#but also partly because he DOES care about the jedi and they're still at war and if he has to leave the order he also has to leave the GAR

[antianakin]

@kine-iende

I feel like I'm kicking a hornet's nest by answering this, but what is this blog for if not controversial opinions on things.

Just as a quick disclaimer, Soft Wars is obviously a FAN WORK, so I am not trying to attack the author of this series for their chosen interpretations of things, their characterization choices, etc by stating my opinions on this. Everyone is allowed their own opinions and interpretations and tastes and I applaud this work for the well-written epic that it is and the clear impact it's had on the fandom as a whole.

TL;DR at the end under the cut.

With that out of the way, I think it does some things REALLY REALLY WELL, and some things that I like considerably less. As this reply says, it's really high quality writing with some interpretations of characters I don't personally like or agree with (I won't say they're "bad" because just because I don't like something doesn't make it bad).

Firstly, I really love the way Soft Wars chooses to portray the clones, the focus it has on them already HAVING a chosen culture before the Jedi that they've created amongst themselves, a lot of their own independence, and the strong and unique relationships between the different clone characters. Cody does not feel like he could be replaced with Fox or Ponds or Bly and be effectively the same character, for example. They also all have such unique relationships among each other and with their main Jedi counterparts which was really interesting to see. I love me a niche pairing sometimes.

I particularly love the way Fox and Ponds' relationship played out as someone who identifies as asexual and at least a little aromantic, too. I also really like the way Obi-Wan's sensitivity to touch is handled within his relationship with Cody and how respectful Cody is of that, it's one of my favorite aspects of that relationship in Soft Wars.

That being said, I'm not the BIGGEST fan of the way the Jedi are portrayed all the time. Sometimes it's really great, and I do like it! It's by no means ANTI Jedi, there is no virulent hatred aimed at the Jedi in the narrative. But it absolutely falls into the category of showcasing the Jedi as repressed and somewhat complacent and if they just were a little more Mandalorian, a little more like Anakin, they could've saved themselves from genocide and they'd just be generally happier and healthier people.

This obviously makes itself MOST known with the way the relationship between Rex and Anakin (and Obi-Wan to some degree) gets treated. Rex becomes like Anakin's replacement father-figure because Obi-Wan just didn't quite hit the mark well enough because he's too much of a Jedi and doesn't cater to Anakin's specific needs which is why Anakin falls for Palpatine's manipulations so much. Rex's blatant dislike of Obi-Wan which he BARELY keeps in check and which everybody is aware of because he blames Obi-Wan for Anakin being kind-of a selfish juvenile shithead is... certainly a take on that relationship. Rex tends to give Anakin a lot of advice that I personally see as just obvious normal Jedi philosophy and values as though it's clearly something Anakin wouldn't have learned from the Jedi already.

I'm also not a huge fan of the way Obi-Wan's relationship to Cody plays out in conjunction with the "pledge" to Cody as vod'alor. The fact that Obi-Wan DOESN'T pledge himself to Cody AS A POLITICAL LEADER somehow ends up meaning Obi-Wan doesn't love Cody enough and it's only when Obi-Wan chooses Cody OVER THE JEDI that Obi-Wan is truly... freed? Unrepressed? On his way to a happier way of living life because now he's willing to be in a more typical committed relationship and that's the only way to have a healthy relationship? Obi-Wan choosing Cody and the clones over the Jedi is also what ultimately gets Rex to decide Obi-Wan's not a TOTAL piece of shit and can be saved from his unhealthy toxic Jedi ways.

Then there's Cody apparently blaming MACE for the clones' situation within the GAR. Like I get that the clones would've believed the Jedi had ordered them and all that, but he's literally in a relationship with Obi-Wan who is ON THE COUNCIL and was the one to discover Kamino and the clones and could 1000% tell Cody the truth, and Cody is not presented as though he's kind-of dim and unintelligent or too stubborn to accept the truth, so it feels strange that Cody would hate Mace because he thinks Mace is the reason the clones are "enslaved" to the Republic or whatever. But I will mention here that Mace IS portrayed positively, Cody's dislike of Mace and his choice to blame Mace for their situation is NOT universal since we see a really lovely friendship between Mace and Ponds, so it's not like Mace is at all villainized. It just feels like a strange opinion for Cody to have, especially since it really only makes an appearance once and never gets explored again to my knowledge and Cody's blame seems to rest SOLELY on Mace, not the Jedi or the Council at large.

I don't like the way the Council gets sort-of villainized as a governing body even if its individual members are sometimes treated positively outside of it, specifically through them being pitted against Anakin in particular for no obvious reason. The Deception arc is interpreted as the Council ORDERING Obi-Wan to fake his death and then lie to Anakin about it, when it's stated really really clearly in the episode that the Council itself (or at least Yoda and probably Mace too) don't actually think lying to Anakin is the best idea but that Obi-Wan himself insisted on it for several different reasons, both strategic and personal. Obi-Wan specifically says the Council wants him to "break" Anakin, when a) it's not the Council's idea to begin with in canon, and b) that's not even what Obi-Wan's TRYING to do with this choice in canon.

This theme of pitting the Council against Anakin also comes up in a fic where Obi-Wan "allows" the Council to force Anakin to help Quinlan learn how to go undercover as a slave. It's pointed out by Cody that Quinlan is a perfectly good undercover agent and so he either shouldn't have NEEDED assistance from anyone in figuring out how to act the part or he should have other friends he could go to that could help him learn more that just... aren't Anakin (why it's a better idea to ask a different former slave for advice rather than Anakin who is a trained Jedi with access to mental health care and a lot of support just because Anakin is Anakin and so he's special does not get addressed). The implication here is that the Council just doesn't care about Anakin enough to utilize these options if it's quicker and easier to just use Anakin.

I don't like the way Ki-Adi Mundi is portrayed in Soft Wars, although I have seen a few posts on the author's page about this kind-of addressing some of the critique about the way Ki-Adi is written which... helps. Ki-Adi is apparently someone who gets a LOT of fandom hate for some reason, I assume it's a Legends thing since he's pretty minor in high canon and all of his scenes are pretty generic kindly old man stuff. Since this seems like something that's gotten discussed and brought up a bunch by other people I'm not going to dwell on it.

Soft Wars DOES undo the entire Tusken massacre because it recognizes that's something you either just undo or have to address and deal with and they went with the easier option of just saving Shmi and letting him not massacre an entire village of people down to the last child. I don't have any strong feelings on this honestly, it's clearly the only real way to pretend Anakin's not an irredeemable piece of shit by the time of the Clone Wars. Also the entire point of Soft Wars is to save everybody from death, so saving Shmi is kind-of a necessary thing to do.

You could probably also categorize Soft Wars as one of those stories that acts like if Anakin had just gotten one more lecture from someone about what attachment actually means or that the Jedi actually CAN love blah blah blah that it would've suddenly saved him from going Sith. It's not particularly accurate to how Anakin is written in canon, but it's pretty common to how people who really like Anakin and sympathize with him and relate to him like to write him as a character.

All in all, Soft Wars is exactly what it says it is. It's soft. It's soft towards Anakin, it's soft towards the clones, it's soft towards the war and the worldbuilding. It's definitely worth a read just for the way it handles the clone worldbuilding and the clear impact it has had on the way the clones have been written in fic ever since. At this point, I don't regret reading it but I also don't go back to it very often anymore and there's a reason I didn't rec Soft Wars in my Pro-Jedi Codywan rec list lol.

TL;DR: Soft Wars is not what I would consider fully Pro-Jedi but nor is it anywhere near virulently anti-Jedi and it has some really neat writing for the clones while obviously being really pro-Anakin Skywalker to the point of smoothing out most of his more uncomfortable flaws to make him a more sympathetic and likable character.

#fan fic #fic #my relationship with soft wars is that i kind-of created my own soft wars in my head to cater to my personal interpretations #rex gets thru to anakin not because the clones know better than the jedi but just because palps poisoned anakin against the jedi #and palps never saw the clones as a threat in that particular way so he never bothered poisoning anakin against THEM #so rex can say exactly the same thing as the jedi do and anakin will hear it like it's totally new information #cody's relationship with obi-wan is a LOT more respectful of his jedi values concerning commitments #so at NO POINT is obi-wan pressured into 'pledging' to cody nor does cody ever even expect it #he doesn't love obi-wan in SPITE of obi-wan being a jedi i hate that #soft wars also seems to either have the jedi reform to allow marriage or they just always had marriage and anakin didn't know #i can't recall offhand #but either way my soft wars would have no marriage #if anakin wants to stay married to padme he can damn well leave the order to do it #i also decided that anakin pledging to cody in secret ends up this major betrayal once obi-wan finds out about it #because he just BROKE HIS VOWS like it didn't MATTER #anakin keeps it a secret in part because he just doesn't want to face censure or disappointment from anyone #partly because he doesn't want to lose ahsoka and if he gets asked to leave the jedi that's obviously a consequence #but also partly because he DOES care about the jedi and they're still at war and if he has to leave the order he also has to leave the GAR #he wants to be able to be there to help protect the clones and other jedi #he doesn't want to have to abandon them #so he just keeps it a secret while fully intending to reveal it after the war is over and THEN leave #but obi-wan does find out thru Reasons and anakin faces Consequences for his actions #including losing ahsoka and probably having to leave the GAR #but he rejoins as a civilian consultant the way ahsoka does and likely via pulled strings gets assigned to a segment of the 501st or smthg #ahsoka ends up obi-wan's padawan #obi-wan and cody end up ending their relationship while all of this is going on because cody lied to him too #and obi-wan feels really upset by this but recognizes that cody is a political leader of the clones and was just doing his job #cody was protecting his people in the way he believed was best #cody was prioritizing duty over his personal relationship to obi-wan #and given that obi-wan will always prioritize duty over his personal relationships he can hardly hold this against cody

[phoenixyfriend]

God I want a time-travel fic of the variety where two characters that are like. Estranged marriage. Stuck in the past together. Reconnect as the only real touchpoint the other has to their old lives.

(I was watching the first episode of Outlander, for context.)

I kicked off with "well, obviously HanLeia from like a year before episode VII" because what says 'estranged but we still love each other' like HanLeia? I did consider like. Post-Empire Anidala but anything involving Vader turns into a war crimes discussion instead of estrangement so nah.

Next step: pick a drop point far enough back that they only have a vague idea of what's going on galactically, partly because so much of the information was scorched and burned, and also they've gotten old enough that some of the details weren't important. (The name of that bill that Palpatine got passed doesn't matter when discussing how he rose to power so much as the content, right?) This is Melida/Daan, where they both desperately want to help because dying children and also that's bb Obi-Wan but like. Absolutely none of the kids trust them.

And then my brain went "hey you know who would be fun to add? 23yo Padme who's already a Senator and seeing the Separatist crisis brewing but hasn't been targeted by Jango Fett yet." This detracts from the original intended plot but I got sucked in.

"Just tell people I'm an aunt you rarely got to see but always came home with stories about fighting pirates and liberating slaves with a smuggler and a loose sorta-Jedi, and you don't know if even a quarter of the stories are true, but it didn't matter when you were younger because all you cared about was that they were entertaining and came with souvenirs, like any eight-year-old"

Takes a lot of talking, bb!Obi and Padme are horrified by the future. (Most of the Young are just like 'okay cool let's get back to keeping US alive and you can talk about your weird Jedi things LATER')

Padme has no idea how to relate to Leia because Leia's just. A very odd person, but they're family, yes?

(Han is just like. Whelp. I do as Leia says. No, no, it doesn't get more complicated than that. She says jump and I don't even ask how high before I do it.)

Obi-Wan is almost crying because Leia is just. Taking charge and powerful and she recognizes "end the war with as few dead as possible" as a goal and she then does it with things like sabotaging weapons depots instead of hospitals and whatnot. Padme is horrified to find that all her political and academic expertise are less useful than her ability to grab a gun and Shoot Things, because she's not a General.

They get off-planet eventually, meet with the Jedi, etc.

Han gets sent off by Leia at one point to Tatooine, and she refuses to explain why to anyone until he comes back with a young lady by the name of Shmi who is just confused as fuck but Leia tells her "my father was a Skywalker, and I dreamed of where to find you because I have the Force" and Shmi is just like. Okay stranger lady. You took out my chip and offered to give me some cash and set me up wherever so I'll play along. Family, sure.

Han is probably bothering Qui-Gon because he is incredibly reminded of Future Old Ben, except Qui-Gon is somewhat younger, and looks much younger, on account of not spending twenty years on Planet That Hates You. (Han, you're almost seventy. Calm down.)

Padme thought she was a take-charge kind of gal but now she's met her future daughter and uh. Uh.

#Leia Organa #Han Solo #Padme Amidala #Obi Wan Kenobi #Time Travel #Melida Daan #Qui Gon Jinn #star wars #phoenix posts

[ciphernull]

1, 11, 14 for Alesko, Vex, and K'jet.

(thanks for the ask, bb ♥)

How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?

Alesko - Early timeline, he's stiff, restrained, militant; a mirror of his father and a perfect product of his upbringing. Self expression has been drilled out of him, locked away beneath cold unforgiving professionalism. As the events of the story chip at his veneer and eventually break him down completely, he rediscovers the ability to stand without locking his joints and becomes notedly more relaxed and assertive of his own presence. I like to think that when he's particularly comfortable, he talks with his hands quite a lot, but would still be a bit embarrassed if someone were to point that out.

Vex - Nonchalant, confident, and perhaps a little intentionally threatening. Would check his blaster mid-conversation without missing a beat, and you're not sure if it's a warning or he's just messing with your head. Leans on surfaces a lot, partly to look cool, partly because his cybernetics give him chronic pain and he won't use a goddamn cane no matter how many times Mako suggests it.

K'jet - This cat has anxiety. Terrible posture. Walks on his toes. Prefers to not be seen, if possible.

How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use?

Alesko - I adore the Agent VA, so canon voice is basically spot-on. Quiet, smooth, even tone. Imperial accent. Only gets more sarcastic with age, but stays classy about it.

Vex - Pretty close to the canon voice, though he's actually a bit older than in-game, and has some mild damage to his throat, so perhaps a little rougher/gruffer?

K'jet - Honestly unsure on this one. Definitely diverges from the VA more so than the other two, but I don't really have a good voice for him in my head yet.

What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings, or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed?

Alesko - Cares deeply about the people of the Empire, and feels that agents like himself are one of the only shields that stand between innocent citizens and the atrocities of the Sith that rule them. This commitment is the main reason he refuses to defect--he won't betray the people he aims to protect, even if it means he must cooperate with those he despises. He also strongly believes in a right to personal autonomy, after having his own forcibly wrested from him during the brainwashing arc.

Vex - As a rule, he is loyal to himself, his crew, and absolutely no one else. He refuses to be caught up in any war he doesn't make himself, but he'll bring down an army if they threaten his peace. He's not exactly reverent or spiritual, but does follow his own moral code.

K'jet - His main loyalty in life is to his twin sister, Dhejari. (belongs to @mask-fr!) We're still workshopping their backstory, but they're hardly ever seen without the other. I imagine their attachment to each other is regarded with some concern by the Jedi Order, but there's little they could do to separate them even if they tried, so instead they allow them to operate as a pair.

#oc asks #swtor #agent alesko #vex korva #k'jet

[willowworkswithwords]

ok but your bad things happen bingo made me feel things. especially the first one. so for the dvd commentary ask: That private hope was pulled out and tossed in the garbage shoot with eight simple words when he chimed in about the medical forms still sitting in an unsigned pile on his desk. “Commander, we do not have time for complaints.” Cody blinked, wishing for his helmet. “Yes sir.”

Hello Cordelia! Thank you for this ask <3<3<3

Send in a snippet/chunk of one of my fics and I'll do a DVD commentary on it!!!

Yes, chapter one was a heavy hitter for me too. That whole chapter was an exploration of reality for me. I usually like to write them when they're established and in it for the long haul, but while they're actually fighting in the war, they're in really difficult positions and that would put major strain on them in general and in their relationship.

That private hope

Cody, in particular in this relationship, though this goes for Obi-Wan on a different scale, is caught between two inextricable parts of himself. He's resolved to keep his brothers first, no ifs ands or buts, and yet this private hope is that he can have something for himself that he doesn't have to fight for. He wants something to be given to him, deep down. He doesn't complain about being a fighter, he's loyal to the Jedi, his brothers, Obi-Wan, and his identity as a warrior is very integral to him. But even warriors need to be taken care of, and Cody just wants to receive a little in his response to his give give giving

the medical forms still sitting in an unsigned pile on his desk.

“Commander, we do not have time for complaints.”

Ok so Obi-Wan. He has a huge heart. Huge. But like Cody, his own family is at the forefront of his mind and he gets a bit single-minded when that happens.

Part of who he is a jedi, as a really good example of how a Jedi should be, is that he slips up (but he doesn't act like he's perfect). He does not allow the Force to guide all things, he doesn't always invite it into his worries, and when he doesn't do that, that is when he get's single-sighted and Cody and his men, who deserve his equal attention (and he really does know this), bear the consequences.

Cody blinked, wishing for his helmet.

This is the part that really got to me because Cody trusts Obi-Wan. While he immediately thought Obi-Wan was good natured, he did not trust him immediately, he didn't let him in for the first year of the war. Partly also because what's the point? Either of them, but especially Cody himself, could catch a blaster point at any moment, have their next breathe become their last. Cody had a futilistic attitude for so long in order to deal his life that when he does let Obi-Wan in, he gives himself 100%.

The fact that he knows that Obi-Wan is worried about his own family and the fact that Obi-Wan isn't thinking about all of what Cody confessed to him, confided in him, both of those things can co-exist, but it hurts Cody. It's really hurting him, because that old 'this is futile' streak is rearing its ugly head and he feel exposed and helpless.

#Cordelia my beloved #i love talking about that prompt fill #my fic #bthb #DVD commentary #Willow talks

[antianakin]

No Order 66 AU where Anakin leaves the Order after the war ends and he and Padme end up retiring to Naboo to try to raise the twins together, but neither of them ends up feeling particularly satisfied with life on Naboo (for Anakin it just doesn't give him any purpose the way he desperately needs and for Padme it's always been this perfect rosy dream and reality doesn't measure up), so they end up leaving the twins behind a lot so they can pursue other things and are pretty absentee parents in general. They mostly end up getting raised by Padme's parents instead, and while they're perfectly good guardians for the twins and raise them kindly and love them a lot, there's always an obvious elephant in the room regarding who ISN'T there.

This causes a bit of a rift between Luke and Leia because while Luke is trying to keep the peace and give their parents the benefit of the doubt as he moves on and figures out his own life with what he DOES have, Leia is less willing to just forgive and forget.

Luke ends up becoming a pilot working for the royal palace for a while, but Leia goes into politics (something she'd entered while younger because it's what her mother did and she'd been hoping it would get Padme's attention and bring the two of them closer; it didn't work out that way at all and now Leia's sticking with it at least partly to spite Padme) as an aide for her cousin Pooja who is now Senator of Naboo.

And it's here, once she finally makes it to Coruscant and starts working in the Senate, that Leia meets Bail Organa, still working as Senator of Alderaan. The two of them click IMMEDIATELY and Bail ends up becoming Leia's mentor in politics, as well as the person who actually introduces her to the Jedi themselves. Anakin and Padme had never really bothered to do so, both because they were so rarely around, but also because they had chosen not to give Luke and Leia to the Temple and decided at that point that it would be easier to keep the twins and the Jedi separate. Bail of course has no such compunctions and even if he knew about Anakin and Padme's feelings on the matter, I imagine he'd find ways to allow Leia to accidentally bump into some of the Jedi while she was on Coruscant. If he just so happens to double book himself for lunch with both Leia and Obi-Wan, it's hardly anything malicious and they may as well all eat together!

Leia finally feels like she has a parent who gives a damn about her, someone who acts like a parent to her, the parent she's always wanted. Her grandparents had always been incredibly kind and they obviously had to do a lot of parenting, but they'd always been very strict about making sure the twins saw them as GRANDPARENTS and not their actual parents, which just make the absence of their parents that much more obvious and painful. But with Bail, she's finally got someone who doesn't care that Anakin and Padme aren't there and doesn't feel the need to create a wall between them for Anakin and Padme's sake. Bail takes her under his wing, teaches her everything she knows, allows her to explore things she'd never been allowed to explore before, connects her to even more people who can help her understand herself better than she's ever been able to before. THIS is what a parent was supposed to do for her and she knows it, THIS is what selfless love looks like from a parent and she THRIVES under it for the first time in her life.

She eventually decides not to stay on as Pooja's aide because she has no real desire to become a senator for Naboo at any point, but she IS good at politics and desperately does want to help people any way she can, so she starts up some sort of organization of her own to help people around the galaxy (and connects it to the Jedi because deep down she KNOWS she was supposed to be one of them even though that path is now closed to her). But she doesn't go back to Naboo, she doesn't make her home on her mother's home planet.

She goes to Alderaan instead. And this time, she gets to stay there for the rest of her life.

#star wars #leia organa #bail organa #bail can't adopt her officially but damn if he isn't going to do it UNOFFICIALLY #bail isn't force sensitive but he sees this girl enter the senate dome and immediately feels a connection #and he's familiar enough with the jedi now to know that he shouldn't ignore those feelings #what is it that leia's organization actually does? i have no idea #i imagine she has some level of inherited wealth through padme and the naberries she can access #as well as connections to the royal family of alderaan and everyone else she befriended at the senate #so she has the resources and connections to do basically whatever she wants to do #she gets aid where it needs to go #leia will be an organa in EVERY scenario explicitly because she will always CHOOSE to be an organa over a skywalker or a naberrie #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #padme critical #padme amidala critical #anidala critical #leia naberrie organa au