#teagrl

If you're looking for a dark and gritty story with Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker than here it is! Seriously, don’t read if you want a happy ending because Frangipani brings the pain!

I had to put this on a separate post because this is EXACTLY what I’ve been feeling, yessssss.  I’m with you that I don’t need the story to come down on the side of morality (I’m a Darth Vader fan, after all!) or even necessarily answer the question, because I think it’d be fascinating to explore something that a lot of people face in a fascist (or growing-into-fascism) government:  What does it say about the nature of the beast that otherwise “good” people ignore these things? There’s a lot to explore in how otherwise good people join the Empire because they don’t have any other reasonably viable options if they want to live or not put their families in danger.  There’s a lot to explore in how some people are scared and they join because they feel they have to.  There’s a lot to explore in that the Empire wasn’t always voluntary! But I need the question--whether answered or deliberately ignored--to be part of the story.  And I feel like, for all that I got bored reading about the space football parts, stories like Servants of the Empire (and, as you say, Rebel Rising?) are aware of that question, about how Zare feels this intense disconnect between what he knows his happening versus his family who are unaware, but he has to struggle with how much they would believe him, how much it would destroy their family if he told them, etc..  So he keeps quiet, but the question is very much there. I feel like the Darth Vader and Dark Lord of the Sith comics are aware of it as well, like the Tarkin novel, in that the answer is, “They just don’t care because they’re not negatively impacted by it/they’re using that negative impact for their own justifications.”  I could believe this of Iden Versio--she doesn’t see the truly ugly things, she’s been taught that the people getting hurt are deserving of it, she’s been taught that if you’re loyal, if you keep yourself toed to the line, things will work out, and anyone who doesn’t is just being selfish or troublemaking. Who I REALLY want an answer for this is Rae Sloane.  She believes so strongly in the Empire, she believes the Rebellion is bringing lawlessness and chaos into a galaxy that desperately needs structure because otherwise people just turn around and destroy each other.  And she hates working with the propaganda and people like Pandion or Gallius Rax, but how does she justify the cruel things the Empire does, like the enslavement of entire worlds, with making the galaxy a better place? With Ciena--at least so far as I am--she hasn’t seen the ugly sides of the Empire, as well as she is incredibly grateful to the opportunities that it gave her, the resources she has now, the chance to actually be on even ground with people who would have lorded it over her back on Jelucan.  I get why she is fiercely loyal to such an awful regime! But Sloane worked with Tarkin.  She worked with the worst of the Empire.  She can’t be unaware of the truth, she understands that they spin stories to benefit themselves.  She can’t be unaware of why they enslaved the Wookies or the Twi’leks.  How does she square that with thinking that Rebels are only bringing chaos to the galaxy and that she thinks the heart of the Empire is good? Is the point ultimately that she’s sticking her head in the sand, too?  That she believes so strongly in the Empire that she doesn’t see the true ugliness right in front of her?  Does she just straight up not care about the Wookiees and Twi’leks?  Does she buy into the idea that they deserve what they got for going against what the Empire wanted of them?  Does she think that the sacrifice is worth it, for the “greater good”? I feel like there’s a really good story in there, how she can be an honorable person while still seeing so much ugliness in the galaxy and, man, do I want THAT story!  :D

Queen Mother Teneniel Djo, Chume’da Isolder, Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo, Allana Djo Solo

@teagrl I realize I could probably recreate reactions just from the notes, but I probably won't. I did a lot of it over Christmas which is why we missed out on this once in a century opportunity. It is bizarre and so crazy.

Don’t let the sparse summery fool you. This has a tone of feels and lots of great Luke/Mara moments!

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a specific timeline, it might not even be after ROTJ.  We know it happens at some point after ESB because Luke references carrying Yoda on his back and it’s probably post-ROTJ because he doesn’t reference anything happening in the movies (other than to say, “Some have turned to the dark side of the Force and wish to drown the galaxy in suffering.  It is up to those with knowledge of the Force to stop them, to restore balance.” but that’s vague enough that it could be ANYWHERE) and it’s also structured differently from a regular novel.  These are stories told from other people about Luke, so some are very obviously Not True and others have a lot of grains of truth in them and some of them are probably pretty reliable (like this one), so it’s kind of a “toss your hands in the air and take your best guess” re: the timeline. But I think it’s relatively shortly after ROTJ, because he’s still hungrily seeking out knowledge wherever he, but he feels more settled into who he is.  (But you could definitely make a case for it being between ESB and ROTJ, too, I guess.)

I always got the impression that Palpatine didn’t want anyone knowing about the Force or wouldn’t have wanted them speaking openly about it because it would just encourage people to remember the Jedi and remembering the Jedi would raise questions about, were they really trying to stage a coup? or would use them as a rallying point to rise up against him. But also the Clone Wars were only 3-4 years long, which wouldn’t really have been enough time for the language and terms of use that were associated with them to really take hold in pop culture, unless someone was especially close to the Jedi. The Force didn’t belong to the Jedi, they never wanted that and never would, but no other group was as famously associated with it, and there weren’t many groups who knew how to use it under the Empire’s reign--that was the point of getting rid of the Jedi, because they were powerful enough to stand up against him!  So letting people go on talking about the Force, letting the memory of that powerful potential ally (if they had someone who could access it) was dangerous. Just as hunting down the last of the Jedi was important because they could do so much against him, I keep thinking it would make more sense for Palpatine to view the Force the same way--all it takes is one powerful person to realize they can actually feel this Force that people always talk about and go seeking it out, because they have a frame of reference.  But if they don’t know what it is, how would they even do anything with it? (I’m not especially married to any of this, but it is fun to think through and I’m always interested in the culture of the greater GFFA at large!  :D)

Yeah, every time I read it, I have a >_o moment at how misogynistic it is, but I’m willing to give a little leeway because it was like 10-12 years ago and our language/awareness of these things has evolved so much since then and I think I get what he was trying to say, that it’s about fighting someone you really never want to harm, someone you want to believe is just upset and once they expend some energy, you’ll be able to get through to them and talk to them, you just have to play defense until then.  (And, okay, the direct comparison to a romantic relationship didn’t hurt my feelings, either.) I’m a little surprised he didn’t go with the toddler analogy instead, but I suppose it’s to illustrate that it’s not like Obi-Wan could have easily overpowered him! Anakin is incredibly strong, he’s not a toddler throwing a tantrum levels of dangerous, this was truly a fight for their lives. So, I guess I like the analogy he used, am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on the language used (so long as it comes with evolving understanding in present day), but I still have that moment of >_o every time I read it, even as I use it because it illustrates the greater point of the fight.