Anghraine

YESYESYES to both stagnant OJO and radically-different NJO. And I can see Luke just sort of... fading into the background over time in his guru role, just being there if a particular student wants to seek out what he has to offer but not having a role in the larger power structure of the Order--- not directing or influencing the overall zeitgeist of the Order, if will. Whereas I think Leia would be more likely to stay active on the temporal side of the Order (which might cause some sibling fights of the "Skywalkers like to scream at each other" persuasion, where Luke is all, "Um, let someone else have a go at the top spot" and Leia is all "When there's someone better than me for the job, I'll step down").

Yes, I had, and had meant to go and review it!!! Will do that shortly!

The penance angle... I can see that, and I LOVE your idea of ghost!Leia's response! I can also see Anakin being, "Yes, I know, and at this point I'm just sticking around because, kriff it, I missed out on the whole 'family' thing with you and your brother, I am making up for lost time." That even after he works through the guilt, he sticks around because, well, Anakin, he's all about his attachments. And he got cheated of them by the OJO, so it's like cosmic justice to him that his Jedi powers let him make up for that in the afterlife, lol.

Also, the dying-didn't-clean-the-slate angle is one of the reasons I really love AUs where Vader didn't die, and he and his kids and the NR and the Empire all have to cope with one another--- Vader doing his penance/working through the debts he owes to various people and institutions while he's still alive just makes me squee.

Hee, yeah, if I'm ranking the movies based on quality its ANH, ESB, ROTJ, ROTS, TPM, AOTC (ANH wins because it stands alone, whereas ESB is very much a second film in a trilogy). Now, as to which I like best, it's ROTS, tie between TPM/ANH, tie between ROTJ/AOTC, ESB. (Whether I like ROTJ or AOTC best depends on if I'm in a mood where I can tolerate Anakin's tragic death, versus if I'm in a mood where I can tolerate bad dialogue for the sheer squee of watching Anakin and Padme roll around in a meadow together and generally have a few happyfuntiems before their world ends.) And, oh, yes, on the fun-to-hate parts! :)

Oh! Right. OMG, Vader/Leia subtext. That's it, Skywalkers are officially overprone to genetic sexual attraction when separated from each other too early. LOL.

And, oh yeah, the Doyleist/Watsonian balances are headachy.