Greatest Hits: Ladyhadhafang
In response to wyn's challenge:
So I'm wondering: for those of you who write fic, what's a piece that remains special to you - whether it got a response from your fandom(s) or not - and why? Link us to the fic and tell us … whatever you like! What you were trying to "do" with the writing, how you were motivated to write it, whether it affected your impression of the characters. Tell us why you love it, whether anyone else does or not.
Possible trigger warning for War Is Hell, slashy overtones, and non-con, torture and Parental Incest in the last set: http://ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com/161835.html#cutid1.
Let's say that it was mostly some head-canon involving Anakin and Vader, just to explore them more. I really doubt it'll end up in
the final product, especially since -- *sighs* I'll be honest, I can't see Luke-Vader doing this sort of stuff. Hell, let's say that I don't know
how it came about -- let's say I was mostly writing away about Anakin recording his experiences in the Galactic Civil War when all of a
sudden...that happened. I blame Luke-Vader and his more...High Octane Nightmare Fuel tendencies. Seriously, every time he shows up on the
page, it's guaranteed he's going to do something that either terrifies me or makes me...well, kind of sad. He's kind of one of the villains I actually
feel a bit dirty writing (although I think I'm also more scared of getting him horribly wrong as well).
Let's say that my main influences for writing evil!Luke were some of his more...aggravating character tendencies in Legacy of the Force. For those
not in the know, basically, his oldest surviving grandson, Jacen Solo, turns to the Dark Side in the series, and Luke acts...less than admirably.
He's pretty much content to sit back and fiddle while Rome -- or Coruscant, in this case -- burns, and then chastise both his son, Ben, as well
as Jacen, for having the goddamn "audacity" to get involved and help people. Granted, some of their methods were questionable, but they were at war. People do some pretty drastic things when they're at war. And for however despicable Jacen Solo gets, he's still infinitely more heroic than
Luke could ever be, if only because he's actually willing to make sacrifices to make sure that the galaxy heals. Luke doesn't do...jack, to say the
least. He does try to redeem Jacen, but it's less "I love you and want to help you" (like with Vader) and more like "I'm right and you're wrong, and you know it." Hell, he basically went to the ends of the galaxy itself to bring Vader back from the Dark Side, up to, in the ROTJ novelization, letting Vader take his weapon from him during their duel. And Vader's done far worse than Jacen ever did as Caedus. This is a man who's basically killed younglings, choked his pregnant wife, hunted the Jedi close to extinction, participated indirectly in the destruction of Alderaan, tortured people (including Luke's friends), killed Ben Kenobi, taken Luke's hand, and threatened to turn Leia to the Dark Side if Luke wouldn't turn. In short, not necessarily a Complete Monster, but someone who's done pretty despicable things -- and yet Luke found it in his heart to forgive him. In contrast,
where does Luke decide that Jacen's beyond redemption? When he finds out that Jacen killed Luke's wife, Mara Jade, in self-defense. Granted, it's not easy to find out that someone basically killed your spouse and lied to you about it, but everything Jacen's done, while horrible, is nowhere near what either Palpatine or Vader did. (Hell, Jacen and his Sith mentor, Lumiya, actually lampshade it in story. You know you've hit rock bottom when you're being outclassed by the Designated Villains of the story)
And speaking of hitting rock-bottom, it spreads over to Fate of the Jedi as well. Basically, after Jacen's killed by his twin sister, Jaina (yeah, Luke basically hires her to kill Jacen because he's afraid to "fall to the Dark Side"), Luke and Ben travel to the Unknown Regions to find out what caused Jacen's fall to the Dark Side -- and along the way, ally themselves with a Sith named Vestara in order to fight Abeloth (basically the GFFA equivalent of Cthulu). It's after they manage to escape from some Sith mooks that are intent on blasting them to smithereens, and instead of saying, "Oh, thank the Force we outran them" or something, Luke mostly comments on the "mess" they've made -- which honestly sounds more like something Palpatine would say -- except even Palpatine wouldn't go that far. Vestara then calls him out on it, saying "I would have expected more compassion from a Jedi", and Luke, replying (and I couldn't make this up if I tried), "Compassion is for those who deserve it." From the same man who redeemed Vader. The sad thing is, somehow, for all the idiocy he pulled with Caedus in LOTF, Luke still managed to show more mercy towards him than he could for mooks who, for all we know, were only doing their jobs. *Sighs* So let's say that...that aspect of Luke's character in LOTF-FOTJ is going to be difficult to wrestle with. I don't want him to turn into Ron The Death Eater -- it would be easy to turn him into a Psychopathic Manchild who doesn't care about anyone as long as he gets what he wants, but I don't want to do that. Fortunately, with this piece, I think I managed to handle Luke-Vader's dive off the insanity cliffs pretty well, considering the circumstances. He's not doing this for selfish reasons; he genuinely wants to help. Unfortunately, let's say that his priorities are...a little skewed, to say the least. Meanwhile, his son, Anakin, is trying to get out of this alive and in one piece -- he gets out alive, but is scarred by what his father's done to him.
I think it was both girlofavalon and coldthermistor that encouraged me to write it -- girlofavalon encouraging me to stretch myself a bit (and she and others on my f-list are helping me...forgive Luke a bit. :), and coldthermistor leaving this comment that, I think, meant a lot to me:
I don't know which I like better: Anakin's resilience, or the slow, sad way Luke-Vader is sliding into delusion. How his good intentions, beginning from his desire to 'keep the watch' lead him to spiral into the desire to utterly possess and break his son, even physically, in the final parts of this. Nicely done!
I think coldthermistor really nailed it there -- Luke doesn't start out evil. It's mostly good intentions and a desire to fulfill his late father's wishes combined with the fact the galaxy's ultimately screwed him over that makes him into what he is. Granted, it doesn't excuse what he does (I'm not saying I'd elect him as president or something. :P), but at the very least, it helps me understand him a little better.
In the meantime, I'm definitely going to experiment more with Luke's character -- different paths he may take, different variations, parts of his backstory, etc. Same with Anakin and the others. You never just pick one part and say, "Oh, this is perfect." You're always writing new scenes and rewriting scenes, etc. etc. You're "What-Ifing". I don't like to go with a set option very much -- I find it pretty boring whenever I know what exactly's going to happen next. I prefer to let the characters surprise me, and I think this is pretty much the main reason to. :)
So I'm wondering: for those of you who write fic, what's a piece that remains special to you - whether it got a response from your fandom(s) or not - and why? Link us to the fic and tell us … whatever you like! What you were trying to "do" with the writing, how you were motivated to write it, whether it affected your impression of the characters. Tell us why you love it, whether anyone else does or not.
Possible trigger warning for War Is Hell, slashy overtones, and non-con, torture and Parental Incest in the last set: http://ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com/161835.html#cutid1.
Let's say that it was mostly some head-canon involving Anakin and Vader, just to explore them more. I really doubt it'll end up in
the final product, especially since -- *sighs* I'll be honest, I can't see Luke-Vader doing this sort of stuff. Hell, let's say that I don't know
how it came about -- let's say I was mostly writing away about Anakin recording his experiences in the Galactic Civil War when all of a
sudden...that happened. I blame Luke-Vader and his more...High Octane Nightmare Fuel tendencies. Seriously, every time he shows up on the
page, it's guaranteed he's going to do something that either terrifies me or makes me...well, kind of sad. He's kind of one of the villains I actually
feel a bit dirty writing (although I think I'm also more scared of getting him horribly wrong as well).
Let's say that my main influences for writing evil!Luke were some of his more...aggravating character tendencies in Legacy of the Force. For those
not in the know, basically, his oldest surviving grandson, Jacen Solo, turns to the Dark Side in the series, and Luke acts...less than admirably.
He's pretty much content to sit back and fiddle while Rome -- or Coruscant, in this case -- burns, and then chastise both his son, Ben, as well
as Jacen, for having the goddamn "audacity" to get involved and help people. Granted, some of their methods were questionable, but they were at war. People do some pretty drastic things when they're at war. And for however despicable Jacen Solo gets, he's still infinitely more heroic than
Luke could ever be, if only because he's actually willing to make sacrifices to make sure that the galaxy heals. Luke doesn't do...jack, to say the
least. He does try to redeem Jacen, but it's less "I love you and want to help you" (like with Vader) and more like "I'm right and you're wrong, and you know it." Hell, he basically went to the ends of the galaxy itself to bring Vader back from the Dark Side, up to, in the ROTJ novelization, letting Vader take his weapon from him during their duel. And Vader's done far worse than Jacen ever did as Caedus. This is a man who's basically killed younglings, choked his pregnant wife, hunted the Jedi close to extinction, participated indirectly in the destruction of Alderaan, tortured people (including Luke's friends), killed Ben Kenobi, taken Luke's hand, and threatened to turn Leia to the Dark Side if Luke wouldn't turn. In short, not necessarily a Complete Monster, but someone who's done pretty despicable things -- and yet Luke found it in his heart to forgive him. In contrast,
where does Luke decide that Jacen's beyond redemption? When he finds out that Jacen killed Luke's wife, Mara Jade, in self-defense. Granted, it's not easy to find out that someone basically killed your spouse and lied to you about it, but everything Jacen's done, while horrible, is nowhere near what either Palpatine or Vader did. (Hell, Jacen and his Sith mentor, Lumiya, actually lampshade it in story. You know you've hit rock bottom when you're being outclassed by the Designated Villains of the story)
And speaking of hitting rock-bottom, it spreads over to Fate of the Jedi as well. Basically, after Jacen's killed by his twin sister, Jaina (yeah, Luke basically hires her to kill Jacen because he's afraid to "fall to the Dark Side"), Luke and Ben travel to the Unknown Regions to find out what caused Jacen's fall to the Dark Side -- and along the way, ally themselves with a Sith named Vestara in order to fight Abeloth (basically the GFFA equivalent of Cthulu). It's after they manage to escape from some Sith mooks that are intent on blasting them to smithereens, and instead of saying, "Oh, thank the Force we outran them" or something, Luke mostly comments on the "mess" they've made -- which honestly sounds more like something Palpatine would say -- except even Palpatine wouldn't go that far. Vestara then calls him out on it, saying "I would have expected more compassion from a Jedi", and Luke, replying (and I couldn't make this up if I tried), "Compassion is for those who deserve it." From the same man who redeemed Vader. The sad thing is, somehow, for all the idiocy he pulled with Caedus in LOTF, Luke still managed to show more mercy towards him than he could for mooks who, for all we know, were only doing their jobs. *Sighs* So let's say that...that aspect of Luke's character in LOTF-FOTJ is going to be difficult to wrestle with. I don't want him to turn into Ron The Death Eater -- it would be easy to turn him into a Psychopathic Manchild who doesn't care about anyone as long as he gets what he wants, but I don't want to do that. Fortunately, with this piece, I think I managed to handle Luke-Vader's dive off the insanity cliffs pretty well, considering the circumstances. He's not doing this for selfish reasons; he genuinely wants to help. Unfortunately, let's say that his priorities are...a little skewed, to say the least. Meanwhile, his son, Anakin, is trying to get out of this alive and in one piece -- he gets out alive, but is scarred by what his father's done to him.
I think it was both girlofavalon and coldthermistor that encouraged me to write it -- girlofavalon encouraging me to stretch myself a bit (and she and others on my f-list are helping me...forgive Luke a bit. :), and coldthermistor leaving this comment that, I think, meant a lot to me:
I don't know which I like better: Anakin's resilience, or the slow, sad way Luke-Vader is sliding into delusion. How his good intentions, beginning from his desire to 'keep the watch' lead him to spiral into the desire to utterly possess and break his son, even physically, in the final parts of this. Nicely done!
I think coldthermistor really nailed it there -- Luke doesn't start out evil. It's mostly good intentions and a desire to fulfill his late father's wishes combined with the fact the galaxy's ultimately screwed him over that makes him into what he is. Granted, it doesn't excuse what he does (I'm not saying I'd elect him as president or something. :P), but at the very least, it helps me understand him a little better.
In the meantime, I'm definitely going to experiment more with Luke's character -- different paths he may take, different variations, parts of his backstory, etc. Same with Anakin and the others. You never just pick one part and say, "Oh, this is perfect." You're always writing new scenes and rewriting scenes, etc. etc. You're "What-Ifing". I don't like to go with a set option very much -- I find it pretty boring whenever I know what exactly's going to happen next. I prefer to let the characters surprise me, and I think this is pretty much the main reason to. :)