Lit The 181st Imperial Story Group: Junior Jedi Knights!

I remember this being mentioned in the NJO once (yay continuity!) but I figured that it was made up by the author of that book; I didn't realize this event was actually depicted, in a children's book no less! That means that the author of a children's series actually depicted a violent, somewhat realistic death of an animal...for kids to read. Gruesome.

 

The only thing I remember about Lyric's World is that it's the lamest one in the series. The (once again helpful) summary definitely proves that.

 

I remember reading this as a kid. I found the prospect of another inhabited moon in the Yavin system fairly ridiculous even then.

The snake thing is patented KJA Oblivious Mixed Messaging.

 

So, Anakin killed a snake with the Force once. That's where the downward spiral of dark side corruption would have begun.

 

Talking about downward spirals -

Promises

It's time to use all the vital knowledge we found during the last books to finally solve the puzzle and free the Massassi children! After spending 100 pages on Tahiri's walkabout on Tatooine or something.

Because, you know, six months have passed since Anakin came to Yavin and he and Tahiri found the Golden Globe. Anakin's got dreams in which the unnamed "follower of Exar Kun" who imprisoned the children taunts him (cue dark side angst), and he's got doubts if they'll be able to successfully enter the Globe and leave with the children (thanks Ikrit, a little more moral support would have gone a long way). But more importantly, we find out about Tahiri's parents and how she came to be raised by Tusken Raiders - in the prologue. Even though this means we already know all there is to know about that story, Tahiri has to learn for herself; the deal is that she has to go back to Tatooine, talk a bit with her surrogate father - a Tusken who's called Sliven instead of a sequence of 'U's and 'R's - and find out if she'll return to the Academy and go on to be a Jedi, or stay with her adopted bandaged family. Actually, Luke talks her into going back to Tatooine so she can find peace regarding the fate of her original family, but of course he quietly hopes she'll return to Yavin since Tahiri and Anakin are his most promising students.

So of course she takes Anakin with her, and of course two kids like them need someone to watch over them (who knows what would happen otherwise) so Tionne is along for the ride. Long story short, the Tusken have a deal based on a "promise" Sliven made. If Tahiri promises to make an iron man run through the desert in seven days, Sliven is allowed to tell her about her family; if she then fails, Sliven will be killed by the tribe. Basically, he's their leader, but he's unpopular because he had a weak spot for that human child and adopted it when everyone else wanted to leave her. Okay, Tahiri agrees, I can tell you the story: The Veila parents took a wounded Sliven in back when Tahiri was a toddler and healed him; everyone learned each other's language, and Sliven's mind was blown that some people don't simply leave other people to die in the desert. He taught Tahiri's father to fight with the Gaffi stick, and - this one's really ironic - now the tribe comes along, thinks their leader is in a fight with a human, and proceed to wipe out the farm. Just great. Sliven saves Tahiri, but the tribe creates this funked up scheme of promising and not telling and telling and the seven day journey for a nine year old girl. So, yeah, Tahiri agreed, Anakin will be there, obviously, and Tionne - well, let's just say you shouldn't send your kids to Junior Jedi Academy since the teachers over there truly don't put up a fight to protect the children. Then again, Tionne never was the best fighter and only got the Junior class, so she couldn't have stopped the Tusken anyway, could she. She'll sit this one out, maybe write a few new ballads, who knows.

The desert trip includes - of course - a Sarlacc attack and a Krayt Dragon attack (the beast carries Anakin to its nest to eat him there instead of just gulping him down in one take), and neither of the confrontations ends in dark side-fueled bloodshed. The Krayt, for example, gets its tail pinned to the ground with a pile of rocks, and the kids make a run for it. Now, Anakin has some really awful wounds from the dragon's claws, and they have to walk through the desert for five or six days until Tahiri realizes that they won't make it by foot. She tries to call her cuddly pet bantha at that point (now wouldn't that have been a great idea on day one?). Anakin joins her in the Force-based calling even though he's almost as done for as you can be when you get sharp things into your midriff when battling a vicious creature. Long story short again, bantha arrives, kids arrive at the tribe in the nick of time, Sliven gets to live, female Tusken who wanted to dispose of him curses those pesky kids, Tahiri bonds some more with her adopted father and goes on to carry his fingerprint on a medallion just like she does with her parents' fingerprints. Did she ever, ever mention him again?

Back at Yavin, Anakin has to cure his really seriously infested claw wounds (hope he'll take better care of himself in the future); and yes, then it's an epilogue-like Golden Globe showdown. The pair works in tandem to weaken the Globe's barrier; Anakin steps in because hey, it's still his series, he finds the children in the sandglobe that's unsurpringly bigger on the inside; and somehow Tahiri and him lead the kids out. Who aren't a new generation of Massassi to populate the planet, which would have been kinda cool, but rather ghost children who disappear once they're free (just like the Ruusan Thought Bomb or something from Coraline). In the meantime, Ikrit briefed Luke on what he led the kids into, everyone meets up, and for once there's no ominous threat for the future. Why would there, this trilogy's author has finished and the next one will have to find a new way to mess up the boring status quo of kids going to elementary school.


Obviously, the Golden Globe thing kind of fizzled out. The first book is a pretty solid kids adventure; the threats being a thunder storm, scary voices, and... a puzzle. The second book, at least pretending to provide important clues to the overall mystery, has three action setpieces with three monsters that outright attack the kids, intending to kill them. Now the third book again has three mortal situations; two monsters and the conditions of the desert. This time, Anakin even gets a gruesome wound. There's a bit of thinking involved in solving the situations, but other than that, I'm disappointed that they go for cheap, improbable thrills when the first book came up with adventure story situations, one of which could still kill the characters, but at least the drowning part was worked with way better (and processed better through the initial dreams) than "oh, we'll just go through the desert, no biggie". It's good that Anakin and Tahiri are mostly equals (except for "one goes in, one stays outside" at the Globe, that's a bit "male bias" if you know what I mean), but it's too bad that her background gets fused to the improbable sand people tale. Esecially since she never looks like a girl that grew up in the desert hidden by bandages, and her need to talk a lot more doesn't really make sense either, so it's the most peculiar idea to give her such a background. Why? Because most kids tuned out after 30 minutes of the first movie and only remember the sand people?

 

Leave Tahiri alone, she's the best human-raised-by-Sand-People-then-trained-as-a-Jedi-then-Shaped-by-the-Yuuzhan-Vong-then-apprenticed-to-a-Sith-and-was-also-briefly-a-bounty-hunter in Star Wars.

 

See, I forgot about the bounty hunter bit. That was before she was Daala's cellmate, right?

 

So, Revanfan1 and all other potential readers, considering how much time has passed already, should I finish the series in February after all?

- I could storm through the rest and we consider this done come March;
- we can discuss the first "trilogy" a bit and we'll do the next books in another month, changing the schedule;
- I can simply finish this thing here parallel to the Mandalorian Armor discussion next month.

I'd say the first option doesn't give the best experience, but then again, interest in JJK has been a bit low up to now (and that does include me, I have to admit).

 

I've never read the books - but I'd like to see them summarised at least.

 

Given we've covered what, three books, and in only two pages, I'd say just go through the last three this month.

 

After finishing Anakin's and Tahiri's Quest, next up is

Anakin's Quest

Funnily enough, these children's books often came in packs of six. Jedi Prince did (and I can't believe anyone seriously considered this supposed seventh book that would have made the end match up with the 'real' books they didn't match up with in the first place), the first JJK run did, and Galaxy of Fear did twelve - it does seem like a pattern (which Young Boba, Last of the Jedi and Rebel Force then took on all those years later - what's up with that?). Anyway, I only bring this up because I mentally think about "those six JJK books", but it's really two series of three books each - they don't change the author for nothing.

Rebecca Moesta starts her story with Anakin on the Falcon, returning to Yavin after a three month break. Han says the kid could stay home for another year, he's one-and-a-half years younger than his siblings, after all. Anakin sometimes feels older than the twins, though, and he has a lot of friends at school - Tahiri. And Ikrit. And... well look at that, we're there already. However, since Anakin has darker hair than Luke, the boy immediately starts thinking about the "am I doomed to fall the dark side" thing. I hope we can put that to rest soon.

Well, Anakin actually can't. First he has a dream of Vader and Palpatine demanding his turn to the dark side; then a simple "turn mist into shapes" exercise results in him summoning a Palpy face. Time for the guidance counselor! Luke, of course, teaches by example of the OT and mentions the Dagobah cave, where he had been confronted with the possibility of being just as evil as his father. But he did turn out alright, didn't he. Anakin understands the gist of this lecture exactly; his best chance to clear this up once and for all is a visit to the Dagobah Cave Jedi Vision Resort. Luke does have a bit of New Republic stuff on his hands, though, and therefore can't go running driving Anakin around on a field trip. Anakin's suggestion that he could simply borrow an X-Wing is also... a bit out there, and Luke has to respond with a chuckle. So let's wait a day, who knows what will happen.

The next day, Peckhum arrives with supplies and Anakin and Tahiri have another lesson of "unloading the ship". Which has a big advantage: They are the only ones there when a stowaway hatches from a crate, and it immediately bonds with them. Actually, he. Uldir, a boy who's about their age (convenient) but has a somewhat stronger and bulkier built. He'd probably be the bully in another kind of school story. Here, he's just a jerk. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself... he's the son of modest freighter pilots who doesn't want to grow up as a modest freighter pilot, but who wants to be a Jedi hero. So here he is, smuggled into the Academy, a confident "Take me to your leader" on his lips (actual dialogue may vary). The kids vaguely know that you can't just volunteer to be a Jedi but can't give actual reasons. The kids go to Luke, who's teaching lightsaber fighting, and pull him out of the exercise. Luke examines Uldir and vaguely explains that the Force is not strong in Uldir, but since the boy is so adamant that he wants to be a Jedi, that he can learn harder and that you can't deny basic education rights from him, Luke caves in and thinks, well, why wouldn't Force-non-using people be able to learn Jedi stuff. And it's not like you can't send failed kids with broken hopes home again. Uldir continues be The Rude Boy, but hey, Anakin and Tahiri need another friend except for their teachers and that droid that doesn't even belong to them.

Speaking of teacher friends, Ikrit visits Anakin when the boy stands on top of a temple, contemplating his fate as a guy with nightmares. Anakin explains his Dagobah cave theory, Ikrit politely listens - until Yoda is mentioned. Then, Ikrit is ready to run off right away himself. So he convinces Luke to send him off with the boy (Tionne wouldn't have enough experience with the dark side. Ikrit would? Why? Okay, we'll let this one go for now). Tahiri obviously joins, and so does Uldir because... it's not like he could learn anything at the temple, could he. Going to Dagobah, he can be the rude boy who's rudely rude to everyone and anything, and he'd probably just hide in the cargo room again, so what's the point. On the trip, Peckhum is surprised that Ikrit isn't a pet. "Judge me by my size do you" is almost what Ikrit says; he tells the story how a Jedi Master found him on Kushiban, where he was a peasant just like all the other people. But he was talented in the Force, he became a Jedi, and when he returned home, he helped his village survive by putting a mental image into a huge pack of approaching animals. Maaaybe Ikrit should have trained Jacen, I can see a bit of a connection in the Living Force there.

On Dagobah, it's the same old; Uldir had stowed away somewhere and falls into the swamp; they get attacked by a swamp creature, Uldir is a combination of dumb and rude and soaked in swamp water, and Tahiri has a lesson in "wear shoes in dangerous environments"; luckily, Tionne had already given boots to the girl. Did I mention that Uldir is rude and dumb? Ikrit saves them, another guy can be surprised that the pet talks, and Uldir can't accept that this thing is a Jedi Master - is more worthy of being a Jedi - than him. At this point, Ikrit makes a wise comment, but doesn't immediately say "you could always follow a career in agriculture". To teach about the Force, he has the kids feel the life energy of the swamp and has them lead the way back; Anakin and Tahiri obviously excel, but even without the Force, Uldir is a good navigator (finally a positive trait). He can't however, feel the danger all the Jedi feel and thinks they just want to make him look back; but as Ikrit demonstrates, there's razor sharp, almost monomolecular cobwebs in a clearing that chop prey to pieces as it moves through. Nice place. And the trip to the cave holds another surprise like that: big dangerous spiders that eventually turn into even larger root/tree/cave-like landmarks.

Finally at the Cave. Uldir goes first, sees nothing. Tahiri goes second sees her parents back on Tatooine, then sees what must be her grandfather, a Jedi shot down by stormtroopers. Ikrit interprets this as "we're not what our parents were". Finally, Anakin: a bearded Jedi-robed man and Vader have a lightsaber duel, then turn towards him, and both have his face because he could obviously turn out either way (I'm pretty sure this works well with Jacen's NJO lessons... okay, I'll let it go). One more stop at Yoda's hut, just to tick all boxes on the "three places you should see on Dagobah before you die" list. Here, Ikrit is sad (which turns his fur completely black - okay) and reveals that Yoda was the master who once found and taught him. Back to Yavin!

 

GoF did the same thing. Same author, but the twelve books were split in the middle into two distinct storylines of six books each. What does this mean!?!?!

 

Okay, so....Ikrit turns black when he's sad? Did he turn blue when he died?

 

We finally leave the prologue model behind, and maybe, just maybe we'll leave Anakin's self-doubt behind now that we're heading for... oh. Yeah, I see.

Vader's Fortress

We begin with the kids waiting for Aunt Supermom Master Tionne to return from one of her Jedi-lore-seeking trips. By now, Tahiri almost seems like she's adopted by Tionne (which would have made them the obvious Padawan-Master combination choice in the NJO, but somehow I can't remember if Tionne was even in that). Anakin is quiet, Tahiri is up to eleven, and Uldir is the usual little ray of rude sunshine as Tionne arrives with an old ship which she got for "a song" - a song that describes the hiding place of a treausre that was relevant to the ship merchant, that is. Knowing how the KJA-influenced part of the universe works, the ship, which she's called Lore Seeker, is probably meant to be one of the millennia-old TOTJ ships, but they don't say. Anyway, Tahiri is super-excited because Tionne had previously told her that she could join on the next field trip. Which is a bit of a tall promise, seeing how Tionne doesn't know where she's heading way in advance. The trip won by Tahiri turns out to be... a trip to Vjun. Yes, we'll send a Jedi Bard and three kids to infiltrate Vader's old personal castle and retrieve a very special item (KJA-level movie element drop incoming): Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber.

For some reason that's almost as contrived, but not as bonkers as Vader's glove being sucked through a wormhole, Ben's lightsaber had been Trade-Fed-Ex'd (other parcel services available) away from the Death Star before Luke blew the place up. Or maybe, but this is only ma personal preference, Vader kept the saber on his body, maybe in some leg compartment, and had it with him when he survived the explosion. Or something. Anyway.

Luke is busy doing important stuff again, so Tionne may go, but since Tahiri has a promise, and someone said only family could retrieve the lightsaber - which they quickly understand to mean the Skywalker family - and therfore Anakin has to go, and since Ikrit can watch over Anakin with more expertise than Tionne, and since Uldir will hide in the cargo compartment anyway, they have a team. Oh, and Artoo, who just had his oil exchanged by Master Luke.

Tionne, who had been amused that Anakin would be advised to bring his pet along, is amazed to finally find out that the pet is a Jedi Master. You know, same thing, I actually mixed that up with book #4 when writing that summary. Once again, the starship trip is used to hear a cool wise story from Ikrit's past. A lesson about lightsabers, and the question whether every Jedi carried one (KJA-approved answer: No, Nomi Sunrider didn't until she got over her husband's death). The story Ikrit tells them is warning them of the dangers of being too cocky with a lightsaber, since Ikrit apparently had been almost as much of a douche as Uldir, and had to be put back in his place by Yoda. After actually having duelled Yoda out of arrogance, Ikrit atoned by never again picking up a lightsaber. Now, let's all imagine a one-meter large Pokemon rabbit with a lightsaber handle in his claws.

...

Anyway, one meter makes him a bit larger than what all the "sitting on Artoo's dome" and "looking like a pet" stuff and the cover art actually make him look like in my mind. Much more interesting, however, is Anakin's knowledge of Vjun's history. He says "some of the Emperor's followers brought a copy of Palpatine's body here - a clone". Which makes this sound as if they're already in line with Zahn's incoming re-interpretation of the Reborn Emperor as not really being Palpatine (apparently Zahn is Anakin's favourite author?).

So, they have to climb, meaning Tahiri pulls out those boots (again) to not cut her feet (again); there's some business with lasers in the entrance hallway (where the broken Vader statue from Dark Empie II provides excellent cover) which is solved by Artoo having a mirror reflecting laser blasts and Anakin solving the puzzle of where the controls would be. Or maybe that's the family instinct part. There's lots of hallways, and the crew has to divide into three groups, which is just madness seeing that half of them are pre-teen kids. There's a holographic floor that almost kills Uldir and Tahiri; after that, they are threatened by beasts, but those turn out to be holographic, too. Oh, and someone finds a toilet, which everyone uses. Yeah, stuff like that makes the story more realistic, but doesn't really add anything to the adventure.

By deducing that the most traps guard the most important room, they find a door that Anakin opens by - wait for it - "I am Anakin. Let me in." Which is pretty interesting, since the room that can be found that way is the one with Ben's lightsaber on a pedalstool pedestal. But just as Anakin is aware of the historic moment when he who is not ready to learn lightsaber fighting touches the weapon of his uncle's and grandfather's teacher - enter the Mage of Exis Station.

What? Yes, they have been followed by a guy in purple robes who's got the mustache-twirling villain thing going on, and who's lampshaded as an oddity when confronted with four actual Jedi who can do actual "magic" stuff. Hilarity ensues when this pretender jst takes the saber, makes Tionne and Ikrit fall down a chute under a holographic panel, and disappears. Now the kids split and try to catch Orloc, the Mage, figuring that the Masters will be okay anyway. Anakin and Tahiri are in for more of a surprise when they find Vader's cyborg bedroom, complete with a holo of Luke - awwwww. See, Anakin? There was good in him. Now don't be such a sourpuss about that light side/dark side thing.

In the meantime, Uldir catches up with Orloc. Now, the mage doesn't see the kid as a threat and tells him his plan: acquire a lightsaber, check; acquire a holocron, learn the ways of the Force, still open. The holocron is somewhere in the fortress, but everyone cathes up, and Anakin - with the help of Artoo - takes the saber way again, and Orloc flees the scene like a good magician does. Where could the holocron be? Correct, in the bedroom. And since it's a holocron for the training of youngest apprentices, this is a really fitting prize for the gang.

Now, Ikrit gets an ancient ship of his own - he calls it Sunrider, you know, probably because of the lightsaber thing; Uldir vows to dress in miniature Jedi robes from now on so that he'll be more likely to actually be a Jedi (yeah, well - yeah); Luke gets two very cool old items that he'll keep safe for, I don't know, 15 pages of the next book; and everyone is pretty much happy.

 

I always liked Vader's Fortress when I was younger but its been years ago since I last read it.

 

I'd probably like to read this just because I love the Vader's Castle level in Jedi Academy so much.

 

Huh, Anakin Solo full of self-doubt.

 

To be fair, he's pretty stable by now. The Dagobah book was apparently truly designed to put that story to rest.

I'm feeling pretty uneasy about the old games these days because I know I remember so little about them - a decade must have passed by now. But I do remember the acid rain. To be honest, the book didn't directly remind me of game elements, though, but that could be my brain failing me.

 

Grey1
So do you think if Anakin maintained what became Jacen's characterization, it would be repeating an arc? I tend to see it as he wouldn't necessarily be hung up on his name, so much as the Belkadan vision didn't come true, and then he has the one on Duro which paralyzes him into inaction, and it's more a character trait of cautiousness rather than a repeat of an arc.

 

It wouldn't necessarily have been repetition. But I wouldn't measure EU stuff like that anyway. Things are bound to come up again and be resolved again because authors interpret resolutions deifferently, or they flat out want the drama; and since there's obviously less planning than for the main thing that defined character arcs for SW - the films, which also have a lot less mass than the ever-growing EU - I would never really be up in arms if something like Anakin's self-doubt came back full force. NJO did stuff like Kyp being cocky, which fits with him being Han's buddy/adopted kid, but doesn't necessarily fit with atonement for destroying a planet. It does make sense, but it's one of those step back situations. Anakin wallowing in repitition of the name angst wouldn't have been too hot and could have ended up really annoying, but it could also have been a good story hook.

In this series alone, I think every book has him realize to a larger or lesser extent that it's a dumb idea to be afraid of the name; this does make sense because it's made for kids, and you shouldn't let something like this hang in the air just to make them buy the whole set. But the thing that stays is that Anakin is quiet and introspective, and book #4 adds the "old beyond his years" thing on top, which, I must say, I'm not sure if it's really appropriate looking at all other sources. He's always thinking, he's great at puzzles, so he'd obviously be a better candidate for the philosopher role and the Unifying Force adept (contrast this to Living Force Jacen who's completely in the moment, connected to living things, cracking jokes before checking them for quality). But quiet introspective Anakin got hit really hard by the 'puberty switch', and we'll have a good look at Edge of Victory to see how "old beyond his years" NJO Anakin could truly afford to be.

And most importantly, the cave resolution only tells him that it's not a given that he'll turn dark - but it still tells him that it's possible if he ever chooses so. That's the same can of worms, leaving behind the genetics-and-name-and-superstition stuff. This would have fit very nicely with Underworld, err, Traitor indeed; going one step further from destiny to choice to who you really are inside. Choices aren't made when your parents give you a name; choices are made when you give yourself your identity,

As for Jacen's arc choosing different hooks like Belkadan, for example... if they had taken Anakin for the role, I think they would have been more conscious of the am-I-evil-routine which, in Jacen's case, became a bit more generic, opening up the pacifism misinterpretation. Only by DN/LOTF did they truly remember to connect Jacen with his heritage (the bit in Traitor was fairly downplayed, wasn't it).

 

Well, I'd say in Traitor -- as in Dark Journey with Jaina -- Jacen is struggling with the dark side due to Anakin's demise, and that's the function of Anakin's demise in the narrative, to feed into this unofficial duology which features the twins in their separate novels and their growth through coming to terms with their younger brother's death. Which is why Jacen is very cognizant of his grandfather in Traitor, and why early on in the novel, he -- and I suppose fans in general perhaps -- misinterpreted what Vergere is trying to teach him for something dealing with morals or ethics, rather than epistemology. But what Jacen generally struggles with in the series, and the NJO as a whole struggles with this though they aren't aware of it, is something of a spiritual struggle, I guess, but it's not so overt as in the film saga dealing with Anakin and Luke, but more in the sense of knowing how to choose the right path. Jacen feels the weight of his choices too heavily and he's terrified of the road to hell paved by his good intentions, and his problem with Kyp and Anakin is that they want to cut the Gordian knot, but Jacen is afraid that the knot was tied for a reason and once it's cut it can't be uncut and you might need the knot after having cut it, to use a probably terrible analogy I just made up on the spot.

This is in contrast to Anakin Skywalker who is motivated by desire; Jacen is afraid that the Jedi are going to become well intentioned extremists, which will ultimately make them no different than the Yuuzhan Vong, because from the YV perspective that's precisely what the YV are.

And that's why it's so baffling that Jacen became a well intentioned extremist.

BUT THIS IS COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC

 

I get what you're saying, but I don't get why Anakin's death would make Jacen think more about Vader.

Anyway, there's basically dozens of opportunities for EU to mention Vader having chosen the wrong path. I don't know if they went for it but Dark Journey could very well have mentioned the same thing in passing. With Jacen, it's the same obvious opportunity for "dark side = Vader namedrop", and it fits the theme of learning to choose the right choice. I'm pretty sure it would have been this little bit more poignant with Anakin as the protagonist. Not that it doesn't work with Jacen, of course it does. But with Anakin, you have this bit of history of dealing with another person's "wrong" choice and subsequently not only wanting to make the "right" choice, but to build a system that can identify right from wrong. And to grow enough to consciously, subconsciously (and if necessary even unconsciously) make the right decision according to this system you believe to be fail-proof.

 

Because after Anakin's death, Jacen went on a killing spree on the seedship. He's not thinking of Vader because of Anakin's death, but because of his behavior after Anakin's death. Obviously his captivity played a necessary role as well, whereas Jaina was much more apt to behave 'darkly' without that additional stress on it.

 

Oh, you meant that. Yeah, although I'd argue the twins lash out in somewhat similar ways; Jacen's spree might seem more severe since it's in very condensed circumstances, but Jaina did go for the evil lightning right away, so that's that. Jacen (and Stover's writing) is more introspective, so it's no wonder he would make more of a fuzz out of his bad behaviour. Which is exactly what JJK Anakin would do (well, except for that snake bit) - and Anakin has 0.1 percent more reason to think of his grandfather, so there's that.

But basically every student at Luke's academy is probably oversaturated with "Luke's father turned evil" stories by the second year of training, to be fair. Here in JJK it's one of the first things he tells the kid class, just like with the first batch of adults. And since this is a fictional universe for the benefit of movie viewers, even a guy like Jorallen would have thought back to Vader as a measure of the fallen Jedi.