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Author Topic: Jacen Solo (`ware spoilers!)
neo-dragon
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quote:
Originally posted by Rakeesh:
She did. She got better, theoretically anyway.

Being a moody b*tch for about a week does not constitute a fall to the dark side.
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Rakeesh
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Was that all it was? I forget. That was not one of the SW books I read thoroughly. It's been that way for all the books after Zahn's trilogy: some of them I read, and some I mostly skim through. It's also a little bit baffling how dumb Luke was after Traitor. When Jacen told him all that had happened to him, surely Luke should've realized that he learned something in order to be so calm about it. And for ever trusting Vergere, whose only constant lesson was that no person can ever trust another.
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ketchupqueen
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I wouldn't say that was all it was. But those books were right around where I stopped reading because the writing and plot were getting so bad.

Some day I will finish up the NJO out of sheer boredom.

I'm not that bored yet.

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Rakeesh
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I don't understand what you mean by 'I wouldn't say that was all it was' KQ. Overall it's really too bad, though. I can't help but think that there must've been many, many excellent authors who would've been willing to write one or more of the stories, but who were passed over.
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ketchupqueen
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I wouldn't say that her being a moody ***** for a week was all the dark side stuff was.

('Twas a direct response to your "Was that all it was? I forget.")

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neo-dragon
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I really can't think of any other way to describe it though. I mean, I would have called it jedi PMS but I didn't want to offend any of the ladies. She was just moody and b*tchy for a while because she lost both of her brothers. Comparing that to the falls of Anakin Skywalker or Jacen is a joke. What's the worst thing she did, mess with someone's memory I think? Not quite the same as slaughtering children or burning planets. It annoys me when people act as though Jaina knows the dark side as well as people who have really been lost in it.

BTW, "Dark Journey" was easily my least favourite book in the NJO, and I think it left me with a permanent anti-Jaina bias.

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Lyrhawn
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Um, didn't she throw dark force lightning around and kill some people (probably Vong, but still killing in anger)? And afterwards when she was jaunting around the Hapes Cluster mowing stuff down? She was in a downward spiral.

Sure I don't think she fell like Vader or Caadus, but come on, it's not like she stubbed her toe on the Force spectrum, she dabbled in some seriously dark stuff. I'd put her in near the same category as Kyp, because I don't think his acts were willful, he was under Exar Kun's influence, whereas Jaina CHOSE to do all the things she did. I'd say she understands it as well as Luke does, from when he went dark and came back.

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neo-dragon
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Luke apprenticed himself to the reborn Palpatine and was an accomplice to the countless murders he committed with his World Devastators. Plus, he has a lifetime of experience facing some pretty nasty darksiders. So I still don't think that Jaina understands the dark side as well as Luke. It seems like practically every member of the NJO has dabbled in the dark side a little. I would only describe a few as actually falling though.
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Lostincyberspace
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Jaina was the technology one and Jacen was the animal/nature one. Normally the techno people go bad and the nature go good. Yhats why jaina should have gone evil and jacen stayed good.
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Alcon
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As far as I'm concerned nothing made post the beginning of NJO (including NJO) is cannon. This includes the prequels. All that stuff was just an absurd attempt to drain more money from the SWU and in the attempt, utterly ruined it. It was around the time those started coming out that I switched from Star Wars to Tolkien as my favorite fictional Universe. So as far as I'm concerned Jacen is still a relatively young jedi student being trained well by his uncle and various friends.
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Lyrhawn
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Heh. I personally would have been quite content to see it end with the X-Wing books, but I still consider all of it to be a degree of cannon. The six movies I think are the only things I consider real cannon, but I give EU cannon a separate space in my mind.

Tolkien is my favorite fictional universe as well. I wonder though, if Tolkien had done his work today instead of the first half of the 20th century, and we all saw The Hobbit and LOTR, how many people would see The Histories and The Sil, and now the Narn and what not all as attempts to grab money? I love all of them, actually I probably love the First Age stuff more than the War of the Ring stuff, and I love the prequels for Star Wars too, even if I don't like them as much as the originals. I think all told it's a great arc, even if all the ends don't totally jive together.

There are several books in the EU though that I read once and never went back to. In particular I hated the Killik Trilogy.

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Rakeesh
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quote:
I'd say she understands it as well as Luke does, from when he went dark and came back.
Does anyone really understand the dark side as well as Jacen Solo, though? That's another thing that irritated me: the way Luke and the rest of the Jedi just seemed to pat him on the head and say, "Whew! You sure did have a tough time, take a little break and you'll be A-OK again," after Traitor. It irritates me because it's dumb of them to have done that.

I'm trying to think of another SW character who's suffered as much physical and mental pain as Jacen, and coming up blank. Why, therefore, is it so shocking to people that Jacen goes dark later? Why also do so many people seem to miss a bunch of warning signs prior to the current arc? He should've been seriously red-flagged the moment he got back.

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Lyrhawn
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I don't think anyone understands it the way he does. I don't think any of them have ever so willingly gone over to the dark side and stayed there, and then chose to RULE it.

But, I can see how they would not see the downward spiral from Jacen. He's always been the most sensitive of the Solo kids, maybe even of most of the Jedi. He's the one who refused to Centerpoint to take out the Vong, and ended up killing half the Hapan fleet by accident. To imagine that he would go from that to killing Mara is a huge stretch. When he came back from captivity they couldn't have imagined what he would have gone through, and even after they found out, I think Luke assumed that Jacen could just power through, and he was totally beguiled by Vergere, because she was, to him, a REAL Jedi, and while he felt alright if not tenuous sparring with her on philosophical issues, I think he felt intimidated by her knowledge and history.

And when he got back from his five year sojourn through the galaxy, they REALLY had no idea where he had been or what he had done. By then, things were already going downhill, and they still had this vision of Jacen from five years ago, or 10 years ago even.

I think if they had seen the changes slowly over the 5 years they might have picked up on it, but they expected him to have not changed and didn't know how to deal. To say nothing of the fact that they had never had to worry about the kind of duplicity that Jacen ends up excelling at.

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Rakeesh
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I'd hardly say he (initially) went over to it willingly. One similar example would be if someone were to drug me repeatedly with a narcotic. The strongest drug I've ever taken has been alcohol, but what if someone dosed me with morphine repeatedly? All while brainwashing me? Would it be fair to say, ten years later, that I had chosen to be an opium junkie? Sure, maybe a bit...but it's complicated.

Here's the thing: none of them seemed prepared to even casually look for small warning signs, not even as warning signs of OMG SITH! but warning signs of, "Maybe Jacen hasn't really coped with his captivity and weeks and weeks of brutal torture and brainwashing just yet."

I agree that Vergere did do a solid job on Luke, but I think they could've done a much better job illustrating it. Instead, for some reason, they seemed to want to kill her off very quickly. To say nothing of unnecessarily in that context...

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Lyrhawn
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quote:
Here's the thing: none of them seemed prepared to even casually look for small warning signs, not even as warning signs of OMG SITH! but warning signs of, "Maybe Jacen hasn't really coped with his captivity and weeks and weeks of brutal torture and brainwashing just yet."
They were too close. When it's someone like Ganner Rhysode or Kyp Durron etc etc, they are people it's easy to isolate and weed out. But look at Kyp even. Do you remember when the Jedi were first starting out, the arguments the students got into over whether or not Kyp was a bad guy? And then when they knew what he had done, the argument over the degree to which Kyp had gone over. Granted they were untrained students who didn't have a clue, but I think some of that mentality, that blindness when it comes to identifying the Dark Side, has seeped into the general consensus. When since even the OLD Jedi Order fell have they ever nailed the bad guy on the head the first time around? It seems to be the greatest strength of the Dark Side, their disciples are masters of guile, and the good guys are almost always at a loss to figure it out. Maybe thousands of years ago in the time of Uleq Qel Droma they were better at it, but meh.

So I think when Jacen came back from his captivity, first of all he was isolated from most of the other Jedi. Initially he was only really around his family, and they were so happy to see him that they didn't really question it, instead, they went after Vergere. Why? Because they didn't WANT to question it, they just wanted to enjoy the fact that he was back. Any questions could be diverted towards a much easier target, and she handled herself quite well.

And I think the Jedi Battle Melds that Jacen was involved in probably went a long way towards healing any of the lingering damage, so that by the time the war was over, they never really gave Vergere or the captivity much second thought.

The problem is that he was still thinking about that stuff when he went on his five year odyssey, and he had zero checks and balances, but when he got back from that journey, people did much the same thing over again. They assumed they were still dealing with little kid Jacen that they loved from before. Happy to have him back again, they didn't ask a ton of questions, and I don't think Jaina was nearly right in the head herself, they hardly knew each other at that point. The people who would have needed to ask questions immediately, didn't. They weren't suspicious of his intentions as a Jedi, they were just a little wary of their PERSONAL relationships. It only started to dawn on them after obvious evidence started to crop up.

And I think that if it hadn't been Jacen, if it had been something that wasn't in the Solo/Skywalker family, it probably would have been spotted a lot earlier.

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Rakeesh
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Lyrhawn,

Well bear in mind we've only got one sample from the Old Republic Jedi trying to pin down a Sith...and the Jedi they were concerned about going dark, it turns out they were exactly right. They simply failed to take into account the x-factor, the master of force-disguise, Palpatine. And discovering Palpatine before he wants to be found is like trying to play the Patriots this season.

quote:
And I think the Jedi Battle Melds that Jacen was involved in probably went a long way towards healing any of the lingering damage, so that by the time the war was over, they never really gave Vergere or the captivity much second thought.
I understand why it was overlooked for so long (aside from plot-device). I'm just saying that it's their collective job to do notice things like that. Vergere was right once again: it really is a crappy idea to have Jedi families.
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Lyrhawn
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I certainly agree with that.
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C3PO the Dragon Slayer
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My opinion on the Legacy books rests on how they make it turn out. So far, everything has been hinting ever-so-subtly (am I the only one catching it?) that Luke, Ben, Mara, Saba, etc. are turning to the dark side in their response to Jacen. I don't think Jacen ever really was on the dark side until Inferno. Before that, he was just misguided, but after Sacrifice, he really took on a new purposefully evil form.

If the whole Jedi Order shatters and becomes reborn because they realize they've been being very hypocritical lately, work to improve their doctrine, and show the light to Jacen, then I'd have a very very high opinion of the Legacy books. If it ends with Luke killing Jacen, I'll probably petition to vote Troy Denning off the EU author's board. What they have so far is potential for great literary weaving, but the way it's written makes me fearful that they'll miss their chance. I fear my analysis has gone too deep and they're just playing a linear "OOO! Boba found his grampa!" "OK, moving on... Wedge escapes!" "Who cares? Saba PWNs" "Whatever. Mandalore built an uber-starfighter!" gig. I really hope this amounts to more than the Clone Wars cartoons in terms of plot.

In the meantime, I'll keep up-to-date with the EU. There are very good books out there whose awesomeness does not depend fully on the sequel. And in the meantime, I'll try to get my Star Wars video game out before anyone tries to contradict my EU ideas.

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ketchupqueen
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quote:
Heh. I personally would have been quite content to see it end with the X-Wing books
But, then there would be no I, Jedi, the best SW book ever!!!

I have to agree about the canon stuff. I make my own canon. The canon of "what is What SW Awesomeness Should Be and What is Not." I just can't accept the NJO as canon. And the prequels are, well, iffy. (AOTC almost approached a real SW movie. The first one, for what it was, could have been worse; it had its shining and its horrific moments. And midichlorians need to die.) I can't help but think if GL had had someone around who would dare to tell him when something sucked, they might have been better... And I don't even want to know who came up with the plot line/major plot points for the NJO. I'm waiting for the end of the Legacy books to decide whether I will read them or not. (BTW, Black Fleet Crisis? Also not canon. Also, much as I like some of Barbara Hambly's other books, her SW books? Not canon. Just my opinion, but I will always love some of the SW EU, and what I don't love, well, it's their loss.)

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Rakeesh
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Well, I've always thought the Dark/Light spectrum in SW was full of crap. The way it's presented, that is, and especially the way it was applied in NJO. If a Jedi can't use the Force to defend against an unprovoked murderous aggressor, what the hell good is it, honestly?
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C3PO the Dragon Slayer
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Well, It seems that there are plenty of instances of using the Force to defend against unprovoked murderous aggressors in Revenge of the Sith. And a few in the Legacy books.
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neo-dragon
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No one ever said that using the Force in defense is wrong. In fact, Yoda specifically said that the Light Side is used for knowledge and defense. But there's a difference between using it in defense and using it in anger or hatred. Jacen got taken in by the whole philosophy that it doesn't matter how you use the Force, only why, and look how he's turned out.
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Rakeesh
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quote:
No one ever said that using the Force in defense is wrong.
Sure they did. For much of NJO, Luke (and early on, Jacen in fact) spent a lot of time whining that it was wrong to use the Force in defense. They did this by defining 'defense' to mean, "If I stumble upon a Yuuzhan Vong murdering someone while I'm rescuing a kitten from a tree, then I can use the Force to defend that other person. But I can't, knowing that there are Yuuzhan Vong doing lots of conquering and murdering three hours hyperdrive journey away, make that hyperdrive journey to go out and defend those people. At least not while using the Force."

It remains to be seen whether or not Jacen will accomplish his goals with his current Force philosophy. If he really does make the galaxy a better, safer, and more prosperous place, I'm not prepared to just write him off with, "Look how he turned out."

quote:
Well, It seems that there are plenty of instances of using the Force to defend against unprovoked murderous aggressors in Revenge of the Sith. And a few in the Legacy books.
Well, that was the old Jedi, which is an entirely different story. Much of what Luke knows about them he learned in about 20 minutes of education at Yoda's hands, and maybe like a half hour at Obi-wan's. But those older Jedi were a pack of schmucks too, IMO, for all the good they did. Writing off sentient slavery on the frontier, for example.
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Lyrhawn
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quote:
Originally posted by ketchupqueen:
quote:
Heh. I personally would have been quite content to see it end with the X-Wing books
But, then there would be no I, Jedi, the best SW book ever!!!


Good god how could I have forgotten that!? I stand most apprecatively corrected!
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Lostincyberspace
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I like parts of the NJO Like brining in the yuzanvong (how ever you spell it) Not the same old evil force bad guy.
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neo-dragon
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I liked the NJO except for the fact that it was a good deal longer and more convoluted than it needed to be. Some of the novels were just filler. If it had been 8 or 9 books instead of 19 that would have been perfect. So far, LotF is better.

BTW, I'm about 50 pages into "Fury", and so far so good.

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ketchupqueen
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Some of y'all obviously have VERY different ideas of what constitutes "good SW" than I do. Which is okay. That's why I live in my own happy world where some books were never written and some movies are fan fic. [Wink]
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Rakeesh
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I think we may have very similar ideas, it's just that I don't wanna have Corran Horn's babies [Razz]
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Lyrhawn
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[Laugh] Rakeesh
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ketchupqueen
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Well, that's a good thing, since he'd pick me over you ANY DAY. And probably Lyrhawn second. [Razz]
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Lyrhawn
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Yes! That means he's been getting all those gift baskets I keep sending.

[Big Grin]

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ketchupqueen
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Yeah, but you know that Mirax would kick both our butts before we got near him.
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Rakeesh
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So, has anyone read the latest LotF story by Aaron Allston? I enjoyed it pretty solidly...I think that author has handled things well, and he's written a few X-Wing stories too. I'm not the hardcore fan you two are, so you might remember the name better than I do.

Jacen Solo is made considerably more interesting, IMO, by his continued devotion to his daughter. I do wonder very much what'll happen next, now that the truth of his daughter's parentage comes out. Her interrogation (although the goody-goody Jedi will disguise it as a friendly conversation) and the conclusions reached from it will be most interesting. Will Luke and the others conclude that Jacen was lying to his daughter about loving her, too? Or will they discover his true motivation?

They do some interesting stuff with the whole Sith Battle Meditation thing, and it's crucial in Jacen's victory over Kyle Katarn...I was pleased about that, seeing as how Kyle Katarn is probably the best Jedi from a fighting perspective, it makes sense. I'd be really interested to see how Corran Horn would match up his own pilot-trained situational awareness against Caedus's Sith technique.

It would be interesting, although I hope it doesn't happen because I like Corran (despite how the authors have made him almost a caricature of a stooge for The Man in terms of authority), and that fight could only end in one of two ways: Corran dead, or both of them dead (lightsaber-energy suicide attack).

Boba Fett's influence is felt, and there's more Jag, which I really appreciate. It's nice to see a story in which the smart, dedicated, tough normal guy goes toe to toe with a Jedi and kicks the Jedi's ass. Especially fun that it's partially due to Fett's meddling. They do a great job showing Fett's revenge, too. Hehe, he sends a special set of armor (breastplate and gauntlets) to Han with a note saying, "With my deepest sympathies." It's that Mandalorian armor stuff, and is obviously intended to help deal with Jacen. Players of KOTOR games might recognize some of the stuff.

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Lyrhawn
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I haven't read this one yet, but I probably will soon. My brother usually buys the books shortly after they come out and I read them a week or two later. (I just asked him, he has it)

I really liked Allston's X-Wing books. He wrote the Wraith Squadron series (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Isard's Revenge and then Starfighters of Adumar later on), which follows the Rogue Squadron books that Mike Stackpole did. Stackpole and Tim Zahn remain my two favorites of all the Star Wars authors.

If they killed Corran I'd probably stop reading, he's been my favorite character since Rogue Squadron. Either that or I'd care a lot less about jumping on the newest book. Does Kyle Katarn die? My brother will be pissed, that's his favorite character. If this ends up being a slow crawl towards Jacen offing the Jedi one by one, I won't much care for that. We've spent too much time reading about these characters for him to just take them out one by one. I guess I don't so much mind a few characters here and there being offed, it's already happened pretty hard core recently. But we'll see.

If Rakeesh liked it, I'll withhold judgement and give it a chance. You've had a pretty solid take on the books thus far.

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neo-dragon
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I'm still reading "Fury". Damn my lack of free time. I'm a couple of hundred pages in and still really enjoying it.
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Rakeesh
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From one nerd to another, thanks Lyrhawn [Smile]

No, Kyle Katarn doesn't die. It's a very narrow thing, though. The setup is basically this: Kyle Katarn, Corran's son...Valis? I forget his name...and several other Jedi (though Kyle is the only Master among them) infiltrate Coruscant and lay an ambush for Jacen via the underlevels.

There's two goals: one is to either incapacitate and capture, or 'neutralize'. The other is to plant a homing device on one of Jacen's snazzy Sithy cloaks. The first part is a total failure, since Jacen is neither killed nor captured. The second part is a complete success, so truthfully Kyle wasn't defeated so mcuh as only half-successful.

Jacen manages to kill one or two of Kyle's entourage, but that was to be expected. Corran's son survives the attack. While Kyle and Jacen are fighting-and things are looking pretty even, bordering on Jacen losing, Jacen uses his Sith technique to notice a great big passing transport that is really outside the awareness of everyone else, as tightly focused as they are.

He then proceeds, in a split-second of distraction, to yank it down and smack Kyle in the back, bringing him nicely onto his lightsaber. However, Kyle and the other survivors narrowly escape and live to fight another day.

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While killing time waiting for my showing of Beowulf, I was in Barnes and Noble flipping through one of the Dark Nest books. Specifically I was looking for the scene where Jacen murders Tenel Ka's grandmother, but I found something else that makes me less liking of the mainstream Jedi.

Luke is in a fight with someone, I forget who, and is about to use the Force to win the fight and kill his target. But instead he does some handwringing and decides it's better, somehow, if he kills his target with his lightsaber instead of just picking them up and smacking them onto a rock. Luke is comfortable with his decision.

How stupid is that?

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Lyrhawn
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I thought he sent her into a coma rather than killing her. Valin, I believe, is Corran's son, named for his..I want to say grandfather. And I think that was his first fight with Luumiya, when he chose to use his lightsaber instead of raw power. And I agree, it's pretty dumb. You can sort of see where his moral argument comes from, that using raw power just to kill someone is an evil act. But making the leap from there to using the force as a much less useful tool as it relates to swordsmanship is stupid in the extreme. How is more moral to kill them via something you are less good at? Is it the risk that you might be killed yourself that makes it better? I don't much care for that reasoning.

The whole grabbing the transport thing sounds dubious. Kyle I imagine would have to be almost as good as Luke or Corran in the whole situational awareness thing. I know Corran worked extra hard at it, being a pilot, and I know at least Kam Solusar did as well, which I would imagine trickled down to the others, but I wouldn't expect non pilots to be as good at it. I know Jacen has some pretty impressive range with knowing what is going on around him, but I find it hard to believe he could grab something that far away, move it that fast and be able to get inside Kyle's own awareness without him knowing.

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Rakeesh
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Bear in mind this is Coruscant we're talking about here, Lyrhawn. A very large number of objects of all sizes moving at all speeds. Maybe holding an angry bee convention in the middle of a busy NYC intersection might get you more unpredictible objects, but only maybe.

That's kind of why I'd be interested to see a fight between Corran and Jacen, because Corran is really the only person who has as extensive effort in that field to approach Jacen's Sith technique. Luke, while a brilliant pilot, just hasn't really been in those enormous dogfights, nor has he controlled enormous battles like Jacen has.

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neo-dragon
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Some spoiler warnings, perhaps?

You haven't spoiled anything for me personally since I've only glanced at your posts and I'm already past the Kyle thing, but still...

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Lyrhawn
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Good point, I hadn't considered that. Coruscant would pose a unique problem, where distance would matter less than ability to juggle numerous objects, where Jacen would have a distinct advantage.

You're right, Corran probably would be the best at it, but I'd also consider Madurrin an interesting opponent. Remember he was the Jedi other than Jacen that was in control of those Jedi Melds back when they were fighting the YV. He has the same foundation in training that Jacen had in juggling large numbers of units and directing them. As an Anx, he's probably not bad at combat either.

Generally Corran has had to survive lightsaber battles through sheer swordsmanship and guile. Since he can't do the telekinesis thing, he either has to project false images or do the kamikaze crush the opponent thing. So you can bet Jacen will never be stupid enough to stab him to death. I think Corran would be a much more interesting opponent than many others. Luke and Mara showed what happens when Jacen goes up against brute strength, but not against Corran's style.

Edit to add: I think this is one of those threads where spoilers are inherent, it's even in the thread title. You read as your own risk (which I learned myself when Mara died, but still).

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neo-dragon
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As far as spoilers go, I don't see why we can't or shouldn't use warnings for a least a week or two after a new book's release.
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Rakeesh
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Neo-dragon, I'm not sure what your complaint is. This thread has a constant spoiler warning. You cannot even post in the thread without having the title up on the screen warning of spoilers.

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quote:
Generally Corran has had to survive lightsaber battles through sheer swordsmanship and guile. Since he can't do the telekinesis thing, he either has to project false images or do the kamikaze crush the opponent thing. So you can bet Jacen will never be stupid enough to stab him to death. I think Corran would be a much more interesting opponent than many others. Luke and Mara showed what happens when Jacen goes up against brute strength, but not against Corran's style.
Something that hasn't been explored to my recollection is just how long Corran can store energy he absorbs. I mean, we've seen that he needs to let it out if, for example, a gigantic warehouse packed with fuel and explosives goes up around him, or a geothermal vent puffs up around him, but what about a smaller scale? What if he just popped himself one on the forearm with a low-setting blaster bolt?

Anyway, as for swordsmanship, as the series shows it, Corran can at best simply match Caedus, not beat him. As for guile...well, honestly it depends on which author we're dealing with. We've got either "I'm gonna threaten to murder some kids!" villainy, or, "I'm gonna stage the murder of Mara Jade" villainy guile. Teeter totter.

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neo-dragon
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I didn't mean to make a fuss about spoilers, but my main concern is that when you have threads like this with only a general warning people can't dare come in and discuss unless they are completely up to date in the series, and sometimes that robs us all of some worthwhile insight. This isn't so much an issue for me personally since I usually get the books right on the release date, and even with my lack of free time I'm finished within a week or two. And it really only takes a second to type:
"FURY SPOILERS"
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I'll shut up about it now. I just wanted to let you know why I brought it up in the first place.

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Lyrhawn
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I'm halfway through "Fury" and I'm liking it. Surprisingly.

Maybe it's just that I've finally bought into Jacen as Darth Caedus, a Sith Lord with a serious attitude problem and a lot more flaws than your average bad guy.

Spoiler warning, for neo's sake [Smile]
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Seriously, how did he NOT see Centerpoint firing? I saw it almost IMMEDIATELY. I figured at least at some point he'd figure it out, but I guess his father DID still have something to teach him, and hubris never dies.

I wouldn't mind seeing a somewhat more meaningful exploration of Jaina. They've just introduced this idea of where she's at mentally, and I'm glad to see Jag and Zekk have made up, as that was REALLY getting old.

I'm excited to see how it ends, and I'll post again when it does.

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Rakeesh
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Glad you're enjoying, Lyrhawn:)

Re: Jaina Solo, in the preview of the next book at the end of this one, that's heavily alluded to. Like everyone else she wants to kill him, but she's incapable of it right now: seriously, Caedus would mop the floor with her. Well, I won't tell you who she decides to go to to address the problem, but I think you'll really enjoy it:)

----------------

As for Centerpoint...well, really, you're right, he should've seen it coming, but it was pretty unlikely. To be fair, he did know there was a trap coming, and was prepared for all but the one he had good reason to think he'd already handled.

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neo-dragon
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*FURY SPOILERS*
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I wish that Kyle Katarn had died. I've always thought that he should remain as the two-dimensional video game character that he was designed to be, and stay out of the novels. Failing that, I would have liked to see him killed off. It was cruel for Allston to tease me like that.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed "Fury". I'm quite happy with the quality of this series overall, although each entry has its weaknesses. I really, really don't care about Corellian politics and I wish that "Fury" hadn't wasted pages on that little subplot about replacing the Prime Minister or whatever. And although it's only a minor thing, I don't really like how the authors insist on working in subplots about their pet-characters (I think I've mentioned that before). Because "Fury" is an Allston book it had to involve the Antilles family and Celchu, and the ending sets up heavy Fett involvement in the next book, which is of course by Traviss. I understand that each author has characters that they like to write about, but it just makes the series a little less consistent when Fett, for example, is an important character in every third book, but is barely mentioned in between. Speaking of which, I'm surprised that Alema wasn't killed off in a Denning book, since she's one of his pets. I'm not at all surprised that Jag got to do the deed though.

Also, I really wish that the truth about Mara's real killer would come out already. They know about everything else Jacen has done, what's the point of keeping the heroes in the dark about this particular atrocity for going on three books now? Although, I'm sure that the truth will finally come out in "Revelation". At least the secret of Allana's parentage is finally out. By the way, did anyone else think that it was neat to have another "I'm your father" moment in Star Wars?

Finally, I couldn't help but notice that in the preview of "Revelation" Ben thinks about the fact that Qui-gon Jinn supposedly killed a Sith Lord on Naboo. Was that the author's mistake or did history books in the SW universe just get that wrong for some reason?

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Rakeesh
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Well, there was that whole Jedi Purge thing, in which not just Jedi but lots of information about Jedi-beyond vague myths and fabulous tales-were eradicated.

Specific records about the dealings of the Jedi with Palpatine's direct subordinates would, I imagine, fall neatly into that category.

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neo-dragon
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Yeah, I'd considered the fact that Palpatine might want to downplay Obi-wan's accomplishments in particular since he was one of the most well known jedi heroes of the Clone Wars. But it still seems like a rather random discrepancy that will have readers scratching their heads for a minute.
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Rakeesh
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I do agree that that little discrepancy should've been addressed, since it has been years since the informational aspects of the purge have been mentioned in a book, if memory serves.

It's sort of glossed over now in this post-prequel world, but before the prequels for some strange reason [Wink] , characters in Star Wars books had little to no idea of what went on prior to the Rebellion.

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TomDavidson
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I'm really starting to dislike Traviss; I get the impression that she, even more than all the other self-obsessed authors of these novels, doesn't bother to read the other books. I liked Fury quite a lot -- but the short clip from Revelation bothered me. Why? Because we see Ben resolving to honor his mother's death by "living for her" -- which is almost precisely what he reminds his father not to do in Fury. That whole bit about the dangers of attachment, in which Ben is the first Jedi ever to correctly identify what about "attachment" is actually bad? Happens the book before. So why is Ben getting obsessed with determining whether Jacen killed Mara or not? It simply doesn't matter -- and the Ben of Fury knows that. The Ben of Revelation, as written by someone who clearly didn't read Fury, didn't get that memo. [Smile]
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