I find it difficult to shake the perception that Mace Windu is too adherent to the Jedi Code in detachment. To me he represents the less desirable side of the detachment idea. He doesn’t seem to be able to effectively relate to non Jedi or maverick Jedi.

I know that the Jedi are servants of the Force but I still feel that if Jedi led a less monastic life and interacted with people they would be better able to help keep peace because they could understand the views of the normal people.

What was the point of his character? I thought he served his purpose in the first season, and his escape from Ferrix alongside Bix and Brasso allowed for him to take on a larger role in future seasons, but his appearances in the second and final season are very strange to me. Tony Gilroy apparently saw something in the character and the actor, Muhannad Ben Amor, that prompted him to scale up his role in the final season, though I believe that something changed throughout the writing and filming process - possibly multiple times.

This post will be me trying to deconstruct what the intention behind Wilmon was and why I see it as so strange, though I'd like to hear what others think on the matter. Starting with the basics, it's clear to me that Wilmon was supposed to be a parallel character meant to reveal a larger truth. Parallel to which character? Cassian Andor. Not in regards to their origins, but instead in regards to their fight against The Empire. That begins in practically the same way. Clem was hanged on Rix Road and a young Cassian made an attempt at revenge by violently rushing at a group of clone troopers who played a part in killing him. Salman was hanged on Rix Road and a young Wimon made an attempt at revenge by throwing a homemade bomb at a crowd of imperials under the command of the officer who requested that Salman be hanged.

The consequences of this action are different for both boys, however, as Cassian served prison time while Wilmon was rescued from the threat of detainment. This, alongside the time it took for the pair to be introduced to Luthen Rael, is what separates the two. Cassian learned to keep his head down and spent the following years developing a large set of skills that would later make him indispensable to the rebellion. Wilmon, on the other hand, was only emboldened, which made him particularly easy to recruit into the Axis network. We never actually see the first meeting of Wilmon and Luthen, but I would assume that he visited Mina-Rau and discovered the boy's technical expertise.

Instead of broadening his skill set, Luthen would hone in on his innate talent to have him learn how to hack into Rhydonium pipelines as Saw Gerrera was requesting an agent with that knowledge. This is where we meet him in the second arc of season two, with it being important to note that this arc was the first to be written and shot. Viewing it in isolation as the entirety of Wilmon's story post-S1 is helpful in understanding the original intention behind the character. If we do that, we see that Wilmon's fate may have originally been much different than what we think it to be now. I think he was supposed to die during his stay with the Partisans.

It all has to do with that Wilmon represents. He's an overly idealistic version of Cassian who lacks the independence necessary to prevent himself from being used by Luthen - with this leading to his early death. As opposed to Andor, who dies a hero after going rogue to save the galaxy against the orders of his superiors, Wilmon would die a meaningless death on orders from Luthen and manipulating from Saw Gerrera. Cassian's decision to leave the Axis network in favor of joining the Rebel Alliance would be predicated on this, as - even though him and Luthen were on shaky ground following the Ghorman fiasco - word of Wilmon's death would be the last straw.

This is not what we see at all come the start of arc three. Not only is Wilmon still alive, Cassian is still willing to work with Luthen and has become a kind of father-figure to Wilmon. This breaks the parallel as now Cassian is competing for that parental role with Luthen as the two have different ideas on how he should be carrying himself in the rebel cause. This conflict is really weak as Luthen and Wilmon are never once on screen together to show what their relationship looks like, and everything gets resolved anyway when Wilmon goes his own way to save Dreena. He gets injured in this mission, but it's not portrayed as being Luthen's fault - and it wasn't. Arc four shows Wilmon receiving the news of Luthen's death, but by then he's become his own man and is able to move on pretty easily.

This was nice and all in terms of giving him a happy ending, but it's ultimately meaningless as (in my opinion) it doesn't really say anything. This is shown off well in arc one - which was written and shot last - where the writers took how we see him in arc four (being in the background with his girlfriend not doing anything notable) and just did that again. This creates some narrative coherency problems as a later vision was ported over to an earlier portion of the story. It stands out too because Wilmon has a surprisingly large amount of screen time in these episodes where he just acts like the immature stepson of Brasso and Bix while lacking any larger narrative purpose.

This becomes kind of incoherent when you watch arcs one and two back-to-back since neither Bix nor Cassian bring up Wilmon once, even though he's doing dangerous missions for the same guy they're working for. All three times that Luthen and Cassian speak, Cassian never asks about Wilmon. If we're supposed to assume that he stepped up as the surrogate father after Brasso's death, this doesn't exactly sell me on the idea. Beyond this, his relationship with Beela also brings up some strange questions. It seemed to me that Wilmon went back for Dreena because she was his first romantic relationship and he didn't want to abandon her, so Beela's very existence weakens that moment where he leaves Cassian to find her.

Sure, Wilmon was forced to leave Beela in the early stages of their relationship, with this being in contrast to the day of the Ghorman Massacre where Wilmon and Dreena are sharing the same bed, but it just looks very unnecessary and like Tony Gilroy ran out of ideas for the character. It's made even more awkward by how Bix returns to Mina-Rau after leaving Cassian, since this means that Wilmon looked to have been able to go back to Beela if he wanted to. It's not that big of an issue, but it still bothers me. Anyway, what do you all think of this? Do you think the (alleged) original vision should have been kept, or do you think it was a good idea to change Wilmon's fate?

The Jedi Order of the prequel era are not exactly popular, and I don't necessarily disagree with some of the criticisms aimed at them. However, I do find that there is a lot of oversimplification involved in many of said criticisms, particularly regrading the nature of the clone wars, and the role of the Jedi in The Galaxy. I'm going to try and address some of the statements that I find to be oversimplifications.

*The Jedi were too political and blind followers of the Republic*

I'm going to ignore the logistical nightmare of how a massive order of ascetic monks can even exist without massive funding from the government. This one is interesting because while the Jedi were indeed involved with an increasingly questionable Republic, I think the films portray them as very much not "blind followers who don't care."

For example, The very first thing the Jedi are shown doing on-screen in TPM is the dispatching of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on behalf of the Chancellor to end the blockade of Naboo behind the Senate's back, so the Jedi do bend the rules to help. I've seen people say that it was only because the Chancellor asked, but the truth is they have no authority to act without Valorum delegating them, and not much power to do anything. The Jedi are peacekeepers, and they fill that role either by acting as diplomats or by fighting evil doers. And you can't really do either without jurisdiction or authority from the ruling government.

In Revenge of The Sith, Palpatine isn't outwardly evil, tyrannical, or corrupt. But he is gaining far too much power because of the war, and that disturbs the Jedi, who are immediately on his ass about leaving office. Mace even states that if Palpatine doesn't leave his position, the Jedi will become involved to ensure a smooth transition of power. So we know that the Jedi aren't blind followers who'd let democracy die or let the Republic do whatever. They may have realized the danger too late, but they're still portrayed as far from blind followers who just accept whatever happens. They don't take interfering with governance lightly because that very much isn't democratic and isn't their role, but they still wouldn't allow freedom or democracy to disappear. There are lines they wouldn't allow the Republic to cross. You can argue that that should've been *more* political by having an actual voice and influence in governance, but that's an entirly different can of exogarths.

*The Jedi fought a war on behalf of a corrupt Republic against a valid secessionist movement and took control of a slave army*

Again, not incorrect, but highly reductive. A lot of people tend to see the CIS with rose coloured glasses, which doesn't really fit with the films at all.

In the films, it is made immediately clear that the CIS aren't the good guys simply because the Republic has corruption. They are very much pawns of the Sith being openly led by a man whom the Jedi know to be a full fledged Sith Lord. Not only that, but the highest leadership of the CIS consisted of war profiteering corporate hacks, including the guys who blockaded Naboo. *Revenge of The Sith* tells us that there are heroes on both sides, but we know they are being manipulated by those up above. And people tend to forget that the CIS built a massive army in secret and started the entire conflict with the Republic as the agreessors.

TCW went on to expand greatly on this by showing how opposite the Republic and the CIS were. The Republic had a somewhat corrupt senate, but morally upright military leadership thanks to the Jedi, while the CIS had a morally reprehensible military, but idealistic senators and politicians who wanted real change, but were being manipulated by the Sith and corporate hacks who held all the actual power. It was actually funny how one CIS senator said "We aren't the Republic. Corporations don't rule us" given some of the CIS's founders and collaborators. Meanwhile, we've seen the CIS military test bioweapons on pacifist colonies and enslave the entire population of Kiros, among various other crimes against civilians like on Ryloth.

The Clone Army was 100% a grave moral compromise. But the Jedi were essentially stuck between two incredibly ugly options from their perspective:

1) Hold on to your values and refuse to fight. The Sith backed CIS basically rolls over innocents across the Republic and the clones are led by people who wouldn't give a damn about them like Tarkin and probably will not keep the war clean. People hate you because you sat on your ass preaching morals while innocents die. The Sith very likely overthrow the Republic and restore their oppression.

2) Compromise your morals and fight to protect the Galaxy from the sith. Take leadership of the clones while treating them like actual people with value and not just meat for the grinder. Do your best to protect people and keep the Republic's side of the conflict clean from a military PoV. People hate you because you're contributing to the conflict and violence.

No matter what choice the Jedi make, they play into Palpy's hands and lose. It's the perfect Jedi trap. There's no easy or simple answer or a clear path. It's also amusing how the Jedi are blamed for being inflexible and then blamed for changing to adapt to the war in the same breath

- "But the Jedi can just render humanitarian aid without fighting."

Sure, but that's option 1 with extra steps. It's waiting for Grievous to slaughter villagers and showing up to hand bandaids. It's not actually solving most of the problems.

- "But what about negotiating for peace?"

The Jedi don't have the authority or responsibility to do that. That falls on the government/the senate. You can argue that the Jedi could've pressured the senate more to pursue a peaceful resolution, but RotS tells us that there have been attempts at diplomacy, so it's possible and likely that they did do just that. In fact, TCW did show attempts at diplomacy which obviously meant nothing because the sith controlled both sides of the conflict.

*The Jedi didn't do anything about the slavery outside of the Republic*

I'm going to ignore the fact that the Jedi were stretched incredibly thin already as there were only around 10,000 of them in the entire Galaxy. The matter of slavery on Tatooine is spiky because the Hutts are somewhat of a sovereign entity and the Jedi have neither the resources nor the jurisdiction to act there. And more importantly, the slavers literally have the slaves as hostages and even have karking exploding chips installed into their necks Amanda Waller style. Going into conflict like that would probably cause way more death than it would prevent. And that is ignoring how the Jedi are shown to be willing to fight slavers when they do have the capacity. Just ask the Zygerrians.

TL;DR.

The Jedi weren't perfect, and they did arguably make mistakes. And maybe there's more that they could've done. But they are never, as individuals or as an institution, portrayed as anything other than good, heroic, well-meaning, and selfless people who are *trying* to help and make the best out of the bad and complicated situations they're placed in.

So been thinking since we have a two accurate numbers and a small assumption based on standard production practices. The BD- Explorer model driod has roughly 553 models. Just use the tank counting formula and run the numbers. The highest know is 418 with the name of TA-418 and the lowest being BD-1 with BD-72 in bewteen. The assumption is one the models are in sequential serialized production and two the naming convention is BD or TA is the same model diffrent make or variation. If yall come up with something wildly diffrent or more accurate bring this back up.

Would you dissolve the ruusan reformation banning a military? Would you push for a restructuring of the republic or senate? Would you begin a campaign rooting out corruption in the senate? Would you attempt to ease tensions between the outer rim and the core? What would you do?

Ok, so having reread the short story "Interlude at Darkknell" by Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole, Garm was nearly assassinated by agents working for Armand Isard, who is defined in that story as the Director of Imperial Intelligence. In the story, it also implies that Garm was not yet an active revolutionary or a full part of the Rebellion. My concern is on the fact that Isard was the one to have ordered the assassination on the senator. In other areas of the EU, it is strongly implied that Imperial Intelligence is a military agency, similar to the GRU, and was actively engaged in protecting the Empire on a defense basis through counterintelligence operations and active measures against resistance and rebel targets. The civilian counterpart to II was the ISB, which was explicitly established as a politically-focused secret police agency akin to the Gestapo or KGB. Given the nature of the target, it struck me as odd that the authors decided to utilize Intelligence to assassinate Garm when writing the story rather than ISB. The operation seems more like one that would be carried out by the secret police, as Garm was a senator. After all, it was ISB that attempted to arrest Mothma according to the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.

This got me thinking about the nature of the Empire's intelligence and security apparatus and how numerous, and I mean numerous, authors either confused the two, combined them, or forgot about one or the other completely. In fact, it seems that outside of the WEG sourcebooks, ISB was basically not mentioned other than another one of Zahn's stories "Allegiance". The Imperial Sourcebook clearly states that the two were established to counterweight the other, and that book was written back in 1989, before the bulk of the EU material was released in the 90s and early 2000s, and I know they were provided with an abundance of material from WEG, per their own admission as well as the fact that they used so many other elements from those books.

• Why did military intelligence attempt an assassination on a sitting senator rather than ISB?

• Why was Armand Isard labeled both "Director of Imperial Intelligence" in Interlude at Darkknell and "Internal Security Director" in the X-Wing novels? Was he director of both? How would that have worked with their intentional rivalry? Was Ysanne also head of both? If not, that leads me to the next question:

• Where was ISB following the Emperor's death, and why would they have tolerated Ysanne Isard assuming control of Coruscant? I mean, the two agencies were supposed to be rivals after all...

I am interested to hear your thoughts.

Apologies if this is a rough post, first time doing one of these. And I am not sure where this post should go, but it is me speculating so I presume theory would be the most fitting category.

TLDR: Atha Prime has been set up for a main antagonist role in the comics, and the post sequel era is a perfect place for him to wage that war.

So as you may know, earlier in the year the Jedi Knights comics properly introduced Atha Prime into the lore for the first time, not under a different name such as Zeta Magnus, completely Atha Prime. Alongside his introduction he brought with him the Xerexi and also brought back Blue-Tark and the Apex Invader. At the end of Jedi Knight #2 we see that Prime still had a large number of Xerexi with him and we know he is intending on a starting a war which is something we know doesn't happen between episode 1 and 9, or if it did it was a smaller conflict.

Now with Starfighter coming out in 2027 we have a brand new time era to explore. I doubt Matt Smith is playing Prime (If anything I'd assume he is playing a Sith Cultist), but this is a new era and with that we have a blank canvas to work with.

If you know Atha Prime, you know he was meant to be the next big bad for the franchise after Return of the Jedi in the 80's. With Jedi Knight #2 setting up Atha's war, this seems like the perfect time to bring that to light with the sequel trilogy cast. I personally would very much enjoy seeing Atha in live action. And I know a lot of Dark Empire fans would love seeing an Imperial Sentinel looking character in live action. Having Prime as the main villain would be a refreshing change as the Dark Worlds doesn't have any force users unlike the other main factions in the movies. Republic has the Jedi, Empire has Vader and Palpatine, First Order has Kylo and Snoke, the Separatists have Dooku, the Rebellion have Luke, the Resistance has Rey and to an extent Leia.

Again, this is just speculation and probably isn't the case. However, things do line up quite well, and as stated above, the post sequel era is a blank canvas so--quite literary--anything is possible.

Grand Master Yoda. Friedrich Nietzsche. Two names that, at first sight, don’t have nothing to do with each other. The former representing Buddhist, Taoist and Stoicism ideologies, mixed up with Abrahamic credos. The latter being famous for concepts like God is Dead, Apollonian and Dionysian, Ressentiment, Will to Power and the Übermensch. Notwithstanding, beyond the surface, they have more in common than it seems and paralleling them it’s not totally farfetched.

Considering the behemoth of a character that is Yoda, composing a dissertation about him as encompassing as possible under ten thousand words seems unfathomable. But bringing up a cut about a story in which he’s a protagonist seems more reasonable. The story in which this dissertation is based upon is set in the book Yoda: Dark Rendezvous – A Clone Wars novel from the old EU in which both Yoda and Dooku are protagonists, facing each other in a secret meeting.

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• Nietzsche???

For those who’re ignorant or functional illiterates and don’t know how to use the Internet properly, Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most important names of western philosophy in the modern era. For obvious reasons, his biography won’t be passed here, therefore it is requested for those who are curious to search it online, and for those who have any real interest, to pursue a philosophy degree in your local university. Some clarifications must be made, nonetheless, about misconceptions regarding his philosophy. The most infamous of them all was that he, for a long time, was considered a “Nazi philosopher”, or that his ideas contributed to the siring of the Nazi doctrine. When in fact, his sister, who became responsible for his work and collection, affiliated herself to the party, and they appropriated themselves of his work.

Nevertheless, the Nazi interpretation of Nietzsche has always been incoherent and contradictory because it ignored several criticisms Nietzsche himself made previously. Among them, the antisemitism as a culture of ressentiment and the dangers of the herd mentality. Regardless, Nietzsche can be interpreted (and misinterpreted) in many ways, as well as being appropriated from all different sides of political spectrums (from the far left to the far right). For example, his ideas indirectly contributed later to the feminist thought and LGBTQIA+.

Thereupon, it's only natural that drawing upon Nietzschean ideas to analyse fiction is welcomed, and Star Wars is no exception. Several other characters could be studied through the eyes of Nietzsche - most of them Jedi and Sith indeed – though not limited to them only. Yoda was the character chosen for this thesis, not because of Yoda himself but specifically how he is characterized in the Clone Wars novel that gains his name. In the book, he is a Yoda whose will to power burns as bright as star; whose amor fati is as infinite as the universe; he is a Yoda who, upon facing the tragedy and the inevitability of the end, keeps up fighting. It’s a Yoda who is magnanimous as ever, as complete as he could ever be. And no, nothing in the story contradicts anything it was previously established in the films about his character. If nothing else, is complementary. Nietzsche’s interpretation does not nullify it, only supports and enforces it. The author doesn’t have a final say in the work anyways.

Warning: there will be heavy spoilers about Dark Rendezvous, including full dialogues from the final chapter. Stay at your own risk.

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• Why Dark Rendezvous?

Apart from the serious character study the novel presents regarding its main characters, a Christian exegesis could be drawn upon this story as a way to encapsulate it (comical considering this analysis is based on Nietzsche): placing the Jedi Master and the Sith Lord as biblical metaphors from famous parables from the Gospels – The Good Shepherd and The Prodigal Son. The ending, however, would be a bleak one. Yoda as the “Good Shepherd” with his huge flock of sheep (the Jedi Order) going after his lost sheep (Dooku) only with faith (the Force) guiding him. And exactly because he is “a good shepherd” – among the greatest of his Order – every sheep matters to him. Even the ones who “got lost voluntarily”.

On the other hand, there is Dooku as the “Prodigal Son”. Among the greatest of his family (Jedi), he leaves home (the Order) and goes out and about around the world, doing whatever he wants (enjoying his wealth) but getting lost in the process (falling to the dark side, causing a war), forever dreading to return home. The twist lies in the fact that Dooku had no intentions to return to the Order. At least not in the surface of his subconsciousness. It is the forgiving figure of Yoda, the “prodigal son’s father”, who teases him and triggers on him the tenuous thought of it by remembering an old promise the Jedi Master did decades earlier: “Tomorrow, go you must, into the darkness between the stars. But home always will this place be. If ever lost you are, look back into this garden. I candle will I light, for you to find your way home.” In the end, Dooku wanted to bait Yoda into a setup, yet it was Yoda who baited Dooku into a setup of his own making (an UNO reverse card, basically). And he almost did it. He was almost there… until he wasn’t.

All in all, to make a summary of the plot summary: Count Dooku sets up a secret meeting with Grand Master Yoda to discuss the end of the war. The invitation is, nonetheless, a bait to lure the old Jedi into a trap, of which he is 100% aware. Regardless, he risks himself anyways - on a leap of faith - that he could “try” to bring back the Count to the light. With this decision and throughout his escorted journey to Vjun, death is brought upon two Jedi Masters (by Ventress), two Padawans are “orphaned” and traumatized, the life of an innocent actor was put at risk, and the con he pulled to deceive the galaxy regarding his whereabouts fell like a house of cards in just a few days, putting the Republic in a hullabaloo of fake news and misinformation about the old Master’s hypothetical death. And on top of all that, Yoda’s [second] face off with the Count was a resounding failure, besides of almost getting him killed.

Essentially, Yoda’s mission could be resumed in two words: total disaster. So why for the Force’s sake would Yoda submit himself into such a thing? Why would he gamble in so high stakes with such a poor hand? Because Yoda, as a good Nietzschean character that he is, understands perhaps better than anyone else, how tragedy is an allegory for life, thus how destiny belongs to the “gods”.

- “Oh yes, young one. Think you I have never felt the touch of the dark? Know you what a soul so great as Yoda can make, in eight hundred years? Many mistakes!” (Stewart Sean, 2004, Star Wars: Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, pgs. 14-15).

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Continues->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Remember, that while the Force exists in every living thing, only those individuals who develop their connection to it will have the power to wield it."

- Lah Zhima

Perhaps the most complete and visually stunning episode, and surely a personal favorite episode, from Star Wars: Visions is "The Ninth Jedi." We are introduced to a familiar galaxy where the Jedi have long vanished and their legacy fading into darkness; we are made to feel the hopelessness, the lack of heroes, and, to our protagonists, a disturbance in the Force.

"The Ninth Jedi" was created by animation studio giant, Production I.G., notable for the creation of the equally stunning anime Ghost in the Shell. It blends the environments of both classic Star Wars and anime for storytelling within just the atmosphere of the episode and creates almost nostalgic landscapes; Kara's race against time on the speeder in particular is stunning, and the plot twist of the episode where the supposed Jedi are revealed to be Sith Acolytes is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling. The final battle as the episode concluded proved to be another amazing sequence; we see a free for all between our Sith and, in another plot twist, Jedi Master Juro who was hiding amongst them. Recalling how this episode feels like classic Star Wars, the Sith fight with rage, anger, and unorthodox techniques where Jedi Master Juro eliminates them with fluidity, grace, and intelligence. The duel, though short, is a total spectacle of animation, so much so that you can almost feel the tension of the fight and the power of the lightsabers themselves.

Introduced in this episode is quite possibly one of my favorite pieces of lore in any Star Wars media: Lah Zhima, Kara's father, is a master lightsaber-smith with a unique power system. The kyber crystals within the lightsaber react to the wielder of the blade itself, essentially creating an instantaneous Force-imbued bond between the crystal and the lightsaber's user that determines the color of the blade. This ties into the nature of kyber crystals and how they are, in essence, living and also implies that the crystals themselves are a physical manifestation of the Force, an omnipotent presence.

"The Ninth Jedi" brought back the feelings of awe and joy I had when I first watched Star Wars; this episode made me want more, it made me question and theorize the lore within it, and it revitalized my love for the franchise.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi introduced the character of the Emperor, who seems like a feeble old man at first glance. But when Luke Skywalker firmly rejects his offer to join the Dark Side and become his new apprentice, the Emperor stops pretending and suddenly unleashes bolts of electricity from his fingertips to painfully cook Luke alive. All Luke can do is scream in pain and beg Darth Vader for help as he watches his own flesh steam. Vader grabs the Emperor from behind and throws him down a chasm, killing him but briefly exposing himself to his master’s deadly energy in the process. But even these few seconds of touching him wreak a terrible toll on his body, and he dies not long afterwards. Clearly, Yoda meant it when he told Luke not to underestimate the powers of the Emperor.

Based solely on Return of the Jedi, one would think that Force Lightning was an extremely high-level dark ability with no easy counter perhaps unique to the Emperor alone. But later movies painted a decidedly different picture. The next time we see it is Star Wars: Attack of the Clones in which Count Dooku briefly uses in his duel against Anakin Skywalker and Yoda. On Anakin, it works more or less the same as it did previously on Luke, but when he tries it on Yoda, Yoda absorbs the electricity into his hand and redirects it elsewhere with no harm coming to himself. At one point, he even sends a bolt back at Dooku! Clearly, Force Lightning was no longer the dark’s trump card exclusive to its highest master. It was still a powerful ability though, but this would not be the end of its degradation.

We see Force Lightning once again in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, this time used once again by Palpatine. But yet another counter is introduced to undermine it: Lightsabers. When Palpatine attempts to kill Mace Windu with his vicious volts, he raises his purple lightsaber and not only defends himself from the attack, but actually reflects it back on Palpatine! Palpatine is reduced to begging Anakin for help to save him from his own attack, an attack which was once shown as his way to make others powerless to do anything but beg for their lives! Granted, he does use Force Lightning to kill Windu shortly after, but the fact that it can now be countered by a weapon carried by pretty much every force-using character forever reduces it to “just another force ability exclusive to Sith”.

Force Lightning next appears in Star Wars: The Last Jedi where Supreme Leader Snoke briefly uses it to punish Kylo Ren. This appearance is honestly fine beyond the fact that yet another character who is not Palpatine can use it now, but that bridge was already crossed with Dooku.

And then there is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This movie could have been Force Lightning’s grand comeback. This movie SHOULD have been Force Lightning’s grand comeback! In it, Emperor Palpatine is back and bringing his favorite force ability with him. With the power of Rey and Kylo Ren’s force dyad, he is able to produce a display of electricity across the sky of Exegol that would make a maelstrom blush to destroy the Resistance fleet once and for all. He manages to destroy more than a few enemy ships with it, and would have likely earned this ability its respect and prestige back if were not for what happened next. Palpatine is approached by Rey, now holding a pair of lightsabers. So naturally, he turns his massive electrical powers against her. But then, she raises her lightsabers in front of her in an X shape and proceeds to block what must be billions if not trillions of volts worth of Dark Side electricity and send it back at Palpatine. There is nothing he can do about this, and he proceeds to messily combust while screaming in agony, probably wishing he had instead invested in some proper Jedi-killer bodyguards.

So all in all, Force Lightning has gone from the Dark Side’s ultimate trump card requiring a grave sacrifice to stop, to a serious, potentially deadly liability to anyone trying to use it against any target with a lightsaber. Lightsabers being probably the second most common weapon type for major characters to use behind blasters. I do not think that one single creative behind the movies can be blamed for this degradation, but I do wish someone had noticed it and stopped it before it got this bad. Thanks for reading through my thoughts, and do share what you think about this ability’s fate.

Awhile back I made a post about wondering if it was possible for Jedi and/or other Force-senstives to walk on walls or upside-down surfaces, similar to Force Dash/Speed, but at a slower pace.

Today, I present a mostly fleshed-out concept for this skill, which I shall call Force Traverse:

Force Traverse

A variant of Force Dash. Similar to Force Dash, the user can cross vertical surfaces and/or upside-down surfaces, but without the need for increased momentum. The more the user tries to do while using Force Traverse, especially lightsaber combat or carrying heavy objects, the more effort it takes to use Force Traverse.

This would probably be a more advanced skill, but it's certainly a plausible one. I'm kinda surprised a version of this (excluding Force Dash) hasn't introduced already. Like, imagine that your first introduction to a random character is them walking into room, but they're walking on the celing, clearing showing that they're some sort-of Force-user-

~ On another note, do we really have practically nothing on Force Empathy in Canon? I sorta happen to have several Star Wars OCs, and I try to deep dive into stuff when working on stuff for them (which is how I discovered the 7 forms of lightsaber combat, lol), but I specifically stick to the Canon side of things because they're based in that universe. Two of them are Jedi (most of them are clones or Jedi, lol) with empathic abilities, yet I've never actually tried looking into it until now for some reason. Like, how do we NOT have more emotion-reading Force-users? Even then, I'd figure that we'd have more than ONE SENTENCE on Force Empathy, considering that one of the main characters in Phase I (possible still in Phase III to, haven't been able to fully read it yet) has a Padawan who is a really strong empath.

The fictional Seperatist holdouts from Star Wars kinda reminded me of the real world Imperial Japanese military holdouts that existed after World War II for these five reasons....

1. Holding out for decades even up to the next few conflicts with some being unaware that the war was already over.

2. Being somewhat formed when the person sending the surrender signal was not speaking clearly on the radio or had to rush downstairs to meet his wife's spaceship on the landing platform.

3. Several joining guerrilla forces against a bigger enemy.

4. Some assuming that the surrender signal is a propaganda trick from the enemy.

5. Their weapons and technology withering down and starting to malfunction due to the passage of time.

I recently saw the new trailer for Pieces of the Past, (woohoo! Revan!) and wondered about how he is connected to the other (presumably) antagonist of the show, Solitus (the weird guy with the purple sabers chained together and the green skin). Then I remembered that Jedi Bob messed with the Cornerstone and changed the old galaxy, making the current one.

So we first had Bob's galaxy, then the canon galaxy, then the RtG galaxy. Sound familiar?

My theory is that Bob's galaxy was the Star Wars Legends timeline, and that by messing with the cornerstone, the events of Legends were "decanonised" - making Bob's actions a metaphor for Disney decanonising Legends themselves. I think Darth Revan's presence in the show will be a nod to Legends, or a symbol of Legends content returning to Canon - as Revan comes from Bob's galaxy into the RtG galaxy, he also comes from Legends to Canon (Lego Canon, at least).

Final evidence: The word "Solitus" means "alone" or "unchanging" in Latin. The second translation is of particular interest - it might imply that Solitus is a remnant/holdover from Bob's galaxy (and therefore the Legends timeline).

EDIT: Maybe Solitus, being a holdover from the erased/altered timeline, is trying to use the cornerstone to restore Bob's galaxy? Same with Revan - they might want to bring back Legends, maybe as a metaphor for a large portion of the fanbase.

Sorry that this is a messy post, but I thought of this literally 10 minutes ago, and needed to type it out.

TLDR; When Bob messes up his galaxy, it destroys the old timeline, just like Disney did.

Thoughts?

If you are here on Wookieepedia, you probably know about Contingency Order 66, the executive order for the Clone Army to execute the Jedi if they betray the Republic, used by Palpatine to wipe out the Jedi as the culmination of the Sith Grand Plan. What you might not know is that there were 149 other contingency orders designed for other scenarios. For instance, Order 37 called for the Clone Army to arrest civilians en masse and threaten to execute them if a specific fugitive did not surrender, and Order 65 called for the Clone Army to arrest (and if necessary kill) the Chancellor if they were declared unfit to rule by the Senate or Security Council.

However, out of the 150 Contingency Orders, we only know seven of them (4, 5, 6, 37, 65, 66, and 67), two of which are non-Canon joke orders. We also know an order with an unknown number calls for the orbital bombardment of a traitorous planet. This of course leaves us with the obvious question: What do the rest of them do? This is where we must do some speculation.

Given that Orders 65 and 66 deal with removing key legs of the Republic’s command structure in the event they go rogue, it seems reasonable to assume that some of the other orders in the 60s range are similar but applied to other branches of the Republic. I will hazard a guess that Orders 61-64 call for the arrest/execution of the Senate, the Courts, Republic Intelligence, and non-Jedi officers.

I also think that it is likely that in addition to the unknown orbital bombardment order, there are also other orders for dealing with traitorous planets to a less extreme degree such as occupation of cities, forced disarmament, and planetary blockades.

Speaking of planetary blockades, I imagine that there are also contingencies for dealing with natural disasters such as outbreaks of disease. If something like the life-assimilating Mnggal-Mnggal were to be unleashed on a populated planet, stopping it would require the immediacy and moral ambiguity of the Contingency Orders.

Finally, I also think it would make sense for there to be a Contingency Order for a Clone or group of Clones to commit suicide to stop them from being compromised by the enemy, likely either Order 1 or Order 150. But of course, this is all just speculation. What other orders do you think might exist?

I was going down a Wookieepedia rabbit hole and stumbled upon a Dexter Jettster comic about the lost moon of Shara'Tam, a moon that was rumored to have held many treasures by the prospectors he knew when he was one of them (yes, Dexter Jettster was a prospector. Yes, he worked with Maz Kanata. Yes, I want to know more about this). One thing I've noticed in the huge amount of media in Star Wars is the trope of a hidden planet, and Shara'Tam reminded me of this.

The recent Skeleton Crew prominently featured At Attin as a treasure planet full of riches and hidden in an artificial shield (along with its sister planets). Ahsoka was about finding a secret extragalactic planet: Peridea. The Jedi: Survivor storyline revolved around the Koboh Abyss' hidden planet of Tanalorr, which Greez described as a prospector's legend about a treasure-filled planet. Rebel's Lira San was a secret planet hidden within a nebula that the Lasats relocated to after Lasan was attacked. Heck, you could even consider Kamino a hidden planet, given its erasure from the Jedi Archives and its status as semi-extra galactic.

What other "secret planets" can you think of? And why might there be a sudden influx of these planets in Star Wars media?

I know a lot of people are disappointed with the way Luke Skywalker turned out to be in the Last Jedi and how it doesn't line up with other previous characterizations. After rewatching the originals I think I know a way for it to work but the sequels need some serious prequel treatment.

Here are some plot points in the sequel treatment that would make Luke's decision make more sense:

1. Luke should have a vision of someone hurting a lot of people similar to his Kylo Ren, then dismissing it because Luke is good natured, and then the vision still happening and it really hurts Luke-because he feels like he could have prevented it. This would explain why Luke is tempted to kill Ben-he's seen his visions come true before and it wasn't pretty the last time.

2. Anakin is a Force Ghost so he should totally talk to Luke at some points. I think some sharing of Anakin's visions of his mother dying and Padme dying come true would cause Luke to think more of his visions.

3. To cause Luke to lose faith in the Jedi I think there should be some disagreement between Anakin and say Yoda. After someone important in Luke's life dies-yoda should say something similar to what he told Anakin in Episode III-but then later Anakin shows up and tells Luke that suppressing emotions doesn't work and that trying to do that and giving up and going into the opposite direction was part of what led him to the dark side. Instead, feel your emotions but beware of hatred. I feel like some form of disagreement would cause Luke to lose some faith in the Jedi\

My point is instead of having the writing fight Luke's character in the Last Jedi, just make it build up to that. Explain Canon Luke until it makes sense and add some things to make him likeable. I think the reason for all the hate is because the Luke we are used to is Legends Luke. These were some thoughts I thought of when I was trying to go to bed, but what other plot points should happen to explain Luke's character?

What would happen if the Empire never built the Death Star? I don't want obvious answers like "Empire would have more money and resources." I want to put our thinking caps on and consider the deeper impacts. What did Alderaan provide to the Empire for example? What projects were starved due to Death star? I will start.

1. Tie Defenders would be mass produced

2. Thrawn's relationship with the people in power would be less strained because there would be no Death Star to argue about

3. There wouldn't be as much imperial defectors due to Alderaan still existing

4. Galen's energy research could have actually benefitted the Empire and the citizens

5. Easier access to lightsaber crystals for the Rebellion-maybe surviving Jedi would craft more and more lightsabers to assist the Rebellion?

The outer layers of both Death Star battle stations were constructed from quadanium steel.

Wookieepedia doesn’t offer much detailed information about the metals found in the Star Wars galaxy. The articles on quadanium in both Canon and Legends are brief and lack depth. The aim of this thread is to help fill in the missing details by using science fiction logic and reason to construct a modest, coherent narrative about what quadanium steel is – and what its properties might be.

What do we know?

In short, both the Canon and Legends sources agree on three key points:

1. Quadanium steel was an extremely durable metallic substance — likely an alloy. (Legends)

2. It was primarily used in the construction of space stations, starships, and large-scale defensive systems, such as turbolasers and turret platforms. (Canon)

3. It cost around 30 credits per unit, compared to 75 credits per unit for durasteel, making it significantly cheaper. (Canon)

This is essentially all the relevant information we have on quadanium steel. Now, we’ll break down each key point and explore what it might reveal.

What quadanium might be?

If quadanium is referred to as a steel variant, then it must be an alloy of iron (Fe), carbon (C), and quadanium. Pure steel is made from iron and carbon, so it’s reasonable to assume that adding small traces of quadanium would result in 'quadanium steel'. The problem arises from the fact that quadanium is a fictional element – it doesn’t appear on the periodic table, so we have no concrete information about it. We don’t know how many protons it has, whether it’s heavy or light, or if it’s radioactive. So this is where we turn to reason and science fiction to fill in the gaps.

The periodic table currently contains 118 confirmed elements, ranging from hydrogen (H), which has just one proton and is known as element 1, to oganesson (Og), which has 118 protons and is designated as element 118. That means, if we want to avoid invoking magic, quadanium would need to be a scientifically plausible element beyond the current periodic table – for example, one with 121 protons, making it element 121. The reason is straightforward – in chemistry, the 'island of stability' predicts that superheavy elements with proton numbers roughly between 114 and 126 could have longer lifespans than their unstable neighbors. Currently, all elements beyond uranium (U), which is element 92, have been artificially created in laboratories. Due to their rapid radioactive decay, many exist only for fractions of a second – in other words, they’re are not stable. However, there’s a plausible chance that certain isotopes of elements between 114 and 126 could have lifespans lasting millions – or even billions – of years. This stability would theoretically allow them to be mined in the future and processed into advanced high-tech materials. While still firmly in the realm of science fiction, this interpretation gives quadanium a plausible basis as element 121 – potentially possessing properties well-suited for use as the primary material in outer space stations and starship exteriors.

If we assume that quadanium is element 121, what would that imply?

If quadanium were element 121, science could already provide a blueprint for the properties it would most likely have:

• Quadanium would be a superheavy element with an extremely large nucleus containing 121 protons, making it inherently radioactive and prone to emitting alpha, beta, or gamma radiation as it decays. Mining quadanium ore would require droid labor, since organic beings would quickly suffer harmful effects from the radiation. Only after extraction and alloying with iron and carbon would quadanium become significantly less radioactive and hazardous, allowing organics to safely process the resulting steel further.

• If it lies near the predicted "island of stability" (around 114–126 protons), it might have isotopes with relatively longer half-lives (seconds, minutes, maybe longer), compared to neighboring superheavy elements that decay in milliseconds. As a superheavy element, quadanium would likely be formed only through extreme cosmic events such as neutron star collisions – specifically during hypernovae – making it a relatively rare material. The most probable locations for finding quadanium dust or ore would be asteroid belts within the galaxy’s Core regions, where neutron star activity and stellar collisions are far more frequent than in the Outer Rim. This suggests that quadanium refineries would most likely be located on planets within the Galactic Core, close to the richest asteroid fields and dust concentrations.

• Due to the high atomic number (121), quadanium would likely be very dense – denser than lead (Pb) or even osmium (Os), the densest stable element. This actually supports our speculation, as Wookieepedia describes quadanium steel as an extremely durable metallic substance. High-density metals tend to have good strength and rigidity. Quadanium steel could contribute significant durability and resistance to kinetic impacts – such as micro-meteorites – which is crucial for the outer layers of space stations and large capital starships. Also dense materials are very effective at absorbing or deflecting cosmic rays, solar flares, and other high-energy particles common in space. This makes quadanium steel ideal for outer hulls and armor that protect crew and systems from long-term radiation exposure. Finally, dense metals often have high melting points and thermal inertia, meaning they can withstand extreme temperature shifts (like those experienced in space) without deforming.

• It could be less reactive, meaning Quadanium’s low reactivity limits its ability to form stable compounds with most elements. However, iron and carbon could be exceptions – likely due to favorable atomic spacing and bonding behavior – allowing the creation of quadanium steel. This could also explain its lower cost per unit compared to durasteel.

Was the first Death Star battle station constructed in the right place?

Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader observing the construction of the first Death Star above Geonosis in 19 BBY.

If we assume that quadanium was a superheavy element with 121 protons – used in the construction of orbital space stations and starships, and most abundantly found as dust within asteroids in the Galactic Core – then building the Death Star battle station in orbit around Geonosis, deep in the Outer Rim, was not a strategically sound decision by the Galactic Empire. From a logistical standpoint, transporting large quantities of processed quadanium steel plates from the Core Worlds to Geonosis would have been a nightmare. Given quadanium steel’s high density, cargo ships would struggle to carry sufficient amounts to the Outer Rim, drastically increasing shipping costs and significantly prolonging the Death Star’s construction. This likely contributed – perhaps unintentionally – to the nearly 20-year build time. Extracting and smelting quadanium in the Core Worlds, then shipping it to a secret site orbiting Geonosis, would have been a lengthy and complex process.

Why quadanium steel cost less than durasteel?

Given the facts presented in Wookieepedia articles on quadanium – and our hypothetical analysis of its properties – one could argue that quadanium steel appears more valuable than durasteel in several key respects:

• Quadanium steel is very dense, which gives it exceptional strength and durability.

• Its density gives quadanium steel the ability to shield against radiation and endure extreme temperature fluctuations.

• It is widely used in the exterior construction of space stations and starships.

So why is durasteel priced at roughly 2.5 times more per unit than quadanium steel? The answer lies in several key properties where durasteel holds an advantage over quadanium:

1. Due to quadanium’s relatively high density, it would be significantly heavier and more difficult to work with than durasteel. For applications such as small-scale structural plating, droid components, or personal armor, durasteel would be the more practical choice. Additionally, using heavier materials like quadanium would increase the mass of lighter starships – such as freighters –resulting in higher propulsion costs. Simply put, demand for quadanium would be limited to large-scale uses, such as the outer hulls of orbital battle stations and capital starships.

2. Despite its high strength and durability, quadanium’s extreme density and rigid atomic structure might also make it more brittle than durasteel. While it can withstand massive impacts and high-energy blasts, it may be more prone to cracking or shattering under sudden stress or structural fatigue. Durasteel, on the other hand, may offer better balance between strength and flexibility, making it preferable in scenarios where material fatigue, vibration, or stress distribution are major concerns.

3. While quadanium steel performs well in the vacuum of space, it may corrode more rapidly in humid or oxygen-rich environments, making it less suitable for use in ground-based structures. When applied on planetary surfaces, it would likely require protective coatings, increasing maintenance costs. In contrast, durasteel is known for its high resistance to corrosion, making it a more practical choice for buildings, infrastructure, and personal armor exposed to atmospheric conditions.

4. Since quadanium would be less chemically reactive, it likely wouldn’t bond well with other elements, limiting its usefulness in composite alloys. This lack of alloying versatility would reduce its overall metallurgical value compared to durasteel, which can be combined with a variety of other metals to produce different alloy grades suited for a wide range of applications.

Summary

Overall, we can conclude that if quadanium were a hypothetical superheavy element, it would most likely excel in specialized, large-scale applications where maximum radiation shielding and structural hardness are critical – such as in the construction of Death Stars and Star Destroyers. However, its brittleness, poor corrosion resistance, and limited alloying potential would make it less versatile and harder to work with than durasteel, which helps explain durasteel’s higher price per unit in most galactic markets.

Though horrific and and gruesome, many fans have agreed that the Ghorman Massacre depicted in Andor, was one of the most realistic and (story wise) incredible scenes ever depicted in Star Wars. In it, the Galactic Empire expands its authoritarian rule over the human colony world of Ghorman, resulting in the angry citizenry launching a massive protest against Imperial rule. Sadly, this peaceful protest was met with a savage onslaught by the Imperial authorities who massacred the protestors and many civilians within the capital city, in a blatant act of genocide as Senator Mon Mothma (correctly) called it.

However, while this scene was tragic, moving, and visually stunning, there are two issues I have with the Ghorman Massacre that I wish to explain and hope others may understand.

The first is that I don’t really approve of the Ghorman people being only human colonists. An issue I have with Andor is that it does well with exploring the Empire’s tyranny, but only from a human perspective. For a long time I have wished for them to expand on the brazen speciesism of the regime, which has oppressed and enslaved so many alien species. I feel canon has not gone enough in depth on this subject and I feel it would be best if they expanded upon it. Additionally, many have compared the massacre scene to actual protests during the Civil Rights and Apartheid Movements in which local authorities fired into peaceful crowds of protestors. These atrocities were carried out by racially-xenophobic regimes, so it would have made more sense to me to have oppressed species standing up for their rights in this scene against such prejudice organizations as the Empire. If possible, I think they should have portrayed the Ghorman people as chiefly Duros, if one species could only be portrayed, due to their spacefaring culture.

Second, I know Star Wars has always used Nazi-aesthetics to depict the Empire, however, I don’t really approve of the Ghormans being depicted as French Resistance fighters. Admittingly, I feel they should have been portrayed as more Algerian in culture. This is because, on the same day that WWII ended, May 8, 1945, France carried out its own Ghorman Massacre on the people of Algeria when large groups of protestors demanding independence and an end to French military rule over their lands, just like the Ghormans, took to the streets and protested with flags and banners. Unfortunately, the French authorities fired into the crowd and began a campaign of terror for several weeks in which they indiscriminately massacred thousands of civilians, whether they were protesting or not. Sound familiar? Thus, I think the Empire should have been a little more French then German, and the Ghormans a little more Algerian than French.

Please let me know of my comments on this powerful scene. Overall, it was a powerful scene and message about the true depths of tyranny that our world continues to suffer today.

”We are the Ghor, the Galaxy is Watching”