I'm losing my mind over your Mace & Depa post.
*hyperventilating into my own hands* LIKE. I need more people to read Shatterpoint, not just because it's a masterpiece and Matthew Stover is a genius, but because collectively as a fandom we urgently need to screw our heads on straight with regards to Mace Windu.
People love using him as the generic avatar of the big bad emotionally repressed Jedi Order, but Mace Windu is someone who can say "Depa is my daughter, I love her, and I am deeply attached to her" and BE A JEDI ANYWAY. That's what this whole book is about - him figuring out how to continue following the Light and making the right choices in difficult, unprecedented circumstances (the war, losing Depa to the Dark Side) - and THAT'S WHAT BEING A JEDI IS.
He fully believes that attachment is dangerous (as he says "holding too tightly to what we love will destroy it") and he struggles with it the whole book, because who wouldn't struggle finding their loved one lost and sick and committing war crimes? When Palpatine asks him if he will be able to kill Depa if he has to, Mace doesn't say "I will do what is necessary." He says, "I hope I won't have to find out." His literal first instinct upon finding her is to GIVE HER A HUG. He's like, "I came here for her. I couldn't care less about her war crimes or the mission or the reputation of the Jedi Order. I'm here to save her."
But none of that means he gives himself a pass to cut corners, act selfishly, compromise what he believes is right.
I think this exchange from the book is pretty illustrative:
When you are caught in an unwinnable situation, when you're questioning all your beliefs, when everything seems hopeless, when you can't explain why this is happening, when nothing is in your control - don't spin out in despair or hopeless anger or whys and what-ifs. YOU do the right thing. Even if it seems like it won't accomplish anything. In the moment you're in, in whatever choice you're presented with, no matter how small or how large, do the right thing.
Like you said in your tags, it REALLY DOES shine a different light on his and Anakin's interactions. AND it's so important because of Mace → Depa → Kanan → Ezra. There is so much love and it hurts so much, but doing the right thing is part of love and so is the hurt.