#because he is a perfect example of what it means to be a jedi

[fellthemarvelous]

I want to talk about Obi-Wan and Maul

This might end up being kind of long so bear with me, and my thoughts are kind of all over the place and possibly slightly incoherent.

Maul and Obi-Wan had a rivalry that was insanely brutal. (More under the cut.)

Maul survived being cut in half by Obi-Wan and ended up going insane, no longer connected to reality and living in the sewers for many years. Once Savage took him back to Dathomir and the Nightsisters "fixed" him, he found clarity again and became wholly fixated on Obi-Wan, the only person he had any connection to from his past. He hated all Jedi, but there was no one he hated more than Kenobi.

Obi-Wan, for his part, was horrified to learn that Maul had survived considering Obi-Wan had cut him in half.

Their rivalry is probably one of my favorites in all of Star Wars.

Maul was bloodthirsty, vengeful, and full of rage.

Obi-Wan was the opposite. He was kind, compassionate, took no pleasure from killing others, and loved unconditionally.

And one thing Obi-Wan eventually came to understand about Maul was that Maul had not had a good life. He recognized that Maul was raised to be the person he was because of the cruelty of Darth Sidious.

The Nightsisters handed baby Maul over to Darth Sidious to be trained in the ways of the Sith. Darth Sidious, who is famously cruel and diabolical. Darth Sidious, who raised Maul to be expendable because Maul was just a means to an end for Sidious.

Maul who never grew up experiencing love. He never experienced kindness or compassion. He was raised to be an assassin, a cold-blooded killer, doing anything and everything Sidious asked of him.

And he eventually understood that he had been nothing more than a tool for Sidious.

So he was angry. Alone. Full of hate. And wanted revenge.

And his anger at Obi-Wan was more than just him losing his legs. Obi-Wan caused him to lose the only life he knew. He had no guidance once Sidious was finished with him.

The only life he knew was one of cruelty. He'd never bonded with anyone until he met Savage.

And when Sidious killed Savage, Maul was alone again. (Ironically, Sidious killed Savage the same way Maul had killed Satine like five minutes prior.)

He had no one on his side again.

He tried to connect with Ahsoka, and then with Ezra years later.

But still, more than anything, he wanted to break Obi-Wan the same way that he himself was broken. He wanted to see Obi-Wan lose control and become like him. He was almost successful when he forced Obi-Wan to watch him kill Satine.

But Obi-Wan proved to be unbreakable even in that moment, and Maul's obsession only became stronger, along with his rage.

Maul was unable to comprehend love, and it drove him crazy that Obi-Wan had actually tried to connect with him in the moments leading up to Satine's death. Obi-Wan had tried to show Maul compassion and it infuriated Maul. He hated that Obi-Wan was trying to be kind to him.

Maul was a monster in every way, but he was also a victim raised under the cruelty of Darth Sidious and only knew how to be what Sidious had molded him into.

And on the other side we have Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite his sass and sharp wit, he is kind and loving. He loved being a Jedi and devoted his life to living by the Jedi code. And he may not have always gotten it right, but he never strayed from the core principles.

(And always be as dramatic as possible.)

I've seen some bizarre criticisms of Obi-Wan that have me scratching my head. His attachment to Anakin, for one, like there isn't a rich and complicated history behind their relationship in the first place.

He's criticized for not killing Anakin so clearly Vader's reign of terror is somehow Obi-Wan's fault.

Let's examine all of this a bit closer.

We often joke about the fact that Obi-Wan has a vast collection of dismembered body parts, but Obi-Wan does not like killing others. He kills when he has no other option.

He prefers to disarm his opponents, quite literally. He cut off Zam Wessell's hand instead of killing her even though she was about to kill him. He just wanted answers. She had no real way of fighting back because he had injured her.

He disarmed the man who was threatening Luke in the cantina in A New Hope. He didn't kill him though. It's not like he was a major threat.

And on Mustafar, he couldn't bring himself to kill Anakin. He cut off one of Anakin's arms and both of his legs, an action that tore him apart because he loved Anakin so much. Anakin was defenseless at that point, and he was also completely on fire thanks to the lava. No part of him imagined that Anakin could have survived being burned alive, and he spent the next ten years hating himself for leaving Anakin to die until he learned that Anakin not only survived but was incredibly angry with him and wanted to kill him.

Just like Maul.

Obi-Wan did not like the idea of killing. At all.

And perhaps it was his attachment to Anakin Skywalker that brought the galaxy to its knees, but that attachment was because he and Anakin had always had a confusing relationship.

Let's take into consideration the fact that Obi-Wan, at the end of The Phantom Menace and only 25-years-old, had just watched his Master die at the hands of Darth Maul, subsequently killed Darth Maul (but not as much as he thought he had), been given the title of Jedi Knight, and taken on nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker (almost immediately after being knighted), a boy who had just been freed from slavery and had to leave his mother behind to pursue a life as a Jedi because being a Jedi had always been his dream.

Then maybe take into account the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi was grieving the loss of Qui-Gon while Anakin struggled with being away from Shmi for the first time in his life. Obi-Wan didn't just train Anakin in the ways of the Jedi, he raised Anakin. He treated Anakin like a brother while Anakin said Obi-Wan was the closest thing he ever had to a father. Obi-Wan has always been good with children, and it's only natural that he would take on a parental type of role despite the fact he was only 16 years older than Anakin. He loved Anakin the way a brother would, and it did blind him to some of Anakin's more concerning habits, but Anakin also kept his biggest sins a secret because he was ashamed of himself, and he never wanted to know what it felt like to have Obi-Wan be disappointed in him.

Their relationship was messy because they were attached to each other, but Obi-Wan still did his best to teach Anakin. It had been Qui-Gon's final wish for him to train the boy, and Obi-Wan trusted his master.

So it was his attachment to Anakin that prevented him from killing Anakin aka Darth Vader, but it was very in character for him to choose not to do so. He always believed there were other ways to fight back.

And in the end, not killing Anakin had been the right choice. Anakin is the one who defeated Sidious (at the cost of his own life too) in an act of love for his son Luke and returned balance to the Force.

Obi-Wan didn't want to kill Maul either, but Maul gave him no choice. Maul was now a threat to Luke.

Maul lived a tormented, lonely life because he was never able to come to terms with the pain and anguish he'd experienced as a child that turned him into the monster he was throughout the rest of his life.

Obi-Wan (Ben) was able to rise above the suffering he'd endured and made peace with what had happened during and after the Clone Wars. He was so very much connected to the Force by this point because he had finally been able to let go of the tragedies of his past.

When he defeated Maul, he didn't treat it as a victory. He cradled Maul in his arms the same way he had held Qui-Gon and Satine when they died by Maul's hand.

He offered compassion to Maul despite Maul's atrocities, and in doing so, allowed Maul to experience peace for the first time in his long life.

In his final moments, he was treated with the dignity he had never given any of his victims.

And I think, in the end, Maul finally understood what he had been deprived of his entire life.

Obi-Wan was a true Jedi. He might have made a few errors along his journey, like everyone else does. He proved he was a master not by his skills with a lightsaber but by his ability to show compassion to those who don't necessarily deserve it because they are the ones who usually need it the most.

Star Wars Rebels gave us such beautiful closure to a rivalry that spanned decades.

[charmwasjess]

If there’s a legit good reason why Qui-Gon chose to specialize in form IV, Ataru, the Hawkbat lightsaber form, aside from the simple, likely fact that he did it to troll his old Master Dooku (who outright calls the acrobatics of the form “ridiculous,”) I’d like to hear it. By which I mean I’ll write you a post about it.

Ataru is fast, aggressive, and inclined to treat the battlefield as a 3D space where the air is just as comfortable a place to be as on your own two feet. A direct response to Soresu, the “defense is my attack” form, Ataru flips that into “attack is my defense.” (We won’t talk about Makashi’s contribution to the conversation: “no defense whatsoever, but think fast, I just threw a dinner fork at you so hard it stuck in your metal arm!”) 

Of course, the most recognizable and classic application of Ataru is Yoda’s; we see him whizzing around people’s heads like a little green hummingbird in his AotC and RotS duels. Qui-Gon’s version looks nothing like that. If we weren’t told, I think it would be hard to guess that those characters are using the same form. In Duel of the Fates, Qui-Gon has to move down or over those infamous walkways repeatedly. He just jumps them: no flips, no aerial maneuvers, no bouncing off the walls. And this isn’t simply a practical choice for his age and build: Jocasta Nu is running up walls and leaping out of skyscrapers at easily aged 40 years older than Qui-Gon, and for all Dooku’s bitching over Ataru acrobatics, he does more flips to simply avoid walking down a few stairs than Qui-Gon, Master of the flip form, does in his entire time on screen. 

And yet, on some level, all of that makes perfect sense for Qui-Gon. Who better to completely subvert a form? This is a character who is contrary as fuck, full of wonderful contradiction, who blends lightsaber theory centered on attack and aggression with literal meditation. While the most notable scene, actually kneeling in the pose and everything, is in TPM, he does battle meditation repeatedly on a mental level in the Master and Apprentice and Padawan novels. (And it rightfully freaks out Obi-Wan.) Qui-Gon takes Ataru’s “your whole body is a weapon” and doesn’t apply that to somersaults, but rather, to moves like punching Darth Maul off a balcony as we see him do in Duel of the Fates. He fights in a way that throws himself bodily up against obstacles. You can see the same physicality of his relationship with his weapon in the scene where he is simply burning through the blast doors in TPM. We’ve seen Jedi cut through things on screen other times, but that scene is remarkable and memorable for Qui-Gon’s level of intensity. He is the battering ram. 

And we could loop back into lineage, couldn’t we? Qui-Gon stands in a line of Jedi with unconventional relationships to their lightsaber forms; their choices are formed in context of and in conversation with each other. Those backward, momentum-gaining swings from Duel of the Fates look very familiar, but who trained Qui-Gon? (And who notoriously had a problem with Ataru and might've pushed his student on some workarounds or encouraged him to cut out bits he didn't like, such as aerials?) And speaking of, is it a stretch to think that Dooku’s own casual backflips are less a considered choice and more an old habit, being himself trained by a Master who has only a theoretical relationship with gravity? 

All this to enjoy just another example of how personal the lightsaber forms can be to specific Jedi, and what wonderful fun it is to unpack the ways they use them differently because of their unique personalities and lineage.

[david-talks-sw]

When 'Star Wars' dilutes the impact of a "Kurosawa samurai standoff"...

It's no secret that one of the major inspirations for Star Wars was Akira Kurosawa movies. The Hidden Fortress influenced the basic structure of the first film, was a basis for Lucas' character archetypes and his use of narrative POVs.

But, really, all of Kurosawa's films were an influence on the making of Star Wars. Including the duels seen in his and other samurai films from the 60s.

Dunno if you've seen a kendo fight, but they're pretty similar.

The duelists size each other up, and there's a lot of mind games going on before the strike actually happens.

If you hold your sword this way, the other guy adjusts his stance.

You move your foot that way, the adversary responds accordingly.

Cinematically, this process allows you to play with a whole treasure trove of elements to build up the drama and suspense. We see this slow-yet-tense approach to dueling reflected all over the Original Trilogy. And we've seen it again in recent Disney-released content.

The perfect and first real example of this in Star Wars is the fight between Ben Kenobi and Maul, in Rebels.

The tension increases more...

... and more until the two fighters move, the music swells...

... and then it reaches its climax.

Beautifully executed.

Dave Filoni's done his homework, it shows, and while it's an awesome homage, narratively it also holds weight. There's a reason why this fight is so quick:

This time, Obi-Wan isn't fighting to avenge the death of his master, he's not fighting to save his own life... he's fighting to protect Luke's. And that means there's no time to fuck about. He'll end the conflict swiftly and decisively, he won't let it come to a prolonged acrobatic fight. So he lures Maul in by making him think he's taking Qui-Gon's form, and strikes true when Maul, increasingly consumed by his own rage to the point of blindness, falls for it.

Again: a wonderful fight and an excellent homage.

Then we get to Luke's stand-off with Kylo on Crait, in The Last Jedi.

An interesting take on the trope, also with meaningful narrative impact. As Rian Johnson writes in the TLJ screenplay:

"This is not like a saber fight. This like an old-fashioned samurai duel."

Here too, the tension gets built up...

... and every time we're close to getting that climax, Luke dodges.

It leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction, which is exactly what Kylo is feeling as he boils with rage.

Suddenly, we do get the climax...

... and a twist. Luke was never actually there. Boom. Those inserts during the build-up phase? If you look at them again they're clues (Luke doesn't leave a mark on the ground, salt doesn't land on his clothes, etc). Luke wasn't engaging because he wasn't actually there, he was buying time for the Resistance to escape.

Okay. Cool.

Next time we see a "Kurosawa" duel... it's here, in The Mandalorian.

Again, a lot of posing, slow movements and patience, as is expected from the trope.

But we know nothing about the opponent Ahsoka is fighting other than her name is Morgan... so no emotional impact, there.

At some point, Ahsoka loses a lightsaber. The apprentice to the Chosen One is struggling against some rando.

We find out later on that Morgan is a Nightsister from Dathomir, and that's cool... but we already know how Jedi-trained folks fare against the Dathomiri.

If you ask me, it feels like manufactured stakes. But that's beside the point. In fact, y'know what? It's fine.

Though the impact of this duel isn't as great as its predecessors, the whole episode is filled with visual homages to Kurosawa's work.

It makes sense that the duel would be too. Also it's the first time we're seeing Ahsoka in live action, in a lightsaber duel, the hype is real. Let's cut 'em some slack.

So we come to the series Ahsoka... where almost every duel in the the show has the Kurosawa posturing and tip-toeing and... I dunno. I was bored?

Like, the primary purpose of this approach to duels is that it's meant to be suspenseful and intense... and now it's not.

Because we know Ahsoka is gonna beat the crap outta these droids...

... so why even bother faking some semblance of "what's her next move gonna be?" suspense? There's a hole right behind her, gee, I truly wonder.

Oh, you think putting her against an Inquisitor's gonna make us fear for her life, wonder if she's gonna get outta this situation unscathed?

She was wiping the floor with two of them at the same time, a decade prior. At 17, she was killing Inquisitors while disarmed.

Do you really expect your audience to fear for her life in a fight against Marrok?

So we get to the fight with Baylan, and the posturing and studying opponent's next move would be welcome here (two Order 66 survivors, knew Anakin, both well-trained former Jedi)...

... if we hadn't literally seen that same dynamic with Marrok who, again, we knew was gonna die.

No tension was built in either moment, the only thing it achieved was me pressing >> on my keyboard.

It's not captivating anymore, it's just slow and un-dynamic.

Bottom line:

Tributes to Kurosawa are nice. They're part of what makes Star Wars what it is. But c'mon, we get it already.

Lightsaber duelists don't need to tiptoe around each other and change poses at every fight. Because when the actually meaningful duels come up (like the one with Baylan), the impact will be lessened.

The "Kurosawa samurai duel" is artistic and interesting, but it should be used sparingly in order to maintain its charm and not get old and trope-y. AKA too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.

DC

What Does it Mean When Your Son Comes Home with Plans for a Death Ray? Asking for a Friend by PrinceJakeFireCake

Basically the title.

Excerpt: “What does it mean when a young man comes home with plans to create a death ray so he can frame Luthor for plagiarism?” Bruce asked anyway, because maybe one of them knew.

There was a long silence. Bruce waited patiently.

“What?” Clark and Diana asked, at the exact same time.

“You know what? Never mind,” Bruce sighed, wearily. “He’s probably just at that age."

Clone Wars

: (Is to) :: (As) by TamerLorika

Cody's General was a perfect example for the men. He ate regularly. He was punctual with his medical appointments. Kenobi socialized with his officers, hosted curated office hours for the rank-and-file, walked the field hospitals during engagements, and made time every Centaxday to review escalated grievance reports.

He was there for his men—but always at the exactly appropriate arm’s length away and half step ahead.

.

Cody notices that Kenobi's regard for himself is always clinical and utilitarian. As he ponders a way to break the stalemate, he begins to learn more about the lightsaber that is so often in his hands, and how it relates to the subject of Kenobi's own soul.

The Exception by Threebea O (ThreeBea)

Cody gets a new Jedi assigned to the 212th Attack Battalion after he is forced to execute his last one. He has enough experience to know how this new Jedi will behave.

But the Sith Slayer proves himself to be the exception to all of Cody's expectations.

Cody leads his unit, fights a multi-front war, and tries to figure out JM-031.

All for the Game

No straighter path than to struggle by otatop

Neil is sick and it's fine until it's not.

There's a lot of soup.

if you saw my darkest parts by KweenDay

When you meet your soulmate, you share your dreams. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.

Jeremy knows he's met him—his soulmate—when he starts sharing his dreams. But those aren't just any dreams. They're all dark and violent, nightmares that make Jeremy suffocate. And Riko Moriyama is in all of them. Jeremy narrows it down to one person—Kevin Day. Except, Kevin already knows his soulmates (plural?), and Jeremy isn't one of them. So why is the universe fucking with him? And why is Jean Moreau looking at him like that?

//Soulmate AU in which you share your soulmate's dreams after you meet them in person.

soleil / sans soleil by electric_typewriter

Jean is slowly learning how to live as a Trojan with the support of his teammates friends. There are better days, and worse. A bad day leads to a conversation with Coach Rhemann. Some uncomfortable questions have to be asked.

SVSSS

Luo Binghe's Guide to Winning a Bride by Meriglass

Five years have passed since the events of the Immortal Alliance Conference, and Luo Binghe is nowhere to be seen. Shen Qingqiu is beginning to fear the worst. That his dearly beloved, golden halo protagonist really did die in the Endless Abyss. Otherwise, why wouldn't he have come to enact his revenge by now?

Meanwhile, Luo Binghe is alive and well. He's just sulking in the Demon Realm.

In which Shen Qingqiu is kidnapped and placed as the official bride prize for a demon battle tournament, and it's up to Luo Binghe to enter undercover in order to save him.

[gffa]

I have noticed that there is a weird contradiction in fandom in which swaths of it do not like the Jedi Order(tm) but like a lot of individual Jedi who have dedicated their lives to it (Obi-Wan being the biggest example for me personally but also Luke, Plo Koon, Ahsoka, whoever) so that means that the genuine love, pride, and importance that the Jedi has for them is completely erased or even devalued in a lot of fanon. No offense to other people's personal head canons but as far as I'm concerned, Obi-Wan would neva denounce or go against the Jedi Order for anyone or anything short of the whole Council falling to the dark side in some monstrous Palpatine scheme, he simply Would Not Do That.

At a certain point, there forms a pretty consistent pattern of how so many of these Jedi that we love individually are pillars of their community, they're often well respected, placed in positions of authority in both the structure of the Jedi Order and in the narrative itself (people going to them for advice and the tone of the scene is that they're giving heartfelt advice) or even that they're on the Council itself. At a certain point, there forms a pretty consistent pattern of how these characters are shown to be upholding Jedi values and living their life dedicated to being a Jedi of the Jedi Order, that they're not dissatisfied with it, but instead are active participants in it and leaders of their people. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon and Kit Fisto and Depa Billaba are probably the four biggest examples of Jedi who are beloved--and all four of them are on the High Council and shown to be leaders of their people, who shape Jedi reactions, who are shown to love their people. Each of them has had moments of expressing that mistakes happen, that they're not perfect, they think other things should be done, but that at the end of the day, they're Jedi and they want to be Jedi of the Jedi Order. Even Luke, until he's in his depressive funk (that is said, via word of god, to have been Luke projecting personal failure into religion's failure) has always been shown to want to be a Jedi, to uphold Jedi values and ways. These are characters who genuinely find value in dedicating their lives to the Force and to their path as a Jedi and it's fine to not like the Jedi, I can't and won't stop people who disagree with me about it (I will make my case why I think racism and bias plays into a lot of it, but even then I'm making my case in my own lane, if you block me and never sneak onto my blog to read my posts, you'll never see me), I can't and won't stop other people from writing what they want about fictional characters in fanfic or whatever, but also there does come a point where it's a very consistent pattern that these Jedi we like are ones who just Would Not Say That. Obi-Wan is shown as, in nearly every piece of media he's ever been in, that he loves and supports the Jedi Order. Even when he said he would leave the Jedi Order, it wasn't because he wanted to walk away from them, but because he might personally have another path. You cannot divorce that moment from the massive scope of his larger story where he teaches both Anakin and Luke about Jedi values and tries to guide them on their Jedi path. Characters should have their own personalities, they sometimes say/do things that we disagree with and we can still like them, even if we disagree with what they're saying! Though, I will give fandom this: As a serial "I have read/mentally played out soooooo many scenarios where He Would Not Say That except He Is Going To Say That Because It Makes My Id Happy" enjoyer, I will never judge anyone for playing to their id. That's what one of the major points of fandom is even for--we're here to scratch that itch of "oooh brain go BRRRRRR when I make them say this". We have to let these people (by which I mean, you have to let me 😂) have their space for this, but also these people (by which I again mean me) have to recognize that sometimes we're playing to our ids and that's fine. (But also sometimes maybe be willing to think outside our id to see what biases we're playing into, even while recognizing fiction is not 1:1 to reality, like it's all a balancing game and each person is unique to what they feel they should do.)

[mwolf0epsilon]

Dogma is: A very compelling character who serves as a perfect example of what a clone trooper is expected to be in terms of conduct and unquestioning obedience, versus the reality of war and how one must adapt and reshape themselves to be more than an echo of the mold they came out of. The personification of the expectations of Kamino vs the stark truth that is the unpredictability of war and universe at large, and how survival means deconstructing yourself and building yourself back up on experience, hard lessons well learned, and seeking strength and guidance in others rather that digging your heels into the ground and being swept away in a landslide of horrors.

Dogma is: An intriguing character study, because while he clearly clings to his teachings of what it means to be a good cookie-cutter soldier, his beliefs of following the GAR's established command hierarchy and norms, and his staunch loyalty towards the Jedi who he and his fellow clones believe they were made for to serve no matter what (and thus should not be disobayed or disappointed in any way conceivable), he also clearly wants to establish himself as an individual (as shown by his attempts at altering his appearance to be recognizable in a crowd of his fellow clones) and does seem to hold the opinion of a select few (namely Tup and Rex) in much higher regard than that of his Jedi superiors, since it is them reaching out to him that gave him the most pause when things got rough.

Dogma is: Full of unexplored potential. A canvas ready to be painted on, a lump of clay that could become an intricate sculpture, a very curious muse that you could do so much with so long as you take a hold of the context of his story and truly took the time to flesh out a path for him to follow.

Dogma is: Very easy to depict in the most unfortunately unflattering way possible because he either looks constantly constipated in the scenes he's in, or stoned off his mind in behind the scenes material...

[212thghost]

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Maul: Perfect Character Foils, In My Opinion

buckle your seat belts this is gonna be a long ass yapfest.

To clarify, this is not a ship post.

for starters, a foil in media is a character that contrasts with another character. these characters are used to highlight the qualities of one or both character. a foil is, generally, an opposite.

Obi-Wan:

this might be controversial to say, but Obi-Wan is the best Jedi. by no means, am I saying that he is the strongest Jedi (though in my opinion he's up there), nor am I saying he is the ideal Jedi. when it comes to the adherence to the Jedi Code and Jedi morals, Obi-Wan excels in a way that others simply do not. He is not without flaws, but his qualities outweigh them.

-> for the sake of my sanity: Love ≠ Attachment -> The issue "Kanan 7" of the canon comic series Star Wars: Kanan offers a differing version of the Jedi Code which I will be using in this analysis as canon, mainly because I prefer it and view it as the more canon of the two. This Code states: "Emotion, yet Peace. Ignorance, yet Knowledge. Passion, yet Serenity. Chaos, yet Harmony. Death, yet the Force."

Emotion, yet Peace: Obi-Wan is not emotionless, he does not allow his emotions to rule him. It is something he had to work at, as seen in the comparison in how he wins Duel of the Fates, in which he uses his anger and despair to defeat Maul, and when he encounters Maul on Mandalore. When he reencounters Maul on Mandalore and Maul kills Satine, he does not lash out and recklessly attack Maul. He allows himself to feel the pain of losing Satine as he holds her as she dies, then is able to regain his sense of Peace and escape Mandalore. As seen in season 7, Satine's death still hurts, but he does not allow that pain to control his choices.

Ignorance, yet Knowledge: This goes without saying, but Obi-Wan is incredibly smart and wise. Though, he knows there is always more to learn. This is what makes him such a skilled duelist. Obi-Wan was not a naturally profoundly skilled fighter, but always kept training and learning and this is what caused him to be the powerful fighter we see in ROTS.

Passion, yet Serenity: The best example of this I believe is Obi-Wan's mental state on Tatooine during the Kenobi series. In the beginning of the series, the Obi-Wan we see is broken, drowning in his despair. By the end of the series, Obi-Wan has reconnected with the Force. Throughout the show, he was about to heal from (some) of the intense pain, guilt, and sadness that came from Anakin's Fall and was absolved of his guilt through Vader's words in the finale. He was able to see Qui-Gon once again through the serenity he found.

Chaos, yet Harmony: Despite the chaos that was the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan did not falter in his core morals and values. Though he became more skeptical of the the Council, he held fast in the morals that the Jedi should represent.

Death, yet the Force: Obi-Wan allows Vader to strike him down and become a Force Ghost. He does not fear death, he trusts in the Force.

Attachment: The best example is Obi-Wan defeating Anakin on Mustafar. Despite his love for his brother and best friend, Obi-Wan was able to strike down Anakin for the chance that the Republic would be saved. He loved him, but he was not willing to sacrifice the galaxy. This is most comparable to Anakin joining Palpatine to save Padme--his love had become possessive, even saying "I can't live without her"--and caused the fall of the Republic and genocide of the Jedi (not bashing on Anakin, i love him, but Anakin Critical). Similarly, Obi-Wan loved Satine and would have left the Order to be with her, but was able to let her go when she chose her duty as Duchess.

This code, as well as the Jedi's focus on conquering the inner Dark, is the baseline for Obi-Wan's character. He is kind and compassionate for all living things.

There are many, many, instances in Obi-Wan's life where he could have and even probably should have Fallen to the Dark Side. Yet he never does. He is tempted, but does not give in. This is best summed up by this quote:

"I think the real tragedy of Obi-Wan was that he deserved better. He played by the rules, he always strived to be better, to be kinder, to be wiser and he never let his friends down. And he lost everything he ever loved anyway. The greatest Jedi who ever lived, the man who sacrificed all that he had, all for a reward of nothing." -Eddie Curtis

Maul:

In perfect contrast to Obi-Wan, I think Maul is the perfect Clone Wars era Sith. Again, I don't think Maul is the strongest Sith, but in relation to the Sith philosophy, he's perfect.

The Sith Code: "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."

Passion, strength: Maul, in true Sith fashion, used his emotion to gain strength. His hatred for Obi-Wan kept him alive in junk pits for ~17ish years and allowed him to frankly beat the shit out of Obi-Wan in the Clone Wars episode Revenge (s4 ep22).

Strength, power: This one is self-explanatory, but is best shown by how Maul uses his strength to defeat Pre Viszla in the duel for the Darksaber. This duel and use of his strength allowed him to rule Mandalore for a brief period of time.

Power, victory: Using his power as ruler of Mandalore, Maul was able to lure Obi-Wan to Mandalore where he killed Satine, thus winning a victory over him. While he ultimately did not defeat Sideous, which was his overarching plan, he did not stop in his quest for victory over Obi-Wan.

Victory, freedom: Maul believed that killing Obi-Wan and enacting his revenge would satisfy him and became his purpose. He was consumed by his desire for victory.

Maul was ruled by his emotions, particularly his anger. Despite this, he was cold and calculating. Maul craved power and victory, and often had rage-fueled outbursts at the mere mention of Obi-Wan. -> While Sidious is the most successful Sith, Maul's raw rage and uncontrollable passion are what makes him a more perfect example of the Sith philosophy. Sidious has a strong control over his emotions while the Sith Code preaches unbridled emotion.

Foils:

Where Obi-Wan is the perfect Jedi, Maul is the perfect Sith.

These characters are inherently intertwined, as their first interaction causes a domino effect that makes them the people they become. If Maul was never cut in half by Obi-Wan, he likely would have been murdered by Sidious or a new apprentice (such as Dooku) when he was no longer useful to Sidious's plans. If Maul never killed Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan would not have trained Anakin and become the person we know him as. If you enjoy Legends, it is even possible Obi-Wan would never have been knighted, as Qui-Gon was willing to repudiate him to train Anakin. Both Obi-Wan and Maul were apprentices of a higher power, the Jedi and Sith respectively, and were tools in Sidious's plan. In the Duel of the Fates, they fight over Anakin's fate, with Maul both winning and losing. Both Obi-Wan and Maul are unaware of their impact on the galaxy, but their actions here change everything, including each other.

Their characters cannot exist without the other.

Where Obi-Wan is ruled by a serene mind, Maul is ruled by his emotions. Where Obi-Wan is kind, Maul is equally cruel. Where Obi-Wan loves, Maul hates. They are complete opposites of each other and only highlight the other's personality traits with each interactions. Everything one of them does, the other will inherently do the opposite.

Maul, in a sense, is a symbol of the Dark itself and Obi-Wan is the Light. Neither ever waver from their respective sides. (Mortis fans please don't attack me).

My favorite example of their mirroring is The Duel of the Twin Suns in the Rebels episode Twin Suns (s3 ep20). It is best explained by Sam Witwer, here.

This duel begins with Obi-Wan and Maul's typical opening stances, with Obi-Wan using Soresu and Maul activates both sides of his lightsaber. After a moment, Obi-Wan switches to the Ataru opening stance once used by Qui-Gon, knowing that Maul would attempt to kill him in the same way he killed Qui-Gon. He was correct. Obi-Wan has played that duel on Naboo over and over in his mind and Maul was so set in his ways that he fell right into the trap. Obi-Wan defeats Maul in about three moves when Maul attempted to hit him with the hilt of his saber like he did with Qui-Gon.

What stands out the most to me about this battle, is that Obi-Wan catches Maul and shows him compassion, going as far to close his eyes and even bury his body. Despite the fact Maul killed Qui-Gon, Satine, and was attempting to murder and humiliate him, Obi-Wan is kind to him in his final moments. In this moment, Obi-Wan is compassionate as Jedi should be and Maul was vengeful as Sith should be. They are, in a sense, the Twin Suns. Their characters are narrative twins, so opposite that they become similar.

TLDR:

Maul and Obi-Wan's actions shaped each other into the characters we know them to be starting with the Duel of the Fates.

[antianakin]

People know that Qui-Gon's "repudiation" of Feemor is COMPLETELY fanon, right? Like please tell me people know that that's not canon.

I mean, Feemor himself isn't canon anyway, the ONE THING he's actually appeared in was a comic from 2011 about Xanatos where he appears for TWO PAGES. All we learn is that he's Qui-Gon's Padawan from before Xanatos and that he was the son of a farmer and he seems relatively nice and polite. He and Qui-Gon seem to have a fairly positive relationship and one that's continued beyond Feemor's Knighting, including Qui-Gon asking Feemor to help him train his current padawan. Setting aside the weird timeline problems introduced by Feemor existing at all, the character is clearly there just to showcase Xanatos being a classist asshole and not much else.

That's ALL WE KNOW about Feemor within what little exists for him and he's not even a canon character to begin with. But the whole "repudiation" thing only exists because the writer of the comic, Scott Allie, presumably didn't consider that adding in another padawan before Xanatos would make some of the stuff Qui-Gon says (and doesn't say) in Jedi Apprentice seem really weird. For example, I'm pretty sure Qui-Gon explicitly claims Xanatos was his first padawan, which is a very strange thing to say if Feemor exists. And it makes his massive depression about Xanatos a little more questionable when he HAS an entire other padawan who was successfully trained to knighthood and seems like a perfect example of a Jedi.

I also just think it's kind-of in bad faith to assume that it's in character for Qui-Gon to have done something like this to someone he seems to care about. It's one thing for Qui-Gon to reject taking on a NEW padawan, that's a massive commitment that he's being asked to take on and one he clearly does not feel ready for and the person involved is a total stranger to him so he loses very little by saying no to Obi-Wan. It's a whole different thing for Qui-Gon to reject a FORMER padawan, what does this accomplish? It's not like he's still actively training Feemor, there's nothing being asked of him in this relationship that's a massive commitment on his part. We also don't see him completely reject any of his OTHER relationships from before Xanatos like Tahl or Yoda. And even with Obi-Wan, we see Qui-Gon do his best to let Obi-Wan down gently during the multiple times Obi-Wan tries asking Qui-Gon to accept him as an apprentice, Qui-Gon comes to Obi-Wan's rescue more than once, and he clearly does CARE about Obi-Wan's wellbeing despite how little time they've known each other and Obi-Wan's constant begging for something Qui-Gon has already said no to. So even at his WORST, it still doesn't suggest such a lack of care that he'd literally reject any and all association with a former Padawan he clearly cares about.

So for anyone using "what he did to Feemor" as a reason for why Qui-Gon sucks or is a bad master, please stop. It's not real, it's just fanon, and it's not even an accurate interpretation of the character.

[tremendouskoalachild]

Transcript (from about 0:27 on) under the cut

I've had a lot of Star Wars fans, and gamers in general, ask some pretty great questions about Bode and his motivations and why he does some of the things he does. So I figured I'd just share a little bit of some of the behind the scenes work that I do for a character like Bode. And let me say right off the bat: I'm a huge Star Wars fan but I don't pretend to be, like, a Star Wars academic – so if you want to come at me with how my headcanon is factually inaccurate, you're welcome to do so, it's not going to bother me, but that's not why I do it. I create these backstories because it gives me an emotional hook, so that Bode's emotional journey is honest, for me.

And I should also say, anything I say now isn't on any of the writers or anyone else on the Survivor team, this is all just my broken dumb brain. So, let's talk today about Ghost Star.

So, the song Ghost Star was introduced by one of the writers, Danny – mad genius Danny – pretty late in the sequence of things, and then brought to beautiful life by Tajinae, who plays Kata and is ridiculously talented. I'm very jealous. So, Danny had asked me in a session, would you feel comfortable singing a song as Bode? I don't sing, which may have become quite apparent if you play the game, but any chance for me to show and share more of who Bode is, stuff that you don't get to see in all the missions, I'm grateful for. So I was like, hell yeah. And I got this song titled Ghost Star, so the first thing I did was look up "ghost star", specifically looking for anything revolving around astronomy.

I don't know if this was Danny's thought from the get-go, I have never talked to him about it, but in my research I found that there is a theory being postulated that when you're looking up at the night sky and you see the sky just covered in stars, that there's actually a lot of astral bodies you're not seeing. Among them being ghost stars, which are stars with dark matter cores. Dark matter has gravity but never undergoes nuclear fission the way a normal star does, and therefore emits no light. So there are stars out there with tremendous gravity that are essentially invisible to the naked eye.

And I thought that was really beautiful and poetic, in a way, and then I started thinking about Bode and a question that arises a lot, which is: why does Bode not get found out by Cal, or Cere, or Cordova, these incredibly powerful Jedi?

That's a really good question, and it made me wonder if perhaps there is a rare contingent of individuals who have the ability to tap into the Force but don't emit a Force resonance like most people do – which is how a Jedi is able to tell that someone else is able to manipulate the Force. I mean, Emperor Palpatine is a perfect example of an incredibly powerful Force user who is literally standing right in front of Master Yoda and all the Masters on the Jedi Council, and they never know. So, maybe this is a rare trait that they share.

And that got me thinking, that would probably be something that you'd pick up on very early at the Jedi Academy as a youngling. And one of the things that Bode shares with Cal is that before Order 66 he worked in intelligence.

It would be a very powerful asset to be able to take an operative and insert them into situations where they can watch over Force users without that target knowing that he can manipulate the Force. Where would that be useful? Intelligence gathering, obviously, but also the Jedi equivalent of internal affairs. Jedi are incredibly powerful. And power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And if anyone's seen The Clone Wars, you know that there are very powerful “Jedi” that are not good. Pong Krell being a great example. I want to punch him, repeatedly.

So perhaps operatives like Bode were sent to gather intel and make sure that the Jedi out there were doing what they're supposed to be doing. One example. And, perhaps, his operative name was Ghost Star.

Order 66 happens, all hell breaks loose, everything that Bode has known burns to ash. He's on the run and somewhere on his journey he meets a wonderful woman named Tayala.

When you have to run and hide and constantly change locations for fear of being found, that's not something you can do with a significant other and not let them know what you're doing and why. So I'm sure Bode shares his past with Tayala. And then a while later, Kata is born.

Anytime Bode gets an inkling that Imperial intelligence has been sniffing around, or forbid an inquisitor makes their presence known anywhere nearby, I think Bode leaves his family behind, travels to distant parts of the Galaxy and very subtly makes himself known, so that he attracts the attention of intelligence or the inquisitors and draws that focus away from his family.

And Kata's so young and doesn't understand why her father has to leave for weeks or months at a time, and so Tayala sings her a lullaby called Ghost Star, which brings Kata comfort while she waits for her father to come home. And it's also for Tayala, perhaps a silent prayer that her husband comes back safely.

And they survive like this, constantly moving, constantly on the run. And then one day Bode is out with Kata. They're coming home and as they're getting closer to the house, he hears Tayala singing Ghost Star, which is a song she never sings if he's home. And he knows that something's gone terribly, terribly wrong.

And he flees with Kata, and the inquisitor that was waiting for him at home in their anger strikes down Tayala, knowing that, somehow, she gave them away.

So, a lot of things happen. Bode makes some very difficult, very terrible choices in the pursuit of keeping Kata safe, and now sings Ghost Star as a way to make sure that Kata's memories of her mother stay as fresh as they can; and just because it brings him comfort, but it also is a poignant reminder of a terrible, terrible day and the fact that he left his wife behind and that his wife paid the price for Bode being who he is.

And I think in his time as a dog for the Empire Bode has done some terrible, terrible things. I think he's often sent to hunt down Jedi that are that are in hiding, especially if it seems like they're trying to rally up resistance, because he can come in and his target will never see him coming. I think he's an assassin, and I think every time he does it a little piece of Bode chips off.

And I think Bode hates himself for it, and I think a lot of times, especially if it's a mission where he's gotten to know his target to any degree, that makes it that much harder to do what he knows he has to do. And in those moments he uses Ghost Star as his anchor. He sings it to himself when he's alone, as a way to remind himself of why he's doing the terrible things he's doing, that there is a greater purpose, which is making sure that his daughter stays safe and that Tayala’s sacrifice is never in vain.

And then he meets Cal, and I think finds the brother he never had. And in the crew of the Mantis the family he's lost, a family that would allow Kata to live a normal life. And he really struggles with what to do, and tries desperately to make it work. And when it becomes clear that Cal is going to share the information on Tanalorr and turn it into essentially an access point, Bode is devastated, because the Empire has already found Cal, Cal just doesn't know it yet. And if they found him now they'll definitely find them again, if this turns into essentially a way station. And Bode makes an impossible choice.

And he tries to use Ghost Star the way it's always worked in the past, to kind of remind him of what's important, and I think it fails him, and I think it breaks him.

[jedi-enthusiast]

On the note of random Mace antis just appearing out of the wood work; honestly it feels like they purposefully go looking for Mace appreciation posts, or any positive post about him (or any other Jedi appreciative/positive post for that matter) and purposefully say wrong/mean things because they think their opinion was asked for and they just have to remind everyone that this character is Actually The Worst, when they aren't. Its like they can't handle us having fun and loving genuinely wonderful and good characters (like Mace, Yoda, Luminara and Ki-Adi for example. Mace cause he's the current target of it, and the other three cause they're usually used as examples of the "worst Jedi" by the antis' standards. When, again, they aren't.) Like we're fine with leaving them be and letting them enjoy things the way they want, but they can't handle doing the same. Like they can go in their circle and have fun, but let us do the same! (Sorry for random ramble and I hope it made some sense, but I had strong feelings lol. But I loved seeing you defend Mace so beautifully. Very Nice XD)

Don't worry about it, it made perfect sense! And I appreciate the ask, it's nice to know that there are people out there who are as passionate about this stuff as I am <3

----------

Honestly, though, it's insane how desperate these people are to argue and how attention seeking they are!

Do you know how many anti-Jedi people I've blocked by finding them posting stuff in the pro-Jedi tag??? I don't understand what's so hard about just posting things on your own blog instead of being a dick on the blogs of people who have a different opinion than you.

As is probably obvious by now, I hate Anakin Skywalker, but I have never gone on someone else's blog---who clearly likes him---just to argue about why I hate him. Hell, I only talk about him on the blogs of people I know agree with me!

Why can't anti-Jedi people just do the same?

Also, on the topic of Mace Windu, I fucking hate the way that fandom has treated him---he deserves so much better! Their characterization of him isn't even rooted in canon, it's them just wanting to bash him because god forbid anyone ever say no to their uwu fascist man baby- (let alone a POC).

Just- ugh.

I'm taking away fandom's Mace Windu privileges until they learn how to act.

[nimata-beroya]

Some Thoughts

I'm rewatching Rebels yet again, and it made me remember all the talk about Anakin's "questionable" training of Ahsoka in Tales of the Jedi (couple with some comments I've seen recently about the Ahsoka show about how it's never address all the wrong things he did, and criticizing that she called him a good master).. and yet, nobody says the same about Kanan, because if you don't remember, Kanan trained Ezra in a similar manner. Just look at this example in Season 1, episode 12.

And that wasn't the only time they trained that way. There was another moment in an earlier episode when they were doing something like that, standing on the Ghost while flying. A bit reckless if you ask me. In fact, Ezra fell and would've died if it wasn't for Kanan that force pulled him back into the ship.

So, it's not like Anakin was the only one to come up with such a training. Even Jaro Tapal did it with Cal Kestis (to a much, much lesser degree, of course). Was Anakin with the most intense training? Sure, absolutely!! But the circumstances required of him to be that intense. The Ghost crew could pick their battles, and usually of a small scale, going against a dozen or 2 of Stormtroopers with awful aim. Anakin and Ahsoka didn't have that luxury. He had to make sure she could handle the heat of hundreds, thousands droids shooting at her in battle (or as it turned out, dozens clones 💔😭)

And Anakin was a good master to Ahsoka. Was he perfect? Not by a long shot. But neither was Obi Wan to Anakin, nor Qui-Gon Jinn to Obi, and on and on (theirs is the disaster lineage after all). Saying that Anakin was a good master to Ahsoka doesn't mean neither that Ahsoka nor us are forgetting all the horrible things, all the atrocities he committed. It means we're seeing Anakin as a complex person, capable to do good and bad things. People in general can be more than just one thing, they can be contradictory in their actions and motivations.

And I think some people are missing the point of what happened in the World Between Worlds. That moment wasn't about Anakin and his actions, it was about AHSOKA, about what she needed to hear to let go of her fear, to work through her trauma. Sure, said trauma is related to his actions but more important was what Ahsoka was going to do, her decision, her actions, her future.

Well, that's all I wanted to say. And since it's out of my chest, I'll return to my rewatch 😆

[ghostgraveyard]

I feel like I need to clarify. I like the whole “The Jedi code is like an itch; their compassion leaves a trail.” thing but more as a ‘values that the best and most true Jedi hold’ and that sort of futile idealism people believe applies to the jedi as a whole.

But I hate when people take that line and use it as a reason to discount people arguing against the Jedi.

Like you need to see the difference between ideals and values vs action.

I love that u love ur jedi and what they stand for, but i need you to understand that the jedi actually SUCK and thats okay (for you to like them in spite of such). Stop trying to convince people of their goodness bc for sure, some of them are good, but that doesnt make them representative.

The jedi fell bc they were a working part of a corrupt system and u literally can’t take their responsibility for that away just bc u wunna hold their hand and giggle. Root for them but dont talk to anyone amidst your delusion where the meow meow jedi can do no wrong. Do you understand?

“Their compassion leaves a trail…its like an itch” and I would see so many people use it like “See? The jedi are peak perfection and good!” and im like, “No! They arent! Anakin’s entire origin story is a prime example as to why!”

This was unironically canon:

Anakin: tries to literally do the most for one ounce of approval

Obiwan: 😐 your desire for praise will be your undoing.

Anakin: 😦

Can you not see he is DESPERATE for something he’s done to be recognised. His inner child is begging to be seen. His outer child is doing its best to be worthy of it and every time he thinks “this is it, this time—“ he’s basically smited.

Anakin knows love and affection through the eyes of a slave. Blunt honesty and proof through care and being there (action) and staying through thick and thin. He doesn’t need you to burn down a planet because that’s HIS love language, thats how HE shows he cares, not how he needs others to show it.

Because he feels he’s not good enough—burning down a planet, in his mind, shows the people he cares for that he would do anything for them of it’s in his power to do so, and that he really means it when he says he loves them. Grand gestures are how HE shows love because he feels like anything else is as inadequate as he is

Being abandoned and never told he’s loved and cared for is a big reason his affections and attachments turn obsessive. He’s never been given anything concrete, he’s never shown that people care in a way he can understand. They think “I said hi to him and spoke up for him and trained him and gave him camaraderie—thats proof I love him” and think Anakin can properly differentiate it between duty and not.

He thinks, “my master is my master but he only cares for the Jedi and I can’t live without him but he could without me bc I’m a burden and will never be good enough or perfect like Obi-wan” bc Obi-wan isn’t honest with himself or Anakin, and you can see this etched into the very lines of his story no matter where you look.

He doesn’t say “i love you” to Anakin’s face until he’s literally chopped Anakin’s limbs off and left him to die on Mustafar, and even then it’s ambiguous. Anakin understands there is SOME sort of affection between him and Obi-wan that goes both ways but in the end, he never feels like he can truly tell Obi-wan anything without being shunned, misunderstood, or lectured, when all he needs is someone to talk to and hold close without fearing theyll leave him behind when he disappoints them.

One of the only people to ever outright tell Anakin what they feel was his mom, and she ended up dead bc Anakin was told he was being irrational about her and his visions of her death; and the fact that his mother was one of the only people to ever tell him she loved him and was proud, and that she was one of the only people who would never turn her back on him when he wasnt perfect (bc she thought he was perfect anyway. Her love for anakin was unconditional whereas everyone elses’ seemed to be very obviously conditional) and that terrified him bc following her death, the only other person left was Padmé, in their very unhealthy, very suspicious, co-dependant romance.

But even then, since she was the ONLY ONE he knew for sure how they felt, he was terrified something would happen to her and that she would leave him too—be it through death or finding someone to replace him (visions + irrationally believing she and Obi-wan were having an affair). He was obsessive and possessive and I honestly can’t blame him, especially from a psychological standpoint—and even more especially, from a child psychology standpoint. He was never given a reason or a chance to nurture any secure attachment style, especially when faced with the first 10 years of his life as a slave? Yikes.

He was obsessed with his relationships because he never had anything else to hold on to (from his perspective), and do you know who took gleeful advantage of that? Palpatine.

Anakin only wanted to be good enough, to make people proud, to give them a reason to tell him they love him. And maybe the one person he wanted to lure in the most was Obi-wan, who viciously shunned him for that, even when he would sparsely give anakin the praise he wanted so desperately

Anakin said, “I beat you! I won!” All giddy and self-assured after a spar with Obi-wan and instead of allowing that feeling of accomplishment, of the desire to make his master proud, Obi-wan just looked at him and said with shame, “Your need for praise will be your undoing,” and in the end, he wasn’t wrong. It was a self fulfilling prophecy.

Because in the end. The only person left who told Anakin he was proud was fucking slimy Palpatine, the dark lord of the goddamn sith.

Unfortunately, a lot of explicitly pro-jedi/jedi apologist fandom participants like to “interpret” the Jedi code themselves. They make these incredibly long-winded, well thought-out posts explaining the meaning and how it works in practice and how the jedi embody this—BUT they never actually consider or address the literal canon aspects. Things we actually see with our eyes: the novelisations, the games, the shows, the movies.

You’d think, therefore they must be, right? Wrong. You say this is what the Jedi are like and while that’s beautifully wonderful and I wish you were right—that’s literally not what happens. Literally not what they’re like at all. It’s actively part of the plot.

I think your interpretations of the code are great but you act like that’s the reality we’re actually living in. You act like that’s what the shows tell you, rather than just what you want to believe based on your own interpretation of the code itself (ignoring lack of congruency we sometimes see in the shows or movies).

My point is, you can love the jedi while acknowledging their VERY obvious flaws. The flaws that destroy them, corrupt them, misguide them, make them terrible people. The flaws that cannot be retconned by one writer saying “its an itch” while pretending Anakin’s “Anakin Skywalker is dead. I killed him” makes up for the horrible things Old Hermit Kenobi does with luke.

So yeah.

Lets at least be real when we’re loving who we love.

[paragonrobits]

a lot of anti-Jedi rhetoric is deeply strange to me because a lot of it mostly amounts to sounding a lot like they think that the concepts of self control, NOT acting on your impulses or feelings the second you experience them makes you an inhuman monster

its a very strange fandom phenomenon and while I don't think its exclusively the result of people overhyping the concept of romance as something essential to the human experience (and disregarding the ideas of asexuality or simply that people might have bigger priorities than wanting to smooch someone), I do think that you see a lot of deeply strange conclusions that ultimately feel like people grasping at straws to find an excuse to hate the Jedi for basically existing.

One big example is the tendency for people to imply that the Jedi Order deserved their fate, or that their actions in the past led to it. Not only is this objectively incorrect, and not only is it specifically framed as a horrific tragedy and the capstone on the galaxy having a boot on its throat until the events of the original trilogy, the biggest issue there is the subject of Vader. A LOT of people like to insist that Anakin was demonized for having feelings, but Star Wars as a setting doesn't really do villainy like that, but Anakin often comes off as incredibly entitled and even childish in the prequel trilogy. In Clone Wars, conversely, he comes off as less annoying but at the same time his willingness to abandon Jedi doctrine, focus on his personal friends and loved ones over his greater duty and other character traits, though seemingly admirable, ultimately point to this:

That these are the same exact traits that define Darth Vader. Anakin, in a lot of ways, doesn't change that much.

People like to imagine that the Sith have the potential to be more good than the Jedi because they value passion. This flies in the face of the Sith's dogma, the on-screen behavior of every canonical Sith, and even the source of their power. Anger can be a tool, but being DEFINED by anger, in practice, means lashing out, simmering in resentment, storing up your desire to harm others or destroy for your own satisfaction. It's about a LACK of discipline, of acting upon your feelings as destructively and violently as possible.

There's a reason they almost died out; the reason they kept constantly backstabbing each other even in the middle of a war against everyone else is a result of their philosophical approach. This is the inevitable consequence of their outlook. Conversely, the Jedi's own doctrine (the harmony of all things, flowing with the currents of the Force, having it as an ally rather than something you brute force into whatever you want) avoids this.

It just keeps coming up again, this idolization of the Sith, the demonification of the Jedi, and it ultimately amounting to be people being really inappropriate about religious ideas clearly inspired by Buddhism and overvaluing romance. In all honesty, the Jedi's doctrine makes perfect sense especially when the point is clear; "Anakin fixated on his romantic love and personal feelings above anything else. Look what happened to him; he became the personal hand of the biggest tyrant in the universe. And also he murdered his wife in a fit of rage, because that is the inevitable conclusion to what the Sith are like."

[padawanlost]

IDK if you answer Star Wars questions anymore, and don't worry about this if you don't. I wanted to know is it true that George Lucas invented the idea of Jedi attachment for the prequels, because it is never mentioned at all in the Original Trilogy and George didn't mention it in interviews either before 1999. Or at least thatis what I have heard.

It depends on what you meant by attachments. If you’re talking in generic terms (no possessive mentality and behavior) I’d say yeah, he had ideas about before the prequels. If you meant the intricate rules of the Jedi Order and eveyrhting we’ve seen on the EU, I’d say no, that came after.

Tbh, it’s hard to tell because George can sometimes be a little …inconsistent. What we do know for sure is that according to George himself he already had the backbone of the Prequels in his mind before he even finished episode IV. Now, does that mean he had every single detail set in stone? I doubt it.

If I remember correctly George had a lot of ideas already set for the prequels like why Vader had to wear the suit, how Palpatine came to power, the existence of Padmé, etc. But I’m not convinced he had *everything* down in great detail before he started writing the prequels.

I think Padmé’s fate is the perfect example of this: he knew she had died before Episode IV but I think all the specifics involving the how and the when was something he defined as he worked on the prequels.

Personally, I do believe he already had some thoughts on Jed attachment for the OT because of Luke’s behavior and actions during Return of Jedi (letting go of his anger during his duel with Vader/Palpatine). However, I don’t believe that he had, at that time, all the specifics of Anakin’s backstory, the Jedi Council’s decisions, how the Sith operated, etc.

[dotthings]

While I thought that Sabine having tk might not be a thing, Sabine turning out to be force sensitive and finally able to use her tk makes perfect sense to me, and also I don't hate the idea of "anybody could be a Jedi" which was an important theme in the sequel trilogy.

I laid out some specific points from Star Wars canon and George Lucas viewpoints a few weeks back that shows how it's not as out of left field as it first appears to have Sabine be able to use her tk and listen to The Force.

Also want to highlight again that in Star Wars Rebels, Kanan already gave us an explanation on what was going on with Sabine.

Hera: Were you careful with Ezra? I don’t remember him fighting with a stick. Kanan: Well, maybe I’m trying to do things differently this time. Hera: Or maybe because she doesn’t have the Force, you don’t believe she can do this? Kanan: No. The Force resides in all living things. But you have to be open to it. Sabine is blocked. Her mind is conflicted. She’s so expressive and yet so tightly wound. She’s so… Hera: Mandalorian. Kanan: Very.

I understand why it seems to come out of nowhere at first glance. During Star Wars Rebels, Sabine showed zero signs of being force sensitive. I didn't expect Jedi Sabine either.

That doesn't mean she can't turn out to have the abilities.

She was blocked. She's stubborn. Few Mandalorian have been Jedi, there's a very famous legendary example from history, and there's Grogu, Mandalorian by adoption, and Grogu's not exactly following the old school Jedi rules, is he.

One last thing because wow have I seen some opinions. It's fair I get a turn: the claim that this ruins the franchise, that it's bad because now anyone could turn out to have Jedi powers, is gatekeeping and elitist. A lot of the rage seems to be people who are bothered at doors being opened, at possibilities. They mistakenly thinks this makes their Jedi favorites less special, but it doesn't.

And that, for a time period when most of the Jedi are all but gone. I don't know where people think new Jedi are going to come from. The Jedi fairy? They'll have to be found and people will need a chance to try.

Otherwise, the Jedi will die out completely.

People are hating on a concept that's been there since the beginning. Ahsoka is slapping it down on the table for us loudly, but it's not coming out of nowhere. It wasn't out of nowhere in the sequel trilogy and it's not out of nowhere now.

It's...kinda how The Force works.

[pomplalamoose]

Endor luke has me going insane so if you could can we please get some hc’s? 💗

YOU AND ME BOTH ANON Endor Luke deserves all the love in the world😭

I really had a lot to say too, so this is kinda all over the place, I'm sorry

(thank you so much for your patience🩵 work really took a toll on me and I desperately needed to take several naps instead of writing. I really wish I could post Luke thoughts as a living instead)

• I really like how Luke is portrayed in RotJ and how far he has come when you compare him to the boy he was at the beginning of ANH

• I think how he acts and carries himself on Endor is a very good example

• we already got a glimpse of it in Jabba's palace when he comes to save his friends

• but Endor Luke is peak Luke (or as close to his prime we've ever got to see him aside from his last fight with Vader and TboBF) and I love how this comes across in very simple and subliminal ways without being too flashy or over the top

• he still makes mistakes 

• he struggles with himself and those around him

• he's far from being perfect

• and yet he tries so hard to leave his doubts aside to act in everyone's best interest 

• in the most dire of situations he only thinks about his friends and family and how his actions could possibly have an impact on them

• he just loves them so much and it's, among other reasons, what eventually makes him refuse to join the dark side 

• in the book it says that he hopes Han will never disappear from this universe 

• when Leia goes missing Han asks if he wants some time to gain his strength again and all Luke says is "I want to find Leia."

• I see him blaming himself for a lot that happened, especially regarding what his friends had to go through 

• he's definitely one to mull over a situation in his head again and again, going "I should have been there, I could have done this and that, I should have...etc.

• he has such a hard time acknowledging anything apart from what he could have done better 

• and at the end he's ready to die, to get himself killed, if it means saving the people he loves 

• he'd rather die than let his weaknesses put them in danger again

• I'm sure he will eventually learn how to overcome his past and accept it as it is because that too is part of becoming a Jedi

• but he's not ready for that yet and that's okay

• because there was so much happening over the short span of only a few years, he didn't get the time to deal with his losses and trauma 

• how is he supposed to move on from his guilt without properly saying goodbye and forgiving himself 

• let that man grieve for god's sake 

• (and someone give him a stable father figure please)

• he doesn't let others see what's going on inside of him 

• even those closest to him are often times unaware of his inner struggles until he opens a conversation about it himself 

• in the book it's described how he sometimes banishes all emotions from his face and wears it like a mask as to not trouble anyone

• eventually Leia is the only one realizing there's something eating at him 

• I think one reason for this is the awareness of his position at the head of the rebellion, of how many look up to him for guidance

• he wants to set a good example, wants to be strong for those who are scared or feeling hopeless 

• but while he might feel inadequate and often tired he makes an impression wherever he goes

• I don't think he's aware of the impact he has and how great he actually is

• he doesn't give himself enough or any credit for how much he has grown and changed in a good way too

• he's calm, collected and exudes quiet confidence to a point where it's hard to shake him up or make him loose his cool like he would have earlier 

• he has a strong presence, even when he's set on keeping in the background 

• when he gives out orders they are well thought of and highly respected by his subordinates 

• they put lots of trust into him and his judgement

• rarely does the impatience of his younger years get the better of him

• in the same way it has become unusual for him to raise his voice at all

• it's said in the book that the rebels chosen for the mission on Endor are a wildly thrown together group of people, some of them charged criminals 

• and while I believe them to be invested in their cause, I think Luke would do a great job keeping them in check should someone act out of line 

• he even SMILES in critical situations 

• you know, like in that one scene where he, Han, Chewie and the droids are captured by the Ewoks

• and Han is so offended at them waving their lances in his face, yelling and threatening them 

• meanwhile Luke is just very amused 

• (I'm on my knees for him, like that's so hot I cant- )

• no longer does he act on impulse, but rather takes time to observe a situation before carefully trying to negotiate 

• this not only shows his character development but also how much their relationship evolved 

• at the beginning Han was definitely some kind of role model for Luke 

• he's a pilot, has his own ship, something that Luke always wanted

• he has much experience and many stories to tell about his adventures

• to someone who never had the chance to leave their planet before he must have seemed grand and beyond impressive 

• but I feel like Luke has grown so much he eventually surpassed Han and now smiles at his friends antics

• he's now able to see him the way he really is, instead of blindly idolizing him, which really balances out their friendship

• to round off this post I want to talk about how his fighting skills developed as well

• I already mentioned in some of my other posts that I think Luke is really strong but during the scenes on Endor we get to see glimpses of it too

• he's not only strong with the Force but physically capable as well

• he easily stops Han from pulling his weapon on the Ewoks with ONE hand 

• during the chase scene with Leia we see him throw a man off his speeder bike like it's nothing 

• he simply grabs him and he goes flying against a tree

• (it's even wilder in the book, where they describe Luke "grabbing the man's neck" to "sling" him away and into the tree with "bone crushing force")

• (please grab my neck and crush my bones too, daddy👀)

• in addition he is a very quick thinker and calm enough in stressful situations to come up with well calculated manoeuvers 

• neither do his capabilities falter when put to the test

• the best example for this is the scene with the speeder bike racing towards him while shooting 

• Luke easily deflects the laser bolts and then, like in afterthought, steps aside to cut off the front part

• and then he walks off like nothing happened 

• like SIR-