Lit Which characters have worked best as the "Hero" in the EU?

I've created threads on which characters have worked best as the "Villain" in the EU before, and I know how everybody likes to talk about the villains more... but what about the heroes?

Which characters have worked best as the "Hero" in the EU?

(You can name movie characters like Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Anakin, Obi-wan, Padme, Yoda... but only judge them on account of their EU appearances, not by how they were depicted in the movies)

Also, why do those characters work best as "Heroes" to you? What makes a character a good "hero" in the EU? Being purely good? Being human and relateable? Does he/she have to have a certain trait, like courage or charity, or is it ok for your heroes to act cowardly or selfish every once in a while?

 

Dass Jennir, because he isn't holier than thou and is likeable. Despite the huge gaps in between Dark Times, they have been worth it. "Its my job" was a wonderful line. A great character from a great series.

I would elaborate more but my memory is a bit hazy. Its been years since I read early DT stuff, I only remember blue harvest and out of the wilderness.

 

Anakin Solo! Willing to take the fight to the Yuuzhan Vong unlike Jacen did the early part of NJO and not having any doubts. He risked a lot to save Tahiri in Edge of Victory duology. He had good character growth. That fear of becoming Darth Vader reincarnated but fighting through that.
The only other character off the top of my head that made a good hero was Ganner Rhysode. Had a great story. Was an arrogant prat but got that injury and mellowed out. Never gave up hope on Jacen and went to rescue him and sacrificed him in a heroic last stand

 

I agree with the Anakin Solo choice based my first foray into the EU. When I was a kid reading the NJO, the first time I actually understood what the EU was, I absolutely loved Anakin; he may well have been my favorite fictional hero. I was just drawn to When he died, I was absolutely crushed and wanted nothing more than for him to come back. Nothing like the death of a childhood hero to teach you about death, but in hindsight it really made me appreciate the maturity of the series. Growing up I realized why they wrote him off and now as an aspiring writer I can more than understand and respect the decision. But still gutted at the time.

Despite this, I can't choose just one. There are so many amazing heroes and though the villains may overshadow them (I do love a well-written villain), the EU has produced some great heroes. To name a few, Zayne Carrick and his team, the Jedi Exile and the majority of her companions, Jax Pavan and his whole crew. The thing that seems to draw me to these characters besides Anakin as heroes is the fact that they don't have to do what they do. Zayne, the Exile and Jax are all persecuted people and each have at least one opportunity to step out of the fight that they do not take.
Meetra Surik to me is the true hero of Revan (who I do consider a fantastic character and hero) since she really could have just stayed with her friends and recreated the Jedi Order, living out her life in peace, perhaps watching out for Revan's son. This is after overcome three truly terrifying Sith Lords and being forced to her very limits. But instead, she chose to follow her own hero on a suicide mission for the greater good.
Zayne of course could have just kept running but he fought back when he realized there was more than just his own life on the line. Then, after stopping Haazen, instead of just relaxing he ended up going out of his way to help people. Of course, his actions in the KotoR:War series really prove just how much the man will go out of his way to help others, even at the risk of his own safety.
Jax continues my trend of heroes in the sense that he is hunted and could easily run, but chooses to stay and do good for those he perceives he needs it most. This is a man who is hunted by Darth freaking Vader of all people yet turns down every opportunity to leave, despite how painfully tempting it must have been, in order to do what he thinks is right.

Of course there are also those like Cade Skywalker and Revan who I feel are deserving of such a title. There is something about a character that really has to fight their own darkness that is incredibly compelling. Even though they are face to face with the risk of their own fall, they eventually avoid the easier, dark path and do something great. For all his faults, Cade's heroic arc was truly compelling and so satisfying to see him do the right thing in the end. Same with Antares Draco; that man really stepped up when it counted, despite his many flaws, which actually turned him into one of my favorite Legacy characters.

Man, I got carried away there. I guess the overall theme is that I'm drawn to heroes who don't just do good things because that's what they do, but because they choose to do it at the cost of their safety and own happiness. A hero can absolutely have flaws, the more the better, because it makes their journey all the more powerful, giving their heroic actions so much more impact. A hero needs temptation to prove that he can be better than it. I guess to me, the "true hero" should be able to overcome their own temptations to be selfish but instead choose to assist in the needs of another.

There's also something about Jaden Korr I love. It's a bit depressing that right now I can only think of Force-using heroes but it's late and I don't want to keep writing about them all. Maybe later I'll deal with the non-Force users that have made their heroic mark on the EU.

 

I forgot about Zayne Carrick. His story was really good.
What about Quinlan Vos? Okay yes he did fall to the Dark Side but he sacrificed his own reputation to try to stop the CIS. He was a hero that was willing to use methods that no one else was willing to do. He was an info broker so he didn't command the troops. He walked deeper in the shadows was probably wise but he risked it all to try to save the Republic

 

ACKBAR. Why you ask? Because. Because why? I will let the Essential Guide to Warfare do the talking for me. And I quote:

"While Luke Skywalker destroyed the Emperor, it was Ackbar who brought down the Empire. His stature is such that none need explain who he was or what he did."

BEST. QUOTE. EVER.

--Adm. Nick

 

Wedge Antillies. Even if you ignore his all-around excellence (devoted husband and father, patriot, military genius), his actions at the end of Rebel Stand exemplifies heroism. He is presented with the choice to anonymously sacrifice his life for complete strangers, or return to the safety of his friends and family. He chooses sacrifice, but then proves harder to kill than even he expected.

 

Nym

 

He Couldn't Fail, Even If He Tried!

 

Ha ha lol. I just had to quote that line from the Enemy Lines duology where Tycho says that. Or paraphrased a bit

 

Something_Exile I'm convinced that killing Anakin was a mistake. I'm wondering what reasons you've thought of that would make his death make more sense to me.

My vote has got to go to Wedge. He was willing to die alone for the sake of people he's never met, knowing that he would be leaving a wife and two daughters behind who might never know what became of him and he did it without hesitation. It's really hard to beat that.

 

Corran Horn

 

Wedge. The Rebel Stand example is good, but Starfighters of Adumar is one solid book of Wedge's heroism.

 

Wedge: We're going to try to subvert an Imperial admiral
Hobbie: Oh. Something easy. While you're doing that why don't Wes and I smuggle ourselves onboard Agonizer and destroy her with thrown rocks.
Wedge: With the right tools-say, a hundred thousand ewoks and a month to prepare, you could probably do that. In the meantime, we have the right tools to subvert our Imperial admiral.
Hobbie: What tools?
Wedge: Oh, Wes's maturity, your optimism and my diplomatic skills.
Hobbie: We're doomed.

 

Revan, Cade Skywalker, Han in the Crispin books and Zayne Carrick.

 

Luke has the potential to work very well as a hero, and as the likeable, swashbuckling everyman of the trilogy era he's a lot of fun, but authors have a lot of trouble figuring out quite what to do with him post-ROTJ, since the trilogy doesn't give a very good sense of exactly where Luke's headed now. It's been a long struggle to get Luke right, but when he is done right, he's very effective.

Han, on the other hand, is pretty hard to get wrong (not that it hasn't been done), and he's just amazingly fun, since he gets to be the scoundrel. Scoundrel Han works great, General Solo works great, and even when the authors are struggling to find things for him to do during the post-ROTJ run, he can still get by on his likeability and the Fringe feeling he brings to the story.

Leia is great as a political hero, and she should be used more often, both in politics and as a Jedi. Too often she's not used effectively, but the potential is there and it's a shame she's become such a third wheel.

Lando is so much damn fun when he gets to anchor his own stories that it's a huge crying shame that he doesn't get to take the lead very often. One of the most effective heroes to come out of the trilogy, along with Han and Wedge.

Wedge is perfection. He always does the right thing, he always wins, but he never stops being awesome, because he's such a relatable, humble, everyman character, someone it's so easy to fall in love with. He's probably the best-handled hero in the entire EU.

Anakin Solo was very well-developed. We all know that he worked great as the hero.

Jacen, when used as a hero, was great. One of the most complexly and rewardingly written heroes, he was a kid who was struggling with philosophy, reaching for wisdom harder than he needed to even in the middle of a war, but it ultimately let him find a way to take action as a wise and mature young leader. His development was brilliant and it's a tragedy that it was thrown away.

Jaina has been pretty mistreated by the EU. When she was used as a lead character in the NJO, I really liked her. She had her own thing going as a pilot, and it was great to follow her adventures. She can work as a hero. The attempts since then, however, have not worked. She's been robbed of agency, held back from development, genericized, and underused. When she's used well, she works splendidly, but too much of the time the EU's treatment of her hasn't worked.

Ben I've liked as the hero. He's developed extremely well, as someone who's struggled under a dark side Master and figured out how to do the right thing, and now enjoys a fun relationship with his dad. He's a smartass, but he's also very bright and has a good moral center, and I hope he continues developing as well as he has, because he's the best-working next-generation hero so far.

I think I'll check in later with some more assessments of the PT heroes and some of the other characters who get to act as lead heroes, because I think there's a lot of potential for analysis here if we can get some discussion going.

 

It's a toss up between Zayne Carrick and Waru.

My money's on Waru in the end though I think...

 

I'd have to say Wedge. Though I do have a soft spot for Jaina.

 

In the EU, using rogue heroes has worked very well.
A lot of people like characters such as Quinlan Vos and Cade Skywalkers, characters who serve the Light Side, but who are a bit (how should I call it?) ...unstable, not following the rules.

 

Anakin Solo, Quinlan Vos, Ben Skywalker, Jaina Solo but above all Corran Horn... The reason is he accepts responsibility for his actions.

He isn't self serving or self obsessed. When he is tricked and Ithor falls, he offers to leave the Jedi Order. He is harder on himself than anyone else. People make mistakes, even Heroes, it is how we deal with our mistakes that makes us a hero

 

Anakin Solo was my orginal favorite hero of the EU, Anakin was the idealistic hero that I loved as an early teenager. The first NJO book that I read was Edge of Victory I: Conquest which was Anakin centered and that is one of my favorite books of the EU. Anakin learning to deal with his grief of all the tragedies that had happened to him is something so memorable to me that it struck such a cord that he continued to fight for those that he cared about. Always growing in strength, power and confidence he looked to be the first line of defense against the Vong. Then Lucas had to give the order to end his young bright future.

 

Agreed, part of me feel that the essence of what made Anakin Solo cool was transfered to Ben Skywalker and he filled in the role Anakin was destined to play

 

They should kill off Ben Skywalker, I don't think people can tell the difference between him and Ben Kenobi.