Jacen, Anakin Solo and the resurrection of dead Force users through Dark Side powers

What I personally find odd about Jacen wanting to bring Anakin Solo back from the dead being used in LotF as an explanation for his Force journey pre-DN is that it could have been expanded and used as a "good" reason for him to go dark in my opinion. Jedi Academy with the brief resurrection of Marka Ragnos happened when he was about five(?), so Jacen must have been aware of that...

So, I think myself that it's proven in in-universe that Jacen could have gone Sith to try to bring Anakin back through Sith sorcery. But in the end, he went Sith after giving up bringing Anakin back to life and apparently never thought about the resurrection of Dark Underlord and Marka Ragnos and how he could have used Dark Side powers to bring Anakin back to life.

If he would have gotten remorseful, I think myself that he could have tried to resurrect Mara too (assuming that the spirits of those that one tries to resurrect have to accept the resurrection somehow). And if "mere" Sith cultists can learn to bring back dead Sith from the Chaos, couldn't Force knowledge -obsessed Jacen learn the same abilities?

So, I would myself say that it's a valid Dark Side in-universe way to resurrect any dead Force user at least and so I myself wonder why it isn't at least brought up in these kind of situations?

Jacen bringing back Anakin, Cade Skywalker could stop moping about his dad's death if he would just bring the old man back from the Netherworld of the Force through use of Dark Side - which he uses anyway.. Certainly one could find reasons for why these resurrections could not succeed, but they could at least be put forward as an option in my own personal opinion.

There is some problem, I acknowledge, with the "hosts" of the resurrected spirits, but there's the easy Dark Side way of just using some unfortunate person or a clone body without personality as a more lightside version, I guess. And a self-sacrifice of sort, like we saw in Jedi Academy, is a confirmed possibility.

Lastly I would say myself that now, as a dead Dark Lord of the Sith Jacen himself could be a potential target for resurrection by future Sith cultists...

 

Interesting idea...

I'd have rather liked that. And, in terms of "Reasons why it wouldn't have worked?", I rather like the idea that Anakin himself would have refused to return from the netherworld (which was the attitude we saw him with in the Lakes of Apparitions). Jacen/Caedus would have kept on trying, and trying, and trying, with no reason for it not working (having perhaps successfully done it with some random chump), but getting nowhere, causing him to become ever more and more distressed by his inability to force his grand design upon the galaxy.

 

This would have been awesome.

Jacen imposing his will to force Anakin to be resurrected. Anakin dealing with a possible Callista situation only touching the Dark Side and not able to touch the light, as well as coming to terms with how it would impact everyone that knew him(especially Tahiri). I imagine he would have turned on Jacen when he learned of how he came back though.

 

awesome idea though I'd modify it:

dealing with his return, loss etc. Anakin is not the same boy he was before. emotionally still a teenager with 16 years (in whatever body he is now, maybe Tarc's?) he has to deal with a lot and fails. Either Jacen has to see how Anakin kills himself to proof to Jacen that what he did was wrong... or Anakin gets angry and turns dark no longer the perfect Jedi boy and ideal of everyone and especially Jacen. Thus, Jacen CREATED the DARK MAN in form of Anakin revived. and only one thing can stop this from happening... Jacen flowwalks as the Galaxy falls to alter the past beyond anything ever attempted, having to face Aing Ti timelords and others along the way to make the change permanent. thus the older Jacen talking to Lumiya and probably doing more like stopping himself from getting the idea of ressurrection etc.

 

NO.


There is no resurrection in Star Wars. Break this rule, and all hell would break lose. Literally and figuratively.


The examples you give, of Sith like Marka Ragnos, were never truly dead. To use another franchise as an example for a moment, think of Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. It seemed like he had resurrected, but really, he never truly died. Same with those Sith, like Ragnos/Nadd/Kun/Muur/Andeddu/Palpatine, they tied their spirits to the physical world and never truly died.


Yes, I can see a desire to resurrect Anakin Solo being a motivation for Jacen during his journey, and that desire being a path to the dark side. But, as he found out and later told Tahiri, it is impossible.


I don't want Star Wars to become like Marvel comics, where a character's death no longer has any power or meaning because we all know they'll end up being resurrected. Death has always been a major theme in Star Wars, destroying it will ruin Star Wars.


The one thing I will agree with is that it's possible that Jacen, having become a Sith and knowing so much about the Force, could have copied previous Sith Lords and tied his spirit to the physical world in some way, with a return to his body and power in the future being possible. But seeing his spirit in ABYSS may have ruled that possibility out.

 

here is the Problem, only a hand full of folk have ever been able to do it.

Palpatine, and his dark side posse.

Palps is dead, his dark side posse...if not dead, is what on Dromund Kass? or on the run. And one dose not skip merrily into Dromund Kass, because you can't skip to a planet! (Ba-boom, Ching!)

*cough*

1) force users that are brought back, are usually brought at the behest of a benefactor...do didn't bring them back to benefit the returnee.

2) Does not the dark-side have a predisposition to mess things up? By its corrupting nature they might ?Come back wrong? like Kikyou from Inuyasha, or Yomi from Ga-rei zero. Who came back?homicidal to say the least.

 

While I do agree resurrection = afterlife revolving door like Marvel. Just because you call yourself a sith, or know a lot about the force gives you the ability to cheat death. I am working under the assumption Palpatine and the rest worked hard for their knowledge and their abilities were fruits of decades long labor.

When a character becomes a sith, they don?t experience a WOW like ding, and gain access to a skill tree that gives them, the ?Reincarnation? talent, with a 20% chance to avoid death.

 

dealing with his return, loss etc. Anakin is not the same boy he was before. emotionally still a teenager with 16 years (in whatever body he is now, maybe Tarc's?) he has to deal with a lot and fails. Either Jacen has to see how Anakin kills himself to proof to Jacen that what he did was wrong... or Anakin gets angry and turns dark no longer the perfect Jedi boy and ideal of everyone and especially Jacen. Thus, Jacen CREATED the DARK MAN in form of Anakin revived. and only one thing can stop this from happening... Jacen flowwalks as the Galaxy falls to alter the past beyond anything ever attempted, having to face Aing Ti timelords and others along the way to make the change permanent. thus the older Jacen talking to Lumiya and probably doing more like stopping himself from getting the idea of ressurrection etc.



uh... no FREAKING way. leave anakin as he is. he was a great jedi.

 

I agree with a previous poster. You allow people to be brought back from the dead, and people start popping up everywhere and it would be mess.

Yun-Yuuzhan, Do'ro-ik Vong Pratte

 

I agree that, had Jacen's fall been about a quest to revive Anakin, it could have been a much more compelling spine for LOTF - or, for that matter, it could have made DNT that much better - had it been done well.

Setting aside the Legacy Era Campaign Guide, which features RPG info on Cade's dark healing power (labelled, there, dark transfer), we see Cade using his power (in its DS form, not counting how he saves Deliah on Wayland later on) about four times, IIRC:

* Legacy # 1, reviving Wolf Sazen.

* Legacy # 7, saving Marisiah.

* during Vector, purging the rakghoul plague from himself and Azlyn.

* after Vector, keeping Azlyn alive (in an unintentionally cruel manner, and later condemning her to wearing armor

In all of the above cases, there's a few common threads:

* The revived are either very recently dead (Sazen), or near death (Marisiah, Azlyn).

(IMHO, the jury's out as to whether Sazen was actually completely flatlined, unless I've missed an author or LFL rep who's said, "the Zabrak was dead, son.")

* A lightning-like effect played about the revived (and, in at least some cases, Cade as well).

* Cade brushed the dark side, and in more than a few cases, plunged right in (yellow-orange eyes, snarkier-than-usual attitude, and so on).

The first is, to me, the most critical thing: Anakin Solo's body has been absent for a LONG time, IU - seven years, IIRC, between SbS and TJK, and 13 between SbS and Betrayal. No body, no revival, it would seem, using Cade's technique, and barring a sudden, sharp retcon of the funeral in DJ, Anakin Solo's original physical remains are not available.

As for breaking the barriers between the "crude matter" and "luminous being" states, hauling the Force-essence in question into a physical body, and joining the two ... Sidious did it with himself, but I'm not sure we've ever seen someone do it to another character, unless I've missed something. (Which is entirely possible.

(Note: All the above is based on the assumption that we're using the body of evidence we've read in the books, not reading between the lines. Reading between the lines ... I'd have to start a different thread, and I don't want to derail this one. )

 

The Dark Underlord arguably might fall into the "doing it on behalf of someone else" category (though everything about him clearly remains hearsay by other characters until we finally get a story about him).

 

Yeah, I'd really, really prefer if dead remains dead in Star Wars. Yeah, we've occasionally had dead characters pop up later, but there were retcons usually involved so its not like a character has actually come back from dead-dead.

Even the Sith usually just barely avoid dying, Palpatine, Andeddu, etc., their bodies perished, but its not like their spirits were absolutely gone, especially as they had all made preparations to avoid the hell that awaits them.

Although that was one of the sadder things about Anakin's death, especially compared to Chewbacca. With Chewbacca dying its one thing, with his body incinerated by the moon impact, but he also wasn't Force linked to anybody. With Anakin, everyone in his family felt it when he died, and then Jaina brought his body back, and then they burned it, so he's gone. Although in the end its probably better that way as if his body had never been recovered, we probably would've still been speculating about when he would show up again.

It might've been interesting if bringing back Anakin had been a central point of LotF, rather than just a lie that Caedus used to manipulate Tahiri. But then if Jacen had originally gone on his journey looking for a way to bring back Anakin, then that would've already looked sinister from the start, compared to how Jacen's journey started out innocently enough. Not to mention if he could bring Anakin back, then why not other people too? So best to leave it alone.

Funny enough, if this were a Marvel or DC comic, that sad/creepy story that Anakin droid in Betrayal had, of Anakin coming back to life in a clone body, would be somewhat plausible. Although that is kind of what Palpatine did, but Palpatine had prepared for it beforehand, and also, as a Jedi, Anakin accepted his fate when it came, a Sith is too greedy to die when its their time, doing any and everything to stay alive.

And I don't think Cade's lightning trick ever counted as resurrection, it always seemed more like resuscitation or a really power healing. Hm, wonder if we'll ever learn any more about it in the coming issues.

 

But it wouldn't be Anakin. Not anymore.

 

As for breaking the barriers between the "crude matter" and "luminous being" states, hauling the Force-essence in question into a physical body, and joining the two ... Sidious did it with himself, but I'm not sure we've ever seen someone do it to another character, unless I've missed something. (Which is entirely possible.

That fellow who designed the Darksaber. Can't remember his name as that was a pretty terrible novel, but Palpatine killed and resurrected him dozens of times.

 

Only because there is no death, there is only the farce.

 

Bevel Lemelisk. He also designed the Death Star alongside Qwi Xux, no wait now it was the Separatists.

 

The black wing project could bring them back.

Of course you might not like what they become

 

Now there's a thought! What would scare Jacen more than seeing a revived Dark Anakin on the Throne of Balance?

 

But it wouldn't be Anakin. Not anymore.

thats the point.



jacen is dead, anakin is dead, it really is too bad, but let's leave them buried.

 

But didn't Luke think that Jacen seemed a bit off when he was talking to the spirit? Maybe Abeloth was only trying to mess with Luke's and Ben's minds with the spirits of Jacen and Mara and they weren't their true spirits afterall.

 

Technically, Lemelisk never really died. Palpatine seemed to be yanking his soul out of the old body and into the new one at the last moment (I don't have my Darksaber copy at hand).

 

I think the closest we migh get to having Anakin and Jacen resurrected might be in Darth Krayt's new Sith troopers. IIRC, he manipulated the DNA of powerful Force-users to create these troopers. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow got a hold of Jacen's and Anakin's DNA and added them into the mix.

 

Yeah, if I remember Darksaber right, Palpatine was testing the spirit transfer thing on Lemelisk before he tried it out himself. It also served as quite a painful punishment, to literally die and then be brought back to serve again, and then literally being killed multiple times for failing, always remembering dying too.

You'd know, if Palpatine had done that to more people, that could probably drive people insane given they were transferred enough times, with not even death bringing them release. That'd be really evil. But then, Palpatine wouldn't want too many people to find out about his immortality plans either.

Speaking of that, I'm reminded of the Mindor book, where apparently Palpatine mentioned his plans for immortality to Cronal, and Cronal came up with his own variant, cackling that Palpatine's plans had come to nothing in the end. Though Cronal's version involved moving his mind into a meltassif copy of a nervous system, but that depended on the availability of meltmassif and Cronal was somewhat obsessed with finding a nice host body. Of course, the joke is on Cronal since Palpatine was even then planning in the Deep Core, and Palpatine got much closer to immortality then Cronal did.

And I don't think Krayt cloned his new Troopers, I thought he just found the most powerful Force sensitive babies, if I remember right, and he stole them and then added implants to them as they grew up, so that they were fully obedient. Of course, many of the One Sith were like that too, but the Sith troopers don't seem to have any individuality, compared to the various Darths. Not to mention as we've seen they can and will kill themselves on Krayt's command.

If you want Force-sensitive clones, Crosscurrent seemed to have something like that (although I never much cared for Crosscurent either), and I'm not sure I like how that plot is already developing.

I don't mind Luke talking to Mara and Jacen's spirits, I didn't mind how that scene played out, as it still left things very mysterious, as they should be. It wasn't a traditional Force ghost meeting, but it was another interesting way of meeting the departed. Just as long as it wasn't a deception, I'd hope Luke wouldn't fall for something like that, but you'll never know what crazy thing the novels will do next.

 

There's also FU2 and the Traviss short stories.

 

Heck yea!! Can't wait to see what Thrawn was up too and where these cloned-Jedi end up in 'Riptide'. Paul S. Kemp's 'Crosscurrent' was a great novel that linked the One Sith, the Lost Tribe of the Sith, the video games ('Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy') and Thrawn all into one book.