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crack_van2005-06-23 07:09 am
lakester.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2005-06-23 07:09 am
Entry tags:
Shifting sands by Veronica Wilson (PG)
Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Gen
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Her SW fic is indexed here
Why this must be read:
By the beginning of ESB Vader has discovered Luke's identity and is intent on finding him, with the crushing of the Rebellion almost an afterthought. This story - between ANH and ESB - shows how that obsession might have come into being.
This shows a visit by Vader and the Emperor to a burnt-out farm on Tatooine. It depicts a detached Vader - stunned by the discovery of a son - rediscoving his anger, and a deceptive Emperor intent on manipulating his apprentice, yet still with plans within plans. And all this takes place on the back-drop of the Lars farmstead amid Force echoes of Luke's childhood. You can see in Vader both the father who will betray his master to save his son and the man who will torture others to find him.
Did he actually care now what Luke would believe? He hadn't before -- at least, not by much.
Ah, my unknown and unknowing child, Vader thought, closing his eyes in either selfish tired indulgence or self-hating despair, you should have seen us at our best, at our height of glory. If only Luke had encountered Vader years ago, when both Dark Lord and ruler had been more vibrant and unjaded. When they had laughed together easily, and not only at another being's expense. Kenobi had altered all that by keeping Luke away, by preserving the false promise of the Jedi brotherhood, by consigning Vader to an existence of cybernetic pain, and by fostering treasonous ambitions in the hearts of utopians like Bail and Leia Organa. Kenobi should have been a Symorian feline, with its legendary twelve lives. If Vader could have killed him a dozen times, it might have approached fair compensation for all the old Jedi had done. But Vader would have let Luke witness none of it. The boy was not really to blame.
Yes, you should have seen us years ago. Then you would have known that neither of us intended for this galaxy to be steeped in blood. But, once the Rebellion had begun, once the war had commenced, there was no turning back. No recourse but to struggle against it. No choice but to stem the tide. Wars were never truly stopped unless they were won, by one side or the other.
And don't dare tell me I started this endless conflict, Vader commanded savagely, perhaps to Luke, possibly to Kenobi's shade, perchance to his own psyche. I don't believe that; I won't believe it.
I can't.
Shifting sands
Pairing: Gen
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Her SW fic is indexed here
Why this must be read:
By the beginning of ESB Vader has discovered Luke's identity and is intent on finding him, with the crushing of the Rebellion almost an afterthought. This story - between ANH and ESB - shows how that obsession might have come into being.
This shows a visit by Vader and the Emperor to a burnt-out farm on Tatooine. It depicts a detached Vader - stunned by the discovery of a son - rediscoving his anger, and a deceptive Emperor intent on manipulating his apprentice, yet still with plans within plans. And all this takes place on the back-drop of the Lars farmstead amid Force echoes of Luke's childhood. You can see in Vader both the father who will betray his master to save his son and the man who will torture others to find him.
Did he actually care now what Luke would believe? He hadn't before -- at least, not by much.
Ah, my unknown and unknowing child, Vader thought, closing his eyes in either selfish tired indulgence or self-hating despair, you should have seen us at our best, at our height of glory. If only Luke had encountered Vader years ago, when both Dark Lord and ruler had been more vibrant and unjaded. When they had laughed together easily, and not only at another being's expense. Kenobi had altered all that by keeping Luke away, by preserving the false promise of the Jedi brotherhood, by consigning Vader to an existence of cybernetic pain, and by fostering treasonous ambitions in the hearts of utopians like Bail and Leia Organa. Kenobi should have been a Symorian feline, with its legendary twelve lives. If Vader could have killed him a dozen times, it might have approached fair compensation for all the old Jedi had done. But Vader would have let Luke witness none of it. The boy was not really to blame.
Yes, you should have seen us years ago. Then you would have known that neither of us intended for this galaxy to be steeped in blood. But, once the Rebellion had begun, once the war had commenced, there was no turning back. No recourse but to struggle against it. No choice but to stem the tide. Wars were never truly stopped unless they were won, by one side or the other.
And don't dare tell me I started this endless conflict, Vader commanded savagely, perhaps to Luke, possibly to Kenobi's shade, perchance to his own psyche. I don't believe that; I won't believe it.
I can't.
Shifting sands