Lit Jacen or Jaina Solo? Who do you like more?

I have just recently got back into the EU in the past year and after a lot of rereads in all of the eras, I decided that I would read through the NJO because I wanted to see what all of the fuss over the Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi was about. Through my readings and looking through many EU sites I obviously learned about Jacen's fall to the dark side and Jaina the Sword of the jedi's defeat of him. Through reading the New Jedi Order books I have really felt like Jacen was a very deep and interesting character while Jaina was very bland and really annoying character not worthy of the title of Sword of the Jedi. I know my opinion may change once I finish the NJO series and go on to later books but I just wanted to see what my fellow fans were thinking. Who do you like more, Jacen or Jaina and why?

I'm afraid we don't allow "favourites" threads in the Literature forum. Please see the Lit forum rules, thanks!

 

I agree with you, but I liked Jaina's arc in the NJO on reread. She was a lot more interesting as the so called Sword of the Jedi when she was a fighter pilot driven to the point of desperation than as a bland Jedi.

That said, Jacen is probably my favorite EU character.

 

Jacen's characterization is like, all over the place. So I have to go with Jaina. Haven't read all the book though.

 

Jaina. She's hot.





That and she didn't go all mopey determined pacifist and cost thousands of lives by telling Anakin not to fire Centerpoint, become obsessed by the Force and go on a many year pilgrimage, be duped by a half rate Sith wannabe, become evil, or accuse her cape of betraying her. And she didn't kill Mara Jade.

 

I'll have to go with Jaina. I haven't read all her books, although I've read a lot, and I never really found her to be an annoying character. I actually found Jacen to be the more annoying character during a lot of the NJO, with his questioning the Jedi and such. And looking from a moral standpoint, Jacen fell to the dark side and did a lot of bad stuff during that time (like killing Mara Jade), while Jaina's never really questioned the light side of the force.

 

I will agree with you that I did not like the part where Jacen was very unsure of himself and even quit using the force for a while but I really loved his transformation in Traitor.

 

She did go on a path towards the dark side briefly during the NJO series after Anakin died. I just don't see her as being a worthy Sword of the Jedi.

 

Star by Star? Dark Journey?

 

I actually had forgotten about that. However, she never turned all the way to the dark side like Jacen, or do all the bad things he did while he was a Sith, like kill Mara Jade and countless other people. But you have a valid point.

 

I thought these types of threads were Haram?

 

I haven't read anything post-DNT so, not counting any of that material....

I lean towards Jacen, personal preference. His characterization has been all over the place, but I always found him more interesting. Even when I found Jacen annoying, at least I felt something. Jaina ... a lot of the time she was just "there." It seemed like a lot of writers were content to just write her as a talented pilot/Jedi/young leader without going beneath the surface. She was consistent, but not very interesting. (She was pretty good in the YJK though).

 

Jaina didn't hve the greatest characterization over the course of the EU (the soap opera between her and Jagged and Zekk dragged on too long), but I couldn't stand Jacen for most of the NJO with his whining and criticism of everyone else. Vergere fixed a lot of problems, but then post-NJO ruined all of that. I don't miss him much now, aside from the more innocent YJK depictions of both characters, but the worst part is that Jacen's final ruin didn't just hurt himself, but dragged a lot of other characters down too.

Jaina is tolerable, if somewhat bland (she really should have more screen time), especially compared to her late twin. I half expect them to add even more mistakes to Jacen's life in future books.

 

It seems to be a large opinion that Jacen, by virtue of either being Force sensitive or by virtue of being a Jedi, isn't allowed to be a conscientious objector, so to speak? That he's obligated to fight?

I'm not saying that I think that Jacen was particularly right to abstain from doing anything -- though I think it is important to the narrative that this was a position that he adopted in the same sense that the Fallanassi are important to the narrative of Black Fleet trilogy -- but I honestly don't get the reason why this is such a huge problem. Refusal of the Call is part of the hero's journey, and that is the form in which Jacen's refusal took -- and it was well done in the sense that it aligned his characterization and wasn't forced onto him for the sake of the monomyth. As an old WOTC article on the NJO series put, "Jacen... feels that the Jedi need to distance themselves from galactic events while they rediscover what being a Jedi really means -- which somewhat echoes Luke's own philosophy." I think that Jacen and the NJO as a whole is best exemplified by a Bertrand Russell quote: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.” Jacen and the Yuuzhan Vong are exact opposites at the start of the series, and at the conclusion...

 

I used to love Jacen, however his transformation into Vader Jr. during Legacy of the Force has now made me change my preferences to Jaina for any events post NJO.

 

I don't mind Jacen being a "conscientious objector" as you put it. But he crossed the line when he interfered on Centerpoint, leading directly to the Fondor disaster and Thracken Sal Solo being restored to power.

 

I'm not saying it's a problem to have the viewpoint, it's just something which I'm trying to understand. To Luke and to Jacen, the issue isn't something which can be put off until the Yuuzhan Vong are dealt with because the gravity of the role of the Jedi is such that if they adopt Kyp's position and it's wrong, then even if they do succeed in defeating the Yuuzhan Vong -- something which may ultimately come down to genocide -- then they will be a worse threat to the galaxy than the Yuuzhan Vong, because once a Jedi views genocide as an acceptable solution to this problem, even if it's just this one time, what's going to happen next?

I think the series would have benefited if it was written after Episode II because it anticipates a lot of the issues that the Clone Wars dealt with in regard to war being the antithesis of the Jedi worldview. Realistically speaking, when you've got Jedi Masters like Depa Billaba and Sora Bulq plus Jedi Knights like Tol Skorr and Nikkos Tyris turning to the dark side during the Clone Wars, to name a few, as a consequence of experiencing the war and the contrast with Jedi values, it's an absolute miracle that Luke's Jedi had no such issues apart from Jacen and Jaina both brushing with it briefly.

As for looking for a solution to the problem, I think that Luke and Jacen would argue that is precisely what they're trying to do... I think an apt analogy would be that from the perspective of Luke and Jacen, the issue is that the disease worsens with the cure. You've got an invading force and no apparent means of parley or otherwise stemming the tide of the invasion apart from military action -- but the consequence of military action against this culture is that it will seemingly result in genocide due to the culture of the invading force. There's self-destruction, or complete destruction of another, and Luke and Jacen are stuck in between. Both are unacceptable solutions, so they're seeking another.

Jacen didn't intervene. Anakin was free to disregard what he said, but he asked Jacen what to do. Anakin is equally culpable. Plus Thrackan wasn't restored to power of anything in the NJO series, except his Centerpoint party, which disavowed him immediately when the Yuuzhan Vong made him president of the Peace Brigade. Corellia then seized his property and stripped him of citizenship.

 

...people like Jaina?

Give me "whiny" and "annoying" over bland any day, at least I'll find it interesting. Even when she was acting more as a pilot, I found myself skimming if not skipping over her scenes whenever possible.

 

Where is Anakin Solo?
Anakin Solo beats all!
For those 2 though, Jaina Solo hands down. She doesn't make want to bash my head on a table 50 times like Jacen does.