Lit Preparing for NJO

Criticizing Luke's story because he was searching for his mother is completely missing the point that it was about the journey and not the destination.

It's a really interesting juxtaposition with Jacen's journey in the New Jedi Order series. In fact, if you're reading tangential stuff like the X-Wing series in preparation for the NJO, and you're someone that is interested in deep character studies, I'd recommend BFC prior to the NJO simply to contrast Luke and Jacen.

 

I think I've only read BFC all the way through once. And that was for a complete EU read through way back when. I don't remember much about it at all except for what I've seen in the guide books since then.

 

Well, my other problem, Akanah, is a problem with the journey, so one of my problems still stands.

 

I wanted to see progression with the characters in the books, that's the reason I like that Han and Leia have had kids, Luke has got married and has a kid etc. However, from the outset, I felt that in BFC, we were being led up a cul-de-sac. There was no way that these books were going to reveal Luke's parentage with the prequels coming around the corner so it just felt hollow to me. Although yes, as previously pointed out, the discussion regarding the number of deaths on the Death Star was interesting.

 

Revealing Luke's parentage is the destination, not the journey. And ultimately, it's not the point. The point is how the experience changed Luke from what he was into what he became.

It seems like in the by and large status quo fixated Bantam EU that this sort of story is the type you would expect to see, insofar as that you can't have Luke repeat his hero's journey of the films. Searching for his mother by necessity cannot be the same as searching for his father and redeeming him, and Bantam and the Star Wars Expanded Universe wasn't ready yet for the New Jedi Order in which the next generation in Jacen took that sort of journey with massive consequences outside of character development. Thus, a story which ostensibly seems to have the same sort of historical significance for Luke, and in which Luke has a true character arc despite returning home literally empty handed but figuratively having learned a great deal more about himself, is the type of story which I would want to see done. Especially if they ever decide to release nucanon books set between Episode VI and Episode VII. I certainly don't expect the NJO to ever be repeated.

What I mean by progression is literal character progression or development. The Expanded Universe as published by Bantam runs an entire fifteen year time period between Return of the Jedi and Vision of the Future. But the Big 3 changed as characters less in that fifteen year period than they did in the preceding four years. This is despite Han and Leia becoming parents, Luke becoming a Jedi master and getting married, etc.

I think there's an expectation among fans that when they read the EU, that the Big 3 are static as they were in Return of the Jedi.

 

I would be okay with a character arc for Luke if I felt like it was one that took the Luke we were left with at this point in the story and developed him. Instead we got a Luke that was unrecognizable from the get, who is developed into a still different Luke.

Regarding Zahn's characterizations of the movie characters (from context I assume you mean post-ROTJ), you have to keep in mind that these books are not the story of the Big-3. TTT and HOT are MARA's story. She is the one who gets the character arc, and they are supporting characters. Also, Han in HOT, while not developed WITHIN the books, is clearly and realistically aged from his ROTJ characterization.

 

I'm sorry I can't hear any of that over Akanah the shrew's squawking.

There's a word for people who annoy me like Akanah does.

N_GGERS

Spoiler

naggers

 

People that annoy you.

Isn't Jacen in the NJO basically Akanah Jr though? "Is this what it means to be a Jedi knight?"

 

His whole storyline felt like a contrivance so he couldn't Skywalker ex machina the Yevetha until the end of the trilogy.

 

Well, he didn't. Luke needed to undergo the nagging of a lifetime to develop into his next phase.

 

Not really, Jacen isn't nearly as shrewish about it, and he's not intentionally deceiving and manipulating anyone with a selfish lie that could cause a great deal of pain, and he's not browbeating people to death with self-righteousness, and his arguments don't turn Luke into a brain-dead zombie.

I've never really found Jacen ultra-annoying like Akanah, at most he was just tiresome.

 

I dunno that is just the same criticism I remember about Jacen and why everyone hated him. Jacen's self righteousness really pissed a lot of people off re: centerpoint.

But I guess Akanah was broken down into two characters for the NJO: Jacen and Vergere.

Personally, I'm of the school of thought that personally disliking a character doesn't make me dislike the story. Like, Iago kind of sucks in Othello but he's necessary.

 

Disliking a character doesn't make me dislike a story either, but listening to a baby scream for three books isn't enjoyable for me.

Failya was annoying as all hell, as he was intended to be. You're supposed to hate him and love it when he fails.

I'm sure plenty of people hated and still hate Jacen...I didn't like him myself, but boy did his character arc pay off in a big way. I can't really stay annoyed with a character, story or anything after a payoff like that.

Well, until DNT, so I guess I was annoyed almost immediately after the payoff, I just wasn't expecting to be.

 

Well akanah got eaten by cthulhu so I guess that's a positive to FOTJ.

 

Idk, X-Wing is almost universally praised and I guess Wedge and Corran get character arcs.

 

So do Kell, Face, and Donos.

 

Well, considering I hate cthulhu, especially that particular cthulhu, I can't really consider that a positive.

 

I'll accept, but I've always found Allston's character arcs so simplistic that they come off superficial, melodramatic yet lacking in real emotion, and soapy but like Days of Our Lives instead of Star Wars.

 

Some of them I can almost see that, but Donos' was extremely well-done, IMO. One of the best character arcs in the EU.

 

......

Donos' "sole survivor" trauma is probably the worst example.

But let's try to steer this back on topic at some point.

 

Thanks

 

So what you think of Rogue Planet, Orman Tagge ?

 

Is that why, or incidental?

 

For my part, I thought Luke's journey in Black Fleet Crisis was the best part about it, and have never had any problem with it. Was fairly spot on to me. True he didn't find his mother, but then that doesn't invalidate Luke's journey.

 

What Luke's looking for is irrelevant. The point is that he's having a midlife crisis because he's questioning what it means to be a Jedi Master, and he gets sucked out into this quest where he's challenged by a woman with a very different philosophy. He keeps thinking and he learns about himself and the Force, and comes out of his quest realizing he was played by a con woman, but that didn't make her points any less relevant to Luke. He retains his character growth and realizes he doesn't have to be a hermit to be a Jedi Master. None of that's about who his mother is. I mean, come on, even back then nobody thought he was going to actually find his mother, did they?