Question about Jedi Quest #1: The Way of the Apprentice

A few days ago, I was searching the net in order to fullfill my destiny by getting some interesting Star Wars novels which gives me more reference to the events that took place before and after TPM and AOTC.

I think that "Cloak of Deception" is such an interesting choice to be introduced to the events that took place before TPM.

Now, for AOTC, my guess is that "Rogue Planet" and "The Approaching Storm" could be some cool choices either.

Finally, for ROTS my best and only personal choice would be "Labyrinth of Evil".

One thing that really freaked me out while making the searches, although it is not on my reading choices for SW Expanded Universe, unless someone recommends it to me, was the novel Jedi Quest #1: The Way of the Apprentice by writer Jude Watson.

While reading the storyline or plot for this Jedi Quest novel, I found out that Obi-Wan is starting to wonder if he will ever be as good a Master as Qui-Gon.

Question: Is this really true or am I miss interpreting the storyline of that novel??? Boy! If I am not wrong, that would major suck! I thought that Obi Wan wondered if he will ever be as good a Master as Yoda... I don't remember Ben Kenobi telling Luke in ROTJ that he wished to be as good as Qui-Gon while training Anakin to become a Jedi Knight.

I really don't have a problem with relating the whole "point of view" plot that is seen through the entire saga, and that has been disturbing a small audience/viewers of films, but it would be a shame that writers other than George Lucas have these things in their novels that really don't make sense at all, or differ from the original story told by Lucas in the trilogy...

Does anyone has any thoughts on this???

 

Obi Wan is wondering if he'll fail Anakin.

There's no "good as master yoda."

Qui Gon was a better master in the sense that Obi Wan and him weren't at each other's throats half the time as Anakin and Obi Wan were before they got their act together.

Seriously, how the hell do you think Obi Wan WOULDN'T think he failed Anakin in every way possible?

 

I really don't get your point, Charlemagne19, and sorry for it! I am not questioning if Obi Wan is wondering if he will fail Anakin or is there anyone good as master yoda... I have no doubt that Qui Gon was a better master either... I believe all that and I have no question about it...

My point is that I was reading to the plotstory of the Jedi Quest #1: The Way of the Apprentice novel, which appears on the website www.jedinet.com, and found the following text:

"Anakin Skywalker knows that Obi-Wan Kenobi did not choose him as an apprentice. Instead, it was the dying wish of Obi-Wan's own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, that brought them together. Now Anakin is beginning to doubt his Master's commitment ... and Obi-Wan is starting to wonder if he will ever be as good a Master as Qui-Gon."

I want to make clear that I'm not making this up... The text is right there if you want to check it out for yourself, and it called my attention the last line where it says "Obi Wan is starting to wonder if he will ever be as good a Master as Qui Gon". Now, I remember in ROTJ, and my memory doesn't cheat on me since I have seen that movie more than a thousand times a thousand, there is a conversation between Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, and you must know it, where Ben tells Luke that he thought that he could instruct Anakin just as well as Yoda, meaning that he could be as good a master as Yoda in training his own apprentice... right??? right!

I believe that the text which appears on the storyplot of the Jedi Quest #1 novel, which I also pasted above, refers to that specific conversation between Ben and Luke on Dagobah, isn't it? Or, it has nothing to do with it, and is it only a statement where Obi Wan wonders at that time, in such a specific novel, if he would be as good as his Master Qui Gon Jinn regardless his commitment to teach Anakin to become a Jedi???

I don't know if made myself clear???

 

The entire "Jedi Quest" series is 10 books long. It's a very good read and the story revolves around Anakin and Kenobi. Throughout it Kenobi wonder if he'll fail Anakin as a teacher. Kenobi also wonders if he'll be as good a teacher as Jinn. Kenobi isn't worried about disappointing Jinn because some of Jinn's last teachings to Kenobi was to 'quit worrying about pleasing me.'

Kenobi just wants to be as good a teacher as Jinn, that's all. But instead of worrying of failing Jinn, he now worries of failing Anakin.

 

Thanks for clearing this out, skatalite. I really appreciate it.

So, in the novel The Way of the Apprentice, Kenobi really wants to be as good a teacher as Jinn...

According to Return of the Jedi film, Ben Kenobi tells Luke in a meeting in Dagobah, after Yoda died, that When he (Ben) first knew Anakin, Luke's father, he (Anakin) was already a great pilot, but Ben was amazed how strongly the Force was with Anakin. Ben tells Luke that he (Ben) took it upon himself to train him (Anakin) as a Jedi. Later, Ben says he (Ben) thought that he (Ben) could instruct him (Anakin) just as well as Yoda... (that's really in the movies, unless it has been change for the 2004 DVD release , and I wasn't aware off).

If the novel states that Kenobi wants to be as good a teacher as Jinn, then that's a major contradiction for the real plot in ROTJ's conversation between Luke and Ben, during the Dagobah scene...

The point with my first post is that if things like these are stated in the novels, which contradicts with the plot revealed in the original trilogy movies, it's a shame. I don't understand how writers could miss this and not relating their stories according to the original trilogy. The prequel films were set in order to connect those gaps revealed in the original trilogy, which was filmed at the end of the 70's and early eighties. Also, the novels serve in order to fulfill those gaps between the prequel films and the original trilogy, and some of them work pretty well in letting know the reader what happened in between episodes I and II or episodes II and III.

My personal opinion is that the prequel movies have done a great job connecting the whole saga, although some people wouldn't agree on this. A few if them start posting threads regarding some plots that were not revealed correct in the films (i.e., Ben not recognizing or denying the droids, specially R2, or Owen Lars recognizition of C3PO after 22 years). But I am starting this thread on the expanded universe novels, since I found this on a review/storyplot of the Jedi Quest #1 novel and it really called my attention.

 

I think you have the wrong sypnosis for the book actually...the one you posted was for Jedi Quest #2 The Trail of the Jedi in which Anakin and Obi-Wan go on a training mission to build up the bond between...but as always something goes terribly wrong. Obi-Wan wonders if he will be as a good a master as Qui-Gon, while Anakin wonders if Obi-Wan will ever care for him the way he did Qui-Gon. He's 14 here.

The first one is about Anakin learning to work well with his fellow apprentices. Obi-Wan is not even with him for half the book, but he does wonder how Anakin is working with the others because he knows Anakin is way ahead of them (skill wise) which causes him to be arrogant...(typical Anakin I guess)

Anyway all the books are really good, I just finished the last, and there is a book 0 that is a special hard cover edition in which Anakin is about 13. It's call The Path to Truth.

 

I think it's like this: Obi-Wan promised Qui-Gon at his death in EPI that he'd train Anakin. Qui-Gon had already made it clear that he wanted to train Anakin himself earlier in the movie. Since Qui-Gon was Obi-Wan's master, he is the obvious choice for Obi-Wan to compare himself to and especially so since had Qui-Gon not died, he probably would have trained Anakin instead.

Obi-Wan doesn't actively consider how Yoda training Anakin would be because Yoda doesn't really train individual padawans. Yoda's job seems to deal with all the young jedi before they're apprenticed.

I suppose you could compare it to this: When you're a parent, you'll be very likely to compare yourself to your parents. You might ask yourself: Am I not repeating the mistakes of my parents? Am I doing the things they did right?

Now in ROTJ, Obi-Wan might think of Yoda then because in retrospect he knows he failed. He can't think of Qui-Gon in this instance because Qui-Gon couldn't train Anakin. He was dead at the time after all.

Basically, why would Obi-Wan compare himself to Yoda while actively training Anakin? He swore to train Anakin himself. His worry is living up to Qui-Gon request.

Did that make any sense at all?