Lit A Chronological Journey Through the EU: Currently Disc. Interference

I need to get in on these Seinfeld gifs.

 

Have you read the Dawn of the Jedi stuff? Particularly Into the Void. I'm just working my way through that era and I think we'll have a really interesting discussion about the perception of the Force that's pervasive in that era. If you haven't read it, I think you'll find it of interest. It's definitely a new twist on the traditional doctrines.

Tales of the Jedi Companion: Sith Reborn



4,000 BBY

*So, Sith Reborn is the fourth chapter of the Tales of the Jedi Companion. We’ll see what we find there.

*So, Ood Bnar is narrating this chapter in the form of a holocron.

*I am no longer so excited now that I know that my guide is going to be Treebeard the Lesser.

*So, we open with a brief scene of Queen Amanoa executing a prisoner with the Dark Side in the Throne Room. She has the guards take his body out one door and sends word to let the Jedi come in the other.

*Let me just once again say how frigging impressed I am with Ulic and his boys. Here we discover that they were literally like in the same building as Queen Amanoa was like hurling glowing spheres of the Dark Side all over the place and they absolutely missed every damn thing.

*So, then we get a section of background on Amanoa. Apparently, and I did not recall this detail, it was King Ommin who was the Dark Sider first. Amanoa came later, making this a sort of twisted reversal of the classic Adam & Eve motif.

*It even says that Amanoa tries to save King Ommin from the Dark Side, but fails and after the failure, she falls into a depression and thence into a deep anger toward her husband and from there into the Dark Side. That’s actually a cool little back story.

*Allow me to quote: QUEEN AMANOA Type: Sith Adept DEXTERITY 2D+1 Dodge 3D KNOWLEDGE 4D Alien Species 4D+1, bureaucracy 8D, business 6D+2, intimidation 6D+2 . . .

*Okay, I’m going to be skipping every single bit of this.

*So, we then get a lengthy section on Freedon Nadd detailing his fall. And this sort of doesn’t mesh at all with The Shadow of Freedon Nadd, which we’ll talk about shortly. In this version, Nadd falls because the Masters refuse to elevate him to the rank of Jedi Knight. He confronts one of them, Matta Tremayne, and after taking a whole lot of passive aggressive crap from her, he finally kills her.

*I dunno, she was kind of being a jerk to him.

*So, he then flees Ossus and heads for Ashas Ree to study the Sith.

*So, then we get a section about Novar and I was like, ‘who the hell . . .’ And then they had a picture of him from Beast Wars.

*And, this is telling, the most badass picture they could come up with is of him frowning and telling Ulic, “Threats on your part will cause severe political repercussions!”

*Oh, yeah, this is totally the guy you want to be in the RPG!

*I honestly don’t remember him doing much of anything in the comics. But he has a whole backstory here about how he used manipulation and deceit to rise in the ranks of the politicos until he was taken as King Ommin’s apprentice and then as Amanoa’s. So, this little bureaucrat is actually a Sith apprentice! Didn’t see that coming.

*There’s then a page and a half scene of Freedon Nadd showing Ommin a Dark Side vision and seducing him to the Dark Side completely. And then as the section closes, Ommin realizes that he can no longer move his legs. So, I guess this is the beginning of the disease that confines him to a metal frame in Freedon Nadd Uprising.

*Geez, this chapter is all over the place. I suppose that one could break all these stories up and rearrange them on the timeline into true chronological order. If one was insane.

*Then the chapter closes with a section on Warb Null.

*Who, you ask? Oh, you remember, the guy in the striking armor who was like the main bad guy in Freedon Nadd Up – oh, no, I mean the guy in the striking armor who was killed thirty seconds after his arrival in Freedon Nadd Uprising. You remember, King Pointless?

*Null, indeed.

*So, we get a story of how this metallurgist . . .

*Stay with me here.

*Metallurgist named Shas Dovos was crafting this great set of armor that he had found in an ancient Sith book. And then a Sith spirit appears and tells Dovos that he’s been manipulating Dovos all along and that the armor Dovos created he will wear forever. The Sith spirit christens his new apprentice, Dovos, Warb Null.

*The Sith spirit tells him, “You will have your place in the history of the galaxy. I did not bring you this far to end your albeit insignificant existence now.”

*No, first you put on the armor and then you sort of ignite your lightsaber and then you die ignominiously! What a grand fate! Truly, Warb Null, you will indeed go down in history.

*Anyway, that’s the end of the chapter. Some interesting back story; it’s a shame the front story is still so terrible. I would maybe find Novar’s back story, for instance, more engaging, if he had done more in the real story than stand around in a stupid hat and talk about politics. But what do I know?

*CANONICAL STATUS: These stories are clearly fictions amended to the original fiction about the Beast Wars of Onderon. This work is NOT RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

* out of **** stars.

George R. Strayton

*Next time, we’ll hit up a short story that has a substantial bit that takes place around this time. Join me next time for the flashback from The Most Dangerous Foe!

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I've read the three arcs of DOTJ by Ostrander, but I only read I'm not sure how many chapters of Into the Void before I was interrupted.

 

Hey that Sith spirit was right, Warb Null did go down in history - as the most useless Sith dude ever.

 

I actually love this kind of stuff. Novar may be a nothing in the comic, but let WEG get their hands on him and all of a sudden he's got an intriguing backstory and now he's kind of an interesting part of the universe. Warb Null's a joke but WEG is going to try as hard as they can to give him an appropriately mythic sort of origin story of manipulation by an evil spirit, which makes him interestig without suggesting he's other than just some dupe. WEG always nailed that sense of expanding the universe and creating this rich background fabric out of anything you gave them.

 

The Most Dangerous Foe



4,000 BBY

*This story was originally published in an Adventure Journal. It was one of the Adventure Journal stories that didn’t get a reprint in either of the short story collections of the period. It was eventually reprinted on Hyperspace; since Hyperspace went defunct, I’m not aware of it being reprinted anywhere else.

*Should you so desire, you can buy the original Adventure Journal on Amazon. For $246.00.

*Should you so desire.

*TOS, right, guys? Can’t really give you any other advice about finding this one.

*It should be noted that the timelines I’m using differ just slightly on placement here. The Wookieepedia timeline places it here, around the time of the Beast Wars. DinoJim’s timeline places the story just after the Sith War’s conclusion, but before Ulic’s return to Yavin 4 in the epilogue to The Sith War. Joe’s timeline and Rob Mullen’s timeline, on the other hand, place it just before the Sith War, but after Dark Lords of the Sith, so after Ulic and Exar have joined forces but before they have begun their assault in earnest.

*It’s really a coin toss as to where you place it. The story is said to take place ‘a few thousand years’ before ANH, ‘back in the high times of the Old Republic, when the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and blah blah blah . . .’

*Anyway, I went with the Wookieepedia placement, but anyway, it happens somewhere around here.

*So, the frame story here is of a couple of folks swapping stories as they flee Yavin in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the first Death Star. This story is one of the ones they tell.

*So, the story is of sixteen year old Vici Ramunee, Jedi Padawan. As the story begins, she has just completed her lightsaber, under the instruction of Mistress Tannis, her Jedi Teacher.

*So, she calls her Mistress. In other texts, the term Jedi Master seems to apply, regardless of gender (or, in some cases, the lack thereof). I think I like the across the board use of Master better than trading off between Master and Mistress. I mean, like, that dude from the story of Cope Shykrill that was a Jedi Master, but also just a big green gaseous cloud . . . situations like that, how would you even know the gender? I think it’s better to have the title be fixed.

*So, Tannis sends Vici on a quest to find the Cave of Truth where she will face her most dangerous foe.

*Here, on the very first page of the story, it should be entirely obvious to anyone with half a brain where the story is going. But it will still take nine languidly paced pages to get there. For some reason.

*If you don’t get it when Tannis says that Vici must face her most dangerous foe, you’ll definitely twig to where this is going, when Tannis instructs her to leave all tools, including her lightsaber behind.

*So, her ten year old brother, Veni, follows her out into the wilderness, against her wishes and without her knowledge. He also helpfully brings her her lightsaber, thus screwing up her little quest beyond all repair without even knowing it. God, little brothers, right?

*So, this giant monstrous creature comes upon Vici and Veni in a rocky canyon and Vici pulls her lightsaber. The creature then reveals that, contrary to his appearance, he is in fact a great Jedi Master sent to aid Vici on her quest.

*Wow, so a Jedi Master who doesn’t look like you’d expect that’s going to help you face your most dangerous foe and things would be better if you didn’t take a lightsaber, but apparently you did? They really should have just called this story The Empire Strikes Back since that’s basically what it is.

*So, she eventually enters the cave and has some strange visions, like a table full of food and a rotting corpse wearing her clothes and medallion and you know things like that.

*So, then she ultimately gets trapped in this mirrored room and gets incredibly angry because she can’t figure her way out. She then catches a glimpse of her face, twisted in rage, in one of the mirrors and suddenly realizes that *GASP* she herself is her most dangerous foe!

*Alfred Hitchcock, beware, Angela Phillips may yet take your crown as master of the completely unforeseen, out of left field twist. You’re reeling, aren’t you?

*Anyway, that’s the end of that.

*I didn’t mention any of the color images here. There are four or five, done by Mike Vilardi. They aren’t bad at all; neither are they really of any note.

*Much like the story they accompany.

*Predictable fluff. Has no purpose. Will not hurt you to read it, if you’re bored. Will also not do a thing for you. Inoffensive enough, but also completely unnecessary and superfluous.

*CANONICAL STATUS: This story is an obviously fictitious fable with no connections to any other surviving works from the period. It is NOT RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

** out of **** stars.

Angela Philips

*Okay, next time . . . well, we’re finally done with 4,000 BBY. We’ll move into our next year with Tales of the Jedi: The Saga of Nomi Sunrider!

Star Wars Reviews!

 

The real twist is why there's no third sibling named Vidi.

 

Wait, wasn't that the first source for the Duinuogwuins?
Also, I recently found that issue of the Adventure Journal in my basement. Didn't realize it was worth that much somebody actually thinks people will pay that much for it.

 

Tales of the Jedi: The Saga of Nomi Sunrider



3,999 BBY

*So, Nomi Sunrider is married to a Jedi named Andur. They have a kid, Vima, and the three of them are in transit to some backwater planet where Andur is supposed to meet a Jedi Master that’s going to train him further in the Jedi disciplines. Andur is also delivering some Adegan Crystals to Master Thon.

*Bogga the Hutt gets wind of these crystals and sends some goons to kill the young Jedi and his family and take the crystals.

*Somewhere in the thousand years between the Golden Age of the Sith and this story, the Hutts have stopped being likable, affable father figures and become the sleazy, ruthless crime lords we know and love.

*So, Andur gets killed and Nomi picks up his lightsaber and kills his killers. She then decides to follow in his footsteps and become a Jedi.

*This is perfectly credible and is, matter of fact, a great way to get a character to decide to become a Jedi while also giving them their brush with the Dark Side. I like it as a way to thrust someone into the path of becoming a Jedi, right? I find that a compelling beginning to a character arc.

*Okay, going to a planet you’ve never been to, to find a Jedi Master you know nothing about, with no supplies and a young child is perhaps not the most illustrious opening to a Jedi’s career. What is it with going to desolate planets to train with Jedi Masters you know nothing about anyway?

*Okay, that Jedi is weird looking, even by the standards of this universe. It’s like his head is made up of Ramen noodles.

*And the Jedi Master is in fact the apparent pack beast that the weird haired Jedi (Oss Willum) was using to haul things around. Wow . . . a Jedi Master who doesn’t look like you’d expect him too . . . where do they get their ideas?

*And, by the way, the idea of a big Triceratops as a Jedi Master may have sounded cool in the table reading, but in execution it fails to truly inspire.

*In a truly interesting bit, Nomi wants to be a Jedi, but refuses to learn to use a lightsaber after using it in anger to kill her husband’s murderer. And of course, Thon, the Triceratops, can hardly argue with her since he, having only hoofs, can hardly use one.

*Meanwhile, this guy named Finhead Stonebone (go with me here) gets in trouble with Bogga the Hutt. Bogga agrees to spare his life, after messily murdering Stonebone’s first mate right in front of him, if he’ll pledge his life to Bogga. Stonebone does so.

*Our two Jedi casts merge when Tott Doneeta shows up to borrow Oss Willum to help with an uprising on Onderon, where the other story took place.

*Some bad guys show up, and, of course, they’re the same bad guys who killed Nomi’s husband (the ones she didn’t kill).

*Right, so it’s Bogga the Hutt’s forces, led by Finhead Stonebone; they’re after the Adegan Crystals still.

*Anyway, Nomi finally overcomes her demons and utilizes her husband’s lightsaber to protect Thon who appears about to sacrifice himself to the villains. Why she would have to save a Thon when he immediately starts tossing bad guys around telekinetically once she’s used the lightsaber is not gone into. Guess he was just jerkin’ her around.

*This one’s a lot quieter than the others, mostly taken up with Nomi’s slow progress toward becoming a true Jedi. It, however, works better than the galaxy spanning stories seen thus far, which were, for the most part, rather emotionally stunted. This still isn’t great stuff, or even good stuff to be honest, but it does resonate to a certain degree and it’s a good sign that the stories are moving in a more personal direction.

*CANONICAL STATUS: While Nomi Sunrider was certainly a historical figure, this attempt to create an origin story is a whitewashing of her early career as a Jedi, which was considerably more complicated. While many details here are accurate, even more are fabrications. This work is NOT RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

** out of **** stars.

Tom Veitch

*Next time . . . hmm, what’s next . . . oh God . . . it’s back to Tales of the Jedi, the audio adaptation of these stories to see what they can do with The Saga of Nomi Sunrider. Oh boy.

Star Wars Reviews!

 

Tales of the Jedi (Part Two)



3,999 BBY

*So, let’s talk about the portion of this audio drama that covers The Saga of Nomi Sunrider.

*A routine I thought I’d never hear again done with a straight face: “That guy’s carrying Adegan Crystals.” “Adegan Crystals?! Wow! I never thought I’d ever see Adegan Crystals . . . wow, Adegan Crystals. Uh, what are Adegan Crystals?”

*That was an old joke in the 1920s, I’m almost certain.

*Oh, God, let’s just say that these are the most annoying villains ever. Ever. Anywhere.

*Huh, interestingly, I find that I have a lot less to say about this section of the drama. Maybe that’s partly because the story is better. Probably, it’s because the story is simpler. There are fewer characters and less plot points to hit, so the audio drama has less opportunity to be as stupid as it was last time.

*But still . . .

*CANONICAL STATUS: While Nomi Sunrider was certainly a historical figure, this attempt to create an origin story is a whitewashing of her early career as a Jedi, which was considerably more complicated. While many details here are accurate, even more are fabrications. This work is NOT RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

½ out of **** stars.

John Whitman

*Next time, we’ll jump back into the Tales of the Jedi Companion but for something a little different! An RPG Adventure! Next time: Ruins of Kabus-Debeh!

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Just as an FYI for you guys. I'm going to be taking a hiatus of sorts from the boards. Not sure when I'll be back. If you wanna watch my website for updates, hit the Star Wars Reviews link appended to the end of all my reviews. Or hook up with me on FB. Otherwise, catch you guys later.

 

Eruption



25,793 BBY

*So, let’s move on into the Dawn of the Jedi era with a short story. This story was originally published online and then it was printed in the paperback edition of Into the Void. So, that’s where you can find it.

*So, this story features Lanoree Brock, apparently our main character for this era, and fellow Jedi Ranger Hawk Ryo, a Twi’lek.

*Yeah, that’s right, I called them “Jedi” Rangers. Okay, I get it; this is 25,000 years ago, etc. etc. I refuse to type “Je’daii” every time. Because what’ll happen is I’ll accidentally type Jedi and then have to go back and fix it every single time. So, no, I’m just calling them Jedi. Sorry, anal retentive fans.

*So, anyway, Lanoree and Hawk are attempting to mediate a dispute between mine workers and mine owners. When the story starts, the workers and owners have come to an agreement; the son of a worker will marry the daughter of an owner and thus everyone will be brought closer and understand each other and . . . you know, whatever.

*However, just after this was decided, the daughter vanished. Lanoree is at a meeting, attempting to keep everyone from losing their ****; of course, the owners think the workers kidnapped the girl, the workers think the owners did it, etc. Hawk is out looking for the girl.

*Hawk spots some guys in a part of town that’s been evacuated because a volcano is about to erupt.

*Yeah, that’s the only reason this story is called Eruption, by the way. Because a volcano that in no way relates to the plot erupts at one point without affecting anything in the story.

*So, Lanoree uses a slugthrower, fires it into the ceiling to get everyone’s attention. And the Jedi actually use swords. So I’m guessing that neither blasters nor lightsabers exist at this point. That’s cool.

*Anyway, Hawk figures out that the girl was kidnapped by this Twi’lek crime lord that works for a rival mining company. They don’t want the workers and owners to come to an understanding, right? So, this Twi’lek kidnapper happens to be Hawk’s brother. I’m assuming this’ll be explored more later.

*Okay, I found this really, really interesting. We get some insight into the ancient view of the Dark Side and it surprised me. I’ll just quote from this bit where Hawk is getting ready to go in and rescue the girl.

*As he prepares, “he let the balance within him slip into the dark side . . . right now he needed to use aggression . . . which meant channeling the dark side.” Then he kills a guy and he feels some dark pleasure as he watches the guy die and it is “tempting to just stay in the dark side.”

*That’s . . . really interesting. It’s a new take on it. The Dark Side is there to be used when it’s necessary; when a Jedi is forced to use violence, he or she will be more effective by using the Dark Side. That makes sense to some degree. Just new to me. Not at all like the other perspectives I’m familiar with, which argue that the Dark Side is to be eschewed at all times, even in moments of violence and aggression.

*Okay, so this action sequence of Hawk taking out these bad guys is frigging awesome. It’s just very visceral and detailed and yet visual at the same time. I love this image of Hawk just leaping straight up and popping up over the edge of the roof right in front of a guy and just cutting his throat, then landing and using the Force to DRAG the other guy across the roof to impale on Hawk’s sword. This is just good stuff.

*I was really excited because I thought this was written by the same guy who wrote the novel I’ll be reading next. But no; this one’s from John Ostrander. So of course the action’s good.

*Meanwhile, a servant hired by the bad guys tries to poison Lanoree at the meeting, but she’s too smart.

*So, just when everything seems wrapped up neatly, there’s a stumbling block. The daughter doesn’t WANT to get married. Lanoree neatly comes up with a solution. The son and daughter in question won’t get married but will engage in a sort of family swapping thing, whereby the worker boy will live with the owner’s family six months out of the year and the daughter will live with the worker’s family six months out of the year as well. This satisfies everyone.

*So, all we have left to do is ominously foreshadow Into the Void. And, yup, here it is. Lanoree has a message from the Jedi Council calling her back to Tython; she hasn’t been there for four years.

*I thought Lanoree and Hawk were partners or something, but they’re not. They just happened to both get sent to work on this deal. As the story ends, Hawk leaves to fly off to Furies Gate, whatever that is, and Lanoree sets out for Tython.

*Presumably Hawk will be back in some of the later stories, though I note that he isn’t in Into the Void, unless the Dramatis Personae is lying to me. Too bad; I liked the guy.

*I quite enjoyed this little story. Lanoree and Hawk aren’t exactly Shakespearean characters, but I felt like the story gave us a glimpse at the ways that they each work and their personalities. I liked the different perspective on the Force. And, as I said, the action was great. And it was only ten pages. Quick and easy and very entertaining.

*I think I can safely say I’m definitely looking forward to Into the Void specifically and also the rest of this era in general. It shouldn’t take long to blow through this era. I have Into the Void and then three trades and that’s all, if I recall correctly. This should be fun.

*CANONICAL STATUS: It is rather surprising that this brief tale of the Je’daii Rangers should be judged to be as accurate and reliable as it is, given its great age. However, it does seem to be entirely accurate. No corruptions or obvious falsehoods have been found. The events depicted here probably happened exactly as depicted. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

*** ½ out of **** stars.

*Next time? Well, heck, let’s keep moving here. Next time, Tim Lebbon takes us Into the Void!

Tim Lebbon

Star Wars Reviews!

 

I believe it was parallel to the first comic arc.

 

The first comic arc starts when Void is nearing it's end and I think they both end at the same time more or less.

 

Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void



25,793 BBY

*Okay, so here we go! After a brief blurb and a short story, it’s time to plunge into the Dawn of the Jedi era all the way with the era’s only novel. I am somewhat surprised to find myself starting this book with a good measure of hopeful anticipation. After enjoying Eruption, I’m hoping this one is good.

*Okay, I have a frigging question already. Upon opening to the first chapter, I see that it opens with an epigraph (actually, they all do). They’re all dated but I don’t recognize the system. This first one, for instance, is dated 10,661 TYA. What the hell is a “TYA?” I have just barely gotten a grip on “BBY,” you guys.

*So, this book starts with a flashback to when Lanoree Brock, the era’s main character so far, having appeared in both of the stories I’ve read so far, was a young girl on Tython, learning the ways of the Force. Her brother Dal was also a learner and the book establishes immediately that he’s basically a huge ****.

*Okay, so Lanoree meets with the Council and they tell her about this . . . jeez, it’s this whole thing about this “hypergate” that’s buried in these ruins and this bad guy is trying to build some kind of a machine that will allow him to activate the gate via dark matter and this will possibly allow him to . . . go somewhere? But it will possibly also create a black hole or something and swallow the entire Tython system. So, Lanoree’s supposed to stop him. I promise, all those details I just got totally wrong are actually not important. It’s a McGuffin.

*They mention the Jedi Temple of Science. It’s named “Anil Kesh.” Anil. Ehehehehehehehehehe anil.

*So, just when we most expect it, it turns out that this bad guy is, in fact, Lanoree’s brother, Dal. Seems he disappeared years ago and was thought to be dead, but now he’s back. And so she’s been tapped for the mission, of course.

*Okay, so the book is going to alternate for its entire length between two plot lines. The first follows Lanoree and Dal through their training. The second is Lanoree’s “present day” search for Dal.

*So, I found the training sections really fascinating, which I didn’t really expect. It seems that young learners were turned out of their homes on Tython to journey around the planet from temple to temple where they learn different lessons; one temple for science, one for combat, one for anal, you get the drift.

*Yes, I am twelve. Why do you ask?

*Now when I say journey around the planet, I’m talking about like months and months of travelling on foot through deserts and mountains and jungles. This is hard core.

*This also leads to some really fascinating world building. I absolutely love the Silent Desert. It’s this large desert; it takes them three days to cross it. And something about the air quality and the sand or whatever swallows sound. You can’t even hear yourself speak; it’s just this unending quiet. That’s just awesome. Especially when they get into a fight with this lizard monster. I’d love to see that on the big screen; this huge battle with a monster, but it just happens in total silence, no sounds at all.

*There’s also this throwaway reference to these weird sand sculptures. They sort of form themselves out of the sand during the night and appear to just be statues or something, but they’re somehow alive and can be felt in the Force. But then, during the day, they just . . . collapse back into the sand. And then more will form that night. And no one really knows what they are or where they come from or what kind of life is controlling them. And they’re just kind of briefly mentioned in a few sentences and then we move on. But I found the idea of these beings really evocative and strange and beautiful.

*Well, I should have just quoted a bit instead of wasting all that time trying to put it into words: “There seems to be no wind lifting the sand . . . the sculpture looks about the size of a human . . . it seems fluid, moving and dancing. The shape is ambiguous. The distant sand sculpture is warmer than the surrounding sand . . . And, most amazingly of all, within its confines the sand sings out loud . . . there are no words there that Lanoree knows. Yet she can sense something of unbridled freedom and passion in the noise . . .then the shape disintegrates, and with one more heartbeat it is returned to the desert. The sound has vanished.”

*I mean, is that not AWESOME?

*I think, actually, looking back at this book as a whole, that the worldbuilding is nothing short of extraordinary. I’ll pull up examples as I go, but the way the novel creates a Jedi Order that feels genuinely more mystical than the ones from later time periods is great. The Jedi Order feels more . . . pagan, in a way. And the way Lebbon writes about each of the temples and all the environments . . . I mean, I expected this training stuff to be a drudgery, but it really, really worked. I mean, he knocked this stuff out of the park.

*Oh, I should just tell you right now that I liked this book a lot. And one of the things I do when I like a Star Wars book a lot is I picture as a movie. So, some really wonderful casting choices just kind of leapt into my head. I try not to like really obsess about casting the characters, but sometimes it just happens naturally.

*First off, the adult Lanoree Brock? Emily Blunt. Please, God, Emily Blunt. She’s just so perfect. Well, Lanoree is supposed to be mid-twenties and Blunt is right at thirty, I think, right now, but I think you could bump her age up a bit. Having just seen Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow, I think she could really play this character really well. Lanoree’s a tough-minded, totally competent, confident person that only occasionally gives in to her emotions. I see her as brusque, almost rude sometimes, but smart and competent. Much like Blunt’s character in Edge of Tomorrow, which is probably why this casting just jumped right to mind.

*Yeah, for instance, there’s this little half-page scene of a guy trying to pick Lanoree up in a bar when she first gets to Khalimar, a planet where she’s gone to meet a guy that has some leads on Dal’s whereabouts. This scene just plays perfectly when you picture Emily Blunt doing it.

*And, yes, she would keep her natural accent. None of that Looper bull**** where we’re supposed to believe that a woman that looks like Emily Blunt is a farmer from Kansas. But enough crushing on Emily Blunt.

*So, her contact is a disreputable Twi’lek named Tre Sana. He’s worked for Lanoree’s old master, Dam-Powl, in the past, so Lanoree is inclined to trust him conditionally. I see Tre Sana being played by Ron Perlman. I think that’s essentially all the casting I did.

*Tre Sana has three lekku which makes him an outcast in Twi’lek society. That’s a new one.

*So, there’s this weird thing about Jedi alchemy. It seems that Dam-Powl used this skill to somehow genetically, and perhaps physically, alter Tre Sana’s brain so that he can’t be read by any other Jedi.

*This is actually kind of dark and weird. Tre says he’s “just another slave spy used by the Je’daii.” Lanoree notes that alchemy of that sort is “forbidden,” but that “what was considered forbidden to some was exploration to others.” She also lets slip in her thoughts that she is running an alchemy experiment of her own, a secret experiment that only Dam-Powl knows about. Lanoree admits that what Dam-Powl did to Tre was “perhaps immoral, yet startingly brilliant.”

*This is what I mean when I say the Order feels more mystical, more pagan. More . . . dangerous. I mean, there’s something that feels almost Lovecraftian about some of this stuff to me. That’s an odd connection to make and I can’t really put it all into words, but reading this passage about the “alchemy” makes me feel weird in the same way as reading Lovecraft does.

*So, Tre Sana tells Lanoree that Dal has gotten mixed up with a group of people called the Stargazers. They’re obsessed with finding out how they got to this system. It seems that there are legends that the people of the Tython system were brought there in distant ages by some mysterious race and left there. I’m not totally clear on that. And they aren’t able to leave the Tython system. These Stargazers are obsessed with finding a way out; I guess that’s the significance of the hypergate. It seems to offer a possible way out of the system, if Dal and the Stargazers can find a way to activate it.

*There’s a wonderful action sequence at this point, in which Lanoree spots a Noghri following her. She attempts to confront him and this leads into a crackerjack chase sequence, confrontation and, shockingly, a suicide bombing by the Noghri. This is the best action sequence I’ve read in the EU in a really, really long time. It’s intense and visceral and I can absolutely see it on the big screen.

*It’s also worth noting that the violence here is quite a bit more graphic than in other EU books. There are spurts and gouts of blood and twisted legs with bones sticking out of them and gore spattering all around, etc. This is part of what makes this feel so different and makes this world feel a lot more primitive and brutal than the later EU stuff.

*Then there’s a wonderful scene between Lanoree and Lorus, a Sith cop. I love it when ground level police officers show up in Star Wars. I even liked that Bothan cop from the Jedi Apprentice series. And this guy’s a Red Sith, which is even more awesome. The verbal dance these two perform is just massively entertaining.

*I was hoping Lorus would be in more of the book, since he actually is listed in the Dramatis Personae, but unfortunately he’s only in this scene. I could read a whole novel about this guy. Seriously.

*Okay, we’re done with chapter four and I’m going to just go ahead and say something. I’m going to spoil the ending of this review, if I haven’t already: I really, really loved this book. And so, I want to just put up a warning at this juncture.

*I want you, if you haven’t read this book, to just GO READ IT. It’s pretty darn great.

*I’m warning you at this point because I am going to continue this post and, for those who are interested but just don’t want to take the time to read it and for those who have already read it and are enjoying this trip back through, I am going to summarize all the way to the end. I’m going to spoil the **** out of this book. And it really doesn’t deserve to be spoiled for you if you haven’t read it.

*So, big warning. A lot of the time, I don’t care to spoil a book because I’m not going to recommend it. But this one I do recommend, quite strongly actually, so I’m just warning you.

*And get the paperback; it has Eruption in it too and it’s a really short, fun read as well.

*So, Tre takes Lanoree to meet one of the main Stargazers, this massively obese woman named Kara. She’s a real character, I must say.

*Yeah, I just ate this scene up with a spoon too. What a great scene. And, like Lorus, she’s in the Dramatis Personae but only in this one scene. And I wanted more.

*This is like a massive compliment actually. When was the last time the EU left you wanting more?

*I kinda think this whole era may be that way. After this wonderful book, I only have three trades. Barring them being dreadful, I think I’ll be sad that we will more than likely never get anything about these characters or this era ever again.

*So, this conversation with Kara ends with Tre stunning her, Lanoree stealing a bunch of old books and the two of them taking a flying leap off of a HUGE building. Good clean fun.

*I should mention at this point that young Lanoree and young Dal are doing about as well as you’d expect. Their relationship is fracturing because Lanoree has a lot of Force talent and Dal doesn’t. There have been a few scenes, but nothing of note.

*Until they arrive at Stav Kesh, the temple where they’ll learn hand to hand combat.

*So, there’s some badass Noghri action in this book, if you’re into that kind of thing. There was the earlier chase scene/fight sequence and now the instructor at Stav Kesh is a Noghri. There are a couple of great scenes where he basically just gets all his students together and tells them to come at him with whatever weapons they can find. Even though these are just training exercises, Lebbon writes them with real energy. They’re great action scenes.

*Okay, they figure out that Kara used to be a Jedi.

*Okay, so let’s get into the light/dark dichotomy of this era. I brought it up in my Eruption review. So, Tython has two moons. One, Ashla, represents the light side; the other, Bogan, represents the dark side. The Jedi believe that the light and dark must be in perfect balance in each individual Jedi. So, each Jedi must embrace the dark side and use it when the situation calls for it. But they must not slip out of balance and fall completely into it.

*So, when a Jedi seems to be losing his balance, he or she is sent to Bogan where they are essentially exiled until they can regain their balance.

*You know what, all this “perfect balance within each Jedi” thing . . . it’s making me kind of reevaluate The Fourth Precept. Because that was something I didn’t consider; maybe it represents the struggle for dominance inside the soul of a Jedi! And ultimately it comes to balance. Because that would certainly have been the way a Jedi of this period would have believed. Intriguing. I wonder if the Dawn of the Jedi folks came up with that doctrine and put it in because of The Fourth Precept. It seems an odd coincidence.

*Well, anyway, Lanoree figures that Kara must have been on Bogan at some point if she used to be a Jedi. And she name drops someone called Daegon Lok who is the only person that has ever been essentially sentenced to remain on Bogan for the rest of his life. Given that one of the comic arcs is called The Prisoner of Bogan, I’m taking note of this name; I anticipate finding out a bit more about Daegon Lok and what his deal is later.

*So, young Lanoree and Dal and the other students get to train with one of those floaty droid things and they have to wear one of those helmets like Luke does in the first movie. The students have varying degrees of luck.

*And then Dal has to do it and Dal either can’t or won’t use the Force. I mean, I feel like it’s kind of unclear. I think it’s that he just won’t. He’s too rebellious or something. And we know he’s at least kind of Force sensitive, though he seems rather weaker than most of the others. So maybe it’s a combination. But mostly rebellion, I think.

*So, anyway, the droid is just kicking his butt. So he pulls out a blaster and just starts firing randomly!! He actually shoots his sister and a couple of other students!

*Yeah, this kid is going to go far.

*So, Dal gets to stay in the Order, but the Jedi are pretty well ticked.

*There’s a really great scene where one of the masters takes Lanoree into a room where he keeps images of all the students he’s taught that failed to become Jedi. It’s quite moving.

*Lha-Mi: “It’s down to me, of course, whose images I place here. Some would argue that there are those here who let themselves down, rather than being let down by me. And there are others who might name some images that are missing. There are spaces. Gaps yet to fill. I hope to still see areas of bare wall here when I am older and closer to death, but . . .”

*Lanoree thinks that he’s showing her this because of Dal, but then he shocks her: “It’s your face I have no wish to see on the walls of this room, Lanoree.”

*And the scene has a great coda. “There was a time when people like Dal . . .” “What?” “Harsher times. No matter.”

*So, I’ve been wondering about this. About why Dal can’t just be removed from training. Now I’m wondering if, at one time in history, the Jedi might have just killed him or imprisoned him or something really gruesome like that. Maybe this exaggerated mercy is a reaction to those harsher times. Anyway, great scene. And it’s just about a page long.

*Okay, so Lanoree have been pursuing leads that have taken them to an abandoned Stargazer temple and then on to the domed city of . . . some-*******-where . . . let’s see . . . ah, Greenwood Station. I think. Anyway, they’re looking for this gangster name of Maxhagan. They’re doing a lot of character stuff along the way. One of the things I actually like about this book is that Lanoree and Tre don’t follow the stereotypical buddy path. They don’t like each other and don’t trust each other from the start and I think you could say they come to trust each other, to a certain degree, but I don’t think they ever really like each other, which is a nice twist on the clichés.

*Anyway, they meet up with this low-level criminal named Domm and at the end of their encounter, Lanoree performs a mind-wipe on him. And you have never seen a mind-wipe like this one, guys.

*Lanoree pins him down and uses the Force to pick up four tiny specks of dust. She drops them into his eyes, okay? That right there kinda made me cringe actually. And apparently Tre too: “She dropped them into Domm’s upturned eyes. He blinked and cried out, but could not move. His eyes watered, and then he squeezed them closed. But by then it was too late. ‘I’ll wait outside,’ Lanoree heard Tre say.”

*What a great character detail. Tre would have no problem murdering someone in cold blood, but this kind of stuff he can’t stand. Love it.

*This is just really trippy. She uses the Dark Side (remember that whole balance thing) and everything. She makes the dust motes go THROUGH HIS EYES and INTO HIS ******* BRAIN. “She felt the warm wetness of his insides.”“She breathed deeply, trying to ward off the ecstatic sensations . . . the pleasure of control. The ecstasy of darkness.” Holy ****. This kid is scary.

*The aftermath is just as chilling. “I seared his memory. For a time he’ll remember nothing, not even his name.” “For a time?” “I’m not sure how long. Better than murder.” “If you say so.”

*Meanwhile, the guy is literally writhing on the floor, unable to speak or stand. And when Lanoree tells Tre that she’s not sure how long this will last, she thinks to herself that it’ll be DAYS at the least, but probably much longer. Jesus.

*Is it totally sick that I am suddenly finding Lanoree incredibly hot? Why do I always find myself with the ones that aren’t good for me? Though I’m not sure Lanoree would be good for anybody.

*I particularly love Tre’s final line. It really sums up the horror of what Lanoree’s just done. “Better than murder,” she says. “If you say so,” he responds. Mmm. That’s good writing. That’s good characterization. That’s good stuff.

*Okay, so we get some explication of Dal’s attitudes in a flashback. He muses that the Jedi think they’ve made the Force their slave, but really, it’s the Jedi that are the slaves. “You never have your own thoughts.” So, okay, I get it. He could tap into the Force, but he resists it because he wants control of his own destiny.

*Great scene where we get a lot of background on Tre Sana and the life of crime that led him to Dam-Powl and led her to lock down his mind with her powers. It has a heartbreaking ending: “A small part of what she’s promised. Because I want my life back. The gangsters haven’t called on me for almost a whole Tythan year, but they will soon. I don’t want it anymore. I want everything that Dam-Powl promised – a new identity, new face, new home. I want to forget everything I’ve done. Surgery. I want to fade into the crowd instead of stand out. I want to be . . . normal. After this, Dam-Powl will set me free.”

*Lanoree tells him that Dam-Powl will keep her word to him. But she’s doubtful. So am I. I think that’s testament to how darkly this story has tinted the Jedi. I mean, Dam-Powl essentially butchered this guy’s brain in order to use him as a slave; and it’s tragic to realize, even as Tre maintains his hope, that she really has no motivation to ever release him and may actually never do so. That’s really grim and painful.

*So, anyway, they finally catch up to Dal, thanks to a tip from Maxhagan. Dal captures the two of them when they burst into his secret lair.

*So, Dal has created the device he needs to open the . . . what was it again? Open a hypergate? Or something? Obviously, the plot here has me riveted.

*I liked this exchange: Lanoree: “You have no idea what you’re doing.” Dal: “And you have no idea what I’ve seen.”

*Okay, so some more details. Apparently, some folks name of the Tho Yor brought everyone in the Tython system there. “They stole us away, brought us here, denied us the future we deserved,” Dal says. And apparently stranded everyone there with no way to leave, if I’m understanding correctly.

*Anyway, Dal takes his machine and leaves, but he leaves a couple of Stargazers behind to finish off Lanoree and Tre.

*I really like the Stargazers. They’re creepy. Check out this exchange between Lanoree and the woman that’s going to kill her. “You know I can’t just stand here and let him leave.” “You won’t be standing there long. He doesn’t want to hear you die.” “That’s kind of my brother.” “He is kind. The only kind man I’ve ever met.”

*Anyway, Lanoree and Tre are able to escape, but one of the Stargazers triggers a suicide bomb: “The Stargazer clasped at his belt, weeping blood from ruptured eyes, and a look of ecstasy broke across his face.”

*I LOVE these guys. This book is just so vivid in its imagery. Can’t you just see that. This Cathar dude holding his bleeding midsection, literally weeping blood from his eyes, and then he just . . . angelically smiles as he triggers the bomb. This is damn fine stuff.

*Meanwhile, back in Lanoree’s training memories, Dam-Powl introduces Lanoree to the “Alchemy of Flesh.” It’s as gruesome as that title indicates: “’The talents needed for this are deep . . . the risks great. But the rewards are huge. I’m going to teach you.’ Lanoree stares at the two Je’daii in the center of the room. Between each of them is a shape. Something that should not live, yet it flexes and breathes. A thing that should not be, yet here it is. ‘Wrought from their own flesh and blood,’ Dam-Powl says . . . ‘The alchemy of flesh,’ she whispers.”

*See what I mean about Lovecraft being an influence here? Lebbon even uses the phrase “thing that should not be.”

*Anyway, Dal ventures down into the Chasm, a deep, dark place where Jedi are forbidden to go. Some of them go down after him and Dam-Powl says that when he returns, he will be sent into banishment.

*I find it kind of interesting that this happens at just this moment, that Dal ventures into the forbidden unknown of the Chasm at the same time as Lanoree begins to learn the Alchemy of Flesh, which is, among many Jedi, also considered forbidden. But Dam-Powl believes in it and practices and teaches it. But in many ways, both the Chasm and the Alchemy of Flesh are forbidden. It’s simply that Dam-Powl is in a position to carry on the Alchemy of Flesh in secret and thus Lanoree isn’t punished for engaging in it. Other masters doubtless would banish her, but Dam-Powl doesn’t. Lanoree and Dal . . . prepare for cliché, aren’t so different after all.

*Anyway, Dal is returned from the Chasm. A young Jedi named Skott Yun is tasked with arresting him for banishment, but, with Lanoree there watching, Dal attacks Skott and kills him. Dal then flees from the temple; Lanoree follows him into the wilderness.

*Anyway, Dal has caused a war to break out on Nox between Greenwood Station and another city. Lanoree and Tre Sana are able to make their way safely through the intense and very violent chaos and escape the planet. Having slipped a tracker onto Dal before he left, Lanoree is able to follow his ship into space, hoping to catch up to him before he fires up the hypergate.

*Anyway, Lanoree and Tre pursue Dal to a planet called Sunspot. Tre, however, has had a horrible reaction to the atmosphere on Nox, which is pretty toxic, and so he’s basically not able to do anything but vomit, so Lanoree leaves him on the ship and attempts to sneak into the mine where Dal has taken the device.

*Dal once again captures Lanoree; she’s kind of being a really, really horrible Jedi at this point, if you ask me. He’s captured her twice now.

*This scene plays really well, this second confrontation between Dal & Lanoree. Dal has gone full on cult-leader: “I’m almost done. I’ll let you watch.” “You left me for dead.” “Yes, left you. I can’t make that mistake again.” “Enough with the talk, Dal! Just shoot me and get it over with!” “You’ve come this far. Don’t you want to see my second-greatest moment?” “Second?” “The greatest is yet to come.”

*So, Dal and company are able to create some dark matter. With the device and the dark matter needed to power it, Dal is ready to return to Tython and activate the hypergate.

*Before he does so, he shoots Lanoree in the chest.

*Okay, so I think we’re finished with the flashback stuff now, because Lanoree pursues Dal down into this old abandoned city on Tython and she hears him scream and then she finds his bloody clothes and so that’s why everyone thought he was dead until he showed back up over this hypergate thing.

*I don’t really understand that though. I mean, she found his bloody clothes. So, he died . . . and then was naked? If I ever find someone’s bloody clothes I’m going to assume they faked their own death. I mean, either he just happened to get naked and then died in some way that would mean that his dead body fell nowhere near the pile of clothes or else he died and something happened that both moved his body AND undressed him. How would either of those things happen?

*She apparently thinks he’s drowned because she finds them right by a lake. Or maybe been attacked and dragged into the water by a carnivorous lake monster or something. But how, in either of those scenarios, would he be naked when he died?

*So, when Lanoree doesn’t return to the ship, Tre goes looking for her, vomiting all the way. She’s still barely alive and he’s able to drag her back to the ship. Presumably she arrives back at the ship drenched in vomit, which should do wonders for her sucking chest wound.

*So, Lanoree is able to use her “experiment” to heal herself. Her “experiment” in the alchemy of flesh.

*So, it’s a wad of flesh. She cut some flesh off of her arm earlier and used the Force to give it life and make it grow. So, it’s a living, pulsating hunk of flesh about the size of . . . like a cat or something. With “vestigial limbs” and a “blind eye, pupil milky white.”

*Understatement of the year: “Its movement troubled her.” NO ******* KIDDING.

* “Without a mind, it was meat . . . living, pulsing, replicating meat. She continued to tell herself that as she wondered whether it felt pain.”

*This is fantastic.

*So, she uses the Force to make the “flesh before her . . . bubble & boil.” “She stripped off her tattered robe and undergarments . . .”

*Bow chicka bow bow.

*No, seriously, she like pushes the experiment into her massive chest wound and it somehow reattaches to her or whatever and heals, apparently, her internal organs and everything.

*So, now she has a blind eye between her breasts, but it’ll be good for getting free drinks in bars, amirite?

*Seriously, this is some crazy ****. And I am loving it.

*That was a joke about the eye between her breasts. I thought I should clarify that.

*Oh, wow, Tre actually remarks that Lanoree is covered in vomit. That was totally a joke earlier, but the book openly acknowledges it.

*So, they arrive back at Tython in pursuit of Dal. As they get there, Lanoree has a vision of something alien and dangerous about to arrive on Tython. “There is a figure. Tall, cloaked, armored, an unmarked helmet hiding its features. In its hand is a weapon the like of which she has never seen before.” Meanwhile, a massive Force storm rages across Tython. Lanoree and Tre Sana head right into it.

*Lanoree receives a garbled message from Dam-Powl and Lanoree realizes that her vision and the Force storm are connected to something else that’s going on. Dam-Powl’s garbled message mentions a ship from out of system and something that is “the worst.” The transmission clears in time for her final sentence: “I fear that everything is about to change.”

*Okay, so I bet this is set up for the comic series and, once again, it’s really great. Lebbon is really creating a strange atmosphere here and it’s even more heightened, coming at the climax of his own story, for this other story to begin intruding into things. I’m really looking forward to the comics now.

*So, Lanoree and Tre pursue Dal and his Stargazers into the Old City where Dal disappeared before, where the hypergate is rumored to be. Tre gets shot and seriously wounded in the first little firefight.

*Well, the climax. Dal and Lanoree fight. Lanoree kills him, of course, and stops him from triggering the device.

*At first, I didn’t particularly like this. It felt anti-climactic for them to just have a brawl and Lanoree just kill him.

*But the longer I live with it, the more I find it kind of haunting. Lebbon captures this great image of Dal collapsing to the ground, Lanoree’s sword still embedded in the side of his head, a pool of blood forming around his head. And that image kind of haunts me and feels really beautiful.

*I mean, I can just see that on the big screen. Lanoree looking down and then cut to Dal on his back, the sword still stuck inside his head, a pool of blood slowly forming.

*I should point out that in my fantasy movie/miniseries/whatever adaptation of the EU, this would definitely be a couple of movies or a miniseries or something. And I would want it to be really violent. Graphically, I mean. This isn’t something all of the EU needs, but this book, I think, really needs the level of graphic violence it has. It needs it artistically. It gives it that strange, off-kilter feeling of a more primitive, pagan time.

*Mainly for three really important images. Lanoree’s chest wound, the alchemy of flesh “experiment,” and the sword in Dal’s head. I mean, those three things should be rendered really graphically, I think, to have the impact that they need to have. Definitely R rating.

*Ok, well, let’s wrap this up.

*So, Dam-Powl tells Lanoree that a ship from out of system crashed into the Abyss; there was a pulse of dark side energy when it happened. An expedition of Jedi are on their way to the crash site. And more, presumably, in the comics.

*Lanoree returns to the alchemy of flesh: “She sat staring at her experiment for some time. It was shriveled and denuded, and it should have been blasted into space. Yet she could not rid herself of it. Darkness danced around the petrified flesh, and Lanoree tried several times to find life still within it. At first it was simply dead. But then, half a day out from Kahlimar, her Force senses perceived a speck of flesh that pulsed with life once more.” *shudder*

*Well, there it is. As the book ends Lanoree dedicates herself to seek perfect balance again; somewhere in her journey to find Dal, she lost it.

*Okay, quick wrap up. I really, really enjoyed this book. Lebbon’s prose was crisp and clean; the plot moved quickly. I liked the past/present structuring of the story. I found both Lanoree and Tre Sana to be well-sketched and compelling characters. The action was great; the character stuff was even better. And I loved the world building, which succeeded in creating a very different Jedi Order than the one we know from other EU works. The book just had a wonderful atmosphere, a great strange feeling to it.

*I had a few issues while I was reading it. I thought the ending might have been a bit anti-climactic, that Dal might have been a bit underwritten and that the book might have been too long by about twenty or thirty pages. But a couple of weeks having now passed since I finished it, I’m prepared to say that I don’t feel as strongly about those things. The things that have stayed with me are the really great moments and, more than anything else, the feeling of the book. To the degree that are perhaps some minor flaws, I’m more than willing to overlook them.

*CANONICAL STATUS: Despite its age, this text is considered to be of incredibly high accuracy. Events most likely transpired exactly as recorded here. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

**** out of **** stars

Tim Lebbon

*Next time, we’ll keep on moving with the next entry on the Wookieepedia timeline: The Adventures of Lanoree Brock, Je’daii Ranger. Unfortunately, we’ll also be talking about how this placement is a big error on the timeline.

Star Wars Reviews!

 

Why did I ask for this thread to be edited to reflect Into the Void and it was instead edited to Ulic Qel Droma and the Beast Wars? We may never know.

The Adventures of Lanoree Brock, Je’daii Ranger

25,793 BBY

*So, this story. I was really hoping it was actually some kind of short story about Lanoree Brock in the aftermath of Into the Void having some other . . . you know, adventure. But it’s not.

*It is available online for free via the above link and it’s about a page long, so go ahead and read it now if you want.

*Anyway, this story is placed after both Eruption and Into the Void on the Wookieepedia Timeline of Legends Media. It should actually take place between them, more or less, because this little short story is actually a journal entry made by Lanoree while en route to meet the Council about the whole Hypergate fiasco. So, she gets the message to go meet them at the end of Eruption and then Into the Void is the actual meeting and mission.

*So, this is very, very heavy on the “you must read this awesome novel immediately” style of writing. You know, lots of stuff like: “the mission is so serious, so delicate and so potentially deadly;” “They couldn’t transmit the information, even on the Je’daii’s secure channels;” “Strange to see the Council like that . . . almost as if they were scared;” “Already I’m unsettled;” “A personal pressure the likes of which I never thought I’d have to face;” “Such a danger for the whole . . . system;” “I’m about to test every moment of training I’ve ever undertaken.”

*And that’s only some of the “THIS BOOK IS GOING TO BE AWESOME” blurbs in this little story.

*To a degree, this all kind of works. I mean, if you read it before Into the Void instead of after it. But this does make the book sound good.

*Well, okay, there’s that. It’s just a one page set-up for Into the Void.

*This is exactly the kind of story that just doesn’t need to exist at all. Just cut this right out of the EU and who cares, right?

*CANONICAL STATUS: While Lanoree Brock was a historical figure and many events recorded about her life are accurate, this journal entry in her name is almost certainly a forgery. This work is NOT RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

0 out of **** stars

Tim Lebbon


*Okay, next time, we’ll move on to the next story here. It’s time for Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm!

Star Wars Reviews!

 

111 Star Wars Stories You Can't Live Without

3. Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic (1994) – Tom Veitch



One thousand years after the fall of the Sith Empire, Nomi Sunrider and Ulic Qel-Droma are the icons of a new breed of Jedi. But which of them will have the worst art? And which the worst story? Ulic wins the worst story, but Nomi has the worst art or was she supposed to be suffering from male pattern baldness? Well, it’s a unique take on feminine beauty, at least.

If you can bring yourself to care at all about the Beast Wars of Onderon, you’re better than me. Nomi’s story, of a grieving widow coming to terms with the Force and with herself, is better and shows some ambition toward actually creating something that’s intelligent and interested in real human emotions. Or it would if the narrator would shut his mouth for five seconds: “Contemplating her teacher, Nomi Sunrider realizes a curious fact: when he speaks in his beast tongue, she understands everything he says!” I’ll tell you what’s curious is that you think that would interest me in the slightest.

Once again the most interesting character is a side character. His name is Finhead Stonebone, but don’t let that fool you.

MOMENT YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Tott Doneeta is made an honorary Boma since he can speak the language: “FNRRG! GNRRARRG SNNRRUFF SNROOO!” “GRRARROOOARR! GROOGH GNARRGH! WHNUFF.” Je. Sus.

ESSENTIAL? God, no.

Okay, next time, back to the main project. Join me for Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm!

Star Wars Reviews!

 

Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm



25,793 BBY

*Okay, so I’m actually really excited to get into this. As you know, I loved Into the Void and found the foreshadowing of this series at the end of that book to be really intriguing. I’m pulling for these comics to be awesome.

*Okay, so this comic starts with a flashback to like 35,000 BBY. This is why DinoJim’s timeline and the Star Wars Expanded Universe Chronology have this trade broken up, I guess. But, for simplicity’s sake, I’m reading this according to the Wookieepedia timeline, which doesn’t break it up.

*It would have been somewhat helpful to get this information prior to reading Into the Void. I had to do some guessing about the Tython system and all that in Into the Void that’s explained here.

*So, there are these massive, mysterious ships called the Tho Yor. They show up on various worlds and are able to “speak” to the inhabitants of said worlds through psychic transmission or something.

*Basically, the monolith from 2001. Mysterious, unknown, strange communication, kick-starts a sort of evolutionary step forward.

*So, the inhabitants of these planets board these ships and the ships take them to the Tython system and drop them all off on Tython. And the Force is like all over Tython. Tython’s just drenched in the Force and all of the people who got picked up were Force sensitives, so they figure out that the Tho Yor have brought them here to study and learn about the Force. And they get the whole “Light Side/Dark Side” theory from the two moons we talked about last time and formulate the theory that the Force must be balanced in each person, as the moons create balance on the planet.

*They call themselves “Je’daii,” a word that means ‘Mystic Center.’

*This is pretty new agey. This would have been totally at home in the late seventies.

*So, anyway, all these Force sensitives start having non-Force sensitive babies and they just can’t stay on Tython. All the Force makes them crazy or something so they leave and go settle all the other worlds.

*Okay, so there’s this big war with some Twi’lek despot (is there a feminine form of “despot?” Don’t know; don’t care.). I don’t know what, if any of this, is actually that significant. The despot war, as it’s called (so apparently, there isn’t a feminine), happens 12 years before our story proper.

*So, here’s our first little “haha this was long time ago!” joke: “Tatooine, a lush world where twin suns warm fair skies. A thriving world, where the Kumumgah live peacefully in gleaming cities alongside its blue seas.”

*So, the Rakatan Empire. They’re sending folks around to kill any and all Force sensitives they can find. We catch up with Predor Tul’kar and his assistant, Xesh. Xesh is the one who can find the Force sensitives and then he does the dirty work. He’s called a Force Hound. That’s different.

*Anyway, Xesh wears dark armor and has a lightsaber. He’s obviously the dude Lanoree saw at the end of Into the Void.

*So, this leader named Predor Skal’nas calls in Tul’kar and Xesh for a conference. It seems that Skal’nas’ Force Hound, a weirdo female named Trill, has picked up ripples of a world that’s really, really strong in the Force, but she can’t pinpoint where it is. Skal’nas is hoping Xesh can figure it out.

*So, obviously, this world is Tython.

*Xesh ups the badass quotient: “Yes. I can find this world. I will take you to it and I will feast upon its bones.” MAIN PLOT INITIATED.

*So, then we just skip straight to Xesh’s ship arriving in the Tython system. Well, one assumes that’s what it is. We switch the Jedi perspective; they note a mysterious ship entering the system and then disappearing from their radar.

*And here’s Hawk Ryo from Eruption. Good on you.

*We’re introduced to Shae Koda, a female Jedi student, and her master, a male named Quan-Jang. They’ve having trouble controlling one of Shae Koda’s “experiments” in the Alchemy of Flesh, a cross between a rancor and a dragon.

*Yes, it’s a rancor that can fly. I’m not sure why this ever seemed like a good idea.

*It is, admittedly, a lot less freaky than Lanoree’s “experiment.” I’d love to see something along the lines of Lanoree’s Lovecraftian nightmare show up in the comics.

*Anyway, Shae has a vision of Xesh, much like Lanoree did.

*So, we’re introduced to Hawk’s brother, Volnos Ryo, and Hawk’s niece, Tasha Ryo. Volnos is a crime lord and he wishes Tasha would follow him into the family business. Unfortunately, Tasha has chosen to follow her uncle into the Jedi.

*So, this assassin hired by another crime lord shows up to kill Volnos, but he wasn’t expecting a Jedi. Tasha is able to stop the assassin.

*The assassin is kind of cool. I like this bit as he approaches the guards at the gate: “He’s expecting his old friend, Jaris Kan.” “The Baron is expecting no one.” “No one expects death. They die nonetheless.” *murders both guards*

*It’s not Boba Fett, but it’ll do for now.

*I liked this moment when Tasha has a vision of Xesh while she’s fighting the assassin. She thinks it’s another assassin and throws a Force Punch at it; it dissipates, of course, and this allows the assassin to briefly turn the tables on her. I just thought that was a cool, creative use of a vision. Don’t remember seeing anything quite like that before.

*There’s a great panel here of Volnos summarily executing the would-be assassin with a blaster shot to the chest. Really like that one.

*We’re then introduced to Sek’nos Rath. He’s a Red Sith Jedi student. When we’re introduced to him, he’s strutting around shirtless doing Force tricks for a bunch of girls. I am immediately quite sure he’s going to be my favorite character.

*Blah blah blah Sek’nos has vision of Xesh blah blah etc etc trick goes horribly wrong blah blah yada yada Sek’nos has horrible burns on his arms now blah blah

*That was actually a pretty funny moment.

*Ah, Daegon Lok, he that is the Prisoner of Bogan. Mentioned in Into the Void; titular character of volume two of the comics. He too, stranded on the dark moon Bogan, has a vision of Xesh. He remains cryptic; he murmurs only “Darkness” and then turns from the vision.

*So, led by their feelings about their respective visons, Shae, Tasha & Sek’nos all independently go down into the Chasm. They meet there and compare notes about the “Shadow Man” they saw in their vision. And then, quite suddenly, Xesh hits Tython like a ton of bricks. His ship crashes into the chasm, just like we heard in Into the Void.

*The Jedi approach an escape pod. It slowly opens and we get this great bit: SHAE: “I sense darkness.” SEK’NOS: “Intense darkness!” TASHA: “Anger!” XESH (unmasked, his face revealed, in a full page panel): “Death.”

*Couple of Jedi name of Rori Fenn and Master Ketu sense the ship crash as well. They murmur cryptically for a while and then send out a group of Jedi to investigate.

*Meanwhile, back in the Chasm cue big action sequence. It’s pretty good.

*Xesh’s lightsaber, which none of these guys have ever seen before, breaks all their swords. In the scuffle, Sek’nos manages to get the saber, but he can’t figure out how to turn it on. Apparently, only Xesh can do that.

*A few great shots here. I particularly like a long shot of Xesh Force throwing Shae over a cliff.

*Anyway, there’s a nice little kerfuffle here and then, outnumbered, Xesh flees deeper into the Abyss.

*Have I been calling it the Chasm? I swear they called it that. But they’re calling it the Abyss now. Maybe I’m crazy.

*So, I like these three main characters. They’re all drawn very broadly, but they’re all very different, so they throw sparks. Tasha wants to wait for more Jedi to arrive before pursuing Xesh; Shae gets angry about that and says they’ve got to follow him now before he escapes; Sek’nos agrees with Shae, but he’s more concerned about the fact that it’ll get him a lot of glory to capture Xesh with no help from the Jedi Masters.

*So a bunch of Jedi Masters show up to where the first fight with Xesh happened and figure out that some of their students were there. Hawk, Quan-Jang and a blonde female named Rori Fenn follow the students down into the Chasm.

*Rori Fenn, it should be noted, is going to be no help in a fight. Her outfit is far too low cut. One decent back-flip and those things are going to be right out in the open. Which, actually, might help, so never mind.

*Oh, okay, so the Abyss is part of the Chasm. Because our three mains arrive at the Abyss, which is where Xesh has fled. So, okay, that explains it.

*Tasha and Shae bond: “I hate this place! My garments are ruined, I’m soaked, I’m filthy and all the plants here scratch! Look, my hands are bleeding.” “Suck it up, princess.”

*Sek’nos is just standing over there flexing. His main character trait is his abs.

*So, Shae sees a vision of her parents in the Abyss. And you like think she’s going to like get guidance or something. But no, she flips out and starts screaming that she’s going to kill them. This looks like some good drama to explore later.

*So then there’s two pages where Shae and Tasha talk about how their relatives died in the Despot War. So, you know, good drama to explore later. Or, you know, now. In the middle of a chase scene.

*So, here’s the source of some of the tension. It seems that a lot of Tasha’s family actually fought FOR the despot while Shae’s family fought with the Jedi. So, opposite sides.

*You know, I’ve just now, seeing a full body shot of Shae standing still, realized how absolutely stupid her pants look.

*Oh, wow, here’s a twist I didn’t see coming. The ship crashed because Xesh went nuts and killed everyone on it, including Predor Tul’kas. Funny thing is he doesn’t remember why. That’s an interesting mystery to set up.

*I really hope it’s not the obvious and banal reason that Skal’nas ordered him to or some nonsense. I got enough “sci-fi where intriguing and fascinating mysteries are solved via the most obnoxiously stupid and boring solutions” from Prometheus, thanks.

*So, Hawk and Rori used to be a couple.

*So, our trio arrives just as Xesh is being menaced by a horrible Abyss monster. There have been a ton of those, by the way, that everyone’s been fighting. If you’ve read many of my reviews, you probably know I’m not big on the “just keep sending monsters in” style of plot.

*So, they grab Xesh and they want to take him alive, so they fight the monster to try to protect him. Xesh asks them to throw him his saber and Sek’nos does so. Xesh then heads out of there, leaving the three young Jedi to fight alone.

*I really dug the moment when he just catches the saber, briefly pauses and then just turns to go. That was cool.

*Xesh hangs around to watch. He expects Shae and Sek’nos to wound Tasha and leave her for the beast, giving them a chance to escape. Of course, this isn’t what happens. Tasha is wounded, but Sek’nos and Shae close ranks over her to protect her. Then Sek’nos goes down, but Shae still doesn’t run. Xesh is deeply puzzled by this. Shae has the perfect opportunity to flee, leaving the other two to die, but she’s choosing to stay and almost certainly die herself.

*Xesh feels through the Force the exhilaration and intensity that Shae is experiencing by being selfless. He realizes he’s never felt such a thing and, driven partly by curiosity and partly by just being swept up in the emotion, charges back into the fray.

*Then the three masters arrive and the beast gets taken out pretty quickly.

*Anyway, Quan-Jang gets wounded, trying to save Xesh. Or something. This was pretty chaotic. But Xesh goes down too. Shae grabs Xesh’s saber and, in her rage, actually somehow ignites it with her mind. So, she’s gonna kill him.

*I loved this moment. “My master may be dead because of you! You deserve death!” “I expect it. I sought a good death in battle, but this is my fate. So be it. When your people eat my body, you should have the honor portion – my heart. You were very brave.”

*This actually brings Shae up short. She closes the saber down and simply says, “Stranger, that is not our way.”

*Anyway, everybody recovers from their wounds. Unfortunately, Xesh still can’t remember much of anything because of his concussion. Tasha goes to visit him in his cell. She looks into his mind and is able to see the whole Rakatan Empire and their cruelties to conquered worlds and to Xesh and the other Force Hounds like him.

*Anyway, the Council decides to send Xesh to Bogan. Shae objects because she fears Xesh may not be able to bring himself into balance. He was carefully raised to know only darkness; how can he turn himself to the light? But the Council has spoken.

*So, the story ends with Hawk and Rori stranding Xesh on Bogan.

*But, far away, Daegon Lok, pauses in his tasks and looks to the sky. Then he whispers “It has begun.”

*It strikes me that the Jedi may have cause to regret stranding Xesh with Daegon Lok. I’m not sure what Lok’s up too, but I think it’ll be interesting.

*I enjoyed this pretty much. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as Into the Void. It just didn’t have the same strange atmosphere; it felt much more like the GFFA I’m already familiar with than Into the Void did. And the story definitely had a lot of filler; way too many monster fights, you know?

*But I enjoyed the chemistry between Tasha, Shae and Sek’nos, found Xesh to be a moderately compelling character and really liked the subtle, mysterious way this story teased Daegon Lok. That last especially; I’m looking forward to finding out more about this guy.

*I’m not as excited about reading on in this era as I was when I finished Into the Void, but I’m still interested. I’m certainly not dreading the next two trades. Hopefully, they’ll improve on this one, not that it was awful on its own.

*CANONICAL STATUS: While certain elements of this text are of doubtful authenticity, the events depicted here certainly happened, mostly likely in very similar fashion to their representation here. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

** ½ stars.

John Ostrander

*Okay, next time. Well, we’re going to keep blowing through this era at high speed. Next time, it’s Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan!

Star Wars Reviews!

 

Fair warning, the third TPB is pretty damn rushed due to DH losing the license and having to wrap it up all of a sudden. Which was a real shame.

 

Not in English. But the word is "Despotissa".

 

Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan



25,793 BBY

*So, this book starts a couple of months after Force Storm. Maybe more than a couple. But some weeks have passed.

*So, Predor Skal’nas dispatches his Force Hound, creepy, grey-eyed female Trill to try to track down Xesh and, by extension, find Tython. Seems the reason Xesh killed Predor Tul’kas is because he was being paid by Predor Skal’nas. But that didn’t really do Skal’nas any good since Xesh lost his memory in the crash and has no way to get in touch with Skal’nas.

*Xesh has a kind of cool moment on Bogan. He’s musing about his past and the fact that he’s been a slave as long as he can remember. Now, he’s imprisoned on Bogan, but he has no master. “If he is no longer a slave, what is he?”

*Xesh also demonstrates Anakin Skywalker level Force skills here. He uses the Force to float a pear across the room.

*So, just as expected, Daegon Lok tracks down Xesh, blah blah, they fight, come to a truce, Lok tells Xesh he thinks they’ve met for a reason, etc.

*Anyway, Lok has a ship that has crashed on Bogan years ago. Unfortunately, he has no way to power it. Luckily, Xesh has that particular Force ability. Yes, using the Dark Side to power engines. I mean, sure.

*Daegon Lok has a conversation with a skull in this scene. He appears to be actually moving the skull’s mouth like a puppet. This guy is going to be awesome.

*So, we get some really interesting information here. Daegon Lok finally explains what his vision in the Chasm was. He saw an armored figure that was clearly Xesh, leading a huge army to destroy the Jedi.

*That’s pretty standard issue. I mean, a good drinking game for the GFFA would be to take a shot every time someone has a vision of a great army marching to destroy the Jedi.

*What is interesting is the reveal that Daegon Lok wasn’t alone in the Chasm when he had the vision. He had convinced his friend, Hawk Ryo, to explore the Chasm with him.

*And I’m going to, at this point, jump ahead to spoil another bit from later in the comic just because I want to talk about both bits of info at the same time. Hawk will later admit that, not only was he with Lok when he had the vision, but he himself had it also. So, why has Daegon Lok been imprisoned on Bogan for decades and Hawk is now a respected Jedi Master? Because Hawk recanted his vision to the Council.

*This really makes Hawk into an interesting character in some really compelling ways. Just the fact that he accompanied Lok into the Chasm, facilitated the exploration that led to the vision, is enough to haunt Hawk. By allowing Lok to convince him to go into the Chasm, Hawk failed his friend.

*But now we discover that not only did Hawk indirectly fail his friend by accompanying him into the Chasm, he also just flat out betrayed him by recanting the vision. This feels like a genuinely cowardly thing to do. Hawk surely did it to avoid punishment; there’s no other possible reason that I can see. And to do such a selfish thing and also leave your friend twisting in the wind is just brutal. I imagine that Hawk must hold himself, on some level, responsible for Lok’s situation. And well he should.

*And consider Lok’s side of this. Lok hates the Jedi for what they’ve done to him. But he must certainly hate Hawk above all. I think we’re heading for a clash of epic proportions here. A fight scene with genuine emotional resonance, right? I can’t wait.

*Anyway, this revelation really genuinely shocked me. When Hawk reveals that he saw the vision too, I literally gasped. That’s great.

*So, anyway, Lok and Xesh get the ship up and running. They head off to Krev Coeur where Xesh can collect the necessary crystals to fashion a new lightsaber for himself. And one, of course, for Lok.

*Speaking of the saber, the Jedi are still trying to figure out how to make it work. Even Shae Koda can’t ignite it anymore. She figures that when she turned it on before, it was because she was deep into the Dark Side. Hawk’s able to turn it on eventually because he has a greater facility than the others for leaning into the Dark Side.

*You remember the whole thing where these Jedi are way more comfortable with the Dark Side? Well, they are, but it seems that Hawk is even more extreme in that direction than most. He and Rori Fenn, his ex, have a brief conversation when she warns him that he’s getting a little too comfortable with the Dark Side and that it might be dangerous for him to use the saber. He “famous last words” her: “I’m in balance – and I intend to stay that way.”

*Backstory on Trill and Xesh. Trill took Xesh under her wing when they were children in the slave pits and during their Force Hound training. Later, however, when Predor Tul’kas forced them to fight, Xesh bested her. She asked him to kill her so she would have an honorable death, but he refused and instead convinced Tul’kas to give her as a gift to Skal’nas.

*I loved this bit. “My Predor . . . you could make Trill a gift to Predor Skal’nas – A new Force Hound.” “Why? Would she make a better Force Hound than you, slave?” “No. No. She is inferior to me. I will be the best.” “You suggest both respect and insolence to my superior in one bold gesture.”

*That’s pretty clever.

*So, we get a scene introducing Kora Ryo. That’s Hawk’s sister, Tasha’s mother and Ox’s wife. There’s a scene of her and Ox arguing about Tasha. Ox, of course, wants Tasha back, but he’s a crime lord and all, so Kora refuses to send her back to him.

*Meanwhile, Tasha herself is trying to figure out what the deal is with a Rakatan skull. Wait, how did she get that again? I dunno. Well, anyway, she has a Rakatan skull, but can’t find any information about what it is in the Jedi Archives.

*Master Tars Sendon shows her this ancient holocron type thing and the guide in the holocron is A’nang, a Kwa Jedi master.

*I really, really loved this bit. They scan the skull with the holocron and ask what it is. And A’nang just blurts, “Rakata!” and flees back into the holocron. I frigging loved that. Very compelling and really helps with making you feel the Rakata’s power and evil. This ancient Jedi in the holocron just shuts down when he sees one of their skulls.

*Meanwhile, a security bot on Bogan finally reports that Xesh isn’t in his cell anymore. So, Hawk, Seknos and Shae head up to Bogan, accompanied by Rori Fenn & her brother Jake. And another Jedi, a tracker named Bel Zana. They quickly figure out that Xesh and Lok managed to escape in a ship and they head out in pursuit.

*Anyway, the major players converge on Krev Coeur. Lok and Xesh have crashed there and are searching for crystals for the lightsabers they’re going to make. Trill arrives. Hawk’s group has split up with Jake, Bel Zana and Seknos arriving on Krev Coeur while Hawk, Shae and Rori head for Nox.

*So, there’s a big kerfuffle, of course.

*At one point, Jake Fenn attacks Lok and Lok has a great bit: “Is the master of the arts temple going to dance me into submission?”

*Anyway, Lok has this ability to probe someone’s mind and find their greatest fear and then use that against them. So he puts Bel Zana out of the fight by throwing a mind trick on her that makes her think she’s on fire. Xesh offers to let Seknos leave because Seknos tried to help him before, but Seknos refuses to back down. Lok figures out that Jake is in love with Bel, so he throws her over a cliff. Seknos saves her, but goes over the cliff himself and plummets into the abyss. Xesh and Lok get away in all the confusion at the cliff.

*So, Trill finds the wounded Seknos and takes him on board her ship. She feeds him a line about being a “fortune hunter” that just happened to be passing by.

*I liked seeing the way the characters got split up in this story. The writers keep mixing and matching in interesting ways. Trill and Seknos are two characters I wouldn’t have expected to be working as a team (albeit one with some secrets on Trill’s side), so that’s cool.

*So, Xesh and Lok make it to Nox and create a lightsaber for Lok to use. “Concentrate on your anger to ignite the blade. It may take some practice for a Je’daii to draw forth such darkness.” *blade ignites* “Oh, I don’t think so.”

*So, Daegon Lok sets up a meeting with some . . . well, I’ll just call them warlords. Anyway, they’re survivors who once fought on the side of Queen Hadiya in the Despot War.

*Some great character art here. I particularly like Bakko, a Twi’lek with multiple facial scars.

*So, Lok gets them on his side. He’ll use them and all the troops they can muster to attack Tython and . . . hmm, interesting twist here, NOT destroy the Jedi.

*I confess that I thought that Lok had essentially decided that HE was supposed to be the one leading the dark army he saw in his vision and that he was going to create that army and march against the Jedi to destroy them. But, actually, no: “I want to save the Je’daii and the system. But the Je’daii are stubborn and won’t listen to reason. They must be made to listen. We need the Je’daii to save the Tythan system from the dark army I saw in my vision.”

*Wow, cool, so Lok is, essentially, way less of a villain than I was thinking he would be. I figured he’d be on this righteous crusade to get vengeance on the Jedi for stranding him on Bogan. But, no, he’s still genuinely convinced of the truth of his vision and still seeks only to make the Jedi understand the threat contained in that vision. I like this development. It makes Lok a deeper character than he might have been.

*Not that I would have minded at all if Lok had been a madman out for revenge. That would have been cool too. But the way his character is actually going here is an interesting and unforeseen twist, so good on Ostrander for this.

*So, just as the warlords are agreeing to Lok’s offer, Hawk, Shae and Rori locate them and move in. This leads to the much anticipated face-off between Hawk and Lok.

*They do have this really great exchange that kind of gets into Hawk’s character a bit more: “Admit it – the vision is coming true! You had the same vision, Hawk!” “There was no vision! Something in the Chasm drove us both mad – but I worked through it . . . as you should have done. You’ve let your ego shape what you saw. I don’t share your madness!” “Your lie cuts me deeply, old friend. We were brothers! Many times we’ve fought back to back against common enemies, defending one another. You can lie to yourself, brother. But you know the truth of what we both saw.”

*See, I’m really digging this. Both Lok and Hawk are really interesting characters and their relationship is fascinating. I mean, there’s a real moment of regret here from Lok. When he says “your lie cuts me deeply,” he isn’t faking or being melodramatic. He’s genuinely hurt by Hawk’s betrayal. And Hawk’s character gets more complicated too. We see that he has managed to, most likely genuinely, convince himself of the Jedi party line.

*Anyway, after he says the above, Lok turns off his weapon and offers Hawk the opportunity to strike. Hawk doesn’t do so, instead letting Lok escape. Rori arrives a few moments later and Hawk lies about what happened. Yeah, see, this is great character stuff.

*Meanwhile, Xesh and Shae are fighting when suddenly a giant squid . . .

*Go with me here.

*Suddenly, a giant squid-monster arrives and grabs Shae, dragging her down into the water. Xesh faces another momentary dilemma, but he once against decides to act against his best interests. He dives into the water, kills the beast and saves her.

*This stuff often comes across as really cheesy, but somehow Ostrander has given Xesh genuine depth. Moments like this, where the “evil” character discovers selflessness, actually work here, whereas they simply don’t lots of other places.

*Meanwhile back on Tython, A’nang of the Kwa has finally decided to reveal the history of the Rakata. It’s about what you’d expect. The Kwa attempted to teach the Rakata the way of the Force, but the Rakata loved the Dark Side most of all. Great war was fought, massive casualties, etc. A’nang closes with a devastating bit: “The Rakata are powerful, brutal. And if they are coming to your world, you are doomed. I am sorry.”

*So, Lok and Xesh, with Shae Koda as their captive, try to make a deal with Ox Ryo. Lok wants Ox to rally all the Hadiya loyalists and get them to join Lok’s army.

*We get some backstory here. It seems that Ox was supposedly loyal to Hadiya, but he sent Daegon Lok into her army as a double agent. Lok ended up seducing Hadiya and then murdering her in cold blood as she slept. Interesting.

*Oh, man, awesome, awesome moment here. Ox Ryo offhandedly says something to Xesh and he calls Lok, “the man you serve.” We get a close-up of Xesh’s eyes as he says a single word: “Serve?” Next thing, we know, Xesh is making the claw hand and Ox is gasping for breath. I loved that moment. Xesh is still kind of sensitive about that whole, entire life lived in brutal slavery thing apparently. And he feels genuinely dangerous and unhinged in that moment.

*So, Hawk and Rori meet up at Ox’s headquarters with Trill and Seknos. They charge in and we get some nice action stuff.

*Holy crap! There’s a GREAT panel here that is absolutely shocking of Lok lopping off Hawk’s leg. Wasn’t expecting that.

*Shae gives Xesh a little talking to about how he can choose his own path and all that. Lok arrives and flings her against the wall. And then Lok makes his first big mistake in this book: “Enough! You follow me, Xesh! I am your master!”

*Yeah, oops.

*And this is the kind of thing I love about this series so far. The series has done so much work building characters that I didn’t need to wait for Xesh’s reaction. I knew what was about to happen. I made a kind of little “Oh, man,” noise BEFORE Xesh turned on Lok. Because I knew the characters well enough to know that mistake when it happened.

*And a wonderful panel at the bottom of this page as Lok makes another mistake. Lok grabs Xesh by the face. “You will be what I say you will be. What do you fear, Xesh?” “You have made a terrible mistake, Lok. My mind is not a place that you want to go.” And then a panel of Lok’s face twisting into bewilderment, then horror and then he just flies backwards and passes out. I particularly love the way Lok’s eyes glow purple in this panel. Really atmospheric and striking. And, again, a climactic moment based entirely in character.

*So, the Jedi send Lok back to Bogan, which I found kind of disturbing.

*I don’t know, maybe this is stretching things too far. But I saw a parallel with Lok and the Jedi to our current situation with global terrorism. I mean, the Jedi essentially stranded Lok on Bogan decades ago FOR NO REASON. At the end of the day, they said that he was insane because he believed he had this vision that he hadn’t actually had and so they stranded him on Bogan. But he DID have the vision. He WAS innocent when he was sent to Bogan. Now, of course, he’s unstable, violent and ultimately extremely dangerous; but it was the Jedi themselves that made him that way. By all moral rules, he should be freed, since his imprisonment was a miscarriage of justice from the beginning. But the Jedi apparently believe that he’s too dangerous to be allowed free.

*Do you see the parallels? Think about the Guantanamo detainees, kept in extralegal detention and subjected to extralegal tortures. In many cases, these people were innocent of any crimes when they went into Guantanamo. And yet one of the arguments made against releasing them was that they had been radicalized BY THEIR TREATMENT IN GUANTANAMO. Ethically, legally, they had the right to be freed. But some argued that they were too dangerous now to be freed. An odd argument to make when it was the government itself that had made them that way.

*I don’t say this is intentional by the authors. And I may be seeing moral complexity where there is none. No one seems troubled by Lok’s being returned to Bogan (except Lok, of course) in the story. But still, I found it troubling and it definitely called up some real world things in my head.

*So, Hawk and his master discuss the vision. And Hawk finally admits it: “I convinced myself that what I saw . . . was a hallucination . . . I was wrong.”

*Meanwhile, Xesh is beginning Jedi training, the Jedi are beginning manufacturing lightsabers to replace their metal weapons and Trill . . . Trill is sending a message to Predor Skal’nas. Predor Skal’nas closes The Prisoner of Bogan with an ominous order: “Prepare the fleet. Prepare for war.”

*Damn. That was good. That was really, really good actually.

*I wasn’t entirely sold on the comics after Force Storm. I thought Force Storm was definitely better than the average Star Wars comic story. It had interesting characters, mainly. The story was a bit clichéd and such, but I enjoyed it.

*Well, The Prisoner of Bogan is a huge step up in quality from Force Storm. The characters just keep getting deeper and more complicated. Just for the Hawk/Lok stuff this one’s worth reading. This is great character stuff. And then Xesh got more development as well. And the other characters still come across as interesting, if not as complex as those main three.

*And the story, as noted above, actually raised some real emotions and some genuinely thought-provoking moral issues. This is a real story, with some surprising twists, and everything in it flows out of the very real characters and their relationships.

*Now, I did have problems with one element, namely the awful narration. I’m not a fan of these narration heavy comics. I find the narration to be overly florid and usually only used to hammer points home that the story itself is already making in subtle and more interesting ways. It’s most obnoxious when the narration is recapping. I suppose that’s a necessary evil for a comic series, but there are a couple of bits here where the narration spent like two whole pages just recapping prior events. That definitely gets tiresome.

*This wouldn’t be an issue, of course, in my dream film version of this story. There would be no narration and, with that narration trimmed, there’s essentially nothing wrong with the story at all.

*In short, I found The Prisoner of Bogan to be emotional, exciting, thought-provoking, suspenseful, genuinely surprising and all around excellent. Wow. There’s a twist for you.

*CANONICAL STATUS: This historical work is, as near as can be determined, entirely accurate. The events depicted here can be believed to have happened exactly as recorded. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

**** stars

John Ostrander

*Next time . . . let’s wrap this era up and see if I actually end up recommending every single work from this era. Join me next time for Dawn of the Jedi: Force War!

Star Wars Reviews!

 

Okay, so no one answered my question above about what in the heck the dating marker TYA stands for. I researched it and discovered it stands for Tho Yor Arrival. So, it means when everyone arrived on Tython. And now that I'm done with the Dawn of the Jedi era forever, that is yet another piece of totally useless information in my head.

Dawn of the Jedi: Force War



25,792 BBY

*So, this concluding volume to the Dawn of the Jedi comic series (and entire era) takes place the year following everything else we’ve read so far. The story picks up an unspecified number of months after The Prisoner of Bogan ended.

*I kind of liked the way they threw us in the middle of the war here. When PoB ended, the Rakata were preparing to ship out to attack the Tythan system. When this one opens, the war has already been going on for a while.

*Oh, actually it does specify: “It has been a year since the Rakatan Infinite Empire first attacked the Tythan system.”

*So, what this “jump to the middle of the war” method means is that I can basically summarize the first twenty pages of this trade by just saying, “hyperviolent action sequence.”

*So, Daegon Lok is off of Bogan and a General now. I guess the Jedi kind of figured out what I was talking about last time. And, of course, he’s been right all along – they need him.

*So, all of our major characters are back, doing various things in the battles. That’s all.

*Hawk is still kinda pissed at Lok. Understandable since Lok chopped his leg off last time. Though Hawk seems to be doing all right with a darn fine prosthetic. I mean, it just never comes up. If you read this trade without reading the last one, you’d never know that Hawk’s leg got cut off.

*So, Shae and Xesh have a moment when they nearly kiss or something.

*God, Shae Koda looks like a totally different person in this one. In the previous stories, she’s had a much harder look to her face; more distinctive, but less “pretty,” I guess. And she typically keeps her hair like pulled up in braids or something. But here she has this insane tidal wave of long red hair that she just wears totally loose and her face has just totally changed.

*She looks like Mara Jade, actually. I hate when they do that. The same thing happened to Nomi Sunrider, you know, where a female character starts out less “hot” and more realistic and then just becomes a comic-book stereotype babe.

*We are briefly introduced to Predor Ceh’let, a female Rakatan. Just in case the male Rakata weren’t weird looking enough. Just add pony-tail.

*So, there’s a scene where she and Skal’nas discuss that the war on Tython must be won because the Rakata are “losing our connection to the Force” or some such nonsense. Then Skal’nas murders Ceh’let with Force lightning just for fun.

*There’s a really wonderful panel where they are JUST about to kiss and I was really pulling for it. An image of two Rakata making out. Think about that for a minute. And you’re welcome.

*Oh, there is one interesting thing here. Somehow Skal’nas has figured out that there’s an Infinity Gate on Tython. So, of course, if he gets an Infinity Gate again, the Empire can just expand outward all over the galaxy.

*I initially thought this was a cool tie to Into the Void, where the central plot revolved around an Infinity Gate on Tython. But this one is apparently a different one, given the location where we finally see it. So, almost a cool tie-in between novel universe and comic universe.

*So, anyway, Shae decides to crawl into bed with Xesh while they’re both half-clothed and tell him that she loves him. Taking the bull by the horns. In a manner of speaking.

*But Xesh is, of course, still too tormented by his past and too troubled to allow himself to love. Didn’t see that coming.

*But then he tells her his true name, Tau, something he’s not shared with anyone since the Rakata gave him the name of Xesh. And then they actually do have sex. That’s interesting. I mean, they cut away, of course, but they kiss and then they go down on the bed so, yeah, it happens.

*So, Tasha has a Force vision and then Xesh is able to kind of do an astral projection thing and they figure out that Skal’nas’ base is located on Ska Goro. They launch a raid on it, unaware that it’s a trap.

*So, yeah, cue more violence.

*There’s a cool half-page panel of Xesh loosing an explosion of Force lightning. All of the enemies around him are lit up and you can see their skeletons. It’s a cool visual.

*Right, so Lok gets captured, Seknos gets captured and then Trill captures Xesh. He doesn’t remember her, due to his amnesia, remember, so he thinks she’s on the Jedi’s side. But she gets him alone and knocks him out.

*So, at this point we get an extended flashback to what happened prior to Xesh’s landing on Tython. We see him find the planet and then travel to it; he does a Force probe (or whatever) of the planet and this is when Tasha, Shae, Seknos and Daegon all have their respective visions of him. “Four beings on Tython sensed me! That . . . has never happened before.” Anyway, then Xesh kills everyone on the ship and, yes, this is at Skal’nas’ orders, like I figured.

*Hmm, you know what? Lanoree Brock also sensed him, so that’s actually five. So, interestingly, since this comic shows Tasha, Shae, Seknos & Daegon, I think the implication here is that somehow Xesh didn’t sense Lanoree, even though she sensed him. That’s interesting.

*I mean, from a real world perspective, it’s yet another example of novels and comics pretending they don’t exist. And it would have been weird for people that were only reading the comics for there to suddenly be a panel of a woman with a horribly scarred chest to just suddenly be there.

*But from an in-universe perspective, it’s fun to think about.

*Oh, you know what, I think I have a technicality to make his scan. Xesh says, “Four beings on Tython sensed me!” Daegon Lok isn’t on Tython. He’s on Bogan! So, though the comic doesn’t show Lanoree, he did actually sense her; she’s one of the four beings on Tython. Daegon Lok is the fifth being and he’s on Bogan.

*I’m inordinately proud of myself over that.

*Oh, darn it, Lanoree’s not on Tython either, she’s still on her ship, in transit. Well, actually I think she was actually in the atmosphere, out of space, I mean, so I suppose we could call that “on Tython.”

*But then a twist. It turns out that Xesh’s “amnesia” was programmed into Xesh by Skal’nas. The whole ploy was for Xesh to arrive on Tython and be taken in by the Jedi; Skal’nas has always intended Xesh to be on the Jedi’s side. Now, it’s time for Xesh to wake up and come back to Skal’nas. Xesh has, essentially been an unwitting spy this whole time.

*I’m guessing Xesh will be deeply tormented by this despite the fact that he really had no option and no idea of his actual purpose. Dude gets tormented a lot.

*So, Skal’nas kind of actually convinces Xesh of his true destiny or maybe Xesh is faking, I’m not sure. Anyway, Xesh accepts it when Skal’nas tells him that the Jedi wouldn’t accept him if they really knew the atrocities Xesh has committed and Xesh starts working for Skal’nas again.

*Xesh uses the Force to blind Tasha, both literally and in the Force. So much for her visions.

*That’s kinda dark actually.

*Seknos goes off on this really inappropriately hilarious rant about how he’s going to kill Xesh once he’s free. He concludes by saying he’s going to eat Xesh’s heart, which I found really funny. Remember when Xesh first met the Jedi and they captured him, he told Shae that she could be the one to eat his heart? And she was like, “That is not our way?” I’d like to believe this is a purposeful, sly callback to that moment. Not sure though; might just be a coincidence.

*So, the Rakata attack Tython.

*This one isn’t as interesting as the others, mainly because it’s has so many long action sequences. I mean, prior to this book, the character work has been the big thing that really set this one apart. Some of that is still here, but there’s just page after page of action sequences. I’m not saying this makes this one necessarily bad. But it’s definitely different.

*So, Skal’nas and Xesh take Lok to the Chasm; Skal’nas has figured out that the Infinity Gate lies at the bottom of the Abyss, so he’s going to use Lok to find a way down to the Gate. Anyway, Lok takes them as far as he knows, so Skal’nas chains him to a rock and he and Xesh descend.

*Seknos escapes and frees the rest of the slaves as well. They ask him to take them with him and we get the following really awesome dialogue: “Take you where? I sense the Force within you all, but it is dark side only. You have no balance and I doubt you could learn it.” “We don’t need anything but our hate to kill Rakata. Tells us where to strike and we will kill them for you!” “Works for me. Follow.”

*The panel of Seknos saying that last line is great; it’s a really close up shot of his face, covered in shadow. Very demonic and striking.

*I will say that this story allows for everyone to have their little badass moment. Several of Skal’nas soldiers arrive to where Lok is chained to the rock in the Chasm and he manages to get free and just start kicking ass. This moment is really great. We get a half page panel of Lok, a saber in each hand, atop a small mound of rocks posed against a group of Skal’nas soldiers: “This is what I saw in my vision! This is who I am! Invincible! Unstoppable! Come to me, fools, and die!”

*Kind of a Ganner moment there. Really cool.

*Seknos shows up where Lok is fighting and the two start really going after it. “How’d you find me here?” “Wasn’t looking for you. I sensed Xesh in the Force. Came here to kill him.” “Get in line.”

*Awesome shot of Seknos and Lok fighting a bunch of raiders on the edge of a cliff. More than a bit reminiscent of that shot in 300.

*So, Shae then shows up, also looking for Xesh. She’s on that flying Rancor she’s always riding around, so she heads into the Abyss. Lok jumps after her and so it’s the two of them on the Rancor. Seknos gets left behind to finish off the raiders.

*Trill shows up and she and Seknos take each other on. Seknos takes her out. I loved this bit: “Je’daii, you seek the balance and that makes you weak . . .” *Seknos grabs Trill by the throat* “Does this feel like balance to you?”

*So, Shae and Lok get to the bottom. Lok takes on Skal’nas while Shae and Xesh start dueling as well.

*And by dueling, I mean arguing philosophically about the Force and reminiscing about their relationship while occasionally waving a saber in the air.

*Lok decides to throw a mind twist down on Skal’nas. You’d think he’d have learned from trying the same thing on Xesh, but no. The results are fantastic.

* “Aaaahhh! What . . . is . . . this?!” “Me. Crawling around in your mind. Like it, Rakata?” “Welcome.” “Oh no . . . no!” “Oh, yes. Become me. Enjoy my memories – all the deaths in the Force that I have experienced. I devoured some of my victims as they died. Taste what I am and despair, little Je’daii.”

*The art here is wonderful. I love the wicked smile on Skal’nas’ face when he says “Welcome.” And the half-page panel of Lok, frozen in place, surrounded by the howling faces of those Skal’nas has killed . . . fantastic.

*Anyway, while he’s distracted, Skal’nas perforates Lok with his saber and then the Infinity Gate opens.

*Shae finally gets through to Xesh when she tells him that she forgives him for everything he’s ever done: “That is what it means to love someone.” Then Skal’nas takes her down with a blast of Force lightning. But Xesh has turned. Xesh and Skal’nas start fighting.

*Meanwhile, Tasha has managed to awaken a Tho Yor by using the holocron they found in PoB. And it destroys the Infinity Gate. Or something. But it also kills Tasha. I don’t know, this is kind of just . . . you know, very mystical and I’m not at all sure what’s actually happening here.

*Great panel of Xesh bisecting Skal’nas at the waist.

*So, the Rakata are destroyed by the Tho Yor or . . . yeah, the Jedi win. Let’s leave it at that.

*After the war, some of the Jedi attempt to move away from the lightsaber technology and take the metal swords back. They think the lightsabers encourage the Dark Side. But Lok isn’t going back in a lot of ways.

* “Until I know they are all dead, until I know the Rakata will not return, I will not put down my Forcesaber – nor will those who follow me.” “Follow you? Be careful, Daegon Lok. You could wind up back on Bogan.” “This war has changed the Je’daii, Master Ketu, in ways I think none of us yet fully understand. One thing you need to understand, Masters – I will never again consent to be sent to the dark moon. It’s no place for a hero.”

*So, the story ends with Shae and Xesh heading out into the wilderness of Tython. Together, they will find balance.

*So, I’m assuming that the creative team here knew that Dawn of the Jedi was ending at this point. I’m guessing that the whole EU decision was already kind of on the horizon or had possibly even already happened. But they do something really great, which is end by setting up even more awesome stories.

*Shae and Xesh are interesting, of course, but, once again, Daegon Lok is my favorite character here. And the path he takes from this point could lead to some really great stuff. He’s sort of forming his own group within the Jedi and he’s breaking away from the authority of the council as well. And he’s also reinventing himself; at one time, it seemed he was content to play the villain. But now Lok is ready to become, or at least believe that he is, the hero. That’s some great set-up.

*Also, Hawk was in like two scenes in this one. There’s still a lot of emotional baggage between the two of them. I loved their scenes together in Prisoner of Bogan, but the emotional journey they’re on together is far from over.

*Anyway, this was kind of a letdown after the absolute brilliance of Prisoner of Bogan. The war violence was fine, well-done, I mean, but it took a lot of time away from the character development that made Prisoner of Bogan so good. Some of the characters, like Hawk and Rori, were basically cut; I would say Hawk appears on less than ten pages of this whole book and he has, to this point, been one of the most central and complicated characters in the series. Others appeared but had little to do but run hither and thither swinging their sabers.

*And I do kind of not like those really mystical deus-ex-machina endings. The Tho Yor/Infinity Gate/Tython awakes ending here was just weird and confusing. That’s the kind of thing I don’t particularly care for.

*But the groundwork laid in the previous two books did help. Lok didn’t get a lot of quiet time to develop in this one, as he did in the last one, but his plot was still really great. Same with Seknos. When the action sequences were rooted in characters we actually were interested in and cared about, they worked. I’m talking about scenes like Seknos freeing the slaves and Lok fighting in the Chasm. Other times, it’s mainly just various underdeveloped characters dashing around and that got a little boring.

*But I did like the way Skal’nas got developed in this one. He’s definitely more of a central character here, as opposed to just being behind the scenes pulling the strings and I ultimately thought he was a really effective, threatening villain.

*All in all, this one isn’t quite as good as PoB, but then I gave that one my highest possible ranking. I’m going to downgrade this one just a bit.

*CANONICAL STATUS: This work is considered to be very accurate. The events depicted here mostly occurred as they were recorded. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

*** ½ stars

John Ostrander

*Okay, next time . . . next time, we’ll leave this era behind forever and jump forward to an era that the EU opened up, but then didn’t get the chance to really explore. Join me next time for 10 Key Battles: Uquine.

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