Fanfiction Fridays: A Family of Trees Wanting To Be Haunted by Duck_Life

I love Darth Vader—ever since I saw him first walk onto the screen in A New Hope he has become my all-time favorite character. I also love Leia. She’s a badass princess of the galaxy who helps the Rebels win against the Empire, before going on to become a General in her own right and commanding the Resistance against the First Order. Despite being father and daughter, however, the two don’t have all that many interactions on screen. I always found this unfortunate, as getting to explore Leia’s relationship with her father could very well have been interesting and compelling. After all, Vader has done far worse to Leia than he ever did to Luke, and therefore reconciling these two characters seems a much harder task.

Thankfully, fanfiction is here to save the day.

Ace’s Top 5 Worst Protagonists

Sometimes when we’re following a story we come to the startling and awful realization that our protagonists are horrible characters. Maybe they’re not written very well, or given a good role in the story, or maybe they’re just terrible people. Whatever the case is, some protagonists are just unlikable. And that most certainly is not supposed to be the case as often as it is. The other day while replaying Star Ocean, I got to thinking of all the horrible protagonists out there that I am supposed to like, and I came to a not very startling conclusion: most of them are cishet, white men who are also full of entitlement. This is not the case for all unlikable protagonists—but it is the case for enough of them. And it really goes to show just how boring and generic our stories are, since there is very little variation in this character type. As such, I decided to compile a list of my Top 5 worst protagonists who I am supposed to like, but who are really just giant assholes.

Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Star Wars, Prophecies, and Bringing Balance to the Force

The Force and whether or not it’s balanced has always been a central part of the Star Wars mythos. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Force—sometimes referred to as the Way in ancient times—was a field of energy created by all living things. In the prequels, we discover that this energy field actually came about by microscopic organisms called midi-chlorians living in people’s bloodstreams. Someone who had a lot of midi-chlorians was called Force-sensitive, and they could interact with the Force to perform amazing feats—telekinesis, telepathy, precognition, and more.

Naturally, different religious factions came about, with different beliefs about the Force and how best to use it. One of the main tenets was that the Force needed to be balanced, and according to prophecy, that balance could only be brought about by a Chosen One. This Chosen One prophecy ended up being a central part to the prequel universe, and it was something about Star Wars that I was always interested in exploring more. Unfortunately, the prequels never explain to us what the prophecy is, the Chosen One’s role in it, or what balancing the Force even means.

In Brightest Day: The Common Factor

In fiction, there are usually common concepts that drive a work. It’s the action that drives the main character towards the story’s resolution. Sometimes, the concept can be something as simple as a contest. Sometimes it’s as complicated as a war.

In Brightest Day(ish): Luke Skywalker

So yesterday, I focused on the anger issues with Star Wars’ Anakin Skywalker. I said that Anakin’s problems seemed to border on a disorder, and named IED as an example of a possible disorder that Anakin had to deal with on the road to the Dark Side of the Force.

On the other end of the scale is Anakin’s son, Luke Skywalker.

In Brightest Day: Anakin Skywalker

Today and tomorrow, I’m going to focus on the two main Skywalkers of Star Wars lore. I’m going to assume you know the Star Wars story. Also, I’m only going to focus on what the movies have shown me. I know the books and Clone Wars can be pretty interesting, and are part of canon. But I have not delved deeply enough into the show or the books, so in an effort to not talk out of my butt, I’m avoiding them.

So, let’s start with Anakin Skywalker, the famed Chosen One. The one who was poised to balance the Force. And he did, in a way. But the road Anakin took was very angsty. I mean, really angsty.

Fanfiction Fridays: Shattered by CWBasset

This Star Wars fic review is in no way yet another apology for not getting my next Animated Series post up.

Honestly.

Everything about this fic makes me happy, and I hope it makes all of you happy as well. Like, were any of you upset about the prequels? No problem, because CWBasset’s Shattered adds a great deal of emotional depth to it, so you can actually care about what happens. Did you think the prequels were filled with unexplained plot holes and made no sense? That’s okay, because once again, we have an author who actually knows how to tell a story.