The Dark Hope - Pre-Prequel Trilogy - Finished!

FORWARD!

 

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Finally, after so long I've finished this thing!

What a ride, Casper. I can understand the hype now.

I especially enjoyed Naressa's little tirade to Pern in those moments before she took him out. I knew there was a difference between a Dark Jedi and a Sith, and you hit the nail on the head in that moment. When darkness is all you know, you really can't be considered as evil as one who turned away from the light by choice.

I also read somewhere that the Sith were an ancient race, and that they all died out, leaving other sentients to discover and, eventually, bastardize their powers towards evil...wish I could remember where...

I'm hooked, man, and I'll catch you on The Fading Light soon.

Until then...

 

Thanks, Whiskey!

And yes: Don't believe the hype until you read it! I always tell that to folks because I don't know how they are going to feel after reading something so tremendously long and tremendously exhilerating. I felt I took something used and created something new and I told it in a way that I hoped was unique. All those elements created the story, and it was my task to be the storyteller. So with your joyous pronouncement I know I have once again suceeded.

It's my opinion that there is a tremendous difference between Dark Jedi and Sith, and in The Fading Light you will see it again has I have my own personal take on it.

If anything Star Wars cannot be a one dimensional universe. To be forced into that position is to A.) Accept the status quo, which isn't all that bad, but B.) Makes for obviously boring, rehashed, been there done that type of storytelling. When I started writing TDH, I tried to read some of the fiction here and after a few paragraphs, except for (at the time) Rok's, Djuva's, Sudafed's threads, I didn't even bother to post or continue to read because I could just spend $5.99(or more) to read that kind of SW story. (Remember what I said in story about Canonfodder?)

In a sense, Attack of the Clones had started long before there was Attack of the Clones.

All the while it was Jedi good, Sith bad, nothing exciting in the Republic over all. Geez if I knew the 'galaxy far, far away....' was that simple then nothing would surprise me, and if I wrote that way nothing would surprise the readers.

I was inspired by two things in regards to the characterization of Naressa Rapier. One was two short stories by Patricia A. Jackson; the first one escaped me, but the second was called 'Uhl Eharl Khoehng' in the book 'Tales of the New Republic'. It featured a Dark Jedi-like character who had a son, and although his soul was plagued by darkness he never let it overrule the love he had for his boy. I felt that this story gave something to the characterization of the Sith that is lacking in the movies, and that's heart. There has to be some heart or there is no motivation.

The second is where you 'wish I could remember when'....but it's actually where. At Star Wars.com, it gives a pretty good detailed account of who the REAL SITH were. In TFL it reveals that quite abit, as well as the Sith Maiden mystic. They were indeed an ancient race that embraced the darkness within them and therefore embraced it naturally. I've made up some crazy stuff about it in TFL: hey, it's my AU after all.

And finally there is that fine line in anyone where they decide if they wanta change who they are or accept who that are suppose to be. I wanted to blur that line because I wanted folks to think. Naressa is the perfect character choice for it, and I think that is why a lot of folks embrace her the most. She knows she's evil, and therefore she does all she can to do the most good and it helps that she has a daughter she doesn't want to have follow her footsteps. And yes Pern allows himself to fall into the embrace of darkness not because of ultimate power but for revenge, but his revenge has no merit. In fact it's not revenge its overreaction to rejection caused by simple rage. Like a drug addict he can't stop himself once he goes down that path, and that path goes against all that he was brought up on; the way of the Jedi.

In a sense Pern is totally contradicting himself. He is doing things for the woman he thought he loved (Nadja) when it goes against everything she taught him, and he thinks he is in the right to do so.

Thanks man; I'll definately try to get around to reading the other 'Strangers' stories. The summer may yield a lot of time for me once TFL is done.

FORWARD!

 

FORWARD!

 

Wow, Casper! Most impressed am I! That was one wild ride!!!

First off, let me say that I absolutely love the way you are setting things up for The Phantom Menace. The connections I see that are being left wide open for Episode I to finish up are so awesome! You have really weaved together a well thought out plot in an already well established franchise/universe.

Your characters were awesome. Naressa was just plain cool because their were honestly times when I just plain loathed her and wished her dead, and then there were times when I loved her and couldn't get enough of her. Her dynamic with Enothchild was really interesting too. Even to the end, you still don't really know how long their good relationship is going to last.

Prophet was absolutely terrifying! Congrats for creating one of the singular most terrifying villains I have seen yet.

Pern was just slimy. I'm glad he finally got what was coming to him in the end. If it hadn't been for Naressa, who knows how many other victims would have fallen underneath him, least of all Juna.

Juna was awesome! I really liked how mature and childish she could be both at the same time. To be an ambassador at such a young age, and then to become Queen, is really something. She is very special indeed.

Enothchild was really cool! It was great to see an extremely unique character as one of the main focuses of this story. He is very wise and also very practical. Can't wait to see what else is in store for him.

Dizzy just cracked me up! He reminded me so much of Han Solo in his way with people and the way he idolizes the Falcon.

Muriel also really made me laugh a lot, especially in her relationship with Dizzy. I really liked how she was so tough and didn't take any crap from anybody. Can't wait to see what's in store for her.

Bendian...to be quite frank, I hated him quite a lot for most of the story, and I think that was what you were going for. It was good to see him make up with his family and finally be loved before he died. That really gave a lot of closure to his character.

Landana was pretty cool. Kinda reminded me of Padme during the Battle of Naboo. There were sometimes when I liked her, and others when I didn't like her much, especially when she closed her mind to things.

Sele...yeah, totally didn't see that one coming. But it definitely makes sense that Palp would be placing spies all over the place. Kinda makes you wonder about the Republic in general.

Finally, Palpatine. He was awesome in this story. It's so cool to see even more how he eventually becomes the Emperor. Even now, you can sort of see how he's setting things up for himself and influencing people.

Again this story was awesome, Casper!!! Absolutely fabulous! The tie-ins from the movies were great as were the tie-ins from your prologues and side stories. Can't wait to start The Fading Light.

 

Not that this really even matters, but I just realized that I finished this story in exactly 4 months...Kinda weird...

FORWARD!!!

 

Thanks, MasterYoda34, for taking the time to read and enjoy what I have done. And you are welcome. I do hope to see you in six or eight months after having read TFL. I think you will be surprised on some things there and how it leads to the movies as well.

FORWARD!

 

OOKKKAAYYY............ I spent the whole of Sunday reading TDH, starting from "Nothing Else Matters". And it's cool to note how

(1) everything fits together (now I call that planning)

(2) Casper's writing of the details improved as time passes

(3) despite its length, TDH seems so... short now! I know it feels like aeons when we were waiting for it in the spring of 2001, but that was before the monster of a TFL was unleased upon us...

I like it!

Just a few things to say before I jump into TFL...

(a) Juna is obsession personified. I know we all know this, but it's still interesting to see how she can make everyone so 'enamoured' with her.

(b) Dizzy is common sense cool. I think he would make a great Headbanger.

(c) That 1 inch tatoo on Padawan Casper Knightshade and the huge focus on Sith-tatoos seems too much of a coincidence.


I wonder how long I will take to read through TFL....

 

Well perhaps its too early to call this a Matrix Phenomenon: You know, with folks going to back and rereading everything to see if they kind even the most hidden of facts and details.

But I must admit much of my tentative writing was first time jitters and the fact that, hey, this fricking thing is 70 damn chapters long: I gotta end.

But yeah the writing improved as the nervousness vanished and the shell of the grand plot was revealed. Just the shell; not everything has been planned, but improvsation could be a strong writing point of mine.

Thanks for reading it again, Delight. And hopefully you or others bring up said points at the off board discussions, which are coming sooner than anyone thinks.

 

FORWARD!