The Redemption of Mara Jade

I like you alpha Red. I like people with gumption. Mealy mouths annoy me. I might not agree with you, but I respect you.

That both makes me happy and scares me at the same time, Tiershon. I suppose if I can earn your respect, I can earn anyone's. In some ways, you're a lot like Mara -- and I respect Mara a great deal. You're fierce and unrelenting in that which you fight for. I'm not trying to attack you here, but it just occurs to me that some of your posts resemble Mara in her earlier years. Some of mine do, too...and you thought guys never had PMS.

Oh, and here's a link you all might like. Even as a conservative, I nearly died laughing.

 

Our President would eat you for breakfast.

Naw, he'd choke on her.

 

I think that a "redemption" story for Mara Jade would be a cool idea. I get tired of hearing people whine about how no books have focused on that yet. Of course there'd still LWAYS be something to complain about, I'm sure... ...but it would help.

 

T_F and A_R - can I come to your wedding? I'll even dress up as Mara.

 

. . . well, I heard someone's shrill scream of horror, halfway across the world. Measuring .75 on the Gasping Scale, it evoked a disturbance in the Force.

 

Man! Everybody loved that comparison of Mara to some character from DragonballZ but nobody has ever commented on my original comparison of Mara to Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Aren't there any other Buffy fans out there? *Sniff* I feel so alone! *Sniff* j/k They really are similar in alot of ways and I got the impression from the end of VOTF that Luke's friends and family sometimes think about Mara the same things that Xander's friends think about Anya: What does he see in her? I hope he knows what he's doing.

 

Mara distrusts bunnies?

 

I can't say I've ever seen her in the same room as a Hoojib or Jaxxon. Have you?

 

While I can see some comparison to Anya, Anya as a demon really enjoyed her killing. I don't get that impression of Mara. To her it was a job an assignment.

Anya was a bit lacking in the smarts area too, Mara's got a better head on her shoulders. I sure hope she doesn't meet with the same end though. I would love to see a story about Mara's regrets because it would reinforce what we are told Luke see's in her and help repair the horrible characterization of the NJO.

 

The Broadway musical "Wicked" stars Mara Jade and was written by Del Rey!

The Wicked Witch WASN'T EVIL -- she was running a guerilla counter-insurgency against the totalitarian regime of the Wizard who was bent on domination of the animals of Oz!

Why is it that people always try and apply moral relativism to stories that don't lend themselves to it?

 

True. I wouldn't say that Mara enjoyed killing the way that Anya did. However, Anya also felt that the people she punished as a vengeance demon DESERVED it. They were both very materialistic also. In TTT, Mara never seems as upset that the Emperor was killed as she was that her life of power and privilege was taken from her. Anya thought of herself as superior to humans despite the fact that she was born one and had only been elevated to a demon by D'Hoffryn. She was upset about having to live as a mere human once he refused to give her her powers back. Another apt comparison is that it was strongly implied that Xander only asked Anya to marry him because he thought they were going to die in Glory's planned apocalypse. Similarly, Luke asked Mara to die when it looked like they might drown in Thrawn's secret cloning chamber. I'm not saying that one character is based on the other in any way. Just that both characters are cut from the same fictional cloth. The villain reluctantly pressed into the service of the heroes seems to be a new archetype. Take Gollum from Lord of the Rings, although he has more in common with Spike and Nom Anor...but that is for another board...

 

LOL about Xander and Luke's imminent death proposals. Typical men.

But if Spike and Vader are redeemable then surely Mara is. I think people like to see the bad guys struggle to be good more so than watching the good guys be good, those grey areas make for less flat storytelling.

 

As for Mara's redemption story: On ST:VOYAGER, Seven of Nine was tormented by the "personalities" of people that she assimilated until she forgave herself. Maybe something along that line would work for Mara?.... ?

 

They did the same thing on Buffy with Angel being haunted by apparitions of people he killed before his soul was restored. However, it turned out to be a trick by the First Evil to convince him to committ suicide. He was already pretty guilt-ridden (unlike Mara)so it wasn't as if he felt like he was off the hook when he found out. This just goes to show that some stories are so basic that they can work in any fictional universe.
Personally, I'd like to see Mara confronted by the son or daughter of an Imperial Governor that she murdered on Palpatine's orders. This person could be a Senator in the New Republic and might push for Mara to be tried for her crimes. Mara is her typical defensive self at first and tries to justify the things she did. But even her husband and friends seem reluctant to back her up. Luke tells her that he loves her and knows that she isn't that person anymore but that now that she is a Jedi she needs to be able to admit her deeds in the past were wrong. Mara storms off on a quest to prove she is a Jedi, stumbles onto a plot to attack the Senate and, in the end, offers her life to the attack on the Senate by former-Imperial terrorists (who secretly answer to a shadowy figure known as Nom Anor). Luke saves her at the last minute. They reconcile and Mara returns to Coruscant to publicly admit the crimes she committed and throws herself on the mercy of the Senate, who, of course, pardon her in light of her recent heroism. All this would happen at the same time as the YJK books. That is how I would write it anyway....

 

In light of the NJO and the way she has acted it can't take place during the time of the YJK series. It has to be after the NJO and then the author would have to explain her actions or just have her admit that she was wrong and held some grudge or something

Honestly I wouldn't like to see her pardon of the charges. True in light of what she did to save everyone it could help but I'd rather her actually have to put in some time. Probation if you can call it that, she would have to serve in the military a certain amount of time. Take orders and have her freedom to come and go as she pleases removed.

Or better yet and this is one I like the most. Have her pardon but under on condition. She must be striped of her force powers for a certain amount of time, say one to two years. After all she can't be left free without some type of punishment, nor do I think the public would allow that with their certain distrust, something would have to be done to please them. This way she can truely apprecate what she has and come to praise the bond with Luke more. I'm sure more things to have her reflect on can be thought up.

 

Or better yet and this is one I like the most. Have her pardon but under on condition. She must be striped of her force powers for a certain amount of time, say one to two years. After all she can't be left free without some type of punishment, nor do I think the public would allow that with their certain distrust, something would have to be done to please them. This way she can truely apprecate what she has and come to praise the bond with Luke more. I'm sure more things to have her reflect on can be thought up.

Kinda stiff--considering that Kyp Durron killed billions of Imperials & was basically pardoned...

 

Kinda stiff--considering that Kyp Durron killed billions of Imperials & was basically pardoned...

Go read "Simple Tricks" and then come back and talk to me.

Tell me if you think Mara even THOUGHT anything along the lines of what Kyp did...

 

T_F and A_R - can I come to your wedding? I'll even dress up as Mara.

*chokes on pizza, half-laughing, half-weeping*

Wait a second...we all basically live in SW. If we didn't, we wouldn't post here. And in SW, a guy and a girl who want to kill each other always end up married...

 

Wait a second...we all basically live in SW. If we didn't, we wouldn't post here. And in SW, a guy and a girl who want to kill each other always end up married...


Alpha Red, I had a trailer and tv dinners and you TOOK IT ALL AWAY FROM ME! For that alone you deserve to die!

I was a desk clerk! I had the power to kick people out and refuse stayovers. People were putty in my hands! I'm killing you!

 

I feel so loved.

Did you check out the link I posted?

 

Kinda stiff--considering that Kyp Durron killed billions of Imperials & was basically pardoned...

I always had a problem with that as well. Though, one has to remember who he killed were Imperials. The New Repubilc and the Imperials were always fighting each other. Now had that been a a New Republic training planet then yeah he should have faced charges but it wasn't. If the Imperials ever get their hands on him then I have no problem with him being put on trial for what he did. For Mara, she worked for the Empire which happens to be the enemy of the Rebels and New Republic. That's the difference here, its not like she switched sides during the war like so many others did, it happen after her commanding officer died and even then she was following his orders to kill a Rebel/New Republic officer/former officer. She still wanted the Empire back.

What is "Simple Tricks". Is this a story in a magazine?

 

Alpha and Tiershon,
Sittin' in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-

*Is Force choked*

EDIT: Simple Tricks is from the Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine that used to run, and is reprinted in the anthology Tales From the New Republic.

It is a great tale, even ignoring the fact that it features Fen and Ghitsa.

And it shows Kyp's... softer side. As well as how infamous and hated he has become, and how he went on a soul-searching crusade after the events of The Jedi Academy Trilogy, when the story is set.

If you can, pick up Tales From the New Republic and read it, not just for this story, but for the other excellent tales therein. Much better than Tales From the Empire, IMO.

 

I might have to, I've never been intersted in the Tales books beore but I might check this one out.

 

The difference is that Obi-Wan was doing something to make the galaxy a better place. Innocents may die, but not deliberately. Mara was killing innocents. Period.

Well, one can argue about whether Obi-Wan is in fact doing something to make the galaxy a better place. You can check with my again after EIII, but at this point in the Clone Wars coverage, I am firmly backing the Confederacy as the side that's on the right and the Republic as an outdated, corrupt institution that needs to topple. And like Thrawn McEwok, I forward that Mara thought what she was doing was right just as much as Obi-Wan.

-Paul

 

I might have to, I've never been intersted in the Tales books beore but I might check this one out.

Except for Tales From the Empire, which is only "okay", the anthologies are not to be missed. Especially if you are sick of Jedi, as we have established you are, in another thread.