[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 2: Propaganda
Nov. 6th, 2025 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamuzzy|| Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes ||
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
He had been trained to take in every detail of his surroundings,
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There was a pause, a long pause, and Zey looked along the row of three helmets and a damaged face as if waiting for something. The Jedi had said he hadn’t worked with clones before; maybe he was expecting a dialogue. He stopped at Darman. The potential embarrassment to the Master prompted Darman to fill the silent void.
Darman is absolutely having a 'pleasure to have you in class' moment here. :DDDD
BUT LET'S STOP HERE. LET'S STOP HERE FOR A MOMENT. PLEASE. AAAAAAAAAAAH.
Can I talk about here for a second about Darman's hypervigilance? And it's not just about how the clones are generally hypervigilant to their environment due to being a soldiers always ready to jump at the slightest sign of danger.
This hypervigilance IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS. Darman. Why? Why do you have this urge to save this situation? Why do you want to make the Jedi satisfied? Obeying is one thing. But their general being embarassed is out of their control. Darman felt the pressure to please to avoid a possible negative reaction from Zey.
Maybe it can mean nothing, but I'm usually tuned to notice such reactions.
But this chapter through Darman also mentions how the Jedi in general were described for the Commandos before. Their trainers painted them as god-like creatures with myterious powers, someone not to be messed up. Someone always to be obeyed to. Which make sense. After all, the "Jedi" order an obedient and efficient army.
The Clone Commandos were fed with propaganda about the Jedi.
Yet I again, I probably want to breakdown the anti-jedi accusations these books get. Because what you can read here it's not the universal narrative, it's not a rule set to stone about the universe or the Jedi. It's how characters are interacting with EACH OTHER and talking about EACH OTHER. It truly makes it a living-breathing story where you have to pay attention who says what about anything, because the information is distorted by the person's POV you see the scene. This is why it's important to pay attention WHO IS THE MAIN POV in the given scene.
I love Darman so much and I love his brain too.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
He had been trained to take in every detail of his surroundings,
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
There was a pause, a long pause, and Zey looked along the row of three helmets and a damaged face as if waiting for something. The Jedi had said he hadn’t worked with clones before; maybe he was expecting a dialogue. He stopped at Darman. The potential embarrassment to the Master prompted Darman to fill the silent void.
It was an obvious question to ask, really.
“What’s the nature of the nanovirus, sir?”
Zey’s head moved back just a fraction. “An intelligent and significant question,” he said.
“Thank you, sir.”
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Darman is absolutely having a 'pleasure to have you in class' moment here. :DDDD
BUT LET'S STOP HERE. LET'S STOP HERE FOR A MOMENT. PLEASE. AAAAAAAAAAAH.
Can I talk about here for a second about Darman's hypervigilance? And it's not just about how the clones are generally hypervigilant to their environment due to being a soldiers always ready to jump at the slightest sign of danger.
This hypervigilance IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS. Darman. Why? Why do you have this urge to save this situation? Why do you want to make the Jedi satisfied? Obeying is one thing. But their general being embarassed is out of their control. Darman felt the pressure to please to avoid a possible negative reaction from Zey.
Maybe it can mean nothing, but I'm usually tuned to notice such reactions.
But this chapter through Darman also mentions how the Jedi in general were described for the Commandos before. Their trainers painted them as god-like creatures with myterious powers, someone not to be messed up. Someone always to be obeyed to. Which make sense. After all, the "Jedi" order an obedient and efficient army.
The Clone Commandos were fed with propaganda about the Jedi.
Yet I again, I probably want to breakdown the anti-jedi accusations these books get. Because what you can read here it's not the universal narrative, it's not a rule set to stone about the universe or the Jedi. It's how characters are interacting with EACH OTHER and talking about EACH OTHER. It truly makes it a living-breathing story where you have to pay attention who says what about anything, because the information is distorted by the person's POV you see the scene. This is why it's important to pay attention WHO IS THE MAIN POV in the given scene.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Darman had never seen Jedi before the Battle of Geonosis, and he was equally fascinated.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
He was also observing Jusik. The Padawan still appeared riveted by the commandos. Darman was careful not to stare—even though any eye movement was disguised by his helmet—because Jedi knew things without having to see. His instructors had told him so. Jedi were omniscient, omnipotent, and to be obeyed at all times.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Darman had never seen Jedi before the Battle of Geonosis, and he was equally fascinated.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
He was also observing Jusik. The Padawan still appeared riveted by the commandos. Darman was careful not to stare—even though any eye movement was disguised by his helmet—because Jedi knew things without having to see. His instructors had told him so. Jedi were omniscient, omnipotent, and to be obeyed at all times.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Jusik stopped at a door at the end of the passage and turned to them.“I wonder if I could ask the rest of you to remove your helmets.”
Nobody asked why, and they all obeyed, even though it wasn’t phrased as the unequivocal order they were expecting.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
He wouldn’t normally have posed unnecessary questions, but Arligan Zey had seemed to approve of his curiosity, and Darman was conditioned to do whatever Jedi generals wished.
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Darman wondered how a Jedi could be taken by anything less than an army. He’d seen them fight at Geonosis. His warfare was a science; theirs appeared to be an art.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Darman—a soldier able to withstand every privation in the field, and whose greatest fear was to wither from age rather than die in combat—felt inexplicably uncomfortable at the idea of a Jedi having failings.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
He wouldn’t normally have posed unnecessary questions, but Arligan Zey had seemed to approve of his curiosity, and Darman was conditioned to do whatever Jedi generals wished.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Darman wondered how a Jedi could be taken by anything less than an army. He’d seen them fight at Geonosis. His warfare was a science; theirs appeared to be an art.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Darman—a soldier able to withstand every privation in the field, and whose greatest fear was to wither from age rather than die in combat—felt inexplicably uncomfortable at the idea of a Jedi having failings.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
I love Darman so much and I love his brain too.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-10 02:57 pm (UTC)It's a series that is good for training media literacy, come to think of it, something that I'm realizing while reading your analysis. Not too dense, but there's layers out the wazoo.
I also wonder how much of the 'jedi are godlike' got carried over from how the Kaminioans treated the clones (disposable, only tools), especially since other than the cuy'val'dar, that was all they knew in a position of power.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-13 09:06 pm (UTC)But yes this book is definitely a good brain-exercise, because it reminds us not to take everything at face-value that is written. You don't get lore informations from big chunks of worldbuilding descriptions, because there is no narrator. The narrator is always the character! You get those lore informations from the characters themselves and their own knowledge about world. And because of this, lots of things are left to our own imagination, because the characters won't think about informations that is not relevant to the scene itself.
But also this makes the series not just a throwable book that goes into the once-read-never-again pile. It makes you return and think more.
And I see your point about the Kaminoans, I don't think the clones ever experienced any relationship that is not strict hierarchy and there was always someone who had power over them. Basically the Jedi are just another authority figures who happened to have mystical powers. Darman is fascinated by them, that's for sure.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-14 01:20 am (UTC)There's also another one in true colors where he was on aay'han and envious of *ordo* for having a remarkably loving father - that was such a telling moment of characterization there. I wonder what Ordo would think if he knew. :o
yessss to the rereads.... ngl when you get further along in your analysis posts i might have to give them a reread again too, haha - you're picking up so much about the Nulls in particular I straight up missed.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-15 12:50 am (UTC)AAAAAAAAAA You can't believe how much I really want to do Triple Zero and talk about Ordo and Kal so much. XD But I will probably make an entry about the Nulls outside of the readings too, because sometimes a post on tumblr inspires me and they just kinda spontainously happen.