EUC What if Mara Jade joined the Rebels?

I'm planning on writing some fanfiction about an AU Star Wars, where Mara Jade defected to the Rebellion after learning the truth about Alderaan.

Do you guys have any ideas?

Don't like the idea. Doesn't seem to fit with Mara's obsession with the Emperor. Besides, she was a cold blooded killer while with the Empire and I don't know that Alderaan would change that.

Hm....I tend to agree with shepherd. She seemed more or less brainwashed at that time. I don't think there's much that could have shaken her belief in the Emperor.

But that being said, maybe if she discovered that Alderaan wasn't the only thing. Maybe she slowly uncovered more and more proof of the Empire killing innocents. You could even have her find plans for a superweapon (she might have access to them and could later take those plans to the Rebellion). I'd probably use Alderaan as a starting point, from which on Mara discovered more and more about Palpatine's evil deeds until there was no way she could support him anymore. Say he pushes her into a situation where she should kill a large number of innocents. Or she could find out that the Emperor has betrayed her, i.e. by hiding his actions from her. Or she could find out about the other Hands.
Some other things the Emperor did: try to prolong his life, clone himself.... if you just add up all of these things, I think she might leave his service.

In general, I think she knows that the Emperor is doing some very brutal things. I don't think that someone like Mara would be blissfully unaware. But she might believe it to be necessary or that the Rebellion is a lot worse. That's why I suggest that you just confront her with so much of it that she won't be able to ignore that any longer, with possibly contrasting it to the Rebellions actions (which should be morally superior and therefore hopefully have an effect on Mara).

The Empire had a pretty good propaganga machine. For every Imperial crime there would likely be three Rebel ones coming across her desk.

I'm pretty sure the official story about Alderaan had some spin to it.

Anything can be done, if it's only done well enough. Mara was brainwashed, yes, to a degree that we buy her closing her eyes to the terrors of the Empire. But that doesn't mean that a number of nudges or even one hard blow wouldn't have made her see it as it was. I can't see Mara defect without a "reason", or maybe even several - but I can see her defect. Also, in an AU her character can be modeled slightly so sides of her fill more and others less. Also, considering she's so young as she is when Alderaan's destroyed (only 17) she'd be "moldable". You could also introduce an OC character, maybe a teacher who's managed to get though Palpatine's neede's eye, who's managed to make her more open.

IMO, the main problem with making Mara defect, is to find a convincing way to handle her bond with Palpatine.

Quite another thing is, doesn't this thread belong in the Fan Activities community?

Why?

No, he's right. I should've post his there.

Agreed with what kataja said. I've written a "Mara defects" trilogy (after Alderaan, no less) and the main issue is getting into her head and showing why she would leave the Empire. If you do that well, whatever reason you give her for defecting will seem completely logical.

Reading Zahn's Hand of Judgement, I couldn't get over how steadfastly Mara believed that in spite of it's corruption, the Empire was a force for good. She even used a single good man, a lower official on some planet as an example to justify the Empire. I think the Emperor's death was an essential event for her to be broken free from that thinking. That said, maybe if the Emperor showed his true colors to her, committed violence against her when he lost his cool about something that wasn't her fault for instance, perhaps that could be enough to make her rethink things. Maybe not. But it's your fanfic, so it's all good.

As for if she was a Rebel, the Empire would have started treating the Rebellion as an actual threat instead of a pestering insect, and would have crushed it. Not that I'm an Empire fan, but keep in mind that if Palpatine had had his priorities straight, he might have won. He didn't. But Mara switching sides might be enough to change that.

That is true, however If you read Survivor's Quest, you see how disturbed Mara is by seeing the extend of Palpatine's destruction and evil nature. She even comments that she was kept from seeing things like that, probably so she wouldn't start to question things.

In survivor quest- Mara undergoes a phase where she starts to regret that she survived. She realized that everyone who had done evil to the world had died, yet she somehow survived. This is and inner conflict with Mara.

There are some who believed that Mara, being the emperor's Hand, would not just join the Rebel alliance. She was a dedicated assassin, and had killed countless people in the name of the emperor. She thrived on being feared by anyone she encounter. This was reflected in survivor quest, when she runs into storm troopers, Part of the 501st. She was respected by the imperials.

And she was assigned to kill Luke, so I don't think that anything would have changed her mind about the rebellion.

It just struck me as a fancition topic... but maybe not. Personally I don't care. I'm happy to discuss all things Mara anywhere, as long as it's her life.

That's how I read it too. And not least in Allegiance and CoO, Mara's shown with very high morals. My personal take is that this was the point of Palpatine calling her his 'experiemjnt: he wanted to see how far he could use and push a righteous person before she realized the true state of things.

Yet, one of the premises (and statements) of TTT is that her position wasn't known but to very few....I don't think it quite adds up...

Alderaan shot first.

Never would have happened. Mara was an evil woman that enjoyed killing and her precious status and position... She only changed her stupid attitude after Luke forced her to confront her fantasy world and see what construct of lies and brainwashing it was.

She couldn't autonomously come to that decision. She clung to her "specialness" for years, dreaming of being a pushy entitled little snot again. Before Luke she was lost. She had no use for it. He saved her.

I'm not gonna knock your opinion in any way, because my opinion got shot down pretty hard on the Jacen Solo thread, but I'll be honest I didn't get that vibe from mara in Allegiance. Mind you, she was younger then, maybe you could make an argument more for that when she's closer to the time she kills luke's clone. I don't know, that's kinda just a new idea to me...

Someone seems a tad biased. "Enjoyed killing" where did you get that from?

" I was his HAND Skywalker. That's how they knew me. As the Emperor's Hand. I had POWER PRESTIGE and RESPECT. And you took it all away from me. For that ALONE, you deserve to die!!"

Sounds like she valued her loftly position quite a bit. She seems to take a lot of pride in being deadly which is of course making others DEAD. She never thought about it, it was a means to an end so could have the power she valued so much. The people she killed weren't even an afterthought. Only years later did she develop a conscience over what she did. it was many years after this spoiled bratiness above.

It's amazing, this exchange. A great bit of dialogue. It just illustrates how Luke is light years ahead of her in maturity and common sense, as he patiently takes it all in, and lets her say these incredibly selfish things and pities her. He even tries to be comforting. This scene used to make me mad but now it makes me smile because Luke is a trip. He's very tongue in cheek with her. He just lets her figure it out. He doesn't hit her over the head with it.

In later books Luke is always letting Mara talk down to him, but everyone knows he's so much stronger than her. He indulges her out of love and she knows it too. It's cute later.

We agree on that.

Okay, that I can agree on. And thanks for the quote, puts it in better perspective.