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laurelseas · 4 years

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The Jedi are fascinating, because people always seem to go one way or another on them. They’re pure beacons of light, great selfless heroes, true angels and Anakin Fell, or they’re cold-hearted child thieves who are willing to do whatever necessary to support their outdated unhealthy dogma and Anakin should’ve run as soon as he had the chance. There’s almost no in-between, although occasionally people soften these sides a little bit. I haven’t come across a lot of acknowledgement of the Jedi as, well, just a group of people.

To answer the original question, I think the reason for Jedi hate is the fact that, honestly, the Jedi did have flaws, but those flaws are often ignored. That gets frustrating.

The Jedi were definitely the good guys - from our point of view, at least, though some of their actions could easily lead people with other points of view to consider them bad guys (kids not being connected to their families is a sensitive subject - look at the recent news in the US). Still, overall, I would say they did their best with what they knew.

But they weren’t perfect. They were an institution that was afraid of change. They gave far too much power to Yoda, who should’ve retired long ago - I would argue that a lot of that wasn’t on purpose, so much as it was just the way you respect your grandpa who’s been working at your job since before you were born. In fact, I’d argue a lot of Jedi flaws are ones they themselves don’t understand, because I have no idea where their traditions started, though I’d guess it was a couple thousand years ago. I don’t think they were at all equipped to look after Anakin, but that doesn’t make them bad people.

Palpatine took all the issues that’d been built up over so long, and used them to destroy the Jedi, which was horrible. They deserved a rebellion of young Jedi that devolved into a lot of vicious philosophical arguments that didn’t really hurt anyone (physically, anyway, I’m sure politics would’ve been a mess). And then Palpatine took their general selflessness and general willingness to tolerate lesser evils for sake of protecting more people and killed them with it. That’s why he’s the villain, of course. It’s also why I, personally, love stories where Anakin introduces new life into the Jedi and they start adapting and changing and crush Palpatine. Very satisfying, very hard to find.

...and I can’t speak for anyone else, but the reason I’ll sometimes go for a more negative view of Jedi has nothing to do with “not relating to them”, “palpatine’s lies”, or “anti-religious sentiment”. It maybe has a bit to do with contrarianism, although not because I like to make my good guys bad (I don’t, though I’ll happily take bad guy redemption!) - it’s that I get sick of the “Jedi are wonderful and always good” narrative, especially when there’s canon evidence that they did screw up. Then I get sick of the “Jedi are awful and always bad” narrative and switch over again. I’d love to see more nuanced portrayals of “the Jedi try to be good and mostly succeed but sometimes fail” and if more existed, I’d probably be less likely to switch between the two

I don't know if you was asked this before, but what you think is the cause of jedi hate being so popular in fandom? I personally think is a mixture of a distate of organizated religion and genuine belief of sidious's lies.

I do have a few ideas as to why the fandom is particularly and uniquely uncharitable towards the Jedi Order.

The biggest reason, I think, is the tendency for people to assume the worst of characters they can’t relate to. I’ve seen this in other fandoms with reserved characters (and to some degree in real life, too), and with the Jedi we have an entire culture that’s reserved and values this personality. It’s a combination of culture clash, and of most of the audience just not being able to relate to or connect to these characters at all - they find them cold and aloof and weird and unfeeling and repressed. As someone who’s also been called a few of those things when I don’t intend to come across that way, I can see why these terms might get applied to the Jedi even though I don’t see them like that, and I don’t think they were intended to be seen like that (since Lucas also comes across on the reserved side tbh).

Falling for Palpatine’s manipulations is absolutely a big part of it as well. Many Jedi-critical arguments are paraphrased from Palpatine’s talking points on-screen and in expanded material, if it’s not almost word-for-word. It’s a great testament to his charisma and effectiveness as a villain, but unfortunately the fact that he’s not exactly a reliable source gets lost in the fandom repetition as context is stripped out. It’s easy for the fandom to echo things like “the Jedi don’t appreciate Anakin” when they leave out that Palpatine’s statements like this were a deliberate part of an abuse tactic to isolate Anakin and undermine his support structure, that he was deliberately stirring up tensions between Anakin and the Council by putting him front-and-center in his power play over them.

I agree that anti-religious sentiment is a part of it as well, and to some degree it’s an extension of my first point about people assuming the worst of people they can’t relate to. We’re used to seeing organized religion as the bad guy these days, and there’s a tendency for people to want to shape their interpretation into that mold. People have been making good points on my earlier post - a lot of it is coming from a Western Christianity-dominant bias, with people incorrectly assuming all religions work like their own experiences with it (there’s also, I think, a misconception that the Jedi were based on any one particular religion, when in fact they’re an amalgamation and should be looked at for what they are, not how accurately they reflect particular real-world religions) I’ve wondered before if regional fandoms outside of the West are far more Jedi positive, if anti-Jedi sentiment even exists there.

Contrarianism plays a role, too. I’ve never been in a fandom where there wasn’t a group of fans seemingly hellbent on proving that the heroes were just as bad, if not worse than the villains, twisting whatever context they need to to make that work. They want the heroes to be the bad guys. There’s a misconception that “greyer is automatically deeper” where people find any reason to tear down the good guys and justify the bad guys because that’s the “smart” reading, missing that a uniform grey isn’t actually more nuanced just because it’s not black or white, especially when it’s slapped on with no regard for the actual context. Sometimes you can look at the black and white and see the nuance and variation and shades, and still come away with black and white on the whole.

Those, in my opinion, are the most fundamental reasons people are so uncharitable towards the Jedi - it then gets exacerbated through a feedback loop of these uncharitable assumptions feeding into some of the expanded material which then feed into other expanded material and those all then fueling anti-Jedi sentiment further by giving something for those people to point to to say “see? Look how flawed and bad and wrong the Jedi were, here’s proof!” even if it was an invention of the expanded material, working backward from an already-made conclusion that was informed by things not necessarily reflected or intended by the source films. (Which is not to say, of course, that the expanded material is bad - I enjoy some of it myself and those stories obviously have value to people and I wouldn’t want to take away from that. People can have their uncharitable interpretations if they like - I just wish that wasn’t seen as the default or intended reading by the fandom).

#jedi order #we can all agree palpatine's evillest #right?#honestly the best most fun way to handle this #is complete failures at communication #where everyone's doing their best with what they know #and they're not right #but there's no reason to hate them #no one's always right

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laurelseas · 4 years

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I mean, the one thing I remember really clearly about Eva is that she apparently once talked about the Free or Dead license plate on a car seriously enough that her son - who had to be 10 or under at this point - felt comfortable using that as a guide when she was infested. So I’m guessing it had a lot to do with personality, and Tom fell in the “jerk of an older brother who might, possibly, be insensitive enough to be voluntary” category and Eva into the “have you met her?? she’d literally rather die”.

There are many other things I can say on her character, but I do think it was character...and maybe a little bit “parents don’t screw up but older siblings can!”

Stray thought: In #1 the Animorphs are initially uncertain about whether Tom is a voluntary controller, to the point where Jake is kind of backwardly glad to see his brother in a cage because it confirms that Tom’s not one of the people watching TV and eating popcorn while the yeerks torture people. Even Jake’s insistence that “Tom would never be voluntary” comes off as defensive and like he’s perhaps protesting too much…

Whereas with Eva, no one has any doubt that she’s involuntary. The Animorphs don’t hear from Eva herself until way off in #45, and there’s not even a hint that she objects to Visser One until #15. But well before that, Marco and Jake are both utterly certain that there’s no way in hell she’d go voluntary.

Anyway, I’m not sure if that says something about Tom’s and Eva’s respective personalities, or about the massive family-shaped blind spot in Marco’s usual cynicism, or about Jake’s tendency to doubt everything, or what.

#animorphs #marco #eva #tom berenson #apologies if the details on the license plate thing are somewhat inaccurate it's been a while

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laurelseas · 5 years

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Okay, but wouldn’t it be called Bear-ly Coping Berensons? With lots of pictures of bears? Rachel’s idea, but it sells surprisingly well and anyway her sisters backed it up and Tom thinks it’s funny.

Ghost in the Shell was absolutely fantastic. I for one will be eagerly anticipating more barely-coping Berensons in the future.

Barely Coping Berensons sounds like an emo band from the early 2000s. Jake is the lead singer with a gruff smoker’s voice (regardless of whether or not he actually smokes.) Tom is the guitarist who pours his anger into his riffs and the one who tells Jake to take a goddamn break when he decides Jake needs it. Rachel is the drummer who isn’t always good at aligning with the rest of the band but whose solos make the audience scream with excitement. Jordan is the bassist who keeps them on a more-or-less even keel. Sarah is the makeup artist in charge of applying the black liquid eyeliner and making sure Jake’s bangs cover at least half his face.

(Also: thank you! I’m glad you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!)

#animorphs #berenson band concept #bear-ly coping berensons lol #puns!

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laurelseas · 5 years

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Ooh! Animorphs’ methods of lying, my favourite thing. Okay so these are all deeply accurate but let’s go into why this is their method of lying.

Jake: A younger sibling who never put too much effort into anything = learned to stick with whatever stupid lie Tom gave in solidarity as a kid and never grew out of it

Favourite Lie: I like when he lies to Tom about Animorph shenanigans, but that’s not exactly an example of this...help?

Cassie: Has only ever had to lie to animals because her best friend is Rachel = understands lying in theory but not in practice

Favourite Lie: Telling her mom NIN stands for “Nice Is Neat”

Marco: Was raised by a combo of Peter, Eva, and Visser 1 = definitely grew up being rewarded for the cleverest/funniest lie regardless of whether or not it was actually any good

Favourite Lie: Looking Eva-as-a-Controller in the face for the first time and pretending he’s a Controller too

Rachel: Oldest of three girls with divorced parents and social activities = learned early that if she’s confident enough about the lie, no one will check with the other parent

Favourite Lie: “Do you like my new shoes, Mr. Chapman?”

Ax: Trained child soldier who believes Andalites do the Right Thing = literally doesn’t realize that he has to lie until he’s halfway through explaining something

Favourite Lie: Andalites just happen to be fighting Yeerks, because they are the galaxy’s protectors, no other reason at all

Tobias: Messed up kid from the wrong side of the tracks who is now a bird = has like zero tells and is so weird normally it’s hard to tell what’s lying weird and what’s weird-weird

Favourite Lie: “So did this crazy dude leave me any money or what?”

Favourite Team Lie: *everyone yelling and saying nasty things to each other before storming out of the team meeting* “There’s no longer any team left,” say six disturbingly co-dependent children

The Animorphs’ Methods Of Lying

Jake: Latches onto someone else’s obvious lie and behaves like it was a perfectly reasonable statement.

Cassie: Panics and blurts out something that’s clearly nonsense.

Marco: Thinks he’s a great liar, but really is too clever by half and says things that often work just because he’s lucky.

Rachel: Somehow the smoothest liar.

Ax: Doesn’t think his story through before he starts talking and as a result, fails to get away with anything.

Tobias: Gets away with some super suspicious lies by the strength of his delivery.

#animorphs #i feel like there's a better lie for tobias but i can't think what #feel free to add on with examples of them lying #i love it when they lie #i remember Marco saying something snarky about aliens in the area 51 book #that was a good lie #i swear there was a time when Jake backed up Cassie's ridiculous lie #and it was awesome #please let's talk more about animorphs and their lies

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laurelseas · 5 years

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Gratitude

I don’t often post on tumblr - there’s just not much I have to say, and the things I do say I rarely think were very important to say a few weeks after I’ve posted them. But someone messaged me semi-recently and I wanted to thank them properly, and I don’t know how else I might be able to get in touch with them except by posting something here. (I searched their name, of course, and they might have a FF.net account but I can’t be sure it’s them). I don’t know if they’ll see this, but maybe they will. It’s worth trying, and they took a chance on contacting me.

So, this is for MK:

I am the laurelseas you were thinking of, yes. I try to keep the same name online so I’m easy to find.

I almost don’t know what to say. The matter you mentioned was something that stuck with me for a long time - I kept wondering if I had been too blunt, or accidentally cruel. I don’t think I quite deserve the compliment of being called gracious, but reading that and your encouragement to keep commenting in the future made me feel so much less distressed about it.

It means a lot to me, that you searched for me and then took the time to write something. I thought you should know you helped me handle the memory of the matter with grace when I didn’t know that was possible, and I’m grateful.

On another note, you seem lovely. If you ever want to chat to me about anything, I’d welcome talking with you.

#across the seas of laurel there is a woman #MK #not going to use the full username they gave me without permission; only used MK so they can know for sure i'm talking about them #if they see this anyway #gratitude

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laurelseas · 5 years

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I can’t think of any way Jordan and Sara could actually be Animorphs (because aside from everything else, yeah, Rachel would *never let* that happen), but I could imagine them seeing all of this firsthand and maybe changing events indirectly somehow? Presumably Jake carried Sara and Rachel took Jordan’s hand when they ran from the construction site, and things went from there.

I imagine Jordan would take on a lot of responsibility, being relatively mature but not old enough to fight (the official excuse for why she isn’t allowed to be an Animorph that isn’t “your sister would actually kill us”. It might not hold water so well at the end of the war). But she would be old enough to cover for Rachel and sometimes Jake. She would probably try to do some casual spying until she got yelled at for it. She would undoubtedly be very much Sara’s minder, since Rachel has Important World Saving to do and someone has to look after Sara and also make sure she doesn’t say anything weird about aliens.

I can see her with the rest of the Animorphs, sitting in the barn, legs crossed, chin propped on her hand, eyes narrowed as she considers a plan. I think they’d try to keep her out of the nastier things, but she’s smart and already involved and highly motivated, so it wouldn’t work as well as they’d hoped. Besides, they’d need her. She could run interference with the Berensons, she could call the Chee or police or something for them at a set time while they’re far away in-morph. Jake would keep her out of the fighting and the really morally dubious bits, but I don’t think he’d be able to step aside and not use her. He’s a war leader and she’s a resource - a strictly non-combatant resource, but still one of his people.

Like most of the Animorphs, I figure for Jordan things would escalate. It’d start off with “just keep an eye on Sara” like the Animorphs started off as “just try to slow down the yeerks while waiting for the andalites”. And then it’d be more and more - “Can you tell Mom something for me I have to go?” and “Okay just call Erik King twenty minutes after I leave and tell him this”. It didn’t seem like so much to put on Jordan, but it builds up. She probably insists on being in the planning sessions herself somehow, and it just. Extends.

At the end of the war, like all the kids, she’d be very changed and relatively dangerous. (And, embarrassingly, probably have a crush on Marco because you wrote that in Eleutherophobia and I *love* it).

Meanwhile, Sara would just grow up...oddly. Rachel would be her hero who is Saving the World, who is perfect and can do no wrong and Sara wants to be *just like her*. Jordan would be the annoying older sister who’s always snapping at her to be more careful, while Rachel would be edged in gold even as she leaned down and reminded Sara not to say anything about aliens, okay? Sara probably just wouldn’t see Rachel much, and Rachel was good at being gentle with her sisters when she could spare the time for them, and that’d breed a certain kind of admiration. Jordan, meanwhile, would be a stressed out kid and while she’d be loved by Sara, she definitely wouldn’t be adored like Rachel.

Sara’d be actively encouraged to keep secrets from authority figures, and just keep secrets in general. Given it’s Rachel telling her, I think she’d do her best - especially since she honestly doesn’t know much more than what she saw in the construction site (someone’s hands over her eyes for the worst bits) and Rachel saying that she had to fight the aliens now. It’s possible she doesn’t even know they can turn into animals. Someone, maybe Marco, would suggest playing a lot of Star Trek/sci-fi shows in their house and such so that if Sara ever did say anything, it could be passed off as her imagination. (Which wouldn’t really work if Sara talked, because she’s smart, and “blue horse with arms and hands and four eyes” is very distinctly an andalite).

It’d be cute, almost. Sara solemnly telling people her big sister said “don’t trust anyone”. But it really isn’t.

I doubt either of them would be given the ability to morph, especially after what happened with David (incidentally, Jordan knows David was “taken care of” but not how, and Sara just had a little meltdown that Rachel her hero couldn’t save Saddler). Maybe Jordan near the end of the war, still Definitely Not For Fighting, Rachel says. At this point Jordan would probably be more useful not fighting and possibly somewhat bitterly aware of that.

After the war I can see Jordan being annoyed about always being considered a kind of tag-along to the Animorphs, because she did a *lot* of work and just because she didn’t *fight* they act like she was only a cute kid sister. She was a lot more than that, practically a team member who kept the home fires burning by the end. Meanwhile Sara is delighted at being involved and remembered, and is very serious and adult-like as she tries to keep everyone’s spirits up.

I’d love to explore how they change the plot, but I think that’d have to work on a book-by-book basis. Maybe someday. I do think it’d be happier, if not happy. And I just really like the image of the Animorphs + Jordan watching over little Sara and thinking about the future, somehow. These war-children looking after children. It’s...fascinating to me.

As a final note, Jordan is the one who stays up waiting for Rachel to come back home, no matter how late it is. She knows people can die. She knows Elfangor died; Saddler died. Sara is the one who Jordan puts to bed, a little disappointed that she won’t get to see Rachel that night but completely certain that her sister will be there in the morning, because who could beat Rachel?

Consider: Jordan and Sara tag along with Rachel and Cassie to the mall that day. (Or: where the Animorphs gets two kid tag alongs and Jordan hates to be called that)

I love the idea of Rachel’s big-sisterdom coming out 100x more than the little bits we see in canon when she’s interacting with Jake. However, I don’t think that her sisters being present at the construction site would end with Jordan and Sara becoming Animorphs. As of the first book, Jordan is ~10 years old and Sara is ~5.

I know that Elfangor proves willing to give the morphing tech to kids as young as 13, but I also suspect that he would draw the line at recruiting children that young. Assuming he didn’t, and assuming neither Jake nor Rachel stopped Jordan and Sara from using experimental alien technology, then they’d be asking a 5-year-old to keep a major secret from her own mother and teachers and friends. Not only that, but Sara would have to actively lie to her parents and friends, and do so in a way convincing enough to avoid any controllers becoming too suspicious. No offense to the 5-year-olds of the world, but the majority of them simply don’t have the ability to do that kind of counterfactual thinking.

Assuming that Sara and Jordan were allowed to morph, and assuming that they did manage to keep the whole thing a secret, then Rachel would never in a million years allow either of them into combat. Rachel’s a naturally protective person, and threats to her family tend to be her berserk button; she goes from viewing David as an enemy to viewing David as vermin that must be exterminated at all costs around the time David implies a threat to Jordan (#22), she just about loses her mind when she thinks that their collapsing house might have crushed her sisters (#12), and she refuses to entertain the possibility of letting them fight in #50. I don’t think that she would ever allow either of them to go into combat, no matter how desperate the situation.

Assuming that they do morph, they do keep the secret, and they do manage to nag Rachel into letting them fight… Hate to say it, but Jake is also too damn sensible to entertain the possibility. No way would he take on the responsibility of leading them into combat.

So while the idea is highly intriguing, I just don’t see a way to make it happen.

#animorphs #rachel berenson #jordan berenson #sara berenson

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laurelseas · 6 years

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this pretty much echoes my feelings about tags on all sorts of things. and it’s a good post with a good tone

dub-con, non-con, trigger warnings and you: a post about how not to do it wrong.

What it says on the tin. Before I begin, please note the following things:

a) I’m using the Stiles/Derek ship as a template here, because that’s what I’m currently reading heavily, and where I’m seeing a lot of stuff that indicates this kind of clarification is needed! However, the stuff that I am saying applies to like, fandom and writing in general; the Stiles/Derek thing is just, you know, the convenient entrance point. This isn’t “Ugh Sterek is evil,” or “Ugh people are writing Sterek wrong,” or even actually ABOUT Sterek at all. Sterek’s just the template. Capiche?

b) As ever, this isn’t me trying to dictate opinions, or shame anybody, or make anybody feel shitty. About anything. This is in fact me, as a rape and assault survivor myself, pressing on in my constant mission to get as much HONEST INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION out there about these topics as possible!

c) The auto-correct on my computer keeps switching the word “uncoerced” to “uncorked.” Think I caught them all, but if you see an “uncorked” in here somewhere, rest assured that’s what happened, goddamn.

d) Obviously, this post comes with serious trigger warnings for discussion (and illustrative, written examples) of dub-con, non-con, and rape culture. Also, there’s (written) porn in this post! Illustrative…example…porn? So, you know, be warned about that too.

So, with that said, let’s talk about trigger warnings, call outs, dub-con, non-con, and why only you can prevent forest fires! (Okay, fine. Not really that last one.)

Keep reading

#ways to live #trigger warnings #what to do when you've made a mistake

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laurelseas · 6 years

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Definitely not disagreeing here, but I was actually referring to The Sorting Hat Chats’ specific system when I sent that ask. I’m sorry about that! I thought you would know; you seem pretty omniscient XD Actually, I like your concept of primaries and secondaries too…but they’re not the ones that have been eating up my mind.

For The Sorting Hat Chats, primary house is “why you do things” and secondary house is “how you do things”. You can find full explanations on The Sorting Hat Chats Masterpost, but here’s a quick and dirty version.

Primaries: Slytherins do things for Their People and themselves, Gryffindors do things because they feel it’s Right in their gut, Ravenclaws do things because they’ve thought it over and decided it’s Right, Hufflepuffs do things for People or Community as a whole.

Secondaries: Gryffindors are brash and jump right in, Ravenclaws depend on their knowledge base, Slytherins adapt to the situation, Hufflepuffs work hard and build support systems.

I’ve actually spent like, half the night yesterday chewing over the Animorphs and sorting them, but it’s been a while since I read the series. Feel free to disagree with me on it (except on Marco’s primary being Slytherin, I will never change my mind on that one XD).

So let’s start with Marco, he’s probably the easiest.

MARCO: Slytherin/Slytherin

- His Slytherin primary is in sharp focus throughout the series. He’s in this war for his mom, and before that he was seriously considering backing out of the war because of the way his death would hurt his dad (and iirc he helps out in the first mission because Jake, one of His People, wants to save his brother). He’s frequently described as ruthless in canon, often by himself. Marco really Does Not Care about you if you’re not one of his. Look at how he treats Nora. But if you are, he’ll face death or worse for you every day, and make jokes to try to cheer you up while he’s at it. And after the war’s over, he’s doing what he wants to do until one of His People needs him again. Just. There’s really no way for me to see him as anything other than a Slytherin primary.

- Secondary is Slytherin too, I’m pretty sure. He’s an excellent liar/actor and he adapts very quickly to new situations, twisting them around to work for him. He’s always watching for cracks to exploit. For Marco, whatever tactic works goes and he doesn’t feel much if any guilt for that. And he certainly isn’t a Gryff secondary; Marco’s always voting to stay home XD. He also doesn’t really build communities or work hard like a Puff secondary, and he doesn’t fall back on what he’s learned like a Claw secondary would. He improvises with what he’s got, sometimes viciously. We could maybe try to claim he plans like a Claw, but I wouldn’t, partly because of Cassie and their parallels. So, Slytherin secondary for Marco as well.

- Marco’s a brilliant example of a Slytherin/Slytherin. He devotes himself to the people he loves, uses any tool that comes to hand, and is almost unfathomably dangerous because of it.

CASSIE: Ravenclaw/Slytherin

- Her Primary gave me some trouble, because she models a Hufflepuff primary a lot. (Modelling is when someone performs a house at times but casts the model away when the chips are down). Cassie models Hufflepuff secondary a bit too - this girl likes Puffs. But I think she’s really a Ravenclaw primary with a Hufflepuff-like system of morality. Part of this is how she clashes with Marco - a Hufflepuff primary could bond with Marco over caring about people, even if a Hufflepuff cares about many people and not just a few. But Marco and Cassie just don’t *get* each other, despite having the same secondary, and I think that’s because Cassie’s actually an idealist primary - she does things because she thinks that they’re Right. She’s Ravenclaw not Gryffindor because she doesn’t make decisions on what’s Right based on her gut instinct; she thinks about them. She decides that maybe this compromise or adjustment to her beliefs can make things better, which a Gryffindor doesn’t really do.

Another thing that makes this difficult is that Cassie lies to herself the most out of them. So I looked at when she breaks down. When she looses faith in her primary is when it doesn’t stretch to take into account the horrors of war. She killed someone when she maybe didn’t need to, but she solves that - and many of her problems - by doing what good she can, even if it’s hard and a small thing against the great horror of the war. If she can do something to balance out the killing (saving the baby skunks, for instance) then that makes it okay. This reads more like a Ravenclaw resetting their system of morality to me. She hasn’t lost faith in people or community like a Hufflepuff primary might, but in herself and how she understands the world. And like many Claws, all her morals are self-defined and she stands alone with them easily. I’m not entirely sure what her moral system is by the end of the war, but I think it would have a lot to do with making things Right where you can, and letting go when you can’t. Something like that quote “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.” But I’d love to hear other interpretations!

- She shares her Slytherin secondary with Marco, the only other one in the group to have a Slytherin secondary, but he uses it to tear people down and Cassie (mostly) uses it to build people up. She does model Hufflepuff, but her real secondary shows through when needed, particularly in the David books. There’s a strange bond between her and Marco, because they both understand each other’s methods (even though they use their secondary very differently) but not *why* they do what they do.

- As a Ravenclaw primary and Slytherin secondary, Cassie has internal faith in her goals and the ability to adapt to any situation. She really is a one-woman army.

RACHEL: Gryffindor/Gryffindor

- Rachel’s a pure Gryff, I’m pretty sure. She doesn’t doubt herself. For her, some things are Right, some things are Wrong, and she just knows that. She’s completely willing to fight for those things; she isn’t in the war for the people or the community like a Hufflepuff, not there for Jake and Cassie like a Slytherin might be, and she doesn’t think her morality over like a Ravenclaw might. She and Cassie bond over their strong idealist primaries and she and Marco clash because she’s a pure Gryff and he’s a pure Slytherin. And by the end of the war she becomes a “Stripped” Gryffindor; she’s lost certainty in her own moral compass. She forces herself further into her also Gryffindor secondary to compensate and just listens to Jake. I think part of the reason she took that mission at the end, aside from it being a very Rachel thing to do, is because she thinks that she’ll never be able to just feel what’s Right again.

- Her secondary was never in question. Rachel always charges in and tries outfight her enemies (and mostly succeeds). She’s terrifyingly brave and consistently inspires the rest of them to be brave as well. Her favourite morphs are grizzly bear and elephant; this is not a girl that does subtle. Gryffindor secondary as well, and one that gets progressively more violent as the series progresses.

- Rachel’s Gryffindor/Gryffindor sorting makes her the Animorphs’ greatest warrior and protector. She is brave, she is strong, and she is good.

TOBIAS: Gryffindor?/Ravenclaw

- Primary’s hard. I keep thinking of the Tobias who didn’t fight back against bullies and the Tobias who *wanted* to risk his life to fight aliens. Of how Tobias both has and loses faith in Jake. I think he’s maybe also an idealist? The way he calls Jake out on his bad decisions feels a bit like a Gryffindor with their feathers ruffled, but it’s also possible it’s a Hufflepuff upset about the disregard for their community. And he could be a Ravenclaw too? I’m open to debate on Tobias’ primary house. But for now, I’m calling him a Gryffindor. That need to fight after Elfangor fell, the way he challenges the Ellimist, his viewpoint that there are things you just *don’t* do…it feels Gryffindor to me. Although that doesn’t explain his breakdown at the end of the war - he’s clearly not a Stripped Gryffindor worried that his moral sense of right and wrong is broken. I’m really not sure about Tobias, I’ve got to think on it longer. Of course our half-alien part-time human bird boy doesn’t fit well into categories.

- Seondary’s much easier: Tobias is a Ravenclaw secondary. He likes to know things, he likes to help Rachel with her homework because he likes homework. He misses school. He learns all the updrafts and territories and new entrances to the yeerk pool and yeah, it’s for the war and his best position is being a scout, but Tobias seems to enjoy observing and putting together scraps of information. When he wins a fight, it’s mostly because he outwits his enemies with the things he knows that they don’t, like what bird’s territory they happen to be in XD

- Tobias is a Gryffindor/Ravenclaw (I think). He doesn’t let someone’s power keep him from defying them or calling them out, and his base of knowledge serves him well throughout the war.

AX: Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

- Ax is always worrying about living up to his people’s traditions and standards, and I think that’s a Hufflepuff’s devotion to community. How he just crumples under the weight of his superiors and goes back to the Andalites every chance he gets in the beginning…yeah, that reads Hufflepuff primary at heart to me. He gets burned a decent bit too, poor boy. He accepts the Animorphs as his community after a point, and adopts their traditions (that “Yes, Prince Jake” and “your minutes” thing is very much a tradition). He doesn’t see everyone as people at first, but he expands his view of that while he’s with the Animorhps. The way he lets that yeerk go near the end…that doesn’t speak to me of “My moral system has changed” as it does “I understand you are also people and I don’t *want* to kill a person”. I think that’s one of the reasons he’s often paired with Marco, too, because they both have primaries that focus on people and not ideals.

- I think, like Tobias, he has a Ravenclaw secondary. This is a kid who, when he could do whatever he wanted on an alien planet, decided to try their food and watch their shows and read their almanacs. I suspect he tries to model a Gryffindor secondary because that’s what Andalites value, and his Hufflepuff primary wants to be what his people think is best, but he’s really not the greatest at that. (Ironically, Rachel is the ideal Andalite warrior: Gryffindor/Gryffindor). He bonds with Tobias over their shared secondary, which was Elfangor’s secondary as well. He learns from the humans and shares his knowledge with them, and that’s what he’s best at, despite his poor scores in school XD And at the end with David he counts down the time, a flat recital of a fact. Knowledge how Ax chooses to deal with things when he thinks he has the choice.

- Ax is a Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw. With a strong sense of community and his absorption of new cultures and ideas, Ax is a bulwark of strength and the best solider you could ask for.

JAKE: Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

- Hard for me to say, but I think he’s also an idealist house. It’s why he gets along so well with Cassie. Almost certainly Gryffindor. He’s a leader, and he and Rachel tend to echo each other. Berensons are probably all Gryffindor at heart. It also explains his actions at the end of the war; that’s very Stripped Gryffindor behaviour there. Like Rachel, he’s no longer certain of his inner moral compass. I could see a lot of primaries for him, but I do think he has a cause and he lives for that, not for people. And he makes a choice, holds that burden, looks to his instincts, he isn’t thinking it through like Cassie.

- His secondary is Hufflepuff, I think. This is a guy who wants to have everyone vote and make things as fair as he can. He builds the team, he’s constantly holding everyone together in a lot of ways. He doesn’t rush in when he sees someone beating up Tobias; he doesn’t need to. He’s got a reputation and that’s enough, and that feels Hufflepuff like. Hufflepuffs are a foundational secondary; they build, create resources, and rely on that building when the time comes. They’re thought of as reliable and can often be underestimated. I think that’s Jake, although I do wonder if he has a Gryffindor model he pulls out from time to time that he learned from his family.

- Jake is a Gryffindor/Hufflepuff. His trust in his instincts of right and wrong along with his ability to build a stable base to stand on makes him able to go head-to-toe with both the Ellimist and Crayak.

There’s a lot of Gryffindors here, but then these are kids who tried to win a war on their own. As Marco points out, they did the impossible because they didn’t know it could be done. Rachel and Jake and Tobias lead the charge, Ax falls in because his community says he should, Marco ends up following because of personal loyalty and Cassie’s moral system says she shouldn’t turn away. They’re all good kids.

Help! I remembered The Sorting Hat Chats existed and I don't know how to sort the Animorphs. Marco is Slytherin/Slytherin, Cassie's secondary is Slytherin, Rachel's secondary is Gryffindor, Tobias' might be Ravenclaw?? And who knows with Ax. But their primaries are hard, and Jake just *defies* me and I'd love to know what you think because it's burning a hole in my head

My own headcanon (detailed here) is that Jake and Rachel are Gryffindors, Cassie’s Hufflepuff, Marco’s Slytherin, and both Ax and Tobias would potentially belong in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. So to go with the primary-secondary classification (which I hadn’t heard of, but I like):

Jake: primary Gryffindor, secondary Hufflepuff

Rachel: primary Gryffindor, secondary Even More Gryffindor

Tobias: primary Hufflepuff, secondary Ravenclaw

Marco: primary Slytherin, secondary Hella Fuckin Slytherin

Cassie: primary Hufflepuff, secondary Gryffindor

Ax: ???

Basically, I agree on the “who knows with Ax.” I know I put Ax in Ravenclaw here, but that was partially just to get all four houses on the team. He has that Ravenclaw love of exploration and curiosity about culture, but also that very Slytherin arc of seeking fame and recognition while also acting as a negotiator between cultures. However, his intense desire to Stay the Fuck Out of things that aren’t his business (any votes based on human culture, any leadership decisions that don’t concern him) always strikes me as deeply Hufflepuff, as does his strong preference to follow rather than lead. On the other other hand, he has a Gryffindor’s desire to run toward danger rather than away, especially when it involves protecting his friends, and he’s got a Gryffindorish love for sports and food and physical activity.

So, like, he’s a consistent character with a coherent story arc. But him knocking out Jake to kidnap Visser Two and threaten the yeerk pool in #46 screams “Slytherin” to me, whereas him refusing to vote on his own life out of a tunnel-vision dedication to Staying In His Lane in #7 is hella Hufflepuff. And risking his life by going alone against creatures that nearly annihilated his entire team because he feels a duty to do so in #26 is all Gryffindor. And he spends most of #8 being super-Ravenclaw by delightedly acquiring and then spouting useless facts about human history and culture.

Between that and the fact that I can 100% guarantee that Ax would respond to the Sorting Hat asking for his opinion by politely refusing to vote… I don’t friggin know. My tentative assumption would be that Elfangor would be a Ravenclaw (secondary Hufflepuff) and that Ax would therefore self-sort into the same house as Big Bro if forced to choose.

#across the seas of laurel there is a woman #animorphs #sorting #ax animorphs #marco animorphs #cassie animorphs #jake berenson #rachel berenson #tobias fangor #meta i guess?#thejakeformerlyknownasprince #it was really nice of them to answer my ask #i feel bad i didn't communicate it right #not sure but i bet marco takes after his mom in being slytherin/slytherin #i feel like elfangor was slytherin/ravenclaw #and so is the ellimist actually #he's just a petrified slytherin #like cassie he models hufflepuff but it isn't real #pretty sure one of cassie's parents is a true hufflepuff #rachel gets gryffindor from her mom #these kids are all examples of the good qualities of their house #visser one's also slytherin/slytherin #i think #not sure on visser three #erek's a ravenclaw primary for sure #the animorphs are all so complex this is like sorting real people #i've always loved them most for that though #in hogwarts ax would be such a hatstall XD #putting him in ravenclaw because of his interest in new things and it's elfangor's house works nicely though #i find it deeply amusing that we got the same sorting for jake through two entirely different systems

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laurelseas · 6 years

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!!! <3 oh no he’s too cute. so small and blue and i just love the little white camouflage spots. andalites are so cuddly without their tail-blades they’re so sweet & i bet he already knows more math than me. the shape of him is so good i feel like i could just cup him in my hands. i swear if ever there is a way to buy this as a sticker he will live on my laptop.

this is the *nicest* answer btw. a tiny Ax. how to top that?

Hey, just wanted to say that your art is absolutely lovely! I'm quite fond of your Aftran but I gotta admit your baby!Ax pretty much stole my heart, he's *adorable*. Do you have any pictures of the whole cast, out of curiosity? And if you ever have your pictures as stickers I'd definitely buy some!

omg, thank you so much! This is such a nice ask. I actually haven’t drawn the whole cast together yet, sorry– I want to draw a real group picture at some point, but meanwhile, this is the closest I’ve gotten:

And I’ve been thinking that stickers would be fun! I think the baby Andalite sketches would make good ones, actually, speaking of those. I’m glad you like them!

Just for you, here’s another baby Ax. Shh– he’s having a nap.

#animorphs #ax #c-rowlesdraws #not my art #andalite #i like teenage!Ax too but apparently i am gone for baby!Ax #imagine all the animorphs at this age in a puppy pile #andalites might be my favourite aliens even though they don't deserve it #but hork-bajir are super cool too

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laurelseas · 6 years

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Nothing to add except I agree completely and it’s nice to see someone pin down why I came out of TLJ feeling numb and hopeless, even though the end of the movie was actually the part I - in retrospect - liked most

I am so intensely tired of all of these stories and sequels that are all about how much life sucks and your heroes are terrible and your Bright Hopeful Determined Protagonists whose struggles ultimately don’t mean anything go on to lead terrible lives full of sadness and grief and loss and become terrible parents and mentors

give me my happy endings and my hopeful bright characters that stay bright even in the midst of such tragedy and grief. Let them live to teach the new generation how to fight the battles they left behind. Let them love intensely and fiercely, and let them accomplish great things. Let them be good parents and mentors to the next generation. Above all, let them be happy. Let their trials and suffering not be in vain; give them happiness and a well-lived life. Real life is so rarely full of these things, but my fiction doesn’t need to be full of grim, stark pessimism masquerading as “reality” too

#across the seas of laurel there is a woman #star wars meta #this is what i couldn't put into words #grim dark reality is great in some worlds #like jessica jones #but keep it away from star wars thanks #or at least make up your own characters far in the future and leave the original ones out of it

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laurelseas · 6 years

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This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot since I’ve watched the movie. When Luke admits he considered killing Kylo Ren, I immediately believed it - because what else could send him away from his family? What else could break Luke Skywalker’s spirit like that? It made sense. Luke could withstand so much, but not his own failure of faith, not after it’d been proven so fiercely, not after it was so valued in him. And I do feel that Luke should be allowed his faults, and I quite liked the point that the legend was different than the man (I liked how it echoed Anakin, how heroes are always more and less than you expect them to be).

But it was hard to see how Luke had gotten to the point where he would consider killing Kylo Ren. At that time, we hadn’t seen any reason for him not to be hopeful and optimistic. Shouldn’t he still have had faith in his ability to save Kylo? So why would he make a mistake like that? It wasn’t something that happened in the heat of the moment. Why would this young, apparently whole and bright Luke Skywalker look at a sleeping child under his protection - his nephew - and think about killing him? There’s no answer for that in the movie, and I think that’s why it’s hard to accept Luke’s character arc. We don’t understand it; pieces of the arc are missing entirely, at best hinted at.

Or to put it another way, if Luke had tried to save Kylo, given him a second and a third chance, and then Kylo killed Luke’s other students - that would create a solid character arc. That’s a weakness - an arrogant belief that Luke could save Kylo - we’d understand of the hopeful, optimistic Luke we knew and it could reasonably lead him to lose that hope and optimism. But the mistake of almost killing Kylo doesn’t come directly from the hopeful Luke Skywalker, so we’re left with an unknown point in his character arc. Perhaps as the only Jedi he crumbled without support, perhaps training his own students gave him too much to fear, perhaps he tried so hard to be light that the darkness slipped out at the worst moment. Any of these are possible, or it could be something else, but we don’t know what it is. Because of that, there’s a disconnect, a disbelief in Luke’s whole arc.

And then there’s those who wouldn’t accept it even if the character arc was flawless, because their Luke Skywalker, their hero, always has hope. There’s a strength in that. As you said, we can’t rely on heroes of our past, they can’t swoop down and save us - they are fallible and they fall and they die. That’s always a part of the story. ESB does it with Anakin, to a lesser extent. But people make heroes what they need them to be, people make their own heroes. Heroes can be unbreakable, timeless, because sometimes that’s what’s needed to save someone. And sometimes you have to save yourself.

Loving Luke as a hero is no better or worse than loving him as a fallible person, and you can do both at the same time.

I think the most distressing thing to me about some reactions I’ve seen to Luke’s character arc is that it adheres to this idea that optimistic, hopeful people are not allowed to be changed by age, trauma, and tragedy.

Listing all of the choices that Luke made in the past doesn’t change the fact that people can and do have breaking points. That even the most moral people have moments of weakness. That Luke Skywalker’s struggle with the dark side was ongoing because like those before him, he thought it was something that had to be suppressed completely.

I think that Mark had a point when he said the character couldn’t just ne a rehash of Obi Wan. Obi Wan Kenobi was a shining example of unwavering goodness in the face of loss and trauma, but holding other characters up to that standard is a fool’s errand because Obi Wan was extraordinary, and as much as he went through, his burdens were different from Luke’s, and his foundational teachings in the ways of the Force were more thorough.

Luke Skywalker should be allowed his bad decisions. He was never perfect and the burden he undertook was enormous in magnitude. It was like trying to found a university while still getting your undergrad degree.

And I think there’s a lesson in there about heroes and fallibility. About how maybe heroes aren’t timeless. About how we can’t rely on the heroes of our past to swoop in and save us. Luke Skywalker can’t come in alone and save the galaxy. Resistance allies, in the face of the terrifying might and seemingly limitless resources of the First Order, can’t swoop in and save the Resistance, no matter how much good will there is toward Leia. And as we move into a final episode where the old guard has been decimated, the new characters are going to have to figure out how to forge their own path, and understand that the old ways should serve as guidance for what not to do as much as what should be done.

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laurelseas · 7 years

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Ahhh look at this it’s so good it’s good for a drawing nevermind just for a sketch! The folds of that blue dress are lovely and I don’t know what that gold circle above The Queen’s hand is meant to be but I like it a lot! Especially how it works with her headdress.

Her hands are also really nicely done, I can see the way she’s reaching out in The Queen. And The Ghost has this...flowingness to it that’s awesome!

So cool

really realllllly sketchy sketch for @laurelseas

#Star Wars #The Queen #The Ghost #padme amidala #artists are so amazing #i love art #goshersss is kind to me #i should really have a specific tag for this whole sw cards thing

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laurelseas · 7 years

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I love it when there’s these old legends that get forgotten and then just sorta parallel a story, it’s always so much fun. Given the whole “death and rebirth of the Jedi Order” and Anakin being “the Chosen One” I figured there should be a lot of legends about what would happen...it’s pretty major, and the Skywalker family continues to play a large part in the fate of the galaxy after that

For the OT trio...they’re not as clear to me as the prequel trio, probably because I haven’t thought about them as much and because they don’t fall as far so it’s hard to see their inverted side. But. Here’s my first thoughts.

Leia would be The Princess/The Dragon. The Princess references her mother being Padme as well as her own natural leadership. The Princess is a leader, but not in the same way The Queen is. She’s all audacity and defiance; she inspires rebellion against evil. The Dragon, however, is anger and death, something so fierce and large it blots out the very sky. Both sides of the card are said to have “too strong a heart” and won’t ever stop fighting.

Luke would be The Light/The Knight (not sure about this name, but it rhymes! and connects him to The General and kinda to Leia too). The Light is hope, new beginnings, and forgiveness. It’s unconditional love. This is a very cheerful card that’s often referenced in baby gifts. The Knight is a card for truth, breakings, and sacrifice. It can lead to death for others, or a kind of shattering of itself. It’s a card that shows you all the things you don’t want to face, that might drive you mad or break you altogether.

And Han would be The Gambler (or Scoundrel works quite well too)/The Runner. The Gambler is a card of good luck, of winning against all odds, of a gift when you least expected it. It’s a good surprise in a bad situation, basically, and pretty much everyone has a soft spot for it. The Runner is a card of fear and loss, of someone spinning around in the same circles over and over because there’s no where else to go, stuck in a rut, no surprises good or bad.

I don’t know quite what they’d look like yet, but I’m thinking about it!

(Ahsoka, I think, would be The Learner/The Survivor)

The Queen, The General and The Wise Advisor

Alright, for a while I’ve been turning this idea over in my head that the story of the Star Wars prequel was foretold on Tatooine, Naboo, and whatever Obi-Wan’s homeworld is (does he even think he has a homeworld? would it be his world of birth? I have no idea). Padme, Anakin and Obi-Wan just seem…there’s something about how their lives intertwine that makes me think of destiny. Not in some sort of prophecy way, but something more nebulous. In Tatooine it’s stories about an angel, a Jedi, and a star child, passed down through families and friends like old clothes. There’s thousands of endings; it depends on who tells the story. In Naboo it’s in their dances and plays, three people who sweep around each other in circles destined to crash but never on-stage, always pulling everyone else in the show in the wake of their gravity even if they’re only there for a few moments.

And in Obi-Wan’s home world, it’s a very popular and very old card game with near to a million variations, played at home with children and played at the bar with friends. The three most powerful cards, always as a trio, are The Queen, The General, and The Wise Man (or The Advisor, depending on the region). I can picture how all of these cards look, but unfortunately my drawing skills aren’t developed enough to even begin to do them justice.

The Queen: A young woman dressed in white robes, her hair pulled up in an intricate braided crown (The Queen needs no jewels to be known as The Queen). She has a blaster in one hand but her other is out-stretched towards the viewer. Hooded handmaidens line either side of her. Personally I think of The Queen as probably being traditionally human, but likely Japanese or Indian because it isn’t like she has to look exactly like Padme and Naboo draws from those cultures, I think.

The Queen is a card used to suggest justice and power. The Queen cannot be denied, but she is always loyal to her people, merciful, and fair. Her decisions change the path of the galaxy; her will is pure and unbreakable. Associated with strong-willed young women and good leaders; could be an elegant and timeless gift from an uncle to his headstrong niece or from a citizen to their senator.

The General (very rarely called The Knight): A tall man in black on a battlefield after the battle’s been won (or sometimes lost, or sometimes still being fought - it depends on who drew the card). He has a sword that glints blue, has a blue jewel set in it, or is a blue lightsaber. Has bright blue eyes and a scar on his face (scars also vary depending on who drew the card). Strangely alike soldiers - The Brothers, some say - are in the background. The sun has broken through the clouds and shines on him. (Possibly as The Queen is not white, The General could be Native? As I understand it that’s where Anakin’s name came from)

The General is a card for loyalty and love. It’s a card of devotion; the understanding is that he fights not for glory but because the Queen asks it of him. It’s sometimes popular in love stories, as it can be seen as meaning “I would fight a war for you.” It’s also more rarely used for friendship, as in “Were you to start a war, I would fight it with you.”

The Wise Man/The Advisor: A red-headed man dressed in plain robes stands looking out the window into the sunrise. His hair is greying a little; his robes are impeccable. He has a flimsiplast set on the table before him, next to a game of dejarik (if that’s a strategy game, it’s hard to tell? If not then a strategy game - think chess or go).

The Wise Man is a symbol of cunning and trickery, though unlike other trickster cards he is considered to have both wisdom and a strong sense of morality. He is someone who cleverly navigates a problem. He is kind and helps people. He is known for predicting future events and carefully planning how to handle them (or, in other words, he’s always two steps ahead of everyone else). A non-romantic card to give to a thoughtful friend or someone who did you a good deed.

The three cards together are the most powerful in the game, and it’s generally agreed that they should be played together. The mythos is kinda that the Queen has a loyal general and a wise advisor and all together they are unbeatable.

But all these cards have another side to them, the darker side. And if one of the cards is turned over to the dark, the other two will turn as well.

The Queen becomes The Ghost. The General becomes The Monster. The Wise Advisor becomes The Recluse (actually I think there’s a word in this world’s language that means “someone who is alone/lonely” and that’s the old word for it but it got translated into Basic as recluse and I think this because I cannot find the proper word for what I want to call him in English).

The Ghost: The same young woman with her curly dark hair unbound, standing in a field of stars or underwater (or both, there’s a really lovely edition that’s managed to blend these two themes). Her hair is strewn with small white flowers and she wears a beautiful but impractical blue dress. She has a small, humble good luck charm necklace in her hands. She is slightly transparent.

The Ghost is everything the Queen is not. She has no power, no way to change the world. Her will and words are nothing but whispers that are lost in the wind. She is a card associated with being unheard, with being unable to help anyone despite a deep longing to do so. Sometimes she’s paired with losing something or someone too soon. There’s a strong element of melancholy to her.

The Monster: The same young man, but bearing a sword that shines red in the light/has a red jewel/is a red lightsaber. Half his face is covered in a black mask; the other half generally has scars. His eyes are yellow, red or orange. The hand not holding his sword is chained to a wall behind him; he sits in shadows (sometimes a dungeon, sometimes outside a castle wall at night) and flames cast the only light in the picture.

The Monster is a card of desperation and self-hatred. The loyalty and love of the General are stripped away and all that is left is a creature that lashes out at anyone that gets close. The chain shows that the Monster is being controlled (this is sometimes considered to be by an outside source and sometimes considered to be a representation of how his fear, anger and hate chain him). to emphasize the fall from a General who leads his soldiers to someone who can’t break his own chains (there’s also the echo to Anakin’s slavery here). He’s often associated with ruined potential and the concept of being kept in the dark.

The Recluse: The same man in the same plain robe, but now the robe is frayed and he wears a hooded cloak. His hair is more grey than red. He stands in a desert (or other deserted land) looking at the sunset. Sometimes there is a small hut nearby.

The Recluse is a card of failure and deep loneliness. There’s also an element of exhaustion and regret in it. Like The Ghost and The Monster, The Recluse is a contrast to The Wise Advisor. He has lost faith in himself and doubts his wisdom and morality. He is lost in the past and cannot see the future. A card for emptiness, for a wound that won’t heal, for time not being on your side.

The general mythos regarding this side of the cards is that The Queen died, becoming The Ghost. Because he couldn’t save her, The General became The Monster (sometimes he became The Monster trying to save her). Because The Wise Advisor didn’t see that she would die, he felt he failed her and became The Recluse. There’s different mythos depending on which card is turned over first, but this is the classic one.

It’s also worth noting that one card being turned to the dark will turn the others…but this works both ways. If The Ghost becomes The Queen again, then so will The Monster become The General and The Recluse become The Wise Advisor.

And that’s all I have so far. What does everyone think? (Should I try to do Ahsoka?)

#Star Wars #leia organa #luke skywalker #han solo #i don't think i got han right at all #but i'm working on it #ahsoka tano

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laurelseas · 7 years

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Oooh, I like the idea of The Queen in red! I feel like her and The General swapping colours hints at a deeper connection between them too and maybe could provide a basis for Luke and Leia’s cards? Also I don’t want red to equal evil, so that’d help with that.

Yeah, The Wise Advisor (the gender neutral term I’ve mashed together from The Wise Man and The Advisor) is meant to be both lawful and a trickster because honestly that’s basically Obi-Wan. Somehow he manages to be considered responsible and by the book while flirting with his enemies, chopping off limbs, and getting into like twenty fights.

And I just couldn’t think of The Monster without a chain. I pictured the card and there it was, the sword held in front of him like he was about to attack and a chain on the other arm. As a side note, I think maybe the General should have some ships in the sky above him? I don’t know if that’s easy to draw, but given Anakin’s flying there should probably be a reference to it somewhere...

It probably does need a goal and a strategy system; it could be like poker or like Yugioh. The idea I had was that these cards were so old that they’d spread into all sorts of different games (like a deck of playing cards). There’s probably common games that everyone knows, though. ....I might have to go study card games now.

I’d love sketches, but only if you feel like them! I mostly wrote this to finally get it out of my head.

The Queen, The General and The Wise Advisor

But all these cards have another side to them, the darker side. And if one of the cards is turned over to the dark, the other two will turn as well.

And that’s all I have so far. What does everyone think? (Should I try to do Ahsoka?)

#The Queen The General & The Wise Advisor #The Ghost The Monster & The Recluse #Star Wars #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #obi-wan kenobi #invert is such a good word #i was using turned but that didn't sound right #it's invert from now on #sorry i didn't mention my reasoning behind The Wise Advisor before now #there's totally versions where The Wise Advisor is a woman #same for The General

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laurelseas · 7 years

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The Queen, The General and The Wise Advisor

Alright, for a while I’ve been turning this idea over in my head that the story of the Star Wars prequel was foretold on Tatooine, Naboo, and whatever Obi-Wan’s homeworld is (does he even think he has a homeworld? would it be his world of birth? I have no idea). Padme, Anakin and Obi-Wan just seem...there’s something about how their lives intertwine that makes me think of destiny. Not in some sort of prophecy way, but something more nebulous. In Tatooine it’s stories about an angel, a Jedi, and a star child, passed down through families and friends like old clothes. There’s thousands of endings; it depends on who tells the story. In Naboo it’s in their dances and plays, three people who sweep around each other in circles destined to crash but never on-stage, always pulling everyone else in the show in the wake of their gravity even if they’re only there for a few moments.

But all these cards have another side to them, the darker side. And if one of the cards is turned over to the dark, the other two will turn as well.

It’s also worth noting that one card being turned to the dark will turn the others...but this works both ways. If The Ghost becomes The Queen again, then so will The Monster become The General and The Recluse become The Wise Advisor.

And that’s all I have so far. What does everyone think? (Should I try to do Ahsoka?)

#star wars #the queen the general & the wise advisor #the ghost the monster & the recluse #i really need a better name than the recluse #the monster is like a much darker version of stitch from lilo and stitch #if anyone wants to draw these don't feel like you have to stick to my descriptions #that's just how i'd draw them if i could draw #which i can't #please credit me for the idea though #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #obi-wan kenobi

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laurelseas · 7 years

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Why are they screaming? Are they calling for help? I can’t stop thinking about this; it’s been weeks.

Re: Wind turbines. Did you know that, at night, if you're very quiet, you can hear them screaming from miles away? It may just be that my city's needs oiling, but it sounds like part air-raid siren, part dying whale

GOOD GOD

#windmills #this sounds like a pokemon description #actually this would be a neat kind of pokemon i think

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laurelseas · 7 years

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A storm of Anakins was mentioned and then fireflyfish asked if there was a variety of Anakins and I couldn’t help myself. My apologies to worriedaboutmyfern, who I know isn’t fond of Anakin.

The Force Sent Me Back In Time To Fix What I Screwed Up Last Time: The title pretty much says it all, but it should be noted this Anakin is stressed, even more emotional than usual, and will accost pretty much anyone for advice like a caffeine addict accosts people for coffee. He wants Palpatine very dead but is unsure of his ability to do it.

Girl!Anakin: Her horrible lines actually work (sort of) as a girl, so she actually pulls off seduction as a “diplomatic manoeuvre”. Her Kenobi is horrified, but look, where do you think she learned it? She has very strong views on people touching her without her permission, though, and has possibly chopped off more limbs than Kenobi. Tells the worst jokes.

Baby Ani: Super sweet, friendly, almost otherworldly helpful, and really chatty. Gets the biggest crushes on strong spirited people like Padme and Obi-Wan. Commonly does dangerous pod racing stuff and escapes dying by like, one inch. Is completely sure his mother is the wisest person in the galaxy and no one can convince him otherwise.

Padawan!Anakin: Varies between sulky, argumentative, and pretending he doesn't think Obi-Wan hung the stars and lit them too. He's really bad at it, but Obi-Wan doesn't notice because he's not used to being valued. Has strong opinions about droids, Jedi, and the proper punishment of people who hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Mechanic!Anakin: Generally a pretty peaceful guy ‘cause he has a job he likes that’s way less stressful than being a Jedi. He’s a spaceship's mechanic or revolutionizing the engineering of prosthetic limbs or something. Cool guy, might have his own shop where Snips works. Extremely likeable and probably the only version of Anakin that’s sane.

General Skywalker: Worried about Obi-Wan and the war and Padme and Ahsoka and his men. Will babble about his Padawan proudly for probably days if you don't stop him. Doesn't sleep enough. Doesn't eat enough. About five seconds from bursting into tears or just screaming at all times but trying hard to keep it together.

Tatooine!Anakin: He never got picked up by Jedi and has probably started a slave revolution by now. Tends to be ruthless and completely uninterested in things that won’t help his people or have to do with slavery, including the Force. Wary of everyone he doesn’t already know - unless it’s Padme, she’s an exception. Constantly angry and always ready for a fight. Old!Anakin: He was Vader, once, but he survived that and now...now what? He's tired of fighting (though Force help anyone who tries to hurt his children). He doesn't know who he is or what he wants. He loves with an ache that will outlast him. Slowly trying to rebuild himself, scared to do anything for fear he’ll only hurt people again, on the run from practically everyone - he should bond nicely with Ben.

Spaceship Captain Anakin: Respected Captain who’s been practically everywhere, seen a lot, not impressed by much. Doesn’t like Jedi. He takes after his mom in leading style. Always puts his crew first - basically Captain Mal, except slightly less bitter and with StarTrekesque spaceships adventures.

And they would be such a storm. Tatooine!Anakin being all “You aren’t freeing slaves?” and General Skywalker saying “Look I've got a war to fight, I don’t have time” and then of course Tatooine!Anakin finds out about the clones and it gets even worse. And Girl!Anakin telling a joke to the Captain who is laughing like mad (they have the same sense of humor). Old!Anakin would be bitterly debating with time travelling Anakin and Mechanic!Anakin would just be swearing loudly in binary. Over top of it all is Baby!Ani shouting that “Mom said not to yell!”

Classifying Your Assortment of Obi-Wan Kenobis

Based on that old post where an assortment of Vaderlings is called a Murder…

An assortment of Obi-Wans is called a cacophony. I.e. There is a cacophony of Obi-Wans in my living room and I’ve run out of tea.

These are the things that come to my mind early in the morning.

#sw meta #anakin skywalker #a storm of anakins #something i wrote when i should've been sleeping #i really want to do one for ahsoka #but i haven't #feel free to add your own anakins to this post!

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