For Thine is the Kingdom commentary

[rynne]

So, I started the fic because vikkir requested, as part of my drabble request party, Luke/Vader slash. My first reaction was "erk!", but immediately after that was "hmmmm..." I've read incest before, but only rarely, since I'm not quite comfortable with it; I'd read the beginnings of a few L/V fics at ff.net, just out of curiosity on how the relationship would be handled, but Luke tended to seem too needy in all the fics I looked at, and since characterization is something I'm picky about, especially in fics featuring messed up pairings (which all incest qualifies for, imo, even Luke/Leia prior to RotJ), I just sort of gave up and went with reading about the father/son thing, which I was far more interested in anyway.

But it was a request, and I do try to accommodate the requests, but they still have to make sense to me for me to be able to write them--and then I had the idea of post-ESB Vader capturing Luke somehow and trying to turn him using sex. That kind of scenario seemed far more likely to me than Luke just randomly deciding he wants Darth Vader to fuck him (which, alas, I have seen on ff.net). But what I had in mind was probably going to be a chaptered fic, as opposed to a drabble, considering it had to include Luke's capture, Vader's attempts to turn him, the sex, and Vader eventually letting him go. I had those four elements in mind, and figured they'd probably end up as being chapters in themselves--which they did--and was just a bit amazed at how I was going to write a chaptered fic featuring a pairing I'm not that comfortable with, when for years (before August, at least, and the monster idea that became "Walking the Sky" and its sequels), I was amazed if I wrote something that was more than 4,000 words. This thing ended up at ~15,000, which is the second longest complete fic I've ever written.

I wrote the entire first chapter the same day I got the idea, and started on the second. I figured that since it was going to be short, and not going to have a very complicated plot, I might as well post it as a WiP; I wanted to indulge my impatience and see what people thought of something like that from me, considering I've always thought of myself as being best with romance and had only once before (and this for a ficathon) written sex without romance. The whole experience (well, not quite the whole experience; I've written both Luke and Vader before, and I've written tons of slash) was something new for me, hence my desire to ramble about the fic.

So once I wrote the first chapter, I knew the idea wasn't going to go away and that I could very likely finish this thing, I posted and asked for a beta. I wasn't expecting much response, 'cause, you know, incest. But jedibix783 replied, and really, without her, this whole thing would have not been as good as it was. Especially with chapter four, which I sorta struggled with--I hadn't liked my original draft of it, but couldn't quite put my finger on why; I'd been writing this story and looking at it and fiddling with it for the past couple weeks, and was too close to it to see things objectively. And it's not that I was getting tired of it, precisely, but I was so close to being done, and I wanted to be done, and incest really isn't usually my thing, so I glossed over more of the aftermath than I should have. With great irony and new empathy for those ff.net L/V writers, I realized that I'd made Luke a bit too needy myself, and after a bit of facepalming at how I could have written something I dislike reading without even realizing it, I fixed it. Both Bix and I liked the final version much better than the first draft.

So, basically, everyone who liked the fic should thank Bix, 'cause she was an awesome beta. :D

What I should do with the sex presented a bit of a problem. It wasn't specified in the request, but this seemed one occasion in which adding sex to the plot wouldn't be gratuitous, and I thought the fic would lose something if I left it out. But as people who read this post can attest to, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the mechanics of how Darth Vader could have sex. I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised had his bits burned off entirely, but even if he still had them, I doubt they could have escaped third degree burns when he was lying face down on the banks of a lava flow. And even if they did still work, they'd probably be really scarred, and I just didn't want to go there. :p So what with that, and that Vader had enough breathing problems that he'd probably choke to death if he tried to give Luke a blow-job, oral sex was out. Anal sex was made difficult both by my problems with Vader's bits and the fact that he was way too dominant in this fic to let Luke top, Luke was more a passive participant than anything else, and it was basically just implausible. I, being a very vanilla person (and, um, COMPLETE VIRGIN), was not comfortable with using sex toys or anything like that. So I took the easy way out and just had Vader jack Luke off, pretty much. :p

I'd always intended this to take place between ESB and RotJ. It doesn't jive completely (not the least because this is probably the kind of thing Lucas would sue me over), but close enough, I think. So Luke had to eventually be let go, and he had to find some reason to believe that there was still light in Vader. I also wanted to make Luke grow up a bit more--there was a definite change from the Luke of ESB to the Luke of RotJ, so I thought the Luke here, who really really needed the calm he had in RotJ but not ESB, could take the steps to that calm. I hope I succeeded, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, because this was posted as a WiP, I think it does lack a bit of cohesiveness--now that I've finished two fics and posted one as a WiP and one as a finished fic, I do think that having them finished before being betad is much better, since the beta can look at the big picture first, have the entire puzzle complete in front of them, and that really helps. But I don't think this fic lost that much in being posted as a WiP, since it was so short and straightforward, and I'm happy with it overall.

But the parts that I personally love the most are the arguments. I love love love writing arguments and people twisting each other's arguments and saying uncomfortable (and certain-point-of-view) truths, like Vader calling Luke a terrorist. Playing with people's minds is just really bloody fun, and this fic offered more opportunity for that kind of thing than most of the other things I write.

I also loved writing Vader as a possessive bastard, especially 'cause I think he really is. Maybe it's bad of me, but I got a shiver at the image of Vader telling Luke, "You're mine." (Vikki, you're corrupting me! XD) And of course I had to write it.

I loved writing Luke, too. Well, perhaps that's obvious, since the entire thing is from his point of view, and Luke is my favorite character. But his innocence was fun, as was fucking around with his mind (...I'm so mean to this poor boy...), but I think he's a really resilient person, someone who really is a fighter, is a warrior, and who just wouldn't give in to something he thought was wrong. (Which is part of my problem with the Dark Empire comics, but I'll not go into that now.) So I knew from the start that no matter how persuasive/seductive Vader got, Luke wouldn't give in, and Vader would eventually let Luke go and think about it and decide that he wanted Vader too much not to come back.

The title was hard, until I got the idea of looking through haunting poetry that I remember reading, and who does that better than T.S. Eliot? And the poem of his that I'm most familiar with is "The Hollow Men", and then I reread part v and thought "Those stanzas totally mean something for each chapter--a stanza each for set up, build up, climax, and resolution!" So I loved the poetry at the beginning of each chapter, and I love my title.

Um, don't think there's anything else I want to say. This is long enough as it is. :p But I had fun with it, and am actually fairly proud of it.

Comments

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*squee*
Have just picked up the fourth part to read at home tonight amid lots of squeeing - that was one of the few fics I couldn't *wait* to see finished.

I loved the first three parts and thought you handled the sex part exceptionally well (and convincingly). Because yes, I did wonder how it would play out a *lot* during the first two chapters - because the story felt extremely canonical, and the characters so very true to their own selves, and Vader-sex is still a topic I need to have dished out very convincingly (unless in HP, where a lot goes, *grin*). And yours sure did *that*. But the character interaction made it truly shine (my favourite moments were Luke's arrrival on Vader's ship and their first interaction). Well, so far... :).

*runs off to read now*

[rynne.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked it! :D

because the story felt extremely canonical, and the characters so very true to their own selves

*blushes* Quite a compliment. *g*

But the character interaction made it truly shine

I had tons of fun with the character interaction, which I hope came across. I also like that first interaction--it was one of the things I had in mind when I first started the fic. Nice to see other people liking it!

I hope you liked the last part too. :)

[spitefairy.livejournal.com]

I'm only, what a year late? But I wanted to comment here since I just read For Thine is the Kingdom for the first time. I was actually surprised you don't write Luke/Vader fic, because of the quality of writing. I'm usually pretty abviliant to L/V fic, because the characterization is usually so off, but this was great. I have to say, I was hooked as soon as Vader commanded Luke to look at him in the docking bay, brilliant. It was a pleasure to read, and I'd love to read more stories by you relating to Luke and Vader, creepy incestuous or not, you do a wonderful job with the characterization.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Well, I do enjoy writing fic about Luke and Vader, but this is the only fic I have where I slashed them. I'm usually not very fond of that myself, because I agree that characterization is usually off, but I worked pretty hard on this fic to keep them in character, and I'm really glad you think I succceeded!

As for more stories by me about Luke and Vader--you can always look in my tags under "star wars fic" for what I've already written, and I think I can safely guarantee that there will be more fic about those two at some point. :)