morgynleri:
jhaernyl:
But what if Mace Windu had trained Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master to Padawan?
*gives you a long Look* I do not need more AUs. And I already made Plo Koon Obi-Wan’s master in Green Fire.
*hums for a moment*
Depa had passed her Trials only a year before, and no one expected Mace to take another Padawan so soon, especially not when he’s been asked to be part of the High Council. Among the Initiates, there’s surprise – mostly happy, some bewildered, and a few furious – that he’s taken Obi-Wan as his Padawan. Especially after the last fight he had with Bruk, and the rumors that he was going to be sent to the Agricorps as just another wash-out.
Yoda is disappointed that his plans didn’t work, but there will be other Initiates to tempt his grand-Padawan with, to convince Qui-Gon to take up teaching again. Maybe one of the slightly younger Initiates who were part of Obi-Wan’s circle of friends.
Adi and Tahl and Micah are just glad it didn’t take more than a little bribery to get Mace to take on Obi-Wan. Now they just need to keep finding people they can bribe or blackmail – or take Padawans themselves – to keep others from falling prey to Yoda’s attempts to “help” Qui-Gon. He’ll take another Padawan when, and if, he’s ready.
Obi-Wan is slightly bewildered himself, but glad, so glad, that someone wanted him. He’d begun to think no one did, and it takes a few months for him to stop fiddling with the short braid tucked behind his right ear, and believe that it’s real.
Mace hadn’t needed the bribe to rescue Obi-Wan from Yoda’s plans for the boy to be taught by Qui-Gon, though he wasn’t above taking the opportunity to delegate most of his paperwork to others for the next year. He might even let them off the hook if the others take on Obi-Wan’s creche-mates as their Padawans, and remove them from the potential of Yoda’s meddling.
No, he’d seen what Xanatos’s Fall had done to Qui-Gon, and he didn’t have any desire to inflict that sort of borrowed trauma on a child. Obi-Wan may need better control of his temper, and a better handle on his emotions, but he doesn’t need to become someone else’s emotional crutch. Especially not because of a meddlesome old troll.
Although Mace isn’t above making Qui-Gon his deputy when he takes Obi-Wan on field work, and leaving the older man with all the frustration and headache of the paperwork of a Council seat. He does think Qui-Gon needs to stop trying to distance himself from the Order quite as much as he is.
Ahhh, this is all I want! (Not so, I lie – I want a lot of SW fics – but I do love this.) So much yes to all of it!
Yoda meant well, but no one individual – especially a child! – should be placed in a position where they are under implicit pressure to help prop up and heal someone else, particularly when that someone else is an adult. Nor should a child have to frequently act as someone else’s moral compass. This isn’t to say that being Qui-Gon’s padawan was a bad thing for Obi-Wan – on the contrary! they learned a lot from one another and cared deeply for one another and absolutely had their good times – but Qui-Gon also inadvertently exacerbated Obi-Wan’s insecurities a lot. He was still healing from Xanatos’ betrayal and wasn’t emotionally ready to become a full-time mentor to a child again, which led to him making some pretty appalling decisions wrt Obi-Wan *cough*Melida-Daan*cough*. Yoda would have been better off roping Qui-Gon into teaching some creche classes; it would have forced him out of his moping, would have reinforced the fact that the Order clearly didn’t blame him for Xanatos’ Fall and still trusted him, and it would have given him a way to interact with and benefit from the innocent enthusiasm of small children without making him solely responsible for their welfare. Spending time with the younglings might have eventually reminded him of the good times he had with his previous padawans… and possibly even led to him making a connection with one of said younglings and taking them on as his padawan of his volition.
Meanwhile, MACE. Yessss, give me all of the multi-faceted Mace Windu characterizations. Mace is stern and forbidding in his official position, certainly, but he is a good man and a deeply dedicated Jedi, and I’ve always felt that he has a wicked sense of humor hiding somewhere under that implacable mask. I have a serious weakness for fics where Mace acts as a mentor to Obi-Wan and/or they become friends.
Obi-Wan is incredibly devoted to Qui-Gon in canon, so imagine how he would be with a mentor who had always wanted him, who didn’t need to be bribed and begged and threatened in order to take him on, whom he didn’t need to offer to die for in order to prove his worth. I think there would have been some serious hero worship involved. Which isn’t to say that their path as Master and Padawan would have been without its roadbumps!
But what would a Mace-trained Obi-Wan look like?
I think he’d be more confident of himself and his place in both the Order and with his Master. Mace tends to be more by-the-book than Qui-Gon – especially after his promotion to the Council, whereupon I think he felt it his duty to set a good example – but would that have exacerbated Obi-Wan’s own traditionalist tendencies? Would Obi-Wan be even more rigid and judgmental than he is in canon? Or would the knowledge that his place was secure make him adhere less tightly to conservative ways since he would no longer feel that he had to constantly prove himself?
As someone who has been able to see Shatterpoints ever since he was a boy, I think Mace would understand Obi-Wan’s “bad feelings” better than Qui-Gon and be able to help Obi-Wan learn how to cope with them. While both Mace and Obi-Wan are strong in the Unifying Force, I’ve always interpreted Mace as being fairly strong in the Living Force too – he’d have to be, in order to use Vaapad – so I don’t think Obi-Wan’s education would be too one-sided.
Would Mace eventually train Obi-Wan in Vaapad as a method of emotional control? I think Obi-Wan would want to learn it, would want to imitate his mentor, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into Mace teaching it to him. It isn’t just a matter of trust, it’s simply that Vaapad isn’t meant for everyone. Different lightsaber forms will suit different Jedi. Honestly, I can see it going either way.
I… might have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this. 😉
*tilts head* Huh. I will have to think about that, and reblog this again later with how that might turn out. If I don’t just turn the thought into fic, but that would take longer.
And that could be either Anakin is taught by Obi-Wan after Obi-Wan had been taught by Mace, or it could be Anakin is Obi-Wan’s Padawan-brother, while Mace takes on teaching Anakin. Either one could be fun!
There's a Mirror on the Wall 