Beyond - Legends "The Shadow of Fate" (SJRS Challenge: Episode VII) Complete! 29 August

Fascinating. Every bit of it.

 

HAHA! Yesssssssssssssss!! Girl, you are so welcome. It's been a joy to see this all play out moment by nuanced moment. Your writing is always masterful, but I think this is, truly, the best work you've ever done. I can't wait to see what comes next!

 

well that was a twist. didn't see that coming.

 

The Dark Lady's revenge ... and the inevitability of one Dark Lord whose absence has been felt and always suspected.

You know, from the beginning *his* absence did actually make my suspicions rise. But how did the self-styled Dark Lady manage to fake his death from infancy? Also, he will be formidable. If he is anything like his counterpart, he will have -- or he is now going to -- spend a lot of time learning as much Force lore as he possibly can. And Svel almost seemed to take a page out of Obi-Wan's book when the Jedi Master once stated, "If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." It is all about ideology.

But the clues to the Dark Lord's identity were almost all there: especially with the vornskyr. That was a nice touch, JadeLotus. I look forward to reading the next Episode.

 

Oh WOW! Incredible. I too didn't see that one coming. Although in hindsight the clues were there. Fantastic job JL. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

 

Dude, I am relieved I never accidentally spilled the beans!!! What a twist!!! I love it and cannot wait for Ep VIII!!!!!

 

I'm not going to read the spoilers since I'm not caught up, but just wanted to say congratulations. This was one truly epic project and I am really impressed that you finished. Way to go!

 

do you know when you will start working on the sequel?

 

I'm only a few posts in, but I just love this story! Great storytelling, great characterizations and super
writing. I can't wait to digest the rest of it!

*edit...holy crap, I guess I didn't notice my reply posted everything. Sorry about that! Now that I'm back from vacation, maybe I'll get to more of this sucker.

 

Okay! I finally finished it all; sorry it took me forever! What can I say besides <standing> BRAVO! BRAVO!

You've done a masterful job of putting likable, extremely well crafted characters together with a highly entertaining and followable storyline. Flashbacks and mainline story were both equally enjoyable. There were just enough plot twists and surprises to keep me guessing what was going to happen next. You did an excellent job of characterization for Luke, Leia, Han and the whole gang, though I did have minor issues with Mara's tendency to sit at home and fret for a portion of the story. Once she was done fretting though, she kicked major butt, which is 100% Mara. I thought you did a great job of the flashbacks with Han and Leia, and Luke and Mara.

Super story. If you do the sequel, please send me a PM or tag me! Thanks!

 

Thank you!

Thanks gal, I couldn't have done it without you!

I was cautious about too much foreshadowing, but took great care to ensure that it all works and there are even a few hints - everything will be revealed in the sequel, which is still in the planning stages but should start being posted early next year.

I really wanted to keep the twist for the end, and I was concerned that there is quite a bit of emphasis on Jacen existing but dying or so everyone thought, that people would twig as to exactly why I was telling that backstory in such detail. But of course, that backstory was important to Leia's character development and her deciding to become a Jedi, so I hope people think it works in retrospect.

[/quote]But how did the self-styled Dark Lady manage to fake his death from infancy?[/quote]

This will be explained very early in the sequel!

Thank you! I knew as soon as I introduced a pet vornskr people would guess the twist so it had to be saved for the end.

Thank you! I'm glad the twist seems to have worked and makes sense.

Thanks gal! If anyone has any doubts that this twist was planned from the very beginning, you can vouch for me!

Thank you! It's the longest and most complex thing I've ever written in my life, and I've learnt a lot in the proceed.

Thank you! I am working on the PDF version (making very minor alterations/fixing typos), however in the meantime the entire fic is posted on A03 here.

Thank you! I realise its quite the mammoth read

Thank you - sometimes I think I got in over my head with the dual narrative, but I enjoyed writing in both time periods so much and basically re-writing my own version of the EU, and I do think the past reflects and explains the present time events a great deal.

I get that - it is strange to have Mara be so passive, and the uncertainty and worry really got to her since she had no choice but to hold down the fort on Coruscant and not be out there being active and protective like she would want to be - it was a far more internal challenge while most of the other characters were fighting external ones. I do have more of an active role for her planned in the sequel!

I surely will.

 

Okay, I'm ready for another binge. Catching up now, review incoming for chapters 38-end.

*reaches the epilogue*

WHAT?????

*goes back frantically to spot the clues in earlier chapters*

Okay, of course, it was all there -- especially in the duel scene in chapters 38-39, where you say so clearly how similar they are.

You had me completely fooled, and I normally pride myself on being an attentive reader and guessing this sort of twist In the notes I took as I read, I wrote down several times how nicely and smartly you used the father/son theme to have Luke/Ben and Svel/Fin mirror each other, but I had just never guessed this.

I LOVE how you integrated so many elements of the Legends continuity as well as tidbits from the trailers in this story ("the hooded figure with its mechanical arm holding Darth Vader's helmet"). It all comes together so naturally!

I also loved how, in chapters 38-39, we get to see the young generation gradually take over from the old one, with Jaina saving Mara and Ben saving Luke. All this in the middle of the climatic battle/space battle/duel scene without which Star Wars would not be Star Wars.

I'm really curious to see how you're going to integrate more elements of TFA in the sequel(s).

Other tidbits I liked:

Luke's marriage proposal to Mara in chapter 38 -- nice throwback to VOTF in that it comes out of the blue, but not really I imagine we'll find out in the sequel how soon they got married?

Leia's test in chapter 39 -- pages and pages of (IMO) worthless Legends blabber condensed in one single, amazing, heartfelt scene.

Shada sacrificing her ship and not batting an eyelid over it! Again, great throwback to VOTF, in an ironic way.

"He'd long suspected that his life would end in battle, but Luke had never thought he would die alone." This sentence gave me the shivers. I have a baaaad feeling that this might still happen before the end of the sequels you have in mind

Someone would beg to differ, I thought to myself as I read these two sentences. Well, it turns out I was right.

Pooja's funerary oration -- so senatorial and so Padmé.

And lastly:

I noted this sentence as I went along, in the "nice tidbits from Legends" category, but now that I read the epilogue I know that there's much, much more to it.

Wow. Just wow. I'll keep an eye out for the sequel!

 

Bravo! Looking forward to the sequel.

 

Just finished this incredible work.

Lady, I can honestly say this was brilliant. BRILLIANT. /blasphemy/ I think I might have liked your ideas better than Abram's /end blasphemy/

Each character so clearly defined and unique, the battle scenes breathless, the emotion of the introspection spot-on. Your plotting is perfection. I ditched the novelization of TFA to finish reading this and your work is so, sooooooo much better.

And are you seriously writing an ep VIII? I see how you've set it up. It will be amazing.

I know I'm gushing here, but...you deserve it. There have been very few fanfics that I've considered masterpieces, and this is one of them. Right up there with Obaona's Drive You Mild.

Thank you for this incredible gift of art and grace and pure love for all the magic that is Star Wars.