Whither Nelvaan?

All right, I finished LOE around a week ago, and I'm trying to figure out how to fit the last few chapters of the Clone Wars show into the ending of LOE.

And I don't mean stuff like the train chase or attack on Coruscant. There were enough gaps in narration of those sequences, both in LOE and Clone Wars, that I'm willing to accept that it can loosely tie up.

Rather, I'm talking about the actions of Anakin, Obi-wan, and Dooku prior to their arrival in ROTS. That, to me, was much more confusing and problematic than what Shaak Ti and Mace did or did not do, which is what the vast majority of continuity issues I've seen have been raised about.

In Labyrinth of Evil, Anakin and Obi-wan, with their battle group, are lured to the planet Tythe by Dooku by order of Sidious, in order to make sure that they don't recall to Coruscant before the attack begins. When the Separatists attack Coruscant, they jam the Jedi Temple beacon/Republic HoloNet to ensure that Anakin and Obi-wan don't get wind of the battle. Then, after Palpatine is captured, he somehow sends a tightwave beam to them saying that the capital is under attack (I assume that he was programming some sort of secret comm array under 500 Republica when Aurek Team so rudely interrupted him). Dooku flees onboard his sailer, goes off the Nelvaan so that his trail wil be muddled, and then immediately jumps en route to Coruscant. Anakin and Obi-wan, meanwhile, immediately jump from Tythe to Coruscant.

In the Clone Wars series, the Jedi get word that Greivous is hiding on Nelvaan, and send Obi-wan and Anakin to investigate (I can't recall if they were alone, or had a clone army with them). They did a bunch of confusing stuff, ending with their defeat of the Techno Union base. Meanwhile, Dooku was helping Greivous plan for the attack on Coruscant, and as far as was shown in the show, was in the attack group since the beginning. When Anakin returned to Obi-wan from his mission, Mace sends them word that Coruscant is under attack, and they jump back with their interceptors.

Now, I have no idea how to correlate those two together. I'd even be willing to use the "Clone Wars = exaggerated holovid" excuse, which I hate, except that that doesn't even work. And while I might eb willing to consider that the Jedi followed Dooku's trail to Nelvaan, had their adventure there, and then moved on to Coruscant - especially given how Anakin was shown as having more and more of a personal grudge against Dooku throughout LOE - the fact that LOE showed him wanting to return to Coruscant even more, and that he knew Padme would be in danger there, makes me doubt that at that point, he'd have cared if Dooku was still in the Outer Rim somewhere.

Has someone already tried to piece this together, or will my suffering never end?

 

I count all but the Hypori sequence of Episode 21 and all of Episodes 22-25 of the miniseries as Infinities.

 

Yeah, the nightmare doesn't end. The continuity mess created by this is terrible. I personally like the fix that Nathan Butler came up with for SW Timeline Gold, since he had to try to make everything fit for that. You can get that here, and it's a good resource anyway.

Beyond what he did for that retcon, which was pretty much just mash everything together and say things happened at different times than the sources (well, the cartoon) wants them to have happened - and he did a kriffing good job of it, too - I happen to like the idea that the cartoons are the holodrama version of the events, the book is the historically accurate version. Hope that helps.

- Keralys

 

Out of curiosity, what did Leland say about the whole mess?

 

Well, it can, it just means that the Tythe sequence actually occurs before the Invasion of Coruscant. Now, I was averse to rearranging vast amounts of the novel, but one has to do this with the ROTS novel also, in order for it to jive with the movie. Anyway, I worked it out back in April, and while it's not pretty, it jives with what leland said.

 

Oh please, all these theatrics are getting dull on this topic. Whatever happened to the old completist spirit? I'm disapointed in you Quest. Saying you CAN'T wedge something in is like New York without cockroaches. Not gonna happen.

 

Contrary to the compulsive completist's urge, my instinct is to say, don't even try to reconcile it. The whole Nelvaan sequence seems too fantastical & surreal to even be reality anyway, not to mention how it somehow manages to be both bizarre and boring at the same time. The only kind of interesting part is when Anakin has the vision of the cave painting hero fighting a monster, losing one hand and then becoming the monster himself. Hmm, I wonder what the symbolism is trying to say? Lucasfilm may have been more directly involved with the cartoon than with the novel, but I simply don't care. The novel's version of events is just better. Besides, Lucasfilm approved LOE, right? BTW, it gets even more complicated when Reversal of Fortune comes into play, for those who've read it, due to when the scene where Palpatine, Windu & Yoda decide to send Obi-Wan & Anakin to Tythe takes place in the sequence of events. Somewhat limits where the events of Nelvaan can be placed, as that decision takes place in a scene that clearly happens only days after the battle at Belderone in terms of the novel's sequence. (The scene in ROV begins with Palpatine congratulating the Jedi for the victory against Grievous at Belderone).

 

Nelvaan happens just before Cato Neimodia. Easy solution. Explains why Ben and Ani weren't there for the sieges of Deko and Koru, either. Why they gave Tartakovsky's mess of a second season preferential treatment over Labyrinth of Evil, I don't know.

 

Well, I'm pretty sure the events of the 2005 Free Comic Book Day Special, which will be collected in Clone Wars Vol. 7, happens right before Cato Neimoidia, but Nelvaan could certainly fall before that. Then you'd just have to completely ignore the scene where Anakin puts on his new arm before they receive the news of the Attack on Coruscant. Still, who needs Nelvaan, anyway?

 

Yeah - aren't they pursuing grievous in BROTHERS IN ARMS, or something, anyway? Haven't had a chance to read that one yet.

And because I have to,

[image=http://www.wirz.de/music/resonat/brother4.jpg]

 

If you like the books, stick with the books, if you like the cartoon, stick with that.

The cartoon is by far more easily accessible to a wider range of people. To get into the book, you'd have to know a bit of EU (who's Black Sun?), like Leceno's work, and even have time to digest a book. While many of you are bookies and can eat one in a day, many people don't have the time or the drive, especially for Star Wars.
With the cartoon you just have to know what the characters look like and have about 2½ hours to kill and you're good to go.

With my EU continuity I go with the book.
With my Star Wars Story continuity, I easily go with the cartoon. It was more engaging, and captured a lot more of the PT's romanticism and philosophies. The book was bogged down with technicalities.
"But but! The Jedi do all this cawazy stuff in the cartoon!" Yes. Because it's a cartoon. This has yet to be a concern for any casual fan I've shown them to, holodrama vids or whatever be damned.

 

As I recall, Black Sun was mentioned once in LOE, in context that made it pretty clear it was a crime syndicate. I don't think things like that really would have made an issue with me if I hadn't known anything at all about the EU; I'd just see it as the way people talk. Like how Bail mentions how a certain senator disappeared after questioning Palpatine's security plans - the senator was a post-ROTJ EU character, but even if I hadn't known that, I don't think I'd be missing out that strange things happen to people who go against Palpatine.

Well, that's probably why those type of people don't spend much time in the Literature section of a fan board.

 

Well, that's probably why those type of people don't spend much time in the Literature section of a fan board.

Yes, and you're going to run into a lot more of 'those types of people' than not. The show is simply more accessible to the public at large. That's probably why LFL went with the cartoon as definitive.
If you're into the books and converse only with people who are into the books (IE, here), then go with whichever one you like best. Or, you can twist it and turn it so it fits. Or, you can enjoy both and say 'oops' to any errors. I like 1 and 3 the best.