Characters Mara Jade Skywalker Character Discussion * NEW - Quote Challenge! *

Hee! GMTA, Bri.

I totally agree with you re: Traviss. I simply do not care for her style of writing, and that goes far beyond what she did or didn't do "right" with Mara. But you know, them's the breaks when you're working with a shared universe like this. No one's going to like every offering or author or style. It's a bummer, but true. Good point, though; I'd also be interested in seeing her take on Vader. I doubt that I'd enjoy the actual reading, because her style and I are not very compatible , but her take on that character could certainly be worthwhile.

Exactly, Michele. This fandom has retcons out the ears. We take what we can get.

 

Karen's Vader stories rock!

Wild Space is supposed to be good and has all those characters. And it's a new female author, so I might support her just because we are so sadly lacking in those in the EU, lol.


Allegiance - well, it just felt phoned-in to me and a little fanboy gratuitous. Like the scene where she's putting on the catsuit in a box. Seriously, Tim? Just my opinion, though. I'm also the only freak on the planet who didn't like Mindor.

 

LOL. Well, the thing about such scenes in Allegiance for me is simply that I figure Zahn's earned a few passes for moments of fanboy gratuitousness over the years, so whenever I came to a moment like that I shook my head indulgently and moved on. You're right; it's not Zahn's best. But I still had fun with it.

And no, you're not. I know of at least one other freak who didn't like Mindor, and just like you, she's a freak I think the world of and whose opinion I value highly. Hey, if we all agreed on everything, we'd be bored with each other pretty soon.

Edit: Hey, Trace, which Vader stories has Karen written? I admit that I'm not likely to seek them out any time soon, just because she and I really are not the most compatible author/reader combo, but Vader's not a character who comes to me very easily, so I'd like to know for potential future research.

 

I am a fan of Anakin/Vader so I might read it. Vader is such a complex charater, I feel like there is so much left to read about him. I always hated seeing Anakin go to the dark side. I have a hard time watching ROTS only because of that, because I really love that movie. I have such a fascination with Anakin or Vader, I just want to learn more about what is inside his head.

Mara is the same for me. I feel as though she was not done yet. Like they killed her off too soon. Just like I feel about Anakin Solo. I can dseal with Chewie's death more for some reason. I do not know why. There was more closure. Chewie went out a hero and he was also not a kid. Anakin went out a hero and he was just a kid. He was to done either. I just feel like those 2 had so much left in them and we have been robbed. I want their deaths to be part of the continuity-issue that we see in the EU, and they bring them back to "fix" it. Because Anakin had prophesies from what I understand, that were not fullfilled. Mara died in a way that was not really Mara-like. That bugs me so much. I know we are not going to like everything they do in the EU but there are some big issues that a lot of fans agree on and perhaps we should not be so quiet about it.

I do not have a love affair with any of the authors. I have ones I like more than others but I do not care if one writes a bad book or one writes a great book. That will not effect how I feel about an author. It is about the storyline to me. It is about Star Wars. That is why I feel so strongly about Mara and Anakin and how their characters were treated. There are a few others, but they are not dead yet. Zekk and Tenel Ka. I just love SW and being a fan does not mean you should accept everything that they try to force-feed you. (Haha, get it "force" feed? Okay, moving on.[ face_plain]) I am a fan of charaters, I am a fan of the storylines, mostly, and I want to be able to enjoy it for a long long time. I am not sure I can at this point. I know characters have to die, but they don't have to die as well. That is why it is fantasy. SW iss the first movie/novels I have been into like I am. And I have never liked fantasy, but I love Sci-fi. And I started reading the books last May. I was so excited after reading my first book, Tatooine Ghost, which I love. I was never going to read the books, I said, but then I got a job and it was doing nothing, practically, all day and I took the book from my husband's collection because I was bored. I was hooked. I did not even know what EU was. I just knew I would not read them because Chewie died in the books. And that made me mad. I have over 50 books now. Read most of them. I am on the NJO (yawn at times but right now Mara is preggers and it is exciting!).

Okay, I know I am rambling. BTW, I liked Allegence...just wanted Luke and Mara to at least see each other! I need to reread it now that I have some of the background info. I read that one a while back.

I would absolutely love a story about Mara's youth. Her training with Palp or even when she was taken form her parents. But that is way too much for us Mara fans to ask.

EDIT: I love the Qui-Gon Banner. Very tastefully done.

 

I agree that a lot of stories are lost each time a character is killed. That's one of the reasons I generally dislike character deaths, at least in ongoing universes like SW. However, I really fail to see what good it does to fixate on something we don't like, such as one of those deaths. That's not to say that the deaths can never be mentioned, but do they need to be brought up every time? Because that is really what it feels like with Mara the past two years. I don't think I've been in a single Mara discussion since Sacrifice's release that didn't go right back to focusing on her death within a dozen or so posts. And personally, I think it's kind of pointless, tedious (so very many other aspects of her character are ignored in favor of rehashing her death) and cheapens Mara herself, far more than her death did. If I died tomorrow, I sure hope that two years down the road, those who loved me would remember and talk about my life more than my death. Granted, Mara's fictional and I'm not, but I think the analogy stands.

Besides which, all the complaints in the world aren't going to bring Mara back, nor Anakin, nor anyone else. And even if complaints were going to have that sort of effect, they'd have to be complaints directly to the source, not in FanFic discussion threads. By all means, if any of us feel strongly about EU developments, write Sue Rostoni or Shelly Shapiro! They're the ones who are ultimately in charge, and who knows - maybe they will direct things differently in the future based on fan input. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they're not lurking in character discussion threads on FanFic boards.

Just FYI, when you're doing a highlight to read, you'll want to make sure your text and highlight are both black (or whatever color you use). Otherwise the HTR function may wind up less than effective on different CSS set-ups.

 

Her Wook page says she has two short stories, In His Image and its sequel, A Two-Edged Sword. I've never even heard of them before but now I'm admittedly curious. As far as a full length novel, her mentions of liking to write an Anakin/Vader novel probably amount to as much as Zahn once mentioning a L/M/B story.

 

Thanks, Bri! You're so handy to have around when I'm being lazy. I'll have to check those out sometime.

 

Okay then. *Jaden shuts up about Mara's death as not to make anyone feel uncomfortable, even though it is obviously a huge issue if it always comes up.* Don't shoot the messenger though. I did not kill her off. And I do not mind talking about it or anything else Mara-related here for hours on end. But that is fine, I will shut up.

*Jaden leaves room possibly for good.*

 

Gabri: Well, you know, earlier you saved me the effort of digging out VotF and flipping through it, so give and take.

You know, I wonder if Allegiance would have been better or worse served with a longer page length now that we're talking about it. Obviously, it depends entirely on what he would or wouldn't have put in there. When I first got it, I was sorely disappointed to see its measly 200-some pages. I thought the storyline of the rogue stormtroopers was wrapped up too quickly. And there are parts of the novel that I genuinely enjoy. I'm a broken record at this point, but Allegiance has one of my favorite portrayals of Han in the EU. While he was my favorite, I just plain liked seeing both Han, Luke, and Leia in early Rebellion era again.

While the topic of writing Vader has come up, though, I will say that one person who absolutely needs to stay away from writing him is Zahn. Omg.

 

That sounds like my husband. When we got together, he couldn't believe that I read SW books and made fun of me for years. I finally convinced him to read TTT and, like you said, he was hooked. I think he's actually read more SW books than I have, now. Although, I'm still ahead of him in the comics.

[Vader fangirl]

Yeah, In His Image is in the Ultimate Vader Guide (which I am still kicking myself for not taking to C4 for her to sign) and the other is in an Insider. I don't know how easy they'd be to find - last I heard the Vader Guide was hard to come by - but they're really good stories. I don't read her Mando/CW books (simply because I'm not into that era) but I'd love to see what she could do with a Vader or young Mara book.

[/Vader fangirl]

Well, it's not that it makes anybody uncomfortable, it's just that it's all we've talked about for two years now and I think some of us are ready to start healing and move on. I know I am. Complaining won't change anything and Mara's death will always be there, but her life is still there, too, and is also worthy of discussion.

 

The Vader Guide might show up on Amazon or Half.com, but I doubt the one in the Insider is even accessible. The Wook summaries make them sound like they'd be a worth it, though.

So all of this Allegiance talk appears to be aptly timed, provided the official site doesn't believe in April Fool's Day Part Two on April 2nd. Zahn is apparently slated for a new novel, to be released in 2011. It's OT era set and features Han, Luke, Leia, Thrawn, Mara, and the Hand stormtroopers and is a follow-up of sorts to Allegiance.

Story Here

 

Yes! My willing suspension of disbelief can go quite a long way, but not when my favorite Dark Lord gets shown up by a teenage Emperor's Hand. (Mr. Zahn, I love your writing, but young Mara Jade cannot beat Vader in a fight, not even a little, not even with her assassin training, Force-abilities, and general awesomeness. You're only giving the people who cry Mary Sue more ammo. )

That being said, yay new book!

 

Yeah. That is definitely a glaring flaw in Allegiance; I cannot deny it.

Jaden: Expressing a difference of opinion is not asking someone to shut up. Trace said it best:

That's where I'm coming from. I'm sorry if anyone else feels slighted, but on the other side of the ledger, those of us who want to discuss something other than the evils of her death have been somewhat sidelined for two years - or at least, that's sure how it feels. Maybe we could aim for a bit more balance in the future.

OMG, new book. I am really excited by this. If the OS is messing with us, I will be very sad.

 

STOP THE PRESSES! Just when we've been wanting a new Mara book....


http://www.starwars.com/vault/books/news20090402.html

A New Zahn book featuring Mara has been anounced on the main Star Wars web site!




Edit: Rats. In my excitement I failed to read three posts up that this was not new news. Oh well, carry on...

 

Beat you to it, Rivad.

 

So you did Bri! Here I was dreaming of my 15 seconds of fame on being able to anounce something cool to the boards... Of course now I have to wait for 2011...

[in little boys voice] Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet???

Thanks to Gabri and Jedi-2B for the congrats. My wife and I are very excited to welcome our little boy in June!

Edit: Mark-ups

 

Viiii!

That scene. His vague mentionings of Vader in TTT always seemed off, too, but it was heartrending to have those suspicions confirmed so wanktastically in Allegiance. Here's to hoping it's not such a glare in the new book.

This. A thousand times this. I can't say it any better so I won't.

 

You just never know where I?ll pop up.

Yeah, the Vader mentions in TTT never did sit completely right with me either. I think I always tried to rationalize them by looking at them as the viewpoints of characters who didn?t have the full scope of Vader?s abilities or history. I figured Mara?s attitude was colored by her being young at the time and thinking she knew more than she really did. I made excuses for any other Vader mentions that were off, and honestly I was just excited to see him mentioned at all. (Zahn got major points in my book for the scene where Mara learns that Luke is the son of Vader and also the whole Mal?ary?ush plot. There were other things, too, but those stand out. )

Hopefully Zahn will leave Vader alone. A passing mention will be fine, thx.

 

Talk about timing! (I'm wondering why he didn't go for the L/M/B book he's talked about wanting to write, though?)

This!

As a Vader and Mara fan, that part just hurt my fandom. Let's hope Vader is on vacation during this book.

 

I wonder that, too. Do you think maybe he pitched it and Del Rey wanted something else?

Yeah. That scene made me sad. So much love for Zahn, then - that. Well, everyone has a weakness. But I'm hoping for Vader being on vacation, too.

 

Would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall listening in to the negotiations, don't you think?

I, too had my quibbles with Allegiance, yet it was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I all for anything that takes place back in those un-tragic times. I suppose my real disappointment was that the story was really about the stormtroopers and not Luke, Leia and Han. I imagine that will be case once again. I seem to remember he was definitely interested in continuing their story. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you. Just can we get a book that has more than 300 pages please?

 

I assume L/M/B = Luke, Mara, Ben? (sorry I'm new here) Well, not to harp on the point anymore, but Mara's dead and Ben was born mid-NJO. So if Zahn wants to write anything with Mara and Ben it would have to be buried somewhere in the midst of the NJO or LOTF. I, for one, haven't read anything post-SQ and although I'd buy anything written by Zahn in a heartbeat, I wouldn't especially want to try to read just one single book from that era, as the story seems so convoluted and everything seems so dark and...strange. I don't imagine Zahn would want to try to write in that era anymore than I want to read it. Personally I would vote for Zahn going AU and writing whatever and whenever he feels like, but from the interviews I've read he seems pretty concerned with his stories being considered canon. At any rate, I'm excited about anything new from Zahn. And I like that it will be a sequel to Allegiance, I rather liked the stormtroopers. I think I enjoyed their storyline even more than the others, which surprised me.

 

bkbva: I like reading stories from that time frame, too; that's one of my favorite things about both Allegiance and LSATSOM. And I was also surprised to see as much of Allegiance dedicated to the stormtroopers as it was, but more surprising to me was that by the time I was thirty or forty pages in, I didn't mind much at all. Turns out that I liked the Hand of Judgment quite a lot, so I'll be interested to read more about them. But yes, please more than three hundred pages. Three hundred pages from writers like Zahn or Stover is better than six hundred pages from authors whose writing I dislike, but oh, I would be so very happy if this upcoming book was a long one.

Tarsier: Yes, L/M/B is Luke, Mara, and Ben. As dark and convoluted as that era is - and I do agree with you that it's messy and not very fun to read - I do still hope to see an L/M/B novel from him someday, maybe set between TUF and DN, just because I would so very much love to see Zahn's take on Skywalker family life. But in the meantime, news of any new book from Zahn is awesome, and I also look forward to seeing a continuation of the Allegiance storylines.

Wouldn't Zahn going AU be something to see? That has incredible creative potential, but with the absolute "everything but Infinities is canon" stance from LFL, I doubt we'll see it. I'd love to see an expansion of the Infinities label so we could see a few more pro AUs. It doesn't sound particularly likely, but hope springs eternal.

 

Wow... long time since I've been on here... well, in this thread anyway... Had forgotten all about that quote challenge....
at some point I was working on a response... might go finish it even though it's old....

By the way, for those of you who enjoyed my interpretation of Dead Mara, complete with dart in the leg... Thanks.
I'd been wanting to do that forever and where better than at a con with Trace...

They announce another Celebration and dead Mara will be packing her bags to and be on her way...

A lot of heavy discussion in here...

We might have to wait until 2011 for some Mara goodness but perhaps it will be well worth the wait.

 

How was mouseville??? You do know you went during Central Florida's Spring Break...right??

I was disappointed in the Mara and Vader scene in Allegiance, but it made me more curious about that timeframe. I'd love more ff about this era.