#obi wan is a true master in the force as a ghost bc he realizes forgiveness is key to change not JUST goodness!

[merrysithmas]

*putting on my anakin apologist hat*

no one can ever fully understand or judge what Anakin/Vader went through because he is a literal demi-god made by the Force itself. THE FORCE. the intangible, all-powerful force. yes, his choices are his own but his path is out of his control as per his Force-determined destiny. this is canon, my dudes.

only those he encounters who have compassion (luke- his son, obiwan-forcebond dyad, padme -marriage) can even come close to understanding the suffering & confusion of his inner life. everyone else just uses him or sees him as evil (palpatine, the Sith, the Senate, even the Council to a small degree, - the Jedi are good but they still canonically used him as a tool to fulfill the prophecy).

anakin and vader can't be technically 100% beholden to human morality bc he is the ✨Force✨ itself. and at all times his destiny is directed by the Force's will in response to the behaviors of those around him. in an ideal world, he could have just killed sidious and helped retrofit the Order, but he couldn't pull that out of thin air because destiny is complex and involves the wills, actions, and desires of many other people coinciding.

he fights becoming evil with all that's in him- until he finally falls when faced with a choice... not for the gain of power or to express hate because that is not Anakin! destiny instead uses his love for his child and Padme against him.

palpatine manipulates him with love because Anakin is full of love at his heart!!

even as Vader reigns supreme Anakin surfaces to free Obi-wan of guilt in OWK.

he has two halves, anakin and vader, just like the FORCE because he IS the force. anakin is goodness. vader is evil incarnate. he is both. he is a god of Balance.

he was literally born to fall and create balance, one way or the other. yet he fought it, with his human soul, every step of the way.

he is a tragic hero who fulfills his destiny and then !!!! returns to the good prime ego Anakin, to be a Jedi (his life long wish), with all the wisdom and knowledge of suffering borne from his time as Vader, accepting both as his identity, as the personification of what we all (and The Galaxy) must learn....

stop fighting with ourselves & each other. take responsibility for our choices even if we couldn't help it.

he realizes something few else realized (not the Sith or Jedi): he like us all, are Both!!

therefore, he becomes a true Master and is allowed to live an eternal life at one and at peace, with Obi-wan.

mic drop

[stairset]

Since the series finale is coming up I wanna talk about all my absolute favorite Rebels episodes, in the order they aired bc ranking them would be so hard and I'm lazy, and why I love them because I feel like I owe it to a show that's been a huge part of my life for the last few years and was one of the things that got me through the nightmare that is the teenage years.

Rise of the Old Masters: I think every good show has that one great episode early on that just tells you "this is gonna be a good show, we have a plan" and gets you hooked, and I believe this was that episode for Rebels. Spark of Rebellion was a solid start, Droids in Distress and Fighter Flight were slower episodes to help you get to know the characters a bit more, and then this episode is, for lack of a better term, when shit started getting real. Ezra and Kanan's relationship starts developing, the Grand Inquisitor is introduced in person and makes a great first impression, we get some of our first major Clone Wars connections, etc. It also uses Yoda's famous "do or do not" line to deliver a nice message. "I'm not gonna TRY to teach you anymore. If all I do is try, that means I don't truly believe I can succeed, so from now on, I WILL teach you".

Path of the Jedi: Once again, Kanan and Ezra both have a lot of development here, both as a team and as individuals. The crazy visions that Ezra experiences were some of the darkest and most intense things in the show at the time, and Frank Oz guest appearing as Yoda's voice and Ezra finally constructing his own lightsaber are both great crowd pleasing moments. It also happens to be the first appearance of the world between worlds, though neither Ezra or the audience realized it at the time, which just goes to show how far back the writers planned everything out.

Call To Action: Tarkin makes his debut and calls out our other villains on their relative incompetence throughout the season, even going so far as to, erm, make an example of two of them, and succeeds where they have failed, even capturing Kanan in the process. Despite the cliffhanger, it's a bittersweet ending as the crew does succeed in their mission to deliver a message of hope to Lothal and the surrounding systems. This is where the stakes start to raise, and it shows.

Fire Across the Galaxy: Ending the first season with a bang, the crew rescues Kanan on Tarkin's star destroyer above Mustafar, the stolen TIE from Fighter Flight actually ends up being relevant, the Grand Inquisitor is sent off in the perfect way, the crew joins with Pheonix Squadron, giving us our earliest look at the growing rebellion, and of course the moment everyone remembers, the reintroduction to Ahsoka Tano, and her former master not long after. It was the perfect way to end the first season while getting everyone hyped for the next.

The Siege of Lothal: Everyone was absolutely hyped for the season 2 premiere and it did not disappoint. While many worried that Vader would be toned down for the show, he proved to be as threatening as ever, outsmarting our heroes time and again, kicking Kanan and Ezra's asses, and putting his pilot skills to use by taking on the entirety of Pheonix Squadron himself. And of course there's the unforgettable scene where he and Ahsoka sense each other and James Earl Jones delivers the iconic, bone chilling line "the apprentice lives".

Stealth Strike: This episode was just fun, plain and simple. Kanan and Rex's bickering, Ezra's interactions with Sato, it was all hilarious and entertaining. It was sweet seeing Kanan and Rex finally start getting along, and it also happens to be one of the few times Commander Sato played a major role in an episode. Despite Sato's fairly minor role in the show I always liked him, so seeing him in the action with the lead characters was nice.

The Future of the Force: The Inquisitors are after force sensitive children to ensure that they don't grow up to become Jedi, and it's up to Ezra, Kanan, Zeb and Ahsoka to stop them. Kanan, Ezra and Zeb having to get out of the apartment building with the Inquisitors hot on their trail was intense and lead to an entertaining chase through town, and it all culminated in the elic fight between Ahsoka and the Inquisitors where we see her brandish her white lightsabers for the first time. The episode also serves as a bit of a continuation of the Clone Wars season 2 premiere, in which Sidious hires Cad Bane to help carry out a very similar plot.

Legacy: The episode starts off intense with the Empire attacking the Rebels at their current location after Ezra accidentally gave it away in the previous episode, while the rest is much slower, as Ezra follows a trail of force breadcrumbs to Ryder Azadi, from whom he finally learns the tragic fate of his parents. I think I speak for a lot of people when I expected him to reunite with them, so the revelation of their deaths was a bit of a shocker, and Ezra's reaction, his vison of being with them on a better Lothal, and Kanan's statement that they'll live on in him were all beautifully tearjerking.

Shroud of Darkness: Even though this episode basically exists for the purpose of setting up the season finale, it still stands on its own as a fan favorite, and rightfully so. Our Jedi Trio of Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka see lots of cool, trippy visions in the Lothal temple, including the Grand Inquisitor and the revelation of his backstory, the return of Frank Oz as Yoda (this time face to face), and of course Ahsoka getting confirmation that Vader really is her old master, with Matt Lanter reprising his role. The episode also has a number of iconic shots, including the temple guard avatars surrounding the Inquisitors, Ahsoka seeing Yoda in an homage to The Last Crusade, and Vader entering the Lothal temple at the end to meet with his Inquisitors in person.

Thhe Mystery of Chopper Base: A rather straight forward adventure, featuring the crew having to rescue Rex from some creepy ass spider creatures. Like Stealth Strike, this episode is simply fun. It's got so many great interactions between our main crew. But there's also a lingering feeling of dread throughout because, because you know there gonna be separated soon and that something's gonna go wrong because, well, it's Star Wars. It leads into the season finale perfectly.

Twilight of the Apprentice: We all remember this one. We all remember our exact reactions to everything in it. Maul is introduced, Ezra starts being tempted by the dark side, the Inquisitors are all killed off, Kanan is blided, and of course Ahsoka and Vader have their climactic duel that was built up for the whole season and did not disappoint, and the last minute or so simply showing the aftermath of everything that happened as “It’s All Over” plays is so effective with absolutely no dialogue. Not only that, but, and I’ve said this before, this episode is also the point where all the big parts of the timeline directly come together. In this episode, Rebels, Clone Wars, the prequels, the originals and even the sequels are all directly connected in a way that they never were before, and it’s not until a later episode that they’re all connected on that same level again. This episode, and subsequently the whole show, is the fulcrum of the Star Wars saga.

The Holocrons of Fate: Maul makes his return and has his sights set on both the Sith holocron from Malachor and Kanan’s Jedi holocron so that he can combine their power to learn any knowledge he desires. This leads to our mind-blowing climax in which Maul learns through the light of the holocrons that Obi-wan is still alive and sets off to find him, while Ezra sees a vision of twin suns, also pointing to Obi-wan, albeit in a less direct way. While the whole episode is entertaining the ending is truly what sets its place as one of the best simply because of the epic factor.

The Last Battle: This episode is simply a half hour of pure unadultered Clone Wars nostalgia and I loved every goddamn second of it. Everything from the battle of Christophsis soundtrack to the return of the droid humor from tcw to General Kalani from the Onderon arc being there to the heroes having to team up with the droids thanks to Ezra being the voice of reason and making them realize they were all just pawns for Palpatine and he is their true enemy, and the yellow Clone Wars style title card at the end with the Clone Wars theme playing during the credits, it’s just a giant love letter to the entire Clone Wars fanbase, a thank you for helping the crew get where they are today. It shows how much they truly appreciate their fans, which shouldn’t be a rare thing with content creators but it is.

An Inside Man: I have a sorta complicated relationship with Agent Kallus, who I guess isn’t an agent anymore but that’s beside the point. I don’t like him that much as I feel his redemption arc could’ve been handled much better and he could’ve done more to earn it, which I’ve talked about before. Yet despite this, I love not only this episode but another Kallus centered episode later on that I’ll get to. This whole episode is intense and excited. Mister Sumar, a minor character from season 1, is reintroduced only to be brutally killed by Thrawn, seeting the stakes for the episode, and establishing Thrawn as an effective villain. While Thrawn’s episodes before this one were more about him simply studying the heroes from behind the scenes, this is the point where he starts taking direct action against the heroes, and does it damn well. He figures out all their tricks that all the Imperials before him overlooked, and Kanan and Ezra only barely get out.

Visions and Voices: Maul returns once again to finish his mind connection with Ezra, leading to the return to Dathomir where the ghosts of the Nightsisters serve as the Guest Appearance Of The Week and posess Kanan and Sabine in rather creepy ways, Ezra also discovers Obi-wan is alive while Maul finds out where he’s hiding, and of course Sabine gets her hands on the darksaber. Like Shroud of Darkness this episode exists just to set up a climactic fight in a later episode, but still stands on it’s own.

Trials of the Darksaber/Legacy of Mandalore: I put these together because they’re basically a two-parter and because I love them for largely the same reasons. These were the first Sabine episodes where she finally got some real, major development as a character. Previous Sabine centered episode seemed to all follow the pattern of “have some dialogue hinting at her backstory that we give away in the sneak peeks then no other answers” and it was frustrating because beyond that those episodes were solid episode, but the way they kept promoting them to be bigger than they were did effect my enjoyment of them at the time. These episode finally resolve that problem and give us payoff to all those hints, and boy was that payoff satisfying. We get the backstory of the darksaber, Sabine training, we’re finally introduced to her family, and the final battle between Sabine and Gar Saxon is simply epic.

Through Imperial Eyes: This is the other Kallus episode that I love despite my “meh” opinion of the character. The banter between Kallus and Ezra is very entertaining to watch, Kallus’s plan for framing Liste as the traitor to keep his cover is very clever, though obviously not clever enough to fool Thrawn, who once again proves to be a great villain and shows that he can hold his own in a physical fight, and of course Yularen appearing was cool.

Twin Suns: The long awaited final showdown between Obi-wan and Maul, who actually finally dies for good, like is really, seriously, legit, for real, in actuality, finally permanently dead, deceased, lifeless, killed, devoid of life, sleeping with the fishes, an ex-person. At first I was in the crowd of people who were like “what the fuck” at how quick he went out, but in analysis I wouldn’t have it any other way. It shows how much Obi-wan has wisened over the years whereas Maul never learned, never changed, and tried the same thing he did on Qui-Gon, and it proved to be his final downfall. The way Obi-wan holds Maul’s body in his arms the same way he did with both Qui-Gon and Satine so many years before, and shows sadness and pity that it couldn’t have turned out differently is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. The cartoons made Maul such an interesting character, and cemented him as one of my favorite villains, and I couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to this decades old rivalry.

Zero Hour: While not as mind blowing as the previous season’s finale, Zero Hour is still and intense and action packed way to conclude the season. We see the end of Pheonix Squadron and the beginnings of then true Rebel Alliance, Sato gets an epic and heroic send off, the fight in space with Ezra and the Mandos is epic, the Bendu gives us a glimpse of his true power, and Thrawn is as great a villain as ever. The whole thing is simply epic.

In The Name of the Rebellion: We finally saw the Rebel Alliance on Yavin 4 in all its glory, Saw makes a return and, as I said when the episodes first aired, I believe the Moral Ambiguity with his character, while still not perfect, was handled better here than in Ghosts of Geonosis, but i don’t feel like repeating myself so just look the post up if you haven’t read it already. Anyway Saw’s interactions with Ezra and Sabine were a lot of fun to watch, like if we’re still giving everyone space fmaily nicknames then Saw is like the slightly crazed but still kinda cool uncle in this episode. All the connections to Rogue One were a ton of fun to piece together, and it was great to finally see a giant kyber crystal that’s actually fully animated. Also Jennifer Hale was in it so that’s pretty neat.

Flight of the Defender: A very simple and straight forward episode. Ezra and Sabine steal the TIE defender prototype, they crash it and hide the hyperdrive, we meet the white lothwolf who helps them get back to their friends. I can’t even really explain why I like this one so much tbh, but I do.

Jedi Night/DUMJE: We all know why these episodes are here. I couldn’t ask for a more epic and heartbreaking send off for Kanan’s character, and I’m glad that they dedicated the entire following episode to showing how the rest of the cast deals with their grief in different way rather than glossing over it and immediately moving on to the Mortis stuff. It’s surprisingly rare for characters to get to properly grieve in this franchise despite death being so common. Obi-wan, Galen, Han, Luke, the entire population of Alderaan, the other characters have to get over these things pretty quickly so it’s nice to see a more realistic aftermath for once.

Wolves and a Door/A World Between Worlds: I’ve made my thoughts on these episodes very clear since they aired on Monday, which is that they are quite possibly the most mind blowing thing I’ve watched in a very long time. The connections to Mortis and callbacks to all the movies and to Clone Wars, the voices in the background, the beautifully animated moving pictures, the return of Ahsoka and the revelation of what happened to her, Sidious making his debute with Ian McDiarmid himself providing the voice, it’s all incredible to watch. Like I said about Twilight of the Apprentice, this episode is one of the few times where we get an idea of just how connected everything really is, that it’s all one big story. No wonder the two episodes are also so tightly connected to each other, they truly are where all the parts of the saga come together in ways they never could otherwise.

[isaakfvkampfer]

fic rec and fic-induced headcanon

Some SW fics I really love and would like to recommend. Some may be considered reaaaaaally weird and mind-blowing but all of them are brilliant! They inspired me and now my headcanon is reaaaaaaally fucked-up... You might want to read these fics first bc my half-borrowed headcanon is full of spoilers for them.

Out of the Dark Valley http://archiveofourown.org/works/6281581/chapters/14393407 Breaking the Future to His Hand http://archiveofourown.org/series/525610 Not In His Plans http://archiveofourown.org/works/5111396/chapters/11759570 Rococo http://archiveofourown.org/works/9101827 Sedition http://archiveofourown.org/works/8836729

Don’t read this half-borrowed headcanon if you are not prepared. It’s really fucked-up.

Plagueis is basically gay and he likes young boys. Palpatine is asexual and he only has an eye for power. The old perv uses Palps for several decades in every way, for he is the Master and Palpatine is only an apprentice at the time. Like in the Plagueis book, he dreams that they will rule the galaxy together, and Palpatine gets rid of him with Force-lightening. (This paragraph can be seen as a summary for Darth Videtur’s Breaking the Future to His Hand series. It’s her headcanon.)

Obi-Wan pines for Qui-Gon. Unfortunately, the latter is basically straight. He wasn’t that hard-core when he was younger, but his relationship with his Master which was full of unexplained sexual tension ruined it. He has been a lady’s man since then. He and Tahl had been dancing delicately around each other since they had known each other. Tahl died, of course. Qui-Gon treats Xanatos like a son he has never had but raising him in the Jedi way just makes it worse. Xanatos’ betrayal breaks him. He knows Obi-Wan has a thing for him but pretends he never sees it. Qui-Gon has a unique way of hurting those he cares most. He never realizes it. Not before he dies.

Pansexual Obi-Wan leaves a trail of ex-girlfriends/boyfriends/animal friends and unrequited love affairs. Some of his lovers are dead. And those relationships happen to be the ones he treats more seriously. He sees Anakin as a son and when his padawan grows older, a brother. He appreciates Anakin’s striking beauty, talent and vigor. If the young man courts him after he’s knighted, Obi-Wan won’t say no. He treats intimate relationships like a Jedi that even many of his fellow Jedi can’t understand. He finds that Anakin falls head of heels for the ex-Queen of Naboo and decides to respect Anakin’s choice so he never mentions it to others. He thought that Anakin was straight. Obi-Wan gets into a non-working relationship with Cody. 80% friend-with-benefits, 20% something else. Cody is gonna made a move for Obi-Wan when Order 66 happens.

No matter what Obi-Wan thinks, Anakin is not that straight, and he never thinks Obi-Wan as his brother, only a father figure, teacher and friend. He is attracted to Naboos. Like a duck reckons the first thing it sees as its mother, Anakin is greatly influenced by the Naboos he encounters. His crush for Padme should have stayed as it is, a crush, but it’s not. It’s been smothered for too long and becomes an obsession. Anakin also falls for Palpatine. His day-to-day life in the Temple and relationship with Obi-wan(the mixed working and family relationship), the entertaining and relaxing out-of-Temple time with Palpatine(friendship), and his imaginary romantic relationship with a girl he hasn’t seen in 10 years were the three fulcra for his life as a padawan. He opresses two of them – for the Jedi can never know about it – and the third one just grows and draws some elements from the other two. Thus his secret pining for Palpatine. Besides, he thinks Palpation is as Force-sensitive as a brick so his mind can run freely when they are together...(Thanks to Not in His Plan I got on this ship...)

When Anakin meets Tarkin in TCW, they become good friends. He starts to doubt many things. And Palpatine and Tarkin being old friends doesn’t help in quietening those doubts.

Ahsoka and Barris come together and end up in a relationship after Order 66. Barris was bitter about Ahsoka before the Temple bombing incident. (This headcanon is taken straight out of the prequel story of Out of the Dark Valley.)

The Empire replaces the Republic. Tarkin and Vader are the infamous Imperial terror duo. Their friendship remains. Vader soon discovers that Anakin Skywalker’s estimation of Tarkin’s private life is totally wrong. Tarkin is no celibate middle-aged work-driven gentleman. He’s been popular since his school days. He conquers women, men – all humans of course – but stays single. The relationship is never long. Years passes, and Vader discovers that he is the only one aware of this.

Palpatine’s propaganda advocates that working hard day and night is the only way to gain power, money and respect. Vader, Tarkin and he himself are the poster boys – look at us, single, rich and powerful and you all should WORK HARD AND PRAISE OUR NEW ORDER~~ Sate Pestage has been pining for him for decades. He has known him since the Emperor was an ambitious and handsome red-head Naboo noble. His devotion to Palps never wavered even if the other man has changed greatly. Palpatine knows that, of course. He keeps manipulating him without guilt.

Rumor mills run high that Grand Admiral Thrawn has a thing for the ysalamiris he keeps around. The ysalamiris are on his command chair, in his bedroom, under his sheets, anywhere he goes. It started in the joke mills. Some lowly officers’ drunk words. It evolves quickly and the originators quit the job and run to hide under some stones in the Wild Space or the Unknown Region after they discovered what they had done.

(This one starts basically as an AU of Rococo and takes many critical events off Out of the Dark Valley in later plots) Leia offers to marry Tarkin in exchange for the survival of Alderaan. Tarkin agrees, but he also states that the Death Star will stay in orbit around the planet before the wedding is complete. The wedding is held three days later. Bail has informed the Alliance to move the base off Yavin IV and in no condition should they contact Alderaan again. The day after the wedding, Tarkin takes Leia back to the Death Star and asks her to contact his father to disarm any form of planetary defense and give up the location of the Alliance’s base. Leia wants to negotiate. She tells Tarkin that the Alliance has changed its base and they don’t know where. Tarkin smirks and tells the operator to fire when ready. Leia nearly gets onto her knees. She asks if there’s any way that he will leave Alderaan alone. Tarkin says there’s none. Seconds later, Alderaan is gone.

Things of the fic Sedition happens. Tarkin and Vader’s relationship is getting even weirder.

Leia tries to assassinate Tarkin countless times but to no avail. Rumours spread around the Alliance that Leia is now an Imperial. Tarkin told Leia about the history of the Republic from another angle. Leia’s worldview has changed but she doesn’t want to believe it. In her heart she knows she is more an Imperial than she would like to be. Anyway, this won’t affect her plans for revenging Alderaan. Once an Alliance assassin comes to kill her, for Alliance comes across serious setbacks which is actually the spies in their own base’s doing but blames it on Leia. Leia is in another attempt of assassining Tarkin and she nearly succeeds before the Alliance assassin ruins it. The poor man is Force-choked by Leia in her rage and Tarkin finishes the job with a shot. Tarkin is intrigued that Leia is Force-sensitive. He tells Vader about it. Vader is in need of an apprentice. Leia has other plans and she does need training.

Vader has been searching for his son Luke Skywalker at the time. He doesn’t get Luke. He does get Obi-Wan. He uses some Force-illusions to convince the stormtroopers that in his fight with his old Jedi Master, the old man vanishes into thin air and becomes a Force ghost. That’s not the truth. The truth is that he betters Obi-Wan in combat and secretly imprisons him. He actually has no plan to kill his old teacher even if he’s been fantasizing it since Mustafar. And Obi-Wan tells Vader that there’s one secret that no one knows now except him. Vader knows it’s true and he also knows torturing is no use and he can’t get into the other man’s head without killing him. Obi-Wan stays on the Executor as Vader’s secret prisoner.

Luke and Han Solo are Alliance’s last hope. They make trouble all around the Empire. Palpatine knows that Vader is looking for Luke. He just sits comfortably in his throne far away in Coruscant and watches with popcorns in one hand and a goblet of Naboo blossom wine in another.

Han and Luke gets in one Imperial gala in disguise as some alien species. They find Leia. Luke says that he and Han don’t believe the girl he saw in R2-D2’s holo projection will take the Empire’s side, and they are smuggling her out. Leia refuses to go with them. Against her better judgement, she admits that she is learning from Darth Vader so she could kill Tarkin one day and even the Emperor himself. She doesn’t say she wants to kill Vader because she learns that for all the closeness between Vader and Tarkin, the Dark Lord actually hates the Death Star. Besides, she knows that without Vader’s help, she can’t take out Palpatine.

Luke is pissed. He tells Leia that Vader kills his father. They don’t notice in their heated discussion the said Dark Lord silently comes.

“I am your father!”

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

Han is made into a wall decorator, because he sees something in Solo’s eyes when he looks at his son, and he DOESN’T LIKE IT. Vader then gifts him to Thrawn as a return of favor – he has promised the Chiss one day he would get him some unique art that he has never seen. He doesn’t care if the Grand Admiral appreciates his dark humor.

At some point Vader has moved Obi-Wan to Tarkin’s flagship, Executress. He can’t risk Palpatine’s inspection. Tarkin seldom stays on his flagship any more. He spends most of his time on the Death Star. Luke is put into the cell next to Obi-Wan. Vader wants to know if these two old acquaitances get together, Obi-Wan might loose his tongue.

Luke expresses his frustration at Han being taken and his anger for Leia refusing to come with them which led to their capture. He also confesses Princess Leia looks fantastic in person and is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen blahblahblha. Obi-Wan doesn’t expect that, and in a hurry he tells Luke that Leia’s his twin sister. Both Tarkin and Vader got the video feeds. Vader is too stunned to think of anything else, while Tarkin comes to the most bizzare realization of his life that he just sleeps with both father and daughter.

--The End—

Well, Tarkin might be considering eliminating Palpatine along with Coruscant by using the Death Star. I think Leia and Vader have to convince him otherwise. They might need to kill him idk. Thrawn hasn’t decided what he is gonna do about the Death Star. It’s both a threat and a unique weapon. He might decide to use it just once against the lurking unknown threat. With his passive-aggressive way against the Alliance, the latter survives longer.