Oh dear god... this made me cry.

Beautiful, lovely symmetry

This is beautifully written. I especially loved the last line.

A profound and thought-provoking fic. And you made me feel bad for Vader, which is no mean feat, I can tell you. I don't like Anakin or Vader much as characters. I like your portrayal of Shmi. And I like to think Obi-Wan saw Anakin's direction. He just thought Anakin would overcome the urgings of the Dark Side as he himself had done.

And that's why it took Luke to make Vader rebel... this piece goes from speculation and illustration to a new theory about Vader! I wonder if that actually is what Lucas intended! It's true! I think you're spot on! Congrats and kudos!

Amazing look into Vader's mind. Truly fantastic!

I like the idea of twisting the commonly told "die for freedom" and seeing it from another angle, how life is more important than freedom. I doubt everyone can agree with that, but that is what makes it interesting in that there is controversy. Nice view on life, death and freedom

i love all your stories but one thing that bugs me is that you always spell Palpatine's name wrong.

other than that-great!

I really love your insight on all the different characters (I've noticed that you tend to focus on Anakin and Padme, but the others we've come across, I've really enjoyed too). This is no exception.

Wow, that was powerful. I especially loved the part where Shmi taught Anakin to die for the thing he lived for. It was very wise. :)

This fic, among many others you've written, is the reason why you're one of my favourite Star Wars aurthors.

What gorgeous characterization. Chilling and poignant. Bravo.

And Luke becomes something to live for, and die for. I love it! Anakin's time in slavery had such a huge impact on his character, not enough authors give that part of his life enough credit. My favorite line was this: "Slavery taught him to bow. The Jedi taught him to kill. The Sith merely taught him not to care."

It's so true and so very sad. Excellent job!

Wow. There’s a lot going on there. I really liked the insight into Shmi’s mind. We’ve seen Anakin’s “to turn or not to turn” conflict plenty of times, but this is the first time we see Shmi.

I found it interesting to read as an American. This country was built on people who were willing to do anything and everything for freedom, no matter what the cost. Yet Shmi who is clearly the noble one here advocated the opposite. I respected her, even when I didn’t agree with her. It seems like in general she doesn’t think much of freedom. A nice concept in theory, but not that important. Of course she was brought into slavery at twelve so even though she was born free, a good deal of her development took place in slavery.

Frankly, I have no words to describe this short story, for I have been left speechless. This piece brought me strangely close to tears, though I know not why.

Phantom Jedi

Really interesting! I am no longer surprised at being surprised by your stories. I especially loved the story of Galin and the irony in his actions. Superb!