Are too many villains not getting their just desserts?

I'm not against 70 years of Luke Skywalker.

I've read Batman since I was a child and see no reason not to continue.

However, Bruce Wayne's adventures are in his heyday.

This is like the Dark Knight Returns gets constant sequels.

 

Or "Batman Beyond"...except Bruce still saves the day and Terry becomes the Joker.

 

I think we should wait until we see what he does with Fett in the upcoming television show before making a decision on that. It might just turn out the Boba Fett we have now is the lesser of two evils.

 

Well, it did get Dark Knight Strikes Back followed by its prequel (pants) All (pants) Star (pants) Batman!

 

Well, I certainly feel the villains have been getting just desserts and I think it's a TERRIBLE role model for our children! (Won't SOMEBODY please think of the children?!) They need to be getting more vegetables and some protein as well although not too much or it will turn them all into fat honking pigs and children in this country are overweight ENOUGH and. . .!


Excuse me? No, no, I haven't read the preceding posts. I was too upset over the villains eating just desserts and. . . .

What?

This ISN'T about villains EATING just desserts, it's about being smacked down for their naughtiness and GETTING their just desserts?

Oh.

Never mind.

-- Emily Littela Ostrander

 

Well done, sir! Well done indeed.


*rummages around*

I have some lovely Brie and crackers over here to go with the....


Nah. You're right. Never mind.

 

This has been a paid ad for the John Ostrander Campaign for President of Comic Land.

;-)

 

1. Aurra Sing

I'm rather fond of Aurra Sing as she was a nice substitute for Sidious and company while there was no real Clone Wars for our heroes to fight. I felt she was a little overpowered as, frankly, I felt a Tales comic where her versus Qui Gon and Obi Wan shouldn't end with anything but her death. Likewise, if you publish a comic called The Hunt for Aurra Sing then you darn well better end it with her death. I remember feeling quite cheated when that comic book came out and ended the way it did.

Unfortunately, with Legacy of the Force series confirming she lives well into the time of Luke Skywalker, any chance of a confrontation between her and those she's wronged is ruined. Still, Jon, if you're reading I would *LOVE* to see Darth Krayt versus a still young and vibrant Aurra Sing. Insane as it may sound, I *STILL* hate Aurra Sing more than A'Sharad Hett (in the love to hate sense).

But yes, part of Aurra Sing's problem is really that she and Ventress share so many similarities. White Skin, mostly bald, female force users who hate the Jedi Knights because they were abandoned by their masters tend to invite comparison.

2. Asajj Ventress

But yes, a part of me would have definitely wanted to see the original Obsession comic that was supposed to cover something like twelve issues. I'm fairly sure that the ending would be very similiar to the one where Asajj gets away and Alpha as well. However, I assume there probably would have been something that would have shown us more of her thought processes that make us think she might be headed to redemption.

Unfortunately, Asajj was pretty damn deep into the Dark Side during the story.

A. Let's face it, MOMENTS before Asajj woke from her coma, she was threatening to *MURDER* Anakin Skywalker's wife just to get at him. You might make a decent argument that Anakin was a legitimate military target but threatening Padme is a whole different magnitude.

B. Her psychotic murder of all the Gungan Miners on Naboo, a pretty heinous war crime she seems to have done just for the Hell of it.

I won't bring up Asajj's attempted murder of children in Dark Rendevouz or The Cestus Deception because it's really out of the comics but the character's single minded hatred and malice for what amounts to a somewhat questionable reason rather made a character I wanted to see dead well more than Darth Maul.

Oddly, I tend to think part of the problem is the inevitable comparison to General Grevious. General Grevious has a *GENUINE* reason to hate the Jedi Knights more than anything else in the GFFA. Hell, Jango Fett has a legitimate beef as well. Asajj Ventress' only experience with a Jedi before starting to murder them is her mentor who loved and cared for her.

Thus, my sympathy for her is mostly muted by the fact she comes up as a monster. Likewise, my ideal ending for Ventress is her to die at Vader's hands but I worry she'll show up in the Star Wars cartoosn or TV series, meaning the comics no longer have dominion over her.

3. Kir Kanos

Well, I said my peace on him, but yes there was supposed to be a Crimson Empire III or Crimson Empire II was supposed to be about Luke Skywalker vs. Kir Kanos. Honestly, I'd love to know how they intended to end that confrontation. But I guess we may never know what was originally intended.

If we ever see Kir Kanos in Legacy's flashbacks, I'd like to get a look into his thoughts and why he never chose to go after Luke Skywalker and whether or not he wanted to join the Remnant because he saw in the Fels an Emperor that he could honestly serve.

Mostly, a part of me just views Legacy as a chance for Dark Horse to "reclaim" a lot of their lost characters.

4. Moff Tavira

Honestly, I tend to think this is just Stackpole keeping his toys together but the cancellation of the Rogue Squadron series really was a tragedy and it saddens me that we didn't get the "Big Ending" in I, Jedi. She was a fairly important character in the story and I'm

 

To quote the Exile - "No one is beyond redemption, Kreia. No one."

Which, for me at least, is one of the strongest themes of the PT and OT put together. How many did Vader kill? Whose Force spirit still showed up at the end?

 

Obi-wan being obsessed about redeeming Ventress goes totally against what the OJO taught, his own later behaviour in ROTS and his belief that Anakin couldn't be redeemed, which he hold unto until it happened in ROTJ.

 

I think he knew that, and thats why he let Luke carry the torch

 

Redemption also cost Darth Vader his life. The idea that Redemption allows one to escape the gravity of atonement's cost is something that is lacking from Star Wars. Darth Vader received spiritual forgiveness for his crimes but spiritual forgiveness does not necessitate material absolution. Ulic Qel-Droma lead the Jedi Knights to defeat the forces of Exar Kun before he was given his freedom.

Furthermore, I don't honestly buy Asajj's redemption. So, Dooku betrayed her. How does this show that she repents from murdering and torturing all those who came before?

 

Well I still hope that A'Sharad Hett gets his revenge on Aurra Sing.

 

Yet, flipped around and taken to the max: Why shouldn't I kill a load of people if I can get redeemed later?

The concept of confession for Catholics is often caricatured as: Say 3 hail marys and you're forgiven, but the original idea was that the penance the priest would dictate would be of a detterant nature to prevent repetition ie. Yes, you're forgiven for this one, but don't do it again or else!

 

Maybe when Ventress disappeared with a shuttle, he assumed that she hadn't really changed and that is what cemented his anti-redemption status against Anakin... Also, he probably felt that way because of how FAR Anakin had fallen. Ventress had everything working against her. She was orphaned on a harsh world, lost her master to treachery, etc. Anakin had everything going for him but still chose darkness; chose to stand against everything he'd been brought up with.

 

People also seem to overlook that Obi-Wan already tried to reason him. Back at the start. He wouldn't have any of it. Obi-Wan lost his faith in Anakin on Mustafar. Why would Obi-Wan think that after twenty years of immersion in Sith evil, Anakin would come back when he couldn't be dissuaded even at the start? It's not a lack of belief in redemption as an idea. It's watching Anakin choke his wife, argue that the Jedi are evil, and scream "I hate you!" as Obi-Wan leaves him to burn that causes him to believe that Anakin isn't going to be redeemed.

 

Reasoning doesn't help, nor sneaking on darksiders that one tries to redeem, like Obi-wan did. Dark Side makes people paranoid. And what Obi-wan did was to argue with Anakin, not to reason with him. (Not that trying to reason with him might have helped either, based on what ROTJ and other examples of redemption show. It's a situation that forces the fallen person to make a choice - or rudely wakes him back to sanity, like what we saw to happen with Ulic - that matters.) It's the same in LotF with Jacen. People argue with him, when arguing doesn't work. It's the old throwing away the lightsaber, not fighting but loving him trick that could work.