Star Wars Meta - Blog Posts

i was just talking to a qui-gon defender. so. here's my pre-prepared list of reasons I dislike him taken directly from the movie. if you wanna debate anything just keep it civil or whatever.

1. his padawan expresses that he feels something will go wrong on their mission (rightfully so, he's expresses this on several missions in the future after qui-gon dies and is right nearly every time). qui-gon immediately tells him to ignore his anxiety. obi-wan says that yoda told him to be mindful of these feelings (because they're Force feelings, not regular anxiety) and qui-gon says not to listen to yoda. (2 min into the movie)

2. suggests that him and his padawan split up after the people they were sent to negotiate with try to kill them and they realize they're about to walk right into in invasion (forgivable because obi-wan is 25-ish in this, but still) (7.5 min in)

3. acquired jarjar binks (~11 min in) and ignored him and left obi-wan to take care of/watch over him (this one's kinda of a joke)

4. didn't stop his padawan from scaring people into helping them with indirect threats to their safety (this just feels like kinda bad parenting so it's going on here, it happens multiple times)

5. makes his padawan (who hates driving/flying) pilot the transport they use to travel through the core of a planet. shows zero (0) concern when the local fauna decides they look like a tasty snack. (18 min in)

6. "don't worry. the force will guide us." they have no clue where to go. their transport lost power in the middle of a planet. they nearly died. (19 min in)

7. "my feelings tell me they will destroy you." his feelings/anxiety matter to him, but not his padawan's

8. "be wary. I sense a disturbance in the force." oh, you mean the one your padawan warned you about before everything went to osik? that disturbance that you told him not to worry about? okay. (30 min in)

9. rescues anakin (age 9) from slavery and then does not also rescue his mother shmi (this is not me being mad that the jedi haven't ended slavery, this is me being mad that he forced a little kid to leave his mother in slavery and expected the boy to be okay with that). also, only rescues anakin because he thinks anakin is the Chosen One instead of just wanting to get a child out of slavery.

10. places the date of their very important mission on the hope that a 9 year old will win a dangerous race that he hasn't won or even finished before. (~50 min in)

11. similar to the last one (same decision, different affect), enters anakin (age 9) into a very dangerous race and makes him compete for his own freedom. also, lies to him about being on tatooine to free slaves. (~50 min in)

12. takes some of the baby anakin's blood. lies to him about why he took it. never reveals the truth. (~50 min in)

13. dismisses shmi's concerns when she's scared about her 9 year old being in the Scary Dangerous Race that people have literally died participating in

14. "why do I sense we've picked up another pathetic life-firm?" quoth obi-wan, who was not informed that his master had acquired a child and he is about to be responsible for said child.

15. did not tell the child that he was going to be taken from his mother until he was actively leaving (1 hr 12 min)

16. runs back to the ship with anakin, but is a giant (6'4-6'7) and literally is like 10 feet in front of him

17. tells obi-wan (a 25 year old) that he "still has much to learn because obi-wan disagreed with him (asked him to listen to the council for once and follow the rules). (1 hr 29 min in)

18. tries to take Anakin as his padawan. when it's pointed out he already has a padawan (obi-wan), says that he's ready to be knighted. because he really doesn't truly care about his padawan at all evidently. says something about obi-wan being headstrong and still having something to learn, obi-wan looks embarrassed and ashamed. (1 hr 32 min)

19. claims that it's disrespect when the council and obi-wan say that Anakin is dangerous because of how strong he is in the force and how big his emotions and fear of losing people can be. (1 hr 35 min)

20. convinces his, say it with me, 25 Year Old Padawan that he was wrong for disagreeing with him on something. is (off-screen, but implied) cold towards him until obi-wan apologizes. (1 hr 38 min)

21. his last words before he dies are forcing his padawan (age 25) to take care of a 9 year old. never says he's proud of him, never says he's ready to be knighted. just forces him to take care of the child that qui-gon tried to replace him with. (didn't catch it because I'm cooking dinner)

*any cases of padawan endangerment are included because it's treated as normal and makes me feel like he would do the same to a child

Cal Kestis’s Lightsaber

Cal’s lightsaber is cool. I know the reason for the stances is because video game, but character and story-wise it makes sense too.

The different stances give Cal increased adaptability for different situations. It plays into the whole “Survivors. We adapt.”message.

It also shows Cal’s natural combat prowess. No one taught him to wield these other stances, he figured it out on his own, building on a strong foundation from Jaro Tapal.

It’s also a great reminder of his scrapper days. Light sabers are notoriously difficult to build and modify, and for Cal to build such a complex weapon, it is clear how much Prauf taught him on Bracca.

Finally, I love what the double bladed saber represents for Cal. He builds it on Ilum after overcoming a moment of hopelessness. He takes the broken crystal and uses it to make a double bladed saber that can split apart. He adapts.

A lot of people comment that his double bladed stance feels really powerful compared to others, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s on purpose. Story-wise it makes the most sense for it to be the one he favors. Yes, he usually defaults to a standard saber in cut scenes but that’s the one he was trained on. He’s also had the double sided saber since the first game, meaning he’s had five years of training with it. He’s had the split sabers too, but he used them as a special attack within the double sided saber stance.

As much as I love Jedi Survivor, I don’t think the studio understands how crossguard sabers work. I understand having it be a heavy two-handed weapon because video game, but crossguard sabers aren’t from a custom emitter. When you bleed a crystal wrong you need vents to emit the excess energy. It’s nothing game breaking but I think it’s funny.

I’m sure that I am not the first one to come up with this headcanon, but I like to think that Cal changes his lightsaber color from its canonical blue to green after starting something with Merrin so he can match her magick. Because Cal is dorky like that.

Also, the lightsaber he uses technically isn’t his. It belonged to Jaro Tapal.

Anyway, thanks for my too-long meta analysis of me reading too deeply into things that probably only exist because of video game mechanics!

Princess and the Scoundrel Thoughts

Spoilers ahead:

First of all, the title and cover of this book are ridiculous. The art is pretty, but the pose looks like a cheesy romance. I think they’re paying homage to Courtship of Princess Leia, which while that story is hilarious, is one of the worst Star Wars books ever. But we get the Dathomir witches so it’s fine I guess.

On the other hand, Princess and the Scoundrel, is one of the best Star Wars books. Despite everything, despite all of the obstacles this book had from the beginning, it succeeds as having some of the best and most subtle character work in the entire franchise. Which is hilarious, because this book literally only exists to market a hotel. But Beth Revis said, “yeah, but what if it was good and I actually tried?”

Now, Beth Revis has clearly read COPL. You can tell and it’s kind of hilarious. For example, in COPL, there is a really long scene where Han plays sabacc (space poker) during a bout of insecurity and wins a planet to give to Leia and he uses THE MILLENNIUM FALCON for collateral. Han Solo would never do this. Now in PatS, Han plays sabacc while Leia is working to help her out by gathering intelligence. One of the players mentions that he wants to kidnap Leia (not knowing who Han is), and Han almost murders the guy. It’s awesome.

Here’s the thing, you can tell when Leia is being written by a woman instead of a man. In COPL, there is one moment where it’s brought up that if Leia marries Isolder there will be a planet for the survivors of the Alderaani genocide, but it’s only mentioned a few times and not by Leia. So any opportunity for a duty vs love internal conflict is not used. Her conflict is “Han and I are distant and space Fabio is hot so…”. Then HAN KIDNAPS LEIA USING A MIND CONTROL GUN. And she doesn’t murder him. So…I don’t care about this relationship anymore because both of them suck and it isn’t even clear why Leia falls in love with Han all over again.

Beth Revis gives Leia a very multi faceted internal conflict. Part of it is her dealing with her feelings about Vader, about being part of a team, and her guilt over Alderaan. It doesn’t take up too much time, but they inform a lot of her character.

Now, in a different canon book, that came out previously, it was mentioned in passing that Han and Leia got married on Endor. Now, at that point in both the EU and Canon, Han and Leia have been forcibly separated for a year and only actually got together a little bit before that. So, that’s really weird. But Revis is stuck with this. So she says to herself, “Why would they do this? Why would they move this quickly?”

And she remembers that this is Star Wars. They are living through war, they all almost died, and just spent a year forcibly separated. And they’ve decided that they’re done wasting time. Han just kind of…proposes and Leia (in typical fashion) debates for a second before deciding to take a leap of faith for love. It’s genuinely very, very sweet. Despite the title and cover this is not a romance book. There is no “will they won’t they” bullshit. Thank. God. They just get married and it’s really happy and Lando pranks Han into dressing nice, and it’s great. Then it’s a Star Wars adventure featuring Han and Leia.

That’s not to say Han and Leia don’t have any tension between them. The difference is it’s interesting. Han and Leia, especially her, do not know how to fully let each other into their lives. It isn’t that Han forgets for a bit that he married a very driven woman. He absolutely knows. His frustration stems from the fact that they are literally on their honeymoon, and Leia keeps leaving to work, because that is all she knows how to do. It is how she has coped with her trauma for three years. On the other hand, Leia feels like she is solely responsible for saving the galaxy, and that Han doesn’t understand that. Both sides of this argument are understandable. The book switches between Han and Leia’s perspectives. There are no stupid cutaways to Luke or space Fabio, there are no space witches. It is a focused relationship/ character study of Han and Leia while they’re on a decently interesting mission.

And the build up to the fight they end up having, is great. It’s a slow build up, you can feel their mutual frustration, and once they have the fight it is very cathartic. They don’t fight for the entire book either. They flirt and tease and have real conversations too.

So, after this huge fight, Leia is trying to divert the cruiser they’re on to this other planet, and Han finds out and helps her. Together, they succeed, but Leia is confused. They haven’t made up from their fight yet, and she asks why he helped her fight to go on a mission that’s going to take up more of their time. And Han says, “You’re my wife. If you’re running a con, I’m going to help you.”

Now, this might just be one of my favorite lines. Beth Revis understands that Han Solo is very loyal to the few people he cares about. He loves Leia, it’s why he goes back for her on Hoth at his own risk, why he saves Luke at Yavin and on Hoth. (She also understands the little bit of dorkiness Han Solo has beneath the posturing, up to the point that she gives him a sweet tooth.) Neither of them are overly mushy, they just love and respect each other.

There’s this great symbolism with their wedding rings. They’re made of hardened amber by the ewoks, and their fragility is a constant reminder of Han and Leia’s issues. They crack under pressure, and have to be maintained carefully. They eventually end up breaking under immense water pressure, but Han gives Leia a new ring (the one she wears in the sequels) reminiscent of the amber ones, symbolizing that they’re coming out stronger. It’s so sweet, and while it’s a little bit on the nose, it’s a great literary technique.

He’s acknowledging that he recognizes this part of Leia’s character, Leia realizes she needs to also put him first. In the aftermath, they both feel bad, apologize, and resolve to work on their issues together. And when they make-up, it feels real. This runs through the entire book, and the way it ends is really satisfying. Now, we know what happens to them in the sequels, so we can see how this conflict may come back into play later and lead to their eventual separation in canon. But, it’s also easy to see a different path where they work through these issues and live happily ever after. It’s just ambiguous enough to be read as either a prelude to eventual tragedy or the beginning of a long, happy life between two complex people. (I prefer the first one, but whatever).

Other things I liked:

- Han proposing. It’s literally that “I want you” “For what?” “A really long time.” quote on the internet.

Han: I want you.

Leia: Me? For what?

Han: Forever. Marry me.

- Leia tells Han about her true parentage and he just does not care. Like, he’s sympathetic towards her feelings, but is like, “why would this impact my love for you?”

- Leia finally lets herself do something spontaneous.

- Luke and Mon Mothma ship it.

- This quote:

Leia: About time.

Han: For what?

Leia: You once promised me a good kiss. I’ve been waiting.

- The conflict on Madurs is also pretty interesting. Leia is unwilling to let another planet die, giving an insight into Leia’s feelings about Alderaan, especially since Madurs values art like Alderaan.

Honestly, I want Beth Revis to write the canon “trip to Bespin” book.

Also…

This book kind of implies that Leia is bi? There’s a scene where Leia is remembering a conversation with her mother. So, when Alderaanian royals get married, their parent straps the ceremonial Rhindon sword (also used during their coronation) around their waist before the wedding.

In the flashback, Breha specifically says “whoever you marry” and “your husband or wife”…

Some people may say that it’s just ‘forced inclusion’ but that’s boring. Now, in the EU, fanon, and canon, Leia always puts emphasis on how close she and her parents were. This is something that I don’t think is ever particularly well illustrated, especially in canon. In parts the Kenobi series (she gets better later) and Leia, Princess of Alderaan, Breha in particular comes off as really unlikable.

But, if Leia isn’t over romanticizing (and there’s no indication that she is), she was really close to her parents. So, it stands to reason that her mother would know her sexuality. They at least seem really accepting in this passage, so it doesn’t seem like something Leia would keep from them.

I have no other evidence, and as far as I know, Leia is always seen in romances with men in both canon and legends, but in this context, it is a very interesting hint of something new about her character.

Can I just talk about the way Han and Leia act in the garbage compactor though?

They’ve only just met, they’ve only exchanged a few snarky remarks, everything’s been one moment of panic and danger after the next, she just got tortured and he’s in way over his head, but the moment those walls start closing, we see who they are and what their dynamic is going to be.

Leia’s first instinct is to take charge and try to find a solution. And Han doesn’t protest or argue, he just does what she says. Once it becomes clear that they can’t do anything, Han immediately switches to trying to get Leia out of danger. Captain I-Only-Care-About-Myself is desperately trying to help her climb up out of harm’s way, give her a little more time.

And the moment the danger is over? They hug. No snarky remarks, no innuendo, just “hey we’re alive isn’t that wonderful”. Both too relieved to remember the mask, for the moment. Neither of them have really come across as the hugging type and yet, here they are.

(gif credit)

The whole scene says a lot about them, individually and together, and I love it a lot.

baby!Soka the joy of my life.

Snips a ray of light in a dark world

s7 Ahsoka my reason for living

Headdress-less ahsoka

rebel Fulcrum a gift to Earth