoka and they most certainly aren’t related. And a green kyber crystal called to a random Tusken Raider when she was asked to steal it from the Jawa’s that sold R2. That was a really weird story and I wonder if it was setting something up, but it doesn’t matter. It’s canon. The kyber crystal in the saber or the force in general was calling Rey. Because it chose her. Because kyber crystals are basically wands from Harry Potter. And her piloting skills? That could easily be explained by a combination of force boosted instincts/reaction time and well, practice. She did know all of that stuff from using an old flight simulator. And the point about piloting skills could be used just as well to make her the child of Thane as it points to Han or Luke on its own. There’s a lot of really exceptional pilots in the galaxy. As for being left on Jakku, I guess I should explain the timeline better. According to the TFA script, she is 19 in 34 ABY(when the movie takes place). And she looks to be about 4 during the flashback scene of her being left with Unkar. At first, that doesn’t seem to add up, but Palpatine would have set his child into a non-aging stasis after they reached a reasonable age for starting dark side training and feeling into the Unknown Regions. If the Empire survived much longer than it did, the contingency plan using an adult with no memories would be weird. Heck, after reaching 4, she could have been moved to carbonite (do people age in carbonite? I’m not sure if that’s been answered. It’s not important). Terex and Corlac seem to have been on Jakku for a while, so Rey’s “parents” could also have, surviving as scavengers before finding the Observatory. This would also give enough time for the scavenging economy to get properly set up, as Niima Outpost was only founded after the battle of Jakku. 11 years would have been enough time that a low-quality ship from Unkar could actually be purchased. And for thematic meaning. Well, we got that down. We got Kylo, the child of two rebellion war heroes, trained as a Jedi having turned to the dark side. And we have a child, who grew up in a situation even worse than Anakin, who was literally created to be the next emperor who chose the light. This would fit with Star War’s strong themes of personal choice and growing beyond heritage. It would also fit with the newer themes of the force not being so black and white. And without the Aftermath series, Rey’s parentage could easily be explained as “Palpatine had a contingency plan that ended with a final battle on Jakku. The man the emperor choose to lead the soon to be first order died on Jakku and so the plan couldn’t probably be carried out. That including retreating to the unknown regions with a clone-child created by the force who would be raised to be the next emperor.” And for readers of Aftermath, it would strengthen already existing parallels. Those between Rey and Gallius Rax. We got Rax, who even before being groomed by Palpatine was very cruel and did what he had to for survival on Jakku. And then Rey, who is basically the child of evil, who remained kind in a cruel environment. And then both of them ended up on ships off Jakku and were found by their original owners (Han and Palpatine). Upon finding the orphans, both owners preformed mentor like roles. The ships also brought them into the organization they would become a vital member of. Rey also didn’t want to leave Jakku, while that was one of Rax’s only wishes. And for Rax, well the desert planet became his grave. Now that we got all of those points squared away, what about those scenes I promised to explain? Alright, let’s start with when Kylo first finds out about Rey. As MatPat pointed out, his reaction is much too violent for having never heard of Rey. Well since Palpatine was in magic sith force communication to what we can assume to be Snoke, it is possible Snoke knew of the contingency plan, including of Rey.

Later when Kylo joined the First Order, he would have been informed of the failure to properly carry out the plan. Of course as far as they knew, Rey would still be stuck in the Observatory in stasis and not worth extracting. As for Rey’s flashback, a lot of the scenes she saw would have came from the force or from reading the history of the object, but even that is indicative of powerful force abilities. However, the scene we know is either memory brought to the surface or unlocked by the sequence is when Rey has just been sold to Unkar in exchange for a ship, the very one we see flying off. The imperials would have been the only humanoids and comfort she would have known at this point, explaining her reaction to being abandoned even if they were ambivalent to her. The reason Rey thinks they are her parents is because that was probably the lie they told Unkar to explain where they obtained a literal child, or what Unkar told her. To the scrapper, they seemed as people so desperate to leave after the battle, they would sell their child.   As for Kylo’s line “you still want to kill me” witch MatPat took to mean Kylo knew Rey from before, there’s another way to read this line that supports my theory. The “still” part refers to their encounter on Takodona, when Rey tried to shoot him. Because he knows or suspects Rey is Palpatine’s heir he expects it to be easy to turn her to the dark side. This is also why he says she needs a teacher, because he sees her as similar to him, the descendant of a Sith Lord. As for the mind trick, my other points about Rey’s artificially created power stands, but I feel like I should specifically address this. Palpatine was extremely adept with mind tricks. In Lords of the Sith, he manages to control a Twi'lek child so well she would stand there as Palpatine and Vader argued over killing her, their lightsabers in front of her face. This pales in comparison to the suggestion Rey manages to pull of in a moment of extreme stress and fear. And since Rey was only supposed to be awakened after his death, the emperor wouldn’t mind making her more powerful than him if she was fully trained. As for the Rey Leia hug, I don’t have that good of an explanation, but neither do Rey Solo-Organa theorists. You’re not going to be able to recognize someone you only knew as a child a minimum of 20 years ago as a child. All I could think of is that since Leia’s untrained force skill (Ashoka book tells us every untrained force sensitive has one skill their sensitivity manifests as) is sensing (sensed Luke hanging from cloud city and Han’s death) is that she could sense the dark side coming off of Rey and from knowing Chewie isn’t a fan of being comforted, she decided that Rey was the one who need comforting. And the aura of darkness coming from Rey would be part her predisposition and part the anger and rage towards Kylo for killing Han and possibly Finn. Ok now how about some lines from the trailers? Well first we got Luke’s “I’ve see this raw strength only once before” line is most likely about Kylo, however it is referring to Rey because she’s so damn strong with the force. Don’t forget the trailer has a scene where she cracks open the ground, to Luke’s shock and horror. As for Snoke saying “Fulfil your destiny” that’s probably to Rey, and under this theory, it’s because he still sees her as meant to join the dark side, because that’s what she was created for. Alright, now for chosen one stuff. Well we know 2 things about the prophecy: 1. The chosen one is created through the force (technically midichlorians but it’s better if we all forget those exist) and 2. Will bring balance to the force. Now with the new narrative angle about the balance of the force being much more literal, with things like Bendu, Rey reaching out for “something else” may signify she is the chosen one. Of course that’s if the prophecy is real. And if you follow the theory that it was by force magic that Anakin was created by Palpatine, it just means it’s possible for Palpatine to make another force child. And with an increase access to lore after becoming emperor it’s reasonable he could create a force child with no human parent at all. I hope this theory actually makes internal sense and there’s no thing from the eu that could ruin this theory. Or maybe there’s something that could enhance it. All I could think that I haven’t read that could apply is Rey’s Survival Guide, the full tfa novelization, and the visual dictionary for Tfa. Thanks to @lj-writes for checking this theory before I posted it and pointing out the script says Rey is 19. I guess we’ll find out if this works or not on the 15th

*@lj-writes also states that it might not be possible for a ship to be purchased with a child and some scrap, especially since Unkar wouldn’t see the value of sith artifacts. She states that it is possible that the “parents” sold Rey as “look at this child we found in the observatory, she’s probably magic or something.” And then when Rey didn’t show an obvious signs of power, she was put to work as a scavenger. Unkar simply hasn’t told Rey because he’s too embarrassed at seemingly being conned, so Rey simply thinks they’re her biological parents and left her.

[ladyvialana]

Down the Wormhole: Paladin Character Arcs post-Season 4

Welcome to the second of my posts about season 4 of Voltron. Unlike the first more general post, this one is specifically about characters and how season 4 gives more of an insight into character development and arcs than at first glance. I’ll be discussing the paladin characters only in this post. I wanted to talk character arcs over the whole series and how season 4 might give an indication as to how things could play out in the future. Potentially. Maybe. I hope. (I make zero promises here, this is all pure speculation based on my personal analysis.)

Also, there will be a third post that deals with some more speculative inter-related character analysis that I initially wanted to put at the end of this post but both sections got far too long for that. (This post is like 4k long! I’m so sorry again!)

So look out for my third post also soon.

Let’s get started!

I want to talk about the individual major character arcs for each paladin (so far) over the series and what may lie in store for them in the future.

Again, no promises: this is just what makes sense to me after watching the whole series.

Hunk

Okay, so, Hunk’s character is pretty stable and very unlikely to change significantly. I definitely think there will be development (as I will discuss in a moment) but no major character change. Mostly because his first major character arc happened in season 1 with the Balmera arc. What’s really important to note about that arc, and Hunk’s role in particular, is that it signified a huge change in team Voltron (and the plot) as a whole.

Hunk’s initial character arc revolved around accepting his role as a paladin and his desire to help people in need. After meeting Shay, he is fully committed to the cause of taking down the Galra Empire and liberating planets. This is something that carries through the rest of the series. The result of this arc is a power-up for Voltron, their first liberated “planet” and gaining their first allies in the rebellion.

What’s really cool to note is that from this point on, Hunk is present at every important “first contact” meeting from that point on:

Mermaid planet

Olkarion

Taujeer

The space mall

Meeting Acxa in the Weblum

Poeig

The diplomatic meeting with Coalition leaders

Alternate reality Alteans

The refugees on Olkarion

The Voltron Shows (even if we and he sometimes wished he weren’t)

He was also present at the first meeting with the Arusians back before meeting Shay

Even if he didn’t always play a major role, he was always present at these first contact meetings.

Now, I don’t really like to refer to comments by creators/writers/PR for ongoing shows because a lot of the time the information released is either limited, exaggerated, or outright false because the aim of many of these press releases and convention circuits is to build suspense and intrigue, not answer any real questions. The show itself should answer your questions about major plot and character development. The creators don’t actually want spoilers out in the open as the could potentially reduce viewership.

However, there is more than enough evidence in the show so far to see that a major part of Hunk’s future role on the team (and the probable basis for future Hunk-centric plot arcs) will likely revolve around meeting/saving/understanding alien races and getting them as allies. So the PR comments made about how Hunk will likely be a diplomat for team Voltron isn’t so much a spoiler as a confirmation of his projected storyline.

In short: Hunk is the go-to guy for actually building the rebellion in terms of numbers. He’ll make sure everyone’s needs are heard and that everyone feels important to the movement. He is the solid foundation on which all of Voltron stands and losing him would be devastating on so many levels. Future arcs will probably revolve around similar sort of scenarios where is is in contact with alien races and doing what he can to help them. He will only become more confident in himself and in understanding how he fits into the universe.

(Watch me secretly hoping in the dark part of my heart for an arc that deals with them being separated again and having to realise, with him gone, how much stability Hunk actually brings to the team. Then he manages to save them all through the power of friendship and armoured beat downs.)

Pidge

Season 4 saw the conclusion of Pidge’s major character arc. Yes, she still needs to find her dad, but Matt was always the symbolic representation of her goal and, with him safe and allied with team Voltron, finding her father feels like a smaller plot-arc in the future the links back to her main arc. Emotionally, this arc has concluded, she succeeded in her goal and she’s more solidified in her role. Pidge’s arc has been about information gathering and investigating. And while that has mostly been for the sake of finding her family, it still resulted in very positive intel and activities for team Voltron.

Similar to Hunk, she’s been linked to aspects of the development of the team/alliance as a whole. She’s the one more directly connected to the rebels than anyone else on the team (Shiro is also connected but often, when he was linked to prison breaks and other rebel activities, Pidge was there too - aside from his second escape from the Galra in season 3).

With her major goal realised, the intensity and determination she showed in trying to find her family can be fully committed to the future of the coalition. And that is going to be amazing to see - look at the way she and Matt basically revolutionised how they track Galra troop movements. They’ve essentially hacked into one of the most important strategic tools the Galra have and their enemy is basically unaware of how badly they’ve been compromised.

Pidge, her intel, her smarts, and, perhaps most importantly, her heart are going to be vital to the success of the Coalition. I think finding her father is going to be another plot-arc she will see in the future and it will likely involve Matt (and possibly the rebels - and maybe Shiro too). I think she’ll also have more to do with the rebellion and connecting with them. And of course she’ll always have some awesome character moments saving team Voltron with her wits alone, as she always has.

(I’m also kind of hoping for her to maybe play a role in setting up/becoming the centre of a centralised intelligence ring for the Coalition. Pidge as an Oracle-like character. I think that would be really cool to see.)

Allura

I genuinely believe that Allura has/will have the strongest arc throughout the whole series and her arc is what will ultimately tie into the main plot of Voltron. She is the centre of the whole show and (as Lance was quite adamant and correct to insist) the heart of Voltron. Allura’s arc is about potential: her potential for magic, per potential as a paladin, her potential as a leader, her potential for bringing about healing and change. She represents the future and hope. (I will go into this a bit more in my third post.)

Externally, I believe we will see the development of her “magic”/connection to quintessence come into play now that it has been addressed again. We’ve already seen Allura be the one to formally create and guide the Coalition. We’ve seen her inspire the Balmerans to rise up and literally give her life force for the Balmera’s continued survival and future growth.

What’s interesting about Allura’s magic is that she is the only one, so far, who seems to be using it to effect positive change. Haggar and her corruption is a dark foil for Allura and, as I mentioned in my first post about season 4, I believe Haggar is going to be a huge part of the end game challenge that Voltron will face. On an individual level, Allura is the only one who has, so far, actually been able to stand toe-to-toe with Haggar, and I think that is going to be one of the big final show downs for the series. (Even if it doesn’t happen in the finale/final season, it will still have a huge impact on the plot of the whole show.)

I believe much of Allura’s character arc is about becoming a leader - the leader, in fact. While I hate speculating so specifically about something so far in the future, I believe the series will end with Allura as the leader for the freed people of the former Galra Empire. Not a ruler, but a leader and guiding light for the many leaders of the coalition who come together as equals.

I genuinely cannot wait to see how Allura continues to develop and shine ever more brightly as the series continues.

Shiro

I have to reiterate my comments from after season 3 and say that I am very worried for Shiro. Also, regardless of whether the clone theory is true or not doesn’t matter to Shiro’s character arc because it will still play out the same either way. For now, I will address this discussion as though it really is Shiro (since, considering if he is a clone, he also has all of Shiro’s memories and is essentially indistinguishable from Shiro anyway). This discussion does get a little speculative, so I don’t believe it will completely play out in canon entirely as I posit.

Shiro’s character arc is so interesting to me because it’s essentially all about dealing with the trauma of what the Galra did to him. And Shiro … is kind of not doing that? I mean, you could argue that his character arc has to do with developing as the leader of Voltron and gaining the trust of the Black Lion, but that’s not really an arc in the same way that, say, Allura’s development as a leader and her developing self-confidence is. He’s already the leader and actually doesn’t really change individually that much in the role; Voltron as a team changes, but not Shiro (unlike Hunk, whose character growth and action on the Balmera helped bring about change within the team, same with Pidge and getting her brother back).

Shiro’s arc is the only one of the paladins’ that is passive. Everyone else acts to bring about their goals/growth, but things are done to Shiro. Shiro is captured, Zarkon severs his link to the Black Lion, Ulaz saves him, he watches Keith gain the Blade’s trust, he’s removed again from Black, captured again by the Galra and experimented on, dumped on a planet, Black rejects him. Shiro is not active at all in many things about his character arc and the few times where he is forced to act he does so, not for his own sake, but for the team: he severs Zarkon’s link to Black and builds trust with the Black Lion because Zarkon is tracking them; he regains the Black bayard while fighting in Voltron to take down Zarkon for the sake of the universe; he steps back into the role as Black Paladin because Keith is not there and no one else can do it.

While all of this external action is happening to him, we still get flashbacks and implications that Shiro is not dealing with his trauma in order to heal. He’s ignoring his PTSD and pushing his feelings aside, on the surface, for the sake of the team. But I believe he’s also doing it because it’s too painful and he hates feeling weak. Again, that moment in 3x06 when he’s in bed and Keith tells him the team needs him is heartbreaking just because Shiro looks completely dead inside. Yet next scene he’s smiling and acting like he’s perfectly fine.

In season 4, Shiro is kind of cold. Yes, he’s supportive and involved, but he lacks the same humour he was starting to develop in season 1 & 2 and also the more personal bonds with members of the team. I think if he hadn’t disappeared after season 2 he could have started healing naturally with the rest of the team aiding in that process. But right now, he’s refusing to even look at his wounds, and it’s going to come to a messy head in a future season.

(Just a quick theory on a future plot arc - if project Kuron and the clone theory are correct, then this is a much longer con than expected and the end result will be devastating. Like, I’m talking the fact that Shiro may not recover from it and - possibly, everyone on team Voltron will be irrevocably changed. Schrodinger's Shiro is like a sword of Damocles for Voltron and I can’t wait to see if it falls. And then I will likely cry my eyes out in response.)

Keith

Keith’s character arc is one of the strongest on the show and one of the easiest to identify with: his search for his identity. Like Allura, this is likely to be a series long arc (though he may reach the emotional end of it before the final season) and, like Pidge and Hunk, involves working with allies (the Blade of Marmora) to strengthen team Voltron as a whole. It also ties into other character arcs - like Allura’s and Shiro’s (and possibly Lance’s) - which makes it all the more important to the overall series. (I will also address this in my next post.)

The wonderful thing about Keith’s character is that he’s always striving for more, always reaching. He doesn’t give up and will do everything he can to find a solution. He’s not always optimistic, but he does his best. He just doesn’t always know what the best way to go about things is because he doesn’t completely trust himself. He trusts others for these decisions, because they know themselves in a way that he doesn’t. Yet.

Keith in season 4 is still searching for his place. In season 2 he declared that he knows who he is and connected to a part of himself (awakened his Marmora blade) and gained a sense of confidence in his identity. And then Shiro disappeared and shattered all of that confidence and character growth. In season 3, he was thrust into the role of leader - which he didn’t want - and his confidence and sense of self took even more of a beating, even as he did his best to fulfil the role he was given. And finally in season 4 he gave up that role to try and rediscover who he was at his core and regain some stability, so he turned to the Blade again for answers.

Unfortunately for him, they did not have all the answers he needed this time.

At the end of season 4, all of his choices seem to lead to one conclusion: the best way for the war to be won (and his team - family!) to be saved is to sacrifice himself for the sake of the mission. So, while many of his actions may have been positive and reaching for a better solution for the sake of the team throughout the series so far, emotionally as an individual, Keith has been sliding ever since Shiro’s disappearance in season 2. He has basically given up on his sense of identity for the sake of the roles he plays - that scene where Lance comes to him for advice because Keith is the leader really stings in retrospect because Keith was, at that point, really struggling with figuring out who he actually was. And in Lance’s (the team’s) eyes, he was just the leader, not Keith, the individual.

The Blade of Marmora may have offered Keith some part of who he was but it cannot be the final destination for his search for identity. By the very nature of their society, he cannot exist as an individual. Every Marmora member wears the exact same uniform and mask. All of them are replaceable. And while there may be some comfort for Keith in that sort of uncaring uniformity, if it results in him subsuming his individuality to the point that he is willing to kill himself, it cannot be that this is where his true identity lies. If this was his endpoint, then his suicide mission would have succeeded.

It’s a running (sort-of) gag that Keith is the lone wolf of the group, but that’s not a real identity and Keith has proven over and over that it’s not an identity he is happy with. He was the first to commit himself completely to team Voltron and the fight against Zarkon, questioning how anyone could think about returning to Earth in the face of such tyranny. Part of that is probably the sense of camaraderie within the group that he, likely, had never really felt to that extent. Keith craves being a part of something and I am certain his search for his identity will culminate in the realization that he wants a family - this rag-tag family - to be a part of defining who he is. He might just need a little more time and space to figure that out.

(Still, there is no way he’s not getting more teary hugs after that stupid stunt. And, after all the build up about his need to take down Lotor and Lotor having been the one to save him, there is definitely going to be some major action going down on the castle ship next season.)

Lance

So, I saved the most speculative and complicated character arc for last. You would think simply saying that Lance’s arc has to do with dealing with his insecurities and self-worth would be straightforward. But, unlike all the others, because of the nature of Lance’s character arc, it has to be more speculative than the others. Lance’s arc relies far more on subtext than the other characters and, though I will present a theory based on textual and subtextual analysis, I am not as confident in this analysis linking to future canon (even less so than with my Shiro analysis, which is still pretty textually ambiguous).

With that warning about getting hopes up out of the way, let’s dig into our self-proclaimed seventh-wheel.

First of all, the really interesting thing about Lance’s arc is that, had certain plot points not happened after Shiro’s disappearance, his arc could have been wrapped up at the end of season 2. When Lance verbally aired his insecurities about his abilities and place on team Voltron in 2x10, it was a textual affirmation of something that had been subtextually implied since the pilot episode about Lance’s feelings of self-worth. When he took the shot at the end of the episode and Shiro reassured him of not only his place on the team but that he is worthwhile by calling him a sharpshooter, Lance’s self-worth arc could have emotionally concluded. From there he could have grown in confidence as a crack-shot and the paladin of the Blue Lion in the same way that Hunk’s initial hesitation and lack of confidence as a paladin was resolved by the Balmera arc and now his character growth is about him further gaining confidence and just developing as a person and paladin.

But then Shiro vanished, Keith became the Black Paladin, and Blue rejected Lance and all of that tenuous healing of his self-worth was destroyed. Again, we get a textual affirmation of how Lance doesn’t value himself while speaking to Allura about Blue’s rejection. That fact that Red chose him is not as much of a soothing balm to his wounds as might be implied. Later we get the scene in 3x06 where, after Shiro returns, Lance essentially confesses to Keith that he believes he is the most replaceable member of the team and Keith basically brushes his worries off.

I mentioned before that Shiro’s arc is the only one of the paladins’ that is a passive one, that things are done to him and he doesn’t act for change/growth the same way the other paladins so. While it seems on the surface that Lance’s arc is the same (with the only really active part he takes is in trying to express his insecurities to others in season 3 and the final shot he takes to save Slav on Beta Traz) Lance differs from Shiro in that he is actively doing something: he’s actively denying that this is a problem he has to deal with.

I talk about this a bit further in my next post, but Lance is actually very skilled at acting. Hell, the entirety of episode 4 was amazing and devastating to watch in regards to Lance and the Voltron propaganda shows just because the outright confirmation that he has not just the inclination but the skill to present himself exactly as people need him to. If all he supposedly cares about is flirting and being the best pilot for the glory of it, then no one will suspect that his obvious exaggeration to hide how he fails at getting the girl and, while very skilled, is not the best pilot is also a distraction from his genuine belief that (while everyone else thinks he believes in his own self-worth and think’s he’s important in spite of the obnoxious bagging) he’s not even good enough to be on the team. It’s like watching a stage magician: Lance is all distraction and smoke and mirrors so you can’t tell what’s actually true about how he thinks about himself.

This isn’t to say everything about how Lance presents himself is false. In fact, Lance uses his own personality traits and actions as part of his show. Lance is loud and sometimes obnoxious and he does enjoy flirting and is actually a good pilot. It makes the exaggeration that much more sinister to be based on truth and the feelings he’s hiding that much more potent because no one else knows that they need to find them.

See what I mean about this part being way more speculative than the rest? Lance could very well be much more true to how he presents himself than I am suggesting. The writers may not want to make his storylines and characterisation that complex (it is, admittedly, a very twisty-turny kind of way to think about him).

Regardless of how complex the nature of Lance’s ability to hide his insecurities, the fact is that he will have to deal with them at some point. And that means that he needs to be confronted about the fact that his self-worth is completely shot by someone who has the ability and authority/presence to inspire some sort of change. This will probably take some time. I don’t expect Lance’s issues to be addressed and dealt with in a single episode and, like with Shiro, the plot is bound to interfere with any sort of healing/progress.

...

Okay! Whew, that was a really long one.

Like I mentioned previously, I will have another post up soon that deals with something really specific and way more speculative regarding some of the relationships on the team and how they are presented narratively and linked together to affect each other. Unlike these first two posts, it is much more subjective - though, hopefully, still interesting for some people. So, if you want to, check it out when it’s posted!

I hope you enjoyed reading this (even if it was ridiculously long for a discussion post).

[saviourfinn]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Bodhi Rook & Finn Characters: Bodhi Rook, Finn (Star Wars), Leia Organa, Poe Dameron Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bodhi is the only surviving member of Rogue One, I'm Sorry, but it eventually gets better for him Summary:

Snippets of Bodhi's life, from the battle of Scarif to his meeting with a young ex-Stormtrooper, some 40 years later.

Bodhi survived Scarif. He got badly burned, but managed to make it. The others weren’t so lucky.

When he called for them through the comms, begging them to somehow get to the ship before he takes off, there was no response. He waited until the last possible second, adrenaline and visceral fear the only things preventing him from feeling the atrocious pain pulsing through his body. When none of the others - not Chirrut and Baze, not Jyn or Cassian, not even K2SO - showed up, Bodhi’s heart sank in his guts, weighed down by despair. He almost didn’t make the ship take off : he didn’t have anything left to live for, no family or friends or mission, he was tired and hurt and so sad he had become numb, and all he wanted to do was lay down on the cold metal floor and let the Death Star swallow him all, as it had swallowed his family and city.

But there were a couple of rebel soldiers who had managed to get to the ship on time, and he couldn’t possibly condemn them to the miserable fate he wished for himself. So with a heavy heart and blood dripping in his eyes, Bodhi dragged himself to the cockpit, and took off. They got off Scarif at the last second, the shock wave of the explosion tailing the ship on its way out.

It took months to recover physically and mentally, but after that Bodhi dedicated himself body and soul to the Rebellion. He wanted to stop the Empire, to help and save as many people as possible, so that the sacrifices of his fallen friends would not be in vain. So that the burned souls of Jedha, his Jedha, of Scarif and Alderaan may be avenged. So that, maybe, he would stop screaming himself awake every night, phantom pains eating at his face and the voices of the Rogue One crew haunting his dreams.

And finally, when Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star, taking advantage of the plans so many people had died for, Bodhi felt hope like rarely before. It hadn’t been for nothing. Cassian, Jyn, Chirrut, Baze, K2SO and so many others - they hadn’t died for nothing. They had defeated the Death Star, at last, bringing hope to the Galaxy. Bodhi had accomplished his duty. The message he had carried had finally came through.

He became a war hero. If he wasn’t already one, after Scarif, his accomplishments within the Rebellion afterwards made him one. Pilot, spy, captain, he succeeded in many missions - and failed some. He became a legend, even (he was the Rogue One), a living symbol of hope and sacrifice. Bodhi didn’t feel like one, though. He felt older than he really was and tired, so tired. But the Empire was still alive, and he would fight them until his dying breath.

When the Empire was eventually beaten down, Bodhi felt a wave of joy and relief wash over him. He felt empty, too. Fighting them had become his only purpose in life and he didn’t know how to live normally anymore. While the others partied and celebrated outside, Bodhi got back to his room and lit up a few candles. One for each member of Rogue One. He would have wanted them to be there, alive and well and celebrating with the others. But they weren’t, so he closed his eyes and tried to picture them in the Force instead, serene and free. He had no idea what the Force looked or felt like but Chirrut had believed in it, and it was enough for him. Eventually, Bodhi came out of his room and mingled with his troops, fellow pilots and rebels clapping him on the shoulder, laughing with him and sometimes crying in his shirt. He could relate.

After the war, Bodhi settled back on Jedha, near the ashed ruins of what had once been the Holy City. New towns were emerging and growing all over the area, people rebuilding their lives as best as they could. He did the same, building his little house with his own hands, brick by brick, stone by stone. He helped his neighbors, became part of the community, and felt peace and stability for the first time in his life. Children of the area loved their Uncle Bodhi, loved his wild tales of rebellion and hope, and he opened a piloting school that quickly attracted many students. Most people weren’t repulsed by his scarred face - the war had been devastating for Jedha, tearing away not only cities, but also flesh and limbs, and he was far from being the only one whose body had suffered.

Years passed. Way too soon, the delicate peace following the fall of the Empire shattered, a new evil called the First Order slowly rising from the darkness. Bodhi was old now, wearier, and he couldn’t find in him the strength to go back to the front line. He had a husband, a good life he earned, and he felt like if he joined the Rebellion again - no, it was called the Resistance now -, he would truly lose his mind. It was already hard enough to keep the nightmares and the guilt at bay. He couldn’t do it, not again.

But if Bodhi had always been scared, he had also always been brave and selfless, so of course he helped the Resistance in his own way. He stayed on Jedha - he wanted to protect his still-recovering planet, his home, his sweet husband - but he started to train young pilots recruited by the Republic and the Resistance. He organized a network of messengers, pilots able to fly any kind of ship whose job was to gather and transmit vital information.

Still, the First Order gained influence, destroying the fragile new Jedi Order and annihilating the New Republic with another mass destruction weapon. Bodhi wasn’t Force-sensitive, but he felt the destruction of the Republic as he had felt the destruction of Jedha, as he had felt and seen Scarif go up in flames, his friends turned into ashes. History was repeating itself, and Bodhi was losing hope. What had been the point of Rogue One, if every few decades a new Death Star was born ? Who would sacrifice themselves this time, and would it even make a difference ?

However, hope was restored a few days later, when the First Order’s weapon was destroyed, and when it became known that a young ex-Stormtrooper had been the key to this victory. Bodhi’s heart swelled with emotion, and for the first time in years he left Jedha : he had to meet this man, the Stormtrooper strong enough to break conditioning, brave enough to overcome fear and obedience in order to do good.

Bodhi hadn’t realized it at the time, when he himself had defected, but if someone was brave enough to choose to do the right thing, even in the cruelest environment, then hope would never be lost. 40 years ago and encouraged by Galen Erso, Bodhi had carried this flame. And now it was Finn’s turn to be that beacon of hope, that light in the darkness. The promise that no matter where and when, people could do good and change for the better.

When Bodhi arrived at the Resistance base, Finn was still in a coma. He was stable and should wake up soon, the medics said. Bodhi sat a little by his side, struck by how young Finn was, by how vulnerable he seemed in his sleep. Had Bodhi ever been that young ? He was old and weathered now, and his troubled youth seemed so far away. His years in the Rebellion had passed in a blink, leaving him dizzy and tired, with the bitter taste of blood, ash and victory in his mouth. Still, Bodhi smiled and briefly squeezed Finn’s hand in his own, hoping to give the young man a little comfort in his sleep.

Bodhi spent the next few days speaking with various Resistance members. He caught up with Leia - when he was on Jedha they often spoke via holovids, but it had been years since he’d last seen her in person. They talked about Resistance business of course, but also about themselves. On top of Luke’s disappearance and Kylo’s vile actions, Han’s death had been almost too much for her to bear. Almost. But Leia Organa was strong and resilient, and albeit shaken, she was still standing tall. She had carried the Rebellion and then the Resistance for so many years, and was still convinced that they would set things right.

Bodhi also talked with Poe Dameron. The latter being the Resistance’s best pilot, in the past they had often communicated regarding recruits’ training and Bodhi’s network of messengers. This time though, they mostly talked about Poe firing the fatal blow to Starkiller base, and Finn’s exploits. Dameron wouldn’t shut up about him, telling every feat in great details : from freeing Poe and escaping the First Order with him, to fighting Kylo Ren in a light saber duel, nothing was spared. And Bodhi couldn’t help but smile, touched by the pilot’s genuine enthusiasm, and once again amazed by Finn’s courage. He thought about the long gone Rogue One crew, about how much they would have liked these kids.

Eventually, Finn woke up. Bodhi visited him a few days after, unwilling to crowd him more than he already was. He found Finn sitting on his medbay bed between two rehabilitation sessions. The young man looked tired but alert, a bright spark in his dark eyes.

“Hello, Finn.”

“Um. Hi ?” the young man cautiously answered.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while,” Bodhi said warmly. “I’m Bodhi. Bodhi Rook.”

“Rogue One’s pilot, right ?” Finn asked, surprised then enthusiastic. “Wow, I was reading about you just this morning. You’re one of the Rebellion’s best officers !”

Bodhi’s smile stretched with pride and sadness.

“Yes I am. But you know, before all that I was a cargo pilot working for the Empire.”

“You… worked for the Empire ?” Finn said slowly, shock written all over his face.

“Yes. And I defected.”

The young man stayed silent for a while, looking at him with more intensity than before. Then his eyes lit up, and he beamed.

“Wow, I had no idea ! That’s… that’s amazing, wow. I can’t believe they never mention that in your biographies.”

“Well, I guess it would tarnish the Rebellion’s reputation, wouldn’t it ? That one of their heroes used to be on the Empire’s side.”

“With all due respect, sir, that’s bullshit. You defected from the Empire and brought the message that allowed the Rebellion to destroy the Death Star. Hard to be more heroic than that.”

“Well, I got competition now,” Bodhi chuckled. “Mr. the ex-Stormtrooper who helped blow up Starkiller Base.”

Finn flustered, looking down at his lap.

“I’m not heroic,” he said quietly. “I’m scared all the time, and I honestly just improvise everything I do.”

“And how do you think Rogue One managed to accomplish its mission ?” Bodhi asked, putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “We were all terrified, especially me. We went in there blind, because time was running out and someone had to do something. And we succeeded. It cost us… many lives. But it saved so many more.”

At these words, Finn looked up at him, conflicting emotions dancing over his expressive face.

“Listen, kid,” Bodhi sighed. “Being a cargo pilot defecting from the Empire… I won’t say it was easy. It was one of the scariest, hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. And, you know… Despite some being better at hiding it than others, everyone is scared. Fear makes some people cruel, and it makes others feel powerless. But it also makes some people brave. Because choosing to do the right thing despite being threatened and scared, that’s bravery. And that’s what you did.”

A shy smile bloomed on the young man’s face.

“I guess that’s what I did.”

“Also, a Stormtrooper defecting ? That’s unheard of. You really are one of a kind.”

“Well, I hope I’m not.”

“What do you mean ?”

“I’ve been thinking… It would be great if other Stormtroopers also decided to defect. I’m not holding my breath, but I think that’s possible. I never thought I could escape the First Order, and yet here I am. I’m sure others can do it too,” Finn said with conviction, eyes filled with fire and hope.

Bodhi smiled warmly.

“I think you’re right.”

[eleutheriana-archive]

I just watched a video from Star Wars Theory about what might happen if Anakin killed Obi-wan on Mustafar, then Palpatine, and became the Emperor, but i didn't like the story they set up for Padme, so i figured there is no one better than you to ask: If Anakin became the Emperor, how would Padme react, and what would she do?

i just want you to know i saw this before i ate breakfast and got online and i’ve been highkey crying about it since then and i didn’t want to touch it until i had enough coffee. but like ??? i’m ???? ‘no better than you to ask’.

me: starts fucking bawling

I’M JUST !!! THANK YOU !!! SO MUCH !! FOR TRUSTING ME TO DO OUR GIRL SOME JUSTICE

but okay !! onto the question –––– if anakin had killed obi-wan and palpatine and crowned himself emperor, what would have padmé done ?

so let’s start at the beginning of the mustafar scene with this one, because i need to go into this in a meta somewhere and i think this is the perfect time to talk about it. i’ve mentioned this before here and there in passing but there was a scrapped part of rots where padmé gave birth before mustafar and then effectively went after darth vader with a knife, which is normally what i consider to be canon for my padmé verses where she doesn’t die in childbirth, and like….padmé pulling a knife on anakin on mustafar is pretty much canon for my padmé regardless. the reason for this ––––– i’ve talked a lot before about how padmé feels RESPONSIBLE for anakin in a lot of respects, and knowing that she, in a way, caused his fall into the dark side….she’s going to feel responsible for the monster he’s made himself into, and she’s going to feel like it’s her responsibility to kill him. this isn’t an act of hatred or anger. this is an act of love. padmé loves her husband, she loves anakin, and she knows that deep down the man she fell in love with would not want to see himself become this monster. padmé’s mentality here is a matter of ‘i made him into this, i have to unmake him. i owe him that.’ so like keep that mentality in mind while you read this. padmé feels like she made darth vader. it is her responsibility to unmake vader. 

so we open on mustafar, we’re going to say for the sake of argument here that padmé has not yet given birth. she runs down to try and talk anakin down, it doesn’t work, vader takes over, and while embracing him, she pulls out a vibrodagger and tries to end that motherfucker. also doesn’t work, because he’s a sith lord now and padmé, god bless her, is not force sensitive, and does not have jedi reflexes. vader chokes her to the point of unconsciousness with the mentality that he’ll come back for her and the child when he’s done with obi-wan ( and if that sentence doesn’t fill you with the blessed and holy spirit of perpetual yikes idk what will ) and then goes to duel obi-wan. in this universe, obi-wan dies at vader’s hand. 

WHILE THIS IS GOING ON: padmé has woken up from being unconscious, manages to stumble back onto the ship. somewhere in this process, her water breaks. this is important, because SHE WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT OBI-WAN ON MUSTAFAR OTHERWISE. it’s VITAL for padmé’s survival that she gets off mustafar before the duel ends, but she would not leave obi-wan there unless she goes into labor. obi-wan is one of her best friends, she trusts obi-wan with her life, and she would not leave him ––– unless her child is in more pressing danger. 

so she leaves mustafar and hates herself for it, is probably sobbing the entire time because not only is her husband dead, but she’s just left her friend to certain death, and her baby’s on the way and there’s literally nothing she can do to stop any of this, but it’s really important to note –––– SHE GETS IT DONE. 

she probably makes it to the rendezvous point on polis massa with like contractions less than two minutes apart and six centimeters dilated but the point here is that she makes it. she gives birth to luke and leia, which is a long and grueling process, and she’s highkey in shock and about to crush bail’s hand, but because vader isn’t dying and palpatine isn’t leeching off her life force, padmé doesn’t die in labor.

now, this is probably around the time they find out obi-wan didn’t make it. i’m assuming, for the sake of ease with this storyline, that anakin/vader goes straight back to palpatine, some exposition happens there that i’m less concerned about because this isn’t about that, it’s about padmé, and anakin/vader kills palpatine. now, vader’s named himself emperor, is probably ready to hunt down his child and his wife, dead or alive, and padmé is. not. about. this. fucking. business. the reason luke and leia had been separated was because it would be harder for the empire to find them, and i stand by that in a verse where palpatine survives and is ruling the galaxy with an iron fist, but in a world where it’s vader vs his wife ? nope. it’ll be a cold day in space hell before padmé lets anyone take her children away from her. 

FIRST ORDERS OF BUSINESS: get her family off naboo and find sanctuary for herself and her children. vader has enough of anakin left in him to know that the naberrie family is the first place to look for information, and padmé knows that, so she would get her family off planet first and foremost. while i’m attached to the idea of padmé hiding on alderaan, it’s not the smartest move, given that her friendship with bail and breha is public knowledge. now, knowing what padmé knows about anakin, she’s not going to take them to tatooine. while anakin would never want to set foot on that planet again, owen and beru are still there, and padmé doesn’t have the added security of sand straight up destroying vader’s suit in this verse. so with all that in mind, she’d find a remote planet, something that they do not have personal history on. somewhere like dantooine. she’d follow mon mothma and the rebellion, with luke strapped to her back and leia strapped to her chest, and work as a leader of the rebellion against the empire that her former husband is now the head of. 

the main difference here is that ANAKIN WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO FIND HIS CHILDREN AND HIS WIFE. and padmé would rather set herself on fire than see him ever come near their children. she’d probably move around more and hide significantly more. she’d use an alias, and her priority would always be her children. she’d be hell bent on taking vader down, because, again, this is her responsibility, but luke and leia’s safety would remain, always, her priority. ( if i’m being honest she’s probably the one on the ship that gets the death star plans and then confronts vader directly with the same vibrodagger she tried to kill him with nineteen years prior and it all comes full circle but anyway !!!!!! ) 

so yeah that’s how i feel like her life would go thank you for letting me ramble about this i love you.

[isagrimorie]

January Talking Meme #19 -  what are your thoughts on an AU with a swap of Kenobi/Luke with Ahsoka/Leia? How would it pan out from the end of Rogue One/beginning of A New Hope?

For @ayrki​

I thought about this AU and I realized I don't think this can be a complete AU swap considering her state of mind during the events of Revenge of the Sith and who she is. Here’s what I think an AU of this would look like, I hope it’s okay it’s not exactly what the prompt requested:

At the start of RoTS it would've been a few months (year?) since Ahsoka walked away from the Jedi Order and Ahsoka was disillusioned but she still helped the Jedi when she could.

Namely when she helped organize a resistance against Darth Maul (guy has more lives than a cat) in Mandalore. Ahsoka went toe to toe against Maul and if Order 66 hadn't been activated, she would have captured him.

So if we diverge from the moment Rex (Anakin's loyal right-hand man in the 501st) faked both his and Ahsoka's death the AU can start before Ahsoka goes into self-imposed exile, somehow Ahsoka managed to intercept a message from Obi-Wan about Padme's condition, and the rendezvous point at Polis Massa.

Relieved someone she knew was still alive, grief-stricken, and looking for guidance Ahsoka made her way to Polis Massa just in time to see the twins born and Padme die.

Obi-Wan is beyond relieved that Ahsoka survived and invites her to the meeting room with Yoda and Bail. Ahsoka is horrified at Yoda's plan to separate the twins but Yoda overrode her concerns stating the needs of the many outweigh everything.

Frustrated, Ahsoka volunteered to take Leia with her before Bail could suggest he and Breha could adopt Leia.

After a few second's deliberation, Yoda agreed and Obi-Wan was still too shell-shocked to say anything but a token resistance. They all agree to go their separate ways.

Except Ahsoka realizes she bit more of than she could chew because aside from creche duty Ahsoka didn't know anything about raising a child, much less taking care of a baby.

It's a huge learning curve.

This was when I debated if Ahsoka and Leia could lay low in Tattooine but the more I thought of Ahsoka and Leia getting stuck in Tattooine I realized it would be a slow torturous death for Ahsoka. Ahsoka is a being of movement and shackling her to a planet would kill her. Even as an adult, she never stayed in one planet for long.

Obi-wan Kenobi can lay low on a planet for decades due to a combination of his adherence to the Jedi teachings, guilt and because of the training Yoda asked him to do.

Also, there would be no way in hell Ahsoka would let Owen drive her out of Leia's life. Another reason why she can’t really stay in Tattooine was because certain pirates of Ahsoka's acquaintance might hang around Mos Eisley and identify her. So just like in the Ahsoka novel Ahsoka would decide to settle down in outer rim planets taking on the nondescript identity of Asha.

Ahsoka decided to keep Leia's name.

The events in the Ahsoka novel went down almost similarly except that there's an added complication of Leia, fortunately Ahsoka seem to instinctively draw people in who could help her and the Faardi clan were more than accommodating in both helping Ahsoka to live a nondescript life as a lowly (but talented) mechanic in Thabeska but also help guide Ahsoka raise a baby.

This makes Ahsoka's abandonment of Hedala that much harder but she makes sure when she returned to Thabeska, she would help Hedala control some of her Force powers so she won't accidentally draw any inquisitors to her.

This also helped Ahsoka decide how to handle Leia's Force powers when they start manifesting.

This leads to Ahsoka's time in Raada and how she's even more cautious when the Empire arrives in the Farming Moon but tldr Ahsoka managed to contact Bail and free the people of Raada and get them in contact with the budding rebellion. The Raada people are relocated to a Rebel friendly peaceful planet while helping the rebellion with their food production.

This meant stability for Leia, Ahsoka could safely take care of Leia among a group of people she trusted. A village helps raise Leia.

(In this headcanon Ahsoka lived with Kaeden, a woman she met in Raada. In the Ahsoka novel Ahsoka rescued Kaeden from an imperial jail and in rescuing Kaeden razed an Imperial facility. After a lot of false starts and Ahsoka trying to get over a lot of her Jedi hang-ups Kaeden and Ahsoka are a couple, so Leia also grew up with a family.)

Learning from what happened with Hedala Ahsoka started teaching Leia about the Force: how to use it and block it, and how to fight. She would also tell Leia how the Order lost their way, and in a lot of ways the Jedi were also the architects of their own destruction. She would tell Leia all about her parents, and her brother. She wouldn't see why there would be a reason to keep those details from Leia.

(Yoda didn't tell Ahsoka about Vader = Anakin.)

As Leia grew-up Ahsoka became more and more active in the rebellion, establishing the intelligence unit and creating lines of communications between different contacts. The moment Leia turns 16 years old, Leia begins to make noises about joining the rebellion.

Kaeden stays away from this argument between Ahsoka and Leia, Ahsoka wanted to keep Leia safe but Leia is persistent and even points out how unfair it was since Ahsoka fought in a war when she was younger than Leia ("that doesn't make it right, Leia.")

Kaeden does intervene when things become heated between Leia and Ahsoka, eventually Ahsoka caves (Ahsoka would think back to all her insolent and snippy moments as a teen and she would have a strong urge to apologize to everyone who knew her back then) and allows Leia to join as a messenger.

Leia went by Leia Tano growing-up. Sometimes Leia Nebarrie in her messenger duties.

Ahsoka would realize Leia would need more education and arranged for Leia to stay with Bail. As Bail's ward Leia was in a good position to coordinate with Bail and Breha's government without risking Bail's dual role as senator and founding member of the Rebel Alliance.

Then the events of Star Wars Rebels season 2 happen. Ahsoka lived a very compartmentalized life, Ahsoka never mentioned Leia to the Ghost crew, not even with Rex and then Ahsoka finds out about Vader and, then later who Vader was. Furious, Ahsoka tracked down Obi-Wan and shouts at him before she goes to Malachor.

She wanted to help Anakin but not just that, she wanted to reunite Anakin with Leia but not when he was still Vader.

She fights Vader harder than ever.

Both Leia and Kaeden wait for Ahsoka to return but months pass by and word gets to them that Ahsoka could have died at the hands of Vader. Kaeden is grief stricken but Leia, Leia is angry, she moves to Alderaan permanently and takes the Organa name.

(She still visits Kaeden when time permits).

The events of Rogue One happen and it happens almost exactly the same way as they smash cut right into A New Hope with Leia lying to Vader's face about the plans while sending off her message to Obi-Wan.

The message would be something like: "Master Kenobi, I am Leia Organa and I was ordered to bring you back to Alderaan but my ship was attacked. I've placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion in this R2 unit. You must see this droid safely delivered to Alderaan. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

The other part I'd make in A New Hope is that Leia would be part of the squadron that takes down the Death Star. Luke can have the kill shot but Leia would be the one covering his six.

A New Hope would be a turbulent time for Leia not only because of Alderaan's destruction but because she was happy she finally gets to meet her brother only to realize Obi-Wan never told Luke about her or their parents.

In this AU Leia’s made more of a headway in her study of the Force so she helps Luke learn about the Force. Leia is also a bit angry at Obi-wan for not preparing Luke.

They both become ‘a Jedi like their father’ but Leia adds on her responsibilities in the Rebellion just like in the original canon due to her experience and Ahsoka's teachings.

Leia, btw, would have the satisfaction of yelling at Yoda.

/EDITED

[empiresbane]

[absolxguardian]

Rey Palpatine Theory

Now the problem with a lot of Rey parentage theories is they can't present a good reason why she would be on Jakku of all places. You know, the site of a battle and really just a really bad dead-end planet, worse than Tatooine, and even then Luke was left in the care of his aunt and uncle, not a scrapper like Unkar.

Well, there is one theory that answers that, and even hinges on it. Rey Palpatine. All because of Palpatine's contingency plan.

So for those of you who don't know Palpatine's contingency plan, it is in the case of his and Vader's death:

However, one thing is off about this plan. Palpatine believed in a Sith Empire as much as he believed in a Galactic Empire and well, Rax wasn't force sensitive. 

A scorched earth policy on several planets, called operation Cinder(you might know that from Battlefront 2)

A series of tests to gather the best and most loyal remaining members of empire led by an orphan on Jakku Palpatine groomed named Gallius Rax.

After choosing who is worthy out of the empire that failed their emperor, as much of the empire as possible should make a final stand on Jakku, an out of the way planet with a building called The Observatory on it. (There were several, but this one was important for the contingency)  This building contained information about paths through the unknown regions and presumably instructions for creating the first order.

However, one thing is off about this plan. Palpatine believed in a Sith Empire as much as he believed in a Galactic Empire and well, Rax wasn't force sensitive. 

But what if there was a reason? What if Rax wasn't his only heir? What if the Jakku Observatory contained more than unknown regions maps, a replica of the emperor's yacht, and a Sith thingie to blow up Jakku. A child, created by the force, to be the heir of the Sith Empire.

The thing is, the contingency plan didn't fully work. Rax was killed by Rae Sloane and she was the one who led the first order. And she didn't know the whole plan. What if part of the plan was that there was a child, grown part through cloning tech, genetic manipulation, and force/Sith magic? Galius has hidden information in his POV before, so it makes sense to hide the existence of a Sith heir from the reader. But how did Rey come into the possession of Unkar? Well, there were most likely many or at least a few stormtroopers and other low ranking imperials who survived Jakku and stopped fighting. Not every imperial was a zealot. We already saw this in the Poe Dameron comic with Terex and Corlac. And with both Ciena and Admiral Veriso calling an evacuation of their ships before crashing it, many escape pods could have landed all over Jakku. And that’s only counting the ships we know had time for people to get to. And that's who Rey's "parents" are. They could have come from the Inflictor somewhere else, been stormtroopers or officers. That part doesn't matter. What matters is that they shed their allegiance to the empire, were desperate, and were left on Jakku after the battle. Or they could have even been people who were already stranded on Jakku. Whomever they are, all that matters, is that years after the battle they found the Observatory.

And there they found Rey in stasis. They released her and since the child had no memories but a blank developed mind, she naturally bonded to her rescuers. Eventually, they reached Niima outpost and met Unkar. Desperate to get off planet, they traded their "child" and possibly some relics from the observatory to get off planet.*

Sounds a bit far-fetched? Well, if we use the criteria from MatPat's Rey parents theory, I can answer each of them, most importantly the left on Jakku part. Those criteria were:

1. British/Core World accent

2. Strong connection to the force

3. Luke/Anakin's lightsaber calling to her

4. Good piloting skills

5. Left on Jakku as a child

6. Thematic meaning/"It's like poetry, it rhymes"

In addition, I will also apply my theory to a few key scenes:

Kylo's reaction when he first hears of her

Rey's flashback

Kylo's "you still want to kill me?" line

Rey's ability to use a mind trick untrained

The Leia-Rey hug

Some lines from trailers

The Chosen One Prophecy 

So let's begin. First the core world accent. A lot of people have used this as evidence for Rey Kenobi, however, accents are barely genetic. And a lot of people including Phasma and probably Tarkin changed their accents to seem more respected and from a core world(rather than post-apocalyptic and outer rim)

MatPat's point about her picking it up from Unkar stands, but if the first words Rey heard were imperials, who odds are adopted core accents, that could also explain how she picked it up. And strong connection to the force? Palpatine would have made his clone-child extremely powerful with the force, as powerful as he could make her. So that's pretty much covered. Also, her main displays of force powers were from the dark side. The pushing back on Kylo's mental connection and use of a mind trick were both motivated by fear. Being able to hold her own against Kylo could be the force assisting her via the dark side. And as we saw from Ezra in season 1 of Rebels, the dark side is much easier to call on than the light. As for Anakin's lightsaber calling for her, that doesn't even have to do with familiar relation. The inquisitor's kybers called to Ashoka and they most certainly aren't related. And a green kyber crystal called to a random Tusken Raider when she was asked to steal it from the Jawa's that sold R2. That was a really weird story and I wonder if it was setting something up, but it doesn't matter. It's canon. The kyber crystal in the saber or the force in general was calling Rey. Because it chose her. Because kyber crystals are basically wands from Harry Potter. And her piloting skills? That could easily be explained by a combination of force boosted instincts/reaction time and well, practice. She did know all of that stuff from using an old flight simulator. And the point about piloting skills could be used just as well to make her the child of Thane as it points to Han or Luke on its own. There's a lot of really exceptional pilots in the galaxy. As for being left on Jakku, I guess I should explain the timeline better. According to the TFA script, she is 19 in 34 ABY(when the movie takes place). And she looks to be about 4 during the flashback scene of her being left with Unkar. At first, that doesn’t seem to add up, but Palpatine would have set his child into a non-aging stasis after they reached a reasonable age for starting dark side training and feeling into the Unknown Regions. If the Empire survived much longer than it did, the contingency plan using an adult with no memories would be weird. Heck, after reaching 4, she could have been moved to carbonite (do people age in carbonite? I’m not sure if that’s been answered. It’s not important). Terex and Corlac seem to have been on Jakku for a while, so Rey’s “parents” could also have, surviving as scavengers before finding the Observatory. This would also give enough time for the scavenging economy to get properly set up, as Niima Outpost was only founded after the battle of Jakku. 11 years would have been enough time that a low-quality ship from Unkar could actually be purchased. And for thematic meaning. Well, we got that down. We got Kylo, the child of two rebellion war heroes, trained as a Jedi having turned to the dark side. And we have a child, who grew up in a situation even worse than Anakin, who was literally created to be the next emperor who chose the light. This would fit with Star War's strong themes of personal choice and growing beyond heritage. It would also fit with the newer themes of the force not being so black and white. And without the Aftermath series, Rey's parentage could easily be explained as "Palpatine had a contingency plan that ended with a final battle on Jakku. The man the emperor choose to lead the soon to be first order died on Jakku and so the plan couldn't probably be carried out. That including retreating to the unknown regions with a clone-child created by the force who would be raised to be the next emperor." And for readers of Aftermath, it would strengthen already existing parallels. Those between Rey and Gallius Rax. We got Rax, who even before being groomed by Palpatine was very cruel and did what he had to for survival on Jakku. And then Rey, who is basically the child of evil, who remained kind in a cruel environment. And then both of them ended up on ships off Jakku and were found by their original owners (Han and Palpatine). Upon finding the orphans, both owners preformed mentor like roles. The ships also brought them into the organization they would become a vital member of. Rey also didn't want to leave Jakku, while that was one of Rax's only wishes. And for Rax, well the desert planet became his grave. Now that we got all of those points squared away, what about those scenes I promised to explain? Alright, let's start with when Kylo first finds out about Rey. As MatPat pointed out, his reaction is much too violent for having never heard of Rey. Well since Palpatine was in magic sith force communication to what we can assume to be Snoke, it is possible Snoke knew of the contingency plan, including of Rey.

Later when Kylo joined the First Order, he would have been informed of the failure to properly carry out the plan. Of course as far as they knew, Rey would still be stuck in the Observatory in stasis and not worth extracting. As for Rey's flashback, a lot of the scenes she saw would have came from the force or from reading the history of the object, but even that is indicative of powerful force abilities. However, the scene we know is either memory brought to the surface or unlocked by the sequence is when Rey has just been sold to Unkar in exchange for a ship, the very one we see flying off. The imperials would have been the only humanoids and comfort she would have known at this point, explaining her reaction to being abandoned even if they were ambivalent to her. The reason Rey thinks they are her parents is because that was probably the lie they told Unkar to explain where they obtained a literal child, or what Unkar told her. To the scrapper, they seemed as people so desperate to leave after the battle, they would sell their child.   As for Kylo's line "you still want to kill me" witch MatPat took to mean Kylo knew Rey from before, there's another way to read this line that supports my theory. The "still" part refers to their encounter on Takodona, when Rey tried to shoot him. Because he knows or suspects Rey is Palpatine's heir he expects it to be easy to turn her to the dark side. This is also why he says she needs a teacher, because he sees her as similar to him, the descendant of a Sith Lord. As for the mind trick, my other points about Rey's artificially created power stands, but I feel like I should specifically address this. Palpatine was extremely adept with mind tricks. In Lords of the Sith, he manages to control a Twi'lek child so well she would stand there as Palpatine and Vader argued over killing her, their lightsabers in front of her face. This pales in comparison to the suggestion Rey manages to pull of in a moment of extreme stress and fear. And since Rey was only supposed to be awakened after his death, the emperor wouldn't mind making her more powerful than him if she was fully trained. As for the Rey Leia hug, I don't have that good of an explanation, but neither do Rey Solo-Organa theorists. You're not going to be able to recognize someone you only knew as a child a minimum of 20 years ago as a child. All I could think of is that since Leia's untrained force skill (Ashoka book tells us every untrained force sensitive has one skill their sensitivity manifests as) is sensing (sensed Luke hanging from cloud city and Han's death) is that she could sense the dark side coming off of Rey and from knowing Chewie isn't a fan of being comforted, she decided that Rey was the one who need comforting. And the aura of darkness coming from Rey would be part her predisposition and part the anger and rage towards Kylo for killing Han and possibly Finn. Ok now how about some lines from the trailers? Well first we got Luke's "I've see this raw strength only once before" line is most likely about Kylo, however it is referring to Rey because she's so damn strong with the force. Don't forget the trailer has a scene where she cracks open the ground, to Luke's shock and horror. As for Snoke saying "Fulfil your destiny" that's probably to Rey, and under this theory, it's because he still sees her as meant to join the dark side, because that's what she was created for. Alright, now for chosen one stuff. Well we know 2 things about the prophecy: 1. The chosen one is created through the force (technically midichlorians but it's better if we all forget those exist) and 2. Will bring balance to the force. Now with the new narrative angle about the balance of the force being much more literal, with things like Bendu, Rey reaching out for "something else" may signify she is the chosen one. Of course that's if the prophecy is real. And if you follow the theory that it was by force magic that Anakin was created by Palpatine, it just means it's possible for Palpatine to make another force child. And with an increase access to lore after becoming emperor it's reasonable he could create a force child with no human parent at all. I hope this theory actually makes internal sense and there's no thing from the eu that could ruin this theory. Or maybe there's something that could enhance it. All I could think that I haven't read that could apply is Rey's Survival Guide, the full tfa novelization, and the visual dictionary for Tfa. Thanks to @lj-writes for checking this theory before I posted it and pointing out the script says Rey is 19. I guess we’ll find out if this works or not on the 15th

*@lj-writes also states that it might not be possible for a ship to be purchased with a child and some scrap, especially since Unkar wouldn’t see the value of sith artifacts. She states that it is possible that the “parents” sold Rey as “look at this child we found in the observatory, she’s probably magic or something.” And then when Rey didn’t show an obvious signs of power, she was put to work as a scavenger. Unkar simply hasn’t told Rey because he’s too embarrassed at seemingly being conned, so Rey simply thinks they’re her biological parents and left her.