#anakin really likes it when padme defends him

[marvelstars]

So I was thinking about a post I saw a while ago and it made me realize that I believe it didn´t really occur to Anakin that Padme was too young as a 14 year old Queen because he was a 9 year old slave and already making adult decisions, like:

Sure, I will risk my life to give you the ship parts you need new friends.

I will sacrifice the pod I built with many sacrifices that I wanted to use to escape with my Mom once I got her and my slave chip out of her body with my self made slave chip detector.

I know exactly how to cheat on my owner, I have know him all my life actually and he loves gambling.

Sebulba, leave Jar Jar alone, you could kill me instead but then you would have to pay for me so go away.

I built a droid to help Mom around the house and I am also looking after grandma Jira here, fixing her things so the heat doesn´t get too much for her.

Do you need the droid army that is invading Naboo stopped? No problem, I will just destroy their main star chip and I didn´t even get out of place as Master Qui-Gon Sir asked me to.

Then Anakin became a padawan and was send to missions in which he had to use his lightsaber to get out of "negotiations"

So of course he defended Padme being a Queen at 14, to him her words about being happy for being relieved of so much responsibility sounded as if she thought she was doing a bad job with her planet, that´s why he told her he heard people were so pleased with her they wanted to keep her more time as their Queen. He thought she was selling herself short.

I believe the whole, "too young to be doing this" only beat Anakin in the face when he was send Ahsoka in the middle of a war zone.

I mean, he called her a "youngling" not even a padawan, he most definitely didn´t want to be training a 14 year old youngling in the middle of a war zone and he only accepted because he saw how sad Ahsoka looked when she thought he didn´t want her.

Ahsoka just had to invoke a little bit of tears and she already had him grapped around her little finger.

Anakin: Sure I am supposed to be your Jedi master and you should call me master but we are in the middle of a war zone, we both could die tomorrow, your situation sucks Snips and you are too young yet to notice it so of course you may call me skyguy to your heart content.

He is actually worse with Luke, honestly, it didn´t matter to him his little boy already destroyed the death star in ANH and his Master was calling for his head because he could become a Jedi and try to kill both of them, to Vader he was just "a boy"

In ESB Vader was at the parenting stage of thinking about Luke like, that´s my baby, nobody can touch him or his friends until I say so ok?

So he can recognize when someone was too young to be send to war, slavery or fight his Sith Master and he was right most of the time, except when it´s about himself and his perfect Queen Padme, they were veteran kids just doing their jobs.

Love him honestly :D

[ladyxskywalker]

In Exile, ii

Anakin Skywalker x F!Reader/OFC

During his morning meditation on the mountain side, Anakin faces a new enemy

part one | part three

a choose your own outcome story !

weekly story polls posted at the end of each chapter !

hope you enjoy ! 💌

Cliffs

Anakin didn’t like very many people.

Not since forming a close bond with Obi Wan, and certainly not since falling in love with Padme.

The idea of love never even crossed his mind in the last few years living out his existence on this planet. Monotony, and isolation compounded all of that for him. It was no longer on his radar.

Wherever he ended up in life, he didn’t feel it necessary to speak to anyone, let alone form a friendship with them if he absolutely didn’t have to.

He kept his head down. Stayed quiet. Tended to his field everyday. Watched as his crops and trees took on shape and beauty. That was something he could relate to - hard work, and discipline. Doing his best, and making sure that he was absolutely ‘better’ than everyone.

they don’t know what I’m capable of…

But when his neighbor moved in on the plot of land next to his, everything started to change. A man who once lost his sense of humanity, started to become whole again. 

Her smile did that for him.

And the sound of her voice alone, seemed to have made things the slightest bit better again.

So, when she told him of her troubles the day before involving that lowly fisherman, he got angry. Even more so when he heard more about this from the villagers in town.

It took everything in him just to speak with the modest shopkeepers, and the elders. Going against staying silent in order just to help her.

what do you know about him?

he’s a defector! a scoundrel!

fled fighting in the war?

I don’t know where from, but yes. took off during the clone wars.

how did he end up here?

bar fight, ended badly.

what do you mean?

stole from someone, then killed them. had a bounty on his head but escaped, somehow ended up here.

he won’t be here for long…

we’re good people, lars, none of us asked for thieves and criminals to infiltrate our home…

If only they knew…

As he begins to feel one with all of his thoughts, a light breeze begins to pass through all of the trees behind him. The sweet melodic song birds, delivering their peace to all of the mountainside. Everything is green here. The water, freshest just from falling. All that was once jagged is now made smooth again; the river, freely flowing over all of the stones and rock.

It reminds him of a time when everything made more sense. At least, that is what he settles with during his daily meditation. Breathing like this with his eyes closed makes him feel as though he has some sort of purpose, a reminder that, yes, perhaps I can in fact be whole again. 

But, it’s this one fight that’s been holding him back from all of it.

A kind face, that no matter how hard he tries, can never be forgotten.

Frankly, it’s become somewhat of an annoyance…

A beautiful, and persistent, growing sort of distraction…

you’re nice to me.

I try.

“Ha! Would you get a load of this! Tough guy seems to be one with nature! I know what you really are!”

there he is, perfect timing. 

“And what’s that? I’m just dying for you to tell me…”

With his eyes closed, Anakin smirks, where instinctually he feels the vagrant in question pacing back and forth behind him. 

his steps make the grass fold.

a few twigs have snapped.

“You’re soft! Defending some disgusting woman! What’d you think I wouldn’t hear about where you are?”

“That was my plan all along, not my fault you fell for it.”

there goes a splash into the water.

an echo of a floating basket behind him.

Anakin stands, turning to see what the sound was, only to find broken stems, and dirt, clouding the bottom of a nearby waterfall.

Rose petals. Scattered thorns...

Sunflowers, and broken glass jars.

Stolen garden tools.

Homemade favors, and jam, wrapped in woven cloth of all colors, strewn about the neighboring rocks. 

“You’re nothing, Lars, just like the rest of us! Who knows if that’s even who you really are!”

He smirks, all while lifting the palm of his hand, and controlling the air around them. Watching as his newfound enemy begins to choke on his own breath.

“Perhaps it is best that you address me from the floor.”

Anakin circles him, all while tightening his grip around his neck through the force.

“I was…right…you are…”

With a sharp and instant motion, all at once, he slams him toward the ground.

“Enough.”

Then, he continues with his onslaught.

“It seems you know exactly who I am, and what I’ve done. So the rest is only inevitable…”

His enemy’s eyes are ruthless, but there is only silence. A quiet he can not withhold.

“You’ve led a kind woman into great distress. Destroying her livelihood. And for what? Because she denied you?”

Anakin backhands him, a hardened blow to the face that manages to break the force’s hold.

“Coward.”

He then lands a strengthened kick to his stomach, before stepping on his throat.

Through the grit of teeth, the fisherman snarls.

“You’re…no General…”

“How would you know? You never fought in my war.”

he’s been spreading falsehoods about me and my family throughout the village…

“All you’ve done is harass an innocent girl. Do you take pride in that? What makes you so miserable?”

Releasing his boot, Anakin slowly walks toward the wildflowers. For a second he thinks about collecting some of them when he’s done here. And…the possibility of how they would look on her, worn as a pretty crown.

“She’s nothing but a whore!”

With his back turned, so viciously, he smiles.

“So unfortunate…”

As the nameless vagrant begins to rise to his feet, the entire mountain begins to rumble, causing him to stumble and fall.

“...that now you will be no more than a pile of dust.”

With a menacing crack, Anakin’s wrath lays claim to all of the Earth, forcing his enemy over the ridge ahead of him; listening to his screams ring out from the shattered edges of the cliffs.

what have I done?

why should I feel remorse?

I did nothing wrong...

he deserved it...

“He won’t be a problem anymore.” 

The words come easily, but they are only above a whisper now.

Everything is strangely quiet, where the trees no longer move.

It reminds him of the calm that happens right before a powerful storm.

Except, the carnage has already happened…

And he feels all the more alone.

… ❤️

thanks so much for reading & sharing this story ! I hope you are enjoying the choose your own outcome polls. it has definitely been a lot of fun getting to write these short scenes. sometimes I don't even know what will happen next until I am actually writing them ! I would love to know what you think. 💌😊 xo A

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

Man, you absolutely need to find your way into the pro Jedi corner of AO3.

Setting that aside, what do I think the clones' opinion on Anakin is in canon (and specifically Rex's opinion)?

It seems overall positive, from what we can tell. In season 2 during the Landing at Point Rain episode, Rex's only obvious response to being thrown off a wall is to tiredly tell Anakin to "just ask him to jump next time." During the Umbara arc in season 4, Fives specifically points out that Anakin would never act the way Krell does. In season 6, during the Fives chip arc, we see Fives feeling pretty comfortable teasing Anakin with a dick joke and Anakin's only response to it is basically to tell him to focus. In season 7, Rex feels comfortable pushing Anakin a little about the mission to find Echo, to ask for help and support from Anakin without worrying about any major backlash (granted, Anakin DOES nearly refuse to help Rex at all and Padme has to talk him into it, but Rex clearly believes it's worth asking Anakin for assistance at all which still tells us something about what Rex thinks of him). In Rebels, Rex does nothing but gush about Anakin very positively, at nearly any chance he gets. Rex obviously doesn't know about Anakin betraying them all at this point, and you could argue that due to how he likely thinks Anakin died that his memories have perhaps developed a rosy hue that kind-of distorts them into something more positive than they were initially. But that's speculation and my personal interpretation based on my feelings about Anakin, not necessarily what's actually represented within the show.

So overall, what we DO see of Anakin's relationship with the men under his command during TCW is generally positive and that he's a General who does try to minimize casualties among his troops. HOWEVER, he is not the ONLY Jedi who is trying to minimize casualties, but one of MANY. In the Umbara arc, Fives doesn't just point out that ANAKIN would never be like Krell, but that NONE OF THE JEDI would be like Krell. And during the Citadel arc, there's an entire side story where Tarkin criticizes the Jedi for explicitly refusing to push for victory at any cost, and while both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan vehemently disagree and defend the Jedi's strategy, it's ANAKIN who agrees with Tarkin that they're being too soft. So while Anakin appears to be going along with the Jedi's current strategy and is smart enough to recognize that sometimes there are smarter ways to victory that cost fewer lives, he is BY FAR not the only Jedi to care about minimizing clone casualties and is in fact the ONLY Jedi we ever see who seems to believe they're being TOO SOFT and should maybe be pushing harder for victory no matter the cost.

Rex's relationship with Ahsoka is... odd sometimes. I feel like the end of the show (and things like TOTJ) sort-of insinuate that their relationship is a lot closer than we actually see it be during TCW. There are practically no scenes where the two of them get to just... be together and bond. It generally seems to stay pretty professional through season 5. Obi-Wan at least has a few times where he and Rex have sort-of SHARED an experience on a mission together, like their time on Kadavo as slaves or even Umbara to some degree, Christophsis, Saleucamai, etc. The only arc coming to mind where Rex and Ahsoka are left together is the Blue Shadow Virus arc which focuses much more on Ahsoka bonding with PADME, not Rex or the clones. So while Rex's relationship with Obi-Wan seems to also be fairly basic and professional, there's a lot more times where the two of them end up on a mission together without Anakin or Ahsoka around, while Ahsoka and Rex often seem to get separated and when they aren't, the focus is on Ahsoka bonding with someone ELSE.

I think a lot of people WANT Rex and Ahsoka to have really cared about each other and obviously season 7 of TCW made it a lot more explicit, but the first 5 seasons of TCW don't really build it up that much, and it's something I think TCW failed at personally. It would've been nice to have more exploration of that relationship, but I just don't feel like we got it. If we ignore season 7 of TCW, I honestly feel like Rex DOES have more of a relationship with Anakin than he does with Ahsoka. I think it's always very professional, but there does seem to be a level of familiarity and comfort and respect there between them that just doesn't exist with Ahsoka.

All of this being said, I don't think any of that really justifies Rex GUSHING about Anakin in Rebels and constantly comparing him favorably to Kanan, that doesn't feel in character for Rex to me or particularly accurate to the way that relationship was actually portrayed.

Nor do I think that any of the more professional respect that Rex did have for Anakin would keep him from refusing to forgive him once he finds out the truth about Vader. People attribute "I'm no Jedi" to Ahsoka these days, but the first person to say that line was REX, right before he spears a slaver. And I think it would be reasonable to assume that, if Rex as told the truth about Anakin, that he'd be able to look back at their history and see all of the times Anakin took advantage of him in a very different light. When he thinks Anakin was a heroic Jedi, he can see those moments as just Anakin trusting Rex with all of his deepest secrets. But after he knows Anakin is the one who enslaved the clones and murdered the Jedi? I imagine that might change.

And dear LORD, I've got about a MILLION issues with the idea that Anakin de-chips the 501st clones post-Order 66 and that they still LIKE HIM afterwards. For one, Anakin would not do this. This is wildly out of character for him. Anakin is a slaver and people need to just accept that this is a completely canon aspect of his character. Anakin does not CARE about anybody while he's being Vader, his primary concern is HIMSELF and he wants everyone else to be miserable in the dark with him. He has zero issues with causing pain or exerting power over people and we see this OVER AND OVER AGAIN during the Original Trilogy. There is absolutely no way that Anakin, while still Vader, would EVER de-chip the clones.

But even that has nothing on the absurdity that is the idea that the clones still LIKE HIM once they're de-chipped, like... WHAT THE FUCK. They now know that Anakin MIND-CONTROLLED THEM INTO WEAPONS that he used to cause a GENOCIDE AGAINST THE JEDI. How in the FUCK would any of the clones be OKAY WITH THAT? Anakin MARCHED THEM INTO THE FUCKING TEMPLE AND POINTED THEM AT INNOCENT MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN. If there is ANYTHING that we learned about the clones during TCW, it's that they would NEVER have been okay with that or done it of their own free will. So the only way you can justify the clones "getting along" with Anakin post-Order 66 is to claim the clones just hated the Jedi enough to be totally fine with having been used to commit their genocide.

And even if we assume that, we still have to assume the clones just don't care that much about Anakin having been a part of mind controlling them IN THE FIRST PLACE. That's a MAJOR betrayal for them to forgive EVEN IF they don't care about the Jedi they were forced to kill (INCLUDING CHILDREN). And these are the 501st clones, which means they would've personally known Anakin, these were the men Anakin was PERSONALLY responsible for protecting, which just makes the betrayal all the worse. It would've been bad enough if it was, say, the Coruscant Guard who probably barely know Anakin and who Anakin was not tasked with ever leading, but it's not. It's the 501st, who HAVE to rely on Anakin to lead them well. It's the 501st, many of whom already went through Umbara where they dealt with a Jedi General who treated them JUST LIKE THIS and we saw that NONE OF THEM LIKED IT (even Dogma, who believes in loyalty to the Jedi above all else, doesn't actually LIKE what they're forced to do and is just as horrified as anybody else when they realize they've been tricked into killing fellow clones).

So while I think it's entirely fair to say that Rex and the other 501st DID have a positive relationship with Anakin during the Clone Wars and that Anakin was doing his best to minimize casualties, I think it's UNFAIR to claim that Anakin was doing something the other Jedi WEREN'T also doing and that the clones would EVER continue to respect or like him post-Order 66.

[piglet26]

Reylo. Sorry, but it's not abusive

Star Wars is not selling abusive relationships to young girls nor conditioning them into aspiring to them. Reylo is not propaganda from disgruntled single middle aged woman. It wasn't promoting abusive relationships when Luke still found love for his father despite Darth Vader cutting off his hand. Luke fans, young and old, were not attacked as being dumb or needy for liking Luke or how he viewed his father. It damn sure wasn't considered abusive when Anakin choked Padme and she still held hope for him in her heart. Or, that Obi-Wan still held a love for Anakin despite everything Darth Vader had done. Then there was Reylo.

Being a Reylo is not something I feel I need to defend. Let me love what I love in peace. That's what I believe. I did not actually see any of the sequel trilogy until after it was concluded. I was not on any fandoms during the rollout and marketing for the films. Thank God. However, I have gathered enough to understand it was horrible how Reylos were being regarded. It was beyond patronizing. I'm not new to fandom, hell I've been on soap opera fandoms for quite some time and believe me that's a savage space, but wow.

I want to clarify some of the feedback against Reylo and reaffirm why it's such a compelling pairing. Further more, I regard it as an compelling attribute to the Star Wars universe that only added to the franchise.

Now I've seen the domination of woman twisted up and called romance (see Twilight and 50 Shades of Gray), but I don't think people understand WHY those relationship were as such. Rey, on her own, is one of the strongest and most badass female leads to ever appear on the big screen. Despite people thinking she doesn't have a personality she is a resourceful, tough, innocent, loyal, hopeful and strong. She has agency unlike Bella Swan. She is not sexualized by Kylo Ren unlike the 50 shades girl. Her gender is neither a hindrance nor an advantage. She has the agency to save herself, but she is also saved.

Which is really one of the main issues. There is the patronization of Rey as a character, the people who like her and the people who like the pairing. While those 50 shades of gray books didn't buy themselves rather than listening to why Reylos liked the pairing they were told why they did and then dismissed. Or, there's the men that wanted Rey to be with Finn because Finn was the "nice guy" who they identified with.

Rey doesn't need a love interest - not all heroines need love interests, but why does it imply she's weak if she does have a love interest? Heroes infamously have a female counterpart which helps make them viable. It doesn't make them any less interesting as an individual.

Kylo Ren and Rey are NOT a couple but instead representatives of opposing sides in a war. This is the most important part. From the get-go they have an intense dynamic. Both have had visions and dreams of the other and they recognize something in one another. Kylo Ren did kidnap Rey, however, if you consider fighting your enemies “abusive” or interrogating war prisoners as “domestic violence”.............well, that is odd.

As quotes about them

What if your soulmate in the Force was your enemy? Circumstance, pits them against each other, but the Force bonds them together. They understand each other almost from a point of view of fate. And yet, fate has made them enemies.

While Kylo Ren is fascinated by In the moments of the interrogation, gender and sexuality have nothing to do with Kylo’s actions. J.J. made the conscious choice to show us the same scene twice (Kylo Ren interrogating his enemies) so the audience can spot the differences between the two. Sorry J.J, you trusted people too much.

We're able to see very clear aggression and abuse come from Kylo Ren for Poe. He has zero interest in him personally. He needs information and he will get it. The force and his ability to read someone's mind is a tool within his disposal. Now why isn't Poe's interrogation considered sexual assault?

"You know I can take anything I want" HE CAN READ HER MIND! He's not talking about raping her for God's Sake! He asked her to freely provide information and she didn't want to. However, he has a tool to use against a girl adding his enemies - a tool he'll use if she doesn't want to snitch. She knows this he already read her mind - so why not give the information freely?!

Rey also invaded his mind, so did she mind-rape him too?

The line that fans almost never seem to talk about in The Force Awakens is when Kylo says to Rey “Don’t be afraid, I feel it too.” What did he feel? The best I'm able to understand is what they felt was their force dyad igniting or fulfilling.

Ren becomes personally invested in Rey. Not with her cause, or her affiliation with the Resistance, but with her and what he wants from her.

“Kylo chased Finn and Rey outside Starkiller Base to fight them! He threw Rey against a tree!” Well she was going to shoot him..... I would've thrown her against a tree to save myself. His issue in that moment was Finn. Finn was the "traitor" in questioned and his unfinished business. They fought, but really it was a dueling exercise. Kylo Ren wanted to test her skills and her powers. If he wanted her dead there was a convenient edge to push her over, hell he offered to teach her. Rey was the one to go ape and almost kill him.

Again, I'm not implying that they aren't messy - they are. For literary nerds this is why they are a compelling heroine/villain. Ultimately one will greatly affect the other. The tension in between them is why it's great.

Ben Solo, least we forget, is himself an abuse victim. This is canon. While Kylo Ren has learned abusive techniques, they are at war. Applying abusive characteristics to a fictional character in a war setting without any attempt to incorporate the story is bizarre. Why was he able for the first time to stand against his abuser? Rey. He couldn't stand up for himself but he stood up for her. Ultimately, Kylo Ren wanted to 'break the wheel" that's what he claimed. If he was honest, he'd admit he had no clue of how to do that.

Most abusers are charming and irresistible when you first meet them. Ben has NEVER dishonest with Rey about who he is. Rey is very aware of the horrible side of him and even refers to him as a monster. He affirms her accusation that he is a monster.

During their force bonds because of the nature of the bond Rey is in a position to hear him out and try to understand how he became the monster he is today. When she learns that he didn't become this on his own, that Luke, his parents and Snoke contributed to his downfall she had hope in him. It's also important to make the distinctions that when she has a vision of him, it's as Ben. It's like a bipolar personality. When Kylo Ren goes all Darcy marriage proposal - she reject him. She rightfully spurned him when he resorted to cruelty to sway her to his side. Rey turned down Kylo as long as he was the ’bad guy’, and only kissed him as Ben ’the good guy’.

“He only wants to use her for her power.” Oversimplification that Rey is actually guilty of. Kylo Ren is lonely and within Rey he finds not only an equal but the most intense emotional connection he's ever had. The most intense connection she's ever had. Let's not forget they are probably both virgins. Then they are in each other's head. That's intense. When Kylo makes his plea to Rey it's out of not only loneliness but truly wanting her for her.

Also, Kylo doesn’t say he wants them to rule together as “master and apprentice”. He wants Rey to be his empress, his queen which is what Rey means. He’s literally proposing by offering her the entire galaxy. Ultimately Reylos see them as two equally powerful archenemies dedicating themselves to defeating the other but also find themselves strangely drawn to each other in ways they might not want to admit. Then two soul mates on the other side of a conflict.

This is built on the idea that hate itself is a sort of twisted form of love. It is, or, rather hatred is born from things like fear, pain, betrayal and love. Their connection is complicated. One minutes they last out at one another and the next they lean into each other. People can regard this as toxic. Others, like myself, regard this as the gray side of love. Reylo represent the yin yang of the force. The light and the dark craving each other and finding themselves frustrated.

Notice how many hero/villains find themselves telling others that only they are allowed to kill/harm their nemesis, in a subconscious effort to protect their nemesis from others. And they may also get strangely jealous when their nemesis fights other people.

Other people give this argument because they believe the popularity of antiheroes in media is a sign of society’s moral decay. The First Order for all we know is not a fascist society. We have no idea the ideology of the First Order. We know their clothing was inspired by the Nazis.

Red String of Fate: the two connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break

Kylo Ren and Rey BOTH want to be together, believe in the other, but are held back by their individual idea of what means. How is that abusive?! Maybe it's back to thinking little girls won't be able to understand the complexity of Reylo. Huh, well little boys can understand the complexity of Batman and Joker. If little boys are smart enough to realize the difference between fiction and reality and are able to watch a love/hate relationship between a good guy and a bad guy, I’m pretty sure the girls can handle it too. Rey has hope and belief that Kylo Ren can be good, she won't stay by his side while he's doing bad.

What is Reylo? In a way. Iconic

[kanansdume]

I think it honestly just depresses me that Qui-Gon has become this character that fandom either turns into a saint or a villain. He's either this perfect "Gray Jedi" who is more enlightened than anybody else ever who can do no wrong, or he's an abusive selfish monster too focused on being right all the time to care about anybody but himself.

And it's too bad, because Qui-Gon is honestly one of my favorite characters. TPM was the first Star Wars film I ever saw, and part of why I will defend that film with my life is because of how much I enjoy Qui-Gon as a character. Yes, he's unorthodox sometimes. Yes, he takes risks. Yes, he can be kind-of an arrogant bastard sometimes. But he's hardly a villain or a monster or some kind of incompetent buffoon. Qui-Gon trusts his instincts and the Force above nearly all else, which allows him to make split-second decisions that he doesn't even entirely understand himself. He doesn't know exactly how things will turn out, but he trusts that it'll eventually work out so long as he keeps following his own instincts and letting the Force guide him to what he should be doing.

And that's SUCH an interesting character with really unique motivations! THAT'S what he means when he says to live in the here and now, to just trust that things will eventually work out if you keep following your instincts and the Force's will if you can hear it. Don't overthink it too much to the point that you talk yourself out of doing the right thing, even if you don't know why it's the right thing yet.

For people who aren't Force sensitive and who don't have that kind of connection to the Force, I imagine working with Qui-Gon could be immensely frustrating because he's so often doing things that SHOULDN'T work out for him and seem completely contradictory to his goals sometimes and maybe even entirely crazy, but then they just KEEP working out. A few hours, days, maybe even years later, Qui-Gon gets the last laugh. Imagine how frustrating that is to someone who can't hear the Force! All logic says this dude should keep losing, and somehow he just keeps getting proved right!

The level of faith he has is incredible, the amount of trust he has to place in others because of this is also incredible. It's not just Anakin, either, he has to do this with Obi-Wan, with Padme and Sabe, with the Council, even Dooku when he's younger.

And I love his relationship with Obi-Wan, the faith he has in Obi-Wan's abilities and the level of comfort and familiarity with each other that they've clearly built up over time. He can say something to Obi-Wan that to the audience (or to an outside viewer) might seem like it's only a half-formed thought, and yet Obi-Wan is completely able to understand what Qui-Gon means by it. They work together really well, Obi-Wan knows when to step up and when to let Qui-Gon follow his instincts. Qui-Gon trusts Obi-Wan when Obi-Wan does choose to speak up and often treats Obi-Wan as more of an equal partner than a subordinate. I love the subtle line Qui-Gon walks between allowing Obi-Wan enough independence to learn and grow because Obi-Wan is an adult who is clearly nearly ready to head off on his own anyway, and continuing to guide Obi-Wan because Obi-Wan is still his student and that's his role. I love how quick Obi-Wan is to tease Qui-Gon and how easily Qui-Gon chooses to take it when it happens.

Qui-Gon is SUCH an interesting character and it's really sad that fandom just keeps choosing to mischaracterize him no matter which direction they go, removing any and all nuance from him and the part he plays in the narrative.

[jedi-enthusiast]

Debunking the "The Jedi are Evil" Theory Made by The Film Theorists PT 8

Point 8 - Revisiting the Same Argument I Covered in Part 3

Matthew quote:

"The story of Anakin's recruitment also illustrates a larger point about how troubling the recruitment tactics of the Jedi really are. Aside from the obvious problems of taking very young kids and signing them up for decades-long obligations it'll be very difficult for them to opt out of in the future."

We're ignoring this part because I already covered this in part 3.

Matthew quote, continued:

"They're even dishonest in the way that they signed these kids up in the first place!"

...oh boy, I can't wait to hear this.

---

Matthew quote, continued:

"Going back that example of Anakin; when Qui-Gon is deciding whether or not to take him on as a recruit, one of the things he needs to do is collect a blood sample so they can measure his midichlorian count."

He then goes on to explain all of the red tape you have to go through in the real world in order to get a child's blood sample, then continues on:

"So does Qui-Gon ask his mom for a sample? Does he explain what he's doing to Anakin? Does he even sterelize the needle? Let's watch-" [cut to a clip in TPM of Qui-Gon telling Anakin he's testing his blood for infections] "-that's it. No permission slip, not even verbal consent, and on top of all of it he lies about the purpose of the test in the first place."

Firstly, taking a step back from in-universe talk for a second, obviously Qui-Gon doesn't sterilize the needle or start outlining HIPPA laws before he takes Anakin's blood. It's a movie, they're on a limited time table, they're not gonna waste a couple precious minutes that could be used for something else to do all that.

Now, back to the in-universe talk-

Shmi is the one that is pushing for Anakin to be brought to the Jedi Order and obviously Qui-Gon's gonna need to know a few things before he can just up and take Anakin to the Temple, so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that her consent was implied.

Anakin also doesn't fight or seem at all distressed or unwilling to have a blood sample be taken, so it would be a stretch to say that his consent was implied as well (especially considering that, when I get my blood taken, I'm never asked for my consent--I generally just cooperate and the phlebotomist takes my blood, and that's in a professional setting).

But that's not really how consent works, so I'll give Matthew that one. No, Qui-Gon doesn't ask for consent from anyone before taking Anakin's blood.

But I will defend him not telling Anakin why he's taking the blood, because Anakin clearly idolizes the Jedi and wants to be one--if Qui-Gon had told him that he was testing to see if he was Force-sensitive, Anakin would have gotten his hopes up. Which, if it turned out that he wasn't Force-sensitive, would have crushed him--so is it that much of a stretch to say that Qui-Gon wanted to wait to say anything just in case?

---

Matthew quote, continued:

"I guess you could try to argue that Anakin is literally living in slavery and so he and his mother are probably desperate to get out of the situation and maybe that makes it better, but no! You are so wrong! In fact, the idea that Qui-Gon is preying on people who have no rights and no way to advocate for themselves makes it that much worse!"

Again, Shmi is the one pushing for Anakin to be brought to the Order, not Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon isn't "preying" on anyone.

They ended up on Tatooine by accident, Shmi is the one that decided to take them in, and--once again--Shmi is the one that kept saying Qui-Gon needed to take Anakin back to the Temple with him!

It's not like Qui-Gon specifically sought out this poor family with the intention of inducting Anakin into the Order--all of it happened by complete accident while Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Padme were trying to save Naboo from being invaded!

And again, the Jedi are extremely empathetic and they're just plain good people. If Shmi had said "you're not taking him to the Temple, leave him alone," then Qui-Gon would have listened!

The Jedi aren't the Sith, nor are they the Empire, stop assigning them traits that they don't fucking have!

---

Matthew quote, continued:

"You can even make a case that the Jedi barely think of their recruits as human! As even the venerable old Obi-Wan Kenobi, everyone's favorite Jedi, describes Anakin like this-" [cut to clip of Padawan Obi-Wan saying they've picked up another pathetic lifeform]

So...the entire Order obviously doesn't think of their recruits as human or people...because of one comment made by Obi-Wan who, in this case, seems to be pretty aggravated at their situation and is probably just snarking to blow off steam.

Yeah that holds up. /sarcasm

[cherrybloosomgirl29]

Empress Chapter 3

Anakin’s first day at work gets interrupted when Padme is in trouble…

(Anakin’s POV)

Padme is still sleeping peacefully when I get out bed. I order a servant to prepare a breakfast for her when she wakes up, prepare her a comfortable outfit for the day, and pull an extra blanket over the bed to cover her. She stirs as a bit as I move around our bedroom.

“Ani… where are you going?” She says clearly still groggy as she rubs her eyes a bit.

I lean down and kiss her forehead as I pull the blanket over her. “I am going to work my love, I have a big job to do.” Her eyes go down a bit as she looks away from me nervously. “What’s wrong sweetheart?” I ask quietly.

“I just… this is still so new to me Anakin.” She lets out a quiet breath. “I haven’t even left this room since giving birth. Where am I allowed to go? What do I do today?”

I can’t help but let out a small chuckle as she says this. “My love… you are my empress you can do whatever you want and go wherever you please, but I suggest you rest here today my love. You are still hurting from giving birth to our little ones I can sense it.” I give her another kiss on the forehead as I get up from my place kneeling beside the bed. “There is only one request I have of you my love…”

“Yes Ani?” She says

“Don’t ever hesitate to reach out to my comm channel if you need anything at all. I promise you won’t ever be annoying me my love.”

She gives me a small nod as she meets my gaze. I pull on my black outer robes and strap my belt on with my lightsaber on it. I give her a tender kiss goodbye then I step out our private quarters. Yes I will miss my love, but I have an important job to do, for her, and for our children.

***

(Padme’s POV)

I roll out of bed still feeling a tender pain in my abdomen. Anakin was right about needing the rest. A small happy giggle meets my ears after I lift my baby girl, Leia out of her crib. I hold both her and my son, Luke for what seems like hours. I see my husband’s blue eyes reflected in my son’s face, Anakin was innocent like this too once… I don’t know how to feel about my husband. When he is with me he is all there he is tender, loving, and kind. He holds me and loves me the way a husband was meant to, but when the other side of him shows, the darker side he gets this look in his eyes they turn a sith yellow and when they do I can feel his whole brain rearrange itself. I have never been particularly force sensitive but what happens to my husband when he is overcome with obsession over me and achieving political perfection is something even one blind to the force would be able to sense.

Anakin told me I could do whatever I want and explore the palace with ease, and I know he means this because he sees me as an equal in every way, both him and I know that without me and political knowledge Anakin’s new rule will fall in a second. Despite what he has said I feel trepidation about exploring the palace… the thought of running into an angry senator or politician scares me to death. They will think I have betrayed them, for I am the one that has pushed and defended the democracy of the Republic, and the truth is I don’t really think they would be wrong…

“Empress Skywalker… your husband has requested we bring you breakfast this morning.” The servant hands me a platter of traditional Naboo breakfast food and blue milk. I thank her generously and begin to eat my meal. Being called “Skywalker” is certainly unfamiliar to me as before this I always used the surname Amidala which I took on during my time as Queen of Naboo. I agreed to change it finally when Anakin took over as Emperor, this is my way of publically coming out as his wife for the first time, and however unfamiliar it may be I’ll admit it feels good.

***

(Anakin’s POV)

“Senator Organa are you trying to question my power?” I say to the insipid senator from Alderraan. Most of these spoiled politicians think I am a fool I can tell. They think I am too young, too fantical, too obsessed in perfection.

I get up in a fury and head to my private office to check on Padme. I send her a com message but I get no reply. I send her another, again no reply. I start to get nervous. Did I do something wrong? Is she hurt? Sick? Did my efforts to ease her birthing process fail? The room spins around as I feel my breath start to get shallow.

I quickly walk out of my office and to my private quarter. I open the door using my private code and burst into the room. I look around to find Padme and our children gone.

***

(Padme’s POV)

My heart pounds against my chest as I hug my two children close to my chest. My back hits a wall and I realize I cannot back up anymore I am stuck. This is why I was scared to go out, I knew this would happen. I am being cornered by two senators one a woman from Corellia and the other a young man from the core world of Kuat.

“TRAITOR!” The woman yells vehemently. She pushes me against the wall in the hallway.

“You sold us out for THAT?” The man says pointing to a holo of Anakin on the news. “Democracy huh? We all looked up to you Amidala. You were brave and noble you served your people well during the Clone Wars… and you threw it all away what a weak woman you are, what a traitor.”

The woman continues to hold me against the wall showing no signs of letting up. I hear my son’s fearful cries and I cover his ears to protect him from the sound. I try to fight back against her hold attempting to use my hand to hand combat skills to break her grip. As I attempt to break out of her grip, however the man forcefully lowers my arms and holds me tighter against the wall.

Suddenly I hear the storming of boots and armor coming down the hallway. I hear the slightly robotic voice of the imperial stormtroopers calling for the two senators to stand down. The two are forced off of my and they get cuffed by the stormtroopers.

I don’t like this… not at all. The coldness of the hallway, the red marks the two senators left on my skin, the crying babies, and the cold presence of the stormtroopers make me break out in a cold sweat. I attempt to regain my lost breath as while trying to calm my babies.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” I scream as one of the stormtroopers lays a hand on me. I know they are on my side, but I can’t take it, I don’t want to be here, I never should’ve left my quarters.

He lays another hand on me and I flinch away. I just want to walk alone.

“Get off of her. I got this, take the prisoners to a holding cell I will deal with it later.” I hear Anakin say as he lifts me up in his arms. he kisses my forehand and looks down at me. He looks at me with love, but I can see the fury lying slightly beneath the surface.

“My, love…” he says “We have a lot to talk about it terms of security when we get back to our quarters.”

All I can do is lean into his embrace and nod.

A/N: Comment any ideas or feedback :)

[levitatingbiscuits]

… that take about padme’s reaction to the massacre really makes me realize how much my own circumstances influence my reading of her, because to me “go super placating, start giving him what he wants in hopes that you can sway him with some doomed to failure tit-for-tat” is an extremely familiar reaction to the realization that the person you have to rely on is capable of extreme violence. like, not a *good* reaction, i guess, but a really familiar one.

Every reaction in a situation like that is a survival instinct. It doesn't matter if it's "good" or "bad." If it keeps you safe, that's all that matters. I would never judge a real person for how they react in a real-life scary situation.

There are a lot of ways to read Padme, and I think every reading has value to it. One thing that's frustrating about her is that it's so damn hard to figure out what is going on inside her head, particularly when it comes to Anakin. We're told she's madly in love with him, but what led her there? Why would she fall in love with a child killer in the first place??

Padme WAS trapped in a bad situation in that scene. She's being targeted by assassins, and the only person on the planet she can rely on to protect her is an awkward teenage boy who has repeatedly made inappropriate (and maybe even illegal, considering she's a senator and he's a jedi) advances towards her that she keeps having to turn down. I think a lot of women would assume she felt uncomfortable around him, given how unsettling or even frightening unwanted advances are irl. And then he comes back, obviously distraught, with his dead mom, then freaks out and starts screaming and crying about how he just killed a bunch of Tuskens, including women and children, and that he feels no remorse, only hatred.

I think a lot of people would do what Padme did in that situation: offer sympathy, soothe him, try to calm him down so he won't act violently anymore. But most people, upon hearing a guy confess to being a dangerous mass murderer, would also get away from him ASAP and report him to the authorities.

Padme doesn't do that.

Maybe that's understandable AT FIRST, because she needs to deal with all the shit going down on Geonosis. Maybe the kiss is even understandable, because she thinks they're about to die and she cares about him/thinks he's hot, so why not give in to the attraction and make out?

But it's everything after that makes me think Padme might have been into Anakin's violence. I don't think it's that she feels protected by him, because he's honestly a pretty incompetent bodyguard in this movie and she can defend herself just fine. I think she might have felt powerful knowing that she had a hot, dangerous Jedi wrapped around her finger. I think she liked that he broke his vows, both because she saw it as romantic and because she thought he did it all for her. (He did not, but she willfully ignored that, a pattern that would repeat right up until he choked her out. I really think she thought the "you're breaking my heart" line would stop him, because she assumed until the end that she held more sway over him than she actually did.)

Maybe she had a bit of "I can fix him" going on too, but we also have to keep in mind that Padme is a very ambitious person who likes having power, and Anakin is very attractive to those types of people, because he's strong and he's easily led. She's also no stranger to violence, and I think she might be a bit of an adrenaline junkie; a rich and powerful senator wouldn't put herself in peril that often unless a part of her enjoyed the excitement. And Anakin is the ultimate adrenaline rush; they're breaking all the rules together, he's powerful, and he's dangerous. But no one actually likes being around dangerous people unless you believe that they're not a danger to you, so I think Padme convinced herself that she was the one holding his leash.

It never would have worked if they had to spend an extended amount of time together, but the war prolonged the fantasy for her. He was the Hero With No Fear! Sure, he was violent, but he was using it for the good of the Republic! And she's the one he came home to, so there's no way he was a threat to her when he had other ways to slake his bloodthirst. Maybe she convinced herself that he was only ever that violent in defense of those he loves, and he loved her more than anyone else.

By RotS, she'd wrapped herself in layer after layer of self-delusion, ignoring every single one of Anakin's red flags so that he wouldn't shatter her romantic fantasy. She couldn't admit that she'd fucked up royally, because then she'd have to admit that what she did was wrong and her whole life (and probably her perception of herself as a good person) would fall down around her ears. And I think she probably downplayed the massacre because it was Tuskens, not humans, and the Naboo humans have a history of tension with the Gungans so she's already primed to see other species as less-than. Sure, she swallowed her pride and begged them for help, but there's gotta be a reason that was the last resort.

That's why she was unable to accept that Anakin had killed children, even though she's the only one who knows about his history of child murder. That's why she was willing to have children with a child murderer, and never once thought he would be a threat to them. After all, those Tuskens were Outer Rim nobodies hated by the humans on their planet; they didn't count. Those kids he killed weren't Core-world human kids like their babies would be. They weren't kids at all, to her. But she knew and cared about Ahsoka, so hearing that Anakin killed a bunch of Jedi children just a few years younger than her was too much for her to process, and she went into denial until Obi-Wan told her there was footage of him doing it. (She never saw the Tusken massacre; with her it was very much out of sight, out of mind. She might have even convinced herself he was exaggerating.)

I don't want to victim blame Padme for being in a bad relationship. However, I will blame her for letting mass murder slide. She should have never let Anakin get away with it, and as a legislator it is literally her job to prevent and punish shit like that.

Padme is fascinating, honestly. I want to study her under a microscope bc WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE THINKING?? LUCAS I MUST KNOW

[fieldsofbone]

Your tags on the padme post were really interesting, do you think padme was mistreated by the writers?

thank you for reading them and for saying that, that’s so kind!

this is a compelling question and one that i don’t have a super clear answer to, but i don’t think that she was mistreated in the way that so many of my favorite female characters in media have been. i think that padmé has a remarkable amount of depth, nuance, and agency even by today’s cultural standards for women characters, and i love that there’s an understanding that her discerning, tenacious, and “strong” traits are all tethered to and reinforced by her compassion, softness, generosity, warmth, and genuine love for the people she represents and has intimate emotional relationships with. that seems so obvious, but there’s often such a predisposition to siphon female characters into one box — you’re either endowed with the more “masculine” former characteristics or the “feminine” latter. even though episode ii is largely focused on the development of anakin and padmé’s relationship, i never felt as though she was defined solely through that lens or only ever treated as a love interest. padmé is, from the moment we meet her, her own person with interests, traits, flaws, and ambitions outside of any proximity to a man.

which is also what makes her storyline in episode iii so disappointing.

like i said in those tags (that i churned out half-asleep at 1am), i can understand the decision to cut various scenes as the movie’s runtime was long enough in the final product, but it’s not lost on me that the majority of deleted scenes are focused on padmé’s efforts as a leader of the budding rebellion. to me this decision does a massive disservice to the overall story — not only the prequels, but the entire saga as a whole. indeed, one of the most significant scenes that was cut from episode ii shows padmé addressing the senate less than an hour (!!!) after surviving an assassination attempt and reiterating her stance against the creation of the clone army, which she (rightly) perceived to be a blatant declaration of war. this scene crucially positions padmé as a chief adversary and obstacle to palpatine’s ambitions and push toward authoritarianism, and lays the groundwork for him to use her to sow doubt in anakin and drive a wedge between them, further isolating anakin from his emotional anchorpoints and making him far more susceptible to palpatine’s manipulation. and it fills an important narrative gap between episodes i and iii by showing the dissolution of padmé’s and palpatine’s relationship and her grappling with the realization of his true intentions / machinations.

we can see this explicitly in this deleted scene (starting at 5:27) from episode iii, in which padmé and a group of senators confront palpatine (with anakin at his side, ever the loyal servant) and implore a return to diplomacy, a notion which palpatine is (of course) visibly hostile toward. as she and the others exit his chambers, palpatine turns to anakin and begins to question padmé’s motives, feigning concern about the authenticity of her request and suggesting that she’s hiding something. anakin balks at this and defends her, but it’s clear that palpatine’s words have hit a nerve and planted seeds of doubt in anakin’s mind. this scene is doubly important because it makes anakin and padmé’s final exchange on mustafar even more devastating and poignant, and makes anakin’s outburst toward her and the rage he feels upon seeing obi-wan aboard her ship more understandable and less seemingly out of the blue: his mentor and the only person he believes he can trust has been relentlessly spinning fictions about his wife’s betrayal, so of course she brought obi-wan as a covert assassination plot and of course she’s lying when she says she loves him. (i’m obviously not saying him force-choking her was like, a good thing, but it feels more narratively justified.)

this is a ridiculously long response to your question so i will finally digress and say that my simple answer is yes, to a certain degree. i don’t think she was mistreated as a whole, but the decisions to cut scenes from episode iii (and, to a lesser extent, ii) that are imperative to showing her as a founder of the rebellion movement, a potent adversary to palpatine, and laying the foundation for her and anakin’s last meeting massively undermined her character and was an incredible disservice to the overarching story — which bleeds into fleshing out so many points from the original trilogy as well!

and her cause of death was absolute bullshit but we can talk about that another day :)

[fanfictasia]

😂 🤩 (dialogue from Anakin?)

Oooooh, this is gonna be a fun one. ;) This is from the as-of-yet unposted WIP named Phantoms of Glory. :D

“Well, you are still growing,” Anakin points out cheerfully. “You’re always hungry.” “I am not!” I complain. “Mm-hmm.” “I’m not!” “Why’s your stomach always growling, then?” I groan melodramatically. “It is not!” Why does my best friend have to be so annoying? I stand up and walk over to the bed, half-throwing myself onto it. “Well, I’m certainly not hungry now!” “But I guarantee you could have eaten more with that bottomless pit of yours.” “Don’t make fun of Togruta growing habits!” I whine, “We always hit a growth spurt around my age.” I glance down at the edges of my lekku. They’ve started growing just past my shoulders now, slightly longer than I’m used to. When I’m an adult, they’re going to be half my height. Well, I’ll have to see what that feels like. “We grow way slower than you humans.” I pout at them. “At least physically. I think we stop about the same times our brains do. I’ve never heard anyone bother to do the math! But I calculated it something like… oh, I don’t know, four human years to five Togruta years? Physically, before then?” “…were you really about four when you were brought to the Temple?” Padme asks, trying not to laugh. “I dunno. Maybe? Did I act five?” “If you didn’t then, you do now,” Anakin offers. I roll onto my back and groan. However soon it is until we get to Naboo, it won’t be soon enough.

And here's another for good measure. <3

“I’m thirteen. I’m almost an adult.” “You are not!” I yell grumpily. “That makes you sound so old! Adults are old and grumpy like Obi-Wan!” “My master is not grumpy!” Anakin defends vehemently. “He’s amazing!” “Yes, he is! Ask anyone!” “He raised me! I would know!” “Nu-uh!” “Maybe sometimes, but he’s usually nice!” “Remember that next time you complain about him,” I grumble, “I’ve heard you say a thousand times about how he never listens to you, and he gets mad for no reason.” “I’m just difficult. That’s not his fault.” “No more difficult than me.” “I know,” Anakin replies flatly, and I swat his arm. 

Thanks for the ask!!! :D:D:D

[marvelstars]

Anakin´s fall

I have been thinking how, for Anakin, being separated from his mother was the beggining of his fall to the darkside, while of course slavery played a big part of it because this suffering marked Anakin from a young age and forced him to lose part of his innocense, he still had his Mom and his friends on Tatooine, those two reasons made up a little bit for the fact he was a slave, he may have been one but he was still a person and his name was Anakin.

But between the separation from his mother, leaving her a slave and the separation from his friends while being send to a completely different culture and what it meant to him living in a context in which nobody remembered their birth family or their mother, Anakin was worried about his mother´s well being, he missed her but he could not talk to anyone about this, not even his master, because it could be taken to mean he was attached and so, not a good Jedi tm but also because even if they were sympathetic to his situation, they could not truly understand how much this was affecting him, this was one of the reasons why he was not going to be accepted at first by the Jedi Council or Yoda but even when Yoda changed his oppinion at Obi-Wan´s insistence, there wasn´t really an effort to accomodate Anakin´s need to know his mother was safe and free from slavery.

This also generated guilt, because Anakin felt like he abandoned his mother to a terrible fate without any way to communicate with her or try to help her in her situation.

Another big factor of his isolation inside the Jedi Order was Obi-Wan obedience to the council, Anakin was painfully aware he was only accepted because Obi-Wan promised the Council to train him as Qui-Gon´s last wish but also because he was the "chosen one" even if nobody knew what that meant and with the resurgence of the sith, someone who could be useful for his force habilities, so from the beggining his stay in the Jedi Order is conditional to:

1.- Him being perceived as a "good jedi"

2.- Someone "useful"

Any moment he showed signs of not being a "Good Jedi tm" be it because he missed his mother or because he got angry when other padawans called him a slave, he could not even defend himself because he is supposed to be in the "wrong", his master always takes the council side when he is "wrong" he had not confidants or people who at least tried to see his pov because for the Jedi, especially the Jedi Council, there has always been something wrong with Anakin and it´s Anakin the one who has to make adecuations to become a "good jedi tm", he was bassically the odd one out in his community with nobody to trust his feelings to inside the Jedi Order.

So of course, it wasn´t surprising Anakin accepted Palpatine´s offer to be his "confidant, father figure, fun uncle" because at least with him he could talk about his feelings, about his Mom, about Tatooine as he did with his mother and friends back home and this would have been ok if Palpatine have been someone like Bail or Padme someone interested in his well being or at least turstworthy who cared about him for himself, too bad for Anakin it was Sidious, master of the Sith order, who saw him as something that belonged to him the one who listened to him all those lonely years living in the Jedi Order.

Anakin´s fall to the darkside a tragedy in three acts and his mother´s separation and death were a big component of it.

This is why I believe while Anakin had great habilities, a big heart and already big cualities to become a great Jedi, his particular circunstances didn´t allow him to develop in a healthy way in the Jedi Order the way it was estructured in his time, in fact it had the opposite effect, for Anakin living in the Jedi Order meant becoming bitter, lonely, afraid of losing people dear to him, instead of being the sociable, happy, optimistic and active child we meet in TPM and it would have made him a world of good to be raised with his mother or with an adopted family while knowing his mother was safe, away from Palpatine´s influence and with people who understood him for who he was, people he could trust with all his being, this was also why he married Padme and why FAMILY has always been central to Anakin´s character, it´s such a strong force inside him that he tried to make his own despite being a Jedi.

[sirenalpha]

I was rewatching the Anakin Falls sequence in rots

and that sequence is way too damn long

like I think it works best if you give Anakin as little time as possible to really think of the consequences

but they drag it out so long like as it stands in the movie (taking out the Obi-Wan v Grievous) it goes

Anakin is in the Jedi temple with the council getting the news from Cody that Obi-Wan has engaged Grievous and the council sends Anakin off to talk to Palpatine so they can discuss if they need to remove Palpatine from office without him there

Anakin then goes to Palpatine's office in the Executive Building to tell him the news about Obi-Wan and Palpatine pulls some manipulation stuff and reveals he's the Sith Lord and at this time Anakin says he wants to kill him point blank but doesn't because he needs to be arrested so at this moment he knows what the Jedi behavior is supposed to be, he's implied to be aware of the political ramifications, and is really successfully holding his emotions in check

Anakin leaves Palpatine alone to go all the way back to the Temple and walk with Windu as he's already on his way to talk to Palpatine and they calmly discuss Obi-Wan beating Grievous and that Palpatine is the sith lord and Anakin is told to stay behind

Anakin does the single tear crying at sunset opposite Padme basically implying he is rethinking the part where he rejected Palpatine's offer to teach him to save Padme while the masters try to arrest Palpatine and get their asses kicked

Anakin then has to fly all the way back to the Executive Building while this relatively short fight goes on and he parks like at the entrance of the building with this giant ass hall and there's even a shot of him just fucking walking into Palpatine's office for some reason

Anakin has NOT changed his mind that Palpatine has to be arrested and not killed and argues with Windu about it, Windu says that Palpatine is too dangerous to live which is the same phrase Palpatine used about Dooku to get Anakin to kill him which he regretted as it not being the Jedi way marking a loss of faith in Windu and the Jedi, and lastly makes a plea that he needs Palpatine proving that he had changed his mind during the crying sunset scene

Anakin defends Palpatine from Windu and Palpatine takes advantage to kill him

and then Anakin falls and pledges himself to Palpatine but that's such a long path to get there and therefore lacks the intensity and stakes to believe that it's a rash decision in the moment like Anakin's 'what have I done' is supposed to imply

I think how it should have gone is more like

1 & 2 are fine in terms of setting things up but maybe Palpatine's manipulations could be cut a little shorter

don't have Anakin leave literally turning off his lightsaber and putting his back to a sith lord, have him keep his lightsaber out and contact Windu in front of Palpatine

have Windu break the news Grievous is dead and Anakin tell him Palpatine is the sith lord and he has him under guard for now but they need to arrest him, have Windu not believe him and then when he does tell Anakin he doesnt want him involved in the arrest

Then you can go back to Palpatine manipulations because he heard the whole conversation and it just proves his points about the Jedi not trusting Anakin while the masters rush over

Palpatine's office was nice for the battle but I think logistically it would work best if the masters leave with him and leave Anakin behind in the office as Palpatine won't want to attack in front of Anakin because he needs to appear weak to him for now and for Anakin to have his sunset cry with Padme

then go immediately from that emotional point to Palpatine killing the masters which Anakin senses and proving that he was right and they'd need his help and he can quickly run and jump into the fight

that will allow the Windu and Palpatine banter to get cut down and get right to he's too dangerous to live but Anakin still wanting to save Padme and reacting as soon as he joins the fight as possible so he has no time to think things through

so like it's a similar number of sequences but the fact that Anakin is not traveling between these buildings will cut down the in world amount of time it takes for all this to get done making it higher intensity and more believable that Anakin's actions are rash and also make Palpatine more competent, he performs perfectly as everything lines up with the end of the war and pushing Anakin to fall without the time to think and plan between when Anakin left and the Jedi masters arrived

[fialleril]

Any chance we can get some Anabasis or DAV in celebration of Triduum/Holy Week?

Late reply is super late, but better than never I hope.

I’m working on the next DAV fic which would actually be a perfect fit for the Passover / Easter season, with its focus on themes of liberation, but it is, alas, not finished yet.

So in lieu of that (and by way of apology for being gone so long), here’s a snippet of Anabasis.

This one is pretty spoilery, tbh. But Holy Week for me is all about liberation and new life, and this part of the story is definitely that. So when I finally publish the whole of Anabasis, you all can pretend to be surprised...

[In which Anakin finds Palpatine’s collection of Sith holocrons...]

*

The place was dim and musty, and it clanged with the distantechoes of crumbling old machinery. Padmé’s hand drifted uneasily and came torest on the blaster at her hip. Just in case.

The door Dinsa had stopped before was the seventeenth in aline of identical doors, each unmarked and wholly unremarkable, the sort thatmight be found in any number of abandoned factories or warehouses in the Works.

But Padmé didn’t fail to notice the way Dinsa stood wellback from the door, or the way she and Sabé watched Anakin closely, alert andready for any sudden directive. Anakin himself was focused intently, seeminglyunaware of anyone else around him. Padmé shifted from foot to foot, watchinghim stand perfectly still, watching the light of memory burn in his eyes.

“Anakin?” she whispered, hesitating only a moment beforeplacing a hand on his shoulder. Warmth bled through his clothing and into herskin.

He blinked slowly, just once, then turned from the door toface her. His mouth curled, far too vicious to be called a smile.

“This is the place,” he said. “I can feel it.”

There was a keypad just beside the door, but Anakin didn’tbother with that. His eyes closed briefly in concentration, and then the doorexploded.

The durasteel crumpled inward, fire sparking from thecontrol panel and lending a sharpness to the ancient smell of the room beyond.Padmé blinked. Shafts of faint light streamed through the shattered remains ofthe door and caught on the thick motes of dust dancing in the air.

It wasn’t an especially large room. What space there was satmostly empty – there was only one hefty durasteel storage container in the farcorner of the room. A fine layer of dust covered the floor, undisturbed by anyfootprints. Spiders spun in their corners, weaving vast networks ofunchallenged webs. The air smelled like a tomb.

Dormé stepped closer to Padmé, taking up position slightlyin front of her, a small blaster ready in her right hand. Sabé and Jothra wereeyeing the room intently, cataloging the space from corner to corner and backagain. But Dinsa seemed wholly focused on Anakin.

He drew a deep, ragged breath and his face set in a still,inscrutable mask.

There were a series of seals and locks on the storagecontainer, some obviously requiring codes and others far less clear. Padméwatched as Anakin examined them, his fingers hesitating over a keypad. Shewatched them ghost across a series of numbers, draw back, and then return againin a different pattern, never truly touching the keys.

“Stand back,” he said at last, drawing his hand away. Hiseyes didn’t leave the cabinet.

Padmé stepped well away, Dormé following in her wake butstill keeping between Padmé and the mysterious container. Sabé and Jothra stoodto either side. Dinsa moved barely a pace, and her gaze remained fixed onAnakin, who didn’t move at all.

The heavy durasteel door of the storage container crumbledloudly and fell away, its echoes trembling through the room. A sudden arc ofwicked fire leapt out from the casing, searing blue, but Anakin only raised hisright hand. The fire seemed to gather there, gleaming and pulsing against hisskin, until he turned his palm down and it jumped from his hand to grounditself in the warehouse floor. There was an awful smell of burnt dust. A thick layerof black soot scorched the floor beneath drifting tendrils of smoke.

“There are…precautions in place,” Anakin murmured, flexinghis fingers. Steam curled around his hand, but the flesh appeared unhurt. “Tokeep the holocrons out of Jedi hands.” His mouth twisted. “Only someone trainedin the ways of the Sith can access them.”

Padmé cast a nervous glance between Anakin and the storagecontainer, which remained shut fast. She hadn’t really thought he intended totell the Jedi about this place, of course, but…

“What are you going to do?” she whispered.

Anakin turned and smiled at her. It was a soft expression,almost tender and shockingly open. Ridiculously, Padmé found herself smilingback without even knowing why.

“I told you,” Anakin murmured, his smile quirking at thecorners. Without any further explanation, he turned back to the storagecontainer and pulled the door open.

It moved easily, soundlessly. Nothing else happened. Padmédidn’t know what she’d been expecting, but this felt somehow anti-climactic.

Inside the container were row on row of holocrons. Mostlooked exactly the same, small pyramidal constructs of dark metal, shot throughwith dull lines of red. Three holocrons, prominently displayed at the center ofthe top shelf, were noticeably older than the rest.

Anakin was evidently looking for something. His eyes wereclosed, but his face turned from side to side as though he were examining eachrow, scanning carefully over the contents.

A moment later his eyes snapped open and he selected aholocron from the exact center of the unit. Padmé thought he was laughing verysoftly.

“He did make one,” Anakin whispered.

He drew his hands back, but the holocron remained, floatingeasily in the air. The red lines began to glow, and then to separate, and thenan image of Palpatine appeared, shrouded in black, only just larger thanPadmé’s hand.

She drew in a sharp breath and stepped back as a voice she’dheard recently only in her nightmares began to speak.

Anakin’s grin was sharp and violent. He slashed the air withhis hand, and something in the holocron sparked and snapped. Palpatine’sterrible voice died. Smoke curled from the bottom of the device.

“You don’t get to speak,” Anakin hissed. “Not ever again.But you’re going to watch.”

It must have been an illusion, Padmé thought. Holocrons wereteaching tools, but they were only minimally interactive and they certainlydidn’t possess any measure of sentience. So she must have imagined the suddenrage that twisted Palpatine’s face.

The Emperor’s lips were still moving, but whatever he had tosay would never be heard now.

“Of course a Sith holocron can’t be destroyed by justanyone,” Anakin said, evidently directing his words at Palpatine’s image. “Noteven by a Jedi. Security precautions. Access only to those who are worthy.That’s what you always said.”

Anakin selected the midmost holocron from the top shelf. Heheld it easily in his right hand as he addressed the hologram.

“But you made me a Sith, Master,” he said. “Not worthy ofthis knowledge, oh no. Of course not. But well trained. Enough to do this.” Hechuckled suddenly, his hand tightening around the ancient holocron. “This isDarth Bane, isn’t it? The last and first. The founder. You always said he wasthe greatest of all the Sith, apart from you, of course.”

Anakin smiled.

A sudden sharp premonition made Padmé step back again. Dinsafollowed, moving back several paces to stand beside Sabé, her eyes dartingquickly between Anakin and the floating image of Palpatine.

“This is your legacy, Master,”Anakin said, and lightning sparked from his fingers, blue and bright andcrackling with ozone.

The holocron melted into slag and dripped to the floor.

Something howled.

It was a scream without a voice, filling the breathless airof the room and echoing back through her mind, burning like a star going nova.The darkness swallowed it.

I will destroy himcompletely, Padmé remembered Anakin saying, and how they’d both hoped thatPalpatine was watching from whatever reality waited after death.

She looked again at Anakin. He stood in profile, his face aferocious mask of shadow and reflected blue fire, another holocron alreadymelting from his fingers. At his feet was a steadily growing pile of slag. Hiseyes shone as blue as the flame.

*

The Force was screaming.

Barriss felt it where she waited, pacing her quarters untilAhsoka returned from her meeting with the Council. The feeling tore into her,leaving her blinking and off balance, suddenly unsure of the reality around her.Something was shifting, but she didn’t know what, and she wasn’t certain if itwould prove to be for good or ill. She only knew that it felt like a beginning.

The members of the Council felt it where they sat injudgment. Master Windu’s arm shook with it, and Ahsoka’s lightsaber fell to thefloor. Master Yoda grimaced and clutched his head in pain. Masters Dooku and Nuflinched as well, but their eyes found one another and something unspoken andsignificant passed there, unseen by the rest. Master Gallia’s eyes slippedclosed, and Master Kenobi’s hands clenched the arms of his chair so tightlythat his knuckles shone translucent.

Ahsoka herself staggered in the center of the CouncilChamber, gasping for breath, half elated and half terrified and not knowingwhy.

The younglings felt it, gathered together in the mess hallunder the supervision of two of the older padawans. They felt the shift butcouldn’t name it, and they clung to one another, wishing that Lahksa andBarriss were there to promise everything would be okay.

The howling in the Force went on and on, until suddensilence fell.

And then there was Light.

*

The Jedi Council was waiting in Padmé’s receiving room.

None of the security systems had been triggered, and they’dhad no warning from 500 Republica’s security team, either. It was all tooobvious that Padmé and her handmaidens weren’t expecting to find guests in herapartment.

Maybe Anakin should have said something, after all.

The Jedi rose as they entered, and Padmé started visibly,her hand reaching automatically for the blaster at her hip and half-drawing itbefore she stopped herself. Dormé and Sabé had moved to shield her, theirblasters already leveled at the intruders. Even after the moment of initialsurprise had passed, they didn’t back down. Dormé, in particular, looked furiousand was making no effort to hide it.

That was…a relief, Anakin thought. It was good to know thather loyalty to Padmé was so absolute, that she wouldn’t cower to the Jedi anymore than she would to him.

Anakin himself eyed the Jedi with undisguised amusement. Hedidn’t bother to pretend surprise. He didn’t bother with innocence, either. Theacrid scent of melted metal and plastic still clung to him, and he didn’t doubtthe Jedi had noticed. But he’d let them wonder, just a bit longer.

“Welcome back, Vader,” Windu snapped, his voice bone dry.The other members of the Council spread themselves around the room, circlingAnakin loosely, their hands hovering easily near their lightsabers. They’dapparently decided to ignore the presence of Padmé and her entourage entirely.Anakin bit back a laugh. The last Master who’d done that had required a genetictest to identify his body afterwards.

He wouldn’t make that mistake. His eyes darted quicklyaround the room, blocking people and things in a mental map. The Jedisurrounded him, which meant they surrounded Padmé and her handmaidens, as well.Dinsa and Jothra had fallen back slightly, their eyes fixed on him, waiting fora signal.

Anakin only smiled. He’d expected this. Counted on it, even.

There were few things Jedi disliked more than the game ofpolitical nicety. Anakin had always thought this a strange quirk for afundamentally political organization. And it had served his Master well in thelast days of the old Republic. He wondered if the Jedi had fully realized thatyet.

So he arranged his expression in a mask of genteelpoliteness. He knew it was effective, because Padmé had told him once that itlooked entirely unnatural on his face. His Master had been quite capable ofportraying a genuine smile when it suited him, but Anakin had always found thatthe vague discomfort the wrongness of his society smile raised in others servedhim much better than a believable lie ever could.

“Hello, Master Jedi,” he said easily. “What can I help you withtoday?”

The members of the Jedi Council looked at one anotheruneasily. Anakin did not allow himself to grin.

“A great disturbance we sensed in the Force,” said Yodaseverely. “Many voices, crying out in rage and hate. A strong surge of the DarkSide, it was.”

“I see,” said Anakin, nodding politely. He could feel Padmélooking at him, but for now she kept her questions to herself, hidden behindher own neutral politician’s face.

Windu, apparently, had already run out of patience for thegame. “What did you do, Vader?” he growled.

Anakin laughed.

He hadn’t meant to. But he found now that he couldn’t holdit back. His Master’s holocron weighed heavy in his hand, the last remainingrelic of a dead world, and the Jedi still didn’t understand.

He looked at them each in turn, until his eyes landed onJocasta Nu. She was watching him with open curiosity. It was such an unusualexpression on a Jedi that Anakin found himself unable to look away. Instead, headdressed his confession to her.

“I destroyed the Sith,” he said. And with the words herealized it was true. He was free. His vengeance was complete.

Almost.

There was a ripple of shock and frank disbelief in theForce, maybe even a hint of anger from several of the Jedi. He might have proddedat them with that knowledge under other circumstances. But not now.

Now, Anakin raised his fist and released the last Sithholocron. It floated in the air, lines of red light flaring, and opened on thehologram of his Master, his mouth still forming words that would never beheard.

“I wanted him to watch,” Anakin said, smiling at Nu’swidened eyes. “The others are all gone. Destroyed. Thousands of years of Sithknowledge and teaching, up in smoke. He is the last.”

He could sense Windu and Kenobi tensing, ready for anyopening he would give them. Dinsa and Jothra had moved closer to him again,which wasn’t entirely unexpected, but so had Padmé, and that was…

The warm weight of that knowledge was a distraction hecouldn’t afford to think about now.

Anything you hesitateto destroy is a chain, he could hear his Master saying. It was one of theoldest lessons.

Anakin looked down at the holocron and the silent, powerlessimage of his Master. But I am Unfettered,he thought, and laughed again.

Lightning sparked from his fingers, dancing over theholocron. For one breathless moment, his Master’s face seemed caught, elongatedin a terrible snarl. And then it melted away into the drip of molten metal andthe seared ozone smell of burning circuitry. The holocron dissolved. Now thereremained only a black, stinking pile of sludge on Padmé’s floor.

There was silence. Anakin flexed his fingers. The blue firealways left behind a strange, mildly unpleasant tingle.

“Well,” said Jothra brightly, “that’s going to be fun toclean up.” He prodded the sludge with the toe of his boot.

The absurdity of that statement was apparently enough torouse the Jedi from their shock.

“So,” said Windu. “You don’t know the location of the Sithlibrary.”

Anakin smiled brightly at him. “I didn’t when you asked meso politely before.”

The Jedi exchanged brief, nervous glances, all but Dooku andNu, who looked openly confused. Well. That was interesting.

“But I’ve found it now,” Anakin continued easily. “And I’vehelped you with a matter regarding the Sith. I believe that was our agreement,in the terms of my release? You wanted to find the Sith holocrons, and I foundthem for you. And I destroyed them.”

The Jedi exchanged a glance. Anakin knew he was stretchingthe terms of his parole, but he also knew that Senator Amidala was standingbeside him, that she too was inside the circle of Jedi, and he was counting onthat. Whatever they might do to him, the Jedi would only push the Senate sofar.

And he was right.

“Proof of this, have you?” asked Yoda, his eyes narrowed andhis ears lowered. The question itself was a concession, and they all knew it.

“He has witnesses,” said Padmé. Her chin was raised and hereyes flashed and she stepped just slightly in front of him, almost unthinkinglyprotective. For just an instant, Anakin forgot that he couldn’t afford to bedistracted.

The rustle of movement at his side brought him back to themoment. “And he has holographic evidence,” said Jothra, grinning and hefting asmall datarecorder. Anakin turned to look at him in surprise. Jothra’s grinwidened. “Thought you might want it later, Boss,” he said. “A nice memento,that kind of thing.”

Sabé let out a snort of laughter. “We can also take you tothe storeroom,” she said with a shrug for the Jedi’s benefit. She too nudgedthe black sludge on Padmé’s floor with her boot, then pulled her foot away withan exaggerated grimace of distaste. “If you want to see the other pile of goo,that is.”

“That would be appreciated,” said Dooku. His tone containednothing but distant, polite interest. Anakin was impressed. There was one Jedi,at least, who understood how the game was played.

“You won’t all need to go, I trust?” said Dormé sweetly.“Surely, Master Jedi, someone could be spared to discuss the Senator’s securitywith me?”

The Jedi exchanged another, longer set of glances. At lastKenobi seemed to draw himself up – like a man preparing himself to facetorture, but determined to keep a brave face on it, Anakin thought. He bit hislip to hold back a wholly inappropriate laugh.

“It would be my pleasure, Milady,” Kenobi said.

[merrysithmas]

We know Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship as Mater and Apprentice had many blurred lines. Obi-Wan often felt like the roles were revered or straight up non-existent because of Anakin’s natural power. So their relationship was very different from the typical dynamic. They very much became equals. How different from the standard would you say Anakin & Ashoka’s relationship is? And how does it differ from Anakin’s relationship/experience with Obi-Wan?

i really love this question. yes, anakin and obi-wan's dynamic was more a match of polarized equals. anakin was "too old" to be a student, and obi-wan was "too young/inexperienced" to be a teacher. both their father figure (Qui gon) died and left them in kind of a Brothers-Raising-Each-Other type manner.

i'll also go out on a limb and say Ahsoka and Anakin's dynamic was different (in a way) from usual Master-Padawan dynamics and i say this because ANAKIN HIMSELF was different in a way no other Jedi was, and therefore any dynamic within the strictures of the Order involving Anakin is going to be inherently deviated from the standard.

although i believe all Master-Padawan dynamics differ depending on the pair (some more like siblings, others more parental, others more career-minded and mentorly) i don't consider Masters to be "raising" their Padawans by any stretch of the imagination. the Jedi culture did not work in that way - they were a communal culture and did not have nuclear family units or "parents". so when i see ppl say "Obi-wan raised Anakin" or "Qui gon raised Obi-wan" i very, very much disagree with that. that is just not the nature of that assignment.

so that leads me to how i REALLY do think Anakin thrives in a family environment, and therefore "corrupts" his Jedi associations (Obi-wan, Ahsoka) with a blatant overt familial emotional link that is very much un-Jedi-like, but also very endearing, affecting, and emotionally pleasurable/safe for those involved.

Anakin, by letting his need for close emotional association bleed into his Jedi life (because of his cruel separation from Shmi), actually arguably improves the lives of Obi-wan and Ahsoka, though it is in harsh contrariness to Jedi Code. Something that Obi-wan in particular grapples uncomfortably with - he is often at odds with the intense love he devleops for Anakin (which is why he is so strict with him and strict with himself!).

(To digress, I'd say that as a demi-god agent of the Force, Anakin's need for an emotional anchor in Jedi training is a suggestion that it is something the Jedi lacked and needed to improve).

So where Obi-Ani become equals and partners (perfect word for them), for Ahsoka and Anakin I'd say he blatantly treats her like his daughter. Anakin sees himself as Ahsoka's young dad, protecting her and teaching her how to defend herself out in the universe. At the very least he is her older brother, her friend, but there are definitely fatherly overtones. It's in the nature of the Jedi culture to mix many types of emotional bonds. And although the fatherly-type of POV Anakin has towards his Padawan is not Jedi-Brand Acceptable, it makes Anakin a better person. And it makes Ahsoka a better person.

Anakin's best self comes out when he is a father - and his role with Ahsoka is the precursor to his adoration we see Vader have towards Luke. The married-esque dyad/bond partner-like affections he grows to form with Obi-wan reflect his relationship with Padme and how he is also made stronger when being a husband. He feels stable and safe and purpose-driven for his loved ones and their cause.

I'd say overall the difference btw Anakin & Obi-wan's partnership and Anakin & Ahsoka's is that Anakin + Obi were cast as equals from the start - not in age or demeanor but in situation and inexperience. They grew as brothers-in-arms and juggled with a strange dynamic in which neither really trusted or believed in the abilities of the other (and had a separate reason for tolerating one another- qui gon).

Anakin believed Obi-wan didn't want to train him, was jealous of him (because Qui gon chose him), and that he was being held back because of Obi-wan specifically. Obi-wan believe he wasn't capable of training Anakin, that he needed to appear older and wiser than his years to keep up with the expectations of the council and a new Padawan. They butt heads.

Anakin grows and eventually sees Obi-wan as a person, not a roadblock. He sees Obi-wan is also at the mercy of the Council and his indignation shifts from his former master to the source of the institution itself. He sees Obi-wan is often in agreement with him, feels relief from that, and they get close.

By the time TCW came around, their growing pains all but disappeared and the rivalry they shared grew into an intense friendship and partnership that plainly textually outshines Anakin's relationship with Padme. Anakin clearly loves Obi-wan. He loves fighting in a war. He loves being a hero. He never wants it to end because that means that close borne-of-war constant partnership with Obi-wan might end. It means the Jedi Order might take away something else he wants more than anything. And for Obi-wan's part, he enacts the Rako Hardeen arc to convince himself he isn't as attached to Anakin as Anakin is to him -- he doesn't succeed.

Where Anakin sees Obi-wan as a partner, he sees Ahsoka as someone under his wing. He loves her, comes to see her as her own person and admires her even as Vader. I'd say the big dead giveaway that he sees Ahsoka as his "daughter" is that he literally raises her with Obi-wan in this strange War Context. As I said before this is very much NOT the Jedi way (no nuclear families) but in the War much flies under the radar and Anakin craves that family unit.

He sees Obi-wan as a part of him, and Ahsoka as a part of them.

Ahsoka is the baby of he and Obi-wan's combined philosophies (as depicted in the Mortis Arc). She is precious to him not only because of what a stellar individual she turned out to be - but because she is "made" of he and Obi-wan together.

In fact, I'd argue this is very much a clear reason why she couldn't fit in the Order. She was a perfect Jedi. Perfectly balanced. Perfectly taught. Power (Ani) tempered by thoughtfulness (Obi), kindness (Ani) tempered by tact (Obi), quick action tempered by training, fairness tempered by judgement.

The Order, as an Institution at that point which was kowtowing to the Senate, simply could not live up to the standard she set.

I think it's pretty emotionally fulfilling to see her say "I am no Jedi" to Vader himself! She left the Order, as he did. Is critical of it, as he is. She is very much his Padawan.

But unlike Vader/Anakin, she retained her goodness. A jolt to Vader's consciousness. Yes, maybe the Jedi Order was wrong ... but does that mean he has to be, now, too?

Her last actions with Vader in Rebels mirror Luke's in ROTJ.

She calls out to him, refuses to leave him.

Obi-wan & Anakin are equals who form an intense love-based partnership based on a warsome youth, and unparalleled training situation. Their dynamic is a fighting amalgamation between brotherly, rivalry, older-sibling-as-the-parent sprinkled in, suspicion... which all eventually, miraculously, snowballs into the kind of love two soldiers have. No-One-Else-Gets-Us and What-We-Went-Through. And they're right. Their odd training dynamic. Their life at war. Becoming inseparable co-generals of a major offensive for years while The Republic ignores the war & the Jedi serve the Senate. Forgetting the Code in the dark ends of the Outer Rim when they are tired and alone. Obi and Ani become a well-rounded, in-step partnership in every sense. Maybe even a dyad.

Anakin's effuse affection for Obi-wan muddles Obi-wan's understanding of the Code because he, too, loves Anakin in return so much he eventually chooses Anakin over all else (through protecting Luke). He sees his truth apart from the Order he grew up in.

Anakin & Ahsoka are another pair where Anakin's affections & need for family bleed into the dynamic. Instead of being strictly student-teacher he forms a parental (with Obi-wan!) bond to her. There are also elements of a respected friendship, brotherly affection, and a plain admiration.

Ahsoka-Obi-Anakin purposefully and directly reflects Luke/Leia-Padme-Anakin in the narrative.

It shows Anakin's two "families", two partners, two sets of children, and the two lives he feels he must unfairly choose between.

He duplicated what he truly wanted under two sets of conditions (a family, a loving partner, children), but under the circumstances he can never have both, and it starts to drive him insane ... this thought of leaving one or the other.

it's up to the viewer to decide which better suited him, if any at all. and what meta influence his demi-god status had on the Order & Senate through these actions of his.

[kanansdume]

I'm finding my views on Satine Kryze to be really following my views on Padme these days, which seems appropriate given that Satine has always felt like a knock-off Padme anyway and her entire existence is intended to help parallel Padme and Anakin's relationship.

But I really hated Satine when I first watched TCW a few years ago. I couldn't stand the way she treated Obi-Wan, I felt like the entire romance was pretty shoe-horned and ham-fisted and full of a lot of romance tropes between hetero couples that I'm not fond of. And I also interpreted the explanation we get about Mandalore's current peace and what had to be done to make it that way as... not great and kind-of a cultural extermination of some kind.

Since then I've followed a number of people who happen to love and defend Satine and her political choices, read through their metas about why the warriors being exiled to Concordia was a reasonable choice to make at the time. I've also read a few posts that still condemn that choice the way I did initially.

And while I think the INTENTION of the writing here was that this was a reasonable choice for Satine to make, that she was exiling the people who refused to be peaceful and practice their culture without trying to start a war all over again, the way it's said and written does NOT feel like that. At least, not to all of us.

For one, the usage of the term "warriors" in the line. They say they exiled "all the warriors" to a nearby moon. They don't say "we exiled everyone who refused to stop fighting and killing for a war that had already stopped" or "we exiled Death Watch who were a well-known terrorist group" or anything like that. They JUST say "warriors" which does feel vague enough as a description to feel like she is exiling literally everyone who happens to be someone who knows how to fight and has based their culture around being warriors, regardless of whether they were a problem or not. It also then feels hypocritical of her to have done so when she very clearly has guards who can fight on her behalf, so either she didn't exile ALL of the warriors or she managed to get a few people she decided to give exceptions to in order to learn how to protect her.

And because of this vagueness, the natural assumption to make from there is that Satine has basically forbidden everything that WENT ALONG with warrior culture: wearing armor, using weapons, learning how to fight, etc. Everything that we've been told via other media is VERY IMPORTANT to Mandalorian culture. I think we can reasonably decide that this was... PROBABLY not true, there's no canon evidence for this being true that I can recall. She never SAYS anything about forbidding armor or learning how to fight and only forbids OUTSIDERS from carrying weapons. She herself personally refuses to use lethal weapons and doesn't appear to wear any armor ever, but I don't think there's any mention of her not allowing other people to do so. Obviously her guards do in fact wear armor and carry weapons. She doesn't even condemn Padme for picking up a blaster to help fight off some smugglers at one point, despite that theoretically going against the rule of no outsiders carrying/using weapons.

Satine ALSO seems to be someone who does, to some degree, take a lot of pride in Mandalorian culture and traditions. She says as much when Padme shows up. So in some ways, it doesn't make sense that she'd entirely eliminate a portion of that culture so long as those who practiced it weren't using it to actively hurt other people.

That being said, Satine is someone who is... particularly implacable in her beliefs. We see this MOST clearly with Obi-Wan and the way Satine discusses the Jedi and the war with him and the way she condemns his entire people for fighting in the war at all, despite all of the obvious reasons TO fight the war that we have as the audience. It's never made canon in the show itself, but we also know from Lucas's interviews that the Jedi didn't even have a CHOICE about whether to join the war as Generals or not, they got drafted. But Satine appears unwilling to listen to Obi-Wan's reasoning, to hear him out on why they're working to protect people, to re-evaluate her personal definition of "peacekeepers" for someone else's culture. She never budges on this particular issue, not once. She and Obi-Wan basically just stop discussing it at some point.

So with that in mind, it does feel in character that Satine could be so insistent on keeping a war from happening that she could exile everyone who refused to stop practicing warrior traditions, regardless of whether they were hurting someone else or not. Especially if she was a young traumatized teenager at the time, reacting to a civil war that kept her on the run for a year and appears to have done a lot of damage to the planet.

And then we come to the part where they tell us that EVERYBODY who had been exiled had died out. Everyone. Within a span of TWENTY YEARS, which is not that long of a time. Which calls into question certain things like whether the people who were exiled were allowed to LEAVE it in order to find a place to live that accepted them so long as it wasn't within Mandalorian space. Were they allowed to make contact with other people to bring them resources and supplies or not. If they had just said "everybody left the moon and we assume they have since found refuge elsewhere" that would be different. But they all are supposedly DEAD, which to me speaks of a more concerted effort to not allow those people to leave and an equal effort not to take care of them. While it's entirely probable that this report was a LIE given by Pre Viszla and all of those people have simply now joined Pre's Death Watch, neither Satine nor anyone in her government appears to feel all that upset about it. It's not a tragedy that no one was able to stop in time, a dark spot upon their history and Satine's leadership that she acknowledges.

And that feels particularly condemning to me.

But the problem is that I don't think we're intended to see it that way. I don't think it was intentionally written as something the audience would actually condemn Satine for.

Which means that this is where we hit upon the Padme Problem. Which is when they care so little about their female characters that the nuances that are implied by the dialogue and writing are glossed over to the point that the character ends up seeming more of a terrible person than they were intended to be. Padme's brushing off of Anakin's massacre of the Tuskens makes her seem like a racist whose grand values suddenly don't exist, solely because Padme's motivations aren't the ones that matter in this scene and nobody cared enough about her when writing this to realize exactly how it would come off to an audience. With Satine, it's the unfortunate usage of the vague term "warriors" and the fact that they all died combined with her implacable attitude towards Obi-Wan and the Jedi which is a result of them using bad romcom tropes of the time for that relationship. All of which leads to Satine feeling like a tyrant who advocates for cultural extermination, because it's the only way some of these inconsistencies make any sense sometimes.

Which is too bad, because Satine perhaps COULD'VE been a better written character, could've been more interesting as one of the few characters in Star Wars who is actively advocating for pacifism and looking at how that fits into the world around her. But she just... isn't a better written character. Not unlike Padme. Or her sister.

[maeve-on-mustafar]

Anakin + Aayla

So, the Star Wars: Republic comics (now considered Legends) had a lot of great moments, including the Padawan Pack's last stand on Jabiim and Anakin's desperate attempts to find Obi-Wan when everyone else believed Obi-Wan was dead.

But a really cool element that I don't think a lot of people realize is this comic series contains one of the first (possibly the first?) significant interactions between Anakin and Aayla.

First, let's set the scene: Anakin, Obi-Wan, Aayla, and a bunch of other Jedi are on Kamino, prepping for an attack on the Republic cloning facility.

First, I absolutely adore this moment between Anakin and Obi-Wan. I think it's a good glimpse into some of the tension in their relationship during this time. You have Anakin being kind of weird and unconventional for a Jedi, trying to do his moving mediation outside and in the rain.

In response, Obi-Wan is a little bit exasperated--you definitely get a sense of impatience from him for Anakin's quirks, and that he doesn't like that Anakin strays from convention, just like how he didn't like that Qui-Gon strayed from convention. He's also not willing to coddle or comfort Anakin. He tells him to get it together, stop worrying, and focus on the upcoming battle, and doesn't hesitate to include a little bit of critique in his instructions.

Enter Aayla. I really enjoy her presentation here. She's kind and friendly, and though you get a sense of some formality in their relationship, as Anakin doesn't use her first name when he replies to her, she doesn't hesitate to take a moment to sit down and have an earnest discussion with him. Also, unlike Obi-Wan, she doesn't mind Anakin's unconventional meditation methods, even commiserating with him about using the same style.

(Sidenote: I have no idea how old Aayla is supposed to be here if she was Quinlan's Padawan and Quinlan was friends with Obi-Wan and around the same age as him. Possibly mid to late twenties? Someone let me know if there's a timeline I'm unaware of.)

I also really enjoy how Anakin interacts with Aayla. It 's very platonic, given that he's already married to Padme at this point, but you also get a sense that Anakin respects her and doesn't hesitate to confide in her or explain his different meditation style to her. When she asks what the problem is, he tells her without hesitation, signaling that he trusts her. When she succeeds in fixing the droid where he failed, he genuinely smiles and compliments her and seeks out her advice. Even when frustrated with himself, Anakin is fine with Aayla knowing more than him, and he wants to know her strategy so he can emulate her. And Aayla doesn't hesitate to clue him in.

One of the reasons I love the Republic comics so much is that they're filled with little character-building moments like these. And I really appreciate this interaction between Anakin and Aayla because there's a true sense of warmth and companionship between the two of them that's frequently lacking when it comes to Anakin and a lot of the older Jedi in the Order.

Later, Obi-Wan decides Anakin is too distracted to participate in the battle and refuses to allow him a starfighter despite Anakin's considerable piloting talents. Anakin protests, but Obi-Wan won't relent. Anakin exits, and Quinlan, present via hologram, offers a sympathetic ear. Obi-Wan responds by listing off Anakin's flaws without a single positive attribute to counter them.

That's something I think people forget about AOTC-era Obi-Wan. He was very aware of Anakin's flaws and didn't hesitate to ever discuss them. In AOTC, he tells Yoda and Mace Windu that Anakin is arrogant and not ready for his first solo mission, and it's Mace Windu who defends Anakin. Here, Obi-Wan offers Quinlan a laundry list of everything he thinks is wrong with Anakin, and notably includes "he rarely ever talks" among them. But what he doesn't seem to register is that Anakin was trying to talk to him earlier, and Obi-Wan didn't want to listen.

A recurring point of tension in Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship, both in Legends and canon, is the unusual and unorthodox way in which they were thrown together as Padawan and Master. The truth is that Obi-Wan only took Anakin as his Padawan because of Qui-Gon's final request, and he says at much to Yoda at the end of the movie. It's not "I think Anakin could be a great Jedi" or "I want Anakin to have a home and a life beyond slavery." It's only "I gave Qui-Gon my word" and nothing besides that.

It's Qui-Gon who's important to Obi-Wan here. Not Anakin. That comes later.

And I really like that both Anakin and Obi-Wan think about this unique aspect of their relationship as Jedi. Anakin knows that Obi-Wan didn't choose him and initially didn't even think Anakin should be a Jedi. Anakin was in the room when Obi-Wan in TPM told Qui-Gon that "the boy is dangerous", and it's a recurring insecurity of Anakin's throughout both canon and Legends that Obi-Wan doesn't actually want him as a Padawan and probably wouldn't have selected Anakin if he'd been permitted a choice. It's common to mischaracterize Anakin as having an ego problem, but in Legends, when Obi-Wan admits that having Anakin as a Padawan has been good for him, Anakin is left speechless at the revelation.

But what I find most interesting is that in this comic, it's not that Obi-Wan doesn't want Anakin as a student, it's that he has an insecurity of his own. Quinlan helps him to realize that it's not about Obi-Wan not trusting Anakin. It's about Obi-Wan not trusting himself to be Anakin's teacher.

And that's why I love these two little moments between Anakin and Aayla and Quinlan and Obi-Wan. They're not monumental, they're not action-packed, but they're two instances of self-realization and character-building. It's often been said that the Jedi are a family, but personally, I've never gotten that vibe from the films. But with these panels, I completely believe it. Aayla wants to be there for Anakin, and Anakin wants to hear her advice. Quinlan wants to be there for Obi-Wan and encourage him to trust Anakin, and Obi-Wan takes his words to heart.

They're willing to be vulnerable and affectionate with each other in these comics, and up until Obi-Wan and Anakin's final goodbye in ROTS, that was not something that happened in the films. And its absence is very, very noticeable, so scenes like this one are incredibly refreshing.

Even though the Republic comics are from a different era, I really appreciate how they humanized the Jedi and gave them genuine personalities--and in particular, I appreciate that they laid the groundwork for current fandom's Anakin & Aayla friendship fanon.