That scene in Mulan where all the ancestors are arguing about whose fault it was that Mulan ran off to join the army except with all the Force ghosts arguing about Ben Solo.
Obi-Wan: I knew it, I knew it. That Ben was a troublemaker from the start.
Padme: Don’t look at me, he gets it from Anakin’s side of the family!
Anakin: He’s just trying to help his Dark Master!
Yoda: If discovered, he is, forever shamed, will Luke be. Dishonor, to the family will come. Disintegrate, traditional values will!
Qui-Gon: Not to mention they’ll lose the farm!
Mace: My children never caused such trouble; they all became acupuncturists!
StarWars.com has the details today on the baton-spinning First Order stormtrooper that the internet has adopted as one of The Force Awakens‘ most prevalent memes.
Though he’s been dubbed TR-8R, his real name (‘name’) is FN-2199, aka Nines. As often speculated, he’s one of Finn’s former squadmates, and we first met him in Greg Rucka’s Before the Awakening, which details some of Finn’s pre-Jakku life and training.
The character was voiced by Skywalker Sound’s David Acord, and played by stunt performer Liang Yang.
okay but seriously: what if Finn is the revolution
what if the story gets around the barracks in whispers – you know a stormtrooper can’t scratch an itch without everyone knowing – and some of the whispers are horrified (treason, betrayal, a trooper gone rogue) but others are trembling with hope. he wouldn’t kill for them! he stole a ship and they couldn’t stop him and he’s free!
and suddenly the AWOL rate spikes as stormtroopers on assignment see their chance and slip away into the night. I could find my family. I could live a normal life. I never have to hurt anyone again.
but there are a few who stay, too. they cautiously seek out others like themselves. they work out codes and signals. at first it’s just the rank and file, but then a disaffected squad leader tells them about a conversation between officers that he wasn’t supposed to hear. and so the conspiracy spreads.
hardly anyone remembers Finn’s number, but every last one of them knows who he is. he’s the one who got out. he’s the one who wouldn’t kill for the Order.
two years later, when the conspirators seize a capital ship and deliver it to the Resistance, the captain asks if her crew can meet “the stormtrooper who made it out.” He was the first, she explains. We all should have known it was wrong, but he was the one who showed us.
General Organa smiles – it’s too rare a sight, these days – and thinks maybe now he’ll understand just what a miracle he is.
I love that this post inspired a couple of fanfics already
