Saga - PT "The Man of Many Ways" | 2023 Summer Olympics | pre-Andor; Luthen Rael & Kleya Marki Decathlon

Eeeeeeeeee! If there ever was a time for the pterodactyl screech, this is it!

The moment I saw the title, I thought Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ πλάγχθη... and there it was in your opening notes! This is such a perfect, perfect fit, I have no words.

And this is such a perfect, perfect background for Luthen... *fans self* I'll be back with a proper review on this entry, but I just wanted to be first to post here and to tell you that I'm ALREADY WAITING FOR MORE!

 

You are on a second-person POV roll, and I love it!

Andor was so, so good, and I'm excited to read some nu!canon fic from you! Canon-compliant and nu!canon isn't a combo I would have expected to be much interested in reading fic for, but I am so here for this. No matter how the characters end up developing in the show, I know you'll have lots of awesome insights and ideas to explore here.

Now with that said: LUTHEN!!! (And Kleya, too!) I can't wait to see what you'll do with both of them throughout this collection.

I have to step away from my phone for a bit, but I'll be back with more soon!

 

I am not familiar with the new shows but I like how you write your characters

 

An excellent mentor who comes to enjoy the role and celebrate his pupils' achievements. He relishes the quiet life, the path of one who learns and teaches for its own sake. Then the necessity of war pulls him into a role no one is prepared for and losses that weigh upon your soul. It's hard not to wall yourself off in that case and look at the worlds with self-protective wariness.

 

Excellent image here, I can see her smile and Luthen's reserved nod ...

... he's sensitive in a differing way than the warrior/diplomat career path because it seems his focus on preserving history would be even more deeply shocked at the destruction and chaos around him, in which he's just doing his level best to survive.

 

Looking forward to your next installment. I am glad to see your fan theory of Luthen's origen.
Like it so far.

 

Here I am, back for a more detailed review, and now that I re-read this story for the nth time, I am simply awed at how you managed to integrate all the essentials of what we know about Rael/Regin from Andor: the keeping of the past, the work in the shadows, the relationship with his students which grows akin to a partnership, and the bitterness and disillusionment.

A little more in detail:

First of all, I just love the name you gave to this function. It sounds very much like something from a bygone age of the Jedi Order. I also loved the detail of Jocasta Nu being present for Regin's ascension to this position, and I'm assuming that he was her padawan. But most importantly, the name fits perfectly with the artefacts that we see in Rael's antiquities shop in Andor. I remember noticing objects like a Jedi Temple Guard helmet and Plo Koon's mask, and in the continuity of Andor these are, indeed, relics.

This second aspect – Regin preferring to work out of the spotlight – is the most obvious connection to his role in Andor, but the contrast between these two periods of his life is heartrending. It used to be that working backstage, so to speak, was a source of peace and serenity; but we know that between this moment and that future, those very concepts will be torn apart.

I know that I keep repeating "I love this", but yes, I love everything about this fic, and these two sentences have everything I love. The wording, for one: all those happy terms, "glow", "colourful", "pride", "delight"; this is truly the peak of Regin's career as a Jedi, and again, the contrast with the future is so extremely sad. In a warped way, this reminded me of the very last scene of Andor, when Luthen looks at Cassian appraisingly – there's an element of that pride, of "I read this person right", but it's all channeled towards bitterness and resentment and rage and the perspective of causing mayhem and death

More generally, I just loved how you showed Regin's appreciation for teaching. Again, in a warped way, we see him in a similar role in Andor, mentoring Cassian but also Vel and putatively Kleia, and it's indeed the sign of a good teacher to recognise the work of his students. I expect that Kleia will find herself in an inverted version of the role of In’keri Sini when she meets Regin/Rael, and that we will see them grow and learn from each other.

And this ending... my heart! An aspect I haven't commented about yet is how sheltered Regin's existence appears to have been during his teaching years. There's a mention of a Jedi death earlier in the story, and he was there to step in; but staying away from Senate missions did keep him away from the uglier aspects of life out in the wide galaxy. It's such a brutal transformation of his life here – becoming a general, leading a campaign, witnessing the death of his padawan, whom you very aptly described as a child earlier... and suddenly, the benevolent Master of Relics is already on his way to becoming the hardened Rebel leader, before the need for a Rebellion is even there.

I can't promise that I'll be able to make the time for such detailed reviews on every entry, but you can take the fact that this review is considerably longer than the story itself as a sign of appreciation Now I'm going to sit over there and wait for more.

 

This is wonderful. I love the idea of a Master of Relics; of course there would be archivists like this. (I wonder if Luthen ever worked with a young Lor San Tekka....)
The tone you use, where Luthen is happily puttering around in the artifacts, taking one padawan student teacher after another, until the wars begin to matter and intrude: Mato, who becomes his padawan because Mato's original master died in combat but the death just seems a side note; then he acquires another padawan under military circumstances:

There seems to be a sense of bemusement at the absurdity of being called General when he is at heart a schoolteacher, and to have a child commander.

Then the gravity of the situation hits his heart, and he can't retreat to the classroom or the archives any more: His last padawan

He has had his first brutal loss, the lively, creative, bright-eyed young woman, killed for what? Nothing remains but ashes.

Brilliant writing that shows how the war cannot be ignored and the losses will hit everyone, Luthen included.

 

I'm not usually into 2nd person POV, but I love your choice to use it for Luthen. It fits very well with his character's voice and with his sense of being separated from himself by living dual identities in order to fight the Empire and leave his trauma unhealed.

You capture so much about him in this short passage: his intellect and humility, as well as the source of his will to fight the Empire by any means necessary. He knows that the Empire is about more than violence; it is about destroying culture, knowledge, and truth itself. As an archaeologist/archivist/historian, he knows the pattern of events that comes with this type of government, and it makes sense that he sees what is happening and becomes one of the first to lay the groundwork for the Rebellion.

I love that you show why his disguise as an antiques dealer is so good; in many ways, it is who he is. The difference is that, instead of explaining the wonderous history of each artefact for the purpose of teaching, he does it ostensibly to make a sale.

I'm always happy when a writer can show that a Jedi can have a fulfilling, emotionally complex life without breaking the Code or constantly seeking an adrenalin high.

I appreciate that you show how traumatic and unnatural the Clone Wars would be to most of the Jedi and the Order itself. War fits so poorly with their apprenticeship tradition that they end up with young teens serving on battlefields. I can see how Luthen might feel that he has morally compromised himself simply by being involved in it, yet is compelled to do his duty and sees no other choice. I love that you show him refusing help in building his padawan's pyre, implying that he is bearing full moral responsibility for this terrible outcome. He has "made [his] heart a sunless place" long before the fall of the Republic.

Fantastic work, and I'd love to read more of your Luthen.

 

Love this. I agree with you about Andor, it is the best of the best of Star Wars and felt so much like old Legends. I didn't realize how much I missed Coruscant until the show went there, and with Mon Mothma, to boot? SO MUCH HTTE FEEL. Anyway, Luthen was definitely one of the standouts of the show (which is saying a lot, considering this show gave us four amazing monologues). I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with him here.

 

Beautiful opening, Mira. It's like coming home reading your words. I really enjoy how you incorporate both Luthen's love of history and its relics with his reserved and eventual steely demeanor. Excellent work!

 

Which is an important role, too. I really like that this character isn't the typical 'warrior' Jedi.

I love the brightness in this line!

And it makes the next lines hit even harder:

Such powerful writing. The way you state it so plainly makes the situation and the events sound even more horrible, because it's so...matter-of-fact? Like, that's just the way it is, the trauma and the horror just become a normal part of life. I don't know if that makes any sense, but these lines really struck me and it's just really amazing writing.

And this is another powerful line.

I'll admit, I'm not very familiar with Andor and its characters (I've only seen a couple episodes but it's on my list, along with Bad Batch Season 2 and House of the Dragon, to be watched after Ahsoka ). But I'm definitely intrigued now. This was a really great read and I look forward to any future instalments!

 

I have not seen Andor yet (it's one of many New Canon things in the to-be-read/watched pile) but you've done a fantastic job of showing this part of Luthen's character and past in so few words. I really felt a kinship for him, since I am likewise someone who likes to go down research rabbit holes and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet.

And it's so sad to see him first grow into a proud and caring tutor of multiple apprentices, only to have that come crashing down when he loses his apprentice pretty much immediately in the Clone Wars. We don't see it a lot in TCW (because it is kids' media, so they're not going to kill off all the kid characters!) but it does seem all too likely to me that a lot of those young apprentices thrown into war would become casualties before they even had the chance to try and adapt.

This was just devastating, and the fact that it's presented so briefly at the end makes it hit all the harder. This was something that none of Luthen's life up to then had prepared him for at all. And the way that it's all broken down into a handful of details really emphasizes the horror that he felt; it's like that is all that he could bear to process of the events.

 

Well, I'll fully admit that my headcanon is the opposite of yours; my only strong theory about Luthen's background is that he is not a Jedi But regardless of what season two may tell us, this is a compelling possibility and you write it beautifully

I really like seeing Jedi in noncombatant roles. Everyone's used to seeing them fight, but the reality is that the OT and the PT both focus on unique times of crisis and conflict that were very far from typical. And, of course, because stories require conflict (and because so many characters and scenarios that the audience already knows and loves come from those two trilogies, thus making further stories that are connected to them in some way a safe bet for writers and producers), so too do the shows and books usually focus on times when the Jedi are involved in some form of fighting. However, the old Jedi Order had its own established and near-self-sufficient community, with a long history, its own educational system, etc. This was something that Jocasta Nu's brief appearance in AotC really helped convey: she was a full Jedi, but she was also a librarian, not a warrior. I like seeing stories that examine this aspect of the Jedi Order.

This sounds exactly like Luthen

And so does this (Also, hello, yes, relatable intellectual introvert Jedi who just wants to do his job quietly, tyvm)

All these little snippets are so vivid despite their brevity; I can feel a whole story within just these two sentences.

The whole fall of the Order was a complex thing years - decades, maybe centuries - in the making; an organization that entrenched and established doesn't crumble unless it's already riddled through with cracks by the time the final blow comes. But the Jedi allowing themselves to become truly soldiers rather than guardians was a very effective way to show how those cracks had begun to manifest, and TCW really stepped it up a notch by showing that they even took their children to the front lines with them. Child soldiers are never justifiable, and frankly, a Force-sensitive child surrounded by - and forced to help create - pain and fear and death is likely to be even more adversely affected than an ordinary child. (As, I'd argue, Barriss Offee's arc helped to show.)

Welp But again, this relatively succinct section says so much: the personal trauma of loss and death, the Force feeling different as the Jedi fall farther from where they should be and how no one quite sees why that is, the chosen isolation to avoid further trauma, and almost a feeling of resignation, that there is no other way and nothing else left, which leads to him (along with everyone else) going even farther down the wrong path without even realizing it. Beautifully done, as always

 

I'm similarly in the camp that Luthen is not an ex-Jedi, but I have to admit the appeal is very easy to see. (We never did find out more about that mysterious object that Saw's men were so curious about... Jedi or no Jedi, I do wonder if it could be a lightsaber.) This is about as perfect a Jedi Luthen backstory as there could be. I can picture it so well. It ties so neatly into the man we see in Andor— a man with a deep love of historical artifacts, a man who prefers to take on the role of a mentor rather than lead on the battlefield. The Odyssey reference is extremely appropriate— that word polytropos can be translated many ways, and I feel most of them apply perfectly to Luthen, including the phrasing you've selected here. "Many ways" also hints at his departure from the Jedi Order, forced to become something new in the wake of its fall, to find another way. Very interested to see the continuation of this story if there ever is one.