[gffa]

I LOVE LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT THE JEDI EXCEPT ORDER 66. I love a great many things about the Jedi and I have posted a lot about them, as you’re going to see, from the aesthetics to how much fun they are to their connection to the Force and how fascinating that is to explore.  They’re so incredibly extra, I mean, LOOK AT THIS GUY, THIS IS AWESOME:

I love how in touch he is with himself, his body and his mind and the Force, that he moves with such lethal grace and power and precision.  This is someone who has worked his entire life to have mastery over himself and his skills, this is someone who has a near unbreakable will, someone who can smile gently just as genuinely as he can righteously, angrily cut someone in half, someone who isn’t meant to be perfect, but who is good.  Obi-Wan Kenobi is the epitome of the perfect Jedi not because he’s an emotionless robot or whatever (he’s really, really not, not at any point in any of the movies or tv shows, just look at Ewan McGregor’s face at any point and you’ll see emotion all over it) but because he follows their teachings, he’s applied them to his life, he’s become an even better person by weaving them into his very bones. And that’s the big reason I love the Jedi is because they were so damn good. They devoted their lives to the Force and to compassion for other beings in the galaxy.  Their entire purpose was to seek further understanding this energy that bound the entire universe together, that familiar sense of warmth, of belonging, of finding themselves part of an endless lattice of connections that held them and everything else. I loved that the Jedi were just as dedicated to helping as many people as they could.  They weren’t soldiers, but they would give up themselves to become that because that’s what the galaxy asked of them, they were willing to not only die to save others’ lives, but to make hard decisions that benefited so many more people than just themselves.  They mourned, they took moments to feel that grief, but then did what they must. They fell into Palpatine’s trap not because they were corrupt (one of my favorite things about the propaganda book is that it is exceedingly clear about the corruption in the Republic, the lack of care for the people it was supposed to help, it was very much about calling people out, and yet was very, very clear about the Jedi were never part of that rotting from the inside out) but because they were willing to do what they felt needed to be done to help the entire galaxy. I love the Jedi because their teachings of mindfulness are analogous to therapy, that they’re beneficial (if you actually apply them), I love that attachment isn’t equal to love, but to the idea of being unable to accept things as they are. That, “the Jedi also value mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion, all of which have been shown to help people with various psychological disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain, substance addictions, and other disorders.” That, “just as Jedi get in tune with the Force, those who are intrinsically spiritual come to appreciate the great variety of life and endeavor to serve others.” That the Jedi promote self-discipline because it’s beneficial to the self, but also because they are very much aware of their ability to hurt other people if they don’t control themselves.  This is why Depa teaches Caleb that his feelings are valuable and should not be suppressed, but learn to control them before they control you.  This is why the Jedi know the dark side is dangerous (and it is) not because anger, hate, suffering, cruelty, selfishness should be denied, but instead that they are to be understood about ourselves, that they’re necessary as part of living beings, but you should let go of them when you’ve worked through them, that’s what “balance” means. I love the Jedi because they are an intrinsically motivated religion (slash-culture) in a galaxy that is all too often extrinsically motivated.   I love the Jedi because, even when the entire galaxy turned on them and lied about them and twisted their image, they remained faithful and good.  Obi-Wan’s entire world burned into ash, helped along by the person he loved most, and he still remained “the bedrock of all good”, because that’s the person his Jedi foundations allowed him to be.  I love the Jedi because they weren’t doormats, they did what they must, but they were also willing to forgive when it was genuinely asked for–Anakin kills all of Yoda’s grandkids and he still almost feels sorry for him when Vader explodes with loneliness after Obi-Wan dies.  He and Obi-Wan still welcomed Anakin back and helped him over to the other side when he died.  Or sometimes, even when it wasn’t asked for. I love the Jedi because they’re a bunch of super awesome BABES, because their aesthetics are gorgeous, because they’re hilarious and fun, because they’re cool, but most of all because: The Jedi strove to be the best people they could be, internally and externally. In other words:  #JEDI SQUAD FOR LIFE

[gffa]

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE JEDI ORDER IN STAR WARS CANON [A Meta/Reference Guide on AO3] aka, SO WHAT DO THE JEDI SAY AND DO IN THE ACTUAL CANON? Previously on gffa Is A Nerd:  I’ve done reference posts on the Jedi Temple before, but so much of it was Legends and a bunch more canon has come out since that I wanted to focus on a post about what we’ve been given about the Jedi Order in canon!  While we never actually get that much about them (seriously, it’s a handful of comics, games, and books, even The Clone Wars was really light on actual Jedi worldbuilding) there’s finally enough that I wanted to collate it as much as I could. Another goal is that it’s often hard for me to distill out what is actually true of them in the source material vs my own assumptions or what is said to be canon when Lucasfilm’s story has actually never said any such thing or what I’ve read in so many fics that I forget it’s not actually canon.  This is no judgement on those assumptions or bits of fanon, many of them are ones I whole-heartedly embrace! But this time I wanted to create something of a master post about what the Jedi have said, done, and taught in the canon (though, expect it to always be something of a work in progress, as new content is always being added or I hunt down something I hadn’t yet finished) or what Word of God commentary has said about them, because I find them endlessly fascinating and enjoy seeing what my assumptions about them are versus what actually goes on! This is a master list focused specifically on Canon, so Legends is a separate continuity from this.  Partially this is because I enjoy Canon, partially because this is Lucasfilm’s property and they get to define the rules, partially because George Lucas’ view on the old expanded universe was that it was separate from his Star Wars. “There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends.  And I can see why people think that.  But, you know, having worked with George, I can tell you that it was always very clear–and he made it very clear–that the films and the TV shows were the only things he considered canon.  That was it.” –Dave Filoni, The Star Wars Show, speaking of working with George Lucas ”I don’t read that stuff. I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world.” –George Lucas, on how the old EU was not canon to his Star Wars Which means that many commonly referenced elements that are often assumed to be Canon are not.  For example, the concept of the Jedi being kicked out at the age of 13 was brought up in the Jedi Apprentice books (which started in 1999, before Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith existed) and have not been referenced anywhere in Canon.   They’ve been contradicted by Legends (there was a 17 year old Padawan in The Way of the Jedi who did not appear to fear aging out) and has also been contradicted by Canon (Ahsoka was 14 when we met her, Caleb was 13 when he became a Padawan, but was described as “too young” for it normally, but the war had forced everything to accelerate). Canon vs Legends is relatively simple to tell–most anything that was published before April 25th, 2014 is NOT canon, most anything published after IS canon.  There are some guide books that will have a Legends disclaimer in the back despite being set after the date, the role-playing books appear to not be canon, the mobile games exist in kind of a limbo as I’ve never seen any yea or nay on them, and some require judgement from the audience–ie, LEGO Star Wars is probably not going to be canon, I think it’s safe to say!  But most serious stories released after that date are part of the tapestry, which often does reintroduce elements (like Thrawn being reintroduced in Rebels or Bant Eerin in An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure) but only what appears in those specific stories is canon, not their previous histories in Legends. This master post will be broken down into seven sections, grouped together as best I can! SECTION 1 - HOW THE FORCE WORKS SECTION 2 - JEDI CULTURE & PHILOSOPHY & TEACHINGS SECTION 3 -  JEDI AS A PEOPLE SECTION 4 - PSYCHIC SPACE WIZARDS DOING PSYCHIC SPACE WIZARD THINGS SECTION 5 - JEDI TEMPLES SECTION 6 - JEDI AND THE BIGGER GALAXY SECTION 7 - EVERYTHING ELSE (REAL WORLD ANALYSIS + OTHER NOTES) Hopefully, this will be interesting and fun to look over for anyone who’s into this kind of thing!  This is not a value judgement on the worthiness of Legends elements, as I enjoy many Legends things, too.  This is not an attempt to control what other people enjoy putting into their fic or treating as part of the tapestry of their Star Wars or talking about!  Merely this is “what is part of the canon as we move forward with Star Wars” and a fun exercise in shedding my own assumptions about what the Jedi have actually said and done themselves. I’ve done my best to organize things into groupings that help show consistent themes with the Jedi, as well as sourced things as best I can.  I always encourage people to read the source material for yourself, as any  second-hand telling of things is going to be imperfect, no matter how much I worked to stick largely to just quoting the material!

[thebusylilbird]

star wars is so fucking stupid, I love it

[writing-in-the-grave]

Prime example of why being a fanfic writer is painful

[iwritesometimes]

star wars fuckery to english glossary: the reader’s digest version

the star wars universe has no official name but in fandom you’ll see it shortened to GFFA for “galaxy far, far away”

glass - transparisteel

metal used in construction - durasteel

very strong space-plastic (used in stormtrooper armor) - duraplast

tablet computer (analogous to a PADD in trek) - datapad

rather than paper, handwriting is usually done with a stylus on flimsiplast (flimsi/flimsy for short)

holos are 3-d videos or videomessages, recorded and played on a holoprojector (these are often seen in small formats, palm-sized - analogous to like. a GoPro.)

we don’t drive cars, we drive landspeeders or speeder bikes

we don’t shoot guns, we shoot blasters

if you didn’t bring a knife to a gun fight, you perhaps brought a vibroblade instead - an edged weapon that, you guessed it, vibrates. little ones could be called vibroshivs or vibroknives. we actually got to see polearm versions of these in The Mandalorian! it was very exciting.

robots in GFFA are, of course, droids. astromech droids (astromechs) are the like. iphones of the droid world - ubiquitous, multipurpose, most with a similar aesthetic. R2-D2 and BB-8 are both astromech droids. human-shaped droids like C-3P0 are protocol droids.

got a papercut? a nasty flesh wound? a missing chunk of your torso, perhaps? slap a bacta-patch on it or take a dip in a bacta tank for a soothing treatment with this all-purpose miracle healing goo. this is what diapered Luke is bobbing around in during the early part of Empire Strikes Back.

you’re supposed to say kriff/kriffing instead of “damn,” “shit,” or “fuck/fucking,” but this is for cowards. let Obi-Wan cuss.

midichlorians - ignore them.

before the Empire comes to power, baby jedi who can’t hack it as knights or are never chosen to be Padawan apprentices become members of the Service Corps, the branches of which are the Agricultural Corps (AgriCorps), Medical Corps (MedCorps), Educational Corps (EduCorps), Exploration Corps (ExplorCorps)

dates are expressed (typically) as [date] Before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or [date] After the Battle of Yavin (ABY). for instance, the sequel trilogy begins in 34 ABY.

and, yes: that famous cantina tune from Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes is in a musical style called jizz. because star wars is incredibly stupid.

[aimmyarrowshigh]

popcorn is called bang-corn, because obviously the earth-centric aspect of popcorn is the popping, not the corn.

[baronfulmen]

rather than paper, handwriting is usually done with a stylus on flimsiplast (flimsi/flimsy for short)

A billion years ago (I am very old) I was playing the Star Wars RPG (no, not that one.  No, not that one either.  The one before that.) and I wanted to do something that required paper and I was told in no uncertain terms that there is no such thing in the Star Wars universe.

I tried to argue - this is a big galaxy with lots of different cultures and races and you’re saying that paper just isn’t ever a thing?  Anywhere?

But they were insistent.  No paper.

[experimental-sponge]

My favourite thing I got from watching a certain Star Wars roleplay series on YouTube is how, whenever they were confronted with something like this, they would simply add the prefix Hyper. They don’t have paper, because you don’t see any in the films, so they have Hyperpaper. They don’t have any toilets, only Hypertoilets. Because there’s so many things that, surely, they must have in the Star Wars universe, that just don’t quite seem to fit in.

[tharook]

I can’t complain. I was in a sci-fi game where the currency wasn’t specified, so I took it on myself to decide: Spaceuros.

[independence1776]

In case anyone is wondering, this post mixes Legends and Disney canon and is in fact mostly Legends.

The Service Corp thing for the Jedi is not Disney canon; there are older teenagers who aren’t Padawans yet and Caleb Dume/Kanan Jarrus was considered to be young to becoming a Padawan at thirteen. Obi-Wan became Qui-Gon’s Padawan when he was thirteen and that was also explicitly said in Master and Apprentice to be young. Anakin and Obi-Wan were initially puzzled when Ahsoka was sent by Yoda to become Anakin’s Padawan because of her age (fourteen). Dooku became Yoda’s Padawan when he was sixteen. A member of Dooku’s cohort was told when he was sixteen that he wasn’t ready to be a Padawan yet and he’d have to wait another year.

Also, ABY/BBY is an out-of-universe dating system.

[gffa]

GOD, I LOVE STUPID STAR WARS LORE. IT’S SO RIDICULOUS AND IT’S EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS BECAUSE IT HAS MULTIPLE CONTINUITIES THAT AREN’T ALWAYS IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS WHICH IS WHICH. I’ve always said that fandom is for doing whatever the hell you want when it comes to canon, whether you want to keep this bit or that bit or throw everything out or stick to canon as much as you can, and most of the time people are cherry picking the things they like because that’s what makes it more fun for them–and that is absolutely a great way to do fandom.  Fandom is about having fun and creating things you like, whether that means throwing out canon, sticking to canon, or some mix between the two.  I’ll die on that hill.

But at the same time, I think it’s helpful to recognize what is/isn’t canon, so I can make a better informed choice about what I do/don’t want to accept or when I’m doing headcanons or theorizing or just because I want to know what’s intended as part of the fabric of this show I’m watching for better narrative intentions sensing–and also just ‘cause I really enjoy SW lore. @independence1776 is right that the Jedi Service Corps are a Legends thing–they’re from the books that started just after The Phantom Menace came out, so they were trying to do a lot of worldbuilding before the movies were finished, much less before The Clone Wars ever existed.  By the time of TCW, we don’t have any evidence that Jedi Younglings ever age out (as mentioned, at least one of them was going to be 17 before becoming a Padawan, as well as Dooku was 16 and never expressed any danger of it never happening) and the ages tended to be higher. A lot of Legends stuff was like that–the idea of Ki-Adi-Mundi having a wife was from the SW comics, just after TPM, and then AOTC came along and were all, “Jedi don’t marry.” and they had to scramble for a reason to make him having a wife make sense, so they came up with the whole “male Cereans are incredibly rare” as an explanation.  Neither Ki-Adi being married, nor male Cereans being rare has been recanonized afaik. And a lot of stuff is sort of a mix–canon has definitely used “glass” and “transparisteel” both.  Anakin “swears” with “heck” more than once in TCW, but I don’t recall “kriff” being used outside of the novels. So, honestly, as complicated as SW lore can be, a lot of the times it’s made more complicated by trying to take all of it in when one hasn’t actually seen it used in the material itself, because, well, if this post or that fic referenced it, it must be important??  But, eh, I wouldn’t say so! Honestly, if you watched TCW and don’t remember something happening, don’t worry about it so much, it’s either probably something from Legends or it’s not that vital to the fabric of the canon and you’re fine without it!  (And if you want to be accurate to the more obscure-ish lore, if that’s what makes you feel more satisfied with your work, that’s what Wookieepedia is there for and why they have Legends/Canon tabs OR you can ask a SW nerd about it!  Like, if you want to know something about the Jedi in canon, I can probably tell you what we do/don’t know and I’m always up for being a nerd about that!  Or I’m always happy to try to hunt down tech specs for stuff if we have them, even if I’m not great at ships, I can usually at least point people to the right pages in the cross-sections or encyclopedias, if they want.  But, really, it’s fine to not be an expert on SW lore, do what makes you happy!)

[tragedy-for-sale]

Good Boy is stressed

I love him- this entire scene is literally adorable- I find it adorable- Fox is adorable okay?

Also- can someone please tell Fox I appreciate that he points with two fingers? Like I do that too and it makes me feel really valid- Fox, I appreciate you so damn much.

[angelqueen04]

You know what there needs to be art/fic/whatever of? Obi-Wan getting some much needed rest in his own bed, in his own room, with Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and Cody all hiding in different places in the immediate area, making sure that no one interrupts or wakes him up. 

I could just see Anakin having shoved himself in Obi-Wan’s tiny wardrobe, his eyes peering suspiciously out of the dark and his feet sticking out the door because he’s too tall and he wonders how that happened he was always able to fit just fine when he was eleven. 

Ahsoka is hiding under the bed, ready to leap out and tackle - silently - anyone who tries to come in. It’s also a great lesson for her on the merits of stealth.

Rex and Cody are out in the living area, one glaring at the door and the other at the window, just in case anyone gets any funny ideas.

The 212th and the 501st are all hiding out in different places throughout the Temple, spying on the Council and anyone else who thinks that Obi-Wan is absolutely necessary for whatever situation has cropped up. 

Fives may or may not have booby-trapped the corridor outside Obi-Wan’s quarters.

Just sayin’.

[lordvaders]

For a moment she said nothing, but as his footsteps receded she said, “Obi-Wan?” She heard him stop. “You love him, too, don’t you?” When he didn’t answer, she turned to look. He stood motionless, frowning, in the middle of the expanse of buff carpeting.  “You do. You love him.”  He lowered his head. He looked very alone. “Please do what you can to help him,” he said, and left.

[palprotein]

Normal fighting: *general insults towards the other person*

Ahsoka and Maul fighting: anyway so Obi-Wan—

[isilwhore-main]

They all jumped on poor Obi-Wan for not helping them rescue Mandalore, and yet there he is, taking time out of his busy, stress-filled day helping them rescue Mandalore...

[mlmanakin]

it’s all coming together

[manny-jacinto]

Obi-Wan + being right 🤷

[gffa]

YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO COME FOR ME LIKE THIS. THAT SHIT HURTED YOU TAKE IT BACK RIGHT NOW. But, okay, at the end of the day, as much as they both have dumped on Obi-Wan or been unfair to him or outright betrayed him, I do think that they both loved him and they were closer to him than either of them ever were with Palpatine. Even Anakin, when we look at his scenes with Palpatine, they never seem to be fun, they never seem to be family to each other, in the way Obi-Wan and Anakin are.  Look at Revenge of the Sith, when Palpatine tries to tell Anakin to leave Obi-Wan behind, he makes this face:

BITCH, I’LL LEAVE YOU BEHIND, IF YOU SUGGEST ONE MORE TIME THAT WE LEAVE OBI-WAN is basically Anakin’s entire expression right there. Or look at how, when they’re escaping on the Invisible Hand and Palpatine is right there with him, it’s Obi-Wan that Anakin talks to and banters with and pays attention to. Even Ahsoka, who was pretty unfair to Obi-Wan in the previous episode, is someone that Obi-Wan knows would choose him personally over the Chancellor. And I don’t think it’s as much of an insult to Obi-Wan as we might think, given that the Jedi are community-based.  Look at how Ahsoka was taught–Anakin is her Master, she learns the most from him, but this whole episode demonstrated she’s got a lot of Obi-Wan in her, too.  And we’ve seen previous TCW episodes, where Luminara teaches her, where Aayla teaches her, where Plo teaches her, where Yoda teaches her, where Sinube teaches her, where Padme teaches her. The Jedi are very much about giving their students multiple mentors and friends, even if there’s one they have as their central teacher.  Anakin seeing Palpatine as a mentor, setting aside the context that we the audience knows (but that characters do not), wouldn’t ping on Obi-Wan’s radar as a slight against him, because Anakin should have multiple teachers and people guiding him. It sure as hell hurts us, the audience, when Obi-Wan is doing all this for Anakin–he’s talking to Ahsoka for Anakin, he’s talking to Padme for Anakin, he’s trying to talk to Anakin for Anakin, we’ve seen him multiple times approach Anakin for conversation over the course of the movies, TV shows, and comics/novels, and to have Ahsoka and Anakin say that Palpatine was a good mentor WHEN THEY SHOULD BE SAYING THAT TO OBI-WAN. But here’s what makes it better:  Anakin does say it to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan has been a great mentor and friend to Anakin and maybe he doesn’t always get enough credit for it from the people he loves, but he also understands where their hurt is coming from and his relationships with them were real, unlike with Sidious. And, in the end, Anakin comes back to Obi-Wan.  He throws Sidious down a reactor shaft and joins Obi-Wan as a Force Ghost and becomes a Jedi and they get to spend forever together.

As hard as some of what Obi-Wan has to go through, what he has to let slide because he knows the people he loves are hurting, I think he’d take his relationships with them over Palpatine’s relationships with them in an absolute heartbeat.

[forcearama]

(from Wild Space, Part II: Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Snark Wars))

Will I ever be over that this was in a (non-canon, BUT STILL) OFFICIAL STAR WARS BOOK????

[legobiwan]

Obi-wan, Ahsoka & Maul’s Grand Plan

Now that we’re all emotionally compromised, it’s time to really dig into the Obi-wan-Maul-Ahsoka (and by extension, Ezra) narrative.

After Phantom Apprentice, we learned that Maul orchestrated the war on Mandalore (the second one, at least) to lure Obi-wan and Anakin back to Mandalore, so Maul could kill Anakin, and ruin Sidious’s plans. 

Now that we know Maul might have also had a double objective when he took Mandalore the first time, it is instructive to go back to “The Lawless” and read THAT scene and that episode in a new light.

Maul wants to lure Obi-wan to Mandalore, presumptively to take revenge on him for a whole litany of sins, including the whole cutting-Maul-in-half-and-ending-his-career-as-Sidious’s-apprentice thing. We know this is a premeditated move, that Maul is banking on Obi-wan coming to save Satine: 

It’s a fascinating (and risky) gambit, but if Maul has learned one thing about Obi-wan, it’s that the man suffers greatly from attachment (even if he hides it), and through those attachments, he can be manipulated. Maul goads Obi-wan into a sloppy, dangerous, rage-fueled duel in Revenge by invoking his murder of Qui-gon Jinn.

And then again with Adi Gallia where Obi-wan nearly bisects Savage in half the long immediately after she is killed by Savage:

Now, with the knowledge we have after Phantom Apprentice, Maul *may* have been expecting Anakin to show up with Obi-wan in the Jedi shuttle and not Adi Gallia. His ultimate plan seemed to be to find a way to lure Anakin and to lure Anakin, Maul needed Obi-wan. 

This unforeseen development is probably what prompted this cryptic commentary from Maul:

I would argue that Maul’s plan was to consolidate a power base as he did on Mandalore with the crime syndicates, so he would be an advantageous position after Maul presumably killed Anakin and thwarted part of Sidious’s plans. It was too early on Florrum, the Jedi (and possibly Sidious himself, sensing the threat) making a point of going after Maul, perhaps Sidious not getting in their way for once in order to snuff out this annoying relic of history. (It’s instructive to note that in a deleted scene (9:45) of Revival, Sidious intervenes so that Anakin will not go on that mission. He also seems unbothered in The Lawless (23:40) that Obi-wan has flouted Republic law to render aid to Mandalore, likely because he wants intelligence on Maul, wants Kenobi out of his hair, and wants Anakin faaaaar away from Maul, because he’s cottoned on to Maul’s plan.)

And what a plan it is. Maul’s learned through his sources that Kenobi and Skywalker are essentially inseparable and that Obi-wan is clinically attached to his former student (very much in opposition to the Jedi Code, it would seem). Now, this is interesting because Maul has been gathering information. Not just the usual strategic information, but information for psychological warfare. He already knows Kenobi suffers from attachment - he witnessed this firsthand on Naboo. He just exploits that crack in Obi-wan’s facade.

But what does Maul want *after* Anakin is dead? The thing about Maul is that he spends his entire post-TPM existence looking for a partner. It’s most obvious with Savage, who he takes as a literal apprentice, but Maul also famously offers to work other Jedi, including (infamously) Ezra Bridger, Ahsoka Tano, and yes, Obi-wan Kenobi.

In fact, Maul’s recruitment strategy with Obi-wan and Ahsoka is a fascinating mirror (and is a lot of what happens with Obi-wan and Ahsoka in Phantom Apprentice). Maul, once again, uses Obi-wan’s attachment to lure him to Mandalore, as he’s learned about Obi-wan’s past with Satine (most likely through Death Watch and Almec. No one in this Lineage is good at keeping their secret, forbidden relationships much of a secret, let’s be honest.)

This is the most instructive line of their exchange before Satine’s death:

 Why not, Maul? You’ve been grumbling this man’s name for ages. And I think the answer lies both in an unspoken invitation to Obi-wan to join Maul and in one of Maul’s 5,000 plans to entrap Anakin Skywalker. I’ll address the latter idea first.

After Satine is killed, Obi-wan just…gives up. He doesn’t fight, he doesn’t try and break, he just allows Death Watch to carry him off to prison. I wonder if Maul - disappointed that Skywalker didn’t show - was going to try and use Obi-wan as bait to lure Anakin, just as he had used Satine to lure Obi-wan. 

Which begs the question - let’s Maul is successful in killing Anakin. Then what? Does he just kill Obi-wan outright? While it might be more than tempting, this dialogue below makes me wonder if Maul wasn’t trying to low-key recruit Obi-wan bu ruining his life and than enticing him to the dark.

He’s actually pulling a Sidious on Obi-wan here, trying to get him to crack that Jedi facade which Maul knows is not as unbreakable as Obi-wan would like to make it seem. (If we take the novelization of TPM as a guide, Obi-wan does touch the dark during that duel on Naboo, after Qui-gon is killed, so he’s more than capable of turning, as is anyone in the right - or wrong - circumstance.) 

Obi-wan rejects this, of course, and tries to reason with Maul, by introducing the fact that Obi-wan has been to Iridonia, and knows the awful conditions Maul must have grown-up in until Sidious whisked him away. 

This, of course, does not work.

It’s funny, because a handful of lines from Maul in the earlier season which made sense on a larger level but seemed a little odd in context - all the pieces have come together. Like his comment on Florrum, him saying the Dark Side is more powerful than Obi-wan knows is a direct reference to Sidious, and oddly (and tragically) enough, it’s Obi-wan who is told by two different sources, however obliquely, that there’s something terrible happening in the heart of the Republic, and the Jedi are toast.

Maul’s gambit backfires, however, when Bo-Katan arrives, releasing Obi-wan, followed by Sidious having had enough of these games (and possibly realizing that Maul is the most dangerous foe of all because it he ever managed to make his recruitment speeches work and to Anakin - he, or at least the Grand Plan - was going to be in trouble). 

Fast-forward to Mandalore II: Now with Extra Sadness. As stated above, Maul admits to starting this second war with the express reason to lure Obi-wan, and by extension, Anakin to Mandalore so he can finally kill Skywalker and maybe even get Obi-wan on his side. 

Of course, he meets with Ahsoka and Maul nows nothing about her. What’s the first thing he does? He kidnaps Jesse not to torture him, but gain information. He wants to find Ahsoka’s weak spots to exploit, just as he had done with Kenobi. 

And with that information, he hammers at her cracks - namely, her disillusion with the Jedi after her trial.

And like Obi-wan, Ahsoka tries to reason with Maul, this time playing on the idea that if he only came back to Coruscant, he could help the Jedi destroy Sidious. 

Of course, it’s too late for the Jedi, too late for Maul, who has sensed that Sidious is close to executing the final part of his plan. Maybe, just maybe, if this Ahsoka Tano will team up with Maul, together they can take down Sidious (or more likely, take down Anakin). And unlike with Kenobi, Maul can ask her outright. 

Which almost works. Until Maul drops the bomb that his plan the entire time was to kill Anakin, and Ahsoka, still believing in Anakin, cannot let that pass. 

Chalk another one up for a failed Maul recruitment strategy. 

Of course, twenty years later, he tries the exact same thing with Ezra Bridger, using Ezra’s insecurities against him to promise a brighter destiny and more power. 

And then, Maul tries to get Ezra to run off with him to Tatooine to confront Obi-wan, which is…such a curious statement. 

Does Maul want Ezra to kill Obi-wan? Unlikely. But Maul might want to use Obi-wan as a way of gaining information on Anakin, or even this supposed Chosen One and Maul’s madness about Kenobi’s continued existence may be as much disbelief that the actual architect of his downfall (according to him) still lives and it might be some oddly misplaced hope that Kenobi can help Maul defeat Sidious. At the very least, Maul can extract information out of Kenobi before killing him, and isn’t that what Maul’s always done? Get information, then strike at your enemy? 

But with one final (heartbreaking) flourish on Tatooine, Maul ultimately fails in recruiting anybody to his side, never avenging Sidious, his plans failing again and again, and his life forgotten on a dusty, backwater planet to everyone except for the man holding him in his arms at his death (the man who was there at the beginning, middle, and end), the promise of a final retribution lulling Maul into the afterlife. 

[tragedy-for-sale]

Anakin, are you forgetting that your Captain almost died too?

Or do you not care about him as much you care for Ahsoka and Padme?

I've always been bitter over the fact the Anakin never checks on Rex or his other trooper?

Obi-Wan is the one checking on the troopers, letting him know he'll be okay before he goes to help Jar Jar. Then, Obi-Wan smiles as Rex breaks out as snarky. Even though he's in a lot of pain, he still makes the effort to be a lil' shit. Which, I suppose, let's Obi-Wan know he's alright.

Clones don't get shown a lot of affection, when Obi-Wan puts his hand to the trooper's shoulder, he looks up in shock. That sick and exhausted man uses what little energy he has to look, because he doesn't believe it. To the trooper, Obi-Wan reaching out to comfort him, means a lot more than it would to someone who's been loved all their lives. They didn't expect Obi-Wan to react in such a way, they expected Anakin's reaction, but no Obi-Wan's.

Oh but Anakin? He's no where near Rex. He goes running to Padme then to Ahsoka. He also says "Get these two outta here." Referring to them. Not his men. Recalling earlier scenes, Anakin doesn't express his worry for Rex, he only mentions Padme and Ahsoka, like three or four different times. Never the troopers.

One of his men died because of the virus, Anakin doesn't stop and think, 'Perhaps I should assure my men they'll recover and I'm glad they're alive?' Even if he were to just pat their shoulder. But he doesn't. He doesn't mention them and doesn't talk to them. Now, we can assume Anakin and Obi-Wan were in the ship that they were in, which is where he talks to them, but that's just to kill time.

Now what about when they're away in medical centers? Anakin stays with Padme to escort her home, then he takes Ahsoka out to slowly walk laps. We can assume that Obi-Wan was the one who visited Rex and his brother, for he knew Ahsoka and Padme were occupying all of Anakin's time, and he wouldn't make time for his soldiers.

[legobiwan]

dooku every time he sees obi-wan: such grace! such technique! a true sight to behold master kenobi, always lovely to see you!

dooku every time he sees anakin: garbage. utter garbage. a disgrace. nothing to see here. nasty boy. nasty.

[jediknobi]

ok but anakin and obi-wan talking like danny and rusty from ocean’s eleven when they spend too much time together 

listen, sometimes reaching a planet takes a lot of time and rex thought that cody was kidding when he told him to NOT let the two generals spend all their time together

and that’s how you get obi-wan and anakin finishing each other sentences but also not even speaking an understandable language to anyone else but them and saying shit like ‘ she has your…?’ ‘yeah’ ‘that means that she’s…’ ‘yeah’ ‘well you better…’ ‘yeah’ 

or ‘you wanna…’ ‘all yours’ ‘where should we…’ ‘start with the deck’

and they don’t even explain anything to rex? one time he asked them a question and they answered the exact same thing at the exact same time without even blinking, even clones don’t do that 

cody only sighs when rex calls him desperately and says ‘they’re doing the weirder-than-usual ‘one mind in two bodies’ thing, aren’t they?’ and rex is almost shaking and screaming ‘THEY’RE FREAKING ME OUT CODY’  

[soliamurr]

#rex saw anakin having an argument with obi wan for 3 entire minutes #and the whole time obi wan didn’t even look up from his holopad or OPEN HIS MOUTH #anakin ended up saying ‘you’re right of course you’re right I’m glad we had this conversation’ #rex cursed the eccentric space wizards and their creepy telepathy bullshit because @obiwanobi‘s tags deserve to be rebloggable.

[forcearama]

I still laugh every time I remember that Anakin Skywalker, in canon, straight-up skipped out on a meditation retreat he was supposed to go to for work to go bother his wife at her office.

Did anyone else in the Order notice that Anakin didn’t attend this retreat? Was this an optional event? Was Anakin being specifically sent on it because let’s be real, if ANYBODY needed to be forcibly sent to a sleepaway camp to relax and reflect and nap and calm down it was ABSOLUTELY Anakin? Did Obi-Wan forge Anakin’s signature on the sign-in sheet for him? Or was Obi-Wan still out there fighting the war while Anakin was busy playing hooky and distracting Padme while she was trying to get actual work done? 

I love that from the way fanon tells it Anakin was constantly suffocated by the demands of the Order, who are always nagging him and chastising him for not being a Perfect Jedi, when there’s like multiple canon instances of him just flat-out not doing his job and we basically never see him get anything more than an eyeroll or a Weary Sigh about it from anybody. Remember that one time in the first Clovis episode where Anakin is hanging out at Padme’s apartment and then eventually drags his ass back to the Temple, and we find out Obi-Wan called him like SEVEN TIMES before this and NOBODY EVEN ASKS WHERE THE FUCK HE WAS??? LOL. Anakin faces fewer consequences for fucking off of work completely than some poor office drone working at a law firm in one of the high-rises on Coruscant does for taking an extra-long lunch hour. 😂

[gffa]

#this is why they didn’t want him on the council #he’s that annoying coworker who does the bare minimum #or even less than that and then complains that they should get a raise (via @skywalkeranch)

[the-stars-are-warring]

The council: hey could u maybe do ur job?

Anakin: yes definitely

The council: *a reasonable amount of time later* hey did u do ur job

Anakin: hey fuck off you guys have such unrealistic expectations ur suffocating me.

The council: Ok damn u could have just said no.

[forcearama]

I just…like, Obi-Wan literally called Anakin SEVEN. TIMES. and he says something like, “I don’t know where he could be” which is, of course, a gigantic lie because OF COURSE he knows where Anakin is, and now I’m just…dying all over again. Because given that Anakin apparently experiences ZERO consequences for shit like this, Obi-Wan might as well have just dropped the charade and been like “yeah I tried calling him but he didn’t pick up so I assume he’s having sex with Padme at her apartment, I’m just surprised it’s taking this long”.

Anakin shows up after Obi-Wan calls him over and over and over again, and when he gets back to the Temple Mace, Yoda, and Obi-Wan are all there and NOBODY EVEN GIVES HIM A CHANCE TO MAKE UP A LIE ABOUT WHERE HE WAS, BECAUSE NONE OF THEM EVEN ASK. You guys: on paper, Anakin is “supposed” to have nothing else going on in his LIFE except being a Jedi. So if he ignores a zillion phone calls FROM HIS JEDI COWORKER, AT NIGHT, SHOULDN’T SOMEONE BE LIKE “hey dude was your comm broken or…????” BECAUSE WHERE THE FUCK ELSE WOULD HE BE, WHAT THE FUCK ELSE WOULD HE BE DOING, IF HE WASN’T AT THE TEMPLE BEING A JEDI. It’s not exactly like Anakin has a million friends and is renowned for his excessive socializing. Apart from A) being a Jedi and B) being married to Padme, the main other things we ever see him do are work on robots and pout, both of which we have seen can easily be done in his Jedi dorm room. 😂

Hilariously, the REASON they’re trying to get ahold of Anakin in that episode is because they want him to ask Padme to help them spy on somebody. And they want Anakin, specifically, to ask her because as they all but flat-out admit, they know Padme is hitting that. I love every single thing about this. That crack AU I always joke about where the Jedi Order 100% knows they’re married and does not give even one single shit about it – and it’s only Anakin that thinks it’s some sort of Forbidden Illicit Affair that he must keep secret – is practically canon FFS.

I hope the Order only had this total lack of consequences for Anakin. I love, love the idea that Anakin’s walking around all “the Jedi are so unfair to me, specifically” when the reality is that literally every other Jedi is held to MUCH higher standards. 😂