#rey kenobi and the heir apparent

[dracosollicitus]

finally updated

got a chapter of Rey Kenobi and the Heir Apparent (hogwarts sequel) up.

~yay?~

[rosie-love98]

Idea For “Star Wars” Fanfics And OC:

Before I explain, I just was to say that I'm only going by Episode 1 to 6 along with the Ewok films and some elements from the Holiday Special. Specifically, Chewie's family and Bea Arthur's story. Though, I'll use Rey, Ben Solo and other characters, the fanfics won't go with the Disney canon nor would it go with the Legends canon (albeit, I might use Mara Jade, but that's another post).

Anyway, here's what I'm working on with the character origins and the story:

-Somewhere prior to "Revenge of the Sith", a young Ackmena was working as a servant for Palpatine. Having been intrigued by her beauty and seeing her able to brainwash, he chose her to bear him his child in a way Darth Plagues had done decades before. After much persuasion, a naïve Ackmena agreed to mother his child. But, after the baby boy was born, Ackmena, having began to see Palpatine's true colors, took the child and fled Coruscant with the help of her friend, Tork. Now on Tatooine, Ackmena hides as a bartender on Mos Eisley with her son, Laze "Fixer" Loneozner knowing of his parentage but keeps it a secret for obvious reasons.

-A year after "Revenge", Obiwan "Ben" Kenobi, was living life as a hermit on Tatooine when a lovely runaway slave (let's call her "Hura Cloud") had stumbled into his abode. As time went on, the two formed an attraction that led to a baby on the way. Yet, Ben refused to marry her as he needed to watch over Luke and be prepared to fight in the Rebellion. Naturally, Hura was upset about his refusal, came to understand when told of the circumstances. Months later, daughter, Camie, was born and months later, Ben and Hura found it best to have the mother and child live in the more stable town. This arrangement would then lead to Camie meeting her childhood friends, Laze Loneozner, Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter. With Camie and Fixer marrying, they would eventually become the parents of a girl whom they'd named "Rey".

-A year or two before "New Hope", Darth Vader had made a deal with the fugitive Endor witch, Charal; bore him an heir and he'll eliminate the Nightsisters looking for her and the ring she had stolen from them. As a result, their son, Cassiel Vader, was born. But with Vader busy with the war and Charal leaving on her own accord, the baby was raised by a handful of nannies. This would include Ruja and her sister, Pooja who, (unbeknownst to Vader), were the nieces of Padme Amidala and were secretly Rebel spies. Once Palpatine and Vader died, the then 5-6 year old Cassiel was set to rule. However, the sisters took their young ward from his Naboo home and fled to a different planet to keep him away from the Empire. This would lead them to an elite clan who had once worked for Lord Vader until he turned on them. As a result, they strictly forbade any use of the Force (be it for the Light or the Dark) and would eventually gain a movement to destroy Luke's chances in resurrecting the Jedi. To make matters worse, Pooja and Ruja became part of this Anti-Force movement.

-A year after "Return Of The Jedi", Luke was told by Anakin of his half-brother's existence and traveled far to find him (with the help of his friends, of course). Once succeeding in the search, Luke took in Cassiel as his padawan along with Chewie's son, Lumpy, the orphan, Cindel and the Loneozner's adopted daughter, Bari.

-As he grew, Cassiel became well-versed in the Force and was highly gifted. Yet, after a horrible incident, he decided to leave the Jedi ways within fear of hurting anyone. This was because he unknowingly began developing an illness that forced his mind going from Light to Dark (think "Jekyll And Hyde"). At first, Luke and the others weren't fully aware of the sickness or its severity and allowed him to stop his training. But, a few years later, Cassiel's ailment became more apparent when an attempt to cheer Bari up had almost turned deadly.

-Poor Cassiel also has other problems; with a reformed Charal back into his life, he's contemplating on whether or not he wants to forgive his mother and deceased father.

That's all I got so far. How does it all sound so far? Any critiques?

[jimtheviking]

So now that it's been a while since the ST ended, I'm gonna talk about why, of all three movies, the only one that worked for me was TLJ, and why The Mandalorian, Rogue One, Rebels, and Clone Wars are the best bit of New EU out there.

Okay so, first off, the basic thesis of this is that, when Star Wars works, has always been a story about one thing, and one thing only: Hope. And when it hasn't worked, it's been about how Cool and Badass and Edgy and Dark things can be in the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

So, let's start with the beginning, shall we?

The Force Awakens is a bad remake of A New Hope. And I don't say that just because JJ Abrams can't write or direct for shit (he can't, btw, but I'll get into that later.) I say that because, well, it's true. It's almost a shot-for-shot remake of ANH, except that unlike ANH, there is no sense of hope in the entire movie. Rey, Finn, and Poe are thrown into a Terrible Situation and they never once have any display of fear or doubt. They're confident and plucky and ready to win the day. At every point, even their lowest, they're plucky and scrappy and fighty and are never allowed to feel anything. And that means they can't hope for better things, they can't fight for a better world, because to their characters the better world is already there. It's the world they're in, because they can get what they want through Pluck and Scrappiness and Fighting Spirit, and never have to worry that it won't be enough.

Don't get me wrong, TFA is, of the two JJ films, better by a mile. Mostly because it has a coherent plotline. But it's still not good. Even when Han is killed, there is no chance to mourn him. There is no "I just can't believe he's gone" moment. There's a duel and a celebration. Leia feels his death and that could have been interesting to explore, but nothing gets done with Rey or Finn. Rey attaches to Han as a father figure, but it was Finn whose character was hamstrung most by Han's death. Finn should have been mentored in the ways of Roguish War Heroing by Han, just as Luke would mentor Rey in Jedi-ing, and Leia mentored Poe in Leader-ing. That is how the new Trio was shaping up to relate to the Original Trio, and should have gone that way. But no, JJ had to kill Han off for absolutely no purpose.

And there was no purpose to Han's death. I will get to that in a minute.

When Obi-Wan died, he died knowing he was buying the Trio time and that his sacrifice would help the Rebellion destroy the Death Star and ultimately prevent future Alderaans from ever happening again (and it did!) Obi-Wan dies in A New Hope because he knows that, like Leia said, he was her only hope. The only hope for the Rebellion. For the Galaxy. And, right after Scarif, he was the only hope she had. But now? On the Death Star? Surrounded by Storm Troopers, facing down his old padawan, his brother, his best friend? Now there is A New Hope (see what they did there?) and it's in Luke and Han and Leia and he doesn't die in vain. He sacrifices himself and that lets hope live on.

When Han died, it was, thematically, the exact opposite of Obi-Wan's death. Because Han wasn't expecting to die. Han's whole walking to meet Ben thing was him expressing hope - hope that his son would return to him, that there was good left in him - and then he was killed. Hope gets you killed in this movie, and it doesn't help anyone do anything. It doesn't save uncounted billions. It doesn't stop an evil Empire from terrorising the Galaxy. It doesn't inspire other people. It just gets you a lightsaber to the belly and kicked into an abyss. Han's death served no purpose except to show that Ben was evil. As if massacring untold hundreds of civilians to find the location of Luke wasn't indication enough. We knew Ben was evil. It was the entire point of the character. Killing Han was just to reinforce that hope is foolish.

Luke, as well, was terribly served in TFA. Luke Skywalker, who triumphed over evil despite hovering so close to the edge of it time and again, who does the right thing all the time, who every chance he gets tries to help and save people? That Luke Skywalker? He just fucked off to who knows where. Gone. Entirely. No explanation. Luke, who constantly failed in his Jedi training, but never gave up hope that he could become a Jedi, like his father before him. Luke, who knew he wasn't ready to confront Vader on Bespin but hoped he could get there soon enough to save his friends. Luke, who knew that there was no way he would be leaving Jabba's palace without a fight but still had hope that the Hutt could be negotiated with. He just...gives up. No explanation or reason given. Just...goes.

And that is the most wildly, painfully out of character moment in the entire ST for me. Because Luke was always Hope in the OT, and in the Filoni shows, and having him become Hopeless and leave? An absolute affront to the character.

But I digress.

I won't get into what TLJ did right (almost everything re: Luke, Rey, Leia, and Poe, and that throne room fight especially) and wrong (the handling of Finn, Space Monaco) but suffice it to say that TLJ at least understood that Hope was what made Star Wars good. Because Luke's sacrifice at the end of it was done just like Obi-Wan's. Luke did what he did, knowing he would die, but also knowing that it would buy time for Leia to escape. So long as Rey could get to her in time. He had Hope in Rey, and he had Hope in his own actions, and that Hope was rewarded. Luke dies, and dies a hero, dies giving Hope to the Resistance, dies a meaningful death for a hero to die.

And then we get to TRoS.

Oh god TRoS.

So, you know how I said JJ can't write or direct for shit? Here's a great example. Because we had Rey, a Jedi now like Luke had been, and ready to discover what being a Jedi means to her, and how she fits in the wider, larger Galaxy as a nobody, as a regular person who somehow became Greater than she started. As someone who isn't from a line of Force Users or other Super Special People becoming a hero and finding her place. Rey, who began her story on a desert planet, hoping desperately to be a part of some bigger dynasty, not having any confidence in herself being Rey from Nowhere, finds out she IS Rey from Nowhere, Daughter of Nobody, but becomes a Jedi, a Protector of the Galaxy, an important person in her own right, the Saviour of the Resistance. And then we find out she's the granddaughter of one of the most powerful Force users ever. And she makes herself a part of the Super Special Force User Dynasty. Completely destroying any character growth from the previous movie, because it's no longer Rey succeeding on her own, it's Rey being a Dynastic Heir.

Rey begins on a desert planet, digging things out of the sand, and ends on a desert planet, burying things in the sand. Rey begins not knowing who she really is and desperately wanting to, and ends up finding out, rejecting it, and claiming some other random legacy. Rey is no longer Rey from Jakku, she's Rey Palpatine and she wants to be Rey Skywalker so she just...claims it. There was a chance for Rey to be a beacon of Hope for other people who aren't from Force user lineages. But no, she's the child of a clone of the Emperor and decides she's a Skywalker because of an unexplained phenomenon that linked her to Ben. So without the Super Special Lineage, what hope does anyone have of changing the world for the better? None.

And, back to character deaths, Leia and Ben dying were two of the most hopeless scenes in all Star Wars. Entirely without hope. Utterly.

Why?

Well, let's start with Leia. Apparently, in the novelizations, she'd been forcing herself to stay alive to run the Resistance because no-one else could (despite like, a massive increase in operations staff, and, you know, Poe having been Leia's protogée in her Leadership Crash Course) and had been hearing Luke tell her it's okay to just let go and become one with the Force (what??) And so when she does decide to do that, it's when she transfers her life-force to Ben, to redeem him (maybe? At that point Ben hadn't had his weird Harrison Ford dressed up in Han Solo's costume hallucination, and it's not really clear why she's doing this in the film) and thus have him the Galaxy. Okay, that could work, but then Ben dies. And then dies again. Twice. (Though, really, only once, because apparently he got caught on a rock and broke his ribs and twisted his ankle when he fell in the pit, but you only learn that in the novelization. But I digress.)

So Leia's sacrifice to redeem her son is ultimately futile, because Rey managed to kill Palps on her own anyway, with the help of all the Jedi in the Force, and Ben was mostly dead. Then Rey dies from the exertion of it all, and that would be a shitty enough ending, bleak and hopeless - the only way good triumphs is by destroying itself - but then Ben comes back! And saves Rey using the healing powers Obi-Wan Kenobi used on Luke in A New Hope and Rey used earlier in the movie! Leia's sacrifice was meaningful! It redeemed Ben, who saved someone's life!

And then he dies.

Which makes Leia's death pointless again. Because she used the last of her life force to make her son Good, and then he just...dies.

And Ben's death is Hopeless in and of itself too. I'm not a Reylo fan - that dynamic just does not do it for me, generally, though there are some few well-written execptions - but how do you begin to say "The Power of Love can triumph over everything, even death!" and then kill off the person who did that? Like...that just says that Love and Sacrifice for others is pointless. That Hope is pointless. Because with Ben dying, Leia's sacrifice means nothing, and his own death means nothing because Dying Saving Someone You Love is just Suicide with Extra Steps if there's no Hope of Survival to it. The tragedy happens when a character dies hoping they can still make it back to the person they love. Ben, on the other hand, just...dies. The movie tells us that he's not worth surviving this, but Rey is. And so what, exactly, was the point of either Leia's sacrifice or Hope for her son?

Now let's get to the Filoni shows.

Clone Wars was a tragedy. Clone Wars, from the very beginning, was going to end badly for everyone involved. And it did. But even up to the end, they held out Hope that it wouldn't. And even after it happened, the survivors still Hoped that they could bring a return to Good. Obi-Wan sees literally everyone he loves die in front of him. Whether it's Satine or his fellow Jedi or Anakin, they all die. And yet he continues to Hope that the Light Side will prevail. Ahsoka loses everything and leaves the Order, but she still has Hope that she can make the Galaxy a better place. Rex loses his entire family, but Hopes that there are others out there who, like him, were able to avoid Order 66.

Rebels shows us that Ahsoka and Rex's Hope wasn't misplaced. That there was still a chance for them to do Good and for the Galaxy to resist the Empire. For Rex to find other Clones. For Ahsoka to find a purpose again. The crew of the Ghost hoped that what they would do would bring about a positive change. Kanan sacrificed himself knowing that Ezra, Hera, and Sabine would be able to help the Rebellion. Like Obi-Wan, he knew that he was not the only Hope - that Ezra and Ahsoka and Obi-Wan would continue on the path of the Jedi, even if the latter wouldn't join the Rebels, and that Hera's leadership ability and Sabine's connection to Clan Wren would help the Rebellion in coming battles. He died hoping that there was a greater good being served with his sacrifice, and it wasn't that he wanted to die - him looking back to Hera was all the proof that was needed - but that the survival of Hope was important.

Rogue One is pretty self-explanatory. Rebellions are built on hope. What did they send us? Hope. Always, every time, when it comes to it, Hope for the better is what people sacrifice themselves for. They don't do it because they don't feel like their lives are worth it. They do it because if they didn't, then Hope would die instead. And Hope is what makes life possible.

The Mandalorian keeps up this trend, too. Din was doing his thing, collecting bounties and not caring about anyone or anything but The Way until he meets the Child. And at that point, he feels something, a greater purpose, and when he's given his task by the Armourer, he accepts it. At first, he wants to complete a Quest, but as time goes on, he bonds with the Child and, once he realizes that, everything from that point forward is Din Djarin, the Mandalorian, a faceless and ruthless hunter, hoping that he can make this child's life better in some measurable way. When Din finds a settlement that's in trouble, he could just get what he comes for, but he knows that the people are suffering and you can't ignore that he has the Hope that the Galaxy will, one day, be a better place, and he can make it a bit better by doing what he does. So he does it. And keeps doing it. Because the people are hoping for salvation and, even if he's not what they want, he can at least fake it well enough that they don't realize it.

So yeah.

Hope is what good Star Wars media is about. It's what it's always been about. And when it's ignored, we get TFA and TRoS.

[midnightbluefox]

The Reylo Writing Den ( @thereylowritingden ) recently celebrated its one year anniversary, and part of our celebration included a fic exchange! The theme this time was what makes Reylo special to you and what you’ve come to love in the fics that you’ve read or written. Favorite tropes or one you’ve wanted to see done, an idea you’ve been wanting to read, a twist on the first Reylo fic you fell in love with, etc. 

Because of the theme, we got a huge variety of fics written submitted by over forty extremely talented writers. Please enjoy and support our lovely and giving authors <3

+ fic is mature/explicit

* fic is a WIP/ currently incomplete

________________________

+ Night Music by @thelastmorozova for @3todream3 :  Kylo getting it on with Rey while still wearing his gloves and helmet.

+* This Game We Play by @midnightbluefox for @sand-its-everywhere : Rey’s always thought her roommate was attractive, but when she catches him with only a towel on, a contest slowly ensues to see who can drive the other more insane as time goes on.

Or, where Rey and Ben are both idiots in denial and refuse to give in.

+* Red Letter by @ohwise1ne for crossingwinter : His old name—the one no one calls him anymore, no one even knows—stretches in bold lettering across the front of the envelope.

There is no record of that person living in this apartment building. Ben has made sure of it.

They’ve found him anyway.

When Ben is summoned to be bonded with a compatible Alpha mate, everything he’s worked for comes crashing down—especially when she turns out to be the rising protégé of his enemy.

+* When Little Somethings Overturn Everything by CaffeinatedJediRey for @rrwilson66 : Rey's got it all: fantastic friends, a great mother, and a promising tenure-track job as a history professor. Yet, on the eve of her 31st birthday, Rey finds herself wondering where her life's headed while she's eating by herself after a conference presentation.

Ben Solo, a rival professor from her department, joins her for dinner after seeing her dining alone. He turns out to be more than she expects.

Let's just say things will not go the way Rey thinks they will.

+* Clear Skies by @eveningeyes for CaffeinatedJediRey : A handsome smuggler is found sneaking through Starkiller Base, and to Kira Ren's dismay, Snoke hires the guy to take her to find Leia Organa's secret Resistance base.

OR

INTERGALACTIC ROAD TRIP 2019]

+ A Five Percent Chance by @sand-its-everywhere for @hellomelusine :  Ben is alone, and he likes it that way. He keeps to himself, and doesn't really want or need a relationship, but that doesn't stop his mother from trying to set him up with random people... until one day she sets him up with his childhood best friend... and both of them make it their mission for this to be the worst date ever... after all, they've got one hundred dollars promised to them by Leia if it is.

Blushing PINK by @tazwren for @kylotrashforever : Ben Solo is struck by a beautiful girl, for the first time in his life, but has no clue how to talk to her. Enter a friend who gives him highly questionable advice.

Or - how Ben Solo bought bags of lingerie for a non-existent girlfriend!

+ Fucking PINK by @tazwren for @kylotrashforever: Ben and Rey and all those bags of lingerie he bought.

Or - how Ben Solo is a virgin no more.

+* Delicate Matters by @kylotrashforever for @erney007 : His senses trickle back in, and he realizes something is covering his face. Reaching, he snatches the gauzy material that he recognizes is lace of some sort, holding it out in front of him and squinting his eyes.

What the fuck?

He knows without a doubt, with one hundred percent certainty, that he did not have a woman here last night.

So why the fuck is there a pair of women’s underwear on his face?

In which something falls into Ben’s lap (or more accurately his face) that he didn’t expect.

+* is this a sacrifice?  by @deadlikemoi for @kylosgirl9593 : "What are you giving up for Lent?" The question is posed to Rey by a friend of Rose's, a girl who goes by KK, and Rey has to search her mind for an answer.

That is the problem with going to a University that is religiously affiliated; most people assume that you follow that same tenet without bothering to ask, and it has gotten her into trouble more than a few times.

"Rey's not—" Finn tries to save her, it is a valiant effort, but the filter between her mouth and her brain is undergoing routine maintenance and a few words squeak through before she can stop herself.

"Sex. I'm giving up sex for Lent."

+ Bobbing Along by @polkadotdotdotreylo for @sweetkyloren : Ever since an incident as a child, Rey has had a fear of the water.

When your boyfriend owns a pool, who better to teach you how to swim?

+ A Poetic Match by @commandercrouton for @polkadotdotdotreylo : It didn’t matter who was here at the moment. The only thing Rey could focus on was that scent. Her wide hazel eyes circled the room as she tried to see the one who was emitting those delectable pheromones. How was no one else in this room reacting? The smell was making her crazy, and she dug her nails into her skin. She would know this scent anywhere.

She found him frozen by the podium, staring at her with the same look she knew she was giving him. She felt her thighs clench in anticipation as memories of their last, and only, time together filled her brain.

“Rey, is everything okay? Your scent...shifted,” Poe inquired tentatively.

“What?” she asked, not willing to take her eyes off the man in front of the room.

“Why is Professor Solo staring at you like you killed his pet cat?”

At this statement, Rey looked at Poe, realization dawning on her. No, not this, anything but this. This wasn’t a professor. He was something entirely different to her.

Alpha.

+* By The Moonlight by @my-jedi-life for @eveningeyes : Kylo Ren is being hailed as the "next Stan Lee" in the world of graphic novelists... but he holds a secret. His books are really about his life.

Rey Kenobi is an up and coming journalist who lands the interview of a lifetime with Kylo Ren.

* Black Ties & White Lies by @happilyeveraftereveryday for @looc-at-me : The plan was simple. Sneak in, kick Paige's ex-boyfriend's ass, then sneak out. But Rey did not plan on arguing with an unfairly hot but unsurprisingly elitist Greek god of a man while looking for said ex-boyfriend, especially when he took offense to her refusing to dance with him for some reason.

And she definitely didn't plan on kissing him.

Or how a masquerade party leads to unexpected actions, feelings, and consequences, along with Ben Solo's Cinderella dashing away without even leaving him a shoe behind. Nevertheless, he's determined to find her.

+* Your Eyes (Are Holding Up the Sky) by @em-is-writing for DagaGada :  Ben Solo life is falling apart (as much as one high school senior's life can) - he's failing Pre-Calculus, has been put on academic probation, and can't play on the basketball team until he pulls his grades up. When he's assigned a tutor, he thinks this will be an unmitigated disaster. Life has other plans.

+ But Not To Me by @littlethingsfic for ArdeaJestin : “…Ben?”

He memorizes every detail of her face — flushed cheeks, creased brows, dark eyelashes, wisps of loose hair — framed by the eerie quiet of their destruction. His body is restless like it might burst at the seams, thrilled and dazed by her, by their conquest, by their…

He searches for the words to say but everything sounds wrong. He charges in and decides not to say anything at all,

“Rey, I don’t care about the kriffing fleet —”

He grabs her and kisses her hard.

+ Cheers to Phasma’s Flaming Vibrator by @3todream3 for @rakefiree :  An unfortunate office fire has caused renovations, and the ever punctual Ben Solo has to share an office with Rey Johnson with whom he has a history. He just wish he could remember what he did to piss her off. She apparently doesn't like him much and annoys him with Candy Crush and other little things, not letting him get any work done. Being cooped up in the small office is going to be the death of Ben. What on earth could happen when tempers flare and hormones go crazy???

+* Seven Days with my Toes in the Sand by @erney007 for @em-is-writing :  Memory in his dream, emptiness in his hand, with his toes in the sand. Will she be the one who shows him how to love again?

Desert Magic by @roguesinside for @spiegatrixlestrange : He was hungry, always so hungry. He sweated through the sheets when he dreamed of the desert sun. Shivered under piles of blanket when the sand was lit only by the moons. He tried to magic up an apple, a glass of cool water but the lifeforce around him was so dim that the simple charm wasted away in the desert sand.

The dreams saved him.

+ Oh Captain, My Captain by @elleren31 for @littlethingsfic : In the midst of the Civil War, telegraph officer Captain Samuel Beckwith returns to Washington D.C. and is immediately taken by a beautiful young farmwoman. But love in a time of war can be difficult, especially when you work for the President of the United States.

Historical accuracy AND inaccuracies. Earns its rating later on.

+* Royal Blood by @sweetkyloren for @deadlikemoi : Rey has lived on the streets of Aldera for as long as she can remember but when an aide to Queen Leia takes Rey under her wing she finds herself living a life most can only dream about.

In the years that follow, Rey soon finds herself falling for her two best friends who also happen to be the two heirs to the throne: Ben and Kylo.

+ Ready For It? by @rrwilson66 for @elleren31 :   A tale as old as time, the story of a beast of a killer and a beautiful thief fighting to be together.

+* Unrequited by @rakefiree for @reyloandotherfandoms : Ben loves Rey. Rey loves Ben.

He thinks she loves someone else. She thinks he knows how she feels and doesn't reciprocate the feelings.

What happens when they are trapped in the same house for a weekend?

OR

Welcome to Ben and Rey Pain Train! We have a dog... and stuff.

+* Swipes and Seduction (a tinder AU) by @galaxytrueffle for @tazwren : “Ben.” Was still a faceless and detail-less individuum on tinder. Thus he needed to add his career, height and a little text- before rounding up his introduction with a photograph.

Ben. Corporate lawyer. 189 cm.

What else was there to say about him?

“Hi. I am Ben. 32 years old. I work as a tax lawyer for a well known automotive company. My wife died and now I am a single parent- I work all the time and have literally no hobbies beside working out, one weekly WoW session and spending time with my child on the weekends. Oh- and I haven’t had sex for ages. So if you are interested- match me?”

That is what he should have written- the reality.

But- this was the internet...he didn’t have to be so honest. Especially not in the beginning.

.....

IT’S A MATCH!

You and Rey<3 have liked each other.

+* Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost by @loveofescapism for @reyloner : “Okay, what if you do find them and they send you away?”

“They won’t.”

“How do you know that?” he asked, and for once he looked like he was genuinely curious to hear her answer. Which, if he wasn’t pissing her off so much, she would have answered much nicer than she did.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because I’m their daughter?” she said sarcastically, “They had a good reason for giving me up, you’ll see.”

---

Rey is traveling the world to find her birth parents after her guardian Maz passes way. She was excited to rediscover herself and more importantly, where she came from. The only thing she wasn't excited about, was the fact that Ben Solo was tagging along for the journey, his pen and notebook in hand.  

+ A wonderous place for you and me by @kylosgirl9593 for @galaxytrueffle : It's Ben Solo's 30th birthday and his friends decide to throw him a little 'Party’ Rey however has a few *special* presents for Ben. ------------ Ben laid on the ground, hands up in surrender. Rey had one foot on his chest, pinning him down to the ground, he could easily take her down, but he had to accept his defeat.“You had to know this was coming. You just had to. You couldn’t run from me forever, Solo,” she said as she pointed the gun to his chest. She smiled in victory. “Game over.” She pulled the trigger and the green laser beamed through the barrel. The sound of Pac-Man dying filled the room.

+ Close Encounters by @deedreamer for @loveofescapism : It’s like Rey's own personal porn reel is playing against the inside of her lids. Her body is reacting without her permission.

She sucks in a breath and re-crosses her legs, suddenly feeling a tingling sensation at her center. Her nipples harden and strain against the fabric of her bra and the silky material of her shell is cool against her belly, making the sensation even more extreme.

Rey feels her chest and cheeks flush, and she wonders if she looks as hot and bothered as she feels. Because that would be really embarrassing. She’s a professional, for God’s sake.

+* Don’t You Forget About Me by @rebelrebelreylo for @my-jedi-life : He wrote the letter ten years ago, but it’s still burning a hole in his pocket.

—

Dear Mr. Skywalker, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are.

You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.

But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…

And an athlete…

And a basket case…

A prince…

And a criminal.

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely — The Breakfast Club.

—

A Breakfast Club AU with not-quite-neat-parallels written for MyJediLife for the Reylo Writing Den Anniversary Exchange. (Yes — Rey is more Bender than anyone else.)

+* A Year of Me and You by crossingwinter for @kylolita : “After you move in with one another, give yourself six months to like one another again,” Maz says, looking at Rey seriously through her bottlecap glasses. 

“I’m not going to fall out of love with—”

“No, no. Not love. Love’s not got anything to do with it, child. Like.”

--

Non-linear vignettes of various length, set during the first year Rey and Ben live together.

Ben’s Body by @shewhospeakswiththunder for @thelastmorozova :  AU. Rey is an up and coming sculptor specialising in human shape and form. Her new next door neighbour has a body to die for and she's determined to preserve it in marble forever. Now she just has to convince dashing and reclusive Ben to model for her. 

Preferably naked.

+* Sounds of Passion by DagaGada for @rebelrebelreylo : The Sound of Music Modern AU. The two actors meet in the theater production. He's Von Trapp and she's Maria. He's a big star who got roped into it by his mother, who owns the theater. She's fresh out of Juilliard.

Will they go past their hate at first sight? What if the heated fight turns into something different but equally heated? Will they find passion for theatre and each other together?

* Grabbing Your Attention in Detention for @shewhospeakswiththunder by @ashtyntaytertot :  Ben is a troubled teen in high school and Rey doesn't like him because of that, but he likes her. A lot.

+ Let Me Put My Darkness In You by ArdeaJestin for @terestriel :  Hux catches his boss composing love poems, attempts to wreak havoc, and wonders why smartphones don't exist.

+* At the Stroke of Midnight by @bunilicious for @midnightbluefox : He knew.

The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning, and it was only the warmth of his hand on her elbow that kept her upright. How else could she explain the determination beneath his soulful gaze?

He was iron, wrapped in the finest velvet.

“Rey,” Ben spoke at last, his voice barely above a whisper.

Yes, she wanted to scream. I am the masked woman who waltzed with you underneath the moonlight. The one who ran away when the clock struck twelve. The one who lost her shoe at the foot of the stairs.

But he had to say it first. He had to.

“Rey.” He took a deep breath, eyes fixed upon her expectant face. “I need you to help me find her.”

Her dreams were made of glass. And in that moment they had shattered.

-------

A REYLO VICTORIAN / CINDERELLA AU

+* Ravenous by @aknightofwren for @bunilicious :  38 ABY. Nearly four decades since the Battle of Yavin. The greatest of all great wars has finally come to an end. The Resistance has been disbanded, allowing those seeking comfort and security among their ranks to finally pursue the lives they had always dreamt of. But something sinister is lurking in the lush greens of the Forest Moon of Endor, something that not even the Skywalker's could have seen coming.

+ Shape of you by @looc-at-me for @deedreamer :  Ben Solo has been babysitting a group of grumpy old men who are often referred to as immortal rock legends for nearly two years and he's at his wits end. Deciding to spend the last concert of The Vaders worldwide tour on the ground floor with the other fans instead of backstage, Ben manages to meet a brown-haired beauty and they instantly connect before a family secret resurfaces.

+* Refuse Me by @kylolita for @aknightofwren : It’s the most contact she’s received in years, since her Grandpa was still alive.

This Alpha’s touch is electric, completely unfamiliar but just what she needs. Her eyes automatically find his, they are molten brown, and everything in her wants to examine those eyes forever and-

What am I doing? some sensible part of her screams at herself. Whatever he bids, another part answers.

Rey’s plan to live her life to the fullest as an Alpha falls apart when a classmate discovers her secret.

* And There You Were by @reyloandotherfandoms for @happilyeveraftereveryday : The phone rings in the middle of the night, and it's some man Rey doesn't know, demanding to speak to someone whose name she does not recognize. Why she doesn't just hang up on him is beyond her.

But she doesn't.

+* Love Potions and Legalities by @hellomelusine for @ohwise1ne :  When Kylo Ren, best Law Enforcement Warlock on Leia Organa-Solo's team, is tasked with apprehending a girl, untrained, but blatantly brewing and selling illegal love potions, he's less than enthused, the task beneath his station. What he expects and what he gets are two wildly different things when he finally breezes into Rey's shop in the desert town of Niima, Jakku.

+* Kingdom for a Kiss by @reyloner for @commandercrouton : “His name day is only moonturn away — there’s to be a great feast in his honour. And, best of all, a tourney he’ll be sure to compete in. He’s a good jouster — I have faith in his victory.” She leans in, a sly smile working alighting her elegant features. “Winning make men bold. It warms the blood, inflates their egos. It makes my Husband insufferable and my son want to celebrate.”

 “Oh.” Rey frowns. “How can you be sure he’ll win?”

“I cannot.” Leia admits. “But I can hope.”

-

Lady Rey Kenobi, the last surviving member of a once great house, is to wed the future King of Naboo. 

Only, Prince Benjamin Amidala seems determined to avoid her at all costs - even in consummating the marriage.

+* No Deliverance by @orkindofamazing for @ashtyntaytertot : Kylo Ren had seen beauty, witnessed the splendor of creation and the power of destruction, was well acquainted with desire and longing. Yet none of it compared to the strength and beauty of the tempest he was witnessing here.

The only thing he understood with any degree of certainty was the fact that he inexplicably wanted to be closer. In a trance-like state, he advanced, and his feet seemed to move across the ground of their own volition.

-

Kylo Ren wasn't very good at being a demon, but then he hadn't been a very successful angel, either. However, when he is sent to tempt and bind an immortal named Rey, it's a challenge unlike anything he's faced before.

+ Art for You Octopi My Heart by @spiegatrixlestrange for @orkindofamazing :  An art gift for an amazing person.

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Every single one of these fics was so wonderful and we are so lucky to have such talented people in our discord server! A huge thanks to everyone who participated, we can’t wait to do the next one!

[piepeloe]

Ugh, I don’t tend to post rants, even about silly stuff like SW, but...

I loathe the idea of Korkie Kryze as Obi-Wan’s son.

(rest under a cut because apparently I have more feelings about this than I anticipated)

Partly I hate it, because I don’t like the ship of Obi-Wan and Satine. I mean, they have an interesting dynamic and obviously had something going on when they were younger, but I don’t vibe with the notion that they spent their entire lives pining and sacrificed their ‘true love’ for duty or whatnot.

Setting aside the fact that they have incompatible beliefs and goals, if you have an ex that you haven’t kept in touch with in 15 years but you’re still somehow completely hung up on them, that’s not romantic. It’s sad and weird and creepy. Also, not very Jedi-like, as they’re all about letting go and moving on. And while Obi-Wan has loads of attachments for a Jedi, I’d rather think he’d have moved on 15 years after a break-up.

As for the kid. I can see why it would be a fun theory and why people feel it’s the showrunners leaving the door open, though maybe less so than with the relationship itself. But any arguments pro are soooo flimsy.

He’s the right age. Yes, but so is Ahsoka. The ep we met him in had Ahsoka teaching cadets like him. They were peers, agemates. The story needed someone that age with a connection to Satine. Kind of Doylist, but yeah.

He has the right hair color. Blond with a reddish tint. Yes, but Bo Katan who is actually related to Satine has red hair too. So it runs in the family.

Satine has no siblings aside from Bo Katan that we know of so why would he call her ‘auntie’? Alright, most important part of that sentence there is *that we know of*.

Also, since when do only actual aunts get called ‘auntie’. Lots of cousins or even family friends get that title.

Because let’s run with the idea that it is Obi-Wan’s kid and she came home pregnant. Did she try to pass it off as Bo Katan’s? That seems unlikely, pretty sure she was already in Death Watch. Also, why would Bo Katan being a young single mom be less of a scandal?

So, who did she pass the kid off to? If she’d kept him, there’d have been no reason for the ‘auntie’. If we don’t think there’s another sibling, there’s no reason either. Except, if maybe it’s someone else in the family who took him, and it’s a term of endearment! It just sounds nicer than ‘cousin Satine’, doesn’t it?

Yes, that sounds like a reasonable explanation. BUT THEN WHY CAN’T THE KID SIMPLY *BE* A COUSIN WHO CALLS HER AUNTIE?! Why does it have to be her and Obi-Wan’s kid that they’re passing off as a cousin who calls her auntie?!

As for why they’re close, maybe they just get along? Maybe he’s the one being groomed as her heir? Who even says they’re all that close?

I have no idea why this bugs me so much, but it really does. This theory becoming canon might be the one thing that would turn me off of SW. I guess I just don’t like the idea of Obi-Wan having kids in canon. I never liked the Rey Kenobi theory either. Obi-Wan’s first love and commitment is the Order, but I believe he’d drop it if he had a child. He was willing to leave for Anakin after all. So either he has no idea about Korkie because Satine kept it from him? Because he didn’t want to know? Or he did know but just didn’t care, and that’s not Obi-Wan IMO.

Ship what you like, have fun with headcanons, truly. I have mine, obviously. But I really dislike the attitude for this that it’s what makes the most sense and it will/should happen and OMGtotallycanonguys.

Anyway, I’m going to blacklist the Korkie tag.

[thehollowprince]

What is your issue with Kylo arc in TLJ?

What isn't my issue with Kylo in that movie?

In all seriousness, nothing about him should bother me in THE LAST JEDI. On paper, his journey in that movie makes total sense to me, but it's the execution of it that leaves a lot to be desired.

My issues with Rian Johnson's desire to just shit on anyone and everyone that liked the original trilogy or THE FORCE AWAKENS aside, how he handled everyone in this movie is the problem. The message he was trying to convey to audiences with this movie was that it didn't matter where you came from, but where you chose to go. It doesn't matter if you were born to a powerful and fundamentally good family or if you were a "nobody", what mattered at the end of the day was what you decided to make of yourself. And given the Star Wars movies obsession with the Skywalker legacy, it was refreshing to see that the Force was strong in people outside of one or two bloodlines. The Force is for everybody and it's what you decide to do with it that says who you are.

That's such a beautiful message. That you don't have to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi or a Palpatine or a Windu or whatever to be strong with the Force. It was also a nice setup between our protagonist and antagonist. One (Kylo) being the sole heir to the Skywalker legacy, letting his ego about his inheritance drive him to the dark side while a liberal nobody (Rey) rises up to challenge him and being s force to be reckoned with despite not having a "noble lineage".

The problem with it came with how the message was delivered. The gaslighting was gross as hell and the fact that they tried to make it seem romantic in any way, shape or form just made it worse.

Just for the record, people, if someone tells you "You're nothing! But not to me.", you get the hell out of there. That's not a romantic overture or a declaration of undying love. Its gaslighting and you deserve better than that.

The other major problem I had with Kylo Ben in TLJ was the fact that Rian went out of his way to make him the male lead of the movie. If you go back and watch TFA, it is very clear that Finn was the protagonist. He was the male lead of that movie with the implication that he would be the lead in the next two movies as well. Sadly, that wasn't the case. In TLJ we watched as Rian completely ignored everything that Finn had done in the previous film, making him a tertiary - not even secondary! - character in his film by sending him and Rose on a side quest that had absolutely no bearing on the plot except to have Rose explain to Finn (the child soldier who left the F.O. after witnessing their cruelty) how cruel the First Order was. It was very apparent that Johnson didn't watch or even read the script of TFA when he went into this, basically butchering every character except Kylo, including the villains like Hux and Snoke, making them a joke (Nazis are funny, haha!) and an easily dispatched evil overlord that we were supposed to fear.

It's great that he made Kylo the primary villain by the end of the movie. That's very interesting. That would have been like Vadar overthrowing Palpatine to become the new Emperor. The problem came with the way Johnson framed it, framed everything around Kylo, but making it seem like he's the male lead and therefore the other hero of the story

I mean, if Disney "knew" they were always going to have Kylo be redeemed, this would have been the moment to do it, so we get some time getting to see and know Ben Solo, giving his redemption any kind of emotional weight.

I've said before that I thought Kylo could have been the best villain in the Star Wars movies by the mere fact that he chose to be a villain. He intentionally joined a facist organization with the sole purpose of enslaving the rest of the galaxy to the First Order's will. But if you just watched this movie, you wouldn't know that Kylo was the villain because Johnson goes out of his way to make him seem sad and sympathetic, bullied by those around him, and it's the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever seen.

[aleksander-alina]

Au time:

Ben Solo Skywalker is the heir to the throne and becomes King ones his uncle dies, he now needs to marry and her mother the Duchess of Inverness (Leia married a german/American, so her marriage wasn't approved by the act of Royal Marriage, so Luke gave her the title). It is  a fic and Ben is the last male with Skywalker blood so yeah he is the heir apparent.

Rey Palpatine🤢 I'm so grossed out (Her mom would be a Kenobi to appased my Rey Kenobi heart) is the only descendant of Duke Ben   Kenobi and the Duchess of Inverness really wants the match, so she invites Rey to Kensington Palace.

Anyway, she meets and falls in love with the  6′4 dark-haired king of the United Kingdom it doesn't take long for the king to notice the pure ray of sunshine and love that Rey is and proposes the week he meets her.

They marry and have like 5 healthy babies and they live happy ever after. :’) 

[save-ben-swolo]

I remember recently some reylos talking about how antis hate when Kylo is called Ben and I just think about all the other characters that have more than one name too. Like, do they throw a childish tantrum every time someone calls Darth Sidious, Palatine? Or refer to Vader as Anakin? Or when fans call Obi-Wan Kenobi, old Ben? I don't get why they can't just let people call Kylo Ben whatever they want.

You pretty much nailed it when you said, “throw a childish tantrum”.

Antis have been in denial (see butthurt) about the purpose of Kylo Ren as a character the entire ST. They wanted and expected him to be a badass villain insert for their heros (including Luke) to defeat in a cool way and make everything right with the galaxy “again” to finish out the Skywalker saga (yawn).

That dream went right out the fucking window as soon as their “badass villain” was revealed to be Ben Solo, son of OT faves Han and Leia, nephew to Luke, and the ONLY Skywalker heir apparent. Bonus: his hobbies include being deeply conflicted/feeling a pull to the light, having compassion for the heroine/not trying to kill her, and low key crying in public places. It doesn’t take a genius to see how they’re going to wrap up the SKYWALKER SAGA in a SATISFYING WAY with that set up and antis don’t like it.

If they acknowledge that Kylo Ren IS STILL and ALWAYS HAS BEEN Ben Solo they’re basically admitting “defeat”. So now “Ben Solo” is essentially a dirty word because it confirms all their fears about what TROS is about to serve them; some HOT Reylo/Bendemption.

They just want to keep seeing him as “Crylo Ren” or “Kyle Ron” the “shitty” villain who was “poorly written” since he let them down by not being badass enough and who “deserves” to die for his crimes. Because of that I find it especially gratifying that Rey (their hero) now sees him and refers to him (tenderly) as Ben which is -really- the final nail in the coffin of “Kylo Ren is evil and deserves to/will die in TROS.”

When your “hero” establishes that they want to “save” (and makeout with) the conflicted “villain” in the second movie of a trilogy (in a saga where redemption is a key theme and the “villain” is the saga’s namesake) IT’S GOING TO FUCKING HAPPEN!

[dracosollicitus]

Can you do a fluffy smutty Damerey Hogwarts au? Cute Valentine’s fluff!

Well, my dear anon, because you asked so nicely, I can give you…

A few hundred words of a ‘deleted scene’ of that one Christmas moment that was maybe referenced in “Rey Kenobi and the Happy Christmas”

It’s not the smut (not yet) but it uhhhh definitely uhhhh leads up to it.

It takes place about six months after the end of Rey Kenobi and the Rebellion’s Awakening. 

Rey smiled to herself, ignoring the butterflies for now as she waited for Poe to return from the bathroom, her fingers tracing a pattern on his yellow sheets. She heard a small squeak and peered over the side of the bed to discover Beebee, the brat, snuffling around her knapsack with a keen interest. “Oi, you little pest.” Rey laughed when the Niffler raised its head and stared at her, its tiny snout waggling as it realized it had been caught. “Yes, you.”

“Everything okay in there?” She heard Poe call from the flat’s single bathroom.

“Your Niffler is trying to rob me,” she called back, grinning at the affronted look Beebee gave her. With a huff, the slippery Niffler wiggled through the straps of her knapsack and waddled towards the bedroom door, no doubt to go ransack the contents of Poe’s silverware drawer (Rey loved that Poe took the time to hide spoons in various locations around his apartment, as his adored Niffler, whom he’d raised almost since infancy, had been too injured and then human dependent for a wild release).

After the Niffler disappeared from sight, Rey returned to feeling nervous as she waited for Poe. Would he think it too much? Would he even notice? Would he reject her?

The last thought gave her incredible pause, and she writhed internally for a long moment. Just when she was about to jump from the bed and abandon the plan entirely, change into the sweatpants and t-shirt she’d been wearing when watching Netflix with Poe that evening, the bathroom door opened, and she could hear Poe returning down the hallway.

“Bugger.” Rey floundered for a second before setting her feet on the floor and folding her hands in her lap. Hysterically, for a second, she considered lounging on the bed, like that girl in that ridiculous Muggle movie about people who were really bad at knowing where to point their stupidly giant ships, but she changed her mind. 

The door opened fully, and Poe walked in, none the wiser to her plan for the time being. “Sorry about that.” He closed the door behind him, making the only light the light coming in from the streetlamp outside, that crossed the room in silvery shades and illuminated Rey almost all too well as she waited on the bed. “Beebee likes to spend the nighttime here, and not in the perfectly good enchanted arena I built for him.” Poe directed the last part towards the closed door with a shake of his head and a smile, and Rey couldn’t speak, could only wait for him to turn and see her. 

And he did.

Even in the half-light, she could see his expression change, from casual happiness to shock to something…foreign. Unknown. Rey shivered, and she wasn’t quite sure why, as it was perfectly warm in Poe’s bedroom.

Poe took a step forward, and his eyes became a little clearer - it was definitely warm in the bedroom. “Uh.”

“Happy Christmas, Poe,” Rey whispered, refusing to drop her gaze to the floor, no matter how much she might want to. 

She’d wondered at the fancy nightgown Rose had thrust into her hands during their last giggle-filled trip to Hogsmeade, had doubted the frilly lacy ridiculousness of it, hadn’t believed that Poe Dameron, sturdy, steady, practical Poe Dameron, would ever even care if she wore something like it.

Rey understood a little better now. 

“Merlin.” Poe crossed the floor tentatively, his jaw still hanging open. “I mean, sorry, uh -” He slapped a hand to his forehead and shook himself, and Rey smiled at him in barely controlled amusement. “You haven’t even - it’s just - I like your…pajamas? They’re. Nice. Not that I need to think that they’re nice. They’re your clothes. They’re nice. Nice clothes, that is.” Poe released a breath and stared at the ceiling, shaking his head. Rey watched his throat work nervously for a moment, and could just barely hear him whisper to himself - “What the hell is wrong with you.”

“I wore it for you,” Rey said without any hesitation, the reason for Poe’s reaction making more sense to her. Her cheeks heated furiously, especially when Poe looked at her abruptly, surprise and joy mingling on his face, but she forged onward. “I … I bought it, so you would look at it. Or me. So, um.” She spread her hands, trying not to feel too ironic while doing it. “What do you think.”

“What do I think?” Poe repeated in a low voice, eyes wide. “What do I - God, Sunshine, can I-”

She nodded eagerly, and then giggled as Poe almost tripped on his way to the bed, so quickly did he move to kiss her. They tumbled back to the mattress, and Rey found that she didn’t feel much like giggling anymore. 

[journodale]

Why I’m mad about the Rise of Skywalker

My first reaction to The Rise of Skywalker – once I got past the litany of eyerolls and “oh, come on!” reactions while I was watching it – was just how mad I was about it. It’s not a deep-abiding rage, mind you, and much of my anger is a form of disappointment, but some of it is just about how petty and spiteful aspects of the film seemed to be in response to things that happened in The Last Jedi. (Spoilers, and occasional salty language, about herein).

My biggest and first complaint is that JJ Abrams and his co-writer, Chris Terrio, turned Rey into Ken the Jedi Prince. Ken. The. Fucking. Jedi. Prince. For those of you who are unaware, these stemmed from a series of largely shite (but occasionally charmingly shite) young adult novels in the early 1990s, as the franchise was experiencing its first major revival with the publication of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. Several of those books revolved around the discovery of a Jedi “prince” named Ken, who started to follow Luke Skywalker around until he discovered that he was indeed Palpatine’s grandson (the books had a whole story arc about his father, Palpatine’s son, being a three-eyed mutant), though these storylines and characters conveniently disappeared from the old expanded universe and were never spoken of again. Around the same time, Dark Horse Comics also published Dark Empire, many of the plot points therein were also lifted liberally by Abrams and Terrio – specifically that Palpatine has resurrected himself by use of clone bodies and mysterious dark side powers – the film simply called the planet Exogol rather than Byss, but the broad strokes are the same, including that Palpatine was eventually trying to move his essence into a new body (in this case it was Leia’s unborn third child rather than Rey). These comics touched off a whole litany of spin-offs wherein the nature of the Force and the conflict between the Jedi and Sith descended to increasingly cartoonish depths, and yet here they are, reviving themselves, because of the need to give Rey a bloodline.

In an interview with Terrio in The Hollywood Reporter, Terrio stated that they chose to make Rey a Palpatine because it was the “worst news she could receive,” and then handwaved a bunch of bullshit about “dark side royalty” and how she was choosing her own family over her ancestry. The problem is that this makes no sense, either from a story perspective, or from the broader continuity of the Star Wars universe. Terrio insisted that the original films established that the Force ran along family lines because of Luke Skywalker’s line to Leia in Return of the Jedi about how the Force was strong in their family – discounting that this was Luke’s awkwardly trying to tell a woman who made out with him six months before that she was actually his long-lost twin sister, or the fact that the whole existence of the Jedi Order and their prohibitions against marriage and children precluded there being Force-wielding dynasties out there. Rian Johnson in Last Jedi to make the significant revelation that Rey was the children of junk traders and nobodies was not only “democratizing” the Force – that one didn’t need famous parents to feel the Force – but also to being a hero. Terrio insisted that they weren’t slighting Johnson – and that could be the case. They instead were taking the laziest course to telling the story of the film.

Absolutely nothing in the story demanded that Rey be of Palpatine’s bloodline – if they insisted on bringing back Palpatine (another lazy choice, but more on that later), he could simply have demanded that Kylo Ren find her because she was simply a powerful Force user, whom the Force seemed to manifest in her as a response to the rising darkness (which would seem to have been the whole promise of The Force Awakens’ title). They wouldn’t have needed to invent a son for Palpatine (and then handwave away the fact that he apparently didn’t have Force powers despite their insistence on strong Force lineages, or if he did, how he managed to avoid being groomed as his father’s new apprentice and heir, and how he wasn’t the subject of a war of succession to the throne upon Palpatine’s death), and they would have maintained the notion that the Force belongs to everyone – not the Jedi, not the Sith, and certainly not to famous bloodlines (as Johnson made explicitly clear in Last Jedi). But no – giving Rey a bloodline was about fan service, and the constant need by certain fans that she be related to somebody important (never mind that all of the theories they put forward would not have worked out in terms of ages and timelines).

Another example of Abrams and Terrio totally not thumbing their noses at Johnson was the complete abandonment of the core theme of Last Jedi – that it’s people and relationships that matter, not things. What Abrams and Terrio replaced it with was about turning objects into fetish items – lightsabers in particular. The fact that they insisted on Rey having rebuilt Anakin/Luke’s lightsaber – recreating it exactly rather than turning it into something new – or having Rey build her own lightsaber before the film opened, coupled with the fact that they also introduced Leia’s lightsaber to imbue it with special meaning, as though it was the fact that it was these two lightsabers in particular that imbued Rey with particular symbolic meaning for the final fight was a complete abrogation of Johnson’s message. Lightsabers are not Excalibur – they are not magic swords bestowed upon Jedi by women in lakes. That said, Abrams is pathologically incapable of writing screenplays that don’t have MacGuffins (though the Sith Wayfinders were themselves also MacGuffins, and the dagger another one – even though its appearance and history made absolutely no sense), so this is more of his particularly lazy writing. As an aside, the whole Wayfinder MacGuffin is itself partially lifted from the Jedi Prince series, where the Imperial warlords were looking for the Glove of Darth Vader and found it in pieces of the second Death Star…on a water planet. I’m not even kidding.

The redemption of Kylo Ren didn’t make any sense. Terrio tried to handwave some Joseph Campbell bullshit about how great myths required atonement with the father figure and the great sin of patricide, but Ren’s actual rejection of the dark side was completely nonsensical – particularly because of how they used the device of Leia going into some kind of meditative state that eventually led to her death, as though it was her mystical intervention and self-sacrifice that somehow drove it out of him, as though the dark side was some kind of demonic possession. It also didn’t make sense how Rey decided to heal Ren immediately after she struck him with a lethal blow with her lightsaber – which they played as an act of mercy – and it was Terrio’s contention that it was what allowed Ren to let the light in and see his father again (which was a memory and not a ghost, because how else were they going to get Harrison Ford wedged into the film for fan service). There’s no logic to any of that. Both Force Awakens and Revenge of the Sith showed that going to the dark side was a choice – Ren chose to kill his father because he thought that was what would allow him to bury his past. After a career of mass murder and raping the minds of his interrogation victims, he’s going to suddenly turn it all back because he got stuck by a lightsaber and healed? Really? I’m not buying it. (Incidentally, the fact that Ren’s body dissolved in the end also makes no sense either – Kenobi, Yoda, and Skywalker’s corporeal dissolution had to do with the powers that Qui-Gon Jinn learned to unlock to maintain his presence in the Force after death, which he later showed Yoda how to do in The Clone Wars series and in Revenge of the Sith. I can see Luke having taught Leia the powers, but Ben/Kylo Ren before his training had been completed? I have a hard time with that).

Yet another of Abrams and Terrio’s lazy choices was the need to bring in a Big Bad™ in the form of Palpatine rather than engaging with another of the significant aspects of the Last Jedi’s themes, which was about the banality of evil. The whole point of the casino sequence that fanboys like to deride is that it showed Finn the evil of indifference of those who profit from war, while the underlying theme of the rise of the First Order in the films had to do with people being nostalgic for fascism – sure, a lot of people got trampled underfoot but at least the trains ran on time and we were “safe” with stormtroopers on every corner. It made the film as relevant to the 2010s as George Lucas did with commenting about Nixon and Vietnam in the original trilogy, or his construction of a trilogy of films about political violence and the rise of authoritarian populism with the prequels. Killing Palpatine does nothing about these bigger, underlying societal problems that the Resistance has to confront. Remember in Last Jedi where Poe talks about being the spark that will light the flame that will burn the First Order to the ground? Well, that’s all evaporated with the revelation that hey, it was Palpatine pulling the strings all along. Nothing to confront here, people, let’s just kill the Big Bad™ and go home. Again, it’s cheap, it’s lazy, and it’s fan service.

I have a big problem with the way Abrams and Terrio treated the Finn/Poe relationship, which all of the actors were pushing for. Abrams, in several interviews, dismissed this as the fact that they have a bond that’s “stronger” because they’ve been through the fire together, or some bullshit like that, then assured fans that they would get their LGBT representation because it’s important to show queer fans that they too belong in the Star Wars universe. That “representation” – the fact that a tertiary character from Last Jedi shares a same-sex kiss with another woman (whom the materials accompanying the film identify as her wife) – is brief, in the background, and was easily sliced out of the film for foreign distribution. And yet, Abrams expects plaudits for his “representation,” while also trying to reinforce Finn and Poe’s hetero credentials with the ambiguity of what Finn planned to declare to Rey as they were sinking in the quicksand, and with Poe’s awkward flirting with Zorii Bliss (and we did learn in the subsequent materials that the pair’s previous “emotionally complicated” relationship was when they were teenagers). Abrams later said that a kiss between Finn and Poe would be “heavy handed” – erm, you know, like the fact that he had Rey kiss Ren, the man who chased her, tortured her, tried to rape her mind, killed her friends, and was a mass-murderer. Yeah, he’s a dark, broody soul who just needs the love of a good woman to complete his redemption story (and I’m sure that the Internet is replete with all kinds of fanfic about how her magic vagina cures Ren’s manpain). That’s totally not heavy-handed, heteronormative fan-service in the slightest. There was actual ground that could be made where Finn and Poe were gay male leads in one of the biggest blockbuster franchises on the planet – something that has never been done before. It would have been ground breaking, keeping entirely with the story that had been established, and would have actually been worthy of applause.

The diminution of Rose Tico’s role is also bullshit, and Terrio’s assurances that they filmed more good stuff with her that just wound up on the cutting room floor also doesn’t pass the smell test. Terrio asserted that it was great how she rose from being a lowly mechanic to being one of Leia’s right-hand advisors – which conveniently had very little screen time. There was an opportunity to have her included with the group aboard the Millennium Falcon on its spy mission right at the very beginning of the film, rather than the insertion of the puppet creature Klaud, so as to show that Rose was an integral part of “Leia’s best agents” entrusted with getting the valuable intelligence from their spy in the First Order, but no, that would be a little too obvious. What is left is essential proof that they have caved to the loud and obnoxious fanboys who objected to her presence in “their” films.

There’s a lot of other nitpicking I could do – whether it’s Abram’s inability to grasp how hyperspace works, the fact that the celebration scenes at the end don’t make any sense with the exception of going down the fan service checklist, or the fact that the closing scene contained so much cheese that I’m surprised the Supply Management marketing boards didn’t file a trade complaint and impose 300 percent tariffs on it. The pace of the film was so frenetic that any scene that could have been poignant or moving was lost in the bang-bang-bang editing. Overall, however, I’m just incredibly disappointed in the lazy writing and fan service that pretends it’s being clever.

This was not the film we deserved. This was a film that rewarded the legions of fanboys who complained that films with strong female characters who don’t wind up in bed with a man at the end were a “feminist agenda;” that films that didn’t pander to the very straight white male entitlement to a particular fandom were the works of “social justice warriors” that hate their own fans; that films that don’t recreate the wonder they felt when they were twelve years old – which is an impossibility – are somehow raping their childhoods. The CBC’s Eli Glasner called it “cinematic comfort food,” but it’s more insidious than that – it’s a repudiation of attempts to grow the franchise beyond just a nostalgia cult, as it increasingly morphs itself into (and by cult, there is now a legion of online “truthers” who trade conspiracy theories about how the films have been hijacked by executives with agendas). And because it will rake in billions of dollars, it will assure the people with the purse strings that this is what the market needs more of. My hope for the franchise is moving toward vehicles like The Mandalorian, and the other forthcoming live-action series on Disney+, because the lessons for blockbusters are apparently to be hollow facsimiles of what came before.

[ao3feed-damerey]

Rey Kenobi and the Heir Apparent

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2F1eABW

by Draco_sollicitus

Three years after she graduates from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the talented witch Rey Kenobi struggles to find her place in a world at war.

Friend becomes foe, and nothing is what it seems as she navigates increasingly treacherous waters; with a cryptic prophecy still in the balance, Rey must come to terms with who, and what, she is, in order to save both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds.

Words: 5508, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of Damerey Hogwarts AU

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Finn (Star Wars), Rose Tico, Kes Dameron, Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bazine Netal, Armitage Hux, Phasma (Star Wars)

Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey

Additional Tags: Harry Potter Crossover - Freeform, Hogwarts AU, Sequel, Auror Poe, Florist Rey

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2F1eABW

[becamealegend-a]

-Bio for Supreme Leader Ren-

Name: Ren

True Name: Luke Skywalker

Date of Birth: 19 BBY

Age: 53

Occupation: Supreme Leader of the First Order, Master of the Knights of Ren, Apprentice to Emperor Wilhuff Tarkin (formerly), Jedi Knight (formerly), Padawan to Yoda (formerly), Padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi (formerly), moisture farm hand (formerly)

Reign of the First Order: 15 ABY to present

Hair: Just above shoulder length, blonde (young), gray (older)

Eyes: Blue

Loyalties: the First Order, the dark side, the Empire (formerly), the Rebel Alliance (formerly), the Jedi Order (formerly)

Family: Darth Vader (father, deceased), Padme Amidala (mother, deceased), Leia Organa (twin sister), Han Solo (brother-in-law), Kylo Ren (nephew), Rey (daughter, verse dependent), Mara Jade (lover, deceased, verse dependent), Shmi Skywalker (grandmother, deceased)

Lightsaber: Red in color and is the lightsaber that was used by his father under the Empire

Mini About: At age 23, Ren, Luke then, was greatly angered by the Obi-Wan Kenobi’s riddles and lies. After he faced his father aboard the second Death Star, the Emperor was killed and his father perished. While Luke managed to escape in an escape pod, he never returned to Endor and was presumed by his friends to have also perished aboard the Death Star. Instead of making himself known, Luke began to study the Jedi religion and found it to be rather contradictory and that the history of the Jedi was naught but failure. In approximately 5 to 6 ABY, he sought out the remnants of the Empire that were in hiding. There his found Wilhuff Tarkin, who had someone managed to survive the explosion of the first Death Star and was rebuilding the Empire. Luke comes to apprentice under Tarkin, where he takes on the name of Ren, or Darth Ren. After Tarkin’s death by natural causes in about 10 to 13 ABY, Luke watches the scramble of Supreme Leaders and want-to-be Supreme Leaders rise to power. All of them are disposed of. Ren had watched them, noting their weaknesses and what made them fail. In 15 ABY, Ren felt the time was right and killed the last Supreme Leader, Snoke, whose name he sometimes uses. Since 15 ABY, he has reigned the First Order and is seen as a good and strong leader and is well liked by most of the First Order.

Random Facts:

Contrary to his predecessors, Ren does not maintain a guard, preferring to take his defense in his own hands.

Also contrary to his predecessors, he does not hide in his throne room. Instead he leads from the front, making his presence known.

He gets along very well with Phasma and Hux.

He has actually thought considered raising Phasma to the rank of General.

He coaxed his nephew, Ben Solo, over to the dark side.

He created an elite group in the First Order made up of Force Users that he trained on the dark side that he calls the Knights of Ren.

Kylo Ren is his heir apparent. (It is Rey in a verse with @classifiedxrey).

He will try to get Leia, Han, Lando, and Chewie to join him.

He has become known as Snoke, snake, the dark lord, true evil, the Dark King, and other names by the Resistance.

His favorite drink is milk.

He sensed that Finn has a dormant Force sensitivity and had kept his eye on him. Because of Finn’s dormant ability, Ren had him named FN-2187 for the cell aboard the Death Star where Leia had been kept.

He detested Brendol Hux and his treatment of Armitage and probably was somewhat protective of Armitage. He also arranged for Brendol Hux’s death with Rae Sloane.

He maintains an elite small council of his higher ranking officers, including Hux and Phasma.

Has been known to dine in the mess halls with storm troopers and people of various ranks.

Holds a feast for the entire Order at least once a month to keep up morale.

Knows how to use a lightsaber, blaster, stun gun, and as well as hand to hand combat.

Maintains R2 as his atromech, who he probably slightly tampered with the programming of in order to get the droid to accept being on the dark side.

Actually designed a map to Luke Skywalker to get the Resistance out of hiding and surprise his sister to show that he’s not dead.

The mission to Jakku was Kylo (or Rey’s) first mission on their own without his help.

He tends to dress simply compared to what people think a Supreme Leader/royalty should wear. He tends to favor gray and black robes and cloaks.

Has had the longest reign of any Supreme Leader in the First Order’s history.

Looked up to Tarkin almost like a father.

Wants Rey in most verses to train her to be a Knight of Ren.

@classifiedxrey, @bigdealeightseven, @alderaanianroyal, @nolingerieinspace, @lipstickandaprayer, @forceunbalanced, @lightconflict, @hctic, @disheveleddarkness, @solorenperor, @general-gingerbowie, @first-order-of-hux, @huxnothugs, @jakkutie, @jakkuiisms, @lcstjedii, @stillsalvaging, @chromium-siren, @parnassos-warrior, @general-kalani, @thecorelliankid, @forcesensitiveflyboy, @amyriadofmuses, @firstorderloyal, @rogueofren, @emporxrshand, @redfirejedi

[forcebaby732]

Why Didn’t You Kill Me, Part 6

“Where are you going?”

Rey calls out, but she gets no response as Kylo Ren retreats to his personal ship.

Along the way he summons his saber which comes soaring over the cliff it was kicked over. His body is rejuvenated but he’s never felt so weak.

He punches the button to recall the ramp, slamming the door in Rey’s face as she had once done to him.

Outside, a thoroughly confused Rey, huffs, hands on her hips. What in the world?

She’s carrying her pack that Ben left behind in the cave.

Rey sits cross-legged before the shuttle and her stomach rumbles. She figures, she may as well take the time to eat and think, pulling rations and water from a compartment in the bag.

Rey can tell that Ben is running away from what happened, whatever that was, fleeing from her like he did when she first breached his mind on star killer base. She gets comfortable. She’ll wait for him to emerge, saying a prayer that he doesn’t just blast off right here and now without her.

…

The day had started well enough for Kylo Ren.

He had awakened first.

A deeply curious and intellectual creature, he had poured through those texts, their pages ancient and delicate. The dialect was difficult to decipher but was similar enough to his teachings at the Jedi academy that he could power through it.

He devoured its contents, surprised that the original intent of the mastery of the force, was more open and complete than what it would become. The emphasis was on the whole… the light and the dark embraced together…

It only reinforced what he already knew to be true. It solidified his stance that the Sith, and the Jedi, and the rebels all needed to die…

Speaking of rebels… he was sure the beautiful but battered quasi-Jedi laying beside him would survive. He could feel her heart beating. That she was not dead was an intense testament to her power. He marveled at her strength, admired the vicious grit she had shown in her defiance of Snoke, in slaying the Praetorian guards, in defying him…

He frowned and looked back at the books.

She didn’t deserve his good will. Not after declining to rule the galaxy with him. After abandoning him, too weak and sentimental to slay him, leaving him in a position of power he never wanted for himself alone…

When she woke he reveled in her delirious and surprisingly loud thoughts. She was too injured to realize she was telegraphing some pretty interesting intel – that he knew she’d never admit to with her full faculties about her.

He let it swell his ego, but he knew they had important things to accomplish if he didn’t want to have to murder her. He chose to ignore it and get them back on track.

He had not anticipated what would happen with the healing technique he learned about… but he was desperate.

Not only had it healed their physical wounds, but it had given her unfettered access to every painful memory that had wounded his soul and poisoned his heart. Before he realized it... she was already inside...then there was the flash of light. He was flooded, left so drained and weak that he nearly drowned. 

Kylo Ren grasps a console with shaking hands. The memories that were once the source of his powerful rage felt dulled… not only that…it felt like a black veil had been pulled back from his eyes. He was suddenly awash with memories -- repressed and twisted memories that were now clear -- painfully clear, unbearably pure, heart-wretchingly unaltered.

Not only did he recall his parents’ worried whispers, but Han’s piloting lessons, Han ruffling his hair in pride... not only his violent outbursts, but his mother holding him after his tantrums, soothing him, promising to always love him… IT HURTS TOO MUCH!!

Everything he had hidden away in little compartments in his mind were raw and wretched open.

What had she done to him? He gasped as rare tears fell from his eyes. He couldn’t do this, he had to focus on something else.

He pings the com in his ear. “Hux!” Comes his high, trembling voice. He schools himself quickly. “Hux, report.”

If he hadn’t been so distracted, he would have noticed Hux’s nervous reply,  “Supreme leader, a moment, yes, Supreme Leader, how may I serve you?”

“Give me a full report. What requires my attention?”

Hux dives into their latest movements in a number of military pushes, most systems are turning themselves over while others have put up a fight. Hux sends action reports to Ren’s data pad. The Attendants want to talk about the next phase of their domination plans. Repairs on the Supremacy and all its on board industries are on schedule…

“And the rebellion?”

“An insignificant rabble who all systems are refusing to aid. Latest intelligence is that they’ve made contact with Bespin. The system is being monitored. If they arrive, they’ll be destroyed”

There’s a strange pang in Kylo’s chest.

Hux adds gingerly, “Is there progress in your… negotiations?” 

Before he can think up a response, Ren simply ends the transmission. Time was running out, he was sure the cunning Hux was using this unsupervised time to some devilish end… he needed to return and command with authority…but he was feeling anything but powerful right now.

----

Hux breathes a sigh of relief. 

Behind him stands a collection of fellow generals - including a dozen in holo-displays. They have just finished watching the records from the elevator. The tender whispers between their Supreme Leader and the wretched scavenger Rey had elicited some satisfying gasps from the gathered military leaders. And not only that!

Some very interesting news was gleamed from Snoke’s personal records.

Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren and Supreme Leader of the First Order... had one other very surprising secret title.

Ben...Solo... son of Rebellion General Leia Organa. The same Leia who had escaped thanks to her son’s supposed incompetence on Crait... or was he actually protecting them?

The generals are convinced and have signed off on a plan to end this unnatural reign in the most palatable, marketable way possible. A triumphant cruel grin plays across Hux’s thin lips.

“Thank you kind gentlemen for your courage and action in this most grave matter. We’ll move the destroyers away. Bring in the black-ops with the weapon.”

---

On board his shuttle, Kylo Ren has emerged from his refresher, donning a clean black tunic, his arm bands and a new, non-tattered pair of leather pants. The scalding hot water has done little to clear his head.

He’s moving out into the small sitting area when he hears it...

Mechanical breathing somewhere behind him.

He spins around but it’s gone.

Then it’s there again...and the faint cry of Anakin.

Ren spins again, “Who’s there?”

In the corner of his eye he sees a blue haze...a wizened old man in Jedi robes stands before him with an ethereal glow around him.

Kylo takes a step back, his eyes wide in shock. His mind races but he knows what this must be. He’s heard enough of Luke’s stories to know that this has to be a force ghost.

“Who are you?”

“An old friend of your grandfather. And your name sake, apparently,” the old man says warmly with a smile.

“Kenobi...” Ben whispers.

“Yes, we’ve been trying to reach you Ben. But it wasn’t until young Rey purged the darkest blockages in your soul, that we were able to get through.”

“What do you want dead Jedi?”

This brings an ethereal chuckle from Obi-wan.

“You’re a stubborn boy. Yet clever. Full of fearsome vengeance, yet that hero’s heart inside of you refuses to die. The force rages in you heir of Skywalker. I’m here to help.”

Ben scoffs, absorbing what he’s hearing but keeping his emotions even.

“I have no need for the dried up wisdom of a dead hypocrite. Thanks to me, you’ll all be ghosts soon.”

Obi-wan considers this and seemingly takes a seat on a black bench.

“Hmm,” he says rubbing his beard, “is that why you were performing a rebirth ritual with a very naked Jedi lady friend just a short time ago.”

Ben sputters angrily...”What?”

“Well the technique is also called rebirth, but then, you knew that. Just pretended you didn’t quite read that part correctly, isn’t that right?”

Ben can’t respond. His mind goes blank.

“There is little time Ben, but there is something you need to know. There is a force you possess that both the Jedi and the Sith tried to suppress, it is this power that brings balance to the force, time and time again in it’s own messy way. You and young Rey have the power to make all things right, and teach a new generation of Jedi about this path. A new... order if you will. Does that sound about right?”

“Spit it out old man, say your piece and be gone!” Ben shouts..

Obi-wan shows him instead. Ben is suddenly catapulted into a memory.

A young man, tall, dark and handsome like himself stands before a beautiful and heavily pregnant woman on a platform above a volcanic planet. He watches the scene play out.

“...I won’t lose you like I lost my mother...”

“...Anakin, all I want is your love...”

“...I’m becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed and I’m doing it for you, to protect you...”

“...come away with me, leave this all behind...”

“...together you and I can rule the galaxy, make things the way we want them to be...”

“...Anakin you’re breaking my heart...”

Then another person emerges, accusations are made, he’s strangling the young wife he had just sworn to protect, dropping her and their unborn children to the metal floor.

Ben finds himself kneeling, gasping at the scene before him. Then it’s gone.

“Anakin’s fear of losing Padme twisted his heart, seduced him to seek power, until his love no longer mattered anymore, and he gave himself over to the Sith.”

“You’re mother and uncle were born but their mother died, just as Anakin had foreseen. Only, it was by his own hand.”

“Why are you showing me this?” Ben demands.

“So, you can understand. Love destroyed the Jedi order, it also destroyed the empire when Darth Vader chose to save his son and kill the Emperor. Both the Jedi and the Sith rejected the sentiment, but it’s power is far greater than either order can contain.”

Ben was feeling sick.

“Why isn’t my grandfather here?” He demands, changing the subject.

“He is... in a way. Certain energies, tools of the force, tend to return to the physical world when it is thrown off balance. But it’s so difficult as flesh and blood, so easy to get lost...”

“What are you saying?!”

“Rey *IS* Anakin. Anakin *is* Rey, and you need to help her.”

Stunned silence follows. Ben hears nothing but his beating heart.

“This is a joke…”

“Yoda isn’t here, so, sadly, no.”

More silence as Kylo tries to grasp the absurd things that are being said.

“You tried to help her then too “ ... Ben is shown a vision of Padme, pleading for Anakin to open up to her, “This time, the force has made you equals.”

“I will not listen to Jedi lies.”

“Think on it young one. For now, you have to hurry, there’s not much time, you must flee…”

“Why?”

“Above the planet, reach out and see what your general is doing. You must act quickly and decisively, it comes down to you now, Ben.”

Then a wisp of something floats between them. Ben thinks he sees A scoundrel’s smile, smells a musty scent, feels the pressure of a hand on his shoulder.

Han’s voice, “I’m here son.”

Tears he doesn’t realize are streaming down his face. Ben reaches out with his feelings and indeed, they are about to befall a major “accident” at the hands of Hux. They must escape… TOGETHER… NOW!

The ghosts vanish.

He lights his saber and hacks at a console beside him, this time with purpose.

---

Rey jumps as the ramp opens.

She stands and brushes off her pants, only to feel herself flying towards the shuttle. She’s too caught off guard to react. She soars up, landing with a thud against Ben’s rock hard chest. He secures her with a large arm around her waist, as he chucks broken electronics down below with the force.

“We have to go.”

“Ben!?”

And she’s being slung over his shoulder. He uses the force to hit the button to lift the ramp and jogs with a highly confused would-be jedi to the cockpit, “What the hell… Ben, what’s going on??“ She kicks and reaches down, pinching him hard on the ass!

“OW! CRAZY WOMAN!”

“Put me down!”

He dumps her into a co-pilots chair and begins a launch sequence.

“For the love of… what the kriff is going on Ben Solo? Where are you taking me? Do I have to kill you? Is this another kidnapping?”

“Shut up and prime the hyperdrive or we’re going to die.”

Wide-eyed she looks at him just a moment before deciding this is a real threat. She starts throwing switches as he lifts off… and that’s when she’s sees it… a blinding red streak of energy heading for their location.

“Force help us.”

“Good idea,” Ben says as he punches the thrusters.

Fire and chunks of earth rattle their shuttle, flames licking over their viewport. They’re just about to be overwhelmed when he sends them into lightspeed. They don’t appear as so much as a blip on the First Order scanners.

----

A sweating, nervous Hux stands over his officers, “Did we get them?”

“No life forms detected sir. The shuttle’s beacon is at the center of the blast. There’s no way they could have gotten off world. Targets eliminated sir!”

“Yes!” Hux pulls in his fists allowing himself a triumphant display that is certainly below his station.

He straightens his uniform and walks back off the bridge, where the Attendants are waiting with a golden cloak. They throw it over his narrow shoulders.

----

They’re spinning through space.

Blue and white lights streak past them. They stare at each other panting for a long time.

She’s the first to break the spell.

“Why did they try to kill us?”

“A coup. Looks like you’ll get the chance to help me kill Hux afterall.”

He seems to be taking being unseated as Supreme Leader rather well.

“Won’t they track us?”

“I dumped the tracker and comms. They should think we’re dead.“ 

“Just like that? How can they do this to their own leader… How did you know it was coming?”

This he doesn’t answer, shielding his mind from hers.

There was his trusty anger building again. He relished it after feeling so drained by the events of the spring. It was all her fault, he hadn’t agreed to help her yet, hadn’t decided if he’d keep her alive, those damn ghosts couldn’t control his destiny. But he supposed he was alive because of them… they were alive… for now.

Like it or not, if he wanted his position of power back, he was going to need Rey’s help and this time, he would ensure that she'd never leave his side again.

He knows where they need to start.

“You’ll need a new saber…”

“What?”

“If we’re going to bring the First Order down.”

----

ON Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13990587/chapters/32535867

-----

Part 1: http://bit.ly/2IdHDTN

Part 2: http://bit.ly/2Ie5q5G

Part 3: http://bit.ly/2oVTDRD

Part 4: http://bit.ly/2HztYF7

Part 5: https://bit.ly/2G8K7RP

Part 7: https://bit.ly/2upJMJa

Part 8: https://bit.ly/2JbkYaW

Part 9: https://bit.ly/2GZFflF

Part 10: https://bit.ly/2HnC9FF

Part 11: https://bit.ly/2HucNsb

Part 12: https://bit.ly/2vt5sED

Part 13: https://bit.ly/2HvMiDH

Part 14: https://bit.ly/2KxOWGN

Part 15: https://bit.ly/2Kt5r6l

Part 16: https://bit.ly/2x5QLYR

[absolxguardian]

You know what day it is. It's Classpect the SW Trios day! (Page of blood Finn? Knight of Hope Luke? I think there's something to be said about both Rey and Anakin "inviting destruction")

Ahhh, I’m not too good at classpecting, but here we go:

Anakin: Lord of Rage. Being the chosen one means Anakin gets a master class. The rage comes from is volatility, inviting destruction (as you said), and Anakin’s later belief that the Jedi were lying to him and therefore must die. Being a Lord represents Anakin because of how damn active he is in the Homestuck sense. (Also he is literally a lord of the sith) Lord’s are also known for instructing/ordering others (while musing guide/inspire) which fits Vader very well. (Other than Rage, I’d put Time as Anakin’s aspect)

Padme: Maid of Hope: The class was really hard to figure out for Padme, but Hope was easy. It can repersent convictions, a sense of right, and the need to protect people from injustice. And despite all the destruction raining down around her, Padme still imagines and an impossible world where the Republic is still around, she can be open in her marriage with Anakin, and they can raise their children. The Maid class works with the possible interpretations of “made of aspect”(her convictions are her driving personality) “one who allows others to be protected by aspect”(Democracy would be one of those said convictions. And by being a senator, democracy can actually protect the people)  “someone who protects themselves and/or others with [aspect]” (same point more but intentional, which I prefer)

Obi-Wan: Heir of Doom: The extended zodiac description calls Doom players “ fate’s chosen sufferers.” Which is pretty much Obi-Wan’s thing. Kenobi would have become more in touch with his aspect during his exile on Tatooine, leading to his resignation and wisdom in ANH. The Heir class is based on his relationship with the Force in the prequels. He lets the Force control him and protect him, in the same way Heirs are often used by their aspect. The moments in the ROTS novelization where Obi-Wan basically reaches so deep into the force he’s in a super trance, that would be an Heir thing. And he is very much a pawn of fate, making sure everything is in the right place.

Ahsoka: Page of Time: Time is because the official site describes Time players as fighters and those who value action over passive acceptance. This describes Ahsoka pretty well, especially how, during the Ahsoka book she had to help others despite the fact she was putting herself in danger of discovery. Page is because of how she provides others will the tools they need to fight as Fulcrum. And how she helps the younglings in the Trandoshian arc, the people of Raada in the book, and the insurgents of Onderan.

Luke: Slyph of Breath: “Although Breath-bound do make very good leaders, breath tends to be a very personal aspect. Often, heroism comes along as an offshoot of them pursuing their own personal stories. They lead by example, and will routinely be surprised that others look up to or feel inspired by them. They have a tendency to underestimate themselves, and not always out of poor self-esteem. They were just doing their own thing.” (Extend Zodiac). Luke has metaphorically healed a lot of things. He healed Vader by redeeming him. He healed the galaxy by ending the Empire. He was going to heal the Jedi order. All those things relate to freedom (freedom from the Emperor, freedom from the Empire, the Jedi would preserve freedom). Hence Slyph of Breath. I’d say Luke could also be a Slyph of Life just as easily.

Leia: Knight of Blood/Time: Time would be because of the same reasons I outlined for Ahsoka. Blood would be because while young Leia isn’t much of a tactician, she is a vital figurehead and inspiration to the rebellion. And as the leader of the Resistance, she is both a tactical and moral leader. It is the strength of her personality that holds the Resistance together. Knight is because, compared to Ashoka or the role of a Fulcrum, she takes a much more visible and active role leading her cause than the Page class would.

Han: Witch of Heart: This is the one I’m the least unsure of. Heart would be because of the false face Han puts on of being way cooler and unfeeling than he really is. He’s very concerned about being perceived as the smuggler role he put on. Witch would be because he tries to manipulate his identity instead of doing the natural self-discovery the site seems to say is their base deal. I’d say Breath as an aspect as a second choice, but Witch wouldn’t work with that. *shurg*

Lando (because I did Ahsoka. Guess I’m doing the quartet for all of them. And that would make it a full session) Bard of Space: I was going to say Breath as well, but I’m planning on running a Sburb Sim with their classpects later, and well, they need a Space player. And honestly, Lando’s the only one good enough at long term plans that I’d give it to him. And then I’d say Bard, because of the fact his long term plans don’t really shake out the best, instead inviting destruction 

Rey: Muse of Hope: Rey’s got some super destiny thing going on. We all know that. And the thing is, the first part of her life was really similar to Calliope’s. For most of her life, she has been acting in a passive role. And there’s a lot of parallels between Calliope and Caliborn’s relationship and Rey and Kylo’s. And as the next Jedi, Rey is going to be a big inspiration to the galaxy and the Resistance. Like Padme, she has a lot of convictions she manages to hang onto in one of the most cruel planets. But she’s a much bigger dreamer than Padme, with the whole thing she has about her parents and Luke.

Finn: Mage of Life: Discounting my “Finn as the Restiance medic trained by Kix” headcanon, his empathy still leads him away from the First Order. But when he was part of the First Order, he did it because he honestly believed the lies that the First Order was preventing anarchy from burning down the galaxy. The thing on the site about how Life players often forget to take care of themselves reflects how little value Finn was raised to place on himself. His empathy is also apparent when how he defies Phasma to protect Slip. For class, I went for Mage with the assumption of “one who is manipulated by [aspect].” This has to do with how Finn’s empathy and selflessness were manipulated by the First Order.

Rose: Seer of Hope: Yeah, sorry it’s another Hope player. All the main characters are just too much of a mess to be void, mind, or light. Those aspects aren’t really Star Wars protagonist material. Anyway, “They do right for right’s sake, and are quick to come to the aid of anyone they deem to be experiencing injustice.” “They may sound like all sunshine and rainbows, but they aren’t adverse to a little destruction, especially if they think they can replace it with something better and more just.” (Extended Zodiac). Her seer class doesn’t relate directly to her aspect. It’s more about the extent of her knowledge in general. She creates the power bafflers, some vehicles for exploring D’Qar, and figures out that the First Order is using active tracking.

Poe: Knight of Time: Poe is more similar to a younger Liea than her current leadership role on D’Qar. Since sequel trilogy Leia is very much a Knight of Blood, then Poe is a Knight of Time. (Actaully now that I’m almost done I honestly prefer knight of blood liea than knight of time Leia)

So there you go. What do you think of these? I know I didn’t go off of your classpects at all, but I’m interested in hearing what yours are. Also these were the pages I used as aspect and class descriptions:

http://hs.hiveswap.com/ezodiac/aboutaspects.php

http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Class

[laurelindebear]

Well, I’ve seen The Last Jedi and I am EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED. (again)

Many spoilers ahead.

I’m still processing how I feel about it and this is gonna ramble all over the place, fair warning.

I do think it could have been edited down; I could have done with fewer gross ship-baity Rey and Kylo ‘connection’ scenes, definitely (WHY did we need to see him shirtless? Ew. Ew. Ew.), and I think the slow attrition of the Rebel fleet in space could have been pared down, among other things.

Rey continues to be a worthy successor and heir to Luke, Leia and Han. I am so relieved she did not turn to the dark side - she delved, because she wants to learn, but she is strong enough to keep trying to do the right thing. I am also pleased that (apparently) she isn’t a Skywalker or a Kenobi or a Palpatine, that her strength is just her own, not a birthright or an inheritance. She will need to work through her fear about it though. Coming from ‘nothing’ doesn’t mean she is nothing, and she does have a family. 

Likewise I was very relieved that Kylo Ren was not redeemed, and that Rey did not form some kind of alliance with him. He has utterly missed the point of Anakin’s life story arc, he has killed millions if not billions of people, he killed his father in cold blood. That he didn’t pull the trigger on his mother (you’re damn right you put that thumb away you pissbaby) doesn’t mean he gets to come back.

Rose is wonderful. I love that there are new female characters in Star Wars for little girls - and boys! - to look up to. Finn, Rey and BB-8 are still wonderful, together and apart. I seem to be in the minority in that I enjoyed Finn and Rose’s subplot, especially trashing the casino, and reaching out to the kids with the Resistance ring (which I need yesterday, Disney; once again I have money to throw at you and you are not giving me a place to throw it. Sidenote, bless you once again Carrie Fisher, our eternal and beloved space queen, for pushing for more space jewellery. We did not deserve you.) 

I loved those giant sheep-horse-llama thingies with the sweet faces, and while I was on the fence about porgs to start with, they won me over with their little faces and especially with showing us (again) the soft heart underneath Chewie’s fearsome exterior. I miss him, too, buddy...you take all the time and porgs you need.

I liked Holdo, and her ultimate moment of awesome was, well, truly awesome, but I did think, well, why didn’t she, or someone, do that sooner? I liked that she was not at all intimidated by Poe’s hotheadedness and demanding attitude. It is really a shame to lose her as soon as we found her, because I think she would have been a worthy successor to Leia’s elegant steel, but of course hindsight is 20/20.

I loved that Leia got to use her latent untapped Force powers finally, and then of course she would pass it off as NBD. The actual flying mechanic was a little wonky, but the premise was wonderful. (That was the first time I cried.)

Hux getting basically no respect is perfect. The two highest authorities in the First Order are an ineffectual toadying buffoon and an ineffectual emotionally-constipated tantrum-baby. Let’s hope they fulfill every bit of their total non-promise.

Yoda’s reappearance was a fun surprise. I had no inkling he would turn up, and it seems being a Force ghost has not affected his personality at all. I hadn’t realised until I read another comment that he was trolling Luke expertly by saying that Rey already possessed all the wisdom from the Jedi books, because he must have known that Rey possessed the books already.

Luke. This is where I’m really processing. I was really worried for a bit that he had actually attacked Ben, and that felt so, so, so out of character for the man who refused not to see good in Darth freaking Vader. I’m still not entirely happy with how it played out, even though it’s believable, a moment of weakness that couldn’t be mended, and a grief he ran from. Ultimately, as endings go it was about as perfect as could be imagined: a last shining moment of badassery, embracing his legend before embracing his death, but now Luke Skywalker’s story is now at an end. The twin suns and that theme broke me, and as with Han in TFA, there’s just something melancholy about losing the heroes we’ve had for a long time. 

In one way or another, all three of the original core team are now gone, and Leia in a way where we’ll never get satisfactory closure we might want. Whatever they decide to do for IX, there’s no solution that will make all or most people happy, because real life has gotten in the way. I’m about halfway between the original generation and the new squad in age, I guess, but it makes me feel old and mortal to see their stories end.

There are some plot elements that didn’t gel for me. Holdo’s sacrifice being delayed to the point of losing most of the Resistance, as mentioned. Poe’s short-lived mutiny didn’t land for me. Phasma was once again totally underwhelming after being a poster character for two films, and now she is potentially gone for good. (At least Finn got an awesome line out of it.) The ship with the lightspeed tracker was destroyed, but the tech will still exist, so the last stragglers of the Resistance will have nowhere to hide now, surely. I’m mixed on Snoke. His death is a nice twist, but for all his bluster he forgot that killing your master is the Sithiest thing to ever Sith, and all the mystery around him led to nothing. 

As much as everyone is praising Driver’s performance, which is undoubtedly that of a conflicted man with little control over his emotions, I don’t really rate him as a villain. He’s cruel, volatile and powerful, but it’s all brute Force and no finesse, a loose cannon that will inevitably shoot itself. There’s no great plan, just ‘I’M MAD, MUST SMASH THAT NOW’. 

I actively disliked the middle section where it seemed that Rey was going to try to redeem Kylo with...love? I don’t even know. The fact she didn’t hesitate to refuse his offer, and then slammed a door in his face, was a huge relief.

I will also be extremely disappointed if they pull a love triangle with Rey, Finn and Rose. I don’t think they actually need a romance arc in the new story, although I don’t have any real objection to any of the new ‘Big 4′ (Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose) getting together in any configuration. But female characters don’t require love stories to be complete, and friendship can be as important as romance, and can be enough.

I think time will probably tell how it stands in the end, because as the middle segment it stands awkwardly without its bookends to help define its place. 

Now I have to wait until 2019 for my heart to break over Leia all over again. 

[spectral-musette]

you've read the Star Wars EU? :) who's your favorite character from it? and do you think Kylo and Rey are based off of Jacen and Jaina? and we might see/hear Luke talk about Mara in The Last Jedi? :)

I have indeed read some Star Wars Expanded Universe books.

I’m going to talk a lot down here under the cut, but spoilers,my favorite exclusively EU character is Mara Jade, so here’s a li’l sketch:

with her being like “Holdmy space flower, Skywalker” and Luke being all “I got your flower, Mara, and alsothis bouquet I picked you from the jungles of Yavin 4 as a token of my respectand devotion.”

(For anyone who’s never read any EU books, basically imaginecrackship Luke Skywalker/Natasha Romanov as a slowburn enemies-to-allies-to-friends-to-loversrelationship, and that’s Luke and Mara in a nutshell.)

I read most of the books as they came out up through, uh, I think the Black Fleet Crisis (which I didn’t care for), and then I took a breakfor a while. I also only read the first Young Han Solo book and couldn’t ever getinto the X-wing series.

I have NOT read Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, but am told Imaybe should for the lols.

 Also comics! Didn’t care for Dark Empire (Luke Would NEVER) and lovedTales of the Jedi (Nomi Sunrider though! Also geeked out hardcore when Irealized that Onderon shows up in Clone Wars).

 But the original Zahn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, etc.),the Jedi Academy books (Jedi Search, etc.), Truce at Bakura, Courtship of PrincessLeia, Crystal Star, Children of the Jedi/Darksaber (I apparently forgot thatPlanet of Twilight existed, whoops) all were a huge part of my childhood. Inretrospect, wow, there are some issues there. The EU was not perfect. But, atthe time, I loved it and I devoured everything I could. I think as I got alittle older, I started getting more selective about what I liked, hence takinga break for a while.

I eventually came back for the Hand of Thrawn books (Spectreof the Past/Vision of the Future), and, nostalgia aside, I do think that TimothyZahn is a good storyteller and enjoy his writing and his take on the characters.

Post Ep I, I read Rogue Planet (I don’t remember much aboutit at this point), but in my mid/late teens was skewing a bit old for the JediApprentice series and have never done more than flip through a few of them.

Very recently, I picked up Kenobi (liked parts of it, got abit bored of the Tatooine OCs at points), Wild Space (didn’t care for some ofthe characterizations and found it uncomfortably whumpy towards Obi-Wan), OutboundFlight (traumatic as hell but I loved TZ writing young Obi-Wan) and Survivor’sQuest (so damn Luke/Mara shippy! THERE WAS SNUGGLING, IT WAS GREAT).

Okay, Whew.

So yeah, as for favs, I really love Mara Jade and her wholestory arc. I like that as a “redemption” arc goes (do you need to be redeemedwhen you’ve been brainwashed since childhood? Healing arc?), she changes herviews and goals, but her core personality never really changes. I did love all the Solo children as kiddos, but I neverread any books in which they were older than about 10. Also, Honorable Mention to preciouspadawan Lorana in Outbound Flight who deserved better.

Do I think Kylo Ren and Rey are based on Jaina and Jacen?

Eeeeeh, well, I do think comparisons are inevitable. I’msure the screenwriters of TFA were at least passingly familiar with the conceptof the Solo twins in the EU, so going for having the Solo son as a darksider wasmaybe not the best choice to distance the new canon from the EU?

I’m not even going to speculate about Rey’s parentage, butat least in terms of being mechanically inclined and a great pilot, she does sort of resemble Jaina, doesn’t she?

Do I think Episode 8 will make Mara canon?

I’m not going to hold my breath.

I also kind of want it and don’t want it, you know? As muchas I love Mara and her dynamic with Luke, maybe I’d rather just leave the EUversion of the post-Trilogy future as it is and not try to import modifiedversions into new canon.

So yeah, that’s a quick tour of my EU opinions, anon. What are yours?