tonight we'll be free, all the promises will be broken
Since I'm at work (sigh), I haven't yet seen the new Rogue One trailer, but I'm excited. I mean, I still wish we could have Steela instead of Saw (and a Temuera Morrison-as-Rex cameo), but I'll take it.
Continuing on the theme, Darth Vader #25 makes for a strong wrap-up of the best of the new Star Wars comics. So...the Tusken Raiders have made Vader their god? Or at least an entity of veneration? I am not sure what exactly happened in that coda since there were no words and I'm bad at parsing art, but it looked like they sacrificed that one guy to a giant effigy of Vader after telling the story of how Vader slaughtered a bunch of them yet again. (I would guess Vader earns that treatment because he doesn't look human/wears a mask that's not unlike the ones they wear, while he did look like just another human when he massacred them for killing his mom, or there just weren't any survivors of that attack to report to the others?) The mythmaking is interesting, though, since we know next to nothing about the Tuskens.
APHRA! She survives, and I guess she keeps her head down well enough that she never encounters Vader again, but I wouldn't mind seeing her and Sana yell at each other again (and then maybe make out, since they seem to be exes who aren't quite over each other). (As an aside, is this the most in-character Leia panel ever? I think it might be. ♥♥♥ #perfect space princess)
I can be sanguine about Aphra's survival because apparently she didn't sell Luke out, which is mainly what I cared about, and apparently Palpatine was just waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Vader to finally take some initiative and start making secret plans. Of course, afaik at that point, Vader's still keeping the main secret (i.e., Luke), and who knows if he's conceived of the "overthrow the Emperor and rule as father and son" idea yet. I mean, it's not a new idea, given that he tried to convince Padme to go with it, but how long does it take him to get there the second time? Otoh, it is expected for the Sith apprentice to turn on the master, despite what appears to be Vader's more natural inclination not to do so.
Actually, let's discuss that in more generalities than specifics to this comic.
Vader is the Emperor's blunt instrument for 20-odd years before he decides it's time to turn on him, and when Luke refuses the offer, he seems to give the idea up completely (if it were someone else, I'd say that he'd learned to play a long game, like Sidious did, but Vader was never capable of a con that long. IJS). I mean, he does the "maybe your sister will turn" thing but that was clearly grasping at straws once Luke proved that he wasn't going to be as easily led astray as his father was.
One of Anakin's prime drives was loyalty and one of his major triggers was personal betrayal, so despite the whole thing about Sith apprentices turning on and killing their masters being baked into the very premise of being a Sith, was he just never going to do it? Was he just...I don't want to say content, because I don't think contentment was possible, but ~okay with not having to make any of the long-term, big picture plans for the Empire (since long-term planning was never his strong suit) and satisfied to play to his strengths as a soldier/warrior by being a warlord who got sent in to inspire fear and terror in reluctant or recalcitrant populations (including the Imperials themselves, as per RotJ)? His stated goal was to bring peace and order to the galaxy (apparently even if it meant killing every last damn being in it) and he seemed like a true believer. Was he just bad at being a Sith (he was also bad at being a Jedi)?
(Obviously Sidious has his own motivations, and having one family member kill the other is a plus either way in his book: if Vader wins, he's snuffed out the only person (that he knows of) who could sway his loyalty from Sidious (in addition to destroying a hopeful symbol/hero for the Rebels); if Luke wins, Sidious gets the younger, less damaged model and a better chance to turn him (also a propaganda win for him if it happens), especially since Luke will be a mess emotionally afterwards.)
There's a reason when I write Vader, even from his own POV, that there's a kind of mocking going on, because I think Vader comes to self-awareness very, very late, but he has glimpses of it from time to time, and on some deep level, he knows exactly how much of a fuckup he really is. *hands* Or I just have to tell myself that in order to write him without being utterly creeped out by him.
Which is a problem I have sometimes - I'm writing an AU rom com set mostly around AotC and the TCW timeline (which presents its own problems, as I'm not watching AotC again, possibly ever if I can help it), and every so often, I'm like, "I'm writing a rom com where the male romantic lead is a domestic abuser. (I mean, also a garbage space fascist and a mass murderer, but those are less relevant here - he'll get a chance to outgrow the former and hopefully won't commit the latter if I do it right.) What am I doing?" I mean, he hasn't gotten there in this story and because it's an AU, he won't for a variety of ~reasons, but it's still canon, you know? So I have a little cognitive dissonance sometimes which keeps the story from getting written as quickly as it might (I mean, there are other reasons too, but this is one). #problematic fave #i hate that i have ~feelings about darth vader now
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/878745.html.
people have commented there.
Continuing on the theme, Darth Vader #25 makes for a strong wrap-up of the best of the new Star Wars comics. So...the Tusken Raiders have made Vader their god? Or at least an entity of veneration? I am not sure what exactly happened in that coda since there were no words and I'm bad at parsing art, but it looked like they sacrificed that one guy to a giant effigy of Vader after telling the story of how Vader slaughtered a bunch of them yet again. (I would guess Vader earns that treatment because he doesn't look human/wears a mask that's not unlike the ones they wear, while he did look like just another human when he massacred them for killing his mom, or there just weren't any survivors of that attack to report to the others?) The mythmaking is interesting, though, since we know next to nothing about the Tuskens.
APHRA! She survives, and I guess she keeps her head down well enough that she never encounters Vader again, but I wouldn't mind seeing her and Sana yell at each other again (and then maybe make out, since they seem to be exes who aren't quite over each other). (As an aside, is this the most in-character Leia panel ever? I think it might be. ♥♥♥ #perfect space princess)
I can be sanguine about Aphra's survival because apparently she didn't sell Luke out, which is mainly what I cared about, and apparently Palpatine was just waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Vader to finally take some initiative and start making secret plans. Of course, afaik at that point, Vader's still keeping the main secret (i.e., Luke), and who knows if he's conceived of the "overthrow the Emperor and rule as father and son" idea yet. I mean, it's not a new idea, given that he tried to convince Padme to go with it, but how long does it take him to get there the second time? Otoh, it is expected for the Sith apprentice to turn on the master, despite what appears to be Vader's more natural inclination not to do so.
Actually, let's discuss that in more generalities than specifics to this comic.
Vader is the Emperor's blunt instrument for 20-odd years before he decides it's time to turn on him, and when Luke refuses the offer, he seems to give the idea up completely (if it were someone else, I'd say that he'd learned to play a long game, like Sidious did, but Vader was never capable of a con that long. IJS). I mean, he does the "maybe your sister will turn" thing but that was clearly grasping at straws once Luke proved that he wasn't going to be as easily led astray as his father was.
One of Anakin's prime drives was loyalty and one of his major triggers was personal betrayal, so despite the whole thing about Sith apprentices turning on and killing their masters being baked into the very premise of being a Sith, was he just never going to do it? Was he just...I don't want to say content, because I don't think contentment was possible, but ~okay with not having to make any of the long-term, big picture plans for the Empire (since long-term planning was never his strong suit) and satisfied to play to his strengths as a soldier/warrior by being a warlord who got sent in to inspire fear and terror in reluctant or recalcitrant populations (including the Imperials themselves, as per RotJ)? His stated goal was to bring peace and order to the galaxy (apparently even if it meant killing every last damn being in it) and he seemed like a true believer. Was he just bad at being a Sith (he was also bad at being a Jedi)?
(Obviously Sidious has his own motivations, and having one family member kill the other is a plus either way in his book: if Vader wins, he's snuffed out the only person (that he knows of) who could sway his loyalty from Sidious (in addition to destroying a hopeful symbol/hero for the Rebels); if Luke wins, Sidious gets the younger, less damaged model and a better chance to turn him (also a propaganda win for him if it happens), especially since Luke will be a mess emotionally afterwards.)
There's a reason when I write Vader, even from his own POV, that there's a kind of mocking going on, because I think Vader comes to self-awareness very, very late, but he has glimpses of it from time to time, and on some deep level, he knows exactly how much of a fuckup he really is. *hands* Or I just have to tell myself that in order to write him without being utterly creeped out by him.
Which is a problem I have sometimes - I'm writing an AU rom com set mostly around AotC and the TCW timeline (which presents its own problems, as I'm not watching AotC again, possibly ever if I can help it), and every so often, I'm like, "I'm writing a rom com where the male romantic lead is a domestic abuser. (I mean, also a garbage space fascist and a mass murderer, but those are less relevant here - he'll get a chance to outgrow the former and hopefully won't commit the latter if I do it right.) What am I doing?" I mean, he hasn't gotten there in this story and because it's an AU, he won't for a variety of ~reasons, but it's still canon, you know? So I have a little cognitive dissonance sometimes which keeps the story from getting written as quickly as it might (I mean, there are other reasons too, but this is one). #problematic fave #i hate that i have ~feelings about darth vader now
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/878745.html.
people have commented there.