He doesn't really give his thoughts about Jacen, but it is a fun watch! Couple of thoughts about the video: (And thanks for posting!!) When asked what his favorite SW novel was (about the 15 min mark), he didn't even blink! Traitor. The applause that followed gave me goosebumps. So did the line, "I knew that I was going to introduce a character who was a Force-user and didn't believe in the Dark Side of the Force. I knew it was going to create a s&$t-storm." This comment, "This is not my story anymore, it is yours." Very cool. "That was a retcon. That is a later interpolation of what I wrote. -- They can do whatever they feel."
From some people I know who went to LegendsCon, I think the exact words he used when describing his feelings about it were thus: Stover remarked that he was told about the Vergere retcon over dinner and told either Sue Rostoni or Shelly Shapiro that it was "the worst ****ing idea he'd ever heard." Among authors, he's far from alone. I did a little write-up about the creation of LOTF that you can read earlier in the thread here and towards the end I mention other authors who had issues with it. As an aside, someone else I know also was at the event and had a rather amusing conversation with Stover. Now, for context, as some of you may know, James Luceno is not only a very learned person but extremely well traveled, having scaled ancient Mayan temples and traveled across the Himalayas to sherpa villages and the whole lot. In a sense, it is more than a little fitting he was chosen to do the write-up for the YA edition of the fourth Indiana Jones movie. Putting all this together, Luceno is an in-shape guy. Anyway, this person I know chatted with Stover there and this is how it went: Q: I've been told that you are trained in MMA? Stover: Yes, I also taught. Q: I am wondering, who do you think would win in a cage match? You or Jim? Stover: Jim Luceno? Well he's 20 years older than I am but he is on a very short list of people I would never **** with, even on a bet. Have you seen that guy? Photo from Celebration VI for context:
Today, I learnt a lot more about the approaches to post-NJO. Maybe LOTF should've been an Old Republic story, perhaps the ancestors of Luke, Leia and Han getting pushed into the steps leading to the eventual rise of their descendants. After all, Shmi Skywalker came from somewhere, seeing the Lars ancestors, Organa ancestors and Solo ancestors (maybe a Chewie ancestor?). Legacy of the Force indeed.
Are there any Old Republic characters pre-2006 that the LOTF story would have slotted into fairly well anyway?
Most likely just me seeing connections where there are none, but after reading Shadows of Mindor a couple years ago I've got the impression that Shadowspawn with his over the top philosophy about Dark,criticism of Palpatine and Vader and secret backstory with Sorcerers of Rhand was Stover's parody of both LOTF Lumiya and Vergere-turned-Sith.
Just one of many reasons why James is my favourite author of all time. It will be a sad sad day when he eventually leaves us for the next great adventure.
Figured you guys might find this interview neat -- on the r/StarWarsEU subreddit I posted an excerpt that I made of Timothy Zahn's Celebration III panel from 2005 where he discusses his thoughts on the Vong, his early role in shaping earlier conceptions of them (part of the nicknamed 'Project Montana' with Michael Stackpole, a bunch of which got ported over to NJO), as well as his wish to write a novel about the Chiss-Vong war. Zahn himself was actually approached to write some novels for the series at one point but despite being interested, turned it down because he didn't like being creatively contrained by someone else's outline, in his words. Still, he did consult with Tyers for Balance Point and remained interested in writing his Chiss-Vong story even after the NJO was done. Interesting to think what might have been, and to get some clarity as to his thoughts on all this. Many thanks to @The2ndQuest for archiving and sharing the original footage. Here is the excerpt:
If I ever go back and redo my Celebration documentaries, I'll definitely have to include some subtitles like that. But glad it was useful! From those wild west days of cons when you could film a lot more stuff.
I accidently posted my TUF thoughts in the post NJO thread. I guess I should actually read thread titles rather than skim them.
At least that can be mostly skipped over... Caedus is a throwaway line. And while we have Vergere, she does reject Krayt, so there's still the very real chance that Krayt totally misunderstood her (which NJO readers who skip to Legacy would clearly think is the case).
Does Legacy make reference to Jacen Solo being Darth Caedus? I can't recall. And the Vergere-Krayt interaction...unreliable memory perhaps or someone pretending to be Vergere?
It's a single page that references it. And the memory of the Vergere-Krayt interaction is still very ambiguous.
I always liked Invasion, but the lack of mention of something so significant in the main series felt jarring to me. It also felt it was squeezed into the Dark Tide time period. Invasion might have been better placed during the Agents of Chaos duology when more things were happening over those months as the invasion corridor pierced deeper into the galaxy.
Yeah imo it's obviously a fabricated memory. The entire thing makes no sense—Vergere is playing the part of a meek and loyal familiar at that point, she absolutely would not have had that kind of access to him. What happened is A'Sharad heard about Vergere being important and his ancient busted brain invented that whole incident. The Caedus mention... who knows. You can ignore it or fanwank it pretty easily. "Darth Caedus" doesn't have to be Jacen.
Well by this time "A'Sharad" is close to 200. Even for a human in the Star Wars universe that is pushing it. And we all know my clone Jacen theory
Sorry for taking resort to this early posting, but due to current developments I read this passage in SbS again, and my attention stumbled over a quite important detail - the thorn seat, how could I ever forget about that comfy piece of furniture? This scene is written completely from Nom's POV. I'm not sure, if it is only proudness about Shesh's recruitment, which made Nom Anor's annoyance vanish immediately. Striking how Nom Anor recognizes her surprise, assuming that Tsavong Lah might not have noticed. As if he's basking in "but I knew her first and better than you". I don't think that Tsavong Lah was fetching the thorn seat because he might have assumed that Nom Anor is enjoying such. I rather see it as a punishment because Tsavong Lah is suspecting Nom Anor to have told Viqi about the Voxyn's name. The warmaster might fear, that if Viqi is telling him about the Voxyn, she might tell others too, endangering the prepping of the taking of Coruscant. Disappointment oozing from Nom's every pore. Just because of the missed sendees? Again - disappointment. Tristan and Isolde? Yes, Tsavong Lah wants to control the situation. After re-reading that chapter I'm inclined to think that Nom Anor, though being bypassed when it came to Viqi's sendees, nevertheless had kept on meeting her, be it by distance calls or in the flesh. I wouldn't also blame Viqi for having bypassed Nom Anor, when he was obliged to give her Tsavong Lah's villip before. That was no throwaway villip for just one time like some smartphones nowadays. Nom Anor was expected to be just the door opener - and he knew that for sure, until Viqi became interesting enough for direct talks with the warmaster - as Tsavong Lah had put it before, "when we are nearing the core". It is just not foreseen or expected in Tsavong Lah's strategy, that such inition meetings do get a dynamic on their own. Nom Anor himself didn't seemed to be fazed much by seeing Viqi again in the senat a little later, what would had been the case when they hadn't met for a long time.
