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quigonejinn about one of her Works-in-Progress, I got to speculating about why so parents might willingly give up their Force-sensitive children to the Jedi.
We know that Jedi are identified at least by the age of 6, since we saw that kindergarten class in "Attack of the Clones". How early does the ability to use the Force manifest?
If it manifests in toddlerhood, even for just a percentage of the Force-sensitives, then you've got a bunch of parents dealing with demon-children. How do you wean a toddler who can do a mind-whammy? It's not like you can argue him into behaving, because two-year olds are not much in the logic department.
Parents might give their children up out of self-defense, or sheer exasperation. Or have them seized by the state when the parents start abusing them in an attempt to have them 'act normal' -- which could certainly happen, as it happens to children with medical or emotional problems all the time. (And as an aside, it makes me wonder if Qui-Gon's surname is Jinn because his family/homeworld thought he was a djinni.)
Once the children get to the Jedi Temple, they have to be turned over to caregivers of some sort. I think the Jedi Creche Masters have to have nerves of steel, wills of iron, and the patience of saints. It's not a job for washouts, though it might be a job for retired field-agents.
Think about it -- riding herd on 20 or so five-year-olds with some ability to manipulate the Force, emotional upsets ranging from missing their parents to post-traumatic syndrome (depending on what their family situation was before), and not a lot of grounding in Jedi precepts.
That's hard work, and not everyone is temperamentally suited to take care of a small child, let alone several children at a time. But it's vital to the Order to have new recruits, so someone has to do it.
I think the Creche Master might actually have pretty high status among the Jedi. It's a tough job that not everyone can do, and it's not a sinecure or even an automatic posting for retired-from-the-field Jedi.
quigonejinn about one of her Works-in-Progress, I got to speculating about why so parents might willingly give up their Force-sensitive children to the Jedi.We know that Jedi are identified at least by the age of 6, since we saw that kindergarten class in "Attack of the Clones". How early does the ability to use the Force manifest?
If it manifests in toddlerhood, even for just a percentage of the Force-sensitives, then you've got a bunch of parents dealing with demon-children. How do you wean a toddler who can do a mind-whammy? It's not like you can argue him into behaving, because two-year olds are not much in the logic department.
Parents might give their children up out of self-defense, or sheer exasperation. Or have them seized by the state when the parents start abusing them in an attempt to have them 'act normal' -- which could certainly happen, as it happens to children with medical or emotional problems all the time. (And as an aside, it makes me wonder if Qui-Gon's surname is Jinn because his family/homeworld thought he was a djinni.)
Once the children get to the Jedi Temple, they have to be turned over to caregivers of some sort. I think the Jedi Creche Masters have to have nerves of steel, wills of iron, and the patience of saints. It's not a job for washouts, though it might be a job for retired field-agents.
Think about it -- riding herd on 20 or so five-year-olds with some ability to manipulate the Force, emotional upsets ranging from missing their parents to post-traumatic syndrome (depending on what their family situation was before), and not a lot of grounding in Jedi precepts.
That's hard work, and not everyone is temperamentally suited to take care of a small child, let alone several children at a time. But it's vital to the Order to have new recruits, so someone has to do it.
I think the Creche Master might actually have pretty high status among the Jedi. It's a tough job that not everyone can do, and it's not a sinecure or even an automatic posting for retired-from-the-field Jedi.
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And it's a job I could see Qui-Gon retiring to, if he had survived but was too damaged to go back into the field. He seemed good with children, certainly had the willpower to go against a mind-whammying toddler, and the compassion necessary to listen.
Obi-Wan, not so much.
Anakin, not a CHANCE.
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Dealing with small bitty sproglets under the best of circumstances is hard, but gah, when they have Force powers...
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I'm not so sure even Yoda would be good as a foster parent. He's teaching the kidlets, yes, but he's got some frankly bizarre ideas about human emotional reactions that made me want to thump him in RotS.
Oh, and just imagine what Qui-Gon was like as a rug rat. Stubborn and with a tendency to mindwhammy people into giving him food/toys/cuddles. He'd have been a terror.
I'm looking forward to your baby!Obi-Wan gen. It'll be fun.
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Of course, our Jedi are not celibate, so our Force-active children tend to have Force-active parents who can whammy them right back. And do.
My character has sunk a goodly number of skill points into Kid Wrangling.
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And while some kids are lucky enough to have Force-sensitive parents, most don't, and even those tht do aren't raised exclusively or even primarily by those parents...
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Well, I think Yoda took care of the older younglings, like the little class in AotC? Five and up? He'd at least be calm and patient enough to deal with the kiddies without twitching and considering a vasectomy like Obi-Wan or Anakin would. XD
For some reason, when I try to picture Qui-Gon as a small boy, I wind up with a mental image of of him as an adult, only smaller. XDDDD
:D I hope so.
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Considering that Yoda seems to be some sort of amphibian, I don't think that would work. But I can so see Obi-Wan walking quickly (because Obi-Wan does NOT rush in terror) over to the Healers for a small out-patient procedure, yes...
For some reason, when I try to picture Qui-Gon as a small boy, I wind up with a mental image of of him as an adult, only smaller.
:snerk:
I think he was probably a quiet, almost-shy boy. And a little tank, the way my nephew is -- though hopefully he wasn't QUITE as obsessed with heavy vehicles the way Cam is...
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Also, I wonder how much it costs in the Republic-world to outfit a droid with child-care protocols and what have you. Droids can't be mind-whammied; they're not going to freak out when the kid starts making the lights flicker and all that. Slap the parents faces/voices on the droid or something and use the droid to ride out the worst of the terrible twos. I'm sure it'd be expensive, but theoretically possible, right? Especially for, say, somebody with the background that Dooku has or whatever.
But yeah. Jedi Creche Masters. I'm currently having a discussion with
God, there needs to be fic about Qui-Gon as a demon rugrat.
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I don't know how much it cost to outfit nannydroids, but it certainly creeps me out. The wire-mother/cloth-mother/baby-monkey experiments make think it's not a good idea to have your really small kids raised primarily by droids, though older kids could certainly be tutored by droids.
I'm not sure that Qui-Gon does pick favorites, though
But he's certainly centered enough to deal with kids, and they do seem to like him. He'd be wonderful -- now I want an AU where he survives Naboo but has to retire from fieldwork; Obi-Wan can visit him in his new job as Creche Master and think that it's even more nerve-wracking than gunboat diplomancy, 'better him than me', and 'he is absolutely insane' while the itty bitties crawl all over Qui-Gon.
there needs to be fic about Qui-Gon as a demon rugrat
You could write it! I'd try, but I'd really need to buy copies of TPM and AotC for extra viewing, and I am resisiting the urge to geek out completely.
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All perish except for the baby, etc, etc angst woe pain Force-memory digging a la Leia, and really, that's what I write. The two things should get a light treatment sometime and haahahahah.
I wonder how many Initiates they have running around the Temple at any given time.
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http://www.livejournal.com/community/okcity/54596.html
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