A Simple Story – The Legend of Kanan Jarrus #RebelsRemembered

Hullo again, friends!

It’s been a while since The Elven Padawan has brought you anything new in the form of reading or listening material, but today we’re reemerging from the darkness to celebrate #RebelsRemembered: the anniversary of the finale of Star Wars Rebels, one of the best shows to ever grace our television screens and one of special significance to us here at TEP.

Not long ago, my good friend Lusa (who is also a huge supporter of TEP), told me she had something very special she’d written up in honor of Rebels, and particularly the character Kanan Jarrus. She sent it to me, wondering if I’d like to publish it here on the TEP blog, and once I read it I couldn’t wait to share it with you all!

So here it is: a special piece for #RebelsRemembered in honor of Kanan Jarrus, one of the greatest Jedi to live throughout the entirety of the Star Wars franchise. – Shay


A Simple Story

by Lusa

(A/N: I can’t take full credit for this. Shay actually started it on a chat group we’re in together, and I loved it and wrote more. Just wanna make sure she gets some credit!)

It was a small Jedi youngling named Caleb who first gave Obi-Wan the idea of recalibrating the signal to tell the Jedi to go into hiding.

A small Jedi Padawan who soon found himself receiving that message.

A small Jedi Padawan who found himself running through a forest, scared to death, completely alone and confused with his entire life and everything he had ever known crashing down around him.

A small Jedi Padawan who grew into a man.

A man who went for years with no purpose and no hope.

A man, once a small Jedi youngling, still alone but no longer frightened… or at least, not allowing himself to acknowledge fear.

A man, who after years of running through that forest, the forest of pain and bitterness, found himself with a home.

A man who became a leader.

A man people knew as Kanan.

A man who found himself in love. Real, true love. Not the kind that says it is love but walks away. Not even the kind that his Jedi master had given him as that small Jedi Padawan.

A man who sacrificed himself for that love. That love, and the love of his adopted family.

A family that was more real than any biological family could ever be.

A man — Caleb Dume, Kanan Jarrus — who found the moment in which he was most needed.

It had started in a lecture from Obi-Wan.

It grew into a simple story about a fallen knight.

No one ever thought it would end the way it did.

He found his purpose beyond what anyone ever imagined.

A simple story.

A small Jedi youngling named Caleb.

A fallen and risen knight named Kanan.

He became the spark that would light the fire that would burn the Empire down.

Join the Dark Side: An Exploration of Fictional Villains

One of the reasons I love fictional stories so much is that they remind me that Good will always win, no matter how hopeless the situation looks. But for it to do that, the characters need to be up against others who are constantly trying to stop them and discourage them. Sometimes, I feel like the bad guys of a story get foiled a little too easily, and while the “dumb sidekick/villain” character can be funny, I don’t enjoy seeing them very often. That’s not the kind of opposition we face in our daily lives. In this post, I’m going to talk about ways certain fictional bad guys stand out, whether all are redeemable, and ways writers have made me like some of them, even if I don’t agree with their actions. 

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brOTPs 4ever: The Best Fictional Friendships

My fangirl friends and I spend a good deal of time talking about our favorite ships, or how much we love the father-son relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker, but today I’m here to talk about a different kind of relationship: the best friend kind. I feel like this kind of awesome relationship can get a little overlooked in the middle of all the other kinds of relationships. Not that I don’t love talking about the other kinds of dynamics, but friendships are really important and deserve more attention. In a way, any healthy relationship could be considered a BrOTP (the fandom term for a best-friend pairing,) in that they all involve teamwork and loving another person. And whether characters were immediately kindred spirits or unlikely comrades, every friendship requires hard work, but every friendship is worth it.

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“But I Can Carry You”: A Star Wars: Bloodline Fanfiction

Suprise!! It’s a completely random mid-week post, a special treat for you!!

I’ve actually got something super special that I’ve never done for TEP before for ya today, and that is… a fanfiction!! This is a little thing that I wrote shortly after reading Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: Bloodline.

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My Favorite People in A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Obsessing over fictional characters is one of my favorite things to do. Their sacrifices and heroism inspire me, and their mistakes teach other lessons while making me love them more because I can often relate to their weak moments. I like analyzing why they make the choices they do in order to understand them better, which also helps me empathize with other people. Sometimes I can easily tell who is going to be my favorite character as soon as I see them, other times it takes a while for them to grow on me. But once I decide I love a character, it’s not often I change my mind. My list of favorite characters is very long, so in this post, I will be limiting it to a few of my favorites from the Star Wars universe. And these are in no particular order of favorites because it is very hard for me to rank characters, other than Leia, Han, and Luke who are usually my top favorites.

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Real Heroes

Two characters I am constantly having to defend from being spoken against are Frodo Baggins and Edmund Pevensie. People will say they don’t like Frodo because Sam had to get him out of some tight spots, or because he wouldn’t throw the Ring into Mt. Doom when he finally arrived. Or they won’t look past Edmund’s attitude and actions at the beginning of his journey. They tend to look at their weak points and decide that these characters aren’t as heroic as their friends, like Peter or Sam. But I believe that ALL of these characters are examples we should follow and that Frodo and Edmund show us something about being a hero the others do not.

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Thoughts on Solo: A Star Wars Story

My first reaction to Solo was the same as my initial reaction to Rogue One, Rebels, and even to Star Wars itself. “Nah, that doesn’t look interesting.” Since I have been proven majorly wrong on all three of the past accounts, I have decided to give Solo a chance before deciding where I truly stand on it. In this post, I will talk about some of my concerns, as well as some things I’m looking forward to in the next Star Wars film.

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Ezra Bridger, Hope of Lothal

Even though the adventures of the Ghost crew have ended for the moment, I’m definitely not ready to stop talking about them. As I thought through everything that happened with the last few episodes, I kept coming back to how stinking proud I am of our “Blueberry”. He’s changed so much, that when I go back and watch “Spark of  Rebellion”, he hardly seems like the same person. (Aside from his unique sense of humor and dorkiness, which will always be a part of him.) In this post dedicated to him, I want to go through some of the main ways he’s grown through the series and some of my favorite Ezra moments.

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A Farewell to Star Wars Rebels: part 1

In just a few days, the amazing show Star Wars Rebels will come to its conclusion.

We’ve had four seasons of the Ghost crew and their fight against the Empire, each member learning as they overcame challenges of all kinds together. I started watching this show only a year ago, and even though I know the Finale is going to be fantastic and well-thought out, I am extremely sad that it’s ending. It will be missed greatly. In honor of Rebels, the team of The Elven Padawan – Shay, Kitten, and I, Audrey – talk about our favorite characters, episodes, and why we love Rebels so much.

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