The Last Jedi: Lies and Heroism

Perhaps you've heard, a new Star Wars movie was released last week. I had a lot of different thoughts on it, so I figured I would share them with you, whoever you are.

I liked the movie overall. I accept that it had some flaws, but most/many of them I can justify and understand. The only thing that I can't really justify is the amount of attempted humor throughout the movie. I didn't think it was anywhere near as excessive as Thor: Ragnarok, but I also think it feels a bit more out of place when it does show up. I didn't really have a problem with it, since I felt like they placed it in okay places, but I know people who really did.

It's impossible to share the rest of my thoughts without spoilers, so consider this your SPOILER WARNING

If you do not want to see spoilers for The Last Jedi (and potentially other Star Wars movies), read no further. Bookmark or save this page, and come back when you have seen the movie. Seriously. I am going to spoil almost every major point or twist.

The Wrong Wolf

Image Copyright Disney 2015

I recently re-watched the movie Tomorrowland. Released in 2015, Disney's Tomorrowland is a very thematic movie that has a good message and, like most science fiction movies that aren't already a part of a major franchise, it was not a financial success.


I don't blame this entirely on the movie being science fiction. I liked it a lot, but I also accept that it's not a great movie. And while I like the theme and the message it's trying to send, I think it raises a very valid problem while its solution is somewhere in between too general and too implausible to be useful.


But that's only sort of tangential to the point. In the movie, the characters reference a "story" about two wolves. In real life, it's actually an old Cherokee Legend.

Place Clever Title Here

Hi.


A lot has happened since last time we talked.


I can remember telling you that I wasn't dead, nor was I dying, and now I've vanished for like two months. It's not very honest of me. Hopefully I'll do better, but I'm not sure what I can promise. It's often hard for me to know what to give.

The Toybox Closes

Last night, the Toybox closed for good. The campaign ended. The Toybox crew had found a portal to the realm from which Vinka had been assembling her universe-altering efforts. They were accompanied by knights riding Xi-Drakes, Aeon Priests, WRENCHes, and reality-bending flying entities from another planet.


As they traveled Vinka's realm, each ally was necessary against a particular challenge. The Xi-Drakes took on some flying monsters that acted in Vinka's defense. The Aeon Priests battled members of the Convergence and kept their esoteries from taking effect. The WRENCHes worked on a mechanical machine that was producing numerous automaton warriors. The aviators used their powers to hold back the Iron Wind itself.

Volos: An Offer of Help

I was talking to Gilthk the diruk when the woman known as Cherub approached me. “Iadace Volos, you’re getting the diruk to help in studying the Trilling Shard or maybe to help defend against the margr? I can help you out, no worries, you’ve got nothing to worry about us Ring of Deva at all. I’ve heard you’re the reserved type so I’ll just get to the point: We were ran out of our own village because an artifact we found mutated us. Since then we took some jobs to earn some shins and shelter while disguising our mutations with a special device I made. Unfortunately it broke at some point so we had to make use of disguise kits but here in Ellomyr, we don’t have to hide as much since there’s plenty of people here helping out who just don’t happen to conform to the human from. I see you have a hard time trusting people but right now, there are margr coming to kill us all. There’s nothing complicated about that at all and I’m pretty sure everyone’s too busy thinking of ways to save each other from the margr than they do on hurting each other. Can’t you see everyone trying to find a way to save Ellomyr, how my sister is asking Rihanur to better use the device against the margr? There’s still plenty of time so I can actually help you with anything you need, so long as it involves helping people and not hurting them.” Cherub smiled sweetly as she waited for a reply.


"Of course," I answered to Cherub's offer of help. It wasn't my shard or even my city, after all. "Like Rihanur, I also am trying to look at the Shard to see if it can be used against the margr. I think that this is one of many ways of trying to defend the city. I think there are plenty of other secrets within the area-who knows what among them might be able to be turned against the invading abhumans? I hope that some of this can be worked out." To the end of me solving my puzzles, I thought to myself. "It seems that you have skilled nanos with you. It makes sense to pool our efforts, to share what we can figure out and to utilize our command over the nanotech as a unified force. I am happy to have your help, and to offer my own."


Previous Entry: Helping Hands


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Volos: Helping Hands

It appears that I wasn't the only one who wanted to see if there were defensive capabilities of the Trilling Shard.

Rihanur, an extraterrestrial who wears some sort of mechanical armor, has already begun work on this same effort. I have offered to work with him in his efforts, hoping that we might pool together our power and knowledge. My knowledge extends to planes parallel to our own, but he may have knowledge of other planets and places far away within our own dimension. Rihanur has already attempted to climb the Shard, and is working on mechanical devices by which to access its inner power. This could prove valuable.

Volos: Better Defenses

The townspeople have begun to build up walls and ditches to defend themselves against the abhuman threat. I, personally, believed that there had to be something more productive than a wall or ditch that could be found.

To this end, I found myself once again in the town square, staring at the trilling shard. There were many stories in which it's vibrations had sent out shockwaves-destroying those it deemed as enemies; generally the monsters or clear villains of the story. And yet, no one knew how to make it work.

There is no such thing as magic, there are only machines. The Convergence had been very clear on that point. The shard was not a magical floating stone, it was a long ago discarded machine. Perhaps it didn't even have stone around the outside to begin with. Regardless, every machine had to have its function. If the stories were true, if the shard could be directed against foes, how could I activate it? What were the conditions necessary to cause the function to run-and run in a way that would specifically target the abhumans and not the townspeople nor the structures of the town itself-limited though they were.

Volos: Branches

Today the city was gathered in fear. A local glaive named Nieten, along with a group of newcomers to the town, reported swarms of abhumans gathering on the outskirts of town.

The beasts Nieten described were margr. Simple brutes, easily put down by anyone with training. Except that most of the villagers don't have training. I'm not much of a fighter myself.

If Ellomyr is to be wiped off the map by abhumans, can I find the answers I seek and get out before the destruction occurs? Or, perhaps, it would be easier to find what I'm searching for without so many people in the way...

I shook my head. These aren't my thoughts. These are the thoughts of the former Convergence member that I once was.