The StarWarsMeta community is up and running over on pillowfort. Come and share your think-y thoughts on characters and world building in a galaxy far, far away. I’ll be setting up a similar dreamwidth community soon.
Hey! I’ve talked about it in detail here but if you only want the gist:
The Living Force = The energy around you. The one present in all
living beings.
The Unifying Force = the vast cosmic energy that binds the galaxy together.
The Cosmic Force = The unifying Force. Described as the energy that unifies the force and the galaxy.
Both the unifying Force and Cosmic force are described with the same
terminology
All that surrounds us is the foundation of life, the birthplace of what
your calls midi-chlorians, the foundation of what connects the Living Force and the Cosmic Force. When
a living thing dies, all is removed. Life
passes from the Living Force into the Cosmic Force and becomes one with it.
One powers the other. One is renewed by the other. [TCW 06×12]
On Ossus, the Jedi came to understand that both the light side and dark
side of the Force reflect aspects of the
living Force, the in-the-moment manifestation of life energy, and the unifying
Force, the cosmic expression of prophecies and destinies. More precisely,
they realized that the light and dark sides are intertwined and necessary to
each other, as they form a cosmic
balance. [Ryder’s Windham’s Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force]
Some fans separate the two concepts but they are mostly used to describe
the same thing. I couldn’t find any guide where they are portrayed as two distinctive
aspects of the force. The Cosmic Force, as an aspect of the Force, is mentioned
throughout the franchise a handful of time but the all the guides use the
Living Force and The Unifying Force as the two sides of Force.
In Disney’s canon the Unifying Force doesn’t exits and the Cosmic Force
takes its place as the energy that binds everything together.
So, it seems, the Cosmic and Unifying Force are the same thing.
Hard to swallow pills: the jedi need their new padawans to be very young/Anakin is deemed “too old” for jedi training because the younger they are/the earlier they are taken from their families, the easier it is to brainwash them and have them never question their orders.
Point in case, Ahsoka and Anakin didn’t “not care at all for clone lives”, they simply were raised by adults that taught them that fighting and dying was all they were made for. Anyone forced into a religion full of absolute truths know how insidious these teachings can be.
I’m not saying all jedi raised in the order was innocent. They’re complicit in the clones’ enslavement, and they should think for themselves. Still, their brainwashing should be accounted for.
Tbh, I haven’t
seen a lot of that discourse recently so I can’t go on about specifics. But, as
we recently discussed here, Anakin did care about the clones (and I showed the receipts).
No, he wasn’t perfect and he did fail to do anything to help or even recognize
the clone army was a slave army. HOWEVER, unless this discourse also involves “Plo
Koon doesn’t really cares about the clones or their safety”, “Mace Windu
doesn’t really cares about the clones or their safety”, “Obi-wan doesn’t really
cares about the clones or their safety”, “Luminara doesn’t really cares about
the clones or their safety” or every single Jedi who also used the clones and
were even more emotionally detached than Anakin (and Ahsoka) then this
discourse is not really about analyzing the narrative, it’s about expression
theories not supported by the narrative (canon and EU). Because, as I demonstrated
on a previous post, Anakin, despite his MANY mistakes, showed more concerned
for the lives of clones than most Jedi, Senators or civilians.
Wasn’t Anakin
the only Jedi who sacrificed a bunch of politicians to save clones lives? Wasn’t
he the one who encouraged clones to pick names for themselves instead of using
numbers? Wasn’t he the one who felt personally responsible for the death of
every clone under his command? Who was willing to disobey military order to go
back and help his men?
It’s not
darkness. I’m not dark. This isn’t anger— It was okay; they’d always told him
so. He was fighting to save his men, and if he did terrible things out of compassion, out of love, then he wasn’t
turning to the dark side. That was the Jedi way. For my mother. For my men. For Padmé. [The Clone Wars
by Karen Traviss]
Impatience. Concern. Relief. Loneliness.
Weariness. And grief, not yet healed. Such a muddle of emotions. Such a weight
on [Anakin]’s shoulders. Months of brutal battle had left [Ahsoka] drained and
nearly numb, but it was worse for Anakin. He
was a Jedi general with countless lives entrusted to his care, and every life
damaged or lost he counted as a personal failure. For other people he found
forgiveness; for himself there was none. For himself there was only anger
at not meeting his own exacting standards. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone
Wars Gambit: Stealth]
Under [Anakin]’s careless confidence, she
sensed a hint of that unhealed grief. The loss of greenies Vere and Ince during
the Jan-Fathal mission … the loss of other Torrent Company clones
since then … his pain was like a kiplin-burr, burrowed deep in his
flesh. Anakin had a
bad habit of nursing those wounds, and no matter what she said, tactfully, no
matter what Master Kenobi said without any tact at all, nothing made a
difference. He hurt for them, and always
would. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]
[Anakin]
looked at Ahsoka. “Fine. You can go. But
I want to be kept informed of Torrent Company’s status. Don’t make me chase you
for updates, is that clear?” She managed to smile. “Yes, Master. Thank
you.” “And Ahsoka …” He felt his
heart thud. “Tell Rex—tell all of them—that anything less than a full recovery
is unacceptable. Tell Rex I—” He had to stop. Obi-Wan was in earshot, and they
were not supposed to care so much. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone Wars
Gambit: Stealth]
[Anakin]
hit the cockpit canopy switch, fast. “Obi-Wan’s fine, more or less,” he told
the anxious droid, firing their fighter’s thrusters. “Ahsoka’s pretty banged
up, though. So are Rex and Coric. They’re
on their way to Kaliida Shoals.” R2’s
mournful whistle said everything Anakin couldn’t … or didn’t want to. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]
Rex. Coric. Ahsoka. And fourteen dead pilots. Scores
more dead and wounded ground troopers. Why can’t we stop this? Why can’t we catch Grievous?
Dooku’s only one man. How can he defy the entire Jedi Order? Who is his Sith
Master? Why can’t we find him? Day and
night the questions ate at him. They ate at Obi-Wan, too, but somehow his former
Master seemed able to live without knowing the answers. Or else he was just
better at hiding his dismay. His fear. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone
Wars Gambit: Stealth]
All this
stuff are part of the narrative. it’s not an opinion, an interpretation or a
theory it is a fact. It’s in the movies, tv shows, comics and novels. Look,
Anakin was not a saint who never did anything wrong ever but people are taking
this bias against him too far. He fucked up A LOT and we all know it but that doesn’t mean we can stick every
negative adjective we know on him, especially when these attributes are not supported by
the narrative. Let’s blame Anakin for the stuff that was actually his fault.
Is Anakin
guilty of not recognizing the clone army as a slave army? YES!
Is Anakin
guilty of not caring about the lives of the men he was responsible for, having
malicious intent and jeopardizing their safety on purpose? NO!
Yeah,
Anakin/Hayden had/has a really long, lean, gorgeous body 😛
I think you’ll
like this: something like that did happen in canon. Anakin was large and
Obi-wan was completely aware of it.
Obi-Wan,
facedown, the weight of his body supported on forearms and toes, face a mere
finger’s-width from the filthy vent flooring, closed his mind to the burning in
his back, belly, and legs. Behind him,
Anakin muffled a curse. The fit was even tighter for him, of course, being
broader across the shoulders and more heavily muscled in general. [Karen
Miller. Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]
Once he was
well into the next straight stretch of vent he stopped and waited as behind
him, Anakin bullied his long frame
around the corner. He was doing his best to move silently, stealthily, but even
so his knees and heels and elbows knocked against the vent’s sides. In this
confined space the muffled bumps and thuds sounded horrendously loud. [Karen
Miller. Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]
Anakin’s
wouldn’t have affected his ability to go on missions but his size was something
they were aware of lol I mean, even Mace noticed 😛
Skywalker,
by contrast, looked every bit the HoloNet hero he was supposed to be. He seemed to tower over his companions, as
though he had somehow gotten even taller in the months since Mace had seen him
last. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]
some internet rando: obi-wan and anakin don’t care about the clones because of these specific moments that were obviously meant to not be taken seriously in regards to the characters’ actual beliefs and personalities.
me: ever heard of bad writing™?
yes i agree, the writers could’ve put humor into the show that didn’t require devaluing the lives of the clones and other characters and also didn’t make light of terrible situations and go against a character’s previously established personality and beliefs. but you people always leave out all the times anakin and obi-wan have shown that they do value the lives of the clones. i can’t remember which episode it was, but grievous ends up killing a clone right in front of obi-wan and you know what obi-wan says? he doesn’t just ignore it and launch into usual banter, he doesn’t tell the clones to forget it and move on. he has a moment of obvious grief and then says, in a serious tone, “you’re going to regret that.” he outright THREATENS grievous.
keep in mind that the clone wars was a show that was targeted towards children. older children, sure, but still children. to make it digestible, one-liners and jokes were thrown in so it wasn’t so dark all the time. which means they shouldn’t really be used as evidence in an argument. could they’ve done a better job? absolutely.
and another thing, because i see it all the time and it disgusts me whenever i do. people get riled up because jedi don’t get visibly upset when a clone dies and assume that means they don’t care. there’s a big reason why, despite all the pain in this show, very few people ever openly grieve: desensitization. both jedi and clones are seeing people die constantly, creating an increasing pile of trauma. trauma does some crazy shit to your brain. not only that, but jedi are trained from birth to not dwell on emotions, especially negative ones.
i disappointed the writers didn’t show the affects of trauma as well as they should’ve, but i have to keep in mind that it is a kid’s show. not only that, but george lucas was still apart of the writing process at this point, who we know wasn’t the greatest writer.
are the jedi hypocrites? absolutely. did the clones deserve better? YES! should the narrative been clearer about how little the clones were valued and why that as wrong? certainly. should the characters in tcw been more consistent? yeah!
but you have to remember: anakin is a former slave, so he’d have no reason to see his men as tools. and, because tcw was written before disney bought the franchise and legends material was still canon, including the jedi apprentice series, obi-wan had also been a slave at some point! i think obi-wan and anakin’s attitudes towards the clones weren’t the result of bigotry or thinking that the clones were just cannon fodder, it was because of bad writing as well as the fact the jedi were being controlled by the senate and the senate was being controlled by palpatine.
which basically means palpatine had control over the jedi! and that’s another thing to consider! but of course no one wants to look at the big picture.
First off, should note that protocol Order 66 is not a particularly insidious or devious plot on its own. If people were to openly talk about it, it is akin to talking about rules and regulations. There was technically a protocol Order 65 which involved taking out the Chancellor if he was proved “unfit for duty”. It’s all book talk – and unless there was a very specific context that implied other things, I’m not sure if just talking about Order 66 would clue 99 or anyone that something was amiss.
So, I think the more major bit of information that 99 would need to overhear would be about the chips being inserted into the clones.
Considering that they seem to treat 99 like a droid (being that he only really exists to them when they need him to do something), I can definitely see him overhearing something of that nature. When people get complacent, they forget who to watch out for – and it may be that they did not consider 99 to be a threat.
However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We’ve seen him overhear conversations and then use that info to try and help fellow clones already. And we also know that he has the respect of all the clones he interacts with – they would believe him if he were to tell them about a conspiracy involving a chip that would control them. It would be the beginning of the end. And I definitely believe that Fives would help him find out more information about it.
The great tragedy of Anakin Skywalker is he never got a chance to be free.
Think about it. He’s born into slavery. He lives 9 years as a true slave. Even if Watto was the “best” owner ever that is still a horrific circumstance to spend your FORMATIVE YEARS. Even if Watto was a saint, there is so much trauma in having no freedom or control over your own body, in knowing the PRICE of your life. Not to mention secondary trauma, which is NO LESS TRAUMATIC, btw.
Then, he’s “freed” by a Jedi. But the Jedi frees him with the implied condition that Anakin be taken in and trained by the Jedi order. As soon as he leaves Tattooine, all choice is stripped from him. The counsel evaluates him and finds him wanting. His entire future is thrown into jeopardy because the man who bought him is dead and the new owners may want to return him. When they finally do induct him into the Jedi Order, it is with suspicion and a lot of conditions (cough, being the Chosen One, cough)
Once again he’s in a situation where he must call the people in charge MASTER.
(But it’s Different, someone might say. Yeah, well, when you’re 9 a cucumber looks like a zucchini, and patterns of thoughts, how the world works, worldview, that doesn’t change just because someone tells you some pretty words)
In the Jedi Order, Anakin loses the autonomy of his choices. He loses the option of getting married and having children (which, btw, is one of the rights traditionally stolen in slave cultures). He loses the right to chose where he goes and what he does EVEN AFTER HE REACHES ADULTHOOD. And, he loses the right to his own emotions.
Even as a slave, emotions are the one thing they can’t truly take from you. They can try to break you, they can punish you, but as long as you can think you can feel, you can hide what you’re feeling. You can be angry, sad, happy, in love even if they don’t want you to. But in the Jedi order, not only are these emotions bad, but it is an entire organization of psychics who vocally criticize and police you out when you’re struggling to “let go” of anger and hate, even or especially hate that is justified!
Then, this Order begins using SENTIENT HUMAN SOLDIERS who have been BRED AND RAISED AND SOLD TO BE AN ARMY. Soldiers who’se MINDS have been stripped to make them more obedient. And the Jedi don’t even hesitate to put them to use. The Jedi Order legitimized slavery. How do you suppose THAT felt for the former slave boy?
So, in the movie, you see a progression as Anakin struggles for power. Because, if he’s the master then HE WON’T BE THE SLAVE.
Lastly, after THREE YEARS OF TRAUMA AND WAR AND SLOWLY SLIPPING TO THE DARK SIDE (don’t tell me it was just Padme’s death that caused him to fall), Anakin fall’s and turns to the only Authority Figure who has treated him with full respect and told him that he is powerful, he is in control – Darth Sidious. Who then ENSLAVES HIM UNTIL THE DAY HE DIES.
Anakin only got 30 minutes of true freedom and he was dying.
For as much complaining, joking, and even objective analyzing people do concerning how…young Luke comes across in the first acts of A New Hope, I’ve yet to see anyone actually give him credit for staying home on Tatooine and fulfilling his obligations to his aunt and uncle, despite how frustrated, stifled, and bored out of his mind he was. I mean, he was 19, he was grown (enough), he could’ve just been like, Screw this, I’m outta here, and ditched them. Aunt Beru was even sympathetic to his plight. But Luke was loyal to her and Owen, sucked it up, and took care of his responsibilities. Never mind that Owen was most likely repeatedly adding responsibilities and moving the goalposts on when Luke could leave because he didn’t want him to leave because he was trying to keep him safe on Tatooine because he knew things about Luke that Luke was still unaware of… Because Luke didn’t know all that, he just knew that his aunt and uncle’s need for him to help on the farm outweighed how much they cared about how held back he felt. So he stayed, and he was bored, and he did his chores, and he eked out bits of relative fun when he could, and when the weird old wizard hermit man who claimed to have known his dead father invited him on a mission presented by a beautiful princess from a far-off planet, he was like, No. I can’t just up and leave my family and my place here. It took tragically losing his family and his place and having nothing left to stay for before he would “accept the call”. But before that, Luke was reliable and dutiful as hell. As well as very respectful and loyal to the people who raised him–basically his adoptive parents. Even in the face of his growing frustration and wanderlust. And that’s something to be admired and commended. That’s a strength of character. So just saying, it’d be nice to see more recognition of that in between the constant snickering about Tosche Station. It’s been 40 years, we get it. Now credit where credit is due.
This! He’s really responsible and loyal, and the snickering about ~power converters~ always annoy me since we know exactly what he actually wants (some of that attempt at fun, since he wanted to go meet his friends, not pick up actual power converters).
That’s not exactly true. Star Wars is notorious for its lack of LGBT+ representation.
The reason we don’t see many LGBT+ characters and their lives portrayed on
screen is because the majority of the people behind the franchise don’t want
to. So the reason we don’t see topics as homophobia being openly discussed within
the canon has little to do with the GFFA being too woke™ to have these issues
and everything to do with the RL’s prejudices.
I’ve
talked about this in greater lengths here, but the GFFA wasn’t this great
place all species got along either. Speciesism/racism and xenophobia were rampant. Humans
of Naboo believed themselves superior to gungans. The Empire were build on the widespread
notion that humans were superior to non-humans in in every imaginable way. Hybrids
(the children of parents from different species) were ostracized by most
beings.
The GFFA is very much like our world, where racism, ignorance and false moralism still prevails.
Captainspaceprincess 