#atoc canon divergence

[palfriendpatine66]

WIP Wednesday - (sad tooka cat au)

I’m kind of in a weird place writing but since we’re all swimming with Anakin thoughts here’s baby padawan Anakin in what’s quickly becoming my personal favorite work Gesi Means Peace

Obi-Wan was going to be so mad.

Anakin scrubbed at his prickling eyes as he made his way deeper into the maintenance corridors of the Temple. He was supposed to be learning control. But one small slip and he had Force pushed an initiate into the wall, knocking them unconscious and shattering the delicate glass artwork that had been on display.

No, actually, Obi-Wan wouldn’t be mad. Anger was the path to the dark side and Obi-Wan Kenobi, of course, had far more control than that. His Master would probably express his disappointment loudly, via lecture, over several hours.

Anakin preferred that option; it would be worse if his Master’s face got that pinched look that showed how hard he was working to maintain his perfect Jedi control, to keep his features arranged in a careful mask of serenity that hid just how frustrated he was with his Padawan. That Anakin lost control so easily - again. That he had such difficulty managing his emotions and following the Code.

Anakin wasn’t just embarrassed by his actions, he was afraid. Afraid that one day Obi-Wan would see the truth - that all his training wouldn’t be enough to turn Anakin into what a Jedi was supposed to be.

He continued deeper into the twisting maze of maintenance access, catwalks and machines that kept the Temple running. It was warm down here, and the heat and noise from the machinery was a comfort to him. The Temple was too cold, too quiet. He longed for the heat of home - something he hadn’t thought he would ever miss. He missed the rumbling noise of the market, the shops nearby, ships landing and taking off in the distance.

Anakin curled up on a platform tucked into a corner and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes until he saw stars. Obi-Wan said it would take time. That he couldn’t expect to learn overnight, or even in a year, what the others had been learning since they could talk. That no one expected perfection of him, and all that he needed was to give his best.

But he didn’t dare ask the question that haunted his thoughts: What if his best wasn’t good enough?

[theloneliestshipper]

I was gonna message you but I decided to post it for more participants: what do you see as personality divergences between “classic” (old EU) Boba and the Mandalorian? I’ve got ideas but I wanna hear yours!

Oooooooh yes. You know how much I love to talk about the old EU. Let’s just keep this post going until the end of tumblr. 

So Boba’s original design and character borrow heavily from gunslinger tales and old westerns. Most of the old EU novels and comics stick to that script. No home, no family, no face. Whatever backstory he has is destined to be both tragic and irrelevant, because he’s a Lone Gunman traveling from spaceport to spaceport with nothing to tie him down.

There were scattered attempts to expand Boba’s character by giving him an ex-wife, a moral code, a funny best friend (hi Dengar) and so on, but there wasn’t a lot of narrative consistency. Every story was kind of a reset that didn’t always connect to the one before it. The Lone Gunman trope is both iconic and kind of a trap if you can’t expand beyond it. 

I think The Mandalorian is intentionally trying to avoid that trap with their main character. The fact that he has a culture and a community and we’ve already seen flashbacks to his Traumatic Childhood Event makes it more New Canon Boba Fett if, you know, Boba Fett actually had a whole backstory from the start instead of four backstories in a trench coat. 

We’re only 3 episodes in, but to me TM is a tasty sandwich of Old Canon bread and original filling. He fits the trope, but also subverts it by making friends and adopting orphans. I’m very interested to see where his story goes.