#Force Ghost Anakin not believing that Obi-Wan said to have fun was great | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

siennahrobek · 3 years

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Qui-Gon Jinn had not expected to wake up at all, much less in a fire fight.

He was lying flat on the ground, his back aching a little like he had fallen from the trees. Blaster fire soared over him, and it took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t, in fact, at this position, going to get hit. He could hear some explosions far off, that rumbled the ground and voices that screamed indecipherable orders. Hopefully, the explosions wouldn’t get closer. He had enough to deal with the blasters.

Qui-Gon didn’t really want to move but he knew he probably should. He just had to figure out a way to stand without immediately getting shot in the crossfire of whatever battle was happening. This was all rather strange. With a long and slow blink, he turned to his side, still too low to be in the range of the shots overhead and looked around.

His surroundings were woodsy but in a bit of a clearing. There would be plenty of cover. However, getting to that cover would be the challenge. He crawled over to a fallen log, trying to keep himself unnoticed. He didn’t know who was around or how close they were. Predictably, he failed.

Qui-Gon could practically hear Obi-Wan’s snarky comment. “Well, of course.”

“There is a civilian, sir!” someone called and Qui-Gon knew it wasn’t Obi-Wan. Not that it could have been anyways. Within the moment, Qui-Gon was surrounded, protected by a small group of armored soldiers. They have Qui-Gon enough time to get to his feet and ignite his saber.

There was not a second to waste. He leapt over their heads in a classic and well-done Aratu jump and deflected blaster bolts that were incoming. He didn’t know the sides or who was who, but these boys had defended him. So, for now, it was an easy side to choose. Aratu wasn’t perfect for this type of thing, but Qui-Gon easily shifted into something simple, a blocking form. Reminiscent of Soresu, he has been told.

“Oh! He’s a jedi!” a soldier said, a bit surprised but not completely shocked by his appearance.

Qui-Gon winced, fearing the next reaction. Not everyone was so pleasant and accommodating when people figured out who and what he was.

“I didn’t know another was stationed here,” another said.

They sounded quite familiar to one another. Perhaps it was the vocoder in their helmets.

He blinked, surprised. There was another jedi out here? This far out? It didn’t seem very likely, but the soldiers sounded pretty sure. And apparently, not too displeased either. That was a point in his favor, he supposed. Perhaps he had gotten lucky and chose the right side.

“Commander Tano!” yet another called out, loudly.

“I’m coming, Fives!” a female voice shouted back.

Qui-Gon just barely turned to see a Togruta padawan rumble and tumble through the forest and to their aid, a green lightsaber flashing with jerky movements.

“Canon fire!” someone yelled.

Sure enough, a giant blast soared over them, creating an opening. “That’s our signal!” the Togruta said. “Let’s get back! Come on, master.”

The two jedi and the squad of troopers raced through the foliage, away from the worst of the battle. It was strange, how this was all happening, and he had no idea what was going on. After several minutes, they started to slow down. “I think we are okay, sir,” a soldier said, trying to catch breath.

“Well then, I suppose this could be a moment to ask,” the padawan replied, turning towards Qui-Gon. She looked him over, scanning as if that would glean something from him. In turn, he looked at her. She seemed rather familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He hadn’t been to the Temple in quite some time. “Who are you? And what are you doing out here?”

“Honestly, I could not tell you,” He admitted. “I don’t even know how I got here, much less where here is. However, my name is Master Qui-Gon Jinn.”

They kept walking, barely even stopped for the pause. The girl blinked at him. “Sounds familiar but I’m not sure,” she murmured. “My name is Ahsoka Tano. I think you maybe should talk to my master. He might know more or ya know, who you are.”

The walk turned into something of an initial silence, but it ended up being rather unbearable. Luckily, the Togruta found it just as terrible as him.

“I haven’t seen you around the Temple, Master Jinn. Like at all,” she pointed out, suspicion seeping into her voice. He wondered if he should be surprised by it or not. “Where have you been?”

He was truthful, there was no reason not to be. “I haven’t been to the Temple in…quite some time. Last, I remember, I was falling on an ocean planet in wild space. I was sure I was going to die,” he confessed.

“The Force works in quite mysterious ways,” Ahsoka shrugged.

“That it does. I will admit, I do have some questions. Do you mind?”

“Go ahead, Master Jinn,” she said. “I will answer them to the best of my ability, as long as it isn’t, like, confidential or something.”

As they trudged through the partially decimated forests, Qui-Gon learned a great many things. There was a war. It had engulfed nearly the entire known galaxy and then some. And the jedi were fighting in it. His heart became stuck in his throat. How long had he been gone? The enemy, the Separatists, were cruel and did horrible crimes, their army made up of droids. They invaded, enslaved and even massacred entire peoples and planets. The soldiers piped in when warranted, sometimes lending out quips and barbs when the subject called for it. They rather liked making fun of the droids, he found.

The soldiers themselves were light and warm and just a little different than most beings Qui-Gon knew and come across in his life. They felt right, like they were meant to be friends with the jedi. It was both a warm and disturbing thought.

All the talk however, rather led him to the conclusion that he wasn’t in the same galaxy he was before.

He wondered what changed.

The camp they came to looked sparse and it appeared to be packed up to move. He wondered if that was a good or bad thing. Solders ran everywhere. A few didn’t have their helmets. They looked identical…all of them. Before he could ask, Padawan Tano called out. “Master?”

A young man turned around. It had been several years since Qui-Gon had seen this boy in person, but his presence was unmistakable… although a bit lighter than anticipated.

“Anakin?” he muttered, confused.

Whatever the man was holding, he dropped it, turning to stare at Qui-Gon in what could only be construed as absolute shock. Qui-Gon didn’t think his presence was that surprising. They had seen each other around over the years although, granted, not lately.

“That’s not…” the man muttered then strode over, fierce and bright. Qui-Gon suppressed a wince as he approached. Ahsoka noticed. Anakin did not. He enveloped the master in a tight and all-encompassing hug. “You aren’t a ghost,” he murmured, shocked and airy. “You are real.”

“Uh. Yes,” he affirmed, brows furrowing in confusion. “I will admit… I did not expect you to be so happy to see me.”

Just because Anakin didn’t appear to resent Qui-Gon for not training him, didn’t mean that the boy was ever particularly happy to see or be around him. The young man finally pulled back, looking at him so intently Qui-Gon wasn’t sure what he was looking for but Anakin looked nearly as confused as the older master himself. “Why not? You are the one that saved me from slavery.”

Ahsoka looked surprised as she glanced between them. “Wait… he’s…”

“I can’t believe you are here,” Anakin interrupted, returning to a near giddy state. The girl just continued to look flabbergasted, like she was seeing a ghost but she stopped speaking on the matter.

“I am beginning to suspect I am not in my galaxy,” Qui-Gon mused, uncertainly. None of this made much sense, at least in the terms of his own. What little research he had done in phenomena of the cosmic and unifying force had usually been in the realm of prophecy, at least when he was younger. Qui-Gon had very little thought on the matter in the past ten years.

“Or you time traveled,” Anakin teased, bright and happy. Qui-Gon didn’t think so but something was niggling in the back of his mind not to argue. “This is just going to blow my master’s mind,” he grinned and spun his head around, looking. He glanced over at one of the nearby troopers, dressed in blue and white, with a large pauldron that jutted out from his shoulder. “Hey Rex, do you know where Commander Cody and my master are?”

Rex stopped and dipped his head in acknowledgement before gesturing in a direction. “Incoming, sir. From the north.”

Anakin grinned even wider, his eyes sparkling in something amazed and mischievous. “Come on, master,” he urged, looking back at Qui-Gon and pulling him towards the direction the trooper had given him. “This is going to be great. I have so much to tell you.”

Qui-Gon’s legs gave out at the sight of him because, well, it was impossible.

Anakin hadn’t gotten much in, just a bit more about the war when…. when he came in. And Qui-Gon had spotted him right away, he had seen him and heard his voice and felt him – oh! It could only be a wonderful dream. His brain was practically empty with only joy filling it. The disbelief and logic could not quite settle in at the moment, not with the initial reaction of this.

Qui-Gon had dreamed about this.

He was running into the camp, flanked by a myriad of soldiers, shouting out orders with a child perched in his arms like it was absolutely normal. The child was clinging to him, terrified, of course, but rather trusting with their perch. His hair was lighter than Qui-Gon remembered, and longer, a rather neat cut with bangs swept off to the side. He had grown in a beard, which helped hide his natural baby face. It aged him, Qui-Gon mused, but not particularly in a bad way. Qui-Gon wondered if it made others listen and respect him more. With his under tunics, he had pieces of armor scattered around his form. A pauldron had the Order’s symbol on it while his vambrace sported a red and yellow open circle; two halves that formed a whole.

Interesting, he thought. He wondered the reasoning and symbolism behind it.

Despite all the changes, the impossible age, Qui-Gon would know him anywhere. Even if he could not feel that familiar presence and even through the aging. He would know that voice, he would know him.

He would know his apprentice.

Anakin was trying to support his weight, but Qui-Gon was already on his knees, on the ground, staring in absolute shock and awe, leaning against one of the crates they were standing near. “Obi-Wan,” he whispered in disbelief, tears swelling in his eyes. “It’s…impossible.”

“What do you mean?”

He barely registered the young… padawan? Knight? He wasn’t sure what Anakin was at this point, although the Togruta had called him master. He was rather young for it. Qui-Gon couldn’t answer, his brain was running in circles and his tongue was completely tied up.

“General Kenobi!” one of the soldiers called from across the clearing and camp, him and two others making their way to the jedi knight – no, master. It was clear, Qui-Gon could see, could feel, his padawan was a master. With a dazzling grin, Obi-Wan handed one of them the child. The soldier ripped off his helmet and laughed, receiving the gift with such approval and glee. The child seemed to find this transfer acceptable and held on tight, wrapping thin arms around the trooper. Another just huffed but Qui-Gon feel some sense of vague amusement rolling off of him.

“Waxer! Boil! Perfect,” Obi-Wan snickered but he sounded perfectly pleased. His accent was the same as always, although perhaps a bit polished with some sort of undertone Qui-Gon couldn’t identify. Perhaps it was all the time spent with the soldiers that shifted it. “Mind watching this youngling until we can find his parents?”

One soldier scowled, away from the child. He was trying to project his disapproval, Qui-Gon realized, but no one was buying it. “Sir, that was one time.”

“You’re good at it!”

There was some more laughs and the child that was in one soldier’s arms seemed so sense something and jumped into the other one. He caught the child quickly but awkwardly and everyone just kept chuckling.

“We will find the parents sir!” the first soldier grinned.

Obi-Wan continued to smile and Qui-Gon was amazed. He had seen so much destruction and horrible feats in the little time he had spent here, in the battlefield, on the camp with the wounded and dying. He could feel the pain and darkness in the Force, in the galaxy, but somehow, someway, Obi-Wan could find some joy in the little things he had learned with and about the soldiers. They were his friends, Qui-Gon realized. All of this was hitting him like a brick.

Qui-Gon missed a lot of the conversation after that with his thoughts and he could vaguely hear and sense Anakin talking beside him, barely taking into account Obi-Wan’s presence across the clearing, so worried about Qui-Gon. But the older master…he just couldn’t stop staring.

Ten years and all he could do was stare.

Qui-Gon finally got himself to stand, and he felt hands on him, but he just shrugged them off. He had to move. He had to move, move quickly. Stumbling towards his former padawan, he vaguely heard Anakin call after him, but Qui-Gon did not really hear. He didn’t hear anything anymore; it was rather like he was under the harsh waves of the planet he had fallen into, nothing but crashing and nothing to see as water slammed into his eyes. And the only bit of light was that in front of him, the only thing he could see, the only thing he could focus on.

There was nothing but Obi-Wan.

His eyes never left him.

He was so close.

“Obi-Wan,” he whispered and reached.

Qui-Gon somehow stopped himself before he could crash into the now jedi master and leaned against the table before them. Obi-Wan had not turned, had not even reached for his presence, still going over maps and paperwork laid out.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said with a sigh. He sounded so fond with undertones of sarcasm and wit. “You sound as if you thought I would not survive. That is a bit insulting, don’t you think?” he snorted and shook his head. A small smile was creeping underneath his beard. One of the soldiers, a commander, Qui-Gon suspected, along with a few hours were just staring at him, unsure. Obi-Wan just continued to speak, so focused on his task at hand. “I noticed pack up is coming along. I hope the natives have been warned and moved. And delegating that to Ahsoka and your poor Captain is such bad form-.”

“Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon croaked out again.

“You sound absolutely terrible, dear one, are you…” And then Obi-Wan finally, finally, turned around to face him, the words, dying on his lips as he stared at Qui-Gon, near uncomprehending. Qui-Gon could not see what he was thinking.

“Obi-Wan.”

The young man swallowed, staring intently before he took a shaky breath and shook his head slowly. “Someone please get Helix,” Obi-Wan said, cordially, and Qui-Gon was momentarily confused until he realized Obi-Wan wasn’t actually talking to him, personally. “I appear to be hallucinating,” he explained further. He didn’t take his eyes off of Qui-Gon, just stared and appeared to be studying him.

A soldier ran off. Others just watched. Because even though Obi-Wan had said he was hallucinating, they could all see him. Qui-Gon wondered what had happened that made Obi-Wan think this way, that seeing him was more likely to be a hallucination than real. He was dead, Qui-Gon guessed.

“You aren’t,” Qui-Gon’s voice cracked from emotion because in all honesty, it did not feel real. There were so many emotions wrapped up in all of this. He could feel Obi-Wan’s warmth, see his light and it felt impossible. “But I feel as though I must be.”

He then couldn’t help it. He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and hugged his padawan, wrapping his arms securely around him and oh – he was still shorter than the older master. Qui-Gon could still tuck him under his chin and that he did. He tucked what used to be his little child under his chin and wrapped him so tight like if he even gave an inch back, he would lose him all together.

“What is this,” Obi-Wan mumbled but he accepted the hug, even leaning into Qui-Gon, a bit limp. When was the last time Qui-Gon hugged his padawan? When was the last time anyone had hugged his padawan? He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted the answer.

“Such a blessing,” Qui-Gon muttered to himself, and he was crying now, tears slipping out silently. He couldn’t believe it. Because this was more than he could dream. He had seen Obi-Wan over the years, in dreams, nightmares, even drug-induced hallucinations (not on purpose) but he had never been able to really speak, never been able to tough and hug and reach with the Force. Qui-Gon, at this point, was scared to. Scared to see what he would find.

“I do not understand what is happening.”

Qui-Gon barely pulled back – barely – just to look at Obi-Wan’s face. He was so tired in a resigned type of way; like the weight of the galaxy had been put on his shoulders. Qui-Gon had a sneaking position something like that was, in fact, happening. “Goodness, look at you,” he said instead, trying to smile because oh, this was the most pleasant dream.

Obi-Wan’s expression turned wary, suspicious. “Me.”

“You’ve grown up so well, my dear,” Qui-Gon replied instead because he had. Obi-Wan looked so good and the older master could only imagine how well he was doing in his studies, in his learning, in what he had done and accomplished and grown. “I like the haircut and the beard, it suits you. I think it makes you look older but not in a bad way, distinguished or something,” he chuckled but then frowned suddenly. Obi-Wan frowned back. “But…you…you look so sad.”

“You can see that?”

How could he not? How could anyone not?

Who hadn’t seen this?

“It has only been ten years, Obi-Wan, not ten lifetimes,” he replied, trying to keep with another smile. “I never knew you as well as I should have…but I know that…weight. I’ve underestimated it, but I’ve seen it.”

“Oh,” Obi-Wan mumbled, glancing down and Qui-Gon couldn’t quite read what he was thinking about that. “You kind of look the same.”

Qui-Gon let out a wet, half-hearted laugh and he almost couldn’t stop because that…that was something he would say, although not quite as snarky as the witty teenager Qui-Gon used to think. “One does not often change too much so into life and habits,” he admitted and he projected some type of joy.

“You smell better,” he mumbled and glanced up at him at him, watching Qui-Gon’s face for something. Qui-Gon wondered what he was looking for. “Look nice. It’s trimmed,” he noted, curiously, touching the ends, in some sort of wonder. Qui-Gon just smiled again, his shoulders relaxing.

Qui-Gon hummed. “I kept thinking of you,” he muttered, truthfully.

“This is incredibly strange.”

His note about the hair? Or the scenario? Both? It hardly mattered.

“You seem to be taking the possibility fairly well, however,” Qui-Gon replied.

Obi-Wan let out a light chuckle but there continued to be a hollowness underneath it, like he wasn’t sure if he should be amused or not. Oh, Qui-Gon wanted to know everything that had happened without him, everything he didn’t know. He wanted to know everything because he seemed to have missed so much and he had this strange second chance. He needed make the most of it. Obi-Wan shook his head in some form of disbelief. “Ah, if only you knew all the things we have gone through in your absence.”

“Then I’m sure I’d understand,” he guessed.

Obi-Wan’s eyes were sparkling, partially with tears. “Perhaps…we…we must go,” he added, stepping back and out of Qui-Gon’s embrace. The older man frowned just a bit, he did not want to let go of his child, the one he had lost so long ago. But Obi-Wan kept talking and then Qui-Gon understood the urgency. “The Separatist forces are approaching.”

“The droids.”

Obi-Wan glanced at him, questioning and curious.

Qui-Gon shrugged. “The padawan, Ahsoka, told me.”

His former padawan straightened so much, Qui-Gon thought if he touched him, the man would snap in half. A medic had run up, with a few others, but Obi-Wan waved him off. “False alarm Helix,” he said with some amusement that no one else probably found amusing. “It appears I am not hallucinating after all. It just appears that my former master who was actually quite dead has either been resurrected, time travelled or jumped dimensions.”

“Force shenanigans?” one of the troopers near them grinned. He had scars all over his face and some scruff on the lower half but there was a life to him that Qui-Gon nearly melted in the presence of.

“Yes, Immortal. That is probably the most reasonable explanation,” Obi-Wan replied.

“Clankers are inbound, but Oddball and his squad are ready for bombardment when you give the signal,” another soldier – the commander, Qui-Gon believed – added, stepping in and standing next to Obi-Wan.

“Let’s move out and give Oddball and his boys space to do their work,” Obi-Wan nodded and turned towards Qui-Gon. “We really should get going. Do you mind following us?”

This was currently Obi-Wan’s domain, his galaxy. His padawan may have been at war again but Qui-Gon had to believe there was a reason. There was a reason last time and Obi-Wan did not jump into these things’ willy nilly. It wasn’t something that he enjoyed. He was a creature of duty and compassion and Qui-Gon had spent the last ten years thinking about him and wistfully dreaming of more time. He had it now, he would not give it up so easily. Obi-Wan knew this world, what was happening, what they were doing. And from what little Qui-Gon could gather, he had become quite the leader.

“I will follow your lead,” Qui-Gon vowed, resolute and truthful.

Something softened in his padawan’s eyes, and he nodded, gratefully.

My, what a strange world he had ended up in, indeed.

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padawanlost · 4 years

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does vader come back to kill watto? i hate entering discourse about it because i see people say “well he wasn’t that bad” or “he didn’t treat shmi and anakin that bad” and honestly? why are they making excuses for slavery?

Tbh, I doubt I’ll ever understand what drives someone to justify slavery. I really don’t get it. but, after realizing the only case of slavery no one tries to justify as a ‘necessary evil’ is Obi-wan’s, I have my theories.

Anyway, Anakin never returns for Watto in anger. Watto, to my great saddens, gets to live a long life. In fact, that piece of garbage manages to outlive both Shmi and Anakin.

"Anakin's mother?" Luke said. "Was her name Shmi?" Ody shook his head. "I can't recall. Like I said a lot of years have passed. But if you want to find out more, you should go to Watto's and " Ody clapped his hand against his forehead. "Sorry, I keep forgetting. It's not Watto's anymore. It's Wald's." "Wald's?" "Yeah, Watto retired. Now it's Wald's Parts. But that's why you should go there. Wald knew Anakin. Let me give you directions” [Ryder Windham. The Life of Luke Skywalker ]

I think people also minimizes the trauma of Anakin and Shmi’s enslavement because neither character thinks to much of it. They have become so used to mistreatment that Watto’s brand of cruelty feels like a respite.

Leia sat slumped in the seat beside Han, faintly aware of her tender shoulder and feeling distinctly inadequate in the presence of her grandmother’s memory. Watto had been Shmi’s master—and her son’s—for years, and still she had somehow found it inside herself to forgive him. Leia had been Jabba’s slave for one night, and she had strangled him with the chain that bound her. Of course, there was a world of difference between Watto and Jabba. [Troy Denning. Tatooine Ghost]

Besides, what choice did they have in the matter? He raced because he was good at it, Watto knew he was good at it, and whatever Watto wanted of him he would do. That was the price you paid when you were a slave, and Anakin Skywalker had been a slave all his life. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

To Leia, a princess of Alderaan, the thought of being a Hutt’s slave was unacceptable. To Anakin, who grew up as a Hutt’s slave, Watto felt like an improvement. What Leia considered an unspeakable crime, Anakin considered mundane. I think people forget that. People forget the horror of it. So let’s remind them:

When Count Dooku flies at him, blade flashing, Watto’s fist cracks out from Anakin’s childhood to knock the Sith Lord tumbling back. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

Physical pain he could have handled even without his Jedi mental skills; he’d always been tough. At four years old he’d been able to take the worst beating Watto would deliver without so much as making a sound. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

Yeah, a four years old so used to being beaten he no longer cries is totally fine.

Both mother and son were grateful to Watto for keeping them together, and after sharing a dingy, fetid room with six other slaves at Gardulla’s estate, they were astonished to learn they would have an entire hovel to themselves at Slave Quarters Row, along the outskirts of Mos Espa. Watto believed they should feel grateful, and made it clear that if they didn’t do as he said, he’d fill the hovel to capacity with additional slaves. [Ryder Windham. Star Wars®: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader]

Which single mom doesn’t want to live in precarious conditions. Again, totally normal.

Operating a Podracer required incredibly fast reflexes, the competition was fierce, and Anakin — as far as anyone knew — was the only human ever to fly one and live. Despite this accomplishment, Anakin knew he’d have to do better to please Watto. [Ryder Windham. The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader]

When he’d belonged body and soul first to venal, rapacious Gardulla the Hutt.… and after her Watto, who hadn’t been cruel, exactly, but was greedy and careless and willing to see him die racing a Pod. [Karen Miller. Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]

Nothing wrong with forcing a kid to risk his life for profit, am I right?

“For a moment, I suspected you’d run away from Watto.” transmitter detonate?” “Pleasure?” Watto said, his trunklike nose turning slightly upward as if recoiling from Anakin’s words. “You think I like cleaning up exploded slaves? Bweh heh heh!” When he was done laughing, he gestured with a three-fingered hand to some more scrap-filled containers that had just been delivered, and said, “Now get back to work! I want this scrap sorted by noon!” [Ryder Windham. The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader]

Freedom and fun? Who needs it when you can be threatened with explosives and forced to work under TWO suns?

“Anakin, how are you feeling? Truthfully?” If he said hungry, Obi-Wan would throw something at him. But he was. He was ravenous. And he hated, hated, feeling hungry. The sensation too. It’s unfortunate but it can’t be helped. We’ll manage.” [Karen Miller. Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]

Starvation. That’s healthy.

“Rassa dwee cuppa, peedunkel!” Watto screamed, starting in again on Anakin in a fresh burst of Huttese. The pudgy body lurched forward a few centimeters with each epithet, causing Anakin to step back in spite of his resolve. Watto’s bony arms and legs gestured with the movements of his head and body, giving him a comical appearance. He was angry, but Anakin had seen him angry before and knew what to expect. He did not cringe or bow his head in submission; he stood his ground and took his scolding unflinchingly. He was a slave and Watto was his master. Scoldings were part of life. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

Verbal assault is always fun.

Watto was immediately defensive. “He’s my boy, my property, and he’ll do what I want him to do!” [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

Oh, to be considered property. What a fun concept!

Not only Anakin and Shmi were slaves, without any rights or freedom, they were forced into hard work, starved, threatened, abused and humiliated.

But, please, tell me again how not rescuing kids under the same or worse circumstances is the right call.

#ask #anon #gffa slavery #sw meta #anakin skywalker #shmi skywalker #watto #meta: anakin #meta: shmi #meta: watto #txt

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wonderlandleighleigh · 4 years

Text

That Clone Thing: The Empire Strikes Back Edition Pt. 1

“Can you believe him?!”

Anakin Skywalker frowns as he looks up from the maintenance job he’s doing on an A-Wing. Hoth is cold, and he hates the cold, but here he is, in the middle of this frigid hellscape, with his twin children and the rebellion.

“Who?” he asks, peering up at his daughter quizzically.

“Han!”

“Uh…”

“He’s leaving!”

“A Hutt has a price on his head,” Anakin points out. “It’s not an easy situation for him to be in.”

“We need him here.”

“Uh…”

“And he had the nerve - the nerve! - to accuse me of having feelings for him!”

Ah.

Anakin grins at her, blue eyes sparkling. “Well, don’t you?”

“What?!” Leia yelps, brown eyes widening in indignation. “Of course I don’t! How could you even suggest- that I-”

Anakin chuckles and hops down from the fighter, wiping his hands onto his jacket. “You know...you remind me a little of the woman Obi-Wan was in love with when you’re like this.”

Leia frowns deeply. “Obi-Wan? I thought you said attachment was forbidden?”

“It was. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t accidentally break the rules sometimes,” Anakin grins. “After all, you and your brother are here.”

She huffs and crosses her arms. “So...Obi-Wan?”

“Was in love with the Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore,” Anakin tells her. “And boy did they fight.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she tells him starchly. “Although Duchess Satine was a formidable politician. I studied her in academy.”

“Okay,” he smiles, kissing her cheek. “I’m sorry he’s leaving. He’s a good pilot, and I don’t like seeing you upset.”

Leia pouts, but only a little, and only because he’s her father. “Thank you.”

“Your brother still out on patrol?”

“Yes, he’s not back yet.”

“Alright.”

*****

“Scruffy-looking-...NERF Herder!”

“Who’s scruffy-lookin?” Han asks, indignation written all over his face.

“Break it up,” Anakin orders with a laugh. “Luke needs rest.”

Leia huffs and shoves past Han, out of the medical bay, as Han shakes his head, bewildered.

“Can you believe her?” he asks the two Skywalker men.

Luke snickers behind his hand as Han wanders out, followed by Chewie, who is very clearly making fun of his friend.

Anakin huffs and looks to Luke. “Gave us quite a scare, son.”

“I’m sorry, Father,” Luke frowns. “But...in the snow...before Han showed up...I saw Ben. His ghost.”

Anakin tilts his head, narrowing his eyes. “You did?”

“He told me I had to go to Dagobah,” Luke explains. “To train with a Jedi named Yoda. Obi-Wan said Yoda trained him.”

Anakin looks up to the ceiling. “Wow, giving himself a little bit of a status boost, aren’t you, Master?”

Luke looks confused as his father chuckles softly.

“So, Obi-Wan was trained by a Jedi master named Qui-Gon Jinn,” Anakin explains. “Who was trained by a Jedi Master - who later turned into a Sith - named Dooku...and Dooku was trained by Yoda.”

Luke continues to look confused. “...Oh. But I thought you were going to train me.”

“Yoda is a great Jedi Master,” Anakin tells him. “He was the grand master of the Jedi High Council. Just watch out for his walking stick. He pokes.”

Luke frowns.

*****

As the base on Hoth fills with Imperial troopers, Anakin stops on his way to his A-Wing, a heavy blackness settles over the Force.

He grins viciously. “Vader.”

“Father!” Leia is making a beeline for the Falcon. “We have to go!”

He grips her shoulders as she runs past him, kissing her forehead. “I love you. Go get safe.”

Her eyes widen. “No. No, you can’t be serious about staying, you’ll be all on your own, you’re the only one!”

“She’s right, General!” Han yells as he runs past them. “Get outta here! It’s suicide to face him like this!”

Anakin takes a breath, gazes at Leia once more, and nods. “I’ll comm you once I’m up. Go.”

She nods and hugs him quickly before making a run for it again.

Anakin stays a little longer, watch the Falcon start up, before leisurely getting into his own ship.

He sees Vader through the windshield, and smirks as he lifts off and follows the Falcon out.

*****

The Falcon takes off and Luke heads to Dagobah.

“You ready, Snips?” he asks over the comm, as he watches his children speed off.

“As I’ll ever be,” Ahsoka responds from her own fighter. “I still don’t understand why you wanna go to Mustafar…”

“If I’m gonna face Vader, I need to know what happened,” Anakin explains. “I need to know what he did. What he became.”

Ahsoka sighs softly. “Then...let’s go find out.”

#Anakin Skywalker #fic #au #That Clone Thing

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legobiwan · 4 years

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Despite your (justified) criticism of them, I'd like to hear your favourite positives about Qui Gon and the Jedi

Absolutely!

And as an introduction, yes, I love to pull on the threads of things to watch them unravel and then follow those tangled paths to their conclusions. (The fun in this is exploring the possibilities and the whys and wherefores.) The Jedi institution and the Jedi therein were flawed and those flaws were exploited - to a catastrophic degree by Sidious but also by others along the way, which created a network of fascinating causes and effects that I just find endlessly fun to explore. The Jedi were slow to change, too immersed in tradition, aware of their shortcomings but seemingly unable to do anything about it.1 This being said, their ideals, their basic philosophies of nonattachment, of duty, of their place in the galaxy - those were solid, if not wholly attainable by any sentient. (”Seekers, not saints,” as the saying might go.) At the end of the day, I consider myself a staunch Jedi apologist, even if I will first run them through the wringer before I get to that point.

But anyway -

Qui-gon

My favorite problematic Jedi.

I think this quote from Master and Apprentice is very illustrative:

And this, I think, is the true embodiment of Qui-gon Jinn. He doesn’t negate the fact the darkness will always exist, that terrible things and people will inhabit the galaxy. But he emphasizes (to Rael, who is a bit more nihilistic about the Code and life at that point) he turns to the Light not because of the Jedi, or Yoda, or the Code - but because it is the right thing to do.

It actually reminds me a lot of this quote that’s been going around irl2:

And it’s true. Turning to the Light will not win you any points. This isn’t a game or a sports event, and in the true sense of balance, there is no real victor in the end. You can choose the dark and it will always be there to balance the Light because there is no Light without Dark and vice versa. But does one want to live their life in the shadows or attempt to create something better, even if it is a Sisyphean task, in a chaotic and unruly universe? Qui-gon - for all his foibles and occasionally terrible execution - lives by this, sometimes in spite of the Jedi as an institution. And I admire that about him.

And it’s this type of mindset, that sees the Light as something beyond the Code, beyond the Jedi as an institution, that makes Qui-gon such an effective “maverick.” I love his reasoning for training Padawans away from Coruscant:

This is so good, such a fantastic idea, and it makes me yearn for an AU Council where Qui-gon did take the seat (and then Rael could have finished Obi-wan’s training which would have been hilarious). The Council needed someone like Qui-gon who would challenge them at every turn, who would not accept the answers of “status quo” and “tradition” as acceptable. (And we all know from whom Qui-gon inherited this tendency, although Dooku was trying too hard to be an exemplary Jedi to be able to be the maverick either Rael or Qui-gon turned out to be. Which mirrors...someone else I could talk about.)

Qui-gon questions, constantly, and if he had lived past TPM, he would have likely been a thorn in Palpatine’s side because he would have raised issues like this:

The Council needed a strong, dissenting voice, and Qui-gon would have been it.

Even beyond this, however, Qui-gon cares. He subverts certain Jedi morals (and probably Republic law) to free Anakin. (And guess who, many years later, subverted Republic law in several attempts to do good, attempts that came so close to unveiling Sidious. Yes, I’m talking about Obi-wan, if you were wondering.) He refuses to sign the treaty with Czerka because it will enslave Pijal for eternity. His ideals are not bound by a (the) Code, by his place in an Order, but by something deeper, by a moral imperative to do the right thing.

(And also, without Qui-gon, would we have had Force ghosts?)

We can learn a lot from Qui-gon, even if (as I said) his execution of his ideals left some bodies in its wake.

The Jedi

One of the things I love about the Jedi is their approach to attachment. And I’m always reminded of this T.S. Eliot quote I got from a horoscope 10 years ago in a local alt-weekly paper that I ripped out and have carried with me since:

“We die to each other daily. What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. And they have changed since then.“

Everything in this universe is fluid and in my mind, out society places far too much importance on a linear trajectory, on this cause-and-effect growth of “this is who you were and this is where you will be according to our metrics.” People change. Goals change. Life happens. Friends, lovers, strangers - they flirt in and out of our lives, always impactful, but never forever. And therefore, attachment - a form of control, a way of executing a will on an unknowable and recalcitrant universe - tends to be detrimental. And this isn’t to say that one should be without meaning and maintain some form of attachment to people and ideals and identities. But it’s a matter of managing that. Which is...not easy for anyone.3

I love the alternate Jedi Code.

Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.

It acknowledges that we will feel, will experience all these emotions and stimuli, but we can work on observing our reactions, and then watching them fly away.

And in a lot of cases, this is good. We need to be able to observe our own reactions, as if in a scientific experiment. I experience this, but it doesn't not define me, is a great way to deal with adverse circumstances.4

Taken to an extreme, however, and things get a little dicey.

The Jedi wanted to do good, hell, they even allowed themselves to be policed by the Republic to show their non-intrusive intentions to the populace. And a bunch of psychic space monks can be a little scary - let the holomedia get a hold of that narrative and things could go downhill real fast.

Mace wanted to see justice. Yoda wanted to see peace. Obi-wan wanted to see order. Anakin wanted to see love. None of this is bad, none of this necessarily conflicts with the Code. The Jedi believed all life connected through the Force, and it’s kind of beautiful, in a The Good Place-type of way that, I think, gives some real optimism to our whole sentient existence on this floating rock. And the Jedi, they give up everything, even if it isn’t necessarily by choice, to devote themselves to a higher ideal, to - at its core - helping. To - as the Qui-gon quote references - a greater good and the defense of that greater good in spite of everything.

In the end, I feel like it was really a matter of ideals vs. institutions. Jedi ideals are wonderful. Jedi institutions, like any, have their own inherent difficulties.The Jedi. as a whole. were doing their best to stick to their ideals in a non-ideal situation. Traditional culture versus ideals, however, is a whole other story.

1 this is very connected to my feelings about the classical music industry which are complicated and deep

2 uhhh, you paying attention, America?

3 I think this is where Dooku’s inherent nihilism came into play. And there’s no easy answer to any of this. Also, life is weird, you guys.

4 This is literally how I managed a very severe phobia of flying. Had to cleave the connection between fear I am going to die now and being in a plane. Which is hilarious, because prior to COVID, I was flying A LOT.

#Anonymous #hello there #ask legobiwan #qui gon jinn #the jedi #and now #time to go running #back later tumblr

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why485 · 5 years

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I haven’t seen the finale yet, but I thought it’d be fun to write down all the predictions and thoughts floating around in my head about it before I watch it. Disclosure: This blog is well into the spoiler zone now.

First thing first, going into the finale, the end of the penultimate episode is the most genuinely angry Rapunzel has ever been. She doesn’t even do angry, but not only has Corona fallen, it’s personal. Hell of an ending and setup.

I’m really excited for this. This whole show has been a huge surprise, to the point where I can’t believe how invested I am in what’s going to happen. I’m hesitant to say that the last time I was this into a cartoon with a story, it was Avatar, but that might be the case. I am so thankful that this exists, warts and all. Watching it, I get the impression that this was something that the people involved really believed in, and went far above and beyond what was required. When it comes to creative works, that’s the kind of heart and soul I’m looking for, the kinds of qualities shared between many of my favorite pieces of media.

Back to predictions, I’m mostly approaching them from the perspective of what the most predictable thing might be. While this show has subverted my expectations numerous times, I have a feeling they’ll play it very safe for the finale. My thoughts and guesses are after the break:

One or more flashbacks to happy times at the castle

Zhan Tiri’s backstory is revealed, basically a mirror of Raps and Cass

Damanitus and Zhan Tiri were best friends until some falling out happened and we got the epic magician clash mentioned in S1

Some kind of black rock army gets created for Raps’ crew to fight against

In the big final battle, all the secondary allied characters show up to help fight. E.g. the dragon, the fortune teller, the Snuggly Duckling crew, Stalyan, Quaid and Vex, Calliope, and so on

Catalina finally gets to go werewolf on some dudes

Damanitus somehow returns (possesses Xavier?) for a brief moment

Eugene gets #rekt by Zhan Tiri or Cass to motivate Raps into fighting.

Cass, Raps, and Zhan Tiri do the whole lightning scene from ROTJ and at the last moment Cass decides to save Raps

Whatever Cass does, it causes the power of the sun drop and the moon stones to neutralize/cancel each other out, i.e. their original mission

Raps loses the magic hair, Cass loses her earth bending, Zhan Tiri can’t survive without the existence of both those things and explodes

During the happy ending, the whole proposal thing gets resolved and Raps and Eugene are finally officially engaged

Cass appears as a force ghost during the ending celebration

Pretty basic, standard stuff. The part I’m most interested in though is the ultimate fate of Cass. Zhan Tiri is going to be defeated, but it’s totally up in the air what will happen to Cass. It’s possible she could die, but that would make her the first to explicitly die in the series and I doubt they would go that far.

The big problem here is that the Tangled Ever After short takes place after the series and Cass isn’t in it. Canonically, Cass is too important at this point to not appear in it, so something has to happen to her.

I’ve been joking ever since the Great Tree, and especially after the Rapunzeltopia episode, that this series is going to end with an epic Anakin vs Obi-Wan style showdown, a heart-breaking duel to the death between two former best friends. There’s just too many parallels to not be reminded of it. I mean, Cass even gets a robot hand horribly disfigured hand that gets covered up by a gauntlet before she becomes Vader! The writing was on the wall!

That said, I don’t think the episode will end with Raps cutting Cass to bits, leaving her to burn in lava while she screams about how much she hates Raps. With as much as Star Wars has been leaking into this show, I expect it to be more Return of the Jedi than Revenge of the Sith. Cass will be redeemed, but will have to sacrifice herself in some less than lethal capacity that removes her from Rapunzel’s life. Maybe she gets trapped in the Phantom Zone.

#tts spoilers #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled #tangled the series

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aq2003 · 5 years

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FULL ENDGAME REVIEW

6.5/10 was ok but could’ve been a lot better in my opinion and by a lot better i mean

tony should’ve lived

-the russos are war criminals for what they did to tony alone. he had a family to go back to, JUST like clint. but i guess self sacrifice is cool, right?

-ever since iron man 3, tony’s story has essentially a dark twist to the “great power great responsibility” trope: the hero internalizes the motivating phrase (“don’t waste your life”), and let it interfere with their ability to take care of themself/open up to others. it started strong in iron man 3, got undermined in aou, got slightly more prevalent in the context of civil war, FINALLY got foreshadowed in infinity war. his arc was ultimately about letting other people HELP him with the responsibility he feels like he needs to carry

-until endgame threw it under the bus again. in an objectively cool way, yeah, but it still got thrown under the bus and i’m mad

-so now tony stark’s story is ultimately a tragedy. and i fucking hate it, man. he had happiness (but not really, because peter’s not there) for 5 years and that got snatched away from him too! he underwent so much trauma since his goddamn origin story and he had a few moments of peace, sure, but he died before he could fully reunite with his loved ones. and it SUCKS.

-god this is . this is like. if obi-wan kenobi went through All That but got really close to luke before he died and also never got any closure with anakin as a force ghost

-the russos have said, like outright, that thanos was a symbol of what tony’s been fearing of since 2012, the being that symbolized the root of his anxiety and ptsd. so what does tony do to defeat it? uhhh idk he dies i guess. but it’s okay! he can finally rest now!

-really great message there for the kids, right?

-also there was a whole sequence about him talking to his dad about not abandoning his kid and being there for her. but now he CAN’T be there for morgan because tony stark is fucking gone and dead and i can’t fucking handle this he deserves so much better

-also also not to be a DudeBroGeek™ but he totally got nerfed during his fight scenes

thor shouldn’t have been played off as a joke

-my whole theater laughed at him being . fat. and i was SUPER SUPER SUPER uncomfy the entire time

-he has a PANIC ATTACK and people LAUGHED i mean way to treat more of your mentally ill characters like shit, russos! sure! just devaluate thor’s suffering by saying “oh he’s fat so it’s funny now! hehe!” FUCK you

-i mean, yikes, i can’t believe we went from iron man 3 (where mental illness is one of the major problems the protagonist clearly struggles with, where tony’s panic attacks are disturbingly real and in no way funny) to THIS SHIT

-don’t even get me STARTED on his arc. like from thor 1 to dark world it’s about putting aside his arrogance for the good of his people. for ragnarok it’s finally stepping up and finding his powers while taking up the responsibility as king. in infinity war i was able to turn a blind eye to it, but it’s so prevalent in endgame how little the russos care about thor’s journey in his movies

-in the end he passes off the responsibility he took up in ragnarok to val and just straight up fucked off to space. like what the hell, man?

-ALSO . loki said the sun would shine on them again but the sun DIDN’T fucking shine on them and i feel robbed. i feel like the russos broke into my home and stole something important.

-the brodinsons deserve better.

-how can taika even be there, like physically. i mean. the thor from his movie got entirely retconned

-also not to be a DudeBroGeek™ again but. but like tony he was so 100% nerfed especially during the fight against thanos HOW did thanos even touch stormbreaker aka the weapon made to kill him like what

-i hate to put this all on james gunn but he’s GOTTA fix the crimes committed in endgame against the guardians and thor

steve’s entire character arc shouldn’t have been undermined

-one of his defining character traits is that he won’t stand by and let bad things happen when he can prevent it

-if you could describe steve rogers THAT’S what you would say about him.

-it’s like tony being smart. or thor being powerful. steve is just Like That

-so why did he go back in time when two full movies were dedicated to him adapting to the future

-idk it doesn’t really make sense to me

-i don’t actually have much to say about steve, i’m not as attached to his character as tony and thor but it still rubs me the wrong way. maybe it makes more sense to steve stans but from what i’ve seen they’re PISSED even though out of the trio he got the most time to shine in battle lmao

also

-the time travel fuckery was. hmmm

-nat wasn’t there for the admittedly cheesy but still sort of nice girl-power shot

-wong did nothing until the final battle. like him surviving the snap did nothing to impact the story

-why was okoye even on the poster? she should’ve gotten a bigger role imo

-WHAT was dr strange even doing holding back the water

-my brother (who watched the movie with me) thought that the lgbt rep in the movie was “america’s ass” rather than the gay russo in steve’s support group, which just goes to show that the lgbt rep is SO small and the media should really stop hyping it up. not really salt towards the movie itself but it’s still salt

-fortnite

general saltiness out of the way, i’m going to list what i did like about the movie

-those posts going around about how knowing the spoilers take away from the movie are actually really, really wrong. i went in knowing more than half the plot including who lives and dies and i still found it entertaining, to say the least. the movie had a lot of effort put into making it and it really shows. if you ignore the parts you don’t like, you can actually kick back and have a relatively good time

-also the action was really, really good. throughout the entire movie. it’s an avengers film, so the action has to be good, but the fights were still super awesome and a lot were actually a cut above the rest of the mcu (especially the melee fights)

-the final battle was amazing. up until the end, i was on the edge of my seat, because even though it’s another “big final battle against an army of cgi monsters” i actually really really liked it. pretty much everything was perfect about it, and it was so fun to watch the theater go ham whenever a hero did something badass.

-the score. god, the score. alan silvestri did so good with calling back motifs from other solo mcu movies (something marvel should’ve been doing the entire time). ant man’s theme after scott pops out of the quantum realm, captain america’s march when tony hands the shield back to steve, the reprise of “even for you” from infinity war during clint and nat’s mission to vormir, captain marvel’s theme when she blows up thanos’ ship? beautiful

-the actors did a superb job with everything they were given (which probably wasn’t that much). since the russos were paranoid about spoilers apparently no one knew who they were talking to which sucked? because the marvel cast is pretty good at improv lines. but the actors still did a REALLY good job despite this (and really do carry the movie). i felt in my BONES tony’s frustration and anger at steve during the wheelchair scene, thor’s pain and self-loathing when he reunited with frigga, and peter’s DESPAIR when he watched tony die (i will never be okay ever)

-the callbacks to previous mcu movies were fanservice, yeah, but it was the GOOD kind of fanservice in that it was really really cool and served the fans. it’s a great way for the last movie in the infinity saga to end, by revisiting some of the iconic places it touched on before

-tony and nebula! they were only together for the first scene of the movie but the scene with paper football was really soft and nice

-the civil war conflict was glossed over save for that one scene of tony going the fuck off on steve and i couldn’t be more grateful

-MORGAN STARK. god if i had the capacity to cry i’d be sobbing through writing this entire post. morgan and her soft dad made my heart MELT into pieces i love them 3000

-they still deserved better though

-scott. like in general. he was one of the highlights of the movie. his reunion with cassie was :’)

-carol’s haircut

-by the way a lot of people complained about her makeup in her first scene with the avengers shown in the trailers but it literally wasn’t a problem for any other carol scene in the movie (because that was the only scene in the entire runtime where she was wearing noticeable lipstick/eyeshadow or whatever)

-professor hulk. i actually didn’t expect to like him, but he made a lot of actually funny jokes and i liked his personality contrast with 2012 hulk. also he made scott tacos! he’s really wholesome and i’m willing to ignore the part where he dabbed

-the mark 85 is one of my favorite iron man suits now, even though it didn’t get a lot of screentime

-speaking of which it’s REALLY great how most of the time when tony saves the day it’s because of his smarts. it brings back the main theme of the character: tony stark, the human, plays ball with gods, aliens, and monsters just by being quick witted.

-the entire sequence of tony, steve, and scott getting the scepter and the tesseract was PURE gold. (it’s my favorite part of the movie honestly)

-tony: ok scott to create a distraction i need you to put my past self into cardiac arrest. \ scott: uhh. uhh ok dude?? \ tony: my self loathing is this strong

-rhodey and nebula! they were an awesome teamup and i really really liked their friendship/dynamic

-PEPPER IN RESCUE ARMOR. WE DIDN’T GET ENOUGH OF THAT BUT IT WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT HER ARMOR DESIGN WAS REAL GREAT

-tony reuniting with peter. i teared up. legit. i teared up.

-thanos: *headbutts carol* \ carol: *doesn’t even move an inch*

-wanda was so badass in her 10 second scene. i just thought it was really cool

-peter using instant kill mode

-tony using the gauntlet was badass. i hated it but it was SO amazing at the same time i wanted to cry and cheer at the same time so i ended up in a semi catatonic state for the rest of the day

-the little wreath with the first arc reactor, morgan craving cheeseburgers, tony’s last message.....;-;

-i love you 3000.....:((((((

-SAM GETTING TO BE CAP. (this was one of the best parts of the all-new all-different avengers comic) even though i still don’t like steve’s ending, i love that sam is going to take up the mantle (and i’m super excited to see the falcon winter soldier show now)

-the movie ended with the soundtrack of tony building the mark 1 solidifying that none of this would’ve happened without iron man. good thing endgame credits said that maybe tony stan lives do matter

-a rat is responsible for saving half the universe and i find that REALLY funny. my favorite theory is that the rat was loki the whole time and that doubles the hilarity

tldr: the movie had an ending that didn’t really fit the characters, but the rest of it was fun to watch: the action scenes were great, the interactions between the characters were mostly good, and it’s overall pretty entertaining as a film by itself. as a closing to the infinity saga it feels unsatisfying, but as a movie it’s enjoyable

#endgame spoilers #avengers endgame #read my post it's good and coherent #i say some bad stuff about the movie but i also list the stuff i liked. see im cool

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doomonfilm · 6 years

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Ranking : Star Wars films

Ranking the Star Wars films with a fandom as dedicated and opinionated as that of Star Wars can be an exercise in futility, but it is a fun one regardless. Famously, George Lucas directed that stark sci-fi drama THX-1138, the nostalgia-fest that was American Graffiti, and then dove headlong into the Star Wars franchise, never to step out of that storytelling realm again. After tolling over this list for what feels like forever, and inviting debates from fellow film lovers, I think I can stand behind my opinions in the following list (which, in all honesty, will probably change as the years go by).

Films not included :

The Clone Wars (2008) / Star Wars : Revelations (2005) / Ewoks : The Battle for Endor (1985) / The Ewok Adventure (1984) / The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

I have not seen the animated films, and I personally feel that the Ewok films and the Holiday Special, while canon, do not provide anything necessary for the overarching narrative of the ‘main’ films.

10. The Phantom Menace (1999)

It pains me to have to call any Star Wars film the ‘worst’ film in the franchise, but there must always be someone that holds down the anchor position, and in this case, it’s The Phantom Menace. Certain aspects of this film are great, like the classic Pod Racing scene, and the casting of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, but ultimately, this film falls short on my list for introducing the concept of midichlorians and insinuating that Anakin Skywalker was an immaculate conception... an idea that (up to this point) has not been properly paid off, in my opinion. For the record, I have no issues with Jar Jar Binks, and am loving how people are attempting to peg him as a Sith Lord with ultimate powers... perhaps even a ‘reincarnated’ version of Darth Plagueis himself.

9. Rogue One : A Star Wars Story (2016)

This film holds an important place in the Star Wars canon for opening up the possibility to tell stories involving characters considered outside of the main narrative spectrum, and in that way, it expands an already deeply expansive world. Where Rogue One missteps, however, is in trying to expand what would normally equate to about two films-worth of lore into two acts. This rushed attempt to make you care deeply for what essentially boils down to a group of ‘cool’ characters really begins to become an afterthought once the film kicks into high gear in the third act, walking you right up to the front door of A New Hope. A good film, but in my opinion, a better idea than an execution, hence it’s low placement on my list.

8. Revenge of the Sith (2005)

I consistently find myself torn between Episode II and Episode III in terms of which film I like more. If I had my way, these films would be combined into a super-cut of sorts, taking the best aspects of both in hopes of muting out the forgettable. Revenge of the Sith finds itself placed lower than Attack of the Clones on my list, however, for slightly fumbling and mishandling the resolution of the original setup story. The seeds that Emporer Palpatine sowed in Anakin were a bit heavy-handed, especially the lore of Darth Plagueis, which is one of many ideas planted by the first three episodes that ultimately has no payoff. Combine this with Obi-Wan’s relatively easy dispatching of Anakin at the end, and all of the buildup towards Darth Vader, including the genius performance of Hayden Christensen of playing Anakin as an entitled and whiny adult that would grow up to be a feared power monger, and I found myself let down due to knowledge of the inevitable story resolution.

7. Attack of the Clones (2002)

This movie... man... so much that it throws at you. Hayden Christensen is a stroke of genius as Anakin Skywalker, as previously mentioned. Natalie Portman really got a chance to spread her wings in this film. Django Fett is awesome looking, but ridiculous as an homage to Boba’s ineptitude at times, and the story of his origin as the mold for all Storm Troopers echoes this. Ultimately, however, this film falls short by undercutting itself with a bit of slight silliness. General Grievous is an awesome concept on paper, but I find myself less and less impressed as the years go by. As excited as I was to see Yoda fight with a lightsaber, having it be digitally animated was slightly anti-climactic. The huge Jedi standoff was a nice touch, and the film is very entertaining, but overall, it falls short due to a slightly disjointed nature.

6. Solo : A Star Wars Story (2018)

It was enivetable that Han Solo would get his own film series in light of the way that Rogue One changed the Star Wars game, and like all things with the sacred series, many were prepared to scream foul that anyone outside of Harrison Ford would dare call themselves worthy of the role. Alden Ehrenreich by no means redefined the role of Han Solo, but he did capture the essence of the character, which worked well for me. Where this film really works, however, is in making concrete what was once only legend. Seeing day one of Han and Chewie’s friendship was wonderful, seeing Han involved in a love story as a vulnerable participant was refreshing, and Donald Glover put on a scene stealing performance. Solo will hopefully be the standard bearer for what the Star Wars Story series of films can be, but it falls short of the top 5 simply because it is outside of the narrative spine.

5. The Force Awakens (2015)

The Force Awakens is a successful bridge of the trilogy trilogy in all the ways that Revenge of the Sith failed to be. Seeing the last vestiges of the Empire in the form of abandoned war vehicles on Jakuu, and having that planet be Rey’s current home, work well in regards to the overarching narrative. The introduction of The First Order is a wonderful element that I believe will pay off greatly in Episode 9, and Kylo Ren (due to the performance of Adam Driver) is already an iconic character. Even BB-8, an obvious attempt at nostalgia via leaning on the R2D2 fandom, was enjoyable. Many people found that this story and the story from A New Hope were a bit too similar, but in my opinion, there is enough unique to justify a story that echoes similar threats, as those in power tend to use the methods of those before them in real life (to varying results). Overall, the casting in this film is on the money, it looks like a million bucks, and it seems there’s been some much needed levity injected into the series in this particular trilogy of films.

4. Return of the Jedi (1980)

The first time that we get to see Luke Skywalker be a badass... Boba Fett and his memorable armor... Princess Leia and her iconic brass bikini... the Ewoks and the battle on Endor... Lando and his devious ways... Han Solo trapped in Carbonite, his screaming face frozen for what seems like it will be forever... there is so much iconic about this film that it is hard to list it all. Wonderful character designs are abound in this film, we get one of the most random selections of locations in any Star Wars film, and we get proper resolution to a host of storylines introduced in this particular story grouping. Outside of George Lucas’s alterations to the group of ‘Force ghosts’ at the end of the film, it’s hard to pick this one apart. For what once seemed like it would be the final film of the canon, it is truly a satisfying conclusion.

3. Star Wars : A New Hope (1970)

Although this is now officially film 4 of the series, this will always be the beginning in spirit. George Lucas changed the game with this film, introducing a DIY aesthetic and spirit, as well as a true love for storytelling unique to the storyteller and their influences, that literally became a mark in time for what was and what will be. It is harder to imagine a more iconic collection of characters being successfully introduced than those in A New Hope, and the echoes of influences centered both in history and older films are integrated so perfectly that many are easy to overlook. Though not my number 1 placement, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect film created out of the blue.

2. The Last Jedi (2017)

I cannot think of another film in the Star Wars series that people were more prepared to hate upon release than The Last Jedi. Be it expectations set personally, wishes of what The Force Awakens should have been, or pettiness such as Porgs being involved in the promotional material, it was hard to find people that were either open-minded or gung-ho positive about the film. I, too, had my own ideas of what would happen, and certain information I had going into the film (mainly the death of Carrie Fisher) caused me to have gut reactions as well (the infamous use of the Force during what should have been her death). What I quickly realized, however, is that the handful of gripes I had with the film were 100% based on what I wanted to see, and not on what was provided. There are some great elements introduced and used in this film... Luke reverting back to his whiny self... the connection between Kylo Ren and Rey... the slow, methodical chase that makes up the main narrative of the film... and, in what is probably my favorite moment in all of the Star Wars film, the amazing destruction of the Star Destroyer courtesy of a hyperspeed jump. People tried to make this film problematic, but when it’s all said and done, this film may go down as the best thing in the series, with the exception of...

1. The Empire Strikes Back (1983)

I wonder if it bothers George Lucas at all that the most revered film in his story canon was one that he did not direct (Irvin Kershner made the series wonderfully dark with this film). This one takes everything that was wonderful about A New Hope and swiftly takes it away from you like a schoolyard bully. The beauty of space and the warmth of Tatooine is replaced with the biting cold you can almost feel of Hoth. The introduction of Yoda brings the entire narrative to new heights. Removing Luke from the conflict raises the stakes for (and profile of) Han, Chewie and Leia immediately. Outside of even the ending is jarring, eschewing a nice and pleasant story wrap-up for the bleakest of cliffhanger endings there is. The Star Wars canon of films is good, but The Empire Strikes Back is truly great.

Curious about why I chose to put films where I did? Do you disagree, or have another opinion/point of view? Feel free to comment via this article or the Ask Me Anything section... these opinions are certainly not written in stone, and with so many films to consider, there may be aspects I’ve not considered or overlooked.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #GeorgeLucas #IrvinKershner #JJAbrams #RianJohnson #StarWars #ThePhantomMenace #AttackOfTheClones #RevengeOfTheSith #ANewHope #TheEmpireStrikesBack #ReturnOfTheJedi #TheForceAwakens #TheLastJedi #RogueOne #Solo

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atamascolily · 7 years

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An incomplete review of the Star Wars EU/Legends canon

I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually very thankful there will never be another Star Wars EU/Legends book in the old - now non-canon - universe. I've been revisiting those books recently as part of my recent Star Wars kick, and let me tell you, I stopped reading them just at the right time - when Vector Prime came out and they killed Chewie off. It's all downhill from there.

Anyway, the Legends universe is a hot mess, but for me, the five Thrawn Books by Timothy Zahn - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future - are amazing and totally canon in my heart for pretty much everything. Everything else is pretty much "meh" except for a few books that evoke some late '90s nostalgia (because really this blog is all about late '90s nostalgia).

So in my head, Luke and Mara Jade are happily married, and so are Han and Leia; their three children, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin, are all happy-go-lucky teenagers who can use the Force with their besties - Tenel Ka of the Hapes Cluster, Chewie's nephew Lowbaccha, and Tahiri Veila - and getting kidnapped/saving the galaxy every few months. The New Republic is alive and going strong on Coruscant (which never gets invaded by aliens from outside the galaxy), Luke runs the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; the remnants of the Empire are scattered and disorganized and sue for peace with the New Republic and Captain Pelleaon finally gets the retirement he deserves. It's really great.

But let's face it, I read just about all of the books published prior to 1999 because I was a Star Wars geek and that's just what you did in the late '90s. (They were New York Times best-sellers so I know I wasn't the only one.) In general, I love the art on the books because it looks just like movie posters for films that were never made and that's exactly what I wanted.

Random thoughts on said EU/Legends canon cut below, for length:

-Ben Kenobi's last appearance to Luke in the Legends AU: "You're not the last of the old Jedi... but the first of the new." (TAKE THAT, DISNEY EPISODE 8!) -Awesome things from the Thrawn books: Mara Jade - check. Talon Karrde - check. Art as a major form of military strategy - check. Secret commando ninjas - check. Leia's title as "Lady Vader" - check. Borsk Fey'lya -check. Camaas Document macguffin-thingy- check. Ysalamiri - lizards that block the Force - check. Vornskrs - Force-sensitive predators - check. Insane Jedi master- check. Lots of clones - check. Lawful Evil Imperials - check. Mara fulfilling her orders to the Emperor in the most badass way possible in The Last Command - check, PLEASE. -Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo forEVER! -Also, Coruscant and New Republic forever!! -Shadows of the Empire: WTF, Xizor/Leia sex pollen (okay, pheromones) seduction scene???; Dash Rendar is a Han Solo expy, you're not fooling anyone. -Truce at Bakura: wow, Ssi-ruuvi are full of Fridge Horror, powering their tech with human life force; maybe the Imperials aren't so bad after all; Luke and Gaeriel have no chemistry and also her entire religion is against the Jedi on principle, and she's not interested in changing it for you, Luke, sorry; of course Dev dies after his redemption arc; watching the force-ghost of Anakin Skywalker try to talk to Leia is amazing, because Leia is so not interested in his shit. -The Courtship of Princess Leia: I love the Hapes cluster, but man Han buying a planet in a card game and kidnapping Leia with the Hapan Gun of Command (pretty much what it sounds like) is NOT OKAY; Teneniel Djo is awesome and so is Dathomir in general. Isolder is okay once he gets over Leia, which takes most of the book. Also on the cover on one edition, Leia looks like Sarah from Labyrinth during that dream sequence with Jareth - what? On the other, she's wearing her Endor outfit, as are Han and Luke and there's a Rancor there, too for no good reason that I can recall. -Jedi Academy Trilogy: Yay getting to see the Kessel spice mines; I'm not so into the Sun Crusher and the Maw Installation, but Qwi Xux and Wedge Antilles are adoreable together, poor Admiral Daala and Imperial sexism (yet another reason Tarkin is an asshole); yay for a Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; Kyp Durron seriously needs to chill, Luke's in a coma for a lot of the series, Exar Kun is not as clever as he thinks himself. -I, Jedi: I'm supposed to like you, Corran Horn, and I'm just not interested and your narrative voice is kinda annoying.... Just sayin'. -The Crystal Star: super weird and trippy, Han and Leia's kids are kidnapped by "The Empire Reborn", which is as dark and terrible as it sounds, Crystal Star explodes, do not read. -The Black Fleet Crisis: super dark and trippy, especially the Yevethan culture; reveal that Luke's mother was one of the Fallanassi - pacifist Jedi who hid when the Empire was formed - only it turns out to be a huge macguffin, which is too bad. -Children of the Jedi: EVEN TRIPPIER AND DARKER THAN THE CRYSTAL STAR, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE; Luke gets a love interest who's a Force ghost trapped in a ship's computer; sacrifice, body-swapping, creepy song motifs. -Darksaber: Hutts try to build a Death Star, what can possibly go wrong? Luke's new Jedi girlfriend can't live without her force powers when she loses them, so she leaves him. -Planet of Twilight: Luke goes chasing off after Callista and they don't get back together, so that's good. Also dark and trippy. -The New Rebellion: SUPER DARK AND TRIPPY, LOTS OF MASS MURDER, NOT A FAN. Thank goodness for Mara Jade and Talon Karrde showing up with ysalamiri to turn the force off so Leia can shoot the Evil Dark Jedi behind it all with a blaster. I can't believe I read this. -Ambush at Corellia/Assault on Selonia/Showndown at Centerpoint: also weird and trippy. Han has an evil identical cousin. Luke has to go back and ask Gaeriel for help (she's married now and it's awkward). Lando tries to marry for money and after some awkwardness ends up with Tendra Risant, who is awesome. Lots of things blow up. Kids save the day at the last minute. -I only read one of the Junior Jedi Knights series, Lyric's World, about young Anakin Solo and his friend Tahiri, taking some time off from their Jedi studies to help a friend metamorphose into a new life stage, and I remember it being really charming, despite the inevitable intelligent secret animal sidekick. I later learned that Anakin and Tahiri were kinda an item and then it went horribly wrong in New Jedi Order so I'm glad I didn't read that. -Young Jedi Knights: yay young adult Star Wars novels from the '90s; I stopped reading after Diversity Alliance, but these were fun - especially Tenel Ka, who was a badass, and I quietly shipped her and Jacen (and then that ALSO ended badly in later books - why can't we have nice things?) Especially good in my memory: Shadow Academy (trying not to get corrupted to the dark side at an academy for Dark Jedi), Lightsabers (Tenel Ka has to deal with losing a hand during a training accident); Diversity Alliance (aliens get pissed off at human dominion in the New Republic government but decide that killing the humans off is the only way to achieve justice).

We're not going to even go into all the stuff that happens post-Vector Prime, because it is truly awful. Go look it up if you're curious.

I did read a few stand-alone books this week, though:

-The later Zahn novels lack the spark and vigor I remember from the Thrawn books. Scoundrels couldn't keep my interest. Allegiance and Choices of One feel very weird to me because Luke and Mara manage to work together without actually meeting each other. Survivor's Quest ought to have been good except somehow Luke and Mara encountering the Outbound Flight expedition was BORING and it shouldn't have been. It's not clear if reading the follow-up novel set during the Old Republic era - titled Outbound Flight - will help with this. -Also, I dislike the retconning so that Mara and Luke make references to Naboo and the Trade Federation, which they didn't do in earlier books, and also Thrawn's major motivation for everything is getting the galaxy ready for the impending invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong in New Jedi Order, which I just - really don't like, especially since NJO was pretty awful. -Also, there are an awful lot of Jedi healing trances in Survivor's Quest, which are only tolerable because the code word that Luke and Mara use to snap each other out of it is "I love you". D'aww. -Also, perhaps this is just me reading too much fanfic, but would it hurt to have at least an allusion to the fact that Luke and Mara have sex on occasion - in addition to snuggling and having Force mind-meld sessions? I'm not asking for porn, mind you, but just anything beyond platonic Force buddies would have been good. -Kenobi, by John Jackson Miller was another, relatively recent Legends book that ought to have been good. I mean, it's Obi-wan Kenobi hanging out on Tatooine, dealing with Tusken Raiders and moisture farmers - I eat that sort of fanfiction up - but although there were some good bits, it just really didn't work for me. -Those handy timelines in the front - listing every single book and how it fits into the convoluted chronology - is really helpful, though! The only thing that would make it better would be to add authors and dates. But that is what the Internet is for, I guess.

Conclusions and Follow-Up Questions to Research:

-Wow, the '90s were an interesting time. -Bantam Spectra line of EU novels: mostly good, some weirdness. Del Rey line: ARGHHHHH. -Wow, there are a lot more Star Wars books out there then I remember. -Wow, Mara Jade is awesome. -I have a lot of strong opinions on the subject. -Since they stopped putting out Legends novels as of April 2014, I never have to care about keeping up with canon or anything I don't like about this universe ever again. -Has fanfiction spoiled me for the "real" thing? Or is it just a failure of the published works to address the topics I'm REALLY interested in? -Is the Disney EU canon any better? (My guess, given how I feel overall about the direction of the recent movies: probably not for me, but maybe worth checking out.)

#star wars #book reviews #star wars feels #star wars legends #'90s nostalgia

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gffa · 7 years

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I am so ridiculously in love with STAR WARS fic, I am so happy it exists, I am so happy that there are others writing out of such love for the stories they tackle, that there’s such warmth and care in fandom, that there’s so many talented people who bring such good things to fandom and this list has a bunch of things that just made me all fizzy and warm and happy. There is such love in this fandom sometimes and I really, really want to share that with everyone, so here have some fics that will make you fall in love with everyone and everything all over again, even if sometimes they break your heart while doing it! THERE ARE SOME STELLAR FICS HERE, PLEASE ENJOY. ✦ Coda by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin & padme/sabe & cast, modern au, 55.1k wip Anakin is an up-and-coming first soloist for the New York City Ballet Company, a brash, confident dancer with a smoldering sensuality to his technique and an electric smile that makes fangirl toes curl and quite possibly his choreographer’s. ✦ Precipice by shadowsong26, obi-wan & anakin & padme & palpatine & bail & rex & cast, 87.6k wip An AU in which Anakin Skywalker does not follow Mace Windu and the others to Palpatine’s office after they leave to arrest the Chancellor. As a result, he doesn’t get that final push over the edge, and doesn’t Fall. ✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 20.8k wip For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone. Anakin Skywalker has been unofficially tasked by the Order to find Obi-Wan and bring him home. ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, obi-wan & depa, 2.1k “Barefoot, Master Kenobi?” The amused voice cuts through Obi-Wan’s meditation, and he surfaces quickly. He opens his eyes and finds himself face-to-face with Depa Billaba, a faint smile on her face. ✦ Return by writegowrite, obi-wan/anakin, amnesia, 1.2k Anonymous asked: I wish you would write a fic where… Ok this has been on my mind for a while, perhaps it gives inspiration: Anakin or Obi-Wan goes MIA, returns with a memory loss (not permanent, that’s too angsty for me haha). I adore all your writing so anything goes tbh! ✦ Infinite chapter 18 - Hollow by Ripki, obi-wan/anakin, warnings, 1.1k for this chapter The aftermath of a mission gone disastrously wrong. ✦ Distaff by shadowsong26, obi-wan & anakin/padme & palpatine & cast, fem!anakin, 17.6k wip In which Anakin Skywalker is a cis lady and the twins’ gestating parent. ✦ The Exchange by MissLearn, obi-wan & anakin & some anakin/padme & ahsoka & qui-gon & rex & cast, time travel, 57.8k wip ROTS Obi-Wan and Anakin are swapped with their younger, TPM, selves. It changes things, in both parallels. ✦ The Force Ghosts Get Kicked Out ficlet by fireflyfish, obi-wan & anakin & kylo & cast, 1.3k “Uuugh! Grandfather does he have to live with you? Uncle Ben is so… good and nice and… charming.” ✦ untitled by fireflyfish, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & cast, 1.1k “Club? What club?” Obi-Wan asked, confused. “Anakin? Has someone angered you?” “Yes!” Anakin said, pounding his left fist on the table, since he had broken another dining table with his right hand the last time he threw a fit in the dining hall. “How dare you have a special Obi-Wan club and not tell me!” ✦ Vision Void by aradian_nights, luke & ahsoka & ezra & kanan & cast, 23.9k After a rather intense vision, Luke Organa sets out to save his former mentor, Ahsoka Tano. ✦ Fate Defied by aradian_nights, obi-wan & leia & ezra & cast, 16k Leia Skywalker’s determined to become a Jedi like her father, but before that she must face the reality of letting go. ✦ Lessons to learn by DonkerRood, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, 2.3k Obi-Wan teaches Anakin a lesson and finds out some important information too. ✦ Against The Wall by Icse, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, d/s elements, somewhat darker themes, ~1k ‘Anakin grunted as he was forced against the wall, the hand in his hair pressing his face into the rough stone.’ full details + recs under the cut!

✦ Coda by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin & padme/sabe & cast, modern au, 55.1k wip Anakin is an up-and-coming first soloist for the New York City Ballet Company, a brash, confident dancer with a smoldering sensuality to his technique and an electric smile that makes fangirl toes curl and quite possibly his choreographer’s. Chapters 1-3: A ballet AU is not something I thought I would be that interested in, but I’ve enjoyed the author’s other fic, so, sure, why not. And I promptly got sucked in like you wouldn’t believe! It helped that the fic started out with Anakin sitting on Obi-Wan’s lap while jerking the both of them off (well, not right off, there’s set-up first!), but I think I would have fallen for the fic even without that, because it’s everything I really enjoy about human AUs in this fandom–the characters are easy to picture in these circumstances, there’s some gorgeous clothes, there’s something so sharp and charismatic about the writing, and the attraction between these two characters is wild. It reaches that part of me that feels these two characters would find each other in every universe and would be wildly attracted to each other in all of them, but it also reaches the part of me that’s super into well done AUs, where Anakin as a dancer works surprisingly well and Obi-Wan as a choreographer is just as good. It helps that the fic feels like it knows where it’s going, that it has a solid outline, and, okay, sure, it’s only three chapters so far, but it feels like 12 chapters will be just the right length for it and I’m so eager to see where it goes, where the relationship between these two will go. Because they have a legitimate reason to stay apart from each other, to not date, but it’s not like that’s going to last terribly long, not with the attraction between them! And it’s just… also a really good combination of low-key drama and fluff, so it’s not sugary sweet, but it’s not heartbreaking either, and I really, really enjoy that combination in these chapters! And it has such lovely descriptions of Anakin’s dancing, of course he’d be a beautiful dancer, all that grace and passion! There’s such a solidity to the fic and it has such great little details (the bit with the wine in chapter 3 was lovely) and… there was a comment the author made, that this is a fic that’s an echo of their personalities, rather than the circumstances of their canon lives and I think that’s what I’ve been trying to put into words, that it’s a fluffy fic and I love that, but I feel like it’s that one world where they got a nice life together and I WANT THAT FOR THEM. ♥ Chapter 4: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter rather than the fic as a whole. Ahhh, I continue to love this story, it’s a little bit more angsty in this chapter, but in general it’s not a heartbreaker of a story, and I’m just really enjoying the chance to have something kinder and softer for once in their multitude of lives across various incarnations and fics. I also really enjoyed the interaction between Anakin and Sabe in this chapter, so often the other characters can just feel like talking heads or only there to be mouthpieces, but I felt Sabe had a real charm to her, a sparkle that I can’t put my finger on specifics, but I certainly felt it, and it was just really nice to read something that didn’t feel like it was trying too hard, like there’s this… really warm, natural, easy charm to everything, including their adorable scene together! But also the sheer amount of attraction between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the grace in both characters, slightly different but there with both of them, which reminds me of the canon and how they’re both physically gifted there as well, but in a different way from that, yet works for me here. The way Anakin is drawn to him, the way they movetogether, oh, that all went straight to my shippy heart, just as much as Anakin getting on his knees and blowing Ben and I love that they try to stay away from each other but, oh, that never lasted long and it doesn’t have to be shocking or a major reveal to be thoroughly engaging and charming a read! Chapter 5: This is an update rec, so it will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. Ahhhh, this chapter was really… well, I hesitate to say “fun” because it was full of some questionable stuff (deliberately so, of course) but it really actually was sort of fun, to see Anakin’s stalker pop up and to see how Obi-Wan dealt with him. Sometimes, because we mostly see Obi-Wan interacting with Anakin or Ahsoka or clones or other Jedi, whom he’s either very fond of or has respect for, it’s easy to forget how dangerous that guy is, to forget how lethal and terrifying he is. So, a chapter dedicated to Obi-Wan fucking up the stalker’s life? To just beating him down without touching him, in a way that still felt physically threatening? That was really, really satisfying. And it was really well written, too! The physical aspects of the scene were never quite stepping over the line, but I very much felt that danger the entire time, it was not at all hard to half-imagine how it might have gone, that uneasy sense of looming physical violence was portrayed incredibly well! Yet at the same time, this is still Obi-Wan, who can be so kind, who Anakin trusts completely, who has my heart as well, because I love him so much. The parts around the major confrontation in the fic are just as wonderful–Anakin’s reactions to everything, there’s just such a magnetic sort of chemistry between him and Obi-Wan, a delightful cameo from Rex, and Anakin straight up lying about behaving himself. Between the satisfying badass Obi-Wan scenes to protect Anakin, to solve his problem for him, because Obi-Wan always solves Anakin’s problems, and all the other stuff, this was an absolutely delightful, engaging chapter to read! Chapter 6-9: This is an update rec and will focus on these chapters, rather than the fic as a whole. It’s been awhile since I sat down to write a proper rec for this fic, but let me absolutely fix that now, because I really love this story and I have a lot of feelings about it and I can’t believe the story is at over 50k now and yet it’s still perfectly paced and wonderful. Chapter 6 is the one I’d been waiting for for ages, of course, where we finally get to the Good Stuff and, oh, it was lovely and warm-hearted and satisfying for the two of them coming together, that it’d taken ages, but it was worth the wait because there was such love here. It’s not a totally, 100% fluffy fic, there’s a lot of angst in both their pasts and their futures, of course, because chapter 6 is just barely past the halfway point, but there’s so much care and connection here, that it’s a universe where they cantell each other things, that they’ve been nudged into the right direction for it and given the chance and it’s so, so satisfying to see them actually telling each other about their personal issues. It soothes something in me to read fic like this! But, well, also sexy times! The way Ben is so gentle and slow with pushing into Anakin finally, Anakin so needy and desperate for him, and they come together in this warm, kind way, Anakin holding himself up and open for Ben, having all that love and attention poured onto and into him, like they were meant to be drawn together just like this. It’s such a lovely scene, that it’s eager and hungry with both of them, but also soft and full of love, exactly what this modern AU called for. And the writing has such lovely, pretty imagery as well, there’s something beautiful about it, in a way that evokes such clear images in my mind, like fanart come to live in my head, and I love it for that, too. (The line about a hundred worlds and lives together, the line about Anakin’s tanned fingers against the black wood of the headboard, the way Anakin’s arms and legs wrap around Ben, so many pretty images!) But sometimes it’s little things as well! Chapter 7 starts with a warm, sleepy morning after, just complete and utter domesticity that works so well because Anakin is so in love, of course he’s in love, this is completely Anakin Skywalker and how could Ben not love him back in the same way? There’s something so cozy and intimate in these scenes, it’s so easy to see why Anakin falls so hard and fast (as well as Ben falls in love with him, because, oh, it’s Anakin, how could anyone not?), that they have this incredible thing for awhile, that life is wonderful and good and kind. I love that the chapter has so many fun scenes, with just the two of them or with their friends, out in a park where they can just be. Having those moments builds up the relationship, in addition to just being fun to read because, goddammit, they deserve happiness sometimes! You know it can’t last, not forever, but it’s so good while they have it! Talking about dream roles while lounging on each other and having a picnic in the park? With another author I might have found it too sappy, but Lily’s writing works for me, it’s soft and kind here, but it embraces the premise and appeals and is just really well-done! And chapter 8 is more warmth and connection, where we get more of Ben’s past, where it’s this really wonderful scene of trust and feeling able to tell the other person about themselves, showing a universe where they can have this and can do this, which I would love the fic for by itself. But I can’t lie, I knew chapter 9 was coming and I kind of ate it up like delicious candy–not the least because it starts out with this lazy morning, where Anakin has been working himself over and open, so when Ben slowly wakes up, Anakin is ready to slide a leg over him and ride him slowly and deliciously, this utterly warm scene that’s almost decadant in how rich and beautiful it felt to me. Perhaps I’m just weak to the elements of the fic, god knows it’s hitting my id pretty spot on, but I really think there’s a magic here, a charisma and charm that the author has in spades and makes their writing so very good! Of course, the kindness can’t last and shit has to hit the fan and it’s, oh, it’s so Anakin in how he reacts, how viciously he lashes out, how cutting he can be in his anger and fear and despair, that all the good things previous to this are very much Anakin Skywalker, but so too is him losing his shit and shredding everything he can that’s between them because he can’t stop himself. It might have seemed gratuitous in another fic, but between the set-up and the writing and how it felt destined to go here from pretty much the beginning, I actually kind of really loved it. I mean, my heart hurts for both the characters and there’s such angst and you know it’ll take awhile to fix, but it’s true to the fic and it’s beautifully done and it gave me feelings! It’s one of those things where… it’s cruel and such a terrible wound, but there’s something beautiful about all of it. This really is a gorgeous fic. Chapter 10-12: I meant to make these three chapters last a bit, once I started catching up, but I just couldn’t, I read all of them in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down and it was probably the better choice because these three chapters make for an incredibly satisfying arc-within-the-greater-story and where I’m left off is a really good place. By this point, I think there will be some spoilers in the rec (which I usually try to balance with “this is why I think someone who hasn’t read this fic should read this fic!” vagueness), but you can read the above recs still if you’re trying to decide whether you want to read it or not, if that’s helpful to you. But also I think, given the pacing and overall track the fic took, that a breakup was coming at some point, so I wasn’t really surprised by it and while I absolutely had a lot of feelings about it (especially Anakin lashing out in anger because he’s such an emotional storm that gets out of control), I think I was more affected by the aftermath of it in chapter 10. The dull, heavy, ache in my chest that I remember from when I’m upset or depressed, that sense of the world having all the color leeched out of it, just the sense of being sad was really well done there, after Anakin realizes how much he’s fucked up and how much Ben blames himself for how things ended between them, that he felt it was his fault somehow. And that was a heartbreaking echo of canon, that Obi-Wan holds himself responsible for things that could not possibly be his fault, because he thinks he should do everything perfectly the first time, and because he loves Anakin so much, because he’s so protective of this person he sees vulnerability in and cares so much for him, like that spirit is very much one I recognized from canon events. But I love that it doesn’t go too overboard with it, it’s clear that Obi-Wan is actually depressed and in a modern AU he’s on anti-depressants for it, yet chapters 11 and 12 are about doing the hard work of actually working through things. (And this is one of the rare fics where Obi-Wan being depressed is done well for me!) That Anakin is so incredibly sorry about what he’s done, that Ben is hurt by Anakin’s words, but sets them aside because he’s such an incredibly caring person, but also he won’t just forget them, either. They both have to workto communicate, but it won’t just instantly be solved, because Obi-Wan Kenobi simply is a reserved person, as some people are, and while he’ll work to better communicate with Anakin, he’ll never be naturally effusive and that’s something that needs to be accepted, just as Anakin is naturally demonstrative and he has to learn to trust better and not fly out of control so much, but that his emotional storms being so close to the surface is just as valid a way to be as Obi-Wan’s reserved nature. That they find ways to connect and understand each other even knowing those things about each other! Which is why the little details of this story are so wonderful, because they’re all about that showing-rather-than-telling, especially when it comes to Ben’s character. The use of his drawings, what they mean and what they say about him, that’s beautifully done, it has weight because that’s the sort of understated but entirely genuinely meant gesture Obi-Wan would do. Or the ways they touch each other, the touch to Anakin’s face or Anakin curling up on his leg to rest after a hard day’s exercise, these things aren’t just pretty images (though, they are that, too) but they have such charisma to them because they mean something, they’re all about the state of the relationship the characters are in and where they’re at with each other and how they’re this lovely quiet intimacy! This is why the fic is so good about showing the passion between them, why it’s a lovely extention of Ben’s passion that’s always been there when they do finally come back to each other, when they can touch and love each other again, and he practically shoves Anakin onto the bed to fuck him, nearly overwhelming Anakin, who is filled up with everything in that moment, just as he wants to be. I think I loved that image as much as I loved the kiss in the rain, that they agreed to try again (and, oh, my heart had been so invested in that moment, too) and they shared a beautifully passionate intimate moment where the rest of the world wasn’t even there anymore. The fic really does a beautiful job with that, with how everything else just fades into the background when these two are together, whether they’re lounging in bed together or on the sofa or fucking or kissing in the rain, it’s just beautifully crafted intimacy. It’s a fic that’s very much about softer edges (even with the breakup, I would still classify this as being more of a fluff fic than anything), this is a universe where they have so much more breathing room, so that when the internal issues between them (versus the external issues in canon, like the war and Palpatine) come up, they have the space and time and kindness of this softer universe to work through them. That we get to see them struggle through an awkward conversation about what they each need from the other, which they can do because they’re not being pressured from every angle, but instead can see the road through this problem and so they start to walk it. It’s a fic about a kinder universe for the characters, a fic about their relationship, and that’s probably not going to be for everyone, it’s definitely a shipper fic, but it’s such a good one, it engaged me from the very beginning and I haven’t let up with that joy in every page I read for a moment. And, oh, it has such pretty, pretty imagery! Kisses in the rain! Warm, loving, intimate sex during their first time! Finally coming back together after months apart and Ben holding Anakin down against the mattress to fuck him, that Anakin is his again, finally, as he should be, that Anakin soaks all of this up and all the other noise is pushed out of his head. It’s a fic about loveand how its course does not always run smooth, but it can still find a way. ✦ Precipice by shadowsong26, obi-wan & anakin & padme & palpatine & bail & rex & cast, 87.6k wip An AU in which Anakin Skywalker does not follow Mace Windu and the others to Palpatine’s office after they leave to arrest the Chancellor. As a result, he doesn’t get that final push over the edge, and doesn’t Fall. I have been absolutely consumed with this fic and I fear I will not write a rec that can accurately reflect how much I loved reading it and how incredibly good it is. It caught my attention for being about Anakin raising Leia and Padme raising Luke, as those are the more neglected sides of the parent/child duos in fandom, but I got so much more than that when I picked this one up to read, as it’s a Divergent Timeline fic where Anakin doesn’t fall and what that changes. It’s told from various people’s point of view, so it covers a good span of the events that happen in the aftermath of the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire and every single character is incredibly spot on, but also that this fic is one of the best I’ve read at keeping true to the tone and feeling of the galaxy far, far away. It’s incredibly engaging to read a story about these characters, how much they care about each other, how touching the Anakin/Padme relationship can be, how important Obi-Wan & Anakin’s relationship can be, what an incredibly good person Bail Organa is, how Anakin struggles with trying to be a better person and there’s nothing but love and sympathy from me for him as he doesn’t always do things perfectly, that Obi-Wan is such an incredibly noble character and he’s a rock that Anakin can rely on, that Padme can be delicate and grieving while also still have such strength of character as she gets back up again and keeps moving forward. I love this story for those characters and how many feelings I had, but I also love it for how utterly engaged I was in reading it, that the plot portion of the story, as told through various characters’ eyes and the missions they run or their dealings with Palpatine or the fights they get into, showing how long and grueling this fight is, but how they take hope in finding friends again. Anakin and Rex meeting up again! Anakin going home to see Leia! Every scene where Padme relies on her handmaidens or spends time with Luke! Obi-Wan watching over Anakin to still help guide him! The way they’re in such a difficult position sometimes, how they want to do more, but they only have so many resources, this fic understands these characters and the delicate political balance they’re often put into, while still making it so, so emotionally charged and heartbreaking-with-hope. It’s an incredibly strong fic, one where I was just entirely engrossed by the halfway point, and it’s so satisfying for the character interactions (I love Anakin’s scenes with Leia and Padme’s with Luke and every chapter Obi-Wan appears in is fantastic and the rest of the cast slowly coming together and all the details put into this fic, the ship Anakin gets, the letters he and Padme write, the way Padme conceals Luke from Palpatine, the use of a new apprentice, the sheer scope of loss when the Jedi are dead, the emotional struggles Anakin goes through, like, shit, this fic actually does the work to build up a plot here! one that’s genuinely shaping up to be epic in scope, while not dragging its feet, but not glossing over it too much, either!) that’s a recent fave and I only wish I could write a better rec for it because I want everyone to go read it immediately, it’s so goddamned spot on and true to the canon. ✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 20.8k wip For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone. Anakin Skywalker has been unofficially tasked by the Order to find Obi-Wan and bring him home. Chapters 5-6: I read these two chapters together and, ahhh, let me tell you how in love I am with this story, it’s such a good fic, it’s so beautifully written and has such great characterization and is really true to the spirit of the show and also I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. I really appreciate all the things that hit my buttons just right, that even when Obi-Wan and Anakin aren’t in the same room, that relationship is so important, that it’s a great relationship for its own sake, but also to show the instability of Anakin’s character, while never losing sympathy for him. That he feels so unbalanced and angry about this loss, that I have such feelings for what he’s going through, even as I worry for him, too. But the fic is also amazingly well done in terms of plot, the teasing bits of why Obi-Wan left the way he did, the details that Anakin has to hunt down as he’s finding it impossible to track Obi-Wan, that there’s clearly something bigger at play here, but we don’t know what yet, all of that is fantastic, too. But also! The fic touching on other characters’ reactions, too! Boil’s scene was so heartbreaking, as was Ahsoka’s point of view about her feelings on the loss of Obi-Wan, that it was delicious in how much they care about him, how much of a steadying presence he was in their lives, as well as how much it hurt in such a beautifully done way. The reactions to that kind of loss, the struggle to work through the feelings of not understanding the why of it, all are beautifully done. But even more than all that, I love how this fic is nudging things in a better direction, giving the characters the chance to understand each other a little better, like with Mace and Yoda and Anakin and Bant, that it gives them the opportunity to connect a little better, to be able to show the support that of course they would give. So that when Anakin confides in Palpatine, it’s just enough off-balance that it maybe leans Anakin back towards the good, and that is so satisfying. It’s a fic that’s got a great plot that really hooks a person in, it’s so engaging and well-written and well-characterized and addictive, but it’s also got such incredible heart to it. I have feelings for every character that’s appeared so far, you can tell that the fic loves and/or appreciates every single one of them, that it does a brilliant job with every single one of them. I love Obi-Wan, I love Anakin, I love Ahsoka, I love Waxer, I love all of them, and this fic is doing justice to them and the story idea already. ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, obi-wan & depa, 2.1k “Barefoot, Master Kenobi?” The amused voice cuts through Obi-Wan’s meditation, and he surfaces quickly. He opens his eyes and finds himself face-to-face with Depa Billaba, a faint smile on her face. This is part of the larger Supreme Chancellor Kenobi universe, but I think it could be read reasonably well on its own and, oh, I loved it a lot. It’s a conversation between two people that almost never interact in canon and yet feels entirely natural and organic, it makes sense that they’ve drawn together for this moment and that each of them are in a place where they would have this conversation with the other person. And not just that, but it’s understated in just the right way, while still having an emotional impact, it’s all about the weight Depa’s carrying around with her and how she’s trying to come back from what happened and how Obi-Wan helps her with that and how it helps him in turn, and it’s just really, really a beautiful piece. ✦ Return by writegowrite, obi-wan/anakin, amnesia, 1.2k Anonymous asked: I wish you would write a fic where… Ok this has been on my mind for a while, perhaps it gives inspiration: Anakin or Obi-Wan goes MIA, returns with a memory loss (not permanent, that’s too angsty for me haha). I adore all your writing so anything goes tbh! Well, so, this fic put tears in my eyes by the end of it, in exactly the way it was meant to. I’m a sucker for amnesia fic when it’s used well and, oh, this one was so good and gave me all these intense feelings, that Anakin was so off-balance and upset by Obi-Wan not remembering anything of him, trying to find something that would jog his memory from Obi-Wan’s personal effects, and what he finds and what’s revealed because of it, oh, it’s done so satisfyingly, THAT is why I read amnesia fic. That a secret can tumble out so easily because the context has been stripped away, so that they don’t know the reason to keep it hidden, and the last line just paints this perfect image in my head, I can see every bit of the scene there, and it gave me feelings everywhere. This was such a lovely fic! ✦ Infinite chapter 18 - Hollow by Ripki, obi-wan/anakin, warnings, 1.1k for this chapter The aftermath of a mission gone disastrously wrong. I literally let out a quiet gasp when I saw this fic had updated, because it’s one I so enjoyed and, of course, it figures that it comes with a traumatizing one for an update, but I absolutely read it and enjoyed it, it’s a lovely fic that’s angsty and heartbreaking and while I’m not usually one for such mean fic, I really did like this one and recommend it, if you’re not as gunshy about them as I usually am! Plus, you know, feelings. ✦ Distaff by shadowsong26, obi-wan & anakin/padme & palpatine & cast, fem!anakin, 17.6k wip In which Anakin Skywalker is a cis lady and the twins’ gestating parent. I have a thing for emotionally messy characters getting sex swapped because I will always want more emotionally messy female characters explored, and so I went into this one expecting some interesting stuff in that vein (which I definitely got) but, holy shit, I did not expect the sheer avalanch of feelings in every single one of the scenes from Obi-Wan’s point of view. While I love the Anakin/Padme relationship and I love that Anakin finds herself pregnant via the Force just like her mother was, the insights into the characters, both in the things that are and aren’t the same as in canon, are gorgeous here. The conversation between Obi-Wan and Anakin about each side asking Anakin to spy on the other was masterful, it had such gorgeous nuance to everything, that it showed the Jedi making a misstep, but the why of it was perfectly nailed down in Obi-Wan’s thoughts, and he cares so much about his former Padawan, he tries so hard to find the best way to reach her, knowing that she’s reactive and volatile, but never once is Anakin anything less than beautifully sympathetic, even when she’s unfair and distant. It’s one of those retellings of ROTS that’s fun for the differences (like Palpatine musing on how to use Anakin’s pregnancy against her, his suspicions on who the father is and how that plays into his manipulations), but also does an amazing job of making the pain fresh all over again, it does an incredible job of getting inside each of the characters’ heads, it does a magnificent job of showing the impossible positions everyone is in, why they made the choices they did, there’s nuance and complexity and no good answers, and it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous fic that I consumed in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. ✦ The Exchange by MissLearn, obi-wan & anakin & some anakin/padme & ahsoka & qui-gon & rex & cast, time travel, 57.8k wip ROTS Obi-Wan and Anakin are swapped with their younger, TPM, selves. It changes things, in both parallels. Chapters 10-11: This is an update rec and will focus on these chapters, rather than the fic as a whole. Ahh, another time when I should have let it build up more, but I couldn’t because I had to read now, especially when it’s continuing the Obi-Wan and Anakin feelings all over the place. It’s so incredibly satisfying, there’s so much emotional outpouring here, especially when the two Anakins switch places and so all the feelings that they’ve conveyed to each other are clashing/contrasting against the other version of their Master/Padawan. Moppet Anakin with Master Obi-Wan and Knight Anakin with Knight Obi-Wan and they understand so much more, but also all that history isn’t there anymore, and, ahhhh, it’s so good. And yet there’s still connection there, that even this different version of the person they care about is still there with them, there’s still that gravity between them. Plus, oh, man, Master Obi-Wan with Moppet Anakin is ADORABLE. And just how much Obi-Wan puts up with when it comes to Anakin, every moment of realization of just how much patience and kindness and carehe’s put into Anakin over the years, done in a way that also shows how wonderful Anakin’s character is, oh, I’m serious, I could read this forever. It’s so engaging and charismatic and wonderful. ✦ The Force Ghosts Get Kicked Out ficlet by fireflyfish, obi-wan & anakin & kylo & cast, 1.3k “Uuugh! Grandfather does he have to live with you? Uncle Ben is so… good and nice and… charming.” It probably would help to be familiar with the running gags around these threads, the references to pancakes and spoiled rotten Anakin Skywalker, but I can’t resist recommending this as a proper fic because it’s so much fun, it’s so light-hearted and silly and well-written and delightful that it just makes me fizzy and happy after reading it! I have such a smile on my face because it’s hilarious and because I still can’t get over how much more fun it makes Star Wars! And, god, fireflyfish is great at cracky writing, there’s such charm and charisma to the way she writes it, how it’s parody that’s so easy to see, that it’s the kind that has grains of truth in there enough to easily let me see this in my mind’s eye, to go right along with the sparkling and hilarious details she works in. There were at least two times I laughed right out loud because the comedic timing was spot on, too. ✦ untitled by fireflyfish, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & cast, 1.1k “Club? What club?” Obi-Wan asked, confused. “Anakin? Has someone angered you?” “Yes!” Anakin said, pounding his left fist on the table, since he had broken another dining table with his right hand the last time he threw a fit in the dining hall. “How dare you have a special Obi-Wan club and not tell me!” This is another ficlet that would help to be familiar with the running gags about Obi-Wan’s Type (aka, beautiful shouty blondes who eat their food angrily at his stupid handsome face and also have a vulnerability that he wants to protect) that became a joke about a bunch of people wanting to join said club over Ewan McGregor being ridiculously delightful and handdsome. And then Fishy wrote this amazingly hilarious bit of crack that’s still just so easy to picture and is so much sheer joyful fun and so hilarious that I was in love with everything all over again! It’s Anakin being angry that he wasn’t invited to the Obi-Wan Fan Club, Ahsoka finding all of this hilarious, Rex just wanting to leave, and Obi-Wan just letting it pass him by because he knows better than to try to mess with it, and it’s perfect. It’s the kind of group banter that’s friendly and delightful and so, so screamingly funny. God bless this fandom sometimes, honestly. ✦ Vision Void by aradian_nights, luke & ahsoka & ezra & kanan & cast, 23.9k After a rather intense vision, Luke Organa sets out to save his former mentor, Ahsoka Tano. Note: This is part five of a series that should probably be read in order by now. This fic is two things–it’s Luke’s dealing with the Force drawing him into events, interacting with the Ghost Crew and Ahsoka, as well as Ahsoka’s own visions after her fight with Vader on Malachor that goes a little differently from canon. Both aspects are really lovely, this is a fic series that’s beautifully written and feels so natural, that the echoes of canon and the new twists and wrinkles that happen because of the changed circumstances, are all woven together so well. It’s a fic that’s less self-contained, it’s a bit more of “a little bit of everything”, including some lovely Luke & Bail interaction, as Luke deals with the emotional (and physical) fallout of the previous fics, but that makes it all the more satisfying, it’s a fic that’s expanding the galaxy and the timeline and events. And, oh, Luke’s take on Vader feels right, that he’s so very much Luke about it, but also he’s still Bail Organa’s son, that Luke is only beginning to piece things together, so he only sees the worst of Vader so far, as that’s all that Vader has shown him. And the interaction with the Phoenix squad, as Luke gets them in contact with Ahsoka, the care with which those characters were written, was also lovely. And, oh, the aftermath of Malachor for Ahsoka, her guilt and sorrow and rage and hope and this giant tangle of feelings she’s working through and putting to rights as best she can, letting go of what she needs to let go of, holding on what she needs to hold onto, there’s so much connection I felt to her story, so much raw pain and yet so much unrelenting care, so much Ahsoka. I love Luke and Ahsoka interaction in any vein, but this was particularly lovely and is building up the plot even more, so that you can feel the galaxy shifting, you can feel the looming events, and I am so, so engaged and ready for more. ✦ Fate Defied by aradian_nights, obi-wan & leia & ezra & cast, 16k Leia Skywalker’s determined to become a Jedi like her father, but before that she must face the reality of letting go. Note: This is part six of a series that should probably be read in order by now. This is the fic that brings the series up to Twin Suns and, oh, I love how it echoes canon, but it’s also different, because the circumstances are different for them and Leia is very much not Luke, her personality shapes her actions just as much as his shapes his own elsewhere. So, when Ezra and Maul show up on Tatooine, her reactions are very much different and, oh, she is so very much Leia, she is so much an amazing character and I’ve fallen in love with this version of her all over again, how natural it feels that she’s from Tatooine, but knows she’s meant for something bigger, how much fire and fight she has in her, but also how much utter care she has for other people. Her training and how hard she works every day for it, the way she listens to Obi-Wan but also fires back before she can help herself sometimes, how strong a personality she has, but also how she insightful and can admit when she’s wrong! All of it is balanced so well and really gives a beautiful, nuanced portrayal of her character. And, of course, this is another fic where it very much feels like the galaxy and the Force are drawing things together, that it’s not quite there yet, but you can feel the looming events, that Leia and Obi-Wan won’t remain here forever. I do love that the relationship between Obi-Wan and Owen/Beru is kinder here, that Leia sought Obi-Wan out at a younger age, that she refused to not follow what she knew was right for her, that the love they all had for her made them get along more, even if they’ll never truly connect, it’s almost kinder and yet still feels entirely Star Wars. I loved Leia interacting with Ezra in this chapter as well, it was spot on, that glimpse of the Rebellion, the change to briefly talk to another Padawan, as well as Leia’s conversations with Qui-Gon in her dreams, the bits and pieces she unravels about Obi-Wan’s past, all of it is beautifully told, this is a fic that doesn’t just rely on canon’s events to fill in the details, it actually does the hard work of building things up bit by bit, and it’s so, so strong for it. ✦ Lessons to learn by DonkerRood, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, 2.3k Obi-Wan teaches Anakin a lesson and finds out some important information too. This is a pwp fic that’s a chance to embrace Anakin being an absolute bratafter being appointed to the High Council, so much so that Obi-Wan determines he’s in need of a good spanking, then getting tied up, and thoroughly fucked. It’s one of those fics that hits my id dead on for this kind of thing, I love giving Anakin the space to be childish and lash out, to have Obi-Wan there to rein him back in when needed, that none of this is about making Anakin feel bad or upsetting him further. Instead, it’s almost kind of really soft and a bit sweet, as Obi-Wan is a warm but unmovable dom to him, which is exactly what Anakin wants and needs, that he’ll get a lovely fucking to get the rest of that noise out of his head, and I enjoyed it for just whole-heartedly embracing that trope, god bless. ✦ Against The Wall by Icse, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, d/s elements, somewhat darker themes, ~1k 'Anakin grunted as he was forced against the wall, the hand in his hair pressing his face into the rough stone.’ This is one of those fics that hits directly on my id, that Anakin wants to be shoved up against a wall and fucked roughly, that it plays on his issues, and that it’s not necessarily healthy, it’s not meant to be, but it still satisfies something in him. It’s entirely pwp, but it’s about wholly embracing the kink it’s enjoying and I really love when fic does that–and hits my own kinks along the way, making this a lovely, satisfying read for me!

#obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #padme admiala #obikin #ahsoka tano #sheev palpatine #luke skywalker #leia organa #fic recs #star wars fic recs

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