#and yeah they’re not anakin but her leaving anakin in canon was like her believing she needed to do something for herself

[tennessoui]

Time and Tide is about to be even sadder now with Ahsoka being abandoned and unloved😔 I don’t know if I have the mental strength to read this (but I totally will)

omg “””abandoned and unloved”””” ‘s a bit harsh isn’t it 😭😭 she still got obi-wan💀

[nibeul]

What always really confused me about the Clones status as war slaves is that it never seems to upset Anakin, a former slave. Like, in "The Hidden Enemy" Anakin gets an expression when Slick points out he and his brothers are all slaves that seems to indicate he realizes this and that it makes him uncomfortable... and then it's never brought up again as far as I remember. Like, they really could have used the status of the clones as slaves, as well as the Jedi's complacency to the slave trade on Tatooine as reasons to his fall, but neither are ever really brought up. Also, is it ever established what happened to the clones in general after Order 66? I know they were used as the first generation of Storm Troopers but what happened after they were retired? There were thousands of them, where did they go?

oh I've thought about this so many times and it never fails to bug me. my guess is it comes from the fact that Lucas literally did not think about the implications of the Clone Army when creating them in ROTS, but it's still an issue and one that... doesn't really have an explanation. Not to mention, the Jedi as a whole were supposed to be super anti-slavery (which we know they weren't since they let prominent groups like the Hutts get away with it/were willing to compromise with said groups and also, ya know, Qui Gon literally telling an enslaved Anakin that they weren't gonna save him or his mom...), so even accepting their role in the GAR goes against what they say they stand for.

Generally, I think there were three main plausible responses to the Clone Army from the Jedi (for those who actually acknowledged that the clones were enslaved anyway):

Viewing it as a "necessary evil" and were willing to fill their role in the hierarchy. By reasoning with themselves that it was for a greater purpose, they're basically absolving themselves of guilt/responsibility. This also goes into the "well if I don't do it then someone else will" mentality where they see it as a must. -> We can also talk about the concept of "acceptable slavery" here and how we perceive Jedi who "treated the clones nicely" vs someone like Krell who saw them as expendable and sub-human

Completely distancing themselves from the source (while actively criticizing from afar, in some cases). They might acknowledge that the clones are enslaved but refuse to actually do anything about it and instead remove themselves from the war effort entirely. They see it as something that's bad, but not something they should do anything about either. If they avoid being put into roles like "General", they avoid feeling responsible. They still remain a Jedi but have completely avoided aiding the war effort in its entirety while also remaining silent about the clones themselves with the occasional sympathetic comment.

Leaving the Order. This one can kinda go with the above I guess, though I'm sure there were Jedi who saw what was going on and outright refused to be part of an institution that was actively participating in the enslavement of the clones. I'm sure there were former Jedi (and maybe even active Jedi) who helped clones desert, though we haven't seen any in canon, so I guess it's up to the fans to have that (without the white savior vibes please :|).

I think it's also important to talk about "well, who's guilty then?" because in the broad sense, the entirety of the Order is responsible, but then it varies at an individual level. Like let's look at Plo Koon who's canonly very forgiving but draws the line at slavers and actively tries to kill them on sight multiple times in the comics. I enjoy Plo Koon as a character; I like doodling him, I like reading fics with him, but he's also a High Council Member and upholds the system which keeps the clones enslaved. His character arguably contradicts itself, but because he is portrayed as nice and caring, the argument against him is "lessened"/he is not held to the same level of accountability someone like Krell is. We excuse him—and other Jedi—from the fact that he is helping to lead an army of enslaved men because he is nice.

In Anakin's case, part of me wonders if he doesn't really think of the clones as enslaved because the clones are not enslaved in the same way that Anakin was enslaved. He has a set idea of what slavery is based on his own circumstances and the way that the clones are enslaved doesn't seem to fit the bill so he doesn't really register it. Being confronted with the fact that his childhood might not be so different from what the clones are currently going through made him uncomfortable, and as such, he pushed the thought away/decided against addressing it. That's more so an in-universe explanation since I already mentioned why the story's probably set up this way but yeah. Idk how much I want to get into that, so I'll leave it at there for now.

For what happened to the clones after Order 66, they fought for the newly established Empire and continued to be produced until the Kamino Uprising (which I think was like... 16-12BBY, somewhere in between that??). Palpatine pretty quickly started integrating natborns into the Empire's military wing though the clones still made up the bulk of it for a while since the Empire needs more than one or two years to make a complete shift. Most of the clones died before they could ever retire from old age, I believe the last active clones were Vader's fist (the 501st) and the majority of that battalion was wiped out during the Battle of Hoth. Bottomline, they deserved better than what they got.

I'm 90% sure clonehub's talked about this, so I recommend checking out her blog.

[padawanlost]

Why do people seem to hate Dave Filoni all of a sudden? I mean I'll confess I don't really like the way some characters were changed in the The Clone Wars series, but Filoni and Lucas did do a LOT of things right in that series. Its actually really deep and explores some very important moral and social issues like the impact of war especially on young people. Is it because Filoni has been critical of the Jedi at times? Honestly, I don't see anything inflamatory in what he says, and I don't think he's just randomly pulling stuff out of the air. Some of what he says is supported in old canon materials. The Jedi aren't perfect, I fail to see why legitimate criticism is such a big deal.

Before anything else, this ask was sent before the bad batch premiered so I won’t get into *that* right now.

That being said, this fandom has had a very interesting love-hate relationship with Filoni, so allow me to provide some context before we get into the heart of the issue.

Before The Clone Wars (2008) premiered the anti-prequel movement was still strong. A lot of people still accused George Lucas for ‘ruining’ star wars forever, so when the show premiered filled with action scenes, jedi, sith, badass moments and humor, Filoni was hailed as the savior of the franchise. Finally someone who understood what star wars was *really* about had come and saved us all from the prequels boring issues.

 That mentality last for quite some time. sure, there were voices of dissent but the general vibe was that Filoni had truly fixed star wars and the prequels. It was very similar from what happened to Game of Thrones. When the show premiered HBO and D&D were hailed as these god-like superwriters who could do no wrong. As the show progressed fans started noticing the cracks but most people still believed the show and its creators above criticism. only now that some time has passed that people are becoming more objective about the content and realizing the signs that something was off were always there. Of course, Filoni didn’t have a fiasco similar to Got’s Season 7 and 8 but the long waiting period between TCW’s season 6 and 7 gave people a lot of time to think objectively about the show, which made them realizing Filoni was, after all, just a man. And TCW was not an ‘alternative’ to the prequels, it was just an extension of it.

The themes people hated in the prequels were deeply imbued into the clone wars because a show about war must be, by definition, a show about politics. Whether people are ready to admit it or not, star wars was always about politics. I mean, the OT was about reestablishing a democratic government. It doesn’t get more political than that lol

And we can speak of PT-politics without talking of the Jedi Order. And here lies the core of the issue: people’s sudden realization of this truth. Somehow, for a very long time, some fans didn’t realize the clone wars  (and sw in general) was all about poltical (anti-war) allegories.  

Here’s a Filoni interview from 2013 that discusses the fandom reaction to the jedi:

StarWars.com: I was at the Lucasfilm fan screening of the finale, and I was keeping an ear on the crowd’s reaction to certain scenes. I was kind of surprised at the reaction when Ahsoka doesn’t take her Padawan braid back. Dave Filoni: Right. StarWars.com: Because people gasped at first, and then a lot of people started cheering. Dave Filoni: Yeah! Fantastic, huh? StarWars.com: What did you make of that? Dave Filoni: I was really, really surprised by that. Really surprised. I didn’t think people would be against it. But I certainly didn’t think that people would applaud it, necessarily. I think that there’s a certain element there… I mean, we weren’t trying to paint the Jedi in a bad light, but certainly you understand her reasons for wanting to leave. We’ve kind of taken a generation of Star Wars fans and really made them reassess that whole time period to the point where at the end of it, they’re on the side of this young girl who’s like, “Yeah, this isn’t gonna work for me.” And I think people feel that right now. They are often in a situation that they’d rather not be in and they wish they could just walk away, and maybe she embodies that. Maybe there’s something going on there that we’re not aware of. But I don’t know, I was pretty fascinated by that. It was a pretty surprising reaction. George and I went over those final scenes quite a bit. One of the big things was, the whole scene with the Council at the end used to take place outside where Anakin and Ahsoka talk. And it was definitely George, when we watched the first cut of it, who said, “I want to split this so that it’s half-inside, half-outside. And the outside is just Anakin and Ahsoka.” It was very important to him to separate the two of them out and just have this conversation between them. He wanted kids to know that she didn’t blame Anakin for it and that she wasn’t upset with Anakin. And I thought it was a great call. When I re-shot the scene it was pretty phenomenal. There was a debate about Ahsoka at the end, and her just going back to the Jedi at the end of it, and that was the initial impulse. But I kind of argued, “Well, wait. We have an opportunity here with her out to change her story dramatically.” And I’m always looking for those opportunities, because you’re not sure when they’re gonna come, to just grab something and change it dramatically for her. I thought, to do that whole storyline and then have her come back would almost be expected, so why not challenge that.[x]

Unlike what the narrative sold on tumblr says, Filoni and George talked about what was going on in the show (he was reason for Maul and Mandalore, two fan favorites, being on the show). But because accepting Filoni knew what he was doing means accepting George also knew what he was doing when drawing political and social parallels between real life and star wars, it’s much easier to just hate on Filoni and/or George (depending on what they are saying).

It’s kind of like selective hate. When Anakin is being abusive or when Padmé is being assaulted Filoni is a fucking mastermind. But when he’s criticizing the Jedi Order he’s a dumbass who doesn’t know shit about star wars. Or at least don’t know as much as people who have never talked to George Lucas, talked to anyone linked to star wars or has explored the full contents of the star wars lore know.

Look, I’m not defending Filoni here. He’s made plenty of decisions I don’t agree with it, but I find quite surprising how people can’t be rational about it. or, at the very least, be critical of the things that truly matter and have an affect on people in real life like racism, sexism and abuse. Idk, I just find interesting how the fans hating on him for being slightly ‘critical’ of the jedi Order seem to have no problem with the racism, whitewashing and sexism in the show. It really shows what people’s priorities are.

[growup-thatbeautiful]

sad but not alone

Ahsoka and Rex post-order 66 fic

Word Count: 1,382

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, death, angst

Please let me know if you want to be on a tag list!

This is for @radbatch !! Happiest of birthdays! (Ik i’m late, but i wanted to do a little more) Share the Ahsoka love a little :))

Ahsoka doesn’t ask for help when she needs it. That’s something Rex has known for a very long time. It’s something all of the Jedi share, he’s learned. Cody has come to him countless times, complaining about General Kenobi’s recklessness and sleeplessness. Now is one of those times that Ahsoka isn’t asking for help.

It’s not like Rex is in some mentally stable place either, though. He’s probably one of the least qualified people to give advice in the face of an intergalactic crisis. Force, he just lost all of his brothers in a matter of hours. For the first time, he’s truly alone. No, he reminds himself, Ahsoka’s still here. Ahsoka, who’s so young and has had so much pain bestowed upon her, who treated every single man under her like a person, not a clone, who used to laugh with General Skywalker to distract the rest of them from death.

If he’s lost all his brothers today, she’s lost everyone slowly over time, taking the blows she’s been dealt standing tall. He doesn’t know what’s running through her head right now, but whatever it is he wants to be there with her for it. She’s the only person he’s really seen grow up, and he would be lying if he said he isn’t impressed with the fighter she’s become. But the Jedi aren’t supposed to be fighters, they’re supposed to protect peace. Peace, an idea he’s not even sure he could recognize.

If there’s one thing the 501st taught him, it’s that having someone to be sad with is better than having no one to be sad with.

Fives had been big on that. When they lost Echo, they had spent countless hours together, sitting in the silence of hyperspace. Rex would open his mouth to say something, maybe try and help Fives get through the loss, but he genuinely had nothing to say then. He still doesn’t have anything to say, but he still talks to Fives all the time. Ahsoka says that it’s healthy and that he could be out there listening. Rex doesn’t know if he believes her, but it’s a nice thought.

They walked away from the grave together, leaving a trail of footprints in the snow that they didn’t try at all to cover up. No one was supposed to survive that crash. That alone had given them the time they needed to build the grave in the first place.

It had been Ahsoka’s idea. The duty of burying the dead usually fell to clones below Rex, but he tried to be there most of the time to say goodbye. It’s always a sad occasion, of course it is. Saying goodbye to someone you’ve fought beside is never easy. Today was different. They didn’t lose in a hard-fought battle. Those men didn’t die protecting the Republic, they died with weapons pointed at their beloved Commander.

Ahsoka didn’t take the job lightly. Each body she found in various levels of destruction she treated tenderly, rearranging cold, dead limbs into peaceful, sleeping positions. Wiping the blood away, really just smearing it around. It breaks Rex’s heart how familiar she is with these motions. He’s no stranger to them either, and he would never make Ahsoka do it alone. For each of the brothers that he finds, the names fall off his lips like the meditative prayers of Kenobi. There’s so many of them. If it was ever eerie to see something so close to his own face staring back up at him, dead, that’s worn off. Years of this have made sure of it.

“Rex.” It’s one of the first things Ahsoka’s said since the crash. He follows her haunted voice, stopping when he sees why she called out.

Jesse. His helmet is cracked, a canyon through the Republic’s crest and Ahsoka’s paint, splitting it down the middle. His body is wrapped around himself, curled up like a child, like he was hiding from the screams and chaos. The armour on his chest is stained red, and his neck is bent at a broken angle. It brings Rex to his knees, hitting the floor hard. He doesn’t notice the impact, too preoccupied with the blinding and overwhelming pain from inside and the feel of tears streaming down his cheeks.

Ahsoka is on her knees beside him, a comforting hand on his back where he’s doubled over, making these terrible hitching noises in the back of his throat. He knows that whatever he’s feeling Ahsoka can feel too, and he doesn’t want to be the one to hurt her even more, but he can’t help it. The waves of tears keep coming until there aren’t any more, and he’s left with scratchy eyes and red cheeks. Through it all, Ahsoka stayed by his side. He looks up at her to see his tears mirrored on her face, quiet and impassive. One of her hands is facing palm up, resting on her knees, and she’s whispering soothing words for Jesse. Or Rex. Or both.

They help each other to their feet, ignoring the battle pains. The helmets are set up on pikes, the most they can do. Ahsoka leaves her lightsabers in the snow with the dead. Rex doesn’t have the energy to think about that significance.

They build a camp in a cave a little ways away, figuring that it’s better to be safe and wait it out a few days in case anyone comes looking. Rex doesn’t actually think that anyone will, and he’s pretty sure Ahsoka doesn’t either. But this isn’t a battle that they can recover from easily. No, they have to take a second to regroup.

Ahsoka starts a fire and Rex grabs some ration bars that he grabbed from the wreck. They sit side by side, shoulders pressed together tightly, reassuring each other that someone is there.

To his surprise, she opens up before he can ask her. It saves him the trouble of figuring out what to say. “I can’t feel anything. I’ve always had the force beside me, inside me, and now it’s out of balance. It’s like there’s this gaping darkness that was never there before, and I don’t know why. I don’t know if-“ her voice breaks here, and she covers her mouth, hiding a sob.

Predictably, she pushes through. “I don’t know if I made this happen. What if it’s my fault? It’s never felt this…wrong, and, stars, I can’t feel Anakin. It’s not the same as when I left the Order. Then it was distant, but he was still there with me. Now that part of me feels broken and painful. I think he’s gone.” A quiet confession by the fire, her face lit in shadows. It doesn’t surprise Rex as much as it should, but he knows the Padawan-Master bond is strong. If she says it, it’s true.

“I’m scared. Rex, I don’t want to be alone.” He knows this takes a lot for her to admit this. She’s usually the epitome of strength, never letting her guard down in front of the people counting on her. It’s a habit that she most likely picked up from Obi-Wan. Force knows it’s not Skywalker’s style. He can’t just leave that hanging, though.

“Hey, kid, it’s alright. You’ve been lost before, yeah? You’re gonna find your way again. Everything’s going to work out.” The last sentence falls flat. He’s not even fooling himself. “And maybe things won’t be okay, but we’re still us, right? I’ve still got my Commander with me, and you’ve still got your Captain. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”

“Look, I can’t pretend to understand the force, but I know that, so far, it hasn’t led you wrong. Things are changing in the galaxy, and we can’t control that, so we might as well be along for the ride. I know you, Commander, and you’re not going to let this change you. Sure, you’re gonna grow with it, but you’ll always have what he taught you. What they all taught you. What I taught you.”

“So, trust in the force.” It’s something he’s heard General Kenobi say a million times to his Padawan and Grandpadawan. “Let it guide you. I’ll be right there with you.”

“Thank you, Rex.”

“Of course, Commander.”

[d3sertdream3r]

Final Thoughts on Mons(TROS)ity

I’m not even just upset that Ben died. That’s the rotten cherry on top of how every single character in the entire Skywalker Saga was fucked up in this film.

As much as I love Rey, the fight against Palpatine was most certainly Ben’s. This man has been mentally torturing him and manipulating him since he was in the fucking womb. He poisoned his relationships with his family. He convinced him that he had to kill his own father in order to ever be or mean anything. Yet he gets yeeted off a cliff in the final fucking battle. He doesn’t get revenge for all that’s been done to him and the past two generations of his family before him. Not to mention he only holds the legacy saber for all of 3 minutes at most. He doesn’t even set foot on the Millennium Falcon or talk to Uncle Lando and Uncle Chewie. He doesn’t get to hear the real voice of his hero/grandfather. He’s a mentally ill abuse victim that ended up killing himself. That leaves a really shitty taste in my mouth despite the fact that he did it for the girl he loves.

Am I really supposed to believe that Rey being sold into slavery to an extremely abusive guy on a desert wasteland is a good thing??? And what about the message that she made herself who she is and the Force chose her to be powerful because she is strong and compassionate despite how terribly she’s been treated her whole life? That she didn’t get her power from a legacy bloodline, but from herself?? Nope. She’s powerful because she is a Palpatine. And despite surviving in the desert all her life so that she could someday have a family, she ends up all alone in a different desert. Exactly where she began, but now she has trauma and the loss of her soulmate to deal with. Fuck everything.

Why didn’t Leia train Ben herself if Luke had trained her? She gave her son away when he was a kid because she just didn’t have time to deal with her only child while he was struggling with depression and anxiety? His powers reacting to his inner turmoil was just too inconvenient to her career?? Yeah, sure, totally sounds like Leia Skywalker Organa Solo to me.

Finn being a former stormtrooper that’s defected to the resistance is more of an after thought than a real plot line?? This is something we’ve never seen before. We’ve seen desert kids become powerful Jedi. We’ve seen powerful Jedi fall to the dark side and “redeem themselves” through death. We’ve seen Palpatine be defeated and killed before. Finn’s story was fresh and interesting and in the end all he does is make eyes at Rey and provide occasional comic relief.

What the hell is the point of Poe’s story? He doesn’t really have one. He was supposed to die in the first film and it shows because he hasn’t served much purpose at all since the first 10 minutes of TFA besides being attractive and acting like an ass most of the time. So inspiring.

Rose barely exists in this movie. She’s more of a cameo than anything. Her beautifully heartbreaking story about her sister, her kindness in the face of evil and destruction, her strong will and determination to do the right thing, her passion for justice, and her inspiration to a whole new generation of rebels and Jedi are all thrown out the window.

Luke, Han, and Leia all died so that Ben could live and finally feel light and happiness in his life. Well that didn’t work. He died. And why would Rey take the name Skywalker instead of Solo? She was in love with Ben Solo, her personal hero is Han Solo, and her real Jedi master was Leia Organa Solo. The Millennium Falcon is her ship and her best friend is Chewie. But she goes with fucking Skywalker?? Ok.

All the Jedi rushed to the aid of Rey in her moment of need but not a single one of them could be bothered to ever help Ben throughout his entire life despite being the grandson of the Chosen One. No one ever raised so much as a finger when he needed help, not even his grandfather that he loved and admired deeply to the point of following him down the path of his mistakes.

Anakin couldn’t talk to him and convince him to stay good or return to the light, but he gives his power to Rey and tells her to Rise?? A girl he doesn’t know at all??? Obi Wan “BEN” Kenobi couldn’t help and teach the child named after him?? A name that is synonymous with HOPE in SW. What a joke.

The Chosen One means nothing. The Skywalker bloodline means absolutely fucking nothing even though this entire universe was built around them. They aren’t the Balancers of the Force. They aren’t super powerful Force demigods despite having the Force literally woven into their DNA because of how Anakin was born, not just in midi-chlorian form. They’re all dead. The “Rise of Skywalker” indeed. Cruel irony at its finest.

In conclusion, this is how I feel about the movie. Take it away George:

JJ singlehandedly ruined an entire lifetime of lore and storytelling for who the fuck knows or cares why. Rian is the one who truly respected SW and handled the lore beautifully while also introducing new concepts to the franchise.

I will always love Reylo, Star Wars, and the Skywalkers. I hope they get Ben back in canon books or something, but I’ll always be bitter about the awful way every single fucking character in the Skywalker Saga has been so completely disrespected.

This fandom is wonderful and very inspiring and I can’t wait to see what gorgeous art and fanfics y’all come up with. I’m truly so grateful to be part of something so much bigger than myself; something JJ Abrams will never understand.

[softieskywalker]

some people asked for more (ehem @tomicaleto) so here are some bullet points for the au that’s basically an excuse to put the twins and ezra in a clone wars setting. i’m calling it Sunrise AU: 

- palpatine is smarter about his scheme and he never reveals he’s a sith. he continues to manipulate anakin and padme and they unknowingly help him rise to more power until he’s voted emperor. 

- order 66 doesn’t happen. palpatine uses anakin’s place in the council to influence the jedi. also the jedi are not that involved in politics so they’re like “well i guess we serve the empire now” because the empire it’s not 100% transparent with fascism like in canon.

- the clones are still around and they keep making more. also clone and jedi culture get mixed up as the years pass. the concept of lineages ends up including clones as “clans” or something of that sort. 

- ok the interesting part: luke leia and ezra grow up as jedi in the temple. the three of them are really close friends. leia is usually the mastermind of their antics, ezra the executor and luke the angelic face that gets them out of trouble. even if he was 100% on it. 

- mace windu is ezra’s master, ahsoka (yeah she’s back) is luke’s, and plo koon is leia’s. ezra has a close relationship with caleb dume because they’re close in age and from the same lineage. luke is in a constant battle with anakin (who’s a lot more involved in the military) and looks up more to obi wan, who is more focused on scholar jedi studies. he’s also yoda’s favorite from the disaster lineage. leia is a lot more combat focused and she gets in constant arguments with padmé about the empire’s military policies. 

(more under the cut)

- luke, leia and ezra have a “someone is always a third wheel” dynamic. luke and leia have an incredibly strong bond, so much that as children they didn’t separate themselves as two individuals in the Force. they understand each other a little too much. luke and ezra are boys™ and they have very compatible personalities. they had a small rivalry when they were around 13 but grew out of it and became best friends. they spent most of the time together and sometimes leave leia out because eww girls. leia and ezra speak the same language. they’re both firing passion and natural leaders. they both love luke a little too much to be normal for a jedi. 

- luke is the first one to become a knight at 21, with yoda overseeing his trials, around the same time the galactic civil war starts to become a big issue. he and ahsoka, along with mace and ezra get sent on missions together a lot, until a year later ezra saves everyone from a mine explosion and gets knighted at 22. 

- leia is low key jealous because she grew up being the best at everything (and also her parents didn’t exactly suppress her huge ego) but master plo doesn’t think she’s ready for the trials. she’s too angry, too full of pride. they also take a lot of diplomatic missions so she can’t have a huge heroic moment that earns her knighthood like ezra. and leia is furious at the council’s blatant favoritism for luke. she thinks they like him because he has all the power anakin and her have, but he’s docile and doesn’t argue with them. luke is very offended by this, and thinks she’s just jealous. but leia does have a point, that luke doesn’t question the council when he should. 

-  anakin is very high on the military -he has basically the same power vader has in canon but only in the navy. so leia convinces him to take her on missions with him, and they discover she has the ability of battle meditation. suddenly she’s crucial to the victory of many key battles and by the end of the year she’s knighted -and is given the title of general. because there’s been so many years for the military to grow and organize, other jedi knights like luke and ezra only got commander. padawans didn’t get military rank, and only senior padawans went to battle with their masters. only masters got general or more, which is huge for leia. 

- padmé is not happy about this. she tries to convince leia to step down, that she’s too young to be in such a position, but leia argues she’s in the exact same position anakin was when they were born. they argue for weeks until padmé is killed in the middle of diplomatic discussions with the rebellion. this causes a chain reaction where anakin is pretty much vaderkin, wanting to get revenge. luke closes himself off emotionally and is basically a robot jedi for a while. leia resents both of them, and only has ezra as emotional support. she’s convinced it was an inside job, and gets to the bottom of the conspiracy until she discovers palpatine ordered the strike against padmé and the other senators. she keeps digging and discovering corruption and terrorism from the empire.

- she confronts anakin with this information, and he doesn’t believe her. she tells luke and ezra, and while ezra believes her, luke is skeptical, and she goes nuts. she ends up leaving the order and joining the rebellion against palpatine. she believes the jedi became cops and they’re basically aiding a fascist system. 

- luke is under a LOT of pressure from the council because leia left and now that she’s on the opposite side the rebels actually have a chance, because her battle meditation is making them lose battle after battle against her. she has him blocked from their bond. ezra is growing skeptical of the empire as well and after a battle where he’s ordered to basically bombard civilians he ends up defecting too. 

that’s pretty much all i have for now, idk if i’ll ever write this thing but i have a couple of concept art and sketches drawn if anyone is interested lol

[crispyjenkins]

I dare you to write an Ani5 fix-it fic. I will not be taking criticism and will die on the hill that this is the most powerful ship and could’ve saved the entire clone wars. Bonus points if it features the ship Mace Windu/headaches (bc anakin is a walking mess of shatterpoints and lives to annoy Mace). Codywan to help knock some sense into anakin would also be top tier. I LOVE YOU ZEPH’BUIR

(of course i can’t do a whole fix-it in a quick prompt answer, but i think i’ve set it up for a far happier ending than in canon! support communication and education in relationships (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) and also adhd clones.

fives might be the most i’ve ever struggled with a character (‘cept maybe ahsoka....) so it took a little while to figure out how to write this scene in a way i liked. also, had to go and watch fives clips to try and get my autism brain working, and BOY HOWDY do i actually hate dbb’s take on the clones, especially the accent but everything else too. their character designs make me want to cry. so i’m begging, for me, to imagine this fives like this especially because then we get Tol Anakin and a Smol Clone BF and i think that is a seriously underutilised dynamic.

thank you for the prompt, ad, and for cursing me with this ship in the first place. someday i’ll get around to actually writing them as the battle husbands they are 🧡)

Alt+R to quick reblog on desktop, Hold the reblog symbol to quick reblog on mobile

  Echo's always been good with programming, but Fives is better with the actual building. He's not any good with inventing, maybe, but putting things together? Opening them up and knowing immediately what's wrong? Fives would even say he enjoys it — and being able to talk shop with Skywalker like they're nobody mechanics from the Outer Rim instead of General and Soldier makes the long hyperjumps between missions actually bearable. 

  How that led to him sitting in a rarely used hallway on the Resolute with Skywalker ("Anakin," he keeps insisting with a smile), both leant over a mouse droid in pieces on a drop cloth, Fives isn't really sure. It probably had something to do with Skywalker's excited bounce when he'd come to ask if Fives wanted to help him, the sparkle in his eye reminding Fives just how young the both of them are. How, technically, he's older than Anakin.

  Because, yeah, he is Anakin, not Skywalker, when they're like this. With his growing knight cut a curly untamed cloud around his ears, grease smeared on the underside of his jaw, with Fives stripped down to his blacks from the waist up, with even his blasters set on the floor next to them. 

  With it quickly becoming clear that Anakin doesn't actually need help to rewire the mouse droid, but had asked for Fives to join him anyways.

  They've been at it for a few hours now, their jokes winding down to companionable quiet as they both work on separate parts of the droid. It honestly might have been easier to start from a scrap droid than try to rewire this one correctly, but it's easy work Fives could do blindfolded, and sharing the mutually-focused silence is actually quite nice.

  Anakin is elbow-deep in the outer casing when he finally asks, "Do the clones feel love?"

  And Fives almost gets up and walks away. He knows not every battalion ended up with a good Jedi, that the 212th and the 501st had been so kriffing lucky to end up with "The Team", but sometimes he forgets. Maybe that's the worst part of it: slow, personal moments like this, Fives forgets he's not natborn and bearer of a face shared with millions. Being around his general makes him forget, and maybe he had taken that for granted until now.

  Or maybe it's for that reason that he hesitates from storming off, because Anakin had been the one to name Alpha, to insist on giving them proper leave, to defend them from anyone who talks down at them even if they're a planetary leader. And Rex had said something, once, about Anakin’s brain working in either/ors, being hardwired in some way to only see in black and white and believing that if you're one thing, you can't be another. That what Anakin says isn't always what he means.

  So instead, he asks, "What kind of love are we talkin'?"

  Anakin refuses to raise his head, and Fives can almost see him stressing about how to phrase this.  "Y'know, grand romance and stuff. One-and-onlys and holodrama romcom propaganda and imagining growing old together."

  "'Not quite sure what you're asking, sir." He takes a deep breath. "The short answer is yes, we can and do feel that, but the long answer is I can't speak for every brother, and I would not want to. Some of us don't feel that." Shrugging, he passes Anakin a socket wrench before he can ask for it. "But it's not because we can't, not because of the longnecks. We're bred to be obedient, sir, not emotionless."

  Quiet settles over them again while Anakin processes this, his mouth twisted rather horribly. Fives starts to think he would do a whole awful lot to turn that frown back into a haughty smile. 

  "What do you really want to ask, General?"

  "I'm married to Senator Amidala."

  Now, everyone with eyes knows that. Maybe Torrent knows even better, when they've been covering for their general for over a year now, and clearly the Jedi just aren't doing anything about it — but Fives also knows Anakin has never actually told anyone about this, not even General Kenobi. Rex says Anakin still thinks they've been discreet.

  "If I may be blunt, sir, this is not news."

  And Anakin actually laughs at that, shaking his head as he tosses down his tools to stare at the opposite wall instead. Fives watches his gaze go distant, somewhere far away from the Resolute lost in the middle of space. “I’ve loved her since I was nine years old, Fives. I loved her through not seeing her for a decade, through her assassination attempts and the First Battle of Geonosis and becoming a knight, and I...”

  Fives sighs once. “No one said you had to stay in love, sir.”

  “But that’s just it,” he groans. “I’ve never known how to do anything else, how to be anything else. I don’t... know who I am without it.”

  He has to look away from Anakin, then, because he’s seen brothers go stupid for people they meet on campaigns, or for their Jedi, and Fives isn’t nearly as young as some of the shinies out there, but he knows what it looks like, when they leap in without thinking. He lets out a long, slow breath, his eyes falling on the ‘saber at Anakin’s hip. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  Anakin blinks at him, and nods.

  “That’s too young to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life.” Fives raises a brow at his general’s startled expression, which is maybe more amusing (endearing) than it has any business being. “General, you’re barely an adult, just the same as the vode. If my mental timeline is right, you weren’t even twenty standard when you married Amidala, which, frankly, was reckless and unfair on her part.”

  “Padmé would never–”

  “I don’t mean intentionally, sir. The fact of the matter is, no wonder you don’t know who you are without her, because you’ve always had her.” That decade of no contact notwithstanding, considering Anakin didn’t not have her, either. “Senator Amidala knew who and what she was before you, and she’ll know who and what she is without you.”

  “That’s not quite fair,” Anakin grumbles, but his throat is flushed in what Fives hopes is entirely appropriate guilt, or at the very least embarrassment. “It was my idea to get married after Geonosis.”

  Fives snorts. “The idea of a child thrown into war, afraid to lose anything.”

  “You’re being uncharacteristically candid, Fives.”

  “Respectfully, sir, the last thing you need is to be coddled.” His general laughs again, this time good and bright in a way he hasn’t heard before; and then Fives can’t help what he admits next. “We weren’t allowed toys, or anything.”

  Laughter cutting off abruptly, Anakin’s eyes grow haunted instead. There might not be anyone else in the galaxy with quite the same experience as the clones, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those that understand.

  “Hevy made me and Echo– Well, he said they were mythosaurs like Kal taught us about, but they looked more like sad loth cats. He cut up his own bedsheet to make ‘em, and couldn’t tell the longnecks what he’d done with it, so he just slept on the bare mattress.”

  “Fives...”

  But it’s clear Anakin doesn’t actually know what to say, so Fives pushes on. “Some of Fett’s instructors tried to teach us Mando’a, you know? I think Spar is the only brother that ever got fluent, the rest of us have been making up words and combining them with Basic and Kaminoan and whatever else the Cuy’val Dar spoke that sometimes we don’t even remember what language they are anymore.”

  “I didn’t learn Basic until I was five.” Anakin thunks his head onto the wall behind him with a sigh, the mouse droid forgotten at his feet. “Other padawans always told me I was lucky Master Obi-Wan knew Huttese.” Ahh, kark, his general had been a Hutt salve; at least the spice runners made sure their slaves could communicate with their customers. “I couldn’t read a word of Aurebesh when I first came to the Temple, though to be fair, I couldn’t read anything else, either.”

  “You grow up around other kids?”

  “Yeah, my mom and I lived in the biggest slave slum on Tatooine.”

  Fives doesn’t need to tell him how lucky he was just to have had their own quarters. “I think, sir, that the vode know better than you think, what it’s like always standing on the edge of losing everything.”

  Squeezing his eyes closed, Anakin inhales sharply and clenches his fists over his knees. “What happened? To your mythosaur toys?”

  “One of the longnecks found them while we were in training, ‘threw them out before we got back. I think Hevy was even more upset than we were.”

  The leather glove over his prosthesis creaks as he tightens his grip on his own palms. “Was it easy? To just... forget about them?”

  “Of course not,” Fives snorts and crosses his arms, “we were the equivalent of eight standard at the time, but we honestly didn’t have a choice. As we got a little older, we stopped trying to put meaning in things, because we weren’t allowed things. Our names are our only real possession, even our armor can be taken from us, but we will not, cannot, let anyone take our names.”

  Groaning, Anakin scrubs his hands over his face before pushing himself up to finally look at Fives properly. He still doesn’t speak for a moment, just watching him, then teases flatly, “You’ve been spending too much time with Cody and Obi-Wan, you’re starting to speak in riddles.”

  “They are riddles only to you, sir.” He offers a small smile, and is only slightly disappointed when Anakin doesn’t return it.

  Instead, he lets out a winded breath. “So. You’re saying that it’s not easy to let go of even small things, but we must. And then there are things that we shouldn’t let go of?”

  “Some things aren’t ours to keep.”

  Anakin swallows. “Like Padmé,”

  “Like any person, no matter what sort of love we have for them.”

  Groaning, Anakin pulls his knees back up close and drops his face into his arms. “But I still love her.”

  Knowing that this is not a new problem, that General Kenobi has been trying to teach his general this for as long as they’ve known each other, Fives takes a moment to consider. “You don’t really have to stop loving her.”

  “But you said–”

  “You think I stop loving my brothers when they die?”

  Whether or not it’s healthy to hold onto affections for someone after a romantic relationship is a conversation for another time, Fives decides, and leans over to pick up where Anakin had left off with the droid.

  “General, it sounds to me like you already know all this,” he says, twisting a wire into the grip of his glove to yank it from the motor. “And  that you’re digging your feet in — which is the crux of the problem, isn’t it?”

  “You sound like Obi-Wan,” he groans, but doesn’t deny it.

  “Hmm, well, at least we’re still just kids.”

  Anakin very slowly looks up from his arms, just enough for Fives to see his wide eyes. “What do you...?”

  “Well, we’ve still got time to learn, don’t we?” Fives raises his eyebrow as he fits the new wire into the motor and starts to close all the panels back up. “I still think about Hevy and Droidbait and Cutup, and honestly, I still think about Echo’s and my mythosaurs. That’s not a bad thing, I don’t think, not even the Jedi would think that’s bad. I’m still angry when my vode don’t get funerals and I honestly hold that against the Chancellor and the Jedi both. But I don’t get to go back to Kamino and take my anger out on the longneck that took our toys, and I’m... working on it, not being so angry with the generals. I’m still angry. But I know the Jedi have about as much say in all of this as we do, and I know burying my brothers won’t bring them back. So I’m working on it.”

  “I... don’t have to be good at it all at once.”

  “Great Maker, General, just because you’re the Chosen One doesn’t mean you have to actually be good at absolutely everything from the start. You just have to try, and you still have time to.”

  He looks up and finds Anakin already smiling back. “Fives, I could kiss you.”

  “Considering it sounds like Senator Amidala just divorced you, I think that’s a very bad idea, sir.”

  “Bah, you’re no fun.”

  Fives feigns offense, “This mouse droid we’ve rigged to follow Captain Rex around and scream says differently.”

-

  The night the 501st returns to the Resolute after finally (kriffing finally) leaving Umbara, Fives finds a hand-sewn stuffed mythosaur on his bunk, with a string collar and a dogtag etched with CT-782.

-

Mando’a: Cuy’val Dar — “Those who no longer exist”, group of 75 Mando’ade and 25 others put together by Jango to train the clones vod/e —  “brother/s, comrade/s, sibling/s”, technically gender neutral but used most often in fandom as “brother/s” (*in this context, fives is using brothers as gender neutral as well, because you won’t take trans and nb clones even from my cold dead hands*)

[redlibra14]

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of rape and violence

According to my headcannon, the curse that continues to plague everyone in the Final Destination has existed since the Ancient Times. And if I were to pinpoint the exact time in which the curse started, I would say it started during the time of the ancient Greek civilization. And if you know anything about Greek mythology, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of the Trojan War and the myths surrounding it. 

I’m talking about one myth in particular, involving the sister to the guy who had caused the Trojan War indirectly and seer Cassandra and the Greek Sun god Apollo himself. 

Let me summarize it briefly. Apollo falls for Cassandra (because he’s basically a lonely guy) and as an attempt to woo her, he gifts her with the power to see into the future. But she rebukes his advances, and this upsets Apollo greatly. 

Shortly before the Trojan War begins, Cassandra has a vision about how the war will happen and tries to warn everyone in Troy, but no one believed her. (Sound familiar?) She had been unknowingly cursed by Apollo. 

Towards the end of the war, she is raped, imprisoned, and killed. 

Now what does this all mean you ask? In a possible sequel if I ever finish all the chapters of the fic I’m working on, I’m planning on featuring an original character of mine that is loosely based on Cassandra from Greek mythology. She will have major connections to all of the visionaries from the series. 

Because the only natural way that characters gain powers in fictional works is through genetics. For example, Harry Potter is a wizard because both of his parents were wizards. Or Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, whom are force sensitive because their father, Anakin, was. 

Another headcannon of mine is that all of the visionaries are distantly related via a common ancestor. That common ancestor being the original character that I mentioned earlier. They’re all distant cousins to each other and the only ones that are closely related to each other are Wendy and Kim (in reference to a scrapped idea that was supposed to be for the 3rd film (The directors of the films have revisited scrapped ideas before, then who’s to say that they can’t revisit this in a future film as well?)), and some other original characters of mine, some of whom are also visionaries.

My fic, despite it being non-canon to the FD series (which should go without saying for all fanfiction) and is essentially a rewrite AU of what if everyone survived, is meant to expand more on some aspects of the FD lore. Mostly the connections that the visionaries have to one another. 

And yes, aside from the scrapped idea that I mentioned, it is possible for one visionary to be related to another. And if you doubt it, go read Final Destination Zero. (And before you say it, yes, I’m aware of how the novels, that are not the non-canon novelizations of the first 3 films, have questionable canonicity in relation to the timeline. Only 2 of them have clues that indicate where they could be placed on the timeline. And to some extent, Final Destination Zero, which I briefly mentioned earlier.)

So yeah, that’s my headcannon for the curse and the visionaries themselves. Take as you will and with a grain of salt. One final thing, whether this is a bizarre coincidence or not, I’ll leave this one up for debate, one of Cassandra’s alternate names is Alexandra. 

So leave a like if you do. Scroll away and look at something else if you don’t.

[eternalthenas]

what bothers me the most about tros and what i’m most unable to accept is how jj managed to destroy and disrespect EVERY single character. even the ones who technically had “happy endings”🤡

ben - i feel like this one doesn’t even need to be said, but i’ll say it anyways. after years of emotional abuse from palpatine, it’s disheartening to see that jj gave no explanation as to why palpatine wanted ben (personal vendetta against the skywalkers i guess??) when it semed like he only needed rey AND that ben never really triumphed over palpatine in any way. it hurts to know that leia straight up had a vision about her son’s death but that she still seemingly gave up on him despite knowing that he was struggling and that she sent him off to train to be jedi with a luke, when apparently she could’ve done that herself. it’s disheartening that luke who believed even vader could be turned back to the light also gave up on his nephew, when he was just a boy no less. it’s disheartening that although he was the last skywalker (a fact only palpatine acknowledged!), none of his family nor his namesake reached out to help him. instead of telling the last skywalker to rise, they ignored him (as they had apparently done his whole life) in favor of a palpatine. ok. even though as the last skywalker, he really should’ve been the one to have the final kill against palpatine since it was HIS family that palpatine destroyed, he doesn’t. he’s motionless in a pit for the whole final battle. ok. that will never not leave a bad taste in my mouth. his whole family (except for han apparently i love him) gave up on him and clearly so did the writers. as a fan of the skywalkers and their story, this isn’t the ending i wanted for them. especially when luke and leia and han had given their lives to see him turn to the light. and for what? so he could be used as a plot device to conveniently bring rey back to life and then promptly die (even though they’re a force dryad and, according to jj’s own fucking canon, supposedly one) without any fanfare, emotional reaction whatsoever, or later mention? wtf? it’s disrespectful not only to ben solo, who is easily the best character in the sequel trilogy and one of the best characters in ALL of star wars, but it’s disrespectful to the entire skywalker line!! (and to adam driver, who deserved so much better than this shit. go get that oscar)

rey - by making her a palpatine, jj completely disregarded her arc. whatever your opinions about rey nobody, once they went with it, they never should’ve retconned it and turned her into a legacy character in the final film. it felt cheap. in my theater, there was no cheering about this reveal. because jj had never properly set it up and he didn’t even bother to reveal it an impactful way. but what’s most annoying about rey suddenly being a legacy character is that it completely disregards the fact that she was powerful on her OWN, without any famous blood making her that way. furthermore, by turning her into the chosen one and giving her the entire skywalker legacy (which felt like a slap in the face to the skywalkers imo), she did turn into a mary sue, one of the biggest complaints about her since day 1. she was overpowered, morally perfect, and never faced any failure. i struggled to root for her as the “hero” because i felt everything was handed to her on a silver platter. so not only did jj turn her into a mary sue and take her power away from her by turning her into a legacy, but he also destroyed the fact that her whole arc had been “seeking belonging” and a family. rather than having her final scenes be with her new found family, she ends the movie with her canon soulmate dead and no one but a droid by her side on a desert planet of all places. to add further insult to injury, she also disregards her family name even though they supposedly loved her and sacrificed themselves for her (despite the fact that they sold her but whatever) in favor of a last name of a guy she had barely known. she had more emotional connection to han or leia, but she didn’t take their last name. she took luke’s, the guy who had refused to teach her and who she had come to view in a more negative light towards the end of tlj. in this house i will not EVER be calling her rey sky- i can’t even say it🤢

finn - in all honestly, they screwed finn’s character arc in episode 1 when jj turned him into a lovesick sidekick who served as comedic relief. as a deserted stormtrooper, he could’ve had the most interesting storylines. and he should have. but apparently the writers forgot about him. although they mention his past BRIEFLY, it’s paid no real weight or attention. instead, he spends the whole movie once again trying to (possibly) confess his feeling for rey. and for what? probably just to bait finnrey fans and prove the character’s heterosexuality bc it goes absolutely nowhere. although we find out he’s force sensitive, that too is glossed over and has no lasting effect. he’s also made co general, which okay cool, but then he does nothing?? so while finn could have and should have been a main character with an interesting storyline, they turn him into your average run of the mill action hero with an occasional quip. john boyega, sweetie, i’m so sorry (but i guess that’s kind of what he wanted since he hated tlj, the only movie where he actually had a main role with any character growth?? idk)

poe - it’s once again evident that they originally intended to kill off poe bc he has no arc whatsoever. he gets a little backstory as a drug smuggler now ig, which really came out of left field considering the already established canon with his past as a pilot. he’s more of the same in this movie, except more unlikable than usual (imo). he’s still stubborn, occasionally funny, but mostly he just bickers with rey, which isn’t funny, at all necessary, and doesn’t add anything to the “trio’s” dynamic. he’s at his best when he’s with finn but then, of course, jj has to remind us of how straight he is every single scene so. another character like finn who could have been great, but with the lazy writing, he has no arc, no backstory, no character growth, so he’s just mediocrity personified and just kind of there.

zorii & jannah - both could’ve been awesome. both are just there for a brief introduction and to help the heroes with maybe one thing and that’s it. both deserved better.

the skywalkers - yeah jj really said a big fuck you to luke, leia, and anakin most of all. the WORST part of tros is the fact that it basically makes the previous six episodes useless. anakin’s redemption arc? what does it matter now? he didn’t successfully bring balance to the force. he didn’t successfully kill palpatine. and now his entire bloodline is dead. ok cool😎 thank you jj!!!! what a hopeful end to the skywalker saga!!!! i love seeing that anakin failed and wasn’t REALLY the chosen one. i love that luke and leia gave their legacy to a descendant of the guy who tried to tear apart and terrorized their family. that’s really nice. i love that anakin NEVER reached out to help his grandson who struggled with the dark just like he did. but that he came in just in time to tell palp’s granddaughter to rise😍 really hopeful, lovely ending. thanks again jj! thanks for making leia seem like a bad mother who sees visions about her son but just throws in the towel and doesn’t really try to help him?? wtf??? not my princess leia. also tros luke? truly the worst luke. i really have no other words, i’m just disappointed. jj let me down in every single way possible and ones i didn’t even realize he could.

palpatine - jj also managed to ruin the best star wars villain, a feat i didn’t even think possible. palpatine had always seemed scary to me because of his inhuman qualities. but in this one, he’s back with no explanation whatsoever. he just is. he somehow managed to survive (ok🙄) and furthermore he had a kid. what in the fuck? jj clearly read harry potter and the cursed child, but he clearly also forgot to read the reviews. NOBODY LIKES IT WHEN THE PREVIOUSLY UNTOUCHABLE/SCARY VILLAIN HAS A KID OUT OF NOWHERE. NOBODY. i seriously spent the entire movie wondering who the heck would sleep with him? that’s it. he didn’t seem menacing or at all like a threat. this movie genuinely had no stakes whatsoever (that’s why ben’s death feels so out of left field bc literally for what?! but i digress) also the final “fight” where rey kills him??? very lame. he supposedly survived all those years to be taken out like that?? no thank you, i’d like a refund.

in conclusion, thank you to jj for ruining my favorite franchise by killing off every last one of my favorite characters, destroying the skywalker legacy (& killing them off), ruining seriously every character, and leaving me with despair!!! while i’ll continue to watch star wars without including episode 9, it sucks that some of my joy is zapped from my favorite series. because this is how future generations will know star wars. with this shitty ending. and any future movies will have this canon. and that really fricking sucks. thanks, i hate it.

anyways feel free to message if you’re also in the depths of despair about how this all ended!! bc the more i think about it, the sadder/angrier i get.

[ninastarkov]

Ahsoka and the clones:

Rex and Ahsoka edition

Part 2

Hey guys! This is the third post in a series about Ahsoka’s relationship with the clones (here’s the one on ahsoka and the clones, minus Rex and ahsoka). I talk about what we know in canon/what’s reasonably predicted off that, what the fandom has decided, and my own takes.

It might make more sense to read my part 1 post before this one, for an analysis of their friendship in the movie through season 3! On this one I’ll go through seasons 4, 5 and 7, though obviously season 7 will have the most. Anyway, here we go!

Referencing my last post, I see them as going from mentor-student to friends and equals to family. I’ve established them as equals by the end of season 3–Ahsoka has grown a lot from that snippy 14 year old padawan, and Rex has grown to trust her. By the end of season 7 I see them as found family (i’m sorry found family is just. my favorite.)

Season 4

Ok, Ahsoka and Rex pretty much don’t interact AT ALL in season 4. But...umbara. Though Ahsoka isn’t actually present for umbara, her (and anakin’s) influence on the 501st, and the contrast between them and krell, is clear to see. I think his relationship with Anakin has just as much of an impact with what happened on umbara, but since this post is about Rex and ahsoka i’m not going to focus on Anakin.

Also WOW umbara is long but I like the points I made so get ready:

Rex has spent the whole war under Anakin, and most of it under Ahsoka. Anakin can get angry and Ahsoka can be immature especially early on and they’re both headstrong idiots sometimes, but they’re good people who care deeply for their troops. Krell is everything Anakin and Ahsoka are not. The relationship that Rex has with them is part of what makes it so hard for him to go against Krell (the other, probably bigger part being his conditioning into seeing Jedi as authority figures to always follow). Ahsoka has shown that she’s willing to die for them, with the geonosis mission, and that she mourns their deaths, with ryloth. And while not explicitly shown in canon, most of us agree that she tries to connect with her troops. Krell shares none of these traits that Rex has gotten used to seeing in his Jedi. Rex believes that the Jedi are good, and trusts them to make hard decisions to get to victory. Krell breaks this trust, and I have to think that this would have long-term consequences on his relationships with Jedi in general, and Anakin and ahsoka specifically. We aren’t shown the aftermath of umbara in the show (which is one of my biggest complaints but,, off topic), but we can’t expect such a fundamental break in trust to not have its effect on all of the 501st and their Jedi. I would say that Ahsoka probably had to build up a lot of trust (that had previously existed between them) with Rex again after umbara. And since their relationship in the show doesn’t seem to change much afterward, I could guess that Ahsoka spent a lot of time trying to help Rex and the 501st cope and trust their Jedi again (also, I’ve read some fics about ahsoka helping the troopers through the aftermath of umbara and now I believe that had to have happened for their relationship to return to what it was before).

So, at least in my opinion, after umbara Rex is less likely to place complete trust in ahsoka (though he probably hates that he can’t). Also, remember me talking about them being equals by now? Yeah, another thing Krell breaks. Ahsoka sees Rex as an equal, though technically she outranks him. She looks past the rank and sees the person (the person with more experience than her). Krell is, again, the opposite. He literally sees clones as fundamentally inferior to himself, and that dehumanization that Rex faced had to have had an effect on his own self-worth. Being constantly degraded by a figure that Rex thinks he’s supposed to see as an authority to follow, probably means that afterward his own sense of self-worth would have gone down significantly—nevermind the guilt he feels over waiting to take action against Krell. So, though Ahsoka still sees Rex as an equal, it’s complicated for Rex. For one, he’s lost trust in the Jedi, so the respect towards ahsoka purely because of her Jedi status is diminished. On the other hand, I think his opinion of himself has gone down. It’s a complicated dynamic, now. However, by this point in the war, I really think that Rex and ahsoka see each other as family (I see Ahsoka’s family including Rex and some of the older 501st like Jesse and Kix and anyone can Fight Me On This but ANYWAY). As fellow soldiers or even friends, I think the trust between them would have been permanently damaged. But as family, Rex knows ahsoka, knows that even though he’s lost some faith in the Jedi, she will never be like Krell, or even other Jedi like Quinlan Vos who aren’t literally evil but aren’t good towards the clones either. And on Ahsoka’s side, she’s going to do anything she can to help her family through the aftermath of umbara, even as a Jedi.

I think most of the aftermath is resolved between umbara and Onderon, but zygerria was. there. Rex and obi wan were slaves for an unknown amount of time. This part hurts, but I would guess that in Rex’s time there he was forced to confront some hard truths about the role of the clones in the war. They’re all proud to fight for the republic, but that doesn’t change the fact that they don’t have a choice. I think this also sets the stage for that big conversation between Rex and ahsoka after maul is captured in season 7 (“we clones have mixed feelings about the war”), where they discuss their own feelings about the war and how it’s affected them. (Also I know that most of what I just said is about Rex and not really ahsoka, but his changing viewpoints are really important in their dynamic).

Season 5

By Onderon, I think Rex and Ahsoka’s relationship is mostly back to normal (equals), and any trust lost has been repaired (not counting Rex’s permanent disillusionment(?) with the Jedi). It’s literally only them plus Anakin and obi wan oh the mission, and it seems like they’re having a good time (as much as you can in a war zone). I point out Onderon because it’s the last time they’re together before the Wrong Jedi arc.

And now...the wrong Jedi. Hearing that Ahsoka killed clones during her escape HAD to have shaken Rex. A lot. There was definitely a moment where he thought back to umbara and Krell. But Rex also chased ahsoka outside the prison, and saw that she did nothing to harm the people coming after her—in fact, went out of her way to avoid it. I think Rex was definitely struggling with himself here—his experiences with Krell would have him believe that ahsoka is capable of this, but his bond with her would have him think the opposite. Overall, in my opinion there was a moment when Rex believed it to be true (due to umbara), but I think he would have rejected the idea relatively quickly because he knows ahsoka (they’re FAMILY and she wouldn’t hurt his brothers!).

Then ahsoka is cleared but leaves the Jedi. Leaves the 501st. I don’t think that she talks to Rex or any Jedi after she leaves the temple, which means she’s out of contact for months. Rex gets a second hand account of what happened through Anakin, and knowing anakin’s anger and pain over the situation, I can’t imagine he wanted to talk about it much. So Rex probably gets told that ahsoka was cleared but isn’t coming back. (Honestly I really don’t know how this would go down but i’m leaning towards an angry Anakin giving as little explanation as possible because he doesn’t want to talk about it). Add this to what I talked about in my first post on ahsoka and the clones, how maul gleans from Jesse that the Jedi abandoned her—meaning this was Jesse’s view of what happened—this probably means that her family in the 501st blamed the council for abandoning her and didn’t blame her for leaving. This also fits with the welcome she recieves in season 7. So even though Ahsoka left, Rex still holds the same respect for her (or more, even), and still considers her family. And even though ahsoka felt she had to leave the Jedi, I doubt she ever blamed the troopers for coming after her, so she still sees Rex as family.

Season 7

Skipped season six since...no ahsoka, obviously. Just keep in mind Fives’ arc (😭😭). Also, Anakin changes. He’s still a good person, a good general, but i’m assuming Rex notices he’s more angry and a little more distant than before. They all miss their favorite padawan commander :((

NOW, Old Friends Not Forgotten:

the LOOK on Ahsoka’s face when she sees all the troopers with their helmets painted...*single tear*. Rex looks so happy to see her, and of course ahsoka is glad to see him too, but there’s clearly a large part of her that’s shocked she’s getting such a warm welcome. I think she was worried that the Rex and the troopers would think she abandoned them (and a part of herself thinks that as well). But obviously, Rex doesn’t feel that way (“you don’t have to call me commander anymore” “ok, commander”). And the helmet paint!! You can tell Rex is worried she won’t like it bc he says something like “oh the paint job is a bit messy but we hope we got the point across.” But of course ahsoka understands they’re trying to honor her, and is grateful. AND! Armor painting is such an important way for all the clones to show their individuality, and they gave that up for her (even if Rex and Jesse went back to their original paint). And back to that little moment where he calls her commander—ahsoka says “you don’t have to call me commander anymore.” I think this was her guilt at leaving showing itself, and hints to us that she thinks she’s not worthy of that title. This may be more of a stretch, but she didn’t say “i’m not a commander anymore,” she said “you don’t have to call me commander anymore.” Maybe there’s some larger guilt about her role in a republic that doesn’t care for the ones that fight and die for it. Also a stretch but I think this alludes to the fact that they see each other as equals—though technically ahsoka was a commander and Rex a captain, they were a team. Now that Ahsoka’s no longer part of the GAR, Rex doesn’t have to call her commander, doesn’t have to keep to the strict rules of authority. Instead he can have her back as a friend, as family. And when Rex calls her commander anyway, it shows his continued respect for her, not because he has to respect her as a superior and Jedi, but because she’s earned his respect through her actions.

And MOST IMPORTANTLY, Rex smiles more in this one episode than probably the entire rest of the show combined?!? We get the small happy moments, when Ahsoka doesn’t need a jetpack and races Rex to the ground (and he LAUGHS—i’m pretty sure that the only time Rex has actually laughed was in the movie in response to ahsoka, and in that ep). And once they reach mandalore, “some things never change”—they’ve returned immediately to their old dynamic. Honestly I think that one line sums up a lot of their relationship in season 7 and afterward, all the way to rebels. They may spend a lot of time apart (15 YEARS WHY), but they will always be family—that will never change.

This part is based on a picture from the ep I saw once, never to be found again (and I tried looking through the old friends ep but I can’t find the shot where you can see this), but i’m pretty sure there’s one moment in one of the episodes where you can see tally marks on Ahsoka’s bracers. She HAD to have picked that up from Rex, idk I just thought it was a nice thing to point out (unless I’m remembering the image wrong lol in that case ignore this paragraph).

Next, after Ahsoka meets with the council and doesn’t tell them about what Maul said about Anakin. Rex calls her out on it, and she doesn’t give a reason why she didn’t, but we can all guess. Anakin is probably the person she is closest to, and is the reason that she didn’t believe Maul’s claims. She probably didn’t want to tell anyone about what Maul said, because she would never believe Anakin would fall (😭). But she told Rex. This is a HUGE example of how much she trusts him, because she trusted him with this terrible information about her closest family. The only other person she had planned to talk to was Anakin, obviously. Yes, part of the reason why she didn’t tell the council was because she knew they could be...less than sensible...at times when they suspected a Jedi of using the dark side, like with her farce of a trial. (Sidenote, when Mace calls ahsoka “citizen” and Rex makes a face lol). I just. This is probably one of my favorite moments with them of the whole show? The amount of trust Ahsoka has to have in Rex to tell him that Anakin is being groomed to be a Sith Lord. I want to connect this back to all those years ago on Maridun(?) with aayla and Bly, when she trusts Rex to stay behind with injured Anakin while she goes with everyone else to find help. Ahsoka has trusted Rex with Anakin from basically the beginning, and such a long time of trust is necessary for her to tell him about Maul’s words.

Ok, now we have what you’ve been dreading waiting for...Shattered. Right before the Horrible Moment, Ahsoka gets a sort-of vision about what’s up in coruscant with Anakin and palpatine—and her immediate reaction is to run to Rex to tell him about it. Again, TRUST. There’s not even a second thought about whether to tell him or not, showing that Rex is the one person she feels she can always confide in. Of course, she doesn’t get to tell him.

First off, there were two things that saved ahsoka. One was her bond with Rex, that bought her time to react, which is what I’ll talk about. The other was Rex’s knowledge of what happened to fives and the chips. I’m not going to discuss that much in this post but just disclaimer that I view that as just as important in her survival (I think @gffa made a post on these two things which I wholly agree with and i’m sorry if i’m wrong and it was someone else that made that post!!)

Anyway. After the original Wrinkly Old Man tells Rex to execute the order, Rex is able to fight it for long enough to buy Ahsoka time to prepare, and give her the information that will save both of their lives (“Find him...Fives!”). You can see that he’s fighting so hard against the order, though in the end it wins out. He turns to face Ahsoka and he’s CRYING!!! I don’t have much analysis here because what happens in the show really says it all—ahsoka is his family, he doesn’t want to kill her. But once the chip takes over, Rex is gone.

On Ahsoka’s end, of course she knows something’s up. She knows Rex would never try to kill her, even if he was ordered to. That one line she says to Maul when she sets him free says everything about how lost she is (the clones turned against me. Even Rex.”). The latter statement isn’t meant for maul, since of course he doesn’t know much about Rex or their friendship (besides what he may have gotten from Jesse). This is all ahsoka trying to figure out what the hell was happening—because she could believe the clones turned against her, maybe. After her trial, after Brain Invaders, it’s probably easier to. But even Rex. Going back to what I said about the wrong Jedi arc, I think that Rex believed ahsoka to be innocent. Even in that arc, Rex was on her side. But this time, he wasn’t.

And then ahsoka finds out about fives and the chips. The holo of her that one of the droids plays to Rex before they knock him out makes me so sad. Ahsoka had to know that the Rex that was under the order wouldn’t listen to what she was saying in the holo, so i’m thinking that (besides a distraction) her words were meant for Rex to remember after the removed his chip—one more reassurance that it wasn’t his fault.

And here’s my thoughts on the chanting “I am one with the force and the force is with me,” as they try to find the chip in Rex’s head. Ahsoka had to have created some kind of connection between them for him to be saying these words with her—while unconscious AND still under the order. I know next to nothing about force bonds and the technical stuff, but it seems that a likely explanation for the chanting together is that some kind of connection was created between them in the force. Into the world of wild speculation, this could mean that Rex is more force sensitive than the average guy? Even if it was a temporary connection, it would make sense that Rex would have to feel the force somehow in order to connect with ahsoka to say the mantra. (Not sure I actually believe this but...putting it out there)

Once his chip gets removed and Ahsoka asks if he’s okay, Rex calls her “kid” again. I point this out because it’s definitely been a while since he’s called her anything but commander—probably out of a place of respect. But his first instinct after the chip is out is to call her “kid.” This was partially for reassurance that he’s back, because a Rex still affected by the chip wouldn’t call her kid. I also want to say though, that his first instinct is to call her kid, not commander, because he sees her as family first. And then when he has to tell her that every single clone is chipped, he calls her ahsoka (I think for the first time ever??). They’re far, far beyond their normal roles as captain and commander, and this reflects that. I also wonder if Rex realizes that ahsoka would hate to be called commander right now, after being forced to hurt the troops she has always tried to protect.

Aaaaand then they try to escape only to find the hangar filled with all the troopers, Jesse leading them. Ouch. Rex cries AGAIN (can any of us handle it? no.). He tells ahsoka that all of the clones, his brothers, only care about killing them—they don’t care if they die trying. Rex sounds so angry in this moment and for a second ahsoka looks surprised, but then she realizes how Rex is feeling and they have a Sad Moment when she takes his helmet off. There’s a moment when he visibly deflates as ahsoka seems to realize what he’s really feeling. And yeah, he turns away once his helmet is off, but he let her take his helmet off and see him cry. I feel like Rex has always been the person that’s strong for others, and doesn’t like to show his own vulnerability. Throughout the show he’s always been a steadying presence for others, whether it’s with ahsoka or fives or someone else. Even on umbara, he doesn’t let himself fall apart. But he lets ahsoka see that here. In his relationships with others, Rex almost always has to be the authority, the one who keeps calm in the face of everything. But with him and ahsoka, they can be equals—they can show their uncertainty and sadness. The only other person we see Rex really be honest with like this is Cody, in the bad batch arc when Rex talks about how he’s watched so many brothers die, and Cody says “it’s hard being the one that survives.” Cody and Ahsoka are the only people that have seen this side of Rex, because he trusts them more than anyone, and feels he doesn’t always have to be strong in front of them.

Then ahsoka says “you’re a good soldier, Rex.” I can’t NOT connect this to “good soldiers follow orders,” and Fives’ death. I don’t think ahsoka knows all about the “good soldiers follow orders,” but she knows Rex. She knows that Rex has always tried to be the good soldier, has been taught that following orders is everything, but has also grown so much over the course of the war (from meeting Cut to going through umbara to watching fives die). He’s grown into a person that realizes sometimes he has to make his own decisions, even if that doesn’t fit with the orders he’s been given. She gives him the reassurance that, despite everything, he’s still the person that he wants to be. Ahsoka sees through the anger he puts up, because of course he doesn’t want to kill his brothers, but it isn’t them anymore and what else are they supposed to do?

Once they are forced to fight the rest of the troopers in the hangar, it’s obvious that ahsoka and Rex work well together. Not much to say specifically, but the teamwork? the coordination? we love to see it (but also hate to see it bc o u c h).

Now we get back to trust (it always comes back to trust). Once they find the y-wing to escape on, Rex tells ahsoka to “get me over there” and just. Runs and jumps into thin air? Of course ahsoka gives him a boost with the force and he gets on the y-wing, but we know that Rex doesn’t like heights. It’s been a running joke through the show for other people to throw Rex in the air (geonosis? bad batch MULTIPLE TIMES lol), but it’s always without him asking and he Does Not Appreciate. This time he TELLS ahsoka to throw him over there and doesn’t even hesitate to jump. If Ahsoka hadn’t caught him he would have fallen to his death, and yet he trusts her so much that he does it anyway. He doesn’t even wait for a response from her after he tells her to throw him over there! Now, I don’t know if Rex is actually scared of heights or not, but if he is then this shows even more trust between them. He trusts her with his life completely, and probably vice versa.

And now we get to the end. Ahsoka and Rex buried all of the troopers they could find, because they’re family and it wasn’t their fault and they deserved better and agshdkjskjdh. At this point, they don’t know what’s happened in the rest of the galaxy, but Ahsoka’s felt the death in the force and they probably fear the worst. They are the only family they have left. We end with them about to get on the y wing and probably go to figure out what’s happened. Ahsoka stands at the graves and Rex sees her from beside the ship. There are no words, but they are united by the family they’ve lost.

Personally I find it really hard to believe they would have separated right after that, and i’m not sure what’s canon anymore with the ahsoka novel and when it starts, but whatever. Fitting (ish) with the ahsoka novel, they eventually realized that it wasn’t safe for either of them to stay together and had to say goodbye. I like a headcanon by someone on here (just lmk who you are and I’ll tag!!) about how ahsoka and Rex eventually find Wolffe and Gregor, but wolffe is badly affected by Ahsoka’s presence and so she makes the decision to leave. No matter what actually happened though, they stayed family, even apart. When they meet again in Rebels it’s so sweet!! They’ve both come so far from who they were at the start of the Clone Wars. In the beginning, Ahsoka saw Rex as a sort of mentor and quickly gained a lot of respect for him. Rex, in turn, was at first unsure about ahsoka but changed his mind fast. Ahsoka grows into the best Commander she can be by the end of season 3, and by this point they each see each other as equals. Though Ahsoka is commander and Rex captain, she respects his experience and cares about him as a friend, and maybe even family. By seasons 4 and 5 they see each other as family, after Ahsoka was there in the aftermath of umbara and Rex trusted her in the wrong Jedi. Even though ahsoka left, she never blamed the troopers for what she went through. And when she returns in season 7 she sees all of her family again, just for a moment, until it all comes crashing down and she and Rex are all each other has left. Over the three years of the war, Ahsoka and Rex was one of the friendships that wasn’t broken by betrayal or breach in trust. They had each other’s backs and grew to trust each other with their lives, and that didn’t change even after the war ended.

WOW that was long—I got carried away and went a lot into their individual characterization as well. Sorry if the conclusion was a bit dramatic, I wanted to wrap it up meaningfully. Let me know what you like and agree/disagree with, and hope you found this interesting!

[meandmyechoes]

Something I wrote May 8th, 2020 02:44 about Rebels that I forgot to publish. But actually contain a lot of context for how I feel about reusing Ahsoka in general. I formally apologize for every ill will I had for Rebels Ahsoka’s design.

hot take: I don’t like Rebelsoka. Yeah, as if you can sum up my opinion like that.

Why I don’t like her is a really petty and subjective bias, so I am not being fair.  The real problem I have with Rebelsoka was mostly my personal lack of enthusiasm in her art style and early on her role was... replaceable. Her unique place is as an ex-Jedi, which is why I’m glad and more accepting when they turn her story away from the Rebellion to focus on Jedi Business. Her early lines in Rebels was... delivering information that could easily been given to another rebellion officer. And it felt off to switch from that unsure teenager to this full-blown wise mentor.

With everything, the final verdict is of course, Rebelsoka is amazing. In the end the potential outweighs my complaints. Yeah, information feeder, cryptic vocabularies or poor cosmetic choices can be forgive in exchange for awesome duels, delightful mentoring and GOSH THAT ANGSTY “ANAKIN”. not that i hope we see more ahsoka stories but i hope we see more ahsoka stories you know. more than that 45 minutes of it ◔̯◔

As a TCW traditionalist, of course that was my definition of Star Wars. Bitter of replacement was a common feeling in the year 2015, but I’m also reasonable enough to expect a major stylistic change with Disney’s acquisition. So all in all, I am glad we at least have another show instead of none at all.

Even though I dropped out, I was there for Rebels in the beginning. If nothing, I learnt from Clone Wars not to underestimate a Season 1. Yes, no one from the Ghost crew captivated me the way Ahsoka did, but I liked them all equally. It was an enjoyable show when I judged it as an exposition and sanely do not compare it to the finale that Clone Wars was building. So Ahsoka coming back at the end of Season 1 really put me in a difficult place, when I thought I could move on to this new family, having accepted her departure.There were rumours, but I kinda expected her to set off the S2 premiere instead. I was also spoiled of that very last minute of revelation. Anyway, when she came back, and I heard Ashley’s voice, I just broke into tears. It’s literally a resurrection. I also couldn’t believe, that I actually get to see Ahsoka again in my life, and that she is suddenly so mature and wise.

It was difficult for me to adjust for two reasons: the art style and her maturity. I guess now I could put myself next to Anakin in 709 describing how I felt meeting Ahsoka again. I also really hated her art style in Rebels initially. She was... streamlined? had slick skin, but her lekku stripes are jagged, and i never get to see how her lekku grew into the shape they are now. and her whole facial patterns are different too?? and she actually doesn’t have clear sky blue eyes anymore? but somehow has deep purple eyes? and just all around no-no with the art style when it first came out. The style wasn’t an issue when you don’t have the my favourite as a veteran character for comparison. (say you don’t see me complaining about Hondo that much but didn’t they do him dirty) Even though I had no problem with her outfit or headdress, it’s just not my favourite of hers. and the fact that they’re forcing me to watch a cartoon character lined with age! and how tired she looks, with wrinkles! and pouches under her eyes! don’t do this to my poor daughter! let her stay happy and carefree as a 14-year-old 5ever! (18-year-old me holding an angry PTA sign)

It also closed a book on however I want her to be. stupid war in the stars making me accept canon. I would’ve been content with her just leaving and staying alive, when every fan set out on her dying before RotS. Yeah maybe she threw her entire ‘life’ away but at least, she’s not, dead you know. And seeing her thrown into another war, threw herself into another war, I wan’t sure I could handle that. The grief, the guilt, the regret, the sight of not seeing her standing by her family again. (good lord Filoni gave us the Rex and Ahsoka hug ;_;) I just want her to stay happy and carefree in my head okay?

and that constant battle of wanting to see more of your favourite character but also level enough to not want her to steal the spotlight form a promising new cast? and the lowkey distrust towards Disney that they brought in Ahsoka to trick more audience into a less-popular show? as a fake-ass apology? Are you suppose I’m ever gonna forgive you for cancelling Clone Wars even though you brought back its characters and basically made a TCW sequel? Are you asking me to overlook the damage, done to both TCW veteran characters AND Rebel’s originality if you don’t do it right? And when they really don’t give us much Ahsoka mid-season it was kind of.... *deflating high-to-low 7-note crescendo* If Disney is actually giving us “what the fans want”, it’s because we damn well deserve that apology without ever needing to forgive, less alone thank. 

So anyway, I did dropped out of Rebels after the Season 2 finale. A bit of real world reasons too because I was getting busy in college and I have Rider, an all-year-round show to fall back on. So i just totally turned away from Star Wars in general after March 2016 where it was dead dead for Clone Wars. I caught up a bit of S3 but never finished it, and I’ve been on and off trying to do it to recover from TLJ but it didn’t feel enough (+ plus real busy irl)

I only even found out Ahsoka the White on social media and was utterly confused. Not sure if it was the best decision creative-wise then, and frankly hand’t given much thought since. But I definitely don’t mind Ahsoka Not Dying. I think I have more questions directed to this girl in person on her life and fashion and spaceship choices more than anything. You just sort of reached a point where like god let them rest. 

I only wrapped up the series before I saw Walkabout. And there was like a 3-month gap since I started rewtaching late January after ep9. But I ran through the last season in 2, 3 days? It was really good. I didn’t expect it focus on just one planet, but the plot was good, even though the primary enforcer villain monkey just looks meh. Somehow strangely, the character I grew attached to is Kallus. You know, he is not in the main cast whatsoever so he really may not die? And the whole time as the finale draws closer I just was on the edge of my seat hoping none of my faves die. (Yeah the only mistake that finale made was sacrificing Gregor. not nice Dave.)

And the epilogue was amazing. The resolution again subverts expectation in a good way and gave us what’s plausible but not expected. And I love how the show actually balanced warfare and lore. The mythological episodes border on fantasy fairy tales but it still suits my taste. The balance is actually better done here than on Clone Wars. In a show titled Clone Wars, you kind of expect it to be about Clones and Wars. But Rebels connected the spiritual journey of the characters to the wider warfare. They needed the Force to train and guide them to their victory. And this prominence of the Force as a plot element and narrative influence is something I found missing in the later seasons of the Clone Wars (6 not withstanding).

The show made me genuinely escalates in loving these characters and gave us a well-rounded, complete Star Wars experience. It’s not my favourite, but it’s definitely a good show. 

[tessiete]

5, 20, and 32 for the fic writer asks? 💕

Omg, I love you!!!! I’ve been reading your answers, and been dreaming about your fiiiiiiiics, and voraciously rereading, and I just want you to know that...yeah. I’m always thinking of your work. Thank you for these asks, friend!

I already got hit up with 20, but I’m AGONISING over 5 and 32 for you XD Update: @kckenobi - just so you know, 32 nearly killed me, and I spent HOURS scrambling for something I even *liked* well enough to consider, let alone was proud of. Still unconvinced, but I do, at least, like these bits! <3 (I passed the torture on to @tree-scapes B)

5. What are your fanfic pet peeves? Do they have a huge effect on whether or not you decide to read something?

I am definitely needlessly picky, which works against me, but I have a lot of pet peeves. One was one you mentioned, I think - when Obi-Wan or whoever is referred to as “the redhead” or “the brunet” which gets me extra riled when they’re gendered incorrectly. And I know this is petty and stupid, but it really breaks up how my mind scans the words, and I find it really distracting. Same thing with those little “on accident” and “he was suppose to” and the like. 

But, I can ignore those if the rest of the story is well-written, and interesting, and thoughtful.

Bigger pet peeves that drive me away from stories are characters acting (imo - a completely personal opinion) OOC. Too much emotional openness, too much crying, and I just...I don’t believe that they would *do* that. I need to recognise the characters in their voice, and actions. 

I guess also tired of the attachment/love conflation. Dislike character bashing, and ship bashing, and the strict adherence to canon...but like, I just don’t read those? Idk. I can’t think of anything that I take personally enough to fret over endlessly.

This is a hard question!!!

32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from?

And THIS one is even harder! I can hardly remember anything I’ve written...yikes. Okay. Okay...gonna try.

1) “Still, I –” He hesitates, hovering on the edge of defeat, of a final, shameful confession. The worst sin; his greatest failing. The seed of every evil, sown within the depths of his own soul, and already rooted deep. But for his mother, who knew all his earliest, keenest hurts, he can give it voice. “...I am afraid.”

“Oh, sweetheart – of course you are. But I’ll tell you the secret of love’s strength,” she whispers, folding her son in her arms. “It’s all in the surrender.”

From The Eternal Spring

2)    Anakin sleeps with all his typical abandon, deeply and enthusiastically unconscious, cradled in the arms of Qui-Gon’s prodigal heart. 

Obi-Wan is both slighter and larger than Qui-Gon remembers him, having spent many nights overseeing his slumber as a child, but he’d forgotten how he looked as a man, the Knight living in his memory ever as a boy. He sees now the smattering of growth upon his jaw, the hair curling into a length never permitted as a padawan. He sees compassion in the circle of his arms, and strength in the vulnerability of repose. He looks upon these two children, both beloved of the Force, and for a moment, an eternity, is content.

From Perchance To Dream

3)   And then, when he is spent, she wraps him in her arms, and presses him to her chest, the salt of their sweat mingling with the salt of his tears, but she does not cry. Instead, she whispers cold comfort in his ear.

“I missed you,” she says. “I mourned you. I think I always will.”

And he, his eyes red and blue and black, his hair falling thick across his brow, lifts his head to look at her.

“Please, don’t,” he says, an orison so soft it leaves a mark upon her skin.

But that is only yet another proof for her to keep, and think on when he leaves.

From Armed With a Burning Patience

[snowstcrm]

TROS, mixed feelings

I’m going to try and get all my thoughts in order about The Rise of Skywalker. I had some general points I wanted to write about but lost my focus when I came home to a pet emergency.

The first thing I want to say is that the movie is good, in the sense that the spectacle is enjoyable to watch. There are some amazing sequences and some awesome beauty shots. One that sticks out to me is Rey walking to the throne room and it’s this really wide shot of her underneath that large mass and the blue lighting in the back.

So the pros are:

Beautiful shots I’m sure were taken straight from awesome concept art

Good action movie if you aren’t emotionally invested/don’t know much about star wars

I did find myself enjoying it at parts, but it was at surface level. With each new plot development, I felt the established canon collapsing in on itself and it was upsetting if you decided to focus on the plot.

Kylo and Rey / the Force side of the plot continued to carry the trilogy. There were many cool things done with the force bond, including objects being passed through their connection.

Getting confirmation that the Sith kill one another so their souls transfer to the younger stronger vessel and then continue to get passed down

More talk about the Jedi and Sith in general. I personally always enjoyed this part of star wars more than the rebellion plots

Now onto the cons...

Just.. too much. Way too much plot stuffed into one film, which then contributed to too much force-fed exposition, and just too much dialogue. Characters literally NEVER stopped talking. Less is more, and that showed when the most powerful scenes were ones where the characters would just shut up for two seconds and let the audience form their own thoughts.

Characters were being dragged by their hair through this plot. Their actions and dialogue didn’t feel like it came from internal motivations, but because the plot needed the characters to do things and therefore they did.

The attempts to throw in new characters into the plot, which leaves them half-assed and better off giving that screen time to characters that are already established. I understand there was backlash against Rose’s character but the solution shouldn’t have been to just erase her relevance.

The forced trio dynamic.. it just doesn’t work for these three... Rey spent some time with Finn in TFA, spent a whole movie away from the Resistance in TLJ, and is now forced by the writers to stick around Finn and Poe when she continuously is breaking off from them anyway. They’re all constantly arguing with each other, and the tone is off. They were going for a cute bickering between friends but they all just seemed annoyed with one another.

Chewie’s death fakeout was so absurd. They really tried to explain it off with “it must have been a different ship!” when they were in the middle of the desert and there were no other ships to be seen. It was so forced and dumb it was difficult to feel anything.

The overall lack of direction for Finn’s character in this trilogy. I kept holding onto hope for Finn’s character to stick the landing in the final episode, but the writing failed him. His love for Rey is dialed to 100 and he keeps chasing behind her when she is ten steps ahead. It’s just sad to watch at this point, especially when the story has already established the foundations of Finnrose. The romance set up was completely trashed by this movie in favour of him chasing after a girl who has no interest in him. His entire story this whole trilogy revolved around Rey.

Leia’s Jedi training past we’re just finding out about now..?? I feel this was completely tossed in with no regard to spinoffs. I read Bloodline and there was absolutely no mention or fit for Leia to have done Jedi training (to the skill level of constructing her own saber no less). This is a cool idea, but again it felt STUFFED IN.

Lack of presence from the force ghosts when they’re needed makes their appearance lackluster. It feels deeply cruel for the Skywalkers to not reach out and speak to their own blood when he needed it most, especially Anakin who if he spoke to his grandson in the FIRST FILM, Ben would have been on a complete different trajectory. The OT force ghost characters not reaching out to Ben makes their presence in these newer films all the more bitter. Ben was so desperate for guidance that it resulted in manifesting a memory of his non-force sensitive father. The scene was touching, but it was literally Ben having to talk himself through his decisions all alone while Rey gets love and support from thousands of generations of jedi when she needs it.

Rey’s god force abilities. Now listen, I’ve been adamant about defending Rey’s capabilities in the force, but TROS has just made it too impossible for me to continue to feel that. She displayed far beyond what her skill level should be after receiving minor training from Luke and then some nondescript training from Leia. She used force lightning, life force transfer and healing, and lastly turning Palpatine’s own lightning against him when he’s in a state stronger than he’s ever been before, and the explanation for all of this is...

Rey is a Palpatine... I had made a tinfoil hat theory about this back during TFA. She has the accent and her character story starts out in the ruins of a Star Destroyer. I guess it could have been a decent reveal if they had spent the last two movies actually building that. Over the years I had come to love the idea of Rey truly being no one, that the force didn’t only favor those with bloodline. It could call on anyone, even those who by the world’s eyes is worth nothing. Rey Palpatine should have never been a thing, and Palpatine showing up in these movies at all when Anakin’s entire 6 episode story arc was him eradicating that evil for the love of his son. Anakin’s powerful and sacrificial actions really lose weight within the story when the evil was never really killed.

Things that mattered werent dwelled on enough for the audience to process them. The movie was so eager to race to the finish line that information/events that should have deeply effected the characters didnt.

Im biased but I truly believe that Ben shouldnt have died. That's not how his arc should have ended. It's far too cruel, especially because his death was unceremonious and as an audience we were expected to move on because LOOK!! everyone's hugging!!

The ending felt deeply uncomfortable. It's like watching a tragedy but with happy swelling music in the back and characters smiling.

So yeah.. I feel like there's more I could say but Im sure other people have said the same things with better words. Despite my list of complaints being large it genuinely was entertaining... As mentioned if you try not to focus on the plot too much it can be really good at a surface level.

[piepeloe]

Ugh, I don’t tend to post rants, even about silly stuff like SW, but...

I loathe the idea of Korkie Kryze as Obi-Wan’s son.

(rest under a cut because apparently I have more feelings about this than I anticipated)

Partly I hate it, because I don’t like the ship of Obi-Wan and Satine. I mean, they have an interesting dynamic and obviously had something going on when they were younger, but I don’t vibe with the notion that they spent their entire lives pining and sacrificed their ‘true love’ for duty or whatnot.

Setting aside the fact that they have incompatible beliefs and goals, if you have an ex that you haven’t kept in touch with in 15 years but you’re still somehow completely hung up on them, that’s not romantic. It’s sad and weird and creepy. Also, not very Jedi-like, as they’re all about letting go and moving on. And while Obi-Wan has loads of attachments for a Jedi, I’d rather think he’d have moved on 15 years after a break-up.

As for the kid. I can see why it would be a fun theory and why people feel it’s the showrunners leaving the door open, though maybe less so than with the relationship itself. But any arguments pro are soooo flimsy.

He’s the right age. Yes, but so is Ahsoka. The ep we met him in had Ahsoka teaching cadets like him. They were peers, agemates. The story needed someone that age with a connection to Satine. Kind of Doylist, but yeah.

He has the right hair color. Blond with a reddish tint. Yes, but Bo Katan who is actually related to Satine has red hair too. So it runs in the family.

Satine has no siblings aside from Bo Katan that we know of so why would he call her ‘auntie’? Alright, most important part of that sentence there is *that we know of*.

Also, since when do only actual aunts get called ‘auntie’. Lots of cousins or even family friends get that title.

Because let’s run with the idea that it is Obi-Wan’s kid and she came home pregnant. Did she try to pass it off as Bo Katan’s? That seems unlikely, pretty sure she was already in Death Watch. Also, why would Bo Katan being a young single mom be less of a scandal?

So, who did she pass the kid off to? If she’d kept him, there’d have been no reason for the ‘auntie’. If we don’t think there’s another sibling, there’s no reason either. Except, if maybe it’s someone else in the family who took him, and it’s a term of endearment! It just sounds nicer than ‘cousin Satine’, doesn’t it?

Yes, that sounds like a reasonable explanation. BUT THEN WHY CAN’T THE KID SIMPLY *BE* A COUSIN WHO CALLS HER AUNTIE?! Why does it have to be her and Obi-Wan’s kid that they’re passing off as a cousin who calls her auntie?!

As for why they’re close, maybe they just get along? Maybe he’s the one being groomed as her heir? Who even says they’re all that close?

I have no idea why this bugs me so much, but it really does. This theory becoming canon might be the one thing that would turn me off of SW. I guess I just don’t like the idea of Obi-Wan having kids in canon. I never liked the Rey Kenobi theory either. Obi-Wan’s first love and commitment is the Order, but I believe he’d drop it if he had a child. He was willing to leave for Anakin after all. So either he has no idea about Korkie because Satine kept it from him? Because he didn’t want to know? Or he did know but just didn’t care, and that’s not Obi-Wan IMO.

Ship what you like, have fun with headcanons, truly. I have mine, obviously. But I really dislike the attitude for this that it’s what makes the most sense and it will/should happen and OMGtotallycanonguys.

Anyway, I’m going to blacklist the Korkie tag.

[smallblueandloud]

thoughts on episode ii

subtitled let’s fix attack of the clones!!: anakin edition

i came out of this movie really not shipping anakin and padme. he is selfish, awkward, and distracting - and she should too busy to consider a romance.

the prequels are trying to tell two stories (anakin’s fall and the fall of the republic) and it barely tries to link them, instead just spending time on the boring, clunky one (anakin) at the expense of the more interesting one (the republic/the clones, represented in this movie by obi-wan), which seems like it’s missing vital conversations.

but this post is about anakin and anakin/padme. so let’s get started.

this movie, at least in terms of anakin’s development, suffers from middle-of-trilogy syndrome. nothing really happens. his mother dies (oh my GOD) and he angsts about it for a while, commits mass murder, and then jumps right back to pursuing his terrible “romance” with padme.

i mean, there are NO lasting effects of his mother’s death. he learns no coping techniques, feels no real emotions about it...

shmi was done dirty in general though. the idea of her marrying the guy that bought her is pretty icky. i’m becoming more and more fond of fialleril’s headcanon that shmi meets beru and adopts her as her daughter. cliegg is nothing but owen’s offscreen father.

i mean, that would’ve been SO MUCH BETTER, even if you keep the whole shmi-dying-solely-to-cause-her-idiot-son-pain. WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT. why spend all of episode i talking about freeing the slaves and then do absolutely nothing about it??

picture shmi, her adoptive daughter beru, and her adoptive daughter’s boyfriend owen (who really isn’t sure how he got involved in this but isn’t complaining) running an underground slave-freeing operation.

not sure how this would tie into the movie, plot-wise or anakin-development-wise, because yeah, you do need to start getting nervous around this kid. (I MEAN, IN MY PLAN FOR THE PHANTOM MENACE, YOU WOULD’VE STARTED THIS IN THE VERY BEGINNING BY USING A SLIGHTLY WORRYINGLY COMPETENT AND BRUTAL 14-YEAR-OLD, NOT THE PREPUBESCENT NONSENSE WE GOT. but regardless.)

i guess you’d need anakin and padme to be hanging at on naboo, in her lake house (god padme’s so freaking bougie), and padme asks how anakin’s mom is.

queue the obligatory “oh, haha, i don’t actually,,,, know??”

padme proposes that since they have no duties and she’s actually bored out of her mind, they should go visit shmi. anakin protests for about two seconds before realizing a) there’s no stopping her, and b) he’d actually kinda like to see his mom.

(padme has some ulterior motives besides wanting anakin to see his goddamn mom again. she wants to buy her freedom, since she’s actually prepared with real funds this time, and she wants to ask her advice on helping out with abolition, since she and sabe had failed miserably when they tried on their own. [this is canon, go read queen’s shadow if you haven’t already because it’s an excellent book.] we love women acknowledging other women’s expertise!! padme has grown a lot and wants to stop being so core world-y.)

so anyways, they go there, meet shmi (who’s already freed herself, thanks so much), and beru and owen. anakin, because he has had no emotional support network since he was nine goddamn years old, is jealous, but does his best to keep it under wraps.

at some point, while anakin and padme are helping out with the freedom trail, and someone (not sure who) gets a little violent with shmi.

anakin... goes ballistic, we’ll say. it gets violent. he gets harsh. it’s an overreaction, but shmi manages to calm him down.

(padme, on the other hand, is frightened. she takes a step back the next time anakin turns to her. but she manages to hold it down until later.)

the flighty escapee that beru is operating on goes into hysterics. shmi pulls anakin outside and tells him, quietly, that she’s so overjoyed to see him but that she thinks he needs to be getting on his way.

padme, meanwhile, gets pinged on her communication device. obi-wan has contacted them, just like he did in canon.

also, there’s some kind of beru&anakin moment, or maybe a beru&padme moment. just a conversation of some kind, for uber talented gifset-makers to gif and put alongside beru talking to luke so i can be destroyed emotionally.

this serves several purposes.

the movie feels more emotionally coherent. anakin doesn’t jump from awkward flirting to mass murder to making out with his girlfriend.

shmi gets some closure.

we’re introduced to beru, who clearly meets anakin and padme.

we get to see the little people making a difference, which is a huge theme in star wars. this can act as a foil to the hugely ineffective senate.

padme gets the opportunity for some character growth (she’s my wife and all but she’s so bougie).

we get to see anakin be dark, over something.... sorta understandable?? and it doesn’t quite make us think he should be locked up (unlike murder) (except the movie says it’s okay because they’re just sand people and i really don’t like the implications of that). also, we can see the inherent tragedy of someone who needs so much community support being “”chosen”” by the force to go into an order of emotionally private individuals (not that that isn’t a bad thing for someone like obi-wan, but it really isn’t good for anakin).

AND I HAVEN’T EVEN REALLY MENTIONED PADME. i have a wishlist for padme, and it boils down to: at least mention her relationship with sabe, show her being good at politics, let her have character development, don’t make her have to mother anakin, and oh by the way make her two-dimensional enough that her abandoning her ideals to get together with a jedi actually makes sense.

because like! i can believe she likes anakin! he’s an old friend, from a time that seems simpler in hindsight, and he’s in love with her and flirts awkwardly and makes jokes. i mean, the dialogue makes it impossible for anakin to seem remotely attractive, but we’ll leave it at the fact that padme desperately wants something simple and a relationship with anakin, paradoxically, looks like a winner.

but i want to see her like anakin. show, not tell, georgie boy!! all we see in the movie is her giggling at him and her rejecting him, and then her kissing him, and there’s really no falling in love.

because okay. they’re a fundamentally doomed relationship, total opposites who are both startlingly naive wrt their personal lives. so i accept that they’re not really in love - they’re just clinging to ideals of each other. well. at least padme is. she’s smart enough to recognize what she’s doing, but she pushes it down because she is forced to hold too much on her shoulders (BECAUSE THE SENATE DOESN’T WORK) and she needs something that is just for her.

look, i really need sabe in these movies, okay. this is unrelated to my humongous crush on keira knightley. i need padme to have a friend, someone she can express this to, who can look at her doubtfully when she says she’s in love with anakin, because we really need to drive in the idea of this being a tragedy and we can’t see it unless we see how goddamn foolish even padme “good choices” amidala is being.

also like. padme needs friends. and i firmly believe that the “mother” that leia remembers was sabe, who is actively involved in the rebellion during the OT. because like. i have emotions, and most of them come back to luke&leia.

i’m not sure i’d have them get married, but that’s just a matter of taste. and you have to admit the set of final shots - the victory with the clones, baby boba pressing his forehead to his dad’s helmet, the marriage - with the overlaid music is really something. i mean, there you have the myth stuff that george wanted. i vibe with it.

anyways. thank you for coming to my ted talk, part the second.

[onwardintolight]

In which Onward rereads the Thrawn Trilogy and writes a massive review (and some other related stuff)

Alright, so I know I said that the characterization vs. plot thing in new canon vs. Legends was a rant for another time, but I’ve been thinking about it nonstop since and I really need to get a few thoughts out, so I guess this is that time, lol.

I’ve recently been diving into some of the Legends books for the first time in years. Partly because I’ve started listening to audiobooks and can get a whole lot more reading done in a day than I was able to before, and partly... well, I’m just curious to revisit it. I read a number of books from the old EU as a kid, and I definitely had mixed feelings back then. On the one hand, I was delighted—more Star Wars! Yay! On the other hand are the mixed feelings, which have so faded from memory over time that all I can remember anymore is that I didn’t like how the books portrayed Leia.

So anyway, I’ve been curious to give some of them a shot again, and see what I think now (all except COPL. I’m never going back to that one). I started with two that have come on my radar through the Han x Leia fandom, Tatooine Ghost and Razor’s Edge. They were wonderful! I absolutely loved Tatooine Ghost, especially. Razor’s Edge was super fun and had some truly fantastic moments (including some unforgettable shippy ones), but it felt more plot-driven than I tend to prefer (give me ALL the deep character stuff!). Despite that, I still loved it. I already own Tatooine Ghost and I plan to get my own copy of Razor’s Edge, too.

Then I decided to revisit the Thrawn trilogy. 

Oh boy.

Before I dive into that, though, I first want to say that I have many friends on here for whom the old EU is their Star Wars. I have the utmost admiration for you all, and I mean no disrespect. I support you in this being your Star Wars 100%. I’m not seeking to get into any big arguments or flame wars. In fact, I will put most of my ranting about Heir to the Empire et al under a cut, so please feel free not to engage if that sort of thing bothers you. 

Honestly, I’m a big fan of focusing on positivity in fandom, of focusing on what I love and not harassing others who enjoy things I don’t. That being said, I do support a good critique. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not trying to force my views on anyone, but I can certainly express them in my own space and support other people’s right to express theirs in their space. What better space to do so than on my tumblr?

Before I go under the cut, I have one last question for my old EU stans. Based on my enjoyment of Tatooine Ghost and Razor’s Edge, and knowing I’m a particular sucker for character-driven stories, especially if they involve Leia and Han (and/or their ship), are there any other Legends books you’d recommend? Please let me know because I would love to discover more of that goodness!

Now, onto the Thrawn trilogy....

(It probably goes without saying, but major spoilers ahead)

.

.

Disclaimer: I’m sorry if I get some of the details wrong; I listened to the audiobooks and don’t have access to the books themselves right now so i’m writing out all these thoughts from memory

About Leia

So, it turns out that little me was right. Older me had the exact same reaction upon reading the Thrawn trilogy. What the heck did Zahn do to Leia? She seemed so diminished, shrinking. Hardly like Leia at all. If I had been reading a physical book, I would have been tempted to throw it numerous times.

First of all, she was set aside almost entirely for the first book. Despite the fact that the Empire was looking for Luke too, Luke got to be free and keep roaming the galaxy, doing his thing, and Leia was forced into hiding. If I remember right, it wasn’t really her choice (I believe it was Han who refused to take her no for an answer), nor did she argue it much. She just kind of followed the men in her life and let them do all the leading and galaxy-saving. Sounds a lot like Leia, right? *rolls eyes* Overall, she didn’t do much, and she didn’t have any part in the big climactic battle. 

(On another note this reminds me a little of one of Zahn’s new canon books, Thrawn Alliances. SPOILER ALERT: at a key moment, Thrawn pleads with Padme to talk with Anakin and try to convince him not to do something really terrible and disastrous that probably will result in people dying, and Padme basically just sighs, throws up her hands and says something like “It’s no use. When he gets this way no one can convince him of anything” and I just want to SCREAM BECAUSE NO THAT’S NOT THE FREAKING PADME I KNOW AND SERIOUSLY???)

Anyway. *calms down* 

In Dark Force Rising, Leia had a much more interesting plotline as she wins the allegience of the Noghri. I liked her better here, and she seemed a tiny bit more like the Leia I know. But it still just felt... lackluster. 

In The Last Command, she’s once again pushed to the side thanks to the men in her life making the decisions in the name of protecting her. True, I understand that for the majority of these books, she’s been pregnant, and so it’s not just about protecting her, but about protecting the twins. But that didn’t stop her from doing what she felt she needed to in Dark Force Rising. And in this book, she’s already given birth. Winter’s there; she can take care of the twins (as she eventually does). When the heroes assemble and go to Wayland for the big climax of the trilogy, she’s convinced by the men to stay behind (*cue me throwing imaginary book across the room*). Honestly, it felt contrived for the sake of the plot (she has to be there for what happens next) and more than a little bit sexist. 

She does eventually go, however, which made me want to cheer. I would have hated it way more if she hadn’t gotten to participate in the big last battle with C’baoth, particularly in light of the way the books had set her up as a Jedi-in-training (not very far along, but still). I was excited because surely this must mean she plays a big part in that, right? 

...She does not. She basically shows up and then gets trapped, doing hardly anything. Plot-wise, she’s pretty much there to provide an extra lightsaber and moral support of the Force-user variety. I’m glad she got to be there, but... yeah, overall, I’m really not happy with how these books treated my favorite character, and one of the actual main characters of the OT. It kind of felt like she was replaced by Mara, tbh. Which leads me to...

About Mara

Mara, like Leia used to be, is a very angry person, and for good reason. But her anger came off in these books as rather petulant and irrational. Once again, it felt a bit sexist. I hope I’m wrong, but the trajectory seems to be a trope that Leia has already been subject to (in ROTJ, as much as I love that movie, and with the job finished in this trilogy): Soften the angry woman. Make her pleasant and pliable and a little bit subservient. Legends fans, PLEASE tell me this doesn’t happen to Mara. I hope she continues to be a sarcastic, independent woman who takes no sh*t. I hope she loses none of her power, even as she loves and marries Luke. 

Mara had probably the biggest character arc of this entire trilogy. Unfortunately, that isn’t saying much. I really felt like her story had a lot of potential and could have been really compelling, but Zahn just doesn’t seem to know how to write characters with depth. In the end, her big moment of throwing off the Emperor’s power over her honestly just felt kind of contrived and shallow. Oh look, here’s a clone of Luke she can kill instead. That will magically make it all go away. Convenient. 

I wanted to love her. I think I probably could love her, if I read good fanfic. The problem is that the source material leaves all depth to the imagination.

About Everything Else

I mentioned that Mara seems to have the biggest character arc, but that wasn’t saying much. I had a lot of trouble distinguishing any other character arcs at all. The characters all seemed to be caught up in this big plot, carried along with it and deposited victorious at the end, without any obvious growth or change (except, again, for Mara). 

I suppose you could say that Luke learned to stand on his feet without the help of Ben’s Force ghost. But that was given such minor emphasis that I didn’t even think of it until this moment, weeks after finishing the book. 

Aside from my rage at the misogyny, I think this gets to the heart of why I disliked these books. The motivations and emotional/personal journeys of the characters are of utmost importance to me. To me, they’re the whole point. When a book is all plot and little character, I just... don’t care. It doesn’t feel real or relevant. It doesn’t show me that I can slay dragons, too.

I know that theoretically, I could imagine those character journeys. I could fill in the blanks in my mind, or through fic. I have a big imagination; I’m really pretty good at such things.

But tbh, when it comes to these books, I don’t even want to. To me, the plot itself felt pretty lackluster. I keep using the word “contrived” but it fits so well. Things happened and decisions were made that didn’t make much sense, just so the plot could go the way Zahn wanted it to. Now of course the same argument could be made for new canon (particularly, imho, the ST movies), but at least with new canon, there’s a deliberate and largely persistent focus on character. (And less sexism.) 

Other complaints: 

- I got sick of C’baoth in the first book. His villainy was not the least bit fearful or intimidating. His nearly prevailing over the heroes at Wayland felt more accidental than anything.

- Don’t get me started on stupid Bel Iblis and his stupid hurt manly pride that the women in power have to coddle and bow down to before he will lift a finger to help during a genuine EMERGENCY when he was desperately NEEDED (*cue me throwing the imaginary book across the room yet again*) (I think Leia would have had a few more choice words for him than she did in this book. They instantly presented themselves to my mind, at least)

- I can understand why Thrawn was such a big deal when these books first came out, but I think Thrawn is kind of oversaturated these days, and tbh I’m kind of sick of him (I’m going to blame the more recent canon Thrawn trilogy for that). While I like a good Sherlock Holmes mystery, I’m not too big on admiring that sort of “man as a machine” type character. Rationality is not everything, not by a long shot. It is empty and, frankly, shortsighted on its own. The best part about Thrawn’s story in these books for me was seeing him make mistakes (actual mistakes! yay!) and meet his end, perhaps in part due to that over-reliance on rationality and arrogance in his own abilities.

A few things I did like:

- another main female character, yay! Two if you count Winter

- I thought Talon Karrde was an enjoyable character and I’d love to see more of him

- I remember loving the vornskrs as a kid and a little bit of that adoration returned when I read this, bringing with it all sorts of happy nostalgia

- some parts of the plot were fun and exciting, and I could understand why they might feel iconic and Star Wars-y to others

Overall, however, I think Thrawn as a character kind of represents these books as a whole. It’s all very cerebral and practical. There’s art but it only serves the purpose of the rational. To me, these books felt like they were all mind, no soul.

I know that those of you who hold these books dear may disagree, and that’s fine. Honestly, despite my serious problems with them, I don’t hate these books. I might even read them again someday, maybe. I may be convinced to appreciate them more once I read people’s headcanons and hear what people love about it. So with that said, what DO you love about it? Where do you see these books’ soul?