Ideas for Star Wars X-XII

  So recently it was reported by Deadline that, rather than just one post-Rise of Skywalker film in the Star Wars franchise, we might actually get three, and they might collectively be branded as the next trilogy in the mainline saga, i.e. Episodes X, XI, and XII.

Mind you, other outlets have since followed up on this initial report, stating that Deadline’s claim of these new films being X-XII is inaccurate. A couple of other sources who have proven to be mostly-credible recently though say that Deadline is right on the money. For what it’s worth, Daisy Ridley herself liked a post on social media the other day referring to these new movies as specifically X-XII, so make of that what you will…

Whether or not Deadline’s scoop turns out to be accurate or not, since it dropped a few days ago, I couldn’t help but start thinking what I would do if I were tasked with crafting “Episodes X-XII” specifically. I’ve written before about how I would revisit characters like Rey in a post-Rise timeline, but never before with the notion of her future films actually being branded as “Episodes” of the main saga. That in itself carries a whole lot more weight to it…

As I’ve said before, however, lately I haven’t really been into Star Wars as much as I used to be. I’m not planning to watch Skeleton Crew or the second seasons of Andor and Ahsoka (at least not right away), and I’ve also decided to just wait for streaming for any movie going forward (unless I happen to be home for the holidays and family wants to go see something in theaters). I’ve got nothing better to do today, though, so I might as well write this…

And here… we… go!:

A new Skywalker heir

If this does end up getting branded as part of “the Skywalker saga,” but has Rey in a mentor role rather than as the protagonist again, then I think the new protagonist should either be someone Rey adopted at a young age, or a child she had biologically, who maybe decides to use the name “Skywalker” rather than whatever their father’s last name is. I’d be fine with a “long lost child” angle (i.e. Luke had a kid we never knew about until now or an offspring that was created artificially for evil reasons or something). Rey was almost gonna be a long lost Kenobi, after all. If they go the adoption route, the new lead hero could be someone who doesn’t like using the Skywalker name at first, due to all the baggage it carries, but then learns to embrace it. Or maybe they can flip the script and have it be a Skywalker who decides to take on a different name, for some other noble reason (or cause they’re pissed at Rey for being known as a Skywalker instead or something).

Alternatively, I’m also cool with the idea of these next movies being X-XII, but not necessarily part of the Skywalker saga. People forget now, but the main saga rebrands itself all the time. When the original trilogy was made, the whole thing was just known as “the Star Wars trilogy.” Then the prequel trilogy happened and the whole thing got rebranded as “the complete saga.” Then the sequel trilogy happened and the whole thing got rebranded again as “the Skywalker saga,” which also helped distinguish the main films from the spin-offs. We are probably heading for another rebrand. In the future, Episodes I-XII will probably just be called “the Star Wars Episodic Saga.”

Double down on the Rey Palpatine thing

I suppose another angle would be to do a Bloodline* scenario with Rey, where the galaxy finds out she’s actually related to Palpatine instead of Luke. Perhaps that would helps to make things feel more thematically connected to I-IX. Maybe the new villains want to use her DNA to try to resurrect Palpatine yet again, or maybe they wanna see if they can “possess” her so that his essence can come back through her. Just spitballing here…

*Bloodline is a recent book that takes place before The Force Awakens, and showcases the galaxy finding out that Leia is related to Vader, and how she learns to deal with this.

Plagueis

Regarding what I was saying earlier about them working the “Rey Palpatine” angle, they could also bring Palpatine’s master, Darth Plagueis, back from the dead. It’s implied that he also figured out how to cheat death, after all. Plus, Lucasfilm already introduced him in canon via The Acolyte. I could see his motive being to want to destroy “the last living descendant of Palpatine” as a form of revenge. Maybe he also learns that Rey decided to abandon the whole “Jedi are not allowed to have kids” rule, and therefore wants to prevent that bloodline from continuing, which leads to Rey’s true lineage being exposed publicly. Perhaps they could even establish that Palpatine stole the idea of “corrupting the republic into an empire from the inside out” from Plagueis, to tie things all the way back to Episode I a bit more.

Mortis

For those who don’t know, this is a “realm” introduced in The Clone Wars that serves as the home of three Force-sensitive entities: The Daughter (who represents light), The Son (who represents darkness), and The Father (who represents balance). The first season of Ahsoka seems to imply that Ahsoka, Baylan, and Anakin’s ghost are all slowly turning into the new versions of these deities, but we’ll see if the second season follows through with that. Either way, Lucasfilm almost incorporated Mortis into the plot of Episode IX, so this angle has clearly been on their minds already as is. Even if Mortis itself is never seen in live-action, I think future “mainline” movies will need to start bringing in “bigger” stuff like this. Or else, what’s even the point of continuing the so-called “saga”?

Use more previously-discarded ideas

Might as well, right? On the subject of “bigger” ideas, Lucas wanted the sequel trilogy to introduce the “creators” of The Force, whom he called The Whills (which some people also speculate might be the “Force Priestesses” whom Yoda met in The Clone Wars). I wouldn’t mind something like that. Maybe they could even do a Wonder Woman scenario where the heroes kill the “creator” of the dark side, but evil (the Sith, etc.) continues. Lucas apparently also wanted the new evil war faction to be a collective of pirates/ crime syndicates. I wouldn’t mind something like that either. He also wanted to bring back “weirder” worlds like Felucia (the planet with the big flowers briefly seen in Revenge of the Sith), etc. Again, why not? You could even pull from non-Lucas ideas that never made it passed the red tape before, like how Episode IX was originally gonna be a “post-apocalyptic” movie, of sorts, with inter-planetary comms across the galaxy being knocked out and stuff.

Use the prequel trilogy as a blueprint

Since VII-IX recycled a bunch of ideas from the original trilogy, this next batch of films might as well recycle some ideas from the prequels now. Maybe another clone wars? Maybe cloning has gotten advanced enough now that Force-sensitives can be cloned too? The old expanded universe novels toyed around with this idea. Make Rey fight a clone of herself, or a CGI Luke clone or something. Screw it! Go nuts! EDIT: Rather than echo the prequel trilogy, I suppose an alternative would also be to try to echo the few unique things that the sequel trilogy did (runaway stormtrooper, etc.).

An outer-galactic threat

I’ve proposed this idea before, and it’s something else the expanded universe explored too. Plus, some of the newer canon novels have hinted at a looming threat coming from another galaxy, and the Ahsoka show has now established that advanced civilizations that speak english do in fact exist in other galaxies, with Force-sensitive factions and all.

More Expanded Universe stuff

With Rey and Kylo kissing at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, I think it’s pretty safe to say that Disney is trying to move away from the whole “no attachments allowed” rule that the prequel-era Jedi had. Between that, and the growing possibility of outer-galactic threats, it’s starting to feel like Disney is just taking stuff that Luke did in the old expanded universe timeline, and giving it to Rey. That might not necessarily be a bad thing, though! In fact, they can even acknowledge it by having Rey say some quick line like “lately I’ve been having dreams of Luke doing these things, in another life.” Maybe not exactly like that, but something along those lines.

The feeling of “delight”

Above all else, the most important thing about the new movies is that they just need to be fun. While I don’t consider The Force Awakens a perfect movie, one thing I do enjoy about it is how “light and airy” it feels when you don’t think too hard about it. JJ Abrams had said that the writing process of that movie started with he and the other creatives asking themselves “what do we want to feel?” And then writing a bunch of emotions on the wall, with “delight” being the primary one. Hopefully future films in the franchise take a similar approach. That said, I understand that sometimes it’s less about “what the audience wants” and more about “what the story needs,” so that balance needs to be taken into account too.

…Well, that was a fun way to waste another day!

Peace!

2026 UPDATE: With the recent news that Ben Solo might also come back, I know a lot of people think that means he and Rey are finally gonna end up together for real, but I’m not so sure. I used to think Rey’s order would embrace attachments, but the Rise of Skywalker novelization, Luke’s personality in The Book of Boba Fett, and Finn referring to Rey and Rose as “just friends” in that Resistance Reborn book all make me think otherwise now.

Related: Fiction Repository

Expanding My Latest Rey Outline

2024 UPDATE: I’m not proud of this outline anymore, but also don’t feel like deleting it so… Whatever…

A few months ago, there was a new contest on the message boards of theforce.net, which asked Star Wars fans to write fan outlines for the three new films announced this year. I submitted my entries and then moved on with my life, but recently, I revisited my work and realized that the outline for the Rey movie in particular was lacking detail, compared to the other two. Therefore, I’ve decided to revisit that story and add more to it.

So without further ado, here you go:

Opening crawl explains that Rey has spent the last several years traveling the galaxy and training different people, but refuses to bring them together to form an order, cause she fears that doing so will only repeat “the cycles of the past.” We then see Rey (wearing an outfit similar to the golden ceremony tunics from The High Republic), traveling on the Falcon with her newest apprentice, Thea (one of the working names for Rey during the development of The Force Awakens). Her outfit is more like the brown travel tunics from The High Republic, and she’s very similar in face and age to Rey. It almost looks like they could be twins (intentional).

They land on a barren wasteland of ice in the middle of the night, right in front of the ruins of a massive, ancient temple. We then get an Indiana Jones-like sequence where they go inside and uncover a small mechanical device simply known as “the decoder.” Rey reiterates that she needs this device to help translate “the last page of the sacred Jedi texts,” which is written in a language that’s even more archaic than the rest of the texts. The pair then go back outside, where they suddenly find themselves surrounded by strange humanoids in bronze armor, carrying exotic-looking blasters. Thea then suddenly reveals that she’s secretly been in league with these beings behind Rey’s back for some time. She explains that they’re called The Grysk, and that they’re “galactic conquerors” that come from another galaxy (they’re mentioned in some of the recent books). Rey asks why she betrayed her, to which Thea explains that the Republic has already failed the galaxy twice, and that simply keeping all the Jedi separate isn’t enough to prevent future turmoil, in her opinion. She then adds that the Grysk there with them are merely “a strike team sent early,” and that a full army is on the way.

Thea then draws her lightsaber out (it’s purple, to contrast with Rey’s yellow). Rey manages to escape back into the Falcon, which Thea taunts her for from a distance (“Running away so soon?”). Rey then returns to Coruscant (looks more like it did in Andor), which is back to being the capital of the Republic (no more “New” in the title). She passes by Rose and Babu Frik, who have been constructing a massive ship together for some time and are finally almost done with it. Rose offers it to Rey (not the first time), but as usual, Rey declines, saying “the Falcon is more than enough for me.” We then cut to her walking inside the old Jedi Council room, where all the seats are empty and covered in dust. Chancellor Poe (yes, really) meets her in there with his droid entourage (R2, 3PO, BB-8, D0).

Rey explains the Grysk situation to him, adding that she wishes she could turn to the Jedi spirits for help, but that she “lost contact with them some time ago.” Poe tells her it’s time to bring some of her old students together and form a new order, to figure out what to do about the new threat, but Rey rejects his advice, pointing out that the Jedi order already imploded twice in a row, meaning there’s a pattern there, and that most of the public hates the Jedi now for all the trouble they caused since the clone wars anyways. Poe says he wishes he could keep talking to her about this, but that he needs to go meet up with Zorrii (implying that they’re a couple now). On his way out, Rey jokes that she’s the better pilot now because he’s “out of practice,” but he playfully insists that he still “has it.” Rey then heads to her own bedroom, where the original Jedi texts are. She tries using the decoder to translate the last page of the last book, but can’t figure out how it works.

We then cut to the lower levels of Coruscant, and see some Mandos (they’re like the “police” now). They chase down some pirates who are part of a growing gang called “The Uprisers,” who feel the need to fight back against the Republic for still supporting Rey after all the issues the Jedi have caused over the decades. They’re also pissed off about the fact that she’s both a Palpatine as well as the fact that she chose to take on the Skywalker name. The Mandos manage to arrest the small group of Uprisers right after they blow up a statue of Rey, but acknowledge that there are more (“There’s always more.”). 

Rey then catches up to them and sees the statue of herself in ruins. This leads her to finally deciding to travel to Mimban, where Finn is (she catches him just as he finishes leading a revolt of some kind). Together, they review records of all the other people Rey has trained over the years, and recruit the ones they feel would best learn from one another. This ends up being Rey’s team:

Finn: The “heart” of the group. Wants everyone to get along. His outfit is basically a traditional prequel-era tunic. Green saber.

Krash: The “lancer” of the group. He’s a purist, though that sometimes makes him come across as a bit of a jerk. His outfit is similar to what Baylan wears in the Ahsoka show (though maybe more gray than black). Orange or bronze saber. Maybe one of each? Or maybe one of them is blue? Something like that.

Hope: The “smart one” of the group. Non-force sensitive Jedi. Her outfit is reminiscent of the Old Republic era (i.e. tunic with pieces of armor). Uses gadgets and stuff to get by. Snarky attitude, but sensitive on the inside. White double-sided saber that maybe spins and/or bends.

Lowbacca (aka Lowy or Low): The “big one” of the group. He’s Chewy’s son (Chewy himself is mentioned as being retired on Kashyyk now). Wears an outfit similar to what Ben Kenobi wore in the original trilogy. Similar personality to his dad (usually nice, but not afraid to get his hands dirty). Prefers not to use a saber. The Force is the only “weapon” he needs (that and ripping people’s arms out, I guess).

After coming together, Rey and her new group hear from a Republic spy who’s been hanging out in the underworld (Connix, wearing Leia’s bounty hunter outfit from Return of the Jedi) that the Uprisers are planning to attack/ steal credits from a bank vault. Rey and team see this as a good opportunity to prep for the incoming Grysk invasion. Part of the Uprisers’ plan involves using ships, so Rey takes off in the Falcon, with Finn at the gun turret (they make a reference to “old times” during this), while the other Jedi pursue other Uprisers on foot. Things go horribly wrong, though, and the Falcon is destroyed in the process (but Rey and Finn manage to escape). The Mandos end up having to come in to save the day. The public ridicules Rey (making reference to the Palpatine lineage as well as the Skywalker name tag). We then cut to a barren moon, where the Gryssk army finally arrives from their distant galaxy. Thea tells them that they should attack Mandalore first, since that’s the home of the Republic’s army. They agree to her plan.

Back on Coruscant, the Jedi retreat to their temple. Hope gets most of the blame for the plan going sideways. Krash especially yells at her (he doesn’t think she deserves to be there). Finn calls him out for going too far with his criticisms. Meanwhile, Rey retreats to her own room, unable to handle the stress, and regretting the fact that she brought all these people together. Finn walks in to check on her. He mentions that he’s glad they’re back together, but wishes they could be traveling around the galaxy as one group, instead of being stuck at the capital, as he thinks they would get along better if they were actually adventuring and “among the people.” Rey ponders these words as Finn leaves. She then sees the decoder on her desk, and to take her mind off things, she tries using it again, but is still unable to make it work.

BB-8 suddenly rolls in and figures out how to get the device working. Rey finally reads the last piece of the Jedi texts, which turns out to say “Light will always be there for the people, even when they cannot see it, even when they do not want to.” This leads Rey and her Jedi peers to realizing that the galaxy may never accept them, but that’s not the point. Rather, the point is to just simply be there for them regardless. This newfound motivation allows them to finally all get along. Krash in particular starts to finally lighten up quite a bit, and Rey tells him that he “reminds her of someone” (Kylo reference). He seems to like hearing this. There’s hints of romantic chemistry between them.

Soon after, Thea and the Grysk army finally arrive on Mandalore, and a battle breaks out on both the ground and sky between them and the Mandalorians. Rey and her new Jedi order arrive to assist (on Rose and Babu’s ship), as well as some of the Mandalorian “police” from Coruscant. All the Jedi have a climatic moment where they have to use the Force together to stop a giant “warhammer” battering-ram weapon (discarded concept from The Force Awakens). Rey in particular duels Thea, and manages to gain the upper hand, which leads Thea to having to retreat (callback to the “running away so soon?” moment). The Grysk army is also defeated, but both the Jedi and Mandos acknowledge that more will probably come (callback to the “there’s always more” moment).

We then jump to some time later. The Jedi order are back on Coruscant. Rey tells Poe that she and her new order have decided to stay united, but rather than remaining on Coruscant, they want to instead travel around the galaxy together, helping people from a distance. They think that this “distant” approach might help the public to feel more comfortable with them. Furthermore, they think that constantly moving around will give them all something ongoing to focus on, which should hopefully limit infighting, while allowing them to still stay united as one order (callback to Finn’s words from earlier). Rey promises Poe that they’ll keep in contact with the Republic, but they wanna be the guardians of “the people” now, not just the Republic. Poe says he understands, and gives them all his blessing.

The Jedi then get into their new ship from Rose, who says goodbye to Finn particularly. There’s a hint that there’s still romantic tension between the two of them too, all these years later, but Finn doesn’t know what to do since Jedi traditionally don’t take romantic partners. Rey notices his internal conflict and pulls him aside to say something like “don’t worry, we’ll figure it out” (hint at what the sequel will be about). We also see Rey flipping through the books again inside the ship’s cockpit (she says she likes to re-read them sometimes), and she happens to flip to a page that depicts the father, daughter, and son from Mortis (another sequel tease, since the Ahsoka show seems to be hinting that Anakin, Ahsoka, and Baylan are becoming the new versions of the father, daughter, and son). The big Jedi ship then takes off into the stars. The end.

And in case you’re wondering; I intentionally left out senior-aged characters like Lando, Wedge, D’Acy, etc. because, frankly, I think they’re all too old now. I also left out Jannah cause she’s with Lando now (I guess?). Lastly, I left out “mandoverse” characters because, as of this writing, it sounds like this movie will be coming out first, so including any of those people would give away the fact that they survive their own shows/movies. I’d also like to mention that I have an alternate idea for Finn: Rather than being a Jedi, he could instead be one of the Mandalorians. Perhaps the leader of the Mando “police group” on Coruscant. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lucasfilm decide to have him “choose a different path,” so that he’s not always in Rey’s shadow. Either option works, I guess.

…Welp, that’s all I got!

Peace!

PS: Not important, but at some point Finn and Poe walk passed one another and point at each other playfully like they did in The Force Awakens. As you can probably tell, I like little “callbacks” like that. Also, since I mentioned Baylan towards the end of my outline, I’d like to take this opportunity to say that I think he should be recast, and if the actor they pick ends up looking or sounding very different from the late Ray Stevenson, they can just quickly explain it by saying “he was changed by force magic” or some other mumbo jumbo. On a similar note, if we do see Anakin’s force ghost again at some point, I think it’d be cool to see him quickly “flicker” between Hayden Christensen and an older actor that resembles Sebastian Shaw, like he supposedly does in the book Shadows of the Sith. I like the idea of force ghosts being able to “flicker” between different forms. Lastly, if it were up to me, I’d make it clear in the marketing that Thea is a villain, rather than try to hide it…

Related: Fiction Repository

Star Wars Fan Fiction: Breaking the Cycle

          So as I mentioned two posts ago, a Star Wars-themed discord server that I’m part of announced a three-round writing contest. The third and final round ended the other day, and this time, between myself and three other contestants, I came in second-to-last place (with a score of 8.25/10). That said, I still want to share my story from that final round here.

        NOTE: The prompt this time said to write about whatever we wanted, as long as it was related to Star Wars in some shape or form. 1200-1500 words.

        So, without further ado, here’s my third and final Star Wars fan story!

Breaking the Cycle

Rey looked deeply into the vastness of space, as her ship dropped out of light speed…

The Unknown Regions looked like any other part of the galaxy, at least at first. She took another look at the ancient star map that led her here, just to make sure she was in the right place.

“This is it, alright!”

With that, she landed on the world closest to her, a forest planet filled entirely with leaves of red, yellow and orange. An eternal autumn. As her vessel touched ground, she began to meditate, tapping into the Force. The voice of a Jedi from before her time suddenly echoed in her mind;

“For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic… Before the dark times… Before the Empire!”

Through the Force, she looked into the past. She could see dozens upon dozens of Jedi being killed, across multiple generations.

The ruler of that evil Empire happened to be her own grandfather, Darth Sidious. Each and every day, she recalled their fateful meeting, the night she defeated him, in his layer of darkness;

“Long have I waited,” the hideous, cloaked man had growled, “for my grandchild to come home!”

She couldn’t help but sigh at the recollection. She hated being reminded of her dark ancestry, and did her best to bury it in every way she could, even taking on another family name. Nevertheless, the memories of her twisted past still remained.

“He’s long gone, Rey,” the voice of her dead Jedi master, Luke Skywalker, said from the netherworld of the Force.

“And you’re one of us, now,” added his sister, Leia, also speaking from beyond the grave.

It was true. That evil Empire was gone, as was the dark soul who ruled it. And despite her heritage, Rey was one of only two Jedi left. It was up to her now to help restore the fallen order to what it once was… But first, she needed answers.

With a deep breath, Rey opened her eyes, stood up, and left her ship.

Carefully, she trekked up a hill, until she reached its surface, covered in stone ruins. The remains of a Jedi temple long gone…

Suddenly, a spirit of sorts faded into existence, emulating the familiar blue glow of Jedi ghosts. The figure bore brown robes, complete with long, graying hair and a beard.

“Welcome, Rey,” he said with a smile.

She took a few steps back, “Who are you?”

“My name is Qui-Gon Jinn. I was once a Jedi in life, and have always been the guardian of your family.”

Rey raised an eyebrow in confusion, “My family?”

“That’s correct, Ms. Skywalker.”

“Oh, yeah.” She rolled her eyes and laughed, “That…”

“What brings you to this world, young Rey?”

“I need answers. If I’m going to be starting a new Jedi order then I need to know as much about the history of the Jedi as possible, to try to prevent another downfall from happening.”

He shook his head, “The cycle of good and evil is destined to repeat eternally, my friend. Balance is always temporary.”

“I know,” she sighed. “But there must be something we can do! Just for the sake of trying to be better, even if it doesn’t last.”

“Well, you won’t find any answers here, in the ruins of this long forgotten temple.”

She sighed once more, “Well then I guess I came all this way for nothing.”

He smiled again, “Oh, well don’t be so sure!” He pointed to a nearby bed of flowers, “You may be able to find something of interest over there.”

Rey walked over to the purple plants in question, but upon looking closer, all she saw was pollen, being moved around by small, flying insects.

“Do you see now?” Qui-Gon asked.

“No,” she shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t.”

“Hm…” He stroked his chin for a second, before looking beyond the hill, “Well perhaps you should journey deeper into the forest. There’s a village beside a river, not too far away. I believe you may find something useful there.”

Rey shrugged, “Well, if you say so.”

Qui-Gon then faded away, as Rey made her way down the hill. Soon enough, she reached the small riverside community, complete with wooden huts, and primitively-dressed people, many of whom looked at her with shock.

“It’s alright,” she smiled and raised her hands in defense. “I come in peace.” She had to remind herself that those native to worlds of the Unknown Regions were usually hesitant towards visitors…

Looking ahead, she noticed a teenage boy holding a bow and arrow in one hand, and a caught mammal of some sort in the other. He walked towards an older man who had a bow and arrow of his own.

“Well done,” the older one nodded in approval. “You’re a true hunter now… Which means the time has come for me to go.”

“What?” The teenager tilted his head in confusion, “But why?”

“Because my work here is done. Now I must go to the next village down the river, and teach someone else to hunt.” He smiled at his pupil, “Perhaps you should do the same.”

“Do you see now, Rey?” Qui-Gon’s voice echoed in her mind.

“Yes,” she nodded with a smile. “I see now.”

***

“Well, here it is!” Finn produced a small device from his pocket. With the click of a button, a large projection of the galaxy suddenly filled the air, complete with red dots scattered about. “These are all the worlds where I was able to find others strong with the Force,” he said, as he and Rey stood there in the room that once belonged to the Jedi Council, on the city world of Coruscant.

Rey looked around at the empty red chairs all around them, each in front of a large window that exposed the metropolitan landscape beyond.

Finn went on, “With these kinds of numbers we should be able to build a new council in no time, especially if we bring in multiple kids to train at once.”

Rey shook her head, “We’re not going to build a new council, Finn.”

“What?” Finn shut the projection off, placing the holo-chip back in his pocket, “What do you mean?”

“We’re not going to take these kids away from their homes,” she looked at her partner directly in the eye, “We’re going to travel to all of their planets, one at a time, and train them individually. We’ll go in separate directions, to speed up the process.”

He shook his head in disbelief, “But I thought we wanted to stick together now.”

“Believe me, I would like to,” she said with a sigh. “But if the Jedi are going to evolve for the better then we need to decentralize. We need to pollinate. Bring the ways of the force to the people, not the other way around.”

Finn looked downward, before nodding in agreement, “I understand…” He picked his head back up, “So, where are you gonna start?”

“Don’t know yet,” she shrugged. “How about you?”

He smiled, “There’s a kid on Canto Bight I’d like to start with…”

Click here to read my story from Round 1!

Click here to read my story from Round 2!

Related: Fiction Repository

Star Wars Fan Fiction: There Is No Try

         So as I mentioned in my last post, a Star Wars-themed discord server that I’m part of announced a three-round writing contest. The second round ended the other day, and this time, between myself and two other contestants, I came in last place (with a score of 7.75/10). That said, I still want to share my story from that round here.

        NOTE: The prompt this time said to write about spending a day with Yoda and learning some kind of lesson from him. 1200-1500 words.

        So, without further ado, here’s my second Star Wars fan story!

There Is No Try

“Pay attention, you must!” Master Yoda pointed in my direction, “When gone, am I, the last of the Jedi will you be.”

But I knew that wasn’t true. It had only been five years since the Jedi order fell, and I knew there were plenty of other survivors out there, hiding from the ever-growing evil Empire, all across the galaxy…

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Is that just something you say to people to motivate them?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, the little green man pointed to a large boulder on his left, “Your next challenge, young one.”

I recoiled at the sight of the natural structure, taller than I even was. Up until then, I had only lifted objects that were a mere fraction of that size.

“Alright,” I sighed. “I’ll try.”

“No,” the ancient one shook his head. “No try! Do, or do not… There is no try!”

I couldn’t help but scoff, “What’s that supposed to mean? Whatever happened to trying your best?”

“By saying try, quit before even beginning, you have.”

“That’s not true! I-” But before I could even finish, I suddenly felt a strange, unnerving sensation all around me. A tremor in the Force. I looked around at the misty swamp that surrounded us, “Something’s not right… I feel cold.”

Yoda pointed to a manhole on the ground, about a dozen feet away, “That place… Strong with the dark side of the Force, it is. A domain of evil… And in it you must go.”

I looked at the strange cave entrance, and then back at him, “What’s in there?”

“Only what you take with you.”

I wanted to ask so much more, but refrained. This wasn’t the same Yoda I once knew, back when I was just a youngling at the Jedi temple. That Yoda told me time and time again that someday I would be assigned a Master, and that together we would travel the galaxy, bringing peace to every world we would visit, all while unlocking more and more secrets of the Force. That Yoda was long gone. The fall of the order had changed him…

I had spent years trying to find him, the wisest of all Jedi, after hearing rumors that he was still alive. Whomever I found instead was someone else. You would think trauma wouldn’t have such an impact on a being who had been alive for nearly a millennium. Guess we all have a breaking point…

But who could blame him, really? He was the grand master. Every Jedi was once his student, at some point or another. One could only imagine what he felt when the purge happened…

So I didn’t ask any further questions. I simply did as he requested, and made my way towards the manhole. As I dropped into the cave below, the first thing I noticed was more mist, identical to that of the surface, still somehow illuminated.

Suddenly, a serpent-like creature, hissing as loudly as it could, slithered out of the fog, towards me. To defend myself, I raised my arm towards it. Tapping into the Force, I gained full control of the serpent’s body, which then began to slowly rise into the air, still a few feet away from me.

As I tapped deeper and deeper into the Force, I began to feel the creature’s throat through my mind. For a second, I thought about choking it, but held myself back. I then let it go, allowing it to drop back down to the ground. Immediately after, the creature turned itself around, darting straight back into the fog from which it came.

A few moments later, I began to hear human voices, a man and a woman, coming from the very same mist. My curiosity getting the best of me, I walked deeper in, until I was surrounded entirely by the heavy steam. For a second, my eyes watered up, but soon cleared. As my vision restored itself, I noticed a middle-aged couple, the source of the voices, now standing before me. I didn’t know their names, yet they seemed familiar…

They continued their argument, staring directly at one another, completely oblivious to my presence. This was clearly a vision of another place and time…

“Ever since we gave the baby to the Jedi you’ve become more and more of a mess,” the woman said. “If you keep chasing this crazy music dream of yours we’ll end up on the streets! I can barely support myself with my job, let alone the both of us!”

“I know,” the man sighed. “I’ll find a way to keep us stable. Please, just let me try!”

And then, out of nowhere, the vision vanished, replaced by a new vision, deeper in the mist. I walked forward once more, only to find the same couple, now slightly older, dressed in dirty rags and sitting down. They each had a pan in their hands for collecting change. They were homeless…

The woman looked over to the man, placing a hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay. You tried.”

He shook his head, “No… No I didn’t… Not really.”

SIX YEARS EARLIER

Yoda wandered through the desert, unsure where he would arrive…

Centuries of training had allowed him to see the future far more clearly than most other Jedi could, but the last few years had been different. The war had allowed the dark side to grow stronger, clouding his vision…

His ship had been hit by the enemy in the middle of the air, causing him to be separated from his battalion. Now here he was, trying to find them… So on and on he went, growing more tired with each and every step, slipping into moments of unconsciousness. Even beings strong in the Force like him could still succumb to the challenges that come with age…

Nevertheless, he trekked onward, until he noticed a tall, hooded figure in dark robes, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Was this figure really there? Was it an illusion from the dark side? A guiding vision from the Force itself? Perhaps nothing more than a mirage? No matter what it was, Yoda knew he had to face it, so onward he still went, until he was merely a few feet away from his new acquaintance of the desert.

The figure pulled back their hood, revealing the face of an elderly human male, complete with a white beard and slicked-back hair.

“Dooku…” Yoda sighed at the sight of his fallen pupil.

“We meet again, Master.” Dooku smiled, tauntingly, “The end of the war is near, Yoda, and with it, the end of the Jedi. For you, all is lost!”

Yoda closed his eyes for a few moments, attempting yet again to see the future, to see if what his former apprentice had been saying was true. Alas, he saw nothing. Only black. He opened his eyes again, looking straight at the man he once thought of like family. Foolishly, he hoped to see the good-spirited student he used to know. Instead, he only saw a being of pure evil. An individual who had been changed, right to their very core.

Dooku went on, “You seem distressed, old friend. What seems to be the trouble? Are you sad that you failed to make me like you?”

“No,” the ancient Jedi shook his head. “Sad that I tried.”

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