Sympathy for the Devil (Alema Rar)

Anyone else think Alema really got shafted in the Dark Nest novels?

Sure she went dark in Star By Star, but she seemed to rebound by the end of NJO.

However....

In Dark Nest I, Luke is like "It was a matter of when and not if she would turn to the dark side after her sister died". Gee, man, have a little faith in your students. Her sister has been dead for what, ten years?

And then she and Leia battle....Leia seems as equally vicious in her attacks as Alema. Which is rather alarming, since Leia has a clear mind and the Twi'lek is brainwashed and being controlled by Lomi Plo.



But I guess since Troy Denning created her, he has the ultimate say in her fate.

 

Remember, unless they happen to be Luke's daddy or have ginormous boobies, people are generally unredeemable.

 

Remember, unless they happen to be Luke's daddy or have ginormous boobies, people are generally unredeemable.
Well, it's obvious who falls into the first category, but who's in the second one?

And I think Alema is too twised mentally to want to come back to the light.

 

I think Alema picked the wrong time to confront Luke and Leia.

They have nothing but contempt for her decision and refuse to give it any emotional or philosophical weight.

She's an insect to be squashed, not a person who deserves compassion.

Compassion is reserved for those who warrant pity.

 

Furyan: Anyone who Luke deems "karkable." (see: Mara Jade, Shira Brie)

Come to think of it, red hair might actually be the commonality.

Charles: That's it exactly. "People warranting pity" being defined, of course, as Daddy and cute redheads.

 

I think theres a lot more to Alema Rar than many characters in the EU. She started as I believe a Slave girl with her sister, so she had no other family to speak of when her sister was slain in NJO. Her Twilik master was also killed during the vong war leaving her feeling fairly alone I would guess.
Alema then once again found acceptance with Lomi Plo and the Kilik's. Whether she was brainwashed or simply found her place in the galaxy by her own free will I'm not sure, but I am sure that they became a second family to her and their loss was something she could not cope with, thus driving what ever little bit of sanity she had left from her. Alema has lost everything she ever loved including her own appearance, some of this due to her own foolish actions, most not. The Jedi failed her in many ways, probably should have never trained both her and her sister in the first place. I most certainly have sympathy for her and have found her fall to the darkest depths of the darkside a compelling, ongoing part of Del Rey's novels. She is certainly deserving of redemption but wether or not she would accept it is another matter entirely. What would it be like to lose every single thing you love? How would you cope? These are the type of questions that need to be considered when thinking of Alema Rar's story.

 

I don't know, I think I appreciate Luke not having an infinite amount of patience for people trying to kill him.

Sometimes, they just need to come crawling to YOU for forgiveness.

Alema would probably be less inclined to the Dark Side, I'm sure Luke reasoned, if he carved her up a bit.

 

I disliked Alema in Dark Nest and was actually irritated when she showed up in LotF, but I'm starting to like her now that she's being silly and irritable and bickering with (I don't know if this is a spoiler -- THAT THING SHE TRAVELS WITH).

I don't want her to be redeemed and made into a perfect Jedi, but I want her to survive the series. Maybe she can travel the galaxy, do underground freelance-y stuff that doesn't get her involved in epic Skywalker family arguements.

 

Er, I don't think she was brainwashed and controlled by Lomi; was there evidence of such? She merely became a willing Gorog, similarly to Lomi and Welk.

 

Other than Vader, Mara, Kyp, Kam Solusar, Pellaeon, Talon Karde and a host of others I've probably forgotten, Luke seems to have infinite patience with those who try to kill him. He even offered redemption to Lumiya so I'm sure it would be offered to Alema given the chance. Alema may be beyond redemption but I'm still sure Luke would offer it. She is much more worthy of redemption than Jacen is.........

 

Kueller, Brakiss, Desann, Kyle, etc.

 

Luke doesn't and shouldn't be surprised that Alema fell. I'm not surprised because Luke handled it all wrong. she lost her sister and the first thing he did was decide she will fall eventually and send her on a dangerous mission where she experienced more death and she kept fighting all the way through the war. he nor Leia tried to help her in Dark Nest just take her out. She should have been out of action after her sisters death and been given counciling or something. Han was out of action when Chewie died. the way all the others talk about her in LOTF you'd think she was just a useless crazy stalker. but i think she is one of the more interesitng characters and, after reading Inferno, i love the fact she is the only character who actually knows everything that is going on.

 

Good thing Kyle's got such a great rack.

 

Snarkiness aside, the Rar situation really is among Luke's most appalling crimes.

Forget the Killik War; he'd written her off as a lost cause over nearly ten years prior, while she was recovering from a brutal attack that left her sister dead and her emotionally scarred. I wonder if she wasn't supposed to survive Myrkyr...

 

I will admit that during the dark nest, I hated Alema. I can't put my finger on just why now but I hated her and wanted her to die in that jungle at the end of the series. I think I basically just didn't like all of the bugs all together. Come to think of it, I was about ready for someone to whack off Jaina an Zekk's heads too for a while there. Anyway, something either changed in the character or in my perception of Alema. I have come to respect her for how she always seems to know a way out or a way to survive. Above all right now she is a survivor and she is good at it and I like that. I now like the chapters that deal with Alema. I probably like reading about her now more than I did back when she was all Hot. I think she is worthy of redemption. As a matter of fact her telling about her mission to right the balance between she and Leia was great. I found myself agreeing with her. She had a tough time in the NJO and I too think that Luke, if he really knew the whole time she would fall as he says he does, should have tried to do something besides just continuously throwing her at another YV target. So that and all that she has gone through sense then makes me say that yes, Alema does deserve redemption. And she is officially one of the most interesting characters in the series right now too. That might give her hope in getting her story continued as well.

 

I always took that statement to be Luke knew sooner or later she'd have issues with the darkside.

I do feel for her because unfortunately for Aleema she fell during a time the NJO didn't care about the darkside anymore. Vergere's philosophy had them embracing the idea that intent was all that mattered it's not surprising Luke would write her off as a lost cause in a time when Torture was considered an acceptable means of finding answers.

By the time the Jedi order was thinking straight again she was so far gone and assumed dead.

Aleema really is the one Student of the praxeum to fall that is truely Luke's fault. He allowed Vergere's philosophy to pollute the order and he allowed her to fall without trying to stop it.

I like to think if Aleema had fallen during a time the Jedi Order and Luke was thinking straight she would have been offered redemption instead of being given up to her fate.

Unfortunately I also feel she's one of the few characters who is truly beyond Redemption she's become so insane and twisted by circumstances that best case scenario is someone puts her down like a rabid dog.

 

I also disliked Alema during the DNT. But then again, I didn't like DNT either, so I guess LotF is a step up. Alema had potential, but the authors are writing her to her "doom". She's going to die before the series is out.

 

Even in Vergere's phylosophy though Luke should have tried to save her. Her view wasn't that there was no dark side to fear so much as it was that the dark side to fear was within oneself. So even if Luke was bying into Vergere's theory which I just happen to agree with by the way (Vergere's theory that is), then he still could have seen her giving into the dark side within herself and could have seen her intent and gone after her then to try to redeem her. The Vergere phylosophy doesn't excuse Luke and the others from not trying to redeem her. Incidently during the DNT, most of her confrontations were with Leia and I don't think Leia would ever nor has she ever cared for redeeming a dark sider. Remember how long it took her to forgive Anakin Skywalker after his redemtion? She doesn't have it in her. Maybe if her fights would have been with Luke, then he would have tried somewhat to redeem her.

 

Yes, ten years to recover and pull herself together and....oh yes, at the first ship, she jumps and TRIES TO DESTROY HIS FAMILY.

I tend to think Luke just figured out that she's a selfish and evil witch.

Alema is one of the few cases where there's no mitigating circumstances. She just jumped ship for the power and hatred of a decent man.

She's a monster.

 

She might have jumped ship for those reasons, but I think Luke saying that he knew she would go dark from the death of her sister is proof that there were other things going on and involved.

Also I disagree with the opinion that she's a monster. She is a little deranged and crazy (though not as much as most think I believe) but she doesn't usually kill needlessly. Sure she threatens lives to get them to do what she wants them to do. That makes her a dark sider for sure but I think monster is a little strong. I think she's just a dark sider that is out for this "balance" between herself and Leia. I really think that's all she wants is for there to be "balance" between the two of them. Sure that means she wants to hurt Leia badly and that certainly could be looked at as a bad thing to do, but I don't think that makes her a monster.

 

I don't recall anything Vergere said ever implying Redemption fit into her philosophy. It was all about choosing and acting in the best way for the Galaxy. And when you get down to it. Trying to redeem Aleema was detrimental to the goal of stopping the Dark nest. FAr better to just behead her and Lomi Plo than bother with trying to redeem a fallen Jedi.

And I do agree Leia had consistantly shown she's less likely to go for Redemption than Luke. But Luke could have made more of an effort. He allowed her to slink away after he maimed her arm. He could have acted to disable her enough to capture her if he so chose. Or he could have done the proper thing by Vergere's philosophy and just killed her sacrificing one life for the good of many.

 

Personally, I want to see a non-mutilated, non-insane (notice, not "sane") darkside Alema live on.

Get her some surgery and make her the shadowy 2.0 of Lumiya to haunt the EU for decades to come.

Have some stunning wake up to clear out that killik junk in her head, and she could be a crafty and capable thorn in the side of the galaxy for a good long while.

The problem with redemption for Alema is that she seems to "want" it most of the time. She's convinced that her life would be bliss if certain things turned in certain ways. She wants happiness and peace, but presses on her dark path as though on a vendetta. If she gave it up, she'd probably save herself...her fall to the darkside is one of the most self-inflicted I've ever read...Gorog stuff notwithstanding.

Perhaps this is why people feel she should be redeemed...cause each time we see her, you pity her...and she laments...and you think "if somebody just said or did something nice, she'd be saved today!"

It's a crock...she's lost...and could be a fun one for awhile.

 

While I don't feel sorry for Alema, I do think she is one of the symbols of the failings of how the younger NJO were trained. I don't think that the younger NJO crowd was really ever taught the Meditation/Serenity/personal strength/spiritual side of the force. They were loaded up as weapons and sent out to go kill stuff. When the killing turned around on them, the problems started. Furthermore, in the case of Alema, she seems to have still been affected by her former life as a Spice addicted Slave. We have seen another young Twi'lek Jedi doubt herself because of her past and all it took to get over it was for Quinlon Vos (A person flickering from light to dark, during a galaxy spanning war) to sit down with her for a few moments and help her work through them. I didn't see anyone doing anything of the sort for Alema.

Tahiri is another that is clearly not well adjusted. To basically be entrapped by someone because you are pining over a person that died more than half a lifetime ago.......that isn't sane. Of course, nobody seemed to want to help her cope with her loss when it happened, either. Jaina, Han, and Leia did help her through the "Riina" thing but she was clearly disturbed past that. The 13 year old was sent out as a weapon and when things turned around on her she was just expected to cope. She couldn't talk to Jaina because Jaina insisted that since it was her brother only SHE should feel grief, she was treated with a complete lack of trust by Corran Horn, and really was most warmly received by an already getting creepy Jacen Solo who may have read her mind and left her a note that she would always be family.

 

The "Dramatis Personae" still lists Alema Rar as a Jedi Knight. On a side rant I hate the dramatis persoae and never look at it till I'm done a novel. Why put spoilers before page one?

 

Now I thought they wrapped that up very nicely at the end of NJO.

To have ripped open the wound in LOTF is the author's prerogative...they undercut NJO to steal the character and plot premise...I'll support NJO on that one (yuck...that makes me feel dirty)

And I think doing a "Twi'lek Jedi" stereotype is not going to portray Alema any better. Personally, I've always found Alema's character to be brasher and a little more A-personality then other Twi'leks we've met. To assume a righteous "sit down" would correct things...even with her essentially pining for such a thing...doesn't weigh out when her first instinct is to act or gain position.

I will agree that her past experience does bear fruit as to where she is now...her defiance and aggresive tendencies are her defense mechanisms against a hard life. They will die hard, if ever. At this stage...it will take more then redemption to save Alema from the darkside...it will take a fundamental change in how she looks at life. And between "balance" insanity and Gorogishness...this is very low on the odds.