Spoilers 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' series [Spoiler Discussion]
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Not sure what else to tell you. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they acknowledge that line from EPIV in some way.
It's always seemed to me like Vader's place in the Empire rose a bit between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, in ANH he seemed to be below most of the Moffs or at least Tarkin in the Imperial heirarchy, but then by ESB he seemed to second only to Emperor. It's a been a while since I read them, but I think we even saw some of this rise in the first Darth Vader comics.
That's what she reminded me of, I knew seemed kinda familiar, but I couldn't think what she reminded me of.
Does anyone else think she looks like one of those Mickey/Miney Mouse ear hats when those little flaps are up?
Which makes a certain amount of sense if Vader had been a guarded secret or mostly covert operative. Prior to ANH, Palpatine was playing the optics. He left the Senate in place, and essentially tried to claim the Empire was the logical evolution of the Republic in terms of protecting safety and security. He probably wasn't advertising his Sith alignment publicly. Nobody was supposed to realize they'd been reconquered by the Sith Empire.
After ANH, Palpatine had disbanded the Senate and the Rebellion had grown to the point of open Civil War. There was no longer any point in hiding. So Vader can take a public and significant role within the Empire. He can formally take a place in the chain of command, and finally exercise his authority as Palpatine's right hand.
If only Maul had showed up on Tatooine a decade earlier.
Kenobi: Hold on Maul, if we're going to do this, I need to dig my lightsaber out of the sand.
Maul:
The EP IV duel we should have got, although I don't think Sir Alec would have been up to the task back in the day.
I think he’s regarded as an upstart in ANH, but it’s clear that though he might technically be outranked by the Moffs, they actually have no way to control him. That’s why he can force-strangle an officer in a board meeting whilst everyone just looks on. Only Tarkin seems to have any authority over him at all.
I suppose come TESB then a lot of people of importance had already gone up with the first Death Star, including Tarkin, which left an open path for Vader to come into power?
So, earlier in this thread (or maybe the other one, I can't remember) I was arguing that Reva was too old to be one of the younglings from the Order 66 opening. I have to say, I'm coming around on that.
I rewatched the first episode tonight, and the very first character who comes into view as the camera pulls back from the Coruscant skyline is a young, black girl. Who is dressed in darker color robes than all the other younglings, and thus stands out.
Yeah, I now include myself among those who suspect that's going to end up being Reva when all is said and done.
I rewatched the first episode tonight, and the very first character who comes into view as the camera pulls back from the Coruscant skyline is a young, black girl. Who is dressed in darker color robes than all the other younglings, and thus stands out.
Yeah, I now include myself among those who suspect that's going to end up being Reva when all is said and done.
Actor ages aren't a good indication of character age in Star Wars. Both Cassian and Jyn of Rogue One were cast 10 years too old. It's going to be even more noticeable in Cassian's new show.
Something I noticed while watching the two episodes. We got quite a bit of insight into what everyday lives look for many different people.
Some of them struggling a lot.
But did people really feel the impact of living under the Empire‘s/Sith rule? Outside of the few remaining Jedi that is?
There really wasn’t much of an Empire presence anywhere.
Some of them struggling a lot.
But did people really feel the impact of living under the Empire‘s/Sith rule? Outside of the few remaining Jedi that is?
There really wasn’t much of an Empire presence anywhere.
Just because there isn't a Stormtrooper on every street corner it doesn't mean there isn't an Imperial presence everywhere. Presumably there's the Imperial equivalent of the Gestapo (some branch of the ISB?) and much like the Stasi you wonder how many citizens have files open on them, and how many citizens are working as informants (the figure of 1-60 East Germans is bandied about as working for the Stasi in some way shape or form).
The average citizen was probably fine so long as they;
The average citizen was probably fine so long as they;
- Didn't break the law
- Didn't rebel
- Didn't aid rebels or any other enemy of the state
- Didn't have something the Empire wanted
- Didn't say the wrong thing to the wrong people
- Were completely loyal and innocent but were branded as a traitor by an informant who wanted your husband/wife/job/pet cat, or who simply didn't like you because you were once rude to them.
Oh and I had another random thought which is probably completely off base but...
Do the Inquisitors have much day to day interaction with Vader? Do most of them have any interaction at all? I'm just wondering if the reason Reva is so obsessed with getting Obi Wan is because she knows he's the one Jedi whose capture would guarantee an audience with Lord Vader, and if she was one of those Padawans, then maybe there's some Arya Stark vengeance shit going on here and the Dark Lord of the Sith is top of her list?
Do the Inquisitors have much day to day interaction with Vader? Do most of them have any interaction at all? I'm just wondering if the reason Reva is so obsessed with getting Obi Wan is because she knows he's the one Jedi whose capture would guarantee an audience with Lord Vader, and if she was one of those Padawans, then maybe there's some Arya Stark vengeance shit going on here and the Dark Lord of the Sith is top of her list?
You’re probably right, I just noticed the complete lack of Empire infrastructure on all 3 planets that we saw.
I would have expected to be there in different shape or form.
Maybe the occasional „peacekeeping“ patrol of storm troopers on Tatooine, corrupt law enforcement officers on the city planet (didn’t catch the name) and political meddling/propaganda on Alderan (without anyone taking that seriously due to Organa‘s good standing and influence.)
Something along those lines
Yes and no. He's always been second only to the Emperor, but that doesn't mean he gets to do what he wants, it means he does what the Emperor tells him to. If Sidious orders him to go supervise the Death Star and defer to Tarkin for the most part, that's exactly what he does.
Honestly in AHN I suspect he's only there at all as a way for the Emperor to not-so-subtly remind Tarkin not to get any funny ideas about riding around in the ultimate weapon. Of course probably that's not what he told Vader he was there for, but he is manipulative like that.
Nope.
While an entertaining effort, that fight is entirely the wrong approach because it's not telling the right story (and a story is what a screen/stage fight is always supposed to be.) This isn't supposed to be some knockdown, drag-out between two savage badasses giving it their all.
The fight in ANH is meant to be restrained because on the one hand you have Ben, who is much older and wiser and a FAR more powerful Jedi than the one Vader faced on Mustafar (just ask Maul . . . oh, wait, you can't, he's dead!) Indeed as we saw in that Maul fight, with that level of mastery and skill comes an economy of movement; the blade is always and only where it needs to be, when it needs to be. Ben is also not in this fight to cut Vader down; that isn't his destiny. he's there to draw Vader's attention and focus on him for as long as he can so that the twins can escape.
For Vader's part he really, REALLY wants to win this time, so he's being extremely cagey. He underestimated Kenobi before, and that's what landed him in the lava pit, so he's determined to play the long game; making only slight probing attacks, defences all the way up, no big moves, wary of feints and counter-feints, wear him down until he's weakened, and wait for a clear opening before going in for the kill. Indeed all through the fight he actually thinks it's working; he's visibly excited by the time they make it to the hangar, then the old fool gets distracted by the rabble he came in with, puts up his sabre and leaving himself all but defenceless, so Vader sweeps in with the killing blow and . . . wait a minute, where did he go?!
Going by the trailer, I think we'll get a more comprehensive view of life under the Empire in the Andor show. But in short; places like Tatooine on the outer rim would hardly seem any different. To all intents and purposes the Republic didn't exist out there to begin with and so far the Empire would hardly bother with they either . . . yet.
For wealthy Imperial worlds like Alderaan (the ones not under corrupt rule) the people are also somewhat protected so long as the local government toes the line, pays it's Imperial taxes and meets it's responsibilities they'd be mostly left alone to govern as they see fit.
However where the rub comes is on worlds like Lothal; small planets with resources the Empire wants. As we saw in Rebels, those get garrisoned, and incrementally turned into strip-mined factory worlds with all the citizens working for the "Greater Glory of the Empire."
Somewhere in the middle are worlds like Vardos, that don't just toe the Imperial line, they embrace it, embody it. Are proud to have the Imperial flag flying literally everywhere, all the time. Those are the worlds where you'll find most of the Imperial academies, pretty much everyone drank the kool-aid. Life would seem to be great, the planet is clearly prospering, employment is 100%, no sighs of poverty or the homeless (who totally not suspiciously all vanished overnight) everyone is a happy smiling Imperial citizen . . . so long as they stay happy smiling citizens and don't say things they're not supposed to say, or do things they're not supposed to do, or think things they're not supposed to think, and not question why they're not allowed to do any of that, or indeed ask any questions at all, like "why were my neighbours bundled out of their domicile in the middle of the night" and "why does it feel like I'm being watched everywhere I go" and "why are the still using that same picture of the Emperor (long may he reign) for nearly 20 years now? I swear he used to look older than that . . ."
Basically watch THX-1138 and you'll see what the logical end-point is for the average citizen of the Empire: people reduced to machine components. A sterile mechanised civilization gone horribly wrong.
Well he trained them all, sometimes shows up when it's important, and his castle is on the next moon over from the one Fortress Inquisitorious is on. But day-today? Probably not much. They probably see more of Vaneé, or some other go-between bureaucrat than Vader, assuming they don't just get their assignments from a droid.
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IIRC, in some of the new novels and comics (well, "new" as in from 2015 onwards) its implied Vader and Tarkin have equal authority in the Empire, though Vader tends to defer to Tarkin since Palpatine feels Tarkin is someone Vader could learn from.
That was awful and sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the movie.
I actually prefer the lightsaber duels of the original trilogy to the over-the-top theatrics of the prequel trilogy.
If only Maul had showed up on Tatooine a decade earlier.
Kenobi: Hold on Maul, if we're going to do this, I need to dig my lightsaber out of the sand.
Maul:
Kenobi: (frustrated) "It was right here! I swear I put it in this exact spot!"
Maul: (points) "What about that spot over there?"
Kenobi: "No, I... wait, maybe you're right. Now that looks like the spot."
Maul: "That's the point! It's a freakin' desert, you giant ass! Everything looks like the spot!"
The preview clips were interesting, but once the whole thing came out, it was way too over-the-top. Initially, it looked like the idea was to only a go a bit further than the other OT movies, flirting with the PT style, but not the full Force-Unleashed wall-crushing madness as it turned out to be. Like, if it was just a bit more dynamic with the choreography, and the actors weren't moving like they were afraid they'd break their swords (which they were), that would've been much better.
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