#yoda let luke go save his friends and said that’s the choice you make now I’m choosing to die

[skywalker-swift]

okay so are the Mando fans who got mad at Luke for having the training droid shoot tiny lasers that probably stung a little bit at Grogu gonna apologize now that we see Din pushing Grogu to train with a kid four times his size and who looked like he was about to punt him? Are we gonna realize that Luke didn’t do anything to Grogu that Din hasn’t already encouraged? Crying and whining about abusing a kid that would snap your neck in second because you looked at his dad wrong. Din ‘I Had Help’ Djarin is training a mandalorian, not some rando frog eating big ear kid. Just say you hate Luke and go.

[dreamsarebutterflies]

"I am sorry, Anakin... for all of it"

When Obi-wan says "I am sorry, Anakin... for all of it"

Thinking back, what is ALL OF IT? It is only a short sentence, going straight to the point. As an audience, we followed Obi-wan's journey that led him to this very moment, knowing what is yet to come, reading the books (before or after Disney)-

As an audience, we have a fair knowledge of the things Obi-wan is sorry about. The show, though, didn't only told us about the guilt. It told us about the attachment.

Vader - Anakin - doesn't know anything about Obi-wan. He remembers his master left him to die. He probably remembers that his master turned his wife against him. He is obsessed by Obi-wan Kenobi and he's seeking revenge. What he knows, is that Obi-wan must think of him as wrong, as lost, as a disappointment.  

I'm asking again, now.

First, all of *WHAT*? Then, what is *ALL*? What is MORE than what is obvious to us?

Obi-wan is sorry for not saving Anakin on Mustafar, yes. That one is obvious. He's sorry for not seeing the signs of darkness before? Well, okay. Sorry for not giving enough, holding him at arm's length to prevent attachment? Maybe, surely Anakin can do the maths if he puts his brain into it. Sorry for acknowledging their mutual attachment too late? I'm not sure Anakin, who takes what he sees and he's told as solid facts and cold truth, can fathom the possibility that Obi-wan is sorry for being too late at anything or for being not enough, for doing too little; From what I've read (books, novelisations, comics), Anakin always was biased when it came to his former master. Now, he is blinded by hatred and vengeance.

If you really think about it for more than one second, Anakin can't logically know all of that; he's not the audience, he doesn't know what we know of who Obi-wan is. He only knows that he is his former master's weakness just as much as Obi-wan is his. I'm fairly certain though, if Anakin knew those "sorry"s, he wouldn't have chosen the dark side over and over again.

To me, "ALL of IT", can only mean the ways he is aware Obi-wan failed him; the unspeakable reasons that can’t and don't need to be explained further. To me, "ALL of IT" indeed means the obvious (leaving him for dead, not being able to keep him in the light, yes), but also ALL of the rest that *we*, as the audience, don't know about. To me, "ALL of IT", implied with imploring eyes, speaks of his forbidden and undying love for the man Obi-wan should learn to let go of.

As a reminder, Obi-wan admitted to YODA HIMSELF that Anakin was the only being that he wouldn’t kill, even if it meant ending a meaningless war. A war that worn him out since the start, that changed him to the core, that changed the jedi and its role in the galaxy; soiled it. Obi-wan lives for the jedi, he left Satine behind for his beliefs and when she said she loved him, he told her, had she said it before, he would have left the order. He lost people before but he mourned them and moved on. Anakin, though? It didn't look like moving on to me, when he convinced himself that he could make things right by teaching Luke. He was hopeless and helpless when he met Leia.

Obi-wan in the show is an empty shell. His choices changed the entire galaxy. This is another sorry for other people, not to Vader. Guilt towards the entire galaxy could destroy a man. Obi-wan, though, isn't one for living in the past or the future, he works with the present, that's what the jedi taugh him, after all. And yet, he is broken and he lives with Anakin's ghost. He finds hope in Anakin's children.

When Obi-Wan says, "I'm sorry, Anakin... for all of it." he means not being able to save him, yes, agreed, and parts of him knows fully that he could have, had he reached for Anakin before. This is the biggest admission, just as much as "you were my brother, I loved you". And Anakin must know. Obi-wan isn't just sorry for failing him as a master (in his teaching) or a friend (showing support), as a brother in arms (keeping him in the light through doubt, death, change)... but as a life partner, in the things he willingly chose NOT TO DO.

He failed Anakin, not in the "not enough, not right", but in his OWN CHOICES.

And he finds astonishment in Vader's - Anakin's - answer. "I am not your failure." Because he, himself, made his own choices. And he will keep making them. Anakin chose to suffer for the rest of his life. And I argue that he doesn't want Obi-wan to feel the same pain that he does. He doesn't ask Obi-wan to go dark because choices had been made and there is no do-overs; that’s Vader’s entire life, he does something and no matter that he is wrong, it is done and changing his mind or admit that he was wrong would be a betrayal to oneself. 

Star Wars is all about choices. And Obi-wan will do what he must, but he won’t ever stop loving Anakin, and he will always be sorry. 

[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.

[gffa]

Darth Vader vol. 3 #1 (2020) | Greg Pak & Raffaele Ienco HOLY SHIT THAT IS A HELL OF A LOT TO UNPACK AND HOW MUCH IT’S DRAWING ON WHAT WE KNOW OF ANAKIN SKYWALKER TO TELL ITS STORY. All the moments in red are Vader’s memories, the word bubbles his thoughts, as he lashes out in the aftermath of his confrontation with Luke on Cloud City.  That Luke falling away from him triggers all these memories of the other people that were “stolen” from him--specifically Shmi, Padme, and Luke.  It’s fascinating that he focuses on these three, the very obvious absences of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka incredibly telling, because those are the two who actively said, “No, I won’t let you do this.” and stood up to stop him. This is post-”Twilight of the Apprentice”, so Vader and Ahsoka have had their showdown and this issue is incredibly aware of it.  Vader’s going to hunt down everyone who made Luke weak, which is going hand in hand with how Anakin is projecting like hell in these moments, that the dark side is more powerful, that Luke needs fear and pain, that he’s going to destroy everyone that made Luke weak is about himself and how he has had to justify and rationalize every step he’s taken into the dark side.  That it has to be worth it, because otherwise it was all for nothing. That was built on in both previous Darth Vader comics, the sunken cost fallacy, the inability to face what he’s done, the glimmers of something underneath that.  This comic is aware of those as well, but it struck me how focused he was on weakness needing to be eradicated, which is such a stellar connection to this moment from “Twilight of the Apprentice”:

The thing that really gets me about Anakin’s projecting here is Palpatine’s reaction to hearing that Vader’s gone on a rampage. Piett gets a call from the Emperor who wants to talk to Vader, Vader’s gone, Piett nervously reports that, and the Emperor laughs.

Yes, there’s an element of Sidious knowing that Vader will go after Luke and then he can try to turn Luke and replace Vader with him. But also it signals just how awful Vader’s mindset is about all of this, that Sidious has over and over made Vader suffer to chain him further into the dark side, he humiliates him after any small defeat, he feels Vader’s hate and rage grow and says that’s good, etc. This is just another way for Vader to suffer, that he’s not finding something good with Luke, but instead using this as barbs to hurt himself, to make himself bleed all the more, because all Anakin knows is pain and the dark side now. “You came to punish someone... but, unfortunately, there’s no one left,” says the droid Vader takes with him, who is there to contrast against what we’re actually being shown:  Vader is there to be punished.  To punish himself with these memories and pain, of the people he feels were ripped away from him, that were supposed to be his. He suffers through the memories on Tatooine, some part of him knowing all of this is wrong, which is why he sees Yoda’s face, he knows this is the path that lead him to suffering, and now he justifies it that he was destroying the weak Anakin Skywalker, he’ll destroy all the people who made Luke Skywalker weak as well. This perfectly fits with Filoni’s take on Vader in “Twilight of the Apprentice”, in addition to how she represents everything he was wrong about as Anakin Skywalker, that he’s so wrapped up in his hate for himself as he is for his external hate, so he needs to destroy her.  “This is one of the points George and I had discussed, that it’s the very reason why there isn’t any empathy for Ahsoka.  It’s not like he looks upon an old friend.  He looks upon a horrible memory.  It’s connected to a bunch of painful memories.  Which, in one version, symbolizes his loyalty to the Republic, when everybody else betrayed him, so he would see everyone else as a traitor.  Or he has to recognize his complete failure to side with his friends.  Well, he’s certainly not going to do that.” --Dave Filoni, podcast interview Vader is experiencing the exact same thing in this issue, that he looks upon something and it’s connected to all of these memories, so he wants to destroy it, because he needs to destroy anything that reminds him of Anakin Skywalker, of the things he was wrong about as Anakin, but he’s never going to do that, he’s never going to recognize that he made the wrong choices. This is a comic that is very aware of what it’s referencing (Darth Vader vol. 1, Darth Vader vol. 2, Star Wars vol. 1, Star Wars Rebels, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi, etc.) and that’s why the ending smacks it right into our faces one last time: Vader goes to Padme’s apartment, finds a transmitter there, follows it to a seedy bar on Vendaxa and runs into, thinking, Power, Luke.  If you only knew... only power can save... Padme?

He’s thinking about how power is the only thing that can save something, then immediately runs into Padme’s doppleganger, connecting us right back to that line from Revenge of the Sith, where he’s in full Darth Vader mode, that was right there at the beginning of Darth Vader, it’s one of the foundational aspects of his character.  “Love won’t save anything.  Only power will.” All of this, ALL OF THIS is connected together for Vader.  His belief that power is the only thing that can save anyone, that the dark side is the only path. (”No.  [The dark side] is all there is.”  --Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith,  "The dark side always wins, Obi-Wan.  You should know that by now." --Star Wars vol. 1 2015) That the dark side is the only true power, that it always wins, that he cannot admit to what he’s done as wrong (despite that some part of him absolutely knows that this is a giant rationalization and he knows he was wrong to step onto this path, George Lucas has directly said that, as well as we see him cry, see him moan, “What have I done!?”), cannot face his own demons and move beyond them.  That is a core thing about Anakin Skywalker, it’s in nearly every story about him, that he cannot face himself or how wrong his choices are. Instead, he just keeps doubling down on the dark side, keeps idealizing these people as possessions for him to have, that they’re his and how dare anyone take them from him, they’re his!!! That’s why Obi-Wan and Ahsoka’s absences are so keenly felt, despite that they’re very much connected to everything that this comic is drawing on, because he cannot see them as his things. And now he’s trying to do the same to Luke, to force him onto the path of the dark side, to destroy the people who made him “weak”, because Vader has to think that Luke must join the dark side to justify everything that he’s done, because other people’s senses of agency don’t matter to him, and he’s in deep denial about how much Anakin Skywalker is still alive within him. AND UGH IT’S SO FUCKING GOOD, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CONNECT IT TO ALL OF THIS OTHER STUFF GOING ON WITH ANAKIN SKYWALKER.

[moon-ursidae]

TBOBF EPISODE 6 SPOILERS

i am very late on this bc i had it saved and ready in my docs but i never had the time to copy and paste it here

much like last time, these were my thoughts when watching episode 6 for the first time!! this is another long one folks so strap in!!!

-ayo mos pelgo??

-YUUUP

-COBB VANTH I MISSED YO SEXY ASS

-yea you flex those stripes

-THE CALLBACK WITH THE “i’m the one that tells folks what to do”

-quick reflexes are so hot like idk what it is

-he really said “respectfully if ya’ll come here agin you’re fucked”

-THE MARSHAL’S TALE IN THE BACKGROUND AHHHHHHH

-god the music is so fucking good goddamn

-ayo dune pt 2 looks great

-the intro music is sooo good

-DIN DJARIN YEAAAA

-these cockpit shots are so sexy they look phenomenal

-IS THAT R2

-R2222222222222 FUCK YEA

-listen i love the crest but this new ship looks SLICK as fuck

- omg din djarin saying skywalker????

-calling r2 friend????

-AHHHHHH

-i’ll never get over him saying grogu either

-omg these ant droids are kinda cute

-AHH THE JEDI SCHOOL

-the jedi school…

-din djarin has met his match when it comes to sass

-”is that a bench?” SIR PLEASEEEE

-i love him

-he’s so done rn he just wants to see his kid

-i love the juxtaposition whenever din is in a place that is seemingly tranquil

-here’s this dude armed to the fuckin teeth in this place that makes you feel the most serene you’ll ever feel in your life

-it’s so funny i love it

-i love these shots of the forest i feel like they’re supposed to be representative of the force in a way??

-OH MY GOD THERE HE IS

-DIN I FOUND UR KID

-OH MY FUCKING GOD CGI LUKE LOOKS FUCKING PHENOMENAL

-oh my god please i can’t do this snacks started playing when the frog showed up

-joe shirley and ludwig goransson i cannot do this

-grogu i’m sorry but even though luke doesn’t see you he knows the shenanigans ur up to

-OMG HE’S SO STRONG NOW

-THE CG IS FUCKING CRAZY HOLY SHIT

-i’m gonna start fucking crying oh my god

-i see you dave filoni with the dagobah parallel

-i’m assuming there will be many more through this episode

-god the music i want it tatted in my brain

-HIS LIL WADDLE

-omg is he gonna talk about yoda

-HE IS

-omg the way he’s lifting grogu so he can keep up imma cry

-CHANEL BOOTS SKYWALKER IS HERE TO SLAY

-are we gonna see grogu’s past????

-omgomgomgomgomg

-STOOOOPPPPPPP NO IM GONNA START SOBBING

-FUCK I NEED TO FINISH CLONE WARS

-goddamn you dave filoni pay for my fuckin therapy

-it’s also crazy how much he sounds like young Mark Hamill

-DIN NAPPING like the dad he is

-AHSOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-also hot reflexes

-”i’m a friend of the family” DAVE FILONI PLEASEEEEE

-her lil giggle with r2 was so cute

-i love rosario dawson

-she’s such a good ahsoka

-he’s like okay??? gimme my foundling

-he just wants to see that his kid is safe for his own eyes ahsoka LET HIM

-”my choice to go and see him” so goddamn stubborn, din djarin is

-OH MY FUCKING GOD SO MANY ICONS IN ONE FRAME WHAT THE FUCK

-what a time to be a star wars fan holy shit

-also i am once again asking that dave filoni pay for my therapy

-busteeedddddddd she called you out homie

-omg his lil gift

-i love that he keeps calling him a mandalorian foundling specifically instead of just a foundling

-i feel like they’re parents fighting for custody LMAO

-”i came all this way. he’s right there” PEDRO PLEASSE THE DELIVERY I CAN’T DO THIS RN

-ugh i can feel him fighting with himself about whether he should go to him or not

-”make sure he’s protected” HE CARES SO MUCH ABOUT HIS SAFETY BC HE’S NOT THERE TO MAKE SURE AHHHHHHHHHHH

-i know that he’s crying under that helmet

-the fucking score dude oh my god

-GROGU I KNOW I’M SAD UR DAD IS LEAVING TOO

-NOT THE HAND

-omg i was right about ESB refs

-omg the way he crawls out of the bag

-”that’s all you got?” LUKE HE’S TRYING HIS BEST

-”don’t try. do” girl i see you

-OMG THE DAGOBAH PARALLELS THIS EP I CAN’TTTT

- even the fuckin front flip bro goddamn

-the attention to detail on the cg face is insane like literally every frame

-this shot is so beautiful oh my god

-THE FORCE THEME NJAILBJILGBJLHFJFBGQHFL

-GROGU BE CAREFUL BRO

-GREEN SABER GREEN SABER GREEN SABER AHHHHHH

-OMG THE REMOTE FROM A NEW HOPE AND RISE OF SKYWALKER

-he passed the ball bc that’s what ahsoka and din taught him PLEASE

-AYO???? din is gonna beat your ass if he finds out y0u let his kid get zapped luke

-this is so cute oh my god and the score is helping sell it ndjlbjrklvbejnvblkebhjk

-ahsoka looks so proud

-HIS LIL SQUEAL MMMMMMMMM

-”The Mandalorian was here” what the fuck is happening i- star wars is so fuckin cool

-”sometimes i wonder if his heart is in it” omg grogu and din are both distracted bc they’ve been apart for so long

-WITH THE “so much like your father” RIGHT AFTER THAT DAVE FILONI LITERALLY PAY FOR MY FUCKIN THERAPY BRO

-his lil smile and the score from the mando s2 finale MMMMM

-like father like son takin naps

-i cannot wait for the ahsoka series oh my god i love her

-TATOOINE BABYYYYYY

-again these cockpit shots are hot

-omg are we gonna see boba??? In his own show?

-ayo?

-YEA WE ARE BABYYYYY

-AND FENNEC HEHEHEHEHEHE

-my bisexual panic is off the charts rn

-they’re all so hot and so sexy

-WAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT

-is din giving out his name now??????

-everyone in that room now knows his name and they JUST met him?????

-WOAH THE NODDING LIKE IN ROTJ BVJDIVHEJOBPEHBJEWNO

-so hot so sexy

-KRAYT DRAGON SKULL YUHH

-omg i love that din and the jawas are homies now

-COBB AND DIN REUNION????

-who the fuck does this guy think he is

-”i heard you” so hot

-REUNION BABYYYYYYYYYYYYY

-everyone is so sad that he doesn’t have grogu anymore it’s so cute and sad at the same time

-omg is the skeleton in the cantina new?? Or am i blind

-freetown?? when did this become like fallout new vegas?

-they’re both so sassy and snarky i love it

-the guitar in the back is so lovely

-WHO IS THAT

-IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS

-I KNOW THAT SILHOUETTE

-IS THAT CAD FUCKING BANE????????????

-IS THAT FUCKING CAD BANE??????????

- DNVJBFDVNJDBFBJK CXKNLBDFBKNDFJOBNDF BFDNKBFNDFBVNDFKLVBNEFKMVLBRENBVKLNVKFDLBVJNASKLVBRNVLBRNVJKRBVN

-OH MY FUCKING GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME

-I LOVE STAR WARS

-DAVE MUTHAFUCKIN FILONI YOU SON OF A BITCH

-OH MY GOD

-HIS VOICE NDJKVLNJV;N

-the deputy needs to fuck off bro like read the damn room

-HIS EYES

-this is so fucking western i love this

-he’s tryna slander boba rn?

-not in this house bro

-THEY GONNA DUEL???

-THIS REALLY IS A WESTERN

-if the deputy fucks this up i swear to god

-IS COBB OKAY????

-I NEED TO KNOW THIS RIGHT NOW

-also cade bane is so fucking cool oh my god

-i sense something bad is about to go down w these pykes in the cantina

-the makeup is so good

-fuck they left the camtono there

-UHHHHHHHHH

-WHERE IS MAX REBO????? IS HE SAFE? IS HE ALRIGHT?

-then fuckin cut to the jedi school PFFFFFFFFFFFF

-I KNEW IT WAS CHAINMAIL

-IT’S SO SMALLLLLLLLL

-a choice??? Luke what are you about to do?

-IS THAT YODA’S SABER????

-YUUUUUHHHHHHH

-is he gonna make him chose between the fuckin saber and the armor??

-yuuuup…

-hold up chanel boots skywalker you are ceo of attachments my guy what the hell is this

-HIS SAD LIL COO

-AND THE MUSIC

-D JVKLFBJKDLFBNKJLVBSANJBL;DBJDAK

-he’s gonna choose din i know it in my heart i feel it in my soul

GODDAMN THERE WAS SO MUCH TO LOOK AT AND ADMIRE IN THIS EPISODE HOLY SHIT BRO

again apologies for the super long post but these are so fun to do so i think i’m gonna continue to do these hehehehehe

[padawanlost]

Hey love your content.

Just wanted to ask you something. There's a claim I've seen coming up in fandom a few times now that Obi Wan knew Luke would bring his father back to the light and redeem him. That he even planned as much and this is supposedly evidenced by his not killing Vader in A New Hope and telling Luke to face Vader but not kill him in Return of the Jedi

I'm not convinced, but can you offer a more conclusive answer rebuttal or whatever.

I’ll be honest with you, this is the first time I’ve ever heard such theory so I’ve no idea where it came from or what arguments are being used to support it. All I can show you is the OT itself. The movies make pretty clear that Obi-wan and Yoda were preparing Luke to kill Darth Vader, and that Anakin’s return was something considered impossible until that point.

Because I don’t keep track of DisneySW, all the evidence I provided is strictly based on the original canon, as developed by George Lucas. So if Disney retconned something, I won’t be able to help :)

That being said, that theory doesn’t make much sense to me, sorry. For Anakin’s redemption to be part of some Obi-wan’s master plan, the character would have to have an impossible foresight into everyone’s involved past and future. For Obi-wan to be able to manipulate people and events to push Anakin’s into going back to light, he would first have to understand why Anakin fell in the first place. And if there’s one thing Episode III makes painfully obvious is that Obi-wan was nowhere near Coruscant when Anakin made his fatal decision, nor was he aware of the circumstances that led him to it. Everyone who knew what truly went down were either dead or his new worst enemies.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at Obi-wan’s (alleged) ‘master plan’:

In Episode IV, we have Obi-wan openly lying to Luke about where he came from and dueling Vader (literary to the death). Not exactly the actions of a man who wants the son to save the father’s life.

In Episode V Obi-wan tells Luke not even Yoda had the power or skill required to see into the future of Han and Leia. Considering they were captured by one of the most even being in the galaxy, it wouldn’t be that hard to guess their future did not look pretty.

Luke: But, Han and Leia will die if I don't. Obi-Wan: You don't know that. Even Yoda cannot see their fate.

The idea here is tied to an important concept in SW: free will. The characters are fundamentally free to make their own choices. Anakin, despite being manipulated by Palpatine, ultimately made his own bed. This is true to all of them. Palpatine’s ‘master plan’ wasn’t about controlling people into doing what he wanted, it was using their own nature against them. He nudged them into the making poor decisions, he never stripped them of their agency.

Obi-Wan: It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants. That is why your friends are made to suffer. Luke: That's why I have to go. Obi-Wan: Luke. I don't want to lose you to the Emperor, the way I lost Vader. Luke: You won't. Yoda: Stopped, they must be. On this, all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil. Obi-Wan: Patience. [...] Obi-Wan: If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere.

Unless you see Obi-wan as a manipulative, cruel person who wants an untrained Luke to face two of the most powerful beings in the galaxy alone for his own personal, secret plan, I’d say the movie is pretty clear in showing us that neither Yoda nor Obi-wan want Luke to face Vader at that point. If the plan was to get Luke to going, wouldn’t have been easier to just let him go instead of creating an huge argument about it? Hell, they are willing throw Han and Leia under the bus to keep Luke from leaving. If that wasn’t shady enough now we are supposed to believe that was part of an even worst scheme involving pretty much everyone?

Yoda: Told you I did. Reckless, is he. Now... matters are worse. Obi-Wan: That boy is our last hope. Yoda: No. There is another.

Yeah, it doesn’t sound like using Luke to redeem Vader was their ultimate goal here.

There are some pretty big holes in that theory in terms of character development and narrative structure. I know everyone loves the idea of Vader and Obi-wan having some badass duel in ANH but the truth is Vader had spent the last 20 years training and killing pretty much all kinds of enemies imagine while Obi-wan mediated on Tatooine as grew shockingly old for his age.

As proven on Mustafar, raw power only takes you so far. Anakin has always been much, much more powerful than Obi-wan but in the end Obi-wan won because of skill, training and discipline. Unfortunately, for Obi-wan, he didn’t get much training in his isolation. He couldn’t have because he was in hiding! If that wasn’t enough, the EU confirms that Obi-wan sacrificed himself to allow Luke to scape. There was no secret plan.

Obi-Wan risked a glance through the hangar’s open doorway and saw four stormtroopers guarding the Falcon. He also sensed that Luke was nearby. Hoping to cause a distraction that would allow Luke to board the Falcon, he attacked Vader more vigorously. The noise of clashing lightsabers echoed into the hangar, attracting the stormtroopers’ attention. With his peripheral vision, Obi-Wan saw the stormtroopers leave their stations beside the Falcon and run toward him and Vader. He continued his attack on Vader, and several exchanges later, he sensed Luke’s movement and knew his plan had worked. He risked another glance into the hangar to see several figures racing for the Falcon’s landing ramp: the droids, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Luke, and — Leia! Obi-Wan hadn’t known that Princess Leia was on the battle station, but he recognized the girl in the white dress from the hologram that R2-D2 had displayed. Obi-Wan did not believe in luck or coincidences, and seeing Luke unwittingly reunited with his twin sister, he knew that it was not a tractor beam that had brought him to the battle station, but the will of the Force. His fleeting glance also registered that Luke had paused behind his friends. Luke stood a short distance from the landing ramp and was staring straight at him, gaping. Obi-Wan realized there was only one way Luke, Leia, and the others would escape the battle station alive. He smiled as he looked away from Luke, then closed his eyes and raised his lightsaber up before him. Darth Vader did not hesitate to strike. [Ryder Windham. The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Imo, this theory ruins the character of Obi-wan by making him pretty much omniscient and way more powerful and manipulative than he was in canon. Obi-wan wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t palpatine level of manipulative either. He had no ‘grand plan’ beyond using Luke to kill vader and save the galaxy in a desperate attempt to save the galaxy.

On top of that, let’s remember that Obi-wan had no hope left for Anakin. He did not believe Anakin could be redeemed after Mustafar. If you do not believe md, believe George Lucas.

After the first complete take, Lucas and McGregor discuss when he should say each line: “As you watch Anakin slide down, how about if you take one step forward,” Lucas Suggests. “For a moment, you think about it. Your first impulse is to save him – but then you realize you can’t”. As the takes multiply and the actors find their rhythm and emotions, the scene becomes more and more powerful. Christensen yells “I hate you!”. McGregor says, “I love you. But I will not help you”. Lucas explains that what Obi-wan’s really saying to Anakin is: “Your were our only hope and you blew it. Now we don’t have any hope”. Take. After Anakin implores Obi-wan to save him, George asks Ewan to say “I will not…” softer, almost to himself. Take. “After he burst into flames,” Lucas directs, “it’s as if you’re talking to a dead person. To a piece of toast”. He suggests, to drive home this point, that McGregor change the words in the script to the past tense, “I loved you.” The actor acquiesces, but points out that his subsequent line would have to change to “But I could not help you.” Lucas agrees, and Tenggren alters the script accordingly.[ The Making of ROTS]

Another thing that George is very clear about is that Luke is the one who redeems Anakin.

It really has to do with learning. Children teach you compassion. They teach you to love unconditionally. Anakin can’t be redeemed for all the pain and suffering he’s caused. He doesn’t right the wrongs, but he stops the horror. The end of the saga is simply Anakin saying, I care about this person [Luke], regardless of what it means to me. I will throw away everything that I have, everything that I’ve grown to love - primarily the Emperor - and throw away my life, to save this person. And I’m doing it because he has faith in me; he loves me despite all the horrible things I’ve done. I broke his mother’s heart, but he still cares about me, and I can’t let that die. Anakin is very different in the end. The thing of it is: the prophecy was right. Anakin was the chosen one, and he does bring balance to the Force. He takes the ounce of good still left in him and destroys the Emperor out of compassion for his son. [ GEORGE LUCAS - THE MAKING OF REVENGE OF THE SITH; PAGE 221.]

This brings us back about what I said earlier about narrative structure. This is Luke’s story. Obi-wan is the mentor, that’s it. It’s Luke’s actions, Luke’s choices. To suddenly reveal that everything happened was the result of Obi-wan’s plan would be narrative equivalent of a slap in the face. We watched Luke’s hero journey only to find out his journey was a lie and his choices weren’t really his own. How disappointing!

Not only that but redemption comes from within. Even if Obi-wan had planned for everything, Anakin would need to WANT to change. and knowing it was Luke’s selfless actions that drove Anakin into killing Palpatine, suddenly finding out an ulterior motive behind Luke’s actions (beyond the character’s own goodness) would diminish the weight of Anakin own choices.

But, again, Obi-wan couldn’t have planned for Anakin to return to the light because he didn’t even believe one could be redeemed after such evils.

Obi-Wan’s spirit was invisible but present when Luke arrived in the Endor system, where the Empire had constructed a new Death Star battle station. When Luke surrendered to Darth Vader on the Endor forest moon, he listened as Luke maintained his belief that a remnant of Anakin Skywalker remained within Vader and had not been entirely consumed by evil. Luke urged his father to let go of his hate. Vader said, “It is too late for me, son.” Then he signaled to two stormtroopers to escort Luke to a waiting shuttle that would carry them to the Death Star. As the stormtroopers moved up behind Luke, Vader added, “The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your Master now.” Luke stared at Vader for a moment before he said, “Then my father is truly dead.” Obi-Wan’s spirit wished he had convinced Luke of this fact earlier. [Ryder Windham. The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Even as they fought, Obi-wan didn’t believe Luke could save Anakin. It was only after witnessing Palpatine’s demise he started to realize what it meant.

Obi-Wan knew that Vader would never help, and he felt almost overwhelmed by a sense of dread. Luke would soon be dead, and Vader would remain the Emperor’s puppet. In fact, Obi-Wan was so convinced of Vader’s nature that he was stunned by what happened next. Vader grabbed the Emperor and lifted him off his feet.  [Ryder Windham. The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Had Obi-Wan’s spirit not witnessed Vader’s action, he never would have believed it. Vader, the same monster that Obi-Wan had left to die on Mustafar, had sacrificed himself to save his son. And suddenly Obi-Wan realized where he had failed. For unlike Luke, Obi-Wan had not only believed that Anakin was completely consumed by the dark side, but had actually refused to believe that any goodness could have remained within Vader.  [Ryder Windham. The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Btw, in ROTJ, Obi-wan doesn’t try to talk Luke out of killing Vader. In fact, the oppositve of that happens:

Luke Skywalker: There is still good in him. Obi-Wan: He's more machine now than man. Twisted and evil. Luke Skywalker: I can't do it, Ben. Obi-Wan: You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again. Luke Skywalker: I can't kill my own father. Obi-Wan: Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.

Star Wars, at its core, has a very simple message about love and the power it has over people. in the end, the good guys won because they were good, not because they were being guided there by some powerful guy. In the end, it was love that won the war and saved the day. Everyone’s love. Luke’s love for Anakin, Anakin’s love for Luke, Han’s love for Leia, etc. Selfless love makes better people and good people do good things. It’s not about manipulating actions, people or even knowing everything. In fact, I’d say it’s the appositive.

Luke didn’t know he could save Vader, but he tried anyway and that’s what makes him a hero. It’s the not knowing but having faith in someone out of love, faith they can be better than they are. That’s what saves the world. It’s not knowing everything and still acting out love and compassion.

Anyway, I honestly don’t know where this idea of Obi-wan knowing Anakin’s future and planning for it came from. But I do know it’s not supported by the movies, the EU or George himself.  

[singswan-springswan]

Guys wait wait so I’ve been thinking. You know the Chosen One prophecy? How this one person with no biological dad would bring ultimate balance to the Force? Well we all know it was Anakin Skywalker, right? The whole “there was no father” “literally conceived by the midi-chlorians” thing was kind of a dead giveaway. So if Anakin is the chosen one, him killing Palpatine and then himself dying was supposed to make the siths go extinct and restore balance to the Force. At least, that’s what all the Jedi seemed to think. It’s one of the last things Obi-wan says to him on Mustafar: “They said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!”.

ONLY THAT’S NOT WHAT THE PROPHECY SAYS. If we are to go word-for-word, nowhere in the prophecy are the terms “Sith” or “Jedi” ever mentioned. Only “ultimate balance”, and that is left to the interpretation of the reader. Now, we know how the Jedi would interpret “ultimate balance”. They clearly meant for it to establish the complete end of the Sith, and all aspects of the Dark Side in the galaxy. But then would that really be balanced? The entire galaxy on the side of light? Now, that’s kind of a tricky question, so let’s clear a few things up.

The Jedi have established concepts of the Force to fit their ideology, separating it into two distinct personalities: the Light, and the Dark. But I don’t think they did this because the Light or the Dark was exclusively good or bad. Their interpretations of the Light side are some of the most strict understandings of the mind and its nature. Order, peace, selflessness, rational thinking, detachment, discipline, humility. Some of these things are good, and all of them are easy to comprehend from a pragmatic point of view. Each aspect of the Jedi code is designed to translate simple, reasonable parts of the Force into something that people can embody by dedication and choice, and subsequently use to harness power. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have “Dark” qualities, or concepts that are harder to wrap your mind around. Passion, fear, anger, worry, vengeance, sadness, pain, and any kind of strong emotion. Are these things bad? In their own time, yes. But can they also be good? Absolutely! Passion for your work, fear of something that can harm, anger at injustice. These feelings are misused more often than not, however, and so have become associated with bad character and evil deeds. But if you really want to break down the difference between “Dark” qualities versus those of the “Light”, the former are simply more difficult to rationalize. Think pathos versus logos.

I’m pretty sure this is the reason the Jedi began discriminating against certain qualities and their “Dark” nature. It was hard to reason, and hard to understand, so they categorized them with darkness, as something obscure and unknown. In doing so, they created an imbalance in the Force, focusing only on half of the aspects of the mind, and nurturing only one half of a character, teaching that their emotional, unpredictable side was evil and needed to be subdued. They taught that anything causing emotion, such as relationships or victories and failures must be regulated closely, or completely purged from one’s life. They forbid strong feeling of any kind. If a young Jedi had any “negative” emotions, such as anger or fear, they were trained to stamp it out instead of acknowledging the cause and dealing with their problems. I don’t know about you, but I find that pretty toxic. To take away emotion is to deprive a person of part of their nature. It’s in our nature to react and respond to things with intensity. We’re physiologically, biologically, and mentally designed this way. Instead of denying this aspect of what it means to be a person, it’s far healthier to learn to guide feelings and emotions. They aren’t something we can switch on and off; they’re assets of the mind, and they need to be treated as an equally valid resource as the ability to puzzle and analyze.

I’m not saying that emotions should dictate all of our actions and thoughts. I’m not saying that just because you feel something, it’s right. What I mean, is that instead of suppressing this key part of a person like the Jedi did, it should be trained and carefully pruned so that it can inform and help process, as it was meant to.

Okay, sorry for the long rant. Now that we have that out of the way, can it really be said that “ultimate balance” is the destruction of the “Dark” side and absolute reign of the “Light”? I say no. I think balance comes when the purest aspects of both sides come together in a way that seeks to eliminate real evil, and bring true good through harmony in the Force. That being the case, does this mean that Anakin fulfilled the prophecy when he chucked Sheev down a reactor shaft and electrocuted himself to death? Again... I don’t quite think so.

Obviously Anakin died, bringing about the end of the Sith in his time, but the Jedi had also suffered a heavy blow when Order 66 happened, and all their teachings and history became extinct (sort of. Yoda and Obi-wan didn’t exactly train Luke in the strict ways of the Jedi. They adhered more to the teachings of the Light than anything). So even though Luke then tried to bring up a new generation of Force-sensitive children in the ways of the old order, it didn’t quite work out. Why? Without compounded years of the Jedi’s indoctrination, their beliefs and teachings fell flat. Because you can’t deny yourself the need to feel, and to be felt. It’s who you are. Suppressing half of your brain’s function doesn’t work.

This in particular was something I really appreciated about the sequel trilogy. Over the course of the three movies, Rey learns that not everything is black and white. That both sides have taken something good and twisted it to their own devise. We as an audience learn that both things cannot be ignored as part of our being, and that we need to acknowledge both in a healthy, proper way. What if the struggle that Vader experiences in the original trilogy was his indirect expression of the dissatisfaction he’d experienced on both sides? He hated the Jedi for taking away his right to love, but being a Sith didn’t fill the void in his heart, even for all the unlimited power he had. Luke can recognize it easily enough, but the only way he knows how to put these things into words is by using the terms he’s been taught by dead Jedi masters. Make no mistake, I love Yoda and Obi-wan, but they pass on flawed concepts that still discriminate against feeling of any kind. Didn’t they tell Luke not to go to Cloud City even if it meant saving his friends—to let go of the people he loved?

It all eventually comes to a mount with Rey, actually, who seems to be the first to realize that she can get the best of both worlds without hurting herself or anyone else. Literally in her first official battle with Kylo-Ren, she reaches out to the Force with her emotions, and that’s how she wins. But not with anger, or pain, like her opponent does. She uses fierce loyalty, and countless different kinds of love. Rey builds off the mentorship of her mother-in-law and uncle to get a foundational understanding of what it means to be connected to the Force, but then through her own adventures and findings, she learns the rest on her own. It helps that she has good morals. And that her character arc is almost a direct parallel to Luke and Anakin’s. Somehow, she makes it work, and finally, eventually, when everything comes full circle and Rey accepts the last piece of who she is—her name—there is finally balance. Not just within her. Throughout the force.

Finally, the last of the twisted teachings, cults, and practices have been extinguished, and the Force is simply the Force again. It isn’t Light or Dark, it just is. Rey just happens to connect to it—that’s all. And this, I think, is where the prophecy is finally fulfilled. It’s a little strange, you say, because Anakin wasn’t the one in Rey’s position, but it’s understandable that it took so long, because the Sith and the Jedi and everything in between had lasted for thousands of years. And Anakin did have a cornerstone role. He was the first to really challenge the concept of Light versus Dark. He was the first to take aspects of both and use them for good. And of course, he started a family that literally shook the foundations of the galaxy and eventually led to Rey (not to mention he was a Force ghost for the entirety of the sequel series, able to interact with the physical world as well, and no doubt being able to influence the senses and experiences of some more direct characters).

Anyway, wow. That was a really long rant. Thanks for reading; I’m sorry if I bored you. I just really needed to process a bit myself lol. I mean I complain about writing papers for school but—anyway. So yep! That’s my breakdown of thoughts on the prophecy, and Anakin’s involvement and all that. I hope you enjoyed, and once again thank you for coming to my TedTalk *insert lenny face*

[threadsketchier]

Luke's eyes followed a lonely x wing fly through the viewport as he lay on the cold surface of emperor throne room on ds. He blinked lazily as alarms were going crazy around him. It was useless to try to move after palpatine's mental and physical assault on him. Leia would complete the mission of jedi without him. He came here to save his father or die and he was content with it. He was waiting for death when a gloved hand touched his check "I won't let you die here son"

On the far side of the throne room, through the viewport behind the Emperor’s vacant seat, Luke watched a star coursing across the void; he blinked and realized it was an X-wing.  The shield had to be down by now.  They were coming and it would soon be over.

The coldness of the deck beneath him seeped into his aching bones; he felt both limp and taut, still half-curled up from where he’d fallen and seized under the Emperor’s brutal assault, muscles randomly spasming and his mind clouded by dense exhaustion.  Klaxons began to sound elsewhere, muffled in his damaged ears - Alliance fighters had to have entered the superstructure.

Luke closed his eyes, reducing the world to his own labored breaths.  He’d made his choice and could go no further.  He wasn’t coming back to the Alliance, to Leia and his friends.  There was no one left to train her, unless Ben or Yoda could reach her somehow.  But the Force was greater than all of them; if the Jedi were not meant to end with him here, it would find a way to make itself known to her.

He’d come here to save his father or die trying - at least he’d accomplished the former even if he was going to pull off the latter too.  Luke wanted to move, to crawl his way toward his father, but his body remained uncooperative.  He longed to be beside him in these final moments, conveying how proud he was of his accomplishment, that he’d finally freed himself along with the rest of the galaxy...

A sound like something grinding or dragging entered his awareness, followed by the encroachment of a thin, reedy suck-wheeze.  Luke pried his eyes open as leather-clad fingers grazed his cheek.

“I will not...let you die here...my son.”

Shifting his head incrementally, Luke gazed into the scorched visage of his father’s mask.  Vader - no, Anakin lay nearly prone next to him, propping his upper body on the severed stump of his right arm and reaching out to caress Luke’s face.  His legs lay splayed out, obviously paralyzed.  Luke managed a wan smile.  “I know you wouldn’t,” he whispered, his voice spent and his throat raw from his screams.  “It’s all right.  You’re with me.”  They might have only minutes left.  Weakly he stretched a trembling arm toward him and grasped at his shoulder.  “Father...would you let me see your face?”

Those agonized breaths marked a long enough time that Luke thought he might deny him the request, but then Anakin gripped the flared edge of his helmet and began to lift it away with a pressurized hiss.  Luke’s fingers crept along the sides of the mask, and he cursed himself for lacking dexterity, but Anakin’s hand met his and slowly worked it free.

The man it revealed was a very melancholy sight: chalk-pale, aged beyond his years, mutilated by deep and extensive scars, burdened by the grief of a lifetime spent in futility.  But his bloodshot, watering eyes were blue like Luke’s own.  Luke’s smile grew as tears pricked and blurred his vision, and he brushed his father’s cheek just as Anakin had done to him moments before.  “Luminous beings are we,” he said softly, remembering Yoda’s encouraging admonishment.  Their bodies would die here, but they would be together forever in the Force, unencumbered by the pain of separation and physical and spiritual wounds.

Distant thunder echoed up from the shafts below the walkway and shook the deck.  Luke hooked his arm around his father’s neck and pulled them closer, their limbs entwining awkwardly and tenderly as the end came.  “Thank you, Father,” Luke breathed against him.  “I love you.”

Searing light enveloped them and carried them away, far away, into the sanctuary of the Force.

[jadejedi]

Love Does Not Fail (4/?)

Summary: When Anakin saves the galaxy from Palpatine, Padmé and his children survive, but their family is split apart nonetheless. Leia is taken to be raised in the Temple, not knowing that the Jedi who "found" her is actually her father. Luke grows up with Padmé, knowing only his mother's side of the family. But some things are inevitable.

Chapter Summary: Anakin and Padmé’s year on Naboo.

A/N: So! Thanks to quarantine related free time I suddenly have, I managed to plot this sucker out. Right now, I think it’s going to about twenty chapters. This chapter is 3x the length of the previous ones, and I have no idea what future chapters will look like going forward.

Because the plot is sort of… loose... there will be a lot of time jumps in the chapter, focusing on major events. Or some chapters will focus on like, one really busy month, lol.

All of that said, strap in folks, because this one is a rollercoaster. Let me know what you think!

ao3 link here

Padmé sat on a chair out on the lawn at her family’s home in Varykino, with Artoo next to her, watching as Anakin and Ahsoka sparred on the lawn. She smiled as they traded jabs, both verbal and physical. 

They’d been on Naboo for a week now, and Padmé was extremely glad they’d decided to come here. Nothing Coruscant had to offer could compare to a sunny day in Naboo’s lake country. 

She idly rubbed her stomach as she’d been feeling some amount of discomfort for a little while now. She was less than two weeks out from her due date, and since she was carrying twins, AZ seemed sure that they would come early.

She and Anakin had already decided on names. Anakin had wanted their children to have Nubian names; he didn’t want anything but their surname to tie them to Tatooine.

The names Luke and Leia had ended up as her and Anakin’s favorite names. Neither name was very common among Padmé’s generation, but fairly common names all the same. 

Over in the distance, Anakin once again won the sparring match. Something Ahsoka said caused him to laugh.

He’d been so nervous to come to Naboo and face her parents. It had been sweet, really. They had decided that she would come a day or two early, so she could tell her parents the identity of the father of her children by herself, and then Anakin would follow. He’d insisted on packing her luggage for her, as she directed him from where’d she sat on the bed, and had peppered her with questions about her family and how they would take the news.

In the end, Padmé had been right. They had already liked Anakin from the first time they met him, right before the war, and they liked him now. They were obviously upset that they hadn’t been able to attend the wedding, but they had also understood the difficult circumstance that they had been in. It wasn’t Nubian culture to insert oneself into another’s private life. Family might get away with more than most, but her family had always respected her choices.

And, of course, her parents were delighted to have Anakin as a son-in-law. Sola had been over the moon that she’d been right all along about their feelings for one another. 

Padmé grimaced slightly as the pain she’d felt earlier returned with a stronger intensity. She turned to Artoo, who Anakin had tasked with keeping her company. “Artoo, would you go find AZ-7 for me?” 

He beeped in reply, and headed off towards the house. 

She turned back to watch Anakin and Ahsoka, who were now cooling down from their sparring session, and her thoughts turned again, as they so often did, to her children’s futures. One of them, she knew, would have a relationship with Anakin similar to Ahsoka’s. That of a Padawan, never able to fully have a parental figure. The other would hardly know Anakin at all for the first twelve years of their life. 

Her heart ached at the thought of her children not able to know their father. She loved Anakin with all of her heart, and she’d been so excited when she’d first discovered her pregnancy, not just because she wanted to be a parent, but because she wanted to be a parent with him. Knowing that neither one of her children would be able to experience that fully hurt her almost as much as the rest of all of this mess. 

It was hard to reconcile her dark thoughts with the beauty of the lake country, with its chirping birds, beautiful wildflowers, and the distant sound of water flowing, so she tried to steer away from them.

Instead, she thought of the year that they would have here, and all the memories that she and Anakin would make with their children. 

“You called for me, Mistress Padmé?” AZ said, coming up to hover next to her chair. 

“Yes,” she said, turning to look at him, hand still on her stomach. “I think I am having contractions,” she said, unconcerned. She’d been having those pains for the last half an hour or so, but they were far enough apart that she didn’t feel that there was any need to rush. 

“Oh!” AZ exclaimed. “Well, then I will stay here with you and monitor their timing, so that we may know if you are going into labor,” he said in that way of his, that was both serious and excited sounding. 

She nodded, at that moment felt another wave of pain. “There’s one right now,” she said, through slightly clenched teeth. The pain still wasn’t terrible, but it was getting more intense. 

Anakin and Ahsoka must have noticed the appearance of AZ, because they came jogging up to the house, having stopped meditating while she had been talking to the medical droid.

“Is something wrong?” Anakin asked, concern written all over his expression. 

“It’s nothing,” she said, “I’m just having some contractions.”

Anakin’s eyes went wide. “Are you having the baby?” at the same time as Ahsoka gasped, “You’re in labor?”

--

Ahsoka paced outside the door of Anakin and Padmé’s room, where they were both was inside, with AZ and a midwife from a nearby town they’d contacted before coming to Naboo. 

After AZ had started monitoring Padmé’s contractions, it was another half hour before he’d determined that she was going into labor. At that point, they’d moved her upstairs to the bedroom and called the midwife. It was then that Ahsoka and Dormé had been kicked out of the room. 

That had been an hour ago. Since then, she’d commed Obi-Wan to let him know, as he’d been planning on stopping by once the babies were born, and had meditated for about as long as she could take. Now she was pacing. She knew that human births could either be fairly short or extremely long, so she wasn’t really sure what to expect.

“Ahsoka, you’re making me dizzy,” Dormé said, seated in a chair in the upstairs living area that the bedroom was connected to. “Come sit down.”

Ahsoka sighed as she flopped down on the more comfortable looking of two sofas. “I’m not very good at waiting,” she confessed with a wry smile.

Dormé smiled back at her. “Everything will be fine,” she tried to reassure her. “Women of almost every species do this everyday, all across the galaxy.”

“I know. It’s just that Anakin has been so worried about her. He tries not to be, but I don’t think he can help it.”

Dorme laughed. “Of course he can’t. He loves her. Of course he worries about her.” She looked at Ahsoka oddly. “Don’t you Jedi ever worry about the people you love?” 

She paused, and then amended her statement. “The people important to you, I suppose. Since you aren’t supposed to love.”

“They,” Ahsoka reminded her. “I’m not a Jedi anymore.” She could say that now without it hurting. Much. 

She considered Dormé’s question. “Of course Jedi worry. But they aren’t supposed to, no. Jedi are supposed to trust completely in the Will of the Force. Master Yoda says that all will be as the Force wills it. If a Jedi does worry, they are supposed to release that worry into the Force, because it can lead to fear, which can lead to-”

“Anger, hate, suffering,” Dormé interjected. “So Padmé has explained to me. I suppose that I don’t really understand, because when I try not to worry, I just worry more.”

Ahsoka chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not just you.”

There was a moment of quiet, cut by a particularly loud scream of pain from the bedroom. 

“Do you miss being a Jedi?” Dormé asked after a moment.

“Yes, and no,” Ahsoka said. “I miss my friends. I missed Anakin, before I came back, and Padmé, too, for that matter. I miss a lot of the routine, and the security I felt with the Order. But my life has so much more than it was when I was a Jedi. I’m happy to be on my own. It was hard at first, but I think I am finding my own path,” she said, glancing at the door as another shout came through.

Dormé shook her head. “I just don’t understand how an Order claiming to be dedicated to protecting people could do this to them,” she said. “Padmé has always respected the Jedi, and for them to do this to her, to Anakin, when he saved the galaxy?” She shook her head again. “It’s just so cruel.”

Ahsoka sighed. “I think, to them, they are really just trying to follow normal protocol as best they can. They are so attached to their traditions they don’t see how their normal protocol could ever be cruel.”

Both of them turned as the door opened, and Anakin stepped out, a small bundle in his arms and an enormous grin on his face. 

Ahsoka gasped and jumped off the couch, making her way over to Anakin.

“Meet Luke Skywalker,” he said proudly.

Ahsoka looked at the tiny, red little baby in his arms. A little strange looking, she decided, but cute all the same. “He’s beautiful.”

“He’s lovely,” Dormé agreed, and Ahsoka thought she looked a little misty-eyed. 

“Isn’t he? Padmé has Leia right now, but she’s just as perfect.”

Ahsoka shook her head in amazement. “I still can’t believe you have twins! Twins!”

He laughed, a little tearfully, looking down at his son. “I know. It all kind of feels like a dream.” Luke made a little cooing sound, and all three of them stood silently for a moment, watching him.

“I assume Padmé is doing well,” Dormé asked after a moment, reaching out to touch Luke’s tiny baby fingers.

“Tired,” Anakin said with a nod, “but otherwise doing fine. She wanted you to give her a few minutes before coming in, but then you can meet Leia.”

“Who's older?” Ahoska asked.

“Big brother, right here.” Anakin looked up at her. “Do you want to hold him?”

Ahsoka nodded. She’d helped out in the Temple crèche enough to know what she was doing. She let Anakin transfer Luke in his soft yellow blanket into her arms. 

“Hi, little guy,” she cooed softly. His eyes were closed, and he was squirming around a bit in her arms. He was so much smaller than the babies she held at the crèche, who were usually at least a year old. “He’s much cuter than Stinky,” she told Anakin with a smirk.

Anakin laughed. “I don’t think that that’s too hard.”

She glanced back down at Luke. “No, but he really is cute.” She could feel his Force presence, so strong already. She poked at his mind, and he immediately opened his eyes to stare at her. She laughed. “Sorry to bother you.”

“He’s got your eyes,” Dormé told Anakin.

“Do you want to hold him?” Ahsoka asked her, and she nodded eagerly.

While Dormé was holding Luke, Iala, the midwife, peeked her head out the door. “She says you can all come in now,” she said with a smile. “She’s ready to feed Luke.”

Dormé passed Luke back to Anakin and they all followed Iala into the bedroom. 

“Hi,” Padmé greeted them with a tired smile. Her curls were tied into a bun at the top of her head, and she was propped up and surrounded on the bed with half a dozen pillows, another tiny baby swaddled in her arms. 

Anakin smiled at her, and bent down to kiss her in greeting, before they carefully exchanged the children. Ahsoka thought about offering to help, but decided that they needed to figure stuff like this out on their own. 

“They’re beautiful, Padmé,” Dormé said with a smile, coming over to stand by the bed so she could look at Leia in Anakin’s arms. 

“Aren’t they?” she asked, as she positioned Luke to feed him. “I can’t get over how perfect they are. All their little fingers and toes.” She turned to Anakin. “I’ve already burped her, so she should be fine.”

“She’ll probably want to sleep,” said Iala from where she was seated. 

Dormé and Padmé continued chatting as she fed Luke, while Anakin brought Leia over to where Ahsoka was standing at the foot of the bed. While Luke had just a small amount of wispy blond hair and blue eyes, Ahsoka was surprised at how much dark brown hair Leia already had. Her big brown eyes were focused intensely on Anakin, who was gently rocking her in his arms.

“How does it feel to be a dad, Skyguy?” 

Anakin didn’t look away from Leia as he answered. “Wonderful. Terrifying.”

“Scarier than facing down a battalion of battle droids?” she teased.

He laughed softly. “Yes.” He looked up at her. “Honestly, besides facing Palpatine, the last time I was this scared was when you first became my padawan.”

“Really?” she asked, crossing her arms. She remembered her master being mostly irritated those first few days together. “What was so scary about me?”

He shrugged, and looked back down at baby Leia, who indeed started to drift off, blinking sleepily as Anakin continued to rock her. “You were just a kid. When I was fourteen, Obi-Wan and I were mostly going on diplomatic missions or protection detail, not fighting in a war. I was twenty years old, newly knighted, and here was this snippy kid I had to protect. It was terrifying.”

“And now you’re twenty-three and you have two babies to protect. At least you don’t have to worry about the war,” she joked. “And hey, you’ll be able to handle ages fourteen to seventeen no problem.” 

--

The next three months flew by so quickly that Anakin didn’t really have time to feel anything but joy. Obi-Wan stopped by on his way back to Coruscant from a mission for a day or so. Padmé’s family visited again from Theed, though they once again had to leave Ryoo and Pooja home for now, as they were still too young to keep so many secrets. 

It wasn’t until everything started to settle down a bit, with only Anakin, Padmé, Dormé and the three droids left at Varykino, that Anakin began feeling the pressure of the fact that this happy time with his family had an expiration date. Ahsoka had decided to go visit Rex on Mandalore for a couple of days, to let him know what was happening, and to give Anakin and Padmé some time with Luke and Leia. 

It started when he got a comm from Master Windu. Since the twins were (miraculously) asleep at the same time, Anakin was able to step away to an empty room to take the comm.

“Skywalker,” he said. “We have lost contact with Senator Chuchi, who was sent as a diplomat on behalf of the Republic to negotiate terms of their surrender and our troops withdrawal. The Republic has maintained a presence there since the Battle of Sullust. Since Naboo is in the same region, and you are familiar with the Senator, we are tasking you to go to Sullust and regain contact with Senator Chuchi. If at all possible, those negotiations need to continue. We don’t have any troops in the area, other than the ones already on Sullust, so you’ll be on your own for this one.”

Anakin crossed his arms. He didn’t want to leave right now. His children were barely three months old and his wife needed him. 

As if sensing Anakin’s reluctance, Master Windu’s blue holographic form glared at him. “As a Jedi, we expect this mission to be your first priority.”

“Is there really no one else, Master?” 

“No. The war with the Separatists may be over, but that doesn’t mean that every Separatist planet is willing to give up so easily. We are still spread thinly, and as this is an extremely time sensitive mission, you are the best person for the job.” He gave him a look. “This is why we do not allow attachments, Skywalker. A Jedi should not place any one individual or family above the rest of the galaxy.”

Anakin scowled. “I understand. I’ll leave immediately.”

“We have Master Secura and her troops coming in as reinforcements, but she is tied up with a conflict on Felucia right now, and it is crucial that Senator Chuchi is rescued.” 

With that, Master Windu ended the call.

Anakin sank down into a chair in the office, and put his head in his hands. How was he supposed to tell Padmé that he had to leave so soon? He knew that she would understand that it was his duty, and that almost made it worse.

The joy that he’d been feeling only minutes ago faded into anger and confusion. How could he be a Jedi, now? All he wanted was to be with his family, but that was no longer an option for him. He couldn’t be the kind of Jedi that the Council wanted him to be. He didn’t even think that he wanted to be, anymore. 

“Anakin.”

His head whipped around, looking to see where the voice was coming from, but seeing only the empty office.

“Anakin.” This time, he realized that he recognized the voice.

“Master Qui-Gon?” Anakin asked haltingly, not really believing it.

There was no response. 

Maybe the lack of sleep was making him go crazy. He shook his head.

“Anakin.”

“What do you want?” Anakin snapped, hoping this wasn’t an exhaustion fueled hallucination.

“Want? I don’t want anything. I’m here to talk,” came Qui-Gon’s voice, as calm and serene as Anakin remembered. 

“Talk about what?”

“Your anger at the Jedi.”

“You can’t tell me that you think that what they’re doing is right.”

“No, I can’t. But I can tell you that your anger isn’t going to help anyone. Yourself least of all.” He paused. “You’re conflicted. All you’ve ever wanted was to be a great Jedi, but now you don’t know what you want.”

“How can I be a part of an Order that would do this?” he asked, pained. “How can I pretend to be one of them for the next… fifteen? Twenty? Twenty five years?”

“There is more than one way to be a Jedi, Anakin.” Qui-Gon’s disembodied voice chuckled. “Look at me. I may have been a powerful and well respected Jedi, but they never offered me a position on the Council. And if they would have, I would have turned them down. I often found myself at odds with them. And look at Jedi Vos. He is far from a typical Jedi, but he is a Jedi nonetheless. And look at you. You have never been an ordinary Jedi, and yet you are one of the best.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Anakin asked. He’d forgotten how cryptic Qui-Gon could be. 

“I’m saying that the Council wants you to be a Jedi, fine. Be a Jedi, Anakin, as you always have been. Do what you know to be right, follow what the Force is telling you, not what the Council is telling you. If there is to be any hope for the Jedi, they must see that what I am telling you is true, and they will only see that if you show them.”

Anakin bowed his head. “Why is this up to me?”

“Because you are the Chosen One. You must bring balance to the Force.”

Anakin growled in frustration. “Didn’t I already do that when I destroyed the Sith?”

“Don’t you remember Mortis? Balance is about more than merely destroying the darkside. It is about holding them both, the dark and the light, in balance. The Sith Lord was right about one thing, Anakin. There is more to the Force than the Jedi could ever imagine. The Sith, too, for that matter.”

“What do you mean, Master?”

There was no response. 

--

It turns out when Master Windu said that Anakin would be on his own for this mission, he really meant on his own. The Republic troops still on Sullust were halfway across the planet, defending the main Republic garrison from an attack from the Sullustan forces, when he landed just outside of the Sullustan capital of Pinyumb. 

“I’m sorry, General Skywalker,” Dav, the clone Commander in charge of the garrison said over comm. “The Sullustans have us surrounded. Tanks, destroyer droids, and way more men than we have.”

“I understand,” Anakin replied as he landed his starfighter in a small clearing in a wooded area not far from Pinyumb. “Keep the garrison defended, and their troops occupied, but don’t try and break their blockade just yet. Hopefully their attention will be on you and not on the Senator.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you know about Senator Chuchi’s disappearance?” he asked, still seated in the cockpit of his fighter.

“We know that there are two disagreeing factions here on Sullust. One that wants to rejoin the Republic, and one that does not. While the Prime Minister is in favor of rejoining, we think that Senator Chuchi was kidnapped by someone in the opposing faction. Possibly before even making contact with the Prime Minister, to make it look like the Republic never intended on negotiating.”

Anakin sighed. “Great. So not only do they think we went back on our word, wherever Chuchi is being held, it’s probably not in any official capacity.”

“Probably not, sir.”

“That’ll make it more difficult to find her,” Anakin said, contemplating. “Wait. If the Prime Minister is in support of rejoining the Republic, why are his troops blockading our garrison?”

“We think that the opposition party has launched a coup and taken control from the Prime Minister.”

Anakin sighed again. “This just keeps getting better and better. Commander, send me any blueprints you have of the capitol building, as well as a list of known high ranking officials who oppose the Republic.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Skywalker, out.”

Anakin opened the hatch of the cockpit and climbed down. “Artoo, I’m going to need you with me for this one.”

Artoo trilled and beeped in reply. He grinned. “Don’t worry. I think the hardest part of this one will be freeing the Prime Minister. After that, it’ll be a cinch.”

Artoo beeped skeptically, but lowered himself down from the fighter anyways.

The trek into the capital wasn’t a long one, but it gave Anakin time to look through the documents that Dav had sent to his datapad. 

As it turned out, the leader of the Republic opposition party was in charge of the Sullustan Ministry of Justice, which oversaw all prisons. That would make it easy for Senator Chuchi to be hidden in the high security prison on the other side of the city, most likely under a fake name, to hide who they were holding.

“We just need to break into the main capitol building so you can connect to their prisoner database. Hopefully by narrowing down by intake date we will be able to figure out where Senator Chuchi is,” he told Artoo.

Artoo beeped, causing Anakin to chuckle. “It’ll be a breeze, Artoo. We’ll be back on Naboo in no time.” He felt a pang as he thought of his family on Naboo. He checked his chrono. The kids were probably napping right now. Would Padmé be able to get them to sleep at the same time? Neither of them had mastered the art of rocking both of them in their arms, yet, and the twins would only go down for a nap for the two of them. 

A questioning trill from Artoo drew him out of his thoughts. 

“I’m fine,” Anakin assured him. “We just need to get into the capitol. Once we’re inside, I’ll find the Prime Minister, and you find a computer terminal to figure out the Senator’s location.”

--

As it turned out, getting into the capitol building was the easy part. Using the blueprints, he’d found a ventilation shaft that had an opening on the second floor of the backside of the building. It was a little tight around his shoulders, but it was far from the first time he’d crawled through ventilation shafts. 

The Prime Minister was indeed being held in his apartments within the capitol building, guarded by at least thirty Sullustan guards, around fifteen battle droids, and two super battle droids. And that was just what Anakin could see through the vent.

Not the hardest odds he’d had ever faced, but in such an enclosed area, it would be hard to destroy the enemy combatants and protect the Prime Minister.

Thankfully, the vent he was looking out of was positioned right above where the Prime Minister was seated at his desk. 

He shimmied a little past the vent so he could kick it loose, and then pushed himself gracefully out of the vent and onto the floor, onto the Prime Minister’s desk.

The troops in the room turned around at the sound of his thud onto the desk, and swung their blasters around to face him. He reached for his lightsaber and ignited it, the bright blue of his blade stark against the dark interior of the apartments. 

“Put down your weapons. I am Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, here on behalf of the Republic to free the Prime Minister.”

All at once, they started firing at him. 

“Prime Minister, get down!” he shouted, using the Force to knock him out of his seat. “Get under the desk!”

He easily deflected the first round of bolts volleyed at him, before jumping and flipping into the air and off the desk, swinging his saber as he came down, decapitating three of the battle droids. 

Anakin grinned as the blaster bolts came flying at him, and he deflected each one, slipping easily into his master’s preferred form of Soresu.

 He continued to work outwards, destroying the droids one by one and incapacitating the Sullustan guards by either destroying their blasters or using the Force to throw them across the room. 

He’d almost forgotten how easy it was to slip into the heat of battle, at one with the Force, the only thing he was aware of was his saber and his goal.

He slashed downwards at the remaining super battle droid at the same time as he shoved a guard away. 

It didn’t take long before the room was strewn with unconscious guards and droid parts.

Using the Force, he pulled the last guard standing towards him, slashing through the guard’s blaster as he did so. “Take me to the one in charge,” he ordered with a growl.

The guard spoke rapidly in Sullustese. 

The Prime Minister climbed out from under his desk and spoke to Anakin rapidly. Unfortunately, Anakin didn’t speak a word of Sullustese. Many species, including Sullustans, could’t speak Basic, but thankfully, these two seemed to understand what he was saying. 

He shook his head. “Do you speak Huttese?” he asked.

The Prime Minister shook his head, looking offended at the mere sound of the language, while the guard nodded rapidly.

“Yes! I speak Huttese.”

“Great. What did the Prime Minister say?” Anakin reached out and grabbed the guard by his collar. “And don’t lie to me.”

The guard looked nervously between the Prime Minister, Anakin, and the door. “He said that there will be more troops on the way. That his loyalists are locked in the parliamentary chambers.”

“Well,” Anakin asked, “Are there more troops coming?”

The guard nodded, and Anakin sighed. “Of course. Tell the Prime Minister to follow me.”

The guard relayed his request before turning back to Anakin. “What about me? What are you going to do with me?”

Anakin rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.”

“Why?”

“Because I need you to translate.”

He motioned for the guard to head out first, keeping the Prime Minister behind him. 

--

The rest of the mission went smoothly. Anakin lost himself in the adrenaline of fighting his way down to the parliamentary chambers, liberating the Prime Minister’s troops, retaking the capitol building, and capturing the Minister of Justice who was also in the parliamentary chambers. Hours of combat faded into each other as he focused only on the task at hand.

After that, it was just a matter of meeting up with Artoo, who had found a record of a female prisoner of an unlisted species processed around the time Chuchi went missing. 

Since the Prime Minister was once again in charge, they were able to walk into the prison and were escorted to the cell of the prisoner they were interested in. 

“Master Skywalker,” Senator Chuchi breathed out in relief, scrambling up off the cell floor. “I wasn’t even sure if anyone was aware that I was missing!”

Anakin gave her a quick grin. “We knew. Don’t worry, Senator. Sullust is back in the hands of the Prime Minister, and your negotiations can resume.”

He motioned to the guard to open the cell.

“Are you okay? Were you treated well?”

She grimaced slightly. “I can’t say the food was very good, but otherwise it wasn’t too terrible. They mostly forgot about me, I think.”

Anakin nodded. “They’ve been distracted with their coup and with the Republic garrison.”

“Well, I can’t thank you enough for not only rescuing me, but for overthrowing the Minister of Justice. It is imperative that the Sullust rejoins the Republic. Such an alliance would allow us better deals with the SoroSuub Corporation.”

“I’m glad to help.”

And to his surprise, he was. All in all, it’d been a very cut and dry mission. He’d fought some battle droids, saved a Senator, and restored a planet’s democracy. The kind of mission that reminded him what being a Jedi was supposed to be like.

But, even though by the time he got back to Naboo, it’d be less than three days, he still missed his family. 

“Senator, I am needed elsewhere, so I will be leaving Sullust very soon, but I have gotten word that Master Secura is on her way now from Felucia,” he said as they walked out of the prison.

“I understand. Thank you again, for your help.”

--

Padmé smiled as she sat in the grass outside of Varykino. She, Dormé, and Ahsoka sat in a circle so that the twins could play in between them on a blanket she’d laid out, belly crawling in between the three of them and soaking in the sunshine.

“Leia, Leia,” she said in a sing-songy voice. “What are you doing, sweetheart?” She was scooting her way over to her, slowed down by the stuffed nerf whose leg she had clutched in one hand. 

Padmé laughed as she struggled to make it over to her. “You’re going to have to set that down, you know.”

“She seems pretty determined,” Ahsoka said with a grin. Padmé was so thankful that she and Dormé were both here with her. Ahsoka had arrived back yesterday from Mandalore after Anakin told her that he was going on a mission. Padmé wasn’t sure how she would’ve taken care of the twins these last two days without them. And Ahsoka was so good with the twins. She loved to gently toss them into the air, and play games to make them laugh.

After a few more moments of struggle, Leia finally made it over to her, and put her hands on her knees, looking up at her mother beseechingly. “Oh, okay,” she acquiesced, reaching down to pick her up and set her on her lap. 

She glanced over to where Luke was sitting in front of Dormé, who was trying to read her one of those thick paged children’s books that had lots of animals with little circles of textures for them to touch. Unfortunately, Luke seemed more interested in trying to eat the book than touching it. 

“Luke,” Ahsoka called, trying to get his attention. “Watch this!” 

Dormé turned Luke around so he and Leia could both watch as Ahsoka levitated their wooden Aurebesh alphabet blocks in the air, making them spin and dance around mid-air. 

Luke’s eyes were wide with wonder as he watched. Padmé glanced down to see that Leia’s eyes were similarly wide, reaching out with one hand. Ahsoka raised her eyebrows as one of the blocks floated loose from its formation, bobbing unsteadily through the air until it landed on the ground in front of Padmé and Leia. 

“Whoa,” Ahsoka said, impressed. “Good job, Princess!”

Padmé smiled down at Leia, and tried to press down the worry she felt at any reminder of her children’s Force sensitivity. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her children to be trained in it; she just knew that if Luke and Leia were anything like her and Anakin, they would already be magnets for trouble without adding Force sensitivity. It seemed like a lot to place onto such young children.

“What age do Jedi younglings usually start doing things like that?” Dormé asked.

“Oh, it depends,” Ahsoka replied, setting the blocks down into a pyramid formation in front of Luke. “On whether or not they’re raised in the Temple around other Force-users, and on how strong in the Force they are.” She looked between the two children consideringly. “I guess with a father as strong as Anakin, and having the two of us around them all the time, this is a pretty reasonable age. Maybe a little young. Usually parents start reaching out to the Jedi about their child’s strange powers before the kid turns two or three.”

Padmé smoothed down Leia’s already thick brown hair that seemed to want to stick out in all directions. “I can’t imagine raising a child with these kinds of powers unexpectedly. It must be scary.”

Ahsoka nodded. “It’s the main way that the Jedi get children. All hospitals within the Republic suggest that children have their midichlorian count tested at birth, but it’s not a requirement. Most parents reach out when they don’t know what to do, when they worry that they won’t be able to provide the best life for their child anymore.”

That made sense, Padmé supposed. She couldn’t imagine any parent who had wanted their pregnancy to be willing to give up their child right after birth, but when faced with mysterious powers, and a promise of a better life for their child, Padmé could understand what a difficult decision it must be, especially if the Order applied any sort of pressure on those parents. She was only glad that she would have Anakin and Ahsoka in her life to help her raise a Force-sensitive child without the Order.

As Luke lunged forward after the pyramid of blocks, Padmé’s comm went off. She quickly accepted the call, holding her holorecorder at face level after glancing down at the datapad she’d brought out with her to see that it was from Anakin. 

His miniature blue form appeared before her. He appeared to be sitting in his starfighter. 

“Anakin, is everything okay? Are you headed home?”

He grinned and nodded. “Everything’s fine,” he assured her. “I saved the Senator, saved the day, saved a democracy. All in a day’s work,” he said with a cocky grin. 

Ahsoka rolled her eyes from behind his holographic form, causing Padmé to chuckle. 

“Well, we’re glad to hear it,” she replied. She angled the holorecorder down slightly so he could see Leia seated in her lap. 

Anakin brightened at the sight of her. “Are you guys outside?”

“All five of us,” Padmé confirmed. “It’s such a beautiful day out. Hurry home, and you could join us for dinner.”

Anakin nodded. “Will do. I just wanted to give you a quick call before I made the jump to hyperspace. I love you.”

“Love you,” she echoed, and his blue form blinked away. 

Padmé smiled to herself as Leia chewed on the block that she’d stolen from Ahsoka. Anakin was safe, and he was coming home. They still had nine more months to spend together, and as she sat out on the lawn, it almost felt like all the time in the world.

--

Those nine months passed much like the previous three. In a blur of feedings and nap times and diaper changes. Visits from her family, taking the children out onto the lake, trying to convince them to eat their first solid veggies. 

But Anakin could even blink, a year had passed on Naboo, and he and Padmé were already packing their bags to leave. 

 “I’m not ready to go,” Padmé said, pausing her packing.

Anakin looked up from where he’d been packing his own bag and saw tears in her eyes. “Me either.”

“It just doesn’t feel long enough,” she continued. “I can’t believe that the twins are already almost a year old.”

He nodded. While their year on Naboo had been wonderful, the last month or so had started to feel more and more suffocating as they both realized that their time as a whole family was almost up. Every moment began to feel like it had to be something special, something that they could both hold on to for later.

And now their year was almost up. The twins would turn one year old in three days, and Anakin would have to run the blood test to test their midichlorian counts. 

They would have to run the test while still on Naboo, and Anakin would fly back in his Jedi starfighter with one child and Artoo, while Padmé and the other child flew back on the Naboo star skipper with Dormé, Ahsoka, and Threepio. 

The official story, Anakin had been informed by Obi-Wan, was that he was undercover somewhere in the Mid-Rim. After his “mission” was over, the Council would supposedly hear from Senator Amidala about a Force-sensitive child on Naboo with no parents, and would send Anakin to investigate. 

“Let’s take a break from packing,” Anakin suggested. “I’m sure that Ahsoka could use a break from watching them.”

Padmé nodded, wiping her eyes, trying to pull herself together. His heart clenched at seeing her so distraught. He knew that what was happening to them wasn’t his fault, but it still felt like she would have been better off with someone else. He knew better than to say that, though, instead pulling her into his arms and holding her.

After a moment, Padmé stepped back, nodding to herself. “Okay, yes, let’s go,” she said determinedly. 

They walked out of their bedroom, across the second floor living space, and into the children’s playroom. 

Ahsoka was seated cross-legged on the floor with Leia in her lap as Luke sat near her, playing with a plastic ball that had lots of buttons on it, each one producing either a sound or a colored light. 

“Hey, look who it is!” Ahsoka told Leia, turning around as they approached. “It’s mom and dad!” Leia babbled happily in response, and made a reaching motion towards Anakin. 

He grinned and swooped down to pick her up. He kissed her on the forehead, causing her to scrunch up her face and giggle. She babbled some more nonsense at him, and he nodded seriously. “I’m happy to see you, too,” he said with a grin. 

Leia looked so much like Padmé already, with her big, dark brown eyes, and her dark brown hair that still wasn’t quite long enough to do anything but tie the longest hairs into a single ponytail sticking straight out on top of her head. Anakin called it her antenna, much to Padmé’s chagrin. 

“Are you guys done packing?” Ahsoka asked.

“Hardly. But we needed a break, and figured you might, as well,” Padmé replied as she sat down next to Luke, smoothing out her skirt as she did so. 

Ahsoka smiled and reached over to tickle Luke, “Need a break? From these two bundles of energy?” she joked. “Never!” She ruffled Luke’s hair, causing him to laugh some more. “This guy just got changed, but she,” pointing at Leia, “will probably need it soon.” 

Padmé nodded, and Ahsoka got up to leave. “Bye kiddos!” she said, waving at both of them. “I’m going to go do some packing myself,” she told Anakin as she walked out. 

“Ma!” Luke exclaimed, suddenly, reaching out his arms towards Padmé. She grinned as she picked him up and set him on her lap. Both of the twins had started babbling more and more lately. It was hard to tell what “words” were actual words and which were just coincidences. 

Anakin sat down next to Padmé and Luke, Leia still in his arms. “Have you guys been good for Ahsoka?” he asked them, smiling as they both looked at him, blue eyes and brown, and babbled a response.

“You two are always good, aren’t you?” Padmé said, brushing a kiss to the top of Luke’s head. 

“Is that true? Are you always good?” Anakin asked Leia, bouncing her up and down on one of his legs. She laughed and he glanced over to see Padmé smiling softly at the two of them.

 He could tell what she was thinking. If they didn’t have many of these moments left, then they would have to treasure every one.

--

“And don’t forget to comm us when you reach Coruscant,” Jobal told Padmé, voice thick with emotion. 

Padmé nodded. “I won’t.” She gave her mother another hug. Her mother wrapped her arms tightly around her, and Padmé felt her hands running comforting circles on her back.

“If you ever need anything at all, comm me.” 

Padmé nodded wordlessly. They were all meeting her family Varykino one last time to say goodbye, before they had to leave for Coruscant. 

Ruwee was talking quietly to Anakin while holding Luke in his arms. Sola was saying goodbye to Leia.

The goodbyes lasted several minutes of passing the babies around and hugging. Her parents even pulled Ahsoka and Dormé into the hugging action, much to both of their amusement. 

After her family left, Dormé and Ahsoka made themselves scarce, so Anakin and Padmé could be alone with the children. 

Anakin had the same blood testing equipment that Qui-Gon had tested him with all those years ago, and AZ had the equipment to test it.

Padmé felt like time was moving at half speed as she held Luke, who was being very squirmy in her arms, as Anakin quickly cleaned a spot on Luke’s chubby arm.

“Would you like me to do this, Master Anakin?” AZ asked, hovering next to her. 

Anakin shook his head. “No, I’ve got it.” He carefully pricked Luke’s arm with the needle. 

Luke barely reacted, going still for a moment, before turning to look up at Padmé. She smiled comfortingly at him, bouncing him in her arms. “Good job, Luke!” she cooed at him. “That didn’t hurt at all, did it?”

“Good job, little man,” Anakin agreed, only able to conjure up the barest hint of a smile as ruffled his hair.

Padmé sat Luke back down on the ground on the playmat and picked up Leia. “Your turn, sweetheart.” Leia watched with big eyes as Anakin swabbed her arm and then pricked her with the needle, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Aww, Princess,” Anakin comforted her, “I’m sorry.” He handed AZ the testing equipment and Padmé let him take her. He gave a pouting Leia a kiss on her nose, before cuddling her into his chest. “I know that hurt, didn’t it?”

Padmé couldn’t help herself but smile at the two of them. Since day one, Leia had had Anakin wrapped around her little finger. 

Luke had crawled back over to her, and tugged at her skirt. “You want up?” she asked him, already bending to do so. 

She took a deep breath, hugging Luke to herself. “AZ, go ahead and analyze the results.”

AZ used his own satellite technology to communicate with the medical equipment in her star skipper to run the results remotely. “Do you want to know the midichlorian counts of each child, or do you just want to know who has the higher count?” AZ asked.

Padmé exchanged a look with Anakin, her heart in her throat. She hugged Luke closer to her, and she could feel tears starting to run down her face. She barely noticed when Anakin stepped over to her, to wrap the arm not holding Leia around her.

“Just which is higher,” Anakin answered quietly.

“The counts are very similar,” AZ began, “But Leia’s midichlorian count is slightly higher.”

Padmé started crying in truth now, turning into Anakin’s arms, still holding Luke, so that she could put her free hand around Leia. 

She could tell that the children were confused. Luke was moving anxiously in her arms, but she couldn’t help it. She had ignored the truth of what was going to happen to her family for a whole year, and now  the seemingly far off future was upon them. It seemed too overwhelming for her to comprehend. 

--

Anakin stepped back after a minute or two when he could tell that the children were getting restless. “Here,” he said quietly, “You take her for a bit. I want to say goodbye to Luke.” Padmé nodded through her tears and let him take Luke with his flesh hand as his mechanical one handed Leia off. Padmé sat down on one of the couches, clutching Leia against her shoulder, murmuring into her ear. 

“Da?” Luke asked, blue eyes peering up at him in concern. Anakin tried to give him a bit of a smile. “Hey there, little man.” Anakin hugged Luke to his chest, and wished that he would be able to remember anything that he was about to say.

“The next time I see you,” he told him, “it won’t be like this. We’ll have to pretend that I’m not your dad, okay?” He leaned Luke back in his arms, so his legs were against his chest, and he could look his son in the eyes. “But guess what? That doesn’t mean that I’m not your dad. I’ll always be your dad. And I’ll always be there for you and your mom, okay?” Luke blinked his blue eyes at him, looking solemn. Anakin could tell that he was picking up on his emotions through the Force. 

He hugged Luke again, smelling the top of his head, taking in the sweet baby scent. 

Padmé was still on the couch with Leia, who was now on Padmé’s knee, as she ran her fingers through Leia’s wispy brown hair. “I’m going to go get Ahsoka,” he told Padmé, who nodded, looking only briefly up at him.

He carried Luke up the stairs to the sitting room where he assumed Ahsoka and Dormé were waiting. As he climbed the steps, he thought about the future. He would return to the Temple with Leia. She would be known from now on as Leia Lars, which was his step-family’s name, but also a not uncommon name on Naboo. Luke would go to 500 Republica with Padmé a day later, and Anakin wouldn’t visit Luke for at least a month. They wanted to give him time so that he could see him as a new person, his mother’s friend and bodyguard, not as his father. 

Ahsoka and Dormé were indeed waiting for him in the living area. “We’re almost ready,” he told them. “Leia and I will be leaving soon.”

He could tell that Dormé had also been crying before he’d come up, and Ahsoka looked as upset as he’d ever seen her.

“I’m sorry, Anakin,” was all she said. Anakin nodded. 

“You two should go down and say goodbye to her.”

He followed them back down the stairs, and took a seat on the couch opposite Padmé. She reluctantly handed Leia off to Dormé, before walking over to Anakin and sitting down next to him.

“I’m not going to be able to teach her how to do her hair,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I won’t be able to brush it for her like my mother always did for me.” Anakin wrapped an arm around her. He knew that the mother-daughter relationship was very important to the Naboo, and he hated that she wouldn’t be able to experience that.

“Ani, I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “I don’t know if I can, either.” He looked at Luke. “We have to be strong. For them.”

She nodded tearfully, and reached out a hand to Luke, who grabbed her index finger and immediately brought it to his mouth and started mouthing on it. She gave a short laugh of surprise.

“Master Anakin, if you want to make it to the Jedi Temple before nightfall, you’ll need to leave very soon,” Threepio informed them as he entered the room, Artoo trailing behind him.

He nodded. He looked over at Dormé, who had passed Leia off to Ahsoka at some point. “Could you take him for a second?” She nodded, and strode over to pick up Luke. She looked at the two of them. “We’ll give you two a minute alone.” She ushered Ahsoka and the droids out of the room.

He pulled back so that he could look at Padmé. He knew they would see each other in a few days, but it wouldn’t be the same. He reached out his flesh hand to her face, rubbing her cheek with his thumb. “We’ll be okay,” he told her as confidently as he could. “This is only temporary. We will be a family again, someday. We’ll all be together.”

She nodded, looking up at him. “You have to help her,” she all but pleaded. “You have to make sure that she has love in her life.”

Anakin nodded. “I will.” 

“If you don’t, she won’t ever want to be a part of our family,” she said, tears starting to fall again. “She’ll be too much like the rest of them.”

He shook his head. “I won’t let that happen.” He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss, tasting the salt from her tears on her lips. He felt her reach out and grab his robes with both hands. He moved his hand from her face down to her waist to move her closer to him, pulling her all but onto his lap. He deepened the kiss, feeling the urgency of their imminent separation, before pulling back, resting his forehead on hers. “I love you, with all my heart,” he whispered. “We will get through this,” he promised her.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back. 

--

Anakin glanced back to where Leia was strapped into her speeder seat in the back of the speeder on their way to the nearest spaceport, which was where he’d landed his Jedi fighter. About five minutes into the speeder ride, Leia had started crying, and hadn’t stopped since. This was the furthest apart she and Luke had ever been. He reached out in the Force to try and comfort her, to no avail. 

“Oh dear,” Threepio said, “Mistress Leia sounds most unhappy.”

Artoo beeped a response that Anakain could tell was not very polite. Anakin couldn’t help but grin. Threepio was coming along to fly the speeder back to Varykino, and now wasn’t really the time for his helpful commentary.

Thankfully, the flight to the spaceport was not a long one, and Anakin was able to climb out of the speeder and extract Leia from her seat. “Artoo,” he said, as he cradled a still wailing Leia against his shoulder, “go ahead and get the fighter ready for flight. I’m going to try and settle her down. And Threepio, you can go ahead and head back to Varykino.”

“Yes, sir,” said Threepio. “I do hope you and Mistress Leia have a safe flight back to Coruscant.”

Anakin started walking around the nearly empty starport, bouncing Leia in his arms as he walked. “Come on now, Princess,” he said. “Don’t cry. Everything’s okay.” He heard a beep behind him and found Artoo holding out Leia’s pacifier and smiled gratefully at the astromech. “Thanks, Artoo.” 

He gave the pacifier to Leia, which helped a little, but she continued to sniffle around it, tears still streaking her cheeks. 

He sighed. He and Padmé had been so caught up in how they were feeling about the separation that they hadn’t even considered that either of the twins would have such a strong, immediate reaction. 

“If you cry the whole ten hours, neither of us is going to have much fun,” he muttered. “Not much room in a starfighter.”

He closed his eyes, reaching out to touch her bright, fiery presence in the Force. Everything’s okay, he sent her. He continued to send her waves of calming affirmations until she truly settled down and drifted off to sleep. 

By that point, Artoo had the fighter prepped and ready to go, their two bags stored in a compartment under the cockpit, so Anakin was able to climb carefully up the ladder one handed. He maneuvered his way into the seat, Leia’s sleeping head resting on his shoulder. Getting the harness on with her on his shoulder was a bit of a challenge, but he managed it. 

After quickly comming the Temple to let them know he would be arriving with a new Initiate and comming the starport’s communications tower, they lifted off. Anakin reached out and brushed the minds of his wife and his son, saying one last goodbye, before taking off into the atmosphere to engage the fighter’s hyperspace ring.

--

The sun was setting over the Jedi Temple as Anakin dropped into the atmosphere, the hyperspace ring already disengaged. Leia was asleep again; this time he’d adjusted his seat back so she could sit on his lap and fall asleep leaning back against him. 

Her little antenna of hair brushed his chin when he leaned down to check some of the controls and instruments. 

His little Princess. He’d realized while in hyperspace that he wouldn’t be able to call her that anymore. She wasn’t Leia Skywalker, daughter of Naboo’s favorite Queen any longer. From now on, she was Leia Lars, the daughter of two dead farmers on Naboo. 

He blinked as he looked down at her, sleeping contentedly on his lap. He was approaching the Temple; he couldn’t afford to show emotion now. He had to appease the Council as much as possible if he wanted to remain a Jedi, if he wanted to be able to see his daughter. 

“Jedi Temple traffic, Delta 7B Aethersprite-class 7514Y, landing platform A from the southeast, Temple Precinct.”

He maneuvered the fighter onto the landing platform, and engaged the landing gear. He landed softly enough that Leia didn’t stir, until the cockpit canopy opened with a hiss, and she blinked softly awake. 

He wondered if she would ever fall asleep on his lap like this again.

“Hey now,” he whispered, “go back to sleep.” He stayed seated for another moment, waiting for her to drift back off. She’d only been napping for fifteen minutes or so, and would be cranky if she didn’t sleep longer. 

“I’ll always be your dad,” he whispered to her, suddenly feeling the need to promise her. “I’ll always love you. I’ll always be there for you. You’ll never be alone, Leia,” he swore, as she drifted back off to sleep. 

Once Anakin was certain she was asleep once more, he carefully maneuvered her into the crook of his arm and climbed one handed out of the cockpit and down the ladder onto the landing platform. 

The sun, now directly behind the Temple, radiated bright red and deep purple hues. Anakin looked down at his sleeping daughter. He wondered if she would remember any of this year, deep down somewhere, if she would remember having a family who loved her earnestly and completely and unconditionally. 

Waiting for Anakin on the platform was Master Yoda, Master Windu and a Mirialan Jedi he didn’t recognize.

In that moment, Anakin was a heartbeat away from turning around and running back to his starfighter, and taking his daughter as far away as he could. 

But he didn’t. He kept walking. Didn’t Leia deserve a stable, happy childhood? The Jedi might not be a normal upbringing, but he knew that younglings raised in the Temple had fond memories of their childhoods. And didn’t she deserve to be trained like he had been? She was powerful, both of his children were, he could feel it, and he knew that Obi-Wan and Ahoka had felt it, too. 

And most of all, didn’t she deserve the chance, no matter how far off, to be apart of a family again someday?

He kept walking.

“So, a youngling, you have found?” asked Master Yoda. 

His words stuck in his throat. It was a moment before he could answer. “Yes, Master. An orphan, from Naboo. Strong in the Force.”

“And her name, what is?”

“Leia. Leia Lars,” he said, managing to keep his voice steady. 

“You have done well, Skywalker,” Master Windu said. “Jedi Seminaria will take her down to the crèche.”

The other Jedi, Jedi Seminaria, stepped forward to take Leia from him, to take his daughter away from his arms. He glanced down at Leia, still wearing the flowery patterned play outfit that Padmé had dressed her in at the beginning of the day, still dozing peacefully. 

He passed her over, and she stirred slightly as she left his arms. “I’ll take her down to the crèche,” Jedi Seminaria murmured, bowing to the three of them. The other two Masters bowed slightly to her, and Anakin remembered to follow suit. 

He looked past Master Yoda and Master Windu, watching as Jedi Seminaria walked into the Temple from the landing platform, the reds and purples in the sky around them fading up into the deep indigo of nightfall. 

“You have done well,” Master Windu said after a long moment. “We weren’t totally sure if you would go through with it.”

Anakin didn’t say anything.

“For the best, this is. Only here in the Temple will her full potential, Leia be able to achieve. Even better if her brother was also here, it would be.��

Anakin shook his head. “The Jedi are not the only way.”

“We are the path of the lightside,” Master Windu snapped. “Master Yoda is correct. If anyone as powerful in the Force as Leia Lars is, is going to fulfill her full potential, then the Temple is the best place for her.”

Anakin decided it was better not to argue. Suddenly, he felt too exhausted to say anything, so he just nodded. 

He noticed Obi-Wan walking towards them. “Master Kenobi,” Master Windu greeted him. “Did you need anything?”

Obi-Wan bowed. “No, Masters. I am only here to greet Anakin.”

With that, the other two Masters bowed, and headed back into the Temple.

Obi-Wan looked at him and sighed once the others were further away. “I’m so sorry, Anakin.”

Anakin shook his head, crossing his arms as he started walking the way Obi-Wan had come from. “I feel like I am failing. As a father, for abandoning both of my children. As a Jedi, for loving them and even having a family at all.”

“You’re not abandoning them. None of this was your choice. And you’ll still be in their lives; it’s not as if you’re dropping them off on some backwards planet and running off. You’re trying to do what’s best for them, in very difficult circumstances.” 

Anakin nodded. Obi-Wan was right. He wasn’t abandoning them, and he wasn’t giving up on them. They would all be together, someday.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Darth Vader

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Here he is. The big one. The world’s most famous villain of all time, and this is no exaggeration; even people with only a fleeting knowledge of Star Wars, even people who have never seen it before in their lives, probably know who Darth Vader is. The dedicated an entire trilogy to showing how he ended up this way, and an entire trilogy to defeating him, and even after he’s dead his shadow looms over the new trilogy.

It’s really not hard to see why, either; everything about him just screams cool. He’s an intergalactic dictator wizard monk cyborg with a laser sword who has a castle on a lava planet and a space station the size of the moon that blows up planets, and that’s not even getting into the fact that he has the voice of Mufasa. Darth Vader is an icon, plain and simple, and if you think his status is all surface-level, well, this will hopefully show you there’s more to him.

Actor: There are a lot of people who put in the time to bring Vader to life, but let’s just go over the most notable actors. A lot must be said of David Prowse, the man in the suit during the original trilogy; while James Earl Jones’ voice certainly did a lot of work towards making Vader as intimidating and cool as he is, Prowse’s physical presence should absolutely not be understated. He’s the one who does the movements, who walks into the scenes, he was the one physically there, and it really cannot be said enough that he is a key aspect of why the original Vader worked, even if his voice was nowhere near intimidating enough.

Jones, of course, had a voice that was intimidating enough, and while Prowse brought the physical intimidation, Jones brought the vocal brilliance. Vader’s voice is so oft-arodied and iconic, and it’s all thanks to James Earl Jones’ stellar performance. IT’s just absolutely legendary no matter which way you cut it, to the point where even when he’s portraying a freshly-christened Vader who is still in the mindset of a whiny Anakin and screaming a massive NO to the heavens, he’s still awesome.

Of course, that does bring us to Anakin Skywalker, portrayed by Hayden Christensen, and who is the most divisive actor who played Vader, albeit in his pre-cyborg form. I think a lot of the problems Christensen was criticized for while portraying Vader in the prequels was due to Lucas and his poor direction, and not due to any inherent fault on his part, as Christensen is a good actor otherwise. Case in point: any scene in Revenge of the Sith where Christensen does not have to speak and instead has to rely on giving evil glares or just looking intimidating works. I think he does a great job in Revenge of the Sith overall, and his portrayal of Anakin definitely works best in that prequel due to him really selling the frustration of his superiors not taking him seriously or trusting him, which makes his eventual slide into villainy after putting his trust in Palpatine a lot easier to swallow.

Motivation/Goals: Vader’s motivations and goals are not exactly where he shines, as it is pretty standard evil overlord stuff: he wants to crush the rebels, serve his master, and do whatever needs to be done to ensure that the power he has does not get taken away. It’s standard stuff, and even at the time it likely wasn’t a wholly original idea, but part of the reason it probably feels so generic nowadays is that so many people in every art form imaginable – books, TV, video games, and other movies – have ripped Vader off to the point where he almost appears to be a generic doomsday villain if you only look at a summary of his goals. Thankfully, this is far from the case.

Personality: Vader’s personality is where he really shines. Revenge of the Sith paints the portrait of a brilliant, talented young man who is constantly looked down upon and ignored by his peers despite his numerous successes and who is unable to openly be with the woman he loves and who carries his children due to ridiculous rules; is it any wonder he was taken advantage of by a predatory elder and groomed into a psychopath, only realizing far too late what had been done to him? This aspect of his personality has often been criticized by those who hate the prequels, but I think it is important to show that Vader was once a normal, frustrated young man who honestly had good intentions and wanted to protect others, because it helps make his eventual turn away from the Dark Side and redemption at least be a little believable.

Once he truly becomes the Vader we all know and love, he loses sight of who he was and buries himself in the Vader persona. What happened on Mustafar with Padme and Obi-Wan broke Anakin, and so he truly throws himself into the Darth Vader identity. He becomes cold, ruthless, and downright terrifying, with only brief glimpses to the cornier, kinder persona that the man who hates sandf with a passion once had, the moment where he makes a lame pun in Rogue One being the perfect example of the cheesy Anakin of the prequels shining through if only for a brief moment before Vader’s final scene in Rogue One shows that Anakin has once more been suppressed and the terrifying Vader persona is out in full force, with the real Anakin only breaking through in the end to restore balance to the Force.

Final Fate: Vader, in a final act of heroism, picks up Palpatine and tosses him down into a pit to save the life of his son Luke. Ultimately, this means that Vader fulfilled that prophecy from so long ago and restored balance to the Force, redeeming him in the eyes of his son and allowing him to become one with the Force itself and stand beside his former mentors Obi-Wan and Yoda in the final scene. It is a bit cheesy and even a little hard to swallow if you think too hard, but come on, it’s a fun space opera where good triumphs over evil and true love prevails, so just let Anakin have his little redemption.

Best Scene: The scene in which he emerges from the pitch black hallway in Rogue One and mercilessly slaughters a group of rebels with absolutely no effort, washing away decades of diminishing returns and undermining of his threat level in under a minute as the franchise reestablishes Vader as the horrifying threat he originally was.

Best Quote: Can it really be anything other than the (at the time) mind-blowing reveal he drops on Luke in The Empire Strikes Back after Luke accuses him of killing his dad? Say it with me now:

“No, I am your father.”

Some of you probably said it wrong, but I can assure you the line written above is exactly as it was said in the movie.

Final Thoughts & Score: There’s honestly no denying the level of impact Darth Vader has had; I’d say he’s up there with characters like Mickey Mouse and Mario, just an instantly identifiable character anyone off the top of their heads can name. George Lucas struck gold when he came up with this guy, that’s for sure. Is it any wonder that there are so many characters all across fiction who draw inspiration from Vader?

Vader stands tall as one of the greatest creations in pop culture, and though characters that copy him tend to offer diminishing returns – with a few notable exceptions, of course – he definitely is a wonderful source of inspiration, especially when it comes to designing a character who is still interesting and absorbing despite having seemingly simple, cliched motives. And while it is true Vader comes off as a bit cliched these days because he pretty much wrote the book on a lot of the cliches attributed to him and his ripoffs, my point still stands, because even in modern times you’d be hard pressed to hear anyone call Vader a poor villain despite his main goal basically being “kill rebels.”

Vader is a rare breed, and so deserves a rare score. He is the only villain as of now I think truly deserves an 11/10. He is the villain other villains wish they could be. He is the most striking character in the entire cast. He’s so downright cool, is it any wonder his own grandson decided to emulate him by becoming his biggest fanboy?

While Vader does ultimately redeem himself in the end, it serves as a culmination of one of the most profoundly tragic character arcs in cinema, as a wide-eyed idealistic boy full of love, hope, and a sense of righteousness is slowly and surely broken down by the world around him and the very heroes he idolized to the point where he is preyed upon by a predatory authority figure who whispers everything he wants to hear in his ear and offers him something he never got before: respect… and then from there, his life spirals downward ever further, until he ends up being utterly consumed by hatred as he burns alive on an alien planet before the man he considered a friend and a brother, the knowledge that his wife feared him in his mind as he was fried to a crisp; and when he is finally brought back as a cyborg, his first moments awake again are shaken by the revelation his wife is now dead, and he is responsible. And then from his lowest point, we see Vader climb again into the light, extremely slowly, until that final choice he makes where he can either do the right thing as he was always meant to or continue subjugating the galaxy that beat him down and abused him.

The fact he chose to be good in the end despite everything in his life prior, despite all of the crimes he committed, really makes him a far more interesting character than if he had been straight-up evil to the core. Instead, he is the ultimate darkly tragic fallen hero given one last shot of redemption in the arms of death. It’s beautiful in the cheesy, dramatic way only Star Wars can be, and I think that more than anything is why Vader has endured as a cultural icon, because at his core he is everything beautiful, tragic, and cheesy about Star Wars rolled into one awesome, black-clad Sith Lord.

[dalekofchaos]

List of ways they could’ve handled Luke in the Sequel Trilogy

My other Sequel trilogy wasted potential posts

Rey

Finn

Poe

Rose

Luke

Han

Leia

Kylo Ren

Hux

Captain Phasma

Snoke

Actually use Luke in The Force Awakens. Don’t waste Mark Hamill. Don’t exclude him from marketing. Don’t force him to be on a mountain and say no lines whatsoever.

Have Luke’s big reveal be on Starkiller Base. Use Mark Hamill’s suggestion. ‘You can still have me come in at the very end, but how about this. How about Leia’s trying to contact me telepathically, she gets frustrated because there’s no answers, so she rushes to the new Death Star’–that’s three, so far.”He continued, “‘And she almost gets there but she gets stopped by two Stormtroopers and, just before she’s abducted, one Stormtrooper turns to the other one, blows him away, pulls off his helmet and says “Hi, sis, I’m here to rescue you.”‘ I say, ‘It’ll blow the roof off the joint, I’m still in it at the very end.'”“I think it’s more effective to have people that really have a history with Han Solo witness his death and be unable to stop it,” the actor claimed. “His wife, the mother of his child, his best friend, instead of two characters that have known him, what, 20 minutes?”

Use Mark’s other suggestion. After Finn is knocked unconscious, have the person who lifts the Skywalker Lightsaber be Luke. Luke duels Kylo and defeats his nephew and saves Rey and Finn. I know Jedi and force sensitives are more durable than normal people, but if you are thrown into a tree, you are going to be unconscious for at least an hour. So yes Luke being the one to lift the lightsaber would’ve been much better. It would’ve been a great entrance. The entire audience would have been cheering as they witness Luke’s return. Luke helps Chewie getting Rey and Finn aboard the Falcon and returns to D’Qar. Reunites with Leia and ends with Luke, Rey and Finn flying to the Ancient Jedi Temple on Ach-To preparing to train the new Jedi. 

Luke grieves for Han

Luke actually trying to help Ben as a Padawan, but it is in vain as he already turned to the dark side and made his choice.

Luke will tell Rey why he left the map behind. He wanted Leia to come and find him. It is revealed that Luke  did not run away, did not even consider running away, but rather went looking for the Jedi’s beginnings find the balance of dark and light–Luke Skywalker felt Rey and Finn awaken across half the galaxy, and settled on Ach-To, and waited.

Let Luke and Rey have a meaningful mentor and student relationship. Luke trains Rey, Rey develops her skills and Rey has a father figure that shows her place in the galaxy

Reveal that Luke is Rey’s father. After Rey falls into the dark side cave, Luke finds her and brings her near the fire and is there to comfort her. Then the revelation happens. Rey says “I’ve never felt so alone.” And we get Luke telling her “the force is strong in my family. My father had it, I have it, my sister has it and my daughter has it” “There is a reason you dreamed of this place.” “You were never meant to be left on Jakku…I thought you died the night in the academy.” “All those years. I was so alone.” “I know. I’m sorry.” “Did you ever try to find me?” “Of course. For so long I searched the galaxy for you. Everyone said that you had died that night in the temple, that I should give up searching. But through the force, I could still feel you. I knew you were still alive. Every face I seen, it was your. Every voice I heard, it was yours. It drove me crazy. I came to this island, turned away from the force because it was so hard. Feeling that you were somewhere in the galaxy and being unable to find you. Seeing you in front of me right now… I’ve never felt so lucky.” And Rey with tears in her eyes. “I waited so long for you and your finally here” they embrace, father and daughter reunited.” Rey then asks about her mother. Luke sadly says “her name was Mara Jade and she loved you very much.” Rey why she was left on Jakku. “Because of your cousin Ben, Kylo Ren.”  Luke tells her that after a decade of training Ben, and fighting to keep the dark side at bay, Ben turned to the dark side because his family kept the secret that Darth Vader was his grandfather. He still wanted to help his nephew and save him from Snoke. One night he went to him to talk to him, Ben saw this as Luke being afraid of his power and Ben was the one to strike first. And then he woke up to see the other Jedi Masters dead. His wife Mara Jade dead and even the younglings dead. Only six other Jedi left with Ben, those who would become the Knights Of Ren. Rey left with Ben because she trusted her cousin and she couldn’t find Luke or Mara.  and Ben left her on Jakku where no one would ever find her because a part of him couldn’t kill his cousin.

If we had to have a broken Luke, what would bring him back, is his father. Basically have a Lion King moment with Anakin and Luke. "You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself Luke, you are more than what you have become." would've meant more in my opinion if it were Anakin who reached out to Luke than Yoda.

Luke wants to save Leia. He  lifts his X-Wing and heads towards The Supremacy. Boards the ship and confronts Snoke. Luke will reveal his Green Lightsaber and Snoke’s own Black Lightsaber. They fight, while Rey and Kylo fights. Luke defeats Snoke, but Kylo cuts Rey’s hand off. Enraged, Luke knocks Kylo out with a force repulse. So Luke gives Chewie the signal and gets Rey to safety, while Luke heads back to his X-Wing. 

On Crait as Finn is about to make his sacrifice, we see Luke’s X-Wing firing and destroying the mini death star. 

Luke is actually there with his moment with Leia. He is there in person, not a force projection, he. is. there.

A true fight between Luke and Kylo. Kylo Ren orders every ship to fire on Luke AT-M6’s all firing but to everyone’s surprise, all blasts stop frozen in midair. Luke wipes the salt off his robes and sends the turbolasers right back at the AT-M6s and TIE-Fighters. Brings down the transports and Kylo’s shuttle and the Star Destroyers in orbit. Kylo descends from his crushed shuttle, preparing to kill his uncle. We have a real lightsaber battle between Luke and Kylo. Luke has his green lightsaber. Their blades clash. Their dialogue remains the same, but Luke is there. Luke is toying with Kylo, similar to how Vader toyed with him on Bespin.  When Kylo makes his dramatic slut ™ lunge at Luke, but Luke dodges and cuts Kylo’s hand off. And finally Luke gives his “see you around kid” but Luke does not die, he leaves to board his X-Wing 

It ends with Rey, Luke and Leia together, brother and sister holding onto Rey’s hand. A father and his daughter and her aunt. “We have everything we need

What they chose to do with Luke instead

Luke is not marketed at all in The Force Awakens and is on a mountain and is only there as a cameo with no lines whatsoever

The Force Awakens established that Luke left a map to be found. It is never brought up. Han said he left to find the Temple to the First Jedi. It is never brought up. Funny how what was established is never brought up in the movie whatsoever

Luke, Han and Leia do not reunite at all. 

Luke gives up. Luke Skywalker is a beacon of hope and optimism and love against all odds, and the fact that that was twisted into being depicted as some foolish youth naivety, and that the only way to make him “human” was to retract all that and make him a bitter, jaded man is so fucking disgusting. Even more disgusting is in TLJ novelization had him dreaming of never leaving Tatooine and having him live under the Empire's dominance. He does not even care that his sister’s life and the Resistance she is leading is in danger. Jedi do not give up. You might say that Yoda and Obi-Wan also gave up. But for those two, the Sith took over the galaxy, they had to go into hiding to protect and guide Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan wanted to save Leia and guide Luke. Yoda always wanted to train Leia as a Jedi and bring Anakin back to the light. He was reluctant to train Luke but he still did his duty as a Jedi Master. They did not just give up and wanted to die and they did not betray their characters at all. Luke spends most of Last Jedi on a windswept island, brooding in solemn silence and frozen by indecision. He doesn’t connect with Rey on any meaningful level, doesn’t impart wisdom or knowledge, and never reasserts himself as the powerful Jedi he once was. A brief physical duel against Rey ends with her as the undisputed victor, completely killing his deserved mythos and her potential character arc in one fell swoop. It’s clear in that moment that he has nothing to teach her, and nothing to contribute to the overall narrative. The boundless potential that seemed poised to explode at the end of The Force Awakens fizzles here but never ignites.  And without any training at all, Rey defeats Luke Skywalker and Luke acts all cowardly and begs her to leave. He does buy The Resistance time and saves his sister, but it was ultimately pointless. He wasn’t even there and he dies pointlessly. What we got was not Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker is hope and optimism. Luke Skywalker is showing that no matter what, compassion, faith and love will always prevail. Luke is the hero that inspired an entire generations to aspire to be better, aspire to be heroes. Luke is what we wanted to see and what we got was not Luke Skywalker. Luke is someone who thought Doctor Aphra was a good person, she proves him wrong but he still had that hope for her. Luke believed that Darth Vader of all people still had good in him and was willing to die and he was able to reach his father. In Battlefront II’s Story, Luke saves Del Meeko because he asked and he offered Del a better life, a choice. Inferno Squad has committed atrocities in the name of the Empire, yet Luke still gave Del Meeko a chance. Canon Luke Skywalker is a kind hearted hero who will never run from a fight or knowingly leave a loved one in danger and will even save his enemy. This is Luke Skywalker. Luke is compassionate, adores his family, would never leave them. The Luke Skywalker I knew would never even think about killing his nephew in his sleep when there is always another way. Luke believes in the light and was willing to die to save his father. Darth Vader committed atrocities for decades, Luke still believed there was good in him. He would never give up on his family nor would he even consider killing his own nephew in his sleep just because he sensed darkness there. He would never abandon his sister at death’s door when she needed him most. The Hero’s Journey that he was following was ignored completely and he just gave up and wanted to die. And he dies instead of reuniting with Leia properly. Mark Hamill wanted Luke to live until Episode IX where he would pass on what he learned to Rey. No big battle with Snoke, no passing on, instead Luke dies and all we’re getting is force ghost Luke. Luke Skywalker was a hero to an entire generation.  Luke was the true heart of Star Wars. His was the journey we followed from idealistic farm boy dreaming of adventure, to reluctant warrior, and finally to savior of the entire galaxy. The original trilogy built him up, and The Last Jedi finally broke him down. I for one mourn my hero’s passing.   

Luke Skywalker tries to murder his nephew in his sleep and  is blamed for Ben Solo’s fall and Kylo Ren. Luke would not even think of trying to kill his nephew in his sleep. He would try to talk to him and try to pull him back to the light. His sister brought Ben there for protection and guidance. Even if that did fail, you did not need to make Luke attempt to murder him. You did not need to make Luke, Leia and Han at fault for Kylo Ren. Kylo is a grown ass man, he is responsible for his own actions. Kylo was going to murder the Jedi and younglings regardless, he already fell to the dark side. No one is responsible for Kylo’s actions but Kylo Ren.

Rey and Luke have no meaningful relationship. There is no teacher and student relationship. Luke teaches her nothing. Rey is already all powerful for.....reasons. He doesn’t even impart any sort of wisdom, guidance or a semblance that they even had a relationship or that he taught her anything. All he was towards Rey was a bitter old man trying to get the girl to leave her lawn. And all of a sudden “we passed on all we know” SINCE FUCKING WHEN??? Rey learned nothing all movie and we are to expect she learns everything off screen. We were deprived of a positive Rey and Luke mentor and student relationship and we were given complete garbage. What we should've gotten was Luke teaching Rey to feel the force, to build her own lightsaber and that attachments can lead you to the dark side if you let them, but they won't lead you to darkness if you control your emotions. A battle between Rey and Luke against Kylo and the Knights Of Ren. Rey abducted and Luke has to lift his X-Wing and board the Supremacy to save Rey. Luke fighting Snoke and Rey against Kylo. Rey loses her fight and loses a hand. Luke stops Snoke and takes Rey to escape. Luke blasts away the battering laser. Fights Kylo on Crait with his green lightsaber. Escapes and reunites with Leia and Rey. Instead we are given nothing.

Luke doesn’t grieve for Han. Han Solo is Luke’s best friend. They have been together for decades. We are not allowed to see Luke react to Han’s death or Luke to grieve that his best friend is dead. Han was a big influence and friend it was dismissed as if he barely knew him. To quote Mark Hamill on the matter “They had time for me to milk that big alien but to show any human emotion? Nah"

Luke’s last moment with Leia is ultimately pointless. He was there as a projection. His last moment with Leia was made meaningless. He wasn't even there. It was a great moment with Mark and Carrie, but it was ultimately a giant fuck you to everyone who loved Luke and Leia and wanted to see them reunite. 

Luke’s confrontation with Kylo is ultimately meaningless. We are not allowed to see Luke Skywalker as a powerful Jedi Master. He does not wield his Green Lightsaber, he does not bring down all the AT-ATs, the transports, shuttles or bring down the star destroyers in orbit. He’s not even there thus making the confrontation with Kylo ultimately pointless. He toys with Kylo, but we don’t see a lightsaber fight between them.

Luke is only coming back as a force ghost and from the sound of it, it will only be a cameo. 

Mark Hamill was ultimately disgusted with the direction they took with Luke. He is heartbroken that he never got to reunite with his friends and that Carrie is no longer with us. He now wishes that he’s done with Star Wars. He went from being excited to returning to the role that made his career and the character that he loves so much to being broken and apathetic. Crying on set and just being absolutely miserable throughout the whole affair. Mark did not return to play Luke Skywalker, he returned to play Jake Soywalker. It’s like Mark said “should’ve left well enough alone” Should’ve left the original trilogy alone and made your own story, but no, you had to break down Han, Luke and Leia to pointlessly build up these new characters. Mark Hamill and Luke Skywalker deserved better

Mark tried to warn us

[ariainstars]

Thank You, Disney Lucasfilm… For Destroying My Dreams

Warning: longer post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So… I watched The Rise of Skywalker on Disney+ a few weeks ago. Again.

Sigh.

I guess it has its good sides. But professional critics tend to dislike it and even the general audience doesn’t go crazy for it. I wonder why?

  The Fantasy

When his saga became a groundbreaking pop phenomenon in the 1970es, George Lucas reportedly said that he wanted to tell fairy tales again in world that no longer seemed to offer young people a chance to grow up with them. The fact that his saga was met with such unabashed, international enthusiasm proves that he was right: people long for fairy tales no matter how old they are and what culture they belong to.

“Young people today don’t have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did… All they’ve got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. All the films they see are movies of disasters and insecurity and realistic violence.” (George Lucas)

I’ve been a Star Wars fan for more than thirty years. I love the Original Trilogy but honestly it did not make me dream much, perhaps because when I saw it the trilogy was already complete. The Prequel Trilogy also did not inspire my fantasy.

The Last Jedi accomplished something that no TV show, book or film had managed in years: it made me dream. The richness of colorful characters, multifaceted themes, unexpected developments, intriguing relationships was something I had not come across in a long time: it fascinated me. I felt like a giddy teenager reading up meta’s, writing my own and imagining all sorts of beautiful endings for the saga for almost two years.

So if there’s something The Rise of Skywalker can pride itself on for me, it’s that it crushed almost every dream I had about it. The few things I had figured out – Rey’s fall to the Dark, Ben Solo’s redemption, the connection between them - did not even make me happy because they were tainted by the flatness of the storytelling reducing the Force to a superpower again (like the general audience seems to believe it is), and its deliberate ignoring of almost all messages of The Last Jedi.

Many fans of the Original Trilogy also were disillusioned by the saga over the decades and ranted at the studios for “destroying their childhood”. Now we, the fans of the sequels and in particular of The Last Jedi, are in the same situation… but the thought doesn’t make the pill much easier to swallow. What grates on my nerves is the feeling that someone trampled on my just newly found dreams like a naughty child kicking a doll’s house apart. Why give us something to dream of in the first place, then? To a certain extent I can understand that many fans would angrily assume that Disney Lucasfilm made the Sequel Trilogy for the purpose of destroying their idea of the saga. The point is that they had their happy ending, while every dream the fans of the Sequel Trilogy may have had was shattered with this unexpectedly flat and hollow final note.

I know many fans who dislike the Prequel Trilogy heartily. I also prefer the Original Trilogy, but I find the prequels all right in their own way, also since I gave them some thought. However, it can’t be denied that they lack the magic spark which made the Original Trilogy so special. Which makes sense since they are not a fairy tale but ultimately a tragedy, but in my opinion it’s the one of the main reasons why the Prequel Trilogy never was quite so successful, or so beloved.

Same goes for Rogue One, Solo, or Clone Wars. They’re ok in their way, but not magical.

The sequel trilogy started quite satisfyingly with The Force Awakens, but for me, the actual bomb dropped with The Last Jedi. Reason? It was a magical story. It had the spark again that I had missed in the new Star Wars stories for decades! And it was packed full of beautiful messages and promises.

The Force is not a superpower belonging solely to the Jedi Anyone can be a hero. Even the greatest heroes can fail, but they will still be heroes. Hope is like the sun: if you only believe in it when you see it you’ll never make it through the night. Failure is the greatest teacher. It’s more important to save the light than to seem a hero. No one is never truly gone. War is only a machine. Dark Side and Light Side can be unbeatable if they are allies. Save what you love instead of destroying what you hate.

Naively, I assumed the trilogy would continue and end in that same magical way. And then came The Rise of Skywalker… which looks and feels like a Marvel superhero story at best and an over-long videogame at worst.

Chekov’s Gun

“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”

(Anton Chekov, 1860 - 1904)

If you show an important looking prop and don’t put it to use, it leaves the audience feeling baffled. There is a huge difference between a story’s setup, and the audience’s feeling of entitlement. E.g. many viewers expected Luke to jump right back into the fray in Episode VIII, because that’s what a hero does, isn’t it? The cavalry comes and saves the day. And instead, we met a disillusioned elderly hermit who is tired of the ways of the Jedi. But there was no actual reason for disappointment: in Episode VII it was very clearly said (through Han, his best friend) that Luke had gone into exile on purpose, feeling responsible for his failure in teaching a new generation of Jedi. It would have been more than stupid to show him as an all-powerful and all-knowing man who kills the bad guys. Sorry but who expected that was a victim to his own prejudice.

A promise left unfulfilled is a different story. The Last Jedi set up a lot of promises that didn’t come true in The Rise of Skywalker: Balance as announced by the Jedi temple mosaic, a new Jedi Order hinted at by Luke on Crait, a good ending for Ben and Rey set up by the hand-touching scene which was opposite to Anakin’s and Padmés wedding scene. Many fans were annoyed about the Canto Bight sequence. I liked it because it felt like the set-up for a lot of important stuff: partnership between Finn and Rose whom we see working together excellently, freedom for the enslaved children (one of whom is Force-sensitive), DJ and Rose expressing what makes wars in general foolish and beside the point. So if we, the fans of Episode VIII, now feel angry and let down, I daresay it’s not due to entitlement. We were announced magical outcomes and not just pew-pew.

The Star Wars saga never repeated itself but always developed and enlarged its themes, so it was to be expected that delving deeper, uncomfortable truths would come out: wars don’t start out of nowhere, and they don’t flare up and continue for decades for the same reason. In order to find Balance, the Jedi’s and the Skywalker family’s myths needed to be dismantled. Which is not necessarily bad as long it is explained how things came to this, and a better alternative is offered. The prequels explained the old political order and the beginnings of the Skywalker family, and announced that the next generation would do better. The sequels hardly explained anything about the 30 years that passed since our heroes won the battle against the Empire, and while The Last Jedi hinted at the future a lot, The Rise of Skywalker seemed to make a point of ignoring all of it.

  The Skywalker Family Is Obliterated. Why?

Luke was proven right that his nephew would mean the end of everything he loved. The lineage of the Chosen One is gone. His grandson had begun where Vader had ended - tormented, pale and with sad eyes - and he met the same fate. Luke, Han, Leia, all sacrificed themselves to bring Ben Solo back for nothing. Him being the reincarnation of the Chosen One and getting a new chance should have been meaningful for all of them; instead, he literally left the scepter to Rey who did nothing to deserve it: merely because she killed the Bad Guy does not mean she will do a better job than the family whose name and legacy she proudly takes over.

I do hope there was a good reason if the sequels did not tell “The New Adventures of Luke, Leia and Han” and instead showed us a broken family on the eve of its wipeout. It would have been much easier, and more fun for the audience, to bring the trio back again after a few years and pick up where they had left. Instead we had to watch their son, nephew and heir go his grandfather’s way - born with huge power, branded as Meant to Be Dangerous from the start, tried his best to be a Jedi although he wanted to be a pilot, never felt accepted, abandoned in the moment of his greatest need, went to his abuser because he was the only one to turn to, became a criminal, his own family (in Anakin’s case: Obi-Wan and Yoda) trained the person who was closest to him to kill him, sacrificed himself for this person and died. And in his case, it’s particularly frustrating because Kylo Ren wasn’t half as impressive a villain as Vader, and Ben Solo had a very limited time of heroism and personal fulfilment, contrarily to Anakin when he was young.

The impact of The Rise of Skywalker was traumatic for some viewers. I know of adolescents and adults, victims of family abandonment and abuse, who identified with Ben: they were told that you can never be more than the sum of your abuse and abandonment, and that they’re replaceable if they’re not “good”. Children identifying with Rey were told that their parents might sell them away for “protection”. Rey was not conflicted, she had a few doubts but overall, she was cool about everything she did, so she got everything on a silver platter; that’s why as a viewer, after a while you stopped caring for her. Her antagonist was doomed from birth because he dared to question the choices other people made for him. It seems that in the Star Wars universe, you can only “rise” if you’re either a criminal but cool because you’ve always got a bucket over your head (Vader / the Mandalorian) or are a saint-like figure (Luke / Rey).

One of Obi-Wan’s first actions in A New Hope is cutting off someone’s arm who was only annoying him; Han Solo, ditto. These were no acts of self-defense. The Mandalorian is an outlaw. Yet they are highly popular. Why? Because they always keep their cool, so anything they do seems justified. Young Anakin was hated, Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen attacked for his portrayal. For the same reason many fans feel that Luke is the least important of the original trio although basically the Original Trilogy is his story: it seems the general audience hates nothing more than emotionality in a guy. They want James Bond, Batman or Indiana Jones as the lead. Padmé loved Anakin because she always saw the good little boy he once was in him; his attempts at impressing her with his flirting or his masculinity failed. Kylo tried to impress Rey with his knowledge and power, but she fled from him - she wanted the gentle, emphatic young man who had listened to her when she felt alone. Good message. But both died miserably, and Ben didn’t even get anything but a kiss. Realizing that his “not being as strong as Darth Vader” might actually be a strength of its own would have meant much more.

The heroes of the Original Trilogy had their adventures together and their happy ending; the heroes of the Prequel Trilogy also had good times and accomplishments in their youth, before everything went awry. Rey, Finn and Poe feel like their friendship hardly got started; Rose was almost obliterated from the narrative; and Ben Solo seems to have had only one happy moment in his entire life. Of course it’s terrible that he committed patricide (even if it was under coercion), but Anakin / Vader himself had two happy endings in the Prequel Trilogy before he became the monster we know so well. Not to mention Clone Wars, where he has heroic moments unnumbered.

The Skywalker family is obliterated without Balance in the Force, and the young woman who inherited all doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from all this. The Original Trilogy became a part of pop culture among other things because its ending was satisfying. We can hardly be expected to be satisfied with an ending where our heroes are all dead and the heir of their worst enemy takes over. What good was the happy ending of the Original Trilogy for if they didn’t learn enough from their misadventures to learn how to protect one single person - their son and nephew, their future?

For a long time, I also thought that the saga was about Good vs. Evil. Watching the prequels again, I came to the conclusion that it is rather about Love vs. War. And now, considering as a whole, I believe it to be essentially Jedi against Skywalker. The ending, as it is now, says that both fractions lost: they annihilated one another, leaving a third party in charge, who believes to be both but actually knows very little about them.

Star Wars and Morality

After 9 films and 42 years, it still is not possible to make the general audience accept that it is wrong to divide people between Good and Evil in the first place. The massive rejection of both prequels and sequels, which have moral grey zones galore, shows it.

It is also not possible without being accused of actual blasphemy in the same fandom, to say the plain truth that no Skywalker ever was a Jedi at heart. As their name says, they’re pilots. Luke was the last and strongest of all Jedi because he always was first and foremost himself. Anakin was crushed by the Jedi’s attempts to stifle his feelings. His grandson, too. A Force-sensitive person ought to have the choice whether they want to be a Jedi or not; they ought not to be taught to suppress their emotions and live only on duty, without really caring for other people; and they ought to grow up feeling in a safe and loving environment, not torn away from their families in infancy, indoctrinated and provided with a light sabre (a deadly weapon) while they’re still small. A Jedi order composed of child soldiers or know-it-all’s does not really help anybody.

The original Star Wars saga was about love and friendship; although many viewers did not want to understand that message. The prequels portrayed the Jedi as detached and arrogant and Anakin Skywalker sympathetically, a huge disappointment for who only accepts stories of the “lonesome cowboy” kind. The Last Jedi was so hated that The Rise of Skywalker backpedaled: sorry, of course you’re right, here you have your “hero who knows everything better and fixes everything for you on a silver platter”. The embarrassing antihero, who saves the girl who was the only person showing him some human compassion, can die miserably in the process and is not even mourned.

Honestly: I was doubtful whether it would be adequate to give Ben Solo a happy ending after the patricide. I guess letting him die was the easiest way out for the authors to escape censorship. (I even wrote this in a review on amazon about The Last Jedi, before I delved deeper into the saga’s themes.) The messages we got now are even worse.

Kylo Ren / Ben Solo

A parent can replace a child if they’re not the way they expect them to be. A victim of lifelong psychical and physical abuse can only find escape in death, whether he damns or redeems himself. An introspective, sensitive young man is a loser no matter how hard he tries either way. A whole family can sacrifice itself to save their heir, he dies anyway.

Rey

Self-righteousness is acceptable as long as you find a scapegoat for your own failings. Overconfidence justifies anything you do. You can’t carve your way as a female child of “nobodies”, you have to descend from someone male and powerful even if that someone is the devil incarnate. You are a “strong female” if you choose to be lonely; you need neither a partner nor friends.

In General

Star Wars is not about individual choices, loyalty, friendship and love, it is a classic Western story with a lonesome cowboy (in this case: cowgirl) at its centre. Satisfied? 

The father-son-relationship between Vader and Luke mirrors the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, saying that whoever we may want to kill is, in truth, our kin, which makes a clear separation in Good and Evil impossible. The “I am your father” scene is so infamous by now that even non-fans are aware of it; but this relationship between evil guy and good guy, as well as the plot turns where the villain saves the hero and that the hero discards his weapon are looked upon rather as weird narrative quirks instead of a moral. 

In  an action movie fan, things are simple: good guy vs. bad guy, the good guy (e.g. James Bond may be a murderer and a misogynist, but that’s ok because he’s cool about it) kills the bad guy, ka-boom, end of story. But Star Wars is a parable, an ambitious project told over decades of cinema, and a multilayered story with recurring themes.

A fairy tale ought to have a moral. The moral of both Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy was compassionate love - choose it and you can end a raging conflict, reject it and you will cause it. What was the moral of the Sequel Trilogy? You can be the offspring of the galaxy’s worst terror and display a similar attitude, but pose as a Jedi and kill unnecessarily, and it’s all right; descend from Darth Vader (who himself was a victim long before he became a culprit) and whether you try to become a Jedi trained by Luke Skywalker or a Sith trained by his worst enemy, you will end badly?

Both original and prequel trilogy often showed “good” people making bad choices and the “bad ones” making the right choices. To ensure lasting peace, no Force user ought to be believe that he must choose one side and then stick to it for the rest of his life: both sides need one another. The prequels took 3 films to convey this message, though not saying so openly. The Last Jedi said it out clearly - and the authors almost had their heads ripped off by affronted fans, resulting in The Rise of Skywalker’s fan service. It’s not like Luke, Han and Leia were less heroic in the Sequel Trilogy, on the contrary, they gave everything they had to their respective cause. They were not united, and they were more human than they had once been. Apparently, that’s an affront.

The Jedi are no perfect heroes and know-it-all’s and they never were, the facts are there for everyone to see. Padmé went alone and pregnant to get her husband out of Mustafar - and she almost succeeded - although she knew what he had done and that he was perfectly capable of it (he had told her of the Tusken village massacre himself) because she still saw the good little boy he had been in him; Obi-Wan left him amputated and burning in the lava, although he had raised Anakin like a small brother and the latter had repeatedly saved his life. But Padmé was not a Jedi, so I guess she still had some human decency. Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda lifted a finger for the oppressed populations of the galaxy during the Empire, waiting instead for Anakin’s son to grow up so they could trick him into committing patricide. Neither Luke nor Leia did anything for their own son and nephew while he became the scourge of the galaxy, damning his soul by committing crime after crime. On Exegol, Rey heard the voices of all Jedi encouraging her to fight Palpatine to death. After that, they left her to die alone, and the alleged “bad guy”, who had already saved her soul from giving in to Palpatine’s lures, had to save her life by giving her his own. The Jedi merely know that “their side” has to win, no matter the cost for anyone’s life, sanity, integrity or happiness.

Excuse me, these are simple facts. How anyone can still believe that the Jedi were super-powerful heroes who always win or all-knowing wizards who are always right is beyond me. Luke, the last and strongest of them, like a bright flickering of light before the ultimate end, showed us that the best of men can fail. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. But it is wrong and utterly frustrating when all of the failure never leads to anything better. If Rey means to rebuild the Jedi order to something better than it was, there was no hint at that whatsoever.

  And What Now?

The Last Jedi hit theatres only 2 years before The Rise of Skywalker, and I can’t imagine that the responsible authors all have forgotten how to make competent work in the meantime; more so considering that Solo or The Mandalorian are solid work. Episode IX is thematically so painfully flat it seems like they wanted us to give up on the saga on purpose. The last instalment of a 42-year-old saga ought to have been the best and most meaningful. I had heard already decades ago that the saga was supposed to have 9 chapters, so I was not among who protested against the sequels thinking that they had been thought up to make what had come before invalid. I naively assumed a larger purpose. But Episode IX only seems to prove these critics perfectly right.

The last of the flesh and blood of the Chosen One is dead without having “finished what his grandfather started”?

Still no Balance in the Force?

And worst of all, Palpatine’s granddaughter taking over, having proven repeatedly that she is not suited for the task?

Sorry, this “ending” is absurd. I have read fanfiction that was better written and more interesting. And, most of all, less depressing. I was counting on a conclusion that showed that the Force has all colours and nuances, and that it’s not limited to the black-and-white view “we against them”. That’s the ending all of us fans would have deserved, instead of catering the daddy issues of the part of the audience who doesn’t want stories other than those of the “lonesome cowboy” kind. I myself grew up on Japanese anime, maybe that’s one of the reasons why I can’t stand guys like James Bond or Batman and why I think you don’t need “a great hero who fixes the situation” but that group spirit and communication are way more important.

It was absolutely unexpected that Disney, the production company whose trademark are happy endings and family stories, would end this beloved and successful saga after almost half a century on such a hollow note. Why tell first a beautiful fairy tale and then leave the audience on a hook for 35 years to continue first with a tragedy (which at least was expected) and then with another (unexpected one)? And this story is supposed to be for children? Like children would understand all of the subtext, and love sad, cautionary tales. Children, as well as the general audience, first of all want to be entertained! No one wants to watch the legendary Skywalker family be obliterated and a Palpatine take over. The sequels were no fun anymore; we’ve been left with another open ending and hardly an explanation about what happened in the 30 years in between. If you want to tell a cautionary tale, you should better warn the general audience beforehand.

The Original Trilogy is so good because it’s entertaining and offers room for thought for who wants to think about its deeper themes, and also leaves enough space for dreams. Same goes for the first two films of the Sequel Trilogy; but precisely the last, which should have wrapped up the saga, leaves us with a bitter aftertaste and dozens of questions marks. 

We as the audience believe that a story, despite the tragic things that happen, must go somewhere; we get invested into the characters, we root for them, we want to see them happy in the end. (The authors of series like Girls, How I Met Your Mother or Game of Thrones ought to be reminded of that, too.) I was in contact with children and teenagers saying that the Sequel Trilogy are “boring”; and many, children or adults, who were devastated by its concluson. There is a difference between wanting to tell a cautionary tale and playing the audience for fools. This trilogy could have become legendary like the Original Trilogy, had it fulfilled its promises instead of “keeping it low” with its last chapter. Who watches a family or fantasy story or a romantic / comedic sitcom wants to escape into another world, not to be hit over his head with a mirror to his own failings, and the ones of the society he’s living in. Messages are all right, but they ought not to go at the cost of the audience’s satisfaction about the about the people and narrative threads they have invested in for years.

This isn’t a family story: but children probably didn’t pester the studios with angry e-mails and twitter messages etc. They simply counted on a redemption arc and happy ending, and they were right, because they’re not as stupid as adults are. I have read and watched many a comment from fans who hate The Last Jedi. Many of these fans couldn’t even pinpoint what their rage was all about, they only proved to be stuck with the original trilogy and unwilling to widen their horizon. But at least their heroes had had their happy ending: The Rise of Skywalker obliterated the successes of all three generations of Skywalkers.

If the film studios wanted to tease us, they’ve excelled. If they expect the general audience to break their heads over the sequels’ metaphysics, they have not learned from the reactions to the prequels that most viewers take these films at face value. Not everybody is elbows-deep in the saga, or willing to research about it for months, and / or insightful enough to see the story’s connections. Which is why many viewers frown at the narrative and believe the Sequel Trilogy was just badly written. This trilogy could have become legendary like the Original Trilogy, had it fulfilled its promises instead of “keeping it low” with its last chapter. As it is now, the whole trilogy is hanging somewhere in the air, with neither a past nor a future to be tied in with.

The prequels already had the flaw of remaining too obscure: most fans are not aware that Anakin had unwillingly killed his wife during the terrible operation that turned him into Darth Vader, sucking her life out of her through the Force: most go by “she died of a broken heart”. So although one scene mirrors the other, it is not likely that most viewers will understand what Rey’s resurrection meant. And: Why did Darth Maul kill Qui-Gon Jinn? What did the Sith want revenge for? Who was behind Shmi’s abduction and torture? Who had placed the order for the production of the clones, and to what purpose? We can imagine or try to reconstruct the answers, but nothing is confirmed by the story itself.

The sequels remained even more in the dark, obfuscating what little explanation we got in The Rise of Skywalker with quick pacing and mind-numbing effects.

Kylo Ren had promised his grandfather that “he would finish what he started”: he did not. Whatever one can say of this last film, it did not bring Balance in the Force. What’s worse, the subject was not even breached. It was hinted at by the mosaic on the floor of the Prime Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, but although Luke and Rey were sitting on its border, they never seemed to see what was right under their noses. It remains inexplicable why it was there for everyone to see in the first place.

We might argue that Ben finished what his grandfather started by killing (or better, causing the death of) the last Jedi, who this one couldn’t kill because he was his own son; but leaving Rey in charge, he helped her finish what her grandfather had started. The irony could hardly be worse.

Episode IX looks like J.J. Abrams simply completed what they started with Episode VII, largely ignoring the next film as if it was always planned to do so. We, the angry and disappointed fans of The Last Jedi, may believe it was due to some of the general audience’s angry backlash, but honestly: the studios aren’t that dumb. They had to know that Episode VIII would be controversial and that many fans would hate it. The furious reactions were largely a disgrace, but no one can make me believe that they were totally unexpected. Nor can anyone convince me that The Rise of Skywalker was merely an answer to the small but very loud part of the audience who hated The Last Jedi: a company with the power and the returns of Disney Lucasfilm does not need to buckle down before some fan’s entitlement and narrowmindedness out of fear of losing money. And if they do, it was foolish to make Rey so perfect that she becomes almost odious, and to let the last of the Skywalker blood die a meaningless death. (Had he saved the Canto Bight children and left them with Rey, at least he would have died with honor; and she, the child left behind by her parents, would have had a task to dedicate herself to.)

The only reason I can find for this odd ending is that it’s meant to prepare the way for Rian Johnson’s new trilogy, which - hopefully - will finally be about Balance. We as the audience don’t know what’s going on behind the doors. Filmmaking is a business like any other, i.e. based on contracts; and I first heard that Rian Johnson had negotiated a trilogy of his own since before Episode VIII hit theatres. Maybe he kept all the rights of intellectual property to his own film, including that he would finish the threads he picked up and close the narrative circles he opened, and only he; and that his alleged working on “something completely different” is deliberately misleading.

Some viewers love the original trilogy, some love the prequels, some like both; but I hardly expect anyone to love the sequel trilogy as a whole. What with the first instalment “letting the past die, killing it if they had to”, the second hinting at a promising future and the third patched on at the very last like some sort of band-aid, it was not coherent. I heard the responsible team for Game of Thrones even dropped their work, producing a dissatisfying, quickly sewn together last season, for this new Star Wars project and thereby disappointing millions of GoT fans; I hope they are aware of the expectations they have loaded upon them. George Lucas’ original trilogy had its faults, but but though there was no social media yet in his time, at least he was still close enough to the audience to give them what they needed, if not necessarily wanted. (Some fans can’t accept that Luke and Leia are siblings to this day, even if honestly, it was the very best plot twist to finish their story in a satisfying way.)

I’m hoping for now that The Last Jedi was not some love bombing directed at the more sentimental viewers but a promise that will be fulfilled. “Wrapping up” a saga by keeping the flattest, least convincing chapter for last is bad form. Star Wars did not become a pop phenomenon by accident, but because the original story was convincing and satisfying. Endings like these will hardly make anyone remember a story fondly, on the contrary, the audience will move to another fandom to forget their disappointment.

On a side note, I like The Mandalorian, exactly for the reason that that is a magical story; not as much as the original trilogy, but at least a little. Of course, I’m glad it was produced. But it’s a small consolation prize after the mess that supposedly wrapped up the original saga after 9 films.

We’re Not Blind, You Know…

- Though Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) has Darth Vader’s stature, his facial features are practically opposite to Vader’s creepy mask. This should have foreshadowed that his life should have gone the other way, instead of more or less repeating itself. - As a villain Kylo was often unconvincing; by all logic he should have been a good father figure. (Besides, Star Wars films or series never work unless there is a strong father or father figure at their center.)

- Like Vader, Kylo Ren was redeemed, but not rehabilitated. Who knows who may find his broken mask somewhere now and, not knowing the truth, promise “I will finish what you started”. - The hand-touching scene on Ahch-To which was visually opposite to Anakin’s and Padmé’s should not have predicted another tragedy but a happy ending for them. - The Canto Bight sequence was announcing reckoning for the weapon industry and freedom for the enslaved children. It also showed how well Finn and Rose fit together. - Rey was a good girl before she started on her adventures. Like Anakin or Luke, she did not need to become a Jedi to be strong or generous or heroic. - Rey summons Palpatine after one year of training. Kylo practically begged for his grandfather’s assistance for years, to no avail. Her potential for darkness is obviously much stronger. - Dark Rey’s light sabre looked like a fork, Kylo’s like a cross. - The last time all Jedi and Sith were obliterated leaving only Luke in charge, things went awry. Now we have a Palpatine masquerading as a Skywalker and believing she’s a Jedi. Rey is a usurper and universally cheered after years of war, like her grandfather. - The broom boy of Canto Bight looked like he was sweeping a stage and announcing “Free the stage, it’s time for us, the children.”

Rey failed in all instances where Luke had proved himself (so much for feminism and her being a Mary Sue): - Luke had forgiven his father despite all the pain he had inflicted on him. She stabbed the „bad guy”, who had repeatedly protected and comforted her, to death. - Luke never asked Vader to help the Rebellion or to turn to the Light Side, he only wanted him back as his father. She assumed that you could make Ben Solo turn, give up the First Order and join the Resistance for her. She thought of her friends and of her own validation, not of him. - Luke had made peace by choosing peace. Rey fought until the bitter end. - Luke had thrown his weapon away before Palpatine. Rey picked up a second weapon. (And both of them weren’t even her own.) - Luke had mourned his dead father. Rey didn’t shed a tear for the man she is bonded to by the Force. - Luke went back to his friends to celebrate the new peace with them. Rey went back letting everyone celebrate her like the one who saved the galaxy on her own, she who were tempted to become the new evil ruler of the galaxy and had to rely on the alleged Bad Guy to save both her soul and her body. - Luke had embodied compassion when Palpatine was all about hatred. Where he chose love and faith in his father, she chose violence and fear. - Luke had briefly fallen prey to the Dark Side but it made him realize that he had no right to judge his father. Rey’s fall to the Dark Side did not make her wiser. - Rey has no change of mind on finding out that she’s Palpatine’s flesh and blood, nor after she has stabbed Kylo. Luke had to face himself on learning that he had almost become a patricide. Rey does not have to face herself: the revelation of her ancestry is cushioned by Luke’s and Leia’s support. Rey is and remains an uncompromising person who hardly learns from her faults.

This is cheating on the audience. And it's not due to feminism or Rey being some sort of “Mary Sue” the way many affronted fans claim. Kylo never was truly a villain, Rey is not a heroine, and this is not a happy ending. The Jedi, with their stuck-up conviction “only we must win”, have failed all over again. The Skywalker family was obliterated leaving their worst enemy in charge.  Rey is supposed to be a “modern” heroine which young girls can take as an example? No, thank you. Not after this last film has made of her. Padmé was a much better role model, combining intelligence with strength and goodness and also female grace. The world does not need entitled female brats.

Bonus: What Made The Rise of Skywalker a Farce

- The Force Awakens was an ok film and The Last Jedi (almost) a masterpiece. The Rise of Skywalker was a cartoon. No wonder a lot of the acting felt and looked wooden. - “I will earn your brother’s light sabre.” She’s holding his father’s sabre. - Kylo in The Last Jedi: “Let the past die. Kill it if, you have to.” Beginning with me? - Rey ends up on Tatooine. - The planet both Anakin and Luke ardently wanted to leave. - Luke had promised his nephew that he would be around for him. - Nope. - Rey had told Ben that she had seen his future. What future was that - “you will be a hero for ten minutes, get a kiss and then die? (And they didn’t even get a love theme.) - “The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead.” On a desert planet with a few ghosts. What of the ocean she used to dream about? - Ben and Rey were both introduced as two intensely lonely people searching for belonging. We learn they are a Force dyad, and then they are torn apart again. - Why was Ben named for Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first place, if they have absolutely nothing in common? - The Throne Room battle scene in The Last Jedi was clearly showing that when they are in balance, Light Side and Dark Side are unbeatable. Why did the so-called “Light Side” have to win again, in The Rise of Skywalker, instead of finding balance? - Luke’s scene on Ahch-To was so ridiculously opposite to his attitude in The Last Jedi that by now I believe he was a fantasy conjectured by her. (Like Ben’s vision of his father.) - Anakin’s voice among the other Jedi’s. - He was a renegade, for Force’s sake. - The kiss between two females. - More fan service, to appease those who pretended that not making Poe and Finn a couple was a sign of homophobia. - We see the Knights of Ren, but we learn absolutely nothing about them or Kylo’s connection with them. - Rose Tico’s invalidation. - A shame after what the actress had gone through because for the fans she was “not Star-Wars-y” (chubby and lively instead of wiry and spitfire). - Finn’s and Rose’s relationship. - Ignored without any explanation. - Finn may or may not be Force-sensitive. - If he is: did he abandon the First Order not due to his own free will but because of some higher willpower? Great. - General Hux was simply obliterated. - In The Force Awakens he was an excellent foil to Kylo Ren; no background story, no humanization for him. - Chewie’s and 3PO’s faked deaths. - Useless additional drama. - The Force Awakens was a bow before the classic trilogy. The Rise of Skywalker kicked its remainders to pieces. - The Prequel Trilogy ended with hope, the Original Trilogy with love. The Sequel Trilogy ends on a blank slate. - “We are what they grow beyond.” The characters of the Sequel Trilogy did not grow beyond the heroes of the Original Trilogy. - The Jedi did not learn from their mistakes and were obliterated. The Skywalker family understood the mistakes they had made too late. Now they’re gone, too.

  P.S. While I was watching The Rise of Skywalker my husband came in asked me since when I like Marvel movies. I said “That’s not a Marvel movie, it’s Star Wars.” I guess that says enough.

P.P.S. For the next trilogy, please at least let the movies hit theatres in May again instead of December. a) It’s tradition for Star Wars films, b) Whatever happens, at least you won’t ruin anyone’s Christmases. Thank you.

[frumfrumfroo]

1-As far as I can tell, the anti-legacy argument from TLJ is drawn from some of the following points: Luke, when facing Ben on Crait, isn't compassionate towards him like he was with Vader, but cruel/mocking, and he names Rey as the "last Jedi" and bearer of his legacy, which people interpret as him writing off Ben as a lost cause, only seeing him as an enemy/worth contempt, and holding up Rey as the true legacy; since Kylo was fundamentally wrong about Rey being “a nobody” which means that Rey

2-choosing to go back to her friends was also proof of the fact that she was right at the beginning of the movie, she was right not to trust him, to believe in Luke, and to wait for her parents, and didn’t have to let go of anything as he demanded; Rey leaves the Throne Room with both halves of the legacy saber means she’s the true legacy, as is Leia telling her “we have everything we need” after she said “my son is gone”; broom boy hammers in the point of the movie that it’s not about where            

3-you come from, anyone can be a hero…and part of that message is the older Skywalker generation embracing these other, “worthy” heroes as their legacies (Rey as the Jedi, Poe as the Resistance) and rejecting Kylo, because it doesn’t matter if he’s related to them, he chose to be evil, they can’t help him, no more Vader-like “getting a redemption chance just because he’s a Skywalker relative” situations. This is what I could gather from reading several anti-legacy articles/metas around the web.          

In response to this post where anon argues the Skywalkers aren’t essential to the Skywalker saga. Thanks for gathering.

1. Except that Luke has a sit down with his despairing sister where he reassures Leia that ‘no one is ever really gone’ re: SPECIFICALLY BEN. They are talking about Ben here, it is not ambiguous or debatable, so Luke explicitly believes that Ben can still be saved. Just not by him. We’re being told to expect a different kind of redemption than Vader’s, it’s not going to work the same way. Which is a good thing.

And when Luke actually speaks to Ben, he acknowledges that he is at fault for this situation and apologises to him. Are they trying to argue this apology isn’t sincere? That Luke is such a massive asshole that he’s mocking the nephew he traumatised? That Luke’s TLJ arc wasn’t about accepting his failure but about learning he should have gone through with murdering an innocent family member in his sleep and should stop feeling guilty about it? Because that would be the necessary implication if he is to be read as cruel and mocking in that scene. Does the narrative blame Ben and paint him as a bad seed who was inflicted on an innocent family? Is he Damien? Of fucking course not. Don’t be ridiculous. Sea cucumbers know he’s meant to be sympathetic.

2. I’m already tired. Okay, as I have made many bitter sarcastic posts about already, Rey’s character arc cannot be a circle. If she was right all along about everything, she doesn’t need to grow and is already fully actualised before we even meet her. But this is a coming of age story, this is a mythic journey about confronting the world and responsibility and the power of the individual to make moral choices. This is a fairy tale about how to become an ethical adult. A protagonist who doesn’t change and doesn’t need to learn anything is a fucking category error in this kind of story.

As previously mentioned, Leia was wrong in saying ‘my son is gone’ and the film is not subtle in telling us that. Rey cannot be the ‘true legacy’ because the narrative importance of the legacy is entirely about the burden it has been to the people who carry it. The whole reason this is an actual sequel and an actual continuation of the same story is because we’re dragging up unresolved trauma around Anakin’s fall, because this is all part of the same question, because Ben was only a target and vulnerable to Snoke because of who he is. Star Wars is personal, always, it’s about individuals and the individual struggles are then a metaphor for the universal. Rey ‘carrying on the legacy’ is meaningless. What is the legacy if it is not both the weight of Anakin’s sins and the deathless hope of Anakin’s redemption and reclamation? Rey alone, supposedly having nothing to do with Big Bad Ben, has nothing whatsoever to do with the legacy.

The point of the Skywalkers is to ask a question about choice and destiny. Ben’s fatalism comes directly from how Leia chose to handle (or not handle) the Skywalker legacy. Han and Ben’s broken relationship is implied to come from it. Luke’s biggest failure and the impetus of Ben’s final fall was his lapse into believing in it. But the problem in the galaxy is not the Skywalkers, the problem is and has always been people making selfish choices. Evil is a choice and not a destiny. Anakin had a choice, Luke had a choice, Ben has a choice.

That is the positive and regenerative part of Anakin’s legacy which needs to be carried forward: that it’s never too late, that there is always a choice. This is what Luke did in saving his father, he extended the grace of unconditional love and reminded Anakin what it was like, he convinced Anakin there was a choice. He demonstrated willing absolute selflessness and showed it was possible, destroying Anakin’s illusions and justifications about inevitability and the inescapable necessity of power and selfishness. Ben has not yet realised this truth (well, maybe, maybe he’s getting there on the floor at the end), but there’s a whole film left to go. He will be faced with this dilemma again.

Rey the Infallible waiting to be informed of her rightness and handed adoption into heroism and importance as a reward for not making choices and avoiding the world has nothing to say about any of this. That is empty. That is totally inappropriate.

What makes her the hero is her compassion and she will be rewarded for that, for her faith and patience, not for never failing, not for not being wrong. Never failing or being wrong is not an heroic attribute anyone has ever had in Star Wars, but love and compassion are never wrong. Literally never. Love will always be vindicated.

3. And, yeah, I think I covered that. Luke and Leia sweeping Ben under the carpet as not their fault or their problem and getting shiny new kids is both proven not to work (not accepting and understanding what created Vader worked out so well) and is a morally abhorrent message at odds with the soul of the saga. The point of Broom Boy is that the galaxy is big and people are inspired, that hope is alive in the most desperate places; it’s a meta commentary about stories and heroes and why we have them, tying in to Luke’s identity crisis and Yoda’s lesson. It doesn’t mean this story is now no longer about the thing it has always been about. All of those themes tie right the fuck back to choices and mistakes and the double-edged sword of legacy.

[jadedjo]

Man Out of Time

More from my time travel au. Mara will have her say! So prepare for a poorly edited dialogue dump on the nature of the Jedi.

Previous installments:

Obi-Wan

Luke

3. Mara

She shouldn’t be doing this. As a Jedi Apprentice it was not her place. But as the wife of the head of the Jedi Order she felt like abusing her privileged status for the greater good. Even if that meant not preventing evil from taking over the galaxy.

Mara found Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Grand Audience Chamber. Seated on the floor before the lecture like any adept. Having removed his battle armor he appeared like any other man in meditation might. Expressions smoothed out as the Force flowed through him.

She made no effort to hide her approach and let her footfalls echo through the cavernous space. By the time she had reached him, Kenobi was standing and giving her a half bow.

“Pardon me,” he said before she could speak. “I was told no one would be up here for a while yet. If you’ll excuse me.” He started to move around her and toward the lift when she spoke up and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Actually, Master Kenobi, I am here to speak with you.”

“Forgive me, my lady,” he said with a regretful shake of his head. “I fear I am not up to conversation at the moment. Too much on my mind.”

“I realize that,” Mara said. “It was my husband who gave you so much to think about.”

He started at her remark and stared at her face for a moment before dropping his eyes.

“Forgive me,” he apologized again. “I’m not sure I can get used to Jedi so casually mentioning being romantically linked. Jedi…?”

“Mara Jade Skywalker,” she finished for him. “But not a Jedi yet, still an apprentice.” And before he could remark on that she asked, truly curious despite her mission, “Was it really so unheard of in your day for a Jedi to fall in love?”

“It happened,” he admitted then smiled ruefully. “To me even at one point.”

Her eyebrows shot up and had she been anyone else but a former Imperial Undercover Operative, no doubt her jaw would have dropped in surprise.

He chuckled, “It was a long time ago and had she asked I would have left the Order for her. But she didn’t and I have dedicated my life to the Jedi way.”

“But why even need to leave the Order?” Mara asked, seeing the opening she needed if her plan was to succeed.

“Because attachment is not the Jedi way,” he recited and she could feel waver in his emotions.

“But love is,” she countered.

“Not romantic love, possessive love,” he told her.

“Who said anything about possessive? My love for Luke is not possessive, nor he for me. It is a partnership built on trust, understanding, and love. Are there no relationships like that in your life?”

“Not that…. intimate,” he said delicately.

“Just because we have sex doesn’t change the nature of our love,” and she saw him wince at her forthrightness. “It just makes it more interesting. But sex aside, I have other platonic relationships with friends whom I love. Do those relationships mean attachment?”

“No, not necessarily…,”

“Then how is love with romantic elements added any different?” she asked.

“Is this what you wished to speak with me about?” Master Kenobi asked back, trying to deflect her questioning.

Letting him off the hook for the moment she said, “In a way. I know Luke told you all about the past, your future, and has said that it will be up to you to decided what to do with that information.”

“Yes,” he said regaining his equilibrium, controlling and shielding his emotions better so she could almost feel his relief at letting the former subject go. His body language became more upright and confident. “Yes, I can’t believe that Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord. Right in our midst and we didn’t even see it. And to know that he corrupted Anakin to turn from the Order, I can see why Luke told me everything he did.”

“But do you truly understand it,” she said.

“I beg your pardon?” he looked at her quizzically. “What is there to understand? I can prevent a great evil from befalling the galaxy. It is my duty as a Jedi to act.”

“Actually, it’s not your duty as a Jedi. A Jedi’s purpose is to act out the will of the Force, to keep it in balance and helping those who need it. But what if it’s the galaxy that needs help? Or the Jedi for that matter?”

“I fail to see where you’re going with this. If I change your past, won't I be helping the Jedi, keeping the Order and the Republic intact and destroying the Sith?”

“But would you accomplish those goals if you returned?” she reasoned. “You don’t know. But let’s say for augment's sake that you did manage all that. Is what you have then better then what we have now?”

“You wouldn’t have all the death and chaos that Palpatine brings with his Sith Empire,” Master Kenobi insisted.

“Speaking as the Emperor’s former agent AND as a soon to be Jedi,” and she saw him frown at her words but she carried on. “I can tell you that, yes Palpatine needed to be gotten rid of, but the New Republic that has arisen is stronger and more resilient than the old.”

“And the Jedi?” he asked.

“Stronger and more resilient than the old.”

“But all of our knowledge,” Master Kenobi insisted. “A 1000 generations of Jedi history lost. 10,000 Jedi Knights reduced to a few dozen?! And you say this is better?!”

“Yes, better,” she said. “The Purge was horrible. The knowledge that was lost is tragic, but perhaps the old way was becoming stagnant. Unwilling to change.”

“I cannot believe I’m hearing this,” he said shaking his head and crossing his arms.

“Just listen Kenobi!” she hissed. “Open your mind to the possibility that you might be wrong. That the Jedi of your time might be wrong. Luke tells the story that when he went to Master Yoda for training the old Master insisted that he was too old. He was only 22 at the time. Then given grief over his caring about his friends.”

Kenobi gasped, “22?! By that age he should have been a Knight or close to it!”

“Brought up by the Jedi, perhaps, but this way he was able to live a relatively normal life with loving caretakers. Have life experience and grow and mature to be able to handle the emotional mantle that being a Jedi requires, even then it was a heavy burden.”

“If he had grown up in the creche that would be automatic,” Kenobi countered.

“And would a Jedi brought up in the creche have forgiven the man who destroyed the Jedi? To see the light in him and through his love, bring an evil man back to the light?”

“What do you mean?” Kenobi frowned at her sudden topic change.

“Did Luke not tell you about Darth Vader?”

“He said that was Anakin’s Sith name.”

“Yes, but did he not tell you about how he saved Vader and returned him to the light?”

“He said Vader killed Palpatine to save him.”

“Only after Luke sacrificed himself by refusing to turn to the Dark Side,” she explained. “In his love for his father, he would not kill him because he felt Vader’s conflict and war within himself. The exact opposite of what you and Yoda told him to do. Palpatine was killing Luke, and Vader killed his Master in order to save his son.”

“He glossed over that part,” Kenobi drawled.

“He doesn’t like reliving it,” Mara conceded. “But could any of your Jedi believe that anyone who turned to the Dark Side could be redeemed?”

“It is said,” Kenobi said tentatively. “That once you turn to the Dark Side you can never come back.”

“Tell that to Anakin Skywalker and Kam Solusar, the man who greeted you upon landing. To Kyp Durron and Kyle Katarn. Tell that to Luke himself who strayed and was brought back by his sister’s love. Tell that to me, who was the Emperor’s most faithful servant and who wanted nothing more than Skywalker’s death by my hands right up to the day I finally met him and received kindness instead. Could your Jedi have forgiven us all? Let us atone for our sins and make amends?

“Could your Jedi have allowed a man who had once been a servant of the Sith to teach the next generation of Jedi. For another to marry a fellow Jedi with virtually no Force ability and only for her love of keeping our history alive?”

“And what should happen if your spouse was captured or killed?” He said. Mara could tell the man was trying to find an argument to counter her without actually answering any of her questions.

“We all know the risk when we accepted the mantle of Jedi. Loss is just a part of life. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live life to the fullest just because we are scared of loss, but rather because of our fear.”

“Fear is of the dark side,” he quoted but she cut him off. A Jedi Master he may be but even the Master’s in her time were not exempt from her calling them out.

“Only when we let our fear control us.”

She paused for a moment and when Kenobi said nothing further she asked, “The woman you loved. What became of her?”

He seemed to shrink in on himself and Mara knew whatever he said next wouldn’t be happy. “She died, while I was supposed to be protecting her.”

“I’m sorry,” Mara said sincerely. “But if I may point out, her death has not sent you into a dark spiral of loss and anguish. So what makes you think that should Luke or I die tomorrow that either of us would Fall?”

She could see in his eyes that he didn’t have a satisfactory answer other than more Pre-Purge Jedi doctrine. Here she was, not even a full Jedi, challenging a Jedi Master’s center of belief system but she felt no remorse if it made Kenobi think about how the Jedi should grow and move forward.

She decided to take pity on him and said, “All I’m asking is that you consider all the ramifications of your decision. Is your order really that much better than mine? This is my family, and would be even if I hadn’t married a Jedi.”

“I understand that, I love my fellow Jedi like my family as well,” he agreed and seemed relieved to be given a way out of the former topic.

“Not to sound uncaring Master Kenobi, but I don’t think you do understand. You were brought up within the Jedi themselves. They chose you. Whereas I chose them. The Jedi are my family by choice. Just as every other person here chose this life. We all chose to be Jedi. Right down to the children, none of whom I might add, are less than 13. Which in my opinion is still too young to make such an important life decision.”

“You have an answer for everything don’t you?” He said then mumbled to himself. “And they called me the Negotiator.”

“Negotiation isn’t really my thing,” Mara explained. “That’s Luke. Think of me as his silent general, ready to do what’s necessary when everything goes to hell. And around Luke, that’s usually the case despite his best efforts.”

“Sounds like he takes after his father. Only Anakin usually goes looking for trouble, not the other way around.”

Just then the life doors whooshed open and Luke came striding towards them and a wave of happiness and excitement enveloped them.

“I just got off the comm with Leia,” he said. “She’s looking into everything she can find about Padme Amidala. Say’s she actually recognizes the name as someone her father greatly admired.”

“Yes,” Kenobi said. “Senator Organa and Senator Amidala where good friends and leaders in drafting the initiative to limit the Chancellor’s emergency powers.”

“I’m sorry, who?” Mara asked as Luke came to stand beside her.

“My mother!” he said excitedly.

“After Luke showed me a holo of his sister I knew it was Padme. She and Anakin met while children and Anakin was infatuated with her while still a padawan.  After the battle of Genosis I knew something had changed in their relationship but not to what extent. I never dreamed he would be so foolish as to get her pregnant.”

Mara whirled on him in righteous fury, “And here you are lecturing me about attachment when you were covering for your apprentice!”

“I didn’t know for sure,” he tried to soothe her.

“But you suspected and said nothing. You Kenobi, are a sanctimonious hypocrite! You are a perfect example of what was wrong with the Jedi from before the purge.” She spat and swung around and marched from the chamber.

~~~

Obi-wan moved to go after her. To better explain himself. She’d blind-sided him with her accusations and perceptions on his Jedi. Some that he couldn’t rightly counter. Now her disgust at what he’d turned a blind-eye towards shamed him.

A hand on his arm prevented him from moving more than a step. Looking back, he saw a serious look on Anakin’s son’s face, warning him not to follow.

“I’ll talk to her later. After she’s had a chance to calm down,” Luke said.

He knew her better then Obi-wan did, and so he conceded. Not really wanting another confrontation with her anyway. But some of the things Mara Jade Skywalker had said nagged at him.

“You seem to have quite a few Jedi here who have been to the Dark Side,” Obi-wan said, refraining from pointing out that according to Luke’s own wife, he had been to the Dark Side.

Luke gave a small smile and said, “I see you two had a lot to talk about.” It was not the response Obi-wan had expected.

“She has certainly given me much to think about.”

“I’m sure. But to answer your question, I don’t believe that one can never be redeemed from the Dark Side. It’s a choice like anything else in life. To choose the light or to choose the dark and that choice doesn’t need to be permanent.

“I have no doubt Mara told you I myself turned. I’m not proud of what I did and I try and atone for it every day since. But if anything, it has given me a better understanding of why someone might choose that path and help steer them away from it. Not everyone Falls because of lust for power. That’s not why I did nor why most of those who have fought their way back to the light did.”

Obi-wan couldn’t’ believe what he was hearing, “You think turning to the Dark Side made you a better Jedi?!”

“No, of course not. I’m just saying that I understand why some others did fall and how to help the back to the light.”

“Do you know why Anakin fell?” asked Obi-wan.

“I don’t,” Luke said regretfully. “I wish I did.”

“Then I guess even if I do decide to change the past it might not matter anyway.”

“It’s the nature of time and the Force. Always in motion but always moving forward,” said Luke, sounding very much like Master Yoda. “Even when I’ve actively tried to change my vision of the future they usually still come to pass while when I do nothing then they sometimes change.”

He rubbed his temple. A headache forming behind his eyes. Something that only happened when Anakin was at his most reckless.

“But I think that is enough talk of what path the Jedi should take and whether or not it can be changed. I’m sorry if Mara came off as a bit brisque, but her heart is in the right place.”

“Why didn’t you tell her not to come?”

Luke chuckled. “One, she is my wife and not my subordinate despite being my apprentice and two, you try and tell Mara not to do something she’s set her mind to.” He shook his head. “Trust me, it never goes well.”

“That sounds like a complicated relationship.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[gabriel4sam]

I ship Obi-Wan with Mace !

Under the cut, a Obi-Wan x Mace story. This one is teen rated, no porn for once ^^

Obi-Wan was in Anchoread when it happened. He had cometo buy some medicines for his eopie, which was waiting for a little eopie thathe hoped one day give to Luke. After his purchases, he had decided to offerhimself one ale, just one, in a cantina. He didn’t dare keep alcohol in hislittle home, he was too aware of the risks of a PTSD veteran with too muchguilt, no support of friends and family, and too much time on his hands againstthe possibilities of sweet oblivion.

So, here he was, nursing that one dark ale andlistening to the noises of the cantina around him. The band was on pause andcheating some idiots on cards. The barman was trying to convince an old drunkto go home to his children…

And in a corner, a holopost was transmitting theEmpire official channel, where they were displaying a row of Wookies, arrangedin a row and awaiting executions, as an official was belching a speech aboutthe glorious times to come, now that the Wookie’s illegal rebellion was down.His heart in his throat, Obi-Wan abandoned his ale and stood up to go home. Hedidn’t need to see this, to add images to his guilt about the rest of thegalaxy.

He almost missed the tell-tale hiss of the lightsaberand turned just in time to see on the screen a silhouette, dressed like aspacer like any other, but with a mask, jumping on the rescue, melting thewookies chains and sending blasters shoots back to the trooper with alightsaber. The mask was probably for the software of facial recognition theEmpire was installing more and more everywhere they could, because the purplelightsaber was a banner, a cry of rally, which everybody with half a brain cellwould recognize.

Obi-Wan sat down heavily again.

They were not alone. Yoda and he were not alone.

Mace Windu was alive and quite busy making a nuisanceof himself to the Empire. The image was cut down as a technician smarter thanthe other probably realized letting all the Empire see a supposed dead Jedirescue rebels would be damageable for the moral, or more importantly for hishealth. Obi-Wan didn’t need to see the rest to know how it would turn. Sunkinto Vapaad, Mace was unstoppable, only treachery could touch him when heopened himself to his anger and channelled it into righteousness.

Obi-Wan exited the cantina quickly and let the desertswallowed him. He went straight to the Lars’ homestead, when Owen wasn’tparticularly happy to see him, but let him enter when he saw how pale andalmost trembling the Jedi was. Obi-Wan told them everything.

“You need to go,” the farmer said, surprising theJedi. He would have thought Beru would be the one to understand first.

“Family is important,” Owen added, “For some months,Beru’s brothers have wanted to visit us to meet Luke and I always found somepretext, because I find them unbearable. But I will invite them now. Luke willbe under the watch of more adults.”

“Remember his true parentage must…”

“Ben, I know. I’m pretty sure a six months old willmanage to survive with only a half-dozen caretakers for the length of yourtravel. Even here. Moisture farmers have raised children for centuries.”

And that’s how Obi-Wan left Tatooine, guilt and hoperaging in his heart despite meditation, and attacked the problem of findingMace Windu, a wanted man who had succeed in escaping the Empire’s clutches forsix months, despite being probably one of the higher target in Sidious’s book. Theguilt followed him all the way.

Guilt because he had left Luke without Jediprotection.

Guilt because he felt like he had deserted his post.

Guilt because there was something he hadn’t said toOwen and Beru. Mace wasn’t only a surviving Jedi, an ally and a friend.

Mace was the man of early mornings when they took thetime of breakfast together and the first kisses tasted of tea.

Mace was the man of late nights, when they tumbled tobed exhausted by their work, with the only strength to throw away their bootsand belts, but it was still fine, because the other was there.

Mace was the man of shared lunches, each on hisdatapad because there was so much work, but their knees touching under thetable and comfort blooming from that small intimacy.

Mace was the man who had convinced him he was worthyof love and filled an empty place in his heart he hadn’t even realized existed.

Mace was the man who had been his friend first, hissupport in difficult times, his sparring partner in late nights of insomnia,his confident, and his lover too.

Mace.

Mace was alive.

Obi-Wan didn’t know what they would do if he foundhim. When he found him. Would they goback to Tatooine? In that case, what of the people Mace could still help in thegalaxy? Would they stay together, trying to save all those they could, untilthe day they would be just a tad too slow and blaster fire would take them?

Those questions were for later, Obi-Wan tried so hardto stay in the moment, in his search.

He needed three months only, and a little help fromQueen Organa, to succeed where the newly founded Inquisitors were failing. Heknew his lover like even Yoda didn’t, understood the way his mind worked, thesame way Mace understood him. In a mangrove in an unnamed moon of the Outer Rim,Obi-Wan started running as fast as he could on the spongy soil with a cry ofjoy and thrown himself in the arms of Mace, who didn’t even seemed surprisedand closed them around him, taking his lips in the same movement.

There were so many questions to resolve in the future,so many that they would start to buzz quickly in their minds, but for now, theyleft them blissfully alone, just the two of them, the stumbling to Mace’shidden place, a small cottage, the noises of Obi-Wan when he discovered the twoprosthesis hands of his lover, memories of Darth Vader’s choices, the kisses heput on them, the hundred words of comfort and love.

There were so many questions but for now, the otherwas the only answer they needed.