#redemption arcs count

[charmwasjess]

Everyone wants to talk about the war crimes but not the fact that Dooku's solar sailer makes him the only green energy ecofriendly villain in the Star Wars saga.

[bloodstainsontengensfloor]

Luke calling Percabeth an old married couple just to remind OG readers that Luke doesn’t have romantic feelings for Annabeth this time around 😭

[glitter-lisp]

nobody look at me but im thinking so hard about the abernant sisters again

[this-acuteneurosis]

So Im all here for the Pretty Ladies who dress nicely doing all the politics, wonderful court intrigue right here, are we gonna talk about in the back ground the majority known Male characters are in War killing dying thing? this story IS about the back room deals and others as main setting, (although we should tease you about dodging the wars in Star Wars sometimes just as a little poke.) curious cause the 4 main Male politco 2 are enemies in Rush and Palps. Kamino had a fem evil Senator! use??

Who wants to talk about ✨🌈Palpatine🌈✨!

There haven't been a lot of opportunities to talk about the structure and the influence of our main villain textually in the story, because Leia is kinda blind to her own bias, and also a lot of stuff that I have as part of his character just...doesn't come up.

So, keep two things in mind as I talk about DLB Chancellor Sheev Palpatine and pull back the curtain just a little.

His character is coming pretty exclusively from the OT and PT movies (with minor exceptions).

I'm taking advantage of a lot of silences and time period circumstances to draw conclusions about his character, so don't be surprised if I say something that isn't said out loud at some point.

Ready? Let's go!!

The OT features an overabundance of male humans in positions of power in Palpatine's government. This may have been balanced out slightly by novels that I haven't read or newer shows that I haven't watched, but the people Palps promoted to his special seats of power (Moffs, military leaders) are overwhelming human men. If we stretch canon to include the two Clone Wars cartoon series, the only women brought into Palpatine's plots are brought in by Dooku or other associates, not Palpatine himself. Of the three apprentices Palpatine has, two are human and one is humanoid.

I don't think I'm breaking anyone's brain to assert that Palpatine is sexist and racist. I know I'm not the first person to suggest or write this sort of character.

What I'm going to assert, beyond those points, is that Palpatine is only really impressed with himself, and assumes that anyone lacking qualities that he has is progressively less useful and important than him. So he's also, for lack of a better word, Force-ist.

(Ugh, nope. I still don't like it, but I don't have anything else.)

Palpatine absolutely has loyalists and panderers that are women. But as far as DLB is concerned, he's not promoting them, searching them out, or impressed by them. So women are going to be antagonists in this story more incidentally. On a small scale. Major antagonists are going to end up frequently being male and human. And I'm not going to try and change that.

Only tangentially related, but a little important because Leia comes into the Senate through Padmé's office, because of the prejudices listed above, I will pretty much die on the hill that Palpatine loathes Padmé. And he really loathes that he loathes her. That he has to have any feelings about her at all.

She's young. She's a girl. She isn't Force sensitive. He plucked her out and carefully curated her early political experience and was probably violently influential in her success in getting elected the first time. He had a tiny, fragile, 14 year old stumbling under the weight of the crown, ready to start his civil war and initiate the end of the Republic. She gets him elected. His plan is flawless.

Until it turns out that she has a spine, and humility. She has the courage to face danger and the grace to bow to another sovereign power. She trusts Jar Jar Binks when he suggests that the gungans have an army. Like this is somehow a viable plan for taking back her people, when Jar Jar isn't even slightly popular or powerful.

And she wins. Palpatine loses Maul, he loses Naboo, and he loses the opportunity to start a war. She sets him back a solid decade, at 14. On a hope and a the thinnest apology.

DLB isn't so much about creating a perfectly equitable Star Wars universe. I'm not equipped for that, and it wasn't the goal. This story is about a bunch of ladies doing politics and kicking Palpatine's plans to the curb because he was always vulnerable to the people he dismissed the most.

Palpatine's plans had the Jedi and the Senate in a steel trap of lose-lose situations. But he loses, over and over, to kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and diplomacy. He's stymied by it. He literally can't plan for it. I've had all sorts of fun having Leia and Padmé do "mother-daughter" politics together, but I love that in RotJ Luke Skywalker looked the Emperor dead in the eyes and said, "No. No you can't make me do this." Like his mother would have. It had to drive Palpatine completely nuts. And it worked.

Anyway, all that to say, there's a lot of story left, and I'm not going to give away all of Palpatine's plans and plots. But part of how Leia got this far without any resistance was that Palpatine saw a short, unconnected woman from the outer rim, had no idea she could use the Force, and went, "Not important."

And he was very, very, very wrong. :D

[joemerl]

I'm watching a special called Alien Xmas on Netflix, and it is blatantly someone's Invader Zim fanfic with the serial numbers filed off.

[plusultraetc]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESENT MIC, I got you (super)villainy <3

[nightowl1556]

Varian: I think we're gonna have to kill this guy, Zuko.

Zuko: Damn.

[lacrimasaintegabriel]

Would like to add this shit here since Toshizo’s is the only sane person out of the two

Be like Toshizo btw.

[lifblogs]

.

[charmwasjess]

Star wars holiday special, but it's entirely cast with muppets and the only human actor is Christopher Lee reprising his role as Count Dooku as he copes with his Sith Life Day ennui and depression (he sings)

[jaded-ghoster]

Horikoshi’s just knocking these out

[herrkalt-m]

theoretically-- in this iteration , while arktos WOULD take a backseat in season 2 , he would grow increasingly & increasingly fed up with humsin's bs before ultimately doing everyone a favor .

[polestargios]

don’t mind me i’m just gonna yell about axel greylark in the tags

[evilkitten3]

Wanted to tell you that YES while all that happened bakugo is (even tho being held by multiple people) just laying on the ground for multiple chapters

it's incredibly funny to me bc like irl it's been. almost a year since that chapter came out. and he's been lying there the whole time. he's one of my favorite characters but tbh i really want the story to finally cut back to him and have edgeshot pop back out and go "yeah no there's nothing i can do he fuckin dead" bc it would be so freaking funny.

ofc it'd also be pretty bad writing but that's neither here nor there

[carnelianwings]

Things I wish I could see more often in fiction: Have The Hero reach out and accept The Corruption wholeheartedly with both hands and getting absolutely Drunk On The Dark Side until The (Friendly) Rival (or The Crush, sometimes they’re the same person even) swoops in for an I Know You Are In There Somewhere Fight (with a side of “This isn’t you”/”Remember what you originally wanted to do”) and a massive helping of (homoerotic) Ship Tease. Those arcs always hit just a little different when it’s the hero who gives in and accepts it with both hands instead of having it forced upon them by the enemy. There’s something about it being a Personal Choice that’s just so much more impactful.

It also provides a lot of good context for The Hero’s speeches later on if there’s another repeat Corruption Arc and it’s their allies (or Crush, take your pick) who ends up on the receiving end of The Corruption because then the empathy and compassion the hero shows through their speeches isn’t just lip service - they’ve been there before and knows how it feels and how awful they felt after. It also means The Hero forgiving said allies almost immediately makes sense - their allies did that for them once, this is The Hero doing the same for them. It adds so much depth to the All Loving Hero that I wish they’d do it a little more often.