Latest / Most Things Kenobi - A Star Wars Podcast / Episode 105: Reviewing More Short Stories from "From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back"
Transcript
- 0:00Hello there. It's most things Kenobi.
- 0:04This is the podcast you're looking for.
- 0:19Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of most things Kenobi.
- 0:23A podcast about Obi-Wan Kenobi and all things.
- 0:25Star Wars. I'm your host Leanne, and I'm
- 0:29your host Lauren. This week we've brought notes.
- 0:35We got notes because we do three pages single-spaced.
- 0:42Yes, I have to. So clearly we've got things to
- 0:46discuss and this week, we're talking about another set of
- 0:49stories from The Empire Strikes Back from a certain point of
- 0:54view, which we listened to on Audible.
- 0:56It was a very generous gift from one of our dear friends and
- 1:00fans, you can OB wolf. So yes, thank you John.
- 1:04Yes, thank you. He's been kind of guiding us
- 1:08onto like, which ones we should listen to because there's a lot
- 1:11and we will get you all of them. But in what order John has
- 1:15helped us well because you're right there, so many chapters
- 1:21and I want to say right up front.
- 1:25These are really well written. Well, crafted short stories.
- 1:29They really are. They are, I mean, from the sound
- 1:32to the, I mean, yes, we're doing it through audible, not
- 1:35sponsored, but, like, yes, we're doing it with the sound, but
- 1:40even so the writing. Yes, writing is so good and I
- 1:44love that. They each one kind of has a
- 1:47theme and they just stick with it.
- 1:49It's very centered and that's like a special skill.
- 1:53Not everyone's really. Good at writing, both long form
- 1:56and short stories and Beth Revis is one of the writers she wrote
- 2:01Rebel Rising, right? That was the book that we
- 2:03reviewed before. Yes.
- 2:04And she wrote one of the ones that were reviewing today.
- 2:08Exactly. And so she said she was very
- 2:11good and very good at both forms so I just want to say shout out
- 2:14to these skilled writers because short stories are not everyone's
- 2:19Forte. Like not every writer is good at
- 2:22it and these are really damn good.
- 2:25And I noticed that from the previous episode that we did,
- 2:30where we covered a few of these stories to this version of us
- 2:34covering these stories. They really hone in on the
- 2:39spirit of the characters that they're talking about.
- 2:41And in fact, you'll see it's not always the main character.
- 2:44They might be referencing a main character, but it's through a
- 2:48certain point of view. A point of view that may not get
- 2:51a lot of attention that doesn't have a huge background to So
- 2:55from that, you kind of have to it's us, it's a moment in time
- 2:59in one of the movies and it's expanded upon in a short story,
- 3:03and I think that takes a lot of skill.
- 3:04So I Same Same Heart, same right here, I agree.
- 3:14What do you want to talk about the first lesson?
- 3:17Yes, that is the title of the first story that we're going to
- 3:21cover in this episode. Yes.
- 3:24Kenobi will. Thank you for guiding our hand
- 3:27on this. You have not disappointed.
- 3:28These are all freaking, excellent choices.
- 3:30But know what it makes me want to blow through all the other
- 3:32ones. But I got to pace myself.
- 3:34I know. Well in also of, so this was
- 3:38written by Jim's up but it was read by Mark Thompson.
- 3:42So Ed, he did a freaking great guy.
- 3:44I thought I loved his voice like the control he had when he said
- 3:49the word Yoda the first time was that was like butter.
- 3:55Well was he reading it, Luke? Did he do Luke's voice in this?
- 4:00Or was that pulled from something?
- 4:01Because it sounded he, he did it and I actually think he might
- 4:05have read it. Audiobook, that was about Luke
- 4:08at some point that came out like many, many years ago, but I'm
- 4:11not sure, but yes, he he was doing his Yoda was really good.
- 4:15The whole thing was fantastic. He had me wondering.
- 4:20Is he doing that? Is he doing Luke?
- 4:22There's the yeah, like, it was really good.
- 4:24So this story. Three, for those who don't know.
- 4:26It's a it's from Yoda's point of view, when Luke arrives for the
- 4:30first time on Dagobah. And yes, You know what?
- 4:34I really liked about this right off the bat was I didn't quite
- 4:39know where it was going at first, but the description of
- 4:43Dagobah, when it got into it, made it even more.
- 4:46Like, in my brain visually appealing then, well, the like
- 4:51the swampy. Misty thing we see in Empire
- 4:55Strikes Back the sounds of the birds and not just not just the
- 4:59Sounds in the in the audiobook but like the actual description
- 5:02of like a creature here, another insect they're really Really
- 5:08liked that part. I thought it was great.
- 5:10I did too. It was, it was the perfect way
- 5:13to set up an environment without over describing very true.
- 5:18So many times, especially with sci-fi, I feel like sci-fi genre
- 5:22writers have a tendency to over explain and over describe
- 5:26because it's a fantasy world and I liked that they named
- 5:31creatures in this, but didn't describe what they were.
- 5:35You don't need to know. You get the sense by the The
- 5:38short, little, whatever they said they were eating or
- 5:41however, they were moving. It's like, I don't need to know
- 5:44what it is. Like that sense, the emotion,
- 5:48the environment, the energy like that was all conveyed, very
- 5:52beautiful. I thought the pros in this were
- 5:54beautiful. I loved the way this person
- 5:57wrote. Yes.
- 5:58And and the you knew it was Yoda meditating and he was tapping
- 6:02into the force and sensing all of these creatures around him.
- 6:05And so it the way that it was delivered, Has perfect, like you
- 6:10said to creature, was eating something or slithering away, or
- 6:13chirping here? There is something and it's like
- 6:15those things that if I were to imagine what the force would be
- 6:17like, if I was meditating in a place, like, Dagobah, I would
- 6:21feel all of these like, entities around me.
- 6:25Yeah. And so, it really kind of
- 6:27brought the force to life in a way that I wasn't expecting.
- 6:31I really liked it. Obviously, I loved it too.
- 6:35And I my God, I just want to read one of the lines When they
- 6:38were first, describing all of these things, being felt at
- 6:43alive and Yoda and he wrote, he was describing Yoda.
- 6:49He said a name and identity a show of crude matter, housed on
- 6:53a form set upon this sharpened point of time and all the points
- 6:58preceding it. I had to pause it.
- 7:01I was like wow. That was that was really
- 7:03beautiful. Yes.
- 7:04The sharpened point of time was excellent.
- 7:07I really think. Remember that to use the really
- 7:10well-written because it's, it's implying how important Yoda is,
- 7:16but it also made me think each one of us is that true?
- 7:20Yeah, we're all sitting on a very specific point in time at
- 7:24all times exactly. It implies that each person even
- 7:29though you might feel mundane your important.
- 7:32You're here on this specific point for a specific reason.
- 7:36Yeah. Knows what that reason is.
- 7:37I don't know but I just love that about this story.
- 7:40I was very like, hippie meditation.
- 7:45I love it. Yes, I think that, I think they
- 7:47said, like, meditation isn't a body at rest.
- 7:49It's a body. Yes.
- 7:51You know, getting things. Yeah.
- 7:52And it was described, this is I wrote this down Yoda want to dig
- 7:56a buffer rest and the acceptance of his past mistakes and past
- 8:00foolishness. Now, I don't know if we've
- 8:03gotten any admission. Until now that Yoda had made a
- 8:08mistake. I mean, there were hints that
- 8:10obviously things had gone wrong in Revenge of the Sith.
- 8:14Yes, but I thought it was great that he went there for rest to
- 8:19ride it out until his time was done, right and to accept.
- 8:23And I think that's a huge part of like being with yourself
- 8:27meditating. If anyone's ever meditated
- 8:29before, it's kind of accepting moving past it, feeling it, and
- 8:34then letting it go and So is as someone who meditates myself.
- 8:40I got that and I thought it was great that this nine hundred
- 8:44year old being, which they even State a nine hundred year old
- 8:49Jedi Master, Had to, you know, acknowledge all of this.
- 8:55And I thought it was great. A lot of things went bad.
- 8:58Yeah, leading up to his time and Dagobah.
- 9:03Well, yeah, I also, I wrote down a line from that section 2 where
- 9:07he was describing that. Now, he needs his Cane for real,
- 9:11because he's, oh, yes. And he says, his fighting form
- 9:14long behind him, replaced with even greater, Inner Strength,
- 9:18Enlightenment and acceptance. And I just saw how beautiful
- 9:22That is and something that each person could like, I personally
- 9:27strive for that, it's hard to accept yourself.
- 9:31Accept your mistakes and voted for Yoda To Be Heaven except 900
- 9:36years worth of stuff. Seriously, I would taste that
- 9:39would take some time. Yeah, I would, I would I would I
- 9:42don't know how much how I guess, only 20, some years or 19.
- 9:48How old is Luke 19. His 19, I think, buy a new hope.
- 9:54But this is a few years later, I always forget how many years
- 9:57because there's like, they also need Aid.
- 9:59Yeah, because they said that Obi-Wan had already Appeared as
- 10:03a ghost basically to Yoda by this point.
- 10:06So listen, Obi-Wan was like, I'm gonna give you a warning.
- 10:12He's coming. We gotta talk.
- 10:15We gotta talk. We're gonna question for you
- 10:18though. Wow.
- 10:19Do you think Yoda assumed that, when Obi-Wan came to him, that
- 10:24Yoda assumed he was talking about Leia.
- 10:25And now Luke, I wrote this down. Yoda relish the idea of helping
- 10:31lab, but this this was another Luke, the Brash, Luke The
- 10:35Reckless, Luke. The echo of his father's need to
- 10:38control. What?
- 10:38He could not understand. So that's the quote.
- 10:42Yes. He, he even says I love this
- 10:45because it's so fucking true. Potent and prophetic foreign yet
- 10:51familiar. A Skywalk that's literally how
- 10:57it went. It's not like that's perfect.
- 11:01That Could, That Could describe either Skywalker, twin honestly?
- 11:06Yes, yes, but I don't have an answer for you.
- 11:11I think I think Yoda's bias is showing Yeah, he was hoping or
- 11:19is it the writers bias? Or is it the imagination may be
- 11:22pulling from both. Perhaps Yoda thought Leia would
- 11:25be the easier one to teach and he was hoping give me the girl,
- 11:30maybe she's like Padme, she won't be an ass.
- 11:33Like Anakin was, you know? And who shows up the boy when I
- 11:41wondered like the Kenobi series? Obviously.
- 11:45Didn't exist yet but maybe this script existed and they were
- 11:48kind of pulling from that. I don't really know.
- 11:51I thought this was written in like 2019, but I thought it was
- 11:57that really like stopped me in my tracks that Yoda assumed
- 12:01Leia. And not Luke, even though
- 12:03Obi-Wan is the one who came to him.
- 12:05Hmm. And Yoda new ob1 was taking care
- 12:08of Luke and Bale had Laius, I don't know.
- 12:11Yeah I Yoda would assume I think you're right.
- 12:14I think his Don't know, as even though this whole story was very
- 12:18beautiful and spiritual with Yoda, I really think it showed
- 12:22that he already had a predetermined bias against Luke.
- 12:26Hmm. So the beautiful part is, this
- 12:30is called the first lesson and Yoda says hmmm.
- 12:32Most amusing this first lesson shall be, but I think it was a
- 12:35lesson to Yoda. Yeah, as well as to Luke, it's
- 12:39Luke's first lesson, right? But it's Yoda's first.
- 12:43Yeah, I think so too. To a whole new page, a whole new
- 12:46chapter Changing of the Guard, you know.
- 12:49All the things and Yoda already had to put himself in check.
- 12:55Yeah, because he had assumptions about Luke that were
- 12:57immediately. I thought it was very
- 13:00interesting that revealed in this story Yoda pops out of
- 13:04nowhere just to see how Luke would handle the unexpected.
- 13:08Yeah, a test and then he finds out.
- 13:10Oh he's not predisposed to violence.
- 13:14And I'm like, oh, where do you know?
- 13:17I was like, okay, because I guess Anakin what a punched him
- 13:20in the face. Well, but I know he'd at least
- 13:23fraud that brow, but Luke was just like, he sensed him coming
- 13:31and then questioned out of safety and then lowered the
- 13:33Blaster, you know? So that was like Yoda's first,
- 13:36like let's see what he's got. What I'm dealing with.
- 13:38I thought that was interesting. I did too, I love that.
- 13:41And I actually wrote a list of all the the Descriptors that
- 13:45Yoda used for Luke. Okay.
- 13:47And they're also - the started by saying he was sensing
- 13:52something in the force, a jagged uneven thing with a strange
- 13:56gravity of its own that Drew in tiny Motes of fear and anger
- 14:00disturbing the stream like a flash of Darkness that Disturbed
- 14:05the force. Yeah, but was that Yoda's fear?
- 14:07That it was an incarnate of Anakin himself or is this the
- 14:11fear? He felt in Luke in, like, the
- 14:13trepidation Going to find a Jedi master.
- 14:17See, I think he was describing Luke because it first Yoda was
- 14:20like, is this my own fear? And they said, no, it's an
- 14:23external thing that I'm feeling. So he was feeling Luke's fear
- 14:28and his own anger, and then they described him as potent.
- 14:32And prophetic Brash Reckless the echo of his father like you said
- 14:37courageous, but foolhardy Resolute.
- 14:40But woefully unprepared Discord, unsettling the Stream.
- 14:44Mmmmm, then he said, repetition and small-mindedness.
- 14:50It's a little harsh, it's harsh. Dude.
- 14:52I was like the fuck. You could say, up farm boy, who
- 14:57hasn't left his house or planet in x amount of years could be
- 15:00small-minded, but sure, I don't, I think that It's just like,
- 15:10come on, give them more credit than that.
- 15:12I mean, he made it this far and he said, he said with the and
- 15:17the writer or the reader did such a great job with his
- 15:20inflection on this line, where he said that he was less than a
- 15:23Padawan despite his age and it's like true.
- 15:26But also who's to blame for this truth?
- 15:30Truth like he was a boy sent without choice to live in this
- 15:35place raised by His uncle and Uncle, you know, cranky been
- 15:41hermit, and he didn't have any choice in the matter.
- 15:45He's I think he's doing pretty well considering he grew up in
- 15:48isolation. He actually is very open-minded
- 15:52and accepting and kind to the unknown, which I think Yoda's
- 15:57not giving him credit. He's just as Yoda has these
- 16:01predispositions about Luke. You know, I like that they show
- 16:04that Luke also has his own assumptions about what he's To
- 16:07find in Yoda. So it's true.
- 16:09I think this story is interesting because While we're
- 16:13seeing it from Yoda's point of view, it's also a mirror of Yoda
- 16:17reflected back very much. And, and it's interesting
- 16:21because it kind of puts them on more of a Level Playing Field
- 16:24than they realize that, you know, Yoda is having these
- 16:28assumptions same as Luke. They're both wrong.
- 16:33Yeah. In a way.
- 16:35And so, I don't know, it gives such depth to the scene that
- 16:40seems kind of like a little bit light-hearted.
- 16:43He's you know artuz there and actually he saw R2D2.
- 16:46He said of course Luke had Anakin's oldroyd with him quote
- 16:50such cycles of Fate. Yes and I thought I laughed out
- 16:54loud. What I heard that I was like oh
- 16:55yeah course Yoda even knows our Sue teaching.
- 16:59Yes. And and another quote that I
- 17:04wrote down was and this is to piggyback off of your prior
- 17:09statements Luke's form had yet to be set in one mold or Another
- 17:13his glory or downfall was yet to be defined and I think that's
- 17:16what changes Yoda's. Kind of bias a little bit.
- 17:21Here was still a moldable subject.
- 17:24Yeah. Anakin came to the Jedi Council
- 17:28with so many things already stacked against him.
- 17:30He was too old. He was a slave, he was this and
- 17:33that, you know, all these things and he had an attitude.
- 17:39So like Sure, I'm gonna give Yoda a little bit of a break
- 17:44here in like, oh, that's a lot to handle.
- 17:49I don't know if I can do another one of these Skywalker's I
- 17:52should have got the girl but like then he realizes right
- 17:54away. Like all looks a little
- 17:55different. I'm working with something
- 17:56different. Here, I can do this.
- 17:58Yeah, I liken to think of how he's being seen here and then
- 18:02compare him to how he becomes in Return of the Jedi, you know,
- 18:05it's like yeah. And and to find a teacher who
- 18:10Already has a bias against you and still be open enough to take
- 18:14his lessons except what he's teaching you and I think that's
- 18:18really truthful because how much of us when someone is like
- 18:21criticizing us even if they're right would put up a wall or
- 18:24like just like, fuck you, we're not going to listen.
- 18:26And then later when you're by yourself the lesson permeates
- 18:30and it gets through to you and you do accept it and like take
- 18:33it to heart and I think that's more like what Luke would be,
- 18:39you know, you know. Cuz he leaves during Empire
- 18:41Strikes Back and he goes to rescue his friends, but that
- 18:44doesn't mean that Yoda's lessons aren't permeating, you know.
- 18:48Right, right. Yeah.
- 18:50So I think I think he's, I just, it makes me love Luke even more
- 18:55because he is like a real person who is carrying this burden
- 19:02without asking and, and does it honestly with a lot of Grace.
- 19:07I think, considering that sounds like Obi-Wan.
- 19:10To me it, you're right, he's a product Luke is a product of all
- 19:17kinds of hands in the pot there but they're all good hands like
- 19:20and and I can't help but think I know we have our qualms with the
- 19:24Last Jedi but Liotta reappears to Luke.
- 19:27Hmm you know and I think that's wonderful.
- 19:31He never stops being his master. Yeah.
- 19:37And I also still love that Luke goes.
- 19:39Hey, just like 20 year old with Attitude.
- 19:46Yeah, like that's never changed. Well, the, the quote, that I
- 19:51ended with my notes said, could he bring balance to the force
- 19:56Yoda would try to show him away toward the light?
- 19:58No, he would not try. There is no try.
- 20:02Whoa, I'm so good. I like that.
- 20:07Great. Yeah, it was a really well
- 20:09bookended piece. I really liked it.
- 20:12I thought it was really really good. so our next story, Is
- 20:19about Vader. Kind of, it's actually quite
- 20:24sad, but there's a lot. This is the one by Beth Revis.
- 20:30It's called. What is it the last time?
- 20:33What's the full? What's the full title for the
- 20:35last time for the last time? Yes.
- 20:37Yeah. So this story is actually about
- 20:40P it which when he becomes Admiral?
- 20:45Yeah. Because great.
- 20:48Yeah. The other one.
- 20:50Got choked out. Yeah.
- 20:52Bye-bye Admiral ozzel. They talk about it but I had I
- 20:59really This one is totally different from the one we just
- 21:02talked about. Yeah, but I have so many things
- 21:05written down for this one. I do too.
- 21:10This was even it's a different writing style.
- 21:14It was it has a different tone. It's much darker, it's very
- 21:19dark. The thing I like to about it is
- 21:22it takes a regular idea that most people have and shows that
- 21:27P. It has the opposite idea and
- 21:29that's why he's successful. Yeah.
- 21:31Because I don't like it, but I love it.
- 21:37Well, I did most people that. The like root of this story is
- 21:42the idea of using fear, right? And so most people, and this is
- 21:47how I would probably describe Vader.
- 21:48Even is like, if you have a lack of fear, you have power, right?
- 21:53If you have control over your fear and like, who is Vader
- 21:57going to fear, except the Empire or the the emperor specifically,
- 22:01correct, right. But piates idea, is that fear,
- 22:05is what makes him strong and like yes, gives him power and
- 22:09insight. Because he's afraid all the time
- 22:12which I think is so interesting. It's wild.
- 22:16It's it really describes like tyranny as a whole.
- 22:21Yeah. Yeah.
- 22:22And it's they see in the story, there are two types of men just
- 22:26there. As there are two types of power.
- 22:28People are ruled either by fear or by a false sense of security
- 22:32men who took their power knew how to make a fist, those who
- 22:36lived in fear or strong and the element And symbolism of a fist
- 22:42through this whole story. Just kept going and going.
- 22:46And I fucking loved it. Me too.
- 22:50I wrote that line down to it's so good and and like that it's
- 22:54referencing back to Tarkin that like piett lived.
- 22:56This by watching Tarkin, which makes me think, yeah, Tarkin is
- 22:59an ass. So yeah, yeah, I would have
- 23:01learned that two from him, right?
- 23:04Well and it made me think of chronic in a way through true
- 23:08because they're like, people marching Around like they own.
- 23:12The place are the ones who are actually week.
- 23:15Yeah. Ones who know that they have
- 23:17power. I have a totally different
- 23:20attitude all together. It's so interesting.
- 23:23I love it. They say that.
- 23:25This is a line. It says, pray has the luxury of
- 23:29ignorance. A hunter knows the terror of
- 23:33starvation though if the prey was not killed.
- 23:36So who really Has the I just, this is so good and the fact
- 23:42that he likes this, I know, right?
- 23:47He thrives in this he belongs in the Empire, right?
- 23:52Like, that's what he's one of the ones who makes it like, all
- 23:54the way to the end. You doesn't get killed.
- 23:56And it's crazy because By looking at him.
- 24:01He's always the one who's kind of like he does his job but he's
- 24:04always kind of like kind of very nervous about is doing.
- 24:07Now we know why he's made himself that way.
- 24:12Yes so there was also this line that I just fucking loved
- 24:18Admiral ozzel had walked across the bridge of the executor is if
- 24:21it were his right. But Lord, Vader's Strode over
- 24:24the black enamel as though he would burn it from the sky.
- 24:27Before he let anyone take it. It from him.
- 24:30Amen. Bitch this just reminds me of
- 24:36this is a really weird reference but go with me.
- 24:39The Russians during the War of 1812, against Napoleon Napoleon,
- 24:44invades Russia, and Russians burn Moscow to the ground, so
- 24:49that the French can't take it. And I'm like, this is Vader.
- 24:55Checks out Yoda ID. Of that you would rather destroy
- 25:02thing. Then let someone take it from
- 25:04you that kind of power that kind of like fixation is so
- 25:09interesting to me, I love it. Well II was picturing that
- 25:14walkway. The shiny black.
- 25:17His boots that came fluttering with the fan, the Beyonce fan
- 25:21from somewhere. And then all of these
- 25:24unsuspecting ladder climbers trying to get to where Vader is.
- 25:29You know, to be with it. A I think it's even said in
- 25:32there that something about trying to get to the emperor
- 25:35being as hired getting to a rank.
- 25:38Like yeah, you'll never get there because you don't have
- 25:41that ruthlessness. Well then, by the end P, it
- 25:44almost says, if it takes what Vader indoors to be of them for
- 25:50said, maybe, he doesn't really want that.
- 25:53Yeah, no, let's get into that. Because this whole thing I was I
- 25:56was typing as fast as I could on my document, pausing rewinding.
- 25:59Winding pausing rewinding, because, yeah, here's another
- 26:02quote, everything. Piete had.
- 26:05He had taken, he suspected the same as Vader.
- 26:10Like that Vader also did but here's what I wrote down.
- 26:15I think that's an interesting and very incorrect thought
- 26:18because everything Anakin had was taken from him by the
- 26:23emperor interesting. You're right.
- 26:27So in fact Vader hasn't taken anything Vader has had
- 26:31everything taken from him. And now he's taking because he's
- 26:36got nothing left. He lives in that anger that the
- 26:39emperor. Yeah, basically forced him into.
- 26:43I mean, I'm not saying that Anakin is, is it is it isn't
- 26:49here. He made every choice he made,
- 26:52you know, brainwashed or not. But the influence was he had
- 26:55everything taken, every single fucking thing, down to his legs,
- 26:59taken from him, and he thought people owed him for it, you
- 27:02know. Obi-Wan told him though, Whole
- 27:04galaxy. Fuck the Jedi.
- 27:05All this anger you know that is like a classic form of abuse
- 27:11that you? Yes.
- 27:12Empty a person. You empty them like a vessel,
- 27:15and then you offer them a way to fill themselves back up.
- 27:18So you that person thinks that they're getting the thing they
- 27:23want, but what they don't realize is, by this point,
- 27:25they're so abused by the other. Yes, Turtle force that they
- 27:28don't realize. That's the person who took
- 27:30everything from them. It's so interesting as so,
- 27:34Brilliant. And I loved I loved the
- 27:37description of what piatt saw evaders body.
- 27:44It's the scene where he goes in to give a report to Vader and
- 27:47he's sitting in his meditation chamber.
- 27:49And piatt sees Vader's skull before his helmet comes on.
- 27:53That's what this whole scene is about.
- 27:56And that, that was so well written.
- 27:58It was so well written, and it made me squirm and everyone
- 28:02knows what that scene looks. Looks like yes, mmm, the
- 28:08description of Vader's neck and his head was awful like, that
- 28:12was yeah, it was so good. I mean it, I mean, awful in the
- 28:16way that it was, it painted such a vivid picture.
- 28:20That was, yes, we know how gruesome it is.
- 28:22I should say, the word, gruesome, not awful, because
- 28:24it's excellent writing. It's just, it's terrible to
- 28:28imagine and hear it, you know, Beneath The Mask, he had known
- 28:32Vader was a human but he did. No, just how broken of a human.
- 28:37Yes. Oh, it's so good.
- 28:39It's so good. I have the whole like descriptor
- 28:43written down. If I if you want me to read this
- 28:45do it do it. Let's let's give the give me the
- 28:48chills to everybody because I relive it.
- 28:49Let's do it. Okay, it is it is gruesome but
- 28:53it's so fucking well written. It's just the shiny black helmet
- 28:57to send it over. Lord Vader's head or what
- 28:59remained of it raw wrinkled skin with was streaked with veins and
- 29:05painful looking. Well it's a tall neckpiece
- 29:08seemed to do the work of Lord. Vader's spine supporting the
- 29:12bulbous mass of Flesh stretched over the patchwork skull whole
- 29:17fucking so good. So horrifying, it's so terrible
- 29:24more than a dozen Electro. Bolts screwed into the neck
- 29:27piece, connecting to Lord Vader's nerves.
- 29:32Can we just take a second? This used to be the hero with no
- 29:36fear. Yeah, that what a fucking said
- 29:40and in fact I have the quote, a Walking Corpse he thought.
- 29:45Yes, that white skin. I don't want it more.
- 29:49This is this is gruesome but like I never thought of it's so
- 29:55obvious that I didn't even think of it that Vader is a Walking
- 30:00Corpse and not just physically but internally there was nothing
- 30:07left. Left of the person that used to
- 30:09be that human. Yes.
- 30:13So, which is why that's Dean has so much gravity and Kenobi
- 30:16because if you've watched the Clone Wars, you know, it's like
- 30:19yes, the prequels were great but Clone Wars was seven seasons of
- 30:23giving us Anakin, they selfless hero and then to see it in the
- 30:29Kenobi Series where he says, I killed Anakin Skywalker.
- 30:32Like I didn't want to be that person anymore and now to hear
- 30:36this description of him It's just like yeah, the whole Arc of
- 30:39this character is just the word is gruesome everything about it,
- 30:43it's heartbreaking. There's a question that.
- 30:49Piete poses just gonna say, oh yeah, yes, we're on the same
- 30:55page with this 100%. This is the question.
- 30:59I have wondered in some form or another and it was made vocal in
- 31:04this. Quote, what makes a man choose
- 31:08this over death? Why would Vader choose such
- 31:13pain? Yeah, I mean this is a split
- 31:17second you know, if you've walked in and saw this private
- 31:20moment you knew you weren't supposed to see it and it's this
- 31:22gruesome and you think what the fuck would make someone go on
- 31:26after? I mean, why why yeah, what makes
- 31:29a man choose this? Yeah.
- 31:34Did Vader actually choose it. He was known to have tried to
- 31:38commit suicide. But really suit prevented him.
- 31:43I know I've read that somewhere comic behind-the-scene
- 31:47something. I be so interested to see this
- 31:51he tried and Palpatine just stopped it every single time
- 31:56like he could try and electrocute himself but he
- 31:59couldn't because there is a backup safety to a suit and
- 32:02like, you know, it's just like at any moment you think you just
- 32:06take the helmet off, bro, you know that?
- 32:08But right Palpatine was always. Are so he was a fucking
- 32:14prisoner. Yeah, he was a fucking slave
- 32:19since day one. I mean, it's, it's like, did he
- 32:22choose this? I want to, I want to backhand
- 32:25Pia. And be like, he didn't choose it
- 32:27bitch. But he did in a way because he
- 32:30made the ultimate choice that factored into all of this.
- 32:33But God. Yeah, I mean it makes you wonder
- 32:37like, why he doesn't screw away. Just some edge of the Galaxy
- 32:41were held petite and doesn't find him, you know, he got heat,
- 32:44not possible. Yeah, and I'm that's what I'm
- 32:47like. So, excited to write my third
- 32:50part of my dark OB when series because it's like where do you
- 32:53go to hide? Once you are part of Palpatine's
- 32:57net. You know, you can't get out of
- 32:59it. Now, if Palpatine has a need for
- 33:02you, he's going to use you. He'll find you.
- 33:04He will see. Stain you.
- 33:06Yeah, Beyond Death. He will he will force you to be
- 33:09alive whether you want to die or not because he's got, he's got a
- 33:12use for you, he's fucking crazy. Every time we talk about
- 33:18Palpatine, I want to just say, well, the thing that this whole
- 33:26seed culminates in is for a flesh of time, P it sees Vader
- 33:33as a man, which is never Done before and it makes him pity
- 33:38Vader. Yes.
- 33:39And I love this line where it says it was not courage that
- 33:44destroyed fear, it was pity. Yes, yes.
- 33:49So good. And he felt pity looking at
- 33:52Vader and thus he no longer felt.
- 33:55He no longer feared him and to pee at that was the ultimate
- 33:59Nono. Yeah, he had to shelve it to
- 34:04feel the fear PA. Could no longer.
- 34:06Imagine him as a man. He killed it and chose to feel
- 34:09fear and know him only as the mask and the Black Fist.
- 34:12So, there's that guy's symbol of the physique.
- 34:14And of course, when you think of Vader Force choking someone,
- 34:17it's the fist gives an even in that moment.
- 34:19He glances down evaders hands to see what they're doing.
- 34:23Yeah, and they're just laying on the arms of his chair open and
- 34:28then Vader says you have failed me for the last time and PS.
- 34:32Like, oh there's the fear. It's come back.
- 34:34There it is. It's like Vader doesn't have to
- 34:37do anything because he knows how I mean he's killed people from
- 34:42other ships with his mind. You know, fuck.
- 34:45It's like haha, that is. I'm sorry, but I thought is so
- 34:49cool. That's my boy and a kid waiting.
- 34:54Use your gift is not squandering his gifts at all.
- 35:00No way to use that Talent. Every day and every day in
- 35:07conference rooms with Tarkin and he's always just gonna bring out
- 35:13the force choke whenever I get it.
- 35:15I'm here for it. He's live anyway.
- 35:18No it's not. He's a prisoner.
- 35:20He literally looks like a Walking Corpse.
- 35:22He's not living as best life P. It is according to him.
- 35:27Yeah. Sniveling little terrified P.
- 35:30It is in his prime. Do you think that that credit
- 35:33you Brought up. Chronic do you think that
- 35:35chronic had the same thought about Vader?
- 35:39Do you think if, like, there is a moment in the Rogue one
- 35:45novelization, where he's at, Lord Vader's Castle, it's that
- 35:49scene, where they meet and he also for a moment.
- 35:54Thanks the Vader as just a man. And he's like, yeah, some man,
- 35:58then I can start to manipulate him and take tarkan's place
- 36:02because birkenhead the His ear and chronic wanted that.
- 36:06And that also what's chronics downfall.
- 36:10Now he was doing what piette said where he's trying to take
- 36:14power but he was he just didn't understand who had the real
- 36:20power in these situations. He was like two steps behind
- 36:24even though he thought he was on par with everyone, he was just
- 36:27yes slightly behind. Yes, well to wrap this up.
- 36:33The very, very last quote is very interesting.
- 36:38Hmm. So in referring to both, you
- 36:43know, seeing Vader and all this, he had seen past the mask and
- 36:48that had cracked his own meaning.
- 36:53Yeah yet. Yeah.
- 36:55And so everybody in the Empire is wearing a little bit of a
- 36:59mask Yes, that's what I wrote is like that.
- 37:04This whole like switching this idea around of like having fear
- 37:10be the thing that gives you strength shows.
- 37:12How fucked up the Empire is? Yeah yeah right yeah.
- 37:19I keep thinking about nemec's nemec's Manifesto and how he was
- 37:23saying that that kind of power is and control is unnatural.
- 37:28That's a good reference like the Empire has to do with these
- 37:32crazy things to kind of keep the control because it's not a
- 37:35normal state to live in and it just shows how everyone who's in
- 37:41the Empire especially officers have to be like different kinds
- 37:45of humans than, you know, like a I don't want to say normal, but
- 37:50like an eye on sociopathic. Yes.
- 37:55I don't wanna use labels incorrectly, more.
- 37:57That like, you have to function in a way that is very toxic to
- 38:02survive and do well in the Empire.
- 38:05And, you know, Deidre is another great example of that.
- 38:09I know I was just thinking of her.
- 38:10Yeah, I was just thinking of her.
- 38:12It's like, you're kind of rooting for her, but then you're
- 38:14like, she's kind of fucked up. Yeah, yeah.
- 38:17I mean, she's Another ladder climber.
- 38:20Yeah, you know and I'm excited to see what happens with her.
- 38:24Oh, I know context of this kind of story.
- 38:27It's like if she could to be the person who takes the power or
- 38:30she going to be the kind of person who thinks she's got
- 38:33power and gets eaten up by the system.
- 38:35I it could go either way, it really could.
- 38:38I mean I don't there's only two that sit at the top in the
- 38:43Empire and it's Vader and Palpatine honestly.
- 38:48Everyone else is just a pain. Yeah.
- 38:52Actually Vader's also upon. Yeah.
- 38:56Yeah. Well, it's very reminiscent of
- 38:58like Henry. The 8th was exactly the same
- 39:01way. Hitler was the same way.
- 39:03Oh for sure. Yes like Vader is Himmler, the
- 39:09emperor's Hitler. You know, it's like they're very
- 39:12similar in that sense and there is no safety.
- 39:16The only person who knows What's going on is the Emperor, really
- 39:21and we've talked about that he's in a back room with a cigarette
- 39:25point at all the different things mapping it out with
- 39:27string was a cork board. Yeah, he said it goes, these
- 39:31people go over here and this ties into this, this eventually
- 39:34leads to Ray I promise. But all of this, you know,
- 39:37fucking crazy shit and telling you it's all analog.
- 39:41It's all paper because it doesn't want anyone to hack it.
- 39:44So it's different. Pictures.
- 39:51He has a doctor's signature because nobody could read it.
- 39:56You no offense to the doctors out there.
- 39:58You know what I'm saying? Like, that's why he writes it
- 40:01all down. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 40:03I'll fucking Palpatine. So, those were enjoyable
- 40:08stories. Once again?
- 40:10Yes, highly recommend them. If you're, if you don't want to
- 40:12read the whole thing, these short stories are worth it.
- 40:16And the last two that we did, I can't remember.
- 40:18Our episode number was that we did it was a while back.
- 40:21I would say like maybe in the 70s episode 70.
- 40:25Maybe. So it was Episode 34, which
- 40:29seems like, such a long time ago.
- 40:31Wow, that is crazy. That's a long time ago.
- 40:35So if you get a chance, go back to Episode 34.
- 40:38If you haven't listened to it already.
- 40:39And here, those short stories, as well, as these ones in this
- 40:43episode, and we will continue the journey through.
- 40:45Yes, these short stories because Is there if they're all this
- 40:49good shit will be here, will be here a while we will have been
- 40:53quite a lot. So our question to you this week
- 41:01is very simply if you have read these stories or listen to them
- 41:06in that format, let us know your thoughts on these two.
- 41:11What your favorite favorite moments were?
- 41:13If you were as horrified by the To Vader spine.
- 41:19As we were if you were as as mad at Yoda for being a little
- 41:23small-minded about Luke, as we were, I was just give us your
- 41:26thought. And next week I'm excited we're
- 41:33diving into some more and or if you didn't know, I'm a bit
- 41:36obsessed and we and you're very good to tolerate by constant
- 41:39talking about and oh, wow, I had no idea you were obsessed.
- 41:42This is news to me really. I'm just kidding.
- 41:45No, you a few of the fire you gave me my shirt here.
- 41:49Look, here's the fan. Here's the fan to your fire.
- 41:53It doesn't, it doesn't take much next week.
- 41:58We're going to talk about our favorite.
- 42:00Everett some of our favorite and or quotes there are a lot.
- 42:05So we're going to narrow it down to three each.
- 42:07This will probably be something we can revisit several times,
- 42:10but we are going to talk some and or next week's to join us
- 42:13back here. I can't wait.
- 42:16And thank you for so much for joining us here on the most
- 42:19things Kenobi podcast. We appreciate every single one
- 42:22of our patrons and are grateful for your support.
- 42:25If you would like to support the podcast and become a patron as
- 42:27well. Head over to the most things
- 42:29Kenobi patreon. And as always, you can follow us
- 42:32on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
- 42:34And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player.
- 42:37If you enjoy our podcast, feel free to write us on Spotify and
- 42:41or apple. And if you need just one place
- 42:44to find all of these things, head over to Things can OB.com.
- 42:49So until next time, my space win, May the force be with you
- 42:54always.