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terzos-edibles · 3 years ago

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Silver Linings

1. Gotta Keep On, Keepin' On

Summary: No kid, no tribe, and avoiding his responsibilities, Din Djarin has gone back to bounty hunting and mercenary work under the watchful eye of Boba Fett. After a job on Ibaar goes very wrong in more ways than Din would like to count, he is forced to flee with a very peculiar New Republic doctor. He is determined to get enough credits and fuel to drop the doctor off on her home planet and be done with it. But will he be able to part ways with her after she finds all the right and wrong ways to push his buttons?

Words: 1.8k

Rated Mature: language, canonical violence, depression, mentions of suicidal behavior.

“I don't know if I'm scared of dying But I'm scared of living too fast, too slow Regret, remorse, hold on, oh no I've got to go There’s no starting over No new beginnings time races on.” - My Silver Lining, First Aid Kit

Ibaar-

The fist of the Empire reached far, sweeping across the farthest reaches of the Galaxy; the deepest corners seemed to have felt its influences. Even the smallest, poorest planets had Stormtroopers deployed to them - a formality to further oppress the planets’ occupants and show their might - and dissuade any sort of rebellion from sparking. The destruction of the second Death Star and subsequent death of Emperor Palpatine at the hands of the Rebellion had shown that plan hadn’t, well, panned out. Still, in the five years or so after the fall of the Empire, the New Republic was just now starting to finally make its way into the Outer Rim Territories after ensuring that the more strategically essential planets were well taken care of. Remnants of the Empire still clung to those planets, holding out hope that the Empire would somehow revive itself and their loyalty would be rewarded. Many felt that the New Republic had abandoned them, that things hadn’t gotten any better since the Empire had fallen. It would be the same as it had always been. The Outer Rim would continue to be forgotten, continued to be terrorized by Remnant Stormtroopers, continued to be terrorized by pirates, and continued to be terrorized by gangsters. People had given up hope once again.

But, aid was coming. Slowly, but it was coming. New Republic troops were starting to make their way back out towards planets that needed them, bringing with them much-needed supplies and rations. Marshals were installed in the major cities and villages to help keep the peace and bring a sense of law to an otherwise lawless territory. Medical teams were dispatched to provide much-needed tautology assistance to planets that were unable to get the care they needed.

Doctor Gertrude Ásketill was the first in line to sign up for those peace operations. She was coming hot off of her time as a rebel medic. She was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and full of hope as they deployed her to the first assignment. She had an entire team - plenty of assistants and droids to ensure that everyone got the proper care they needed. They were able to start a proper clinic, train the locals, and establish a line to the core planets to ensure they could get all the medicine and vaccines they would need. Trudy felt good when she left that planet for the second.

The second planet saw fewer supplies and resources. She thought maybe it might have been a mistake. This planet had a bigger population than the last. Perhaps they didn't realize they needed to send more supplies, but then the third and fourth planets came. Supplies and resources were stripped as funding got cut, and slowly her team was redistributed to other projects.

And that left Trudy on the fifth planet - Ibaar.

It was just her and a few other doctors spread across the Outer Rim that was left of the program. She was sure that they would be recalled back to Chandrila - the capital of the Republic, but that had been almost a year ago. She had been on Ibaar for about as long. She was alone; at least, it felt that way. The only other two in her clinic with her was an older model R4-7 droid named A9-C that had been reprogrammed to help in the medical field. The humanoid-shaped, bug-eyed droid was built in the early days of the Empire and complained more than he assisted. The other was a teenager named Max, who had taken an interest in medicine. Whether it was because he liked Trudy or wanted to become a medic was to be answered. He was a good assistant and listened.

The only other Republic representative on Ibaar with Trudy was the Marshal: Baxley Morgan. How that man ever got the job of Republic Marshal was beyond her. It was probably why he ended up out here. He had a good heart, but the boy was dumb as a brick, and while she was no fighter - she could at least shoot a blaster well enough to hit whatever she was pointing at. It might not have been where she wanted it to go, but at least it’d hit its target.

The Empire had put blockades up to punish the Ibaarians for being sympathetic to the rebel cause. The aid that had been promised to the Ibaarians had finally come, and it was a little lackluster. The locals were friendly enough, but they felt a little betrayed. Trudy couldn’t blame them.

Trudy had become jaded herself; things were back to the status quo. There weren’t any more Imperial blockades, but with the lack of resources and supplies coming in - there might as well have been.

Ibaar, all-in-all, wasn’t a bad planet. It was a mountainous, temperate planet. The capital village, and the one that Trudy was in, was nestled in a valley - built into the side of the mountain while the rest of the land in the valley was used for farming. The natural cliffs that reached their stony fingertips to the sky provided a natural defense for the village, and the hundreds of waterfalls that cascaded down their sides gave the village and farms much-needed water. On a clear day, you could see for miles around. Though for all of Ibaar’s beauty, the weather was the worst. They could be lucky to see the sun one, maybe twice, per month. The rest of the month was plagued with overcast clouds, fog, daily rain, and nightly thunderstorms. It took some getting used to, and Trudy had ordered extra vitamins to help with the lack of sun.

Despite being the capital village of Ibaar, Laakso Village didn’t even have its own docking bay within the village’s boundaries, especially - making already scarce supplies harder to get. Luckily speeders made that journey a bit less complicated, though it was still rough going. A local warlord and his gang - a former Imperial commander and his troopers - had taken it upon themselves to decide that the Ibaarian Mountains were a great place to hide and run their smuggling business out of, using the old rebel tunnels from the war.

It made things dangerous.

Unsuspecting travelers going to and from the port or any of the other smaller villages in the mountains would be ambushed. Those lucky to survive had their property stolen. The bandits would look for anything from blasters, food, credits, various forms of technology they could get their hands on, and medical supplies. Trudy didn’t know how many villagers and travelers she had patched up in her time there, injured by ambushes. While the gang kept the locals terrified, they still hadn’t been bold enough to make their way into Laasko Village, choosing instead to raid the smaller outer villages - ones not protected by a marshal.

Baxley was having a hell of a time dealing with it himself and had brought up hiring some extra help. Trudy had nipped that in the bud; hiding behind hired mercenaries wasn’t going to do anyone any good - that he really needed to call in support from the Republic. The conversation tapered off after that, and the emergency seemed to have died down. However, as it always did, there was no downtime. The newest crisis cropped up - the report of the flu on a neighboring planet in the same system. A planet Ibaar happened to trade with. Which meant Trudy had to work to get vaccines to Ibaar before everyone was sick. She had ordered them about a month ago. Thank the stars someone was on her side, and the vaccines only took a month to get to her. Someone had made the shipment hastily, and they were currently waiting for someone to pick them up. Trudy couldn’t pull her boots on fast enough when the docking attendant called her to report they had been dropped off. Within fifteen minutes, she was in a speeder with a blaster and Max in the passenger seat. They would get there by nightfall - if they were lucky. Trudy just hoped to the stars above that nothing happened on their way.

----

It seemed as though Trudy’s silent prayers were answered. She pulled the speeder around to the docking bay and left it idling as Max hopped out of it, striding up to the attendant’s office and rapping his knuckles on the glass. He had grown like a sprout since Trudy had been there, now easily towering over her - though that wasn’t exactly hard to do. Brownish red shaggy hair constantly fell into his eyes, much to his mother’s dismay, and he was a lot less intimidating than he liked to think he was, especially with those freckles. Trudy waited as they exchanged words, waving a hand as the attendant poked his head out of his office and motioned to where the vaccines were - clearly annoyed he had been interrupted from his dinner and whatever wrestling match was on the holo. Trudy moved towards the vaccines, scanning them in with the datapad she pulled from her pack and happy to see that they didn’t have to quite rush back with them. Their cooling system had enough charge to allow them to rest a little bit - though they would still have to make the trip back by night. Max helped her load the crates into the back of the speeder and went out front to buy them both some roasted tip-yip and drinks from the food cart out front. Trudy turned around, eyeing the gunship docked in the bay the vaccines had been stored in. Annoyance twisted in her stomach that the valuable vaccines were stored where some random visitor to the planet could just poke through them. Though, the presence of the gunship made her raise an eyebrow. Not many ships like this made their way out here; either the owner was here for a quick refuel, or they were up to something no good. She scowled at it as Max returned with the tip-yip on a stick and a couple of cool bottles of water. “We didn’t get harassed today,” Max observed as he sat down on the roof of the speeder, and Trudy took a seat inside. “You think somethin’ is goin’ on?”

She nibbled at the meat on the stick and offered a shrug, turning to look back at the gunship. “Who knows. I just hope they keep whatever they’ve got going on out of the village. I want to sleep peacefully when we get back.”

You know the phrase famous last words? Those were Trudy’s.

--- Miles away, a Mandalorian clad in beskar armor was about to attempt to take down a stronghold of bandits and remnant stormtroopers all on his own. Maybe Fennec Shand was right. Maybe he was suicidal. ** Chapter 2: But I Ain't Dead Yet Taglist: @novemberrain221, @blackdogdesignuk, @mistyfur5, @thepoisonofgod

#din djarin fanfiction #din djarin fic #the mandalorian #din djarin #the mandalorian fanfic #the mandalorian fic #din djarin x oc #boba fett #fennec shand #din djarin x female oc #oc characters #oc character #grogu #the mandalorian x female oc #let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

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dalekofchaos · 4 years ago

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The Jedi are not pacifists

I hate the claim that Luke on Crait in TLJ was the most “Jedi like” in The Last Jedi and I resent the claim that the Jedi are pacifists.

Pacifism is defined by the belief that any violence, including war, is unjustifiable under any circumstances, and that all disputes should be settled by peaceful means.

The Jedi believe in diplomacy. But will defend themselves and the innocent by any means necessary.

Jedi aren’t pacifists. Anyone who thinks they are is deluded. They are like Samurai/Hospitaller Knights. They don’t want to fight but they will and will do what must be done to protect the innocent from evil and tyranny.

The Jedi prefer to be pacifistic. Mace Windu says in Clones, "We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers," and as others have pointed out, the Jedi at the beginning of Phantom are on a diplomatic mission, and Yoda advises in Empire that a Jedi uses his abilities for defense, not for attack, which is a lesson Luke takes to heart in RotJ when he abandons his weapon to save his father's soul. The movies seem to be saying that violence in the name of good is defensible (and certainly it makes for exciting action) and sometimes the best move, but peaceful acts are the ideal.

A lot of fans seem to think the Jedi were wrong for fighting in the Clone Wars. The problem isn’t that the Jedi fought in The Clone Wars. The problem is that they willingly became tools of the Republic and by extension, Palpatine.

It was more because they became TOO violent and allowed themselves to be weaponized for military operations in war, which Bariss felt distracted the Jedi from the Light. It was not because they practiced violence, PERIOD. She saw how the Jedi's transition from keepers of the peace to soldiers (No matter how much they claimed they weren't) was corrupting their ideology and contributing to the Republic's deterioration. Ahsoka admitted in Rebels that she agreed with this despite not condoning Bariss' methods to address the issue.

People often misunderstand Yoda's quote to Luke that "a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge or defense, NEVER attack". I've seen "NEVER attack" interpreted as meaning a true Jedi NEVER engages in combat at all unless attacked first. This is an overly literal interpretation, however, which grossly oversimplifies Jedi philosophy and leaves out crucial nuance that was present even back in 1977.

"Defense" does not apply solely to Jedi defending themselves. A Jedi's duty is to "defend" others as well, such as those who are suffering at the hands of those who use the Dark Side to oppress the weak. Sometimes, the best defense IS offense, and Jedi must be willing to embrace that paradox so long as they can maintain balance in doing so. The lightsaber is identified by Obi-Wan himself in the first film as "a weapon", and a weapon's purpose (Whatever pretty philosophies we give it) is to do violence. There is no denying that the lightsaber is made to kill. That in itself is established fact.

By definition, it is NOT something a pacifist would have any use for. Remember when Obi-Wan protected Luke from Cornelius Evazan & Baba by slicing off the latter's arm? THAT is a Jedi's meaning of "defense". Obi-Wan tried diplomacy first, only igniting his weapon when he recognized that there was no viable alternative. Had he not fought back (as a devout pacifist would refuse to), Luke could have been killed.

Also. Obi-Wan guided Luke into destroying the Death Star. Luke fought to save Han and his friends from Jabba. The Jedi fought against Sith, pirates, gangs and warmonger Empires to protect the Republic and the innocent.

Also in all films Evil has been defeated with violence from the Death Stars to the Emperor himself. Starkiller base is destroyed in the same way. Holdo saves the Rebels by ramming the FO and killing thousands.

Luke throwing away his lightsaber in RotJ also wasn‘t an act of pacifism. It was him refusing to kill an unarmed, broken old man and thus not turning to the dark side.

The movies portray them as heroic acts and we are meant to cheer. And the fans do cheer and love that stuff. Even the ones I mentioned in the beginning. But then the same fans say the Jedi shouldn't fight. Why? Are we meant to celebrate the violence of every other good guy except the Jedi?

George Lucas inspiration for the Jedi are Medieval Knights, Samurai, as well as Religion such as Buddhism and Taoism. So while Religion does not condone violence, they are warriors by having influence from Samurai and Knights. I mean, the Jedi are LITERALLY called Knights in fucking Star Wars. They are called Jedi Knights, not Jedi Hippies.

It's almost like they are called Jedi 'Knights' for a reason. Keepers of peace. Of course they would like to resolve things as peaceful as possible, but at the end of the day, They will do what they must to protect the innocent.

And I don't what to hear the “Grey Jedi” argument. The force in balance isn’t having both light and dark like yin and yang. Light Side IS the balance. The Dark Side was a perversion of the natural world, an attempt by others to twist it for their own reasons. This is pretty important. What the Jedi Order call “balance” is not the middle point between dark and light side, its the absence of Dark Side use. Traditional Jedi were keen to keep the Force “in balance”. They attempted to achieve this by destroying the Sith and denying the dark side—essentially “keeping balance” by restoring the Force to its natural state, as they viewed the dark side as “corruption”. The idea of balance of the Force, a central tenet of the Jedi Order, refers to the ideal state in which the Force exists in nature, i.e. as the light side. The presence of the dark side corrupts and destroys this natural balance, and the Jedi viewed it as their duty to restore it. Finally As from Georges Lucas’s intention Many fans incorrectly assume that balance refers to an equal mix of both light and dark side users. However, as George Lucas explains in the introductory documentary for the VHS version A New Hope, Special Edition, this is not the case:“[…] Which brings us up to the films 4, 5, and 6, in which Anakin’s offspring redeem him and allow him to fulfill the prophecy where he brings balance to the Force by doing away with the Sith and getting rid of evil in the universe…"In an interview, Lucas compared the difference between the light and dark sides as being like the difference between a symbiotic relationship and a cancer. A symbiotic relationship is one which benefits both parties and in which neither is harmed, whereas a cancer takes without giving back, eventually causing the death of both parties

According to The Last Jedi, you must let evil flourish and never fight them. But you can only confront evil if you are a distraction and just stall, never fight to defend the innocent.

To be more specific, it is what they say about Luke on Crait, that he did the "most Jedi thing ever" by not killing people.

But it wasn't. The most Jedi thing would be diplomacy and negotiations to end the conflict for good without bloodshed. What he did merely postponed the conflict to a few days later.

What Luke did was just stall for 5 minutes, allow his allies to escape and then KILL the First Order later. His intentions weren't pacifistic. He just left the hard and dirty work to others. Killing bad guys would be equally and more "Jedi" since he at least contributed something and did some damage.

Hot take. Luke Skywalker physically being there to confront Kylo Ren would’ve been the most “Jedi thing” he would essentially be doing his job. Defending the innocent, stopping a tyrannical neo-fascist empire and stopping the rise of darkness.

art source

True he would not kill his nephew. But showing Luke as a powerful Jedi Master is what the movie needed. Show him sending the blaster bolts right back at the AT-M6s, show him bring down the TIES, transports and properly facing Kylo Ren in a duel. They say the same speeches as in the movie. and when they are finished talking, Kylo makes for his dramatic slut lunge and Luke chops his hand off.

Then Luke would disappear and tell his nephew “see you around kid”

This would accomplice three things

The First Order’s army is in shambles and would take them a long time to recover, thus allowing the heroes to escape. Their new Supreme Leader is defeated, thus giving hope to the galaxy. And Luke will actually be able to pass on what he learned to Rey and Finn.

Honestly....why are fans so against showing Luke Skywalker as a powerful Jedi Grandmaster? Why was Han Solo allowed to look badass and take names as a seasoned smuggler and general and why is Leia able to look like a somewhat mentor like figure, but Luke suddenly cannot pick himself up, appear in person to Leia, confront Kylo in person and properly train Rey?

The logic of the fans who want to view the Jedi as pacifist is that they want the Sith and all sorts of criminals and warlords to go unchecked and never confront evil. Good people can come and rise up to face this evil, but apparently the Jedi must be pacifists in their eyes.

The ideal Jedi is like Martial Monks. Like Japanese Soheis.

They should meditate and be peaceful and always try negotiation to resolve conflict. But once conflict is inevitable, they should be able to act and enforce their judgement, violently, if necessary.

You may be asking how is that different from Sith? The difference is that Sith enforce their will upon others, without and indeed unwilling to negotiate first. Also, they need acne medication.

The Jedi have never been pacifists. They are Knights Of The Old Republic for a reason. Stopping the Sith at every turn. I don’t remember them ever being referred to as pacifists. They were “Guardians of the Peace”, that doesn’t mean they were always peaceful. To maintain peace, sometimes you have to fight those that threaten it.

#Star Wars #Jedi #Luke Skywalker #Anti TLJ #Anti Rian Johnson

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recentanimenews · 6 years ago

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Ranking All 49 One Piece Anime Arcs (Yes, Even The Filler)

On July 7th, the long-awaited Wano arc of One Piece begins, and because we're about to jump into an arc that's been building up for eleven years, I think it's as good a time as any to rank all 49 of the arcs that we have already. And I'm going to include the filler arcs, too, because even though many of them can't really hold a candle to the main narrative, I think a few of them are quite underrated.

49. Buggy's Crew Adventures

This isn't really an arc so much as a sigh of relief after the runaway train of emotion of the last few episodes of Arlong Park. You can laugh at Buggy for a bit after watching Nami's soul get ripped apart (and then put back together again).

48. Post Alabasta

You know video game sidequests that are basically around to level up your specific partner characters so that they don't get immediately wiped out in boss fights? This is the anime filler arc version of that. It's fun, though.

47. Foxy's Return

I loooooove Foxy and I looooove the Davy Back Fight arc. But Foxy's Return doesn't quite hit home. It might be because we last saw Foxy six episodes ago, but it truly speaks to Foxy's character that he'd try to make a grand, dramatic return after he got the crap kicked out of him so recently.

46. Spa Island

Foxy returns again in Spa Island, though this filler arc is mostly notable for the fact that Luffy uses Gear Third to split an artificial island in half. That alone wins this arc points.

45. Warship Island

Warship Island isn't a bad filler arc, just a victim of poor placement. It comes right after Loguetown and right after the Straw Hats have each declared their dreams. So it becomes a pit stop arc, like the Straw Hat crew getting gas and snacks before they head out on the Grand Line.

44. Little East Blue

I like to think of Little East Blue as a celebration of pre time skip One Piece, where the Straw Hats get (deservedly) celebrated for a bit. It's cute and it's a nice prologue to the Strong World movie.

43. Z's Ambition

The filler arcs that precede the movies are an odd bunch, as they tend to end with the main villain of the movie showing up in the last five minutes and declaring their plans. So it's hard to enjoy them on their own. That said, Z's Ambition has enough action that even if you don't watch Film Z (but you should, as it's great), you won't really mind the cliffhanger finale.

42. Straw Hat Separation

After Kuma wiped out the crew, this batch of episodes shows where they all ended up. And it's mainly a montage of Straw Hats being confused. And don't get me wrong—the Straw Hats do confusion like nobody's business. But you get more out of their separation in the Post War arc when they finally get around to business.

41. Diary of Koby-Meppo

Koby is a character that has always deserved more time, so getting a few episodes devoted to him and Helmeppo training to be Marines is welcome. Also, my dude Garp shows up for the first time, which means that I've rewatched these two episodes FAR more than I should.

40. Goat Island

Goat Island doesn't feel as "classic" as G-8, nor is it as entertaining as Ocean's Dream. In fact, it's about as fluffy as the goats that appear in it. But a three episode arc where Chopper talks to goats and Luffy doesn't beat up a villain but rather causes him to get shipwrecked? I'm FOR it.

39. Chopper Man Special

Chopper Man has Chopper in a cape. It's worth it for that. Please @ me. Chopper Man, you're my hero, and I hope you one day get a Chopper Man & Sogeking Save The Grand Line special.

38. Romance Dawn

Romance Dawn establishes a lot of things that will become classic tropes in One Piece: Going to a new island, meeting new crew members, helping out little kids, taking out a power hungry warlord, etc. It's a blueprint arc, and it works well as that. Sadly, the anime would not continue the "introduce a Straw Hat character with rad guitar" idea like they do with Zoro here.

37. Orange Town

The East Blue saga only gets better as it goes along, and Orange Town provides a nice counter to Romance Dawn. For example, if Axe-Hand Morgan represented the seriousness of the Marine threat in the last arc, then Buggy represents the other side of the villains that the Straw Hat Crew will encounter: cartoonish, loud, and beaten in a really fun way.

36. Ruluka Island

Ruluka Island feels like condensed One Piece, like you'd just add some water to turn this four episode arc into a twenty episode one. It's a nice arc to stretch your legs in before you go to the big themes of Jaya.

35. Ice Hunter

Ice Hunter is neat because it gives every member of the Straw Hat crew a little time to shine in a story that is action-packed and intriguing. If you miss pre timeskip One Piece and haven't watched the Ice Hunter arc, give it a shot.

34. Marine Rookie

I know that we're all eager to see the Straw Hats reunite in Wano, but if you want to see more of Whole Cake's Sanji Retrieval Team, the Marine Rookie arc makes for a solid bonus round. Also, the only reason it starts is because Luffy eats all of the Straw Hats' supplies, which, logically, should be the beginning of waaaaay more One Piece arcs.

33. Silver Mine

If you didn't get enough Bartolomeo in Dressrosa, then surprise! They made a filler arc just for you.

32. Boss Luffy Specials

You know when you fall asleep watching a show, and then you wake back up and, in your grogginess, suddenly whatever is on TV looks insane? That's what happened to me with Boss Luffy. I had just finished watching Ace's fight with Blackbeard and then, boom. I was out. Then I wake up and see the Straw Hats in 19th century Japan. The Boss Luffy stuff is fun, but I think it's best viewed when you're in a delirious half sleep. That's just my personal preference, though.

31. Caesar Retrieval

Caesar made for a fine antagonist on Punk Hazard, but he's even better as shreiking deadweight that the Straw Hat Crew and Company have to keep alive.

30. Little Garden

Little Garden isn't as cool as Whisky Peak, nor does it provide the emotional gut punch of Drum Island. Instead, it's mainly here to further the theme of what it means to be a true warrior and introduce giants (and dinosaurs!) in the One Piece universe. It gives Usopp some of the character development that he needs and Zoro almost cuts off his own feet in an effort to keep fighting. Any arc that illustrates how hard Zoro goes gets at least one thumb up from me.

29. Loguetown

Loguetown is a fun arc when you consider just how much it expands the scope of the world. Smoker and Tashigi truly begin the Navy's quest to stop the Straw Hats, Dragon gets introduced in a big, mysterious way, and Luffy takes a massive step in establishing himself in the realm of pirating. However, the Straw Hat side stories in the middle (aside from Zoro's awesome bit in the sword shop) slow it down a little.

28. Zou

Zou might be one of the most visually rich arcs in the series. From the massive elephant to the Mink tribe to the terror of Jack to more lessons about the poneglyphs, there's a lot shoved into this short span. And between the intense epics of Dressrosa and Whole Cake Island, it's fits nicely as 10 cc's of wonder and fantasy injected into the New World.

27. Fishman Island

Fishman Island occupies a weird spot. It's thematically heavy, but also serves as the action-packed Straw Hat Crew comeback tour. It needs to stand on its own, but it also caps off with a declaration of war against Big Mom, a villain that won't be encountered for years. In all, I feel that the importance of the Fishman Island arc is yet to be truly realized.

26. Ocean's Dream

One of the final two filler arcs on this list, Ocean's Dream seems like One Piece fan fiction in the best way. If you were dissatisfied with Luffy's fight with Zoro on Whisky Peak, you get another round of it here while Zoro is being mind controlled.

25. Syrup Village

If Romance Dawn and Orange Town were warm up laps, Syrup Village is when One Piece begins to break out in a sprint. The introduction of Usopp and the Going Merry make for some great moments and it's this arc that got me hooked on One Piece when I first started watching it.

24. Dressrosa

Dressrosa, for better (and sometimes for worse) is massive. Doflamingo is a threat that had been popping up since the Jaya arc, but because of Dressrosa's scope, his defeat can feel a little lackluster, especially when you consider that he's a pitstop on the road to Kaido. But Dressrosa introduces the endlessly cool Fujitora and the Straw Hats' big pirate alliance, and also gives us the dual backstories to Law and Doflamingo, neither of which disappoint. Also, Doflamingo's abilities lead to some of the coolest action scenes in the series.

23. Return to Sabaody

The post-timeskip starts with a bang, as the Return to Sabaody arc is both hilarious and thrilling. The Straw Hats get to show off their newfound strength as they do what they definitely couldn't do in the first Sabaody arc (easily knock out a Pacifista). And we also get to meet the Fake Straw Hat crew, which does a nice job of illuminating just how much the legend of the Straw Hats has grown since they were last together.

22. Reverse Mountain

One of the major strengths of One Piece is that it can accomplish three kinds of storytelling at once—giving us a narrative that is immediately satisying, giving us a narrative that will be satisfying in the near future, and giving us a narrative that will be satisfying in the long term. In the Reverse Mountain arc, we not only get a nice story about Laboon, but we also get introduced to Baroque Works (who will be the main antagonists of the saga), and also, we get hints that will only pay off when Brook is introduced years later. Reverse Mountain is short, but it also displays Eiichiro Oda's wonderful talent as a writer.

21. Long Ring Long Land

I've seen people on the internet say stuff like "WHEN I REACHED THE DAVY BACK FIGHT ARC, I NEARLY STOPPED READING!" and man, why? Quitting a series that you love because it slightly diverts from the hero fighting god-like enemies in order to participate in some fun games? Everyone has their own opinions, but your opinion of what fiction should be is wrong. That said, this arc is hilarious and great.

20. Whisky Peak

Whisky Peak is so cool. It's an anime arc with swagger, the kind that steps into a bar and buys everyone a round. I want to be friends with Whisky Peak but I know, deep down, that Whisky Peak is far too rad to be friends with me.

19. Reverie

The best thing about the Reverie arc is that it makes the world of One Piece a little more conveniently manageable (Oh neat. All of the major side characters get to hang out for a while), while also opening a can of worms (What's with the giant straw hat? WHAT'S WITH THE GIANT STRAW HAT?). Because this is the most recent arc, I don't know if we've seen the ripples that it will create across the One Piece world, but I sure am excited to.

18. Post Enies Lobby

This isn't the first time the Straw Hats have been forced to flee a place. However, this is the first time that it's felt like they'd be wiped out if they didn't. The return of Garp (and the spectre of the Yonko) throw the Straw Hats into all new territory, one where maybe being the plucky underdog team isn't enough to save them from the threats that come. Also, goofy Franky joins the team, which provides a nice counter-balance to the hints of oblivion.

17. Punk Hazard

Punk Hazard is home to one of my top 10 One Piece fights (Vergo vs Law & Smoker), features one of my favorite locations (an island that is half fire/magma and half ice/snow and home to an evil science base), and introduces a character that has only grown on me with time (Here's a hint on who he is: He laughs like "SHERURURURURURU SHERURURURURURU). It's kind of a prequel to Dressrosa, but in that spot, does a great job at furthering the menace of Doflamingo.

16. Post War

The introduction of Sabo aka Steampunk Ace aka I'm Just Kidding Sabo Is Kinda Cool and Luffy realizing that he has his crew to keep him going make the Post-War arc into a short but powerful cap to the pre-timeskip era.

15. Amazon Lily

Boa Hancock is a supremely underrated One Piece character, with a terribly sad backstory, amazing powers, and a hilarious crush on Luffy. And Amazon Lily helps further the major trend that will reach fever pitch in Dressrosa of Luffy amassing supporters because he's just such a dang ol' nice guy. Hopefully Hancock will one day meet Bartolomeo and together they will start a Luffy fan club and then argue over who gets to be President.

14. Jaya

If you were in the dark as to what the themes of One Piece are, here comes Jaya with a flashlight. This is basically a montage of the things that are important to the Straw Hat crew, and it introduces Blackbeard, a guy that will go from "Oh he seems interesting" to "OH I HATE HIM" over the next few hundred chapters. Luffy saying "Do I know how to throw a punch, you ask?" before absolutely walloping Bellamy still gives me goose bumps.

13. Thriller Bark

There's so much good to Thriller Bark—the spooky atmosphere, the introduction of Brook, the underrated Gekko Moriah, the Binks' Sake song, the Straw Hats teaming up to face a giant zombie, etc. And just when you think it can't get any better, Kuma shows up and rocks the One Piece world.

12. Impel Down

Hey! It's Buggy! And Mr. 3! And Mr. 2! And Crocodile! And our new best boy Jinbe! And Ivankov! As both a launching point for new protagonists and a comeback for old foes (along with introducing Magellan, one of the best villains in the series, and Shiryu, one of the scariest villains in the series), Impel Down succeeds. I love it more and more with time.

11. Drum Island

I've written an entire article about why the arc where we first meet Tony Tony Chopper makes me weep, so I'll try to be brief here. Drum Island is beautiful. It's the story of a little deer guy that couldn't find a place in the world and the loud rubber bro that gave him one. It's an arc about the price of dreams and the power of having someone stand up for you when you need it most. It's about love and respect and kindess. And now I'm about to cry again. THANKS A LOT, ONE PIECE.

10. Baratie

The Baratie arc is the first hint that we'll get about how hectic the One Piece world is. We meet Sanji, we meet Don Krieg, and we meet Mihawk (and is stronger than the whole cast of the show combined at this point). Syrup Village is about leaving your comfort zones and Baratie is about finding a home in the chaos that follows.

9. G-8

The best One Piece filler arc and the One Piece arc that I most revisit (it's only 11 episodes, can you blame me?), G-8 is a One Piece Greatest Hits collection and possibly the first thing you should show someone if they want to get into One Piece but don't have long to do so.

8. Alabasta

Are the Straw Hats ready for the Grand Line? Are they ready to topple evil villains and protect those that need help? That's what Alabasta asks and the answer is "Oh yeah." Luffy punching Crocodile up through the center of the city is an iconic moment, showing us that the Straw Hats, whether they mean to be or not, are forces of good in the world.

7. Marineford

Marineford is loud and chaotic and powerful, forcing Luffy into a situation where he is simply an especially energetic pawn on the chessboard of battle. It's just as much of a rescue mission as it is a quest for survival for him, but in the midst of Whitebeard and the three admirals and the Shichibukai, Luffy makes his mark. However, he doesn't do it through displays of awe-inspiring force, but through his willpower. Aokiji is right when he says that Luffy isn't "ready for this stage yet," but the thing that scares the Navy most is that one day, he will be.

6. Sabaody Archipelago

This is not a happy arc. It's a satisfying one (Luffy punching the Celestial Dragon will never get old), and it's an illuminating one (Silver Rayleigh, y'all!), but it's not one that will end with cheering. Kizaru shows up to put an entire generation of pirates in their place and Kuma wipes out the Straw Hats. That said, even if it concludes with the most uncertain moment in the series, it's still a fun ride.

5. Arlong Park

Nami is the soul of the Straw Hat Crew, and learning what she's been through at the hands of the despicable Arlong is heart-breaking. But Luffy doesn't need to know every detail to know that he needs to help and the Straw Hats walking to Arlong Park is another one of those "One Piece is literally the best thing ever" moments. And by the end, every Straw Hat bro gets a victory, Luffy gets a bounty, and Nami gets her freedom. And what does she do with this freedom? She joins a ship full of dummies as their navigator. And I'm so happy about that.

4. Enies Lobby

For many, Enies Lobby is THE arc and I'm not disagreeing with them. It's such a display of raw emotion and exciting battles, a nonstop rollercoaster of everything that makes One Piece great. And it ends with a Viking funeral for the Going Merry, a scene that reveals Oda's true power as a writer: He makes you sob about a ship.

3. Whole Cake Island

If Enies Lobby is about being a hero, then Whole Cake Island is about letting that idea go. The Straw Hats can't beat Big Mom or her crew and will have to settle with getting Sanji and getting out. And Katakuri, the protective brother of the Charlotte family, learns that he doesn't have to be perfect all the time. It's a beautiful arc that shows that Oda is willing to play around with some of the pre-established ideas of One Piece.

2. Water 7

Robin leaves. Usopp defects, Luffy is forced to do things that no captain wants to, and a villainous team shows up that seems unstoppable. Water 7 may be the first half of a story that continues with Enies Lobby, but I find it to be the better one (though not by much). It's an arc that constantly leaves you saying "Well, what else could go wrong?" and then something else does. And it's just so good.

1. Skypiea

This is it. Everything good about One Piece, from the powerful villain (with a great weakness), to the touching themes, to enchanting locations, to the gripping adventures, is wrapped up in Skypiea. And while I have no problems with arcs being connected, there's just something about the standalone nature of Skypiea that leads me to regularly revisit it. It's an arc that makes me glad that I started this nearly 900 episode adventure in the first place. And that's the highest compliment that I can give.

Want to make your own ranking? Then watch One Piece on Crunchyroll! It's literally the only way.

What is your favorite One Piece arc? How do you feel about this ranking? Let us know in the comments!

------------------------

Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. He has a Twitter, where you can disagree with him.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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feathersandblue · 7 years ago

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Hi!I love your meta about black sails characters and I've read your last one about flint's real motivations and how much more human silver is.One of the biggest critic moved to silver is about madi, and the fact that he betrayed her stopping the war without her consent. That he has taken away from her a possibility to free the world from slavery. A cause for which she was ready to die for and to see him dying too. And for this betrayal he doesn't deserve and won't obtain her forgiveness...

Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation, and canon does not really answer the question what their future relationship will look like - or rather, it indicates that while reconciliation is possible and Madi might be willing to forgive him, their relationship will never be the same.

I don’t think canon really backs the idea that she won’t be able to forgive him. The fact that Madi comes to him in their last scene is pretty telling - it’s meant to indicate that Madi is changing her stance, rather than Silver. If the creators hadn’t meant to imply that they would still be together in some form, they could easily have their last scene be a shot of Silver looking at her longingly from a distance, and she turning her back on him and walking away.

Of course, we also have a very concise statement from the show’s creators:

“The way you see them at the end, they’re in the same frame but they’re yards away from each other. Emotionally, that’s as close as they’ll ever get again.”(x)

So I think it’s made pretty clear that Madi does forgive him, but that it’s not really the same after. And how could it be? Silver has betrayed her. There are fundamental differences between them that have now become obvious, which at least Madi hasn’t really been aware of before. He’s not the person she thought he was.

Concerning the fact that Silver stops the war without her consent, and that this makes him a bad person … well, I have a couple of problems with that.

1. One of them is a distinct one-sidedness in the way people look at their relationship, where Madi is treated basically as a saint, and Silver as an illoyal boyfriend who doesn’t support her and her cause as is his duty. But in a romantic relationship, both parties have obligations toward each other, it can’t be just a one-sided thing, no matter how much we relate to one partner and their goals and ambitions.

It’s also important to point out that if Silver had acted the way she wanted him to, Madi would be dead. Madi only survived the entire ordeal because Silver chose a wife over a war. If he hadn’t brought the cache, even though Flint and the maroon queen opted against it, the governor would have shot her.

It’s also only fair to mention that the choice between a noble cause and the life of a partner is not one that you can dictate to anyone. It’s a deeply personal decision. The fact that Madi’s life was more important to Silver than vice versa is not something you can really blame Silver for.

“You may think what you want of me. I will draw comfort in the knowledge that you’re alive to think it.”

I imagine it’s pretty difficult to remain perpetually pissed at a person for saving your life, going forward.

When Madi was imprisoned by Rogers, she wasn’t willing to bargain for Silver’s life. It was her choice. I don’t see anyone pointing out that it would have been her moral duty as a romantic partner to think of Silver and what they had together, that she is a horrible girldfriend for putting her beliefs first.

And yet I see people say that Silver’s failure to act in a way that reflects her beliefs rather than his makes him a bad person.

In a relationship between two equals, there is no such thing as an obligation to defer to your partner in such a profound way. There is no way to justify why Silver should have to defer to Madi. And yet parts of fandom consider him a horrible human being for failing to do just that.

So really, that one-sidedness, where people look at things only from Madi’s point of view - one that emphasizes her marginalization as a black woman and comes with the premise that Madi’s wants and needs clearly exceed Silver’s - that he’s a horrible boyfriend for disregarding her priorities, which are so much nobler and more important - is something I can’t share or support. People often judge their relationship from a position of real life activism, where the fact that Madi is fighting slavery is a killer argument. In my personal opinion, regarding their personal relationship as well as their historical situation solely from that perspective is somewhat reductive and simplistic.

2. The second problem that I have is the assumption that Madi was entitled to that war, as if war was some sort of possession or property. It was “her war”, and then Silver “took it away from her”. You might recall what I said about Flint personifying that war in my previous meta post. So according to Flint, Silver is a ruthless murderer; according to fandom, he is a thief.

But no matter how you twist it, war is not something that people have a right to, because war always requires the partcipation of other people. It requires soldiers to do your dirty work. If you are a war leader, you have to have the support of your troups, you have to lead them into battle, you have to order them to fight and kill on your behalf.

I’ve already written extensively about how Flint acts as a leader, but there’s one thing that can’t be denied, and that’s that he’s willing to put his own life on he line, fighting side by side with his men. He’s doing more than his own share of dirty work, he’s usually part of the boarding crew or the vanguard. It’s rare that we see him stand back while others do the killing.

When it comes to Madi, on the other hand, we have an entirely different situation. Madi is the heir of what is framed as a hereditary monarchy, she wasn’t elected into a position of power, she’s awarded that position - stepping into the footsteps of a leader who is “priestess, governess, warlord.” Her authority is absolute, she even takes pride in making it obvious to Silver in 3.08. that her men obey her without question. But Madi doesn’t do the dirty work. She doesn’t spill blood. In an era where war still means a lof of close combat, Madi steps back and lets other peope fight her battles.

What right does she have to this war, morally speaking, when that war demands the obedience and the sacrifice of other people? A position of authority where you can order people to die is not something that any human being, no mater how much we like them, should be entitled to.

Imagine there’s a war, and no one shows up. (*)

Basically, what Silver and Julius do in the finale, is to make that war so singularly unattractive to people that they are no longer inclined to show up. They are no longer willing to kill and die on Madi’s behalf because, guess what, they, too, value their own lives and those of their loved ones more than they value the prospect of a long, bloody war that puts their own freedom at risk and has very little chances at success.

Tough shit. It almost looks like it’s been Madi’s war rather than “their war”, as she so succinctly phrases it in her conversation with Rogers. Madi felt so confident speaking on behalf of her people, but then it turns out that she never actually had their vote. It should be mentioned that Madi herself has not experienced slavery first hand - not the way that Julius, Max, Ruth, or her mother and her father have experienced it, who are all far less enthusisastic at the prospect of a war because they know how much they stand to lose when England retaliates.

I am going to copy & paste a couple of praragraphs from one of my earlier posts here.

Fandom often treats Silver as if he were taking away Madi’s agency, but that’s not really what he’s doing.

By removing Flint and the treasure from the picture, Silver basically dissembles the nukes and cuts the finances of a war that he considers a fucking nightmare, which, and I don’t think anyone can deny it, is a valid concern. Flint, as a war leader and a brilliant tactiction, second to none, is more of a force of nature than a man. His reputation, his tactical genius, his ability to overcome the greatest odds, and his ability to get people to follow him are nothing short of amazing. So really, the analogy of Flint being the nuke - the devastating weapon of mass destruction - is not far off. And of course, the treasure is both a media-effective means of propaganda and a valuable resource.

Both Flint and the treasure, however, are also not something Madi had a right to, or at least, her right to them did not surpass Silver’s.

Silver has bled, and spilled blood, for each of these things.

Silver was a key player in securing the Urca gold in the first place. He bled for the cause (lost his leg in Charles Town), he was part of the Walrus crew which made Flint’s name what it became in the aftermath of Charles Town. He was the one who served as Flint’s quartermaster, he was the one who sailed with him into that storm, he is the one who went with him through the doldrums. When Flint made the bargain with the maroons, he made it under coercion - because the maroon queen threatened the lives of him and his crew. But it was Silver whose intervention forged that alliance. Without Silver, Flint would have given up in that cages, and all of our pretty pirates would have ended up dead either from torture or slave labor, or slain during their escape.

Madi, on the other hand, got that war handed on a silver plate (pun intended). She was living on that island, and, like most young people, struggling to forge her own identity by establishing herself in opposition to the more protectionsist rule of her mother. Along came a bunch of pirates who offered her a shiny war, as well as the war leader to fight it for her, a man with the persuasive power to convince her mother to support it.

Madi’s war relied on Flint - his tactical skills, his willingness to sacrifice anything and everything for the cause. It also relied on Silver, who put his life on the line again and again, torturing, killing, and descending into darkness. Silver was reluctant to step into that role, and we can see, during season three and four, how he struggles not to let that darkness consume him. Long John Silver is also not something that Madi has a right to. Nor, and that is where we get back to 1, is his unwavering support and loyalty even when it goes against his beliefs, especially since she doesn’t seem willing to offer the same.

When I say that Madi’s war relied on Flint, there is also another aspect to it, wich ties back to the previous meta about Flint and his reasons for fighting. Madi’s war relies on Flint being fucking miserable.

The thing that Madi seems most upset about in 4.10 is the fact that Silver sent Morgan to Savannah to look for Thomas Hamilton.

But why would Madi be upset about the fact that Silver sent someone to find out whether his best friend’s lover might still be alive? I mean, let’s assume that the Spanish invasion hadn’t happened, that Morgan had returned with the good news that Thomas was alive, imagine Silver had told Flint, there would have raided the plantation to free Thomas, and there would be a tearful reuion of two lovers. How on earth could Madi possibly see this as a form of betrayal?

Maybe because Silver, and Madi herself, knew that Thomas being alive would be a game changer for Flint. Looking for Thomas - which is all Silver did in that moment, it’s not as if he’d really been planning to imprison Flint there at that point - can only be considered a form of betrayal if they both knew exactly that Flint was only willing to fight that war because he was so lost to his grief and rage that it drove him to such extremes, if they both knew that Flint was born “out of great tragedy”. But it’s Flint that Madi’s war relies on. Not James McGraw.

All these things - the treasure, Flint, Long John Silver - they do not belong to Madi. There is a certain irony in the fact that Madi used Silver’s considerable skillset - his cunning, his inventiveness, his power of persuasion, the legend of Long John Silver - to fight her war, but that is is this exact skillset that is then used against her to end it.

Of course, Madi is free to do as she pleases. If she wants that war so desperately, she can go and try to find some likeminded people who help her fight it. She can find the outsiders, the rebels, the other “scattered objections” and form her own army, wage her own war, if that’s what she thinks is right. Build her own resistance. Do it the hard way. She can send someone to Savannah to find Flint and free him. She can do a lot of things to make that war happen.

But she won’t do that, because she isn’t stupid, and she’s not like Flint, who was so consumed by his war that he simply could not let go of it. Madi has other things to live for, thankfully. For sane people, a war immdiately gets a lot less attractive the moment their chances of winning decline. Madi is a good leader to her people, and she’s a good person. She would not waste lives and resources in a war that no one wants.Silver did betray her, and I’m not saying she has to forgive him. But I think it’s important to acknowledge that Silver’s motives and reasons are no less valid than hers, and that taking out Flint and the cache did not mean denying her agency, because if her agency relied on these two things, then it was never real to begin with.

3. Third, what bothers me is to look at Silver’s betrayal of Flint and make it about Madi when it was never about her in the first place. I know we all look at the show from different pespectives, but I think it’s fair to say that Silver and Flint, their individual arcs and their complex and fraught relationship, are central to Black Sails. In Silver’s story, Flint is the antagonist, and the conflict between Flint and Silver and its resolution has very little to do with Madi - if anything, she’s a catalyst that contributes to brings things to a head. Accordingly, the idea that Madi’s wants and needs should be the determining factor in Silver’s decision-making seems quite absurd. Flint may be Madi’s nuke, but first and foremost, he’s Silver’s … friend, alter ego, antagonist, partner, captain, whatever you want to call it - this overwhelming influence in Silver’s life.

The relationship between Silver and Flint is complex, fraught, full of landmines. There’s a co-depenency that’s not quite healthy, a power imbalance that only changes in Silver’s favor in season four - and there’s a tentative, hard-won friendship between them. And in that situation - with their shared history and everything they’ve been through together - should Madi’s wants and needs really be the deteminigg factor in Silver’s decision-making? Or should it be his own moral compass?

Of course, the situation in Black Sails is more complex than that, there are other factors to keep in mind - first and foremost, the issue of slavery, which, as I’ve said before, is a killer argument all on its own. How can Silver possibly turn aganst Flint and Silver when they fight for a better world without slavery, for a revolution? If he doesn’t want to fight, he can just walk away, can he not?

But the thing is, people who tend to say that rarely look at the whole thing from Silver’s point of view. There is a distinct lack of willingness to put themselves in his shoes.

Silver is in a position of an individual having to make a choice. Jack has arrived with a clear agenda, one that gives Nassau a chance at peace. From Silver’s point of view, Flint is entirely driven by rage, the intent “to see the world burn” - as someone who is decidedly not an idealist, Silver simply cannot focus on these far-away visions of a better future the same way. And in that situation, confined by his own experiences and worldview, Silver is left with two options: side with Jack, secure the peace and the freedom of Madi’s people, stop Flint, and keep Madi safe. Or turn against Jack, enable the war and let Flint set the New World on fire, then lose both him and Madi either trough a violent death or by leaving them behind. War or peace? The decision, in this moment, is not an easy one, but I think it displays a lack of understanding to suggest that with Silver’s and Flint’s relationship right at the core of it, with everything that stands between them - the things Silver has seen Flint do, the murder and the insanity and the gambling with lives, and the things Silver himself has done on behalf of the war - that Silver acting according to his personal beliefs makes him a villain, or that it is his moral duty to support his girfriend’s ambitions - the very girlfriend who, at this point, is only still alive because he’s already “betrayed” her once by prioritizing her life over the cause.

So, after all of that, we are still left with a couple of things that cannot be denied.

1. Silver acted behind Madi’s back, and he betrayed both her and Flint on a personal level. They had no reason to suscpect he would turn against them (though I would argue that there were signs, they just didn’t pick up on them), which further contributes to the sense of betrayal.

2. Silver put a stop to a war that was meant to abolish slavery. We cannot conclusively say that it was the right choice (but neither can we say it wasn’t, as we have no means to determine what the outcome would have been).

It’s of course perfectly okay to have personal opinions about all of these things, or to think that Madi should not forgive Silver. But I can’t help but think that a lot of the criticism levelled at Silver is a consequence of a very limited viewpoint that is rooted in activism, not in empathy - to an extent where the entire thing becomes a black and white thing, where Madi gets awarded all the oppression points that forever put her on a pedestal of moral high ground, because SLAVERY!

Perdonally, I don’t think that this viewpoint acknowledges the complexity of the issue at hand, something that the show itself is actually very good at.

—————————————-

* The original phrasing, of course, is “Sometime they’ll give a war and no one will come.” The variant used here is a re-translation of the German version, “Stell dir vor, es ist Krieg, und keiner geht hin.”

#black sails #madi #john silver #silvermadi #black sails meta #long post #very long post

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imaginaryelle · 8 years ago

Text

ME Andromeda Meta: Lazy Writing in Kadara

I was reading a post that brought up some good points about Sloane and Reyes and the Kadara questline earlier (mostly its highly questionable uses of POC stereotypes and tropes, and especially its treatment of women of color), and I started responding but realized this was just way too long to add on. (This is very long, you’ve been warned)

I want to start this by saying that I like Reyes. I like Sloane too. I want to see everyone’s interpretations of them both. As characters, they are probably the most intrinsically interesting people to come out of Andromeda for me, aside from possibly Drack. But. The writing of the game does not serve either of them well, and fandom (any fandom) has a definite tendency to simplify complex characters down to one or two easily-digestible traits. That’s not a deal breaker for me; I’m happy to read fic about them and admire art and encourage creators to write and draw and edit from now until the end of time (unless it’s character bashing. I’m not cool with cutting characters down to ONLY negative traits, see: Sloane, Liam, Jill).

There’s an argument to be made here that this fandom is very young yet, and complexity will increase as creators feel more comfortable and at home with the characters, too, especially as we all stop feeling like we have to defend the fact that we like the game. I’ve seen some of that change happening already, and I’m really happy about it because I have high hopes for people remembering/realizing that it is possible to enjoy something and still allow it to be flawed, that criticism is not the same as hate (and vice-versa), or even just recognizing that other people’s criticism of a thing is not a threat to your own enjoyment it. Make all the AU timelines, flesh out new details and headcanons, tweak the storyline until you’re happy, or at least until you can live with it. It’s your sandbox, go play. I personally have a goal, with my own writing, to add to the complexity of the world presented in Andromeda, to make it make sense within itself and be more than what Bioware gave us, and that means that I have trouble approaching any of the characters without fully considering their characterization, their role in the game, and the out-of-game influences that can be seen in their portrayal. (This is why I have trouble just writing straight fluff, even when I want to.) For a lot of characters, this all comes together fairly smoothly. I write Gil because his story is one that doesn’t work very well without headcanons and expansion, and I haven’t yet written Reyes or Sloane because there is just a ton to process there.

Reyes and Sloane, the Nexus leadership, Kadara and the Initiative, the Krogan, the Angara, etc., are all presented with very simplistic choices attached in-game. Sometimes those choices are extremely frustrating to me, because there are a LOT of potential problems in there, but what happens in Kadara is some of the worst of it, in my opinion. And watching fandom react to it mostly makes me feel my age, because when I was 20, and especially when I was 15 and just getting into fandom, I probably would have been a lot closer to what seems to be the general fandom consensus: Kadara is cool and Reyes can be a sweetheart and Sloane is a bitch. But that was 10-15 years ago for me, and that more-than-a-decade gave me access to a lot of education and observation and life experience. And most of what that experience has taught me is that no form of media is created in a vacuum, and to take in my media a little more critically, and what I can see of the impulses and biases that influenced Kadara’s creation, and then, by proxy, fandom’s reception of it, are terrible. They’re insidious to mainstream Western (and especially North American) culture, and their effects are far reaching. And I’m not saying that Bioware is inherently terrible (though I do think they were incredibly lazy about this), or that fans who love that simpler interpretation are terrible. You see Kadara and Reyes and Sloane’s stories differently? That’s great. Play with that. Create your stuff. I’ll be happy to see it and to cheer you on and we can talk about it if you want to. There’s an important distinction here: I don’t hate anyone for any of this, I just think it’s important to recognize what happened here. Okay? Okay. Here we go.

What’s so bad about Kadara?

Part of me loves Kadara. Part of me’s with Jaal on hating it. Either way, Kadara, for me, is the most poorly written part of the entire game. It makes no sense, there’s no internal logic, it’s just a thrown-together jumble of people-are-terrible-when-they’re-desparate, pirates-are-still-cool-right and shock-value-masturbation. Sloane and Reyes both get shortchanged by the writing and the plot, but the game absolutely steers the player toward favoring Reyes at Sloane’s expense. So let’s explore some of that, shall we?

First-up: General Design and Presentation.

Visually, Kadara port is populated by a thin veneer of space-pirates-are-cool over racism, classism, and possibly homophobia. Like, I’m not going to say that neon-colored hair is inherently gay culture, but it definitely influenced my impression that no one on Kadara was straight. Everyone there has been otherized as much as possible within the game’s constraints:

-They have bright, non-natural-colored hair.

-They have scars and facial tattoos. One man has lost an eye. Sloane has heterochromia, a visual distinction that is not available to Ryder and which only appears in one other place in the game (the representative of the hydroponics protesters who actually has lines, and who also has neon hair and facial tattoos. Are you seeing a pattern here?)

-A huge majority of the humans with speaking roles are POC.

-They have completely different armor, even though there’s no reason for it to exist because they should mostly have started with initiative supplies. They mostly wear darker colors, and they certainly never wear white and blue (because white and blue are, after all, the initiative’s colors: purity and honesty/trust/responsibility in Western color theory).

-The landscape in the port is very jagged, things piled together for function rather than planned aesthetic, because they have to make use of what they have and don’t have the luxury of designing something classically beautiful even though the angara and then the kett were living there before, wtf is this bioware? I mean, I enjoy chunky neon as an aesthetic, but really?

-Every member of the Outcasts brooks no compromise in an in-your-face way that generally is presented as uncultured thuggery. Even the asari and salarians speak more harshly.

Just think about that for a moment. Compare it to the visual of the Nexus, with its smooth rounded lines, its white and chrome and blue, its chill conversations about strawberries and bureaucratic power struggles, mostly had by predominately white people with natural-color-hair and no scars or tattoos, who are incredibly secure in the idea that they don’t really have to worry because someone else will ultimately take care of the biggest problems. (That someone else being the POC and POC-coded techs in engineering and the Pathfinder.) The Nexus is the epitome of a high-tech white collar office in space, and I kind of hate it every time I have to go back. The first time I wandered around Kadara, I spent some time going “oh, so this is where all the cool and interesting people ended up!” and determining that my Ryder (and, honestly, myself) would probably have ended up there if they’d been awake at the time of the Uprising, because hey, cool hair, people who are tired of the establishment’s bullshit and gatekeeping (because the Initiative is absolutely the establishment in this scenario), making their way with whatever’s at hand, this is my zone!

And that is so many levels of fucked up??

Kadara under the Outcasts is quite literally painted and populated with examples of non-white, non-wealthy, non-straight visual culture and they’re the bad guys?? What kind of lazy excuse for world building is this?

Then, on top of all that, we have the Outcast Leadership. Sloane’s power is very obviously painted as an overbearing warlord dictatorship:

-She charges protection fees even though credits should have no meaning in the exiles’ lives when labor, skilled craftsmanship, water and food are at a premium and serving the community with labor/resources would make about 1000 times more sense.

-Her representatives beat people in the streets for not being able to pay those fees (again, where? exactly?? is anyone getting money from??? what do they even want it for????), or exile them into a hellscape where not only is the water on fire but people (not wildlife! people!) will literally eat you.

-She encourages and promotes the use of a highly addictive drug that…. makes it harder… for people to pay protection fees? What?

-She is a conqueror who kicked the Angara out of their own port for… who knows? What reason? I mean what logic does it take to exile the people who make the water filters from your own group of exiles who need clean water?

-There’s even a datapad out in the badlands that indicates she’s encouraging people to go out and settle because “no one owns that land, free land!” even though the angara are obviously there. Like, good job shifting the imperialist colonist theme onto the “bad guys” bioware, sheesh. The initiative doesn’t exactly have a drastically different plan to start with. (and I’m not going to talk about the nexus quest smallpox reference here. there are some things that just. goddammit)

-She holds public executions. Of kett, mostly, and of the angara who betrayed the Moshae, because that’s what the local angara say they want. Public executions, in current cultural context, are the tool of terrorist groups and authoritarian regimes. There is no “good” cultural association to be had there.

And on top of all that, they made Sloane a black woman. They made this totally illogical, drug-peddling, domineering villain figure who is openly critical of the player character a black woman with two different colored eyes and a big scar on her face. Again, how lazy can you be, bioware? Was even a moment spent examining your work for racist bias?

So yeah. Some pretty messed up stuff, right? Well, now for the good part.

This all then influences the PLOT:

There are a lot of good points to be made about the plot’s depiction of women and the ways it restricts Ryder. That’s not really what I’m writing about, but I do think it’s important to acknowledge that this story repeatedly requires Ryder to side with Reyes and commit violence against women, and especially women of color, before you ever get to High Noon. What I’m writing is mostly about the ways the plot steers player perception.

In addition to a surface combination of Zevran’s flirt approach and Dorian’s general looks, drinking, and sense of A PAST, Reyes is the focal point of all but one main-plot missions on the planet. He is presented as a friend through contacts Ryder is already on good terms with (the Angaran Resistance), and helping him is EXPLICITLY listed as something Ryder needs to do to get a settlement going. He’s witty, jovial, flirts only as much as Ryder flirts back, and asks for Ryder’s help. He is presented as someone who, while capable, needs assistance, and he’s openly thankful for and appreciative of services rendered.

Sloane, meanwhile, in addition to all the baggage from above, is presented as an obstacle. She stands in the way of Ryder getting what they want, whether it’s Vehn Terev or a settlement on the planet. Ryder becomes the supplicant, and no one likes being a supplicant, folks.

So that’s point #1 for plot: Reyes gives Ryder the opportunity to do something, to make progress toward a goal, while Sloane is a roadblock. There is no sense that Sloane is even open to negotiating for a settlement at this point.

Now, in the course of Ryder making progress on those quests the plot so helpfully provides (even SAM will say “perhaps we should check in with Mr. Vidal, Pathfinder” after you complete a step), Ryder is sent through several parts of Kadara that do not do anything good for Sloane’s image, but benefit Reyes.

-The Charlatan is feeding people in the slums after Sloane kicked them out. For free.

-The aforementioned cannibalism is discovered via a protection-fee-related quest (on the map it’s not very far from the end of one of Reyes’ quests. Also see: people-are-terrible-when-desperate)

-Aforementioned land-grab policy datapad is available in the angaran settlement just off a main road. (another tick-mark for people-are-terrible-when-desperate, woo for pointless revenge murders)

-In the course of helping Dr. Nakamura, (another explicit quest step) Ryder learns Sloane is making Oblivion on purpose, and that Kaetus has sent a message indicating a distinct lack of care about the addiction rate or health of people who are addicted. (people are terrible?)

-Sloane apparently doesn’t even try to protect her wind-energy supply?

-Reyes helps fight the Roekaar, working as an on-the-ground partner to Ryder in a mission Ryder is invested in because of pre-Kadara content. In the process, they kill the group’s female angaran leader.

-Reyes is personally ambushed by a bunch of other smugglers (led by his WOC ex-girlfriend/drinking partner, whose involvement, as others have pointed out, really wasn’t necessary to the plot and just means Ryder is Killing The Competition). This serves four purposes: it presents Reyes explicitly bisexual/biromantic if Ryder is male, presents him as a possible victim to attack, makes Ryder kill a second woman who attacks Reyes, and gives Reyes some vague fridging-related manpain with his lines about making sure she’s buried properly because “she doesn’t deserve this”

-Collective representatives with lines will say that the Charlatan is more in favor of the Nexus and the Pathfinder than against them. Sloane is vocally anti-Nexus.

-Reyes gets you into a party Sloane didn’t want you at, steals some liquor, gets an Impulse Distraction Kiss and has Sad Backstory Conversation bonding + Drunk Kissing on a rooftop at sunset. (There are probably official TV Tropes names for these things but whatever)←this mission, just as a note, is NOT required by the plot, but it IS highly likely most Ryders will do it. Bioware gave it a vidcall invitation and everything, and it’s really the only chance Ryder has to just hang out and be goofy at a party in the whole game.

-Sloane glares at the Pathfinder for sitting in her chair (seems totally reasonable? I don’t like other people sitting in my computer chair, I don’t know about you guys) and is implied to have physically removed them without ever saying a word.

Things that require a bit more fancy driving and digging into things and are unlikely to be found if you’re just doing the main plot, and may not be discovered at all:

-A room literally covered in blood from Collective forces torturing an Outcast for information

-A Collective base with cells and prisoners, where people are also being tortured for information.

AND THEN:

Sloane demands Ryder’s help hunting down the kett. Not even in person. Through Kaetus. This is a direct threat to her power if it got out, supposedly (because no one on Kadara except Reyes has ever heard of spin coverage, I guess?), but she’s not going to ask, she’s going to hold the need for a settlement over Ryder. And the game literally makes it impossible to refuse. Ryder has to do it. Or at least, Ryder has to do the annoying tracking part. Sloane is totally capable of showing up and killing kett and being condescending once the time-consuming part’s done. You know what people hate even more than being the supplicant? Having that supplicant status lorded over them for annoying favors.

So, for point #2: In sum, by the time High Noon happens, the player has very definitely been primed to think:

-Reyes is Ryder’s friend, if not romantic partner

-Sloane is a very bad person who is mean to Ryder.

AND, point #3: Ryder has already killed two women who tried to attack Reyes.

The choice then, in whether or not to save Sloane, is a heavily weighted one, and it’s important to note that that is what the choice is, too. It’s not a choice of one or the other, because it’s impossible to kill Reyes even if you want to, but Sloane goes down, with no resistance, to one bullet in a gutshot. The same gutshot from Ryder barely slows Reyes down in his escape. And that’s because Kadara’s story was never about Sloane. She is expendable for the narrative. If she wasn’t, she might have been actually allowed some subtlety or logical consistency. More screentime, at the very least. But she wasn’t. The plot was always about Reyes. That’s why you get the emotional high of a romance scene with him right then and there if you want it, even though it should be totally strange to have sex right next to a place where you just watched someone die. Right? We’re not pretending that’s normal, are we? (please, writers, go AU on that location unless your Ryder is actually into that or something)

It’s entirely possible to read Reyes as not knowing about some of the darker things his people did in his service if the player desires, if the player even know about those things. It’s also completely possible to read Reyes as being genuine in his interactions with Ryder. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn’t. Maybe he’s playing puppet master on everyone, including Ryder. We don’t know. The story makes him easy to love, if that’s what you want. But Sloane does not have the luxury of that interpretation leeway. The narrative has explicitly painted her as the villain here, even though none of her actions make logical sense. She exists to be Reyes’ opponent. It’s lazy as hell, but that’s what it is. She is barely even a character, as far as the game is concerned. Reyes’ storyline can only exist in opposition to something terrible enough that people will take any way out, and Sloane became that thing to suit the story. It has nothing to do with her actual character as seen in the Uprising, and everything to do with her function as a plot device. As far as the story is concerned she never had any real power. She was always going to fall. This imbalance is exemplified in the fact that Reyes is there with a crew of followers, and Sloane has no allies except possibly the pathfinder (whose good opinion Reyes has explicitly courted) because Reyes has quite systematically removed or stolen them (Ryder can even remark on that). He goes as far, in the end, as having Kaetus beaten half to death and using a sniper in what he frames as a duel. He has defeated her on every possible front except her life. And after everything he and Ryder have done, both together and separately, the narrative pull to just let Sloane die is enormous. The story has not presented any compelling reasons for Ryder to like her, and has handed over whole handfuls of reasons to at minimum engender apathy towards her if not active dislike. Her death completes the story pattern, and allows for new beginnings and change to move in. The player has to struggle against a life-time’s worth of story-consumption to break that pattern.

Some people get there because they see the sniper move as grossly unfair, or because they’re pissed Reyes lied to Ryder so much. Some people came to the game already loving Sloane (and from what I hear, she’s an extremely relateable character in Nexus Uprising). Some people think Reyes is a slimy manipulating jerkwad. But however they get there, the most infuriating part is that those players don’t even get rewarded for that struggle. There is no sense of completion or closure, because the story wasn’t designed to let Sloane live. Instead you just get a holding pattern, and the certain knowledge that Reyes will be back, because someone, somewhere, is working on the next act in his play. And even if you do let Sloane die but want to tell Reyes you don’t approve of him or his methods, the one comment Ryder is allowed to make only results in Reyes calling them a dick. There is no emotional narrative payoff for disliking Reyes, whatsoever. So then you probably get a pretty fair number of people who go “Well, that was unsatisfying, I guess I’ll just decide I don’t like Sloane and hate her more intensely because that will make things work properly.” And the fact that the narrative supports that, that the willful death of a woman (a woman of color!) who had power in favor of a man we’ve just learned lied to us, is the end goal of this plot, is an objectively terrible thing and makes the entire Karada arc an example of some of the worst habits in modern mainstream storytelling.

So, again. I like Reyes, and I like Sloane. I’m happy to cheer everyone on in their support and interpretation of either of them, or both, or neither. But when you create your own stories, I hope you pay attention to what you’re doing. Recognize your own biases, your own laziness, and try not to let yourself do what bioware did here. Give your worlds a sense of internal logic that doesn’t depend on stereotypes and knee-jerk prejudices. Let your characters be people instead of plot devices. Let them have flaws and charm, dark traits and redeeming features, no matter what role they fill in your story. Don’t stack everything one way. It’s not easy. I’ve been working on it for years and probably still have a long ways to go. But it’s important if we want the world to change.

#me a spoilers #andromeda meta #kadara politics #text post #long post

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