[id: expanding brain meme that goes “Thinking Leia is feral because she’s Anakin’s daughter” > “Thinking Leia is feral because she’s PADME’S daughter” > “Realizing Leia is feral because there’s an entire TCW episode where the plot is that Padme calls Bail and says “BAIL MEET ME AT THE DOCKS BRING GUNS” and he just fucking does it because he’s insane”]
This is a rather telling bit of dialogue, honestly. One would think that the Jedi and the Senate both serve the Republic, as equals, but even this young senator feels sure enough of their power hierarchy to try and order Obi-Wan to do something he does not want to do. After the rise of the Empire, even oppositional senators have more safety than any Jedi. Palpatine may have a special hatred of the Jedi, but I don’t think he’s the type to allow any enemies to run unchecked. It takes him all the way to ANH to build a weapon powerful enough to allow him to destroy a whole planet, and thus eliminate the powerbase of any senators that defy him. Both the Senate and the Jedi are small in number, but their respective social and political power is clearly stratified. This is to say, the Jedi only have that which is afforded to them by the Republic. They are not the political powerhouse that people sometimes make them out to be, and that is one of the reasons it was so easy for Palpatine to turn the whole galaxy against them.
You know I’m actually a really good Jedi, the Best Jedi actually, I’m like a SUPER good Jedi except that one time I committed mass murder and therefore I deserve to be a Master
Summary: After years of war, the near destruction of everything he believed in, and the fall of his padawan, Obi-Wan struggles to move on. Thankfully, he has his family, his culture, and the mental discipline they taught him to help.
Satine’s hand brushes against Obi-Wan’s cheek. Her fingertips linger on his cheekbone, just for a moment. Her lips part, ready to ask the question, ready to bind him to her- but then her eyes rest on the tightly wound braid. With the ghost of a touch she reads the promise there, and she knows.
When they meet again an eternity later, separated by a war and by the years and by a strand of hair that has long since been cut off, she sees the ever committed Jedi in his steady eyes.
.
Adi’s aunt frowns over the holo, her expression hard to read. Adi keeps her eyes firm and her attitude respectful, striving to embody the confidance and humility of a Jedi Knight. She’s only a Padawan, but even then it seems to hit the mark.
“You’re very serious about this life, aren’t you?” her aunt says.
There is a long pause. And at last, her aunt commits.
“Stass will go to the Temple.”
.
“But why not?” the boy asks, his eyes supplicant, his mouth hungry. He radiates incomprehension and desperate longing.
Aayla shakes her head, feeling a bit sad, mostly for him.
“I’m a Jedi,” she explains again, “my life is not my own. It belongs to the people we defend and protect.”
“But who would that even hurt, us being together, just for a bit?”
She gives him a single kiss, nothing more than a quick peck so he’ll at least have that to carry with him: being the boy who kissed a Jedi girl - and she shakes her head again.
“You wouldn’t want someone who’d break her commitments.”
.
Rig feels she might just pass out from exhaustion, sweat trickling down into her eyes. She keeps going, moving from patient to patient until her head is buzzing and she can’t tell one moment from the next and the Force is the only thing sustaining her.
A hand settles on her shoulder, a voice speaks of the only transport off world of the month leaving soon.
“I promised I’d stay,” she says. So she does. Jedi keep their promises.
.
“I can master this,” Tiplar insists, copying Tiplee’s stance once again.
Their masters watch from the sidelines.
Tiplee studies her twin sister’s face. This isn’t about Tiplar’s pride and it’s not coming from fear of inadequacy either. There is only pure determination in the Force.
They will both be Jedi Knights. They are meant for this path, and Tiplar will fight to walk in it and be worthy. Nodding, Tiplee resumes the kata.
a@jedijune drabble for the commitment / service prompt
Aayla could barely keep herself still in her excitement, despite understanding the gravity of the situation. She’d learned much, since she first came to the Temple, and she knew that making this commitment was a serious decision. Once she was officially a Padawan, she would be set on a path toward serving the Republic as a Jedi Knight. It would be hard. Even the Initiate training she already did was difficult, mentally, physically, psychically, and emotionally. But she could think of no more fulfilling life than using the gifts the Force had granted her to serve and better the galaxy.
When I first saw ROTS, I had the thought that Obi-Wan here is exactly Anakin’s fantasy.
He’s demonstrative. He’s open. He’s genuine and explicit with praise. He’s clearly aware of the Padme thing and choosing not to ride Anakin on it. He trusts Anakin to work alone (contrast his objections in AOTC).
Makes me think it’s on purpose.
Anakin’s fall is about his greed, right? It’s about how there isn’t an enough for him, how he can’t deal with loss and does everything possible (including murder) to avoid confronting it.
The way Obi-Wan acts is part of this; it’s like his behavior is explicitly crafted in response to complaints from AOTC. He’s perfect for Anakin–and it’s still not enough, because Anakin’s problem is not“people aren’t nice enough to me.”
When I say “perfect for Anakin,” I do mean for Anakin. He’s blinded by his love for Anakin and that’s objectively a massive flaw, but that’s exactly what’s most accommodating to Anakin’s desires at the moment. Obi-Wan is exactly what Anakin wants, and it’s still not enough.
“Are you my real father?” hit like a truck because Leia Organa is tremendously powerful in the Force, some part of her remembers her mother, just vaguely, but she does. “She was beautiful, kind, but sad,” Leia says in Return of the Jedi. She remembers that day on Polis Massa in some way, just brief, fleeting memories, but she does.
“Sometimes when I look at Luma, I see her mother’s face. We all miss her very much.“ rings with so much truth in the Force that Leia, with her ability to see into people, to know when they’re lying, to read them like an open book, knows that’s true.
Somehow, he knew her mother. From there, it’s not a big leap to, “Are you my real father?”, it’s a reasonable conclusion, if the wrong one.
But some part of her feels it, too. Because some part of her must remember him as well, Obi-Wan was there that day, even if she may not knowingly recognize him.
If Leia remembers her mother, she likely remembers Obi-Wan, too.
