Characters The Skywalker-Jade Revival Society Discussion Thread

I don't think Karrde OR Mirax were at Mara's funeral. I'm pretty sure they weren't. How stupid. And I would have liked to have seen Winter's reaction to Anakin's death and Jacen's fall.

And the apparent lack of Fel at a Fel wedding just pisses me off (another reason why I have yet to read that book).

 

Speaking of Karrde and Mirax I have to say I'm a huge fan of your work, Jedimara. You're Mirax/Mara story was an awesome read and only made me more miserable considering the fact that a) Mara passed away and b) they had Saba handle her eulogy at the funeral.

I feel like Kaarde has been brought up as a major player in EU because Star Wars has mainly shifted back to the PT mindset of Jedi and Politics. Even Han Solo felt neutered when I read the FoTJ series. That being said Luke/Ben's relationships was easily my favorite aspect of the book series though I'm a bit depressed that it took both Jacen and Mara eating it for that kind of relationship to come about.

 

Speaking of getting neutered. I am reading Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and I am like 'whoa' this is like a lightside version of Luke as seen in Dark Empire. He is a strong Jedi. Then time-wise after these books you end up with Children of the Jedi where Luke is made helpless as a baby by a bump on his head. It's like somewhere between DE and CotJ somebody brought Luke to the Vet and had him fixed! What happened!?! Then we go to TTT (which I love) and Luke gets kidnapped by smugglers (which I also loved). LOL! So in one book he is slapping down AT-AT's with a motion of his hand and in another he is getting beat up by brainwashed Gammoreans. Then he gets kidnapped by a Karrde. There is no consistency in how he is written.

And I totally agree with windu4, the books took a PT mindset where we are heavy on the Jedi and politics. That is why I am glad Jag was in the book. He is a kick-butt non-force using guy that gets things done. Like Han.

And I hated what happened to Han after Chewie and Anakin's death. Maybe he would have taken off but he was gone so long and he left Leia alone during her darkest hour. I was disappointed with how the writers portrayed Han.

 

I loved Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. He was so incredibly angsty but at the same time it wasn't annoying. You can see where his emotions are coming from and identify with them. There's also the way he deals with his enemies. Matthew Stover is amazing with dialogue and dealing with Nick Rostu's lover was just plain gold in my opinion.

That being said I think all the inconstincies are because Luke can only be as strong as the story allows. Instead of making stronger villains they depower Luke to make these villains seem more powerful. It's annoying.

Also I'm not entirely surprised that Zahn engineered Luke being kidnapped by smugglers which sounds ridiculous in my opinion but I haven't read his trilogy in a while...I probably should.

 

I don't think they handled angst!Han very well. I feel like it was implied that Han was emotionally abusive to his family after Chewie died. I just don't think that was like Han. He's seen plenty of people die during his time. Personally I feel like he should have been overjoyed that his son was alive because from what I read it felt like Han would rather his son dead and Chewie alive. That was just poorly written in my opinion.

 

Huh? The timeline is Mindor ---> TTT ---> DE ---> Children of the Jedi. You're right though, the consistency with Luke is poor, especially in Bantam. Mindor is wonderful, however.

I don't think Luke getting "kidnapped" by Karrde is weird. Even in a forest full of ysalamiri, Luke still managed to escape. And take down an entire squadron of stormtroopers in Hyllyard City, still without using the Force. AND he had Mara at his back the entire time, wanting to kill him. I think Zahn writes Luke very competently.

windu, thanks! I really enjoyed writing that fic and am glad you enjoyed it, too.

 

Fair enough! I clearly need to read the trilogy again.

That being said I do think Zahn wrote Luke very well. If I had to choose I'd say Stover's one book on Luke Skywalker was my favorite. Stover seems to write amazing Star Wars novels but does them sparingly. (Traitor, Episode 3 Novelization, Shadows of Mindor, Shatterpoint) I'm afraid that if he did write Star Wars novels on a larger basis he'd become less popular. I think that's what happened to Zahn and Alliston with some fans I've met in the past.

 

Yeah, you are right. I keep getting confused because I expect to see Mara in DE and she is never mentioned. So my brain files her away as pre-TTT. Still, that makes it worse. (Mindor)Strong--(TTT)medium--(DE) Uberstrong, but stupid--(CotJ) helpless and with bad taste in women.

And I don't think Luke was weak in TTT, but I just get a kick out of Karrde fooling him, tying him up and drugging him. I love Karrde. He is cool. I miss seeing him in the profics.

 

He was having a quarter-life crisis.

 

That is what also turned me off. I know they were best buddies, but he should have honored Chewie's sacrifice by being there for the family Chewie always fought to protect.

 

I agree with the above statement completely. He has another 1/3 life crisis in Crystal Star and that other bantam book where he leaves the Jedi order and goes all emo monk. The black fleet crisis?

But yeah, Luke is THE most inconsistent character in the EU. But I kinda understand why.

Edit: Han, I think, is one of the more consistent characters... except for after Chewies death. I can just see Chewacca in the neither world wanting to cuff Han upside the head.

 

When I read that I immediately started thinking about a SW South Park Goth Kid episode.

Emo Luke: Palpatine sucks. I'm gonna go to the graveyard and write poems about death and how pointless life is.
Han: What about the rebellion Luke?
Emo Luke: The Rebels are all conformists. I'm not going to fight a rebellion like the rest of the conformists.

 

I'd have to say that Leia is the most consistent character because quite frankly she stays static. Her character arc in the OT is interesting but she goes through the least changes. In ANH she's an experienced politician and rebel. She stays that way throughout the three movies and her largest point of development is with Han. (Which is kind of sad.) When she was portrayed in the EU she pretty much stayed the same character and they didn't even bother into tapping into her Force potential until she was what....59? That's a huge dissapointment in my opinion.

Han was pretty consistent but after Chewie died they really didn't know how he would handle his grief and during the FoTJ/LOTF he just seemed really out of character with how he handled Jacen's fall and death.

 

Personally, if I was a politician I wouldn't want it to be known I was a Force-user. Nobody would want to negotiate with me. I think when she got out of politics she may have gotten bored and decided to go the Jedi route. Still, Jedi Organa-Solo the lightsaber weilding warrior still seems weird to me. I will always see her as a diplomat or a rebel with a blaster.

 

Here are the plot bunnies to pick if you want to participate in January’s challenge. If you didn’t submit one, you can still pick one and if you submitted one, don’t feel like you are obligated to write one. I probably won’t be putting these in the challenge index because of the truncation issue, so there is no due date.

From Jade_eyes:

#1 This can be a short story up to an epic - L/M run into each other during the OT BUT he's the Imperial; she's the Rebel.

#2 A rewrite of the postVOTF to and through Union (that comic according to repute, is quite cheesy). The fic would take L/M from their engagement through their honeymoon (and it doesn't have to be, preferably isn't, 10 years post-TTT).

#3: An NJO AU which has none of the icky stuff. Chewie and Anakin live! Mara doesn't have that fracking disease. Any other intense edge of seatness is welcome.

#4: A one-shot or a short story where the whole Sacrifice thingy is circumvented; i.e., Mara doesn't leave a note or she and Luke confront Jacen together



From Jedi_Lover:

#1 - For Choices of One...maybe Mara gets injured at the last minute when her and Luke were fighting the bad guy (you know the scene where they are actually in the same room). She's knocked out or something and Luke carries her out of there not really knowing who she is. She wakes up on a Rebel transport and all hell breaks loose.

#2 - Mara does get onto Jabba's sail barge but when she was going to kill Luke Boba Fett's backpack misfires and hits the side of the barge where she is standing and she is either knocked out or falls off the barge and is rescued by Luke and then all hell breaks loose. I love it when hell breaks loose with Mara.

#3 - How about when Exar Kun stole Luke's soul (or whatever he did in the Academy books) Mara hadn't left Luke but stayed by his side. When she tried to free him from Exar Kun's grip she is banished into the same nether region that Luke was trapped in. So they are stuck there until Anakin performs his Jedi magic and releases his Uncle and Mara Jade. I just thought having Mara and Luke trapped in a no man's land would be interesting if they could communicate with each other.


From Briannakin

#1 - A Star Wars version of Love Comes Softly with Mara as Marty and Luke as Clark. Love Comes Softly is a book (that eventually became a VERY long series of books) by Canadian Author Jannette Oke. It is cheesy yet so good. An alright movie adaptation can be found here: (the basic plot is the same as the book but several key details change). The basic plot of both the movie and book is:

Marty and her husband 'move out west', her husband dies, so Clark - a local widow - offers to marry her so she has a place to stay until she can get passage back east. Clark has a young daughter he needs Marty to look after, so he benefits from the arrangement as well (the daughter is like 2 in the books but like 10 in the movie) And, well, you can probably guess the rest of the storyline. It is so sappy, but I love it.

So the Star Wars version would be something like: Mara marries someone, they go to Yavin IV for their honeymoon, they crash their ship and he dies and she gets seriously injured. Luke saves Mara and offers to let her stay with him while she recovers if she helps him with his daughter. They fall in love and there is BOOTKNOCKING!


#2 – I started writing a CRACKFIC where Leia dies just after Callista leaves Luke, Han goes insane, so Luke has to take care of the Solo kids. He enlists the help of Mara and they fall in love, marry and they eventually adopt the Solo kids. Meanwhile Han falls in love with Callista. The Skywalkers are invited to the wedding and all hell breaks loose. (I have a start to this one that basically sums up the back story and I will PM it to anyone interested).


From Hazel

#1 - Mara crash lands on Dagobah while Luke is there training with Yoda.

#2 - Luke helps Mara uncover her identity and history.

#3 - Luke and Mara go on vacation with 6/7 year-old Ben and get into some kind of crazy adventure.

 

Wow. the new boards put the youtube video right in the forum. I did not know they did that.

Anyways, would I be a horrible person if I snagged a bunny right away? Jade_eye's #5 kinda caught my eye and I got an idea for an one or two shot (which is all I can really make time to write right now).

EDIT: Also, the Love Comes Softly bunny has been bugging me for FOREVER! Someone should write it before I do. PLEASE BECAUSE I REALLY WANT IT WRITTEN!!! But in all seriousness, if someone does not pick it, I will eventually waste 6 months of my life that could be use to write something productive, and write the sappiest LM fic ever.

 

Bri!!!!!!!! I love the Love Comes Softly series. I read some of the latter books but not the first one, and I think you'd do an amazing job with it I love the Mara gets rescued by Luke scenarios in their varied versions here. Thanks for snagging my bunny, Bri!! !! I'm so tempted to snag the Mara on the Sail Barge one because Mara with Luke during RoTj is too wonderful! And if you throw a bit of amnesia in there, and then she gets her memory back but by then she's already smitten -- buya jinkies!

 

That is such a disturbing plot! It would have to be a Crackfic because if somebody did a serious story with these type of twists I would cringe. [We need a 'Shudders at the thought' icon]

I wish I had time for this, but my fic Sacrifices is driving me crazy. I hope somebody picks this one up. It looks interesting.

 

WHAT?!?! You have read the other books in the series but not the first one!!?? You crazy lady, go read it! And then you can write the bunny

And you should write the sail barge one. I know you want to. WRITE IT! WRITE IT! WRITE IT! WRITE IT!

 

Oh, it was so disturbing. There's a reason why it remains unfinished... for now. Come on, finish it for me. It's no more weirder than your Callista in r2's body fic.

 

Han marrying Callista is waaay too odd I will take the sail barge one And ... I'll read the Love Comes Softly thingy and see how L/M-ish it can be made into. Hazel would be awesome or JediMara77 with the Choices of One bunny since Hazel has done a tie-in fic and JM77 is the most Zahn-esque ff writer ever.

 

Okay. The idea for Han marrying Callista sprung in my head when Harrison Ford married Calista Flockheart. So it was art imitating life.

 

Oh dear. I've just had the oddest rabbit for Briannakin's #2 crackfic . . .

May I?

 

PLEASE DO!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Do you want me to PM you what I did have to start? You don't have to use any of it, but it might give you more of an idea of my craziness

 

Lazy, please tag me when you begin posting. I adore zany blended with mush.