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Topic:
In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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Jedi Ben
Registered:
Jul '99
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Date Posted:
6/23 2:57pm
Subject:
In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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It's been commented that Steven Erikson's Malazan sequence is an excellent series, it's also true that Erikson is known for killing off cast members unexpectedly. On the one hand, this makes for an edge of unpredictability, but there is another effect that is, perhaps, overlooked. If an author fosters such a climate, the reader may respond by lessening their emotional investment in the characters, thus the shock of a character death becomes lessened or removed entirely.
DR's late EU arc, spanning some 15-20 years, has killed off a good many characters. For those of you who have remained reading, have you found your attitude or perception, in this respect, to have altered? Do you see the characters more as pieces on a board than people? Or has it gone the other way? Or no change?
-----signature-----
Howe: Why?
Castle: So they can't walk away. So they can't
profit from the pain they've caused.....
Howe: And no second chances...
Castle: I don't do redemption.
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DarthBoba
Registered:
Jun '00
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Date Posted:
6/23 2:58pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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I pretty well ceased caring after they killed off Anakin Solo in SbS. He was the one character in that entire series I actually liked. 
-----signature-----
Neils Bohr:
prize-winning physicist,
Olympic medalist,
costumed superhero.
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Jedi Ben
Registered:
Jul '99
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Date Posted:
6/23 3:01pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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DarthBoba posted:
I pretty well ceased caring after they killed off Anakin Solo in SbS. He was the one character in that entire series I actually liked.
Yet you remained reading, so did you find you read differently as a result?
-----signature-----
Howe: Why?
Castle: So they can't walk away. So they can't
profit from the pain they've caused.....
Howe: And no second chances...
Castle: I don't do redemption.
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Nobody145
Registered:
Feb '07
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Date Posted:
6/23 3:01pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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When NJO ended on a high note, I sorta got attached. Then LotF hit, and now I'm just waiting for them to just keep whittling down the cast. Except maybe for the Big Three of course.
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Don't mind me, I'm nobody important.
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DarthBoba
Registered:
Jun '00
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Date Posted:
6/23 3:06pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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Jedi Ben posted:
DarthBoba posted:
I pretty well ceased caring after they killed off Anakin Solo in SbS. He was the one character in that entire series I actually liked.
Yet you remained reading, so did you find you read differently as a result?
Not really. However, I did produce a massive amount of fanfic when I still cared about characters. Now? Not so much.
-----signature-----
Neils Bohr:
prize-winning physicist,
Olympic medalist,
costumed superhero.
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Master-Chief-Kenobi
Registered:
Jun '07
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Date Posted:
6/23 3:07pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
- Date Edited:
6/23 3:07pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Master-Chief-Kenobi
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All of the characters I care about were killed or shoved aside to make Jacen, whom I can't stand, the star. Kyp, Kyle, Luke, Jaina, Anikan (solo), Saba, Corran. Ben seems to have promise I used to hate him but Revelation & Invincible made me a Ben fan.
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Drew_Atreides
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
6/23 3:40pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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Anakin Solo, Wurth Skidder and Ganner Rhysode. All 3 of these characters were the bright lights of the NJO for me, and all were knocked off. Alot of untapped potential (though Ganner DID go out in a cool manner) that DR just wasted, if you ask me. Since those 3 went down, i refuse to get attached to anyone in these books.
The characters that they chose to focus on now are all just REALLY annoying. I find i just can't get attached to them.. Wish we had more Kyp, Kyle, Corran etc... but at the same time if we DID get more of them, odds our it would simply be to build them up before they die.
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Whizkid
Registered:
Sep '03
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Date Posted:
6/23 3:52pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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I'm attached to almost all of the early OT/Post-RotJ characters. I've followed some since I was 8 or 9. It's hard NOT to get attached.
In terms of the NJO, I read it during a 7 month span in 2005-06 but I was spoiled so I kinda knew what characters were gonna bite the bucket so I avoided it mostly.
Since I've read DNT and LotF unspoiled, I found that I DID become more attached to minor characters, but the way characters would disappear for two books and then reappear when the author wrote the next one did hinder that a bit.
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"Only a Sith deals in Absolutes"
"Do, or do not. There is no try"
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Rouge77
Registered:
May '05
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Date Posted:
6/23 4:04pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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I don't want to get attached at all to characters after Invincible - but I really should have learned already after SbS. Yet without attachment, there's not much interest to follow the story forward either. So it's bye bye DR, I guess.
I stopped reading Malazan books because Erikson killed one character I liked (and because he made two characters to fit too closely real characters from Earth history [with a kind of misogynistic twist inluded] - the leaders of the former Mahdi state in Sudan).
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Jedimarine
Registered:
Feb '01
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Date Posted:
6/23 4:14pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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Been detached since about JAT...consistency of characterization is necessary to true be "attached" to anyone.
Honestly...I was probably most "attached" to the Boba Fett of the 1990s...you know...the cool one! 
Since then, I don't get caught up in imprinting some over-realized empathy on a character...it's just pulp.
I'm a setting person myself...and that, as much as characterization, has been in decline of late...creative environs used to mainstay of even BAD Star Wars books...now...not so much...but the character issues get more press.
Oh well.
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GO SEE "THE DARK KNIGHT"
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Jedi_Hall
Registered:
Nov '07
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Date Posted:
6/23 4:23pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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With the loss of Jacen (my favorite character), and the horrible handling of the other characters throught out the majority of LoTF, it will be hard for me to care anymore.
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Sabrajaguar
Registered:
Dec '01
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Date Posted:
6/23 4:31pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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I was really attached to Jacen and Tenel Ka, all the way fromthe YJK days. was pissed with what was done with them. I hope Allana get treated better.
Im sure if Jaina Bites it I will feel something. atleast something gassy.
as dor the rest, no reall attachment. Beyond other than they are participating in a story wich i can say "It seems intresting".
-----signature-----
You are no warrior. Warriors win battles without murdering the weak.-Jacen Solo
This Jeedai brenzlit slave spit upon your grandfather's bones.-Jacen Solo
Don' thinkof it as murder, think of it as blessed release-Jacen Solo
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Manisphere
Registered:
Aug '07
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Date Posted:
6/23 4:42pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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Attached isn't the right word for me. Maybe because I hopped on the EU bandwagon after the NJO was completely published. Loss was already part in parcel with DR's take on the GFFA. Perhaps it was the way in which JK Rowling was wiping so many of her characters off the board. It just seemed the style of the time. Maybe it was losing everyone in ROTS. Even hope. I just came to expect death in the GFFA.
Frankly the characters I miss are the ones that haven't died but have faded into the background. I miss Corran Horn immensely. Kyp wasn't my hero but whatever happened to him? He was a prodigy even in Luke's eyes. I don't even know that much about Kam. I know the same about Kyle as most of his adventures are limited to video games. Heck, I miss Wedge! A lot! I at least know Lando has a place in Shadows of Mindor and Millennium Falcon or I'd totally put him at the top of the list.
If they die they die but if they are at least acknowledged by a writer in some subplot that is interesting I don't mind if it ends in death. I'm going to die so why not them? Its good story telling I'm most attached to. It's lousy writing I'd mourn.
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JaySkywalker01
Registered:
Oct '05
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Date Posted:
6/23 5:24pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
- Date Edited:
6/23 5:25pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
JaySkywalker01
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I got really mad when I thought that Kyle Katarn had died...I literally took the book and beat it against my chair.
NJO/LOTF: Nom Anor was one of the best and the most well-developed villain of the NJO. However, his death didn't affect me as much because I expected him to die so many times. He was like a cockroach that you just couldn't stamp out. When they did get him, I just said FINALLY haha. I'm still attached to many characters aside from the Big 3. Namely, Coran, Kyp, Jag, all of the Barabels and pretty much...well, the entire NJO. I was upset when Isolder died because he was a great dad as well as a leader and I enjoyed COPL. If Tahiri died I would be a little happy.
Legacy Era: If any of the Mynock crew dies...I may be upset as I've grown fairly attached to all of them. Especially Cade and Blue. Bantha Rawk's death will probably upset me despite my short acquaintance with the character. He's a family man and seems to be genuinely happy in the life he has chosen. Kol's death affected me as well, even though the character died in the issue he was introduced. I recognize that he was created as a plot device and meant to die, very much like uncle Ben, but his line, "we take what is given" didn't make it any easier. If Draco dies without getting to marry Sia or vice versa that will be pretty sad.
Classic era: Padme is a likable character so surely they will keep her around to a ripe old age. Yoda already made it 900 years so why not a few more? I imagine that A'Sharad Hett won't survive the clone wars. If that Obi-Wan or Anakin character ever bite the dust I'm sure I will be upset...:( Xizor is too bad-ass to bite the dust.
edit: in the KOTOR era, I'm already attached to Jarael and Zayne of course. If Gryph ever bites it I will probably cry....
-----signature-----
Jay:
"Ben Franklin said, speak softly and carry a big stick!"
Carnage:
Uhm, Ben Franklin was more like "Speak Loud, Get Wasted, and use his "Stick" on French Women."
Oh yeah....
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Manisphere
Registered:
Aug '07
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Date Posted:
6/23 5:41pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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JaySkywalker01 posted:
edit: in the KOTOR era, I'm already attached to Jarael and Zayne of course. If Gryph ever bites it I will probably cry....
I second that. I hadn't thought of KotOR. Yeah, Zayne, Jarael and Gryph can't die. 
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dizfactor
Registered:
Aug '02
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Date Posted:
6/23 5:59pm
Subject:
RE: In the wake of NJO-DN-LOTF, how attached do you now get to characters?
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Emotional attachment, for me, has nothing to do with the length of time a character is active before dying. The classic example for me is in the final arc of Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men - he actually introduced a whole set of characters with the caption "This is the story of the Proud People and how they died," and despite their total page time of something like 3-4 pages from introduction to death, the whole thing was heartbreaking.
Morrison in general is a master at supercompressed characterization like that, but overall, the point is that in my experience, it's absolutely possible to write characters who are emotionally compelling and engaging from the get-go, whereas on the other hand, you could keep a lot of characters around for a long, long time and I will never emotionally invest in them. I'm not emotionally attached to most of the post-ROTJ/YJK characters because they're flat, boring characters who are, for the most part, poorly written, not because they die too often.
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