#ezhno

A little violence. As a treat!

[artfight 2024]

General Summary:

When Qui-Gon Jinn is told to take a new padawan, the Force pushes him towards a certain initiate - but when Qui-Gon is told that Obi-Wan cannot speak, he hesitates. And all the while, Palpatine moves in the shadows… Angst, fluff, adventure, humour.  Featuring Mace Windu, Dooku, Tahl, Kit Fisto, and others.

This chapter:

Dooku slowly chips away at Obi-Wan’s moral compass, and Maul pays the price for his mistake.

War Demon: The Webcomic has officially been launched on WEBTOONS! Click here to start reading now! Updates will be made every Wednesday.

Or read on FFN!

Read from chapter 1: (FFN | AO3)

General Summary:

When Qui-Gon Jinn is ordered to take a new padawan, the Force pushes him towards a certain initiate - but when Qui-Gon is told that Obi-Wan cannot speak, he hesitates.

In which Obi-Wan was born mute, but still finds a way to become the Negotiator, and in doing so changes the course of the galaxy.

This Chapter:

5. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 9 of The Rain Curtain, where Obi-Wan nearly breaks in the endless desert of Tatooine, and the Force gives him cartharsis.

(:~:)

> His lips are salty with sweat and metallic with blood when he opens them and releases a barest whisper.

" Please."

And the first raindrop hits the back of his head.

The drop is followed by another. And another.

And then the sky splits open with a crash of thunder, and water cascades upon him as though the heavens weep for joy.

Obi-Wan lifts his forehead off his hands and feels the rain wash away his tears.

His first thought is, strangely, that the Lars homestead would be out of business for at least a month.

The Force shimmers around him, as though saying laughingly, You were heard, dear child.

In response, the deluge roars into a sheer torrent, slamming into the sand-sea in perfect tiny impacts of silver needles on hungry dunes. Obi-Wan tears off his cloak with shaking fingers and is instantly soaked through, wonderful chilled moisture running down his coarsened beard and through his tattered tunics, limning his lightsaber with silver and his palms with liquid crystal.

He rips his boots and stockings off and throws them down beside his abandoned cloak; the first step of his bare feet onto rain-sodden sand is a relief so pure and unimaginable that he nearly weeps again.

A memory rises from the locked-away depths of his mind, of tiny feet pattering on the muddy banks in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, of orange webbed fingers in one of his hands and a human one in the other, three young shouts rising into the air as they dive into the cool current of the river.

Mischief, joy, and glorious childhood.

Obi-Wan is alone here, but he shouts anyway, throwing himself into the downpour. It is a shout that has been kept within him for ten long years; the howling remnant of You were my brother, the raw unending syllable at the end of I loved you.

He wonders if he looks like a madman; mad Ben Kenobi, wizard of the shifting sands. <

(:~:)

The Rain Curtain traces Obi-Wan Kenobi’s life from childhood to death in ten episodes of rain. This chapter shows his final cartharsis during the tenth year of his exile on Tatooine, when he was at his breaking point. I loved writing this section because here we finally see the extent of Obi-Wan’s grief - for Anakin, for Qui-Gon, for Satine, for the fall of the Republic and the Order he so loved, and the Force answers his plea here not with a few scanty drops of rainfall - but a deluge. It encapsulates Obi-Wan Kenobi as a character - grief, endurance, an endless capacity for joy. The chapter echoes back to all the other rainfalls earlier in the fic, and serves as the climax of the story before his final step into eternal rain on the Death Star.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Oh, Obi-Wan, definitely. He’s such a versatile and complex character and so integral to the saga of Star Wars that everything from fluff to humour to angst to hurt/comfort meshes well with him.

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Mostly. I have a love for highbrow fantasy like Tolkien and things like C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra, but while I don’t necessarily write with the same historical gravitas as Tolkien does, I draw from similar themes, and themes related to my faith.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

OOH okay, on the verge of spoilers:

1. Ezhno’s future role is far more important than most people think. I won’t say more than that on the subject.

2. Fathers and sons form one of the main themes of The Silent Song, and each pair of characters showcases something different. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan show how even unconditional love does not prevent a parent from accidentally taking their children for granted. Dooku and Huei show the corruptive effects of parenting based on raising a child to specific standards for success. Feemor and Huei show the importance of parent-child relationships being a friendship of sorts, but also the danger of being overprotective. Mace and Ezhno show the importance of strong paternal models for children without fathers, and the dangers of conflict if the “father” is in a position of absolute authority and extends that authority without consulting their children.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

When I finally finish building up for something that might have taken the whole arc, and then spring it upon my readers. Anakin’s birth is my favourite of these moments so far. It’s why I didn’t hint at names or anything throughout that scene until one of the other characters says to the new mother, “What will you name him, Shmi?”. The reviews for that one were glorious.

General Summary:

When Qui-Gon Jinn is told to take a new padawan, the Force pushes him towards a certain initiate - but when Qui-Gon is told that Obi-Wan cannot speak, he hesitates. And all the while, Palpatine moves in the shadows… Angst, fluff, adventure, humour.  Featuring Mace Windu, Dooku, Tahl, Kit Fisto, and others.

This chapter:

In the shadows of the Senate is a cold, cold blade.

Obi-Wan, Ezhno, and Huei all seek answers.