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Lit What had you expected?

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Barriss_Coffee, Aug 21, 2014.

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  1. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2003
    Did you ever read a book/comic/etc and think something was going to happen, but it didn't? Like, it looked like the story was going somewhere, or you really were hoping it would do this one thing, but the plot went in an entirely different direction?

    I'm going to steer clear of LOTF/FOTJ for the moment and let someone else rebel assault that mess. I'll give some other examples.

    Ex1: Demagol at the end of KOTOR.

    People on this forum predicted the Demagol/Rohlan switch early on, so I didn't see that as a total surprise. Rather, I thought there'd be a lot more in the way of "Geez, we were friends with that guy!" when the reveal finally came. I mean the dude was breaking bread, joking around and saving their behinds for an entire year. You'd think Zayne et al. (or heck, even Demagol) would have been a little more distraught after the breakup. Instead it was as if that year never happened.

    Ex2: All that character drama in the Death Star novel.

    ...I read the entire thing thinking they were all gonna die at the end. I almost feel it was better that way. I wouldn't have felt so sorry for some of those annoying characters had I known most of them were going to make it.

    Also I expected more Imperial drama. I almost thought they were going to go that route from the first few chapters, but the most we got was... I dunno... Motti contemplating life at the gym?

    Ex3: The unexpected, unorthodox epilogue of Tales from Jabba's Palace.

    If you haven't read it, shame on you. It's marvelous. Crucible should have ended that way.

    Ex4: Sifo-Dyas's blood transfusion in Visionaries: The Eyes of Revolution.

    I thought something was going to happen. They really had me there.



    So what plots veered off from your expectations?
     
  2. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    I'll rebel assault LOTF when I get home.
     
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  3. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Outbound Flight.

    I expected a little more politics, a few more implications for Mas Amedda's career as the founder of a project that flopped.

    I also expected Obi-Wan and Anakin to be the main or only Jedi investigating.

    Instead I got a book that was half C'baoth's ego and half how great Thrawn was.

    I'm still not sure what Outbound Flight was supposed to be or why it was important.
     
  4. CT-867-5309

    CT-867-5309 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2011
    Remember when we all thought IG-88 was going to destroy the Rebellion with the second Death Star, and use his Droid Revolution to destroy all organic life and turn the galaxy into a droid utopia? I'm still thinking as if that actually happened.
     
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  5. Kablob

    Kablob Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2014
    I thought that Orrin Gault wasn't a complete bastard.
     
  6. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    That LOTF Revelation would actually have a revelation, like that Lumiya was lying about Vergere being a Sith. Or that the heroes would learn Jacen is a Sith on-page. Or that Crucible would reveal Denning had a master plan.
     
  7. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    That reading The Crystal Star would make me want to incinerate the book in a ritualised conflagration to cleanse my soul of its affronts to storytelling, but I turned out to actually... sorta... you know... enjoy it. [face_hypnotized]
     
  8. DarthJenari

    DarthJenari Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 17, 2011
    Legacy of the Force

    Lumiya
    I thought, I honestly believed with my heart and soul, that it would be revealed that she was lying about Vergere and had been manipulating Jacen the entire time to further the Sith cause, and exact revenge on Luke. Put aside prior characterization of Jacen and Vergere, and simply look at the fact that one of the main reasons Jacen decided to become a Sith was because he viewed the galaxy as being too unstable; therefore he felt that a hand was needed to guide it towards peace. The Second Galactic Civil War that currently raged during this time only served to spur on this belief. Yet it was a war, that was pushed into being by Lumiya. She directly meddled in galactic politics, taking actions that strained the relationship between The Alliance and Corellia. For all we know, the War may not have happened, or been as large, if not for her. And this was after she'd already formed her plan surrounding Jacen, and knew full well of his own inner doubts and weaknesses. In short, she was already preying on him from the start, and showed she was willing to endanger millions so Jacen would become a Sith.

    Heck, I expected that Jacen learning about Lumiya's manipulations would be part of what shocked him out of the Dark Side's grip, and lead to his redemption.

    Tahiri
    I thought she would've come to terms with Anakin's death, would see through Jacen's plans, and resist the compulsion to join him, so that she could get her high by "walking" into the past to see her dead lover.

    Jacen
    I thought that he'd be redeemed by the end, or that he'd be captured and held accountable for his crimes, it really never crossed my mind that he'd die. Furthermore, I also expected him to be a....better villain. Or a more compelling one. Or an all around bigger threat than I ever felt he was. I figured that with the sheer amount of work that was put into his story-arc in NJO, that for them to take him down the path of the Sith, they'd at least put the same amount of work into it, while throwing in the philosophical debate/discussion behind it.

    Zekk/Jaina
    Call me crazy, but after DNT, I really expected the two of them to get together, especially since Zekk was the only other Young Jedi Knight still receiving real focus, besides Jaina and her brother.

    I'll leave that alone for now and go into Fate of the Jedi

    The Force
    Since it was revealed early on that we'd get to see different Force organizations besides the Jedi and Sith again, I expected to actually get in-depth looks into them, their histories, and how they operated differently from the Jedi and Sith. For the most part, I think the Baran-Do, and the Aang-Ti lived up to this, but from there things went downhill, with the rest just serving as food for Abeloth.

    The Lost Tribe of the Sith
    Well firstly I didn't see them coming at all. I really didn't think this series would have anything to do with the Sith, and what's more after they'd appeared, I didn't think they'd have any connection with Abeloth. A Dark Side organization on one side, and an ancient monster on the other makes for a more compelling story than the two working together in my opinion.

    Vestara
    I didn't like her, but I did expect that she and Ben would stay together, with her becoming a Jedi at the end of it all. They'd then proceed to have kids down the line, combining the Skywalker bloodline with that of another Sith, and that somehow the writers would tie this into the trouble Cade had with the Dark Side decades later.

    The New Jedi Order
    I thought that they'd manage to learn from the mistakes of DNT and conduct themselves like rational adults in Luke's absence.
     
  9. mes520

    mes520 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    Let's see:

    I remember reading The Force Unleashed and being shocked when Vader stabbed Starkiller through the chest. I mean I knew Starkiller would eventually "die", but at the end. I figured Vader might chop off a limb to cover up his betrayal to Sidious, also to parallel with the moves. But I did not expect Vader to stab him through the chest like that. I remember going, "What?!? Is this a vision?"

    Reading Darth Plagueis I never expected to have so much Palpatine nor his background, father appear, or any of that. I figured he would appear somewhere at the end and his background remain mostly mysterious. Though it was a pleasant surprise.

    This was years ago, in middle school and when ROTS came out, I read Labyrinth of Evil, but for some reason I remember being surprised that they subtly mentioned Padme's pregnancy. I mean I knew she was, but I think I was surprised because in the GFFA it was a secret so I didn't think they were really going to mention it. But again, it was years ago.
     
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  10. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    I was surprised that Ludo Kressh didn't survive and record himself marking Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma.
     
  11. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Plagueis: I thought it would go into some scenario with Plagueis creating Anakin. I knew I would hate that but I wanted information on Palpatine's background so I picked up the novel anyway.

    I was pleasantly surprised that Plagueis had no idea how the hell Anakin got there.
     
  12. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    In LOTF, I thought Anakin Skywalker was going to appear as a ghost. Because it was teased that an Anakin would play a role in the series at SDCC. I also thought Jacen would be the protagonist.

    In FOTJ, I thought the Force psychosis was actually due to Jacen making The Unit into his horcruxes, but I got the YA fiction series they were trying to emulate wrong. But to be fair, I think Luceno thought that too.

    I decided I'm actually pretty apathetic about the Denningverse now.
     
  13. Pfluegermeister

    Pfluegermeister Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2003
    I actually thought the Plagueis novel didn't disappoint me or cheat my expectations once. But that doesn't mean that Luceno's never done that to me: for instance, when I read a book called The Rise of Darth Vader, I actually expect to be reading more about people named Darth Vader than about people named Roan Shryne and Olee Starstone...
     
  14. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008
    Jacen was the protagonist of LOTF. I only like that idea because by default it means that Jaina was an antagonist for most of the series.

    andohgodwhydidyouremindmeofTheUnit [face_plain]

    The only thing that springs to mind is that I thought the Imperial spy would have been exposed in Fatal Alliance.
     
  15. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    I'll rephrase, I thought he was the good guy.
     
  16. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008
    Admittedly, I never expected them to kill him off. I didn't think he'd be redeemed, but I at least thought he'd have merely been defeated and imprisoned or something.

    I also expected them to kill off Luke in Sacrifice, but I guess his ghostly appearance on the back cover was a bit too obvious. Not that Mara being on the front cover was more subtle or anything, but then it seemed at the time that the cover slot was an arbitrarily assigned role for that series.
     
  17. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    hey guys remember when we thought Jacen was Darth Krayt

    I thought JINO would become a recurring villain. Invincible was such a dumpster fire.
     
  18. Revanfan1

    Revanfan1 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 3, 2013
    What's wrong with The Unit? :confused:

    I remember thinking, after reading the preview for Outcast that was in the back of Crosscurrent, that Valin was totally sane and Mirax and Corran had been replaced. I believe I thought they had used some kind of semi-organic HRDs, which was why they felt right in the Force, but also explained why something was off about them. That would have probably been cooler than getting 50 versions of the "realizing-everyone-around-is-fake" scene.
     
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  19. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    I'm curious what YA fiction series they were trying to emulate now.

    Edit: Wait, he did?
     
  20. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    Twilight.
    [​IMG]

    Luceno's depiction of Force psychosis in Millennium Falcon doesn't make sense in light of the explanation provided by FOTJ.
     
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  21. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2007
    I thought there would be a scene at the end of TUF, somewhere amid the series of farewell scenes for the different groups of characters, where we would find Nom Anor still alive on some backwater planet we'd never heard of with a mechanical hand, wondering what kind of trouble he could start there. I love TUF but I'm still disappointed that didn't happen.
     
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  22. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    On that note, I always expected someone was going to bring back Nom Anor at some point. I wasn't really in favor, but I'm surprised it never happened.
     
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  23. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Wyn Dorvan is Nom Anor!
     
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  24. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    I actually thought that they were going to tie together the very obvious Daala's rise -> Abeloth -> Spending a decade in the Maw - making sense, or at least trying to, of the whole Daala as President. Then it turned out Abeloth was Luke's old girlfriend, or something. I don't know, I didn't finish the series.
     
  25. sharkymcshark

    sharkymcshark Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2013
    I spent most of the Hand of Thrawn Duology waiting for Flim to reveal that he actually was Thrawn and it was all some kind of amazing con, and then waiting for the clone of Thrawn that the people of Nirauan kept teasing to actually show up. Bit disappointed to be honest.


    I spent most of the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy under the assumption that the Vagabond would turn up at the end and save the day for the Rebels, though I'm quite glad it didn't.


    I was waiting for some kind of climactic battle between Vader and Jax in the Coruscant Nights Trilogy/The Last Jedi, though (probably for the best) Vader considered him so insignificant that he didn't even bother fighting him at the start of TLJ.


    I did spent a great deal of Isard's Revenge waiting for the Pulsar Station (or whatever that fake Death Star was called) to show up, mainly because it was position around a lot of other books in the Legends timeline that also had the 'contrived superweapon of the week' plotline (well, Jedi Academy Trilogy and Darksaber). Given how average the ending of that book is I'd honestly have preferred if it did show up.
     
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