#vader was a terrifying monster but that’s all he was because palpatine made him that way

[phoenixwwitch]

hello again star wars nerds i have a realization as a horror fan and also a fan of star wars. darth vader was frankenstein’s monster- a creature that depended on its creator for life and understanding and will and a creature that didn’t understand its existence. palpatine was victor frankenstein who made darth vader as his creature- his attack dog to carry out his mission of destroying the jedi

[anakinisvaderisanakin]

Anakin is to blame for his fall.

Anakin bears final blame for his state of being.

It is true that he was raised fatherless as a slave, taken away from his mother and only security while only nine years old to be raised by a religious group he knew nothing of prior to meeting one of its practitioners.

It is true that he was met with skepticism and suspicion upon arriving, being deemed too old to train and thus picked on my his peers.

It is true that his relationship with his master was rocky, and that Obi-Wan could not be outspoken and honest about his love for his apprentice.

It is true that his fears were realized when his nightmares about his mother’s death became reality, and that he was overtly prevented from coming to her aid.

It is true that he was was required to bury his volatile emotions underneath the surface, to shut up and never bring them up and let them go.

It is true that despite being married to a loving wife, he had to hide the marriage from the public and live with a secret he knew may ruin his reputation and sever his connection to the order.

It is true that he did stand up for Ahsoka, that he did want the best for his own apprentice while she was being falsely accused of murder.

It is true that Anakin was barely even an adult when he fell to the Dark Side, terrified of losing Padmé, of losing their children of knowing that the nightmares may once again come true unless he acted to prevent it.

It is true that Palpatine manipulated and groomed Anakin all the while, sensing both his power and his vulnerability and feeding off of his weaknesses.

It is true that the Jedi did not have the tools to aid Anakin, or to give him the psychiatric help he would have needed in order to function within society given his traumatic childhood and difficult upbringing.

But it was Anakin who would not trust his loved ones, who would not believe they had the best intentions. It was Anakin who adhered to Palpatine’s constant reassurance of his greatness, his value, his power.

Ahsoka explained why she left, that she couldn’t trust the order that had not stood up for her - but Anakin still took it personally, as if she was abandoning him and without taking her feelings into the equation.

The Jedi order were clear with their rules, they put up guidelines and restrictions to follow, and Anakin still broke them.

Obi-Wan may not have been able to profess his love for Anakin out loud, but if Anakin had taken the time, he would have noticed and realized that Obi-Wan did love him - and that in spite of the fact that Obi-Wan knew he was not supposed to develop emotional attachments.

Padmé may have been selfish and codependent on Anakin and much as he was on her, and she did condone and forgive his murdering an entire village - but she did put her foot down when it went too far, and she did tell Anakin that she loved him and would have forgiven him once more despite knowing he had murdered children if he had only listened to her.

But Anakin didn’t listen. Anakin never listened. Anakin is a loving and emotional man, yes, but he is also hopelessly inept when it comes to taking the people he loves’ feelings into account. 

Anakin loves Ahsoka, therefore she should stay with the order even if it’s not fair to her. Anakin loves Obi-Wan, therefore Obi-Wan should always praise him and be openly proud and verbally supportive of him. Anakin loves Padmé, therefore she should always forgive and support him whatever he does, even if that includes killing innocent people. Anakin loves his mother, therefore killing an entire village in cold blood as revenge is a fair retribution.

Anakin loves Ahsoka, but her state of mind is worth less than Anakin’s. Anakin loves Obi-Wan, but his dedication to the order and to himself is worth less than Anakin’s need for validation. Anakin loves Padmé, but her unrelenting love and forgiveness doesn’t matter if she won’t follow him to the end of the line.

Anakin promises to save his mother, and he does come for her but it’s too late. Anakin promises to clear Ahsoka’s name, and he does but she rejects the order either way. Anakin is bashful upon learning that Obi-Wan is proud of him, but he still second guesses and doubts the sincerity behind it. Anakin promises Padmé he will save her, although she doesn’t care if she dies as long as her child(ren) lives and Anakin can’t accept that.

Anakin doesn’t care if Ahsoka, Obi-Wan or Padmé are happy or satisfied with any outcome. What Anakin cares about is his world, his feelings, his own satisfaction.

Anakin isn’t an inherently selfish man, and he doesn’t pressure people and demand their all because he’s callous. Anakin simply never learnt how to deal with healthy relationships, he only had his mother and during his formative years, he was Obi-Wan’s padawan - and Obi-Wan was distant, despite his attempts at breaking the ice.

Now, Obi-Wan being distant does not put the blame on him. Ahsoka leaving the order does not put the blame on her. Padmé enabling Anakin’s violent tendencies does not put the blame on her. The Jedi order following their religion and imposing it upon Anakin who did wish to become a Jedi does not put the blame on them.

Could Obi-Wan have been more nurturing? Yes, but Anakin still demanded more than he could give. 

Could Ahsoka have stayed in contact with Anakin after leaving the order? Yes, but her wanting to put some distance between herself and the Jedi is understandable and valid. 

Could Padmé have protested and given Anakin ultimatums when he committed atrocities? Yes, but her seeing the best in Anakin at all times came from a place of love, not a wish to condone murder or violence. 

Could the order have given Anakin some leniency and offered him therapy instead of asking him to hide his emotions? Yes, but they simply followed their teachings and expected Anakin to be able to do the same.

Anakin had no easy life, no simple choices - but he did have the choice when it came to Palpatine. Still, if anybody outside of Anakin influenced, coursed and shares the blame, it’s Palpatine. Palpatine is what Anakin is inherently not - he is a cruel, ambitious, evil man.

Anakin is selfish, Anakin wants love, Anakin wants to save the people he loves. Sure, it’s for his own gain, but he still wants to be good. He has good intentions as much as they are driven by personal investment. Palpatine cares for no one but himself. Any kindness Palpatine showed Anakin is a lie and a hoax and a bluff. Palpatine preyed upon Anakin’s insecurities. Palpatine manipulated a lost young boy desperate for approval and a father figure. 

But at the end of the day, Anakin had a choice. Do I understand why he chose Palpatine and the Dark Side? Yes. Do I understand how his fear drove him to desperate measures? Yes. Do I understand how the high of his new powers snared him? Yes. Do I understand why he believed in Palpatine above the Jedi order? Yes.

But Anakin’s self serving attitude is revealed when instead of saving Padmé, instead of running away with her so she can be safe - what he was initially fighting for - he chokes her, harms her, contributes to her demise. Anakin’s selfishness is his downfall, and that’s where the blame lies with him.

As soon as he dons the cape and mask, he accepts this new living hell he’s trapped within - because deep down, he knows he deserves no less. He ruined his own life, he destroyed the Jedi order, he drove away Obi-Wan (and Ahsoka), and he killed Padmé. Vader isn’t a different person. Vader is Anakin, and Anakin knows what he deserves is suffering, and pain, and torment.

Anakin deserves being but a husk of the man he once was. What else does he have left, but to serve the man who aided him in his downfall? What else does he have left, but to bring harm and hurt to others so that they may taste a sliver of his internal agony? What else does he have left but the monster he turned himself into? Anakin knows it’s his fault, he knows there is no Vader, he knows he did it all by himself.

Anakin knows he became his own nightmare, and he continues to exist because he knows it’s what he deserves. Anakin does not abandon his old self because he’s no longer Anakin, but because the man he once was is warped and he does not believe he deserves to associate himself with his past. The name ‘Anakin’ stands for life when it was good, and hopeful, and worth living. Anakin can no longer relate to any of those sentiments, and thus ‘Anakin’ is simply not a name he feels worthy of.

Anakin never forgot who he was, he simply accepted that he had gone too far to turn back. He understood that he did not deserve forgiveness, or redemption, and he did not seek it out. Anakin knew Obi-Wan and Padmé and Ahsoka would all have forgiven him, but he could not let them overlook the horrible things he had done.

The irony in his refusing to accept forgiveness and turn around, is that that is perhaps the most selfless decision he could have made. Because when Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Padmé had tried their hardest, he still would not budge. And that would, in some aspect, at least let them know they did their best and it was not enough. They tried, and failed. Anakin made sure they failed because he did not wish to be saved.

Ahsoka got her chance to stay with him, and make her perceived betrayal right. Padmé never lost her faith in him, even while she lay dying. Obi-Wan let himself be cut down and killed, both to free himself as a Force ghost, but also to let Anakin enact his revenge. They got even, in the end.

Vader is no disease, no second persona, no separate entity. Blaming Anakin’s deeds on Vader as somebody else absolves Anakin and removes the guilt from him. It discredits Anakin, and it cheapens his character. Anakin is not a good man, he is only human. But in the end, despite a life time of poor choices, he makes the right decision. And it’s just as much Anakin saving Luke, as it was Anakin cutting off his hand. It’s just as much Anakin choking Padmé, as it was Anakin marrying her. Anakin did it all.

Anakin alone is to blame for his suffering, and he knows this because there is no Vader. There is only Anakin.

[ariainstars]

The Mandalorian: Is He “Better Vader”?

This may sound funny, but please hear me out for a moment. 

The further I watch Star Wars’ new live-action tv show, the more I get the impression is that Mando is meant to be a positive version of Darth Vader (the “dark father”). 

Father figures usually don’t have a thankful role in this galaxy - either they are absent like Anakin’s, terrifying like Luke’s, or well-meaning but failing in their primary duty of keeping their child safe, like Ben’s. 

Not a few fans, though a little mockingly, like to call Kylo Ren “better Anakin” since his conflict is more fleshed out and the whole figure inspires more sympathy. My theory: is Mando meant to be “better Vader”? 

It was repeatedly and amply shown that the cause for the never-ending conflicts in the galaxy lie for a large part on the side of the Jedi, whose stuck-up attitude ultimately failed. Their order prohibited personal attachments, and even the wisest among them were not affectionate. This was what drove the all-powerful but passionate Anakin, who desperately wanted to have someone he could love and protect, to his ruin: the moment he finally became a father he also became a ruthless monster. Mando is introduced as a merciless bounty hunter, but as he opens up to the child, he becomes kinder and begins to find friends. He grows even more valiant, but also learns how to be gentle and caring. 

Since the Jedi are almost all extinct, but Force-sensitive children still are born throughout the galaxy, we are left with the question of what is to become of them. Some were brought to Luke’s new temple later, but we can assume that not all were identified. 

Mando’s little protegee is staying and making life experiences with a guy who doesn’t know anything about the Jedi and has no clue of the source of the child’s mysterious powers, but instinctively does the right things: he keeps him safe, instructs him, scolds him when necessary, and offers him friendship and companionship. (The Mandalorian who adopted him probably was a good father figure, too.) The child never sees his “father’s” face, but nevertheless he trusts him explicitly. Mando is the living proof that coolness and fighting qualities are not opposed to being gentle and caring.

Ben Solo’s tragic fate was the result of failed fatherhood: Luke did not know how to be a father because he had no children of his own and had had no role model, while Han did not trust his capacity to protect his son from his own powers.

The Parallels

Both Vader and Mando are soldiers. Though not Force-sensitive, Mando is extremely strong and well-versed in martial arts; he never shows his face; he wears an armor completed by a black cape which does not seem to have much practical use. He usually speaks only in short, clipped sentences and has a wry, sarcastic kind of humor. 

Vader was a follower of the Emperor, factually a slave who had no choice but to obey his master, and wherever he went he wreaked terror. Mando does take jobs from the bounty hunter’s guild, but essentially, he is a free man and often offers his services negotiating on his own terms. Noticeably, he fights against raiders and mercenaries or remnants of the Empire, peace following in his wake.

When he first reaches out for the baby, it looks like the opposite to another famous scene in the saga: here we have the adoptive but good father, while the other was the biological but cruel father.  Luke did not take his father’s hand, while the baby instinctively reached out to the man who had protected him.

Note also the scenic reversal: one figure is standing on the right side, hand with upturned fingers reaching out into a void, the scene is bathed in cold light. The other figure is standing on the left, hand reaching down, illuminated by warm light. 

When we do see his face once, Mando is lying down and helpless like Vader; he is not disfigured though and despite being injured, he is not dying. Shortly after this he finally accepts his task as the child’s father figure, while Vader died a few minutes after his unmasking and could not fulfil his fatherly task any more. Also, in both cases we learned the person’s real name not long before the mask went off: Anakin Skywalker respectively Din Djarin.

Given the saga’s love for cyclical narrative, this would make a lot of sense. Star Wars is telling us once more how important a protective and kind father is for a child, both as a role model and an attachment figure. We do not know yet how baby Yoda will turn out; but it would have made little sense for the storytellers to think up such a figure in the first place if they didn’t want him to go another (possibly better) way than his more famous predecessor. 

Is the galaxy at last healing after the terrible conflicts caused by both Jedi and Sith, and will the good fathers be responsible for a better future, maybe even for the long-awaited Balance in the Force? I hope so.

May the Force be with the Clan of Two. 😉

(On a side note: Vader / Anakin was in his mid-forties when he died. Din Djarin is about the same age.)

After the closure of Season 2, I would like to add a few details that also set Din Djarin apart from Anakin.

 Attachment vs. Affection

Anakin’s greatest weakness was his anxiety to lose the ones he loved. In the end, he sacrificed all of his ideals for the purpose of saving his pregnant wife. Luke also loved his friends and wanted to save them, but in that fateful moment before Palpatine, he realized that he would have had to give up his integrity for the purpose, and that was when he decided to throw away his weapon.

Din suffers deeply when he has to give up “his” child to a literal stranger for an indefinite time. However, he knows that it must be done because he does not have the knowledge to train him. Grogu also, reluctantly, lets go when he sees that his “father” is doing the same. This goes to show, again, that he is much stronger than Anakin.

 Following Rules vs Following One’s Heart

Like Anakin / Vader, Din takes his helmet off the moment he has to say goodbye to his child. The famous sentence “Just once, let me look on you with my own eyes” comes to mind. Vader was a Sith Lord and Anakin had been a Jedi. Both adhered strictly to their code: Anakin was a faithful Jedi until he became a Sith and Vader obeyed to the rules of the Sith until for a brief moment he acted like a Jedi again (and, also, like a father, which was a first). Mando unmasks not only before Grogu but also

-     Luke, who is a total stranger -     Moff Gideon, an enemy -     Bo-Katan, a possible potential enemy since she pursues the Dark Saber -     Fennec, an ally but not a friend -     Cara, a friend who never saw his face.

That he is willing for all of them to witness the moment he lifts his incognito shows that Mando is finally listening only to his heart. The Way of the Mandalore, which was his guideline for his entire adolescence and adult life (i.e. thirty years or more), has become less significant to him than the bond he has with Grogu.

Anakin’s tragedy was that he could not follow his heart but that some rules defined by an outside source always were in control. He wanted to be a husband and father and loyal friend, a mechanic and a pilot, not a Jedi or a Sith.

Ben Solo’s tragedy was the same; though not born a slave, he also had no choice about what to do with himself and his life. It was either being a Jedi or a Sith. But we know that he wanted to be a son and a lover, and a pilot.

The same fate occurred to Luke, many years later: the kind-hearted, affectionate young man from Tatooine, who so easily befriended everyone and always was compassionate and helpful became aloof and detached on being a Jedi, because he thought that was what this task required. But in the end, it was exactly what made him not understand and even fear his nephew, with disastrous results.

Din Djarin chose the way of the heart, he is no longer adhering to “the Way”: he said himself that now he can’t put his helmet back on. (Alternatively, he could put it on again, but that would mean defying the Way otherwise.) Grogu has witnessed that a man can very well choose family over a code that was taught to him, even if he adhered to it all of his life. Luke is the one who carries him away, but Grogu looks over his shoulder to his “father”. Luke may become his teacher, but Grogu’s role model, his hero, will always be Din; as it was for Ben with his father Han.

 Hints at the Future

Anakin died twice: once on Mustafar, where he also lost his blue light sabre, and on the second Death Star, where he had lost the red one. Din Djarin, at the end of this part of this journey, receives a sabre, although he never wanted it.

With the Dark Saber, a new fate is awaiting Mando. Is his destiny that of being the warrior-king, protective and honorable, that ought to have been Anakin’s place? Maybe. As they say, the best leaders are the reluctant ones. 😊

[thewriterowl]

How about some truly, truly angst headcanons about Luke?

Because angst Luke is the best Luke

Oh no, Luke-angst. I can give you the Luke-angst. Now some of this is mine, some of this is cannon and some of this is EU and possible, and i heard from @elloitselmo it's major oof

So, this is more cannon...but have you considered how Luke has pretty much witnessed the death of pretty much everyone he cares about? Though just born, he saw his mother die. He saw the remains of his aunt and uncle and knew they did not have a good death. He saw Obi-Wan die. He saw Biggs die. Saw his beloved Tauntaun die. He saw Dak, his comrade in siege of Hoth, die. He probably made a lot more friends in the rebellion he saw die. He was a leader in the rebellion and he saw his followers die. He saw Yoda die. He saw his father die.

He was bullied. Called names. Probably beat up. Had very little friends.

Owen refused to let Luke feel fully like family (for his own fear of him ending up like his father) so he was kept at arm's length from the one man who could've been a close father-figure for 19-years of his life.

Tatooine was apparently pretty miserable to him and he was very unhappy and lonely there.

He's been kidnapped a few times. Potentially more than what we know of.

Has clearly been tortured.

He tried to kill himself when he found out Darth Vader was his father.

His father has been responsible for horrendous atrocities and inhumane actions. He was nearly killed by said father. His hand was cut off by said father when the man KNEW Luke was his son. Very likely haunted Luke as well as hunted him after they parted.

Luke had, consciously or unconsciously, put a lot of his self-worth into his unknown father--wanting to know more of him and try to be like this image he made up in his head of what he figured his father would be. A lot of his view of himself as a person was greatly shattered after the revelation.

Apparently held this secret and clear depression to himself for three years. No one, not even his trusted friends, knew what he was dealing with. No force ghost came to him either.

Was very likely badly wounded after Palpatine but still dragged his massive, dying father a distances to help save him. Then had to watch him die, then had to be alone with his body in a ship, then had to burn and mourn him alone.

Is likely he suffers from the trauma, physical and mental, from his time in the rebellion and facing the Emperor.

Did not stop giving himself to the galaxy, even when he was exhausted and burnt-out. Probably never took a break either.

In the EU, he tried to save thousands of people...they died. He sort of pushed himself with all of them, feeling them die, probably experiencing their death, so they wouldn't be alone. Blames himself despite the fact he didn't have anything to do with it.

Would not be surprise if he does this often.

Do not see himself as a hero. Probably sees himself as a monster. Is probably viewed as a god to many, which is something that disturbs him and makes him ill.

In the EU, he was called the Emperor by Imps since he killed the other and that made him seem the rightful heir (which is probably worse than being seen as a god, being compared to Palpatine)

Has probably suffered many mental breakdowns on his own and has never told anyone.

Had to deal with a huge surge go power in his body over a short time of like, five years. that was probably incredibly uncomfortable.

Is probably terrified of going Dark and being like his father. Even though he already face that choice and still came out good, he probably feels that because he lost his temper and hurt his father he wasn't good or in the Light as much as he would hope to be in.

Probably has an unhealthy relationship with food. And sleep. not sure if he gets much of either.

Is so empathetic he probably feels a lot of pan from other people all the time.

Someone has tried to kill him because of being Vader's child. Very possible others have made him a scapegoat for their hatred of Vader, even though Luke is seen as the one who brought down the Emperor and Vader.

He had to tell Leia that, hey Vader, the guy who ruined so much of your life, the guy who literally held you and made you watch as your planet was killed?? That's your dad. He probably had to provide a lot of support for her with that horrible news.

Probably seen as his father's son, and Leia as her mother's daughter, and is compared to him a lot despite him being so much more like Padme. Another reason he has a lot of issues because apparently no one sees any good in him that his mother had.

The sequels. Nuff said.

Has no self-worth, probably no self-love. Berates himself constantly. Probably feels pretty unloveable.

Probably takes a lot of missions that could end in his death but he isn't bothered cause he isn't worth much and he needs to save people.

So much of this isn't a personal head cannon but stuff that has probably happened to him.

And hey, he still manages to be the kindest man with the brightest smile for anyone!

Haha, everything hurts.

[somedayonbroadway]

Oooo Im interested in your Star Wars newsies AU

Ooooooookay so this is gonna be interesting. I will be basing this particular AU off of the original trilogy (the best one by far. Nothing will ever beat it) though if you’d like to see the prequels or any other Star Wars movie done, or a different Star Wars story that I start making up on the spot, just let me know!

This is also going to be very similar to the storyline of each and every character. So I’m only going to do the three main characters, but if you’d like to hear about more, just let me know!

Star Wars AU

Characters

Racetrack Higgins — Luke Skywalker

Katherine Plumber — Leia Organa

Jack Kelly — Han Solo

Crutchie Morris — Chewbacca

Warden Snyder — Emperor Palpatine

Joseph Pulitzer — Darth Vader

Medda Larkin — Obi Wan Kenobi

Todd Kloppman — Yoda

Spot Conlon — Lando Calrission

Obadiah Wiesel — Jabba The Hutt

Racetrack Higgins

Anthony Higgins lived his life as a farmer on Tatooine.  

He lives on this hot, desert planet with his aunt and uncle, who constantly try to convince him that everything he’d ever need is right there on Tatooine.

Anthony does not believe them.

Growing up fascinated by any kind of ship he can get his grip on, he acquires the nickname “Racer” from his friends and is named an excellent pilot. He wants to explore the galaxy, but on the insistence of his uncle is forced to stay at the farm on account of the dangers that would come if he left.

Everyone was terrified of the Empire.

Race wanted to make a difference.

Growing up, Race had always been told that his parents had been good people. His father had died as a pilot during the clone wars and his mother had died getting him to safety.

Race never had a reason not to believe them.

He lives a relatively normal life on the farm on Tatooine, though he longs for so much more.

When Race was born, he was secretly given to his aunt and uncle by a woman he believed to be named Medda Larkin who lives in the desert land away.

This woman looks out for him, against his uncle's wishes, though, upon asking him why the old man has such a quarrel with Medda, only to be left without an answer.

Frustrated by his friends following their dreams and leaving the desert planet, Race finds himself staring into the sunset daily, wishing he could fly past it.

And one day, he gets his chance.

After inspecting new droids his uncle purchases, he finds a message of a beautiful girl begging for help from a Medactrine Larkin (I don’t know. It felt right).

Wandering off, Race goes to investigate, asking Medda Larkin if she was related to this mysterious person after being attacked by Sandpeople who knock him out and nearly kill him.

With the droids, M7-TN and BK-03, Race discovers that Medda is Medactrine and was once a Jedi Knight, one that fought side by side with Race’s father, whom she trained in the ways of The Force.

Though he at first declines Medda’s offer to travel with her to help the woman in the message, a Princess Katherine Plumber, after he tries to return to his farm, he finds it destroyed, the bodies of his aunt and uncle carelessly laid in front of the door to his home.

So he goes.

This embarks Racer on the path to him truly becoming The Chosen One.

Upon running from the people who murdered his family, Medda informs him that they have to secure travel off of the planet

That’s when Race meets Jack Kelly.

Race and Jack weren’t immediately best friends, but Jack wanted to protect him. Race was never entirely sure of why.

The Force is strong with Race, even though he never knew it.

Medda begins to train him in the ways of the force.

Race is forced to watch his mentor get struck down right in front of him and while he’d only known the truth for a few days about Medactrine’s true identity, he felt as though he owed his life to her.

Because she saved him countless times over and he didn’t even know.

Racer joins the rebellion after Medda dies, hearing her voice in his head, clear as day, telling him to run.

He is the pilot that blows up the Death Star whilst the majority of all others who tried died around him in their TIE Fighters.

Medda is guiding him the whole time. He uses The Force.

Race has the piloting skills of his father.

Race travels to a galaxy that many believe to be deserted to be trained by another Jedi Master by the name of Klopp.

He trains for a long time, becoming an unofficial Padawan and learning the ways of the Jedi who are nearly extinct.

He nearly gets killed by a yeti

He gets his hand cut off by the very man the whole galaxy fears.

He is told one day that he is the galaxy’s last hope

Jack Kelly

Jack grew up an orphan

When he was young, his parents were killed by the Empire and he was kidnapped by a local gang and made a part of it, a slave to it.

He grew up in a life of crime. He’d never asked for it.

After escaping that gang, leaving someone he loved dearly behind, Kelly, he runs off and joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet, naming himself Jack Kelly in honor of the girl who helped him escape.

After years of service, Jack wants a way out, a way to get away from this life only to be tricked and thrown into a monster’s den by con men who are infiltrating the navy in search of a lot of money.

It is in this monster’s den that he meets a creature with fangs, horns and golden skin with one leg. His name is Charbeddon. Jack calls him Crutchie.

Eventually, after escaping the navy and teaming up with the group of cons and thieves, Jack ends up doing the Kessel run in twelve parsecs in a ship that he nearly won in a game of cards, The Millennium Falcon.

He makes it clear that he’s an excellent pilot. Well, as long as he has his lucky dice with him. They were the first thing he ever stole.

After being betrayed by the small gang, Jack finds that he’s better of when it’s just him and Crutchie

Though he goes back to win the Millennium Falcon off of the man who cheated him at cards, one Mr. Spot Conlon, who is forced to put his money where his mouth is when Jack wins and claims his ship as his own.

After this, Jack and Crutchie leave for a small planet called Tatooine to find a crime lord that had been mentioned to him once who is putting together a big job

Long story short, Jack ends up owing this crime lord a big debt, ending up with a price on his head that sends just about every bounty hunter in the system out looking for him.

Jack meets Race and immediately knows that he wants to protect the kid, though he does not truly understand why at first

Jack Kelly is named the best smuggler in the galaxy at a very young age.

After escaping Tatooine after promising the crime lord he would pay him back within the month, Jack finds himself on a journey that changed him for good.

He saves a Princess, expecting a reward.

He didn’t expect to fall in love

Though he is hesitant to join the rebellion at first, his overwhelming urge to protect Racer like no one protected him growing up takes over and he flies after the kid right before the Death Star is blown up, saving him from being shot down.

Jack and the Princess, Katherine, get off to a rocky start until they finally admit they have feelings for each other

Jack is eventually captured, along with Katherine and their droids, by the empire

Jack is tortured for information; the location of Anthony Higgins, though during the first session of the shock torture, he isn’t even asked any questions.

Eventually, Jack is told he will be the test subject for a trap they were setting for Race. Jack had no hope of escape.

As he’s being led to the trap, Katherine admits that she loves him to which Jack can only respond that he knows

He’s frozen in Carbonite and shipped away to the crime lord that put the price on his head, being fixed as a permanent decoration in old Weasels hide out.

Katherine Plumber

After being given up by her mother, Katherine is adopted by a Senator the Queen of Alderaan

She grows up in a political setting, learning day in and day out about the Galactic Empire.

She vows to be a part of taking it down

She is the reason that Racer joins the rebellion in the first place.

After her ship gets infiltrated, the young princess finds a droid and records a desperate massage for someone her father spoke of often and trusted above anyone else. She asks Madactrine Larkin for help. She’s their only hope.

Katherine had a team of people find a weakness in the Death Star, something they could use to destroy it. She sends the plans with the droid BK-03

And then Katherine is captured by Darth Vader, the man most feared in the galaxy.

Even as she is defiant and strong in her ways, when the evil man aims a planet killer at her home, she caves and reveals what she’d done only for her home planet to be blown up anyway

She is then held prisoner, believing she will be executed soon

Until she’s rescued by a kind boy and a much too devilishly handsome young man who drives her crazy.

Katherine is much more than just a Princess. She’s a senator and eventually, a general

She’s a natural born leader.

Just like her mothers, biological and adoptive

Katherine finds herself often being treated like a damsel in distress, when in reality, she’s tough enough to handle herself.

After she’s captured once again by the Empire and the man she thought he hated but turned out to love was turned into a statue and sold away, she is the one who goes out to save him

Maybe they both get captured immediately, but at least she got that far

She is made a new slave for Weasel even as a newly blind Jack is trying to beg Weasel to leave her alone, that he’d pay him back in full and even more but he is taken away and finds Crutchie waiting for him in the dungeon.

Katherine is forced to wear demeaning clothing and held by a chain around her neck like Weasel's new pet.

Even after Race tries to save them, he gets captured as well. He is fed to the monster they have underneath them only to kill the thing and be taken prisoner like Jack and Katherine has to watch the whole thing.

She is forced to watch while the only friends she has are taken out on Tatooine to be eaten alive by a giant man eating plant

This is where Race gets the upper hand and Katherine is given the opportunity to finally kill Weasel and escape with Jack and Race.

She is very sneaky and very quick and even when Jack tries to protect her, she ends up saving his skin just as much

Katherine Plumber is strong with the force, though she believes Race, her brother, must be the Jedi of the family

She finds out all on her own, through accidental Force Searching that Darth Vader was the Jedi Knight Joseph Pulitzer, who was also her father as well as Race’s.

Katherine is honestly a badass.

Let me know if you guys want to see any scenes from this one!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[ayo-cowbelly]

reasons why palpatine and vader are good villains (for different reasons)

thank you to @simpskywalker @sonderwalker @coldishcase @waterrose3 @ghostwriterofthemachine for this discussion, it was a good time

okay so let’s start with vader. he is a good villain because:

he has so much development. like this man has so many layers. he started out as a bright eyed, full of hope slave, to an angsty troubled padawan, to newly knighted and married and a sudden parent / general, to jaded and tired but still trying in ROTS, and then to vader. in the OT, he’s a merciless villain who eventually becomes a father who puts down his own life for his son

and even though he was once anakin he’s also really good at being evil

but he was once anakin so that’s upsetting

like as soon as you get comfortable hating him for being a vindictive, cruel and awful guy, he shows you that there’s a hurting 22-year-old in there, and you want to feel bad for him again, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he literally betrayed and murdered the jedi order (and so many others)

terrifying villain vader is so cool also. vader redemption and sympathy is really good, it is, but also... vader who is in love with the power he gets to have and is super terrifying and totally earns his reputation is just... *claps hands* it’s some good stuff

vader as a character is so good to me because he’s actually so complex and layered. he also has reasons why he’s evil. say what you want about the prequel writing/dialogue, but i love the way the showed and handled anakin’s turn to the dark side, and how it connects and fleshes out his arc in the OT- like how it wasn’t obi wan, it wasn’t padme, but luke who saved him in the end

vader is brutal and evil and a total monster but also he has reasons for being that way and it’s not just “haha evil man is evil he go kill ppl” and you kind of... understand why he did what he did. not that it’s justified. but he has reasons.

he’s the hero and the villain. he tried so hard to be one until he could only become the other. and that’s upsetting, because you love anakin, awkward quirky anakin who wants to see the galaxy, but he’s also vader, who is a monster and cold blooded killer who betrayed (and killed) everyone and everything he stood for. at the end of the day, as much as he was influenced by other things, anakin made a choice to become vader. he made a choice to go with palpatine. and that’s honestly really sad.

he’s just very dynamic and scary and complex and it’s great

he’s also super iconic??? like that breathing is totally one of the most recognizable things in media, change my mind

NOW ONTO SHADY SHEEV PALPACREEP

so. palpatine is that mastermind kind of villain. vader is broken and twisted, palaptine is... definitely not. he knows what he’s doing, he always wanted this, this was his plan all along and he’s reveling in it

even when he’s not on screen you can see his presence/influence on characters and the galaxy

palaptine is true villain. he’s freaky, he’s scary, he’s powerful, he’s effective.

you don’t see any part of him that’s nice. everything about this man is evil and nothing about him is even close to being remotely good. he’s the worst one on this chess board of the galaxy because he’s the only one who’s playing. he’s the puppet master of star wars, and we’re just cruising along in our sad clown car, watching as he plays the characters we love like pawns.

the prequels are literally him being in charge and playing with the galaxy while our poor heroes are rats in maze who don’t know at all what’s really going on until it’s too late

palpatine is a good villain because he gets shit done, he’s completely evil but not annoyingly evil, and his plans succeed (except ROTJ, of course) so often that we’re all made painfully aware how powerful and how much of a threat palpatine really is.

and, as a writer, he’s fun to write, because you can have him do literally anything and the only reason needed is “it serves his own gain” or “it amuses him”

he’s just totally, unabashedly evil and that’s honestly.. really cool

anyways, thank you for coming to the ted talk :)

[internetghost]

Senator Binks: A Star Wars Story (no wait come back and hear me out)

Just like... trust me on this one alright. I almost never actually post to tumblr. Basically I was challenged that I wouldn't be able to make someone care about Jar Jar Binks. I did it in like 4 (four) pages.

AO3 link or keep reading below

Lets begin with his exile. Do you know how young Jar Jar was at the beginning of TPM? He was 20. He was banished as far as I can tell from his dialogue due to his clumsiness causing essentially a diplomatic incident. To do that he would’ve had to have been working in govt. As like a teen. So realistically this is like his first job. He was essentially one of those teens that was working as an aide for the senate/congress/white house for extra credit.

And he messes up so bad, that he is banished. Let that sink in first and foremost. A teen, made a mistake, and was EXILED for it.

So Jar Jar starts his true entrance in Star Wars by being saved and pledging a life debt to Qui-Gon. Outdated things aside we can assume he made this because he’s seen his life saver as someone who is also admirable and worthy of pledging his life to them and their goals. What's Qui-Gon's goals? Why at its core it is to simply help people!

Jar Jar helps out where he can and even goes so far as to risk his life by returning to a place he has been banished from. Risking his safety in doing so. Jar Jar is the epitome of humble. Is good boy. He just wants to help this admirable Jedi who, as he gets to know him more throughout TPM, discovers is just more and more noble.

Jar Jar goes so far as to follow Qui-gon into a desert of all places! The last biome a Gungan would find hospitable. There he meets little Ani. A shining star of a boy that he's glad Qui-Gon also takes a shine to.

Jar Jar eventually sees little Ani win his freedom and escape what is surely his first real up close interaction with slavery. He also sees the heartbreak of a child leaving his mother to do so. And little Ani's mother, Shmi was kind to Jar Jar! She had nothing and was still perfectly happy to host them. When little Ani is alone on their journey, Jar Jar makes sure he's nearby to be there for him. Just in case.

Alright so fast forward. Qui-gon goes off to help the queen directly (who turns out to be this kind girl he made friends with on their journey WHAT!?) So, Jar Jar decides he’s going to be brave and project strength like he’s learned from Qui-Gon. He will lead a platoon into battle as a diversion against the occupiers.

After the battle Jar Jar must have been so excited to see Qui-Gon again and show how their influence has helped Jar Jar grow. He’s grown so much he’s been welcomed back by his people! He’s been promoted! With honors!

Except… Jar Jar doesn’t get to meet Qui-Gon. Instead he meets with a tired and distraught padawan who was always standoffish with him.

Jar Jar doesn't get to swap tales of honor and nobility with his role model because Qui-Gon did the ultimate act of nobility and sacrificed himself on behalf of a planet that wasn't even his home! Obi Wan and Jar Jar grieve together though somewhat awkwardly.

Jar Jar might be free of his life debt but he clearly pledges himself to the ideals that Qui-Gon taught him. He abandons what was sure to be a cushy life as a war hero and instead follows as best he can in Jinn's footsteps. Jar Jar may not be a Jedi but he can be useful as a diplomat. He grew in the ranks working with Padme towards further cooperation between their two peoples. He succeeds well enough that he becomes a representative for the Gungans in the galactic senate under Padme!

Representative Binks enacts his duties and actions so clearly in honor of Qui-Gons memory. He’s adjusted his whole worldview to do that. So he must have been overjoyed to have learned he had a unique connection to the force via the Dagoyan Masters. He has a closeness with the force! Just like Qui-Gon! He doesn’t know what he’s doing but he’s trying his hardest and it seems to be actually working! He's helping people! Not only that, he's helping these people mend old wounds shared with the Jedi Order!

And, after a time, he gets to see little Ani and Obi-Wan again! And Obi-Wan has grown into such a nice person! Obi-Wan is the spitting image of Qui-Gon. How great it is that Jar Jar isn’t the only one trying to honor Qui-Gon and his legacy! And stars above! Little Ani has grown to be such a strong padawan! He views Anakin as essentially Qui-Gon’s Grandson. He shares stories with him. He’s so happy to show what good he’s done with his life and to hear what Obi Wan and Anakin have done!

Representative Binks remembers Anakin's origins. He’s been working so closely with Padme. Working tirelessly their fight against slavery in the republic. He knows he isn’t doing enough but he’s trying his hardest and he knows that was all Qui-Gon could’ve wanted from him.

And then when Padme goes into hiding, Senator of Naboo! He’s nervous, but he leads strongly as the Republic cries out in crisis. The Galactic Senate is acting to slowly to be helpful. He is unsure how to help until he thinks, “what would Qui-Gon do?” Obviously, he needs to help speed up the bureaucracy just Like Qui-Gon did!

Jar Jar hears a suggestion and pounces on the opportunity to do good! Senator Binks formally proposes that emergency powers be granted to Chancellor Palpatine! His actions even help save Anakin and Padme!

The war is hard. Senator Binks sees the conflict escalating and not reaching a peaceful conclusion like he had seen on Naboo. He tries to atone by signing the petition of 2,000 senators to revoke the chancellor's emergency powers. It fails. He moves on to continue fighting against the militarization of the republic. He’s sneered at by his peers. After all, he was responsible for giving Sheev so much power in the first place.

He sees all his hopes and goals falling apart. Tragedy, as first Palpatine declares the restructuring of the republic into an empire followed swiftly by Padme’s disappearance, and then quickly followed by the death of Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan. He’s all alone now. None of his original friends from his new life are left. He’s left in charge of representing Naboo. Alone.

The Jedi Order itself is declared traitorous! Jar Jar doesn’t believe it, though he doesn’t voice that thought. After so much tragedy and brash decisions, Jar Jar has gained wisdom of guarding one's thoughts.

He starts to work closely within Padme’s old group of senators. While at first met with derision and mistrust, he proves himself by sharing all he can about The Emperor and his plans since he was also part of Palpatine’s inner circle for so long during the first half of the war.

Jar Jar remains in the senate. Fighting now for the galaxy on behalf of Padme the child queen turned democratic martyr. Fighting now on behalf of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, the true bastions of the Jedi Order. Fighting now on behalf of Anakin; the child who became a galactic hero by fighting for what was right. Fighting on the behalf of Shmi, the one he failed the most; the kind slave woman who had nothing and yet offered everything to Qui-Gon’s band on Tatooine, and even more for the galaxy when she relinquished her son to the Jedi Order to become a hero of the republic.

Senator Binks hears rumors of a rebellion as the Empire becomes more and more brutal. The Emperor has a new galactic order that he rails against on the senate floor every chance he has.

The Emperor gains a new guard. Lord Vader, who is so cold. He is nothing like Ani. Lord Vader is physically cruel to anyone who dares speak against The Emperor. And yet, an oddity is found in this terrifying being. Vader is more tolerant of Binks than even the Emperor himself. He seems to have taken a shine to the senator of Naboo, much to his horror.

Senator Binks seeks out the rebellion via Mon Mothma after he learns that the empire now not only allows slavery but is actively making use of it! Mon Mothma has him work to regain The Emperor’s trust and learn of his plans. He's the only spy who might have a chance to slip past Lord Vader's scrutiny.

The worst point of Jar Jar's life is when the senator turned spy goes on his first diplomatic mission that he is solely in charge of. Lord Vader and a whole battalion of storm troopers accompany his team for security. When they touch down, the senator and his delegation is stopped by two troopers. The stormtroopers mow down the natives they were supposed to be convincing to join the Empire instead of attacking the miners sent here under Lord Vader's horrifying brutality. Only after the natives are dead are they allowed to unpack the supplies for the next wave of settlers coming to mine the planet.

Jar Jar again tries to take a more active role in the rebellion only to be stopped by Mon Mothma. He is given a code name. One that has only recently been created. A blanket code name to keep the empire guessing. Senator Binks is the name The Emperor and his cronies call him. He answers to this name and plays his role as patsy he now realizes they have given him. But he takes solace that they will never know his new true name. He is now Fulcrum. The pressure point that will help topple this monster he helped create.

Fulcrum learns of the inquisitors. A plan is hatched. He will go in to help destroy the temple of the Jedi’s greatest enemy that resides on Malachor. Lord Vader, the absolute antithesis of Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme, will lose his inquisitors and, with any luck, his life. Mon Mothma tries to convince him to leave it to other rebel agents but Fulcrum will hear none of it. He's done hiding. He's ready to fight.

The mission abruptly changes when Fulcrum mid-mission discovers so many bedraggled teens and children in cages. Fulcrum realizes that to get them out, there needs to be a distraction. He tells his platoon; the platoon that he finally has, following in the footsteps of Anakin and Obi-Wan, heroes of the republic, that they should instead free the slaves and focus on escape.

Fulcrum creates the most chaos he’s ever created. He realizes he’s in his element as inquisitors and troopers alike get trapped behind doors and have training bots turn on them left and right. He's creating such a wild chaos but he's managing to turn it towards their luck!

Lord Vader appears out of the chaos like a furious cold spot. He advances on them from the hallway the rebels just came from as they head towards their ship. Fulcrum lobs a thermal detonator he knows won’t hit Lord Vader. He's seen his powers.

But he’s praying to the force and the ghosts of his friends that Lord Vader won’t realize his goal. The detonator goes off, cracking a transparisteel window, letting lava slowly flow in, triggering failsafes as magma doors start closing off the hallways. Closing off Fulcrum and Vader from the retreating rebels.

Lord Vader’s helmet is damaged and Fulcrum sees this shadow of a friend and despairs.

Little Ani approaches Jar Jar, who is too frozen in disbelief to do anything. The hero of the republic comes to stand before him and Lord Vader speaks. And surprisingly, instead of anger, Fulcrum hears for the first time, little Ani under all the technology keeping him alive. Little Ani's voice is filled with pain and sadness and the rawness of having screamed oneself hoarse.

“Jar Jar... why?”

Fulcrum collects himself in front of the young man who then sometime when he blinked, turned into this avatar of cruelty and rage... and suffering. Fulcrum speaks slowly, both to be sure Anakin hears him and to stall. All while the lava slowly creeps towards them through the hole in the wall.

“Because The Emperor and all he does is wrong. He enslaves people, Ani! How can you stand next to him? How can the hero of the Republic stand by him?”

Anakin hears his own name. And he hesitates.

Jar Jar, his last friend in the galaxy from when his world still had light in it, takes advantage of his hesitation.

“It’s not too late Ani. Help me and we can still fight for what Qui-Gon believed in.”

Anakin lowers his blade. Fulcrum-no, Jar Jar, reaches his hand out. A hand to keep safe the small ember of little Ani.

"That Obi-Wan fought for..."

Anakin doesn't move.

“That Padme fought for…”

It’s dead silent and time stops. Fulcrum’s finally living up to Qui-Gon’s example! He’s helping someone! And not just anyone, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's apprentice!

Fulcrum let's out a breath he's been holding since Qui-Gon saved him all those years ago. A breath that he felt he wasn't worthy enough to release. It's funny how content it makes him feel.

Jar Jar doesn’t get to inhale. Jar Jar is only allowed to look up in despair as Vader raises his blade in a chilling display of wrath.

“Padme is dead.”

***

Vader emerges in a shower of violent sparks from the magma door. The Grand Inquisitor approaches past his various troopers and informs his lord that the rebels have escaped. He looks past his Lord Vader's cape and sees a corpse slowly being encased in lava.

The Pau’an bares his sharp teeth in a cruel smile, “Well not all of them. I see you found yourself a friend to toy with my lord.”

Vader waits until the Inquisitor begins to squirm under his glare. When the Grand Inquisitor finally breaks eye contact and bows his head, Darth Vader answers.

“Not a friend Inquisitor... A traitor.”

[spell-cleaver]

Swords & Starflowers, Day 31

DAY 31: ANGSTOBER: Monster @angstober​

We’re finally at the end! Here’s the 31st and final Swords and Starflowers snippet, for your enjoyment :D

⚔💮⚔

It was a strange, striking moment, when Luke first noticed the portrait of the Emperor hanging in one of the back rooms of the castle.

He’d been exploring for days before he found it, tucked away in the most unpleasant guest room at the top of the manor—practically an attic. It hit Luke then that he hadn’t seen any images of Palpatine anywhere else, for all that this was a massive building, half-manor half-castle, owned by Palpatine’s loyal adopted son. Luke wasn’t complaining, but…

The reason he’d been exploring so much in the past few days was because his father had gone to speak to the Emperor. He’d done so before—he seemed to have to ride out there every month, and Luke had been with his father for three months by now—and every time he returned he was grouchy, stiff, anger simmering underneath his stoic mask…

Luke had noticed. He wasn’t a fool.

He knew that his father, though he seemed cheered whenever Luke was in the room, and though he tried to hide it from him, hated visiting Palpatine. It was torture for him, somehow.

Why would Darth Vader, terrifying war mage, embersteel-crowned demon, living nightmare of the Rebellion, deal with a master he hated so much? Vader was powerful—Luke knew that. He… he was a monster, almost. And though he’d proven himself to be someone worthy of some sympathy, someone who loved Luke and his mother, at the very least—someone who deserved the truth about her, echoed at the back of his mind and he pushed it away—and who had people like Piett and Veers loyal to him, wholly and unquestioningly… he was still somewhat, well, monstrous.

If he hated his father, why didn’t he just kill him?

Why was he loyal to him?

And if he didn’t hate him… why was his portrait in the back guest room?

Luke tilted his head to observe the place in more detail. It was a pleasant room, for all that it was in the attic of the main bulk of the manor. The windows were large with a lovely view of the front courtyard and road, the countryside beyond; the bed was bedecked in lovely shades of red and white sheets; there was a lovely bathroom, a lovely thick carpet, and a lovely, lovely dresser with a massive mirror that made Luke feel small the moment he looked into it.

Then there was the portrait of a rotting carcass, slapped right in the middle of it. Right opposite the bed—the bed decorated with the Imperial cog carved into the header, emblazoned on the sheets—it hung there, staring at the poor resident as they slept.

It was… a good painting. Luke couldn’t really pass judgement on whether or not it was a good likeness; he’d never met the man—his… grandfather—before in his life. The painting was layered and textured beautifully, the black robes dark enough to sink into the abyss with, his smile perfect and uncrooked, though Luke wondered if the tint of yellow the artist had put into it was intentional. His eyes in particular stood out—Luke didn’t think he’d ever seen someone with irises so golden and bright.

It was intimidating.

Like his father’s.

Family resemblance, Luke would’ve thought, had he not known there was nothing biological between them.

Otherwise, Palpatine looked… like a pleasant man, though a rapidly aging and sickly one. Perhaps the poor impression was just Luke’s Rebel bias showing through; he knew full well the artist would’ve been executed if they’d depicted the Emperor in an unflattering fashion, and the portrait would’ve been burned. Vader would probably have not hung it in his guest room if it was burned.

Palpatine was smiling. His face was wrinkled in a grandfatherly fashion—nope, no, not thinking about that—and despite the black robes, the shirt that peeked underneath it was a rich purple, embroidered with Imperial symbols, the chimaera, and… something else.

Luke squinted, and looked closer.

It was a spinner’s wheel.

Interesting.

He knew the legends about who the founder of the Palpatine family was.

He swallowed, continuing to examine everything about him. This room was thoroughly explored. That was it. He’d found the place. He could leave.

But his gaze kept being drawn to that portrait.

The all-powerful Emperor of Galactia.

The man who’d caused so much suffering.

The man his father served.

He had never met him. He’d read his speeches, heard people speak in his name, seen his men pillage and plunder and persecute. But he had no idea what he was actually like.

Would his father make them meet, sometime soon?

And if so, what should Luke’s expect?

He didn’t know. He probably should.

For years and years, Luke had feared Vader. He was the face of the Empire, the one who chased them for days on end, who fought and tried to kill Luke, who captured Bail and the Rogues and lured him to die in the snow…

But his father was not a monster.

Perhaps that was wishful thinking, but he believed it in his bones: his father was not truly a monster.

And yet the Empire was monstrous.

So did that mean…?

It only made sense, he supposed, studying anew the portrait of the kindly old man who crushed civilisations in his grip and made even Lord Vader shake in his boots, that the true monster of the Empire would be the man right at its heart.

[jasontoddiefor]

Tiny Emperor Luke AU Chapter 10

Also known as “Obi-Wan thinks Luke is dead and grieves on Alderaan ft. Bail Organa”.

Tumblr Tag | AO3

The first few days back on Alderaan passed in a haze. He knew he had all but collapsed in Breha’s arms, running low on energy. Obi-Wan had made it through the worst the war and all that Tatooine’s summers had to offer and yet he had broken down like a youngling, utterly exhausted. The Queen had put him in the same little cabin he’d lived in just a month ago and given him strict orders not to disappear.

It seemed unbelievable. Obi-Wan’s life had changed within the span of days so often, and yet he couldn’t grasp that just a month ago everything had been alright.

Not perfect, far from it, but alright.

He had told Beru that he’d be gone for two weeks while Owen was out working on the vaporators. She had laughed, told him not to worry and allowed him to visit Luke. The boy had been sleeping right up until Obi-Wan had stepped into his room to leave him another toy ship.

Beru had once let it slip that Luke adored the handcrafted ships much more than any other of his toys, much to Owen’s annoyance.

“Owen Lars was a good man,” Obi-Wan said quietly.

Bail took a seat next to him on the sofa. Breha had returned to the palace while Bail had stayed behind.

“He took in Luke without asking another question, loved his wife and his nephew dearly. I think, for all that he resented the pain Anakin represented, he might have loved the chance to have a brother as well.”

During the really dark days, the second year or so he had been on Tatooine, Obi-Wan had wondered whether the reason they didn’t get along was the fact that Owen Lars was an inherently good man. He was protective of his family, devoted, and wanted nothing but to see them happy. He was honorable down to the core and had even brought water and food to Obi-Wan’s meager dwellings when he had come to ask about floating toys and the kind of separation anxiety only Force-sensitive children experienced.

Owen Lars was a good man and Obi-Wan was a monster.

He’d justified all his actions in front of the Council and they had approved again and again as he committed hideous crimes in the name of the Republic and peace. Looking back, Obi-Wan knew that the Jedi had fallen from their path the moment they had stepped up to be Generals, but there hadn’t been any other options. Obi-Wan hadn’t been a proper Jedi in over a decade and that was perhaps the only reason the next words escaped him so easily.

“I hated him,” Obi-Wan admitted. “Still do. He told me to stay away so I wouldn’t get even more Skywalkers killed and I did just as he asked me to because I thought he was right.”

Bail put his arm around Obi-Wan’s shoulder, the hold so reminiscent of the way little Leia had thrown herself around Obi-Wan’s neck on the last day he had been on Alderaan the first time around.

“It’s not your fault, Obi-Wan,” Bail said. “You cannot blame yourself.”

“But it is my fault. I should have been there, begun training Luke so he’d be safer and I would know if anything happened to him. He’d already latched onto me when we had finally made it to Tatooine and that bond never broke. I should have reinforced it. I was already thinking about keeping him, raising him myself, but I thought he would be better off with his family. I walked the edge of their land so often, tempted to steal him away, but I always told myself I couldn’t give him what he needed, that he'd be safer away from me and now he’s-“

Dead.

Gone.

Like everyone else. People always left him behind and not for the first time did Obi-Wan wonder what lesson the Force was attempting to teach him that he always failed it. Maybe he had never outgrown the angry thirteen-year-old child, too attached to everyone around him. The galaxy might be a better place if he hadn’t been in it. Anakin wouldn’t have been trained or maybe he would have gotten a Master who could have stopped him from falling, who’d be able to protect his children and burn the Empire to the ground.

Obi-Wan knew he couldn’t do it anymore.

“It’s not your fault,” Bail insisted. “You Jedi always had a habit of piling the weight of every star onto your backs.”

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Held it. Exhaled.

“It was our calling,” Obi-Wan said. “We were meant to protect every life.”

If the desert had taught him one thing, then it had shown him in perfect clarity what the Jedi should have been doing. Obi-Wan didn’t know where Palpatine’s machinations had started and ended, how many choices his Order really had been able to make in the end before they were slaughtered, but he could feel in his bruised and broken bones who they always should have been.

And who Obi-Wan never could be.

“And what is your calling now?” Bail asked.

Obi-Wan didn’t have an answer for him. He should finish what he had started all those years ago on Mustafar, show Anakin mercy and kill Vader for his Padawan. He should look for any remaining Jedi, die in the most honorable way, like a star on the verge of collapse.

He should, he should, he should-

He didn’t.

Sensing that Obi-Wan didn’t have an answer for him, Bail began to speak again. Alderaan’s Senator had aged, but by far not as much as Obi-Wan and yet, despite all the marks grief had left behind, Bail still managed to smile kindly.

“After you left the last time, Leia kept asking for you,” Bail said. “’When is Mister Ben coming back?’ and ‘Do you think he can tell me more stories?’ She has taken quite a liking to you and not only because you showed her how to make her books float on purpose.”

“I can’t stay here,” Obi-Wan said. “The first trip here was already a risk and this second- I never should have come back.”

Alderaan was as anti-Imperial as you could be without outright committing treason. They were under constant scrutiny and Obi-Wan couldn’t risk endangering the government of an entire planet. If even just one Imperial spy could see past the image of a haunted man, Alderaan would be made an example of.

“But you did.”

“Because I was desperate.”

The brutal honesty had become one of Obi-Wan’s most well-known companions. On Coruscant, he always had to watch his words no matter whether he spoke in front of Representative or another Jedi. People had high expectations of him and Obi-Wan had lied so often to please everyone around him that the truth the sharp winds of the last years had cut into him was terrifying but relieving.

Bail let go of Obi-Wan and with a sigh unbefitting of a royal, jabbed Obi-Wan’s ribs like they were children instead of grown men.

“You are my friend and you were Padmé’s friend,” Bail said. “You’ve been alone for a very long time, so do me a favor and honor those friendships and let us help you.”

“I’m not a good man, Bail,” Obi-Wan said. “Chaos follows me everywhere.”

Bail smiled and Obi-Wan wanted nothing more but to know how he managed it after all the horrors he had been forced to witness.

“At least this way I’ll always know where it is, instead of having to chase my daughter down.”

“Leia is a sweet child,” Obi-Wan replied.

Happy too, loved and cared for like her brother had been.

“I’m not denying that,” Bail said. “I am simply pointing out that she also happens to be an utter terror with no regard for people who do not have her particular brand of luck on their side. It must be a Jedi thing, Master Kenobi.”

“I’m not a Jedi anymore.”

“You have to be. My daughter is depending on it.”

Obi-Wan was hesitant to try. There were so many things that could go wrong and Leia was safe still and with luck, she’d never need to wield a weapon, certainly nothing more dangerous than a blaster.

But if Luke had been able to, he might still be alive and Obi-Wan didn’t have anyone left. His people had all been executed and all that remained of them were him and Leia Organa, her father’s laughter and her mother’s wit.

“I need time,” Obi-Wan said.

Time to heal and time to think and time to teach Leia to be better than the Jedi had ever been.

“Of course,” Bail agreed.

Obi-Wan could only hope she wouldn’t resent him for burdening her with the legacy of a thousand generations, that someday she might even forgive him for depriving her of the chance to share that weight with her brother.

He wasn’t sure he ever would.

[onlymollygibson]

Trying to Appease Every Single Fan  Backfired Spectacularly: An Analysis of The Rise of Skywalker

Up until The Rise of Skywalker, every Star Wars movie made has added new levels of depth, complexity and fun to the Star Wars canon and enhanced the viewing of previous movies.  The Rise of Skywalker did the opposite, by disrespecting or invalidating key themes and plot elements from previous movies.  (Spoilers below the cut)

Bringing Palpatine Back:

Not only is this a complete invalidation of Vader’s sacrifice in RotJ, but it completely undoes the interesting set-up at the end of TLJ:

What does Kylo Ren (a Darth Vader analog) do after killing his master and not turning to the light?

Can he hold onto power or does someone like Hux usurp him?

Both the Resistance and the First Order have been weakened considerably by the end of TLJ.  How does this play out in the complicated field of intergalactic politics?

These questions will never be answered because Abrams apparently didn’t know what to do without a Big Bad.

Since a redemption arc for Kylo Ren was obviously in the plans, it makes absolutely no sense to have him kill his evil master in TLJ and then go back and have to face his *real* evil master in TRoS.  

If you want to make a satisfying redemption arc in just three movies, you can’t afford to re-tread the same ground twice.  The next step after killing Snoke should have been Kylo Ren ruling as Supreme Leader, without Snoke’s voice in his head, and still feeling empty.  Think Zuko in Season 3 of AtLA, when he goes back to the Fire Nation a hero.  He had everything he thought he wanted, but he realized his victory was hollow and he was on the wrong side all along.  Now that’s a satisfying redemption arc. 

Rey Palpatine

Not only did Rian Johnson have Kylo Ren explicitly state Rey has no place in this story, but she had a freaking force vision telling her basically the same thing. The force vision in TLJ (and arguably a key theme of the movie as well) is rendered meaningless by the Rey Palpatine reveal in TRoS.

Also, we’ve done the whole ‘protagonist finds out they’re descended from the villain’ before, with the whole Luke - Vader reveal.  

You mean to tell me the grandson of Darth Vader died to save the granddaughter of Palpatine?  Seriously?

Kylo Ren dies

The following people died in an attempt to return Ben Solo to the light.

Han Solo

Luke Skywalker

Leia Organa

They succeeded, but only for ten minutes, because the Last Skywalker rose (or climbed out of a hole or whatever - seriously THAT was the title of the movie) and then died two minutes later.

Not to mention they’re telling the same story twice.  Again!  And just like with the Rey Palpatine nonsense, they told it better the first time. Darth Vader - manipulated from childhood by a creepy evil dude.  Dies.  His grandson - manipulated from childhood by a creepy evil dude.  Dies.  Recycling old plots is not good storytelling.

Furthermore, the story of Darth Vader becomes much more tragic if his death to save the next generation didn’t really save them, since his grandson became obsessed with his legacy, repeated his mistakes and ended the same way Vader did -with death ten minutes after he turned back to the light.  Only KR didn’t even have another generation to save. 

Lando Calrissian rallies the troops

Remember how emotional it was when no one was around to help Leia in TLJ?  It turns out all she needed last time was Lando Calrissian and a space boom box or whatever he did to get that many people to show up in no time at all.  I mean, I know it was because he went to the Core Worlds, but thematically, you’ve got Lando Calrissian succeeding where Princess Leia failed and it doesn’t sit right with me.

Force Healing

Remember Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the Dark Side to save Padme and stayed on the Dark Side for like thirty years afterwards?  Well he’s in Force heaven watching the scene where Rey heals Kylo Ren with absolute disgust.  “Seriously?  It was that easy?  That would have been nice to know before I threw Mace Windu off a building.”

A particularly egregious way in which TRoS disrespected previous movies was the method in which this movie raised the stakes. 

Remember how absolutely terrified the Rebels were of the Death Star in Rogue One.  Remember that achingly beautiful bittersweet ending?  Well now forty-ish years later, they’re still fighting that same fight, to the point that it’s become a joke.  The bad guys make a planet killer.  The good guys blow it up.  How have we had five out of eleven movies with this same plot?  Every time you tell the same story AGAIN, it cheapens the other times the story has been told. It’s like inflation.

Seriously?  The final battle of the nine-movie saga involves fighting like five hundred Star Destroyers that came out of nowhere with giant Death Star canons strapped on the bottom?

I mean yes, the idea is horrifying, but imagine the directors of Nightmare on Elm Street saying, “Freddie Krueger was terrifying and people loved the movie.  For the sequel, let's have a hundred Freddie Kruegers running around.”  It works with snakes and spiders, but not super creepy people or powerful weapons. 

This is especially true because the Sith Fleet was basically pulled out of thin air, which makes the whole thing feel like Diabolus ex Machina.

It’s made doubly ridiculous because they’re not only absurdly powerful, they’re also easy to destroy.  I mean, seriously, Tie Fighters are harder to blow up than those things.  A single strafing run from a Y-wing and the whole dang Star Destroyer is toast.  This means you don’t really need any battle tactics beyond ‘shoot the giant gun,’ which makes for a really boring action sequence.  Star Wars is famous for its dogfights in space.  I mean, yeah, the tactics are not actually plausible because zero gravity changes warfare in ways they don’t address, but it’s fine because of the Rule of Cool.  

As for the characters and relationships, it’s kind of a trainwreck and nobody is really happy.

Tons of fans are unhappy because Kylo Ren and Rey kissed

Many were opposed to the idea of a villain turning good because he was in love with the hero and that’s exactly what happened in this movie

Others were unhappy because they saw KR as an unredeemable monster and yet he had a (small, not very well executed) redemption arc.  

He never suffered for his past actions or even really talked about them, yet he and the protagonist are in love, so it’s fine.

The fans who wanted a Kylo Ren/Rey relationship were unhappy because of how the relationship played out

The redemption arc wasn’t all that great.  

The whole Rey Palpatine thing means that KR lied to Rey when he asked her to join him in TLJ.  That line was cringey enough when it was true, and now that it's a lie, it’s twice as bad.

They’re a diad in the Force and now one of them is dead?  How is that a happy ending?

A major theme of the sequels was Rey finding belonging and someone who understand her.  KR was sold as a dual protagonist, someone who understands her.  They were on the same side for ten minutes and then he died and Rey doesn’t cry, instead she goes sand sledding and takes the Skywalker name.  Seriously, how is this a ‘satisfying’ ending?

And a few minor things

Why does Rose only get like four lines?  

General Hux had like two minutes of screen time.  For a fan-favorite villain, his ending was disappointing.  He really owned his two minutes, though.  But think, without the Palpatine nonsense, there could have been more time to examine the discord in the ranks of the First Order higher-ups, with some focus on the lack of respect the original Imperials have for the new generation of First Order commanders.  When you raise the stakes with a larger-than-life villain (especially one who was supposed to have died), you run the risk of losing the far more interesting stories revolving around villains who are far more human, both in their powers and in their emotions and desires. 

Did anyone have character growth in this movie?  Because to me it seemed like they were so busy with shots of CGI copy-pasted Star Destroyers in a row, that they didn’t leave time for personal growth or emotional payoff.

Early reviews said The Rise of Skywalker checked all the boxes for a Star Wars movie, but forgot about the heart.  Now that I finally dragged myself to the theater to see for myself, I can’t help but agree. 

[goddamnmuses-a]

Dan Watches: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

Alright so I did this for Episode I which you can find here. So.. here’s my weird.. live reaction/note taking/whatever this is.. to Episode ll. 

Alright so.. Once again the opening crawl is very politicy. 

Count Dooku I think is mentioned for the first time in it and Padme becomes a Senator instead of a Queen in it.. which.. is weird. 

The Naboo ships im not sure about.. I like the design but they seem too new and clean for being a prequel. That said they are owned by royalty so i can let it slide i guess. 

“I guess i was wrong, there was no danger at all” *EXPLOSION* ffs Jeff, you couldn’t keep your mouth shut? 

Nooooooo! Not.. Cordey? Omfg that was the worst death i’ve ever seen. Terribly acted. 

Ayy it’s the Jedi avengers, no but like why is like i presume the whole or half the jedi council in this meeting? Shouldn’t they have like 1 representative? 

Yooo thats live action Barriss Offee in the back... hey girrrll ;) 

actually she’s probably supposed to be like 13 or somehting so i take that back. 

 I love just all the traffic flying by the window

YOOOO it’s my boy Jar Jar aka Darth Plagueis the Wise, don’t @ me. 

Spice mines on the moon of Naboo you say? Isn’t Spice a drug but you mine for it.. there are drug miners in Star Wars.. good stuff. 

That elevator would be terrifying. 

Obiwan just like.. LOL I fell into a nest of Gundarks.. what a character I am. .. Love him. 

Anakin like “I haven’t seen her since i was underaged master.. now i can  get my fuck on!”

ALSO ITS BEEN 10 YEARS!?

“Ani you’ll always be that little boy” *Police sirens*

Anakins a little bitch

I think Jar Jar’s ears things are much longer.. but might just be me imagining things. 

She’s not forgotten you, she said your name.. you creep. 

Heeyy look it’s your custom star wars character Zam. 

Obiwan is so sassy

Anakin is pretty creepy towards Padme. 

Those worm things are naasty

Yo tbf that was some smooth lightsabering, they were like an inch tall and right up on Padme and he didnt even hurt her accidentally. I’d have killed her there. 

Obiwan just fucking dives out the window like its nothing. Mad man. 

Zam is the worst, instead of shooting Obiwan she shoots her own damn droid. 

Damn it Anakin, he’s told you to stay away from power couplings. 

Obiwan is just gonna be like “FFS ANAKIN!” this entire movie... well.. Saga. 

I wonder how Jedi pick their robes because like some are very similar and then theres like a few that have darker leather stuff, it’s like there’s a jedi stylist or something.. Someone make that OC. 

 Amazing catch Obi. 

So Obiwan is his real name but he goes by Ben later on and then Ben Solo is named after him but shouldn’t it be Obiwan Solo? 

A changeling, she really is a custom character. 

Yoo that Twilek wasn’t stupidly thin, I’m here for Thicc Twilek. 

What species is Death Stick guy! I wanna know what he does with his life after he rethinks it

I hope it backfires and he’s like “Hey.. I could be doing so much more” and he ends up like the head of a crime family. 

She didnt even change.. so much for changeling. 

....she did when she died i take it back. 

Damn the background Jedi are ugly. 

I like how this shows that Palpatine has already begun manipulating Anakin. 

Still dont understand why Jedi see the balance being a good thing when it’s leaning heavily towards the light side right now. 

Anakin “IM READY FOR THE TRIALS!” .. you aint. You a moody bitch.

I like Padme’s dress. 

Anakin just got warned to back down because he’s being a creep. 

Omfg whats that rape face. 

Dormy or whatever her name is, better actress than Padme. 

Poncho! Cal approves. 

WOO ITS DEX!

Jawa Juice? Ew.

Wtf is the Rishi maze?

Dex suddenly went sinister at the end, why? 

Yess the librarian! She’s the best. I think she has a badass Order 66 story if im remembering correctly. 

She’s very sure about her records though.. calm down lady. 

“No droids” says the droid to the other droid. 

So i presume the head of the Jedi Council is always the one who looks after the younglings. 

Awwh the little babies and they’re all gonna get killed by Creep Vader. 

Yoda is so soft, good dad figure. Best boy. 

They elect queens on Naboo.. thats interesting. 

I love the Jedi fighter look. 

HOLD THE FUCK UP THEY DIDNT KNOW ABOUT KAMINO 

THERE WAS A FUCKING LONG NECKY ALIEN ON THE JEDI COUNCIL IN EP 1.. 

.... some bullshit. 

I should really look into Sifo Dyas

And Why are there not more Clones in Star Wars... 

Other than like.. .. spoilers for.. you know what nevermind. 

I DONT LIKE SAND! HE SAID THE THING

Anakin you creep

Why the fuck would Padme even lean in at all? He’s been nothing but a creep and she’s shown 0 interest in him at all so far. 

The Camino people are pretty chill. 

That was the first bit of actual chemistry between Padme and Anakin 

Omfg the pear, fuck off. 

Also forgot to comment but theres some clear like.. oohhhhhh moments im having with how order 66 got set up. 

Has Padme had an outfit change again?

She’s got her sexy outfit on to turn him down.. seems right. 

Her make up is a bit.. much

Sooo the force is weaker with the jedi because the light sides had it so good for so long that the force is trying to balance out and bring it back the other way, makes sense. 

It’s actually his connection to his mom that brings him towards the darkside to start.. nice. 

Padme trying to be inconspicuous is super conspicuous 

I like that the droid said okey dokey. 

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY WATTO

YAAAAY ANI SPEAKING HUTTESE

I love how Watto is happy to see Ani. 

Watto doesn’t deserve the shitty life he ended up with. 

Love some New Zealander up in my Star Wars. 

Seismic charges have such good sound design. 

Thats one hell of a missile. 

Eyyyyy it’s c3p0 it’s amazing how much i’d forgot of this. 

Tusken Raiders are dicks. They know sign language but they’re dicks. 

Even Anakin is like “These are good people”, good. They’ll raise your son. 

Is that general grevious’ voice? 

What the fuck are these aliens

Awwwh noooo she waited just to die in her sons arms. 

Tbf i’d go full darkside if someone tortured my mom. 

You know what.. this Ani is nothing like the ones from the cartoon, he seems like less of a whiney bitch in the clone wars but we’ll see.. 

Cleg Lars’ hover chair is pretty dope. 

Anakin got over hating Obi Wan real quick. 

Even captured Obiwan is a sassy boy. 

Jar Jar as badass as he is.. is basically putting the Sith Lord in charge. 

So far if you dont know that palpatine is the Sith there isnt really anything obvious telling you which is pretty interesting. 

Padme has had another outfit change, another iconic look. 

And so behind the adventures of r2 and c3po

C3PO had a costume change, he’s been watching Padme. 

The fake out they have you thinking Padme is covered in magma is pretty good

Okay then suddenly she loves him.

Also bye bye lightsaber

Genosians are pretty gross

In my head they were always the same as Toydarians for some reason

I like that bug monster, i remember killing them in one of the older battlefront games.. as maybe Aayla Sekura but maybe i made that up. 

Anakin surely got the best one to fight. He basically tames it.

The fucking peck on the cheek, was that needed? 

Droidekas are still cool as fuck. 

Suddenly Jedi. 

The Jedi that made it up to Dooku is terrible, he cant even reflect a few blaster blasts.

Well.. Jango lost his head. 

The smile on that green jedi’s face is beautiful, what a beautiful alien man. Kit Fisto.

Obiwan is an icon. 

Dooku is pretty reasonable all things considered. 

Woo clones!

“Around the survivors, a perimiter, create.” Yoda.. just speak normally damnit. 

Yoo what if Jaro Tapal shows up in the new Clone Wars cartoon season.. i’d lose my shit. 

I like Dooku’s bike. 

Anakin you dumb fuck. 

I always thought Dooku’s curved lightsaber was weird. 

Rey should have done this sick ass catching the lightning trick instead of the two lightsabers. 

Jedi flips all over the place woop. 

As obvious as it is that Palpatine is the hooded Sith, i feel like they dont show his full face because i feel like a little kid might not be able to tell. 

I kinda like how it shows a bunch of clones (the basic start of the stormtrooper) and then star destroyers and it’s like.. heres where the empire started. 

Aaaaaand they’re married? so yeah.. congrats Ani you creeped your way into being a husband. 

[eirenare]

I’ve just read the new “The Rise of Kylo Ren” interview with Charles Soule (the writer) and Will Sliney (the artist) and thought I’d do a post about it because there’s some very interesting stuff

And also I may or may not be absolutely amused at some descriptions for the former leader of the Knights of Ren

[More under the “read more” because of spoilers of TROKR, and because of speculation/theorizing of TROS.]

“They call him Ren, but that wasn’t always his name.

“Born out of the flames,” as artist Will Sliney puts it, the leader of the Knights of Ren in the opening pages of the new comic Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #1, arrives battle-scarred and wearing a fearsome, featureless mask — a blank expression save for a smattering of claw-like gouges. Concealed within is a charismatic leader, the exact type of person who would be able to seduce young Ben Solo away from the path of the Jedi.”

They’re going to talk about “The Rise of Kylo Ren”—they spent the first paragraphs mostly talking about Ren

And... *arching eyebrows at the first phrases* So... “They call him Ren, but that wasn’t always his name”, and “born out of the blames”, and “fearsome, featureless mask”... Yeah, this totally does nothing to stop me from thinking Ren’s gonna be future/alternative Ben

Alexa, play “Dark Horse” *looking sideways at Dark Rey and Ren*

“I wanted him to read like a charming Darth Vader,” says writer Charles Soule. “A Vader who is charismatic and who is appealing. That’s why [Ren’s] skin is burned and he sort of looks the way that he does. He’s embracing the seductiveness and the damage that the dark side does. Darth Vader, as impressive and imposing and terrifying as he is, is remote and cold and distant because he has the suit surrounding him. Whereas Ren isn’t hiding behind it. He’s someone you could have a beer with, in theory.”

Oh, so are we going parallel territory with the Darth Vader, like previously with Ben and Anakin? Interesting... *munches popcorn* Also lol at having a beer with him

“Designed purposefully for the new comic series, with issue #1 out now, Ren feeds the evolution of Kylo Ren. “The entire seductiveness of the dark side poured into one character engineered for Ben Solo is Ren,” Soule says. “He’s sort of a charming evil rascal that can be really fun to write and I really like where he goes in the series. But if Kylo Ren is going to take over the Knights of Ren, which we know that’s what happens, there should be some transition.”

I didn’t think I’d see Mr. Hottie McHotHot aka Ren defined like a “sort of a charming evil rascal”, but yeah, that’s kriffing funny and awesome and I can’t wait to see what happens in January

But now... now comes the super juicy bits...

“The creative team engineered some surprises for this charming dark sider, a foil in many ways to Darth Vader hiding beneath his protective covering. “You expect the dude hiding his face under a mask like that to be all messed up, particularly with his body looking the way it does,” Soule says. But in issue #2 we’ll see what he’s truly concealing, a reveal that speaks to Ben on a whole other level.”

Why does this sound familiar? ... Ah, yes, because it’s kind of the way they described Ben‘s unmasking in TFA, the whole “you expect a monster but you got this young tortured prince”. Sounds like that a lot. Also, the fact that what he’s hiding under the mask seems it will be a huge reveal to Ben and that they’ve “engineered some surprises for this charming dark sider”? Not to mention that, again, we have a comparison with Darth Vader

Yep, this definitely does nothing to keep me from going on with my Ren/Ben theory

“I think the key to writing Ben Solo is to write him as a lost teenager who is deeply in touch with emotions that teenagers often feel,” Soule says. “He feels like no one understands him, no one sees him the way he actually is, he’s utterly alone and there’s no one else out there in the universe. So when he sees Ren, he’s like, ‘Wait a minute — maybe there is somebody like me in the universe. Maybe there is a path for a guy like me. Look at the choices he’s made. I could make those choices, too, and I could be cool.’”

Okay, so, who the kriff is cutting onions in the room? *Ben feels intensify*

Also there might or might not be a certain Disney song going on my head right now reading this lol

“The story also calls for the re-introduction of a younger, seemingly kinder Snoke, wearing a little cap, no less. When we meet him in the series, the future Supreme Leader of the First Order is essentially a gardener. “When we were in the design process, Snoke is someone that you know is going to defy expectations and it’s not going to be the Snoke that you know,” Sliney says. “And it’s important because we’re going to see a very, very different relationship that Snoke and Ben have. It establishes that this is not the Snoke that’s going to Force-choke Hux and slam him into the ground. He’s playing the long game…so it was important to portray Snoke differently.

And true to his festering nature, Snoke inhabits a place that on the surface seems serene and beautiful, but is rotten at its core, a script note that spurred Sliney to google “rotting fruit” for artistic inspiration.”

Snoke is a scary predator. Whatever he is, whatever it’s his relationship with Palpatine, that’s the thing—they’re both scary predators, and I can’t even begin to imagine all the shit fed to poor Ben’s head

Also, about that world... Another thought that came to me (besides Mortis stuff) is that maybe it could be the deserted/stormy place we see in the TROS trailers, like the planet finally rotten inside and outside, kind of as a reflection as to how appearences have fallen apart and all that’s left to show is the rotting

“Like Sheev Palpatine, the once humble senator of Naboo, “Snoke is someone who knows the playbook,” Soule says. “It’s a similar play in terms of, ‘I’m a nice guy who’s just trying to help you,’ which is kind of what Palpatine did. But Snoke’s path to power, Snoke’s seduction technique, Snoke’s message and teachings are, I think, pretty different from the way Palpatine did it…. His job is not so much to corrupt as it’s to represent an alternative to the legacy [Ben has] been presented.” In concert with Ren presenting an alternate path, Snoke’s suggestive philosophy is appealing to a young boy who feels lost. “Everyone’s telling you you’re X, but what if you’re Y? What feels correct to you? Are you Obi-Wan Kenobi or maybe you’re something else?” Soule says. “All you need to be is whoever you are and no one’s letting you do that…and maybe, shouldn’t you go someplace where you can be who you are?”

Now that’s a specially terrifying way of predating—you may be able to get away from all the people you love, detach from them so as to protect them and protect your heart, but you can’t run away from yourself and your thoughts and feelings, and that’s what Snoke targets with Ben

“To bring these characters alive on the page, Sliney pulled reference material from Celtic myths and poured over books featuring the art of Star Wars. “I don’t think I’ve ever studied as much as I have,” he says. “Everything Star Wars. I have all those art books, whether it’s the modern ones or the ones from the original movies or the prequels. I love the art…I think it’s important to pay respects to the amazing concept art that have made these movies along the way.”

Those artists, of course, famously took their inspiration from earlier works, so Sliney went back even further. “I’m going backwards as much as I can in terms of the feel of it,” he says. “It needed to feel epic and it needed to feel powerful. It’s bringing it back to that mythological kind of feeling. I have a big influence from a lot of old ancient Celtic stories that date back thousands and thousands of years. These stories of lone warriors who died on the hill…. Those ancient books, they carry that gravitas.”

That’s interesting. Maybe the big “dead” tree around the machinery comes from Celtic mythology? After taking a look at some info, I’d say this screams “tree of life” to me, which would pretty much fit like a glove with the Force and the balance because it represents harmony and all that. Also, if you want to know something funny, according to this webpage (Irish Around the World), “trees were a connection to the world of the spirits and the ancestors, living entities, and doorways into other worlds”, it says, among other things

And, to finish:

“Meanwhile, Soule pulled much of his writing inspiration from the Skywalker saga itself, save for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was still in production at the time. Soule went back and studied the first time we see Kylo Ren on screen, wondering to himself about the implication that Ben Solo had met Lor San Tekka in their younger days. “There’s a lot of data hidden between the subtext and text,” Soule says. “It’s about doing the research on that level just to see what connections might be made, but it’s also the feel of it.”

After all, Ben Solo’s bloodline makes him Star Wars royalty. “This is a story about legacy,” he says. “It’s a story about family and expectations and the fact that Ben Solo is part of a vast network of galaxy-changing individuals from his mom and his dad, to his uncle, to his adopted uncle, Lando, to his namesake Ben Kenobi, to his grandfather, Darth Vader…Within one step of him are arguably some of the most important people in the galaxy. So his story is their story and you can’t tell Ben Solo’s story without knowing all the other ones backwards and forwards.”

Interesting, about the writing inspiration... I’m really curious to see how it’ll fit with TROS

Can’t wait to see TROS tomorrow, both because of the movie itself and to start thinking where TROKR may land because, hey... we’re still 3 issues away from the comic to end, 3 months

[marybeatriceofmodena]

The Last Jedi review - Part 2 of 284390890358 - On the topic of Gothic Heroines in space, Darth Darcy, and Inappropriate Uses of the Force (not that the Force minds)

WELCOME TO THE LONGEST PART OF MY I-DON’T-KNOW-HOW-LONG TLJ REVIEW NO ONE WILL CARE ABOUT

First off… Rey and Kylo were definitely dual protagonists in this movie… but for Rey, it was kind of a bait-and-switch thing, because TLJ is very much Kylo/Ben’s movie, because we really see things unfold from his perspective…

… which is probably the reason why I was honestly pretty angry when I came out of TLJ.

I think TLJ was meant to be Ben’s movie. I’ll explain why later, but we really see things unfold from his perspective, in this movie.

Starting out with Rey… the Heroine’s Journey coupled with the great big metaphors for sexual awakening are so in your face it hurts. I’m not going to expand on it too much because other people already did a great job explaining it, but that hole on the island on Ahch-To? The sexual metaphor was so blatant it managed to make me more uncomfortable than Courbet’s L’origine du monde (in the best way possible, of course). I’m not even going to post it because I’m telling ya, that painting is VERY NSFW, so you can just go and google it yourselves.

Also, am I the only one who LOVED the Mirror Scene? (And kudos for me for calling that when Rey would plunge in the water, she would be confronted to the fact her parents aren’t coming back.) Rey is confronted to her biggest fear, where the only thing surrounding her are a thousand copies of herself, which symbolizes the fact that the only thing that’s holding her imprisoned is her attachment to the past. When she asks to see her parents, there are two silhouettes coming towards her…

And GOOD CALL from people here saying the taller silhouette on the other side of the mirror was Ben. Because he’s her future, as she is his: but because they’re both fixated on something, when Rey tries to see who’s on the other side, she can only see herself.

The movie pretty much explains why Rey was so insistent on going back to Jakku in TFA: it’s not just because she thinks that *maybe* her parents will come back. It goes farther than that, because deep down, she knows they’ve abandoned her, and that she’s just in denial about it. Like, the movie actually spells that out and people still think Kylo is lying to her about it. Sigh.

But that abandonment and her life as a scavenger on Jakku have made her always want to stick to a routine, because in those moments, she feels in control and it’s reassuring. Of course, preferring a routine to run your life is not something that’s bad in itself: but the problem with Rey is that sticking to the same routine all the time stops her from moving forward as a person.

However, when she does try… she fails.

Her attempt at bringing Luke back fails, and that job is left to Yoda. She basically just rushes to the Finalizer to convince Ben to come back, because she’s naïve. Naïve, naïve, naïve, naïve, naïve. Did I say naïve? And a bit impulsive and selfish, too. She’s naïve because she thinks she’ll just go on the Finalizer and everything will be smooth from there and she arrives there like freaking Sleeping Beauty. She’s naïve because she genuinely thinks she’ll succeed. And because she’s naïve, and because she’s impulsive and a bit selfish too, she fails. But as for the « impulsive and selfish » part, I’ll come back to that.

Overall, her manner of thought is still pretty simplistic: that’s not to say that Rey is stupid, because she definitely is not, but she definitely lacks experience. And she’s impulsive. SO impulsive. But again, considering where she comes from, that isn’t too surprising.

Apart from that amazing storytelling for Rey, the problem is… after the Throne Room scene, the movie kind of drops the ball for Rey, until she becomes a Deus ex Machina by lifting all the rocks to help the Resistance escape. Aaand there’s more, but I’ll come back to that.

And then there’s Kylo. Or Ben. I don’t know what to call him anymore.

Poor kid. That poor, fucking, fucked up kid.

People are complaining about how bleak the movie feels, but… that’s the point. Kylo’s perspective is bleak af right now. And because we see things unfurl from his point of view, that’s why he’s basically the most pragmatic person in the movie, despite spending the last quarter of it throwing the biggest tantrum he’s ever done.

And I’ll tell you one thing: I am so, so, so, SO glad I knew about Renperor going in, because if I didn’t, I would have probably got out of the cinema in a Renperor-level rage. I got a week or so to get used to it, and my knee-jerk reaction pretty much came from the godawful Reddit “leaks” we got with Renperor in them. And now… I can sort of see that even if it’s not how I would have ended the movie, personally, it makes sense?

At first, I didn’t get it at all. For me, it made no sense that Ben would go from “my uncle tried to kill me and I hate him for that” to “I’ll become Renperor and bring peace and order to the galaxy by obtaining UNLIMITED POWAAAAAAH”.

It could have worked if Kylo had a greater goal, like—I don’t know, he knows that the galaxy needs to be united because a bigger threat is coming, like the Yuuzhan Vong but canon. With all the hints we got so far of something lurking in the Unknown Regions (which is pretty much the reason why Thrawn joined the Empire in the first place, back in the days), it would have been feasible. And it is basically the reason why Revan invaded the Galactic Republic in the first place, so it could be protected and ready against an potential invasion from the Sith Empire.

We get nothing of all this in the movie. Heck, if Kylo *really* wanted to convince Rey to stay with him, he could have told her about that greater threat and things would have perhaps gone differently. But there’s nothing of that.

So why does Kylo want to be Renperor so bad?

The reason is actually very sad.

For a long time, Kylo has believed he can only rely on himself. He can’t count on anyone: his parents let him down, and yes, Han tried to reach out to him, but it was too little, too late (and there’s also something else, but I’ll talk about it later); his uncle wanted to kill him (well, at least from his point of view, but you see my point); his stand-in father figure is very thinly coded as a sexual predator and messed up with him since pretty much the crib. Snoke is to him the most reliable figure in his life, which is saying something: even Kylo himself knows that Snoke is eventually just going to chew him up and throw him away, and it’s so obvious even Han pointed that out to him.

In the end, it gives him a pretty big inferiority complex. Except his inferiority complex stems not from the fact he’s incompetent, but from the fact he probably believes he isn’t worthy of being loved or worst, being saved. Like, think about it: he didn’t even bother running back to Han and Leia after shit happened with Luke at Jedi Camp, which is already pretty telling in itself; for all he knows, his uncle tried to kill him, and we’re talking about the guy who thought Darth Motherfracking Vader could be saved, which means that he is worth even less than Vader himself; and I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that Snoke only enhanced that complex, by giving him all those great speeches about Vader and all the yadayada (because courtesy of the Visual Dictionary, we all know Snoke is the ultimate Vader fanboy, and not so much Kylo) while simultaneously demeaning him whenever things didn’t go his way.

Poor kid. He never stood a chance.

And he tries reaching out to Rey. He thinks he can count on her, that she’s different from everyone else. He sees how compassionate she is, how she sees the best in people, how she is willing to do anything for the people she cares about. Apart from her powers in the Force and their shared loneliness, that’s what attracts Kylo to her.

That’s why Rey breaking his heart hits him so hard. He knows that she’s strong, but she’s vulnerable and she has been hurt, just like him. And he’s been so screwed over his entire life that he genuinely believes that the only way to never be hurt again is by becoming king of the mountain, where no one can reach him anymore and where he’s basically the most powerful motherfucker in the galaxy. And he applies the same logic to Rey as well.

That’s the tragedy of Ben Solo. He becomes Renperor: not a cackling, over-the-top megalomaniac like Palpatine was, but because like a frightened child who thinks that the only way of defeating the monsters he’s terrified of is by becoming the bigger monster himself. But even then, he fails, because while he’s in the position to be the bigger monster, he can’t bring himself to truly be one, no matter what. He’s still a boy, who just happens to scream louder than the others.

And this is… honestly a pretty dark take on the Beauty and the Beast trope.  

Jean Cocteau would be proud.

Also, for all those people saying “Kylo Ren is a pussy”, he’s there telling Snoke his injuries are “nothing” and the minute he takes his mask off, you can clearly see that the dude looks like shit. Later on, you have droids treating his scar and he doesn’t even flinch once. Conclusion? Not only the dude ain’t a pussy, but he’s probably been used to dealing with far worse pain… hence why he was still standing after the bowcaster shot and why he actually managed to stand for a while fighting Finn and then Rey. So no, I don’t find it funny AT ALL, and not even on a meta level, when Snoke calls him a loser for Rey beating him, because he’s pretty much encouraging Kylo’s self-destructive tendencies.

And then there’s the Reylo.

For starters… considering Rian Johnson said he had three hours of film before the cut, I am GENUINELY curious to know how many Reylo scenes have been cut. And believe me, I’m not saying this as a shipper.

The Reylo scenes were good. Really good. The problem is, because the pacing was meh, as I explained above, I felt like I didn’t have enough? (Again, I probably need to see the movie again.) And honestly, it would have been better from a storytelling viewpoint to have more Reylo scenes than, I don’t know, knowing that Luke gets green milk from a giant beer sea chicken thing (like, I get the point is to have Rey being uncomfortable with the tities, but that scene was just gross). Basically, we had Resistance scenes that were way too long, Finn and Rose who were amazing but were on a timer to save the Resistance while not giving that vibe of urgency at all, and Reylo getting cut by those scenes made the movie feel choppy overall and kind of hard to follow.

Rian just BARELY gets into the Force lore, or what is Kylo and Rey’s role when it comes to the greater scheme of things. I suppose that if they talk about it at all, because I’m honestly kind of skeptical at this point, it will only be in IX, and all I’m gonna say is that if it’s the case, I can’t believe TPTB thought giving that story to someone like Colin Trevorrow was a good idea. At least JJ is back.  

The first Force Bond scene was kind of adorable. They have no idea what’s going on, Rey is all “FIGHT ME” while Kylo is probably nerding out and trying to figure out how Force Skype works, he slips in the corridor in his socks and it’s the cutest thing ever, and of course, Rey shoots at him. So long story short, it’s basically “What if a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw were sworn enemies and discovered they could communicate with each other telepathically”.

(For real, I think Kylo is more of a Gryffindor, but that was peak Ravenclaw behavior.

The shirtless scene was HILARIOUS. Not in a cringey sense though, because… come on guys. You all know Kylo noticed Rey’s elevator eyes in the interrogation scene. He wanted to get her attention, right? SO THAT *SSHOLE TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF, AND HE GOT IT.

He’s Han “Sometimes I amaze even myself” Solo’s son, why is anyone surprised?

Sure, it’s fanservice, and a lot of people are referring to it as the gold bikini moment of the ST. But I think it’s not only there for Kylo to show his Han Solo Jr. side, but it’s also there to show that Rey is becoming a young woman, so in consequence, she starts seeing Kylo differently. (And boy is she bad at hiding it: first thing she does is tell him to put something on) And sure, it’s very awkward, but in my opinion, it was 110% intentional, because they’re such high school horny teenagers in that scene.

But hormones put apart, Rey grows attached to Ben because… well, he listens. Just as much as you see the contrast between Finn interacting with Rey and Finn interacting with Rose (a very interesting topic I will tackle in another post), Rey’s interactions with Ben are different as well. With Finn (and other people as well), she’s very smiley, to the point some people will say she’s a bit… cutesy. With Ben… of course, at first, she hates his guts, but she comes to a point where she actually feels comfortable telling him how she REALLY feels. She doesn’t do that with anyone else – notice how she doesn’t tell Finn anything about the interrogation or how she doesn’t even mention to Leia at the end of TLJ about anything that happened between her and Kylo.

And that’s the big thing between the two of them, throughout TLJ: they are HONEST with each other. And that’s just another reason as to why the “breakup” hits Kylo so hard. But I’ll come back to that.

The fourth Force Bond scene was AMAZING. With Kylo taking off his glove (that’s significant, because come to think of it, he hasn’t had human contact with anyone for YEARS), and the two of them reaching to each other… just the way they’re placed, facing each other, their hands at the same level, the scene looks very mythical, and as I’ve said before on Tumblr, it probably had Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ghost screaming. And somehow, they manage to make it sexual af as well.

And then you have Luke who barges in… on one hand, the scene is hysterical because you got Third-Wheel-Luke/Cockblocker-Luke, but the Adam-and-Eve scenery is there, with the Man and the Woman being each others’ temptation and biggest strength while Luke comes in like an angry god.

But Rey and Ben have touched hands, and by touching hands, they have eaten the forbidden fruit: and they’ve seen each other’s future.

We don’t know what Rey or Ben have seen, and we only hear snippets of it from the two of them. But what we do know that it’s at that moment Ben realizes that Rey is the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with; and it’s at that moment that Rey sees Ben Solo’s soul, and falls in love with him.

Because Ben Solo is a beautiful mess: he’s the best and the worst of the Skywalkers all at once. He’s brash, impulsive, and tactless like Han, reckless like Anakin, gullible like Luke and like Padmé, stubborn to the point of fanaticism like Leia… but he has Han’s heart of gold, Anakin’s straight-outta-Gryffindor fire, Padmé’s tenderness, Luke’s loyalty, and Leia’s strength of mind.

And most importantly, she has seen that the boy is in love. In love with her.

For me, it makes sense that Rey would get on Ben’s side and turn on Luke. Mainly because she was already angry with Luke to start with, and discovering that a) He wanted to kill Ben while defenseless, b) That’s what basically had him go straight to Snoke, and c) That’s what indirectly caused Han’s death, so, yeah, that gives Rey a pretty dang good reason to be pissed at Luke. She sees him as responsible for a family that has been torn apart, while not realizing (yet) that the root of the problem is Snoke.

Seriously, Rey, Luke, Leia and Han not realizing that the root of the problem is Snoke, and not anyone else is pretty much the reason why everything has gone to shit.

Continuing that thought, I also think that one of the reasons why she went all Save Ben Solo was probably because she believed she could bring a broken family back – basically, because she can’t give it to herself, she’s trying to indirectly get it for and from Ben and Leia. At that point, she’s still very much fixated on how families are the BEST THING EVAR. And that is SO not going to help later.

That’s where the root of her selfishness comes from: but it’s a weird kind of selfishness that parades as selflessness. Because sure, Rey wanting to reunite a broken family is a noble purpose, but I can’t help but think that it’s somewhat indirect gratification for herself: if she can’t get her own family back (because deep down, she is fully aware of that, she’s just in denial about it), she’ll build one of her own… but sadly enough, she doesn’t go for it in the right way.

There’s also the fact that she sees his future – a future where he becomes Ben Solo again and leaves the First Order. There are two problems with this, in the story itself, and from a storytelling perspective. Ben has also seen Rey’s future, and in that future, she leaves the Resistance. Obviously, because they’re both Galactic Idiots, they don’t realize that them leaving their respective factions is because THEY HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER AND RELY ON EACH OTHER.

What’s the problem from a storytelling perspective? Rey insisting on how she saw Ben’s future is a perfect case of why “show, don’t tell” is so important. We don’t see anything of Rey “seeing” Ben’s future. Not even a quick flash of Ben, or hearing his voice, nothing. Like, I get it that couldn’t be included because it would be too spoilery for IX and TPTB seems determined to have the fandom go for another two years of “Will Kylo Ren turn back to the light?”, but that still felt off.

Like, I get it the reason is probably that it’s an intimate moment between Rey and Ben. It’s the kind of thing that looks really nice on paper, and works amazingly well in a novel. In a movie, though… it’s a different matter.

(Why oh why does the novelization come out in March? I NEED IT NOW.)

Rey afterwards pretty much gets overwhelmed by her hero complex, and is convinced that going straight on a Save Ben Solo Mission is going to go well. Poor girl. She arrives on the Finalizer in a pod that looks like a glass coffin as if she was Sleeping Beauty… and that’s where TLJ brings in some FREAKING AMAZING subtext where the story gets turned into a dark fairy tale. Rey arrives, her hands are crossed on her chest with a rose… um, sorry, the lightsaber in her hand, but you get my point, complete with the purple eyeshadow (for real, did Chewie show her how to apply makeup?). When her prince comes, however, his face is indecipherable and there’s a pair of shackles waiting for her.

Seriously, Rey and Kylo’s story is Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty but really, really darker. And the Throne Room scene is pretty much a genderbent Snow White with Kylo fitting the Snow White physical appearance to a T, and Snoke as the Evil Queen who was once young and beautiful but is now threatened by someone surpassing him in beauty and power (in that case, Rey as well as Ben), complete with the magic mirror. They weren’t even being subtle at that point.

Thing is, Rey pretty much arrived on the Finalizer unannounced, and everyone saw her arriving. So, of course, Kylo has to take her to Snoke, because he knows he’s in big trouble otherwise. Then, in the elevator… we see Kylo look straight in front of him, his face blank… and he only warms up when Rey calls him Ben (yes, I died), and HE EVEN SMILES AT HER. Follows then some FREAKING AMAZING UST, where of course they forget all about each other’s personal space, but the elevator ride is way too short.

BUT he knows, somewhat, what’s to come. He tries shutting himself from Rey completely, so that way, Snoke can’t guess whether he might save Rey or not (because Snoke ain’t hurting his future baby mama, nope), but then she calls him Ben, and he melts a bit, because he’s Darth Puppydog and Rey’s a cute girl with a v-neck and eyeshadow and with her hair down.

The whole scene with Snoke manages to be… troubling, and horrifying, and awesome all at once. That’s because Ben actually gets to witness Snoke treating someone dear to him like he got treated for years, but of course probably not as bad… but it’s still enough to make him lose his cool. From the inside, at least. Rey until a certain point stays a Plucky Girl (because she’s a tough babe and she trusts Ben just that much *SOB*), and then you have that moment where they both stare Snoke down (JUST GIMME MY BADASS FORCE POWER COUPLE ALREADY).  

About Snoke and the Force Bond… until proven otherwise, I’m going to believe Snoke was telling the truth… from a certain point of view. I think there was already a “connection” between Rey and Ben before TFA, for the simple and good reason that we know Rey dreamed of him before (and Ben probably dreamed of Rey as well). When I say “connection”, I do not mean “Force Bond”, but mostly the fact Rey and Ben are, let’s say, Force soulmates.

So… I think Snoke may have amplified their connection by creating a Force Bond as an attempt to manipulate Kylo, because as Andy Serkis put it so eloquently, Snoke sees Rey as a threat. So making Kylo believe the Force Bond was all a big masquerade is, for him, an effective way of gaslighting the kid.

So yeah, I can’t freaking believe Snoke’s greatest mistake in all his schemes was to underestimate the power of a Skywalker-Solo man’s boner. Of course, the Force Bond is still present, even after Snoke’s death, but it’s something that got out of his control, because Rey and Kylo together are stronger than him.

(And I’m just going to put a gold sticker on myself for correctly guessing that Snoke would want to kill Rey, not try to turn her to the DS and train her.)

And then, thanks to the Powah of Love, the thrall the evil wizard has on the cursed prince is broken, because the prince kills the wizard.

But, as Rose so eloquently said, the war cannot be won by killing those we hate, but by saving those we love. But I’ll come back on that point later.

The fight against the Praetorian Guards, though. Honestly one of the best fights in the entire saga. Just how it starts with how Rey looks at Ben when he kills Snoke and her face is all “MY HERO”. Seriously, those two idiots need to get their shit together, because that fight against the Praetorians is the very proof that they’re at their strongest when they work together. Like, Anakin and Obi-Wan didn’t even reach that level of battle chemistry. Kylo is constantly concerned whenever Rey is in trouble and she as well, and it’s just… pure teamwork.

Screw the Avengers and the Justice League, send those two.

My big complaint? THEY FREAKING CUT THAT FIGHT WHILE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ONE BIG SCENE ALL TOGETHER. Of all the pacing problems this movie had, this one was by far the most glaring and the worst.

Anywho… the scene where Kylo extends his hand for the second time? It’s… heartbreaking and cold all at once.

Like, I can buy Rey not accepting to become Reyempress and lead the FO with Kylo. Actually, that’s totally what I would expect. And Kylo is a Big Fracking Galactic Idiot, but I won’t rant about Renperor here since I did it above. But at this moment… you just can’t help but sympathize with Kylo?

Let’s face it, in Kylo’s point of view, he’s basically offering Rey all the stars and the moons of the galaxy. Heck, he killed his own father to get Snoke’s approval, but apparently, killing her was asking too much. He tells her that he literally doesn’t give a shit that she’s a nobody – aaaaand proceeds to look like a classist piece of shit and insults her parents, who were assholes, but still her parents, because he’s Mr. Darcy in space and he has zero social skills. And also because like his old man, he has no idea how to REALLY talk to a lady, no matter what they believe about themselves.

But Rey also keeps saying that she’s no one. She has no goal, and she desperately wants to be needed. That’s just one of the reasons why Luke’s rejection hits her so hard.

Then Kylo comes in, and he tells her: “You’re not no one to me. You’re the person I care the most about in all the galaxy, and I want to give you the best I can give you.”

But of course, Kylo has his head stuck so far his own ass that he thinks he can get the girl AND be king of the mountain. And then there’s Rey.

And this is where my issue with the scene comes in. Rey goes on the Finalizer, determined to show Kylo that it’s not too late for him, that he can come back, with her help. Shit happens, obviously… and when Kylo extends his hand, she extends it as well… and she tricks him.

She tricks him, and from his point of view, she’s making a surprise attack on him...

… just like Luke did.

Like, I get it she’s overwhelmed. I get it Kylo is a clutz with no game, like every man in his family, jfc. I get it she just went through a traumatic af event where she got tortured. I get it that her response is pretty much “OH HELL NAH”. But my reaction is still: “Rey, was that *really* necessary?”

(No, the Resistance getting gunned down makes her look just stupid to react that way. Because Kylo just committed high treason to save her butt – does she really expect him to get away with that AND telling the First Order to stop shooting on the Resistance? Not to mention that it’s Hux, not Kylo, who’s in charge of the military. Kylo’s pretty much saying the Resistance is screwed whatever happens (because, come on, Rey just jumps on the Falcon and tries to join them again, but by the time it took her to leave with Snoke’s shuttle, join Chewie on the Falcon again, and reach the Resistance, they could have very well been annihilated at that point) and that taking over the FO is their best chance to stop the fighting. Overall, for those of you who are Mass Effect fans, Rey’s reaction is the Paragon decision while Kylo’s the Renegade. Both with good and bad sides depending on the point of view you choose.)

Could it be because of what Kylo said about her parents that hurt her? But even then… Han gave her indirect hints that waiting for her parents was useless. Maz has given her the speech about her parents not coming back, albeit A LOT MORE NICELY. (Jeez, Kylo, you need to learn how to think before speaking. Then again, who am I kidding, look at EVERYONE in his family.) Kylo spent the entire movie repeating to her that her family abandoned her. He knows that, because he’s seen it during the interrogation scene: he knows Rey is in denial about it, even if deep down, she knows it, he knows that’s what’s holding her back, he knows that’s what’s been controlling her entire life, so the worst part in all this is that if you look at it from a pragmatic perspective, once again, KYLO REN IS RIGHT. Like, his methods are terrible, but he’s hands down the most pragmatic person in the entire movie, AND THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING. GAH.

And honestly, Rey was so thick-headed about her parents she probably needed someone giving her some tough love about it.

And again, it makes perfect sense for him to tell Rey: “Screw your family”. Because in his eyes, his own family screwed him his entire life. That’s why his motto in this movie is “Destroy the past”, because otherwise, it’s too painful. Rey, on the other hand? She just can’t let go of the past, because letting go is something way too terrifying for her.

So the point about balance is not just balance between the light and the dark, anger and peace, and so on and so forth… it’s also about remembering the past, cherishing it, yes, but also being able to move forward. And that’s something both Rey and Kylo NEED to learn.

But the point still stands that he’s right about what Rey needs to do about her parents and Jakku, at the very least.

So either it’s because of what he said about her family… either it’s because Rey is so impulsive and quick to attack she fucks it up big time.

But if that’s the reason… *how* am I supposed to think she did nothing wrong, here? Because, listen, guys, and this might just be the most important part of this freaking wall of text. I have no problem with Rey being a flawed heroine: heck, sign me the eff up for this. The problem I have (and I’ve seen it surface in fic already – no offense, fanfic is a way for everyone to give their point of view about the movie and it’s a-okay, just my personal opinion here) is that IX treats the whole thing as if Rey was a saint who did nothing wrong.

And again, it’s not so much her decision to say no to becoming Reyempress and joining the Resistance instead: it’s how she deals with the whole thing. Heck, the pill would have been way easier to swallow if Rey and Kylo had just started screaming at each other about how wrong the other is, then fought for the lightsaber for the whole thing to end like it did in the movie.

Seriously, from Rey’s side… it was really cold for me at first. She doesn’t even try telling him that “No, I am so not okay with this, you’re being a big human disaster, we need to talk, NOW.”

A sign that Rey was wrong somewhat is that the legacy lightsaber breaks in half, as perhaps a sign that neither of them is worthy of it… I hope so.

And because of that, after Rey runs off after thoroughly breaking his heart and betraying him the same way Luke did, it’s no bloody wonder Kylo’s reaction is to basically throw the tantrum of the century and go on a murderous rampage, because EVERYONE IN HIS LIFE, including the one person who actually showed a certain level of caring towards him, seemingly betrayed him.

For all Kylo knows, especially with Luke’s speech later on Crait, maybe Rey was sent by Luke to try and lure him back to the Resistance for whatever purpose they have in mind, and maybe even kill him if things didn’t go the way it was planned. There is *nothing* that proves the contrary.

If that was really the case, heck, Kylo wanting to burn everything down is not a good reaction to have at anything ever, but heck, I find it hard to blame him. I’d probably flip a shit myself if I learned my entire family was planning to potentially murder me.

Like, the BIG irony here is that Rey and Ben’s relationship throughout the movie is communicating (let me put a special emphasis on COMMUNICATING) through a Force Bond, and realizing that they’re not so different. And what basically sets them apart is yet another… communication problem?

SKYWALKERS NEED THERAPY WITH A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION, JESUS FRACKING CHRIST ON CRACKERS, LUKE, LEIA, HAN, BEN, REY, ANAKIN, PADMÉ, ALL. OF. THEM.

The worst part in all of this? It comes straight after the FinnRose kiss, and straight after Rose says: “Winning is not destroying who you hate, it’s saving who you love.”

That is hands down the best line in all of TLJ. HANDS. DOWN. PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS POSITIVE FORESHADOWING FOR REYLO.

And after that, she pretty much leaves him for dead. Sure, she had a chance to kill him, right there, but I can just see a part in IX where an angry Kylo accuses Rey of being too nice to actually finish the job (Think “nice” in the sense of the Witch from Into the Woods saying “You’re not good, you’re just nice”).

Like, Kylo is damned lucky he woke up just before Hux shot him.

(And no, I will not fault Kylo for lying that Rey killed Snoke, for the simple and good reason that he was on survival mode AND on I-wanna-punch-a-thousand-kittens mode. Dick move, but I won’t blame him. Aaaand it’s probably going to come and bite him in the arse in IX)

So, I don’t know. The options are that either that turn from Rey was done for the Drama, either it was to show that Rey could eff up as well, but as I said, I don’t know how that’s going to be handled later. I don’t know if I’m supposed to side with Rey on this one or not, because if I have to come out believing that Rey did nothing wrong here, the movie didn’t do a good job at that.

Because of all this, Kylo yelling he’d kill Rey as well when he was confronting Luke shocked me at first, but it made sense to me afterwards, because to him, she just betrayed and let him down like everyone else. He told her that his uncle tried to kill him, and even then, she chooses Luke’s side, so she’s “a thief, a liar and a murderer” like everyone else. And then you have Luke who just goes on how Rey is the Last Jedi, which pretty much twists the knife in a fresh wound and confirms Kylo’s worst fears. (Or salt on the wounds… Crait’s salt surface is red underneath. GETTIT)  

Also, the final Force Bond moment… I had trouble deciphering it, at first. But… judging by Kylo’s sad puppy face, how he picks up the golden dice only for them to disappear, it’s like… Rey feels that after all his anger, all that will he had to destroy everything that was on his way, even if it meant destroying himself… he’s the king of the mountain, and he’s still miserable. He still loathes himself, because deep down, he KNOWS he fucked up, big time. She can’t bring herself to hate him or have any kind of grudge against him (because honestly, that makes the development from TFA to TLJ pretty pointless otherwise), because he’s still very much a lost boy. And she knows what is to be lost and to be abandoned. Through the bond, she lets her compassion flow, despite herself… and he senses it.

He senses it, and there’s that small glimmer of hope where we see that despite all the bad shit that went down… unlike in TFA, they don’t hate each other. Not anymore. Deep down, Rey still has compassion for him… but Kylo has work to do before.

And that flips the tables on the whole “It isn’t Rey’s job to save Kylo Ren”. Absolutely not. That’s something I’ve actually always insisted on: of course, a person will always need help from other people in difficult times (and that’s something Ben never had, in his entire life), but they need to have the will in themselves to change. And Kylo isn’t quite there yet, even if he is more than aware that he’s screwing up, again and again.

To be more optimistic, though, I think that with Snoke gone, that realization is going to be a lot easier.

This is a theory, though, because otherwise, it’s just cold from Rey’s part. She just brushed off the whole thing as if nothing happened, went to help Chewie, arrived on the Millennium Falcon in the gunner position with the big wide smile, meets the Resistance, hugs everyone, and that’s it. Zero acknowledgement from her from what just happened, not even with Leia (like, I get it it’d be kind of awkward to tell her that you and her son are Force married, but yeah). And after spending the entire movie with Reylo as the heart… it just feels very, very cold from Rey’s part (I’m not going to say cruel, but it’s almost a more accurate word than “cold”), to the point I almost want to tell Kylo: “Heh, don’t bother, she clearly doesn’t give a darn.”

I think what also helps me to believe my more optimistic scenario that is that we see Rey and Finn for a moment on the Falcon together, only for Finn to get up and go and care for Rose. And that shows that Finn and Rey will always care for each other… but Finn has changed, and he’s at a point where sibling love isn’t enough, because he has found a significant other. Rey sees that… and she wishes for a moment it could have been her and Ben.  

Anyway, I really, REALLY hope Episode IX is not going to be Rey becomes the Perfect Jedi and Kylo Ren either makes the big beautiful sacrifice at the end and dies, either Jedi Goddess Rey has to take the Renperor down like a rabid dog.

What I’m actually hoping for is that in the end, we see that the whole theme of the SW saga is… destiny.

If you look at the PT, it was pretty much a Greek tragedy in space. You got the hero, Anakin, who’s destined to be the Chosen One. He gets visions of the future that his wife will die, and like every hero in a Greek tragedy, he tries to defy fate, but it comes and bites him back: he becomes a Sith instead of destroying them, and his wife dies anyway.

Still, Anakin *does* destroy the Sith in the end, but there is still no “balance”.

Enter Rey and Ben.

Yoda himself acknowledges that the Jedi were wrong, and that they were partially responsible for their downfall. So a new order of Force sensitives is coming: the ending of TLJ pretty much foreshadowed that. You have Rey and Ben who are equally Light and Dark, and who are Yin and Yang to each other. Put Yin and Yang together, and you get the ultimate power.

But what comes and thwarts everything once again are Luke and Snoke: Luke, because he wanted for a moment to kill one half of the Balance instead of going straight for the being that was corrupting it all; Snoke, because he’s basically an unnatural abomination that doesn’t get enough development.

And of course, we’ve got our two Galactic Idiots, and everything goes to shit because their heads are stuck up so far you know where they don’t realize that in order to restore peace to the Galaxy, THEY NEED TO WORK TOGETHER.

I think Ben has accepted the Light in Rey, and it’s actually what has seduced him in the first place: what he needs to work on is himself, to be worthy of her. But that doesn’t mean Rey doesn’t have a bit of development to do herself. Her perspective on the world is still pretty black and white, even if she has started to see the shades in between in this movie; and most especially, she has to do what everyone in Ben’s family has failed to: accept the darkness in him.

It’s not at all glossing over whatever bad deed Kylo Ren might have done: thing is, Ben Solo has an equal potential for Light and Darkness, and muffling either has always led to disastrous results. So it’s more a matter of accepting both sides of yourself: it’s something Ben has to do but has always been incapable of doing thanks to Snoke’s manipulation, and it’s something Rey has to do herself.

Unlike Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader who were pretty much two separate personas, Ben Solo is still very much alive, and Kylo Ren is just a mask he wears. Rey, on the other hand, can’t expect the old Ben Solo to ever come back: because, let’s face it, poor kid is scarred for life and is probably going to have PTSD for years.

So overall, it’s a case of saying: “Yeah, I’m messed up, but you know what? That doesn’t mean I have to imprison myself in that and act in consequence, and it doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of love.”

And in the end, that’s what will save the galaxy: Rey and Ben selflessly loving each other and accepting themselves as they are, rather than the grand battle itself, because they are greater than that.

(Still, it’s a disappointment Rey didn’t agree to become Reyempress. Because I would have paid BIG MONEY to have Hux coming in the Throne Room after his Very Bad Day at Work, only to see Rey and Kylo making out on the floor with Snoke chopped-in-two body lying beside them.)

[ariainstars]

Star Wars, the Last 20 Years or Can We Please Try to Stop the Blame Train?

I would like to touch a subject that’s starting to grate on my nerves a little.

Anyone here knows that I disliked The Rise of Skywalker heartily. And I’m not the only person here or elsewhere who tore it to shreds. But I am reading (again) over and over why and how JJ Abrams, Chris Terrio, Kathleen Kennedy and Co. made this mess. Instead of searching for culprits, this time I would like to point out a few things.

I. Star Wars Prequels

Jake Lloyd, Ahmed Best and Hayden Christensen had to endure awful harassment in their time: the audience largely vented their frustration on them because when the prequels hit theatres, they did not get the Star Wars they had wanted. Politics are a dry subject, and young Anakin and the Jedi Council were all too human to be liked by fans who expect coolness in a hero more than everything else; which is probably why Darth Maul is a huge favorite although we hardly learn anything about him and he says almost nothing. Ditto Obi-Wan although he is clearly not suited to train Anakin and it’s him who maims him and leaves him to burn in the lava. (Until I saw the film, I had always assumed Palpatine had tortured Anakin to push him to the Dark Side.) 

The prequels’ messages in general were not liked: the Jedi were not perfectly wise and cool wizards, the Old Republic was stagnant, Anakin was a hot-headed, frustrated young man desperate to save his wife and unborn children. The films do not want to excuse what he did; however they portray him not as a monster but as a human being who was under an almost unendurable pressure for years and years until he finally snapped.

These messages may not be “cool”, but they were realistic and most of all, humane. Portraying the Jedi as well as Anakin as powerful, flawless heroes and the old Republic as a just, prosperous and balanced place would have meant undermining a central theme of the original trilogy: the former generation could not have been all that powerful and wise, else the collapse of their world and the failure of their convictions would not have happened in the first place. It is a sore point, but still twenty years later Obi-Wan and Yoda denied that Vader was human and expected Luke to commit patricide. 

All of this goes to show that the Jedi’s moral standard was flawed and their attitude not rooted in compassion and pacifism the way they claimed. In the end, what they cared about was winning, no matter the cost. In this, they were no better than the Sith.

~~~more under the cut~~~

II. Star Wars Sequels

J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Bob Iger and company were the ones who introduced the Star Wars sequel trilogy and with it its themes, characters, setting etc. to us in the first place: I think we should give them credit where it’s due. Rian Johnson made a very beautiful second chapter with The Last Jedi, but he did pick up where the others had left. 

Kelly Marie Tran made experiences similar to Jake Lloyds or Hayden Christensen’s when The Last Jedi was hit theatres. She was disliked for not being “Star-Wars-y” enough, chubby and lively instead of wiry and spitfire, and also taking a lot of screen time while many fans were impatiently waiting for some grand scenes from Luke and / or Leia. 

That Episode VIII, the central and most important one, was called “The Last Jedi” cannot be overstated. Luke was literally alone with the heavy task of rebuilding a religious order that was gone and destroyed long before he even learned about it, and at the same time he had to patch together his own family and atone for his father’s sins. This is a crushing burden for anyone to carry. It was important both for Rey and for the audience to meet Luke to see that he was a good man, but still just a man.

When Luke spoke openly to Rey about the failure of the Jedi Order, it was the first time he ever spoke about it that we know of; this wisdom he obviously acquired only after his nephew’s fall to the Dark Side. Luke has understood that the ways of the Jedi were wrong; but he does not know a better alternative. Force users are still born all over the galaxy, and they have to learn to use their powers - only how? Again, Luke is not to blame. How is he to know, when the Jedi of the Old Republic had lost sight of Balance in the Force for so long that they didn’t know what it actually meant anymore? 

Same goes for Leia, the princess without a realm, who tried to rebuild the Republic after the galaxy had been terrorized by the Empire and devastated by war for many years. She assuredly did her best, but she was only human. That she failed her son is of course shocking, but after the horror she had to endure at the hands of her own father it is not surprising that she would be terrified of her son possibly going the same way. Ben, like Anakin, was crushed under a legacy and responsibility that was by far too heavy for him. The tragedy of his life and the disruption - and in the end, obliteration - of his family was another proof for the failure of the ways of the Jedi. 

All of these lessons until now were not learned from. But let’s be honest: how many of us come from dysfunctional families? If we do, was getting away from them enough to heal the wounds of the past? Did we find out what to give our children on their way in life, or did we fail them because we had not elaborated the past enough to make way for a better future? Such problems are very common, and to heal them is complicated and takes time. A “happy ending” e.g. in form of finding a new family is not enough, on the contrary, it can lead to wanting to leave the past behind, leaving wounds unhealed that will fester their way through our lives again, sooner or later. Star Wars always was an allegory of the human mind, even if deeply cloaked in symbolism. The saga also abundantly takes inspiration from the Bible, and I think it’s not coincidentally said there that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. 

As fans, we would have wanted to see films that cemented the Jedi as guardians of the galaxy, with the Skywalker family right at the center. Which in itself is impossible because Jedi are supposed to remain unattached, making the mere idea of a Jedi having a family absurd. If the prequels told us that the Jedi were flawed, the sequels tore down the myth of the Skywalker family. And both trilogies showed that you can’t be a Skywalker and / or a Jedi / Force user and have attachments and a happy family of your own at the same time. At least, not until now. 

 III. Film production

Many fans of old complained because the sequel trilogy implied that the “happy ending” of the original trilogy’s heroes had not been so happy after all and that after having made peace for the galaxy, they had failed to keep it that way. Other viewers however liked the new trilogy and new characters right away and began to root for them. But they, too, jumped on the blame train when the trilogy had ended: expectations were not met, and now director, producers, script writers, cutters etc. are faulted all over again.

The first person coming up with the idea of Han’s and Leia’s only child turning to the Dark Side was Lucas himself. It always was a main theme of the saga that war separates people who actually belong together, like family, couples or close friends; that is not played for mere drama, but because it emphasizes the absurdity of war.

We as the audience do not know how production went - it is very possible that Lucas approved the general storyline, and there is always a whole team on board. It is not easy to purchase such a large and immensely popular franchise; it was to be expected that if things went not the way the audience expected, the Disney studios would be blamed harshly for having “ruined Star Wars”. With the prequels, at least Lucas was still at the helm; it was conceded that maybe he had lost his magic touch with storytelling, but certainly not that he was trying deliberately to ruin his own creation. And the fans who could not praise the Disney studios enough after The Last Jedi came out, now blame them over and over.

The Disney studios have long-term politics to consider and contracts to observe, and we don’t know their contents. We have every right to be disappointed, but I think it’s not fair to blame one or a particular group of persons who are trying their best to satisfy as many viewers as possible. If they simply wanted to satisfy the average dudebro who sees nothing but clichés, two-dimensional characters and Good against Evil - then why did they allow The Last Jedi to be produced in the first place? The studios obviously are aware that there are fans out there who are ready to look deeper in the saga’s themes, who wish to see the Force coming to Balance, who value family, friendship and love over “victory at any cost”, and who do not place the Jedi on some kind of pedestal.

In a sense, The Rise of Skywalker seems like a bow before The Last Jedi: the weakest chapter of the saga followed one of its strongest. Maybe the authors were aware that equaling or even topping what Rian Johnson had created would be next to impossible, so they patched up the open threads of The Force Awakens together with some fan service hoping to be out of the business as quickly as possible.

In retrospect, the infamous podcast with Charles Soule might also be tell-tale: Soule obviously is not elbows-deep in the saga and largely ignores its subtext. Since his The Rise of Kylo Ren comics are quite well-made, I assume that the general storyline did not stem from his own creativity and that he only carried out what he had been advised to do. The production of the whole sequel trilogy may have happened in a similar way. I am not excusing the poor choices of The Rise of Skywalker; merely considering that one or a few persons cannot be blamed in a studio that has thousands of creative minds on board.

I am still hoping for the next trilogy to finally bring Balance to the galaxy, and also into the fandom. Rian Johnson had negotiated the rights for the next trilogy along with The Last Jedi; I assume it is very possible that there was a clause about intellectual property saying that only he would continue Episode VIII’s topics, nobody else. This would at least be an explanation, given the embarrassing, jumbled mess that Episode IX was.

The overall title of the saga assuredly never wanted to inspire the audience to start online wars attacking the studios or the actors or other fans out of the conviction of being entitled to blame someone else’s worldview. The saga’s message is compassion. Both George Lucas and the Disney studios are telling us their story; the idea and the rights do not belong to us. Harping on “whose fault” it allegedly is won’t bring us anywhere; what we can do is make the studios understand that we’re not too stupid not to understand the subtext, the symbolism and metaphysics of the saga beyond the action story. If they listened to the Last Jedi haters, in all fairness they are bound to listen to us, too. 😊

  IV. Will Ben’s story continue?

My husband already warned me years ago that Ben most probably wouldn’t survive, or at least not get a happy ending. As Kylo Ren he had already been the head of a criminal organization for six years at the start of The Force Awakens, but all of that perhaps could still have been condoned within the scope of war. It was the very personal and intentional act of patricide, the killing of an unarmed, forgiving man, who turned him into a damned person. And after the deed, Ben was aware of it. He knew there was no way out for him, he had gone too far.

Many members of the audience did not understand that Kylo / Ben is not an out-and-out villain and that this narrative ultimately was about his redemption. Bringing him back to the Resistance after the Exegol battle alive and by Rey’s side would not have been accepted; how was Rey to explain everything when she hardly understood it herself? How would the audience have reacted to the former head of a criminal organization, a patricide, suddenly standing out as a hero? Remember how in Return of the Jedi Luke asked Vader to come away with him. Now suppose Vader had complied? It would have seemed (and been) sheer madness. Nobody would have believed neither father nor son that the terror of the galaxy had had a sudden turn of heart. Nobody knew that he was Luke’s father; Luke himself did not know Anakin’s backstory; nobody knew what had transpired between Luke and Vader so far. Yes, Ben was young and healthy, but he still had terrorized the galaxy for years and killed his own father. He knew himself that he was damned and could not go back to normality, as Vader did.

Rey was coded as the heroine: narratively, the sequel trilogy was her story. Ben couldn’t become the hero, with or without her, at the very last moment. She usurped power like her grandfather in his time, the Skywalker family was obliterated the way the Jedi were, she takes over another mantle (Skywalker) the way Palpatine did (becoming the Emperor). Balance in the Force never was truly in the cards, it was only vaguely hinted at in The Last Jedi by the Force mosaic in the Ahch-To temple. Balance is a complex and difficult subject; it would have been extremely difficult to develop it in the sequel trilogy together with introducing the new characters and giving the old ones closure.

However: if Ben is brought back in the next trilogy, his sacrifice for Rey will have been his atonement. If his role this time is not that of the villain but of the hero, it would reverse Anakin’s path and make clear that he no longer is the same man. Vader was redeemed, not rehabilitated. His grandson might still have the chance to go that way.

- Luke had promised Rey a third lesson, and it happened. He also had promised Ben to “see him around”, which has not taken place yet.

- On Tatooine, Rey watches the twin suns setting, same as Luke before he met the other half of his soul (his twin sister) again.

- The studios had said that the sequels would be “very much like the prequels”; the prequels were a tragedy where the Dark Side (Palpatine) won that was followed by a fairy tale where the Light Side won.

- The Skywalker saga is closed, so if Ben comes back it would be justified by his being a Solo, i.e. the story of his own family and not his grandfather’s.

- Given the parallels with Beauty and the Beast, the Beast died before the broken spell brought him back, making him a wholly new person - his past identity, purged and redeemed.

- George Lucas repeatedly said that the prequels and the classics belong together as one narrative, with Anakin Skywalker at its center. First news of the next trilogy came up with The Last Jedi. Since there are strong parallels between Ben and his grandfather, we may assume that this six-chapter instalment will be his; Anakin also was left for dead but came back with a wholly different role and name.

- When Anakin was reborn as Darth Vader, he “rose” slowly from the ground, clad in his black armor. Ben fell to the ground abruptly and shed his black clothes, disappearing. This could be another clue. (It was also already speculated that Leia’s body dissolved exactly in this moment because she gave her life-force to her son for him to have another chance to live. Both Han and Luke had done what they could to atone for their remorse towards Ben; this might be her turn.)

- Much as I love Luke Skywalker, I can understand that Lucas did not see him as the saga’s protagonist. The overall arch is not so much about Luke’s heroism than about Anakin’s redemption and atonement. It is unusual because we expect the story’s “hero” to be the one who kills the Bad Guy; and indeed Anakin is, because he kills Palpatine in the end, the twist being that technically he is also a villain though not the archvillain.

- Ben had promised Anakin he would finish what he started. Anakin had been meant to bring Balance to the Force, and he had started a family. Until now, Ben did neither.

- If Ben and Rey are a dyad, i.e. one soul in two bodies, then Rey is in urgent need of her soulmate for her future tasks. She has her friends of course, but none of them gets her the way he did.

So, I still see reason to hope for a continuation, and, hopefully, satisfying conclusion of The Last Jedi’s themes.

  Film production: on a side note…

In the Nineties, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale were the directors both of Beauty and the Beast and Atlantis: two more different stories are hardly imaginable with regard to everything - drawing style, setting, characters, development, music etc. This outcome can’t have been only due to the director’s choices, there must have been a wholly different idea behind both films right from the beginning. Just saying.

[gerryconway]

Star Wars, The Generations

Time to talk about “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

(I’m going to assume that by now, Sunday of opening weekend, you’ve seen the movie, because, if you haven’t, a: what’s wrong with you? and b: why are you reading my blog?)

In a terrific piece for Vulture.com, @abrahamjoseph discusses “Last Jedi” as the first truly populist Star Wars movie. [http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/rey-parents-star-wars-last-jedi-populism.html] I fully agree with Abraham’s reading, but I’d add a further observation: it’s the first story in the Skywalker saga to honestly address tensions between generations– in particular, tensions between the Baby Boom generation and the generations that have come to adulthood since its rise, Generation X, and the Millennials.

George Lucas was the avatar of the Boom generation, and his obsessions, fantasies, political beliefs, life choices, myopias, and sense of destined self-importance are all hallmarks of the generation he embodied and spoke to.

Rian Johnson is a true representative of Generation X, a talented and gifted man whose singular voice has been muffled by the presence of aging giants taking up creative space around him. If Johnson had arrived on the scene in 1972 with a film as smart and accomplished as his debut “Brick,” I could easily imagine him having been embraced as were Lucas or Spielberg or Friedkin, and given the same opportunities they received for far less accomplished debuts. (“THX-1138,” for all its technical achievements, suffers from an intellectual coldness of execution; no one ever has made a case for “Sugarland Express” as other than pleasantly forgettable; and the less said about “The Night They Raided Minsky’s,” the better.) But Johnson, and his fellow Generation-X directors, men and women, came of age as young filmmakers in the early 2000s– an age dominated by Baby Boom filmmakers like Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, et al. Johnson’s opportunities (and theirs) were diminished. To contrast, in the ten years starting with “Sugarland,” Spielberg made eight films; Johnson made three. Not everyone is a Spielberg, of course, but it’s a fact the Baby Boom generation sucked up most available funding for filmmaking between the mid-1970s and the late 2000s. Talented filmmakers like Rian Johnson (and fellow Generation-X director Patty Jenkins) paid their bills and honed their skills directing television, where they contributed (with other shut-out Generation-X creatives) to an explosion of remarkable narrative experimentation unequalled on the big screen itself.

Ironically, the director of the first new Star Wars film, J.J. Abrams, seems to have more in common with the aesthetic, emotional, and political concerns of the Boomer generation than his fellow Gen-Xers, possibly because, at age 51, his childhood in the late Sixties and early Seventies was surrounded by the Boomers’ cultural triumph. Rian Johnson and Patty Jenkins grew up as the Boomers’ idealized liberal world collapsed into Reaganesque cultural exhaustion.

It’s this ‘80s collapse of the Boomer’s liberal dream into conservative exhaustion that informs Rian Johnson’s aesthetic and narrative approach to “The Last Jedi.”

Episode VIII, unlike Episode VII, recognizes the Boomer fantasy of cultural and political renewal through rebellion and the power of elitist “destiny” actually ended in disappointment, failure, and despair. The Baby Boomer Rebels who fought an Evil Empire that invaded the jungles of Endor and burned Ewok villages (an easy Boomer metaphor for U.S. miltary action in Vietnam) ultimately collapsed into a corrupt generation of disillusioned idealists. Those despairing former idealists then empowered the rise of a new militarism, unopposed by an out-of-touch political establishment so distant from average citizens its destruction is a barely noticeable flicker in the sky.

Rian Johnson deconstructs the myths of the Baby Boom generation that adopted Star Wars as its foundational fiction. The rebellion against the Empire produced not a healthy new Republic but a remote and disconnected government with no productive impact on the lives of its poorest, weakest citizens (Rey and Finn). The heroes of the Rebellion either retreated when confronted by failure to fulfill their “destiny” (Luke), turned back to their previous lack of convictions (Han), or soldiered on in an attempt to reclaim old ideals in the face of diminishing odds (Leia). Thirty years after the death of Emperor Palpatine nothing really has changed in that Galaxy long ago and far away. It’s a bleak recognition the 1960s Boomer Revolution was an utter political failure (but not a cultural failure, since we live in a culture that pretends to realize Boomer ideals).

To be fair, Abrams nods toward these notions in “Force Awakens” but undercuts their impact by hewing closely to the undergirding mythic structure of the original Boomer-fantasy “Star Wars.” The idea that destiny and mysticism will produce ultimate victory is a Boomer trope thoroughly embraced by “Force Awakens” and totally dismantled by “Last Jedi.” At every turn, in this latest film, Rian brings to bear the judgmental eye of a somewhat cynical Generation-Xer– surprisingly, and pointedly, not just upon the self-serving fantasies of Baby Boomers, but on the inexperienced surety of the generation following his own, the Millennials.

Just as Luke, Han, and Leia are revealed as heroes with feet made substantially of clay (Leia comes off best of the three, but again, notably, is out of action when crucial decisions must be made), the four featured Millennials in the story are also subjected to Rian’s cool Gen-X appraisal. Kylo, Rey, Finn, and Rose embody familiar traits of today’s Millennial generation.

With Rey, we are presented with the idealistic Millennial archtype– a passionate young woman who embraces the professed beliefs of an earlier idealistic generation, even when she doesn’t quite understand them. (The Force is a “power that helps you move things.”) She’s hopeful, convinced the old ways can restore justice, even though those old ways failed before. She hasn’t come into her own yet. She still seeks strength and validation from others. She wants to be rescued, but slowly, over the course of the story, realizes she must do the rescuing. Her idealism is as yet untempered by experience, but the disappointments she experiences both with Luke and Kylo finally make her stronger than ever.

With Finn, we find a Millennial beaten into submission by a system that appears impossible to resist. His first instinct is always to escape any way he can– but opposing that instinct, and empowering his initial rejection of the First Order’s ruthless militarism, is a strong sense of empathy. Instinct tells him to run; empathy makes him run toward those in need. The first time he sees Rey, in “Force Awakens,” he thinks she’s in danger and impulsively runs toward her. His first word on waking in “Last Jedi” is “Rey!” Even when he’s about to flee the doomed Resistance fleet, he’s combined his instinct to run with an instinct to protect. Like Rey, at the beginning of “Last Jedi” he isn’t who he will become by the end. He’s conflicted, uncertain, immature, and inexperienced. He learns a lot hanging out with Rose.

Rose, Finn’s new friend, is the most emotionally developed and self-aware Millennial in this group, possibly because she’s had the benefit of a close relationship with an admired older sister. Rose knows who she is and what she believes. She has enough experience in life to understand the structural injustice that underpins the Galactic order, and is dealing with the kind of personal tragedy that gives one perspective. Of all the Millennials in “Last Jedi” she changes the least during the story because she’s already who she will always be: a capable, brave, empowered woman who knows her place in this world– a worker and doer, not a dreamer.

And Kylo. Kylo Ren is the most obviously political figure in “Last Jedi,” the embodiment of alt-right Millennial nihilism. Feeling abandoned by his late-life, self-involved Boomer parents, attacked with suspicion by the substitute parent who became terrified by his potential, embraced and manipulated by a cynical monster, another substitute father– Kylo Ren is Millennial rage incarnate. He embraces anonymity behind a mask while striking out in unbridled anger against all who oppose him (sub-redit, anyone?) and yet, pathetically, yearns for the approval of a woman he scorns. If Rey is the light side of idealism, the promise of hope, Kylo is the dark side of idealism thwarted, the nihilism of despair. Rage is the expression of Kylo’s hopelessness, not its source.

This is a fundamental difference between Lucas’s vision of the dark side of the Force and Johnson’s. To Lucas, the eternal Boomer idealist, the dark side was always incomprehensible– the explanation he provides for Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the dark side in the prequels never feels right. (Tellingly, in the original trilogy, Vader’s origin is never explained.) Because Lucas himself wasn’t thwarted in pursuit of a dream, never faced exclusion from the idealistic fantasies of the Boomer generation, never despaired from lack of hope– he couldn’t articulate what gives the dark side of the Force its bleak alure. “Fear” and “anger” are meaninglessly abstract without personal context. Rey and Finn are often angry and fearful, but is there ever a real question they’ll despair? Even in their darkest moments they cling to hope. Why does Anakin succumb to the dark side? Lucas doesn’t really know, and the manner in which he structures Anakin’s story provides easy answers but not convincing ones.

Rian Johnson, however, the Gen-X filmmaker initially thwarted pursuing a career must understand the seductive lure of despair. He can empathize with Ben Solo, and make his embrace of the dark side comprehensible, in a way Lucas could not with Anakin Skywalker. (Or J.J. Abrams, who portrayed Kylo’s dark side persona as a combination of twisted ancestor-worship and petty father resentment.) Johnson’s approach to Kylo Ren is tempered with sadness and maturity. It’s the sighing judgment of a Gen-X middle manager watching a potentially valuable younger employee destroy himself. Such a waste, but so understandable.

This aspect of the complicated Generation-X perspective brings me to the two Gen-X characters in “Last Jedi,” who, fittingly for Gen-X, may seem less important compared to the colorful and dominant Boomer and Millennial stars, but prove to be the heart and soul of the moral argument at the core of this great movie: Poe Dameron and Vice-Admiral Holdo.

On the surface, Poe Dameron is very much a Han Solo knockoff– the cocky, smart-talking pilot who achieves the impossible with style. In Episode VII, by Boomer-influenced J.J. Abrams, that’s all he was, and apparently, until Oscar Isaac made a case for continuing the character, he wasn’t even intended as more than a one-off. With Rian Johnson at the helm, however, Poe becomes a crucial figure whose character arc encapsulates the lessons Johnson seeks to impart with this film: victory isn’t achieved by miracles, it isn’t only a product of self-sacrificing heroism, it’s hard won, complicated by tough choices, and sometimes what needs to be sacrificed isn’t a life– but the notion of heroism itself. Poe begins the movie believing victory is possible only if you’ll dare to pay the price; by the end, he understands “victory” isn’t victory if the price is life itself. That’s an incredible statement for an American blockbuster to make (a theme underscored by Rose preventing Finn from making the ultimate sacrifice himself). In 2017, after 16 years of America fighting an unending war with no “victory” in sight, it’s as political a statement as the original Star Wars metaphor of Empire trampling the jungles of Vietnam/Endor.

But there’s another side to the Generation-X cynism about war’s futility: , the fact that, despite cynicism, and awareness the battle might not be worth the price, Gen-X is still willing to do what needs to be done. Knowing hope may be unjustified, the Gen-Xer still hopes. This conflict between cynicism and hope is at the heart of the Generation-X dilemma, and at the heart of “Last Jedi.” That conflict, with its ultimate decision in favor of hope, is given form and power in the noble sacrifice of Vice Admiral Holdo.

Vice Admiral Holdo is the older, wiser, unimpressed but still hopeful Generation-X leader who understands the risks of action and so refuses to act recklessly. She didn’t start the war– the Boomers did. She inherited it. She wants to minimize damage and salvage what she can. She knows, when the bill comes due, she’s the one who must pay it– and she does, without hesitation, because that’s what the men and women of her generation always do. She cleans up the mess Leia and the Resistance leaders left behind. She guides the retreat. She does what must be done. Practical and blunt, she has no time for Poe’s heroic bullshit. Because she knows the Resistance may never achieve what the Rebellion tried to accomplish, she understands despair, but she’s too busy dealing with the problems before her to indulge it– or to hope. She does what’s necessary. It’s what Generation-Xers always do. Even if it means flying a cruiser at light speed into a First Order fleet.

Great movies reflect an era through the eyes of artists who embody that era. George Lucas embodied the era of Baby Boom “destiny” and self-conceit (“I’m the most important individual in the Galaxy because of my mystical understanding of reality”). Rian Johnson embodies our era of diminished heroism, cynicism and near despair– tempered by the hope, if we can but learn from our heroes’ mistakes, that somehow, some way, some day, we may yet restore balance to the Force.

[greyturned]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐎𝐍'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

The fall of Ben Solo had been years in the making, Palpatine’s interest in him stemming from when he was still in the womb. The grandson of Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader, was destined to be strong in the Force. He could be a powerful tool for either side, and Palpatine wanted to sway him to the Dark Side to exploit another powerful Skywalker for his plans. All his life, Ben Solo heard voices in his head and had his sleep plagued with nightmares. Often prone to tantrums that could turn catastrophic, a result of his strong emotions and lack of control. As the darkness in him grew and became more apparent, and worrying, he was sent to stay with his uncle in the hopes that Luke could train him and sway him away from that path like he had swayed his own father back from it.

Ben felt abandoned by his parents, but his feelings of abandonment regarding them have gone on far longer than that. He often felt second place to the Republic / Alliance / Senate when it came to his mother, and felt that Han would rather spend time out in his pilot academy he had for a brief time or out smuggling and soon came to hate the Falcon, especially when it was flying away, for taking his father from him. Ben felt they left him so much because they were afraid or found something more important than him, and Snoke often reiterated those thoughts and feelings and they increased when they sent him to Luke.

But for decades his thoughts were dominated, twisted, and haunted by the dark forces trying to pull him into their grasp. Snoke taking on the role of a friend to manipulate him as Ben felt more and more isolated and misunderstood at his uncle’s academy, while planting doubts about himself and his family and the Jedi and horrifying nightmares in the young boys mind to break him down. He dreamed of the destruction of the academy and the Jedi for years, always by his hand in his dreams, hearing screams from his few friends and family for him to stop, only to be silenced by his blade. It made him feel like a monster, especially as his anger towards those around him mounted and his thoughts would take a turn they hadn’t before. 

He tried desperately to shut the Dark Side and voices out, to remain an agent of the Light like his family wanted. Tried to be the best at everything, the best duelist, the best Padawan, in the hopes that it’ll turn him into the best Jedi and end the storm in his mind and heart. Even as the Dark Side grew stronger and influenced his thoughts and feelings, he believed everyone was scared or jealous of his power, felt abandoned and shunned by his parents, and felt he was drowning in expectations, and he felt as if everything was a lie, especially the Jedi.

Ben had so many questions unanswered, but his views of the Jedi were warped based on his own feelings and Snoke’s manipulations. He’d the stories of the great Jedi of old, of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda, and couldn’t understand why they fell if they were so great, that they weren’t as strong as everyone said. He felt as if the Jedi were full of lies and hypocrisy, placed on such a high pedestal that the galaxy had blinded themselves to their faults. He also felt betrayed in a way by the Jedi and the Light, he’d begged for help from them for years as he struggled, begged for guidance, but was left with silence and loneliness.

He never understood why he experienced any of these things, why the Dark’s call was so strong his family worried enough to send him to his uncle when he was still just a boy, until it was leaked that Anakin Skywalker, his grandfather and a Jedi he did admire, was also Darth Vader. Learning this truth through the holonet angered him, but also terrified him. Memories of hearing his parents fight and whispered concerns of He’s too much like him not meant for young ears too curious for their own good. With this truth, Ben’s suspicion that his parents had sent him to Luke because they were scared returned full force, and doubt was planted deeply in his heart. Doubt that he ever could be the Jedi they wanted him to be, doubt in his own Light. It gave the opening Snoke needed and had been waiting for. Not long after the truth about Darth Vader and his connection to Leia and Luke was revealed, Ben fell.

It was another restless night plagued with nightmares, the dream of the academy and more, he saw himself wearing a haunting mask standing in the ashes of a thousand lost souls, wielding a cross of crimson and blood as he snuffed the light from the galaxy, and above the noise he heard a whisper, You’ve already started down this path, it’s too late, see for yourself. And then it all stopped, he woke up to another nightmare, one bathed in green. His uncle standing over him, ligthsaber drawn, and although something else truly happened that night, in his mind under Snoke’s manipulations Ben saw something else. Instead of seeing the regret in his uncle’s eyes he saw anger and murderous intent, instead of seeing his uncle try to stop him and diffuse the situation, he saw him swing to kill. He didn’t hear his uncle call to him, and he pulled his hut down around him before Luke could try to break through the cloud of Darkness to reach him.

Luke’s betrayal was one of the factors in his fall that hit the hardest. He’d heard the story of how his uncle had gotten Darth Vader to return to the Light right before he died, how Luke had still seen the good in him after all that he had done. Ben felt in that moment and in the years after, that if Luke had seen something in Vader worth saving after all that he’d done, but not his own nephew after he’d done nothing, that if Luke was so afraid of him and his power that he’d rather try to get rid of him immediately instead of try to save him like he had Vader, then he must truly be a monster, that it must truly be too late for him.

Ben was knocked unconscious by the move to protect himself, and when he woke up, he could not sense Luke anymore and soon found the academy exploding into flames. Assuming that he had killed his uncle and was responsible for the burning academy, like his dreams that were now coming to life, horror gripped his heart as he fell further into darkness, but he tried to hold on, even as he accepted that it really was too late for him, further cemented by the way the three Padawans that returned to a ruined temple attacked him because of what happened. After escaping them and the academy, Ben was called to where Snoke was station and went to meet him face to face for the first time. That was when he began to separate himself from Ben Solo, a name he hated for all that it represented and all the expectations it put on him. After he met Snoke, he sought out the Knights he’d met years ago and who’d offered him a chance to join their ranks, hoping to learn from them.

His journey to and with the Knights was full of conflict. When the three Padawans, Voe, Hennix, and Tai, found him again, Ben was conflicted about fighting them as he had been before. This confrontation led to the death of one of the Padawans, something that Ben didn’t want and was done out of accident and self-defense. While with the Knights he was introduced to their ways, and while still clinging to the last bit of Light left in him he was very unsettled and conflicted by it. Pulling him closer to the dark as he grappled with his decision. It wasn’t until the next time the remaining Padawans found him again that his fate was sealed. One of them had been a friend of Ben’s, the young man named Tai, who had believed in him for a long time and had continued to believe in his friend despite what everything and everyone was telling him. Tai could’ve reached Ben, and Ren knew it, and so when Ren killed Tai, Ben unable to stop him and save his friend, his rage snapped. He killed Ren out of hatred and revenge, finally letting go of the Light as everything came to a head. The abandonment from his parents, the betrayal from Luke, years of struggling against the weight of so many legacies and expectations, years of torment, everything that had been building up finally becoming his undoing. He killed Ren, killed the last remaining Padawan, took up the name Kylo Ren and buried and burned every part of Ben Solo he could.

Ben knows his title of Jedi Killer is not accurate, he knows that the stories about the birth of Kylo Ren are not all accurate, he knows what people think of him and his fall and he lets them. He lets them think it was because of who his grandfather was, because he was always like this, a bad apple. Lets them speculate and form their own opinions about that night but keeps the truth close to his chest. It’s not a door he wants to open again, and he truly believes no one will believe him or care if he tells his story anyway.