Books Aftermath: Empire's End (book 3) by Chuck Wendig

I really don't want Star Wars to fall into the whole "kill the gay" trope. I'm only okay with Sinjir dying if a lot of other folks die, too. But if he's the only one? I will be extremely upset.

 

And TFA!Snap is.... A robot of himself he left behind?

 

My best guess on who dies:

Spoiler

Rae Sloane, Gallius Rax, & most of the Team (barring Snap & Mister Bones)

 

Obviously Snap won't die since he appears in The Force Awakens.

 

It's not about him being gay. It's about him being an ex-imperial, evil characters who turn good usually die as a final act of redeeming themselves. I'm also sure that several main characters will die.

 

On the other hand, if he was a clone using Zahn naming techniques, would he be Snaaap?

 

It doesn't matter whether or not it's about him being gay or not. There's a trope in fiction called "bury your gays" which is HIGHLY overused. I really don't want that to happen in Star Wars, too. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuryYourGays

 

I'm not saying, but I'm just saying, going by Wendig's Heartland trilogy (which he's pointed people to in the past as a "how I'd write SW" illustration), a lot of people get kinda brutalized in the final installment. Like, beyond Deathly Hallows lot, almost Rogue One lot. Even people who don't die are basically irrevocably changed by what happens, both physically and mentally. For all else Wendig might get criticized for, being daring with his characters' fates is not one of them.

 

No.

 

I totally, totally get why this is problematic. However, at the same time, I don't think that a writer can be scared to kill a character, or avoid killing him, just because he's gay, either.

 

Counterpoint:

Yes.

 

Counter-counter-point: Up yours Brule.

Playing around aside, the guy did come and do Q&As here for both Aftermath and Life Debt, which he didn't have to.

Yes, his writing style is certainly distinctive and not for everyone but we can do better than 'Wendig sucks', yes?

 

Okay, how about this:

I think his writing style is bad. I think it's telling that most people are excited about his one-page side stories than the actual plots. There's stuff in his two books that aren't even consistent with each other. I think he's part of a wider cultural trend of using quips and pop culture references and quirkiness in lieu of actual characterization or plots making sense that I really dislike. I think a good deal of the supposed 'controversy' over the books is nonexistent but promoted to make it seem like they're these great works by some benevolent misunderstood genius who only philistines could dislike. And I don't think in 10 years anyone is going to look back and think these books are great milestones of Star Wars literature.

 

Personally, I suspect that quite a few people we care about are going to die in this book. My predictions:

• Sloane (let's face it, she has got both Rax and the New Republic gunning for her).
• Wedge (yeah, there has been a lot of subtle hints that this is Wedge's last adventure).
• Norra and her husband
• Rax (well, maybe, we do know the Ravager gets destroyed in the battle thanks to Battlefront but this guy faked his death once already).
• Sinjir (his character arc is definitely hinting at a heoric sacrifice of some kind).

 

How angry would y'all be if Ravager was taken out Knight Hammer style, ie through an inside agent, instead of through glorious combat?

 

I kind of want to see her go down in a blaze of glory as befitting a super dreadnought. Why do you ask?

 

I'm okay with all of this, with the exception of wanting Wedge to survive (and if given the option, I'd like Sloane to survive too, but Wedge takes preeminence here).

 

Also, while Sinjir is the highest-profile gay character in the Aftermath trilogy, he's hardly the only 'token' one.