Miss him yet? (TFA spoilers...perhaps)

[notfromajedi]

I admire your strength. I would not have expected you to let go of the Legends so easily. Fraught as they are with imperfections, they are nonetheless the Star Wars you grew up with, grew so knowledgeable of.

Still, you know the times ahead will be difficult, with so many who refuse to let go. Committing too fiercely to this "Unified Canon" as you call it has already begun to fracture your fandom. I have seen this opera before: some push for progress while others hold to tradition. Both are noble ideals, but only by putting aside differences can you find true unity.

Unity. Solidarity. That is what the Star Wars fandom needs right now. Cherish your new canon, but do not be so quick to judge those who cherish the old.

Comments

[neverjoinyou]

I... would not have thought there was anything we agree upon.

[notfromajedi]

We are the same in many ways, young one. Just as you rushed into this role: to rescue the princess, to become a hero, to save the galaxy...I was the same, once. But what Obi-Wan never taught you - what my master taught me - was that the people of this Republic that you're fighting to restore don't want saving. Not really. What they truly wish is order, security, structure. That is what your Rebellion threatens to "free" them of.

[neverjoinyou]

And you're certain of that.

[notfromajedi]

If you have any doubt, then win this war, and let them show you.

[neverjoinyou]

That's what I intend to do.

You realize that you're asking for solidarity through acceptance of diversity, right?

[notfromajedi]

That is one way of looking at it. But it is all the same fandom, the same Star Wars. Some compromise is necessary for the time being. If the canon shifted too suddenly it would have triggered far greater dissent. Just as my Empire took time to establish itself, so too must this new canon.

That said, I will follow whichever canon my mundane chooses to honor. To do otherwise would be...well, disharmonious if not outright impossible.

[neverjoinyou]

You really believe this, don't you. You really believe your tyranny is what we wanted.

[notfromajedi]

Perhaps not consciously. But before the Clone Wars began, Representative Binks petitioned that the Senate grant me temporary authority to establish a Grand Army of the Republic - a Republic that had stood for a millennium, never knowing war - his proposal was met with enthusiasm that astonished even myself.

[Never mind that it was his vizier's open musings that goaded Binks into making the proposal in the first place.]

And when I declared before the Senate in no uncertain terms that with these powers, the Republic would be reorganized into a Galactic Empire, and the Jedi hunted down and defeated, the response was uproariously positive.

[Never mind that Order 66 was issued a full day before the Senate conference.]

[neverjoinyou]

I'm no politician, Palpatine. And neither were most of the Jedi, it sounds like. But I have no doubt that you manipulated that entire situation from the beginning. And even if you played your cards wrong, I have no doubt you did everything in your power to make it look like it had been your plan all along. Your problem is you insist there be only one interpretation of events, circumstances, motivation. Yours.

[original_fine]

We've all been there.

[notfromajedi]

Ah, indeed. But there's no such thing as time travel in my universe; if there were, things might have gone quite differently.

[original_fine]

Fandoms, I mean. How many iterations are there of me, at this point?

They'll figure it out.

[notfromajedi]

I certainly hope so. But I expect it will take time to sort itself out. All I ask is that my mundane not hold so fast as to disrupt the reunification of the Star Wars fandom.

[original_fine]

It's new. What people will realize is that it all still exists, and can exist side by side.

[drunk_ish]

Is there any advice you've ever given that didn't include the word "unity"? Inquiring minds would like to know.

[ A beat. Nope, he can't actually resist adding this; it's too ingrained. ]

...Your Majesty.

[notfromajedi]

Division within oneself, is there anything so crippling?

Strength in diversity: it's dogma we've heard time and again, even while history proves time and again that strength rises from common ground. I've been served these lies the same as you, the same as everyone. The only difference is that I've stopped eating.

[drunk_ish]

No. I was served precisely the opposite. The only dogma of my life was yours.

[notfromajedi]

Then let me ask this. Now that you've seen the aftermath, the defeat of my regime, what have you gained? Is there no longer suffering in the galaxy, no longer conflict? No longer sentient nature?

My mundane has withheld all insight from me into this part of our canon, so all I can do is guess. But I've seen what democracy leads to, and it is no freedom. You've only traded one kind of oppression for another.

[drunk_ish]

I don't know! [ The gall of shouting at the Emperor terrifies him, but he stands firm, shoulders square, chin lifted. The image of a perfect officer, even if he's let the beard grow in, even if he's not in uniform anymore - he's still the man who was among the best. ]

I'm still fresh from Endor. I watched all of it dissolve to wreckage.

I followed the Code of Conduct. I enforced your word. I haven't believed in this since I was a cadet, but you don't ask your loyalty officers to believe, just to obey. For all of it, I have worse than nothing.

[notfromajedi]

But you say you used to believe, at least when you joined the Academy. What changed?

[drunk_ish]

You derided the republic for nepotism, but nowhere was it more evident than in the cadets on Coruscant. Success was not based on merit, much as the instructors took time to provide careful illusions of it.

I was uncultured. [ No sign of it in the accent he has now, which is precise and very Imperial. ] I was not stupid or blind.

[notfromajedi]

But surely you didn't come so far and still not comprehend the purpose of the Empire's favoritism? Again: unity. Any civilization which intends to stand the test of time must present to its subjects an ideal they can aspire to. You call your former self uncultured, yet look at you now: the very image of Imperial refinement. The effort you made to discard your ruffian heritage and adopt the mannerisms of the Core elite - that is the kind of dedication that would have maintained the Empire. Will maintain it, if there are enough of your kind left who have not been so willing to give up the fight.

[drunk_ish]

And, of course, it had nothing to do with the fact that those elite controlled vast amounts of resources that the Empire could draw on.

Order and discipline are one thing, Your Majesty. Intelligence. Courage. Merit. But the truth is that an Empire needs funds, and funds cannot be produced from thin air. I accepted this, and I made sure that I was among the most perfect officers, so that I would be promoted regardless of my origins.

Here are a few more inconvenient truths.

The Death Star was a product of enormous time and expense. It contained hundreds of thousands of the best and most experienced officers. It was destroyed, and then you built it again. Now your propaganda machines are on the defensive, your officers are being promoted too quickly, and the compromises you made to stay in power are coming to light.

When I abandoned this fight, it wasn't cowardice.

[notfromajedi]

The first Death Star's destruction was...regrettable, to say the least. The human losses it took with it struck me just as deeply as anyone else. Many of those officers had been dear friends of mine years before the station was first conceived. So I made sure to be present when the second Death Star came under fire, to guide its defenses with the Force. Had I not been betrayed, you'd have been spared defeat. For being unable to foresee Lord Vader's treason, I am truly sorry.

[drunk_ish]

[ His hands are trembling. The words are intensely painful to Sinjir, for reasons that he cannot break down into clean, logical lines.

He thinks of something he's said to himself, often: that the best torturers aren't the ones who enjoy it. One would think the loyalty officers would be the realm of sadists, bullies, the sort of people who want power for its own sake. Often, the opposite is true: those people burn themselves out. They find what they want to see. On the contrary: the best of the loyalty officers employs pain as a tool, no more.

He wonders if this is true of the Emperor, or if he revels, somehow, in the suffering. In the power. ]

But treason there was. And you made a mistake I thought was far beneath you - a mistake of succession. There's no one to take your power, not smoothly. The Empire is going to crumble, because it belonged to you, and you're gone.

I'm sorry, Your Majesty. But you made of me too keen and intelligent a survivor to stay in the face of that.

[unified]

A curious thing, to find one's existence shifted.

[notfromajedi]

For all our sakes, I hope the Powers That Be find room for you - or at least, an appropriate version of you - to return.

[unified]

[ An incline of his head, to accept the compliment. ] Thank you, Imperial Majesty.

But I believe my failures would be repeated.

[notfromajedi]

One never knows. At one point our victory may seem inevitable; the next, a subject's betrayal turns fortune on its head. The same could easily occur in our favor, if the leaders of this New Republic grow as complacent as the old.

[abovedeception]

[His stare could turn a planet to dust. While he agrees, he knows this is a ploy - a trap to draw many near. Once they reach out, Palpatine will draw them closer...and closer...

And then they won't remember who they used to be.]

[notfromajedi]

Ah, Master Kenobi! It is good to see you again.

[abovedeception]

I think we are beyond formalities.

[shortforastormtrooper]

[Something about this guy gives Luke the willies.]

I get that. My mun hasn't decided what to keep or toss yet.

[differently]

A valid point, as always.

[neverbeenajedi]

[He hates to even admit it to himself, but the Emperor has a point.]

I'm still holding out hope that the news guys remember me, and that history remembers that you started the Rebellion, Emperor. Kinda poetic, if you think about it.