Technically these thoughts were inspired by @battlekilt's response to this post I just needed a space to luxuriate in the sauce of my own thoughts lol.
Generally, there are two points to my stream of thoughts here:
One, the personal element of Rex knowing about Anakin and Padme’s marriage.
Two, the professional element of Rex knowing about Anakin and Padme’s marriage.
I’ll first get into the weeds of point one:
By and large, Star Wars canon does not go into overt detail on exactly how it was that Rex found out about Anakin's marriage; how this occurred tends to be a matter of conjecture more often than not—usually pitted down to a matter of accident. Either comically or more seriously. I don't bring this up to disparage this take. I, in fact, held to it myself upon my first watch of TCW! But I've since reevaluated that position and have come to a completely different conclusion altogether:
Anakin told Rex intentionally.
My reasoning for this is down to a number of things, particularly due to the series of TCW novels that were written to tie into the first few seasons of TCW. The one I am primarily discussing here is Star Wars: No Prisoners, and shoving aside any other opinions that I have on this book, it holds some specific moments from Anakin about Rex that really validated the change in thought process I had the more I analyzed Anakin and Rex’s relationship.
Generally, I had before assumed it was a matter of accident (in past scenarios, I most often thought of the confession coming about from a moment where the prospect of survival was not the most cheery of outlooks); the reason as to why I held such a thought process is because Anakin’s marriage is generally his most guarded secret, he was unwilling to tell anybody about it, and in such a context, it becomes easy to assume that Rex finding out was a fluke, nothing more.
However, the more I started to really pick at Anakin and Rex’s relationship, the more I started to think it would be a lot more interesting if Anakin intentionally told Rex about the marriage.
In the past, I came about this mainly from the idea that part of what makes Anakin & Rex so interesting to me is the two-way loyalty that stretches between them, the way Rex occupies a unique space in the list of Anakin’s relationships. TCW itself frequently speaks of the trust they have in each other, to the extent other characters (like Padme herself, seen in TCW S07:E02, during the holocall scene between her and Anakin, and in No Prisoners itself) notice it. And with that in mind, I thought, more and more, it made more sense to me that Anakin had told Rex intentionally. It’s clear, given moments in the ROTS novelization, that Anakin didn’t want to shun this aspect of his life into secrecy:
from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
(This is not the only instance of Anakin expressing a desire to leave the Order in the ROTS novelization; his behaviors in ROTS itself are also indicative of this desire to me (his lack of care about getting caught with Padme in the moment she reveals her pregnancy,) and his quote of “I understand wanting to walk away from the Order,” when Ahsoka walks away from the Order during the Wrong Jedi arc. Which, if you want a short explanation for why I think Anakin stayed despite expressing multiple times a desire to leave, there are many little pieces and layers to it, but the primary conclusion I’ve come to is that Anakin stayed out of a sense of duty, particularly related to ending the war. But that’s not what this post is about.)
This leads me to believe that Anakin wanted to confide in someone—wanted someone who he could trust to share this part of him, and given the loyalty and trust he holds in Rex—and I’d also wager it’s down to Rex’s demeanor—it was easier for Anakin to tell Rex than anybody else. Of course, this was all my own conjecture! This was just me taking bits and pieces of what we have of these characters and their circumstances and affixing them into a different configuration to explain something that wasn’t elaborated on in canon.
Of course, or so I thought, because Star Wars: No Prisoners has quite the interesting scenes, scenes that do elaborate upon this.
from Star Wars: No Prisoners
also from Star Wars: No Prisoners
It’s so fascinating to me that Anakin thinks Rex is someone he owes it to tell, and doesn’t that just speak of how highly Anakin regards Rex? He’s able to think that Rex deserves to know, and not just that, but that Anakin thinks Rex would understand. Anakin describing Rex as not just professionally loyal but personally loyal is a sentiment that really strikes to the core of why I think Anakin was comfortable enough to tell Rex; because ultimately, Rex has not just given him his professional loyalty, the loyalty expected of a soldier, but he's also given the loyalty of his friendship. I really don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the feeling is mutual between them. The way Rex speaks of Anakin in Star Wars: Rebels is so damn fond. I really do think Anakin told Rex, intentionally, not just for the professional aspect of it, which I will get into shortly, but because Anakin wanted to have someone he could trust and confide in; Anakin has trust and faith in Rex, the same as Rex has trust and faith in Anakin.
from Star Wars: Age of Republic short story "501 Plus One"
And, returning to the discussion surrounding the screenshots from No Prisoners, obviously, there’s even more there, what with Anakin thinking about how he can’t just leave his men to suffer (it shows consistency in his character, in regards to the loyalty he shows his men because his thoughts here reflect those in the Umbara arc, where he refused to leave, even on orders from Palpatine, until Rex reassured him he could handle it. Which is just... it drives me batty, but my thoughts on that moment from Umbara are not strictly relevant to this post.) And part of that conniption is born out of the loss of his mother! Because he faults himself for being unable to save her, and now he's left with an all-consuming desire to ensure no one under his care dies, which, of course, will inevitably lead to Anakin being consumed by his own conniptions about death itself through his visions of Padme dying in ROTS. (I love how many layers I can peel back and examine from this one moment.)
I also have to emphasize that the biggest thing is that Anakin didn’t even tell Palpatine about his marriage. Palpatine, Palpatine, someone who had been a confidant for Anakin for so long, Palpatine, more than anyone, most certainly knows the most about Anakin; he’s the only one who truly understood how Anakin ticked, and he used that knowledge to disastrous effect.
Which to me, just reinforces how incredible it is that Anakin felt comfortable enough with Rex to tell him about his marriage.
Now, No Prisoners doesn’t actually contain a scene where Anakin tells Rex, but given his thoughts it’s very likely Rex was told shortly after the events of the book.
Now, for point 2:
Which is that, in essence, when Anakin remarks that Rex needs to know about this secret so he can freely contact him or otherwise know about the whereabouts of his location in case they get orders and Anakin, along with the 501st, need to be shipped out effective immediately.
This is a readiness issue.
Readiness is the ability of a military force to engage in assigned tasks and/or missions upon orders.
Anakin being upfront about his marriage to Rex on this principle is most certainly going to get Rex in agreement* because Rex would be aware of the logistical importance of maintaining readiness. Anakin and Rex are on the same page here because, ultimately, no one else is going to better understand these aspects of the continued function of an armed force than a clone; they're clone soldiers.
*Which, additionally, regarding the argument that Rex ends up in a precarious situation for knowing about Anakin and Padme’s marriage, upon further examination of this, I do not think this holds water either. I say this primarily because, ultimately, Anakin, in being married to Padme, has not broken any of the GAR’s regulations. The issue of Anakin’s marriage is of concern to the Jedi, not the GAR. And Rex is not beholden to the Jedi’s religious doctrine; Anakin is, and unless you want to argue that the Order would crack down on Rex in retribution for aiding one of its members in hiding a marriage that’s expressly against their rules… nothing would happen to Rex because ultimately the issue of Anakin and Padme’s marriage is only an issue with regards to, primarily, the Jedi Order, which is not an authority that Rex is behold to; Rex is beholden to the GAR, and, as I said, Anakin being married is not breaking any regulations I can think of… I also find it hard to believe that the GAR would be pressed about a secret marriage when much of their natborn soldier base is also likely to be married. In fact, given my previous comments about readiness, the GAR is likely to take Rex’s stance on the matter.
Rex and Anakin are on the same page regarding the issue of his marriage for both the personal reasons of it and the professional.
And, to address Rex's awkwardness about covering for Anakin in TCW S07:E02:
Rex's awkwardness about having to cover for Anakin and Padme in TCW S07:E02 is presented more as a moment of humor juxtaposed against the earnest conversation between Anakin and Padme as they discuss Anakin and Rex's relationship; it's meant to be a funny-sweet moment regarding the relationship between them. This entire moment is meant to show the familiarity Anakin and Rex have with each other, to the point they have a system worked out between each other when Rex needs to cover for Anakin, which I should also say the fact that Rex is willing to lend his gear** to Anakin for this cover story is something I consider to be a big display of trust, it's very much a classic "friend covers friend," kind of moment.
**That helmet is important to Rex's identity. It is, in effect, his face; it is a custom helmet, donning his signature jaig eyes; it is what most people are going to think when they hear Captain Rex; it is, effectively, Rex trusting Anakin enough to hand over a vital part of his identity.
Everything about this moment screams familiarity to me in the way Anakin and Rex conduct themselves with each other; I find it quite telling that Rex is comfortable enough to tell Anakin they don't have time for what Anakin is suggesting they do in front of the bad batch. Rex is essentially saying no to something that can read as an order from his commanding officer to other clones. The fact that Rex is comfortable enough with Anakin to do so is massive, and as I've said before it shows the familiarity and comfort the two have with each other in their personal relationship. When Anakin first implores Rex to provide cover; Rex's insistence on them not having time for that—to me—less indicates that Rex doesn't like covering for Anakin, but more so that Rex is fixated on the mission because he just got a glimmer of hope that Echo is still alive.
It should also be said, Rex is simply awkward; it's just a facet of his personality. He's an awkward dork in armor.
With all that said, to paraphrase a quote from the post that started this ramble, Rex was one of Anakin’s best friends. (And I personally think that the feeling is mutual given the numerous times Rex has expressed similar sentiments towards Anakin.) :3c
It should also be said that much of this post was made much more coherent thanks to @battlekilt, who was also a great help in fleshing out much of these thoughts, especially those pertaining to Anakin and Rex's interactions in TCW S07:E02.
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Marriage in Astrology
Because we all have manifested a marriage like there’s😅
Hey y’all! I wanted to talk about this topic because this is a popular question in astrology. So I’m going to show you where in your chart that YOU can look for to help you get the answers.
See, a lot of people just look at one section when it’s a lot more complexed than that. There’s a lot of variables to look at. It’s like reading a story, the more chapters you read, the more you start understanding the book. It’s best too look at one placement at a time then look over your own life and start connecting the dots.
If you’re still confused after this post, schedule a reading, I’m doing them 25$ for my spring sale!
Venus + Libra + 7h
Venus rules over the partner + your idea of marriage. When I say the idea of marriage, I mean YOUR personal beliefs regarding it. Everyone has different points of view regarding marriage depending on cultural or religious beliefs. Keep in mind, marriage for the longest was seen as a business contract and still is in many cultures. What are the odds that Venus also rules over contracts 😅it’s all based on the type of partner you will attract or subconsciously attracted to.
Look at your Venus to see what kind of partner you’re attracted too.
Venus rules over the sign of Libra and rules the 7h. The 7h (area in life) can show you how you view marriage overall, not just your own but the people in your life. The ruler of your 7h can indicate how you’ll meet.
For example: Taurus 7h. You believe marriages should be grounded and stable, you might believe in a generational home that can be passed down, physical connection, listening, familial roots is strong. These people are not spontaneous, planning and taking their time. You may know lots of people with Taurus placements that talk a lot about marriage or they’re ideal of it. Ruler in the 11h. May meet their spouse randomly, when they’re pursuing their dreams or through mutual friends group
The 7h is ruled by Libra so look at the house Libra rules in your chart to see more details of the partner!
Pluto + Scorpio + 8h
It’s so wild that Pluto and Scorpio is not talked about enough when it literally rules what goes on inside the marriage. Venus + Libra rules over the idea and the partner we want but Pluto is the type of marriage you’re going to have. No one knows what goes on inside of anyone’s marriage regardless on what they publicly share to the public.
Pluto rules over intimacy and exchange. It also rules over shared resources. Shared resources isn’t always financials, it’s anything you share with someone. Marriage is a very private affair which Pluto rules over. Now Pluto is a generational planet so many people have you Pluto placement, however, the house it’s in can show you Your personal chapter and how it Pluto plays out for you. This is why everyone in your generation sort of have a similar theme with marriage but everyone has a different story. Everyone is sitting on the same bus but everyone is getting off at different stop. You feel me?
The 8h is ruled by Scorpio as well so this house where you really look and see the energy of the marriage of someone. You can get a glimpse of what kind of marriage you’re going to have. This house also rules over divorce as well while Venus rules over breaking of contracts. That’s what marriage is at the end of the day. You are committing and sign a legal document saying you will spend your life with this person.
The house Scorpio rules, is where you are really private so you may not feel comfortable with discussing your marriage at all.
For example:: if you have a Scorpio 4h, you’re family may not know nothing about your marriage but one or two things😅
Asteroid Juno
So asteroid Juno is connected to marriage and the marriage partner. I’ve been studying Juno for a while now and the more I research, I believe it shows how devoted we are to the marriage and to our partner. Juno rules over our devotion.
For example: Juno Aries. This person would fight for their partner and marriage if they genuinely believe in it. It can also manifest as easily giving up if the flame is completely burnt out . One thing for sure these people will bring the passion and fire to the marriage.
Keep in mind, these are just placements. This isn’t including the aspects to these placements which influence your chart as well.
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It's hilarious to see the antis losing their minds over Daemyra's HBO video called Love Story. They keep repeating that this is grooming and that the relationship should not be romanticized and glorified. It's frankly worrying to see all these people throwing around such a serious word so seriously when they probably don't know the definition. Book or show, Daemyra is not grooming. And these people make me laugh. They complain about seeing Daemyra as a romance when that's what it is. It's not because there is an age difference and incest that the relationship is toxic, open a history book for pity's sake people... A bit of culture. The toxic elements of the show don't even exist in the book. Like Daemon's delirium taking Rhaenyra to the brothel in episode 4 (and even if it has a toxic aspect, not only that, it's also a liberating scene for Rhaenyra's character. It's a complex scene. Gray. Not black or white) Or even when he strangles her in episode 10. (which many people point out elsewhere to counter the video, while once again, in the book it does not exist, and this scene has already been criticized a lot for its inconsistency...) Even if also, I don't know in what world these people live, but they are aware that a romance can have problematic aspects in fiction? This is nothing new. Especially in fantasy universes. This tendency to associate love with a situation only deemed pure is also worrying. Especially in a fictional format made for entertainment. Also, worst comment: "Everyone forgets what Emma D'Arcy says about Dameyra?!!!!!!!" As gospel. Let's be clear, Emma D'Arcy is a human being who can and does say stupid things, exactly like calling Daemyra grooming. Especially since in the same interview where she talked about it, she was completely wrong about Rhaenyra's age! But hey, since it's a trend in this fandom to rejuvenate Rhaenyra to make her appear underage in episode 4, I imagine that people don't care about this detail. Plus, for what it's worth, she's also spoken highly of Dameyra in different interviews and even said she would read fanfiction of them. 😂 So frankly, it makes me gently laugh at those who promote Emma D'Arcy's words as the ultimate truth. Worse, there are even people who don't like Rhaenicent and claim that it's a better romance than Daemyra. In what ? In the show, apart from the completely occ strangling scene we can't say that Daemon actually did anything bad to Rhaenyra. While I recall that Alicent, not only in addition to having injured Rhaenyra, giving her a lifelong scar by having tried to take Lucerys' eye, well she harassed her and her children for 10 whole years, threatening peacefully the lives of his children. Not to mention that she then usurped him, while hiding the death of Viserys while she crowned Aegon II. But I guess a woman can't do any harm so all that doesn't count...
I stick to the principle that actors are only actors, the same people as you and me, and their words are not prophetic revealed truth. They can be smart, or they can be completely stupid. In fact, an actor is a tool to bring the writer's and director's vision to life, so just because an actor says X doesn't mean the writer will be wrong when he says Y.
People ALWAYS have a problem with character relationships in books and movies. Sometimes these problems make sense, and sometimes they come out of nowhere. I would understand that people have a problem with Daemyra because they think that incest is wrong and there should be no exceptions even for a culture where it is normal. Or that they think there is too much of an age difference between them. People have this right. It was similar, for example, with Darklina. When people said "I think that Alina and Aleksander shouldn't be together because he is much older than her, so they have too much of a generation difference" it was okay, it was their right. But when they said "he is a pedophile because he wants to have a relationship with a teenager!!!1" it was already wrong and untrue. And it's exactly the same with Darklina. People do not focus on what could be a problem, but invent their own problems, using big words that they do not know the meaning of. They throw around "pedophile" and "grooming" left and right, even if the situation does not fit the definition of this meaning in any way. I do not understand this. If you don't have any real, valid arguments as to why something is bad, why would you want to argue that it is?
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people unfollow me for my misha collins opinions every single time because they perceive it like outing him or harping on about his ‘egg’ or “speculating on his sexuality” rather than a reflection that straight people are also part of the queer community and can joyfully participate. not only do gay parents have and raise straight children who aren’t about to be disowned, that’s the whole point of questioning. to make a gray space to explore in, no expectations and no time limit.
but because we can’t generally imagine that random straight or mostly straight people are full members of the community, we end up creating this pressure to firmly come down on one side or the other. come out of the closet or be straight and acknowledge there never even was one, ‘just’ a door you weren’t positive where it led. as if being non-normative enough that you need to question and investigate these things isn’t quintessentially queer, and as if they’re gonna be immediately booted out of the community and lose the relationships and understanding that allowed them to make sense of themselves if they come to the ‘wrong answer’ (straight).
the inability for our community to conceptualize straight (or mostly straight) people as ‘full members’ also creates identity conflict when your immediate sense of horniness seems to contradict queer identity. like you have to constantly have Significant Attraction to the same sex to ‘count’ and if it drops below a 50/50 your gay card is revoked—at least a 3+ on the kinsey scale to qualify and Be One Of Us. as if questioning doesn’t make you one of us. as if a ‘2’ and low level attraction isn’t ‘gay enough’ or even a singular experience of a same-sex crush or attraction is straight because it doesn’t happen with enough frequency. this is particularly crushing to bi/pansexual people whose attraction to same and different genders can fluctuate over time.
and part of this is because there is no clean line between straight and bisexual or anything else. someone could have had one single crush on their best friend as a teenager and no other same gender attraction for the rest of their lives but still consider themselves bi/pan because that relationship was so meaningful. and someone else with the exact same experience could decide it was a one off and isn’t significant enough to call themselves anything. in reality, there is no difference between them. just their perception of themselves and decision to assign a word to it or not
admittedly I do find his personal revolving door ass relationship to the closet hysterical, but I genuinely profoundly appreciate it for making that grey area so apparent. he’s discussed polyamory and same sex attraction in his book (nonnormativity & exploration), he’s come out of the closet and gone back in multiple times (QUESTIONING), and has seemingly dedicated the rest of his career to highlighting the very real homophobia that prevented dean and cas from a canonical relationship. he is a member of the queer community whether he’s publicly identifying as straight or bi at any given moment. and we can tell because of his actions.
I find it genuinely bizarre that people have turned his personal relationship with the closet into “misha just always wants attention” rather than recognizing real solidarity and community participation amidst a confusing identity journey. it genuinely feels like i’m back in middle school, with my friends bitching at each other that they only came out as bi “for the attention.” which was always and will always be a completely insane assertion. people do not come out of the closet for attention. but it was tied to ideas of bisexuals being “greedy” (greedy for attention, greedy for the attention of more than one gender just for the sake of itself.) and this outright homophobia would consequently force them straight back in the closet. which caused homophobes to feel vindicated and correct in the biphobic assertion that anyone would ever intentionally attract homophobia for attention or seek sexual interaction from genders they don’t feel attraction to. (wanting their attention IS ATTRACTION.)
it genuinely drives me insane that that old homophobic bullshit became the uncritical mass opinion of misha collins. that he did it for attention. he didn’t. he found his people (VERY UNSURPRISINGLY after being thrust into a gay spotlight) and that very spotlight made it almost impossible for him to find his place among them.
anyway i’m fully fucking right. stop saying bisexuality exists “for the attention” 2kforever and if you can’t find joy in queer exploration no matter how messy, keep your trap shut about misha collins.
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I know I've twisted myself into a goddamn pretzel the past five or so years trying not to be 'too much' and backing off when I am
but
A good deal of why I started the #dr literacy tag is precisely because of this- I am beyond tired and fed up, with the kinds of things that people have ignored and left on my back- whether it's to do with Kokichi, or V3 overall. It's easy to deflect and call me 'delusional', and five years later never even consider the implications of having called me that over what I've been trying to grapple with, much less apologise to me sincerely and genuinely try to understand where I'm coming from and why it's so hard to discuss in the first place- not to mention why it's so easy to make mistakes not least because the way Kodaka plays with themes can be decidedly insensitive (and I was clearly out of my depth with that when I started this blog)
This isn't about all of you. A good number of people here have been wonderful about this, even if they don't understand all too well. But frankly such people are the exception rather than the rule, and the rule is that people don't bother to interrogate their own biases about Kokichi, or really grapple with the way him and V3's narrative might be constructed with bias. And this unwillingness to accept ambiguity and nuance results in some genuinely hurtful behaviour towards people who try to point out that, maybe, not everything was even his fault, or that his character and situation is far more layered than it appears on a first run of the game. Or even a second, or third.
So I'm gonna need people in that camp to swear that you'll do better about this going forward. No really. This situation I've been in didn't come out of nowhere, and while I've beaten the proverbial horse to death that I haven't always been fair or reasonable either, that does not mean I should just back myself into a wall and take the status quo that is 'Tsumugi is telling the truth and Kokichi is just a clown' as a 'fact of canon'. Because there's a very good chance that that might not even be true, and that there's even more tangled messes Kodaka left in the text to unpack that you never even thought of, and that really NEED extra care and nuance to fully understand.
I know you're probably sick of hearing this from me by now. But this is an issue that can never be helped until it's faced head on, and the effect of basically being pathologised over it (due to *checks notes* autism), is seriously damaging- the inability of people to address things as serious issues and themes rather than 'just the pet theory that came out of my nutty head', is something I cannot, on principle, force myself to accept. So please just think about the way you're approaching issues in the future. I will try to do the same.
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