There's a cave Yoda never visits. Okay, almost never visits.
He's chosen to live alone. There have been...problems when he's lived with others. He prefers to avoid such problems these days. In the place he calls home, he's explored every inch of it, and why not? It all belongs to him. There's never been another place that feel more like home.
Except for the cave. The cave plays tricks with his mind. The first time he visited it, he was completely unprepared. He was shown himself leading a completely different life. A life out among the stars. Yoda has never left Dagobah.
In this vision, he wasn't alone in his abilities. There were many like him, and what's more, they all looked to him for guidance. He realized while it was happening that whatever else the cave did, it played on his ego, which until that point Yoda hadn't realized he had, or certainly not like that.
It scared him a great deal. He stayed away for as long as he could. But he couldn't stay away forever.
The next time he visited the cave he was prepared. He expected to see the same thing, and so braced himself to explore this alternate life. The narrative, as it were, progressed. Many years passed, although in the real world only a matter of hours. The seeds of a great tragedy were sewn. One day he realized a conspiracy had developed around him, an enemy from the past having sprung a trap. And he was powerless for the first time. He found himself in retreat. He voluntarily came back to Dagobah, something he wouldn't have imagined possible. Even though he had made himself a home, Yoda hated Dagobah. He hated feeling powerless. But one day, someone came to visit him. Yoda was discouraged by what he saw, thought the experience had become a waste of time and robbed him of the one thing he thought he had found. He walked away. He left the cave.
Curiosity brought him back a third time. He'd stayed away for long enough that he'd forgotten how he'd felt and instead began to...hope again. Maybe it wasn't as bleak as it'd seemed. Maybe there was a still a...shot at redemption.
The visitor, too, had returned, in the vision. This time things were different. Innocence had been lost. Change suddenly seemed possible again. But something horrible happened, anyway. In his vision, Yoda died.
He got up and left the cave immediately. He didn't return again for a long time. There were times he thought he'd never return. He had begun to associate it with fear.
He's been reconsidering. It's been a process. Little by little, he's processing all that he's experienced. If he goes back and the narrative continues? He feels okay with that. If he goes back and has learned, as he hopes, to manipulate the visions for himself? He feels that if that doesn't happen, he'll be okay with that, too.
He's at the entrance of the cave now. He'll go in. He can still turn around. He'll go. He's not afraid. He's been living on his own for so long. This cave is the only place he doesn't go. Almost never goes. He's beginning to think that if he can master this cave...he can even return...to civilization...
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
101 Star Wars Variations 80: The Kenobis
"...on some damn fool idealistic crusade," the old hermit is saying. But Luke is interested in only one thing. Earlier his friend had dodged his question. This in itself is hardly unusual. The hermit shares only what he wants to share.
"Was my father killed in the Clone Wars?"
The hermit pauses. He's clearly considering his options. He's told so many versions of the death of Luke's father in the past. Usually Luke was distracted enough that he'd believe anything, finding the whole thing too distant to seem relevant. But today's events have brought the wider galaxy to his doorstep.
"He was betrayed and murdered..."
"No," Luke interrupts him. "You've told me that before. I don't believe it. Something tells me that's not how it happened."
The hermit pauses again.
"You're right, of course."
Luke feels brave enough to ask the question over again.
"The girl was talking about someone named Obi-Wan. Do you know him?"
"Luke, you're going to find...Yes, I knew him. He was my brother. My younger...much more...rash...brother. For years I've told myself differently. The day he was accepted to become a Jedi learner was the day my life was ruined forever. It would have been easier if he had been older than me, but younger...But that was long ago. A long time ago..."
"Don't hide from your past," Luke says. "Tell me."
"To protect myself, I came here to Tatooine. I clothed myself in the robes my brother left behind when he...he vanished. Died. Was murdered. I was angry. I...used you as a means to process my anger. It was your father...Darth Vader."
Luke doesn't know what to think. He knows, one way or another, that nothing the hermit says will change what's about to happen. Everything's changing.
It...feels good.
"Your brother?" he says. "Tell me more..."
"Was my father killed in the Clone Wars?"
The hermit pauses. He's clearly considering his options. He's told so many versions of the death of Luke's father in the past. Usually Luke was distracted enough that he'd believe anything, finding the whole thing too distant to seem relevant. But today's events have brought the wider galaxy to his doorstep.
"He was betrayed and murdered..."
"No," Luke interrupts him. "You've told me that before. I don't believe it. Something tells me that's not how it happened."
The hermit pauses again.
"You're right, of course."
Luke feels brave enough to ask the question over again.
"The girl was talking about someone named Obi-Wan. Do you know him?"
"Luke, you're going to find...Yes, I knew him. He was my brother. My younger...much more...rash...brother. For years I've told myself differently. The day he was accepted to become a Jedi learner was the day my life was ruined forever. It would have been easier if he had been older than me, but younger...But that was long ago. A long time ago..."
"Don't hide from your past," Luke says. "Tell me."
"To protect myself, I came here to Tatooine. I clothed myself in the robes my brother left behind when he...he vanished. Died. Was murdered. I was angry. I...used you as a means to process my anger. It was your father...Darth Vader."
Luke doesn't know what to think. He knows, one way or another, that nothing the hermit says will change what's about to happen. Everything's changing.
It...feels good.
"Your brother?" he says. "Tell me more..."
Sunday, October 12, 2014
101 Star Wars Variations 79: The Phantom Presence
It would be foolish to refuse learning from your enemy.
That's what the Jedi did. Led by the exiles of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the whole of the Order retreated from public life and began instead to support the rise of the Rebellion on countless worlds. As control within the Empire diminished to a tyrannical few, the leading figures across a broad spectrum of local governments learned a new kind of power, just as the Jedi themselves did. No longer dependent on the physical prowess of the Force, these Jedi exercised their mental abilities to astonishing effect, guiding the outcome of battles they could anticipate, in applying lessons learned during the Clone Wars.
As their Sith counterparts had done in the formative development of the Empire, these Jedi learned the art of social cunning, replacing manipulation with cooperation, a practice long forgotten in the moribund days of the Old Republic.
One by one, they faked their deaths. Since they had already been leading monastic lives, these were not difficult sacrifices for the Jedi to make, except the process of transforming themselves from figures of action to practitioners of the mind. New discipline was required. They would each have to depend primarily on themselves. There would no longer be a Council, but instead an expanded network of master and apprentice, again something borrowed from the Sith. In essence, each Jedi and their charge would operate independently and in their own way behave as if they were the last of their kind.
One by one, these efforts produced a new generation of heroes, many of whom had no idea the Jedi were responsible for their activities. The burgeoning expansion of Corellia into space led a freighter captain named Han Solo to Tatooine, for instance, after a brief romance with Aayla Secura sparked him onward.
As the Rebellion grew more successful and the career of Luke Skywalker began, some Jedi wondered if it was time to emerge from the shadows.
"Perhaps, in time," someone wise responded.
That's what the Jedi did. Led by the exiles of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the whole of the Order retreated from public life and began instead to support the rise of the Rebellion on countless worlds. As control within the Empire diminished to a tyrannical few, the leading figures across a broad spectrum of local governments learned a new kind of power, just as the Jedi themselves did. No longer dependent on the physical prowess of the Force, these Jedi exercised their mental abilities to astonishing effect, guiding the outcome of battles they could anticipate, in applying lessons learned during the Clone Wars.
As their Sith counterparts had done in the formative development of the Empire, these Jedi learned the art of social cunning, replacing manipulation with cooperation, a practice long forgotten in the moribund days of the Old Republic.
One by one, they faked their deaths. Since they had already been leading monastic lives, these were not difficult sacrifices for the Jedi to make, except the process of transforming themselves from figures of action to practitioners of the mind. New discipline was required. They would each have to depend primarily on themselves. There would no longer be a Council, but instead an expanded network of master and apprentice, again something borrowed from the Sith. In essence, each Jedi and their charge would operate independently and in their own way behave as if they were the last of their kind.
One by one, these efforts produced a new generation of heroes, many of whom had no idea the Jedi were responsible for their activities. The burgeoning expansion of Corellia into space led a freighter captain named Han Solo to Tatooine, for instance, after a brief romance with Aayla Secura sparked him onward.
As the Rebellion grew more successful and the career of Luke Skywalker began, some Jedi wondered if it was time to emerge from the shadows.
"Perhaps, in time," someone wise responded.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
101 Star Wars Variations 78: Han Solo's Last Shot
It's a moment that lives in infamy. The day the Empire's favorite son was assassinated by a lone gunman.
Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. Fathers tell their sons, sons wonder what it was like to have lived in those times, the great romantic idealism of the day, spoiled by those like the gunman who spent all their time decrying the "despotism" of the establishment.
There's a famous image caught by one of the citizens of Cloud City. Darth Vader's visit has been the source of much gleeful anticipation all day, and almost as many angry words of protest. Also wounded that day is administrator Lando Calrissian, caught in the same spray of gunfire as Vader. Vader's daughter Leia Organa is forever frozen in that image clutching for something that will never be identified in the moments directly following the tragedy. Today we know the complicated family relationship they shared, but at the time their united image was part of the magic that led to such hope for the future, hope that was snapped in a moment by the assassin Han Solo.
The sequence of events has become legend. Vader has already been in Cloud City all morning. He's about to celebrate the occasion at a state dinner attended by Calrissian, Organa, and other notables when Solo is brought in. Solo is armed with a Corellian blaster, which he pulls out as soon as he catches sight of Vader. For years Vader had been thought of as invincible, surviving grievous wounds during the Clone Wars rescuing fellow soldiers in the wake of their ship's crippling above the skies of Mustafar. He is a known adherent to an old religion, but that religion doesn't save him this day. He puts up his hand as if to stop the gunfire with it, but of course that doesn't happen. It happens in a split-second. A recording shows the fateful moment unfold. Solo shoots, Vader falls. End of an era.
We'll always wonder what might have been. The culture wars continue, intensifying in the wake of the assassination and lingering for the next few decades, their full impact still yet to be understood. There has never been another leader like Vader, though many have tried. We mourn his loss as if it was yesterday, make him bigger than he was, an icon almost larger now than in his own day. Some underestimate his impact, consign him a minor role in history. But the wise know better. We'll never see his like again. The truth of Solo's motives will never be known. There are many who believe the conspiracies still propounded throughout the years, but his subsequent death at the hands of the Wookiee named Chewbacca silenced him long ago.
In the end, we have only the impressions of these events, and the characters within them. We remember, always.
Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. Fathers tell their sons, sons wonder what it was like to have lived in those times, the great romantic idealism of the day, spoiled by those like the gunman who spent all their time decrying the "despotism" of the establishment.
There's a famous image caught by one of the citizens of Cloud City. Darth Vader's visit has been the source of much gleeful anticipation all day, and almost as many angry words of protest. Also wounded that day is administrator Lando Calrissian, caught in the same spray of gunfire as Vader. Vader's daughter Leia Organa is forever frozen in that image clutching for something that will never be identified in the moments directly following the tragedy. Today we know the complicated family relationship they shared, but at the time their united image was part of the magic that led to such hope for the future, hope that was snapped in a moment by the assassin Han Solo.
The sequence of events has become legend. Vader has already been in Cloud City all morning. He's about to celebrate the occasion at a state dinner attended by Calrissian, Organa, and other notables when Solo is brought in. Solo is armed with a Corellian blaster, which he pulls out as soon as he catches sight of Vader. For years Vader had been thought of as invincible, surviving grievous wounds during the Clone Wars rescuing fellow soldiers in the wake of their ship's crippling above the skies of Mustafar. He is a known adherent to an old religion, but that religion doesn't save him this day. He puts up his hand as if to stop the gunfire with it, but of course that doesn't happen. It happens in a split-second. A recording shows the fateful moment unfold. Solo shoots, Vader falls. End of an era.
We'll always wonder what might have been. The culture wars continue, intensifying in the wake of the assassination and lingering for the next few decades, their full impact still yet to be understood. There has never been another leader like Vader, though many have tried. We mourn his loss as if it was yesterday, make him bigger than he was, an icon almost larger now than in his own day. Some underestimate his impact, consign him a minor role in history. But the wise know better. We'll never see his like again. The truth of Solo's motives will never be known. There are many who believe the conspiracies still propounded throughout the years, but his subsequent death at the hands of the Wookiee named Chewbacca silenced him long ago.
In the end, we have only the impressions of these events, and the characters within them. We remember, always.
Friday, October 10, 2014
101 Star Wars Variations 77: Jawas versus Sand People
The outcast has been watching the dunes for a few hours now. He's seen his people and their rivals travel across it but not crossing paths. They're careful not to. They prefer a war of proxies these days. Despite their inexhaustible energy, they've grown tired of fighting each other directly.
The sun murders his skin. Even those who have never been the victim of a Jawa attack wear the traditional attire at this point, but the outcast was certainly attacked. It was a long time ago. Jawas wear their robes for the same reasons. Such a horrible conflict. What's the point? He knows all too well, but he can still ask the question.
Some years ago one side or the other contracted a would-be galactic tyrant with too many resources for some assistance. The relationship proved to be the impetus for an empire. The details bore the outcast, but they're there for anyone to see, if they'd bother. Except nobody bothers with Tatooine. Why would they? Only the Hutts, but the Hutts have no scruples. Such are the conditions that breed nothing but corruptive opportunity.
There's an old hermit the outcast knows about. Every now and then he gives the hermit a helping hand. What could it hurt? Today the hermit's young friend seems to have run into some trouble and needs a speedy escape. The outcast is once again happy to oblige. He's got nothing but time on his hands.
Some day peace will come to this world. Well, maybe.
The sun murders his skin. Even those who have never been the victim of a Jawa attack wear the traditional attire at this point, but the outcast was certainly attacked. It was a long time ago. Jawas wear their robes for the same reasons. Such a horrible conflict. What's the point? He knows all too well, but he can still ask the question.
Some years ago one side or the other contracted a would-be galactic tyrant with too many resources for some assistance. The relationship proved to be the impetus for an empire. The details bore the outcast, but they're there for anyone to see, if they'd bother. Except nobody bothers with Tatooine. Why would they? Only the Hutts, but the Hutts have no scruples. Such are the conditions that breed nothing but corruptive opportunity.
There's an old hermit the outcast knows about. Every now and then he gives the hermit a helping hand. What could it hurt? Today the hermit's young friend seems to have run into some trouble and needs a speedy escape. The outcast is once again happy to oblige. He's got nothing but time on his hands.
Some day peace will come to this world. Well, maybe.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
101 Star Wars Variations 76: R2 or not R2
One customer is staring at the merchandise the Jawas have presented him and he's scratching his head and is about to say something sarcastic when another customer, whom in the interests of transparency we will confirm does not know the first customer already, recognizes what was about to happen and interjects this instead:
"We all know they rip us off. Their best stuff is always kept for the Hutts. That's just the way it is."
"I figured that," the first customer says.
"I'm just saying what we all know," the second customer says. "Because sometimes it can be easy to forget. Hey, want to know a secret?"
"Sure," the first customer says.
"This is the sixth day I've come to see their inventory. I don't even need anything. I'm keeping tabs. They keep marching out the same droids. I've been curious. They don't seem to actually sell anything. It's something you can easily overlook. They haven't even bothered pretending that they're doing anything else. They just don't care. This makes me think."
"I'm confused," the first customer says.
"It's all a scam. A front. They're secretly working for the Rebellion. All the way here on Tatooine? Yeah. Apparently. See that droid over there? It's a decoy. They've pulled the same trick all six days. It looks nice, right? The others look bedraggled, hardly suited to the the needs they're being trotted out to fulfill. So someone says they want it. Then it malfunctions as soon as it starts rolling away. I've been waiting to see if someone finally walks away with one. I've had my eye on the blue unit. It looks deceptively conspicuous. It's the carbon scoring that seems to scare everyone off. Ridiculous, right? But there it is."
The first customer at this point is noticeably backing away from the second one.
"I think they're waiting for some deluded protocol droid to sell the blue unit for them," the second customer continues undaunted. "Those units are always having their memories erased. They can be convinced of anything. Two or three mindwipes and they begin constructing their own histories. Clinical mechanics, I guess. But the way I see it, they're also the perfect units to unwittingly stumble upon the truth. One of the great galactic flaws of serendipity. Got to love it. Hey, ever seen a Bothan? They don't exist. Just another name for Jawas..."
On the seventh day, the blue unit is sold, by the way. Bet you can guess who got it.
"We all know they rip us off. Their best stuff is always kept for the Hutts. That's just the way it is."
"I figured that," the first customer says.
"I'm just saying what we all know," the second customer says. "Because sometimes it can be easy to forget. Hey, want to know a secret?"
"Sure," the first customer says.
"This is the sixth day I've come to see their inventory. I don't even need anything. I'm keeping tabs. They keep marching out the same droids. I've been curious. They don't seem to actually sell anything. It's something you can easily overlook. They haven't even bothered pretending that they're doing anything else. They just don't care. This makes me think."
"I'm confused," the first customer says.
"It's all a scam. A front. They're secretly working for the Rebellion. All the way here on Tatooine? Yeah. Apparently. See that droid over there? It's a decoy. They've pulled the same trick all six days. It looks nice, right? The others look bedraggled, hardly suited to the the needs they're being trotted out to fulfill. So someone says they want it. Then it malfunctions as soon as it starts rolling away. I've been waiting to see if someone finally walks away with one. I've had my eye on the blue unit. It looks deceptively conspicuous. It's the carbon scoring that seems to scare everyone off. Ridiculous, right? But there it is."
The first customer at this point is noticeably backing away from the second one.
"I think they're waiting for some deluded protocol droid to sell the blue unit for them," the second customer continues undaunted. "Those units are always having their memories erased. They can be convinced of anything. Two or three mindwipes and they begin constructing their own histories. Clinical mechanics, I guess. But the way I see it, they're also the perfect units to unwittingly stumble upon the truth. One of the great galactic flaws of serendipity. Got to love it. Hey, ever seen a Bothan? They don't exist. Just another name for Jawas..."
On the seventh day, the blue unit is sold, by the way. Bet you can guess who got it.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
101 Star Wars Variations 75: Yoda Trader
A long time ago, there was a Jawa who aspired to something greater than the rest of his kind. His name was Yoda.
These were the days before the Hutts, before the Sand People, before Tattooine was a desert world, when the Jawas were the dominant and in fact only sentient life to be found, before they had spread their influence across the galaxy in their small way, bringing others there, depleting all natural resources, the atmosphere, everything.
Yoda saw all that coming because, of course, he was closely-attuned to the Force, which itself was strong on Tatooine. He became keenly aware that great disaster was coming to the Force, and he left his home world in order to discover the nature of this threat.
Before this there was no Jedi Order, nor Sith, any organized understanding of the Force at all. His main ally in establishing any such effort was a man named Palpatine, who was far more interested in exploring the limits of the Force than to, in fact, impose limits, which was the philosophical difference that drove them apart and started a feud that would last a thousand years. Palpatine had a master, and there were others who had knowledge and practice with the Force before them, but everything that followed came from them.
In time, Yoda forgot his roots, but only consciously. Subconsciously, his thoughts always returned to Tatooine. That was how he knew the prophecy of the one who would one day bring balance to the Force, a prophecy he himself had declared after forty days of deep meditation on an out-of-the-way swamp world called Dagobah, would be fulfilled by someone else from Tatooine. And all the while, his brethren among the Jawas, equally unaware of their role, would always be there to make sure events unfolded as they should.
That was why they spent time collecting assorted scrap and acting as merchants redistributing whatever goods made their way to Tatooine. All this was to guide them to the moment when an astromech droid designated R2-D2 would lead the Jedi savior to his destiny.
Yoda, his mind focused on other matters, had left Tatooine behind. Yet Tatooine hadn't forsaken him.
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