This 100x

I love Peggy Sue and time-travel fics, as long as they're going to go back in time and actually do something. You have all these advantages but for some reason you want to go back to how things were the first time around? Why would you do that?

 

I dunno, I mean does he really have much choice? Wen sent back, if he openly goes against the empire he'll probably be killed very quickly. And he's dependant on palpatene for his machine body isn't he? I can see him going back and trying to subvert pal patines rule, but openly going against him? Especially when he does seem to believe in the idea of the empire seems unlikely without great justification to me.

 

Because Palpatine is the only being in the galaxy that can maintain his cyborg body...

If you take Vader who has just redeemed himself, killing his Master to save his son in the full knowledge that his children are going to go on to restore the Republic, he isn't going to become Palpatine's yes man if he were given the chance to do it all again. Bitches are gonna get stomped.

 

It seems blank101 is back, and he's just posted the first chapter of Empire's Son II.

 

So Alternatehistory.com gets a lot of flack here because the emphasis is on the plot, occasionally, perhaps even usually at the expense of style. That being said, The Empire that Works is a fun little read, written as a history. It requires an account to read though.

Something that doesn't require an account is a one shot by obaona who has a story in the Star Wars library, Against Gravity. It's a little imperial Luke AU which could be to taste if the one chapter of Empire's Son II got your appetite for Star Wars going.

 

On the topic of Palpatine, was Palpatine ever a 'real' Sith in the Baneite sense? I got the sense that masters per the Rule of Two did their best to see to it that their apprentices became truly strong enough to challenge them. And apprentices like Zannah would even aid their masters in a moment of weakness because they felt they hadn't learned all they could from their master.

But, Palpatine seemed more interested in having a rotating collection of pawns -- between Maul, Dooku, Vader, Luke, probably Leia later, as well as his Hands -- and had no intention of ever allowing for circumstances in which he could be overcome. So, Palpatine was more emperor than Sith maybe.

For example, in that Darksaber novel, Palpatine had some kind of consciousness transfer technique he used to punish Bevel Lemelisk, the architect of the Death Star. He would have Lemelisk's original body devoured while his consciousness was uploaded to a clone upon death. Palpatine probably could have setup a clone body for Vader so he'd have functioning lungs and limbs again. (And so Vader could actually use Force lightning and be more physically fit) So, it was arguably within Palpatine's power to actually make Vader as formidable as he was pre-Mustafar, but he decided not to, long before he even knew about Luke's potential.

 

You could argue that he was the fufillment of the Baneite Sith. The Rule of Two was made to prevent the fratricidal infighting that made the Jedi stronger as a whole. The rule wasn't philosophically needed, it was just a necessity so that the Sith order wouldn't destroy itself. If Bane managed to kill all the Jedi he'd probably act much the same way as Palpatine. As soon as external threats to the Sith were eliminated Palpatine reverted to the pre-Rusaan type, hoarding power and knowledge.

 

Awesome, reread Empire's son 2 weeks ago. Been waiting for this for years.

 

Plagueis was drunk and passed out from celebrating and listening to Palpatine's boring acceptance speech rehearsals. (three times as bad)

Cloning a Force user: They give the impression in 'old canon' that a Force sensitive spirit is the deciding factor in making sure the process works. Set Harth did the same thing a thousand years earlier, supposedly to much better effect than Palpatine. There isn't much literature to back it up though, just a blurb in a resource book, and his plans to do it in Dynasty of Evil.

 

There's also the Force Unleashed games

 

Yeah... Battlefront: Elite Squadrons as well (X1 and X2 were force user clones, I believe). The early games introduced all sorts of stuff that doesn't mesh well with the old canon; inconsistencies all over the place. I never understood why they included it with canon (barring the story lines I mean).

And we've drifted off topic.

 

Must we get back on topic? Whenever someone mentions TFU I go to my SW happy place...

 

So in a Cracked.com video the After Hours gang made the point that Vader, being an ex-slave and mostly robot himself, should have advocated for downtrodden droids and started the robot revolution. I'm partial to the idea myself and wondered if anyone had a line on a fic in that vein?

 

Ten bucks says Ludo was an edge lord.

 

imo, most of those designs don't look comfortable to hold at all.

 

Firstly: I haven't seen one.

Secondly...it'd probably be shit.

Honestly, the question of droid sentience/sapience is nowhere near as cut and dry as R2-D2/C3PO make you think, and is explored - with varying levels of effectiveness - in a few ex-EU novels. Presenting them as downtrodden is going too far as a simple premise. And saying that Vader "should" have done this is pretty flawed - do they think it makes sense for his character?

(It doesn't: Vader never identifies as robotic, and even loathes that side of him in some portrayals, freedom for the oppressed is not in any way a part of his core motivations at any stage in his life, even as a Jedi, and why would he go for the questionable case of droids before the obvious case of slavery, which the Empire promotes.)

Do they think it fits with the narrative? (Obviously not in the main, could be done in a EU but at that point everything falls down.)