#restore the Naberrie scenes

[go-see-a-starwar]

Attack of the Clones behind-the-scenes shots: Anidala edition [x]

[countessofbiscuit]

The Colonel & the Margravine of Örtö - “Torture”

. . . . . . . 

Foxiyo Week: Day 3

An extract from Napoleonic!Foxiyo AU, 1808. 

(@foxiyoweek)

. . . . . . . 

As Colonel Fox dealt their hands, his chest ached with the cankerworm eating at his heart. How rationally, how morally convinced was he that he had no right to possess Lady Tchuchinskaya — and yet! the thought of another being the recipient of those soft smiles, the object of those plaintive, affecting eyes, the beneficiary of that sweet laugh whenever she surprized herself by winning a trick, had begun to make him exceedingly wretched.

Fox could not anticipate her debut at court with anything like Captain Iggson's excitement. Some beau or toady or old fogey worth ten thousand a-year and with no wishes beyond his own to consider would take it into his head to scoop her up, never quitting her for an instant; this knave would carry her shawls, hold her fans, offer her her scent-bottles, and admire the diamonds on her bosom which some other Don Juan had gifted her, gazing in uncurbed ecstasy at her every coming and going. 

And these scenes would be inescapable! Lady Tchuchinskaya should be, by her connexion to the Queen, by her intimacy with Madame de Naberrie (which Fox now perversely regretted with all his soul), everywhere he was, eternally before him, always giving consequence and delight to others. He should be miserable in his memory of her, and sorely felt the evil he had invited upon himself by being so absurdly unguarded in his feelings and conduct; and he vowed to heaven to now act only in manner that was right and irreproachable by her or any observing party, and in somewise restore himself in his own tolerable opinion.

[enthusiasticallyobessed]

Okay. I have way too many AUs sketched out, to the point it’s overwhelming, thus I don’t write any of them. I also have a ridiculous amount of free time on my hands at the moment. So. Here are my top three AUs (...out of 15+) that I’m currently interested in writing. All sit around 20 chapters, maybe longer. Which, if any, are people most interested in?

Naberrie AU: Padme dies in early childbirth. So does Leia. Order 66 happens while Anakin is getting Luke safely off-planet, and Anakin (after having the mental breakdown you can literally watch building up throughout ROTS) takes the two of them wandering the outskirts of the Outer Rim, well away from the war and politics that Anakin is extremely tired of. Once ANH-era rolls around, they join the Rebellion. This may have an actual, chronological plot, or it may jump around in the timeline exploring loosely connected scenes. Not sure yet.

Skysailor AU: Essentially Star Wars characters within the Moana world, but only vaguely following anything resembling the plot of either one. It alternates between Luke’s story, set in the present as he joins this ‘verse’s version of the Rebellion and tries to restore the heart of Te Fiti, and Anakin’s story, set 30 years earlier as he and Obi Wan race to stop the impending demon uprising. Featuring quite a lot of mythology.

Separatist AU: The Jedi never came for Anakin. Ten years later, he joins the Separatist cause as a representative of the Outer Rim freedom fighters and rapidly begins changing the system from the inside. Featuring droid shenanigans, quite a lot of exploring the Separatists as a legitimate political cause with deep ties to the OT Rebellion, Ahsoka being as awesome as ever, and a snark war basically every time Generals Skywalker and Kenobi face off. (This Anakin is not the same as, but heavily informed by, Fialleril’s interpretation of Anakin and Tatooine.)

Thoughts?

[lamelinam]

Padme’s role in RoTS : Faith is an active choice.

 “For years fans have wondered who was the mysterious, unnamed mother of Luke and Leia. The only hint of who she had been was Leia's vague impressions expressed in Return of the Jedi: kind, very beautiful, but sad.

Finally with the release of The Phantom Menace, we were introduced to her: Queen Amidala of the Naboo, otherwise known as Padmé Amidala Naberrie. The young girl-woman in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones was in many ways in the mold of her future daughter: smart, wise, resourceful, brave, and if need be, good in a fight. But with Revenge of the Sith, she joins a sisterhood of memorable women who suffer tragedy.

Padmé shares common traits with many traditional tragic heroines but in some ways she is unique. Traditionally, a tragic heroine suffers because of her own tragic flaw and/or the flaws of someone else, even her society or culture. Aristotle referred to this flaw as "harmatia," the accurate definition of which is closer to "mistake," "error," or "failing" than an innate flaw. Aristotle believed the flaw must result from something that is a central part of one's virtue, which goes wrong due to a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge.1 Antigone suffers because of her devotion to divine law, which demands she bury her brother, bringing her into conflict with the inhumane decree of King Creon, who forbade burial.2 Ophelia suffers because of Hamlet's inner conflict. Juliet's death is brought about not only because of her love for Romeo but also because of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets.

If Padmé had personal flaws according to Aristotle's definition, some may argue they would be her naivete, her innocence, her trust in the Republic as it was rotting away from within, her trust in Palpatine, and even her love for Anakin. Padmé tends to put a lot of faith in the innate good of others; Obi-Wan notes in the young readers' version of the Revenge of the Sith novelization that Padmé "always believes the best of everyone, until she's forced to see the worst. Such faith should be a strength, not a weakness." She suffers because of that faith in her leaders, the Republic, and in Anakin, because they all fail her. In fact, Padmé embodies the Republic's ideals and virtues: democracy, restraint over tyranny, and working for the good of others. Padmé is also associated with youth and beauty as well as wisdom. She comes from a world teeming with life and as the female lead of the prequel trilogy, as well as the mother of the heroes of the classic trilogy, she embodies the feminine, the anima. 

At the beginning of the saga, the Republic was in its golden age. Padmé´'s homeworld of Naboo was an opulent and verdant world with stunning architecture and natural wonders. Its people were dressed nearly as elaborately as its ruler. Even the sleek spacecraft reflected a great appreciation for beauty. Women are seen everywhere in the prequels, in all stations of life; pilots, Jedi, Senators, handmaidens, bodyguards, and mothers. But the galaxy was changing and the young queen was caught in the middle of that change. She is brought in as a pawn in a political game that she understands too late. She is also introduced to the boy destined to change her life forever.

For most of the prequel trilogy, Padmé has been in constant danger and in need of protection. The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones have a pattern. 1. Padmé is rescued, 2. Padmé is placed under protection, and 3. Padmé willingly leaves that protection to take action herself. She spends a great deal of time courting her fate despite the efforts of others to protect her. In The Phantom Menace, she is rescued from the Trade Federation and is able to remain on Coruscant where she is safe. Yet she chooses to return to Naboo to engage the Trade Federation in battle and re-take her planet. In Attack of the Clones, she is rescued after two attempts on her life and is put into Anakin's protection. Yet she chooses to first go to Tatooine with Anakin then she convinces him to go with her to Geonosis to save Obi-Wan, where once again she is forced to fight for her life. She narrowly avoids being killed by beasts, survives a battle that kills several Jedi, and then avoids serious injury after falling out of a ship. She gives several references to dying in the films. In The Phantom Menace, she mentions twice that her people on Naboo were dying. In Attack of the Clones, she mentions death four times during her love pledge to Anakin: "I'm not afraid to die...I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life...our lives are about to be destroyed anyway...before we die I want you to know." 

At the same time, the feminine energy, the anima, is slowly being destroyed. In Attack of the Clones, Zam Wessel, Cordé the handmaiden, and most importantly, Anakin's mother Shmi, die violently. In Revenge of the Sith, the final phase of destruction takes place. We see the betrayal and murder of two female Jedi: Stass Allie and Aayla Secura. Aayla in particular is murdered in an especially gruesome way, shot repeatedly in close range by several clonetroopers. Ironically she was on Felucia, a world teeming with life and giant blooming flowers. It climaxes with Padmé's death after performing the ultimate feminine act, giving birth. She dies far from her fertile living world where she'd planned to have her child(ren), in a cold environment deep in space, and attended to by droids that cannot understand what is wrong with her. 

Unlike the pattern with previous two prequels, Padmé does not need rescuing from external threats in Revenge of the Sith. Dooku is dead and the Trade Federation seems to have forgotten about her. The irony is the external dangers from which Anakin seeks to protect her from throughout the prequel trilogy do not bring about her end. It's not the Trade Federation or hired assassins but her own shattered soul. However, like the other films, she chooses to leave her haven, this time on Coruscant, to take charge when things are dire. When Captain Typho volunteers to go with her, she refuses, saying the matter is personal and that she is no longer in danger. Finally, she could no longer avoid her destiny.

Some fans complained that Padmé was marginalized in Revenge of the Sith, but her isolation makes sense in the context of the story. Here she was at the height of her feminine power, pregnant and able to share a form of subconscious bond on occasion with Anakin.

Yet the Empire-to-be has no place for her.  She is trapped and alone. 

Padmé's death recalls traditional tragic heroines such as Isolde, who dies of a broken heart after her love Tristan dies. In Arthurian legend, Elaine The Lady of Shallot dies of love for Lancelot.4 In fact, dying of a broken heart is part of many legends, folk tales, and ghost stories. Others see parallels with Othello's Desdemona, who like Padmé is strangled by a husband who believes she has betrayed by him. Others view Padmé as being similar to Ophelia, who commits suicide after Hamlet rejects her. Because Ophelia and Desdemona are commonly viewed as passive victims, and Padmé had been a proactive character, some felt her death did not befit her character.

There is a literal way of looking at Padmé's death and a symbolic way. Padmé was as much a symbiont with her time and place as she was with Anakin. When the Republic era passes, she passes. In a cut scene from Attack of the Clones, the lesson in Padmé's story about the refugees she tried to help as a child was that those who cannot adapt die. She cannot adapt to this new galaxy. Moreover, she refuses to adapt. She tells Anakin he is going down a path she cannot follow. She bitterly utters, "So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause," after Palpatine crowns himself Emperor before a cheering Senate. When Vader in a rage cuts off her breathing, it symbolizes that the Empire, as personified by Anakin, is killing her. 

She suffers not only the death throes of the Republic and its ideals, she also suffers with the physical and spiritual pain Anakin endures in his transformation into the Darth Vader we know from the classic trilogy. The film intercuts between Vader's agony on the operating table and Padmé's dying moments as she gives birth. When Vader's transformation is complete, she dies. 

With Padmé gone, the aesthetics of the Star Wars universe changes: we see the utilitarian set of the Star Destroyer, the beauty of the earlier ships gone. The beautiful, colorful, and elegant costumes have been replaced by simpler and more drab garments in shades of gray. Even the last time we see Naboo in the prequels, all of the citizens are dressed in funereal black. We see of glimpse of the Empire's new order, a Star Destroyer crew made up entirely of men. Instead of the natural beauty of a planet, we witness the skeletal beginnings of the Death Star.

Yet in the end, unlike most other tragic heroines, Padmé wins. Those who dismiss Padmé as weak should consider this alternative view of Desdemona: "Desdemona's goodness furthermore is not simply passive or weak but an act of will...her refusal to blame Othello for his terrible treatment of her...must not be viewed as simply subservience but as a self-willed refusal to accept a bad opinion of the husband she has chosen...she stands by her love for him as something sacred, with a martyr-like determination: she tells Emilia, 'his unkindness may defeat my life/But never taint my love.'" Padmé, through her own will, refuses to believe Anakin is unredeemable. Ultimately Padmé is right about Anakin; there was still good in him and he could be turned back to the light. Her children bring down the Empire and restore the old values of the Republic. Padmé's life may have been short but she was never truly a victim. “

by lazypadawan

[waywardravenmedia]

Star Wars myths and musings. Episode II: Who are Rey and Snoke?

Episode II: Who are Rey and Snoke?

In Episode I, we mused upon the Force and certain relationships, which were pretty evident.

Now we get into speculation about-- Who is Rey? Who is Snoke? And what about Finn?

Remember, nothing is definitive until the series reveals such, but we can get an understanding of parallels from mythology that has been notably admitted to being an underlying construct.  

So on to Rey…

Look at the name. It means king in Spanish and is derived from Rex in Latin. The other mythology that influences Star Wars most prominent to me are the King Arthur legends from Geoffrey of Monmoth to Cretin De Troyes, which are built out of Celtic mythology and the fall of the Roman hold in Britain. Rey=King. So look at King Arthur first.

King Arthur was born of a magical coupling, a creepy one at that, and then whisked away to live in obscurity with no knowledge of his origin or past. When the time came, after a few trials and training by Merlin (mentor and old wizard who lives in the wild. Sound familiar Obi-Wan Kenobi), he encounters a mystical object, by accident in a way, and pulls the sword from the stone to restore prosperity to the land. Lightsaber at Maz Kanata’s castle anyone?

 This would all be so easy if… Luke Skywalker did not do the Arthur thing first. Like I said, none of this follows a linear path or follows the previous narratives. It takes pieces and jots them together in novel forms from the familiar story. Parallels to parallels. Elements do tend to be recycled and modified.

However, this got me thinking about Lancelot, the greatest of the knights of Camelot. The one told to be invincible. Maybe Anakin was Lancelot-type merged with Arthhur as Arthur did have some dark times. Then, the Jedi Council would reflected the Knights of the Round Table, just look at the council chamber, and the Republic representing Camelot and Arthur.

Lancelot couldn’t help himself. Even with such skill he lusted and had a secret affair with the queen. Uh queen, who else was a queen? Oh yeah, Padme. Then, in some stories, Lancelot is enchanted, seduced, and has an illegitimate child who is raised in obscurity, doesn’t know who his parents are, and then comes on the scene as greater knight than Lancelot.

That would be Galahad, the dude who survived the siege perilous. Not the one in the Marvel comics and cartoons. Siege perilous just means the perilous seat. True, it did kill people if they weren’t the person who found the Holy Grail, but that’s beside the point. So, again, the Galahad thing could be Luke, but it could be Rey if Rey is a Skywalker in some way. Or Rey is the actual King Arthur and Luke was the Galahad. Maybe Rey is an Organa? Leia’s cousin? Organa sounds like Morgana. Huh? 

Leia was adopted by this royal family and their planet was blown to bits, so perhaps a refugee royal family who had to drop off Rey on Jakku to protect her from the old Alderaan families fighting for the remaining power left from the Alderaan royals, and that’s why Leia recognized her. Alderaan did help with the Rebel Alliance and perhaps the First Order wants to hunt down all the remaining members of that lineage to quell influence.  So given the name and the mythology behind it, Rey could the actual King Arthur of the story and the Skywalker family was a Lancelot offshoot. Or she could be a modified Galahad construct.  

Funny thing. Galahad is in some people’s estimations to be a remake of Fion from Celtic myths. You might know him by his more popular name, the one and only Finn McCool. Yup. Finn. Finn. Finn.

 Who is Finn?

In the Celtic myth, Finn McCool (Fion mac Cumhaill) avenges his dad’s murder by Goll mac Morna after he is swept off to obscurity, trained by the fighting woman Liath Luachra [Captain Phasma perhaps?], got a magical gift by a salmon (I know, weird), defeated magical beings, and killed the dude who killed his father and became the greatest warrior. Some said he slept in cave and never died awaiting revival. In the Star Wars franchise, however, I suspect they are just using the name Finn to allude to the Arthurian and Celtic myths and not have the character named Finn follow the course since Rey is the one with the focus. But, daddy issues are common in this franchise along with awaiting destiny to be revealed.  

But as a wilder speculation, maybe the team at Disney decided to say screw it. Let’s make Han Solo the Lancelot and he had an illegitimate kid when separated with Leia and Kylo Ren is Rey’s half-brother.  Then, the Finn McCool myth can be used so Rey avenges her father’s death. But all of this leaves out Arthur and Mordred concept unless you use Luke as Arthur and Mordred as Kylo Ren because in some tales Mordred is not Arthur’s son but Morgause’s (sometimes merged with Morgan Le Fay in modern tales) and her husband King Lot. In that version Gawain is Mordred’s brother or half-brother and Gawain is Arthur’s nephew. He is, of course, famous for the Green Knight tale that involves trickery, seduction and magical testing of valor. 

 Perhaps the Gawain tale will be used in the Kylo-Ren backstory. The Green Knight who tests Gawain is a giant. Snoke is a giant as a hologram. The Green Knight’s appearance is due to magic and not his real self, which could hold true for the Snoke hologram. The Green Knight is in reality Bertilak De Hautdesert (High Desert) who was transformed by the sorceress Morgan le Fay who intended to tests Arthur’s knights and frighten Guinevere to death. The leads to an interesting note from J.J Abrams. They did not know who Snoke was and said the character might possible be a woman right up until shooting the Star Wars: Force Awakens, at least according to the Wookiepedia entry on Snoke. Does that mean Snoke is really a version of Morgan le Fay?

 Morgan le Fay was one of Merlin’s students, so Snoke would have been a Jedi. Morgan was not an evil being, but was corrupted, who then reconciles with Arthur and gets back her role as one of the sorceresses queens who takes Arthur, after his death, to Avalon (the good old magical island of apples, seriously, apples, look it up).

As an aside, sometimes I just think Sifo-Dyas is Snoke since original Sifo-Dyas was just a cover name for Sidious called Sido-Dyas and not a new character. But, Sifo-Dyas was a Jedi and after his ship crashed, as ordered by Count Dooku, they only found his lightsaber. Perhaps, Sifo-Dyas lived, was mutilated by his crash, thought he was betrayed by the Jedi and went into hiding. During which, he fell to the Dark Side or formulated a "corrupt a strong Light-Sider" plan like ol’Sheev Palpatine did with Anakin. Snoke seduced Kylo-Ren because he was a perfect blend of Light and Dark, a material to be sculpted if you will as one of the novels said. Maybe a powerful but corrupted Light-Side user will have more abilities than just Dark-Side practitioner alone. But I don’t know. Where just keeping to cannon materials here kids even though the Expanded Universe/legends had huge influence on the new movies and tv shows.

Okay, back to Morgan le Fay. She was also Arthur’s half-sister. His mom had a child with her husband Gorlois and not Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s dad. Funny how there are so many TH and UR/ER sounds. Sounds sort of like Darth and Darth Vader. Darth Arthur. Darth Uther.

Sort of irrelevant now since Lucas no longer tells the tales and most accept Darth Vader as a modified portmanteau of Dark Invader.

Other weird stuff is that Morgan and Morgause were sisters and both enchantresses. So who knows, in keeping with Snoke being Morgan le Fey, maybe Snoke is Sheev’s younger brother or twin, who Sheev Palpatine tried to kill or keep imprisoned. A sort of a "Man in the Iron Mask" homage. Also, according to the Star Wars wiki on Snoke, they considered making Snoke female. But if you made Morgause into Sheev and then Morgan would be Snoke. Perhaps the legend influenced the backstory in that manner.  

Why not flip the script on Luke and Leia  and do it for Sheev and Snoke. Makes sense. Both have names that start with the same letter and here’s another element. Sheev is from Naboo. Just like Padme Amidala Naberrie. Perhaps Naboo is Britain. Hell, the capital city is named Theed, sound British. This might connect the Palpatines and the Naberries. Perhaps they are related. Making this whole thing a crazy family drama/opera, which it is already, but even more so.

And if the whole Trimurti concept is true, the gods Shiva and Vishnu are siblings and you got your cosmic conflict between two great forces. This must then play out on a human level/scope so the story can be related to by the audience with more common myths about family and power struggles. The power struggles are both internal and external; hence, Anakin Skywalker being the encapsulation of the story. Sorry for the trapped/encapsulated in the cybernetic armor pun.

Oh, and who do I think Rey is? If you combine the idea that King Arthur died and went to Avalon, waiting to return to restore Britain when he was needed and the avatar idea of Vishnu, then it would appear she is Anakin Skywalker reborn or a completion of this "Choosen One" Force cycle where to go forward, we must go back. Sort of like the cartoon The Last Airbender. Though the special circumstance of birth, Anakin not having a father and was conceived by the Force like the Christian story that follows many special birth stories from Greek mythology and even Buddhism (Siddartha was born able to speak and walk and where he walked lotus flowers came from the earth. Lotus flowers, huh? Padma/Padme means lotus), is not present yet. 

And Finn, perhaps they do keep the Celtic myth straightforward and have him be the son of a king/leader who becomes a great warrior, discovers his heritage and kills the person who killed his father. That would make him unrelated to the rest of the family drama but still bind him to the mythic relationships that the Star Wars cycle is based.  

In conclusion, I would not be surprised if Snoke and Sheev Palpatine were bros and maybe Rey is a royal as her name signifies. Maybe even a royal from Naboo, which means…??

That's for you to suss out. Perhaps all of this is a ruse and misinformation to lead us down the path of the plot twist and none of the characters, now, have a basis in myths, which would be too bad since George Lucas did all that research into the subject. Just find his interviews with Joseph Campbell.        

So ends the drunken rambling on the new characters but in Episode III we will get to how the House of Atreus (Greek mythology), and Dune might have influenced the series.  

May the Force be with you!!

~JLAJ

BTW, I have spoken to some people about Japanese influences and considered the myths of Izanagi and Izanami as the divine twins as reflected in Luke and Leia, or the Dark Side and the Light Side of the Force but their offspring Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi don’t follow a pattern that fits with Star Wars.  But that doesn’t mean they are not added to the new characters. And yes, Jidaigeki is a genre that has samurai flicks and from where Lucas got the term Jedi, which was originally Jedi Bendu.  Perhaps Bendu is from the term in Sanskrit that mean point or center and this tends to be lent credence in the Star Wars Rebels cartoon with the Bendu who proclaims he is the middle, the point in between the Light and Dark Sides. Or it could be a reference to Buddhism, which is a philosophy of the “means in between the extremes.”  Or as previously stated in Episode I it could be Brahma.