Xanatos Underground Lair: Discussion Thread -New topic 4/26!

[image=http://altair-rigel.com/TFN/obi_ew/XUL04.jpg]




Alright, so Underground is dead, long live Underground!


Okay, kidding, we just decided to start over, since I, Neon Star, have little time to take care of it as I need to, and obi_ew volunteered to help. For the moment, this thread is known as Xanatos? Underground Lair, though the name will change later.

What will be different in this thread? One, it should hopefully be more active with a variety of topics to discuss and fun challenges. We welcome discussion, and please, if you have any suggestions for discussions or challenges, let us know by PM?ing this user name.


Welcome to the new thread.

New story thread and index: Story thread and index

Links to the old threads:

Underground


Underground Challenge Stories


Thank you to Altaira for the lovely artwork.


Xanatos fic list:

dianethx

Bennie Ben Kenobi is being tormented by a teen-age bully, Xanatos du Crion.

Indra

Scars and Beginnings

Where I'm Going, I No Longer Know

obi-ew

Destinies Collide Obi-Wan?s future takes an unexpected turn.

Tears on the Sand Obi-Wan and Xanatos protect Luke.


Seeking the Light Series

Underneath a Sky of Dust Xanatos is the Chosen One

Lost Under the Surface Co-written with Shaindl. Xanatos and Garen must join forces to save Obi-Wan.


Lying From You Knight Xanatos and Obi-Wan


Circle of Hate Dark Viggie

The Face Inside Evil Xan and first story of the Redemption Series


Pushing Me Away Co-written with Shaindl. Xanatos finds himself mixed up with the Jedi once again.

 

Woohoo! Let the Xan discussion commence.

And that picture, hubba...

 

ooh! Love the picture! Great to see the Underground back and better than ever!

 

That's right ladies, The Xanman is back and cooler than ever!

Have to give a big to Neon for allowing me to help her with her wonderful thread. Here's to what I hope will be many fruitful and entertaining posts!

 

Wow! Love the artwork too! *Waves at everyone*

 

Love the artwork. But, of course, as I explained to OE, I consider Xanatos to be evil rather than good. Always fun to play with characters that aren't always goody-two-shoes. Let the discussing begin!

 

I think it's lovely. Although I don't do Xan very often, he's one of the best things to come out of the JA books. Love the gif too.

 

ooo, nice picture.

 

Lovely graphic. Whoever did that, good job on changing the skin color from green. I look forward to a more active thread.

*loves Xanatos*

 

Whoo! he's back and with style! Look I get into a thread at the beginning of it for once instead of at the end

 

HHP the Xanaholic reporting in. Great to see new life to the thread. Xan needs the love!


edit: were you guys still thinking of putting together a complete list of all Xan fics? I think that was brought up in the other thread.

 

I looove Xanatos, but I don't write him that often. So I welcome upcoming challenges. Can't wait for the fun to start!

 

Oh, yes! Challenges are great! Love the picture, Altaira.

 

Yummy Xanatos! Oh my, so many sexy Jedi (former and otherwise) how will I ever allocate my drool time? Lovely idea for a thread!

 

Ooh, I'm here! Great idea, ladies! Looking forward to the challenges!

Shaindl

 

Thank you to everyone for popping in. Hope to keep you all entertained enough that you keep coming by. It's only a hop skip and jump away from that pretty boys thread after all. How about a topic to get us started?

Xanatos is portrayed as a very one dimensional evil person in the JA books with no redeeming qualities. How do you see him? Completely dark also? Capable of turning back to the Lightside? Or kinda in between both- gray?

 

Xanman is a hard character to figure out. I have lots of trouble with him. I like him being completely dark but I'm not really so sure about that. I don't think he has potential like Vader to be turned back to the light though. I see him as being a bit more ruthless to suit his purposes type guy. That's why I don't write him very much

 

. I don't think he has potential like Vader to be turned back to the light though

Really? How interesting. Xan did grow up in the Temple and had those values and principles instilled in him. I know some people think the comparison between Anakin and Xan is a very close one. Both have memories of a different life and find letting that past life go too difficult. If you go by JW's galaxy, Xan was just inherently evil and had no hope of salvation. I don't buy that and never will. Jinn would have had to have been pretty dense not to pick up that something wasn't quite right with his padawan. Like Anakin, I think Xan was faced with some tough choices and in the end was influenced by his fathers promise of power. I don't think that makes him incapable of turning back. And in my opinion the Jedi just kinda tried to brush him in a corner and forget about him rather than actively try to help him.

Yikes! So I like to portray him as gray but leaning heavily toward Lightside. Although an evil Xan is fun to work with!

 

I have read the JA books and never really took much note of Xanatos other than that he was a plot device, I suppose. However I could see that there could be a lot of potential to his character. As I read a few stories about him here on the boards, I do see more potential.

As far as being redeemable, I still see potential for good in him. As long as there is life there is hope. Strangely enough, the only person in the GFFA that I truely see as irredeemable is Palpatine.

 

On principle, I don't like it too much if a character is just plain evil. Or at least not if he's one of the main characters. A person who just pops in because you need a villain has to be evil. You can't explore every character you put in a fic.

But even so, I don't see Xan as an evil character who maybe has a good attribute or two, but as someone who has had a reason to become the way he is. We all know the reason JW made up, but do you really think someone would abandon everything he has learned because he saw the death of someone he hardly knew. I guess there has to be something that happened before, that led on to this.

 

but do you really think someone would abandon everything he has learned because he saw the death of someone he hardly knew.

See that's one of those things that always bugs the crap out of me about his story. Jinn's memories of Xan are of a very manipulative person even as a child. Yes I think there are people like that in the real world, heck I'm related to one! But she never gives us any real answer as to why he ended up the way he did. What drove him to turn against what he was raised to be? Yes he was just a plot device but dag nab it he deserved better! Now I'm all riled up and I have to go back to work!

 

Now I'm all riled up and I have to go back to work!

Oh, I think you can rant as much as you want here. We're all with you.

 

Jinn would have had to have been pretty dense not to pick up that something wasn't quite right with his padawan.

Unfortunately you forget one slight thing... love is blinding. Qui-Gon could have overlooked/not even 'seen' those signs due to his adoration and love for Xan. Plus he was obstinate and very stubborn! Having Yoda try to point things out to him made him defensive. Hrmmm which makes me wonder if he picked that up from Dooku! *snrk* Oh well we all have that sort of inside us all.

I believe that if Qui could have caught Xan and brought him back to the Temple...perhaps with time and counseling (and perhaps loads of sit down and talking time with Qui) Xan could have been 'brought back to the light'. Well one could always hope! Hrmmm anybody ever do that in a fic? Have them capture Xan and work with him? And go into details with working that out?

 

Can we say Darth Gary Stu?

As JW portrayed him, he was very one-dimensional. Giving us a few tidbits about his father and his life with Jinn didn't do anything, because he was still, as OE said, portrayed as a manipulative little heathen (though that would be quite lovely when he gets older ). There is hardly any villain who is just completely evil and insane. That's not what makes a good villain. He has to have a reason for turning away from the light, and a reason for staying away. In JW's world, Jinn killed Crion, and Xan wants revenge. Well, that's all good and fine, but please, attacking the Temple? That's madman syndrome, and I would think Xan would be smarter than that - I mean, look at the way he organized the attack on the Temple. He's intelligent - looks at his business savvy - and his "Jinn, I kill you filthy!" attitude is hard for me to take.

What JW forgot to talk about was Xan's attachment to his father, and his fall toward the Dark Side. Why would Xan be so loyal to his father? Surely he had some good qualities, growing up in the Temple? And he did he know his father before Jinn took him away, or was he too young to really remember?

I like to think that Evil Xan is a lot like Vader, only no one cared or loved him enough to try and save him. I see him as being very angry at his father, for letting him go to the Jedi and playing with his head, Jinn for killing his father, and maybe the Jedi in general, for forcing such a hard life upon young people. But I think he's also capable of softer emotions - look at the way he treats Obi-Wan when they first meet. Granted, they're not sitting back with a pint of ale, and he's got an ulterior motive, but he's still pretty nice to the kid. If anything, he empathizes, knowing what it's like to be loved one minute and then thrown away the next as if you were never loved to begin with.

I think he just needs a hug, and then he'll be okay.

edit: And don't even get me started on his treatment of the Xanitot.

edit 2: I guess I see him as grey, but more Dark Side with redeeming qualities. Again, like Anakin/Vader.

 

Ok, so I?m no Xanatos expert, and probably never will be, but here are my thoughts on it all.

Could Xanatos be redeemed? I have no doubt in my mind that if Jude had wanted to add some depth to the character, we would have seen that he was more than capable of redemption. But like some of you have said, she needed an evil plot device and some emotional baggage for Qui-Gon, and lo and behold, Xan was born.

I think it would have been wonderful to see some of the emotional struggles that he went through. I am sure it was difficult for him to see the man who raised him kill the father that he had just come to accept. I am also sure that after brooding on those feelings for years, it was not easy for him to find out that his master had replaced him, with someone as good looking and talented as Obi-Wan ().

So, yes, I believe that Xan could have been redeemed. I think Qui-Gon felt it also. Why else would he have had such a hard time killing him? He must have sensed the potential for redemption there, and known that if he killed him, that potential could never be met. Also, if he were truly evil, wouldn?t the council have been more concerned with his actions rather than sit on them for years, allowing the problem to worsen?

So basically, I put Xan in the gray - dark, but not cemented there, capable of going both ways. He was hurt, and inherently struck back at those who hurt them. I think that if he had been given the right direction and support, he would have turned back to the light, but alas, that idea was a no go for Jude.