#it's only after malachor

[ladyanidala]

Has Kanera taken over my thoughts???

Do I even need to give you the answer?

[phoenixyfriend]

Hey have a fun AU I came up with the other day after reading a bunch of fics with related tropes

It's a raised Sith AU. Anakin was found by Sidious well before he was found by Qui-Gon. He was raised by the Sith, is a classically horrible monster stalking about TCW to be Vader (mask and all, just as an intimidation factor instead of life support) while Ventress and Grievous and Dooku do their own things in a different section of the war. He's got a Really Fucking Weird dynamic with Obi-Wan, mostly attempting to kill him etc.

At some point, Palpatine allows Anakin and Padme to meet. The romance that blooms is one that Sheev decides is useful to him, so he lets it happen.*

Padme gets pregnant. Sidious arranges for her death. Anakin loses his entire shit and tries to kill Sidious. Obi-Wan is off trying to save Padme, unaware of Anakin getting his remaining limbs cut off by his this-universe Master. (This is important, because Anakin does remember Obi-Wan trying to save Padme.)

So we have Anakin, who was raised Sith, and just lost the only things that have mattered to him since his mom died when he was a kid, and Palpatine has pushed him further into the Dark than he ever has. Anakin… knows more about the Sith Secrets in this universe.

Anakin finds a Sithly Time Machine. Maybe on Malachor. There's an owl? Whatever.

Anakin, someone who's been Vader for the vast majority of his life, wakes up at age nine. Maybe even younger, like six. His mother is already dead at Sidious's hands. He's already roommates with Maul. He's already being trained as a baby Sith.

Anakin, being a 20 year old war veteran, is much better at escaping than Sidious has planned for. He reprograms a medical droid to take out his slave chip, steals a ship, etc. All the stuff that Maul wasn't very good at, and Anakin was too young for, so Sidious didn't have the preventative measures in place for yet.

Anakin heads for the one place and person he thinks he can trust: Obi-Wan Kenobi.

(Obi-Wan is still a padawan. But this Baby Sith just declared him Adoptive Teen Dad, so.)

@lizasweetling (all indented bits from here will be hers):

Because Sith. Bad for mental health of the user and generally bad for their environs But also baby. And if hes dragging Maul around no doubt the dude is constantly himself confused why he is here Like yeah, Sidious sucked, and this 6-9yo is way powerful and knowledgeable on the dark side (?????) But why are we going to the Jedi? And not even trying to kill them apparently?????

Anakin is very much being affected by Baby Brain and Baby Endocrine System. He cries a lot more than he should.

I WASN'T THINKING OF HIM BRINGING MAUL BUT YEAH. THAT'S. THAT'S A POSSIBILITY.

Jedi Council trying to decide if this is more "Adult Sith got shrunk" or "child got evil man's memories." Vader wants to know why it even MATTERS. (He didn't actually plan on telling them, but he has very little self control right now.)

The first Good Act he does is tell them where to find Ventress and Ky. (In the original timeline, he viewed Ventress as like. Cool older cousin.)

Vader's right, that distinction does not matter Aaaw, she deserves that, that's nice Maybe she will be like 20% less homocidally traumatized

Anakin is furious when Maul and Obi-Wan pick him up under one arm like a package. He is a GROWN MAN he is an ADULT he was a SITH LORD and about to be a FATHER, he is TOO OLD FOR THIS.

They point out that he is Baby.

😂 sorry lord of evil, you're too baby, have a nap and maybe your feel better. Assuming the crisis on Naboo is still happening, and as such the vote of no confidence is right now, it might be a great time to report Sidious as a Sith lord. Post-escape from Sidious, both he and Maul definitely will need a nap. It's that kinda place.

Oh, it's probably at least a year before. Anakin keeps trying to sneak off to kill the man himself, but the Jedi are more ready for his Sneaking than Mustafar was, so he keeps getting caught before he can reach the Senate.

At one point he tries to just CHARGE the place and you get Mace and Obi-Wan sprinting after him. The News captures videos of this very small child getting chased by an older Padawan and a Master and they are mostly yelling for him to PUT DOWN THE SABER.

(Sidious might see him but what's he going to do? Might cause too many problems for Sidious to be aware of Anakin's presence with the Jedi, though. Best not.)

It's probably more expensive on average to hire an assassin on a child, just in general But on a jedi youngling??? If he can even find someone to do that, it will be so very, ridiculously expensive And likely 70%+ upfront payments

Ahsoka definitely seeks him out. Toddler baby child. She adores him for reasons unclear to anyone and everyone.

!!! Baby has baby!! Vader's probably a little thrown by this. Been a while subjectively since someone just loved him. And not even for like, a reason. Baby Vader coerced into sitting obediently for nap by tired kiddo: [The council liked that]

The number of times that vader could only be convinced to nap by Obi-Wan grabbing him, caging him in his own lap, and forced to Sit Quietly until he just fell asleep like that...

He has things to do, he's not tired 😡😡😡💢 (He's 9. Distances are between 150 and 195% longer when measured with steps, he's hungry (subjectively) all the time, and has only middling coordination He so is too tired)

Anakin doesn't know Qui-Gon at all but he keeps getting stuffed into the man's top because he's just. Small enough to fit.

Like the bomb boobs gif, but it's a small child.

the indignity

You just. You can't let him get too self-important.

Vader is Disgusted every time the pediatric healers try to talk down to him like they do to other 6yos.

The difference between this and other "Vader goes back in time to the Jedi" AUs (like Force of Many Sights) is that this Vader has never been a Jedi, and doesn't know anything about them except how they fight when he's trying to kill their friends.

Also Maul's there.

Because even he has a hard time taking himself seriously when hes so easy to manhandle Rest of the time; I am fear, I am death personified As luggage child: I am so small. The tiniest. I crave violence He's probably very annoyed they keep taking away his saber And hey! Obi gets practice not losing his! Woooo!

Something something Anakin clinging to Maul's back (piggy back ride) and chewing on his head or something stupid like that. Perfect height for head biting.

You know, the classic anime head bite

Maul probably has been nominally talked into this because this 9yo is a powerful darksider But he is also the world's most annoying tiny kid Maul would've thought his phenotype would make him immune to this ridiculousness He was wrong At least the teeth are a bit less pointy than his other little brothers'? Appreciating the little things

tfw your unwanted little brother drags you to what you think is a cult but actually they're way less culty than your last two places so you just stick around to keep an eye on the little shit

Anyway. ObiMaul for this one.

They're peers They're tired They just want to sit down and not have to chase this weird little murder child They have a lot in common 😊

They are all just a little bit stupid, I love them.

Qui-Gon is a Cool Mom (throws condoms at them and books it).

Yeah, that's about as much involvement as would be appreciated They probably did a lot of sparring before the tension broke Which did not relieve said tension, generally made it worse (Competence, athleticism, sweat-) Vader is confused, but probably doesn't mind He's probably glad they're distracting each other from stopping assassinating a certain someone (Which- that is 9yo hubris. He would need help to do that)

I still can't decide where on 6yo-9yo he falls but somewhere in there

Babies means easier hiding in shirt, teenie Ahsoka, and longer for him to convince the Jedi council to do a Sith hunt before the Naboo situation

Also longer for Maul and Obi-Wan to faff about being all Tension

* Vaguely inspired by the backstory of Rulebreaker/Wildheart, which is great but significantly more of a romance fic than this.

[kanansdume]

You know what might've worked better while keeping MOST of this show generally the same, plot-wise?

Swap Ahsoka and Sabine's character choices.

Let AHSOKA be the one who is manipulated into giving the map to Baylan. Sabine is the one who is injured and used to manipulate Ahsoka, and Baylan can pull on what he knows about Anakin and her relationship with him to REALLY fuck her up, and Ahsoka knows that she OWES Ezra for saving her life on Malachor, so she hands over the map. It's SABINE who is yelling for Ahsoka not to do it, not to undo everything Ezra sacrificed himself FOR, and then she gets shoved over the cliff, and that's what breaks Ahsoka.

When faced with the choice between saving one person she cares about or letting them go in order to save the rest of the galaxy from a larger threat, she makes Anakin's choice.

And then only at the END, when everything is almost lost and she's in the other galaxy and Sabine used the purrgils to find her and Ezra, but Thrawn is escaping and they fought as hard as they could and Ahsoka is dying and she knows she made a mistake that she can't take back and there's no way to undo the consequences of that choice so she may as well just let herself die, THEN she has a vision of Anakin. THEN he forces her to choose to live because letting herself die now is selfish and she's just abandoning her friends so she doesn't have to take responsibility for her own mistakes. Anakin tells her that he COULD'VE turned back earlier, he COULD'VE made better choices even after he'd joined the Sith. He could've turned back when Ahsoka asked him to. He didn't, but he could've. Ahsoka can do BETTER than Anakin did. She can still do BETTER, she doesn't have to let this mistake define who she is now. Maybe she can't undo all of the damage she's wrought, but she CAN do better from here on out.

Anakin didn't turn back for Ahsoka, but Ahsoka can turn back for Ezra and Sabine and the galaxy she's put in harm's way.

[sticks-and-souls]

Anakin & Letting Go

I always found it to be a little skeptical that Anakin could become a force ghost after it took Yoda, Qui Gon, and Obi-Wan learning and training how to do it, and I always thought “really? Anakin? Finding that level of peace and letting go?” But after this episode, seeing the care and lesson that he imparts upon Ahsoka that he learned so painfully, I understand it from him so much better. Vader was so stuck in his complete self-hatred that he allowed nobody who had known him before as Anakin to reach him (most notably Obi-Wan and Ahsoka) because of the overwhelming extent of his shame. It took his son, who had never known him and yet who still stood before him and believed in him, loved him, sacrificed himself for him, to call Anakin back from the depths of Vader. And this Anakin, let everything go to save his son and to allow his son to save him.

And it felt so impactful to get to see this mature post-Vader Anakin reaching out to Ahsoka to teach her this very hard-earned lesson that he took the very hard road to get. Because she has Vader in her. She is everything Anakin taught her, and we saw the behaviors that led Anakin to becoming Vader—the fear of losing his most cherished relationships—reaching out of Anakin very early in the clone wars (and before) and the two of them are both very aware that he imparted those lessons on her. And then we've seen across this season—and overtly in her clone wars flashbacks—that she believes she is inextricable from these traits.

I’ve always loved Anakin as a fictional character, getting to see his earnestness, his flawedness, and his intensity (to borrow Huyang’s very accurate adjective), but this episode brought a level of humanity to him that has moved me so deeply. Life is HARD, loss gets forced on all of us no matter what, and the lessons that we learn through mistakes that we made can be extremely painful because acknowledging and taking responsibility for hurting people is actually really painful for humans (not owning up to our actions is the emotionally easier choice and George Lucas has stated time and again that the Dark Side is about taking the short-term easier choices). But it ultimately means that learning from your mistakes is an actual choice you have to MAKE. And this is the core of Anakin’s lesson. He is teaching Ahsoka that she has to choose which lessons he has taught her that she will live by, but more than that, that she is empowered to be able to choose. Yes, she has everything that he taught her—the good and the bad—but she is not condemned to live out all of the lessons. 

And the beauty of it isn't just the lesson, but that Anakin gets to be the one to teach it to her. The betrayal that she experienced in discovering his fall, the taintedness that she has been portraying that she feels about herself, gets specifically addressed because if he figured it out, then she definitely can too. If he is more than just Vader, then she is too. And THAT is what the "Is that what this is about?" line is actually about. It's so so important that we get to see pre-Vader, Vader, and post-Vader across her vision because the point is that yes, Vader is a part of him, and that brilliant shot of the two of them glaring Sith eyes across the blade at each other did it's job in conveying that Ahsoka is capable of that darkness too, but you are not only the darkness. You get to choose. ("You're more than [death and destruction] because I'm more than that"). And more to the point, you have to choose. Because if you don't specifically choose to fight the dark, then you're ultimately choosing to fall into it. "Fight or die."

So for Anakin to be able to reach out to her one more time, to be able to love her the way he, as Vader, had refused to the last time when they met on Malachor, and to open with “you’re never too old to learn”, because god if he didn’t learn that the hard way too. And to be able to pass on to Ahsoka how to actually let go because he himself had only just finally been able to learn it as well, feels so powerful and poignant.

And that look of pride and wistful sadness that he gives her at the end? That both she and Luke were able to learn so quickly what took him so long? And that maybe, he may have helped save her from the worst traits that he imbued upon her? That’s him having let go of his own shame. He feels grief, he feels guilt—we can see it on his face—but what has happened has happened and he has accepted that, and finally learned that letting go doesn't mean it didn't happen, it means it doesn't have to define your actions going forward.

And finally, it’s also him letting go of ahsoka. By teaching her that she will choose her destiny, he has to accept that he cannot control it either. And he has. “There’s hope for you yet.” 

So yeah, Anakin learned to let go, and getting to see him here, in this headspace of acceptance and peace, practicing and understanding what it means to be a Jedi, was so unexpectedly cathartic and revelatory for me as viewer. 

[themultiverseheroines]

Closed RP w/@muses-of-the-memory

Ahsoka made her way deep inside the Sith Temple. The very place they were told to go to in order to find a way to defeat the Sith. However, it was all in vain. Not only did they find no way of defeating the Sith, but she found out the real truth about her master.

In the back of her mind, she knew the truth, but kept on denying it. She refused to admit the man she looked up, who trained her, taught her all she knew, and saved her, would become the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

The very same Sith who wiped out the Jedi at the Jedi Temple, but serves the Sith Lord himself, Darth Sidious, the Emperor of the Galactic Empire.

Ahsoka had hope she could have saved her master and bring him back to the light, but it seems, even though the two were reunited, there was no bringing him back. She too would have been one of his many victims, had it not been for Ezra Bridger. Who not only saved her, but brought her to a world between worlds. One where they could go through any moment in time and space.

However, they were attacked by Darth Sidious, who was attempting to break into this world. Thankfully, they stopped him and went their separate ways. With Ahsoka returning to the Sith Temple on Malachor, right after the temple was destroyed.

Ahsoka didn't know where these staircases will lead her, but she knew she had to keep her presence hidden. She knew Darth Vader was still alive and is still on the planet. So, she'll need to wait till he leaves so she can find a way off this planet. An easy task, right?

As she heads down the steps, she can feel there's a dark presence waiting for her. Something she's never felt before. So, she kept her guard up. Her hands ready to ignite her lightsabers, just in case she runs into someone or something not friendly down here.

@muses-of-the-memory

[perfectharmonyloveschaos]

Do you ever think that Zeb remembers joking with Ezra back before the Season 2 finale? About how they'll have "probably have toppled the Empire" before he gets back? Even if in that instance he was referring to Malachor, I have to wonder did he remember saying it.

Does he tear up when he thinks of that scrawny, irritable kid that he misses so much? That he wishes he had nicer to? That he thinks about and immediately goes to get a drink because karabast, it's been eleven years?

The kid he sees in every new imperial helmet he finds and keeps just in case?

The kid he sees in the blankets and sketchbooks and cat fur that Zeb could never bare taking out of their cabin, leaving them aside because the kid'll be back and whining about him moving his stuff?

The kid he can't imagine as a man because it would hurt too much if he ever found out that Ezra had died before he got the chance to grow up?

The kid that, even years later, he'll still look back for during a mission to make sure he's out first, only to realise he wasn't even there?

The kid that he raised a drink for after the Death Star exploded?

The kid that he started making logs after every mission for, reciting every detail he could remember because he promised him war stories and didn't want to be outdone?

The kid he tells Jacen stories about?

[antianakin]

Sith Ahsoka AU where Ezra doesn't come get Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds (or misses her maybe) and so Ahsoka and Anakin fall through the Sith Battlestation. Ahsoka's connection with Mortis and the Daughter combined with the exploding power of the Sith Battlestation end up glitching and backfiring on Anakin when he tries to kill Ahsoka and he dies instead, while Ahsoka lives but only just.

Palpatine arrives on Malachor to pick up Anakin's pieces and put him back together again only to discover he's too late this time. But Ahsoka is lying there on her last breath, broken enough both physically and mentally to succumb to Palpatine's torture and manipulations and powerful enough to be worth the effort. Yes, she'd make a workable replacement for this loss. And of course everyone who knew her thinks she's dead, so they're not going to come looking for her or try to save her until Palpatine's work is done and he's prepared to present his new and improved apprentice, Darth Malis, to the galaxy.

Ahsoka doesn't re-appear until shortly after the Rebels finale, after Kanan's died and Ezra's disappeared, but still before the events of Rogue One. The plans still make it to Leia and everyone on Scarif dies, but this time it's Ahsoka on the Death Star, capturing Leia and waiting when Obi-Wan arrives with Luke and Han.

And Obi-Wan isn't expecting her at all. He'd been able to feel that Anakin died, but certainly had no way of knowing that Ahsoka had even survived Order 66 let alone that she'd been captured by Palpatine and tortured into becoming his new Sith Apprentice in Anakin's place. He wasn't expecting Anakin to be waiting anymore, but the last thing he could've expected was Ahsoka. He's so glad she's alive, but this is the worst way to discover that fact, and it's a little difficult to be calm in the face of this revelation.

Thankfully, Ahsoka's not expecting Obi-Wan, either. Palpatine, knowing how Anakin had obsessed over hunting Obi-Wan down and banking on Ahsoka thinking no one would ever come to save her or care for her again as a way to break her, had kept that tidbit of information from her. So Ahsoka is just as surprised to see Obi-Wan alive as he is to see her, and she's incapable of doing anything to keep her emotions from controlling her anymore. She's still powerful, and faster than Anakin was, but she's still living on life support of some kind and Obi-Wan's got more practice at handling this kind of grief and pain, giving him the upper hand in the battle. So when Luke and Leia show up, Obi-Wan doesn't need to sacrifice himself to keep them safe, he can overpower Ahsoka and run back to the Falcon with the others.

Most everything stays the same, because the Emperor figures out who Luke is and still wants him as an apprentice instead because Ahsoka is broken and Luke is more powerful. Obi-Wan is able to bring Luke and Leia to Yoda years earlier, so they both get trained up together (and they know that they're siblings the whole time). A few more Jedi survivors show up to help the Rebellion while Obi-Wan, Luke, and Leia are on Dagobah: Reva, Quinlan, Cal, Kata Akuna, Ezra (who is miraculously found prior to ROTJ because I want him there, maybe my man was resourceful and got himself back sans Thrawn all on his own).

When they finally make it to Endor, Obi-Wan and Leia stay on the ground to help the Rebellion while the others all go to confront the Sith with Luke. Luke strikes the final blow against the Emperor and the Rebellion takes out the shield around the Death Star, throwing everything up there into chaos. Ahsoka flees and they all have to give chase. Luke and Reva try to offer her a chance to change, to come back with them, to heal. Ahsoka doesn't take it, and the next time the Death Star is hit, she lets herself fall deep into the Death Star's mass.

Quinlan offers to be the one to tell Obi-Wan that Ahsoka didn't make it. Obi-Wan mourns, but he's also already mourned her. He could tell that there was very little of the girl he'd known left in the monster Palpatine had made of her. She'd rejoined the Force now and she was at peace. He wished she could have found healing and known how much she was loved before she died, but he can't begrudge her this choice, especially since the choice to kill Darth Malis brought the reign of the Sith to its end and restored balance in the Force.

[thepunchingbag]

I think Atton's jealousy and resentment of Mical goes a lot deeper than "he stole my girl."

Firstly, Mical is roughly 10 years younger than Atton/the Exile. Which means, Mical - while his life path was certainly altered due to the Wars - never had to fight in either the Mando or Jedi Civil Wars. For the most part, he's lived in a post-war society and doesn't have a jaded worldview. Sure, Mical criticizes the Order but there's no hatred; he's simply disappointed in their shortcomings. He very much still has faith in the Republic, because he never really saw how much of a clusterfuck the administration was during wartime. So Atton, right off the bat, sees Mical as this irritating kid who doesn't know what he's talking about. And the fact the kid's a Republic spy (and a diplomatic spy at that, so missions are mostly fact-finding involving politics rather than getting a blaster pointed between the eyes), is just extra salt in the wound. Sure, he's "serving" in the Republic military, just with all the glory and none of the PTSD, lingering medical issues due to combat injuries, and none of the lifelong problems with substance abuse.

Also, I headcanon young Jaq (before getting severely mentally fucked up during the War) as a bit of a wide-eyed "Gee Whiz!" idealist. And now Atton sees this mirrored in this pretty boy wannabe field physician-turned-spy. Except Mical never gets the idealism smacked out of him, assuming the Exile's LS. In fact, this kid seems to be rewarded for his idealism at every turn.

Hell, I bet the fact that Mical's a Republic spy and that's another lightside mirror to Atton being a Sith assassin, just rubs Atton all kinds of wrong.

Second, Mical is perhaps a bit naive (okay, more than a bit) but he's very intelligent. He's openly a bookworm and, say what you will, Mical was the only one to discover Kreia's plan on his own. Even Kreia says he's a "wasted" pawn of the Republic, that he could have been so much more. She, grudgingly, respects him (as much as Kreia respects anyone outside of Revan and the Exile). So, once again, compare this with "the fool", Atton, who is clearly also quite intelligent in his own way. However, nobody really sees that because Atton acts like a dumbass in order for people to underestimate him. This probably futhers Atton's resentment - this snot-nosed nerd gets to flaunt his brainpower, but Atton's always flying under the radar.

Even worse would be if young Jaq had dreams of maybe going to a good university after serving, maybe hoping to use whatever the Republic's version of the GI Bill program was - only for Jaq to be too messed up after the War and not to mention he deserted, so he's probably thrown all chances at getting military benefits out the window.

Now to throw the match into the kerosene-soaked mess of Atton's hatred - is when the Exile potentially starts to grow close to Mical. It's like, of course, Atton feels like garbage not worthy breathing the same air as the Exile. But he'd hoped that perhaps she'd at least never grow close to anyone else. That they would stay in a state of relationship limbo forever.

So... on top of everything else, the kid gets her too?

Atton would be seething, even if he's LS. I think the only reason LS Atton restrains himself from cornering Mical on Malachor and shoving his lightsaber through his eyesocket, is because that would upset the Exile. If Atton's DS, all he feels is his rage, bitterness, and resentment - plus the overwhelming desire to see a Jedi's life bleed out on the floor.

Meanwhile, I think Mical regards Atton with bemused pity. Also he shows him compassion, since Mical is emotionally mature enough to see Atton is a very broken man.

Which of course just pisses off Atton more.

[ospreyeamon]

the falls of the revanchist jedi

The narrative doesn’t directly examine why the Jedi who followed Revan and Malak fell. It is spoken of as a given – they followed Revan into war, so they followed Revan into darkness. That’s not how people work though. That’s not even how people under the influence of the Dark Side of the Force work. Spending twenty years as Palpatine’s thrall didn’t prevent Vader from throwing his Master into the reactor shaft to save his son. Revan can murder every NPC available to be murdered until reaching Rakata Prime only to pull a 180, redeem Bastila, and be feted as a hero of the Republic, Sith-eyes and all.

All but one of the surviving Revanchist Jedi who followed Revan and Malak into the Mandalorian Wars followed them again into the Jedi Civil War. Even the Exile, that lone dissenting actor, can say that they would have fought with their fellows against the Republic had their connection to the Force not been severed; that they were unable, not unwilling. Yet, the Exile can also say that they would not have followed Revan and Malak in attacking the Republic, that they went to war to defend the innocent. Many of the other Jedi who joined the war effort alongside them must have felt the same way, in the beginning.

Many of the soldiers of the Republic like Carth Onasi returned home after the Mandalorian Wars were over, even those like Saul Karath who would bow to Revan again. What then are the factors that led every surviving Revanchist Jedi, save the Exile, to follow Revan from the Mandalorian Wars into the Jedi Civil War?

1) The Mandalorian Wars changed the Jedi who fought in them. The Exile’s dialogue provides the different reasons why they might have left to fight in the war – to protect the innocent, to test their power, to defend the Republic, to win glory – reflecting varying motivations of Knights and Padawans recruited by Revan and Malak. However, despite the differences in the initial reasons for defying the Jedi Council to answer the Republic’s call, they all would have gone through similar uniting experiences during the war. Terrible experiences. Shared hardship often serves to reinforce group identity.

Older Jedi like Kavar and Arren Kae had fought wars before, but the initial expedition led by Revan and Malak was almost entirely composed of young Knights and older Padawans. Military morality, ethics in warfare, tends to be rather twisted from the perspective of modern western civilian morality. Your ability to prosecute the war and the safety of your soldiers takes priority over the lives of enemy, and sometimes even allied, civilians. Ruthless is more than a virtue, it’s a necessity. Collateral damage is an inevitability. For young relatively inexperienced Jedi, raised on ideals of valuing all life and always seeking non-violent resolutions, the transition to military command positions where they were not only required to kill, not only required to led troops to their death, but required to give orders which they knew would directly result in the deaths of civilians would have been distressing.

We know that the Exile once led troops directly into a minefield during the Battle of Dxun, but I think that barely scratched the surface. We aren’t given the full laundry list of the Mandalorians’ war crimes, but at the very least it includes the crime of aggression, murder of civilians, use of child soldiers, and conscription of captured civilians into the Neo-Crusaders and for forced labour. Given this disregard for the lives of civilians, I consider it likely that the Mandalorians also used hostages and headquartered themselves inside buildings like schools and hospitals. I suspect both sides used poison weapons, nuclear weapons, torture, and executed prisoners of war.

2) The Battle of Malachor V was a purge and a crucible of conversion. Kreia, HK-47, and the recording of Bastila Shan all say it; “a series of massacres that masked another war, a war of conversion”, “the intention was to destroy the Jedi, break their will, and make them loyal to Revan … Revan was "cleaning house" at Malachor V”, “to convert the last of the Jedi who fought beside [Revan] – and murder those who would not”. The Jedi in the radius of the Mass Shadow Generator would have included the Jedi Revan did not believe would agree with the plan to invade the Republic.

I think many of the Revanchist Jedi had already been falling by inches before Malachor. The Mandalorian Wars were brutal and one of the major symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is emotional dysregulation. Irritability, anxiety, depression, guilt, anger – the ongoing effects of trauma make a person more susceptible to inadvertently drawing on the Dark-Side of the Force. Using the Dark-Side of the Force was forbidden by the Code enforced by the Jedi Council, but the Revanchists had been pressured to compromise their ethics in other ways to effectively prosecute the war.

For any Jedi who had not already fallen, the detonation of the Mass Shadow Generator was a final blow they could not withstand. They all fell – into the Dark-Side, into death, away from the Force.

This was the conversion that Revan desired. The moral conversation – the acceptance of actions that violated their previous moral code, the previous moral code that would not have permitted making war on the Republic. The conversion in the Force – pushing Jedi to the Dark-Side ensured that they would not be accepted back into the Order by the Jedi Council even if they desired to return.

3) The Jedi Council’s decision to exile the Jedi who returned to face them was a gift to Revan and Malak. The Council’s judgement might have been rooted in their discomfort with what the Exile had become but the reason they publicly gave is that the Exile disobeyed the Council to follow Revan to war. That reason applied equally to every single other Revanchist. By exiling the one Revanchist to return the Jedi Council exiled them all, whether or not they intended to. They may not have, but by deciding to keep secret the true reasons behind their sentence of exile they ensured the other Revanchists could interpret their judgement no other way.

Telling the Revanchist Jedi they would never be welcome to return to the Jedi Order ensured that they would never go back. Onwards was the only path left to them.

4) Revan was extremely charismatic and competent. The Revanchist Jedi had already decided that Revan and Malak judgement was better than the Jedi Council’s when they chose to defy the Council’s orders to follow them to war. Revan, Malak and the Revanchists then won the war for the Republic. In fact, Revan even discovered the shadowy threat the which had been the Council’s justification for sitting out the war through engaging in it, while the Jedi Council remained ignorant.

The Republic government probably bungled the early stages of the Mandalorian Wars by not intervening sooner. The Mandalorians were committing more than enough war crimes for them to justify it, but they allowed Mandalorians to expand their territory, build their forces and industry, and entrench their advantage. When the Republic did enter the war, it wasn’t because the Republic leadership had made a strategic decision, or even a moral one; it was because some corrupt politicians organised bribes to fast-track Taris into the Republic because it was under threat and they wanted to protect their business holdings there. The Jedi Council was also tangled up in the culture of corruption; Lucien Draay was given a seat on the Council even though he’d been accused of planning and assisting the murder of four Padawans because of his powerful family connections.

The Old Republic was more an aristocratic republic than a democratic one. Alderaan, Onderon, the Empress Teta system – they were all monarchies during this period, not democracies. If aristocrats could hold power through right of blood and plutocrats through wealth, then why shouldn’t Revan lead the Galactic Republic by right of merit and conquest?

Revan was secretive, but at least some of the other Revanchist Sith knew about the shadowy threat – the True Sith Empire. If the Republic was going to need to fight another war against an even greater enemy, surely it would need better leadership. Leadership like Revan.

[klazje]

thinking abt the trio (malak, exile, revan) and how they present themselves

malak, i believe, is an awkward and subservient to an almost annoying degree. he follows revan around, does what revan says. he’s not a charismatic leader and he lacks many skills that could turn him into a good leader. he’s quick to anger and lacks emotional discipline, which only worsens as his life entwines with the sith. really the only thing that keeps malak’s emotions in check (and snarky remarks) is revan. malak also has a lot of complicated feelings towards revan. eventually i believe that revan’s dismissal of him and what he believes he can offer in terms of command and leadership is what drives him over the edge (and all that sith stuff). after revan’s supposed death and malak assuming the position of leader in the sith— he becomes a bully. once he was quiet, did revan’s bidding, now he’s angry. i also believe that, quite frankly, he never shuts up. he talks back to people, rudely, and isn’t afraid of what will happen if he demands things. he’s no longer in revan’s shadow and he knows it.

the exile is not a chatty person. she makes polite conversation but she’s not overbearing. the exile is nice, goes out of her way to include people in things. she’s charmingly awkward. she’s fit for leadership, but it’s not a role that comes easily to her. the exile manipulates others to reach this goal, even without her truly realizing it. she’s not a confidant person, which is why she is so drawn to revan. her self confidence is weak, especially after she cut herself off from the force. the exile bases much of her self worth off of what she can do for others— revan before malachor, and later the crew of the ebon hawk. many people describe her as a sort of ghost, she passes through rooms unnoticed, but the impact she makes on those who do notice her is tremendous. by the time kotor ii roles around the exile is tired, it’s apparent in their face and their body language. unlike malak, they did not enjoy the attention brought by the war. there is also something to be said by her presence in the force. it’s a hole that eats away at its surroundings, something you would not expect from such an unassuming person. non force users see her as a quiet, nice but awkward woman, force users see her as a threat lurking beneath the waters of a murky lake.

the exile was a good leader but nothing like revan. revan is a confident and charismatic person who would stop at nothing to get what they deemed was needed. i believe they are a fundamentally good person, who easily gets caught up in the mindset of “means to an end”. they’re if nothing but determined. the exile and malak suffer from their inability to stand their ground, be what they need to be, revan is not that. they take what they need to get what they want. before the war many jedi would describe them as contemplative, always yearning for more knowledge. it’s not until the threat of the mandalorians emerge that they prove their leadership skills…but revan was off putting to an odd degree, and had always been. it’s as if you could see their fate etched onto them, and they knew it. they always knew. revan has an aura of understanding, knowing what is needed at all times. this was only exacerbated as the war was drawn on. their troops would describe them as a wonderful leader, good with their fellow soldiers, always knew what to say. but those in high command, or better yet malak, would not say that. they were short and shut down conversations or suggestions that did not fit with what they thought was right…after the war that same feeling was present. even if revan did not know who or what they were, they still knew they needed to get what was needed done. most likely they were more friendly and charismatic when they were amnesiactic. always knowing what to say or do. they were still an odd fellow, their demeanor switching from excitable and friendly to quiet and contemplative. and when i mean contemplative i don’t mean your average socrates, but in a way that makes a ripple through the force…

food for thought idk

[glouchyouchy]

Hi fellow Star Wars : Rebels fans and Sabine x Ezra shippers, I hope you can indulge me for just a little while :)

I have a few questions that I haven’t found the answerd to after a rewatch ( my first since the show ended ) of Star Wars : Rebels, as well as my second watch-through of Star Wars : Ahsoka ( and of course, thoroughly scouring Wookiepedia ) :

1.1) On “‘Bine” = Did Ezra, or anybody for that matter, call Sabine, “‘Bine”, in canon?

1.2) On “Ez” = Similarly, did Sabine, or anybody else, call Ezra, “Ez”?

2) On “Blue Bean” = I know that it’s from ‘Bine, but why Blue?

3) Are the Mandalorian nouns, adjectives, sentences, etc., that I’ve seen in many, MANY fanfics, like “cyarika”, and the marriage vows, or even “dikut”, canon? Or is it made up by the fandom - or even a mixture of both ( i.e., the Mandalorian language / grammar / words do exist in canon, but they’ve been used by the fandom to suit their fanfic needs ( I’m particularly intrigued if the marriage vows ( I can’t remember the while thing, but it’s something ending with “we will raise warriors” ) do exist in canon ( they’re beautiful, either way )))

4) I know that the Mandalorian people inhabited multiple words, judging from the Rebels series ( Fenn Rau’s Protector’s planet, the Wren’s Krownest, and the main planet of Mandalore itself ). Is there a canon source for what exactly happened to Krownest and the entire Wren clan, specifically Sabine’s family ( Ursa, Alrich, and Tristan )? We know from the Ahsoka series ( from Huyang in particular ) that they’re dead - BUT HOW? Does that mean Krownest was ALSO glassed? Or was it only Mandalore that was glassed, and most of clan Wren ( particularly the ruling family / Sabine’s immediate family ) just happened to be there ( most likely fighting their war of liberation with Bo Katan leading them ( although, full disclosure, I’ve only watched S1 and S2 of The Mandalorian; I haven’t had time yet to watch S3 )) - and if this is the case, what of Krownest ( does the Wren clan stronghold still exist? )?

Thank you in advance to any of our esteemed loremasters out there who will take the time to answer :)

[ EDIT : ONE ADDITIONAL QUESTION PLEASE!!! :)

5) Did the Spectres know that the Sith Lord they encountered on Lothal ( and later on Malachor ) was actually Darth Vader - apprentice and second-in-command to the Emperor himself?

Thank you again ^_^ ]

[fellthemarvelous]

The Jedi got their own Doctor as well.

I haven't written fanfic in years but I might actually write this.

The unhinged, slightly incoherent Doctor Who/Star Wars crossover meta-ish long post no one asked for

Ahsoka season 2 needs to give me the backstory between Ahsoka and Huyang. How did they find each other? Was it after Ezra rescued her on Malachor? Was it before that? We have no idea what she was doing leading up to those events because she only showed up on Rebels for a handful of episodes.

And the last time we saw Huyang, he and Ahsoka and the younglings were having to deal with space pirates (HONDOOOOOO) and then General Grievous. Ahsoka was much younger in that time and we never saw Huyang again after that.

At what point in canon did they run into each other again? I think he's the only one who knows that Anakin = Vader based on a cryptic reply he gave to Hera when she asked him what Ahsoka's master was like. All he said was intense.

He's so used to Ahsoka's chaotic nature that every time she's like "I'm gonna do the thing" he's just like yeah okay because he's been dealing with the Jedi for 25,000 years and they are going to yeet themselves into the unknown whether he thinks it's a good idea or not. He remembers what Anakin Skywalker was like, after all.

This is one of my favorite things about Huyang's "history" though.

The idea that even the Jedi have their own version of the 10th Doctor is hilarious to me, and that rumor started somewhere.

But I also love what another droid says about Huyang in this passage.

Huyang is 25,000 years old so he's had plenty of time to become the one the Jedi go to when it comes to lightsaber construction. He helps the Jedi build weapons that are meant to be used as tools of self-defense because lightsabers are, in fact, extremely dangerous. This sounds like something the Doctor would do because the Jedi were peacekeepers and not soldiers, and it makes you sad when you realize that Huyang had to watch as the order he had devoted himself to for 25,000 years to were killed in a genocide that turned the Jedi's closest allies against them by removing their free will and forcing them to kill their Jedi generals, and it was all planned over centuries by the Sith who intentionally kept their numbers small.

When he ran into Ahsoka again, what was it like for him? She was one of the few survivors of the Jedi Purge. He remembers her as a child and now she's in her 40s. She was one of the few who was able to grow up because she survived.

What was going on in his head when he handed Ezra the emitter he was looking for because he somehow knew Ezra was looking for one like Kanan's? Huyang somehow knew it would be important to keep a second identical part around when he watched Caleb Dume (Kanan Jarrus) construct his very first lightsaber.

How much does Kanan's death weigh on him? Kanan was another child who survived the Purge. He met Kanan as Caleb not many years before the war ended and the Jedi were wiped out. Caleb had to change his name because he watched the clones gun down his master and he ran away exactly like she told him to before she died. Running away is what lead him to sacrificing his life so the rebellion would survive. Kanan fell in love with Hera, fathered a child he never got to meet, and now Huyang is getting to know Kanan's son (and will absolutely not be teaching Jacen how to construct a lightsaber "thank you very much your mom already said no" and the Tenth Doctor is used to angry moms slapping him in the face.)

Huyang spent 25,000 years living in one galaxy and teaching generation after generation of Jedi how to construct lightsabers. He was given the title of Professor because of the wealth of knowledge he carries around inside of him, and he only uses it for good, and he shares insightful wisdom and knowledge with the Jedi Order century after century after century.

And because he followed Ahsoka into the mouth of a space whale so they could travel to a completely different galaxy altogether, he is now stuck in another galaxy far, far away with Ahsoka (present), Sabine (future), Baylon Skoll (past), Shin Hati (new), a bunch of pacifist turtles, the force ghost of Anakin Skywalker, and the images of the Father, Daughter and Son that are carved into the mountains somewhere (and for some reason the Daughter's head is missing).

Now he can pass the tale of the Jedi across the universe. On the same planet where the Mortis gods are worshipped. It's going to link directly to the fact that Ahsoka is connected to the Daughter, both of whom were killed by the Son on Mortis, but Daughter allowed Anakin to use her remaining life force to bring Ahsoka back to life.

Is this going to turn into the story of how Huyang has to say goodbye to Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi and survivor who became a dear friend and travel buddy?

Is Seatos calling her back home? She possesses a gift that comes from an actual god. It's the only reason she's alive. And why Ezra had to reach into the past and save her from dying on Malachor at the hands of Vader. It would have tied the light side of the Force to a Sith temple.

There is only one other person Ahsoka shares such a strong bond with, and that's Captain Rex (is he alive, is he dead, if he died offscreen I am going to fucking sue Disney). Yeah I know he's old now, but he deserves a proper send-off. The Clone Wars was, as Dave Filoni has said, a story about Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex. Captain Rex is her best friend and the one who was standing by her side when the Clone Wars ended. Neither of them would have survived without the other.

Ahsoka knew there was no way she would be able to save the other clones, but she refused to be the one who killed them. She couldn't do it. They might have all shared a face but all of them were unique and important to her, and she could never ask Rex to save her life by killing them. It made getting out a lot more difficult because the clones were able to just get back up again and start fighting a few minutes later since Rex was only stunning them. (Interesting how that happened on Seatos too but this time because the troopers were zombies.)

Ezra was able to escape Seatos in Thrawn's ship but Ahsoka, Sabine and Huyang got left behind.

Did Rex even find out Ahsoka was alive after she came back from Malachor? If so, this means he's losing her yet again. For the fourth time in their lives. If not, then he's still on his third time (which was Malachor).

Also interesting how he was found on a planet in the Seelos system, and it was just a barren wasteland like Tatooine. Seatos and Seelos sound alike. Satine and Sabine sound alike and were both Mandalorian. How Sabine built a deadly weapon called The Duchess when she was being trained by the Empire that was able to disintegrate soldiers wearing Mandalorian armor, and it was named after Satine, the pacifist who turned Mandalore into a peaceful planet. And ironically now it's at peace because the Mandalorians were wiped out after the fall of the Empire. And think about how the clones all came from the DNA of Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter with blue and silver armor (and described as genetically perfect specimen by the Kaminoans).

Huyang is watching all of this unfold, but he's so old that it's just one of countless adventures he's been on, only this time he bonded with a former Jedi after a war that devastated their order completely. He might be a droid, but he's also more than that. He's ancient and wise and found a friend in Ahsoka Tano, the one who is imbued with the life force of a god and comes from a lineage that stands out above the others because it's the lineage of the Sith as well.

And as Huyang has now famously said...

How is it all going to end? If he is the Doctor, how did he become a droid too?

One day I might write a long ass fic about this if I ever have the energy to do so.

[kanansdume]

Shows the Ahsoka show could've/should've been:

A political drama centering around Mon Mothma and Leia as they work to create a new Republic in the wake of the Empire's fall and their struggles to bring together two groups of people: the Rebels who now have to adjust to a new world that isn't quite so black and white anymore, and the politicians who STAYED politicians during the Empire era and whose fights were never black and white. This would connect to the Sequels storyline, theoretically.

A Rebels Sequel focusing on Sabine and Ahsoka going to search for Ezra. Focus would be on exploring this new place (whether it's a new galaxy or just a really distant/unexplored part of the GFFA) and it could split the plot between Sabine/Ahsoka and Ezra trying to survive on his own still so we get to SEE Ezra and explore his character even if the reunion still takes a while to happen.

An Ahsoka show focusing on Ahsoka post-Malachor but pre-ROTJ as she deals with her feelings about Anakin in a cast of ORIGINAL characters all build to support her journey. Focus on her guilt for having left him behind a second time and her guilt that she knows she won't be the one to save him (if he can be saved at all) and her confusion over who he truly was and what that might mean for her. Could include a character like Shin who Ahsoka takes under her wing and who is potentially ASKING Ahsoka to train her even though Ahsoka is refusing because she believes she can't train anybody and knows she's in a bad place to do it right now even if she could. Ahsoka journeys towards remembering why she wanted to be a Jedi and understanding that being a Jedi was, in large part, about creating a safe community for Force sensitive people to be themselves around others like them. Only after she's let go of Anakin and regained her identity as a Jedi can she take on a new Padawan of her own.

[jedi-nurse]

Here is a little angsty drabble based on some amazing thought bouncing with @jessicas-pi and @kazoosandfannypacks

What if Sabine had been giving Ezra pieces of beskar armor? And what if he didn’t wear it during his darkside era and got injured?

Enjoy!

After the fight with the Grand Inquisitor that resulted in the twin scars on Ezra Bridger's cheek, Sabine Wren had slowly been gifting him beskar armor pieces so he would eventually have a full set. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the orphan turned Jedi had wormed his way into her heart. Nearly losing him had shifted something in her and now she was determined to keep him protected.

He wore each piece she had found and painted with pride. That was until the trip to Malachor. After the incident that left Kanan blinded and resulted in the suspected death of Ahsoka Tano, Ezra became a new person overnight.

Gone was the joyful Jedi who had a heart of gold. He was moody and quick to anger. He stopped wearing his armor and began to act reckless and risk his safety more and more. Then came the incident with the sleemo and a vibroblade.

If only he had been faster he would have avoided the vibro blade that got lodged into his shoulder. He'd been doing everything the Sith holocron had been telling him and it still wasn't working out. Was he just not good enough? Fast enough? Agile enough? The sudden burning sensation of the vibro blade being pulled from his shoulder broke his train of thought.

He knew Sabine was angry. He could feel the anger rolling off of her. There was also the way she was tending the wound. Typically she had a delicate touch, tending to him with all the care in the world. This was just clinical.

Ezra sat and moped while Sabine got to work disinfecting the wound before beginning to stitch it up. Usually she kept up a steady flow of chatter with him but this time she was silent. He could tell she was holding back on letting out her feelings.

When she was done stitching his arm up she placed a bacta patch on it and pulled his sleeve back down. Quietly she put the med kit away before going to leave the common room. He barely heard her whisper,

“This is why I want you to wear the armor I gave you Ezra. This family has already lost too much.”

She glanced back at him before heading to the cockpit to brief Hera. Ezra hung his head as tears welled up in his eyes.

After that incident he made sure to always wear the pauldrons Sabine gave him. The next time she saw him wearing them she gave him a soft smile.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Ghosts of Geonosis"

Packaging this two-parter as one big episode because shut up, you're not the boss of me.

I could have sworn I had a live reaction version of this already, but I can't for the life of me find it. Oh well.

This cue here sounds like it comes from TCW, maybe Saw's theme if he had one, anyone wanna confirm that for me?

This whole opening interaction between Ezra and Sabine is cute, she watches him as he plops down into her seat, gives a long-suffering eye roll, and dope slaps him across the back of his head for asking a stupid question and aside from a silently-mouthed "ow" he doesn't object to any of it lol.

Sign of the tightly-written continuity, we are returning to Geonosis to check out the missing populace and also pick up a Saw Guerrera guest appearance post his prominent role in Rogue One. (Out of text-wise that is.)

Empire cleaned up their mess pretty well.

Early establishing of the plot complications of the underground tunnels blocking comm signals, which features throughout the episode as a major element. The GFFA equivalent of establishing "no cell service", essentially.

The sandstorm also obscures things, visually and sensor-wise. And provides us with much humor as Sabine complains about it frequently.

Ho man, I remember how much I loved the banter and dialogue this episode, it was so much fun. Felt like a return to the early days of the show.

This episode was another really great one for subtly showing off Kanan's blindness. He mentions the stillness of the air, his hearing picks up on Klik-Klack before anyone else does, Saw has to let him know to watch his step...

As we already know, abandoned helmet = they 100% dead. The showrunners would use this visual shorthand very effectively in the promo image they did for "Heroes of Mandalore", with a whole pile of empty Mando helmets littered across a scorched landscape.

Kanan plays the voice of caution here, almost like he's the genre-savvy one in a horror movie, lol. Fitting, some aspects of the episode are played up like one. (We got the "Monster POV" shots, we got the cryptic remains left behind, we got no cell service, we got a storm.)

Badass boys shot. <3

Unlike Kalani's decrepit troops, these B1s and Destroyers have been better maintained and repaired, and give the group a bit more of a hassle until Saw shows up.

There's excellent teamwork between all the hero parties involved, Kanan and Ezra work smoothly as oil to slice up the Destroyer once its shield is gone, recalling Obi-Wan and Anakin from TCW.

Something I loved about this season was that characters would offhand mention, "Oh, we don't have this." or "The Rebellion really needs this." and then a couple episodes later they would manage to either acquire them or have them come into play.

Some examples: Proton bombs, this shield generator, spacesuits...

Ooof, was I the only one who caught the similarity between Saw urging them forward to satiate his obsession, Ezra agreeing, and Kanan choosing to trust him and, well... [gestures vaguely to the whole Malachor thing with Maul].

The tension this episode is great, the communication problems lend a sense of urgency and anxiety during both groups' separation and you get a feeling like the messages are coming almost too late to save them.

The Zeb and Sabine banter. <3

Kanan asking Ezra to look for him. <3

There he go, lol.

Kanan is really impressive, Force-wise, this episode, tossing Ezra aaaaaall the way across that chasm, separating and levitating that bridge for Saw and Rex to cross, and still somehow having enough energy and stamina to leap across himself.

And the Force theme that accompanies said above is lovely. <3

Ezra's pretty cool himself, using Force sense to find Klik-Klak when it seems like the bug has given them the slip. His theme is even excerpted a bit.

(Possibly he actually forms a connection, because he's very empathetic towards Klik-Klak after this and defends him from Saw repeatedly.)

Already having some Concerns about Saw's methods lol.

I love how this show depicts Ezra's compassion as one of his major strengths. It's natural for most Jedi and combined with Ezra's natural affinity for connection it's practically a superpower. Ezra's really sweet with Klik-Klak. :)

DEATH STAR-SHADOWING. Oh man the Dramatic Irony was painful, like any time TCW alluded to or called forward to Order 66 and a mental scream rings in your head and you want to yell at the characters and shake them as if that can somehow help them avoid the inevitable doom. Same feeling.

Saw, those binders do NOT have a tracker in them, don't lie.

Obligatory "Stab the TCW fans in the heart" moment.

Ezra seeing shades of himself in Saw's grudge against the Separatists, god his face this whole scene.

Once again touching on those Star Wars archthemes about breaking the cycle of revenge, about not turning your internal pain outwards on the rest of the world, no matter how righteous your cause, about not becoming a monster in your efforts to slay the dragon, about showing compassion to everyone, even your enemies. Saw is representative of the Well-Intentioned Extremist, and even though his ultimate goal is noble--destroying the Empire, exposing their secret superweapon so that the galaxy will finally wake up and deal with the tyranny they've come to complacently accept--Saw loses parts of his humanity in the process, emotionally and ultimately physically. He becomes almost like Vader in the bitter end, for his efforts. (And he's also a shadow of Thrawn.)

Brunsen! I love her.

Saw's personal grudge against the Separatists in general for killing his sister and his squad is blinding him. Ezra points out that Klik-Klak is basically the only survivor of a planet-wide massacre and is understandably a little defensive about invaders, trying to live up to his name again and "bridge" the differences between the two factions, only it doesn't work this time because Saw is too fanatic.

"Saw, we had this argument back at Command." Oh DID YOU now, Rex? Really could have forewarned the team that Saw might get a little deranged in his quest for truth.

I love Saw, he's the best example of an actually Morally Gray character in Star Wars. Unlike Thrawn, his "greater good" reason for going to such extremes, doing whatever it takes to achieve the goal, is actually directed outwards towards the whole of the galaxy, he doesn't selfishly focus inwards on his own interests. Part of it is of course that Saw has already lost his people and planet, so there's nothing left for him except to prevent it from happening to other people. We're encouraged to sympathize with his pain and sense of loss, but not necessarily be comfortable with his actions.

The narrative both condemns his extremism and, ultimately, vindicates him in regards to the Death Star. There's the same sense of futility about him in that neither he nor the Senate and Jedi before Order 66 could uncover the plot quick enough to avoid their fate.

Back to the action, though. Love how the Ghost is so infamous now that their capture/destruction leads to big promotions lol.

This music cue sounds full of adventure, I like it. :)

Klik-Klak trusting Ezra because Ezra was nice to him aww.

"Neither have yours." Saw has a reputation, oof.

It's cute how Klik-Klak keeps tugging on Ezra's wrist.

Yeeeeeeeah I don't think we're supposed to sympathize with Saw in this moment. It's very deliberate, they even have him throw Ezra across the room.

"Your methods are soft, Jedi." Shades of Tarkin much, Saw? I know this annoys people to hear but even if you're fighting fascists, there are lines you don't cross. Saw points a blaster at a baby for heaven's sake. You do not become like your enemy in order to destroy them, because then you're just taking their place, exchanging one kind of cruelty and violence for a different one, for your particular flavor of one.

War is hell but you don't have to become a demon.

Saw's long hesitation after Ezra uses the word "family", Ezra got to him a bit I think, lol. Rex reinforces that tactic, ha ha.

My only minor nitpick this episode, the show once again using the Empire as a Diobulus Ex Machina to make Saw play nice with the others. One more Persuasion Check would have done it I think.

Cue a very excellent action setpiece.

IIIIII think I heard this cue before, back in "Imperial Supercommandos" when Rau ambushed Ezra and Sabine in the shuttle. Interesting choice.

A nice little badass moment for Ezra. :)

And a hero shot for Sabine as we prepare to show off her new jetpack.

He adores her.

Kanan's the only one who can't see how awesome she is. :(

Her little "That's cute." shoulder pat when Ezra says he wants a jetpack too. <3

Love how this Imperial's hat gets sent askew slightly from Brunsen's slap.

HHHHHNNNNNN ONCE AGAIN THE DRAMATIC IRONY IS MENTALLY SCREAMING IN MY HEAD, NO NO THAT'S NOT WHAT HE MEANS.

Saw listens to Ezra this time, next time we see him he's even more apathetic towards the beings in front of him who need help now.

HOW AWESOME WAS IT FOR HERA SLICING THROUGH THIS LIGHT CRUISER? Eh? Eh?

You get such a sense of the speed here.

Ugh, the pictures of the canisters aren't enough, ow, that feels like some kind of Politically Relevant commentary.

And as I said before, the narrative lets Saw get off (this time) with some stern looks from the others, but it's still not completely approving of his actions. He's not the Empire, yet, but he'll come closer and closer to their tactics and methods.

This two-parter episode is almost perfectly paced and it's really well-written. Everything about it works so well.

Solid Rebels content. <3

[catboyranulf]

Atton: How did you even live with yourself after Malachor? Is that why you went back to the Jedi Council? Hoping they'd kill you? Wasn't it? Maybe you thought they'd forgive you. Sure you might have thought they'd execute you, but Jedi don't kill, do they? At least not their prisonners. Maybe you were counting on it when you went back in chains. So you got off easy, you were exiled, brushed under the cargo ramp, another dirty little Jedi secret. I'll tell you-- all those Jedi at Malachor? They deserved it. Every last one of them. Because Jedi lie, and they manipulate, and every act of charity or kindness they do, you can drag it out squirming into the light and see it for what it is. The galaxy doesn't need Jedi arrogance or Jedi hyprocrisy anymore. The Jedi, the Sith… You don't get it, do you? To the galaxy, they're the same thing, just men and women with too much power, squabbling over religion while the rest of us burn. At least, the Sith are honest about what they're killing for, the Jedi are pacifists except in times of war, they're teachers except when it comes to telling their students the truth. And when they save you, it's only so you can suffer more.