Things

GEORGE LUCAS: No. They're not like cops who catch murderers. They're warrior-monks who keep peace in the universe without resorting to violence. The Trade Federation is in dispute with Naboo, so the Jedi are ambassadors who talk both sides and convince them to resolve their differences and not go to war. If they do have to use violence, they will, but they are diplomats at the highest level. They've got the power to send the whole force of the Republic, which is 100 000 systems, so if you don't behave they can bring you up in front of the Senate. They'll cut you off at the knees, politically.

They're like police officers. As the situation develops in the Clone Wars they are recruited into the army, and they become generals. They're not generals. They don't kill people. They don't fight. They're supposed to be ambassadors. There are a lot of Jedi that think that the Jedi sold out, that they should never have been in the military, but...

PAUL DUNCAN: Do you think that?

GEORGE LUCAS: It's a tough call. It's one of the conundrums of which there's a bunch of in my movies. You have to think it through. Are they going to stick with their moral rules and all be killed, which makes it irrelevant, or do they help save the Republic? They have good intentions, but they have been manipulated which was their downfall.

GEORGE LUCAS: There was never a war between the Jedi and the Sith Lords. The Sith lords were in control for a long time. And what happens when you have a world full of Sith Lords? They start killing each other t see who's going to be the top Sith Lord. They don't vote; they just kill. It's the medieval feudal system. (...) Then the Republic came to power and the Jedi brought peace into the galaxy by being ambassadors and troubleshooters. So when the Senate decides to do something, or the Jedi Council discovers something that's amiss, the Jedi fix it. The Jedi don't like to fight people. They're monk-warriors. They're monks first, and they try to convince people to get along. And if you don't comply, your hand comes off. They use their power to keep the governments of all the planets in line, so that they don't do terrible things.

PAUL DUNCAN: And they have the moral authority to do that?

GEORGE LUCAS: Yeah. They are the most moral of anybody in the galaxy. They're monks. The Sith practice the dark side and are way of of balance. They Jedi aren't as much out of balance because they're the light side of the Force. They still have the bad side of the Force in them, but they keep it in check. It's always there, so it can always erupt if you let your guard down. The Emperor snookered the Jedi with Order 66. The nascent Rebellion and the Jedi didn't move fast enough.

GEORGE LUCAS: The Jedi won't lead droids. Their whole basis is connecting with the life force. They'd just say, 'That's not the way we operate. We don't function with nonlife-forms." So if there is to be a Republic army, it would have to be an army of humans.

(The interview is form Star Wars Archives 1999-2005)

George Lucas' foreword for Shatterpoint:

"For a thousand years, the Old Republic prospered and grew under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the venerable Jedi Knights."

"As dedicated as the Separatists were in their resolve to create a new order to replace the failing Republic, the Jedi were equally determined to preserve the Republic and defeat the Sith, who they understood all too well were the masterminds of the Separatist movement. They still believed in the Republic, still deemed it a Republic worth saving. Their faith, which gave them superhuman strength in the face of mind-boggling power of the enemy, had yet to be shaken."

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And how they function with life forms:

YODA: Clones you may be, but the force resides in all life forms.

(TCW S0101)

SHAAK TI: They're [the clones] living beings, not objects.

(TCW S0301)

CLONE: We're just clones, sir. We're meant to be expendable.

PLO KOON: Not to me.

(TCW S0102)

"He's not acting like the other Jedi. He has no respect for us."

(Clones between each other about the fallen Jedi, Krell (TCW S0409)

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The fact there still people who likes to call Mace Windu as either bloodthirsty and mean is racist. Stop putting your perpetual racial biases known as angry black man stereotype on Mace Windu!

That’s racist.

Mace Windu shown to break Sam Jackson typecast, the character is shown as serious and calm man not the violent type that usually is associated with his character. THAT’S A GOOD THING! BREAKING BAD TYPECAST!

BUT WHY PARTS OF THIS FANDOM WANT MACE WINDU TO BE ANYTHING THAT HE IS NOT.

He is serious but people keep interpreting it as mean, stop and try to think that maybe your latent racism is showing! That’s racial biases are there!

Look at how he interacts with Jar Jar - he’s supremely annoyed, granted, but he’s mostly polite and patient, and he teaches him to let go of his anxieties, and he’s the cool composed one who only rushes in when he’s got a clear idea of what he’s up against. He even befriends him! The nerves of reinforced durasteel needed to befriend Jar Jar! Even Qui-Gon I’m-so-spiritually-enlightened-I-got-to-live-forever Jinn never outwardly expressed that he appreciated Jar Jar or valued him as an individual - he never even smiled at him!

Mace is never in danger of losing himself because he is defined by his self-discipline, and how calm and wise and thoughtful he chooses to be. He has the same potential for aggression as any Jedi, no more and no less, and he’s got impeccable self-control and mental strength. 

He isn’t “one foot in the Dark Side” as some stuff portrayed him as. He’s a rock in the Light. The only time where he’s shown as incapable of keeping his composure is against Palpatine, and even then he does a pretty good job - and it doesn’t actually inform his character specifically, because anyone would be going completely insane when faced with a guy who just murdered three of their close friends, has revealed himself to be the mastermind behind a war that’s killed billions of people and is trying to destroy their entire family/way of life. 

And that’s what so dismaying about seeing Mace swear like a bounty hunter or pitching fits in fics. He’s being characterized as a classic Samuel L Jackson character, when he isn’t.

And honestly, I think that’s why his character is such positive representation in the first place! He’s not even the reverse of a Samuel L Jackson typical character. He didn’t go from the “angry black guy” to the “good black guy,” he’s not a “wise black guy,” and he’s not a “token supportive black guy.” 

What I like the most from your additions is the fact that Mace Windu as character is a fully realized character. The reason why non-white characters often feels like caricature because they are not treated like another character, and that’s how we get “wise black guy” or “token black guy” that more often than not treated as a way to prop white character but Mace Windu is a character that can stand as himself without other character being his defining traits. 

Mace is kind and compassionate. Like I have actual gifset to show that part of him, [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3]. He is shown repeatedly saving his men and he was the one who insist to save Zillo Beast and to not bring the Zillo Beast to Coruscant. He can’t stand aside when he know there are hostages and do nothing or even when in Ryloth where his focus is saving people of Ryloth.

Mace is also absolute badass. He is definitely one of the Best Duelist of the Jedi Order, he is in another level. He can corner Palpatine by himself which I believe if Anakin either stayed in the Jedi Council room or making the right decision, Palpatine would lost. 

And this also tied with how people think that Mace about Mace in that scene, Mace is only think that Palpatine couldn’t be let alive because Palpatine refuse to surrender. Mace already said that Palpatine is under arrest, he didn’t plan to kill him and even after Palpatine killed his friends and family, all three Jedi Masters who with him, the fact he still said that ‘You’re under arrest, My lord’  is prove of self-discipline and mastering himself.  But Palpatine, instead surrender, he said this. 

Palpatine shot Mace with force lightning, what even would happens if they just trying subdue Palpatine, he would try to found a way to escape. Mace is right, he is too dangerous. 

Also of course, the myth that Mace hate Anakin is absolutely bullshit. Their talk feels like a friendly banter, there is not malice in it. Maybe people need to step back to truly see what their relationship actually look like. (Also Mace have absolute right in ROTS being upset at Anakin, he accept a bribe. Is suddenly bribe become a good thing? Of course not.)  

And point is, People could love Sam Jackson other characters but Mace Windu is deviated from it all. Treat Mace Windu as character with respect that he deserves. Stop trying to avoid the fact Mace Windu is not defined by traits that often seen in Sam Jackson’s other character.  Respect it and stop twisting his character of something else he is not. 

This one contains contributions by @atagotiak, @dracothulhu, and @gelpenss.

Do you think Anakin ever panicked about how to raise a child, and then at one point went “oh god, I don’t know anything about teenage girls” because he interacts with maybe two women in his life and one of them is his wife, who is very human and knows nothing about Togruta adolescence and how puberty is going to display

And he just calls up Aayla like “Hey so I know that you’re an example of a female padawan that had a male master of an unrelated species, do… do you known where I’m supposed to get information? On how to handle a teenage girl? I don’t know anything about Togruta puberty and I don’t know if I’m supposed to just look it up on the holonet or grab a pamphlet from medical or just find an older female Togruta in the order. Nobody told me what the Jedi protocol for this is and I didn’t have any time to prepare before they just gave me a fourteen-year-old. Help?”

Demi Rose