I, Jedi

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I, Jedi RULES!

And, as I have said before, CORRAN ISN't INFALLIBLE!

Ara
(Isard-wannabe, fictioner, etc.)

 

I agree in that in I, Jedi, Corran has somewhat of an arrogant attitude. This is the guy who boldly declares, "I have nothing to fear from the Dark Side because I have been right on the line and I have turned away from it." I do not have a problem with this, however.

It is character development. Corran Horn thinks he is perfect. He is NOT perfect. Since the book is from his point of view, one might be led to think that he is a Uber-Jedi who thinks he is better than Luke. Actually, I don't think he's better than Luke, and he acknowledges this many times. He is, however, annoyed at how Luke does things, and that is what he criticizes. He also thinks Luke makes too big of a deal about the Dark Side and thinks himself immune from its power.

In the latter portion of I, Jedi, Corran has ample opportunity to see that his belief in immunity is wrong. The duel with Remart and his thoughts about Tavira should be and somewhat are red herring clues to him that he is also capable of succumbing to the Dark Side. But he does not allow himself to fully realize this, which is why he still acts like he's so great, although he is able to humble himself somewhat before Luke when they meet again in I, Jedi. He is more humble than he was earlier in the book, but he still has a long way to go.

We see this all come back to hit him in Ruin, however. He is finally forced to realize that he is NOT immune to the Dark Side, that his arrogance in thinking so has cost him dearly, and that he can no longer deny this knowledge from himself. In the Dark Tide series, we see that Corran has come a long way forward in development from his I, Jedi days, but yet he still had a lot to deal with, and the end of Ruin shows that.

 

This is my oppinion on Corran: 1. Corran is a cocky, egotistical pilot and that will never change just because he's a jedi. Albeit it has toned him down some (which I think sucks) but he will never stop believing he's da bomb. Which he is in my view, my sc says what I think of him. 2. Kelly, Corran never went over to the dark side in my recolection, maybe I've forgotten and he did in that duel with that big-cheese vong over Yag-Duhl. 3. Sure he has paid for his cockiness and arrogance but I think the authors have made him pay wayyyyy to much. 4. It's not the dark side to be tempted by a HOT woman. 5. Yes he was tempted by Tavira and he was tempted by Kuhn. Kuhn was the dark side tempting him. Tavira was just a very attractive female that was a way to get to Mirax. True that it was a stupid idea to sleep with her to get Mirax back cause Mirax would've killed Corran. Also it's just plain morally wrong to sleep with somebody your not married to. But hey he's a guy, can you blame him for the thought entering his head? Sides he got his head screwed back on right later in the book. 6. The Corran now is a lot less brash and arrogant. I think this has taken away from the greatness of his original character. True he should be more mature as he gets older but still I liked him better with his fly-boy attitude.

There's my two cents worth, CU'z

?KH¿

 

This is my oppinion on Corran: 1. Corran is a cocky, egotistical pilot and that will never change just because he's a jedi. Albeit it has toned him down some (which I think sucks) but he will never stop believing he's da bomb. Which he is in my view, my sc says what I think of him.

Yes, he is cocky and egotistical, and I don't expect those traits to completely go away. They are part of his personality. They have been tempered, as you said. Personally, I like the maturity he shows in the Dark Tide books, but in many ways he is still the same person he was way back in Rogue Squadron.

2. Kelly, Corran never went over to the dark side in my recolection, maybe I've forgotten and he did in that duel with that big-cheese vong over Yag-Duhl.

He never went fully Dark Side like Vader, but he did cross the line there. In the duel with Remart in I, Jedi, he came perilously close if he did not step completely over. In both, he was not fighting to protect others, but ultimately because he wanted to kick some butt. In Ruin he wanted revenge for Elegos, and in I, Jedi he just wanted to beat up on Remart. Corran goes into why he wanted to beat him up in I, Jedi.

3. Sure he has paid for his cockiness and arrogance but I think the authors have made him pay wayyyyy to much.

How do you figure?

4. It's not the dark side to be tempted by a HOT woman.

Not necessarily. That's not what I was getting at.

5. Yes he was tempted by Tavira and he was tempted by Kuhn. Kuhn was the dark side tempting him. Tavira was just a very attractive female that was a way to get to Mirax. True that it was a stupid idea to sleep with her to get Mirax back cause Mirax would've killed Corran. Also it's just plain morally wrong to sleep with somebody your not married to. But hey he's a guy, can you blame him for the thought entering his head? Sides he got his head screwed back on right later in the book.

Yes, Kun tempted him. If he would have allowed fear or anger to rule him, he would have gone Dark Side. No dispute there. And I'm not saying that the thought briefly entering the head of a married man means he is Dark Side. This was a little more than a brief thought. Even thinking about it does not make him Dark Side. He was THAT CLOSE to actually doing it, though, rationalizing it and all of that. Again, if he HAD slept with her, it would have been strictly out of lust and his own selfish desires, and THAT would have been Dark Side. As you say, though, his head DOES get screwed back on right, so that problem is solved. Personally, I don't think he reflected on this and on the Remart fight enough after the book was over, and this is why he ran into trouble at the end of Dark Tide.

6. The Corran now is a lot less brash and arrogant. I think this has taken away from the greatness of his original character. True he should be more mature as he gets older but still I liked him better with his fly-boy attitude.

Personal preference. I like him both ways for different reasons. I know some people who hated him before but can deal with him in the later books. Others, like you, miss him as the flyboy. I see him as both.

 

What are u people talking about? Corran is and Xwing pilot, a huge ego comes with the rest of the package.

 

I just finished reading I, Jedi for the 40th time. (At least. It might be 50th, as far as I know...) And I still love it. I am going to read the X-Wing novels and DT for tomorrow. (What? I've read all the 9 XW books AND I,Jedi in the span of 30 hours...) or not, depending on how much homework I have... I'll try.

Anyway, I agree with the person who said that Corran hadn't acknowledged his inner darkness before ruin. I thought so, but now I gave more critical eye to the book instead of just enjoying the flow... ANd what do I see?

Corran <i> thinks </i> he has acknowledged his dark side. But he hasn't. He is misled by the fact that he faced couple of trials, but that's not it! Hell, he even says so! Something about the fight against the Dark Side being constant and in our lives, not only in the gal.. galak.. galaxt..galaactic scale (Some spelling trouble... )

In this, he falls. LIke I've pointed out SEVERAL times, he isn't infallible. I just hadn't seen h9ow much this is true.

But he still is my favourite SW character. Of all time, all parts. The Ultimate fave.

Ara
(COughing and missing herhistory lessons)

 

Oh, and one thing I wanted to note...

Does anyone know another book where the word 'ass' is used? I mean, Corran say's that Han was going to throe 'a wiseass reamrk' after the Carida disturbance.

Ara
(Sniffling, 'no, not again! Aargh!')

 

Hey, I, Jedi was a great book. In it, we watched Corran grow up. I read it before the X-Wing series, in fact it was I,Jedi that caused me to want to read them. Anyway, in he X-Wing books, Corran is like a kid, then in I, Jedi we watch him grow up. He makes mistakes, sure, don't we all on the way to adulthood? But in the end he turns out to be an awesome guy.

I don't like him in NJO cause he's old and I hate old Jedi, they are always so stuffy and condescending. But it;s not Corran's fault, all Jedi get liek that for some reason.

 

I started reading EU in this order:

DE 1&2
Shadows of the Empire
Thrawn Trilogy
Jedi search

All those were in Finnish. Then, while in Sweden, I found one book in English and there it started...

Wedge's Gamble
I, Jedi
Children of the Jedi
Planet of Twilight
Isard's Revenge
Starfighters of Adumar

After that, I can't remember the order, 'cause I bought like 20 books at once...

I, Jedi is, and always will be, my favourite book, and is at the moment THE favourite book of´mine.

Ara
(Isard-ized assassin-wannabe)

 

Very good point about Corran's temptation with Tavira, kelly . It WAS longer than just a thought and we was trying to rationalize it. My point though was he didn't decide to fly that course. I also agree with Connemara about how old jedi are no fun. I hope the authors have Corran make a comeback, but I remember it said that once the NR needs a disgraced jedi than they're all in big-time trouble. I also agree that it's a matter of oppinion in how you like Corran. Some ppl hate his fly-boy attitude, some ppl love it. I personally love it, I think guys would more like it then girls because Corran's attitude reminds us of ourselves . Anwayz that's my two cents worth, CU'z

?KH¿

 

If you want a Jedi/pilot that is full of himself and very cocky like Corran used to be then you want Kep.
Corran matured Kep has not

 

If Luke was the central protagonist instead of Corran, would Luke have given in to Tavira's advances (since Luke had not been with a woman in quite a while)?

 

I'm suprised Corran didn't. I mean, is it me or does EVERY female he meet get described as attractive to Corran? How DID this man have a long marriage?

 

i have a few different opinions on the book...

1) i loved how it was told in first person. loved how it showed a first person perspective of Luke in the initial stages of the academy

2) hated it because it made Corran just to powerful. i mean he went from being the definition of a brash pilot to the a messiah or something. Corran was awesome as a great egotystical pilot. Then Stackpole goes and bashes Luke and makes Corran out to be some kind of savior and adept.

The story is great and fun to read... the exectution is great...

but the portrayel of Corran, and his character ever since have suffered in my opinion because of this book. I also really hated how he disagreed with Luke about the force and aplications of it...

its like a guy who has been playing the piano for a week trying to tell Mozart how do arrange a symphony.

 

Lots of things to reply to here. Starting with skull6:
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If you want a Jedi/pilot that is full of himself and very cocky like Corran used to be then you want Kep.
Corran matured Kep has not
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Kyp is full of himself and cocky in a way Corran never was. I admit that in some ways they are somewhat alike, which is most likely why Corran has never liked Kyp, but they are different enough to have a contrast. Kyp would have been thrown out of Rogue Squadron after a month at the most.

Next from ReaperFett:
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I'm suprised Corran didn't. I mean, is it me or does EVERY female he meet get described as attractive to Corran? How DID this man have a long marriage?
----
I admit, in I, Jedi Corran is attracted to many women. There's a difference, however, in finding someone attractive, and breaking your marriage vows to sleep with someone just because you find that person attractive.

Last, from UCLAJediMaster:
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2) hated it because it made Corran just to powerful. i mean he went from being the definition of a brash pilot to the a messiah or something. Corran was awesome as a great egotystical pilot. Then Stackpole goes and bashes Luke and makes Corran out to be some kind of savior and adept.

The story is great and fun to read... the exectution is great...

but the portrayel of Corran, and his character ever since have suffered in my opinion because of this book. I also really hated how he disagreed with Luke about the force and aplications of it...

its like a guy who has been playing the piano for a week trying to tell Mozart how do arrange a symphony.
----
Keep in mind that this book is strictly from Corran's POV. As has been pointed out in this topic, Corran is not infallible, nor is he omnipotent. He does have a huge ego. Therefore, the entire story is told with that slant. Luke does not come across that well because Corran has some problems with Luke. Since in some ways Corran does think he knows more than Luke, or his perspective is better than Luke's, Corran does make himself look better than Luke. This does not necessarily reflect reality, just like our viewpoints don't necessarily reflect reality on whatever issue. To someone outside of Corran, like us, Corran does come across as an infant trying to tell a father how to parent his children, but in Corran's mind, he thinks he knows what he's talking about. Since the only view we have is Corran's, that's the bias the entire story has, like it or not.

 

I will say that it is a great book.
I will also say that Corran's ego is fine if you are in a fighter squadron, or with someone like Mirax.

However, learning the ways of the Force is not conducive to ego. As a result, Corran learns best when his ego is lowest. The unfortunate thing is that Corran's ego blinds him to this to a large extent. Hence people don't enjoy the book or him. The whole fact that he sees himself as right over Luke on some issues rubs people the wrong way.
The way Corran is in the book, he is an X-Wing pilot. Only when Elegos comes along does he change to a more Jedi type person. This allows him to function in the NJO as a full-time Jedi.
To me, he is truly changed by the time of DT.
I haven't read after this, however, so can't say how he appears after his exile.

In the ned the book is good, not in the least cos Ooryl plays a role.

 

The reason that Corran appeared as though he thought he was better than Luke in I,Jedi was in order to address the utter cock up that KJA made of Lukes character in the JA trilogy as well as the contiuation of that by other actors.

MAS himself stated at one point that all he was trying to do was to repair the damage inflicted on Lukes character and that it wasnt until TZ did the same in Vision of the Future that anyone really realised it.

By this Im trying to say that lukes character in this period was utter ***** and it really required a writer to do what MAS did in order to get Luke back on the straight and narrow.

Ok i now realise that probably makes no sense whatsoever, but hey what can i do

 

KJA and MAS are friends, they don't attack each other compared to the utter nonsense and flametory language you used. MAS and KJA have said that they discussed the stuff MAS was putting in I'jedi to make sure it meshed and fit in good, and it was something both accepted. He has said he was not trying to correct anything, fans who said he said that, were making up stuff, creating a hoax. He doesn't like people thinking he would attack one of his friends malisciously like that.

MAS has said everything that corran said turned out to be wrong in his NJO duology, since it ultimatly lead corron to using the darkside.

 

Let me ask ppl who think Corran and all the Rebel Pilot guys are arrogant just this question. You fly a deadly starfighter equipped with dangerous weapons like lasers and torps at insane speeds, almost your whole life devoted to a force that defends ordinary ppl without concern for their own lives. They see their closest friends die and you expect them to be just normal ppl???? They cover their fear of dying and losing loved ones with confidence and major ego. Otherwise they'd just crack up and turn into sobbing messes cauz the human body and emtions can't take that sort of stress and hurt.

I, Jedi is a good book and is well written considering that the author usually writes X-wing books as third person, not first person. It's hard changing from different points of view (well at least for me but then again Stackpole is the wonder author) It gives great insight to Jedi and Corran's past and future.

And, of course, not to mention how hot Corran is with blonde hair and goatee and the whole mysterious Jedi thing happening...

 

despite all my problems with I, Jedi, a major thing I respect it for is NOT spoiling the JAT. It showed it from another POV, making both better

 

This may sound like an odd segue, but surgeons are a lot like fighter pilots. My wife is nurse and deals with surgeons all of the time, and she has said on numerous occasions and her nurse friends agree, that surgeons are high on themselves, arrogant and many have a god complex. Now, the second part of this post: My wife's father was a fighter pilot in both WWII and Korea, and after that he became a test pilot. Now, Milton (her dad), was not an arrogant man, in fact after he retired he became a school teacher and was much loved by his students. However, many of Milt's friends were arrogant, high on themselves, had god complexes, etc. So is Corran's behavior believable, I think it is.

 

I dont find CVorrans arrogance a problem. Its just how everything seems to revolve around him