#tcw the wrong jedi fix it

[fangirlingindefinitely]

(Another) redraw of my old Knight!Ahsoka design :) Something about this concept is so fun to keep doing again and again and it’s also fun to see how my art has improved over time!

Most recent version:

Image description: This is a digital fanart of Ahsoka Tano as an adult wearing a maroon sleeveless tunic with split sides over a sleeveless pink mock neck shirt. She is wearing a brown belt with a gold buckle and boots and gauntlets in the same color scheme. She wears her Akul teeth headband and the same pink color scheme as the earlier seasons of the Clone Wars TV show. Her lightsabers are clipped to her belt. She is smiling while stretching. There is text that reads: “Knight Ahsoka, September 2023.” End I.D.

Old Version:

Image Description: This is a digital fanart of Ahsoka Tano as an adult wearing similar clothing to the previous image in more muted shades of maroon and dark gray. She is smiling and posing with a hand on her hip. End I.D.

[graylinesspam]

Ch. 4 of Setting the Stage

For a price

Faced with a real Sith Ahsoka has to oppertunity to finally get the answers she seeks. But she'll have to bargain for them.

[wantonlywindswept]

fox kills palpatine ficbit idea

The worst part, Fox thought, was the boredom. 

It wasn't that his entire existence was now confined to the Jedi Temple and about five feet outside of it: the building was absolutely massive, a city unto itself that he still hadn't explored the entirety of, and it's not like he went many places before.

It wasn't even the slave collar around his neck, a reminder of both his classification as dangerous property in need of regulation and a reassurance to the displeased natborns who would have preferred he be decommissioned.

No, the worst part of his new life was definitely that the Jedi, in their infinite wisdom and absolutely useless naivete, recoiled from giving him anything that could even remotely be considered orders, acting like if they tried hard enough, they could believe that he wasn't their property to use as they saw fit.

At least Palpatine--may he rest in the fucking pieces Fox left him in--gave him something to do.

-----

so i'm not going to continue this, bc it would involve more politics and morality discussion than i have the energy to write, but the gist would be that fox kills palpatine, and the only thing that keeps him from being executed/decommissioned by the senate is the jedi desperately going 'hey, we paid for the clones, that makes him our property/responsibility'. so he gets confined to the Temple under guard, and the jedi are all very sorry like 'we didn't really mean that, it was just to keep you from being killed' and he just kinda shrugs, because. it's not that much different from his life before?

he can't go anywhere he's not allowed to without being punished, he has to obey whatever orders are given to him, everything he does is monitored, there's always the threat of being killed hanging over his head. the only difference is that now he has an explosive collar and actually gets 8 hours of sleep at night.

and with fox now having the trappings of a slave, the jedi have to actually face the fact that the clones are slaves. and the clones have to face the fact that they're slaves, too. because loyalty and believing in the cause are all well in good, but they were literally created to fight and die for the republic, and they don't actually have any choice in the matter.

and there would probably need to be other things, palps' death making waves that may or may not end the war, him being a sith may or may not actually matter to the senate because a clone still killed someone in power and that's Not Allowed. the clones may or may not actually get their freedom. (probably, i'm a sucker for good endings)

but that is way more emotional investment than i currently have the energy to put into a story, so if anyone wants to run with the idea, feel free.

...also everyone should go read Sailing the Stars by @esamastation.

[whomst-the-hell]

i find clone wars era fix it fics frustrating sometimes because everyone lives happily ever after and anakin never falls to the dark side or whatever as if he hadnt already literally massacred an entire village (not only the men but the women and the children too, famously) like the depictions of the tusken raiders was uhhhh Very 2002 but even in aotc anakin attacking them is like. A Bad Thing. ppl act like anakin didnt succumb to the dark side until post-tcw and maybe he wasnt fully sith until then but he had definitely Fallen and should like. face ramifications for his actions? mayhaps?

like dont get me wrong a lot fics in this style are incredibly well written and interesting, i like quite a few of them, its just that the massacre of the tusken raiders gets? ignored? like ppl act as though anakins biggest breach of the jedi code is just that he married padme as opposed to the time he literally killed a bunch of kids in a fit of rage and it feels icky sometimes to me idk

[antianakin]

Hi, do you have any fic recs for Clone War fics where Ahsoka (and possibly Rex?) recognize that Anakin is a bad general/Jedi? I recently started rewatching TCW after my last time watching it, back when I was still a preteen, and I'm just shook at how much of an asshole and horrible general Anakin is?? I am quite literally on episode 6 of season!

Most of these are taken straight from my previous fic rec list specifically for anti-Anakin fics (there's others in there where other characters like Obi-Wan, Padme, and Fives figure out Anakin's a piece of shit too if that's up your alley).

and the tide rises, the tide falls series by blackkat: This one probably is going to fit your request the most since there is a LARGE focus on Rex and Ahsoka coming to terms with the Tusken massacre and what this means about who Anakin truly is and their relationships with him.

Wasted Training by TheSecondBatgirl: This one has Ahsoka getting some revelations about that training Anakin gave her in TOTJ being perhaps not so great.

The Burden of Secrets by Peppermint_Shamrock: This might be more Anakin-positive than you were looking for, but it deals with Ahsoka finding out about the Tusken massacre and how she deals with that. It also is set just after the Rako Hardeen arc, so there's some mentions of how Anakin isn't managing his feelings about that in a healthy way, too.

"... if you remain his student" by peppermint_shamrock: This one fits within the "Clone Wars" timeline by a hair since it is set DURING Order 66 in an AU where the Wrong Jedi arc doesn't happen (or Ahsoka just didn't leave, I can't remember) and so she's at the Temple when Anakin marches on it with the 501st. Ahsoka has to come to some VERY quick realizations about her master and doesn't get long to really dwell on it.

The next two are not TECHNICALLY set "during the Clone Wars" because one is set post-Order 66 and one is a happy fix-it AU set post-war. I am including them because they do definitely have storylines about Rex and/or Ahsoka having to come to some realizations about Anakin, but they don't technically fit your request.

Slices of Happiness series by kj_feybarn: This one is focused more on Obi-Wan, but there's some stuff in here about Rex coming to some realizations about Anakin, too.

The Greater Crime by kj_feybarn: This is set post-Order 66 in an AU where Rex and Ahsoka meet up with Obi-Wan and Padme and they all go on the run together, so obviously Rex and Ahsoka find out the truth about what Anakin's done pretty quickly and struggle with that revelation. It also has a follow-up fic Cruel by TheStageManager that's more Ahsoka focused.

[jedirattail]

Star Wars Chronological Watchthrough: Tales of the Jedi episodes 3 & 4

I accidentally skipped episode 3 of TotJ, which should've been before TPM, so I just put it here.

S1E3 - Choices

Love getting more Dooku

Windu pisses me off

I like that they're continuing to establish the public's view that the Jedi serve the senate. That nicely sets up their bad PR during the clone wars. Also the widespread well-founded distrust of the senate leading up to the formation of the separatists

I wish Dooku and the separatists in the movies and TCW were depicted as sympathetic as this show is setting them up to be

S1E4 - The Sith Lord

Gonna be honest, I don't understand Dooku's deal rn. It's been so long since I watched AotC, so I don't remember most of the stuff we learn about him there, so I'm really just going off of what I've seen chronologically so far. So bear with me in my ignorance.

I get that he doesn't agree with the Jedi Council and their way of doing things, and he thinks the senate and Republic don't serve the people, but... why does he think the answer is to become the apprentice of the Sith Lord and chancellor of the republic he thinks is corrupt? The LEADER of the senate he's been opposed to this whole time?

Does he know that the plan is to play both sides of a war and create an empire? If he does know, then why does he think that would be better? If he doesn't know, then what does he think the plan is? I'm clearly missing something.

For now I'm assuming he knows at least most of the plan. He helped delete the Kamino info, so he's in on the clone stuff. It would make more sense if he didn't know Sidious was Palpatine, but he's meeting with him in person, so he clearly should

Does he just want to get stronger through Sidious and then kill him and try to fix the galaxy alone with his new Sith powers? and he's just going along with Sidious for now so he can learn and get stronger though him?

I think he tells Obi-Wan that the senate is under the control of a Sith Lord in AotC in an attempt to get Obi-Wan to join him (this might be wrong idk), so to me that seems like he knows Sidious's plan but doesn't want to keep playing along or something. Maybe?

I've really been liking Dooku in Tales of the Jedi so far, so I want to understand. I might have to find a book or comic or something that explains his thought process more (recs pls)

Maybe I'm just dumb. I'm also high. Might be imparing the cognitive abilities.

I remember there was something about Sifo-Dyas in the clone wars, but I don't remember what it was. This made it look like Dooku just logged into his jedi account to delete Kamino, but I think there was something more in that clone wars episode. I'm glad they're addressing it though bc this shit made no sense in the movies. I don't remember much from AotC, but I remember that.

Yaddle was chill. rip. Intersting that she stepped down from the council bc of disagreements with them (unless she was just saying that to get Dooku to stop trying to kill her, but I feel like it's probably true). I want to see more division and different philosophies among the Jedi.

If I were Yaddle, I would've fallen backward out to the other side of the door instead of forward into the room with the two super evil bad guys with swords.

[cantsayidont]

As much as I still enjoy the older comics and books, my feelings about modern STAR WARS media are at best mixed. Many of the recent streaming shows (with the notable exception of ANDOR) have been especially dire, but to my mind, the rot set in long before that.

There have been a lot of terrible SW tie-ins over the years (the old Bantam novels were so bad that after a while I stopped even bothering to get them from the library), but I'm particularly antipathetic to THE CLONE WARS, which is now emerging as the core text of the new SW universe. (I refer here to the 2008 animated series, not the earlier Genndy Tartakovsky shorts, which I hated and found pointless, but were at least easy to ignore.)

One of the riskiest and most potentially troublesome things a spinoff or tie-in project can do is to go to war with its own source material. This is something that even STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE ended up struggling with, despite that show's strengths; the writers couldn't hide their annoyance with some of the basic premises of the TNG-era future (like the Federation's abandonment of money), which at times became not so much a critique as an expression of writing staff frustration with dramatic rules they didn't make but weren't empowered to change.

That tension is also at the core of THE CLONE WARS, which is driven by an ill-disguised disdain for the SW prequel films the cartoon is ostensibly supposed to bridge. TCW, particularly in the early seasons where Lucas was still directly involved, takes exaggerated care to remain faithful to the details of the prequel storyline (for instance, the assertion in REVENGE OF THE SITH that Obi-Wan Kenobi has never previously met General Grievous face-to-face). However, it also plainly wants to redo the prequels, making their story and characters into something more like what the show's creators would've preferred to see in the first place. (Some of that revisionism may have come from Lucas himself, but it's continued in substantially similar ways since Lucasfilm was swallowed by the Mouse.) It's not hard to see where the creators of TCW are coming from, because the prequels were distinctly disappointing in many respects, from their appalling racism and antisemitic caricatures to their hilariously clunky dialogue to the inept handling of the Anakin-Padme romance. However, in the show's zeal to fix what it sees as the films' flaws, THE CLONE WARS also seeks to dismantle their thematic integrity.

Where Lucas might have taken the SW prequel trilogy if 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq hadn't occurred is anyone's guess, but ATTACK OF THE CLONES and REVENGE OF THE SITH are plainly constructed as a surprisingly angry critique of the politics of the Wubbya era and the invasion of Iraq: The Jedi and the Republic are tricked into going to war on false pretenses, engaging in a conflict whose real purpose is to undermine the foundations of republican government and bring about the rise of a fascist dictatorship. By the end of ATTACK OF THE CLONES, where the war begins, the heroes have already lost: The military they're building is unmistakably an early iteration of the Imperial war machine seen in the original films, and the clone troopers are or will shortly become stormtroopers. Aside from being doomed by the narrative, Anakin Skywalker in Episodes 2 and 3 is a moral and emotional wreck: an immature, unstable young soldier — trained (and used) by an institution with no regard for his well-being that repeatedly urges him to reject normal human connections in favor of acetic martial purity — whose volatility and hazy grasp of right and wrong make him a dangerous, genocidal monster with no compunctions about murdering children in his paranoia and rage. None of the other prequel characters is remotely sympathetic: Obi-Wan Kenobi is a contemptible fool whose stubborn incuriousness (even when Dooku tells him quite directly what's really going on) and blind faith in the institutions he serves contribute materially to both the moral collapse of his apprentice and the ultimate triumph of interstellar fascism. Yoda is by the rules of our world a war criminal, whose eventual response to his failure to defeat Palpatine in single combat is to run away and make the brutal rise of the Empire everybody else's problem. Padme, meanwhile, is Anakin's enabler and apologist (she's an accessory after the fact to an explicit act of genocide, and she marries him anyway!) before becoming another of his victims. That's harrowing stuff, for all its clumsiness of execution, and, Lucas being Lucas, it's not at all subtle.

The central project of THE CLONE WARS is a cowardly obfuscation of the admittedly extreme grimness of the prequel films. It makes Anakin stable and competent, a capable if somewhat reckless leader who's a far cry from his deranged, tantrum-throwing live-action counterpart, a compassionate mentor with his own adorable teenage apprentice rather than a child-murdering fascist lunatic. The show also works overtime to rehabilitate Obi-Wan, Padme, and Yoda (who really doesn't deserve it). More alarmingly than that, TCW seeks to legitimize what the live-action films present as an unequivocally phony war, and blunt the edges of the prequels' original critique. In the films, the clones embody a military-industrial complex that's fundamentally inimical to the survival of justice or democracy — manufactured soldiers (and, pointedly, men of color) who are considered disposable war materiel even by the Jedi, and who are conditioned to follow any order delivered in a reasonably authoritative tone of voice. THE CLONE WARS wants desperately to reassure you that the clones are actually good guys (which it seeks to accomplish in part by making them white), noble and heroic true friends of our Jedi heroes who would obey them even if they didn't have to, and whose eventual heel turn has to be mechanically coerced. Moreover, TCW and its repulsive spinoff, THE BAD BATCH, take pains to distance the clones from the stormtroopers of the original films, qualitatively, morally, and ethically. Of course they're not stormtroopers who carry out massacres without question (even though we see them do just that in REVENGE OF THE SITH and in flashbacks to that period), they're Good Soldiers and heroes! They're victims of the evil space-wizard, just like the Jedi children and innocent people we watched them slaughter, and most of them feel terrible about it! The clones can't be bad guys, because then people wouldn't want to buy their toys. It's as disingenuous and cynical as the live-action films were dark, and it's completely nonsensical within the narrative bounds Lucas originally set out.

I'm not very fond of the prequels, which were not what I would have expected or wanted to see, and I can't blame Lucasfilm people for feeling similarly. However, I think that some creative levers really only go one way: You can take something simplistic and make it complex, or take something that's pretty black and white and introduce many shades of gray, but going the other way rarely works, and often feels insulting to boot. I did see the prequels, even though I didn't enjoy them very much, and while I don't begrudge anyone for wanting something lighter and less doomstruck, trying to tell me those movies were about something different than they obviously were has an "Ignore your lying eyes" vibe that I'm always going to find suspect.

[testingforgravity]

Gravity's Story Guide

Hi there, and welcome to my blog! I’m a writer of messy, character driven stories for multiple fandoms. I go where my writing whims take me, which is typically in scattered directions (hence the blog name). My current published works span Star Wars, Harry Potter, & Six of Crows. I love chatting with readers, so if something I wrote resonated with you, let me know!!

If you’re interested in reading, here’s a masterlist of my ao3 published works (organized by fandom):

Star Wars

TCW Younglings Live On! Series: Your favorite gathering younglings survived order 66.

We Were Just Kids: Completed | 100k+ | Part 1 of TCW Younglings Live On!

More than a decade has passed since her life was destroyed. So many years separate Katooni then from Katooni now that the Tholothian pirate is often convinced she hallucinated her time as a Jedi completely. The Force is a phantom to her, and certainly not her friend. She hunts for treasure, swindles credits, and keeps her head down around the Imperials. But a supply run gone wrong lands Katooni face to face with a group of ghosts from her past, and suddenly the young pirate is confronted with a choice: keep running from the Empire, or finally draw her weapon.

Grand Theft Holo: WIP | Likely 100k+ | Sequel to Just Kids | Part 2 of TCW Younglings Live On!

The Sith Runestone. Rumored to hold a holocron containing a map to the ultimate power, whoever cracks the Sith Runestone controls the Galaxy. With the rebels in shambles following the Battle of Atollon, now is the perfect time for the Empire to swipe the artifact from the Metropolitan Museum of Coruscant and secure their victory over the growing rebellion. However, Emperor Palpatine isn’t the only one aware of the urban legend. To save the rebellion—the Galaxy—Petro decides he’s going to steal the runestone first. But he can’t do it alone. Six former Jedi. One impossible heist. There's nobody else in the rebellion Petro would choose for a job this important. But does his crew still trust each other enough to pull it off?

The Unspoken Rules of Dating (and Your Galactic Guide to Breaking Them): Completed | 5k | Mature | One-Shot | Part 3 of TCW Younglings Live On!

Petro and Zatt don’t know the rules of dating. Neither one of them have ever been on a date, much less a first date with each other. They’re trying to build a relationship backwards and, without an instruction manual, they’re destined to fail. Forget the past twenty-five years of friendship. In order for this first date to succeed, everything has to be different between them. Right?

Flying Solo: Completed | 3k | One-Shot | Part 4 of TCW Younglings Live On!

It’s tough to be a pilot in the rebellion. Pilots are left to fly solo while the rest of their crew have their boots on the ground. It’s a lonely job, and not one for the faint of heart. As they prepare for the Battle of Endor, three rebel fighter pilots face the daunting task of charging into the fray without their family. To make it through together, Hera, Omega, and Ganodi decide to develop a crew of their own.

Harry Potter

In Ten Years: WIP | Currently 17k+ | Mature & MCD Warning

Lily Evans hates Chicago. She’s here solely for her Ph.D. and does not plan to stay. Lily hates Chicago even more than she hates James Potter, her relentlessly optimistic neighbor who won’t stop asking her out. She wishes to skip ahead ten years, to the future her advisor asks her to imagine. In ten years, Lily expects to be miles away from Chicago, her roommates, and James bloody Potter. So when she wakes up a decade later married to Potter and working as a professor in the Windy City, Lily is convinced she must be living in a nightmare. This life can’t be hers, and if it is, she has to fix her mistakes. But as Lily scrambles to get away from her own future, she must confront the life she’s created for herself. Including all the people she never wanted to know.

Six of Crow/Shadow & Bone

The Bomb that Bested the Darkling: Completed | 1k | One-Shot

Kaz Brekker would be a fool to kidnap the Sun Summoner empty handed. His cane was hefty, reliable. Good for waylaying a few guards with a strike to the head. But to traverse the Fold twice and walk out of the Little Palace unscathed, Kaz suspected they might need some extra firepower. Luckily, he has an amatuer demo man in his pocket. Time to pay Wylan Van Eck a little visit.

[sokoe]

i finished fallen order and i love the unlikely allies trope so i drew a thing

[brachiosaurus-on]

If they didn’t want me to write a fic about it, they should have written it better.

[graylinesspam]

Setting the Stage Ch. 3

Ahsoka's sleep is troubled. Flashes of images play behind her eyes. A dark red glow burning at the edges of her visions. Sometimes it looked like fire or lava and sometimes it moved like a lightsaber. Too dark to see. Too bright to look at.

Voices fill her ears fighting each other for her attention. She strains, trying to decipher even one of them. Trying to identify at least who is talking to her. But the voices clamber over each other in a mindless cacophony.

She startles awake still tucked into the couch in Padme's office. Just one voice still audible whispering through the still night air.

"Wake up." it urges.

------

It took me a year to write this chapter but I intend to get the ball rolling on the lore end of "A Series of Interviews". The fix it is gonna need to start fixing it. lmao.

The chapter pics up from the morning after her trial. And the next several days of Ahsoka's life are gearing up to be the most challenging and transformative of her life.

(Shout out Sprite, thanks for your help babe)

[maraskywalkers]

the Umbara arc isn’t just like dark and intense, it’s emotionally exhausting. like afterward you just feel this heaviness and even now I was just thinking about it and my heart already aches and I need to go read some fics about the clones living happy healthy lives and their jedi are taking good care of them or something because wow fuck Krell so much he’s trash and my boys deserve only the good and wonderful things in the galaxy and I’ll never be over it thank you and good night.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

dave filoni is amazing and brought us one of the most incredible pieces of star wars media. i love the jedi but holy fuck, some of you in this fandom are just so rabid and bitter. we are allowed to critique things the jedi did and doesn't mean we're anti jedi! things can have nuance.

the jedi are also portrayed very favorably in tcw. we see how much they care about the clones, we seem them acting like a family and being wise and brave. portraying them as flawed just makes them more interesting and layered, it doesn't take away from how good they are.

rabid pro-jedi blogs are making this fandom as hostile as those awful anti-jedi blogs. can you all please just start being normal???

Anon, are you aware that I made a pretty long post saying exactly that (minus the rabid and bitter part) a while back? Here, you can check:

That's me saying Filoni doesn't hate the Jedi and TCW portrays them very positively and he contributed to that.

Or how about this one, about allowing the Jedi to have more nuance:

That's me saying I find frustrating the lack of acknowledgment of how messy some aspects of the Order and that's me talking about adoptions.

Or this one.

Or THIS ONE:

And here's what I said about why their flaws aren't my focus though (and why it bothers me when those flaws become the focus of canon):

I’ll explore the Jedi’s flaws when I write, but I’ll always, always, always talk about how good they were a lot, lot, LOT more. And the reason why is quite simple: I feel like Jedi criticism is nitpicky and pointless, because talking about any flaws of theirs is not only beating a dead horse, but beating a horse that’s so dead it’s been decomposing for fifteen years.  Everything has been said on the subject of the Jedi’s faults - most of which I don’t agree with, but some that I’ll readily recognize (because again, they’re not meant to be perfect). But what is the point of talking about what the Jedi did wrong after a while? Even supposing they were half as flawed as the fandom makes them out to be (which they aren’t) so what? They all died. Their children died. Their history, art and philosophy were completely erased from the galaxy. Most of their legacy was forgotten.  Whatever punishment they might have deserved for not paying enough attention - or too much - to a prophecy, for failing to untangle Sidious’ web, for being blind to a lie or another when they were too busy dying on the front lines to see clearly, for failing to save all the clones, for failing to protect all the Padawans… Whatever punishment this all deserved, they received a hundred times over. 

I don't LIKE that the narrative that's being pushed more and more is that 'they were too beholden to the Senate' when it offers no other viable alternative for what they should have done and their indictment comes from a character pulling the strings of the Senate in the shadows so that the freaking 'coming darkness' he's """"warning"""" them about can become a galactic dictator.

I don't hate Filoni. I may poke fun at him and be annoyed at what he's doing, but I don't hate him. TCW wasn't just a Dave thing tho, GL was still around to supervise, and the more I see of Dave's work without GL around, and the greater creative freedom he gets, the more I'm disappointed that this is where Star Wars is going. That's all.

But point me to one of my rabid posts please. The majority of my TOTJ posts (if that's what this is about) have been either positive, nitpicky or neutral.

I'm not making the fandom "hostile" by disliking things sometimes, anon, I'm making MY blog SALTY. And I either tag that salt, or I don't tag much so that the salt doesn't show up in the general tags so that people in the fandom who don't agree won't have to see it.

If I'm not behaving 'normally' according to you - and you're perfectly entitled to think that, I AM pretty bitchy - you can stop seeing my stuff pretty easily. But please don't come at me anonymously to put a larger fandom issue onto me.

[sarcastic-sketches]

Intervention AU

Roll out the carpet, it's another one lads and buckle up because this ones long. I've had several mini AUs that I've kind of just compiled all into one but I just really want to explore a narrative where Anakin gets a chance to sort his shit out and work towards fixing his issues. Because man do I love untangling characters inner conflict and having them get help so that they can overcome their own hurdles. An Intervention AU, if you will, before he truly flips his lid.

First, the concept that Anakin Skywalker is not entirely human - he's half Force - is fascinating. Because yeah, with the confirmation that he is the Chosen One, plus the Mortis Arc, it seems obvious that the Force made him. It borrowed a likeness from Shmi and then filled in the gaps (so he's technically a clone of his mother with some Force poked mutations here and there - I’ve read fics along those lines and they are top tier imho). But the Force is well, a cosmic power and can't really integrate into a human body all too well. The human half just wants to belong and be loved and to love. The Force half does not know how to express such messy human emotions in a way that doesn't resemble a flood.

But a flood can be managed when it's diverted into many rivers and streams, rather than being solely focused through only a few. To be clear, this is not a ‘attachments are fine actually’ take, this is a ‘get more friends so you loosen your grip on the ones you currently have’ angle. He learns to let go of the few people he loves because he has so many other people in his life to turn to. He will never be truly alone or abandoned, which is his fear ultimately, and they in turn help him realise that the only person who can convince him that he is enough is himself. Basically, dear god get it through Anakin's thick skull that the Jedi are communally raised so they spread their affections over multiple people and yes that is allowed. He’s just more used to a nuclear family model because thats all he had growing up. Him and his mother.

Love doesn't just have to be romantic and having a wider support network would also mean that Palpatine can no longer keep Anakin isolated. His grip on the Chosen One lessens as he finds other people to trust and confide in. It would also mean more eyes and ears to notice when he suddenly has a 180 in attitude after speaking with the Chancellor.

Also him being half-force I want to play with the idea that 'let your feelings pass through you’ doesn’t really work when he feels so much. All amplified by his Force connection. He can’t just let them go, so he has to work on the source of those feeling of inadequecy and ‘never having enough’ to make sure they don’t spawn in the first place.

This all started after watching TCW Clovis Arc 2.0 where Anakin’s possessiveness goes up from like a 5 to a 10 in one episode and I couldn’t help but think that it was a bit extreme from what we knew of his character up to that point in TCW and from the films. Or it's highlighting how badly Anakin is starting to lose that battle with himself. But Padme saying “I don’t know who's in there any more” had me going ‘right, time to use this as a wake up call’.

The Clovis Incident happens earlier in this AU (just after The Wrong Jedi - let me save Fives hot damn). Padme, actually seeing Anakin's rage first hand, notices how abrupt and strong the change is and makes some observations. Since the last time he entered Beserk Mode TM was also in response to someone he loved being harmed, she reasons that's the linking factor. I imagine her logic basically going; ok, so he goes afk due to anger/stress, he got angry because Clovis was too close to me, he’s stressed that he’ll lose me as I’m all he has now… He needs more people in his life! A+ logic there Padme. Because at this point? She kind of is all he has, besides Palpatine (which is the problem in of itself) - Ahsoka left, his trust in Obi-Wan is damaged (Hardeen arc), and Rex is his Captain so theres a power issue there.

Thats a lot of emotional energy for one relationship. She can also lay down the facts that the issue wasn't necessarily punching Clovis in the face (lmao he deserved that) but that Anakin didn't listen to her. THATS my main beef here honestly, Padme was far too passive by the end of that arc and I ain't about that. So she absolutely spells that out for him because she knows damn well his idea of expressing he cares is fucked from growing up in slavery and then being handed over to a bunch of monks (-Deep inhale- boi) but he needs to understand that isn’t how it’s done.

So she pushes him to actually speak with other people and maybe connect more with his fellow Jedi. Since he sees them more often anyway. They all seem very nice to her when she has spoken with them, she’s sure it’s just a misunderstanding between them all for how he feels.

This allows Anakin to really dig into what the Order considers attachment (it’s not having relationships that’s the problem, it’s possessive love - based on the concept that such ‘attachments’ prevent people from passing on into the afterlife). This misunderstanding has 100% come from his background because slaves were not allowed to have anything, except the bonds they made between themselves. Anakin views his relationships as things he owns, things he must protect and cherish before they are taken from him, because that’s all he was ever ‘allowed’ to have. He eventually gets to realise that the Order dissuades Jedi from having spouses/romantic partners because potentially having them in a position where they must carry out their duty over the safety of their spouse/partner is just cruel. They understand that facing such a dilemma would break a person and it is simply kinder to just avoid the possibility altogether. ‘It’s a peaceful life’.

Cue Anakin arguing that he would feel just the same having to let a platonic relationship go too which sparks off another 2 hour debate...

Anakin gradually reaching out to other Jedi more and more, starting off with who he thinks would be the easier ones, like Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Aayla, even Yoda oddly enough (Troll asks him to break him out of the med bay later in TCW and Anakin was instantly on board with such a thing. That’s hysterical). I think he’d eventually try with Luminara too, given the whole debacle of the Wrong Jedi involved their padawans, but that takes a bit of time. And, wouldn’t ya know, he realises that they don’t resent him, they’re not even remotely afraid of him or trying to suppress his abilities, and they’re perfectly happy to talk to him even when off the battlefield etc (Palpatines words are already starting to hold less water now that Anakins starting to get his own proof - I could go on about my ADHD headcanons but that’s a given I feel at this point). He starts to trust them. Not just trust that’s given to Jedi as default, to an ideal, but personal trust.

They start to swap battle tactics, ask each other for advice on certain scenarios or get second opinions. Then they start swapping stories about their troops and these idiots have been waiting for the opportunity to gush about how their Legions are the best. The ship nose art is a particular point of pride (That Plo wins btw). Pride is unbecoming of a Jedi but they’re proud OF their troops so it doesn’t count.

Given how much more often they all now talk to each other, they are able to slowly open Anakin's eyes to the fact that Palpatine is suspect af. 

Aayla: he asked to meet you, alone, when you were how old? Anakin: about eleven, or twelve maybe? After I had settled into the Temple for a couple of years. Plo: and he took you where? Anakin: to the lower levels, he showed me a bar- Kit: [holding a hand up] I'm going to stop you there Aayla: [patting Anakin's shoulder] My guy, that's not normal. Plo: Nor is it appropriate Anakin: oh... I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad by it? He just wanted to show the good he can do when his hands are tied by the Senate Plo: The Senate he governs... Aayla: You were twelve.

They tell him to tell Obi-Wan.

It's a bit more of an up hill battle because Anakin's trust in Obi-Wan is still a little frazzled (never let it be said he's not a hypocrite about keeping certain truths) but he grudingly relays some of the conversations he's had with the Chancellor to him because of the comments the others have made. To his surprise, Obi-Wan looks distraught when he realises what Palpatine has been insinuating and he vows to never let him be alone with that man ever again. Obi-Wan always strived to allow Anakin to make his own choices once he became a knight, but this stems from decisions when he was a minor. Anakin thinks everyone is being very dramatic about this - pot meet kettle - and doesn't know what the harm is. This just makes people worry more - they are suddenly all keenly aware of what the Chancellor has been trying to do, even if Anakin hasn’t clocked it himself yet. But he is secretly (or not so secretly when you broadcast your emotions in the Force like a fog horn) pleased by Obi-Wans reaction. See? He does care. He’s just a little reserved about showing it because surprise, he’s also a little insecure Anakin, go fucking figure.  

He does also allow himself to bond more with his troops and they all have a meeting where he lays down some ground rules:. 

All of this just so he can relax with his men and actually be their friend when they're not suffering on the frontlines together. The clones are surprised but ecstatic about this development and waste no time at all bragging about how they have the best Jedi in the GAR. Wolffe, Monnk, and Bly have some things to say about this. Cody wisely keeps his mouth shut.

1) Off of the battlefield they are all equal, no ranks apply (besides medics, thank you Kix) and if anyone is uncomfy with that they can leave (nobody does) 2) He leads them all with the best of intentions but following Umbara he doesn't want any of them to feel like they can't call him out for being a twat (Rex does it just fine and he's still his SIC) 3) If anyone has any concerns or questions he wants them to feel safe enough to speak up about it, either tell him or Rex if it’s a vode issue specifically.

Given this turn of events when comes the time for Fives to seek out Rex and his General they hear him out and Anakin stops the blaster bolt Fox fires from hitting Fives. He’s stunned that one of his men would try to attack the Chancellor but he knows there has to be a reason, he wants to know why damnit. Also heeey has Fives been drugged?

They all get the low down on the chips and Anakin is now fuming. Bit too close to slave-chips. He's pleasantly surprised to find that Shaak Ti is also upset by what she has learned and with his prompting (and Fives looking utterly traumatised) shoves back at the Kaminoans hard. 

They find the list of Orders. It's not pretty. 

Anakin has his breakdown way earlier than Sheev intended and far out of his reach. Instead he is comforted by Shaak Ti (who quite frankly was probably counting the days until Skywalker crumpled) and a bunch of Clones who are similarly suffering from this discovery. Watching a Jedi break probably has most of them reshuffling a few pre-conceptions they had.

Anakin doesn't get sent to spy on the Chancellor and when he tries to buy Anakin's favour back by giving him a seat on the Council, Anakin refuses it and immediately dobs him in with the Jedi Masters. This time, they cotton on to Palpatine's intentions with Anakin and have him accompany Ahsoka on Mandalore. Far, far away. He doesn’t fight the decision, in fact he is rather relieved to be out of the man's reach. Plus, he now gets to fight alongside Ahsoka again so win-win.

Speaking of Ahsoka, even though she left the Order, Padme argues that this doesn't mean that she and Anakin can't still talk to each other. So he calls her and reminds her that he's there for her. Doesn't try to make her come back - though he makes it clear he would be very happy to take her back if she did choose to - and even though she said she wanted to go at it alone, she shouldn't forget that she does still have people she can turn to if things get lonely or hard. He had to be reminded of this so now he’s reminding her.

Just let this man truly understand the risks of what loving people as a Jedi means, learn how to do so in a way thats healthy for everyone involved, and allow himself to be extremely over the top about it much to everyone's surprise.

Ahsoka: I'll think about it Anakin: Sure thing. Anything. Anytime. Ahsoka: ... it is nice to hear from you though Anakin: !!

Ft. Padme being incredibly pleased with herself in the background.

[gch1995]

If you hate Star Wars and its fandom so much, why are you even in it?? Seems like a waste of time, to write so much about things you don't like, every day. And what of people who make posts about things they genuinely enjoy, and who receives notifications from people like you who shit on their posts?

Nonny, the problem is that your side of the fandom doesn’t make it easy for those of us who enjoyed Star Wars before Filoni, Hidalgo, and particularly Disney took over to enjoy the originally established canon characters and stories in the OT and PT movies and novelizations of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Padme Amidala.

Everything that was previously established about their complex and relatable characterizations, their development arcs, their accomplishments, their falls, their motivations, their sympathetic qualities, and their negative qualities keeps getting erased, flanderdized, sanitized, and/or simplified to create a more black-and-white good vs evil narrative of the Jedi Order and Republic government being “Completely Blameless” and Anakin/Vader being “Completely pure evil.”

However, Disney still can’t completely erase the fact that the Jedi Council failed Anakin as parents/guardians in the narrative because then he’d have no reason to fall at all. Yet, I still see people on your side of the fandom, the “official Disney canon” side of the fandom, denying that the Council willfully neglected Anakin’s well-being and enabled Palpatine, a powerful politician, who they sensed was shady from the beginning, to have unsupervised access to him when he was a child under their care because they were too cowardly to do the right thing when he threatened to destroy their reputation if they didn’t. Also, while it was risky for Mace and the Council to say no, the Jedi Order are beloved by the entire Republic. Sure, it wouldn’t look great if they said no to the Chancellor to protect their public image for a bit, but they could easily have gained it back because everyone loved them.

Everything about Luke saving the day in the OT to fix everything that was wrong about the system in the PT by breaking the cycle of systematic abuse, crime, corruption, and reforming the Jedi system to create a healthy balance, has been made pointless with the ST movies, so that they could insert Rey as the main protagonist, and do some forced Reylo romance.

I follow the Anakin Skywalker tag on tumblr, and a defense of the Council’s willful negligence of his well-being in regards to a powerful politician, who they knew was shady, to protect their public image, is the first top post I see on my dashboard with over 400 likes and reblogs of people unbelievably agreeing with the OP. Everything I see with over a hundred likes are metas of him being “pure evil,” the poster boy for toxic masculinity, and a “himbo,” in TCW, Disney, and even the PT and OT movies where he is specifically not toxically masculine until having a complete mental breakdown and going dark. He’s not innocent, far from it, even before falling to the dark side, but everything that made it feel even more worth it that Luke saved him and Padme ever loved him at all, in spite of all the awful things he did that cannot be excused, in the OG and PT, that Lucas had in mind, keeps getting undermined and/or erased in your canonized fanon. His neurodivergence keeps getting erased. His soft and awkward romantic side with Padme before becoming Vader keeps getting undermined to that one scene where he choked her in a blind rage and paranoia over potential abandonment when he was high on the dark side for the first time, and thought she had brought Obi Wan to kill him when the point was that, while not okay at all, he was completely out of his mind. They are trying to imply that it was easier for him to kill Sidious and escape than it actually was in your Disney canon, even though Lucas stated that he had been weakened previously.

We try to stay in our lane, but your “hot takes” that defend the Jedi Council’s child abuse, child neglect, child conscription, self-righteous bullying, slavery of the clones, enablement of slavery on the outer rims, and so on in regards to the Republic and Order, even when it shows up in your Disney™️ and TCW (08-19) canon, have overtaken most of our dashboards on tumblr and the media. We’re forced to deal with your fanon being canonized all the time after years of your bitching about the PT movies, so I don’t know why it’s such a big deal for you to have deal with us pointing it out when you’re condoning Obi Wan’s and the Jedi Council’s canonical problems by jumping on to your posts to do so. It’s what you did to most of us in the Anakin/Vader OT and PT movie and novelization fandom for “woobifying” him, even though he was originally written to be a complex anti-villain, tragic hero, tragic villain, and Byronic Hero type by George Lucas, starting from ESB, which is kind of the whole point of those characters, but you’re forever pissed off and in-denial that he wasn’t the one note cartoon villain you thought he was going to be when you first saw “A New Hope.” You’re forever bitter that Vader power fantasy cyborg killer machine was all just an illusion to cover up a very broken, deeply emotionally/psychologically damaged, and tragic complex character, so now, Filoni, Hidalgo, and Disney is catering to you guys by attempting to change the narrative to appease you guys by cartoon vilifying Anakin/Vader, except when they can’t.

[padawanlost]

So I was on Quora the other day, and someone speculated that insecurity was at the root of Anakin's arrogance and apparent cockiness. I thought this through and it makes so much sense. He felt insecure in his place as a Jedi and had this constant need to prove himself. What's your take?

Personally, I’ve never seen Anakin as arrogant. I think he was *perceived* as arrogant by the people around him but, internally, Anakin was also driven by insecurity (not egotism).

Because he was so insecure in a place where he knew he wasn’t accepted as he was, he overcompensated. It’s a very common behavior: I’ll try harder to prove myself. And because he was so powerful, his attempt to prove himself worthy was viewed as an attempt to show off.

The Jedi Council didn’t want me, either. Being the Chosen One didn’t count for anything. Master Yoda wouldn’t train me, or Windu. Every member of the Jedi Council had had something more pressing to do than help him work out what this terrible, galaxy-changing power of his meant, and how he should live in its shadow. He still wasn’t sure. Anakin recalled standing there in that grand, polished Jedi Council Chamber, surrounded by what felt like fear, and disdain, and bewilderment—who were those Masters to feel bewildered, that the only person there who cared if he lived or died was Master Qui-Gon Jinn. And they stopped him training the Chosen One. Qui-Gon hadn’t cared what the Jedi Council said. He’d trained him anyway, a Padawan in all but name. Why am I thinking of all this now? Haven’t I put it behind me? Haven’t I had enough bad memories since then to take their place? Haven’t I vindicated Master Qui-Gon? [Karen Traviss. The Clone Wars]

Anakin enjoyed praise from Obi-Wan, but often became sullen when he was reprimanded. Obi-Wan assured him that he himself had been frequently reminded by Qui-Gon to be more mindful of the Force, but somehow even the slightest criticism managed to leave Anakin feeling stung. First they tell me to do my best, then they tell me I’ve gone too far! ANAKIN SKYWALKER IN THE RISE AND FALL OF DARTH VADER BY RYDER WINDHAM

Because Anakin had not been trained since infancy at the Temple like nearly all other Padawans, various Jedi Masters accepted the fact that he lacked the discipline of his fellow students. They were less accepting, however, of his arrogant behavior when he demonstrated his abilities. I’m more powerful with the Force than some of my instructors, Anakin thought, and they know it! ANAKIN SKYWALKER IN THE RISE AND FALL OF DARTH VADER BY RYDER WINDHAM

Despite Anakin’s desire to distance himself from the slave he had once been, he was unable, or unwilling, to shed the other aspects that had defined him on Tatooine. He still dreamed of glory, still craved adventure, and never lost his appetite for high-speed thrills and the desire to prove himself in competition. THE RISE AND FALL OF DARTH VADER BY RYDER WINDHAM

What evidence to we truly have that Anakin was arrogance beyond people calling him that? And considering most of his peers and superiors didn’t take much time to get to truly know him, I’d say their option can be considered biased:

Anakin was liked by the other students, but he had no close friends. He was not loved. Obi-Wan told himself that Anakin’s gifts naturally set him apart. But in his heart, he grieved for Anakin’s loneliness. JUDE WATSON [JEDI QUEST: THE WAY OF THE APPRENTICE]

Just when Anakin thought he’d passed that elusive finishing line that said adult, experienced, seen it all, he realized he was still twenty, Jedi or not, and the wounded boy in him still rose to the surface—provoked into angry violence, scared of abandonment, and still in need of approval. KAREN TRAVISS [STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS NOVELIZATION]

[Obi-Wan] knew, glancing at his Padawan’s eager face, that Anakin meant well from the bottom of his heart. If Obi-Wan saw a shadow on that heart, he knew it would pain his Padawan to know it. In many ways, Anakin was still a boy. A wounded, loving, anxious boy with great gifts he did not fully understand. Yet he was also a young man, close to maturity, who could do great harm. To others, yes. To himself, most of all JUDE WATSON [JEDI QUEST: THE SCHOOL OF FEAR]

“I just…” Anakin stopped. He took a ragged breath. “I thought you would be proud of me.” I am proud of you. Obi-Wan wanted to say the words. They were true. He was proud of so much in Anakin. But now was not the time to tell him that. Or was it? JUDE WATSON [JEDI QUEST: THE SCHOOL OF FEAR]

Fixing broken machines was like a meditation. Fixing broken machines was an antidote to every pain, every loss, every fear, every defeat. Fixing broken machines kept him from going mad. CLONE WARS GAMBIT: STEALTH

This doesn’t sound like some who thinks that highly of himself.

 “Master…,” he said hesitantly, “I know I’ve… disappointed you in these past few days. I have been arrogant. I have… not been very appreciative of your training, and what’s worse, of your friendship. I offer no excuse, Master. My frustration with the Council… I know that none of it is your fault, and I apologize. For all of it. Your friendship means everything to me.”

Interestingly enough, Obi-wan says it best:

You are very observant, Ferus, but you must accept that I know him better than you,” Obi-Wan said carefully. “Anakin can be arrogant. I know that. But he is also learning and growing. He is respectful of his great power. He does not abuse it. He is younger than you, but he has seen much injustice, many terrible things. I do not think it so wrong that he wants to change things. You must understand that it isn’t ambition that drives him. It is compassion. OBI-WAN KENOBI IN STAR WARS – JEDI QUEST: THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD BY JUDE WATSON

Yes. Anakin can act arrogantly. We all can. It’s part of being human and flawed. but that doesn’t mean that was ALL Anakin was. More often than not, Anakin was motivated by fear, love, kindess and, yes, even hate.

Taking them, she looked up at him and shook her head, even though it still ached. “It’s odd. You’re nothing like I expected.” “Why?” he said, perching on the edge of the nearby chair. “What did you expect?” “I don’t know,” she said, floundering. “I can’t say I’ve ever given the Jedi much thought. I mean, not as individuals. I never expected to meet one—let alone two. I don’t tend to go places where your skills are needed. But—well—you’re gentle.” That made him smile. “As opposed to what?” She swallowed the pain-tabs, washing them down with a mouthful of water. “Oh. You know. The HoloNet news—it portrays as you as this—this—heroic warrior. Larger than life. Charging into battle, lightsaber flashing. Scourge of the Separatists. That kind of thing.” She shrugged. [Karen Miller. Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]

Because of Hayden’s Anakin being do disliked and, of course, because of the TCW wonky characterization everyday we are seeing more and more people embracing the idea of arrogant idiot Anakin. even if such characterization is not supported by the movies, the lore and basic common sense.

People use Obi-wan’s words in AOTC against Anakin but the truth is, as shown above, Obi-wan himself later recognizes that Anakin is not arrogant (even if he sometimes act that away). Besides, using AOTC to show Anakin’s arrogance doesn’t make much sense because of Hayden’s acting. Anakin doesn’t act like some arrogant prick for most of the movie. if anything, AOTC is a great of example of Anakin’s submissive and insecure behavior.

At last, let’s not forget that the same people calling Anakin arrogant were also facing the same criticism:

“But he still has much to learn, Master,” Obi-Wan explained. “His skills have made him … well, arrogant.” “Yes, yes,” Yoda agreed. “It’s a flaw more and more common among Jedi. Too sure of themselves, they are. Even the older, more experienced Jedi.” [R.A. Salvatore. Attack of the Clones]

People seem to forget that Anakin was in his early 20s when he ‘died’. Show me a teenager or a young adult who’ve never acted arrogantly and i’ll show you a liar. So why is Anakin the only one getting shit for that?

So, yeah, i agree. Anakin wasn’t motivated by arrogance. He was motivated by fear and insecurity, byproducts of his childhood trauma and years of grooming and emotional neglect.