Plot twist: Crow's reward for killing Ahsoka was going to be 34 million credits to pay off his crippling medical debt (hence why Marrok needed to get a second job)
(low effort because I'm working on my FAN COMIC right now)
Zeno & the child inside him
Took inspiration from "The Omen Bairn" item description in Elden Ring.
To the child that was brought to life with no warmth nor love.
No but seriously, do Twi'lek even take care of their lekku in any way?
Imagine Devon complaining that the boys are taking too long in the bathroom because Rylee is shaving and Maul isn't satisfied 'cuz one of his horns is shorter than the others 💅💇♂️
The apocalypse has come and gone, and against all odds, Pharloom remains standing. The time has come for Hornet to return to Hallownest, accompanied by friends and allies: Shakra hopes to explore the mythical land beyond the wastes, and properly lay to rest a member of her own tribe; Lace fears unraveling without the aid of a Weaver, while contending with the immensity of a future free of her mother’s threads; and the Green Prince lives only only to spite the Citadel, passively seeking a more honorable end than might be found in the rubble of his homeland.
Meanwhile, Hornet returns from Pharloom with magic and knowledge that might aid in the slow recovery of Hallownest and Deepnest–and perhaps offer the chance to call home the sibling she once thought lost to her forever.
Chapter 5: Nightmares and Gods
[<<Prev] [Chapter 5] [Next>>]
A brief look into Lace's mind! She is so very, very normal, and coping in healthy ways. We also learn a little more about what Hollow has been up to since the end of the first game... (They didn't mean to wake her, but they weren't expecting her to perceive them either.)
At any rate! Thank you all for your patience. It has been an incredibly chaotic couple of weeks, and your continued interest has really helped keep me sane.
Tip Jars: [Ko-Fi] [Patreon]
Other Hollow Knight Art: [They Are Taking Art Lessons] [Hornet Enacting Big Sister Rights] [Lace Gets Adopted] [Ghost Exhibiting Cat Behavior ™] [Addendum to Adoption] [A Lack of Due Diligence] [Addendum to Due Diligence] [Memento Mayhem] [Pale King vs Shade Lord]
Lace: Spider!?
Lace: Hey!! This isn't funny!
Lace: There you are! I was beginning to think you meant to leave me behind.
Lace: !
Page 3
Phantom: What's wrong dear sister? You look as though you've seen a ghost.
Page 4
Lace: ....
Lace: ...pft. Ahahahaha!!
Page 5
Lace: This is a surprise! Now even the sibling has deigned to haunt my sleep.
Hollow: So you are aware of the dream?
Lace: Of course. I'm not a real person, you see. I need neither food nor rest-- To sleep is a choice, as is to dream.
Hollow: So this dream is as you desire?
Lace: I never said that.
Lace: I may choose to dream, but I have no control over what those dreams entail... as evidenced by your intrusion here. Why am I even explaining this to a figment of my unconscious mind?
Hollow: My apologies.
Lace: Hm. Well at least you're polite about it.
Lace: Sigh. Nothing for a bad dream but to let it run its course. Perhaps next I'll see my mother's severed arm!
Hollow: Do you wish to leave?
Lace: Of course! But since when does what I wish--
Page 6
Lace: How did you--
Lace: !?
Lace: Gasp!
Hornet: !? Are you well, child?
Lace: They're the God of Dreams?
Hornet: Ah. Yes.
Lace: But-- What--
Lace: Hey!! don't go back to sleep!!
Mandalorian & Grogu, an honest review from a SW fan (with spoilers under the cut)
How was this film?
Incredibly mediocre.
Compared to other Mando stuff?
Not as bad as the worst of season 3, nowhere as good as season 1.
Compared to The Rise of Skywalker?
Not nearly as offensive. There's no character assassination in there. Nothing that feels like a hot shit being taken over your face. It's more like you're sad something is not good... and less like you've been robbed and stabbed in a fandom back alley.
Is it worth a ticket?
No. It's 4 or 5 short episodes of Mando stitched together. You can literally see when the breaks would be, where one episode ends and the next begins. You even have some characters repeating themselves like the scenes were written with a week's break in mind and they expect you to need the repetition to follow "the plot".
There are a couple of pretty shots that will become the desktop backgrounds of Mando fans, but overall it's a pretty ugly movie, not worth the big screen either.
Will it make me angry?
Probably not? The way I see it, Mando fans, much like Star Wars fans, fall in two camps: those who are easily entertained and only want to see blorbo move on the screen and do not care about the quality of anything, and people who have already seen their glup shitto murdered in some live action and had their love of the franchise heavily challenged.
To the first, this film has Mando action and cute Grogu, and if plot and character development aren't priorities for you, then you'll have great fun.
To the second type, there's nothing in this film that will murder Mando or Grogu any worse than in season 3. It doesn't hurt any of its characters the way other shows have. This isn't Ahsoka or Kenobi or BoBF where your fav is a pathetic out of character loser getting shat on canonically. It's just, like I said, 5 mediocre mando episodes stitched together.
If that sounds good to you, go see it. But if it's all the same to you, I'd recommend waiting, and then pirating it, because Disney needs to eat shit and learn the lesson.
How is it technically?
Very mediocre too. There ARE pretty shots (at least 3 I noticed) but the rest is... cheap, busy, choppy, or simply nothing to gush about. There's one of the ugliest beaches you've ever seen. And a piss yellow New Republic base that must be built in the same Parking lot in Hollywood they shot Kenobi at. The action is sometimes nice, although you really feel like the stunt coordination did their absolute best and hardest, but the cgi team simply didn't have the time and means to do much with the shaky cam shite handed to them.
The music is stereotypical at this point. It's fine, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's WEIRD. There's an odd womb-womb reverb sound that pops up in quiet moments that I've never heard anywhere before and was madly distracted by. I cannot wait for YMS to review that thing.
Mostly what bothered me a lot was how *manipulative* the music was. The film fails very blatantly at inspiring feelings on its own. It doesn't have the time or inclination. So when it's cute time, the music will be cutesie! Oh but now it's spoooookie time uh oh, so spooky music is on. Then big classic mando screaming pipes come on because Mando was cool! wooh! I felt like a child being yanked around by the arm.
Anything else of note?
Mando barks dog orders at Grogu (Heel! x2, and followed once by Stay!) and I really wish they'd make u their mind if he's a child to him or an exotic pet. I know people who speak kinder to their pet geckos.
The villains of the film have no name and don't have actor credits (insane)
Filoni has his self insert in there, but unlike Lucas who was blue and in costume, he's just wearing his Cowboy hat and looking at the camera like :| and it really, really feels like he forgot to walk off the set before they started filming
The film doesn't pass the Bechdel test. There is 1 human woman, played by Sigourney, and she's sleep walking through her lines. Then one of the "Twins" hutt is a woman, if that counts for anything.
I strongly believe Pedro Pascal only plays Mando in one scene and voiced the rest while an actual stunt actor did the role. He sounds insanely bored the entire film. Like you woke him from a nap to record his lines in one sleepy afternoon
I checked my watch twice, which is bad for me as I'm easily entertained
NOW for some detailed spoilers!!!
Embo is in this. Yes, him, with his dog Marrok...
And really his "episode" should have been called "Embo's Aura Farming".
He doesn't have a single speaking line, but it was so sad how he did what Mando's job used to be, in character and narratively too, and how it was in no way used to reflect anything against Mando. It was just "what if we have this cool dude be in it too, since we need a strong guy to capture Mando?"
They had a fight scene at the end, some sort of hand to hand scrape, and the entire time I was thinking of the Feyd-Rautha vs. Paul Atreides fight in Dune 2, that looks so scrappy and real and has no score and is insanely tense... Meanwhile Mando is clearly fighting someone who is full CGI, and it's intercut by 3 Hutts wrestling like fat slugs struggling against each other over a cabbage leaf. All in this lightless brown sludgey environment and I was just...
So underwhelmed.
The entire time I felt like I was seeing the lesser, uninspired version of something that's already been done. The film did worse than stagnate, it took the franchise several step backs.
It takes you for a fucking idiot at times. Rotta the Hutt, the principal side character, who has more lines and screen time than Zeb or Sigourney put together, introduces himself with a long ass monologue stating 1/his family history and trauma 2/his current situation 3/his hopes for the future 4/his entire moral system 5/how he's different from his dad Jabba and doesn't want to be rescued.
It was an enormous dump of the "tell" you hear about in this thing called "show don't tell".
I thought they were taking us for toddlers, but then Mando goes to visit a local crimelord, and this guy peddles SALT. LIKE HIMALAYAN ROCK SALT, TABLE SALT!!!! And we're told it's because it's valuable... Politicians on this world restrict it. So it costs a lot......... Mando says "it's worth nothing where I'm from" and then.. and then he gets given a big salt rock and tosses it.
You have to understand. At NO point does the movie try to tell you this world is restricted. There are no embargoes, no blocades, no nothing. There is space traffic. There is absolutely no restriction on mando's movements, and nothing stopping people from going on a weekend trip to some nearby planet and returning with a lifetime supply OF MOTHERFUCKING SALT.
So then I was like Ooooooh they literally expect very small babies in the cinema, even though it's rated 12+. OK.
But then Mando and this white serpent you've seen in the trailer fight it off for honestly too long (mediocre ass scene cribbed from Avatar 1 and its thanator) and, I shit you not... Mando is shown sinking into DEEP waters. We see him underwater. We see a pit full of roots going DOWN. Then he claws his way up... stands up... and walks around? Without fumbling or losing his balance? On what? Roots???? That he can't see?
We get numerous underwater shots that reiterate there is a huge deep pit, but the next moment, Mando will be STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WATER PIT with water up to his knees and you're like ...???
Like please understand that the huge snake and Mando exist there a couple metres from each other in magical waters that are just the right depth for the shot needed.
Here is my mouse painted rendition of a cutout of this scene, with the walls in brown, the roots in black, and the thing at the top the big hole he was dropped from (Hutts truly are one note and have never evolved past the creature pit concept).
When Mando needs to drown he does, and when he needs firm ground, he suddenly gets it.
So not only do Favroni think we're 12 at best, they also think we're dumb.
If you think you're going to get some wholeseome dad-child interraction btw, let me tell you...
There's a scene in the middle where grogu has to look after mando in a swamp. It's what people mean by the cute grogu Swamp scene online. He has to care for Mando, who is poisoned and out of it, and himself.
He builds a mud hut over him (without instruction or anything, like a beaver using pure animal instinct to build a dam, as someone so gracefully put it on twitter). And this lasts for DAYS.
Then evetually a swamp guy gives grogu the antidote because the plot must go on... Next day grogu wakes up alone in the mud hut. He goes out and we see Mando rise from some bushes ((my immediate thought was he was taking a dump after days of holding it in since he spent like a week on his back without moving))
And he looks at grogu (with helmet on ofc)
((who sheltered him from robots, fed him clean water, built him shelter and force shoved him under it, found food and ate on his own, and saved his life with a miracle cure, and basically fended for himself in the Hutt world's swamp for DAYS))
and Mando goes:
"hey buddy.... ... ... The old care for the young... and the young care for the old... this is the way"
And then they leave. That's it that's the scene.
It had the emotional depth of a papercut. I was staring on, just, baffled, confused. It was the perfect emotional set up. Perfect moment for a tear jerk or an acknowledgement of some kind, that Grogu passed some real milestone, or should be proud, or anything. But nope.
Also no need for food or water after starving for a week being fed swamp water, it's right into an action scene like Mando is a plastic figurine being smaked around by Favroni. No time for feelings, no time for dialogue!! it's time for action, dun dun DUN!! Cue the epic Mando Music, yeehaw!!
He gets his old rifle back (and has a new razor crest too, because he's going back to the roots the fans loved), and then he goes to kill the hutts!
And as the New Republic arrives to reinforce him, I can't stress this enough... he orders a strike on his own location, AFTER the crime lord Hutts are gone. On a Hutt city habitat. A "palace" full of droids he's dispatching with ease and CIVILIANS we were shown earlier.
And the New Republic does it. They just bomb an entire building full of innocent civilians after the main criminals are already dead.
The reason they do it? Sigourney tells Mando: "yeah this imp talked and you are right, the hutts were selling our info to the imperials and double crossing us. they betrayed us"
EXCUSE ME????? How do the evil Hutts BETRAY YOU?? How are they getting info that you didn't just give them? Were you doing deals with the Hutts and TRUSTING THEM???? Is the New Republic course of action when known criminal syndicate sell their intel to COME BOMB THEM??
Like what type of 12yo is this film actually aimed at?
Anyway, i didn't care much for any of it. I could harp on about it, but I won't. Yes, it's insulting to your intelligence, cheap, emotionally manipulative and yet can't pull a single honest emotion out of you, but Disney has, indeed, done worse.
Oh yeah, and BTW they establish IN SPEAKING that Rotta the Hutt is most likely going to take care of Grogu after Mando dies. They were made aggressively close to each other and friendly, and there's an explicit scene where the bad guys go "Hutts live hundreds of years like Grogu does. So who will look after him when you are dead, mando? After you die we'll take Grogu and torture him" (I swear it's that dumb) and it felt so heavy handed... I can't believe it though... Rotta the Hutt and grogu adventure? Yeah miss me with that shit lol
Filoni and Favreau can never be trusted again going forward. They are burrying this franchise alive.
Hey everyone, I've decided to share my thoughts and opinions on the Clone Rebellion story idea. These are just my thoughts on the subject.
Will we even see anything from the Clone Rebellion? I honestly don't know. I was hoping something would be announced on May 4th. It's been two years since the end of Bad Batch, and there's still silence. The next time we might see new information about anything related to the Clone Rebellion is next year, on May 4th, so we'll have to wait. However, to make this time more pleasant and vent a bit of my frustration, I decided to write down some of my thoughts and predict what such a Clone Rebellion might look like.
The question is in what form would it appear? We have several possibilities;
- tales of the clone - this is one of the options, but personally I'm not a big fan of tales of ... because of how short they are. In the case of combining it with clones I'm afraid that it would make the plots shallow and make it seem rushed. However, it's one of the probable options that needs to be taken into account.
- A single-season series - I love clones, but the topic of clones during the Empire era isn't extensive enough to create a multi-season series. Especially since we already have The Bad Batch. I doubt Disney would create two series telling the same story in a similar time period. I think a single-season miniseries is possible. I think a series with the number of episodes The Bad Batch has would be enough to conclude the clone story. It could even be shorter.
-book - this is one of the possibilities that at some stage a book about the Clone Rebellion will be published.
-film – unrealistic, but my favorite option. The Clone Wars began with a film, so it would be poetic if the clone storyline also ended with a film. It would be beautiful to see a production in the style of Clone Wars animation on the big screen in a movie theater; look how good Maul the Shadow Lord looked. Wouldn't it be great to see such an animated film in a movie theater? And the story of the Clone Rebels is perfect for a movie. Well, one can only dream.
Potential topics ;
Well, what can we see in such a production. After such a long time of teasing the topic of the clone rebellion, it would be unsatisfying not to see a great duel of clones vs. stormtroopers. Of course, such a fight is doomed to the victory of the empire, which is why I think there will be no happy ending and the atmosphere will be darker. This is also indicated by the state of Rex in the rebels, but I will develop this topic later. And when and where was the clone rebellion supposed to take place and where? As for when, I think it would be rather shortly after the destruction of Tantis. And where, well, the original clone rebellion took place on Kamino, but Kamino was destroyed, so where and how would it look? We can only theorize, but I have a few ideas;
- military coup on Coruscant – you may have heard of something called Operation Valkyrie and the events related to it during World War II. Or maybe you watched the movie "Valkyrie" from 2008. The Clone Rebellion could be the equivalent of these events in the Star Wars universe. I don't remember where and I don't know if it's legend or canon, but somewhere I saw a comic where just after the rise of the empire, a group of officers supporting the Republic assassinated Palpatine. So maybe this story will be adapted. Such a conspiracy could be led by Barton Coburn joining forces with Cody, which would show that not all officers of the Republic like the rise of the empire and not all, like Tarkin and Yularen, have become fascists. Of course, such a conspiracy is doomed to failure and would lead to battles on Coruscant between the rebellious clones and conspirators and the clones and stormtroopers loyal to the empire. In such a case, the rebellious clones presented to the public would be manipulated by the conspirators. Thanks to which we would not have problems with such an early appearance of such a large fight with the empire because everyone in the galaxy would perceive the whole incident as a conspiracy of corrupt officers and not a rebellion.
- Rebellion on Pantora - Another scenario I came up with is one in which, thanks to Chuckie's actions, the Empire could attack Pantora, just as it attacked Mon Cala, in which case the rebellious clones would defend Pantora, defending it alongside its inhabitants. After all, we don't hear anything about the Pantorians later in the canon, and Palpatine could make Pantora an example to the senators of what happens to unruly planets. Of course, the Empire would lie to the public that the Partorians caused the chaos and that "the good Empire had to intervene." Of course, such a fight is doomed to the Empire's victory and the Pantorians sharing the same fate as the Mon Calarmari.
-collaboration with Jedi -When we first meet Rex in Rebels, we have some interesting dialogue. When Kanan learns he's talking to clones, he draws his lightsaber. Wolf then attacks, saying, "Jedi. They've come for revenge." After a moment, Rex calms him down, saying that they're Jedi, yes, but "not the ones that betrayed us."Maybe after Tantis destroy , Rex and the other clones wanted to hide the Force-sensitive children released from the vault. To this end, they may have begun collaborating with a group of surviving Jedi or the Path. These Jedi may have distrusted them or, for example, betrayed them and exposed the Empire to their own hiding place.
Character Fate ;
- Fate of Rex, Gregory, Wolf……………. and Codi ;
In Rebels season 2 we can see Rex, Gregor and Wolf on Seelos. There must be some reason for the state we see them in in the rebels. I think it is caused by the defeat of the clone rebellion and the death of most of the participating clones. In addition, I do not know in what role Cody will appear but he will definitely die. A possible hint is that in Rebels in season 3 episode 6 Rex when he regains consciousness says Cody's name. Of course, this is caused by the return of PTSD from the Clone Wars but it can also be caused by PTSD related to Cody's death. I also think that Cody will die because it takes something strong to make Rex lose faith and surrender and Cody's death would be perfect for this. In such a scenario, wandering on Seelos was a kind of self-exile and self-punishment of Rex for the defeat of the clone rebellion. Something like Yoda setting off for Dagobah in Rots.
Gregor will simply go with Rex to Seelos, fearing for his mental state (I mean Rex's mental state after the defeat of the clone rebellion, Gregor will be worried about him and will not want to leave him alone).
As for Wolf's fate, I'm not sure; I think he could remain loyal to the Empire. Even during the Rebellion, he informs the Empire of the Ghost crew's arrival and intercepts Ahsoka's messages to Rex. So, I think in the Clone Rebellion itself, he could represent the clones loyal to the Empire. We got some perspective on the clones loyal to the Empire in the Crosshair storyline, but with Wolf, we saw the perspective of the clones forced to fight other clones, which seems interesting. He could also be a clone spy for the Empire. Theoretically, he remains loyal to the Empire, but he secretly collaborates with Rex, and the Empire never learns of his spying. Perhaps after the Clone Rebellion's defeat, many clones will be imprisoned, and Wolfe will help free them or arrange a pardon for Rex and Gregor? Remember that in Rebels, Rex said he provided secret locations for the Empire, and Attolon was one of the few safe houses Rex hid.
-The fate of senator Riyo Chuch;
There is a very high probability that she will die. Chuchi appropriately boldly and openly opposes the empire and the emperor. Even Bail Organa does not so openly oppose the empire and Andor and Mon Mothma's history indicates to us that open opposition to the empire is harmful. She is not mentioned anywhere else, she is not in Rogue One or Andor. Chuchi has already tried several times to kill her for himself in money, when it starts to change into what happened on Tantis priority by her elimination. A potential scenario that includes such a description, which includes the role of the senator and his relationship, becomes the key to the rebel.
-The fate of Emerie Karr;
As for Emerie, I think that apart from the thread of adapting to a new life, she will also be pursued by the empire. All of Kamino's data has been destroyed and Hemlock and Nala Se are dead, so the Emperor needs a new scientist who will work on the necromancer project. Of course, there are many scientists in the empire, but Palpatine may assume that since Emerie worked with Hemlock for many years and has a vague history with Nala Se, she may have at least some of the knowledge about cloning in her head that was lost on Tantis. To keep the necromancer project secret, Palpatine may send Brendol Hux or/and Gallius Rax, which would be a good excuse to introduce these characters to a wider audience.
(If I remember correctly, Gallius Rax was still a teenager at that time, but he was already fanatically loyal to Palpatine, so he could have been a spy, for example. For example, he was impersonating Chuchi's assistant or something similar.)
This can branch off in two ways;
-Emerie is running away from the empire's pursuit. Maybe she'll fake her death and change her identity, which would also tie into the plot of starting a new life and cutting off the past with Hemlock. In such a scenario, she'd probably join the hidden path and help the children who are sensitive to the force. With her knowledge of the empire's plans, she'd probably be helpful.
- Emerie is captured. In such a scenario, after the confrontation with Palpatine, she could become Galen Erso for the necromancer project. She would come to the same conclusions as Erso and pretend to be broken, she would work on the necromancer project while silently sabotaging it.
Personally, I'm a little skeptical of this line because it would be hard to convey without feeling like Emerie's story has gone back to where we first met her on Tantis. However, in support of this, I'll say that it would plug a few plot holes.
First of all, why didn't the empire return to Pabu and forget about Omega? Hemlock hid their escape and didn't inform anyone? It's possible that he didn't want to admit to Palpatine that someone from his secret base had escaped. The same can be said for why the empire didn't return to Pabu. Hemlock hid all the information. But why didn't scientists like Dr. Scalder or other scientists who worked on Tantis spill the beans? They certainly knew about the properties of Omega's blood and they certainly didn't die either. If Emerie had returned to the empire, it could be explained by the fact that she had somehow persuaded or forced Scalder and other scientists who knew to keep quiet.
(Scalder literally stands by as Hemlock explains why Omega is so important)
Secondly, Tantis fell in 18 BBY and the Emperor's son was created in 12BBY and he was not the first, just one of many attempts to create a Palpatine clone. Did the Emperor manage to start the necromancer project from scratch in less than 6 years? Yes, but if we assume that Emerie, who probably had insight into the secrets of cloning on Tantis and could study Omega's blood, it would look more likely. In addition, if Emerie sabotaged the necromancer project, then the disintegration of the Emperor's bodies may not have been an accident but a deliberate sabotage.
Third, Dr. Pershing in Season 3 of The Mandalorian mentions that he developed his cloning methods based on Kaminoam knowledge. Of course, that means nothing and he could simply mean general Kaminoam knowledge while on Tantis the specialized knowledge was lost, but I wanted to mention it. If Emerie were to return to the empire, she could eventually become Pershing's mentor and instill in him the ethics that make Mando so hesitant.
- What kind of Jedi conduct themselves
I think it would be interesting to think of it as Quinlan Vos. We know from Serlau Kenobi that Vos is part of the Path. During the Clone Wars, Quinlan was one of the few Jedi who disliked and distrusted clones. Moreover, he had a brush with the dark side. He abandoned it after Ventres's "death," but he could have been tempted by the dark side again after Order 66. The clones should also be distrustful of him, as Vos briefly worked for Dooku and killed clones. In summary, their encounter could be interesting.
- Echo's Fate;
In my opinion, Echo will survive. If I remember correctly, there is information about the Echo base on Hoth and the name Echo could have been the origin of the base's name. Very likely, considering how the theory that the old grandpa on Endor is Rex has passed into canon. Echo also has the greatest potential. Thanks to his cybernetic enhancements, even in the OG era, he can be fully functional, so that he can service himself well. Echo is also a person who will never retire and I can imagine that throughout all these years he joins various rebellion cells to fight the empire. In addition, in my opinion, the saddest and most heartbreaking ending of Echo's storyline in the clone rebellion is that he survives. Again, when his other brothers die, he will be the survivor.
- other individual clones such as Howzer personally give it a 50/50 either they will die or survive.
- the bad bath definitely did not appear. Maybe there will be some conversation between Hunter and Echo but they definitely retired after season 3.
-maybe Vader will appear. They have his model after all.
In addition, Vader's appearance implies another thing. The 501st legion would be sent to suppress the clone rebellion together with Vader, which would have an even greater impact on Rex. The nightmare of Umbara would repeat itself only on a larger scale and even more bloodily. Now the clones would know that they are fighting against each other.
If you made it to the end and managed to read all my ramblings, thank you very much. Let me know what you think about what I wrote.
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