#the book of boba fett (Bailey’s version)

[snarwor]

The Book of Boba Fett (Bailey’s Version)

I did this out of spite

Chapter 1: The Revenant

The first chapter rewinds to the most obvious part of Boba’s story: escaping the Pit of Carkoon. Not as a flashback, but as direct storytelling of Boba emerging from the Sarlacc, being robbed by Jawas, and then being found by the Tuskens.

The Tuskens don’t beat him over the head or subject him to forced labor but instead treat him with an aloof kind of care, mostly efficient in nature but absent of bedside manner. He’s not part of the tribe, after all. They get him back on his feet and give him the option of going off with a clean slate from the tribe, or repaying the honor given.

The Tuskens have fucking names this time, meaningful in a way that’s uniquely indigenous. We see a lot of their culture in this episode, putting community and safety at the top of their ideals. Boba experiences horrific night terrors as a result of this holistic healing approach, devoid of scentless, dreamless bacta. Instead, Tusken healing focuses on the healing of the mind as well as the body after an injury as terrible as his is.

This is all presented in real-time story, but the flashbacks we do get are about Boba’s childhood and training, involving Aurra and Bossk and even Cad Bane, real quick flashes like nightmares. He of course chooses to stay with the tribe and it ends on him shedding his name in favor of a Tusken one given to him by a tribal leader, meaning One Who Experiences Strange Events. The episode ends with a naming ceremony given by the tribe, and his official induction into the ranks, despite not having ‘proven’ his worth just yet.

Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tatooine

Fast forward several years, Boba is still with his tribe and meets with the tribal leader talking combat strategy, oddly avoiding the children of the tribe. It seems the tribe has adopted him with great ease, being recognized as one of their own even to other passing tribes as they move around the desert. Boba has taken on Tusken robes and dressings to hide his still-scarred face from the suns, and fights with a ruthless efficiency.

At the top of the episode we see Boba’s day to day life. The tribe is preparing to take down a train, to rob it of its supplies and to stop its destructive passage through Tusken land. Train chase and robbery, with emphasis on Tusken fighting style obliterating traditional martial combat, focusing on indigenous fighting styles and strategy. In this fight, Boba commits an atrocity he can’t forgive in the regular means, killing an enemy in a dishonorable way. Seeking guidance and atonement, he seeks the elders’ forgiveness. The Tusken tribe leader tells him that while there is often honor to be found and kept from taking a life, there is often no honor in making a kill while a person’s integrity tells them it’s wrong to, and the resurfacing of this guilt is his old name calling to him.

He removes the hood and takes up the name of Boba Fett again, seeking to restore his name and his armor by any means, in order to restore his honor and integrity. The Tuskens bid him farewell just as Boba sees the bursting of a flash charge across the night skies.

Chapter 3: The Hired Gun

Opens on a scene of a crowd of people milling about in a market on some nondescript planet. We focus on a shifty-eyed man speaking in Huttese to a shadowed figure in an alleyway. He’s seeking protection, but won’t name from what. The figure says there’s no way he could be convinced, just as a blaster bolt hits the target’s back, killing him instantly. There’s a shot of a darkened window, and the retreating form of a woman in black, a thick black braid swinging behind her. She looks back, revealing her orange and black jousting helmet for just a second before title cards.

Fast forward to Fennec on her ship that we see her on in the Bad Batch, receiving a transmission from a cameo contact who’s never seen again, telling her about the high-level bounty on her from the guild. Fennec isn’t worried about it, and says she can handle it. She’s offered help but turns it down.

This is a repeated theme for her, until we arrive at the consequences of her actions and she’s dead on the sands of Tatooine. Boba stabilizes her using Tusken methods, making her freak out and hallucinate, coming to terms with her own mortality, and Boba fully revives her by taking her to a contact he knows in Mos Espa from some years ago. He’s still laying low as Fennec recovers, as having everyone believe you’re dead is a powerful advantage. Fennec is revived and wary of Boba but believes in the power of debts so she follows him.

Boba is there in this episode, but is not the focus. Instead we mostly see Fennec start to reconcile her ideas of Boba Fett, and it makes her question her own independence and lack of moral compass. She saves Boba’s life and after Boba tries to free her from his servitude, she elects to stay on, finding herself while aiding in her rescuer’s quest. We get a close-up look of Boba seeing this change in his companion, and mentions a rumor about Fennec’s ruthlessness and lone-wolf ways.

“You know, I could say the same thing about you,” she says, and the two come to an understanding that their pasts are not their present, and their present can change their futures.

Chapter 4: The Paladin in Exile

Varying interior shots of Jabba’s Palace, seeing B’omarr Monks milling about lazily, views out windows. It’s meandering path, no rhyme or reason, with a haunting echo of the Armorer’s voice.

“Have you ever removed your helmet? Has it ever been removed for you?”

“…”

“Then you are Mandalorian no more.”

A sparse, sandstone-walled room, dim save for a beam of light reflected off of several mirrors to allow light but not heat into the room. Shot of Din Djarin from behind, head hung low and helmet off, staring back at him. There’s a small table that holds the Darksaber and the small knob that Grogu had, beside each other. The words of the Armorer ring with a metallic kind of echo around the room, as if in his head, stuck in the helmet to head over and over again. Din closes his eyes.

Smash cut of his childhood, baby Din raised in the Fighting Corps and shown little to no comfort or kindness. We see him still being kind to others though, almost always being taken advantage of, but he will not be defeated by cruelty. Hardened, but not defeated. A parallel shot of him and his training helmet, staring face to face the night before he swears the Creed. It’s still, and full of questions he’d never ask for fear of excommunication. The swearing ceremony, chanted words in Mando’a and then Basic, the first real clarity we have on the subject of what exactly the Way is. It ends by sealing the helmet over his head and the silencing of the questions around him. It’s a sensory thing, symbolic of the insular nature of the Covert and the singleminded focus we saw Din live by at the start of The Mandalorian.

We see the Siege of Mandalore, the Great Purge, the Night of One Thousand Tears, and the escape. Din fights here and there but without earning his armor he’s badly injured and is down for the count for most of the fight. He awakes to find the remnants of his tribe, familiar helmets gone. Din had been on fire for a long time and his paint had been burned off his helmet. It’s just beskar now.

Flash to Tatooine and the takeover of Jabba’s Palace. Din walks down the stairs, having taken care of all the other guards called for backup in the assault. “Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?” He says, sighing. Boba stands up from the throne and looks him over.

“I would say the same of you.” They have a moment.

Boba takes off his helmet, and Din still reacts in a similar way to when Bo-Katan and the Nite Owls took theirs off. Boba notices. “Why do you keep wearing it, when you are no longer bound?”

“This is the Way,” Din says, though he’s not too sure what that Way is.

“Yes, but is it *your* Way?” Boba asks. That question rings much like the Armorer’s condemnation, and we cut back to Din in the room alone.

Din stands, walking out of the room. The last shot is of his helmet remaining on the table from before, though the Darksaber and the ball are both gone.

Chapter 5: The Five Hands

A meeting is called of representatives of Tatooine, we see Boba Fett at the head of the table with Din and Fennec acting as bodyguards in the background, meant to observe rather than participate. Right before the meeting, Din had been told to conceal the Darksaber and put his helmet on, to conceal his expression and his status among these representatives. To anyone uninformed, he just looks like a Mandalorian.

The representatives are as follows: Cobb Vanth of Freetown representing the rural Tatooine population, the Mayor of Mos Espa representing the largest city, a Pyke Syndicate warlord who has taken over Mos Eisley and the planet’s spaceport, and the elected council leader of Anchorhead, which generates the most revenue. Boba states he represents his own interests as well as the power he’d seized from the Hutt presence on Tatooine, but proposes a shift from territorial rule to a chartered agreement between the five de facto representatives of Tatooine. There’s obvious tension and thinly veiled threats made between the Pykes and Boba, who have conflicting agendas regarding the drug trade and enslavement of Tatooine residents. The Anchorhead rep seems to have faded out of the conversation for the most part, which Fennec finds interesting. The Mayor of Mos Espa shares a strange look with the Pyke rep. Vanth is clearly against any drug running or slavery on Tatooine, recounting his days as a slave under a crime syndicate and the horrors of spice addiction in the cities. The Pykes are displeased by the empathy he garners, and storm out of the meeting.

There’s a tentative ‘first draft’ agreement between the remaining representatives (Mos Espa, Freetown, and Anchorhead) who then disperse. It’s revealed that Boba has placed some kind of spy devices on all the reps during the meeting, and says that he wants to wait for the other groups moves. In the brief armistice, he dispatches Din to Mos Eisley and Freetown, and Fennec to Mos Espa and Anchorhead, in order to get a bead on the local opinions of these shifty folks. Boba returns to the desert, and asks for the Tuskens to call a grand meeting of the tribes.

Chapter 6: The Oasis

Open on a narrated tale from Boba because I love Temuera’s voice, a legend about the ancient history of Tatooine. How a curse from the birth of a second sun dried up the oceans into the Dune Sea, but granted a boon to those who survived: The Gafsa oasis. Believed to be the birthplace of all indigenous persons on Tatooine, the oasis is heavily-guarded and considered to be the most sacred location on the planet. It has been a pilgrimage point for all Tuskens, and its waters are known to bring visions of the future, deep healing, and life-restoring qualities. There’s a visual aspect of this story as well, showing ancient stone carvings and cave paintings on a wall.

When the story is finished, it pulls out to show Gafsa itself, where hundreds of Tuskens from myriad tribes have gathered to hear Boba’s case. While he is no longer in his Tusken hood, he doesn’t wear his armor, bearing only his Tusken spear-club and his rifle. He informs them of the situation with the other despots of Tatooine, and the meeting descends into chaos almost instantly. Such is democracy.

We cut to Din in the midst of an argument with Peli Motto, a Razor Crest gunship that looks somehow worse than the one he had before in the background of their verbal spar. There’s an issue with supply, the parts missing indefinitely due to the embargo the Pykes have placed. No ships in or out of atmo, that’s the rule. Din sighs and tilts his head back, checking his comm for any messages from Grogu. There’s not gonna be any comms, Peli explains. The embargo extends to communication. “This is just like Naboo and the Trade Federation!” Peli exclaims, but Din has no idea what she’s talking about. They go back and forth before Din gives up and says he’ll handle it. When he asks Peli if there’s anyone she trusts in the city, any factions or groups that could fight against the Pykes, Peli gets serious, vowing to find someone stupid enough to do that. Din leaves and says he needs a speeder, taking off toward Freetown.

Meanwhile in Mos Espa, Fennec is in disguise, sneaking around until she finds a group of mods stealing from a shitty rich water distributor. She vaguely recognizes them as the mods from the parlor who fixed her up. After following them for a while, she decides she likes their style and approaches them. Drash, the clear leader of the group, is untrusting at first but agrees to at least hear her out. They’re looking to spy on the Mayor and report back to Boba Fett, with the ultimate goal of returning freedom and community to the planet. It’s not clear if they will betray them or not.

We zoom back to Boba looking tired, shouting Tuskens arguing all around him for a moment. He sighs, but a kid comes up and sits next to him, matching his posture a la Jaws’ dinner scene. He smiles, and waits it out.

Din arrives at Mos Pelgo shortly after sunsdown, and Vanth invites him in for dinner. When he removes his helmet, it’s a parallel of when Vanth removed his in the season 2 premiere. They share a cute moment because DinCobb rights and everyone falls in love with Din the second his helmet is off. This is more of a social meeting than a business one. It’s a nice break from diplomacy and politics, and a few throwaway lines about his duties as de facto Mand’alor kind of shit on Filoni because I said so. The pair share a drink and Din coughs for like twenty seconds. He’s never drank before. It’s cute.

Cut to Fennec showing up in Anchorhead with a gadget meant to find the spy tracker on the council rep. It’s a trap, and she’s ambushed, barely escaping with her life as she retreats toward the palace.

The episode ends on Boba taking a vote from the Tuskens, and despite all the previous yelling, it’s unanimous. The Tuskens will fight for him. Din gets a comm message from Fennec, asking for help.

Chapter 7: A Coming Storm

Din catches up with Fennec, helping her the rest of the way and tending her wounds. She recounts the fight, and a strange clue of Pyke involvement in Anchorhead. It looks dire, the reps from Anchorhead, Mos Espa, and Mos Eisley all seemingly against them. They have money, firepower, and resources to continue this war of attrition against the citizens of Tatooine. What resources do the Tuskens and the rural farmers of Tatooine have against them?

Fennec asks about getting help from the Mandalorians, but Din doesn’t even consider it. Aside from Bo-Katan’s very clear ulterior motives, with the Pykes controlling the airspace they wouldn’t even get to the troposphere before being shot down. They have to fight with what they have.

Fennec makes a remark about how she never thought Mando would want to work with her again after what happened. Din looks a little troubled, every emotion showing on his face. “You helped me rescue my son. Creed or no, that counts for something.”

“I don’t want you in my debt.”

“I’m not. You have my respect, Fennec Shand.”

Boba returns to the palace with the Tuskens, one of the wisemen warning of a sandstorm coming. Boba is kind of confused. There’s no fucking wind. There’s nothing that indicates this prediction. It’s because of the child that Boba doesn’t dismiss it out of hand. “The wisest of us speaks with the faith of the tribe. Right or wrong, that has power.” The Tuskens continue on, and Boba prepares for war.

Din hears from Peli, a longwinded account of essentially saying “I got nothing, boss”. She does, however, mention a long-ago union of the mechanics and flight controllers of Tatooine, and how nice that would have been to be able to leverage. She also posits that there’s probably a reason the Pykes could take over so easily, due to the power vacuum and disorganization that came from the Hutt insurgency some decades prior. Din hangs up before the message is over, frustrated.

Fennec is sent a message from Drash, saying that there’s a kind of similar disorganization among the Mods of Mos Espa. The Mayor has beefed up patrols and security, turning it into an authoritarian dystopia that makes espionage almost impossible. It’s not looking good.

We cut to a three-way holocall between the Pyke Syndicate, the Council of Anchorhead, and the Mayor of Mos Espa, planning an assault on the Palace. Behind the Councilman, Cad Bane walks out and declares he had a meeting with the Marshal of Freetown at first light.

Cut to Freetown, where there’s a lump of a prone body on the sands, unmoving.

Boba gets an update on all this from Fennec who arrives on the scene, and he looks grim at the news, hands curling around a balustrade. A determined set to his brow appears, and the wind picks up around him.

Chapter 8: From the Desert Comes a Wave

A tense meeting in the Palace, this time between Din, Fennec, Boba, Drash and the Mods, a few Freetown citizens and farmers, a truly baffling amount of Tuskens, and an almost palpable silence between them. Another person comes in, and Din stands, looking to them with worry. “He’s stable,” the healer says. “His wound should heal, but we couldn’t save the arm.”

“We can handle that,” Drash says, dispatching one of her crafters with the medic.

“You trust them?” A Freetown citizen says, gesturing to both the Tuskens and the Mods, representing the far ends of the technological spectrum on Tatooine.

Boba reaches down, there’s a whirring and clicking, and he reveals his prosthetic leg to the room, crafted from mod enhancements and Tusken steel. “Does that answer your question? Right. No use wasting our time with petty prejudices. Learn forgiveness and acceptance, or prepare to let yourself fail.” The rural folk get cool fast.

The Tuskens give them black melons. Din has a hard time keeping a straight face with his helmet off, knowing it’s a Tusken prank and not actually a gesture of respect.

Outside, the wind starts to whistle and howl through the various desert cooling architectures of the Palace. The storm is setting in, and they have little time to plan. They get to work.

We close in on the opposing forces ignoring the signs of a sandstorm, approaching the Palace. Should they attempt a retreat, they would be swallowed in the sands. The Tuskens hide amongst the various egresses of the Palace, watching their approaches. They’re written off by the Mos Espa forces as just troublemakers who are only lethal at pod races. The rural farmers are written off by the elite of Anchorhead as untrained, uneducated hillbillies. The Mods are written off by the Mayor’s forces as hobby anarchists who have never known real violence in their lives. And Boba Fett is written off by Cad Bane as a lost boy trying and failing to fill his father’s footsteps.

Our heroes are shown taking a beating, ‘losing’ forces left and right but somehow preventing the forces from actually entering the sanctuary of a twice-unholy Palace. This is all a farce, of course. The cover they chose is the high ground, after all. The winds die. All is still. Boba gets a crease in his brow, standing at a high balcony overlooking the battle. A hand pulls on his robes. It’s the Tusken child from before, pointing at the horizon.

They see an absolutely massive wall of sand and horror approaching the scene, silent and mind-boggling. “Get inside,” Boba tells the child, before pulling his helmet up and wrapping a scarf around any exposed skin. He presses a button that blasts a recording of a krayt dragon roar, a signal for our heroic forces to brace themselves against their cover.

The sandstorm hits, sweeping the villains up in its merciless destruction. Tuskens cover farmers they had once raided. Mods are covered by primitive technologies provided by Freetown miners. The true, deserving inhabitants of Tatooine are protected from and by the planet’s life itself. The storm rages and fades to black.

As dawn comes and a true peaceful silence sets in, the sand is shaken off of our sheltered heroes, who look around and begin to cheer. There’s no sign of the Pykes, the Mayor’s forces, or the Anchorhead militia. Boba shakes off a fuckton of sand and pulls up his comm. “Come in.” Static. “Djarin. Shand. Come in.” Static. “Come in!” He says, panicking a little. Below, there’s a tremor from the sand, a shaking of something truly massive. “Fennec! Din! Come in!” Boba shouts.

A Pyke ship rises from the sand, guns armed and ready to fire on the celebrating heroes. “Sorry we’re late,” comes a voice through the comm. Just then, a Razor Crest and a fleet of truly ugly starships break over the horizon, opening fire on the surviving enemies. In an awesome flurry of explosions, a genuine dogfight above Jabba’s Palace, the most fucking Star Wars thing ever, our heroes are victorious.

There’s a celebration in the Palace after, as comms go up and trade resumes on the planet. Peace is restored, friends celebrate. Din gets a message from Grogu, just happy noises until a very clear, “Din,” comes through. Din cries happy tears, smiling widely and continuing to talk to him.

Pass to Cobb looking at Din with heart eyes, sporting a bright new silver arm. It matches Din’s armor, which catches the hunter’s eye more than once.

Pass to Peli making business arrangements with Fennec, discussing the demands of the newly reformed Transport Workers’ Union of Mos Eisley. Fennec looks out of her depth, but says she’ll ask around and see what she can do.

Boba, however, sits back on the throne, shifting almost uncomfortably. The child Tusken from before comes up and says he looks sad. Boba shakes his head but the child repeats himself insistently. “I’ll be happy soon. For now, my tribe is healthy, and trusts me to lead them. Someone very wise told me that the faith of the tribe is a very powerful thing.”

The child giggles.

“What’s your name, little one?” Boba asks. The child shares his name, One Who Survives Strange Events. There’s a smile on the King of Tatooine’s face after that, and he gives a nod as the child runs off. Boba feels more comfortable on the throne now, sitting back and relaxing as the music swells. End credits.