#millennium saga spoilers

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy STS! What are your favorite scenes from your WIPs? (and if you would like share some lines <3)

Hi!! Happy late STS, @cherrybombfangirlwrites!! Thank you for the ask <3<3<3

Now, a lot of my favorite scenes I've written are, uh, hard to share without explaining the context and buildup/without spoiling the book(s) in question, BUT! I have been writing some absolute bangers of scenes recently for Goddess-Touched - here's one of my favorite moments from chapter one, out of the entire thing which I personally think deserves my own award for most horrifying opening to a sequel I've ever written <3

“It’s a Spirit Circle,” I spit past the lump in my throat, the dread in my core. “Right?” I think of the nest of baby dragons, slaughtered, mummified. Of Fahrial, the ruins still devoid of life almost a full millennium later. Of Sy’Vel, and the glasswork beings drifting within the lake, faceless and lost. Of the ghosts hovering at the edges of mirrors, always looking over my shoulder, just out of view even though I know who they are. “Beloved souls seek those who remain--” I grit my teeth against a pained gasp as I stumble, hand flying to my aching rib. Breathe, for a moment, thankful for the room he lets me have, before continuing to repeat the words that carried me through the worst years with a flicker of hope. “They seek us who remain when we walk on harrowed ground. Right?” I finally, finally, make it to the edge of the Circle. “It’s not the closure you think it is,” Tieling croaks. A single bark of hysterical laughter escapes my throat before I can choke it down. “I’m not looking for closure.” A deep breath. A steadying of quaking limbs. “I just need to know if [my sister] is dead.”

Thank you again!! I'll try to remember to send STS asks out on Friday before my next hiatus :D

[the-al-chemist]

Unusual writer asks: BTS on the Hexley Saga!

[ellie-e-marcovitz ☺️]

Thanks for asking! 💛 Choosing just one scene from the entirety of THS is impossible, so I’m going with the prologue AND the epilogue for the sake of completeness! (They go hand in hand anyway…)

Unusual Writers Asks are Here!

Prologue - November, 1981

It started with the fireworks.

And so it begins, 5 words down, 500,000 to go. Though these are the first words of the Saga, they weren’t the first that were written; the prologue was actually the last chapter I wrote for Mystery at Hogwarts! In fact, I didn’t write this chapter until I’d written the first drafts for the first four instalments of the Saga and gone back and rewritten the whole of MaH (literally, scrapped most of it because it was rubbish and started over). Once I had done that, I felt like I needed a framing device, and so this scene was added.

“Where are you going?”

A small voice called out through the darkness. Jacob turned around, and saw the outline of a small girl sitting on the windowsill, her face illuminated by the flashes that still came from the sky outside.

Here is our first glimpse of our protagonist. This was another reason I wanted a Jacob perspective prologue, as well as setting the scene, it meant that Artemis was introduced in the story through the eyes of someone else. Having Artemis visually described for the first time in another character’s deep 3rd person narration seemed much more organic than having her describe herself that way, especially as she is a character that doesn’t take much interest in her own appearance.

Since the day she had been born the two of them had been so close that they could tell what the other was thinking.

Oop, foreshadowing.

“Will there be a Niffler in the story, or a dragon?”

More foreshadowing, this time it gets meta.

“Please don’t cry, Missy, you’re making this harder than it already is,” said Jacob, and he walked out of the house before his sister could start to cry or scream. He couldn’t change his mind now.

The front door clicked shut behind him, and he walked down the pale grey steps to the pavement outside the house. Turning back, he saw that Artemis’ little damp face was pressed against the windowpane, her breath fogging up the glass. Jacob pressed his fingers to his lips, and raised his hand to her, before he turned away and walked down Lovelace Crescent, past the terraced houses, and paused at the corner of the road.

Not so much foreshadowing as backshadowing - these are the same words Jacob says to Artemis after she finds and loses him again in PotV. Her reaction this time is different, though, showing how much she has developed in the time he was missing. The path Jacob takes through Hexley family’s house is also echoed in PotV, as Artemis takes the exact same route and pauses at the exact same places as she prepares to leave to spend the summer with the Weasleys, symbolising how she is now following in Jacob’s footsteps. She even apparates away from the same place, though she does so via side-along apparation with Bill. Again, this is deliberate, showing how Bill has started to take Jacob’s role in Artemis’ life, though whereas Jacob left Artemis behind, Bill is taking her with him.

Epilogue - December, 1999

Below the cut, bc spoilers, obv.

It was almost midnight.

As soon as I wrote the prologue, I knew exactly what I wanted for my epilogue - the whole Saga bookended by two scenes that each reflected the other. The countdown to the millennium seemed like an ideal time; 18 years after the prologue so long enough for someone to grow from an infant to an adult in the time in between, and at the end of an era with the promise of a new start. And fireworks. Artemis loves fireworks.

“Did you find your rowan tree alright?”

“Yeah.”

“How was it?”

“Peaceful.”

Rowan’s birthday in my canon was placed on NYE because of this epilogue, so that she would be remembered right until the very end. I can’t remember when I decided on Artemis’ tradition of visiting the tree at sundown each year (it might have been at the same time as deciding on Rowan’s birthday, it might have come later), but the idea of her returning to a tree annually just to be with Rowan for a little while was inspired by the bench in the botanic garden on midsummer’s day in The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (from whom I expect to receive a lawsuit any day now).

Artemis swallowed hard as she turned away from the boy who looked like Tonks and saw George Weasley setting up the fireworks by himself.

Canon compliance is tough. This hurt me.

Someone asked for the time, and Artemis’ eyes immediately went to her ankle, despite her having not worn a watch on it for years.

I couldn’t not reference the watch. Artemis has come so far and has cut ties with her family by this point, but still her heart pulls towards the history she once had.

Artemis felt a soft pressure on her right cheek, and turned to see Charlie at her side, a small smile playing on his freckled face.

“Happy New Year,” he said quietly, his eyes fixed on the darkened horizon, where more fireworks had started to appear in the distance, some sooner, some later, as other groups of wizards, witches, and Muggles waved goodbye to the previous century and ushered in the new one.

Again, I couldn’t not put this small detail in. I think the majority of my readers have at some point asked me if/when these two will ever get together, and so this little kiss on the cheek is for the Charlie/Artemis shippers. It’s friendly, but if you wanted it to hint at something more, you can read more into it (I know lots of people did). Avid fans of His Dark Materials will pick up on the fact that pattern of the prose in the second paragraph mimics that of the ending of the Amber Spyglass, which is a final nod to the the story that has inspired my writing and my soul more than any other (aside from HP, which is a given).

All alone now, Artemis watched the fireworks and listened to the crackles and whizzes and bangs that were the only noises echoing through the January night. The grass at her feet was damp, the air around her was cold and laced with the scents of pine trees and gunpowder, and her lips still tasted faintly of sloe gin. Her fingers tingled, and her toes were numb, and her pulse coursed through her veins as her heart continued to beat in her chest, reminding her how very alive she was in this moment. Not that she needed the reminder. Right now, standing on Stoatshead Hill at the start of a new year, a new century, a new millennium, she felt more alive and more free than ever.

I didn’t want an “all was well” ending for Artemis. I’m all for nuclear families with 2.5 children born nicely in wedlock with the person you fell in love with as a teen, but that’s not the ending my wild child wanted or deserved. She deserved this: to have her found family around her and have the strength and confidence in them to tell them that she is happy for them to leave her for a little while, in contrast to the prologue in which she begged Jacob to stay. She deserves this moment to just be herself, without the expectations of anyone else around her - and she gets that. The pine, the marzipan/sloe gin, and the gunpowder are all the scents that one would smell in Amortentia if they loved Artemis. She is surrounded only by the very essence of herself in this moment. Everything from “the grass” in this paragraph to “the end” a few later came to me on a run and I stopped to write it all down because I couldn’t bear to forget even a word of it.

And as the last firework disappeared into the night sky, so did Artemis Hexley.

It started with the fireworks, it ended with them, too.

[luna-di-fuoco]

FOR MY SWEET GIRL YUKINA‼️‼️‼️

🍉 [WATERMELON] What will your OC take to the grave?

🥑 [AVACADO] What will they never back down about, even if it makes them seem bad?

🍇 [GRAPES] What's their circle of people/their species like? What dynamic would they be called?

— @bihanspookies 🫶

FOR THE SWEET GIRL!!!!

these answers have spoilers for "white moon saga" (the sailor moon / tekken story i wrote about her), so all responses will be under the cut

🍉 [WATERMELON] what will your OC take to the grave? - HER HAIR RIBBON, that's on point blank period. after losing the one from her mom (to the possessed version of her best friend, might i add), she's never letting go of the one she got from hwoarang

i also lowkey think she might take her engagement / wedding ring? but i'm not 100% sold on that as of yet

🥑 [AVACADO] what will they never back down about, even if it makes them seem bad? - okay while i don't think this makes her "bad," i feel that some people would view her as weak for not taking revenge on kazuya for killing her uncle

she's gone through multiple cycles about it, so when she finally has a chance to exact her vengeance and pass judgment, she spares him

this is a choice she still feels conflicted about as the years pass, but when she looks deep down, she knows she made the right decision

🍇 [GRAPES] what's their circle of people / their species like? what dynamic would they be called? - having been reborn into tekken's world / timeline after living in crystal tokyo, yukina (or selene as she's known in her previous life) is one of two remaining heirs of the silver millennium; therefore, she would be known as "the white moon queen." her royal court, which are composed of the guardian deities' wards / vessels, are known as "children of the guardians"

the TL:DR is that, when granted a guardian's blessing, a vessel gains increased speed, strength, and stamina. alongside that, their bodies heal faster than the average human's and their aging stops around their 20th birthday

basically think a puella magi mixed with a sailor guardian (minus the whole "you are your sailor crystal / soul gem" aspect)

thanks for asking! | submit a fruit

[twinhood-2dot0]

May The Fourth Be With You

Yep, it’s Thursday, and it’s not Alex. Because it’s May the 4th. And they haven’t watched Star Wars yet, well, technically, they’ve watched “Star Wars” the movie, but not the series. Relevant XKCD

So, I have to write today’s post. Also, fair warning, a lot of what I’m gonna be writing about may be very well known and boring stuff, but I only watched the series last year, and the target audience is Alex, so spoilers are also going to be at a minimum.

Cultural Impact of Star Wars

Star Wars since its inception in 1977 has had an immense cultural impact. I mean, it and Star Trek are apparently the only two fictional media with a whole Wikipedia page for its cultural impact. There's even a whole Wikipedia page listing organisms named after Star Wars characters.

The phrase “May the 4th be with you” was first used, surprisingly, by the Conservative Party of the UK in a congratulatory advertisement after Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister.

Yes, I'm attaching a crap ton of images, I don't think anyone wants a wall of text and this is the most important day for nerds so I need this to be good.

“Luke, I am your father” is probably the most well known quote from fiction ever, despite being a Mandela Effect, what Vader actually said was “No, I am your father”, which is a small distinction, I guess. 

This father has solved fatherhood.

In 2007 NASA launched a Space Shuttle containing Luke’s lightsaber prop from RoTJ. SpaceX’s Falcon rockets are also named after the Millennium Falcon, the heroes’ spacecraft in the Original and Sequel trilogy. 

In the 2001 Census of England and Wales almost 0.8% people put down their religion as Jedi, becoming the 4th largest religion.

In 2014 in Ukraine The Internet Party tried to nominate a man called Darth Vader, but was ultimately refused because his identity could not be verified :(, and that’s not even all the Star Wars characters involved in Ukrainian politics.

Even food isn’t safe from Star Wars

The Darth Vader burger apparently did not sell well, which I cannot for the life of me understand.

Not really a cultural impact thing but a funny controversy. Han Shot First. There’s a scene at the very beginning of Episode IVwhere Han is confronted by Greedo (that’s uh, a little on the nose) because of money that he owes. In the original 1977 release of the movie, it cuts to Greedo’s face, and there’s an explosion of smoke and sparks and the sound of a blaster, and Greedo dies. In the 1997 Special Edition of the movie, along with other changes, Greedo shoots Han and misses, and then Han shoots Greedo. And then in the 2004 cut of the movie, they shoot at almost the same time. People say it weakens his character arc, apparently.

The Music

Of course there’s a section dedicated to the music, I’m writing this post after all. Even if the music weren’t epic, there was bound to be a section. The movies by themselves are great, but I fail to imagine they would have reached legendary status without the soundtrack. The music for the Skywalker saga was composed by the legend himself, John Williams, and performed by The London Symphony Orchestra. His score was selected as the greatest film soundtrack of all time by the American Film Institute in 2005 and also entered into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally and historically important. My adoration for John Williams’ music has already been expressed while exploring leitmotifs, but I’ll go into Star Wars music again since that was brief. The most iconic track in all of movie soundtrack history is probably “The Imperial March”.

This menacing track serves as the theme for the villain of the OT, Darth Vader. It perfectly fits Vader’s imposing nature and makes him feel even scarier. The main parts of the theme are also used in the Prequel Trilogy as foreshadowing and in some parts of the ST and the countless other related media relating to Vader.

The leitmotif appears at around 2:18.

“Binary Sunset”, plays in a  scene where Luke is looking at the two suns of Tatooine and previously intended to be Obi-Wan’s theme, is also an important score from Episode IV as it later evolved to a theme for The Force in general and signifies use of the Force. And there’s of course, The Main Theme. It’s the theme that plays before every Star Wars movie, and serves as a leitmotif for Luke in the OT and also used in victory themes.

“Duel Of The Fates” and “Battle Of The Heroes” are also very epic fight scenes and make those scenes even more memorable. Say what you will about the prequels, they definitely had the best lightsaber battles.

You can also hear parts of Imperial March and Duel of the Fates in this too.

Rey may not be very popular among fans but she sure does have an awesome theme. I mean, it's John Williams, what do you expect?

Same goes for Obi-Wan's opening theme from the series.

Okay, if it wasn't obvious already, I absolutely love John Williams' work, but there are other composers who have been brought in.

Like Ludwig Göransson (yes, Swedish <3) in The Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett, has done an awesome job too. I especially am in love with The Mandalorian theme, I wish more of it played in the opening instead of the tiny snippet.

The World (or Galaxy, ig) of Star Wars

Star Wars is set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and obviously, they have a lot of planets and species. In the movies we see Tatooine, a desert planet and Luke’s and Anakin’s home planet, Coruscant, the political center of the galaxy, Mustafar, a volcanic lava planet, where the events of the climax of RotS take place, and the swampy planet of Dagobah featured in [REDACTED], the planet of Mandalore, of the titular character from The Mandalorian, are some notable planets, and there are also a lot of unique alien species shown throughout the saga (but the main cast is mostly white men, like why can’t the main cast be aliens in a series set in a galaxy far far away? Also, relevant XKCD).

Some notable ones are:

Yoda’s species, who we don’t know the name for yet, but we see three of them, at least in Live-Action media (Yoda, Yaddle, who I completely missed, but she was apparently there in Episode I and Baby Yoda)

Wookies, Chewbacca's species.

  Ahsoka Tano’s species, Togruta

The cute birds we see in TLJ, Porgs

And my personal favourite, Anzellans, who are tiny little mechanics who have the best freaking voice acting (Moaning Myrtle, apparently) ever. I fell in love with them after an awesome scene from The Mandalorian S3, although, it seems like no one shares my sentiment so there isn’t a complete clip on YouTube, although, maybe when I renew my Disney+ I might just upload one myself, so until then, take this:

I can’t count the number of times I watched this scene. The funny voice + the cuteness of Baby Yoda hugging them is just, awwww.

The worldbuilding in the movies is just a drop in the bucket compared to the incredible number of other, mostly Legends, media (Context: When Disney bought Star Wars they decided to mark everything that came before 2014 - the movies and Clone Wars part of “Legends” and everything that came after canon to the universe. I guess Legends is a bit of a mess, but kinda feels like a little too much to just outright name them non-canon). There are more than like SW 500 comic books and novels, and countless games, like Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel Jedi: Survivor, which apparently is in hot water right now for having a terrible performance especially on PC, although the game is great apart from that, from what I've heard, and the 4 Battlefront games, confusingly named Battlefront, Battlefront II, Battlefront, and Battlefront II coming out in 2004, 2005, 2015 and 2017, Star Wars Knight Of The Old Republic (KOTOR) games, the LEGO Skywalker Saga, you get the point, Star Wars has a boatload (more like Titanic-load) of media, leading to an extremely fleshed out world.

Characters

Of course, Star Wars is known for its lovable and iconic characters. There's of course, Luke.

A farm boy who discovers he is the son of a Jedi Knight and goes on to save the galaxy from the tyranny of the Empire. Luke's journey from a naive and idealistic youth to a seasoned warrior and leader is one of the central themes of the original Star Wars trilogy which definitely wasn’t ruined by Disney. Just look at this:

There are also longer compilations, Mark Hamill dropped so many hints lmao. 

Han Solo is another fan favourite, a charming smuggler who joins Luke & Co. on their journey. Han's wit, bravery, and devil-may-care (which, as I recently found out, is a cooler way to say “Who cares?”) attitude make him one of the most endearing characters in the franchise.

Darth Vader is undeniably one of the best villains ever put to screen. His whole character arc throughout the 6 movies and the comics is very awesome while tragic. Special shoutout to James Earl-Jones who was the voice behind Darth Vader who helped turn him into the iconic villain we all know and love.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is another tragic character. He serves as a mentor to both the OT and PT protagonists and sees far too many deaths of loved ones and betrayals. He is personally my favourite human character (dw R2-D2, you’ll be my favourite forever). 

Yoda, while not having too much screen time, is still very popular. He is an alien of the [REDACTED] species and the most powerful Jedi Knight. He also has a unique sentence structure of Object-Subject-Verb while speaking serves George Lucas’s purpose of making him even more intriguing. The infant of Yoda’s species featured in The Mandalorian has been fan-dubbed Baby Yoda and he IS ADORABLE

AHHH SOMEONE BUY ME A PLUSHIE I NEED IT.

The Mandalorian is also an awesome character. Pedro Pascal is awesome in the role and I love he can still emote while having his helmet on for 99% of the show. He's a member of the creed of The Mandalore, he's a bounty hunter, extremely loyal to his creed, and most importantly, very, very badass. I'm not very critical of things, but the helmet, oh, I could rant for hours, but that's a story for another day.

Okay, uhh, sorry it's a bit of a ramble than more of a love letter that I was hoping for, but hope you enjoyed it. See you next Thursday if you don't forget, and

[gourmetgreys]

Makemkv solo a star wars story

MAKEMKV SOLO A STAR WARS STORY MOVIE

MAKEMKV SOLO A STAR WARS STORY SERIES

Luckily, there is more specific answer, according to the movie's writers, father and son team Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan. Han is a young adult and the ending leaves things vague enough that it's not easy to tell how much time passes between Solo's ending and A New Hope. That can make it hard to tell, while you're watching, when exactly Solo is set. But is it possible to pinpoint it even more precisely than that?Īctor Alden Ehrenreich's version of Han Solo is relatively young, but he's not a little kid, and he doesn't age visibly during the movie. Solo, it turns out, takes place in between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Now Playing: Solo: A Star Wars Story Review - A Well-Crafted Side Story

MAKEMKV SOLO A STAR WARS STORY SERIES

Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga's most unlikely heroes.By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Han Solo gets a good (but not great) origin taleīoard the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. It doesn’t shake up the mythology or offer any real emotional investment, yet at the same time it’s funny, fairly fast-moving and at times enjoyable It gets its protagonist from point A to point B efficiently enough, but it doesn’t tell us anything we need to know that we didn’t already glean from our first meeting with Han in a cantina 40 years ago. Solo is not a bad film, just a relentlessly average one that has no reason to exist except as a money machine. At times, working with a small army of digital wizards, he seems to be channeling the spirit of the car-crash pileups of “Grand Theft Auto.” Only this time, the vehicles really move. Howard’s efficient, confident, slightly square direction does the job. ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Answers Questions You Might Not Have Asked

MAKEMKV SOLO A STAR WARS STORY MOVIE

'Solo' gambles (and wins) by not being just another 'Star Wars' movie Solo: A Star Wars Story defied the odds to become a cohesive, cool blockbuster I’ll let you decide if that’s a compliment or a criticism. I enjoyed Solo: A Star Wars Story more than I expected to, but it’s also the first live-action theatrical Star Wars film that doesn’t feel like an event. "Solo" is a straightforward piece of pulpy entertainment with some very agreeable performances from Ehrenreich and Glover, who seems to be having the most fun of all the actors in playing up Lando's suave demeanor, and fun classic Western flourishes, despite the excessively big action sequences. While a solid effort, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ doesn’t do much of great interest when it’s not dramatizing everything we’ve previously heard about Han. ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ is a long, boring space slog After a Bumpy Ride, Troubled Star Wars Spin-off Mostly Sticks the Landing Alden Ehrenreich makes for a roguish Han Solo in the second ‘Star Wars’ spin-off Alden Ehrenreich is enduringly watchable in “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Variety - Andrew Barker spoiler ^^warning Ron Howard’s Energetic Prequel Will Get You Excited For a Brand-New Series. So-So Prequel Says Nothing New About Beloved Characters It’s just too bad its script never fully committed to seeing through Han’s arc - and those characters who are supposed to have shaped him into being the iconic version we all know and love - to its preordained end. Solo: A Star Wars Story commits to being a charming and fun exercise in repackaging nostalgia and pre-owned protagonists. Despite the strong performance from Ehrenreich and the hint of future adventures to come, I can only hope that this young Solo gets better stories and better direction that play into the character’s personality. And sadly, Solo: A Star Wars Story is just another Star Wars movie. Solo: A Star Wars Story is classic Star Wars, and if it ends up being the last time Lawrence Kasdan writes a movie in this universe, it’s one incredibly entertaining, instructive swan song. Alden Ehrenreich engagingly conveys young Harrison Ford in this throwback origins story directed by Ron Howard. The Hollywood Reporter - Michael Rechtshaffen Rotten Tomatoes' Consensus: "A flawed yet fun and fast-paced space adventure, Solo: A Star Wars Story should satisfy newcomers to the saga as well as longtime fans who check their expectations at the theater door." Rotten Tomatoes: 72% - 6.4 Average Rating Looks like nobody really hates it, but nobody really loves it either.

[lily-thesuriel]

THE HISTORY AND PREHISTORY OF PRYTHIAN

NO HOFAS SPOILERS

Or where I think the main plot of ACOTAR5 and ACOTAR6 is headed. This post was made before HOSAB came out, and there are some dates given by sarah in ACOWAR that do not match what was said in HOSAB AND ACOSF, I understand that what is valid is what HOSAB said and that what was said in ACOWAR is an error (or that we lack information) the edited from the HOSAB info will be in yellow HOFAS INFO: OK, certain timelines don't add up (Amrem's story basically, which I will develop later, when a couple of weeks have passed since HOFAS, so right now NO SPOILERS FROM HOFAS ) but I am quite proud with this analysis, considering that I did it after ACOSF.

Why am I making this post?

Because I really like to go crazy with theories.

because I find the world that Sarah is creating very impressive.

So join me to see what Sarah has hidden in plain sight.

This post was going to be about the reasons why, even though I love it, the dusk court theory is unfeasible (or at least it is impossible for the Dusk Court to be set on the prison island) but in the end it has become a necessary post about the history of Prythian because there is much, much plot to get out of here, and Sarah if she wanted(hopefully) could perfectly create more sagas explaining the history of ACOTAR's world.

I hope I don't make this theory too long, but this post is going to be long, so grab the popcorn, keep an open mind and read on.

First things first, here are the most important pages of ACOSF, at least the pages that hold the most clues for future books and the main plot ( or maybe I'm crazy, which is an option ). This are the pages of chapter 55 of ACOSF.

“The Fae were not the first masters of this world. According to our oldest legends, most now forgotten, we were created by beings who were near-gods—and monsters. The Daglan. They ruled “for millennia, and enslaved us and the humans. They were petty and cruel and drank the magic of the land like wine.”.... “Some strains of the mythology claim that one of the Fae heroes who rose up to overthrow them was Fionn, who was given the great sword Gwydion by the High Priestess Oleanna, who had dipped it into the Cauldron itself. Fionn and Gwydion overthrew the Daglan. A millennium of peace followed, and the lands were divided into rough territories that were the precursors to the courts—but at the end of those thousand years, they were at each other’s throats, on the brink of war.” ... “Fionn unified them and set himself above them as High King. The first and only High King this land has ever had.” ... “Fionn was betrayed by his queen, who had been leader of her own territory, and by his dearest friend, who was his general. They killed him, taking some of his bloodline’s most powerful and precious weapons, and then out of the chaos that followed, the seven High Lords rose, and the courts have been in place ever since.” A Court of Silver Flames, chapter 55Sarah J. Maas

It is curious how here Rhys when is telling this story, does not refer at any time to the land as Prythian but refers to it as world or land, but not as Prythian.which, as we will see below, means that this is a period that could be called the prehistory of Prythian.

What do these pages explain? 

 That the Daglan ruled for millennia. That they were almost gods and monsters and that they created the Fae? Curious because in ACOTAR (chapter 13) Feyre tells us the story of the Cauldron and the Mother and how they created Prythia and the world (she does not say that the created the Fae) and how on that same map were the beings that had once ruled over humans. Could those beings be the Daglan? Probably.

 “The story of … of Prythian.It began with a cauldron.A mighty black cauldron held by glowing, slender female hands in a starry, endless night. Those hands tipped it over, golden sparkling liquid pouring out over the lip. No—not sparkling, but … effervescent with small symbols, perhaps of some ancient faerie language. Whatever was written there, whatever it was, the contents of the cauldron were dumped into the void below, pooling on the earth to form our world …”  “Each territory was marked and colored, some with intricate, ornate depictions of the beings who had once ruled over lands that now belonged to humans.”Acotar chapter 13

It tells the story of Fionn, one of the heroes who overthrew the Daglan with his Gwyndon Sword, created by a Priestess directly from the Cauldron.

After defeating the Daglan, they had 1000 years of peace and the precursors of the Courts were formed.

Peace ended, war ensued and Fionn proclaimed himself High King, the first and only High King there ever was.

Fionn was betrayed by his queen (who ruled before one of the territories precursors of the courts) and his best friend and General .(Theia and Pelias?? or Enalius??)

After Fionn's death the seven High Lords rose up and the courts have been established from there.

Then they ask about Amren, our little minion who, let's remember, is 15000 years old (ACOWAR chapter 14).

⚠️Edited : this publication is from before HOSAB, in HOSAB it is said that Amren has not heard the ancient language of the FAE in 15000 years, in ACOSF Rhys says the same , therefore, the high king Fionn was betrayed 15000 years ago and Amren had to arrive before (if or if ) to Prythian, therefore the age of Amren that Sarah gives us in ACOWAR , IS WRONG 🙃😒( unless you count the age of Amrem since she leaves prison ) .⚠️

“From what I’ve gleaned, she arrived during those years before Fionn and Gwydion rose, and went into the Prison during the Age of Legends—the “time when this land was full of heroic figures who were keen to hunt down the last members of their former masters’ race. They feared Amren, believing her one of their enemies, and threw her into the Prison. When she emerged again, she’d missed Fionn’s fall and the loss of Gwydion, and found the High Lords ruling.”ACOSF chapter 55.

Amren arrived in this world "shortly before" Fionn rebelled against the Daglan, so she arrived in what we could call, the Daglan period.

And she was locked up in The Prison during the Age of Legends, which is the Age of legends? Rhysand says when she came out of prison she had missed the fall of Fionn and that the High Lords already ruled the land. Conclusion Amren was locked up before the formation of Prythian. So let's say that the Age of Legends is the time period that encompasses, the 1000 years of peace and Fionn's reign (which we don't know how many years it lasted).

Throughout the saga reference is made to the creation of Prythian. And to the history before Prythian. Which we can understand as the creation of Prythian as a "country". When can we say that the year 0 of our history is found? Prythian arises with the death of Fionn and the uprising of the High Lords.

“Those are legends that predate our courts,” Eris said” ACOSF capítulo 7

“This place,” he said, “was made before High Lords existed. Before Prythian was Prythian ” . ACOMAF chapter 17

“All before Prythian, before the land was carved up and any High Lord was crowned.” ACOWAR chapter 23.

The next question that could be asked is how long ago was Prythian created?we know that Amrem is 15000 and that he arrived before Prythian was created, so Prythian has to be less than 15000 years old. But in ACOWAR when Feyre goes to the relic chamber of the night court he makes the following mention.

“Ten thousand years’ worth of treasure.”ACOWAR chp 41.

10.000 years of treasures, 10.000 years that the High Lords of the Night Court have been accumulating relics, 10.000 years since the rise of the High Lord of the Night Court, 10.000 years since the death of Fionn and the birth of Prythian.

⚠️It doesn't match what we learn in HOSAB, Queen Theia and General Pelias go to Midgard 15,000 years before CC's story, the timeline of Cc and ACOTAR is the same (I doubt Sarah has also introduced time travel) therefore Queen Theia betrayed Fionn 15,000 years ago, and 15,000 years ago Prythian was formed.⚠️

If Amrem is 15.000 years old and Prythian was created 10.000 years ago, that means that in the first 5.000 years that Amrem spent in this world, the end of the Daglan Reign and the Age of Legends took place.

So to summarize so far, we can highlight the following epochs in this world.

Reign of the Daglan.

Age of Legends (+ Fionn's reign) duration between 1.000-5.000 years

Prythian and High Lords. Duration 10.000. Here would be included the history of Prythian from the original triology as follows AFTER HOSAB this was 15000 years ago

1 war against Hybern + treaty + wall (500 years before ACOWAR)

Reign of Amarantha (50 years pre-ACOTAR -ACOTAR)

2 War against Hybern + new treaty (ACOWAR)

Which in turn we can synthesize between

Before Prythian (BP) reign of the Daglan+ Age of Legends

After Prythian (AP).  or just Prythian.

Do you understand anything? I hope so, does any of this make sense? I hope so.

Well, let's move on because we have to talk about the prison and Koschei and the Bone Craver.

What do we know about the prison? (And why do I think it's impossible for the Dusk Court to be there?)

“This place,” he said, “was made before High Lords existed. Before Prythian was Prythian ” . ACOMAF chapter 17

The prison was made before Prythian was Prythian and as I mentioned above, that means that the prison was built before the High Lords ruled Prythian. Which if you have paid attention to the analysis we already knew because Amrem was imprisoned during the Age of Legends. Another detail that is emphasized is that the prison was made. The fact that the prison, the sacred mountain, was created is a fact, which is emphasized again in Acosf.

Let's remember that the pegasus come from that island, not from the mountain itself, but from the island.

“According to legend, the pegasuses had come from the island the Prison sat upon—had once fed in fair meadows that had long given way to moss and mist. Perhaps that was part of the decline: their homeland had vanished,” ACOSF chapter 41

And let's also remember Nesta's vision.

“Fae screamed, pounding on stone that hadn’t been there a moment before, pleading for their children’s sakes, begging to be let out let out let out” ACOSF ch53

(In another post I will talk about what it means that one of the sacred mountains of Prythian has been created, and who I think are the people who were trapped inside it, because as I mentioned in this one I can continue writing to infinity).

Now when was the prison created? 

option 1: during the reign of the Daglan.

option 2: right at the beginning of the Age of Legends, right at the beginning of the 1.000 years of peace that followed the fall of the Daglan .Remember that Amren (and the bone craver) were locked in the prison during the Age of Legends, so it should already exist by then.

after HOSAB I think it may have formed when Theia's second daughter (Rhys's ancestor) fled Midgard with the harp and closed the rifts between worlds, (or when Theia,her two daughters, Pelias and the rest of the Fae fleed to Midgard) doesn't quite add up, but maybe the story Rhys and the others know not be true.

My theory, ⚠️and this is theory that is not supported by any part of the book⚠️ is that the prison was created right before the defeat of the Daglan. But this is not the important thing, the important thing is that the prison had to exist at the beginning of the Age of Legends, so Dusk Court could not exist as a court as such because courts are created with the rise of the High Lords. Ah, you might think, but during the Age of Legends, during those 1.000 years of peace that exist before Fionn is crowned as High King, the precursors of the courts arise, then the Dusk Court despite not having been an "official court" could have been a "precursor court". Yes and No. Yes, the Dusk Court could have been a precursor court. But No, the Dusk Court could not have been located on the prison island, because the prison at the latest was created at the beginning of the Age of Legends.

(As I said above in another post I will develop my thoughts about the Prison and the other two sacred mountains in another post). (Spoiler i think that the dusk court was the Middle )

And now, finally let's talk about the other creatures we know that are older than Amren, our 3 brothers, Gods of Death💀, The Bone Craver, Stryga and Koschei.

All 3 brothers are ancient, very ancient,

“For if he’d been here before even Amren had arrived … Tens of thousands of years—longer, perhaps. I shoved against the sinking sensation in my gut.” ACOWAR chapter 23

“But Koschei is as old as the sea—older.”ACOSF chapter 7

Tens of thousands of years before Amren, meaning they came to this world during the Daglan Reign.

The ancient Fae claimed them as Gods of Death. Who are the ancient Fae? Can the Daglan be considered as Fae? Or by ancient Fae can we understand the Fae who were slaves of the Daglan? I dont know, I know nothing, I need answers Sarah.

“I might have bided my time—waited for their power to fade, for that long-ago Fae warrior to trick Stryga into diminishing her power and becoming confined to the Middle. Koschei, too—confined and bound by his little lake on the continent. All before Prythian, before the land was carved up and any High Lord was crowned.”“Clever, that Fae warrior. Her bloodline is long gone now—though a trace still runs through some human line.” ACOWAR chapter 23

Koschei, Stryga and the Bone Craver were confined by a FAE warrior before the Prythian High Lords existed, i.e. during the Age of legends (just like Amren).

“Age of Legends- the “time when this land was full of heroic figures who were keen to hunt down the last members of their former masters’ race. They feared Amren, believing her one of their enemies, and threw her into the Prison. When she emerged again, she’d missed Fionn’s fall and the loss of Gwydion, and found the High Lords ruling.” ACOSF chp 55

Koschei was confined in the lake by a Fae, a Fae warrior whose lineage only survives in human lines.which human characters do we know? 

Jurian

Grayson 

the 6 human queens (now only 3 are left and Vassa) 

and the Archeron.

Of these people most of you will think that the ones descended from this lineage are either Vassa or the Archeron.and...my bet⚠️is that the Archeron are descended from this lineage.⚠️

Now what does Koschei want?💀

“Koschei is no mere sorcerer. He’s confined to the lake only due to an ancient spell. Because he was outsmarted once. Everything he does is to free himself.”.... “I fear what may happen if he ever gets free of the lake. If he sees this world on the cusp of disaster and knows he could strike, and strike hard, and make himself its master. As he once tried to do, long ago.” ACOSF chapter 7

“And all Koschei wants is to be free from his lake?” Rhys asked Azriel.But Amren answered. “No one really knows the full scope of the Trove’s powers. Beyond freeing him from his lake, Koschei may very well know something about the Trove that we don’t—some greater power that manifests when all three are united” ACOSF Chapter 20

So Koschei wants to free himself from the lake and use the 4 Troves (remember that Nesta saw a fourth Trove) for an unknown purpose, which is probably to control the world as the Daglan did.

And what relation do Koschei's goals have with the Prythian story? That Koschei was confined in the lake before the creation of Prythian in the BP era, and that just as the original triology explored AP history (High Lords, the first war against Hybern, The Treaty, second war against Hybern) this new Triology (ACOSF  , ACOTAR5 and ACOTAR 6) will explore the BP history, the history of the legendary swords, the history of how they defeated the Daglan, the history of the Daglan and The Wild Hunt and the history of Fionn, the first and only High King of Prythian and his queen and the general who betrayed him.

Sarah is doing a great job expanding the world of ACOTAR and independent of Shipwar I think the next stories promise a lot.

This is it, thank you very much for reading all of this, all of this may mean something or it may mean nothing, if you have any doubts or any pointers to this one leave them to me in the comments. If you think I'm crazy and that it doesn't make any sense you can also leave it to me in the comments.

But please comment with respect.

As always, sorry for the grammar, this was qwritten by the translator because my English is not good enough. <33

[kinogane]

Essence of Yakuza Combat, Part 1: Counter

(incidental Yakuza spoilers below)

A lot has been said about the core of what brings people to the Yakuza games and plays a role in keeping them interested, which is the way the series juggles its earnest, straight-faced drama with its, let’s say,

eccentricities.

(I don’t bring these up casually, by the way. It would be almost certainly correct to attribute at least part of Yakuza’s growth outside of Japan to the karaoke minigame and someone at RGG Studio thinking that putting a chicken in charge of real estate would be very funny.)

I wrote a bit about that through one specific example here, and while that is core to the series’ identity, it’s just one aspect of the many, many hours you spend playing a Yakuza game. User aggregated times on HowLongToBeat peg the average length of a Yakuza playthrough somewhere in the area of 15 to 40 hours, and even if you’re not on the completionist beat and ballooning your hour count by spending a lot of time playing mahjong and other minigames, you’re going to spend a lot of time with the minute-to-minute gameplay of Yakuza, which is, by and large, getting into fights with chumps and smashing their heads into various surfaces.

Combat in Yakuza games isn’t exactly known for its mechanical depth. Certainly, if you’re willing to poke at its systems you can achieve mastery and do some wild stuff, but I’d wager most players aren’t particularly interested in getting better at the combat. More than likely, they’re content with getting just skilled and/or strong to get past major boss fights (which are genuine highlights of Yakuza combat) with possibly some help in healing and weapons. Yakuza 0 probably exemplifies this most, as the game gives you the option to upgrade both characters’ Legend styles into utter nonsense.

So in some ways, it’s not all that surprising that RGG Studio would make the most of an opportunity to switch combat systems with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. According to series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, after they floated the idea of a turn-based RPG in a 2019 April Fools’ video, the positive public reception convinced them that changing mechanics could actually work. Which at the time was, and moreso in hindsight is, kinda obvious. Their action combat wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, especially with the recent switch to the much more slippery and less weighty Dragon Engine combat in 6 and Kiwami 2, and series staples like random encounters and equippable gear are already part and parcel with more traditional JRPGs like Dragon Quest. Hell, the near universal Yakuza experience of pausing to call a time out and chug Staminans because you’re getting your ass handed to you is more reminiscent of modern Fallout titles (which have turn-based roots) than it is of character action games like Devil May Cry. And to reiterate, it is literally possible to overlevel yourself in Yakuza 0.

There were skeptics, of course. For how relatively unremarkable the combat system is, there were (and still are) players who quite liked the action combat of Kiryu Saga Yakuza games and were a bit sad at the idea of seeing the system go, including myself. Perhaps part of it was just getting used to and developing an appreciation for a system that didn’t wholly merit it. (Though I still maintain that the multiple styles in 0 and Kiwami absolutely rule and also Finishing Hold/Bounding Throw is rad as hell.) But there are two aspects of the action combat in specific that are rather obviously head and shoulders above the rest.

One is the Tiger Drop.

Especially if your first exposure to the Tiger Drop was Kiwami, where it was overtuned as hell, the satisfaction of landing a Tiger Drop, completely stuffing an enemy’s attack, and taking out a decent chunk of their health bar has few equals in most Yakuza games. It’s such a tremendous reward for having quick reactions and mastering knowledge of enemy movesets that it’s warped how I approach combat with characters who don’t have access to the Tiger Drop itself. I absolutely beelined to get Akiyama’s kick counter in 4 and 5 and used it extensively in both, when it probably isn’t even close to being optimal, and when I learned/remembered that Kiryu has access to similar Heavy Attack counters through his Brawler and Legend styles in 0, I absolutely took them for a whirl right away.

The Brawler counter, as it turns out, works well against Sera.

(I probably would have felt similarly about Majima’s Legend style Demonfire counter in 0, for the record, and I did get a lot out of it, but that preceded my first Tiger Drop. So the timeline doesn’t quite fit.)

I did not expect the Tiger Drop, or counters in general, to make the full transition into the new Yakuza combat. While they’re not mechanically impossible, thanks to the Mario RPG-esque Action Commands, Like a Dragon instead opts to reward players for good timing with Perfect Guards that take less damage and don’t knock the character down, which I would argue is for the better.

It’s not difficult to imagine implementing a counter to supplement Perfect Guards as a defensive option, but doing so would fundamentally change the (counterintuitively?) offensive role counters play in Yakuza combat. Additionally, part of the difficulty of landing Tiger Drops comes from not knowing for sure what attack an enemy’s going to throw your way and having to react or make a good prediction. Most turn-based RPGs, including Like a Dragon, let you know a fair bit before an enemy attack properly starts what’s coming your way. Like a Dragon even gives you a bit of extra time, since the Dragon Engine implementation often requires enemies to hobble over to their target before they take a swing. There are plenty of well-telegraphed attacks in Yakuza games of the past, of course, but they’re the exception rather than the rule.

Put another way, it’s not reasonable to expect a player to Tiger Drop every single attack a boss throws at them in Kiryu Saga games. It’s far more reasonable (and for the entirety of the True Final Millennium Tower, basically expected) for the player to Perfect Guard (and hypothetically, counter) every single attack in Like a Dragon. This isn’t a mismatch so fundamental that it can’t be implemented in future games, but at the very least, its absence is unsurprising and not strongly felt.

Furthermore, counters thematically make more sense for Kiryu Saga protagonists than Ichiban. Superficially, counters don’t exactly vibe with Ichiban’s turn-based sense of fair fighting. Not much point in giving someone a chance to take a shot at you if you just punch them out of their turn. (And funnily enough, while my Dragon Quest knowledge is just about nonexistent, the small bit of research I’ve done indicates that counter skills weren’t accessible to Dragon Quest heroes until about 2006, a few years after Ichiban goes to jail.)

On a deeper level, though, counters are inherently more reactive than they are active. Even if you make a prediction that an enemy will attack a certain way, counters don’t work unless they actually do take that action of attacking. Prepping a Tiger Drop means not doing much else but taking up a fighting stance and waiting in bated breath until someone else does something first. This patience intrinsic to counters is temperamentally more suited for the calmer, more stoic Kiryu Saga protagonists (I recognize I’m talking in very broad strokes) than they are for the more hot-blooded, openly emotional Ichiban. Hell, if you really wanna stretch this idea, it’s worth noting that the younger, more impulsive Kiryu doesn’t have access to a powerful counter in 0 while the younger, more restrained Majima does (see the Demonfire counter mentioned above); contrast their playable appearances in Kiwami 2, where the older, more measured Kiryu can relearn his trusty Tiger Drop while the older, openly wilder Majima has no comparable counter.

So the Yakuza combat staple of Tiger Drop and counters didn’t make the transition into Like a Dragon. I don’t think anyone expected them to, and they certainly didn’t need to. All in all, not a big deal.

What about Heat Actions?

(continued)

[mrjoelgarcia9]

Let’s Talk #StarWars: The Sequel Trilogy

The Sequel Trilogy is not as good as the Original Trilogy.

However, it is still far superior to the Prequel Trilogy.

For my overall thoughts on The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.

During the decade after Revenge of the Sith wrapped up the Prequel Trilogy, rumors swirled online over the possibility of additional films. Disney’s acquisition of the franchise was a surprise to fans, but it opened the possibility for new stories to be told with additional films and spinoffs.

The Sequel Trilogy, the final part of the Skywalker Saga, takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi. The galaxy is caught up in yet another war. The remnants of the Empire have become The First Order, while the Rebels are now the New Republic. The mysterious Kylo Ren is looking for the Jedi Luke Skywalker.

As this occurs, a stormtrooper (Finn) defects and winds up running into Rey, a woman who has lived most of her life on Jakku. They wind up joining The Resistance, led by Leia of the former Rebels. Through three films, and several twists and turns, they take on yet another major galactic threat.

Disney’s ownership of the franchise has become a very toxic topic for fans to deal with, such as when Lucasfilm declared the Expanded Universe of books, comics, and most of the TV series to be non-canon. It was primarily done to condense the continuity into just the films, The Clone Wars, and subsequent TV series like Disney+’s The Mandalorian. 

Frankly, a casual fan who only sees the films (and maybe the TV shows) would probably not care enough to look up obscure characters such as Mara Skywalker or Prince Xizor.

As someone who only sees the films, and mostly ignores everything else, the Sequel Trilogy is a mixed bag. It is not the worst film trilogy ever made, being far more enjoyable and less annoying than the Prequels. However, it is also not as good as the Original Trilogy.

The Force Awakens does a good job reestablishing the franchise for both newcomers and long-time fans. It quickly introduces the new characters and uses the Millennium Falcon to then reintroduce the original characters. The action pieces were visually amazing, it had a lot of memorable lines, and ended on the right note. The only problem was the plot being eerily reminiscent of A New Hope to an extent (more on that later).

The Last Jedi was really good. It is the darkest film in the franchise, having all of the characters at their lowest possible points. There were a lot of great moments, especially with the slow confrontation between the ships and Rey and Kylo’s force meetings. It also had a few problems, such as the elongated casino planet sequences, the previously unmentioned sacred Jedi texts, and the film refusing to end. 

It should have ended after Kylo took control of the First Order but then drags itself out with another climax in order to have him fight Luke. This sequence would have probably worked better if it were part of the next film.

The Rise of Skywalker was a decent conclusion. Like any third part of a trilogy, it struggled to wrap up the story. In this case, both for this trilogy and the entire saga while also leaving the door open for future adventures. It also had a lot of backtracking, with characters introduced in The Last Jedi reduced to supporting roles, Finn becoming a glorified shouter, and the sudden return of Palpatine. 

It streamlined the plot to focus only on Kylo, Rey, and surviving original characters. The film sadly reeks of desperation by the filmmakers in an attempt to appease everyone after the previous film’s divisive response. The end result leaves longtime fans extremely bitter, casual fans lost and confused, and everyone else wondering who were the Knights of Ren.

All three films have two things in common: They were too long, like any Star Wars film, and badly recycled plot beats from the Original Trilogy. Here are three of the more obvious ones.

Death by Lightsaber: Obi-Wan in A New Hope; Han in The Force Awakens 

A Reluctant Mentor: Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back; Luke in The Last Jedi

Palpatine Dies: Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker 

It is understandable why most fans are bothered with the Sequels reusing the exact same beats, making them look like faux remakes. The Force Awakens is far more obvious, with only a handful of deviations making it clear it is not a full-blown repetition. 

The Last Jedi tried to be different; Empire Strikes Back ended with the Empire basically winning, whereas Last Jedi ended with both sides at a stalemate. The Rise of Skywalker is mostly its own film, with the only major elements it recycles from Return of the Jedi being that of a character related to the villain and aforementioned death.

Despite those problems, what makes these films better than the prequels is everything else. Jar Jar was nowhere to be seen (and presumably dead).

When it comes to special effects, the films prioritized animatronics and puppetry over CG, the latter of which have badly aged the prequels. CG is used but only when necessary.

The lightsaber fights are a good compromise between those seen in the Prequel and Original trilogies. The former were hyperactive, goofy, and acrobatic, while the latter were slow-motion fencing matches. In these films, they have the right amount of gravitas, knowing not to get excessively insane. The closest they ever got to over the top was the fight at the Death Star remnants.

The acting felt far more natural and not as wooden as in the prequels. The performances actually had emotion and at no point sounded forced or angsty. It was great seeing Harrison Ford, the late Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, among many others, return for the trilogy. At no point do they upstage the new actors, such as John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, and Adam Driver, allowing everyone to have their own shining moment. 

The Sequel Trilogy has several flaws, from the repetition of certain plot beats to certain characters being wasted. When put alongside the Prequels, they are still the better films due to the acting and special effects. It may not be as good as the originals, but they are masterpieces compared to The Phantom Menace.

Regardless of how you watch the Star Wars films, it would be best to watch these films last, as they reference most of the saga’s first six films. Alternatively, just watch Revenge of the Sith and then the other six films.

The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker are available to own on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital. All three films, as well as the entire Skywalker Saga, can be streamed exclusively on Disney+.

Until next time, thank you for reading!

[aion-rsa]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 6 Easter Eggs Explained

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This STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH article contains spoilers.

In “Decommissioned,” the Bad Batch continue performing odd jobs for Cid. This time, they have to travel one of our Star Wars‘ most famous planets to retrieve a tactical droid’s data-filled brain. Along the way, they’re joined by two unexpected rivals, who want the information inside the tactical droid for their own fight against the Empire.

The Bad Batch fight their way through the police droids guarding the facility, passing some Star Wars canon connections along the way. Take a look at all the Star Wars easter eggs and references we found this week:

Rafa and Trace Martez

The Martez sisters first appeared in the season seven episode of The Clone Wars titled “Gone With a Trace.” At the start of the arc called “Ahsoka’s Journey,” Rafa and Trace take Ahsoka in after she leaves the Jedi Order and finds herself in the lower depths of Coruscant. It’s an unlikely alliance considering the sisters’ feelings towards the Jedi.

They dislike and have little trust for the Order after their parents were killed during a Jedi mission that also destroyed their home. Bounty hunter Cad Bane had been fleeing from the Jedi when he shot a transport ship, knocking it off its flight path. A Jedi, possibly Luminara Unduli, was in pursuit. She steered the transport ship away from a heavily populated landing platform, but didn’t seem to realize or care that people also lived in the lower-level apartment block where it ultimately crashed.

The orphaned Martez sisters found no solace in the Jedi after the accident, thought. She simply left them with an assurance that the Force was with them. After that, Rafa and Trace were forced to fend for themselves in Coruscant’s dangerous Level 1313. It’s understandable, then, why the sisters resent the Jedi.

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

But in the course of their adventures with Ahsoka, Trace and Rafa befriend her despite her past. She hides her identities from them at first, but by the end, they’re loyal to her despite where she came from, and know she left the Order. The trio eventually part ways after a run-in with the Pyke Syndicate and the Mandalorians, with Ahsoka going off to help free Mandalore from Maul.

Trace and Rafa have clearly joined the fight against the newly founded Empire since then, but who are they working for now? Their mysterious employer allegedly wants to use the tactical droid’s data for the greater good, but an ominous ending throws doubt on what the ultimate goal is. More on that below…

R7 Droid

The droid traveling with the Martez sisters looks a lot like R7-A7, Ahsoka’s Tano’s navigation droid. You can even see he has the same green dome and purple-red body in “Decommissioned.” So, is this really Ahsoka’s droid? It’s hard to tell.

Afrer all, R7 was destroyed after Ahsoka and Captain Rex crash-landed a battleship in The Clone Wars series finale, but it’s possible Ahsoka rebuilt the droid and gave him into the Martez’s care at some point. As of now, it’s it could be the same droid but it’s not been confirmed.

Bail Organa? Maul?

– The Martez sisters call a mysterious figure at the end of the episode, saying they’ve acquired the tactical droid data. Rafa also considers the existence of a rogue group of clones interesting enough to tell her employer. The music in this scene is ominous, slightly reminiscent of the music from when Maul was captured during the Siege of Mandalore. And Rafa’s tone and expression are ambiguous, too: is she afraid of this person? She certainly doesn’t seem relieved to see them.

So could this really be Maul, former Sith Lord turned gang organizer, who is now disguised as a “rebel? The Bad Batch takes place only mere days and weeks after Maul was caught up in the crumbling of the Republic. Despite being capture by Ahsoka and the clones, he managed to escape in The Clone Wars finale. Thanks to Solo: A Star Wars Story, we know Maul went on to rebuild his criminal organization once again, this time as the shadowy leader of Crimson Dawn. Could the Martez sisters be unknowingly working for the criminal group?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

– Another possibility is Bail Organa, rebel senator and Princess Leia’s adopted father. He’s likely already working on the underpinnings of the revolution against the Empire, since he opposed Palpatine politically even before the Sith Lord declared himself Emperor of the galaxy.

It wouldn’t be out of character for Organa to be working as a secret contact for spies trying to gain intelligence on the Empire. After all, he was one of the key sources of information for the crew of freedom fighters on the Rebels animated series, a role he continued to play in Rogue One.

– Or could it be Cassian Andor, a Separatist on his way to becoming a Rebel spy? Or Sabé, one of Padmé’s Handmaidens, who hid some of the senator’s incriminating recordings after the events of Revenge of the Sith and recently reappeared in the 2020 Darth Vader comic series?

Corellia

– Han Solo’s home planet has long been a staple of the saga. Solo: A Star Wars Story detailed its dirty cities and underworld gangs, although the planet has appeared countless times before in the books, comics, and video games over the decades.

– The most famous Corellians of all, Han Solo and his partner Qi’ra, are children at this point in the timeline, but we know they’re already embroiled in the White Worms gang. They don’t make a cameo here, which is surprising, since Star Wars rarely avoids opportunities to bring in classic characters to new properties.

– We’ve seen the reverse of this droid decommissioning facility before, when Anakin and Padmé got caught up in the factory where battle droids were being built in Attack of the Clones. Scenes on the conveyor belts full of droid parts really evoke similar action scenes on Geonosis.

– In order to get into Corellian airspace, the Bad Batch use a classic Original Trilogy trick, attaching their ship to the side of a cargo hauler to hide their position — the same way Han clamped the Millennium Falcon onto a Star Destroyer in The Empire Strikes Back.

The post Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 6 Easter Eggs Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[magic-is-something-we-create]

Last Line Tag XLVIII / Heads Up 7 Up XXVII / Six Sentence Sunday Tag!

i am. so far behind on tags. these came from @dragon-swords-prophecies, @mk-writes-stuff, @indecentpause, @oh-no-another-idea, @writingrosesonneptune, and @blind-the-winds!! often multiple times, which i appreciate!!! <3<3<3

Here's the last handful of lines I've written for Goddess-Touched! We're in Isa's POV, reuniting with Lakia after The Everything at the start of the book, and this deserves some content warnings: medical discussion of injury, and kinda-sorta-cannibalism? not really but it's borderline

The moment I realize it’s [Lakia], though, I return [the hug] with just as much vigor. It’s a long breath of just holding each other, her fingers digging into my shoulder blades almost as sharply as her swords, and mine brushing at her braid, half-searching for a bloody omen, half just seeking the comfort of motion. And then she pushes away, and I grab her forearms, not needing to say anything for her to understand the worry shaking through me. My palm catches skin, and as I sign, “What happened? Are you okay? Where’s dad?”, my sense of the Flesh delves into her for a quick assessment. Missing two molars. Hairline fractures in fourth and fifth ribs on her right side; bone bruising on the third and sixth rib, right ulna. Deep bruising on right side of body. Rope burn and welts running perpendicular to her forearms and shins. Something clotting in lungs like dust or smoke, but-- Cremated remains. There are cremated remains in her lungs.

“Shit’s fucked,” she grunts, shrugging away from my touch. “But I’m alright. Dad’s...” She sighs. My heart skips a beat. “Alive?” I sign. “Yeah.” She grits her teeth, chews her words. “Not sure he wants to be.”

I'm throwing this tag right back at everyone who tagged me!! And also @vacantgodling because it's been forever since I sent you an excerpt game and I'm kinda feeling tennis if you're up for it today!!

This also doubles as an open tag if anyone wants to play! And as always, absolutely 0 pressure if I tagged you <3

[buddiebeginz]

My THOUGHTS on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker SPOILER REVIEW Tessa Netting

I agreed with so much in this video I needed to put down some quotes:

Adam Driver is perfection. The way he acted differently and made us understand and love Ben Solo without saying a single word is incredible. I love that all it took was for Ben Solo to hear that he was loved. Leia calling out to him. Rey telling him that she wanted to take his hand, Ben’s hand. And Han forgiving him and telling him to come back home. Ben Solo running into battle in order to save the woman he loves in his good boy sweater with just a blaster is the most Han Solo shit. 

I love that Reylo is canon. I can’t believe that my crack ship from Force Awakens is canon. What universe is this? God bless.

I love their kiss. I love Ben’s little smile after the kiss.

The lightsaber battles in the sequel trilogy are so much better than any other lightsaber battle.

----

Rey being a Palpatine makes it feel like according to Star Wars women can only be powerful if they’re related to a powerful man. Rey Nobody is a superior Rey. I hate that Luke and Leia knew that Rey was a Palpatine this whole time and were like fine with training her but then they gave up on Ben. You’re telling me that Luke and Leia had more faith in the granddaughter of Palpatine then their own son/nephew. I refuse to believe this. 

Rey should not in anyway feel grateful for being abandoned.

I hate that Kylo fixed his helmet. I couldn’t see Adam Driver’s face and I felt like it was a step backwards in Kylo and Rey’s relationship.

I hate that they didn’t show us the vision of Kylo and Dark Rey on the throne.

I hate that all the Jedi’s were calling out to Rey when Ben was just like in the pit. Like Anakin talk to your grandson.

I hate that Rey and Ben didn’t team up and kill Palpatine together. When they both lifted their blue lightsabers, I was like oh shit here it comes. And then nothing? They just got defeated immediately. And Ben just got thrown into a pit. Why didn’t Rey and Ben the literal “Last Skywalker” rise together. Rise Skywalker. And instead of Rey crossing both lightsabers Rey and Ben cross their lightsabers like they’ve been doing in every single promo image. You think that they’re against each other but them actually crossing their lightsabers in unity.

I hate that Ben didn’t get to say anything to Rey after he was redeemed. He literally had no lines after becoming Ben Solo. He could have at least said be with me when he was putting his life force into her.

I also hate that Rey had no reaction to Ben dying. No one honors him. No one remembers him. No one like even mentions that he died. There is no acknowledgment of his death. Darth Vader got a funeral Ben Solo gets nothing.

I hate that Ben didn’t kill his fellow students at Luke’s Jedi’ academy but you wouldn’t know that unless you read a comic book.

I hate that Rose was completely screwed over, ignored, and written out of this movie.

I hate that Finnpoe was not endgame. I hate that Finn just like screamed after Rey this whole movie. It’s like they erased his whole arc and personality. Finn Rey is busy go talk to your husband.

I hate that Rey’s hair was in buns again.

I hate that this movie felt like two movies crammed into one.

I hate the ending. Rey is not a Skywalker. Why does she say Rey Skywalker?  Why not anything else?  Why not Rey Solo? Han was like a father to her, Leia was her master, Ben was her soulmate. The whole Solo family meant so much to her, so much more than Luke. Or even better just answer Rey. Just Rey.

I hate that at the end of the Skywalker saga all the Skywalkers are dead. Where is the hope? Why am I so sad? I shouldn’t feel sad. This should be like a culmination, a conclusion. And I just hate that this is the last movie. The story doesn’t feel complete for some reason. This doesn’t feel like the end.

I wanted Ben to be redeemed earlier in the movie so that we could have more time with Ben Solo.

I wanted a Ben and Anakin moment.

I wanted Ben Solo to pilot the Millennium Falcon.

I wanted Rey and Ben to have a happy ending.

Ben Solo was named after Leia’s only hope. In TLJ Rey said that Ben Solo was their only hope. Ben Solo is hope. Without that hope like what was the point? Also why does redemption have to equal death? I want to see forgiveness and atonement. Ben over coming his past and making up for it the rest of his life. Seeing him actively make the galaxy better. And love being strong enough save him.

There are so many people that relate to Ben’s story and if you’re feeling like really heartbroken about how he ended up I want you to know that you are worth loving and worth saving. 

[angelofdelphi]

Across the Stars and Behind the Score: A Reylo Story.

Okay, so, maybe one day I will be able to post this in video essay because it will make more sense with visuals and audio but I may have to wait until I can get my clips of TROS through “official” channels.  Until then, we will have to make this work.

There are very few elements of Star Wars that have managed to persist throughout the entirety of the Skywalker Saga.  However, perhaps one of the most consistent elements of Star Wars is this man:

John Williams has been the mastermind behind the soundtrack for all nine of the Saga films.  From the Imperial March, to the Duel of Fates, and Across the Stars, Williams’s arrangements are what breathe life into these films.

And, in today’s TED Talk, I will prove that the true ending of TROS rests in the themes of his music.

Beware of spoilers and get cosy.  This is a bit of a read.

Okay, let’s start with some of the basics.  Music tells stories -- just as visual art does.  Different instruments or cords can convey different meanings.  We humans also tend to gravitate towards certain musical tropes whether we realize it or not...

Check out Pop 101 by Marianas Trench for examples of how these themes appear in pop culture.

The musical themes of Star Wars are no exception.  

What song pops into your head when you see this guy?

You thought of this, right?  The iconic Imperial March.

What about the Millennium Falcon?

You probably heard this theme right?

Leia and Han have their own theme.  Anakin and Padme have theirs.  The Force has a theme.

Not only do each of the characters have a unique and compelling theme, Williams also uses these themes in similar ways.  For example:  Guess what theme plays in each of these scenes?

You instantly knew right?

Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what is strange about the use of John Williams’s music in TROS.

Movie soundtracks are quite interesting and can be powerful tools in enhancing an actor’s performance.  Musical cues can help an audience know how to respond to certain scenes.  This video gives a great rundown of the power of a well-done movie soundtrack. 

So let’s look at the end of TROS shall we?  I believe that the secret to the true ending of the film, which includes a happy ending for both Ben and Rey can be found in the last 3 tracks.  Here they are for reference:

Farewell which plays underneath the following scenes in TROS: Rey’s Death, Ben Return, Ben’s Sacrifice, the BIG KISS, Ben’s Death, the Destruction of the Star Destroyers, Rey Emerges Victorious, and the Fleet Returns Home.

Reunion which is the track that plays underneath the following scenes: The Heroes Return to Base, Chewie Gets his Metal, the Trio Reunites, Lando and Jannah have a Moment, and Everyone Celebrates.  Note, this track was not used in its entirety during the movie.

And finally, A New Home, which doesn’t start playing until Rey reaches the Uncle Owen’s moister farm on Tatooine.  

Even without seeing any visuals, these tracks convey a clear story.  Farewell starts with a melancholic variant of the force’s theme.  It moves through minor cords before sharply becoming dark and moves through mournful passages based on Kylo Ren’s theme.  There are several crescendos to tremolos on strings, which are used to build suspense.  In fact, many aspects of Farewell remind me of Adagio for Strings, which is arguably one of the saddest string pieces I’ve ever preformed.  The beginning of Farewell sounds like a death scene.  

But then, something happens... A mischievous variant of the Force’s Theme sneaks into the piece.

Now, this mischievous Force Theme originally plays under Ben’s Smile.

Which honestly seems like a strange place to put a mischievous variant of the force.  Especially since Farewell immediately shifts back to its melancolic theme again.  And even though Farewell continues to unfold as a mournful song, the visuals don’t seem to match.  Leia fades away, but Rey, the person who should be mourning, receives no screen time to do so, even though the music is setting the stage for such a scene.  

In fact, TROS visuals seems to want to showcase everything EXCEPT Rey’s mourning for Ben.

And here is the reason why:  Ben wasn’t supposed to die, which is why they have a lack of footage of Rey mourning.  

But the strange use of Farewell doesn’t stop there.  

Magical chimes which are usually used to indicate something magical or miraculous has happened, play underneath scenes of burning Star Destroyers -- an odd and kind of morbid juxtaposition.

Farewell eventually swells to a victorious fanfare and concludes in a major key.  This happens underneath Rey’s X-wing emerging from Exogol and the fleet returning home.  HOWEVER, Williams has already established what the Hero’s Victory should sound like.  Can you think of it?

During Reunion, the oddities are there yet less pronounced -- Leia’s theme plays under Lando instead of Maz, who plays Leia’s part in the throwback reenactment of the awards ceremony from Episode IV.  The Force theme plays even though there are no force users on screen (another Force Theme variety plays under Finn.  And while I know he is force-sensitive, he is not our main force user.  That is Rey.). The music cuts awkwardly during Poe and Zorii’s wordless exchange.  

There is no way that Williams’s didn’t plan for specific theme progressions during the “Heroes Return.”  It’s obvious during the track -- He had a specific progression of character appearances in mind when he composed “Reunion.” 

What is even more telling is if you simply replace “Reunion” at the start of collapse of the Star Destroyers, all of the musical themes hit exactly where they need to.  See what I mean here.

Finally, “A New Home,” paints a metamorphosis.  It takes a variety of Rey’s Theme and move through half-step cord progressions that are painted with rolling magical chimes that swell to a crescendo before fading to the iconic Force’s Theme that usually plays with the Binary Sunset.  A New Home is mainly uses to accent Anakin and Leia’s lightsaber’s descent into Tatooine’s sands.  It holds promises that something is different -- a revelation lurks around the corner.

The Finale’s Force theme plays over Rey as she has a strange conversation with a weird lady before proclaiming herself Rey Skywalker.

SO YOU’VE MADE IT THIS FAR.  I’M SURE YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT THIS MEANS FOR REYLO.

FIRST, it is important to remember that the soundtrack score is finalized long before the final cut of the film and is not really altered once the composer is finished writing and recording the music.  This means that if the music feels like it doesn’t match a scene, then the composer probably didn’t intend for the score to go there.

I think that this is painfully evident in the BIG KISS scene.  Why does Farewell, a  piece that begins dark and melancholic rise to conclude in a major key?  Because that scene was suppose to conclude with our heroes being elevated to a place of triumph.  Why is there a victorious fanfare?  Because that is how fairytale kisses work:

Beauty and the Beast

Aladdin

Princess and the Frog

Tangled

Cinderella

Padme and Anakin

Ben and Rey

You get the idea.

One thing remains clear -- Williams did not expect this movie to end in tragedy. Just listen to the difference between “Farewell,” which marks Ben’s death and Episode III’s “The Birth of the Twins & Padme’s Destiny”. There is no hopeful conclusion to Padme’s Destiny.  There isn’t a swell to a romantic heroic fanfare and major conclusion.  That soundtrack clearly conveys the darkness of Revenge of the Sith.

The other clear thing about John Williams’s score is that it highlights the deviations D/LF made between the cut of the film Williams’s saw vs the cut that was released in theaters.  There is no way that Williams would have PURPOSEFULLY not aligned his musical themes and elements with the wrong visuals from the movie.  That is just not the type of composer he is.  

And that, dear readers, is why the truth to the TROS ending lies in John William’s music.  

I’m Cat and this has been my TED Talk.

EDIT

Seriously.  Farewell is a BIG KISS song and Reylo follows Beauty and the Beast troupes.  FIGHT ME D/LF.  Ben Solo was meant to live!

[thecomicsnexus]

Echoes of the Past

WONDER WOMAN #12 JANUARY 1988 BY LEN WEIN, GEORGE PÉREZ, BRUCE D. PATTERSON AND CARL GAFFORD

Wonder Woman meets Diana, the woman her armor was created for and learns what her connection to Steve Trevor is. Hippolyte descend to help her, but Pan sends Wonder Woman back to Man’s world to join the MIllennium event, leaving her mother at the mercy of the harpies.

SCORE: 9

This would be a 10 if it wasn’t linked to Millennium. But have in mind... it’s an unofficial 10.

I love this kind of story (the kind that ends like this one), and i had the feeling it was going to have that ending halfway through it, which made it work even better.

I am still not sure what this means for Steve Trevor. Like, I see the link with Wonder Woman, but it is unclear at this point what is going to happen with his character. I assume we will know by the end of this saga.

The issue works more as a Millennium lead-in than a tie-in. As we do not see the final panels of Millennium #1 here (where Pan reveals to be a Manhunter). I am ok with it. It wouldn’t have worked, at the beautiful love story in this issue would have felt rushed for it.

Once again, Perez is doing miracles with the art. I have read many interpretations of this character before, but I feel like Perez really nailed this. Both in art and story.

Spoilers after the break...

“Bye-Bye, dear daughter”.

Are you implying that Wonder Woman and Steve are spiritual siblings?

I cannot wait to see where this goes...

[gffa]

I have only seen the SW movies, not seen the TV shows or read any supplemental materials. So I am wondering this: Is it ever explained how Maz has Luke’s old lightsaber? Or what happened to his green one?

 Nope, it’s never been explained in anything I’ve seen/heard of.  For me, I’ve assumed they were holding off on that explanation because most of the artists/authors had NO IDEA where The Rise of Skywalker was going to go, they don’t get spoilers in advance, so any story they would write would have to be written without knowing whether or not TLJ/TROS was going to cover that.Whether we’ll get something in the future or not, who knows.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if we start getting a lot more connective tissue supplementary material now that the Saga has been finished and authors can start plotting the stories they want to pitch to LF.  Though, most of those probably won’t be seen for about a year, it takes time to write/draw/create, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we get that story in the next couple of years!ETA:  From this post about the TROS Visual Dictionary (I haven’t gotten it yet), there’s a bit that says:"Originally Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, built at the onset of the Clone Wars, this weapon was long thought lost on Cloud City.  It was salvaged from the mining colony's industrial depths and eventually found its way into Maz Kanata's posession."Which doesn’t say much more than we already knew, that it has salvaged from Bespin and somehow found its way to Maz.  My feeling is that we’ll get that story someday, as we got the story of the Millennium Falcon making its way to Jakku in that series of comics and novels (”Flight of the Falcon”), but probably not for a bit just yet.

[thelastjaedi]

TROS Rant

This post will contain spoilers for The Rise of Skywalker, so below the cut is spoilers.

The Palpatines Ultimately Win

Rey, a palpatine, ends up taking everything that belong to the skywalker family: the legacy saber, the millennium falcon, Han’s blaster, leia’s ex machina saber, the chosen one prophecy, the last skywalker’s life force, and their name/legacy. And her first act as a skywalker is to bury their sabers on the planet they all hated. The planet where Anakin was enslaved and where his mother’s life was stolen from him. The planet Luke could not wait to get off of and where his aunt and uncle were murdered. The planet where Leia was enslaved by a crime lord.

And the worst part is that Palptine gets what he always wanted: the lifeforce of a skywalker is used to keep a palpatine alive.

It Makes Everything the Skywalker Family Went Through so Pointless

If they were going to undo RotJ’s happy ending, they should have made the ending of the sequels even happier and more triumphant.

But instead, Anakin’s sacrifice amounted to nothing because Palpatine just lives on to completely wreck his family. Luke was a complete failure when it came to rebuilding the Jedi order. Palpatine manipulated/groomed Ben Solo since infancy, turning him against his family. Leia‘s wish was to create something better than the Republic and the Empire, but the New Republic was destroyed by the First Order. She wanted her son back, and Han sacrificed his life to try and bring their son back. Luke did too in TLJ. He gave his life to manufacture a situation where he could apologize and acknowledge what he did to his nephew, and in such a way to where Ben could not act out without ending up with another family member’s death on his hands. And then with the whole “salt purifying wounds” symbolism of the planet in general, it felt like the first steps to repairing this family. This story’s trajectory seemed to be about saving the last skywalker from the mistakes of the previous generation and in doing so, allowing the new generation to learn from those mistakes and build something new. Han, Luke, and Leia gave their lives to try and right that wrong and bring the last scion of this bloodline home. And when Ben FINALLY makes the right choice, he is excluded from the final fight against Palpatine via yeet pit, and then dies 2 seconds after finding the happiness and acceptance he was never allowed to have with Rey. 

They Did The Character of Ben Solo So Dirty

They took a huge retconnish step back after TLJ paved the way for something really cool in TROS. He was finally free to be his own person, out from under the thumb of an abusive master, leader of his faction, and resolved rather than conflicted. Resolved to do what, we will never know—would he have acted as an anti hero against palpatine’s sith army? Would he have been dethroned by Hux/Pryde and have to operate independently? WHO KNOWS. But instead of exploring anything NEW with him, TROS has him reforge that mask (for no given reason), still be conflicted about everything, and have to plot with Rey to overthrow yet another abusive master. He just repeated his arc in TLJ, but with prequel-level dialogue with Rey and a RotJ-Vader ending. Except he gets NO LINES in the last act beyond “ow”. After his scene with Leia-induced-memory!Han, he essentially becomes a mute. Also that scene where Luke gives Rey Leia’s lightsaber, saying that she always knew Ben would fall so she gave it up and wanted Luke to pass it on to someone worthy? What? Give up on your son I guess. Way to destroy Leia’s character and make her look like a terrible mother.

And because of how exhaustingly how contrived the whole reylo angle was presented in general, the kiss scene probably felt REALLY forced for the general audience. Like the actors played the scene well—Adam’s facial expressions of utter hopelessness and regret upon finding her dead was absolutely gut wrenching. But his death happens SO fast: he meditates, she wakes up, they kiss, the music swells and you think everything is going to be ok—then he drops dead 2 seconds later and neither the audience nor Rey are given enough time to process that. It moves on to the celebration montage ripped straight from RotJ’s remastered version—AND HE IS NEVER SEEN OR MENTIONED AGAIN! Not even as a force ghost on Tatooine with Luke and Leia when she proclaims herself a Skywalker. Are they going to edit his force ghost into the scene 20 years later when they remaster this film? Or are we just going to pretend this character never existed and he was not the hero--because he really was the hero of this film.

Balance is Never Restored

Did that “Journal of the Whills” passage in the TFA book even matter? In the end, balance was never reached. The light won the day and the darkness perished. Again. History literally repeated itself. So what’s the next fascist regime or sith zombie that’s going to sprout up in 30 years? There was no resolution or catharsis between the two aspects of the force. It was just “Sith avatar Sideous bad, Rey jedi avatar good, don’t think too hard, enjoy the holidays and see you in 30 years when we want to see what Rey Skywalker is up to!” And you know that’s coming — they did not even give us closure to the Skywalker saga because they can always make movies about her and any of her false-Skywalker decedents! It’s SO UPSETTING. 

I’m mostly disappointed because it would have been nice to see a resolved view of the force that is not so black and white. Like maybe the Sith were a perversion of what the dark side is: a cancer or parasite that has corrupted it. TLJ opened the door for so many nuanced and honestly really intelligent concepts that TROS just threw out the window for “cool force powers”.  There is absolutely no “peace” in the force, it’s used with straight up aggression constantly save for the force healing/life transferring, which is overused in this film and has therefore lost any substantial weight in the story because of it.

Rey Repeats the Mistakes of a Past Generation

She literally repeats Leia’s mistakes. She is a Palpatine, but in choosing to hide that from everyone (besides Finn, I guess) by taking another family’s last name, she is essentially lying. That did not work out so well with Leia, who hid the fact she was Vader’s daughter from everyone besides Luke and Han. It got out, her political career was tanked, she lost the trust of a lot of her friends, and it helped alienated her son from their family. 

And what is this nonsense about Luke and Leia having always known she was a Palpatine all along, but never said anything? Even though she was aware of Rey’s desperation to know where she came from and why her family left her behind? Did she just omit the truth from Rey just like she did Ben? WHAT? THIS IS SO HORRIBLE.

If they had to make her a Palpatine, why not have her own it and be like “it is not my bloodline that defines who I am, but the choices I make.” Which is a nicer message and juxtaposes with Kylo who accepted his dark legacy because he felt like he had no other choice—especially when everyone who was suppose to help him thought he is another Vader/a lost cause anyway. 

I personally really like the message that she was no one, and you did not have to be anyone special to be a hero. I also hate how her bloodline diminishes her struggle with her affinity for the dark side. Her backstory as an abandoned orphan provided enough reason for her to struggle with the pull to the dark side. But this reveal oversimplified that and just chalked it up to her genes. And to say that her power was a result of her heritage, and not because she was a chosen vessel of the cosmic force is a mistake. 

Rey and Kylo’s Force Bond is Terribly Misused

Their force bond (which was arguably the most compelling part of TLJ) was turned it into exposition fodder and weaponized. It was originally created for the purpose of allowing these two opposing forces to TALK to each other rather than fight. TLJ established that they could not use the force on each other OR harm each other through the bond for a reason: so they could communicate and learn from each other. It really felt like foreshadowing for some sort of catharsis or resolution between the light and dark aspects of the force. Especially with the whole spiel about balance, and how the light and the dark are both natural parts of life and the force (warmth, cold, peace, violence, death and decay that brings forth new life ect). That was such a lovely and spiritual interpretation. 

But instead of expanding on that idea, TROS not only made them able to fight each other through it, but he took it to video-game-super-power level extremes. And it was just plain absurd. Were some scenes cool? Yeah, I thought him pulling the legacy saber out from behind his back to fight the knights was great, and the teleportation was hinted at in TLJ, but I hated their lightsaber fights. It was too over the top with the flipping and such. I really liked TLJ’s message that the force is not a super power, but rather a mystical force that guides you if you are open to letting it work through you. This movie just spat in the face of that idea. 

And it’s so annoying that they described their bond as this mystical “dyad” that occurred because of who their famous grandparents were—THAT IS SO INFURIATING! It’s not the will of the force that these two people on opposing sides were linked so deeply, but because of their family legacy. Bloodlines are all that matter apparently—not that the force is working through these two similarly broken people in an effort to fix and balance itself. And ultimately refine the incomplete view of the force that the Jedi and Sith tore the galaxy apart over. 

I also hated how the bond is described “two as one”, but then one dies without the other (twice!) and Rey can wound him without so much as a flinch. If the bond is really one life force/spirit inhabiting two bodies, shouldn’t they have to die at the same time? Or at least be able to feel each other’s pain? Or be able to share this life force they supposedly already share and both survive? Like you can’t kill one without killing the other, sort of deal? It just feels like it was hyped up to be this immensely powerful thing, and that in order to defeat Palpatine, they would have to do so together. But all that exposition seems pointless after one half of the dyad survives without its counterpart. And it is never addressed after. Like what even is the point of any of this yin yang stuff if yin can just die off with no consequences? Was the entire point of that plot thread meaningless exposition? And if the explanation is that Palpatine stole their force bond to revive himself, that’s straight up stupid. TROS will have wasted this unique connection that had so much potential for good and for meaningful resolution and fabricated yet another way to empower the already OP villain. 

But if you pretend none of that dumb dyad shit happened, Ben Solo’s death is one of the ONLY things about this movie that makes sense thematically. I’m not happy that he died. I do not think it was necessary. But I am trying to make peace with the fact that it is a beautiful sacrifice. I always felt like their arc was reverse Padme x Anakin, and Anakin’s entire fall to the dark side was because he wanted to become powerful enough to save the person he loved from death. He never achieved that because his love for Padme and his motivations were inherently selfish. He wanted her save her so he could keep her beside him. Ben, however, rights that wrong and selflessly gives his life for the one he loves. He does so knowing that he will die, and does not even hesitate, because he wants her to live even if he can’t be with her. So in that way, and excluding the dyad stuff that makes his death confusing and nonsensical, I actually felt like it was fulfilling. Sort of. One of the only things that came close to feeling well thought out in that movie, I suppose. But it still did not land quite right because of how poorly it was orchestrated. I genuinely do not think people picked up on the subtle romance hints they dropped around those two. Like the tropes are there, but it’s almost entirely subtext and not something the general audience picked up on until the shirtless scene and even then it was more of a meme. But regardless of whatever romance was set up in the previous films, I felt like their entire arc in this film was dysfunctional as fuck and not cathartic at all. It was very juvenile and reduced to a series of “join me! No! —sword fight— Join me! No! —sword fight—” Did I enjoy some of their banter, yes. But it was not nearly as satisfying as their exchanges in TLJ. 

The Retconning of TLJ and Extended Material 

It felt like TROS was trying so hard to pacify everyone who hated the direction TLJ took the narrative. And so much of the movie’s run time is spent retconning what was revealed in that movie, with no explanation other than “from a certain point of view” loopholes. And there were so many tasteless digs at TLJ. The comment about the Holdo maneuver. Luke catching the lightsaber and raising that ancient, sea-corroded x wing from the water on Ach-to. Rey’s parents becoming nobodies to protect her from Grandpappy Palps. Leia unable to get a single ship to answer her distress calls at the end of TLJ, but Lando can fetch the whole damn galaxy in an End Game like fashion.

Poe is randomly a drug smuggler despite his backstory already being established as being a part of the New Republic’s Navy and having Rebel Heroes for parents. 

Chewbacca already got a medal in the comics, so that scene was so redundant. Did the writers even consult with the Lucasfilm’s story team?

Leia was trained as a Jedi and only gave it up because she knew her son was going to turn to the dark side. It was already established in Bloodlines that Leia chose to be a senator because the galaxy needed her in politics more than it needed her with a laser sword. That was where she could do the most good. And she sacrifices everything--even her family--for the sake of building something better and new. But that sacrifice is reduced to her giving it up because she essentially has given up on her son before he is even born? I just do not understand why that flashback was necessary. Or why she needed a lightsaber. It is like it was included to pacify people who were upset with Leia using the force to save herself in TLJ, but an explanation is not needed because we have already established in the films and in extended material that she is force sensitive.

I don’t even want to talk about the vats full of Snokes.

Finn being force sensitive is cool, and I could totally see the potential in that from TFA, but it goes absolutely nowhere and his character is back to being Poe’s sidekick and Rey’s lost puppy. Rose gets absolutely NO screen time, and is sidelined the entire film to pacify people who hated her character in TLJ. I do not need FinnRose to be canon, either. I loved their development in TLJ because Rose challenged and progressed Finn as a character. And even though I always thought FinnPoe was going to be endgame, I never thought they would sweep her under the rug. Speaking of Finn and Poe, they queer-baited everyone with Stormpilot, only to give both of them hetero love interests. Finn and Poe have so much natural chemistry and meaningful interaction, especially in the last resistance novel that came out, that it was a slap to the face to see Finn psuedo-paired with Jannah/Rey and Poe paired with Zori.

Hux was set up to have all this ambition and a tense rivalry with Kylo Ren. But he gets shot by a random new character for helping the Resistance he hates so much-- that is incredibly nonsensical. There was so much potential for a First Order civil war between Kylo Ren and Hux, and he was hyped up in the comics to be a very dangerous adversary. What a waste. 

Were there moments in the film that were fun and enjoyable, sure, but I find that all of the problems eclipse those moments. It’s really hard to find stuff I actually liked about it. C3PO was great, but I felt like him getting his memories restored removed the weight of his sacrifice. Much like everything else in this film. There were way too many fake out deaths for anything to be meaningful. The movie itself was, admittedly, gorgeous. The Death Star ruins was such a magical set. The soundtrack was beautiful as ever. But I just feel so depressed and sorry for the tragedy that was the Skywalker family after watching it, that I cannot even enjoy the parts that were enjoyable.

[whereismywizardhat]

I know I’m not the first one to say it, but the thing that has really been driving me mad every time I devote brain space to The Rise of Skywalker is that it is a thematically dead movie, that not only cheapens its own trilogy, but the original trilogy too.  Like, every negative stereotype of the sequel trilogy is represented in force.

I hated this movie.  I truly loathed it.  I put spoilers under the cut but the basics are that I’ve been ruminating on it since I saw it opening night and it’s made me more mad the more I turn my brain back on.  Any good reviews of this movie you see are probably because this movie moves faster then the Millennium Falcon, shooting stupid, pointless sequence after stupid pointless sequence into your brain so quickly that it makes you forget that what it’s showing to you is utterly banal and gross.

I think that the Sequel Trilogy is, ultimately, a failure.  A lot of people believe Return of the Jedi is the weakest of the original trilogy, that cast fatigue and the beginnings of Lucas’s drawbacks showing as a writer hurt that film overall.  If that’s the case, then The Rise of Skywalker shatters it’s predecessors because the film’s contempt for the Last Jedi in turn tells you that none of it was worthwhile.  The Last Jedi was a flawed film, but it was trying to drag Star Wars into a place that was healthy for the franchise.  Rise of Skywalker says “No”, and tells you that the sequel trilogy was afterall nothing but digging up the corpse of the Original Trilogy and parading it in front of you one last time.

Rey being born of nobody was important both as a way of getting away from the weird eugenics thing that Star Wars courted as Anakin Skywalker went from “Powerful Jedi” to “Virgin Birth Chosen One”, and as a way of differentiating herself from her nemesis.  Kylo Ren is the heir to some great dynasty, Rey comes from nothing, it’s part of their yin/yang thing.  Making her a dynasty too destroys that, brings back the eugenics in full force, AND adds a bunch of plotholes to boot.  “They sold you to save you” is probably the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard, including Anakin’s attempts at flirting under Lucas’s pen.

Palpatine being alive is... nonsensical.  A desperate plea for forgiveness to twitter after not explaining Snoke.  Going in, I assumed it was an evil force ghost, the sequel’s equivalent of that period from Legends where Palp’s rapidly decaying clones were being burnt through and he tried to possess Leia’s baby in the womb.  Not so much.  It seems Palp just... kind of appeared through a plot hole.  Exxegol is fine as a base, I thought it was Korriban/Morriband and was disappointed that they didn’t go with the Sith planet (except they did, I guess Sith all use the same firm for designing their ).

Which goes into Kylo Ren.  Adam Driver was really just... not given anything to do (a recurring problem).  To his credit, the character is on the ball for the first half of the story.  It’s just... all chemistry with Rey is gone, a problem Finn has too.  The movie doesn’t have time to take a breath to allow the actors to emote at each other, and Kylo takes the worst of it because he’s already a terse character and the mask is back so you don’t even get his face.  The film gives one moment that works with Kylo: his vision of Han.  I’ve seen some comments on this that didn’t like it, but to me it’s quite obviously the light side equivalent of Rey’s evil Rey scene.  Rey looks forward and sees evil, Kylo looks backwards and sees a version of the first films climax with what he was supposed to do.  It’s... the one moment in the entire film where I felt like there was some actual craft in what was going on.  That’s without getting into how robbed Kylo Ren was as a villain.  The Last Jedi basically set up Kylo Ren as the ultimate big bad, having achieved everything Vader wanted.  Here, he’s back to being a lackey of a weirdo in a bathrobe, who doesn’t even have the benefit of being a force ghost who he can’t stab. 

I mentioned Finn before.  Finn has... no presence in this film.  He screams after Rey, he gets a one film love interest while the previous movie’s love interest kinda just sits there scowling in the background while a hobbit whose name I didn’t catch gets more lines, he has some force sensitivity but the kind from the original movie where you squint at the screen and learn what the audience just saw while Rey has taken levels in D&D paladin.  He has about the same amount of significance in this film as Obi-wan did in Phantom Menace, that is to say none except we know he’s an important character in a movie that came out before this one and he gets one action sequence near the end.

Poe makes out slightly better, taking up a lot of screen time.  Poe has never been a consistent character in this trilogy.  One movie he’s a compassionate cool dude, the next he’s a fuckup cowboy who doesn’t play by the rules, this one is he’s a weird stand in for Han Solo, being handed Han’s smuggler backstory and acting like Han did in ESB’s first half (without the UST with Rey).  He is just as unimportant as Finn, but ALSO has to be given a lot of screen time to actually establish some rapport with his castmates because he wasn’t previously given any time with Rey and only a small amount of time with Finn.

The supporting cast from previous movies... may as well not exist.  Other then Leia, all the original trilogy characters are just around.  Chewie gets a fake out death.  Lando shows up, gives a speech, and disappears til the end.  Wedge makes a cameo ten second after his stepson dies and has no reaction to that, and the only reason I know that is because I’m so invested in Wedge that I bought the tie-in novel because it had him in it.  In fact, most of the supporting cast from Force Awakens dies.  Snap, Hux... that’s about it.  I’m sure they would have killed off Rose if JJ thought that letting her languish in the background with no lines wasn’t a worse fate for the character.  As previously noted, one of the Hobbits from LoTR has a bigger role then she does.  The movie also introduces an entire legion of runaway Stormtroopers... for no reason other then to introduce Finn’s third love interest in three movies, Tika.  She’s fine.  I’ve heard there’s a deleted scene that says she’s Lando’s daughter kidnapped by the FO.  Glad we got the weird “Who’s Your Daddy?” thing out of the way with this side character before the fans bullied the director into retconning it to being Mace Windu’s secret love child.

Consistently, this movie feels like a fever dream fan fiction with a budget.  I consider A New Hope’s original cut to be the platonic ideal for an adventure film in terms of pacing.  Prologue, Three Acts on Three Planets, with the tension ratcheting up with each planet.  It’s follow up is a slower, more cerebral film after a bombastic opening.  Rise of Skywalker takes neither option, instead going for a hypnotic, Fincher-esque pacing with no brakes.  It doesn’t want you to realize what you’re watching is shlock.  What isn’t a calculated spit in the face of it’s predecessor, The Last Jedi, is a stab at the hypothetical second JJ Abrams Star Wars film which didn’t exist to reference back to.  Rise of Skywalker exists, and it exists to appeal to the most toxic elements of the Star Wars fanbase.  I don’t think it’s salvageable.

Somewhere, out there, there is a version of Rise of Skywalker that is thematically coherent.  Maybe there’s one that actually follows up on it’s predecessor like... every other Star Wars saga film instead of an imagined film that didn’t happen.  I dunno.  Regardless, it really makes me question whether Disney actually understands what they’re doing, or if it’s all just luck and nonsense that let them become a monopoly.

I guess it wouldn’t seem so awful if the Mandalorian wasn’t just sitting there.pursuing a part of the Star Wars universe that feels fresh and original rather then ruining better films.