"Female Anakin" Fanfic Resource

Thanks to the suggestion of the mods, I decided to start this topic here. I made a thread concerning what if Anakin was born female instead of male in the Lit forum but it was closed because it bordered on Fanfic territory:

Personally, if I had my way, I would actually want to see an alternate universe story that retold the entire prequel trilogy and some of the stuff in between each film where Anakin was born female instead of male. That would be awesome to see what would be different!

The most important difference would be that Padme would not be the mother of Luke and Leia, rather it would be Ani, or whatever female equivalent of the name "Anakin" would be used if that name can't be considered unisex, herself that gives birth. And who would the father be? The only person I can think of would be none other than our favorite Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan. Or what if Obi-Wan rejects his student's affection, being the devoted knight that he is, which kick starts Ani's fall yet does not result in the birth of Luke or Leia at all? In the situation where Ani becomes pregnant by Obi-Wan, would this actually prevent the rise of Vader, female Ani being unwilling to compromise the life of her unborn children or does she pledge to serve Sidious so as to prevent Obi-Wan's death? Maybe she dreams of Obi-Wan's death instead. Perhaps also instead of jealousy toward Obi-Wan, the female Anakin is jealous of Padme around Obi-Wan like the male counterpart was jealous and possessive when Obi-Wan was around Padme.

If Darkhorse did a comic series like this, instead of doing a single incident differently in each individual prequel like they did with the alternate OT comics awhile back, I would be first in line to check it out.

So I figured I'd check here to see if there were perhaps any fanfic writers who were interested in the idea of a genre of fanfics dedicated to stories centered around an alternate Fem-Ani.

 

I think it's a pretty interesting idea, and it definitely sounds like it could lead to some pretty awesome fics.

 

I was thinking of writing a fic myself, but am not sure where to start or where to take it.

I was thinking of making the female Anakin not become a Sith, making her not turning be partially a result of being in a different position than her male counterpart. Sort of like: Had Anakin been female at this particular moment, he wouldn't have made this choice that sent him spiraling downward toward the Emperor's influence.

 

Are you looking for people to co-write with you or are you just looking for people to bounce ideas off of?

If you want co-authors it's fine to post a thread (but you might want to make that a little more clear in your first post), and if you end up doing a large, multi-author story or arc of stories you can use a thread to plan. But if you are looking for someone to just bounce ideas off of, we don't allow individual threads to do that. If that is the case you could get a Fanfic Master who can do that with you, or you might find a willing beta to help you out.


Leaving thread open until clarification is made.

 

Well, I was hoping to find authors not only to bounce ideas off of, but perhaps who may be interested in a collaborative effort to produce an anthology of stories a la Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina of the female Anakin character.

 

interesting idea. You sound a lot like me. Bending someone's gender would change alot of things. Would the story be Ani/Obi? I don't know, to be honest. It depends on how you write it. If she gets romantically involved with Obi-Wan, it would be interesting. Otherwise, I would like to see her reaction to getting turned down. Would it be awkward? What would she do? She's likely to be as hot-headed as the male version. What would her relationship with Padme be? Best friends? Worst enemies? How would Obi-Wan take to everything? One possible alternate ending in this is that she does get Obi-Wan and maybe changes the rules of the Jedi Order so that Jedi can marry.

Your idea is very interesting. I use fanfic forums to bounce ideas, too.

You remind me of that genderbent Skywalker-Solo family portrait that I drew inside one of my notebooks. That reminds me, I need to get started on that picture of genderbent Ben and Mara.

 

It'd be interesting to see what would happen between femme!Anakin and Padme. Plus there's the pregnancy issue in order for Femme!Anakin to be Luke and Leia's parent. I'm intrigued, and might even write some Femme!Anakin stuff at some point.

 

Would she keep the name though, I mean, "Ani" works for both men and women, but "Anakin" just has a male ring to it. Is there a female variant of the whole name?


Wouldn't you think, speaking on the pregnancy with the Skywalker twins, if this Femme-Ani became pregnant herself, that the chances of her turning would lessen?

I would also say that it would likely not be Padme she becomes attached to, rather it's more plausible that instead of becoming jealous of Obi-Wan and possessive of Padme, this female version would likely have feelings the complete opposite way around. I could imagine a slave girl Ani, dirty, struggling all her life, to get pretty jealous of Padme whose face was never torn by harsh desert sands, doesn't understand loss, and is more or less, in the mind of Fem-Ani that is, "spoon fed."

Edit: If you top this all off with a sexual attraction to Obi-Wan, whom the male counterpart feared would steal Padme away from him, you'd have a female Ani who also fears an affair is going on behind her back.

 

Although I thought young Obi-Wan was hot, if male Anakin fell under the influence of Palpatine, why wouldn't a female Ani. It is just as likely that Palpatine could have fathered the twins. Much more since he doesn't have a vow that discourages it. And Palpatine prior to fighting Mace wasn't a bad looking dude.

Also you have Female Anakin who grew up a slave with her slave mother. I would think there would be a strong desire for control of one's life after years of no control. The lure of having a romantic relationship with someone who is leader of the Galaxy would be strong.

I would think if Female-Ani was had an affair with Palpatine she probably would have ended up the same as Male-Anakin especially if she was with child.

 

If Anakin was female and gave birth to Luke and Leia herself, though, how would you handle the whole OT later? I mean, she'd know that she had twins, and unless she abandoned them and Obi-Wan or someone faked their death, she'd know they were still around. It'd be interesting to read though.

I mainly wanted to chime in with a name suggestion - how about Annika? It sounds similar, keeps all the letters, and it's a legit girl's name.

 

I think faking the death would work. Maybe she has complications during childbirth passes out and when she wakes up she is told her children died. But really somebody took them (either the good guys or bad guys). That is just as plausable as dying of a broken heart.

I still think female Ani falling for Palpatine's lies, getting pregnant and maybe marrying him would be a good story. He tries to tell her he is doing everything to help the universe. At some point she sees through his lies and must face giving up her husband to the Jedi who will immediately kill him or risk the future of her children with a Sith Lord father. I think that would be definately cool.

 

I vote for Annika as the name as that's the name that I have down for genderbent Anakin Solo in my drawing lol

And Palpatine is a good choice for her love.

 

I like Annika as the name, that should definitely be like an official unofficial name or something. lol


But Palpatine as her lover? I don't know. I have no issues with the older man-younger woman pairing even by large margins of age difference, but Palpatine strikes me more as a molester than a lover for Annika. And I don't feel that such a genre of fanfics that deal with the seduction of wounded young girls by creepy, older, megalomaniacal men is suited for the Force.net's fanfic forums...maybe fanfiction.net...

Also, I can't quite see Annika being such a character personally to have an actual sexual relationship with Palps, I still imagine her being headstrong and stubborn like her male counterpart. Though Palpatine being a lover works well with how Annika would be emotionally starved like Anakin and, in such an AU, lacking a paternal figure to lean on when she feels vulnerable, I think Obi-Wan accomplishes such a feat much better, but what you could do is have Palpatine and Obi-Wan's fatherly influence over Annika play into the duality of her character. That is: Palpatine epitomizes the evil paternal influence and Obi-Wan the good and righteous paternal figure, causing a conflict in her as to who she obeys.

That's a key difference in Annika as a wounded character as opposed to Anakin's wounded character in regards to the relationship with Obi-Wan, even though Anakin looked up to Obi-Wan, there was a side of him that saw Obi-Wan as a crutch and he also would become jealous and/or competitive with him in a classic display of asserting male dominance. Annika on the other hand, is far more attached to Obi-Wan, making him just as equal of an influence on her as Sidious, due to him being one of the only few, real, male mentors and guardians she could ever really feel to trust. Keep in mind that Annika, unless you really wish otherwise, would grow up on Tatooine just as her male counterpart does. Tatooine, being a Hutt controlled world littered with gangsters, rapists, and slave traders, whose masters treatment of women is chaining them up and making them dance provacatively for risk of being thrown to the Rancors is not exactly the place where a young girl and her single mother are exactly safe or encounter a man of honor and chivalry.

I imagine Annika as a tomboy, a trait she developed originally as a defensive strategy while living in the extremely male dominated Hutt worlds, but hides a deeply feminine side for fear of appearing weak and that there are a few select individuals to whom she shows this more vulnerable side of herself. Palpatine, who wishes to exploit it, Obi-Wan, who appears indifferent, and Padme, who unintentionally encourages it.

 

I assumed we were talking about an adult Annika, so it should be an acceptable pairing. But you are right, the age difference would make it creepy. I do think that if Palpatine could convince the headstrong and stubborn Anakin Skywalker that he should go into the temple and kill younglings...then I think Palpatine could convince an female Annika to fall in love with him. He was quite charming before Mace got ahold of him.

But we can overcome all the sex issues by having Annika becoming pregnant magically like her mother Shmi. "There was no father." Then you have two men, Palpatine and Obi-Wan, trying to become the father figure and hold more influence over Annika and her future children.

 

I played around with an idea similar to this once. I also genderswitched Padme and kept that relationship more or less the same - but this was around the time I was doing an outline for a version of Hamlet, also genderswitchy, and I was drawing some parallels between Female!Anakin/Male!Padme and Female!Hamlet/Male!Ophelia.

As for the issue of the twins... it could be an interesting thing to chew on if you're going down that path. Obi-Wan can have double the guilt after trying to not kill Anikka and having her press the issue. The twins would likely end up in Palpatine's care - I imagine something almost akin to coffin birth would happen, with the twins delivered by c-section while Anikka is in surgery being rebuilt into Lady Vader.

So Obi-Wan would end up tortured thinking he's killed not only her, but also two innocents (perhaps with a little temptation from the dark side to go 'they would have grown up like their mother, evil and twisted').

It could set up for a very interesting story where perhaps Obi-Wan manages to save one of the two - let's say Luke - right after the birth, so Anikka is told that one of her children died shortly after birth due to her injuries she sustained on Mustafar. So you have Leia growing up to be groomed as Lady Vader's apprentice (and in Palpatine's eyes, replacement), and Luke as that awkward farmboy that the entire galaxy is pinning its hopes on.

...

I may have to write that now. Look what you've done!

Anyway, to actually contribute something useful:

For genderbending, you're going to have to decide exactly how much your character's life will have been changed. How sexist are her surroundings? What's going to be different in those respects? I'm not saying that every girl's life will be full of rape and oppression so you can show how you are totes behind some feminism, but reading a few essays on basic feminist theory might help. Yeah, even if you're female. A lot of it by definition isn't melodramatic, but instead it's a lot of little things that pile up. One essay described it as like being caught in a birdcage. But there's that to consider.

Really interesting stuff to ponder.

 

I'm personally gonna go for the Obi/Annika pairing as far as the romance goes.


If I go the route of Annika turning evil, I was thinking of having the fight between her and Obi-Wan have her trying to turn Obi-Wan. So the ending fight would be less of Annika trying to kill Obi-Wan as the male counterpart tried so furiously to do, but instead trying to get a rise out of Obi-Wan so that way he taps more into the dark side of the Force and gives in more to his passions. This would at some points succeed and result in an alternate battle where Obi-Wan is letting loose all sorts of pint up aggression out on Annika, which is her intention so that Obi-Wan realize she is right about the Jedi way and will help her destroy the Emperor so they can rule the galaxy together. The classic "only your hatred can destroy me!" deal.

I was also going to add in the events around Episode II, whether or not she turns evil, that the council is concerned that Annika is too dependent on Obi-Wan so the reason for her being assigned to Padme's protection is different. I decided that the council, despite Annika's denial that there is any codependency, is concerned that her co-dependence is dangerous and worry also that Obi-Wan himself is becoming too attached to her, so the council basically gives Annika the ultimatum that she must handle the protection of Padme alone without Obi-Wan to prove that she can handle herself without Obi-Wan or the council will have to reassign her to a new master. So the moments alone with Padme deal mostly with Annika trying to deal with her feelings so when Annika kills the Tusken Raiders, if I choose her to do that, she starts confiding to Padme that she wishes Obi-Wan was there instead of saying Obi-Wan is holding her back. I would also have scenes where Obi-Wan knows how she feels and rejects outright, at some points even harshly which makes her start running to Palpatine for guidance, but Obi-Wan does actually feel the same way only he is still more dedicated to the Jedi Order than to her. If I go the route of evil Annika, I could have this play a part in Annika's attempts to turn Obi-Wan. Basically have her mock him as being repressed and that the Jedi have robbed him of satisfying passions and desires he should not be ashamed of.

 

I'm wondering if I missed the reason why the Female-Anakin would end up turning evil....Is it because Palps convinces her that the Jedi would try and take away her children (whoever the father may be...) and the fierce motherly protective instincts kick? Or is it because of something else, say, Obi-Wan shuts down her romantic advances, which leads to her doubting their whole relationship/becoming really angry at him? Or maybe some other reason entirely?

 

It really all depends on which direction you want to go.

Personally, I feel her pregnancy and her turning evil at the same time is a bit of a stretch, but I like the idea that she starts to get angry due to Obi-Wan's rejections. And since Obi-Wan is rejecting because of his desire to keep the code, she begins to feel like the Jedi Code itself is responsible and has stolen something from her.

 

I'd be cautious if I wished to develop romantic feelings between Obi-Wan and Annika. I'm not against pairing him - heck, I've written some of those - but Obi-Wan's sense of honor is one of his hallmarks. I can't see him developing feelings for someone he's mentored since a child unless it is very carefully handled - they're separated for some time, allowing him to see her as an adult, yada yada yada.

If you want to go really AU, you could make him sexually repressed and in total denial of his feelings.

The point is you need to develop your romance perhaps even more carefully than any other part of your characterization for it to come across believably and without harming the canon character.

There's a wonderful WIP on the boards (the non-slash version on this board) where the fantastic author set everything up beautifully, then (IMHO) at least temporarily "ruined it" because Obi-Wan's objections rang so true. As good as an author as she is, she may yet overcome the squimishness she herself made me feel.

Now, Obi-Wan feeling fatherly and she having a crush and mistaking his feelings would certainly be plausible as another alternative.

(You can PM me if you want the name of the story/author of the story I referenced above).

 

Some of the two scenarios you present are kind of how I wanted to go, I wanted to have a commentary on self-control versus repression. Essentially, I'm having Annika raised by a rather over-bearing mother who is just concerned for her safety, then as she grows up within the Jedi Order she starts to feel more and more held back not necessarily in the sense that Anakin felt held back, where he desired more power and strength that he might protect those he cared about and the values he held, but held back in the sense that she's always been told her whole life "Do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that." So when she starts to grow up and develop her own identity which includes a sense of sexuality, she gets angry and frustrated because they're just coming in so fast and suddenly due to being held back for so long. She acts out, becomes blatantly defiant, and also tries to take Obi-Wan with her down a path of rebellion. I also wanted to make it kind of ironic that one reason she has such an adoration of Obi-Wan is because of his paternal influence over her. So her issues range from being a teen-angst ridden woman with an existential identity crisis where she can't sort out who she really she is, as she doesn't know when she is acting on her own free will and when she is just doing what is expected of her, to sexual frustration while in a religious order where she can't quite sort out how to balance its will with her will and demands celibacy from its members. And since she has been managed her whole life by other people and is now being asked to grow up and be her own person, she doesn't know where to start cause she's never really been taught how to be her own woman.

This could an understandable cause for her touching into the Dark Side more and more, as it draws on and advocates individual passions and desires.

Obi-Wan on the other hand is loyal to the Jedi Order because he enjoys it. He follows the Code because he wants to follow it, not cause he's trying to satisfy other people. This makes him attractive to Annika, but he rejects her advances due to having a greater love and loyalty to the Jedi Order than to her though he does care deeply for her, but whether this is merely paternal or sexual I haven't decided. This all adds to Annika's frustrations as the reasons for which she finds herself attracted to Obi-Wan are the very reasons she can't have him.

Padme's role I want to be as the girlfriend whom Annika really does care about and respect, but at the same time greatly envies for her privileged life and being so free in spirit.


My Female Anakin AU:

http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/32020706/p1/?5

 

I was wondering, do we need UST? Could it all be a political aspect and not something that is ruled by ones desires? A female Anakin, what would made her holy separate from her male counterpart? Or rather what doesn't separate them?

Padme the male senator or the female senator? Children? Artificial insemination? The master holding back dark lusting for someone who they consider their student?

The female Ani walking into what seems to be a male dominated world and gaining their respect and admiration? What does it mean to be a female Jedi, or a female in the Republic? What is expected of her? How do others treat her differently because she is female?

Can someone help me with these questions?