So I saw this post a few days ago, and it got me thinking about those who ended up in the Madre before the Courier arrived - what kind of people they were, how they responded to the dangers around them, how they died, what we might be able to guess about their lives based on what they left behind. The primary means of doing that is examining the graffiti, all of which is written in the same five sets of handwriting. I've sorted them based on who I believe wrote them and have tried to reassemble who these people might've been based on what they stopped to write on the walls.

Artist #1: the guy who really, really doesn't want to be here

This guy, who writes in all-caps with thick, frantic brushstrokes of dark red or black, is by far the most prolific graffiti artist in the Madre - there are multiple other pieces of graffiti he's left that I haven't included in this image. The first one you're likely to encounter is the crossed-out "ESCAPE" that's written on the boarded-up gate back to the wasteland which, along with the rest of the graffiti, indicates that despite wanting nothing more than to leave, he was trapped here against his will, probably as one of Dog's former victims. It doesn't take him long to figure out that leaving means death, and it seems he spent part of his remaining time scrawling fatalistic messages on the walls.

Interestingly, despite his understandable fear at being trapped in a place that wants to kill him, he's also eager to help you. Most of the black directional arrows that point to traps or danger are written in with the same bold, repeated lines that characterize his handwriting. In Salida Del Sol North, he's written "RUN RUN RUN" on the walls multiple times; these signs can help you navigate, since he's only written them along the path back to the Villa. No matter how scared he was, he stopped to identify the dangers and warn off anyone who might be unlucky enough to follow him. The last message, too, is a departure from the rest, and reads almost like a prayer: "CASINO LIGHTS / CARRY ME HOME."

Artist #2: the greedy asshole

This guy is possibly the least helpful of all the guys. He apparently entered as part of a team with agreed-upon shares of whatever treasure they might find, and is a crystal-clear example of the whole "selfishness will be your downfall!" moral that the DLC returns to again and again. All he ever does is reiterate the idea that the Madre's riches belong to him, and many of his signs are located near traps, presumably left for the people who accompanied him. It's ironic that his need to broadcast his intentions makes his traps less effective; his signs might've been meant as boasts or gloating, but they double as warnings that he's left a nasty present for you somewhere in the area.

Artist #3: the lover

This person has drawn only three pieces of unique graffiti. The Lover's Mark is obviously used to designate their stash locations, but they also leave two others behind. The first is this:

They've obviously left their <heart emoji> in the Sierra Madre, if by <heart emoji> they mean their stashes, but maybe they've left an actual person as well. Maybe the stashes were originally intended for someone else, but after that person died, they had a whole lot of supplies and no second party to use them.

The second unique piece of graffiti is a white arrow in the same ink and the same style, similar to the arrow they draw through all of their read hearts. You can find it pointing to some bear traps in the switching station close to a body that contains this note, titled "See you in hell asshole":

Hope you're about dead when you read this Sierra Madre out of reach
Could've had it all, followed that white-arrow-graffiti bastard down here
Left those beartraps as presents for you on trail hope you like them shithead
Hit my own tripwire you came to take what's mine??? Too bad, I got the last laugh
Speakers'll kill you before you get out then we'll settle things in hell
Sierra Madre's treasures's mine mine mine

This note, based on the tone and language, is probably from the asshole, who apparently showed up after the lover, found the path they indicated, and left beartraps intended for one of his former comrades. The arrows, possibly intended to guide the object of the lover's affection, were later repurposed by the asshole, who tried to kill someone he hated and was himself killed shortly afterward.

Artist #4: the helpful one

This one only has three messages, all written in a mix of upper and lowercase black lettering with red accents, and all unilaterally helpful; the one I haven't included is "tick, tick, tick" alongside an arrow pointing to a speaker that can set off your bomb collar. No begging for mercy, no expressions of fear, just two warnings and an instruction. Some of the others seem to have stopped to write down whatever happened to occur to them, but this one paused only to help you out.

Artist #5: the mourner

The first message of theirs that you're likely to read is "IF ANYONE FINDS THIS I'M SO SORRY YOURE HERE," which gave me goosebumps the first time I read it. Like the first guy, this person seems to not want to be in the Madre (so they're likely another kidnapping victim), and like him, they don't seem to have much hope of escaping. Unlike him, they don't seem afraid. They've lost someone - maybe to the Madre, maybe before they arrived - and they stop to draw a kind of memorial for that loved one. They're mourning you, too, expressing sympathy for someone they'll never meet, stopping to point out dangers on the slim chance you'll see their messages and make it out alive.

Of these five people, only one seems to have prioritized themselves to the detriment of others. Seems Elijah's claim that "Last ones couldn't see beyond their own greed" is complete bullshit. One man couldn't. Everyone else who was trapped here risked their lives to write epitaphs, thoughts, and warnings for the people who came after - for you.

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND, I DID NOT REALIZE -

the lighthouse/kraken motif/imagery is driving me up the wall guys… because ed thinks they’re a warning, and stede thought at first they guide people home, when in reality it’s both, and they both think they’re the monster… there’s this quote by ocean vuong that makes me screaming

I’ve honestly been a little surprised this week by the wide variety of reactions to Hera calling Kanan ‘Love’ in the Rebels season three finale.

This is my take:

Kanan and Hera’s canon relationship status is established from their very first scene together in the pilot, in which Hera calls Kanan—you guessed it, ‘Love.’

Hera continues to call Kanan 'Love’ or 'Dear’ repeatedly throughout the first season of the show as our heroes fight the Empire around their home base of Lothal and beyond. But then the season ends and so do the terms of endearment, vanishing entirely from her lips until we reach “Zero Hour.” (And we all collectively groaned “Whhhyyyyyyy????”)

This is where I think it gets interesting and says so much about Hera’s character. The real key, to me, is what happens at the end of season 1: the Ghost crew joins the Phoenix Squadron/greater rebellion—a move which was, first and foremost, Hera’s idea. And she quickly becomes a ranking member of the military group.

Suddenly, they are no longer just the space family roaming about solo anymore, they are part of something larger, and their missions, rather than being personal, are now professional, even when they are not with the rest of the fleet. Since before A New Dawn, Hera has been, is, and always will be devoted to and driven by her larger goals in life, and she quickly embraces the professionalism of her new role.

Thus, because we nearly always see Kanan and Hera in the company of others and on a mission, 'dear’ and 'love’ vanish from her public vocabulary. If you happened to work with your significant other (especially in a highly structured or professional environment), you wouldn’t call them 'babe’, hubby’, 'wifey’, etc. at work either.

Over the course of the next two seasons, Hera’s professionalism continues; she grows as a leader and her sense of command expands, until we reach the crisis of “Zero Hour.” The imperial bombardment rains down on Chopper Base, and we watch Hera’s expression shift from confidence/hope to a visceral fear/terror. Before the bombardment, she tells Kanan “You need to get back to base immediately"—a command, an order, properly phrased and neutral. But afterwards (and in front of General Dodonna, no less) that shifts to: “Now please, come home, Love.”

Originally posted by old-type-40

In the face of their mutual near death experiences, Hera drops her professional guard and for a single moment, they are just them. She’s Hera, and Kanan’s the man she loves, whose safety matters more than anything else in the galaxy. The moment is both minuscule and enormous. It’s just one slip, but it reassures us—it tells us that no matter where they go, what they do, or who they work with, Kanan and Hera are still Kanan and Hera.

Their private life may be private, but they are still as in love and devoted as ever. And this is beautiful to me.

I also want to note that her admission isn’t a weakness, in any way. Just a little while later, when Thrawn threatens Kanan to try to get Hera to surrender (certainly inferring the nature of their relationship himself), she stands as strong as ever.

Tough as durasteel and always in love with her Jedi, that’s my girl.

I haven't seen this scene discussed much, and it's weird because it sent chills down my spine when I first watched it.

Of course it's because it's straight after the confrontation with Izzie, but I don't think it's just that. Maybe it's the "Eddie" that is a bit too much. Maybe it's the chanting. But this is the sound of men who don't have an ounce of fear left of you, and MAYBE you thought they were caring and happy but WHAT IF they're actually just moking you? Are you a joke now? Are you ok with being a joke?

Maybe being the monster made of smoke with burning eyes, the ferocious pirate with nine guns on him, wasn't so bad after all.

@ubergeekmalfoy Yes! I saw that gif of "no one laughs at me" ready to go and kill everyone and I wanted to post it as a comment but Tumblr decided to make it impossible for me to find it and so in the end I gave up but YES.

There's a connection there, with him not being able to read the situation correctly when he was out of his element and probably now thinking "is this the same?"

The one thing he keeps is the picture of the lighthouse??? No hold on this gets way worse.

Not only is this a reminder of Stede, but think about their conversation about the painting of the lighthouse.

YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO AVOID LIGHTHOUSES. SO YOU DON’T GET YOURSELF HURT.

STEDE WAS THE LIGHTHOUSE: TO HIS FAMILY, TO HIS CREW, TO THE MAN HE LOVED. A BIG, SHINY GOLDEN CHILD WHO ENDED UP CRACKING THEM ON THE ROCKS. THAT’S THE MEMORY OF HIM THAT EDWARD KEEPS!! THE WARNING TO NEVER GET CLOSE AGAIN!!

AND THE LAST SHOT OF THE SEASON IS HIM ALONE, ON THE WATER, HAND SPLAYED UP ABOVE HIM.

EVERYONE BE QUIET. NO ONE TALK TO ME RIGHT NOW. I’M HAVING AN EMOTION.

You know, with all the language throughout Star Wars about “giving in” to the Dark Side, how the Dark Side makes you more powerful, how the Dark Side makes you age strangely and destroys you, it sure doesn’t sound like an “opposite side of the coin” so much as the “deeper end of the pool,” like it’s actually the true form of the force and being a Jedi is about keeping it tamed so it doesn’t eat you the way it actually wants.

the force is entropy

Eldritch Jedi pls

This is one of the reasons i love the second Knights of the Old Republic game, wherein one of the major characters (who defines herself neither as Jedi nor Sith) actually views the Force this way, saying  “I hate the Force. I hate that it seems to have a will, that it would control us to achieve some measure of balance, when countless lives are lost.”

It’s also the game that gave us the two most entropic, eldritch characters in the franchise: Darth Nihilus, whose dark-side-borne ability to feed on the Force and consume life itself has twisted him into a half-living “wound in the Force”, more presence than flesh

and Darth Sion, whose entire body is a ruin, his flesh nothing but ragged scar tissue, every bone and muscle broken and torn, kept animated by will alone as he forces himself, second by agonizing second, to exist

I wish there were more horrifying perspectives on the force like that

#the force is a horrorterror

This is one of the reasons the term “Light Side” never felt right to me, even before it was used in any official media; The Force always struck me more like an ocean than a binary concept: the deeper you go, the darker and more crushing it gets — at a certain point becoming an effectually consistent darkness — and while light filters down and fades for some distance, if there is a truly light “side” it’d be the surface.

Which isn’t to say “the Force is evil unless you flounder about near the top” — just that it’s a natural force, and as such is something you need to respect and be adequately prepared for. (Take electricity, for example: super awesome and pretty dang useful, but OH HOLY SMOKES don’t try and harness it unless you REALLY know what you’re doing!)

In this sense, being tempted by the Dark Side is less a case of “Hey, I wonder what’s on the other side of this coin it looks pretty cool haha oh whoops I’m Space Walter White now,” and more one of “The deeper into this thing you go, the harder you’ll need to fight to resist the ever-increasing pressure, to remain whole, even to just see whatever the heck you’re actually doing.”

(which is why Jedi training is so important: those padawans gotta build themselves a mental Deepsea Challenger!)

THIS META BLESSED ME

Okay but let’s suppose, for a moment, that the Force is actually malevolent.

That would make a lot of sense.

Consider, for a moment, an eldritch parasite. This ancient being feeds off of the life-force of other creatures. Not that unusual, as most living things also consume other living things, to various degrees. But this one is technically somewhat removed from the usual structures of biology. It is a passive and opportunistic predator, for the most part. Whenever a living being that is connected to it - however weakly - dies, it consumes part of its energy, and gets bigger.

As life in the galaxy flourishes, and time passes, this singular entity gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Like a catfish; the only limit to its growth is how much it can consume to fuel it. The larger it gets, the more it is able to sink its invisible claws into other living beings, until eventually there is hardly any life out there which hasn’t been ‘infected’ by it, and slated to become its spiritual dinner as soon as its biological form gives out.

And here we actually come to - of all things - the midichlorians. Which, the Jedi use to measure someone’s sensitivity to the Force, which works because midichlorians are the vehicle for the predatory parasite to infest living beings. The immune systems in some people begin to develop a certain degree of resistance to them, which is why some folks have more, and some have less, and this directly correlates to their Force sensitivity. The more midichlorians you have, the worse your immune system is at fending off the parasite.

The Force counters the risk of being bred out of subsequent generations by developing camouflage, and adapting itself into a more seemingly-symbiotic relationship with its prey.

What the Jedi see as the ‘light side’ of the Force, is a reflective layer that this predator has created via its connection to all living things. This network is the honey trap that encourages the beings still strongly connected to it, to spread that connection, because it affords them advantages while they are still alive. But its elements are comprised mostly of echoes and reflections of their fellow prey organisms. Force Ghosts that resemble the departed. Emotions that are transmitted along this layer and between individuals. Small amounts of power that can be siphoned off to impact the environment, and can also spread the Force to whatever living thing it comes into contact with.

This being is huge now, it needs a lot of juice in order to maintain its existence, let along continue to grow. And like most predators it’s willing to expend a certain amount of energy in order to guarantee a bigger pay-off.

The deeper you go into the Force, the more the Force starts exerting its own will through you. And the less you see of the reflected camouflage of it, and the more apparent it becomes that the Force wants large swaths of death to feed it. Which is why Dark Siders often become so preoccupied with things like Death Stars.

But it’s a balancing act. A large population of relatively peaceful Force sensitives, like the Jedi, cost more than they’re worth, because beyond a point they take too much energy from the Force and don’t kill enough people to pay for it. A single individual abusing their powers for self-gain and murdering left and right, though, accomplishes the goal of feeding it. The Force obviously doesn’t want its food supply to die out completely, but this explains the persistent cycles of the Star Wars universe - as a soon as a group of peaceful Force users becomes prominent, they get wiped out by a few Dark Siders who have tread too deeply past the reflective surface of the Force, and become actual vessels for its will.

And then when the Dark Siders have finished killing a whole bunch of people, it’s time for them to go, too, so that they don’t wipe out the entire populace and kill off the Force’s food supply beyond its ability to reasonably recover. The peaceful types then see an upswing, as they are more adept at spreading the Force. So the cycle goes - Jedi spread the Force, Sith kill the Jedi and feed the Force, Jedi kill the Sith and resume spreading the Force. It’s a planting and harvest cycle, and the galaxy is populated with the Force’s living spirit crops. Anakin Skywalker, who was arguably one of the beings most closely connected to the Force, and had an extremely high midichlorian count, basically lived this cycle in its entirety as an individual - he spread the Force as a Jedi, he killed people as a Sith, and then he ended it all in order to preserve his progeny for the next round.

tl;dr - the Force wants to eat your soul. The reason the ‘light side’ types always get so up in their own asses is because what they perceive as the Force is basically their own reflections dangling in front of them like an angler fish’s lure. The reason the ‘dark side’ types get so messed up is because they’re basically the equivalent of those grasshoppers who get infected with a parasite that makes them drown themselves.

This is what I like to see