Retcon of the Sith is a trilogy of Star Wars fanfics by StellarRequiem that attempt to retell the prequel trilogy so that it more closely aligns with the information presented in the original trilogy by building off of information provided in the original trilogy novelizations (Specifically the one for Return of the Jedi); namely, the fics attempt to portray Anakin as the sort of person who could actually develop into Darth Vader. The trilogy is composed of the fics All of Life
, Rich Times and Horrors , and Luminous Beings .
Retcon Of The Sith provides the following tropes:
- Adaptation Personality Change: Anakin is far more ambitious and cunning than he was in canon.
- Adaptational Context Change: In this story, Anakin’s "What have I done?" is not uttered after he cuts off Mace Windu's arm, but rather thought to himself after killing all the Jedi in the Jedi temple.
- Adapted Out:
- Ashoka Tano is completely absent from this story. The explanation given for her absence is despite the fact that the author wanted to include her, she simply didn’t fit into the story the author was trying to tell.
- C-3PO and R2-D2 are likewise absesnt.
- Age Lift:
- Anakin is around sixteen or seventeen when Obi-Wan meets him, as opposed to being a child.
- Padmé is initially an older teenager rather than fourteen (as she was in canon).
- Baby's First Words: Luke’s first word is "ship" while Leia's is "Dada".
- Big "NO!": Anakin upon hearing of Padmé’s apparent death.He's screaming it, on his knees in the dust of this backwater world, screaming the thought in a voice ragged and sharp, that cuts itself to ribbons as he shouts, breaking and cracking until it fizzles into silence and fury warms his face beneath the tears.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Anakin's reaction to killing a man is described similarly to someone having an orgasm.
Word of God is that such subtext is in fact present in the novelization of Return of the Jedi. - Dies Differently in Adaptation: In canon, Padmé dies of a broken heart after being force choked by Anakin. Here she instead dies when Palpatine drains her life energy in order to revive Anakin as Darth Vader.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Anakin’s hair goes from being long to being close-cut to emphasize his increased military role under Palpatine.
- Faking the Dead: Padmé fakes her death (with the aid of Obi-Wan) so that she and her recently-born children can hide from Anakin.
- Hand on Womb: Padmé does this (accompanied by a Color Failure) at the end of Rich Times and Horrors after Anakin all but admits that he murdered Mace Windu.
- Nothing but Skin and Bones: Over the course of four years, Padmé goes from being healthy to gaining a gaunt and skeletal appearance.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Anakin intends to spare the youngest of the younglings not because they're children, but because they’re more malleable and can be trained with the Dark side.
- Related in the Adaptation: In this story, Owen Lars is Obi-Wan's brother. In canon they were unrelated to one another.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: Anakin here is unrelated to Owen Lars, his canonical step-brother.
