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2017 solar eclipse shot from a plane at 39,000ft l Jon Carmichael
Your interpretation of Cody and Obi-wans relationship in parallel to Obi-wan and Anakins was something that never really crossed my mind. But now that you say it, it really is a fascinating view on them. I'd read a whole book about it.
In response to this post.
Funny you should say that, Anon. I am currently in the process of writing a rather sizable chunk of a fic, for the purposes of having a lot of it written before it starts going up, and the dynamic between these three are a key element. Though, I have a blorbo—Rex is the main character. These three? Though? They contain some of the most important relationships in his life, so that will be explored, a lot. Especially since the three of them play a large part in what drives the narrative.
I am glad you feel that way, specifically.
No matter what, Cody is, like all Clones, an incredibly young man. Even if we somehow set aside the fact that he was ‘born’ the year Obi-Wan became Anakin’s master, which I don’t think is entirely honest to wholly do, and focus on his physical development…
Cody is ‘twenty-years’ old when he meets Obi-Wan. Cody is functionally, in comparison, a 4-star General.
Let me elaborate further:
In the US Military, there are currently 17 active 4-Star Generals.
To quote Wiki:
There are currently 44 active-duty four-star officers in the uniformed services of the United States: 17 in the Army*, three in the Marine Corps, eight in the Navy, 11 in the Air Force*,
two in the Space Force***,two in the Coast Guard, and one in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
ARMY** and AF** are bold because it fits the scope of the 3rd System Army, with the 7th Sky Corps is nested within the System Army.
Which, fits with the allegorical theme of the GAR being based on the US Military. The Air Force was a nested tactical corps within the US ARMY from its inception in 1933-35 (ask a military historian which date and start an argument), and became a separate and equal element in 1947.
One remarkable note is that the US Army has the most 4-star positions that it has had since WWII. But, I digress.
Much like the US Military is divided regionally, the GAR is divided into the major galactic sectors. Nearly all are under the command of a member of the Jedi High Council, and there were a 1–2 Admirals that were given command for brief periods. All were served by the highest rank achievable by a Clone—Marshal Commander.
That’s our sunshine boy. One of the most powerful 12–15 Clones in the whole Grand Army of the Republic.
Under Cody’s command, because let’s be real, Obi-Wan is there to provide legitimacy, vibe-checks, and familiarity with the galaxy that Cody would not have—having grown up on an isolated world barely connected to the GFFA, there are 250,000 Clone Troopers, with a support personnel corps at about 4x–7x per Clone Trooper, and this is aside from Naval staff and any civilian personnel.
This puts the 3rd System at:
Low: 1,769,472
High: 2,359,296
Let’s put this more in perspective.
The current US Military, combined:
Active Duty: 1.4M
Total: 2.2M
Alone, the 3rd has more Clones than the Army Reserve, as of 2021. However, in total, would have more personal than the Active Duty on the low estimate, and the total (active+reserve) is still under the highest estimate for the 3rd System Army.
Cody’s command is… massive. While I understand that this fits with the galactic scale, that is still… a lot for one person. Yes, I am going to stand by my assessment that Cody would have the most military responsibilities, even in comparison to Obi-Wan. General Kenobi does not have the training that Cody has been given.
Now, let’s go into Training VS Experience. Training is the education received: NEARLY all US officers are required to have a higher education—a bachelors degree or above.
(Admittedly, this does get complicated).
To my knowledge, most have all been taught at one of the military schools—West Point, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, etc. There are some senior military colleges that are also secondary higher academies that some O-10s may have come from. Sorry, I didn’t get too far down this one. While there may be exceptions, for the most part… this is going to be typical.
Generals typically have over 20 years of military experience.
30 years.
Developmentally, Cody is a twenty-year-old. 20. 10 * 2. Half of 40.
The lowest commissioned rank in the Army is 2nd Lt. Statically, the average age for all commissioned officers is, on average, in their forties, though a good number of our 2LTs are in their thirties.
Generals are typically in their forties.
This means that Cody is younger than… any officer.
Experience? Life Experience? Outside of education, drills and simulations? None. According to Legends, the Kaminoans barely allowed the RepComm trainers to ever use LiveAmmo. Though, it would be reasonable that by the time Cody would have entered ARC training, he would have been exposed to life-fire practice.
No matter how hard his training was, it was not the same as life-experience in the field. This is where Obi-Wan, one of the few Jedi Masters who has worked with military operations with ANY comfort—which was still very little, really lends himself to his XO.
The Kaminoans are professionals at creating and building… well, professional militaries. They had the help of Jango Fett and other Mandalorian trainers to augment their training. However, for the most part, the Clones were trained using the methodology and educational paradigm the Kaminoans created—though, never on the same scale. This was pure professional military education on an industrial level.
Cody?
Cody may have more training and knowledge than most four-star generals will have in their lifetime, all with the benefit of a wikipedia style swath of information, modern technology to impart that knowledge, and some pretty extensive stimulation. But, what is under Cody’s pretty-little-military-cut head? All of it is knowledge that surpasses what most Generals will EVER dream, even if they just stayed in military education.
However.
He is a ten-year-old in a twenty-year-old’s body with the brain of AT LEAST two-life-times of military experience.
Impressive, huh?
But, Cody is still… not like you or I.
At the time of Cody’s training, it is highly unlikely they left the Kaminoan starsystem. If they did, they did not engage with the galaxy at large. This is a bit like growing up Tatooine.
On the edge of the galaxy, with only the stars to stare up at.
Anakin grew up in a sea of sand. Cody grew up in a… world of seas.
Cody’s life experience, the life experience you and I would take for granted, is nonexistent. He could lead an army better than our best Generals could hope for. But, what else has he known?
My parallels are that Obi-Wan purposefully encouraged Anakin to be a sassy menace. He wanted to break that slave-mentality. Luckily, Anakin already showed that he could become a spitfire, even when he was sweet little Ani.
Similarly, I characterize that Obi-Wan did the same for Cody.
Anakin’s shackles were the explosive in his body, the ferocity of how slave culture was brutally enforced—fear. However, Anakin knew that he was a slave, and he knew enough of something more.
Cody’s shackles are the indoctrination he received from the time of his birth. Unfortunately for fandom at large, Cody is… a much more obedient military man that I think many want to see him. Based on remnants of Legends and the retained canon, no Marshal Commander would be in their position were they not… very obedient—to militant POVs. In fact, in the Disney comics, Cody has… a rather brutal attitude towards deserters—
BTW, in a military, desertion is one of the worst offensive that could be committed against a soldier’s oath, that which they swore themselves to… but more importantly… their fellow soldiers.
In contrast, Wolffe is much more forgiving, and advocates for their re-assimilation in the GAR; Cody… disagrees with the fact that the deserters are still alive, and believes they should still be executed by a firing squad.
In season 1, Slick—for whatever reason—becomes a rare voice to call out the circumstances of the Clones. Not only do Rex and Cody recoil at a brother betraying the GAR, the Jedi, and of course… the killing of brothers, but they also scoff at his assertion that they are slaves.
Cut becomes a critical introduction to the slow character development we see Rex go through; Cody unlikely goes through the same because that’s just how stories like this work. Just the simple act of asking the questions he gave to Rex set the stage for what happened on Umbara, and even then, Rex struggled to show defiance.
BTW, Fives’s actions are fulfilling the duties of an (active) ARC. They are supposed to be more independent, whereas a command-class Clone like Rex may be a trained ARC, but his duties as a CC**** would mean that his prime directive is the cohesion of the command, and to assist in the joint operation between the Clones and the Jedi.
Fast-forward to Order 66 and Cody doesn’t hesitate. Yes, it is the chip. However, that was not how ROTS was scripted or filmed. I know this is getting Doylist, but it is relevant. At that time, the Clones knew what was going to happen. They knew that they would eventually turn on the Jedi. Through the story of TCW08, it changes to a Manchurian Candidate concept, and eventually evolves the story of the chips that we know today. As the Doylist context changed, it remains that Cody acted without any pause. This is in line because the highest priority Cody held was always loyalty to the Republic. Loyalty to the REPUBLIC—Not the Jedi, not his brothers, not General Kenobi. Just. The. Republic. A traitor to the Republic is worst than the Separatists.
When the order went out, Cody’s brain heard:
Obi-Wan friend. Obi-Wan betrayed Republic. Kill General Kenobi. He is no friend to the Republic—thus—to Cody.
Makes sense to him, especially at the moment. This is conditioning. This is indoctrination. This is militantism in action. The chip wasn’t really necessary… it was for the sake of the audience who didn’t want to believe that the men we began to care about would ever do this 'willfully,’ even though all that mental conditioning and indoctrination would mean that they didn’t have a choice… even if they didn’t have the chip.
Obviously, by the time you get to TBB, when some Clones begin to question that Manchurian voice in their head, Cody’s rationale returns, and so does his critical thinking. We have Cody, a Clone depicted in recent comics with a militant intolerance towards desertion, going AWOL from the Empire—that is HUGE. Was this his fall from grace? His fall to what was his darkside? From one angle, yes. However, it was a fallback into grace, and I like to think that it goes back to two people: Obi-Wan and Rex. We’ll continue to focus on Obi-Wan, though.
I like to think that it was the seeds of the Jedi finally germinated, and it was Obi-Wan that planted them within his dear Clone Commander.
Obi-Wan being a one former menace himself—you know, a young man who thought tying two lightsabers to the ends of a rope was a good idea—got himself stuffed into one of the dreaded Jedi Council armchairs. Great, now he HAS to be responsible.
Cody and Anakin are, in many ways, parallels, just not direct. They are often inversions of each other, and together they make a great foil for Obi-Wan in general.
The idea that Obi-Wan saw this INCREDIBLY accomplished, intelligent, “gifted-child” of a Clone Commander and thought… “How do I get him to be a menace?”
I love it. I feel like it is just the thing someone like Obi-Wan Kenobi would do. It makes sense that Obi-Wan would want to help Cody grow beyond the very narrow—but extensive—field of knowledge, all for the express purpose of watching the young man develop into a more rounded individual.
It is also very, very Jedi. It was always the Jedi that were the sole friends of the Clones. So, it makes sense to me that the Jedi would advocate for this sort of well-rounded development. And the Clones? They would sorely need that kind of encouragement.
The Clones were never supposed to have names. They Clones were not individuals. It was the Jedi who told them to paint their units colors. It was the Jedi who TOLD him to pick out names. In Legends, and I think it fits with the remaining printed canon, Cody was actually very apprehensive and skeptical about how much of a good idea it was for the Clones TO develop individuality.
Cody was not bred for the specific purpose of his role—not even for being a CC. (Sorry, fanon)
He was just another Clone. Maybe he got nurtured and natured into a better candidate for a command-class Clone, but in the end? He was randomly chosen. As clarified in recent apocrypha, Cody was just a Clone Captain in the 91st when Obi-Wan found him and was impressed by him.
What made “Just A Clone Captain Cody” stand-out to Obi-Wan? There’s plenty of theories that can arise.
In my lore, Alpha-17 recommended Obi-Wan go check out “#2224 in Windu’s battalion.”
From Captain to Marshal Commander? AHHHH. Someone send help.
Imagine the fine-lined walked poor young Obi-Wan had with Anakin: a former rebellious ginger-child himself, he became a well-behaved rule minder under Qui-Gon. Now he has this older Padawan, who is also a former slave of one of the harshest slave planets we know of. He has to get Anakin to be self-expressive, learn how to act on his own self-agency—AND—he has to also… try and help Anakin assimilate into the Jedi Order.
Take Cody: ten years old, looks twenty, has the knowledge of several lifetimes lived by career military men, who has seen very little of the galaxy.
Keep in mind, Obi-Wan met Jango Fett. He knew just what kind of attitude could lurk under that stony face so like the others, even if he said, “Yes, sir,” without hesitation, and followed his orders faithfully.
I don’t think Obi-Wan would be able to help himself. It is part of the Jedi Culture to be a positive presence. Unlike Anakin did with the 501st, Obi-Wan purposefully kept himself removed from most Clones; his empathy made it too difficult to ensure their suffering and death, so distance kept him remotely functional. The only two Clones Obi-Wan accepted as friends had been Cody and Rex. Obviously, Rex is an Anakin problem. But, Cody? His young, cloned, new friend? Right there. Right there. That… Jedi compulsion, that ITCH they get, it would gnaw at him. He can’t help many others.
The same could have been said for Anakin, who was just freed, but had nowhere else to go—little Ani had no one else. Obi-Wan didn’t have the same responsibilities as a fresh Knight as he would as a Jedi Master. He could risk everything and leave the Order to train Anakin if the Jedi won’t matriculate him. He risked everything to help this one little boy. Later? He wants to risk everything, again. But now, his everything doesn’t belong to him anymore—not even enough to consider leaving the Order. Every Clone death is another slice across him, and even a thousand papercuts will get'cha.
But, he wants to help. He would want to help beyond vibe-checks, lightsaber wielding, crazy feats of Force-enchanted bravery.
He would want to help a person—Cody, the clone so often by his side—become a PERSON in his own right. A young man that everyone else has forgotten IS a young man. I doubt Obi-Wan would ever forget that, like he never forgot that Anakin was a young man.
So, there is that itch. That… Jedi need to just… reach out and help make the galaxy a better place for others. One Clone. Is that too much to ask? Can he be allowed to be a mentor for ONE Clone? If he helped this Clone become more than a faceless soldier, if he helped this Clone have more growth and life experience than just what he was given on Kamino, maybe… Maybe Obi-Wan can imagine that there will be a life after the war. To do that, he wants to help his new friend become a full person—in the hopes of the After the War.
Obi-Wan cannot save everyone. He cannot help everyone.
But maybe…
Maybe, JUST maybe, he can help this one Clone become more of a person, and far… far less of just another number.
Slavery is a hell of a thing, and it comes in many forms. But another face of slavery is indoctrination, which is ultimately the stripping away personhood, so they can be utilized as a tool—sound familiar? Yeah, me too.
I think, Obi-Wan would recognize this about the two young men he cares about. Yes, even Rex, but… this post is about Cody and Anakin.
I went on more about Cody than Anakin because… there’s a lot of wonderful meta about Anakin, and I’m not confident enough to try and fill the same niche. I also have so much I could say about how I envision Anakin and Cody get along, and how it might be through Obi-Wan’s eyes. I’ll just say this: he thinks both his overgrown students are hilarious together, and his tickles him… Ginger. ;)
Anyway, I hope this post finds you, anon, and you get anything from it. At the time of this post, I only have one posted fic. While it doesn’t go as deep into this meta, there are some elements in it to get a taste of this characterization/meta. When the bigger version of the AU goes up—who knows. It is currently at 270K+.
Thank you for the engagement!
EDIT: There are MORE points of comparison that I just… couldn’t get to. Such as the earliest characterization notes we were given about Cody, right after ROTS came out. (Overly cautious, anxious, but highly competent—I love me some anxiety-riddled people with excess competency. My “Imposter Syndrome” Cody isn’t going anywhere, and it helps him lineup with Anakin.)
Side-notes and additional commentary under the cut.
***We don’t acknowledge “space force” in this house.
**** Yeah, no, Rex is a CC. I’ll fite over this. He is labelled in far more apocrypha as a CC, and it just gets way too complicated to label him a CT when he is in a command-class position. This is one area of new canon I’m just… gonna ignore. I hc that Krell was being a jackass to Rex.
Note: Rex was always a CC until the Umbara episodes. When he was called CT-7567… it was a script terror. I’m ignoring that retcon. There’s even books printed as late as 2021 that list him as CC.
I did do some tweaking and refining, for those who also want the revised copy.
Quite honestly, I use any excuse to slap a picture of Saturn on my blog, but in this case it's well deserved. All that browsing through Tumblr and then the most beautiful planet Saturn to feast your eyes upon.
There is actually a reason this time, as Taiwan’s Academia Sinica Institute has been hard at work leading a team of astronomers looking for moons of Saturn, and they didn't just find 1 new one, they found 62 new moons !
That takes Saturn's current total to 145, beating the mighty Jupiter into second place with a mere 95.
Of course, these moons are not the classic beautiful spherical moons of Cassini wonder and fame, they are more the asteroid potato like moons that Mars has, and the reason they've not been found before now, is simply they do not orbit in a nice simple predictable way, they are classified as irregular.
The team are not convinced they've done finding moons either. What draws them to this task is unpicking the history and past of the gas giant systems, as it is believed many of these moons are parts of larger objects that have been crushed or smashed up at some point in the past, so it's evidence of a dynamic system, one in a state of change.
securing objective
via NASA https://ift.tt/FlTS7e2
Tagged by @bucketking
unsure of who else to tag, who’d be okay with it, so I’ll just… blank
Favorite Color: Black, green.
Currently Reading: Does my chem textbook count? won’t be reading much of anything until summer, as usual
Last Song You Listened To: Waiting on the Sky to Change (Starset, Breaking Benjamin)
Last Movie (In theaters): I do not think I’ve been in a movie theater in over five years. I’m not much of a movie goer.
Last Series I Watched:
The Expanse
Craving: Seafood, in general. Particularly fish n’ chips.
Tea or Coffee:
Tea. I… do not like coffee.
Currently Working On:
Currently? I’m just… bouncing around from different art WIPs. Can’t seem to settle on one for too long. this is why they take so long. especially coloring and shading.
With the legendary edition of Halo: Reach, one of the bonus items was a top secret ONI packet. Padded. Black. Sealed with the ONI emblem.
Inside was a really cool piece of game memorabilia: Dr. Halsey's personal journal. It included things like news printouts, a scattering of Spartan-II files, and her ONI ID badge.
I have a copy because a college friend dug one up on ebay as a birthday gift soon after release, when they were pretty available.
Luckily, someone uploaded scans of it and shared them on Reddit.
Have fun!
thank you to everyone who told me to give the insane podcast a chance i feel like i'm taking crazy pills
