Aliens of the Empire (Part 2 now up)

Well, Qui Gon had like a week with Anakin before he died. Frankly, his plan was to finish up Obi-Wan's training and then start training Anakin himself (with or without the Council's permission if he had to). Plus, there's probably a good possibility of interpersonal rivalry.

Qui Gon worked for the Council despite masters like Djinn who you'd think he'd prefer to hang with.

 

Good catch. But again, Anakin did lose multiple lightsabers.

Yes, that was definitely on purpose. Hypocrisy is inevitable, I always say, so it's interesting to see how Halagad justifies that.

Well academies like Almas and Djinn's really accepted and maybe even relished in their roles on the fringes of the Jedi Order. Qui-Gon seems to have tried to work within the system, because he could. The guy knew how to get his way.

 

I'd consider the unorthodox academies (Almas, Chuunthor II, et al) to be akin to the so-called "Eastern Rite" churches of the Catholic Church, that exist in the middle east.

They differ on a few points, but Rome still considers them "in communion". That, however, doesn't mean Rome is planning on putting any of those "innovations" into practice in the mainline Church.

 

Yes, though I tend to view these groups as so small that they're really not effecting the whole of the Jedi.

 

Well, that's how it works for the Catholics as well. The vast body of the church follows the Vatican's preset theology and practices, its only the historical different groups in the Middle East that are allowed to follow the less orthodox practices.

 

Why are they bothering to try and include the Glove of Darth Vader books? They contradict the main EU books too much.

 

Progressively less and less.

 

GODV may be stupid, but don't underestimate its continuity. Kessel's way off, but it was the first source to make new Grand Admirals besides Thrawn, is one of the only sources to deal with the Moffs after Endor, and even referenced COMPNOR.

The execution sucks, but there's some pretty decent ideas buried underneath it. What's impressive is how folks like Abel are able to bring them to light while burying the more questionable elements (or at least having some fun with them).

 

>Kessel's way off, but it was the first source to make new Grand Admirals besides Thrawn, is one of the only sources to deal with the Moffs after Endor, and even referenced COMPNOR.<

Actually, the Kessel as seen in GODV was perfectly in line with the only other appearance of Kessel, in Manning's comic strips. The skies are even the same color. And while Kevin J. Anderson completely ignored Manning's depiction of Kessel when he wrote the Jedi Academy Trilogy, he did bend over backwards to reconcile his radically new version of Kessel with that of GODV. He mentions the city of Kessendra and the "upstart slave lords" from GODV as being on the other side of the planet and how the atmosphere generators once ran full tilt, allowing for open air stadiums, etc. Subsequent reference works just ignored Anderson's own retcons; compounding the problem.

TC

 

Huh, I've learned something new. Thanks for the info.

 

Good analogy. I like that one.

Well, "they" is really mostly me, and I bother because, quite simply, I enjoy those books, and I know others do as well. Many folks hate them, but many folks hate the prequels too.

Of course, it also helps that unlike, say, the Holiday Special, Lucasfilm has always had the Glove of Darth Vader series included almost unwaveringly from official timelines since the series was published.

That's really a long-held misperception. The biggest "problem" with the Glove of Darth Vader series is its goofiness, not that it contradicts the rest of the expanded universe. If you wanna split hairs, the Thrawn Trilogy has been getting punked by continuity for years, and its needed about as many bandaids. It's a good lesson about what happens to even the most popular Star Wars stories when they get along in their years.

Danke.

I'd call that sig worthy, except you already have such a good one.

It's pretty simple, the way I see it. Just as interpretation of videogame storylines has particular rules that take into consideration the intentions and limits of the medium, the same holds true for a Star Wars children's story, except that the significant deviation from the mainstream output now relates to genre, not medium. It's not that the events depicted in the Glove of Darth Vader, the Ewoks cartoons, or the Clone Wars micro-series are wrong or impossible, it's simply that they could not happen the way they did and be true in any other medium, genre, or combination thereof (the only true possible objection being that some works maintain a more rigid internal logic than others).

We might call out any story that purports to be a part of a "cohesive" shared fictional universe (we have a hard enough time keeping our minds from wigging out at the thought of the prequels and original trilogy being one seemless story). But we are inclined not to do this merely because most mainstream stories follow a particular set of unspoken rules that eliminate the most obtuse incongruencies that would frustrate our ability to maintain a suspension of disbelief and enjoy this cohesive universe. If we are inclined, we might say the same for reality. To be intelligent enough to be aware of this inherent and pervasive flaw may be an annoyance, if we are so inclined to allow ourselves be consumed by such an inescapability (which is therefore a triviality), and it may be a blessing, if we are so inclined to use that very intelligence to, at the very least, keep ourselves from succumbing to the potential trap of our own awareness. We may even act to help dispell these contrarities so that everyone can chill out.

Folks, I'm outta here for the holidays. Thank you for your support this year. Next year should kick even more Ask Aak, starting with Aliens in the Empire Part 3 sometime in January. Dawn of Defiance: Echoes of the Jedi should hit soon after that, and the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide toward the summer. As always, it's a pleasure interacting with you and an honor entertaining you.

Happy Star Wars 30th and happy holidays.

Take care,
Abel

 

There's a part 3 coming!? Now I'm stumped. Without folk like Hissa and Trioculus, who else could there be?

 

A few possibilities that came to mind . . .

Ssssk!
Defeen
Rokur Gepta
Waywa Fybot
Gwellib Ap-Llewff

 

Ssssk! seems VERY likely, as Abel seems to be gravitating towards the CSW/Marvel sources.

 

TalonCard's right: Anderson did do that. With only GODV: Queen of the Empire, I didn't get the references until now, in hindsight. But is Glove really that old? JAT is one of the earliest books to come out, way back when.

 

Yep. A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition was released fairly shortly after the 90s EU Revival began, and, aside from RPG guides and stuff prior to Heir to the Empire, only covers the Thrawn Trilogy, Dark Empire . . . and the Jedi Prince books.

 

Well, the main thing that "punked" the early Zahn books was the Clone Wars timeline established by the PT. However, there's a continuity mistake in Dark Force Rising that was already a mistake even before the PT.

 

Waywa Fybot would be sweet!

 

The word you're looking for is 'giftofearthandwater' *cough*

 

I just read the "Vader finds out about Luke?" thread and was reminded of Ban Papeega. He would be a really cool addition to this series. We don't know his species yet, do we?