Lion at the Gate

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Fanfiction
Title: Lion at the Gate
Author(s): Kirby Crow and Lilith Sedai
Date(s): 1999
Length: 14,500 words
Genre(s): slash fanfiction
Fandom(s): Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Relationship(s): Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan
External Links: Lion at the Gate (TOTO via Wayback)
Lion at the Gate (The Writings of Lilith Sedai)

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Lion at the Gate is a Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan AU by Kirby Crow and Lilith Sedai (14,500 words). The authors rated the story NC17 for graphic sexual content and ambiguous consent and it's categorized as angst, kink and BDSM. The version at the Obi-Wan Torture Oasis had a cover by analise.

Summary: Knight Kenobi is held prisoner by a sinister and compelling kidnaper, but what does his captor want from him?

The story has a sequel called Wolf at the Door by Kirby Crow.

Recs and Reviews

"I'm linking to the TOTO main page because it is one of the most beautiful fanfic sites I've ever seen, with some of the best stories in this fandom. Every single story there is highly recommended. Read, no, savour them all. Lion at the Gate is darker than my usual preferred reading fare, but the darkness is perfectly constructed, with a Sith trapping Obi Wan in a situation where resistence to darkness is not possible, and highlightending some of the paradoxes of pacifism. What got this story onto my favourites list, though, is the ending, which lifts the story to a level above dark and thrilling. It has an elegant and enlightening resolution, not only of the plot but of the issues raised by the story. Sublime."[1]

"Believable Evil!Qui-Gon! Sure it's believable, you said, it's AU. But no, it's not just that. Kirby Crow and Lilith Sedai did such a good job with Evil!Qui-Gon's role that they convinced me this could very well be the real Qui-Gon, if he had never become a Jedi. The story also has depth; quite deep, in fact, that I had to read the story twice to really feel the underlying theme."[2]

T.O.T.O.

Since I get to recommend first, I will rec what is probably my favorite TPM story. It's pretty easy to recommend anything by Kirby Crow, either alone or with her co-conspirators (and I'd be surprised if many of her other stories aren't mentioned here in the future) but this one I've reread many times and love the most. It is my classification of an AR, that is, a story set in the Star Wars universe, but where the characters we know lived different lives. Here, Obi-Wan is still a Jedi, but Qui-Gon is something much more dark, and a whole lot more fascinating. [...]

It's difficult not to give away anything about the story if one recommends it, but it is basically a story of conflict between two poles, two opposites, drawn together through violence to passion, and to a very unwilling love. I'm not sure if nowadays it would be considered a mite flowery in its language, but to me it will always be a poetic work that gets right to the heart of passion, the sort of hunger that can drive one to do terrible, and wonderful, things. It has violent sexual encounters that are more like ritual, Obi-Wan weeping in a way I can accept, and even though their Qui-Gon is very little like canon Qui-Gon, he is still a wonderful literary character and a fabulous foil for Obi-Wan. Although a sequel was written, I wasn’t as pleased with it as I was with the original, and much prefer the first story. I think it's a matter of "first love" for me.

I don’t know of another story in the fandom quite like Lion, and it will always be THE "dark Qui-Gon" story for me, the one that was my inspiration.[3]

This is probably my (Mac) favorite Dark Qui-Gon story - Qui-Gon, as a Sith Lord, kidnaps Jedi Knight Obi-Wan and sets about seducing him, literally, to the Dark Side. It is a sensual delight of a story, filled with emotional twists and turns and as stylish as I've come to expect from these two authors. It is also worth checking out the rest of the fiction on the TOTO site (The Obi-Wan Torture Oasis).[4]

Sure, one might point out that 99% of PM fiction is a/u, since they almost all ignore Qui-gon’s death, but in Lion at the Gate, a freshly knighted Obi-wan meets a Sith Lord that bears no resemblance to Maul.... Story by Kirby Crow & Lilith Sedai[5]

References

  1. ^ Julad. anhedonian recommendations, 23 November 1999. (Accessed 22 January 2011)
  2. ^ "chiaroscuro v6 – T.O.T.O. (The Obi-Wan Torture Oasis)". 2005-03-31. Archived from the original on 2013-06-20.
  3. ^ ausmac in tpm_flashback. Lion at the Gate by Kirby Crow & Lilith Sedai, 01 April 2000. (Accessed 26 September 2011)
  4. ^ Mac. Guest Writers, Mac & Anna's Place via Wayback. (Accessed 24 February 2013)
  5. ^ Sandy Herrold. Issues of Consent: Sandy’s mostly"Slash Without Consent" link page, via Wayback. (Accessed 09 May 2015)