Sympathy for the Devil (Alema Rar)

I really have no sympathy for Alema. When her sister died, I felt for her... but going to the Dark Side, trying to kill people who she once fought alongside with? She chose that. Even now, she continues to choose the Dark Side, refusing to take responsibilities for those choices. She blames events, people, everything but herself for her situation. Alema doesn't seriously consider returning to the Light Side, or she would go to Luke and ask his forgiveness. True, she has much to answer for, but no more than Kyp Durron did when he went to the Dark Side (obliterating a star system, anyone?). Durron was forgiven, and is now a prominent Jedi Master. Why should Alema expect any less?

She refuses to own up to the things she's done, and that is why I have no sympathy for her. Now, if she tried and was turned away, I could have sympathy. She may not have had anyone help her cope with the death of her sister, but as far as I'm concerned, that is no excuse. Is it hard to deal with the death of a close family member? Yes. But it doesn't drive you to do bad things; it leads you to the point where you have to choose your course. Do you give in to despair, or do you honor that person's memory? Alema chose her course, and it was a poor one. Her sister was a Jedi. By going Dark Side, by choosing to become everything that her sister fought against, she dishonors that memory.

 

And Jaina and Zekk.....
*sniff*

Seriously though, by picking a fight with Leia, Alema is barking up the wrong Skywalker. Leia doesn't do forgiveness. She doesn't have to, either with mortal enemies. Besides, what is Alema's problem with Leia anyway? She never did anything to warrant the things Alema started, trying to make them be stuck on a dying planet.

 

That doesn't exactly strike me as the sort of sentiment you would expect of the leaders of a sect of space Buddhists.

Also, I'd take issue with the idea that true compassion has anything to do with pity.

 

Tolkien had the opinion pity was the recognition something was wrong and those who thought it was demeaning were loathsome individuals (or just foolish). Compassion is offering a hand to those who are pitied because something is wrong.

Alema Rar chose the path of evil.

I admit, her treatment by Luke seems strange but I confess I like his blistering *contempt* at her decision because it strips her of even the respect that's warranted an archnemesis. Alema wants the attention of being Luke's foe, all he gets is his utter disgust.

It's truly poetic justice.

 

Its hard for me to take her seriously as a villain with her amputations and maimed lekku and whatnot, yet for whatever reason she seems to be playing a major role in LotF.

 

Well, she got a pretty big push in Inferno in my opinion. Prior to that, she seemed to me to be more of a predatory animal being driven by some base instinct to restore her "Balance". Now she seems to have a more real sense of direction. She's used what resources she does have efficiently and did something that perhaps the Jedi SHOULD have done but didn't or couldn't....hunt down the Sith. I think she feels as though she is part of something now even if the Korriban Sith and Darth Caedus aren't really happy about her being a part of it.

 

She makes me laugh more than anything in Legacy thus far. I liked her open criticism of Lumiya's competence at demolitions. They argued almost like sisters. And since reading these books, holding up a hand in the air, twirling stutteringly around, and saying, "I can dance" has become a never-ending joke between my brother and me.

 

That always bothered me too, the way Luke just wrote her off. DR Luke has NO problem killing his students who even show interest in the dark side, but if one of his familly memebers does that? Suddenly he's alot more open minded about the whole thing. He went out of his way to redeem Kyp Durron, why is Alema Rar any different? Do pshycologists not exist in the star wars galaxy?

 

Crazy Bugslut!

 

I love this character. In early LotF I just found her to be annoying and wrote up to be more of a threat that she really was. I really like the character now, she's just so twisted, and the way she interacts with others is always funny. I think she is way past redemption and that she's going to kill a major character before the end of LotF. My money is on Zekk.

 

Zekk? A major character?

 

I really wish people would stop saying that Zekk is going to die.

I think Alema should kill someone else. Someone more important. She's working for Jacen, isn't she? Maybe he could get her to assassinate one of the Confederation leaders. How about that Turr Phenin guy? Or Klauskin? Hell, why can't Jacen just tell her to remove Niathal? He wants control of the GA, but if he kills her personally, it would look suspicious, wouldn't it? Maybe he could get her in a position where Alema could just take her out silently with a poison dart.

Face it, that would make for better storytelling.

 

When have we seen Alema working directly for Jacen? I don't recall her doing missions for him or anything like that, she has been behind the scenes with Lumiya mostly. I could be wrong though, so correct me if I am.

And I thought her whole goal in Inferno was to get some sort of advantage on Jacen so that he would have to rely on her. Sorta' like he did with Lumiya. Now that she has the knowledge of the Sith on Korriban and the Sith Holocron I doubt she's going to be Jacen's personal assassin.


And I'm basing my guess that Alema will kill Zekk on the fact that him, Jag, and Jaina are actually trying to find her. Their goal for awhile now has been tracking down Alema, so it's reasonable to assume there will be a confrontation eventually. Plus, Jag has been getting more page time than Zekk and Jag has usually won most of their little fights in the books. (doing more pushups, winning arguments, getting to go with Jaina, etc)

How is it better story telling for a character that has had tons of page time for several books randomly stop being involved with other main characters and just go kill some Confederation leader that would put up no fight at all? Even if she does do Jacen's bidding and takes out some people for him, it's likely that will lead Jaina, Jag, and Zekk to her regardless.

I just think Alema has been portrayed as a dangerous character for quite some time now. She has had Jaina, Zekk, and Jag on her tail and now people have reason to believe she murdered Mara.

So yeah, I get the feeling Zekk is going down hard to Alema. Sorry, I know you have a thing for him.

 

Important on a galactic scale, yes. But we're less familiar with all those characters than we are with Zekk. Now what if she set her sights on someone close to Leia like Saba? She has a hate on for Leia, what better than killing her master? The only thing worse for Leia would be Han, Jaina, Luke or Ben and I don't see any of those characters getting offed anytime soon.

 

Alema may not have been directly working for Jacen, but after she discovered that Lumiya was assisting Jacen in becoming the next Dark Lord of the Sith, she decided to help both of them. She figured that watching Leia's last remaining son turn to the Dark Side would serve her own Balance. I believe she truly wants to help Jacen become a powerful Sith Lord. She sought out the Sith on Korriban purely to assist Jacen after Lumiya's death. We forget that Darth Vectivus' Holocron was useless. It contatined information regarding business, not Sith secrets. Even Alema herself said it was a piece of junk that she didn't understand. She just doesn't understand that its going to be a piece of junk to Jacen too. Sure, she may be a little slow sometimes, but right now she's the only ally Jacen has left.
Besides, Alema is one of the only individuals who knows the truth between the relationship of Jacen and Allana.

 

Isn't a major point of the Star Wars films that even the most evil among us can be redeemed? I mean, if Darth kriffing Vader can be I see no reason to assume the Crazy Bugslut is irredeemable.

 

IMHO Alema is the typical darksider. All her problems are the fault of everybody else because they wouldn't just roll over and let her have her way. Her vanity causes her to feel powerful when men admire her beauty and that leads to her seeking even greater power through Gorog but, as is par for the course with the darkside, she gains power at the cost of what defined her in the first place: her beauty. She is a blue Vader with boobs. She actually deserves redemption less than Vader because at least his turn to the darkside was to preserve his love. Alema just wanted power.