An interesting theory about Mara in "Sacrifice"

So I am one of those people who is bitter about the useless death of my Mara in Sacrifice. And I was wondering, what was the point of having such a popular and well-established character die? Did it really accomplish anything in the series other than to give a "shock" to the readers? And after awhile I came up with a far-fetched and hypothetical theory on why she was let go.

As we all well know, Lucas has said that there will be no more SW movies. BUT, what about after he dies? Will the heirs of his films decide to make more? What if they did so, and decided to make them about the Big Three? By this, I mean that the films would take place long after ROTJ, when the Big Three are older (I've heard of that possibility for SW sequels. I can't remember where--maybe an Insider?).

But how would it be possible to do this when the EU novels are so popular? Especially since Luke kinda got married...it would be hard to show him with a wife and not have to film TTT to explain where she came from. So what to do? Well, get rid of Mara, of course!

Naturally this is a HYPOTHETICAL THEORY and should be taken as such. I don't think that the authors & editors put their heads together and purposely "fixed" the plots about the Big Three just so they would be ready for any possible future sequels. But still, if those sequels were ever made, wouldn't it be convenient if Luke was unattached so they would have the awkward wifely backstory to think about? Very convenient, indeed.

Of course there's other things to consider in such sequels, such as how Jaina and Jacen would figure into them (if they are shown) but I have to go to work now.

 

They'd still have to explain Ben.

 

I think there is so much they'd have to explain anyway, they wouldn't kill Mara just to solve future movie issues. I doubt the authors of the books are even remotely considering movie sequels.

 

I'm pretty sure they killed Mara because they wanted a high-profile casualty, and she was the only available character.

Luke, Han and Leia are all off-limits.

Ben would be (a.) dangerously young, and (b.) too like Anakin Solo.

Jaina is the only protagonist they have left under the age of 55. Not that they've used her much.

Zekk, Jag, Kyp and Lowie are needed to keep the Jaina 'shipper wars going.

Lando wouldn't have had enough impact.

What this may REALLY reflect, though, is the failure of the post-NJO EU to develop a sufficiently diverse range of supporting characters in the DelRey era.

Consider the Rogue and Wraith novels, the characters who were developed there and killed off. Think of Lujayne and Erisi in the Rogue books, and even Kirtan Loor; or Falyn Sandskimmer, Jesmin Ackbar, and Ton Phanan's "still up there" in the Wraith novels....

Think about Plat Mallar in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, or even Mace Windu in the Prequels.

They hadn't done anything like that in too long: so, Mara had to be the target.



At a guess, anyway.

- The Imperial Ewok

 

QFT

They did it because it was the easiest/safest move. It showed how cowardly they really are about changing anything...to the point that the absurdity of the Big 3 in years to come will become a rolling punchline in this style of fiction, and amongst disenchanted fans.

Don't give those people an excuse for the senseless sorrow they brought to you and others...cause they are just waiting for something to come up in fandom to explain away their missteps...not just for Mara but for the whole LOTF...they did it with NJO, and now they'll try again...

"oh 'insert your reasoning' was what we intended all along."

It was a gutless move...accept it...be angry...you can love star wars and dislike the people who are working on it.(or meddling, you choose)

But never fear...no doubt someone will have an interesting fan fic about ghost Mara and ghost Anakin Solo watching the events in LOTF unfold.

It might be better then those books.

 

"It's up there again."

Really, I think there are supporting characters there if the authors were to use them -- Jag, Zekk, Lowie, Waroo, Valin, Jysella, Tesar, Syal, Myri, Kolir, Doran . . . the real problem is in developing new characters who aren't dependent on bloodline or growing up with the heroes in order to make it into the story, something they haven't seemed able to do since the NJO. They need to start writing more than the Solo/Skywalker heroes and give us that large, diverse cast. More importantly, they need to focus and develop the characters. Kam, Waroo, Valin -- they all get name-dropped, but there's hardly and character built around them, any consistency, any depth. They're just names, trotted out once in a blue moon, and that's that. The Expanded Universe really needs to get to expanding.

 

I'm hoping that the novel series after Legacy will focus on new characters (and existing minor characters, not that there's much difference ) and expanding the post-NJO universe rather than the "Big Three".

 

That's been my biggest issue with the recent NJO-and-beyond novels. No characters other than the Big Three and their offspring have starred in them. It's getting stale, especially when you consider that there's a bunch of minor characters that could be interesting, if developed more, such as the Horn kids, and any number of younger Jedi.

Say what you will about the Clone Wars era novels, but at least not all of them were about Anakin and Obi-Wan. The Med Star books, the Republic Commando books, Shatterpoint, etc. They had secondary characters (in comparison to Anakin/Obi-Wan from the movies) in starring roles, and that added variety and interest. Whereas, the post-NJO novels are all about one family, and one family only (with name dropping of various characters, but very little actual "screen time" for them, toss in).

 

Doesn't Legacy prove that you don't need explanations?

-We don't have an explanation on the IK's, yet we accept them. (Of course we want an explanation, but we don't need one.)
-Fel's - again we don't know how they're still around or even if they're related to the Fel we currently have.
-Cade - we know his father, but we don't know his father's father. We really wouldn't have needed a Kol part of the equation to accept him as a Skywalker.

 

A Sequel Trilogy should never be made. The actors are too old and if anybody else played the Big Three fans would just ***** and moan about it like they do everything else. If they did a movie without the Big Three movie fans would complain about their absence.

 

I think Mara death was needed in order to give Ben a reason to finish off Jacen hopefully.

 

They aren't too old to play mentor roles.

I could accept Luke's passing far more if it were in a way that GL visualized it and put on film. The real reason a sequel trilogy can't be made is this: it's not that Mark and Carrie are too old... it's that they have aged horribly. Harrison looks way younger than either of those two and he's like 10 years their senior.

 

of course of course.
there are mara fans on this site who don't think her death was necessary.
and there are those who think she wasn't important enough to die!

there is no question that you mean well with your question -- but it's kinda silly.
in hopes of some distant future little Lucas kids making SW movies once Papa dies with the original cast?

i know you were being hypothetical...
but wouldn't it be weird if they decided to do it and the Big 3 DIDN'T have kids some 35 years later?
hard to explain Mara's back story?

methinks harder plots have been negotiated successfully in sequels etc -- but they needed better writers of drama than GL.

 

If I had the choice and the control, I'd go and trade Mara for Thrawn in TTT, I mean there was a great character who still gets name dropped after being dead for a very long time.

 

Doesn't Legacy prove that you don't need explanations?

-We don't have an explanation on the IK's, yet we accept them. (Of course we want an explanation, but we don't need one.)
-Fel's - again we don't know how they're still around or even if they're related to the Fel we currently have.

Well, for these two, people tend to tie any possible explanation for them to Jag and whatever relationship he may or may not have with Jaina. So, if for no other reason than ending the shipping wars, then yeah, people probably do need an explanation to answer their questions.

-Cade - we know his father, but we don't know his father's father. We really wouldn't have needed a Kol part of the equation to accept him as a Skywalker.

I guess people just want to know which lucky girl Ben ends up with.

It all comes back to the romance issue, I'm afraid.

 

DeJade_Vu, if her death is a criminal offense, with respect, I strongly suggest you never read Steven Erikson, who will kill the most popular and allegedly untouchable names at any time, without a whisper of warning.

And with respect again, I must say your opening comments sounds a bit petulant, though I can understand your anger. How may scores--scores--of stories large and small, books and comics, did they give her? You've had her to read for a decade and a half, by the bergs of Antarctica. How much more? What else do you want to see?

And by Tolkien's bias of women, guys, was the sacrifice choice not obvious from the start? Commonsense, that's all I need to know a year ago. Lets take a look . . .

Can't be Luke, as he's a key player
Can't be Jaina, as she's done nothing and rarely seen thus far
Can't be Ben, as he's a development plot
Can't be Han, as his worldwide mad fans will howl like tail-pinched dogs
Can't be Leia, as she's a reactionary plot

There's only one name in the center of the spideweb who can touch everyone on two families and be expendable.

And further more, there was a vague comment made by an official voice last year roughly along the lines of Hand vs Hand . . . and moreover, who stole Brie's affections for Hamil other than a fellow Hand? The rivalry was understated: you don't kill Hamil, you kill those he's close to: nephew, wife, etc.

This has been a long time coming, and while not overtly obvious to all, not cloaked to others.

 

I have to say that I was never a Mara fan but i was warming to her through LOTF. However I do also think that she got what she asked for. She went looking for Jacen with the sole aim of killing him and unlucky for her he was a little better prepared, serves her right. Jacen even gave her an opportunity to leave but she wouldnt have it. She was so certain she would kill him. As palpatine said "your arrogance blinds you." It's Ben and luke i feel for, Mara got exactly what she asked for.

 

It wasn't a shock at all.
If someone rushes to confront the prime villain and you still have three books to go, you know she's going to get it. That's how predictable this whole thing has become.

 

Oh come on...not one of those justifications is reasonable enough to warrant their removal from the "kill-able" list...and only the angry Han fans is significantly irrational to border on rational (I still think "sales" based on the big 3 is a lie...look no further then the X-wing books)

The truth is, no body liked writing her...even fans who liked her had been complaining about her...she served her purpose in being resurrected into EU at the Hand of Thrawn Duology...to extend the Skywalker legacy (and anyone who thinks she had a more profound reason for existence then that is just deluded)...she got her own book in the intervening years...they wanted to crop her off before it became "Big 4" speak.

It was never a case of "can't be him, him or her...so it must be her...:

They intended to cut her off...it was always intended...and I still think they back off doing it in NJO with the poison...probably because having Mara die while giving birth to Ben would be too Padme-ish.

The writing was on the wall for her...but that doesn't change the atrocious handling of it.

And with all that foresight...they couldn't make it more purposeful or significant.

At least Chewie died saving others...it hurt but it MEANT something.

Mara's death has brought nothing but derision among fans, doubts about her character, and an uneasy feeling as to what exactly is being chewed on in the story creation process.

__________
P.S.

Someone else mentioned the reason for her death was to give Ben reason to kill Jacen.

That sounds like a fantastic way to bring the light of justice to the corruption of the darkside. A vengeful son on a Vendetta is our hero in white!

 

yepperz. mara had 2 die so ben could do away w/ jacen. but........
JAINA PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
think about it!shes the sword of the freaking jedi! she will never know peace bcuz she killed her twin! she is the backbone of la jedi order. jacens backing them in to a dusty corner and trying 2 kill them all. she has to fight for it. everything is falling in2 place bcuz luke is 2 devistated at the moment 2 save his OWN KID from goign to the dark side and he can HARDLY maintain the order so JAINA HAS TO KILL JACEN! itz the only way. srry folks

 

Oh, I wasn't justifying it, Jedimarine, just saying she was the perfect choice with those conditions in place. As for meaningful, that I'll have to judge until the bugger paperbacks, a long wait away. Sigh...

 

I'd be up for that, especially new characters, it isn't as if DR has a problem in this respect - Clone Wars and the recent novel Death Star demonstrating they can do stories with new characters well. Why DR think they have to focus on the Skywalker-Solos and fix it on Jedi is mystifying. Sure Jedi are, or were, fun, but they're part of SW not the whole of it.

When I found DE and TTT some years back what I liked was the dual focus: You had the old characters with a smattering of the new and the fusion worked very well.

 

I'm not sure what I think. There was so much about Sacrifice that robbed Mara's death of any emotional impact. Mostly it was the frantic switching back and forth to Boba rather than Mara's mindset. I didn't read her as being hateful, but driven and focused on eliminating the greatest threat to her family that she could see at that moment, Jacen. He'd already shown his absolute lack of regard for her son back in Tempest... along with his sister, old friend and parents. Parents he'd saved from disaster in the previous book. I think she'd had plenty of reason to believe Jacen was planning to off Ben, but they just sort of threw that whole jealousy thing in out of the blue. I mean, sure in Exile it came into play with Luke touching Lumiya's hand and all... but where did that even come from? Why would Luke even do that? There's literally no reason for him to have ever done that, not after almost 40 years since his relationship with Shira Brie ended in a burning TIE fighter, and what? 35 years since he'd last fought her and supposedly killed her? Made no sense what-so-ever. For her to suddenly turn into a supposed threat to Mara's marriage and have that be at least part of her motivation in tracking Lumiya(which is what led to her targeting of Jacen in the first place) and her whole loner attitude the whole book just doesn't make much sense.