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chamerionwrites · 3 years

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Obi-Wan Kenobi or Saw Gerrera, for the character ask

Tumblr has broken my notifications (is this happening to anyone else?) so I completely missed this ask until now, oops. In exchange please enjoy these long and rambling thoughts about Saw Gerrera.

Why I like him: I mean conceptually he’s just! So great. Guerilla veteran of the Clone Wars, funded and trained by the Republic-that-became-the-Empire (and by Anakin Skywalker specifically) for that sweet dramatic irony. A tragic revolutionary who’s been fighting a desperate battle so long that it’s chipped away at his body and his soul; a story about the destructiveness of war even in a just cause. A man with fierce opinions who’s willing to throw down for them (how else does one become a revolutionary), and thus both admirable and difficult to get along with. A man who’s right about a lot of important things and whose understandable-but-not-entirely-rational paranoia makes his VERY rational and prescient investigation of the Death Star tragically easy for others to brush aside as obsession. And at bottom a man who misses his sister, and Jyn’s surrogate father who obviously loves her and did his flawed best to raise her well under the worst possible circumstances.

There’s just so many layers of character to sink your teeth into there.

Why I don’t like him: Tbqh it’s a measure of how much I enjoy the character that I still found him sympathetic and interesting after he had Bodhi tortured, because #1 in-universe, not fucking cool dude and #2 out-of-universe, I actually have very few predictable fictional squicks but torture gets under my skin in a way that has almost nothing to do with how graphically it’s portrayed, and is a pretty reliable way to flash-evaporate most of my sympathy and also to make me nope straight out of a work if it’s written poorly enough.

Much as I do enjoy the whole tragic-revolutionary thing, in practice I also have to side-eye DLF for casting the black dude in the cautionary tale about revolutionary extremism. On a balance I don’t think it’s handled terribly, but their track record is so bad that on principle it’s a bit. :/

(The Onderon arc in TCW also makes me want to headdesk repeatedly and violently, but that’s a recurring problem with the show and thus hardly the character’s fault LOL.)

Favorite Scene: It’s very blink-and-you’ll-miss-it but I adore that brief tense standoff he has with Cassian, while Jyn is kneeling shocked on the floor after Galen’s message and Jedha is starting to crumble around them.

Not to be a nerd on main but I’ve said before that one of the things I enjoy about secondary characters is the almost worldbuilding role they can play. Even in the longest novel you don’t have time to paint an exhaustively detailed portrait of everyone. But a sketch that’s sharp and confident can imply a whole person with a rich history and inner life, and merely by existing outside the center of the story that character also implies a world that exists beyond the edges of the narrative frame. Minor characters are like the shading that makes a circle drawn on two-dimensional paper look like a sphere.

Rogue One does this very well imo and this is a good example, because there’s a whole mini scene with its own conflict and resolution packed into a couple of seconds with zero dialogue, and you learn a lot a lot from it. Cassian is a very tightly-wound character but not typically a jumpy one - he’s alert to the point of hypervigilance but he’s also very focused and decisive in a crisis, and in fact he spends a lot of the movie being the guy improvising a plan in the midst of chaos and dragging everyone else along beside him by sheer force of determination. But when he barrels around that corner and lays eyes on Saw, he looks for just a second like a man who fears he’s in over his head. He takes a RAPID step backwards and scrambles for his blaster, and his body language from that moment on is that of a man looking for an exit while trying not to take his eyes off a threat. It tells you a whole lot about Saw’s reputation that Cassian - much younger, much healthier, as a rule not easily intimidated, and armed with a gun instead of a stick - so very clearly does not want to tangle with him.

And then they have this great little wordless moment of mutual misunderstanding followed by mutual recognition, because both of them instantly size each other up as a threat but then both of them simultaneously move to defend Jyn. Which in turn simultaneously clues them in that they want more or less the same thing here and turns them into wary allies (and also tells the audience several things about each of them as characters).

There’s just a lot of storytelling-to-the-square-inch there, and I love that kind of thing.

Favorite Season/Movie: Probably also RO, but since I’ve already talked about it a lot I’m going to give an honorable mention to Rebels for that one scene where Saw all but sends Mon Mothma a space howler, which tickles me both because I enjoy a little bit of complication and seriousness in my fictional politics and for slightly dark-humored popcorn-munching drama trainwreck reasons (if you take a whole bunch of stubborn and passionate people who are by definition prepared to throw down for their opinions, shove them together, and put them under decades of stress, then...yeah, it’s not entirely surprising to end up with at least one person sending another person a twenty-foot-tall hologram of his head so they can have an excruciatingly public argument. That tracks).

Favorite Line: “You can stand to see the Imperial flag reign across the galaxy?”

Favorite Outfit: I think it’s his movie outfit by default since the cartoon ones didn’t leave any particular impression on my mind; I like the details, especially the battered flag as a cape.

OTP: I’m weak for tragedy and sending someone a twenty-foot-tall hologram of your face so you can shout at each other does kind of scream “acrimonious breakup,” especially since the underlying emotion from both of them in that scene is less straightforward anger than pained and furious disappointment.

BROTP: Probably unsurprisingly, I have a lot of feelings about him as Jyn’s surrogate dad.

Headcanon: One of many reasons things started to get tense between him and the Alliance is that they reached out to various formerly Separatist-aligned guerrilla groups that went straight from fighting the Republic to fighting the Empire, and Saw (understandably, since the CIS occupied his planet) holds a grudge.

Unpopular Opinion: Occasionally I see people saying that he was right all along and 100% the wronged party in the unexplained but clearly messy political breakup between him and the Rebel Alliance. He was right about a lot of things, and the Rebellion as portrayed in RO clearly does have a wing of insufferable wafflers too timid to take real action against the Empire, and personally my assumption is that there was definitely ego and betrayal involved and nobody exactly covered themselves in glory...but also he tortured somebody right there on screen guys, idk what more you want to suggest that maybe there’s valid reason to side-eye some of his methods.

(Again, out-of-universe there’s plenty to say here about the way Hollywood likes to frame “good” vs “bad” revolutionaries, but in-universe he does some unequivocally awful things.)

A Wish: As a general rule I’m fascinated by the years immediately following ROTS when what eventually became the rebellion was just starting to organize itself, and I would read the hell out of any story set in that time period.

An Oh-God-Please-Don’t-Ever-Happen: When it was Saw’s turn to be narratively framed as the Good Revolutionary Lucasfilm already gave us scrappy resistance fighters attempting to restore the monarchy (LOL) while the Republic hires pirates to run guns to them, so frankly I think it’s mostly uphill from there.

Five words to best describe him: Unrelenting, bitter, brave, dedicated, lonely

My nickname: Idk if it’s a nickname, but I think I’ve called him Jyn’s Murder Dad a couple of times (usually by way of comparison to Cassian’s Murder Dad).

#ask box #my posts #star wars #rogue one #saw gerrera

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sage-nebula · 7 years

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I'm sure someone else will ask Alain, so let's go with his family instead! Sycamore, Meyer, Clemont, and Bonnie? (Uh, obviously not the hotness ones for the bbies, haha.)

Haha, actually, you would have been the first one to ask for Alan since I’m going in order received! Someone did end up asking for him, but yeah, you would have asked first. Either way, I’m happy to answer for the others!

And haha, don’t worry: I’m changing the “hot” ones to “aesthetic attractiveness” across the board since that makes the most sense to me (being ace and all), and also because many of the characters requested/sent in are underage, and I feel much more comfortable calling a kid/teen aesthetically pretty (like how wolves are pretty or mountains are pretty) than I feel calling them hot. So no worries there, I’m not calling Bonnie or Clemont anything even remotely close to “hot,” because that would be gross, lmao.

—Sycamore—

General Opinion:

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

Best Quality:

PAPA SYCAMORE IS THE BEST PAPA, 100/100, IT’S HIGHLY ENCOURAGED THAT HE OFFICIALLY ADOPT ALAN ASAP.

More calmly/seriously, Sycamore is protective, patient, understanding, and kind. He nurtures and encourages kids—all kids, really, but especially his kids—to grow and experience the world, to understand it at their own pace and in their own way. He’s so nurturing and wonderful and is just, all around, the best dad. ♥ (And especially the best dad for Alan, hands down, fate wanted this to happen, it wasn’t coincidence that Sycamore found Alan that day.)

Worst Quality:

HE DIDN’T GO SAVE HIS SON WHEN HE WAS SUPPOSED TO

This is delving into headcanon a bit, but I think that Sycamore—despite how much he loves the people close to him, how understanding and nurturing he can be—can sometimes be a bit … out of touch? … with deeper emotional issues, or rather … he doesn’t always think of them, he has the tendency to just think that things in his interpersonal relationships are okay until it’s specifically brought to his attention that it isn’t. This doesn’t tend to be a huge problem, but for instance, the reason why he never officially adopted Alan was simply because he figured things were fine the way they were, never thought about it, it never came up, and he never clued into the fact that this has been something that Alan has had an internal complex over since childhood (in that his being an orphan has always been something that bothered him, and he has—ever since he was five, probably even younger—had the thought that he needs to be good enough to be adopted. So with Sycamore, Alan has thought, “Okay, if I’m good enough, then he’ll want to adopt me,” and so he’s done his absolute best to be good enough … and Sycamore is just … completely unaware of this, and the thought of official adoption hasn’t crossed his mind, because in his mind Alan is already as good as his son and that’s that). So it’s not a bad quality per se, but it’s just a part of how he is, and since Alan is the type to not speak up about his feelings, things just kind of sit there until a third party intervenes.

Ship Them With:

Meyer

Brotp Them With:

ALAN (best father-son duo ♥)

Gabrielle

Lizardon (look, that little bit in XYZ036 was goddamn precious, okay, Lizardon was so happy to have Sycamore’s praise and to be pet by him!!)

Clemont and Bonnie (his future stepchildren), especially Bonnie

Diantha

Steven Stone

Fulbert >_>;;

Needs to Stay Away From:

Part of me wants to say “LYSANDRE,” but on the other hand I still wish that he had actually confronted Lysandre, that he and Lysandre could have thrown down in canon, because I wanted to see nothing more than Papa Wolf Sycamore ripping out Lysandre’s throat after the way Lysandre treated Alan, tbqh. I still need to finish both the detention center fic and Pet Project to get my fill of what canon denied me.

Other than that, though, Lysandre. Also, in terms of To Devour the Sun, Lusamine, although … well, it’s sort of a similar situation to the Lysandre situation, in all honesty, but kind of … actually … worse. You’ll see why in a couple chapters.

Misc. Thoughts:

I admit that I really was not fond of game!Sycamore, and I’m still not in all honesty, but the anime really redeemed him in my eyes and I love him a lot. Now he just needs to officially adopt his son and everything will be okay. Get on it, Sycamore!!

—Meyer—

General Opinion:

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

I’m actually pretty torn here, and I’d have to do a more indepth analysis to make a final determination. It doesn’t help—in fact, it really doesn’t help—that we saw so little of Meyer in canon.

The issue here is not so much what Meyer does, but rather, why he does it. We know that he runs around as Blaziken Mask whenever there’s danger, whenever something is threatening Lumiose City/Kalos as a whole. I feel like for most people that would slam dunk him into Gryffindor, but I disagree, because the question here is why Meyer is doing that. Is he doing it because it’s the Right Thing to do, and he therefore feels a moral obligation to step up and do the thing? Or is he doing it because he sees Lumiose City (and possibly Kalos by extension) as his community, and he feels a devotion and duty toward his community? Because while doing the Right Thing steers him toward Gryffindor, while feeling strong communal loyalty and wanting to do right by his community/those he sees as people worth protecting is Hufflepuff.

So I’d really need to spend more time thinking about this, but at the moment I could see either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff for Meyer.

Best Quality:

Definitely his willingness to protect others regardless of the danger he faces himself in the process. Regardless of his broader motivations for doing it, the fact remains that Meyer has, on multiple occasions, put both himself and Toast (his blaziken) in harm’s way in order to protect others. On most occasions these are people he personally knows and loves (e.g. Sycamore, Bonnie), but there are also instances where he has rescued someone he doesn’t know at all (e.g. Ash and Pikachu at the start of the series). Meyer wouldn’t run around as Blaziken Mask if he wasn’t willing to endanger himself protecting those who need protection, and that’s definitely an admirable quality.

Worst Quality:

While he has good reasons for it / it’s justified in his mind, the fact remains that Meyer still finds it pretty easy to keep secrets from those he’s closest to, namely with regards to the whole Blaziken Mask thing. He didn’t bat an eye about it even when he met up with his own children while in disguise, and he would have never told them had his mask not fallen off in the midst of battle. Again, he has good reasons for it, he doesn’t want them hurt if anyone decides to pick a fight with him because of his secret identity—but the ease with which he keeps secrets and lies probably does quality for a worst quality if I had to pick one.

Ship Them With:

Sycamore

Brotp Them With:

Clemont and Bonnie, his children

Alan, tbh, because I think he’d be such a good stepdad for Alan

His ex-wife, Teresa

Needs to Stay Away From:

He wears a cape as Blaziken Mask, so … jet engines? :P

Misc. Thoughts:

He’s also a really fantastic dad and I have at least one moment planned for him in To Devour the Sun that I’m really looking forward to. Also, he’s the reason in the prime timeline why Sycamore finally wisens up and talks to Alan about official adoption, and though Alan is at first unsure/a bit anxious over whether or not Meyer would want him around Clemont and/or Bonnie (because like, doesn’t Meyer distrust him after the entire Flare incident? That would be reasonable), Meyer assures him that really is not the truth and he’d be proud to have Alan as part of the family. It’s really sweet.

He’s also a great cook, just fyi.

—Clemont—

General Opinion:

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

Again, I’d want to spend a bit more time examining him, but (perhaps surprisingly?) I’m leaning toward Hufflepuff with Clemont, because while Clemont does love science and learning, it’s the reason why he loves it that matters. I think it’s less that Clemont is trying to formulate his own understanding of the Truth, less whether he’s asking if the things before him in the universe are True or Not, and more that he’s using knowledge and science to help those in his community. Clemont is a rather ardent believer in the fact that science helps people, that it improves lives, and he dedicates his experiments to doing just that. He’s not experimenting and researching because he wants to formulate a better understanding, because he wants to learn and continue to expand his knowledge, but rather specifically because there are people within his community (i.e. people he feels are worth helping/protecting) whose lives he wants to enrich. Again, I’m not 100% on this, I’d need to spend more time, but just thinking of him in a snap decision I’d lead toward Hufflepuff, particularly for how dedicated he is to his purpose.

Best Quality:

Definitely his passion, and how dorky he can get with it. Clemont is a bit awkward, and he can come across as a bit reserved in most social situations, but if you ask him about science he gets SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED and it’s completely adorable. I love it.

Worst Quality:

Clemont has a tendency to let others take charge for him, which can sometimes even lead to people taking charge of him, in the sense that they walk all over him. He created Clembot specifically so he could shirk his Gym Leader duties, but then he had trouble standing up to Clembot when he got out of control. And while things with Clembot got worked out, and while Clemont did grow as a person over time, even at the end of the series we see that he has a hard time standing up for himself and saying, “No, I’m the Gym Leader” when that kid wanted to battle with Clembot instead. He did eventually, but it was difficult for him. So Clemont’s worst quality is probably his tendency to either shirk duties and let others take the reins so he can do what he considers to be more important / preferable (because being a Gym Leader is important, but Clemont felt that his community was better benefited via his inventions instead), but also in that he can be something of a pushover at times.

Ship Them With:

Ash

Serena

That one girl he had ship tease with in the one episode where Bonnie’s marriage proposal actually kind of worked

He could be cute nerd bfs with Shouta?

Brotp Them With:

Ash

Bonnie

Shouta

Needs to Stay Away From:

Things that can make his inventions explode. :P More seriously, XEROSIC.

Misc. Thoughts:

Clemont is cute, but out of the whole family I’ve spent the least time with him mentally/emotionally, so I don’t feel as strong of a tie to him as I do to the others. I do like him, though. He’s a good boy.

—Bonnie—

General Opinion:

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

Again, I’d need to do an indepth analysis, but at the moment I lean toward Gryffindor, because aside from her obvious bravery, Bonnie tends to have a pretty firm sense of justice, seems guided by that, and is willing to step up and be brave because of that. Yes, she did care about Squishy personally, he was one of her best friends, but it’s also true that Lumiose City was being destroyed and she felt that the Right Thing to Do was to reach out to Squishy, to talk him out of what was forcing him to act so aggressively toward so many innocent people. Likewise, she reached out to Z2 for the same exact reason, befriended him for the same reason. So while I haven’t done an indepth examination of Bonnie’s character, I feel like she has far more Gryffindor qualities than she does qualities of other Houses—that her motivations are more solidly Gryffindor (and that this is what would push her to become a Top Ranger in adulthood, an international superheroine for sure).

Best Quality:

Definitely her friendliness, her optimism, and her willingness to try even when the odds seem stacked against her, or even when common sense says “no.” Bonnie is always open to meeting new people and pokémon, and is rather enthusiastic about it; she keeps a positive, upbeat attitude in most situations and she’s always willing to give any new situation her all. Sure, some of that might be youthful naivete, but I think that this is a type of confidence that would stick with her even into adulthood. I think it’s a great strength.

Worst Quality:

On the other hand, sometimes Bonnie can be a bit too enthusiastic or innocently ignorant of dangerous situations, usually as it pertains to getting too up close and personal with pokémon that she’s not familiar with (or chasing them around when they try to flee from her—tone down the Elmyra tendencies, Bonnie), or when it comes to actually dangerous things that she’s not equipped to deal with. Bonnie has a sort of “leap before you look” approach to life at times, which could certainly get her in over her head in the future if she’s not careful. (Also, she really doesn’t need to find a wife for her brother, and in so doing she pretty much ignores how uncomfortable/embarrassed this makes him. Bonnie, stop that.)

Ship Them With:

No one, she’s a baby. That said, I think it’d be cute to see her and Max (who is about her age, and was May’s little brother / one of Ash’s companions in AG) interact, but that’s not necessarily shippy.

Brotp Them With:

SQUISHY

Clemont

ALAN, because for some reason this big brother, little sister combo is even cuter to me than Bonnie with her biological brother

Serena

Manon

Ash

Needs to Stay Away From:

Well, it’s not really relevant in canon, but in To Devour the Sun, staying far, far away from Lusamine would be a really good idea.

Misc. Thoughts:

She’s going to enroll in the Ranger School shortly after getting her Trainer License, and by the time she’s in her late teens / early adulthood she’s going to be an accomplished Top Ranger, mark my words. It’s literally the perfect career for her, seriously, in just about every single way.

#send me a character meme #ryttu3k

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