#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.

[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!

[fantasyinvader]

In Snow, before taking Enbarr Flayn gives a speech about how the crew are rejecting Edelgard's “twisted morality” and is willing to kill, and that to go down the same dark path themselves. 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.

[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!!

[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.

[antianakin]

Out of curiosity: do you believe Anakin was truly was the Chosen One or was it Luke the whole time?

Anakin. 1000% Anakin. I believe it's Anakin as per Word of God, as well, but I don't have the quote on hand right now.

Part of the weirdness over this is because of how the films were released, Luke is obviously the main character of the original trilogy of films, he's the one on the hero's journey, and there was never any mention of a prophecy in those films. So when the Prequels came out and made this whole prophecy thing for Anakin, it's understandable that people sort-of looked at it and went, "But if Anakin was the Chosen One, why is Luke the hero in the end still?" Which has obviously led to a bunch of theories that it was Luke all along, that Qui-Gon misunderstood the prophecy or just misapplied it to Anakin, or even that Luke BECAME the new Chosen One when Anakin fell (all of which are made worse by Rebels sort-of validating this take by having Obi-Wan claim Luke is the Chosen One). I get it.

But the entire purpose of Anakin's story to me only works if he IS the Chosen One and he just... fails. Anakin fails. He defies his own destiny and it destroys an entire galaxy. One of the BEST things about the Prequels is how hard they work to subvert certain tropes and narrative expectations. Padme and Anakin are forbidden lovers, but it's a toxic unhealthy love and the relationship is forbidden for good reason. Anakin is willing to burn down the world for Padme, but it's not at all romantic when the world is actually burning and it's going to burn both of them down with it. Prophecies exist, Chosen Ones exist, but prophecies can be DEFIED and Chosen Ones can fail if they're making selfish choices. You only get the happy ending from the prophecy if you're making the right choices.

So Anakin DOES end up destroying the Sith and bringing balance to the Force, but only when he makes a choice that's primarily SELFLESS in nature. He MIGHT'VE been able to destroy Palpatine the Sith way, but then he himself would still be a Sith and so the prophecy isn't actually fulfilled. There would be no balance in the Force while Anakin remains a Sith. So until he figures out how to leave his darkness behind, he'll continue to defy his own fate.

And that is a FASCINATING way to represent a prophecy and apply a destiny to someone without completely removing their agency or making all of their choices unimportant. Anakin's choices literally define the fate of the GALAXY because the prophecy only gets to come true when he makes the right choices. Theoretically, Anakin could defy this prophecy until he dies. Personally, I think that this is something that could happen. Anakin could make that choice, he could literally just defy the prophecy FOREVER and it would just never happen. It doesn't mean he ISN'T the Chosen One, he just chose incorrectly and so the prophecy never actually gets to come true.

I also like that this leaves room for other people to achieve the same end without being part of the prophecy. Theoretically, Palpatine could still be killed in other ways, even while Anakin's alive. The prophecy isn't stopping someone ELSE from killing Palpatine (or Anakin), it's just a LOT harder. We do see people more attuned to the Force kind-of stepping back from something they can feel is perhaps someone else's destiny or following someone specifically because they have a destiny for something, but the opportunity is there for regular people to step up where a Chosen One has failed. And it's one of the things I love MOST about the Star Wars universe, I love the way this worldbuilding works.

Luke is still a hero, obviously, he plays a major role in Anakin ultimately making that final selfless choice, his faith in Anakin and his refusal to kill Anakin and his adherence to Jedi compassion are what eventually help lead Anakin towards making the choice that allows the prophecy to finally be fulfilled. I'm not downplaying Luke's importance or his heroism at all, but I think it kind-of makes all of his choices even MORE heroic if he's NOT a Chosen One. He doesn't do these things because he was destined to do them, but because he's a good, kind, brave, strong person making the choice to do heroic things. He's choosing to do what he believes needs to be done for the greater good. He's just a regular person, with no prophecies to fulfill, having to step into the shoes of a hero because his father failed and threw the galaxy into chaos. How is that NOT more interesting than just saying Luke was the real Chosen One all along?

So you'll never catch me saying the Chosen One was anybody but Anakin in canon. It's absolutely Anakin and it'll always BE Anakin. You remove SO MUCH of the best parts of Star Wars if you take away that part of it.

[vitamaeternum]

Top five favorite couples in fiction (canon or fanon), and top ten favorite characters!

5. Twilight/Loid Forger and Yor Forger

They're very cute.

4. Superman(Clark Kent) and Lois Lane

Note that there are a bunch of versions of these two, and I personally haven't really read a version I haven't liked yet.

3. Link and Zelda

Honestly I really found this one to be good after BOTW, but it's good in a lot of the others as well. (Yes this isn't a great picture but it's fine)

2. Optimus Prime and Elita One

Them.

Aragorn II/King Elessar Telcontar and Arwen Urdomiel

Enough said.

Now on to my favorite characters (Limiting myself to one per franchise for maximum variety): 10. Rogal Dorn (NGL, it was a toss up between him and Vulkan for this spot)

The Line will be held, no matter the cost.

9. Frieren

Funny Elf learning to truly live and care about those who she will outlive, rather than letting them pass her by like she used to.

8. Prince Vegeta

Guy went from being a full on villain to becoming a loving father and one of Earth's greatest defenders, honestly I love seeing him continue on that path.

7. Obi Wan Kenobi

Best Jedi in my opinion and also awesome to watch on screen. Personally I like his somewhat armored design from The Clone Wars the best, add the cloak to that and it's perfect. The rest of his designs are great too, but that one is my favorite.

6. Spider-Man

Good old Spider-Man, where to begin? There's so many versions of him and pretty much all of them have something fun to bring to the table.

5. Gandalf

Everyone's favorite Meddling Wizard who also knows how to bring light to those in need even when things are at their darkest, great characterization.

4. Superman

Just a guy who wants to do the right thing and help people out along the way. Top tier Superhero.

3. The Doctor

Long and goofy history this character may have, but he's got a lot of cool stuff that he's done and it's fun to watch him keep going along, trying to do the right thing.

2. Michael Carpenter

Knight of the Cross. Warrior against the Unholy. Kind Father to his children. A Good Man.

1. Optimus Prime

The Leader of the Autobots and the last of the Primes. He is my favorite for many reasons. All of the versions of him (Minus Shattered Glass and later Bayverse, but that's the point of Shattered Glass) are created to be a Hero. And not one of those Hollywood Heroes, all yelling and BSing. He is meant to be Strong enough to be Gentle. He is a reluctant warrior who is wishes there was any other way for things to go forward, but there is not any other way, and so he continues to fight for what is right, no matter what.

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Shortly after the third episode of Acolyte dropped, a friend (who wasn't watching the show) said she probably wouldn't bother watching it because her brother told her the show was ruining everything that's been established about the Force and that it's implying the Jedi are wrong/evil.

I had gotten wind of some complaints like this being found on social media, but the fact that I was hearing this take first-hand from someone I know well kinda floored me.

Just today I came across a thoughtful discussion on Reddit about how both TLJ and Acolyte explore the idea of perspective and presenting opposing viewpoints (I would submit that Bad Batch does an exceptional job with this as well, even if it's not one of the main aims of the show), and this made me want to put some thoughts down on virtual "paper."

SPECIFIC ACOLYTE SPOILERS BELOW.

1) It seems some people somehow can't accept the heroes actually making mistakes and being called out on it in the story. Like, there's no room for gray areas and nuance. (This trend became especially apparent to me after TLJ first released.)

For example, I love the Jedi and think their basic beliefs, including their adherence to the Light Side, are absolutely correct. I also see how flawed the Jedi Order itself became by the time of the prequels, and also know that the Jedi themselves are flawed (of course they are!). Most of the Jedi are trying to do the right thing, but that doesn't mean they won't make mistakes. And it's painful sometimes to watch them make mistakes, but their intentions are still good and ultimately they are the heroes to root for, especially when they're up against the sheer selfishness and power-hungry machinations of the Sith in particular.

Somehow, though, Luke igniting his lightsaber in a desperate moment of weakness means Luke's character is absolutely ruined, no chance for redemption. It doesn't matter that it was a fleeting thought and Luke didn't actually act on it, just the thought is enough to condemn not only him but also the creators for daring to make Luke Skywalker anything less than a flawless hero.

Somehow, The Acolyte presenting a group of people who view/describe the Force differently than the Jedi do, and then spending equal time showing their perspective/justifications/flaws just as much as they show the Jedi's perspective/justifications/flaws, means the show is ruining the Force and obviously hates the Jedi.

It ends up that some of the discussion around who was right/wrong, that the Jedi should/shouldn't have done what they did, and that the coven should/shouldn't have done what they did tends to become inflammatory because some people won't accept that most of the characters are flawed and make mistakes and are just trying to do the best they can with the knowledge they have. (I say "most" characters, because Qimir is just straight up evil and there's no debate about that. He killed Jecki and referred to her as "it." Enough said.)

2) Another thing to consider is that, on the macro level, the stories themselves still are VERY much about good vs evil. No matter how much backstory is given to the "evil" characters or how sympathetically they are portrayed, at the end of the day very few of us root for the Sith or Imperial types to actually be in charge of the galaxy, we still want Jedi/Light Side Force users and Republics and independent systems with some semblance of democratic governments to win out. It's at the micro level that individual characters - both the good guys and the bad guys - are portrayed with more nuance to where the good guys make mistakes and the bad guys are granted some level of humanity to where we might see parts of ourselves portrayed in them (even if it's as simple as "there, but for the grace of God, go I"). Yet somehow some fans seem to take issue with this depiction of the heroes/villains and conflate it to mean the overall story somehow isn't ultimately about good vs evil. Even for stories like Acolyte that I consider to be villain origin stories, I don't think most of the audience WANTED Osha to kill Sol or join Qimir; regardless of why she did it, we still are guided to recognize that giving in to hatred and revenge is not a "good" thing. This show doesn't paint the Jedi Order as the "bad guys." It does thoughtfully depict both sides of the conflict as having both flaws and virtues (well... everyone except Qimir. He's just evil.) And it does depict the gradations of gray that come with making decisions with wide-spread ramifications that also involve other people with varying motives needing to make decisions as well.

3) Ironically, if a project doesn't depict a good guy as having notable flaws or a bad guy as having some semblance of sympathetic characteristics, we then get the accusations of characters being Mary Sues or one-dimensional or "flat." So there's just no way to win here.

[squirrelno2]

Thinking about nemik's manifesto and the line "one single thing will break the siege" because like

Where star wars consistently falls short for me is the individualist approach, the heroic narrative of one or two good guys against one or two bad guys, but Andor takes that and reframes it - not a hero stepping in, but people who are part of a whole tipping scales. The ability of a single person or act to change the world isn't because that one person or act is The Best, better than everyone else who's come before and tried other things. It's because so many people tried for so long. It's just the moment where the weight tips into being too heavy for the empire to keep a grip on

Like. Luke may be a Jedi but he's just a guy with some skills doing what he can. He just happens to be in a position with more influence than most (on the force, but also he can catch Vader's attention without getting instantly force choked) who's come in at a time where things are already shifting. He doesn't know how much has gone into this rebellion but he manages to honour it anyway. I'm fine actually

[frasier-crane-style]

Just wanted to point out that the Empire is not real. They're cartoon bad guys from a fantasy story. No one has ever been harmed by the Empire and no one ever will. It's perfectly fine to root for the Empire, cosplay as them, draw fanart of them, make memes about how Vader did nothing wrong, whatever.

It is as harmless as being a fan of Cobra Commander, Skeletor, or Elmer fucking Fudd. And no one on the monsterfucker website has room to talk about what is or isn't acceptable in your fucking daydreams, fanfics, sexual fantasies, video game play-throughs, or anything else.

I don't care that they massacred the Jedi. I don't care that they blew up Alderaan. There is no such place as Alderaan. There is no such thing as a Jedi. Those younglings Anakin killed? They were fictious characters played by child actors who have grown up, perfectly fine.

If it bothers you to see people praising the Empire, that is on you. You have to take responsibility for curating your fandom experience. Avoid people who are Empire fans. Don't go into the tags of Imperial characters. It is fine to have boundaries and to avoid content that makes you uncomfortable, but no one is immoral or causing harm by making that content. The world has very real problems, but I assure you they were not caused by people watching Star Wars movies.

While I'm at it, George Lucas is under no obligation to "make it clear" that the Empire are the bad guys or to depict them even more negatively than they already are. Part of telling a good adventure story is having strong villains to challenge the heroes and so it behooves storytellers to have villains who are competent, intimidating, and even stylish.

Lucas is not causing any harm or endorsing fascism by giving Darth Vader a cool look, a cool voice, or making him a dominating opponent for Luke Skywalker. If it bothers you to see villains depicted with redeeming qualities or as skilled warriors, that is on you, you will have to either avoid this sort of media or get comfortable with it. Art cannot and should not change to accommodate your unreasonable insistence that it double as political propaganda.