That realisation came to me a little earlier, as did the acknowledgement that their saga will, in several months, be at end. And I am at peace with that.
For as much as I have always loved the original trilogy, (mostly) very much enjoyed the sequels and regard the prequels with more love than I had for them when they were first released (thanks largely to The Clone Wars), I am so very ready for other stories to be told, like that of The Mandalorian, more of Cassian and that greater exploration of the my favourite fictional galaxy, all that is that beyond the spheres which the Skywalkers have occupied.
That’s not to say when the final credits roll on The Rise of Skywalker that I won’t be a teary, blotchy mess when the lights come up in the cinema (let’s face it, I’ll probably be in a bad state tomorrow when that final trailer lands). It has been too long an acquaintance with the Skywalkers not to be an emotional time. But I am prepared for the end now…
A very belated Star Wars day post here - it turns out that a double portrait takes twice as long! I managed to finish today, so here’s a painting of my favourite Star Wars siblings, done as a companion piece to my portrait “” from earlier this year.
Painted on Procreate in mixed media - mostly oil paints and charcoal on gesso canvas.
Ahiss escaped Leia’s lips, and Luke instantly pulled his ands away, wincing and apologizing. “I told you it was gonna sting,” he offered, voice soft and light as he moved back to working at her blaster wound.
For a second, she looked like she was about to hit him, but the moment passed and she sighed out a soft chuckle. “Yeah… that you did.” She winced again and bit back another hiss as the disinfectant pad passed over the raw skin once again. “Doesn’t make it hurt any less, though - you just about done with that?”
“In the time I’ve known you, I’ve seen you handle much worse. A little bit of disinfectant sting too much for you?” With a mischievous grin, he gave it one last swipe then placed the pad aside. “There, I’d say it’s clean now.”
This time she did actually hit him. “You’re a terrible person, Luke Skywalker, you did that on purpose.”
“Who, me?” He spoke with false shock and did his best to look the very picture of innocence. “Now why would I do that? It needed cleaning, that’s all. It’ll be worse with an infection.”
Leia rolled her eyes. “Classic little brother move.”
“I’m older!”
Neither of them really cared. They were twins. They were the same age. But they both enjoyed the banter. It felt natural, the one thing that had since the galaxy had shifted so radically after the fall of the Empire. They had each other, the two halves of their souls coming together the way they’d always meant to be, and both were grateful for it.
They grinned at each other for a moment, enjoying their repartee, but Leia’s face fell as Luke began to bandage her arm. Letting out a sigh, she scowled at the dressings. “Are the bandages too tight? My hand’s been acting up, I think I need to recalibrate it…”
“No,” she sighed again, “no it’s not that, it’s just - well it’s like you said. I’ve handled so much worse before this. But… I guess it’s just… the fact that I got hurt at all. And - and you didn’t.”
Pausing his task, Luke frowned at Leia. “Is that - C’mon, Leia, there’s no way you’re taking sibling rivalry that seriously already.”
She shook her head. “That’s not it either. It’s more that, well, this is my first mission since you started training me. My first mission with a lightsaber. One that was supposed to be easy, and I fumbled. And for whatever reason, that makes this tiny little wound hurt more than it ever should. That’s what this is about. Pride to an extent, I suppose, but also… fear that I may not be cut out for this.”
Luke stared at her for a moment, blinking several times, before he burst out laughing.
“Wow, Skywalker, you’re really great at this whole comfort thing.”
“Sorry, Leia, I didn’t mean to laugh, but are you forgetting what I was like when I first started training with the Force? I was a disaster. You’re doing so much better than I was at the same point in my training.”
“Yeah, but you taught yourself - ”
“Evenafter I got proper training, I still didn’t know what I was doing.” He kept the smile on his face, but a pang went through him anyways at the thought of Bespin. “It’s normal to be frustrated, or to be afraid you aren’t good enough. We all experience it in our journeys and at several points in our lives. It’s when we let that consume us, though, that we start to run into trouble. You’ll get there, Leia. You will. You just can’t let this one experience stop you.”
Her deep brown eyes bore deep into Luke’s, swirling with dark depths that flashed several emotions at the same time, until finally the corner of her mouth quirked up. “Maybe you’ve got some Jedi Wisdom in you after all. Thanks, Luke. I know all of this, I do, it’s just nice to have the reminder.”
The two shared a silent moment of understanding through their bond, one that was warm and comforting and peaceful, and Luke wished it could never end.
It did, though, when Leia’s expression suddenly grew serious and she stared at Luke through narrowed eyes. “Not a word of this to Han, got it?”
Imo one of the best things the Star Wars prequels did was establish how much Anakin/Vader *wanted* he and Padme’s baby. Because if it HAD been written as him never knowing she was pregnant, or not caring much because he was Too Much of a Man in War to really give a shit that he was going to have a kid (both of which are things people have suggested would have been *better* somehow), I don’t think it would have added as much to his relationship with Luke as it did. Vader doesn’t love Luke just as an extension of Padme, or in an obligatory, familial way, or even as a last connection to the person he was way.
Vader loves Luke because he’s always loved Luke, from the moment he knew there was going to be a Luke to love. He wants to know Luke because he’s always wanted to know him. He wants to be a part of Luke’s life, because he never had any intention not to be. That’s important. That’s powerful shit.
“Vader loves Luke because he’s always loved Luke, from the moment he knew there was going to be a Luke to love.”
Leia and Luke will never fully have their feelings about Anakin Skywalker in common, that Leia’s feelings will forever be complicated at the very best of times, neither of them will ever really know their birth mother, Luke has no memories of her, Leia only has a vague impression. They can bond through their grief at losing their parents in the same really terrible week, they can bond through their horrific circumstances in the Galactic Civil War, they can bond through just being siblings.
But it’s also comforting to think that they do have someone in common: Ben Kenobi. He may not have been in their lives long, but he was there for them at a pivotal moment, they felt his warmth and affection for them, he gave them both their first idea of what the Force was, what it felt like.
They both love their families they were raised by and wouldn’t change that, they needed to be hidden from the Empire, but it’s nice to know they had a point of connection, that at least one person in their lives was the same for both of them, the kind Uncle Ben figure they both shared.
3rd episode of kenobi dropping on the first day of pride month. YES THAT IS MY BI KING. he literally has two bi-s in his name. oBI-wan kenoBI. in this essay i will-
every time obi-wan looks at leia, he’s reminded of padmé, the wise leader, his friend who he failed to protect from the dark side, and every time he looks at luke, he’s reminded of his friend who he helped teach, his brother who he trusted, who he loved, who he failed
TheKenobiseries is really proving how much the Skywalker twins were alike. Both were strong with the Force, both knew Obi-Wan as Ben and both wondered about their biological father.
I’m not immune to indulging in the occasional, happy-ending AU for the Skywalkers.
It’s bring your kid to work day! Of course, Padme commissioned matching outfits for her twins. I like to imagine that a post-Jedi Anakin would still want to be a pilot. He’s wearing a Naboo pilots uniform, the same kind he wore for one episode, as a disguise in the Clone Wars.
It was probably controversial to cut Anakin’s sacred, Jedi mullet. I was inspired by the original, Force-Ghost Anakin in the Original Trilogy. Maybe Anakin would have imagined himself with shorter hair later in life?
