Valin Horn - the forgotten character?

Valin Horn, the son of Corran and Mirax, at the time of LotF would have to be in his mid-twenties.

I wonder why his character has never been developed and used?

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm guessing because that would require actually thinking outside the box and take up page space as opposed to keep bringing old characters that no one likes back from the dead.

I have not forgotten about Valin.

 

I imagine Corran will show up again, at some point, so his son may too, considering Corellian Jedi are in an interesting position.

 

Well, obviously he's Darth Kra...

aw, nevermind. That joke's just as flat as a Wookiee that's been run over by a planet.



Honestly, I'm also a little surprised he hasn't shown up yet. Has he been joyriding the galaxy in Booster's big red SD all this time? Actually, it would be interesting if he returned someday as a younger version of his grandfather. We have too many destiny-driven Jedi heroes in the spotlight right now.

 

He could've easily been written in as following in Horn's footsteps in Rogue squadron or something like that. We saw a need for enough Jedi that could fly X-wings and he never showed up. Sloppy in my opinion.

He didn't even appear on the strike team to Corellia. Instead we got some new people who were promptly forgotten about....

 

Given the need for ships and good fighters, I'd love to see Booster's big red SD show up to fight Jacen's big black SD.

 

Actually, Luke told Corran in Betrayal that he deliberately didn't use Corran and Jysella for the Corellian strike team as they were both Corellian. Corran also said when he talked to Luke that Luke probably knew more about what they were doing.

So I would safely assume that they are now Jedi Knights, though what they're actually doing is anyone's guess. We haven't seen Valin since Edge of Victory I, is that right?

 

Valin is of course a Stackpole creation which means in these multi author arcs characters like Valin are swept under the rug in favour of characters the authors have showed interest in. Valin and the entire Horn family would have made a fantastic entrants in the series and being natural fits for the Corellian crisis will fitting nicely into the themes that Allston and Denning have inserted into their books. Plus you'd have a more cohesive cast of characters as Allston and Stackpole both write a very strong Wedge and I'm sure given the opportunity Allston could help expand Valin and Stackpole Syal very convincingly with Allston, Denning and Stackpole finally sorting out Jag Fel and Denning can do his thing with Tenel Ka and other characters of his choosing.

 

Jysella was mentioned by name in Bloodlines?

 

And we know what happens if we don't have Stackpole managing his own characters, Allston's not TOO bad though.

 

Nope, Jysella was mentioned in Betrayal when Luke spoked with Corran on Corellia. And Valin was spotted at the Eclipse Station in one of the Enemy Lines books. Han said something about taking care of the Jedi brats, to which Valin responded "Hey. I'm not a brat."

"No, your father has that one covered," was Han's response. It was nice to see Allston include him in a cameo, when he didn't have plans for him to have a role in the series.

 

I for one, would rather see Booster...



But yeah, a lot of characters have been ignored, and to an even greater degree than in the NJO.

 

Here's what I found in Betrayal (I meant to say Betrayal and typed Bloodlines earlier):

Pg 231:

Corran's talking, "As for Valin and Jysella...well, I suspect you'd know better than I would what they're up to."

Luke nodded.

Corran, "Thanks for not using them on the Corellian missions."

Earlier in the book pg 169:
Luke is talking about operations on Corellia and says that "Slashrat, commanded by Master Corran Horn, was a two-operative team observing Coronet's main starport..."

But Luke never tells us what Valin or Jysella are actually doing.

 

Forgotten indeed. I actually had to think about who Valin Horn was for a moment.

Perhaps the Corellian bunch will be more instrumental towards the close of the series. If the Corellian rebellion is shown to be little more than hysteria induced by power hungry governmental people in the Corellian system or if Corellia tries to take more than what is fair....perhaps that will give Corran, Valin, et al a chance to step in and mediate as a middle ground between the GFFA/Jedi and Corellia. Of course, this all hinges on what happens with Jacen. Maybe Corran et al. will be rallying Corellia to keep fighting Jacen's Empire in the end.

Carnage

 

You mean someone other than a Skywalker would save the day? No way..never gonna happen.

 

This is sad, because not only do I think Valin would be a good choice, but also, Jysella's probably the closest existing Jedi character to Ben, age-wise. Only four years older, IIRC.

Anyone else near Ben's age will pretty much have to be new.

 

The Horn children have never been more than very minor characters. Why should they be considered forgotten? There is no indication they were ever planned to be anything else than they are currently. But the authors should remember them and other minor characters and not create a new Jedi every time they need a Jedi as a minor supporting character.

 

I agree with your assesment, however due to importance of Horn/Terrik family in Bantam and NJO era they should be given more book space then they have gotten. I don't understand why Del Ray has shunted an important family like the Horn's, especially considering like Han and Wedge, Corran and Valin would have the same conflicting views on the direction of the Corellian Insurrection and provide another family allegiance conflict that Allston and Denning have set up.

 

I don't understand why Del Ray has shunted an important family like the Horn's, especially considering like Han and Wedge, Corran and Valin would have the same conflicting views on the direction of the Corellian Insurrection and provide another family allegiance conflict that Allston and Denning have set up.

I personally think the most likely explanation is the one that DR wants to concentrate on the Skywalkers and Solos, and that this would explain the small amount of space given to these previously established Corellian characters. So that LotF is not as much a series about the Second Corellian Insurrection, but a series about the effects of this war has on the Skywalkers and Solos. So LotF is not a story about a galactic conflict, but a family story which has this galactic conflict as a background.

What comes to the inclusion of Mongolorians in LotF, apparently Boba Fett sells stuff well. So perhaps there is a good financial reason to include them. Tying LotF and RC novels together, hoping to lure people who would otherwise be interested only one of the series to buy books from both.

 

So Bloodlines is really Traviss's way of saying this (have volume on)?

If anyone's going to include Valin, it's Allston.

 

I hardly think that Traviss could make such a decision herself. This kind of idea could come from the publisher more likely than from the author and the editors and other people in charge would have to like the idea a lot for it to be accepted.

It is not really such a bad idea - the author of a series of Clone Wars -era novels is writing part of the LotF series, so why should not make connections with them through a sublot that runs from RC to LotF? Considering it purely on the "artistic" values of LotF, a bad decision if part of three of the books in the series are really a an unofficial 5th book in the RC series, but it could increase the sales. And it is also a way to smuggle Boba Fett in the series, which I personally do not like, but as he is a popular character...

 

While Dark Empire is much maligned by many for various reasons but having Boba escape the sarlacc was the one thing I can't forgive Veitch for doing. I've never been a big Fett fan, while he was cool in the OT, the character and the whole mandolorian culture has been oversatuated into the mythos of Star Wars. While Bloodlines had its moments it was an immensly flawed novel and I fear the connudrum Traviss is going to stir up when she gets an important hardcover later this year.

 

So what if they are minor characters! You think Raynar was more than a minor character? He got a big lead in DN! I would think Traviss the most equip to include the Horns only because I thought she did the best job emotionally connecting us with the characters and the whole Corellian conflict thing.

I'll whine as usual: I want the large cast of characters, I miss them all!!!!

 

YES!

Incidentally, shouldn't we be seeing Booster involved in this little insurrection? We all know he's a closet anarchist anyway. There's no way he wouldn't be all over this.

And Floridian, you really don't get the whole no-author-bashing thing, huh?