Mara Jade

I am pretty new to these message boards, so pardon me if this subject has been looked into, but what is your guy's beef with Mara Jade? she doesn't seem that bad to me, and i think she is an interesting and sometimes compelling character. Maybe i am just not seeing something. COuld you explain your reactions to her. Thanks in advance.

-EagleEye

 

lot of people don't like her as she acts like a bitch, and is always insulting and downgrading other main characters while noone cares. Also that she has been put on such a high level both in books and else where just becuase that she married Luke Skywalker. My main thing is the crap of her never being dark.

 

To each his own, Eagle Eye.

Welcome to the boards.

 

my what a can of worms youve opened.. suffice to say some people dont like any EU character bieng on the same level as the holy trinity in the movies.. also people dont like Imperials (cant understand why on that one.. better a Neo-Fascist than a terrorist).
and some people just dont like anything Zahn.. but thats even funnier because most people were busy saying how much they loved him just a couple of years ago..

I dont personally love Mara.. but the hate she gets is way disproportionate to what she or Zahn has done.. also 1st post to use the term Mary Sue in it.. be ready to see a lot of it.

 

I like how people whine and moan about how they hate Zahn for making Mara Jade, how Zahn can't make a single decent character or good plotline, yadda yadda yadda...

And then look a how many of those same people are fans of Thrawn, Pellaeon, Iblis, Karrde, etc...

 

And some have no problem with Timothy Zahn whatsoever but just don't like the character, especially if they get accused of being sexist just for not liking Xena-- err uhm Mara.

 

Jaina and Jacen are Zahn OCs

 

Personally, I think Zahn did a good job with Mara (at least in TTT, haven't read HoT yet), but KJA kinda lamed up her character. She was interesting in TTT, but in the JAT, rather than develop her remotely. All of a sudden she was just some cold, super-attractive, distant character. I'd assume it only goes downhill from there to the point in NJO where she's both pregnant and has an incurable disease, and yet she kicks everyone's ass on an impossible level.

 

Will the Mara threads never end? This is polygamy of sithiest overkill.

I admit to a curious interest, if I left and returned a few years later, would she still be discussed?

 

Probably. The boards will shut down first before Mara talk ends.

 

KJA did set her on a downward character trend. From what I've heard of it, Mysteries of the Sith did a good job with her, and Walter Jon Williams and James Luceno characterized her well, but there were a few moments in the rest of the NJO that struck me as being a tad...well...not so hot.

Of course, then there was Han, one of my favorite movie characters, being a sobbing, blubbering drunk for a few books before going off on his own and blowing off his wife, kids, and friends to seek his own brand of vengeance. If he had met Kir Kanos or Mazzic in a bar while he was out, they'd have a lot of great stories to swap, I'm sure. Leia, who was characterized poorly in Balance Point, too tired and weak to do anything when the Vong actually attacked her. Luke, who was like Mr. Spock in Edge of Victory I: Conquest. Jacen, who suddenly had a completely different personality than he did in YJK. Jaina, PMS queen throughout a good portion of Destiny's Way. All of the main characters were done poorly at one time or another during the NJO.

 

Just look around a little on the boards, EagleEye. You'll find the hate for Mara outlined many many times over and in many different threads.

The short answer is, everyone has a different intepretation of characters and how they personally respond to them.

 

Admittedly, I thought that Mara was an average character for the genre when I first read her in Heir to the Empire in 1991. That is also the last time there was anything good or positive about her character.

What's been done with her since with respect to "Star Wars" borders on criminal bait-and-switch advertising.

I think she hit rock bottom as a character with Zahn's largely self-indulging Hand of Thrawn duology and all of his meddling into other Star Wars creators' fine work using Mara as his tool and mouthpiece to do it. I'll spare Spectre of the Past slightly, but, Vision of the Future had no redeeming qualities for me as a literary work largely due to Zahn's handling of his girl, Mara.

 

I'm now aware how much he copies his characters and personalities from each book, just changes the names. I see D'ukal as just a Jade clone in personality and prowess. What was good in Thrawn and Conqueror trilogies has bottomed since.

Look, it's a pity, but I just can't read another of his books, Outbounded included and the post-Hoth especially. He's just not showing originality.

 

If I was ever looking to create a thread that would get a lot of responses, I know all I'd have to do was make it about Mara and watch the posts fly!

As for the original question, some people just don't like her character, simple as that. It happens. It's just some are more vocal about their dislike than most.

 

Remember the thread a few weeks back with every major Flame-Bait word?

 

Xena? Nah. Red Sonja, the she-devil with a sword. Now that's the flavor.

 

Personally, I love Mara Jade, and the way that she and Luke work so well together. I'm kind of sick of hearing the same anti-Mara stuff over and over again...I mean, some people just don't like certain characters. Each to his or her own.

So with this is mind...

I say we make an anti-Jacen thread!

 

The Mara-bashing comes from two sources: there are a few eccentrics like Ghengis12 whose motives are fairly eclectic; and there's a more organized group of fans who dislike Mara: I don't know what percentage of fandom they are, but they encourage each other and seem to tag-team in threads like this; you'll see Tiershon_Fett and Shelley, I suspect.

These fans often say they feel Mara diminishes Leia, or she's not right for Luke - which basically means, I think, that she doesn't share their values and sense of what's acceptable, and they don't like that in the heroes of SW...

But you'll find almost any "issue" in SW has a very similar demographic and POV behind it... it may only be my own POV that thinks that diversity is better than a dogma of "good" and "bad", and accidental diversity is better than diversity as a dogma... but I'd definately argue that it's more real (though all those attitudes exist in reality)...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

The vast majority like Mara Jade. We just have a handful of trolls who have apx. 20,000 posts bashing her.

 

Hi Eagle Eye! Welcome to the boards!

Maybe you want to visit theMara Jade Skywalker Character/ Discussion Resource or the Mara Jade Skywalker Fan Club.

My opinion on why people dislike Mara? Well... some guys don't like her because she's a fictional character, so they can't "be with her". On the other hand, girls, because they're not like her.

 

Is it ok if I dont feel any negative or positive emotions for her right now? So far, in the first 2 Thrawn novels, I haven't really paid much attention to Mara. What I've done is skipped around the books to find all the Leia and Han parts first, because I'm addicted.

Athough I've also enjoyed Luke's resourcefulness with R2. Even when I went back to read the novels completely, for some reason Mara seems Xena-like to me, but without the guilt of her dark past so far. Her whole relationship with Palps gives me a feeling of unease though, how can anyone like that guy as a father figure? I'm thinking she was programed with a loyalty chip or something. Creepy....

To be honest, I dont think Ive read enough into her character to see if Id like her or not. Part of that is due to my Han/Leia obsession, but back to the main topic, Mara is still in the Unknown area for me. Maybe when I get to renting the NJO from my college library, I might feel something for her by then, good or bad.

 

TMcE...
"there are a few eccentrics like Ghengis12 whose motives are fairly eclectic"

He's right. My dislike of Mara is what will allow the world acting as one to save the whaladons.

 

I was thinking the same thing Jadie

 

Mara is a good character when done right. Zahn did a great job with her in Survivor's Quest and Denning also showed some talent for her characterization in TJK.

The only time I've really dislike Mara was in Rebirth.