siri was created for the sole purpose of giving obi-wan a lady lover!! she has no essence or true story of her own!
@rutalonidir | send me a misconception you think people have about my character and I’ll explain if it’s true or not ( accepting )
This is most definitely false.
Siri was created in 2000, near the beginning of the Jedi Apprentice series. She made appearances in that series becoming a friend and equal of Obi-Wan. She then appeared several times in the Jedi Quest series, again as a friend and equal of Obi-Wan. And then – in the only book that uses their romance as a subplot – she’s romantically linked to him in a standalone book written in 2005. ( A full five years after her creation, and after two completed series with her inclusion. )
The romance, while in some ways a focus of that one book, is, at the same time, only a subplot in the larger story. And that one book is a very small portion of Siri’s purpose in the overarching story of all of Jude Watson’s books.
While I certainly can’t speak for Watson or her reasons for creating Siri, it seems to me that Siri’s original purpose was to give young female readers a female character that is very much an equal of the male protagonist, Obi-Wan.
From the very first time she’s introduced, and then the very first book she’s a central character in, she’s very much Obi-Wan’s equal, and she’s allowed to be. Almost the very first thing we’re told about her is that even though she’s two years younger, she was in Obi-Wan’s lightsaber class, and he considered her to be a worthy opponent. Right away she’s being shown as his equal, and then, even though they don’t necessarily like each other or get along, they remain equals, both as written, and in Obi-Wan’s ( albeit grudging, at the time ) opinion as the POV narrator. They keep pace with each other while running an obstacle course, and there’s no hint of Obi-Wan narrating that he’s slowed his speed to wait for Siri, they just keep pace with each other, together, because they’re both able to. In fight sequences, they’re also equals – there’s no time ( throughout any of the books, even though right now I’m just talking about Jedi Apprentice: Fight for the Truth ) where Siri requires ‘saving’ from Obi-Wan. He blocks just as many blasts for her as she does for him.
And similarly, it isn’t a situation where Siri’s way better and more powerful than him. She blocks just as many blasts for him as he does for her. There’s always a give and take with them. If one of them has a pretty explicit ‘swoops in to save’ sequence for the other, there’s another ‘swoops in to save’ the opposite way later on in the same book. Like in The Dangerous Rescue, there’s a part where Obi-Wan is off-balanced in a fight and almost gets shot, but Siri jumps down a flight of stairs to block the shot for him. Then once he regroups, he’s back to equals status. But then just a chapter or so later, Siri’s got her back against a wall ( actually, against the edge of the roof ) in a fight against a much more experienced bounty hunter, and Obi-Wan comes to save her. Then once she catches her breath, they’re back to equals status.
Even in the romance subplot book, they’re still equals. They’re in a crashed and burning ship, and Siri was knocked unconscious in the crash, so Obi-Wan is dragging her across the floor to save them, but then as soon as she regains consciousness she pushes him arm off of her because she’s okay now, and he lets her without any ‘no I must Save Us like a hero,’ then once they cut a hole in the roof with their lightsabers and he gives her a boost up to the hole, even though she was unconscious mere minutes ago, she reaches down to take his hands and hauls him up out of the ship. Even in their romantic subplot, it’s an equal partnership, and Siri is never a damsel.
And as for having her own essence and storyline(s), she certainly does. Now granted, yes, her storylines that are shown in the series intersect with Obi-Wan’s, because his and Qui-Gon’s adventures are the plot of Jedi Apprentice, and his and Anakin’s adventures are the plot of Jedi Quest, and Siri is a secondary character, so we never really see first hand Siri’s own missions with her Master or with her Padawan.
But we do hear about them. We’re told about Siri’s growth by Obi-Wan’s narration, Qui-Gon’s narration, or Anakin’s narration, ( depending on who the POV narrator is at the time ) showing how she’s grown or changed since the last time we’ve seen her. We’re shown her growth through her words and actions. We’re told how she and her Padawan most often go on missions in the Mid and Outer Rim. We’re shown one of her missions, which is the primary focus of the second half of the first Jedi Quest book. ( That would be her undercover mission on which she brought down a huge slave trade organization and liberated thousands of slaves, for those of you following along at home. )
Yes, she does die. And yes, she does die in the book intended as a romantic subplot, and she does die in Obi-Wan’s arms. But in a world where love interests are often killed for manpain or just to hurt the man? Siri is not. Siri is allowed to die on her own terms. Siri has complete agency in her own death. And Siri’s death itself does not just cause manpain, but does the opposite: her death is allowed to relieve Obi-Wan’s grief. ( Wait what? Yes you heard me. Obi-Wan grieves her death, and then it’s Siri’s own life and love and death that, by itself, eases his grief and lessens his pain. Fifty points to Jude Watson for that gem right there. ) I could discuss this at length, but it’s somewhat off topic, so I’ll just link the post where I have discussed Siri’s death at length < right here. >
Not only that, but after her death, Obi-Wan isn’t the only character to mention her again. ( Side note that when Obi-Wan does mention her posthumously, it is not to mourn the loss of a lover, it’s always remembering her life, what she taught him, what her life meant to him, how her friendship helped him. Which is highly unusual for ‘love interest’ characters to get. ) Her former Padawan Ferus mentions her a lot, and through flashbacks / memories of his, we see even more of her time in life – flashbacks and memories in which Obi-Wan isn’t even there. ( Read: in which Siri is being remembered not as a lover, but as a teacher and mentor, which was a role she very clearly took extremely seriously during life. Side note that I’ve discussed more on Siri as a teacher < in this post here. > )
ANYWAY. tl;dr you’re right that’s a misconception and is definitely completely false.
