C19's Review of Star Wars Legacy 3# *spoilers*

Well, normally this would just be added to the rest of the reviews for this but given that my cynical reaction to Legacy 2# created 19 or so pages of discontent, I'm taking no chances and doing my review of this book here. Thanks to the recommendations of my fellow posters, I've decided to "tough it out" and endure six issues of Legacy 3 before deciding whether or not to drop the book. I love Ostrander and Jan's work with Republic so that it was rightly pointed out that perhaps I owed them the benefit of the doubt with the story.

This issue confirms what I reacted to so vehemently last issue. Cade voluntarily and knowingly turns over a Jedi knight to his bounty hunter master in an action that's as unconsonable as murdering the Younglings in the Temple or Kyp Duroun blowing up Carida in revenge for his brother's murder. It is the direct antithesis of being a Jedi Knight and something that is like killing a Mockingbird to quote the immortal book. It's just evil.

That's the only word for it because it's an unpardonable offense that can't be justified under any circumstances.

Ironically, Cade's addiction to Death Sticks gets a big 'so what' from me. Compared to turning over a Jedi, I really can't see how that makes him any more edgy or dislikable. If he hadn't turned over the Jedi Knight or had failed to get him, I imagine I'd pity Cade though. It's fairly clear that if not for that action that he's pretty much deserved to have the bad attitude that he has. Having lost his father and then being enslaved by Rav (confirmed this issue that what I'd been told was correct and he WAS a slave to him), Cade has a right to complain about his life.

The big surprise of Luke Skywalker's appearance in THIS book as opposed to later is a good one though. Luke appears on pages 16-19 as he lectures Cade on the Force. Apparently Luke has been hanging around his grandson for some time now. Here's his actual dialogue...

(It's simply perfection as dialogue. I've reprinted it here as faithfully as possible)

Luke: Why do you use those deathsticks?

Cade: They keep you away.

Luke: They also deaden your connection to the Force.

Cade: Point TWO in their favor.

Luke: You've never turned a fellow Jedi over to the authorities before today.

Cade: I'm NOT a Jedi anymore and I'm not a Skywalker either.

Luke: I don't understand you. Yopu have a talent to heal others that is unlike any I've ever known. You brought your own master back from the very brink of the threshhold of death.

Cade: Do you know what it COST to do that? Do you know where it took me? I had to put one foot in the Dark Side to pull Master Sazen back. It was cold and dark....and part of me LIKED it. A part of me hungered for it! Not a good place for a Skywalker to be is, IS it?

Luke: I know all about the Dark Side Cade, more than YOU do. You wouldn't Have to go there to heal, not if you were at peace with yourself. If you completed your training, if you just accepted your legacy....

Cade: Be a Skywalker, that's turned out REAL well for our family hasn't it? Killed my father and look what it did to yours! B a Jedi?! WHY? I've read the histories. Time and againthe galaxy---which we served----turned against us! And we keep coming back for me! That's real clever of us isn't it?

Luke: Spare me, I lived alot of those histories you've read. I know what sacrifices were made, I know what those victories cost. EVERY Generation has its own challenges to face. It's own battles to win. Why should yours be any different? Running away from your responsibilities won't solve anything!

Cade: Just shut up and leave me alone!

*Cade draws a blaster*

Luke: Cade, you really can't threaten me with a blaster.

Cade: Think so? THINK AGAIN!

*Cade puts his blaster to his head*

Cade: Go away...or I will.

*Luke stares, looking "Oh for God's sake, you look like an idiot doing this" which is an odd look to see from Luke*

Luke: You have a destiny Cade. Whether you want it or

 

Smashing idea.

 

Crusades fan or not Q_M, Richard was the DUMBEST man ever to set foot on the back of a horse. The Third Crusade was a comedy of errors from the beginning. I pity poor King Phillip to have to work with that psychotic man-child.

We should thank King John for saving England from destruction in the meantime.

 

Not saying he was an especially good king (though on the back of a horse, he was brilliant), just that it sounds like a good idea. I imagine the first order of business for old coer de lion would have been to levy enormous taxes to raise an army to fight the Mongols, thereby preoccupying his new subjects with matters other than the attempted conquest of Europe for the next few hundred years.

 

Q_M, you fool! The moment they stop fighting each other is the moment they become unstoppable!

;-)

Don't you remember when the Muslims DID fight the Mongols? They sort of CONVERTED THEM and a guy named Tamerlane appeared?

It's like a Pirate Ninja! It's unstoppable!

 

Wow...now that is good writing.

 

Yes, I also want to say that Cade has some good points. The galaxy has constantly turned against the Jedi and apparently embraced the Sith for revenge against the Yuuzhan Vong and it got them betrayed/enslaved.

While it's not the Jedi way, I think its perfectly understandable that some Jedi like Cade feel that they have no obligation to rescue them from their latest bit of stupidity.

Mal: You called the Feds
Jayne: What, no...I got pinched!
Mal: Which is what happens, when you call the Feds.

Now replace Feds with Sith.

 

Except I'm not suggesting that they stop fighting each other. What I'm doing is setting up a scenario similar to Nazi Germany vs Communist Russia, minus Hitler's madness on the one side and Lend-Lease bail-outs on the other.

 

Except I'm not suggesting that they stop fighting each other. What I'm doing is setting up a scenario similar to Nazi Germany vs Communist Russia, minus Hitler's madness on the one side and Lend-Lease bail-outs on the other. [/quote]

And it'd end with a Warsaw pact is what I'm saying ;-)

But in any case, back to Legacy.

 

And by the time that happened, Europe would have colonized the Americas.

 

Why is Luke referring to God? I thought the force was their god?

 

You're optimistic. QM's threadjacking-fu is strong

 

*ahem*

That's me describing Luke's look of eye-rolling distaste for Cade's threatening suicide. It's a definite look that's not worried for Cade or shocked. It's more conveying that Luke thinks Cade is being childish.

 

That Luke/Cade conversation is brilliant. I now want to buy the issue to see the face Luke makes.

Yes, and it's becoming almost too common for me to really take it anymore. I wouldn't agree with Cade that the galaxy constantly turns on the Skywalkers (because honestly, Anakin turned with the rest of the galaxy on the Jedi to purge them) but it's a good argument.

It's one thing I'm constantly getting tired of... I'm sick of these incompetent galactic inhabitants.

(And nice Firefly reference. )

 

I pity force users like Cade. Why can't he live the life he wants. Why do thye owe a bunch of ingrates that will eventually tuen on him. He is right.

Why is it up to one family to hold the hands of trillions? In exchange for what, exactly?

 

Well, the Skywalker family isn't exactly a normal family in any sense...

 

Cade's life really can't get any worse to be honest. But it is a pity that he's the only man in the galaxy that can destroy the Sith.

And frankly, if he just shot Roan Fel for his crimes then I wouldn't be at all unhappy. Again, this series has prescious few people to root for.

 

I liked the Bothan....

I'm rooting for Luke, myself

 

I don't understand that at all. I find that this series has everyone to root for. I can root for Cade, and Luke-ghost, and Wolf, and Jariah, and Sia, and Roan, and Antares, and Krayt, and Talon. So many great characters that I already love.

It seems you'll never be happy unless the story's about heroic characters doing good deeds simply bacause it's the right thing to do. Which is boring as bantha poodoo.

 

C19: I had to put one foot in the Dark Side to pull Master Sazen back. It was cold and dark....and part of me LIKED it. A part of me hungered for it! Not a good place for a Skywalker to be is, IS it?

"Darkness wrapped around Anakin like a cloak and whispered to him like a mother. It promised him a face of durasteel and a heart of ferrocrete. It offered him supernovas of power and the unflinching will to use it...."

That's the result of what happened when Anakin Solo touched the Force strong and deep at a very young age. Is that a deliberate echo I sense there?

As to the question of Empire and Jedi: they're not as divergent as you think. Ben Kenobi's "damn-fool idealistic crusade" is also Darth Vader's cause. If the line can be crossed in the one direction, it can also be crossed in the other...



I don't say that the Empire is perfect: but they engage with the life the Jedi claim to revere, and it's obvious that if you play a contact sport, you get a little muddy...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Cade turned a Jedi over to the SITH.

Roan Fel destroyed the Galactic Republic and allied with the Sith.

Those are some pretty damning deeds. Cade might be redeemable if he goes after the Jedi but I can't think of Roan as anything but a man with a god complex.

I also think Krayt honestly hasn't proven himself evil enough either. When you overthrow an evil Emperor, you're hardly proving what an utter bastard you are...even if you too are an evil Emperor.

 

Well, agree to disagree then. I like complex characters.

 

Why can't he live the life he wants? You mean the type where he turns Jedi Knights over to the Sith? Great life there....

As far as in exchange for what, I guess I could say that "with great power comes great responsibility". But that might be a bit cliche. Haven't you ever found satisfaction in just doing the right thing? Whether or not you got rewarded, recognized, or you were even liked for it, can't you understand wanting to do good just for the sake of it? If you look at positions such as soldiers, social workers, public servants, etc. you might notice that these people aren't rich. That's because they aren't in the business of doing the right thing to get rich. Jedi are, ideally, the same way. Doing good just because it's the right thing to do and, hopefully, inspiring those trillions they are holding hands with to do the right thing as well.

Is the glass half empty or half-full? Not everyone turned on Luke Skywalker. His legacy is one that touched everyone in the galaxy in some way whether they realize it or not.

Bottom line: these people are heroes for crying out loud. Cade is one at heart...he's just forgotten it. Luke is trying to remind Cade who he really is and help him find a life that will bring him satisfaction, because he's obviously not getting any now.

You should listen to Luke Skywalker...he's a smart guy.

 

When has Star Wars ever been about goody-two shoes characters? In ANH, the only truly innocent character is Luke, and only because he's so young. Han is a drug runner, Leia is a fly-by-night pseudo-terrorist.

And Anakin Skywalker slaughtered billions.


So, tell me, when has Star Wars ever not been about redemption, about people who've done bad things coming to the light? And this why Legacy is so frakking brilliant- it's the only thing that was really Star Wars to come out in years.