Jedi in Fan Fics: Too Powerful or Not Powerful Enough?

One of my biggest problems with writing Jedi is treading that fine line between Force enhanced abilities and god-like power. I have a hard time determining just how superhuman I can make them without going too far. I also find it very difficult to create situations in which a Jedi might find challenging or can't get out of.

Does anyone else have trouble finding that balance for the Jedi? What methods do you use for writing them? How much power do you feel that they should have, and what kind of influence do you think the darkside/lightside aspect has on that?

 

I find it pretty hard sometimes. I just reread a saberduel I wrote ages ago, and it just seems like it took far too long for Corran to finish off his opponents. In the story I'm writing now, I've got Valin Horn at diferent stages of skill, and writing him progressing- and not being too strong or too weak is being a real challenge, as is writing another character, who has the disability of being blind, but can still wave two sabers around. Usually i find that they're written OK- it depends on the author and the character involved!

 

This is one of the things I'm rolling around with the fic I'm working on now. It's not helped that when I read other fics and novelizations to see how they handled things, they're running the gamut to both spectrums.

So far I've been winging it much like mutant powers for an Xman fic, use things too much or have your concentration blown and things don't work out all that often or at all.

 

also make your character too powerful and pretty soon you have no way to convincingly have them in trouble and you lose the suspense of whether or not they can fight their way out of it. As much as I liked the Clone War cartoons, for instance, the Jedi were WAAAAAAYYYY too powerful. So many would never have been killed by droids at Geonosis if they were really meant to be that powerful.

I think the best thing is to consider is whether or not this power fits within canon, if it doesn't then tone it down. For instance, in my Jedi mind reading thread, to me for the Jedi to totally be able to read minds would just make them too powerful and make much of the OT not make sense. Like if they could really do that then how is it they don't know about Anakin & Padme's marriage? Why couldn't Obi and Anakin read Zam's mind? etc... The answer is, it doesn't work that way, and they have a limit to that, and other powers.

sg

 

For me, this was probably one of the hardest things to get right when writing fanfic.

My first story didn't include much of any Force powers so I just side-stepped the issue in that one, but for my second I went completely overboard and had my young Jedi OC performing at Yoda-levels of ability. When I re-tooled the story, I cringed when reading it and cut back quite a bit on what the character was able to accomplish.

I think a big part of the problem is that the Jedi in the films describe the Force as being able to do anything and it's very tempting to have characters do the seemingly impossible.

It needs to be remembered, though, that though the Force may be limitless, the beings using the Force are quite limited.

 

I've found in FanFic, most people seem to get the Jedi about right. They're NOT superhuman, and having vulnerabilities makes them and the plot line far more interesting. I find that PROFIC makes them too powerful... Jedi who can fly through the air like Superman? Communicate telepathically with each other(why do they carry communicators)? Stop attacking starships by using the Force? And the Clone Wars were egregious... if Mace Windu all by himself could cause an entire droid army to blow up pretty much just by using the Force, then there is simply NO WAY that the entire Jedi Temple could have been brought down.

 

I've written a lot of fics with Jedi, and the power issue is a real problem. My largest project is a monstrous, three-hundred plus pages in word, Anakin Skywalker prequel era AU.

My way of handling this issue is balancing the Force against the human or non-human factor. While Anakin is clearly capable of winning all of his duels, it's his human weakness that has caused him to loose a few. I've had him pause mid-duel when he realized he was using the darkside, causing him to be defeated in duels he was winning. I've employed similar tactics with other Jedi, using their philosophy against them.

I also use my understanding of the X-Men universe when deciding on Jedi/Sith power levels. Yes, someone may be VERY powerful, but used too often it can be harmful. I try not to let my Force users use their abilities all the time or for too long. Eventually their abilities are going to take a toll on their physical being. Just look at the Emperor in ROTJ as an example. He's very strong with the Force, but his body plays a high price for it.

Herman Snerd said: I think a big part of the problem is that the Jedi in the films describe the Force as being able to do anything and it's very tempting to have characters do the seemingly impossible.

I agree, which is why I had the human/non-human factor to my fics. IMO there is a reason that Yoda is Yoda. I mean if every Jedi was able to look entirely past their physical limits, the council would have had a lot more members. True, the Force can accomplish anything, but that takes a level of belief that not every Jedi/Sith has. There is the whole Midichlorian aspect as well, but I'll save that for another post.


JD.

 

I think I tend to err on the side of not powerful enough with my work. I often have readers ask why they didn't just use their Jedi powers for something. I guess I like to focus on the more human aspects of a character (even when they're not actually human ), and their faults, because nobody can be as powerful as Yoda all the time.

Jae Angel

 

I take the safe road and dont use Jedi characters at all Though in the fics that have featured Jedi, i tried to make their powers subtle. Jedi very rarely have to use their powers in a directly confrontational way. They are peacekeepers, after all. If there's a way around combat, they'll take it.

So that in mind, i always look at the situation the character is in, and analyse it from all kinds of angles to see if there's a way that the jedi could possibly avoid fighting. If there is, by default, the Jedi will take it. That's one way around the problem

But when combat has to take place, I agree with what's been said about balancing the power with human ability. I just have to remember that, inevitably and regardless of force ability, Jedi get tired and their reflexes slow. They have enhanced human abilities, not superhuman abilities - that means that (despite what i've read in some fics before, and even canon stories) Jedi have limits on how many enemies they can face at once. I still find it totally unbelieveable that a Jedi can single-handedly thwart twenty enemies that have him/her cornered and covered from all angles. But that's just me, i suppose

So yeah, you could balance the jedi powers against normal human-ness, or could take my extreme stance and stay away from the tricky blighters all together

 

yeah, in my fic, i created the most powerful bieng ever by shunrat taking sekots place, but i created a check for him

 

Personally, I believe it depends on three things :

- How you you see and read in the movies, comics, novels, games etc. (depending on whether you are a Canon-type or not ) .

- How yopu interpret what you've seen or read etc. .

- How you see yourself Jedi depending on what you've seen and afterwards interpreted.

Ben Kenobi, for example, the weird eremit, isn't that powerful. A mind-trick here, a sabre-duel there, that's it. In the movie, I've got rather the picture of him as a philosopher (explaining and teaching Luke the Force) than the warrior he is shown as in the currect Clone Wars.

Darth Vader - the Ex-Jedi - is a pure warrior. You can feel that. He uses his forces (and THE Force ) for that.

Yoda is a simple green weird dwarf or gnome - at least on first viwew. Later he turns out to be rather a teacher than a warrior as we see him in AOTC (while battling Count Dooku).

So, what do you see ? How do you interpret this ?

I think that's the clue on how you picture Jedi in novels.

Alrik.