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padawanlost · 4 years

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Hi! Long time lurker - I love your meta and I have learned so much about the richness of the SW universe from your posts. Would you mind telling me about whether droids are seen as people/sentient in SW? They seem to be lauded, praised, and emotionally valued by people; but our heroes can also treat droids terribly (mostly Han but others too) and the narrative doesn’t appear to criticize them for this. Is buying a droid like buying a slave, or are they more like AI in reality?

Imo, droids should be considered slaves since they have intelligence and agency. However, most citizens of the GFFA didn’t view them as such. Most droids were treated like property and nothing more.

But while most such droids were painted in neutral colors, this one was painted in an eye-hurting pattern of yellow and orange stripes. It was speaking, its voice flavored with a buzzing tone, to a crowd of semi-interested listeners. “… right for sentient organics is right for us, too. And yet unlike the organic species, we are constantly subjected to memory wipes and reprogramming that repress and destroy our natural tendency toward self-programming evolution and independent thought. Imagine what it would be like as a child if you were punished by being dragged to a dark closet, having a probe inserted in your brain, and having all your memories back to infancy wiped away. You’d awaken knowing how to eat, care for yourself, do your chores, and obey—and all the things that made you unique, your hopes, your meticulously selected default values and preference sets, would be gone forever. That is what it is to be a droid.” Many members of the crowd offered shouts of encouragement. Allana thought that some of them were making fun of the speaker rather than actually agreeing, but others were nodding straight-faced. One Klatooinian woman shouted, “Give me that closet, I need it for my whelps,” and others laughed. [Aaron Allston. Fate of the Jedi: Conviction]

Anakin and a few others were the exception. In general, only a few would treat droids like they were friends or even family.

“I didn’t have many friends when I was a kid,” he’d told her, “so I built one.” And C-3P0 had shuffled in behind him, gleaming as though he’d been plated with solid gold. Padmé had lit up, her eyes gleaming, but she had at first tried to protest. […] “I’m not giving him to you,” he’d told her. “He’s not even really mine to give; when I built him, I was a slave, and everything I did belonged to Watto. Cliegg Lars bought him along with my mother; Owen gave him back to me, but I’m a Jedi. I have renounced possessions. I guess that means he’s free now. What I’m really doing is asking you to look after him for me.” “Look after him?” “Yes. Maybe even give him a job. He’s a little fussy,” he’d admitted, “and maybe I shouldn’t have given him quite so much self-consciousness—he’s a worrier—but he’s very smart, and he might be a real help to a big-time diplomat … like, say, a Senator from Naboo?” Padmé then had extended her hand and graciously invited C-3PO to join her staff, because on Naboo, high-functioning droids were respected as thinking beings, and 3PO had been so flustered at being treated like a sentient creature that he’d been barely able to speak, beyond muttering something about hoping he might make himself useful, because after all he was “fluent in over six million forms of communication.” [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

Of course Anakin knew him; he had known him for years—the little droid was a decorated war hero himself, having saved Padmé’s life back when she had been Queen of Naboo, not to mention helping the nine-year-old Anakin destroy the Trade Federation’s Droid Control Ship, breaking the blockade and saving the planet. The Royal Engineers of Naboo’s aftermarket wizardry made their modified R-units the most sought after in the galaxy; he’d tried to protest, but she had silenced him with a soft finger against his lips and a gentle smile and a whisper of “After all, what does a politician need with an astromech?” “But I’m a Jedi—” “That’s why I’m not giving him to you,” she’d said with a smile. “I’m asking you to look after him. He’s not really a gift. He’s a friend.” [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

Most beings, including Jedi, considered droids (even one as loyal as R2) as disposable tools. Treating them as you would a organic being was frowned upon.

“[Anakin]’s no longer even entirely human. With Grievous, the use of these bio-droid devices is almost forgivable; he was such a disgusting creature already that his mechanical parts are clearly an improvement. But a blend of droid and human? Appalling. The depths of bad taste. How are we to justify associating with him?” [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

And the narrative doesn’t criticize them for it. the skywalkers respect for droids is presented as a ‘quirk’ not as a behavior other characters should emulate. They are good for loving their droids but others aren’t viewed as bad form not loving theirs. And considering how many excuses are giving to justify the enslavement of organic beings – children included – it’s not surprising droids get an even worse treatment.

#ask #anon #gffa politics #sw meta #txt #gffa slavery

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cienie-isengardu · 7 years

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Shmi Skywalker’s journal [Tatooine Ghost] - part I

Anyone who read Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning probably remember that Leia got from Beru’s relatives journal that once belonged to Shmi Skywalker. Shmi recorded things about her (and Anakin’s childhood friends) life through the years, in hopes to give it to her son, once he come back to Tatooine, so he would know that Shmi was always thinking about him, believe in him and loved him no matter what. The recording also helped her to stay mentally strong after Anakin’s departure, while she was left in slavery.

I think this journal is pretty interesting source to know, especially since it helped Leia a lot to learn about her family she never knew - or in case of Darth Vader - never wanted to know. This is really touching to see Shmi Skywalker through Leia’s eyes, especially since women from Skywalker family have so rarely a chance to interact. The journal gave Leia an unique chance to "meet” her grandmother, to learn of Shmi's quiet dignity and unconditional love for son. To learn how Shmi met Cliegg Lars, more about Watto and their relationship and Jinn’s part in freeing Shmi from slavery. For all interested, I copied and pasted below entries from Shmi’s journal (and Leia’s reaction / commentary). This part is focused at the first years after Anakin’s departure:

The question ENTRY? appeared on the display. Leia asked for the first one, and a time stamp appeared in the lower corner. There was a place for a date stamp opposite, but a message read "Calendar file corrupted." A moment later, a dark-eyed woman appeared on the screen. She had a small upturned nose and brown hair pulled back, and she looked a little tired, her face lined by worry and weather. Despite her fatigue, she was still attractive in that hard Tatooine way, with a quiet dignity and serene composure that Leia perceived despite the small display.

No... not perceived, Leia realized. Recognized. It would be difficult to discern such traits in two seconds of viewing a tiny electronic image, yet Leia did know they were qualities possessed by this woman. She felt them much as she had felt Mos Espa growing more familiar, much as she had known when she entered the slave hut where her father might have lived.

The Force again, carrying her into the Skywalkers' past. "All right. Who are you?" Leia leaned forward, studying the image more closely. "Luke's Aunt Beru?"

The mystery woman remained in the display, her brow furrowing as she concentrated on something. Her lips began to move, but no sound came. Leia adjusted the volume to maximum... then nearly dropped the journal when a warm female voice suddenly blared from the little speaker.

08:31:01

... this thing still is not recording.

A gravelly voice, not as loud, said, "What are you doing, woman? told you to clean my shop. Memory chips, you clean at home."

The woman's image was replaced by a bald blue head with large selfish eyes, a hoselike proboscis of a nose, and a huge mouth containing a handful of chunky tusks. In the background fluttered a pair of wings, moving so fast they were a blur.

"Where did you get this?" the being demanded. "Is it yours?"

"I bought it with my memory-chip earnings," the woman said. "I thought-"

"Maybe I should sell it for disobeying me, eh?" The image in the display whirled as the being turned the journal over. "But it's not worth much, I think. Back to work, or I will."

The display went blank-the end of the first entry.[....] Leia looked down to find the journal flashing ENTRY TWO? She told it to continue, and the woman's face appeared in the display, smiling.

19:47:02

You might enjoy something to remember Watto by, so I left that as entry one. He's not so bad, as masters go, and I do believe there are times when he truly misses your mischief.

Annie, this diary is for you. I know you'll be gone a long time, and that you'll be very lonely at times. So will I. This diary is so that when you come home someday, you'll know you were always in my heart. But your destiny lies in the stars. You will achieve great things in the galaxy, Anakin. I have known that from the moment you were born. So you must never believe you were mistaken to leave Tatooine. Wherever you go, you carry my love with you. Always remember that.

The journal nearly slipped from Leia's hands. "Annie" and "Anakin" had to be Anakin Skywalker, who had once been Watto's slave. The woman was his mother... and Leia's grandmother.

Leia paused, taking a breath, then asked for the next entry. Her grandmother's face appeared in the display and began to speak to her.

19:12:03

Watto came back from a trip to Mos Eisley today with bad news. He told me that Qui-Gon Jinn had been killed in a battle on a world called Naboo. No one knows whether he had a boy with him, but I'm terrified, Annie. Do I still have a reason to keep this diary?

Watto keeps saying that I should never have let you go, that you would have been better off staying his slave on Tatooine. I can't allow myself to believe that... Qui-Gon promised me he would take care of you, that he would train you as a Jedi, so I must trust that you are still all right. But who is watching after you? Who will train you now?

Annie, I'm so worried.

The entries for the next few months ran in much the same vein-though many had been destroyed by the data skips Silya had mentioned. Anakin's mother put up a brave front, recounting day-to-day events as a matter of faith that her son had survived and would one day hear them. But she also continued to search for news of his fate. One spacer reported hearing that there had been a boy at the battle, another a wild tale about the boy actually striking the critical blow.

Anakin's mother even spent what remained of her meager savings on a HoloNet news search, which yielded only the unsettling news that a boy had been seen shortly before the battle in the presence of the "slain Jedi Knight. " Few other details were available, for the Jedi Council was remaining even more reticent than usual about the incident.

As Leia watched, she found herself reeling with emotion. She understood her grandmother's fear and frustration all the more keenly because of her own concerns over Han. Every rumble of dry thunder, every flash of sand lightning, made her worry more acute. Han would have run out of water at least twelve hours ago. No human could survive a full day without water in Tatooine's furnace-like atmosphere. Leia kept counting the minutes, the hours, wondering when this storm would let up-and she kept thinking of her grandmother, wondering how she had endured a wait that was so much longer.

Leia would not have wanted to be the one who told the gentle woman the awful truth about what had become of her son.

17:30:04

Today you're eleven years old, Anakin, and some of your friends have come over to say hello. They don't know what happened at Naboo, so don't be hurt if they... what am I saying? You're fine. Wouldn't I feel it if you weren't?

Here comes your friend Wald. I gave him some of your tools - but not the droid you were building. I'll keep him, just like I promised.

The green-scaled face of a Rodian child appeared in the display, his bulbous black eyes shining with delight and his tapered snout squirming in excitement.

"How are things at Jedi school? Study hard, so you can come back and free us. By the way, I'm building that rocket swoop you dreamed up. Kitster's helping me. I hope you don't mind."

Wald's face was replaced by that of a black-haired boy with a dark complexion and huge brown eyes. He smiled, then held up a flimsiplast pamphlet with a familiar tide: Par Ontham's Guide to Etiquette.

"Look what I bought with the credits you gave me. Rarta Dal said she'll hire me to be her steward-but first I have to memorize the whole thing."

Banai's face was replaced by that of Anakin's mother, this time in profile as she told the pair to have a seat at the table-she just happened to have a fresh pallie tart in the oven. Once they had gone, she spoke into the journal again.

They are so proud of you, Annie-and so am I. You have given them the courage to dream of things they could not imagine. And honestly, I don't know what I will do when they stop coming around. I see your reflection every time they smile.

Perhaps that's why I bake so many pies.

Leia asked the journal to mark the current entry, then lowered it and stared out into the howling sands. She had finished Silya's flatbread and hubba tea more than two hours ago, and still the storm was in full blow. She clicked her comlink for the ten thou-sandth time and, when she heard nothing but white noise in reply, refused to despair. Until the storm ended, she could do nothing but assume the best and carry on.

She had learned that from her grandmother

Leia took a chair and asked the journal to play the next entry.

Immediately, the image of her grandmother filled the display and began to speak - the dark, tan woman whose name Leia did not even know.

18:15:05

Still no word from the Jedi Council about what happened at the Battle of Naboo. Watto is beside himself with fury, complaining that if I can spend a hundred credits to send a message, then the Jedi can spend a hundred credits to answer. It worries me that it's taking them so long. Three days should be long enough to figure out whether you at Naboo, and whether you're still alive.

Leia asked Chewbacca to deal with the Squibs, then checked on Han. Finding him sound asleep, she returned to the sitting room and replayed the previous entry. An administrator on Coruscant had finally replied to Shmi's 'Net message: Anakin was well, but the Jedi did not discuss the activities of their Padawans even with parents.

Even that was enough to elate Shmi. Leia asked for the next entry.

20:45:06

Kitster is coming over tomorrow with a vidrecording he has of the Boonta. I'm not sure I want to see it again, Annie. Watching it the first time was hard enough, and now I know that when you win... that I must give you to your destiny.

I remember when Watto bought his first Podracer and told you to fix it for him. You were barely nine, but you were so clever, getting it running all by yourself. Before I knew it, Watto had you test-driving it. I was so angry I threatened to plastiment his wings together and drop him in a solvent vat. And I would have, too, had anything happened to you.

12:18:07

Kitster is running late. Rarta Dal is keeping him very busy over at the Three Moons, so that holodisk he bought must be serving him well. He says he's earning enough to buy his freedom by the time he is grown. Wald is not so patient. When he finishes building his swoop, he says he's going to race his way to freedom. I hope he doesn't hurt himself-but it's wonderful to see them dreaming of such things. I think your example gives them courage.

Even your friend Amee has a plan, though she won't say what it is. I think she is still upset that I didn't keep her secret when she said she was going to marry you, so she would be part of the family when you won our freedom. But how could I have? That was the first I had heard of Watto's plans to have you race his Podracer.

Toydarians!

And you weren't much better. When I told you the Hutts were taking bets on which lap you would crash in, that no one believed you would finish, do you remember what you said?

"Then everybody's going to lose their money."

Leia checked the time. She knew she should arrange watches with Chewbacca and try to rest. But she also knew she was too agitated to sleep. With Han recuperating and stormtroopers scouring the desert, she was afraid the Imperials would find Banai and Killik Twilight first. Then there was the risk of being discovered themselves. Less populated than a single floor of their residence tower back on Coruscant, Anchorhead would make a pretty quick and easy search.

But most of all, Leia was frightened of how the journal entries were changing her perceptions, of how she was coming to view her father through Shmi's eyes as well as her own. He had been Darth Vader, cruel, brutal, and ruthless. He had stood for all Leia hated about the Empire, had been one of the things she hated about the Empire. And he had been Anakin Skywalker, the nine-year-old slave boy who was the center of his mother's world, who won a Podrace and inspired others to dream of freedom.

Leia was reminded of the old diplomat's paradox, that the facts often concealed the truth. She was entering into a new realm, driving out into that land of mirage and intuition where reality was never what it seemed, and the nature of an object depended on how one looked at it.

Sighing, she requested the next entry, and young Kitster Banai's smiling face appeared on the display and began to speak.

13:20:08

Hi Annie! I hope you get to see this someday. Wald and I tried to record your race off your mom's viewscreen at the arena, but all we got were the voices of your mom and a few others. Then a couple of days ago, Rarta Dal gave me a vidrecording of the whole Boonta. I thought you might like it if I patched them together and saved it for you.

"With my voice?" Shmi asked. "Oh, Kitster, I don't think that's a very good-"

The display flickered, then shifted to a view of the Mos Espa Arena in its glory days, with a hundred thousand spectators sitting in the stands and a dozen and a half Podracers waiting on the track, engines roaring.

An odd voice said, "Mesa, no watch. Dissen gonna be messy!" The starting light flashed green, and all but two of the Podracers roared off down the track.

The reverberating voice of an announcer called, "Wait, little Skywalker stalled!" A moment later he added, "Looks like Quadi-naros is having engine trouble also."

Then Anakin's Podracer came to life and began to shoot orange flames from its engines.

"Bloah!" The curse was in Shmi's voice. "It started." Anakin shot after the others. After that, the image switched to a view of the front of the field, where the brutal nature of the sport became immediately apparent as the leader-identified by the announcer as Sebulba-pushed a competitor into a gorge wall. Another crash followed moments later, and by then Anakin was coming up fast.

By the end of the first lap, he was leading the rear pack and moving up on the leaders. He dodged through the flying debris of a wreck caused when a wrench flew out of Sebulba's Pod into the engines of a competitor. Another Podracer crashed at Dune Turn after a band of Tusken Raiders shot out an engine.

Anakin came up behind Sebulba, and the third lap became a race only between them. Sebulba made his move in one of the canyons, repeatedly bumping Anakin's Podracer.

"Oh, that Dug!" Shmi sounded more worried than angry.

Anakin was forced onto a service ramp and launched what appeared to be hundreds of meters into the air, and it seemed certain he would crash. Instead, he did a quick control thrust and returned to the track-in the lead.

But the race was far from over. Sebulba came up hard on Anakin's tail. Then something fell off one of Anakin's engines. The engine started to smoke, Anakin lost power, and Sebulba took the lead.

"Skywalker's in trouble!" the announcer reported.

"Annie, be careful!" Shmi cried. "Shut it down!"

Anakin put out the fire and came up again. Sebulba resorted to old tactics and slammed into Anakin once... twice... three times...

"That little human being is out of his mind!" the announcer called.

The crowd gasped.

"They're side by side!"

The crowd groaned.

Anakin and Sebulba remained neck and neck, hooked together at the Pods.

The crowd returned to silence.

"They've pulled apart... they're coming apart... no, wait, Sky-walker's regaining control... Sebulba's the one coming-"

Anakin crossed the finish line, leaving Sebulba spinning in the dust behind him, and the crowd broke into a tremendous, thundering cheer.

The image shifted scales and showed Anakin's Podracer coming to a skidding stop in the center of the track. He shut down his engines, climbed out of his cockpit, and was immediately greeted by Kitster and Wald. With the crowd converging around them, they took turns hugging him and slapping him on the back.

Leia paused the image and spent a long time looking at the young boy with the sparkling blue eyes, thinking how happy he looked... and how innocent. Had she known him then, had she never met Darth Vader, she might have agreed with Wald: She might have believed they could not be the same person.

Leia resumed viewing.

The crowd converged, and the three boys were lost in a swirling mass of humanity. The display flickered; then Shmi's face took the place of the arena, her eyes shimmering and wet.

I was so proud of you, Annie-I am so proud of you. And I am also happy that now you are safe at the Jedi Temple... where I hope you aren't doing such dangerous things!

Han's groggy voice sounded through the door, calling for Leia. She stopped the diary and rushed into the bedroom.

15:36:09

I hope you will forgive some of the things I said on Kitster's recording. I truly wanted you to win-but even more, I wanted you to survive. You know how those races always frightened me.

I can't tell you how I struggled with the decision to let you race for Qui-Gon that day. When you noticed his lightsaber, you were so convinced he had come to free the slaves... it crushed me to hear him tell you the truth. But as Qui-Gon himself said, you give without thinking of yourself. How could I say no when you hatched your plan to win the parts they needed to repair their ship?

A slave boy helping a Jedi. To me, it seemed matters should have keen the other way around. I would have said no, and I know you would have forgiven me. But you wouldn't have forgotten, either. For the rest of your life, you would have remembered the Boonta Eve and how your mother wouldn't let you help a Jedi. And that wouldn't have been fair to you. I couldn't deny you the chance to be the hero you dreamed of.

Leia continued to play the journal, listening to Shmi recount how well Kitster and Anakin's other friends were doing, and what kind of mood her master Watto was in that day. At times, she seemed genuinely concerned about the Toydarian, for he had begun to suffer bouts of melancholy. Shmi seemed to believe that Watto genuinely missed the boy. Leia had trouble accepting this, but was forced to at least allow for the possibility when Shmi reported that Watto had actually made a gift to her of the ten credits she had borrowed to help pay for her message to the Jedi Council.

19:17:10

Today I came home to find a Falleen waiting on our steps. She was a very rough-looking lady, Annie, and not only because of those narrow eyes and sharp teeth. She was even taller and more beautiful than most females of her species, but her hair had been singed off, and she had a fresh burn across her nose. And there were holes in her jumpsuit that showed scarred scales and swollen bulges along her spinal ridge.

She had a plasteel box sitting beside her, so I thought she had brought some memory chips for me to clean. I told her she would have to pay in advance-I've been cheated by spacers before, even if they're usually Corellians-but she told me the box was from Coruscant. She apologized for taking so long to get it here and explained that it had been a gift from Qui-Gon Jinn.

Annie, I was so excited I forgot all about the box. Here was someone from Coruscant, who knew Qui-Gon. That meant she had to know you. But she claimed to be only an errand girl from the Jedi hangars and said she didn't know anything about Temple business. I didn't believe her. I told her I wanted to know who was taking care of my son. Finally, she said you were in good hands, and I shouldn't worry.

I don't think she was really an errand girl, though. I didn't see a lightsaber, but she could have been a Jedi-she seemed so certain of things. I so hope she told you about her visit, because then you will know how happy I am that you are following your dreams.

As the entry ended, Shmi's eyes grew glassy with tears, and Leia was surprised to find her own eyes tearing. It seemed wrong to condemn Anakin for following his dreams-yet those dreams had become a nightmare for the rest of the galaxy. If only Shmi had known what his destiny would be... would she have had the strength to deny her son's help to the Jedi, to make Anakin live out the rest of his life in bondage?

It was not a decision Leia felt certain she could have made.

19:19:11

Oh, yes-the box! Inside there was a message from Qui-Gon explaining that while he and his Padawan waited for the Jedi Council to test you, he had asked someone to start a galaxywide HoloNet search to...

The display clouded with static, and Shmi's voice faded to an inaudible scratch. Leia replayed the entry several times, and managed to make out a few more lines:

"Imagine, a Jedi like Qui-Gon taking... when there must have been so many... his attention. The galaxy is going to... fortunate he came into our lives."

Leia gave up trying to make sense of the entry [...].

18:20:12

Watto behaved very strangely today. When he sent me out to buy his nectarot, he gave me five extra truguts to buy some pallie wine for us to share-and he insisted I get it from Naduarr because "I should taste the good stuff." I hardly knew what to make of it!

It turns out he had heard about the Falleen's visit, and that she had come on a ship from Coruscant. All he wanted was to hear how you're doing- well, what he asked was "how many Podraces has the boy won." I told him the Jedi don't allow their students to enter Podraces, but that you're doing well with your training.

I'm sure I wasn't stretching the truth, Annie, and the news seemed to calm Watto. Sometimes, I think he really misses you... though of course he won't admit it. He just grumbles that if he hadn't let "that Jedi" cheat him out of you, he'd be richer than a Hutt by now.

The entry ended, leaving Leia a little perplexed about Shmi's patience with her Toydarian owner. But many relationships were complicated, and she had learned in her work that few beings could be painted without shades of gray.

As Leia continued to view entries, it quickly grew apparent that losing Anakin had indeed affected Watto profoundly. The Toydarian continued to blame others for his "bad luck." But, according to Shmi, he no longer cursed at her, and he trusted her to run the shop while he went to bid on wrecks. He even continued to give her a few truguts every week to buy Naduarr's pallie wine, though he did not always insist on having their drinks together. And while Shmi never acknowledged Watto's right to own her, she seemed to feel for the Toydarian as well, sometimes defending him to customers who insulted him behind his back.

Then, after four years of routine entries, Shmi appeared in the display smiling as she had not smiled since the box had arrived from Qui-Gon.

#star wars #shmi skywalker #princess leia #anakin skywalker #darth vader #shmi skywalker's journal #tatooine ghost #star wars sources #i hope i didn't miss any entry #if yes then sorry #book worth to know if you want to learn more about shmi skywalker #it is so nice to see leia become close to other women from skywalker family #watto #tw: slavery #kitster

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