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crack_van2006-03-31 12:38 pm
malabud.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-03-31 12:38 pm
Entry tags:
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by LL (PG)
Fandom: STAR WARS PT
Pairing: Mostly Gen, with Palpatine/OFC, Valorum/OFC, & Anakin/Padmé
Length: 138,000 words
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
l_lyons_bailey
Author Website: LL's Fanfiction.net Profile
Why this must be read:
I finish my recommendations this month with this gem of a fic. This story sets out to do what I thought was impossible--redeem Palpatine!
Wait! Don't click on through your flist! Hear me out first. This fic is worth it. I promise.
George Lucas said something very interesting in an interview once. He said that all villains think they are the good guys. Vader certainly thought he was doing what was right, even if he was really lying to himself. Even Palpatine thought he was doing what was right and necessary to bring about peace.
And therein lies the potential for salvation.
You may not like Palpatine any better once you finish reading this story, but you will begin to understand why those closest to him wanted to save him. He does truly horrible things in this fic, and the author does not attempt to excuse or explain away his actions. But you will understand and have compassion for his advocates.
The fic veers off from Revenge of the Sith just after Anakin discovers that Palpatine is Darth Sidious. Anakin does not go directly to Mace Windu as he does in the movie. Despite Palpatine's evil deeds, Anakin cares for him and does not want him to die. He also wants Palpatine to save his wife. If Anakin tells the Jedi, they will attack Palpatine.
(This, of course, neatly undoes a central facet of Palpatine's master plan. Sidious cannot order the clones to carry out Order 66 without a legitimate, legal reason, or at least the appearance of one. If the Jedi do not attempt to arrest him, he cannot claim they were plotting treason. Consequently, he cannot order to have them all killed.)
Instead, Anakin goes home to Padmé and finds her in a meeting with former Chancellor Valorum and his wife, who is an old friend of Palpatine's. After much debate, they begin to plot together to make him "safe," meaning alive and unharmed but unable to destroy any more lives. They eventually draw others into their plot, and it morphs from trying to keep Palpatine from harming anyone into actually drawing him away from the Dark Side.
At times as I read the story, I wondered why the little group continued to try to redeem Palpatine, even when confronted with his darkest deeds and vilest plans against them, but it made sense in the end and their logic was sound. Pragmatically, had they tried to move against Palpatine, he would have been prepared for it and countered them at every turn. As a Sith Lord, he could anticipate their hatred and anger, but he could never anticipate their love and understanding. They did the unexpected and caught him unawares. He wanted them to attack him. When they instead sought good for him, he did not know how to handle the situation.
Aside from Palpatine, Anakin's story is the most interesting in this fic. He goes from a conflicted Jedi to neither truly Jedi nor Sith. He grows from not knowing who he is or who he wants to be into a mature man with a definite purpose. His growth is slow, carefully handled, and completely believable for his character. When he desperately wants to kill Palpatine about midway through the fic, the reader half wants him to do it and half does not, all because of the repercussions for Anakin personally. Anakin's character arc may not be the central story of the fic, but it's vital to the overall tale.
This fic can be slow paced at times, with a great deal of dialogue and political maneuvering, but it also has its gripping action scenes. The slow pace is deceptive, for many things are going on behind the scenes that are only fully revealed later. The reveals are usually quite startling and satisfying all at once. Character voices are mostly spot-on, and the only quibble I had with one person's characterization was resolved by the end of the fic. This is the most unusual and the best Revenge of the Sith AU I've yet read. Highly recommended.
* * *
"This question--what is the basic nature of man--is the most important question now before the human race."
- Neale Donald Walsch, Friendship with God
"Over a millennia before the events of The Phantom Menace a group of Jedi forsook their Order to investigate the Force in a way forbidden by members of the Jedi Council. This group became known as the Dark Lords of the Sith, and they were marked as wholly evil ... "
- Matthew Bortolin, The Dharma of Star Wars
PROLOGUE: Revenge of the Sith
Of all the flavors that seasoned revenge, none tasted sweeter than stealth.
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine--secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious--masked a smile as he climbed flights of stairs to the main entrance of that monolith that housed the Order of his bitter enemies, the Jedi.
Bands of admirers huddled close to the stairs, as they always did whenever Anakin Skywalker was in residence. Sidious's Red Guard had parted them like twelve candle flames singeing the curling edges of an old parchment. He had threaded his way through the rabble like an ink spot turned liquid in the rain.
Another spot of brilliant color awaited him at the entrance. Senator Padmé Amidala--last name Skywalker, although Sidious was the only one who knew that--in jewel-green velvet, stepped forward and bowed to him.
Refreshing, that. As it should be.
A puzzled frown crossed her face as she greeted him. "Good morning, Your Excellency. A pleasant Feast of Gratitude to you."
"And to you, Senator. You're giving me an odd look. Have I missed a button?" He made a show of checking the jeweled buttons down his own crushed velvet front. Although he had distanced himself from her in recent years, their relationship still bore the mien of the years he had served as her advisor. He would have to put up with such informality from her for a while longer.
"No ... you just looked as if you'd tasted something bad."
Sidious forced a merry laugh and offered her his arm. "On the contrary, my dear. Come, I’m afraid I've made you late."
Every year on Feast of Gratitude Day, Jedi Knights young and old, enfeebled by their Order's insistence on thankfulness as key to a peaceful mindset, crammed their Temple's convocation hall with Remembrance candles. Older Jedi usually meditated and lit a candle or two, but new Knights, excited over finally attaining their coveted titles, tended to honor everyone even remotely helpful in the passing of their puny Trials with a bit of burning wax. Since no one could actually witness a Jedi Knighting ceremony, friends and acquaintances of new Knights often took this time, instead, to come forward and offer congratulations.
The Sith Master considered all Jedi customs far beneath his attention; but this Feast of Gratitude offered one satisfaction it would have been a shame to miss. Once and for the last time in the history of their wretched Order, a Jedi would receive his Knighthood and then publicly light a candle in thanks to a Sith.
It was a government holiday, anyway. Not that he found himself with little to do, but Sidious could make a moment for this. Any opportunity to cement his growing Mastery over the Chosen One was never wasted.
Lady Skywalker was expected; but, since Palpatine had purposely failed to notify the Council of his own intentions to visit, the blue-skinned Chagrian Padawan at the door met him with eyes the size of half-credit coins.
"Are -- are you here to give thanks, Sir -- Your Excellency?" said the boy, mangling the traditional greeting.
"Here to congratulate a friend, if I may be granted passage." Sidious used his kindest tone.
"Oh, certainly, Sir!"
Padmé's eyes met Palpatine's, and she smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. Palpatine gave her a conspiratorial smirk out of the corner of his mouth, and turned to follow the Padawan, who bowed first to him and then to Padmé, agog at her beauty.
"Your Excellency, Senator ... if you will follow me."
"Wait here," Sidious ordered the Red Guards who flanked him. He checked his mental shielding, smiling as they followed the Padawan up the bronze-marble corridors, enjoying as always the secret thrill of being here incognito.
An expanse of beige marble floor greeted them at the entrance to the convocation hall, with a patterned rug in shades of blue and green to pad footfalls and preserve the peace that Jedi craved. A press of young Padawans standing shoulder to shoulder made Sidious scowl. Of course the fanatics waved placards outside -- "Congratulations, Anakin!" -- but he hadn't expected as many young admirers inside. He pulled his purple robes around him.
Amid childish whispers of, "It's Chancellor Palpatine! It's Senator Amidala!" Padawans of all different heights and ages shuffled aside to reveal Anakin at the front, sans Padawan braid, head bowed in silent meditation. After a moment he lit a lucifer and touched the wicks of five tall candles like thick white tree trunks, adding to a forest fire already burning at the front of the room. Master Gallia, a few meters to Anakin's right, paused in lighting a candle of her own to nod to Anakin and smile.
Anakin gave her a respectful half-bow and turned around. Immediately his eyes fell upon the Senator, whose green velvet gown made her skin glow, and his own feelings were so obvious on his face that Sidious had to hold back a snort.
He came straight down the aisle to them--or, rather, to Lady Skywalker. Beside her, Lord Sidious felt quite in the shade. But that will all change, he thought with a smile.
"Senator!" Anakin said, stopping himself a respectable distance from her and remembering a bow after a moment's hesitation. "I am so pleased to see you! And you, Your Excellency." He turned gravely to Sidious with another bow for him.
Lady Skywalker paused in deference to the Chancellor. Sidious stepped forward to lay an approving hand on the boy's arm. "We would have been present at your Knighting, had it been allowed," he said. "Please accept our formal congratulations on behalf of every citizen of our planet--and on our own behalf, as well."
Anakin simpered under the praise; Sidious stifled a laugh.
"Congratulations, Anakin," said Lady Skywalker.
"You're so very welcome, my lady." Anakin turned to point to his own little grouping of five tall wax candles. "Look ... I've lit a candle for my mother, Obi-Wan, Master Qui-Gon, Master Yoda ... and you."
Padmé bowed from her shoulders. "I am honored, Master Jedi."
A slow heat suffused Sidious, sweeping from his very toes to the tips of his hair. Blackhearted little--how did he dare?
Just for the sheer man-hours he'd spent consoling the Padawan's whining, Palpatine deserved more than anyone else to be recognized. Where could Anakin be counted upon to show up every time he was unhappy? It certainly wasn't Senator Amidala's.
The gruff tones of Mace Windu reached his ears from the back of the Hall--annoyed, no doubt, that Palpatine had not signaled his intention to visit--and Sidious endeavored to keep his anger from showing on his face.
Anakin Skywalker was no Jedi, that was certain. Gratitude was so far from that selfish little heart that, when Sidious willed it, the dark side would come pouring in.
And then, Sidious thought, glancing at all the Jedi standing packed around him, he will help me murder every one of you.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (TFN Version)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (FFN Version, revised)
ETA: LL has chosen to remove this fic completely from the web. If you follow this link to the author's FFN profile, she does give the option of contacting her for a copy, which I urge you to do.
Pairing: Mostly Gen, with Palpatine/OFC, Valorum/OFC, & Anakin/Padmé
Length: 138,000 words
Author on LJ:
l_lyons_baileyAuthor Website: LL's Fanfiction.net Profile
Why this must be read:
I finish my recommendations this month with this gem of a fic. This story sets out to do what I thought was impossible--redeem Palpatine!
Wait! Don't click on through your flist! Hear me out first. This fic is worth it. I promise.
George Lucas said something very interesting in an interview once. He said that all villains think they are the good guys. Vader certainly thought he was doing what was right, even if he was really lying to himself. Even Palpatine thought he was doing what was right and necessary to bring about peace.
And therein lies the potential for salvation.
You may not like Palpatine any better once you finish reading this story, but you will begin to understand why those closest to him wanted to save him. He does truly horrible things in this fic, and the author does not attempt to excuse or explain away his actions. But you will understand and have compassion for his advocates.
The fic veers off from Revenge of the Sith just after Anakin discovers that Palpatine is Darth Sidious. Anakin does not go directly to Mace Windu as he does in the movie. Despite Palpatine's evil deeds, Anakin cares for him and does not want him to die. He also wants Palpatine to save his wife. If Anakin tells the Jedi, they will attack Palpatine.
(This, of course, neatly undoes a central facet of Palpatine's master plan. Sidious cannot order the clones to carry out Order 66 without a legitimate, legal reason, or at least the appearance of one. If the Jedi do not attempt to arrest him, he cannot claim they were plotting treason. Consequently, he cannot order to have them all killed.)
Instead, Anakin goes home to Padmé and finds her in a meeting with former Chancellor Valorum and his wife, who is an old friend of Palpatine's. After much debate, they begin to plot together to make him "safe," meaning alive and unharmed but unable to destroy any more lives. They eventually draw others into their plot, and it morphs from trying to keep Palpatine from harming anyone into actually drawing him away from the Dark Side.
At times as I read the story, I wondered why the little group continued to try to redeem Palpatine, even when confronted with his darkest deeds and vilest plans against them, but it made sense in the end and their logic was sound. Pragmatically, had they tried to move against Palpatine, he would have been prepared for it and countered them at every turn. As a Sith Lord, he could anticipate their hatred and anger, but he could never anticipate their love and understanding. They did the unexpected and caught him unawares. He wanted them to attack him. When they instead sought good for him, he did not know how to handle the situation.
Aside from Palpatine, Anakin's story is the most interesting in this fic. He goes from a conflicted Jedi to neither truly Jedi nor Sith. He grows from not knowing who he is or who he wants to be into a mature man with a definite purpose. His growth is slow, carefully handled, and completely believable for his character. When he desperately wants to kill Palpatine about midway through the fic, the reader half wants him to do it and half does not, all because of the repercussions for Anakin personally. Anakin's character arc may not be the central story of the fic, but it's vital to the overall tale.
This fic can be slow paced at times, with a great deal of dialogue and political maneuvering, but it also has its gripping action scenes. The slow pace is deceptive, for many things are going on behind the scenes that are only fully revealed later. The reveals are usually quite startling and satisfying all at once. Character voices are mostly spot-on, and the only quibble I had with one person's characterization was resolved by the end of the fic. This is the most unusual and the best Revenge of the Sith AU I've yet read. Highly recommended.
* * *
"This question--what is the basic nature of man--is the most important question now before the human race."
- Neale Donald Walsch, Friendship with God
"Over a millennia before the events of The Phantom Menace a group of Jedi forsook their Order to investigate the Force in a way forbidden by members of the Jedi Council. This group became known as the Dark Lords of the Sith, and they were marked as wholly evil ... "
- Matthew Bortolin, The Dharma of Star Wars
PROLOGUE: Revenge of the Sith
Of all the flavors that seasoned revenge, none tasted sweeter than stealth.
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine--secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious--masked a smile as he climbed flights of stairs to the main entrance of that monolith that housed the Order of his bitter enemies, the Jedi.
Bands of admirers huddled close to the stairs, as they always did whenever Anakin Skywalker was in residence. Sidious's Red Guard had parted them like twelve candle flames singeing the curling edges of an old parchment. He had threaded his way through the rabble like an ink spot turned liquid in the rain.
Another spot of brilliant color awaited him at the entrance. Senator Padmé Amidala--last name Skywalker, although Sidious was the only one who knew that--in jewel-green velvet, stepped forward and bowed to him.
Refreshing, that. As it should be.
A puzzled frown crossed her face as she greeted him. "Good morning, Your Excellency. A pleasant Feast of Gratitude to you."
"And to you, Senator. You're giving me an odd look. Have I missed a button?" He made a show of checking the jeweled buttons down his own crushed velvet front. Although he had distanced himself from her in recent years, their relationship still bore the mien of the years he had served as her advisor. He would have to put up with such informality from her for a while longer.
"No ... you just looked as if you'd tasted something bad."
Sidious forced a merry laugh and offered her his arm. "On the contrary, my dear. Come, I’m afraid I've made you late."
Every year on Feast of Gratitude Day, Jedi Knights young and old, enfeebled by their Order's insistence on thankfulness as key to a peaceful mindset, crammed their Temple's convocation hall with Remembrance candles. Older Jedi usually meditated and lit a candle or two, but new Knights, excited over finally attaining their coveted titles, tended to honor everyone even remotely helpful in the passing of their puny Trials with a bit of burning wax. Since no one could actually witness a Jedi Knighting ceremony, friends and acquaintances of new Knights often took this time, instead, to come forward and offer congratulations.
The Sith Master considered all Jedi customs far beneath his attention; but this Feast of Gratitude offered one satisfaction it would have been a shame to miss. Once and for the last time in the history of their wretched Order, a Jedi would receive his Knighthood and then publicly light a candle in thanks to a Sith.
It was a government holiday, anyway. Not that he found himself with little to do, but Sidious could make a moment for this. Any opportunity to cement his growing Mastery over the Chosen One was never wasted.
Lady Skywalker was expected; but, since Palpatine had purposely failed to notify the Council of his own intentions to visit, the blue-skinned Chagrian Padawan at the door met him with eyes the size of half-credit coins.
"Are -- are you here to give thanks, Sir -- Your Excellency?" said the boy, mangling the traditional greeting.
"Here to congratulate a friend, if I may be granted passage." Sidious used his kindest tone.
"Oh, certainly, Sir!"
Padmé's eyes met Palpatine's, and she smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. Palpatine gave her a conspiratorial smirk out of the corner of his mouth, and turned to follow the Padawan, who bowed first to him and then to Padmé, agog at her beauty.
"Your Excellency, Senator ... if you will follow me."
"Wait here," Sidious ordered the Red Guards who flanked him. He checked his mental shielding, smiling as they followed the Padawan up the bronze-marble corridors, enjoying as always the secret thrill of being here incognito.
An expanse of beige marble floor greeted them at the entrance to the convocation hall, with a patterned rug in shades of blue and green to pad footfalls and preserve the peace that Jedi craved. A press of young Padawans standing shoulder to shoulder made Sidious scowl. Of course the fanatics waved placards outside -- "Congratulations, Anakin!" -- but he hadn't expected as many young admirers inside. He pulled his purple robes around him.
Amid childish whispers of, "It's Chancellor Palpatine! It's Senator Amidala!" Padawans of all different heights and ages shuffled aside to reveal Anakin at the front, sans Padawan braid, head bowed in silent meditation. After a moment he lit a lucifer and touched the wicks of five tall candles like thick white tree trunks, adding to a forest fire already burning at the front of the room. Master Gallia, a few meters to Anakin's right, paused in lighting a candle of her own to nod to Anakin and smile.
Anakin gave her a respectful half-bow and turned around. Immediately his eyes fell upon the Senator, whose green velvet gown made her skin glow, and his own feelings were so obvious on his face that Sidious had to hold back a snort.
He came straight down the aisle to them--or, rather, to Lady Skywalker. Beside her, Lord Sidious felt quite in the shade. But that will all change, he thought with a smile.
"Senator!" Anakin said, stopping himself a respectable distance from her and remembering a bow after a moment's hesitation. "I am so pleased to see you! And you, Your Excellency." He turned gravely to Sidious with another bow for him.
Lady Skywalker paused in deference to the Chancellor. Sidious stepped forward to lay an approving hand on the boy's arm. "We would have been present at your Knighting, had it been allowed," he said. "Please accept our formal congratulations on behalf of every citizen of our planet--and on our own behalf, as well."
Anakin simpered under the praise; Sidious stifled a laugh.
"Congratulations, Anakin," said Lady Skywalker.
"You're so very welcome, my lady." Anakin turned to point to his own little grouping of five tall wax candles. "Look ... I've lit a candle for my mother, Obi-Wan, Master Qui-Gon, Master Yoda ... and you."
Padmé bowed from her shoulders. "I am honored, Master Jedi."
A slow heat suffused Sidious, sweeping from his very toes to the tips of his hair. Blackhearted little--how did he dare?
Just for the sheer man-hours he'd spent consoling the Padawan's whining, Palpatine deserved more than anyone else to be recognized. Where could Anakin be counted upon to show up every time he was unhappy? It certainly wasn't Senator Amidala's.
The gruff tones of Mace Windu reached his ears from the back of the Hall--annoyed, no doubt, that Palpatine had not signaled his intention to visit--and Sidious endeavored to keep his anger from showing on his face.
Anakin Skywalker was no Jedi, that was certain. Gratitude was so far from that selfish little heart that, when Sidious willed it, the dark side would come pouring in.
And then, Sidious thought, glancing at all the Jedi standing packed around him, he will help me murder every one of you.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (FFN Version, revised)
ETA: LL has chosen to remove this fic completely from the web. If you follow this link to the author's FFN profile, she does give the option of contacting her for a copy, which I urge you to do.