#there are other others like kanan etc but i wanted to focus on these few rn

[merrysithmas]

Force Ghosts as Enlightened beings, each representing a Theme

This meta presents a theory that all characters who become Force Ghosts were reincarnated souls close to nirvana that needed to master one final lesson before becoming eternal in the Force.

Once they do, they are allowed to become Force Ghosts, serving as bodhisattva-like entities for the Galaxy. I propose Jedi (or force-sensitives) are these particular reincarnated souls close to nirvana. This explains their "powers" in the SW universe. Importantly, only a few of even the Jedi are close enough to nirvana to reach Enlightenment - thus becoming Force Ghosts.

A bodhisattva is a person or entity who can reach nirvana but they basically stay behind to help assuage the suffering of others. As a follower of buddhism, I have always sort of assigned the Force Ghosts this role in Star Wars because even out of the Jedi they are special. This is only my personal interpretation and application of the concepts mishmashed with Star Wars. To me, each of them represents a Master over a different version of Suffering.

In their latest incarnations (aka the Jedi characters we know them by) they are tasked with trials and tribulations by the Force that are intended to be insurmountable, these tasks are intended to test them to see if are ready to leap over that final hurdle towards Enlightenment so they can act as guides to humanity (bodhisattva-like entities or Force Ghosts).

They are already all good people- but to reach this final stage requires immense inner balance and understanding of the true Way (as reflected by the Eight-Fold Path). The EFP is a buddhist guidance system which does not rely on concepts of "good" or "evil" but rather personal integrity and things like "right effort", "right intention" which can include taking actions or POVs which may be seen as morally ambiguious to others. This guidance system is used to prevent "the painful cycle of rebirth" and free oneself from, essentially, physical/psychological/spiritual deja vu.

Obi-wan: Forgiveness

Obi-wan begins his journey as a Jedi as an uppity, arrogant young man. He is portrayed in TPM as rule-follower with an intense dislike of deviation from "the books" so to speak, and is baffled by his Master's lackadaisical adherence to the Code. He finds it difficult to bend tradition and holds himself to very high standards of his own design.

He meets Anakin who is his litmus test, his foil, and his eventual partner. It has been said many times that Anakin taught Obi-wan adventure, energy, freedom, flexibility. His other half. The one person he finds purpose with and literally cannot live without. So what does the Force serve him? Betrayal. He is betrayed by Anakin. His rock. His defining partner. The person by whom he defines himself.

Not only has Anakin failed, but ergo he himself failed. An insurmountable grief it takes him years to come to terms with.

How does one learn forgiveness? To find detachment from the need to hold onto grief? To anger? To sorrow? To define oneself by loss as much as by love?

To free those who need forgiveness (ourselves or others), one must free oneself from judgement - judgement of ourselves and others. This judgement comes from a desire for control. This is Obi-wan's journey.

And each time Obi-wan succeeds - he forgives Maul for the murder of Qui-gon and Satine, and helps him die with compassion. He understands Maul's pain, even if his actions were painful. He knows it truly has nothing to do with him. Experiencing emotional pain is different from mentally centering oneself as the target of suffering.

He has an extremely important conversation with Maul here. As Maul is dying he asks Kenobi, "Is he the Chosen One?" to which Obi-wan replies, he is. Maul, with relief, dies in his arms with the last words, "He will avenge us all."

This exchange is extremely important! Not only does Obi-wan make the step to forgive Maul, but through that effort he gains more understanding of Anakin and Vader (his biggest hurdle!). He gets closer to overcoming his greatest challenge.

Along the way he forgives Padme for lying to him about her marriage to Anakin and raises her children. He forgives himself for the blame he carries for Qui-gon's death and Anakin's fall. He forgives Anakin.

Until finally, most importantly, he forgives Vader by realizing there is still light in him, too. That Vader suffered and is a Being of suffering, made of suffering, making others suffer.

He has compassion for Vader! Because one only suffers if they have goodness in them, if they are in moral conflict with themselves. And so he understands Anakin has always been there in Vader. He is not lost and never has been.

This is why he smiles when he dies. He knows neither of them are lost. The circle is now complete. He reaches Enlightenment.

This is how Obi-wan becomes a master of Forgiveness.

Anakin: Balance

Anakin of course is a demi-god and agent of the Force's will. His entire life he is torn between two ends of a spectrum. IMO if we follow Buddhist tradition in this example, the Force is the entirety of dark and light, all-encompassing, the unit, the whole. There is no nominal "good" or "evil", just well-intended deeds and unwell-intended, failures and successes, both dependent one another.

As an agent of the Force with no real "free will" Anakin is tossed back and forth between extremes and opposites his entire life, fighting desperately for an identity and freedom. The Sith or the Jedi. Obi-wan or Padme. His mother or his duties. Ahsoka or the Council. Republic or Separatists. Sage or Warrior. The Son or the Daughter. Anakin or Vader. Good or Bad. Slave or Master.

This duality tortures him until he finally accepts something most people cannot accept or comprehend about themselves (even the Sith and Jedi): he is both.

We all must balance and accept we belong to the dark and the light, to every edge of our desires, to take responsibility for ourselves - without judgement, to stop fighting, stop warring with ourselves and one another, to see we are all struggling, and to most importantly, not become slaves to our engineered suffering.

When he dies, like Obi-wan, he is smiling, because he sees his son Luke. The person who was able to finally help him see he is not a monster, torn and tortured - he is just a person, like everyone else; and he is the Force, like everyone else.

This is how Anakin becomes a master of Balance.

Luke: Failure

Luke's arc really is intriguing and my personal favorite. He is a wunderkind and Light of the galaxy. He is revered, worshipped, loved, -- he can do no wrong.

But soon, the Force begins to test him. Grogu rejects his teaching. His Jedi Academy fails. He finds himself distanced from Leia and Han. He takes on the apprentice Ben Solo and fails spectacularly to protect him from the Dark.

He considers ending Ben's life, in a mirror to Vader's slaughter of the younglings, and comes to the personal notion that the Jedi way itself is corrupt. If it wasn't, wouldn't it protect these souls? These children? Wouldn't it make him strong enough to resist that urge.

He feels the Jedi Way (or any adherence to a Way that creates duality) is what corrupted not only him, his father, his nephew, his relationships, but the whole galaxy. He is convinced the Jedi need to end and flees to isolation.

He considers himself a failure to his father, his legacy, his apprentice (Rey), his masters, Obi-wan, Ben, and the Galaxy.

Yet when he seeks to burn the sacred texts he hesitates. Yoda appears to make it clear to him. The greatest teacher failure is.

Luke the Wonderboy needed to face the fact that he was fallable man, not just Luke Skywalker: untouchable son of the Chosen One.

When he faces Ben Solo he accepts that he failed. He wants Ben to know it is okay to fail.

To fall.

And that is how he eventually saves his nephew and gains Enlightenment. The Order fell, not the Jedi way (aka "goodness"). And that's okay, because the Order was only an institution. Maybe it was wrong and corrupt.

And so from that Luke understands the Jedi Way did not fail, he did. And that's okay, even if he's Luke Skywalker.

He says "See you around, kid" because he knows with this last lesson he has finally given hope to a new generation of Force-sensitives. He knows he will not be the last Jedi.

This is how he becomes a Master of Failure.

Leia: Acceptance

We don't get to see much of Leia's life on screen but it is easy to surmise what her lesson from the Force is. Fierce, independent, fiery Leia, rebel leader Leia, who is convinced she can do or achieve anything - must learn to accept things she cannot change. Must give up control. Understand that some things are unchangeable. Some things you cannot fight.

Leia cannot know her birth parents (Obi-wan tells her only what he can). Leia cannot save Alderaan (an impossible choice). Leia cannot save her son Ben.

It doesn't matter if there is still light in Ben (she can't save him alone and must have Han). She cannot bring Luke back alone (she needs Rey to do that). She cannot save Han (he sacrifices himself). She cannot win the war (that is left to another generation).

No matter how hard she fights, she must admit to herself there is no winning, no "end" to conflict. That the conflict and need to heal it is also within herself.

Leia the fighter must finally lay down her arms. And how does she finally bring her son back to the light? Not kicking, not flailing, not burning into the night - no, she literally lays down, and rests. She finally rests, giving the last of her life to help him survive Rey's saberhit.

And that's when Ben finally hears her.

Leia dies at peace, asleep. Knowing she will never again see her son, knowing the war is not won, knowing Alderaan is not entirely avenged, knowing she cannot fight her way through the truth. Having to accept her effort was enough, even if they never outright win. That winning is not victory, but simply a resolve.

This is how she becomes a Master of Acceptance.

Qui-gon: Responsibility

With Qui-gon we go briefly to the EU here. Qui-gon was considered for the Council but rejected it on the basis that he would not align with their POVs. He was a freethinker and disliked the Council's orthodoxy and adherence to the Senate's will. This stems from his suspicion about them following Dooku's fall, which wounded him deeply.

He trains Obi-wan but is so damaged from the absence of his Master Dooku that he stays distant and unattached to Obi-wan, causing the boy to seek perfection to obtain respect from his peers. He shirks the Council and insists on training Anakin. He makes jokes of levity about "not being there to free slaves". He leaves Shmi on Tatooine.

Qui-gon avoids responsibility because he does not want to disappoint anyone as Dooku did. He does not entirely trust the Council, either. He can't stand the idea of that failure and is so, so damaged by it. And so, he never commits to anything and rejects responsibility.

So what does the Force hit him with? Maul. The first Sith in ages. And Anakin. The freaking Chosen One. The two biggest responsibilities to ever exist in their time!

He is tasked with protecting the Queen of Naboo and preventing an all-out Galactic War!

When he dies, fighting the first Sith in memory, he finally is putting his money where his mouth is. He steps up and sacrifices himself for his beliefs. He begs Obi-wan to train Anakin, knowing his importance and commiting his only padawan to that belief.

He is the one who figures out how to become a Force Ghost! He is tasked with training all the masters and sent back to rehabilitate Obi-wan in the desert - his apprentice who deserved his attention long ago. And he gives it, taking responsibility and committing to Obi-wan.

This is how he learns to be a Master of Responsibility.

Yoda: Loss

And of course, last but not least, Yoda.

In a lot of "anti Jedi"-centric meta is it pointed out Yoda had a huge part in the making of the past 900 years and thus takes a large chunk of responsibility for the path of the Jedi/Sith through the SW timeline.

The fact that Yoda has an enormous influence on the ebb and flow of the SW universe is undeniable at least. Yoda's attachment to the Jedi Order and way, to the outcome of continual balance, to the search for Force-sensitives, to teaching, to leading the Council is something the Force needed to challenge to test Yoda.

Of course we know Sidious defeats Yoda and the Order crumbles. Yoda himself admits the Jedi's attachment to the war, Senate, and rules contributed to the end of the Order as they knew it. He was blind to Sidious' plans because Sidious preyed on Yoda's weakness -- his faith in institutions. Sidious became the institution, something Yoda would never suspect. I am the Senate.

In the end, Yoda dies a hermit. At peace at last. No Order to serve, yet he gets over his shame and fear of his failure and starts again by training Luke. He warns Luke he will be scared. Just as he was to lose the Light, Goodness, and Order of the World. And that fear is sometimes the biggest challenge and roadblock of all.

He leaves Luke with one final warning, no longer a Jedi High Master but an old reclusive man living in a bog.

"There is another," Yoda says. He means Leia, of course, but symbolically he is always giving Luke pivotal life advice that he has finally come to understand after 900 years.

Whatever way you think you must go, never forget there is another.

Let it go if you must.

Fighting endlessly to keep something is sometimes much less valueable than letting it go.

And never forget that this alternate path might be worth walking.

This is how he becomes a Master of Loss.

-

Of course there are only the Force Ghosts we have seen on screen! So assumedly others may also reach Enlightenment.

#star wars #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #yoda #qui gon jinn #luke skywalker #leia organa #there are other others like kanan etc but i wanted to focus on these few rn #ahsoka and windu were also speaking to rey in tros but i dont thjnk we ever saw them as ghosts? not sure! #my buddhist witch self is pleased i finally wrote this after telling myself i would for 500 yrs

[kanansdume]

Okay, so someone asked me for the Reva joins the Ghost Crew AU how Reva might react to the Grand Inquisitor in Season 1, why I didn’t include him given that, for obvious reasons, he and Reva would probably have a lot of interesting interactions.

The answer I had to give at the time was simply that I didn’t remember his scenes very well from Season 1, I’ve only seen Rebels through once and haven’t rewatched it before now enough to be able to adequately discuss how Reva and the Grand Inquisitor might feasibly react to each other during an alternate season 1 of Rebels with Reva as part of the crew.

Well, I just finished a binge re-watch of season 1, so I’m hitting this AU up again.

Which actually ended up a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be.

Not because it’s difficult to imagine how Reva and the Grand Inquisitor might react to each other in these scenarios, but because the Grand Inquisitor is the main villain of season 1 and main villains tend to come out predominantly in plot-heavy episodes, and the plot-heavy episodes generally tended to focus primarily on Ezra and Kanan’s relationship.

And I didn’t want to take these moments away from either of them.

So either I had to just come up with reasons as to why Reva NEVER ended up really interacting with the Grand Inquisitor in any of his Rebels scenes, which seems sort-of beside the point of the entire exercise, or I had to take these scenes and make them more about REVA and Reva’s relationships with the Ghost crew and facing her past than about Kanan and Ezra and their journeys, both individually and together.

For the sake of the thought experiment, here is how I think some of the Grand Inquisitor scenes might go with Reva included.

A lot of this depends on whether Reva’s revealed her entire past to the Ghost crew by now or not. If she has, then the storyline is more straightforward. She’s facing off against an old foe that she honestly has kind-of moved on from and he keeps trying to goad her into doing something rash and impulsive and she doesn’t and generally just tends to leave a lot of the fighting to Kanan because she doesn’t have a lightsaber and he does. While she could TRY to fight the Grand Inquisitor hand-to-hand without a lightsaber, I don’t imagine it would go well for her. I believe in her, I do, but a lightsaber’s a pretty big advantage.

If she hasn’t, then you have an entire substory for Reva about having to overcome her fear of losing this new family if they end up rejecting her because of her past as an Inquisitor. She’s dealt with her anger, she’s dealt with a specific aspect of her pain in order to let go of her desire for revenge. But there’s some fears left as yet still unacknowledged, and this is one of them. But as the Grand Inquisitor becomes more of a staple in their lives, her obvious history with him becomes very difficult to ignore.

I imagine at first she could probably write it off as just... she’s force sensitive, and they DO know that much, so potentially he hunted her down for a while, maybe captured her, but she escaped from him.

But there’s some stuff she KNOWS about him, stuff she can anticipate, that just gets more and more difficult to write off with that explanation and it’s clear that there’s a little more to it than that, but Reva’s super uncomfortable with having to discuss it.

There’s a few things that are easier to change without really upending a lot. Like Leonis’ sister being disappeared by the Grand Inquisitor and Leonis stays behind to try to find her. Reva may just know where the Grand Inquisitor takes these cadets already or something, so Leonis just... doesn’t stay behind.

But there’s other aspects of season 1, like the Lothal temple, that I feel like Reva can’t even take part in yet. That entire episode is SO specific to Ezra and Kanan’s relationship, it has to be a Master and Padawan opening the Temple, both of them speak to Yoda specifically about their relationship, etc. It just doesn’t make sense for Reva to follow them to the Temple, yet. And that devastates me, but she can go in season 2 when they take Ahsoka.

And Kanan’s sacrifice. Oh man.

Kanan’s sacrifice is a big one. Because we know that it’s SUCH a big deal that Kanan sacrifices himself to the Grand Inquisitor here, it’s a major parallel to his sacrifice in the season 4 finale. It’s all about Kanan coming to terms with his own past, with running from Depa during Order 66, that he would rather be the one making the sacrifice and dying than watch his new family die in his place. He understands Depa’s sacrifice, now, but he’s also doing this because he CAN’T watch them die. If it has to be someone, it’s going to be him. By season four, he’s doing it because they all have to live for the future they’ve all been fighting for to actually exist. They have to live, not for Kanan’s sake, but for the sake of the Jedi, for the sake of the galaxy, because the Force wills it.

But, realistically, if Reva’s a member of this crew, she should be the one to stay.

If there’s an entire substory about Reva not acknowledging her past as an Inquisitor, her history with the Grand Inquisitor, it needs resolution. She needs to fight him, to let the rest of the crew live. She needs to acknowledge that, as someone who likely has the most training fighting another Force sensitive person, it should be her. She can ask for either Ezra or Kanan’s lightsaber at this point, and send Kanan off with the rest. She stays, she fights, she probably does better against the Grand Inquisitor than Kanan does in canon, not because Kanan isn’t incredible, but just because she DOES have more familiarity with him and has some extra training in this particular arena that Kanan just doesn’t. And if Kanan resists this plan, she explains. She puts it out there, “I was an Inquisitor once. I know him because he TRAINED ME. You’ll lose. There’s a chance I could beat him, now. But I need you to trust me to do it first.” She probably still gets captured because she’s outnumbered by a lot, but the Ghost crew comes to get her anyway because they don’t care who she WAS, they only care about who she IS NOW, and Reva helps face off against the Grand Inquisitor in that last battle. Kanan probably still is the one to defeat him because he deserves it and Reva no longer really needs to, he doesn’t have a hold on her anymore.

And so you see my problem. Either Reva has a really wonderful conclusion to her own arc, which eliminates the beginning of Kanan’s absolutely beautiful arc of learning to understand the true meaning behind sacrifice. Or Reva gets shunted to the background because she’s sort-of already had this arc and dealt with this particular issue offscreen before the show starts by being honest with the crew about her origins.

I either do Reva justice, or Kanan. Which is an IMPOSSIBLE choice.

#reva sevander #inquisitor reva #reva #kanan jarrus #star wars rebels #rebels #kanan #ghost crew reva au

[spacehorrors]

Who are some of Shae's friends in the order? 👀

such an interesting question which I'm going to answer in an unnecessary amount of detail <3

so the short answer is shae's friends in the order (apart from my beloved mutuals ocs ofc) gradually decline throughout the years and their best friend actually leaves for the corps which messes them up a bit.

anyway I'll focus on canon characters for like sake of brevity and sanity.

so they're a little older than ahsoka but younger than anakin.... hope that helps lmfao so!

their best friend is trilla suduri and they're really close with cere too. trilla and them grew up together and they're one of the few people shae trust to talk about how they feel about the order. they're the sort of friends who dreamed about being knights together and wanted to get postings together etc. during the war shae sort of loses touch with everyone because they feel so alone but trilla was the person they were closest too.

barriss offee is one of their friends too because in my brain kit fisto and luminara are friends and kit fisto is shae's master so they hang out from time to time! another disillusioned buddy for shae! they also sort of meet ahsoka through barriss so they know of each other but not really.

ok last of characters that aren't in their lineage is kanan! in my head they got set up as like one of those mentoring pairs like in school where an older student helps a younger one. whoever sets them up remembers shae asking twenty questions a lesson about jedi morality and is like wow! ik who they would love and hands her caleb to tutor and they're delighted. so they're friends but in more of a mentor way.

ok! so I thought I'd include these two since they're in Shae's lineage.

so there's also their lineage siblings Nahdar Vebb and Bant Eerin (don't talk to me about timelines not working this is star wars) who they're obviously chill with and who make fun of her for not being a good swimmer 🙄 they're much closer to Bant than Nahdar but Nahdar was always supportive of them being an unconventional jedi and losing him like that really upsets them.

send me some oc questions!!!

#ok i will stop there lol but thank yoooooooi #jedi shae #SUPER FUN TO TALK ABT #and i didn't mention dooku gold star for me #asks #its-captain-sir

[bedlamsbard]

(in response to this post)

This turned out really, really long, so, uh, apologies?  The short version is that the number one rule is that your legacy characters don’t undercut your main cast.

I think Rogue One and Solo pulled it off -- Solo is a weirder case because it’s a prequel story about a main character, but Rogue One’s use of Tarkin, Vader, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, etc. worked for me because from the beginning they were there to support the original characters in the film and never wavered from that.  Rogue One also benefited from knowing exactly what it was going to do and never wavering from that for an instant.

In terms of the shows, TCW is also not a straightforward case because it was using film characters as its mains and pulling from all over, but in terms of OT characters that appeared in the show, I am pretty happy with how TCW pulled off Chewbacca in Wookiee Hunt (3.22) -- puts him there, uses him well to support the main character of that particular arc (Ahsoka) and the other supporting characters (the other youngling Jedi), but it doesn’t turn into the Chewie episode. Same with Ackbar in the Mon Cala arc in S4: support, not overwhelming, doesn’t waver from the central theme of the arc.  Tarkin’s the other big one, and I’m pretty satisfied with the way he was used in TCW -- he’s always there in reference to the main characters of the arcs he appears in, and not in reference to himself, if that makes sense -- he’s there because having him there specifically makes more sense than it doesn’t.

(Honestly, I think the little philosophical lessons really helped with TCW being able to keep its focus: they have to drive straight towards that and not hesitate about it.  Every time they dropped those (I’m talking about you, Siege of Mandalore), they ran into a problem where they sort of wandered around a bit.)

Maul...I like Maul a lot.  I don’t have that much of a problem with the decision to bring him back into the timeline in TCW (at least you always knew that when George Lucas was doing something he was doing it because he enjoyed it, instead of the current case of “are you doing it for a purpose? for cheap lulz? for the aesthetic? are you setting up a sequel? are you trying to course-correct another piece of canon?”).  I do think Maul got overweighted in S7, and this is partially because they didn’t really have the space to build him up from where he ended in S5.  The Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir comic helps a little, but S7 is such a rapid switch from where he is in S5 (and you do have to assume that most viewers hadn’t read the comic) that he then pulls in too much narrative weight, and that’s because S7 was trying to do something really, really different from what the previous six seasons of TCW were trying to do.

Rebels sometimes pulls it off, sometimes does not.  Since we’re on the topic of Maul already, I am actually fine with Maul in Rebels.  I don’t actually think he was used to his full benefit because they pulled back at the last minute, but Maul in Twilight of the Apprentice? Fine with that. Same with Holocrons of Fate and Visions and Voices. (I’ve got a few other problems with Visions and Voices.)  Maul is always there in relation to the main characters of the show, not in relation to himself and not in relation to a non-Rebels character.  Did it have to be Maul (back in TotA, obvs, not the latter two)?  No, but it makes sense and it works really well thematically with all of the characters present in that episode.  Holocrons and Visions and Voices, same.

Twin Suns, on the other hand, another Maul episode, was a disaster -- beautifully made episode, everyone is in character, it should never have been made.  (I’m currently grumpy about this one specifically because I recently saw an “Ezra shouldn’t have been in Twin Suns” take.)  Yes, Maul and Obi-Wan are both interacting with Ezra, but Ezra in this ep is basically himself the McGuffin.  Neither the actual, thematic, or emotional conflict in the episode revolves around Ezra even if he’s the instigator of that final showdown.  If you can start and end an episode without the show’s main cast (and Rebels differs from TCW in that it did, very specifically, have a main character as well as a main cast), you’ve made a mistake.  Not to mention that Twin Suns takes a bunch of narrative and thematic weight that was set in TotA and earlier in S3 (such as the Maul/Kanan and Maul/Ezra parallels), and then completely ignores it in favor of a confrontation that is not going to be emotionally significant for viewers who are there for the show’s main cast.

Darth Vader mostly works in Rebels -- in S2 in isolation, not as part of the greater Rebels plot arc which is a weird hot mess of deescalating villains season by season (a whole ‘nother thing).  In Siege of Lothal he’s set up in relation to the main cast and that’s who most of his interaction is with.  Same with TotA, though I sometimes think more weight is put on the Vader/Ahsoka duel than should be there in terms of who the main cast are.  Sometimes I think it’s fine as is.  His other brief appearances are fine, since he’s mostly there just to loom and use up the fabric animation budget.

Tarkin really works in Rebels -- this is honestly Rebels’ biggest legacy character success, my gods, his introduction in Call to Action is terrifying.  Did it have to be Tarkin?  No, they could have made an OC and had the same role, but Tarkin here, in this context?  It ups the tension level a thousand percent, we see him ordering around the Imperials in the show (and the execution scene still gives me chills), and the end of Call to Action, when he’s talking to Kanan on the gunship and orders the destruction of the communications tower?  This is easily one of the most terrifying thing Rebels has ever done and to be honest, I’m not sure they ever topped it in terms of sheer presence.  Evacuating the star destroyer in Fire Across the Galaxy? Perfect parallel to ANH.

From S2-S4, Rebels really wavers back and forth on their use of legacy characters and this is true of the show as a whole from that point onwards -- when there’s a legacy character, they tend to be overweighted in terms of the episode and in terms of how much narrative space is given to them rather than to the main cast.  Not all the time (I have issues with the S4 Mandalore arc, but I think Bo-Katan was played fairly well because most of the narrative weight was still on Sabine), but a lot of the time.  The Future of the Force is really bad on this in terms of Ahsoka -- most of the episode is still focused on Kanan and Ezra, but then they’re taken off the board so she can have her dramatic fight scene.  Shroud of Darkness -- I go back and forth.  (I have other issues with Shroud.)  Leia in A Princess on Lothal -- mostly okay, but some weird moments, like using her to rally the Ghost crew into action?

Wedge in The Antilles Extraction -- fine  He’s played in relation to Sabine, his presence in the ep is thematically consistent with everything else they’re doing. Saw Gerrera in both S3 and S4 I really go back and forth on.  I think I’m mostly okay with him in terms of how he’s played in those four episodes, but I also think there are a lot of questions raised in terms of, like, his relationship to the Alliance.�� (This goes for his appearance in Jedi Fallen Order as well -- I’m fine with it, it’s not mindblowing, it was nice to see.)  Mon Mothma I go back and forth on and part of this is because I’m not entirely sure what they were doing with the Rebel Alliance -- this same thing is true for Saw Gerrera.  Especially in the back half of S3 (though it appears earlier as well), Rebels is intersecting more and more with the Rebel Alliance in the lead-up to Rogue One and ANH, but I don’t think they were really entirely sure what they wanted to do with that thematically, which is how we get these wildly varying views of the Alliance even from within it, especially in S4.  Which is part of the reason why S4 thematically is A DISASTER.  (y’all I should not have come out of S4 hating the Rebel Alliance and I still can’t tell if they did that on purpose or not?)

I’m not mentioning every legacy character in Rebels here (Cham, Hondo, Madine, C-3PO and R2-D2, Bail Organa), but mostly the ones where they pay major roles.  Rex I think Rebels mostly managed to pull off having as treating him like supporting cast and not overweighting him as character.  -- The clone trio at the beginning of S2 has them in relation to Kanan, Ezra, Kallus and the stormtroopers, etc., not just in relation to themselves.

(I have no idea how to talk about Thrawn in this context because Thrawn isn’t exactly a legacy character from the current canon, but on the other hand he’s a major EU legacy character, so he’s also just a weird god damn case in general that doesn’t really have a parallel in current canon?)

What else we got -- Star Wars Resistance; doesn’t use that many legacy characters but uses the ones it has pretty sparingly.  Poe is always there in relation to Kaz, Leia has a very brief appearance, Phasma and Hux are mostly there because it makes sense for them to be there, same with Kylo Ren.  Resistance has its issues (both thematically and with pacing) but this is not one of them).

Jedi Fallen Order -- Saw was fine; Vader wasn’t overweighted once he showed up.  Battlefront II had its legacy characters almost entirely in context of Iden and Del; they weren’t there just to be there.  (And not being a gamer I’m not one hundred percent certain how those two felt in actual playing, vs. my watching them on YT.)

(I am not terribly familiar with the current canon books and comics because I stopped reading them a while ago.)

Non-canon example from Legends: Han Solo’s appearance in the Wraith Squadron novels.

The short version of this is: if you’re going to use legacy characters, you want them to be there in relation to your main cast. It has to work thematically; they can’t undercut your mains. Their stories, no matter how important to the saga as a whole, should not overwhelm the main cast of your actual show/film/game/whatever. And they definitely should not undercut your mains.  (I think Mando did this fine with Bo-Katan, tbh.)

#bedlam watches star wars #bedlam watches tcw #bedlam watches rebels #kimothee-chalamet #bedlam replies

[followtheowls]

WIP Challenge

Rules: tell us the titles of all the WIPs you are currently working on right now and a little about them. Then tag five other writers.

Thank you, @kitepiper for the tag (sorry it’s a few days late, I wanted to do it properly)!

I’m bending the rules on this because titles cause me stress and I never come up with them until literally right before I’m about to upload something, but I can definitely describe my WIPs. I also usually always hate the titles I choose in retrospect lol

Ok so I have lots of underdeveloped and unfinished WIPs but here are the few I know I’m going to finish at some point:

A post-TotA fic that deals the crew of the Ghost processing the trauma from Malachor. It mainly focuses on Ezra, who has become selectively mute and otherwise very distinct from the crew. This fic is slightly AU in that I’m tweaking a few details of what happens on Malachor, namely Kanan isn’t blinded. Instead, he loses an arm during Maul’s attack. Most other details are the same, Ahsoka’s gone, Maul escapes, etc..

An A to Z ficlet series that I hope to do and not give up on. Not entirely sure what it will look like, but just writing short drabbles about the crew together/that take place within the swr universe. This one’s not meant to be too serious, just an outlet to allow me to share some smaller ideas that won’t necessarily be good for a fic. I’m probably going to upload the first chapter either tonight or tomorrow depending on how I feel. (I kinda want this to be like interactive in some way? Like maybe could be fun to do with others and see where they take it? But it is also kinda a big project lol)

A cute family fic of our favorite space family exploring Lothal’s capitol city with Ezra as the local guide. It begins with a conflict between Ezra and Sabine after she misspeaks about a Lothalian cultural practice. After deciding the crew has spent far too much time on Lothal only to know so little about it, Ezra takes on the responsibility of educating the crew on Lothali indigenous culture. (This one is probably going to take awhile because it involves a fair amount of detail in creating/orchestrating the background of the culture. I might break it up into a mini series idk).

I have a series that I’ve already started to develop a few scenes and dialogue for about Ezra and his various trips to the medical wing. Contrary to how this sounds, I’m hoping this series to be a little more lighthearted, and leaning towards humorous than most of my other work. I already have a cute fic about Ezra being adorable with Kanan and Hera while super loopy on anesthesia.

Now the unfinished, but published WIPs:

 In the Arms of Another - This is my unfinished fic about Ezra’s grief for his parents directly following the end of A Princess on Lothal. It depicts Ezra’s inner turmoil between wanting a shoulder to cry on and to seek comfort from his new family, while also feeling sentiments of guilt over his attachment to his new family. Basically, Ezra has no idea what to do with himself or his grief and isn’t coping well. So far it’s been all hurt and no comfort, but I’m hoping to end it on a softer note. (I started this fic a while ago, I haven’t been feeling super motivated to finish it because it’s so heavy and deals with parental death, panic attacks, anxiety, etc.. My dad was incredibly ill recently and it really discouraged me from wanting to think/write about those kinds of themes. He, thankfully, is on the mend and doing better! So I’m hoping I will feel inspired to return to this soon.)

A True Measure of Intelligence - This is my other unfinished fic which I am hoping to finish in the near future! It dives into Ezra’s lack of access to education due to losing his home and family and becoming homeless at a young age. It focuses his insecurities within the Rebellion and even the Ghost. I’ve written most of the final chapter, I just need to edit it which is hard for me to focus on myself.

Eeek looking back that’s a lot, and I also have a few prompts in my asks that I have to get around to writing. Hopefully I follow through with at least 50% of this (I find that my ADHD makes it hard for me to follow through with projects that are purely creative, so maybe posting this will help me hold myself accountable?).

- Mia

#swr #swr fanfic #wip challenge #mia's adventures in writing #mia attempts to write

[luminousbeansarewe]

4, 1, and 19, if you want?

oh yeah let's goooOo

1. do you find force-users or non-force-users more interesting?

ok so, i honestly can’t answer this question directly bc what i find the most interesting is when these two interact with each other. because focusing on just Force users is... well... not that fun. it turns into OP characters slinging shit at each other 90% of the time, so if they don’t have an important relationship outside of their Force use, like Vader and Ahsoka as fallen master/big brother to defected apprentice/little sister, their Force powers become the focus and that’s only cool for like a fight scene or something. which is one drop in the ocean of what makes interesting stories or even good fight scenes! for example Vader’s fight with Ahsoka in Rebels is way more interesting than Yoda’s duel with Palpatine or Anakin’s first duel with Dooku or...

this isn’t as long as i was afraid it would be but ima throw it under a cut just for the sake of the mobile users lol

the best interaction between two Force users that focuses on the Force itself is Kanan and the Bendu, because the Bendu is so unlike every other Force user we’re aware of that finally something is interesting again. it’s no longer about good/evil or light/dark, it’s about transcending your own limitations and seeing everything for what it truly is. it’s about the real power of the Force, how it connects nature and the senses and the cycles of life and death. it’s about finding peace in yourself within that chaos that will always surround you, rather than trying to control the chaos (either by wielding it like the Sith, or by subduing it like the Jedi). it’s the objective and impersonal wisdom that can only come from radical acceptance in lieu of believing that a thing “should” or “should not” be a certain way, which is what Kanan is struggling with. i also hate how passive the Bendu is, despite also loving him a lot, but that’s a whole ‘nother essay lol

otherwise my interest comes from non-users and how they interface with users. you already addressed this re: vague and/or cultural notions of the Force (seeing users as religious zealots or practitioners of magic, etc) and how that would or, perhaps more importantly, would not influence a non-user’s life or choices politically or personally. but when mundane life comes up against those who use the Force, the friction is absolutely fascinating

the thing that irks me is that we don’t get enough of this in the canon. it might have been explored more in some of the legends (i am still wading around in the old EU, so i don’t know all the nuances yet) but what i wanna know is: why did Leia think that raising her son (kids, if you go with the old EU) and leading the New Republic was a tradeoff with being trained by Luke? would her non-Force sensitive allies and peers in the NR think her use was an asset or a threat? was Han Solo afraid of his son’s Force powers (which would be totally reasonable)? how did the parents of the kids taken by the Jedi Order actually feel about that, and what happened if they resisted? how did the fucking janitors of the Jedi Temple feel about it? if you live on an impoverished world where black market trade is the only reliable source of regular income, do you just think the Jedi are cops? we know how the Mandalorians felt about the Jedi, but they’re the only non-Force users (at least mostly, seeing as there are a few Mandos who are sensitive after all) that we know have a mostly unified and negative opinion of the Jedi mostly bc they were the only non-users who dared to stand up to them and they got fucking wiped out for it- and the Jedi had to fall back on ethically dubious means to accomplish that. so what was Satine’s opinion of having a Jedi escort before she went all uwu over Obi-Wan? what about the other species and cultures? how would they handle becoming close to (either emotionally or out of some necessity) a Force user? THESE ARE THE THINGS I WANNA KNOW

4. what headcanon will you defend to the death?

this is a struggle for me bc there are so many good ones, some of which conflict with each other but are still good so i will entertain either, and i have some of my own. i will defend someone’s right to their own headcanon even if i don’t fuck with it personally.

but i gotta say... Mace isn’t dead tho

if Maul can get cut in fucking half.... ijs

19. what’s your opinion on legends/expanded universe?

there is a lot of really awesome shit in the legends. i have no reverence for one over the other unless it’s important in the context of whatever i am writing/reading. i enjoy having two canons to pick from when i write tbh. i like that legends Thrawn is actually kind of a ruthless and feral dude, but new canon Thrawn is an antivillain (don’t get me started on the continuity problems between Rebels and the novels, that was pure lack of communication on the part of the creators and is just annoying same as the entire sequel trilogy). i think the new canon should have drawn more on some of the good stuff from legends; for example i wish Ben Solo was even remotely as cool as Jacen Solo, the character from legends that he’s very loosely based on. i think without the expanded universe stuff, Star Wars would not be what it is, and that is the most important thing about it.

plus it includes KOTOR I & II and that is obviously VERY crucial lol

#asks #star wars #thank you for asking ^_^ #i obviously am burdened with an overabundance of thoughts but it's fine

[sirloozelite]

Still answering your ask, but while you wait on my answers, you can sleep on yours. No rush with it, buddy. Ask questions: A, K & P. Have fun XD

My turn to answer! Thanks for the questions. Hope the answers are ok! XD

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Ok, so obviously I ship Kaesoka, but a lot less that some people seem to think. I don’t actually want them together in canon, because I don’t trust the writers (looking at you Filoni) to not give them a happy ending where one of them dies for ‘drama’ reasons. After the crap with Kanera (the only reason I’m ok with Kanan’s death was because Freddie Prinze Junior asked for it to happen), I can’t ship them together anymore.

Friendship wise... Skyguy and Snips before he becomes a monstrous tyrant is a good one, as well as Ahsoka and Rex, and Ahsoka and Kanan, as well as all of the Ghost crew members with each other. Those are all cool dynamics. Furthermore, through writing ‘Agent of the Chancellor’ I’ve had great fun writing the odd friendship between Anakin and Masana Tide.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Uggghhhh... god, this is both a hard one and not a hard one at the same time.

If we are talking Star Wars, then I’d like to say Ahsoka, but like 90% of her actual development is off-screen (one major flaw of Clone Wars if you ask me). We see a few key points in her life (Ryloth, her trial and self imposed exile, Mandalore and later Raada and whatnot), but those are all contained to short 20 minute stories. At times her development can be a bit sporadic. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still my favorite, and I do like how she developed, I just wish we had seen more of it as a focus rather than random episodes about Kit Fisto or stuff like that. In quite the contrast, I think the character with the best development is Ezra Bridger. Unlike Ahsoka, we follow his journey 100%, so we get to see his training and how he changes over the course of 4 seasons of Rebels in a much clearer way than we ever did with Ahsoka. Personal opinion of course. No doubt I’ve angered some fans as always. XD

Also, honorable mention for outside of Star Wars, but my favorite character development arc is still Arbiter Thel Vadam from Halo. From genocidal monster to literal Arbiter of the galaxy, his is one of the few redemption arcs that works in my opinion. :)

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

Oh boy! Not like I haven’t already done this a bazillion times by now!!! (Rebels AU, Agent AU, Galaxy-8 and the Case of the Overly Promiscuous Togruta, Failed Order 66 Clone Slaves concept)

But a new AU huh? Hmmmm.... how about.... um....

AH! I’ve got one! An AU where translators don’t exist, and everyone speaks their native language! Cue Anakin, Rex and the 501st being stuck with an Ahsoka who only speaks Togruti and doesn’t understand basic, and vice versa they don’t understand Togruti! Imagine the chaos! XD

So yeah, those are my answers. Not the best, but not the worst. Thanks for asking. If anyone else wants to send some my way feel free to! XD

#ask sirloozelite

[callioope]

theputterer replied to your post

“dear wonderful content creators of the star wars fandom, when TCW is...”

i've never watched any of the SW tv series but I am SO excited for more Order 66 content because i am just Like This I guess

OMG. i’m very tired but i had to just respond to you before going bed bc this is exciting. below the cut for SPOILERS although honestly the episodes i’m about to talk about have been out for years 

Order 66 is nuts obviously and if you’re just into that specifically, there is an a whole arc where one of the clones FIGURES IT OUT AHEAD OF TIME. the chip and everything. it’s so intense and they get SO CLOSE. 

and now, season 7 has literally hit Revenge of the Sith. In this last episode, Obi-wan told Ahsoka over the holo that he was going to confront Grievous. and there are other hints that line up certain moments in the episode with moments in ROTS. IT’S SO INTENSE. i think we’re gonna get order 66 next episode and that should be hella interesting to see how that goes down for Ahsoka and the clones she’s with. 

ALSO, Rex is in quite a few episodes of Rebels. Which, you know, is a show about a Jedi (Kanan Jarrus) training a kid (Ezra Bridger) who is strong in the Force. And YEAH, Kanan Jarrus survived Order 66. Clones killed his master. So some good stuff there.

BUT if you’re not just here for Order 66 content, if you’re In It For Angst (which why else would you watch TCW?) then you gotta check out The Clone Wars because this show. is all angst and dramatic irony. Cuz you KNOW. you KNOW it’s gonna end with Revenge of the Sith. And every episode is one step closer to that. This is the character development Anakin Skywalker deserved and NEEDED to get to the end of ROTS.

Here, enjoy this Angst Buffet:

Darth Maul lived, you wanna know how? TCW will tell you, and then it’s gonna hurt him some more

But let’s not forget Maul is plenty good at dealing out his own angst and he’s got it in for Obi-wan. Maul has a score to settle and oh does he

like Maul is a GREAT character because sometimes you kinda root for him??? like he really got dealt a bad hand and Palpy fucked him up, but also??? he’s so terrible??? [and yeah he’s in Rebels too so the Darth Drama saga continues]

“Anakin has attachment issues, let’s get him a padawan to teach him how to cope” ahahahahha what a great idea [but for the record Ahsoka Tano is the best character ever and i love her]

Obi-wan fakes his own death and doesn’t tell Anakin (or the leader of Mandalore that loves him but you know let’s focus on Anakin)

THE CLONES. like. just everything with the clones. they were bred and born and trained to fight and that has traumatic repercussions so HOW DO THEY DEAL. not well always. so. this show. is gonna introduce you to some clones. and you are going to love them. and you are going to know. to KNOW. that OP Palpy is just using them as pawns and -- and --

look the clones, they love their Jedi, alright? Like. their Jedi. lead them and save them. and they love them. and you KNOW what is coming! 

Ahsoka Tano is Framed and that whole arc will ruin you

this is a cartoon about war. and. it hurts. for everyone. 

The Mortis Arc. Anakin, Obi-wan, and Ahsoka are marooned on a rando planet that literally gives him a preview of What is Going to Happen. and then their memories get erased.

EDIT: FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT SAW and that is a Crime. But y eah. Saw Gerrera has 4-episode arc and it WILL destroy you because Steela Gerrera is a gift and filoni does not let you keep gifts

There is also a lot of good stuff, of course (some good Padme and Ahsoka bonding, Satine Kryze is also a gift etc etc) but good stuff Cannot Stay, remember that. There is also a lot of CRACK. like jabba has a son. you get to see a baby hutt. is that a thing we needed to see? no. but you do, oh you do.  also lots of crack with the droid arcs. Like 3PO and R2 are sent on a mission to pick up a cake for Padme, but R2 wants a day at the droid spa, so 3PO gets ABDUCTED AND TORTURED. Like. wut? 

anyways the point in the clone wars is fantastic and rebels is also good. Hera Syndulla is also a gift. Maul returns. Ahsoka confronts Vader. this show is also full of its own drama because FILONI GIVES YOU NICE THINGS AND THEN HE TAKES THEM AWAY.

but yes. yes you should watch the clone wars and rebels. i was skeptical of both shows before i watched them and i was Wrong. 

EDIT (BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE YES): 

if you want to watch some episodes of the clone wars but not the whole thing (bc yeah there’s some filler episodes) I have a spreadsheet that notes which episodes are worth watching based on which characters you’re interested in, would be happy to share it with you

#theputterer #liz replies #SPOILERS #this uh #this got longer than i expected #and yeah i sorta spoil things but i tried not to give too much detail? #i really like the clone wars #and season 7 is a m a z i n g #hop aboard this angst train #it is the best best best kind of angst #oh some s7 spoilers briefly in this so be warned

[shadowsong26x]

Solo reaction post!

So, I saw Solo this afternoon--generally, I liked it! It was fun, it was engaging...

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t perfect (I think, objectively, it was probably...not a great movie), but overall, especially given the production issues I know it had, it was a lot better than I was expecting?

Like--it was overall more like a string of good moments (mostly--there were a few I didn’t like) than a cohesive whole/movie. So, was it a good movie--like I said, objectively speaking, probably not. But I don’t care, I liked it a lot!

(Also, any of y’all who have seen it and/or read this without caring about spoilers, feel free to reply/reblog/interact/discuss/etc.!

More detailed review/ramble behind the cut.

So, like I said, I overall liked it, and I plan to focus on the positive. But I do want to get the stuff/moments I didn’t like out of the way first.

First--what I said above about the less-than-cohesive narrative. This made some of the pacing a little off. Some parts, especially in the beginning, did drag a little bit.

Second--and this is probably my biggest issue--I am not happy that they fridged Val. She was SO COOL and I wanted more with her and...yeah. Not...not really much else to say there other than Not Happy About That.

Third--L3′s death...kind of fell flat for me? I’m not sure why, but it felt overblown/melodramatic, rather than a moment of genuine pathos. Possibly because it was (or felt) kind of out of place, tonally, with the rest of the film. Possibly because she/her relationship with Lando needed a little more buildup for it to pay off properly.

Or possibly because I couldn’t help comparing it to K2′s death, which was just...just perfect. Can’t really top that one.

...those are the main things, I think, at least that I recall off the top of my head. Possibly there will be more after I see it again (which I definitely will)

Now! Onto the good stuff!

Lando. Just...Lando. And his closet full of capes and his smile and...basically, every time he was onscreen. Donald Glover was just perfect. Nailed it, hit it out of the park, etc.

Paul Bettany was also awesome! Such an enjoyable villain/antagonist. And his bat-dagger/brass knuckle/plasma knife things were SO COOL!

Uh. Anyway.

Pretty much anything from when they picked up Lando--the whole Kessel sequence--was awesome.

Also, that pirate girl, I loved her. I kind of wonder if there was something else in a previous draft--some more to the moment where she took her mask off? Like, when she did, and she and Beckett just stared at each other for a moment, I was half-expecting a reveal that she was his and Val’s daughter or something? Maybe that long shot was supposed to be “look a young relatively innocent girl fighting for a Good Cause” or something, but...eh, IDK.

L3 was delightful, too! And Riyo? Whatever his name was, the other member of Beckett’s original team.

Oh, I mentioned Paul Bettany’s SUPER RIDICULOUS SO EXTRA daggers, right? WELL THEY WERE COOL SO I’M DOING IT AGAIN.

Also, Han’s heart eyes when he saw Val on that battlefield.

Han’s heart eyes when he saw the FALCON!

Okay, Qi’ra--initially, I actually liked her a lot less than I was expecting to. I mean, not that I disliked her, or anything, just...she was more of a generic action movie love interest? She felt like a generic trope--the childhood sweetheart/old flame who is now working for the bad guys--rather than a real/interesting character in her own right. And, I mean, it’s an archetype I happen to like a lot, but...yeah. She did have decent chemistry with Baby Han, I’ll say that for her. Basically, I was just kind of “meh” on her. I was mostly just hoping she wouldn’t get fridged (as romantic false leads have a nasty habit of doing), rather than enjoying/being invested in her for herself. If that makes sense?

Anyway. Just--comparing that with the trailers where there’s that shot of Lando and his “hey-there” grin back to back with her Murder Walking away from the Falcon in the red cape that together were like...where’s that “cries in bisexual” gif when I need it?

(I mean, the Murder Walk in the red cape and LBR all of her super awesome 40s/50s hairstyles still appealed to my shallow bi heart A LOT).

Cough. Uh. Moving on.

Then that whole final sequence happened and it was GREAT.

Again let me mention the daggers of AWESOME I WANT THEM.

But also it was...just...just a really cool fight scene???? And then Qi’ra killing Paul Bettany with his own plasma dagger that was STUCK IN HER SWORD and...

And then. AND THEN.

Then she dumped Han. And as he’s walking out and she’s promising to follow him I’m like, “oh, honey, baby, she is not going to do that.”

There was a vague chance that she was going to die at that point--that it was a Kanan-style h/c angst drama “I’m right behind you” but I didn’t think it was going there. And sure enough it was straight-up Michael Corleone closing the door on Annie Hall which for all I’m a fan of the h/c “I’m mortally wounded and don’t want my loved one to see/worry” trope was SO MUCH BETTER.

And then she picked up Paul Bettany’s ring and took over the syndicate and suddenly I was SUPER INVESTED IN HER.

I have a Thing for anti-villains, okay. Maybe not as much of a Thing as I have for double agents/conflicted loyalties (though we did get a bit of that with her at the end, too) but still, a Thing.

And Qi’ra, Qi’ra, Mob Boss of My Heart, hit SO MANY BUTTONS, LET ME TELL YOU INTERNET.

And then she called her boss. And at first I was like “is Palpsadoodle behind this?” But the voice was wrong. But he was clearly being set up for a Reveal, but then again I thought Pirate Girl was, too, but then I vaguely remembered reading something somewhere that implied a Surprise Cameo (I’d been hoping for Hondo to get promote to a higher level of canon) but then I thought maybe it’s a Legends nod/recanonization of someone...

And then he dropped his hood and I legit clapped my hands over my mouth to keep from shrieking. I don’t even like Maul that much and yet. AND YET. (Also, he was played by both Ray Park and Sam Witwer, which pleased me! I don’t remember who voiced him in TPM but I do know they dubbed everything)

(Also, nice to know that Star Wars still doesn’t know what the hell a cohesive timeline is, lol. Although...I’m sure smarter people than me will math/meta it better, but I’m pretty sure this has to be set before he goes to Malachor, since he seems to have been in active control of Crimson Dawn for a good long while, plus Han and Qi’ra would have to be pretty young at the beginning. I’m guessing a timeframe of 10-12 BBY for the prologue? Assuming Han is ten years older than the twins, which I always thought, but one of my roommates, who generally keeps better track of this kind of thing than I do, thought he was supposed to be 35 then...Also, it can’t be any later than 3/4 BBY, because there’s that one bit in the Leia novel, which is set in 3 BBY and heavily implies that she almost meets Han three years ahead of schedule, and he already has the Falcon...eh, who cares, welcome to Star Wars where the timeline’s made up and the points don’t matter XD)

Anyway. Um. Final verdict--the ending was great, Lando was great, there were some bits that dragged/some pacing issues, some clunky bits, and it was something of a stitched-together Frankenmovie with some underdeveloped plot threads/characters, but overall I really liked it.

(Also, I really hope Qi’ra, Mob Boss of My Heart, outlives Maul and gets to run Crimson Dawn all by herself/properly some day.)

#spoilers #star wars spoilers #sw spoilers #solo spoilers

[dimensiontripperhibiki]

Hi there! :) First I want to make clear that I love your writing SO MUCH (you’re in my top3 best writers list, considering all fandoms), I love all your ships and rarepair (God bless you for the all the EliMaki, KotoMaki, NozoUmi, NozoHono, KotoNico, ecc.), and I also love when you mix Aqours x Muse ships (NozoKanan, NicoRiko, I will pray for EliDia lol). Your writing is neat and involving, whether it’s about adventure, feelings or NSFW <3 But I feel like you tend to mix up “ship moods” when you write many fanfics at the same time, and I must confess sometimes I get a bit confused…? Like, I understand HonoEli is your favorite ship (and you made me love it), but at least LIB started as NozoEli, and you were intentioned to keep the HonoEli platonic, right?  Then ok, you decided to make it HonoEli, and I can totally understand how this happened in the past timeline… But not how romantic feelings suddenly appeared also in the future timeline and spin offs? 

Continued and answered under cut….

And while you were in the middle of your HonoEli moment, it somehow influenced also the other fics you were writing at the same time. In ANITW it was supposed do be HonoUmi or HonoChika, and somhow it became HonoEli centric.  Even in Addiction, HonoEli’s friendship had too much spotlight in the last few chapters (in my opinion). Or even the latest uploaded chapter, how you moved PanaNico from LIB to ANITW.  The NicoRiko thing was interesting, why didn’t you go on with it and keep the PanaNico for LIB? It was such a sudden change, I felt like I was reading a different fic.  I wish you could stick to the original plan of the story (like you did for KotoMaki in ANITW), or at least I wish you could make the change of mind smoother (like how the ChikaRiko turned into ChiKanan makes sense and it’s very well written. Even LIB’s NicoMaki –> KotoMaki makes sense).  If you feel the urge to write a certain ship (especially HonoEli) in the next fic, you can still write one shots or deleted scenes as you used to do. You’re ofc free to write whatever you want (I would still read it and love it anyway xD), but it would be cool if, for example, you didn’t make the YouChika in LIB become a KanaYouChika. I know you love writing KanaChika after ANITW, but I would rather like you to write a oneshot about it. It would make much more sense 3rd years OT3 angst LOL, I would like it to stay that way :D But still THANK YOU for your hard work, your writing really makes my days ^^

Well first of all, thanks! I’m glad you like my writing and the rare pair ships. Honestly, I can barely even ship anyone else with Maki at this point, now that I’ve started writing KotoMaki. Hmm, yeah Let It Burn definitely started out as being NozoEli with HonoEli seemingly completely platonic but I didn’t really intend for it to be completely platonic. Like I was writing it so that F!Honoka was somewhat in denial over her feelings for Eli which was why she was so adamantly denying that she had any and why she constantly put it down to familial love etc. In the beginning chapters she would get SUPER worked up whenever anyone approached the idea of her having any romantic feelings for Eli. But it was always meant to be like that. I just kind of worked up to it rather than outright SAYING that Honoka was in love with Eli in the future. While I don’t think that LIB was in any way a spontaneous decision to go with the Honoka and Eli ship (even if it seemed to happen quickly) you are in a way right about ANITW. I didn’t start it out planning to go with Honoka and Eli but as you said, I was writing Honoka and Eli at the time so because I liked writing Honoka and Eli, the ship did change from potentially ChikaHono to Honoka and Eli. I would, however, say that in the ‘latest’ chapters of ANITW, everyone has equal focus (almost) so I don’t think I’m focusing too much on an specific ship. Even if I do focus on a particular ship between chapters, each ship or character tends to get a chapter that’s focused on them somewhat. Like Hanayo and Nico are being focused on at the moment. And Koto and Maki. Honestly, the change in the NicoRiko thing is pretty much just because my opinion when it comes to Riko changed drastically so I don’t really…write her character anymore. There’s no way I could have stuck with that. So I had to write my way out if it, in a way. So it wasn’t at all that I felt the urge to write a different ship, it was more like I didn’t feel at all comfortable writing a certain character anymore. And I still don’t, which is why at this point Riko is just BARELY a background character in A Name In The Wind. I just can’t write her to any degree (though to be fair I’m trying a little bit to include her). Not sure what I’m doing with the third years or seconds years or any combination of them in LIB (when it comes to Aqours anyway) but I would mention that the third year ship is never going to happen in that. Not that I mind it, it’s just not something I’m writing or thinking about writing. There will be angst between them but no relationship really. Ah, shoot. Just read over your question again and I want to mention also that HonoUmi was always meant to be unrequited in ANITW. My main aim by doing that really was you know, Umi angst, KotoHonoUmi friendship etc. Also I don’t really know if the HonoEli could be described as spontaneous in that either. Like there was SUDDENLY a lot of focus on it but I wouldn’t say it happened randomly. There was quite a build up to it - and in this case it really helped the storyline along by putting more pressure on Chika and causing issues in Honoka’s life. So yeah, um…sorry about the long reply. And thanks for your comment but I do hope you see where I’m coming from, especially with the NicoRiko thing. :) Edit: Also with the KananChikaYou thing, I haven’t really gone into it much in terms of Kanan being used by Mari. If I was going to go with KananChikaYou (In LIB obviously) it would be because Chika and You actually care about her, rather than use her. That’s not to say Mari doesn’t CARE about Kanan because obviously she does, that would be insanely out of character but you know, given her ability she has little choice but to use Kanan. If there’s any KananChikaYou, it’ll be built up on emotional attraction and then go to physical attraction.  Also I forgot to mention but HanaNico was planned to be honest, it just hadn’t been mentioned. Sometimes I just allude to thinks rather than stating them outright, sometimes it’s not even mentioned if it’s not relevant and the focus is elsewhere but with this there are little hints, like Nico being the only one to know about Hanayo’s smoking habit etc. There will definitely be more to show how the HanaNico relationship got to where it is now (in the form of flashbacks),