#luke's father but broken in the good and the bad halves

[intermundia]

the most amusing and heartbreaking aspect of obi-wan and anakin's relationship throughout the movies, shows, books, and comics is the perpetual vacillation between harmony and discord, praise and blame. they're always coming together with strong eye contact and affection and then breaking apart and arguing, this perpetual dance of pulling together and pushing away, never completely connecting when close but also always returning back together when ruptured apart. their relationship is such a strong bond (an attachment on both sides) but also so fraught with tension and friction, like there are enormous lies that anakin keeps from obi-wan (and obi-wan can sense the dishonesty), and so much masking from obi-wan about the true depth of his feelings (and anakin can't read him). these kind of misunderstandings they have will prove lethal, but they are also capable of such deep understanding. they are so similar, on such a wavelength, as partners capable of incredible things together, two halves of a whole. all of this in canon is entirely platonic, but it's still a messy relationship that breaks categories, like they're brothers but obi-wan is also a father, they're best friends but obi-wan is also a superior officer, they became men together, but obi-wan is also a teacher and guide. it's unstable but also long-enduring as love and hate for the entirety of both of their lives, with their identities formed in relation to each other and dependent on each other (anakin and obi-wan died together on mustafar, vader and ben were born). when vader kills ben, yoda can feel his pain and loneliness across the galaxy, when yet when obi-wan catches anakin in the afterlife and makes him a force ghost by his side it is perfectly understandable. they maim each other, kill each other, complete and compel each other. it's got to be one of the relationships of all time.

[frumfrumfroo]

1-As far as I can tell, the anti-legacy argument from TLJ is drawn from some of the following points: Luke, when facing Ben on Crait, isn't compassionate towards him like he was with Vader, but cruel/mocking, and he names Rey as the "last Jedi" and bearer of his legacy, which people interpret as him writing off Ben as a lost cause, only seeing him as an enemy/worth contempt, and holding up Rey as the true legacy; since Kylo was fundamentally wrong about Rey being “a nobody” which means that Rey

2-choosing to go back to her friends was also proof of the fact that she was right at the beginning of the movie, she was right not to trust him, to believe in Luke, and to wait for her parents, and didn’t have to let go of anything as he demanded; Rey leaves the Throne Room with both halves of the legacy saber means she’s the true legacy, as is Leia telling her “we have everything we need” after she said “my son is gone”; broom boy hammers in the point of the movie that it’s not about where            

3-you come from, anyone can be a hero…and part of that message is the older Skywalker generation embracing these other, “worthy” heroes as their legacies (Rey as the Jedi, Poe as the Resistance) and rejecting Kylo, because it doesn’t matter if he’s related to them, he chose to be evil, they can’t help him, no more Vader-like “getting a redemption chance just because he’s a Skywalker relative” situations. This is what I could gather from reading several anti-legacy articles/metas around the web.          

In response to this post where anon argues the Skywalkers aren’t essential to the Skywalker saga. Thanks for gathering.

1. Except that Luke has a sit down with his despairing sister where he reassures Leia that ‘no one is ever really gone’ re: SPECIFICALLY BEN. They are talking about Ben here, it is not ambiguous or debatable, so Luke explicitly believes that Ben can still be saved. Just not by him. We’re being told to expect a different kind of redemption than Vader’s, it’s not going to work the same way. Which is a good thing.

And when Luke actually speaks to Ben, he acknowledges that he is at fault for this situation and apologises to him. Are they trying to argue this apology isn’t sincere? That Luke is such a massive asshole that he’s mocking the nephew he traumatised? That Luke’s TLJ arc wasn’t about accepting his failure but about learning he should have gone through with murdering an innocent family member in his sleep and should stop feeling guilty about it? Because that would be the necessary implication if he is to be read as cruel and mocking in that scene. Does the narrative blame Ben and paint him as a bad seed who was inflicted on an innocent family? Is he Damien? Of fucking course not. Don’t be ridiculous. Sea cucumbers know he’s meant to be sympathetic.

2. I’m already tired. Okay, as I have made many bitter sarcastic posts about already, Rey’s character arc cannot be a circle. If she was right all along about everything, she doesn’t need to grow and is already fully actualised before we even meet her. But this is a coming of age story, this is a mythic journey about confronting the world and responsibility and the power of the individual to make moral choices. This is a fairy tale about how to become an ethical adult. A protagonist who doesn’t change and doesn’t need to learn anything is a fucking category error in this kind of story.

As previously mentioned, Leia was wrong in saying ‘my son is gone’ and the film is not subtle in telling us that. Rey cannot be the ‘true legacy’ because the narrative importance of the legacy is entirely about the burden it has been to the people who carry it. The whole reason this is an actual sequel and an actual continuation of the same story is because we’re dragging up unresolved trauma around Anakin’s fall, because this is all part of the same question, because Ben was only a target and vulnerable to Snoke because of who he is. Star Wars is personal, always, it’s about individuals and the individual struggles are then a metaphor for the universal. Rey ‘carrying on the legacy’ is meaningless. What is the legacy if it is not both the weight of Anakin’s sins and the deathless hope of Anakin’s redemption and reclamation? Rey alone, supposedly having nothing to do with Big Bad Ben, has nothing whatsoever to do with the legacy.

The point of the Skywalkers is to ask a question about choice and destiny. Ben’s fatalism comes directly from how Leia chose to handle (or not handle) the Skywalker legacy. Han and Ben’s broken relationship is implied to come from it. Luke’s biggest failure and the impetus of Ben’s final fall was his lapse into believing in it. But the problem in the galaxy is not the Skywalkers, the problem is and has always been people making selfish choices. Evil is a choice and not a destiny. Anakin had a choice, Luke had a choice, Ben has a choice.

That is the positive and regenerative part of Anakin’s legacy which needs to be carried forward: that it’s never too late, that there is always a choice. This is what Luke did in saving his father, he extended the grace of unconditional love and reminded Anakin what it was like, he convinced Anakin there was a choice. He demonstrated willing absolute selflessness and showed it was possible, destroying Anakin’s illusions and justifications about inevitability and the inescapable necessity of power and selfishness. Ben has not yet realised this truth (well, maybe, maybe he’s getting there on the floor at the end), but there’s a whole film left to go. He will be faced with this dilemma again.

Rey the Infallible waiting to be informed of her rightness and handed adoption into heroism and importance as a reward for not making choices and avoiding the world has nothing to say about any of this. That is empty. That is totally inappropriate.

What makes her the hero is her compassion and she will be rewarded for that, for her faith and patience, not for never failing, not for not being wrong. Never failing or being wrong is not an heroic attribute anyone has ever had in Star Wars, but love and compassion are never wrong. Literally never. Love will always be vindicated.

3. And, yeah, I think I covered that. Luke and Leia sweeping Ben under the carpet as not their fault or their problem and getting shiny new kids is both proven not to work (not accepting and understanding what created Vader worked out so well) and is a morally abhorrent message at odds with the soul of the saga. The point of Broom Boy is that the galaxy is big and people are inspired, that hope is alive in the most desperate places; it’s a meta commentary about stories and heroes and why we have them, tying in to Luke’s identity crisis and Yoda’s lesson. It doesn’t mean this story is now no longer about the thing it has always been about. All of those themes tie right the fuck back to choices and mistakes and the double-edged sword of legacy.

[blackthornass]

@axoioti here's the murder thing! Sorry it's long I'm on mobile I can't readmore ~ So what you've got to understand is that Peter dated Lukle in high school, but was kind of a prick to her, so they broke up and Lukle started going out with Giselle and they lived happily ever after. Instead of moving the fuck on with his life, Peter stayed bitter towards Lukle and especially towards Giselle for "stealing away his one true love". Also, Peter fuckin loathes criminals because his mom is a shoplifter and his dad has drug deals and ~tragic backstory~ and honestly wants anyone who breaks The Law UFCKING DEAD ™. So like. Course of action is to become a prosecutor because if you're evil and hate criminals if you live in the Ace Attorney universe. Guess who's a defense attorney. Giselle DeLite. Guess who Peter has a personal grudge with a la Godot. Giselle DeLite. Guess who are courtroom rivals. Peter Lockwood and Giselle DeLite. Guess who Giselle's courtroom assistant and investigation partner and fiancée is. (Detective) Lukle Atmey. Everything is fucked. Desirée loves Giselle and she loves Lukle and she stays caught up with their cases. She hears about how Peter is an amoral DICK. She straight up calls him and tells him off and kind of harasses him and makes his life hell becayse, yknow, she's an empty nester with nothing else to do. Peter starts to HATE her and wish he could get her out of his life. Then he realizes how important Desirée is to both Giselle and Lukle and how devastated they'd be if something happened to her. He also thinks about how he could get revenge on both Lukle and Giselle for their "misdeeds". Peter has an idea. So Peter overhears Desirée talking to Lukle after a case, like "hey, want to go on a late night motorcycle run with me?" The two discuss how Desirée'll pick up Lukle and they'll speed through the middle of nowhere in a specific forest because It's More Dangerous On Dirt Roads. Peter is thrilled. Lukle and Des are both wearing Biking Gloves ™ and so is Peter. Everything is perfect. Peter even goes so far as to go out and plant a perfectly placed rock in the road that would absolutely cause an accident whether Des hits it or swerves to avoid it. So anyway, Lukle and Des are on their motorcycle run, having a good time, and then The Rock happens. Both Des and Lukle fall and crash and Lukle is wearing a helmet so she falls and is knocked out, a little bruised, but otherwise fine. She just barely avoids the Bad Burny Part of the crash. Desirée is not wearing a helmet. Peter's been sitting nearby like a fucking owl for the past 3 hours and is fuckin ready to do this man. Desirée is very badly injured and losing consciousness and blood pretty damn quickly. She's bleeding and has a few broken bones and is in no condition to run or go anywhere. Peter is a stabby maniac who finishes off the job via literally going for the jugular. Desirée's thoughts as she's dying are, at first, "at least I got to go out doing what I loved". She assumes she won't be able to get medical help so far from civilization. Then Peter comes and knives her and she's thrown back to being held at knifepoint by the robbers. She uses the last of her strength to try to yell "Ronnie...", half stupidly hoping he comes to save her again, half sadly realizing that she's going to have to leave him. She can't finish before her throat is slit. Peter leaves quietly, but stays in the area When Lukle comes to, she's freaking out and really can't handle this. She's dealt with dead bodies and shit before, she's a goddamn detective and defense attorney's assistant, but this is her future mother-in-law. Desirée and Lukle have been very close for 15 years, and seeing her mangled and dead is sure something else. She picks up the knife and examines it, runs it over the huge gash in Desirée's neck… ...which is the exact moment Peter takes a picture, and turns Lukle in. He's with a member of the police, his own detective (probably a Gumbyrde kid). Peter officially reports the case, and Lukle is arrested for suspected murder. Needless to say, this is awful for Giselle to wake up to. Ron is in a state of grief, and is Absolutely Useless and Depressed for a very long time. Giselle has no time to mourn at the moment. She still is, obviously, and struggles to keep her cool, but her goddamn fiancée was arrested for murder! She has to defend her, because Conflict of Interest is fake. There's a big crying "Giselle everyone thinks I'm a murderer, just like Father!" "It's okay Lukle I love you I'm fighting for you!" scene in the detention center. Here's the problem. Lukle is Giselle's main Investigation Buddy. She goes to crime scenes and spots things Giselle misses and offers fresh insight and pretty much ghostwrites most of Giselle's case. Giselle's just good at delivering it and thinking of counterpoints on the fly. They're two halves of a whole. Giselle is still a pretty damn good lawyer, but she needs to be the absolute best because Lukle is facing death penalty, and she isn't losing any more loved ones. So she's at home, trying to work up the courage to go to the crime scene but actually sobbing and panicking, when the doorbell rings, and Luke Atmey shows up. Giselle HATES Luke, and Luke hates Giselle. She is pissed that he's here. What could he want from her! Everything is already shit! She doesn't need him! But Luke raises a good point. "My dear sweet Daffodil is an Ace Detective, is she not? And that's why you are so successful, you remove the prosecution's unfair advantage? And without her guidance, you are lost. Luckily for you, I, Luke Atmey, may be technically retired, but an Ace Detective continues to be so even when enjoying a life of leisure, and I could spring back to service at your beck and call." Giselle doesn't want to do this. Luke hates Desirée and it feels wrong. But she can't deny that Luke fills Lukle's role enough to work, and she sort of needs that. She asks why Luke would do this, considering he hates her and Desirée. "I've gone through prison as well as framed someone for the very serious charge of murder. Lukle does not deserve an ounce of it. Her life is on the line, and I, her father, would do anything to protect her. Surely you understand." And Giselle does. She'll get Lukle off the hook and bring her mother's killer to justice, she's sure of it. ...there's more involving the case but this is getting long as is and i don't feel like writing a straight up fic I'll add more later probably and turn this into like a real piece of writing that's longer at some point maybe