A&A The Official Karen Traviss Discussion Thread

I dunno, she gave a pretty nice thank you to Star Wars fans in her recent blog about stepping aside. Gears of War is more like a shiney new toy for her at this point.

In any case why shouldn't she be honest about the way she feels? Do we as fans just want sugar coated comments about how awesome we and our franchise are?

Personally I'm partial to authors saying what they really think instead of them just giving generic answers all the time.

And I don't think there is any question that Karen liked her Star Wars fans as she responds to her emails personally and in a very thoughtful manner. What she's not good at is being politically correct, but thats OK with me. I'd rather know how she really feels than have her print un-truths to make everyone happy.

 

The fans aren't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about what she says and doesn't say about the people she's working for--the bosses--not the fans. The Powers That Be.

 

That's a very interesting point of view...

I suppose it might be telling who is thanked in her last book, which was CW:NP. I believe it's the EPIC crew, who are described as "the light at the end of the tunnel". Of course, it could be that she just likes the EPIC folks that much.

 

So, is there any word: will Karen be providing some closure to her stories and characters in her final book? Is someone else going to be continuing the series?

 

http://karentraviss.typepad.com/blog/2009/12/sooty-and-a-clean-sweep.html

She's done. With all of it.

 

Sad nes that she's leaving...even if Rostoni and the others get a new author for Imperial Commando 2, it just won't be the same
I still think them retconning it to make the Mandos pacifists is complete osik though

 

Recent events have prompted me to seek out these forums. (also posted in the Oya Mando...thread)
Greetings.
I have been a Star Wars fan, all my life. The first movie I remember seeing in the theatres was ANH, In 1977 I was 8.
ESB changed my life. I'm not ashamed to say I was surprised by Vader's announcement. The bounty hunter seen remains burned into my cerebral cortex for all time. When I'm old and drooly, this may be among the last things to go.
Boba Fett, was the greatest of mysteries. McQuarrie's armor design, "Supertrooper" or bounty hunter was overwhelmingly evocative, he touched on an archetype.
Han Solo is the coolest pirate charmer ever. The Millenium Falcon is the coolest pirate ship ever. Lightsabers, Jedi and Sith, are stunning Sci-Fi creations. Obi-Wan Kenobi, helped form my fundamental childhood morality.
I have nothing good to say about Ewoks..... or Jar jar Binks.
Early on, when SW additional materials were rare and coveted, an author began fleshing out the idea of Mandalorian culture, equipment (armor), their relationship to the Jedi, and the Sith, their place in the Old Republic, and the bounty hunter in Mandalorian armor known as Boba Fett. All "Approved by GL" info thus far indicated an old miltary culture with a flexible work ethic and profound fighting tradition. Karen Traviss enriched this aspect of "Approved" material beyond my hopes.
What on earth suggests that the Mandos ever took on the sudden mantle of pacifism? Somebody's off their meds.
I don't beleive that the crux of the canon/conflict lies on her shoulders. SW is among the most tightly guarded creations ever. So why allow a plot device that ruins the developments in story that hard working creators you hired strove to build? The 60 odd SW books I've read slowly built on a tradition, why cast it aside?
I am at a loss for words, KT's departure is a terrible blow. I may never give GL another dollar of my money.

 

Pasifist Mandos, boo. What would a warrior society do with born again peace lovers. Anyone, anyone, Ordo? Well quiet possibly target practice, or using them as human shields like in Gears of War (Marcus style). I mean what else would they be good for? Not fighting thats for sure.

Oya!

 

how does the mandos being peaceful ruin everything? maybe they just realized that raiding would be less practical in the long term. Maybe the TM and DW are the last torchbearers of the violence the mandalorians once practiced. it's not the end of the world.

 

Darth Yan have you actually read any of KT's books?
Did you enjoy them?
If you did, you probably would not say "How does the mandos being peaceful ruin everything? "

The Mandalorian culture with its fighting tradition and frighteningly practical view on family is really the meat and potatoes of those books. They're all about the powerful desire to find out were you belong. Bard'ika the former Jedi, belonged to the Mandos. They claimed him. Kal Skirata adopted all those Clone Commandos. The single most obvious character requirement from one Mando to another is capability. What can you do? Are you tough, practical, true, generous, and ready to defend those that claim you. How you behave towards outsiders is a completely different matter to the Mandalorians.

 

Fettishist, all I can say is preach on Vode. And as for the post before your's "POO DOO" but hey what can I say I'm just a Mando here, no body special.

 

maybe during the clone wars they returned to their original roots. I honestly don't mind the change.

 

I don't like the idea to make the Mando's pacifists. There's too much history already about them that will get tarnished IMO. I mean along with what Traviss has written so far, other mediums like KOTOR have made the Mandos out to be a warrior race as well. To much to back track on.

 

kotor took place 4000 years earlier. so no, no contradiction. Also, maybe it was more practical to become pacifists.

 

The point for some of us is that we've never really seen Mandalorians portrayed as pacifists, ever. The closest I'd guess would be the miners/slaves represented in Marvel, but even they took up arms to fight the Empire.

Eventually this will all fit in canon, by retcon or rewrite.

That said I'd also love to see The Clone Wars show that Trandoshans largely are actually a species of gardeners who liked to get together with the Wookies on Kashyyyk and trim Worshyr trees on Life Day.

It's not really that there can't be a retcon making the Trandoshans botanists, or that there were Trandoshans we didn't know about that were botanists, its just not a way some of us want to see Trandoshans portrayed.

As for "more practical to be pacifists", maybe it was, but that would mean they sacrificed their belief structure and turned them as a people into followers, a pretty drastic change from how they have always been presented thus far.

Even the Marvel Mandalorians were able to fight against the Empire while later waging war against the Nagai. So I wouldn't really classify becoming pacifists as returning them to their "original roots". We've never seen a root that didn't involve them being warriors on some level.

Can it work canonically, sure. That doesn't mean I or others are interested in seeing it.

 

As I said in the "Oya Mando.....RC" thread.

Maybe chewbacca isn't really a 7' tall wookie, he's actually a Ewok with gigantism and a speach impediment.

Mando pacifist's, Revisionist Osik.

 

For anyone who might care; Karen Traviss is writing the video game GEARS OF WARS 3 as well as the novels leading up to it.

She has also left Del Rey and is now publishing her original fiction via Simon and Schuster and in addition to her leaving Del Rey, the entire GEARS OF WAR franchise went with her over to S&S.

 

Yeah, I heard that. If Asopho Fields and Jacinto's Remnant are any indicators, GOW3 might have a really good story.

 

This was posted a while back. April 1st 2010
In EXTREMELYpoor taste.

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Karen_Traviss_Returns_To_Star_Wars_130415.asp

 

DEAR KAREN TRAVISS,

While I have enjoyed the general storyline of your books, you need get something straight.

3 clone troopers, even if they are nulls, ARE NO MATCH FOR AN ARMED JEDI KNIGHT OF EVEN MEDIOCRE SKILL, EVEN IF SAID JEDI IS CORNERED! In the 501st book, you even had a Spartti clone as the hero in a 3 v 1 battle against a lone Jedi.

You have elevated the Mandos as "almost Jedi" but without the force, and that just isn't the case.

Also, I sometimes feel like there is too much conversation, like a high school student who is adding non-relevant data to meet a required word count.

So anyway, back off on the "Super Mando" stuff.

Sincerely,

James

 

Karen is no longer writing Star Wars novels so you've got nothing to worry about.

Though I suspect the entire idea behind Order 66 will need to be retconned if Clone Troopers are no match for Jedi. Considering they wiped out the Jedi Order and all.............

 

I'm curious what you thought of the first scene of the first Coruscant Knights book which featured a group of Stormtroopers taking out a Jedi Master?

And that's not snark, it's just that training and luck and the Jedi being on the run has worked in their favour before. Heck, the only reason Camas died is because he WANTED to die to draw attention away from the computer drive. He tore Squad 40 up with ease just running from point A to B to set the trap off.

 

If you like the books you might want to know that she's got ANVIL GATE from Del Rey and then the 4th book is the prequel to the game with a fifth "mystery" book also announced. No one knows what it's going to cover yet.

 

Thats the one I've been looking for. I want to see the Lambent tear up the surface.

And to the guy with the hate letter.
The only time that the Mandalorians kicked a Jedi's ass in any of her books was Revelation. Considering it was mostly Boba Fett doing the ass kicking, I'm inclined to believe it, especially since this was a guy who stood up to Vader in a fist fight.

The Jedi killing in Order 66 was a trained murderer versus a bunch of children on a crowded bridge, with plenty of backup troopers. Basically a major curb stomp.