#jedi!luke is the superior luke skywalker

[bibxrbie]

My radical hot take about the 'Happily Ever After - Padme and Anakin raise Luke and Leia on Naboo AU' that everyone keeps dreaming about, is that Luke should still be a Jedi. Not one of those 'exceptions made, he still lives with his mom and dad, and being a Jedi is the equivalent of attending boarding school' Jedi people write about. No, I'm talking given to the Temple at four years old, raised communally by other Jedi, who becomes someone's padawan, and decides later in life if he wants to make contact with his birth parents. I'm saying he should be a Jedi, who's dedicated to the Jedi, who loves being a Jedi, and would always choose to be a Jedi.

[supersaiyanjedi14]

Artwork I commissioned from @rainbow-zebra-art of my Sabezra fankids, Brycan and Mazal Wren-Bridger! Thank you so much for this, RZ!

As a reminder for anyone interested, these two exist in my personal Star Wars AU, which is a hybrid of the Legends EU, Disney Canon, and other SW properties I want to squeeze in. I'll put some more specific stuff about them under the cut.

BRYCAN WREN-BRIDGER

Brycan was born on Krownest in 10 ABY, growing up in the immediate aftermath of the Thrawn Campaign. He grows up as a close friend of Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo, while also being super close to his "uncles" Kanan and Zeb and "aunts" Hera and Ketsu. Brycan is a kind and friendly boy who nontheless has a sarcastic streak rivaling his parents, and his passion for athletics and martial arts serves him well in his Mandalorian upbringing and Jedi training. Unsurprisingly, Brycan still grows up with a good deal of pressure, what with being descended from two cultural factions known for conflict with each other and being the child of two prominent war heroes. Determined to live up to his heritage while also stepping out of his parents' shadows, Brycan becomes a passionate Mandalorian warrior before enrolling in Luke Skywalker's Jedi Paraxeum on Yavin 4 at age 14. He does struggle to reconcile the contradictory aspects of the Mandalorians and the Jedi, but he does eventually learn to form a good balance with the help of his parents and Din Djarin.

The Yuuzhan Vong War puts Brycan though the biggest wringer yet, as the horrors of war cost him multiple friends and his mother is grievously wounded shortly after giving birth to his sister Mazal. He is roped into a faction of more militant Mandalorian crusaders who encourage him to give into his passions and pain, leading to a tense conflict with his father and a personal vendetta with the Vong commander Nas Choka. However, Ezra manages to save his son from falling down the dark path, and he rejects the hollow promises of revenge. He finally comes into his own as a Jedi Knight by wars' end, priding himself as a credit to his forebearers as a true Mandalorian Jedi.

Other notes:

-Brycan built his lightsaber in imitation of designs favored during the High Republic, featuring a physical crossguard below the emitter. Reflecting his mixture of Jedi and Mandalorian tradition, the crossguard is composed of solid beskar while his kyber crystal is an Adegan sapphire.

-Brycan is one of the most accomplished lightsaber duelists of his generation, mastering both the Shien and Djem-So sides of Form V as well as boasting a comprehensive academic understanding of numerous martial arts from across the galaxy. Thouhg he favors his lightsaber, he always wears a Mandalorian vambrace wherever he goes, loaded with a Dur-24 wrist laser, a fibercord whip, a portable energy shield, and whistling birds.

-Brycan's strength in the Force is easily comparable to his dad, though he appropriately focuses on the more physical aspects of his power. He's not as advanced a telepath as Ezra, but he compensates by being an awesome telekinetic and taking up a special interest in energy diffusion.

-While not as vibrant as his mom, he still inherited Sabine's artistic skill, particularly as a sketch artist. He can produce a nearly flawless rendering of someone in a heartbeat and has a talent for hand-drawn maps and starcharts. He occasionally cooks up new designs for his mom to try out.

-His best friend is Han and Leia's daughter Jaina, both of their natural fighting instincts feeding their desire to test and improve themselves. Sparring together is their favorite pastime, where they have traded wins and losses over the years.

-While a combat-oriented Jedi raised as a Mandalorian does raise some immediate assumptions, Brycan's passion for fighting is not as a blood sport. He sees it as a way of expression of his spirit, and he puts it to use for the good of others. He lives by the Form V maxim of "peace through superior firepower", wielding his skill to strike out at injustice and protect the innocent, not to flaunt his power. He doesn't go looking to pick a fight, but if fighting needs to be done, he is razor-keen and committed.

-Teenage rebellion and war trauma aside, he loves his parents more than anything in the world and adores his younger sister Mazal.

-Despite lacking Ezra's strong affinity for animals, Brycan does owns a Loth-wolf he rescued as a cub named Beskad (the mando'a word for "sword"). The two are nearly inseparable, though his efforts to mold Beskad into an oversized hunting dog have had minimal success.

MAZAL WREN-BRIDGER

Mazal was born on Mandalore in 26 ABY during the height of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Growing up in the shadow of the conflict, Mazal resolved to do her part to help put the galaxy back together after being nearly ripped apart. Like her older brother, Mazal initially wanted to become a powerful Mandalorian Jedi warrior, joining in the battles and adventures. However, this was shattered when she went on her first serious combat mission, helping in an effort to subdue a combine of pirates seeking to exploit the post-war chaos on Carlac. The mission ended in a horrific disaster, with the strike team being decimated in an ambush and narrowly escaping back to GA space. Traumatized by her experiences, Mazal found her previous passion lost, even considering turning in her lightsaber and throwing out her armor so as to never be stained by that violence again. Fortunately, Mazal received much-needed counseling from both Jedi Healers and more mundane therapists, and Sabine helped her daughter rediscover her calling. Feeling that the galaxy needed healing hands far more than warriors, Mazal was drawn to the ideals of the late Duchess Satine Kryze, seeing the value of promoting peace over the use of force. Taking up the path of a Jedi Healer and joining the reformed Mandalorian Protectors, Mazal channeled her passion into humanitarian aid, traveling the galaxy to help pick up the pieces of disaster and conflict. In a way, she does manage to become just as much of a Mandalorian Jedi as Brycan, albeit one dedicated to the higher calling of the Force and the more grounded tenents of the Resol'nare.

Other notes:

-"Mazal" is a Hebrew name meaning "good fortune". I chose this to fit a naming theme with her father Ezra as well as to reflect the safety of her birth given Sabine's injuries soon afterward.

-Despite no longer being a dedicated fighter, Mazal still keeps up on her training. She may not like fighting, but if the people she's helping need a lightsaber to protect them or Mandalorian armor to shield them, she won't hesitate to use it.

-Powerful in her own right, Mazal's Force abilities manifest strongest in her advanced skill in the healing arts, directly studying under Master Cilghal at the Jedi Academy. She also shares her father's sense-based aptitude, focusing on life-detection and projective telepathy to aid in her relief work.

-Unlike Brycan, Mazal is just as much of an artist as Sabine, constantly redecorating her room with new paintings and sketches. Her hair is her most common canvas, rarely going a month with the same dye job.

-Mazal is a self-professed daddy's girl; not even the Force can get Ezra to say no to her. At the same time, possibly as a result of having come so close to losing her and her mother, Ezra is almost overprotective of her, and was beside himself when she came home shell-shocked from Carlac. Sabine grows closer to her during her recovery period, and their time painting together played a big part in getting her back on her feet.

-She gets along well with Ben Skywalker, both being close to each other during their training. Outside of her family, Ben's the one she can confide in the most.

-Mazal is bi and dates Zay Versio as a teenager.

Feel free to ask me more about these two!

[saphronethaleph]

Rushing the boomer

“How long?” Palpatine asked.

“Do not strain yourself, lord,” one of the cultists said. “Your attempt to possess the Snoke body will have weakened you-”

“I am well aware of my limitations,” Palpatine snapped, then turned to the Final Order engineer. “How long, commander?”

“That depends, my lord,” the engineer replied, his voice firm. “For the whole fleet… fourteen years. A single ship could be completed in eight. One ship coming online at a time in sequence, the first ship will be finished in nine years and the whole fleet in sixteen.”

Palpatine frowned.

“The whole fleet, then,” he said. “The might of the Final Order will blaze a path across the galaxy, and all will obey the Sith or perish.”

“It is as you command, my lord,” the engineer said, saluting.

Palpatine waved him away, then gestured, and a hologram of the Star Destroyers currently under construction formed in the air above him.

They were vast ships, for line vessels, and the Sith Eternal were building one thousand and eighty of them.

One thousand and eighty!

Never again would rebels exploit a single point of failure and destroy his most powerful and only superweapon… a fate he had experienced twice, now, and each one burned like a canker in his heart, the fury suffusing him and lending him strength.

At his insistence, Palpatine’s spies in the wider galaxy, outside Exegol, had found for him the names of every single person who had been directly involved in the attack on both Death Stars.

Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa Solo, Evaan Verlaine… all of those names were of people he hated. And Palpatine would see them destroyed, one way or another.

But there were four names for which the Dark Lord of the Sith reserved his greatest hatred. The true, simmering passion that Palpatine held for those who had truly thwarted his plans.

Landonis Balthazar Calrissian. Nien Nunb. Wedge Antilles… and, more than anyone else, Luke Skywalker.

If there was anyone who Palpatine wanted to destroy, it was Luke Skywalker… not merely to see him dead, but to humiliate him. To tear him down. To reduce all his triumphs to smouldering ruins.

Break the New Republic. Destroy the New Jedi Order. Turn his own family against him. Shatter his will.

That was what Palpatine would do, to Luke Skywalker.

And then – and only then – would the galaxy burn, worlds submitting to the rule of the Sith or being destroyed.

Thinking such pleasant thoughts, it took a moment for Palpatine to notice the flashing red alert on the side of the holodisplay.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. “Explain it!”

“We’ve picked up ships, incoming,” an officer said, looking up from his displays on the other side of the room. “Lots of them – Rebel ship classes!”

Palpatine’s hand waved, and the holodisplay reconfigured to show the Red Honeycomb Zone and the tactical displays.

Sure enough, ships were coming through. Two Mon Cal star cruisers, first, then frigates and cruiser class vessels, disgorging a cloud of snubfighters from their hangar bays.

Sith Eternal TIE Fighters were already taking off, but Palpatine could see the difference between the two forces – the Sith Eternal was a secret military and had never actually fought in battle, and it had been aiming for a projected readiness date over a decade in the future.

The New Republic fighter corps was no such easy target. Even without their shields, their skill and training were clearly superior, and the first pass saw a dozen Sith fighters go down in blazing, burning wrecks. A dogfight was already beginning, but it was a dogfight that could only go one way.

But how had this happened? Exegol was secret! With the hyperspace anomalies protecting it, the only way to visit the planet would be to not only know where it was but be shown…

...unless, that was, someone had a Sith wayfinder.

Suddenly gripped by a cold rush of fear that prompted a surge of utter hatred, Palpatine reached out with his mind towards the New Republic strike force as it became haloed in laserfire and explosions.

He could sense a Sith Wayfinder. HIS Sith Wayfinder! The one that had been in his throne room during the Battle of Endor.

Pushing harder, Palpatine located the dancing spark of the wayfinder, alongside a sickeningly familiar presence – a presence ducking and dodging and rolling, as it locked onto and destroyed one TIE Fighter after another.

“Skywalker!” Palpatine shouted, then coughed. “SKYWALKER!”

“Watch out, there’s another fighter flight taking off from the hangar system to port,” Nien Nunb said, pointing.

“Got it, keying them in,” Lando agreed, his gaze flicking between the displays of the Raddus flag bridge. “Hey, Wedge, you want to take those fighters and the battleline will kill the hangar for you?”

“Copy that, General,” Wedge agreed. “Red leader to Red Alpha flight, follow me in!”

Six X-wings rolled to follow Wedge in, and Lando checked over the displays again.

“Well, I’m no expert but I think we caught them with their pants down, Admiral,” he said, glancing back at Leia. “No more than one in fifty of the capital ship turbolasers are working, and most of them seem to still be under construction.”

He whistled. “It’s a damn good thing we caught them when we did, though, I’m reading over six hundred ships in states of construction and there’s hundreds more building slips.”

The Raddus jolted as a volley of turbolasers hit, then the radio crackled.

“Gold leader here,” Verlaine called in. “Princess, I’ve got eyes on where that fire’s coming from, looks like a turbolaser testing facility with some working cannon. My boys and girls will fix that little problem.”

Nien made the adjustment before Lando got to it, and a double volley of proton torpedoes blasted the facility to pieces.

“It’s certainly a damn good thing we found them before they finished,” Leia agreed. “How did you do it?”

“Well, our lead ran out on Kijimi,” Lando said. “Then I realized nobody had actually checked the wreckage of the Second Death Star, and unlike the first the second’s armour wasn’t in place to contain the explosion. I thought it was likely some of it had come down intact, so Luke and I went over to find it and that’s how we got here.”

“I’m picking something up-” Nien reported, then they all looked out the window at once as a flare of lightning crackled up from a hole in the ground. It gripped a New Republic corvette, lightning crawling over the surface and ripping chunks out of it, and when the bolts stopped the engines had been disabled and most of the CR90 crashed seconds later.

“Skywalker here, I’m on it,” Luke said, his X-Wing shooting past and shooting down one of the last enemy TIEs. The Jedi Master’s snubfighter kept going, rolling into a complex manoeuvre and spitting laserbolts down the chasm, then the lightning came back up again – and Luke’s ship absorbed it, glowing bright white as the energy was corralled and neutralized.

“I don’t know about you, but that looks like the main event as far as I’m concerned,” Lando noted.

[ariainstars]

Why Can’t the Star Wars Franchise Renew Itself?

„Shame is a soul eating emotion.“ (Carl Gustav Jung)

Warning: longer post.

Growing up with Japanese anime I learned that being a hero is not about being perfect. The heroes I knew looked cool, were smart and brave and anything you could wish for, but also human: they were tormented, traumatized, struggling, they often doubted themselves and they sometimes cried (yes, the guys too). When I was first confronted with the Western idea of heroism I was appalled; to this day, I can’t fathom what is even supposed to be heroic about a guy like James Bond. Western heroes are usually just as terrible as the villains, except that for some reason they happen to be on the right side. The way they appear is more important than what they do. Franchises like Terminator, Mission Impossible, Batman etc. always portray the “hero” as untouchable, seemingly unbeatable even in the most dangerous situations and, most of all: impassive.

These days, new stories are being told. With new heroes. Except that said heroes are still quite the same as above, only now they’re more often female.

Is it an improvement when heroes are portrayed as being complete a**holes, with an aura of perfection and untouchability? No.

It always was ridiculous. It always was awful. It always was immoral.

But hardly anyone seemed to care as long as it was the guys being tough. Now that females are often portrayed doing and appearing the same, being a cool a**hole has become a caricature. Most people hate it. But the problem is that portraying alleged “heroes” like that was wrong in the first place.

The Fandom Menace

To Star Wars viewers who see stories as simply black and white and who are there mostly for the action and the superior-looking heroes, the Jedi are untouchable. Solitary and aloof, the Jedi have shiny sabres and can make things float, they travel the galaxy to kill the villains according to their own judgement. What could be more masculine than that? You try to tell an action film fan, or a Jedi fan, in particular, how messed up that is: they will never accept it. No wonder they get so upset and embarrassed when Jedi show their vulnerable, human side. Luke’s green milk in The Last Jedi must have caused a million of meltdowns among Jedi stans, mostly male ones, who felt that their hero had been character-assassinated and totally missing the point. Fans who are used to admire “heroes” like Batman, James Bond, Rambo etc. believe that the main characteristics of a male hero is a stoic appearance. A man who actually questions and doubts himself and feels guilty when he did wrong is automatically branded a loser.

Star Wars is mostly followed by action fans. But since it’s not a typical action franchise but an epic fairy tale and a metacommentary rich in symbolism, philosophy and psychology, there are also many intellectuals who love it, or hopelessly romantic souls like me. Except that fans who can actually enjoy Star Wars even when it’s not about the alleged Jedi superheroes, will most probably not send death threats to the studios and believe that “everything will be better once these producers are gone.”

The Prequels

The prequels were so disputed that Goerge Lucas himself confessed that he had sold the rights to the saga because he didn’t want to be exposed to that pressure any more. Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar, was mobbed to the point where he considered suicide. Jake Lloyd, who portrayed little Anakin, suffers from schizophrenia to this day.

Were the films really that bad? No. But for the first time after having spent the years since 1977 believing that the Jedi were the wisest and strongest men of their time, fans were let down being confronted with their many mistakes. Anakin Skywalker was all too human as well, and quickly got apostrophized as a “whiny brat.” The very idea that the iconic villain Darth Vader once was a kind-hearted little boy and then an ardent young man was considered shocking to say the least.

The Classics

Luke is a simple farmboy when the saga starts, young, hot-headed and naïve. He is hardly aware of his powers. In the second film he’s more mature, but still impulsive and reckless. It’s only in the third instalment that he’s calm and collected: he’s a Jedi now, as the title says.

Let me ask a bold question.

Would there have been the vicious uproar we have witnessed, had The Last Jedi picked Luke up where he was in the first two films, before he became a Jedi?

I daresay, no.

Because to the Jedi stans Luke is first and foremost a Jedi. And that is what they get wrong.

Luke’s strength was exactly that he did not act like the other Jedi, that he followed his heart instead of their maxims. Had he acted like a Jedi, like Obi-Wan and Yoda expected him to, he would have killed his own father and spent the rest of his life hating himself. Luke is a team player, it’s one of his greatest strengths ever since the first film. He’s the one who brings people together and reunites his family. No Jedi is like that, on the contrary, in the prequels we learn that they’re discouraged from bonding with other people.

Jedi stans love Luke the Jedi, not Luke the person, who was wiser and stronger and better than any of the old-school Jedi, who strictly followed the rules instead of following their hearts the way he did.

Luke is the central character of the classic films because he’s so likeable. All three classic films have a scene towards the end where he’s about to die, and someone rushes to the rescue - Han in the first film, Leia in the second, Vader in the third. Do they save him because they are interested in his Jedi-like qualities? No. They do because they care for him; because, each in his own way, are his family. The Skywalker saga is a hymn to the power of love.

Hardcore fans still haven’t understood that the core story of Star Wars is the Skywalker saga, the story of a family. That’s the actual beauty and fascination of the Star Wars saga. And yet Jedi stans can pick apart any and every photogram of The Last Jedi and rant about how awful it is, never getting one inch closer to what is actually irking them too much: their own, misguided conviction that The Jedi Are the Good Guys and that their detached, collected attitude is not hypocritical.

Pride, male pride in particular can be oversensitive, and apparently many don’t grow beyond the mental stage of adolescents, who are particularly vulnerable. Listening to Jedi stans one would think that the Disney studios are producing new Star Wars content with the deliberate intention of hurting their feelings and laughing into the face of their ideals.

The Sequels

In Return of the Jedi (the only film where for all intents and purposes Luke looks and acts like a Jedi, and the title says it), on the Death Star he lashes out towards Vader when he threatens to corrupt Leia if he won’t succeed with him; and when he realizes that Vader can feel him in his mind, he says “I shouldn’t have come, I’m endangering the whole mission”. This fits perfectly to a Luke who debates killing his nephew - and that time he didn’t even strike - and who, once the damage is done, closes himself off the Force and retires to a deserted island before he can do any more harm. But ever since The Last Jedi, Jedi stans rave that “their hero” Luke Skywalker would never have behaved like that and that the film was a slap in the face of everything he ever stood for. Why?

Jedi stans expected Luke to be the hero and central figure of the sequel: he was supposed to be adult at last, wise, self-controlled, powerful, in other words the perfect Jedi. After the events on the second Death Star, Luke was not celebrated; no one even knew that Vader had saved him. In the final scene he had a vision of his father, now looking healed and serene, together with Yoda and Obi-Wan. No one else saw that, not even his sister. So, a lot of fans were waiting for Luke to have his big moment at last.

Instead, they saw a disillusioned hermit who at one point had to admit that he pushed his own nephew, albeit not on purpose, to the Dark Side. Luke was portrayed as a man who still had hope and strength even when he had seen his whole life’s work literally go up in smoke; who admitted his faults, apologized, and in the end gave his life to still make the best of the situation. That is what true heroism looks like. But it’s not what an average action moviegoer wants to see: to them, a hero looks cool, kills whoever gets in his way, maybe says some wise-sound words, and that’s it. Bonus if he gets the girl.

Jedi stans felt that Rey was taking the shine from Luke, pushing him aside. Far from usurping his place, Rey said to Luke “I need someone to show me my place in all this”. She clearly didn’t want to fill in his place. But Jedi stans felt like they were watching a James Bond film where Bond is suddenly not convinced of his mission, doubts himself and steps aside to make way for someone who normally would only be a Bond girl.

Rey is one of the most controversial characters of the sequels, allegedly because she’s a Mary Sue or a feminist fantasy who didn’t earn all that she achieved. But in the classics Luke was also good at things we never or hardly had seen him training or learning before. In The Empire Strikes Back, he pulled his sabre into his hand only by the force of his will, and called out to Leia in his mind. He acted on instinct; he assuredly hadn’t trained at a Jedi temple for decades.

The sequels were the story of the third generation of the Skywalker family, and one of its main mistakes, the way I see it today, is that they focus too much on Rey. She is Ben’s other half in the Force, as we learn later on, but still: the scion of the Skywalker family is he, he is the one who changes deeply, while she doesn’t.

I like Kylo Ren / Ben Solo because he’s a complex character, well-written and interpreted, but not only for that. I understood him so well on a personal level. I know what it means to be so isolated and abused that the moment someone shows you only a glimpse of kindness you fall in love to the point you would do anything for that person. The actual problem was that Rey did not know what she wanted, or what the Force wanted her to do. She only told Ben “not to go this way”. He saved her life twice, once as Kylo (when he killed Snoke) and once as Ben (when he gave her his remaining life force). If she had known what she wanted apart from staying alive, or if she had known the will of the Force, I do not doubt that he would have done anything she wanted. But she didn’t.

Star Wars stories only develop and the heroes only have success when they know what they want, not what they want to avoid. Fair enough. But the Force’s will remains mysterious. Even the alleged Chosen One didn’t know it. After The Last Jedi, I naively assumed that the better times when the Jedi actually did the will of the Force and the galaxy was at peace was during the time when the temple of Ahch-To was built; that we would learn more about it and that new Force users would find back to these better times. Seven years after having seen the Force Balance mosaic on the floor of the Jedi temple, I’m still waiting in vain for one or more Force users to actually discover and share said balance.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

The miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi was the first and only time that I actually liked a character who I had until then felt to be narrow-minded, haughty and largely responsible for Anakin’s damnation and the downfall of the republic.

“From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!” Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith

Obi-Wan proved that Anakin was right a few minutes later: he ended the duel with Anakin cutting off his legs and leaving him to burn in the lava - a Jedi does not soil his hands through a coup de grace. Obi-Wan did not manage to save Anakin in the moment of his greatest need, and he did not have mercy. Padme was about to take Anakin with her, which would at least have spared the galaxy the worst. Being the perfect Jedi, of course Obi-Wan had to interfere, setting the seal on Anakin’s fate. At the beginning of the same film Anakin killed Count Dooku who was kneeling handless in front of him; and it was also said that Anakin had saved Obi-Wans’s life ten times over. But he did not learn from his mistakes: twenty years later he tried to push the naïve Luke to patricide, so that is own hands would, again, not get dirty. Obi-Wan recurrently appeared to Luke as a Jedi spirit; but in The Empire Strikes Back when the traumatized young man, having learned the truth, repeated over and over, „Ben, why didn’t you tell me?” he was silent. When they did meet again, he shirked his responsibility with wise-sounding words.

Was Obi-Wan a good Jedi? From their perspective, undoubtedly. But I would not call him a compassionate human being. Obi-Wan was afraid not so much of Anakin but of the Jedi’s judgement: he knew that if Anakin tripped over a line, he as his master would be responsible. And Yoda had his fair share of responsibility - he refused to help Obi-Wan with the training of the powerful boy, he feared him although he was the one who clearly said that fear is the way to the Dark Side, and in Revenge of the Sith he practically ordered Obi-Wan to kill him.

Obi-Wan was always the first to draw the weapon. In A New Hope, he cut off the arm of a guy at a bar who was merely annoying him. In Revenge of the Sith, he attacked General Grievous showing up behind him, challenging to an uncalled-for fight. He had neither himself nor anyone else to protect right then. During his duel with Anakin / Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, he also was the first to draw his weapons.

Obi-Wan never questioned himself, his choices and actions. He never took his responsibilities: even when dead, he justified his blatant lie to Luke saying that the truth is only a point of view. He never felt guilty or admitted defeat and wrong choices.

Not until Obi-Wan Kenobi, where was alone, traumatized, regretful, bonding with little Leia. Owen said clearly him that he did not want him to train Luke because of the way he had trained his father. Human at last! The last thing Jedi stans want him to be like. He even did what a Jedi actually ought to do, giving Reva spiritual advice. Of course, another Star Wars character who was accused of having been “character assassinated”.

Was Moses Ingram attacked for her portrayal of Reva because she’s a woman of colour? No, it was because Obi-Wan was not portrayed as Jedi stans wanted to see him. The actress was mobbed because they needed someone to project their hatred on. It’s true that her character was not written well, but any fool must have known that it wasn’t the actresses’ fault.

The Acolyte (2024)

“The Jedi live in a dream. A dream they believe everyone shares. If you attack a Jedi with a weapon you will fail… But an acolyte kills without a weapon. An acolyte kills the dream.” (The Stranger)

„The majority of my colleagues can’t imagine a galaxy without the Jedi. And I can understand why. When you’re looking up to heroes, you don’t have to face what’s right in front of you.“

„I think the Jedi are a massive system of unchecked power posing as a religion. A delusional cult that claims to control the uncontrollable. You project an image of goodness and restraint. But it’s only a matter of time before one of you snaps. And when, not if that happens, who will be strong enough to stop him?”

(Senator Rayencourt to Master Vernestra)

Did anyone at Disney Lucasfilm honestly think that this kind of show would be accepted and even loved by Jedi stans, who make up the majority of the fans - or at least a group that is very loud in their disapproval? If it “simply” was a bad tv show, fans would be disappointed, shrug it off and move on. I haven’t met such an amount of online vitriol since The Last Jedi, and it’s not difficult to see why: because the precious Jedi were shown as arrogant fools who believe they mean well but are too narrow-minded and stuck-up to see the errors in their ways.

„The Force does not belong to the Jedi.” (Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi)

Some in the galaxy far, far away call it The Thread. And use it their own way. Both ways might be wrong. Osha is raised by two very different mentalities and finds both don’t suit her, so she joins The Stranger who is also looking to find his own path. Whether they will or not we won’t know unfortunately, since the show’s second season was cancelled. (At least for now.)

Is Master Sol a bad person? No. He’s fallible and believes that the lies he told Osha are justified. So are the other Jedi that travel to Brendok with him. What makes Jedi stans hate them is that they don’t defeat the Stranger; and that Sol and Torbin actually feel guilty for what they did to Mae, Osha and their family. Vernestra on the other hand lied to the Jedi Council to make sure they won’t find out what happened.

Sol took Osha away from everything she had known by destroying, in the process, her home, her past and her family, and letting her live in a lie for the next sixteen years. Sol knew that she was already too old to be trained, and taking her as his padawan he set her up for failure. Even when she left the Jedi order, failing the tests, he didn’t tell her the truth. Osha was condemned to loneliness, her only friend being Pip, a mechanical device. She could go back neither to Brendok nor to the Jedi, and being Force sensitive, she belonged nowhere until she met the Stranger.

Sol certainly was kind to her while he trained her, but for all the wrong reasons. He said that he “felt that Osha was meant to be his padawan”. What does that mean? Osha failed the tests and Sol knew she was already too old for training. He even said he loved her at one point. My take is that Sol felt lonely and wanted to raise her as his daughter, he did not care that much about Osha becoming a Jedi nor not. Osha was right confronting him about what he had done to her, her sister and her entire coven, allegedly knowing what was best for her. She didn’t have to go as far as to kill him, I found that it did a lot to make her character unlikeable. Osha effectively “killed the past”, the way Ben Solo had wanted to. However: if it’s immoral to kill your father figure, it is equally immoral, if not much worse, of said father figure to wipe out your family and its entire civilization with it just to get a hold on you because you have the same power as he.

Impossible!! A Real Jedi would never do that! That’s why Jedi stans hate on the show and will pick on every small detail where they believe they find a flaw. The actual flaw is their headcanon that the Jedi can’t be the problem. Watching the saga, you see that they were very much a problem. But woe if you speak up; your will get your head ripped off.

The Acolyte also isn’t a female fantasy, as his haters claim. The strongest and most impressive character is the Stranger. Mae is his first pupil, but she doesn’t connect with him on a personal level, she only learns fighting from him; in the end, this makes her regress to childhood (the Stranger deleting her memory and she finding herself helpless in the Jedi order the way her sister had been sixteen years earlier). So? It appears that just wanting to be a strong female character and to do what a guy shows you is the wrong way, which is certainly not feministic.

The Stranger, despite his black clothes and mask, is not a real villain: when you watch him fight you see that he defends himself, he never attacks first. Despite their Code, again we see Jedi draw their weapons first, attack from behind or eight against one. He rightly points out to Osha that Yord had arrested her for a crime she did not commit and that both Jecki and Sol, whom she saw as her friends, would never commit fully to her.

Another popular criticism is that the Stranger allegedly has seduced Osha to the Dark Side with his male charms. But the Stranger is a mixed creature the way Osha is, neither good nor evil; he kills in defence or self-defence, and when he criticizes the ways of the Jedi he has a point. Osha is neither good nor evil herself, and I liked that they were starting on a new way together, all the more because I had been so disappointed that the sequels didn’t show us the much-needed and already announced Balance in the Force. When both Anakin and his grandson Ben came back to the Light side, it swallowed them whole, causing their death.

The Acolyte is a metaphor for growing up. Osha learned two ways of using the Force - first with (mother) Aniseya, then with Sol (father figure). The Stranger understands her doubts because he’s been through the same. Osha understands him better after putting on his helmet. In the end, they join their lives to find a new way together and in the final scene, both turn their backs to the past.

The Broom Boy: a Metaphor for the Future

The final scene of The Last Jedi with the Force-sensitive slave boy sweeping a floor before an open space which looks very much like a theatre stage, and who then looks up to the stars dreaming of being a Jedi, was clear: “Free the stage, now it’s time for us, the children.” There has hardly been a Star Wars show until now where there wasn’t a child in a central role.

Since the prequels, Star Wars made a point of showing that the Jedi are very bad at dealing with children. Anakin was taken away from his mother at age nine, shouldered with the prediction “You are the Chosen One”, and his emotional development was stunted because he was not allowed to go through the stages of being a normal child and teenager. Remember Attack of the Clones, where we see children playing around with light sabres - deadly weapons - like they were toys? Or Revenge of the Sith, where we see even smaller children, all with their light sabre tucked into their belts? It looks tragic. The scene where Anakin kills the children is a painful metacommentary on how a good person with a gun is no match against a bad person with a gun.

Sol: „She was just a child.” The Stranger: „You brought her here.”

In The Acolyte, Torbin and Jecki are heartbreaking examples of two Jedi padawans not allowed to be the teenagers they actually are. Jedi stans call Torbin “whiny”, but they overlook that his behaviour is normal for any teenager forced to be away from home for weeks on end on a trip he didn’t choose to make. Jecki has more self-control, but it doesn’t help her: she gets killed. The Stranger rightly points out that they both should never have come along on a risky mission to a planet with wholly unknown dangers. Jedi stans of course despise Torbin, because he’s supposed to be proud to be part of the Jedi since it gives him the possibility to look cool and fight all the bad guys in sight. Ironically, Torbin is the only member of the group of Jedi on Brendok who feels that something dreadful is about to happen and wants to go away. And years later, he is the only Jedi who admits to Mae that he feels guilty for what they did to Osha and her covert believing “they were doing the right thing”. That’s simply not what Jedi stans want to see. It’s an aberration to them, a slap in the face of everything they believe in.

Luke did not learn his ideals from the Jedi, he learned them at home with two simple farmers who neither were Force-sensitive nor knew the ways of the Jedi. Had he been raised like his father, all his power wouldn’t have helped him. Why do the Jedi insist that at a certain age you’re too old to be trained? I daresay because you have to start with brainwashing very early, before a person’s character is formed and its ideals in place.

The Mandalorian always allows Grogu to be a child. He keeps him close because that’s where’s he’s safest; he does look for safer places where he could leave him and is ready to make the sacrifice to give him up, but Sorgan proves not to be safe and later on Ossus, Grogu chooses to leave Luke on his own accord. And as soon as he is with Mando, he shows his playful side again. Grogu needs that! It’s healthy, because a child needs to be a child, no matter how powerful it is. But Jedi stans only think that it must be a great honour to be trained to be a hero from childhood on, never considering that it’s unfulfilling and frustrating at best, and traumatizing at worst.

It’s not a coincidence that family is the core theme of the Skywalker saga. Children who grow up feeling loved and protected develop well. That’s a wise message, and The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Mandalorian made a good point of it. But still: until now it didn’t lead anywhere. None of the Force-sensitive children we saw until now pointed to a new and better new Jedi Order, or anything else of that sort.

Star Wars Bigotry: Jedi and Jedi stans

If the Force wants Balance, as is said in the prequels, then the Jedi must be just as wrong as the Sith, because the Force does not want to be used either way.

I don’t mind a good villain. But if a viewer needs to compartmentalize characters into black and white or else he believes it can’t work, then that’s his problem, not the author’s. The sequels were unclear as to who the villain was, so was The Acolyte, so Jedi stans rave about how they suck. In my opinion they’re interesting exactly because the good guys sometimes do wrong and the bad guys sometimes are right. Of course, anyone who’s adamant that a good story, in particular a good Star Wars story, has to be Good Guys against Bad Guys with the Jedi being the good guys will never accept that.

The Jedi worshippers are many, and they are the most vicious among the SW fandom. Woe if you dare to criticize their Flawless Heroes with shiny light sabres who make things float. They will pretend that „wokeism“, feminism, blackwashing etc. are the problem. But that’s not true. Most of them wouldn’t mind strong female characters, queer or black characters whatsoever as long as the show they appear in would actually focus on showing off the Jedi as heroes. They do not mind stories like The Mandalorian, Rogue One, Andor, or The Bad Batch, they usually like them: because the Jedi hardly appear there. Or if they do, like in The Mandalorian season 2, The Book of Boba Fett or Ahsoka, they kick ass. In The Force Awakens Han Solo, also a very popular character, got killed, and no one hated on that film, on the contrary, most fans loved it. But hey, Han is not a Jedi. He can die a seemingly senseless death.

The Book of Boba Fett was mediocre at best. But it wasn’t hated. On the contrary, a lot of fans loved episode 6 because they finally saw a young Luke as a Jedi master making frogs float (argh!). The Jedi taught their pupils to suppress their feelings and to live without attachments, an attitude that proved fatal. Yet Jedi stans love the idea, probably because of the age-old adage of the lonesome cowboy who is too cool and aloof to care for anyone. They loved seeing Luke as an adult Jedi master alone and cut off from the very people who had been his life and purpose until then. He trained Grogu but didn’t play with him, didn’t allow him to be a child. It was the contrary of everything the character ever stood for - family, friendship, team spirit, loyalty. Of course that was not seen as “character assassination”, apparently that’s exactly what they wanted to see.

Many Star Wars fans believe that Luke Skywalker and the Jedi stand in for certain values, which they claim as their own. These values are their own values; they have only chosen a person and a group to represent them. If you believe that Star Wars is about Good vs. Evil and that the Jedi are the heroes who always triumph, of course you will be disappointed by the new stories. The studios are not deliberately harming the franchise, it’s the fans who want the saga to fit their worldview. They hardly care for what the stories really tell them. Someone who e.g. is convinced that all Frenchmen are cheaters and liars will also see a Frenchman and see in him the embodiment of everything he despises; he will not care to get to know this man better, or to learn about his country and his culture. And if said Frenchman has success in his life and is popular, the worse. It’s unacceptable. And anyone who does not hate this particular man is an idiot.

Bigotry has many forms, it doesn’t only mean despising and not wanting to understand people from another race, religion, orientation etc. The Fandom Menace’s bigotry consists in worshipping the Jedi and hating anything that criticizes them. Bigotry is the firm conviction of being Good, and supporting who also is “Good”, whatever category those good people are supposed to belong to. A bigot is a stern denier of his own sins and inner darkness. Either you’re with him or against him. Bigoted people are capable of fighting tooth and nail against perceived “enemies” who threaten their ideal of the “goodness” they believe in and think they belong to. Unfortunately, Jedi stans have many channels on social media and many, many followers who would rather die than see the Jedi as anything but perfect. A perfect person does not go wrong, of course. Ever. Their perfection prevents them from questioning themselves. A lot of fans don’t even watch the pieces of media they criticize at all, but hate on them anyway because their influencers tell them they suck. Bullies do not care who they attack. They feel frustrated, they can’t handle their feeling of shame, and take it out on who is or seems most vulnerable. And the worst bullies are those who pretend they are being aggressive out of morality.

“Wokeism” is Not the Problem

After the hatred coming from the fans who disapproved hotly of The Last Jedi, the narrative of this film was tainted and instead of finishing all the narrative threads it had set up, it was plainly ignored in favour of a pure action film, flat and disappointing. The Rise of Skywalker ended not only the trilogy but the entire saga in a way that I can only call disgraceful. On both sides, hardly anyone really liked it. But was it hated? No, because the Jedi were portrayed as the heroes, with even one ridiculous scene where the ghost of Luke appears to Rey telling her how wrong he had been when he was still alive.

Just for comparison: very many fans of Joker didn’t understand the film’s point as well. Todd Philips answered with the sequel Folie à deux, which is a logical continuation of the first film and boldly asks the audience to look at themselves and their wrong interpretation. The reviews are mixed - as with The Last Jedi, apparently you can only love or hate that film -, but Folie à deux is, first of all, a good film. In time, when the controversy has calmed down, it will be remembered as an excellent piece of art. The Rise of Skywalker is just embarrassing, and there’s no way it can age well.

The saga was indeed tainted, but not by Disney. Toxic fans who flooded social media with hate after The Last Jedi and sent death threats or tearful resentment to the studios did, resulting in the production of the flattest, most low-quality and uninteresting film Star Wars has ever seen, obviously patched together as a try to “amend” for what didn’t need to be amended for in the first place.

Star Wars’ strength is constant weaving between Good and Evil, good guys showing dark sides and bad guys having a point, interacting and learning from one another instead of killing each other. It could be a dream for film studios and authors, because it offers such rich tapestry for storytelling: the possibilities seem endless. But every time anyone dares to criticize Jedi or to show that an alleged Bad Guy still has a bright spot in his heart, and that he might have his reason for turning his back on the Jedi, Jedi stans cry out to heaven as if an inconceivable blasphemy had occurred.

If you like the sequels, you’re an idiot “Reylo” who believes she can fix the bad guy. Kylo Ren alias Ben Solo was the most deep, complex and fascinating character of the sequels, who went through a deep and compelling transformation. And no, he was not fixed by a woman’s love. But if you understand his conflict and follow him hoping for him to come back to the Light, you just “don’t get it that he’s the villainTM who wants to seduce an innocent girl to become evil”.

Same thing with The Acolyte of course, because there’s a scene where we see the non-Jedi-not-quite-Sith taking off his clothes. Of course the Stranger was “evil”; he wanted an acolyte, i.e. he did not want to be alone. What kind of guy is that, who does not embrace his loneliness?! The Strager - a guy - was he coolest character of all in The Acolyte and the only “relationship” we saw there was one between man and woman. But if you like that show you’re apostrophized as woke (which is still a mild word), because the author is a lesbian and the actress portraying the protagonist identifies as non-binary. That is neither true nor does queerness have anything to do with the show’s quality.

Luke exposed himself both body and soul to the Emperor, first almost falling to the Dark Side himself and then almost dying in the process, because he wanted to “fix” the Bad Guy, aka his father. And he actually did.

In The Bad Batch, the character of Crosshair goes from belonging to the heroes to betraying them and then going back again. In the last season his relationship with Omega is evenly balanced, they break free from imprisonment together. It’s one of the show’s best parts. But they are no Jedi, so that show is not hated on.

Jedi stans expect Star Wars to “stick to its roots”, i.e. tell stories where morals are as clearly cut as in A New Hope. They don’t consider that that expectation was already beyond all hope when The Empire Strikes Back came out, with its infamous key scene and all its implications, including the failure and hypocrisy of the Jedi.

Action films have taught spectators that real heroism is defined by the “license to kill”, i.e. the good guy is recognizable from the fact that he has the right - or believes he has the right - to kill anyone who stands in his way. Jedi stans love the idea that Jedi are the good guys because, not having attachments, apparently that gives them the right and to decide who must be sacrificed by them “for the greater good”. I would like to see them in a situation where someone, maybe even someone they love, tells them “Oh well, now I’m going to sacrifice you for the greater good.” It’s absurd and unbelievably cruel to pretend that such an attitude has anything to do with good morals. If anything, it ought to be the victim who decides that they’re sacrificing their lives, not some Jedi or other hero who allegedly has the right to decide over life and death.

Luke Skywalker himself sacrificed himself over and over. He did debate to kill his nephew, but it was only a brief moment of panic on his side, he didn’t go through with it, and afterwards he felt so ashamed he exiled himself. Luke’s trademark characteristic was his compassion; whereas we never see a Jedi act out of compassion. And believing that having no attachments because it gives you the licence to sacrifice someone “for the greater good” is everything but compassionate. But even the greatest Jedi and Luke stans don’t see any contradiction there.

Do the Jedi stans really expect a white male straight character as the lead? No. Most of them for instance were fine with Jyn Erso being the protagonist of Rogue One. But in that film, there was no Jedi. When the sequels, Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Acolyte came out, they were upset because the non-white, non-male, non-straight characters seem adamant to take the place of who Star Wars allegedly ought to be all about. Jedi stans want a story where they can be on the side of the “good guys”, follow them sitting comfortably on their couch or in a theatre seat, identify with them and pump their fist in the air when “their side has won”. A lot of them do appreciate more complex stories like Andor; but their untouchable Jedi do not appear there, so there is nothing to hate on.

The classic trilogy’s topics were Hope, Love and Faith (the Force representing and tying together all three). The prequels had very little of all of that, because they’re the story of a tragedy and a massive failure; but what fans who like them apparently have learned from the prequels it’s that it must be great to be a Jedi, lonely and aloof and the master over life and death. Who wants Hope, Love and Faith instead of cool heroes killing everybody who stands in the way of what they decide is right?

Where Do We Go from Here

Star Wars will never have the chance to truly evolve and renew itself as long as there are people who will cry blasphemy any time a film or tv show dares to portray one Jedi or the Jedi as a whole as anything but perfect. Try to tell a Jedi stan that the Jedi perhaps are not the Good Guys after all (starting with Luke Skywalker after his third film): it’s as telling a staunch Catholic that Jesus was not the Son of God. They will fight you literally like their soul depended on it.

The unpardonable fault, in the eyes of Jedi stans, is not diversity the way it’s often mistakenly interpreted; it’s the Disney studios portraying the Jedi Order, Luke, Boba, Obi-Wan etc. as humans instead of Good or Evil cardboard cut-outs. To them, that’s simply bad writing, and they sternly refuse to see any other angle; they identify with the allegedly Good Guys and now believe it’s up to them to put up a fight against the Bad Guys who make their heroes allegedly look like fools, i.e. who dare to take them from their pedestal by criticizing or at least humanizing them. It was the Jedi stans who built said pedestal. It wasn’t George Lucas or the Disney studios.

Most Jedi stans would not mind strong female characters, black, diverse characters, homosexuality etc.; as long as everyone stays in sidelines while the Jedi take the shine. Heated Star Wars discussions usually start with one side accusing the other of being misogynistic, homophobic etc. and the other side claiming that the responsible people at the studios are using the franchise to shove their “woke” agenda down their throats.

Instead of cancelling interesting character developments that were just getting started and ending entire trilogies after almost half a century on disturbingly flat notes, dear Disney Lucasfilm studios: please finally give Jedi stans what they want - a tv show or film trilogy that caters to them. Set it a few hundred years before the fall of the Republic, endow their precious Jedi with all imaginable virtues, let them make things float and have cool light sabre battles destroying some faceless, boring Bad Guy and then take off into the sunset. Tell these kinds of stories for the next decade, and maybe the Fandom Menace will finally be appeased.

Choose a diverse cast if you want: Jedi stans will hardly care. If a Star Wars show had Jedi for protagonists and these would be the infallible, all-wise superheroes their stans take them for, they won’t mind if these Jedi were black, Asian, female, lesbians or non-binary, with a few white straight people sprinkled throughout. They will swallow it hook, line and sinker.

In the meantime, please complete the stories that you enchanted us other fans with, which are actually epic and magical and centred around human connection and personal development.

Thank you.

[dailydragon08]

Homecoming

Pairing: Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader   Summary: Although you're skilled in the ways of the Force and use that to your advantage in your medbay job, you always thought Luke Skywalker would be the one rescuing you, not the other way around. Warnings: reader gets shot with a blaster in the arm and leg, but injuries are not described in detail. Canon-typical violence. Reader has been separated from their family at age 10, but kept what exactly happened to them vague for self insert purposes. A/N:  "Remnants" is a series of one shots in no particular order about the budding relationship between you and Luke as he trains you in the ways of the Force. Remnants!Reader and Luke's first meeting. This is my first fic in a while and my first time writing action, so please bear with me! Hoping to get back into writing more frequently now. Comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated and my Remnants masterlist can be found linked in my pinned post on my blog! Enjoy!

**

“Careful,” you said as you helped yet another rebel soldier onto the transport heading back to Home One, where you were typically stationed in medbay. But today, someone needed to be on the ground to give first aid to any critically wounded soldiers so they could survive the trip back to base—and that someone had been you. Not out of any obligation. But something felt like it had been pulling you to the dusty plains on-planet, and you were never one to refuse a call from the Force. 

A nearby explosion made you jump as the soldier ducked into the small ship. The pilot leaned out the door to shout over the racket, “You coming back as well?”

“I—” There it was again: the pull from this morning. The world stilled as you instinctively let yourself sink further into the Force. Time slowed and you were aware of all the souls on the battlefield, felt their fear, helplessness, rage, as particles of dirt and dust flew everywhere. They seemed to whiz by in slow motion so that you could see every facet of the tiny pieces of debris and in the middle of all the chaos, one particularly powerful presence about to knock on death’s door. They were close and felt different from the others—easier to grasp and hold onto. You’d felt this presence at rebel functions and on Home One before, and just like every time before, it somehow reached back until you were intertwined inexplicably before everything suddenly snapped back. 

“Um, hello?” the pilot waved his hand in front of your face. “You coming back or not?”

You blinked. “Sorry. No, I’m staying here.”

“This may be the last transport for a while.”

You felt the presence reach out to you again like a soft hand smoothing over your shoulder and shook your head. “No, I’m staying.”

Another boom and several screams echoed in the distance as he shrugged. “Your funeral.”

You barely waited for the ship’s door to close before tightening the strap of your medical bag and sprinting towards the source of the connection, trying to keep it as steady as possible through the Force. Of course, the one day you left your grandfather’s old lightsaber in your quarters was the day you might need it. Typically, it came with you everywhere, but it was left behind in your rush to play field doctor. Your parents had taught you what they knew of the Force before you’d been separated from them at age 10 and your savior and adoptive father, an old clone that had somehow escaped conversion during the Purge and joined the rebellion named Rex, took over your combat training. 

You weaved between the alleyways of abandoned stone houses in pursuit of your goal, hiding behind fallen objects and receiving cover from your comrades as Stormtroopers continued their assault. Although the emperor and Darth Vader were dead and the empire was fractured, small remnants remained here and there, trying to reorganize and reclaim power through their moffs’ and superior officers’ orders. 

A blaster shot grazed past your shoulder enough to tear through your jacket. You hissed through your teeth, but otherwise ignored it. The feeling of the presence reaching out through the Force, like a soft hand on your shoulder, came again. The touch was just as gentle, but came with a new sense of urgency, and you quickened your pace as the sounds of battle continued to ring around you. 

The presence grew in strength as you reached the end of the maze the neighborhood created. Just as you began to slow your pace so as not to run straight into a crossfire, a Stormtrooper jumped out from behind a nearby dumpster and pulled you down with him. You both writhed on the ground as he wrapped an arm around your neck and his legs around yours, boxing you in. You began rocking your body violently in an attempt to free yourself, managing to free an arm in just enough time to move his blaster away from your neck. He fired just as you moved, getting you at close range right in the calf. You cried out in pain, taking a deep breath before bringing your head forward, then whipping it back as hard as you could.

You winced as the trooper cried out, but didn’t indulge the pounding in your head as his arms fell to his sides. You stood, grabbing his blaster out of his hand and bringing the butt down hard on his helmet. He grunted before going limp. You nudged his foot with yours and when he didn’t move, held tight to the blaster and crouched by the opening to the plain ahead. 

Several crashed ships, dumpsters, and debris were scattered over the dirt with a large circle of Stormtroopers and Darktroopers nearby. The presence felt so close that you knew your quarry was in trouble in the middle of it. But this was away from the main fight, and the only other rebels that had been here before were all either unconscious or dead on the ground. 

A mechanical beeping nearby caught your attention and you looked just in time to see a Darktrooper round a fallen x-wing. You barely scrambled inside the lid of an overturned dumpster before it began shooting at you. You heard it thunk closer and held your blaster close to your chest. Another softer, more timid set of beeps and whistles sounded just in front of you. You jumped, pointing your blaster toward the sound only to find a little blue astromech wobbling on its legs in front of you.��

You breathed a sigh of relief as the Darktrooper continued to descend. You could feel the shots of its blaster shaking the dumpster and leaving searing holes you did your best to avoid. Turning to the astromech, you whispered, “You go around back and electrocute him while I distract him?”

The droid chirped before whizzing out of the dumpster, hugging the side closely. The Darktrooper was close enough now that you could hear the whirring of its ankle joints. You took a deep breath through your nose and blew it slowly out your mouth before squaring your shoulders and whipping around the corner, blaster at the ready. 

The imperial droid was barely inches from you as you raised your blaster toward its head. Before it could adjust its aim to shoot you, blue electricity engulfed its frame and it twitched and shook. You scampered back several steps as its head spun in circles, watching it fall to the ground with a solid thud to reveal the astromech. It chirped and beeped cheerfully before wiggling back and forth. 

You gave it a small smile and pat on the head. “Good work, buddy—whoa, hey.” A small claw shot out of the droid’s side and grabbed onto your jacket, slowly pulling you towards the x-wing and closer to the circle of imperials. 

“Is your master in that circle?”

The droid wiggled his body in what could’ve been a nod, but a Stormtrooper turned to face you before you could reach cover. “Hey! Over there!”

You cursed before diving behind the x-wing as the droid squealed in terror and sped after you. The ship provided decent cover for the moment as blaster shots rained down on you (and some even went far past you; typical Stormtroopers, but you weren’t complaining). 

“How are we gonna get out of this one?” you grumbled before peering around the x-wing. 

You groaned and pulled back as something small caught the sun's light and blinded you. You risked another look and saw a small, silver cylinder only a few feet away from you in the dirt: a lightsaber. You frowned. It certainly wasn’t yours. And the only other person you knew of in the rebellion who owned a lightsaber was—

Oh. Oh. Now you definitely had to save him. 

You turned to the droid beside you. “So that makes you R2?”

The astromech whirred excitedly and if the situation wasn’t so dire, you would’ve laughed at how it seemed proud and excited to be recognized. 

You glanced at the lightsaber on the ground again and saw half of the imperials coming towards you while the other half stayed closely huddled around a figure clad in black. Two Darktroopers kept a firm grip on his arms, twisting them behind his back before forcing him to his knees. You made eye contact and felt him reach for you again through the Force, this time with an urgent, unspoken plea to run while you still could. 

Closing your eyes, you tuned out R2’s urgent whistles to sink into the calming nature of the Force. You could feel the man’s presence even more clearly now and felt his fear—not for himself, but for you. Not just surprise, but a sort of awe and relief rolled through him in waves at finding someone who he could not only reach for, but who could reach back. You sensed he’d lived his whole life as if he was invisible in the Force and could watch the goings on, but never join. It was like constantly waving at passersby and having all hope squashed of someone ever waving back—until now. He seemed so elated to find someone like him that you were sure it affected his ability to withhold these strong feelings from your connection. You hadn’t even been properly introduced, but he was already cherishing your connection—and fearing whether you would survive long enough to be introduced. 

Focus. You honed in on the world around you and time again seemed to slow to a crawl. You locked all your concentration on the weapon in front of you, feeling the Dark and Stormtroopers’ feet move ever closer until they were only a few steps away from what might be your only saving grace. Grab the lightsaber! you thought you heard one shout. 

You remembered the Jedi phrase your parents taught you. “I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.” Taking one final deep breath, you let your hand leave the cover of the x-wing to reach towards Luke Skywalker’s weapon. 

R2 let out a started beep as the lightsaber zipped into your hand and you ignited the green blade. You took a split second to admire the detail on the hilt before slinging the blaster’s strap over your arm and stepping out into the fray. 

You easily batted the blaster fire away—just as you’d practiced for years with Rex and your grandfather’s lightsaber. Several of the shots successfully deflected into the troopers, sending them sprawling on the ground. R2 carefully zipped around the battlefield and incapacitated as many Darktroopers as possible, leaving you a clear shot to Luke. 

You slung the blaster off your shoulder and threw it as hard as you could, using the Force to guide the weapon onward. Dust that had kicked up from the fight made it hard to see, but you could sense precisely where everything was through the Force and used it as your guide. You slingshot the gun into the heads of the Darktroopers who were holding Luke hard enough to make them stumble and let go. He took his opportunity and grabbed the gun from where it fell as you continued to deflect fire and cut through armor and mechanics alike. 

Although you’d gotten plenty of Force training from your parents, which you’d continued via your grandfather’s journal after you’d been separated, and combat training from Rex, you’d never been in the thick of battle like this before. At least not fighting. You had shot and killed several Stormtroopers before, but always from a distance. Never like this—never close enough to hear their hiss of breath as they fell or the mechanical whirring of a Darktrooper malfunctioning. It was anxiety, relief, and guilt all at once, as well as anger toward the people who had made this conflict necessary in the first place. 

Again, you felt a cooling, calming presence wash over you, reminding you that everything would be all right, and you reached back just as gently, even as you both saw to the enemy. The green saber in your hands slashed through the closest Darktrooper, cleaving it straight in two before a low, mechanical growl sounded behind you. You spun, unsure if you could raise your defense in time, but a sudden blaster shot clean through the head rendered it useless. You stepped out of the way as it crashed to the ground. 

You urgently looked around, adrenaline pumping wildly, before realizing the only sound you could hear nearby was your own heavy breathing. All the troopers lay scattered on the ground around you with no more in sight who could pose a threat. You sheathed the saber’s blade, taking comfort in the soft whoosh it made, before closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing. In the sudden silence, a steady wind whistled across the plain. By force of habit, you reached out to check that Rex was safe and finally let yourself fully relax when you sensed that he was. 

The familiar presence reached out to you again, this time from just in front of you. Although this battle wasn’t the first time you’d sensed it, you’d never had a chance to feel just how strong and solid it was. It was light like air, but somehow also steady and unwavering, with a twinge of darkness but a steadfast choice not to give into it. Even though you’d just now really met, it had the comforting sense of coming home to an old friend and it was hard not to already feel a level of affection for him because of it. You could feel his affection and curiosity flowing back to you in equal measure. It made you almost afraid to open your eyes in case this homecoming within the Force was all a dream and would melt away. 

A warm, rough surface brushing against the back of your hand forced you to finally look. The hero of the rebellion stood in front of you, his fingers gently brushing the hand still holding his lightsaber. His eyes were even more blue than the sky above you, but somehow the icy color still held a warmth and concern unlike any you’d ever seen. He made himself so open and after all the stories about what he’d lost and how many imperials he killed, it was shocking in a way that made you want to protect him at all costs. His face, although worn and scarred, held so much depth and kindness and you wondered what kind of hell he’d gone through to come through war with so much love to give still—and you could sense exactly how much he still had in him through your bond, and how excited he was to maybe share some of that with the first Force-sensitive person his age. There was a weight to him, but it somehow felt settled, as if he’d accepted himself as he was and the heaviness as just another part of him. His signature held a bittersweet taste: half melancholy, half hope for a better future. 

It didn’t help your gawking that he was strikingly handsome—strong jaw with a jacket and pants that fit him like a glove and showed off his toned physique. Not to mention the actual glove on his right hand and the fact that he’d made sure to touch you with the uncovered one for skin-to-skin contact. The wind brushed his brown hair over his forehead and you couldn’t help but notice how tan his skin was and how calloused his hands were. You thought you remembered whisperings of the rebellion’s Boy Wonder who blew up the Death Star starting out as a clueless moisture farmer from Tatooine, but got too lost in the planes of his face to focus. 

“Are you all right?” he asked softly, his hand still gently brushing yours and pulling you back to the present. 

“Yeah,” you breathed out, surprised to sense him having a similar struggle through the Force. “Here’s your lightsaber back.”

He took it from your hand, letting his fingers linger against yours for what felt like a deliberately long moment before reattaching it to his belt. “Thank you for the help.”

“You seemed like you could use a rescue.”

He smiled and you had to remind yourself to breathe at the sight. “Yes, I got a bit caught off guard with the sheer number of them.”

R2 suddenly whirred and rolled over to stand by his master’s side, beeping excitedly. You both chuckled at his antics as Luke put a comforting hand on his dome. “I’m Luke—”

“Skywalker,” you finished. “I know.”

You regretted saying anything as he gave a stilted nod, suddenly bashful and very interested in his shoes. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s all right.” He met your eyes again and gave you a small smile. “You work in medbay, right? You’re Y/N?”

You tried your best to hide your elation that Luke Skywalker knew who you were, but he undoubtedly picked up on it through the Force. “Yeah, I was on field doctor duty today, but…felt you and that you needed help.”

“I felt you too…” he paused, seeming unsure, before continuing. “I think I’ve felt you several times throughout the war, actually, but could never put a finger on exactly what I was feeling. I guess I never realized another Force-sensitive would feel different to me than someone who isn’t—minus my masters, of course.” He hesitated again. “It…feels good to find someone else who knows the ways of the Force.”

Now it was your turn to inspect your shoes bashfully. “Yeah, it does for me, too.” As you felt the last of the adrenaline leave your body and your eyes landed on the blaster wound on your leg, pain suddenly came pounding to the surface, as did the graze on your shoulder. You weren’t sure how you’d managed to fight as well as you did with injuries, but adrenaline could be a funny thing. The burning, however, was not so funny. 

“Are you hurt?” Luke asked, closing the distance between you and gently touching your intact shoulder. You could feel fear stab through to color his Force signature as he frowned, following your eyes to your leg and wincing. 

“I’m all right—”

“Anywhere else?”

You sighed, somehow knowing you’d be unable to lie to him. “A shot grazed my arm, but I’m okay—”

“Here, um—” He paused as he looked around. “Where’s somewhere you can sit…”

R2 tittered as he dragged an overturned wooden crate over with his retractable claw. 

“Thanks, buddy,” you said as you flopped down harder than you meant to, moving your medical bag to sit on the ground next to you. You opened the flap and began to dig, but Luke’s hands, which dwarfed your own, stopped you.

“Please, let me—unless you’d prefer to do it?” 

His blue eyes were pleading as he stared up from where he’d crouched in front of you, leaving you unsure how anyone could say no to him. “Um, no, if you want to…” You gestured awkwardly to your bag. “Do you need me to talk you through it?”

He chuckled. “Oh no, I’ve had to do this for myself many times—I mean, you work in medbay though, so of course, if you’d prefer—”

“Um, no, you can go ahead.”

“You are the expert, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

You both stared awkwardly at each other for a moment before laughing and quickly looking elsewhere. As he dug through your supplies, you could see a slight pink tinting his cheeks, filing the image away deep in your mind. The fact that you, of all people, had made him blush felt like something to be proud of. 

As he cleaned and bandaged your leg and arm (you didn’t think it warranted a bandage, but he insisted), you told each other of your upbringings, stories from your time in the rebellion, and even sat there for several minutes after the dressings were completed to talk about hobbies and music preferences before your wrist comm beeped. 

“All right there, soldier?” Rex’s voice floated through the speakers. 

“Yeah,” you answered back. “Minor injuries, but I’m fine. I’m with Commander Skywalker and R2-D2.”

“Skywalker?” Rex asked, his voice cracking slightly. 

“Y-yeah?” You frowned at Luke, but he simply shrugged, looking just as confused. 

Rex cleared his throat. “Ah, well, good. The final transport just landed for stragglers. Can you make it here, or need us to come pick you up?”

“I think I’m good to walk.”

Luke gave you a look and although you realized you were looking at your superior, you couldn’t help pulling a face, using your forefinger to pull the tip of your nose up to show him just what you thought of that. He snorted and seemed surprised by the sound that came out of his own mouth, turning his head to smother his laugh as Rex gave you the coordinates. 

“We should be there in 10-15 minutes tops.”

“Copy that, kiddo. See you soon.”

R2 twittered next to you. 

Luke chuckled. “He says you can ride him back to the ship if you want.”

You smiled, but shook your head. “It’s not too bad. I’ll be fine, but thanks, R2.”

Luke helped you stand, keeping his hands on your upper arms to steady you.

You swallowed nervously. “I know you technically are a commander, so sorry if any of that,” you gestured vaguely towards where you’d been sitting, “was, um, out of line or anything.”

Luke’s face fell and he shook his head, rubbing your arms gently. “No, no, please. We’re Jedi. We have to stick together. There’s no rank here.”

“Well, I mean, I’m not technically a Jedi.”

“I could teach you if you’d like. It seems like you have some to teach me as well.”

You smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.”

He sighed in relief, as if he thought you might refuse. “Promise you’ll lean on me if your leg gets to be too much on the way back?”

You nodded, hoping you didn’t appear too smitten as he stayed close and kept a hand on the small of your back the entire walk back to the ship.

[casp1an-sea]

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON STAR WARS LEGENDS

These are just my opinions your welcome to have different ones

Han and Leia waiting to get married makes total sense! At the end of return of the Jedi the only time they’ve spent as a couple is when their relationship started in ESB and its continuation in ROJ most of which they were in battle. Yes Leia has been thinking about him for about a year now but she hasn’t been able to get closer to him in that time, and for Han it’s like not time has passed at all. Plus there’s still a fucking War going on that they very much are invoked in. Marriage is not on their minds, especially Leia’s. (Plus all the traumatic shit they have to process)

This is a message to both legends and canon LUKE IS GAY come on now 🥲

Mara was cool until she married Luke then the writers kind of screwed up her character

Han’s backstory WTF (it’s so sad but so good)

Can we get more Han and Lando buddy cop adventures?

I FUCKING LOVE CORAN HORN

Okay but those stormtroopers from Choices of One feel like The Bad Batch’s emo cousins

THRAWN IS SUCH A NEAT VILLIAN

I THINK NUSO ESVA IS NONBINARY. WHY? fanart

I think it’s rly funny that C-3PO gets given to Han

I love Anakin so much why did he have to die???? Also please Leia why did you insist on that name. Don’t get me wrong I love it but the pressure you put on this poor child. Han why’d you give in you idiot?

HAN IS SUCH A DAD

WHY ARE THEY LEAVING A DEPRESSED ALCOHOLIC HOME ALONE WITH C3PO AND A LIST OF BARS?????

I feel so bad for Han in courtship of Princess Leia. Should I?

Okay but let’s be clear Leia definitely cheated on Han with Isolder. Idc what she thinks that was, it was cheating.

I see a common theme of Leia being rly untrustworthy of Han until they get married. To like an unhealthy degree. What is this guys? I promise he’s not a bad dude.

remember that time where Luke made a submarine out of a dead creatures stomach skin? Yep I do.

lando’s mining facilities getting destroyed is such a funny gag

Did you notice Isolder’s daughter marries Han and Leia’s son? It’s like poetry it rhymes.

WHY IS BOBA FETT STILL HERE????

I love paradise snare but to me the hutt gambit was a dumbstruck fire

HUGE PET PEVE I HAVE WITH TATOINE GHOST! (Still love the book though) Forgiving and forgetting is not always the answer. Han does not need to forgive the republic. LEIA DOES NOT NEED TO FORGIVE VADER. Nor would Han push her to do so and he certainly would not condone the slaughter of tuskins because “he was a boy with a dead mother”. Well wouldn’t you know Han you’re a boy with a dead mother and you didn’t commit genocide. You have even less reason to forgive Vader than the twins. I block this out it was a bad writing choice.

HAN HAD A CHILD WITH BRIA???? I know when, but WHERE ARE THEY?! google was no help

“Must be nice to have a grandmother” LMAO HAN YOU OKAY BUDDY?

Is it bad of me to say I prefer the og force witches/dathomirians/dathomir/nightsisters to the canon ones?

WHY DOES FORCE LIGHTNIHNG NEVER ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING

LUUKE SKYWALKER? They’re so goated for that. OKAY BUT DID DAVE FILLONI READ THE REBEL FORCE SERIES? BRAINWASHED abducted children with no memory of their lives and family, solely devoted ASSASSINS to an ECCENTRIC IMPERIAL WITH A SUPERIORITY COMPLEX who wants favor with the emperor. And these assassins are called X-1, X-2, X-3, X-4, X-5, X-6, and X-7. This is why it should have been tech.

I thought Chewie’s death was impactful and I didn’t hate it

I like it better that Han and Leia didn’t divorce

I like that Han is a male wife and I love how close his children are to him. It makes sense that Leia would be the working one.

not them have a floor to ceiling length tapestry of Leia in a their house. That would scare the shit out of me at night.

I like that Leia is a senator and not a general. Okay hear me out. Leia is trained in diplomacy as much as she is in combat. She was a senator before she was a rebel. And she has always been very much involved in matters of state and would want to feel like she was actively doing something to keep the republic in check. The rebellion was not just a war to her it was making the Galaxy a better place that doesn’t end when the war for her so the natural next step would be a government position. Granted she still acts as a general if need be and goes far beyond her job description countless times.

THE NEW JEDI ORDER SERIES IS FUCKING CRAZY MAN

Can someone fo a demo of the song C-3Po wrote about Han?

[superbrieflightstudentlove]

The destruction and disrespect of Luke in the Disney "Canon"

Hello, any Original EU/"Legends" Star Wars fans here? I wanted to share some of my opinions about the current Disney Canon not only in terms of the movies, but also their comics and novels too. So let's start with my biggest gripe - the handling of Luke Skywalker, once the main hero of the beloved franchise.

We already know that Disney hates Luke Skywalker for the crime of being a "white, heterosexual guy" aka not diverse enough for modern woke politics. We all know how they handled him in the "Sequel Trilogy", the less said about that, the better. Their novels also try very hard to throw as much shade (and many times outright hate and contemp) at him as they could and portray his twin sister Leia as the superior one in every way, whether it's Force potential, mental resilience, emotional control or even moral compass.

Their comics from what I heard tend to be somewhat kinder to him, to a point, but even then some writers are just itching to portray him as lame and as much of a failure as possible. One such instance that pissed me off was when I heard that in one of the comics taking place after "Empire Strikes Back", Luke encounters another Force sensitive, a young woman who is also an aspiring Jedi, who somehow manages to get into Luke's mind deep enough to see the nemory of Darth Vader telling him that he is Luke's father. Immediately afterwards, she manages to trap Luke inside a nearby hole and use her Force Powers to fill it with water. Luke somehow forgot how to use his own Force Powers (even after being trained by Yoda himself for months and enough to impress even his father Darth Vader during their battle at Bespin, even though it was clear that Luke was still no match for him by that point, Luke's progress was still big enough to leave an impression on Vader), and literally drowns there. Yes, you read that correctly. Luke doesn't just almost die, he actually temporarily dies for real, before Artoo zips the Force Sensitive gal unconscious and resustitiates Luke back to life. Now I don't know who this Force Sensitive girl was, it's possible that she might have been at least partially trained Padawan during the Clone Wars, who somewhow avoided being slaughtered during Order 66 like Reva, but it seems quite unlikely. From what I heard, I got the impression that she was still young around the timeline of the "Original Trilogy", around Luke's age, so if she was raised in the Temple of the Old Order, she must have been still youngling, just like Reva was. So how come Luke, at this point in his training, was completely unable to defend himself against someone who is in most likelihood just a beginner, while he should be just as advanced if not more so considering by whom he was trained and that not that long from now, he is going to go toe to toe with Vader himself?

Now we know that Disney tried to portray Luke as average, or even below average, so no Jedi Prodigy here, despite being the son of the literal Chosen One and according to George Lucas inheriting the same Force Potential as his father, but they still have to fit this somehow with the original movies, yet I find it hard to believe that if Luke was this much of a weakling, he would be able to stand against Vader in the "Return of the Jedi". Even if you say that Vader was just that emotionally conflicted and torned apart by having to fight his own son, so he held massively back, it still doesn't explain why would Emperor Palpatine even agree to Vader's proposition to turn Luke to the Dark Side and make him one of his apprentices. What would be the point? He needs a strong replacement for Vader, considering he is paranoid that his "old friend" is getting some rebellious ideas into overthrowing him, and if Luke can't provide a reasonable alternative, why just not destroy the young man outright and be done with it? It's honestly strange. I know that Disney stated that Vader never lost his potential even after Mustafar unlike in the original EU and Lucas' vision for the OT and PT movies, so it might make perfect sense for Vader to be naturally much stronger than Luke and that he was always just going easy on him and that's why Luke managed to get the upper hand on the Death Star, if they didn't want to keep the fact that Luke inherited his father's full potential from the old EU, but they also made their version of Vader not caring about Luke nowhere near as much as the old one did. He even actively attempts to kill Luke after Bespin in one of his comics. This is after he knows this is his son, the only thing of his beloved wife left in the world. In fact they made Vader's redemption almost entirely about Padmé, rather than Luke in his own right. It's after Darth Vader investigates his wife's death and sees a video of her saying on her deathbed that there is still good in him, that brings his old self to the surface, not the fact he finally found out he has a son that he presumed was dead for two decades because of his actions. And after the Emperor whoops Vader's ass again, he forgets even about his wife's words on her deathbed, and actively tries to murder their child. Lovely. But of course when it comes to Padme's identical Handmaidens, especially Sabé who looks most like her, he stops his hand. Even when he was still Anakin, they made him even more obsessed with her than he already was in the PT or anywhere in the old EU material and that says a lot. In one of their books he even thinks about how for Padmé he would burn the whole galaxy down, sacrifice everything and everyone else dear to him, including their own unborn child. And I swear that I saw some people on Tumblr sharing excerpts of this, swooning how romantic this is.

On one of their next encounters, he gets turned on on Luke's fear of him and says something along the lines of only sparing him because his Master ordered him to. Heck even Palpatine seems to bizarelly care about Luke more than Vader does, when he is shown worrying that Vader might kill Luke despite the fact that it was originally Vader who convinced Palpatine in "Empire Strikes Back" to spare him, declaring him as "just a boy". So why the sudden going easy on my clearly incompetent weakling of a son in the final movie? Siths despise weakness! What is the point of luring Luke to the Dark Side if he is always going to be just a slightly above average Force user, even with proper training? Remember Vader believed in the second movie that Luke's potential in the Force is big enough to finally make a difference in his fight against Palpatine in order to overthrow him! This is after Vader beats the absolute shit out of Luke on Bespin, yet still believes his son has enough of a potential to be a serious threat against the Emperor once fully trained. This might be just a wishful thinking on Vader's part, but the fact that Palpatine agreed to his proposal to turn Luke speaks volumes about his talent and potential in the Force. It's clearly not just a father's sentimentality or nostalgic feelings involved.

What is even more insulting is, they made Luke to be beaten up pretty badly by a random Imperial Guard when he surrendered to Vader on Endor. This is shortly before their meeting, yet in the movie, Luke appears perfectly healthy and without any bruises or injuries when he faced his father for a private little chit chat before he is brought to Palpatine. Why did Luke, at this point a very skilled Force User, let himself be beaten without any resistance? Alright, I understand he was trying to lay low for his plan to work and not get himself killed when he is unarmed and outnumbered, but why is there no physical evidence of it in the movie itself? What is the point of even including it in the first place then?

And don't get me started on making Sabé try to kill Luke too after she finds out whose son he is. She was one of the closest, if not the closest companions and dear friends of his mother. It is even implied that she was in love with Padmé, however unreciprocated it was. Now the weirdness of being sexually and romantically attracted to someone almost identical to you aside, she has sworn a solem vow to protect her Queen with everything she has got, even laying down her life for her if need be, which she stated she is perfectly happy to do directly to Padmé's face no less. After her death, she, alongside every other Handmaiden, vowed to get revenge for their Queen's death and Anakin's death too (they saw both of them as heroes and didn't know that Anakin became Vader. To them Vader was the one who killed them). They even created an organisation within the Rebel Forces called Amidalans for this purpose.

Now, it's true that at first Sabé was forced to work with Vader against her will and wanted to kill him, but after she discovered his true identity as Anakin Skywalker, she began to view him in a different light and started to cooperate willingly. She agreed to help him overthrow the Emperor and to crown him instead. She starts to think how ineffective the Republic was and how the Empire in the right hands would be a much better system of governance. How she came to the conclusion that exchanging one genocidical maniac for yet another one is a good thing, is anyone's guess but here we go. Funnily enough, she even thinks that she (Sabé) is the one who can redeem him and bring him back to the light based on Padmé's words that there is still good in Vader.

After Vader grows tired of her and kicks her out of his servises, she develops an ingenious plan to test Luke on whether he is susceptible into following his father's footsteps, prepared to kill him if he shows any signs of anger, by literally ambushing him, shooting at him relentlessly and threatening one of his allies at gunpoint. Unbelievable. This absolutely hypocritical ass even dares to call him a Sith to his face when he is just defending himself after he crushes her sniper, which you know, she was just using to shoot at him. Why she thinks she has any moral highround here to play a judge, jury and executioner over a life of someone who did nothing to warrant it, just because he happenes to share DNA with someone is beyond me, especially since not so long ago, she was happily serving Vader herself and even considered him a viable option for a galactic ruler. What's funny, is that the other Handmaidens even pointed out how by joining Vader and the Empire, she is going against everything Padmé stood for and if she was still alive, she wouldn't approve of Sabé's actions in the slightest. She even chose Vader over the rest of the Handmaidens at some point, yet she has the gall to play a morally superior being and judging her Queen's child's character while she herself is morally compromised and far from being a saint, by playing sick, twisted mind games with Luke with the intention to hurt him and potentionally kill him for the crime of being related to the same man she was fine working for not so long ago.

Yes, Luke might be Vader's son, but he is also Padmé's son, and as far as Sabé knows, her only child (she doesn't know about Leia). Does that mean nothing to her? Why be willing to sympathize with your Queen's genocidical, mass murdering, child killing hubby (she knows that he was the one who marched on the Jedi Temple and killed everyone inside, including the younglings) and wanting to make him the absolute ruler of the known universe based on nothing but the words of a dying woman you once served when he has shown absolutely no indication that he deserves it, just the opposite in fact, but not be willing to extent the same courtesy to your Queen's innocent child that has yet to do anything bad. In fact, she knows that Luke is a War Hero who works for the Rebellion and destroyed the first Death Star, so you would assume that he is far more deserving of her loyalty and protection than Vader ever was.

What is happening here? How could Disney lost the plot so much? This is such an inconsistent, illogical mess. All the characters are massacred beyond reason.

But what do you think? Let me know in the comments.

[sinvulkt]

OT - Cursed into a dog

Summary: On Empire Life’s day, Vader disappeared. That same day, the Emperor paraded with a black dog leashed to his side, its muzzle forcibly shut and its fur darker than the blackest durasteel.

Notes:

Dog!Vader

Era: Original Trilogy

Characters: Firmus Piett, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker. 

Main tropes: Non-consensual Animal Transformation, Angst, Happy Ending

Snippet:

One day his Superior in command disappeared and the Death Squadron was disbanded. The same day, the Emperor began to show off his new black dog. On the rare occasion Piett was unlucky enough to accompany his new superior to the throne room, he could see the beast snarl and bite as it struggled against its chains. The binds remained strong and each time, the dog’s struggle was in vain. 

Piett wondered about the way the dog tensed when Palpatine gave it an order. He wondered about how sometimes the dog looked into his eyes and seemed to see Piett’s soul. He wondered about Darth Vader’s mysterious disappearance. Piett wondered about a great many things, but he knew better than to open his mouth. The Empire gave lethal rewards for free speech.

Months laters, the rebellion won and the dog disappeared from Piett’s sight. By the time his trial was done and any accusation dispelled under obeying orders, no one knew what happened to the late Emperor’s pet. There were whispers about the beast having turned the tide of the fight against the Emperor, giving the last blow. There were rumors about Jedi whisking the dog away, defending it against any who would try to put the beast down. 

Piett pieced the events together well enough. A tension felt removed from his shoulders at the knowledge his previous superior found somewhere safe. He did not share the knowledge with anyone, rather keeping the secret safe in his heart. Yet, a doubt remains. Would the Jedi truly forgive the man who hunted them down?

One day, they see the black dog again. It’s dozing in the sun on a familiar-looking young man’s lap, looking much healthier than it had ever been at the palace. Piett remembers seeing the young Jedi face on the Holo.  Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. He had been the figurehead of rebellion propaganda, before disappearing into nowhere.

The young man pet the dog. The dog’s tail wag happily in answer. A smile pulled on Piett’s lips. No matter the past, the two seem to have become good friends. There was no worry to be had.

[magnetarbeam]

Scandal of the Century, Chapter 2 (WIP 1)

[It's been like five fucking months, but I'm finally making a little progress on this.]

“How did we not see this coming?” Ben asked, his tone resigned.

Vestara, sitting behind Luke and Ben in the Jade Shadow's cockpit, skimmed the holonews article again in growing horror.

Until now, the Lost Tribe of the Sith had operated in near-total secrecy. Ben had surely sent word back to Coruscant after Sinkhole Station, but the Jedi Order as a whole was too entangled in the struggle with Daala to be able to do anything soon.

But now, almost the entire Galactic Alliance was aware of the Tribe's existence. And it had happened on Vestara's watch.

Were she to report in person to her superiors, she would most likely be executed. Her standing as a Sith would certainly never recover.

Unless she could turn this to their advantage somehow.

If Ben Skywalker was confirmed to be romantically involved with a Sith, his standing as a Jedi would be similarly tarnished. Perhaps their Order would even be forced to expel him to save face.

Vestara might even be able to spin in it such a way that the line between Jedi and Sith was further blurred in the public eye, compounding the damage done by Jacen Solo's fall.

“What are we going to do about this?”

Luke's question was directed at both of the teenagers equally.

“If everyone thinks we're dating,” Ben considered, ”Maybe we should just give them what they want.“

Vestara stared. She hadn't expected him to think of the exact same thing.

Luke thought it over. “Go on.“

”If we can keep the media paying attention to us,“ Ben explained, ”we can keep people informed about the reason Jedi are going crazy. If people know that we've identified the cause and that we have a plan to stop it, Daala has less leverage on the Order.“

Vestara felt the metaphorical glow rod appear over Ben's head. ”We might even be able to get the GA to clear a StealthX launch, or send regular reinforcements.“

Luke shook his head. ”We're dealing with a being that can drive trained Jedi Knights insane in an instant,“ he pointed out. ”I'm not eager to find out what she might be able to do to Force-null naval crews.“

Vestara barely suppressed a shudder at the reminder. Ben didn't.

The Grand Master turned to Vestara. “This impacts you too,” he said. “What do you think we should do?“

She was silent for a second as she scrutinized Luke's words, face, and Force presence, trying to figure out the trap, and came up dry.

”I was going to suggest the same thing,“ she admitted.

Ben's surprise was evident. ”Faking a relationship?“

”Yes.“

Luke sighed in resignation. ”We should probably inform Taalon,“ he said. ”The last thing we need is him assuming you're a traitor.“

”True.“

[themattress]

Because I’m in a Star Wars mood lately, and a Rise of Skywalker-y one in particular since it endlessly fascinates me, I just keep coming up with new thoughts. And here’s another one: The Rise of Skywalker is actually the ONLY new Star Wars movie past the Original Trilogy to match the Original Trilogy’s style, and a lot of the backlash to it (in addition to other factors like nitpicking, scapegoating, and general overreactions and whining) is because without the nostalgia factor at play fans and critics just don’t take well to the OT style in new movies.

Now, what do I mean by “the Original Trilogy’s style”? I mean the roller coaster ride style of fast-paced action -> slowdown exposition -> fast-paced action -> slowdown exposition -> fast-paced action -> more fast-paced action -> fast-paced action that combines exposition, and so on and so forth. This is literally how all three of these movies operated; it was part of their roots in the old campy film serials of the 30s, 40s and 50s. The Indiana Jones movies, also developed by George Lucas, are the exact same way. They’re spectacle-driven popcorn movies first and foremost -  even the most sophisticated of them, The Empire Strikes Back.

Ironically, much of the flak the Prequel Trilogy caught was because they ventured way too far from this style, with The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones being primarily made up of exposition, and with the few action scenes they do have usually not being particularly good especially as the CGI grows more and more dated. (Revenge of the Sith is often looked upon with more fondness, since not only does it contain superior action that ironically holds up because so much of the film is done in CGI so it all blends together better but its expository scenes are actually interesting and rooted in character, emotion, and easy-to-follow intrigue.)

The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi may return to the Original Trilogy’s aesthetic style (and in the former’s case, the exact story structure of its first act), but they’re paced out more like modern films. TFA’s opening action sequence lasts approximately 6 minutes, then it spends around twice that length in slowdown mode for exposition on the setting and characters. The movie then spends the next 30-so minutes in action mode with a few quick expository beats sprinkled in, then the next 20-so in expository slowdown mode. We then have around 10 minutes of action, followed by around 10 minutes of expository slowdown, and then the last half-hour being primarily action before settling into an expository ending. This is much the way you expect modern blockbusters to be paced out. TLJ is much the same, with the main difference being that due to its longer runtime it can afford its action mode and expository slowdown mode periods last much longer than TFA’s (from the 31 min. mark to the 1:31 min. mark - a full hour - the only action sequences are the brief Fathier escape scene in Canto Bight and the even briefer skirmish between Rey and Luke. The following near-hour left in the movie makes up for it by being primarily action-based.)

The Rise of Skywalker, otoh, does things the more fluid, back-and-forth way like the OT did.

Action: Kylo Ren on Mustafar - Approx. 1 Minute Exposition: Palpatine on Exegol - Approx. 4 Minutes Action + Some Exposition: Lightspeed Skipping - Approx. 3 1/2 Minutes Action + Some Exposition: Rey's Training - Approx. 5 Minutes Exposition: Resistance Base - Approx. 4 1/2 Minutes Exposition: First Order - Approx. 2 Minutes Exposition + Some Action: Pasaana - Approx. 6 Minutes Action: Canyon Chase - Approx. 3 Minutes Exposition: Underground - Approx. 5 Minutes Action: Vs. Kylo Ren (1) - Approx. 5 1/2 Minutes Exposition: Oochi's Ship - Approx. 4 1/2 Minutes Action + Some Exposition: Spice Runners - Approx. 2 1/2 Minutes Exposition: Babu Frik's Shop - Approx. 7 1/2 Minutes Action: Star Destroyer - Approx. 3 Minutes Action + Some Exposition: Vs. Kylo Ren (2) - Approx. 7 1/2 Minutes Exposition: Ocean Moon - Approx. 6 Minues Action + Some Exposition: Second Death Star Ruins - Approx. 5 1/2 Minutes Action: Vs. Kylo Ren (3) - Approx. 6 Minutes Exposition: Mourning - Approx. 3 1/2 Minutes Action: Kijimi Destroyed - Approx. 1 1/2 Minutes Exposition: Before the Final Battle - Approx. 10 Minutes Action: The Final Battle - Approx. 30 Minutes Ending: Rey Skywalker - Approx. 3 Minutes

Now, could some of these gone on longer, or maybe arranged somewhat differently? Of course, and I wish they did! It doesn’t change the fact that this sort of back-and-forth is the old-school Star Wars style of pacing. J.J Abrams and Chris Terrio knew what they were doing; by their own admission they wanted to end the Skywalker Saga in the same style it began in even if that didn’t quite fit the prior two installments of the Sequel Trilogy. It was a risk that certainly didn’t pay off with a significant amount of movie critics, but I agree it was the right choice to make. The original vision behind Star Wars was honored, in all its good and its bad.

[aurik-kal-durin]

Federation of Allied Systems (Galactic Civil War AU)

The Federation of Allied Systems, more commonly known as the Federation Allies, is the successor state to the Alliance to Restore the Republic, or Rebel Alliance in years following the Battle of Endor and the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader.

The Federation was founded in 1 ABE (1 year After the Battle of Endor) by the leaders of the Rebel Alliance and former member states of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, who expressed reluctance in joining “The Alliance to Restore the Republic” as they did not wish to return to the days of corruption and centralized government that had plagued the Galactic Republic in it’s final days. Thus, the Alliance to Restore the Republic was reorganized into the Federation of Allied Systems, openly inviting former Separatist worlds and their sympathizers to join the battle against the Galactic Empire.

The new capital for the Federation was to be the Outer Rim planet of Baroonda, in the Calaron Sector. A tropical world of lush jungles, verdant swamps, sulfur fields, and massive volcanoes, Baroonda was a tourist destination known for hosting the Galactic Podracing Circuit in the time of the Galactic Republic. Baroonda’s planetary government offered their world as the capital for the Federation of Allied Systems in gratitude for the Rebel Alliance’s part in repelling an Imperial incursion into their system some years before the Battle of Hoth. Baroonda would come to host not only the Federation Parliament, but also the new Jedi Order established by Luke Skywalker, who would build his Jedi Temple in the capital city of Baroo.

With the establishment of it’s new government on Baroonda, the Federation Allies began to extend their influence across the Outer Rim, which brought them into conflict with the Hutt Cartels, ultimately compelling them to form an uneasy alliance with the Dominion of Mandalorian Clans, led by former bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Despite the newfound peace and stability on the Outer Rim brought on by the Federation’s efforts, former leaders of the Rebel Alliance never lost sight of their original goal of liberating Coruscant from the Galactic Empire.

However, the Empire had grown in strength following the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. A new Emperor was chosen in the form of Teyrn Caerellius, a former student of Palpatine meant to serve as a puppet in the wake of his death, and a scapegoat in the event of his return.

Unbeknownst to Palpatine, Emperor Caerellius would form an alliance with the fallen Jedi Master Jorrus C’baoth in the months following his death. C’baoth would lead both Caerellius and Grand Admiral Thrawn to Exegol, where the new Emperor worked with C’baoth to sever Darth Sidious’s connection to the Force, rendering his plans to be reborn in a cloned body undone. Grand Admiral Thrawn subsequently destroyed the Sith Temple on Exegol, along with it’s shipyards, bombarding the planet from orbit. The surviving Sith Cultists joined Caerellius and C’baoth in establishing a new Sith Order that would see the Rule of Two abolished, resulting in many new Sith acolytes trained in the way of the Force as it was in the era of the Jedi Civil War under Darth Revan.

With the fall of the Tarkin doctrine coinciding with the Emperor’s death, the Empire began to adapt it’s fleet to better combat the Federation Navy’s formidable starfighter core. Thousands of Venator-Class Cruisers were pulled out of mothballs to be retrofitted and modernized, and now served alongside the Imperator-Class Star Destroyers and remaining Executor-Class Super Star Destroyers.

To augment it’s new fleet of Venator-Class ships, the Empire began mass producing the TIE/HU Hunter Multirole Starfighter to replace the TIE/LN Superiority Fighter, which was relegated to a support role. The TIE/SA Bomber would remain in service, but with a number of modifications under the hood to improve it’s capability against fighters, the newer models were re-designated the TIE/FB Fighter-Bomber. Identical to the TIE/SA on the surface, but functionally superior and more balanced. The TIE/DR Defender and TIE/AD Avenger also entered mass production, though TIE Defenders would be held back to protect critical Imperial worlds and installations (including Coruscant itself) while the TIE Avenger would be reserved as a personal starfighter for naval officers and Sith Warriors, including Emperor Caerellius himself as well as Jorrus C’baoth and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Meanwhile, the Federation Allies gathered strength in preparation for what they believed would be the final showdown on Coruscant. The Allies augmented their ground forces with modernized artillery from the Clone Wars, including AT-XT walkers, AAT battle tanks, TX-130S Fighter Tanks, as well as the combat speeders and AAC-1 Missile Tanks used during the time of the Rebel Alliance. The Allies also made two new additions to their starfighter fleet with Slayn & Korpil’s new SF-02 “Razorwing” Starfighter, nicknamed the R-Wing (which itself was based on the older V-Wing Airspeeder) which boasted better performance in atmosphere similar to the Empire’s TIE Striker, as well as FreiTek’s E-7 Escort Starfighter, a more expensive but higher-performance alternative to the X-Wing.

The Invasion of Coruscant by the Federation Allies began in 5 ABE, exactly 5 years after the Battle of Endor. To bypass the defensive shields, General Han Solo suggested bringing the fleet out of hyperspace in-atmosphere. However, Grand Admiral Thrawn anticipated this and had the entire 7th Fleet waiting in low atmosphere when the Allies arrived.

Federation ground forces succeeded in landing all throughout the Federal District surrounding the old Senate Chambers, where they clashed with Imperial tanks and walkers. T-47 Airspeeders were employed once against Imperial AT-ATs, as most of the Federation’s starfighter corp were engaged in a colossal furball with the Imperial fleet’s TIEs, and unable to provide close air support for much of the battle. Ground forces would ultimately succeed in bringing down Coruscant’s planetary shield, allowing for reinforcements to arrive.

The Battle of Coruscant would drag on for almost 8 months with massive losses on both sides. The Federation Allies succeeded in driving Imperial forces back into the abandoned Industrial District, where they were lured into a trap. As the Industrial Sector was unoccupied (rendering civilian causalities a non-concern) Grand Admiral Thrawn was able to unleash a full-scale orbital bombardment of Federation ground forces while TIE Defenders drove off Federation starfighters.

While this was occurring, Jedi Masters Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa made one final effort to capture Emperor Caerellius, but were thwarted by Jorrus C’baoth and his own personal guard of Sith Warriors. Though they cut down many of the Sith, Luke and Leia were ultimately overwhelmed and forced to retreat.

The Invasion of Coruscant ended in a humiliating defeat for the Federation Allies, who completely withdrew from the system after 7 months and 3 weeks of brutal warfare on the ground, in the air, and in space. Both sides suffered massive losses, with the Empire losing two of it’s remaining Executor-Class Super Star Destroyers, one of which exploded in orbit while the other crashed into the abandoned Industrial Sector, having been crippled by fleeing Federation ships as they withdrew.

In the aftermath of the failed invasion, Emperor Caerellius sent Grand Admiral Thrawn with the remainder of the 7th Fleet to reclaim territory previously seized by the Federation, starting with the staging ground on Blackmoon that was lost in the months prior to the battle. By 6 ABE, the Federation was driven almost completely from the Core Worlds and had fallen back to the Mid Rim.

In the decade following the Invasion of Coruscant, the Galactic Civil War quickly dissolved into a form of static warfare between the First Galactic Empire and the Federation of Allied Systems. With Coruscant out of it’s reach for the time being, the Federation turned it’s attention inward, solidifying it’s hold over the Outer Rim and stabilizing the government. Luke Skywalker continued to grow the Jedi Order, with thousands of new Jedi joining their ranks with each passing year.

The Sith grew to be as great in number as the Jedi, until in 10 ABE when Jorrus C’baoth ceased open recruiting and declared that any seeking to join the ranks of the Sith would have to prove themselves by killing a Jedi and presenting their lightsaber to him personally as proof the kill. This gave rise to the Sith Prospects, renegade force users and defectors from the Jedi order. Many of them carried lightsabers, and hunted the Jedi relentlessly in the hopes of earning the title of Darth and a place among the Sith. The Delta-7B Aethersprite Starfighter, once used by the Jedi, became popular among the Sith Prospects as a means of transport. Some Sith Prospects would be convinced to turn away from the Dark Side and join the ranks of the Jedi. The increasing availability of lightsaber components and the spread of once-secret Jedi training techniques (helped along by Jorrus C’baoth) caused the number of Force users in the galaxy to surge into the tens of thousands over the course of a decade.

By 15 ABE, the number of Force users in the galaxy between the Jedi and Sith broke a hundred thousand; ten times more than had existed at the beginning of the Clone Wars. The Jedi Enclave on Dantooine was reclaimed by the Jedi Order, along with the ancient Jedi strongholds on Tython and Ossus. Likewise, the Sith would reclaim Korriban, Thule, and Yavin-IV. Emperor Caerellius remained in power and continued to rule over the Empire from the former Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

On Baroonda, Ben Solo- the bastard son of Han Solo and Leia Organa born in 0.9 ABE- was personally trained in the ways of the Force by his mother and uncle, though he was closest with his father and used his surname despite his parents being unwed.

Because his mother and uncle were on the Jedi council, the 14-year old Ben Solo faced much adversity from his fellow padawans. Outside of the temple, Ben proved himself a capable pilot as he took part in Baroonda’s podracing scene, becoming the track favorite for the Baroo Coast, Grabvine Gateway, and Fire Mountain Rally. He was kept out of the Invitational Podracing Circuit by his grandfather’s old rival Sebulba, whose underhanded tactics kept Ben from completing the qualifier for several years.

As the Galactic Civil War dragged on, the Federation made significant gains, including a decisive victory that saw Han Solo’s home planet of Corellia liberated from the Empire in 12 ABE. Three years following this victory, Han Solo announced his retirement from military service. Han and Luke encouraged Leia to likewise retire from Federation Parliament, urging her to fulfill her 15-year old promise to Han to marry him. Leia, torn between her desire to see the war through to it’s end and marrying the man she loved, was ultimately forced to accept the unfortunate truth that the Galactic Civil War would not end within her lifetime.

In 15 ABE, Leia Organa stepped down from Federation Parliament and married Han Solo on Corellia on the 3rd anniversary of the planet’s liberation. Ben Solo, as he’d promised his father years prior, served as Han Solo’s best man. Leia would remain on the Jedi Council and continue to train her son as a Jedi, while devoting more and more of her time to her family over the coming years. In 17 ABE, Ben Solo was knighted after he and his uncle survived an ambush by Sith Prospects on Bespin. He was the youngest of the order to receive the honor.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Notes: This is my own personal headcanon for the events after Return of the Jedi. It’s a reflection of everything I love about Star Wars and what I wanted the post-Endor era to look like when Disney took over the franchise.

I hate how Disney decided to just have the Empire collapse after only a year following the Emperor’s death. It’s stupid and it makes no sense. I’m not a huge fan of the Imperial Remnant from the Expanded Universe either, even though I loved the X-Wing novels as a kid.

In my version of the post-Endor era, the Empire remains strong and is united under a new Emperor, while the Rebel Alliance reforms itself into a more legitimate government with it’s own capital. The planet of Baroonda is taken from the video game Star Wars: Episode I: Racer, and it’s aesthetic seems perfectly suited to the Rebel Alliance and it’s successor, the Federation of Allied Systems. It has a little bit of Yavin-IV, Naboo, Dagobah, Mon Calamari, Mustafar, and Tatooine rolled all into one.

I also decided to bring back podracing, as I’m one of the few Star Wars fans who actually likes podracing and wishes it would come back... which is also part of the reason why I chose Baroonda as the Federation capital. I also thought it would be cool to have the teenage Ben Solo face off against his grandfather’s old rival Sebulba.

The name for the Federation of Allied Systems of course takes inspiration from the “Galactic Federation of Free Alliances” from the old Expanded Universe, but as I never got invested in the post-Yuuzhan Vong era, the similarities (to my knowledge) end there.

[nebulousfishgills]

What's the first fandom you ever written for? Are you still into the fandom in question?

Ah, thanks for the ask, Nori!

I think the first fandom I've ever seriously written for is Star Wars in the previously mentioned abominable middle school fics. A few of our transgressions include: Cringey First Person POV, all of the characters were horribly OOC, the foundation was built on a since been proven very false theory I stopped believing in halfway through writing them, the COPIOUS Hamilton references (no I'm not kidding), and arguably the worst of all... crafting the perfect lesbian original character and not only making her a pawn for male character development, but we made her straight, blinded by our heteronormativity...

Since then my friend/co author came out as gay and trans masc and I came out as bisexual. That friend is on Tumblr but I'm not tagging them, I bear the brunt of this burden alone.

But I don't regret writing them. It was a time of unity and peace and it made middle school bearable. I fondly cherish those memories of meeting up on the Google Doc after school every day for hours and then printing all three of those suckers off to carry in my backpack to show my friends since I was so proud of our work. Plus those were my first corruption arc fics, a trope most of my writing is built upon nowadays.

And yes, I still am into Star Wars, have been since I was four. Dude, my roommate and I are dressing as Luke and Leia to meet Hayden fucking Christensen in a month for the local Fan Expo, I sure hope I'm still into it! My first ever real blorbo and I get to meet him with my roommate!!

Thing is, those were Sequel Fics and my character arc has made me vastly favor the Prequels, which were always my favorites as a kid. I was a Prequels Baby, born while they were coming out. Like, I don't hate the Sequels like a lot of people do, but those bad boys are flaaaawed. Rise of Skywalker is probably far and away my least favorite of any of the movies, also partially bc I saw it with my ex and that whole saga was an ordeal and a half... so from a certain point of view (ha), I'm not really super into the fandom of the Sequels as I once was.

Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi will always be superior to me.

[saburaito]

" LONG WAY FROM HOME, AREN'T YOU? " + kylo ren,

❝ WITH PURPOSE. do not think i come here uninvited. ❞ he says with a degree of self - confidence about his mission. the last thing that he wants to be pinned as; a pointless traveler. he has REASON to everything that he does, the inquisitorius is not a group that makes senseless moves. they work quick & efficiently. tracking down the last of the JEDI with whatever information that they can scrounge up from the public. to think that he & KYLO REN are on agreeable sides of the battle is hard to guess from the manner in which he speaks to him. he sounds almost defensive about his stance. SABU doesn't blame him, those on the DARK SIDE tend to be paranoid; worried that anyone who approaches them is looking to oppose. ❝ i hear that you know the location of LUKE SKYWALKER, how true is this information? ❞ straight to the point, he doesn't waste his breath on senseless formalities. KYLO REN might have been his superior to a degree, but he doesn't look at it that way. he only sees him as a general in a war that he had nothing to do with.

[hishgraphics]

Star Wars RPG: The Dawn of the Rangers

S01E15 "Sidetracked by a Skywalker"

Location: Generis Arcology, Coruscant

Captain Zor Draco (Martin), Gev Dyson (Eddie), Olem (Eric) and the general purpose droid Fred are waiting to brief Colonel Tyria Sarkin at Ranger HQ in Generis Arcology 25 km from the Senate building.

Sarkin enters the room. Before the door closes, they all catch a glimpse of Senator Leia Organa outside. But Zor and Gev spotted a hooded, black robed figure with a lightsaber at his belt lurking in the back.

Sarkin sits at the conference room table across from them and informs them that Technician Pev Tekko was summoned by his immediate superior Detective Lieutenant Colonel Todvaav'ann. He will rejoin them later.

Upon displaying a hologram of the Vandor base, she asks the team to brief her on Vandor. They unloaded everything from joining the team to the deaths of their intel assets the McPings to their teammate Ordan Vallas who left Coruscant with Mrs McPing's assassin for Vandor and has not been heard from since, and discovering the Pentastar Alignment's infiltration of the New Republic Rangers in the Outer Rim.

In fact, Zor's team has helped the enemy gather four X-wings and a Gozanti-class transport for Vandor. Zor feels bad about it and will gladly accept any reprimands. However, Sarkin knows Zor and dismisses his words.

After the briefing, she asks the team what they wanted to do. They all agreed on a covert infiltration. Zor requests stealth para-wing gliders. Sarkin agrees and offers more gear, but there is a more pressing matter.

The team has been request to undergo another mission - a minor task - before going off to Vandor. Sarkin gives Olem a datapad with information & assigns him to be a team leader for this mission. Zor is flustered. The datapad indicates they have to retrieve an item in a box at an "Area of Interest" somewhere on Coruscant. Maps and instructions are provided. There is a emblem at the bottom of the document on the datapad.

It is the emblem of the Jedi Order.

After briefing, they are dismissed. So they visit the Quartermaster Office - 2 levels below - where everyone gets EMP grenades and their weapons are fully serviced and recharged. Gev procures a vibrodagger & Olem is given a new outfit. He gives his hobo clothes to Fred who returns to the Elegant Format to await their return.

As they head towards their first waypoint, a docking pier in the underworld beneath the arcology, Olem informs Zor & Gev he used to be a Padawan in the Jedi Order. His abilities are not well developed because of 25 years of disuse. The two told him they had spotted what might have been Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker outside the conference room earlier.

At the pier, three Bloodfin speeders painted with Jedi Order emblems await their arrival. Olem takes the point and they mount up and ride towards the second waypoint: the Area of Interest whatever that is...

TO BE CONTINUED

[lightfaithed]

❛  we should always learn from those who came before us, but we must also forge our own path. 

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. "Very wise, yes." As someone who had always cherished the Code and gave himself very little room to breathe within the sacred tenents, the tragic loss of the entire Order had forced him to adapt. The few survivors he had met during this time had all started to add more of themselves into their principals, which had made for a bigger variety of Jedi. Luke himself was a result of him, Yoda, the famous Skywalker-Naberrie stubbornness, and something that was unique to Luke alone.

Besides..Obi-Wan himself had often deviated from the rules because he was a sentimental fool.

Even those who did not call themselves Jedi anymore - be it out of a misguided attempt to think they were somehow morally superior if they didn't or because it was simply too dangerous to be openly announcing yourself as one - were clearly still very much shaped by their Jedi upbringing. Such variety was one of the few good things born out of the disaster.

"I still think that looked better from the other side." Obi-Wan pretened to hold his lightsaber as he swung his arms, showing Rey what he meant. "You favour your left side, so if you swing it like this-" He showed her another move, "you may unbalance yourself."

[reconstructwriter]

Palpatine laughed as Darth Vader, as Anakin Skywalker, made the same choice he has for over twenty years.

The Dark choice.

Luke Skywalker's head rolls. Palpatine demonstrates the power of his new Death Star on the rising Rebellion.

Like Skywalkers always have, they fall.

Palpatine wins. Palpatine finally has it all. He detonates the Imperial Palace with the announcement that he has a new Palace. One finally worthy of him. For good measure he finishes off the Senate building - a decrepit relic from a more disgusting time. Then, because he has the power, he adds all of Coruscant to the list.

No one stops him. No one can stop him. All the galaxy is his. All the universe is his.

Except...that becomes a problem.

Wars are expensive - armies and great air forces to ferry them and fight them. The Clone Wars deliberately designed to be so, the GAR as the finest army on one side, only the best for the Republic. The droid army as easily mass-produced and replaceable, until years stretched on and it wasn't. All this better broke the power of the Republic and the Separatists alike into easily-digestible bits for one man. Because in his Sith Empire, there was only room for one mega-corporation, one banking clan, one power:

Palpatine.

Then with the destruction of the Jedi, the end of the war, Palpatine had to do away with the war toys. A last political gesture to keep people from regretting his ascension to Emperor. A pithy gesture when he could absolve the debt of the Separatists and Republic alike - after all, he owned government and debt so why not forgive himself? And add all the more to work on his Death Star.

Until the day he stood on the second and superior version of such, above the last pitiful planet left to conquer, and strangled the fool who brought him an expense report. "I am the Emperor. I am the bank and the government. I declare my debt wiped away!"

"Yes...sir...Emperor, but that's not enou-arkk!"

It was not enough, for now the debt of money translated to a debt of food. All across his great empire ruined fields couldn't produce enough to feed everyone and ruined towns couldn't manufacture the crops and animals into food.

Palpatine did not need the Force to show him what would happen next. The poorest would starve first - the farmers and the factory workers, the cashiers and the cleaners. All those billions and trillions of oh so unimportant people who, nonetheless, were indispensable to keep society working. Once the food producers died, the rest would starve. Once the servants fell, the castle would fall. The King was always the last to die.

He was the Emperor. An absolute monarch. A total ruler as the Galaxy had never seen before. Things were bad, yes, but not irreversible. A word from him could yet turn this around. The smallest gesture could yet save his Empire.

But not without sacrifice. Of power.

From him.

"Let them starve!" he screeched.

Palpatine had spent his entire life hoarding power. He had sacrificed everything on the alter of power and spent a lifetime destroying every limitation - every chain - between himself and absolute power. He would survive this too. A dying Empire's misery and horror strengthened him. He was too powerful to die.

But no one can destroy consequences.

The Death Star was as massive a ship as had ever been built. Large enough to be its own planet, its own ecosystem, as independent as he could make it.

Which is not the same as fully independent. When one person goes into space, a thousand people must stay on the planet to ensure that one person lives. The Death Star very nearly flipped that equation around.

Nearly.

Long range communications went off-line first. Palpatine still ruled his Death Star but had no more connection to the rest of his Empire beyond the dark grey smog of hopelessness and desperation. Then the little things began breaking down. Several of those little things being the electronics running the water recycling system.

And the person maintaining that system had been the inconsequential fool ordered to bring him the expense report.

Putrid water backed up into the clean water. A good third of the Death Star fell ill. They had to land, but where could they? Even with the Dark Side, Palpatine saw no refuge, no place they could repair anything.

He had escape pods but nowhere to land. His new palace, his crowning achievement, had become a trap.

His tomb.

Palpatine was wrong about one thing. The king isn't always the last to die, to starve.

Those desperate enough who survived Sith Lightning and Vader's blade feasted one last time.

it's fucking crazy to me how high-ranking obi-wan is during tcw. letting this guy spearhead an ATTACK BATTALION is like handing dwight d eisenhower a rifle and a bangalore and letting him storm the beaches of normandy himself. absolutely batshit INSANE