Fanfic / Queen's Gambit

"As You Know, the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic are currently engaged in hostilities as we fight for our independence. [...] This very morning, the Galactic Republic sent two Jedi assassins to take me prisoner or, if unable to do so, to kill me. I am unharmed, thanks to my Queen's Guard. Though we are at war, the Jedi have always conducted themselves with honor. But no longer! By this act, they have proven that they are no more than the hands of the Senate, which left us to suffer beneath the yoke of the Trade Federation thirteen years ago."

— Queen Amidala of Naboo

Written between 2014 and 2015 by bedlamsbard, Queen's Gambit is a novel-length Star Wars Prequels and The Clone Wars fanfic. It deals with Padmé, Anakin and Obi-Wan arriving in an Alternate Universe: One where Anakin was never trained as a Jedi, Amidala stayed queen and lead Naboo in seceding, and Obi-Wan left the Order and became her lover and bodyguard.

It is the second part of the Ouroboros series, following Wake the Storm. You can read it here or listen to the podfic made in 2017 here.

Because of the multiple universes, things can get a bit confusing with multiple versions of the same character exist. Generally, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé refer to the Wake The Storm incarnations, while Ani, Captain Kenobi, and Amidala refer to the Queen's Gambit incarnations.

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This work includes the tropes:

• All There in the Manual: Bedlamsbard's tumblr includes lots of extras, including snippets, cut scenes, OC fancasts, character and universe backgrounds, and meta, including the story of what would've happened in the theoretical second and third Gambitverse novels.
• Alternate Universe: Largely the premise of the story. There are several different timelines.
• An Arm and a Leg/Body Horror: Sabé-as-Amidala's hand is cut off before she's killed, and Barriss Offee's leg is cut off, both by Palpatine. Dooku's right arm is cut off by Ventress.
• Battle Couple: Exaggerated Trope by Anakin/Padmé/Obi-Wan, who are a Battle Triad by the end. Obi-Wan and Anakin are both Jedi, and Padmé is handy with a blaster. Obi-Wan discusses this with Anakin in an earlier part of the story, saying that they're all very capable of killing each other, but that they choose not to and that's the point.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Palpatine, after being removed as Supreme Chancellor, now hangs about the Naboo palace. He has official duties, but only because Amidala doesn't think she can just retire him; she thinks he's a harmless idiot. The characters from the canon universe know better.
• Blood on the Debate Floor: Palpatine's announcement to the Confederacy that they've joined forces with the Alliance—now the Empire—does not go over well, and it's only worsened when the Jedi and Queen Amidala arrive.
• Boarding Party:
  • The Jedi boarding the Trade Federation's warships to take Captain Kenobi from them.
  • The Naboo boarding a Republic vessel to liberate Bail Organa, who has been captured after Alderaan left the Republic and he wiped the SOB database.
• Bodyguard Crush: Amidala/Kenobi. The Queen and her husband, who's also the captain of her guard.
• Brutal Honesty: Anakin is not shy about telling Barriss Offee exactly what she did to offend him in his own universe.
• Casual Interstellar Travel: Like its source material before it.
• Civil War: The story sees the birth of a civil war among the Jedi. Historically, the Jedi have had civil wars which they calls "schisms". The characters fervently deny that this is a schism, but they all know it really is.
• The Climax: Four scenes are happening simultaneously that make up the climax: Ventress and Dooku fighting on the Senate floor, the Jedi Council discussing Captain Kenobi's escape and the fate of the Order, Palpatine addressing the Confederacy on Raxus, and Queen Amidala on the Twilight trying to get to the Confederacy meeting. Eventually the former two and the latter two scenes both combine, and the final part of the climax is a massive fight scene in the meeting chamber on Raxus.
• Cool Starship: Several, but the Naboo Battlestars in particular.
• Costume Porn: Queen Amidala's outfits are regularly described in lavish detail.
• Darker and Edgier: Queen Amidala is significantly darker than Padmé in canon. Captain Kenobi, to a lesser extent, is a darker character than Obi-Wan. And Naboo itself, with possibly the largest single-system military in the galaxy, certainly qualifies too.
• Defecting for Love: Most people think Kenobi left the Jedi for Amidala. He adamantly says that no, he left the Jedi for political reasons: because they were complacent in Naboo's occupation by the Trade Federation and supported the Senate's proposal to strip them of their sovereignty, which he strongly disagreed with after living with and fighting with the Naboo people for a year, along with the fact that they left him alone on Naboo after Qui-Gon's death.
  Dooku: Kenobi left for love—or political idealism, it's always been hard to tell which.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: The story opens with a mass broadcast of Amidala ordering Captain Kenobi to execute two captive Jedi who were sent to assassinate them: Eeth Koth and Luminara Unduli. It turns out to be a little more complicated than that.
• Doorstopper: The work is 350k, and is the longest installment in the series, which is 450k.
• Driven to Suicide: Captain Kenobi says that, going by the graffiti on the walls, the last resident of his cell killed themselves, by opening their wrists with their teeth. He later says that if he'd known the Council was even considering Revan's Cure, he would've done the same.
• Dual Wielding: Ventress and Ahsoka, as in canon.
• Extended Disarming: When Captain Kenobi visits the Jedi Temple shortly after leaving the Order, he disarms before entering the Council Chamber.
  Quinlan: Forgetting anything? Thermal detonator? Rocket launcher? Tank?
  Obi-Wan: Left them in my other shirt.
• "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: After Palpatine stabs Sabé and realizes that she isn't Amidala, Sabé says "Long live the Queen," and rakes his face with her remaining hand before he cuts her in half.
• Fake Kill Scare: It turns out that Eeth Koth and Luminara Unduli aren't dead; the broadcast was faked.
• Faster-Than-Light Travel
• Fate Worse than Death: Stripping, using the Force to destroy and remake someone's mind, is considered the worst thing a Force user can do. It's the only thing the Jedi council will punish with death—unless they're doing it themselves, in which case it's called Revan's Cure. The Jedi Council votes to use it on a captive Captain Kenobi, which leads to several Jedi breaking him out before it can be done to him. In a non-Jedi context, Palpatine attempts to strip Padmé when he realizes that she's not Queen Amidala.
• Flashback: There are several throughout the story which show the Occupation of Naboo and its fallout. Some take the form of academic writing from the future.
• Forced to Watch: Amidala is watching over holocall when the Jedi show up to take her husband. She's even more horrified by this than the fact that they saved Captain Kenobi from being executed in front of her; she sees the Jedi taking him as a fate worse than death. As it turns out, she's not wrong.
• Friends with Benefits: Implied several times for various combinations of Captain Kenobi, Quinlan Vos, and Luminara Unduli. The Jedi in this work, and many other works by this author, often tend towards a rather liberal view of the Jedi "No Attachments" rule.
• Galactic Conqueror: In a shocking turn of events, Palpatine.
• Glasgow Grin: Ani Skywalker has one, though it's called a Corellian grin in the story.
• Happily Married: Their relationship is under strain and pressure from their many responsibilities and conflicts, but Amidala and Captain Kenobi's marriage itself, from what we see of it, seems to be perfectly healthy and happy for both characters.
• If It's You, It's Okay: Anakin for Obi-Wan.
  Obi-Wan: I didn't think you liked men. [raising one eyebrow]
  Anakin: I— [hesitates] I don't.
  Obi-Wan: [starts to pull back]
  Anakin: I like you.
• I Have Your Husband: Kenobi is kidnapped by the Trade Federation, and they threaten to kill him if Queen Amidala won't comply.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: Queen Amidala is pregnant throughout the entire story, during which she lives through an attack by the Trade Federation on her planet, gets into multiple physical altercations, is inside a ship while it's been shot at and eventually crash lands, and leads a small army into the Confederacy meeting on Raxus where Palpatine is acting as leader due to her "death". She survives all that, but it's certainly quite dangerous for a pregnant woman. Horrifically, when Sabé is standing in for her, Palpatine kills her by cutting her in half through her stomach.
• Insistent Terminology: The Jedi claim it's not schism, but it's pretty clear that it is, or at least will become one soon.
  Barriss: Schism.
  Ahsoka: That's not going to happen. It's not—it can't.
  Barriss: But what if it does? If you and Master Vos and all the others leave—
  Ahsoka: It's not a schism! It's just—it's just a difference of opinion, that's all. It's not a schism. You need more people for that.
  Barriss: But if Master Ti and Master Drallig—
  Ahsoka: They're still with the Order! It's not like that. That—that doesn't happen anymore. This isn't the Old Republic. The Order doesn't do that.
• Lovable Rogue: In the grand Star Wars tradition of lovable rogues, Ani is given some of Han Solo's classic lines.
• Mercy Kill: After Captain Kenobi finds out what the Council had voted to do to him mid-escape, he tells Quinlan to kill him if they get captured on their way out. Luckily, it doesn't come to that.
• Mind Rape: There is only one crime the Jedi will punish with death: stripping, which is removing and remaking a sentient's mind with the Force. Unless, of course, they decide to do it themselves. They call it Revan's Cure, and vote to do it to a captured Captain Kenobi.
• One Drink Will Kill the Baby: Amidala's handmaidens don't let her drink.

• Other Me Annoys Me: Neither Anakin is particularly fond of the other.

• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After the Jedi Council votes to strip Captain Kenobi, Plo Koon—who is on the Council but voted against it—tells his padawan Ahsoka, Quinlan Vos, Tholme, and T'ra Saa, who help him break Obi-Wan out of the Temple and get him off Coruscant, because he believes that the Order will not survive if they go through with Revan's Cure on Obi-Wan.
• Secret Relationship: The fact that they're involved isn't a secret, but Amidala and Captain Kenobi don't make their marriage public.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: The Jedi put former Jedi Captain Kenobi in Jedi robes, as a form of psychological warfare.
• Space Battle: Several.
• Space Navy: Naboo has its own, and so do the Republic, the Trade Federation, and The Empire.
• Space Opera: Thanks to the focus on galactic politics, the chapters set many years prior, and the shear length of the work, Queen's Gambit captures the feel of scale and grandeur of a Space Opera in a way that most fanworks don't.
• Sword Fight: Lightsaber battles, between Dooku and Ventress, and Palpatine and several others, including both Obi-Wans, Anakin, Barriss Offee, Luminara Unduli, and Quinlan Vos.
• Polyamory: Anakin/Padmé/Obi-Wan
  Padmé: I know you love me. I know you love Obi-Wan. You don't have to choose between us. None of us do.
  Anakin: It doesn't work like that!
  Padmé: Why? Why not? I'm Naboo, it does work like that for us.
• Really Gets Around: Obi-Wan
  Anakin: You've slept with half the Order, but you've never made a pass at me.
  Obi-Wan: [frowned a little] "Half the Order" might be something of an overstatement. There are several thousand people in the Order.
  Anakin: Yeah, and you've slept with a lot of them.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Surprisingly, Dooku—who is the Supreme Chancellor in this universe.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Captain Kenobi gives Yoda an extended one about how the Republic sucks and the Jedi suck for standing by them.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Said word-for-word by Amidala.
  Amidala: Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
• Wham Line: "This isn't the Mandalorian Wars, and Obi-Wan Kenobi is not Darth Revan."
• Would Hurt a Child: The Trade Federation bombed Queen Amidala's third coronation, while she was visibly pregnant. She had a miscarriage.
• You Can't Fight Fate: The story itself and the author's comments imply that some things are destined, like the fall of the Jedi Order, but the fates of individuals can vary between universes.