#the Jedi order

[valenteal]

The story of Anakin Skywalker is about how anyone can break under enough pressure. It isn’t a tragedy about an inevitable doom, it isn’t about how power corrupts or about how caring is dangerous. It’s about how no matter how good and kind and selfless and seemingly invincible someone is they still have needs and they can still be hurt.

Maybe this is because Phantom Menace is my favorite Star Wars movie and so I have rewatched it a million times, but for me Anakin is the most genuinely caring and selfless character in Star Wars. He wasn’t just an innocent kid (kids can be cruel and selfish and they’re usually better when they grow up not worse) he was compassionate and kind and despite growing up surrounded by some of the worst scum in the galaxy he knew nothing of greed. That says so much about his character.

Anakin’s fall to the dark side took over a decade of carful manipulation that culminated in cascade of tragedy and loss. It wasn’t an accident. Every bit of the emotional trauma, physical trauma, and mental trauma from the moment Anakin met Palpatine and on ward was planned. We don’t see the decade he spent between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones but immediately in the second movie we see how much Anakin has changed. Where he used to be confident he’s insecure, where he used to bold and fearless he is now arrogant, where he was once inquisitive he is now cautiously enthusiastic, where he used to build he now destroys. Every change in his behavior and outlook is the result of either the teachings of the Jedi Order which are pretty much the antithesis of his entire personality, the result of Sidious’s manipulation, or the result of the toxic attitudes of many Jedi towards him.

Now I know a lot of people have… misconceptions about what the Jedi Order is and what they stand for. It’s understandable, since I guess a lot of people think of Luke as an everything a Jedi is supposed to be but he is NOT, he wasn’t even taught their philosophy! Yoda and Windu and Luminara are everything a Jedi is meant to be. They take an impersonal approach to justice, they treat others coldly, they believe themselves to be above petty things like emotion and pain and human connection. There are Jedi who take a more progressive stance like Obi-Wan and Quinlan and Qui-Gon but you have to understand that they are not model Jedi and have their own struggles with the Order and its teachings. The Jedi code literally says “There is no emotion.” That is what Jedi strive for. And that isn’t even getting into the genocide or the politics. Focusing on how this affected Anakin. That’s what I’m doing.

Anyway, Anakin is a deeply emotional person. This is not a bad thing. It’s the source of his conviction and his empathy (which a surprising amount of Jedi lack). Anakin feels deeply, so he feels love and anger and sadness more keenly than Jedi who have worked their whole lives to shut off emotion. And he was never taught how to deal with it. The most the Jedi did was tell him to meditate, release his emotions into the Force, focus on the present or other platitudes that do not help! I would know. I’m also a deeply emotional person who feels things very keenly to the point where I had a full psychological evaluation when I was 6 years old. When a person deals with this it NEEDS to be addressed. I have wonderful parents who did everything in their power to help me from a young age and I still ended up suicidal! Anakin did not get help and was instead shamed for feeling so strongly and he ended up bottling it up. People complain about how he was “whiny” and I (a person who has also been called whiny) just go what the fuck do you expect?? Expressing his frustration verbally is literally the healthiest option he has! And we know what it looks like when he chooses other forms of venting! Anakin vented to Padmé almost immediately after reconnecting with her because she is literally the only person in his life who will listen to him (other than Sidious but he makes things worse on purpose).

So yeah. Sensitive people need to be taught how to deal with their emotions in healthy ways. Really everyone does but especially people with strong emotions.

But when Anakin isn’t overwhelmed by emotions he doesn’t have the tools to deal with, or surrounded by toxic people, or being actively manipulated by an evil dictator, that’s when you see who he really is. Which means pretty much all of Phantom Menace, a good chunk of the time he’s alone with Padmé, and… nothing else really. (I’m just going to say here that I am not including Clone Wars Anakin due to the purposeful butchering of his character. I still consider the show canon in everything but Anakin’s characterization in a lot of specific instances.)

Anakin has never been a selfish person. The things people perceive as selfish are his needs. He needs unconditional love. He needs Padmé because she is the only person who gives him that. Even without getting into his psychology and bpd and what a splitting episode is, it isn’t hard to recognize that when he places Padmé’s safety above other people’s it’s an act of self preservation more than self interest. He knows that he would literally go crazy without her. After years of being systematically isolated and traumatized she is the only thing keeping him together. In his desperation to save her and consequently his own sanity he lost both those things. But it’s important to note that he tried to do things right, that he went to Yoda for help, that he told Padmé so she could take her own steps to ensure her health. He did everything he could think of before getting desperate enough to go to Sidious. Not to mention he did everything right after discovering Sidious’s identity. It wasn’t until he was presented with a false dichotomy that boiled down to choosing his mentor and confidant of over a decade and his wife’s life or the man who has scored and distrusted him since he was child that he made the objectively wrong choice. And that was after not sleeping for weeks and having a traumatizing realization that triggered a splitting episode so he wasn’t in a head space to understand what was going on in an objective way.

So yeah. That’s my rant about Anakin Skywalker. If you want to comment or debate know that I will reply with an explanation of my thoughts that could be just as long as this post and that I will not stop until you do. You will not get the last word. I feel very strongly about this and if you’ve gotten this far you have to know that I have thought very deeply about this as well. I have heard every argument. You will not change my mind. I have done research. Engaging with this post to disagree will only lead to me expanding on this even more because this is really a brief summary of all my thoughts and feelings on the matter. If you’re just curious about the rest of my thoughts and feelings just ask.

Don’t try to attack my own morals and character because of this, I am NOT condoning Anakin’s actions or behavior, I am completely aware that he is a deeply damaged and unstable person. The point of this is not to deny that but to explain why Anakin is not naturally like that. The scariest thing about Anakin’s fall is that it happened to Anakin, a paragon of compassion and selflessness. Anyone put under the amount of pressure he was would go crazy. I doubt many people would last as long as Anakin did. He was insanely strong to resist for as long as he did.

[m00ntunaart]

3rd Star Wars daemon AU post!

Here by popular demand: The Jedi Council and their daemons!

Depa Billaba - Hooked Billed Kite (Taryz)

Mace Windu - Bald Eagle (Maisha)

Yoda - Ostrich (Kieachkta)

Shaak Ti - Hyacinth Macaw (Thevren)

(Commander Colt - Anatolian Shepherd (Pistol))

Plo Koon - Osprey (Averyl)

Ki-Adi Mundi - Great Blue Heron (Czirda)

Kit Fisto - Blue Footed Booby (Krios)

Now onto my random AU lore and thoughts:

JEDI LORE TIME: So, as I’ve said in my last daemon AU post, the Jedi generally have bird daemons. This is by nurture, not nature. The way the Jedi teach young force-users to interact with the Force usually ends up directing their daemons to settle into a bird species of some kind. Which conveniently is around the time a Jedi Initiate is either chosen to be a Jedi Knight or be sent to the Jedi Corps. While it is not a rule that a Jedi Knight has to have a bird daemon, there are stigmas in the Jedi culture that lead to Jedi Knights and Masters not wanting to pick Padawans with not-bird daemons. This was one of the reasons the Council was hesitant to take in Anakin originally. He was already past the age of being nurtured to have his daemon settle as a bird, as he was raised outside the Temple.

(If you’re wondering why Obi-Wan doesn’t have a bird daemon, look at my last post. But to summarize his daemon settled while on Melida/Daan. So not ideal circumstances) (Also Qui-Gon Jinn cares not for cultural taboos, so he did not care much that Obi-Wan’s daemon ended up not being a bird lol)

The exceptions to this bird-daemon rule is generally Jedi in the Corps and Jedi Shadows (I will be making a Quinlan Vos post at some point that goes into that more).

DEPA BILLABA and her daemon, Taryz, who is a Hooked Billed Kite.

Okay for the life of me I cannot remember the reason I picked Depa’s daemon 😅, but it was probably just: ‘I like how Hooked Billed Kites look’. So a good reason obv.

I inserted some silly interactions between Obi-Wan and Depa, and Kee-Ayt and Taryz. I headcanon that since they are the two youngest council members, they will go out of their way to act like children in front of the older council members. Just to make the others role their eyes and say ‘kids 🙄’. Despite the fact that both of them are like in their mid 30s-40s. But besides them acting like two siblings alone in the back seat of a car, they are close with each other. Taryz is the daemon most comfortable being casually around Kee-Ayt, out of the other daemons in the Council. (I imagine that since most Jedi daemons are birds, sometimes other Jedi don’t know how to interact with Kee-Ayt)

MACE WINDU and his daemon, Maisha, who is a Bald Eagle. 

In the Temple there runs a rumor amongst the Padawans about which came first: Mace being bald? Or Mace’s daemon settling as a Bald Eagle? A real ‘chicken or the egg’ question lol.

But more seriously, I really did just end up picking a Bald Eagle daemon because I wanted to make bald jokes hahaha. That and Bald Eagles just naturally look pissed all the time, which matches well with Mace’s ‘resting bitch face’.

YODA and his daemon, Kieachkta, who is an Ostrich.

My whole concept for Yoda was just: ‘if Yoda is a small species, then he should get a big ass daemon to balance it out’. And yes, Yoda rides around on Kieachkta because of course he does. And when he can’t hit your ankles with his stick, he’ll get Kieachkta to peck the back of your head (which hurts ow).

(If you’re wondering, all of Yoda’s species have bigger daemons. Like Yaddle has an Emu daemon).

SHAAK TI and her daemon, Thevren, who is a Hyacinth Macaw.

My only thoughts for Shaak’s daemon was I wanted it to be big and colorful. 1. Because she’s just this tall figure with long montrals. She just needed a big bird species to go with her impressive figure. 2. She just has always had a fun color scheme, so I thought a colorful bird of some kind would be fun. SO A HYACINTH MACAW. They’re huge and a beautiful blue color (that matches her montral stripes). I also just wanted her to have a fun, friendly looking daemon. Since she’s on Kamino most of The Clone Wars, and interacting with Tubies and Cadets. I think her having a big, loving, approachable looking daemon was just right. (Which is why in this AU, she was chosen to be the one working with the younger clones). Hence why I have so many doodles of her daemon with young clones’ daemons. 

Plus I added an extra doodle of Commander Colts’ daemon, Pistol, who is a breed of Livestock Guardian Dog. Since Colt is also on Kamino, he often is ‘herding’, ‘protecting’ and ‘training’ the young clones. So a herding/guardian  dog daemon felt right for him. (Pistol is the bad cop to Thevren’s good cop lol)

PLO KOON and his daemon, Averyl, who is an Osprey.

Tbh I didn’t have any idea what bird I wanted Plo to have. So I ended up googling ‘bird species that are good parents’ lol. And Osprey were on that list! Idk how true that is, but IN STARWARS IT IS NOW TRUE.

 Plo is just The Jedi Dad Of All Time (*cough cough* Ahsoka *cough cough* Wolffe *cough cough* Wolf Pack), so he got a Parent Of All Time bird lol. 

And yes Averyl spends all her free time trying to preen EVERY member of The Wolf Pack. Is that physically possible? I don’t know, but don’t even try to tell Averyl she can’t do it. All her furry dog children WILL feel her affection.

KIT FISTO and his daemon, Krios, who is a Blue Footed Booby.

All I can say is I knew I wanted Kit to have a sea bird, because he’s The Swimming Jedi^TM. And I love Blue Footed Boobies. 

Also Kit is a silly guy who deserves a silly bird, with silly blue feet and a silly name.

KI-ADI MUNDI and his daemon, Czirda, who is a Great Blue Heron.

Ki-Adi is a long, lanky looking dude so he gets a long, lanky bird. 

I have spoken.

(Also I see a lot of Blue Herons around where I live, so they’re a favorite of mine).

[skyguygeneraltano]

I just know little Padawan Anakin would subconsciously speak in Obi-Wan’s accent when around him and Obi-Wan doesn’t talk about it, in fact he finds it endearing

It wasn’t until Mace was talking to Anakin and hear little Ani with Obi-Wan’s vocal cadence and slight Coruscanti accent and he is just “???” because Anakin has only been at the temple for a month? Why does he sound like baby Obi-Wan?

Even when Anakin is a full grown knight, he would slip in this habit when giving report to the council and they are just “yep yep that’s still Obi-Wan’s baby”

[jaydude1992]

Currently recalling someone who claimed that part of the backlash for The Acolyte came from Jedi stans angry that the Jedi weren't depicted as being flawless and perfect. I don't know the extent to which I can speak for anyone else, but I like to think we probably wouldn't be complaining as much if;

Headland didn't act like she was writing the show in accordance with Lucas's original intentions, only to make up flaws for the Jedi that never existed in the stuff he was involved with (seriously, the Jedi of Lucas's works are perfectly allowed to have emotions and feelings, and they DEFINITELY don't persecute other groups of Force-users just for existing).

We hadn't already endured decades of "jedi-critical"/"anti jedi" works by people whose criticisms of the Jedi come largely from them misinterpreting and/or deviating from Lucas's narrative.

The Sequel Trilogy hadn't denied us a Jedi Order rebuilt by Luke for the apparent sake of trying to replicate New Hope.

Personally, I say that by all means, give us Jedi that have flaws and aren't perfect. No-one enters the Jedi Order with the experience and wisdom necessary to be a Jedi Master, after all. But if you're going to claim your work to be a natural extension of Lucas's stuff - as opposed to a deviation from it - those flaws and imperfections have to be consistent with what we see in the latter.

[astheforcewillsit]

I love the familiarity within the Order between older masters and young Jedi.

Yoda will not make a youngling feel inferior for speaking to him, Mace Windu will interact with younglings and teach them, Obi-wan will take another padawan just because it's his duty as a Jedi, etc.,

Like these people who rule the council do not inspire fear amongst those around them. children ask them for advice, they ask each other for advice. The teaching never ends, and the parentification of Masters never ends.

Younger Jedi don't feel disempowered to challenge what they think is wrong, to talk back if they have to, to stand up for themselves even when it means arguing with a master (even if they are on the Council).

It's just a really interesting, wholesome dynamic.

[jedijune]

Jedi June 2024

A creative fandom event dedicated to appreciating the Jedi, taking place during the entire month of June! Each week will feature two prompts, around which people can create fanwork (of any kind – fic, art, cosplay, edits, anything you can think of) or meta focusing on the Jedi and the Jedi Order. All eras and continuities are welcome; OCs, established characters, doesn’t matter – it just needs to be about appreciating the Jedi!

Rules:

If you are participating, please tag your work/meta with #jedi june and/or @ this blog so that I will see it and reblog it here. All work must be your own. Feel free to crosspost it off-site.

This is an appreciation event, focusing on what we love and enjoy about the Jedi – not what we don’t. This is not the place to air your grievances with the Code, take potshots at the Council, prop certain Jedi/certain eras of Jedi up at the expense of others, or disparage the Jedi Order or their philosophy (including the concept of non-attachment) and way of life in any way. You are free to do that on your own time if that’s your thing, but it has no place within this event.

AUs and crossovers are allowed, with caveats: again, the purpose of this event is to appreciate the Jedi as Jedi, so sticking your favorite Jedi characters in something like a modern AU or making them all Sith or Mandalorian is not really within the spirit of this event. However, AUs such as making a non-Jedi character a Jedi, having a character survive their canon death, giving a character a different teacher or padawan, or killing Palpatine off-screen in an unspecified yet embarrassing and painful manner, would all be perfectly fine. Use your best judgement to determine whether an AU fits the spirit of the event or not.

Ships are allowed as long as they’re not between a child and adult, and following the above rules.

Please tag any spoilers up to two weeks after the relevant content has aired.

Following the prompts is encouraged, but not required. Any sort of pro-Jedi content is encouraged all year month long, and if tagged (and following the rules), will be reblogged.

We also have an AO3 collection!

Prompts:

Week 1 (June 2 - 8):

Prompt 1: Fun/Joy

Prompt 2: Comfort

Week 2 (June 9 - 15):

Prompt 1: Advice/Inspiration

Prompt 2: Balance

Week 3 (June 16 - 22):

Prompt 1: Art/Music

Prompt 2: Peace

Week 4 (June 23 - 29):

Prompt 1: Non-attachment/Letting go

Prompt 2: Cross-lineage mentorship

Bonus (any time):

Prompt 1: Eyes Closed/Trust in the Force

Prompt 2: Animal Friendship

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I hope you will have fun participating!

Static banner credit @independence1776​​

gif banner credit @trickytricky1​​

[the-wandering-wayseeker]

I think the most frustrating/disheartening misconception I often see about Star Wars, and the Jedi specifically, is the misguided notion that love and attachment are one and the same. Which in turn leads to fundamental misunderstandings of who the Jedi are and what their teachings on non-attachment mean. While you absolutely can be attached to those you love, you do not need attachment to have love for someone. That's as true in Star Wars as it is in real life. The reason that Jedi teach non-attachment is because attachment leads to suffering, and suffering is a path to the Dark Side. This, like many other facets of Jedi philosophy, takes inspiration from Buddhism. Buddhism teaches non-attachment for the same reason: to mitigate or eliminate suffering, which is caused by greed, delusion, and/or aversion. This does not mean that the Jedi are forbidden from loving others. They are forbidden from developing attachments to others, which is why the Order, by the time of the Clone Wars, has outright banned romantic relationships. It's hard to be in a romantic relationship without attachment. But Jedi can love, and do. We see beautiful friendships throughout Star Wars. Parental-like relationships between Master and Padawan. Sibling-like relationships between Master and Padawan. Outside of the Clone Wars era, especially in the High Republic, we often see the Jedi in acts of loving service. Obviously, what that looks like varies from individual to individual, but that loving compassion for all living things is absolutely instrumental to being a Jedi.

[darth-jess]

"You'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine."

We Anidala-fans talk a lot about how Anakin is one of the only people who sees Padmé for who she really is. However, Padmé also always sees Anakin for who HE truly is.

Palpatine always sees him as a tool.

Obi-wan sees him as the Chosen One, the one Qui-Gon believed in. The rest of the Jedi see him as the Chosen One too.

Ahsoka sees him as her Master.

The galaxy sees him as a war hero.

But at the end of the day, Anakin is still that little boy from Tatooine.

And I think when Padmé says this to him, "You'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine" when she sees him again for the first time in ten years, I feel like Anakin takes this a bit as an insult. He feels like she's saying that she will always think of him as a child.

But I'm pretty sure that's not what she meant. Maybe she did mean it that way at a surface level, but for her to use those specific words really speaks to how she sees him for the rest of her life.

Because when she sees him, she doesn't see a Jedi. She doesn't see the Chosen One.

Padmé sees Anakin.

She sees a boy who had never known freedom, a boy who only had his life to offer. And she sees him risk it for the sake of helping complete strangers. And he does this without thought of reward. He does it simply because it's right. Padmé sees a boy with so much love in his heart, so much compassion, even when the world around him is horrible.

And I think, even before Padmé falls in love with him, this is why she always wears the japor snippet necklace that Anakin gives her. She wears it every day for ten years before they are married, and she wears it every day after. To remind her of that boy, who only had his life to give, and he was willing to give it, because it was kind.

THIS is the truth of Anakin Skywalker.

[ceruleanvermillion]

I love the Jedi Temple. It must have been breathtaking, beautiful, jaw-droppingly gorgeous- the Jedi Temple must have been everything. A little taste of paradise, hidden in plain sight, the beauty of a thousand dreams nestled in the hearts of the Jedi. It was a home, a school, a place to be safe, to be whole.

[galacticvampire]

Tears of the Nameless, George Mann

Just. This is it. All over this book we see Reath struggling with his fears and over and over again we see that the answer is not suppressing it.

That's what the Jedi Order is. Accepting your feelings and mistakes instead of letting them control you, but not on your own. They are the literal definition of a support system.

[hsal]

Starting an art project! Welcome to the Commander Gala.

All high-ranking personnel come with their +1's

[jedi-nurse]

[jaydude1992]

Some recent thoughts I had regarding the argument that the Jedi chose to lead a slave army

To me, the aforementioned argument reads like "The Jedi shouldn't have helped the clones specifically because the latter was a slave army". Which is arguably a way of saying "Slaves don't deserve help". Or alternatively, "One's principles are more important than the lives of slaves".

Obviously, the idea that sentient beings can be bred en masse for the sole purpose of fighting wars - to the point their independence is leashed and they're deliberately conditioned to obey orders without question while being grown - is morally questionable at best. But by the time the Jedi Order as a whole found out about the clone army project, there wasn't exactly much they could do about it. Even if we assume Sifo-Dyas being the one who originally commissioned the clones meant the Jedi Council had the authority to cancel the "order", at that late stage, it would likely result in the clones either being euthanized - through no fault of their own - or just turned over to Palpatine anyway.

And the clones were going to be used in the Clone Wars regardless of what the Jedi did. The Jedi didn't have any power or influence within the Senate they could've used to prevent the Republic from going to war, and the clones were specifically bred to possess limited independence and be blindly obedient to the Republic, so even if the Jedi helped and encouraged them to do otherwise, it's unlikely they'd choose not to fight. Plus, y'know, Palpatine wanted a brutal, galaxy-spanning war that would make his fascist dominion more appealing to the Senate, to the point he gave the Separatists - droids and leaders - free reign to commit atrocities against Republic civilians.

[kayberrie]

You know what the worst thing about Ahsoka is?

It's that she could never have a happy ending.

From the moment she was introduced as Anakin Skywalker’s padawan, from the moment she existed as a Jedi, she was doomed. Because no matter how much she tried to fight, how many good things she did, her character is bound by the narrative, just like every prequels character is.

The Jedi order will fall. Anakin will become Vader. The 501st will be follow their orders.

Everything Ahsoka loved will die (at least most of it). It must, for the timeline and the story to stay intact. Her culture. Her brothers. Her masters and friends and family. All of them, doomed just like her. Nobody gets what they want, except for Sidious.

Her story was already written. And it was not a happy one.

[passionesolja]

Rah rah, Sith bad but like when the Sith Order was apart of the Sith Empire society and not a weird trauma cult (I.E.: Bane’s Order), imagine how scary it had to be to grow up in that environment. For one, your people (the OG Sith) were already occupied by the Jedi Exiles and your species became the Sith Purebloods. Then, you guys get ran the fuck out of Korriban and have to struggle to survive because Naga Sadow flopped. So the Republic and Jedi really beat y’all ass.

The Sith Empire just doesn’t have the overall economy or power of the Republic so imagine being a Sith Pureblood child and knowing that it’s pretty much on sight for you for the rest of your life. Because unlike a lot of alien species, if you see a Sith Pureblood there’s a high chance they’re Imperial or Sith Order.

Like mfs had the most iconic design of anybody in Star Wars, there’s no hiding from being a Sith if you’re a Sith Pureblood. A Jedi can spot you a mile away and it’s immediate smoke. Growing up knowing that would make me an aggressive mf who’s driven by fear and hatred too. Your culture also has a lot of practices that are considered “darkside” but it’s probably just because you guys evolved to survive Korriban (shittiest planet ever, makes Tatooine look like Naboo in comparison)

Then you factor in that you guys are exiled and there’s probably zero chance the Republic will welcome you into the club after y’all were acting an ass for like 4 generations. It’s pretty much fight or die, you don’t even have your home world a good minute either. Plus, Jedi and Republic mfs go to your homeworld to steal your ancestors shit like mfs stealing your great great great grandmas ancient incense burner and sticking it in the chancellors office or some shit

I’m not saying the Sith Empire are right or whatever, but I’m saying that I can only imagine how scary it has to be to be a kid growing up in these circumstances and why you’d grow up being like “I want to be a Sith Lord and beef with the Jedi too”. Sith Pureblood parents probably telling their kids “if you be bad, the Jedi Knight will get you” when they’re misbehaving

Because on the real, I know Sith Purebloods be looking intimidating and scary when they grown but when they lil kids they have zero aura. Sis imagine looking like that and knowing that grown ass people with telekinesis and the world’s hottest swords want you dead. Yeah, I’m turning my fear into anger, anger into hate, and going to the darkside too. Also, I’m getting dripped tf out in jewelry too