Lit Why the Old Republic is awesome, and a potential creative gold mine

You could say that, but it wouldn't solve the bigger issue there - that it's kind of demythicizing the lightsaber to make that special role the Force plays in its creation into a recent invention.

Honestly, that's always something that's kind of struck me as bizarre about the corded lightsaber - in so many ways, the technology and aesthetic of the TOTJ comics is consciously done in a "mythic" style instead of really trying to reflect a "realistic" level of technological change over time, and yet with this most central piece of Star Wars technology, they do try and put in some element of "realistic" technological development. It's weird.

 

I would say that the SWTOR expansion that was just announced pumped some much-needed life into the Old Republc era.

 

Again, not something that has existed since the lightsaber was first introduced, so it's not as if that would be going against one of the founding principles of Star Wars. You're taking an aspect of Star Wars that hasn't always been a noted fact, and then applying it to all works, which makes little sense. The fact the corded lightsaber exists at all alredy proves that idea hasn't been a universal belief taking into account with every work.

 

Obi-Wan says that lightsabers are from "a more civilized age", but the prequel Jedi use lightsabers in an extremely aggresive manner. I wonder if the Jedi were less aggresive at some point prior to TPM.

 

When did they establish the Jedi Forge for actual metal swords? We know the Sith were doing this during the Golden Age.

At the very least, you have to acknowledge that as the Legends timeline stands currently, corded lightsabers make zero sense. For 20,000 years + the Jedi have been forging swords with the Force, and they've made Forcesabers. It doesn't really make much sense to me that they wouldn't have figured out how to power a Forcesaber with the light side of the Force instead of the dark side... much less that they would have taken 20,000+ years to figure out how to use the Force to integrate the components of a lightsaber to enable them to use an internal power source.

 

Just saw the Shadow of Revan Expansion Trailer on YouTube, so exactly how much more time are they going to be putting into this game if it's no longer canon anyways?

Eh, not really, seeing as technology wasn't being used with Force Sabers, but it was rather just the Force User channeling the Force. Compare this to then having to learn how to use technology, and having to wait for technology to develop properly to a certain point. You're talking about the Jedi channelling the Force through something with no power of its own, through channelling/melding the force with a technological instrument. Seems like something that could be extremely difficult, especially as technology changes and grows, and doesn't seem like the kind of thing a solid time limit can be placed on, as it's not like any of us could be aware of such things. A lightsaber needing or not needing a cord also has to do with the technology of the time and not just them channeling the force through the weapon.

Though as I pointed out the other day contradictions aren't uncommon to the EU, as various writers will outright ignore the work of another person, regardless of whether or not something makes sense. The appearance of pretty much everything in Kotor and how closely it matches up with the films is more of the same.

 

The thing is, aren't there blasters in DOTJ?

 

Are blasters the same as ligthsabers? Does creating one thing make creating another an instant step? Does having technology mean that one will then know every possible way to use it? Isn't it possible for different inventions to be created, but not instantly be compatible? Would it not take time to figure out how to channel the Force through a piece of technology once the idea has been thought of? Would it not then be possible for such a task to take time to refine based on the times and the beings attempting to do it? etc.

 

Like I said before, I think the Forcesaber makes the under-development of the lightsaber for 20,000 years fairly unlikely. Especially true for blasters. Which, in terms of mythic statements made by Obi-Wan Kenobi makes it sound like the lightsaber is such an archaic weapon of nobility versus the more modern, industrial blaster pistol.

Thank the Force that Hugh Fleming's cover art is the "canonical" representation of the TOTJ era, too BTW.

 

Dawud786

And like i've said previously, trying to rigidly assume how things would, or should develop over such a long period of time is fairly silly. And based on the old eu, the modern lightsaber was still around for thousands of years, i'd say that makes it fairly archaic and mythic, and that it therefore doesn't contradict anything Obi-Wan said, especially as he was speaking of the Lightsaber as a whole, not corded or uncorded.

 

How did Freedon Nadd travel all around the galaxy as a spirit? Aren't Sith spirits tied to a location?

 

Depends; Palpatine travelled from Endor to Byss. Just so happens that many Sith seem to unknowingly bind themselves to a certain place, whether it be a tomb like Ajunta Pall, or a wider area like Exar Kun (And even he seemed to be under the impression that he'd be able to go anywhere he wanted)

 

Didn't they establish that Palpatine latched onto one of his underlings to get to Byss? Maybe Nadd was tethered to certain artifacts in possession of the Ketos and Kun.

 

Palpatine had to learn that trick from the three ghosts at Disney's Haunted Mansion.

 

You're right i'd forgotten about that. Though he still would've had to find him to latch on to. Though there's still his subsequent deaths with him as a spirit finding his way to different clone bodies. Another example were Kaan and Quordis, who showed up on two different planets. There is a general trend though towards the Sith having to anchor themselves someone to stick around.

 

So.. Old Republic Era? I've had really, really mixed thoughts on this, because as games KOTORI and especially KOTORII are fantastic in gameplay and storytelling (though I prefer II over I on the latter) and then the KOTOR Dark Horse series was also exceptionally good, with the introduction of the Jedi Covenant we -finally- got a morally questionable organisation on the side of the Light for once, I only wish that it didn't end up being infiltrated by Sith yet again and was instead the victim of it's own dogma.

As stories, let's go chronologically instead of in terms of release date. KOTOR Dark Horse series - really good, I like the villains and that it takes place during the Mandalorian Wars with it not being afraid of taking risky steps that end up as a success (Mandalorian Knights), KOTORI and II - the first always felt something of a rehash of A New Hope, but that's probably because I'm not a fan of the standard Hero's Journey. The second brings in some interesting new characters, especially the Sith Lords (pun intended) ranging from Kreia who has villainous goals that are FINALLY different from the usual take over the Galaxy shtick to Nihilus who has fallen so deep that he is now mostly an entity that has an unstoppable hunger.

And when you reach the SWTOR MMO well.. it really gets surreal for me. It was disappointing that the Sith were just 'basic Sith' though in their defense it later expands to include a variety, including Sith intending to reform the Empire into a better entity from within. My problem with it is that it continues the trend of Sith coming out of nowhere with a giant fleet again out of nowhere, except now they resemble Imperial vessels. And the whole 'splitting the Galaxy' reminds me of a story I'd read following the Ruusan Reformation, not before and I really expect the citizens of these worlds to not accept being ruled by a bunch of Sith out of nowhere, I'd have preferred they ripped off the Separatists and had the Emperor and his bunch make use of companies like Czerka. In the end, the story felt as if an Imperial Warlord faction involved with either Inquisitors or Desann's Reborn went back in time to attack the old Republic and the Jedi. It also explains titles like Grand Moff and Grand Admiral making an appearance. That's what made it so 'surreal'.

Moving onto the rest, it felt like a constant rehash. Sith come in, fight Jedi, lose, new Sith come in, fight Jedi again. I do enjoy the ending of it all though, at Ruusan. The Republic barely even resembling itself and both it and the Sith battered from centuries of warfare, having to resort to more ancient designs. It felt very Warhammer 40k to me. Honorable mentions go to Dawn of the Jedi, where they explored the Infinite Empire more, as well as the Pius Dea Crusades as they were a predecessor in a way to the First Galactic Empire, I'd wish the latter would've been explored more.

 

Palpatine has this bas relief in his office in ROTS:



The Legends EU says that it depicts the Great Hyperspace War. I wonder what it depicts in the new canon.

 

Presumably still some sort of Jedi-Sith war. There are clearly people battling with lightsabers, and while that could theoretically be some other mass conflict involving the Jedi, I'm pretty sure it's still canon that Palpatine tried to quietly insert some Sith influence into his surroundings.

 

You lost me.

 

We still got Nadd, Exar Kun, Ulic and Aleema back then!

 

Exactly, plus Naga Sadow, Ludo Kressh, and Marka Ragnos.

 

Don't they just use slugthrowers?

 

Given that in the movies, Sand People slug throwers fire shots pretty much indistinguishable from blaster bolts (Energized? Or maybe they're tracer?) it would be impossible to tell anyway, unless they were specifically identified as one or the other.

 

Into the void mention blasters

 

I agree, the Old Republic era gives so much freedom of creativity. I know that some of my favorite books personally have been from that era, for example the Bane trilogy. I personally am not much of a writer, but I do hope that some creative minded people take advantage of these 25,000 years of creativity soon