Lit Vidian

I hate this guy. Seriously, he's such a terrible and mostly useless character, I think they have to write him as insane just to make up for the fact that he's absolutely worthless. Who's idea was this guy?

 

A fairly typical Imperial villain? He's over-the-top because this is a Space Opera setting for children.

It's like asking Skeletor to be subdued and menacing.

 

Count Vidian poisoned our water supply, burned our crops, and delivered a plague unto our houses!

 

I actually enjoyed Count Vidian's character and economic philosophy as it related to the Empire. The only thing I didn't like about the character was how he was handled at the very end of A New Dawn where he devolved into a one-note Imperial thug. Regardless, his legacy, both through his philosophy and through the development of his protege, Governor Everi Chalis, in Battlefront: Twilight Company, added to the complexity and development of the Empire, in my opinion.

 

yeah I'm reading a new dawn and all he's really doing is killing people. I don't mind imperials killing people, that's what they do, but what he's doing really doesn't make ANY sense. It's like they are writing him as a Hutt cartel thug simply for shock effect.

 

Part of Vidian's legacy is also, not unsubstantially, in the lessons SLOANE learned from her time with him. Sure, not all were the lessons Vidian would have wanted her to have learned, but he was a catalyst.

 

yeah one thing I've noticed about Sloane is that she is very unsure of her posting. Vidian I know said he could arrange for it to be permanent, but he's just so stupid.

 

Not exactly how far in the book you are, or how much you've actually learned about the character, his motivation, and reasoning for his methods. Because like him or not, I found Vidian's actions to be very consistent with his mindset, philosophies, and ultimate goals. Nothing at all like some Hutt Thug for Hire. Really not sure where you'd get that.

 

I really disliked Vidian as a villain, which was unusual for me since I generally tend to love Miller's characters. While I've gotten used to the Empire being populated by cartoonish (in some cases, literally), evil-solely-for-the-sake-of-being-evil characters, it annoyed me that Vidian was billed as an "efficiency expert" despite being completely goddamn terrible at that job. For example, he visits the factory that has the highest level of efficiency on Gorse, then proceeds to roll back their safety regulations, shoves its clearly competent manager into a vat of acid for next to no reason, and then complains that her body is taking too long to dissolve which is keeping the vat out of productive use. You know, literally the exact kind of inefficient delay that's going to become far more common after he's thrown their safety standards out the window. Don't get me wrong. I don't expect one of the Emperor's experts in the art of ruthlessly and efficiently exploiting an entire planet's population and resources to show any kind of compassion, especially in an Empire where guardrails seem to be unheard of. But I do expect them to show a degree of common sense, which Vidian never really seems to at any point during his murder spree.

 

I enjoyed Vidian quite a bit, in the sense that he's every bad boss you've ever worked for except dialed up to worst possible employer in the history of the universe.

 

Hard pass on the OP's view of Vidian. I thought he was a perfect representation of the promise of the NuCanon--a mechanized Imperial loyalist focused on the efficiency and might of the Imperial war machine. That's never been done before. I was thoroughly entertained by him, his philosophy, and his role in the New Order--particularly his control over Calcoraan Depot and its importance to the Empire.

The feel of the NuCanon has been a surprisingly refreshing experience (almost like we're discovering the Star Wars universe again). I say this as someone who started out extremely skeptical when Disney decided to make the EU non-canon under the "Legends" banner. If I had to describe the feel of NuCanon, it's that the stories feel both expansive, but also intimate. Rogue One encompassed this extremely well--we know that there are thousands of species, hundreds of thousands of worlds, and an entire galaxy of things happening all at once.

Yet, there are specific people, places, and events that are small in comparison to the vastness of the Star Wars galaxy that ultimately affect everything. The old EU was so bogged down in a million minutiae in an attempt to make the galaxy feel large...when in hindsight, it actually did the exact opposite.

Vidian embodies this--he's just one of a million bureaucrats in the Empire. Yet, he's unique in his mindset (forget the old way!), his appearance, and clearly outsized in his importance to the implementation of the New Order and its war machine. That feels right for Star Wars.

 

This is what I mean. You expressed it MUCH better than me. Usually I actually sympathize with the villans of star wars, especially when they are Imperials... but htis guy just makes me grind my teeth,. I think the problem, like you mention, is "evil for the sake of being evil,." They are trying to turn this guy into the General Grievous of the accounting dept... except Grievous didn't waste resources like Vidian does.. complete and total moron.

 

The thing is in his 'murder spree' phase of the book he's not working in the sense of Count Vidian efficiency expert anymore. That's his outward persona and how he built his reputation but by that point in the story he's basically playing an extremely high stakes political game with his enemies at the Imperial court. He's looking for an extremely short term solution (at long term detriment to the Empire as a whole but more importantly to cause his enemies utter ruin) in order to get around this. So I'd say the 'murder spree' is a combination of the stress from that, his character's violent tendency in general and the fact he needs to get it done quickly or he loses everything.

 

At the risk of politics, I should state as an American that there are plenty of people who are willfully and gleefully sabotaging long-term success and efficiency in the name of short-term gains they claim will be long term.

 

Back up for a moment. Who is Vidian?

 

Guy the Emperor apparently sends out to murder business managers for next to no real reason.

 

That's ... not really accurate. Honest question - are you skimming the book looking for just actions? Because your 'for no reason' actions are given pretty clear larger picture reasons.

 

She was insolent and treated her employees well.

*imitates infamous Donald Sutherland role*

That's not a pussy cat, THAT'S A COMMUNIST.

 

he killed a guild manager for giving people breaks. He killed the factory manager... nobody really knows why. She answered his questions with promptness and respect, and he still pushed her into a vat of acid. Seriously.

 

Stress relief. Seriously, Vidian was having a bad day.

 

This.

 

I can't see your image, my work computer probably doesn't support it

 

You're at work? Oh dear, whatever would Vidian do if he knew....

Anyway.... Ever watch Mythbusters? No? "Well, there's your problem".