#and palpatine is very willing

[tennessoui]

this has been done i know this has been done im sure this has been done but currently obsessed with the brainworm of captain of the king's guard obi-wan kenobi and prince anakin in some fantasy medieval star wars setting of some sort where it's just game of thrones-y enough that when the royal family is overthrown, it's violent and bloody and obi-wan knows that anakin will absolutely be killed in the revolution so he takes him and he runs back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant that he left years and years ago, when he was just a boy himself.

and anakin is absolutely furious for multiple reasons--mostly he thinks they should have stayed and fought! that they fled like cowards from his homeland is a shame that he can hardly bear. so he's angry at obi-wan for basically kidnapping him and forcing him away from his kingdom when she needed him, and he's angry at the jedi order for accepting them into their ranks but only if they agree to pretend to be Jedi while they're at the Temple. and he's angry at the jedi council because obi-wan had to beg to be given aid and his proud captain of the guards should never have to beg for anything, and yet here he is, begging for help for anakin's sake!

anakin is probably like. nine, obi-wan is twenty-five, and they stay at the temple basically incognito for ten years with anakin 'training to be a padawan' (because he's so strong in the Force that obi-wan points out that it may be a good idea to give him all the lessons in anger management and force control even though he isn't really a padawan in case any of the material sinks in) and obi-wan as a worker in the temple hangar bay.

then the clone wars break out and obi-wan instinctively wants to join the fight with the jedi because he owes them a great debt. not only did they raise him until he was fifteen, but they took him in---took anakin in when they needed them

but anakin has never had any loyalty to the jedi. he is loyal to his planet, which he will return to one day. and he is loyal to his family and to obi-wan, for saving him. but obi-wan should be loyal to him and him alone. only to the crown. only to anakin.

what im getting at is like. a scene where nineteen year old anakin demands obi-wan swear fealty to him as the king of his planet on the eve of the clone wars because he needs obi-wan to know that he's his. his captain. his guard. kneeling and ring kissing is involved.

obi-wan swearing fealty and then probably fucking anakin and then probably leaving during the night to fight in the clone wars without waking anakin is also involved.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Knowing

I have just had the worst, or best, brainwave and I need to share it. 

Here is an AU for you.

Vader thinks that he killed his wife and child, right?

Right up until he meets little Leia Organa when she is 10 years old. Like his one brain cell woke the fuck up when he was confronted with a passionate, angry little girl with Padme’s eyes and his chin. This is maybe a month after she was kidnapped and returned to Alderaan. Leia decides that she would need to learn how to be a senator and insists that Bail takes her with him to the next session of the imperial senate.  

Bail does not want to bring her to the imperial senate. However he knows very well who her birth parents were, it is either Bail brings Leia to the Imperial Senate or Leia brings Leia to the Imperial Senate, probably bringing with her someone she really shouldn’t (Like actual Obi Wan Kenobi-I just want you to picture for a moment, because Bail certainly did, looking up and realizing that Leia is charging down the halls outside his office, dragging with her a bemused and sandy Obi Wan, both in badly conceived disguises).

Bail is super stressed as he tries to run a rebellion while riding herd on his well meaning but very direct 10 year old daughter on top of his normal duties as an imperial senator. Bail is also very afraid that the moment the Emperor sees Leia, he will make the connection between Leia and Padme Amidala (The emperor does not socialize with the senate any longer, thank the stars). He has no idea that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, so has no cause to be more careful than normal (because Vader) about Vader seeing Leia. As such Bail does not even notice when Vader stops to consider them from the shadows. Leia is haranguing another planet’s senatorial aide who had chosen the wrong moment to make a bigoted joke. 

Vader is very abruptly, though mentally, thrown back to this very hallway 12 years earlier where he watched his wife do the same thing, for the same reason, possibly to this same aide. Though Leia is still a child and Padme was an adult, he can still see his wife in this little girl.

The realization that this is Padme’s child hits him with the force of a Ventanor. Followed immediately, before he even realized that this meant that his child was standing in front of him, by the soul deep knowledge that she must be protected from the Emperor at all costs. 

Vader had known for years that his suit had been designed to cause him more pain, he just thought he deserved it. The thought of Palpatine getting ahold of Padme’s daughter was abhorrent. Vader sticks to the shadows and watches, seeing how well Bail loved and protected Leia. 

While he is thinking(read Obsessing) about his daughter, the part of him that is always centered on Obi Wan points out that his old master had been one of the last people to see Padme after Vader choked her. But the little voice that spoke in Padme’s tones piped up, the shock of Leia living being enough to finally make this little voice loud enough to be heard, saying that until recently Obi Wan believed that Anakin Skywalker was all the way dead, he was protecting their child as best as he knew how. 

And Vader has issues with just about every choice Obi Wan Kenobi ever made. But he will admit that hiding Padme’s daughter was the best option. 

As Vader knows that paying too much attention to Leia would draw the Emperor’s attention, he would be willing to wait until the right moment to get his daughter back. His one concession to his need to protect her was taking one of his personal guard, one of the few units still made up almost entirely of clones, and assigning them to be Leia Organa’s bodyguard, her shadow (I also want you to take a moment to consider what that did for Bail’s stress level).  And then Vader gets to planning. 

With his one brain cell awake and focused on the Organa’s it takes Vader all of 15 minutes to realize that Bail Organa is running the Rebellion (I want it to be clear, this is not a slight on Bail at all, Anakin Skywalker was a war general, well educated through the Jedi on a number of subjects, and does have a fair measure of politics learning from both his former master and his dead wife).  However Vader is no more loyal to the Empire than Anakin was to the Republic.  In fact, upon realizing that Padme’s daughter had lived Vader firmly decided that he needed to find a way to kill Palpatine to crown Leia.  With the realization that Bail, and likely Leia (neither Vader nor Anakin have any idea what activities are appropriate for a 10 year old), are part of the Rebellion, Vader decides that The Rebellion would succeed (or everyone would die trying). 

Note: Vader only really gets away with no one realizing that he now supported the Rebellion because, well, no one can quite believe that Darth Vader supports the Rebellion. Most people think there is a new type of Space Madness, and that one of the symptoms is hallucinating Darth Vader giving you intel for the Rebellion.

By the time Leia was a teenager, rumors abound about the odd way that Vader acted around her. By sheer happenstance (and some judicial violence on Vader’s part) these rumors had never reached the Emperor. A good deal of these rumors implied that Vader was looking to the Princess of Alderaan as a wife.  The reaction Vader had, the only time it was brought up in front of him, was…impressive, even for the amount of violence he normally dealt out. Still there are members of Vader’s personal guard who watch over Leia whenever she is on Imperial Center, and no one wants to repeat the time when she was 12 when one of Bail enemies tried to kidnap her for ransom.  It took an entire corps of engineers to put those levels back to rights (after they scrubbed the blood off).  

So we get all the way up to the timeframe of ANH. The Death Star in this does not start out under the control of Darth Vader. It starts out under the control of Tarkin, it is important to note this. Leia still sends out R2D2 and C3P0 to find Obi Wan Kenobi, none of that part changes. 

It is after Leia is captured that Darth Vader shows up (does he lurk silently in any system that Leia is due to be in as often as he can get away with…why yes, yes he does). Tarkin had wanted Leia tortured, however no one wanted to find out how many decks Vader would spread their entrails across for touching her.  Vader arrives on the bridge just as Tarkin is threatening to blow up Alderaan. Tarkin orders the weapon to begin its charge. 

Leia, Leia who is so like her mother in that she will use every weapon in her arsenal, turns to Darth Vader and speaks to him for the first time. ‘Please’ she said, no effort to hide her distress, ‘please save my planet’

Something Leia had no cause to know-An angel who she resembled once thanked Anakin Skywalker for saving her planet. 

Tarkin is dead almost before she finishes speaking. Vader orders the DS weapons to power down and disengage, which is done post haste. Then announces that Leia Organa was now in control. 

So Leia now owns a Death Star (genuine article-never used). Leia is not sure if that is how this works, but no one is arguing with the tall man in black who has OPINIONS and will enforce them.  Leia manages to communicate this to her parents, who take a shuttle up to the space station to figure out what the fuck is going on, and what, if anything, they need to do next.

Two hours later: Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, R2D2, C3P0, and Chewbacca have just been caught trying to sneak onto the Death Star. The Organas are still on board, trying to get answers (In that time Vader has said precisely five words to them ‘You have raised her well’).  It is to this room that the troopers manning the station (who are deeply confused and a bit conflicted because it seems like they may have all been forcibly defected from the Empire, but no one is willing to disobey Lord Vader) bring Obi Wan and co. and present them to Leia, as she is considered in command.  Somehow Luke’s full name (I kind of picture him still dumbly introducing himself to Leia, followed with ‘we’re here to rescue you’) gets used before the situation deteriorates. Which naturally causes everything to deteriorate further and faster than before.  

Far away on Imperial Center, the Emperor pauses in the middle of a hallway ‘I feel’ he says to no one ‘a disturbance in the Force.’ another pause ‘like some shit has just hit the fan’

Far away on Dagobah Yoda looks up, ‘weird, shit just got’

[sixtysixproblems]

i want to see Fox have the most chaotic ass relationship with some feral investigative journalists. and it somehow turns into a fix it fic. like this somehow leads to Palpatine getting taken down. how funny would that be.

like. journalists are fucking insane man (i mean this as a compliment), and insane in a way I think fanon Fox would 100% get along with. Like, what Palpatine didn't realize when creating a clone army to kill the jedi, is those clones might be very enthusiastic whistleblowers.

Fox stresses out the journalists by how much he's willing to divulge despite the potential consequences (or, yk, actual consequences cause it's palps), and the journalists stress out Fox bc they're catching up to Padme in number of assassination attempts. meanwhile--

Thorn: how many hours of sleep did you get last night

Journalist: i got like 30 minutes at my desk

Fox: omg twinsies

Thorn: nO

thorn's just. stressed.

[gffa]

Yaddle has taken charge of a Force-sensitive youngling who has seen a lot of pain and suffering over the last several days, before she'd really been trained to handle it. And this is set during the High Republic era, showing that the Jedi have been consistent about why they train younglings so early and why it's not that younglings are bad if they've suffered or have trouble letting go of the pain, it's that they struggle with what it means to be a Jedi and the abilities granted to them and their place in the galaxy. And it's not that the Jedi aren't willing to try--they're trying with Cippa, they'll try with Anakin, as this scene feels like a giant neon sign pointing out the parallels--but that it is harder when you don't have the foundation needed to deal with the psychic weight of what dealing with your emotions means in the Force. The Jedi aren't perfect, but they were genuinely trying and their reasons are very much in line with what the narrative intends to say. It's not that I think Anakin never tried or didn't want to master himself, but that ultimately he didn't want it more than he wanted to hide away from the hard work. That I've said many times I think he may have made it and been an incredible Jedi if it weren't for Palpatine's influence, that I've noticed the stories that end without his interference tend to end with Anakin figuring his way through the struggle and connecting with Obi-Wan and the Jedi, but in stories where Palpatine is involved, he tends to end up more isolated. (Cue that quote where George Lucas said that, had Anakin been found when he was younger, he would have been trained to love people but let them go when time.) It's the same with Yaddle's view of Cippa here, that the pain and suffering isn't this child's fault, but it does make it harder when she's already got a foundation of coping that will have to be undone. It's difficult to teach children to let go of fear when fear is so much of what they've known, because when your connection to a mystical energy field that lets you crush people with your mind is wholly dependent on your thoughts and feelings (ie, your emotions are the light or the dark, they are the same thing), you need to have a rock solid foundation. (Star Wars: The High Republic: Cataclysm)

[nateofgreat]

"Luke's a mass murderer because when he blew up the Death Star, he killed a bunch of innocent workers there." :(

I was going to ignore this bad take, because I thought it was just something that internet memesters shared as a punchline, but the Acolyte's own cast repeating it has forced my hand.

1: Luke didn't have any other choice.

The Death Star has already been used to blow up a planet of billions of people and is currently bearing down on a moon packed with some of the only people left willing to oppose the Empire. If the Galaxy was ever going to be free the space station had to go, and it did. Otherwise it'd just go on to kill billions of more people and intimidate the rest into submission.

2: They had it coming.

To date the only character I've ever seen on the Death Star who wouldn't have it coming are Candance, Baljeet, and Buford from the Phineas and Ferb Star Wars Crossover. And they aren't canon.

First off Palpatine probably packed the thing with his most fanatical soldiers. Ones who were probably ecstatic about the idea of blowing up rebel planets.

But secondly, if there really were any hapless engineers, conscripted soldiers, sanitation workers, etc, who simply didn't know what the purpose of the Death Star was. Lucky them they get a perfect demonstration when Tarkin nuked an entire planet from orbit! No confusion now.

Any employee who remained loyal to the Empire and didn't immediately try and jump ship after seeing that probably had it coming.

3: But don't they have families?

I wonder if any of them were on Alderaan?

4: That's not how you're supposed to think about stories like this.

This idea of hyper realism in stories, to the point your fictional armies are supposed to follow the Geneva Convention, is a VERY new idea. It used to be that you viewed this type of things in a more detached lens. Where, rather than go "but the Death Stair maintenance workers :(" audiences would simply cheer when the evil super weapon was destroyed.

Sure if this were the real world, maybe realistically there'd have been a Rebel spy or prisoners aboard who got caught up in the explosion. But within the bounds of the SW narrative itself you're supposed to simply assume there wasn't. Because the story isn't some depiction of a realistic war but a heroic tale of a farmer rising to greatness and saving the Galaxy from oppression by destroying the planet killing space station.

Unless we want fiction to get to a point where every hero's story is bogged down by an ill-fitting trauma plot line or where we can no longer have space stations blow up because "the maintenance workers!!!" we have to learn to distance ourselves from this hyper realistic view of fiction.

Or else all of fiction will consist of "military aged and trained men fighting with realistic tactics and then dealing with PTSD afterward." Because that's the most realistic scenario to occur.

[yanderes-galore]

Hi would it be alright to request romantic yandere Anakin hcs who’s Jedi darling asked him to leave the Jedi order/council with her, cause she doesn’t want to be part of the war any more please 🙏

This request is very similar to one I did here, just that one was platonic and for Clone Wars. I will take a more general approach with this one :) Excited to write more Anakin. I used the plot/backstory of the platonic request but tweaked so please enjoy!

Yandere! Anakin has so much potential....

Yandere! Anakin with Jedi! Darling asking him to leave the order

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Female Darling, Obsession, Overprotective behavior, Manipulation, Violence, Mutual relationship turned forced, Implied intimacy, Paranoia, Dark themes, Imprisonment mentioned, Threats, Implied kidnapping/coercion, Kissing.

In terms of backstory, you and Anakin are both Jedi working for the order.

In fact this can be the same backstory as the Clone Wars Anakin concept I did except romantic.

Which would be you both knew each other from your Padawan days and grew up alongside each other.

So this is essentially an AU where you become Anakin's romantic interest.

Jedi shouldn't have such strong personal connections but he can't help but fall for the young Padawan woman he's grown up with.

You two are inseparable, often training with each other or speaking with one another.

Perhaps your relationship starts mutual.

Anakin has fallen for you and you fall for him over time.

Your relationship has to be secret yet you make do.

Having an already established relationship may just make Anakin's obsession worse.

It's seen in the prequels that Anakin is someone driven by emotion.

He's scared to lose those he loves.

Anakin would also be the first to sense you not liking the war going on.

By the time you wish to leave, Anakin knows you inside and out.

He often meets you in private for "training", when in reality you both share intimacy.

Anakin is addicted to every kiss you give him and he loves your warmth and soft skin.

You're his girl, his woman, and he loves you with all his heart.

He's a man willing to do anything to keep you happy and safe.

In fact part of him constantly worries you'll be in danger due to being a Jedi Knight like him.

If anything his fear skyrockets at the idea of you being killed... especially later on.

When you tell Anakin you wish to leave The Order, he's on edge about it.

He stresses out and he's worried you're trying to leave him.

By this point you're either his girlfriend or wife, depends on if this is around Clone Wars or the third prequel.

He vents these worries to you in private.

He worries he's doing something wrong.

But that just isn't true, you hate all the fighting.

You don't know which side tells the truth and wish to leave... maybe even have your own family.

The idea of having a family with you make Anakin's heart flutter.

The idea of protecting you as his cute little house wife is an idea that pleases him.

Yet he hates the idea of leaving you alone.

Then you drop a bomb.

You want him to leave The Order with you.

Deep down, Anakin really does want to abandon everything and run off with you.

He wants to have a family, he wants to have kids, he wants to keep you safe as his wife and your husband.

At the same time he's still dedicated to The Order.

At first he ignores your offer, instead distracting you with a kiss and tight hug.

He can't ignore it for long unfortunately.

You echo the question back to him, a frown on your face.

One way or another you may leave The Order without Anakin.

He just can't abandon things right now.

The relationship/love for Anakin dies down for you as you make your case and leave for somewhere private.

To make this more yandere and dramatic let's say Anakin comes back to find you after he's joined the Dark Side but before he fought Obi-Wan.

Anakin would've convinced Palpatine to spare you from Order 66 as you will no longer be a problem.

I also have a feeling you left The Order and Anakin for a reason greater than just the war.

Perhaps you had visions of what he'd do in the future.

As a result you tried to change things, but to no avail.

However, Anakin was never ready to just let you go.

You most likely sense his presence, it's darker from the last time you saw him.

His desire for you is darker, he did what he could to prevent your death due to Order 66.

He chose darker power to protect you and now he's finally returned to you.

It was a trial to find where you went but he guessed it was so no one found you.

But Anakin would always find you... he knows how to sense you.

His presence frightens you when he makes his way to your planet with Clone Troopers at his side.

You ask him if he'll kill you, you ask him why he couldn't just forget you after he left.

He made his decision... you made yours... what does he want?

Anakin reassures you he isn't going to kill you, in fact he made you an exception to the Order 66 rule.

No... Anakin came to collect you.

If you had kids then he'll take them too.

Their fate is unknown, however....

Anakin has just missed you so much and regrets not following you back then.

Maybe you had a point to leave....

Yet, Anakin is here now to love and adore you just like before.

You're stiff in his arms when he embraces you, kissing near your neck and cheek while whispering how much he missed you.

Things can be different now, he'll make it different.

He threatens you to not fight him on this.

If you fight him then he'll have to call for your imprisonment.

He's worked hard to make things perfect for the both of you.

Sure, he's given into the Dark Side, but you'll still love him, right?

Of course you will....

There's no need to be hiding from anyone now... he'll protect you as he did before.

Even if you're imprisoned due to no longer loving him and he's cast into lava... he'll probably still care for you somewhere in his heart until you die.

[padawanlost]

“Qui-Gon returned from Tatooine with a former slave boy. According to the boy’s mother, the boy had no father.”

“A clone?” Palpatine asked uncertainly.

“Not a clone,” Dooku said. “Perhaps conceived by the Force. As Qui-Gon believes.”

Palpatine’s head snapped back. “You don’t sit on the Council. How do you know this?”

“I have my ways.”

“Does this have something to do with the prophecy you spoke of?”

“Everything. Qui-Gon believes that the boy—Anakin is his name—stands at the center of a vergence in the Force, and believes further that his finding him was the will of the Force. Blood tests were apparently performed, and the boy’s concentration of midi-chlorians is unprecedented.”

“Do you believe that he is the prophesied one?”

“The Chosen One,” Dooku amended. “No. But Qui-Gon accepts it as fact, and the Council is willing to have him tested.”

“What is known about this Anakin?”

“Very little, except for the fact that he was born into slavery nine years ago and was, until recently, along with his mother, the property of Gardulla the Hutt, then a Toydarian junk dealer.” Dooku smirked. “Also that he won the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace.”

Palpatine had stopped listening.

Nine years old … Conceived by the Force … Is it possible …

His thoughts rewound at frantic speed: to the landing platform on which he and Valorum had welcomed Amidala and her group. Actually not Amidala, but one of her look-alikes. But the sandy-haired boy, this Anakin, swathed in filthy clothing, had been there, along with a Gungan and the two Jedi. Anakin had spent the night in a tiny room in his apartment suite.

And I sensed nothing about him.

“Qui-Gon is rash,” Dooku was saying. “Despite his fixation with the living Force, he demonstrates his own contradictions by being a true believer in the prophecy—a foretelling more in line with the unifying Force.”

“Nine years old,” Palpatine said when he could. “Surely too old to be trained.”

“If the Council shows any sense.”

“And what will become of the boy then?”

Dooku’s shoulders heaved. “Though no longer a slave, he will probably be sent to rejoin his mother on Tatooine.”

[James Luceno. Darth Plagueis]

[antianakin]

In addition to the The Wrong Jedi arc, I also hated the Bio Chip arc, not just because of what happened to Fives, but also because they unfairly framed in the Jedi in yet another morally compromising situation and I hate that.

I assume you're referring to the Jedi discovering that a chip exists but accepting the "anti-aggression" explanation without fighting it or trying to argue that the chip should be removed.

It's honestly no worse than the implications that already existed about the dynamic between the Jedi and the clones for the five seasons prior to this and even arguably ever since AOTC came out. It's not exactly making the situation seem any worse, especially for people willing to look at it in bad faith.

They have a clone character explicitly call the Jedi slavers in season 1, and just by making the clones more independent and individual, it creates a stickier moral situation than already existed in AOTC.

And given the weird moral stickiness that exists with the droids, it couldn't have been fixed by giving the Jedi a droid army because people would STILL claim the army was made up of slaves and the Jedi were awful slavers for fighting in it.

So, sure, the Fives arc has the Jedi forced to ignore the existence of the chip so far as we know, but is it truly any worse than Slick calling them slavers five seasons earlier? Is it worse than five seasons of the clones existing within a morally sticky situation that the Jedi can't properly address?

The reason the Wrong Jedi arc sticks out to me is because the Jedi are PERSONALLY called out and made responsible for what happened to Ahsoka. Ahsoka explicitly says she doesn't trust the Jedi or the Council and then it's the Council who has to make a judgment call in the end. By contrast, Fives spends the entire arc desperately trying to seek out a Jedi he can tell this information to (starting with Shaak Ti and then turning to Anakin later) and he explicitly refers to the Jedi as his "best friends" later in the arc. And while Ahsoka claims that Anakin is the only person she trusts, it's also Anakin who refuses to listen to Fives and dismisses his accusations against Palpatine.

So while the Jedi do end up never addressing the chip situation again, the arc on the arc on the whole is actually immensely positive towards the Jedi and DOES represent them very positively and intentionally calls out ANAKIN as the untrustworthy one (Shaak Ti ends up listening to Fives and trying multiple times to get the situation examined further).

The Wrong Jedi arc is 10x worse than the Fives arc is from my perspective. The Fives arc doesn't intentionally introduce any criticism towards the Jedi that wasn't already generated by AOTC anyway and it works really hard to make the Jedi look GOOD in a way the Wrong Jedi arc really does not.

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

Obi-Wan: don't forget she's a politician. They're not to be trusted.

Anakin: She's not like the others in the Senate, Master.

Obi-Wan: It's been my experience that Senators are only focused on pleasing those who fund their campaigns... and they are more than willing to forget the niceties of democracy to get those funds.

Anakin: Not another lecture, Master. Not on the economics of politics.

Anakin: ... and besides, you're generalizing. The Chancellor doesn't appear to be corrupt.

Obi-Wan: Palpatine's a politician. I've observed that he is very clever at following the passions and prejudices of the Senators.

Anakin: I think he is a good man. My instincts are very positive about...

[jarenka]

Here is a plot bunny a was thinking about all day.

Right after Anakin's death, the Force gives him an opportunity to fix everything. Anakin agrees. He has a plan: he will expose Palpatine, take him down, leave the Jedi Order, and then he and Padme will live peacefully on Naboo.

He manages to get only the first part of the plan. Palpatine is exposed as a sith and charged with treason, he tried to run from prison and was killed. But Anakin's relationship with Padme is falling apart. He can't overcome everything that happened last time. He knows that he can harm Padme, and it really disturbs him. It's unknown why Padme died. Maybe she just can't bear force-sensitive children. Anakin can't stop thinking about it. Padme can't convince him that everything will be fine.

Anakin and Padme take a break from their relationship, and now Anakin is very confused. He planned to go away from the Jedi Order. For him, it is very obvious that he can't be the part of Jedi Order anymore. He expects to be expelled from the Order, especially since he was forced to tell Jedi everything that happened in his timeline. Also, he thinks that he will hate to live like a Jedi.

He doesn't realize that his memories of the Jedi Order are completely distorted by Palpatine and his own hateful sith mind. He is surprised at how much he likes to be in the temple and perform regular everyday activities. After years and years of restless hatred, he finally can live peacefully. Only now he starts to realize how fucked up was his life as a sith. He used to see everything exclusively in a bad light, he expected everyone to betray him and was ready to betray everyone himself. Now he is genuinely surprised that people around him, from Padme, Obi-Wan, and Ashoka to Jedi he barely even remembers, are willing to help him.

To his own surprise, Anakin finds his life in the temple more and more pleasing. 

[phoenixkaptain]

Luke and Mara’s relationship is SO FUNNY. Literally everyone else is like: “What are you doing? Why are you concerned? Luke, she threatens to kill you every time you speak with each other, please-“

I love the Luke was so concerned when he sensed that Mara’s ship lost power in the second book. Han describes it as Luke acting like Mara is his best friend rather than the woman who has repeatedly threatened him with murder. And after it’s all over, he does save her! He gets them to pick her up and they take her to Coruscant to heal and none of that would have happened without Luke’s influence.

Luke is so fond of Mara, despite having met her all of three months ago. All of their interactions involve murder threats and dangerous situations, literally none of them have been postive interactions, but Luke is so pleased to see her! Just! All the time!

Luke agrees to break Karrde off of Thrawn’s ship because Mara asks (no further requesting necessary). Luke breaks Mara out of her house arrest on Coruscant because he wants her to go to Wayland with them. Luke defends Mara constantly whenever Han (very reasonably) questions whether or not they should trust her. Han and Mara and Luke himself all ask “What if this ends in Luke’s death?” and Luke’s answer is always “¯\ _(ツ)_/¯ Guess I’ll die then.”

(Luke is basically like “If I die, I die. The Force wills it.” I think he and Qui-Gon were soulmates-)

I like that Luke finds out about Mara’s past in the first book but only ever brings it up in the third. And Han is like “She was the EMPEROR’S HAND, and you didn’t think that was worth mentioning???” and Luke just: “The past is in the past.”

Leia and Mara also have a fun relationship though. Leia speaks to Mara for the first time and Mara, right as Leia is leaving, is like “I’m going to kill your brother. Did he tell you that?” and Leia just: “No, he didn’t mention that. May I ask why?”

Leia consistently is like “Well. Luke trusts this person. I trust her too.” Which is almost exactly like Wedge “Luke vouched for them so I trust them with my life” Antilles.

Leia 🤝 Wedge

“If Luke trusts them, I trust them.”

Leia is always like “I know you’ve said you want to kill my brother. But, from what he’s said, you had a lot of opportunities to kill him. And he’s still alive. Are you sure you want to kill him?”

And Mara is just like: “Shut up.”

Han is the only one who is like “I don’t think we should trust this person who wants to kill Luke” and Luke is always like “Why not?”

But really what gets me is the final scene SPOILERS when Luke gives Mara Anakin’s lightsaber. And I know Mara thinks it’s him not-so-subtly telling her that they can both move on from the past, but all I can see it as is Luke seeing Mara like he saw Anakin. He sees them both enslaved to the Emperor and brainwashed and hurting and he ultimately saves both of them. But, Anakin never got to use his lightsaber again, after he came back to the light. So, giving it to Mara, who was in a very similar situation as Vader was, is such a good way to honour Anakin’s memory and every time I think about it - two people manipulated by Palpatine who find their way back after years and years of abuse, both using the same lightsaber at opposite ends of their life - I kind of want to cry.

And maybe I’m looking too deeply into it, but I love this scene. I love Mara asking why Luke is giving it to her and Luke saying “I want you to have it.” I love Anakin’s lightsaber finally being used in the light again, I love it I love it I love it- I’m crying again

[thisstormbringsstrangeloyalties]

okay so I’m having a lot of feelings about the parallels between Anakin and Bode’s fall to the dark side and I need a place to scream about it so here it is

putting the rest under a cut because I already KNOW I’m about to go off

alright and before I go any further, I want to clarify that I don’t imagine the writers for Survivor sat down and went “hmm what kind of character can we make to rival the tragedy of Anakin? I know! we’ll just make the same character… but different…” I just think that the general path to the Dark Side tends to be similar for a lot of people. there just happens to be a lot of overlap for these two characters specifically. and if the similarities WERE intentional. well. honestly that would be very Star Wars-core of the writers. the overlapping rings and parallels between trilogies has been important to the storytelling of Star Wars from the beginning.

moving right along tho. I think it’s impossible to say when their actual journey to the Dark Side TRULY begins (I imagine Anakin growing up a slave and Bode living through the Purge might have been the whisper of wind that eventually blew over the first domino) but I think it’s safe to say that the Big Moment for Anakin was when his mother died in his arms. and his heart was so filled with grief and anger that he was driven to revenge. not just the men… but the women and children too. we all know the story.

and it’s harder to know for sure with Bode, since we don’t actually see his reaction, but I’d wager losing his wife had a similar effect on him. even Kata herself says that losing her mother changed her father. and we know from the post-game Force echoes that, aside from protecting Kata, Bode’s work for Denvik was also to learn the identity of the Inquisitor who killed his wife. he’s been living with this burning seed of rage in his heart, this desire for vengeance even though revenge is not the Jedi way.

so then you just have these two people, living with the GUILT of not making it in time to save the one they loved. these two people who have been so traumatized by their loss, that the thought of losing anyone else is unbearable. the love that these two hold for those still living that are closest to them— for Anakin it’s Padme, for Bode it’s Kata— is corrupted by fear and turns into attachment. slowly but surely, they are consumed by one impossible goal: protect Padme/Kata AT ALL COSTS.

enter The Cost. at a certain point, Anakin becomes convinced that Palpatine is the only one who can help him save Padme. he’s willing to throw away EVERYTHING ELSE for that one chance. he’s willing to kill younglings, he’s willing to execute the entire Jedi order for it. he’s willing to break Padme’s heart. meanwhile, Bode becomes convinced that Tanalorr is his one salvation for Kata and he’ll do whatever he has to in order to get her there. he’s willing to kill Cordova, he’s willing to lead the entire Hidden Path to their doom for it. he’s willing to trap Kata in a life of isolation— as long as she’s still ALIVE.

and all throughout this, these two have formed this brotherhood with a certain someone. a bond formed through the hell of fighting a seemingly endless war. for Anakin, it’s Obi Wan. for Bode, it’s Cal. it’s so interesting to me to think about the last interaction these two pairs had with each other before Everything Happened. Anakin seeing Obi Wan off before he takes on Grievous. Dooku was already dead. after all this fighting, the war was SO CLOSE to being over. Obi Wan tells Anakin he’s grown to be a greater Jedi than he could ever hope to be. and then contrasting Bode’s last night with Cal. after all this fighting, they’re so close to finally being SAFE. the guilt of what Bode’s about to do weighs so heavily on him, yet Cal can only see a brighter future. he tells Bode that they couldn’t have done it without him. these quiet moments of connection before they lose everything.

then everything just comes to a head when these brother figures finally confront Anakin/Bode. Anakin flies off to a fiery hellscape. Bode flies off to a lush paradise. they both believe they’ve left their brother behind for good. and then Padme unintentionally brings Obi Wan to Anakin. Kata very deliberately takes Cal to Bode. I think it’s at this moment where both Anakin and Bode go from agitated to full on enraged. there’s such a clear moment where the both of them snap and it’s no longer about “protecting” their loved one, it’s about destroying this one person who stands in their way. Anakin Force chokes Padme. Bode lashes out with the Force at Kata TWICE. (At one point, Kata may have even fallen to her death if Merrin hadn’t been there to save her.)

the tragic ending to both Anakin and Bode’s story happens when they lose themselves and fight to kill their brother. the tragic ending to their story happens when they become the very danger they fought so hard to protect their loved one from.

I think there are two main differences between Bode and Anakin’s story. the first is from an audience perspective. I mentioned before that we don’t actually SEE a lot of Bode’s story leading up to his fall. Anakin, however, we see from the very beginning. except we KNOW he’s doomed. we KNOW he’s going to end up as Darth Vader. we just don’t know HOW. and it’s heartbreaking in its own way to see Anakin be so fundamentally GOOD knowing how he’s going to end up. Bode on the other hand…

from the beginning, Bode is just a guy. he’s Cal’s new friend. he’s a great fighter and he immediately fits right in with Cal’s family of strays. you have no idea what’s coming. personally, when I first played, my only suspicion of him was that he was beginning to doubt Cal’s vision of Tanalorr. and I thought maybe he’s right? a running theme of the game is that Cal just doesn’t know how to STOP FIGHTING. perhaps Bode just thinks this supposed safe haven from the Empire isn’t the place to… continue the fight against the Empire. and even after Bode blatantly betrays everyone, the extent of his motivation wasn’t clear to me until the confrontation on Nova Garon. before then, I was doubting everything he’d ever said. did he actually have a daughter named Kata? was his name even really Bode? these kinds of questions never come up in Anakin’s story. we know everything about him and WHY he’s doing it. but I think this unknown factor around Bode is what makes his betrayal just… sting more. it makes US want to shout, “you were Cal’s brother, Bode! he loved you!”

and finally the second difference which is from a narrative perspective. and it’s the fact that, at the very end, Anakin DID return to the light. Bode never got that. and I think it mostly hinged on the fact that people still BELIEVED in the good in Anakin. it was one of Padme’s dying words. there’s still good in him. Luke was ready to DIE for that belief. Luke absolutely REFUSED to give into fear, to strike down the Emperor or his father in anger. at the most critical moment, Luke resisted the Dark Side. he chose love and THAT’s what saved Anakin and brought him back to the light.

for Bode… he didn’t have that. I’m not sure if anyone really believed in him by the end. which is… understandable. as I said earlier, I myself was questioning everything about Bode after his betrayal. I can’t imagine how Cal, who trusted Bode with HIS LIFE, would feel. Merrin herself told Cal it was kill or be killed. Cal even admitted that he has so much hatred for Bode. hell, he even straight up “embraces the darkness” to win his fight against Bode. Cal gave Bode multiple chances to surrender, but his motivation to give those chances were all about Kata. it was all about how Cal and Merrin know what it’s like to lose their whole family and don’t want Kata to go through that. not once does Cal say “I know this isn’t you, Bode. I know there’s still good inside you.”

this isn’t a criticism on Cal, by the way. he’s walked a very different path than Luke. he’s at a very different point in his journey than Luke was when he confronted Vader. Cal was (understandably) in the middle of battling the Dark Side in HIMSELF at the time. he wasn’t in a place where he could pull someone ELSE from that path. and honestly, I think it just makes this story that much more heartbreaking. maybe there WAS a chance for Bode, but the stars just, very tragically, weren’t aligned for him.

I don’t really have a conclusion for all these thoughts, just that it’s so fascinating that their stories are so similar despite such different circumstances. it’s so fascinating that they still somehow ended the same yet so differently. I’m really going to be thinking about Bode’s story for a long time. I haven’t felt this way about a character’s arc in… awhile. it’s such peak Star Wars to me, to be honest, and it’s really disappointing knowing that the audience for this story is limited to just gamers and people who enjoy watching gaming videos. it really deserves the attention of a mainstream movie, in my opinion.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Th CodyWan Obsession

This one is about how CodyWan, the obsession, could be used to fix the universe. 

It actually starts before Cody becomes Obi Wan’s commander. The 212th, with Alpha-17 as the commander, went to Kamino. This is still very early in the war, where Anakin is still a Padawan. Through some random set of events Anakin meets Cody, who is an ARC trainer, while touring the facility with Alpha (Obi Wan has some meeting or another and is not able to go with them). This conversation lasts all of 45 seconds before Anakin somehow divines or decides that Cody would be perfect for Obi Wan. 

Thus an obsession is born. 

Now Anakin has next to no subtly, but even he knows this obsession must be kept quiet at first. Because he believes he knows that, while Anakin is more than willing to break The Code to be with Padme, Obi Wan would not. So before Anakin starts matchmaking he wants a loophole in place.  His Master loves loopholes. 

So, on Anakin’s next leave he dives into the parts of the code that deal with attachment. His obsession is such that he even blows off Chancellor (He does at least call Padme, but spends no time with his new wife). Because he is looking for loopholes and different interpretations, h does not just dig into the actual wording of the Code (though he does that as well, and is surprised to learn that the interpretation he thought he knew- which he does realize later came exclusively from Palpatine- is wrong) but also into transcripts of the council meetings where that wording was was decided, an every meeting where it was rehashed. 

Madam Nu assumes, as most people do, that this had something to do with his infatuation with Padme Amidala.  She encouraged what he was learning, in hopes that it gave him a good direction. 

Anakin learns a lot during this deep dive into Archives. He learns that it is not so much the marriage that is against the code, but vowing to put one being over the rest of the galaxy (he also realizes that the vows he took with Padme did not break the Code). He learns the reasons why the Jedi caution against romantic relationships (all of which are very good reasons), and the variety of ways that the Jedi had mitigated the dangers and been in a successful, healthy romantic relationship, of which he made a mental note to bring up with Padme so they do not fall into some of the same traps noted (of which Falling and killing everyone you loved is one of many bad reactions). He also learns a great deal about the Jedi Order as a whole, and dispels most, but not all, of the incorrect views he had of the Jedi Order (the views that Palpatine so carefully shaped for Anakin)

So Anakin, now armed with all the arguments for why Obi Wan should date Cody, finds his first of many obstacles. Obi Wan has no idea who Cody is.  Anakin had not been paying attention to Cody’s ID number, nor did he catch that Cody was an ARC trainer, so has no idea how to find Cody. 

He is not able to find out who Cody is before Cody becomes Obi Wan’s commander, which makes him both feel guilty (for the torture Obi Wan and Alpha-17 underwent) and vindicated (because clearly the Force agreed with him about CodyWan).  Anakin then dedicates himself to being a matchmaker. He is not good at it. 

Neither Obi Wan nor Cody ever figure out what he is doing. This is not due to any subtlety on Anakin’s part, this is because none of his efforts to match-make looks anything like traditional matchmaking.  And while no one actually tells Obi Wan or Cody, everyone else in Anakin’s vicinity finds out within 15 minutes of his obsession with getting CodyWan together. 

Every conversation Anakin has with Palpatine after Cody becomes Obi Wan’s commander devolves into the wonders of CodyWan. For most of it Palpatine has no idea that Cody is a clone (as he does not know the Clone names, only their numbers).  Palpatine is split between wanting to help get CodyWan together (because Anakin is really compelling) and wanting to kill them both extra hard (because they had inadvertently derailed, and continue to derail, his corruption of Anakin). 

And Anakin’s corruption has been entirely derailed.   His research has given him a better view of the Jedi Order as a whole, and every attempt to besmirch the Jedi to him is met with actual concrete knowledge that the negative take is wrong.  He has gone through all the requirements for listing his relationship and marriage to Padme, so when she does get pregnant they are able to go to the Temple healers, thus no need to be worried about her safety.  Even the war is not pressing on his sanity in the right ways since about 40% of his brain is consumed with CodyWan at all times. 

Padme, who is a romantic in her own right (and just as bad a matchmaking), also falls into the CodyWan obsession. She is aware that Cody is Obi Wan’s clone commander, so much of her focus is getting the Clone’s rights and ending the war so that the two can be free to be together. Her former handmaidens are watching this all with awe, horror, and amusement.  

I know that CodyWan ends up together in this one. I feel like QueerPlatonic is right for them.  I also like the idea that they get together in spite of Anakin’s and Padme’s matchmaking efforts instead of because of it. 

Palpatine gets found out, by being a bit too heavy handed with Anakin, who has since stopped being corrupted by anything more subtle and is very oblivious. Somehow during this fight Palpatine finds out that Cody is the clone commander with the Jedi (which ironically makes him forget to activate Order 66) and announces Anakin’s wish for CodyWan to have a romantic relationship.    

This is news to both Cody and Obi Wan. This is not news to literally everyone else.  After Palpatine is defeated (not killed, in this one they manage to lock him up. The fight damages his vocal chords so he is not able to activate the chips) several bets were settled about CodyWan. Palpatine himself even managed to win some bets with several senators (there is some debate as to if they should be forced to pay out, and how, since Palpatine would be in a Force blocking cage for the rest of his life).

[tenderjock]

things i feel strongly about re: au where leia and luke were raised in the temple (o66 averted)

the tusken genocide was discovered. this led to a series of events where anakin's marriage to padme & palpatine being a sith was also discovered. the upshot was that palps was executed by the corrie guard (riots broke out on coruscant), padme was stripped of her political seat & anakin had his lightsaber taken and had to spend a few years in jedi prison. obi-wan ugly cried about all of it for twenty-two minutes into cody's shoulder, then ruthlessly compartmentalized. some say he hasn't shed a tear since.

leia and luke are raised in the jedi temple.

luke becomes yoda's padawan. i'm very firmly convinced of this.

for leia ... its a little more complicated. everyone expects her to drag obi-wan out of his self-imposed retirement to be his padawan and even he wouldnt really mind that, altho he always says that he doesnt think that is as the force wills it.

(she adores obi-wan, of course. and for a while she does daydream of having him as her master. but she can feel the mix of guiltgrieflongingshame that accompanies the lovejoywarmth whenever he so much as looks at the twins, and she cant imagine having to train with someone who looks at her and always sees his mistakes.)

enter quinlan.

listen, i just really want shadow!leia. as a little treat

[gffa]

One of the best tings Andor shows is a theme I noticed on a recent rewatch of The Clone Wars, interestingly enough coming to my notice especially through the Onderon arc:  The people of the galaxy cannot stay asleep on a war that is about their very lives. In the Onderon arc, the Separatists have legally taken over Onderon, deposing the original king and putting their puppet in his place.  There is a rebellion brewing on the planet, lead by Steela Gerrera, Saw Gerrera’s sister.  A major theme woven into the episode is that they cannot win back their freedom, they cannot defeat the Separatist occupation, without the will of the people being on their side. Steela says it more than once, they need the will of the people. It’s woven into other moments in the story, like when Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka are on Felucia and Sugi tries to say the Jedi are at fault for not keeping the peace, Obi-Wan points out that the rift in the galaxy is not their fault, if the people of the galaxy actually stood up for themselves, this fight would have been over long ago. And that’s what Andor is following up on and really hitting home--yes, Luke Skywalker is going to join the Rebellion and ultimately save the day, but the big point of Rogue One and now of Andor, is that the galaxy cannot be saved through the Jedi alone, they never have been.  That’s what the real shitshow of the Clone Wars was, that the galaxy sat around with their thumbs up their asses and waited for others to save them. Now?  Everything in Andor is about everyday citizens realizing they have to stand up.  Sure, Luke Skywalker is going to battle the Emperor, sure, it’ll be Darth Vader who yeets Palpatine down the reactor shaft.  But it is Cassian Andor who delivered those plans to the Rebellion.  It’s every pilot who flew an X-Wing.  It’s every Senator who risked their life to throw their weight into rebelling against fascism. It’s about how the will of the people has to be there and that every day citizens have to stand up and fight the fascist regime, that’s why so much of the show has to be set on Ferrix.  It could have been any planet--it is any number of worlds, the more the Empire tightens their grip, the more worlds slip through their fingers--but showing us Ferrix being choked by the Empire and the people standing up to fight alongside the Big Damn Heroes of the story, that is what it takes to achieve revolution. It can’t be down to just the Jedi to save the galaxy, there’s never enough of them, they can fight and die and give everything of themselves and it will never be enough because they’re only one in six billion of the galaxy. You need the will of the everyday people. You need everyday people to be willing to say, “Fight the Empire!” You need everyday people to be willing to pick up a brick and hit a fascist oppressor in the face. Andor is the story of how the people of the galaxy are finally waking up and realizing they need to be the ones to stand up, too.  You cannot defeat oppression without the will of the people and the willingness of those people to stand up.

[pumpkinrootbeer]

All of Revenge of the Sith, summarized:

Obi-Wan: I love and trust you, Anakin.

Anakin: No <3

Mace: Obi-Wan trusts you, Anakin.

Anakin: Opinion discared because Ive classified you as against me. Please forward my previous email to Yoda and get back to me about that council seat at your earliest possible convenience.

Yoda: mmm be a master, you will never be mmmm. melt steal beams, jet fuel cannot. mmmm. ignore that second thing I said, obi-wan cares very deeply abt you and are you still available tuesday at 6 for your next therapy session?

Anakin: Read✓ at 19:01

Padme: Obi-Wan loves and trusts you, Anakin. Just like I do.

Anakin: Not very gamer of you to not inherently validate my internal belief system :/

Palpatine: Obi-Wan hates ur loser ass lol. not like me tho I'm cool and always validate your internal beliefs (normal)

Anakin: I always knew he hated me, you're the only one willing to tell me the truth. thank God I never have to reevaluate my beliefs with you and don't have take any uncomfortable looks at my wants and desires. phew almost had to do some personal growth and acknowledge some things about myself thank God i avoided that