The nexus of fandom and logic (was: A little experiment)

Proximity. Give it a few years.

 

Fans liking things more as time goes on was a big part of my initial theory, Dunc, but...I'm not sure it's true. On the whole, I couldn't find anything close to a recognizable correlation between release year and favorability - look at the table in Zee's article; the NJO, LotF, Prequel, and Bantam material is spread out more or less evenly (at least considering the comparatively small sampling of books). I do still think that opinions probably get a bit higher as time goes on, but unpopular is still unpopular - just ask Jaxxon.

 

Dunc, actually... I think that these boards, for reasons all their own, probably do and will have a bigger problem with Anakin's death. Lots of reasons for that, of course, but mostly that Mara's journey felt finished in a lot of ways. She'd already been through so much, right up to and including being a mother and going through a lot of character journey there. Anakin was the hero, and he was cut down before his prime. So there's a different sort of indignation.

I also think there's a notion that, had Anakin not died, the galaxy wouldn't be in the shape it's in - that he'd have long since stopped Jacen (or that Jacen would have died instead) and things would be much better. And I think at some level, the authors have given this some weight by the constant pull of Anakin Solo on everyone's hearts in universe from Dark Nest on. Even the characters seem to have a sense of that being the point where things when wrong.

- Keralys