#it's about how being a jedi isn't about being a hero just about being good. being kind. making the galaxy a little better than you found it

[threebea]

I was thinking about how the Padawans being part of the war effort DOES suck and kind of bother me, but for some reason I don't really see it as an in universe moral failing of the Jedi.

First I was like: well Star Wars is aimed at kids . A pov character that is a kid makes sense. Especially in the early seasons of TCW and Rebels. This was added in the cartoon and it became part of movie canon after the fact that Padawans held military rank. Suspension of disbelief etc etc.

Then I was like... Wait. Padme was fourteen when she became elected queen, and although it was supposed to be a peaceful rule it got to the point where other fourteen-year-olds became her body doubles in case of assassinations. She also goes and leads an army to take back her planet. At no point was anyone like: you know what you're fourteen you should probably stay at base camp while we do this. We don't actually need you for the storming the palace part.

The GFFA in universe does not place moral significance on it. It isn't weird. If it did there is no way Shmi would have said: yes my nine year old son will do the death race when he doesn't have to even though he has never won or finished before. The plot must allow the gffa to be okay with child endangerment with the good guys still being good guys. No one says Shmi is a terrible mom when she agrees to let Anakin do it. She wasn't being coerced she's just convinced that the only way to help people is to put a nine year old in a death race. In real life if she did that we'd be horrified. And remember Padme isn't bothered because of Anakin's age she's bothered that they're staking everything on a random kid.

So Padawan Commanders makes sense in the GFFA.

Although yeah it makes sense to feel bad about Padawan Commanders in the real world, it also doesn't really say anything about the Jedi and their morality. They're pretty in step with the rules of morality of the universe.

The GFFA has similarities, but it isn't our galaxy.

Would I want children in real life to be trained as Jedi? No. I wouldn't want an eight year old to be trained as crimefighting hero Robin either. It's only when we're looking back at these things through an adult lens and ground fantasy in reality that it becomes a problem.

If you don't want to suspend your disbelief that's fine. But can you make moral judgements on the Jedi without looking at anyone else in the galaxy about this one particular fact? I don't think you can.

I don't know, funny to think about. Especially with the newer media which is aimed at for adults with nostalgia. Then the story does try to seem grounded in reality, but also trying to justify the past where our belief was suspended.

[sherlockholmeshound]

'If i were anakin i would've let sidius kill me than to have to murder my family including babies' I can't believe I need to explain this but first of all: The choice wasn't 'Join me or die', the choice was 'Become my servant, sell me your soul or let your wife die'.

It's right there in the movie, it's crystal clear in the text, he was doing it all for Padme, no The republic, not because he didn't get the rank of Master, it was because he thought he would save Padme that way. This isn't recontextualized in other media, this isn't something stated in a novelization, this wasn't some retcon in a random comic, this wasn't something you needed more context or material to know: it's right there in the movie. Were there many many factors that amounted to that moment? Yes, sure. That you can make a further read on if after all the stuff that was going on? Obviosly. But don't go around thinking Anakin was doing it just because he wasn't granted the rank of Master or because his own life was at stake; Idc if you think Padme's life is a lame reason for Anakin's fall or that you think Obi-Wan should have had more weight in Anakin's decision, it's right there in the movie.

Second: You aren't Anakin and you can use that as an argument of anything because Anakin is a fictional character in a fantasy-sci-fi setting, he has super powers including psychic powers and and can kill people if he thinks about it hard enough, was groomed for 10 years by the devil who's also the president and was a slave for his formative first decade and then he was put into a goverment-adjacent dogmatic strict and emotionally stunted order of super powered monks and then had 3 years of being a general in the front lines of a war. And I'm grateful you can't relate to that hell of a life because the extremes Anakin was put under were meant to specifically explain his brokeness and how he went from hero to Imperial Dragon Guarddog. People need to learn to accept a character as a damn character, and not all the time you will be able to put yourself into the character's feet, you can't expect every character to be Relatable and cather specifically to you, because mind you there are people that do find him relatable and they haven't commited mass murder. The only thing the movie is asking of you as an audience is that you pay attention to the story, Anakin's arc shouldn't be that hard to grasp, it's fairly simple actually. He had an awful life, decades of trauma, reached his breaking point, exploded and killed people trying to save the last good thing in his hell of a life, sold his soul to the devil, lost everything and then returned back to the light for the sake of his son, isn't hard to get at all.

And third: Not defending the baby murder at all, but the Jedi weren't Anakin's family. Anakin's feelings towards the whole order was sour at best; he clearly wanted to leave them, several times. Anakin's family was Shmi (dead), Padme (in risk of death), Obi-Wan (emotionally distant and a trashy parental figure and currently far away and out of reach), and tragically Palpatine (groomer and also parental figure). If you accept TCW as canon, then you can extent that family onto Ahsoka (gone after the Jedi allowed her to be senteced to death penalty at 16), and perhaps Rex.

[antianakin]

I'm starting to see some very funny (and by funny I mean infuriating) takes on what Andor was actually ABOUT and the way it utilized its more adult narrative within the context of Star Wars. Andor as a show followed Lucas's themes BRILLIANTLY even while choosing to look at them a little differently.

One of the primary themes in Star Wars is that there really isn't much of a "middle ground" in life. You are either choosing to be selfless and compassionate, or you aren't. Trying to stay in the middle or run from making this choice inevitably ends up badly for the people who try. And one of the other primary themes of Star Wars is that being selfless and compassionate often requires LETTING GO, most often letting go of the people you love and accepting that change happens in life.

I've seen people argue that Andor is able to be a morally grey story because its characters aren't Jedi or Sith who tend to be more bound by these cosmic themes or good vs evil, but I'd argue that Andor actually represents that theme JUST FINE.

Despite many of its characters living in a "morally ambiguous" area, we still have to see them make the choice to be selfless and compassionate or selfish and greedy. One of the primary themes for the characters is how well they can LET GO or not. Cassian is constantly having to figure out how to let go of his plans for his future, let go of his mother, let go of his dreams of a normal life. Cassian is ruled by fear for much of the first season and it's only once he is pushed into a situation where there's no longer any way to run, he starts finally fighting back and refusing to bow to the oppressive force that wants nothing more than to see him discarded like so much refuse. The people of Ferrix have to let go of their desire to stick their heads in the sand and simply hope the Empire won't notice them.

And on the other end of the spectrum you have Syril Karn and Dedra Meero absolutely fixated on their respective goals to the point that they're willing to kill and betray innocent people to reach them. They've convinced themselves their goals are selfless, but their motivations are in fact actually SELFISH, they serve nobody but their own ambitions. And both of them end up paying for it.

So Andor ABSOLUTELY gets the central theme of Star Wars, it isn't actually trying to change that. What it DOES do is take that theme and just digs slightly deeper, looking at this theme from a slightly different angel even when it ultimately comes to the same conclusion. Andor asks if selflessness and compassion always looks like "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you!" Or if maybe sometimes making the selfless choice means burning yourself to light a fire to lead someone else to safety. Are all people who make the selfless and compassionate choice considered heroes, or are some of them having to make those choices down in the dirt and destined to be forgotten by history? Andor asks how many variations of selflessness might exist and then explores them in its wide, colorful ensemble.

Andor also is looking at what selflessness might look like in characters who are forced into making a choice between standing back when they see evil happening and dirtying their hands just to make the smallest difference because forces of evil outside of their control are making the purer options impossible.

And that is the EXACT SAME THEME explored with the Prequels Jedi. The Jedi who want so badly to be selfless and compassionate, whose philosophies and ideologies lead them to use violence only as a last resort and love everyone and everything in the galaxy equally. The Jedi who are thrust into a war where there's no way to win because the Sith are running both sides of it and the Jedi can't just NOT FIGHT because that will get innocent people killed and will help no one but themselves, but they have to compromise their morals as a result. The Jedi who see a politician slowly amassing unreasonable amounts of power he's unwilling to let go of and a Senate too controlled by fear and greed to see the danger, so their only option is to commit treason to try to remove the corruption personally.

The Jedi LOOK the hero part a lot more than the characters in Andor do. They're strong, confident, powerful, and wield swords of light. They fight out in the open rather than from the shadows. Cassian, Luthen, Saw, Mon Mothma, Vel, and Cinta all manipulate things and threaten people and lie and cheat their way towards victory. Both Mon Mothma and Luthen fully admit to choosing to act like their enemy in order to defeat them. And it's not that the Jedi's way of fighting is any worse than the way the people of Andor have learned to fight. The people of Andor would LOVE to be able to fight like the Jedi used to do. But they can't. Palpatine has created a world in which being heroes that way is NO LONGER POSSIBLE. He started with the Jedi, by forcing the Jedi into a situation where fighting the way they once did was the wrong choice to make. There were no longer any right choices, just better choices. The only choice.

The Jedi stood as a bulwark between the darkness and the people of the galaxy. For years they chose to dirty their hands in order to fight the battles no one else WANTED to fight because it was the ONLY CHOICE TO MAKE. So what happens when the Jedi are gone?

The rest of the galaxy is now faced with the same choice. Do you stand by and let darkness grow? Or do you dirty your hands a little because it's the only choice you CAN make?

The people in Andor are picking up the torch that fell out of the Jedi's hands when they were murdered and persecuted by the Sith. Only the people who are left don't have magic powers or swords of light, so they use the resources they have at their disposal, which mostly amounts to manipulation and trickery and striking from shadows. The fight looks a little different now, but it's still the same fight the Jedi were fighting for years.

So Andor is taking those bigger cosmic themes from the Jedi/Sith conflicts that permeate the rest of the Skywalker saga and asks what those themes might look like when applied to the little people. What kind of choices might THEY make, what kind of things might they have to let go of in order to make those selfless choices? What kind of consequences might happen when they DON'T make the selfless choice? It's the exact same theme Lucas has ALWAYS had in his stories, just viewed from a different angle or through a different lens.

But the stories we've been getting recently that are trying to argue that being selfish is actually totally fine so long as you're doing it For Love, that the Jedi were in fact the source of everything that went wrong in the galaxy, that the Jedi were DESTINED to be destroyed, those all go completely against Lucas's themes. They're the direct OPPOSITE of his intended message. It is in fact entirely possible to write a more adult story with grittier content that STILL SENDS THE SAME FUCKING MESSAGE AND FOLLOWS THE SAME THEMES and doesn't try to get edgy in its interpretation of the source material.

[stealingpotatoes]

Invitation to talk about Sayuri and Nymie?

:D CAN OF WORMS: OPENED!! i'll tell u abt how they got found as Jedi

ok so Sayuri is one of the students that doesn't rlly go home bc there isn't much to go back to. Basically her parents were Rebellion pilots (or one was a pilot the other a mechanic. kinda unsure) but were both killed in action against the Empire abt 3-4ABY ish. obvs the Rebellion couldn't look after a 7-8yo while fighting the Empire

so the remainder of the squad manage to get her back to her parents' home village/ where she was born. so having like Everything change all at once leaves her pretty ?? and gives her some serious trusting-her-environment issues. her coolgirl "i dont care" persona is very much a result of this bc she's worried abt getting too comfy in smthn. (which is at odds w the OTHER issue she got from this event which is "deathly afraid of flying" an issue not helped if Master "traffic laws are just guidelines" Skywalker is piloting. but she tries 2 act like shes fine)

this is gonna get kinda long so im gonna smack some unposted art here and then go into a readmore

anyway fast forwarding to when Sayuri's abt 13 (roughly 9aby) she's visiting her parent's old squadron on a New Republic bc they'd all come visit whenever she could and after the Empire's fall they did a lot more pick her up and fly her to a base to ALL see her. and they're like omg Sayuri you came at the PERFECT time bc this rlly amazing pilot war hero who's also some like. mystical whatever is here!! he's on his way to some magic place we heard. maybe u can meet him!! which sayuri meets w her usual whatever bc she's not that gassed abt war heroes.

very worth noting that the squad's probably all seen her move shit with her mind, but theyre like oh you know how it is with teenage girls. the "nobody knows what a jedi is" + "the empire existed for a decent bit of her childhood" thing has kept anyone from being like yeahh sayuri should like. talk to someone abt this.

anyway she goes along when the squad are like c'mon let's see if we can see him. ok the only way i can describe this is you know the spiderverse like... spidey-sense recognition thing? that's basically what happens LOL Luke and Sayuri both have a FORCE USER RECOGNISED?? moment and Luke then makes a beeline for her then realises oh shit tiny teenager not jedi. would you LIKE to be a jedi?? and sayuri who hates her village and is feeling the strongest emotional connection she's felt in forever w this stranger she met 2 seconds ago is like okay fuckin sure yeah. and woo jedi!!

i posted my unposted nymie art yesterday but likkeeee pretend theres some here <3

So Sayuri falls into the "one of the Jedi found them thru the force or by chance" category of students who get found. However Nymie very much falls into the second category, which is "CAN SOMEONE DEAL WITH THIS WEIRD SUPERPOWERED CHILD FOR US????"

So 2 things about Nymie: 1. like i've said before, she's from a very rich high class pantoran family. super stuck up, mostly raised by nannies & tutors, but somehow Nymie just didn't get the stuck-up genes like all her (4!!) siblings who are just obsessed w their social standing etc and is instead just :D all the time. 2. her proficiency ig is the living force esp in the 'good at connecting to animals' way (which I think means I legally need to draw her w Ezra).

so the former often led her to escaping her family's stuffy parties and galas or whatever (usually to whoever's house it is' garden or somewhere she wasnt meant to be) to find something interesting. usually a pet <3 one particular time when she was 9 she was following her Pet Sense but couldnt find anything in the house. so she kinda just reached out more and long story short thats how Nymie managed to call this hugemassive beast (i'd tell u what it was if i knew pantoran animals LOL) out of the nearby countryside to her. massively distressing for everyone, all these rich ppl were like "OH MY GOD I NEARLY DIED" (it didnt attack anyone). very funny exciting time for Nymie who was enjoying this new beastie friend til animal control showed up. saddening. everyone is confused bc HOW did that happen

a dude old (and cool) enough to have seen more than one jedi in their heyday (+ idk uni researcher knows his shit) noticed what happened w it going straight to Nymie and overheard her account and realised what happened and was like hi nymie's parents. i think u need to get into contact w the new republic bc thats a jedi right there (which they take and go oo social climbing. we have a jedi child people will think we're cooler. bc theyre assholes)

and yeah im losing steam now but luke shows up and she joins the academyyay!

[shadowmaat]

To save a padawan

I'm wildly curious to know what would have happened if Barriss hadn't come forward and confessed and Ahsoka was convicted of treason.

The Jedi angle would be interesting all on its own. I can think of a couple of them, at least, who'd try and find a way to save her. And a couple more who might turn a blind eye to those efforts.

Mostly, though, I want to know what would happen with Anakin and Palpatine. Would Anakin go full Murder Mode to save her? I can see him killing or seriously injuring anyone who got in his way. He'd grab Ahsoka and run, and damn the consequences. Which, y'know, would land solidly on the Jedi.

Palps would play so many opportunities in this. First, the woeful apologies to Anakin about how there's "nothing he can do" and golly gee, if only he had more power maybe he could have prevented this senseless tragedy, etc. And follow it up by pointing out that the Jedi could have stopped this at any time, but didn't. Feed all the fuel onto the inferno that is Anakin.

If Anakin did go rogue, would he use it to cement his plan of the Jedi being full of traitors? Would he enact Order 66 right then? Or would he play it up as Anakin being a poor little victim of Jedi mindwashing and propaganda? Anakin isn't the problem, oh no. It's the Jedi! Our Beloved Hero has taken drastic steps that only a Jedi would consider! He must be rescued! I will personally see to his rehabilitation!

Meanwhile, the Jedi are fucked. Even if they aren't instantly gunned down by the Coruscant Guard/whatever troopers are there, they still have to deal with the fallout of a political shrapnel bomb exploding in their midst. The public hates them more than ever. The Senate is howling for blood. Tarkin and his ilk want the Jedi declared enemies of the state and/or outright executed.

Obi-Wan is interrogated by the Council to try and figure out where Anakin would go and how to get him to surrender himself. He's sure that if he could just talk to Anakin he could get him to see sense! (lol, he's been trying that since he came to the Temple and it hasn't worked.)

Meanwhile, Ahsoka is probably shell-shocked. I dunno how she'd feel about whatever Anakin did to save her, but I'm sure the bitterness in her heart over the Jedi failing to act to save her would be well-fed by Anakin's anti-Jedi ranting. (She wouldn't know that there HAD been a plan to scoop her away at the last minute, but Anakin went and bulled his way through every inch of the china shop.)

Interesting food for thought. I'm not sure the Jedi would be able to salvage that one (assuming they aren't Purged right then). Among other things it would require Anakin to make a public apology, and that's as good as admitting he was wrong, and he wasn't!

[retconsatlightspeed]

Here's how I'd fix Skeleton Crew

see my previous post for my general problems with the series

Give it a full 10-12 episodes. Disney has more money than god, they can spare some.

This is a kid's adventure movie, so why do the kids want to go back home from moment 1? The reason that the binary sunset is one of the iconic images of starwars is that it expresses Luke's (and the audience's) deepseated longing to go somewhere they've never seen before, which SURPRISE: is why we're watching a scifantasy story full of weird and wondrous vistas and alien critters. Either have these kids desperately want to leave At Attin and want to turn around later, or have them stranded deep in a part of unknown space and make getting back difficult. Then you drop them on a series of weird, wondrous worlds chock full of starwars magic (stuff from old movie genres with a scifantasy twist, practical effects, marketable iconography, and the occasional callback) and have them grow in response to adversity. It's adventure writing 101

Lets say that after their first hyperspace jaunt, the kids get stuck on some planet and are having fun, but then get picked up by pirates who have their outlaw port station in orbit.

Have Jod be actually a good guy at the start. We the audience know he's not what he claims to be, but he's charming and legitimately protective of the kids. Let him build a unique relationship with each of them that helps further both their characters: He's building a mentor bond with Wim, he's encouraging Fern's independance, He's recognizing KB's talent, and he's helping Neel to be brave.

This directly interfaces with why the kids want to go on an adventure in the first place: Wim is convinced there's something more to life than the suburbian drugery he was promised, Fern was stifled by constraints and rules, KB was coddled because of her disability. Neel should be our only character who WANTS to go back at the start because he's scared and wants the saftey blanket, but over time learns to come out of his shell and enjoy the wonders of the cosmos. The parts are there in the series already, they just need to be highlighted.

That gets us into Jod's arc. "Pirate with an unfortunate conscience" is a good starting point, but the show bungles his character by saying HEY THIS GUY IS UNTRUSTWORTHY every episode preventing us from ever getting close enough to give his betrayal weight. Instead lets try this: Jod is a goodguy forced to be a badguy, his hero's journey got cut short when his mentor got killed in front of him,...and he bumped around the galaxy taking worse and worse jobs until he ends up a bountyhunter who ends up crossing the wrong crimelord. He gets declared an outlaw, falls in with the pirates, and tries to be a good captian until his "bluster past your inability to be cruel" schtic gets sniffed out by his crew. What he sees in the kids is a chance for redemption, to be the goodguy his mentor wanted him to be, even if he has to tell a LOT of white lies to make them like him.

Jod helps get their vessel ship-shape while taking them out on adventures/field trips where we build up character relationships. Fern gets a semi-dangerous planet where she can cut loose, but learns the value of being a leader ( something something, if you're a captian you look out for your crew). Neel's outings are focused on getting home, but he gets to see some cool stuff that says the rest of the galaxy isn't so bad. Wim gets to visit the ancient Jedi temple of his dreams and we can have a sad meditation on what it means to follow the force in a galaxy without the order. Jod can also have some feelings about this. KB's adventure is sidetracked by her augs malfunctioning, and after the kids are overly protective we get a lesson about not treating people with disabilities as lesser.

Ready for the twist? Jod doesn't betray the kids, he genuinely wants to get them home and be a hero for once in his life. Instead as we keep doing the field trips, we keep running into situations that tempt Jod into going back to his scoundrel/pirate past, but he abstains... until he has to break out the merciless survivor persona to protect them. The kids are HORRIFIED, seeing all the time they've spent together as manipulation. They call him a villain and leave him on whatever plannet they're on as they make the last sprint towards home. That's right: the kids betray HIM

Heartbroken, Jod does a heel turn. The universe has been trying to cut out his heart since day 1 and the kids just went and twisted the knife. If he's not going to get to play the hero then he'll just have to play the villain, he calls the pirates and tells them about the treasure.

The end is mostly the same, except Jod just wants to do a rehash of his previous "Pretend to be scary to get the loot but don't hurt anyone" plan, while the pirates want to take the treasury planet for themselves and force the inhabitants to be their slaves. Queue Jod and the kids forced to reconcile to save their home but fundamentally change it at the same time.

The quietly authoritarian suburbia mystery is actually pretty great and just needs the slightest change: Rather than destroying the overseer, the pirates reprogram it. Forcing the population to work under Orwellian surveillance for an absent republic isn't THAT different than forcing them to toil for a bunch of exploitative marauders. The great work can continue, now there's just someone closer by beneifiting from it. Latestage capitalist decline from global markets to techno-feudalism anyone?

In the end, no one gets what they want, and they're all the better for it. Jod can't be the hero because he has to come clean about his past. The kids get to go home, but they've brought the danger and wonder of the galaxy back with them. Now all of At Attin is looking up at the stars, wondering what adventure will come their way.

SM-33 is there, he's my perfect little 9ft robo-skeleton-pirate-son and I will not hear a word spoken against him.

[fantasyinvader]

In Snow, before taking Enbarr Flayn gives a speech about how the crew are rejecting Edelgard's “twisted morality” and willingness to kill, and that to go down the same dark path themselves would make it all for naught. Yet Seteth talks about how Edelgard will never bend to the player's will a few scenes later despite how Byleth would wish for a peaceful solution. It makes Snow sound hypocritical, no?

However, the Japanese instead says it's Edelgard's willingness to sacrifice others and rejecting that path, whereas Seteth says that while it's understandable that Byleth would want to walk a path with Edelgard it's Edelgard who refuses to give in towards that goal. This bookends the map, where Edelgard on her defeat says that through her death she and Byleth will walk the same path together.

You can see how the changes, though slight in some places, alter the meaning of the story. But this, ultimately, is the case. Byleth's path is supposed to be representative of Nirvana, the Path of Liberation, with Byleth's ending title being The Flame Who Seeks Their Destiny. Edelgard's path is identified as both hadou, where she uses her power to impose her will upon people including through the use of violence, as well as the animal path, the antithesis of Nirvana. Byleth can reject their own path and walk Edelgard's, but it's not meant to be a good thing. Meanwhile, Edelgard's joining Byleth's side through her death comes across as an act of redemption. That by defeating her ideals by winning without the methods she used to gain strength, Edelgard realized her own wrongdoing.

But the thing is, looking at the choices at Snow, it's basically clear the player is being pushed to choose rational thought and logic rather than act on emotion. The player doesn't have a choice, instead the game tells them “no, you have to do this.” Case in point, where the player may want to join Dimitri their forces are in no state to do so so they sit Gronder out. Or how Byleth in the end is pushed to become the new ruler of Fodlan. In the English script, pushing the idea that Edelgard champions freedom if supported rather than oppression, it only makes it look worse.

But it makes sense when you consider Edelgard's path is meant to be the animal path (though the other lords at their worst could be said to have sunk to Edelgard's level.). It's not just that she's hurting through her ignorance, it's also that she's abandoned morality and her humanity doing so. Edelgard might appear rational, but in reality this is saying that she's acting more on instinct and impulses in order to achieve her goals. In contrast, Snow is about saying to have the self-control Edelgard doesn't and to do the right thing. It's not saying to be emotionless, but to look at things logically before acting.

Just like how Seteth says at the beginning of the route, to not see the intent behind Edelgard's words would be a dire mistake while in the Japanese script she flat out says that she did everything she could to try and sway Byleth to her side. Being in the BE House just gave her more opportunities to do so.

Plus the hadou stuff would make it clear that Edelgard isn't benevolent, whereas Byleth is meant to be if they follow their path. The Animal path is thought to be a path of evil, leading to a world of suffering where the strong rule over the weak who cower in fear. To be human means to have the ability to act in a humane manner in Buddhism. Edelgard and Byleth's ideologies being in direct conflict, with hers being made out as evil in the Japanese script, only serves to say that Snow is the hero route for the BE class. To walk Edelgard's path doesn't make her see the light, it just tells her her methods work and encourage their usage further.

But all this is lost due to the translation mischaracterizing Edelgard and trying to make the game grey. Houses essentially wanted players to be Jedi only for the translation to pull a “From my point of view, it's the Jedi who are evil.” And because of that, Edelgard's redemption is lost and instead they try to justify her means by altering her ends.

[tumblingxelian]

How does RWBY's worldbuilding hold up for you?

Ooh fun question, and one I can answer in a short amount of time!

Long story short, yeah it holds up quite well, I don't need to make any significant leaps in logic or desperately headcanon things to compensate the way I might with some other settings.

For instance most super hero settings don't hold up to scrutiny, or present themselves consistently/coherently once they starts whipping out the more ridiculous sci-fi tech and or magic.

This isn't to say its perfect, nothing is, or that there aren't more details I'd like to see explored or various minor nitpicks I could probably pull out if I felt so inclined.

But as it is, I don't, but its not because I just love the series.

See, as much as I love world building, I do think it gets too easily used as a cudgel by bad faith critics.

Let's be real here, even some of the worlds best authors do not have Tolkein's patience to create a whole new language, & I imagine even his stuff raised questions or inconsistencies.

The absence of local languages/accents, them not explaining the praying statues in the V4 trailer don't bug me. Cos their absence is not harming the story.

Meanwhile if there's an inconsistency or question, that too is fine as they are watched enough to avoid any real issues & so I can focus on having a good time.

Hell, let's bring up ATLA, the golden calf for critics who never watched anything else in their lives without asking "Where's the Zuko though?"

Off the cuff & late at night I can name many ATLA world building issues.

The writers one hundred percent do not grasp the philosophical ideas they are trying to espouse, showing a grasp of "Letting go" almost as wrongheaded anti Jedi people.

The origins and nature of bending is inconsistent even just within the first series, being and or coming from education, gifts, blood, spirits, some combination there-of or what have you.

If we jump to Korra the Spirits themselves are weird, initially presented as physical manifestations of a given land, they instead become essentially alien invaders & stuff like the Lion Turtles, Koi, Badger moles & more are just left as ???? Plus again spiritual misunderstanding.

Or heck, one of my biggest gripes ties into the plot as well but would be the introduction of "Bad firebending" and its counterpart "Good Firebending" introduced very late in the game at season 3.

The problem with saying it was meant to be a surprise is we've seen every Bender tap into anger when bending. Toph cracks the ground, Katara broke an iceberg, Aang goes into the Avatar State, ETC.

Anger & fire was only tied to two characters, Zuko during his season 1 lashing out period & Zhao where it was specifically cited as being unique to him and something to exploit.

Worse still, we've seen people happily Firebend, Aang;s issues with Firebending comes from having too much fun, getting careless with it & accidentally burn Katara. & we have seen sad or direction-less Zuko Firebend like a champ before now.

The 'revelation' of "Good Firebending" is the wrong solution to Aang's issue cos it does nothing about fires tendency to burn, & a solution looking for a problem that had to be tailor made for it to fix & did not exist before, Zuko.

The thing is though, while I will happily harp on the last one as part of a greater collection of issues in season 3. The truth is people are not bothered by these things if they watch a show in good faith.

One doesn't even need to like a show to do this, its just part of the deal when watching fictional media that some stuff is not always going to add up perfectly.

What matters is if the writers made it interesting, feel like it fit coherently within the world and kept it consistent enough that it didn't break the story.

Which CRWBY very much do.

They created a wide, vibrant, varied and interesting world, where a multitude of stories could and do take place that can be expanded upon if one wants.

They created and kept consistent its internal logic as best as it can be conveyed to we the audience when the characters also don't know everything.

Above all they used it to tell a interesting and engaging story, where skill & strategy matter so much in combat Where its so easy to believe bandits and criminals can thrive in the wild. Where the introduction of something like the Ever After can actually fit and feel like a revelation rather than break the story!

So yeah, I really enjoy RWBY's world building :)

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Bit of thought and discussion last night over what makes a competent, effective movie vs a deep or interesting movie with Star Wars as our target.

So to highlight it in the most obvious way: George Lucas's movies are complex with deep plots, but are not well-written and fun to watch. So the prequels gained this reputation for being a bit of a slog because no matter how much Lucas loved this story he crafted, the way it was presented was lacklustre.

Meanwhile Disney tries to make a "competent" and entertaining movie with every attempt. Every marvel movie... before Endgame... was very entertaining and well-directed, regardless of if there was anything worth thinking about later.

When it came to Star Wars, Disney really struggled with this.

The Force Awakens is definitely a competent movie that hits all the beats they wanted it to. It has those good Classic Star Wars feelings, weighty lightsaber combat, a core cast that you love watching interact, and an emotional centre. It does the job it's supposed to, perfectly, whereas not taking a SINGLE risk with the franchise. It desperately doesn't want to be associated with Lucas's "boring power bloaty" prequels.

Of course the film recieves criticism for this, because it's just copying A New Hope without adding any new dna to the franchise. Every critic can see what Disney was doing, making a nostalgic star wars theme park, and they say they want Disney to deliver in the next movie.

Then comes The Last Jedi, where Disney's lack of direction became incredibly obvious. Rian Johnson took the Force Awakens critique FAR TOO MUCH to heart and made The Last Jedi the complete opposite - Everything TFA did, TLJ did in the opposite way. So instead of being a hero in waiting, Luke Skywalker is disappointing to Rey, he's ran away and fallen into squalor and he immediately throws away the lightsaber that brought him to tears at the end of the first film. And instead of leaning on the new trio everyone was excited about, Johnson splits them up permanently, with no interaction at all in the movie.

The Last Jedi tries to make itself more interesting by forcing threads into places that do not fit. Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy isn't a messy dark character, he's a starry eyed optimist, but this movie takes the easiest and cheapest route possible to turn him into something he's not because the author wants a darker more questionable story and has only got this one film to make it that way. The movie also leans hard into everything Disney was trying to avoid with the first one, long boring segments of whacky hijinks.

As a result a lot of writers have respect for Johnson's attempts to diverge from Disney tradition of super safe movies, his attempts to add stuff to Star Wars and make a unique film, but it completely fails as a competent movie and it fails as a competent story because there are too many authors clearly fighting with each other.

Movie 3... I've not seen it. I do know a lot about it, and Abrams spends the whole thing once again undoing everything Johnson did and trying to return to a safe Star Wars. TOO safe. To the extent that the plot completely lacks any comprehension because it needs to warp the story so much to return to the beaten path.

Somehow, Palpatine returned!! What the fuck!!! And why was this revealed in Fortnite???

Why are they puppeting Carrie Fisher's corpse?

Rise of Skywalker is disney at its worst because they have gone from being super safe to trying to return something adventurous to the safe path, without any degree of originality or creativity. I don't think a single actual writer worked on that film. It was all just direction to make epic setpieces, the pursuit of a "competent and entertaining" film instead of the ninth part of a story.

They are also repeatedly having to do this with Marvel. They have the lost the ability to do their own stuff with Marvel and are following a variety of comic plots, because that's "safe", right? But no, the comic goes to all sorts of crazy places, which gets in the way of making a competent and cohesive film. So theyre trying to get rid of some of that complexity, enough to make the writing bad, but not enough for Marvel to become coherent because that would require actually creating new stories and not following the basic, highly profitable guidelines of Marvel comics.

[yellowocaballero]

NCAU Rex for the WIP titles?

I got this ask just as I was doing NCAU Rex lmfaoooo!!!

Here's Anakin, then. Anakin actually became way more of an important character in the rewrite, somewhat unfortunately. You get a certain perspective of him in Obi-Wan's story, and another perspective in Rex's. He had to be important in Rex's story - Anakin is the center of Rex's life. He's the meaning and purpose of it. Kind of. Rex thinks so.

As I said, the stories are very much about why good people do bad things. You'd think that would be Anakin's narrative. It honestly isn't. But you do feel kind of bad for him after a while.

Just to set the record straight: Rex was a hero. 

They were all heroes. Loyal soldiers first, obviously, in place to support the real protagonists of the galaxy, but every clone was a personal hero of the Empire. They were the ones with the holy mission. They would be the ones on the front lines, fighting to the preserve the Republic against the evil forces of the CIS until it was time to revolt against the Republic, kill the Jedi, and enforce galactic peace. 

And Rex? The Marshal Commanders, the clone commanders, the best of the best? They would be the ones who would make the Empire happen.

Which was a good thing. Everybody said so. Everybody said so - the flash trainings, the Kamino, the trainers, Jango Fett while rolling his eyes and actually mocking everybody else. Boba if he wanted to be included. It barely even needed to be said. Sometimes Rex felt as if he’d been born knowing that. 

He hadn’t been born knowing why the Empire was good, but he didn’t stop and ask himself that question until six months into the war. Ironically - or maybe just statistically - it was pretty much Vader’s fault. 

They were in a shitty dive bar on Planet Who Cared. They had just conquered - uh, sorry, ‘liberated’ - it from the nasty CIS oppressors, and the city itself had been completely evacuated before the bombings started. Combing through the rubble searching for the secret CIS headquarters that Vader had been reliably reassured definitely existed, they had found a miraculously untouched bar. Rex and Vader had called in a very serious investigation into the underground headquarters, high fived, and started drinking through the place. 

Absolutely alone, free of all prying eyes or thoughtful cameras, Vader really opened up. Rex constantly refilling his glass helped. 

“You know what I like about you?” Vader said, jabbing a finger at Rex. It was the fact that Rex always spoke his mind and didn’t act like Vader was better because he was a Jedi. “It’s how you always speak your mind. You don’t treat me like I’m better just ‘cause I’m a Jedi. ‘Cause I’m not. The person giving you orders isn’t better than you. Fuck, the people in charge are always the worst. People telling you what to do - are bad. Very bad!”

“Hate to say it, but being told what to do is how it works in the military,” Rex said, amused despite himself. He took a sip of his beer. Vader thought Rex got drunker way more frequently than he actually did. Once or twice - ah, let’s not mention that to Cody. Or Fox. “Can’t see many ways I’m better than you, sir. But I can think of a dozen ways we’re better than the rest of ‘em.”

Vader laughed, light and drunken. “You can read faster than me! I still suck at reading.”

“Reading?” Vader could out-shoot, out-memorize, out-run and out-fly Rex. And Rex could out-anything almost everybody else. It was very humbling, and only reinforced what a strong and amazing leader Vader was. “You can do anything, sir, you have to be great at reading.”

But Vader just snickered into his drink, looking at the far wall of the bar. Many of the glass bottles were shattered, and the air stank of a unique mix of a dozen varieties of flash-fried alcohol. “When I was a kid I could read bits and pieces of Huttese. Specific stuff. Could read an instruction manual for a starfighter but not a, uh, fuckin’ picture book. Took me forever to learn how to read Basic. Maybe I could’a gotten it faster, but everybody was always making me feel like shit for not knowing how to do it. I got so embarrassed. Refused to practice. Classes didn’t help…but Master let me learn at my own pace, so I got it eventually. Eventually, right?”

Reading? Rex learned how to read when he was a year old. Rex knew how to read ten languages, just to cover his bases. 

There had to have been some sort of expression on his face, because Vader huffed a laugh. He drained his glass, letting it clatter back onto the bar. “You got no idea why, do you.”

He absolutely did. “No, sir.”

“Sir. Sir…” Vader’s expression darkened, and he hunched his shoulders over the bar. “I’m so big. I’m so adult. Educated men callin’ me sir. Go me. Yay. I never dreamed of this.”

“Sir…?” The briefing had not given him a reply for this. He honestly didn’t know what the hell Vader was going on about. And he usually did! Vader and Rex were always on the same wavelength. Rex bragged that they could read each other’s minds. 

“Man, I was stupid. I wanted everybody to know what I could do, how great I was. Respect, everyone would respect me. But - I just wanted to be as good as everyone else. My biggest, greatest dreams. I was only as good as everyone else. But I went from worse to better. I’m still…”

Rex was silent. He just refilled his glass. Did he say something? It had taken him a while to figure it out, but Vader wanted comfort sometimes. Even natborns wanted that.

After a second’s grappling, Rex said, “I went from being a defect to being the best of the best.” AKA, serving directly under you. “But my brothers never treated me any differently. You just gotta find other people like you, eh? Everybody’s got somebody who understands ‘em.” A little more practiced, he said, “Hell, sir, you understand me. Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I think I understand you. We can tackle the galaxy together, can’t we?”

“There’s nobody out there like me,” Vader said, simple and sure. He said it with such certainty - as if it wasn’t just an opinion or an insecurity, but a truth that span the galaxy. He was probably right. “But thanks, Rex. You’re - just a really nice guy. But you don’t -”

“You don’t make me feel like I have to hang out with you, I don’t feel pressured to hang out with you, and I’m here ‘cause I want to be.” Rex had said that so often. Vader still kept making him say it. Rex would worry that it didn’t sound authentic, but it was even true. 

“Oh. Cool.” Vader thought hard, before something clearly occurred to him. He scrambled fully upright, and he grabbed Rex by the shoulder. Strangely, almost frantically, he said, “I’m never going to hit you, Rex! You’ll always have food, any time you want, okay? I’ll keep you alive no matter what, you aren’t - aren’t disposable or expendable or cheap. I won’t even yell at you! You know, right?”

“Uh,” Rex said, “...yeah?”

“I’m not going to beat you!” Vader said fervently, and there was something in his powerful blue eyes that Rex didn’t like to see. “I’m not that kind of person, I’ll never do that, so don’t be scared!”

“Sir, I didn’t think you would?!”

“Oh. Awesome.” Vader settled back, beaming happily and more than a little drunkenly at him. “Just watch, Rex. I’ll end this war for us. We’ll be free of all of this. And we’ll be real, actual friends, right? No more titles, no more generals or captains or sirs. It’ll just be us, without that bullshit in the way. I won’t be able to hurt you at all. Me and Padme are gonna be free and happy. I’m gonna stay home, take care of the kids, and I’ll support her being her super-awesome self. I’ll make her lunches! I’ve always wanted to make somebody’s lunches for them. It’s so domestic.”

Vader had spilled the oil on him and Amidala months ago. Rex sympathized. It had to have been murder keeping your marriage to one of the most attractive, talented, accomplished, and prestigious women in the galaxy secret. Or so described by Vader. Amidala was…fine. A little unsettling. She looked at Rex too hard, harder than almost any natborn did. As if she was actually seeing him or some ridiculous shit like that. “Husband of the year, you’ll be.”

“What are you gonna do once you’re free, Rex? Keep bees? Write a book? Find love, settle down? It can be whatever, you know!” Vader leaned against the bar, warming up to his own fantastical idea. “Every year, we can have a 501st reunion at Padme’s - our! - lake house. Big, blow-out party, with more booze than you’ve seen in your life. It’ll make Padme roll her eyes, but it’ll be her chance to have a lady’s trip with her old handmaidens. Man, Rex, you gotta see those views, you’ll love going diving and swimming with me.”

Rex had a thought that he didn’t know he could have. Or maybe he just knew that he shouldn’t. 

It was scary. He wasn’t in the habit of having thoughts he shouldn’t have. Rex had worked too hard to be perfect to have little slip-ups like that. Was this the defect shining through? It had to be. Only defects would have such defective thoughts. 

Darth Vader didn’t want to be Darth Vader. 

He…wanted to be a househusband. A father. The Sith treasured power, control, and dominance. Vader just wanted to be accepted. To walk in a crowd of others, indistinguishable from the rest, laughing and free. Whatever his dreams were, whatever he chased or fought for, it was the life he wanted. 

Well, he’d figure out that the Empire was good eventually! He was just brainwashed by Jedi propaganda. Not even Lord Vader was immune to his twisted Jedi upbringing. Vader just hadn’t found the power of the Sith and the beauty of the Empire yet. No big deal. People changed! And Vader would change to want Darth Vader! 

“I want to be at your side,” Rex said. He winked. “Captain of your guard, eh?”

Vader beamed. “Sounds perfect!”

And if captain of the guard still had captain in the name - if it would keep Rex subordinate, adoring, obedient - then it was what Vader secretly wanted after all. 

[quinnxey]

acolyte review (before season finale)

i was really interested in this show esp because its based in the high republic. this is the first time we've gotten a media recreation other than glimpses in jedi: survivor and I'm also pretty sure the kids show disney made was also based in the hr time period. but anyway - other than the books as well, this is the first live-action retelling of a hr story.

i feel like a lot of people didn't like it because of that, but it really hooked me in. I've always been pretty into the hr book series and have loved this idea of "before the chosen one" trope. in the acolyte, we're 100 years or so b4 anyone like obi-wan or anakin or luke have been born. its another really great setting up - plus, as an avid hr reader, it helped me visualize what was going on during that whole shebang

but so - during the start of the acolyte I was a little bit wary and a tad bored. i feel like they started with a fairly slow (if murder is slow) introduction to the story, but I really do understand why they did it like that. once shit hit the fan and we were getting jedi action (plus the dents of twins? alive?/whats going on? sort of thing) I was really starting to get interested. the characters in acolyte are SO well done - like honestly its kind of craz how good they're written. even the "good guys" have good writing, which can be hard to do for heroes when the villains usually have all the sweet ass storytelling.

i thought the force here was sooo well done. like this idea of osha not being able to use the force after some time - ESPECIALLY her using the excuse of "if you were a jedi" (or something along these lines) "you would know that the force gets weaker if you don't practice with it" like girl ok! and with qimir and him being like dude, no.

QIMIR! ok so i understand the whole reason people like him is because of his looks and the fact that he was naked (which I will get to) but I'm SOOO interested in his character arc. his manipulation tactics are honestly so believable that IM having a hard time trying to discern whether or not the jedi are good or bad. i think I've always been fairly pro-jedi esp with how the orig tri plays jedi out to be and how the hr books have all these really anti-jedi antigonists. I've always believed the jedi to be a good force of nature, and haven't really paid much mind to this idea of "what if". in the acolyte, it feels like. they're REAL people.

idk i feel like sometimes it gets hard to see the real people in jedi and not thin k they're just some servants of the light or whatever. for me, I feel like that also comes from the "no relationships" motto, which sort of defeats the whole "human/person" idea for me. i hate thinking jedi arent people and don't have faults, but with how a lot o the media portrays them, that's how I've felt for a really long time. in here, I felt like I was seeing real people in real situations. idk

with how sol was acting with osha ("do not confuse [her] emotions with your own") I was sooo in love with that. him not knowing whether or not its his emotions or the force pulling them together (because we all know the force puts padawan/master together when it knows they're a good fit) but still continuing. him choosing to SAVE OSHA INSTEAD OF MAE. and going on to say he "did his best" and "tried to save both of them" to osha and flicking the blame on mae by saying the fire was all her fault (which it was, but he deliberately didn't tell osha what "really" happened ((in the words of mae I suppose))) but this isn't me saying that sol is a bad person and should totally get stripped of his title or whatever - someone (not sure who) on here talked about how he was the only one out of all the jedi on the trip to actually go and do something about his guilt. he went and he trained osha to the best of his abilities, he trained younglings (telling them NOT to trust what they initially see, to keep searching for answers), and he went on trying to make good with mae even after he knew she was going to kill him.

but so on the dark side (plus I guess qimir being naked) I was really interested in this idea of jedi not being able to harm the unarmed. we see this happen with sol and aniseya, where she DOES technically look like shes about to go off and kill someone with her whole dust act, but she is STILL technically unarmed. sol goes and stabs her because he has no idea what is happening. cue 1st action. 2nd action is when we have the scene between sol and qimir where he almost attacks him while he's "unarmed" (pls I don't trust this man) but osha stops him. with OSHA, we see this happen when she sort of attacks qimir while he's unarmed - and not just unarmed, also litterllay butt naked. that's like the full ass definition of unarmed. it goes fully against jedi code - if she had killed him, she would have killed him unarmed and with no dignity, which no jedi would ever want to do. because she had the option to do it, he basically tested her - it was his way of seeing whether or not she was a "good" option for an apprentice. he prob would have taken her anyway, but with how it went with mae, he was defo being wary.

but him being a sith for me was pretty easy to see right off the bat, since he disappeared and then sith master just "appeared" I thought, oh yeah, that's qimir. but as the fighting went on and I went between the costume differences between him and feeble qimir, I thought, well...no?? it doesn't make sense. he doesn't look the same - and then it WAS HIM. but also I think this idea of osha becoming sith apprentence and mae becoming jedi apprentice would be so interesting. ying and yang but they switch lmao

but I'm supppeper excited for the season finale!!! my prediction is that osha accepts being qimirs apprentice, mae accepts being sol's apprentice (if that happens), and maybe/maybe not they find osha and qimir and qimir convinces osha to fight against her past master. idk. would love to see some kyber bleeding in s2. love!!

[classicanalyzer]

Star Wars Skeleton Crew - Zero Friends Again Thoughts

"Tak Rennod soared away, away aboard the Onyx Cinder. And never was he seen again. For At Attin, he did plunder." Shanty of Tak Rennod's Quest for At Attin's "Treasure"

Another great episode by Bryce Dallas Howard, and I really love how we got some unusual duos as the friendship between KB and Fern breaks down. By the end of this episode, all roads lead to At Attin.

It's funny to see how easily SM-33 gets knocked out by the pirates.

I love the New Republic doing the right thing. It's so exciting to see the kids realize the New Republic are the good guys.

It's really great to see a lot more about Jod's desires: wanting to make a lot of credits and not go hungry. It reminds you how lucky At Attin is to not suffer the poverty and destruction that plagued the galaxy thanks to the Empire. That pirate shanty was also great (Jude Law had the idea to turn what was supposed to be a poem into a shanty). Also, I just have to say it again, I love how many alien characters we have in this show.

It was funny to see Fern having to help Neel climb up the building.

I feel KB so much. As someone who has disabilities, specifically in communication, I connect to how she struggles to tell Fern about her frustrations. I really love how Fern realizes she didn't take KB's disability into consideration and how KB needs to be more open about her frustrations.

"She doesn't have patience for that. You know how she is. And then... I'll have zero friends again." KB

Wim finally gets to know that being a hero isn't always about using a Lightsaber to kill enemies, but just about helping a fellow friend who needs new replacement parts for her cybernetics. It was heartwarming to see KB call Wim a Jedi and Wim smile at finally doing something heroic.

That stop-motion crab is so amazing. Those crabs and the mother crab remind me so much of Krill in Another Crab's Treasure with putting junk as their shell haha. It's also funny to see how Wim is getting tired of being wrong about who's the good guy.

Another amazing pay-off to what seems to be a joke with the emergency hull demolition sequencer button. And I love how Tak Rennod mentions putting armor on the Onyx Cinder in the last episode to set up that reveal.

"You probably thought it would be more exciting to save someone's life. Anyways. Thanks, Jedi." KB

[spectordameron]

The Sequel Trilogy: A Story of Choice

Do not interact with this post if you insist on just being negative, passive aggressive, or critical against the films in the tags/replies. I don't want to hear it.

This post speaks frankly about topics such as abuse, brainwashing, torture, dehumanization, and non-con elements. Proceed with caution.

One thing that I feel goes often ignored or misunderstood about the sequel trilogy, is its core message and value, which is choice - especially, choice over circumstances, or choice over blood. I would argue this is the overall theme of the entire Skywalker Saga, but the sequels really center themselves around this idea, with it becoming the beating heart of the emotional plot of The Rise of Skywalker.

According to writer Chris Terrio in one of the festurettes for the film, this theme is best summed up by the character D-0, and Rey's short initial interaction with him:

Which is meant to be a mirror to what we know of Finn, Rey and (as we learn) Poe. They all come from pasts that were not kind to them, and were treated badly, but found a home in each other. It is a case of choice over circumstances: Finn chose to leave the First Order, Poe chose to leave the Spice Runners (and become a New Republic officer, then choose to leave that when he understood how compliant they'd become), and Rey chose to leave Jakku.

Choice is also mirrored in the trilogy's antagonists (DJ being a good example of the choice to serve only yourself and not join the greater war, Zorii puts aside her resentment and helps the Resistance) but none so much than Kylo Ren himself, who is as obsessed with the Skywalker bloodline as Snoke is (understandably).

There's an opinion and idea that between Ren and the revelation that Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter, that the trilogy values bloodlines and inheritance over choice, but I fundamentally disagree with this, because I think that's a misunderstanding of the story they're trying to tell.

When Han says that "there's too much Vader in [Ren]" in The Force Awakens, I don't take that as a dismissal of Leia being an Organa by choice, not when we discover that Ren is continuously making the choice to choose the Skywalker bloodline, and ergo Vader, over the family that actually raised him: a woman who chose her adoptive family over her biological family, and a man who had no surname but instead claimed one that was thrust upon him as an insult.

There's too much Vader in Ren, because that is the choice Ren made, and continues to make. He chose Vader over Leia, over Han, over the Solo-Organa family. It's a similar mistake that Luke makes:

Blood. Inheritance. The hubris of Ren believing the lightsaber belongs to him, simply because it belonged to Vader, to Anakin, even when the Force calls a quote unquote "nobody" to it instead.

Rey is revealed, obviously, in The Last Jedi, to be born to "nobodies", and Ren (sticks his whole fucking foot in his mouth) hurts her deeply by emphasizing Rey's worst fear which is that she has no place in this story, because she is nobody. It's a moment that haunts Rey enough that she doesn't even believe herself worthy of wielding the Skywalker saber in TROS:

Obviously - and famously - this revelation is because Rian Johnson preferred the concept of underdogs becoming heroes and thought it was the worst revelation Rey could possibly have - that she doesn't have any connection to this story that means so much to her.

Unlike majority of the internet, I love the addition TROS offers, which is that the truth is so much worse. Rey isn't just "nobody", she does have a place in this story, and it's in the worst way imaginable for her: she's the main villain's granddaughter.

And I don't think it negates what we initially learn about Rey, or her status as a "nobody". Her being related to Palpatine does not inherently result in her being somehow more privileged than other characters - she was still abandoned as a child, and was forced to work in order to survive, suffered bouts of starvation, and had to fend for herself for years. She's a traumatized young woman with fractured memories, and poor self esteem from said abandonment and the abuse Unkar Plutt put her under (he also emphasizes in the TFA novelization that she is a "nobody", and likely would have pressed upon her the lie that Miramir and Dathan fed him that she was being sold for drinking money, hence Rey's conflicting memories of parents coming to return for her and what Ren finds in TLJ).

Her position as Palpatine's granddaughter, however, puts her almost immediately into the same position that Ren once found himself in, and he tries to pressure her into coming to the same conclusion that he did: that because of the blood in her veins, she has no choice in going to the Dark Side, that she will wind up abandoned (again) for it, and there's only one place in the galaxy for her - by his side.

And when Rey is frightened enough by her hatred and resentment, that leads her into the Dark Side on Kef Bir and results in her killing Kylo Ren - she flees to Ahch-To to exile herself because she believes there's no escape from her circumstances. She was a nobody who had to earn this legendary saber, who doesn't deserve to be the protagonist of this story, and now she's the granddaughter of its villain.

But she's quickly reminded that blood is not everything:

Even while on Exegol, Palpatine attempts to taunt her with the concept that she has no one but him, that she's helpless but to continue the cycle: Luke had his father, but the only family Rey has is him, and if she doesn't give in and continue the cycle of violence, then her new family will die.

And once more, the concept of blood over choice, is immediately dismantled. Rey isn't alone, because Ben - having finally made the decision to shed his attachment to Vader's bloodline and chose being an Organa-Solo - comes and saves her. Rey isn't alone, and neither is her new family, because the entire galaxy comes in to help the Resistance.

And the ultimate climax of the battle, is that Palpatine does in fact kill Rey, and it is Ben's choice to revive her. He loves her, and so did his mother and father. Rey is family, and he dies to bring her back, and so she takes the Skywalker name - and is the happiest she is in the entire saga, because she's learned that blood and circumstance isn't everything, it is choice. And Rey has chosen and accepted her own family.

But circumstance and choice isn't limited to just Rey in this trilogy - there's also our other primary hero characters, starting with Finn.

Finn is a stormtrooper, taken from a family he'll never know, that we're not introduced to. He worked in sanitation, despite being a very promising cadet in Before the Awakening. Much like Poe, Finn is introduced as being one of the biggest "red shirt" offenders of the saga (seriously do we ever expect a stormtrooper or a fighter pilot to survive? no), and almost immediately Finn gives us the thesis of the trilogy:

Finn was raised and taught for one purpose: to fight and then to die for the First Order. He flees from the First Order, and TFA is spend with him tying his loyalty to his friends - choosing them over running away. TLJ finds him making the choice to actively fight against the First Order, and join the Resistance.

Finn's choice to turn away from the First Order, brought him to his family. And TROS sees Finn at his most grounded and reassured; he's found his own peace and purpose, and it's through the choices he made over his circumstance.

Poe is probably the only character of our trio who is the most assured from the starting point, and the only one who has a tangible connection to the Rebellion through his parents. However, this is only within expanded material, with only a mere allusion to it in TROS, so the only concrete thing we have for connection in the films is his and Leia's surrogate mother/son relationship, and how he's chosen to carry on her legacy.

When we start off The Force Awakens, he's quickly established as a member of the Resistance and a high-ranking one as well (he dismisses a briefing full of generals and admirals).

However, it's clear that Poe views himself as expendable - he rushes in, unthinkingly, back to the village on Jakku and gets captured as a result. He puts himself on the line between the First Order and the Resistance above D'Qar (it is no coincidence that he recognizes Luke and Amilyn's sacrifice plays first later in the film).

Leia, and then the circumstances of the film literally grounding him by blowing up Black One, forces Poe to slow down and examine the choice he's being presented:

Pretty quickly, Poe begins considering what Leia's asked of him, and pauses while mulling over Rose and Finn's plan, before making the choice to be the one to stay behind, rather than jumping into the fray to save the day.

By the end of the film, Poe has quite consciously stepped into the latter half of the choice presented to him. He wants to survive, not just sacrifice himself in the name of the fight, and becomes the leader that Leia knew he had the potential to become:

The heart of his conflict in TROS is his fear that, like Rey, he can't succeed where the past did. He isn't Leia, and he's not so certain that he can do this by himself - but in the end, he doesn't have to, because he has Finn for support, and Rey shows them the way, in a neat inverse to Poe in TLJ:

And then the entire galaxy steps up to overthrow the First Order, and Palpatine. Like his wookieepedia so iconically supplies, Poe becomes the spark that lit the fire that burned the First Order down, and he doesn't do so alone.

The theme of choice and circumstances is often also reflected in the antagonists and villains. As aforementioned, DJ represents the choice Finn has of not joining, and serving himself, but there's another element to this theme, of characters looking down on our heroes for the circumstances they come from:

Snoke also expresses shock over the idea that a mere scavenger could resist his apprentice. It's a similar sentiment that Poe, Rose and Finn all experience within the Resistance itself under Vice Admiral Holdo:

She quickly reduces the three of them - Poe to no more than a trigger-happy flyboy, Finn to being a stormtrooper, and can't even be bothered to remember Rose, our resident behind the scenes worker underdog turned hero, despite supplementary material confirming that Rose is quite literally from Holdo's ship.

Like Rey, the three of them are underestimated and put down for or reduced to their 'inferior' roles. It's no wonder these kids are afraid they're not enough to be the heroes of this story - they've been told repeatedly that they're not, by villains and heroes alike.

Even more horrifically is the way agency and choice gets stripped away from the heroes by the villains:

Poe manages to resist an undetermined amount of time being physically tortured without giving up any intelligence, until Ren forcibly violates him by entering his mind (an experience described as "silent agony" in the novelization), and taunts Rey that he can do the same to her before she quickly turns the tables on him.

Both Ren and Snoke are able to paralyze their victims with the Force, rendering them immobile; Rey has similar trauma as Poe, albeit not from Ren, but through Snoke, as he immobilizes her and then tears through her mind in a similar manner that Ren does to Poe in the Force Awakens. Elsewhere, Finn experienced a lifetime of programming and brainwashing, reduced to a mere number without even a name to give him any sense of individuality. And Palpatine's ultimate play, before learning that Ren and Rey are a dyad in the Force and that power could restore him, was to literally possess Rey's body for himself.

It is a constant struggle for agency, with the villains quite often stripping our heroes of their autonomy - that is what the sequel trilogy is about. Three people who are consistently put down, devalued, who repeatedly have their agency stripped away, who are told they are stuck in an endless cycle, and it is about them going no, and leaving that behind and finding a home and a purpose in each other. Making the choice to find a new home, a new family, a new purpose, a new surname.

It is a victory when they emerge from Exegol, bloodied and exhausted and injured but with the sun shining, because they broke the cycle and they chose each other. It isn't about restoring the Republic, or holding onto the past. It's about three hurt people finding the value in themselves, and making a home with each other.

[alpaca-clouds]

The World-Ending Threats Are Easier in Fantasy

I talked with a friend about this last night and I thought I could share this with you. We talked about Baldur's Gate and DnD campaigns, as well as fantasy in general and the tendency of a lot of fantasy to deal with world ending threats. And I thought I would share, because it is an interesting topic.

Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3

In a lot of fantasy stories there are potential world ending threats. Sure, often enough the world is not literally gonna end, but it would cease to be the same world we know it to be. In Baldur's Gate 3 the villains basically plan for world domination. Or at least Sword Coast domination. But it is bad enough I would argue. Which is why in a good playthrough you got to stop them at all costs. So, in the end you defeat them, one by one. And then you go up to the big evil netherbrain and you kill that thing, too, after which the world is gonna be saved once more.

And themes like this are fairly common in fantasy. How many fantasy stories do you know in which the bad guy wants to rule over the world or reshape it entirely. Sure, it is fairly rare that the villain outright wants to destroy it - that is usually only something that "force of nature" villains want to do - but the fate of the world is kinda always on the line and of course the world tends to be saved by our fearless heroes.

For the longest time this went so far into that power fantasy aspect of it, that we never actually did consider how it would feal for those fearless heroes to have the fate of the world on their shoulders. Only fairly recently fantasy has turned more to dealing with the trauma our heroes would face during their quest to save the world, while having to kill and seeing their friends killed. In fact we are so used to heroes being impervious to trauma, that there are still a lot of people who will get very cranky when presented with a fantasy world where trauma does actually affect the heroes. (I just will remind you of how angry the nerds became to see traumatized Luke in The Last Jedi.)

But even so... the fantasy apocalypse is a lot nicer than the real world apocalypse, isn't it?

I mean that seriously. Because especially our younger generations do not know a world before the apocalypse. I am a millenial and I fairly well remember that moment when I was just 16 and realized how fucked the world was. Like, literally, I remember the exact day and time at which I realized that climate change was real and was going to fuck us all over. But at least I do remember a time before that. I do remember having normal winters and mild summers. Gen Z often doesn't.

And here is the thing: The real world apocalypse is not as easy to stop as the fantasy apocalypse. In the fantasy apocalypse it is fairly easy to stop it. Sure, the questline might be convoluted, but in the end it is "destroy magical item in vulcano" or "blow this one bad guy up". Once the main baddy has been defeated usually their troops will just give up - or remember they had better things to do.

But this doesn't really work in the real world. I cannot just go, assassinate Netanjahu and stop the genocide of Palestinians. And I cannot just take some magical item, throw it into mount Etna and stop climate change. And I also cannot throw Elon Musk into a portal and stop capitalism like that.

And sure, I do not have to deal with goblins, dragons, orks at the same time. Great. But... Like... We are all still getting traumatized, right? Like, we all get traumatized and especially between marginalized left-wing folks I do not know a lot of people who did not witness at least one violent encounter with evil goons (police).

And we are all traumatized. Losing a house in a wildfire is traumatizing. Seeing loved ones die of a pandemic the politicians are not taking seriously is traumatizing. Being in constant survival mode because you are too poor for anything else, is traumatizing as well. Most current workplaces are also traumatizing in their own little ways. School is traumatizing for so many of us. We are all getting traumatized by the world being fucked up.

To be perfectly honest with you: I would rather pick up a fight with a dragon, a netherbrain or whatever. Because a dragon or a netherbrain at least gives me something concrete to do. Because a dragon I can slay. Capitalism I can't. No matter how much I protest, I cannot kill capitalism - and I cannot stop climate change. And even if we did a revolution... It might work, yes, but really... slaying a dragon would be so much easier.

This is of course the entire function of fantasy as escapism. Because fantasy allows us a world where the end might be stopped fairly easy. When I DM a DnD campaign and let my players stop the end of the world, it is so we all can have the catharthis of this ending.

I just... wished that the real world would make it a bit easier.

Sorry for rambling. But yeah, it was something we talked about yesterday and I thought I might share.

[astheforcewillsit]

I know The Wrong Jedi arc is written like shit, but one thing that always irks me when it comes to the discourse is the idea that everything would have been fine if Ahsoka stayed in her cell. Like, yeah, it's not great for her to escape, but her situation prior wasn't good either. Tarkin straight assaults her (also is this fandom ever gonna talk about how Ahsoka is a CSA victim four times over?) and later lies to the council/creates false evidence. Like, you think Tarkin wouldn't have blamed her for the unconscious clones in the hall, the dead ones, or the keycard outside her cell? He's not allowing her visitors and he can just create "evidence" without anyone fact checking. This isn't even including what else Barriss could have possibly done to frame her more. Or Palpatine trying to get rid of her.

The council is beholden to the senate, so if they pushed the case she would have been expelled no matter what she did. Tarkin wants her dead, Barriss needs a scapegoat, and Ahsoka was fucked no matter what she did.

I agree with this.

I don't dislike the arc though. I think it's one of the best criticisms of the Jedi, both in-verse and in the fandom. Having a fan favorite character be left to fend for herself by the Jedi Order, who the show had already had a neutral opinion of, was really good.

Ahsoka's existence is canon Jedi critique that will never go away. And I think she is canon Jedi critique because of what they did to her, and I think the fandom needs a reminder that our heroes aren't 100% perfect. Even if we want them to be. And that they can hurt us.

I do hate that Ahsoka had to go through it, though. And yeah, the way she's treated isn't good. I've never looked into it enough to notice what she's going through it CSA because it's been a while, but i do remember Tarkin being really, really inappropriate towards her.

I think the situations she was put in, as a young girl/alien weren't really appropriate. From the Zygerrian slave arc to the entirety of the clone wars.

[direwolfrules]

I have one Rebels AU idea where it's basically just Heroes of Mandalore goes differently and Ezra winds up riding the Mythosaur. Because I saw that scene in Mando and immediately remembered that Ezra's good at connecting to animals.

I don't know, maybe a combination of Sabine deleted all the data on the Duchess in this universe + Thrawn seeing Mandalore as a perfect way to trap some Rebels.

Alrich got moved like two weeks before the prison raid, he's being held in Sundari for a big spectacle of an execution. Tiber's got a whole parade planned, maybe a festival if the damn bangcorn vendor gets over their beef with the uj cake salesman.

Anyway, the main conflict of this alternate arc is they have to sneak into Sundari to free Alrich before he gets executed. The team gets led through a series of caves by Bo-Katan's weird nephew and his weird friends, who apparently use these tunnels to smuggle Force-sensitive children to safety.

They camp at the cavern with the Living Waters to plan their next moves, and that's when some Imperial Supercommandos show up. Thrawn had figured out the rebels would be using the mines by intensive study of Lady Bo-Katan's previous assaults on Sundari and local geography.

It's a fearsome battle, and just when the rebels think they might get the upper hand several squads of stormtroopers show up. They're losing ground and being forced to the shore of the Lake of the Living Waters. It honestly seems like they're about to die there, especially since the troopers won't stop coming. It's utterly hopeless.

Until Ezra senses a presence.

It's old and powerful in a way he's never really felt before. It's not as old as the Bendu, and a thousand times more...feral. It's huge and hungry and even though it isn't sentient Ezra can almost feel it reach back through the Force and scrutinize him.

Ursa and Bo-Katan are both about to yell at the jetii boy to stop standing around and get back to killing Imps when the ground starts to shake. In the center of the lake water rushes as something emerges from the depths. Something large.

The mythosaur roars as it lunges with deceptive speed, and an entire squad of stormtroopers disappears down its gullet. This repeats until all the Imperials are dead. With its hunger sated the mythosaur descends back down into the depths, though not before giving Ezra an affectionate lick.

Everyone is just sort of in a state of shock for the rest of the mission except for Ezra, who has no idea what a mythosaur is or that he just became the hero of prophecy for like three Mandalorian religions. No, he's more flustered about how he utterly embarrassed himself in front of Sabine's father.

They almost get cornered again by Imperial troops while leaving. That's when Ezra summons the mythosaur again and winds up riding it to victory, which is. A lot. Apparently, the mythosaur likes killing for the Jedi boy.

It isn't until later, when they're all having a victory feast that someone explains it to him. Ezra doesn't want to be a Mandalorian and he certainly doesn't want to be a Mandalorian prophecy boy, thank you very much. Kanan's trying to figure out how to tell Hera the latest news without sounding insane. Sabine's trying not drown herself in the cask of ne'tra gal after her mother took her aside and told her to "marry that boy", which lends itself to the hilarious realization that apparently Ursa just thought Sabine and Ezra were dating this whole time.