Anghraine

Aha, Shmi was totally facepalming. I'm really glad that worked! I wasn't sure if it'd seem like trivializing, but -- she's his mother and she loves him. At some level she's just "Anakin, sweetie, think about your life. Think about your choices."

I definitely like fic that plays up the Leia-Vader connection as father and daughter, because we got so little in canon, and yet there's all this stuff THERE. And despite all the effort to make Padmé "the Leia" of the PT (until ROTS, obvs), Leia has a lot more in common with Anakin, and I tried to keep some of that here. (Though I'll admit the Leia-is-like-Anakin thing annoys me when it's followed up with "and Luke is the one like Padmé," since IMO the twins resemble each other very strongly and both favour their father.)

Re: Palpatine's lightsaber -- heeeh, you're welcome. I just can't see him or Yoda with one, honestly. It's not ... that's not what they're about, you know? And besides, I think Palpatine is more terrifying without any kind of evil accessories, anyway.

Re: fatherhood -- yeah, within the context of ROTS, it makes sense. (Even I will admit that!) But in terms of the story arc, it's really unsatisfying for me. It is endlessly depressing that he's been living without attachment for all those years, though. *sadface*

Re: furniture -- you're right, he is always in motion. (Like the future, ha.) I hadn't thought of that explanation, but it fits.

Re: PT!Yoda -- OMG, yes. Telling him not to mourn the loss of people he loves??? WHAT. In fact, even though I was trying to amend that in some ways with this Yoda, who isn't complicit in a lot of the crap that canon!Yoda pulled (FIVE-YEAR-OLDS DO NOT LIGHTSABERS OMG), that's enough of a Thing for me that I actually kept it. And had Yoda be extremely remorseful about it.

Re: irnan -- oh, the hex series is probably my absolute favourite. Just !!!!!!! I really do like S&A, though, despite my hatred of the EU (or because of it!), and I love the wiresverse and especially the rosesverse. Roll the Dice is pretty kickass too (and I got a drabble for it the other day! *win*)

Ha, Leia totally would have been like his niece/goddaughter if everything hadn't gone awful -- I mean, even baby Luke is calling her mother "Aunt Padmé" and he's younger than Leia. She probably did call him "Uncle Anakin" back then (and Bail probably gave him the occasional stink eye, lol). ;_;

Re: Vader as Obi-Wan's creation -- yes! Even in canon. Especially in canon! Something. I have to admit, the moment in ROTJ when Obi-Wan finally takes some responsibility and admits it was his fault is even more satisfying now. (Seriously, Anakin seems better off as a slave than he is under Obi-Wan's care. Worst. Mentor. Ever. And the manipulation of Luke is pretty messed-up too.)

So even though, of course, there's a very different backstory here, I did want to keep the basic Obi-Wan-Anakin dynamic. Obi-Wan's defining role, in many ways, is to be a failure, the teacher who failed. (I think it would have been super-interesting if he'd been the central character of the PT, not Palpatine or Anakin, since by his nature he HAS to be a tragic hero, so it'd still have been a tragedy and ... yeah.)

And also, it's totally my headcanon that the canon!Jedi of the PT had a lot of the same problems as the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages/Renaissance, you know? Technically a spiritual/religious order, but getting their fingers into waaaaaay too many temporal pies.

YES. THIS. I mean, they even say that they're not soldiers and it's like NO. NO, YOU'RE NOT. And I've thought that, in many respects, it's -- it's treated sometimes that, as religion goes, the Jedi are the worshippers and there isn't really a clergy as such. But I think it's the other way around; most of the galaxy are the worshippers and the Jedi are the clergy. (And if "Jedi Knights" wasn't meant to evoke Catholic militant orders ... yeah no.)

Re: the Force -- oh! I totally think there is a Dark Side, because, well, it has such a ... ah, distinctive effect. I mean, the moment people turn to the Dark Side, they go nuts and can only turn back with a massive struggle. I think that's why turning to the Dark Side is itself such a monumental thing -- in many ways, Anakin's turn to the Dark Side is represented as a greater crime than anything he does under its power, I think because he chose it while (apparently) in his right mind, while a true Dark-sider's ability to think, judge, and make decisions is severely compromised.

I wrote another big long essay about this too -- I think about a year ago? Basically, I don't think it's functionally that different from the One Ring or the various eldritch Sources of Evil that pop up in myth and fantasy all the time. I don't really see the Force (Light Side, I guess) as about growth where the Dark Side is destruction, but that the time-to-heal and time-to-kill are both part of the Force (Living/Unifying, maybe?) and would be properly balanced, if not for the Dark Side itself warping everything. And the Dark Side is generated by the general stagnation and messed-up-ness going on.

(My crack theory is that Anakin isn't so much a creation of the Force as an incarnation of the Force, or an avatar, and the nature of the Force as a whole is decided by his choices as a mortal. And that the proper halves of the Force, Living and Unifying, are personified in Luke and Leia, and between the three of them they get everything back in sync.)