#she takes a bounty on Han and so she goes back to Tatooine to get him

[burnwater13]

Concept art by Christian Alzmann of Boba Fett trying to crawl out of the sand next to the Sarlacc pit on Tatooine. The burnt out frame of the sail barge is in the background. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 1, Stranger in a Strange Land

Grogu still couldn’t believe that Luke didn’t help Boba Fett out of the Sarlacc pit. That just wasn’t what a Jedi was supposed to do. You didn’t have to vanquish everyone you met just because you could. You were supposed to be civilized. That was written down in large letters in the Jedi handbook.

“There’s not really a Jedi handbook, is there, kid?”

Fennec always asked those cool, incisive questions.

He shook his head ‘no’. There should have been one, but Master Yoda hadn’t gotten around to publishing it. Grogu had heard that it existed in a draft form somewhere in the temple’s library, but he had never looked for it himself. 

“I didn’t think so. Listen, that Armorer lady told you and your dad over there, that Mandalorians are both hunter and prey. Well, that goes double for Mandalorians that are bounty hunters kid. Fett knew what he was getting into when he agreed to help the Empire. We all did. I think we just expected them to last a bit longer and not trip on their own hem. But they did and Fett and I both got the short stick. But you know, we’ve done okay and holding grudges doesn’t make a profit.”

Grogu had no idea what Fennec meant by that specifically but he agreed with the general nature of her statement. What was in the past, was in the past.  Luke couldn’t change what he did anymore than Boba Fett could have. They just had to live the lives they had today. As if that were as easy to do as it was to say.

“Grogu, Fennec is right. Sometimes a bounty hunter will pick up a bounty puck for a person who shouldn’t be collected at all. But we have a job and we do it. The guild is supposed to vet these jobs before anyone takes the puck.”

Grogu walked right over to his dad and gave his booted foot a pinch. It didn’t hurt the Mandalorian at all, but it did convey Grogu’s general annoyance at his dad. 

“Come on, kid. I’m just being honest. Maybe Luke’s friend shouldn’t have been brought in, but alls well that ends well, right?”

Grogu wondered if the Mandalorian had any idea what it was like to be frozen in carbonite. It was easy to say you could bring someone in cold if you were never brought in cold yourself. Grogu wasn’t a fan of being cold. He could tolerate it but he didn’t like it. Not even with extra armor pieces and a warmer coverall. Uff.

“Did Luke tell you what happened to his friend, what’s his name?” Fennec was suddenly right next to him and he really didn’t know how she managed to do it. 

“Han something. Grogu mentioned him right after he came back from Ossus. Apparently he’s another hero of the Rebellion. There sure seems to be a lot of them around these parts.”

Din Djarin leaned over and picked Grogu up and showed him the screen of the data comp. The Mandalorian had cued up an episode of Diggle and Daggle, the Fish that fish, to distract Grogu from grousing about Luke. Grogu agreed with the output, but didn’t agree that he needed to be distracted. Fennec was the person who had told him the story. 

“Solo. Han Solo. He was on my list too. It doesn’t pay to get mixed up with the Hutts. They hold grudges and they still found a way to collect a profit. If the rumors are true, Solo was one of the people who managed to help destroy that first mobile space station the Empire used to destroy Alderaan. That was a mess. Any how, the guy owed Jabba big time. If I hadn’t been busy with other things I might have gone after him too. Not as good a bounty as the one they put on you kid, but still substantial.”

Grogu looked over at Fennec and she had that look in her eye. It was just a glint and turned to look at his dad, who seemed to be thinking exactly the same thing. Some bounties never really expired. If Boba Fett still had the puck for Solo they could collect it. If… they could find him. Grogu was sorry he’d even asked Fennec to tell him how Daimyo Fett’s armor had gotten lost in the first place. 

He supposed he could contact Luke and warn him… or he could tell the Daimyo that they should let the past stay in the past. Of course the Daimyo had recently told him the story of going back to the Sarlacc pit and ending that critter once and for all. Grogu supposed, as a Daimyo, Fett didn’t have to care about profit and could hold all the grudges he wanted.

Maybe he could talk his dad out of it… but Fennec was still standing there with a glint in her eye. Dank Farrik! Grogu would just have to go find this Han Solo guy and see if he could save him from two of Galaxy’s best bounty hunters. It was the least he could do to preserve the honor of the Jedi (even if they didn’t have a handbook). 

[keldabe-kiss]

If I felt more confident in writing SW characters, I would prob write a novel worth fic of the Bounty Hunter Leia AU that lives in my head.

Leia Skywaker was raised on Tatooine by her aunt and uncle, who tried their hardest to sway Leia into NOT being a Bounty Hunter. Unfortunately for them, she cannot be stopped, especially considering she met got saved by a mandalorian at age 9 and thought they were the coolest person ever. Most of the money she makes from bounties, she sends to her aunt and uncle, she never uses her last name in travels (doesn’t want it to possibly get back to her family) and she never takes bounties for the Empire although she has been tempted, but only to beat Boba Fett.

Meanwhile Ben Kenobi is trying his hardest to get this 16 year old to stay on Tatooine for more than an hour to talk to her about the Force.

[theloneliestshipper]

51. accidental marriage and 97. time travel could lend itself to an amazing rebel bounty comedy of errors if you’re so inclined ☺️

I can't believe 2 different people requested this exact thing (actually I can believe it because it's an awesome mash up) so this is for you and @morgynleri.

I'm going to lean *hard* into the Outlander vibe on this one. Leia is in her thirties and investigating some old Jedi cave with Luke when she touches a Warpstone that contains the memories of a jedi who force-projected herself into the past 20 years ago and vanished.

Leia gets thrown back into time *in place of jedi who vanished* thus circumventing any paradoxes stemming from the fact that Leia also exists in this timeline. Lalalalalala.

20 years ago the cave was being used a temporary hideout by a gang of mercenaries, among them, 25-year old Boba Fett. The others are immediately suspicious of Leia, but he convinces them not to kill her and becomes her de facto protector in spite (or because of) the fact that she seems to hate his guts for no reason.

Over the next few weeks Leia realizes that Boba is lying to the gang about his intentions, using them to get close to The Boss, who has a huge bounty on their head (obviously for maximum shock value this should be someone we know, but I haven't figured out who).

Leia manages to get him alone long enough to make a deal: she helps him get to The Boss and he helps her find the Warpstone. One of the other gang members catches them together, alone in the woods in the middle of night, and Boba covers with the age-old "we were boning, not conspiring against you."

Gang member: I thought Mandalorians didn't have sex outside of marriage

Boba: *has no idea if that's true or not* yeah well we're getting married

Leia: Oh my god

This actually works out perfectly since The Boss has to give their blessing. Boba is so proud of himself. What doesn't work out? The Boss not only gives permission but insists that they get married on the spot.

They take down The Boss and then Boba keeps his promise to help her find the Warpstone (it's in a different cave or something). By then they've both caught feelings. Leia tries to warn him away from Jabba, from Vader. from Han, anything that might steer him clear of the sarlacc but she can only say so much. They do, in fact, bone before Leia returns to her own time.

Back in the present Leia has to accept that she couldn't change the future and goes to the sarlacc pit to get some closure. She is swiftly arrested for double parking and dragged in to see the new ruler of Tatooine...Boba Fett.

[ariainstars]

The Mandalorian: Is He “Better Vader”?

This may sound funny, but please hear me out for a moment. 

The further I watch Star Wars’ new live-action tv show, the more I get the impression is that Mando is meant to be a positive version of Darth Vader (the “dark father”). 

Father figures usually don’t have a thankful role in this galaxy - either they are absent like Anakin’s, terrifying like Luke’s, or well-meaning but failing in their primary duty of keeping their child safe, like Ben’s. 

Not a few fans, though a little mockingly, like to call Kylo Ren “better Anakin” since his conflict is more fleshed out and the whole figure inspires more sympathy. My theory: is Mando meant to be “better Vader”? 

It was repeatedly and amply shown that the cause for the never-ending conflicts in the galaxy lie for a large part on the side of the Jedi, whose stuck-up attitude ultimately failed. Their order prohibited personal attachments, and even the wisest among them were not affectionate. This was what drove the all-powerful but passionate Anakin, who desperately wanted to have someone he could love and protect, to his ruin: the moment he finally became a father he also became a ruthless monster. Mando is introduced as a merciless bounty hunter, but as he opens up to the child, he becomes kinder and begins to find friends. He grows even more valiant, but also learns how to be gentle and caring. 

Since the Jedi are almost all extinct, but Force-sensitive children still are born throughout the galaxy, we are left with the question of what is to become of them. Some were brought to Luke’s new temple later, but we can assume that not all were identified. 

Mando’s little protegee is staying and making life experiences with a guy who doesn’t know anything about the Jedi and has no clue of the source of the child’s mysterious powers, but instinctively does the right things: he keeps him safe, instructs him, scolds him when necessary, and offers him friendship and companionship. (The Mandalorian who adopted him probably was a good father figure, too.) The child never sees his “father’s” face, but nevertheless he trusts him explicitly. Mando is the living proof that coolness and fighting qualities are not opposed to being gentle and caring.

Ben Solo’s tragic fate was the result of failed fatherhood: Luke did not know how to be a father because he had no children of his own and had had no role model, while Han did not trust his capacity to protect his son from his own powers.

The Parallels

Both Vader and Mando are soldiers. Though not Force-sensitive, Mando is extremely strong and well-versed in martial arts; he never shows his face; he wears an armor completed by a black cape which does not seem to have much practical use. He usually speaks only in short, clipped sentences and has a wry, sarcastic kind of humor. 

Vader was a follower of the Emperor, factually a slave who had no choice but to obey his master, and wherever he went he wreaked terror. Mando does take jobs from the bounty hunter’s guild, but essentially, he is a free man and often offers his services negotiating on his own terms. Noticeably, he fights against raiders and mercenaries or remnants of the Empire, peace following in his wake.

When he first reaches out for the baby, it looks like the opposite to another famous scene in the saga: here we have the adoptive but good father, while the other was the biological but cruel father.  Luke did not take his father’s hand, while the baby instinctively reached out to the man who had protected him.

Note also the scenic reversal: one figure is standing on the right side, hand with upturned fingers reaching out into a void, the scene is bathed in cold light. The other figure is standing on the left, hand reaching down, illuminated by warm light. 

When we do see his face once, Mando is lying down and helpless like Vader; he is not disfigured though and despite being injured, he is not dying. Shortly after this he finally accepts his task as the child’s father figure, while Vader died a few minutes after his unmasking and could not fulfil his fatherly task any more. Also, in both cases we learned the person’s real name not long before the mask went off: Anakin Skywalker respectively Din Djarin.

Given the saga’s love for cyclical narrative, this would make a lot of sense. Star Wars is telling us once more how important a protective and kind father is for a child, both as a role model and an attachment figure. We do not know yet how baby Yoda will turn out; but it would have made little sense for the storytellers to think up such a figure in the first place if they didn’t want him to go another (possibly better) way than his more famous predecessor. 

Is the galaxy at last healing after the terrible conflicts caused by both Jedi and Sith, and will the good fathers be responsible for a better future, maybe even for the long-awaited Balance in the Force? I hope so.

May the Force be with the Clan of Two. 😉

(On a side note: Vader / Anakin was in his mid-forties when he died. Din Djarin is about the same age.)

After the closure of Season 2, I would like to add a few details that also set Din Djarin apart from Anakin.

 Attachment vs. Affection

Anakin’s greatest weakness was his anxiety to lose the ones he loved. In the end, he sacrificed all of his ideals for the purpose of saving his pregnant wife. Luke also loved his friends and wanted to save them, but in that fateful moment before Palpatine, he realized that he would have had to give up his integrity for the purpose, and that was when he decided to throw away his weapon.

Din suffers deeply when he has to give up “his” child to a literal stranger for an indefinite time. However, he knows that it must be done because he does not have the knowledge to train him. Grogu also, reluctantly, lets go when he sees that his “father” is doing the same. This goes to show, again, that he is much stronger than Anakin.

 Following Rules vs Following One’s Heart

Like Anakin / Vader, Din takes his helmet off the moment he has to say goodbye to his child. The famous sentence “Just once, let me look on you with my own eyes” comes to mind. Vader was a Sith Lord and Anakin had been a Jedi. Both adhered strictly to their code: Anakin was a faithful Jedi until he became a Sith and Vader obeyed to the rules of the Sith until for a brief moment he acted like a Jedi again (and, also, like a father, which was a first). Mando unmasks not only before Grogu but also

-     Luke, who is a total stranger -     Moff Gideon, an enemy -     Bo-Katan, a possible potential enemy since she pursues the Dark Saber -     Fennec, an ally but not a friend -     Cara, a friend who never saw his face.

That he is willing for all of them to witness the moment he lifts his incognito shows that Mando is finally listening only to his heart. The Way of the Mandalore, which was his guideline for his entire adolescence and adult life (i.e. thirty years or more), has become less significant to him than the bond he has with Grogu.

Anakin’s tragedy was that he could not follow his heart but that some rules defined by an outside source always were in control. He wanted to be a husband and father and loyal friend, a mechanic and a pilot, not a Jedi or a Sith.

Ben Solo’s tragedy was the same; though not born a slave, he also had no choice about what to do with himself and his life. It was either being a Jedi or a Sith. But we know that he wanted to be a son and a lover, and a pilot.

The same fate occurred to Luke, many years later: the kind-hearted, affectionate young man from Tatooine, who so easily befriended everyone and always was compassionate and helpful became aloof and detached on being a Jedi, because he thought that was what this task required. But in the end, it was exactly what made him not understand and even fear his nephew, with disastrous results.

Din Djarin chose the way of the heart, he is no longer adhering to “the Way”: he said himself that now he can’t put his helmet back on. (Alternatively, he could put it on again, but that would mean defying the Way otherwise.) Grogu has witnessed that a man can very well choose family over a code that was taught to him, even if he adhered to it all of his life. Luke is the one who carries him away, but Grogu looks over his shoulder to his “father”. Luke may become his teacher, but Grogu’s role model, his hero, will always be Din; as it was for Ben with his father Han.

 Hints at the Future

Anakin died twice: once on Mustafar, where he also lost his blue light sabre, and on the second Death Star, where he had lost the red one. Din Djarin, at the end of this part of this journey, receives a sabre, although he never wanted it.

With the Dark Saber, a new fate is awaiting Mando. Is his destiny that of being the warrior-king, protective and honorable, that ought to have been Anakin’s place? Maybe. As they say, the best leaders are the reluctant ones. 😊

[wreathedinscales]

Luke's heard many things about the Mandalorian's partner: reliable, thoughtful, hell of a fighter, amazing father. He'd even gotten a backseat view of the story, really, noticing how the Mandalorian's demeanor started changing and how often he kept talking about his friend. It's incredibly endearing, made all the better when Grogu comes back from a small reprieve and happily tells Luke how Green Father gave him a stuffed bantha and, a bit concerningly, a mini gaffi stick.

But Luke has also been told this partner was a Mandalorian as well, so maybe that's a normal gift for their people. Still, Luke makes sure to put it in a safe place. Grogu says Green Father will not be happy with him, but Luke thinks it'll be fine.

After all, whoever the Mandalorian has married is clearly a good man. He'll understand.

()

"I'd. Like for him to come with me next time."

Luke looks up from his garden with a grin. "That sounds great! I'm sure Grogu will be happy."

The Mandalorian shifts his weight. "Then it's alright with you?"

Luke straightens, trying to look as open as he can. He'd told him before that attachments are not prohibited in this new Order, that he honestly did forget to leave contact info on the cruiser. But he's found that Grogu's Shiny Father has a paranoid streak.

It's a split second decision, but it seems like a good one. "Tell you what. I'll even call my family. My sister Leia's just had a child of her own, and we can already tell he's strong in the Force. He might be Grogu's classmate one day."

It occurs to him that maybe the idea of Senator Organa will intimidate the Mandalorian. Thankfully, the Mandalorian just nods. The Outer Rim doesn't put much stock in the Core's government anyway.

"When will your partner be free?" Luke asks.

Grogu waddles into the garden surrounded by floating stones. The Mandalorian, despite being as Force-sensitive as one of those stones, happily scoops him up without a hint of awe or hesitance Force-null people usually show. It reinforces Luke's decision to allow him to visit.

"His schedule's tight," the Mandalorian says, softened by his child, "but he's made time at the end of next month."

Luke nods. "Wonderful. I'll comm Leia. They can talk about their experiences on Tatooine."

The Mandalorian tilts his head. "She's been on Tatooine?"

That should've been Luke's first clue.

Well, okay, he's had many first clues. But that one really should've tipped him off.

Luke laughs as he digs in his belt. "You said your partner's a bounty hunter, right? A lot of hunters love hearing how she choked out Jabba the Hutt."

The Mandalorian is quiet a moment. Not unusual. Luke's halfway through Leia's code when he murmurs, "Your sister's the Huttslayer?"

"Oh yeah. She's awesome." Luke waits for her to pick up.

The Mandalorian's helmet barely picks up his exhale. "I'm, uh. Big fan of her work."

Luke grins. "She'll love to hear it."

He gets a nod before Leia's face appears.

"Hey, Leia! I've got something to ask you."

()

Arrangements work out perfectly with absolutely no names exchanged.

In Luke's defense, he hasn't met many Mandalorians. Names just don't seem like something they share outside of inner circles, and Luke respects that the Mandalorian doesn't trust him like that yet, still hovering in the periphery whenever he gets to watch Grogu's lessons.

So.

At the end of the next month, Luke waits in excited, ignorant bliss near his X-Wing, holding an equally excited Grogu against his chest. The field is large enough for the Falcon and more besides, and the Mandalorian said his partner's ship wasn't a cruiser. He wishes Han, Leia and Chewie were here for the initial greetings, but bureaucracy rarely goes according to plan. They've been delayed a few hours.

Luke hears the engines and smiles. It fades a little in confusion when he sees the ship. It's...kind of familiar? Maybe something the Rebellion used?

No. No, it has a very distinct shape. But surely if it was someone Luke knew, they'd have told him about donning Mandalorian armor.

The ship lands near the X-Wing. Grogu cheers, waving his little arms as the Mandalorian descends. Luke passes him over with a laugh, the Force bright with the child's happiness.

"He's just getting something," the Mandalorian says.

Luke raises an eyebrow. "Another stuffed bantha?"

A huffed laugh. But not a no.

Footsteps on the ramp. Luke eagerly peaks around the Mandalorian and. And.

Oh.

Well.

Hm.

"Shit," Luke says blankly.

"Hey," the Mandalorian hisses, hand barely covering one of Grogu's ears.

"Sorry," Luke replies, inching for his lightsaber, "just didn't realize you knew Boba Fett and didn't tell me."

Fett's armor looks brand new, though Luke thinks it's just a paint job. If there's anything Fett loves more than himself, it's his equipment.

"Why does it matter?" the Mandalorian asks.

Grogu burbles, concerned at his Master's tension. Luke can't comfort him because that would mean taking his eyes off a threat.

A threat who snaps, "Cut the dramatics. I've agreed to be civil." He spits out the last word.

"You're supposed to be dead," Luke retorts.

"I got better."

Luke opens his mouth to snap back until, oh, wait. Oh no.

He turns to the Mandalorian and says, "Is this the partner?"

The Mandalorian says, "Yes?"

Fett tilts his head. "Don't sound too sure, sweetheart."

Oh fuck no, Luke doesn't need to hear Boba Fett call someone sweetheart.

"Yes," the Mandalorian repeats firmly, "This is my partner. Husband."

"Spouse, rid'uur," Fett adds sardonically, "lover-in-arms."

Is he.

Messing with Luke?

Fett takes Grogu from the Mandalorian. "It's because of this one that I'm leaving my explosives on the ship. So take that hand off your saber, Skywalker."

The Mandalorian's head whips to Luke. Luke reluctantly stands down.

"He tried to kill me and my friends!" he says, "He froze my friend in carbonite and handed him to Hutt!"

The Mandalorian looks back at Fett. Fett looks back steadily, despite the small child trying to crawl on top of his helmet.

"What?" Fett says, "I was doing my job."

"Your job," Luke snaps.

"Careful, Jedi. You're getting angry."

"Okay," the Mandalorian says, "Let's all calm down. You're upsetting the kid."

Grogu is not upset. Because Grogu has heard about Luke's adventures. Grogu knew exactly who Boba Fett was.

Luke feels like he's been stabbed. "Grogu. You didn't tell me?"

Grogu looks at him from on top of Fett's head, and suddenly Luke swears he sees Yoda there. The intent pulses across the Force: yes, Grogu knew, but what good would it have been to tell him?

"A warning would have been nice!"

And then what?

Luke pinches the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Boba Fett."

Fett carefully dislodges Grogu. "Skywalker."

"You're Grogu's other father."

"I am."

"You also tried to kill me."

"And your friend kicked me into a sarlacc pit."

Your friend.

Luke slowly raises his head in dawning horror.

"What is it?" the Mandalorian murmurs.

Luke looks at him with wide eyes. "Han and Leia are on their way."

Fett slowly raises his head in dawning homicide.

"Who."

[vagrantblvrd]

Obi-Wan raises Luke instead of Owen and Beru, please.

Oooh, nice.

Because I am That Person I want to do the Satine lives AU (I haven’t finished Clone  Wars yet, but one of my friends has Strong Opinions about similar AUs).

Obi-Wan doesn’t leave the Jedi Order to be with her,because Duty, and all that with the war, but perhaps once the war is over he can?

But then Anakin falls to the Dark Side and it’s decided to separate the twins. Leia goes to Bail and Breha, and Obi-Wan is supposed to take Luke to Tatooine to be raised by his aunt and uncle, but.

Obi-Wan’s in his ship leaving Coruscant after losing Anakin the way he did and it isn’t a conscious decision really, that has him putting in the coordinates for Mandlore, doesn’t even register until his droid is like ??? and he sees what he’s done, and has this moment of oh, I didn’t mean to do that, did I?

He means to fix it, input the coordinates for Tatooine, a weavin winding path in case he’s followed, but stops to think about it.

It makes sense to take Luke there, no one would think to look for him, but the thought of leaving Luke, one of the last pieces of Anakin left to him to be raised by people who wouldn’t understand him leaves him with a bad taste in his mouth.

Regret, guilt, for failing Anakin so completely, and it’s like. Anakin has ties to Tatooine that someone smart enough might look into, might find Luke, but Mandalore? That complicated mess is all Obi-Wan’s now.

And it’s selfish, he’s being selfish, not wanting to give Luke up, thinks about the Order and attachments, but look where it got them in the end, you know? (His foundations have been rocked, shattered beneath his feet but if he thinks on it there were cracks, fault-lines long before that.)

So.

He calculates s winding, weaving course to Mandalore and goes to Satine where they raise Luke as their foundling, right?

They keep the whole...Jedi thing on the down-low, because ancient enemies but Obi-Wan and Satine’s inner circle know, because how couldn’t they?

Obi-Wan may go by a different name these days, but it’s close enough to his real name it wouldn’t take much thought to connect the two. Also, his face???

And Luke okay. Obi-Wan teaches him to control his Jedi abilities and such from an early age, but he couches it in games and play and all Mr. Miyagi with his wax on, wax off schtick kid of deal to keep Luke from accidentally giving away the fact he’s strong in the Force and so on.)

Meanwhile there’s an effort to dial back the animosity towards the Jedi, which meets with mixed results, because people. Also, also, over the years Obi-Wan encourages Satine to mend the rift between her followers and those exiled to Concordia.

Also, with mixed results, but with the Empire’s numbers growing it seems like a mistake to allow Mandalore to be divided.

They reach some kind of understanding, not entirely reconciled, but better than things were before.

In another meanwhile, Luke is being raised as a Mandalorian, and like Obi-Wan earns a set of armor.

But then!

The Purge happens, and in the chaos Luke is separated from Obi-Wan and Satine, the other Mandalorians.

He has his armor and a ship and the lightsaber that belonged to his father Obi-Wan shoved into his hands before they were separated.

Has to hide from the Empire because one thing Obi-Wan made sure he knew from a young age is that he couldn’t all ow himself to be captured by them, that they’d be looking for him.

(And on some lonely nights after the Purge when his nightmares seem more real than usual, some part of him wonders if the Purge happened because Mandalore refused to join with the Empire, or if someone found out about him?)

Anyway.

Mandalorians and the reputation for being fierce fighters and skilled bounty hunters and Luke is truly alone for the first time in his life. Little money to his name and his ship can only get so far before it runs out of fuel, and he needs ammunition and food to eat, and it’s just.

He finds work s a bounty hunter, and the first few bounties are part of a learning process. Thank goodness for his armor or he’d have been dead dozen times over the first month.

Still.

He’s been raised as a Mandalorian his whole life, maybe saw himself as an outsider because his Force abilities and the secrets Obi-Wan kept even from him, but he’s been training as a warrior his whole life.

(Pacifists, yes, but the galaxy is a dangerous place and perhaps more so for someone like Luke, so.)

Between the regular weapons and hand-to-hand and whatnot and Obi-Wan’s instruction with his Force abilities and his father’s lightsaber he’s quite the dangerous individual.

He keeps running into this Corellian smuggler and his Wookie co-pilot, and sometimes he turns a blind eye to their antics if he’s tracking someone else. (In return Han’s willing to let information slip to Luke, for the price of a drink or a meal, and of course he’d never say no to an outright gift of credits, so.)

There’s a miscommunication on a job, once. Luke after a bail jumper and this other Mandalorian with a silver helmet who wants the pilot Luke’s bounty hired.

There’s a bit of a fight, nothing serious before it occurs to Luke that the aforementioned pilot looked a little too panicky at the sight of the other Mandalorian to be fully innocent. (Also, it’s Mos Eisley. Innocent people are exceedingly rare here.)

It’s the first time Luke’s worked with another Mandalorian on a bounty, and it’s actually kind of nice. (Although he suspects the other Mandalorian may have ties to The Tribe, but it’s the least of his problems at the moment and the man makes for good company.)

Anyway, anyway, at some point Luke runs into Ahsoka - and he knows her. Obi-Wan and his secrets and she’s safe, she can help him.

At first she’s reluctant, because look what happened to Anakin, what if she’s resposnsible for the same happening to Luke? But he finds a way to convince her - stubborn like Anakin, if not worse - and she takes up his training where Obi-Wan left off.

She’ll lave from time to time because Rebellion shenaigans, and sometimes Luke goes along to help.

And then word through Luke or Ahsoka’s contacts about Leia being taken prisoner and important plans and they’re so far out they might not make it in time.

“I know someone who might help?” Luke offers, because he and Han are hardly friends (they kind of are though), and the Falcon is one of the fastest ships out there even if she doesn’t look like it.

So, side trip to Tatooine and Han is just “Oh, come on, you too? What is with today?” because Greedo and Luke being a bounty hunter and Ahsoka is super unimpressed.

Once Luke explains what he needs, Han is like “NO,” but Luke convinces him and Han reluctantly agrees (but then Jabba and that whole mess and it’s kind of a disaster getting off Tatooine but they make it so everything’s fine.

Before they leave though, there’s this weird hermit they run into and emotional reunions because Obi-Wan and he thought Luke was dead and what has he been doing? Also it’s very nice to see you again, Ahsoka, you look well.

Luke going up to the cockpit to give them privacy for their part of the reunion and sharing information and all that.

And then rescuing Leia and Luke in his beskar getting between Obi-Wan and Vader even though both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are incredibly not happy about that, but some people there were just going to let the sith lord kill them, and Luke is just how about no???

(Satine would never forgive Obi-Wan something like that Luke’s sure, and according to Obi-Wan she’s back on Tatooine still, so.)

Leia gets rescued and the Rebellion’s down a few pilots and oh, hey, Luke’s kind of not bad at that whole deal?

Obi-Wan’s needed as a strategist - and honestly, no one wants him out of sight after the whole thing on the Death Star - and Ahsoka with her Rebellion Thing.

Han comes back to save Luke’s life and Luke destroys the Death Star and happy ending for now?

But Luke knows there’s something about Vader and Luke himself that has Obi-Wan and Ahsoka deeply worried. (When he thinks about it there are a few reasons why that might be, but he does his best not to dwell on it.)

Anyway.

The usual Star Wars shenanigans but with Mandalorian!Luke with his armor and whatnot.

Confrontations between Luke and Vader go a little differently because of Luke’s armor? But the hand thing still happens because parallels or some nonsense, idk.

(Anakin’s not the only one who has to remove their helmet on the second Death Star and so on.)

Leia has mixed feelings about the whole Boba Fett putting Han in carbonite because Luke’s used the same method on some of his bounties in the past. (The violent dangerous ones that posed a risk to him transporting them the guild, though, but it doesn’t matter to Leia at the time.)

After the destruction of the second Death Star there’s talk, idle, unsure about forming a school to teach the next generation of Jedi?

Because Force-sensitive kids and there must be a better way, a balance between the ole Jedi Order and a new one.

Until then, Luke is curious about the whole Jedi thing, goes looking for relics and whatnot. (Maybe does some bounty hunting every so often, because why not.)

Satine wants to go back to Mandalore, help her people if she can and Obi-Wan goes with her because not a lot of reason to stick around Tatooine otherwise.

And then!

This call for help through the Force and Luke following it to an Imperial light cruiser and Din being very, very confused at seeing a Mandalorian with a lightsaber?

Is it like Bo-Katan’s Darksaber? Will one of them have to change? So confused. (Also though, possible concussion from his fight with the Dark Trooper, but yes.)

“Are you a Jedi?” Din asks, feeling that it’s a valid question because Mandalorians and Jedis and ancient enemies????

And yet.

Luke is like, hey, it’s you! Because silver helmet and remember that time we got into a fight on Tatooine? But also, also, hello Aunt Bo-Katan and friends.

Mainly though, Grogu who is kind of losing his tiny little mind because Mandalorian? But also Jedi? But Mandalorian???

And then shenanigans in which Luke is like, huh, about the Darksaber and poor Din who wants nothing to do with it. His adopted mother who wants to help her people but afraid they won’t listen to her after what the Empire’s done them and is like.

Strangely convenient, but he’ll take it.

They stop by the closest New Republic planet or outpost to hand Gideon and whatever other Imperials are still on board over and then head to Mandalore.

Din is still so very confused, but it doesn’t seem like Luke plans to take Grogu away and he’ll take what he can get. (So sure Luke will take Grogu far away at some point, but tries not to think too hard about that.)

And then the whole working at calling Mandalorians home - Din is super unsure about being the new ruler of Mandalore, but once Bo-Katan and Satine have a chat about the fure of their world they’re like, “He’s perfect for the role.”

Just needs a little help, and with them and Obi-Wan and other trusted people to help him, something great could come of it.

Luke stays on Mandalore - his home more than anywhere else in the galaxy - and he and Obi-Wan train Grogu. Ahsoka too, when she visits.

Once Mandalore and its people are more settled there’s talk of joining the New Republic, right?

Leia as the New Republic’s representative, and Obi-Wan one of Din’s advisors, negotiators and it seems as though good things will happen there too.

But!

Also!

Luke who grew up on Mandalore helping introduce Din to it? Teach him about this world he’s never seen, but is important in its own way more than ever now.

And little Grogu and all that.

Keldabe kisses in a courtyard on a night when Luke’s meditating outside, Din restless after tucking Grogu in and happens across Luke.

Understands that Luke doesn’t follow the Creed the way Din does, but he was raised as a Mandalorian and Din’s seen him in his helmet more often than not and anyway.

Luke meditating in the moonlight and while Din was worried he might have interrupted, Luke opens his eyes and smiles, something about it drawing Din closer.

And it’s.

There’s been so much Pining, but this is Luke, and anyway, keldabe kisses, and Luke laughing at Din being so flustered by it, but Luke’s laughter is shaky, breathless and really, the man’s a hypocrite.

Still, the two of them stay like that for a little while longer.

[sheepfulsheepyardinspace]

Do you have any Star Wars fanfic recommendations, or have a link to someone else's list? I really wanna veg out.

oh my god, DO I. this may have been the best ask in the world. i’m not really sure what u want a feel for, so i threw together some of my favorite longfics for maximum veg time from the ot/pt and links for swr and swtcw recs. they’re pretty much all luke-anakin/vader centric, since that’s kinda my bread and butter.

let’s start with frodogenic, who wrote the first longfic i ever read in sw and might be one of the funniest authors ever. they once reviewed my fanfic & i nearly cried from joy. anyway. 

The Father, 284k+, complete. “Ten years after ROTS, tormenting nightmares of his unborn child drive Darth Vader to extraordinary measures with unexpectedly drastic consequences. Clearly, experience has taught Darth Vader nothing...” 

this is my og star wars fic and boy oh boy is it amazing. i will never get over this. i don’t want to spoil anything but when i say the final chapters are great? i mean they’re legendary. sometimes i still think about them & wish upon a star that i could be such a great writer. vader’s amazing, han is spectacular, and the ocs are fantastic.

Far More Than Rubies, 70k+, complete. “Nine years after AOTC, tragedy revisits the Lars Homestead. Little Luke Skywalker is suddenly plunged into chaos as the rebel movements discover a secret military project that may make a crucial difference in the war with the Empire.”

the spiritual twin of The Father, FMTR takes a look at padmé’s character and relationship with both luke and anakin/vader that’s hard to beat. it’s darker and heavier than The Father, but it hits those same sweet, sweet emotional beats while raising the age-old question: if padmé had lived, what would she have done?

The Family Tree, 12k, complete. “In which Luke Skywalker is stranded in a tree waiting for a flash flood to recede. Too bad he's got company...”

okay, i admit, this isn’t a longfic, but it is a longshot, and it’s amazing. the imagery and description always blow me away, and the interaction (canon-compliant) between luke and vader just [chef’s kiss] get me. vader’s in full, glorious form, and it makes it all the harder when luke wrestles with the knowledge that vader is his father.

Sibling Revelry, 25k, complete. “After Bespin and before Endor, Darth Vader is shocked to discover that Luke and Leia are twins. He's even more shocked when Imperial Intelligence reports that Organa and Skywalker are, erm, a tad closer than previously suspected.”

this is complete crack and humor in the best way possible. it’s crack treated entirely seriously, and you will be in stitches, i promise. no matter how many times i’ve read this i break down.

KittandChips (@kittandchips) writes what i can only describe as food for the soul. the luke-vader interaction is insanely amazing, the world building of daily imperial life and imperial governance is amazing, and vader just has a special je ne sais quoi that u must read to understand––tragic, funny, and so, so fatherly. they’re currently rewriting the Force Bond Series to fit in with newer canon, so i will joyously binge reread the entire again (including the new Force Bond: Mustafar Weekend).

Force Bond 1: Orphan, 47k, complete. “After Owen and Beru are killed by a mysterious stranger, young Luke ends up as an orphan on Coruscant. It's a race against time as Obi-Wan struggles to find Luke before Vader realizes the boy is his son.”

Orphan kicks off the series, which tracks vader and luke’s relationship through the perils of luke’s teenagerhood while growing up under the eye of the emperor and imperial court. it’s filled with slow growth, struggle and misunderstandings as darth vader tries to single parent, and pay off in every installment. the entire series clocks in around 777k+ and is the most joyful, fulfilling reading you’ll ever have. promise.

darth-nickels (@darth--nickels) writes darker, twistier, and terribly, terribly heartwrenching aus. they’ve got a whole host, but let me introduce to my two favorites. also, check out their faux-academia on vader. it’s amazing and i love it, but i admit i am an academia hoe.

Dooku Captured, Pt 2, 16k, complete. “Dooku is taken alive onboard the Invisible Hand, and Sidious' web is torn. The Sith Lord wonders if death might have been preferable to clumsy interrogation by Anakin Skywalker.”

Dooku Captured is a longshot au told from Dooku’s pov which takes the beginning of ROTS and throws it on its head. it’s a fascinating outside perspective of anakin and obi-wan’s relationship and such and interesting examination of dooku’s psyche and especially his complex relationship with the jedi order, qui-gon, yoda, and palpatine. i cannot rec this one enough.

Black Mirror, 90k, incomplete. “The Ghost crew returns to the Lothal when they hear the Empire is investigating the Jedi Temple there. They learn Vader is alone and decide to take him out-- but what they find could change the course of Galactic history.”

Black Mirror diverges into swr territory, but make no mistake: this is entirely an examination of vader and, later, obi-wan as well as ahsoka. luke makes his appearance later in the game, and boy oh boy will you love luke’s portrayal is a microcosm of luke and vader’s relationship within canon. heed the tags, though.

jerseydevious ( @jerseydevious ) is, first and foremost, one of my favorite people on earth. secondly, though, she’s an amazing writer with a deep understanding of vader’s character and psyche, a flair for beautiful depictions, and the true ability to wring every emotion out of your body.

Two and a Half Men (with a baby), 13k, incomplete. “After a long day of bargaining with Hutts and attempting to ignore his past, Darth Vader is nearing the end of his rope. When he discovers his two-year-old son, it's the straw that breaks the semi-rational Sith Lord's back; in a rash act worthy of the Skywalker name, he scoops his son into his arms, steals a shuttle from his own fleet, and punches in random hyperspace coordinates to a destination on the other side of the galaxy. Unfortunately, father and son are not the only ones on the ship.”

Two and a Half Men will stick with you, dude. like no other. i promise. it’s a whirlwind ride with obi-wan, vader, and piett and as funny as it is heartbreaking. it touches on some heavy issues and doesn’t shy away from looking at the damage done to vader––again, heed the tags.

Helioseismology, 4k, complete. “Luke gets shot down on a supply run and caught in an ice storm. It's extremely lucky that his father followed him there.“

i’ll admit. im completely biased about this one because it was a birthday gift to me and i am sucker for litcherally anything when jd puts pen to paper, but believe me when i say you will be awed by the depth and tangled relationships between these luke and vader that jersey can illustrate in a stroke of the paintbrush. im love. always.

izzythehutt ( @izzythehutt ) i am blown away by the intricate dialogue and characterization, always. and the latin puns? im sold. im also a sucker for latin puns, but that’s a story for a different time.

In Loco Pirates, 34k, complete. “A down-on-his-luck Hondo Ohnaka manages to capture the unicorn of all bounties--Luke Skywalker, which sends Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, on a painfully familiar trip to the planet Florrum to collect his prize. The failed negotiations leave Vader in the awkward position of being stuck in a besieged pirate bunker, trying to balance keeping his wayward child safe (and in his custody) with controlling the tongue of a loose-lipped pirate who--to the surprise of no one--has a bad habit of telling 'amusing' anecdotes from the Clone Wars.”

hondo, aka the best character of swtcw, is brought to life just as vividly on paper as on screen. his entire personality brings luke and vader’s difficulties in a sort of incredulous light, which makes it as funny as it is vulnerable and tragic. the sequel, Palpatine Ad Portas, brings piett into the spotlight, and oh man do his interactions with palpatine and vader bring u all the uncomfortable vibes. relish in it.

sparklight ( @littlesparklight ) man. lemme introduce u to an amazing prolific and detailed writer. i will never get over the series they’ve written & neither will u.

Where Our Intrepid Hero Doesn’t Get Away, 122k, incomplete. “One-shots surrounding either AU situations of canon/legends works where Luke would normally have gotten away (or Vader is simply inserted into the action to come pick his child up) but in these instances doesn't, or completely new scenarios of the same. There are no deep ruminations on consequences of the situations here, just our awful Sith dad picking his son up when he'd rather not be.”

exactly what it says on the tin. u know those glorious moments of fanfic where luke’s gotten captured and ur on pins and needles, waiting for vader to show up in a moment of dark glory? here’s the moment. here’s all the moments.

Space Race, 122k, incomplete. “Owen gives in to Luke's wish to attend the Imperial Academy and Obi-Wan is too late to avert it, though he's not too late to make sure Luke leaves Arkanis before Vader can gets his hands on him. Luke spends over a month running around the galaxy before his father gets him, and from there...”

this story relishes in chase and boy is it fun. it will keep you on the edge of your seat and it’s an amazing ride.

The Suns of Tatooine, 85k, complete. “Luke ends up on a moon swamped in dark side energy after a mission goes wrong, then his father appears... and then they go on a bit of a learning experience. This could've been the only thing that would come of getting through a Sith complex with his father, but thanks to going to free Han earlier than the gang did otherwise, more revelations are had. Will that change anything?”

this series is a thoughtful, contemplative piece examining the nature of the force and the relationship the skywalkers have with tatooine. the descriptions are beautiful, the inventiveness is amazing, and you’ll be thinking about it for long afterwards.

an additional few…

Between Flight and Longing; 34k, complete. “Luke Skywalker and Han Solo journey to the planet Balen'ar on a desperate mission and find more than they'd bargained for.”

a classic and it is for a reason. the interaction between han, luke, and vader is so spectacular and the slow trudge of going through the forest with your greatest enemy and best friend is something hilarious. the end is bittersweet and fantastic.

The Sith Who Brought Life Day, 13k, complete. “An Imperial officer loses a bet and has to get Darth Vader a present for Life Day.”

somewhere between terrifying and dull, this fic presents a canon-compliant look at the hunt for luke and the grinding wheels of the empire. the oc is amazing and it echoes in true star wars spirit: sometimes it’s just some dude who can change the galaxy.

Quintessence, 5k, complete. ‘“Well, Master, I think I’ve found the one positive aspect of this situation.” “Which is?” “The Temple won’t have to pay the costs for our funeral pyres.”’

pure hilarity and shenanigans abound in pre-aotc obi-wan and anakin hijink goodness. lemme tell u––u will deeply sympathize with mace windu afterwards. additionally, check out the rest of the author’s oneshots! they’re deeply thoughtful and the interactions the author writes between obi-wan and anakin are always gold.

some extras & shameless self-promotion

here’s a full list of recommendations for star wars rebels fanfic in case this is what you’re looking for (remember when this used to be a swr blog, lmao)

i’ve also written sw fanfic, both swr and luke-vader centric. drop by and tell me if it’s any good!

[somedayonbroadway]

Oooo Im interested in your Star Wars newsies AU

Ooooooookay so this is gonna be interesting. I will be basing this particular AU off of the original trilogy (the best one by far. Nothing will ever beat it) though if you’d like to see the prequels or any other Star Wars movie done, or a different Star Wars story that I start making up on the spot, just let me know!

This is also going to be very similar to the storyline of each and every character. So I’m only going to do the three main characters, but if you’d like to hear about more, just let me know!

Star Wars AU

Characters

Racetrack Higgins — Luke Skywalker

Katherine Plumber — Leia Organa

Jack Kelly — Han Solo

Crutchie Morris — Chewbacca

Warden Snyder — Emperor Palpatine

Joseph Pulitzer — Darth Vader

Medda Larkin — Obi Wan Kenobi

Todd Kloppman — Yoda

Spot Conlon — Lando Calrission

Obadiah Wiesel — Jabba The Hutt

Racetrack Higgins

Anthony Higgins lived his life as a farmer on Tatooine.  

He lives on this hot, desert planet with his aunt and uncle, who constantly try to convince him that everything he’d ever need is right there on Tatooine.

Anthony does not believe them.

Growing up fascinated by any kind of ship he can get his grip on, he acquires the nickname “Racer” from his friends and is named an excellent pilot. He wants to explore the galaxy, but on the insistence of his uncle is forced to stay at the farm on account of the dangers that would come if he left.

Everyone was terrified of the Empire.

Race wanted to make a difference.

Growing up, Race had always been told that his parents had been good people. His father had died as a pilot during the clone wars and his mother had died getting him to safety.

Race never had a reason not to believe them.

He lives a relatively normal life on the farm on Tatooine, though he longs for so much more.

When Race was born, he was secretly given to his aunt and uncle by a woman he believed to be named Medda Larkin who lives in the desert land away.

This woman looks out for him, against his uncle's wishes, though, upon asking him why the old man has such a quarrel with Medda, only to be left without an answer.

Frustrated by his friends following their dreams and leaving the desert planet, Race finds himself staring into the sunset daily, wishing he could fly past it.

And one day, he gets his chance.

After inspecting new droids his uncle purchases, he finds a message of a beautiful girl begging for help from a Medactrine Larkin (I don’t know. It felt right).

Wandering off, Race goes to investigate, asking Medda Larkin if she was related to this mysterious person after being attacked by Sandpeople who knock him out and nearly kill him.

With the droids, M7-TN and BK-03, Race discovers that Medda is Medactrine and was once a Jedi Knight, one that fought side by side with Race’s father, whom she trained in the ways of The Force.

Though he at first declines Medda’s offer to travel with her to help the woman in the message, a Princess Katherine Plumber, after he tries to return to his farm, he finds it destroyed, the bodies of his aunt and uncle carelessly laid in front of the door to his home.

So he goes.

This embarks Racer on the path to him truly becoming The Chosen One.

Upon running from the people who murdered his family, Medda informs him that they have to secure travel off of the planet

That’s when Race meets Jack Kelly.

Race and Jack weren’t immediately best friends, but Jack wanted to protect him. Race was never entirely sure of why.

The Force is strong with Race, even though he never knew it.

Medda begins to train him in the ways of the force.

Race is forced to watch his mentor get struck down right in front of him and while he’d only known the truth for a few days about Medactrine’s true identity, he felt as though he owed his life to her.

Because she saved him countless times over and he didn’t even know.

Racer joins the rebellion after Medda dies, hearing her voice in his head, clear as day, telling him to run.

He is the pilot that blows up the Death Star whilst the majority of all others who tried died around him in their TIE Fighters.

Medda is guiding him the whole time. He uses The Force.

Race has the piloting skills of his father.

Race travels to a galaxy that many believe to be deserted to be trained by another Jedi Master by the name of Klopp.

He trains for a long time, becoming an unofficial Padawan and learning the ways of the Jedi who are nearly extinct.

He nearly gets killed by a yeti

He gets his hand cut off by the very man the whole galaxy fears.

He is told one day that he is the galaxy’s last hope

Jack Kelly

Jack grew up an orphan

When he was young, his parents were killed by the Empire and he was kidnapped by a local gang and made a part of it, a slave to it.

He grew up in a life of crime. He’d never asked for it.

After escaping that gang, leaving someone he loved dearly behind, Kelly, he runs off and joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet, naming himself Jack Kelly in honor of the girl who helped him escape.

After years of service, Jack wants a way out, a way to get away from this life only to be tricked and thrown into a monster’s den by con men who are infiltrating the navy in search of a lot of money.

It is in this monster’s den that he meets a creature with fangs, horns and golden skin with one leg. His name is Charbeddon. Jack calls him Crutchie.

Eventually, after escaping the navy and teaming up with the group of cons and thieves, Jack ends up doing the Kessel run in twelve parsecs in a ship that he nearly won in a game of cards, The Millennium Falcon.

He makes it clear that he’s an excellent pilot. Well, as long as he has his lucky dice with him. They were the first thing he ever stole.

After being betrayed by the small gang, Jack finds that he’s better of when it’s just him and Crutchie

Though he goes back to win the Millennium Falcon off of the man who cheated him at cards, one Mr. Spot Conlon, who is forced to put his money where his mouth is when Jack wins and claims his ship as his own.

After this, Jack and Crutchie leave for a small planet called Tatooine to find a crime lord that had been mentioned to him once who is putting together a big job

Long story short, Jack ends up owing this crime lord a big debt, ending up with a price on his head that sends just about every bounty hunter in the system out looking for him.

Jack meets Race and immediately knows that he wants to protect the kid, though he does not truly understand why at first

Jack Kelly is named the best smuggler in the galaxy at a very young age.

After escaping Tatooine after promising the crime lord he would pay him back within the month, Jack finds himself on a journey that changed him for good.

He saves a Princess, expecting a reward.

He didn’t expect to fall in love

Though he is hesitant to join the rebellion at first, his overwhelming urge to protect Racer like no one protected him growing up takes over and he flies after the kid right before the Death Star is blown up, saving him from being shot down.

Jack and the Princess, Katherine, get off to a rocky start until they finally admit they have feelings for each other

Jack is eventually captured, along with Katherine and their droids, by the empire

Jack is tortured for information; the location of Anthony Higgins, though during the first session of the shock torture, he isn’t even asked any questions.

Eventually, Jack is told he will be the test subject for a trap they were setting for Race. Jack had no hope of escape.

As he’s being led to the trap, Katherine admits that she loves him to which Jack can only respond that he knows

He’s frozen in Carbonite and shipped away to the crime lord that put the price on his head, being fixed as a permanent decoration in old Weasels hide out.

Katherine Plumber

After being given up by her mother, Katherine is adopted by a Senator the Queen of Alderaan

She grows up in a political setting, learning day in and day out about the Galactic Empire.

She vows to be a part of taking it down

She is the reason that Racer joins the rebellion in the first place.

After her ship gets infiltrated, the young princess finds a droid and records a desperate massage for someone her father spoke of often and trusted above anyone else. She asks Madactrine Larkin for help. She’s their only hope.

Katherine had a team of people find a weakness in the Death Star, something they could use to destroy it. She sends the plans with the droid BK-03

And then Katherine is captured by Darth Vader, the man most feared in the galaxy.

Even as she is defiant and strong in her ways, when the evil man aims a planet killer at her home, she caves and reveals what she’d done only for her home planet to be blown up anyway

She is then held prisoner, believing she will be executed soon

Until she’s rescued by a kind boy and a much too devilishly handsome young man who drives her crazy.

Katherine is much more than just a Princess. She’s a senator and eventually, a general

She’s a natural born leader.

Just like her mothers, biological and adoptive

Katherine finds herself often being treated like a damsel in distress, when in reality, she’s tough enough to handle herself.

After she’s captured once again by the Empire and the man she thought he hated but turned out to love was turned into a statue and sold away, she is the one who goes out to save him

Maybe they both get captured immediately, but at least she got that far

She is made a new slave for Weasel even as a newly blind Jack is trying to beg Weasel to leave her alone, that he’d pay him back in full and even more but he is taken away and finds Crutchie waiting for him in the dungeon.

Katherine is forced to wear demeaning clothing and held by a chain around her neck like Weasel's new pet.

Even after Race tries to save them, he gets captured as well. He is fed to the monster they have underneath them only to kill the thing and be taken prisoner like Jack and Katherine has to watch the whole thing.

She is forced to watch while the only friends she has are taken out on Tatooine to be eaten alive by a giant man eating plant

This is where Race gets the upper hand and Katherine is given the opportunity to finally kill Weasel and escape with Jack and Race.

She is very sneaky and very quick and even when Jack tries to protect her, she ends up saving his skin just as much

Katherine Plumber is strong with the force, though she believes Race, her brother, must be the Jedi of the family

She finds out all on her own, through accidental Force Searching that Darth Vader was the Jedi Knight Joseph Pulitzer, who was also her father as well as Race’s.

Katherine is honestly a badass.

Let me know if you guys want to see any scenes from this one!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[dalekofchaos]

Rey, The Heir of Mandalore

I am more convinced than ever that Rey should have been a Kenobi.

This could've confirmed the fan theory that Korkie was Obi-Wan and Satine's son. Bo Katan would've figured things out and made it her mission to train her nephew to become the next Mandalore.

Korkie would've gotten married and had a child. During the fight with Moff Gideon, Korkie falls and his mother and baby Rey flee.

Rey’s mother leaves Rey in the care of Luke Skywalker. Rey would’ve been a student at Luke’s school because we all know Luke would’ve loved nothing more than to be there for Obi-Wan’s  granddaughter when he was there for him. Then Kylo and the Knights Of Ren would attack the temple, but for some reason Ben could not bring himself to kill Rey. So he wipes her memories and leaves her on Jakku.

“Rey, these are your first steps.” Her great grandfather guides her. And the rest simply writes itself.

Rey would have many teachers. Luke, Bo Katan and Din Djarin

A Kenobi saving a Skywalker from the dark, which is what previously couldn’t be done. Could you... just imagine the potential? The Last Kenobi and the Last Skywalker falling in love, a Kenobi and Skywalker in a Dyad with each other and said Kenobi is able to save the last Skywalker and together they bring balance to the force together. Rey, Obi-Wan’s Granddaughter could’ve helped Ben achieve what Anakin could not bring balance to the force. Rey Kenobi, would have been a symbolic reconciliation for Anakin and Obi-wan as their grandchildren Rey and Ben became life partners. Which would have united the Skywalker and Kenobi families together forever. 

I would also have Finn be a Mandalorian. Finn would be the son of Boba Fett and Sana Starros. Before anyone gets on my ass, yes I know George and Dave made the stupid decision in removing the Fetts as Mandalorians, but they should be. But for more backstory. Sana Starros was on Tatooine one day shortly after the Battle of Endor and found a gravely injured Boba Fett who just escaped the Sarlacc. Sana takes him to Mos Eisley and nurses him back to health. She and Boba eventually fall in love and have a prosperous career as a bounty-hunting duo. Eventually Boba Fett makes amends to Luke, Leia Han, Chewie and Lando and helps the New Republic hunt Imperial war criminals. Years later, Din Djarin tracks Boba down and requests aid in the fight to retake Mandalore. For his efforts in the fight for Mandalore, Boba Fett and Clan Fett are hence forth recognized as Mandalorians and Jango is recognized posthumously. Boba and Sana settles down in a remote area on Concord Dawn and there they would have their son, Finn. Boba retires from Bounty Hunting and leads The Mandalorian Protectors, while Sana smuggles for The New Republic. They live in happiness for a brief time until the First Order comes and takes Finn away, Sana dies to save her son. When Boba returns, Sana is dead and Finn is gone. Driven mad by grief, Boba Fett goes out into space, obsessively looking for his son. But, he never finds him. But he does in the final battle to retake Mandalore.

Now we wouldn’t need Palpatine, instead Moff Gideon and Rae Sloane(played by Angela Bassett) would be the villains. The true architects of The First Order. After Snoke fell and Kylo reigned, the founders returned to take power. With the help of Hux and Phasma, they stage a coup and leave Ben for dead.

Rey is the granddaughter of Obi-Wan and  Satine Kryze. Niece to Bo Katan and daughter of Korkie. She would've been the lost Heir to Mandalore and the Darksaber. She reclaims her heritage, becomes Mandalore. Ben is the last heir to Alderaan & Naboo and the Skywalker-Amidala-Organa-Solo family. Finn is the heir to Clan Fett and the Mandalorian Protectors.

Rey, together with Ben, a Skywalker and a Kenobi make things right, brings balance. It is also a friendship between a Solo and a Fett. Together, Rey, Finn and Ben retakes Mandalore and ends The First Order once and for all.

Also, technically speaking, Rey is the heir to the Darksaber and heir to Mandalore

Rey is Mand'alor

[oceanera12]

Star Wars Pizza AU

You read that right. In my defense, I saw a post about someone ordering pizza and their order was number 66. I decided to read the comments for a laugh. And then my brain exploded. Whoops.

Dominos (aka the Clones)

The franchise was technically bought by the owner of Little Senators years ago, but no one knows about that except the original owners (*cough cough* The Kamino family *cough cough*) who pretend they’re still in charge for a large hunk of money (ILLEGALLY)

Their best store (the one that makes the most money and has the best reviews) is in the city named after the Kamino’s (Kamino) and is run and operated by a different family, the “Fetts” (and no one is sure how it is legal, but so far no one’s gotten sued so...)

It’s a joke that the “Fetts” will run out of workers at some point but so far it hasn’t happened.

Also, weirdly enough, all of the employees are boys and look a lot alike

The manager’s name is Cody. He’s very strict on the dress code, very fair to the customers, and loves his job.

His brother, Fox, manages another Dominos across town and the two of them will often team up on especially large orders and hold a (friendly) yearly competition between the two stores (Cody’s team has won the last three years, something he will bring up whenever he can)

They have another brother, Wolffe, who manages another store as well, but he’s across the country so they don’t see him as much.

All three were taught how to make pizza, run the storefront, etc, by their grandfather (Ninety-Nine), who passed away a few years back. Their grandfather was one of the original managers during the franchises’ early years

Rex is the younger brother of Cody and acts as an assistant manager to him. Rex hopes to be promoted one day but he’s happy where he is right now.

Boil and Waxer (the cousins) are the best chefs they have. The kitchen is filled with bickering and teasing with flying dough and toppings but everything comes out perfectly (somehow).

Kix and Jesse are the head delivery boys. They are in charge of training the newbies and take the furthest orders (Jesse is known to run the speed limit at one point going 90 down a 35. Kix knows the city like the back of his hand and knows all the short cuts)

Nicknamed, “The Domino Squad” (aka, the thing that started this AU idea), is Fives, Echo, Hevy, Droidbait, and Cutup. (Fives and Echo are twins, with Droidbait as a little bro while Hevy and Cutup are cousins of theirs. All are nephews to Rex and Cody) Cody and Rex quickly learned the five of them could handle the day shift all by themselves. (hence the nickname) 

Fives is excellent on the front end, taking orders and answering the phone with a friendly smile and pleasant attitude.

Echo is the best on the register, his mind able to add up the order and give back change very quickly and efficiently. He also keeps the orders straight and has never given anyone the wrong slip/pizza.

Hevy can run the kitchen on a busy shift with help from Cutup (who doubles as a janitor when needed).

Droidbait is one of their fastest delivery boys and manages to rack in a lot on tips and good reviews.

Hadcase and Tup are also delivery boys, with Dogma helping in the kitchen. Tup is also trained on register and is quite good at it.

The advertising team is nicknamed “The Bad Batch” because why would anyone in their family go into advertising over pizza making? (Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Crosshair would, apparently)

Pizza Hutt (aka bounty hunters and scoundrels) 

Jabba is the owner (who else would it be)

Their best store is in the town of Tatooine, which is weird given how hot the climate is.

The manager is this really creepy guy named Bib Fortuna.

Employee of the month (most of the time) is the delivery boy Boba Fett (who deserted from Domino’s after his dad died in a car accident or something). Bobba is known for always delivering on time and with the food still hot. He’s also really good at getting extra on his tips.

The employees come and go on a regular basis, some staying for several years, others only a few days. Jabba is very particular about his place and if he doesn’t like the worker or how someone is doing something, he’ll fire them. Usually with no notice.

On the plus side, Jabba is known to give some pretty good bonus’ if you do a really good job.

Every once in a while, the company offers a special topping. No one is a hundred percent sure what it is but it tastes really good so it sells well. (Don’t ask me what it is)

The employees are not allowed to interact or affliate themselves with any of the other pizza places or Jabba will fire them. He’s very jealous of his company and will not risk losing his secret recipies (hence why only a few people actually know it)

Han and Chewy work there for summer jobs.

Little Senators (later Little Empire-- aka Palpatine and pals)

Palpatine “bought” the franchise years ago (he persuaded the previous owner to basically give it to him with some blackmail and a few other shady business moves, but hey. If no one can trace them, it never happened)

Their best store is in Coruscant (which also happens to be one of the biggest cities in the country) and are considered one of the largest franchises in pizza (if not the largest)

There are two managers that stand above the rest: Dooku and Padme.

Dooku runs the southern Coruscant Little Senators while Padme runs the one in the little off branch city of Naboo. Neither like the other one.

Dooku’s store is known to deliver on time and never mix up orders. The actual pizza’s taste fine, but they are a little haphazardly thrown together.

Padme’s store is known for having the “better tasting” pizza and their food is always hot. If the order is mixed up, they do full refunds and deliver the proper order with no charge.

Dooku’s store is one of the first experimenting with robotic help at the counter and in the kitchen. It goes... well enough.

Padme’s assistant manager is Bail Organa and her best employee is her daughter, Leia Amidala.

When Palpatine brings out the new name (Little Empire), Dooku fully supports it and continues under the franchise.

Padme doesn’t support it or the new company regulations (”These new rules and regulations are tyranny!”) and quits (along with Bail) to start their own pizza place (it’s like a local family joint, not a franchise but who knows). They call it “Pizza Rebel”.

Papa Yoda’s (aka the Jedi)

I can’t stop laughing at the name of this one, help

Yoda is the owner (duh) and most of the employees believe he’s at least a hundred and are shocked he’s still alive. And working. He’s short, walks around with a wooden spoon and will whack anyone who tries to eat the toppings. And yes, he is still involved in the kitchen (and hasn’t retired)

He taught Dooku all about the business of making and selling pizza’s. Dooku grew in skill and then one day left the company without a word. A few years later he showed up as a manager in Little Senators. Ever since then, Papa Yoda’s has been struggling to stay a float.

Some managers worth mentioning: Mace Windu, Obi-Wan, Plo Koon, and Shaak Ti.

Obi-Wan runs the store in Naboo, which had been run by his teacher, Qui-Gon Jinn until his sudden death several years ago. He is the youngest employee made into manager to date. His assistant manager is Anakin Skywalker, who really wants his own store but Yoda thinks he’s not quite ready (which he isn’t). Their best employee is Ahsoka Tano, who can do it all (cook, deliver, and serve) followed closely behind by Luke Amidala (who Anakin claims he’s not related to, but everyone knows otherwise)

(Anakin has been secretly married to Padme of Little Senators but when she leaves the company there’s not much of a reason to keep it a secret. Turns out it really wasn’t a secret because everyone in the store knew-- they also knew about Luke and Leia, apparently)

Mace Windu runs his store alone, but runs it efficiently. The closest thing he has to an assistant manager is his head cook, Deba Billaba. Caleb Dume (Kanan Jarrus) is their best delivery boy who has recently decided to start training some of the newbies (Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, Garazeb Orrelios). The front end is run by Hera Syndulla (who may or may not be dating Caleb, it’s a running bet).

Plo Koon and Shaak Ti run their store together (as business partners that’s it) and are known to treat their employees, customers, and their rivals with consideration and kindness. They have a shop very close to Wolffe’s Dominos, which does cause some contention at low points but for the most part, they get along fine. (Plo and Shaak Ti absolutely love the family dynamic between Wolffe’s “pack” of employees). The two will often help Wolffe and his crew in outside business affairs (finding open apartments for employees, helping buy a first car, etc) and they will do the same for the two managers. Most people don’t get how Dominos and Papa Yoda’s are both still open because of this relationship, but they are. (In the future, someone finally figured out Dominos had some legal issues in it’s ownership and was forced to merge with Little Empire or shut down. Wolffe chose to shut down and he and his pack were immediately offered jobs at Papa Yoda’s. They accepted.)

Yoda actually manages a store as well. It’s the “first” one he ever opened and he uses it as a training grounds of sorts for future managers and other job positions. He’s patient, but strict and will often speak in riddles which is annoying to no end. He finds it a great way to weed out the ones that don’t want to be there, and the ones that do.

Order #66 has been banned as an order number. The “why” is never to be spoken of ever again and all the newbies are confused and will ask, but no one will tell them because “they don’t talk about it”

[the-desolated-quill]

The Mandalorian Represents Everything I Hate About Disney - Quill’s Scribbles

This post contains spoilers for the first two episodes, if you care about that sort of thing.

Yes, after four months of wallowing in a depressive funk, your lord and saviour the Desolated Quill has returned to (hopefully) start posting semi-regularly again. And what better way to mark my return than by kicking my favourite dead horse Disney.

So what have you been doing since this coronavirus epidemic started? I for one have been spending most of the time trying and failing to persuade my mother not to get a Disney+ subscription. The rise of streaming TV services represent the very height of greed and stupidity within the film and television industry. See it’s not enough for these studios to share their profits with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Rampant capitalism dictates that they must have every conceivable penny imaginable, hence why we’re seeing the slow gating off of content and the emergence of new streaming platforms like Disney+, Starzplay, DC Universe, HBO Max, Apple TV and YouTube. Yes, even Youtube has a subscription service now. It’s like that episode of Oprah Winfrey. You get a streaming service, you get a streaming service, you get a streaming service, EVERYBODY gets a streaming service! Except the problem is that the reason why Netflix and Amazon took off was because it was convenient to get all of our entertainment from one location. Now with content spread out across multiple platforms, customers are having to pick and choose who to subscribe to as only the very rich can afford to subscribe to everyone. It’s ostensibly a televisual arms race coupled with classism. Make no mistake, the motivation behind the rise of streaming services is not motivated by customer satisfaction nor artistic merit, but rather corporate greed. And Disney is by far the worst offender. There is literally not a single reason why they couldn’t have kept their stuff on Netflix. The only reason Disney+ exists is so that they can get their grubby mitts on even more money than they already have (which is quite a lot).

So my mum got a Disney+ subscription because she never fucking listens to a single word I say and we ended up sitting down to watch the first two episodes of The Mandalorian. The new Star Wars TV spinoff created by Iron Man director Jon Favreau set in-between Return of The Jedi and The Force Awakens.

As much as I have complaints about the way Disney have handled the Star Wars license, I confess I was curious and dare I say even excited about The Mandalorian when it was first announced. I’ve gone on record to say that I didn’t want nor care about a sequel trilogy because, as far as I was concerned, Return Of The Jedi was a perfect ending to the Skywalker saga and we didn’t need to see what happened next. That’s like wondering what happens after Cinderella married Prince Charming. We don’t need to see it. They lived happily ever after. The end. The spinoffs, on the other hand, including the Anthology films and The Mandalorian, I was much more excited for because it was an opportunity to tell different kinds of stories and explore areas of the Star Wars universe we wouldn’t normally get to see in the main films. If the Star Wars franchise has to be expanded upon, I’d rather it was like this. Lets move away from the Skywalkers and the Jedi and concentrate on other stuff. So a space western set after the original trilogy depicting a lone bounty hunter trying to make ends meet after the fall of the Empire was very appealing to me.

Sadly that’s not what I got.

I’ll just be blunt. I saw the first two episodes of The Mandalorian and I didn’t like it very much. It’s not bad as such. It’s competently made. I’ve seen some behind the scenes videos and there’s clearly a lot of talented people working hard on this show. That being said, the story of The Mandalorian is... well... kind of rubbish.

So lets talk about it, shall we?

As far as I’m concerned there are three reasons why The Mandalorian doesn’t work. The first is the complete lack of tension. It’s a problem that’s plagued Star Wars since The Phantom Menace. Despite all the challenges and obstacles that are thrown at the characters, it never seems to affect them or even pose much of a threat. We saw that with Anakin Skywalker in the prequels and Rey in the sequels, and it’s the same here. The Mandalorian is this amazing dude who’s skilled and awesome and the bestest fighter ever. He can take out all these bad guys single-handedly and can do all these cool things. Except none of that is interesting. It’s boring. People like to defend Rey saying she’s no worse than Luke Skywalker, but that’s not true because, unlike Rey, Luke isn’t perfect. He struggles, he makes mistakes, and he grows and evolves over time. Rey is just this perfect woman who can do no wrong and who can pull any random superpower out of her arse for the sake of plot convenience. It’s just bad writing. While The Mandalorian never gets quite as bad as that, there does seem to be this obsession with making this awesome, cool dude, but that ends up coming at the cost of any tension or threat the story could have. 

In the first episode, we see his bounty explore his ship. This could have been an opportunity to create some tension. Maybe he could try and sabotage the ship. Or try to escape. Complicate matters for the Mandalorian. But no. The Mandalorian knew what the guy was doing and instantly recaptures him. Same goes for a scene later on when the Mandalorian and some killer robot has to fight a whole army of mercenaries. How are they going to get out of this? Very easily it turns out. Not only do they beat them within a couple of minutes, the mercenaries are also clearly the worst shots ever. The robot is like seven foot tall and moving at the speed of frozen treacle, and yet they don’t manage to land a single hit on the guy. Where’s the suspense? Where’s the danger? By the end of the first episode, I was just bored senseless.

Which leads me to my second biggest problem. The total lack of originality. Is it really too much to ask for someone to actually come up with their own fucking ideas? Literally everything in The Mandalorian is basically nicked wholesale from other, better Star Wars films. The first two planets we visit in episode one are basically variations on Tatooine with the same architecture and everything. There’s even that eye thing that pops out of the door like in Jabba’s Palalce in Return Of The Jedi.  Then, to add insult to injury, we then end up on the actual Tatooine (or at least what I assume is the actual Tatooine. I mean there are Jawas). The Mandalorian is like this Frankenstein assembly of Star Wars memorabilia. Everything has been taken from other films when it makes no sense to do so. The Mandalorian freezes his bounties in carbonite, except that was a process specific to Cloud City. Darth Vader improvised a trap using what was at hand to try and catch Luke. He wasn’t even sure if Luke would survive the freezing process, hence why they tested it on Han Solo first. The only reason it’s here in The Mandalorian is for fanwank purposes. Same goes for the stormtroopers. Why the fuck are there stormtroopers?! Remember where we are in the Star Wars story. The Empire has fallen and the New Republic is taking over. Imperialists are going to be pretty unpopular, wouldn’t you say? So why the fuck would you have stormtroopers wandering around in full armour out in the open? It makes zero sense. Even the killer robot is copied whole sale from IG-88 from Empire Strikes Back. Why don’t you come up with your own killer robot design?

Then there’s this little shit:

Yeah, I kind of knew this was coming because I’ve seen the GIFs circulating on Tumblr beforehand, which kind of ruined the ending of the first episode somewhat. But even if I didn’t know this was coming, the ‘twist’ still wouldn’t work because it’s not really a twist if you think about it. What actually happens? The Mandalorian finds the Child and it’s an eighty year old gremlin. Okay. So what? The only reason it’s ‘shocking’ is because it vaguely looks like Yoda. Other than that, who gives a shit? It doesn’t really mean anything.

Which leads me to my third biggest problem. Why should I give a shit about anything that’s going on? What are the stakes? There aren’t any. We don’t know anything about the Mandalorian and we have no reason to care about him or his job. We don’t know anything about the Child or why he’s so important. The only reason people are interested is because it reminds them of the other films. As a story in and of itself, there’s simply nothing there. I don’t know who any of these people are, what they want, why they want it and what will happen if they fail. So why should I give a shit? And nowhere is this more apparent than in the second episode. The Jawas agree to give the Mandalorian’s ship parts back if he retrieves an egg from some monster. Why do they want the egg? I don’t know. I literally have no idea. They never say. And yet that’s what the entire episode revolves around. This isn’t a story. It’s just random stuff happening. And what’s more it has nothing to do with the overall plot. You can literally cut out the entirety of episode two and it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference. Same is true of that annoying fuckface that keeps insisting ‘he has spoken’ (I swear by the end I wanted to kick that old git in the face, he irritated me so much). We waste the second half of the first episode watching the Mandalorian piss about with some toad/horse thing only to then make his way back to the ship on foot in episode two. So what was the fucking point of that then? Why is anything fucking happening?

And this is what perfectly sums up the problems with Star Wars under Disney’s regime. If anything The Mandalorian acts as a microcosm for everything that’s wrong with the current movies and indeed Disney as a company. These movies aren’t movies. They’re products designed to pander to a gullible fanbase’s nostalgia. The entire sequel trilogy was basically the original trilogy repackaged and resold with nothing unique or original to offer. And the reason The Rise Of Skywalker felt so unsatisfying to everyone watching was because the story was never planned. They pivoted it to whatever the focus groups enjoyed about the previous film. That’s why the whole trilogy felt so uneven and directionless. And it’s not just Star Wars. Obviously there’s the live action remakes of the Renaissance movies, now with added nods and winks to meta commentary without actually addressing actual complaints people may have had. This also extends to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How many of these fucking movies have we had where the bad guy tries to take over the world with an Infinity Stone? Thor: The Dark World and Guardians Of The Galaxy are pretty much the exact same movie. Spider-Man: Far From Home, a film co-produced with Sony, is ostensibly a rehash of Iron Man 3, which in turn had recycled a lot of its story from Pixar’s The Incredibles, another Disney product. Even Black Panther, a movie I absolutely adore, borrows its basic plot structure from Thor: Ragnarok. Disney are so unoriginal and so lazy that they have effectively started cannibalising themselves. The Mandalorian is just the latest example of this. At least with Black Panther you had a talented filmmaker like Ryan Coogler who was able to take these borrowed elements and spin it into something more meaningful and with more emotional impact. At least there was some actual passion put into that film.

People are no doubt going to have a go at me saying I’m being too harsh and that I haven’t given The Mandalorian a fair chance. Well I’m sorry, but I’ve given it two episodes and I’m bored out of my mind. It’s a cynically produced, uninspired load of waffle. I’m not going to waste my time sitting through more episodes in the hopes that it might get good later on. That’s not how good storytelling is supposed to work and it sickens me to think that this has pretty much become the new normal for this industry.

[gabriel4sam]

Three conversations Obi-Wan had after the Death Star

Obi-Wan survives Vader and tries to take care of three young souls.

 Under the cut, a little fic written for @kenobi-gen-exchange, beta by the awesome @wrennette

Leia had entered the Death Star like she was descending into her own mausoleum. In her exhausted mind, it was fitting, in a way. The monstrous contraption which had destroyed Scarif would be her last step before the grave.

Then, there had been a too short Stormtrooper, a walking carpet, and a sarcastic rogue. There had been shots fired, and a garbage chute, and hope had reignited, like a spark starting a bonfire. The plans, the plans of that monstrosity were the best chance the rebellion had and now, she could deliver them…if they escaped.

Now, around them, the TIE fighters bark a deluge of fire, like a pack of small, savage beasts tearing at the throat of a larger animal.

Trying to tear apart, in fact, because the ship of Han Solo has teeth and he and Luke are sitting at the turrets, fighting back. Sitting in the cockpit, Leia watches, her heart in her throat. If they die in this battle, the death of Alderaan will be in vain. She wants to live, with a lust for life she thought lost when she saw her planet explode.

She wants to live, to avenge Alderaan, to tear the Empire apart. A cold shiver runs along her spine, changing her blood into ice in a wave of unknown fury, more dangerous for the calm that surrounds its core. She could murder, in that state of mind. She thirsts for the blood of Tarkin, of Vader; for their pain, to see them lose everything they hold dear, and make them watch, just like they made her. Just as a part of her recognizes, distantly, that her control of her emotions is better than that, normally, that she was raised better than that, warmth engulfs her and the ice recedes. General Kenobi has put his cloak around her shoulders.

“We will live today,” Kenobi says simply, “to rebuild,” and Leia wants to tell him she wants blood, revenge, she wants to throw away her principles to see Vader and Tarkin burn, but their gazes meet, and in the calm blue of his eyes, she sees a bottomless grief, like she carries in her heart.

“My father was happy, at the thought of seeing you again,” She says instead, and Kenobi smiles, old and kind and nothing like the brilliant, headstrong general of the stories, but his arm around her shoulders feels like an anchor, strong and sheltering, like a port in a storm.

“Sadly,” he says, “I know a little about losing my people. I won’t lie and say it will be alright.”

“You’re not very comforting.”

“But I will say this: it will get better, and an objective helps. A mission.”

“What was yours? When you escaped after the war?”

“Well, you and young Luke, of course. Luke, more specifically, but you were never far away from my mind.”

“What?”

“Oh, yes. Of course, you don’t know. We always said we would tell you together, and dear Bail and Breha were people of their word. Oh dear…. The Death Star, first, then we need to have an overdue conversation.”

She wants to pursue this conversation but he pats her hand:

“Allow an old man, whose mind is not as sharp as it used to be, a moment to gather his thoughts.”

“You can’t be serious! It seems like …like you said… Luke,” Leia whines, tumbling head first into a maelstrom of emotions, forgetting every notion of protocol ever drilled, with great difficulty, into her stubborn head, and General Kenobi’s mouth twitches.

In all his stories, her father never told how infuriating the man could be!

 **********************************

 The Death Star is dust, and Han’s head, which was only sought by Jabba, the thrice damned slug, and two or three exes with a grudge, will very probably be on every bounty hunter in the galaxy’s list in the days to come.

And yes, the Imperials.

That pesky problem of every Imperial who will now want him dead for helping the Rebels. Oh joy.

What was he thinking! He hadn’t even been drunk!!

On the edge of Yavin’s base, as the Rebels are packing up with military efficiency, despite an impressive collection of impressive hangovers, Han’s mounting worries look every minute more like full-blown panic, until a shuffling gait draws his attention.

Han isn’t a naïve farmer like Luke. He understands why the old man, whose steps were surer than the most limber Imperial spy on the Death Star, suddenly makes the same noise as a Gungan on dry soil. Kenobi smiles, light, self-deprecating, and Han glares harder. Despite himself, Han feels the poor, innocent, totally not dangerous, definitely can’t kill people with my mind, old man act works, as it had on Tatooine. It’s exasperating, especially since Han is old enough to remember Jedi shenanigans on the holo news. It shouldn’t work on him.

Kenobi sits next to him, and together, they watch the Rebels bundle up machines, explosives, parts, and sometimes a droid who doesn’t escape them quick enough, which spawns a quarter hour of comedy, as R2-D2 rescues his counterpart with violence Han didn’t expect of an astromech .

“Luke and Leia are very young,” Kenobi finally says.

“Hm, hmm,” Han answers. There. Totally not incriminating. He’s capable of learning, no matter what Chewie growls about his head and its contents.

“The crisis is reaching its boiling point,” the old man continues, not deterred.

“Long time coming,” Han can’t stop himself from adding.

“And they would certainly benefit from some guidance,” Kenobi half-smiles.

“They have the whole Rebel crew,” Han immediately says, “and also, aren’t you supposed to be subtle? Negotiator and all that.”

“I didn’t think you would appreciate being manipulated,” Kenobi remarks, and despite himself Han feels it working, that undisguised demand. Manipulated, yeah, he would hate that, especially from the man who is supposed to take care of Luke and Leia.

Those two will be trouble, he’s sure of it.

More trouble than the Death Star, even.

Oh, by the kriffin stars, they’re gonna get killed like two idiots. Luke has no survival instinct, and Leia isn’t much better, and he had only known them for a few days, he’s sure they can do worse than what already made him sweat. And Han isn’t touching on the hypocrisies of his opinion, coming back to protect Luke against Vader or not.

“Are you manipulating me by pretending you don’t want to manipulate me?” He asks, his glare making a fiery comeback.

The old man smiles.

“Snake,” Han grumbles, and apparently Kenobi takes it as a compliment, because his smile, from old and benign, turns mischievous. But it’s a smile which invites Han to share its joy, not a smile at Han’s expense, but a smile with Han, and despite himself, Han answers it with his own.

**************************

Luke is helping prep the Y-Wings for the flight to their rendezvous point, since all the X-Wings are ready. Working helped. Working, he understands. Flight engines don’t suddenly sprout family members. They don’t lie for years, pretending to be the more or less harmless and slightly touched in the head friendly neighbourhood hermit, when they are in reality space monks turned bodyguards for secret children of long-ago murdered friends. And also, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed a secret bodyguard, if he had raised under a false name, like Leia!

Oh Force, like his sister Leia….

Leia isn’t as angry as himself about their long hidden brotherhood, but he suspects that’s because the trauma of Alderaan and the necessary work for the Rebel Alliance are taking precedence.

Give it a little time. He’s pretty sure the spine of iron he already found in her is matched by a temper of much more volatile components.

Luke feels Ben entering the hangar. Every minute almost, the Force opens him a little more to sensations he doesn’t understand. It’s like an avalanche, and Ben explained it’s because Leia and him are working together, that it would be much harder if one of them tried to do it alone.

It’s terrifying.

It’s comforting.

It’s like a promise he will never be alone, as he can feel the nervous energy of every Rebel, and Ben and Leia more closely, the old man a point of light like a flame in the night, and Leia more turbulent, like a slash-and-burn fire, destructive perhaps but with a promise of more life reborn from the blaze.

It’s comforting, but when he’s angry with Ben, it’s a little inconvenient to feel themselves linked together like that.

“Came to tell me about more long lost family members?”

There is like a ping in the Force, almost a bell sound and Luke wouldn’t have understood, days before. Now he throws his wrench on the floor, unconcerned with their audience.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!! Ben!!”

“Luke, this isn’t –“

“No, not, let me guess, it’s a triplet. And it’s Han! Or better, Chewie!”

“Luke!”

The young man turns and on the old Jedi’s face, he sees what he didn’t feel in the Force, untrained and nascent, no matter his powers. On Ben’s face, he sees despair, worn like a twenty-year old wound, and still bleeding.

“Ben?” Luke asks, and suddenly he’s nine years old again and Ben just conveniently found him lost in the desert; he’s thirteen years old and Ben just conveniently rescued him from a slaver’s ship that wanted to fatten its pockets before leaving the planet; he’s fifteen years old and Ben just happened to pass the canyon where he was cornered by a Tusken raid.

Now that he thinks about it, he should have understood some things much sooner.

“Luke,” Ben says, and he stops. Luke puts his two hands on the hermit’s shoulders.

“I’m there,” he tries to reassure.

“Luke, there is something I haven’t told you and Leia, but it’s so terrible, I haven’t said it since the day I told it to Owen and Beru and I’m not sure I have the strength…”

“It will be okay,” Luke says, “you know it will. You’ll rely on us and it will be okay. You’re not alone.”

And if Ben’s eyes are perhaps wet, Luke doesn’t say it. A little awkward, he goes for a hug.

No matter what, they are not alone. Not one of them. The rest of the Rebels have made themselves scarce, but he suddenly feels Leia, at the other end of the hangar. She felt something like off and came to them. Behind her, Han is ranting, not aware yet of the current of tension between the three Force users.

Luke thinks of a little hut in the middle of the desert. He thinks about Owen and Beru, and Bail and Breha who he will never know.

“No one of us are alone,” Luke says with conviction and he knows, with certainty well beyond simple instinct, how true it will always be.

[spearcast]

SO  i finally finished the Roz Rundown as i’ve been calling it, the general correct timeline and story lines of Roz as to where i’ve gotten here. i’m putting it under the cut. she LONG so if ya’ll read this i apologize

Born alongside her twin sister on Tatooine to mother Yvait Pabura. Roz is born with yellow eyes like her father. Both twins have their mother’s brown hair. Lyn, however, has regular brown eyes. Both have sharp canines.

THE DEFINING INCIDENT;  at the age of four, Roz kills a Zygerrian slaver with the Force in defense of her and her sister, and Force-chokes another in defense of her new adopted togruta mother, Roxxa Vela. Her birth mother killed the Zygerrian slaver with her slugthrower rifle and buried both of them in the sandy yard away from the farm.

When Roz turned eight, four years after said defining incident, Luke Skywalker showed up on their doorstep. Well- in reality, he had been showing up on the Pabura farm’s doorstep and talking with Yvait, and visiting the children. It was just that at eight, Yvait gave both Roz and Lyn the option to go with Luke and train at his Jedi temple on Dantooine. Lyn was unsure, and hesitant; ultimately, the “elder” twin declined and wished to stay with her mothers all year round. Roz, however, at the pushing of her best friend Jhoren and the encouragement from Luke himself, jumped at the chance to train with the legendary Skywalker.

Roz trains with Luke and the other padawans until she’s 12. Through these years she returns to Tatooine every other season so she can still keep close with her family. She’s transported by friends of the Harsh family (Yvait’s mother’s family), the Taaks- Nesota, T’seri, and their hybrid daughter Tabiit. This creates a bond between the Taaks and Roz, especially as Tabiit becomes sort of an older sister to the girl.

The year that Roz is 12 is the year Ben goes fucking crazy. “Canon” says he didn’t kill anyone, but in actuality he did. The transformation from Ben Organa-Solo into Kylo Ren is a bloody one, and Roz stumbles out of her hut to be greeted by the dead bodies of her fellow students, everything in flames, the Knights of Ren, the three or so remaining padawans at Ben’s side, and Ben- with his hands bloody and his lightsaber reddening, extending those bloody hands to her. He asks her to trust him and come with her, where she’ll be safe. And she almost takes his hand but after feeling the rush of cold come off of him and the others she turns and jumps into the ocean despite not knowing how to swim. She manages to survive despite being hurled against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff; she gets herself into an eroded alcove and only after she feels the lot of them leave, begins climbing the steep steps that lead her back up. Luke is distraught, sobbing, screaming at the bodies of all of the fallen- when he senses Roz, and goes to her, and the two embrace and cry and mourn and he promises her he’s going to get her to safety. He’s going to get her home. In his hidden escape ship he calls Leia and Han, he calls Yvait, he calls Nesota for back up just in case those who did this to his temple return.

They’re just leaving Dantooine’s atmosphere when his ship is attacked by Alrai Kal’eeb, Roz’s biological father, and his crew of pirates and slavers. The Order is offering big money to anyone who can find any force sensitive kids and bring them to Snoke (and his new pet). Luke will always define this as his final great failing- after failing all of the padawans at his temple, he feels he failed Roz by not saving her from her father’s clutches.

Alrai Kal’eeb being a stupid, ugly man doesn’t realize as he and his buds are jetting away from Luke’s damaged ship that the Amazon and the Taaks family are there to kick ass and take names. In the skirmish while the ships are connected, Tabiit finds Roz and rescues her and carries her back to the Amazon where they disconnect with Nesota and T’seri and flee to safety. (T’seri goes back for Luke in their personal ship and takes Luke to where Leia and Han are.) Roz, after going back to Tatooine to her family who is crying and so, so happy she’s safe, decides to fly with the Taaks for a little while and offer her service to them for saving her life. They agree, also because staying in one location would draw too much attention and they don’t want the Order to track her down. At fourteen, two years later, they return to Tatooine so Roz can go back to her family.

This is a mistake though! If only because that’s when Roz stumbles upon her farm under siege by the Order. Ren and Hux and Phasma are at the helm for the first times in their lives in the Order and they’ve got Roxxa and Yvait tied up and on their knees before Ren and Hux. Lyn is nowhere to be found. Hux ends up shooting both Roxxa and Yvait and Roz does the smart, terribly scarred thing to do and runs back to the Taaks.

Roz transforms. She is no longer Roz Nuun Pabura. She is now Roz Sunborne. The Taaks take care of her and Roz stays with Tabiit when she pairs up with an old friend, Corellian and Mandalorian bounty hunter and space pirate, Rhys Th’on. The trio bond and help each other. It’s within the next two years that Roz also is gifted the Taaks’ family heirloom connected to the Force- the lava crystal lightsaber belonging to their great grandmother Aremna Taaks, who was a Jedi but left the Order bc she wanted a FAMBILY. (Aremna Taaks may or may not be a technical sister or cousin of Ahsoka Tano.) The lightsaber calls to her and Roz /loves/ it. This is in addition to the one she built at Luke’s temple (the one with the krayt dragon pearl as the crystal which is a silvery-yellow color).

Roz needs a teacher! So she, Tabiit, and Rhys search out the vibes Roz is getting and they meet up with Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren, and Ezra Bridger. Roz has THREE teachers. Well, two technically, but Sabine loves her and teaches her what she can because fuck it. Fuck it. Roz gets to be trained by the coolest motherfuckers. Die mad about it if you’re mad about it. This info will most likely shift a little when the Ahsoka & Sabine Hunt Down Ezra show eventually comes out.

Roz is 17 when she starts hunting down Kylo. She’s still 17 when she decides to join the Order for a bit after dabbling with the Resistance also. She is technically a double agent via Leia’s orders but she still is doing it for selfish reasons.

It’s a stint of a year and a half with the Order before she gets hit with reality and accidentally kills Kosmik’s aunt and is only praised for it by Kylo. This disturbs her greatly! So deeply! It’s after this that the Siege of Quarzite happens and while at first Roz is like !!!! FUCK YEA it’s then revealed the Order wanted to essentially kidnap the Kage people because of their prowess as warriors and turn them into enslaved soldiers. Roz is like oh wow I fucked up!! In this time she starts getting really strong with the Force and almost rips some of the Knights of Ren apart during training the last time before she yeets out of the Order. Kylo is like… she’s just fucking mad it’s whatever. OG Ren Ren (aka original Ren?? I’ve only read a little about him but he seems interesting and weird I like him) is like… nah man she’s Different. (This would be the spot in the story where it’s starting to hint at Roz being the descendant of Revan.)

She kills her dad somewhere in that year and a half also. That story is really good and it’s when she’s found by Tabiit and Rhys before Kylo finds her and it’s. It’s good. Roz’s patricide is actually meaningful and not horrible and it’s a moving on point. It’s one of the reasons she starts becoming herself rather than living in Kylo’s shadow still. Baby’s growing up.

Roz leaves the Order! She’s so fucking lost! There’s a funny story in here somewhere where Hux actually assists in her escape because he a) hates her fucking guts and b) wants to see Ren suffer and c) is almost completely sure she has none of the Order’s information which is……. Wrong. But. She doesn’t have enough info to stop what happens in TLJ I guess. Might rewrite some stuff. But this is also where her story starts pulling away from the main line. Roz really doesn’t want to associate with Kylo ever again, she hates him a lot more than she could ever love him, and she just gets ANGRIER but she gets angrier with a PASSION and a FIRE and an UNDERSTANDING of how she feels. No more vague feelings and no more wanting to save him.

She’s like 19-20 when she gets a vision of her Aunt Cora (her dad’s sister, Kage warrior mama) and also of a woman who may or may not be Shmi Skywalker reminding her that Jhoren is on Tatooine and that he needs help breaking the slave trade once and for all. She calls in anyone she’s met within the past years- which, again, somewhere in there the Amazon gets her crew and is joined by Khorde Khell and his ships (the Tuskat Retribution, the Revenant Concordia, and the Zakkeg Bolide) as well as gathers the Teal Squadron and the like; somewhere in there she meets and loves up on Miss Badass Senator of Coruscant Lenore Baccre Moorheart and also somewhere in there dearest Lenore becomes a FORCE to be RECKONED WITH (Padme would be proud mama ILU so much).

The Crew Stage A Slave Revolt On Tatooine. They Kill A Lot Of Slavers. They Kill A Lot Of Hutts. Goodbye Hutts. Tatooine Belongs To The Sand People Now. And The Criminals. And The Slaves Most Of All Because They Are Not Slaves Anymore. Fuck You Star Wars Tatooine Has No More Slaves. There Was No Bargain Bitches!!!!!!

Uhhhh also Roz gets really fucked up when Luke dies. She feels it in her bones. She gets kinda confused when Kylo dies tho. She’s like…. Yay? But Also??? Screaming??

When Luke dies Roz has a meeting with his force ghost on Tatooine during a binary sunset because I’m emo. That’s Her Dad. Like Her Real Dad. Fuck that other guy. But also Roz is like wait have you blue hallucinations always been force ghosts??? And Luke is like ALWAYS?? Turns out Roz’s special connection to the Force is being able to talk really easily with the Force ghosts!! Fuck those 5 minutes Rey had with all of them- Roz even talks to ANAKIN even though she doesn’t realize who it is. She talks to him a lot, actually. (They’re very similar okay??? OKAY??? I know it’s super OP but let me live, she’s Special alright, she’s my Special Little Baby Who Talks To Ghosts And Kills Things)

So like… she helps the Resistance return the Kage to Quarzite where they create their own happy peaceful empire, she reunites with Lyn because Lyn doesn’t die in this one!! Haha retcon. We still kill their moms tho sadly. But like!! Yay the Galaxy is at Peace!! Oh ALSO Roz is the descendant of Ancient Sith Lord Darth Revan and Badass Bitch Bastila Shan. Roz is like IDK who those people are but cool cool I guess.

Then she returns to the Temple on Dantooine and discovers the ruins of the Jedi Enclave and finds a MASK and turns out Roz is haunted cause she gets fucked up by all of the Force Ghosts who tell her some SHIT is coming but she’s like ???? Why?????? Everything is PEACEFUL why can’t it STAY peaceful???

And then BAM Sith Lord Hyaljenasha “Yaljen” sith pureblood who has been frozen for thousands of years (was around when Revan was around, just not powerful then) and when he awakes he’s like….. That’s a Revanchist force signature singing if I’ve ever FELT one! And he’s like…. Obsessed with Roz a little but he wants to train her

He’s got novitiates which are like his apprentices but he’s so technically old (even tho physically he’s closer to Roz’s age, so like between 22 and 27) that he doesn’t believe in the rule of two lmfao. He’s got Nevtay Strake who’s an Umbaran force sensitive, she’s a snooty bitch who wants everything to burn. He’s got Johaale Garnak who’s Chiss and unfortunately not force sensitive, but they’re a boss ass motherfucker who knows how to fight with weapons especially a lightsaber. They’re cool. Like. Chaotic neutral. Not even evil wtf. He’s also got Carnhea Wellew, a twi’lek woman who is supposed to be a juxtaposition to Roz- they’re very similar, Carnhea has been through some shit and is angry because of it and she needed direction with her immense force abilities. Yaljen is that direction for all three of them! They Love Him a lot and are Way Too Attached to him and while he cares about them also he kinda becomes one-track-minded when Roz Revandescendant comes into play cause he’s like…. Whew…. Wipe me off the face of the GALAXY please. Lemme teach you. Please.

The reason they’ve gone undetected since Yaljen’s awakening is bc he was like…… WOW the force is fucked up now. It wasn’t this fucked up when I went under. We gotta lay low. Gotta literally keep the Force close to the chest here. So they fly under the radar! Amazingly enough!

This is where I’ve gotten. Roz and the crew are like….. HM….. Yaljen is very kinda scary and he has a hold on a lot of strings that we don’t know about but we can’t kill him outright bc he’s so powerful and has powerful darkside followers and also fuckin Johaale who’s a batshit talented motherfucker…

Roz is like. Teach? Him teach? I learn his secrets and destroy him? And everyone at first is like you just didn’t get to do that to Kylo so you want to do that to Yaljen but then they realize it’s probably for the best to wait it out until they can get like. HELP.

Roz has training stints with Yaljen. Yaljen sexy! Roz is like Hm. Yaljen adores Roz and is very patient with her and is very kind and reassuring and Roz is like HM.

Poe and Finn are also gay I’m making canon now. I say this because they appear sometimes! As the heads of the Resistance as it stands they interact quite a bit with all of the squad. Sometimes there are double dates with FinnPoe and Jhorhys (Rhys and Jhoren), sometimes triple dates including ChorZeebs. It’s cute!

IDK where to go from here so I’m just gonna…… leave this all here for now

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: The Star Wars Holiday Special

Hi, Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where Today We Are Doing The Last Review Of This Year's Yultide Reviews...

All Right, Let's Get This Over With...The Star Wars Holiday Special...

Released 1 Year After The Success Of A New Hope, This Special Sees Wookie Chewbacca, Racing Home To Kashyyk On Board The Millennium Falcon With Han Solo So He Can Celebrate The Wookie Holiday, Life Day With His Family...

So, What Are We Waiting For Let's Dive Into The Star Wars Holiday Special...

The Special Starts On-Board The Millenium Falcon, As Han Solo (Played By Harrison Ford) Attempts To Get Chewbacca Home To Kashyyk For The Annual Wookie Holiday Known As Life Day But Unfortunately They're Been Chased By 2 Imperial Star Destroyers, Which Except For The Stuff In The Cockpit Of The Falcon With Ford And Chewbacca, Is Just Stock Footage From A New Hope...

Going To Hyperspace, We Get The Star Wars Theme And Our Credits Before We're Transported To Chewbacca's Home On Kashyyk Where We Meet Chewbacca's Wife, Malla, His Father, Itchy And His Son, Lumpy And From There It's Downward Spiral Down The Crapper As From Then Forward We Get Nothing But Wookie Talk With

No Subtitles!...

Now, While It Bothers Some People, It Doesn't Bother Me As Much Because My Family Likes Chewbacca, He's My Mom's Favorite Character And While He's Not Mine, I Don't Mind Him As Much So The Wookie Roars In This Special Isn't As Annoying To Me And My Family As It Is For Everyone Else...

Now I Know What Your Starting To Think That This Is Going To Be A Repeat Of My Haunted Mansion Review Where Thought That While Some Things Were Bad In The Film It Wasn't A Completely Horrible Movie Like Most Haunted Mansion Fanatics Would Make People Believe Well, Believe Me When I Say That It's Not Going To Be Like That It's Just That That Particular Thing Doesn't Bother Me As Much As Everyone Else...

But What Does Bother Me However, Is That Through These Characters We Get Very Little Of A Narrative Or A Story Out Of Them And Instead We Have To Revolve Around The Side Characters (Like The Guy Art Carney Plays, Luke, R2, Leia, 3PO, Han And Vader) To Tell The Story For Us When Really It's Supposed To Be About Chewbacca And His Family And Nothing And Nobody Else...

Anyway As We Watch Chewbacca's Family, We See That They're Like Most Families Back Then With Grandpa Itchy Making Models, Son Lumpy Playing With His Toys And Mom Malla Working In The Kitchen To Make Dinner For Life Day...

But When Malla Asks Lumpy To Take Out The Trash, He Goes For A Wookie Cookie (I Guess) But (Like All Moms Back Then) Malla Tells Lumpy To Put It Back Or Else He'll Ruin His Dinner Only For Lumpy To Take It Anyway...

Taking Out The Trash After Swiping The Wookie Cookie, Lumpy Decides To Do A Balancing Act Before Our Very Eyes Before Cutting Back To The Inside Of The House...

It's Like Why Did We Stick On That For A Few Minutes?...

Looking At A Picture Of Chewbacca It's Obvious That Malla Misses Her Husband, But With Itchy Knowing That His Son Will Be Here Soon, He Asks Malla To Return To The Kitchen To Work On Dinner...

Attempting To Keep Lumpy Distracted, Itchy Gives Lumpy A Holodisk To Watch On The Space Chess Board (I Say That As It Looks Like The Chess Board That's On-Board The Millennium Falcon) Which Shows...I Don't Know What...It Looks Like A Mix Of Dancing And Gymnastics...

Asking For Lumpy To Watch Dishes After Watching That, Still Worried About Chewbacca, Malla Checks For Spaceships In The Area Only For Her To Find None, This Leads Her To Contact Luke Skywalker And R2-D2 Who Are Working On A Part For Luke's X-Wing...

Asking Luke About Chewbacca, He Tells Malla That Him And Han Left On Schedule And If They're Not There Now Then They're Way Overdue And May Be In Trouble. But Luke Tells Them Not To Worry As It Just May Be Taking Them A Little Bit Longer To Get There As R2 Causes The Part To Burst With Heat Enough To Damage Luke's Face Which Forced Him To Get Plastic Surgery So He Would Look Like This In The Sequel...

Hey, It's A Better Story Than What They Came Up With For Empire...

But Still Worried About Chewbacca, Malla Calls The Owner Of The Trading Post On Kashyyk, Saun Dann Played By Art Carney Who Is Busy Dealing With An Imperial Officer In His Store But Tells Her In His Own Way That Chewie Is 4 Planets Away With Han And It's Going To Take A Few For Them To Get There...

Meanwhile On Board A Star Destroyer, We See Darth Vader Talking With An Officer, Saying That He Wants Those Rebels Found Even If They Have To Search Every House In The System...

Back At The Chewbacca Household, Malla Continues Working On Dinner With The Help Of A Gourmet Cooking Show Hosted By A 4 Armed Cook, Played By Harvey Korman Which Is Just One Of The Annoying Skits That I Don't Like In This Special...

Meanwhile In Outer Space, Han And Chewie Are Now Dealing With Tie Fighters After Losing The 2 Star Destroyers (Including The One That Vader Was On)

But Back On Kashyyk, An Imperial Announcement Appears Telling Everyone That The Empire Has Declared Martial Law On The Planet, With A Blockade Guarding It And That Until Further Notice, No Ships Are Allowed To Land Or Take Off Until Further Notice...

Hearing A Knock On The Door, Malla And Her Family Worry That It Maybe Stormtroopers But Instead It's Saun Dann, With A Proton Pack For The Mine Evaporator (Or For Ghostbusting, Whichever) Noticing Their Sad Faces Because Of The Announcement, Saun Tells Chewie's Family Not To Worry For If He Got Through Imperial Stormtroopers Than Chewie Might Be Able To Too...

Giving Chewie's Family Life Day Gifts, Malla Gets A Machine We'll See Later, Lumpy, A Transmitter That Will Give Us Nothing But Boredom Later And Itchy, A...Well, It's Supposed To Be A Virtual Reality Machine But Really It's Nothing But A Big Fat Porn Box!

And It's In This Porn Box, We Meet Diahann Carroll Who Sings A Song In This World Of Virtual Reality...

But After That Mind Sticking Scene, Princess Leia And C-3PO Call Malla To Talk With Han And Chewie But Malla (Through 3PO's Translation) Tells Them That They're Not There...

Asking If Malla Is Alone, Malls Tells Them That She Is Not And Brings Saun Dann To The Viewing Screen To Talk With Leia Who Asks Saun To Stay With Them Until Chewie Gets There To Which He Agrees...

Back In Outer Space, Han And Chewie Arrive On Kashyyk, Only To Notice Imperial Ships Around Which Forces Han To Land On The Far Side Of Kashyyk...

Hearing What Sounds Like The Millenium Falcon, Lumpy Opens The Door To Discover, Stormtroopers!...

And A Few Imperial Troops Who Are Looking For Han And Chewie And Search The Premises...

Coming Across The Device, Saun Got Malla For Life Day, Saun Turns It On For One Of The Imperial Troops To See Only To Discover...Jefferson Starship!...

After That Pointless Scene, Saun Dann Is Forced To Leave By The Imperial Troops As He Has No Purpose To Be There. With The Troops Searching Upstairs, Lumpy Watches A Cartoon While They Do...

This Cartoon Actually Is The First Appearance Of The Bounty Hunter Boba Fett...

Done Searching Upstairs, Lumpy Goes Upstairs To Find Not Just His Room But All Of His Toys Destroyed So, He Decides To Get Rid Of The Imperial Troops By Using His New Transmitter But Unfortunately He Has To Put It Together So We Unfortunately Have To Sit Through An Instructional Video On How To Put It Together With A Malfunctioning Emorphient Being (Played Again By Harvey Korman) Giving The Instructions...

And How Do I Feel About This Scene? Well, I Think The Nostalgia Critic Said My Opinion Exactly...

(Start At 15:16, End At 15:48)

If By Any Chance You Get Your Brain Unzombified After Watching That Skit, We Get Another Skit Showing Us Life On Tatooine, Which Sends Us To The Cantina Where We Meet The Owner, Ackmina (Played By Bea Arthur) Who Is Approached By An Alien Named Krelman (Played By Guess Who, Harvey Korman) Who Has A Crush On Her Over Something That She Said To Him That He Misunderstood...

But When An Imperial Announcement Stating That Until Further Notice There Is To Be A Nightly Curfew On Tatooine, Ackmina Has No Choice To Close The Bar But Not Before Offering One Last Round To Her Patrons, Which Leads Into A Song...

(End At 4:46)

Now What Do I Think About This Skit? I Think It's One Of The Best (And Only) Good Skit In This Special And If There Was A Reason To See This Abomination Of A Special, It Would Be For This Skit...

But Moving On, Lumpy Activates His Transmitter To Lead The Imperial Troops Away But He Is Caught By One Of The Stormtroopers Who Stays Behind Because Of Orders From One Of The Imperial Soliders And Destroys The Transmitter. Chasing Lumpy, The Stormtrooper Is Confronted By Chewbacca And Han Who Disarms The Stormtrooper Of His Weapon So Han Can Make The Trooper Fall Off Of The House Apparently...

With Everything All Right Again, Han Can't Stay As He's Got To Get Back To The Falcon Before Someone Stumbles Across It...

(Harrison Ford) Okay, I Gotta Go Somebody's Waving A Check For Me Outside, Bye...

After Han Leaves, Saun Dann Returns Again To Tell Chewbacca And His Family Not To Worry About Imperial Soliders As They Left, However Another Announcement Comes Over The Tv Stating That The Empire Is Looking For The Stormtrooper Who The Imperial Soliders Left Behind But It's Quickly Taken Care Of By Saun Dann Who Tells The Empire That After The Imperial Soliders Left The Trooper Behind He Stole Food From Chewie's Family And Robbed Saun Dann Blind Before Running Off...

Telling Them To Have A Good Life Day And...

Saun Dann Leaves, As We See Chewbacca And His Family Start Their Life Day Celebrations By Grabbing Balls Of Light Which Place Them In Red Choir Outfits Which Somehow Make Them And Other Wookies Walk Through Space Into A Bright Sun Or Something? I Don't Know What's Going On Here But Somehow They All End Up In Front Of A Big Tree Which Is Supposed To Be The Tree Of Life, I Guess...

But I Surely Don't Know What George Lucas Or Whoever Wrote This Was Smoking But That Defiantly Does Not Look Like The Tree Of Life At Disney's Animal Kingdom...

Reunited With His Friends, R2-D2, C-3PO, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker And Han Solo, Princess Leia Gives A Speech...

(Start At 1:03,End At 3:03)

After That We Get Some Footage From A New Hope, Including Scenes With Alec Guinesss (Who Thanks His Lucky Stars He Wasn't In This Special) And We See Chewie And His Family Sitting Down For Life Day Dinner As Our Special Ends...

And That's The Star Wars Holiday Special And Yeah, It's Horrible...

I'm Serious, Folks It's Bad And The People We Can Blame For That Are Definitely Harvey Korman And Diahann Carroll Otherwise I Didn't Mind The Stuff With The Original Cast, Art Carney Wasn't Bad, The Bea Arthur Skit Was One Of The Highlights (Despite Harvey Korman Being In It) And The Chewbacca's Family (Despite Not Understanding Them) Weren't Abysmal And Didn't Bother Me As Much As Everyone Else Because I'm Used To Wookie Sounds. If You Must Watch It, Watch It For The Bea Arthur Cantina Scene Otherwise This Is One To Skip...

Well, With Christmas Now Behind Us, It Means Back To Reviewing As Usual And What A Way To Come Back Then To Look At Something I've Been Dying To Talk About, Till Then, This Is Duke, Saying Have A Happy New Year And See You In January...

Coming In January...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe!

[clairen45]

Who Let the Dogs out? A story of wolves and dogs in Star Wars

This meta was a long-time coming and prompted by @blacklakeinavalley. I always keep my promises, no matter how long it takes me, so here it goes.

Wolves or Dogs?

There have been some awesome metas on wolves in relation with Rey and Kylo more particularly, notably by resident she-wolf extraordinaire @raven-maiden (I am using the term in the most reverent way possible!). I also plead guilty to a meta I did with parallels between the Company of Wolves movie and the ST. I won’t necessarily go back to all the cool theories that have been made about wolf behaviors in Kylo and Rey, but I will draw the following distinctions, though:

in terms of symbolism, per se, there are not so many differences between wolves and dogs. There are both qualities and flaws associated with these particular animals. The qualities and the flaws are, more often than not, interestingly the same from a certain point of view

Qualities: fertility, sexual desire and power, fidelity/loyalty (to partner, pack, or master), fierceness, intelligence

Flaws: debauchery and savagery.

They are both considered chtonian divinities, that is to say linked with the “underground”, or the realm of death and Hell. Think of Cerberus, for instance, the mythical Hell hound, or Anubis in the Egyptian mythology. Which means that, as a symbol, it means both death and the potential for rebirth. The dog can guide the soul back out of Hell , or guide it through its journey into Hell (something usually called a psychopomp creature) . Dogs and wolves are usually associated with elements such as the moon, fire, and the earth. So, water (the moon is considered a watery element), fire, and earth.

So on the one hand heralds or bringers of death through destruction and carnage, and on the other hand, companions, fierce parents, and bringers of life. Life, death, decay that brings new life, peace, violence etc... Very ambivalent creatures that are either loved and revered, or despised and deemed as impure and dangerous.

If there is no huge distinction between wolves and dogs as far as symbolism goes, I would say there is a big one to draw, though. A dog, after all, is a domesticated wolf. What it gains in familiarity and companionship for mankind, it loses in grandeur and nobility. Also, this 4-legged favorite pet moniker is often used to insult people. A “bitch” is not in itself derogatory: after all, originally it just means a female dog. Yet, it is anything but when you apply it to a woman. Same goes with “dogs”. When you call someone a “dog”, except when you are the Snoop, this is usually not to sing their praises. Note that some people will even go as far as sometimes changing the spelling to avoid confusion: “dawg”... And what about “mongrel”, or “cur”? Dawg be darned, what about “rabid cur” for one?

Die, Jedi dogs!

So, in our beloved Galaxy far far away, this is how dogs find their way into the story and the mythos. On the battle of Geonosis, in ROTS, as C3P0 finds himself -as usual- flustered and confused after a mixing up of his body parts with a battle droid, he utters these very lines.

No wonder that the “dogs” get involved in an insult. Dogs are the persisting attribute of all the "wretched hive of scum and villainy”:

The bounty hunter Bossk and his ship called Hound’s tooth

The bounty hunter Embo and his hound called Marrok

That one has got a really interesting story in itself. The species is called Anooba, and is native of Tatooine, which of course will link straight to Anakin and Luke. The name is also full of possibilities: it probably comes from a medieval tale, the tale of Sir Marrok, who was a werewolf.

The vicious Corellian hound used in Solo by Moloch and his gang. BTW, one of the hound was “played” by one of “GOT’s direwolves” ... Funny thing.

Not to mention THIS famous dog in SW lore:

Oh, yea, this is happening. Because, ANH called it right away when Leia served this line to Tarkin about her papa:

Governor Tarkin. I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash.

As mighty as the Dark Lord has become in the SW universe and collective psyche, this awesome and powerful villain is presented as nothing more but a dog. Maybe not quite the poodle, but still a dog. Obedient, trained, who will bite only when his master commands. Gives the word “MASTER” quite another meaning, not just as an apprentice, but literally as seen from a dog’s perspective.

So, no surprise then to see the term re-employed by Snoke to talk about Hux, when he calls him a rabid cur in TLJ. Interesting also that the one using a reference to being “tied at the end of a string”, aka a leash, is also Hux, the rabid cur. Except, that, well, there is indeed an implicit distinction to make. Kylo is also, in many respects, as much a dog to Snoke’s bidding as Hux. Many viewers would even expect Snoke to call Kylo the rabid cur instead, given the tantrums we were privy to in TFA. But he doesn’t call him a rabid cur, and that’s the whole point. In Snoke’s mind, there is nothing rabid about Kylo -though people would have assumed as much- and he is certainly not a cur. A cur, after all, like a mongrel is clearly used to define a mixed breed. The term “rabid cur” is derogatory on two levels.

When referring to Kylo, Snoke is a bit more complicated. There is, on the one hand, the idea that, contrary to Hux, Kylo is valued as “pure breed”, a prized possession cultivated for “the potential of his bloodline”. Purity of blood (damn you midichlorians) being also alluded to, and mocked, by Luke when he talks to Rey about his failure to be a master to Kylo. Yet, at the same time, Snoke keeps on chastising Kylo for being a fraud. He is not the pure breed he expected. He has the feeling he got a mongrel that was tainted by the Solo blood. Hence the insistance of erasing Han Solo of the picture and denying him and his legacy. Yep, Ben Organa Solo is a mixed breed. Snoke wants a pure breed, maybe even a wolf. Pure blood. Untainted, untampered with. Leader of the pack. Well, that’s the project. A wolf and no lapdog.

Or not... Because, this is a little something I found on The astroly Web about the wolf and symbolism, and I will say it is quite interesting:

What I love about this portrait of Kylo as a wolf is that you get some of Kylo and some of what he could have been as Ben Solo. Some of the qualities remain, such as the sense of mystery, exuberance, instinctive and shrewdness. But most of it has been ironically ruined by his lack of self confidence. So as a wolf, he is not complete. The compassion bit really got me because it is the one thing that Snoke reproaches him with... Is he a wolf, or a dog in wolf’s clothing? Or a dog that dreams of being a wolf? Half and half, mayhaps?

Good dog! a rehabilitation

So are there any positive references to dogs in SW yet? Yep.

Anyways, dogs have always been part of the Star Wars mythos, altough not necessarily the obvious way. Take Chewbacca for instance. There would not be Chewbacca as we know him had it not been for George Lucas’s faithful pet, Indiana (who can also be thanked for giving the famous adventurer his moniker). Allegedly, Lucas got the inspiration for Chewie, Han’s copilot, when seeing his wife leave on her car with their huge dog on the copilot seat.

Funny thing is no dog played any part in Chewie’s distinctive sounds, which turn out to be recordings from a bear,a walrus, a badger, a lion, and a seal. The fact remains that Chewie exemplifies the dog’s most praised qualities throughout the saga: as a staunch and loyal friend, as a source of love and comfort (the famous Chewie hugs), and as a protector. Yes, just like dogs, Chewie can be fierce and defend his friends.

You could also argue that there are other examples of companions who exemplify the same doglike qualities in the movies. Droids such as R2D2 and BB8 just fit the model. Loyalty, check; defense, check; huggable, check. The perfect pets and companions. It says a lot that Chewie and R2 are the characters that have endured the longest in the general scope of the saga: R2 appearing in episode 1, and Chewie in episode 3, which make them the only ones that have recurring roles in the three trilogies (Chewie also scores Solo and R2 Rogue One).

There is a subversion of “dogs” as an insult that is quite interesting in the ST. Maybe it starts from this “Die Jedi dogs”, which is quite an oxymoron: the one time it is used as an insult it is to the people that are normally the golden moral standard, and also uttered by someone who is always all too polite and all too diplomatic. Also also, it is not totally incorrect as you could view the Jedi as the guard dogs of the Republic...

But wait, all that was before the ST. In the ST we get brand new examples of dogs and doglike behavior to ponder. Take Rey, for instance. Sitting there, loyally, on Jakku, waiting for her parents to return, a behavior not so different from the countless examples of dogs keeping watch on their dead masters’ graves (like that little famous Scottish from Edinburgh, Greyfriar’s Bobby, who even got his statue to commemorate). After all, this is exactly Rey’s place: Jakku is pictured as a graveyard, a place that is described literally in the novelization as where “technology came to die”. And where does she make a house for herself? As @blacklakeinavalley pointed it out to me in her original ask, in an AT-AT walker which is called non the less: the Hellhound!!!! 

Seriously, like, of all the stupidest dumb names this is the one they picked! An appropriate one, to boot, since the At-AT has always had that distinctive look that made it look like a dog... And I have always been intrigued by this particular rendering with a little girl holding an At-At on a leash...

So, yes, the dog. Here really the corpse of a hound. But symbolism is not lost here... Death that feeds off new life, reborn out of hell... And who could this hellhound be, pray? Well, it gets even better when you know that this particular Hellhound was part of a ship called the Interrogator... Interrogator, mind you, and not something as dreadful as, say, an inquisitor. No, the Interrogator is quite a good one because who is the interrogator since the beginning of TFA? Ummm? Who else but our boy who “interrogates” Lor San Tekka, and Poe, and well... eventually Rey. Rey makes a home for herself there. It’s like Kylo is her home already... ain’t it cute...Also, Kylo as a dog, a “hellhound” is a good one as his job at the beginning is somehow to “hunt down” Luke, sniff his trace throughout the galaxy if you will, and then fetch the information back to Snoke. Good boy Kylo eventually fetches quite another prey... Even though again, Kylo seems more like the wolf at the begining of the story to Rey the dog... Look at the symbolism of the dog from The Astrology Web

Adventure, patience, hardworking!!!! You need to spend more time with your family!!!!!

There was yet another girl that exhibited some interesting doglike behavior in the ST, in a positive way. Unfortunately the scene got cut out. But when Rose bites the finger of Hux on the Supremacy as he mocks her and her system, this is an interesting one. Dog fight, right? What better way to get back at the rabid cur than bite him back?

Wolves will show the way

And then there are wolves in SW Rebels. When I did a piece on birds in SW, I mentioned the convor but as I hadn’t watched any of the Clone Wars or SW Rebels episodes yet, so I had no idea how truly symbolic these specific creatures could be. Careful not to make the same mistake again, and time to tie it in. Wolves (and thus in a way dogs) play quite an important part in these two series. Time to focus on Mortis then, and the World between worlds, introduced to us in SW Rebels. I think it is obvious that this is a very important addition to the SW universe. How they will eventually exploit it in ix is hard to say, yet, but the possibilities are huge in the expanded universe that Disney is preparing between the new shows and comics, and possibly future movies.

Ok, so, I don’t want to get too much into a detailed explanation (too long and complicated and some have done a good job on that already), but, as a reminder, Mortis is introduced in season 3 of Clone Wars to Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan as a mythical/mystical realm of the Force, dominated by three figures: the Father (the balance), the daughter (the light side), and the son (the dark side). Cool thing, even though we don’t get the convor and the wolf but rather a griffin and a bat, there is a moment when a wolf is plainly visible on the right next to the father:

And then, years later, comes SW Rebels. And so we get Ahsoka followed by a convor, which turns out to be the totem spirit of the daughter. Birds are therefore linked with the light side of the Force, the Eros, the life force, the one that points to protection and life. Which is really the whole point I made in my bird meta anyways (especially with porgs). So one would naturally assume that the wolf, as the creature associated with  the son, the dark side of the Force, represents death, Thanatos, the impulse for destruction, the symbolic triad of the Force being the convor, the snake, and the wolf as depicted on the mural uncovered in SW Rebels in quite an Indiana Jonesque formula (evil guy covets mystical artefact that will give him superhuman powers):

But then, there is more than meets the eye... Because the wolves we actually get in the SW universe are not pictured as merely destructive powers. Quite the opposite. In SW Rebels, the wolves give access to a portal, the world between worlds, with a potential to alter past, present, and future. They truly are psychopomp creatures that guide a lost soul (here Ezra) through a world that can be at best described as a vacuum...

And there are the other wolves to reckon with.

Wolffe, the clone trooper commander, linked to Ahsoka and Anakin, one of the few who refused to be part of the code 66 protocol and became rogue, the one who lost an eye (a very symbolic type of mutilation), and lives like Rey in a modified AT-AT. which thus makes Wolffe a link of continuity between the different generations and arcs within the SW universe and saga.

The Loth-Wolves which are featured on the mural of Mortis and frame the portal to the world between worlds. Loth wolves have the ability to communicate with humans, are strongly connected with the Force, and seem to become a vessel for the soul of Kanan Jarrus after his death. Again, the psychopomp.

What to make of it eventually... well... it all depends on what type of creatures we get in IX. Keep you eyes peeled out for birds, wolves, and dogs. But mostly keep your eyes open for Porgs. Always.

To conclude, for your appreciation, this is from a photoshoot Daisy Ridley did for Vogue in 2017 .... The girl that walks with wolves... one black, one white, no less..

[vagrantblvrd]

Related to the post where Luke is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  about crime that AU where Luke is just all about crime.

Plot reasons with him running into Han and Chewie on Tatooine and falling in with them with the smuggling and whatnot. Ran into all kinds where he learned to properly criminal, you know?

Helped a lot he almost had a sixth sense about things sometimes, saved him and his friends from getting caught or worse, but it also gives him a certain reputation in certain circles too.

Also? Bounties. A lot of them and all over the place and he and Han and Chewie may not have a thing about who’s got the biggest bounty on them at any given time. (Loser buys drinks next time they stop in somewhere with a bar or cantina.)

There are run-ins with bounty hunters sprinkled in there, and if Luke’s honest with himself his favorite has to be this Mandalorian he keeps bumping into?

Serious type, real professional.

But.

After a few run-ins Luke thinks he’s wearing the guy down? Swears he cracked a joke once, dragging Luke to some local law enforcement for something or other. Luke not overly bothered because Han would be looking for him and anyway, the bounty puck the Mandalorian tracked him down for this time was small-time stuff, nothing to worry about.

He flirts outrageously with the Mandalorian whenever the guy actually catches up to him. Started as a way to get under his skin, maybe throw him off-balance enough he could get away, but the guy’s too good to fall for it. (Doesn’t mean Luke stops, goodness no, but once it’s clear the Mandalorian’s not going to bite it’s just. A really weird game they play? Hell if Luke knows, but the Mandalorian hasn’t put him in carbonite yet, so he must not be that mad about it.

(Han thinks it’s weird as hell the way Luke antagonizes the Mandalorian, keeps telling him he’s going to go too far one day and carbonite will be the good end for him, but Luke doesn’t thin that’s true, so...)

Anyway, anyway.

For all that Luke’s become a pretty good criminal type - leans towards thievery, stuff that requires a but more finesse than Han or Chewie favor. Which works out incredibly well for them while doing crime. Everyone’s distracted by whatever Han and Chewie are doing and fail to clock the farm boy as any kind of threat, which never goes well for the them, so.

Anyway, while Luke’s off adventuring and whatnot with Han and Chewie he send money home to Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen on a regular basis. The farm didn’t make much at the best of times, and that’s part of the reason Luke left n the first place. (One less mouth to feed, one less dumb kid to look after.)

They go to Tatooine every once in a while too, Han picking up jobs and other things, but some of it’s to do with Luke’s home and the only family he’s ever known, but to hear Han tell it they go there for work. (Really.)

So on one of their trips to Tatooine Luke goes to visit his aunt and uncle and there are a pair of droids on the farm. Uncle Owen putting Luke to work getting them cleaned up an all that after a tense moment when he sees Luke. He and Beru know Luke’s getting up to trouble, know he’s a criminal now, but he’s still the kid they raised and anyway, might be better that than and up like his father, so.

Luke gets put to work with Artoo and C-3PO, and they still go missing the next day with him chasing after and the meeting with Old Ben. Leia’s message and everything else, including finding aunt Beru and uncle Owen after the Imperials have been through.

All that happens like before, but this time they don’t have to go looking for a ship to hire because Han and Chewie and Luke is so damned relieved to see them after everything. (Han was getting worried too, about to go looking for him when Luke found him first, trailing some weird old hermit behind him.

The training and whatnot on the way to Alderaan, and Luke’s not the same wide-eyed farm boy this time around, but he’s got a feeling they can’t just not go looking for the princess from the message, and Han -

He cannot believe he’s going along with this, but it’s not like he can let Luke go on ahead without him, and anyway, anyway.

Everything else more or less goes the same way, but along with the whole Jedi thing Luke has going on he’s also a pretty damn good thief, picked up some other criminal-type skills along the way.

Has his own little network of contacts and friends all across the galaxy, and most of Han’s and Chewie’s have a soft spot for their third partner in crime and yes.

But also?

Once he joins the Rebellion they realize he has a very specific set of skills and talents that would make him a logical choice for more...delicate missions.

So, he does sekrit spy stuff while not flying about in his X-wing having pew-pew dogfights with Imperial TIE fighters or volunteering for missions to shut down a shield generator on a forest moon somewhere.

Weirdly/coincidentally enough, he runs into his - Han, really, he’s not Luke’s Mandalorian, you need to stop that. (Although really, Luke wouldn’t have any objections if he were Luke’s, but the whole criminal past/current rebel spy/fighter pilot/fledgling Jedi thing, so.)

They have their run-ins, although thankfully it’s usually when the Mandalorian is tracking someone else, seems a bemused at the way it keeps working out that way. Used to be that the times in the past he was looking for Luke he had to turn the galaxy upside down to find him.

Luke never tells the Mandalorian he’s gone straight, works for the Rebellion these days. Can’t risk it no matter how much he does like the guy.

Still flirts outrageously with him though, habit and a little bit of hopeful wishing and no time, way, to do anything about it even if the Mandalorian reciprocated because Rebellion and fighting a war and really, really, he wouldn’t want to do that to the Mandalorian anyeay.

Then Endor and the whole...everything that happened, talk about family drama.

Doesn’t really know what to do after that because he’s still processing, but the Empire’s not gone and he’s still a damn good spy/agent and anyway.

He does that, goes on sekrit spy missions and the whatnot for a while before he just...can’t anymore.

Jedi stuff, you know?

Goes searching for relics and whatever he can get his hands on, thinks about starting a school after a bit because people keep finding him.

Parents with Force-sensitive kids who are worried about them, street kids on whatever planet he’s on and the Force nudging them together, and just.

Someone needs to help them, and it’s also a bit of him needing them in return, and Leia just gives him this look, because she knows.

Promises to help him however he she can, and in the meantime Yavin 4, you know?

And that’s great, it’s amazing, but once he gets the ball rolling and help in the forms of other older Force-senstive people he can trust to watch and help train the younger students while he’s jetting about he, uh, goes jetting about.

Feels a call from someone in need or hears about a Jedi relic or place of importance and has to go check it out.

Also, though, also.

The New Republic and need for a thief of his specific skill set and sekrit missions once again.

One of which lands both him and the Mandalorian tracking him for an old - really old, really unflattering holor of his face - in a jall somewhere.

Dungeon?

Something, because Imperial remnant/local warlor hoping to curry favor with their masters and what a deal - a thief/spy/Jedi and the Mandalorian trying to catch him and so on.

Luke in a cell with binders on his wrists and the Mandalorian in a cell opposite also with binders on his wrist, although sans armor.

(They left him his helmet, though, small, cruel mercy that it is.)

So Luke, he bides his time.

Chats his fellow prisoner up much as the Mandalorian has ever let him, lets the little warlord rough him up thinking he’s intimidating Luke - which, ha. Luke’s dealt with worse, this pompous fool is nothing compared to Leia in the morning before being properly caffeinated.

Once he’s sure it’s safe to stage an escape - or he’s gotten all the information the little warlord is likely to monologue at him - Luke does the escape thing.

Slips out of the binders easy as you please and looks up at the ceiling of his cell/dungeon.

Repurposed to hold prisoners like him and the Mandalorian and not properly secured and all that. Yes, it’ll keep (most) people in, but getting out?

Well.

Convenient vents and ducts and Luke’s just small enough to squeeze through.

Located in the ceiling though, and too high up for most to get to on their own, but the Force is super handy for stuff like that and up he goes.

Mandalorian who’s stewing after the warlord’s last monologue-ing session because he’s got a kid now and that bastard threatened aid kid - watches Luke disappear.

Thinks that’s it then, isn’t it. Years and years of him chasing Luke down whenever he picks up a bounty on him and despite the almost friendly relationship that formed between them over the years, there’s no reason for Luke to stick his neck out for him, right?

Right.

So of course once Luke gets out of the vents and finds his way back to the cells/dungeon he lets the Mandalorian out.

Gives him this little smile, tired, hopelessly fond because yes, okay. The Mandalorian’s been chasing him on and off for years, but it was never personal, always just a job he was doing because professional?

But also, also, the times they helped one another out in the past even with no reason to do so, other than it being the right thing to do.

And truthfully, Luke’s been thinking of the Mandalorian as a friend for a long time now, likes him too much for anything else and even if none of that were true, he has a kid now. One that might be in danger and Luke can’t turn his back on either of them now, you know?

So he gets the Mandalorian out, and they take down the warlord and Luke -

His part of the mission’s over, was just supposed to gather intel and deal with the warlord if he could, sends word back to Leia and whoever sent him on the mission and then -

“I could help, if you’d like,” because of course he offers, and the Mandalorian is like -

“Why?”

And Luke, okay, Luke.

Just looks at the (his) Mandalorian like he can’t believe the guy even asked him that. (But kind of yeah, he expected that, and it just makes him even fonder of the dope.)

Mandalorian back in his armor and no longer wrong-footed and so very him Luke could laugh.

“I want to,” he says, because when it comes down to it, it really is just that simple.

And then off the two of them go to make sure the Mandalorian’s kid is safe and wow, what a shock to learn Grogu is one of Yoda’s species and also incredibly strong in the Force and -

“I’m supposed to take him to the Jedi,” the Mandalorian - Din - says, sounding heartbroken just saying those words, and Luke gets why that is once he thinks about it for a moment.

The old Jedi Order and their Thing about attachment and -

“Yeah, alright,” Luke says, because he’s worried about Din, curled over his sleeping son held in his arms and grieving his absence already because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. “How about we not do that for a moment, hm?”

Din looks at him because no, no, this non-neogtiable, this is for Grogu’s own good -

And Luke sighs, because much as he loves Ben and Yoda and his father, the previous Jedi Order have a lot to answer for, don’t they.

He tells Din that hey, so, surprise, Luke is actually kind of a big deal in terms of the Jedi world these days, you know?

Has this pieced together school on Yavin 4 with all these students, but more importantly? Their families are there too.

Lets that sink in, sits back and watches Din looking down at his sleeping kid - tiny green gremlin of a kid - and smiles the moment everything registers in Din’s head.

Apologizes for not telling Din before, but Thief and Rebel and Rebel Spy and just a lot going on and he never actually hid what he was from Din, just. Wasn’t ridiculously blatant about it - because the Empire killed the Jedi Order, and for all his skill, abilities, Luke is still very much a man, mortal as any other and just.

Yes.

Din is like. Will need more time to process, but Luke is a - the Jedi - and says he can train Grogu and that Din won’t have to give him up.

...Really, it sounds too good to be true, but Luke’s never lied to him when it counted, you know? Told awful, horrible lies he meant Din to see through, but never anything hurtful, harmful.

So he and Grogu go with Luke to Yavin 4 and Grogu gets along with Luke’s other students adnd enjoys it there.. Din’s a bit more out of place until some of the students see him training and ask if he can teach them too - and he looks at Luke, wary of overstepping, but Luke is delighted, okay, delighted.

And since Din doesn’t mind teaching the kids, welcomes it really, as a way to feel like he’s contributing to Luke’s school and generosity in allowing Din to stay.

Sparring sessions between him and Luke, because of course. And then other flirty things before they realize that wow, hey, they actually like one another an awful lot, and then smooches are had and Leia and Grogu laugh themselves sick because it took those idiots long enough you know?

But yes.