#swmeta

YODA: Premonitions... premonitions... Hmmmm... these visions you have...

ANAKIN: They are of pain, suffering, death...

YODA: Yourself you speak of, or someone you know?

ANAKIN: Someone...

YODA: ...close to you?

ANAKIN: Yes.

YODA: Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side.

ANAKIN: I won't let these visions come true, Master Yoda.

YODA: Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.

ANAKIN: What must I do, Master Yoda?

YODA: Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.

i love this scene for many reasons, but mostly because both people involved in this conversation have wildly different interpretations of what was just said

for instance, on anakin’s side: i’m literally going crazy dreaming about my wife dying that i am desperate enough to seek out yoda’s guidance, despite the fact that i’m sure this guy hates me. “master yoda, i’m really scared of the people i love dying. what do” “shit happens, my man. live with it. go w the flow” goddammit master yoda, this is why i hate this fucking family

First a disclaimer: I’m aware that the prophecy of the Chosen One specifically says “through him” balance in the Force will be restored. This is all just speculation and ultimately is just a fun way to learn about genetics. That being said:

Have y’all ever thought about what Anakin’s DNA profile would look like? 

For those unfamiliar with DNA profiling, it is a technique that was developed to identify the number of microsatellites an individual possesses at each allele for a set of genes (testing can usually range anywhere from 10 to 13 genes). Each of these genes has a set number of STR (short tandem repeats of up to 10 nucleotides consecutively) that make up one allele on one chromosome, and each individual possesses two alleles at a given gene -- one from each parent. The chances of two unrelated individuals possessing the same number of STR at one allele on every gene tested is about 1 in 10^21 (so 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000), and thus this technique is usually used for crime scene investigation and paternity testing. 

So what does this have to do with the Chosen One prophecy?

Most humans have two sets of 21 chromosomes, and there are certainly no people that exist with only one set of 21 chromosomes, so where did the other half of Anakin’s chromosomes come from -- the paternal set? Well, one human genome can recombine with itself to make about 70,368,744,177,664 recombinant genomes, so I would have to assume that, through Force shenanigans, Anakin just inherited a lot more genetic material from his mother than most humans receive (since those who inherit more material from a parent usually make it out with only an additional chromosome or two). So it seems as though the mystery is solved. Anakin has a full set of 42 human chromosomes that are ultimately just crossovers of his mother’s chromosomes with some extra midichlorian juice sprinkled in along the way, right? Well, I’d still like to call into question where the 42nd chromosome came from -- his Y chromosome. Most individuals with a Y chromosome cannot carry a child, even if they have additional X chromosomes (such as people with XXY Klinefelter Syndrome, although these individuals can still get someone else pregnant), so he could not have gotten the Y chromosome from his mother.

So where did Anakin’s Y chromosome come from?

That has also been the beauty of Padme Amidala since her creation. She never fit a cookie cutter type. She wore pants, was physically adept, and used a blaster. She also wore gowns and was epically fashionable. Padme fought with weapons and words and strategy. Because I adore her, it's disappointing to see her reduced to just one part of her personality and used to idolize one particular kind of womanhood at the expense of other types.

The idea that the only female characters deserving of support and appreciation and the only ones who can be defined as feminine are the ones who wear dresses is misguided at best and harmful at worst. Not only does that idea dismiss characters like Rey and Jyn Erso and Phasma and Sabine Wren, it also dismisses a huge chunk of the characterization of Padme herself and Leia Organa.

Ok, I'm officially mind-fucked.

First of all, this article reveals???? so??? much??? They basically confirmed all of our theories.  Like either Disney doesn't care about spoilers anymore or what they're revealing is actually just 1% of what actually happens in the movie, and given that they basically revealed the whole of Luke's storyline and a huge part of Rey's... WHAT MORE THERE IS TO KNOW??? This question is fucking me up.

What we can get from the article about Rey and Luke is that:

•  as predicted, Luke has no intention to fight anymore and is much darker than we remembered •  this decision has a lot, or everything to do with Ben (we're still not sure if he actually killed the padawans or not, but his simply turning to the Dark Side would be enough to justify Luke's decision) •  WE'RE ONCE AGAIN CAUGHT UP IN THE OMINOUS SPYRAL OF THE 'CHOSEN ONE'. I can't believe we're in this shit again and I can't believe Ben's storyline actually resembles so much that of Anakin. A boy who was put so much weight on his shoulders, only to find out he's been lied to and betrayed all his life. FUCK ME UP. •  Luke pushes Rey away. LUKE PUSHES REY AWAY. And Daisy said Rey is not there to become a hero, just to bring him back. This means that either she eventually convinces him to train her, or she trains on her own or in some other way. Because clearly if Luke doesn't want her there, why would he train her to become a Jedi? He doesn't even believe in the Jedi anymore at this point! •  We're probably gonna get deeper into Rey's issues, as stated here:

“Luke definitely does not give Rey the warm welcome he received when he went in search of Alec Guinness’ Ben Kenobi in 1977’s original Star Wars. She is warned. She is given an explanation. Nevertheless … “She’s so hopeful to everything,” Ridley says. “And obviously there’s a hint of, ‘What the hell?’”

This rejection hits Rey’s abandonment issues. Hard.”

Can you hear my heart breaking? Rey was already an abandoned child, imagine how hurt she must be when she finds the one person after Han Solo that she might look up to as a fatherly figure, only to see this man doesn't want her around.

•  Talking about Rey's family... 

“I don’t think one girl, who he doesn’t know, turning up with a lightsaber is gonna make him go, ‘Oh, s—, yeah, of course I’ll get back into the action,’” Ridley says.

“But does he not know her?” Hamill says in his separate interview.

That’s a question Star Wars fans have been debating for two years. Soon they’ll learn the answer.

A big part of Rey’s future will be uncovering her own past: Who is connected to her? Where did she come from? And why was she cast away?

As she tries to pick up her own pieces, she may find they fit together well with the remnants of Luke Skywalker. Working together, they may become whole again.”

Now, I know what some people might be thinking. “REY SKYWALKER IS ALIVE!!”... but I truly don't think so. First of all, there's the whole issue of “why did Luke leave his child alone to die on a desert planet if HE KNEW she was there?” So my theory is that Luke might know Rey, but it's from other sources. And I have two options in mind: -- Ben had visions of her since he was a child, therefore Luke recognizes in Rey the girl Ben has told him about. -- Luke knew Rey's parents. Maybe he didn't know who Rey was when he first met her on Ach-To, but then as they talk and grow somehow closer, he realizes the girl is the daughter/nephew of someone he knows. And given the line “she may find they fit together well with the remnants of Luke Skywalker”, my guess is that Rey's parents really are Kenobis. Maybe not Obiwan himself, but someone from his unknown family. 

Think about it: the remnants of Luke Skywalker. Clearly a reference to the old Luke, the OT Luke. Aka the Luke who was trained by Obiwan Kenobi, who looked up to him and wanted to be like him (“I think he probably looks out on the horizon and wishes that he could be more effective, could be what Obi-Wan wanted him to be”). If Rey were a Kenobi, not only this trilogy would end with a Skywalker (actually two Skywalkers, but Rey's main antagonist is Kylo, always) and a Kenobi, but maybe through her, Luke might find a bit of his old self again, a bit of what Obiwan taught him, a bit of what Obiwan wanted him to be and believed that he could be. I don't think there would be a more beautiful connection. 

As someone said, it's time for a Skywalker to help a Kenobi, but it's also true that it's always the other way around in Star Wars and therefore, it would be amazing if this time, the help wasn't one-sided, but mutual.

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Ezra’s personal morals, his sense of justice, his determination to help others, that all came from his parents. We're shown them standing up against injustice, against tyranny. That’s they whole reason they were arrested. Seven years old is not a blank slate, that’s a first or second grader, that’s a kid who’s already got some strong opinions about the world, about right and wrong.

Having to survive on his own deprioritized those things. You can’t fight injustice and help others if you’re dead. And even then, when we meet Ezra in Spark of Rebellion, he’s combining survival and helping others. He could steal from plenty of people with minimum risk, but he chooses to distract the stormtroopers from the vendor they’re about to arrest. We saw it work out, but deliberately bumping into those Imperial officers could have ended very badly for Ezra.

The Ghost crew gave Ezra the support he needed to make doing good in the world a priority again. Took him out of survival mode. Gave him the safety to make himself vulnerable through connections to others again. Modelled more potential futures for him. Kanan in particular has an explicit mentorship role, which Ezra chooses to accept and openly thanks him for. It’s one of the core aspects of the show.

But while they’re there for Ezra during important years of his teens, have an influence on how he grows, the Spectres didn’t make Ezra from nothing. He wasn’t an amoral lump of clay for them to mold. He was already a whole person, with his own morals.

Ezra chose the Spectres. He has opportunities to leave, to follow other paths. He could join Hondo’s crew, or Maul, or even fellow rebel Saw Gerrera. He could have stayed on Lothal and kept up what he was already doing.

Honestly he’s a great contrast to Anakin/Vader? Because like, they’re both Coruscant Temple Jedi Order trained, they both go through trauma while young compounded by being put in prolonged life-or-death levels of danger...

Kanan is openly hostile to people and makes impulsive, emotion-driven choices, he snarks all the time, he blatantly enjoys punching stormtroopers, he absolutely does not act how the Order says a Jedi should. Just about everything he does is something Anakin was given crap for in the prequels.

But Kanan’s still working to help people. He doesn’t commit child murder or treat civilian deaths as a “necessary sacrifice”. He could have very easily gone into full murder mode and channeled his pain and anger into purely destructive strikes against the Empire. He does make some dubious choices (such as about weapons smuggling), but he repeatedly prioritizes rescue and relief aid missions.

It works really well to highlight the fact that while Anakin got dealt a shit hand at life and was manipulated by Palpatine, he’s still making decisions. His pain and anger don’t make him an automaton.

For me, the happy AU of the Empire never coming to fruition is Ezra growing up on Lothal with his parents. Keeping his home culture, staying with his family, connecting with the Force on Lothal. Maybe figuring out how to connect with Loth-cats and other creatures on his own, earlier, because he hasn’t needed to be so self reliant.

I like Kanan & Ezra’s teacher-student relationship! I would still enjoy an AU where Kanan shows up coincidentally on Lothal and teenage Ezra decides to learn from him! But one of the things I really like about Rebels is that it is a choice. Yeah, Ezra was too young to be on his own at the start of the show, but Ezra was confident in his own survival abilities and felt like he could say no, and Kanan didn’t pressure him to come with the Ghost crew once the first adventure was over.

The thought of Ezra as a baby or young child being taken from Mira and Ephraim (regardless of whether they willing, pressured, or not given a choice), taken from his home planet, disconnected from his family’s culture, raised far away from Lothal on Coruscant in the Jedi Temple...that’s not happy to me.