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Anakin Skywalker's Portrayal in the EU - Disscusion

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Alixen, Jan 7, 2005.

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  1. Alixen

    Alixen Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 7, 2003
    Hey all :)

    After a few years of decent (pre-ANH) EU, iv seen some of my hopes for expanding the Star Wars galaxy come true.

    Such as:

    The Clone Wars, i think they have been handles exeptionally well, the best IMO being Jabbim, it showed just how grotesque war can truly be.

    Obi-Wan: i used to dislike his character from the OT, and only in AOTC did i consider i may have been hasty, thanks to the EU i like him now as much as any character.

    Expanding Dooku: since we see little of him in AOTC and since RotS is basicly about Anakin and the fall of the Republic, that leaves little time for him to develop, he could easily have become Villian of the week for SW.
    Thanks to the EU he is just as expanded as any other character, especially in DR.

    Qui-Gon Jinn: A great Jedi Knight, but unfortunatly from the beggining of TPM he gave off a 'doomed' air, i really enjoyed his character, but we only got to see him for one film.
    The early books such as the Jedi Apprentice series, while messing with him a little much, also gave us a lot more chances to see him grow.


    But there have also been a few Disapointments, but that is to be expected as nothing can be perfect, still lets explore a little more.

    So few books: were the NJO was dragged out over so many books, the Clone Wars, an event that has been greatly anticipated and looked forwards to for years, was given 8 books, half of them barly having anything to do with the war.
    The Comics, Young Readers books, ect, 'sort of' make up for this, but Comics and Young Readers dont have the same... 'feel' as books.
    I just feel we were slightly let down here.

    Rushed: i dont know, despite there being quite a bit of Clone Wars stuff, it still feels slightly... rushed... to me :/
    It doesnt seem to have been two minutes since i watched the final scene of AotC in the Cinema.
    It just feels like there was so much more for them to cover, as longa s nobody pulls a Zahn we could have good books about OC Jedi on other planets and missions during the Clone Wars.


    Still, i have enjoyed the Clone Wars immensly, and im just nitpicking really, exept my final, and since he is my favorite character, bigest disapointment.

    The Portrayal of Anakin.

    He is the centerpoint of the whole PT basicly, and a very large part of the OT.

    But despite that the only time i really feel happy with the way Anakin was handled was the Quest series and the Comics.

    Other than that he only really plays a role worth mensioning in Jedi Trial and Dark Rendzvous.
    I personally feel he has been deeply neglected.

    Jedi Trial: I couldnt really find fault as such, but i think its more a matter of not really being able to find anything outstanding about his portrayal either.
    He feels a little... bland, to me at least.
    This is 'his' book, yet he feels bland? *sigh*

    But the worst part for me is how Sean Stewart treated him :mad:

    Let me first say that currently DR is my favorite Clone Wars novel.

    EVERY apearence in this book, though he is a Knight in his own right now, proven, and even though it ignores everything we know about him so far, he is made out to be an idiot or is undermind at every step.

    1st Apearence: seemed pretty much usual Anakin fare, until Obi-Wan tricked him, i couldnt help but feel that Anakin was being a little underestimated, but i ignored it as his little talk basicly went with his character.
    Still, Anakin is a Knight here acording to the Timeline, and if we go by Jedi Trial, he wouldnt need Obi-Wan's lecturing, nor would he act quite so... AotC Anakiny, he is suposed to have matured a little more, sombred slightly even.

    Mission to Vjun: Dear Force >_< there is no way Anakin would burst out about meeting Padme so easily, especially to one of the people he and her are trying to hide it most from, he may be impulsive but he isnt an idiot.
    He may have been frustrated by it, but he would have bottled it up, mabye looked a little grimmer, but still!

    Out of the Ship: at first i thought he was finaly giving Anakin respect, acnolaging that he was a good pilote, showing h
     
  2. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    I haven't read a lot of that stuff, but you're dead on about Jedi Trial.

    I recently blew through it in a couple of days. It was extremely disappointing.

    The style was pretty bad, but as it relates to your topic, I can say that Anakin was not alone in his mistreatment. None of the characters in that book seemed to have any life. A shame.
     
  3. DarthBoba

    DarthBoba Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000
    Well, I personally love the comics more than any other part of the EU. Republic # 71 is particularly good if you're looking for Anakin's Vader side, but then, he is usually treated far better in the comics than he has in the books he's in. Jedi Trial...meh, I didn't really like this. DR, he seemed very off indeed. Very ungrim, which isn't like him.
     
  4. Luke_Jivewalker

    Luke_Jivewalker Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2001
    I agree that the writers are not giving Anakin proper character development.

    His portrayal in Yoda:DR was embarrassing to say the least.

    I don't expect him to be portrayed as the wisest Jedi Knight, but he should not appear to be incompetant every time he says or does something.

    But it didn't really surprise me that the author of this book would write Anakin that way, considering how he wrote Yoda. In particular there was one scene in which Yoda is said to have "haggled" over the price of a broken ship, which took 2 hours.

    I'm sorry but Yoda was on an important mission here. He knew the chances of Dooku being sincere in wanting a truce were probably too good to be true, but nevertheless, he wouldn't spend 2 hours haggling over the price of a ship when countless lives were at stake. Yoda is above such things and should be portrayed as such.

    In my mind I've already disregarded this book as Clone War cannon.
     
  5. Ph0enix

    Ph0enix Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2002
    The Obsession comics are also good in their portrayal of Anakin. It shows all he really wants to do is be with Padme, and he is very very mad when Obi-Wan interupts their vacation.
     
  6. Tiershon_Fett

    Tiershon_Fett Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2000
    I think it has to do with the fact that so little can be written about Anakin, because LFL didn't want them to.

    Anakin is a kid.

    Kids are affected by war, but not as much as the elders are.
    Anakin still manages to be happy, have fun and be enthusiastic. It's the joy of youth. I really think he doesn't give his all when he doesn't want to be there. He didn't exaactly sign up to be a common soldier. He is distracted by love and other issues.

    I think all authors just can't get into the feel of the real SW characters down, so they all fall back to their "Let's make my inability to write Anakin/Vader well look less obvious by making him look stupid so my OC can shine" plan.
    This is pretty much every author that has written SW. They always give the movie characters short shrift in favor of their own boring cookie cutter Gary Stus. And it's Anakin Skywalker that gets the muddiest end of the stick as far as character development.

    At least the postrotjeu is so horribly extreme in it's Vader hatred, it's not even accurate anymore, by any stretch, anymore than Obi-wan is the second coming of christ, which is how he's portrayed in JAT and some other books. Obi-wan we have learned, is just a guy.
     
  7. masterskywalker

    masterskywalker Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2001
    Decent-Good with a few stinker moments.
     
  8. DarthRotten

    DarthRotten Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 24, 2003
    I agree with most of the points that have been made here about Anakin's EU portrayal thus far, however, we all need to remember one thing: A character like Anakin is hard to write. He has more raw power than any other Jedi before or since and he has less reservations about using said power. It's also hard to write him without letting too much Vader bleed into the portrayal, but let's face it: Whenever we think of Anakin, we think of Vader. How many times in the EU has Anakin given in to the Darkside? I know that the Tusken massacre in AOTC wasn't the first time. He killed the blood carver in RP and Captain Krayn in JQ. Since AOTC, he has given in to the Darkside to beat Ventress TWICE. On the other hand, some authors seem determined to write him as a reckless Han Solo type, but Anakin was never a Han Solo type. He was reckless FOR A JEDI but not for the average person. I too winced at his portrayal in DR. I LOVED that book aside from Anakin's portrayal. I'm still holding out hope for his portrayal in LOE. I think if anybody can flesh him out properly it is Luceno, though I think Stover will do a great job with him in the ROTS novelization too. In fact, I'm counting on Stover making me understand Anakin's fall more than I know Lucas will.
     
  9. Alixen

    Alixen Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 7, 2003
    I think it has to do with the fact that so little can be written about Anakin, because LFL didn't want them to.

    Actually this is something iv been wondering about too, you may be right.

    Anakin is a kid.

    O_O he's 20/21, what do you consider not a kid? IYO do people just jump from Kids to Pensioners? :p

    Heh, sorry, you hit a nerve :p i always hate it when people call me a kid, despite the fact im already more mature than them, so being offended by the term has become sorta reflex :p

    Kids are affected by war, but not as much as the elders are.
    Anakin still manages to be happy, have fun and be enthusiastic. It's the joy of youth. I really think he doesn't give his all when he doesn't want to be there. He didn't exaactly sign up to be a common soldier. He is distracted by love and other issues.


    Have you READ the comics?!

    Anakin takes it just as seriously as anyone, and he is very grim when he does it, hell, when he thinks someone is making a wrong decision he's multiple times tried to stop them despite the 'older' Jedi telling him not to.

    At first he seemed to have the same Personality as in AotC, but since Jabbim he has become more grim, more quiet, more calculating, and he seems to be holding more anger.
    Not that i blame him.
    He still jokes, but it seems to be in a less... loud manner than before.

    I think all authors just can't get into the feel of the real SW characters down, so they all fall back to their "Let's make my inability to write Anakin/Vader well look less obvious by making him look stupid so my OC can shine" plan.
    This is pretty much every author that has written SW. They always give the movie characters short shrift in favor of their own boring cookie cutter Gary Stus. And it's Anakin Skywalker that gets the muddiest end of the stick as far as character development.


    aye, i agree here.

    At least the postrotjeu is so horribly extreme in it's Vader hatred, it's not even accurate anymore, by any stretch, anymore than Obi-wan is the second coming of christ, which is how he's portrayed in JAT and some other books. Obi-wan we have learned, is just a guy.

    Agree'd, thats why i dont read anything past ANH, even SOTE was a bit much for my OC tolarance to take.
     
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