YJK's no longer exist?

I used to LOVE the Young Jedi Knights book series. I loved the stories, the characters, everything. They were my absolute favourite part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and they seemed ready to take the place of the next generation after the oldies hung up their blasters and lightsabers. At the end of the series, everything was fine, and it seemed that the good times would last forever.

Then the New Jedi Order series happened, and everything changed for the worst. Then the Dark Nest trilogy occured, and now we are into the Legacy of the Force series. Things are so different now that it sometimes scares me. Let's take a look at everything in a "Before" (during the YJK) and "After" (during Lotf) format, starting with the characters.

Jacen
Before- A fun-loving teenager who loved animals and telling bad jokes. Always trying to impress a hard-nosed warrior princess, but ever curious about everything, especially the Force.
After- A battle-hardened man, forged in pain by the Yuuzhan Vong. Now training to be a Sith Lord in an attempt to bring order to the galaxy, and he will most likely kill someone he cares about in order to do that.

Jaina
Before- A smart mechanically-minded young woman who loved tinkering with machines, and was really close to her father. Was also very close to her twin brother, so much so that they often finished each other's sentences.
After- A battle-weary woman who has gone from one torrid romance to the next, until she has given up hope for it. Struggling to deal with her Sword of the Jedi destiny, and is so distant from her brother, they might as well be on opposite ends of the galaxy.

Tenel Ka
Before- A tough warrior princess who nevertheless enjoyed the company of her friends. The loss of her left arm taught her the downfalls of arrogance, but she continued to enjoy life, and still demonstrated fierce loyalty to her friends and family.
After- Forced to take up the mantle of queen (which she did not really want), and now the mother to Jacen's secret daughter. Still cares about him, but somewhat blind to his newfound Sith tendancies. Could very well die soon.

Zekk
Before- Jaina's best friend, a good-natured loyal young man who survived his brush with the dark side and came back stronger for it. An excellent pilot and Jedi with a strong sense of right and wrong. He and Jaina were damn near inseperable.
After- A loverlorn man who pines after a woman who constantly refuses him, yet he clings to her for fear of being left alone. Constantly looked down upon by others, and many people (in the real world) feel that he should die simply so that Jaina can go back to Jag Fel.

There are others, but I'll post them later.

Now, is it just me, or do the characters that I used to love so dearly no longer exist?



RF: This discussion should probably be moved to the NJO and LotF complaint/debate thread or this thread, which can be used to discuss the changes of the Solo kids and the rest of the YJK.

 

They died about the same time as your Chewie.

 

Wait, you're saying war and adulthood changes people?

Who knew?

 

Don't forget Tahiri. I thought she was one of the best of those characters coming out of the NJO, and then they tossed her aside in DNT never(?) to be seen again (so far). What a travesty...

 

No, he's saying Del Rey basically threw out 14 book's worth of characterization and slapped the names onto completely different characters.

Which actually happened. I am afraid, Furyan, you're right. Del Rey has almost completely squandered the next generation of SW characters through mischaracterization, shoving them to the side or plain-old unnecessaryt killing.

And yes, folks, I'll save everyone the trouble by saying I'm speaking of Lusa. Don't like it? Too bad. It's true, she shouldn't have died and it was a waste!

 

OK, I appreciate your responses, but still, be a little more respectful please?

But you're probably right Matt. As soon as Chewie died, I should have known that the NJO was going to change everything. That's probably why I never read it.

Anyway, what do you think is going to happen post-Lotf?

ps. Striker, you are right. They did throw everything out. It's at times like this I wish I could go back in time and change things. Or better yet, they could have picked ME to organise the NJO. I still would have had kept some things the same, but I would have made some things better.

But then, I was only 15 or 16 when they started. I doubt they would have hired an anonymous high-schooler from Australia to do their job, even if I did know quite a bit.

BTW, Tahiri, Lusa, and all the others, I'll get to them later.

 

No offense to my OL buddy Striker but I'm with 000 on this one. War and teenage hormones change people, and not always for the better. Think back to all of the asinine things you've said to your parents and some of the stupid stuff you did, couple it with the constant horror and stress of war, and I think Jacen and Jaina were fairly realistic.

Then again I have an affinity for darker stories that a lot of posters here don't share. *shrugs* I blame this on Neon Genesis Evangelion and Elfen Lied for screwing up my head at the vulnerable age of seventeen.

Edit: Cool! You can still modify posts after a thread gets locked!

 

Oh goodie, another NJO thread. We get plenty of these, so this may soon be redirected.

Might I interest you in tonight's special, a fine NJO complaint thread? Or perhaps this discussion may suit your tastes.

 

In after the lock..