Aurë Entuluva!

Responding to a desert world bush pilot’s plan to fly full throttle down the Death Star trench with a non-chalant “right with ya, boss,” despite being an experienced enough pilot to know just how dangerous that was going to be.

Surviving getting blasted in flight by Darth Vader himself

One of the three to survive the Battle of Yavin

The only pilot at the battle of Hoff to successfully down AT-AT with the cable around the legs trick

Was one of two pilots to fly down the throat of the second Death Star and fired half the shots that destroyed it.

Reformed Rogue Squadron and successfully led it into the new Republic era as the most elite starfighter squadron in the galaxy, to the point where rogue squadron was still an active unit 130 years after the battle of Yavin

Led his pilots on a mission to liberate the capital from imperial rule as commandos rather than pilots, and actually pulled it off, despite having no commando training

Lead his squadron in defecting from the new republic to pursue an imperial warlord the new Republic refused to touch, and successfully led a private war with just his squadron and a handful of underworld allies to liberate an entire planet and capture a squadron of star destroyers, and one superstar destroyer

Formed another squadron unit that was supposed to double as a commando unit, and lead them to successfully neutralize another warlord and hamper the plans of a third

Did the previous while putting up with Wes Janson and his shenanigans

Helped to turn the tide at the battle of Bilbringi to wear, even before he was assassinated, Grand Admiral Thrawn himself was no longer completely confident that the empire could win that particular fight

Came out of retirement to help fight in the Yuuzhan Vong war and frequently reinterpreted orders to allow him to cooperate with the Jedi and in doing so, made significant strides against the political tide that ultimately defeated the new republic

Lead the defense of Borleias against one of the invaders, most prominent and skilled tacticians and successfully took out a large trunk of the enemy military, as well as one of their greatest heroes

Loved flying so much that he spent a solid seven years or so fighting against Admiral Ackbar’s endless campaign to promote him to general, and only accepted the rank when the admiral pointed out that his subordinates we’re hurting their careers by following in his footsteps and declining promotion (and after the admiral promised him he would be allowed to keep flying starfighters)

Stood up unflinchingly in defense of his best friend Tycho Celchu when he was under suspicion of being brainwashed by the empire and sent back as a mole, even standing up to his commanding officers to get them to allow Tycho to serve as a trainer with rogue squadron

These are just some that come to mind right now, but all in all, General Wedge Antilles is a freaking beast and one of my favorite characters in the franchise. 

Brennan: You see that Lash, as Vokjan, calls out: “You will see! All of you will see! One day you will look to the top of the hill, and no longer will Azgra be there. No more will his visage tower over us! You cannot see it, but I can!” He calls, with his eyes cut out of his head. “Look, and tell me. Do your eyes not see a free world, breaking, just beyond the horizon? Look! Look!”

And he points out, and everyone seems to turn to look to see where he’s pointing, knowing that, at the top of the city of Dol Makjar, is where Azgra used to sit, and there’s a moment where this is going to be kind of like an enjoyable moment of being, like, ‘oh yeah, Azgra doesn’t sit there anymore’. And they turn and look up into the city, and see the lights of the Villa Aurora, so bright, and the Grey Tower, its lights dimmed, and bright lights celebrating the Photarch’s resurrection, meaning that, at the very top of Dol Makjar, the brightest thing they see are the flags of the Sundered Houses.

The feeling that settles over the crowd in this moment is a deep, stomach-turning confusion, that settles into something more like rage. What is sitting at the top of this city?

As they turn, Lash’s last line. “You’ll see. One day.”

So, uh? So that was a bit …

I’m now shocked that Yanessa didn’t try to get this play shut down a lot sooner. Even before Hal decides fuck subtlety at the end and openly puts not only the Falcon’s Cry over the end, but also a direct verbal attack on the Creed. But. Even before that. Like, they’ve been monitoring the progress of this play. The only reason it’s not openly seditious is because the Sundered Houses do not technically rule the city, and thus it’s not technically sedition.

But. But I guess …

See, the thing is? Without the specific context of the Hallowed Round, it’s physical position and symbolism within the city …

The play on its own, while dangerous, can still be glossed as a historical work. The choice of what history to present is still dangerous, and still rather specifically pro-rungjani and anti-religious, but that also … This is the birthing place of the Shapers War, barely 70 years out. The Candescent Creed can’t really say not to do it. It’s Rungjani history, and religion has been dramatically out of vogue for seven decades now. Owing to, you know. The global decision to kill the gods.

It's the Hallowed Round itself that makes the difference. That visual symbolism, set up by Azgra, that finally frames the Sundered Houses within Azgra’s seat for its audience. It’s a very specific location and cultural context that allows that visual correlation. It’s a very Rungjani context.

And I’m wondering if Yanessa, Halovar, the Sundered Houses, just didn’t have that context in time to realise the true danger?

Because they are, after all, a foreign power. A colonial invader. They went to the top of the city, because of course they went to the top. They’re nobles. Power rises. To an extent, that’s the image they genuinely wanted to portray.

It’s just. Viewed from the Hallowed Round. The Dithyramb of Azgra itself. That image takes on a different meaning in context. One that I’m not sure the Sundered Houses actually understood.

Also, just. Sidenote. Look at Liam’s face during Lash’s speech as Vokjan:

There’s a man full of wild, giddy emotion at his work coming to life, and at the same time an underlying dead seriousness. This is a work that was done on purpose.

Occtis Tachonis has granted a fairy access to the manor grounds Occtis Tachonis has opened the door to the vassal crypts Occtis Tachonis has granted the protection of the family to Thimble of the Golden Orchard Occtis Tachonis has opened the Undercroft door in the vassal crypts Occtis Tachonis has closed the Undercroft door in the vassal crypts

Hal's choice not to fight in the Falconer's Rebellion was a personal choice about prioritizing his own family (and whether he could even leave his two older children with Elodie to go off and fight is not totally certain). But it was, of course, not a choice made in isolation. He argues that even their father decided to hang up his blade at some point, but our understanding of the lot of orcs before the Shaper's War is that that wasn't a choice their father could have made 60 years prior. That under Azgra, Hal would almost certainly have been forced to march to war, never mind his three young children at home. There were clearly orcs who weren't on the front lines, orcs who built the cities and smithed the weapons and provided whatever food the community had, but by and large orcs were made as weapons and used as such. Thjazi's letter referenced turning swords into plowshares. In some ways, Hal's whole life between the War of Axe and Vine and now has been a version of that. The Falconer's Rebellion was a just cause, and it's probable that if more people had been willing to join it, Araman wouldn't be in the mess it's currently in. But Hal's choice to abstain is a very different choice from Aranessa's choice to abstain. The politics of an orc saying "I will not fight" even when the cause is just are far more nuanced. Because isn't this part of the freedom Vokjan Murzat fought and died for? Orcs in nice clothes, with flowers all around, and time to go see beautiful art made by their own people? Orcs who raise children and start businesses and hang up their swords? A life free from war? Finally. We don't know whether Hal was thinking about those politics when he made his choice. I suspect he was "I choose the Rungjani" indicates that to me, but you can easily read the scene another way. Whatever your take on his thought process, the politics of the choice are undeniable. A healthy orc in his early 30s refusing a call to arms barely 50 years after Azgra's death means something for the Rungjani.