"A Knight of the Order Planning Thread--SPOILERS"

All right, this is where the Nights of the Round Robin will take place, planning-wise that is. It seemed to work for another story I've been following.

 

Cool, Ish Now we need to start planning...

aa

 

Okay, I have to know if we're going to make this sappy love story gone wrong or angst-ridden justification for turning. Thoughts?

 

Ah, yes, there's the question. Why does Anakin turn? Oh, no, I knew I was in way over my head. Well, let's make a list.

1. Death of Mother -- Does this fic start before or after this event? How does it happen? Who is responsible?
2. Interest in creating order with Palpatine through the Empire -- How does Anakin get involved with Palps? Is it a gradual friendship, or is it a one time deal like Luke's meeting in ROTJ?
3. Power -- The power of...THE DARK SIDE! <evil cackle> But is Anakin really evil? Does he think he's doing the right thing? Or does he know he's doing some bad stuff and just doesn't care?
4. Padme -- Does there marriage go wrong somehow? Or do circumstances just prevent them from being together? Are the Jedi against their marriage? Does she die?
5. Obi-Wan -- Why does Vader hate him so much? What did he do? Did he do anything? Has Palps made Anakin believe he's done something?

Now, I think all of these have to be elaborated on. Anyone have any clever ideas? Anyone want to add more? Anyone want to criticize me for including something stupid? Let's get to it.

 

Okay, I think death of mother would be a good motivator since she is such a driving force. I've seen some theories where a supposed Obi-Ami-Ani triangle is his downfall, but I don't buy into that. I think his downfall, like the Republic's, would plausibly be manipulated by Palpatine. I mean, look at what he does to Luke in ROTJ. That brings him dangerously close to the darkness and it's all by verbal stimuli. Betrayal? Yes.

 

I just edited my previous post -- I added a lot of other questions to it. Shall we plow through them?

Love triangle? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

Sorry. Ahem. Yeah, I'm not really into that either.

Betrayal. Ah. Is it perceived betrayal by Anakin, or real betrayal? And how is he betrayed? Interesting stuff. I've got an idea. Let me mull it over for a few minutes, and get it worked out in my head.

 

Right, well, I think that Palpster probably fed Anakin lies all along. Well, not 'lies' really, but just leading him to believe stuff that may or may not be true.

1.He may say that Obi-Wan is responsible for Shmi's death, because the Jedi didn't want Anakin to go to Tatooine and help her. (If she needs help, if she dies, I have no idea)

2. Padme is said to have a big part in his fall. But how? If love and marriage(?) goes against the Jedi code, what will happen to Anakin once the wedding takes place?

he'll already be disillusioned if a>they forbid him to go to Tatooine and Shmi dies and b> They punish him for getting married. Palpy won't have to push him that far, it seems.

3. Does Palpy make Anakin false promises? Tell him that the Sith have no laws against marriage? Do they? Do we care?

Anakin may think he's making the only choice possible at the moment.


hmm...still thinking

aa

 

AA, you've hit the nail on the head. The frickin' marriage. What if loving Padme is against the rules? And marrying her is against the Code? That gives Anakin a pretty big impetus to break to rules and ignore the Code. And if the Jedi attempt to punish Anakin -- by preventing him from seeing her, or something else -- Anakin will feel betrayed, especially if Obi-Wan agrees with the Council on that one. Ouch.

So what does Palps offer Anakin? He certainly doesn't end up with Padme; what happens? Perhaps Palps eggs Anakin on to destroy the Jedi -- because of Padme -- and then she refuses to stay with him? Or she dies? Or Anakin turns to the Dark Side and realizes that love really is a weakness and he's too evil now for that sort of gibberish?

 

Hi all! Thank you, AoI, for letting me join on here; I'm looking very forward to it!

Oooh, I like the Jedi being opposed to the marriage idea. I've never written anything like that; it should be quite interesting. What a hideous, depressing fic this will be.

*smiles happily* Yay!

So: Council doesn't like marriage idea + Obi agrees=huge betrayal and opportunity for temptation.

Cool!

 

CLARUS!

yep, that's all I had to say!

YAY! Come be evil and depressing with us!

aa

 

Me again...

Ishtar, I apologize for not accepting your IM, I didn't know who you were and I don't usually accept ones from those I don't know.

Me sorry

aa

 

Oops, didn't think about that, but I figured that was the case. No harm done.

Clarus, welcome.

As to the aforementioned stuff, 1) NO LOVE TRIANGLES, PLEASE! 2) I think a perceived betrayal with very real implications would work. 3) The death thing would work, but I agree that the whole love/marriage/Jedi conflict is certainly a real and plausible contingency. I vote for that being involved. 4) I don't think the whole "false promises" thing in relation to the marriage thing would work; we don't want Palpy to turn into Darth Clinton, do we?

All right, now the real question: when does Shmi die? And I heard that Ani/Ami get married at the end of II. If it's a purported Episode III-era story, how do we handle that? I think we need to be flexible on our timeline where necessary.

I love this! So exciting! Hope it takes fewer than 8 months because I won't have access to a computer (or Star Wars, Episode II) for a year and a half. Complicated explanation. Anyway, I like where this is going.

 

Sorry if I came across as demanding. I meant that plot idea more as a vote for my favorites of the ones you guys had thrown out. :8\

 

I'm confused by why you apologized for being demanding, but okay...

I think we've effectively established that a major motivator will be the love/marriage/Jedi issue. It has a great potential for what the idea of perceived betrayal that we've been talking about.

I've been getting every spoiler about Episode II that I can, since I won't be able to see it in the movie theaters and I read somewhere that Padme in II gets captured and the big duel happens when Anakin goes to rescue her. At that point in time, supposedly, he delves into the dark side and it's the first step along that path. I think that's an interesting idea, that his desperation at the thought of losing her could drive him to something like that. Expound, expound!

I think we should get a scene 1 out there just for the sake of getting this party started. Who wants to take point?

~Ish

 

Angel, I have to know. Is your signature from Mark Twain? I remember reading that quote in my AP English Lit class and thinking it was hilarious and I think I saw it in Huck Finn.

 

Look who just ditched school! I hope none of my teachers post on this thing. Ish, Clarus, AA...you don't teach at a public high school in Chicago, do you?

Yup, Mark Twain. Huck Finn. Amusing, no? I just feel that I have to warn people when I write something.

Good to see you here, Clarus. We're going to be quite a team.

All right, the marriage thing is a go. Ish is right about getting the time period down. When does this start and end? I think we should include Shmi's death, which I guess is actually Episode II, but we get some leeway here. So perhaps the first major plot point would be Anakin running off to Tatooine to save Shmi. What do you guys think?

If we do decide to start there, I can think of a zillion more questions that have to be answered. How does Shmi die? Is it orchestrated by Palpatine, related to the Clone Wars, or is it just a nasty twist of fate? All I really want to happen is for Anakin to run in, what ever happens happens, and then he develops a major guilt complex. All we've got to do is fill in the blanks. How does Anakin react? Does he pursue his mother's killer(s) and exact revenge? Does he use the Dark Side? Does he gather an army and wage a war?

And...how did Anakin know Shmi was in danger? Military reports? Insight ala Luke in ESB? Or just dumb luck? Do the Jedi allow him to go? I think that in the direction we're headed in, the Council would totally not be cool with Anakin running off to Tatooine. So perhaps Anakin should run away. Maybe he's supposed to be on a mission with Obi-Wan, but he ditches (like me and school!). Does he bring anyone with him to Tatooine?

Hmmm...I think I may be out of questions. That's a lot of stuff to think about. Hopefully we can get this sequenced sketched out today, and a brave soul can write the opener tonight...or tomorrow...or whenever we feel comfortable with this plot.

As for AIM, should we be communicating that way? I'm fine with that; perhaps we'd get more done if we were talking in real time. My screen name is Gigantic Mint. Anyone else got AIM? I know Ish and AA do from their little conversation back there. How about you, Clarus? Shall we exchange screen names?

Oh, yeah, I thought of some more questions. If we start with Anakin running off to Tatooine, where do we end? After THE DUEL, obviously. The twins' birth? Padme's death (and that creates a whole new batch of questions...)? Obi-Wan's seclusion? Something else? Or WILL IT NEVER END, like this post?

 

Just realized AIM usernames are listed in our profiles. Okedoke. I'm on to you guys.

 

Love Huck Finn, Mark Twain, and self-deprecation. I read somewhere that Shmi is killed on Tatooine, but Anakin finds her as she lay dying. Guilt-ridden over not being able to save her, he spends the night with her body in the desert, then returns the next day basically a bitter and changed man. What think y'all? I think that scenario would be extremely emotionally potent and if we decide on that, dibs! yes, I'm a third-grade personality in a collegiate mind.

 

Interesting, Ish. I don't want this to mirror Episode II too closely -- in other words, I don't want to directly include spoilers. Now, I guess Anakin staying with his mother's body all night isn't that big of a spoiler -- though it is really effective, I must say -- so I have no problem with including it. But from now on, especially if any of the writers (or readers) here are trying to stay away from spoilers, I think we should try to ignore them as best we can.

Any other ideas?

And Ish -- you're missing Episode II? Why? That's terrible! I'd be so upset if I couldn't see it projected twenty feet tall with THX sound in a great big movie theater. I hope you have a very good reason, like you're going on a mission to Mars or something.

 

*looking back over last post, wondering why . . .* Sorry. I can only blame early morning delirium for that post. Sheesh.

I like the Shmi's-body idea--I've got chillbumps already!

As far as time frame, I think late Ep II would work. Ani and Ami could already have the relationship and be very serious about it, or we could write the build-up. Depends on how long you want to make it, I guess.

 

Hey, guys, appreciate you letting me join. I think this is going to stretch my skills a bit.


I think you've hit on the key points - Shmi's death starts his slide, and circumstances - the war, his marriage, conflict with the Jedi - just exacerbate (ooh, big word) the situation.

As far as his marriage goes, it always struck me as one of those very hot, intense relationships that threatens to burn both parties. I don't believe in the devil's triangle, but I think Anakin may perceive (or be deceived into thinking) that Obi-Wan and Padme betrayed him.

The general chaos of the Clone Wars and conflicts with the Jedi Order don't help.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents (for now)! Glad to be aboard!

 

As for AIM, should we be communicating that way? I'm fine with that; perhaps we'd get more done if we were talking in real time. My screen name is Gigantic Mint. Anyone else got AIM? I know Ish and AA do from their little conversation back there. How about you, Clarus? Shall we exchange screen names?

Well....I do have an unused ezboard that was can use. When Julie, SWF1000 and myself wrote "A Road Less Traveled" we used the ezboard for discussions. We also posted the posts there first so that it got a really good beta before going up. This was easier, storywise, than just blindly going at it.

ezboard

Unless this is a totally sucky idea...

aa

 

I'm Jed1Clarus, btw. I won't be on again until tomorrow night, though . . . (but tomorrow is my last day of school!)

 

Just another thought since I'm up too late anyway--

Anakin's involvement with Palpatine - I think it may in terms of the Clone Wars. The Jedi work (for lack of a better term) for the Supreme Chancellor. Anakin may be assigned as a liaison or aide (maybe a pilot?) for Palpy. That would put him in frequent contact. If Ani's already on the outs with the Jedi or experiencing friction with Obi-Wan, that puts Palpy in a good position to exploit that and any other vulnerability.

 

I've been thinking (I know, run!!) about something.

What we have so far:

1. Shmi dies
2. Anakin and Padme marry/are married already
3. Palpy has frequent contact with Ani
4. Ani is berated for going to Tatooine
5. his marriage is forbidden
6. Obi-Wan agrees with the Council
7. Ani and Obi continue to drift apart


Now, Vader says in ANH that he left Obi-Wan when was still a learner, so are we to assume that Ani never becomes a Knight? Does he leave after/during the clone wars? Do the clones kill Shmi?

Ani and Ami are on Tatooine in EpII, this isn't a spoiler for anyone who's been to the official site. What happens there? How do they know to go there...that is a good question, whomever asked it earlier.

Damn, how come everytime one of us posts, we end up with a zillion more questions?

aa