#pediophobia

Two things I've been thinking about that could exist in the Star Wars galaxy:

You know those life-sized dancing dolls that are featured at the beginning of The Nutcracker? Well, I wouldn't be surprised if, with the whole droid industry, those sort of dolls were common in wealthy families throughout the galaxy.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the Kaminoans weren't the only ones using mind control tech. In fact, in the GFFA, this sounds like the kind of thing that would be frequently found in the galactic slave trade for those who could afford it. Some of the victims of this practice could have even been sold as "living dolls" for entertainment or child play.

Put those two factors together, and that could make for a nasty case of pediophobia (fear of dolls) or automatonophobia (fear of artificial humanoid figures) for slave children like Anakin, particularly for more realistic-looking dolls or such figures, especially if they're life-sized and/or designed to move. Less organic-looking droids or figures like C-3PO may be okay for him, but not the ones who could look a lot like actual flesh and blood. The combination of life-like realism and robotic lifelessness could come across as creepy to him, and they may even remind him of the slave dancer girls seen in the Hutts' palace under Gardulla the Hutt's ownership. And though he probably wouldn't have encountered those mind-controlled slaves or "living dolls", he no doubt would have heard of them, and the thought of himself or any of his loved ones turning into one wouldn't have helped in this regard. Even after he entered the Jedi's custody, he might have come across those life-sized moving dolls on his Jedi missions with Obi-Wan, and that would have been a nightmare for him.

I imagine that the only people he would have told about this issue would have been Obi-Wan and Padmé, and with the whole Jedi problem with fear, only the latter would have given him any real sympathy. She might have even found the phobia to be a bit contagious after he explained it fully to her. This also may explain why he never got any synthskin for his prosthetic arm even before Mustafar (apart from the lack of time and resources). The thought of making a droid part on his body look more realistic may have triggered his fear of becoming a "living doll".

Here, I made Eleanor apologize for the intrusion:

dude have i even been alive lately. uh. huuuge art dump. hi guys.

🥀~ For— @gorydreamer

♠️~ With— Roses, Dogs, Dolls and Graveyards related stims

Art by @/gorydreamer, do not use, edit or repost

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