Characterisations: Mara Jade Skywalker

The second in a series based on discussion of a characters evolution through out the Expanded Universe. Topics for discussion include: the best portrayal of the character by which author; how you think the character has been changed (for good or bad); has the character served his/her purpose for which they were originally created: what has the character contributed to the EU; maybe include your favorite moment or quote from a character etc.

As usual, no gushing or bashing will be tolerated. Please discuss purposefully and thoughtfully.

This one is arguably the most controversial character to enter the EU - Mara Jade. Once servent to the emperor, part time smuggler, part time Jedi Knight and married to the main character of the saga Luke Skywalker. She is probably the character that has been most widely written about by different Authors (not including the movie characters) and therefore has been portrayed differently, although nearly every book with her makes mention of her 'independent spirit'

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Gilad Pellaeon

 

I don't trust her, and her character seems to be one of the most complex yet misunderstood in the entire EU. Whether that's good or bad is entirely subjective, but I'm not so sure anybody knows what will actually happen to her or because of her.

 

I agree she is a very complex character, which is good, as it gives her some depth. Also, it is more the obvious she was set up to be with Luke, but through the various authors, it took a good deal of time, which is also good. If Zahn would have had them together by the end of TLC, it would have been a lot less believable. It is still strained, and was kind of rushed in HOT duo, but still, since there was enough history there, it could be made to work. All in all, I feel that Zahn, being her creater, probably writes her best, all other authors did a fair enough job, and she has enough there to make her an important character, probably the most important purely EU character.

 

She's one of the many great characters to come out of the Thrawn Trilogy and like many of them, it's that trilogy in which she shines the most in the EU. Then again, who better to write his own created characters than Zahn himself? Anyways, back to Mara. She's complex, which is a plus. Although her character has somewhat lost her edge along the years IMO. Marrying Luke no doubt calmed her, made her feel more secure but she's not as interesting when she's a quiet, listening Jedi. I don't know, you gain some and you lose some I guess.

 

Hello! FWIW, we have an ongoing Mara Jade Skywalker Character Discussion Thread in Fan Fiction Resource. I know you guys will have your own discussion here, but I just thought I'd drop by with a neighborly link.

 

Hi: Popping in from the Mara Jade Skywalker Discussion thread--where I often unrepentantly gush. But here, I'll restrain myself.
I also believe Zahn writes her the best. I believe Mara has changed from being a loner, angry and bitter, to a strong, outspoken, courageous person, who has allowed herself to open up to her circle of friends and family. I believe the pivotal things that have made her so is Karrde's mentorship and Luke's belief in her, her travail of illness, and motherhood.
I believe that the multtiplicity of authors throughout the NJO did Mara's character a grave disservice, in that some portrayed her superficially not with the rich depth she deserves. Kathy Tyers and Stackpole and Allston and Williams did the best job, imo.
I've heard so many offputting things about Dark Nest in general and about Luke and Mara in particular that I shudder to even comment.
So I'll end on a happy note: Allegiance by Zahn hopefully will have a lot to do with Mara's earlier life.
That ought to be really good.
Thanks a bunch for letting me share my thoughts. This is a great series. I love the non-bashing/ gushing rule, though that one's hard to stick to, so I'm surprised I was able to more or less stick to it.

 

One thing I liked about SQ was that Mara was presented as a character with needs and wants that went beyond Luke Skywalker. Her inner struggle with the effectiveness of the NR's government compared to the Empire and then considering joining the EOTH were a breath of fresh air compared to her "yes my love...." comments to Luke throughout the NJO and beyond. I don't think we've seen that kind of individuality from Mara since TTT and it was much more believeable than HOT.

My favorite piece of work starring her would have to be By The Emperor's Hand. I recently read the TPB while sitting on the floor of a Barnes and Noble, sipping a coffee, and I loved it all. Her struggeles with lonliness, loss, and relevancy after the death of the Emperor were very well done and equally as entertaining as her battles against Black Nebula. GREAT STUFF! It felt like classic star wars even without the main characters being featured. Even though she was technically a baddie, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her when Isard removed her from her high position within the palace. She went from the top of Imperial society to working as a cantina waitress on a backwater planet. What a fall from the top! The art was fantastic and I loved the red Vader lightsaber she brandished during her adventure. (Plus she was really hot during this story)

When given the chance to be a character in her own right, Mara Jade is a fantastic read! Unfortunately, due to the lack of plots directed towards her she seems to have drifted into nothing more than arm candy for Luke. I believe she could best serve the current series by dying so we could see the character's reactions. More classic stories about Mara as a Dark Jedi or smuggler for Karrde would suffice for the character's future IMHO. Further thoughts?

 

one of the reasons she is misunderstood is women are not supposed to be loners. we are not supposed to put our needs first. in her beginning, mara had many stereotypical man like characteristics. i felt a great kinship with her. i am sneaky, a loner, independent, pissy, dislike people when i first read her it felt like zahn was describing me. luke is able to accept her for what she is and allows her to return to community, some would say begin to act more like a female, on her own terms. all i know is if i was in a barfight and could pick anyone to fight with me, it would be her.

 

I don't like this character all.

Her lecturing of Luke Skywalker in VOTF is one of the main reasons why I dislike Mara. C'mon this is the grandson of the force, who has a connection to the force that she could never truly understand. Her insight was unnecessary and unwanted.

Another aspect that I find unsettling is that her past as an Imperial Assassin/Darksider has been whitewashed. Yeah she was the personal assassin of the most evil being to ever exist but, she did it out of loyalty so it doesn't matter. Riiight.

On a related note I feel that she took Leia's Jedi role for some time. After watching ROTJ I always believed that Leia would immediately begin her Jedi training under Luke. When I go over DE I see Leia on the track to Jedi Knighthood. Then we come to TTT where Leia is once more a neophyte whose put her training on hold in order to pursue politics. If that isn't enough we have an Uber Assassin/Smuggler/Babe who takes up Luke's valuable time.

 

Keeping tight lipped on this one...

I liked her in the Corellian Trilogy and Union. That's it.

 

I like her as a character. She's got a lot of depth -- Emperor's Hand turned nobody turned smuggler turned shipper turned Jedi. Married to a man she once swore to kill. Fierce and independent, but completely loyal to Luke. She has guilt issues, control issues . . . endless possibilities. Now those possibilities haven't been used to the fullest effect, but they're enough for me to like her. As to the issue of her lecturing Luke, I accept it because it makes sense -- she's an outsider with an outsider's perspective on Luke -- who else is going to challenge him? Tionne? And as for her whitewashing, I don't care for BTEH's attempt to retcon her as an experiment in the Gray Side, but I do agree that as a servant, corrupted from childhood by the most evil man in the galaxy, she's not responsible for her actions in the same way as Vader or Jerec or Revan, who knowingly chose evil.

To be honest, I haven't seen much inconsistency in her character. Everyone seems to have gone with the position of independent, proud, skilled woman, and I think it's been done well.

 

I just don't consider her being as independent anymore. It's as if she's agreeing with Luke all the time. She'll occasionally disagree (like in the end of Swarm War) but...still she's too different from what she was in the Thrawn Trilogy for my tastes. She always had a sharp tongue, usually something very clever, sarcastic or even scary to say. She's still interesting but still...

 

But perhaps she has outlived her usefulness?

 

Yes because Luke deserves more pain.

Mara is one of my favorite characters and possibly my favorite NJO Jedi.

Unlike characters who were created for the sole purpose of be a romantic interest for Luke I think she is a perfect balance for Luke. As he balances her flaws like a quick temper, she is independent enought to smack him down when he's acting stupid, she's strong enough in the Force to hold her own and their relationship seems less silly and romantic than some others.

I loved her tongue-lashing of Luke Skywalker in HoT. Only Mara would have had the guts to stand up the most powerful Force-user alive and tell him flat out he had been acting like an idiot. Who was she to lecture him? I'm not going to get into that. I'll just leave it at the fact that I think she was right and that Luke needed a tongue lashing from someone for his actions between TTT and HoT.

I disagree with the whitewashing comments. I don't think it has ever been retconned that Mara didn't do horrible things for the Emperor. It was never said that she was a Dark Sider in TTT. It's just something people assumed a Force-sensitive Imperial assassin would be. She still did kill people who didn't deserve it. But guess what? Her husband has killed more innocent people than almost anyone and noone ever thinks about Death Star stormtrooper TJ-504 (I made that up BTW) who was a conscript just out of the Imperial Academy, had done nothing to deserve death and was just sitting in the refresher minding his own business when his life suddenly ended.

 

True. At least I strongly believe that Mara was never trained to be a Sith under Palps. While she was taught how to use the force, I doubt the two ever had discussions about the "greatness" of the dark side. I don't think she fell to the dark side under Palps. She served him cause he was her only "parent" and mentor. It was out of duty. Luke, on the other hand, is much more prone to falling to the dark side than what Mara is, even though Mara has the quicker temper.

 

It would be good to see Mara v. Lumiya in LOTF.

Battle of the Hands.

 

I agree, that would be an interesting battle. Is Lumiya rumored to show up in LOTF? If she is, then I would think Mara would have a lot of insight into how Lumiya thinks.

JL

 

I get the feeling that Lumiya and Mara are very similar characters, with similar personalities. If their positions were reversed (Mara trained by Vader, Shira by Sidious) then what would have happened in the future would have been very similar to what is happening now.

 

So Luke is considered a murderer for killing a soldier (from EVIL GE) of the enemy during a state of war while rescuing a senator who was on a diplomatic mission?

 

Zahn's said that Allegiance won't reveal anything about Mara's life pre-Emperor. I'm glad, personally, like Yoda and Palpatine some stuff is betetr left to the imagination.

Wasn't that what Zahn had in mind for her from the start, an eventual partner?

That was in a Joe Corroney pic for some Gamer article, wasn't it? Isard sent Lumiya after Mara on Caprioril.

A diplomatic mission that included sending stolen government plans to a terrorist organization and then using a lie about diplomatic immunity to try to get out of it?

 

Well, that's 'cause LotF will reveal all.

[image=http://starwars.wikia.com/images/d/df/MaraJadeVsLumiya.jpg]

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My thoughts? Mara's gotten booooring, but she'd become a whole lot more interesting if she were the offspring of, say, a certain Rim politician and Core industrialist?

 

Raith Sienar and Orn Free Taa?

 

No no no. Rune Haako and Sweitt Concorkill.

 

Thou shalt not mention the Sweating Corncorkill. I can't see myself liking gaol food.

 

Hey...they're the good guys. Right?