Opinions of Tsavong Lah

If you analyse Tsavong after so many books where he appears in, you tend to notice he's a figure head and no more.

Yes, to be Warmaster you have to have earned that ascendacy, but he consistently shows no actual prowess, tactical or physical.

I don't have SBS (yet) so maybe he does show stuff in that . . . but he never fights as a ground warrior. Jacen won that standoff in Balance Point. Of course if you telekinetically bash someone with something, you send him flying out of a window. But big deal!

Tsavong looks physically imposing, but he never fights. He commands the Vong forces, but you never see him leading naval taskforces.

Come on, authors, prove Warmaster Tsavong Lah is who he really is! Don't just keep having him mouthing off fantaical diatribes the whole series!

 

I think he's nucking futs.

The guy is way too fanatical and single-minded. "His overconfidence is his weakness."

AND "his faith in his 'gods'."

 

Exactly. Lah is words, not substance. I hope Luke duels him at the end of NJO. Knowing Luke, he'll be overpowered and weakened, and in comes Jacen or someone to dust off Lah. But it's still something, between two powerful names, that has to happen.

 

I fully agree with you, Excellence. Tsavong, up until now anyway, has just been a figurehead of the Vong. He proably is a good tactician and leader, it's just that the authors of the NJO haven't shown it yet. Aaron Allston came close in the Enemy Lines duology in the way he portrayed Czulkang as a military genius, who isn't just professing his belief in the "gods" every 5 seconds, like his son does. Czulkang actully came up with a sound plan of battle at Borleais, and set it into motion. Tsavong has got to be just as militarily talented as his father, he was trained by him after all. I only hope that in Destiny's Way, Walter Jon Williams shows his genius in a believable way.

 

One problem about Rebel Stand is that Czulkang reacts to Wedge, never proacts. He was fighting off Wedge's final stand, not employing anything really creative, like Thrawn and even Zsinj had done. Both those two latter names displayed guile and deception and even tactics.

Czulkang was cautious, maybe too muuch. He als assumed too much inference about the New Rep.

 

Right, but at least Czulkang was cautious in his attack. Tsavong's idea is to send waves and waves of warriors until a site is overwhelmed. Sounds good, but eventually, you'll run out of warriors. Look at SbS, He lost thousands of warriors in the attack on Coruscant, and still pressed on undaunted. If Coruscant's defenses had held for a while longer, who knows what would have happened.

 

I wish to hell SBS would come out already on paperback so I can get it. Just another month or two to go here in Sydney.

Everyone is saying Troy Denning was strategic in his Coruscant invasion battle. I want to see for myself and comment comment comment.

 

I tell you this, Excellence. SbS was the best book in the NJO, IMO. The fall of Coruscant was handled very well, espically Leia's speech. That got to me, it will get to you too.

 

I know. That's what I heard, which makes the wait for paperback conversion harder. If 600+ on hgardcover, what will happen in paperback, I wonder?

 

I don't know, though I would assume about the same, with the smaller typing.

 

I like Tsavong Lah, he provided the 'necessary face' for the Yzzumng Vong as villain and truth be told I wish he had been introduced/created in Vector Prime because I think the series would have been much better for the entire ordeal.

Nom Anor is atypical of the species after all.

Tsavong Lah let's upfront say isn't the tactician that Mith'raw'nuado was. However that's like saying Norman Swartzcough wasn't the tactician that Napoleon was.

I think the Warmaster underneath his father probably learned an incredible deal about tactics and after his father IS the best tactician currently in the Vong military. Let's not think that the Warmaster deals solely in 'overwhelm and destroy' tactics.

He planned the attack route to go directly to Coruscant from what we seem, he furthermore uses the Republic's morality against themselves, specifically deals with the Jedi in consistantly talented ways (PEACE FOR JEDI! Replace Jedi with something else and you get a nasty parralel)

All in all his is an aggressive advance towards the Core followed by what appears to be terraforming of the local planets into war production as the Vong "buckles down" in order to consolidate their control over their worlds (his treaty over the Jedi was exactly over that-a double folded plan)

Upfront Tsavong lah is not insane by human standards. He is fully aware of what he is doing at all times; he is not a masochist or sadist either...he does this things solely because of an belief in his gods will. He is mistaken that his gods exist or even care but he is intelligently dealing with the facts as presenetd to him.

Not to mention possesed of a immense amount of loyalty to his gods.

Tsavong Lah also by his defeat of the beasts and so forth is the most talented warrior in the Vong command but he's also aware the Vong would be dissarayed if he was killed fighting the front lines Alexander the Great style. He comes as close as humanly possible (leading the attacks from his battle ship) but imagine if he HAD gone to meet Borsk

 

Tsavong strikes me as the type to get fanatic over even changing his Vong-equivalent nappies. A sacrifice for honour for a day's new underwear!

 

Do you blame him with what Vong nappies are made of?

IT'S FRICKIN CRABS DUDE!

 

Crab nappies, huh? You mean his underwear is armoured?

Suffice to say having said that is conjuring ridiculous images in my mind. crabs have biting pincers, but I won't go there . . .

Okay, okay, I gave in to temptation to say this one . . . does he need the protection, like a cricket batter's box?

 

Tsavong Lah doesn't do much mating anymore, I ain't saying why

 

LOL!

I have to admit, after Traitor's representation of Lah he seems dense - and then there's that scene in Rebirth where Han says, "He's my son, sure I'm gonna put him in a torpedo and send him over" and Lah gets it - sure, it might just be the translation, but it doesn't exactly overawe us with the Vong leader!

 

I personally think he as narrow minded megalomaniac that suffers from narcissistic rage at times.

I also agree that he is a figure head that has yet to show any abilities to lead or show tactical prowess is space combat.

 

I have to admit, after Traitor's representation of Lah he seems dense - and then there's that scene in Rebirth where Han says, "He's my son, sure I'm gonna put him in a torpedo and send him over" and Lah gets it - sure, it might just be the translation, but it doesn't exactly overawe us with the Vong leader!

I don't think that's dense at all, just the fact Lah has no grasp of sarcasm. Do you think the Yuuzhan Vong address superiors in that manner? Well, maybe Nom Anor could since he seems to get away with a lot of garbage. But If any else one did, he/she wouldn't be walking away from them, rather hauled away as a corpse.

 

Yeah, I understand it, but I still thought it didn't exactly make us respect 'im!

 

Lah is perhaps the smartest and finest tatcician of the race.

 

I disagree, Dude. I think its obvious that Czulkang Lah was the Vong commander of legend, a living war hero. Granted, Tsavong is fairly clever himself and a competent leader in his own right, but I still thank that the elder Lah was the true military genious of the family. Even though he had a very small part in the overall arc, it was obvious by other characters reactions to him as well as the way AA wrote him that he was indeed a field general of much esteem when in his prime, which is of course pre NJO.

 

Oh yeah-I think I remember that! What exactly did Lah say in reply to Han's jab, and what did Han say back? It's been a while since I read Rebirth-it was a library book, so I don't have it.

As for mating-you forgot Seef.

 

Ok, I don't have the book on me but the passage goes something like this:

Right after Warmaster Lah states he want's Jacen Solo delivered to them...

Han *to Lah*: "Yeah, I'll just put him in an escape pod and send him right over."

Jacen: "Actually dad, that really isn't a bad idea..."

Han to Jacen: "Out of the question." *more dialoge here about how they can manage to escape from the situation*

*after a pause*

Lah *roaring*: We do not see you making the necassary preparations for this pod!

Han stares in bewilderment at the com and thinks "Does this guy not have a sense of humor?"

Han: "Give me a minute will you? He is my son, after all!"
_________

Definitely not word for word but that's the jist of it.

 

Alas Dvader, when It comes to the SW universe, I must see to be convinced. Wedge was a Coruscant, yet failed to turn the tide against Lah Jr, and yet he did with Lah Sr.

 

I believe the odds were slightly different at Borleias than at Coruscant, chissdude.