Timothy Zahn would love to write a book about Ben Skywalker in the Legacy era thread

I was at CIII and I heard Zahn speak about Outbound Flight and asked him questions about his classic era book Alliegance and told him he was the "Elvis Presley of the SW novelists".

But what was interesting was the fact that Zahn has expressed interest in writing a book about Luke,Mara and Ben Skywalker in the Legacy era after the events of LOTF. In the Wiki SW enclyopedia article it mentions that Zahn is interested in writing a novel in the Legacy era about a new threat and a clone Thrawn arises to defeat it who is unsure of himself and knows that he is not Thrawn.


I also told Zahn at CIII that I was all for him doing a Luke/Mara/Ben book post-Legacy. I think maybe the Empire of the Hand might show up to defeat this threat if this book occurs.

I hope that it's one of the unassigned hardcovers that's coming out in
Oct 2007 or Febraury or October of 2008. Zahn has he love to do it depending on how well Ben is developed in Legacy or if Lucasfilm or Del Rey are interested.

 

Rofl

Clone of Thrawn? i wasnt intrested in the REAL one, i think it would probobly be another book i'd ignore.

Though so far the new book post-NJO is more to my liking, but then i'm not a hundred pages into it.

Meh, i didnt mind Zahn's books, he does a Mara that i dont mind rather than simply being indiffrent to.

 

What a nightmare. He already thinks his Mary Sue Mara, is smarter than God. I guess Ben would be the "real" Chosen one, since he has the most powerful force user that galaxy has ever known for a parent. Mara.



And he isn't the "elvis" of SW. Elvis was original. A hack isn't original, you butt kissing groupie.

 

Yeah, screw that Anakin being the chosen one powerful stuff...hell Bens has to be 1000xs more powerful cause of Mara.

If the man never writes another SW book I will be a happy woman.

 

:zahnbash:

 

So? And you don't think pandering to the guy by calling him "elvis" is a bit much? Get a room.

 

Im not dissing people who like zahn. I just put zahnbash cos it saves me having to repeat what everyone else has said (except I dont think he Amry Sues that much)

 

Zahn is nowhere near on the level of Elvis Presley. I'm not really a fan of Elvis per se, but he broke ground and was one of the original people to bring rock 'n roll into the mainstream.

Zahn hasn't done anything remotely like that. And he didn't start the EU. The EU existed long before he ever sullied the SW universe with his mediocre stories and obnoxious Mary Sues/Gary Stus.

You said it. He would build Ben up to ridiculous levels, degrading Vader as much as possible at the same time. He really has an inferiority complex with regards to Vader; he's been sure to dis or degrade him in every SW book he's written.

And he's been more than happy to divest the Son of Vader, Luke, of his spine, and also make him out to be a dumb country bumpkin who feels awkward next to the "elegant, classy" Mara. First of all, Mara is about as elegant and classy as a dead platypus. Second of all, since when is Luke an awkward country bumpkin? Maybe he was in ANH, but that was 30 years ago GFFA time. By now he's become quite urbane and sophisticated.

With a Ben Skywalker novel, it'd be a one-two punch: Mara will be built up to be the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, as well as have her past retconned again so that she was uber-powerful, practically Palpy's Sith apprentice, so much stronger than that doofus Vader (Zahn will lay the foundation in his upcoming Mara novel set between ANH and ESB *shudder*), but, of course, she was NEVER EVER DARK, she was all pure and good on the inside. The second punch will be building up Ben into the the TRUE Chosen One, unlike that big fake Anakin Skywalker.

Heh. Ben is the son of (flourish of trumpets, fireworks) MARA JADE, and...um...what's his name, Lance? Luther? Oh yeah, Luke Skywalker, the son of that guy...what's his name...Death...Doth...Darth Vader. Who was just one of three people that Palpy replaced the all-important Kinman Doriana (Zahn OC) with, the other two being Thrawn (Zahn OC) and Mara (Zahn OC).

 

I've heard what Zahn *actually* said at C3. He said the ONLY way he'd every consider bringing a Thrawn clone back (which he didn't seem to like) would be as a sort of character study...that is, as Thrawn07 mentioned, a "Thraawn" with feelings of inadequacy, trying to live up to an impossible legacy. T'would be interesting, to say the least, though I agree that this would really be the only way this kind of storyline could be done without it being derivative and stupid.

 

didn't 2q record the zahn panel and post a link to it on the lit forum..

at any rate, i'd rather have other authors cover this period. we don't need a thrawn clone.

 

Is there anybody besides me who wants to see a Luke/Mara/Ben book by Zahn in the Legacy era? I think by then Ben would be a kick-ass starpilot flying that strange starship as Luke envisioned in Rebirth.

I think it could feature Luke,Mara and Ben teaming up with the Empire of the Hand and facing a new threat in the Unknown Regions.

 

As much as I like Zahsn books (and I really do), I think after Allegiance he shoudl leave it for a while. There are other authors Id much prefer to see write stuff now.

 

Once again, I feel it is my duty to remind you that Zahn did not write Mara into the so-called Mary Sue that you all bash. That's other authors faults. Zahn's Mara is in no way a Mary Sue. Just ask Karen Traviss, anyhow.

 

Anyway, it sounds like Zahn has his hands full. He's got Allegiance coming up in 2007 and, as he mentioned at CIII, two possible follow-up books both set during the Rebellion era as well.

 

Wow, it tok this long to make it into a Zahn bashing thread? You should get a cookiee. A really big one.

 

They haven't been confirmed. However I would also love to see two other Rebellion era books by Zahn as long as they have the big 3 in them.

By the way I don't want this to be a bashing Zahn thread. I would love to see some positive feedback about the possibility of Zahn writing a Ben Skywalker book.

 

I'd personally rather see the Rebellion era fleshed out. I'm not a huge fan of seeing the timeline going too far forward from the LOTF series.

 

Nor am I. I don't want it to get to the point where the Big Three dies. Legacy of the Force is the perfect point for it to be indicated that the torch is being passed to the next generation of heroes and that Luke, Leia, Han, and Mara's adventures are finally done, but I think that should be it. Star Wars' expansion into the future of that galaxy is over, and the very vague pre-TPM and Intertrilogy eras can be better fleshed-out.

 

I've just been observing this thread since the only Zahn work I've read thus far is TTT.

I think you make an excellent point. Eventually Han, Luke, Leia, and Mara will just be getting too darn old, and we don't want to diminish all they fought for in the OT.

The pre-PT stuff and Intertrilogy have vast possibilities. That's what has to be next. Perhaps the upcoming TV series will spark Zahn's and other's imaginations.

 

Of course he would. He's now writing young adult!

Manta's Gift was for kids, the Dragonback series is for kids, Green and the Grey for kids.

The Polgara series if I'm calling it right also has several books for kids. Timothy would see that as a boost to his new teen writing.

Gone are the days when sci fi was good and mature . . . sigh.

 

Uh-oh, one of our resident Zahn-Loathers is going to pounce on that note about what Mara's done in the OT...

Would you prefer that Luke marry a carbon-copy of Leia, or some weirdo like Akanah, or that obnoxious Callista? Mara's a unique character and I think that the authors, Zahn included, do a good job of balancing her against the Big Three. She's an addition to the cast, not a replacement for it, and that works out quite nicely.

But man, please, no more Thrawn clones. Outbound Flight will be great, I think, but no more. We need more stuff for the other Grand Admirals, like Teshik and Grant, and Piett is just begging for a nice short story or something.

 

Does anybody think that Zahn will do a good job of writing a teenage or adult Ben Skywalker or Jacen or Jaina when they are older in a future post-LOTF book?

I think he should at least do a post-LOTF Ben Skywalker hardcover novel where Ben is in his late teens or early twenties!!

 

Not at first. She smelled a bit of Mary Sue-ism when he invented her, but didn't reek of it. Yet. When he wrote her again, in the HoT books, she took a huge step toward Mary Sue-ism, and the NJO completed the journey.

Zahn did Mara no favors, with his continued whitewashing and retconning of her past, as well as building up her power and importance to ridiculous levels.

Mara does not belong in the same category as the Big Three. Not even close. Her "adventures" don't belong in the category as those of the Big Three either. Despite the attempts to shoehorn her into the story, pretend she was there all along when she wasn't, and build her up to their level, she will never be part of their group. Ever.

I agree. I'm sick of post-ROTJ books. Unless a book involves Luke and Leia meeting their family on the Naberrie side (without frickin' Mara tagging along), there is no more territory to be explored. There is a mother lode of rich ore to be mined in the pre-PT era, or between the trilogies.

That's my cue.

Mara was not in the OT. She hadn't even been invented yet when the OT came out, and she was never part of it, and never will be.

She fought against what Luke, Han and Leia did. She was a murdering Imperial lapdog.

I would rather he married Gaeriel, if he married at all. She was the only half-decent love interest the EU ever gave him.

But if the choice was between Mara and never marrying, I would rather he never marry. I hate what he's become since being yoked to her. Instead of him being a good influence on her, she's been a bad influence on him. Now he's so whipped that even when she uses Force lightning he doesn't question his decision to make her a Jedi master -- and that was simply the latest clue-by-four he's been whacked with with regards to her being completely unqualified for the job.

No she isn't. She's a generic '90s "kick-butt" drool queen, very popular in comic books. Because she mouths off and has a 'tude, we're supposed to think she's strong and a role model (!). She has the requisite Barbie-doll like proportions and flaming red hair. She's a 10th-rate ripoff of Leia, without Leia's soul, compassion, or decency. And as Genghis12 will tell you, she's a ripoff of Shira Brie.

Zahn and the other authors do a good job of having her run circles around them and be better at them than everything, and of having them bow down to her.

Tell that to the authors who tried to shove her into Leia's place as premier heroine in the NJO.

Not in my estimation, and I know I'm not alone.

 

As if the movie characters werent story telling's biggest Gary Stu's and Mary Sue's.

*prepares for a $4(+storm of bashing*

 

Intriguing. Go on...that comment has the possibility of breaking the Zahn/Mara/Thrawn bashing off of the script...