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Lit We need a novel about Tarkin

Discussion in 'Literature' started by FTeik, Aug 29, 2013.

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  1. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2000
    I have read it on this board with depressing regularity:
    "We need a novel about Dooku!" "We need a novel about Darth Cognus!", "We need a novel about every Sith Lord from Darth Bane to Darth Plagueus!" "We need a picture of Cal Omas!"

    I'm tired of material focusing on the deeds of force-users may they be Sith, Jedi or Je'Dai. We need something from the POV of a non-force-user and I think a novel about Wilhuff Tarkin could be a great read.

    Think about it. If Darth Plagueus, who was only mentioned in two sentences in ROTS can be made into a bestseller, than why not a novel about the primary villain of the very first SW-movie? And lets be honest, Tarkin also had more screen-time than Dooku in one movie, than the later had in two.

    There is so much potential there. Wilhuff Tarkin is member of an important clan in the Old Republic, he lived and spent his formative years during the ORs decline.
    So how did his worldview develop, how did he become involved with Palpatine, how did this prodigy in xenobiology, engineering, philosophy and poetry turn first into the military and political mastermind, that not only formulated the Tarkin-doctrine, but formulated many other policies of the empire as well and in the end became the casual destroyer of Alderaan?
    In many ways Tarkin is the intellectual founding-father of the empire or at least its military-technocratic aspects, the one person, who truly believed in the empire, while to the likes of Palpatine and Darth Vader it was never more than a tool for their own aggrandisement.

    Even without involving the DeathStar, there is enough stuff to fill a huge novel in the way of Cloak of Deception. Family troubles and clan-rivalries on Eriadu, political intrigue and military action in the Outer Rim, scheming and manouvering in the Galactic Senate and at the Imperial Court. The decline and fall of the Old Republic and the rise and consolidation of imperial power.

    And all of it without lightsabers or the force at the centre, but at best at the sides.

    We really need a novel about Wilhuff Tarkin.
     
  2. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    Wasn't "Death Star" ... borderline this?
     
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  3. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    A Tarkin novel would be very interesting. I would definitely buy it.

    But I also propose a Daine Jir novel. We know next to nothing of the man who dares to question Vader in ANH.
     
  4. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    He probably regretted what he did, and felt guilty about the lack of chastisement, compared to his fellow Imperial colleagues.

    I'd suggest later that night, he died of auto-erotic-asphyxiation in his cabin.

    End of story.
     
  5. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    I want to know, "What did Tarkin know (about Palpatine being Sidious), and when did he know it?"
     
  6. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    Um, yea.

    I really think that reading about a Stormtrooper who goes on to become the leader of Vader's Fist could be interesting. You'd have action, life in the Empire and maybe even some moral dilemmas.

    If every bountyhunter ever gets his own story then why not Daine Jir?
     
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  7. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    Keeping with the theme of my earlier post, ... er ... um, no, I've decided I will not go there.
     
  8. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2000
    That's why I said without involving the DeathStar. :rolleyes:

    Tarkin is one of the big names of SW, directely from the movies and there is enough material in different sources that, if merged, could fill three books even without a talented writer filling out the remaining blanks. Without the DeathStar. Perhaps as lead-up to the DeathStar, but not as a focal point. His relationships with his cousin Ranulph, his brother Gideon and his son Garoche need exploration as well as his service in the Republic Outland Security Forces. His marriage to a member of the Motti-family. And so one and so on.

    Please keep this thread about a possible Tarkin-novel. If you want novels about Daine Jir (=Danger???) or Dengar, create your own threats.o_O
     
  9. Arrian

    Arrian Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 15, 2011
    Book about solely Tarkin?
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    Hang on, I'm not threating anyone!
     
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  11. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2000
    Speak for yourself. [face_phbbbbt]

    I find a story of idealism, responsibility and noblesse oblige gone horribly wrong very appealing.
     
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  12. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2000
    Sorry, must have still been cought up in the wordplay of "DaineJir"/danger, so confusing threats with threads easily happened. :)
     
  13. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    I know, I was taking the urine, my friend ;)
     
  14. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2003
    I had expected the Death Star novel to cover more in the way of the politics among the various major Imperial and corporate entities that had a stake in the game (e.g. Tarkin and the other moffs, Seinar's million and one companies, the Kuatis who didn't seem to want a hand in the DS project according to the Bounty Hunter Wars but made a big deal about it anyway, Tagge Company, etc), with Tarkin playing a central role in the middle of it all, unwittingly acting as Palpatine's #1 pawn setting up the other players while thinking he was doing it all himself.

    Instead it came off more like Medstar. With Tarkin hanging with Motti at the gym lifting dumbells and talking about his GF.

    So yeah. I'd be down with a better political intrigue novel centering on Tarkin.
     
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  15. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    He would need to have one big motivation for the novel to work, an overarching goal that defines his actions, because a mere collection of scenes from his life wouldn't be as interesting. Maybe the establishment of the Tarkin doctrine or the goal to become Emperor himself. Death Star was already done so it is not an option.
     
  16. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
    Going by Rogue Planet, Tarkin was already something of a human supremacist long before the Clone Wars.
     
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  17. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    I think a more accurate description would be that he was actually a Tarkin supremacist.
     
  18. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Tarkin is overrated and overplayed. There are other Imperials, after all.

    But alas, it probably takes a movie character to get a novel focused on a secular politician, though. Sigh. I guess we have to be realistic.
     
  19. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    I believe that a novel about Sate Pestage, from the old WEG characterization would be very interesting...

    If Palpatine was the ceremonial Head-of-State of the Empire, then I believe that the main functioning bureaucrat, the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister?) would be more fascinating...
     
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  20. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004

    Yeah give as a Needa novel, he was a Captain at the Battle of Coruscant in the Clone Wars and then later a Star Destroyer captain, perfect POV character for a Rise of the Empire novel.
     
  21. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

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    May 21, 2008
    Needa? What's so interesting about him?
     
  22. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

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    Nov 4, 2012
    His career didn't progress much, in hindsight...
     
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  23. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

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    Nov 4, 2012
    He was too apologetic, and not assertive enough...
     
  24. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 23, 2005
    Tagge! He has a whole company and family to play withand his interactions with Motti and Tarkin could bring them in as well to the story.
     
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  25. Bib Fartuna

    Bib Fartuna Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    That is a good threesome.
     
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