#ryder windham

[padawanlost]

Anakin's nightmare

“Do you know where [Shmi] is?” “Why, I should expect she’s at Watto’s junkshop. I’m afraid he’s had her doing quite a lot of work there, ever since you ran away.”

Anakin winced. “But I didn’t run away,” he said. “I left. To become a Jedi.”

“Oh, of course you did, sir,” said C-3PO, his voice filled with good cheer. “I never meant to suggest that you abandoned any responsibilities you might have had here, when you were just a child. After all, we’re so very proud of you and your achievements. Not that we actually know about what you’ve accomplished in the past nine years, since we’ve never received any messages from you, but I do get the distinct impression that your mother still cares very much about you. And she does have a vivid imagination, so she very easily assumed that you must be…”

The droid was still talking as Anakin ran out of the hovel and into the broiling radiance of Tatooine’s twin suns. Although it appeared to be afternoon, when the city of Mos Espa should have been teeming with street vendors and pedestrians, there was no sign of life.

Anakin felt a sense of panic. He ran as fast as he could through the empty streets until he arrived outside the tall, bell-shaped structure that was Watto’s junkshop.

Like his own hovel, the junkshop appeared to be exactly as Anakin remembered it. Yet when he ducked through the shop’s entrance portal and entered the cluttered interior, he found that Watto had added something new: In front of a workbench, there was a low cage with thick metal bars.

A filthy figure, clothed in dirty rags, was huddled within the cage.

It was Shmi Skywalker. Anakin’s mother.

She looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “Who are you?” she asked. Her voice sounded old and tired.

“It’s me, Mom,” Anakin said, dropping to his knees before the cage. “Anakin. Annie. I’m grown up now. I’ve come to rescue you.”

“Anakin?” Shmi said in disbelief. She slowly shook her head. “But you can’t be. You can’t be here. You’re gone.”

“I’ll get you out, Mom,” Anakin said as he gripped the bars. He looked around. There was no sign of Watto.

“It is you,” Shmi said. “It really is you.”

Anakin tugged at the bars with all his might, but they would not yield. Then he remembered he was a Jedi. He could do anything!

He reached to his belt, expecting to find his lightsaber, but his fingers slapped against his side. His lightsaber was gone. He tried to recall if he had clipped it to his belt before leaving his hovel, or if he had even brought it with him to Tatooine.

He tried to remember when and where he had seen it last. He felt confused. How had he arrived back on Tatooine? He could not remember.

Desperate, he glanced at Watto’s tool shelf and saw a fusion-cutter and power pry-bar. He grabbed for them, but he could not pick them up. He tried again, tearing at them, but the tools would not budge. It seemed they had been welded to the shelf.

Anakin collapsed beside the cage, his head smacking against the bars. “I swear, I’ll get you out!” he sobbed.

Shmi reached between the bars and pushed her oil-stained fingers through her son’s blond hair. “Oh, Annie,” she said. “Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry. I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”

“Mom, look at you! Watto left you in a cage!” Anakin said, outraged.

“No, he didn’t, Annie,” Shmi said sadly. “Watto didn’t leave me. You did.”

Suddenly, Shmi, the junkshop, and all of Tatooine were swept away from Anakin’s vision, and he was engulfed in darkness. It wrapped around him like a cold, black shroud that cut him off from the entire galaxy.

Unable to see, his only awareness was of the steady rise and fall of his own breathing.

Something was wrong.

The breathing sounded mechanical and labored, as if it were being done through some kind of respirator. Anakin wondered if the breathing were his own, or if he had been mistaken about the sound’s origin. Perhaps, he thought, I’m not alone in this dark place. He held his breath and listened to the void. The sound of mechanized breathing stopped. And then Anakin felt his throat constricting.

The darkness coiled even tighter around him, working its way through his skin, seizing his lungs and veins and muscles and bones until he knew it was about to consume him.

Then the dream ended as it always did, with Anakin trying to shout but fearing that no one, not even he, would ever hear his cry. And then he awoke. [Ryder Windham. Star Wars Adventures - The Hostage Princess]

[the-gershomite]

Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron. Wizard 1/2 -August 1, 1995

written by Ryder Windham

illustrated by John Nadeau

[rainintheevening]

also plssss what is this book you keep referencing where Qui-Gon sends Shmi something valuable to buy her freedom 😭 i can't find it referenced on wookieepedia

Okay, this actually sent me into a panic because I'd only read that story in a tumblr post, and so I suddenly wondered if I had been making canons out of headcanons this whole time. But some rooting through wookieepedia set me on the trail, which led back to my To Read bookshelf. And the answer is The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Ryder Windham.

And to save you hunting down a copy:

[quoter2]

"And would this -Han Solo?- be available at present for a job?"

The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Ryder Windham

[qualitymoonsuit]

I just finished reading Indiana Jones and the Pyramid of the Sorcerer, by Ryder Windham.

[marvelstars]

I feel sorry for him

Luke was frustrated that Ben hadn't written more about Anakin and Vader. He reread aloud the two lines that had especially commanded his attention:

"'... Palpatine had taken a new apprentice: my former student, Darth Vader. And because of Darth Vader, Anakin was gone as well.'"

The words sounded hollow in his mouth. Although Ben had not written in so many words that Darth Vader had killed Anakin, that was what Ben had told him had happened. He wondered just how carefully Ben had chosen his words when he had written that Anakin was gone. And then he read again about how Ben - or rather Obi-Wan - had left Vader to die.

Luke had no illusions that Darth Vader was a killer. Vader had also tortured both Princess Leia and Han Solo on different occasions. On Cloud City, Vader had maimed Luke before inviting him to join the dark side and help him overthrow the Emperor. But despite all the horrible things Vader had done, and despite the fact that Ben had no mercy for Vader, Luke was surprised that he felt something other than horror or anger at the thought of the armored Dark Lord of the Sith. I feel sorry for him.

As the phantom pain chewed at his right wrist, Luke wondered what exactly had happened all those years ago on an unidentified world, along the shores of a lava river.

The Life And Legend of Obi Wan Kenobi by Ryder Windham

[sbnkalny]

Authored

rorylad

[skywalkr-nberrie]

Definitely the wrong interpretation of Padmé’s character to say that she wouldn’t have stayed with Anakin had she lived. Of course, in the context that he remains Vader, it’s obvious she wouldn’t stay by his side then, she’d be actively against him. But a redeemed Vader, that’s once again Anakin Skywalker? There’s no doubt that her undying love for him overpowers all. He’d have a looooot to make up for, but Padmé is the kind of person who’d be on that journey alongside him. Padmé said it herself that they’d always be “one” no matter what happened. She was always ready and willing to forgive him no matter what he did, or where he went. She was always going to his, just as much as he was always hers.

And we see this very clearly even after what’s happened on Mustafar, and after Padmé found out that everything she heard was the truth. But there’s a reason why she still had unwavering faith in Anakin. She knew he still had goodness in him, and she wanted him back. She didn’t fight tooth and nail on Mustafar to bring him back to her, begging him to stop and tell him that she loves him, only to leave him in the end. She wanted him back more than anything. Why? Because she wanted to be with him. To run away to the lakes on Naboo, where she can live out her days with him and their kid(s).

❉ ❉ ❉

“The most powerful, the most repressed thought of all could have emerged from the darkness: Padmé … and her undying love for someone he once knew well. And despite all the terrible, unspeakable things he’d done in his life, he suddenly realized he could not stand by and allow the Emperor to kill their son. And in that moment, he was no longer Darth Vader.”

[Ryder Windham’s Episode VI: Return of the Jedi novelization]

[sw5w]

Wee Shahnit... Sleemo

STAR WARS EPISODE II: Attack of the Clones 00:24:28

The subtitles for this scene read "Wee Shahnit... Sleemo" but if you listen closely, she clearly says the Huttese word Murishani translating to "bounty hunter".

In Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels by Pablo Hidalgo, he writes that Zam's last words are "murishani sleemo".

The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader by Ryder Windham, a young adult novel from 2007 which retells the events of the Star Wars saga from Anakin/Vader's viewpoint uses the words "Wee shahnit".

R.A. Salvatore's novelization of Attack of the Clones simply omits the line altogether, with "It was a bounty hunter called-" being Zam's last words.

Thanks to @darkblades75 for sharing the script page and also suggesting to check the Attack of the Clones comic adaptation from Dark Horse Comics. Much like the novelization, both the script and comic leave Zam's last words as "It was a bounty hunter called..."

I couldn't find any other sources, does anyone know anywhere else that describes this scene in either direction?

[electricnik]

I f ound a copy of this book at the local car boot sale.

Star Wars, Jedi Vs Sith by Ryder Windham.

There is a page on Thrawn's favorite pet. the Ysalamiri, illustrated by Chris Trevas.

[intermundia]

Hey, I'm new to the Star Wars fandom here (TT) and I am an avid reader, can you suggest what books I should buy and in what order because u seem like a pretty well organized guy in terms of books, thanks (plz help, I will literally go broke if I buy them all, thanks)

welcome to star wars!!! 🫶 it's a hell of a mess but it's worth it haha i've been collecting for awhile, i have 173 of the novels (here's a link to an inventory spreadsheet if you're curious which ones), but there are almost four hundred available if you include all legends and extended universe in addition to disney canon. which is frankly too many lol

a useful book is the essential reader's companion by pablo hidalgo, which was published in 2012 and provides short summaries of all novels published before then, so you have a sense of what kind of books are available about the EU etc. it's good to have on hand to guide you through the absolute thicket that is legends haha

my personal area of interest is the prequels and obi-wan/anakin, so those are the books i really know the most about. the thrawn books by timothy zahn are notoriously pretty good for example, but i've only read one of them, and can't really comment on the rest. i've also only read one high republic book, light of the jedi by charles soule, which i adored, but can't comment on the rest of that era either.

my three very favorite sw books are:

revenge of the sith by matthew stover

darth plagueis by james luceno

rogue planet by greg bear

a selection of other ones i enjoyed:

padawan by kiersten white

wild space by karen miller

phantom menace by terry brooks

shatterpoint by matthew stover

labyrinth of evil by james luceno

dark lord: rise of darth vader by james luceno

lords of the sith by paul kemp

master and apprentice by claudia gray

dark disciple by christie golden

kenobi by john jackson miller

life and legend of obi-wan kenobi and the rise and fall of darth vader by ryder windham are two kids books that i really enjoyed

if you want to know comics (which are some of the best star wars media of all time) or my favorite nonfiction reference books let me know!!

also, a pro tip i guess is to check out ebay used book lots, people dump big piles of sw books all the time for relatively cheap and that can be a great way to jumpstart a collection without breaking the bank

[padawanlost]

“I was just a little girl, only four years old, when I first saw Anakin. Oh, my. I thought he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, and so tall!

Pooja Naberrie in Ryder’s Windham’s Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force

[the-gershomite]

Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron. Wizard 1/2 -August 1, 1995

written by Ryder Windham

illustrated by John Nadeau

[archeo-starwars]

The Life of Luke Skywalker by Ryder Windham

[cross-d-a]

Fandom: Star Wars, Episode 1: the Phantom Menace Anniversary Special Comic, The Wrath of Darth Maul (Ryder Windham)

Chapter: 1/?

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Relationships: Shmi Skywalker & Tusken Raiders, C-3PO & Shmi Skywalker, Darth Maul & Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker & Shmi Skywalker

Characters: Shmi Skywalker, Tusken Raider Characters, C-3PO, Darth Maul, Kilindi Matako, Nobot the Protocol Droid, Beru Whitesun

Additional Tags:  Tatooine Slave Culture & Customs, Tusken Culture & Customs, Tatooine Mythology, Tusken Mythology, BAMF Shmi Skywalker, Force-Sensitive Shmi Skywalker, Force Sensitive Tuskens, Found Family, Fantasy Racism, Slavery, PTSD, Angst, Sluff, Darth Maul Redemption,

Summary:

A Tusken Raider finds mercy in the eyes of a little slave boy. And then he finds salvation in the boy’s mother. - Or, after Anakin saves a Tusken Raider, Shmi Skywalker ends up finding family in a handful of Tusken Raider outcasts. Then they incite a slave rebellion. Oh, and Maul shows up. Threepio might just have a conniption trying to keep Anakin's mother alive.

[qualitymoonsuit]

Back cover of Indiana Jones and the Pyramid of the Sorcerer, by Ryder Windham.