hamilton quote in 2023 again? yeah

now animated

A Rogue One Everybody Lives AU where Chirrut and Baze end up seeing Sabine on a rebel base one day where she's trying to train with Ezra's lightsaber and just... not doing well. She knew how to use the Darksaber and she'd used Ezra's lightsaber to beat Gar Saxon, but something was just... different this time. Not quite as easy, and she's not sure why. Chirrut can tell she's struggling and, being Chirrut, immediately decides to go over and help. I like to think that both Chirrut and Baze would've probably trained other Guardians in combat sometimes, so this isn't exactly new to them.

Chirrut tells her to stop using the lightsaber for a while and has her go back to using a staff. When she keeps struggling and starts complaining, he forces her to wear a blindfold or a mask or something and she complains that she can't see. Chirrut responds with a totally shocked "Really? I hadn't realized." Sabine is rightly mollified by the gentle reminder.

Chirrut isn't gentle with her, but he's not harsh, either. He doesn't let her get away with being a brat, nor does Baze. He pushes her, refuses to let her wallow in her own feelings for too long. He asks her how old she is once after she gets snippy and when she tells him that she's in her twenties, he tells her he thought she was a teenager and when she responds with an indignant "I'm not a child!" he tells her to stop acting like one.

But he doesn't dismiss her, either. He refuses to just walk away from her or let her walk away from herself. He wasn't a Jedi, he's not Force sensitive, but he's learned to trust in the Force and believe in it. He knew the Jedi, he understood them, and he held similar beliefs and practices from his life as a Guardian. He can tell that Sabine is struggling with some emotion that she's refusing to face and, like Kanan before him, he knows she won't get anywhere until she acknowledges it and overcomes it. He knows she's better than this, knows she can rise above this struggle.

Eventually he gets her to admit that she's still grieving Ezra, still feeling guilty that she was the one who saw him leave to sacrifice himself and chose to distract the others so he could go, still scared that she won't be able to live up to the example he set and the responsibilities he left her with. Only once she's let it all out does he finally let her use the lightsaber again, and this time it doesn't feel quite as heavy. This time it feels more like she remembers it felt when she used it to defeat Gar Saxon so long ago.

And then Baze finds Luke Skywalker and brings him along because he's the only person around who also owns a lightsaber and can spar with Sabine. Sabine beats his ass because poor Luke has gotten next to zero training in how to use it and Sabine now has the chance to pass along some of what she's learned, both from Chirrut and Kanan before him. She doesn't just pass on lightsaber tricks either, she tries to pass on things she heard Kanan teach Ezra, sayings he would repeat every so often to bolster Ezra's confidence, the things he taught HER about facing her fears.

She also conveniently remembers an exercise Kanan had them do with Ezra where they threw fruit at him that Ezra had to block while standing on top of a moving ship and Chirrut and Baze think this is an EXCELLENT idea and are very happy to help set this exercise up for Luke. Luke is perhaps less enthused about it.

Sabine manages to remember Kanan saying "do or do not, there is no try" to Ezra but not knowing what it means and how she and Zeb thought that this was HILARIOUS and it became something of an inside joke between them (they never heard Kanan explain it better once he figured it out), so she passes it on to Luke who also doesn't get it. But then Luke goes to Dagobah and meets Yoda who tells him exactly this and Luke exclaims "Did every Jedi just go around saying this without knowing what it meant?" Yoda probably thwaps him with his cane for that. A few years later, he sees Sabine again after the Empire falls and he tells her that he finally figured out what it means. Sabine asks him to explain it and he tells her it's something everybody has to figure out for themselves. She nearly throttles him. Chirrut and Baze reveal that they knew what it meant the whole time but thought it was funny to watch the two of them struggle over it. Luke and Sabine form a truce immediately in response.

Luke Skywalker: What was it the Jedi said that got everybody so upset?

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Be kind to each other

Han Solo: Oh yeah that'll do it

Hera Syndulla: My son Jacen wants so badly to be a Jedi like his father who we refuse to mention. If only there was someone who could train him!

Luke Skywalker: Actually I'm starting a Jedi Academy so maybe-

Hera Syndulla: If only!

Huyang: I used to be a friend of the Jedi, I remember their ways and respect them. Oh if only there was a way to restore them!

Luke Skywalker: I'd love to learn more about the Jedi! If you join me at the Academy we could work together to-

Huyang: If only!

The New Republic: Oh no we've got rogue dark siders running around trying to bring back Thrawn! Who can save us from this terrible threat?

Luke Skywalker: I guess since no one's joining my Academy, maybe I could help?

The New Republic: How about you Ahsoka?

Debunking the "The Jedi Are Evil" Theory Made by The Film Theorists PT 2

Point 2 - That Luke was Right in the Sequels

In the Sequels, Luke says this:

And, after bringing this quote up, Matthew says this:

Now, first of all, what Luke is saying here cannot be trusted as "fact" or anything to go off of, mainly because of two reasons.

---

1. He's trying to convince Rey not to be a Jedi or, at the very least, to not make him train her (which is pretty much the same thing), and at this point in time he pretty clearly hates himself and blames himself for the state of the galaxy. He's been stewing in his rocky hideaway for who knows how long, with nothing but the ocean and his own self-loathing to keep him company.

He's saying this here so that Rey will give up and not make him train her, because he's scared of making the same mistakes he did with Kylo Ren and fucking up the galaxy even more (we see a similar thing with Obi-Wan in the Kenobi show, where he refuses to save Leia at first because he's scared of not being able to save her--like he wasn't able to "save" Anakin).

And the traits, the "legacy," he's assigning the Jedi...isn't actually the legacy of the Jedi. It's him assigning what he believes to be his own legacy to the Jedi as a whole, because it's easier for him to deal with his own failure that way.

and 2. Luke is framed as being wrong for saying this. None of the other characters agree with him, eventually he does end up training Rey, and eventually he lets go of his pain and fair and grief and "becomes a Jedi again" and faces his "legacy of failure"--Kylo Ren.

It's obvious that the movies are clearly making him out to be wrong when he says those things, you don't need to have a neon sign posted above his head that says "WRONG" in order to see it. So taking his words at face-value is just trying to take a bad-faith reading of the Jedi--rather than the "objective scrutiny" that Matthew is purportedly putting the Jedi up to in this theory.

---

I would also like to argue that Luke's only real knowledge of the Prequel Era Jedi and their actions/beliefs/traditions/etc. is...lacking, to say the least.

The Empire literally destroyed and desecrated every Jedi Temple that they could find, they wiped out all the information they could about the Jedi, and then spread anti-Jedi propaganda through the galaxy for years. Not to mention that, by this point, pretty much every Prequel Era Jedi is dead.

There's no one around to really tell Luke about the Jedi's actions or culture and what little information he might've been able to dig up probably wouldn't have amounted to much. So, when Luke says this, it can only really be taken as a commentary on the Post-Prequel Era Jedi, because he doesn't know enough about the Prequel Era Jedi to make any criticisms.

---

Matthew then says:

This example is pretty easy to debunk, because Matthew leaves out the context.

Obi-Wan has to do this.

Because let's look at what would probably happen if he didn't:

1. He and Luke would be arrested and turned in to the Empire, probably Vader, and Vader would immediately recognize Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan would get murdered.

2. Vader would realize Luke was his son and probably try to indoctrinate him into an Imperial way of thinking, and Palpatine/Vader would probably have Luke "trained" (read: tortured) into becoming an Inquisitor.

and 3. The droids would probably either be memory wiped or destroyed, therefore destroying the plans for the Death Star that the Rebellion needed to destroy it--and the Death Star wouldn't be able to be destroyed, more planets and people would probably be killed.

Aside from the thing with the Death Star plans, Obi-Wan probably knows that that's what's gonna happen--and, if the Empire is looking for the droids, then it's pretty obvious that the droids are important to the Rebellion. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Obi-Wan probably understands that the Rebellion would be hurt by their loss.

Not to mention that stormtroopers aren't "innocent victims."

They actively sign up to work for the Empire and take part in the oppression of countless peoples and worlds. And It's not like Obi-Wan pulled aside a random stormtrooper just so he could mind-fuck him, they were approached by the troopers first and he reacted defensively. He didn't even make them do anything bad, he just told them "these aren't the droids you're looking for" and had them go on their way.

---

Matthew's quote, continued:

Once again, this is pretty easy to debunk because, again, Matthew leaves out the context.

The Separatists literally kidnapped the Chancellor of the Republic and the Jedi had to rescue him. They had to steal the ship to escape or be captured, and likely executed, by the Separatists--therefore allowing the Separatists (who are literally enslaving and oppressing countless other systems and run by a fucking fascist dictator) to win the war and take over the rest of the galaxy.

Once again, the Jedi were acting defensively.

And I feel like, all things considered, the Jedi stealing that Separatist ship, to escape from a situation the Separatists caused, in order to keep the galaxy from falling into the hands of an oppressive dictatorship and attempt to stay alive...is a pretty damn reasonable decision, don't you think?

And, just for added context, the ship was literally falling apart when they crashed it. They didn't crash it on purpose, it was an emergency landing. If you're gonna say the Jedi are bad for "crashing" the ship, you may as well get mad at every pilot who ever initiated an emergency landing because it's literally the same thing--and if we're putting the Jedi up to "objective scrutiny" then there shouldn't be any double standards.

---

Matthew's quote, continued:

Here the Jedi weren't lying, like...at all.

No one was asking them about their ability to use the Force, so they couldn't be lying. They were withholding information, information that the Senate--as non-Jedi--had no right to know about unless it would actively affect the Republic. Which, again, at this point in time it wouldn't.

But, fine, let's just pretend that the Jedi were lying...

...they were lying for good reason.

Yoda is right here. Even if we ignore the fact that Yoda is a stand-in for GL and what he says is quite literally the canon truth (since he's the creator), the Senate is already pretty at odds with the Jedi, which we see later in AotC when Palpatine and the Senate pretty much strong-arm the Jedi into accepting the role of Generals in the war, despite being told point blank by Mace Windu that they're peace keepers and not soldiers. Do you really think the Senate (read: Palpatine) wouldn't have used this information against the Jedi?

And, are you completely ignoring the fact that Mace is literally saying that they should tell the Senate and Yoda is disagreeing with him?

Obviously Yoda's take on what they should or shouldn't tell the Senate isn't something that the entire Order believes--it's just his opinion on what they should do.

You can't say that "the Jedi are liars" and then play a clip that literally debunks that by having two Jedi disagreeing with each other about whether or not to tell the truth.

I can bet Anakin has a lot of stories about some ruler of the planet being so enchanted by Obi-Wan that they offer Obi-Wan to become their spouse and co-ruler. Once a ruler even offer Obi-Wan marry him and then adopt Anakin as their heir. Every time Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were together on Coruscant countless paparazzi tried to bribe Ahsoka to take pictures of her master and grandmaster… well… with less clothes on. 

thinking about ESB again. and. like. The retcon of Qui-gon Jinn rather than Yoda being Obi-Wan’s master makes his and Yoda’s exchange hilarious especially since Yoda is canonically involved in training younglings.

Yoda is all “he’s reckless and angry and impatient” and Obi-Wan says “was I not much the same when you trained me?” And it’s just like.

Obi. Obi-Wan. Ben. My beloved.

Why are you comparing Luke’s behavior to your grade school temper tantrums

Absolutely no hate but one of my pet peeves in sw fic is vader redemption fics where forgiveness is placed completely disproportionally…

Like you're really saying Luke & Leia will absolutely hate Obi-Wan for separating them as children out of regard for their own safety and then spending 20 years of his life protecting Luke and not telling the twins the truth about Darth Vader because, again out of regard for their own safety (and also, you know, the massive trauma of his people's genocide being carried out by his own brother)

And then the same characters will then turn around and forgive Vader for his genocides (against multiple peoples, not just the Jedi), child murders, atrocities, etc just because he's their biological dad?

Also ignoring that Luke canonically instantly forgave Obi-Wan for the separation and not telling him about Leia once Obi-Wan gets to explain. Like, it's an actual scene. He's like "understandable," and he moves on with a nod in a second.

This is what happens when I start talking about in-universe RPF with people. Basically we decided that there absolutely was fic about the Jedi during the clone wars, and also Hondo needs to be the one to tell Luke about it. So much thanks to @glimmerglanger and @hawkeykirsah for the encouragement, and @ankahikoibaat for the suggestion that Hondo had to tell Luke

A new hope for the galaxy.

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What if Reva joins the Rebellion when she starts hearing Luke Skywalker’s name associated with it and thinks that Obi-Wan may have finally come out of hiding, only to show up and find out that he’s died, and the only person on that base who recognizes her is LEIA, who isn’t exactly going to be able to vouch for her as a trustworthy person.

But Reva insists she left the Inquisitors, that she wasn’t the same person anymore, and Luke being Luke decides to trust her. Maybe he hears something, or just gets a Feeling that’s Not Quite His Own telling him she’s being truthful, that she deserves a chance. 

Reva, who deliberately chose not to become Anakin Skywalker, choosing now to pick up the mission Obi-Wan Kenobi had had to leave behind. Reva choosing to help guide Luke when he asks because Obi-Wan can’t. Reva absolutely TERRIFIED about failing this person she nearly killed so long ago. Reva who never even became a PADAWAN, much less a Knight or a Master, struggling through the concept of training someone else to be a Jedi. But this was Master Kenobi’s mission, this is what he gave his life to protect. Obi-Wan had been a teacher, up through the end. He’d taught her, he’d taught Leia, he’d taught Luke. She could choose to follow in his footsteps just like she’d chosen not to follow in his first student’s. She could be a BETTER student than Anakin Skywalker had been and ensure that Anakin’s son never turned out like him. She decides that, while she’s not in the revenge game anymore, ensuring that Luke Skywalker never gets turned to the dark by his father is as close to justice for her family as she’s likely going to get. She doesn’t have Luke call her “Master” because she’d barely been a YOUNGLING, not even a Padawan, certainly not a Knight or a Master. And beyond that, she’s not certain she’s earned the right to call herself a Jedi again, yet. 

Reva probably struggles a little with some of the more advanced Force and lightsaber techniques just given where the majority of her training would have come from, but she ensures that Luke knows how to face his own fears by the time he sees Obi-Wan’s ghost telling him to go to Dagobah. 

Reva follows him to Dagobah and nearly bursts into tears when she sees Yoda come into their camp, even though he’s being kinda weird and trying to steal their food. Probably BECAUSE he’s being kinda weird and trying to steal their food, if she’s being honest with herself. Yoda being a mischievous troll of a mentor is something she’d long missed and never realized was something she could still find. Of course, having a lot of experience with helping out with Yoda’s pranks and a lot of (unfortunate) experience with keeping a straight face, she plays along and lets Luke figure out for himself that Yoda’s the Jedi Master he’s searching for. She’d told him she knew Yoda and so Luke just assumes she’ll tell him if she sees him.

Reva finally getting to see Obi-Wan’s ghost herself on Dagobah and ACTUALLY bursting into tears when he thanks her for picking up his mission where he’d left off and assuring her that she’s been doing an exemplary job and that he’s SO SO PROUD of her. 

This time, Luke’s had a little more training in facing his own fears, so he doesn’t go to Bespin when he gets his vision, as much as it hurts. Reva offers to go in his stead, because protecting Leia was ALSO part of Obi-Wan’s mission, even if Leia still isn’t Reva’s biggest fan. When Leia yells out that it’s a trap and to rescue Han, Reva doesn’t go anywhere near where Anakin’s waiting for Luke and instead manages to backtrack her way out and intercepts Boba Fett before he can fly off. 

When Reva comes back with the good news, Luke is able to continue his training uninterrupted. After a few months, Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Reva have decided that Luke’s ready to know the truth about his parentage and sit him down to break the news. Luke asks them how they could trust him, knowing what happened to Anakin. He asks how he can ensure he doesn’t become Anakin, when it’s Anakin’s blood that runs in his veins.

Reva speaks up first.

She tells him that she knows he won’t become his father because Anakin chose this. Anakin chose to fall, he chose the darkness, he chose to turn on the people who’d considered him family, he chose to be the scourge of the galaxy, and CONTINUES to choose this. She knows Luke won’t make the same choice because she’s seen him do otherwise. She’s seen Luke make the sacrifice Anakin never could. She’s seen Luke manage to let go when Anakin never has. And she knows she can trust him because while Anakin’s blood may be what flows through Luke’s veins, he wasn’t Anakin’s father. She tells Luke that she met his father once, on Tatooine. That his true father had been willing to die for him. That he’d been willing to stand up to her when she was still making the wrong choices. That it was Owen and Beru’s love for Luke that had been part of what kept Luke alive that day. It was Anakin’s connection to Luke that pushed her to nearly kill him, but it was Owen and Beru’s CHOSEN connection to Luke that began to pull her back, that held her off long enough for Reva to think it through, calm down, and make the right choice. She trusts Luke because he ISN’T Anakin, because he makes the choice every day NOT to be Anakin.

When Yoda declares Luke ready, he knights both of them. 

On Endor, Reva has to accept Luke choosing to surrender to Anakin on his own, especially when he asks her to protect Leia in his stead. Reva chooses to let him go, because as much as she loves him, this is his choice to make, his destiny to pick up the way he wants. 

As he leaves, Luke bows to Reva and thanks her, calls her “Master” for the first time. Reva smiles and responds, “May the Force be with you, Padawan.”

I've been writing a Obi-Wan&Luke fic that goes heavy on Obi-Wan's mourning in the wake of RotS, and how he delayed it for a while, and anyway I just

FUCK I'M JUST HAVING FEELINGS ABOUT A GOOD-ENDING AU WHERE OBI-WAN GETS TO PUT A TODDLER ON EACH KNEE AND ENTERTAIN THEM BY BOUNCING HIS KNEES ON A FAKE FATHIER RACE AND HE BOUNCES THEM AT DIFFERENT RATES AT DIFFERENT MOMENTS AND PROVIDES COMMENTARY ABOUT WHO'S WINNING AND NOW I'M GONNA CRY

Luke and Leia are delighted. Padme and Anakin come back from the other room (they were making sure dinner was set up) and paused in the doorway to watch because babies and Uncle Obi and I'm gonna die I really am

Me: [gesturing this mental concept while tearing up and visibly overwhelmed]

The godparent has to be willing to put the children first, and Anakin knows Obi-Wan can't in good faith make that promise while remaining a Jedi (the children will be very, very high on the list, but... they can't be first), so instead the godfather is Rex.

IDK if space does godparents but I need Rex to have godkids.

(Obviously the godmother is Sabe.)

(Obi-Wan and Ahsoka aren't even bothered; they're uncle and aunt! That's so cool!)

VOTD Masterlist

My ‘Din’s Haunted’ comic series.

Note: I did not come up with the concept of the Dark Saber being haunted. The original concept for ‘Din’s Haunted’ is from the lovely @kyberpistol and @keldabekush.  Either way I fell in love with their concept and made my own story from it as well!

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6 (In Progress)

Check my feed to see in progress chapter updates every Tuesday and Friday!

I’ve been listening to a podcast about Rasputin lately (two, actually, but one is older and more on the “comedy” than the “history” angle). One of them said something that made me think – a lot of what we have regarding Rasputin is either oral history or written by his enemies, who wanted to slander both him and a woman (the queen Alexandra) who lost power during a revolution. This is not to say Rasputin was a good person, because he was not, but the specific way in which his story was warped means that he could have been and we would still have thought he was a terrifying quasi-immortal sex wizard for most of the 20th century.  

It’s not a 1:1 comparison, but it occurred to me that this is exactly what could have happened to, say, a Jedi who spent time with a princess in the days of the Old Republic. It’s a little bit funny if it’s Anakin, but it’s fucking hilarious if after Padme’s death and the rise of the Empire, all the rumors and legends and stories about a politician’s pet wizard and possible lover were centered around an influential, experienced Jedi…like Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Fucking imagine if R2 rolls up all “Yo I need to talk to Kenobi” and Luke goes “Like…the weird mystic advisor to the princess, that Kenobi? I’m pretty sure old Ben Kenobi isn’t him but he might have his email address” and they go off to see the random desert hermit who immediately says “Oh yes I am in fact that Kenobi. But it’s cool, I definitely did not do most of what they said I did and I’ll deny the rest.” 

And Luke’s just left there like do I tell him about the song that calls him Alderaan’s Greatest Love Machine? Do you think he can pop his head off his body like in that one movie about him? Is there a polite way to ask if the rumors about his monster dong are true? There isn’t, right? 

Listen, Bail and Breha totally talked Obi wan as the one that got away, whether they were or weren't involved.

He is a great friend and they love teasing him as well.

They also told Leia about Obi wan.