She had style, she had flair, she was there!

LOVE IS THE DEATH OF DUTY.

[ Padme's Ruminations ] STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH, 2005

ORPHEUS: Who am I? Why am I all alone? Who do I think I am? Who am I to think that she would follow me into the cold and dark again? Where is she?

FATE: Doubt comes in and meets a stranger walking on a road alone. Where is she? Where is she now?

EURYDICE: You are not alone, I'm right behind you and I have been all along. And the darkest hour, of the darkest night, comes right before --

@vaderdalaweek day 2 ;; mythology // anakin/vader & padmé as orpheus & eurydice

the inescapable structure of tragedy, the lines of causality

"The Rebel Alliance had to have had drinking songs, especially on remote bases with limited options for entertainment, and this song fits perfectly with the sentiment of resistance and resilience, and they certainly had both official and unofficial remembrance for fallen comrads after any given battle. You don't even have to totally separate the song from its original context, with that many species and cultures working together it's inevitable that at least some of them would swap stories from their respective mythologies and art, all it takes is one musician or theater-nerd turned rebel mechanic to sing that song once during a night of collective mourning because it perfectly expresses how they feel regardless of the song's in-story context, and by the end of the war "Orpheus" (or the fictional culture's equivalent) as a stand-in for dead or MIA companions even though hardly anyone outside of the originating culture knows the original myth, much less the specific stage adaptation, or if they do, it's in the context of 'Yeah, I've heard that that song originally references-'

But then again, maybe after the war, the formerly obscure myth and theater production from a random lesser-known planet see a surge in interest among the wider galactic public, precisely BECAUSE that particular song became so beloved within the rebellion.

But leaving all that aside, it is SUCH a good song both in and out of context. It would work well in the Star Wars context."

"It is a story of love and loss, brotherhood and betrayal, courage and sacrifice and the death of dreams. It is a story of the blurred line between our best and our worst."

It's a sad tale

It's a tragedy

It's a sad song

But we sing it anyway

-Road to Hell (Reprise), Hadestown

Inspiration - two ideas, opposite characterizations

We're gonna sing it again...

"it is already over" • doomed by the narrative

originally collected: july 2024