you know, actually delving on youtube on videos of people talking about s3 of the mandalorian, i think i actually narrowed the problem for me? and like how people feel like din and grogu aren’t main characters anymore? because tbh, i’d say no character is actually the main character, just vehicules to the storyline, and that’s where it defeats the purpose of the story to begin with? it’s like how the plot drives the show, rather than the characters driving it. it’s the usual problem of writers wanting to put too much in a season. which happens to a lot of tv shows, and can be course-corrected right the next season, hopefully. because yes, you could argue that din djarin and grogu “took a backseat” this season, “they have no evolution” blah blah... but ignore din and grogu for one second. let’s say that yes, bo katan is the center of the season, the main character. what is her journey? what is emotionally her evolution? we see none of that. she’s taken here and there by the storyline, not even fighting it. like on episode 2 she challenges din on his belief system, still mocks the children of the watch, calling their beliefs “children’s stories”. but then at the end of episode 3 (where we barely see her because it’s the pershing episode), she actually joins the covert and is left like “???” at the end of the episode. yet on episode 4, nope, she doesn’t question it, she doesn’t challenge it, she’s just there, because actually the storyline needs her to blend into this group to actually understand their way of life and vision of the mandalorian culture. she loses her ancestral family home, and at no point does the show explore that, the emotional devastation it probably is for her, to lose what could be her last connection to her family that has been wiped out by the empire, the clone wars, etc. on the clone wars and rebels, bo katan is actually a complex character, being challenged by the storyline, struggling and evolving. on the mandalorian, she’s pretty stale because the storyline needs her to be. she’s passive in her own story, taking the darksaber even tho she has shown no prior sign of wanting it (on s3, i mean), getting back with the night owls even tho they supposedly betrayed her and abandoned her. like... no hard feelings about that? since when? and then you have the armorer. if we’re to believe emily swallow’s interviews from the star wars celebration, her accepting that bo katan walks both ways is actually a true evolution from the armorer. her challenging her views, changing her ways and accepting that mandalorians have different visions of their belief system. yet, on the book of boba fett, the armorer was still head-on saying that mandalore fell because so many mandalorians fell out of the way. so why not actually show this evolution through the season? well because the storyline needs to move forward, and they don’t have time to show it. same goes for din and grogu. we have so little emotional scenes of grogu and din, actually being reunited about what is supposed to be two years, grogu engaging on this path of becoming a mandalorian apprentice, and barely any emotional reward to these storylines. again, because the show doesn’t have time. and that’s what has been bothering me about, again, the two big monsters attacks on the mandalorians, we’ve got stuff being repeated, yet not enough time for rewarding, character-centric moments. again, action, plot, over characters. and that’s saying that, looking back at s3 structural intention. and i don’t know what plot-point i would deem uninteresting or not worthy of being on the show. i actually really loved that episode 6 took time to explore the separatists remnants and this whole political idea of the plazier-15 system, so i wouldn’t throw all the episode to the garbage, just like i loved how the nevarro storyline tied in with greef karga giving refuge to the mandalorians. just like i liked how “the foundling” explored this sense of family and belonging amongst the mandalorians as people, together, rebuilding and working together. just like idc, i loved the criticism of the new republic and the complexity of rebuilding after the damages of the empire, that were shown on episode 3. in universe, all these plot points are important to give depths to the background of the story, and what will ultimately be the setting of not only the mandalorian, but the ahsoka show, and the movie that will follow. i’d argue myself that it also tended to happen on the earlier seasons, but we felt it less because it was just din and grogu, with the occasional recurring characters visiting. but here where the stakes are higher, and the group of characters bigger, we feel it more. we have less din and grogu, because they’re part of an ensemble, but also we have no real character, so it’s like, kinda hard to understand why we don’t have as much din and grogu as before, yknow?? i do think the story wouldn’t have felt that way if the writing had been more challenging with the characters’ inner motivations, and not just din and grogu, but bo katan as well. she would have been a more compelling character to root for for “general audience” (who don’t know her from the clone wars and rebels) when she gets the darksaber at the end of episode 6. and yes, din finding a way to have grogu belong would have been more satisfying had he questioned his faith, their clan among the bigger clans and the future of mandalore etc. could the show still do it on s4? i believe so, but it could have been something for s3 as well. i guess then i’ll circle back to saying that either the episodes needed to be longer, or they needed one to two more episodes to this season, and i feel like it could have been a way better balanced storyline, giving to the characters and the plot real time to shine.

A little love letter to Din Djarin writers... 🤍

I love that some of you write him as soft and gentle while others focus on the darker, harsher parts of his personality. I love that he can be both a quiet, kind man caring for his child or an intimidating, terrifying bounty hunter who is a lean, mean killing machine... depending on what the fic warrants.

I love how you write him with other characters from The Mandalorian or even with those who would never cross paths with him in canon, from Star Wars or elsewhere. I love how you write him interacting with yourselves and us, and some of you even create your own original characters to exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away alongside him.

I love that some of you ship him with that one other special person, while others recognise how desirable he is and ship alllllll the ships. Not forgetting those of you which are here for none of those ships and/or even headcanon him as ace. I love that any of those options allow you to explore your own identities and sexualities through him.

I love that you can write the most tooth-rotting fluff or filthiest smut, and all of those things in between. Whether it's for general audiences or explicit and strictly 18+ ... all of your fics have an audience and someone out there who appreciates your writing.

I love how differently you can interpret him, but there are also so many common themes and tropes running through your writing. I love that there is room for all of your Dins here.

I love that he means so much to you and that all of us here hold him in our hearts a little bit. I love that we can all watch the same episodes and come to entirely different conclusions about him. I love how much we love him.

Getting to be a part of this wonderful community and interact with so many people who love the space tin can man as much as I do has truly been one of the best things that happened to me recently. I'm so glad I made this little blog... It reminded me just how good fandom can be. I am blown away by the number of talented people here!

So, I just wanted to take a moment to express some gratitude towards all of you! Thank you for writing your Dins and please don't ever stop. Finally.... last, but not least:

I love Din Djarin!!!

me when someone says luke is a bad teacher and made grogu "choose" btw being a jedi and his dad:

what he did was ensure grogu could one day be a jedi AND have his dad now!!!

“Din was OOC in Guns For Hire” yes because he was gonna act normally when experiencing PTSD with the very same type of droids who killed his parents and his entire home village just weeks after almost getting bled out by a cyborg

Title: the things we are (the things we may become)

Pairing: The Armorer/Bo-Katan Kryze

Written for SW FemslashFebruary2024

Word count: 2022

Read on ao3

❤️❤️❤️❤️

There are days when the weight of her buy’ce feels too heavy for her.

They are not often, but sometimes it feels as though the severity makes up for the lack of frequency. Today is just such a day, the first since the covert has come to this new planet, hidden in their caves.

The pain is not weakness, she knows. She is not lesser for what she suffers. Fatigue, yes. Pain, often. Today, both, a pulsing throb behind her eye and a sluggishness in her bones that suggests she should have stayed abed rather than braved the usually comforting familiarity of her forge. But, as always, there is work to be done. Now more than ever, with so many new Foundlings to fend and provide for. Their armor must be made.

But it is telling, the toll it is taking on her, when she doesn’t even notice the visitor until a voice echoes in the chamber she has built her forge in.

“Are you alright?”

By instinct she stiffens, shoulders lifting from their hunch and head raising until she stands erect, proud, unshakable as always. Too late, she suspects, as she turns her head to find Bo-Katan standing in the entryway. Her face is pulled in a frown of concern, and the Armorer can see the way her eyes move, assessing, searching for an explanation.

“Kryze,” she greets. The formality causes a flicker of surprise, temporarily throwing Bo-Katan off of her hunt for an answer. The Armorer turns back to the forge, her eyes skimming over familiar pieces. “What brings you the forge?”

An impatient hiss of breath sounds behind her, followed by clipped steps. Blue and white enters the periphery of her vision and the Armorer turns her head to look, seeming languid in the movement. She tilts her head in silent inquiry. The action earns another huff of impatience.

“You’re avoiding my question,” Bo-Katan accuses. She juts out her chin, lifts it in a silent challenge as if daring the Armorer to ignore her again. “Are you alright?”

She sighs, knowing it must be audible with so little space left between them. She would have preferred to avoid this.

She sees the stubborn look in Bo-Katan’s eyes and knows that this will not be a fight easily won. Stubbornness runs in both of them, part of the iron will that she suspects has kept them each alive for so long. Most days it is an admirable trait in Bo-Katan. Today it is closer to an inconvenience. Even if she knows that the stubbornness now is less because Bo-Katan has been long accustomed to having her own way and more because she cares. Because they are—

Well. They have not put a name to it. This something between them. But it is because They Are. That is reason enough.

“I am well enough,” she answers. Against the tension in the back of her neck, a warning creeping at the edges of her mind that she steadfastly acknowledges and carries on in spite of, she takes hold of her hammer again. There is beskar to be forged, never enough, but the new Foundlings must have their buy’ce. She turns her focus from the warning ache in her skull and Bo-Katan’s hard gaze both, grips tighter on her hammer to still the slight tremble in her hands. “What can I do—”

The pain strikes her like a spear through her skull, searing through one temple and exploding into everywhere. It steals her breath away and leaves nausea curling from her stomach to her throat. For a moment she is merely off-balance, then it worsens still. She barely hears the clatter of her forge hammer as it falls from nerveless fingers to strike against the stone floor, does not have the ability to feel when her knees give way, or arms scoop around her waist to keep her from falling. She knows only the pain and that she must push through it, must breathe.

Breathe. Breathe. It will pass.

It does pass, slowly, from unbearable searing back to the dull throb of before. The nausea remains but the rest of her senses return, hearing, sight, touch the last, as she becomes aware of the cold steel of the forge at her back, the hard stone under her, and the pressure of hands cupped against the side of her neck, just barely to be felt through the thick fabric of her kute.

“Armorer? Armorer!” Bo-Katan’s voice is tight, and in it is an undercurrent of fear that she so rarely hears from her. “Dammit—stay with me,” Bo-Katan says, and it sounds so much like a command even as it is pleading. Bo-Katan raises her hand to her ear, activating her comm. “This is Bo-Katan Kryze, I need a medic in the forge—”

With a soft groan the Armorer raises a hand, laying fingers still stiff and nerveless over Bo-Katan’s. She gently draws her hand away from the ear piece, cutting off her message.

“Don’t,” she says. Her tongue feels heavy. “There is nothing a medic can do. It will pass.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bo-Katan snaps. “You need—”

“Bo-Katan,” she interrupts, and her voice must sound firm enough, or perhaps only weary enough, to reach her, because Bo-Katan pauses mid-reach for her comm again. She stares, frowning, frightened behind the steel of her eyes.

Her hand is warm as the Armorer squeezes it gently with her own. “It will pass,” she assures again.

Bo-Katan’s jaw moves, impatience warring with concern warring with that same admirable, infuriatingly stubborn will. She is unconvinced, but she waits, and when her comm comes to life with someone asking for clarification, she answers, “Give me a moment.”

Silence settles for half a minute. The Armorer shifts, movement ginger and tentative as she tries to avoid triggering that tension in her neck again. Pride already fled, she lets her head sink back against the forge, beskar meeting beskar with a soft ring. Bo-Katan watches her, both hands now on her knees, fingers twitching as she resists reaching out to help.

“What is it?” she finally demands.

The Armorer sighs, her eyes falling shut. “An old complaint,” she answers. “Few of us escaped the last days of Mandalore, fewer still unscathed. It is an old wound that strikes anew every now and then. There is nothing to be done for it but wait for it to pass.”

No response is immediately forthcoming. The Armorer allows the quiet the help settle the remaining ache, until it settles, dull but bearable, in a throb behind her eyes. When she opens them she finds Bo-Katan looking away, her jaw tight.

“Is it because you will not remove your helmet? Is that why nothing can be done?” Bo-Katan asks. The Armorer feels a spark of impatience that she strives to smother. Always it comes back to this.

“Bo-Katan—“

“We could find you a droid,” Bo-Katan interrupts, sharp again, impatient again. “It would not be breaking the Creed to allow a medical droid to see to you. I know the Creed does not allow you to show your face to a living thing, but a droid—”

“It will not make a difference,” The Armorer interrupts in turn. She speaks over Bo-Katan’s sound of frustrated anger. “It has been tended to before. There is nothing else to be done.”

She can see the war going on behind Bo-Katan’s eyes, her stubbornness battling hard against acceptance. She does not take defeat or helplessness well, no more than any Mandalorian. For a moment it seems she will push the issue further, call for the medic and have her way; but all at once she surrenders, her shoulders sinking. The Armorer smiles mirthlessly. It is a poor victory.

She welcomes it when Bo-Katan’s hand raises to her neck again, hovering near without touching this time. “Is it alright if I…?”

Another unseen smile. “It’s alright. I am not glass, Bo-Katan, however fragile this attack may make me seem.”

“I would never think of you as fragile,” Bo-Katan assures, amusement lacing into the words in spite of the heaviness still lingering between them. Her palm and fingers cup against the side of her neck again, thumb ghosting up towards the edge of her buy’ce. Were anyone else’s hands to stray so close she would have made them regret the impertinence. But here it is permitted. Bo-Katan won’t betray the fragile trust they have so steadily built.

“Is there anything I can do?” Bo-Katan asks. So uncertain. Tenderness has been a skill long lost to them both, emerging tentatively in moments like this. The Armorer treasures it, rare as it is.

“When I’m confident it won’t trigger another attack just to stand, you can help me back to my bed,” she says, pragmatic in her answer. Well-intentioned as her determination to see to the forge today had been, she was in no state to continue pushing her limits now. No one would fault her for leaving the work undone until tomorrow.

“Of course,” Bo-Katan agrees. “You should be resting.” There is an accusing edge to the words that are almost amusing. It’s a long time since she has been the one chastised for reckless behavior.

Once she feels able, Bo-Katan helps her to her feet with steadying hands. The journey to the small but private hollow where her bunk waits isn’t long, but long enough that she has no desire to repeat it again today. Her head aches again by the time Bo-Katan helps her lower to sit on the thin mattress pad, and neither of them speak a word as she undoes the snaps on her heavy cape and the latches on her cuirass. It is the most she is willing to remove before she lies down. The weight of her buy’ce finally eases as her head settles into the bundle of spare blankets she uses for a pillow.

Around her the room goes dark, the bare bulb strung above their heads dimming. It makes almost no difference through the HUD on the inside of her visor, but it was a kind thought.

Bo-Katan hovers, and were the circumstances different it would be charming to see how uncertain she is. Confident in so many things, but lost in a sickroom. The Armorer takes pity. “You do not have to stay. I’m in no danger.”

Bo-Katan doesn’t immediately move, momentarily frozen in a limbo of indecision. Her decision leads her not to the door but to the bedside, crouching down. Still lost, but unwilling to go. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Her instinct is to deny, to repeat that there is nothing to do but let the pain pass. But there is a vulnerability in her that finds its way to the front, creeping past the usual walls of iron that she has forged around herself. With a soft breath, almost a shiver as it leaves her lungs, she reaches out, offering her hand. Bo-Katan doesn’t hesitate before taking it in both of her own.

“Will you stay?” The Armorer asks. For once she nearly fumbles, her lips silently moving behind the safe shield of her visor as she tries to find the words. “I don’t… rest easy when this fit strikes. I think I may find it easier if you’re here.”

Bo-Katan’s eyes flicker with emotions too jumbled and quick for the Armorer to make sense of, settling briefly on a kind of beautiful devastation then shifting into what is almost gratitude. “Of course,” she answers. With a squeeze she brings the gloved hand between her two palms up to her face, pressing her forehead to the worn leather. It’s not quite a kiss, but it’s something close. A step nearer to a definition of this thing that They Are.

Bo-Katan rises from her crouched position to take a new place on the edge of the bunk. There is hardly any room but neither of them mind. To be close is the point. She doesn’t let go of the Armorer’s hand.

“Rest now,” she whispers. A tentative, beautiful smile pulls at her lips. “I’ll keep the watch.”

❤️❤️❤️❤️

@starwarssapphicweek

filoni really deserves jail for what he’s done to Sabine. the padawan storyline has done nothing for her character and on top of that he’s made her incompetent and taken away so much of her fighting ability it’s infuriating

Hi there. I've recently started following you, and I was wondering what the meanings of some of your tags are. Sorry if this should be obvious, or already explained.

I know the translations for all except Nau'ika. But are they for like... diff AUs you have? I first thought Vencuyanir was I fic title but couldn't find it.

(Also, don't feel like you must answer this on the blog. PM would be perfectly okay as well.)

[ It's not a problem for me to explain anything on my blog, so always feel free to ask! The tags especially. None of them should be obvious, unless you know a few words from a fictional language. Lol.

Most of the tags are just character descriptors.

Nau'ika means "little light". It's a cute nickname Fox has for Thorn, since he's a light in the darkness that is Coruscant. I think the fandom just agreed that Thorn is a refreshing presence.

Fox's tag, haryc, means "tired". It's just a description of him. Lol.

Vencuyanir means "to sustain, keep alive, preserve". My queue sustains this blog while I'm either away for a decent reason...or just being a lazy mun.

So the Mando'a tags are usually just descriptors of the characters or words they're by. That's all. When I tag something as just "Commander Fox", "Commander Thorn", "Commander Stone", etc., it's so it'll appear in those commonly searched tags. That's usually for the little chat posts I make that I think (hope) the fandom will enjoy. ]

while i suspect the path i've taken with satine isn't the one intended with her half told backstory, or at least is no longer the one intended, i have to say there is something poetic in the one i've crafted. she is unquestionably mandalorian within it, a former of her own fate, her decisions shaped by personal experience and a ridiculous level of trauma. and if she survives, in part, she becomes the wiser version of both selves, not quite warrior, not quite pacifist. the satine in the middle might be slightly confused, but to grow past the trauma, past the defeat, satine becomes the greater for it, yet again dedicating her life to salvage what they've lost.

It literally makes sense that din went back to hating droids, battle droids (and specifically those big black ones) killed his parents and destroyed his home. Trauma is a bitch and while he was better with the droids after IG-11 those droids had no ties to his childhood trauma and so it makes sense why when presented with the droids at the root of his trauma he got violent

Bo katan, thinking for even a brief moment that she was simply straight ™, going ‘undercover’ as gay because everyone said she was:

Bo Katan, when Din asks her to be her wingman on a double date, realizing she’s gonna have to suck this lesbian thing up for a night, at least there’s free food involved:

Bo, when Din’s lesbian friend turns out to be hot realizing she definitely isn’t as straight as she thought she was going into this date:

Bo, finally coming out for real to Din and The armorer both bc: hey guys thought it was funny to keep the gay joke going but… I’m blind and I literally just realized it wasn’t a joke.

//Okay so Darius is supposed to be part of the Mandalorian Canon, right? That's what inspired his creation.

//I am not thrilled with Season 3. I'm only 2 episodes in and I'm not thrilled with it. You can see a whole adventure planned with Din getting the robot back and leading up to the Mines of Mandalor.

//But the Mines were given to him too soon and Din wasn't allowed to have and display their impact and importance to him. This was a very spiritual experience for him. Because being Mandalorian is a religious thing for Din and it has been from the beginning. It isn’t the water that’s important, (though it is part of it), it’s the act—it’s the faith, the commitment, it’s the renewing of his vows and the re-transcribing of the Creed on his heart as he believes and understands it. Correct or not, it’s his way of being Mandalorian.

//Which is why he should have been given time to express, demonstrate, and experience this important moment in his life. Because even if it isn't important to other people, It's important to him, and as the POV character, what's important to him should be important to us. That's just good writing.

//Man I am definitely not thrilled with how they've handled these first two episodes. But I will try to withhold my judgment of the rest of the season until I see it.

Oh. My. God. What a fucking month.

Sorry for my absence, ya’ll. I’ve had a lot of personal things on and it really took a huge toll on me mentally, I was working non stop and didn’t really get a chance to crack open the computer. It was only meant to be a couple of weeks but took longer than expected, however I am BACK and finally ready to get back to writing again!

I’ll slowly catch up on notifications and the things I’ve missed and get back to the prompts I have waiting! Thank you for your patience with me! If there’s anything you’d like to see next, don’t hesitate to reach out.

*cracks knuckles* let’s do this.

trying to figure out anyones age in sw is stupid. because if you go off of actor ages, simon and katee are both 43 so axe should in theory be the same age as bo. but bo, the character, should be nearly 60 by now…….. so should i be trying to work axe’s timeline around that number????

personally, i'm thrilled that the darksaber is gone. but maul?? pissed. y'all stole his emo sword AND broke it. jail. jail for a billion years.

They also put the borderlands psycho in Fortnite with a claptrap backpack accessory, which leads into another fun thing! There is a comic that is a crossover between Batman and Fortnite called Batman Zero Point, Batman punches a Borderlands Psycho

i hate that i know all of this personally because i'm a fortniter

nevertheless. batman wishes he was as cool as rakkman #THEFRIDGE

din in chapter 22: violently assaulting droids for the audience to have some giggles

din in chapter 24: R5 my bestie my pal i need you to help me out here. *softly* im sorry i dont speak binary :( im counting on you. oh thanks for getting the schematics, great job buddy ^w^