#also you both may or may not be descended from/reincarnations of heroes from thousands of years ago so you have always known each other and

[avvidstarion]

n and hilda im thinkin about n and hilda

[allgirlsareprincesses]

More Quest for the Lost Bride: Sleeping Beauty in Star Wars

For my (hopefully) final installment in my series on Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale types in Star Wars, I’d like to talk about ATU-410: The Sleeping Beauty. This is a subtype of ATU-400: The Quest for the Lost Bride, and includes both the popular European stories of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, and dozens of similar tales from around the world. Whereas the typical Lost Bride story ends with the tragic and permanent loss of the fairy wife, this variation usually has a happy ending by way of a simple twist: the bride is not actually dead, but in a death-like sleep, from which she can be awakened after a certain time by her true and faithful husband. This fairy tale has frequently been interpreted as a story of feminine sexual maturation as much as one of masculine conquest.

**Trigger warning for mention of sexual assault in next paragraph**

The features of the story are familiar enough: a good and pure princess (as beauty is used to indicate goodness) is cursed or pursued by an evil, jealous character. A father figure in her life often tries to protect her, either by hiding her away or by attempting to remove the threat, but his efforts fail and the princess eventually falls into a death-like sleep. This often occurs after distinctive sexual initiation imagery such as the pricking with a spindle, or the biting of a poisoned apple (the forbidden fruit, or Persephone’s fruit of the Underworld). As she slumbers, the heroine is arrayed as a bride, surrounded by flowers and sometimes placed in a glass coffin to display her pure beauty. The princess then sleeps for a time: often years, sometimes centuries, until a hero appears to awaken her. Though it is famously a kiss which revives the princess, sometimes all that is required is for the right man (her soulmate) to appear, and sometimes.... her savior is not a very good person at first, and he rapes her while she sleeps and then leaves her, as in Sun, Moon, and Talia.

This prince or peasant usually finds the sleeping beauty in a castle buried in a dense forest, or sometimes in a deep cavern. Often, the story ends with a marriage feast after the awakening of the mythical bride, but sometimes there is another enemy to contend with. The hero may have a cruel wife or an ogress mother who jealously tries to have the princess and her children murdered and prepared for her to eat them, and the husband must recognize the villain for what she is and rescue his family. Similarly, the husband must acknowledge his own transgressions, which often occurs in the moment when he believes his family is dead and that this tragedy is his fault. In these stories, the hero proves himself worthy of his bride well after he has awakened her from her slumber.

In Star Wars, Anakin and Padme’s marriage is forbidden, but they pursue their hidden passion anyway. As it aligns with the myth, it seems that sexual initiation has doomed this new bride. When a prophetic dream of his wife’s death haunts Anakin’s sleep, he turns to the Dark Side to protect her. Though Obi-Wan Kenobi tries to save her, Padme dies, and is mourned in a massive state funeral where she is arrayed with delicate flowers in her hair, looking every bit the sleeping princess. Anakin, now Darth Vader, then spends the rest of his life attempting to reunite with his wife or revive her from death. Alas, he does not succeed, but his quest has perhaps been carried on by his grandson....

The Sequel Trilogy is MUCH more heavy-handed with the fairy tale imagery, courtesy of JJ Abrams, at first. The first hint of Sleeping Beauty is really to be found in the title of Episode VII: The Force Awakens. As many have pointed out before, much of both TFA and The Last Jedi can be read as Rey’s sexual awakening, beginning with her finding the phallic symbol of the Skywalker legacy, Anakin’s lightsaber. When she touches it, visions of past and future doom assail her, and she is next under apparent threat as Han and Finn try to protect her.

If you subscribe to the reincarnation theory that Rey is some version of Padme, then this can be viewed as the Sleeping Beauty’s awakening. All the features are there: Rey’s power has remained dormant for most of her life, and she has been living in a literal graveyard on a dead planet and is therefore metaphorically dead or sleeping. Then, the hero approaches her at a castle in a wood, and carries her away bridal-style in the first of several “marriage” scenes. As I mentioned in my original Search for the Lost Husband post, the witch-mother in these stories is the Dark Side in Star Wars, and those dark-siders who exert an evil influence on the hero, Ben Solo.

However, this sequence could also be viewed as the beginning of Rey’s own Sleeping Beauty narrative, independent of Padme. Here, rather than the lightsaber-phallus awakening Rey from her slumber, it is the sexual initiation that causes her to fall asleep in the first place. This is even more direct when Kylo Ren places his own lightsaber in her face, then uses the Force to put her to sleep immediately after. Whereas it was the monster who put her to sleep, when Rey wakes on Starkiller Base, it is Ben Solo’s face she sees, leaning in close as if for a kiss. Again, her sexual desire is awakened, just as happens to Sleeping Beauty when she wakes to her true bridegroom.

Now the cycle of the princess sleeping and being awakened by the prince starts to repeat. In stories, sleep is often used as a metaphor for lying to oneself or refusing to acknowledge the truth, and this is something we know Rey does because Ben calls her on it repeatedly in The Last Jedi. Her power and desire might be awakened, but Rey’s mind and heart continue to sleep. A second time in the story, Rey wakes up from sleep to see Ben Solo, and promptly tries to shoot him (which interestingly has its origin in the Grimm tale The Glass Coffin, where the princess shot her captor with a pistol before falling into an enchanted sleep). After several more encounters with him, she descends into a cavern where she is forced to confront the truth, or at least part of it. Emerging from the cave with her newfound understanding, she has yet another sexually-coded encounter with the one who awakened her.

The cycle repeats once again, with even more distinctive imagery: After touching a man skin-to-skin and wielding that family phallus again in his defense, Rey ships herself to her prince in a glass coffin, referencing the tale of the same name linked above, and the more famous Snow White. When the pod opens, signifying her “waking,” she again sees Ben Solo’s face, and has another sexually-charged interaction with him in the elevator. Each of these sleeping and waking episodes can also be viewed as a death and rebirth, or perhaps the death of the old childish way and the birth of the mature adult. However, this time, when she awakens to the full truth about her family, there is no going back. Rey has almost fully matured and will not fall asleep again.

So, will this folktale type continue to appear in The Rise of Skywalker, or have we seen the last of it? The answer, I believe, lies in the tale that is thought to be the first of the Sleeping Beauty stories: The Ninth Captain’s Tale, from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. As I mentioned in my previous post, some stories begin as The Quest for the Lost Bride, and then when the bride is found, the perspective shifts from husband to wife and the story becomes The Search for the Lost Husband. The Ninth Captain’s Tale is a perfect example of this. Early in the story, the fair Sittukhan falls in love with a sultan’s son, who then falls dangerously ill from love. A wise old woman offers to form a “bond” between him and his ladylove, causing Sittukhan to prick herself with a splinter of flax and fall into a deathlike sleep. Her family places her on an ivory bed in the middle of a river, and it is there that the lovesick sultan’s son finds her and draws out the flax splinter, waking her. They make love for forty days and forty nights and live happily ever after.

NO, NOPE, WAIT! That might be the end of the Quest for the Lost Bride but there’s still the Search for the Lost Husband. Sittukhan, like Psyche, decides she wants to see her husband’s true self, so she follows and spies on him. Feeling betrayed, the sultan’s son flees, and his bride is left weeping over her loss. Fortunately, she finds a magical ring, and wishes for a palace next to that of her prince, and a disguise of great beauty. Her wish is granted, and the sultan’s son does not recognize her, but still desires her and begs her to be his bride. Sittukhan tells him that if he would have her, he must feign death, be wrapped in burial cloths, and paraded in a funeral procession to a place of rest. The prince does all these things, and then the heroine finds him and unwraps him, waking him and revealing herself as his true bride. The sultan’s son recognizes her, and THEN they live happily ever after.

The lovely thing about this story is that it ends with the lovers as equals. Having died herself, Sittukhan demands that her lover die as well. Not because she wishes him ill, of course, but because it is an act of supreme humility. As we say in Catholic theology, this is “dying to self” so that one might live for another. Both husband and wife experience their own death and rebirth, both fail and betray but are forgiven, and their happiness in the end is completely earned. The heroine is not the passive character so often derided in these stories, but the equal of the hero. He awakened her, and then she awakened him. So, will the last Skywalker “rise” from his slumber into the arms of his beloved? Well DUH We shall see!

[soulwounds-a]

was  that   froy  gutierrez  ?       oh  no  no ,  that  was  just   link ,  a   canon  character   from   the  legend  of  zelda :  skyward  sword .       they  are   18  years  old  and   are   aware  that  they  are  not  actually  from  washington  d.c.

master  the  batteries  in  your  wii  remote  are  nearly  depleted    ---------     if  you  don’t  know  that  loz  is  my  jam  then  you  just  don’t  know  me  at  all .    this  is  skyward  sword  link  he’s  unbelievably  soft   &   loves  to  take  naps .    loz  lore  is  complicated  but  i’ll  give  you  guys  a  quick  explanation  in  a  sec  so  you  understand  why  there’s  a  whole  other  link  running  around  if  you’re  unfamiliar  with  it !    

 so !    the  entirety  of  the  loz  timeline  throughout  the  games  series  spans  over  hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years .    there  can  be  as  much  as  a  couple  of  months  to  ten  thousand  years  between  games .     &   link  isn’t  just  one  guy .   there  are  several  links .   sometimes  a  link  appears  in  just  one  game  sometimes  one  will  appear  in  two  or  three .    point  is ,  though ,  it’s  not  the  same  person  every  time .    link  reincarnates .    he  was  cursed  to  do  as  such  along  side  a  reincarnation  of  the  hatred  of  the  demon  king  demise  so  that  he’d  always  have  to  fight   &   never  fully  know  a  peaceful  existence  pretty  much .   while  each  reincarnation  of  link  will  have  similarities  both  physically   &   even  somewhat  personality  wise   &   the  same  name ,  they  are  separate  reincarnations  of  “the  spirit  of  the  hero”.     think  like  the  doctor  from  doctor  who .   they  regenerate  into  someone  who  is  still  the  doctor  but  they’re  also  their  own  person .    except  in  link’s  case  it  doesn’t  happen  immediately ,  there’s  typically  thousands  of  years  between  each  reincarnation ,   &   he  never  has  the  memories  of  any  of  his  past  lives   &   they  typically  always  look  sort  of  similar .    all  of  link’s  reincarnations  also  have  a  piece  of  the  triforce  which  is  a  powerful  ancient  artifact  left  by  the  three  golden  goddesses  who  created  everything .   it’s  made  up  of  three  parts :   power ,  courage ,   &   wisdom .    each  link  has  the  triforce  of  courage .

zelda ,  on  the  other  hand ,   isn’t  a  reincarnation .    at  least  she’s  not  entirely  one ,  each  zelda  born in  the  same  time  of  reincarnations  of  link  &  demise  could  be  a  reincarnation .    we  don’t  know .    but ,  what  we  do  know  for  sure  is  the  original  zelda ,  who  was  a  goddess  in  moral  form ,  had  her  bloodline  bound  to  the  same  curse  that  has  link/demise  reincarnate .    she  founded  what  would  become  the  kingdom  of  hyrule  with  the  first  link   &   “zelda”  became  a  name  passed  down  through  the  royal  family .    each  zelda  has  powers  due  to  the  fact  they  are  blood  descendants  of  a  goddess   &   are  in  possession  of  a  piece  of  the  triforce  (  the  triforce  of  wisdom ) .

and  that’s  legend  of  zelda  lore !    it  rarely  has  stable  continuity   &   everything  is  almost  always  subject  to  change !

so  now  to  this  link  in  particular .    some  quick  facts  to  know  about  him !

skyward  sword  link  is  the  first   &   original  link .   because  in  this  house  we  ignore  the  manga .

he’s  from  a  time  before  the  kingdom  of  hyrule  was  established .   instead  of  hyrule ,  skyward  sword  link  is  from  skyloft  which  is  a  small  set  of  islands  that  float  way  up  the  sky   &   he  has  only  just  learned  that  there  is  a  surface  world  below  skyloft  at  all .   over  the  course  of  his  adventure  he  explored  the  surface  world  but  it’s  still  a  very  new  place  for  him .

in  skyloft  there’s  only  like  3  types  of  animals   &   none  of  them  are  for  meat  or  any  kind  of  product  really  so ,  with  that  in  mind !    ss  link  is  a  vegan .    he  also  is  unfamiliar  with  basically  every  animal .   what’s  a  dog ???   don’t  ask  link  bc  he  doesn’t  fucking  know .

there’s  also  not  many  fruits   &   veggies  in  skyloft  either .   their  food  options  were  just  extremely  limited  up  there .    their  main  food  seems  to  have  been  pumpkins  pumpkins .   they  may  have  had  some  apples  somewhere .   he  won’t  know  what  like  a  damn  pineapple  is  though .   or  bread  he  doesn’t  have  wheat .    it  was  what  few  fruits   &   vegetables  they  had  all  day  everyday   &   that’s  it  that’s  all  they  had . .

he’s  also  very  unfamiliar  with  many  land  formations   &   such .    he  only  learned  the  words  for  lake ,  ocean ,  desert ,  mountain ,   &   volcano  because  of  his  adventure .

he  is  in  LOVE  with  his  zelda .   he  jumped  into  the  clouds   &   did  all  of  this  for  her .   to  save  her .   she  was  his  main  concern  through  it  all  he  did  it  all  for  her .

he’s  selectively  mute .    he’ll  speak  rarely ,  mostly  only  to  people  he’s  close  to ,  but  prefers  to  sign  if  the  person  he’s  speaking  to  understands  sign  language  or  he  will  write  down  what  he  wants  to  say  if  he’s  able .   

since  he’s  still  fairly  not  used  to  meeting  strangers ,  as  he  knew  everyone  in  skyloft  due  to  how  small  it  was ,   &   doesn’t  have  fi  to  remind  him  that  not  everyone  knows  it ,  he  often  will  go  straight  into  signing  by  habit .    everyone  in  skyloft  could  understand  it   &   it’s  what  he’s  gotten  used  to .

how long has your character been here ?

only  about  a  day ,  maybe .    he’s  just  arrived .    he’s  extremely  worried   &   trying  to  find  zelda .

what is your character’s job ?

so  far !   he  has  no  job .

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom ?

not  long  after  his  fight  with  demise ,  just  before  he  seals  the  master  sword  away  in  it’s  pedestal .   he’s  aware  of  the  curse  set  on  him  but  what  it  means  hasn’t  fully  resonated  with  him  yet .   he  also  is  still  in  possession  of  the  master  sword  though ,  obviously ,  fi  is  not  present  in  it  here   &   he’s  very  worried  about  the  fact  he  can’t  hear  her .        (  p.s.  someone  bring  in  fi  i  Beg  of  u  )

has any magic affected your character ?

no  he’s  pretty  much  the  same !    only  thing  maybe  is  his  ears  are  smaller ,  though  still  pointed .

[theboywhocan11]

Ben Solo, the Reincarnation of Light!Revan??? (A Fringe Theory Analysis)

Okay, I know this one is NOT likely going to happen and it’s just a crackpot theory, but let’s take a moment to look at this as a thought experiment, shall we.

Disclaimer: The following post covers a fringe theory. A fringe theory is defined as a theory that is not based entirely within the Official Star Wars Canon lore. The purpose of this fringe theory is to go over a what-if scenario in regards to the subject of interest at hand. This post is not to advocate for any certain perspective, but instead it is to educate an alternative point of view in regards to characters and/or events in the Star Wars Lore (both Canon and Legends).

To start off:

This is Revan and Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. Two characters, one legend (might become canon) and one canon. According to Pablo Hidalgo, Revan is not the sole inspiration behind Ben Solo’s background story. However, over time, there have been many call backs to the Knights of the Old Republic story (Revan’s story).

For instance, in Star Wars Rebels, Kanan Jarrus mentioned the “Jedi-Mandalorian Wars” where Revan led a team of renegade Jedi who disobeyed Jedi Council orders in order to fight and stop the Mandalorian advance.

There’s another instance where in the official Star Wars Databanks, there’s a mention of “a mysterious connection" linking the two in analogous of the Force Bond between Revan and Bastila Shan.

In Legends novel, Revan, by Drew Karpyshyn, in Chapter 17, Bastila Shan stated, “I led that strike team. I don’t know why, but I took it when Revan fell. Perhaps even then I sensed our fates were intertwined.”

Now, with letting aside the background info about Revan and the possible connections on the elements of Legends and Canon material possibly linking Revan’s story and Ben Solo’s, let’s get to the main points of this “Fringe” theory.

In legends: When Revan was about to die at the Foundry (Emperor Vitiate’s Fortress), he was split into two: Light!Revan (good) and Dark!Revan (bad) as explained in the video below.

Then, there’s the deleted Clone War scene (below) where Dark!Revan talking to the Son of Mortis. Dark!Revan in the clip below tells the Son, the key to silencing his pain is to control the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker.

Yes, during the [Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan] story, both Light and Dark!Revan did merge in the end. However…

Many fans hated this “Shadow of Revan” arc in addition to how that scene alone did not jive with the deleted scene in the Clone Wars (as shown above).

So, in alignment with the narrative of this fringe theory, what may have happened is that Revan did die in his fight with Emperor Vitiate in [Star Wars: The Old Republic]. Revan helped the Jedi Outcast to defeat Emperor Vitiate. Upon Revan’s death bed, Revan thanked the Jedi Outcast and reconciled with his descendant “Satele Shan”. When Revan passed away, his spirit was split into two: Light and Dark.

Dark!Revan remained in the “Chaos” realm of the Netherworld of the Force. “Chaos” is basically ‘hell’ where the dark siders reside. This Dark!Revan would make his way somehow to communicate with the “Son of Mortis”.

As for Light!Revan, thousands years into the future, he was re-born as Ben Solo. The possible reason for Light!Revan for being reborn as Ben Solo is stop a much darker entity who is bringing imbalance to the Force. When reborn as Ben Solo, Ben’s memories of his past life as Revan was no more. 

Why would Light!Revan’s memories be erased when reincarnated as Ben Solo?

According to many real life reincarnation theories, there are instances that when a person was reborn as another person, that person would not remember his/her past life. In order to remember such past lives, they have to undergo either hypnosis or some form of meditation. The only time a person can remember a past life if only that person suffered a traumatic event before death. Such memory would stick with that person even after being born in a new body, many years in the future. As for Ben Solo’s case, it’s uncertain on why the Force would not allow Ben Solo to remember his past memories as Light!Revan. Maybe it was done to hide his dormant power during childhood before being reawakened at later time, assuming Ben Solo is indeed Light!Revan reincarnated.

Furthermore, as Ben Solo, he would live his life as an individual harnessing the light and dark side of the Force as he was years ago as Revan. But, this time being more pulled to the light side of the Force. Thus, another source of Ben’s light is not only the light force itself, but the light from within…the light of his past life as Light!Revan. Also, Light!Revan, as Ben Solo, would bring back elements of his past life as a force user of light and dark in addition to wearing clothing similar to that of his past life when he was Revan. This may explain why Kyo Ren’s clothing is similar to Revan. This is something Ben Solo sub-consciously pulled out in designing his Kylo Ren clothing without realizing he was Revan in the past life. 

Furthermore, the ADDITIONAL reason (not the main reason) for Kylo Ren’s compassion for Rey and his so-called mysterious connection with Rey is either of the following items below:

(1) Rey is the reincarnation of Bastila Shan even though this may not be likely in canon.

or

(2) Within Kylo’s sub-conscious, the inner Light!Revan may have caused Kylo’s perception to confused Rey as Bastila Shan since Bastila Shan resembles Rey. See below.

or

(3) Rey is not a descendant of Bastila Shan and Revan, but her force signature is coincidentally so similar to Bastila’s that this caused this “force connection/link/bond” to happen between Kylo Ren (Light!Revan reincarnated) and Rey herself.

(Above) Adam Driver (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo) and Revan.

According to various reincarnation theories in real life, when person(s) reincarnate in their next body, they maintain their past live’s facial features. So, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo maintained his prior life’s appearance of Revan.

An example of this reincarnation theory in real life is the following picture(s),

(Above) Jennifer Lawrence and her Egyptian twin-actress Zubaida Tharwat.

(Above) James Dean and James Franco

Now, whether this particular reincarnation is true or not, that remains to be seen. But if you look at the following documentary below about this particular reincarnation theory, there may be something to consider.

Note: it’s uncertain on whether the above video’s content is authentic or not.

Issues with this theory: 

So, far there is nothing in canon thus far suggesting reincarnation is an actual occurrence in the Star Wars Universe. Even though [The Phantom Menace Visual Dictionary] mentioned how the Chosen One Prophecy implied a reincarnation process of a Chosen entity coming back again and again to restore balance to the force, there is no official word from Lucasfilm story group confirming if reincarnation does occur in the Star Wars Universe. 

In addition, the narrative focus for Kylo Ren and Rey is that they are stand alone characters with NO BIG DIRECT connection to the heroes of the ancient past, i.e. Knight of the Old Republic. Rey’s narrative is about a normal individual from a completely separate family who can make a difference in a galaxy far, far away. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s narrative is about just another Skywalker trying to regain his humanity. Both of these characters do not have to rely on being a reincarnated entity to achieve their ends.

Now, there is a possibility of reincarnation occurring in the form of Ahsoka Tano coming back as a wolf being in [Star Wars Rebels Season 4]. However, some people stated that it could just be Ahsoka Tano as a Force Wielder entity who can shape shift. Others say said that the wolf is something separate from Ahsoka Tano itself. 

If “reincarnation” were to be canon, how is it going to be applied in the greater scheme of things in the Star Wars Canon?

Two ways:

(1) Use Force Wielder-type characters to be the reincarnation-based characters. Also, assuming the "Daughter" is to be alive, then the “Daughter” can be the one to pull off the reincarnation technique of being reborn in a fresh and blood body. 

(2) A completely new character who is not Ben or Rey, but either be Ben and Rey’s child or a friend/associate of Ben and Rey (after Episode IX).. This particular character would either be a wise man who is reborn again to help Ben and Rey in a future conflict or be another character who remembers memories of his/her past life and these memories help Ben and Rey to get out of a sticky situation in a future story (post-Episode IX).

In conclusion: Ben Solo may not be the actual reincarnation of Revan. But, Ben Solo may borrow certain traits from Revan himself, assuming Ben Solo is aware of Revan’s existence during his time as a Knight of Ren. If reincarnation were to be canon, it’s most likely other characters from other canon sources like the “Daughter of Mortis” or new characters being these reincarnated beings.