Was Chewie's death done well In Vector Prime?

Oh please, it was the most contrived death ever and has no literary merit.

The death only occurred because of an unbelievable string of contrived coincidences that don't stand a moment's scrutiny.

He didn't die heroically. He didn't die saving anyone's life. Read the passage again. He wasn't sacrificing himself for Anakin at all. He was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time and therefore his death is as meaningful as dying in a mudslide or an earthquake.

It was a dictated event that wasn't allowed to spring internally from the plot.

And ain't it funny how the news releases about the launch of the new line of books led with Chewie's death? Hm, I guess whoever sends out the releases thought it would help stimulate the book's sales...

 

Read it, and reread the passage many times.

Chewie would not have died if he hadn't taken the time to save Anakin.

So yes, he sacrificed himself to save Anakin.

 

AniSS is quite right. Chewie did in fact die because he was saving Anakin's life. It is written right in the book. I don't think it is to hard to see. I think were talking about the same book here, right?

 

No, he did not die to save Anakin.

Anakin and Chewie were on their way to the Falcon when Anakin heard a child. They stopped to rescue the child, as all heroes do. They couldn't get back to the Falcon. Anakin had to use the Force. Anakin was knocked unconscious, no more Force. Yes, Chewie threw Anakin to the Falcon - what, you expect him not to? How out of character would that be, even for this particular book? - but the point remains that there is no way Chewie would have survived. He did not sacrifice himself to save Anakin. If he didn't throw Ani to Han, then Ani would also be dead - but throwing Ani to Han is NOT what caused Chewie to die. So in other words, he did not die saving Ani. He was dead meat regardless.

And it's not as if Chewie was already on board the Falcon and had to leave the safety to go after Ani - that would have been Chewie dying to save Ani. It's not as if Ani through reckless behavior knocked himself unconscious, therefore losing the last chance of getting Chewie on board using the Force - that would be a real reason for Ani to feel guilty. Instead, a piece of debris knocked him out. It wasn't his fault.

There is no way that Chewie could have gotten on board the Falcon. Therefore, it was as if he were caught in an earthquake - sad, yes. But tragic? Supposed to cause angst between Han and Anakin? Ani was completely blameless. It was a "cake and eat it too" death where no hero's hands got dirty, and like most "cake and eat it too" things it fell flat on its face.

 

he died because he saved Anakin, aleja. You can't deny the fact. You can't. If Chewie stays on ship, Chewie lives, Anakin dies. Chewie left the ship to save Anakin. Anakin lives, Chewie dies. You can't explain it any simpler than that.

 

Yes, I can because that isn't the fact.

Chewie didn't leave the ship.

Chewie was already with Anakin.

They were on their way back to the Falcon when they stopped to rescue the child and the rest of the string of coincidences started to pile up.

 

ok, so they're going to let a child die. Should have let a child die. You're pretty heartless.

 

No, DL, that's EXACTLY my point.

Chewie was dead meat to begin with. He didn't die saving Anakin - he died because he was in the wrong place in the wrong time. What really kept him from getting to the Falcon was the piece of debris that knocks Anakin unconscious. Otherwise, Anakin could have gotten them both to the Falcon using the Force.

A sad, but a pointless death. It happens.

 

He died well, in glory, but I found the falling moon to be a bit far-fetched, and it infuriated me that partial blame had to be on Lando's shoulders. So many people already disliked him, it only added fuel to the fire. Then there were others who stopped liking him.

~*~Bria

 

Hey aleja. I have something that might relate to your whole "wrong place at the wrong time" point. Check out the front few pages of the A New Hope novelization. There is a quotefrom Princess Leia explaning that Luke and Han only became heroes because they were in the wrong place at the right time (same thing as wrong time IMO).
You see... the reason you state for hating Vector Prime is the very reason these peeps became heroes in the first place. Strings of coincidences is what started them on this long road. Fault Lucas.

 

LIFE is a string of coincidences, as are all the events of the Saga. The difference is that in the Saga, the convenient vertices outnumber the random, ho-hum, everyday life ones.

 

"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes." -Princess Leia



~*~Bria

 

The passage in question:

"They [Anakin and Chewbacca] went to work on the bulkhead, tossing aside debris with muscle, both physical and mental, and then Chewie reached in a pulled out a small boy, barely a toddler. Together, the three turned for the Falcon, struggling as the storm increased, as the ground heaved and broke apart, as the thunderous wind roared on, the Falcon's powerful engines straining to hold the ship's position.

"They were so near, so close that Han could almost grab Anakin's hand, when a barrage of debris swept past. Chewie held his ground and turned his powerful body to protect the toddler, but a piece of stone clipped Anakin's head, costing him his concentration and launching him far in a rolling, bouncing tumble.

"Han's eyes widened with horror; Chewis thrust the toddler into Han's arms before he could begin to move, and then the Wookiee half ran, half rode the wind to catch up to the fallen Anakin.

"Han handed off the toddler and rushed back to the cockpit, knowing the two could never get back to the Falcon against this mounting storm. He brought the Falcon in fast but steady, moving to the spot even as Chewie lifted Anakin in his arms.

"Han locked her in place and rushed back to the landing ramp, pushing aside those who had moved into position to help. But the Falcon couldn't hold position now, and she drifted up and to the side--her engines roaring in protest.

"'Chewie!' he creid, hanging right off the ramp now. Several others crowded about Han, holding him in place by the legs. He watched desperately for the Wookiee, but the Falcon was up too high.

"Chewbacca gave his friend a resigned, contented look, then threw Anakin up into Han's waiting arms.

"The ground rolled and bucked, and suddenly, Chewie was far, far away..."

I do not believe that Chewbacca would have died had he not run off to save Anakin.

However, I invite you to reach your own conclusions.

 

Just out of curiosity, who here has read the Chewbacca miniseries? Did anyone else get dust motes in their eyes while reading Chewbacca's father talk about his son? And gee, strange that he should take the moon thing the same way as a lot of us do; it was a big deal, a testament to his strength and tenacity.

Tangentially, I don't know if anybody else caught on, but it took a deity (Tosi-karu) to beat Chewbacca. Symbolically speaking, of course. Still meaningless?

 

Oh, please. No one started saying that only a moon could take out the Wook until after Chewie#1 came out. Then it was all the rage.

 

I was saying that from the beginning.

 

Completely and utterly meaningless. It was all due to a piece of debris, which is uncontrollable and therefore out of anyone's hands. Thanks for taking the time to type out that passage, AniSS.

DL, I'm not interested in getting into another go-round on VP. The book is pure dren and just not worth any more of my time. I had a discussion pointing out just why VP is contrived and implausible while ANH is not, over a year ago with SSJGohan - you're welcome to try and find it

 

I am in agreement with those who say that his death was done badly.
The falling moon was just silly as far as I was concerned.
Done for shock and sales value.
A 30 year old male friend of mine has not bought or read
an NJO book since because of this.
Personally I don't believe in limiting your future options in a continuing story.
A life altering injury or Han thinking he was killed when perhaps he was enslaved by the Vong
could have served the same function, without
removing him from future stories. Since Chewie started out as a slave this would have
been a good tie to the past.

I didn't find the reactions of the mains to Chewies death, sat well with me either.
Han blames his son rather than the enemy who
dropped the moon. Luke and Mara's reaction is done off camera. ( Chewie as least deserved some good mourning scenes)
and Lando says It's not his fault. Nice guy
that Lando.

It's left to the kids to do the psycho analysis of the adults reactions.

It is a shame that the powers that be never
gave Chewie a voice in the novels. He could
have been a more useful character from the
beginning. I have seen fan fics that put his words in italics to indicate he is speaking in his language and I rather liked
it.

As for the argument that we need to see that
death is a part of war. I think we all know
that already. I don't need mains killed off
to have that point made. Having my brother
get a draft number of 8 during the Vietnam
war and having all his friends get shipped there made that point for me nicely years ago.

 

I must agree. Chewbacca's death is difficult to grasp still to this day. But it was one of glory, honor, respect, pride and what better way to symbolize his death than by a moon taking out the planet he was trying to save.

"Ahhhhhh, and we finally have the mighty chewbacca now"

That was a comment from the God's the day Chewbacca died.

 

He died well...

 

I think his death was done well; Vector Prime is the best NJO book so far IMO.

But I have to disagee that the guilt expressed by Leia was done well in the DHC. That whole passage was *so* out of character. It reminded me of COPL revisited...

 

Wait a minute aleja, you mean that Chewie going back to save anakin was never written? Hmm... That has been the line that you have been saying for quite awhile now, and when AniSS types it out, you try to squash it as if it were mere drivel... What is so hard for you to grasp about that scene? That debris would actually klip the uberkind Anakin? That Chewie would not go back to try and grab him? Interesting logic that you have there.....

 

He had to die sometime. It was just a matter of when. I think that RA Salvatore (if indeed he concieved the circumstances of how Chewie could die) did it as quickly as he could. I personally think that among all of the OT characters remaining, he was the least important in regards to the actual development of the New Republic. To those who wanted him to die in a heroic way, I think that would add to much of a fictional element to a great piece of fiction. (If that last sentence made much sense)

 

Amazing that a character that was so poorly developed has generated this much heat for this long. I would say that is a tribut eto how well Chewie was developed as a character and how intricate he was to the whole SW plot.