My Star Wars Blog

My url comes from my love of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Kanan Jarrus

[captainrexs]

What Jedi gave their life so that you might live?

[intermundia]

I’m such a sentimental idiot but every single “this Padawan survived Order 66 (presumably because their Master fought to the death to protect them and help them escape)” narrative makes me want to cry, like the unthinking selflessness of all those Masters, and the love that it implies, reflected in the unbelievable trauma of it for the Padawan. Every single one fucks me up afresh lmao

[zealousdetectivegladiator]

I have some thoughts on the Deception/Rako Hardeen arc of TCW

I’m a political science major and TCW is, generally-speaking, a great example of well done political science in a kids show.

But fandom, you have to think about how some of these things would play out within an actual military structure. I know we want to think Obi-Wan should/could have told Anakin, that things could go so much better and that maybe Anakin’s trust wouldn’t have been so damaged. I think this is not only not the case, but a disheartening misunderstanding of the material and the nature of the arc itself.

This post follows a bit of a structure:

I. Choices: Anakin’s Matter.

II. The International/Galactic System: Why All The Secrecy?

III. The Republic: The UN With Teeth

IV. Deception Arc: Why Obi-Wan?

V. Keeping The Secret & The Importance of Operational Security

VI. The Force in All of This

VII. Character Reactions: Anger, Duty, Frustration

VIII. Fandom Reactions: Obi-Wan Isn’t Guilty. Please, Stop Acting Like He Is.

Keep reading

[gffa]

[detroitbydark]

I will reblog this everytime I see it until my dying day

[skdubbs]

What is this?! Why have I never seen this?! 😍😍😍😍😍😍 absolutely awesome!

[doobiwankenooku-deactivated2022]

Yessss

[the-stars-are-warring]

The TIMINGS On this thing

It’s so GOOD

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Okay but I would LOVE to here your heretical opinions on Padame if you ever want to share them or any of your other views on star wars prequel characters. Your character analysises are INCREDIBLE and really fun to read <3

Oh boy, are you sure about that?Well, the ask has been made so here, we, gooooooooooooooo!

Padme’s one of those strange characters who appears as one thing but in actuality is quite different. Because she appears as the first thing, and it’s something people really like, most people accept that at face value and if she’s not always consistent–well, she came from a series of screenplays written by George Lucas.

Padme comes across as a very noble, kind, and courageous character who is also quite politically savvy. At fourteen, against all odds, she saves her planet from invasion when the Senate did nothing, secured herself an ally in the chancellor (nevermind him being secretly Palpatine), and even after relinquishing her title as queen remains a major player in the senate for years and is seen as enough of a threat to warrant several assassination attempts (one so bad she has to be guarded by Jedi and sent home to Naboo for several weeks). 

And I’m not saying she’s not any of these things. Padme is very courageous, is one of those odd politicians who… believes she stands for what she believes in (more on this later), and has a remarkable political career.

However, she’s also romantic to the point of being completely and utterly delusional, self-centered, and frankly a little nuts.

(Yeah, you knew you were waiting for me to say something terrible, WEREN’T YOU?!)Right, so what’s wrong with Padme?

Well, if you look closely at a few of her choices, the ones that never seemed to make much sense, then you can look at her other choices and… Well, it all sort of comes together. 

That’s right, I’m talking about “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith”.

Attack of the Clones we have the very lackluster and strange romance of Anakin and Padme.

On Anakin’s end, his infatuation with Padme makes a lot of sense. She was part of the party that rescued him from slavery, she was very kind to him, and was the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his life. Ten years later, always having harbored a crush on her memory and keeping it alive through whatever news he hears of her, she’s grown into a very beautiful woman and Anakin is by chance introduced back into her life. I get why Anakin falls head over heels for Padme, I’ll get more into this later and how their relationship has some major issues (aside from the obvious), but I understand why he marries this girl out of nowhere even when it could get him thrown out of the Jedi. (As an aside, since this is more of a Padme post, I think Anakin was spurred on in part also by the death of his mother and his massacre of the Tusken Raiders. Anakin’s life was flipped upside down in a very short amount of time, one of his great emotional ties is suddenly gone, and I think he has this internal crisis that culminates in him deciding to marry Padme. Without this, he and Padme may have become lovers, but I don’t think he’d marry her).

On Padme’s end… it’s a little less clear. Anakin has grown into an attractive young man, yes. Take out all of George Lucas’ dialogue, and maybe Padme finds Anakin very charming. However, Padme secretly marries a Jedi she’s known for three weeks. Now, I’d be a bit more forgiving of this, love is love and we can’t always think rationally, but there’s some other things.

Unlike Anakin, Padme hasn’t been spending the past ten years romanticizing her memory of Anakin Skywalker. When they met in Phantom Menace, Anakin was not only five years younger than her, he was nine-years-old. To fourteen-year-old Padme, Anakin was not then dating material and was instead this poor boy in slavery. Which means while Anakin has build up justifying this rapid romance, Padme really doesn’t. What this means is that her romance with Anakin reads a lot more like a romantic fantasy. Cute dashing bodyguard shows up, saves her life, through contrived circumstances they’re sent back to beautiful Naboo where they spend time together, only cute bodyguard is a Jedi and can’t marry, which makes their love excitingly taboo! 

Everything Padme does, before and after this point, lends itself to this overdeveloped sense of romance. Padme wants to be whisked away, wants to have this secret unsustainable marriage with a man who cannot be married, she’s in love with the idea of being in love. Given how little time she spends with Anakin, how little they really know of each other, I’d say she’s more in love with the idea of Anakin than Anakin Skywalker himself. And this isn’t a bad thing necessarily, or at least not a grievous flaw, however, that’s not all. 

Padme chooses to marry Anakin knowing he murdered an entire village of men, women, and children. She marries him almost immediately after the massacre of the Tusken Raiders. Note, she does not learn about this later and have to come to terms with it, she is right there. She is on Tatooine with him and sees him go to do it and then return. 

Padme doesn’t take it… particularly well, that said, she also seems to shove it under the carpet immediately. She, first, marries Anakin within days after this event. She second, never really has a “holy fuck, Anakin” conversation with him. And worst yet, she never confesses to anyone else. Padme is a hypocrite and willing to sacrifice everything she believes in, albeit I believe unwittingly, for her romantic fantasy.

She tells no one about what happened. An entire village was brutally massacred, those who are already poor and oppressed and have no voice, by a man who is supposed to be a protector of all people in the galaxy. I’m sorry, Anakin, but if Padme was who you think she is then she would have to tell the Jedi Order at the very least if not the Republic. Instead, there are no consequences, only Anakin’s descent into guilt and madness as three years pass with it festering in the back of his mind. Padme does not stand for the poor, for the people, or for justice. She only does so when it does not conflict with her own interests, i.e. her actions regarding the invasion of Naboo. More, I do not believe Padme has the introspection to realize this about herself, she never realizes that not narking on Anakin was very very very bad.Three years pass and she lives the whirlwind romantic fantasy that she and Anakin both want. They’re secret lovers/spouses, meeting up at the oddest hours of the day and… This is three years of this ridiculous affair. Three years to come to terms with the fact that something must change. And then the kicker, Padme gets pregnant, and this is where the extra delusional comes in.

The child should have been a signal of the end. There can be no more secret now. Padme is having a child, presumably out of wedlock, and even if space is very very very different from our society I imagine this would be quite the scandal that could even get her thrown out of the senate. I believe Padme mentions as much to Anakin. More, Anakin is no longer a lover, he is now a father. What’s supposed to happen now? They raise this secret child, instructing them that Anakin is only a father in private, never in public?

Anakin and Padme briefly flirt with the idea of Anakin leaving the order. Anakin even wants to do so, but it… never happens. Now is the time it absolutely should happen. Yes, Anakin’s a big part of the war effort, but he could at least start talking to the Order and they could decide if it’d be a slow or fast exit. 

My theory, Padme’s too in love with the fantasy. Anakin leaving means he’s no longer a Jedi, it means he’ll come to Naboo, be unemployed and be around. Anakin visiting will no longer be this romantic, fraught with the danger of being found out, passionate, short lived event for Padme. It’ll become real life. He’ll be a real, ordinary man, she’ll be a real, ordinary, woman, and that spark of romance will be gone.

I don’t think Padme wants that. 

Which is why, even with the child on the way, we see Anakin and Padme continue to play out this ridiculous secret lovers fantasy. And then, of course, Anakin goes insane off screen.

Padme is told that, once again, Anakin has murdered dozens of children. Of course, this is a terrible thing to be told and she can’t process it. She needs to find Anakin and confront him, but people always criticize Lucas here and feel it’s out of character for Padme to have run to Anakin in sobbing hysterics with no plan of enacting vengence.

Frankly, I think it’s very in character. She did nothing about the Tuskens, remember? I think at the end of the day, the murder of the Jedi children means very little to her. What hurts Padme the most is that the fantasy of Anakin she married is not real. The Anakin she married would never murder the Jedi children, betray the Republic, or do any of what he’s done. And I think Padme only has that strong, iron, will when she knows the world she’s in. With the Trade Federation, her stance was obvious. Her people were being oppressed, butchered, and invaded. In this case, the world she knew no longer exists.

The Republic is gone, perhaps hasn’t existed in thirteen years, as it turns out the senator who had always been her biggest supporter was a Sith Lord. The Jedi are gone, children murdered by Anakin while those in the field are picked off by their own clone soldiers. Padme’s world has fallen apart, and I think that makes it much harder for her to be the girl we saw in Phantom Menace. In time, perhaps, she would have joined the rebellion but… I do think Padme might have also given into despair.

So, yeah, that’s Padme for you.

[raina16]

I agree with all this. It’s just too bad, the weird fantasy romance is pushed so much there are too many fans who actually think this is romantic! I think maybe after he killed the Tuskens it was even enticing, he needed her to “save” him. Saving the bad boy is a powerful attraction for….12 year olds. If you’re 25 it just means you have problems and your problems are most likely going to cause problems for everyone else around you, which it did. In most cases, it’s mostly you and your family and whoever you’re “bad boy” hurts while he’s drunk/drugged/committing crimes. In her case, it’s her, her children and everyone else in the galaxy. She married him after he admitted to murdering children but she’s shocked he did again?

[allronix]

She was a hothouse orchid or a race horse. 

From early childhood on, she was groomed for one thing - a highly visible political career as more a living symbol of “Look how GREAT our planet and culture are” that Naboo could literally bury in fancy dresses than actual lawmaking. But it still meant she spent her whole life in the public eye, with no chance to grow and develop past the role of living symbol. And as we see time and again with child stars? That kind of upbringing usually leaves a severely screwed up person.  So you had the equivalent of an ex-child star who was still doing pretty well on her second act career, but had completely missed the milestones of being able to relax and be young and stupid.  

Keep reading

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Okay but I would LOVE to here your heretical opinions on Padame if you ever want to share them or any of your other views on star wars prequel characters. Your character analysises are INCREDIBLE and really fun to read <3

Oh boy, are you sure about that?Well, the ask has been made so here, we, gooooooooooooooo!

Padme’s one of those strange characters who appears as one thing but in actuality is quite different. Because she appears as the first thing, and it’s something people really like, most people accept that at face value and if she’s not always consistent–well, she came from a series of screenplays written by George Lucas.

Padme comes across as a very noble, kind, and courageous character who is also quite politically savvy. At fourteen, against all odds, she saves her planet from invasion when the Senate did nothing, secured herself an ally in the chancellor (nevermind him being secretly Palpatine), and even after relinquishing her title as queen remains a major player in the senate for years and is seen as enough of a threat to warrant several assassination attempts (one so bad she has to be guarded by Jedi and sent home to Naboo for several weeks). 

And I’m not saying she’s not any of these things. Padme is very courageous, is one of those odd politicians who… believes she stands for what she believes in (more on this later), and has a remarkable political career.

However, she’s also romantic to the point of being completely and utterly delusional, self-centered, and frankly a little nuts.

(Yeah, you knew you were waiting for me to say something terrible, WEREN’T YOU?!)Right, so what’s wrong with Padme?

Well, if you look closely at a few of her choices, the ones that never seemed to make much sense, then you can look at her other choices and… Well, it all sort of comes together. 

That’s right, I’m talking about “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith”.

Attack of the Clones we have the very lackluster and strange romance of Anakin and Padme.

On Anakin’s end, his infatuation with Padme makes a lot of sense. She was part of the party that rescued him from slavery, she was very kind to him, and was the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his life. Ten years later, always having harbored a crush on her memory and keeping it alive through whatever news he hears of her, she’s grown into a very beautiful woman and Anakin is by chance introduced back into her life. I get why Anakin falls head over heels for Padme, I’ll get more into this later and how their relationship has some major issues (aside from the obvious), but I understand why he marries this girl out of nowhere even when it could get him thrown out of the Jedi. (As an aside, since this is more of a Padme post, I think Anakin was spurred on in part also by the death of his mother and his massacre of the Tusken Raiders. Anakin’s life was flipped upside down in a very short amount of time, one of his great emotional ties is suddenly gone, and I think he has this internal crisis that culminates in him deciding to marry Padme. Without this, he and Padme may have become lovers, but I don’t think he’d marry her).

On Padme’s end… it’s a little less clear. Anakin has grown into an attractive young man, yes. Take out all of George Lucas’ dialogue, and maybe Padme finds Anakin very charming. However, Padme secretly marries a Jedi she’s known for three weeks. Now, I’d be a bit more forgiving of this, love is love and we can’t always think rationally, but there’s some other things.

Unlike Anakin, Padme hasn’t been spending the past ten years romanticizing her memory of Anakin Skywalker. When they met in Phantom Menace, Anakin was not only five years younger than her, he was nine-years-old. To fourteen-year-old Padme, Anakin was not then dating material and was instead this poor boy in slavery. Which means while Anakin has build up justifying this rapid romance, Padme really doesn’t. What this means is that her romance with Anakin reads a lot more like a romantic fantasy. Cute dashing bodyguard shows up, saves her life, through contrived circumstances they’re sent back to beautiful Naboo where they spend time together, only cute bodyguard is a Jedi and can’t marry, which makes their love excitingly taboo! 

Everything Padme does, before and after this point, lends itself to this overdeveloped sense of romance. Padme wants to be whisked away, wants to have this secret unsustainable marriage with a man who cannot be married, she’s in love with the idea of being in love. Given how little time she spends with Anakin, how little they really know of each other, I’d say she’s more in love with the idea of Anakin than Anakin Skywalker himself. And this isn’t a bad thing necessarily, or at least not a grievous flaw, however, that’s not all. 

Padme chooses to marry Anakin knowing he murdered an entire village of men, women, and children. She marries him almost immediately after the massacre of the Tusken Raiders. Note, she does not learn about this later and have to come to terms with it, she is right there. She is on Tatooine with him and sees him go to do it and then return. 

Padme doesn’t take it… particularly well, that said, she also seems to shove it under the carpet immediately. She, first, marries Anakin within days after this event. She second, never really has a “holy fuck, Anakin” conversation with him. And worst yet, she never confesses to anyone else. Padme is a hypocrite and willing to sacrifice everything she believes in, albeit I believe unwittingly, for her romantic fantasy.

She tells no one about what happened. An entire village was brutally massacred, those who are already poor and oppressed and have no voice, by a man who is supposed to be a protector of all people in the galaxy. I’m sorry, Anakin, but if Padme was who you think she is then she would have to tell the Jedi Order at the very least if not the Republic. Instead, there are no consequences, only Anakin’s descent into guilt and madness as three years pass with it festering in the back of his mind. Padme does not stand for the poor, for the people, or for justice. She only does so when it does not conflict with her own interests, i.e. her actions regarding the invasion of Naboo. More, I do not believe Padme has the introspection to realize this about herself, she never realizes that not narking on Anakin was very very very bad.Three years pass and she lives the whirlwind romantic fantasy that she and Anakin both want. They’re secret lovers/spouses, meeting up at the oddest hours of the day and… This is three years of this ridiculous affair. Three years to come to terms with the fact that something must change. And then the kicker, Padme gets pregnant, and this is where the extra delusional comes in.

The child should have been a signal of the end. There can be no more secret now. Padme is having a child, presumably out of wedlock, and even if space is very very very different from our society I imagine this would be quite the scandal that could even get her thrown out of the senate. I believe Padme mentions as much to Anakin. More, Anakin is no longer a lover, he is now a father. What’s supposed to happen now? They raise this secret child, instructing them that Anakin is only a father in private, never in public?

Anakin and Padme briefly flirt with the idea of Anakin leaving the order. Anakin even wants to do so, but it… never happens. Now is the time it absolutely should happen. Yes, Anakin’s a big part of the war effort, but he could at least start talking to the Order and they could decide if it’d be a slow or fast exit. 

My theory, Padme’s too in love with the fantasy. Anakin leaving means he’s no longer a Jedi, it means he’ll come to Naboo, be unemployed and be around. Anakin visiting will no longer be this romantic, fraught with the danger of being found out, passionate, short lived event for Padme. It’ll become real life. He’ll be a real, ordinary man, she’ll be a real, ordinary, woman, and that spark of romance will be gone.

I don’t think Padme wants that. 

Which is why, even with the child on the way, we see Anakin and Padme continue to play out this ridiculous secret lovers fantasy. And then, of course, Anakin goes insane off screen.

Padme is told that, once again, Anakin has murdered dozens of children. Of course, this is a terrible thing to be told and she can’t process it. She needs to find Anakin and confront him, but people always criticize Lucas here and feel it’s out of character for Padme to have run to Anakin in sobbing hysterics with no plan of enacting vengence.

Frankly, I think it’s very in character. She did nothing about the Tuskens, remember? I think at the end of the day, the murder of the Jedi children means very little to her. What hurts Padme the most is that the fantasy of Anakin she married is not real. The Anakin she married would never murder the Jedi children, betray the Republic, or do any of what he’s done. And I think Padme only has that strong, iron, will when she knows the world she’s in. With the Trade Federation, her stance was obvious. Her people were being oppressed, butchered, and invaded. In this case, the world she knew no longer exists.

The Republic is gone, perhaps hasn’t existed in thirteen years, as it turns out the senator who had always been her biggest supporter was a Sith Lord. The Jedi are gone, children murdered by Anakin while those in the field are picked off by their own clone soldiers. Padme’s world has fallen apart, and I think that makes it much harder for her to be the girl we saw in Phantom Menace. In time, perhaps, she would have joined the rebellion but… I do think Padme might have also given into despair.

So, yeah, that’s Padme for you.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Just thinking about how… 

When you take a step back and look at the Star Wars universe as a whole, it gets really hard to defend Padmé and Anakin’s relationship. 

A common criticism against the Jedi Order is that they stood between Anakin and the love of his life, and that it tore him apart. And yeah, I guess that’s fair - if you ignore that Anakin was absolutely free to leave, that Padmé being a senator was as much of a problem as Anakin being a Jedi (which she states herself in AotC and RotS), and that Jedi weren’t even forbidden to have sex or to be in love (as explicitly stated by Lucas and Obi-Wan respectively - the problem with marriage was commitment; commitment to your spouse over commitment to your duty).

Except it wasn’t the secrecy that made Anakin fall. He would have reduced the Galaxy to ashes to save Padmé even if he’d been free to be married to her openly. And when you look at the fate of the universe? At what Anakin allowed to happen for Padmé? It’s not just the Clones whose identity and free will were ripped from them, not just the Jedi who were slaughtered by their best friends. 

The Lasat were exterminated, the Wookiees enslaved, the Geonosians wiped out, the Mandalorians hunted down, the Force-sensitives children kidnapped. Worlds like Lothal were reduced to starvation. Alderaan was destroyed - billions of people, dead. Thousands of worlds were occupied and stripped of their resources. 

When you need more than one hand to count the number of genocides the Empire committed, the scale of the horror is just too great to fathom. 

So from that perspective - taking a step back, setting aside Padmé’s and Anakin’s feelings, understanding what was a stake - I say who cares. Who cares that Anakin was in love and that he felt he couldn’t live without Padmé. The priority was never “let Anakin Skywalker have everything his heart desires” - the priority was the billions of lives that were between him and his dreams. 

That’s Jedi philosophy (except they are more compassionate that I am here). That you can’t place your emotions, your relationships, your loved ones above everything and everyone else. That’s selfish and that’s evil. Anakin’s tale was never that of a star-crossed lover who tried to break his bonds and love despite his cold, unfeeling Masters’ rules. 

Anakin’s tale was that of a man who loved selfishly. (”There’s nothing more important to me than the way I feel about you” - Padmé isn’t even the most important thing - the way he feels about Padmé is. “You turned her against me! You will not take her from me!”)  Who loved violently. (*after beating the crap out of Clovis* Anakin: “I know I went too far. It’s just… It’s just something inside me snapped.” Padmé: “I don’t know who’s in there sometimes. I just know that I’m not happy anymore. I don’t feel safe. I think it’s best if we don’t see each other anymore. At least not for a while.”) (*later strangles his pregnant wife*) 

He loved selfishly and violently and for the sake of one man’s feelings, one man’s heart, evil like nothing seen before was unleashed.

AAYLA: I can still sense your worry for Anakin, your attachment to him. AHSOKA: It’s just… I get so confused sometimes. It’s forbidden for Jedi to form attachments, yet we are supposed to be compassionate. AAYLA: It is nothing to be ashamed of, Ahsoka. I went through the same process when I was your age with my own master. AHSOKA: Really? You? AAYLA: He was like a father to me. I realized that for the greater good, I had to let him go. Don’t lose a thousand lives just to save one.

Don’t lose a thousand lives to save one. 

That’s it, that’s what letting go was about. And Anakin didn’t even try. 

Of course Palpatine was the instigator of all this death and misery, of course it was his plan, his design, his fault. But Anakin was the catalyst. And Anakin stood by and let it happen, and then picked up a lightsaber and started slaughtering his way to what he imagined was a “happy ending” with Padmé.

Looking at the big picture, looking at all the suffering and loss and the hard struggles of people like Hera and Kanan, like the Rebels who had to sacrifice everything for the freedom of others, it seems absurd, ridiculous, blatantly unfair that this all came to pass become of one’s man love. 

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

#THIS #so much #I love him but #Anakin is a case study in cool motive still murder #burning down the galaxy #is not justified #by how much you say you love your wife #even if you’re the main character #that’s an attitude emblematic of this Disney-esque Romanticism #if you follow your heart #you’re a victim of the consequences! #like??? no?? #the heart is not Wise Life Decisions Central (via @thenegoteator)

Y’all have good tags, don’t hide them.

[anentirestarwar]

I just want to emphasize again: Anakin wanted to save Padmé because HE couldn’t deal with the pain HE would feel if she died, because nothing was more important than the way HE felt about her - including what Padmé herself actually wanted.

And we can talk all day about how Anakin was groomed from a young age and traumatized by years of war and loss and running on no sleep, all of which makes his decision more understandable and even something we can empathize with to some extent - but at the end of his day, it was still his decision. He chose to put his happiness over that of literally everyone else in the galaxy, including that of the woman he allegedly was doing all of this for. That’s evil, full stop.

(Although I just wanted to emphasize none of this was Padmé’s fault. If Anakin had never met her, Palpatine would have engineered a similar situation around Obi-Wan, or Ahsoka, or someone else Anakin loved. Padmé and Anakin’s relationship may never have been healthy, but it wasn’t their love that doomed the galaxy: it was Anakin’s selfishness and possessiveness.)

[elfhawk3]

[copperbadge]

Headcanon that Luke and Obi Wan got the money to pay Han Solo by selling the moisture farm at bargain-basement prices in Anchorhead without telling anyone that it was totally torched, and by the time anyone find out they were well off planet. Luke now has a reputation as one of Tattooine’s most famous con men despite the fact that it was Obi Wan who ran the con.

[yulesend]

#I don’t know if you meant it this way but I totally interpreted this as them selling the farm multiple times to different people#luke: *wrestling over selling the wreck of the farm to someone he knows is a complete scumbag*#obi-wan: hello are you interested in buying a farm#complete scumbucket: *interested noises*#luke:  wait didn’t we already-? *gets zapped by R2* ow!#luke: oh#luke: ohhhh#luke: >:)

[nevertheless-moving]

i haven’t cared about star wars ‘canon’ since i was 3 years old- I LOVE the idea that the reason Luke had to dramatically speeder in and out of Jabba’s without hitting up any of his local connections is he is like, wanted by a bunch of scum in Mos Eisley. Can you- can you imagine Vader or whoever doing a recon in town on ‘the last son of the Jedi who blew up the death star.’ His close friends and family have all a) died b) moved off planet or c) both. 

So the only reputation he has is ‘that bastard con artist who banked 19 years of aw-shucks-wormie-ness and used it to outrageously fleece everyone who’s almost anybody.’ Vader reading the report like…damn you Kenobi did you get HONDO to raise my son??

Jabba’s reaction to Luke’s message is INFINITELY funnier if we consider the idea that ‘Skywalker’ amongst the wretched local villainy (who mostly ignore imperial and rebel propaganda) is actually synonymous with TWO things - that brat who totally messed up the podrace bookies 25 years ago, and the infamous Anchorhead Con. Jabba gets this message about ‘Jedi’ and is like LOL i think the other Skywalker tried to pull some hotshit with that too before wimping out.

Everyone openly laughs like sure you’re a Jedi and I’ve got a bargain vaporator farm I want to sell you. 

AND THEN HE WRECKS THE JOINT WITH A DEBT-RIDDEN HALF-BLIND SMUGGLER A RANDOM SLAVE GIRL ONE GUARD AND TWO BEAT UP DROIDS WHAAAT

[letavalos]

@blackkatmagic

[umami-ty]

thinking wistfully once again about the au where fox accidentally kills palpatine, and then the whole coruscant guard loyally weekend-at-bernies the chancellor of the republic around for three days, trying to find a way to fake palpatine’s public death in a way that won’t lead back to their commander before he can break out of the holding cell thorn has him in and actually turn himself in for murder to someone who cares.

[umami-ty]

historians argue for centuries about the complicated legacy of chancellor palpatine, the longest-sitting leader of the republic, who was found posthumously to have been heavily involved with both sides in the very war that he used to justify expanding the powers of the executive position to an extent never seen before or since; but who used those powers in the last three days of his life to pass a fleet of previously stalled progressive bills credited with ushering a new era of peace and prosperity– criminalizing graft and corruption in the senate, granting all clone troopers citizenship and backpay, strengthening loophole-filled anti-slavery laws, re-opening peaceful negotiations with individual separatist worlds, and requisitioning a new space-pinball machine for the neglected coruscant guard rec room.

theories abound as to what brought on this dramatic change of heart mere days before his unexpected demise, tripping on a loose cable on his way to an outdoor press conference and– despite the best efforts of his attending guards– falling right over the platform railing into a vat of acid being transported by sanitation services. only the deeply hooded black cloak he had taken to wearing in those final days was recovered, in poor condition. it is preserved in the jedi archives to this day as a poignant reminder that anyone, however flawed, can make the choice to do good.

[gffa]

Star Wars fandom deciding that Mace Windu literally deserves death, in all seriousness, for not being 100% nice 100% of the time, not even being truly cruel, just snippy at most, sure is a take I’ve seen today.

[gffa]

There are a lot of really great comments and tags on this post, but to reiterate in a proper post about it–what really frustrates me is that Mace shouldn’t have to be literally the softest character alive just to deserve to live, especially because, guys, guys, I know we all love Ahsoka, me, too, but sometimes black people are not always going to be the absolute nicest to your faves (or real black people in real life–or, honestly, any person of color) and that’s okay. While individual criticisms of Mace may not fall under this, the bigger trend of how it just so happens that black characters get a bigger share of the criticism for not being literally the softest person ever, even in response to someone being snippy with them in the first place, is something we really need to get the fuck over. Mace doesn’t have to be soft all the time.  For a brief moment, I was all set to dig up some of those instances where he’s actually really pretty gentle with people or defend that he’s one of the most caring, compassionate characters (both of which are true) but then I realized, nah, let Mace be having a stressful goddamned day and let us treat him with the empathy he deserves for all the shit he’s literally right in the middle of in that moment. Let us recognize that Ahsoka was being snippy and stomping all over her own boundaries and she can deserve so much sympathy for that, I LOVE HER, I GET WHY SHE SAID WHAT SHE DID HOW SHE DID, I’D PROBABLY BE THE SAME, but let us also recognize that Mace is in the middle of a goddamned war, he has the Senate shit looming ahead of him that he’s fucking busy with, and this isn’t a meeting for a civilian, especially one who is still working through some personal stuff. Ahsoka herself recognizes all of this, showing that, no, Mace wasn’t really out of line.  And, even if he had been, so fucking what, he gets to be human and snap at people when he’s got a plateful of shit to deal with, just like everyone else. AND HE DOESN’T DESERVE SHIT FOR IT, MUCH LESS SAYING THAT THIS IS WHY HE AND THE JEDI FELL OR THEY DESERVED DEATH, SO INSTEAD MACE WINDU DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS AND I AM GOING TO CONTINUE TO YELL ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM. p.s. Remember when he gave the droids a chance to make better choices, even this late in the war?  Or when he was super supportive of Cody and Rex’s theorizing in the Bad Batch arc?  Or when he told all the clones to get out of the warehouse while he himself went to deal with the bomb?  When he spared a moment of sympathy for Echo, despite that his own life was literally on the line, depending on Echo cracking open the Separatist ship?  When he told Anakin he’d done a good job? BECAUSE MACE WINDU IS PRETTY FUCKING GREAT.

[gizkalord]

—The recounting of Shield Sheafson’s deeds from Beowulf, adapted for Ezra Bridger from Star Wars: Rebels

There was Shield Sheafson Ezra Bridger, scourge of many tribes the Empire A wrecker of mead-benches star-destroyers, rampaging among foes. This terror of the hall- storm-troops had come far. A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on As his powers waxed and his worth was proved In the end each clan sky-conquerer on the outlying coasts Beyond the whale-roads had to yield to him And begin to pay tribute. That was a good king.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

"The prequels Jedi were corrupt," is something I've just stumbled upon, again.

How are they though? How? I want an example, a single example of corruption.

Do they take bribes? No they don't, not that we ever see. What would they even do with bribes? They don't pursue material wealth.

Do they influence politicians to gain power? Lol, Riyo Chuchi almost bosses Obi-Wan Kenobi, member of the High Council, around and only backs down because he makes a reasoned argument she agrees with. Padmé Amidala is literally the only politician we see getting influenced by a Jedi to a Jedi's benefit (*cough* Anakin diverting her from her duties *cough*). The Council systematically gets shut down when they try to get something from the Senate (like when they try to get Palpatine not to bring the Zillo beast to Coruscant - Obi-Wan and Padmé *do* ask Anakin to speak to Palpatine, and it does precisely nothing.)

Do they accept a corrupt leadership? In a sense but they don't benefit from it (since most of the Senate doesn't trust them, drafted them into a war they never wanted to be part of, and essentially forces them to send their teenagers into battle because they are stretched so thin) which makes all the difference. They don't enable the corrupt system because it profits them, they support it because the alternatives they have are worse (the Separatists during TCW, who are backed by mega corporations like the Commerce Guild, Techno Union and Trade Federation, and who enslave the Twi'Lek, the Mon Calamari and the Togruta onscreen, just for starters, and use weapons of mass destruction like the Malevolence or that defoliator thing they almost test on the Lurmen when Republic weapons are specifically made not to target organic beings - see the Zillo beast arc) and because the Senate has the authority to order the Jedi to kick people out (Ahsoka) or to drop investigations (Maul in s4, Kamino in s6), and can declare them all traitors. The Jedi don't have the means to go against the whole Republic, and frankly making sure politicians aren't corrupt should primarily be the job of the billions of citizens, not theirs (the 10000~ space monks who have kids to raise and Sith Lords to deal with and would very much like to spend their days meditating and being nerds ("I was going to study that!") and helping people.)

Do they lie to their subordinates to get more power? The Council doesn't lie about its beliefs, and its members actively practice what they preach (letting go of things, staying in control of yourself, protecting the helpless...) so no manipulation there, and while they do lie or cover up things from time to time it's never to achieve power or to benefit themselves directly. The Rako Hardeen act? They lie to save the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, who, as far they know at this point, is their legitimate Commander-in-Chief. OpSec isn't corruption. They cover up the discovery that Dooku made the Clone Army to protect the Clones themselves (as stated by Yoda) and because the public would freak out and then they'd have a civil war on top of a galactic war to deal with. It doesn't benefit them, exactly, because they explicitly say they're not happy about the decision but don't see another way out. ("The right path, no. The only path.") Oh, and Obi-Wan literally tells Rex, Ahsoka and Bo-Katan about Sidious, because the Jedi aren't secretive as a rule. They share intel easily if it'll help people.

Do they seek power in any way? Ffs, when they go against Palpatine – the Sith Lord who orchestrated an entire and forced hundreds of them to for in it, along with hundreds of thousands of Clones and millions of civilians – Mace tried to arrest him twice in the name of the Senate. "In the name of the Galactic Senate, you're under arrest" and after Palpatine kills three Council members "you're under arrest, my Lord." He only tries to kill him without a trial after Sheev blasts him full of lightning for like two freaking minutes. Talk about a coup. (By the way, arresting the Commander-in-Chief of your armies when you have proof of his own corruption, when he has given himself control over the banks (Clovis arc), gotten more emergency powers (RotS), holds power over the courts (Wrong Jedi arc) and has stayed in office for longer than his term? That's not corruption, that's actively fighting fascism.)

You could argue that Obi-Wan sending troops to Mandalore is a misuse of power, but there's a Sith Lord there who could potentially tell them the identity of Sidious and this help end the war. Also, it doesn't benefit him directly since it puts Ahsoka in danger, it divides his fleet and it could get him in trouble since he didn't make the operation a secret in any way. The one time Obi-Wan does go to Mandalore for his own benefit, he does it without backup and without even using Republic property since he borrows Anakin's ship.

So maybe the Jedi are corrupt because they distort their old ideals and preach a false image of the Force? They are corrupt in the sense that they are stagnant and the Dark Side corrupted them? But... Yoda is the Order's greatest critic (see AotC) which points to self-awareness, as he's one of their most important leader, the "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate to suffering" credo is literally how Lucas describes the Force working (see @gffa 's collection of quotes) so they are narratively correct on most of their doctrines (same goes for attachment as Lucas defines it, in opposition to love), and Yoda and Obi-Wan the quintessential Jedi are deemed worthy of immortality by non-Jedi entities. The Jedi constantly talk about how hard war is because it's against who they are at their very core ("we are keepers of the peace, not soldiers," "we are peace keepers," "unfortunately war tends to distort our point of view; if we sacrifice our ideals, even for victory, we may lose that which is most important, our honor," etc) and every decision they take is motivated by the need to protect civilians and the Order. They don't join the war, they get drafted. Hear that, Rebels!Yoda? This is why I base my understanding of Star Wars on the movies and TCW alone, aka Lucas' canon. I swear, idk wrote that part about "the Jedi joining the conflict swiftly in their arrogance" but that's not what happens in the movies. They literally go save a high profile politician and two of their own from unlawful execution and try to arrest Dooku for being a terrorist (he hired people to kill a political opponent) and a threat to the safety of the Republic (he's literally manufacturing entire armies and talking about going to war), and 200 of them get slaughtered for it, and then they get drafted as Generals despite having no military expertise and they can't say no because again, the Senate can (and would) label them as traitors, and if they don't fight the Clones have people like Tarkin leading them. (You know, just the guy who later commits genocide on a whole planet.)

Seriously, I want one, just one concrete example of the PT Order/Council being corrupt, because it's such a common accusation that surely it must be grounded in canon somehow. Right? Right?

[white-throated-packrat]

The corruption isn’t of wrongdoing, it’s that they strayed from their purpose. Qui-Gon tells Anakin “I didn’t come here to free the slaves.”

Why the hell not? Why aren’t Jedi freeing slaves and fighting slavers and pirates across the galaxy? Either they are doing what is right, or they’ve compromised their principles in some way to continue tolerating slavery. Even if it’s the expedience of “there aren’t enough of us”, that’s a compromise -- one born of necessity, perhaps.

If it’s “We’re not freeing slaves because it would be politically awkward for the Republic government” that’s another level of corruption. That’s not a lack of manpower, that’s agreeing that slavery can continue because the powerful people in the Republic government find it expedient to continue.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

@white-throated-packrat​

Why the hell not? Why aren’t Jedi freeing slaves and fighting slavers and pirates across the galaxy? Either they are doing what is right, or they’ve compromised their principles in some way to continue tolerating slavery. Even if it’s the expedience of “there aren’t enough of us”, that’s a compromise – one born of necessity, perhaps.

I can answer all of that in four points.

I’m sorry, this was meant to be way shorter but it grew into a big meta.

1) ADDRESSING THE LACK OF MANPOWER.

There is 10000 Jedi. It’s barely a small village, in a galaxy of trillions. That’s not a ‘compromise’ - it is objectively impossible for the Jedi to end slavery. They have kids to raise, many of them are researchers and diplomats, many of them are elderly. “Lack of manpower” applies for when you have only half of the workforce required to build houses for the homeless.

10,000 vs  (several times) 1,000,000,000,000. That’s 1 Jedi out of a hundred millions people. Hey, my Church of 70 people hasn’t solved human trafficking on our 7 billions people planet (same exact ratio btw). Should we stop giving soup to the homeless and go focus on that instead of straying from our purpose?  

There are more Senators (you know, the people elected to do something about stuff life slavery) than Jedi (semi-religious warrior monks) on active duty. It’s beyond ludicrous to expect the Jedi to be responsible for a galactic-wide problem. 

2) THE LOGISTICS OF ENDING SLAVERY 

You say they “strayed from their purpose.” When in canon is it ever stated that their purpose is to free slaves or fight pirates? You could argue that it’s what their purpose should be, but as it it a Jedi’s purpose is to 1) live by the Force 2) serve the Republic. Why would it be the Order’s moral responsibility to free all slaves? There are tons of other people in the galaxy who could do it to but are busy living their lives. Why is it more the Jedi’s job than anyone else’s? Because they have extraordinary abilities? Plenty of species in SW can do incredible stuff that’d be useful in a fight. Because they have sworn themselves to helping people? You can live in a world with a specific problem without devoting yourself to ending it and not be corrupt/still be doing good. Example: the Red Cross. They operate in a number of corrupt countries where people don’t have freedom of speech/freedom of the press. Why the hell isn’t the Red Cross overthrowing those governments instead of merely providing relief? Do you see the problem with that line of reasoning?

“But they wouldn’t need to end slavery, just to fight it.” If there’s one thing Game of Thrones did right, it was showing that one person - or a small group - cannot oppose institutional slavery in an effective manner - either peacefully or tyrannically. Especially if that person/small group is foreign to the society they’d be “fixing.” Let’s say the Jedi barge into Jabba’s palace, arrest him (on what grounds? He isn’t a Republic citizen, he’s a sovereign landowner - they’d be starting a war, which isn’t ethical) and free his slaves. Who gives them new homes? New jobs? Who makes sure their masters give them up? It’d have to be the Republic, because the Jedi don’t have the funds or the people, and the Republic doesn’t care. What should the Jedi do, mind-trick the Senators? What about slaves who don’t want to lose the relative stability that a good household offers? You’d have to get everybody off Tatooine, so they can’t be snatched and enslaved again. But what if they don’t want to go? Let’s say you miraculously work around all of those issues. You’ve freed the slaves on Tatooine, congrats. The slavers who sold Jabba 20,000 Twi’Leks on their last run will go sell to the Black Sun instead. Do you go to war with the Black Sun? How many will die? How many slaves will die?  Ending slavery is about changing entire civilizations. Changing a people’s ways of thinking, of relating to the world. It can only happen through societal reforms, and it’s long and hard. A hundred Jedi charging lightsabers blazing is not the solution to slavery.

3) ACCOUNTABILITY OF OTHER CHARACTERS

Here’s another post I made about that specific issue. Basically, if you equate the Jedi’s lack of action against slavery with corruption, you’re accusing Padmé and Bail of being corrupt as well. Because Padmé, Bail, Mon Mothma and the other honest Senators are in far better positions to do something about it, and yet we never see that they do. Does that make them corrupt?

Because hey, if a supposedly entirely neutral party with presumably limited funding, and very limited political power (as demonstrated countless times in the PT movies and TCW, when the High Council gets shut down by politicians) can be found morally reprehensible not going to space where they have no jurisdiction whatsoever [...] what does that say about Padmé?

Padmé, who had the wealth of an entire planet at her disposal. Padmé, who could have actually given Shmi a job and a life after getting her out of slavery. Padmé, who arguably owed more to Shmi and Anakin than the Jedi did. Padmé, who ate and slept in Shmi’s house, formed a friendship with Shmi’s son and was shocked and saddened upon realizing they were slaves. [...] Padmé who had the political freedom to take a different stance on slavery in the Outer Rim than the Republic.

Padmé is all “the Republic would do something about it” when she realizes slavery is a thing so close to her home. She’s influential in the Republic. What does she do about it as a Queen? Nothing. Do we hear her speak out against it as a Senator at any point? Not that I remember. [...]

Not convinced? Okay, guess what? We never see Bail Organa directly freeing slaves either! And he was so wealthy, and Alderaan was so prosperous. Surely they could have done more for the Republic than a few relief missions! [...] (satire)

See what I did there?

The same could be said about Ahsoka. When she sees the slaves working in the spice mines in s7, she doesn’t do anything about it. She could have caused an uprising, right? She could have mind-tricked the guards. Right? Yeah, no.

The narrative doesn’t present Padmé, Bail or Ahsoka as corrupt. Therefore, the Jedi should be held to the same standards.

4) THE JEDI ACTUALLY DO FIGHT SLAVERY WHERE AND WHEN THEY CAN

They track down and liberate the kidnapped Togruta in s4 They free the enslaved Mon Calamari in s4 They free the people of Ryloth in s1

tldr: the existence of slavery in the Galaxy is not proof of the Jedi’s corruption, lack of action or deviation from their purpose, and the Jedi shouldn’t be expected to fix slavery in order to be considered morally free of guilt 

[communistkenobi-archive]

thinking about the hardeen arc in clone wars again and could you imagine if it happened after Maul came back. like just think of the absolute galaxy-ending shit fit he would throw upon finding out that some random sniper killed Kenobi and not him

[pheenixwrites-deactivated202206]

Not only would Anakin be after Hardeen, but Maul would be there too like “?? How dare you kill my nemesis?? Prepare to meet a fate worse than death??” Anakin and Maul would be murder buddies, is what I’m trying to say.

[himboskywalker]

Good cop bad cop Space murdering tag team out to seek revenge over one local (gorgeous/perfect/immaculate) Jedi.

[anaisonfire]

#Maul is the good cop—just to clarify here

[kyraneko]

I NEED THIS!

I NEED THIS SO FUCKING BAD!

Jesus imagine Obi-Wan being stuck undercover and dealing with the combination of “am I about to get killed for my own murder” and “Anakin is working with Darth Maul THIS IS NOT FINE”

Also the galaxy would never recover from the team of Maul and Anakin.

(Also I just thought of the implications. Like what if Maul decides to poach Palpatine’s new apprentice from him. Like spy and sneak and infiltrate and then pop in on Mustafar after Obi-Wan runs off all “hey Skywalker, stop sucking on that source of healing energy you’re about to kill your girlfriend, here, borrow some health from me instead” and then later “yeah, Palpatine was trying to make you kill your girl so you’d never forgive yourself and he’d own you attachment-free” “wife” “huh?” “wife not girlfriend” “gotcha. anyway let’s let him get you into this lifesupport suit and pretend to have an emotional breakdown and I’ll pop in later and we’ll kill him and I’ll teach you the Dark Side and we’ll rule the galaxy together” “okay”

[generouslyandrogynousdragon]

“Darth Maul saves the galaxy” is not the hot take I was expecting this morning, but stone me if I didn’t enjoy this

[anotherhawk]

Total crack idea - there has been a resurgence of the "Jedi are childsnatchers" idea in the years leading up to the Clone Wars, and Mace attributes that solely to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn unceremoniously stealing his padawan back from all the many, many people who found an abandoned, traumatized child and promptly adopted him.

[mrv3000]

“The Jedi are childsnatchers" factoid is actually just statistical error. The average Jedi snatches 0 children per year. Qui-Gon Jinn, who no less than 20 times a year loses his padawan and has to snatch him back from the people who adopted him, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

[emberkyrlee]

seananmcguire‘s tweets were a wild read today….

Somehow, this story doesn’t surprise me in the least XD

[seethestarsalittlecloser]

So we were talking on discord about the Kadavo arc and Anakin’s behaviour and I brought up a point that apparently people hadn’t thought of. So here’s my hot take:

Anakin’s behaviour in the Kadavo arc and when confronted with instances of slavery (like the Clone Army) in general makes total sense for his character.

Yes, he was a slave. Yes, that means he should feel for the slaves he’s sent to free and we see that he does, but that doesn’t mean him acting as a slaver makes no sense. This is the same man who was introduced to us as an audience in 1977 as the second-in-command to an Empire that literally runs on slavery. Vader’s shadow is all over that Kadavo arc and in my mind it comes down to one thing:

Not everyone reacts to trauma the same way. Other people with his history might react that way by becoming extremely anti-slavery in their beliefs and actions. To a certain extent, Anakin does, too. He goes to Kadavo to free slaves and he succeeds. However, just as someone might devote their lives to making sure that what happened to them never happens to anyone else, someone else might react to that trauma by snatching any power they can so that they personally are never in a position like that again. That’s the kind of reaction I see in Anakin and it’s exceptionally obvious in the Kadavo arc, as well as a point repeatedly made the films. Yes, Anakin was anti-slavery in that he knew what it was like to be a slave and he worked to free other slaves when he could. But he’s also power-hungry - its one of the most well established facets of his character. He was born without power and he spends the rest of his life desperate for any power that he can get because his life as a slave taught him that power is what keeps you and the people you love safe. 

I love him, I do, but Anakin is, essentially, a selfish person. He has very specific priorities with himself and the people he loves at the top and he is terrified that if he’s not powerful enough then he’ll lose everything. That’s what draws him into the arms of the Sith, it’s what fuels his unhealthy attachment and prevents him from letting go, because he knows what it’s like to be on the bottom of the food chain. And that fear means that if he has to sacrifice his own power and position to free someone else, he’s going to think twice, he’s going to hesitate because he’s ruled by fear. 

And that’s why he falls.

[nereiix]

Oh no, what have I done?

The Trouble with Tribbles is my all-time favorite episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (and the only one I remember, to be honest). I couldn’t help but imagine what could happen if in a crossover universe the clones came across tribbles. At least one of the boys would try to keep one for sure… Big mistake. Just imagine how chaotic it would be, ahah!

For those who don’t know Star Trek, a tribble is a small, furry, and adorable creature which has the particularity to reproduce very very quickly.

[charity-angel]

But… What if the equivalent of Klingons in the GFFA is Sith? They out Palpatine in the exact same way Arne Darvin was outed?

[charity-angel]

Part 1/?

Boil raised an eyebrow as Waxer’s belt chirped organically, and studiously ignored it. It was nothing to do with him; absolutely nothing. Nope.

Well. It hadn’t been anything to do with him until his idiot batchmate pulled a small, furry something out of one of the utility pouches when it meeped again, and started stroking it gently. It started purring. Forcedammit.

“What is that?”

What had he done to deserve this? He was too old for this shit. Waxer was too old to be pulling this shit.

“No idea.” Waxer was bloody smiling about this. Fucker. “Isn’t it adorable?”

‘It’ fit nicely into Waxer’s palm, and was apparently spherical, dusty-brown in colour. There were no discernable eyes, ears, or mouth. Boil found that somewhat disconcerting frankly. ‘It’ trilled gently at Waxer as he continued petting it.

“You can’t keep it.”

“Sure I can,” Waxer said, cheerfully disagreeing with him. “It’s not like it can get into the wiring and nibble. And it’ll be good for morale. And it’s only a baby – there were bigger ones back where I found it.”

Boil put a hand to his bucket and shook his head. “You stole a baby whatever from its family?”

Waxer stopped walking, turning to Boil and holding up his hands. The baby stopped making noise.

“I didn’t steal it,” he said. “It rolled over to me, and it was being nudged by the bigger ones. It’s fine, and it likes me, don’t you? Hardcase has got one too.”

“Oh good. So Rex will tell Cody when he finds it. Because he will. And Cody will come straight to us.”

Waxer sighed happily. “You’re such a pessimist. Here, you stroke it for a bit.”

Suddenly there was a ball of fur in front of his face, cooing gently at him.

Yeah, this was going to end up spectacularly. Thank the Force there was only one; they wouldn’t have to handle a population explosion. As long as Hardcase kept his beast away from Waxer’s.

Boil so wished he hadn’t had that thought. But at least that trilling was kind of soothing, actually…