Introduction
Hello, loyal readers, and let me begin by apologizing for the lack of updates on stories you actually give a shit about. Something about being quarantined has completely killed my creative vibe (turns out it was depression! Figured that out between the first time I wrote this and editing! Fun!), and in an effort to get it back I assigned myself a project, working within an established (read: low-effort) framework to get myself in the groove. I decided to rewrite the sequel trilogy because the night before I started this my dad and I were arguing over what sucked more, the prequels or sequels. I say sequels, he says prequels, but I'm pretty sure it's an age thing. In any case, I then watched like five different videos bitching about The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker, and here we are!
Now you know why I'm working on this instead of what you came to my account to read, let me lay out the parameters behind this fic so you're not confused. First, and most importantly: fuck the canon of these movies. Force Awakens is the only one I can really tolerate, and even it's a pretty weak entry in my opinion. So, I scrapped everything but the characters and their basic attributes to do it my way. Speaking of characters, the only major changes I'm making to the characters themselves are as follows:
Finn is an experienced soldier, not a noob in his first battle. Personally, I don't think it makes sense that the First Order would send its obviously dubiously conditioned slave soldiers into battles where they have to commit war crimes right away. They would want them to adjust to the stressors of combat first.
Poe wasn't a criminal, but a soldier. That simple. They leaned way too hard on trying to make him the new Han, and it just… didn't work with how they characterized him.
Kylo Ren is nothing like he is in the movies. This is the big change character-wise. Please don't take this as me hating on Adam Driver's performance. I really like Driver, and think he, Natalie Portman, and Ahmed Best all wound up in the same boat: doing the best they could with a flaming shitbag of a script. Okay, this is going to be a long one, so I'm going to split it into parts.
My vision for the character: After the puppet master villain that was the Emperor and the hulking personification of evil that was Vader, I really wanted a kind of in between villain. Cold and tactical like Palps, but just as lethal as Vader in a different way. Vader was all about dramatics in how he handled himself, and my version of Kylo is the personification of quiet menace, not because of his physical appearance, but because of what he can do in spite of his appearance. To that end, he has been recast.
My recast: Kylo Ren is now played by Cillian Murphy, also known as Scarecrow from Batman Begins and Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders. My vision of the character is Cillian Murphy circa 2016, or around season three of the aforementioned TV show. I hope you'll understand this choice as the story progresses.
Other Kylo stuff: Will be revealed as the story progresses. I think that's all the stuff that's important to know before you start reading.
Other Information: This story is obviously non-Canon, and I reserve the right to pull in whatever I want from Legends. Solo didn't happen, as while a decent heist flick, it's nowhere near good enough to be the origin story of original gangster Han Solo. To be safe, I'm going to mention that I ignore all current canon on Mandalore in favor of Legends, though I'm undecided whether even a single Mando will appear in these rewrites or not. Hopefully I didn't forget something, though there are many things I left unsaid since they'll be obvious when you read the story. The next chapter will begin the story itself, hope you enjoy!