Heart of Shadow Update
Oct. 15th, 2019 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorAlright, so it's been like a year. But I finally updated! So I proudly present the latest chapter of my Palpatine redemption fic:
Rating: Teen
Chapter Name: Connections
Chapter Summary: Palpatine and Talzin discuss their current predicament. Plagueis tours the Jedi Archives.
(comment conversation continued--contains discussion of religion)
Date: 2019-10-18 03:43 am (UTC)At most I've flipped through the Book of the Sith in store, so while I picked up on I think a couple features of it, I'm not very familiar with it. I guess the conversation from one angle (and with a degree of naivete, in a certain sense) in light of Allya's comment reminds me of a Christian interpretation of first century BC Judaism, weirdly mixed with the Roman polytheism "caesar-as-god" context. And Star Wars is American so it makes sense that it has culturally Christian aspects aside from the vaguely ...Buddhist? "Eastern" :/ flavoring given to the Jedi.
But I'm especially not sure how to make sense of the Maul thing here
mumblemumble from an outward angle Christianity looks vaguely polytheistic in the trinity so (blasphemy?): the holy ghost? one (...is Jocasta the first apostle or does the not-pantheon expand?), nor entirely his take on Plagueis... Maybe it's all what they call "ineffable" in Good Omens? lolI'd be curious to hear thoughts on the takes of Plagueis and... Tenebrous here (not that the latter still lives).
(It also reminds me of what I'll call the pseudo-canonization (in a religious-but-not sense) of Communist leaders, but of course it does, because these are two themes I spend a fair amount of time thinking about.)
Re: (comment conversation continued--contains discussion of religion)
Date: 2019-10-18 08:39 pm (UTC)I'd like to comment on your historical references but I'm not necessarily well-versed in those particular ones. I will say that I tried to make my version of the Sith religion as distinct from real religions as I could because I prefer to have the connection between a fictional religion like that and reality to be a bit less specific and less direct (though I definitely do want there to be some relevant connection). I definitely find it helpful to know what you thought, though!
George Lucas is a Christian Buddhist, hence the references to those religions in his work. And while I don't see any issue with him having such beliefs as an American, I think that Lucas specifically is maybe not the most profound thinker in that area (or in general). I assume that the Jedi therefore reflect his own religious beliefs and interpretations in some way, though I'm not at all sure exactly what that way is. There's a lot of things that seem to be definite parallels to Christianity and Buddhism in Star Wars, but they also seem to be *very* simplified and in some respects... just very weird? I mean it's of course a fictionalized version but I think religion according to Star Wars is... really something else haha.
I haven't committed to precisely what Sidious has in mind for Maul yet, but I do have a few definite ideas in mind for what direction that could go. Re: what would happen if Jocasta ends up joining the Sith, I do suspect there may be an expanding set of Sith'ari in this story...
It really seemed very natural to me that Sidious would believe he was a god. This is also in line with what I've designated that the Sith religion conventionally teaches in my story. And Sidious takes on this role with great relish. We can see in the Darth Plagueis novel that he is uninterested in the Naboo monarchy or his position as a Naboo noble because neither of those strike him as powerful or grand enough. And I think it's clear from the movies that he greatly values... unlimited power.
Meanwhile Plagueis just doesn't find that very appealing. He adheres to Sith philosophy, but discards anything he views as mysticism. Which means no ghosts, no prophecies (he distinguishes between precognition, which he can verify the existence of, and prophecy, which he cannot), and no gods. So for him, the Sith'ari is simply an aspiration--the ideal Sith--which is what he believes himself to represent. Basically, he's a Sith atheist. Sidious of course decides that if Plagueis doesn't believe he's the god of the Sith, that must mean *Sidious* is. Meanwhile Plagueis is perfectly aware that Sidious believes this but doesn't really take much issue with it since he wants to abolish the whole part of Sith doctrine involving Apprentice feels envious of the power of the Master-->Apprentice kills Master.
I think Tenebrous was considerably more conventional as a Sith than Plagueis, but I don't think he would have had the same attitude about his position that Sidious does. I think he viewed being the Sith god as more of an obligation and responsibility and less as something he necessarily enjoyed. Like, being the Sith'ari was just his job. I see him as thinking of his actual job as a starship designer as more his hobby (along with activities like his speeder thefts, lol). And I think he genuinely liked all (three) of his apprentices and enjoyed teaching them.
Wow, I have so many thoughts on those three! I definitely plan to do some detailed flashback scenes for Plagueis so I'll get to show Tenebrous and Plagueis's mother Fala some more. And of course there will be a lot of Sidious and Plagueis since they are both main charaters in the story. I definitely do want to go more in-depth on their various beliefs as I continue the story.