Can't sense the Vong

Just got done reading one of the NJO books and a thought occurred to me... Why can't the Jedi sense the Vong? I understand that they don't "exist" in the force, but it seems to me that they would at least be able to sense an absence there. I'm thinking that the force, being initiated by all living things, would be like an ocean. The YV, being an absence in the force would be like a bubble in that ocean. I can see the bubble, that there's a lack of water where that ocean exists. Do you see what I mean?

 

You're right. IIRC, the Jedi sense a nothingness where there's Vong.

 

Yeah, like Boba said, I'm pretty sure the Jedi feel a "void" of sorts when the probe a Vong, and this threw them seriously off kilter for much of the first part of the NJO.

I_F

 

Lies! All of it!

In TUF, Veila flings a whole pack of them away from her, and then disarms Anor of his snakestick---all with the Force. And Skywalker bounced a slayer off his Force created energy wall.

How do you explain that? You can't, and why bother anyway?

 

Yeah, that was something that bothered me, the inconsistency, especially when in Traitor Jacen couldn't touch them with Force lightning. But then didn't Jaina do it in Dark Journey? I can accept the Force attack Jacen used in Destiny's way, assuming it tapped into his "Vongsense."

 

Also, they feel a "darkening" of the Force around major YV fleet concentrations across galactic distances, as early as Balance Point...

The Vong are very alien - Luke, Anakin, Tahiri and Jacen, in their various ways, have reached points where they can sense them...

And is it just me, or can Mara sense the coom spore infection, or at least the "infected" cells, in the Force from the beginning?

Either the Vong are becoming more attuned to the Force, or else the Jedi are becoming more attuned to the Vong...

-The Imperial Ewok

 

>>"In TUF, Veila flings a whole pack of them away from her, and then disarms Anor of his snakestick---all with the Force."<<

In merging with Riina, Tahiri becomes able to use the Force to affect the Vong.

>>"And Skywalker bounced a slayer off his Force created energy wall."<<

Been a good 6 months since I last read TUF, and I can't remember the context of that scene, but...

If I was throwing bricks at you, and I kept missing you, and then I built a wall with the bricks, and you ran into it, what would happen?

 

This was always a big problem which the authors would frequently contradict each other on. I remember one of the Jedi (Luke?) commenting that even though they could levetate a Vong up and spin it around the room, they couldn't sense a living presence there.

I think that what affected the Jedi in the beginning was that they were so dependent upon being able to sense the living presence of their opponent that they had a failure of imagination and didn't think about using the other abilities given to them by the Force to combat their opponents. There is no reason why a Jedi shouldn't have been able to squeeze the atoms in a Vong's throat and force-choke them, or why they couldn't create a telekinetic blast and blow a pack of them away. With enough practice, the Jedi probably could have learned to affect the nervous system of the Vong, and sense where the are based upon the energy in their body, and also use that to stop their hearts or freeze their muscles. The only real problems involved in the Vong being an absense in the Force is that 1) the Jedi couldn't read their minds or mind-trick them, and 2) the precognition which the Jedi use so freely would be ineffective for the most part.

Beyond that, there really was no explination for why all of the other Force-powers which the Jedi harness on a daily basis couldn't be used against the scarheads.

 

I never understood why it mattered, except for ambushes.

The Jedi can aim, right? I didn't understand the so-called moral dilemma. Why not use things as projectiles?

I really wish that Vader got to tangle with the Vong. They would have made fun of his breather, and he would have laid waste to them his his usual, delightful way. It would have been a hoot. Much more fun than Jacen and his dull ponderances, even though Aankin told him to stand firm. Can we get an Infinities in this area?

 

Yes, the authors were rather inconsistent about that. Telekinesis of any kind as well as Force lightning will work on the Yuuzhan Vong, and Force shields will work against their weaponry. The only thing that requires special training and senses to work against the Yuuzhan Vong is mental abilities such as battle precognition and mind tricking.

 

Yes, the authors were rather inconsistent about that. Telekinesis of any kind as well as Force lightning will work on the Yuuzhan Vong, and Force shields will work against their weaponry. The only things that requires special training and senses to work against the Yuuzhan Vong are mental abilities such as battle precognition and mind tricking.

 

Yea. I liked the whole Vong seperation from the force. it was a cool twist

 

And is it just me, or can Mara sense the coom spore infection, or at least the "infected" cells, in the Force from the beginning?

It is possible that the Coomb Spores (like the Voxyn) were at least partially of the GFFA. Couldn't the Jedi sense the voxyn?

I'm reading the Callista Trilogy (I know. But I'm a completist) and Luke cannot sense Callista. I assume Ulic was the same way in TOJ. So this isn't unprecidented.

 

Nowhere does it say Qel-Droma couldn't be Force sensed, actually.

 

Alpha_red: In Traitor Jacen's lightning failed against the Vong. Does he use it again at some point?

 

That was discussed before. Matt meant to have Jacen's lightning hurt the Vong, not be immune to them. And Destiny's Way's green lightning was a choice to have something new, based on a different emotion Jacen was feeling at that time . . . something like that.

 

Nowhere does it say Qel-Droma couldn't be Force sensed, actually.

I didn't say he couldn't, Ex. I just said it could be assumed that he couldn't be sensed since his condition was similiar to Callista's if not exactly the same.

 

I don't recall it ever being brought up, but it was a comic so they didn't have all the info books would have on if Ulic could be felt in the force or not

 

I'd say Callista's case is different to Qel-Droma, who, may I say, looks a lot like Kir Kanos. Transferring her essence was a dark side technique, that later material said so, so that explains why she could only use the ds afterward. Q-Droma is pretty much an unknown case. I doubt the TOTJ Handbook elaborates on it, although I wouldn't mind getting my grubby hands on it someday!

 

That's possible, Ex. I just always saw their problems as the same. Esp. since comments were made that way in DS.

 

If there's certain people that can sense the Y Vong, why don't they broadcast the key? Oh, never mind... that's probably just something I haven't read to yet. Does make sense, though. Why re-invent the wheel?

 

GFFA

Whats that?

 

GFFA stands for two things. The first meaning is 'galaxy far, far away' and refers to the SW galaxy as a whole.

The second is the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances...or something like that. It's either what replaced the New republic after SBS or is a UN analogue.

And the Vong sensing is one of the more screwed-up things in the NJO.

 

The second is the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances...or something like that. It's either what replaced the New republic after SBS or is a UN analogue.

Kind of a cross.

 

If I recall correctly, we went from points where the Jedi totally couldn't sense the Vong and were always having to be on their gaurd in case they ran into them to points where they couldn't sense the Vong but realized they could sense where they were because it was a void, and back various times through the NJO.