#i used one of concept arts for amidala for this queen

[alexversenaberrie]

The Gungan-Naboo War Unidentified Queen of Naboo (Legends)

An unidentified Queen of Naboo reigned sometime during the Gungan-Naboo War. Because the last heir of the then-current dynasty died in combat and had not decided who would succeed him, the Naboo elected a queen to lead them in the war. She died shortly after the end of the conflict in 121 BBY.

Unfortunately it is not know how her dresses looked alike and even none of her portraits survived to our times, her image and costume is purely imaginative. Presently she wears a remade royal clothes from one of future Queens. To underline her status, the lady has also the Jewel of Zenda. The red jewel is considered to be a royal jewel by the people of Naboo. She also has scars of remembrance on her face.

We can also see a Naboo royal crest on the red curtain, underlining the importance of the lady.

As the Queen ruled during the Gungan-Naboo war, she is surrounded by a Gungan energy shield, sword of Naboo Royal Security Forces and a blue boomer.

On the left, we can see a broken crest with symbol of a tree, it symbolises not only a difficult war time, during which the Queen ruled, but also that she was an elected ruler and that after her death the Naboo came to prefer an elected, rather than a hereditary, monarchy.

Queen Amidala | Queen Jamilia | Queen Neeyutnee | Queen Apailana | Sosha Soruna | Queen Réillata | Queen Mairayni | Queen Sanandrassa | Queen Kylantha | Sabé - The Decoy Queen | Queen Yram | Queen Dalné | The Gungan-Naboo War Queen of Naboo | Queen of Naboo from the New Republic | King Jafan I Star Tours Queen of Naboo | King Veruna | The First Queen of Naboo | King Tapalo | Queen Ameé | Queen Ekay | King Jafan III | The Queen of beaded emblems | King Narmlé | Queen of Naboo from High Republic | Queen Elsinoré den Tasia

#star wars paintings  |  SW Paintings | @distantstarssw

[wantonwinnie]

I was fortunate enough to get the High Republic vol. 1 artbook for Christmas (!!!), and there were a lot of great quotes in it that I want to share. They relate to Jedi, meta, politics, etc. I might unpack some of them later or use them in reference to other discussions. Of course, spoilers ahead (including for Phase 1 material) if you wish to experience the tidbits for yourself alongside the art, which was also fantastic. The book itself was a great read, and I highly recommend it.

__________________________________________________

1. The Force made manifest.

"The Force, by coming through the earth, literally manifests itself up in the air and it can't keep a shape because it’s everything. Here's the thing about the Force--maybe it’s just my interpretation of it, but I thought it was something George [Lucas] told us back on The Phantom Menace: There was no light [versus] dark side of the Force. The dark side is part of the Force. What keeps it in balance is saying no to it, allowing it to do what it does, to warn and to frighten and to guide us through our dark emotions, and then you're using all of the Force, not just one little piece, which is where the dark side always goes wrong. They're only using a piece of it. But what [the Jedi are] calling the light side is the entirety of the Force. So, let's see a place where the Force is manifest and it’s everything. It’s good, it’s bad, and it changes every second. It can't hold the form because it’s just so exuberant with life and imagination."

Artist Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to his sketch of a planet where the Force bubbles out of the ground), p. 19.

2. Padmé and Darth Maul.

"When I was designing [for The Phantom Menace] there was no pressure really on Darth Maul to be any kind of icon. He was just a new Sith Lord. And as for Queen Amidala, it didn't matter to me and still doesn't if anyone made her the main character. She was my main character. She was the strength of the whole movie. And I needed someone that could stand up to Darth Maul . . . No matter how fearful she was, you can tell that she's going to do [the right thing], whether it’s going to kill her or not."

Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to Padmé concept art), p. 25.

3. Jedi, technology, and attire.

"The High Republic, in relation to the prequels, is an older time technologically, but I think it’s potentially a more enlightened time . . . It’s more evolved thinking in some ways. It’s like the Jedi Order devolves while the technology evolves. [Visually,] their clothes are a little fancier, and they're a little more celebratory. Even just the fact that we have temple attire and mission attire, I think, is interesting, because it suggests this divide that maybe didn't exist so much later on."

Lucasfilm executive editor Jennifer Heddle, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), pp. 29-30.

4. Jedi accountability.

Scott looked to the Stoics and the Knights Templar to help guide him, pulling from historical records that told of Templar warriors breaking their vows. "The other Templars wouldn't drag them in front of the master of the temple, but would just take them aside and say, 'If you're going to do this, can you not rub it in everyone's faces because other people might start doing it as well?' Or, you know, 'Are you sure you should be doing this? And if you've made that choice, think bout what it means for the Order.' I think that's how the Jedi would have been as well. So, we have Jedi who are perhaps not as celibate as other Jedi. And there's nothing wrong [with that]." . . . George Lucas himself subscribed to the same idea . . . Lucas noted [in an interview] that Jedi were permitted to have sex. "Jedi Knights aren't celibate," he said at the time. "The thing that is forbidden is attachments--and possessive relationships."

Author Cavan Scott / George Lucas, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 30.

5. Reflecting the reader.

"Star Wars should reflect the real world . . . It’s a galaxy far far away, but it’s being consumed by people who are in this galaxy, and everybody wants to see themselves in a story."

Author Charles Soule, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to diversity in characters), p. 30.

6. Queer representation.

Older was adamant that the love story arc should be dealt with directly, leaving no question in the readers' minds about how Lula and Zeen felt. It’s a welcome, straightforward approach to queer culture that has too frequently been ignored. "It’s so often just been the opposite of that . . . For so long it was nonexistent--across fantasy, across literature, across Star Wars, in everything. And then when [creators] finally started doing it, we did it very sloppily or just with too much vagueness or trying to hint at it. I have no tolerance for that type of stuff. I think it’s really cowardly. [In the past,] creators have failed queer fans by not providing accurate representation or any representation."

Author Daniel José Older, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 31.

7. A Jedi's emotions.

"The Jedi aren't machines, and they're not emotionless, and they should never be emotionless . . . What they should be is controlled. They are passionate, but they control it, and the passion never goes away. Half the reason we love characters is because they are struggling with things. For me, the most believable and the most basic emotion for lots of people, myself included, is fear, because it’s driven us as a species. It’s basic flight or fight, and Jedi would have to make that choice every day."

Cavan Scott, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 33.

8. Burryaga's lightsaber.

"I remember wanting the lightsaber to reflect Kashyyyk and Wookie culture, which is why it’s a more organic-looking lightsaber. I also had an idea--I wasn't entirely sure of his fighting style--for a shorter one. Then, if he wanted a broad sword, the hilt would extend, you know, for Wookie-sized hands. They ended up really liking how it looked extended and just wanted to keep it like that all the time."

Artist Jeffrey Thomas, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 67.

9. Porter Engle.

"[He] wants to be friends with you, but it’s for people to get close to him, and he finds it hard to get close to other people, and it’s very isolating. He's a character who I love, and I think his design reflects that. He's more beard than man, but he's this Jedi that has been part of the Order for 300 years and has done everything. He's an utter legend. When he gets reactivated in the story because the Nihil come calling, he becomes absolutely terrifying. I don't think you want to be anywhere near a guy like that when he is [in active combat]. The sad thing about Porter Engle is that he knows that. There's a reason he decided to go be a cook . . . I wanted [him] to feel like a happy cook because that's the version that he really wants to be And that's teh version I think people really connect with."

Author Charles Soule, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 95.

10. Preserving hope.

"The storytelling of Star Wars that we've all grown to know and love has been about the defending and reclaiming of hope . . . The High Republic begins in an era where hope is abundant, where harmony is abundant. The people of the original trilogy era are longing after something that's been gone for a very long time. And in the High Republic, it’s not gone yet, and then it starts to be taken away little by little by forces that confuse and frighten and terrify common people and Jedi alike. So I think the hope that's growing out of this story is: how do we preserve what we love?"

Senior editor Robert Simpson, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 139.

11. Marchion Ro's relatability.

"Hannibal Lecter is scary because he's us, you know? . . . He looks like us, but there's something that's off behind his eyes. I have this term for people that you meet in your life who are just off: spider people. That was my inspiration. Bu they can also kind of turn on the charm when they want to, like flipping a switch, and it’s very unsettling and very creepy. The other word for them is sociopaths. SO I wanted Marchion Ro to be somebody who you have this sense of unease when you're around them, but you can have a beer with them. It’s more just like the minute that you're out of the room, their face goes blank . . . What's important for a villain is that you can relate to his motivations and his choices. This is somebody that you're going to understand and identify with in some horrible way."

Charles Soule, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 140.

12. Star Wars design philosophy.

A key tenet in Star Wars design requires every hero, villain, ship, and place to be readable at a glance and easily replicated by a child capable of sketching only the most basic shapes. The densely populated worlds are often explored at a breakneck place, with little time to stop and stare. Behind the scenes, those working on vetting the designs for The High Republic adhered to a three-second rule, "understanding at a glance," [Creative Art Manager Phil] Szostak said. "Everything's got to be good or evil and it has to be read clearly," added concept artist Grant Griffin.

The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 166.

13. Jedi vector design.

Created for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, this sleek starfighter was the inspiration behind the Jedi Vector, with one small change. Instead of a socket for an astromech droid, the cockpits of the Vectors are elongated to allow room for Jedi masters to travel with their apprentices. "The Jedi, especially in this era, aren't necessarily looking for a starfighter that's going to be suitable for war because there is no war, no enemy that they're fighting . . . It’s a time of peace. And so, I think a ship like the Vector is kind of appropriate for this time. You see it from a distance: here come the Jedi. You know, it’s not just [some] boxy, utilitarian ship."

Phil Szostak, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to an unused Republic "skyfighter" sketch), p. 174.

14. The point of storytelling.

"It’s actually the purpose of stories, particularly the ones that are set on far-off worlds and strange fantasy lands . . . Number 1: We want to escape in hard times. Number 2: We want to have fun again and remember that there's fun in the world. And Star Wars, always at its best, was fun. And Number 3: We actually do want to talk about everything going on, but we can't do it directly. So, if you do it inside a story, it can't possibly be talking about you, yet it is exactly talking about everything--pandemics and genocides and destroying planets--in this world. You don't have to be offended by it right away. You can enjoy it first, which is a good way to teach anything."

Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 201.

15. Corellian ignorance.

The insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, directly informed a scene in Older's [Midnight Horizon] featuring a Nihil masquerade ball in Coronet City, as the upper echelon of Corellia show they are woefully blind to reality. "It’s a place where people are very much no on the lookout for the Nihil. You know, there's just a given understanding that the Nihil are not going to be able to get a foothold that deep into the core of the galaxy. And so they have been lulled into a false sense of safety, and because of that, they truly don't see it coming when that exact thing happens . . . That's very much a story about fascism and the rise of fascism anywhere, but including what we were seeing. Very specifically, there is this moment where they throw a big party and it’s such a joke to everybody that people dress up as the Nihil--totally out of touch, dressing up as the people that are actually taking down Starlight. And there are actual Nihil infiltrators in that crowd in the party dressed like themselves. They've infiltrated the police. They've infiltrated the politicians. It’s actually very easy for them to then just go ahead and rule there. And that's what we saw on January 6th, a very obvious and violent example of that."

Daniel José Older, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 205.

[padawanlost]

Hi! I was wondering if you could help me understand the matter of Anakin and his visions a bit. I can't remember or didn't know in the first place–is Anakin prone to having visions in general? Like Windu has shatterpoints? Is it common for him more than other Jedi or does he only have the two visions we see in the movies about his mother and padme? And were they of his 'making' or did Sidious have something to do with it if visions aren't normal for him? Thank you!

Hi! Let’s break this all down:

Vision/Prophetic dreams were not a normal occurrence for force-sensitives. Most of them spent their entire lives without having them. In general, most sensitives experienced ‘feelings’ (‘I have a bad feeling about this’) but they didn’t get the kind of information and details Anakin got.

“Anakin Skywalker was dreaming. In the dream, he was an older boy, but still years away from manhood. He was inside the open cockpit of a small repulsorlift vehicle, soaring over rocky terrain at an incredibly high speed. Two strong cables were secured to a parallel pair of long engines in front of the vehicle, and the gap between the engines was bridged by an arc of crackling energy. Anakin had never seen such a strange contraption, but somehow he knew how to handle it. As he pressed against a throttle lever and plunged into a high-walled ravine, he realized, I’m a pilot! [Ryder Windham. The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader]

I shook my head. What was Qui-Gon thinking? We should be protecting this boy, not depending on him to save us. I touched his cheek to wake him. "I was dreaming, " he said. "You were leading a huge army into battle. " I couldn't help smiling. I am not a warrior queen, and I can't imagine ever being one. "I hope not. I hate fighting. " [Jude Watson. Queen Amidala Journal]

Anakin looked at Padmé and the girl at him. Their laughter died away. The girl reached up to touch her hair self-consciously, but she did not divert her gaze. “I’m going to marry you,” the boy said suddenly. There was a moment of silence, and she began laughing again, a sweet musical sound he didn’t mind at all. The creature who accompanied her rolled his eyes. “I mean it,” he insisted. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

Anakin has had Vision/Prophetic dreams since he was a small child. He dreamt he would become a podracer, he dreamt he would marry Padmé and that she would lead an army long before he jedi training started, so it’s safe to say Anakin’s case was the result of his unique high midichlorian situation.

Like everyone else, force-sensitives have varied talents. Not everyone is good at dueling, mind tricking, healing, etc. It’s a matter of training but also talent and skill. Some abilities simply came naturally to some of them.  

In the movies, Anakin is the only character who has visions but in the EU we learn of several characters who has that ability. However, their visions doesn’t seem to come as easly or frequently as Anakin’s. It’s like we saw in TCW with Yoda and Ahsoka. It does happen to some force-sensitives but it’s a common occurrence.

As for Palpatine, there’s no evidence he was involved in Anakin’s visions of Shmi and Padmé. There are theories but nothing else. the biggest clue we have of Palpatine’s involvement in Anakin’s visions during ROTS is a comic based on concept art that never made it to the movie where he performs a Sith ritual to influence the force in his favor. But, again, nothing about him put the visions in Anakin’s head.  

[bacejelerenvorthos]

MTG Artist Interview: Iain McCaig

Iain McCaig is certainly no stranger to Magic art. He’s been producing pieces for Magic for years, but it’s but awhile since we’ve seen him. But he made a hugely triumphant return in Throne of Eldraine with some absolutely fabulous works. Today I am happy to present to you a closer look at Iain and one of his most recent MTG pieces!

Daniel: Hi Iain! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your artistic process with us fans. Your work is outstanding! How long have you been doing art for Magic: the Gathering?

Iain: Hey Daniel! Thanks for the kind words. I did my first set of Magic Cards soon after the change of the millennium—2002, if I remember rightly.

D: For those of us who love your work, where can we find more of your artwork (outside of your Magic pieces)?

I: Actually, these days most folk know me for concept artwork for the film industry. I designed Darth Maul and Queen Amidala and tons of other Star Wars characters, and contributed to Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers franchise for Marvel. But I’ve also done games like Titanfall and an album cover for Jethro Tull, illustrated the first choose-your-own-adventure books and even animated for Sesame Street cartoons. Here’s my IMDb page, for the insatiably curious: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564572/).

I have parallel careers as a screenwriter, author-illustrator and film-maker too. That might sound like I’ve got several different Iains inside my head, but those jobs are just different ways of being a storyteller, and we wants to do ‘em all, my precious!

D: Is there one Magic world or character that if given the chance you’d love to paint?

I: Yes! I would love to create an entire new universe for Magic: the Gathering! And write the stories to go with ‘em (WOTC, are you listening?)!

D: Let’s talk about one of your current pieces for Throne of Eldraine - Workshop Elders. Tell us about your process for painting this piece.

I: My process is always driven by the STORY, and all the usual stuff that fires up our empathy and curiosity and imaginations.

Take the faery on her treasure horde in ‘Gleaming Regalia’. Cynthia Shepard, my Art Director on this series, said that the faery was basking in the joy of shiny treasure, her eyes fixed on one particularly one bright-looking thing. So maybe she’s uber-greedy, like Smaug, lollygagging on a mountain of treasure. Greed is fun to depict, but I was much more interested in a Jekyll and Hyde tug-of-war, so I made her a ‘treasure addict’. Her expression is gleaming but possessed. She’s trapped by her new shiny, but we know from all the equally amazing stuff in her treasure horde that it won’t satisfy her for long. Kind of like me with a good cup of coffee, only a lot harder to come by.

Most of that, I work out as I sketch. My fingers are always smarter than I am. They tap into my subconscious and throw story twists and turns into the drawing to keep me entertained, and all I have to do is be sharp enough to recognize when something magical has happened. I send several of those in to Cynthia, and she unerringly picks the one I want to draw the most (one of her many mutant powers).

Then begins the work of making a drawing from my imagination look real. I’ve documented this process many times before, but in a nutshell, it’s a three-step thing: first, the imagination drawing. Second, studies from real life to augment my imagination with observation: anatomy and lighting and costumes and such. Third, combine the first and second steps into a third and final drawing, which—if I’ve done my work right on the other two, is a performance—I virtually become the character I’m making (woe betide anyone who enters my studio when I am creating monsters!).

I drew ‘Gleaming Regalia’ with pencil on paper, but painted it in Photoshop. I usually prefer traditional paint media, but when deadlines howl at the door, there’s nothing like super-digital powers.

One last note: during the real life study phase, I like to use real people. It’s a Norman Rockwell thing: inducing friends and family and random folk with great faces to pose. I was particularly lucky with both ‘Gleaming Regalia’ and ‘Feathered Artisans’. My wonderful niece and her equally wonderful best friend obligingly transformed themselves into elderly magical craftswomen, while the latter also doubled as the treasure-possessed faery. My gratitude (and virtual oscars) to both!

Thank you to Iain for this great behind the scenes look at your process and also for contributing to the amazing world of Eldraine! Hope to talk to you again soon!

[wallisjewellie]

Original Obidala concept by Lucas

Hear me out on the original Obidala concept by George Lucas.

Having read it, three things are obvious to me:

1. Padmé is an even more powerful and precious character than she appears to be based on the traits she exhibits in The Phantom Menace.

2. She and Obi-Wan have a more central role in the original plot (both together and separately) than in the final version.

3. While Padmé has a rather significant and overt attraction towards Obi-Wan (who does not seem to reciprocate it, but certainly notices it), she demonstrates contempt and disdain towards Anakin.

Here I only present the parts which are relevant concerning the Obidala and Anidala pairings. For the entire text please refer to the following source: http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistoryofstarwarscom/secrethistoryofstarwars.com/thebeginning.html

“Qui Gon did not enter the film until the Coruscant section and so it is mainly the story of Obi Wan Kenobi, an older, full Jedi Knight, who uncovers the invasion of Utapau (Naboo in the film), rescues the queen, lands on Tatooine and recruits a young boy named Anakin Skywalker to become a Jedi. [...]

Below is the collection of annotations from the CD-ROM. These [are] transcribed nearly word-for-word from the CD. Enjoy reading the earliest version of Episode I: The Beginning.

Before it was known as "The Phantom Menace," the working title of Episode I was simply "The Beginning." [...] In the revised rough draft, the [opening] scroll reads:

"It is a time of decay in the Republic. The taxation of trade routes to the tiny planet of Utapau is in dispute. Hoping to force a resolution with a blockade of deadly Star Destroyers, the greedy Federation of Galactic Traders has cut off all shipping and supplies to the small, peaceful planet. While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates the alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched a young Jedi Knight to settle the conflict...."

Naboo is known as Utapau.

It is only Obi-Wan who is sent to investigate the trade dispute. Qui-Gon doesn't appear until much later. Obi-Wan's characterization was essentially what became Qui-Gon in the final film, having many of the same lines and mannerisms. Obi-Wan is described as being about thirty years old and wears all black. [...]

Amidala's age is "hard to determine, but she is a young woman." [Editor’s remark: therefore NOT a child queen. Her age possibly corresponds to the age of actress Natalie Portman at that time.] While her planet is called Utapau, the people she rules over are referred to as the "people of Naboo." [...]

The actual invasion of Theed (or Naboo City) is more detailed in the revised rough draft. [...] There is more racial tension between the Gungans and the Naboo. Amidala tries to prevent Jar Jar from entering her ship. Obi-Wan argues and wins the point, but Amidala insists that the Gungan be kept in the droid hold. Racial prejudice had been considered a factor in the fall of the Republic for a long time. It was mentioned in the second draft of A New Hope, which stated that the founders of the Empire incited race wars. [...]

Upon Tatooine's arrival in the revised rough draft, Obi-Wan - dressed as a moisture farmer - leads the group into Mos Espa since Qui-Gon hadn't appeared at this point. [...] Just as in the film, Padme joins the group at the request of the Queen.

There are hints of a Padme crush on Obi-Wan. When Kenobi argued with "Amidala" about Jar Jar on Naboo, Padme was impressed that Obi-Wan was able to stand up to the "Queen". As they enter Mos Espa, she "gives Obi-Wan a long, adoring look." In Mos Espa, Padme watches Kenobi with interest and respect, making Kenobi very nervous.

Padme is well-trained in self-defense. Upon entering Mos Espa, she is grabbed by a creature. She hits the creature, causing it to double over in pain. This attracts the attention of the local merchants, and they clear the way for the entourage. Obi-Wan warns Padme to save her skills until they are truly needed.

When Anakin meets Padme, there is no mention of Jar Jar's clumsy antics with the little droid in the shop. Also in this draft, Anakin announces to Padmé that he will marry her someday. [...]

The dinner occurrences take place differently in the revised rough draft. While Padme, Obi-Wan, Shmi and Jar Jar eat together, Anakin is outside working on the podracer. Padme questions Obi-wan's decision to put their fate in Anakin's hands. She is obviously upset about this, and decides to take Anakin something to eat. [...]

Outside, Padmé thanks Anakin for helping them. Anakin admits that he was seeking a way to enter the podrace without losing his vehicle to Watto, who can claim ownership over everything that Anakin possesses. By this reasoning, Anakin displays more unusual wisdom for a boy his age in saying:

ANAKIN: We're helping each other. That's the natural way of things.

Padmé asks Anakin if slavery is natural too.

ANAKIN: Of course not. But the stupidity of many creatures is.

Padmé confesses that she has never met anyone like Anakin. Returning the sentiment, Anakin leans over and gives Padmé a kiss on the cheek. [Editor’s remark: in the concept art it is obvious that Padmé is taken aback by this bold act, pulling away with a surprised, wide-eyed look on her face. https://www.thethings.com/15-surprising-ways-the-phantom-menace-was-almost-a-very-different-movie/]

[...] Just before they depart for the podrace, Padme notices Obi-Wan staring out a window of the hovel.

PADME: You look like you're trying to solve the problems of the universe.

OBI-WAN: Only our own, but maybe they will become the problems of the universe. I don't know...

It appears that Obi-Wan senses that this seemingly small-scale struggle will have larger, darker ramifications for the galaxy as a whole. [...]

After Obi-Wan cuts down the Sith probe, he identifies it for Anakin. [...] Obi-Wan and Darth Maul are the ones to duel, and they exhibit much more Jedi powers than do Qui-Gon and Maul in the final film. [...] Obi-Wan discusses his mysterious attacker with Panaka and Padmé. Obi-wan suspects Maul to be a Sith, though they all agree that the Sith should no longer exist. [...]

The Queen exhibits the same disdain for "strays" as Obi-Wan does in the final film, but to a great degree. Not only is she not pleased with having Jar Jar on her ship, but also feels the same way about Anakin.

AMIDALA: Must we pick up every strange creature along the way? Our journey is most serious and perilous. The fate of an entire people is at stake here.

OBI-WAN: I am an agent of the Republic, and the boy falls under the same protection as you.

The Queen concedes the debate.

Qui-Gon Jinn's first scene is here on the landing platform on Coruscant, standing alongside Palpatine and Valorum. [...] In introducing Qui-Gon to his Jar Jar, Obi-Wan says, "He is my mentor and good friend.” [...]

Before returning to Utapau, Amidala, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Palpatine, Panaka, and the handmaiden Eirte discuss strategy. The situation has become desperate, as all government officials have been imprisoned and food and water supplies run dangerously low. Palpatine also fears that some senators will continue to try and block Amidala's appearance before the Senate, thus stalling any action. Qui-Gon tells the Queen that both he and Obi-Wan have been assigned to protect her.

Amidala decides that she and her followers will attempt to retake possession of Utapau. Her plan is to organize the populace and attack the Traders in any way possible. Nearly everyone disagrees with the course of action, including Obi-Wan, who points out that the Naboo are untrained, poorly equipped, and unprepared to fight the droid army. [...] She then decides to return to Utapau. [...]

Palpatine tells Valorum of the Queen's plans to take back her planet. Valorum thinks the Queen is "very reckless" in doing this, but Palpatine says that she is merely "bold". Frustrated, Valorum resolves to "force the Senate to take up this issue before it turns into a disaster" for Palpatine and his people. This confrontation with the Senate, however, eventually leads to his removal from office by the end of the story, and Palpatine replaces him. [...]

The heroes meet with a small group of "Rebels" prior to the final battle. This meeting takes place in a hidden Rebel headquarters, and is attended by Anakin, R2, Padme, Eirtae, Amidala, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Panaka. It is also attended by the Rebel leaders Captain Autter and Captain Ural. During this scene, Padme steps forward and reveals, "The Queen has been using her surrogate on this trip." [...]

Obi-Wan and Padme agree to allow Anakin to participate in the battle. Padme invites Anakin and R2 to join her in 2-person starfighter. While Anakin familiarizes himself with the controls, Padme flies them into the battle. But, when Anakin spots the massive Traders' Star Destroyers, Anakin voices his doubts about the attack. Padme says, "We will disable them or drive them off. If we don't our ground forces will not succeed..." When Anakin asks her how such a feat is possible, she replies by telling him that they will rely on faith. [...]

In order to defeat the Trader's army, Padme and Anakin realize that they must first find and destroy the battleship responsible for emitting the signals to the droid army. [...]

Qui-Gon confronts Darth Maul alone when Obi-Wan is pushed off the gantry. As Kenobi hurries to rejoin the fight, the energetic Maul quickly wears down Obi-Wan's mentor. Eventually, Qui-Gon slips and is cut down. Obi-Wan and Maul then clash in the complex. Battle droids attempt to enter into the facility and aid Maul, but Kenobi uses the Force to "slam the door shut, crushing several droids in the process". [...] Eventually, the battle droids do make their way into the facility. Distracted by these new arrivals, Obi-Wan is nearly killed by Maul. [...] When Maul attempts to cut Obi-Wan in half, the Jedi leaps right into the midst of the battle droids.

Soon afterwards, Padme and Anakin destroy the primary droid control ship, and the battle droids in the generator area begin running into the walls. As Maul wades through the droids, cutting them down in his quest to kill Kenobi, the Jedi uses the Force to hurl droids at his enemy. Finally, they stand face-to-face.

OBI-WAN: Your style of fighting is old, but I understand it now.

MAUL: You learn fast.

OBI-WAN: You don't bother to learn.

MAUL: I don't have to.

Before Maul can act, Kenobi lashes out and cuts the Sith warrior in half. He studies his fallen enemy and says: "Learn not...live not, my master always says."

Meanwhile, Anakin and Padme spot on heavily-armed battleship, and believe it to be the command ship. They prepare to attack the pilot's tower, but the tower's deflector shields prove incredibly strong. Padme orders two pilots, Teeter and Potts, to attack the ship's shield generator. They are successful in damaging the shields. Then, while Anakin pilots the ship, Padme serves as gunner. Despite the heavy flak surrounding them, Padme remains focused on her objective. As the deflector shield fluctuates, she fires several missiles, which destroy the control tower and cause the chain reaction that obliterates the command ship.

[duhragonball]

Talkin’ ‘Bout Star Wars

I just realized someone might see this title and think it’s a review of Episode IX, which I kind of forgot about.    Actually, I was gonna talk about this Count Dooku audiobook I bought, but I guess I only got back into Star Wars books because of Episode IX, so maybe I should back up.

I liked Rise of Skywalker.   I went in unsure of what to expect, because a lot of people hated Episode VIII, and I thought it was awesome, so when I saw scathing criticism of IX, I had no idea whether to take that seriously.    “Man if you thought VIII was bad, IX’s even worse.”  Stuff like that where I didn’t know how to interpret it.    

The fundamental problem with IX is that they were going to do a Leia-centric movie and Carrie Fisher died before they could get started.    I’m pretty sure this had a lot to do with why Darth Sidious is all over the movie, but maybe he would have been in it regardless.   He definitely brings a lot of star power to the movie.    He makes it feel more important than it would have been if it was just Kylo Ren horsing around as the main bad guy.    And while I enjoyed Carrie Fisher as the hardboiled-but-sensitive General Leia, she never seemed quite as comfortable on-screen in the sequel movies as Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.   I mean, she was in VIII, but she spent most of it in a coma, and Laura Dern seemed to be her understudy.    Maybe Carrie was just waiting for the spotlight of Episode IX, and maybe she would have risen to the occasion, but if not, they would have done well to have the Emperor in the same movie, just to carry some of the load.  

I’ve seen complaints about how fast-paced Episode IX is, and how ridiculous some of the revelations are, but you know, Episode IV realllly drags for the first half-hour, so I’m happy they made a new one that caters to six-year-old me’s desire to get on with things.   As for the whole Rey Palpatine thing, I don’t know, was that any less absurd than whatever fan-theories were floating around in 2016?

I liked Rey’s character arc in this movie, where she goes from having no family to being terrified of her pedigree, to declaring herself to be “Rey Skywalker”.    Also, I dig her yellow lightsaber, even if she never got a chance to use it in the movie.   In fact, let me get a picture of that up here....

Niiiice.   Whenever I look this up, I see all these links to fan theories about what this means, or how it’s a callback to eight other characters from the comics who had yellow lightsabers, but I’m pretty sure she only ended up with this color because they wanted to give her something different and uniquely her own.    If she had a blue or green blade, fans would think she took the crystal out of one of Luke’s old lightsabers, but this indicates that she built her own from scratch.   Also, Rey even having a lightsaber is probably intended to demonstrate that she still has a mission in the galaxy, even after the First Order and Sidious are defeated.   

Anyway, the main issue I have with the movie is that it does play fast and loose sometimes.    It felt like they had a plan for Finn and a plan for Poe, but both plans sort of got lost in the shuffle, and we sort of have to take their big victory as newly minted generals to serve as a finish to their character arcs.    Leia’s big moment is basically her lying down to take a nap, and I get it, that was probably the best they could do, but still.    I read Nein Numb got killed in the movie, and that kind of pisses me off.    

Mostly, it just doesn’t hold up as well as “The Last Jedi”.   I think part of the reason “Revenge of the Sith” is the most popular prequel movie is because it pays off the thing everyone wanted to see: Anakin becoming Darth Vader.   I remember the first time I saw “Attack of the Clones”, and I was kind of surprised to see Anakin kill all the Sand People, like they were turning him evil a little too early, so that had me wondering if he might turn to the dark side in that movie, which sort of distracted me from what was actually happening on the screen. With Episode III, you knew exactly what you were getting, because they couldn’t save any big moments for “Revenge of the Sith, Part 2.”    In a similar vein, I think the big thing audiences wanted from the sequel trilogy was to find out whatever happened to Luke, and Episode VIII answered that question completely.    It sort of undercut Episode IX, and I guess that was what J.J. Abrams was complaining about.

Darth Sidious’ whole comeback is kind of a problem.   I love the character, and it makes sense that he could somehow survive and come back.    In the movie, he just quotes his line about “unnatural” abilities and that’s the only explanation we get for how he survived Endor, built his new fleet, and made Snoke.    People call it a cop out and they’re not wrong, but he’s the one character who can get away with it.    That said, his return raises far more questions than answers, and somehow he’s even stronger than he was before, which raises even further questions.    I mean, if he could just go to this secret planet and build a fleet of planet-destroying ships, why did he bother running for public office?     

I’m sure there’ll be a novel that tries to tackle some of those issues, but the bigger problem here is that Episode IX made me realize that I missed the more vulnerable Darth Sidious from the prequels.     What I love about Episode I is how you’ve got the Sith, looking very similar to the Emperor and Vader in Episode VI, except they don’t have the might of the Empire behind them.    In Episode I, Sidious can’t just force choke his subordinates when they displease him, because he needs those guys.  Darth Maul can’t send a legion of troops to capture Queen Amidala; he has to do it by himself.  They have to be sneakier and trickier than they are in the original trilogy, because they’re still trying to get the Empire set up, and that’s really fascinating to me.   Even in the original trilogy, Palpatine is supreme, but still vulnerable.    He dissolves the Senate, but only once the Death Star is available as an alternative.   He worries that Luke Skywalker “could destroy us.”       

In Episode IX, he seems to have no worries at all, I guess because he’s counting on Rey to murder him for whatever essence transfer he was planning.   I suppose this was why he finally died to his own Force Lightning, with Rey deflecting it with two lightsabers.    Critics ask why he didn’t just stop shooting lightning, but that’s kind of his deal.    He kept shooting at Mace Windu, even when it wrecked his face, and he kept shooting when Darth Vader turned on him.   I mean, if he stopped shooting lighting at Rey, what then?    His fleet would lose the battle, and Rey would refuse to kill him, and he’d just be stuck.    The Sith crave power, and power only matters when you exercise it, so it makes sense that all the Sith characters get wrecked because they bit off more than they could chew.   If you asked Sidious why he didn’t just turn off his lightning, he probably wouldn’t even understand the question.

I think it might have been cooler if Darth Sidious had been a ghost, or maybe an electronic backup of his brain, or something like that.   He looked pretty cool hooked up to that life support system, and I liked the idea that he was reduced to a shell of his former self, but even that would still be a grave threat to the heroes, especially if he got Rey or Kylo Ren to take orders from him.    Maybe he should have actually gotten to possess Rey, and then he would finally get all the gonzo powers he displayed in the movie, and Rey would have to kick him out of her body.   I dunno, maybe that’s not so different from what we actually got.   

I see fans talking about all these alternative versions of Episode IX, like that leaked script, or the concept art, etc.    They lament “Why didn’t we get this movie?” and I think that misses the point.    Maybe one version or another would be better, but in the end you really only get one movie, one shot at telling the story.   At some point, someone has to make the decision as to what makes the cut and what doesn’t.   The problem with writing a story is that the version in your head always looks better than it does in print, because in your head it’s this nebulous, ever-changing thing.    When you sit down to write it, you have to commit to one version, and decide whether to do this or that.   In this day and age, it’s a lot easier to find out about alternate versions and unused drafts.     You can watch the “This” version of a movie, and then go on the internet and see details about the “That” version they didn’t use.    And it’s easy to complain that they made the wrong call.    “Justice League” fans are convinced that there’s a secret “Snyder Cut” of the movie that would somehow be better than the version that actually made it to theaters.   That’s kind of sad, because they clearly must have enjoyed the theatrical cut to some extent, or they wouldn’t care about some other version of the same movie.   But instead of appreciating what they got, they obsess over a supposedly better version that may not even exist.   

I’m probably no better, because I sort of went into Episode IX figuring that it didn’t matter if it was good or bad, because there would be comics or novels that might expand on the stuff I wanted to see.     I think what I really want is a story of how Sidious survived Endor, and how he got set up on Exegul or however you spell it.     That, and Rey buckling some swashes with that yellow lightsaber.   Everyone’s mad about Rose Tico getting a small part in Episode IX, but to me it almost doesn’t matter, because she can be in whatever Rey comic series they make after this.   I mean, that doesn’t do Kelly Marie Tran any good, but I think she’s got a good career ahead of her, with or without Rose Tico. 

I don’t know, maybe this is why I don’t watch movies very much.   I’m mostly into franchises, where the movies themselves are just tentpoles for all the other media.   They don’t really need to be good, so long as some good lore comes out of them that someone else can use.    I was thinking the other day about how Episode II is widely considered one of the weakest Star Wars movies, but every Clone Wars story that came after it was directly inspired by that film.   And there’s a lot of good Clone Wars stuff out there.   It just makes me wonder if Episode II can really be as bad as they say it is.   Then again, it probably doesn’t make sense to say that spinoffs can retroactively fix what should be a standalone work.  

Anyway, I started this post because I wanted to talk about how YouTube keeps recommending me Star Wars meta videos, mainly about the Sith, because that’s what I’m into, and they’re usually covering stuff I already knew.   There’s at least three channels devoted to recapping stories from comics and books, or just straight up repeating information that was directly stated in the movies.    “Did you know Palpatine wanted to KILL Darth Vader?”   Yes, I’ve known since 1983.   He told Luke to kill him and he wouldn’t do it.  Then he and Vader killed each other.   It’s not complicated.   The funny thing is that I watch all these different Star Wars videos, and I can tell they’re narrated by different people, but they all sound like the Burger King Foot Lettuce guy.  

I got bored with these, so I started listening to the Dooku audiobook that came out last year.     It’s been pretty decent, but I was hoping for more Sith lore, and this book seems mostly focused on Asajj Ventress learning about Dooku’s Jedi career.   I’ve only got a half hour left in the book, and Dooku hasn’t even resigned from the order yet, so I don’t think I’ll see much of what he was up to between Episodes I and II.  

[tonyglowheart]

blossomsinthemist replied to your post: I want to do a full-on Amidala cosplay, but like,,...

I definitely … know what you mean, yeah. There’s definitely some elements like that, and as someone who writes fantasy, I always wonder about like … where the line is there, what’s appropriate to use as inspiration and in what contexts. Like I think it would be better if Padme was played by an Asian actress, what with the face paint and the kimono gown, but there’s still the African costume influences? Anyway, there’s also the travel gown with the big sleeves?

And maybe the black Coruscant gown.

yeeepp I’m like. well the face paint is inspired by Han dynasty China but I can deal with that. But some of the other stuff I’m like. I Would Feel Uncomfy Participating In It Knowing What It Is,,,,, and the usage of these non-Western or “non-White” fashion to exoticize the space-ness of the SW’verse,,,,

I was actually looking at those two, too!, the black Coruscant gown was one I think could work. It just... looks heavy, though.. which I get sort of is a hallmark of her Queen costumes. The travel gown.. the packing one? with the black bodice and gray and the weird hair buns? I considered that one bc it looks vaguely Elizabethan-inspired in some aspects, but I don’t love the hair things. Or wait, the purple one? bc I don’t like the diamond-pattern dangly things lol

Some of the concept art for some of the outfits look really cool, though. hmm...

[celebrate-the-clone-wars]

I’ve been seeing this question floating around and I personally felt it would be important to address...

Should Padmé Amidala have been cast as an Asian woman for the Prequels Trilogy?

The important thing to think of when determining the answer to this question is that it is a matter that is more than just a preferential choice. Of course, the answer and the question are now hypothetical since the movie is already a thing, but it’s still worthy of discussion.

Also, this isn’t necessarily a critique on Natalie Portman herself as much as it is about questioning the creative decisions behind her character by the Casting Director -- Robin Gurland, the Concept Artist -- Iain McCaig, and the Costume Designer -- Trisha Briggar, specifically for The Phantom Menace. And let’s not forget the man at the helm -- George Lucas.

Now, the main reason why I feel it is relevant to bring these people to light is because it is very clear that they all share one common trait -- they are all white. A relevant fact because, however unintentional in the hiring process, having a room full of white people creates a lack of perspective which can forward careless work practices involving things they are not familiar with. By things, I mean specifically cultures they are not intimately familiar with.

You have people who find themselves trying to create the scifi feel of the foreign and the unfamiliar -- they see cultures that are fascinating and beautiful and feel inspired. But that’s when things get dicey. After all, if a white person is not actively looking for it (as it is not an active part of their life to worry about), how will they understand what can be potentially disrespectful or not for the poc cultures they borrow elements from?

Which brings us to remember that...

Cultural Appropriation: Historical Context is Important

One thing that can determine whether or not cultural appropriation harmful is when the people borrowing from the other culture possesses historical baggage in which they have a history of taking from those people to begin with.

This is why white people wearing Native American headdresses is considered immediately harmful. Even without the added context of the fact that the headdresses are being misused and disrespected, the fact is that white people have had past transgressions stealing from Native Americans with consequences that still exist today.  

So, what is the historical context involving Padmé Amidala and her wardrobe?

I’ll get there, but let me explain a few things first involving the development of her noteworthy red dress ensembles when we first see her (ok, Sabé lol) on the throne and later in the movie.

When looking at FORCE OF FASHION: QUEEN AMIDALA’S THRONE ROOM ENSEMBLE, an article that is posted on the Star Wars official site, you see that they talk about the Behind the Scenes work on Amidala’s main wardrobe in TPM and the inspirations revolving around that.

[The] design borrows the striking reds of traditional Chinese regality and mixes it with the complex, beautiful golden designs of Korean and Mongolian wedding dresses...”

“[the] massive headdress strongly recalls that of a traditional Mongolian wedding...“

“Here in this galaxy, the white make-up and red dotted accents on Amidala’s cheeks resemble the Yeonjigonji, a style of make-up used by brides in traditional Korean weddings...”

The issue here isn’t that they take inspiration from multiple cultures as much as they pick and choose, mix and match certain aspects of wedding wear that is worn from those cultures and put them all into one style of dress to emulate a certain aesthetic. 

Intent and the tradition become changed and disregarded for the fiction that is played in the story. The context is lost and it is then displayed towards an audience where many do not know the original origins. It all sums up to what they intend: to portray an alien culture.

To move forward creatively in this way -- taking bits and pieces of a culture mainly for the aesthetic while disregarding the meaning and symbolism -- is to assume that these cultures have interchangeable traits that can be taken and altered at whim. And that’s simply not the case. Cultures are not to be treated the same as arranging a flower bouquet. Especially if it comes from cultures that belongs to people who are still alive and thriving, to which their culture is an active part of their livelihood and identities.

Which brings me to talk about....

Orientalism, Why it Sucks, and How it Affects Us Now

It is during the 19th century that there was a spark of interest and fascination with the the far East for the British Empire. With the modern technologies that allowed for travel across oceans, it made things steadily easier for foreigners to meet and explore new cultures and people. It was a time of learning built on curiosity and would escalate and devolve when findings were taken back to British civilization. Stereotypes and a disdain for foreigners would fester among the white populace despite them hypocritically finding fascination in their art.

It should also be remembered that during this time, the West had already been introducing “western practices” to other cultures, which included drugs and weapons. The one specific thing I’ll reference is the “Opium Trade” being started in China and how that thoroughly crippled the nation -- causing millions of addicts but also a wealth of trade/commerce in which Britain thoroughly benefited from.

So, on one hand, you have the white people taking artifacts and treasures back to their land for the aesthetic. On the other hand, we have those same white people ruining the people they are stealing from and taking advantage of their misery (often caused by said Imperialistic white people) for money.

And all of the art of these people from multiple cultures: Middle Eastern, Asian and North African would be put under the giant umbrella to be referred to as “Orientalism” that would inspire a time of thievery, gaudy misunderstood imitations, and an even worse mistreatment of the people of those cultures. 

To them, these “people of the Orient” did not have any valuable distinction other than the fact that their works were foreign, fascinating and beautiful.

It didn’t matter to them that these cultures existed on their own and possessed a long developed history that determined who they were as people. To the colonizers and thieves, they were all the same -- to be stolen and furnished in homes as trophies. 

They picked which assets would be considered valuable about these cultures by taking these beautiful culturally important things out of context.

And this, is the historical baggage that I consider when I look at the cultural appropriation that is Padmé Amidala’s regalia and the fact that white people were behind the conception and designs. It’s not a matter of the negative cultural appropriation being intentional or not, but rather, from their situational ignorance, they acted unknowingly and created something potentially offensive to those of Asian descent.

They took beautiful features, but left behind the significance and cultural symbolism. They have unintentionally removed the Asian people from the designs despite it originating from them.  

It’s one thing to be inspired, but a creator needs to understand that when you are inspired by any culture, you have to bring forward the people as well. 

A good example of this would be the Avatar: The Last Airbender series and how they were inspired by multiple South and East Asian cultures but did not remove the Asian people from the story at all. They also kept all the clothing designs faithful to what they based off of (no mixing and matching certain aspects into one clothing) and kept the context for wearing them proper (ie. they did not design regal wear based on wedding attire as though it were interchangeable).

But does this mean that we hate Padmé and everything and everyone involved with her design? 

Not necessarily, but at the same time we shouldn’t excuse it. 

When it comes down to it, it is always important to acknowledge what can be done better to improve in future works. Action needs to be taken but...

Remember that when problems are being pointed out about something you like, no one is telling you not to like it anymore.

Rather, it is important to discuss all creative media, old and new, and work towards actively thinking on how they can be improved. For example, it is these kinds of discussions and acknowledgements that have brought the majority to accept that racist caricatures like Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany’s are unacceptable in current modern media.

So, the question isn’t just “Should Padmé Amidala have been cast as an Asian woman?” Unfortunately, though we know that it would have been definitely more respectful considering the thoughts behind her costume, there still lies the issue of white creators being in charge of the costuming and design of Naboo and approaching it in a way in which did not actively involve actual Asian creators in their development process.

So, consider asking: “What should we do for similar characters like Padmé in the future?” What should we do when a character’s identity is based on an Asian culture for aesthetic? 

What should we do to make sure future creators and developers will take more careful measures to be respectful in their portrayals of new fictional creations?

How does a creator make something original and exciting without ostracizing what it is inspired by in real life?

If you got this far, thank you for reading. This has always been one of those things I’ve had strong feelings about. I don’t normally write essays about the Clone Wars or Star Wars, but this was just one of those moments where I felt I couldn’t ignore the discourse. As always, our blog is open for discussion and questions. Going to tag @diversity-instarwars​, you are welcome to add any thoughts you may have on the matter.

[jakemicciantuono]

The Star Wars prequel trilogy can easily be perceived as postmodern films, and it is not terribly hard to see why. Before we delve deep into this beloved trilogies postmodern qualities, let us first briefly look at what postmodernism is. Postmodernism can be defined as a late-20th century style and concept that represents a departure from modernism and has at its core a distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as a problematic relationship with any notion of art. Now, that definition is certainly a mouthful and to someone not familiar with the concept of postmodernism, this can seem like a big hunk of gobbledygook. To simplify things, postmodernism is a movement in which things like art, pop culture, and architecture decided to go against the usual narrative and start something different that did not follow the usual rules. Now that postmodernism has been defined for everyone, we can now begin to see what postmodern qualities the Star Wars prequel trilogy has to offer us. For starters, something that is a little different from what was usually done at the time and even before the time of these movies was the idea of a prequel trilogy. If you take a moment to think about it, what movies saga of any variety actually had their own prequel trilogy before George Lucas decided on making his prequels. The Star Wars prequels may very well be the first movie series to get a prequel trilogy, and because this is definitely something different from the narrative at this time, it can be considered postmodern. Even at its earliest beginning this trilogy is postmodern, quite interesting. Another quality that could be considered postmodern lies within everyone favorite least favorite character, Jar Jar Binks. Though Jar Jar Binks really did nothing much in The Phantom Menace besides make it not receive critical approval and love from long term fans, Jar Jar Binks was certainly a big deal. You see, Jar Jar Binks was, in fact, the first fully CGI character in all of cinema. Was the use of a fully CGI character intended to be for trust issue purposes with grand theories? Maybe, but there is no denying that the use of this fully CGI character is different and can be seen as a break from what happened in modern movies. Now the biggest postmodern qualities come in many forms around the main protagonist of the trilogies, Anakin Skywalker. In the first film of the trilogy, The Phantom Menace, we meet 9 year old, Anakin Skywalker. Though movies in the past have had child leads, these films can all be considered postmodern films, and this is just another postmodern quality in The Phantom menace. I think the biggest postmodern quality is the romance and relationship between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala. This relationship in film is so different from what is normally seen on the big screen. Yes, there is some commonly used themes in their relationship, like how they can’t and shouldn’t be together, but they are anyway, but there is more here than just that. There is the intense fear of loss. After the loss of his beloved mother, Anakin is terrified of losing anyone else who he holds close to his heart. We see this throughout the trilogy with how he is always saving the ones he cares about no matter how dangerous or who tells him no. Anakin’s entire downfall centers around his fear of losing Padme, and this fear and love is quite different from what is normally seen in the science fiction genre, so this makes it a postmodern quality. There are many other small postmodern qualities sprinkled throughout the three movies. For instance, Padme is more than just a queen who is weak, she is brave and string and even pretends to not be the queen so she can help fight, something much different than the usual depictions of queens in pop culture. All three films feature no opening credits, instead there’s a brief word crawl explaining what has happened. The amount of diversity can be considered postmodern in these films and lastly, this entire universe of modernism turn on its head is truly postmodern.

[exitiumparit]

concerning Satine’s clothes (prequel era);;

Before becoming the Duchess of Mandalore

Clothing: As a safe guard and political representative in Coruscant for much of her formative years, as hard as Satine tried to keep herself as Mandalorian as possible, she started to follow after the high fashion Corsucanti trends. However, Satine does not bend her will to fashion as much as may seem to the high. She likes being comfortable and she prefers to let her words speak for themselves. It does not mean, though, that she necessarily dresses plainly.  Her dresses tend to be more flowy with less corestry (or whatever the fuck the Star Wars equivalent is, smh George Lucas) and more emphasis on quality fabrics. Think Regency Era, or an Austen film. The ornamentations, if there, often blend with whatever color she’s wearing in the main part of her gown, and accents are generally minimal.

(Examples: one two three )

She prefers things close to her body but without restriction. At first this clothing emphasizes her youth, however, starts to mature as she grows older with longer sleeves, greater detail, and especially after her father dies and she’s named Duchess of Kalevala (this is before she’s Duchess of Mandalore)

Hair: Satine’s hair is longer in her youth, which she prefers to wear completely up.. Her blonde hair, which has a natural wave to it, is often straightened if it is down or free flowing. Styles quite often feature a headpiece that Satine uses as proof of her status of royal blood (and later cemented as a Duchess). She either goes two ways: ornamented flower crowns or typical jeweled diadems/smaller tiaras. 

Hair examples: one two three four

Headpieces: one two three four

Misc: At the largest state functions, Satine often prefers to show some sort of show of political affiliation. Before she starts to split from her father, this is most often worn as a sash hanging off one shoulder. As a young teenager, this is most often her clan’s colors. As she starts to separate politically from her father, she switches to Mandalore’s colors. When she’s officially joined the New Mandalorians (about ~a year before she tries to return to Mandalore), it’s of the New Mandalorian factions.

Best example: the sash S7 Daenerys wore: 

Her shoes are often plain, typically calf-length boots.

Her time on the run;;

So I think everyone has seen the picture of Satine with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and I call.....bullshit? Well, mostly, at least. I think there are a few times when Satine has enough of a gap between her and assassins where she can send a comm home, but more often she’s looking like Jyn Erso than any shade of a Duchess of Mandalore.

She typically wears cloth pants and boots with a shirt and whatever jacket. They long ditch any affiliation to Mandalore Satine could carry, and anytime Satine gets barely cleaned up enough to send a secret state message, she looks much more like the minimalistic approach that they took with Leia (more on the matching Leia and Satine imagery at a later date) than avoiding mercenaries and assassins while wearing a bewejeled headpiece.

For a period of time, Satine’s hair is crudely died a dark brown and she’s almost always either in a cloak or has a jacket with a hood. Her hair is pulled back and twisted into a bun. She loses weight from the lack of stability and being constantly on the run and the lack of constant food access or shelter.

As a Duchess;;

When Satine returns to Mandalore to become Governor of Mandalore (which I believe is her official title and not ‘Duchess of Mandalore’, which I HC as a political nickname she acquired from being a Duchess), she chops her hair short and returns back to her home and instates the New Mandalorians as the full government for the whole Mandalore system.

Looking at Satine’s state gown, while obviously much more ornate than previous headcanons, if you compare her to other female rulers we see, Satine is still much more minamlistic.

Think about Queen Breha Organa who we in a full gown and full sleeves and an expansive dress and then Queen Amidala with her oversized gowns and elaborate headpieces and face makeup--and when compared to Satine’s straight line gowns and long sleeves and simple lines, Satine’s much more different.

However--there are still elements you see of the same women. It’s well known that Satine’s state dress’s design was an unused concept art for Padme, and Satine’s seen in similar colors to Breha’s designs. Well, I’mma make a HC out of it--young and confused, Satine looked to other influential female rulers around her and mimicked elements of their styles to form her own.

As a full governor of an entire system, Satine still needed to look the part. Came in her impressive headdress of lilies--lilies for the imagery of peace, to form herself as an image of pacifism, and then the impressive height to make her look taller. Standing in it, she’s actually taller than Obi-Wan, and probably nearly as tall as Anakin.

I’ll dissect and formalize HCs for the full state dress at another time, as I’ll be typing for hours if I don’t, so moving on.

General clothing trends: Layered gowns with straight, minimalistic lines. If she’s not in a gown, like her pink and green outfit, she still focuses on finer fabrics and delicate ornamentation with minimal jewelry. This is to focus on her words and actions whether than what she’s wearing. She prefers more modest clothing with long sleeves and high necks, and especially after she’s tortured by Almec to cover the scarring from the electricity.

Hair: Satine, in nearly every capacity acting as a Duchess in a state role, wears her hair up and often in another headpiece, like the dragonfly circlet, the pink and green one, or the gold and black one we see in The Lawless arc. The only times we see her hair down are 1. in the pink and green outfit, which it’s partially pulled back and 2. in the Lawless, where she’s being held as a political prisoner.

Misc: When wearing a gown, Satine is always wearing her deactivator on her in a secret pocket concealed in an inner layer of dress. This is why her gowns are deceptively layered; she’s always ready to run. As seen in the Lawless, where she starts in a gown, where she later is shown in the same dress but with a torn hem with pants underneath, all of Satine’s gowns are made with tearaway skirts should she need to start running. This is a secret kept highly guarded and one she has kept ever since becoming a Duchess. 

[fialleril]

so i'm working on the prompt thing and it's like half done, but i'm having a little (a lot) of trouble with the characterization, especially with Padme (I haven't had the occasion to watch any of the movies in a long time and she seems very much like a cardboard cutout to me when i try to write her), is there any way you would help out a fellow writer by sharing some headcanons? just like, basic padme headcanons, bc i have like...zero to work off of right now and it would be v helpful

Oh my gosh, I’m so excited that you’re writing the thing! I can’t even tell you. (No pressure, though. Lord knows I’ve been talking about my unfinished fic for like two years, so take as long as you want/need.)

Concerning Padme, @flaminganakin just put up a really great analysis of her character here, so I recommend checking that out.

And here’s a few random headcanons of mine:

Padme is quite close with her sister Sola, but her relationship with her parents is more distant and frequently strained. They love each other, but they don’t really understand each other. (This post has a lot more detail on that headcanon.)

She really loves Naboo tradition, and is a bit of a geek about it - she studies old customs and reads classical texts and is actually fluent in the traditional language of flowers (something which is about as well-known among modern Naboo as Victorian flower language is for us today).

She’s both an idealist and a cynic, both practical and fanciful. (And this is part of why she’s so consistently underestimated by her opponents, who tend to see only one side of her and then get blindsided by the other. “Queen Amidala is young and naive. You will find controlling her will not be difficult.” Yeah, that one worked out.)

Padme actually has quite a lot in common with Anakin. They’re both very passionate, idealistic people with a tendency to prioritize other people - sometimes over ideals, and certainly over themselves. They’re both nerdy romantics. They both have a complex relationship with authority (something that will probably play into a graffiti AU). Anakin’s authority issues are pretty obvious, but I think a lot of people overlook Padme’s because most of what she says is insistence on democracy and the rule of law. But Padme in action has a very definite tendency to follow the old adage: if you want something done, you’ve got to do it yourself. In TPM when she sees the galactic authority of the Senate won’t help her, she decides to go back and retake Naboo herself - a tactic which, it’s worth noting, was at best unsanctioned by the Republic, and arguably illegal (certainly illegal if she’d lost and the Trade Federation had been able to call the shots). In AOTC Padme is the one who decides to go rescue Obi-Wan, again outside the auspices of any official Republic sanction - and that rescue attempt does ultimately precipitate a diplomatic incident. So yes, Padme has a certain anti-authority streak, and it’s sometimes in conflict with her political goals in some really interesting ways.

She also has a definite reckless streak, frequently related to her complicated relationship with the concept of authority.

She loves fashion and the arts, and has a pretty broad appreciation for different types of art. (Something which may also play into a graffiti AU.)

She’s extremely protective of the people and things she loves, and pretty resistant to believing anything negative about them.

Part of why I’m so psyched for this AU is that, while the initial idea of Padme and Anakin meeting again while tagging the same building was mostly crack, there’s enough in their characters that I can actually imagine it happening.

[demandpeace-blog1]

Satidala wedding outfit descriptions - go.

OKAY SO !!!!!!!!! I’m going to actually answer this in the spectrum of the arranged marriage AU I have with @eleutheriana​ b/c that’s the only Satidala AU I’ve actually personally conceived where marriage is a thing that  actually happens. Basic background to the AU: the New Mandalorians lose the war that installs Satine as Duchess of Mandalore. Trapped on Coruscant as (more or less) a political refugee, Chancellor Palpatine reach out to other planets to relocate Satine. Queen Amidala reaches out to not only offer Satine relocation, but to marry her to protect her from extradition, should the resolution of the Mandalorian civil war try to convict Satine of any kind of crime.

So !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m not gonna talk at huge lengths about Padmé, because she’s Queen Amidala at this time and so; face paint, elaborate headdress, etc. Go ask Nicole she loves screaming about Amidala aesthetic it’s wonderful.

Satine, on the other hand.

So while Satine is not Queen of Naboo and therefore does not have the rank’s protections that Padmé has--full anonymity, face paint, fully trained handmaiden doubles. Satine’s real named is used, as it’s near impossible to even bother with any kind of flavor of regnal name. As a wedding present of sorts, though, Eirtaé is Satine’s own person handmaiden and would-be double. To allow for the possibility--this is decently soon after the blockade, so this is very present in Padmé’s mind--Satine doesn’t wear face paint (and would refuse anyways) but wears lots of face veils. Some are less covering than others, such as:

this or this or this or this or this or this

And tbh Satine’s Naboo bridal gown does not look that far off from her usual attire as Consort. She is usually dressed in pale colors. Whites and golds are her favorite; Satine Kryze-Amidala usually looks like a bride, and that’s not just a coincidence. Satine keeps an Official Office, but as Prince(ss) of Theed has a much more Official office than Satine, she’s really treated more like that of an American First Lady. And Naboo culture highly stresses the importance of weddings and family and marriage, etc. Plus, the governors are lowkey trying to stomp out any traces of Mandalorian from their Queen’s pretty wife as not to accidentally fall into a war with Mandalore. So, Satine’s usual aesthetic, tbh, looks 100% like a British royal wedding.

this or this or this or this 

Her bridal gown, however, is worthy of note.

So Satine--talking canon, TCW Satine--while elaborate in her outfits, is actually one of the less visibly ornate stately female figures in Star Wars. There’s quite a few of her outfits that have actually been pulled from Padmé’s concept art from the films--namely her ceremonial garb with the headdress of lilies--but still, as a ruler of a country, Satine actually dresses more on-par with Senatorial garb than that of a planet--and system’s--rule. I mean like--

Queen Amidala vs Duchess Satine Kryze

It’s, namely, much more simplistic.

And that’s important, considering Satine is very, very aware that she has very little control over her marriage and her wedding. She believes Queen Amidala to be far closer to goddess than human, but as a woman all but stripped of status, she does not attempt to compete with Amidala. (Padmé has afforded Satine many freedoms, some of which Satine is aware of, some of which she’s not, but anyways.) So when designing her wedding gown, Satine stays in what she’s comfortable in.

The gown is long sleeved and much less full, much less stately than Amidala’s. Satine, in literally every single one of her state gowns, is in long sleeved, a-line, (mostly) high necked gowns, and she’d stick to that. So you’d find her in long sleeves of lace like this with much more movement to her gown like something tulle based like this. Satine has not a single attempt in her mind to take up as much space as Amidala--and Satine has been trained to rule a planet, so she understands the Political Implications of things like the way you dress--and while she’s being smothered, she’s hoping to look more like herself and make more of a Statement as the future Consort of Naboo sticking within herself. So instead of namely overly ornate things like major pieces of filigree gold on her lace, there’s flickering accents like the gold petals at the end of this dress. Her bridal veil mimics that of a juliet cap, (with a veil still covering her face) but has the full length of a cathedral veil with full gold trim like this. She’s also wearing a full tiara on top of her veil, much like Maria Cavallier’s bridal tiara. This is one of the most ornate dresses Satine ever wears, despite that she wears very similar gowns/whole getups during the rest of her time as consort. 

So, there’s Queen Amidala, in face paint and headdress and deep voice and she looks and feels and acts like an immortal, untouchable goddess. Her Royal Highness, Satine Kryze-Amidala, next to her, looks gauzy and ethereal and as if she’s made of air and sunlight. Striking image, right? Also: if you were a Naboo citizen viewing holopics of the wedding, wouldn’t you be a little more welcoming of a bride that looks that human than a bride with a tall headdress of lilies and stern eyes? (Told you. Satine gets dressing politically; I mean this is also Satine’s own comfort, but y’know. You get what I’m saying.)

-deep breath- Did you expect nearly a 1,000 words on bridal gowns? Betcha didn’t. Well. Here you are.

[shirlleycoyle]

Star Wars Needs to Get Back to Its Roots: Taking Inspiration From Other Movies

Most of Star Wars’ core ideas are straight-up stolen from other stories. That’s not an indictment of the franchise by itself, especially considering what George Lucas was able to do with those ideas in the original and prequel trilogies. What it does suggest, however, is that Disney should have looked outside the franchise for ideas for its new trilogy rather than having relied so heavily on Star Wars nostalgia.

Take Dune, written by Frank Herbert in the 1960s as the first book in an epic science fiction series. The story is primarily set on a desert planet Arrakis (Tatooine) featuring dew collectors (moisture farms) and dangerous desert tribesmen called Fremen (Tusken Raiders) in an empire ruled by the evil Padishah Emperor (Palpatine). One of his favorite tools are his Sardaukar (Stormtroopers), Imperial troops regularly deployed to crush dissent and spread fear.

A prominent fixture of the empire is the Bene Gesserit (Jedi/Sith), an ancient monastic order of space witches whose array of powers include using The Voice (Mind Tricks) to control others. The space witches have prophesied the coming of the Kwisatz Haderach (Chosen One) who will be able to commune with a primordial force in all beings called Other Memory (the Force) that in part augments their physical, mental, and extrasensory powers. Dune's space witches not only have to have the right bloodline (midichlorians) but must undergo rigorous training called Prana-Bindu (the Ways of the Force) to mold their bodies and minds.

Our protagonist, Paul Atreides, is set into conflict with one of the Emperor's subjects, Baron Harkonnen (Darth Vader), whom he believes killed his father but it turns out that this Baron is his grandfather (Darth Vader is Luke's father). Paul's sister, Princess Alia (Princess Leia), has similar abilities to him. This goes on and on for Dune, but you get the point—a huge amount of plot points line up or are slightly altered.

George Lucas has also borrowed heavily from a variety of films. From Akira Kurosawa's 1958 samurai classic, The Hidden Fortress, he borrows the story's point of view. "The one thing that really struck me about The Hidden Fortress was the fact that the story was told from the two lowest characters," he said in a 2001 interview. "I decided that would be a nice way to tell the Star Wars story, which was to take the two lowest characters, as Kurosawa did, and tell the story from their point of view, which in the Star Wars case is the two droids."

The Hidden Fortress also takes place during a period of civil war, following a tall peasant named Tahei (C3PO) and a short one named Mataschichi (R2D2). They never shut up (*incessant droid noises*), meander through a desert after a battle, get split up, are captured and reunited. Soon they are dragged back into the civil war, helping the bearded General Tadokoro (former general Ben Kenobi, who Lucas initially wanted to be played by Tadokoro’s actor) escort Princess Yuki (Leia) to the rebel base. Tahei and Mataschichi, however, aren't helping out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they want Yuki's fortune (Han Solo and Chewbacca).

Star Wars borrows heavily from Flash Gordon not just with its serialized nature but key plot points. Flash Gordon and a prince (Luke Skywalker and Han Solo) sneak into the evil Emperor's fortress (Death Star) dressed as enemy soldiers. A space princess, a hairy biped companion, a sky city (Cloud City) run by an old friend (Lando Calrissian) that may no longer be trustworthy, physically unrealistic but entertaining space dogfights, an opening text crawl.

The prequel podrace is at one point a shot by shot remake of the chariot racing scene from Charlton Heston's Ben Hur. Jabba's concept art has him wearing the signature fez of Casablanca's Signor Ferrari, the fat crime lord that runs the eponymous city that sounds a lot like Jabba's criminal underworld. Idea after idea is borrowed and repurposed to make a new world.

All that borrowing, plagiarism, inspiration, whatever you want to call it, helped George Lucas build an incredibly rich and original universe for that first trilogy that became the bedrock for the series he envisioned. Some of Star Wars’ best moments used all this literary and cinematic plunder to make new moments, not constantly callback old ones.

Whether you hate Phantom Menace or think it was unfairly maligned, you cannot deny Roger Ebert's review of the movie as "an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking." That achievement is deepened not only by continued borrowing from non-Star Wars IP, but the invocation of past installments without relying on photocopying or nostalgia. Tatooine, originally Dune’s Arrakis, gains heightened thematic significance when we learn it was where Luke’s father was raised as a slave. Not only do we meet Princess Leia’s mother, who also happens to be royalty, but Queen Amidala's plot rhymes with Princess Yuki's from Hidden Fortress: on the run from invaders, using decoys to hide herself, protected by a General (two Jedi, here). Even the conflict between Gungans and Nabooians is from another Kurosawa film, Seven Samurai, where farmers and samurai hold each other at arms distance.

Attack of the Clones is more explicit in its callbacks. Take Boba Fett’s appearance here and in The Empire Strikes Back. In Clones, Boba and his father chases Kenobi through an asteroid field but lose him when the Jedi attaches himself to an asteroid and fools their sensors. In Empire, Han Solo tries the same trick but it fails to work on the bounty hunter this time around. There's a very loud callback to John Ford's The Searchers here, when Anakin learns his mother was kidnapped by Tusken Raiders and a search party led by her husband, Cliegg Lars, fails to find her. The lyricism here shines through because while Anakin finding his dying mother sends him on a quest of revenge to murder every Tusken Raider in the camp, Luke in A New Hope finds his surrogate family dead and instead embarks on his quest to become a Jedi.

Revenge of the Sith (an objectively good film) tracks Anakin’s final descent into darkness with the sort of grandeur you’d expect to close out the second set of Lucas’ four planned trilogies. All the plagiarism thus far builds up to create new moments that both pay off on their own, but also invoke the originals without relying on nostalgia. It was tragic watching Obi-Wan and Padmé realize far too late that Anakin has fallen to the dark side—especially when we know that he will go on to kill scores more people including Kenobi, maim his own son, and then offer Luke up to the Emperor until finally coming back to the light two decades later. When we see how close Yoda comes to killing Palpatine, his depression in Empire makes more sense: he blames himself for not being strong enough and now faces a reminder of his failure, the son of the Jedi whose corruption he couldn’t stop and whose death he ordered. You watch this movie knowing deep shame, death, and tragedy awaits each of these characters and that gives the prequels a cinematic power of their own.

Search your feelings and you know all of this to be true. This is where Star Wars shines—in stealing from a plethora of sources to fashion new moments, big and small, for us to enjoy in this universe. This is what the prequels do and what we’ve all been missing from Disney’s latest trilogy, which feels content to largely find inspiration in Star Wars movies past rather than look further afield in the galaxy.

Star Wars Needs to Get Back to Its Roots: Taking Inspiration From Other Movies syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[ds4design]

Charting the Galaxy: An Interview with Star Wars: Galactic Maps Illustrator Tim McDonagh

Growing up on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker often looked out at the stars and wished for a life of adventure out there. If he had gotten a copy of the new book, Star Wars: Galactic Maps – An Illustrated Atlas of the Star Wars Universe, he might have gotten an even bigger appetite for the different worlds and star systems of the galaxy far, far away — and maybe wouldn’t have been so dazed when he saw the patrons inside the Mos Eisley cantina. Available now, Galactic Maps is not your typical modern atlas, full of maps with plenty of boundaries and dots and exact locations; it’s more similar to map collections of the past, when the world was not as well-traveled, and empty and unknown spaces were filled in with hand-drawn illustrations depicting the historical events, landforms, flora, and fauna of a place.

Originally developed and released by Egmont UK as Star Wars: Galactic Atlas in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa in November, this lovingly detailed 80-page book brings together the characters, landmarks, creatures, and geography and presents it in an in-universe fashion, as if put together by an artist inspired by travelers’ tales. Plus, this atlas brings together information from across the Star Wars saga, including The Force Awakens, The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and the newest Star Wars film, Rogue One. StarWars.com reached out by e-mail to the real-world illustrator of Galactic Maps, Tim McDonagh, and learned how this treasury came to be.

StarWars.com: Galactic Maps is not your typical Star Wars reference book. What makes this book stand out?

Tim McDonagh: I think what makes the book stand out is seeing different scenes from the films, comics, books, and TV series all together on the pages. I think it gives the events of the Star Wars universe more of a sense of place, since there is so much there and it’s easy to get overwhelmed!

StarWars.com: The maps you’ve illustrated combine the places of Star Wars with a lot of the characters and happenings at those places — how did this come about?

Tim McDonagh: Well, a lot of those choices were down to the editor, Emil Fortune. His extensive knowledge and research of the Star Wars universe was crucial in putting the book together. We knew we wanted it to be a book of maps that depicted different planets, so then after that it was more of a process of going through all of the material and working out what planets might be the most interesting to illustrate and what events in the universe held the most weight.

StarWars.com: What is the process you went through when developing a spread?

Tim McDonagh: I would start with the planet name and a list of 15 or so events that occurred there and then start penciling out all of the vignettes for the planets individually. For example, in the case of Naboo, vignettes like Queen Padmé Amidala, Doctor Nuvo Vindi, Boss Nass, etc., would all be drawn out separately about three or four times the size that they appear on the page. Then we would collate them on a spread and move them around until it made sense to us. After the layout of everything had been agreed, then I would ink all of those up, scan them in, and color them digitally. Then it was a matter of filling in the terrain and adding in any extra bits that I thought might help each spread along. So for Naboo, that was drawing a lot of trees and green areas, taking a look at the kind of architecture that was associated with Naboo and anything else that. There was lots of tweaking and moving objects around because of the scale of the project and all of the information in the book. I had been a huge Star Wars fan before taking this job on, though. I loved the films, books, and computer games growing up, and so I already had an advantage from that point of view.

StarWars.com: How did the collaborative process work between you and writer Emil Fortune?

Tim McDonagh: Emil was absolutely fantastic to work with, along with Egmont’s in-house designer Richie Hull, whom I couldn’t have managed any of it without! Emil was great at determining which events happened on what planets and at what time, which is a pretty difficult task, even for the most dedicated Star Wars fans. He would provide me with a detailed list of scenes that should be depicted on each planet and where they appeared in the canon, whether that be in an episode of Star Wars Rebels or in the Battlefront game. Aside from those specific scenes though, they were very open to my interpretation of whatever planet we were working on and I was given plenty of freedom to play around with the look and feel of each individual planet.

StarWars.com: Galactic Maps collects a lot of information about the significant events of a place, pulling from the films, television programs, and other sources. How was it determined what information to include?

Tim McDonagh: That was largely down to Emil and the editorial team. I suppose there are planets that spring to mind which have such a strong visual identity already that it’s almost a given that they are going to be included, like Tatooine, Hoth, and Endor’s moon. But then there are others which we still know little about, like Dagobah and Kashyyyk, which were fun to do because you start to realize your own interpretation of that place, whilst at the same time trying to stay true to what information there is out there. There are lots of major events that happen throughout the Star Wars universe and so I suppose we just wanted to be sure to include everything that had a significant impact on the universe. I think what I like almost as much as those though are the small details of each planet that gives them a sense of place, like the womp rats on Tatooine, Teedos on Jakku, or Gungan warriors on Naboo.

StarWars.com: The atlas is more than just planetary maps, but also includes star charts, an illustrated timeline, bios of important characters and a bestiary — what are some of the fun things about creating these different sections?

Tim McDonagh: As a massive Star Wars fan myself, just being able to create and see an overview of this huge galaxy was really interesting. As an illustrator though, I really enjoyed drawing up the character profiles that appear in the beginning of the book. All of the characters are all so fun to draw and having them all appear on one page together seemed like a cool idea. The only problem was choosing only 48, there could have been hundreds more!

StarWars.com: What was it like to work on the map of Jedha, a planet that is a key setting for Rogue One?

Tim McDonagh: That was the last map we worked on because of the limited information available about Jedha at the time of starting the book. As we progressed though, we were slowly given more information about it. Each little bit seemed to be more exciting than the last! We were sent concept art and screen shots from Rogue One, so I started to get a real sense of the place from those. We were also given a lot of character shoots of the residents of Jedha, and when you are given designs and concept art that looks that good, then it makes my job quite easy, really. I think what I love most about Jedha are the eerie mounts that the stormtroopers patrol on. The costumes for the pilgrims of Jedha look amazing, too!

StarWars.com: Tell us about your background and what advice might you give to aspiring illustrators?

Tim McDonagh: I graduated from the University of Westminster just over six years ago and was soon picked up by my agents Handsome Frank, who still represent me today. So I have been working as a freelance illustrator since then on a broad range of projects. What I usually say to aspiring illustrators is, be sure to create work that you love and that you enjoy working on. The work and clients will come later on, but if you enjoy what you are working on then your journey as an illustrator won’t be a chore, it will be fun!

StarWars.com: Lastly, are there any little inside jokes or Easter Eggs that you worked into Galactic Maps that you’d like to mention?

Tim McDonagh: There are a few in there! When I was younger, I was obsessed with the book and Nintendo 64 game Shadows of the Empire, which takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. As a little nod to that, I may have included Dash Rendar’s ship the Outrider on the Hoth spread, as I remember that being one of my favorite levels on the game — having to escape Echo Base. There are a few more hidden in there, too, that I won’t spoil!

James Floyd is a writer, photographer, and organizer of puzzle adventures. He’s a bit tall for a Jawa. His current project is Wear Star Wars Every Day, a fundraising effort for a refugee aid organization. You can follow him on Twitter at @jamesjawa or check out his articles on Club Jade and Big Shiny Robot.

TAGS: Books, Galactic Maps, Star Wars Books