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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit The Yuuzhan Vong

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Force Smuggler, Sep 28, 2012.

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  1. Darth_Foo

    Darth_Foo Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 24, 2003
    I was super excited for the NJO. Finally the books would be released in chronological order and would be more connected to an overall story. I won't put all my thoughts down because I don't want to take away from others' enjoyment of the Vong but suffice to say I swore off SW books after Vector Prime. It wasn't until the Clone Wars that I got back into the EU. Somewhere on the Old Boards I went on a rant about how I can accept Magic Monks with laserswords, moon sized battle stations, and even slugs that live in asteroids. But I just can't suspend disbelief to the point of beings that don't exist in the Force (don't care about the explanation) that use living creatures for weapons and ships.

    On my shelf the timeline ends with Survivors Quest and the YJK
     
  2. Tim Battershell

    Tim Battershell Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    Yep! Saw that allegtion too, somewhere on the Wook - let's keep hoping for JK 4, 5, 6.....
     
  3. Riven_JTAC

    Riven_JTAC Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2011
    I suspend my disbelief for a lot of things... obviously, since Star Wars is, well, Star Wars. But when I am in the mindset of the Star Wars universe, I understand that the universe is a big place with incredible diversity, but the Vong were just not within what I considered to be the realm of reasonableness. They strike me more like something out of a Tolkien novel than a sci-fi story.
     
  4. Cronal

    Cronal Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 17, 2009
    Whilst some might hate the biotech the Vong use I think it was an interesting addition on two levels; 1) in that it further showcased them being so alien and 2) it meant Jedi powers wouldn't work on them either. It would have been pointless if the Vong themselves were Force immune but Jedi just threw their own tech at them and won the day.
     
  5. MercenaryAce

    MercenaryAce Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 10, 2005
    :confused:You have piqued my curiosity - what about them reminds you of Tolkien? I certainly don't remember there being biotech or pain worship in any of his books.

    PS- Add another one for a Vong war jedi knight game! And don't skimp on the disturbing monsters!
     
  6. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    I have some questions about the tech that the Yuuzhan Vong used, is this the right thread to ask them or should I create a new?

    Jedis: The vong don’t seem to be a part of the Force, what dos this mean master Luke? And what shell we do?
    Luke: Tionne, my trusted jedi historian, does our highly incomplete jedi library say anything about a situation like this?
    Tionne: No boss man.
    Luke: Than we treat them just like any other attacking group bent on genocide until we find out more. Also their armour is somehow lightsabre resisted so go for the head. Jacen, you are supposed to be god with animals, I place you in our new Vong tech RnD unit.
    Jaina: Sucks to be you bro.
    Luke: The same goes for you Jaina, your dad would have my head if he finds out I’m putting you in high danger war zones before you are 18
    Jaina: Awwww
     
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  7. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    The Yuuzhan Vong aren't bent on genocide, just religious conversion.
     
  8. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2007
    Genocide of droids.
     
  9. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    [​IMG]
     
  10. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2007
    He's not even a real person.
     
  11. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    My favorite part of Star Wars is that no one questions the ethics of droids in society. That would be more entertaining than the boring taxation on trade route garbage.
     
  12. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2007
  13. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
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  14. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Yeah, the droid execution scenes on Rhommamool and Duro were pretty creepy, and didn't the Vong mass execute refugees on Duro as well?

    And it seems that their attitude towards "infidels" was "convert or die."

    I like the Vong as villains, they are a nice change from the Sith and Dark Jedi in other Star Wars stories, and their belief that death and pain are honorable, make them more challenging to defeat in some ways.
     
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  15. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    But were there really so many Sith and Dark Jedi in the other Star Wars stories?
     
  16. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I haven't read nearly what you all have but I feel like the main villains are almost always Sith or Dark Jedi.
     
  17. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    They pretty much are. It was less so prior to the prequels as the paradigm was more New Republic vs Empire rather than Jedi vs Sith, so you got stuff like the Black Fleet trilogy, the Corellia trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, and so forth. After the New Jedi Order, Del Rey has dominated the Big 3 stories with Sith antagonists, and you only see non-Sith antagonists in smaller stories like Scoundrels.

    And yeah, neither Black Fleet nor Corellia trilogy feature the Empire as the antagonists, but I'd argue that by having the paradigm be that, the New Republic is the protagonist and it's threats to the New Republic which are chosen as antagonists. Making the Jedi the protagonists, which I guess was a shift that started with the NJO, shifted the threat to being that same government as well as the Sith.
     
  18. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    Maybe it is just me that got my hands on diverse enough material

    Edit: So is this the right thread to ask about Yuuzhan Vong tech?
     
  19. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2007
    Darksiders were a pretty big part of the EU in the Bantam days as well, they were just typically accompanied by a military threat because the movies had Vader and the Empire. Even before the prequels there was Vader Palpatine Lumiya Rokur Gepta Jerec the Prophets of the Dark Side Gethzerion C'baoth Palpatine (again) Carnor Jax Exar Kun the Ismarens Beldorion Hethrir Kueller Brakiss and Kevin Bacon.
     
  20. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    Kevin Bacon why did you betray us?

    That's true but it wasn't outside the realm of possibility for a story involving the Big 3 to NOT have a dark sider.

    Interesting to note that Denning and Allston are the only writers in the NJO to have a dark sider in their story. Unless you want to count Vergere, of course.

    I've realized during my nostalgia trip that the EU is a lot more poorly managed than I thought. And it is pretty obvious that apart from the NJO 1999-2003, the EU's bread and butter has been to emulate or pastiche the films.
     
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  21. The Supreme Chancellor

    The Supreme Chancellor Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    True.
     
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  22. The Compeer

    The Compeer Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2013
    Indeed, the lack of coordination and central planning was probably the biggest problem, since so much stuff was made up as writers went along, and there wasn't any meta-plot or character arcs to give some direction. Of course, that makes it doubly sad that post-NJO Del Rey has done so little to provide an actual vision for what Star Wars EU is and where it should be going.
     
  23. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    The post-NJO Del Rey has a clear vision for what Star Wars EU is: Jedi vs Sith. That's the problem. They're stuck in a box of writing stories framed by what the films were, instead of expanding the universe.

    Of course, when they do publish a five year series about the Yuuzhan Vong, fans complain that it "doesn't feel like Star Wars." Which is probably why we're getting inundated by Jedi vs Sith. You can't complain that it doesn't feel like Star Wars. It's the same plot retold!
     
  24. giantpebble

    giantpebble Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2013
    heh, i only just found this forum and this discussion prompted me to join, so first post (sorry for the length :p)

    I loved the NJO, i think that it is one of the pivotal series in the EU, and has far reaching and important connections to the rest of the EU series. While I am not 100% up to date with some of the books (only just started Fate of the Jedi series, and haven't read the Invasion small stories some one mentioned) I think that the NJO, and the YV themselves are a challenge to our very notions of understanding the force.
    They are connected as early as the Rouge Planet and Outbound flight stories. They were viewed as a major threat by one the of the greatest Tactical and strategies minds of the entire StarWars Universe, and were worrisome enough that Vergere felt compelled to follow, study and learn from them. The series also contains the ground work for Jacens conversion to the Dark Side, and combined with LotF shows us the step by step transformation of a fundamental star wars moral conundrum, that of good side verse bad side, and is it really black and white. "Good" Jedi turning "Bad" is a story line we get over and over in Star Wars, but the level to which it is examined and rationalised is unmatched in any other case through out the EU (including Anakin Skywalker), and the Traitor NJO book is one of my favourites for this reason.

    The Galactic War caused by the YV draws connections (as someone else posted) to the evil in all wars, but the issue of redemption, and the understanding of the shamed ones lead us to understand that it is never a simple us vs them, and that anyone can be drawn to hate through misunderstanding.

    Finally the technology explores a holistic approach to space travel and such, at a time when the earth is understanding the need for renewable sources of energy and green friendly technology (obviously for the YV this aspect is slightly corrupted, but if we look back a Rogue Planet we could see the possibilities it offered, and again can understand how a hateful and war like mind set can permeate all aspects of ones life).

    Plus nostelgically it came out at an influential time in my life (late teens) and so I have fond memories of it.

    TL:DR- I like the series, it seems to me to be awesome on a few levels.
     
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  25. purplerain

    purplerain Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2013
    Welcome
     
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