[NRW] Jacen Solo: From YJK to NJO

Might? I think I'm hurt, RK!

- Keralys

 

We all have our own ideas about what SW authors should be and shouldn't be

Nice Retconn, Keralys. Really nice

 

Agreed. And honestly, I think the simple, honest disagreement about which is best is one of the things that makes Star Wars fiction so much fun. The variety of taste means that almost everyone will be satisfied by something out there. You can't please everybody all the time, but offer enough variety and you've got a good shot at pleasing most people some of the time.

Thanks!

- Keralys

 

Sorry, I intended that to express the feeling that your presentaion had captured my interest.

Perhaps I should've used: + =

 

Ah. That makes a great deal more sense. I'm glad my presentation hooked you. And - thanks.

- Keralys

 

You already know what I think --

 

Well, I just said the same thing to you in yours, basically. It's that brain-overlap thing again.

- Keralys

 

Having read it again, I must that one problem still remains: We never got to see the actual process. I can now understand how Jacen got from point A to point B, but I still have no idea what happened during that time. It would have been fun to see what Jacen was going through during that time, to watch as his character slowly changed from book to book. That is what's truly missing now, and it's really a shame.

Of course, this has nothing to do with your retcon, but I'll go ahead and give you some more props anyway.

 

Nice, Keralys

I think this is covered slightly in the short story The Crystal, which occurs directly after Crisis of Crystal Reef. Though it is primarily about Jaina, there's a scene where Vector Prime Jacen seems to begin to peek through but quickly disappears.

It'd be nice to see at least one story set at some point during that period between Crisis at Crystal Reef and Vector Prime, featuring Jacen and Anakin as Luke's apprentices.

 

*nods* Agreed, actually, and quite firmly. A short story set in this time period showing Jacen in transition - it wouldn't even have to show the whole transition, just show him halfway in between, and struggling mentally with some of these issues - would go a long way towards ironing out the seeming disconnect. (SWInsider, are you listening? ) And that six month gap for everyone is a little... offputting, to say the least, because everyone's positions have shifted quite a bit, and without explanation. End of YJK, Leia's still CoS, Luke's still usually running the Academy, etc. We need something to fill the void and explain all the changes. And like I said, on short story'd do it just fine.

Thanks.

Glad you liked it.

Huh. I haven't even heard of that; where and when was it published? I'd be interested in reading it.

Agreed, obviously.

- Keralys

 

I don't know the original source, but it's reprinted on Hyperspace.



/Charlii

 

Figures. I refuse to indulge in Hyperspace; it's just not worth it for me, personally.

- Keralys

 

For me, who got into the game late and lives far away from the US, just the short stories archive on Hyperspace makes it worth the money. I'd have a hard time getting my hands on all those through traditional ways.



/Charlii

 

*nods* That makes sense. The short stories are the only thing that'd really make it worth my time, but I don't have the requisite need to justify the money, you know?

- Keralys

 

If it has Jacen stuff on it, it might be worth the money.

Me, still a Jacen fangirl, Oh, please. Of course not.

I dunno, though. Maybe after a few more paychecks, when I find out how much this year's tuition is going to drain me.

I thought about writing a pre-NJO, post-YJK transition fic, but don't have time right now and didn't do it. Unless, of course, the crack theory that he found some feelings for Mara in the in-between time counts (which could partially account for why he butts heads with Anakin, seems to have forgotten Tenel Ka, and has issues with Danni... ) then I don't have anything relevant. Still, am thinking about what happened and how best to explain it.

My original idea, which is unfortunately not supported by the canon but would sufficiently cover a lot of the changes, was that he was kidnapped/captured by some baddies and put through hell, not nearly to the point of what Vergere did but enough to shake him.

 

I'm not buying the innocent approach, Eleventh. Something about the rapidly lengthening nose, there.

I understand that one better than I'd like. And that's with scholarships.

On the first part, so have I, but I just haven't had the willpower (or really, the fundamental idea) to do it properly. As for the latter part... you've been hanging out in the sex thread with the Ewok for way too long.

I agree that I'd like to read it, but I don't think I'd like to read it enough to justify spending the money for a Hyperspace subscription on it.

- Keralys

 

Still loathe how Jacen's character fell in NJO, but your retcon does make sense Keralys. Just like Striker said, good retcon, doesn't mean I have to like it .

I wonder how many things would have been different if Salvadore and the other writers did read the previous series? Even though the Vong were a deus ex machina, if the characters were spot on, New Jedi Order might not have been so bad in my opinion. And that also means, keep Chewie, Lusa, and Anakin alive!

 

Well, I'm glad it makes enough sense. I didn't figure you or he'd like it, but the fact that it works nevertheless makes me pretty happy.

As for your latter thought, I don't know... I think I'd actually still have all of those characters die, but have everyone's reactions handled better. Anakin's death was one of the most moving moments I can remember in any piece of literature I've ever read, and it's one of the reasons I love the NJO, so I wouldn't change that at all. Different tastes, see?

- Keralys

 

Killing off Anakin was the equivalent of killing off all the hope the Skywalker family ever had. He was redeeming the name Anakin, and would have eventually become the next sucessor to the Order's leader, after Jacen.

And really, Lusa was one of the best healers in the Order, she got killed off like a redshirt. To 'prove' the Vong were bad, Chewie was killed off in a similar redshirt fashion, abiet it was a moon being dropped on him.

 

dood, i know what you mean. when chewie died i couldnt believe it. then anakin died right when he seemed to have an idea of where he was going in life. it took me awhile to get over it all. i wanted jacen to have more of the "it should have been me" feeling.

 

You know, for somebody obsessed with having "evidence" for things, you keep making a pretty silly argument about the whole "Lusa=super-healer" thing, since we have little to no evidence to suggest she was "one of the best." Anakin's death was actually what made everybody pick themselves up and keep fighting. And Chewie's death actually changed the story dynamics, how again?

I'm not saying they couldn't have done a better job with the deaths - especially with people's reactions - but I wouldn't take the deaths out. Just do the responses better. I think we all agree that that at least would help.

- Keralys

 

Oh, and Keralys, I think Jacen was kind of being groomed to become the new head of the Jedi Order when Luke eventually stepped down. He had an more mature Naruto-like personality in Young Jedi Knights, in my opinion.

 

(1) You're not telling me (or 99% of the other users on here) anything with that comparison, and (2) mature is one of the last words to come to mind for Jacen in most of the YJK. Did you miss this entire retcon?

- Keralys

 

Lusa had a talent for healing, I believe she did learn how to do Cighal's poison siphoning method quicker than the others. And I don't think the deaths were necessary, hell, Jaina had nearly fallen to the Dark Side, abiet poorly, from Anakin's death.

 

As to your former point - yes, she learned more quickly than Jacen or Jaina or company; none of whom had any noticeable talent in healing. That doesn't compare her to any of the rest of the healers, though.

As for the latter remark - yeah, that was, you know, kind of the point.

- Keralys