ALL VERSES. will be updating as needed.

i really just wanted to post this so there's less guessing with my verse details lol. will probably add more tonight. there's also like zero formatting here so i apologize for that.

era : SEQUELS.

arc : jakku.

pre - the force awakens. will only be taking place on jakku. age range : 14 - 19.

arc : the force awakens.

canon compliant. age : 20.

arc : the last jedi.

semi divergent but mostly canon compliant. rey is with luke for a lot longer than 3 days, possibly more like a few weeks to a few months, maybe a year at the MOST. ( which does alter the movie a bit but i see it as the fighting doesn't happen at the same time as rey's training + tfa doesn't directly lead to tlj, there's time between and tfo doesn't attack right away. rey shows up at the end with the falcon. ). kylo + rey also bond over the months. (: age : 21.

arc : between the last jedi + the rise of skywalker. [ resistance reborn ]

the few years between tlj + tros. there's 2-3, possibly more years between where rey studied under leia and also helped recruit people to the resistance. compliant with resistance reborn + spark of the resistance. age: 21-23/24. GO TO SEQUELS VERSE.

arc : the rise of skywalker.

divergent. anti romantic re/ylo. anti rey palpatine. anti rey burying lightsabers in sand, anti spice runner poe ... etc. major points happen. (personally would love to replace palpatine w/ snoke or smthin ...) there's also 2-3 years in between tlj and tros. heavy influence from dotf. age: 23-24.

arc : post - tros.

age : mid 20s. anything directly after the war ends. lots of rey traveling, learning, searching, adventuring. GO TO SEQUELS VERSE NO. 2.

arc : rebuilding.

quite a bit after the war. rey is also in the process of or already has started to rebuild the jedi, though she teaches in a new, different way. in their own way. age : late 20s - mid 30s.

verse : [ duel of the fates ]

based on the duel of the fates script. the main thing i get rid of is rey mind tricking poe + some other minor stuff. i'm damerey neutral (really depends on the writing partner). 10 years after tlj, early 30s. honestly i like this more than tr.os but i wanna remain sequels - characters friendly + people who haven't read the script. will only put things in here if i know you know the details!

verse : [ smuggler ]

rey takes the job offered to them by han solo and never crosses paths with kylo ren.

verse : [ sith ]

rey is in fact found by snoke / palpatine and raised in the dark. wasn't actually raised by that weirdo but people working for him, maybe raised by snoke lol. some mara jade vibes maybe (idk legends dont @ me ). her anger is twisted and turned into something that is used against her, as is her loneliness and need for a family.

era : PREQUELS / THE REPUBLIC / MOVING TIMELINE.

found on jakku in the care of unkar plutt as a child (though born on hyberkarn -- her parents were being hunted by mercenaries and left rey in the car of plutt, but they died and never came back for her), rey is found by the jedi and brought to the temple. she's named kira by the jedi who found her, as plutt only referred to her as 'child' and 'girl'. she chooses rey as her names. she struggles with a fair amount of jedi things, as they're naturally a more aggressive and angry person, and struggle with being consumed by her attachments.

01 : rey is taken on as a padawan during the very beginning of the clone wars / prior to the clone wars / prequels era. she's at the front lines with her jedi master, who's very jaded at this point in his career but he pushes her hard to make sure she can survive the war and what happens after it. they took some time to warm up to each other but end up having a very close bond. (': [ also have an option for her to be obi-wan's padawan, or someone elses with plotting <3 i think she'd also be good as plo koon's padawan. ] she's also given the title of commander, which she hated, feeling that she didn't do as much as the clones who deserve it more than her. age range : 14 - 21.

02 : a slightly older rey goes through the clone wars as a jedi knight. she's a general with her own battalion and puts her everything in keeping her men alive. (': early - mid 20s. GO-TO PREQUELS VERSE.

era : EMPIRE / POST ORDER 66.

verse : [ order 66 survivor ]

01 : rey survives the purge as a padawan and only escapes because of her master. she escapes to an outer-rim planet and keeps her head down. she cuts off her padawan braid and puts her lightsaber away ... until the inquisitors (+ kylo) find her and she has to go on the run and constantly move. she's 14-16ish during order 66 but the verse spans 10+ years, or until she joins the rebellion. GO-TO POST ORDER 66 VERSE.

02 : rey survives as a jedi knight. dependent on the timeframe but is around mid 20s when order 66 happens. mid 20s - mid 30s.

verse : [ inquisitor ]

rey is turned to the darkside by the inquisitors and from feeling everyone she loved die. she's a ghost of a person, barely there, fueled entirely by anger and hate. but she starts to come back to herself. also her hair is white. 20s.

verse : [ rebel pilot ]

01 : very similar to the force awakens! from jakku, rey gets mixed up with a " rebel fighter " and they have to get off jakku due to being chased by imperials. bb-8 also needs to get to the rebellion because she has a list of rebel cells + people who are secretly working for the rebellion. no specific time frame, can be in the beginning of the rebellion or more aligned with a new hope / rebels. 19+.

02 : former padawan rey joins the rebellion as a pilot. around the age of hera + kanan. late 20s - early 30s. GO-TO EMPIRE VERSE.

verse : [ force shenanigans ]

basically the star wars holiday special but less ... chaotic? rey ends up traveling to any era of star wars due to a crystal that can travel through time. can take place after tr.os or any other point of time. mid 20s.

ERA : ANY.

verse : [ scavenger ]

basically just. rey is a scavenger on jakku and completely content in never leaving. -- this is not the same as the jakku verse, as that one is specifically pre - tfa. this one is for any era of star wars and / or rey never makes it off of jakku with finn and bb-8. 19+.

CROSSOVERS.

verse : [ avatar: the last airbender ]

takes place at any point of time in the atla universe (pref. during the original show or legend of korra), but rey is descended from air nomads. her father was earth + air but was a non-bender, while her mother was strictly from air nomads, but was also a non-bender. they found out rey was a bender when she was young and did their best to hide her.

WIP VERSES : supernatural ( werewolf / witch ), grishaverse, modern ( college ), modern ( archaeologist ), modern ( pilot ), superhero fandoms ( mutant ), multiverse ( any fandom ), bg3, general scifi ( star trek / dw / etc etc ), pjo ( child of zeus or apollo or hermes maybe ), mythology ( bia reborn ), misc fantasy, asoiaf, tinkerbell, winx club, royalty, green lantern, fallout, the 100, high republic (sw), mermaid au.

REQUEST ONLY.

verse : clan of three.

affiliated with @devoutgun.

found on jakku as a child, rey is adopted by din djarin when she's young. this verse can deal with rebuilding mandalore, rey being a member of clan mudhorn, rey finding out she's force sensitive at a much younger age, it's also likely that rey is taught by luke skywalker in the ways of the force alongside ben. -- events of the sequels can still take place but things are a bit different.

verse : rey skywalker. [ REQUEST PLS ]

rey (beru) is the lost child of luke skywalker who was kidnapped as a child in hopes of bringing her to palpatine. that never happened, and any leads their parents had to find them go cold. she picks a name for herself and believes one day her parents are coming back for her -- she doesn't grow up completely alone. force ghosts regularly visits her, teaches her things, reminds her that she isn't alone. tbh, this is very similar to regular verses so this is kinda specific to skywalkers but i’m open to writing in it with anyone. esp in combination with time travel.

verse : legacy of infinite sadness.

rey is the grandchild of obi-wan kenobi. specifics can be changed as i have multiple ideas. rey's story remains basically the same except that her grandfather is obi-wan ( doesn't have to be biological! can be force ghost adoption! ).

May The Fourth Masterpost

Prequels/Clone Wars Era

May the Force Get With You- You’d think Anakin Skywalker’s conception would be pretty epic, mythic even, but you’d be wrong. Turns out, the Force is a lousy lay and a worse father. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force, Salty Narrator)

Second Wind - Ahsoka takes the wrong exit of the the world between worlds and ends up with a second chance at saving her master. (Ahsoka Tano, Shmi Skywalker)

Pain Management - Anger can get a slave killed. Shmi teaches her son some coping strategies. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Watto)

The Force Is In the Details - The chance cube lands on red and now Shmi must learn to manage with a freedom she never asked for. Written as part of the Jedi Fest Rogue Robin challenge as a continuation of The Force is in the Details. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme Amidala, Jedi Council)

The Anchor That You Can’t Leave Behind - On the queen’s yacht headed back to Naboo, Anakin and Padmé miss their mothers but Obi-Wan can’t get why. (Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose - When Obi-Wan told him he was free at Qui-Gon’s funeral, Anakin took him at his word. There may, however, have been something of misunderstanding. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

For Amidala - Her handmaidens had all poured so much of themselves into Amidala, it was like they were part of her now. Padmé didn’t know if she had the strength to let one go. (Padme Amidala, Sabe, handmaidens)

Wordspring - Anakin’s words dry up in the middle of his fourth month at the Temple. If Obi-Wan can’t get them flowing again, maybe someone else will. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sheev Palpatine, various Jedi)

Nothing to Write Home About - A month after losing his wife, Cliegg Lars decides to write to her son. Anakin Skywalker gets the pen pal he never knew he needed. WIP. (Anakin Skywalker, Cliegg Lars, Owen Lars, Beru Lars, Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala)

For the Greater Good - Count Dooku has never seen the appeal of Anakin Skywalker, but, when the Chosen One breaks with the Council over the treatment of the clones, he decides acquiring the boy’s allegiances might be worthwhile after all. WIP co-written with @grand-duc and @thendstartsnow (Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine, Clone Troopers)

Once More With Feeling - A redeemed Anakin travels back in time post-RotJ and decides to unfuck the timeline with mixed results. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Sheev Palpatine, Jedi Council, bunch of other people)

Bridal Carry - On Naboo, it’s tradition for the groom to carry the bride to their marriage bed. With Anakin’s new prosthetic, it’s more difficult than it sounds. (Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker)

Secret Tunnel - War in the Outer Rim! While fighting on the mining world of Mumblety, Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano is tasked with mapping the tunnels along with a team of clones. When trouble strikes, will she have what it takes to save the day and complete the mission? (Ahsoka Tano, Echo, Fives, Anakin Skywalker)

No Place Like Home - Ahsoka’s return to the temple after her first deployment was strange, made even stranger by the fact that it should’t be strange at all. (Ahsoka Tano, Rex)

Eat, Snip, Love - Ahsoka can’t remember the last time she had a home cooked meal. Anakin and Padmé are determined to change that. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala)

Love and Support - After Padmé is shot at a conference, her mother insists she come home. Padmé, of course, is going no where. Episode tag to 3.07 “Assassin.” (Padmé, Ahsoka)

Across a Crowded Room - It’s a party in his honor, but it turns out the Hero With No Fear isn’t good with crowds. Padmé to the rescue. (Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker)

Lightening Rod - Anakin gets electrocuted…again. It probably says something bad about his life that he’s getting used to it. (Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Coming Out of My Cage, Doing Just Fine - On the way back from Kadavo, it finally hits her. In this war, Ahsoka had been outmatched, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, but she’d never felt powerless. Not like she did in that cage on Zygerria. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker)

In Our Bed After the War - After the mission to Zygerria, Padmé and Anakin have a difficult conversation. (Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker)

Domestic Life Was Never Quite My Style - Despite her best efforts, Padmé is pregnant. Now she has a difficult decision to make. (Padme Amidala, C-3P0)

You Call That Family? - In an AU where Anakin has left the order to be Padme, Obi-Wan encounters unexpected resistance when he goes to collect the twins. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala)

Birthright - The Force called him to his family and Anakin is not prepared to give them up. Not even to the Jedi Council. (Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, baby Skywalkers)

If Not For These Bad Dreams - Fives has dreamed about killing every Jedi he’s ever met except General Skywalker. Turns out he’s not the only one. (Fives, Kix, Tup, Jesse)

Dateline Felucia - Embedded with the troops on Felucia, a reporter from HoloNet News paints an intimate portrait of the men of the 212th Attack Battalion. (Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Waxer, Boil, clone troopers)

Ahsoka the Vampire Slayer - Ahsoka is the Chosen One, the Slayer, or at least she was until she died. She got better, but now there’s a new Slayer in town and things with her Watcher are strained at best. Add in a bunch of zombie mind control bugs and Ahsoka’s week could be going better. BtVS fusion. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Barriss Offee, Luminara Undili)

Bursts of Stardust - Collection of short tumblr prompts. (Everyone ever)

Rogue One

The Lord’s Estate - Every lord must have an estate. Lord Vader’s is Mustafar. (Vader, Palpatine)

Peace is a Lie - Sometimes Vader wakes up and can’t remember what war he’s fighting. (Darth Vader)

A Cog In Something Turning - Cassian hadn’t meant to give K-2SO free will. Good thing for both of them he’s a terrible slicer. (K-2SO, Cassian Andor)

Original Trilogy

Sea of Sorrow and Sand - Ben Kenobi is an island in a sea of sorrow and sand. Beru Lars has come to drag him back to shore. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Beru Lars)

What Remains - What remains of a relationship built on lies? Nothing, as Darth Sidious will soon find out. (Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Padmé Amidala’s preserved corpse)

On This Strange and Mournful Day - The events of Vader Down go very differently. The father and child reunion is only a motion away. (Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Dr. Aphra)

After the Funeral - Han offers Luke some unexpected support after the funeral of the guy who tortured him. (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo)

A Cynic’s Guide to the New Golden Age - The second Death Star goes kabloowie and takes the galaxy with it. It’s a new golden age of piracy and Aphra’s got some looting to do. (Dr. Aphra, Luke, 0-0-0, BT-1, Black Krrsantan)

The Last Truce We Ever Came To - Darth Vader is dead but he won’t leave Leia alone. (Leia Organa, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker)

Sequel Era

Red Fish, Blue Fish - Leia bought an aquarium for her child like her father before her. In a perfect world she could raise Ben to fill his grandfather’s legacy. Too bad he had more than one. (Leia Organa, Ben Solo, Angst)

A Matter of Precedence - FN-2187 wasn’t the first, except for the time he was. Others have defied the First Order before, but none quite as spectacularly. (Finn, First Order)

So You Want to be a (Space) Wizard - Finn finds a mysterious book, takes an Oath, and starts one hell of an Ordeal. Crossover with Young Wizards. (Finn, Poe Dameron, Rey)

Old Haunts (All We’ve Ever Known) - Anakin and Obi-Wan as snarky Force ghosts during The Force Awakens. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, TFA cast)

Lady in Waiting - Rey’s spent so much of her life waiting it’s hard to know when to stop. Luckily, Poe’s there to give her the push she needs. (Rey, Poe Dameron, Leia Organa, Finn)

Not a Drop to Drink - On Luke’s island, Rey couldn’t quite get her mind around the sheer amount of water stretching out towards the horizon. (Rey, Luke Skywalker)

Obi-Wan Kenobi Centric Time Travel Fanfiction Ideas 😂 there’s never enough

1 • Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up back in his 20ish year old body determined to change his beloved padawan’s dark fate....To everyone else Obi-Wan disappeared after a night out on his 21st Birthday only to come back with a small blonde child that shares his blue eyes 👀😳😲🤭

2 • Obi-Wan Kenobi fresh from war ends up in his pre-padawan body right before the annual apprentice tournament, he accidentally impresses Jedi Master Yan Dooku and becomes his padawan instead of Qui-Gon Jinn’s

3 • Force Ghost Ben Kenobi has been watching over Rey for a very long time....when she dies The Force sends her and Old Ben back in time (pre-prequel era or just the prequel era) and they run around the galaxy trying to undo all of Palpatine’s evil schemes. Old Ben has been deaged to look in his mid-30s and he takes Rey on as his padawan.

4 • Just before Obi-Wan goes into exile, The Force sends him and a deaged Ahsoka (9 to 11 y/o, still has all her memories) back in time to 3 to 10 years before The Phantom Menace....where they try to dismantle the siths plans and save as many lives as possible while avoiding suspicion of The Jedi Order

5 • When they both die in Revenge of the Sith, Padme & Obi-Wan are sent their young bodies in a parallel dimension with new born babes Luke & Leia tagging along....in the parallel dimension (before or during the Phantom Menace timeline) Padme’s age is older then it should be (17 or 19 instead of 14)....Qui-Gon, The Jedi Order, Padme’s family, handmaidens, Council, etc....all think that Obi-Wan is the father & that they were hiding their affair & the pregnancy the whole time....

6 • Old Force Ghost Ben Kenobi, who has been watching over the Skywalker line for generations, is sent back to his younger body a few years before The Phantom Menace....he’s somehow ends up on Tatooine with toddler versions of Luke, Leia, Rey, Kylo Ren & Anakin Skywalker....they make their way back to the Jedi Temple where Obi-wan makes up some bullshit excuse for his disappearance (says he let the force guide him through meditation, only to awake on a ship descending onto Tatooine’s surface....where he finds the force sensitive minis) Qui-Gon being aware of his Padawan’s flirtatious nature is absolutely 100% sure that the little ones are really Obi-wan’s biological children and determined to get the Jedi Order to change its rules about families and attachment, so Obi-wan can openly love his children🥺 Qui-Gon gets Dooku, Tahl, Rael & etc in on it too and they start a galaxy wide revolution in the process

A Saga in Ruins: How the sets reflect the empty nostalgia of the Sequel Trilogy

To the great surprise of many fans, the Skywalker Saga ended in the ruins of the Lars moisture farm on Tatooine. Perhaps this was intended to be circular, to be a coming home of sorts, but it was an odd choice for many reasons. Why would the youthful heroine find herself in an old, empty home to which she had no real connection, instead of on a verdant green world that she had so clearly craved earlier in her journey? Wouldn’t a place full of life be more fitting for a young woman starting a hopeful new chapter?

Of course, the dirty little secret is that there is nothing hopeful about the end of the Skywalker Saga. In fact, if we look across the Sequel Trilogy, we can see the theme of destruction, aging, death, and decay in many of the settings. Notably, the only sets that look truly new are the interiors of the First Order ships, and the rich luxury world of Canto Bight, but these sleek structures actually contain a moral rot.

It was appropriate for the Prequel Trilogy to be filled with shiny new sets as the Republic and Jedi were at the height of their power. The beauty was intentional, both so that we would appreciate the civilization that would be lost with the ascension of the Dark Side, and so that we would see it as the deceptive shell hiding the moral destruction within. In the Original Trilogy, the sets have an older, worn appearance, but are rarely what could be termed “ruins.” Given that the Sequel Trilogy takes place 30 years later when the galaxy has presumably been rebuilding since the Galactic Civil War, why then are SO many of the events set in ruins, or in places that become ruins?

Ruins in The Force Awakens

The first movie of this final trilogy started on Jakku, a ruin of a world home to the destroyed imperial fleet that made a last stand at the end of the Galactic Civil War. In the first scene of the film, new ruins are created when First Order troops destroy a village. Not long after, Poe and Finn crash-land into the desert, the ruin of their TIE fighter swallowed up by the sand. Later, we meet Rey, a lonely scavenger who is picking at the guts of a downed Imperial Star Destroyer. The shots in this sequence emphasize the scale of these ruins, along with the utter emptiness of the desert. Next, we see Rey in a little trading outpost cobbled together from disparate parts. She gazes dolefully at an elderly woman working the same task that she is, clearly seeing in the aged woman her own barren and lonely future. Finally, she travels to her own home, which turns out to be a collapsed AT-AT Imperial Walker. In an endearing but somewhat macabre moment, Rey dons the helmet of a Rebel X-Wing pilot. In a parallel scene, Kylo Ren is seen talking to the charred helmet of Darth Vader, beseeching his grandfather to speak to him. It’s nostalgia, yes, but for a past that is ruined, destroyed, and dead.

She next escapes Jakku in the Millenium Falcon, which might not be considered a ruin since it still (barely) flies, but it has clearly seen better days. Rey heaves the decrepit freighter through yet more bones of downed starships, finally escaping Jakku only for the Falcon to malfunction again. Han and Chewie, elderly yet vigorous as ever, join Rey and Finn and they all travel to Takodana, where Maz Kanata lives in a castle. From there, they witness the destruction of the Hosnian system, and then the First Order arrives and completely destroys Maz’s castle, creating yet another pile of rubble. The group next travels to D’Qar, a Resistance base nested in an old Rebel Alliance base from the Galactic Civil War three decades prior. Again, everything is old, aging, and recycled; nothing is new.

Starkiller Base is shiny and new, but it is also a tool of destruction, and before long it too collapses into space debris like Alderaan and Hosnian Prime. Meanwhile, we learn that the Skywalker-Solo family itself is in ruins, with Han and Leia split up, their son Ben fallen to the Dark Side, Luke missing in exile, and Han soon killed by his own son. Rey then travels to Ahch-To, where stand the ruins of the first Jedi Temple, to find the aging and bitter Luke Skywalker.

Ruins in The Last Jedi

On Ahch-To, Rey comes to find that the Jedi religion itself is in ruins, with their ancient texts abandoned and their one avatar, Luke, having cut himself off from the Force itself. In the course of her stay, she shoots a hole through the wall of her hut, slices through a large rock on the island, and emerges from the ruin of a hut that Luke explodes when he finds her with Ben Solo. Though Ahch-To is teeming with life, death is equally present, with Luke chatting with Force Ghost Yoda and watching the Jedi tree burn.

Further, Luke is a ruin of his former self, his moral certainty destroyed by regret. In the series of flashbacks to his last encounter with Ben, we see the hut collapsing, Luke rising from the rubble later, and his training temple in flames. Luke’s legacy, his relationship with his nephew, and now the physical manifestation of both is in ruins, as well. Even his X-Wing, once a symbol of his daring, sits submerged in water, presumably unusable and possibly scavenged already for parts.

On the Supremacy, the shattering of the Skywalker legacy is made visible in the breaking of Anakin’s lightsaber in the destroyed throne room. The ship itself lies in ruins after the battles that have raged across the ship and Admiral Holdo’s brave sacrifice, and even Ben and Rey’s fledgling relationship has been shattered by the end of the sequence.

Meanwhile, after the destruction of their fleet, the Resistance escapes to Crait, to yet another old Rebel Alliance base in the hope of escaping the First Order. Their speeders are so decrepit that Poe manages to punch a hole through one with just his foot, and the remaining forces are decimated before he makes the decision to pull back. With their massive laser cannon, the First Order punches a hole through the blast door to the base, effectively destroying it and rendering it unusable as a defensive position. By the end of the Crait sequence, the Resistance, their fleet, their base, and the central relationship of the movie between Rey and Ben are all in ruins.

Though destruction and ruins abound in The Last Jedi, the framing is notably different from the other two films because the purpose of all this imagery is to show hope for the future springing from the rubble. Rey states this theme explicitly when she’s meditating for Luke on Ahch-To, saying she sees “death and decay that feeds new life.” The breaking of Kylo Ren’s mask and the legacy lightsaber are intended not as endings but as steps in the cycle of rebirth and renewal. Luke manages to shed his broken shell and become the young hero he once was, later achieving transcendence as he passes whole into the Force. Despite the massive wound dealt on Crait, the salt cleanses and covers the carnage, suggesting rebirth with womb-like imagery. Ruins in The Last Jedi tend to serve less as nostalgic settings and more as visual symbols of brokenness that must and will be healed.

Ruins in The Rise of Skywalker

As the final film of the sequel trilogy opens, we see Kylo Ren fighting a group of cultists, whom the TROS Visual Dictionary tells us are Vader loyalists. Leaked images from the art book and cut scenes suggest that this scene actually takes place in the shadow of Vader’s castle, also now a ruin in the absence of its dark master. Using the Sith wayfinder, Kylo flies to the Dark Side planet of Exogol, entering what appears to be an ancient temple of the ruined Sith culture. There he finds the resurrected but still deathlike Palpatine, who is clearly such a ruin of his former self that he must be kept alive by machinery and dark arts.

In returning to the forested, hidden Resistance base, Finn and Poe nearly destroy the Falcon yet again, with the old ship catching fire as she lands among a small collection of similarly ancient ships that appear to be in questionable flight condition. While running her Jedi training course, Rey uses the same pilot’s helmet and training remotes that Luke used over 30 years earlier to practice her skills, and cuts down a number of trees in the process, leaving a path of destruction in her wake. Not only does the continued use of old, OT-era objects confound logic, but the wanton destruction of the natural world seems at odds with the Jedi philosophy’s reverence of the life which creates the Force.

Rey’s vision leads her to the barren desert world of Pasaana, where she meets the now-elderly Lando Calrissian, then finds the wreck of the ship that pursued her family when they were fleeing the resurrected Emperor. In the ruin of Ochi’s ship, Rey finds D-0, a broken and abandoned droid who yet again mirrors all the broken and abandoned characters (literally, ALL of them) in the Sequel Trilogy. When Kylo Ren appears, Rey first destroys his TIE Whisper, then when he crawls from the wreckage, the two have a Force tug-of-war over a transport ship which ends in Rey destroying it, as well. Of course, it later turns out that Chewbacca was not aboard that transport, thus continuing the pattern in this film of laying waste to the new planets, ships, and characters that were created for the sequels, while those from the original trilogy are miraculously preserved.

The gang next travels to Kijimi, where they apparently need to destroy C3-P0′s memories in order to unlock his ability to translate an ancient Sith language. As with Chewie, this is merely a temporary “death,” and Threepio’s memories are restored later. Kijimi, unfortunately, is not so lucky, and it is rather unceremoniously blown up, like Alderaan and Hosnian Prime. It seems that even with their allies, the Resistance heroes leave nothing but destruction in their wake.

Rey and friends next land on another moon of Endor, and the poor Falcon takes another beating. While her friends work yet again to repair the old ship, Rey escapes alone to the most imposing ruins of the entire film, collapsed shell of the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi. Calling back to not only Luke’s ordeal there, but also Rey’s own origins scavenging in the carcasses of Imperial Starships, the partially-submerged battle station serves as the backdrop for still more violence and destruction. When Ben Solo arrives, Rey engages him in another duel, which ends with Leia dead and Ben mortally wounded. Though Rey heals Ben, she next flees to Ahch-To, abandoning him and taking his TIE Whisper with her.

On Ahch-To, Rey burns the TIE, standing before the flaming ruins and attempting to throw her lightsaber into the fire. Luke stops her, then leads her to an abandoned hut to find Leia’s lightsaber, a remnant of her aborted Jedi training. Lastly, Luke raises his X-Wing from the water, offering it to Rey inexplicably space-worthy and no worse for the wear having been underwater for the better part of a decade and being at least 35 years old.

Finally, all the characters converge on Exogol, where they continue to engage in as much destruction as possible, including the apparent annihilation of an entire Sith civilization who lived on the planet as part of Palpatine’s Final Order. Ben Solo also arrives on the planet to help Rey (in another OT-era fighter that is miraculously space-worthy and moreover made it across the galaxy WITHOUT A HYPERDRIVE), but Palpatine sucks the power from him and then throws him painfully down a chasm, leaving his body broken. The climactic sequence ends with thousands dead, ships destroyed, and even Rey dead (or something) on the ground. Ben drags his broken body up and across the wreckage of the arena, and dies after resurrecting her, thus ending the Skywalker line.

After a celebratory hug with her friends, Rey flies the Falcon to Tatooine, to the literal ruins of the Lars Homestead. This is the place we last saw belching smoke as Owen and Beru’s charred remains splayed grotesquely across the scene of Luke’s destroyed childhood. Recalling again Rey’s beginning scraping a meager and lonely existence from battle wreckage, she slides down a sand dune on a loose piece of debris, and precociously explores the place. Finally, she buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers (further cementing this place as a graveyard since Shmi is also buried here along with the Lars), and declares herself to be a Skywalker, the heir to these ruins.

Nostalgia as Love of a Dead or Imaginary Past

So, what does it all mean? If the Sequel Trilogy relies on ruins as a setting more than the other two trilogies, why does that matter? Isn’t it just paying homage to all the stories that led to the saga’s conclusion? Doesn’t it simply tie everything together?

Most critics and fans agree that the Sequel Trilogy relies heavily on nostalgia. In particular, JJ Abrams is often criticized for using nostalgia to such a degree that many of his films are direct copies of the stories they’re referencing: Super 8 is a mash-up of films like E.T. and Stand By Me, Star Trek: Into Darkness is a copy of The Wrath of Khan, The Force Awakens is nearly identical to Episode IV: A New Hope, and so on. Nostalgia is defined as:

“A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.”

Most of Abrams’ movies succeed in creating this feeling because they rely on a shared cultural childhood memory. We fondly remember iconic moments from the films we loved as children, so seeing those moments again creates a feeling of remembered happiness. These movies encourage the viewer to recall how they felt the first time they saw certain images by repeating those images.

The first problem with this approach is that nostalgia is for the audience, not for the characters. The believability of the characters’ actions suffers when they are forced to act out scenes from a story that is not their own, from lives and perspectives that are not theirs. The audience might love seeing a lightsaber battle because that’s quintessential Star Wars, but if the two (or more) characters have no logical reason to fight other than as a spectacle for the audience, then the scene will lack any emotional depth. Likewise, a character revering someone whom they either barely knew or openly loathed makes no sense. In the case of settings or props, characters must respond to them in a way that is believable based on their actual history (or lack thereof) with the place or object. If the main characters of a story function only as a sort of modern Greek chorus, mirroring the nostalgic reactions of the omniscient audience, then they fail to be characters at all and become the most reductive versions of a self-insert.

This video explains the problem well, from 7:09 to 10:58 (the whole video is good but fair warning that not all of his takes align with what I believe about Star Wars, especially as regards Kylo Ren/Ben Solo): 

Another problem with this reliance on nostalgia is that in order to speak to a shared childhood experience, everyone in the audience must have had similar childhoods, or at least belong to the same generation so that they all fondly remember the same things. This is necessarily exclusive, as different generations have vastly different collective experiences and memories. The members of the audience who were children at the time of the Original Trilogy’s release or shortly after grew up in a very different world than those who were children during the release of the Prequel Trilogy, or from the generation living through childhood now. Some things that older generations remember fondly carry uncomfortable or even traumatic associations for younger generations, so something intended to be nostalgic will not impact all audiences in the same way.

The legacy saber is a great example of this: an older Original Trilogy fan might be delighted to see Luke’s inaugural lightsaber from the very first Star Wars film being passed on to the new generation, but a younger fan who grew up with the Prequels might see it as a tainted symbol of Anakin’s fall to the dark side and a weapon stained with the blood of innocent younglings. A family sword meant to press the nostalgia button in The Force Awakens instead invokes a feeling of dread and horror in fans with different associations. While Rian Johnson mentions deliberately referencing the Prequels in his creation of The Last Jedi, JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio make no secret of the fact that they don’t acknowledge those films, and it shows.

Lastly, Star Wars has always been a story of youth, of coming of age, growing up, and becoming one’s own person. Luke’s story in the Original Trilogy was about him learning who he was independently of his father and mentors. He is merely a boy, young and defiant, and through his own mistakes he learns how the elder generation was wrong, resolves to do better, and thereby redeems them. Anakin’s story was similar, except that he was unable in his youth to learn the right lessons from the failures of his mentors, his defiance taking a more destructive form. In contrast to both of them, Rey learns.... that all her mentors and parental figures were right all along. In the end, she defies no one, discovers no new and better way, and ultimately brings nothing new and different to the galaxy. She brings no peace or renewal, adopting a legacy of death and destruction to cap a life that has featured only the old, dead, and destroyed.

This is where Disney and Abrams tip their hand and the true philosophy underpinning the Sequel Trilogy is revealed: in an effort to appeal to the nostalgia of older Star Wars fans, they fail to tell a story of youth and instead offer an orgy of death-worship and aesthetic decay. Rather than having the Star Wars conclude with Star Peace, the final trilogy seems to say “Weren’t those wars great? Don’t you miss them? Don’t you want to be reminded of all those wars?”

In her book The Future of Nostalgia, Svetlana Boym defines the term a little differently than the dictionary:

"Nostalgia (from nostos - return home, and algia - longing) is a longing for a home that no longer exists or has never existed. Nostalgia is a sentiment of loss and displacement, but is also a romance with one's fantasy."

Boym points out that memory is often faulty, and that fond recollection is often a reaction to current despair. If things are bad now, it is natural for us to imagine a more comforting past, as with popular references to “the good old days.” In fact, another translation of the root algos is “pain,” thereby associating the return home with pain. Is it pain that prompts our longing to return home? Pain that creates the fond memory of home in the first place? Perhaps home itself is a source of pain, and so our minds construct an imaginary home that is better than the reality. In any case, it is typical that our rose-colored glasses distort the truth of what we long for, so the danger of nostalgia is a disassociation from truth.

One of those truths that we might deny in our fantasies is the ephemeral nature of human life and experience. All things age, decay, and ultimately cease to be. They may be evergreen in memory, but in a contiguous timeline like the Skywalker Saga, every location, object, or person must inevitably show the passage of time. Thus it is that the youthful heroes of the Original Trilogy become wizened and less vital when they reappear in the Sequels, that old ships break, and symbols of better times shatter and burn. As Boym states, however, the nostalgic lives in denial:

“The nostalgic desires to obliterate history and turn it into a private or collective mythology, to revisit time like space, refusing to surrender to the irreversibility of time that plagues the human condition.”

Nostalgia cannot hide the steady march of time, which is why most stories look to the future and the creation of the new. Not so the Sequel Trilogy. At no point in the story does there appear to be a goal outside of “defeating the latest bad guys, who are identical to the old bad guys.” There’s no vision of the future toward which the characters are striving, neither on a galactic level (achieving peace) nor a personal level (starting a new family on a vibrant living planet). As such, with nothing to look forward to, the story can only look backward, trapped in nostalgia for a past that appears worse the closer you look at it.

This is why the Sequels are filled with characters, objects, and places from the Original Trilogy that are revered in spite of their violent and even traumatic pasts, not to mention visible signs of age. Ultimately a story that has nothing new to say or offer, only weak attempts to recreate a half-remembered childhood feeling of an aging generation, can ONLY logically end in a graveyard. Viewed in this light, it makes sense that the young protagonist builds her life around fond memories that for her are only imaginary, surrounded by the visible evidence of death and decay to which nostalgia blinds her.

If this is all the fan in the audience is looking for, a faded echo of their favorite memory, then perhaps that is enough. But for those who do not share the reassuring memory, or those who look forward to the future and how things might change for the better, the ending of the Skywalker Saga offers only knowledge that all things fade and die. Without the lens of nostalgia, the Sequel Trilogy is merely an empty tale of death.

star wars fic masterlist

Hey, folks! Since I am absolutely horrendous at crossposting links to fic on tumblr, thought I’d put together a masterlist of my Star Wars fics. Most of these are easily found on my AO3, but I occasionally post things here that I don’t stick up on AO3. Here divided by era for lack of a better set of themes to divide by.

High Republic Era (232 BBY–⁠)

A Master’s Counsel - Stellan wants to check in with his former Padawan after the Steady Wing disaster; Vern needs some support in the weighty decision she’s just made.

Prequels Era (32 BBY–19 BBY⁠)

You’ve Got Mail - A mixup at Naboo’s post-office puts Jango Fett’s mail in Obi-Wan’s hands. How wrong could bringing it back go? Pretty much just crack, flirting, and begrudging rescues.

Leia Meets the Prequels Gang - chunks posted on tumblr of a story where Leia was thrown back in time from the moment of Alderaan’s desctruction to the moment of Shmi’s death and fell in with the prequels trio.

Four Funerals and a Proposal - Gregar Typho's life from the battle of Naboo through the early days of the Empire, and his developing friendship with Saché, as seen through snapshots at four funerals and one proposal to build a life after together.

Rebellion Era (19 BBY–4 ABY⁠)

The Bridger Extraction - Sabine inflitrates the same elite academy that Ezra Bridger, disciplinary nightmare of an Imperial cadet, is transferred to. Project Harvester + “even in an AU fate brings Ezra to the Spectres.”

Death and the Dame - Necromancy-tinged noir AU. Qi’ra is a private investigator who specializes in the dead. Leia needs answers. Han’s their getaway driver. Qi’ra/Han/Leia, road trips, messy feelings.

death, unfolding - There is no universe in which Jabba survives his final, cruel joke. Short, experimental time loop fic feat. Hutt-Slayer Leia.

The End of Fellowship - Bodhi contemplates the first of many consequences of his choice to defect.

Gambit - Missing scene. When Maul disappears, Qi’ra makes a move to take charge of Crimson Dawn.

Ignite ‘verse - a what-if AU kindled by (off-screen) time travel: Palpatine was successfully deposed before he became Emperor, the Clone Wars lasted eight years longer, Anakin Skywalker eventually left the Order, and the Skywalker twins trained in the Jedi Temple.

It’s Not Fire You Want to Ignite - Just as Leia Skywalker is getting comfortable in her life as a Senate aide, a message from her time-traveling alternate self sends her on a quest to find one Han Solo and unsettles all her plans.

Cusp - On the twins’ eleventh birthday, Obi-Wan and Anakin look to the past, and the future. Little bit of bittersweet closure for me.

Daughter of Naboo - Leia has a complicated relationship with her homeworld. Character study covering her years in the Jedi Temple.

Keep You At My Back - a series of vignettes from the partnership of Hera Syndulla, freedom fighter, and Caleb Dume, Jedi Knight. 

bonus: timeline

That Beautiful Shore - At a post-Endor celebration, Enfys shows up to tell Han I-told-you-so.

Leave a Light in the Window - Twenty years after nearly dying on Mustafar, Padmé wakes from cryostasis. When her niece brings her back to Naboo in search of answers about her children, they're caught up in the political turmoil on Naboo, where old friends push back against a Moff intent on silencing resistance against the Empire on Naboo forever.

The Promise - Chewbacca tells Leia she’s included in the life debt; Leia doesn’t like being owed. Found family fluff, by and large.

Your Heart with Me (I Carry It in My Heart) - Lando never quite gets over losing L3; finds a kindred spirit in Hera, who loves her cantankerous droid; and experiences a reunion he’d lost hope in.

New Republic Era (5 ABY–28 ABY⁠)

fate, i found a place for us series - largely canon-compliant up through Mandalorian season 1, this ‘verse starts from the premise that when Ezra and Thrawn disappeared, they eventually found their way to the nascent First Order, working as double agents to stop it from within before it grew too strong. This is kind of now my catch-all Relatively Happy Sequels Leadup ‘verse.

we walk through the fire - When Ezra joined the Knights of Ren, neither he nor Thrawn anticipated the result of one horror too many.

darkness, yet the force - On the tenth anniversary of the Liberation of Lothal, Ezra reaches for a part of himself usually kept buried. 

All You See is My Ghost - Ezra gets a lead on the weapon he needs to confront Snoke; Thrawn investigates; Sabine and Luke don’t plan on letting Ezra go all self-sacrificial.

Rattle This Ghost Town - During the hunt for a new home for the former Nevarro covert, Sabine and old comrade Paz Vizsla clash as they contend with the ghosts of old decisions.

Happy Accidents - When attempting to get to Grogu on Tython goes very wrong, Din is thrown back in time to the Clone Wars. It takes meeting several possible Bobas before he realizes. (Bonus: unexpected babysitting duty for adult Boba).

Resistance Era (28 ABY–35 ABY⁠)

The Cost of War - *whispers* I guess this counts. Check Please characters as Resistance flyboys, Ransom and Holster focused, definitely abandoned WIP. 

rest for the weary - Finnpoerey, modern AU, h/c: after searching for her bio family and finding only heartache, Rey returns home.

Sabacc Face - Finnpoe flirting and silliness as Poe teaches Finn how to play cards.

Strangers in the Night - While running from present griefs, Han encounters an old one in the form of Qi’ra, come to check up on him.

2020 fanfic recs

Well hey, look at that. It’s International Fanworks Day, and I’m actually aware of it before it’s over! And! I actually kept track of what I read last year! That’s right, time for some fic recs. Like this barely scratches the surface of the 250+ fics I read last year, but these are the ones that jumped out at me when reviewing my list.

First up, the miscellaneous -

Eternal Horizon by Betterbemeta - Animal Crossing/Doom crossover, Gen, Mature. 23k. If there is ONE fic you read off this list, make it this one. It’s probably the only one here that I’d solidly recommend to someone outside its fandoms. It’s wholesome, it’s mindblowing. I maybe cried a little.

salt by Lvlins - Dragon Age, Solavellen, Mature. 16k. An AU where a newly awakened Solas discovers elves that are also selkies.

Diamond by midnight_marimba - Dragon Quest XI, Sylvando/Serena, Mature. 110k. This is one of those fics where I wasn’t even looking for it, but it jumped out and dragged me in. Heavy on the character development, and very queer.

Library of Alexandria by senlinyu - Harry Potter, Dramione, Explicit. 26k. I’m one of those rare weirdos that reads PWP for the worldbuilding.That said, this is great. Also, Read Dramione To Piss Off JKR 2021.

charcoal stained in generations by whalesong_and_bones - Dishonored, Emsider, General. 2k. Grief and fluff. Emily’s daughter meets the Outsider.

From Under a Shadow by cryptid_jack - Horizon Zero Dawn, Ereloy, Teen. 79k, WIP. I’m such a sucker for worldbuilding, and this is the Oseram-centric I was looking for.

Next up, Star Wars. A series that is trying and almost not failing to beat my love for it out of me.

Age of Kings by disorientedscribbler - Reylo, Explicit. 161k. Post-TLJ time travel AU, where Rey and Ben are sent back to the Prequel Era and hijinks and angst ensues.

Rey Tries Things! By andabatae - Reylo, Explicit. 30k. Modern AU. Is Youtuber/Sugar Daddy To Lovers a trope unto itself yet? Needs to be.

Inside My Wounded Soul by kimaracretak - Reylo, Teen. 22k. AU from the end of TLJ. Poetic and mythic, about memories and histories and destiny.

She-ra. Let’s watch She-ra I thought, it’ll be low investment I thought. Phfft. I really should know better by now, eh?

Tremble Before Her by VillainIHaveDoneThyMother - Entrapdak, General. 8k. You know I just really enjoy fics that view a relationship from the outside? And I always appreciate spending time with lesser appreciated characters.

Behind the Curtain (series) by mlle_ledoux - Entrapdak, Teen. 97k. Starts with fluff and headcanon and then dives deep into delicious worldbuilding, and more fluff. This fic series informs a lot of my own headcanons about the Fright Zone…

Genetic Composite by RenkonNairu - Entrapdak, Teen. 119k. Accidental baby acquisition, only it’s a clone and its parents are both ‘MIA’. There’s angst, then there’s fluff, and then more angst, then more fluff.

Of all fandoms, the only other one I read enough of this last year to justify giving it its own section here? Megamind.

Dive by dalniente - Megamind/Roxanne, Teen. 20k. I’m such a sucker for leaning into the alienness of alien characters.

Swansong by dalniente - Megamind/Roxanne, Teen. 135k. More grief! Angst! Depression! Could only be sadder if someone actually died! It’s great.

Cold Fusion by dalniente - Mega/Roxanne, General. 34k. Huh, just now noticed these are all the same author. Well, no complaints from me - consider it a blanket recommendation for their works. :D This one is a continuation from the end of the movie.

I’m going to cut it off here, lest I expand this venture beyond my available spoons.

TROS A Dark and Grim Farewell to the Skywalker Saga: Or, why Palpatine is the ultimate winner of the Star Wars Saga

From the fan theories reddit

TL;DR Palpatine doesn’t die but actually achieves his goal in The Rise of Skywalker, possessing Rey and resetting the board back to its prequel era condition with him quietly operating as a smiling “good” figure to hide his actual dark deeds.

The Rise of Skywalker ends with a victorious Rey Palpatine (alias Rey Skywalker) burying the lightsabers of both Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa on the ruined Lars homestead on Tattoine, symbolizing to the viewer the end of an era. Since Luke’s saber once belonged to Anakin we can extend the symbolism to include Anakin’s era as well. In all, Rey buries over 60 years of galactic and Jedi history in the wastelands of an Outer Rim backwater. A planet, which, by the way, bred a tremendous amount of suffering for beloved characters.

Anakin Skywalker: Raised as a slave on Tattoine until liberated by the Jedi but forced to leave his mother behind to be trained as a celibate monk. Returns a decade later only to learn that in his absence, his mother was sold, freed, married, abducted, and horrifically abused. She dies in his arms. He goes on to slaughter an entire village of Tusken Raiders (and not just the men, but the women and the children too!)

Luke Skywalker: Raised on Tattoine by Owen and Beru Lars as a moisture farmer; a hard life seriously lacking in excitement for young Luke. Luke is raised with barely the bare minimum of information about his father (not that Owen and Beru knew all that much anyway) and even the asking of questions on the subject seems to be taboo (see Owen’s line in ANH “I told you to forget it”). Returns to the Lars home one day to find his aunt and uncle savagely murdered by the Empire. Returns years later having to rescue his friends from literal slavery.

Leia Organa: Goes to Tattoine to rescue her lover from captivity only to be enslaved herself and made to wear a humiliating outfit while kept on a collar and leash by an obese alien slug. In context, that is humiliating for anyone, let alone a princess and military leader.

Point being, Tattoine, highly symbolic though it is, doesn’t hold great memories for the people whose sabers and legacy Rey is literally burying in the sand. Call me crazy but I feel like the choice of such a location for the final legacy of some of the most important figures in the history of the galaxy to be a tad insulting. After all, Luke and Leia were pillars of the Light; perhaps Anakin not so much but before he fell the man was extraordinarily selfless. And his final act was a return to his selfless “true self” (see Luke’s remark in ROTJ).

Sarcastic though he may have initially been, how was Tattoine once described by Luke?

“Well, if there’s a bright center in the universe you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.“

So Tattoine is not a bright world. In fact, it’s fairly grim. One might even say dark.

People there have to eek out a living under oppressive, dangerous conditions. There are wild raiders, scorching heat, slavery, and space ports described by a man who has literally traveled the length and breadth of the galaxy as follows:

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.“

Really, Obi Wan? Never? Not even in a Zyggerian slave mine where you yourself suffered as a slave for a short time? Tattoine must be pretty rough indeed.

In The Phantom Menace, Qui Gon Jinn says that Tattoine is “controlled by the Hutts.” Hutts. Plural. In the same film, Anakin says that he and his mother were sold to Watto by Gardula the Hutt, again telling us that more than one Hutt runs the show on Tattoine. So Hutt control of this dark, seedy backwater world didn’t end simply because Jabba the Hutt was assassinated. Again, in the same film, Qui Gon threatens Watto by asking:

“Perhaps you’d like to take this up with the Hutts? I’m sure they can settle this.“

Even a Jedi Master acknowledges that the Hutts are THE AUTHORITY on this planet. Imagine a world so dark and grim that the central authority are a bunch of slave owning (and abusing, I might add), drug smuggling, murdering crime lords who keep victims frozen in carbonite as wall decorations and feed their slaves and enemies to vicious beasts. Whose value of sentient life is so small that they callously bet slaves on the outcome of podraces. THIS is the world Rey buries the legacies of the Skywalker’s on.

All while calling herself a Skywalker.

She could have gone to Coruscant and the site of the old Jedi temple. She could have gone to Naboo, where Padme wanted to raise her children to begin with. She could have gone to Ach-to and the site of the original Jedi temple. But no, she chose Tattoine.

Granted, Rey may not know the importance of Naboo in the Skywalker history, but I know someone who does. Someone who has a personal, as well as philosophical vendetta against the Skywalkers and what they stand for. Someone who we know is capable of cheating death. Someone who has more than once tried to bait Jedi into striking him down....

In Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine goads Luke into attacking him:

“Use it (Luke’s lightsaber). I am unarmed.” “Take your Jedi weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey toward the Dark Side will be complete!”

We learn in The Rise of Skywalker that there is a Sith ritual whereby masters can in some sense apparently possess their murderer when their apprentice kills them:

“That is what I want. Kill me... and my spirit will pass into you. As all the Sith live in me... you will be Empress... we will be one.“

This adds new context to Palpatine trying to goad Luke into “killing” him decades earlier. Palpatine is looking for a new host body. In TROS Palpatine’s body is ruined. He is essentially a living corpse. In ROTJ he walks with a noticeable limp requiring the use of a cane; something he didn’t require in the prequels. Age is taking its toll on the Sith Lord and a younger, fresher body would be lovely.

And what does Rey conveniently do for him? She kills him.

Now granted, we don’t know the details of this ritual. Is it one of Palpatine’s own invention? Is it an ancient Sith technique? Is the use of a lightsaber always required for the ritual to work? It’s unclear. Technically, Palpatine’s own lightning destroyed his body. But he clearly asked for Rey to “kill” him. And Rey obliged. She did what he wanted her to do.

We know Palpatine can survive seemingly fatal destruction of his body; after all, he blew up in Return of the Jedi. And he blew up here as well. Why, exactly, can’t he come back from that? The film gives us no real explanation as to why this isn’t possible.

What it does tell us is that Palpatine wanted his granddaughter to kill him so that he could live on in her. This is what she does. Rey Palpatine then goes on to bury the legacy of Palpatine’s hated enemies, of the Jedi themselves, on a dark, oppressive, corrupt world devoid of any light for a single Skywalker family member. She buries the Jedi weapons and heirlooms in an unmarked “grave” on the grounds of a mundane ruin where both Anakin and Luke experienced heartbreak.

And lest we forget, when it’s all said and done, the Skywalker bloodline has been extinguished while the Palpatine bloodline lives on. Despite what the movie tries to tell us, the implication of all this is rather dark. I believe there’s enough evidence to assert that Palpatine ultimately won. He got the outcome he asked for. There’s no reason stated in the film to suspect that he can’t come back again or that somehow Rey is immune to his possession.

She may smile and look innocent and cute in the final scenes, but Palpatine is a master manipulator. He played the part of the smiling, kindly, grandfatherly senator/chancellor for decades. Now that he’s finally got that new body he’s been craving, what better way to stick it to his old enemies than by singling out the darkest, most oppressive place the Skywalkers knew, and dumping their legacy in the sand as his granddaughter masquerades as an adoptive Skywalker: The Phantom Menace.

The Mandalorian: What’s Next for Grogu?

https://ift.tt/2JINSo7

This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.

The seeing stone on Tython has done its job: Grogu is now in the care of the galaxy’s greatest Jedi, Luke Skywalker himself. The Mandalorian‘s finale, “The Rescue,” brings Luke in as both a surprise connection to the larger saga and a new mentor for the child. And the baby shows an immediate affinity for Luke, reaching out to touch even the screen Luke is shown on. They seem like a good match.

The episode is a delightful return of the saga’s leading man but also one that leaves us with lots of questions. Before we can get any answers, we watch the elevator doors close on Luke and Grogu in the final scene of the episode but don’t know what’s next.

During the time of The Mandalorian, we know Luke is traveling around the galaxy trying to find relics and writings left by the generations of Jedi who came before. It’s during this quest that he finds the sacred texts Rey encounters in The Last Jedi, as well as some records belonging to the High Republic‘s foremost Jedi, Avar Kriss. He has recovered a Force-sensitive tree that once grew in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant before the Empire took over, and he’s also trained his sister, Leia, to use the Force.

He’s in possession of a Jedi star compass found on the planet Pillio, which will eventually point him to Ahch-To, the planet where Luke will later go in his self-imposed exile right before the Sequel Trilogy. Just a few years after The Mandalorian, he will also set out to find Jedi ruins with his nephew Ben Solo and Lor San Tekka, the Force devotee who appeared briefly at the start of The Force Awakens.

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

So, in short, Luke has a whole galaxy to explore in order to figure out how best to build a new Jedi Order. He already has some information, but as far as we know, has not canonically started training anyone else in the ways of the Force at this point. In fact, until “The Rescue,” it seemed like Ben was Luke’s Jedi apprentice. Now Grogu might fill that spot. But Luke doesn’t have an academy to go home to yet.

But did Grogu eventually become one of the Jedi students who died when Ben Solo destroyed Luke’s academy? For one thing, Grogu isn’t around in the Sequel Trilogy, which might leave some people wondering if the little Jedi did die just before The Force Awakens. You can probably rest easy, though. He doesn’t appear in the comic book miniseries The Rise of Kylo Ren by Charles Soule and Will Sliney, which chronicles Ben’s fall to the dark side and shows the very moment Luke’s former apprentice destroyed the Jedi Temple. Since Grogu isn’t one of the Jedi students featured in those comics, you could reason he was no longer with Luke by the time the Jedi Master set up his academy. Of course, you could also make the very reasonable counter-argument that Grogu just didn’t exist in the Lucasfilm creative vault when the studio began crafting its Sequel era stories.

Just like with Luke taking Grogu on as his first(?) student, whatever fate awaits Grogu could just as easily be retconned into the timeline, meaning that his absence from the Sequel Trilogy will very likely be explained in another story. This does open up the possibility that the Lucasfilm Story Group could just decide that Grogu died off-screen during the destruction of Luke’s academy. But Disney wouldn’t kill off a beloved (and lucrative) character in such an unceremonious fashion.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Does this mean Grogu made it back to Din Djarin at some point between “The Rescue” and the Sequel Trilogy? This is very possible — and even likely. It’s no secret that Din and Grogu’s connection is at the core of what has made The Mandalorian so successful. Forget all of the nostalgia, references to classic cinema, and all of the Jedi and bounty hunter action. People ultimately care about this show because of this found family and what they mean to each other. This show wouldn’t hit quite as hard if its main characters weren’t so fully realized.

Disney seemingly breaking away from the central relationship on the show is likely more about building tension for a reunion at a later date as well as moving some pieces around on the galactic chessboard. At the end of “The Rescue,” it’s clear where Din is off to next. He’s allied himself with Bo-Katan and promised to help her retake Mandalore from the Empire once and for all. A battlefield hardly seems like a place for a mostly defenseless baby. Pulling Grogu out of the equation also makes it easier to tell a story as big as the reclamation of Mandalore without having to check in with the little Jedi every episode. And when Grogu’s on the show, you want him front and center, too.

Whether the Mandalore story is told in season 3, or if Boba Fett is taking over as the Mandalorian protagonist for a bit in The Book of Boba Fett, remains to be seen. What does seem inevitable is that Din and Grogu will reunite eventually to continue their story.

Read more

Movies

How Boba Fett Actor Jeremy Bulloch Set the Template for The Mandalorian

By Joseph Baxter

TV

How The Mandalorian Captures the Spirit of the Star Wars Prequel Era

By Megan Crouse

But in the meantime, it’s exciting to think about where Luke and Grogu might be headed to first in the Jedi’s trusty X-wing. Could Luke take Grogu back to what’s left of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to explore the little padawan’s past with the old Jedi Order? Or might they be headed to Chandrila, the capital of the New Republic at the time? Or maybe Luke will just set course for the next ruin or treasure trove of Jedi knowledge, a clear opportunity for Grogu to learn more along with him.

A more captivating destination could be Grogu’s home world, the mysterious birthplace of Yoda’s species. Ever since Yoda was introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, fans have wondered where the Jedi Master hails from, a well-kept secret that George Lucas refused to reveal while he was at the controls of the franchise. And Disney doesn’t seem any closer to answering that question…yet. With Grogu proving such a hit with fans, could Disney be tempted to explore more about the little Jedi’s roots in the undoubtedly mystical location?

It’d fit Luke’s story perfectly, too. He’d be able to learn more about his Jedi Master while in the process of becoming a master himself and passing on what he’s learned about the Force to another of Yoda’s species. It’s the kind of rhyming poetry Star Wars loves.

Whatever might be next for Grogu, we have many more months to speculate. The Mandalorian season 3 is scheduled to arrive in December 2021.

The post The Mandalorian: What’s Next for Grogu? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/357RF5A

Hi Lumi, I wanted to ask how it was like for you post-PT but pre-ST. As a PT fan (before the ST came along and loads of people now call it the worst trilogy of the bunch), it was just either OT or PT, and o' course everybody was all "OT is superior!" How was your experience in the early days? My first SW film was actually TPM! And I fell in love with the GFFA as shown in that movie, despite the clear missteps. It's kind of a dirty secret because people think I'm a lesser fan for liking TPM!

Hi!  Oh, you’re sweet to ask this of me and you’re probably going to be disappointed with the answer because my Star Wars path has been kind of boring:--> I think I was vaguely aware of the OT, but I was so young it was hard to tell, beyond “I remember liking Princess Leia”--> The Phantom Menace was actually my first SW movie, too!  I was HEAD OVER HEELS for that movie at the time, though, my memory of that era is really fuzzy because I was so young that all I remember is that I very strongly shipped Q/O and I think I read some of the JA books at the time?--> I drifted away from SW fandom probably about a year after TPM and I occasionally thought about checking out some Leia & Vader fic, but I never found any that appealed to me (I didn’t try very hard, mind) and so I kept wandering back off--> I wasn’t involved in SW fandom until The Force Awakens, when I came out a total sequels fan and that was my primary focus.  Absurdly, the thing that got me to even go see TFA was that Darth Darth Binks theory on Reddit and I was desperate to know if it was true, it ate my brain for a couple of weeks.-->  But then I got into ST fandom (I shipped Finn/Rey to a degree, but mostly I was a hardcore Kylux shipper back then) and wasn’t really involved in OT or PT era fandom, though, I was reasonably Jedi-critical.  I did the whole “they were actually kind of a cult” and “they taught people to suppress their emotions” and “they had to end so a new, better source of the light could arise” bit.  I was absolutely onboard that train.  I even did the “everyone knows the prequels were objectively bad” thing, much to my chagrin.-->  I wanted fix-it fic for the ST, because things were so sad!  Luke and Leia and Han should be happy!  I don’t find this new story satisfying, BRING ON THE FIX-IT FIC.  Except you can’t really fix the OT 100% without fixing the PT.  So, I started getting invested in time travel fics for the PT era, which led me to go, “hmm, maybe I should watch The Clone Wars” because everyone says it’s actually good.-->  Three things happened over the span of about the first six episodes of TCW:     - I realized, what, what?  Obi-Wan is actually pretty kind and supportive towards Anakin???  But that’s not-- that’s not what I thought was going on with the prequels???      - OH SHIT OLD MARRIED COUPLE BANTER WITH OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN, NOOOOOOOO, I ANTI-SHIPPED THEM BEFORE, NOW THEY’RE AN OTP??? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???      - Well, shit.  I love this show.  I love these characters.  I’m going to go back and go over the prequels movies again.  WAIT, THE PREQUEL MOVIES ARE MY FAVORITES NOW????-->   That was me now.  That was my life now.  Die-hard Jedi stan, Obi-Wan Kenobi stan, Anakin stan, Obi-Wan&Anakin stan, prequels stan.Which is a long-winded way of saying:  I never really had a chance to experience the post-PT/pre-TFA fandom in the way you probably did.  My experiences with TPM fandom were very positive, people loved that movie and they were excited about the characters and sharing a crapload of fic, and I didn’t really experience much of the wider world beyond that fandom specifically.By the time I got into TCW fandom, it had been established enough that it had its fans and I could sink into that part of the fandom, as well as I wasn’t registering the “the PT is kind of actually really terrible” comments because I had internalized a lot of that and was only just beginning to shed it.I know it was tough for a lot of years and even today I still see a lot “yeah, but everyone knows the PT movies were really bad” like it’s objective fact, but I think the more SW explores more areas, the more people can just go, “Well, that part wasn’t for me, I’m going to stick to the part I like.” and it eases things up.  I think it was probably hard for a lot of OT fans when the PT was in full swing, where all the new TV shows and comics and books were very PT-heavy, so there wasn’t really room to get away from it.Now, we each have more space to play in, if we don’t like that era over there.  And I think that’s a thing that’s really, really valuable, that a lot of us need that kind of positive space to just have a good time in our fandom, instead of constantly being bombarded by people who actively dislike what we like.  As well as we need to be able to get away from things we don’t like, lest we become the ones elbowing out others’ enjoyment of what they happen to like.My closest experience to yours is probably being a Jedi fan in this fandom, which, LOL, can be pretty difficult sometimes.  I’ve mostly made my peace with it and found my groove for myself, but there were some really, really rough patches when I just wanted to be left the fuck alone or when I felt incredibly isolated.  This isn’t me yelling at fandom, people have different opinions!  But because of the way a handful of fans behaved and a lot of my fellow Jedi fans feeling pushed out of fandom/too scared to make posts, it was hard to navigate through my feelings on that.I imagine a lot of PT fans went through similar struggles with their feelings and how it felt like they were being elbowed out by people hating on this thing they loved, in such large numbers.But I’m glad that you seem to be in a better place.  It sucks that we go through this, but fandom is fandom, they don’t owe us agreement with what we like, whether they’re perfectly nice about it or assholes about it, and we can make our own corners in fandom and find joy that way.Being in love with TPM is GREAT and anyone who says that you’re wrong for loving that movie is being a dick.  It doesn’t have to be their favorite movie, hell, they can think it’s a terrible movie.  But there’s room for more than one opinion and viewpoint, so JUST YELL LOUDER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE TPM AND THE GALAXY OF THE PREQUELS.  It’ll make you feel better to pour out a bunch of love for this thing you like, too.  ♥

I really want a time travel fic where ben and rey and the gang (finn, Poe, and rose) get sent back to the clone wars era. Ben can realize that his gramps wasn't all that great and padme was the one that he should have admired and rey can see that the jedi were garbage. Rey dealing with her darkness when they encounter palpatine and wanting to kill him so what happens in the future doesn't come to pass. Ben telling her that's not the way and that he would suffer their present a thousand times over just so he could have her as she is. The past doesn't define them but they know how to fix the future now. Ben getting to be himself and bogged down by the persona of kylo ren. Finn learn about clones and their evolution into the stormtroopers and has actual feelings and grows as person (jj did him so dirty) also finn hanging out with obi-wan Rose learns the faults of the republic and sees that war was inevitable with the clusterfuck that is bureaucracy. Her and padme get along. Unfortunately idk what to do for Poe, he is part of the gang and I guess he is the leader ...maybe getting along with anakin while ben doesn't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (the movies did such a great job developing his character😖) I just want prequel character interaction with sequel character because they were all disrespected!!

And for the reylo bits:

Domestic scenes

Them going out on dates and shit

Taking baths together I dunno

Them laughing together

Them enjoying city life on Coruscant

Living in the glamorous apartments that padme had

Visiting naboo

It's a crack fic but I dont care.

Completely Random Thoughts #2 (Continued): Acnologia Prequel Movie Headcanon Ideas (Edited)

After my last post about an Acnologia Prequel movie, I decided to go a typical tumblr poster route and bullet-pointed a list of ideas that I would personally use if I were to make this movie. The following will have slight retcons to them, so don’t be too alarmed if there is something that would change something in canon. If anyone else has any ideas for this concept, please share them. I’d love to hear what any of you have.

- To start with, the movie’s artstyle would be something closer to Phoenix Priestess compared to Dragon Cry. I have nothing against the Dragon Cry artstyle, in fact I think it looks fantastic, but I just personally prefer how Acnologia looks in the regular anime compared to Dragon Cry.

- The movie would begin with the birth of a baby Acnologia, who would be given the name “Hajimari”, which is the Japanese word for “beginning”. While initially supposed to represent the start of a new life, this name would foreshadow Acnologia’s role as the “bringer of a new era”.

- Growing up in the Hidden Land of Montes Secreta, we learn many things about Hajimari’s childhood. We learn that his father is the local medic for the village, with his wife being one of his former patients. They are both non-magical folk, as is everyone in Montes Secreta. 

- In fact, Hajimari is the only resident of the entire village to have Magic, having developed the power to use healing magic. A trait which would eventually be admired by Hajimari’s young brother.

- Hajimari actually first developed his magic power during a chance encounter with the guardian of Montes Secreta, Acnologia I. While many Dragons inhabited the village, Acnologia I served as the primary guardian and protected the humans against any threat. After a notably fierce battle, a young Hajimari would find an injured Acnologia I and helped heal his wounds with his new-found Magic.

- After this event, the boy and Dragon would become close friends. Acnologia I becoming a sort of teacher to Hajimari as he taught him Dragon culture while Hajimari served to help keep the Dragon company and helped heal wounds he attained in battles to protect the village.

- As Hajimari grows into an adult, he experiences many developments. He becomes an admirer of Dragons, gains a young brother who looks up to him,  and gains the title of “Doctor”. However, he also grows anxious about how weak his actual magic is. After failing to save someone even with his healing magic, Hajimari grew less confident of his ability to help anyone. A complex he confides with his close friend, Acnologia I.

- At this time, Acnologia I has heard the tales of wizards gaining a “Dragon-Killing” Magic and goes off to investigate the rumors. Unlike the series, however, we see what happens when Acnologia I encounters a group of Dragon Slayers who have grown mad with power. After being nearly killed by the rogue wizards, Acnologia I returns and converses with the Dragons of Montes Secreta, telling them of the kind of monsters that humans could become.

- The results are the slaughtering of the people of Montes Secreta by the very Dragons that once protected them. Among the destruction, Hajimari loses the family he once held so dear. He witnesses his parents consumed by the flames and his kid brother dies in his arms, his magic not being powerful enough to save him.

- And then the story goes as you know it, Hajimari is the lone survivor of the rampage. Looking over the destruction, he grows a hatred and lust to kill the beings he once oh so admired. For that, he needed the power to slay Dragons. As such, he heads to Ishgar to attain the power he seeks, to make all Dragons bleed.

- After a long journey, he finally makes it to Dragnof. While he’s disgusted at the idea of co-existence with Dragons, and even more so when learning he has to be taught by one, he bears with it in order to achieve his goal. While the Dragons are initially weary of the mysterious traveler, the queen of Dragnov Irene makes the decision to allow his teaching of Dragon Slayer Magic, having felt pity after hearing the tale of his tragedy. However she remained unaware of the growing darkness within Hajimari’s heart.

- To the surprise of many, Hajimari become the first and only human capable of learning a rare form of Dragon Magic known as “Spirit Dragon Slayer Magic”. A Slayer with the power to harness their own spirit in order to inflict damage to a Dragon’s very soul, hurting them in ways no other Slayer could. This magic would also allow Hajimari to consume the souls of the Dragons he killed, a tidbit that would eventually lead to him developing multiple Magic Types at a time, unknown to everyone but Hajimari.

- As the years go on, Hajimari makes a name for himself as one of the most powerful and one of the most aggressive Dragon Slayers working for co-existance. Bidding his time for when he can truly drive Dragons to extinction, he bites his tongue and continues to work with Irene’s cause. However, this form of lifestyle leaves Hajimari unfulfilled, feeling like he isn’t doing enough to avenge all of his fallen loved ones.

- Yet one day, while on a mission from Irene, Hajimari kills a Dragon chasing a girl, a young child named “Rei”. After unintentionally saving her, she begins to follow Hajimari, much to his annoyance. Admiring his strength, Rei essentially becomes a fangirl for Hajimari.

- Eventually, Hajimari begins to form a friendship with Rei, since she reminds him of how his young brother used to look up to him. They form a bond as they share their stories, revealing that Rei too experienced Dragons slaughtering her family. While some of his fellow Dragon Slayers (and even a few Dragons) would mock the “fearsome” Hajimari for taking in a kid, he didn’t care as he now had someone to protect and look after...for now.

- Everything would change, however, when Rei tragically loses her life to an ambush from a Dragon, Hajimari being too late to save her. Exploding in rage, Hajimari’s anger amplifies his magic to the point where he activates his Dragon Force for the first time and savagely rips apart the Dragon. 

- After this tragedy, Hajimari begins his true descent into madness. Becoming even more savage in his rage to exterminate Dragons and all who dare support them, no longer caring about the orders of Irene and going rogue. In this period of time is when Hajimari loses his memories, gains the title “Acnologia”, and becomes a full “Arcane Dragon Slayer” along with gaining his Dragonized Form. 

- The entire climax would revolve around Acnologia at his peak initiating the Dragon King Festival, with the onlookers including Irene, Anna Heartfillia, and Zeref. The movie ending on a shot of Acnologia atop a mountain of Dragon corpses and roaring towards the heavens proclaiming, “I AM ACNOLOGIA, THE DRAGON KING!!!” 

BONUS:

- Originally I didn’t want to make Acnologia a “Spirit Dragon Slayer” since I thought that’d be too out of place, but the appearance of a Ghost Dragon Slayer in 100 Year Quest proved me otherwise. So whelp.

- I wrestled a bit with the idea of making Rei be Sonya from Dragon Cry, adding more meaning to the Post Credit Scene. I decided against it since it would require too much retconning to actually work (Although I guess Sonya’s death would affect Acnologia slightly more after losing both his sibling and Rei in this scenario).

- Something that would definitely be in the movie would be the bitter reunion of Hajimari and Acnologia I. I’m currently on and off at thinking of having Acnologia I actually being the one who kills Rei and begins Hajimari’s savage rampage. The meeting would expectedly end with the gruesome death of Acnologia I, who would reflect on his past choices and die in shame of the kind of monster that he helped create. 

But yeah, that’s what I got so far for my Acnologia Prequel Movie idea. Please, let me know what you think of it.

WISHLIST.

oh i'll add to this later.

someone braiding rey's hair.

sequels era rey (kenobi) meeting obi-wan either him ending up in that era or rey ending up in the prequels.

rey + obi-wan in any capacity. she could be his padawan (':

rey as satine's " niece " or handmaiden-adjacent but she's actually the korkie stand-in (aka secretly obi-wan's child?)

rey growing up in the resistance alongside poe and snap.

rey + kylo bonding. i think they have great potential to be something akin to lilo + stitch. or hiccup + toothless.

rey skywalker. rey skywalker. i typically go with lost child of luke / luke + mara.

rey getting visits from various jedi force ghosts pre-tfa when she was along on jakku (i've done this with anakin rpers and it was soft!! would love to do again)

prequels era order 66 survivor.

prequels era jedi falling for someone she shouldn't (': so they sneak around. ( finnrey au finnrey au )

i had a prequels ship that was rey falling in love but then order 66 happened and they didn't see each other for years. i love the emotions of love during war and still loving each other when you assume they're dead. they live on in your love for them.

finnrey.

could ship rey + poe tbh. like i see the vision ... i see it.

had an au once where rey was a child of anakin + padme in a world where anakin didn't fall and instead left the order. it was a vibe. would love to do it again.

rey kissing women.

pre-tfa rey who's stubborn and feral, yet very kind to the people around her and takes care of the people who deserve it and stands up for the little guy.

my au's !! atla, spn, winx club !! time traveling !! tinkerbell !! pjo !!

rey + clones ! rey + tbb !

Star Wars Fic Masterpost

Prequels/Clone Wars Era

May the Force Get With You- You’d think Anakin Skywalker’s conception would be pretty epic, mythic even, but you’d be wrong. Turns out, the Force is a lousy lay and a worse father. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force, Salty Narrator)

Second Wind - Ahsoka takes the wrong exit of the the world between worlds and ends up with a second chance at saving her master. (Ahsoka Tano, Shmi Skywalker)

Pain Management - Anger can get a slave killed. Shmi teaches her son some coping strategies. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Watto)

The Force Is In the Details - The chance cube lands on red and now Shmi must learn to manage with a freedom she never asked for. Written as part of the Jedi Fest Rogue Robin challenge as a continuation of The Force is in the Details. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme Amidala, Jedi Council)

The Anchor That You Can’t Leave Behind - On the queen’s yacht headed back to Naboo, Anakin and Padmé miss their mothers but Obi-Wan can’t get why. (Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose - When Obi-Wan told him he was free at Qui-Gon’s funeral, Anakin took him at his word. There may, however, have been something of misunderstanding. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

For Amidala - Her handmaidens had all poured so much of themselves into Amidala, it was like they were part of her now. Padmé didn’t know if she had the strength to let one go. (Padme Amidala, Sabe, handmaidens)

Wordspring - Anakin’s words dry up in the middle of his fourth month at the Temple. If Obi-Wan can’t get them flowing again, maybe someone else will. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sheev Palpatine, various Jedi)

Nothing to Write Home About - A month after losing his wife, Cliegg Lars decides to write to her son. Anakin Skywalker gets the pen pal he never knew he needed. WIP. (Anakin Skywalker, Cliegg Lars, Owen Lars, Beru Lars, Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala)

For the Greater Good - Count Dooku has never seen the appeal of Anakin Skywalker, but, when the Chosen One breaks with the Council over the treatment of the clones, he decides acquiring the boy’s allegiances might be worthwhile after all. WIP co-written with @grand-duc and @thendstartsnow (Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine, Clone Troopers)

Once More With Feeling - A redeemed Anakin travels back in time post-RotJ and decides to unfuck the timeline with mixed results. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Sheev Palpatine, Jedi Council, bunch of other people)

Bridal Carry - On Naboo, it’s tradition for the groom to carry the bride to their marriage bed. With Anakin’s new prosthetic, it’s more difficult than it sounds. (Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker)

Secret Tunnel - War in the Outer Rim! While fighting on the mining world of Mumblety, Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano is tasked with mapping the tunnels along with a team of clones. When trouble strikes, will she have what it takes to save the day and complete the mission? (Ahsoka Tano, Echo, Fives, Anakin Skywalker)

No Place Like Home - Ahsoka’s return to the temple after her first deployment was strange, made even stranger by the fact that it should’t be strange at all. (Ahsoka Tano, Rex)

Eat, Snip, Love - Ahsoka can’t remember the last time she had a home cooked meal. Anakin and Padmé are determined to change that. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala)

Love and Support - After Padmé is shot at a conference, her mother insists she come home. Padmé, of course, is going no where. Episode tag to 3.07 “Assassin.” (Padmé, Ahsoka)

Across a Crowded Room - It’s a party in his honor, but it turns out the Hero With No Fear isn’t good with crowds. Padmé to the rescue. (Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker)

Lightening Rod - Anakin gets electrocuted…again. It probably says something bad about his life that he’s getting used to it. (Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Coming Out of My Cage, Doing Just Fine - On the way back from Kadavo, it finally hits her. In this war, Ahsoka had been outmatched, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, but she’d never felt powerless. Not like she did in that cage on Zygerria. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker)

In Our Bed After the War - After the mission to Zygerria, Padmé and Anakin have a difficult conversation. (Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker)

Domestic Life Was Never Quite My Style - Despite her best efforts, Padmé is pregnant. Now she has a difficult decision to make. (Padme Amidala, C-3P0)

You Call That Family? - In an AU where Anakin has left the order to be Padme, Obi-Wan encounters unexpected resistance when he goes to collect the twins. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala)

Birthright - The Force called him to his family and Anakin is not prepared to give them up. Not even to the Jedi Council. (Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, baby Skywalkers)

If Not For These Bad Dreams - Fives has dreamed about killing every Jedi he’s ever met except General Skywalker. Turns out he’s not the only one. (Fives, Kix, Tup, Jesse)

Dateline Felucia - Embedded with the troops on Felucia, a reporter from HoloNet News paints an intimate portrait of the men of the 212th Attack Battalion. (Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Waxer, Boil, clone troopers)

Ahsoka the Vampire Slayer - Ahsoka is the Chosen One, the Slayer, or at least she was until she died. She got better, but now there’s a new Slayer in town and things with her Watcher are strained at best. Add in a bunch of zombie mind control bugs and Ahsoka’s week could be going better. BtVS fusion. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Barriss Offee, Luminara Undili)

Bursts of Stardust - Collection of short tumblr prompts. (Everyone ever)

Rebels Era

With the Rest of the Miscreants - Boy meets galaxy and learns to live in it. A lost baby Jedi adapts in four ‘easy’ steps. (Caleb Dume, Janus Kasmir)

Cloak, No Dagger - In light of the intel from Gorse, Hera and Ahsoka rethink mission protocols while putting on a show for the ISB agent watching them.  (Hera Syndulla, Ahsoka Tano)

Tag - Sabine and Ketsu, bounty hunters extraordinaire, argue about how to sign their work. (Sabine Wren, Ketsu Onyo)

Swordsmith - Ezra makes his lightsaber. It’s not his life, except in all the ways it is. (Ezra Bridger, Ghost Crew)

Graffiti on the Walls of the Heartland - Three works of art Sabine made for crew members and one she made for herself. (Sabine Wren, Chopper, Hera Syndulla,Kanan Jarrus)

Chicken Soup for the Jedi Soul - Four meals Kanan cooked for his crew and one he made for himself.  (Kanan Jarrus, Ghost Crew)

Ain’t No Fun (Life on the Run) - Ain’t no fun living life on the run but, with his Hera and their crew by his side, Kanan finds it isn’t always so bad. (Kanan Jarrus, Ghost Crew)

Wild Blue Yonder - After the events of “The Brotherhood of the Broken Horn,” Hera decides it’s high time Ezra learn how to fly. (Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, Zeb Orrelios)

A Distraction - Kanan’s been blinded. There’s nothing Hera can do to fix it so Chopper gives her something she can. Written as part of the Jedi Fest Rogue Robin challenge as a continuation of A Distraction. (Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Chopper)

Then My Hair’s Too Short - Apparently, Ezra had a new hair cut. That’s fine, it’s his head after all. Kanan just wished he had mentioned it. (Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger)

The Blind Beggar - When Ezra objects to Kanan taking point on a mission, Kanan decides its time they had a talk. (Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Ghost Crew)

Cut to the Heart - Sabine found the stupid thing in a cave, but now the Darksaber is taking over her life. Kanan gives her a little perspective. Tag to 3.13 “Trails of the Darksaber.” (Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus)

Rebel Moments - Collection of short tumblr prompts (Ghost Crew)

Rogue One

The Lord’s Estate - Every lord must have an estate. Lord Vader’s is Mustafar. (Vader, Palpatine)

Peace is a Lie - Sometimes Vader wakes up and can’t remember what war he’s fighting. (Darth Vader)

A Cog In Something Turning - Cassian hadn’t meant to give K-2SO free will. Good thing for both of them he’s a terrible slicer. (K-2SO, Cassian Andor)

Original Trilogy

Sea of Sorrow and Sand - Ben Kenobi is an island in a sea of sorrow and sand. Beru Lars has come to drag him back to shore. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Beru Lars)

What Remains - What remains of a relationship built on lies? Nothing, as Darth Sidious will soon find out. (Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Padmé Amidala’s preserved corpse)

On This Strange and Mournful Day - The events of Vader Down go very differently. The father and child reunion is only a motion away. (Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Dr. Aphra)

After the Funeral - Han offers Luke some unexpected support after the funeral of the guy who tortured him. (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo)

A Cynic’s Guide to the New Golden Age - The second Death Star goes kabloowie and takes the galaxy with it. It’s a new golden age of piracy and Aphra’s got some looting to do. (Dr. Aphra, Luke, 0-0-0, BT-1, Black Krrsantan)

The Last Truce We Ever Came To - Darth Vader is dead but he won’t leave Leia alone. (Leia Organa, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker)

Lego Star Wars - The Freemaker Adventures

Disembodied - Roger loses his head and, frankly, it’s getting old. (R0-GR, Rowan Freemaker, Kordi Freemaker, Zander Freemaker)

Sequel Era

Red Fish, Blue Fish - Leia bought an aquarium for her child like her father before her. In a perfect world she could raise Ben to fill his grandfather’s legacy. Too bad he had more than one. (Leia Organa, Ben Solo, Angst)

A Matter of Precedence - FN-2187 wasn’t the first, except for the time he was. Others have defied the First Order before, but none quite as spectacularly. (Finn, First Order)

So You Want to be a (Space) Wizard - Finn finds a mysterious book, takes an Oath, and starts one hell of an Ordeal. Crossover with Young Wizards. (Finn, Poe Dameron, Rey)

Old Haunts (All We’ve Ever Known) - Anakin and Obi-Wan as snarky Force ghosts during The Force Awakens. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, TFA cast)

Lady in Waiting - Rey’s spent so much of her life waiting it’s hard to know when to stop. Luckily, Poe’s there to give her the push she needs. (Rey, Poe Dameron, Leia Organa, Finn)

Not a Drop to Drink - On Luke’s island, Rey couldn’t quite get her mind around the sheer amount of water stretching out towards the horizon. (Rey, Luke Skywalker)

Yes, it’s true -- I’m writing the adult novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

No, I can’t tell you anything else -- that will come from Del Rey and Lucasfilm in good time. (Patience, young Jedi.)

But needless to say, I’m really excited. I mean, just look at that picture!  

In the summer of 1977 I read the novelization of the original Star Wars (ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster) so many times that it fell apart -- the one you see there is a replacement copy. I devoured everything, from the Journal of the Whills prologue and the revelation (in the photo insert, of all places) that Tarkin burned to be Emperor to the weird stuff, like Luke remembering a dog he once owned and wondering what a duck is.

I saw the Donald F. Glut novelization of Empire in my local WaldenBooks (in the Smith Haven Mall on Long Island) a couple of weeks before the movie came out, gasped, and started reading it while walking through the corridors. (Not recommended.) The back cover promised STARTLING REVELATIONS, and they weren’t kidding. (I also ran with Han calling Hoth “deader than a Triton moon,” using that as the seed for my first Star Wars short story.) I dug into James Kahn’s Jedi novelization with the same fervor, loving Jabba’s boast about killing Jedi when the name meant something and the comparison of the rebel and Imperial fleets to seagoing armadas. 

For the prequel era, my first assignment for the Star Wars Insider was to interview Terry Brooks about his Phantom Menace novelization; while I was the Insider book columnist I also interviewed Bob Salvatore and Matt Stover, as well as Foster and Glut. Three Celebrations ago I found myself next to Foster for an impromptu tour of the TFA costumes and props; and it’s been a pleasure getting to know Alexander Freed as a fellow author at Lucasfilm meetings.

So Star Wars novelizations have been a part of my fandom from the very beginning -- and now I get to write one. I’ve had a lot of pinch-me moments, but that’s near the top. And I can’t wait to share this book with you.

If you’re new to my writing, this is the place where I share links to the latest things I’ve done, as well as photos and some random thoughts. Besides Star Wars, I co-write a blog about the New York Mets and write about travel, storytelling, movies, music and anything else that moves me. (You can also follow me on Twitter, but be aware you’ll have to put up with a lot of baseball agita and some politics.)  

Want more Star Wars from me? I’ve written 40-odd books and short stories, so there’s plenty. Try the four-volume Servants of the Empire series (start here), which ties in with Star Wars: Rebels. It’s marketed to kids, but the storytelling works for readers of any age. Check out The Weapon of a Jedi, my Luke Skywalker adventure, or the crazy-geeky The Essential Atlas, co-written with Dan Wallace. 

I’m also the author of the Jupiter Pirates series, which includes three books with two more to come. It’s not Star Wars, but it’s about space pirates and it’s got battles, lost treasures, family secrets and all sorts of other stuff that I’m pretty sure you’ll like.

That’s it for now -- if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a book to write!

25 star wars asks

25 star wars asks

Doing this to de-stress and do some fun fandom reflecting lol. Here we go!

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

This is tough. Overall, I find non-force users (I’m including people who were/are force sensitive in canon like Leia but can’t actually manipulate it) a lot more interesting! They tend to be more inventive and diverse in beliefs and perspectives, and their interactions with force users (and their politics) is always a cool dynamic to see!

2. which character do you want to be most like?

Oh, easy. Padme Amidala, hands down. Her passion, vision, hard work and hope make her a wonderful leader- which is something I aspire to be. Additionally, she’s flawed in the sense that she’s naive in her beliefs at times. She’s far from perfect, but Padme’s legacy (as ignored and hidden as it is in the canon after her death) is obvious in her children and the resistance she inspired. She also parallels Anakin, who in some ways embodies the things I struggle with most in myself. If anyone else came close to being someone I’d want to emulate, it would be the twins. Together they are the best of both their parents.

3. which character are you actually most like?

Yikes. Kinda covered this, but I guess… Maybe Luke? I’m not as wild as Anakin, or as passionate as Padme. I feel like Luke is a nice in-between of those two, but more mellow and simple-minded than Leia- in a good way. He’s jaded, but still maintains this sense of young, youthful naivete that Leia didn’t (despite remaining a very hopeful and strong person). He’s a soft boy, you know? I feel like Luke’s ability to come off still full of wonder, knowing how awful things can be, but still choosing to be optimistic- that’s something I can relate to.

4. what headcanon will you defend to the death?

THAT PADME WOULD’VE BEEN A FANTASTIC CHANCELLOR. Seriously, Bail Organa wouldn’t pick some basic for the job and he (at least in one of the books) was eager for her to take over that role from Palpatine. She died too young. Had so much promise. Also, her and Anakin would’ve been great parents- minus all the political drama.

5. what planet would you most like to visit?

Naboo! Yes, that’s where Padme’s from lol, but more so I just love it. It’s a beautiful planet with lots of water and agriculture. Plus, even if I do see the flaws in its’ political system, any planet that supports the education and empowerment of young women can sign me the hell up.

6. what planet would you most like to live on?

Again, Naboo! I’d love to learn in their schools and travel the natural sites, like rivers and waterfalls.

7. who do you hope you never meet?

Real talk, I hope I never meet Jaba. Snoke, Darth Vader (pre-redemption), other Sith Lords/villains, I don’t care. I mean yeah they would suck, but Jabba forces women to be his sex slaves. I’d rather die than be shoved into some golden skimpy outfit and dance for the pleasure of some slimy, horny slug alien. If I picked someone who isn’t technically evil though, I’d avoid Yoda. He’s more corrupt than he thinks and I wouldn’t want him in my head.

8. what is one thing you would change about any movie, show, book, etc?

Hm. One: Padme’s death. I still don’t think she died because of a loss of a will to live. I firmly believe her kids would’ve given her hope to move forward, even without the Republic or Anakin. At the very least, futuristic medicine would’ve kept her hanging on a LITTLE longer than that. Other than that, I’m still torn about Ben Solo in the movies. I think just because I pity Han and Leia, I wanna make him a happy kid who maybe doesn’t destroy everything his parents fought for.

9. have you ever made fanart or fanfic? do you make edits or any other fan content?

I’ve made fanart of Padme before! It’s on my art blog~ Doodled Leia a couple times too, and I have Star Wars OC’s I’m fairly attached to

10. do you think the jedi were right or wrong?

WRONG. They were corrupt, too, especially during the Clone Wars era. Allowing clones to be used as disposable war machines, only training and manipulating young kids, being overconfident, controlling/shaming members who don’t follow their ideals, their strict rules and polarizing attitude- all of it was very not okay.

11. who is the most underrated character?

Padme. They practically erased her from canon in a lot of ways so. Anakin and Obi Wan survived the prequel shame because they were pre-established in the original trilogy, but Padme? They straight up try to forget her. Even after all the great book and Clone Wars TV show development too…

12. do you care who rey’s parents are?

Sorta? I mean at this point it seems like it’s important to her development as a character, so I’d want to know for that alone. I am a little curious though. Personally, the only theory I endorse is that she’s a Kenobi. Sorry “Rey Skywalker” fans, but your theory is pretty baseless.

13. if you could resurrect one dead character, or prevent them from dying, who would it be?

Padme obviously. So she could do the great things she was capable of to their full capacity. If not her, then Qui Gon Jinn or Shmi Skywalker. Jinn would’ve saved EVERYONE a lot of trouble, and Shmi being used as a plot device for her son after all she went through kinda sucked. I would say Han but we gotta let Harrison Ford off the hook, he’s been asking for years, okay?

14. what is your favorite alien species?

The Togruta! Their design, and Ahsoka’s character, really sealed the deal for me haha.

15. who would you like to bang?

Honestly? Probably Obi Wan lol. Or Leia. Two very different types, two very different experiences. And of the new trilogy, Poe could get it any day lol.

16. which movie/episode have you watched the most?

The Force Awakens, actually! It’s the only Star Wars movie I got to see in a theater. My mom saw the first Star Wars when it came out and that’s her favorite too- I think the experience made it for both of us lol.

17. what is your favorite line?

“So this is how liberty dies… With thunderous applause.” In our current political climate, Padme says it best.

18. what is your favorite star wars book or comic?

I don’t have one! I haven’t gotten to read any. Of all the ones I’ve seen clips of though, Leia’s comic looks really great!

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

I love that stuff. I say expand away!

20. what do you hope will happen in future movies?

They’ll explore ideas and dynamics we haven’t before in the movies- like the Jedi’s own corruption, the gray area of the force, and more stuff relating to non-force users.

21. if you could switch any character’s gender, who would it be and why?

Nah, I don’t endorse this kind of stuff. I don’t really see gender as making anything that much more interesting beyond its’ use already in canon. Maybe if it added some LGBTQ+ representation or challenged some canon ideal?  Or if Leia was a dude just for that Jabba the Hutt scene. It sucked that she was turned into a sexual slave for the sake of plot, and if she was a man it would flip that sexism on its’ head.

22. favorite droid?

BB-8 honestly. I feel like we’d get along best is all. He’s like a cute lil’ puppy.

23. what’s your favorite star wars musical piece or theme?

Beyond the Stars from the Attack of the Clones. Really beautiful piece.

24. how do you pronounce twi’lek?

Uh, two-will-lehk?

25. which character do you have a love/hate relationship with?

The Jedi as a whole, really. The council, including Yoda, Anakin and Obi-Wan, are a big gray area for me at times lol.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian – Baby Yoda Explained

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers.

The Mandalorian is back for a second season featuring more adventures for Mando and the Child, better known as our beloved Baby Yoda. Ever since the Force-sensitive Child was introduced in the first episode as a helpless bounty sought after by Imperial agents, this little character has stolen the show, giving us a new twist on the well-established concept of Jedi Master Yoda. Not that the character is related to his famous movie predecessor. In fact, we don’t yet know where Baby Yoda comes from or who his people are, which is why The Mandalorian season 2 will see the duo embark on a journey to find Baby Yoda’s home.

At the end of the first season, the Armorer tells Mando that it’s possible Baby Yoda’s people are the Jedi, ancient sorcerers and enemies of the Mandalorians, but it’s also suggested at one point that he might be the result of some pretty nefarious experiments. Based on what we know, it could really go either way. We certainly wouldn’t put it past the Empire to try and clone their own version of the Jedi Master to control.

As The Mandalorian season 2 kicks off, let’s break down the mystery and what the movies, Expanded Universe of books and comics, and lore tell us about Baby Yoda.

Stream Star Wars shows with a FREE TRIAL of Disney+!

What is Yoda’s species?

We don’t exactly know. Not only is their home planet unknown, but so is the species’ real name (if it even has one), which is why it’s simply refered to as “Yoda’s species.”

When George Lucas originally created the character, Yoda was intended as a mysterious creature, an open-ended question in a wide universe. “He’s a mystery character,” Lucas said in an interview with Moviefone. “He’s a magical character. He has no background. He comes and he goes. He’s the subversive secret mysterious stranger that enters the film and then exits at the end.”

Puppeteering and voice acting by Frank Oz catapulted the character into fame. In some original concept art, Yoda is more elf-like than alien, with longer legs and a pointed hat that wouldn’t be out of place on a classic gnome. The pointed ears are the surviving trait that display the character’s fantasy influence. 

There is one other member of this species in Star Wars canon: Yaddle, a Jedi Master who sat on the Jedi Council in the Prequel era. She was known for both exuding patience and kindness, and having exceptionally deadly Force powers that could trap a person in stasis. 

The species is so rare and mysterious that no one knows what exactly is so mysterious about them. Is it happenstance that their species produced the greatest Jedi Master in the modern era? Perhaps there is something inherently powerful in the Force about them. Perhaps they’re no more or less likely to be great Jedi than humans are.  

Episode 2, “The Child,” might have offered an answer. Early in the episode, the baby reaches out a hand as if trying to use the Force to heal the wounded Mando, who puts him back in the bassinet before anything can happen (we later learn in episode 7 that Baby Yoda can indeed heal severe wounds.) The fact that Baby Yoda is Force-sensitive is confirmed later in episode 2 when the Child lifts the charging Mud Horn monster with the Force. It clearly takes a lot out of the Child, a Herculean effort of a task that would be challenging even for an adult Jedi. Remember how Luke struggled to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp? This baby can use the Force before he can even talk. Clearly he’s powerful, and it makes sense based on what we know about this species that the power could be inherent in his biology.

At the very least, we’re all expecting him to the magic hand thing now, just like Greef.

What does Baby Yoda mean for Star Wars canon?

Part of the reason the big reveal in the series premiere is so remarkable is that Lucas has long advocated for keeping Yoda’s species secret. When everything in Star Wars is explained, the universe feels big, but it can also feel rote. The Yoda species remains an element that cannot be canonized, cannot be commodified. It gestures at Star Wars’ fantasy influences while not going so far as to outright explain the motivation behind the gesture.

Baby Yoda’s Force powers also draw a direct line to the Jedi, an order that seems to have been long forgotten by the time of the New Republic. Despite Luke Skywalker’s legendary exploits for the Rebellion, news doesn’t really seem to travel as far as the Outer Rim of the galaxy. So far, The Mandalorian exists in the underworld of Star Wars. Characters scrape by on the strength of their wallets and their fists. Jedi don’t often venture into this world unless it’s to stop a crime lord who has severely rattled someone in the upper echelons.

Will this Force-sensitive Child give The Mandalorian a way to connect its otherwise Force-secular story to the mystical side of the galaxy in season 2? If Mando is to complete his mission (and fan-favorite Jedi hero Ahsoka Tano really is set to appear on the show), then he’ll eventually have to rub elbows with the sorcerers his people are taught to be wary about.

The age of the Child, 50, is also notable. The Mandalorian takes place five years after Return of the Jedi. That means the alien was born before even the start of the Clone Wars, when the Republic was just beginning its slide toward galaxy-wide conflict. This is one of the reasons some fans believe the Child could be related to Yoda, who was still very active on a galactic stage in the Prequels, but the Jedi of old aren’t supposed to have children. So is the Child possibly a war refugee like Mando himself? A desperate attempt at continuity for a species that only has one or two members at a time? Or just one of many children gone missing in a dangerous galaxy? 

Whatever the case, the implications of Baby Yoda’s existence remains one of the central mysteries on the show.

So where did Baby Yoda come from?

Maybe “Baby Yoda” is just what his name implies. As Slashfilm points out via sharp-eyed Twitter users, Doctor Pershing (Omid Abtahi) might offer a clue. The man employed by Werner Herzog’s character in season 1 has a symbol on his sleeve that might match the one worn by Kaminoan cloners, which implies that this doctor has some pretty specific plans for Yoda’s species. We later see him running tests on Baby Yoda, although those experiments are cut short when Mando rescues the Child.

Later in the season, the Ugnaught farmer Kuill suggests Baby Yoda could be a “strand-cast,” a bio-engineered organism that we learned way more about in The Rise of Skywalker (both Supreme Leader Snoke and Rey’s father were revealed to have been strand-casts created by the Emperor’s imperfect clone and the Sith Eternal). It’s very possible that Baby Yoda was created in a lab as a way to learn more about how to capture the powers of Force user inside a clone body. We know the Sith tried to do just this with the Emperor’s son, but failed to transfer the Sith lord’s powers to the strand-cast (although Rey would eventually inherit these exact powers, including Force lightning, one generation later). Baby Yoda might have been the first and only bio-engineered specimen to have inherited the powers of his predecessor, which is why Imperial scientists would want to study him further while trying to properly resurrect their Emperor.

There’s precedence for all of this, of course. Cloning has been a part of Star Wars since the very beginning, with the Clone Wars being mentioned as early as A New Hope, but wasn’t detailed until Attack of the Clones. And with The Rise of Skywalker bringing cloning and weird science back to the forefront of this universe, Baby Yoda’s strand-cast origin story is looking much more likely now.

Other origin possibilities are more banal: 

When it comes to the unknown in Star Wars, there is one direction fans can reliably look. The Unknown Regions, called as such because hyperspace navigation is so difficult in this anomalous region of space, exist at the edge of the galaxy. Some people have found ways to explore it, namely Grand Admiral Thrawn’s Chiss species and some members of the Empire.

Maybe Yoda’s species is from this region? Since the Mandalorian’s adventures mostly keep him in the relatively lawless Outer Rim of the galaxy, he’s geographically placed in the right spot to venture into this dangerous sector of space in season 2 if the show really wants to venture into unexplored territory on screen.

What does Baby Yoda mean for the Mandalorian himself?

Regardless of who he is and where he comes from, Baby Yoda has provided a major pivot point for Mando, who decides to break the Bounty Hunters’ Guild’s code to save the child from the Client, taking the reward and the bounty itself with him to parts unknown. This not only makes Mando one of the most wanted men in the galaxy but also a confirmed anti-hero who chooses to do right when faced with a life-changing decision. 

Throughout the first season, Mando is most concerned with what’s right for the Child and finding a place where he might be safe from the other bounty hunters still looking to cash in and the Empire. Mando hasn’t found that hideout yet, having been foiled at every turn, but he has found a heart where the show initially suggested there might not be one. We expect the Mandalorian’s fatherly role to only grow as long as he’s protecting his young ward.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Star Wars: The Mandalorian – Baby Yoda Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2TyvmQC