#like it’s the same thing with Leia and Vader

[swedenis-h]

Change

[autumnhobbit]

this also lends comedic potential later whenever Luke meets Ahsoka

Does kind of crack me up that they made the plot of Kenobi ‘baby leia is captured and obi wan has to go rescue her,’ because you know what would have 1. not broken canon, 2. made sense & 3. sounds far more intriguing as a concept? Ahsoka rescuing baby Leia.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Knowing

I have just had the worst, or best, brainwave and I need to share it. 

Here is an AU for you.

Vader thinks that he killed his wife and child, right?

Right up until he meets little Leia Organa when she is 10 years old. Like his one brain cell woke the fuck up when he was confronted with a passionate, angry little girl with Padme’s eyes and his chin. This is maybe a month after she was kidnapped and returned to Alderaan. Leia decides that she would need to learn how to be a senator and insists that Bail takes her with him to the next session of the imperial senate.  

Bail does not want to bring her to the imperial senate. However he knows very well who her birth parents were, it is either Bail brings Leia to the Imperial Senate or Leia brings Leia to the Imperial Senate, probably bringing with her someone she really shouldn’t (Like actual Obi Wan Kenobi-I just want you to picture for a moment, because Bail certainly did, looking up and realizing that Leia is charging down the halls outside his office, dragging with her a bemused and sandy Obi Wan, both in badly conceived disguises).

Bail is super stressed as he tries to run a rebellion while riding herd on his well meaning but very direct 10 year old daughter on top of his normal duties as an imperial senator. Bail is also very afraid that the moment the Emperor sees Leia, he will make the connection between Leia and Padme Amidala (The emperor does not socialize with the senate any longer, thank the stars). He has no idea that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, so has no cause to be more careful than normal (because Vader) about Vader seeing Leia. As such Bail does not even notice when Vader stops to consider them from the shadows. Leia is haranguing another planet’s senatorial aide who had chosen the wrong moment to make a bigoted joke. 

Vader is very abruptly, though mentally, thrown back to this very hallway 12 years earlier where he watched his wife do the same thing, for the same reason, possibly to this same aide. Though Leia is still a child and Padme was an adult, he can still see his wife in this little girl.

The realization that this is Padme’s child hits him with the force of a Ventanor. Followed immediately, before he even realized that this meant that his child was standing in front of him, by the soul deep knowledge that she must be protected from the Emperor at all costs. 

Vader had known for years that his suit had been designed to cause him more pain, he just thought he deserved it. The thought of Palpatine getting ahold of Padme’s daughter was abhorrent. Vader sticks to the shadows and watches, seeing how well Bail loved and protected Leia. 

While he is thinking(read Obsessing) about his daughter, the part of him that is always centered on Obi Wan points out that his old master had been one of the last people to see Padme after Vader choked her. But the little voice that spoke in Padme’s tones piped up, the shock of Leia living being enough to finally make this little voice loud enough to be heard, saying that until recently Obi Wan believed that Anakin Skywalker was all the way dead, he was protecting their child as best as he knew how. 

And Vader has issues with just about every choice Obi Wan Kenobi ever made. But he will admit that hiding Padme’s daughter was the best option. 

As Vader knows that paying too much attention to Leia would draw the Emperor’s attention, he would be willing to wait until the right moment to get his daughter back. His one concession to his need to protect her was taking one of his personal guard, one of the few units still made up almost entirely of clones, and assigning them to be Leia Organa’s bodyguard, her shadow (I also want you to take a moment to consider what that did for Bail’s stress level).  And then Vader gets to planning. 

With his one brain cell awake and focused on the Organa’s it takes Vader all of 15 minutes to realize that Bail Organa is running the Rebellion (I want it to be clear, this is not a slight on Bail at all, Anakin Skywalker was a war general, well educated through the Jedi on a number of subjects, and does have a fair measure of politics learning from both his former master and his dead wife).  However Vader is no more loyal to the Empire than Anakin was to the Republic.  In fact, upon realizing that Padme’s daughter had lived Vader firmly decided that he needed to find a way to kill Palpatine to crown Leia.  With the realization that Bail, and likely Leia (neither Vader nor Anakin have any idea what activities are appropriate for a 10 year old), are part of the Rebellion, Vader decides that The Rebellion would succeed (or everyone would die trying). 

Note: Vader only really gets away with no one realizing that he now supported the Rebellion because, well, no one can quite believe that Darth Vader supports the Rebellion. Most people think there is a new type of Space Madness, and that one of the symptoms is hallucinating Darth Vader giving you intel for the Rebellion.

By the time Leia was a teenager, rumors abound about the odd way that Vader acted around her. By sheer happenstance (and some judicial violence on Vader’s part) these rumors had never reached the Emperor. A good deal of these rumors implied that Vader was looking to the Princess of Alderaan as a wife.  The reaction Vader had, the only time it was brought up in front of him, was…impressive, even for the amount of violence he normally dealt out. Still there are members of Vader’s personal guard who watch over Leia whenever she is on Imperial Center, and no one wants to repeat the time when she was 12 when one of Bail enemies tried to kidnap her for ransom.  It took an entire corps of engineers to put those levels back to rights (after they scrubbed the blood off).  

So we get all the way up to the timeframe of ANH. The Death Star in this does not start out under the control of Darth Vader. It starts out under the control of Tarkin, it is important to note this. Leia still sends out R2D2 and C3P0 to find Obi Wan Kenobi, none of that part changes. 

It is after Leia is captured that Darth Vader shows up (does he lurk silently in any system that Leia is due to be in as often as he can get away with…why yes, yes he does). Tarkin had wanted Leia tortured, however no one wanted to find out how many decks Vader would spread their entrails across for touching her.  Vader arrives on the bridge just as Tarkin is threatening to blow up Alderaan. Tarkin orders the weapon to begin its charge. 

Leia, Leia who is so like her mother in that she will use every weapon in her arsenal, turns to Darth Vader and speaks to him for the first time. ‘Please’ she said, no effort to hide her distress, ‘please save my planet’

Something Leia had no cause to know-An angel who she resembled once thanked Anakin Skywalker for saving her planet. 

Tarkin is dead almost before she finishes speaking. Vader orders the DS weapons to power down and disengage, which is done post haste. Then announces that Leia Organa was now in control. 

So Leia now owns a Death Star (genuine article-never used). Leia is not sure if that is how this works, but no one is arguing with the tall man in black who has OPINIONS and will enforce them.  Leia manages to communicate this to her parents, who take a shuttle up to the space station to figure out what the fuck is going on, and what, if anything, they need to do next.

Two hours later: Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, R2D2, C3P0, and Chewbacca have just been caught trying to sneak onto the Death Star. The Organas are still on board, trying to get answers (In that time Vader has said precisely five words to them ‘You have raised her well’).  It is to this room that the troopers manning the station (who are deeply confused and a bit conflicted because it seems like they may have all been forcibly defected from the Empire, but no one is willing to disobey Lord Vader) bring Obi Wan and co. and present them to Leia, as she is considered in command.  Somehow Luke’s full name (I kind of picture him still dumbly introducing himself to Leia, followed with ‘we’re here to rescue you’) gets used before the situation deteriorates. Which naturally causes everything to deteriorate further and faster than before.  

Far away on Imperial Center, the Emperor pauses in the middle of a hallway ‘I feel’ he says to no one ‘a disturbance in the Force.’ another pause ‘like some shit has just hit the fan’

Far away on Dagobah Yoda looks up, ‘weird, shit just got’

[marvelstars]

“He should have known better.” Leia passed the electrobinoculars to Han. “He was a Jedi.” “He was a kid with a dead mother.” Han raised the electro-binoculars, but he seemed to be looking more toward the banthas than the bones. “He vented his anger on the ones who killed her. I might have done the same thing.” “That doesn’t make it right,” Leia said. “And it doesn’t make me a Sith monster, either,” Han retorted. “What he did wasn’t evil, it was human. Later, he became Darth Vader and did a lot of terrible things, but don’t forget that he’s the one who killed the Emperor.” “You’re saying you forgive him?” Leia asked. “After he froze you in carbonite?” “I’m just saying that without him, Palpatine would still be Emperor.” “You’re saying Darth Vader saved the galaxy?” Han shrugged. “Well, Anakin Skywalker. Think about it. If he’d have been a nice guy, do you think he’d have ever gotten that close to Palpatine?” Han continued to watch the banthas through the electrobinoculars. “Maybe that was your father’s destiny all along, to save the galaxy just like his mother thought he would - well, maybe not just like she thought. But he did save it.”

Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning

[yanderes-galore]

Hi, could you please do a yandere platonic darth vader? Thank you!

I can try, sure! If something is OOC, I'm so sorry, I still struggle writing Vader.

Yandere! Platonic! Darth Vader Concept

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Kidnapping, Isolation, Brainwashing, Overprotective behavior, Violence, Murder, Forced companionship.

Vader, or even Anakin, would not be the best father.

If things didn't go wrong, he'd probably be loving to his kids.

Yet at the same time, he'd just make an action at some point to poison that bond.

Vader was under the impression his wife and child died.

Which made him who he is now.

In reality, he had three.

Luke, Leia, and you.

He never found out about any of you until much later.

I think it would be an interesting idea if you took a different path than Luke and Leia.

Like, maybe you went to help them during the Death Star and had no idea they were your siblings. (You could just have been raised beside Leia as a childhood friend or something or found them later)

Unfortunately, however, you end up being taken captive by Vader.

Which leads to Vader finding out you're his kid...

Which begins the obsession.

I'm assuming he knew you were his kid via looks and feeling drawn to you (The Force).

So, as OOC as this may be, imagine this...

Vader decides to keep you alive instead of executing you in order to "parent" you.

You hate him yet Vader feels you're a second chance.

This is before he even knew Luke was his kid.

I imagine it would be similar to when Vader said he could convert Luke to the Dark Side.

To protect your life, he'd tell Palpatine you could be useful in tracking Rebels.

Granted, you aren't going to like his plans...

But as a prisoner, your say doesn't matter much.

It would be even more interesting if you were capable of The Force, too.

Vader might've made you either an apprentice or had you help him in other ways if you were.

It's a hard pill to swallow when you learn the real reason Vader took you in.

He's your father.

Even then, you still struggle to play nice.

Knowing he's your father makes you feel sick.

He's never too affectionate, like he's unsure how to approach you.

Yet he teaches you and garners your obedience through manipulation and fear.

He's a quiet man, the only way you know of his presence is his breathing.

He doesn't expect you to like him, even after the truth.

He doesn't expect mutual love, either.

You make him conflicted... reminding him of his one true love.

Again, you may not care for him, but Vader shows he "cares".

He finds time to train you, he gives you Stormtroopers, he protects you.

He does strange little things that one could consider caring or attentive...

Yet you're so separated from one another that it doesn't mean anything to you.

Vader may view giving you guards as protecting you, but to you they're just wardens.

If Vader could ever will himself to say he loves you, it means nothing to you.

He's not a father to you.

Even if he tried he simply couldn't be.

Vader would end up brainwashing you as his captive.

He does everything he can to make you forget the Rebels.

He may not even tell you about your siblings, just to make it seem like he's your only familial connection.

Eventually you don't have to be kept as a prisoner.

He constantly gives you the option to be something more if you just listen.

He does his best to convince you he cares.

You're the closest thing he has to what could've been.

Luke and Leia want him dead.

Yet he's messed with you enough to confuse you.

Eventually, well, what other choice do you have besides joining him?

He's your father, he cares about you...

By now, he's all you have.

He'll train you to hunt Rebels, to be on his side.

He defends you from Palpatine, keeping you under his wing.

He's not afraid to kill, for both his cause and you.

If he killed in your name, he justifies it.

He tells you it had to happen.

You've seen him kill rebels, friends, those you considered family...

And he tells you it's necessary.

You aren't like them.

Rebels are not the good guys, you belong beside your father.

He'll ensure you know that.

He'll make sure you never stray from him.

That alone is another motivation for him to sear through the flesh of another Rebel with his saber, glancing back to make sure you watch.

You'll never leave his side.

Even if he has to lock you away, it's to ensure you stay with him.

So he never loses another one he loves.

Vader himself knows he's not a good man.

Let alone a good father.

Yet you both know he's your father...

There's no one else you can go to now that he has you.

[marinamar4]

i think the most unreal thing about the sequel trilogy isn't anything about rey… it's the fact that ben didn't know his grandfather

and i don't mean the fact that he was vader, but that, having proven the existence of force ghosts, i'm 100% sure that anakin would have done the impossible to keep an eye on his only grandson

(and cry to obi-wan for being so good to leia that he even named his son ben. obi-wan keeps an eye on him too, but less, he's dealt with enough skywalkers in life to continue stressing out in death, even if baby ben doesn't do any crazy maneuvers yet)

(i imagine him flying toys and spaceships over baby ben to make him fall asleep, and when he grows up, teaching him mechanics and how to deal with r2-d2 and c3-po)

(leia wouldn't be too happy about that, but hey, she's a free babysitter and she knows how to deal with a sensitive little one. the force. anyway, if anyone can figure out how to shoot a ghost with a blaster, it’s her)

(luke has played mediator more times than he can count between father and sister)

so when snoke starts whispering to ben, well, the kid doesn’t pay much attention. he’s heard enough stories about the dark side from his grandfather anakin and his grandfather obi-wan to believe him blindly

and then the darth vader reveal happens. and the first thing ben does is not demand answers as to why he wasn’t told sooner, but laugh. because he finds it funny that one of the most feared creatures in history is the same one who disappears when his mother gives him a dirty look, who looks like a scolded puppy when his friend tells him something, who runs away from a green goblin so he doesn't hit him with a cane, and seriously, why doesn't anyone believe ben when he says he's seen darth vader's ghost cry during sad moments in romantic holo-movies?

and when snoke insists that his grandfather would want ben to continue his "legacy" of oppression, ben dismisses him and says "yeah, no. all my grandfather wants is for me to continue flying spaceships and fixing droids. oh, and also, the only thing he agrees with my mother on is that I should get a good girlfriend, marry her, and have lots of babies. for something they both agree on, i'm not going to ignore that!

[cdroloisms]

always absolutely fucking hilarious when sbiers in their self-righteous need to assert themselves as better than everyone else in the same way they've done since 2020 even when they're apparently 'out of the fandom' and consider the whole thing cringe and dead (skill issue, methinks) go all um acktually no one cared abt any of the lore except for c!sbi. like well for one thing i don't know of a c!sbi personally speaking i'd like for you to point out to me where character sleepy boys inc ever like, existed, because it certainly wasn't in any dream smp i watched like is there even a single moment where the four of them interact together alone??? and secondly, it's always reeeeeeally obvious when they mean this as a diss on The Other Side Of The Fandom (read, dream team and co) when two-thirds of the dream team just did nawt have any interest in being part of the 'main characters' in the first place and would much rather do their own thing and roleplay in ways that wouldn't get picked apart for ages on twitter dot com, and the other member of the dream team played a character so integral to the lore that even c!inniters will often name him before they name their own goddamn guy because they cannot keep his name out of their mouths (see, the meme i saw like literally just yesterday that boiled down to me, after learning the dream smp lore: i need to kill c!dream). like bro yall are c!inniters you're not fooling anyone you think that the entire story revolves around this one teenager being abused and then completely ignore the months of abuse that was shown on screen for us before exile. "c!sbi" like cmon now guys the ao3 pages are like, right there, we all know who ends up being the villain for ur sbi fanfic that has its foundations in a dynamic that literally never existed in canon.

like "no one cared about anyone's lore except for wilbur and tommy--" well yes they were in fact some of the main fucking characters. imagine someone going up to you and going "well no one cared about the lore in the star wars original trilogy except for luke and leia" like damn really?? (now imagine this same person trying to convince you that darth vader's role was unimportant, actually.) like yeah the dream smp involved a lot of separate storylines and each of those storylines might've had their own "main cast" of characters but i'm also not blind bro, the story that started at the start of the fucking server and the start of the fucking lore was ABSOLUTELY the "wilbur-dream-tommy" triangle that is, in fact, the story that the l'manburg revolution was built on and the story that remains the throughline literally until tommy and dream have their confrontation with a nuke coming down over their heads, something that the characters themselves acknowledge with the repetition of the idea of tommy and tubbo against dream. LIKE ALKJSDFKJSADF yeah bro there were main characters in the tommy-dream-wilbur story an that's also the story that people tended to be invested in in the beginning, to the point where even other self-contained stories in the dream smp absolutely referenced and emulated it (cough cough, las nevadas). like, why are we acting like it's at all groundbreaking for people to be invested in THEEE fucking story the one that first started to exist because at the time basically no one else was part of The Roleplaying Trio and then slowly got padded out and developed as the server developed more and more into the lore server?

and it's the fact that none of these people, too, would deny that they care about ex. c!schlatt in manberg, right, or c!quackity in relation to c!wilbur's deal, etc etc whatever. like breaking news you gaf about The Story as a dream smp fan wow am i supposed to be like, surprised. do you want a medal. LIKE LKJASDJF

[posting-for-the-void]

So a lot of twins claim to have a sort of twintuition thing where they understand each other easily and often without words, and sometimes have high-level empathetic reactions to things that are happening to the other twin, even if they don’t know what’s happening to the other twin because they are in different locations at the time. There’s obviously not a lot of scientific evidence to back it up, but, eh. It’s a cool concept.

But what if, for the Skywalker twins, the force just ramped that up to 100.

Fic-ish thing below the cut.

Five-year-old Luke is learning the Tatooine slave language. After all, Aunt Beru used to be Beru Whitesun, before she married Uncle Owen, and his mom was Grandma Shmi, who used to be a Skywalker before she married Uncle Owen’s dad. Beru helps the recently-escaped hide in the secret compartment in the wall of their house more often than Owen does, but he claims it’s for plausible deniability, whatever that means. Leia, on Alderaan, begins mixing the harsh, clicking language with Basic subconsciously, but only when talking to herself in private. After all, she is a princess, and they must choose their words carefully in front of others.

Leia at age ten argues with her cousin about whether droids deserve respect, and across the galaxy, Luke is absolutely overcome with the need to thank every single droid he’s ever met for helping him with anything (he did this anyways before but for some reason he has to do it again Right Now).

Luke gets to drive a speeder by himself for the first time at 13 and Leia is practically begging for someone to take her out in a hovercar and go as fast as possible. And if that can’t happen she’s going to get the space equivalent of a Formula One racing sim, goddamnit.

Seventeen-year-old Junior Senator Leia’s heart skips a beat every time someone mentions Tatooine. She isn’t sure why. Obi-Wan lives there, yes, but something in her just knows that isn’t the real reason. Luke, meanwhile, yearns to see the galaxy, and often finds himself outside at night, staring at the sky. His eyes, for as long as he can remember, have always felt drawn towards a specific star. He asked Uncle Owen about it once when he was younger, and he gruffly explained that it was the Alderaan system. He feels like there’s something there, waiting for him. He’s not sure why.

And then they meet in person, and it’s “You’re a little short for a Stormtroope—Luke?”

“Leia?”

“Do I know you?”

“I don’t think so. Can I hug you?”

“Of course, you idiot. You’re my twin brother. You don’t even have to ask.”

“Thanks, Leia. You know, I had the weirdest dreams when I was ten about you and Old Ben.”

“Oh, yeah, that was actually real. I got kidnapped.”

“Cool.”

“Is it true you got nicknamed ‘Wormie’ by your friends?”

“…Yeah.”

And Han is so confused, but it’s fine, and within two hours their conversations are more like, “Hey, Leia, could you pass me the—“

“Yeah, do want the green one or the—“

“No, the blue one, probably. I need it to—“

“Oh, yeah, of course, that makes sense.”

And then Yoda tries to do the whole “Attached, you are,” routine, and Luke is like, “Well, duh. I’m only here so I can teach Leia everything I learn as soon as I get back. I’m just a pilot, which is a lot more replaceable than a princess, so we thought it would be best if I come learn from you instead of her.”

And meanwhile Leia is a lot stronger in the force now, and she meets Vader again and just goes, “Darth Dad, what the actual fuck,” under her breath in the Tatooine slave language, and the hint of Anakin that’s left absolutely freezes. Because Palpatine—Sideous—whatever, he said his kid was dead. He said that Padme died and the kid did too. He lied. And, when he meets Luke later, and he says the same Sithspitting thing, Anakin gets so thrown he accidentally cuts the kid’s hand off. Luke falls, and the shock of it in the force is so strong, and Anakin’s eyes flash blue in grief and love and hope, all at once, and all of the sudden he can think clearly for the first time in years. And his kids’—his kids!—bond in the force is so strong, how did he not notice it before?

And, anyways, I just feel like Skywalker Twintuition would be on a completely other and incomprehensible level.

[eclec-tech]

Let's get into this "Tech is dead" thing...

Until someone from the show confirms that Tech is dead, I don't believe it. We've seen this before. Echo died in an explosion. Nope. Ahsoka fell when she dueled Vader. That didn't stick. Maul, Palpatine, Leia, Mace Windu...okay, that last one is still in the air. But my point is that we never saw a body. Face it. If they wanted Tech dead, they would have given him a shoulder wound. I lost track of how many times that proved fatal this season.

For starters, it would be a very bad move! Tech was probably the most loved character on the show even before they further developed his character this season. To remove him from the show would deprive a lot of people of someone who gives them a feeling of true representation in Star Wars.

Then there's Phee. That last "conversation" she tried to have with him was awkward and very specific. They animated him in such a way that he was obviously avoiding eye contact. He was uncomfortable. He didn't want to say goodbye. I don't think he knew how. It looked to me like they were setting us up for a reunion scene.

Now let's talk about Hemlock. Him being in possession of Tech's goggles is another reason I think he's alive. When he held out the goggles and said, "I'm afraid this is all I could salvage," it suggested to me that Hemlock has him. It doubly struck me since he had just used the term "fascinating" in the same spirit of scientific curiosity Tech had used earlier in the season with the Zillo Beast. The only way I can see Tech being alive but not captured in this scenario would be if there is a raging river or deep crevasse beneath the train and all they found nearby was the goggles. (Which means that, if he is alive, we will finally get that goggleless Tech we've been wanting to see so badly all this time.)

Let's not forget the most important thing of all. Tech is an incredibly capable soldier. He is resourceful, exceptionally well-trained, and was fully kitted-out when he fell. It's not hard for me to imagine him using a grappling hook and cable or other means to keep from falling to his death. He said it himself. He has the "ability to think clearly in stressful situations". And if Hemlock has him, he's going to need it.

All this gives me great hope for season three. If Hemlock does have Tech, he would have him transferred to Mt. Tantiss on Weyland. Now, Crosshair and Tech are together with other no-longer-Imperial clones. Omega is there with Nala Se, who wants Omega as far from there as possible. Nala Se is no longer in a cell, but working in a lab—under guard, but with access to equipment. Factor in Omega's clone sister and this has all the earmarks of an epic escape episode.

Fingers crossed.

[writerbuddha]

How could Padmé tell there was still good in Anakin? Was it a force thing or just unwavering faith?

I don't feel that "just unwavering faith" carries the right connotations. She sure had trust and confidence in the fact that good cannot be fully eradicated from someone, as good and evil are conjoined and interdependent and consisting each other, but this wasn't exactly a new information for Obi-Wan, that's not the point of her last words.

Padmé knew that there is still good in Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the same way Luke and Vader knew that they're actually father and son: "Search your feelings. You know it to be true." I think it's appropriate to call this a "Force thing", but it has nothing to do with one's natural ability to wield the Force, rather, it's the Force itself, that encompasses all living things but also goes beyond them all. It's to know things in the heart, through the heart, it's being told by the little voice inside you, it's being told by your inner feelings. So, she knows this for a fact, and because of this, she dies in a state of hope and profound confidence that it all will be fine, rather than in a state of despair, and she is using her last breath to share it with Obi-Wan.

Also, I'm pretty convinced that Padmé and Anakin were connected when Darth Vader was born, so she was able to actually experience the unity with him, sharing his being, thus, being able to see and feel that goodness within Vader. Just like Luke was able to reach out to Leia in Episode V, that ounce of good that was left in Anakin was able to let Padmé know that it's there and waiting to be given power to.

[varpusvaras]

The days continue like that.

Fox tries his best to continue focusing solely on Leia. He feeds her, plays with her, puts her down for a nap. Feeds her, bathes her, puts her to bed.

They continue to keep watch in turns. Ben stays up first, while Fox sleeps the best he can, and then he stays up until the suns start to rise.

Then they do it all over again.

Ben does most of the housework. Fox thinks that he takes pity on him, and lets him focus on taking care of Leia, instead of making him do any of the maintenance that the house needs every day. Fox tries not to feel too bad about it.

The days and nights go by.

Leia starts to get a little restless. Fox hasn't had the courage to let her outside, in case they are spotted. Or in case there are any of the gangs or other dangers lurking around. Or because the days are hot, and Leia's skin is light and sensitive, and Fox doesn't want to expose her to the suns too much.

He sees Ben watching them. It almost looks like he is getting a little restless, too.

That night, after Fox has gotten Leia to fall asleep, Ben speaks.

"I think we are out of immediate danger now", he says. "Of course, it might just be because they haven't managed to track us down yet, but perhaps we can afford to relax a little."

Fox is not sure if he wants to relax a little.

He is, quite frankly, a little afraid of what will happen if he does so.

He can see that there is something else tied to what Ben is saying, though.

"Are you getting tired of staying inside the house with us around the clock, Kenobi?" He asks.

Ben makes a little huff. Fox doesn't know if it's a laugh or a sigh.

"Not that I don't enjoy your company", he says. "But I do have a job. Or at least I had a few days ago. I might already be laid off for not turning up for my shifts. Things are a bit scarce here, and even though there are various jobs available, getting one that is at least somewhat on the side of legality is always a bothersome thing. And, since things are scarce, they cost credits. Even more so now, as there are three mouths to feed, instead of one."

He looks at Leia, and smiles slightly.

"Even if one of the mouths is smaller than the other two", he says. He sounds fond as he speaks, and there is a look in his eyes that Fox knows.

He wonders who exactly Ben is thinking about when he looks at her.

"I do have credits on me", he says. "A lot of them."

Ben turns to look back at him. He raises a brow.

"And they cannot be traced back to you?" He asks.

"No", Fox answers. "They were reserved exactly for a situation like this. Just like everything else we have with us."

He decides not to think too much about that right now. He's doesn't have the energy to start and really think about how everything they have with them is everything they currently have left.

Ben nods. He is quiet for a while, clearly thinking.

"I will still go out tomorrow, to see if I still have a job", he says. "We do need to get more supplies as well at some point. Might as well do it at the same time."

That is true. Fox has supplies with him, but they are not going to last forever, and they need to keep up a stock, in case they need to leave again.

So he nods.

"Good. I will leave more weapons for you. But do not stay and fight. If they come, flee. Do not worry about me or anyone else."

Fox nods again.

It's for the best. If he flees, they will probably not go after the boy.

"I don't think I could even fight against all of them", he admits. "It would be a losing battle from the start. Most likely Vader himself would come after her-"

He stops talking when he sees the expression on Ben's face.

He looks like he has seen a ghost.

He stands there, his face white and his eyes wide, and Fox isn't sure if he is even breathing anymore.

He looks more like a ghost himself.

"Ben?" Fox calls. He doesn't seem to hear him. "Ben? General Kenobi?"

Nothing.

"Obi-Wan?"

That gets him to move again. Ben breathes in sharply, and his eyes focus fully back on Fox.

"He..." His voice comes out as a strained whisper. "He's...alive? Anakin is alive?"

Fox nods.

Ben sits down on the floor. He stares at the wall, and when he doesn't get up after a while, Fox stands up, and carefully pulls him back to his feet. He walks him all the way to the bed and makes him sit down on it, next to Leia, who is thankfully still sleeping.

Ben doesn't say anything. He just keeps staring somewhere, somewhere beyond the walls of the house.

Fox takes the first watch for the night.

[maidenvault]

RotJ makes a point of letting us know that Leia is Luke's sister, they've known this on some level for a long time, and he probably cares more about her than anyone in the world because this gives so much more weight to his conflict at the end of the movie, and I think this is a huge thing people overlook when they argue that him redeeming his father represents a rejection of the old Jedi ways of non-attachment. Because in the moment he has to let go of Leia and his friends to be able to actually save Anakin.

When Obi-Wan tries to convince Luke that he has to kill Vader and there's no other way, he doesn’t really discuss it as an issue of Luke having an attachment to him. I think he knows this isn't really the Jedi way but just like in the previous war, they don't seem to be faced with any good choices. Obi-Wan believes what Luke wants is truly impossible and, having failed to stop Vader when he could have before, of course he's trying to stop Luke from making the same mistake.

But it's significant that in the same conversation, Obi-Wan does warn him that his love for his sister could be made a liability if he's not careful. When Luke learns he has a twin and reveals how strong a connection he feels with Leia because he doesn't even have to be told who it is, Obi-Wan's response sets up how this will play into the climax of the film:

"Your insight serves you well. Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor."

Then when Luke is brought to Sidious, he reveals to Luke that the Rebellion is walking right into a trap as a way to torment and provoke him. Luke gets angrier and angrier while helplessly watching the fleet get ambushed and finally does just what Sidious wants and tries to attack him. But it's Vader specifically threatening Leia that makes Luke totally lose control of his feelings and fight him in a rage.

Luke is basically facing the same kind of test he failed so badly in ESB by running off to help his friends. When Yoda is trying to make him see he's not ready to face Vader and keep him from going to Bespin, he says something that I think is such an underrated quote in its importance to Luke's whole journey:

"Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could, but you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."

Luke is really lucky he doesn't get killed in Cloud City (or captured, which I think at this point could have resulted in him being turned). Yoda knows Luke is the one person with a chance of defeating the Emperor and Luke just about throws that away.

But at the end of RotJ when Luke cuts off Vader's hand, he surely is reminded of his failure at Bespin and sees the path he's starting down by succumbing to his fears like that again. He stops because he sees he's betraying his loved ones and everything he is. He can only throw away his weapon and confidently tell the Emperor to eat shit then because he's no longer afraid of dying or of those he loves dying. He's done what his father couldn't do and kept his soul intact, which is what Leia would want. Because real love isn't selfishly trying to save someone by betraying what they believe in like Anakin did with Padme. And it obviously has to be an incredibly powerful thing for Vader to see his own son able to do this, even comparing himself to the man he once was ("I am a Jedi, like my father before me").

We remember everything working out okay so it's easy sometimes to forget that Luke gives this triumphant speech when the rebel fleet is getting pulverized outside and things overall still look pretty hopeless. He probably expects he could die at this point. But like Obi-Wan in his own death scene, he knows nothing can destroy him now. And it's the love he feels for his family that gives him the strength to let go.

[the-starry-seas]

New time travel AU where Leia is On Sight with Vader who is just genuinely unable to be prepared for a rage-filled teenager with two lightsabers And Also These Fists

Vader goes down in a heap of sparking circuitry and the Corries are just Staring because wtf kid!

Leia then proceeds to deactivate the sabers, greet the Corries very politely by name, and equally politely introduce herself as Leia Organa.

Fox is groaning internally because there's no way he can pretend that didn't happen, but she's doubtlessly related to Bail, she introduced herself with the same little flair that Bail always did. It's not like Fox thinks that Bail will take it out on him, but it does seem like the kind of thing that will strain their romance.

And then Leia says, quite seriously, "Commander Fox, I'm afraid the dipshit was going to kill you tomorrow. My parents never fully recovered from the murder of their darling mirdala. I travelled through time to save you."

She approaches him with her hands outstretched and he's so stunned that he takes them. Bail and Breha only ever called him that in private. Not even his own shiny had known the name.

"I'm so very pleased to meet you," Leia says earnestly. "I hope someday you can consider me your friend."

She's wearing Bail's ring on a cord around her neck, and her mother's perfume, and the jacket of an Alderaanian palace guard, and she looks so much like home that Fox pulls her into a hug.

"I already consider you my daughter," he assures her.

Which does leave the problem of 'twenty other Corries just saw her murder their commanding officer'. Given the circumstances of her being Fox's daughter - the clones take adoption vows very seriously - and of her having saved Fox's life, they're willing to pretend that they didn't see a thing.

The dipshit gets dumped on a lower level. By the time the mask is found, there's no hope of recovering any clues about who killed him.

There's no mention in the news of the commander's helmet found nearby. Good thing, they think.

Leia returns to her own time. Fox nearly cries to see her go, but she kisses his cheek and assures him that he'll know a much happier version of her, very soon.

He goes to Alderaan. Rubs his thumb over the ring on Bail's hand. Breathes in Breha's perfume. And cries in a way he can't explain, when he's introduced to a baby he's already loved.

[marvelstars]

I really love Luke as a character but sometimes I don´t like how fandom pictures him as this little flower who would not hurt a fly and always tries to seek peaceful solutions to conflicts, like I get it because I don´t shut up about his part in redeeming his father on ROTJ either but people forget he almost killed his Dad before he did it.

Luke isn´t just a sweet little fellow who would his risk his life for friends and family to the last consequence. Luke isn´t just loyal to fault, he also is a soldier and if he needs to take a life because he is fighthing a War he will do it, no questions asked but he also won´t hold it agaisn´t his opponents if they do the same with him because again, it´s a war.

Another thing I love about Luke is that he truly doesn´t care much about authority, he is concious of it and has not trouble doing what his uncle tells him to do or the rebellion leadership tells him or to seek Yoda and Obi-Wan´s counsel when he has doubts but he also gives his own mind and in the end defines his decisions acording to what he personally believes it´s better acording to his personal philosophy, so he asks the rebellion for permission to train as a Jedi and leaves with or without permission, adds his own little mission on ROTJ to take Darth Vader out of the second Death Star before they blow it up and also tells Yoda and ObiWan in no uncertain terms that he wasn´t going to kill his father.

So in short Luke is this

But he is also this

It makes sense and I love that for him.

PD: Shadows of the Empire is from Legends but pictures Luke so perfectly that I wanted to add it.

There is an episode in which Luke and Leia are trying to fight off Black Sun because some of their operatives have been working with the rebellion but also betraying them, Prince Xizor was playing off the Empire and the Rebellion hoping they destroyed each other. So Leia gets into Prince Xizor Castle to spy on him but he captures her using a mind control pheromone so Luke decides to go with Lando, get Leia out and destroy Xizor´s castle while he is at it.

At the same time, Dath Vader was chilling in his own Palace on Coruscant, he was thinking about how to solve the lastest test of Palpatine in which he has to defeat Xizor ´s criminal organization that was growing too powerful within the empire but without his master having to notice it because currently he is an ally of Xizor and Xizor believes he can take Vader´s place alongside Palpatine.

So Vader is chilling and thinking about an elabore strategy worthy of Games of Thrones or the Padrino when his child out of nowhere makes Prince Xizor Palace explode. This act gives a reason for Vader to destroy the rest of his organization because Xizor was also partially working with the rebels.

There´s not need to say Vader was totally heart eyes for his kid after this. Like that´s his boy, look at him go. Also Xizor messed with his Kid, he is going to lose everything, Xizor is actually lucky he didn´t know Leia was also his kid imo. Those Skywalkers :)

[blackkatmagic]

Do you have summaries for the unpublished stories (in the last patreon poll)? I would love to hear more about them!

Absolutely! I realized belatedly and while not massively sleep deprived that I should have put the summaries in the heading part, whoops. :'D

Feral/Plo - identity porn/sugar daddy/biology made them do it AU:

Canon goes AU in that Talzin handed all three of her children over to Sidious instead of just Maul. Fast forward to the middle of the Clone Wars and Feral has grabbed his brothers, both of whom are in a bad way, and skipped out on Talzin/Sidious to hide on a planet that's mostly under Republic control, where he makes a living collecting information/carrying out assassinations for the local crime lord. Enter Plo, who's in the middle of like. the Kel Dor version of a horny season. Not quite fuck or die, but fuck or be distracted and miserable and horny for months. Feral, thinking this will be a good opportunity to gather info on the Jedi, volunteers to help him out by being a sex partner whose sturdiness can stand up to Kel Dor physiology. Except that Plo is nice and Feral is maybe not prepared for that.

Jaster/Granta - Sith empire vs. Mandalorian empire AU with lots of daddy issues:

Xanatos is the Sith Lord ruling over Telos, and Granta plays assassin/weapon for his father, right up until he makes a mistake, a Jedi gets away, and Sith Emperor Sidious demands that Granta be punished for failing. Xanatos promptly sends Granta to murder Mand'alor Jaster, who manages not to die but does clock the daddy issues at 20 paces. When Xanatos completely disavows Granta and leaves him for the Mandos to execute, Jaster offers a deal - he'll let Granta live, but in return Granta will be his consort as a fuck you to the Sith Empire, and use his skill at killing Sith for the Mandalorians. Granta accepts, and they have a lot of messy sex and even messier feelings about it.

Padme/Rex - Time travel/time slips/identity porn/fake Jedi!Padme:

Canon divergence in that Obi-Wan's remarkably stupid escape from Vader's base in Kenobi doesn't work, and Reva ends up kidnapping Luke and Leia both at the same time to bring them to Vader. Padme, vaguely a Force ghost by sheer force of will, realizes that her kids are in danger and gets so angry that she quite literally tears time itself apart, throwing herself, her kids, and Vader back to the start of the Clone Wars. They all end up scattered, though, and Padme, with a brand-new Force sensitivity and Obi-Wan's lightsaber, makes a plan with her past self and goes to find her kids, pretending to be a Jedi to let her move through the front more easily. Which goes great, right up until she falls in with Torrent by accident as they're looking for a vanished Anakin. Rex, for his part, has no idea what to make of this angry, driven Jedi lady who tears her way through the CIS like she's aiming to bring them down all by herself, but is also devastatingly sad and kind when there's no enemy to fight. He does know that he very much needs to keep her alive, though, and given Padme's recklessness and Vader making plans in the shadows, that's the furthest thing from easy.

Tae/Fox - CIS!clones AU/spy shenanigans/fake relationship:

AU with CIS!clone troopers under the command of whatever Sith Dooku can vaguely train/pull out of the mud, wherein Fox is the Marshal Commander of a newly-captured Coruscant under Dooku's control. Tae is a new Knight, following in Nico's footsteps as a Shadow, and when Nico goes missing on Coruscant, he decides to go undercover to look for him. Of course, the best way to do this is to volunteer to help the infamously difficult Marshal Commander, who chews through aides like it's a sport and defies even the Sith. When Dooku starts getting a little too suspicious of both of them for comfort, though, Tae comes up with a plan - fake a relationship and pretend to hide it, and then no one will look any deeper. Fox agrees, still unaware that Tae is a Jedi and an enemy.

Cody/Maul - identity porn/Force-sensitive!Cody/canon divergence

Cody touches the wrong artefact during the destruction of the Jedi Temple and the building of Palpatine's palace, and wakes up back at the start of the Clone Wars, still fighting the influence of the chip. Not willing to trust himself enough to go to the Jedi, he instead picks the next best thing: Maul. Except that as soon as he touches Maul, lost in the depths of Lotho Minor, it's not spider!Maul who crashes down on top of him, but Sith apprentice!Maul, pulled right out of his fight with Eldra but with all the doubts about his path that it raised. He immediately assumes that Cody is a Sith Lord challenging Palpatine, and Cody goes along with it, hoping that Maul will be able to teach him to control all of his unsettling new abilities. He very much doesn't expect the mad sort of devotion Maul brings with him, or the fact that he's suddenly the whole Jedi Order's number one target, thanks to Palpatine also assuming he's a rival.

[elbiotipo]

Since we are already in the "old nerd complaining about star wars" mode, Kylo Ren always just sucked as a character. Not only in the fandom mode that he's a terrible ship with Rey, he's evil and such, but as a character, as a villain. He resembles NOTHING AT ALL to either Han or Leia, physically, personality, attitude or mannerisms, NOTHING so there is no connection. He doesn't work as an isolated villain either, he just doesn't have presence like Vader or is sinister like Palpatine, even Dooku and Grevious are better. And he isn't that likeable to justify a redemption arc, they tried to make a pseudo-Zuko (maybe) but it just doesn't work. He just fails as a villain for me. I guess some people like the emo tortured soul kind of thing but to me he doesn't work. I was going to say he's just generic, but Star Wars is generic that's kind of the appeal. He simply isn't that compelling.

I actually had a character interpretation for Kylo that he's a bit of the insecurities of the sequels themselves made manifest. He knows that he can't be Darth Vader or live up to him, and that fills him with frustration and rage. Similarily, the sequels know they can't fill the role of the original movies and that's reflected on Kylo. It would actually had been fun and intersting to lean into that, he could never live up to being Darth Vader he's not a threat and he eventually realizes it and decides to be something else, and maybe you could set up the sort of arc where he gets put aside for greater threats.

But he feels just terrible as a villain. He has no connection with Leia, Han or Luke no matter how much the movie tells you, IT'S NOT THERE, it's like they inserted A Guy from a vampire movie and gave him a lightsaber. I can't shake the feeling that he just doesn't fit. And not in a good "ooohh he's misunderstood he doesn't fit" he just doesn't, he's not in the same movies I saw. Not even the name "Ben" makes sense (that's for Luke's son, not Han's and Leia). He's just a bad character.

Kylo sucks so much I don't know what to tell you.