#I love the way Jedi teach lessons

[geekforhorror]

dom!ani being so pent up after a mission with you and fucking you into oblivion, degrading you about how you were flirting with some of the other jedi knights.

GODDD I LOVE THIS TY BAE

remember your place

pairing: rots!anakin x fem!reader

warning(s): SMUT (DNI IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT!), anakin being possessive, dom!anakin, sub!reader, rough sex, unprotected p in v sex, degradation, non-canon jedi knights, dacryphilia?

word count: 1.1k

a/n: i swear to god i’m getting worse at writing.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Anakin grits through his teeth.

He would be referring to how you harmlessly “flirted” with other Jedis on the mission you had just gotten back from. Technically, you weren’t even flirting with them. All you were doing was sharing playful smiles and saying how good of a job they did, but it looked different in his eyes. To him, you were trying to find a way to make him jealous. See, Anakin was very protective of you and wouldn’t allow his girl to act out like this without consequences. That’s how you ended up on his bed with him now towering over you.

“ ‘M sorry Anakin…It didn’t mean anything, I swear,” you say frantically.

“You know what I think, huh? I think you’re a needy little slut who wants my attention. Am I right about that?” he asks.

You felt too embarrassed at first to provide a sufficient verbal response, but you knew he would just punish you more if you didn’t. "Yes,” you answer.

“Yes what, darling?” he said cockily. He wanted to hear the words escape your lips more than anything.

“I-I’m a needy little slut,” you let out.

“That’s my girl,” he says with a confident grin.

Before you know it, he starts stripping you of your clothes until you’re left in only your lacy bra and matching panties. Unbeknownst to you, Anakin can feel himself grow hard at the sight of you almost being bare for him. Not for those other Jedi knights that were being way too friendly with you and certainly not for any other man that wasn’t him.

Anakin goes on to remove his annoying layers of clothing that were preventing him from truly pleasing you. Once he’s down to only his boxers, your eyes caught the sight of his massive hard-on that was practically screaming to be released because of all of the throbbing.

“See what your slutty ass does to me?” he groans breathily. “Y’ make me so hard even when you’re being a fucking brat. It’s so damn annoying,” Anakin says to you, not expecting an answer.

“What are you going to do about it, Skywalker?” you say with a playful smile, hoping he would do what you wanted him to.

That was the last straw for him. He already had enough when you talked to those Jedi knights, but the sass? He couldn’t have his girl talking like this.

“I think I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson since you’re being such a fucking brat for me,” he grits. With that, he proceeds to undo the clasp of your bra and throw it to the floor. He brings his hand to the crotch of your panties and isn’t shocked to find out that they were soaked from his words.

“Well, what do we have here? Looks like my little brat is drenched for me and I haven’t even touched her yet,” he tuts.

“Please Ani… I need you“ you plead.

“You gotta be more specific than that, I’m afraid,” he taunts.

Shit, he was good.

“I want you to fuck me Ani… please,”

“Now, was that so hard? You didn’t have to talk to those useless Jedi knights to get fucked by me. All you had to do was ask like the needy little thing you are,” he spat out. Before you can respond, he rips your dainty lace panties off of you, now revealing your glistening pussy to him.

“Such a pretty little pussy and it’s all for me,” he coos. He takes his boxers off shortly after before flinging them to the floor. He gives you no warning before shoving himself all the way into your tight hole. You gasp and widen your eyes at the sensation of him stretching you out with his fat cock. Before you know it, he starts to move inside of you at a harshening pace all in hopes of getting his point across. That you were his.

“Feels so good…” you moan as you’re truly lost in the moment.

“Yeah? You enjoy getting fucked like the whore you are, don’t you?” Anakin asks, already knowing the answer.

All you can do is nod at his question due to the pleasure coursing through your veins as you were being used like his own personal fuck doll.

“You’re mine, got that? Those assholes don’t know your body like I do… Can’t fuck you like I do…” he grunts with each additional thrust.

“Ani…” you let out in between soft whimpers and the sound of skin slapping against each other.

“They wish they could be me, fucking you till you’re full of my cum like the little cock slut you are,” he adds.

“Harder, Ani,” you beg of him. He smiles at this and the way you look squirming underneath him.

“Of course, my little slut likes it hard,” he says before complying with your request and jackhammering himself harder and rougher inside your clenching pussy. As if it couldn’t get any rougher, he finds that one toe-curling spot inside your cervix that makes you feel like he’s practically splitting you open. The feeling makes you arch your back in pure ecstasy and you knew Anakin fucking loved it.

You knew you weren’t going to be able to hold on for much longer at this rate as you felt the heat squeeze your abdominal walls from the inside, now spreading to your warm cunt.

“Such a good little slut for me… wrapping around me so well,” he says with a moan, relishing in the way your poor little pussy squeezed around his hard cock.

“I-I’m gonna cum… Please let me cum,” you say, more desperate than ever.

“I don’t know if you deserve to cum,” he tuts with sarcastic doe eyes.

“I promise I’ll be good,” you assure him, sounding absolutely pathetic and desperate. That was the way he liked it.

“Oh yeah?” he challenges, searching for a reason to believe your claim.

“Yes I promise! I’ll be so good for you Ani. I’m all yours,” you plead with tears threatening to spill from your eyes.

“You’re damn right,” he hissed.

“Can I please cum?” you ask him, feeling like you were going to explode all over him at any given moment.

“You can cum, baby,” he says, thrusting a few more times before feeling your release splash all over his cock which he groans at. The wave of arousal washes over your quivering legs and makes your cunt pulse around him still seated deep inside you. He sloppily pounds himself into you a few more times before he cums as well, panting as he comes down from his high. You feel his seed spill into you, now hugging your spongey and aching walls. He pulls himself out of your once needy cunt before laying beside your tired body.

“Well did you learn your lesson?” he teases playfully.

“I had a pretty good teacher, but maybe I’ll take some more lessons,” you say with a grin on your face, making him chuckle.

“Maker, you’re such a tease,” he replies.

“I know,” you say in a playful tone.

#anakin skywalker #anakin skywalker smut #anakin smut #anakin x reader #anakin imagine #anakin skywalker x reader #star wars #star wars fanfiction #anakin star wars #star wars fandom #revenge of the sith

[david-talks-sw]

So that whole interaction between Ahsoka and Huyang, where they talk about Sabine's choice to help the enemy find Thrawn (in hopes that she can then find Ezra) is clearly meant to be subtext for what happened with Anakin.

I mean change the pronoun from "she/her" to "he/him", tweak some of the names and...

... it's just blatant.

The parallels were already clear in the previous episode, as pointed out in this post here, and it still holds true:

Sabine's struggle with attachment mirrors Anakin's.

We know Filoni's whole stance on why Anakin fell to the Dark Side: he'll usually acknowledge that Anakin was ruled by his attachments, got possessive of Padmé, but then adds:

"HOWEVER is loving that way really that bad?"

"HOWEVER he never stood a chance because Qui-Gon wasn't there to teach him properly and be the father Anakin needed."

I've already gone into why both these statements don't track with Lucas' intended narrative here and here... but I wanna touch on this notion that "Anakin wasn't trained enough to make a better choice."

He was.

You know how we know? Because we saw him overcome his attachments before.

We saw him explain the theory of the non-attachment rule, before.

In fact, wee saw him pass down a lot of the Jedi lessons, in The Clone Wars, including being disciplined, following orders and not acting impulsively.

The issue is that - while Anakin knows the theory, even has a few minor successes applying it - he never builds the self-discipline needed to master it because... deep down... he doesn't want to.

This is partially because you got Palpatine telling him he doesn't need to, molding him into an arrogant, power-craving person... but the fact remains that Anakin made the choice himself.

Which Filoni acknowledges, sure... but not quite. The difference between his thesis and George Lucas' is that the latter picks a stance and defends it.

"He started out as a very loving and compassionate person. And as he progressed, it was his inability to control his temper, his inability to let go of things, and his quest for power that were his undoing." - George Lucas, E! Behind the Scenes - ROTS, 2005

Anakin fell because he was greedy, just like any one of us can be.

Cool. Filoni, on the other hand, doesn't seem to land anywhere.

He dances around the issue (as can be seen by the debate between Ahsoka and Huyang, with no clear winner) and merely questions whether it's as simple as that.

Clearly he wants to justify Anakin's actions to some degree... but y'know, the narrative considers those actions so reprehensible that Anakin gets friggin' burned alive for it.

"I felt it was important that we actually see that happen so that we could see the consequences of these bad things that he did. […] He forces his friends to turn against him. Which is heartbreaking." - George Lucas, “The Chosen One” Featurette, 2005

Because Anakin's actions are not meant to be justified.

It's easy to see why Filoni likes Anakin. One of the earliest tasks he had when writing The Clone Wars was humanizing a character whose sole functional purpose was to carry out a narrative about how:

"Without self-discipline, greed [can] force a character off the path to freedom." - Micael Hearn, The Cinema of George Lucas, 2005

And Anakin is a very sympathetic character.

His flaws are flaws that we all carry.

Q: Is it fair to assess Anakin is kind of cursed by his own goodness/good qualities? "I wouldn't say that’s true. He’s cursed by the same flaws, and issues that he has to overcome, that all humans are cursed with. There's a lot going on there. [...] The whole point is—and the reason I started the story where I did—is that Anakin is a normal, good kid. And how does somebody who is normal and good turn bad? What are the qualities, what is it that we all have within us that will turn us bad?" - George Lucas, Star Wars Insider #52, 2000

But narratively, Anakin is selfish.

He doesn't want to save Padmé's life, he wants to save himself from the pain of losing Padmé.

And while you're supposed to sympathize with him, you're not meant to agree with him. He's Darth Vader, the space nazi. He messes up and consequentially "leaves the Force in darkness" for 20 years, instead of ushering it towards the light in the chancellor's office, when he has the chance.

So to shift the blame and say that...

HOWEVER, Anakin didn't have the proper support system or training to make a better choice.

... when the whole point of the narrative is about taking personal responsibility and being selfless instead of selfish... well, it is missing that point.

He did know better. He just didn't want to choose better, so he convinced himself he wasn't able to.

#anakin skywalker #george lucas #dave filoni #ahsoka show #ahsoka series #ahsoka #ahsoka spoilers #huyang #sabine wren

[tesalicious2]

I love to imagine the training differences between the Jedi and the Clones. Not even like the difficulty of attitude towards it but the trainers themselves and what’s expected.

These clones need to grow up fast and learn to overcome personal issues and batch problems quickly. Their trainers (trainers that are older Clones such as Colt or Alpha-17) are harsh but ready to show them the way. They will yell and scream and beat their lessons into them, but when all is said an done they'll treat the cadets wounds with bacta and soft words, holding them if needed.

Jedi trainers and NOT THAT. They are sweet, gentle (most of the time (they are dealing with kids)), patient, loving, and caring. They use a slow and steady hand to guide the younglings, not only with physical training but also their personal training. They will work with the younglings, slow and patient til they understand and get it.

All of this deep dive for one comedic scene in my brain. Anyway.

In order to bridge the gap between the two organizations, several small groups of jedi younglings are taken to Kamino to meet other cadets and learn how they think/act for when each group joins the war. The younglings get to view training, visit the tubies and clones of all ages, speak with the trainers/commanders stationed there, see some of the labs, and play with some of the 'babies' and younger cadets.

During the view of a spar, the younglings are quiet and taking in the cadets (about age 10 looking) with each other. Alpha-17 is talking to the younglings, explaining their regiment and who is good at what. Once the spar is done, 17 has the same two cadets go again. He explains what he is looking for, how he sees their spar, when -after the third spar with the same pair- 17 pauses and screams:

"CT-42-9686! You drop that arm again before you're strike and i'll break it off and beat you with it! Raise it up! Do it again or I'll give you to Havoc and he'll beat it out of you!

Needless to say this got some questionable reactions and lots of squawking from the Jedi Trainer and younglings. While, the cadet adjusted his form and the others laughed.

When the younglings reaturned to their friends at the temple, they were aprehensive to share their stories of scary Clone Trainers that were mean and yelled at the Cadets and the Cadets who seemed to like it!

Meanwhile, the cadets are astonished when they had visited the temple and a Jedi trainer paused a spar and personally adjusted the younglings form and then quietly explained why it was better to do the adjustment. The next few times the youngling forgot the adjustment, the Trainer would call out 'do the adjustment!' softly and kindly.

When they returned to Kamino, they didn't know how to start explaining the Jedi's teaching methods. There were not words for them. The next time they got yelled at, they ran up and hugged their trainer and cried at how happy they were.

Needless to say, neither group will be changing their training methods any time soon.

#crack #clone wars #clones #alpha 17 #jedi #jedi younglings #clone cadets #clone trooper training #clone training #jedi training

[gffa]

Luke Skywalker, 8!

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise? With the caveat that fandom is allowed to do as fandom wants, I hate it when fandom downplays or contradicts Luke's connection to the Jedi Order and Yoda specifically. Luke adored Yoda, Luke believed in Yoda's teachings, Luke and Yoda had a sacred bond as teacher and student! Sure, they disagreed and Luke chafed at him at times and questioned him--but those are all normal parts of a Jedi teacher and student relationship and underneath all of that, Luke cared deeply about Yoda. Luke has been consistently shown, across all subsequent materials after the OT, to have greatly respected and treasured Yoda, the only time he was snippy about the Jedi was in TLJ where he was in his depressive funk that was specifically set up to be knocked down, even RJ said that Luke's issue was a personal one and that it wasn't actually the religion's fault, that that was the lesson Luke had to learn. I dislike it when fandom ignores that Luke can stumble, he can be less than perfect, he can struggle sometimes--because everyone struggles--that he's not just a Pure Sunshine Boy and nothing else. Luke's character arc is the beating heart of Star Wars because he made understandable, human mistakes and didn't listen to people who were trying to help him and part of him really considered going to the dark side. But it's Luke's strength of character and his connection to the Jedi ways that allowed him to turn away from the rage--not that he never felt it, but that he fell back on what Yoda had taught him, he fell back on what it meant to be a Jedi, he fell back on his compassion for his father. I dislike it when fandom ignores that Yoda was vital to Luke's story and that him visiting Luke on Ahch-To made perfect sense. I dislike it when fandom ignores that Luke is speaking so fondly to Grogu when he talks about Yoda to him. I dislike it when fandom ignores that Luke smiles fondly and tells people he still argues with Yoda's ghost to this day. I dislike it when fandom ignores that Luke is the child of a genocided culture and that actually means something deeply important and painful to him. I dislike it when fandom ignores who Luke Skywalker actually is in the source material and how much care and love he has in him for everyone.

#lumi.txt #star wars #luke skywalker #meta #character ask game

[antianakin]

Man, now that I've made the connection between Palpatine intentionally manipulating Anakin against the Jedi and Anakin somewhat unintentionally poisoning Ahsoka against the Jedi, I can't unsee it.

We have this lineage that, yes, is called the disaster lineage, but is full of such beautiful wonderful Jedi who seem to have genuinely loved being a Jedi (at least, for a while in Dooku's case) and genuinely loved teaching and loved their students. And we see how that love and passion and dedication DID get passed down. We can see Yoda's patience and cleverness in Dooku, Dooku's passion in Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon's love and determination in Obi-Wan. We can even see some of Obi-Wan's lessons in Anakin every so often.

But Anakin isn't listening the same way everyone else was. Anakin doesn't believe the same way everyone else did.

Anakin gives lip service to the lessons he learned from Obi-Wan ("purpose before feelings") and Ahsoka certainly HEARS them, but she's also picking up just as much from Anakin's actual actions and choices and the lessons he teaches that go unsaid as she ever is from the few times he throws out some platitudes. She picks up on his mistrust of the Council, his belief that the Jedi aren't good enough. She knows that he wants to leave, that he's not even necessarily HAPPY as a Jedi all the time. She picks up on his disobedience and arrogance and impatience and puts herself in dangerous situations because of it. She sees his attachments, his attachment to HER, his attachments maybe even to Padme and Obi-Wan.

Anakin passes on just as much if not more of what he learned from PALPATINE than he ever did from Obi-Wan. Because actions can speak louder than words, and Anakin's actions show where his beliefs and values truly lie, and it isn't with the Jedi.

So Anakin breaks the lineage. He destroys Ahsoka's hopes of ever truly being a good Jedi Knight long before he commits genocide against the Order because he'd already started turning her against them, potentially without even realizing that that's what he was doing. Ahsoka got trained by Darth Vader, by Palpatine's apprentice, before he took on the name and position officially.

Which raises the question of whether Ahsoka WOULD'VE stayed in the Order ultimately in a situation where the Wrong Jedi arc doesn't happen, Palpatine is killed early, and Anakin stays for longer for one reason or another, but remains married to Padme and living a life of secrecy and lies. Would Ahsoka have ultimately had just enough mindfulness to decide to walk away? Would she have always decided the Jedi were too busy playing politics to truly help anyone, or did that only happen because of the Wrong Jedi arc? Would Anakin's training of her always have ultimately led to that end just because he's giving her Palpatine's poison, but she grew up on Jedi foundations of mindfulness that would give her the ability to actually walk away that Anakin has never had?

#anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #disaster lineage #count dooku #obi-wan kenobi #qui-gon jinn #yoda #sheev palpatine #palpatine #anakin skywalker critical #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano critical #star wars

[fanfic-obsessed]

Hurry up and Wait

I love the trope that Obi Wan gets visions of the future (the CW, Order 66, and later) and through these visions he (accidentally or otherwise) saves the galaxy. Let's take a walk through a twist in that. 

Obi Wan gets those visions of the future, but never consciously remembers them.  Only a lingering sense that he needed  to be a Jedi knight (so that he could be in a position to find the clones). Subconsciously, however, he falls in love (platonically) with the clones in general and falls in love (romantically) with Cody in particular, even though he has no memory of it.

As a consequence any Force user with even a hint of a connection to the unifying Force can tell upon meeting Obi Wan that the Force has a Plan with a capital P for him. 

This changes nothing about his Padawanship (From which I cherry pick parts of anything I can get my hands on, assume that anything that is known that does not directly contradict what is in here is in play). Qui Gon Jinn’s connection is exclusively to the Living Force, as is Yoda’s. 

You know where it starts changing things? When Obi Wan takes Anakin as a Padawan. Anakin, as a child of the Force, got an even clearer sense of the Force Plan. He could sense that Obi Wan would find something(someone) and leave the Jedi before Anakin’s padawanship was finished. He could sense that this would be important, changing the tides of the galaxy kind of important. 

So before Anakin could ever become attached to Obi Wan, he is dissuaded. In this Obi Wan is not Master/Teacher/Father/Brother. He is viewed as a tutor, or favored babysitter, until it is time for Anakin to go to his actual Master.  And Obi Wan never begrudges teaching Anakin, never lets Anakin think that there was somewhere else Obi Wan had to be, because there wasn’t. Not yet. 

Perhaps in another universe Palpatine would have been able to step into the space Obi Wan never realized he made. Except the first time Palpatine pushed to meet with Anakin, Obi Wan had an unexplainable (to anyone who did not know the future he was seeing in his dreams) panic attack strong enough that he needed to go to the healing halls.   This panic attack, and the subsequent smaller ones he has whenever he thinks too long about Palpatine being alone with Anakin have two major consequences for Anakin specifically and one for the Order overall. 

The first is that Anakin never grows to trust Palpatine. He meets with him, because Palpatine made some fairly heavy-handed implied threats to the Jedi if they did not provide him with the company of a small boy, but he never really lets him in. This Anakin never forgets the lessons that he must have learned as a young slave, particularly ‘never trust a smiling, kindly man in power’.  Anakin, at the insistence of the High Council, Obi Wan, and his own instincts is required to see a healer and a mind healer after every session with Palpatine (for fear that was grooming Anakin-which he was, just not the way the Jedi thought).

The second consequence is that the High Council as a whole, and Mace Windu specifically, keeps a closer eye on Anakin. It is to Mace that Anakin begins to turn as a Mentor, whom Anakin is sure will be his Master when it is time for Obi Wan to leave.  So, much like with Ahsoka in Canon, Mace and Obi Wan end up co parenting Anakin. And it is understood, and has been exhaustively discussed by all three (to the extent that Anakin's age allows to reasonably be part of the discussion), that Mace is Anakin’s master, though Obi Wan may be considered so on paper (Mace, as head of the Order, cannot take on a too young Padawan.  When Anakin is older, certainly, and if Obi Wan leaves early, sure, but for now the day to day is handled by Obi Wan).

The order as a whole, and the High Council in particular, had no actual idea that the Chancellor (and possibly other Senators or representatives) can effectively make the Jedi Order deliver a 9 year old boy to his office and leave. They immediately set a mixed group of Archivist and Shadows to go through all of the treaties, laws, and Senate rulings that can possibly refer to or affect the Jedi. Going through all the laws and rulings and things that should not have affected the Jedi but do(because of a confluence of three, or four, or six different laws that separately don’t do shit to trap the Jedi but together create something that is Ironclad and razor sharp) takes several months. The results are so horrifying that several shadows have to be talked down from the ledge of taking over the Republic entirely. 

The High Council decides that they will begin to untangle themselves from the control of the Republic, but that they must do it quietly. There is concern that if they bring attention to the potential for abuse of the Jedi Order, there are beings that would take advantage. They do not realize that they are caught in a Sith Plot (one that in Canon would see them forced to be generals of a slave army). Instead they believe the laws that entrap them to be, not quite coincidence, but that their effect on the Jedi is secondary.  So that is going on behind the scenes. 

We come to the mission that would get the clones discovered, the one that was supposed to spark a war. Palpatine fully believes that everything is on track with Anakin, as he has not clocked onto the fact that Anakin is humoring him and does not trust him.  So Palpatine enacts his plan to get Anakin alone with Padme, hoping that something Jedi code breaking will result (Palpatine does not exactly have control over Padme-Though he certainly thinks he has more than he does-however she is exactly the kind of reckless that he needs to get Anakin into com kind of trouble) while Obi Wan is sent on a chase for the assassin, Jango, which will lead him to Kamino.

Obi Wan arrives on Kamino and knows the instant that he is shown the clones that this is what he has been waiting for. He still does not consciously remember his lifelong visions, but he knows that he has found his people.  He very calmly sends out a message to Anakin and Mace to the effect of ‘I have found my people. May the Force be with you. Peace Out’ then goes back and uses every ounce of his cunning and negotiating skill to take command of the clones, the ships, and all the supplies for what should have been the Republic's Army and fuck off to a planet in Wildspace (That Obi Wan owns. Until that very moment he did not know why the Force had encouraged him to acquire the planet). 

Jango, who is very intrigued by the pretty red headed Jedi who had just politely browbeaten a bunch of Kaminoans (It is a very much one sided attraction, since Obi Wan is very much in love with Cody-even if he doesn’t know it yet), and Boba go with them. 

No just picture this. Dooku is waiting on Geonosis for Jango Fett to lure a Jedi,  specifically to lure his grand padawan to the planet so that war can get started. And Waiting. And Waiting. Meanwhile the Geonosian Queen is hovering in the background, starting to make noises that are the equivalent of ‘well, don’t let me keep you’ (and other such saying that were polite-as this was still a potential ally- for ‘Get fucken out of our house already’).

Another Meanwhile, due to a combination of the lack of needing to go to Geonosis to rescue Obi Wan, the lack of a need to go to Tatooine (By sheer happenstance Shimi was not captured by the Tuskens, thus no visions for Anakin), and the goodby message Obi Wan left (which indicated that the current assassin would not be bothering Padme for at least a few weeks), Anakin and Padme get back to the Senate in time for the Separatist Vote.  While not unanimous, it is an overwhelming majority that voted to allow the Separatists to leave (Mainly because most of them wanted to be able to leave themselves if need be).

Everyone, Separatist and Republic alike, stares at each other awkwardly in the aftermath of the Vote. For some reason everyone feels as though there should have been a different outcome and no one(outside of Palpatine and his minions) can tell why. Eventually the Separatists turn and walk slowly from the room.  Those who wanted the war were seething internally, but not able to show it externally.  

Palpatine has to work hard to keep his screams of frustrations internal later, when he calls Kamino and finds that his shiny new army is not where he left it. Then there is the repeal of a seemingly insignificant law and it takes him nearly three weeks to place why (that one law neatly disassembles most of the legal trap that the Jedi were in, because it was the connecting law between that laws with the really harsh punishments and that laws that specifically mention the Jedi). 

Back with Obi Wan and the Clones…Things are a bit strange. In the first place Obi Wan still does not consciously remember any of his visions, but subconsciously knows all of the clones and can tell them apart. So he calls the clones by name rather than designation. For some of the clones before they even choose a name.  He also knows without knowing why hobbies and interests for most of the clones.  

And for all that the Clones have been primed through propaganda to love the Jedi, they don’t actually fully trust anyone who is not a clone, not yet. This has the effect that Obi Wan is, without realizing it, acting very informally with clones who do not know what to make of him.  This is compounded by the fact that Obi Wan sees Cody and is instantly smitten. Cody does not know what to do with this. 

Hilariously this has the effect of making Jango jealous of Cody. Jango is attracted to Obi Wan, who only has eyes for Cody.  So Jango is off to one side making passive aggressive comments about Obi Wan settling for a badly put together copy when he could have the original, muttered low enough that Obi Wan cannot hear.  When Obi Wan does over hear one of the comments, the resulting rant on Jango failures as a person (this was before they discovered the chips, but after the realization that Jango had effectively sold his children into slavery) and how Cody is clearly superiors in every way, does help to endear the clones to him. 

His visceral horror when they find out about the chips helps too. 

I am not sure where it would go from here, though I imagine it does end with the Jedi, in clumps of two or three, just sort of arriving on the planet.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #fanfiction prompt #star wars au #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #codywan #sheev palpatine #bamf obi wan #no order 66 #One Sided Jangobi #star wars visions #sw visions #Obi Wan gets Visions #mace windu

[illuminatedquill]

Ahsoka Tano & Sabine Wren (A Quick Analysis)

Grow Beyond

"The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters." - Master Yoda, The Last Jedi

I've been thinking about this quote a lot regarding these two.

Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren; Master and Apprentice. Heirs to the disaster lineage of Jedi (and Sith) stretching all the way back to Yoda himself. The above quote occurs in the scene when Master Yoda is chastising Luke for wallowing in his failure and allowing it to obstruct his judgment. Pass on what you have learned, he points out. Strength, yes, but also failure.

So, what does this mean for Ahsoka and Sabine? How does Ahsoka help Sabine to grow beyond herself? What, specifically, does Ahsoka have to offer Sabine as a Master in terms of successes and failures?

Let's look at Sabine's character first. She was already a formidable warrior, courtesy of her Mandalorian upbringing and the unique advantages her beskar armor bring to any battle. Sabine is loyal to a fault; fiercely devoted to those she cares about. She's fast on her feet and clever with gadgets and tech (as a reminder, she's considered to be a child prodigy). And something I feel that is overlooked, she is compassionate - it's not overt as Ezra's compassion is, which he extends to strangers, but we see it expressed time and again in her actions with loved ones.

The flip side of Sabine's character runs similar to how Anakin Skywalker was: she's hot-headed, reckless, prone to fits of impulsive anger. And she loves deeply but, like every other Mandalorian in existence, Sabine is unable to express it in a healthy manner (although that is mitigated by the Ghost crew's influence on her during Rebels). Sabine's emotions, as we see throughout Rebels and later in Ahsoka, are somewhat of a mystery - possibly even to herself. It takes moments of extreme duress to reveal what she's feeling: her training with Kanan while mastering the Darksaber, for one instance.

And, of course, this infamous moment from Ahsoka:

The difference between these two moments, however, is that Sabine does not self-reflect afterwards in Ahsoka. In Rebels, she has Kanan to offer her guidance and counsel as to why she struggles with the Darksaber.

This is, arguably, Sabine's defining flaw: her inability to really know and understand herself on a deeper level. As a result, her emotions continue to rule over her actions and leads to the terrible consequences that follow.

Which is where Ahsoka comes in. Ahsoka Tano is no stranger to anger and the extremes to which emotions, when unchecked, can carry us. As the survivor of two galactic civil wars, she understands this better than anyone else alive. And, most importantly, she is the padawan of Anakin Skywalker; a fact that weighs heavily on her and, ultimately, affects her relationship with Sabine for the worse.

During her vision quest in Ahsoka 1x05, Ahsoka re-experiences the Clone Wars alongside her master, Anakin. There she asks him an important question, reflecting the core of her struggle with teaching Sabine:

Ahsoka: Is this all I have to teach my own padawan someday? How to fight?

Anakin, at the time, was teaching Ahsoka how to be a warrior - a timely lesson that served her well considering everything that happened afterwards. The problem for Ahsoka is this: that life is all she knows. She never really stopped fighting. She has spent most of her life fighting in a war and even when the Empire was finally defeated, Ahsoka continued to keep finding new battles to fight during a time of peace.

For whatever reason she decided to take on Sabine as an apprentice, Ahsoka must have struggled with this. Yes, she can teach Sabine discipline, lightsaber forms, and basic Force mastery but, outside of that, what else does she have to offer? How does she help Sabine to grow beyond her?

Passing on her failures. How has Ahsoka failed, what she learned from it, and how she can help Sabine to not make the same mistakes.

Returning to Ahsoka 1x05 again, Anakin has this important conversation with Ahsoka about their legacies as Jedi:

Anakin: You're a warrior now. As I trained you to be. Ahsoka: Is that all? Anakin: Ahsoka, within you will be everything I am. All the knowledge I possess. Just as I inherited knowledge from my master and he from his. You're part of a legacy. Ahsoka: But my part of that legacy is one of death - and war. Anakin: But you're more than that. Because I'm more than that.

Ahsoka is not committed fully to her training Sabine; she's afraid that she'll pass on the failures of her master, also inherent within her, to her padawan. But, as Yoda points out to Luke so many years later, that's exactly what she needs to do. She sees herself as only offering a legacy of death and war to Sabine who has already seen her fair share of such.

But Anakin reminds her that she is more than that, just as he was. Those mistakes, that legacy - despite the darkness inherent within it - is important to pass on. Depriving Sabine of all that knowledge runs against what a Master should do, despite their reservations about what that knowledge could give way to - but that's the problem with Ahsoka prior to her reunion with Anakin in the World Between Worlds. She's afraid.

And Sabine pays the price for that fear. It makes her vulnerable to her own emotions and she makes the choice to doom the galaxy in exchange for Ezra's safety.

How do these fears become manifest in these two women? What causes them to become vulnerable to them?

Isolation. Detachment from others. That is, in my opinion, easy steps towards the Dark Side. For a long time, Ahsoka used this a survival mechanism, a necessity for a fugitive Jedi during the Empire's reign. She had to be detached from others in order to fulfill her Purpose, her Mission: help others and fight the Empire.

But the few attachments she did have after the Order fell, I would argue, were pivotal for her journey: Rex, of course, saving her life and returning upon her request to join the Rebellion - and, more importantly, her meeting with the Ghost Crew. Kanan and the others certainly helped her on more than one occasion but it's her relationship with Ezra - despite only knowing each other for a brief time - that ended up saving her life during the duel with Vader on Malachor.

But, after a certain point, that isolation and detachment from others stopped being a necessity and started being a hindrance. Especially with her relationship with Sabine, who also had issues with that - those issues being exacerbated after the loss of her family during the Purge of Mandalore. Instead of staying with Sabine and giving her guidance and counsel and friendship during her lowest point, she sought to abandon her instead. To Ahsoka, it was the best possible choice but remember that she, too, was operating under the influence of her own fears.

Ahsoka should have embraced her attachment with Sabine - not shunned it. That is where she failed and continued to do so until the events of Ahsoka 1x05 in the World Between Worlds.

So, how does Ahsoka - the Master - help Sabine to grow beyond her? How does she rise above her failures?

She encourages Sabine to get a life.

. . . This is not a joke. The best possible way for Ahsoka to help Sabine move forward and become a better Jedi than her is to encourage a life outside of being a Jedi.

For all her life, Ahsoka has lived a life of Purpose - but that can't be all there is. That's what led to her failure with Sabine in the first place; she separated herself from others, keeping in contact only when necessary. She didn't cultivate relationships, friendships, find hobbies, other interests outside of her need to keep finding a cause to fight for.

It led to a life devoid of the simple joys that make it worth living. A life filled with Purpose is grand and noble but it's the people in it, the experiences we enjoy, the moments we spend with loved ones that stick with us to the end.

Ahsoka has led a lonely life. And that, in my opinion, is something she should actively encourage Sabine against.

Sabine needs people in her life. Her time with the Ghost crew did so much good for her, as we all know. When they separated, Sabine was adrift in her search for Ezra - until Ahsoka appeared and offered her a new path forward.

And then that path was cruelly taken away. Sabine was alone again with her bitterness, her yearning, and her grief. She - like all of us - are at our best when surrounded by loved ones who encourage us and stand by us when we are at our lowest.

The Jedi of old were wary of attachments - not love, but attachments that could specifically lead to possessiveness, which is not healthy - but the Order fell a long time ago. The Jedi who survived had to adapt in order to survive; some did it the way Ahsoka did, going for a lone wolf approach.

Others, however . . .

How do Jedi survive in a time when there is no Jedi Order? How do they define themselves?

It is my belief that Kanan did it best. He embraced his attachments; his newfound family, the Ghost Crew - Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, Chopper, Zeb, and, most importantly, Hera Syndulla. But he never let his feelings for the others - especially Hera - cloud his judgment when the mission was at stake.

He found a way to honor the Jedi code but adapted it in a way that suited him best.

(Cal Kestis of the Jedi videogame series also followed this approach, but we have yet to see how that ends for him.)

I'm going to paraphrase (probably badly) a post from - I believe but correct me if I'm wrong - @seleneisrising that said something along the lines of that in the absence of a Jedi Order, Kanan and Ezra acted as their own within the Ghost Crew family. They acted in place of an Order but did it in their own way, not strictly adhering to what came before.

The Ghost Crew was a family.

It was Kanan and Ezra's home.

It was their own version of a Jedi Order; one that was perfectly in balance with their feelings and understanding of their Purpose. One that didn't eschew attachments in favor of emotional neutrality but embraced them and allowed those relationships to empower them.

This is how Sabine surpasses Ahsoka. Not following the 'ronin' lifestyle of her master but finding a home to call her own; a place to be herself, truly, as Ahsoka needs her to be.

Finding a life outside of Purpose. Finding friendships, finding family, and finding love.

You know who that last part is referring to.

Sabine follows in the footsteps of Kanan and builds her own Order - her own Clan, to honor her own Mandalorian roots. She does it with Ezra, with Hera, with Zeb, with Chopper, and some day, Jacen when he's ready for his journey. And with Ahsoka too. (And can't forget Murley.)

. . . Huyang, too, I guess. If he wants to come along.

To paraphrase a discussion I had with @starryjediknight: Sabine and Ezra become the new Kanan and Hera for Ghost Crew 2.0.

If isolation, detachment, and distrust from others can be seen as a Path to the Dark Side, then the opposite must be true as a Path to the Light; family, community, and trust being the way to break down barriers to love.

We see that with Sabine's reunion with Ezra - how, immediately, she is almost returned to her former self. How she is healed in his presence and then further healed when Ahsoka returns and begins to make amends with her, promising to stick by her no matter what from now on.

In a way, by doing this, Sabine could fulfill the dream that Anakin wished to see realized: staying true to the Jedi way while also being allowed to follow his feelings.

Rebels was always, at its heart, about family - found and lost.

Ahsoka could be about finding your way back, no matter how far you've strayed. Failures don't have to define you but are lessons to be learned from. They can be markers along the way on this journey we call life for those following us to see the pitfalls that loom when we lose the path.

Ahsoka can see those markers clearly now. She can point them out to Sabine.

And then Sabine can grow beyond her. Reach her full potential. Add her story to the legacy that she's inherited from Ahsoka, just as she did from her master.

This time, it won't be about death and destruction.

It can be better.

It can be about love.

#sabezra #sabine wren #ezra bridger #star wars rebels #ezrabine #star wars #ahsoka show #ahsoka #ahsoka tano #natasha liu bordizzo #eman esfandi

[thecleverqueer]

Y’all.

The point of the Clone Wars flashback in the Ahsoka series was partially fan service. Yes. But, those of you that are mad that Obi-Wan and Cody and Waxer and Boil and Mace Windu and Ursa Wren and Gar Saxon and Maul and Bo-Katan Kryze and Rook Cast weren’t in it missed the whole goddamned point of the flashback, so let me explain:

Everyone has bitched tirelessly about Ahsoka being stoic and reserved and “not like herself” (I will die on the “she’s in her forties…leave my baby girl alone… she’s tired, sore and premenopausal…” hill, still…)

Ultimately, she’s been “out of character” because she was carrying all of the Anakin trauma around like a two hundred pound weight on her shoulders. She blamed herself, and she feared who she was so much so that she was unwilling to get close to others and spread the wisdom that the years have afforded her…something a Jedi just does. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Enter this sequence… the moment she FINALLY lets go of the Anakin guilt/ hang ups.

I knew something like this was coming. Some moment that changed her back to the more recognizable Ahsoka. The one that embraced her friends. The one that was willing to share the lessons that she learned with others. The one that would have loved to have a padawan of her own. The one that wasn’t always running away, being flaky.

This was it. And, there were two big takeaways from the moment.

1.) Anakin was always Vader, and Vader was always Anakin… and she had nothing to do with that. Her leaving the order played literally no role. It wasn’t on her. It never was. He was already teetering on that line way before she entered his life. I mean, he slaughtered an entire village of Tuskens down to the last woman and child. He said and did questionable shit to Ahsoka herself too throughout their time together. Was he like a brother to her? Sure. Was he borderline abusive at times? Also, yes. Regardless, her eyes were opened in that first battle…where he basically told her to fight or die. Fair, under the circumstances… still, Ahsoka was trained to be a Jedi, not a murderer. Anakin relished in it. She didn’t really, especially when it came to losing her own men in battle. The clones were her friends, her brothers. Anakin didn’t seem to give a shit about the clones. Unsurprising.

2.) She realized that it wasn’t just Anakin’s legacy that she would carry on. She has her own legacy. It doesn’t have to be one of death and destruction. Is Ahsoka a lot like Anakin? Yes. She’s impulsive, hot-headed, stubborn, emotional, and intense, but that’s not all. Ahsoka is caring, patient, understanding, and loving in a compassionate sense. She’s grown wise, strong and sage. Anakin isn’t the only part of her line and that legacy… Obi-Wan is a part. Qui-Gon is a part. Yoda is a part. Ahsoka is a little bit of all of them. It made her realize that she’s so much more than just a warrior. She’s a great Jedi like the ones that came before her. Inevitably, she has a choice. She can choose not to serve the dark, despite it being part of that legacy, and she can pass on what she has learned without fear.

The moment was about just that. It wasn’t meant to actually be an episode of The Clone Wars. The flashback served a very specific purpose as laid out above. There are 133 episodes of The Clone Wars if you want to watch a Clone Wars episode with all the characters of the Clone Wars. This moment was about Ahsoka overcoming her guilt and fear caused by Anakin becoming what he became so that Ahsoka could actually embrace who she is. Specifically.

Now we have a happy, more well-rounded, Gandalf-like Ahsoka that has slayed her Balrog. Now we get to see her be the Jedi she has always been inside. Now we will see her be there for her friends. Now we will see her mentor and share her wisdom and teach the ways of the ones that came before her without fear.

#star wars #ahsoka tano #the clone wars #ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #pro jedi #anakin skywalker #shadow warrior #because some of you missed the whole ass point #battle of ryloth #siege of mandalore #ahsoka the white

[piglet26]

Reylo. The Perfect Star Wars Fairytale.

"What if your sort of soulmate in the force was your enemy? Circumstance pits them against each other, but the force bonds them together. They understand each other almost from a point of view of fate and yet fate has made them enemies"

Reylo isn't the classic fairytale, but that's a good thing! The two of them display something unique about love and connection. They both provide the other one with an opportunity to move past their trauma and heal their pain by relating to someone, being accepted, being forgiven; ultimately having a true connection which makes you a better person. That's Star Wars! Yes, Star Wars is about friendship, adventure and the hero's arc, but's also about the power of love. That's what drove Anakin to the dark side and what brought him back to the light. Embracing love and attachment was the lesson Luke had to teach the Jedi. Romanticism isn't a mistake of horny Reylo fans, it's a rejection of the lessons Star War had to teach by young and old men who claim to want to protect it the most.

Kylo Ren is aware of Rey before Rey is aware of Kylo Ren, but both recognize the other one immediately. Rey has dreamed of Ben, when Ben killed the head of The Knights of Ren, Rey felt a chill on Jakku. Kylo Ren feels her awakening in the Force and senses that they are connected somehow. (I wanna know what the full scene was cause he is like studying her)

Reylo is not abusive, but I do understand why people are hesitant to endorse them. However, people tend to project their own problems and situations on other people and that's probably what's going on here. THEY ARE AT WAR! It's not personal. First thing Rey tries to do is shoot him (natural reaction) so he froze her (natural reaction). He's trying to get information for his side of the war and attempts to do this without making her experience too much pain. He pushed her into a tree... she did try to shoot him. Again. She tried to shoot him three times now that I think of it. He invaded her mind! Luke did the same thing to Kylo Ren. Is Luke abusive? Any time any of the Jedi have peaked inside someone's mind has been abusive then. "You know I can take whatever I want." Yes, I can access your mind you know that so why not just give me the information I require....that is what he is saying. People read so much into everything and yet did so with no logic. The only thing I can say is the movie goes out of it's way to show a parallel experience between Rey and Poe in their interrogation. Moving on.

As Ren studies a sleeping Rey he can sense their connected somehow. Rey isn't just some resistance fighter, like Poe, she's more than that.

While Rey is initially fearful of Ren, the moment he reveals himself she just confused, curious and attracted (as we all were). It's significant that the first person he reveals himself to is Rey. Kylo Ren wears the mask to idolize his grandfather and project not only strength but dehumanize himself. He reassures her that he doesn't know where her friends are,

In the sound mix is a heartbeat. You hear a heartbreak when she is connecting with Ren in the Interrogation scene. Rey remember this moment in the novel, "Even as [Kylo] callously rifled through her mind, he had somehow revealed his own. Rey found herself in his mind even as he invaded hers. She felt his rage...But she also felt his hurt, and his loneliness. And his fear...Kylo had retreated at finding Rey in his head - had practically fled from her. But that had not been the end of that strange, sudden connection. She had seen more - far more...It was as if his training had become hers, unlocking and flinging open door after door in her mind"

Reylo is a pairing where both the hero are villain are given a bond where hurting the other is as good as hurting yourself. Even in their duel on the First Order base, Kylo doesn't want to kill her and she's defending herself for the most part.

Meanwhile, Ren’s emotions begin to fixate on Rey. Though they could not predict them, the two begin to gain insights into each other though these strange connections, and Ren lowers his guard. Their forceskypes are a safe space for one another. It's established very quickly that they can't hurt each other. Rey wakes up in her hut on Ahch-to while Kylo is in his own quarter. The Force connects the two and both panic. Rey tries to shoot Kylo, who tries to manipulate Rey via mind trick. They now have to deal with one another in ways that weren't their first instinct. What’s happening here is something extraordinary even within the logic of the Star Wars universe it seems, and Kylo recognizes this. His behavior and observations betray a sense of innocent fascination rather than an ulterior motive.

Feeling somewhat safe with Rey, Ren no longer tries to hide his feelings of pain and misery, and, in turn, their Force-bonding intensifies in strength and rawness. Rey being increasing disillusioned by Luke and his feelings of the Jedi begins to open herself up to understand the person she wants to just hate.

This stylistic choice crops up plenty more times throughout the movie, communicating that they are one half of each other.

Kylo Ren has something to teach Rey as much as he is taking these moments to try to be understood by her. Rey is similarly stuck by her childhood. Stuck in the idea her parents could come back, stuck in the idea that she was wanted or not wanted. As Kylo says to her “Your parents threw you away like garbage.......It’s your greatest weakness," Ren call Rey out in a way no one else can because he's been inside her head. Yes, Ren is harsh, but he wants her to grow up in this scene. His logic is flawed but in pulling away from your past, your identity and your parental figures you can become a fully formed individual. Ren tries to kill it, slash it and cut himself off from it when he needs to make peace with it.

We still crave affection not matter the pain we experience. Kylo’s many years of loneliness and reaching out to an inanimate object show just how desperate he is. He is desperate for a connection. And right now, Darth Vader is all that he has. He's never had a peer.

Rey is resilient, independent, a hard worker, intelligent, passionate, dedicated and yet she too is desperately lonely.

Ben sees apart of himself in Rey and they identify with one another. Rey, in Kylo's mind, is more than just a romantic interest. Rey is a refuge and purpose. Rey is a chance to be unglued...... to progress past his parental figures.

What's interesting though is that Ben/Kylo Ren is nurturing to Rey. When she is at her most vulnerable, listening to Rey’s confession of her greatest weakness, her fear, her attempt to confront this fear, her disappointment in finding no answer and finally her acute loneliness; he just listens to her and then let's her know that he's there.

"Luke should be the one nurturing Rey, and it's actually Kylo that is” - Daisy Ridley

Rey and Kylo are once again in their own carved out, ‘isolated’ auditory space, (and the audience is sucked in with them) while the outside world is again blocked out. In this moment both characters are free from light, dark, war, conflict, sides, enemies and they are safe with one another. When the force theme plays over their connection (as they share visions of one another), they and we the audience, feel that this union is right, desirable and destined.  

What's interesting is when Uncle Luke catches the naughty teenager "having sex" He was no longer just a vision in Rey’s mind eyes. This looks like a beautiful image to the audience and yet Luke’s reactions are disapproval and anger. Rey displaces a lot of her own anger regarding rejection/abandonment onto Luke. She identifies with Kylo and now she's aligning herself with him. It's understanding. I understand your pain, I can actually feel it and now I'm going to defend you from those who hurt you. She get's so much agency in defending someone else. This was step moving past her own trauma.

Rey's belief in Kylo does pay off. Her faith and belief, to the point she puts her life in his hands empower him to finally stand up to his abuser in a way he was never able to do for himself. He kills Snoke not only to only protect her, but protect her from being abused and corrupted as he once was. They both are able to confront the others childhood trauma and find strength in doing so.

Where their scene in the hut is an emotional union which brings a sense of peace, their scene in throne room, when they’re teaming up physically, signifies a sense of power.  The film in so many ways tells us that Rey and Kylo's union creates balance, peace, power and beauty.

What Kylo proposes in the Throne Room is balance, which is what Rey and Kylo/Ben are meant to represent. Neither of them are simply the light or the dark, both have elements of those symbols within them. After he kills Snoke it's like he said, "Right. That's done. Everything I've inherited.... the light vs the dark......everything I've struggled with.......let's just move on."

Kylo knows that he and Rey are different because he has a better understanding of the past and the Force. Kylo knows he and Rey are the future. Adam Driver says this, “The center of this story is Rey and Kylo Ren. They stand on the opposite sides but the boundary in between is very thin. There are light and dark inside both of them. Actually, they are not far apart. They are the other side of each other.”

They are the most powerful two in the universe. He creates an “us vs them” dynamic Ren’s proposal, however, is appealing—and logical. Let's be honest it's a system so dichotomous and one that has never been balanced.

Rey rejects this because she has healthy attachments. Rey loves Finn, Rey has a connection to Leia/Luke and Rey has romanticized the Resistance since she was a little girl. She feels compelled to fight for these things. Even if she didn't have those attachments, she wants Ben. She wants to stand in the sun with him.

This rejection hurts him, but he's confused by it. He can read her emotions, they're so connected mentally, he knows she wants to take his hand. He doesn't understand why she didn't. He doesn't understand why when he was knocked out she didn't kill him.

Adam Driver -"Then he had been forging this maybe-bond with Rey, and it kind of ends with the question in the air: is he going to pursue that relationship, or when the door of her ship goes up, does that also close that camaraderie that they were maybe forming?"

If anything he doubles down even harder into his sense of belonging with her. What they have he has longed for this since childhood. Rey doesn't give up on him, she makes a point of saying she'll wait for him in the novels. She can't be with him as is. He needs to come to terms with his childhood, work through the trauma and accept it.

Kylo does indeed act out on everyone around him. He is cold, hostile, anti-social and pessimistic. But who does he change for? Rey. She's going to be patient, but she put boundaries on him and it's what he need to grow further. He respects her - this is the key. He admires her and he has compassion for her. 

“That’s all she is, yes. A scavenger from that inconsequential Jakku. Completely untrained, but strong with the Force. Stronger than she knows.” His mask off, Ren replied with what seemed to be his usual assurance. No one else would have sensed a difference. Snoke did.

The Supreme Leader’s voice was flat. “You have compassion for her.”

Rey is forgiving, which is important, she has a kind heart. Don't underestimate the importance of forgiveness - the power of it. Forgiveness is the path away from shame. Because Rey, Leia and Han were able to forgive Kylo Ren, he was able to forgive himself and as such Ben was able to come back.

Let's also be clear Kylo Ren in a relationship.....He would worship her. He would never intentionally hurt her. He would adore her. He is surprisingly patient, calm, and understanding when it comes to their talks. By the end of The Last Jedi he's supreme leader, but it's a hollow victory. It doesn't mean anything to him because Rey isn't with her. However, there would be obsession and possession. Rey on the dark side, would give into her worst impulses with him and her worst impulses usually end violently. It doesn't mean she doesn't want to be with him. She's very hurt that they are not together and that's clear in the novelization.

Kylo wants to tell Rey who she really is – a truth he believes will make her stand by his side and fight with him. That’s been his goal since the end of the last movie, and all he desires is to be with Rey. In his head, the only way that’s possible is if she turns to the Dark. This time she's even more like him; a grandparent on the Dark Side.

Kylo and Rey are the only people in each other’s lives with whom they are fully open and honest all the time. For better or worse, they are each other's home and redemption. Rey is scared of the power inside of her. Rey feels like she has to hide the darkness inside of her - with Kylo she expresses and lashes out at him - he takes it pound for pound.

Ben Solo is back and boy is it good! When Rey healed Ben Solo, she ended up healing the very same scar she gave him. The scar symbolized his scarred heart because of his decision to kill his father. More than that he looks . He faced his past and overcame it. That scar was no longer holding him back, and the healing of his scar is a physical change that shows his transformation and healing.

Adam Driver “He has to let her know that they’re together. But he doesn’t entirely know what’s going to happen from there, nor do I think he cares. As long as he’s with [Rey], he’s on the right path.”

TROS just doesn't stick the landing.

There are beautiful moments, but Ben being chucked off a cliff? Rey dying as a way of opening up a way for Ben to die (when he's only been on screen 5 minute) When he revive her..... it's more than my heart can take. The way Ben looks at Rey is precious: he looks so happy, in love, and treasuring every single second of being with her. Her kiss leaves Ben in wonder as he expected her rejection.

After Ben died (ugh) Ben is still able to communicate with her through the Force and he assures Rey that he'll be always with her, and she is comforted in realizing that in some way he is not actually gone and that they would always be together. Guess that's why she looks unbothered as she flies off.

In the end, their connection, like with Anakin, love was able to bring the person lost home. That's a beautiful lesson the world needs to be reminded of---- not forgotten.

#reylo #star wars #ben solo #rey star wars #rey skywalker #kylo x rey #finnrey #kylo ren #ben solo deserved better #ben solo x rey #sequel trilogy #rey #reylo art

[writerbuddha]

Not just a Star Wars issue?

In 2020, a vibrant, colorful video essay appeared on YouTube, titled, “The Lion King Explained: Let the Darkness In.” To summarize its main conclusions: Mufasa was fundamentally flawed and his flaws resulted in his death and the fall of his kingdom. He refused to see and confront evil, ill intentions and darkness. He gave no means to Simba to deal with his severe trauma, or to address the unpleasant, apart from pushing it away. This resulted in Simba repressing his emotions and running away. His naive refusal to confront ugly truths left his kingdom weak and untested. What's more, he is an absolute and even god-like monarch, thus Scar's anger over not being king echoes valid critiques of his society’s injustice and inequality. However, his only solution is hate, anger and destruction. Only Simba, the young, conflicted, new king is able to confront the darkness that his father explicitly refused and denied to do so, becoming a better, stronger king, addressing the injustice and inequality in Mufasa's kingdom.

And what is one of the most popularized reading of Star Wars today? The Jedi lost their way, they turned a blind eye to the fact that the Republic is ruled by an oppressive elite, they gave no means to Anakin to deal with his severe trauma, they taught him to repress his emotions, they feared and ignored the dark side of the Force. Anakin turned to the dark side due to the Jedi neglecting and mistreating his traumas and teaching him to push away his emotions. He actually had a point, so does the Sith, but they offered only hatred, anger and destruction as an answer. Thus, the Jedi contributed to their own demise, which was sad and largely undeserved, but necessary. Luke, after proving the old Jedi Masters wrong in their black-and-white morality and thinking, by embracing his emotions, confronting the dark side, reforms the Jedi Order, which is stronger, better, more equal and healthy than the old one.

Can we point out a pattern here?

The old and their old ways created problems like inequality and injustice due to their black-and-white morality and thinking inherent to them, and now they're unable and unwilling to address and solve them, which ultimately causes their demise. Then, a young hero arrives: the old are trying to get him to suppress his emotions and continue their old, flawed ways. This young hero is traumatized or otherwise struggling with their mental health, that the old are systematically neglecting or even contributing to it and leading to severe consequences. Meet our villain: they actually have a point, however, the hero shouldn't follow their footsteps, because all they offer is rage, destruction, hate and so on. It's only the young one, who can surpass both emotional repression and anger, hate and destruction, who corrects and educates the system, the old ways and the old ones. 

I start to think that what we witness is a "Gen Z narrative" starting to invade fandoms, drowning out all the original messages and lessons of these stories, replacing it with "Old = fanatic, bigoted, dogmatic, black-and-white and myopic, and Young = progressive, tolerant, spectrum-thinker, rationalist, updated" - people almost compulsively trying to locate this new trope in the movies and books they love, because they need this view validated, they need their ego boosted, even if this means ignoring the actual stories they allegedly "fans" of.

This narrative is often tangled with Western-centrism: what was unknown to the West, was unknown to the world as a whole, thus, the Gen Z Hero, equipped with Western psychology, philosophy, values and cultural and social costumes, is inherently superior, communicates new, never seen before, life-changing revelations to the previous generations, wherever they go. And this seem to attract certain millennials as well.

It started somewhere around the mid-2010s and now it peaks.

Where will this lead us?

#luke skywalker #star wars #fandom #yoda #the lion king #gen z problems #tw trauma #jedi order #disney #star wars fandom

[ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask]

Star Wars Prequels Thoughts

Okay, as requested by @rainintheevening (or more accurately, as forced upon you all by myself), here are my thoughts on the Prequels.

Now I want to preface by saying this - I love Star Wars, I love all of the Star Wars films, and I am far from a Prequels hater. However, I think that there are a few things that could have been done differently to make the franchise as a whole better. This whole thing came up from my wish that Star Wars had been made so that you could watch from Episode I on and not miss anything, as opposed to the way that the Prequels we have are built on the shoulders of the OT. Anyhow.

The first major change that I would make is this: the movies would have focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi as the main character far above any other character. Anakin would have been a sidekick in the Obi-Wan story. We would have started and ended with Obi Kenobi.

TPM -

Phantom would almost entirely follow the plot that is already established. The big change, though, is that instead of Anakin Skywalker being a little junkyard rat from Tatooine, he is already a Jedi padawan. 

So here's the shot - at the start of the film, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his former padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, now a full-fledged Jedi knight, go to negotiate with the Trade Federation that has blockaded Naboo. Each of these Jedi has a padawan of his own - Jinn's is the young, brash, Anakin Skywalker. Kenobi's padawan is more mild-mannered and force-attuned. Let's call him Bob Dirtswimmer for the sake of clarity. Kenobi's fiery impulsiveness is played up to a big extent - he's brash, doesn't think things through before doing them, and he negotiates exclusively with his lightsaber. Jinn is more calm and level-headed. Their respective padawans both get along better with the other master, which causes some friction.

Like I said, the plot pretty well follows what already exists – the Trade Federation doesn’t want to comply, the Jedi are forced to ally with first Jar Jar, and rescue Queen Amidala. They escape the planet but are forced to land on the desert planet Tatooine, where they are befriended by a young moisture farmer named Owen. Owen hates Tatooine, hates moisture farming, and he hates how bored he is in life. All he wants is to escape the planet with his girlfriend Beru and become a pilot. While Kenobi and Jinn try to negotiate for parts to repair their ship, Anakin and Owen become fast friends, spurred on by their similar distaste for boredom and the ‘sedentary’ lifestyle that is being pushed on them by their respective mentors (Cliegg pushing Owen to join him as a moisture farmer, Qui-Gon pushing Anakin to be more mindful of the living Force instead of so action-oriented). Dirtswimmer tries to get along with them, but he feels excluded because he is far less inclined to join in on the action of things.

They eventually manage to secure the parts with the help of Owen. As repayment, they allow him and Beru to join them. He immediately and happily settles into the cockpit and gets some flying lessons from the Queen’s royal pilots. On the way to Coruscant to plead for Naboo’s case, we see Anakin begin to grow close to one of the queen’s handmaidens. Then we get the bit where Palpatine, the senator from Naboo, begins pushing Chancellor Valorum to raise an army to fight the Trade Federation’s unjust claims. Dirtswimmer remains on Coruscant to help Palpatine rally support for Naboo while the other Jedi return with the queen to retake the planet. Anakin and Owen fly together against the control ship because they are both skilled pilots, leaving Kenobi and Jinn to face off against Maul.

Now, since Qui-Gon is a bye-gone, Kenobi takes Anakin on as his second apprentice, teaching him at the same time as Dirtswimmer. At the end of the film, Palpatine talks to Dirtswimmer around Jinn’s funeral and mentions how disappointing it is that the Jedi with whom he really connected was now gone, leaving him to be the third wheel in the Obi-Ani Show.

AotC - We're going to get into some big changes that will be important, so keep track of this stuff.

Side note: Master Yoda is often referred to, but never seen. He is described as being the greatest warrior of the entire Jedi Order, but he has abandoned it because he believes that the Order has lost its way.

Again, we follow the same vague film plot - it begins with Naboo's new Junior Senator, Padme Amidala. She and Palpatine, the Senior Senator, are on Coruscant to debate the creation of a clone army for the republic. Palpatine represents the Nabooian populace that is in favor of the law - which is a significant portion, considering the Republic’s failure to assist them when they were being attacked years before - while Padme represents the minority who believe that such an act would be inhumane and lead to dictatorship. 

There have been many threats against anyone who opposes the law, so three Jedi are assigned to protect Amidala - Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Bob. There is a brief moment of happiness when they reunite, and Anakin and Padme almost immediately get going with the flirtation once again - something that Dirtswimmer sees is inappropriate, but Kenobi brushes off as unimportant. That night, there is an attempt on Amidala's life. The Jedi manage to protect the Senator and Anakin and Obi-Wan immediately set off after the would-be assassin while Dirtswimmer notices a second assassin following behind. Just as they capture the first accomplice, Dirtswimmer attacks the second - a Mandalorian. Mando and Dirtswimmer engage in a brief fight but Mando manages to knock Dirtswimmer off of him, hits the first accomplice with a poison dart, and escapes.

With this information, the trio of Jedi splits. Anakin is ordered to accompany Padme back to Naboo for her protection, Dirtswimmer is to work with Senator Palpatine to investigate who in the Senate is responsible for these attacks, and Obi-Wan is assigned to investigate the Mando alongside another Jedi Knight - Siri Tachi, with whom he clearly has history.

Padme is initially against the idea of leaving, but Palpatine manages to talk her into going for her protection and assures her that he will recall her before the vote takes place. On Naboo, Anakin and Padme get swept up in their whirlwind romance and whatnot. Owen and Beru accompany them with Owen as the pilot of their ship.

While they are doing that, Bob is pulled aside by our good 'ole boy Sheev. He is acting as Padme's advisor and is a good friend to her, and he notices that Bob is being ignored by Anakin and that when they are together with Kenobi, his opinions are often rejected in favor of the more aggressive attitudes of Kenobi and Skywalker. Slowly and insidiously, Sheephen begins to convince Dirtswimmer that he is the more powerful Force user and that his powers are not being appreciated.

Meanwhile, Obi-Kenobi and Siri are looking for Mando. As they investigate, they share some romantic tension as well. Eventually they track Mando to Kamino where they find the clone army has already been constructed on the orders of the current Supreme Chancellor. They make contact with Jango Fett, a civilian contractor who was hired to be the clone template. While talking to him they are attacked by Mando, who has come to plant bombs in the cloning facilities. Fett earns their trust by fighting Mando alongside them and disabling the bombs himself.

After the battle, Kenobi and Tachi follow Mando to Geonosis. There, they find that a massive droid army has been produced with the intent of waging war against the Republic. They are captured and separated, and Dooku appears to attempt to turn Kenobi to his side. The conversation goes about as well as it does in canon.

Dirtswimmer contacts Anakin to inform him that the Supreme Chancellor has been voted out of office because he ordered the clone army without the consent of the Senate, and Palpatine has already won the vote to take his place in a landslide. He also mentions that they have lost contact with Obi-Wan. Anakin and Dirtswimmer agree that this is bad news, so Anakin and Padme go to Geonosis to try to find them (where they get captured) while Dirtswimmer is convinced by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to talk the Jedi Council into leading the Republic’s new army in a battle against the massive droid factories that Obi-Wan reported on.

The Council reflects for a while, and someone mentions that they wish Master Yoda had not left the Order because he, being one of the greatest and most powerful Jedi Warriors, would have known what to do. Finally they refuse the advice to take the army. We get an inkling that Jedi are somewhat vain - they say things like “The Jedi order has protected the Republic for millennia, we will do so now.” Instead of taking the Clone Army, a relatively small task force of Jedi is sent instead.

The arena scene happens normally, from the gladiator fights to the Jedi being outnumbered in the middle of the arena and surrounded by SBDs. Then, suddenly, Bob shows up to save the day along with the Clone Army. He obviously rejected the Council's decision in favor of trusting Palpatine, which seems to have been the proper call.

Obi-Wan and Anakin are honestly appreciative of Dirtswimmer for the first time. While he stays behind to  coordinate the clone attack, Skywalker and Kenobi chase down Dooku. When they get to the staging area where Dooku plans to escape, Kenobi is suddenly confronted by Siri Tachi, who has taken the Sith's side. She immediately knocks Anakin to the side, then says that Dooku has already fled and tries to convince Kenobi to join her. She makes several good points about the corruption of the Republic and also saying that they would be able to be together if they left the Jedi Order in her plea and Obi-Wan is tempted, but finally refuses. Tachi gives him the “if you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy,” line and they duel, ending with Kenobi being forced to kill his lady love. It is very emotional. 

Bob and the other Jedi lead the clone army to victory.

The end of the film shows Anakin and Padme marrying in a private ceremony, Kenobi mourning Tachi, and Dirtswimmer and Sheephen counseling each other even more.

RotS - Buckle up buttercups, we're going down the rabbit hole now.

Starts with the attack on Coruscant and the A-Team rescuing Sheephen from Dooku. When they get aboard the Invisible Hand Kenobi is distracted by Grievous, leaving Anakin and Bob to fight Dooku together. While Anakin is a good match for Dooku in terms of dueling prowess, Dirtswimmer is very clearly out of his depth. Still, when Dooku knocks Anakin back and makes a move to execute Palpatine, Dirtswimmer manages to leap forward and kill the Sith Lord instead. Anakin is clearly upset that his fellow Jedi - who isn’t nearly as skilled with a saber as he - managed to get the kill, whereas Bob is getting pretty cocky about what he managed to do.

So they land, get celebrated, blah blah blah. Anakin is starting to have nightmares but, even though this version of the Jedi Order is a lot more lax with relationships, he can’t exactly go to any of his fellow Jedi for help because his marriage is still technically a no-no (even though several Jedi like Aayla Secura and Kit Fisto are shown to have developed ‘secret’ relationships like.) As a result, he starts speaking with Palpatine since the man is a close friend of Padme’s.

So, in a few shots to show how the war is progressing we are shown that 1) the Jedi are becoming more and more aggressive in their combat styles, and 2) there is a squad of bounty hunters led by the elusive Mandalorian from the previous film that is proving very effective against Jedi. At one point we get a shot of Aayla being ambushed and killed by this squad so we know they mean business.

There are many mentions that "I wish the great warrior Master Yoda were here to lead us" but again, he does not appear.

At the same time as all this, Jango Fett is the key liaison between the clone army and the Senate. He is a GoodGuy(™) trusted by both the Jedi and the senate.

The film follows most of its plot, with the addition of Sheev influencing both Anakin and Bob at this point - Bob through his feelings of rejection by his master and fellow former padawan, Anakin through his pride and fear of losing Padme (that way we can still get some good "tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise" action in here). Obi-Wan is sent out to finish off Grievous. Instead of Anakin, Palpatine wants Bob to be planted on the Council as his liaison with the Jedi. When Obi-Wan leaves he secretly tells Anakin to keep an eye on Dirtswimmer because he’s afraid of the influence that Palpatine is exerting over him.

The Jedi Order realizes that the Chancellor is the second Sith and they send The Squad to kill him. This time, though, Sheev doesn't fight (because there's nothing wrong with a powerful force user not being able to also duel with lightsabers.) Instead, Mando and his squad are there to protect Palpatine. The Jedi immediately attack and start picking them off one-by-one, but both Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin are eventually killed.

Finally it's just Kit Fisto and Mace Windu back-to-back fighting the rest of the squad. Fisto sees a chance to kill Mando (who he has been hunting, since Mando is the one who killed his lover Secura). Kit smashes Mando against the wall and is about to murderize him when the helmet comes off and he sees that Mando is Jango Fett. In Fisto's moment of confusion, Fett manages to stab him with a vibro blade. Windu kills Fett, but Palpatine uses his Force lightning to kill Windu. A real paper-beats-rock-beats-scissors moment.

Interspersed with this duel is Kenobi's attack on Grievous. Kenobi is clearly taking out all of his negative emotions from the past few years on the cyborg, who seems to be enjoying it at first because he thinks he stands a chance. Eventually, though, it becomes clear that Grievous is outmatched. Kenobi kills him somewhat brutally. Maybe reminiscent of that CGI cutscene version of Grievous’s death.

Meanwhile, Bob arrives at Palpatine’s office just after Windu’s death and reveals that he was part of the plan all along and has become Palpatine’s new apprentice. Sheephen tells Bob to go to Mustafar to destroy the Separatist leadership (which was sent there by Grievous when Kenobi first attacked) in order to end the war.

Anakin watches this interaction from a distance. He sends a communication to Obi-Wan to warn him that Palpatine is the Sith and that Bob is going to Mustafar on his orders. Obi-Wan starts to tell Anakin to wait for his return when suddenly Palpatine gives the big "The time has come, Commander" speech, and Obi-Kenobi gets blasted out of the sky by Cody.

We get the Order 66 sequence which is largely unchanged. Owen helps Kenobi escape and together they fly away, clones everywhere are turning on and killing their Jedi leaders. Meanwhile, Anakin leaves his extremely pregnant wife on Coruscant, promising, "I'm doing this for us," and takes off after Bob.

Bob and Anakin arrive on Mustafar at the same time, where they find the Separatist leaders already massacred by their own droid armies. Anakin acts completely surprised by this, but Bob just starts laughing and says, "I thought they were my final test, but I was wrong. It’s you." He ignites his lightsaber and says, "Only one of us is leaving this place alive."

Cue massive lightsaber battle. Anakin and Bob are jumping all over crap, lava is everywhere, the whole nine. Obi and Owen arrive on the planet just in time to see both padawans fling themselves at each other over a lava river, and both of them seemingly fall in. They try to fly their ship down to rescue Anakin, since it is clear that Bob has turned to the dark side. Before they can, though, a Star Destroyer arrives in-system and they have to run away.

Obi pretty much breaks down. He has lost his master, killed his girlfriend, lost a padawan to the dark side and just watched that fallen Jedi kill his favorite padawan. Owen is also seen with tears on his face because Anakin was one of his best friends.

Kenobi and Owen meet up with Bail Organa, who has secreted Padme away to his fancy moon-based hospital where she is dying in childbirth. Kenobi (who figured out a long time ago that she and Anakin were married but didn't do anything about it) can't bring himself to tell her that Anakin is dead and instead promises that he is on his way and will be there soon. She dies with a smile on her face talking about how Ani is her hero, and Kenobi breaks down big time.

Meanwhile, Palpatine is on Mustafar and a scarred figure drags itself out of the lava river. The person is too disfigured to recognize, but Palpatine is pleased and collects them. They are then sealed into the Vader suit, and Palpatine tells them, "You have finally earned your place at my side. Rise, Darth Vader." We get the dramatic shot of the full Vader suit stepping out of the shadows, with the implication being that Bob is the one inside because he was the one who wanted to join Palps.

Organa and his wife take Leia because they have just suffered a miscarriage that no one knows about, so it will be easy to protect her as their child. Owen offers to take Luke and he and Beru return to Tatooine - the place that he most hates - in order to protect Luke from Bob and the Emperor. Though Kenobi accompanies Owen to protect Luke, there is now a level of animosity between them because they both blame Obi-Wan for Anakin's death.

The episode ends with Owen and Beru holding Luke and watching Tatooine's twin sunset.

-

So. All of that being said. The big reason why I think that the Prequels would be better for these changes is this: I want all of Star Wars to be centered around the big reveal that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker. The Phantom Menace was written with the idea that everybody already knew - I think that it would have been a lot more fun if we got three whole movies that led you to believe that Anakin Skywalker was dead and gone. That Bob Dirtswimmer was in the suit, he had killed Luke’s father, and he was the evil one. Then, “No, I am your father,” would hit so much harder. I also think it would be more fun to have Yoda missing all the way through the Prequels but built up with the expectation of him being this incredible warrior because it builds into the twist in Empire - by the time we get there, we are expecting someone incredible. Even Master Windu was talking about what a great warrior this Yoda was… the fact that he is actually just a muppet with a great understanding of the Force would feel much more impactful.

So there we go. That’s the type of Prequel trilogy I would have wanted. If you actually managed to read all of this… you have my sincerest apologies.

#star wars #star wars prequels #prequel trilogy #my thoughts #too many of my thoughts #so many thoughts

[gffa]

“The time of the Jedi is over.“ It’s painful enough that Obi-Wan can’t use the Force because people would know he was a Jedi, that he can’t even speak about the trauma of living through his people’s genocide, that he can’t even practice his own religious culture, but what’s really destroying me is that it isn’t just the Force stuff that Obi-Wan is no longer doing, it’s the Jedi philosophy of emotional regulation that comes with the Force and being a Jedi. Obi-Wan has fallen to his grief, it is consuming him, it is warping him, it’s not just that he’s turning away people like Nari, but that he’s also holding onto his pain, he’s not letting it go.  The Force is based on your emotional wellbeing, if you connect to the Force through anger and fear and pain, that is the dark side.  If you connect to it through compassion and calm and love, that is the light side.  Jedi have to accept the circumstances they find themselves in, they have to let go of their hurts, because their connection to the Force is fundamentally about that emotional wellbeing, it’s not just Jedi philosophy, it’s literally how the Force works. But Obi-Wan isn’t a Jedi anymore.  The time of the Jedi is over. So he holds onto his pain, he holds onto his hurt, he holds onto his attachment to Anakin, which is the inability to accept that life changes and you have to let go when it’s time, you cannot grasp onto something so hard that you crush it because you are afraid to live without it, that’s what attachment is.  It is everything the Jedi have trained against doing. But the time of the Jedi is over. The Jedi and their light and their teachings and their ways are gone, so he holds on because he doesn’t know how to let go of mourning Anakin and the Jedi, even when Bail Organa himself calls him desperately and pleads with him to help save Leia.  It’s not until Bail hauls his ass all the way out to Tatooine and tells him, right to his face, “Move on. Be done with it.” Those words brought me to tears, because Bail Organa isn’t just telling Obi-Wan to rescue his daughter to be a Jedi again, but telling him to let it fucking go, because that’s what Jedi do.  Protect people with your lightsaber when you can, love them and help them when you can, but when the time comes, if you can’t save them, you have to train yourself to let go. George Lucas says that’s how the Force and Star Wars and the Jedi work and I am IN PAIN because Obi-Wan truly believes that the Jedi are dead, that his old life is dead, and it’s not just swinging his lightsaber around or making people float that he’s buried in the ground, but his willingness to accept the circumstances he’s in and to move with the flow of what’s happened. The Jedi say you can’t destroy yourself in your grief--and Obi-Wan is destroying himself in his grief here, he is doing exactly everything that the Jedi warn will happen when you don’t let go.  He’s been unwilling to let go of his feelings, because he’s not a Jedi anymore. He doesn’t connect to the Force because that would mean he would need to let go of his feelings and he can’t do that. The time of the Jedi is over, he says, and we see what it’s doing to him, how it destroys him day by day.  He may not be sinking into the dark side, only because he’s not using the Force, but he is suffering all the same for it, because he has forsaken the lessons of the Jedi.  Because the time of the Jedi is over.

#obi wan kenobi #obi wan kenobi spoilers #attachment #the force #meta

[kalevalakryze]

Yhe'na Det Och'sa

Chapter 3: Bhat Yeh Mjet

Characters: Shin Hati, Ahsoka Tano, Professor Huyang Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Shin Hati, Shin Hati & Huyang, Ahsoka Tano & Huyang Notes: This Chapter will be full of snapshots as we go through the years of training. Shin is aged 7-10 around these snapshots. And DO NOT FORGET. All art credit used in this AU as of this time goes to the amazing and wonderful @somewillwin . Other lovely pieces of art can be found under out Shin Tano AU tag, and a spotify playlist collaborated on by members of Pathfinders can be found under Here!

Word Count: 4,656 AO3 Link: Here! Chapter One Chapter Two

The weeks following Shin’s recovery were introductory. Ahsoka knew the child had experience with their connection to the force, but she just… couldn’t train Shin if it was enough, if the child couldn’t control the overwhelming pull- So while Huyang instructed, Ahsoka watched, and Shin soaked up everything the ancient droid was willing to teach.

Ahsoka had expected the first days to be a fluke when Shin adapted in a flash to the schedule of a Jedi Initiate. The schedule and early wake up call had been torture for young Ahsoka and her crechémates, but each morning, just before the suns would crest whatever planet they’d found themselves resting on, Shin would be awake, dressed in the robes Huyang had made pieced together for them, and ready to learn everything about the force. 

This morning was no different, with the pitter-patter of small feet rushing out onto the wing of the parked shuttle, Ahsoka’s gaze raised from the murky darkness of her caff to find Shin tugging their cloak over their shoulders. Muscle had built smoothly once she had access to real food, and Ahsoka’s physical training regime had expanded on this, though they still held themselves like the scrawny Ibaarian kid they’d picked up months ago. 

“Good morning!” Shin chirped when she noticed Ahsoka’s gaze on her. 

Ahsoka couldn’t help the smile that fluttered onto her lips at the seemingly boundless energy of her charge. “Good morning, tazi unt,” She rose from her position against cool durasteel to ruffle her fingers through Shin’s hair. The rat tail that marked them as an initiate had grown out enough to hang over their shoulder, braided carefully each morning by deft hands that had picked up the instruction easily under the Jedi’s instruction. “Did you sleep well?”

There would be no end to the horrors a force user could face in their sleep, especially for one who had yet to master warding the darkness away, and yet, each night Shin clambered into the lone bunk in the ship and curled into Ahsoka’s arm, even her own dreams had become lighter. Shin’s head nodded quickly in confirmation, before Huyang interrupted their mornings greetings, clanking out into the quiet of early morning and bringing the two to a halt. 

“Good morning, young Shin! Ms. Tano!” His head dipped respectively as Ahsoka smiled impishly at his formalities. “Are you ready to begin, youngling?” A metal hand was reached across, of which Shin took easily and nodded her head. “Will you be joining us, Lady Tano?” 

Ahsoka’s eyes flickered to the horizon, catching the early gold beginning to seep into the dark vastness of night, casting long shadows across the ground as the world around them itched to stir. “I think I will, today. Thank you, Huyang,” 

She didn’t need eyes to see the way Shin beamed at her, it shined through the force, brighter than most things her short-term memory could recall. “But you can’t let my presence distract you, Shin,” Ahsoka’s hand rested on their shoulder as Huyang began to lead them closer to the nose of the ship. 

“I won’t! Promise!” 

Shin and Huyang settled across from each other under the watchful gaze of the suns, and the protective Togruta. They settled into Lotus positions, Shin dropping down easily, while Huyangs’ joints creaked and groaned under old metal scraping together. When the pair was settled, The lesson began. 

“What is the Force?” The Professor questioned his young student, feeling her weight shift as nervousness ate at her from the sudden audience. “Steady yourself, youngling,”

“It’s what gives a Jedi their power, or…” Ahsoka watched the way their brows furrowed as they thought over their last few lessons on just what the force was. “It connects all living things, but some people can… touch it?” 

Golden eyes blinked towards her, Huyang was waiting for the Master to lead her apprentice. “Not quite,” Ahsoka corrected, finally stepping forward and lowering herself between Shin and Huyang, the rays of sun warming her cheeks as she settled. “The force surrounds and penetrates us, binding the galaxy together, not unlike the threads of your cloak, or the Dathomirian Bane Black Spiders weaving their webs.” Silver eyes blinked open to stare at her; she could feel the way the child studied the lines in her face, though she pretended she did not see their inquisitive gaze. “The force flows through us, not from us. We are no more influential than a leaf caught in the breeze, following the path that had been set out for it long ago.”

“What if we stray from that path?” Their brows furrowed cutely as their position shifted, bending their legs beneath them as their hands joined together in her lap to twist at the smooth skin between her fingers. 

“Every way the force blows, every path you are taken on, every decision you make, it is the will of the unified force. Your actions and the consequences that follow. There is no way to stray from your unique path.” Ahsoka’s hand raised and reached out as if she were catching the rays of the sun as it inched higher in the sky. 

There was a long moment of silence that stretched after Ahsoka’s words, though Ahsoka could hear the telltale taps of fingers pressing against the screen of the datapad Bail had given Shin for her studies. “Put the pad down, Shin.” She whispered at last. “Just, feel the force. Learn to understand it, like you have yourself,”

“But…” A pause as the child looked between Ahsoka and the faintly glowing screen of the pad. “I’ve been taking notes for that too…” It took all the composure Ahsoka had in her body to remain neutral at the admission. Of course Shin was taking notes of everything she’d been learning, it seemed to be all the child wanted to do, even when Ahsoka had to step away from her training to focus on the Rebellion. 

Oftentimes, she’d hear Shin on a holocall with Leia, and while the Princess would often go on about her daily life, Shin seemed more interested in asking questions about the older girl’s life, or to let her ramble while they wrote notes on what to ask about later. It was endearing, really, that Shin and Leia had made such fast friends, even if the younger girl could not return as much information as they may have wanted with the princess being watched by Imperial comms. 

“Huyang! Come on!” Shin called as the trio raced down a worn dirt path. The droid kept pausing to take notes on the local fauna, and Shin, not wanting to leave him behind, kept pausing to recollect the Professor. Ahsoka ground to a halt just in time to catch Shin tugging on his hand, trying to pull him from studying a strange insect he’d found lazing along bark. 

“No.” 

“Shin,” The Togruta called, smile pulling at her lips as she turned to approach. “We musn’t move through life too fast. The world has many wonders, and you may find a benefit in slowing down to connect with the unique life around you.” 

Shin huffed at this lesson, cheeks puffing out as she received a childish sigh from the small human. “Okay,” They relented at last, shifting instead to lean against Huyang’s arm and peer at the insect. Purple and blue dots against a black bodt, small red legs by the dozens moving as it crawled. 

“Try connecting with it, young Tano. You should be able to feel it in the Force.” The professor explained, not seeming to take notice of his choice in words, even as Ahsoka and Shin’s face darkened at the name. Shin beamed at him for a moment before squinting at the object of their attentions as Ahsoka came to stand behind Shin, gentle hand pressing into their shoulder affectionately, encouraging their use of the Force as they reached out. 

Shin could feel the life around her, thrumming all around in harmony. She could feel Ahsoka’s presence, bright, warm, and safe. Huyang, while stagnated in the force with his designation as a man made object, still radiated with his age and experiences, yellowed around the grayed edges of his presence, if she dipped into it, she could feel the joy and the sounds of younglings tinkering. The tree bark seemed to breath as she focused on it, inhaling carbon, exhaling oxygen, fulfilling its unique and necessary destiny in the Force. 

“Breathe,” Ahsoka whispered in their ear. Shin released the breath that they’d trapped in their lungs, shaky and slow as she followed the collective exhale of the world around them. Fine tuning these abilities was still difficult, but Shin was learning slowly to not get overwhelmed by the sheer everythingness of the life surrounding her. 

With warm reassurance, Shin was able to focus on the singular life form, tuning in to the strange feeling of life that resonated around it. “I don’t think they appreciate us gawking at them,” She whispered finally, lips twitching at the annoyance that radiated across the temporary connection. “They just want to go home…” Shin turned away from the bug to look at Ahsoka. “Can we run again now?” Itching to move, not wanting to stand still; Moving meditation was quickly becoming everyone’s favorite way of training Shin, burning off the energy that would make her impossible to settle once they were cramped back into the ship. 

Laughing, Ahsoka nodded her head. “Alright, but you can’t keep stopping for Huyang. Remember, he’s old.” This pulled a sound of indignation from the droid as his joints croaked away at the slow turn of his body, small human and large Togruta already taking off before he could give them a long winded lecture. 

Shin was bored. They’d been stuck in space, too far from the nearest comm relay to call Leia, and too closely followed by Imperial patrol to land planetside, and too tightly wound to want to do much in the way of sitting quietly. Booted feet stomped around the floor, pacing between their lessons, brushing fingers through the newly cut hair, buzzed at the sides with the braid they’d been working on for the last year hanging loosely past their shoulder.

Ahsoka sat just a few feet away, tapping at the datapad that held notes on her Fulcrum activities. “Master, when can we land?” Shin finally questioned, pausing in their relentless back and forth to peer at the contemplative Togruta. 

“When the all-clear comes,” Ahsoka answered, not missing a beat as her finger swiped across the tablet. This made them groan once more, pulling a smile to the older woman’s lips. 

Huffing, Shin stalked towards Ahsoka. When the woman didn’t move, the child made themselves room, elbowing her hands up so she could wriggle beneath warm arms, earning an amused expression as the child stretched into her lap, legs pressing into body shoulder blades, back stretching and cracking comfortably as they laid out dramatically. Once settled, Shin sucked in a harsh, long breath, before releasing an even longer, louder groan. 

“Shiiin,” Ahsoka drawled, pad resting on Shin’s stomach as her hand brushed through the curls piled on top of their head. “I need to finish this report, tazi unt, then we can find something fun to do, okay?” She promised, finger stroking across the child’s furrowed brows. 

“Fiiineeee-” Shin pitched their body to the side, rolling from Ahsoka’s lap and to the floor with a quiet ‘oomf!’ They did not look back at Ahsoka as they moped to their quarters, looking for some random trinket Leia had given them on their last visit to Alderaan.

The jar of paint was the only thing somewhat interesting, Shin had been following Leia around the upper markets, and had received it as a gift for being the Princess’s ‘guard’ for the day, though they’d winked at her when they called her security, so she could not be sure how genuine it was, but it had been an interesting process to watch be made, as the Princess chatted up the paintmaker’s daughter. 

As they plopped down onto the floor, turning the jar around in their hands, an idea struck them. The white was a familiar shade, and she had a design in mind, markings they’d traced almost every night before falling asleep, markings they’d sprayed onto the corners of crates specifically for the Rebellion…

A hesitant gaze was cast towards the closed door of their quarters, weight shifting as their fingers squeezed around cool glass. Before they could eat themselves alive overthinking it, Shin broke the seal of the jar and dug a brush from an old box of their trinkets. 

The paint was cold and wet as it streaked across their face, droplets breaking away from messy lines as they tried to fix the design in their head. It was so much easier to paint onto the crates. Their brows furrowed as they worked, which only served to further disturb a line that should have been sharp. Their lips pulled back at the messy reflection that greeted them, baring their teeth with a quiet grumble starting in the bottom of their chest. It wasn’t working! Maybe this whole idea was nerf-brained… They needed to go wash their face before Ahsoka or Huyang saw and they made a fool of themselves.

The hydraulic hiss of the doors opening sent their heart into their throat. Shin jumped almost a foot in the air, reaching out with the force to stop the jar of paint from toppling over. Ahsoka paused at the mortified look on their face, fighting the smile from her own as she took in the sight of droplets on their clothes and the durasteel floor. “What are you doing?” She questioned unpatronizingly, shoulder pressing into the cool metal of the door as she settled in.

“Nothing!” They answered too quickly, scrambling to wipe their face against the soft tunic, earning a laugh that Ahsoka hadn’t been able to bite back.

“Well. your ‘nothing’ is crooked, tazi unt, scooch over, let me help,” Ahsoka pushed her way into the room, despite the useless stammering of the ten year old on the floor. She sank down into the space beside them, knees bumping the wall as she settled in and turned to face shin. “You were close… very good,” she praised quietly, reaching to take their chin in her fingers and turn their reddening face towards the light. 

“My Master and I tried to play a joke on our clones, once,” she explained, calling with the force to pull a rag from a slightly open drawer, wiping away still wet paint as she spoke. “I put on his robes, and he tried to put on mine… he asked me to paint his face like my markings, to sell the look, and we even switched lightsabers for the day,” 

Shin was entranced in the story, beaming up at Ahsoka with wide eyes as the brush was carefully smoothed across her skin. Each line bent to the Togruta’s will, soft and calm like a tranquil river under her command. “So I sat him down and tried for hours to get it right, think I scrubbed his face raw by the time I finally got the first marking right, and his eyebrows-“ A warm laugh bubbled from the woman’s lips. “They were just so hairy-“ the brush moved smoothly over Shin’s brows, muscle memory coming back after all these years, getting each hair to follow the brush. 

“But he was so happy with the results, I remember-“ a gentle blow of cool air against their cheek dried the first strokes of the brush. “When we showed the men, everyone was screaming, I was painting for hours after, all the boys wanted their faces done…” She turned somewhat somber as the brush slowed against their cheek. 

“The last time I saw them all together, an entire company of soldiers got together and painted their helmets… I was something more, then. I wasn’t a commander anymore, but I was their vod’ika, even though I walked away without saying goodbye. They welcomed me back, even though I made mistakes.” The pad of her thumb caressed gently down Shin’s jaw as she sighed softly. “That’s what family does,”

“What does vod’ika mean again?” They questioned, leaning into the warmth of the hand at her cheek, eyes fluttering shut at the next stroke of the brush. 

“Mando’a, the language of the Mandalorians. It means little sibling.” 

Slowly, little hands reached backwards, a gentle bickering of the force brought the worn datapad from under the pillow. They knew where their Mandalorian notes were by heart now, and carefully typed it in without looking at the screen, as Ahsoka finished painting their face. “Although, your paint is a lot safer than the armor paint I used on the boys,” She recalled with a soft laugh. “Did you get this with Leia?” 

“Yeah!” The child grew excited, weight shifting as they moved to sit on their knees, forehead bonking into Ahsoka’s arm and earning her another warm laugh as she spun on the woman, intrigue in their eyes. “I got to watch them crush up all the pieces that went into changing the colors and Leia was busy because there was this girl, I don’t remember what was sexual about her, but Leia was having fun, and the paint maker let me help!”

Shifting so her back rested against the wall, Ahsoka tugged the child into her lap, small hands wrapping one around her lek, and the other fisting in the fabric of her tunic as she went into a long winded story about the different types of paint that could be made with random things around the planet. And wasn’t it neat, mom?

Ahsoka couldn’t help the infectious smile that pulled onto her lips as Shin explained her time on Alderaan; it was nice, seeing Shin get to experience just being a kid, something she was afraid of them going without when she decided that no one could keep them safe from the Imperials like Huyang and herself. 

“Here, settle up, let me see that,” Ahsoka reached to take the datapad from loose hands and urged Shin to lean back against her front. It was awkward, finagling the datapad up and not bonking their head as their head tilted in confusion. Not one to have figured out the picture function on the device yet, Shin was left with ideas on new things to explore as they found themselves reflected back at them on the screen. “Smile, tazi unt!” Beaming, Shin managed not to blink as the shutter clicked, already reaching out for the device as Ahsoka lowered it to their lap, peering over a scrawny shoulder to catch the image. She looked happier than she could remember in a long time… Kriff, the last picture she could remember looking this happy for, Cody, Wolffe, and Bly had taken her to a commanders only night out on the town, after Rex deemed her too young to hang with the five-oh-first… Maybe she’d dig through the old pad for those pictures, later, of course. 

Sweat raced down their temple, white plasma burned hot in the small face, and electronic yellowed eyes narrowed at her. “Solah!” Huyang called at last, as Shin’s saber struck entirely clear of the target he’d placed. They stumbled as he moved out of the way, thick padding of the training mat rising up to meet them as they feel. 

Silver eyes squeezed shut, blade deactivating as their fingers curled tight around the saber in frustration. “Huyang, we should call it for today,” Ahsoka spoke from the corner of the training room, eyes flickering to the small human as they forced themselves up on shaking arms. 

“She needs to be prepared if-” “I know, but there is time.” She soothed the droid, reaching to place a hand on his arm.

“I can do it!” Shin’s voice was thick and wet, biting back their frustration from the hours spent running velocities, movements that only grew sloppier the more they continued. When Ahsoka’s gaze fell on them, Shin had to fight the quiver from their lip. “Please. I know I’ll get it right this time!” 

White paint smeared across a high cheekbone; this wasn’t the first time the mat had rushed up to meet them faster than their hands could stop the descent. “Perhaps it is best for young Tano to move on to the training remotes before we try the disarming maneuvers once more.” Huyang suggested, mechanical arms falling to his sides as he peered at his student. 

“No, it’s okay, Huyang. Let’s run it again…” Shin perked up at this, though she could sense the catch coming. “But you’re taking a break right after, until after your evening meditation,” Huffing, Shin relented, switching saber hands so they could wipe sweaty palms against their tunic. 

Form one was easy, in theory, but something itched at the back of Shin’s mind; these weren’t real combat techniques, they’d read all about them in their studies, and what more, they wouldn’t be used against another lightsaber weilder, yes, these were the basics, and yes, Shin knew they needed to grasp an understanding of it before they could continue, but they’d seen what the Imperials were doing to the world, now, heard stories of dark armored men wielding tortured kyber with the intent to hurt innocent people… She just couldn’t help but feel like they weren’t doing enough. 

As Shin moved back to the center of the mat, Ahsoka stepped into their bubble, bringing their determined gaze to meet her own. “Go ahead and try Form Two, this time,” She relented, watching the way they lit up under her permission. “And remember, this is almost like our moving meditation sessions. Connect to the cosmic force, let it guide your body as you move. Do not remove yourself entirely from what is happening around you, but be mindful, the Force is flowing through you, we musn’t be stubborn boulders splitting it’s current.” A hand rested easily on her shoulder, the other moving to brush sweaty brunette bangs out of their eyes. “You’ve got this… kick that rust-bucket in the shebs.” The white saber ignited, kyber humming steadily in her palms as Huyang settled himself across the mat, cortosis lined arms extruding from his back as the low orange lights flickered to catch the trajectory of each blade strike. 

Step one, two, three. One two three. One, two, strike! The air hissed as ozone burned under the arc of plasma that raced towards his arm. In short order, Shin was spinning the blade three hundred sixty degrees at their back, bodyweight turning on their heel, and head ducking to avoid a late swing to her head. The first jab was met with the hissing slide of metal resisting intense heat and a sound of muted surprise from the Professor, who hadn’t expected his charge to have much of any experience outside of form one. Sometimes, it paid to have Leia practice playing ‘soldiers’ with her, it seemed. 

The Force buzzed at her fingertips, tingling in her bones as she went through movements. She could hear the scuttering and scraping of Huyang’s feet on the mat, slowly being pushed to the durasteel floor, but none of that mattered as they moved around his arms, slicing through his tracking devices, catching on saber-resistant metals. Any fatigue was burned off into the Force as they focused on the feeling that came with each jab and lunge, each twirl of the saber behind her back. Burning thighs were forgotten as they moved with the currents of the force, feeling it pass through her as its thousands of years of knowledge guided each move. 

The velocities felt like second nature, and Shin moved almost like a Master that had been practicing her form for a lifetime. She caught his arm high in the air when he’d moved to disarm, keeping the droid locked above before pushing out with a burst of energy. Their body turned, breeze catching their hair as their fingers flexed along Ahsoka’s curved hilt. There was a push of something unnatural, someone pushing against her- 

It was only when the disengaged emitter thunked against Huyang’s abdomen that Shin realized Ahsoka was the one pushing unnaturally against her in the force. Silver eyes blinked up at Huyang; If a droid could look startled, he certainly had. A metal hand wrapped slowly around their own, when did their hands start shaking? Would Huyang have died if Ahsoka didn’t stop them? Could droids die like this? 

Thoughts spiralling, Shin gaped up at him. “You did well, young Tano. Exceptional form, however-” “Shin,” Ahsoka cut him off, she seemed worried, about what? Shin may have had an inkling. The woman’s mouth opened and closed, once, then twice, as Huyang extracted the shoto from clammy hands, allowing the child to turn towards the Master. “I..” She needed to find the best way to word herself; Shin wasn’t wrong, but Ahsoka wasn’t trying to raise another soldier, she was trying to train Shin to be a real Jedi, a peacekeeper, like they were meant to be. “You did very good. I’m proud of you… but perhaps we should study the approved points of contact once more. A move like that… it should be reserved as a last resort. There is no honor to be found in taking a life. We must avoid it whenever possible.” 

Their weight shifted unsteadily between their feet, unsure of how to accept the praise. “But the Imperials… they’re bad, right?” Ahsoka hummed softly as she moved to Shin’s side, tucking them close against her, allowing mindless hands to wrap in the safety of her cloak for comfort. “Essentially, but no one is ever truly bad. Not really… Not always, and not forever. It is a path they walk, and oftentimes, for the larger population, they are being fed misinformation, their ignorance and fear is being twisted and manipulated, and people will do some horrible things in response to their fear, it is our duty to show them that there is something good in the galaxy, something worth fighting for. Everyone is redeemable, should they truly wish for it.”

“I understand,” They promised, allowing Ahsoka to sweep them up. The rest was much deserved, small body worn out from the exertion of the day and the intensity of giving themselves as wholly as they did to the force. As mother and daughter rested on the bench, Huyang settled himself across the pair, only speaking when he was sure Shin was asleep.

“You do understand that the Jedi Order would never allow her to continue training with her penchant for dipping into the dark side.” “Huyang… Being a Jedi like They were… It doesn’t work, not in this galaxy. Who knows what she’ll have to do to survive, when I’m not here to protect her. I can’t allow myself to be vain enough to believe… We’ve all had to make sacrifices, and decide what the Code means to us… It’s important, it’s everything I ever was, but Shin… She’s going to be more than that… I know you can feel it to.” “I am incapable of feelings, Lady Tano,” The ancient professor reminded as he set Ahsoka’s saber on the table, watching as Shin sunk further into Ahsoka’s side at the metallic clink of the saber being set back down. 

“Sure,” She rumbled, a mournful smile pulling at her lips as she settled her weight back against the bench, quietly grunting as a mostly asleep human crawled the rest of the way into her lap, finding comfort in the softness in the warrior as the two settled back in.

Huyang shook his head, circuits buzzing in what counted as a whisper of attachments as he went to fix the metal in his arms that suffered under relentless blows. 

#Shin Tano AU #Shin Hati #Ahsoka Tano #Huyang #Fanfiction #AU #ahsoka series #ahsoka

[attonposting]

I tend to think that for the most part, Atton has the Ebon Hawk's crew fooled. He's not perfect, he lets things slip, but overall he is good at playing the scruffy smuggler and the people around him don't see him as anything more than an unreliable and annoying pilot. Give credit where it's due, this guy managed to fool Kreia for the entirety of Telos, and then she cheated by using the Bash option on his brain while the Exile was stuck with Security: Impossible for a couple of planets.

Obviously those two know the truth, and Brianna had the benefit of Echani training to sniff him out, but that's not the baseline. Atton got astonishingly unlucky with his company between probationary Sith Lords and empathic black holes. I generally don't think anyone else looks at him and thinks something doesn't add up… minus one.

I really love Mira. I definitely have a thing for the scrappy irreverent ones, and Chaotic Good will always be my favorite flavor of hero-adjacent. But I'm not just playing with my favorites like a bunch of dolls (...though I also do that.) Mira outright calls Atton out on his bullshit in one of the Ebon Hawk 'btw, your crewmates hate each other' cutscenes, alongside roasting him within an inch of his life like he deserves, and even threatens that she's going to figure out what his deal is. She doesn't know what's up, and I don't think 'elite Sith assassin' or 'ex Jedi hunter' is high on her list of guesses. But she knows that something's wrong with the picture.

Part of it is that like him, Mira's very observant. Setting aside the actual Mandalorian slave childhood of working with explosives, wherein you are either alert or very dead... it's a simple fact of life on the Shad that you either shape up or you end up under someone's boot, and one of the first lessons the Smuggler's Moon teaches you is to keep both eyes on everyone around you. She watches people – heck, casing people is explicitly her Special Unique Force Power. So when Atton accidentally shares things he shouldn't know, Mira's watching.

But she also has the dubious benefit of keeping company with bounty hunters… and as she personally notes, the profession has, in recent history, lost its way. To the current guild, there's very little difference between a bounty hunter and an assassin, and many of her competitors on Nar Shaddaa are straight-up contract killers. I know that this was meant to be part of a cut plot involving the GenoHaradan... but also consider that a decade of full galactic war just ended, and there's a lot of restless ex-soldiers filtering into every profession where being good at killing is a job requirement.

So I think she'd recognize pretty quick that while Atton plays the idiot, when there's an actual situation underway, the act chinks. He's way more competent in a fight than your standard freighter pilot should be, illegal cargo or no. He's not especially strong or anything - if you've got a stuck jar of space pickles, you go to Bao-Dur - and his accuracy is decent but she's known better shots, but that's not really it. It's the way he moves. Mira's seen it before. It's too efficient for some two-cred Exchange runner. He's got professional training, and she's pretty sure they don't teach you to snap necks like that in the Republic Navy.

All of that to say, she's pretty sure he's on their side, or at least the Exile's side... but she's always got one hand near her blaster where he's involved.

#atton rand #mira #mira the bounty hunter #kotor ii #kotor 2 #how do you tag mira... #girl get yourself a last name

[furious-blueberry0]

I have to say, I love the idea of the Clones slowly creating their own culture by interacting with their trainers on Kamino, with their Jedi Generals during the war and by just talking with the people they save from the Seppies, instead of just using the Mandalorian culture of Jango.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like when authors integrate Mando things in fanfictions or fanarts, I basically learned Mandalorian by how many fanfictions I read with it in it. 

But at the same time the idea of a Clone unique culture is more appealing, and I really wish fancreators would toy with it more, it has so many possibilities!

Imagine:

A Twi’lek trainer is in charge of a class of cadets, he is an ex-bounty hunter who can’t stand his old job anymore, not after one of his failed assignments killed his son for revenge.

And now he is here, on a secret planet, being tasked to train little perfect child soldiers, who look at him with such wide and curious eyes just like his boy. But his mind is plagued by the sight of his son’s body, and the last conversation he had with him: the meaning of the Kalikori. 

It always felt like a cruel destiny that the last thing he would talk to his son about was the Totem of his family history, where there were also his parents and his wife's deaths depicted on it.

And now his boy too.

It was on the day of his Death Anniversary that he had this conversation again, but with a different boy this time. A cadet had come to search for him, because he was late for the morning lesson, unaware that his trainer had drunk so much that he could barely stand on his feet, let alone teach. 

And it was probably because of his drunken state that he decided to just talk to this boy, identical to all the others, with no real name, that possessed nothing but the clothes on his back, his brothers and the knowledge that was taught to him, knowledge about war and nothing else.

And so he talked to him, and gave him the last lesson he would ever teach on that planet, a lesson not about war but love:

He talked about the Kalikori, about its meaning, how it works and why it is made. 

Every time he indicates a segment he talks about what it represents: his marriage, the birth of his son, his first job as a bounty hunter, the death of his parents, the death of his wife’s parents and so on… until his finger lands on the last one, his son's death. 

“It’s a way to remember your loved ones” he says, looking into the dark and curious eyes of the cadet, so so similar to his eyes.

“so that even if you’re gone, if no one who knew them is still alive, whoever will see this, they’ll know that they must have been special to someone, and that they were loved, like nothing else in this universe. It’s a testament of your love for them, eyan bou. So that they may be remembered until the stars break.”

He was never seen again.

Some say that Jango himself threw him out of the planet after discovering his drinking tendencies, some say he just leaved on his own because he missed his home.

But there is a story of an older cadet who saw him on the platform outside, standing on the limit, looking at the waves below, and the moment the cadet looked away, and then turned back to the trainer… he was nowhere to be seen. 

All his things were thrown away, including the Kalikori, and then a new trainer replaced him just a few days after, and everybody forgot about him.

But not the little cadet, he remembered his last lesson, and so he talked about it to his batchmates, and they talked about it to their friends, and by the time of the start of the war every single clone knew about it, about the testament of love, the one used to make the memory of your loved ones eternal.

After the start of the war this knowledge transformed itself into something new: in the little side pouch of every clone there was now a beaded cord, and on every bead there was a different drawing, sometimes a number, sometimes the initial of a name, or a symbol. 

No cord was ever left behind, there were multiple clones who risked their life or lost it to retrieve it, to bring on the memory of their brothers. Some symbols were familiar to them, and some were not, some were for the soldiers who died by their side, and some were for those who never got out of Kamino, clones that no one cared about and were taught to forget they ever existed, but they just couldn’t.

It was not rare to have cords full of strangers, or to attach your own cord to that of a fallen Vod, or to have more than one bead dedicated to the same clone.

And it was not rare to die surrounded by droids while clutching the cord, and not the blaster, because the presence of those fallen brothers just made them feel safer and more invincible than any weapon they could ever have.

#I JUST THINK IT WOULD BE COOL OKAY! #AND THIS IS JUST ONE RANDOM IDEA GUYS!!! THINK ABOUT THE INFINITE POSSIBILITIES THIS HAS!!! #Also “eyan bou” means “young one” in Twi'leki #I thought it was sweet and decided to include it #I may add more new ideas if I get them #If you have some pls write them!! #I'm so so curious about what others think #star wars #clone wars #clone troopers #star wars clone wars

[virtie333]

Day 7 - Life Day Damerey Celebration

Prompt: Present

Summary: Poe watches Rey teach

Warnings: None. Unless you absolutely hated school.

AO3

“Everyone has a past. Memories, both good and bad. And everyone looks ahead to the future. Some with hope, some with fear. But in order to fully be in harmony with the Force, you must learn to live in the present.”

Poe watched as Rey talked to the small group of young children. They were her students. All of them were Force sensitive to some degree, but not all of them would become Jedi. However, Rey wasn’t concerned with how many Jedi she could train, as she felt that even those with minimal awareness could benefit from her teaching. The more people that were receptive to their own natural bond with the Force the more balance there would be in the galaxy. Or so she hoped. 

“I’m going to ask you to do a few things for me, but they aren’t going to be physical things. I want you all to make yourselves as comfortable as possible. Don’t sit with your legs scrunched up underneath you if you know they’ll get sore after a while. Find a position you could fall asleep in.” She paused, then gave them a wry smile. “But don’t fall asleep!” 

The children giggled, and Poe smiled as well. She was so good with them, he thought. There wasn’t one kid here who didn’t love her. Of course, he wasn’t one to talk. He was hopelessly in love with her, too. 

“Now, I want you all to close your eyes and take a deep breath.” Poe had already done this exercise with Rey, so instead of doing as she asked, he watched the children, curious to see how they would handle this task. “Now, open your eyes and look around you. Really look. What do you see? Grass? Trees? Are the trees all the same? How are they different? Is the sun shining? Do the trees have shadows? Look at the sky. Do you see any clouds?”

Poe watched as the children looked about them, eyes wide, mouths open, expressions focused. 

“Now that you’re aware of your surroundings, it’s time to look internally. Think about something you’re grateful for.” While she spoke, Rey looked toward him, as soft smile on her lips. 

He winked at her. 

Her smile grew, but she quickly collected herself and looked back at her students. “After you find something to be thankful for, I want you to think about something in your life that didn’t go the way you wanted it to. Did you not get desert the other night, or get to stay up late? That book or toy you wanted, the one you didn’t get. Do you feel that tension rising up inside you? That resentment? Push it away. Be as grateful for what you don’t have as you are for what you do have. Learn to let go of how you think things should be and accept them for what they are. You cannot control everything that happens around you, no matter how powerful you are in the Force. Sometimes life is going to be different than how you want it to be, and you need to accept that.”

Poe nodded to himself. It was a hard lesson to learn, but in order to create wise, selfless, and compassionate Jedi, these children needed to learn early how to focus on the now, not the ‘what ifs.’ He himself was still learning how to do this.

Rey was silent for a while, letting her students think about what she had said. Though he couldn’t feel their emotions, he knew she could, and her relaxed expression told him she was sensing good things from these kids. 

“Congratulations,” she said softly to her class. “You all just learned how to meditate.” 

A few of the children smiled and glanced at each other. A couple of the younger ones looked at her with astonishment, as if they had just won a prize. 

“Now, I want you all to do what we just did every day. You can either find a friend and do it together, or you can find a quiet place by yourself and do it alone. But I want you to spend a minimum of ten minutes every day meditating. Longer, if you can. And I think you will want to do it longer the more you do it.” She stood from where she was sitting on the ground. “And I want you all to practice mindfulness all the time. Remind each other, if you have to. Focus on everything you do and try not to multitask. One thing at a time. There is no rush here. And if ever you are having trouble focusing or have any questions, please come talk to me or Finn.”

She gave them another smile. “That’s it for today. Go have lunch and take the rest of the afternoon for yourselves.”

A happy gasp emanated from the kids. Most had come from strict school settings, so having an afternoon off was a treat, even when they enjoyed their current classwork. School was school. 

What the children didn’t know was that they were getting the rest if the day off because it was their teacher’s wedding anniversary.

As the children scattered, heading off toward the mess or to the residential area where their families or guardians lived, Rey walked toward him. 

“So, General,” she said, her voice now far removed from the tone she used with the children. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

Poe opened his arms and she stepped right into them, bringing her own arms up around his neck. 

“I have very special plans, Master Jedi,” he told her, his own voice low and husky. “Plans where I fully intend to live in the present and focus on one thing at a time.” He brought his lips to hers. “No rushing,” he whispered. 

“I’m glad to see you’re so mindful,” she breathed in return. 

“I had an excellent teacher.” 

#fanfiction #damerey #jedipilot #poe x rey #life day #jedi master #jedi students #fluff