I have owed this to elizabeth_hoot for, like, ages.

[wyncatastrophe]

And it's still only halfway done!  So instead of Ten Things Head!Canon Luke Skywalker, it's only FIVE things.  But there was nice closure on #5 (I thought), so I decided to stop writing and post before I made a mess and gave up (again).

So here you go, elizabeth_hoot.  Five of your ten things!

Disclaimer: anything recognizable belongs to George Lucas. :)

Comments

teal deer! (shockingly)

[elizabeth_hoot]

Oh, thanks! This is exactly what I was hoping it would be. I especially love the camaraderie between Ryn and Luke - I imagine it'd be a little awkward at first, but by the end there's this comfortableness that seems very natural, especially with the element of nobody else in the galaxy can get this.

(Though I wondered if it was the only thing she understands about him. He has enough in common with Anakin - recklessness, restlessness, nerve, resourcefulness, wanting more, a slight ruthless edge, compassion and so on - that I'd think she would understand more than that. Though that's assuming she understood those things about Anakin.Also, I really like coming up with a reason for the Death Star to get pinned on Anakin - both in the EU and just in discussions, that happens all the time, with very little reason. But it makes a certain amount of sense; for years afterwards there'd be no one else to blame - literally, with everyone else dead. So it's just Vader who had almost nothing to do with it. And I really like this approach to their

…what's a teal deer?

[wyncatastrophe]

Yayyy!!!! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. :) Responses to your points, below:

1) I think it's the only thing that Luke thinks that she understands about him? And there is also a sense in which Ryn didn't understand Anakin so much as experience him: he was a bit beyond her and at the same time a thing that happened to her. She loved him with everything she had, but in the end it wasn't enough.

2) Yes! to the general weirdness of Vader being blamed for Alderaan. The fact that Leia is the only survivor of that scene is really the only explanation I've got for it. It's sort of begging the question: why doesn't Leia tell the truth about Tarkin's role? But I think she just liked pinning things on Vader. There's a hatred there that supercedes whatever disdain she felt for Tarkin.

3) LULZ, yes, Luke appreciates Han's acceptance. Which … I mean, yeah. A lot of people would find that whole situation totally awkward, but Han literally shrugs it off, in ROTJ, and apparently keeps going. There's a lot to be said for a friend like that

Re: …what's a teal deer?

[elizabeth_hoot]

Teal deer: pronunciation of tl;dr, short for too long; didn't read. Not that I didn't think you would read it, just that, you know, me.

And there is also a sense in which Ryn didn't understand Anakin so much as experience him

Yeah, belatedly I thought that might make some sense. I'd have to read more of the FFV (I read... two? three?) to try and get a handle on it, I suspect.

The fact that Leia is the only survivor of that scene is really the only explanation I've got for it.

Yeah, I mean - in the movies themselves, I don't think Vader is ever blamed for them. So if you're evading EU canon and the general dialogue around the Death Star in RL, you can do whatever, but it was interesting to see an in-universe explanation.

I'm sort of wondering, though, how much Leia did hate Vader. I think we can assume he did, but I'm not sure that - in the movies - she expressed any more dislike of him than she did of Tarkin. Her initial "only you could be so bold" is like the least offensive insult ever, while she's all "you smell!" at Tarkin

excuse me while i exhibit my ignorance of internet lingo

[wyncatastrophe]

I'd have to read more of the FFV (I read... two? three?) to try and get a handle on it, I suspect.

Nope, wouldn't help you. I haven't addressed it even remotely, except in the Luke/Areth fics you have already (presumably) read. It's something I can address, later, but at the point in the story to which I have written, none of the characters is really in a position to be aware of that problematic, so as a consequence it's not really brought out. The limitations of limited perspective, in a way. :)

So if you're evading EU canon and the general dialogue around the Death Star in RL, you can do whatever, but it was interesting to see an in-universe explanation.

I don't tie myself too tightly to the EU canon (as you are probably already aware), but Leia's antipathy toward Vader is made so much of, by contrast to Luke's acceptance, that I felt like it might be worth trying to get some kind of a handle on what's going on there. And the fact that nowhere in the canon, and rarely in fandom, is Tarkin blamed for Alderaan … just bothers

Hiya!

[veronicaprof]

I liked this very much -- and I totally agree with you about the blaming Vader rather than Tarkin issue. I always maintained the same thing for years in fanzines long ago, and still do in my fanfic. :)

I think part of it for viewers is that since Vader later has nearly unrestricted power and authority in ESB and ROTJ (at least within the Imperial Navy), viewers tend to believe he could have stopped the destruction of Alderaan had he wished to -- they can't imagine him subordinate to Tarkin. And on that project, he was, or at least their authority was lateral -- Vader was not In Total Charge.

I also think that, for Leia, finding out he is her father would make it all much worse, actually, not better. And that part of why she blames him Vader more is that she, on some level, believes he should be held to a higher standard. As a former Jedi, he should not stand for such things. Because his Fall was so enormous, he is worse than Tarkin -- who was never any different or better.

That's my take on it, at least. :)

Re: Hiya!

[wyncatastrophe]

It seems to fit with what goes on in the EU canon - not that I'm a particular fan of the EU, but if I am going to deal with it at all, I have to try and make sense of it somehow. To me, head!canon is sort of a by-product of each fan-writer's interaction with the canon, as we try to construct some sort of internally consistent narrative, or explain the inconsistencies we find there. So: I went to the canon, as to the oracle, with questions, and came away with … a story? Consulting oracles is always dangerous

Re: Hiya!

[veronicaprof]

Yes, I mostly ignore EU. :) And you're right about how her insecurities in EU don't really fit with what we know about her from the films. It's very odd to me, even to the point of having Jaina hate her mother for a time for putting career ahead of or equal to motherhood. Even the author of that book stated in the Insider that she was uncomfortable being asked to write it that way