The Official Knight Errant Discussion Thread

I got to the comics and to the novel late due to being deployed. was able to get them all when I went home on leave and must say I very much enjoyed them both. I look forward to seeing where the story and characters continue to go. JJM, fine job and keep up the good work.

 

This kind of follows the main question I had the entire time reading this book -- who trained all these Sith Lords? There doesn't appear to be any Academies. Were they all just trained by their families? What about the outsiders, like the Calician? Who trains the adepts?

Arkadia, from my interpretation of the reading, was able to completely dominate Kerra during their duel. Kerra only survived due to the outside interference. Kerra was described as a strong Jedi Knight who had extensive training in the Jedi Academy from various Masters, and was more focused on combat than philosophy or other Jedi traits. ...And yet she was completely dominated by a Sith that, as far as I can tell, was only 5-ish years older than her that conceivably only had limited training by her Father?

At one point Arkadia mocks Kerra and compares her to a padawan. Sith have padawans? Arkadia didn't seem to be very knowledgable about the Jedi - so I don't think she could've been referencing the Jedi Order?

Can anybody shed some light on this?

 

Good questions, all. Let me see what I can do here, within the bounds that some of it may be yet to be touched upon in the comics:

The attire of Daiman's troops does vary somewhat across the realm -- the logistical challenges of outfitting and arming a force when the borders and personnel keep changing are pretty daunting. In the metropolis, more attention is paid to the regalia -- Darkknell has been under Daiman's control longer than places like Chelloa, and as he's there more often, he pays more attention to the fineries. It's there, after all, for his benefit.

Regarding Daiman's training infrastructure, it does exist, although we did not see it. While the Sanctum Celestial is one hub for Force-user activity on Darkknell, it is not the only one. As we've seen evidence of a bureaucracy in the Daimanate, you might well expect there is one for the education of Force-users, as well. Odion's novitiates are another story -- shouldn't go farther on that one.

A Knight for just a few weeks, Kerra's chances against any Sith Lord, self-declared are otherwise, are something I wanted to realistically depict both in "Aflame" and the novel. There's going to be a gulf, if not one on a Luke/Vader TESB scale. I shouldn't go too far beyond what's been said in print as to where Arkadia learned her skills, but she was clearly not at a loss for educational and historical resources, and she was shown to draw upon the latter. That's where she learned the "padawan" term; as is suggested to us at the end, quite a lot of the Grumani Sith's knowledge of the Jedi is secondhand, as opposed to earned from direct experience.

 

having been kindly directed to the right thread, allow me to repaste my novel reading notes

CARTOGRAPHY
Byllura--Caamasi, Celegian, Duros, human, Ithorian, Krevaaki, Rodian, Sullustan, Trandoshan
Coruscant--Celegian
Darkknell--Arkanian, Duros, human, Gamorrean, Snivvian, Sullustan, Woostooid
Fostin IX--human?
Garr'lst--massacred cat people
Gazzari system 111
Nilash--Bothan, etc.
Phaegon--in Vilia's empire
"Sarrassian iron" 93
Syned--Falleen, Gotal, Herglic, Houk, human, Ithorian, Twi'lek, Wookiee
Verdanth--Bothan, etc.

FAUNA and FLORA
Aquilaris [ie Aquilaris Minor]--quadractyl
Byllura--avian creature, forest, mildew; jornisae spider (introduced from Cularin)
Fostin IX--plague 72
Ralltiir--Ralltiiri glowmite
Syned--beralyx "ice-lizard" 266-7, Synedian alga 270
Verdant--rimebat
Vilia's world--butterfly, flower
Whinndor--Whinndorian gorsk-plant
homeworld unmentioned--vordebeast 315 [allusion by Kerra...so possibly from Aquilaris Minor?]

DROIDS
Arkadianite droid pilot 324
Arkadianite interrogator droid 322
BD series nanny droid 236
Daimanite loader droid 18
Industrial Heuristics droid minder 108

VEHICLES
A. of the Daimanate
*airspeeder 24
*Convergence Tactical Assault Vehicle 10
*cruiser 143, 146-7 / flagship the ?Era Daimanos? 88, 91
*destroyer 146 [smaller than Odionate cruiser]
*hover platform 136
*mobile munitions factory 105
*personnel transport 105
*snubfighter 146/tri-pronged pursuit fighter 150/fighter 50
*speeder bike 18
B. of the Odionate
*airspeeder 117
*Cargo crawler 138
*cruiser 143, 146-7 [="Sword of Ieldis"?]
*Death Spiral [large version] 116-7
*Flying skiff 136
*Speeder bike 117/swoop bike 122
*three-legged armored transport 117
*troop transport 117
C. of the Bactranate
*crescent-shaped cruiser 114, 150
*"largest vessel" [flagship?] 151
*Industrial Heuristics arxeum 76
*Industrial Heuristics personnel transport 84
D. of the Dyarchy
*airspeeder 187
*battleship 192-3, 249 / "cruiser" 272
*starfighter 187
*troop transport 249
E. of the Arkadianate
*crystalline warship / "cruiser" 254
*fighter 254
*floating platform 322
*hoverchair 324
*icecrawler 291, 332
*large flagship the "New Crucible" 262
*trundle car 264, 269, 272
*shuttle 264, 324
F. of the Chagranate
*Death Spiral [small version] 116-7
G. of Vilia's Empire
*Narsk's special stealth fighter 256
G. used by Rusher's Brigade
*cargo sled 362
*crane
*Devaronian cruise liner the ?Vihary Telk? 56, 146
*hoverchair 309
*speeder bike
*tracked power-loader vehicle
H. other
*Toong battle droid carrier 57
*infantry carrier the "Remorseless" 147-8
*walking tank used at Battle of Mizra 307

 

Hi there!

Here are my reations to Knight Errant. There are some spoilers so beware!

http://thestarwarschronologyproject.blogspot.com/2011/07/1032-bby-knight-errant.html

Join me on my quest and become a follower of my blog!

 

Talk about a heck of a long ride... I didn't want to rush reading this, and things have kept coming up and getting in the way of me being able to sit down, relax, and actually enjoy reading it, so I've been slowly grinding away at this for the past 10 months. But at long last, I am finally done.

All in all, I found this a great read. I really liked the set up of the Calimondra family and the explanation for now Vilia has held together a group of Sith. I regularly see people try similar things in their fan fiction, and am always rolling my eyes thinking "That doesn't work. They're Sith," so I enjoyed JJM showing how to do such Sith familial relationships effectively.

In particular, I loved the Dyarchy twins. They're the sort of Force users I enjoy reading about, and remind me of the things I used to like about the EU in the 90s like TotJ, where different Jedi each have their particular specialities, rather than all just being the same cookie cutter warrior monks. The main post ROTJ stuff might have become all prequely without many Streens or Halcyons anymore, but I'm glad to see KE having some more old school characters. Even Calician, despite still using "lightsabers", I enjoyed on account of his rather novel combat form.

Now I'm off to go back and reread some of those scenes in Deluge now that I know about Arkadia. I look forward to when she and Vilia show up in the comic.

 

Just finished it a few minutes ago.

I have to say, it was quite good. I really liked Kerra Holt's character. She strikes me as a more unconventional Jedi, and I like that.

The Sith were very intriguing characters, especially Arkadia. I loved the third of book dealing with her, especially when Kerra was trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with the seeming paradise she found herself in.

I really hope Miller and LFL decide that another novel with Holt is warranted. I bought the TPB of Aflame about halfway through the novel (only my third real comic purchase ever) because I want more of the Kerra Holt story.

I didn't really get that feeling. I thought it wasn't necessarily even, but in no way was Arkadia dominating the duel.

 

Thanks for the kind words. Deluge finishes up this month, and next year's Escape gives us quite a lot more on "the family."

 

That would be pretty cool. I'd love to see a Zayne Carrick novel, too.

 

You're welcome!

I'm already looking forward to those works.

 

Oh, now that I definitely have to see!

Currently on, what, my sixth re-read (so seventh read overall) of this book? And I'm still floored by how awesome it is.

Celegians and Krevaaki and more, oh my!

And I was rereading the entire story right through- and noticed a Draethos in Aflame. The use of these obscure-yet-awesome EU species just makes me giddy. They're criminally underused, so to see a Draethos or read about a Krevaaki and a bunch of Celegians just puts a smile on my face.

Seriously, I keep noticing new things about these stories every time I reread them. Again, we have JJM and everyone else behind the whole KE project to thank.

And as you can imagine, I totally third the idea of another Knight Errant novel.

 

best thing in the comics, though, has to be a Hutt warlord flying a starfighter

 

Agreed.

 

It was released as a MMPB only, Quest.

 

Interested that this got bumped when it did, because I finally got around to reading it. Unsurprisingly, it was great. Will probably post a review later. I don't expect to see another Knight Errant novel, but I'd love to see some more short stories set in the era.

 

Got a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card for graduation so I got around to purchasing this. About 30 pages in and it looks very promising; JJM has a great sense of humor.

 

>We will never see a conclusion to it

 

To what?

 

Finished the novel last month or so. Really good. I want another book in that era. Great job by JJM. Can't wait for Kenobi.

 

Somehow, Knight Errant returned...

I've been revisiting Knight Errant for a few months. I'd been reading the novel sporatically between High Republic novels and I did the comics in chronological order. Meaning, arc one then novel then the follow up arcs.

I was just reading the part in Escape where Kerra watches the holo of of her parents message about dying to keep the Helm of Iedlis out of Odion's hands. It reminded me of Jyn Erso watch the hologram of Galen talking about what he did to sabotage the Death Star. Even the art of Kerra almost looks like Felicity Jones. Just a cool coincidence that I liked.

This series could readily slot into the Sith War era of Canon. Especially in light of the High Republic, that part of it is reconnecting the Outer Rim and establishing intergalactic communications. In Knight Errant the Sith territories are cut off from communications with the Republic and the Sith themselves don't have mass media or any kind of communications for their subjects.

 

Agreed. I really hope that canon depictions of the Sith War take after Knight Errant and its dark age of feuding sith lords.

This also reminds me - back in the day I was hoping we might get some story between Knight Errant and Jedi vs Sith where we got to see a more experienced Kerra meet with Lord Hoth - sadly that can't happen as it would now, but I would love to see those characters brought back in some capacity in canon.

 

I wasn't enthused about the art from the first couple arcs, but Escape has great art imo.

I also think Odion is mkr interesting than Malgus. His "disability" in feeling unbearable pain from the mere existence of other beings is a really unique and interesting angle on a Sith Lord and his motivations. He really became something in Escape that I don't think was there through the rest of the Knight Errant saga.