#i would have liked to include shmi

[fanfic-obsessed]

Empress

This AU really starts when Anakin finds his mother in the Tusken camp, but only truly works if there is a little set up before.  It is imperative, for reasons that will become clear, to note that in this Palpatine has been manipulating Anakin with the Force, as opposed to only psychologically, since he was a child.  Palpatine has been seeding the darkside, hidden deep so that it was never discovered (even by Anakin), waiting to sprout and spread the darkside like an infection at the appropriate moments. 

When Anakin finds his mother as she dies, he loses it, but not to violence. Instead he panics and shoves every bit of Force that he can into his mother’s body to try and bring her back and heal her. Every bit of the Force, including the darkside seeds that Palpatine had been planting.  Because healing is primarily a light sided technique, thus somewhat purifying, Shmi does not get the full force of the darkside infection that would have hit her son (so we avoid Vader!Shmi or even Full Sidious!Shmi) however there were a number of long lasting effects to the way Anakin panicked and brought her back (incidentally Anakin has now created two new deities for the Tuskans, which Shmi does note and will make use of later).  These include:

A Force bond between her and Anakin that gave her Anakin's memories and feelings for the past decade. 

A working knowledge of what Palpatine knew (From Palpatine’s Dark Seeds), though no firsthand memories. 

Force Sensitivity that is powerful enough to use the various techniques she just gained the knowledge to use.

A significant hit to the moral centers of her psyche.

A Soul Deep and engrossing ambition to rule the Galaxy.

Now Shmi is not evil in the way that Palpatine is (Palpatine is the kind of evil that not only does whatever he wants to accomplish his goal, but actively goes out of his way to create as much collateral as possible and will in fact even mildly inconvenience himself in order to increase collateral damage) but she does now fall closer to Amoral than not. Like her first option is not to kill kids, but it is never not an option. Shmi does justify her new desire to rule the galaxy, based on the fact that she would be better at it than Palpatine. 

By the time Anakin and Shmi have made it back to the Lars homestead, she has her son wrapped around her finger even more than she would have. She had also, through the careful recounting of how one of the men who had seemed so kindly to the slave children had actually been a child murder (couching it it in terms that one of Anakin's childhood friends, who it turned out had been a victim of this man, grave had been found and the man brought to a rather brutal justice), partially broken Anakin’s trust in Palpatine without ever letting on that she knew who Palpatine was.  

After they get back to the Homestead, Shmi tells Anakin that she wants him to visit again and to bring Obi Wan (It was after they had talked about what had been happening since he left). Anakin loves Obi Wan as a brother, and as such Shmi loves him too. Padme has also fallen quickly under Shmi’s influence, which is good considering that Shmi intended to make Padme another daughter in law (Both because Anakin had a crush, and she wanted Anakin to have what he wanted, and because Senator and former Queen of Naboo is actually a decently powerful set of titles).  Shmi gently shoos her sweet, oblivious son off the planet with her future daughter in law (it is for the best that her Jedi Son be off the planet for what she is about to do next) making them promise to visit soon. 

Cliegg and Beru also fall quickly under Shmi’s spell. Owen holds out a bit longer (I am fully convinced that his ability to hold back Skywalker BS comes from growing up with Shmi, not his few interactions with Anakin) but is just as willing to follow Shmi’s lead within a tenday.

While a galaxy wide war is breaking out, Shmi quietly but very firmly takes control of Tatooine. Then, in spite of the fact she had not left the planet in decades, she quickly takes control of the rest of the Hutt Empire.  Her identity remains hidden; she does not want to fight her son or his Jedi family because they do not yet understand her vision for the galaxy. They will, of that she is sure, but it will take time.

One of the many things she does is abolish slavery within her new Empire.  It is both easier and harder than it would appear. Easier in that she does not care about the power or money of the people who made their living in trafficking of sentient life, so she does not care about the economics of the systems she dismantles. Harder because the Hutt Empire was built on slavery; there are significantly larger portions of every population of the Hutt Planets then anyone realized who had spent most of their lives enslaved, with no training or education and very little idea how to exist without being enslaved (with all the psychological and sociological implications therein).  But she does it, quietly absorbing the fledgling Zygerrian Empire as well. 

A year and a half into the Clone wars Shmi is finally ready to make her move. 

In that time she has become well connected with Padme, who asks for approval to marry Anakin six months into the war (Approval that Shmi grants, on the condition that Padme also get approval from Obi wan, as Anakin’s older brother/father. Padme asks, and to the surprise of both Padme and Anakin immediately gets Obi Wan’s baffled, but pleased, approval. In this one marriage is not forbidden to Jedi, it really isn’t even discouraged. No one seems to want to marry a Jedi, as far as the Jedi are concerned. Date a Jedi, well that seems to be common fantasy. Sleep with a Jedi, all the time. But never marry. This all serves Shimi’s true purpose, to continue to break the trust between her son and Palpatine). They do decide to wait until after the war, when they can have everyone attend; in part because Palpatine is pushing them both in a really creepy way. 

She makes her move by going on vacation with Cliegg to a world she knew, from her own spies, was about to be attacked by separatists. A world that it was highly likely the 212th would be deployed to. In the time it takes for the 212th to liberate the planet, it is a relatively minor battle so only takes a few weeks, Shmi and Clieg have connected with the battalion and convinced them to transport them (Shmi and Cliegg) to Coruscant.  If asked, even Obi Wan, Cody, or the Natborn officers are not sure how they came to agree to take two civilians to the Core but everyone Shmi meets becomes absolutely convinced that it was a reasonable decision. During this trip Shmi bonds with Obi Wan, as her son’s brother/father/teacher.  This was one of her goals, to get a clearer picture of who Obi Wan is, and through him the Jedi Order; Anakin’s memories and feelings are a bit mixed on the Jedi as a whole but she also knows, from Palpatine’s knowledge, that Palpatine had been manipulating those feelings for years.  She finds that she does like Obi Wan. Because of this Shmi intends, beyond even what her plan calls for,  that she would ensure that Obi Wan found happiness in her Empire. 

Upon arriving on Coruscant Shmi sends Cliegg (in disguise) to meet with various criminal underworld leaders who know of her fledgeling Empire, while she meets with members of the Jedi council to plant the seeds of her Galactic Empire. 

It is in this that we truly see the difference between Shmi and Sidious. Shmi wants to Rule the galaxy. Sidious wants to Subjugate the galaxy. Now granted the difference between the two is not as much as people who want the former would protest, but is greater than what the people who want the latter would claim. In this case ruling is a small group having a disproportionate amount of power over a larger group. Subjugation is a group or person asserting total control over another group or person. While a ruler can abuse the power they have, in order to subjugate someone, a being MUST abuse them to break them in such a way the subjugator can control them.  

In spite of her forced amorality Shmi is actually a good person and wants to be a good Empress for the galaxy. So for her, subjugation is more work (realistically 90% of the galaxy is not going to notice if they are in a republic or an empire, and not just because the Empire had been disguising itself as a republic for a decade. That same 90% have comparatively simple needs and are going to be fine with a ruler who provides them. Whereas requires constant control measures to apply the exact correct amount of pressure to bend the populace to your will, without breaking them into rebelling. Ruling well is actually less costly) for less benefit. Because of that having the super powered warrior monks, who most of the beings that would oppose an Empress on principle are going to look to as a paragon of wisdom,  buy into the idea that Shmi should be Empress and that they would be happier in her Empire makes more sense than eradicating them.  Also, complicated feelings aside, the Jedi make up part of Anakin’s family and she does not want to hurt Anakin’s family.

Shmi also, at the behest of Anakin, took time to go with him to meet his friend Palpatine.  While in the waiting room she speaks with Fox, on guard duty, who she recognizes from her talks with Cody as the person to place a bet with(No one suspects the stern commander of the Coruscant Guard to be the biggest bookie in three systems). After about an hour of chit chat (During which Palpatine has no idea he has met someone with all of his knowledge, who is planning to abscond with the Grand Sith Plan) Anakin and Shmi leave the Senate. Anakin semi anxiously asks her what she thinks of Palpatine, babbling a little bit that Obi Wan doesn't like him, but Obi Wan hates most politicians. Shmi, after letting a long pause stretch, says that Obi Wan has good instincts (Look I really want Palpatine to be faced with his own manipulation tactics) and casually mentions Obi Wan’s time enslaved and how that must have hond those instincts- which he had not told Shmi about but that she could guess.  Again without directly accusing Palpatine of anything, Shmi manages to get across to Anakin that as the Chancellor, Palpatine actually currently has all the power and has used it to effectively enslave the clones and the Jedi. Fully breaking Anakin’s trust in Palpatine and tying him closer to the Jedi (where Shmi wants him).   During this exchange Anakin asks what she had been talking to Fox about and she answers with ‘placing a bet’. Anakin lights up and guesses it is the ‘CodyWan Bet’, because literally everybody noticed their pining and that neither will admit it (Shmi uses that to drive the point home that both are effectively enslaved and do not feel free to be together if they might be ‘sold’ apart-a concept that Anakin is very familiar with).

I am not sure where it ends, except that Shmi does indeed become Empress and her Force powers work as such that she gains power through being loved, so in being a good ruler she stops aging. The Jedi do buy in and Palpatine does end up dead. Someone in Shmi’s smaller Empire, before she becomes Empress, discovers the chips and their purpose, which leads to the entirety of the Clones transplanting themselves (GAR, Cadets, everyone) to a planet in the former Hutt space (deeply freaked out over what they could have been made to do to their Jedi) and refusing all calls for like a year, while they dechip. The Jedi (all of them) transplanted themselves to the next planet over, waiting semi impatiently to be allowed to visit their men again.  Shmi meeting Ahsoka after she becomes Anakin’s Padawan and deciding that, as her oldest grandchild, Ahsoka would have the option to be her heir if she would like (Ahsoka really wants to be a Jedi, but agrees to hold the status until another heir comes along-she gratefully passed the heir status to Leia when Leia was born, as she could not be knighted while still the Empress’s Heir). 

Oh and Obi Wan does get to be happy with Cody in the new Empire, with frequent visits from Satine (I like the idea that they were childhood sweethearts/first loves that knew they would not fit well romantically but still loved each other and got to be overprotective of each other-Satine adores Cody, thinks he is perfect for Obi Wan and thy find time every so often to take an evening to drink over whatever ridiculous situation Obi Wan go himself into this time)

[marvelstars]

Padme & Anakin anger &flaws

I may be in the minority but I do think Padme is principled and brave a lot, she has been that way since she was a kid, she was bassically trained to be that way so she could become a strong/good leader for Naboo and guess what Anakin is/was very principled and brave as well, the fact both of them share this about the other is one of the biggest reasons why they became involved and fell in love but Padme also is flawed, I don´t believe she was without flaws and one those flaws involve being almost as angry as Anakin.

We already saw Anakin´s reaction over Shmi´s death, Padme is almost as angry over Corde´s murder in AOTC, in the novel of Attack of the Clones Padmé has a moment in which she wishes she could murder the trade federation leaders and Count Dooku over Corde´s death and she wonders if that was how Anakin felt with the tusken raiders after they tortured and killed his mother, the main difference between them is that Padme would have to use considerable effort to do that which would lead to her thinking things over better, while Anakin could kill a lot of people just using his mind in the rush of the moment, he didn´t even needs his lightsaber to do that, so his control over himself has to be more constant.

Both Padme and Anakin share a perspective of justice being something that not neccesarily can be always tackled by a system, in fact Padme´s words after leaving the Senate to go rescue her planet was that there wasn´t probably any hope for the republican system, a concept like justice isn´t easily tackled by a system, especially one as flawed as the republic, Padme simply thoguht the republic could be fixed when she grew up and Anakin shared this sentiment as well but he wasn´t as hopeful as her.

So both have this rightheous anger in them and in Padme´s case that included her helping Anakin hide what happened to the tusken raiders, maybe she thought him being expelled from the Jedi Order and going to jail wasn´t the best way to deal with that, I personally think maybe that could have protected him from Palpatine but he surely would have found a way to become Anakin´s guardian and lawyer if that happened but my guess is that Padme simply had compassion for Anakin´s circunstances, because the origin of Anakin´s reaction was precisely being taken away from his mother, leaving her a slave which lead to her death and Padme knew as well as Anakin did that the dead of Shmi Skywalker would not garner justice from Jabba, the Republic or any other system or government body in the galaxy, literally nobody cared she died, only Anakin and the Lars family did which made Padme sympathetic to Anakin.

Padme also is very principled but imo she seems used to have a pov particular to her station which also leads to ignore some things people who had not been in her place experiment daily, she shares this flaw with Bail Organa as well. Slavery for Padme seemed a very horrible and sad reality but it wasn´t one of her priorities to end it, her priority was to help turn the republic into a more equal and fuctional body that could better deal with those situations and many others around the galaxy and she actually came close to discovering many of Palpatine´s schemes for this reason, which was why he and Dooku wanted her dead and she never semed to quite make the connection between slavery and the clones but then again nobody else did except for maybe Anakin and ironically Palpatine and Count Dooku.

Both Padme and Anakin were children forced into adult situations and both were told or were forced to, since a young age, to reppress their emotions, Padme as Amidala, Anakin as a slave who had to control his emotions so he would not bring trouble to his mother or himself and later as a Jedi. Imo this made both of them develop a kind of double life, Anakin in particular hated the Amidala persona, because Padme seemed so emotionless when she was that way but curiously enugh as Vader, one of his main go to presentation cards is to act almost as emotionless as Queen Amidala.

What I don´t view and never will see as part of Padme´s flaws is her love for Anakin or her wish to save him from himself in ROTS.

Those are not flaws, those are part of her strenght as a character imo because while she certainly wasn´t of the oppinion that eveything would be alright after what Anakin did, in fact Lucas commented she would not have stayed his wife had she lived, she definitely could see he wasn´t in his right mind on Mustafar, so their marriage may have been over if Anakin followed her but she still cared enough for him to try to help him get back to his own senses, because she knew if she gave Anakin that opportunity, his own horror over what he did would be as strong as anything she could tell him and he would have directly taken matters into his own hands even if they meant his death and this opportunity is precisely what Luke presented to Vader in ROTJ, which lead to the biggest victory over the darkside in the series, so no Padme´s love and compassion for Anakin will never be flaws from my pov, just like Anakin only could find himself again because he was able to feel compassion again as Vader. Both are connected that way.

[david-talks-sw]

It's a shame that the multi-media franchise of star wars have twisted the original narrative of the Jedi. I really love the sequel trilogy, I love season 7 of TCW, and Dave Filoni is amazing storyteller. But over the years, it's gotten to the point where the Jedi are being criticized to such a degree that now some people believe the Jedi should've changed their entire belief system. It's great to criticize the Jedi. They are flawed and not perfect. But now because they are now being framed negatively over the past 2-3 years and so now, some justify their genocide, disrespect their belief system, and believe Anakin was a poor victim who got caught up in everything. Lucasfilm or any writer is to blame for this, but I think people need to look a little more deeper into the media literacy behind star wars, and consider the fact that a child is going to love the Jedi despite their flaws and will be sad when they see them get killed. Because star wars is made for children who can look up to the Jedi as role models.

All of this.

I frankly don't know what else to add, @thecenturyofmusic said it all.

I also think there's an argument to be made for shifting global values.

I don't know about how it was in the U.S. specifically, but I don't remember there being as much of an emphasis on mental health back in the early 2000s as there is today.

Back then, I remember many fans sorta getting the core story but hating it, which resulted in a lot of them just bashing the Prequels.

Nowadays, a spin has been put on the Prequels wherein Anakin is the poster boy for the mental illness, he's just a victim:

he grew up a slave which gave him severe PTSD,

then was ripped away from the arms of his mother by

an elite order of emotionless monks whose emotionally-repressing teachings are the perfect representation of toxic masculinity and force you to never get emotionally attached,

who berated and rejected him at every turn,

he also doesn't have a father figure except for the Chancellor, who grooms him and isolates him,

and instead of supporting him in his hour of need, the Jedi hurt Anakin psychologically to a degree where at some point he just loses it and kills them all, because as far as he's concerned they were evil to him.

And... yeah. It can be interpreted that way. It resonates more to people when seen that way.

But it wasn't meant to be seen that way.

If it was, then we'd have seen very different Prequels.

Watto would have physically abused Anakin left and right like he's DiCaprio in Django: Unchained, instead of joking around about humans with him.

Shmi would've been on the ground crying, holding Anakin's leg and screaming "please no give me back my babyyyy!!!"

Literally every shot of the Jedi emoting, screaming, chuckling, being worried would be absent and they'd all speak with a monotonous voice, including Yoda, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.

If we were supposed to feel like Anakin is in the right and the Jedi are in the wrong then we'd be shown an Anakin who isn't petulant, arrogant and overly emotional. We'd see a normal person who gets berated by a group of unfeeling old men.

Anakin wouldn't call Obi-Wan his father twice (which is admittedly a nuanced situation because while Anakin may see Obi-Wan as a father, Obi-Wan sees Anakin as a little brother so hey).

We'd see Anakin explicitly state that he's afraid of his wife dying, maybe carrying her unconscious body to the temple steps begging for help only for someone to reject him at the door because "it goes against protocol" and that's when Palpatine swoops in.

Y'know, more explicit, emotion-eliciting stuff?

But we didn't see any of that. Because it wasn't about any of that. If it was, then it goes about delivering its message in the weakest way possible.

While nowadays, the popular take is that Anakin's downfall is the fault of everyone around him, the intended take was that Anakin's fall was his own fault. Anakin is a victim of his own flaws.

The Prequels weren't meant to show you what happens when you keep pushing a mentally unstable person, they were about cautioning children about not giving in to their own fear and greed.

"How does a good kid become a bad man?" He let his inner demons - fear, anger, greed - get the better of him.

And that's not necessarily a take most people agree with these days, but that takes us back to how much importance you actually give to GL's original vision.

[threebea]

People say Obi-Wan and the Jedi by extention, stiffled Anakin's emotions and Anakin couldn't open up to him or anyone else. This is the reason why he explodes.

In the 2002 film Attack of the Clones our first scene with Anakin and Obi-Wan involve them discussing a traumatic dream. Obi-Wan asks if it concerns Anakin's mother which implies the two have discussed these dreams and Anakin confided in him about it. Obi-Wan tries to comfort him. Sometimes dreams are just dreams. It's not a callous disregard of Anakin's emotions. Obi-Wan is speaking as someone who has lived in a community of psychics that have visions. Anakin is nineteen in a time of heightened stress where he thinks he should be promoted. Anxiety dreams are more likely than visions, and even visions can be fickle as we see with Sifo Dyas building an army to defend the Jedi that ends up slaughtering them, and Anakin killing his wife when he was supposed to save her.

Anakin then changes the subject to talk about the woman he has had a crush on since he was nine, making a very direct statement about how he's rather dream of her. If he feared Obi-Wan's judgment of his amorous emotions he would have swallowed them down and not brought them up.

Although Obi-Wan reminds him of his commitment to the Jedi Order which cannot be easily broken he isn't exactly clutching his pearls, and Anakin pokes at Obi-Wan's suspicion of politicians.

Anakin begins to show dissatisfaction with Obi-Wan when he is being viewed by said woman he likes as a little kid compared to Obi-Wan's Jedi Master. He also feels because of his natural abilities he should be able to take his trial to be a Jedi. Obi-Wan disagrees because of the obvious arrogance Anakin shows about his powers.

Mace Windu known fanon Anakin hater suggests that Obi-Wan is being too clingy and he needs to let Anakin spread his wings and fly for a solo mission with Anakin's forever crush. Thanks for the hookup, Mace. Yoda who also gets a reputation as anti-anakin agrees, poking fun at Obi-Wan mentioning a lot of Jedi can be rather arrogant. Flashback to Pada-Wan Episode I for the most handsome twerp in space bullying Jar Jar Binks.

Yoda and Mace: he's at that age, but your smothering isn't going to help him grow.

Obi-Wan: As his primary teacher I don't think he's ready, but if you think he is then alright. (Spoiler Alert, he was not ready)

Anakin, because of dreams that involve his Mother but do not give him any specifics eventually takes unnecessary risk, tries to abandon the mission Obi-Wan said he wasn't ready for, then brings his mission to Hutt controlled Tatooine for what could still be an anxiety dream (he's on a mission with his crush!). He proceeds to watch his mother die (being right about the vision does not mean he did not put his feelings before his duty) and seeks horrible revenge killing an entire village of sand people, including woman and children who are implied to have not taken part in Shmi's torture.

Anakin, having just lost his mother and also knowing he did a horrible thing that the Jedi would not approve of blames everyone he can for his actions. He blames Obi-Wan for holding him back.

Anakin never blames Obi-Wan for not letting him find Shmi. He blames Obi-Wan for not knighting him (which as we saw in Phantom Menace it's actually up to the Council, although Obi-Wan putting a good word in would maybe help). Anakin is blaming Obi-Wan for not letting his use his full power potential by keeping him a Padawan, after the scene where Anakin uses his power without any restraint.

Padme (for some reason) reassures Anakin it's normal and human to be angry and the Jedi are forever misinterpreted as emotionless rather than having taught their students emotional regulation (so they don't slaughter a village, not that you need to be masters of your emotions to not slaughter a village or anything. Just saying.)

Like, Padme is talking him down and soothing his obvious emotional breakdown at the loss of his mother. There are a few theories on why she doesn't see him killing the Sand People as repulsive or at least indicating a red flag. (Star wars wants aliens to be seen as normal people but also wants movie monsters. Anakin kills a bunch of Geonosians too when he's the one sneaking onto their planet and he's being executed for espionage, not murder so...) whatever the intention for Padme is there, she ends up showing Anakin that she accepts his dark side (pun intended), although she might not really understand the extent of what he's trying to communicate.

Anakin never tells Obi-Wan about killing the sand people, and he also does not tell Obi-Wan he has married Padme.

Is this because he can't open up to Obi-Wan because Obi-Wan raised him to push all his emotions and fears down and never speak of them? No, we already have evidence they had spoke about the nightmares more than once and Obi-Wan was worried enough to bring it up.

Does he actually truly hate Obi-Wan for holding him back and resent him bitterly and blame Obi-Wan for his Mother's death? No he once again disregards orders with the smallest nudge from Padme to go and try to save him. A task that he does not accomplish, puts the woman he was supposed to guard in the hands of the people that want her dead, and has to fight in a gladiator arena. I'm starting to think he wasn't ready for this mission. And is overconfident in his abilities which allows him to justify actions he should not be taking especially as a Jedi...man Obi-Wan really knows him.

I can't remember if it's in the deleted scenes or RotS canon but Palpatine knows about the sand people slaughter. Anakin doesn't tell Palpatine this because he trusts him more than Obi-Wan, he tells Palpatine this because Palpatine will be sympathetic and say acting on his anger by going into a blood frenzy was natural.

Anakin couldn't tell Obi-Wan because first, the sand people slaughter would have meant he would be scrutinized. Would he get kicked out of the Jedi? Probably not actually. Like legally he's probably in the clear considering how Tatooine has been shown to work. Jedi wise we have storylines outside the moves that imply it would be the Jedi's responsibility to get him back on the right path especially if the law has no jurisdiction. Either way he wouldn't be knighted anytime soon. Second, he did not tell Obi-Wan about the marriage because as a Jedi who understands and adheres to the code Obi-Wan would believe in the real danger that kind of relationship could hold for Anakin and he would make him choose one. He already said as much when Padme falls out of the shop when they go after Dooku.

If you want to talk about bad moves on Obi-Wan's part it's the he convinces Anakin not to go after Padme (who is basically fine) because he can't take Dooku alone and (unintentionally imo) convinces Anakin through his attachments rather than through duty.

So Anakin doesn't tell him knowing he would have to pick because he believes he is powerful enough to be an exception to the rules. No Jedi should have a romantic relationship but he can because he is special and he can handle it (it's like there's a pattern). Meanwhile, Palpatine and Padme both reinforce the idea that Anakin is more 'human' than other Jedi.

Jedi teaching is: even if you're angry you should not let your anger control your actions and kill people. Palpatine's lesson is: give in to hate and bloodrage without thought and don't hold yourself back even if it hurts others and yourself.

This is not me being Anti-Anakin. I think he's a great tragic character. I think he does love Padme, I think he was devastated by losing his mother and that his trauma at being a slave and having to leave her so that he could have a better life all added to what came later.

But he was also arrogant because of his natural talent, and thought he was above the rules because he always thought he was powerful enough to be an exception.

When Obi-Wan tells him he's won because he has the high ground there are a number of things he could have done in that moment, but he jumps from the position of disadvantage because he thinks he is powerful enough to overcome it.

His fear is how he got manipulated, but his arrogance constantly led to his downfall and gave Palpatine ammunition.

[antianakin]

[Image ID: Text from an ask reading "Do you ever get the impression that Palpatine's relationship with Anakin is actually far more one sided than it looks? Because on one hand, Anakin DOES give a damn about Palpatine, but it felt more in the sense that it’s because he thinks Sheev understands him and gives him the liberty to get what he wants. I sort of got that when it comes to the scene where he sees Mace and Sheev battling it out. He's devastated about all the death, but isn't all that against killing the guy up until Sheev points out he can "save" Padmé. Especially considering we're told he's not actually happy about killing the jedi, but does it anyway because he thinks it's necessary in order to achieve his goal. Thus, it makes me wonder how'd react if he figured out Palpatine was lying by the time he finds the two battling. Would he join Mace or just watch them? Considering how trigger happy he usually gets when violence's involved, I'm not completely sure." End ID./]

@theneutralmime

Anakin's relationship with Palpatine is likely one of the more complicated ones that he has in his entire life. There's a deference towards Palpatine that Anakin doesn't show towards anybody else which could indicate more distance in the relationship, but it could also represent a level of RESPECT that he doesn't offer anybody else, and it's likely a mixture of both. Palpatine is also one of the people Anakin is the most HONEST with, shown by how he's the only person aside from Padme that knows about the Tusken massacre (and Padme is arguably only brought in on that secret because she happened to be there in the immediate aftermath). But we also see Anakin choose to disobey a direct order from Palpatine in order to save Obi-Wan on the Invisible Hand, showing a preference for Obi-Wan over Palpatine in the moment.

So while Anakin certainly respects and trusts Palpatine quite a lot, perhaps more than he does anyone else (even Padme), there's also a level of distance in his relationship with Palpatine that there isn't with anyone else (including Mace and Yoda, who we see Anakin more willing to joke around with and tease in TCW).

Anakin is clearly willing to kill Palpatine when he first discovers Palpatine's true identity and only doesn't because Palpatine claims he can save Padme, but by the time he shows up in Palpatine's office later, his entire goal is to save Palpatine's life.

As to whether he'd have tried to save Palpatine from Mace if he knew Palpatine was lying (I assume you mean specifically about whether Palpatine could save Padme or not), I don't think he would. I think if he genuinely believed Palpatine wasn't going to be able to help him save Padme, he'd have let Palpatine die. Anakin wants to believe himself a hero, which is why he tries to convince himself that the Jedi were "trying to take over" and so killing them was the right thing to do. But obviously his ultimate goal is just to save Padme, so if Palpatine can't achieve that, then he can much more easily just stick with the Jedi side of things and be a hero by killing the Sith. Less mental gymnastics.

I've heard that there was an early draft of Revenge of the Sith where, as Palpatine is attempting to convince Anakin to kill Dooku, he reveals that Dooku actually hired the Tuskens to capture and kill Shmi. I don't know why they took it out, but my assumption is that it becomes a lot harder to convince the audience that Anakin would side with Palpatine later on. Because once he discovers Palpatine is the Sith Master, he can connect Palpatine to his mother's death, and Anakin isn't going to react well to that particular revelation. It would make it REALLY FUCKING HARD to trust Palpatine, even just so far as it takes to believe that he has a way to save Padme. Because once Anakin knows that Palpatine helped kill his mother, what reason does he have to believe that Palpatine isn't just trying to kill PADME? And obviously, ultimately, that revelation about Dooku's involvement in Shmi's death didn't make it into the final version of the film. So I personally think that this is proof that if Anakin believed Palpatine was lying about being able to save Padme that he never would've bothered with trying to save him. I think he'd have killed Palpatine where he stood when he discovered Palpatine's identity and then informed Mace and the others about it after the fact.

[this-acuteneurosis]

You know it’s funny, in the early days of this fic I was interested in everyone knowing about Leia at some point. I’m less invested in that now. And if I had to pick one person I don’t want to know at this point, it would be Anakin. In the early stages of your fic, I think it would have been a wake up call that would prompt some major character changes. But over the course of the fic, he’s grown so much I don’t think he needs that hurt. I think it’s very unlikely at this point that Vader would happen. It’s simply not necessary in my mind. And he deserves to grow without that shadow over his shoulder.

People I do want to know include Shmi most of all. To a lesser extent I’d like Padmé, Bail, and Obi-wan to know, though that has more to do with progressing relationships with those people. Other characters I’d be interested in the reaction for the lol’s, like Mace Windu.

So you’ve changed my mind on the subject, at least. Good job, lol

I honestly cannot tell you how much this comment excites me. As is pretty obvious from how far we've gotten in this story with Leia keeping her secrets, I'm very partial to the "do people really need to know" line of thought, for so many reasons. But I really appreciate this observation, because I think it really is at the heart of why DLB Leia doesn't wan't to talk about her past. Part of it is her fear and worry. But equally important to her is how telling the truth will impact the people around her. And there is so much of her history that can really only hurt people. She's very aware of that fact. And while, like you, there may have been a point where she wanted to rub Anakin's face in Vader's choices, she is also getting to a point where she wouldn't want to hurt Anakin specifically by bringing those choices us. Because they aren't his choices or his mistakes to bear.

I feel like I got to explore the idea of a reveal a lot last October when I ran the Tricks for Treats prompts. It was fun to think about doing the story differently for a bit.

[reconstructwriter]

So I Finally Finished Attack of the Clones

...for the very first time. When did this movie come out again? I am late, is there still room on this bandwagon? Anyway more thought vomiting on this movie...

Sith Pattern: I do appreciate that Palpatine is old, rich, white male fascist. Dooku is old, rich, white male fascist. Anakin shakes things up a bit by starting out young and poor but he’ll get there and has the rest down. Meanwhile our heroes are Padme Amidala, Mace Windu, Yoda, Bail, etc. Would have loved for George Lucas’ original casting of Obi Wan to have gone through! This does make Mirror!verses and morality flip AU's very weird because the Galaxy is being saved from aliens by three white guys? Unfortunate implications aside I can suspend a lot of disbelief about laser-swords and magic IN SPACE but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

Anakin’s attachment: Is well-shown here with convenient comparison to Cleigg – her husband and her son, the two who should love Shmi the most. At her funeral Cleigg is all ‘you’re in a better place. Thank you for the time we had,’ vs Anakin’s ‘I wasn’t strong enough to save you, I won’t fail again’ and ‘I miss you’. Exact opposites. Cleigg was entirely focused on Shmi while Anakin was focused on himself.

Also Anakin’s focus kinda screwed up Obi Wan’s mission when he wasted precious moments FINDING Anakin to get his galactically-important message through.

Mace Windu Not Killing Dooku: Shatterpoint, along with some fanfics, has Mace beating himself up for not ending the war by killing Dooku but my man you’re too hard on yourself! You only killed Jango when he decided to fuck around and find out with you in the death arena. Dooku did not fuck around and find out so your only chance would’ve been to throw away all your Jedi morals and stab him in the back! Thus risking becoming Darth Tyrannus 2.0 and screwing the galaxy.

Jango why did you fuck around and find out? I get Mace held a laser sword to your throat and you had a working jetpack going into the arena…but that arena is No Man’s Land. Even if Galidraan was canon you could’ve stayed back and taken pot shots.

The scene with Boba giving one last keldabe kiss to his father’s helmet is heartbreaking! Ouch!!!

Padme: So I kinda get being willing to confess her terrible taste in men on Space Fantasy Death Row. She doesn’t want to live a lie and is straight up expecting to die so what does it matter if she confesses? And then she does live so consequence time! Still feels like she’s ignoring the genocide – or George Lucas is ignoring the obvious implications. Genocide does work for foreshadowing Jedi genocide and Nazi comparisons (boy howdy does it!!!). But murdering every single member of an entire tribe down to the babes in arms doesn’t work for ‘Anakin doesn’t Fall here, he just dips his toe in the Dark’.

Padme otherwise doesn’t seem too terribly out of character throughout. She stands her ground against Anakin and where she does give in – rescuing Shmi – or chooses to go after Obi Wan? Well both did do her immensely big favors it’d be weirder if she brushed them off. Plus, rescuing both comes with additional benefits – no assassin will look for her on Tattooine (it worked before) and Obi Wan’s rescue could offer the opportunity to discuss peace with the Separatists before war happened.

And it did – in the cut scene :P

Dual with Dooku: So Anakin did put his duty first when Padme fell in the (barren, sans enemies) sand with an ally but damn if his attachment to her wasn’t still affecting him. The hot-headed idiotic attack was the worst possible timing! Why does everyone beat Mace up (including the man himself) for not killing Dooku but give Anakin a pass when he had every chance of ending the war Right There if he’d been able to keep his head on straight for two minutes.

The End: As with the first movie, we end with Mace and Yoda clearly knowing what the Sith are doing, though they're split with Mace believing Dooku while Yoda thinks its a trick. And I think they’re both right because I read somewhere Dooku and Palpatine were hoping to sow doubt between the Jedi and the Senate but also was telling the truth – from a certain point of view. Anyway, they aren't oblivious. Yoda straight up says the Shroud of the Dark Side has Fallen.

The last scene really drives that home! How the beginning of the war is the beginning of the Empire. The war kills the Republic and this is repeatedly smacked into our brains with the imagery of Palpatine standing at the head of everyone else, the most powerful Supreme Chancellor ever as the army of white-clad troopers marches out into the galaxy below him. The Destroyers lift off. The Empire’s freaking theme music plays.

Overall the movie had its high points and stinkers but that was a damn fine end!

[songsofaine]

A Box Full of Memories

So i had this fic idea hit me at 3am as i was feeding my baby.

Basic premise: Obi-Wan has a tonne of keepsakes of Anakin's Padawanship that he was saving to share with Shmi once Anakin reached Knighthood.

In this story Jedi have the option after passing their Trials and before they swear in as Knights to return to their home planet to make sure that swearing in to the Jedi Order as a Knight is truly the path they want to take. Granting them the opportunity to know their birth families before making the monumental commitment of being a Knight of the Jedi Order.

Obviously, Shmi died before Obi-Wan could send Anakin on his pre-Knighting trip. Obi-Wan knew that he couldn't tell or show Anakin the keepsakes, once he hears that Shmi has passed,so its all just sitting in his rooms in several cardboard boxes. Each of the trophies/assignments/keepsakes has a letter from Obi-Wan to Shmi, detailing its importance and personal backstory. Fond notes and recollections of how proud Obi-Wan is of Anakin and his hope to share that pride with Anakin's esteemed mother. (Let's face it, everything 9 year old Anakin knew about his mother has been repeated over and over to Obi-Wan throughout the years, and in between the rose coloured lenses of a young boy's recollections, Obi-Wan finds the shape of an incredible woman who he would feel honoured to know.)

There are two ways the discovery could play out:

The happy version:

During a campaign shared between the 501st and the 212th, early during the 3rd year, Cody gets sick of hearing Anakin's bullshit of how "Obi-Wan never supported or believed in me. He is always holding me back, jealous of my power." (You know, parroting the Palpatine Persuasion.)

And like, Cody is pissed, because Obi is Anakin's No.1 cheerleader, more than the Chancellor, more, even, than his wife, Amidala. Cody knows all about Anakin's illicit victories on the Coruscant lower level racing tracks as a junior padawan, a late night over paperwork Skywalker had incorrectly filed had revealed. Cody knows more about Anakin than he ever wished to know, Obi-Wan won't shut up about him sometimes, but he's a good friend/boyfriend/queer platonic life partner/husband, and listens, because this is Obi's kid.

They return to the Temple and are working on after action reports together in their still shared Master-Padawan apartment and Anakin makes a comment about how Obi-Wan doesn't really care about him except to find fault (or something). And Obi-Wan just looks devastated, Anakin isn't even looking up, just continues looking at his datapad like he hasn't ripped Obi-Wan's heart out of his chest.

Cody has had it. He stalks into Obi-Wan's room and drags out four heavy boxes, directly in front of Anakin, confiscated his datapad, says " Happy reading, you asshole, stop sending my partner into guilt spirals about not caring enough." He pulls Obi-wan out of the apartment. "We're going to Dex's, don't call until you pull your head out of your ass."

Ani, fuming about how misunderstood he is, but ultimately curious opens a box and spots his award for the Junior Padawan Saber Competition and together with it sees a picture of him at age 11, beaming with Obi-Wan smiling, so proud. He hasn't even started reading the attached note yet and he's starting to feel a lump in his throat. Then he spots it ' Dear Shmi.....'

Cue Anakin ugly crying, because even opening the box, he can feel the love and fondnes that saturates the contents. He wipes his face and notices that it's ordered by his age and documented and stored according to the Archival Practise Code as set by Madame Nu, you absolute nerd Obi.

Anakin feels so very touched that Obi-Wan was trying to include his mum even as his galaxy is being rocked. There was undeniable proof that Obi-Wan 'the perfect jedi' Kenobi loved him. It's as he starts reading through the notes that he realises that some of them are dated past his mother's death. It becomes less Obi-Wan talking about his progress and achievements and more him worrying about where the war is taking Anakin.

He finds a letter with his wedding photos on several pieces of filmsi and realises that Obi-Wan has known this whole time about his marriage. The only words of censure on this letter was Obi-Wan asking what he had done to make his padawan no longer trust him and his hurt that his friend Padmè had hidden it from him, marrying his padawan when he was still considered a minor.

Everything he was worried that Obi-Wan felt about him is all wrong. Obi-Wan is proud of him, Obi-Wan loves him. How could his friend, the Chancellor have been so wrong?

From there we'd move into a fix it, there would be repercussions for the various and sundry illegal actions that Anakin has done *cough* Sand People Massacre *cough* with a focus on rehabilitive rather than punitive consequences. Palpatine is revealed to be a fraud and gets offed with a poetic type justice death. Mostly happy endings all around because I'm a sap and want my blorbos happy.

2. The Angsty Version:

I typically do not enjoy riding the angsty mcangst train, but here's an attempt.

Darth Vader is going through the rooms that once belonged to Anakin, setting out to destroy what remained of the weak Jedi and his traitorous former Master. He stalks through the rooms, blocking out the warm memories that filled a place he once called home, destroying the furniture in his towering rage as he goes.

He enters the room of the man who should have loved him, but instead tried to murder him and finds these boxes, clearly labelled "Shmi Skywalker." The unexpected name jolts Vader out of his destructive rage and the small spark of Anakin still residing in his heart is curious and that curiosity consumes him.

He reads through all the little notes, the keepsakes are rifled through (in a quiet part of him, where the small, scared shadow of the child, Ani, resides, he longs to touch the lingering warmth embedded in them with his bare skin, he's so cold).

Through all the letters and stories that denote Anakin's childhood, words of love and pride for a man left to die on lava shores.

He doesn't know whether to rage or repent, the lies of his Master Sideous, had blinded him to the love of a father that he had so desperately craved and now, now it was too late.

He spends his life, a black hole of self-hatred and regret, drifting through the rise of his so-called glorious empire, alone, no wife, no brother/best friend/father. He cannot bring himself to burn and destroy the last evidence that Anakin Skywalker was loved. He was loved wholly and completely for who he was, not how powerful he was.

[tranakin-skywalker]

Wait you're making a fic for your torgruta au?? Tell me more please

Yeah, I've been thinking about writing a fic about it for a while now. Most likely it's going to be a series of oneshots so I can hop around to different parts of the story I find interesting.

A lot of the ideas are coming from the hyena discord, so I can't claim them as my own. But they are just too good to pass up. Like togruta making infrasound with their montrals and constantly projecting their moods. So when Anakin first gets to the Temple he's constantly screaming for him mom at a pitch that only other togruta can hear.

I've decided that that's actually how he first meets Ahsoka. She hears him making his lost, scared, where's mom, where's family sounds and seeks him out to comfort him. Ahsoka would be about four here, and would have left Shili recently enough that she could still remember what those noises mean, even if Tatooine togruta sound different from Shili togruta. (to a Shili tog Anakin's distressed noises sound like he's being maimed, but that's just because of the generational trauma and general awfulness of being a togruta on Tatooine. What they would think of the vocalizations he makes when actually being maimed we will not think about)

So Anakin and Ahsoka end up growing up together right from the start, and the main reason Anakin is so insistent on being knighted early is so that Ahsoka can be his padawan. It's a private thought he has to himself at first, but as Ahsoka gets older and no masters are showing any interest in taking her on she starts to panic. Anakin tells her that he'll just have to get knighted before she ages out so that he can be her master. And then the Clone War starts and he realizes that keeping his promise means bringing her onto the battlefield with him where she could die and he's not sure if he'll be enough to keep her alive :)

Because Shmi is a togruta too she does not get bought by Cleigg Lars. I am just. not dealing with the implications of that. (Listen. I want to read Shmi's marriage to him as a good thing, but I have a very hard time doing that.)

Now, there's actually a comic (Legands, I think, not Disney canon) where Gardulla goes to Watto and tries to buy Anakin back after he wins the Boonta Eve Classic. So have some fun thoughts about what would have happened to Anakin if he hadn't gone with Qui-Gon.

In the fic, Gardulla goes to buy Anakin but of course he left with the Jedi, so Gardulla decides she'll take Shmi as payment for Watto's debts. After all, if Shmi already had one child who turned out to be a talented podracer, well, she might have more. Hence the younger sibling that comes about shortly after Anakin leaves.

When Anakin goes back to Tatooine because of the nightmares about his mom he finds out that Watto sold his mom back to Gardulla and has to go to her to buy his mom's freedom. Which would be traumatic, on multiple levels. Anakin finds out that a month before he arrived, Shmi tried to escape with the sister Anakin didn't know he had, and Gardulla had their chips detonated. Gardulla even gives him their triggered remotes as proof.

(Of course unbeknownst to Anakin, Shmi and the sister survived and are living with a village of other escaped togruta.)

A lot of canon still happens the same, including Anakin's fall, Order 66, Mustafar, etc. But when Bail Organa sees Ahsoka at Padme's funeral he tells her that he can take her to a mutual friend of theirs. Ahsoka thinks (hopes) it's Anakin at first, and is devastated when she realizes it's Obi-Wan (and then hates herself for feeling disappointment because she should be happy that Obi-Wan is still alive, but he's not Anakin, and this means that Anakin must be dead).

There's no Lars family and the Organas would have a harder time explaining a non-human daughter, so Ahsoka and Obi-Wan end up taking care of the twins. They eventually find their way to Tatooine because it's out of the Empire's notice and, well, because it's a connection to Anakin (Ahsoka's trying to hold onto anything she can that connects her to her brother and Obi-Wan is in his self-harming phase.)

And it's there that they eventually run into a little community of togruta and a woman who looks suspiciously like Anakin who has the last name Skywalker. But hey, Shmi gets to meet her grandkids at least. Even if it happens at the same time that she finds out that son she thought she'd sent away to a better life and hasn't seen in 13 years is dead. (Obi-Wan sees how much Anakin's death destroys Shmi and decides to never, ever tell her what he became. Vader will be his burden and it's a secret he will take to his grave. Anakin Vader is dead, and he'll save them from ever finding out how it really happened)

Of course, 15 years later Ahsoka goes to rescue some rebels from a walking death omen in black when she realizes the infrasound calls he's shrieking out of his mangled montrals is devastatingly familiar.

[direwolfrules]

Would anyone care for some unsolicited fanfic recs in this trying time?

Star Wars (because I have no other life):

(Re)convene by Nightfall_1409:

10 years after sacrificing himself for the Rebellion, Ezra Bridger is offered the chance to turn back the clock and alter the course of history forever- the Force sending back with him a ragtag band of heroes, all whom have proven themselves worthy of the chance, all of whom have the drive to prevent the events that turned their lives into living nightmares, all of whom have the chance to save their loved ones from their fates.

Now 35 years in the past, returned to the era of the Republic 6 years before the rise of the Empire, 3 years before the start of the Clone Wars, he has to unite his scattered allies- Ahsoka Tano, Din Djarin, Boba and Omega Fett- and put together the puzzle of what caused the galaxy to fall, or they'll all be doomed to watch it happen again.

Personal Thoughts:

I really like this one. Time travel is my favorite trope. It’s well written, it draws you in, and the author has done an excellent job of mashing up Legends and Canon in fun and unique ways.

It has everything: Force Sensitive Omega, Tired Space Dad Din Djarin accidentally becoming a main character, Ezra and Anakin as chaotic besties, no Jedi bashing, and much more that would be spoilers.

The author tries to update twice a month. It’s really good. Also this is the only one I’m including the summary for because I’m lazy.

Time-Traveling Artoo by SpiderMansUnfriendlyNeighbor

Crack fic go brrrr. Seriously though, it’s just Artoo fucking with Sidious and then kidnapping children to matchmake. I was laughing the whole way through.

A Means of Survival by LessAttitudeMoreAltitude

In which Ursa finds a half dead Jedi Padawan named Caleb and the Mandalorian Adoption instinct activates. Listen, Sabine has decided the Jetti’ad is her favorite person, they can’t just not adopt him

The Time Heals ‘verse by jessicas_pi

Force Sensitive Sabine travels back in time to the Clone Wars, accidentally bonds with a Force Entity that I’m 99% sure is the Brother, becomes Obi-Wan’s Padawan, and keeps accidentally-on-purpose bringing people back to the past.

Also Quinlan Vos is there.

It’s Sabezra if that’s a turn off for anyone.

You Either Die A Hero… by RennyBanette

The 501st gets trapped in a time loop on Umbara. Delightful crack full of Krell murder and fire.

The Desert Storm by Blue_Sunshine

This is the Star Wars time travel fic. It’s so good. 4 years after the fall of the Republic Obi-Wan gets caught in a sandstorm, and when it passes he’s back in time when Anakin’s just a three year old clinging to his mom’s skirt.

Naturally, Obi-Wan frees the Skywalkers, changes his name to Ben Naasade, takes his younger self as a Padawan, and gives Mace Windu so many headaches.

Featuring: Jedi Shmi Skywalker, Pong Krell getting his shit wrecked, Legends stuff, Jedi Shmi Skywalker, Mandalorians being awesome, Alderaan being awesome, Jedi Shmi Skywalker, Obitine, the Sith being evil and creepy, and most importantly, Jedi Knight Shmi Skywalker

[fionajames]

circus au headcanons

A/N: Hey lovelies, hope your all fantastic! Have some circus au headcanons! Please send requests, I'm desperate. Please!

 Jedi Caravan:

Yoda, ringmaster: short man with long green and white hair, long green and white beard, green eyes and light skin.

Mace, second in command: tall man with brown skin, amber eyes, bald.

Shaak: tall woman with rosey skin, white birthmarks that look markings, long blue and white hair, yellow eyes. Aunt or some decent relation of Ahsoka.

Kit: man with long, afro green hair, dark eyes, dark skin.

Ki-Adi: man with light skin, blue eyes, bald.

104th Caravan

Plo: man with dark skin, short black hair, amber eyes.

Wolffe: boy with short black hair, one brown eye one robotic grey eye, tan skin.

Sinker: boy with short black hair, brown eyes, tan skin.

Comet: boy with short black hair, brown eyes, tan skin.

Boost: boy with short black hair, brown eyes, tan skin.

212th Caravan

Obi-Wan: man with ginger hair, ginger beard, light freckled skin, blue eyes

Cody: boy with short black hair, brown eyes, tan skin, scar on forehead

Waxer: usual appearance (i forgot)

Boil: usual appearance (i forgot)

Trapper: boy with short black hair, brown eyes, tan skin.

501st Caravan

Anakin: boy with medium length brown hair, blue eyes, light skin, scar over right eye.

Ahsoka: girl with orangey-tan skin, cream marking-like birthmarks, blue eyes, braided blue and white hair

Rex: boy with blonde buzzcut, tan skin, brown eyes

Jesse: boy with brown eyes, tan skin, bald

Fives: boy with brown eyes, tan skin, short black hair

Echo: boy with brown eyes, tan skin, short black hair

Tup: boy with brown eyes, tan skin, long black hair

Hardcase: boy with brown eyes, tan skin, bald

Members of other Caravans (only a few, doesn’t include all members.)

Depa: woman with long brown hair, brown eyes, olive skin

Caleb: boy with short brown hair, brown eyes, light skin

Cal: boy with scruffy ginger hair, blue eyes, light freckled skin

Jaro: man with short purple hair, dark skin, purple eyes

Barris: girl with long braided black hair, charcoal skin, green eyes, black freckles

Luminara: woman with short black hair, charcoal skin, green eyes, black freckles

THOSE ARE ROUGHLY THE MAIN MEMBERS OF THE CIRCUS, BUT THERE ARE MORE

HEADCANONS NOW

Okay so, basically, the Republic’s circus (idk) is being funded by a wealthy man named Sheev Palpatine. Secretly, Palpatine is not only funding, but in charge of the Separatists’ circus. 

Most droids are in the Circus au, usually either horses, dogs or occasionally cats. 

A man named Jango Fett had a very large family with lots of sons and cousins and one daughter. No one knows why there are so many boys.

All the family apart from Jango and the youngest generation died, and then so did Jango, leaving them all orphaned. At that time, the circus was coming through their town, so many of them joined.

Most circus members are orphans or runaways.

Luminara and Barriss are probably very distantly related, same with Shaak and Ahsoka. 

Younger circus members are apprenticed to older members.

Qui-Gon was killed by a criminal on the run named Maul, who had actually been part of the Separatist circus. He killed Qui-Gon because he was guarding the money box.

A month before that, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had found Anakin and his mother Shmi. Shmi was very broke and decided her son would have a better life with them.

Padme and the rest of the senate are basically just wealthy people.

Padme and Anakin met two weeks after Qui-Gon adopted him. They meet up whenever they can. The relationship is sort-of-forbidden, very frowned upon because the wealthy people like the circus for entertainment and then think the people are poor and peasants.

Everyone in the circus knows Padme and Anakin are dating, even though they think no one knows. It’s very obvious.

If the Separatists and the Republic are in the same area, fights often break out. People sometimes die, but its more common for people to get seriously injured and leave the circus. 

The Separatists kidnapped Echo as a hostage and everyone thought he ran away but some new Jango-spawn members to the circus, Fives, Rex, Anakin and Ahsoka found him and brought him back.

Ahsoka left the circus at one point for a month after being accused of a robbery the Separatists committed but returned quickly. 

Some of the Jango-spawn (Fox, Thorn, Thire, etc) work for Palpatine as his guards, cause he’s a rich bitch.

Some members - if not orphans or runaways - like Anakin were simply given over in hopes of a better life. Ahsoka was one of these, also because her parents feared they weren’t good enough at being parents when she was taken by a mountain lion.

Ahsoka and Shaak come from an Indigenous tribe, and their teeth are more pointed and they still have their fangs. They hunt deer mostly, and cook it over the fire to eat. Their tribe are called Togrutas.

Obi-Wan was an orphan and found by Mace, who took him back to the Circus.

Obi-Wan and Anakin have an acrobatics act, whilst Ahsoka does Equestrian Vaulting. Rex and Cody play music. Jesse, Fives and Hardcase have a comedy act. After the show, a lot of the members busk to get extra money.

Fives and Ahsoka were messing around one day when they stumbled upon the Separatists camp. They were looking around when they saw Palpatine. They rushed back and told Yoda that they were being played.

Yoda cut the deal with Palpatine and made a deal with Bail Organa instead. It later turned out Palpatine was a wanted criminal, and he was sentenced to a life-sentence in a prison far away.

Palpatine’s Guard split, either joining the Republic’s circus or choosing to guard Bail. Bail treated them much, much better. 

Palpatine was also Mayor of the town, so when he was arrested, Bail took his place. Bail made it legal for the circus to marry the richer folk, claiming it was foolish and unkind, for no reason. Secretly, he knew of Padme and Anakin’s relationship, and wanted his best friend to be happy.

A few months later, Padme gave birth to twins. The Circus was still travelling, so Padme convinced Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Anakin to live at her house part-time. When the circus was close, they lived with the circus. When it was far away, they usually stayed with Padme. Ahsoka managed to convince Rex to do the same.

Anakin revealed that Palpatine had tried to get him to join the Separatists' circus before Fives and Ahsoka had discovered the betrayal. Palpatine had told him he controlled both, and that he would have more money and be closer to Padme if he joined them. However, Anakin hadn’t turned, as he loved his family too much.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed, please send requests!!!

[maureen-doolittle]

Are the Jedi a cult?

So my wife and I were talking about Star Wars while eating dinner, and we landed on the topic of the Jedi. I mentioned my absolute hatred of the Jedi approach to child-raising. Like, oh, you want your group members to deny attachments? I know, give them all disorganized and disrupted attachments to primary caregivers!

And then a THOUGHT hit me: are the Jedi a cult? Specifically, to what degree do their beliefs and actions resonate with Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control? I pulled it up and my wife immediately said, “Wow, that would do NUMBERS on Tumblr. Please help prove my wife right because she’s awesome. 

For the unaware, BITE is an acronym that stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotion. It refers to four different types of control that organizations can have over their members. The higher a given organization scores, the more cult-like that organization is likely to be. (Disclaimer: this post is exclusively for shitposting reasons and I am extremely not a mental health or sociology expert.)

Behavior Control

Regulate individual’s physical reality - unclear? 

Dictate where, how, and with whom the member lives and associates or isolates - literally yes that’s the whole thing that PROMPTED this post

When, how and with whom the member has sex - yep, celibacy rules!

Control types of clothing and hairstyles - yes, unless you’re mace windu

Regulate diet – food and drink, hunger and/or fasting - no, not that i know of

Manipulation and deprivation of sleep - nope

Financial exploitation, manipulation or dependence - i am absolutely not going to research the star wars economy for this shitpost. we’re leaving it at “unclear.”

Restrict leisure, entertainment, vacation time - lol do the jedi get vacation? like, at all?

Major time spent with group indoctrination and rituals and/or self indoctrination including the Internet - can you imagine if the jedi had twitter? god, anakin would be such a pain in the ass about it. anyway, this feels like what the jedi council is, so yes. 

Permission required for major decisions - SPEAKING OF THE JEDI COUNCIL... also, according to my wife, “obi-wan consults with the jedi council more than raiden consults with the elder gods.” i don’t understand this reference, but i’m glad some of you will.

Rewards and punishments used to modify behaviors, both positive and negative - again, the jedi council!!! like, there’s the whole “well you’re not a master YET” nonsense and... this post might turn me into an anakin skywalker apologist

Discourage individualism, encourage group-think - this is literally what caused the council to collapse. no one had an original thought.

Impose rigid rules and regulations - oh my god SOOOOOO MANY.

Punish disobedience by beating, torture, burning, cutting, rape, or tattooing/branding - happily, a no on this one. holy shit.

Threaten harm to family and friends - technically, this is a “no,” but it’s specifically because you’re not supposed to have any of those, so i’m giving this a half point. also, see everything that happened with Shmi Skywalker.

Force individual to rape or be raped - again, no.

Encourage and engage in corporal punishment - we don’t see what goes on in the crèches, but since we don’t have evidence, this is a no.

Instill dependency and obedience - they LITERALLY have a master/padawan system where you can’t question your superior, like???

Kidnapping - hot take but i totally think this is what they do with some younglings. that said, this is just my hot take, so this is technically still a no.

Beating - again, no

Torture - no

Rape - no

Separation of Families - actually yes??? like, true, i don’t have proof that the kids are kidnapped, but they fully separate children from their families at extremely young ages!

Imprisonment - no

Murder - listen, we could be here all day debating whether all, most, many, some, few, or none of the jedi’s killings are justified. but like... they’re warrior monks, so i’ll give this one a pass.

Score: 11.5/25

Information Control

Deception: a. Deliberately withhold information - i didn’t remember this one so i asked my wife and she immediately went “yeah, definitely” b. Distort information to make it more acceptable - “What I told you is true... from a certain point of view” - Obi-Wan Kenobi (this is a yes) c. Systematically lie to the cult member - DARTH FUCKING VADER had to tell Luke about his parentage! like! obi-wan! what the hell!

Minimize or discourage access to non-cult sources of information, including: a. Internet, TV, radio, books, articles, newspapers, magazines, media - this probably gets a “no” on a technicality. how would we even measure this? b. Critical information - nope c. Former members - again, this is a technical “no,” but it’s only because i really don’t think there are any “former members.” d. Keep members busy so they don’t have time to think and investigate - arguably yes, given how much they’re constantly running all over the galaxy. like, they’re definitely not the only law enforcement/army in the galaxy, so what gives? e. Control through cell phone with texting, calls, internet tracking - huh, i wonder if those blue video things are tracked? do we have any confirmation of that? i’m pretty sure they have the capability to do so, so i’m giving this a half point.

Compartmentalize information into Outsider vs. Insider doctrines a. Ensure that information is not freely accessible - again, no way to measure this, so no b. Control information at different levels and missions within group - oh ABSOLUTELY. i’ll cut them a tiny bit of slack because they have to do this for like, legitimate national security interests sometimes, but they also do it for bullshit information control reasons. c. Allow only leadership to decide who needs to know what and when - again, this is literally just the jedi council

Encourage spying on other members a. Impose a buddy system to monitor and control member - hello again, master/padawan relationship!  b. Report deviant thoughts, feelings and actions to leadership - you have ONE bad dream about your secret wife dying in labor, and everyone’s on your case about it. c. Ensure that individual behavior is monitored by group - yep

Extensive use of cult-generated information and propaganda, including: a. Newsletters, magazines, journals, audiotapes, videotapes, YouTube, movies and other media - another no on a technicality. also, this gives me the horrifying mental image of Jedi YouTubers, so now you have to suffer with that. b. Misquoting statements or using them out of context from non-cult sources - nah

Unethical use of confession a. Information about sins used to disrupt and/or dissolve identity boundaries - oh, you’re sad because you miss your enslaved mother? well THAT’S just proof you could NEVER be a jedi! b. Withholding forgiveness or absolution - do they even have a process for forgiveness or absolution? am i losing my mind or do we not see this? anyway, no. c. Manipulation of memory, possible false memories - nope

Score: 9.5/19

Thought Control

Require members to internalize the group’s doctrine as truth a. Adopting the group’s ‘map of reality’ as reality - this is just crèche training b. Instill black and white thinking - jesus, CONSTANTLY. “once you go over to the dark side, forever will it dominate your destiny!” c. Decide between good vs. evil - see above d. Organize people into us vs. them (insiders vs. outsiders) - see above again

Change person’s name and identity - huh, this one’s actually a sith thing. bonus points for the villains actually doing the cult-y thing this time, i guess.

Use of loaded language and clichés which constrict knowledge, stop critical thoughts and reduce complexities into platitudinous buzz words - the fact that yoda’s advice to a terrified first-grader is “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering” really says it all here.

Encourage only ‘good and proper’ thoughts - once again, see above.

Hypnotic techniques are used to alter mental states, undermine critical thinking and even to age regress the member - nope

Memories are manipulated and false memories are created - not that we see, no.

Teaching thought-stopping techniques which shut down reality testing by stopping negative thoughts and allowing only positive thoughts, including: a. Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking - those earlier yoda quotes are really pulling their weight in this section. goddamn. b. Meditating - i have to assume meditation is a part of jedi training, because like... come on. of course it is. that said, i don’t know if it’s specifically used to stop negative thoughts, so we’ll give it a half point. c. Chanting, Praying, Speaking in Tongues, Singing, or Humming - i put these all in one because they’re all religion-focused, but in a way that doesn’t map onto the jedi/star wars experience of religion. and the answer is no to all.

Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism - the jedi are so afraid of constructive criticism that anyone who tries gets hit with immediate professional consequences and social shaming

Forbid critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy allowed - again, see above! it’s wild how many times i’ve said that here!

Labeling alternative belief systems as illegitimate, evil, or not useful - they literally call it the dark side. like, i’m not saying that Force choking or lighting is a good thing, but really, guys?

Instill new “map of reality” - eh, not really

Score: 10.5/16

Emotion Control

(upon seeing this i went “oh, i’m sure this will go GREAT.”)

Manipulate and narrow the range of feelings – some emotions and/or needs are deemed as evil, wrong or selfish - fear, anger, the need for a parental figure... yep! all demonized!

Teach emotion-stopping techniques to block feelings of homesickness, anger, doubt - yes again

Make the person feel that problems are always their own fault, never the leader’s or the group’s fault - your fear and grief about missing your mom are YOUR fault, anakin! it’s definitely not our fault that we took you away from your mom and left her to die!

Promote feelings of guilt or unworthiness, such as: a. Identity guilt - eh, not really b. You are not living up to your potential - oh absolutely yes. “you were supposed to bring balance to the force!!1!11!!!” like, i know it’s not said as a control tactic, but that’s a lot to put on a person! (side note: i was correct earlier; this post is totally turning me into an anakin skywalker apologist.) c. Your family is deficient - i actually don’t think they do this, so like... hurray for the bare minimum. d. Your past is suspect - they don’t explicitly say this, so even though i get the vibes, i have to give them a no. e. Your affiliations are unwise - fuck off this LITERALLY sounds like a yoda quote! i don’t care if he didn’t actually say this, i’m counting it. f. Your thoughts, feelings, actions are irrelevant or selfish - including your desire to grieve your mother, aunt, and uncle! g. Social guilt - no relationships allowed! f. Historical guilt - nope

Instill fear, such as fear of: a. Thinking independently - yeah there’s no way the council allows that b. The outside world - actually, no. they’re in pretty regular contact with the outside world, despite the fact that they ignore the increasing corruption of the galactic republic. c. Enemies - hello dark [side] my old friend... d. Losing one’s salvation - the only way the jedi could be worse is if there were some version of this. the only afterlife they have is being a blue ghost, which is rad as hell. e. Leaving or being shunned by the group - technically, no, but see above - no one ever leaves this group. f. Other’s disapproval - if mace windu looked at me with disappointment in his eyes i would DISSOLVE g. Historical guilt - nope

Extremes of emotional highs and lows – love bombing and praise one moment and then declaring you are horrible sinner - qui-gon and yoda both do this to anakin and luke, respectively.

Ritualistic and sometimes public confession of sins - the jedi council is responsible for so many of these

Phobia indoctrination: inculcating irrational fears about leaving the group or questioning the leader’s authority a. No happiness or fulfillment possible outside of the group - yep b. Terrible consequences if you leave: hell, demon possession, incurable diseases, accidents, suicide, insanity, 10,000 reincarnations, etc. - no, but i also don’t think leaving the group is presented as an option? i know i keep giving half points, but it’s my high-effort shitpost and i’ll do it if i want to. c. Shunning of those who leave; fear of being rejected by friends and family - see the above logic. hey look, the half-points evened out! d. Never a legitimate reason to leave; those who leave are weak, undisciplined, unspiritual, worldly, brainwashed by family or counselor, or seduced by money, sex, or rock and roll - oh my god can you IMAGINE yoda complaining about former jedi being “seduced by money, sex, or rock and roll.” someone get frank oz on this, stat. that said, people who join the dark side are explicitly said to be “seduced” by it, so... maybe? half-points abound! e. Threats of harm to ex-member and family - nope

Score: 14.5/25

Total Score: 46/85, or 54.12%. Honestly, that’s not quite as high as I was expecting, but that’s still like... concerningly high! like, if you join an organization and describe it as “just over half-cult,” that’s really bad! jedis! what are you doing!

[marvelstars]

The Jedi Stans engaging in mental gymnastics *yet again*. There are so many assumptions in @pheonixyfriend post it almost hurts.

First of all, we don't know how the financial and taxation system worked on Naboo, and we don't know if the monarch actually had the ability to raise taxes or whether that fell to another branch of government entirely.

They just hear the word "Queen" and assume Padme was some monarch with absolute power. She wasn't. The Queen of Naboo was a temporary, elected office more akin to President than that of a monarch.

That actually makes it more likely the Queen did not have much power over laws and taxes, because you don't want to entrust your entire government, legal and financial system to someone who is only gonna be in power for a few years and doesn't have much experience.

So no, Padme could not just raise taxes to buy back Shmi. What about using her own money? Well that raises its own issues. I mean its possible she could do it as a personal project - but its unlikely she could get official government endorsement.

Now say she does do it as a personal project: why is she buying a slave? Slavery is meant to be illegal. A Senator involved in the purchase of a slave on Tattooine? Involved in slavery? Huge scandal and her reputation destroyed if anyone found out.

Makes much more sense for the the religious organization with care of the child to do it. Call it an act of philantropy, free a few other slaves too just so it doesn't look like favouritism. Even say you're setting up a charitable foundation on Tatooine for the relief of slave children and their families. A religious organization had more reason to do that then a politician. Especially when said organization had a slave child in thier care.

Yes to all this, we don´t know how taxes on Naboo and Tatooine work, sure they are close in location but their governments are extremely different.

Naboo has temporal Queens and Kings with a Congress and a galactic Senator representing them on the Republic.

Tatooine doesn´t have any representation on the Republic and doesn´t have a government, it´s been ruled by the Hutt Clan for centuries and their word is law there, as well as their money. They don´t answer to the Republic or anyone else, they are very much a mafia.

That said I don´t see the need to use taxes, anybody be it Padme, Qui-Gon or the Jedi Council, could have asked Watto for Shmi and ask his price, they could even have given him a star ship in exchange for her, just like the money for Anakin was taken from winning the boonta eve classic, if Cliegg could save enough money to free Shmi then so could anyone else but the matter wasn´t even discussed, it isn´t there, it´s just wasn´t a priority.

It´s canon the only ones interested in freeing slaves were Anakin, Shmi, Beru, Cliegg and Owen in movie and novels, in novel Anakin gave his friends Kitster and Wald his money to help them buy their freedom and his self-made detector of slave chip to his Mother. Shmi and Beru and Owen became active in freeing slaves on Tatooine secretly, all on their own. Qui-Gon was the only Jedi in canon to free a slave but he didn´t do it because it was the right thing to do but because he wanted to take him to the temple.

The total absence of dicussion over the matter of slavery from almost everybody except those directly affected isn´t an accident, it´s a character clue Lucas included to picture the kind of Republic and Jedi order the Prequel Trilogy had. In fact he made the casual comment when he and Filoni were doing the clone wars that only Anakin cared for Shmi´s death.

A republic that would allow an entire planet be taken hostage can´t be expected to enforce it´s anti-slavery laws, a Jedi whose only comment over slavery was "We didn´t come here to free slaves" in the main canon can´t be expected to free slaves unless they happen to be force sensitive and on Shmi case, from the Jedi pov, the less contact between her and Anakin the better.

This Republic is going to become the Empire and this Jedi Order had become blind to what the Sith were doing given their dettachment from the galaxy besides the matters talked at the Senate.

Of all of them I blame Padme the less because she gave Anakin refuge when he didn´t have anything on Coruscant and if Anakin was rejected by the Jedi Padme would have given him refuge on Naboo until she could arrange for someone to free Shmi or adopt Anakin into a temporal family. Padme could have done something for Shmi but I don´t blame her for believing the guardians of peace and justice when they said they would take care of her friend when they took in Shmi child and she had a recently destroyed planet to rebuilt and people to free and heal from their own concentrations camps, that´s a herculean task even for an adult politician, let alone a 14 year old.

This is my take on this.

[puritanpansies]

Tell me about your oc #(ch.) i danced myself into the tomb.

tara-malat skywalker! the product of @venusofsuburbia and me going on a star wars prequel binge and getting really enamored of the thought of a qui-gon jinn and shmi skywalker baby.

unfortunately, tara-malat did not inherit anything resembling a healthy relationship with the force. they take the existence of the dark side as a personal challenge, but not in the nice, noble jedi way of battling it and holding it off. no, tara-malat likes to go fishing in the dark side for the scariest possible beings to barge in on a psychic link with...and then hold those beings hostage until they have made tara-malat scarier.

their meditation mantra is basically “THE SHADOW IS MINE AND SO IS THE VALLEY.”

and that was the level of crazy they were operating on *before* their mother died and their brother went full sith. by the time kylo ren encounters tara-malat while scrounging around an abandoned temple searching for skywalker relics, well... it would suddenly look a lot less like a star wars movie and a lot more like alien or annihilation.

tara-malat also features heavily in a couple of the many, many star wars AUs i like to kick around, including a modern-day southern gothic one and a game of thrones-inspired one where they are fulfilling a composite part of the king beyond the wall and the corpse queen.

[phoenixyfriend]

SW Masterlist: In the Big Leagues

Navigation Post

Fun fact, tumblr allows 250 links on the old editor and 100 in the new. So. Network of masterlists

This post is for tumblr posts I've made that are specifically about one fic or another that made it onto AO3, including those that were previously on the Wider AUs masterlist.

Order:

One-offs

Sandstorm Verse (Flip the Hourglass)

Anakin and the Jedi Babies

Dimension Hopping to an Omegaverse (Bare Your Teeth, Soldier)

Commander Buir (This is Where the Story Starts)

Rex and Anakin Raise a Family

Fake Spontaneous Training Bond

Uncle Ben and Little Luke (Journey to the Center of the Galaxy)

Fake Sith TCW

Obi-Wan Declares Himself Dad-Shaped

TCW Leverage AU

ObiSabe AU (When the Bodyguards Hook Up)

Sticky Fingers AU

The Sexbot AU (Human Pleasure Droid)

Tread Upon the Wind

King, Soldier, Spy

Weapon Women

Parole Officer Fulcrum

System’s Scourge

Legally Horny

Jango Breaks Into Satine’s House

Fake Affair to Cover Up the Real Affair

Fett vs. Kamino Fertility Clinic and Sperm Bank

One-offs

A Candle in the Night - Anakin/Luminara (original)

Crossover between my Lumakin and Windwalker fics - Pt 2

The Way to a Boy's Heart is Through Violent Defensive Measures - Rex has difficulty with whiny AotC-flavor Anakin, a terrible flirt

Not Quite as Clever as a Fox - "I would kill for you.” “Great, here’s a list.”

Fett vs. Kamino Fertility Clinic and Sperm Bank - How this fic even happened, original post

In Which Anakin's Soulmate is a Lot Like Him, But More, and Worse - Adding some Pantress

Alert! Hot Young Single Dads in YOUR Area! - Street names are puns

Anakin Gets Pregnant and Causes a Scandal in Defense of the Jedi - Obi-Wan is just barely alien enough to have mating cycles (original)

Well, That's Not According to Plan - Rexanidala ft. pregnant transmasc Anakin (original)

General Kenobi and the Twins - General Kenobi and the Twins (original)

[redacted] - Hypnosis vs meditation

Amicable Anidala Divorce - Anidala Amicable Divorce (ft. whiny gay Anakin and “I can fix her” Padme/Ventress)

-

Sandstorm Verse: (chrono) (AO3) Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex time-travel to pre-TPM Tatooine, Anakin and Rex have to be fake married for Ahsoka's safety

Base Post

Fake Marriage Shenanigans

Wouldn't It Be Easier

Various Thoughts on Anakin Needing Therapy

Interaction exploration: - Dooku - Maul - Maul&Soka - Shmi - Anakin&Anakin - Mace

-

Anakin and the Jedi Babies: (chrono) (AO3)

* Anakin and the Jedi Babies

AatJB Addendum - whatever the fuck this was

* Jango Meets Soka (1.5k words)

* Names and Faces (6.5k words)

* Anakin, Shmi, and the Jedi Babies (3k words)

* Anakin and the Jedi Babies: Knightmares (1.6k words) - Ben just really loves banthas

* Anakin Introduces his Jedi Babies (and Himself) (5.8k words)

Winds of Change

The Conspiracy (of Anakin and his Jedi Babies)

JangoShmi and Jedi-Mando relations - Shmi finds out

Cultural comparison of Jedi/Mando/Tatooine

How doth yonder baby brain work

Ylliben Skywalker (hair and tattoos) - various related thoughts - * A Child’s Ink - Hi there’s art now! It’s by the amazing @shukruut - This is the outline btw

And this is the outline of the whole ‘verse (so far)

Pronunciation of names

The Kidnapping of Pre Vizsla

* Where There’s a Whill, There’s a Windu (2k words)

From when I was writing Child’s Ink - The same - Ibid. - New subplot

Why is Anakin not aging?

A specific fanart I plan to commission

I forgot Depa has a sister orz

-

Dimension Hopping to an Omegaverse: (nsfw) (Chrono) (AO3)

Base Post

Surrogacy, Worldbuilding, Obi-Mom

How to Build an Army - The Clone Risk

Soap Operas

Tatooine (2.2k words)

Meet the Generals

Interior Design

Country Dyke

“Assigning” Dynamics

Rexwalker Nonsenses

No Way Home

Warfare 101

Quinlan and the Interdimensional Ingenues (except not really)

Random thought about Omegaverse pregnancies

The Spikes Thing (nsfw, noncon mention, body horror)

Gland Guards

“Weren’t you dead?”

Padme’s marriage to someone who is not Anakin

Churning his brain like butter

Chandrila, Mon Mothma’s pronouns

-

Commander Buir: (chrono) (AO3) An excuse to let Cody be dad-shaped

Initial Brainstorming

Worldbuilding for the AU

Cody & Shmi Talk About General Kenobi

Qui-Gon Jinn enables Skybaby crimes

The Jango Incident - Just some age stuff

Rexsoka and the Quinlan thing

New Mandalore

Cody deserves to be petty

-

Rex and Anakin Raise a Family: (Chrono) (AO3)

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

TPM Era

-

Fake Spontaneous Training Bond: (chrono) (AO3)

Original post

gay

overbearing dad

undercover

various musings

Discussion of Fulcrum’s skills (see notes)

-

Uncle Ben and Little Luke: (chrono) (AO3)

Uncle Ben and Little Luke (3k words, basically a fic)

Auntie ‘Soka and Little Leia (and Rex) (25k words)

Thoughts on “Auntie Soka and Little Leia” (jokingly, a director’s cut)

Rex, Pint-Sized Battlemaster

Twins, meet TCW plots

Planned continuations

Why not Han+Vader

The process of writing Auntie Soka - Addendum

“Luke rolls his eyes”

Headcanon meme

Ben pins the dilf radar

-

Fake Sith TCW Trio: (chrono)

Fake Sith TCW Trio (7.5k words)

Thoughts, and perhaps feelings

Padawan Kenobi puts up with a lot

Writing this was a JOURNEY

GRITTY?

Why did I set this in Space!1930s NYC

Plotting the route from Rattatak to Tatooine

-

Obi-Wan Declares Himself Dad-Shaped: (chrono) (AO3)

Obi-Wan Declares Himself Dad-Shaped

More of “Obi-Wan Declares Himself Dad-Shaped”

“Game’s over you son of a bitch! Tell me where she is!”

Requested Headcanons

-

TCW Leverage AU: (chrono) (AO3)

TCW Leverage AU

The bit with Korkie

The Family Tree is… a Disaster (ficlet)

Family Tree charted out (with excerpts)

1970s Dooku/Sifo-Dyas by @uraaniuum

-

ObiSabe AU (AO3)

ObiSabe

Palpatine

Face Blindness among clones

-

Sticky Fingers AU (AO3)

Hondo Saves the Galaxy

Anakin the Distraction

Manipulating Anakain

-

The Sexbot AU: (chrono) (AO3)

The Sexbot AU

Rex and Boytoy Anakin

Pregnancy

Writing process jokes

Not a slowburn, but a raging inferno someone’s aiming a fire extinguisher at

Poor Quinlan

Wanna Smash

-

Tread Upon the Wind (and Chase the Sky)

Mace and Fives

Jaster’s opinion on swearing

Adventures in AO3 Tagging

Does this count as a Freedom Trail

Qui-Gon and Feemor

The King, the Soldier, and the Spy

Original version: The King, the Soldier, and the Spy

Writing the Intro

Time-travel or a break with reality?

Alas, poor Satine

Not Very Nice to Ahsoka 

Weapon Women in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

WandaVision/SW Prequels (original brainstorm)

Widows on Kamino (original brainstorm)

Reader response to Anakin getting a civics lesson in Witch’s Favor

Parole Officer Fulcrum Steals Three Million Babies

Ahsoka Steals Three Million Babies

Ahsoka with baby clone Glitch (art by @amikoroyaiart, commissioned work)

Ahsoka is Anakin’s Parole Officer

Systems' Scourge

Systems’ Scourge (original)

Addendum

Ahsoka’s helmet in time-travel AUs

Legally Horny

Legally Horny AU (original)

Fox and Padme need to talk about the politics before you guys can Bang

Reactions to Jango Breaks Into Satine’s House (And Criticizes Her Security)

the weird S*ltcoats thing

Using the fic as shorthand with discourse

Fake Affair (To Hide the Real Affair

Fake Affair to Cover Up the Real Affair (original)

Sexy Addendum, feat. baby twins folllowup

Shiny Rainbow Knife

Transfemme Anakin (original)

Shipping Musings

Fett vs. Kamino Fertility Clinic and Sperm Bank

Kamino Sperm Bank (original)

An additional Fertility Clinic joke, now with lawsuits

Modern AU Hardcase’s deadname

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

Shmi couldn't sell Anakin's pod-racer because she as a slave couldn't own or sell property.

Honestly, I think George should have just had the Jedi buy Shmi's freedom, relocate her to Dantooine or something and then Palps just arranges her murder by pirates or something to hurt Anakin. It would accomplish the same thing and would have gone a long way in diminishing the "Jedi are pro-slavery" myth.

Qui Gon sold the pod and gave the money directly to Anakin who gave it to Shmi. They left her with a bag of money. (and a bankrupted owner who bet on the wrong pod) Soon after her freedom is bought- if that bag of money wasn't part of it, she still would have had it afterward. That's what we know happened. From there I could speculate that she already knew Cliegg but he couldn't afford the both of them, or something like that. But Anakin's pod money must have been useful to her in some way!

Maybe lucas should have, idk. The whole business of buying a slave's freedom is interesting on a meta level because it's an easy way to help the individual in question but a shit way to dismantle slavery as an institution since it contributes to the problem. It's good business for slavers and incentivizes them to enslave more people. So you sort of end up with a metaphor for helping the most people vs taking care of your loved ones first.

Ideally you find a way to 'steal' them (which is almost what Qui Gon does, first by trying mind tricks and then using gambling as his legal tender which gets borderline tricksy and definitely leaves Watto poorer) But the bomb chips make any kind of illegal liberation very difficult. There's no point freeing someone if they're just going to blow up. And I know Tatooine can come off as sort of lawless but i'd say that's deceptive- the presence of casual violence doesn't mean a slavery isn't enforced at a state level. (slavery requires quite a bit of enforcement) Watto is quick to back off when Qui Gon mentions hutt justice after he challenged Qui Gon's claim to anakin.

Giving her Anakin's earnings, and her buying (indirectly) her freedom soon after, would also sort of fit the theme of jedi playing support rather than hero- it helps her, but in a giving her the tools to help herself sort of way, which seems to often be how jedi operate. So I don't hate that.

I sometimes headcanon that the republic's anti-slavery laws include it being illegal for a republic citizen to purchase a slave, even if you then free them. Idk.

And for that alternative version you mention to accomplish the same effect... again, idk. He still could have gone off the rails at her death it's true, but the story with Shmi in the movies to me kind of adds a depth to his feeling that he has to choose between the jedi and his other family, you know? Like, he felt like he abandoned her by choosing the jedi and that's why she's dead. (I'm not saying that's a logical feeling but it's a feeling). So then when Palpatine convinces him that the only way to save padme is to betray the jedi, it has a sort of echo to it.

Something along those lines, anyway.