The Graduate and the Fangirl

I've recently gotten into warhammer lore quite a bit. I by no means know a lot but enough to be intrigued. I hadn't really thought about Hannibal for years but when I was reading about the Drukari I just thought he would fit in so well there. He would be different than the other dark elves, less outwardly manic but incredibly powerful. And Will would be with the inquisition. I probably won't ever write this as I don't have a plot but I wanted to write this down as I have nothing better to do after work on a Tuesday.

Hannibal is a drukari and Will is a blank working for the inquisitian, ordo mallius. When we meet Will even other inquisitors are afraid and wary of him, it seems as though it is because he is a blank and people are naturally repulsed by blanks. However we find out he is a legend in the inquisition. His story is that he was captured and taken to Commorragh by the Drukari and specifically Hannibal who tortured him in the Drukari fashion for centuries, the actual time is unclear. Will escaped somehow and was arrested by the inquisition, who cannot find out how he escaped (I don't know if there are any warhammer stories of anyone escaping commorragh but I presume it has never been done or it would be of great interest to the inquisition if it has) and imprison him until he dies of old age, at which point he is buried, then he turns up young again, they imprison him again. He never resists the inquisition and wants to help them against aliens, very specifically the Drukari. (So the plot could be surrounding, Ordo Mallius inquisitors investigating a Drukari threat on an imperial world).

Will finds it difficult to talk about his time (he can recall things but they are out of order and he knows he can't really trust his own mind half the time) but they get a few things out of him. He remembers when he first met Hannibal, he says that when he looked into his eyes instead of feeling fear or dispair he felt calm. He believes that this intrigued Hannibal and over the centuries, he tortured, twisted and tested Will because he was fanscinated by how his mind works. People think Will is a psyker but I don't want him to be one. I want to keep his hyper-empathy as that is what makes him a unique, almost (but not quite) broken mind. Making him a pskyer would kind of remove that and I don't think a dark elf or Hannibal as a character would find a pskyer facsinating. He also knows a lot of things, presumably things that Hannibal taught him over the centuries, biology, chemistry, botany, musical instruments, languages, (this could also work into whatever the plot needs as well as emphasising how long he was with Hannibal and how they relationship was ... companionable in a fundementally twisted way which adds to Hannibal's obsession and Will's broken psyche).

Hannibal has become obsessed with Will, and he was the one that stole Will's body and revived him. He may let him go but the leash is there and Will feels it. He won't let him die. I don't want this to be a romantic relationship, it simplifies it. I want to be more the Greek concept of Mania which the Greeks identified as a sort of love but also a madness, an obssession. It is not love, or romantic. The Drukari don't love. If we added that, it would create more simplicity. Will wants revenge on Hannibal like he does in the show and through a plot that I don't have, lures him out and nearly gets him.

Hannibal finds out at the last moment and inflicts great pain on him leaving him alive. They exchange the same words as they did at the end of season two:

Hannibal: do you believe you could change me, as I have changed you?

Will: I already did.

Hannibal leaves but the mutual hunt continues. It ends with Will being shot, Hannibal tries to go for him but he is restrained by other Drukari. Hannibal is very powerful, and they know that by breaking his obsession they may have the best chance of breaking him. Will says, either to the Drukari or humans he is with, "Reduce my body to ashes, scatter the ashes on every corner of every realm. Never let him find me." And he dies.

I've been scouring AO3 but the tags just aren't there so I'm turning to the experts for help :)

I'd love to read a story were Obi-wan trains Cody. I know there are a couple where he teaches him how to use a lightsaber and those are good too, but also if there are any where he teaches him the force or just anything at all in a real student/teacher dynamic.

I've looked at the Force-senstive Cody tag on AO3 and there is surprisingly little I could find where Obi-wan takes it upon himself to teach him. There's a reall awesome one called TRAINING MONTAGE - Chapter 1 - MadameReveuse - Star Wars - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own] where he is trained by Maul.

It can be codywan but doesn't have to be.

Hi all, I am big fan of Din Djarin travels back to clone wars fics. Loads of great ones out there.

I am certain I read one, I think it was just one or a couple chapters at the time where Din ended up in that village that Death Watch was terriorising in the Clone Wars and found out they were taking their children.

He goes to find the Death Watch Camp and challenges Vizsla (of Vizsla challenges him) they both fight with their Darksabres and Din rescues the one remaining child.

The death watch warriors ask him what they should do but he leaves without accepting leadership.

The Dumbest Clone Wars Arc

Are any of you surprised? I hope you won't be by the time I explain why the Rako Hardeen Arc is the dumbest clone wars arc. I get into a lot of reasons but it is the dumbest on the strength of one point alone. 

The Clone Wars Doesn't Hold Up Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwWUgh9lbb8&t=6288s 

Is Goku a Bad Father? The Final Answer

Do we know Frank Castle: A Punisher Retrospective

Frank Castle: Simplistic killer or ... complex killer? Well, I believe The Punisher is more than what he seems. The comics and most adaptations bring out sides of him that belies the simplicity most people conjure when they think of him.

I'm Staring Down the void of Star Wars

Ahsoka is Pretty Empty

Ahsoka (Is it getting better?)

Ahsoka Should be Dead

I know this is not exactly a hot take but I had feelings about Ahsoka I wanted to get out there. Also kind of a walkthrough (rather than a real review) of the first 2 episodes of the series.

The Arkham Games Failed Jason Todd

Jason Todd is a character to whom so much injustice has been done and I'm not just talking about what happened IN the comics. Which injustice do you think is the worst?

Young Justice Failed Nightwing

I want to start this off by saying that if you write/read fics with these tropes this is no disparagement against you. I live very much by the live and let fic/live and let ship philosophy. And most of these tropes I get why they are popular. And fanfiction is a great way to put fantasies and fun scenarios down on paper, whether they make sense or not. Most of these I probably wouldn’t have a problem with if I didn’t see them so often because they are VERY prolific tropes. You know when you watching something or notice something in movies/TV/comics and you don’t really think it’s good but it doesn’t really bother you … then you see it over and over and over again and that’s when it starts to really bug you? Well that’s me with most of these fic tropes. I have my reasons for not liking them but they are not really big problems with the fics (or even the writing) itself sometimes. More that, the more I see it the more my brain thinks about it, the more problems I have with it.

So yeah, I’m really only writing this because it’s Saturday and I can’t go anywhere because I dislocated my toe and writer’s block has struck at just the wrong time. So here we go:

 The Medic Tropes

The Beleaguered/Long suffering Medic: Like I said in my intro there isn’t really any problem with this as character concept but it is just EVER SINGLE MEDIC CHARACTER that has ever been written in every clone wars fic I have ever read. Anyone who knows of a fic that writes medics as anything other than utterly competent doctors who have to deal with people not wanting their care (we’ll get to that), please comment. The medics deserve more depth.

The Medics Outrank Everyone/Disrespect: This unlike the last one is not in every fic with a medic in it but it’s quite prolific and it also ties into another trope I’ll talk about in the next section about protocol. I often see medics not addressing commanding officers with the proper respect. People take the medics outranking their superiors when it comes to the health of the men and kind of use it as an excuse for the medics to speak to said superiors with disrespect like I’ve never seen. This ties into the next point as well about people avoiding medical care. Just because they have final say in this one specific area doesn’t mean that they outrank their officers and that they wouldn’t be court martialed (and rightly so) for speaking to them that way. The worst I saw was a fic where Cody wants to get out of bed, he’s recovering but stable, there is no escalation, no serious danger to life or health and the medic literally shouts at his COMMANDING OFFICER that he will bench him if he hears one word. WTF? Take the scene for the Clone Wars episode ‘The Deserter’, Rex is seriously injured, wants to keep going and look at how medic Kix deals with it, he says, “Sir, as the team medic, when it comes to the health of the men — including you — I outrank everyone. So I respectfully order you, sir, to get some rest.” He speaks calmly, measuredly, respectfully. How does this very simple caveat to the chain of command translate to the medic being in charge of everyone, being able to speak to whomever they want however they want, and everyone being scared of them?

No-one seeks medical attention unless forced to: Again, I get why this is a trope, it is the selfless, pure hearted, yet strong person who ‘doesn’t want to bother anyone’ or ‘take up resources’ or ‘doesn’t have time to be sick’. That works for things like a cold, or a headache but I have read a fics where … specifically Obi-wan Kenobi has a gaping gash in his head and he tries to avoid the medic (this was not a crack fic). At first I found this trope funny, as that Monty Python skit where a knight with no arms says, ‘tis but a flesh wound’ comes into my mind. But when you see in practically every Clone Wars fic where someone gets an injury (and it’s war so naturally it happens a lot), the more stupid it starts to look. These are highly intelligent, practical people most of the time. Especially for the superior officers, not seeking medical attention is actually pretty selfish and self-indulgent in their position. As I said, ignoring a cold or a headache is the sign of someone who wants to power through or someone who is under a lot of pressure. Someone who just came out of a deadly mission with multiple injuries ‘not wanting to bother the medic’ is not strong or selfless, they are a blithering idiot. (Hello Kenobi who comes fresh out of Zyggeria in most fics portraying it with near fresh whip marks on his back and says, “Yeah, no need to bother the medic, let me meditate this away”). The writers know that seeking medical attention is the right thing to do but the denial of it is almost always portrayed as something almost heroic that is supposed to be met by the audience with a fond eye-roll. I certainly eye-roll.

 Clone Relationships/Interactions

The things that come up here didn’t get on my nerves until I started understanding soldiers more. Soldiers have a very, very unique bond that is hard to explain because it’s forged in very unique circumstances. Most of us know we would die for the people we love but we are rarely put in a position where that is a decision we will have to make. Not only that but we will never have to contend with the fact that a person may die in front of us and we (for the moment) will just have to ignore it and keep going. How do you reconcile dying for the people standing beside you while also accepting that you can’t indulge in mourning them when they die for you? This naturally will create a unique yet powerful, if difficult to understand bond with very unique ways of interacting with your peers. This bond is rarely portrayed in fics. It’s kind of sad that these unique relationships aren’t at least attempted in fics, especially since the Clone Wars resonated so much with soldiers and soldiers families in its portrayal of the clone. So most of the following tropes are connected to that feeling.

The Clones are Brothers as in Siblings more than Brothers as in Brothers-in-arms: As I said, the clone wars resonated so well with soldiers and their families and that came from how well the clones and how they interacted with each other were portrayed. In fics they seem to interact the way normal siblings would interact in a familial setting. Without repeating the intro to this section I’ll just say that siblings and brothers/sisters-in-arms do not interact the same. Yes, the clones are genetically made from the same person but the way they were raised and told what their purpose was, the way they were taught that being a soldier was what they were, why they were made, and what their purpose was means the normal sibling bond you or I would know would not be there. The brothers-in-arms bond would. This only bothers me because it feeling (just to me mind you) that the soldier bond that was portrayed so perfectly and resonated so well with people is kind of relegated in favour, we’re all one big family unit that all happen to be soldiers. Rather than soldiers whose family was forged in training and battle. This trope comes in several forms including but not limited to:

·         Talking to superior officers in a manner and at times that fly completely in the face of protocol (which we know the clones take very seriously).

·         Random clones using Cody or Rex’s name without their ranks (personal relationships and exposure to the person coupled with the type of conversation, would warrant dropping a title)

·         Clones sleeping in a pile

·         The use of the word Sibling in place of the word Brother (brother (and sister) have connotations of comradeship in addition to familial whereas a sibling cannot be anything but a family member. And the clones weren’t raised as Siblings they were raised as comrades.)

·         Clones hugging and kissing each other casually, and sometimes extensively (this one is more the familial portrayal of the interaction rather than the action itself).

·         Saying I love you (again more the familial/casual portrayal, even if a part of me doesn’t see many circumstances in which that would have to be said between clones)

·         On visits to Kamino, little clones bounding up to visiting Commanders and Captains like excited, normally raised children. (2)

So yeah, the bond between soldiers may outwardly seem distant to most people especially those of us who grew up with all the hugs and kisses we could ever need. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t deep, or meaningful or can’t be portrayed well without just throwing in overly tactile, sometimes cloying interactions that don’t happen among soldiers, tend not to happen among men in general, and definitely would not be natural for soldiers raised the way the clones were.

And lastly, I think there is a lot of lost beauty in thinking of the clones as this way. Military training is designed to break you down so you can be forged into something else. And it does do that. The clones all being the same on the surface but different deep down is what being a soldier is. Being out in the battlefield you are one unit, you were forged together on that training field and you have a shared fate to step onto a battlefield and maybe die but underneath it all that, a spark of what makes you, ‘you’ is still there. The whole siblings angle kind of dilutes, if not erases all that nuance of what it means to be not only A soldier but SOLDIERS.

 Jedi and Clone Interactions

Fanfiction tends to gloss over a lot of unpleasantries because they are uncomfortable and the relationship between the Jedi and the clone is very, very complex. Most Jedi respect and some even love their men (the main ones do anyway) but not only are they they’re commanding officers but also in a sense, their owners. The republic owns the clones and the Jedi are part of the republic. I see it portrayed like the Jedi are just like the clones, they have no choice but there is a difference between having to serve a system you don’t take part in (much less one who bought you) and being against something a system you take part in does but doing it anyway. The, they were just following orders argument is a historically uncomfortable one so I don’t know why it keeps being used. The Clones are slaves (chipped like chattle), the Jedi are not. So this fandom portrayal is kind of icky. At best it glosses over it, at worst it excuses it or outright denies it.

There are loads of examples but one that made me stop reading a fic I was enjoying was one where Obi-wan goes to Kamino to ask about potentially force sensitive clones has a conversation with Shaak-Ti that includes little clones running to her bedroom, sitting on her lap and confessing nightmares to her about killing Jedi.  

Contradiction or softening of Jedi actions: Let’s take the Shaak-Ti example. This is the woman who when presented with an either physically or mentally ill clone who out of nowhere killed a Jedi for no reason and is told that they should ‘terminate the clone’ her reply is, “I believe this solution is ill-advised” … ill-advised? This sounds exactly like the kind of woman whom baby clones would confess violent nightmares to. And taking into consideration her actions during the Fives arc and her having nothing to say when the discovery of the army’s origin, exactly the kind of woman who would handle it well.

The clones are just there to protect the Jedi: That is what the clones believe that again it disturbs me a bit that, that is what the writers seems to only see them as good for too. A fic example is one where the clones find the chips and free themselves but the first thing they do is ‘free’ the poor enslaved Jedi like they aren’t a powerful religious order that is part of the republic and running this whole war, bought them and used them in the first place. No, forget that these soldier were chipped like animals, forget their whole lives have been one example of inhumanity after another, forget that brother after brother has died for nothing, it’s the Jedi that deserve the saving and the sympathy.

I want to put a comment in here to say that this is not a Jedi hate train (though full disclosure I’m not pro-jedi) but why are THEY the ones who get the head pats and the ‘poor you, you’ve been through so much’ treatment when there are far more worthy candidates like the child soldiers they’ve been commanding? Much less said child soldiers being not much more than a tool to bring relief to their Jedi commanders. That is what they were created to do so it makes sense that they would do that. What doesn’t make sense is why that seems to be what most fic writers see as a happy result for freed clones. Once again, it’s not just that it’s disturbing but it takes a complicated relationship that would be difficult for characters to navigate and makes it simple by hand-waving the bad stuff. So yeah, many writers don’t seem to know what to do with the clones as their own people. This tends to be a thing in fanfiction in general, one side is the hurt and the comforted and the other side is the comforter. This is something I’ll be complaining about in the Codywan section.

The Hand of the Author: The relationships between the clones and the jedi are often very … I don’t know how to put this … easy? And I don’t mean individual clones and individual Jedi like Obi-wan and Cody or Anakin and Rex, I mean THE Clones and THE Jedi. The clones respect the Jedi as warriors and commanders, even admire them but that often translates in fanfic to every clone knowing every Jedi is a good person who whom they should trust. If we go back to the Shaak-Ti example clones were raised in an environment where disobedience or deviation got you a one way ticket to lab table, Shaak-Ti shows up and is polite and nice and now … I instantly trust her and know she’ll have my best interests at heart even though I’m a soldier and therefore know that the needs of the war far outweigh any needs I have and any commander as far as I know would get rid of the weak link to protect the chain. Her just being nice, the Jedi being nice to the clones is not enough to get that level of trust from any reasonable person let alone people who have been incentivized to never trust any but their brothers. And even when it comes to individual clone Jedi interactions, it goes from fear to trust in nothing flat. And trust is not something that comes as a whole. Clones, and people in general are far more like to gradually offer trust with some things then over time more trust is given. I named this one the hand of the author because WE know that Jedi characters are kind people but it’s just like magically all the clones know that. An example of this is the Slick storyline. I see a lot of arguments that ‘Slick could have gone to the Jedi’ as is a sergeant would have any reason at ALL to talk to a general without going up the chain of command let alone a literal slave who, as far as he’s concerned would be going to his owners and saying, ‘hey I’m a slave, could you maybe do something about that?’ Slick doesn’t know Obi-wan or Anakin like Cody or Rex do (and not even Rex confides his growing concerns about his brother’s circumstances that we see and if he did Anakin didn’t do anything) and I’m not so convinced that they would have done anything if Slick had gone to them considering the looks of derision and dismissal they give a man telling them he is their slave. Do they consider it? Nope? So I say hand of the author, maybe more wish of the author. (Fic Rec 2)

 Jedi Relationships

Jedi are family: Believe it or not this is actually in a weird way defending the Jedi a little bit because the reason the Jedi cite for taking kids from their families so they can be raised absent attachments and outside influences is because ‘attachments lead to the dark side’ and family is the first and one of the most powerful attachments anyone can have so have to server that bond in its infancy and teach them to avoid attachment. Portraying the Jedi as family (especially in the fandom way where families look like normal, everyday, earth families) is kinds of worse than portraying the clones as one because at least the clones aren’t damaged by it. It is an uncomfortable prospect that our heros are raising their children without getting attachments or allowing them to form when every healthy adult knows that, that is incredible, sometimes cripplingly damaging (the main reason I’m not pro-jedi). So writers like to portray Jedi lineages as functioning like normal families. But if the Jedi REALLY did raise their children in this healthy way … why did they take the kids away from their families to begin with? This actually makes the Jedi look worse because now they have no reason for removing wanted children from loving homes. I think most people who try to defend this are young and not yet parents because if someone came into my house … I’m not even going to finish that thought. And no, parental consent doesn’t make it okay because they parents aren’t the one you are committing the greatest wrong against, the child is. You’ve not just taken a child from a family, you’ve taken a family from a child.

There are ways to try and soften the Jedi in fics but having padawans with the same master introduce each other as ‘my brother’ is not it. Once again this is not just a pro-jedi vs anti-jedi thing. If that were the case it wouldn’t be on this list, it’s once again throwing away all the nuance surrounding these relationships and how they function. It’s another case of removing the bad to make it sanitized and simple.

Jedi Romances: This is much the same as the other one and it comes down to the argument that ‘you’ve misunderstood, jedi are allowed to love’. Yes, Jedi are allowed to love but they are not allowed to form romantic relationships because romantic relationships are attachments and if you are not attached to your romantic partner (not sexual partner, romantic partner) it’s probably time to consider if it’s not working out. There is also the argument that love is not attachment. So if the Jedi can have romantic, loving relationships then why can’t they get married? The piece of paper is a symbol of that bond rather than the cause of it. Kiadi Mundi is permitted to have many wives because his species has a low male birth count but he loves none of them. These supposed non-attached romantic relationships in fics look identical to the relationships that literally everyone else has. You can’t just write a normal relationship say it’s different and it becomes so. I’ve seen several fics where it’s straight-up portrayed that Anakin just ‘misunderstood’ the code all these years. Yeah, the guy who was raised in this creed since he was nine, being an attached and emotional person probably had it drilled into him multiple times to make sure he really got it, just mistakenly got in into his head that he had to hide his relationship and is flabbergasted when the council is totally cool with Obi-wan dating Cody … Like they totally would be.

Note: You can be Pro-Jedi without jumping through hoops to basically make them just like everybody else with relationships that are just like everybody else, again throwing aside the nuance of this belief set, code of conduct and state of mind. That is where all the interesting, juicy stuff lies.

 Codywan

I know this whole article has just been a case of preference with excessively detailed reasons for said preference, but it goes doubly so here. Live and let ship. And again most of this stuff, like the medic tropes just come from seeing them too many times.

Cody is Obi-wan’s emotional support clone: This is really just a rehash of my complaints about the Jedi being portrayed as if they are the slaves who need rescuing rather than active participants in a republic they serve by their own will. This one just takes on a more person edge. I get it, Obi-wan is everyone favourite whipping boy because he’s just so pretty in pain and big, strong, manly Cody is there to save him from not only the vagabonds but his own selfless nature. It’s a bit full on but basically harmless. I just wish that more writers treated Cody like his own person rather than someone who’s there for Obi-wan. (Fic Rec 5, 6 and 7)

Cody is always the one infatuated: I know, I know, we all love Obi-wan and Cody is not a character much explored in canon so he can serve as the blank slate through which we can smother Obi with love. But I guess I just find Cody really interesting in the sense that … what does it take to be a perfect Marshall Commander, what does it take to be the highest ranked clone in the army. What kind of man would that be? It’s interesting to think about. And I just love to see Obi-wan pine over him. I’m seen a couple of posts on tumblr expressing the same wish for there to be more fics where Cody is the sought after one but they remain frustratingly hard to find. (Fic Rec 3)

The Hardeen Arc is a-okay: The Hardeen arc is glossed over to a frustrating degree. The ‘Obi-wan had to’ arguments don’t cut it because not only is he part of the council that made the decision (FYI fanfic Obi when you are a ruling council and you implement a decision that council makes you don’t get to blame the council, you’re on the bloody council), it is a monumentally stupid decision. Obi-wan is a high general, he has an entire Corps to look after, he one of the poster boys and you big brains think that making the galaxy think he is dead is not going have any repercussions on the war? What was a big subplot of Revenge of the Sith? Oh yeah, it was killing Dooku and General Grevious so that crucial elements of the enemy’s leadership would leave the army floundering. I know most of this comes down to the writers not considering this, but it’s in canon now we have to deal with it. And dealing with it is not just saying, ‘poor obi, you had to make that silly decision and I’m just so happy you’re alive and not in the least bit angry that you not only made me think you were dead but abandoned your men.’ Generals do not participate in covert ops, this was so incredible dumb and dangerous. You think this didn’t embolden the seperatists, and potentially cost the lives of your, no doubt temporarily floundering army? But no, it’s all okay. (Fic Rec 1)

I have a fic rec list after this and I just have to shout out I’ll Orbit Your Flicking Star’ by Sunskippa. It’s the only fic covering the Hardeen arc that includes Cody giving Obi-wan a rank appropriate dressing down and the only one that appears to have even considered what this whole Hardeen debacle must have done to the army. Not only that it actually has Cody as a real person. It’s a perfect fic.

Where are my Omega Cody Fics?: … That’s it. I found 1 (Fic Rec 4)

  Fic recs

(I may not be Pro-Jedi but none of these fics aren’t Jedi bashing as most Jedi bashing is just as absent any nuance and fairness that the ones I’ve complained about are)

1) I’ll orbit your Flickering Star by Sunskippa (See above gushing) https://archiveofourown.org/works/24639628/chapters/59531782

(2) The Edge of Providence by whimsicalimages (never really been a Fan Jango/Obi-wan but the stuff with the clones on Kamino is amazing. You know what I was saying about wariness and trust? The development is perfect here with baby clones acting like how kids like them would act rather than normal kids. Also has an unfinished podfic.) https://archiveofourown.org/works/29253276/chapters/71833074

(3) Traveling at the Speed of Light by Saerus2665 https://archiveofourown.org/works/41343510 (The one fic I could find where Obi-wan is the one infatuated)

(4) Uncompromising by Flowerparish https://archiveofourown.org/series/3261756

(5) Find It On Your Own (But I'll Be Here When You Return) Redminibike1 https://archiveofourown.org/works/32007316/chapters/79280521

(6) Profane by Glimmerglanger https://archiveofourown.org/works/43896583/chapters/110369320 (I put it on here because at least it has a portrayal of Cody that is quite different … more innocent J)

(7) Cody and the Wonky Concept Of the Live Force Ezekiel0205 https://archiveofourown.org/works/31314800/chapters/77425691 (Cody goes back in time, stands up to Jango and pulls rank on the Nulls, what’s not to like?)

The Mandalorian Episode 5: The Way Means Nothing Now!

The Mandalorian Season 3 Episode 5 ruined everything! Okay maybe that's dramatic and the show hasn't ended yet but allow me to explain. 

Check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whyitdoesntworkforme