Fanclub Dawn of a Rebel: The Bria Tharen Fan Club

Well, the time has come.

I decided to stop procrastinating and create a fan club for Bria Tharen. It's been in the back of my mind since the EUC was split from the literature thread.

I know her fans are out there. I've met so many from around the world in the 3 years I've been online. I met even more here on the JC boards. Here is a thread just for us! So, welcome, fans of Bria Tharen.

I have only one rule: Please respect the views of other posters here. We might not have the exact same thoughts, but we're all fans of the same character. Like the the Reese's commerical, "There's no wrong way to have an opinion!"

~*~Bria

P.S. Thanks to Darth Pipes for helping with the name.

 

No problem, Bria.

I'm glad to see this set-up. The Han Solo trilogy was possibly my favorite EU series. It had a great story and great characters supporting it. Bria is one of my favorite EU characters. I was sorry to see her killed in Rebel Dawn.

 

Respecting others opinions is not a problem.

Like Darth Pipes, I really liked the Han Solo Trilogy at the top of my list with TAB.

 

cool im in...the han solo trilogy is my favorite..has the most character development, drama, action, etc..

i have great respect for bria..afterall she was the commander in charge of the mission to take the death star plans..

 

Bria! You already know how I feel about the HST Well of course I would love it, it's HAN SOLO!!!!

Ok simmering down. I'm gonna say that I don't think Han loved Bria after she ripped his heart out with a spoon, so to speak. But he did love her, and she was awesome, and despite what some of my pals *cough* yanksfan *cough* sweetheart *cough* may say, I like Bria and she is canon, you can't brush her away

 

Welcome, everybody! Let's keep mention of other threads/posters out of here. I don't want to have anyone feel like their toes have been stepped on.

Ben_Skywalker- I so totally agree. I was pretty new to the EU when I read the HST, but what struck me was how *real* everything felt. For the first time, I felt what I was reading was as real as the movies. After I finished the HST and read most of the other books in the EU, that feeling hasn't changed one bit.

solojones- I know. Yes, I've always known Bria, or someone like her existed. It was pretty obvious to me from my very first viewing of ANH that he'd been hurt by love (and, by the way, I thought this before I'd even heard of the EU, let alone the HST). I was so thrilled when I did hear about the HST, because HS was one of my favorite characters and I couldn't wait to learn about his past. I bought PS as soon as it was out and read it on my way to the Appalachian mountains. The rest you could say, is history.

~*~Bria

 

i bought ParadiseSnare from a book order at school in sixth grade..my how long its been...actually it was my second starwars novel i bought..first was 'the new rebellion'..dont ask why, i just found it sitting alone on the shelf at a grocery store..i think it was fate

 

Hey, Bria! thanx for inviting me here! i just want to say that i knew that there had to be someone like bria. I mean, now that i look at it, why else would Han have waited so long to start flirting w/ leia?
also, bria was with the rebellion so i think thats why he was wary of the rebellion, too.
i don't know how much sense that made...

 

Mara-Jade-Skywalker it makes perfect sense.

 

You're welcome, Mara-Jade-Skywalker. I'm glad to have you here. I understand you. There was a connection between Han and Leia right away, but neither is ready to really follow through. Han, he'd been hurt by love and was weary of the Rebellion, and Leia had just lost her planet, not to mention that fact that as an Imperial Senator, there were a lot of people she could not trust. Not to mention that both Han and Leia were both strong-willed and stubborn.

~*~Bria

 

I've been a major Bria fan since the first time I read the Han Solo Trilogy (all three books of which, btw, are among my favorite novels ever, SW and non-SW).

Actually, Bria once saved my grade in eighth grade Honors English. Seriously. I was majorly lagging in that class, and we had a big book project due, one that could make or break my grade in the class. Night before the project was due, I still hadn't finished the book I was supposed to have read (it was a free-choice project). I was despairing big time, when I caught sight of my copy of "The Paradise Snare". I did my project on that instead, got an A on the assignment, and managed to bring my grade in the class back up. (Plus, my teacher commented that Bria sounded like a wonderful and complex character... my English teacher that year had good taste!)

-mjeh

 

Oh! Welcome, Mara Jade, Emperor's Hand! I wondered when you would arrive.

Bria saved your grade? That's awesome! What did you do for your project? I'd be interested in hearing the details.

I once wrote about her in english, and even though it was in the first person, my teacher had her suspicions what I wrote was about a Star Wars character. I have no idea why she would've thought that.

I'm going to have a treat for y'all tomorrow. A mention of Bria that I'm sure many of her fans aren't aware of. Be sure to check back!

~*~Bria

 

Hey I did a report on 'The Hutt Gambit'.... One thing I had to do was write a letter from the main character's perspective, and so I was like, "Ha! I have to write as Han! Could this be easier?"

I desperately need to buy PS and HG, because I already own Rebel Dawn... those are my fav books (I own the whole HSA, and those rock too )

 

you havent bought em yet? such a respected han fan as yourself...

out of the three books though, i'd have to say Rebel Dawn is my favorite...

 

That's one thing I would NEVER been able to do is write a report on anything Star Wars for an English class.

I personally liked Paradise Snare the best.

 

when i first bought paradise snare i thought it boring especially the part with han thinking his life in that ship...but now i understand it and is much more interesting but i still think rebel dawn was the best...it had a perfect opening and a perfect ending..

 

Accusing ME of not being a good Han fan??? Don't push your luck!

I checked out those books and took them on vacation to Hawaii, and you know what? I didn't want to ever go to the beach or anything so sometimes my family went and I stayed at the hotel, sat on the deck, and read the HST!!!! When they made me go, I brought my books to read! They have pictures of me reading Star Wars in Hawaii!

Hawaii is highly overrated in my opinion.....

 

okay okay, my sincerest apolgies solojones didnt mean to rouse you up like that...forgive me

 

Bria: My project was a collage based on the events/characters of the book with a written explanation of what it all meant, but since I desperately needed extra credit, I also did a poem about Bria. That was one of the cooler projects I did that year, I think.

-mjeh

 

*sigh* you are forgiven Bria... now go read Earth1937, I finished it!

 

Forgiven? What I'd do solojones? I swear, whatever it was, it's not my fault.
I'll catch up on your story shortly.

MJEH- Cool! Any chance you still have that poem? I'd love to see it! Feel free to paste it in right here.

As for the HST... I own five books. I own the copy of Paradise Snare that I read, and another copy of it that is personally signed for me by Ms. Crispin. I own one copy of the Hutt Gambit, and I own two copies of Rebel Dawn. One is the copy I read, the other is a copy I picked up in Germany. I would've loved to have PS in German, but the bookstore I was at only had RD from the HST. The cover looks a bit different. You can see it here: Rebel Dawn

My favorite book of the trilogy is Paradise Snare, followed by Rebel Dawn, and then the Hutt Gambit.

My surprise is coming this evening.

Anybody interested in sharing songs that make them think about the HST? I know of several that remind me.

~*~Bria

 

I sorta know some songs like that.... so..

Bria, I'm sure it's not your fault

 

Well, you said I was forgiven, so I figured you thought I'd done something wrong. But I didn't. So, if you thought that I did, it's cuz I was framed.

Anyway.... I was listening to Jewel's Spirit album yesterday, and thought this fit:

Absence of Fear

Inside my skin there is this space
It twists and turns
It bleeds and aches
Inside my heart there's an empty room
It's waiting for lightning
It's waiting for you
And I am wanting
And I am needing you here
Inside the absence of fear

Muscle and sinew
Velvet and stone
This vessel is haunted
It creaks and moans
My bones call to you
In their separate skin
I make myself translucent
To let you in, for
I am wanting
I am needing you here
Inside the absence of fear

There is this hunger
This restlessness inside of me
And it knows that you're no stranger
You're my gravity

My hands will adore you through all darkness aim
They will lay you out in moonlight
And reinvent your name
For I am wanting you
And I am needing you here
I need you near
Inside the absence of fear

You know, Bria feels so empty after she learns Ylesia is a sham, but then Han is there to light the way and to help calm her fears.

~*~Bria

 

Well, I'm not sure what I did with that poem... it's been awhile, lol. I think I put it in my English portfolio, which is laying around... somewhere. (I lack organizational skills in a big way.) If I manage to find it, I'll post it here.

Awesome choice of lyrics, Bria... oh, and as far as songs go... well, I was listening to Sarah McLachlan's third CD, "Fumbling Towards Ecstacy," the other day... I've probably mentioned this before, but "Wait" is a song I've always sorta associated with Bria, in particular her decision to leave Han near the end of PS. I dunno, it just seems to fit in some way.

Wait

Under a blackened sky
far beyond the glaring streetlights
sleeping on empty dreams
the vultures lie in wait.

You lay down beside me then
you were with me every waking hour
so close I could feel your breath.

When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold
that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the new born hope unjaded by their years.

Pressed up against the glass
I found myself wanting sympathy
but to be consumed again
oh I know would be the death of me

and there is a love that's inherently given
a kind of blindness offered to deceive
and in that light of forbidden joy
oh I know I won't receive it.

When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold
that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the newborn hope unjaded by their years.

You know if I leave you now
it doesn't mean I love you any less
its just the state I'm in
I can't be good to anyone else like this.

When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold
that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the newborn hope unjaded by their years...

 

Mara Jade, Emperor's Hand. Do try to find it. I'm happy with all the Bria fanfic I can get.

As for your song... That really fits! I think that we may have perhaps discussed that back in whatever thread it was where we 'met' each other. A great song for Paradise Snare.

Here's my surprise. From the Essential Guide to Alien Species by Ann Margaret Lewis:

T'landa Til

Distant cousins to the Hutts, the t'landa Til inhabit the world Nar Shadda along with their gastropod cousins. Their status in Hutt society, however, is far from equal to their relatives.

T'landa Til are large creatures with two small arms and four tree-trunk-like legs, at the bottom of which are huge, padded feet. Their faces resemble those of the Hutts, save for the addition of a single long horn that juts above their nostrils. Their heads are attached to short, humped necks that sit upon massive bodies. Leathery skin covers them, hanging in creases, wrinkles, and loose folds, especially on the almost non-existent neck. Their skin, like that of the Hutts, shines with an oily gleam. Long, whipping tails curl over their backs, and the two undersized arms fold against their chests, half-hidden by folds of neck skin. They have delicate, almost feminine hands, with four long, supple fingers on each.

T'landa Til are considered second-class citizens on their world, living primarily to serve their Hutt cousins. They are, however, as ambitious, greed, and clever as their relatives and for many years have grown increasingly dissatisfied with their role in Hutt society. However, their drive is motivated by a lust for luxury, as opposed to the Hutts' lust for power. For this reason, the Hutts are more able to exploit them by appealing to their desire for comfort, and it most likely that the T'landa Til will never be able to effectively remove themselves from the control of their overlords.

Ten years before the Battle of Yavin, the Hutts enlisted the t'landa Til to launch a scheme. A religion was invented, based on the t'landa Til ability to emit a frequency resonance that attracts females of their species during mating season. This humming vibration is produced when air flows over the cilia in their neck pouches when they inflate them. This stimulates the female's pleasure centers. They also employ a low-grade empathetic ability that allows them to project pleasant feelings towards humanoid creatures. When the two unique abilities are combined, the t'landa Til can render the average humanoid mind pliable for manipulation.

They used these abilities on humanoids in the guise of presenting a religious epiphany luring hapless pilgrims to Ylesia, where they were enslaved in spice purification plants. Bria Tharen, one of the first officers of the Rebel Alliance, fell victim to the cult and later wrote in her journal:


Whatever the t'landa Til did, I was helpless against their power. Years later I still yearn for the feelings their abilities stirred in me. It was glorious- like embracing love, peace, and the feeling of achievement all at one time, combined with the glorious physical, intimate pleasure.

When I left it behind, the depression I experienced was colossal. I wanted to end my life, rather than face the misery of living without the euphoria- even though I knew it was all a sham.

There you have it. Boy was the I trilled when I saw that. I mean, obviously it's sad, but it meant so much to see it included.

I have one more entry to share tomorrow.

~*~Bria