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Some of you guys would not say half the shit you've said about Dedra Meero if she was a man. (Yes this is about sexism).

The men can be evil and everyone loves them. But gods forbid women do anything, and gods forbid anyone admit to liking evil women without bending over backwards to clarify that they do not subscribe to said evil woman's beliefs and views on society.

Darth Vader can commit heinous crimes against sentience and y'all will go: "woah, so badass with that lightsaber! I love him. He's my precious baby who has never done anything wrong." But if Dedra reluctantly orders "proceed" on a genocide project she never wanted in the first place, y'all suddenly go: "I hope this sick bitch dies a horrible, horrible death," or "I'm not supposed to like her. She's evil and bad and horrible and if I like her that makes me those things too."

Anyway, if Dedra Meero has no fans then I am dead. Be fucked up, queen. You were indoctrinated into the Imperial Machine at the age of 3, babe. You can do no wrong. "But, Hydro, she killed/tortured all those people!" and she looked damn fine doing it! Could have been covered in blood after an interrogation at some point though, I will admit.

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I need an AU in which Thrawn hires Arihnda Pryce, Dedra Meero and Morgan Elsbeth as the intelligence of his inner circle - but at first he must deal with them getting along first and organizes a game night for them

What could possibly go wrong?

(for my bestie @hydr0phius)

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I love them both, poor girls

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This is how I genuinely see her btw

Idk why I did it. Just while lothcat!Eli and ysalamir!Thrawn exist this world needs Governor Porgrihnda Pryce.

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More happy Arihnda pics! ✨☺️✨

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"She was so power hungry!!!" Look me dead in the eyes and tell me why. The whole book is just events showing her over and over again what happens when she's NOT in control and NOT in power, and what happens if she even DARES to trust someone. She gets used, manipulated and thrown into another hole which she then needs more power to get out of.

"Why is Pryce so emotionally messed up if her childhood was normal and her parents loved her?"

"Why did she hit that detonator?"

"Coruscant couldn't have changed her that much."

"Maybe she was always like that?"

Nobody is like that until stuff happens that makes them like that imo.

I have to read the book again to refresh my memory, but Arihnda's experiences on Coruscant is one of the things that stuck with me (mainly because I related to it in some way.)

Being emotionally manipulated, betrayed by people you consider friends, let down by people you respected somewhat, HAVING ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES THROWN IN YOUR FACE AND NOT BEING ABLE TO ASK FOR HELP BECAUSE IT'LL PROBABLY LEAVE YOU WORSE OFF, AND NOBODY WOULD BELIEVE YOU IF YOU TOLD THEM A MOFF DID THAT TO YOU, tends to fuck with your head a bit.

ARIHNDA WENT BACK TO HER APARTMENT AND DEALT WITH THE SPICE, AND AFTER EFFECTS OF A TRAUMATIC EVENT ALONE.

She's got some nasty emotional trauma from her time on Coruscant.

She's cold and unforgiving because she has to be. She doesn't like feeling powerless, because look what happened to her when she was. She has to be in control where she can be, and she will do all she can to gain that control.

In killing Gudry and those other imperial troops, she could potentially lose her power and her control.

Losing her power meant that she couldn't protect her family or herself as well as she could have.

To her, hitting that detonator would let her keep her power. She may have just killed thousands, but she is essentially safe. There's no proof of what she did, so they can't use it against her either.

The Emperor approved of what happened at Batonn. If the Emperor is happy, then that's good. Why change after that? Why not just go ham on anything threatening the success of the Empire and herself?

The Empire's run by sadists and corrupt, manipulative bastards. Why not join them if it promises power? Power will keep her safe, to an extent.

But let's not forget why she killed Gudry in the first place. He pulled his blaster on her. She might have deserved it, she did ditch him to get her parents offworld before the attack began, and she was being pretty shady about it, but protecting her family was essentially one of the reasons she went to Coruscant in the first place.

But he pulled his blaster on her, and she reacted accordingly for someone who isn't quite suited to being in a military setting and hasn't had the same training as a soldier.

I'm not trying to justify her actions as being right (because they sure as hel aren't.) I'm just sharing my take on why she did it and why I think she's turned out the way she has.

She had a lot of potential as a character, and I feel like Rebels didn't take advantage of that potential (even if it wasn't until the new Thrawn book came out that gave her a bit more depth.)

But anyway! I've typed enough here. If anyone has anything to add, feel free to do so :)

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ARIHNDA IN THE NEW MANGA. ME AND THE OTHER TWO ARIHNDA LOVERS CHEERED.

Her features went out the window and I'm genuinely disappointed, but I don't have the privilege to be picky. I'm just happy I'll see my girl again

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The beauty of Arihnda Pryce and Juahir Madras' friendship is that no matter whether you view it as platonic or homoerotic, Arihnda turning to straight up murdering people after getting betrayed by her girl is a very realistic and genuinely valid crashout.

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My favorite thing about Arihnda Pryce is that her entire motivation is that she loves her parents very much.

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I finished the first Thrawn novel, and I’ve seen a few “why is Arihnda so fucked up?” posts. Yes, the book makes it seem like she had a normal upbringing until Azadi had her mother arrested. Yes, her time on Coruscant was somewhat traumatizing, but nothing crazy (at least for the Star Wars universe).

What I think people are missing is that being colonized is inherently traumatizing, regardless of whether you resist or cooperate. Arihnda would’ve been around nine when the Empire came into power. She would’ve internalized the idea that her home and culture are inferior. There are a few passages that discuss this:

“For a while, back when she was a child, she’d loved the quiet life, the wide-open spaces, and the companionship of children of so many different species and backgrounds. But during her teen years she’d begun to see the quietness as dullness, the open spaces as lack of culture or excitement, the familiar acquaintances as stifling and boring.”

“All of Tua’s offworld schooling, and yet here she was drifting back to thinking like a native. That is, barely at all.”

“The mostly working-class population was very much in the same mold as the miners of Lothal, but even with such commonplace people her Outer Rim accent and lack of Coruscant breeding had opened her up to both amusement and contempt.”

“Arihnda herself had worked very hard to get rid of her own Outer Rim accent, but she still felt self-conscious about her roots.”

So essentially, Arihnda probably grew up being told that she’s inferior and needs to conform to Imperial norms to succeed. She learned to see herself and her home through Imperial eyes, and it corrupted her.

Arihnda’s arc in the Thrawn novel kind of reminded me of Baru’s in my all-time favourite book, The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Without spoiling anything, Baru allies herself with an empire (called the Masquerade), with the initial idea that once she has power she can protect her family and home. But as the series goes on, you see her internalizing colonial logics and committing increasingly brutal acts to cement her power.

Baru summarizes it thus:

“It's not what the Masquerade does to you that you should you fear…It's what the Masquerade convinces you to do to yourself.”

Both stories are about the brutal and totalizing force of empire, and I do like how Zahn explores that theme. I wish it would’ve been more explicit, but I definitely found it interesting. Sorry for the wall of text, and thanks to anyone who read to the end!

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thrawn chibi adventures…

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Pryce x Thrawn really makes it difficult for me to keep the "idc what anyone ships unless it's illegal" mindset, like not only do yall mischaracterize Arihnda to the point of unrecognition but these two being shipped somehow feels illegal.

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Pryce look great with Yello hair! 

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Spot one difference