User:Nightlily

Personal info
I'm a 29 years old Norwegian woman who lives somewhere north of the Arctic Circle, with my two guinea pigs. (Did you know that the name of Jabba's chef, Porcellus, is the scientific name of the guinea pig, Cavia porcellus?)

I mostly make minor edits to articles, sometimes major additions as well. I've written a lot of the material in the torture article (which I created), and I've also written most of the articles on Aurebesh, parents and tattoos. And yes, I have a tattoo myself; a beautiful bird on my shoulder. I created the torture article because torture is a central issue in Star Wars, and because the article can teach us something about our own world. The article shows in a very clear way how gruesome torture is and what it does to people, and in this way encourages the reader to take a clear stand against torture.

In case you wonder: My user name has nothing to do with M'iiyoom Onith, also known as Nightlily, from Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. I just think it's just a beautiful word.

History as a Star Wars fan
I was introduced to Star Wars when I was ten or eleven years old, and watched A New Hope on television. I forgot most of it later, and I'm not even sure if I watched the whole film. The only moments I remembered, was Darth Vader snapping Captain Antilles' neck, Ponda Baba's arm being cut off (I did not remember the circumstances, or who did it), Luke entering Leia's cell on the Death Star, and a tall, hairy being.

When The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, one day, I was in town, visiting my brother, who was in hospital. While I was there, I wanted to see a movie at the cinema. I'd seen the trailer for "The Phantom Menace", and liked what I saw, and I knew how famous the previous films were. So I watched the film that night, and liked it enough to buy the video as a birthday present for my brother (who also liked it) months later. Back then, I thought most of the story was quite boring (I'm more fond of it today), but I liked the beautiful images (like the underwater city Otoh Gunga), and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's duel against Darth Maul was fantastic (the music, the lightsabres, the beautiful Theed Generator Complex).

I didn't watch Attack of the Clones at the cinema when it was released in 2002. I had planned to do so, but when most of the reviews turned out to be bad, I changed my mind. Still, I knew what the film was about, and had known since "The Phantom Menace" that Anakin Skywalker would become Darth Vader. I didn't know that Luke was his son, though (I don't know why it never occurred to me that they might be related, since they shared the same last name), until I watched a television program where a person told the viewers that we were going to see when Luke's parents fell in love. Then, the clip of the meadow scene was shown. Later, I read in a magazine that both Luke and Leia were Anakin and Padmé's children, but it did not tell that Luke and Leia were twins. And I still didn't know the circumstances; that Luke didn't know that Vader was his father.

Later, I watched a television program about science fiction movies. A clip of the end of the duel on Bespin, from The Empire Strikes Back was shown. Luke and Vader fighting, Vader cutting off his own son's hand, Luke screaming in pain, Vader revealing his true identity, and Luke's reaction (the clip ended before he let himself fall into the abyss). Sometimes, a dramatic movie scene gives me a kick - hopefully, you know the feeling:-). That was one of those scenes. It was one of the greatest kicks of my life, knew I just had to watch that film. I became a Star Wars fan right after I started attending college in 2003 (I have a Bachelor degree in organization and public administration, where the main fields of study are political science, organization, law and public administration). A new friend of mine, who was a fellow student, owned two Star Wars videos, "The Empire Strikes Back" and Return of the Jedi, and was willing to let me borrow them. And I was hooked.

I bought the "Attack of the Clones" and "The Phantom Menace" DVDs, and was really... well, pissed off when I found out that the original trilogy had not been released on DVD (at that time). After watching "Attack of the Clones", I bought the original trilogy on VHS, and would finally see "A New Hope" again, after all these years.

I soon found out there was a whole world of Star Wars Expanded Universe in English out there, and I started collecting in early 2004. The first material I bought was the Shadows of the Empire novel, which I loved. The rest is history. I watched Revenge of the Sith on its premiere day in 2005 (unfortunately, I had to stay away from the midnight premiere - some evil Sith spirit made sure I had an exam the following morning; I'm proud of the fact that I managed to concentrate and focus during the exam while at the same time itching to watch the movie when I was done), and along with "Return of the Jedi", it remains one of the best films I've ever seen.

Just for fun...
I've noticed that there are are quite a few names in the Star Wars universe that are similar to the Skywalker name. I've put together a little list, just for fun:


 * Darklighter
 * Dunestrider, alias used by Luke Skywalker
 * Fardreamer
 * Mistflier
 * Moonrunner
 * Moonseeker
 * Nightbringer
 * Rimrunner
 * Skywalker
 * Starchaser
 * Starkiller
 * Starlighter
 * Stormcaller
 * Sunblazer, a common last name referred to in Vader's Quest
 * Sunrider
 * Windcaller
 * Windjammer