EU rambles + Day 26
You know, if you're not familiar with the EU, a good many casual statements about SW can be very confusing.
I've reasonably familiar with it these days, but at first I was pretty much 'wtf?!' In fact, my sole encounter with it until this year was about fifteen years ago, when I picked up my stepbrother's copy of The Courtship of Princess Leia.
MY REACTION: But she's practically engaged to Han! How can this be?
(I gather that the latter, at least, is a not uncommon response to that particular book.)
Then, of course, I discovered Wookieepedia. So I looked up Leia.
MY REACTION: So she didn't use Skywalker ... huh, I always figured Han would take her name, even (particularly!) if she kept Organa. Oh well, let me read ... hm, that's not really the impression I got, but okay ... wonder why they did that ... ooh, politics! WAIT WTF I DON'T EVEN OMG MAKE IT STOP WAIT HER SON DID WHAT?
(Discovering the entire EU via Wookieepedia is perhaps unnecessarily cruel.)
Anyway, two things I kept running across that befuddled me until I acquainted myself with the EU.
1 -- Lines to the effect of: Luke only goes for redheads.
MY REACTION:
...
That really says it all.
I'm guessing the franchise and fanbase has agreed to have collective amnesia about the whole thing? Luke Skywalker likes redheads! Only redheads! Most definitely not brunettes. Especially not the brunette we arbitrarily made his twin! Um, okay, but it's still weird if you don't know about Mara Jade & Co, since the only person Luke is ever shown to be attracted to is his sister. I guess if you adjust the slash goggles a little higher, there's Han, and even Biggs and Wedge ... all of whom are also dark-haired. Um.)
2 - Is Anakin Skywalker redeemed?
MY REACTION: This is actually a question? Was the happy fuzzy blue ghost too subtle?
Damn.
PERSON 1: Well, it wasn't like there was anything more he could give. I mean, he pretty much gave up everything to destroy the Empire, didn't he?
PERSON 2: But that's not why he did it! He did it because he loved his son!
PERSON 1: Oh, the horror.
PERSON 2: Look, one heroic sacrifice doesn't make up for KILLING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.
MY REACTION: Wait, what? Are you confusing him with somebody else? Because as far as I remember (this was in the halcyon days before the PT), we see Anakin Skywalker:
(1) Kill a Rebel dude. The rest are led away.
(2) Kill Obi-Wan.
(3) Shoot down a few Rebel ships. The pilots presumably died, but ... um, battle's a bit different, I think.
(4) Kill Admiral Ozzel and promote Piett in his place.
(5) Kill Captain Needa, aka the most heroic Imperial in the galaxy.
Obi-Wan says he helped the Empire hunt down the Jedi, so we can safely say he killed some of them. We have no idea how many. Therefore:
Anakin Skywalker: four people we see, a handful of Rebel pilots, and an undisclosed number of Jedi.
Luke Skywalker: a handful of Imperial TIE-fighters and every person aboard the Death Star, presumably including prisoners.
This does not imply that Luke's exponentially higher death toll makes him a worse person, or that there's any doubt whatsoever about who's the villain and who's the hero. That would be completely missing the point. Luke is fighting in a civil war. He attacked a valid military target -- which had already been used to destroy an entire planet (a non-military Imperial planet) -- and succeeded where those who made similar efforts failed. As Vader, Anakin murdered his own officers for incompetence. They were incompetent. That is not a capital crime. Successfully attacking a military base =/= murder.
So yes, Anakin killed a bunch of people outside his official capacity. That is, it's his job to kill people in battle (and always has been), but his murders are different. And that's -- like, why he's a villain for almost the entire trilogy? But while it's likely he has more victims than the four we see, it was still a bit startling to see 'four' become 'MILLIONS OF PEOPLE!'
Day 26: What is the most heartbreaking moment?
Anakin Skywalker's funeral, attended only by his son.
*sob*
I've reasonably familiar with it these days, but at first I was pretty much 'wtf?!' In fact, my sole encounter with it until this year was about fifteen years ago, when I picked up my stepbrother's copy of The Courtship of Princess Leia.
MY REACTION: But she's practically engaged to Han! How can this be?
(I gather that the latter, at least, is a not uncommon response to that particular book.)
Then, of course, I discovered Wookieepedia. So I looked up Leia.
MY REACTION: So she didn't use Skywalker ... huh, I always figured Han would take her name, even (particularly!) if she kept Organa. Oh well, let me read ... hm, that's not really the impression I got, but okay ... wonder why they did that ... ooh, politics! WAIT WTF I DON'T EVEN OMG MAKE IT STOP WAIT HER SON DID WHAT?
(Discovering the entire EU via Wookieepedia is perhaps unnecessarily cruel.)
Anyway, two things I kept running across that befuddled me until I acquainted myself with the EU.
1 -- Lines to the effect of: Luke only goes for redheads.
MY REACTION:
...
That really says it all.
I'm guessing the franchise and fanbase has agreed to have collective amnesia about the whole thing? Luke Skywalker likes redheads! Only redheads! Most definitely not brunettes. Especially not the brunette we arbitrarily made his twin! Um, okay, but it's still weird if you don't know about Mara Jade & Co, since the only person Luke is ever shown to be attracted to is his sister. I guess if you adjust the slash goggles a little higher, there's Han, and even Biggs and Wedge ... all of whom are also dark-haired. Um.)
2 - Is Anakin Skywalker redeemed?
MY REACTION: This is actually a question? Was the happy fuzzy blue ghost too subtle?
Damn.
PERSON 1: Well, it wasn't like there was anything more he could give. I mean, he pretty much gave up everything to destroy the Empire, didn't he?
PERSON 2: But that's not why he did it! He did it because he loved his son!
PERSON 1: Oh, the horror.
PERSON 2: Look, one heroic sacrifice doesn't make up for KILLING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.
MY REACTION: Wait, what? Are you confusing him with somebody else? Because as far as I remember (this was in the halcyon days before the PT), we see Anakin Skywalker:
(1) Kill a Rebel dude. The rest are led away.
(2) Kill Obi-Wan.
(3) Shoot down a few Rebel ships. The pilots presumably died, but ... um, battle's a bit different, I think.
(4) Kill Admiral Ozzel and promote Piett in his place.
(5) Kill Captain Needa, aka the most heroic Imperial in the galaxy.
Obi-Wan says he helped the Empire hunt down the Jedi, so we can safely say he killed some of them. We have no idea how many. Therefore:
Anakin Skywalker: four people we see, a handful of Rebel pilots, and an undisclosed number of Jedi.
Luke Skywalker: a handful of Imperial TIE-fighters and every person aboard the Death Star, presumably including prisoners.
This does not imply that Luke's exponentially higher death toll makes him a worse person, or that there's any doubt whatsoever about who's the villain and who's the hero. That would be completely missing the point. Luke is fighting in a civil war. He attacked a valid military target -- which had already been used to destroy an entire planet (a non-military Imperial planet) -- and succeeded where those who made similar efforts failed. As Vader, Anakin murdered his own officers for incompetence. They were incompetent. That is not a capital crime. Successfully attacking a military base =/= murder.
So yes, Anakin killed a bunch of people outside his official capacity. That is, it's his job to kill people in battle (and always has been), but his murders are different. And that's -- like, why he's a villain for almost the entire trilogy? But while it's likely he has more victims than the four we see, it was still a bit startling to see 'four' become 'MILLIONS OF PEOPLE!'
Day 26: What is the most heartbreaking moment?
Anakin Skywalker's funeral, attended only by his son.
*sob*