anghraine

The Jedi and the Sith Lord, Part 1

I finished recording the opening eight chapters (out of 21) of The Jedi and the Sith Lord, the sequel to my f!Luke AU fics The Adventures of Lucy Skywalker and The Imperial Menace. This part is all uploaded here, and matches the first eight chapters of the AO3 version here.

However, TJATSL is different from the other two; it’s always been the core of the AU in my mind and is the place where it really splits off into its own story. Consequently, if you’re familiar with the two major spoilers from the other fics (posted under the cut), it’s pretty easy to jump right into TJATSL without reading the others.

Some other stuff to know:

It does not run parallel to any of the movies, instead splitting off from the main canon storyline at the end of ESB and covering the next few months.
Where Adventures was about 29k and Imperial about 23k, TJATSL is 70k and covers half of its general storyline.
As with Adventures and Imperial, it assumes that the male domination of the OT exists in-world, with a major effect on the story.
Also like them, it generally ignores the SWEU and non-film/script material, apart from a few names.
Where Han’s and Leia’s chapters were the core of The Imperial Menace, TJATSL focuses tightly on Lucy and Anakin/Vader.
The page can take a few seconds longer than most to load.

Shorter version (there’s a more detailed version below, also bolded):

The Lucyverse ignores most of the SWEU and assumes that the male domination of the OT exists in-story among both the Empire and the Rebellion. We don’t see any female Rebel pilots in ANH because there aren’t any, and Lucy isn’t permitted to join up as a pilot at the end of Adventures. She ends up joining Han and Chewie on the Falcon. However, Han caves and turns back, and Lucy destroys the Death Star from the Falcon. She’s then able to join the pilots of the Rebellion as a special exception, though she’s not made commander.

Meanwhile, the more extreme and hostile Imperial misogyny flows from Palpatine himself. Vader has to work more to convince him that Lucy could be useful to them, and knows Palpatine will be particularly intolerant of any resistance. Consequently, Vader decides to cut the ESB duel short, threaten Lucy’s friends if she doesn’t go into carbon-freeze, and take her to one of his private fortresses where he can turn her to the Dark Side. The Imperial Menace ends with Lucy in carbonite.

Longer version:

The series ignores the bulk of the SWEU and assumes that the extreme male domination of the OT reflects in-world misogyny and patriarchy. This applies to both the Empire and the Rebellion, if to differing degrees. We don’t see women in the Imperial military power structure because there are almost none. We don’t see female soldiers or pilots running around in the Rebellion because they’re not there; they’re placed in other, safer roles at this point in time (i.e., the logic is paternalistic rather than the overt hostility of the Empire, but still, not great).

The end result in Adventures is that Lucy isn’t able to join up with the Rebellion as a pilot, and is restless and discontented enough to take up Han’s offer to go and have adventures on the Falcon, though she’s not happy. Adventures ends with Leia’s feeling of foreboding about this.

Early in The Imperial Menace, Han caves, they do end up turning back, and Lucy destroys the Death Star from the Falcon. She’s then offered a place in Rogue Squadron as a special exception, though she’s not its commander (this has a comparatively minor effect later on).

Meanwhile, it turns out that the Empire’s more severe and hostile misogyny flows from the top down—Palpatine. Vader has to work more to convince him that Lucy could be useful to them, and knows Palpatine will be particularly intolerant of any resistance. Vader decides that his top priority has to be capturing Lucy, sequestering her in one of his most isolated fortresses, and turning her to the Dark Side before she comes face-to-face with the Emperor. Consequently, he cuts the ESB duel with Lucy short, and threatens to kill her captured friends if she doesn’t go into carbon-freeze. Lucy sees no choice and agrees, and The Imperial Menace concludes with her in carbonite.