#jedi masters rey and finn

[afterthesequels]

#StarWars - The Jedi - Behind the Scenes Podcast Ep. 0005 - Team #Ahsoka & Team #Anakin

We're at it again! Join us this TODAY 9/16 at 3 PM Pacific / 6 PM Eastern on our YouTube channel for our #BehindTheScenes podcast.

We discuss all things #Jedi! Why they were important, why they failed, and how they be restored and rebuilt. As we've seen, the Force Ghosts of some of these characters have had their time to shine lately and they will undoubtedly be a big deal in any #StarWars property going forward. That opens a lot of possibilities.

Maria, our Executive Producer who has worked on various video games within this franchise, will be explaining some of the phenomena we've seen in the latest episode of #Ahsoka the TV Series on Disney+ with what she knows to be truth from her experiences in working with story group members. We will have our cast members that portray Jedi in our story alongside us as we mention it all! So, #BenSolo (Daniel Davenport), #Rey (Madeleine Norton), #Finn (Jason Dania), Leia Organa Solo (Leah Barnett), #Obi-wan (Miles Poller), and #MasterYoda (Isaac Aceret) will all accompany Maria Espino on this episode.

Come and hang out with OUR Jedi (part of our cast for Episodes 10, 11, and 12). Let's dive into what would come next for the Jedi!

[barissoffee]

SET 15 YEARS AFTER TROS??? I better see Finnpoe Married, Jedi Finn and Jedi Master Rey

[have-you-seen-my-sanity]

I am better

Poe Dameron x fem!Reader

A/N: I kinda roasted Rey at the end. I can't help it, I hate her. The only reason I tortured myself with the sequels was literally only because Oscar Isaac as Poe lol.

Quick summary: At a conversation between you, Finn and Poe about the old Clone Wars, you spoke faster than thinking, saying Anakin Skywalker is the best pilot in the Galaxy. Poe did not like that.

Tags: nsfw, PinV, dom Poe, punishment, cockwarming, kind of dark Poe, jealous Poe.

A/N 2: Just realized the pic looks perfect. Finn is like: "Girl, you better run..." and Poe looks like: "Excuse me? What did you just say?!"

Sometimes it's better to think before speaking. It all started harmless, Finn, Poe and you were talking about the Clone Wars. Poe was worshipping the Clones, wishing they would be still around, Finn was drooling over Ahsoka Tano...and you? You were all over Anakin Skywalker, admiring everything about him.

"Anakin Skywalker? Come on, that's overkill!" Finn snorted, looking down at the Dejarik round they were playing.

"Why? Just because you're worshipping Ahsoka?" You chuckled, watching Finns dejarik player getting slamdunked.

"Ugh, you and your crushes..." Poe scoffed and leaned forward, preparing his round.

"Atleast we have one individual we love and not millions." you backfired at him, grinning cheekily.

"I think Poe chooses the Clones because all the other ladies are ugly and Ahsoka is the only sexy looking one." Finn nudged Poe, making him give a confused expression.

"Poe, how about Obi Wan?" you asked.

"Nah. He's way too noble, way too jedi-like..." he retorted with an disgusted expression.

"Wait! What about Bo Katan? Isn't she someone you'd be into, mate?" Finn suggested.

"I would even arrange the date between you two." You chuckled.

Poe just looked at you two, surprised but uncaring "You two are absolutely unfair, you know that?"

You three kept playing dejarik for a bit before Finn spoke up again.

"Hey, but what about you? Why Anakin Skywalker? Is it because he turned bad and you're kinda into bad boys?" Finn grinned at you.

"No!" you smiled, turning your head to hide the slight red on your cheeks.

"Don't be shy! Come on, spill it." Poe teased, giving you a cocky grin.

"Alright, alright, you won. I like him because he was the best in everything. Best at fighting, strong in the force." you leaned back in your seat.

"Wait, nothing else? Really?" Poe asked curiously.

"He invented the spinning." Finn joked.

You laughed hard. "And he's the best pilot in the Galaxy." you retorted but gulped as realization hit you.

You looked back up at Finn and Poe, Finn had his hand on his chin, trying to suppress the laughter threatening to come out of him. At this point you were glad at sitting opposite from them as you saw Poe's jaw tensing.

"Pheww, okay guys, I gotta go to Chewie and talk with him about something." Finn broke the silence, preparing to stand up.

"Wait, Finn! We didn't even finish our dejarik round!" You gave him an almost pleading look.

"I- uhh, I'm sure you and Poe can finish it just fine, right mate?" Finn chuckled nervously, giving Poe a pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, we will get this over with and see who's the better one." Poe gave you a scowl.

"See? That's why I chose Ahsoka!" Finn grinned, finding the situation amusing.

"Anaking was Ahsoka's master!" you retorted, seeing Poe giving you a warning glance.

"See you guys later!" Finn waved and stood up, walking off, leaving only Poe and you alone.

"Poe...listen, I didn't mean to--" You got cut off by Poe, who stood up and made his way to you.

"I'll teach you better." he grabbed your arm and lead you out of the Millennium Falcon, leading you towards a small freighter nearby. Once inside and ensurring they were alone, he lead you to the cargohold and locked the entrance of the ship.

-----

Now you were on Poe's lap, his cock buried deep inside you, he held you firmly in place, not moving a little bit.

"Repeat what you said." Poe demanded lowly.

You squirmed, desperately trying to get atleast some friction "I-I'm sorry..."

"No, no, no, tell me. I wanna hear it coming out of your mouth again."

"Anakin-... is the b-best pilot in the Galaxy-..." you tried to move again but Poe had an iron grip that made it impossible.

"But is he really? Or is there someone better, hm?" Poe asked, holding you in place.

"Yes, you." you replied, making Poe's hips move a little bit before stopping once more. The little friction he gave felt so good, causing you to whimper after he stopped.

"So you admit I am the best and Skywalker is nothing compared to me?" he asked again.

"Poeee, please move. It's killing me..." you begged, feeling how slippy everything down there is.

"Answer." he tutted.

"Anakin is nothing compared to you. You're the best, Poe. Only you." you whimpered needily.

Poe chuckled, "See? It wasn't that hard now, was it?" he started moving slowly, only enough to make you crave for more.

Your eyes lulled back, you wanted Poe to move faster "Please faster."

"Is there something else you might tell me about Skywalker?" Poe asked, his pace increased slightly.

You knew exactly why he asked you that, he knew your mind was clouded with pleasure and thinking wasn't your speciality rightnow.

"He's handsome.." you slipped out.

"Handsome, huh?" Poe repeated, his hips stopped again.

"No- I mean- you-you're handsome. Anakin's not." You stuttered, trying to correct yourself.

"Damn right I am." he started moving again.

"If you ever say someone is better than me again, I will make sure to fuck you so hard you will forget all their names and only remember mine. Now enjoy the ride, honey."

Poe's thrusts increased even more, moving you up and down simutaniously.

Your orgasm approached so fast, it was only mere minutes before it ripped through your body. Poe's orgasm came right after yours. He grabbed a rag and cleaned both of you up while you put your clothes back on.

Poe and you left the freighter, walking back to the Millennium Falcon as Finn approached

"Heyy, did you two finally got an agreement?" Finn asked, looking at you two.

"Yep. We uh- we came to an agreement that Anakin is better at..." you trailed off, looking at Poe who was looking back at you expectantly.

"He is better with his lightsaber than Rey. I mean- come on, Anakin got training and Rey didn't, right? Having powers without getting trained is no right to call themselves a Jedi, right?" You chuckled nervously, your eyes flicking towards Poe for a split second.

"Damn, girl, you're really into the mood to fight anyone today, eh?" Finn laughed.

You glanced back to Poe, seeing him inhale heavily and closing his eyes briefly.

Noticing this, you quickly nudged Finn's shoulder, "Hey Finn, wanna finish our Dejarik round? I beat Poe, but the others are still in it." you urged him.

"Alright. Let's do this." Finn agreed casually and started walking.

You walked closely beside him, looking over your shoulder to see Poe shooting you another warning and his expression turning dark.

Oh no...

[classicanalyzer]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Adaptation Issue 1 Thoughts

"I may not yet be able to sense the Jedi who came before. But I can feel that this place has known the Jedi before me. Of course, I already knew that. Leia told me that Master Luke trained her here, many years ago. She hasn't really told me any details about how it went. And she's never called herself a Jedi. Not that I've heard, anyway. Still, she's the master I have now." Rey Skywalker

The comic adaptation of TROS is off to a nice start. We got some extra scenes and lines that help make the film a lot more cohesive and complete.

I really love how we got the Palpatine message in both the comic and novelization...I still have no idea why they though to put the message in Fortnite of all places. I absolutely love how during the reforging of Kylo Ren's helmet, the artist used images from the Rise of Kylo Ren comic, another comic the artist worked on. It makes The Rise of Skywalker almost akin to a spiritual sequel to that comic and matches the thematic nature of the titles (The Rise of Kylo Ren and the Rise of Skywalker). I appreciate how the novelization and the comic make it clear that Kylo Ren still holds onto his let the past mantra, but based on the Legacy of Vader comic, it seems like he let it cool down to be more focused than wildly destructive.

"The Sith were supposed to be finished. A spectator left to rot in the past. I will finish what my grandfather started. Destroying Palpatine once and for all. I will rule this galaxy…but not by his hand. By my own." Ben Solo/Kylo Ren

I do like how this comic, just like the novelization, adds extra scenes and gives us a bit more insight into the characters' heads. It also helps to ground us and process the information rather than the fast pace of the movie. Even an extra sentence or two does a lot to help make the movie a lot better. I also love how they have a scene with Rose and Leia, considering Rose got unfairly shafted in the movie. The scene with Rey remembering how Finn came to rescue her on Starkiller Base while pondering how family is people who stand by you just makes the comic give the movie a bit more finality to the saga. It's also really nice to see an expansion of how Rey saw the Aki-Aki culture and how it differs from Jakku which again adds to the finality of this saga.

"Dark Science...Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew. What good is amassing power if death can steal it away?" Beaumont Kin

"I've never seen anything like this. The desert feels like Jakku...no one there knew enough about where they come from to celebrate it. And even now, any victory we've won come with too high a price to--" Rey Skywalker

The parallel art between Rey and Leia is so good, and it furthers how Rey is progressing under Leia's mentorship. It's just like the classic George Lucas line, "It's like poetry...they rhyme." I also like how we get to see when Rey healed the Skywalker Lightsaber's Kyber Crystal.

I like how they heavily imply that Palpatine has been jumping decaying vessels Clones post-RotJ to TROS.

It's amazing to see Shadows of the Sith (one of my top Canon novels) visualization of Luke and Lando (he always maintains amazing drip). I also like how the comic shows that, unlike Luke, Lando interacted with the Aki-Aki rather than isolating himself. It's such a small detail but I love it so much.

Also I appreciate that we got a scene of the Knights of Ren capturing Chewbacca. Not only does the transition between Chewbacca being fine to be captured flow better but it gives the Knights of Ren something to do lol.

I would say when the comic is complete, reading this and the TROS novelization will make the movie a lot more satisfying and cohesive. I can't wait to see what other details they'll add in future issues of this comic.

"Maybe...this is what family really is. The people who don't let you go. The people who run toward danger with you." Rey Skywalker

[darthmaclunkey]

seeing last jedi again was so good. i will be fighting in the last jedi trenches until i die. if last jedi has no fans left on earth then i am dead etc etc. some very rambling and incoherent thoughts under the cut:

i love luke so much in tlj. luke skywaker is my all-time favourite character from anything, because he really embodies one of the core messages from star wars: being good is a choice, and it's a choice you have to keep making. right from the start of new hope, we see how luke is just constantly thrust into situations where, time and time again, he's given the choice of the easy way out, or tempted by the dark side. but luke always chooses to do the right thing, even when it's hard. in rotj we do get a glimpse of him as this aloof, emotionless jedi, but then it all unravels in the finale when he is forced to confront vader. i know a lot of the vitriol around last jedi is from people who think it ruined luke's character, but to me, his arc makes perfect sense. sequels luke is a man who has spent his whole life making sacrifices and working hard to do good, until it's all torn away from him by the dark side - a dark side plot specifically designed to undermine luke and the light, mind you - yet he still blames himself, because a fleeting temptation from the dark to take the easy route out and save the galaxy from what he saw in ben almost got him, but it didn't. and he paid for that temptation dearly. i would have hated to see a sequels-era luke who was just some epic version of the distant, quasi-mystical jedi knight we see in rotj (as i've seen some people saying that's how he should have been). what kind of character arc is that? he gets to the end of the OT and then never changes? i'm drawn to luke because of his humanity, the fact that you still see the tatooine farmboy in him years later. his sacrifice at the end of last jedi is so beautiful and poignant to me; a lesser script (cough tros cough) would have had him jump in an x-wing and show up to plow through the first order with his lightsaber. i love what we get instead: his moment with leia, her touching his hands and realising he's a projection - his knowing wink to threepio - the image of him emerging from the dust and smoke, unscathed, and how it clearly puts the absolute fear into kylo ren - the way he doesn't even attack, just dodges and blocks - then, finally, the shot of him on ahch-to, watching the sunset, and, once he's gone, the image of his cloak blowing away in the wind, symbolic of his spirit joining the cosmic force. that's my jedi master luke. funny, powerful, human, flawed, but still, after all this time, making the choice to do good and fight for others, even if it's the hardest thing he'll ever do. whew. luke skywalker i love you.

i love how last jedi looks. with the exception of maybe empire, i think it's the best-looking of all the films. it's stuffed with references to absolutely classic cinema, like the shot in canto bight that's an homage to the café dolly shot in wings, or the classic hitchcockian dolly zoom as finn and rose look over the cliff, and the opening sequence with the bombing run is just a straight homage to old war movies, which is just what the OT did with the space battles being shot-for-shot remakes of ww2 dogfight footage. original-flavour star wars was a love letter to to so many other films and tv shows, so this feels so natural. at the same time, there's a lot of sequences that feel really innovative for star wars, like the montage that accompanies rey's connection to the force on ahch-to, or the film's extensive use of close-up shots and slow-mo. the lighting is gorgeous. finn's fight with phasma looks astonishing on the big screen - the colour grading and visual effects really go off in that scene.

i love all the force skype sessions with kylo and rey, but especially the scene where she's out in the rain and, when they disconnect, you see kylo running his hand over his face then shaking the rainwater from his glove. something I hadn't appreciated before is how well the film sells you on the idea that they are both present in the same space, despite seeing them both shot against different backgrounds. the intimacy of the rain-on-glove thing gets me every time.

i love everybody's arcs. every single member of the main trio has a full arc in the film. rose tico is such a lovely addition to the main cast, i hate how she got totally shafted in rise of skywalker.

on a completely superficial note: the main cast are all at their hottest in last jedi. especially poe dameron. especially poe dameron.

the throne room fight scene is one of my favourite movie scenes ever (and in star wars, it's only beaten out by the binary sunset scene from new hope). i WISH i could relive the first time i saw it at the midnight screening i went to in 2017. i may have been sitting politely, but i was hooting and hollering internally.

rian johnson, they could never make me hate you.

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

The Moon's Lies (2)

Summary: Kylo Ren x named!Reader. It was never going to be black or white, Light or Dark, friend or foe. Who wouldn't let the galaxy burn to keep their loved ones safe?

Warnings: 18+, unspoken threat of bodily harm, twisted morals, Kylo Ren being himself, vehicle wreck

Masterlist

Canon Divergence Notes: There is no Rey. Finn is the destined Jedi, and he leaves the scar on Ren’s face during the climactic fight on Starkiller Base. The only original canon kept after TFA is the destined Jedi (Finn) leaving to find Luke and Snoke pushing Kylo Ren to the breaking point, continuing the student-kills-the-master cycle. Summary: No Rey. Finn is training to be a Jedi. Kylo Ren takes the throne from Snoke.

A/N: All hail the new alpha/beta reader! Three cheers for @aralezinspace! And thank you all for the support so far. <3 You make my galaxy spin.

2.

Years ticked by with battles fought, secrets found, and the rise of a new Supreme Leader to the throne of the First Order. Matters of life and death. To some.

Dyrrine judged the political upheaval like the weather. Rarely dangerous, but often an inconvenience. She couldn’t control it, and she worried more about sheltering her family from the rain than forming opinions about it.

At the moment, however, as mud sucked her boots down to the ankle and cold drops rode the wind to blast under her hood, she felt a lot of ways about the rain. Literally and figuratively.

Of course her responsibilities took her to Dantooine during the rainy season. And, of course, the First Order had no interest in accommodating the long line waiting for permits and passes.

Most of the year, Dantooine was lovely. Dry. Fairly temperate. Dyrrine would’ve enjoyed being off the ship and soaking in some sunshine while the rusty wheels of bureaucracy slowly groaned along. Instead, she dreamed of hot cups of tea and kept her hands stuffed deep in her wide sleeves as the queue inched forward, bowing under the storm’s onslaught. There were so many people still ahead of her, and she could barely see the service window through the downpour.

Good thing she’d reserved a seat on the next morning’s shuttle. She’d never make the evening flight. If things didn’t pick up, she might not reach the end of the line before the offices closed. Then she could do this all again at ass’o’clock in the morning, standing in a fresh downpour in day-old clothes without even the marginal warmth of the sun. What fun.

Off to the right, the depot’s primary doors slid open, spilling light into the miserable, sludgy afternoon. Stormtroopers in gleaming white armor stomped out, far too many for a patrol, and the eyes of every civilian turned their way. No one dared watch openly, but they peeped, and shrank, and waited. The ‘troopers formed two lines, facing each other to create a kind of path between the depot and the small collection of shuttles and TIEs left outside the hangar.

No wonder the administration was doing such a spectacular job that day. They had a VIP to entertain.

Dyrrine looked down at her feet, trying to work them free of the muck as the Adarian in front of her inched forward by half a pace. She had her priorities; keeping her place in line without losing a shoe was higher on her list than some First Order crony with extra polish on his boots.

One foot popped free with a noise like a belch, confirming Dyrrine’s belief the planet was trying to eat her. The second foot came loose by inches, and she was so consumed with keeping her balance she didn’t register the growing chill until the source stood in the open doorway.

Foot free, a step forward, and sinking into a new swatch of muck, she felt the menacing aura of a wildly powerful Force user. One didn’t need to be Force sensitive necessarily for animal instincts to register a threat, especially when said threat just loved to make a scene, to infect the very air with fear so every lesser creature would stay bowed low – where they belonged. She glanced back to the main entrance as the towering figure in black started down the ‘trooper-lined path, and her blood turned to ice.

She didn’t know his face – not this one, anyway. Last time they’d met, he’d hidden behind a chrome scowl, but his lightsaber was unmistakable, and kriffing hell if she didn’t remember that. It swung from his belt, bulky cross guard hilt on full display. The faint burn it once left along her neck took a week to heal, and this time there was no one to call him away before he introduced her to the blade properly. He was no one’s attack dog anymore. He’d slipped the chain and brutalized the fool holding the leash.

Kylo Ren. The new Supreme Leader.

The downpour suddenly didn’t feel like enough. Blinking away drops clinging to her lashes, she prayed for a flood, for the water to fall in sheets to curtain her from view, for the mud to gulp her down whole. Her gaze snapped back to the ground, hoping as she studied the trembling puddles that her spike of anxiety blended into the frightened crowd. What was one more terrified civilian in a sea of faces?

She resisted the urge to tug her hood lower. That would draw attention, tell anyone looking that she wanted to avoid being seen very, very badly. It took far too much attention to breathe, and she fought to release the mote of panic burning bright in her chest. No need to snuff it out. Just let it free. Like a firefly – still very real, but out and away from her thoughts. Drifting farther and farther, leaving a quiet void in its wake.

She was still. She was silent. She was invisible.

“I remember you.”

She was so kriffing screwed.

Drawn by the voice she would never have recognized without the helmet’s modulator, she looked between the shoulders of the nearest Stormtroopers to meet the Supreme Leader’s gaze. He towered over them, a wall of shadow behind their white armor. And there was no doubt he was speaking to her. He stepped forward, and the ‘troopers parted.

Too late to hide.

His presence crashed down like a wave, suffocating. Crushing.

She turned fully, facing him head-on as she reached deep to grasp the calm assurance that helped her through so many dangerous scrapes in the past.

“We never finished our conversation.” A playful edge sharpened his words, and she hunted through the flickers of expression that slipped past his guard. He wasn’t quite the same beast she met before. This time he was all confidence, secure in his position as the head of the First Order, free to stop, to take the time to pull her apart just for fun. His eyes traced her from dripping head to sodden feet, coming to stop on her pendant. “And you’re still wearing your protection charm. I thought you were going to leave it behind next time.”

With a dim smile that was entirely polite and not at all pleased, she repeated the short bow she’d offered on their first meeting, eyes dipping with her knees as she proved her respect. But she didn’t try to cower. When she rose, she resumed eye contact, letting her expression go placid in the face of her worst nightmare.

“Apologies.” Her voice came strong and steady. It didn’t even shake from the chill. “But as you said, we never finished our conversation, and I never heard whether it was offensive or just surprising.”

Humility, sometimes seasoned with feigned stupidity, could get a civilian far with the First Order. Sometimes officers appreciated the break from the usual hysterics of oppressed locals fighting for rights they no longer possessed. Sometimes a neutral attitude just made her forgettable, which was always the best outcome.

Unfortunately, she’d made a much deeper impression than she’d realized in this case, and she knew he wouldn’t let her fade into the mist like a ghost a second time. Even in the dreary weather, his eyes practically sparkled.

“We should fix that.”

She bowed again – quickly – and without looking away.

“It would be an honor, but I wouldn’t dare take any more of your valuable time, Supreme Leader.”

It was as close to begging as someone could get without yielding, and she knew she’d failed by the quirk of his lips.

“Then you can honor me aboard my shuttle.” He moved on, not in the least encumbered by the mud holding the rest of the planet hostage. “Bring her.”

Two ‘troopers who’d been following in his wake stepped up, but she moved. Springing forward as lithely as she could given her footing, she passed into the hall of white armored bodies of her own volition. It flummoxed the guards, and she offered a simple nod and smile as she continued after their leader. He hadn’t said to arrest her. Or bind her. Not even seize her. She still had some room to work, and so long as the ‘troopers didn’t know whether or not she was a prisoner, she could keep dancing.

So, she kept just ahead of the guards and well back from Kylo Ren, wading through Dantooine’s hateful sendoff to the waiting command shuttle.

The Supreme Leader’s thunderous steps echoed back down the ramp as she entered the hollow of the ship, following muddy tracks across the pristine floors. It felt like sacrilege. Like truth. The honest filth of the First Order’s dominion, and the inevitable tide beyond all illusions of control. Beneath her careful tranquility, a smug spark of emotion kindled. Not even the great First Order could stay polished in the face of a good storm.

But the spark faded as the Stormtroopers marched up after her, and the ramp groaned shut.

The ship was cold. A dead cold. Black with flashes of white and red lights that chilled her worse than the rain. She wondered if anyone in the Order – voluntarily or compelled – ever really saw their ships and bases as home. Something always seemed to draw them back, but she was willing to bet it was the blaster in the arms of the soldier beside them over duty or desire.

The passenger compartment opened directly into the cockpit, where four flight staff were prepping the shuttle for takeoff. There was only one other chair she could spy, and she knew better than to claim it. Guest or prisoner, she shouldn’t sit until her host offered, and she seriously doubted he would.

Leaning over the pilot and copilot, the Supreme Leader rattled off orders, checking his people’s work before it was even complete.

Was he a pilot, too? She knew that flavor of backseat driving. It was why they banned so many temporary residents from the Kuma Lisa’s cockpit. Once you’d had a ship’s controls in hand, most people struggled to accept them in someone else’s.

Ren’s low voice carried through the small space, disinterested in keeping secrets from the damned. “Set course for Ord Trasi. We’ll rendezvous as planned with the Steadfast.”

She closed her eyes and took a beat to breathe through the bubble of panic at the planet’s name. None of this was planned. He didn’t know she’d been on her way back for a rendezvous of her own. If she was careful, she’d remain the only one in danger. They’d know something was wrong when she didn’t return in the morning…

And right now, she needed to open her eyes and play the game. Or she’d never get to wade through a muddy queue ever again. She’d never touch solid ground, feel the rain on her face, or swear at a too-hot sun if she met her end on a damned star destroyer. Or on this shuttle, for that matter.

She got a reign on her fear and looked back to the cockpit just as Ren turned. His black ensemble maintained his regal air even with wet hair sticking to his forehead and ten inches of mud climbing his boots. His cape was no less ominous for the messy streaks on its hem as it flowed behind his long, determined stride. She doubted she’d weathered the rain so well. But that might work in her favor. Anything, given the right approach, could work in one’s favor. It was just a matter of strategy.

The ship lifted off from the mud, hard rain streaking down the viewport like it could drive them back to ground, and Kylo Ren left his flight staff to handle the voyage. While the craft was spacious for a shuttle, it was far from a cruiser, and he closed the distance like shadows rushing in after a light switched off. She held her ground. Waited like a good little subject until his boots came within inches of hers.

She knew this tactic.

Men like him loomed over their prey for one of two reasons. He wanted a fight, or he wanted a trembling victim to torture. He was waiting to see which she’d offer.

She’d deny him both. If it came back to bite her in the ass, at least she’d die satisfied with her decision.

He’d kill her in a heartbeat if she tried to fight – unarmed, trapped on his ship, surrounded by his lackeys. If she served up the fear he craved, he’d wring it out of her until she ran dry, and then she’d be just as dead and twice as grateful to expire.

With the board set against her, she must change the rules.

The ship’s low rumbling beneath her feet reminded her she was already in the belly of the beast, and she must be very clever to climb back out again.

“Who are you?” For all his casual intimidation, he didn’t hide the curiosity in his voice, and his anger didn’t singe the air like it did once upon a time on a planet far, far away.

He recognized a game when he saw one, and the moment he was humoring her. Or at least humoring himself.

She didn’t bow, though she dipped her eyes for the fraction of a second it took her to gather air for an answer. There was a fine line between a silly little stranger and an annoying fool. Too much bobbing would look anxious, anyway. But she held his eyes as she replied.

“Dyrrine Bairdne, sir.”

“And you’re from Lethe.” His eyes traced the strands of beads around her neck, the rings on her fingers, and bracelets on her wrists.

Slowly, mindful of the many guns and deadlier things on display, she raised her hands and lifted her hood. The Supreme Leader’s attention swung to the ornaments woven through her hair, and he scoffed.

“I see you’ve added more armor.” He stared her dead in the eye, daring her. “Expecting to meet a monster?”

She let her nebulous serenity grow warm. A blast from a cheap, old heater on a bitter winter night. Hardly the sun’s rays. But it wasn’t like he wanted that.

“Not at all, Supreme Leader.” She touched the longest strand of beads, keeping his focus on the Selenubis. “I’m training to be the next Naine of my family. Carrier of a thousand wishes, which is what these – ” She lifted a handful of necklaces, letting them rattle to draw both eye and ear. “ – represent.”

He plucked one from her grip, and his eyebrows furrowed. A frown bent his mouth as he rolled the smooth grey stones between gloved fingertips. He studied them like they had a secret script he might decipher in the fluid lines weaving over the face of each sphere.

“Take them off.”

She blinked, masking a busy mind with a face full of surprise. “Sir? They are offensive, then.”

“They’re a nuisance.” Though he didn’t let go of her jewelry, he did return his attention to her face. The amusement had waned. He wanted through her defenses.

Twisting his grip, he dragged her off-balance, and she jerked half a step forward.

Lips by her ear, he repeated, “Take them off.”

With his hulking shoulders out of the way, she could see through the viewport again. At some point, as she bantered for her life, they’d jumped to hyperspace. If he ran her through, right here, at least she’d have a familiar view.

The instant she pulled the faintest comfort from the thought, the ship was spat out of hyperspace, and a planet filled the view.

“Sir,” the flight officer called. “We’ve reached Ord Trasi. On route to rendezvous with the Steadfast now.”

The ship must be hiding on the far side of the planet, away from the hyperspace lanes.

Ren shoved her away, and the two ‘troopers stepped up to flank her. While his intentions were still far from clear, she wasn’t the honored kind of guest. She caught herself before her guards had an excuse to put hands on her, and as the Supreme Leader stomped back to oversee the last leg of their journey, she folded her shaking hands back inside her wet sleeves.

She seized the opportunity to breathe. Still alive. Still in one piece. And another distraction had bought her another precious few minutes. What she’d do with that time she had no idea, but she had it anyway.

Three TIE fighters wheeled into view, streaking past in perfect formation. The first sign of a larger First Order presence.

“I didn’t order an honor guard,” the Supreme Leader snapped. “Order them back to the ship.”

Oh, he was definitely a pilot. He was practically twitching. Too much protection must insult his ego, especially when he wasn’t behind the controls.

The flight officer leaned into the comms and relayed the command, but the TIEs did not disperse. They roared past again, moving behind the shuttle, and she swore she could feel Kylo Ren’s oppressive attention physically lift from her to this new problem.

Doubtless, Ren had something to say. More orders. A good threat or three. But before he could express his wrath beyond the creaking of his glove around his fist, a series of blasts rocked the transport.

Alarms wailed, and the flight crew began shouting updates and alerts as every standing passenger – apart from Ren – lurched into the wall. Beyond the racket from the cockpit, she could hear the wheeze of a dying engine somewhere below.

Kriff.

“Where are our shields?” Ren demanded.

Frantically switching toggles, the pilot shouted over the cacophony. “The readout shows they’re online, sir, but the damage suggests – ”

“Sabotage.” The Supreme Leader all but spat the word.

Shrieking by for another pass, the TIEs sent a hail of green laser fire over the shuttle, and she listened to the hull groan. The wall under her face was warm, and she carefully worked her way to a line of emergency grip points above. She clung on for dear life, looping her arm through and preparing for the worst.

She would not go down with the ship.

And the ship was definitely going down. Hazy clouds blurred the stars, the dark of space fading into atmospheric blue as they lost altitude.

“Sir, we’ve lost too much power. The planet’s gravity is – ”

“Supreme Leader, they’re coming about! Brace for - !”

The side of the shuttle exploded.

The angle of the blast sent debris spearing into the cockpit, and from the corner of her eye she saw an arc of wet crimson splash across the view screen. Now entirely out of control, the ship rolled, and the two stormtroopers tumbled boots-over-helmet through the hole that used to be the other half of the passenger compartment. Their voice modulators warped their screams as they fell.

She screamed, too, lifted off her feet, thrown into wall-ceiling-floor in a dizzying cycle. Her belly leapt into her throat as the engine heaved its last breath and the craft dropped into freefall.

Smoke and sparks filled the air. She couldn’t see what had happened to the flight crew or their dread leader, but no one was doing anything to slow their descent. If there was sabotage though, who was to say the shields were the only system affected? Even if they were conscious, Ren was the only one with the power to do anything at this point.

Well. Not only Ren.

Moving from grip to grip, she worked her way closer to the damaged half of the ship. She needed perspective. She had to see what she was doing.

A blur of green and brown appeared between flashes of blue, and she cursed. All her wonderful protective charms kept flying up to smack in her face, tangle in her hair, and obscure her view. She had a choice to make, and she needed to make it quickly.

Regardless of whether or not Kylo Ren survived, she wasn’t ready to die, certainly not like this. So she’d just have to take her chances.

Letting go of her precious handhold with one hand, she set to work, tugging and tearing the necklaces from her throat. She ripped the rings off with her teeth, and half the bracelets snapped as she jerked them free.

Her senses blossomed, expanding beyond her skin, beyond her sight. She felt the distance between the ship and the planet below, teaming with life, and another dim pulse somewhere onboard. Another survivor. She’d worry about that later. She’d save herself first.

Reaching into the flow of energy and motion that kept the galaxy turning, she pulled. Just as she’d found the grip inside the ship to keep stable, she grappled with air currents, gravity, and space to stabilize the shattered craft’s descent.  

It had been a long, long time since she’d tried anything on this scale, and it tore through her the way too much exercise ripped fragile muscles. Something wet dripped down her neck as the spinning slowed. They were still dropping too fast, and she pushed down at the planet until her ears rang with the effort.

Gradually, painfully, she took control of the fall.

This wouldn’t be a pretty landing.

But they just might survive it.

[dalekofchaos]

Context

Rey and Ben switch sides

Throughout the movie, Ben demonstrated a more Jedi like stance, while Rey is prone to anger, takes the quick and easy path and fights like a Sith. So instead of truly doing something subversive, by making the heroine a villain and having someone we thought was the villain fight to bring her back to the light. DLF is once again too cowardly to take risks with this trilogy and sticks with the status quo by having Ben stay with the darkside and Rey as the Jedi, cause godforbid we try something different.

So what if instead of Ben revealing Rey's parents were "filthy junk traders" Snoke reveals she was Palpatine's labrat. "Tell me dear child. Did you know the Empire fell at the battle of Jakku? Of course you do. What's not common knowledge is Palpatine's secret laboratory on Jakku. Constantly trying to create the perfect apprentice to replace Lord Vader and his final experiment was deemed a failure. Kept in suspended animation...until pathetic junk traders thought they could make a quick buck. To their disappointment. They found a child. You. Palpatine's labrat."

And this revelation causes Rey to lose it. Ben helps by using Rey's lightsaber to kill Snoke, the throne room fight happens and that's when the turn happens.

Ben decides he wants to save his mother and the Resistance. Damn Snoke and The First Order. All the dark side brought him was misery. He should have left with Han when he had the chance.

And all Rey wants to do is burn it all down. "The Jedi. The Sith. The First Order and the Resistance. Like you said, it's time to let the past die." They fight for the lightsaber, the Holdo manuver happens and Ben leaves first.

Rey kills Hux.

Ben, Luke and Leia reunite and make up after so many years of hurt, betrayal and remorse.

Luke and Ben fight off The First Order.

But something is terribly wrong.

In the amidst of the battle, Rey returns and is enraged at the site of Luke Skywalker and unleashes the full power of the darkside on The First Order.

Luke tells Ben to protect his mother and the Resistance.

Luke sacrifices himself. Tells Rey he's failed her and he's sorry. Rey can only scorn Luke.

Rey goes in for the kill and that's when she realizes he was never there.

"I will always be there with you Rey, just as I should have been as your master. Don't be what he made you to be."

And all Rey can do is breakdown and cause a force scream strong enough to leave a crater.

Ben, Leia, Finn and Poe work together and plan to bring Rey back and save her from herself.

Rose and Poe switch roles

TLDR; version.

Finn is a child soldier who knows the horror of war. Poe is the one who needed to see that this war is not as black and white as he believes it to be and actually be confronted with Slip's death and in turn both Finn and Poe liberate a camp of freshly recruited child soldiers and the master codebreaker.

Rose actually has history with Holdo. If you read the novel TLJ:Cobalt Squadron. You will know it ends with Rose serving on Holdo’s ship the Ninka. Now imagine this. Rose just lost her sister and Holdo is withholding information that is vital to the Resistance’s survival. Rose is kept in the dark and believes this will be the end of everything and doesn’t want Paige’s sacrifice to be in vain. So Rose covers Finn and Poe’s escape to Canto Bight and works with Connix and those loyal to Poe and leads a mutiny against Holdo. Remember. Holdo didn’t just leave Poe in the dark, she left THE ENTIRE RESISTANCE in the dark. So Rose would lead the mutiny and Leia would awaken to stop her, only Leia would not stun her. Leia would talk Rose down, ya know, like Leia would actually do.

Kylo cuts Rey's hand off

After Rey refuses his hand, Kylo simply lets Rey get her lightsaber and uses Rey's feralness against her and cuts her hand off and severs her lightsaber. Kylo leaves Rey while he takes her hand. "I have everything I need."

In Episode IX from this scenario, we would find out Kylo Ren used dark side alchemy to clone a Dark side Rey from her severed hand.

Captain Phasma actually does something.

My better use for Phasma is basically making her obsessed with killing Finn.

Make Phasma a deranged individual obsessed with capturing and executing Finn. Phasma is basically Captain Ahab and Finn is her great white whale to chase. She flies her own personalized Chrome Tie Interceptor. She is hunting Finn to the ends of the galaxy. Each battle they face she is there ready for him, every time he isn’t there, she kills every Resistance soldier there. Phasma is losing it, Hux is worried, but both Snoke and Kylo believe this will be beneficial in destroying The Resistance. And finally she finds him on The Supremacy. Finn and Phasma go head to head. finally on equal levels and in this moment it happens. Finn’s old comrades come, Finn believes this is the end, but to his surprise they shoot Phasma down. Phasma is knocked down in the ruins of the Star Destroyer. But Phasma makes her escape with Hux.

As for her role in TROS, I would have Finn reveal the truth to everyone that she disabled the Starkiller shields and after Finn convinces the Stromtroopers to rebel.

Finn and Phasma fights. Finn wielding a Lightsaber, while Phasma wields a Darksaber. Finn's brother in arms helps him and as Finn has her at his mercy. "You were always scum."

"I'm a Jedi" and then Finn decapitates Phasma, ending her reign of terror.

Rose Tico the spy.

There are two ways we can play this. The sympathetic way and the evil way.

The sympathetic path.

Many people thought Rose was going to be a Lando type figure right? Well let's remember, Rose was heartbroken about Paige and what happened to her world. So let's say Hux made a deal. Put the tracker on the Raddus and deliver FN-2187 to the Supremacy for execution in exchange for The First Order to end the occupation of her homeworld of Hays Minor. Only, The First Order is not the Empire, it's worse. So when Rose asks if he'll end the occupation, what Hux does is give her one tiny rock. "A deal is a deal" Rose looks horrified…"what have you done" "that's all that's left of Hays Minor, The First Order does not deal with Resistance scum" Rose is horrified and broken, whatever hurt Finn felt from Rose's betrayal, she is now his only hope off the Supremacy. So Finn and Rose help each other because they now both know what it's like to lose everything to The First Order.

The villain path

First of all. Rose Tico was Paige’s sister. The real Rose Tico died prior to the battle of Starkiller Base and was replaced by the changeling(like Zam Wessell) known as Rosita Thorn. Her mission? Infiltrate The Resistance, place the hyperspace tracker on board The Raddus and bring the traitorous FN-2187 to either be reconditioned or executed for treachery.

Meanwhile, Holdo tells Poe while they are isolated. "There is a spy on board. It is a changeling, who can turn into anyone. I kept you out of the dark because I didn't know if I could trust you. But now I do and our plan is to escape." Meanwhile Holdo's people finds a dead body. The real Rose Tico and then Poe realizes Finn is alone at the spy's mercy.

Upon arriving on The Supremacy, Rose signaled Hux and Phasma, which causes their capture. As they get captured. While Finn and DJ are forced on their knees, Rosita shows her true colors as she shoots DJ and salutes to Hux. “Just as planned, my general”

Her mission was a success. Finn only managed to escape due to the Holdo maneuver.

She becomes the right hand and lover of General Hux

Rosita would keep the appearance of Rose Tico because she’s grown “accustomed” to Rose’s face. Only looking more regal, wearing her hair down and wearing First Order uniforms.

Next Hux and Rosita plan to kill Pryde and after Kylo Ren and Rey kill The Emperor. Hux and Rosita will kill the traitorous Kylo Ren, Rey and then FN-2187, thus securing their and The First Order’s dominance over the galaxy. Long live the Supreme Leader and his Empress!

Grand Master Luke,

I feel like you can have the great character arc of TLJ, while also being badass like he was in The Mandalorian.

First have it be ANAKIN, not Yoda who helps Luke out of his slump.

Have Luke lift the X-Wing from the water.

When Finn about to make his sacrifice, and suddenly, we hear the blast of an old X-Wing destroying the siege cannon. Thus saving Finn, Rose and The Resistance. Finally we see Luke and Leia’s moment. This time it actually holds meaning because Luke is actually there. And then we would see the bulkhead open and Luke enters.

Kylo Ren orders every ship to fire on Luke AT-M6’s all firing but to everyone’s surprise, all blasts stop frozen in midair. Luke wipes the salt off his robes and sends the turbolasers right back at the AT-M6s and TIE-Fighters. Brings down the transports and Kylo’s shuttle. Kylo descends from his crushed shuttle, throwing a tantrum and preparing preparing to kill his uncle. We have a real lightsaber battle between Luke and Kylo. Luke has his green lightsaber. Their blades clash. Their dialogue remains the same, but Luke is there. Luke is toying with Kylo, similar to how Vader toyed with him on Bespin. Luke and Kylo’s exchange remains the same. “I failed you Ben, I’m sorry.” “I’m sure you are! The Resistance is dead. The war is over, and when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi.” “Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.” ”I’ll destroy her, and you, and all of it.” ���No. Strike me down in anger and I’ll always be with you. Just like your father.” Kylo then shouts “NOOOOOO” but more dramatic When Kylo makes his dramatic slut ™ lunge at Luke, but Luke embraces it like Obi-Wan did and becomes one with the force.

He dies with peace and purpose and most importantly refuses to give Ben the victory he craved for and mocks him by saying he will always be with him.

Luke spreads Leia's message.

Towards the end of the film, two of the Resistance members tells Leia, “Our distress signal’s been received at multiple points, but no response. They’ve heard us, but no one’s coming.”

After waiting two films to see what any of this means to the galaxy, the only response we get is literally nothing. Nobody cares, nobody’s coming. For all we know, this planet could explode right now, wiping out the Resistance and the First Order, and the entire galaxy would be better off. They have no impact on anything of actual importance, like children fighting in a sandbox.

In my mind, much of the bitterness in my mouth by the time the finale came up could have been washed away with one simple change (technically two but who cares):

Luke does his “See ya around, kid,” line and vanishes, followed immediately by a massive fleet appearing in the planet’s orbit. Ships of all different sizes and shapes, from countless planets throughout the galaxy, uniting and standing up to the First Order for once. They don’t even have to attack, just show up and fire a few shots to blow up a few walkers or something as the First Order retreats in a panic. Luke also isn’t dead. Instead of just buying 3 seconds to retreat deeper into a cave, we find out that he appeared as a “force hologram” to several major leaders in the galaxy, calling them to arms. He then bought the Resistance time to hold out until help arrived.

This gives SEVERAL intriguing leads for the next film.

We see the galaxy fully united against this threat. To see a legitimate fleet and to see that the galaxy really does give a shit about what’s happening, would literally be the first hopeful thing we see in this entire goddamn trilogy that’s supposedly all about “hope.” Think something on the level of the Rohirrim and Gandalf riding in at the end of Helm’s Deep.

Luke is alive and now rallying people to stand up to the First Order. His meager prank is supposed to inspire the galaxy? If you want to inspire them, you NEED to put in more leg work than that. We need to see that Luke gives a shit and has truly accepted the mantle he’s been rejecting the entire trilogy. His final act in this film could be EVERY BIT AS MEANINGFUL without him just giving up and dying afterwards, if not far more so.

We can see how desperate the First Order gets in the third movie. After taking so many beatings, this militant faction seems to suffer no actual losses. To see them reduced to guerrillas in need of a last resort - to see how dangerous they can be at their most desperate - would be a refreshing and interesting twist on something that has now been done to death.

Lando the Master Codebreaker

Let’s look at Maz’s description for the Master Codebreaker “He’s a master codebreaker, an ace pilot, a poet with a blaster.” That sure does sound like fucking Lando to me. It still baffles me that they gave us a casino planet in TLJ but then chose to not include Lando in that setting although he was introduced as a gambler back in TESB. Lando is the person Finn and Rose are meant to meet, the one in the Indiana Jones type tuxedo and has the a red plom bloom. Only, Finn and Rose actually parks legally and doesn’t get stupidly arrested. Lando is on Canto Bight to grieve in his own way for Han, but also because he’s doing a stakeout on Crime Lord King Prana(played by Benico del Toro and King Prana was set up by being the guy Han was gonna sell Raftars to) Finn and Rose help Lando out and in exchange, Lando helps Finn and Rose in their quest to disable the Hyperspace Tracker. We also get to see Lando and FInn both grieve for Han. So yes, Lando would be able to disable the Hyperspace tracker, but Phasma would catch them on their way to the escape pods.

Or my other use of Lando.

Lando brings the remnants of the New Republic after hearing Leia’s message. After Leia’s signal and Luke’s sacrifice, Hux informs Kylo Ren that they have the Falcon in their sights(keep in mind they have their fleet in orbit) a massive fleet appearing in the planet’s orbit. Ships of all different sizes and shapes, from countless planets throughout the galaxy, lead by Lando Calrissian flying his flagship the Lady Luck! Uniting and standing up to the First Order for once. They don’t even have to attack, just show up and fire a few shots to blow up a few walkers or something as the First Order retreats in a panic. Prior to Luke’s sacrifice. we find out that he appeared as a hologram to several major New Republic leaders in the galaxy, calling them to arms. He then bought the Resistance time to hold out until help arrived. Together with Leia’s signal and Luke’s message. New The Republic is united in facing The First Order.

Rey and Luke vs Kylo and Knights of Ren.

The rumored scene we all wanted. Kylo uses his newfound connection to Rey to find her and summons the Knights. She will not escape this time.

Rey in the meantime helps Luke to reestablish his connection to the force, alongside the force ghosts.

And then they arrive.

Rey fights the Knights, while Luke fights Kylo.

The fight is raw and full of emotion, but it ends with Kylo wounding Luke and abducting Rey. Meanwhile The Resistance has a space battle above led by Leia and Snoke via Battle meditation. Leia's will vs Snoke's might. The fight for her brother and Snoke's fight to snuff out the light. It ends with the Twins reunited by the vow to save Rey via training Finn.

Leia sacrifices herself

We had no way of knowing of Carrie's unfortunate passing. But I feel like it should have been Leia.

Leia should have been the one to destroy Snoke's ship with a final sacrifice. It would have closed her story on both a badass and meaningful note, dying to save her rebellion.

They should have done it so that she didn't have long to live anyway due to her injuries from the bridge explosion and exposure to space. With all that, she decides to give her friends a final escape. Before doing so, she could have reached out to Luke with the force for a final goodbye, the same way they communicated on Bespin in the Empire Strikes Back. This would have reminded people that communicating via the Force over long distances has precedent.

This act would have inspired Luke to actually come out of hiding, raising his X-Wing from the sea and coming to help the new characters.

It would have also made the Mary Poppins scene at least a little more worth it, seeing as she flies through the hologram of Snoke's ship, setting up the sacrifice.

As for how Holdo fits into things? Both Poe and Holdo get their heads out their asses and learn to work together for the Resistance, the Republic and for Leia!

Finn is never in a coma and goes with Rey to Ach-To

Rey and Finn travel to Ach-To together. Finn is never placed in a coma. Shocker, they are in a futuristic setting and give Finn a cybernetic spine and Finn makes a full recovery! Finn goes with Rey...like he should've in the first place!

Luke trains Rey and Finn to become a Jedi. Rey and FInn’s optimism and dedication reminds him of himself. Finn is proven to have what it takes to be on the path of a Jedi, meanwhile Rey is struggling and is giving in to her rage and passions. This leads to the force bond between Rey and Kylo Ren and leads Kylo and the Knights Of Ren to Ach-To. Rey, Finn and Luke face Kylo and the Knights Of Ren. Rey willingly goes with Kylo to save Finn and Luke and the rest of the story is about Finn saving Rey no matter what the cost

Anakin, not Yoda greets Luke

Yoda appearing to Luke in TLJ to tell him “failure, the greatest teacher is,” is bullshit. Yoda never learned this lesson to begin with. Yoda is the last person who should be saying anything like this to Luke.

Let’s see

Treated Anakin like a burden ever since Anakin entered the Council chambers as a child

Refusal to trust Anakin. As a child, he was told he would be a problem and Yoda and the Jedi’s refusal to nurture Anakin because he was “too old” to be indoctrinated by their code was their undoing. There is a quote that sums up the Jedi’s cold reception to Anakin perfectly. “The Child Who is Not Embraced by the Village Will Burn it Down to Feel its Warmth”

Refused to let Anakin to free his mother, one of the things that played into Anakin’s fall(Isn’t it weird and by weird I mean hypocritical that the Jedi found value in saving Clones, who were made to be disposable, but they couldn’t be bothered to save Shmi, Anakin’s actual mother?)

Is perfectly fine helping Ahsoka with her vision of a loved one dying, but suddenly Anakin needs to let go

Dude was okay befriending the most evil guy ever but he had no compassion or even a kind word for a 9 years boy who was about to be returned to slavery? Fuck him! For that and for allowing the Order to remain subservient to a known corrupt Senate that allowed slavery and organized crime to grown unrestrained. 

Raising students who capable of only blindly following him (“One did not argue with Master Yoda; in the Jedi Temple, this was learned in infancy. No Jedi ever forgot it.”) and for creating a community that ostracized anyone who didn’t perfectly fit in.

He failed generations of students, he failed the Order, he failed the Council, the Senate and the galaxy. Yoda can be traced as the source of everything that went wrong (internally) with the Order: their coldness, their false detachment, their corruption, etc. He was the common denominator in 900 years worth of religious, political and educational stagnation. Yoda’s inability to change and question himself doomed the Order (and the galaxy with it)

Even worse, Yoda intended to die without explaining that Vader was his father to Luke. In a deleted scene Yoda says “Obi-Wan would have told you long ago had I let him…..” Basically, Yoda had forbidden Obi-Wan from telling Luke that Darth Vader was his father. Luke was then trained in the Jedi arts to eventually face and kill Vader with the intention of never disclosing the important detail of Luke’s paternity despite Obi-Wan’s apparent objection to the idea. This revelation reveals Yoda is actually a self-serving dick who puts the means to an end above morality while redeeming Obi-Wan for the reasoning of why he lied to Luke about his father.

Yoda did not learn this lesson. Yoda refused to see his own faults or the faults of the Jedi of old. Yoda did not earn this moment.

You know who would have been the perfect person to tell Luke that failure is the greatest teacher? His father, Anakin Skywalker. If anyone deserved that moment, it was Anakin Skywalker. Both because this should have been his chance to speak with his son AND because when someone is the embodiment of the failures of the Jedi Order, they’re really the one best qualified to call out the bullshit of that organization. Anakin would’ve been the best person to tell Luke to confront Kylo, his grandson. He knows failure more than anyone. Failing to save his mother, failing to save Padme, his failure into giving into the dark side and his fall. Anakin would’ve told him. “It wasn’t your fault what happened to Ben, I’m asking you to come back and save your sister, my daughter. Leia needs you. You never gave up on me. Don’t give up on your friends, your sister or even yourself. You saved me when I thought all was lost, there is still time to make things right. Remember you are a Jedi, like me. Not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. The first of the new.“

[short-wooloo]

Working on a fic about Finn (and Rey) where they get time travel shenaniganed into being Padawans during the Clone Wars

I really wanted Finn to be Shaak Ti's padawan, but I didn't want to remove her from kamino and her role there, but I also didn't want to keep Finn cooped up on kamino

The solution? Finn's Master is a different female Jedi (probably Stass Allie) who is in love with Shaak Ti and Finn gets two moms!

[buffshipper8490]

(Reylo Family art by @hotside, used w/permission)

Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Five years after the Resistance-First Order War is explored...

Excerpt

"... and that is the story of how the brave men and women of every species across the galaxy came together and ended the tyranny of the First Order." Rey took in a breath. That was a mouthful. Her three-year-old twins Jacen and Jaina sat on her lap, looking up her expectantly for more. Three years old, and already they were so inquisitive, so attuned to the Force. "Tell us more about Ben and Rey Solo, Master," piped up a young Twil'lek girl from Rey's audience of a dozen or so Force sensitive younglings. Her padawans. "Yeah, tell us!" urged another youngling. Rey smiled. "They married, took the Millennium Falcon for a honeymoon across the stars—" "Oooooh..." interjected the younglings. "–and settled on the sunny and green world of Modesta, where they started a family that would eventually include orphans from all over the galaxy." Rey looked at each of their wide-eyed, wonder-filled faces in turn. "There, they would teach them the ways of the Force." "That would be us," popped up the Twil'lek girl. "That would be you," confirmed Rey. "A new generation of Jedi." The younglings looked at each other  "Now... can anyone tell me the role of the Jedi?" asked Rey. "To protect the Light and maintain the balance of the Force," replied an older padawan named Temiri Blagg, who was freed from a life of servitude on Canto Bight thanks to Supreme Chancellor Organa's galaxy-wide slave labor reforms, along with a herd of fathiers that now roamed free throughout Modesta's vast open plains. The ring Rose had given him all those years ago glinted in the sunlight that filtered through the open windows of the temple. Though he was older now, he still never took it off. "And how do the Jedi maintain the balance?" asked Rey. "With lightsabers?" replied Dade, Finn’s young friend from Coruscant. He was still small, scrawny from the years spent just scraping by, but he’d shot up another several inches since Finn had brought him here. Rey knew Finn would be proud of him the next time he saw him. Rey chuckled at his answer. There was more to maintaining balance in the galaxy than just lightsabers, but they knew what time it was and she wasn't about to spoil their fun with more lecturing. "Precisely. Time for practice..."

New fanfic link! Likes ❤️ and Reblogs 🔁 are much appreciated!

[rcedge]

I will always support TLJ hate because I was a huge Luke Skywalker fan and I feel like they destroyed his character and then just killed him off at the end :( I gave up on the franchise after that. The whole discourse around that movie was so strange too. After TFA everybody was speculating about who Rey's parents were and I loved the theory that Luke was her father and Kylo was her cousin and they'd all been tragically separated somehow (very Wars of the Roses in space, the daughter of the son versus the son of the daughter). And then with TLJ the director was like 'um actually Rey being a Skywalker by blood would be totally elitist and you can be force sensitive without being related to an existing character ya know'. And then in ROS they randomly made her the granddaughter of Palpatine lol. And I haven't even mentioned the way that they treated characters like Finn. What an absolute mess!

I could not agree with you more ESPECIALLY on the luke front like you're telling me the guy who saw good in his planet-exploding dad tried to kill his nephew for being emo? Come on man. he's literally the titular hope in a new hope. you're telling me he just rebuilt the jedi order exactly how it was? COME ON MANNNNN!!!!!!

with rey i personally never really gave any mind to who her parents were but i thought the assertion that it would be elitist or whatever to make her related to the skywalkers was very bizarre considering that the whole of star wars is ostensibly the story of the skywalker family Rey's story in general just suffered badly from everybody having completely different ideas of what they wanted to do and so she never developed like any kind of interesting personality or connections to anyone beyond kylo which was kind of stupid as fuck cus her relationship in the fist film with finn was fun and i think if they actually gave us the functional trio of finn rey and poe it could have been a fun dnymaic but what ever we need that rat kylo fsr

the palpatine shit is hands down the most bizarre thing like i remember sitting in the theater and just blurting out "What the fuck?" that movie was genuinely so bad i started crying and i tried to leave but the people i was with at the time would not let me lol which was fair movie tickets are kind of too expensive to waste even if it feels like your soul being scraped out with some kind of blunt object

re: finn and poe this actually bothers me so much like even beyond a shipping thing obviously cus Seriously what was the deal with any of that. i think we can all agree that finn should have been force sensitive (thus taking care of rian johnson's stupid ass worry about skywalker only force sensitive characters or whatever the fuck) instead of giving him a completely Nothing plot in the most Nothing plot movie of all time wherein nothing gets accomplished by anyone this has beentalked about by better and more intelligent people than me

what i don't see talked a lot about is what they did to poe like he was completely in the right for not trusting laura dern's stupid fuck character holdo or whatever her fuck ass name was like would YOU???? it was so frustrating like sitting there like Wait but hes right you are completely suspicious how the hell was he supposed to know you had some grand master plan if you are refusing to tell the people under your command even the ones that are quite high up literally nothing . fuck was i glad when she did suicide .

also i forget if this was in tlj or tros cus frankly they all kind of blend together in a river of piss and shit at this point but making poe a drug trafficker was crazyyyyy. your single hispanic character in a mainline star wars film and you completely retcon his backstory from Son of rebels that worked with leia -> drug dealer is fucking crazy like are you serious LOL i hate those fucking films so much bro

oh also i hate the porgs and i was glad when chewbacca tried to eat one cus i hated them i hated them i hated them die die die die

[lavenderdameron]

Thanks for the tag @virtie333!

I haven't written anything in ages and I rarely share it when I do, but here goes...

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don't be shy and share anyway!

Consider yourself tagged if you want to do this! 💗

ONE:

The Resistance left Exegol victorious. Many lives were lost, but countless more were saved across the galaxy.

Finally, it was all over.

Poe Dameron tore himself from his X-wing as soon as it landed on Ajan Kloss. The hotshot pilot had never been more eager to leave a ship in his life. The mood at the Resistance base was celebratory, but Poe needed to see his loved ones with his own eyes before he would allow himself to relax.

As soon as his feet touched solid ground, he ran toward the crowd gathering in the forest. He scanned the faces of everyone he passed, grateful to see so many Resistance members alive and well. As their newly appointed General, Poe was now responsible for all their lives. Every person here trusted him and followed him into battle. There were far more of them here than he could have hoped for; so many others were not so lucky.

Yet, if he was being honest with himself, his troops were not his current priority.

No, really, he was looking for Finn.

TWO:

“Are you all right?” Rey asks Rose out of the blue.

“Fine, why?” Rose responds with a raised eyebrow.

Of course, she’s not fine, she’s thinking about Paige again. But you wouldn’t know that by looking at her, humming tunelessly to herself as she repairs an X-wing.

Rey has a funny way of knowing what someone is thinking. Rose assumes it’s just one of those little Jedi tricks.

THREE:

Seven hundred and fifty-seven. That was exactly how many days had passed since Rose Tico lost everything. Again.

Not that she would admit to counting. Her grief was usually a private matter; she put on a brave face for almost everyone she knew. She and Paige had known what they were up against when they joined the Resistance, had discussed what they would do if one of them didn’t make it out alive. This was war, after all. Rose had just assumed that she would be the one to die, if one of them had to go. She was the weaker one, the clumsier one. Paige was the strongest person she knew.

FOUR:

The girl who now called herself Rey Skywalker returned to Ahch-To, full of questions. 

The mysterious planet itself was never going to hold any answers for her; she understood that now. But Rey couldn’t help herself; she found a sense of belonging in this place. It was here that she first learned the true story of Ben Solo’s descent to the dark side. She had learned that even a Jedi Master could fail someone completely. Even a legend like Luke Skywalker could let her down. On Ahch-To, she learned what true isolation felt like, when the first tendrils of the dark side began to take their hold. Rey thought she knew what loneliness was before, but it was nothing like what she felt here.

[lizlives]

I feel like all discussions about the positive and negatives of the Duel of the Fates script got kinda hijacked by a bunch of people saying it was embarrassing and making jokes about one line that wasn’t even spoken aloud the characters. I also feel as if people who simply read the script and thought it was pretty good, were overtaken by the people who knew the writer/director’s previous work and knew it to be bad.

I understand Colin Trevorrow is not well liked for many reasons, but I didn’t know that prior to reading it, so I overall enjoyed it prior to that. I don’t understand why no one could get past that fact and just take the script at more than face value and see past a couple of flaws.

Also I just feel as if people just… ignored how much better it was compared to Rise of Skywalker, like, by a country mile. Rise was straight up depressing, nothing about it was good, Duel of the Fates was, by comparison, not depressing, which is already an achievement before you get to specific details, and those details are No return of Palpatine, a tone and level of stakes befitting the end of the saga, an actual role for Rose that respects her character, genuine connections to other areas of Star Wars besides the original trilogy, a character arc for Finn, Rey is still a nobody, themes that actually meaningfully follow up Last Jedi, and a villain arc for Kylo that doesn’t end with him being abruptly redeemed.

And it’s not perfect, the relationship between Rey and Poe is stupid and makes no sense, and the introduction of Plagueis’ master is sloppy, but other than that, I loved the broad strokes of everything described.

But I think the thing that makes everyone seemingly rejecting it on principle without really thinking about it make me kinda upset is that it probably would’ve gotten better if Disney hadn’t decided to base Rise entirely off of reactionary responses to Last Jedi.

Idk, maybe it’s not as good as I think and it’s just better compared to Rise because almost anything is better than Rise, but idk, I feel as if Duel would’ve still been a satisfying ending.

[thehollowprince]

To further add to the Rey Star Wars movie... the only thing that would get me to spend money to go see it in theaters is if John Boyega came back. And not just as a cameo, but in a starring capacity.

Like, whatever the plot/conflict is with Rey at the Academy/Temple, Jedi Master Finn drops everything and rushes back to help his oldest friend. Let him be the co-lead the way they tricked him and all of us into believing he was supposed to be in the Sequel Trilogy.

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

The Moon's Lies

Summary: Kylo Ren x named!Reader. It was never going to be black or white, Light or Dark, friend or foe. Who wouldn't let the galaxy burn to keep their loved ones safe?

Warnings: 18+, Murder/"execution," graphic violence, unspoken threat of bodily harm, twisted morals, Kylo Ren being himself

Masterlist

Canon Divergence Notes: There is no Rey. Finn is the destined Jedi, and he leaves the scar on Ren’s face during the climactic fight on Starkiller Base. The only original canon kept after TFA is the destined Jedi (Finn) leaving to find Luke and Snoke pushing Kylo Ren to the breaking point, continuing the student-kills-the-master cycle. Summary: No Rey. Finn is training to be a Jedi. Kylo Ren takes the throne from Snoke.

This chapter is the only pre-TFA part of the story. Everything after that is in the AU as described.

A/N: Holy shit, I'm having so much fun with this. You all have no idea (but you will soon). Out here crafting whole-ass mythologies and cultures for this shit. Literally forgot to post this first chapter because I'm neck-deep in the next. Please, please, please do comment! I post for interactions with friends new and old. Otherwise I'd hoard all my embarrassing stories like the grouchy old dragon I really am.

1.

He needed to maul something.

His lightsaber practically vibrated on his belt, answering the pull of itching hands as Kylo Ren stormed into the planet-side depot. Civilians scattered from their orderly lines in front of the First Order’s regional bureaucratic office, startled like so many kaadus. The system had so little to offer, the Order couldn’t even justify a separate complex for the port authority and notary.

A shabby little base on a barren little world. If he could, he’d sink his saber to the planet’s core and kill it all in one, fell stroke.

What a waste of his time.

The rebel insurgent had nothing. They hunted him to the edge of the First Order’s territory only to discover a dead end whose handful of contacts met the heat of Kylo’s blade long ago. They’d missed something. He’d missed something. Instead of fresh leads into the Resistance’s plans, he would leave empty handed. This detour took weeks, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that their enemies were planning something. But in the end, the only thing the dead Rodian had been good at was hiding. Any trooper could’ve shot the scum and been done with it. No need for the Knights of Ren.

He looked like a fool.

Rage tipped over the edge of reason, flooding logic, and plans, and anything but the dark urge to destroy.

He marched through the door, well ahead of his knights. The stormtroopers were nearly as eager to avoid his wrath as the civilians, and he burst into an empty hall. The faintest conversation reached him, a hum of living Force further inside. He followed it. Down the hall. Around the corner. Gathering fuel to further spark his hate for this place and all the people in it as he approached.

A crisp, core world accent he had no doubt belonged to an officer carried farthest.

“I’m afraid it just won’t do. If you want clearance to leave for Gan Moradir, I’ll need those credits in my hand. Today.”

“You already have them.”

The second voice almost surprised Ren. He could barely feel the speaker’s signature, and he rested his hand on his saber, ready for a battle. No one unskilled in the Force could veil themselves like that.

From the sound of things, he had two valid targets to suffer for his humiliation. With new focus, he prepared to take the last corner, the heat in his blood ready to burn through the traitors and fools ahead.

Just out of sight, the officer tsked. “Not enough, I’m afraid.”

“Do you plan on demanding more every time we visit your system?”

“I could.”

“I’m afraid that will be very bad for trade.”

Ren saw the pair before they saw him. A First Order corporal with his hands clasped behind his back and a sneer on his face stood opposite a civilian girl, both oblivious to their approaching doom.

“Corporal.”

The man practically jumped out of his uniform, eyes bugging wide. The girl barely even flinched, following the officer’s panicked gaze with guarded curiosity. Ren would deal with her after he thinned the ranks. It was important to cut out rot before it spread, after all.

“Lord Ren!” The officer’s voice wavered, nearly breaking like a teenager’s as he took two steps away from the civilian and bowed to his superior. “My apologies. We’d heard your knights may be in the system, but we had no idea you’d actually –”

“What is the First Order’s standing on bribery?” He asked like he didn’t know simply so the criminal would recite his own conviction. Let him know how he’d failed. Let the fear string out his last moment.

The corporal’s mind couldn’t keep pace with his spiking adrenaline. He shifted, eyes darting for an escape, an excuse, as he tried to drag an explanation through his dry mouth.

“Well, I…”

Ren had no mercy. And no patience. His hand clenched over his blade’s hilt, and he imagined he could already feel the subtle vibration as it came to life to end another’s.

“Well?”

The corporal swallowed, and Ren watched the confidence roll away down the man’s throat.

“Soliciting or accepting bribes in any form, be it credits or goods, is a class three offense, sir.” He spoke clearly. Responding to a clear order with clear rules he would’ve learned by rote in training. He knew the consequences for disguising this theft behind the First Order’s banner, and now Ren would reveal a new part of the corporal. Blood. Bone. The messy things he wrapped out of sight beneath his skin.

Ren hummed. A mockery of consideration as he swayed nearer, forcing the smaller man to stare up at a painful angle. Decapitation was too neat for such a selfish little traitor. Maybe he’d sheer away half the man’s chest. Or leave him in a dozen pieces for his command to discover.

“I see.” He stalked forward another step, savoring the building dread like a cool wind beneath his mask. “And what is the punishment for class three offenses?”

The officer’s lingering hopes to put off his superior with a lie – Blame the girl, his mind screamed – finally crumbled. The dread Force-wielder had caught him. He knew enough to damn him. He’d been judged. He’d been sentenced. Only one step remained. Kylo Ren loomed, a Loth cat playing with vermin caught raiding the larder, and his uniform was an invitation to deal justice, not the shield the corporal once believed. He backpedaled, nearly foaming at the mouth as he spluttered a final plea for mercy.

“Lord Ren, please! I merely –!”

Red light and a crackling hum cut him off.

Ren speared the traitor through the belly, letting the fool totter backwards, wheezing for a breath that would never come. The corrupt officer groped over his exposed diaphragm as he tumbled to the floor, and his head met the polished floor with a crack as he continued pointlessly gasping.

It wouldn’t be a quick death.

Satisfied, Ren looked at the second actor in this little scene. She’d barely flinched when he struck down the corporal, but her attention remained fixed on the dying criminal. Ren waited for the inevitable wave of panic, ready to toy with a fresh target, but the life ending at her feet held her gaze. Something about her blunted his senses, and he struggled to pry into her mind beyond what she projected: caution and studied calm.

Maybe it was shock. Or maybe she needed reminding of her own mortality.

Ren cut off the corporal’s death rattle with a stroke of his saber, and as the head rolled across the hall, the girl finally looked up to meet his gaze. He glowered back through his visor, itching for her reaction.

She bowed. Maintaining the poise of a diplomat who hadn’t just witnessed a brutal execution, she dipped at the knees, dropping her eyes in polite deference before rising to meet him all over again. Still as a lake.

His lightsaber hissed, twisting in his grip. He pointed it under her chin, demanding she answer every question he hadn’t asked.

“You.” He didn’t bother with the show he’d put on for the corporal. Her careful placidity irritated him, and it felt like her very presence muted his senses when he hunted for her fear.

He looked again, noting the grey stone pendant and loops of beads she wore. A memory teased the edge of his lingering rage, dragging his focus away from his quest for bloodshed. He’d seen that material before. He recognized the numbing sensation in the Force from a failed project to build better restraints for Force sensitive prisoners. “What is that?”

Her fingers rose to the pendant, brushing over an unfamiliar pattern of engraved stars.

“It’s Selenubis, sir.” She paused, flicking her gaze over his mask like she might find a clue to his expression. When he didn’t answer, she pushed ahead. “A traditional protection charm from Lethe. If it’s offensive to the First Order I can come again with out it…?”

Behind his mask, he ground his teeth, clawing against the foggy wall so few of her thoughts penetrated. Selenubis proved useless to the First Order when it became clear the stone did as much to shield a prisoner from other Force users as it did to shackle the target.

She wanted to return without her shield? She wouldn’t leave with it. He’d hack it off her neck, and if he didn’t like what he found in her head, she wouldn’t leave with that, either.

His flickering saber reflected in her eyes as he angled it up, forcing her to expose her throat as red lightning reflected in bottomless reservoirs of control. He didn’t believe for a second she was ignorant of the power in her little trinkets and beads.

Just as he prepared to cleave through her jewelry – and likely leave a deep burn to remember him by – one of his knights burst into the hall.

“Commander. The Supreme Leader requests your presence. Immediately, sir.”

His foiled rage rebounded, arcing like a current through his bones and burning him with his own intent as he growled in frustration. The sound hissed through his modulator.

This would have to wait.

Deactivating his saber, he stepped back, pivoted on his heel, and marched back the way he came. He would have to relive his humiliation at his master’s feet, and there was no time to vent his frustrations.

He left no orders in his rush to answer his master’s summons. No one held the girl or even took special note of her name and business as he knelt before Snoke’s projected image, and by the time he returned to the hall, she was gone.

The documentation the dead corporal had been withholding, a pile on the floor by his headless corpse, had gone with her.

[dalekofchaos]

Context

Context for choice 3.

Here is what I mean about The New Republic and The First Order.

What happens after you win a war? How do you not make the same mistakes or become the thing you fought. What happens in a power vacuum? The New Republic should have been the dominant emerging power, and the Remnant should have been a small, secretive, unknown order, striking strategically from the Unknown Regions where they hid, and causing fear and panic to spread in the NR. After the Galactic Civil War, The New Republic commanders the Imperial Fleet and starts protecting systems who join the NR, all while chasing down and fighting any of the Remnants (Moffs, Warlords, Crime Lords, etc) who have grabbed power in the resulting vacuum. We could have seen an evolution of ships from Old Republic to Empire to NR ones. They could have renamed Star Destroyers into Star Defenders. Hell, they could have had a Republic of independent systems, each with their own sizable military, so that power isn’t centralized.

But no, instead of telling an interesting story, we are force fed the recycled poorly written rehashed Rebels vs Empire and the Rebels are made to be weaker than The First Order. The First Order are a terrorist movement, they should not be reigning after Hosnian Prime’s destruction, ESPECIALLY AFTER LOSING STARKILLER BASE!

Choice 4. Here is how I would give Kylo Ren motivation as to why Ben Solo fell and his main motivation as Kylo Ren.

Choice 6. I don't think there was absolutely no need for a Palpatine clone and eventually Palpatine himself(🙄) we all knew what was happening around the time this trilogy was being made. Trump. Base Snoke around the mango Mussolini and his lunatic fringe followers. An Alt-Right cult leader who cultivates the worst people imaginable. All The First Order needed to be was pointing out The New Republic brought the galaxy to an age of scum and villainy. A lawless state that usurped the rightful rulers that brought law and order. Basically "Make the Galaxy great again with Imperial Greatness"

You see, originally Lucas was going to make Palpatine JUST a politician and base him around Richard Nixon.

“George Lucas has spoken on various occasions of the way that the Nixon administration and the Vietnam war had an important influence on how he shaped the plot of the early films in the saga. The impact that these two events had an American in the 1970s started him thinking about the ways in which democracies can sale and how they deteriorating to dictatorships when corruption goes unchecked. He’s quoted as saying that Nixon - Who he viewed as having subverted the Senate and as acting an increasingly imperialistic way - what is the direct inspiration for Emperor Palpatine the supreme leader of the evil Empire in the first Star Wars trilogy”

So I don't see why they couldn't do something similar with the CLEAR FUCKING EVIL going on in the world at the time this trilogy was being made. No Sith master was needed.

In this scenario, I would call The First Order, The Imperium

Now you might have questions. What about the Stormtroopers and Kylo?

Stormtroopers? Don’t abduct kids, nationalize and recruit them willingly. Abducting children and training them to be Stormtroopers instantly made The First Order out to be cartoonishly evil from the start. So what do you do instead? Use propaganda. Nationalize them. Make them believe The Empire was right and convince them that the life of a Stormtrooper will help bring order in a chaotic galaxy. We’ve seen cults do something similar, Far Right Wing groups do it and we’ve seen Trump radicalize and nationalize white supremacists, so it’s not impossible for The First Order to do the logical thing.

Finn only leaves because he sees they are murdering unarmed civilians and chooses to leave. He is an example that it isn't too late to leave harmful fringe cult movements.

So how would Ben turn in this scenario? He's radicalized by Snoke. Ben starts hearing passionate speeches in the senate and Ben is moved. "I know he opposes my mother, but he's making a lot of sense" "He's right, we need to bring order to the galaxy" and Ben is radicalized by this Imperium movement and what he believes is Snoke's righteous cause. To Snoke, Ben represents everything great about the Empire. Snoke collects Sith Holocrons and uses the holocrons to turn Ben Solo into Kylo Ren.

In this scenario, I wouldn't redeem Ben. He is far too gone. He's committed atrocities in Snoke's name, for The Imperium and to bring order to the galaxy. While Finn represents those who could break away from Right Wing movements and Cults. Kylo Ren is far too gone, he's radicalized to the point where he's a die hard believer like Hux and Phasma and he's willing to fight and die for this indoctrination.

Choice 11. The Episode IX rewrite with Ben living and Reylo ending

Choice 12. The original plan for the Sequel Trilogy was to just get three young directors together to direct the Sequel Trilogy. It was supposed to be JJ, Rian and Colin Trevorrow, but Colin's IX was bad and his Jurassic World trilogy was terrible. So I would make either Matt Reves or Greta Gerwig as the director for Episode IX and ideally they would plan the trilogy out together instead of JJ setting up Mystery Boxes and expecting Rian and others open said mystery boxes and Rian subverting expectations.