☐ single

☐ taken

☑ thinking about the scene in dooku: jedi lost where yoda and dooku are discussing a jedi named yula braylon who secretly had a son and hid him out of fear that the jedi would hate her for it, aka the exact fear anakin had with padme in rots, and yoda confirmed that if she had told the council, the council would have helped her, just like they would have helped anakin:

"The callousness of it all struck Obi-Wan profoundly. Units. Final product. These were living beings they were talking about. Living, breathing, and thinking. To create clones for such a singular purpose, under such control, even stealing half their childhood for efficiency, ..."

"Obi-Wan looked up at the Kaminoan, to see his eyes glowing with pride as he looked out upon his creation. There were no ethical dilemmas as far as Lama Su was concerned, Obi-Wan knew immediately. Perhaps that was why the Kaminoans were so good at cloning: their consciences never got in the way.

Lama Su looked down at him, smiling widely, prompting a response, and Obi-Wan offered a silent nod.

Yes, they were magnificent, and the Jedi could only imagine the brutal efficiency this group would exhibit in battle, in the arena for which they were grown.

Once again, a shudder coursed down Obi-Wan Kenobi’s spine."

Star Wars - Episode II - Attack of the Clones Novelization

by R. A. Salvatore

one thing i love about star wars is that the jedi are monks with dangerous psychic space magic, and so they're monks on purpose. they're joyfully and intentionally participating in their institution and finding meaning and happiness in life as monks—anakin is the exception that proves the rule!

it makes me happy to see as many people in the world live like this, and are quite happy with rich, full lives in fellowship with their fellow monks, practicing the tenets of their philosophies, studying the world and themselves, handing down their traditions and wisdom, always helping others; this is such a valid and good way to live, not any kind of oppression.

if anakin had been less selfish, if he had internalized and practiced the jedi philosophy of moderation and compassion, he could have had a rich, happy life (if only he lived in an age without the malice and menace of the sith!) and that's the root of his tragedy that he turned away from those bonds and generous purpose toward his own private pleasure.

it's not easy to practice discipline, but it's so worth it, both for you and everyone whose lives you can touch. it bothers me when i see comments openly and offensively denigrating all organized living; the individualistic amatonormative anti-religion biases of sw fandom are unfortunately on almost continual display. not all religions and religious organizations are abusive and controlling!

i believe from the bottom of my aromantic heart that one don't need romantic love and a nuclear family to be a full human being with a good life. these monks follow their philosophy of moderation and discipline in fellowship with their monastic fellows on purpose and by choice so they can serve the galaxy, and this is such a commendable life full of meaning and love.

the tragedy of their genocide is visible in how that force of generosity and hope for the galaxy was wiped away, for the violent enforcement of a brutal era of exploitation and greed. when luke restores the order and the jedi return, that form of joy in service and endless compassion is returned too. it's a beautiful thing that continually inspires me to live a better and more moderate and generous life.

Got emotional thinking about jedi lineages. 

Like. Maybe Ahsoka ties her obis in double knots because that’s how Anakin taught her. He told her it helped them stay on better.

But Anakin does it because that’s how Obi-Wan helped him, the first time he wore the robes that seemed impossibly heavy, with the weight of his new life.

But Obi-Wan only tied it like that because he had seen Qui-Gon do the same, and had desperately wanted to be perfect, so copied his master.

But Qui-Gon only did it out of habit- of all the rules of decorum that Dooku taught him that he ignored, the obi knot had stuck.

But Dooku had been trained by the greatest master of them all, so assumed however Yoda tied his robes was the most correct.

But maybe that is all because, centuries ago, a master whose name the rest of them will never know, taught his tiny padawan to double knot his obis, because they just never fit right.

And Ahsoka will never know that she got this from a jedi who lived in a totally different world from her, who she never knew and would never know her, but the legacies are there, no matter how small. And I bet every lineage has a handful of them.

I just... the jedi leave behind their blood ancestors, but they still have things running in their families.

okay but can we talk about how fucking good the food would be in the Jedi Temple?? and all of the absolutely fucking baller and totally unique fusion dishes that would have to exist?? they're by far the most diverse group of beings we see in star wars, with lineages made up of people from all across the galaxy. the best food in that galaxy has got to be something from a lineage dinner table that's been made and modified by generations of Jedi and no-one ever wrote down

Jedi telekinesis makes me feral because this is a thing.

The fact that they can hold without holding. The fact that they can cradle their own crystal souls without touching. Like the crystal is a firefly they're cupping with a grip so light it's actually light itself.

They can hold butterflies without killing them. The hands wielding the unfathomable power of the universe can be the gentlest of hands, gentler than a breeze.

It looks so magical and soft and peaceful qsdfghgfdfghfds I love them

I do love how funny it is that Star Wars keeps having villains discuss how great the Jedi are and none of it sticks in the heads of anti-Jedi fans.

Tarkin: The Jedi are too soft and never violent or ruthless enough to win battles. Anti-Jedi fans: The Jedi completely lost their way and went against their philosophies by joining and WAR and KILLING people.

Tarkin and the Kaminoans: The Jedi helped the clones learn individuality. Anti-Jedi fans: The Jedi ENSLAVED the Clones and didn't care about them or fight for them ever.

Grand Inquisitor: The Jedi's main weakness is how much they want to help people and can't stop themselves from doing so even if it means they expose themselves to their enemies. Anti-Jedi fans: The Jedi feel no emotions/repress their emotions/don't understand what they feel/think they need to refuse all feelings, and they abused an already traumatized child because they didn't care about him/wouldn't let themselves care about him.

A Dave Filoni illustration, the cover of a "Happy Holidays" card that had been sent to LF employees :)

The Jedi are a family!

It is so difficult loving Luke Skywalker and being Jedi positive.

ugh one of the most tragic things about Order 66 and the Jedi Purge is the erasure of all that history by the Empire and by time. More than just history, it's the erasure of culture, the purposeful cleansing of the Jedi ways and people from the Galaxy. All these stories and people were lost, not to time, but by the intentional extinction of everything they ever were. In Crimson Reign #3, The Archivist (written by Charles Soule) puts it in a way that genuinely struck me when I was reading it.

You don't have to read all that, but I feel like it drives the point across wonderfully. The Jedi Order not only died because of Order 66 and the Purge, but the very idea of it was also made into a death sentence. Each Jedi's life, before the Empire, was preserved through the seemingly eternal memory of the Order, the Jedi Archives, or their lineage, and those who took their path. The Empire erased any trace of that memory, collapsing the tradition of millennia. As a Jedi, you are almost ensured to be remembered, and your actions are certain to have echoes throughout the ages. The Empire, and more specifically Palpatine I should probably say, did everything to take it away. What's left of The High Republic? What's left of the heroics of generations of Jedi? What's left of their life stories? Their meditation or lightsaber techniques? It's the tragedy of the Jedi order, and it goes so much deeper than the awful loss of about 10,000 Jedi during Order 66 and the purge (not that that should be underestimated).

I want less fics where mace windu hates anakin for no reason, and more fics where little (10-years-old) anakin is terrified of master windu bc he looks stern, until something happens that makes him realize he’s actually a big softy inside

options inlude:

- making obi-wan go to bed after he stayed up for two days

- helping anakin when he skins his knee while obi-wan is away on a mission or something

- mace recruits him to help prank yoda during the epic prank war

- obi-wan makes him take a drama class and mace is the teacher and also a giant theater nerd

I am so done with the Jedi slander in fics, specifically codywan fics. I'm so done. Specifically that they are wrong for handling emotions they way they do. They are not wrong just because they are different and I'm tired of people treating them as terrible people because of it. I'm tired of people acting like Western, neurotypical responses are the only valid ones. Just stop.

There is no death, only the force

There’s something very precious about their bond. The way Quinlan teaches Aayla. It’s so wholesome.

I feel like this comic is such a beautiful illustration of the Jedi’s teaching on death.

i'm as much of a slut for touch-hungry Obi-Wan gets cuddled by the Vode as much as the next Jedi/clone shipper, but I wish we'd stop doing it from the lense of like, 'the Jedi didn't hug him enough' (i have my doubts whether Qui-Gon did, but he was hardly the only damn Jedi in the Temple) and more as 'Palps isolated the Jedi from each other on purpose, so he's largely away from his family and surrounded by people he does care for (and is cared for by in return) but that he's cripplingly aware of his power imbalance with'

like, there's not a single instance within canon where someone goes in for a hug with him and Obi-Wan acts hesitant or unsure about accepting it, which i feel would not be the case if he'd actually not gotten that kind of support during his formative years. plus, i think people have a tendency to discount how much of that comfort would be taking place within the Force, given that Jedi are empaths.

All arguments about Jedi not being a family/being an repressive system are invalid. That’s a 14 year old Jedi kid in a tube top calling the venerable elder who’s helping her ‘gramps.’ 

Anakin being her Master isn’t what made her Like That™ because Master Sinube explicitly doesn’t know who she is and yet isn’t surprised by this behavior - doesn’t even react to it - so this is likely to be expected of Padawans. 

(Also he’s not deaf so he definitely heard her call him gramps but he just doesn’t care.) (Also the clothes are from before she became a Padawan so she clearly can’t be that much of an exception.) (Also old turtle gramps is delighted to tag along and have some fun for once! He’s ready to do mischief! It’s gonna be a teaching/bonding experience with this random kiddo and he wants to go kick some criminal’s butt! Also he and Jocasta don’t tattle on Ahsoka for having lost her lightsaber, they let her deal with it without involving Anakin because they respect her wishes!) (Anyway old Jedi have all the rights.)

I had a brother, once

When I was about nine, and he was four, I think, he went away. He was so cute, he had a bunch of shiny copper hair, a nice smile and those big blue eyes. I loved to play with him, he was so little and funny. But one day he started moving things around the house, like small things that ran across the table to his little hands, and once he befriended a bird outside the window, it came so close to him that it accepted the food he gave it. My mother didn't believe me at first when I said that, but then she and dad started watching him closely, and I remember they talked of a thing called the Temple, after a while. Dad looked sad for a bit, but mum was so thrilled. She had an old picture, she always told me the woman in the picture was his grand grand grandmother, from centuries ago, and that she went to the Temple, and one evening they came into our room and talked to us. They told us that my little brother, Ben, had a special gift, like the woman in the picture. That he was touched by the light, and he could do great things, and that new people would come to test him and see if he was touched enough to learn how to use his gift for the Galaxy and the Republic. I was so scared, at first, I didn't want my little brother to go away. I screamed and hugged him, and he was so still in my arms. My parents were emotional too, mum said to me that giving a child to the Temple was a privilege and that he could live better with them than with us. I didn't understand at first, but they told me that the Temple was full of people like him, with his gift, and that their job was so important to the Republic, and he would have the chance to become a good person between them. We were just humble citizens, my dad was an architect, like me, and my mom was an artist and a painter. She told me that Ben could become something that they could never prepare him for, and the people at the Temple could help him with his gift and prepare him to be the best person he could be.

Some days after that, people from the Temple came to see my family. There was a tall black man and a creature with a mask on his face and eyes. They played with Ben and asked him a lot of questions, and then they came to me. They asked me if I loved him, and if I wanted him to be happy. Of course, I wanted that. The black man told me that he understand I was sad and didn't want to lose my brother, and he was right. He told me that Ben was going to live a life in the Temple, that he would learn how to use his gifts, and that he would be happy with them, but I was afraid that he would be alone and sad.

So they brought us all to the Temple, and we had the chance to see where he would live and grow. The school and the creche were so fun, and warm, that I even asked if I could stay with them too. But I was not gifted as him, so I couldn't. We hugged my brother for the last time, but every year, for the anniversary of the day he went to the Temple we received a picture and a few words from his teachers. It went on until he became a Padawan, around fourteen, and it was ten years since he left us.

We never forgot him, and I was still a bit sad, but I grow up being proud that my youngest brother went to become a Jedi. I got married and watched my children closely, in their youth, wondering if there was a hint of the same gift that he had, but apparently, that wasn't the case. It was a relief, surely, I didn't have to say goodbye to one of my children at such a young age, because I remember how conflicted my parents were, when we left him on Coruscant, in the Temple. They cried a lot, and I thought that it was because they didn't want to leave him behind, but then I understand. Sometimes it's hard to choose the best for your children, and you wish you can do everything yourself. But it's not always possible. He had great power in his little hands, and with great power comes great responsibility, and sometimes as a parent, your job is to accept that you're not the best fit to teach something important to your children. We knew nothing of the Force, we couldn't help him with it. We wouldn't be able to give him the proper teachings to understand and use his power in the best way, and it could easily hurt him and the people around him. Instead, he went on and became a great Jedi, and now I can read about him, saving the Republic and the galaxy with his power, against the Separatists that want to destroy our way of life.

So, yes, I spent my youth wondering how he was and if he was happy with the Jedi, but now I know he was. And every time someone at work asks me "are you related to that Kenobi?" I always smile.

Yeah... that's my brother.