Just because two people aren’t romantically involved doesn’t mean they can’t be super important to one another.
Just because two people are super important to one another doesn’t mean they have to be romantically involved.
It is okay to love people deeply without wanting to be with them romantically and people should not make your friendship uncomfortable by consistently nagging you to date.
Let’s appreciate and support friendships and stop demanding people to have feelings they don’t have.
Here are snippets from the TLJ novelization discussing Rose’s development of the baffler, a device that hides energy signatures to make ships harder to detect, and its role in Holdo’s plan with the transports.
The novelization follows up from Cobalt Squadron by Elizabeth Wein, the book that goes into much more detail about Rose and Paige’s time with the titular bomber squadron and how Rose used the baffler in action. In Rose’s last conversation with Paige, it is revealed that Rose has been tapped to help other mechanics adapt the technology she built so it can be deployed across the Resistance.
This is the reason Rose and Paige were separated and why Rose, who was previously the flight engineer on the bomber Cobalt Hammer, was not on board with Paige when it was destroyed in the dreadnought run. Actually I’m not sure why Rose couldn’t still board Cobalt Hammer. She wasn’t replaced as Hammer’s flight engineer as far as I can tell. Did they not need a flight engineer for the bombing run?
I’m calling bullshit on Rose no longer being needed on the Ninka after the techs learned from her. If Rose was not needed on Hammer anyway, why couldn’t she stay on Ninka to help adapt the technology? In Cobalt Squadron Rose and the entire team of bomber flight engineers were forever sweating to get the baffler, a very new and finicky technology, working right under intensive conditions. The bugs were getting ironed out during Cobalt Squadron, but it doesn’t seem plausible that everything was ready to go within a few hours on adapting this new tech outside its original setting. New and untried tech doesn’t… work like that. There’s always something to trip you up.
So instead of staying on to help the deployment of the technology she built, Rose is transferred back to the Raddus where she is just in time to witness her sister’s death and where she has so little to do that she’s relegated to “doing droidwork.”
What the FUCK in Cobalt Squadron Holdo directly addresses Rose by NAME to personally
request she come on board the Ninka. But a couple days later she forgets
who Rose is? Holdo even tells Rose the Ninka is desperately short on techs, and yet
Rose in TLJ was transferred back to the Raddus where she had nothing better to
do than tase people? What fuckery is this?
Also, Holdo in
Cobalt Squadron is actually a decent leader who inspires people with her
speech in the wake of Hosnia’s destruction, and Rose is impressed by
her. Why would Rose, only a day or two later, decide to go off and do whatever the hell she wants, fuck Holdo? There’s no consistency here.
The only way I can reconcile this in-universe is that familiarity bred some serious contempt and Rose decided in the hours she spent on the Ninka that Holdo is a horrible boss and worse human being. TLJ totally backs her on this, probably unintentionally.
The doors to the turbolift opened to the sound of the Emperor’s cackles. “Tied onto a string indeed,” he muttered to himself. Piett glared at Darth Vader as they crossed paths.
“Do you know why I keep such a rabid cur in such a place of power?” asked the Emperor softly, the doors having barely closed behind Piett. “A cur’s weakness, properly manipulated, can be a powerful tool.”
Darth knelt at the foot of the stairs where the Emperor day on his throne. “My master.”
“Lord Vader.” Palpatine rose from his throne. “When I found you, I saw… power. Unlimited… power. And beyond that… something truly special.”
Palpatine’s yellow eyes regarded Vader’s black mask. “The potential of your conception… a child of the Force. A dark lord of the Sith, a power rival to none, the strongest weapon in the galaxy.”
The Emperor slowly shook his hooded head. “Now… I’m afraid I was mistaken… about a great many things.”
“That is impossible,” said Darth. “I have dedicated everything to your service.”
The Emperor sneered. “Take off that pitiful little mask.”
There was a pause, then Darth reached up and unhooked the mask from his suit. With a click, it came free. Dark brown hair tumbled from it, framing a face with a long scar running across a striking blue eye. Darth’s lip trembled with a tranquil fury that threatened tears, but the tears did not come. They were hidden behind his furious, handsome eyes.
“Yes…” Palpatine murmured softly. “The face of Anakin Starkiller. You have the heart of a Jedi… and the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
“I destroyed Obi-Wan Kenobi!” protested Darth. “I waited eagerly for the moment when I could strike him down!”
“And look at you now!” Palpatine snarled. “The deed threw your mind into confusion! You were defeated by a common smuggler and a boy who had never used the Force! The Death Star was destroyed, and Yoda lives! You… have… failed!”
Darth lunged at his master, but sparks flew and knocked him back. Indigo lightning leapt from Palpatine’s fingers as the Emperor struck and struck again, sending electricity pulsing through Darth’s muscular body with every burst. Palpatine’s teeth were bared as his eyes blazed with fury. Darth screamed and moaned until Palpatine ceased, standing with his fingers hanging in the aftermath of the outburst. Smoke curled from Darth’s armor.
“As long as the Jedi remain in the galaxy,” said Palpatine, “hope lives. Virtue lives. Freedom lives. Goodness… lives. I thought you would be the one to crush it once and for all.”
The Emperor sat in his throne. “Unfortunately, you are no Sith.” He shook his head. “You’re only a child… in a mask.”
In the turbolift, far from Palpatine’s prying eyes, Darth stared at his helmet. Fury boiled inside him.
“It’s all Palpatine’s fault!” he shouted. He threw his helmet against the wall. “He’s holding me back!”
Darth kicked his helmet viciously, denting it. His brown locks hung in front of his angry reddened eye as he breathed hard, chest heaving.
The turbolift doors opened and Darth Vader stormed out, leaving his helmet on the floor. “Prepare my ship.”
Luke stopped. Standing there in the fog was a short, green creature in robes with his back turned, gazing at the swamp.
Luke’s eyes widened. It was Yoda.
The Jedi Master Ben’s voice had told him about. The Jedi Master who had ushered in an era of peace in the Republic, before the Empire seized control.
Trembling, Luke approached the Jedi.
Yoda turned and looked up. He stared at Luke, his green brow furrowed with surprise.
Luke pulled out his lightsaber and extended it to the Jedi.
Yoda stared at it and took it in his tiny green hands.
Yoda looked down at the saber, marvelling at it. His green eyes widened. He had not seen the weapon of a Jedi in almost nineteen years.
Yoda chucked the saber into the bog and hobbled away.
Luke stood aghast. He looked between Yoda and the bog, then walked over and picked up the lightsaber. He shooed away the scaly bat-birds that were investigating it.
Luke dashed after Yoda, who was giggling to himself as he hopped along on his stick.
Yoda was incredibly fast for a little old gremlin. He hopped in his boat and paddled across the swamp.
Luke groaned. How could he follow him?
Luke saw a vine hanging over the swamp. He closed his eyes and pulled it to him with the Force, using it to swing across the muddy pond.
He dashed after Yoda, who was holding a spear over the water. Yoda speared a giant worm out of the swamp and pulled out the spear. He looked Luke dead in the eye and began slurping up the worm headfirst. The worm disappeared further and further into Yoda’s belly and still he slurped. It continued to emerge from the swamp as he slurped and slurped.
Just when Luke was wondering just how long the worm was, Yoda bit it off and sardonically held the bloody, wriggling stump out to Luke. Luke made a face of disgust and Yoda dropped the half-eaten snake back into the swamp. The bat-birds cawed across the bog.
Yoda galloped across the swamp, flipping and twirling in the air as he went. He squeezed under a root and disappeared into the tree.
Luke ran up to the tree. He cried out as his boots splashed in soupy mud. He bent down over the entrance to the little hut. “Master Yoda!” he called.
“Go away!” shouted the Jedi master in a shrill, raspy voice.
“I won’t leave here,” Luke protested. “Ben sent me!”
“Hm? Ben? Know him I do not,” Yoda huffed. Luke could not see him. He appeared to be hiding crouched behind one of the earthen columns of his abode, sulking.
“Master Kenobi! Obi-Wan!” Luke yelled. “I’m Luke Skywalker! I’m here to be trained as a Jedi!”
“No more Jedi will I train,” Yoda replied. “Home you must go.”
“I’ve come all this way,” said Luke. “I’m from the Rebellion. Master Obi-Wan sent me. We need your help.”
“No more Jedi will I train,” Yoda repeated. “Came here to die I did. Away you must go.”
Luke turned and sat in the mud, brooding. He looked up. Artoo was completely drenched in mud, beeping.
“What is that sound?” asked Yoda.
Artoo beeped emphatically.
“R2?” inquired the Jedi. His pointy-eared head poked out from the entrance of his hut. “R2-D2?”
Artoo beeped.
“Doing here, what are you?” asked Yoda.
Artoo began to issue a stream of explanatory beeps.
Yoda’s ears drew back with alarm. “Wait,” he croaked. “Where is Obi-Wan?”
Han walked into the hangar. Leia was there, holding a blaster.
Han leaned against the wall. “What are you doing here?”
“Admiral asked me to guard the hangar,” said Leia. “People trying to desert. I’ve had to stun four people so far.” She patted her blaster.
Han sucked in his lip and nodded, trying to act casual. “Cool.” He started walking away, towards the Falcon.
“Can you believe there are people trying to desert?” asked Leia, walking with him. “It sickens me, how disloyal they are.”
“Oh yeah, just sickening,” Han agreed.
“I mean, after we destroyed the Death Star,” Leia rambled. “You’d think they’d have a little more hope. The admiral knows what he’s doing.”
“Uh-huh,” said Han, winding his way around the hangar, trying to give her the slip.
“I’m just glad you and Chewie aren’t deserters,” said Leia. “At first it seemed like you were, but now…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Han waved. “Happy to help.”
Leia became quiet. “My friend Holdo died in that attack run.”
“I’m sorry,” said Han, not knowing what else to say to get her off his back.
“She was full of hope,” Leia reminisced. “We were like sisters. She gave me this japor snippet from Alderaan. I have half and she has the other. Had.”
Leia pulled out the snippet and looked at it. Absently, she walked directly in front of Han, blocking his way into the Falcon.
“Would you mind going back to your business so I can go back to mine?” Han snapped.
“And what is your business?” asked Leia, raising an eyebrow. “What are you trying to do?”
Han stopped. “Well, I…”
“Boarding the Falcon,” said Leia, slowly realizing Han’s intentions, “with a packed bag.”
“Now gimme just a second to explain, your worsh–” Han started.
Leia aimed and fired. Blue rings shot into Han’s crotch and arced through his body. He grunted as he fell to the floor, stunned. His body sizzled as he lay unconscious.
Leia stood over him, glaring. “You’re just like the others,” she spat.
Here are snippets from the TLJ novelization discussing Rose’s development of the baffler, a device that hides energy signatures to make ships harder to detect, and its role in Holdo’s plan with the transports.
The novelization follows up from Cobalt Squadron by Elizabeth Wein, the book that goes into much more detail about Rose and Paige’s time with the titular bomber squadron and how Rose used the baffler in action. In Rose’s last conversation with Paige, it is revealed that Rose has been tapped to help other mechanics adapt the technology she built so it can be deployed across the Resistance.
This is the reason Rose and Paige were separated and why Rose, who was previously the flight engineer on the bomber Cobalt Hammer, was not on board with Paige when it was destroyed in the dreadnought run. Actually I’m not sure why Rose couldn’t still board Cobalt Hammer. She wasn’t replaced as Hammer’s flight engineer as far as I can tell. Did they not need a flight engineer for the bombing run?
I’m calling bullshit on Rose no longer being needed on the Ninka after the techs learned from her. If Rose was not needed on Hammer anyway, why couldn’t she stay on Ninka to help adapt the technology? In Cobalt Squadron Rose and the entire team of bomber flight engineers were forever sweating to get the baffler, a very new and finicky technology, working right under intensive conditions. The bugs were getting ironed out during Cobalt Squadron, but it doesn’t seem plausible that everything was ready to go within a few hours on adapting this new tech outside its original setting. New and untried tech doesn’t… work like that. There’s always something to trip you up.
So instead of staying on to help the deployment of the technology she built, Rose is transferred back to the Raddus where she is just in time to witness her sister’s death and where she has so little to do that she’s relegated to “doing droidwork.”
Let me get this straight, they’re so busy that they didn’t have a job for an experienced mechanic? How does that even make sense? And then, of course, there’s the setup for Rose and Finn’s meet-electrocute where they insult her skills still farther by handing her a taser and the order to stun deserters.
Remember, this order HAS to have come from Holdo or someone under her command because the Raddus’s senior officers are dead, Leia is in a coma, and Holdo has taken over.
To summarize so far: Holdo requested Rose come aboard the Ninka to teach her techs the baffler technology, then decides that a few hours in hyperspace are more than enough to figure out and adapt this new tech and its creator is no longer necessary. Holdo then takes command of the Raddus but doesn’t do shit to make use of Rose again because evidently there’s no point in making sure the baffler technology runs perfectly, guided by the person who made it.
I mean, why would Holdo want Rose to supervise the technology she built? It’s not like Holdo was using the baffler for any vital plan that was central to saving the Resistance or anything-
OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE. Holdo used Rose’s baffler tech for the shuttles that the entire surviving Resistance’s LIVES depended on. And yet the inventor of that technology, who was on THAT VERY SHIP, was never called to help fine-tune the technology and didn’t even KNOW of the plan, so that she inadvertently worked at cross-purposes with it.
WHY would Holdo not tap Rose to make sure the bafflers would work correctly? Rose knew that tech inside out. She had supervised and taught engineers to deploy the baffler technology. She got anxiety from the possibility that the tech might not work correctly and cost lives, and worked like hell to make sure it worked. You leave someone like that out of your plan? Leaving this precious resource untapped just so you can keep your cards close to your chest for no fucking reason?
Holdo stans have defended her refusal to tell Poe or anyone about the plan, saying she didn’t owe anyone an explanation. Sure seems like shitty leadership, but let’s say for the sake of argument that she didn’t have to tell them. What’s the reason for leaving out Rose, the technician who invented the technology the whole plan depended on? Does this look like the actions of a leader who cares about maximizing the chances of success and giving everyone the best chance at survival?
No, Holdo shows a consistent pattern of keeping secrets to the detriment of the mission, sowing fear and distrust among her crew, not even caring enough to tap the right person to make sure the crucial piece of technology for her plan is foolproof. Again, the baffler was a new technology that had been adapted out of its original setting within a day ago. The person who knew it better than anyone was right on board the ship Holdo commanded, but Holdo didn’t give a shit.
Holdo should have been all over Rose’s ass to make sure nothing could go wrong with the bafflers. She should have been inspiring and reassuring her crew by letting them know exactly what she was going to do and putting all their efforts behind it, giving them hope that they would survive and light the spark of resistance across the galaxy. Instead she turned people against her by demanding they take her on faith alone, and set adrift without a sense of purpose or control some of her best people ended up unknowingly sabotaging her plan.
People whose names she didn’t even know, by the way.
Rose’s history with the baffler and Holdo is yet more confirmation that Holdo didn’t actually care about the mission. She cared about gaining a sense of power by disempowering people in her command, and she cared about her false sheen of modesty. This is terrible leadership on every level, and the narrative of TLJ is disingenuous in demanding that we see her as a heroic figure who was right about everything.
Me: Forget the sequel trilogy. I’m sticking with the original six.
My brother: Original SIX?
Me: Yep.
My brother: You can’t group the prequels and originals together like that.
Systems are built and run by people, though, and I think the dichotomy between individual and systemic racism is a little simplistic. For that matter, can there be a non-racist person in a racist system? If anything the divide is between people who are willing to confront racism, both systemic and individual, and those who loudly deny the existence of racism while it goes on unchecked. It’s not a divide between good people who have zero racist biases and bad people who run around wearing hoods and shouting racist slurs. I’d say racism is very much alive, nowhere as much as in the people who loudly proclaim its death.
L.J.'s Obsessions 