What could have made Darth Caedus better?

I want to ask something to all the people who didn't like how Darth Caedus turned out in the Legacy of the Force series. A lot of people didn't like the idea of Jacen Solo as a Sith Lord, and I just want to know what could have made you believe in him as a Sith. Just imagine that the whole LOTF series was erased and they were rewriting it. How should Darth Caedus have been portrayed? For example:

Should he have been written as a more consistent character? (Instead of being a maniac in one book and a calm plotting Sith in another)

I want to hear you're ideas Caedus haters. What could have been done to avoid people using terms such as JINO? (Jacen in name only). What could have put him in the same league as Darth Bane and Darth Vader? I hope I get serious answers instead of "he should have died sooner" or something. Thank you for reading.

 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing could've made me stomach the idea.

 

Someone who's supposed to be as powerful and preempting as Jaedus (thx Palpidious) was should have lasted a bit more then.. what, 3 months, as the uber-baddy in the galaxy.

 

He should have killed more Jedi, like Kyle and Saba, that would make him seem more undefeatable, so that only Jaina could beat him. He could have also ruled for much longer, and have conquered the rest of the galaxy, all in all, he needed to appear invincible.

 

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

I'm sorry to disagree with the other posters, but I can tell you exactly what was wrong with the character of Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus and why exactly we never actually got to accept the character as a true Dark Lord of the Sith. If the man conquered the galaxy and people don't take him seriously, killing some more Jedi isn't going to make him any more intimidating.

What was Darth Caedus lacking?

Vision

Caedus supposedly wants to stop the galaxy from going to war. We never see what seperates this conflict from the previous ones that he has to take such drastic steps. If Caedus had seen the threat of Darth Krayt's Sith coming, we might have had an interesting story as he becomes a monster to protect the galaxy from what he thinks is a Darth Revan style threat. Instead, he just goes insane because the plot demands it.

Worse, the authors confused going Dark as needing to go batshavit insane. Jacen could have been an evil mastermind, they chose to make him a drooling loony toon.

 

What would have made him better would have been if we got a bit more of that Invincible-style characterisation of him. In that he's really, truly evil and wicked. Because otherwise, he just doesn't function as an antagonist at all. Which was a major problem with the second half of LOTF. No tangible antagonist.

 

If he killed Jaina. I'm still shocked that Del-ray had Jaina win that duel. It's crazy, it's like a lightweight amateur boxer stepping in the ring with Tyson at his prime.

 

QFT.

 

I'm really confused. Jacen Solo has never known how to use a lightsaber in his ENTIRE LIFE.

Jaina is a warrior.

Jacen should have died by cutting off his own legs.

 

Thanks for replying guys! and I agree that Caedus should have been more of an evil mastermind. A Sith vs. Sith war would've been a refreshing new story as well. Also why didn't the authors really show off his powers until Invincible? He is supposed to rival Luke in force power and the most impressive powers we see are his shatterpoint mastery and disabling the fondorian shield in Revelation.

 

Actually, if you read Traitor, you'll see there are some quotes that say Jacen is a natural with a lightsaber, he wielded one with amazing skill at the age of three, when he defended Luke. In my opinon, Jacen was better with the lightsaber, Jaina was a better pilot. These are just my thoughts, and I don't mean to be contrary, so please don't be angry or offended.

 

It's also a great point that del rey seems to be afraid of killing the wrong people.

Jacen/Allana defeat aurra sing and they just leave her in a holding cell for the rest of the series. Would have been an accomplishment to kill her.

Kyle Katarn was STABBED IN THE CHEST by Caedus but didn't die. He only had a few mentions in the series after that and it just seemed odd.

It was impressive that Caedus could so easily disable the great Saba, but being set on fire isn't lethal anymore.

Great observation that the death of at least a few of these Jedi would have given Darth Caedus a lot more respect and credibility. In his main victory of the series he killed Mara with a poision dart. Cmon, this powerful Sith Lord defeats a Jedi master with a little dart.

 

In the book Fury:

"The shots were wild and unpredictable and Caedus had to divide his attention betweenamad swordsman and a growing number of half-blind sniper. But he was still the best lightsaber swordsmaster around - excepting possibly Luke, perhaps the best there had ever been"

 

Because Jacen's POV is oh so reliable...

 

Yeah, it was really really stupid to have that. Who taught him, anyway?

 

Most of what I would say has already been said. Aside from that, I think picking someone from the family just screams "rehashing." The idea to make Caedus follow in Vader's footsteps was sort of an interesting idea, except he failed at everything he set out to do. There were a lot of things he said he wouldn't fall prey to, but did.

And Jacen shouldn't even get credit for that. Just saying that while Jacen textually seems to have risen rapidly lightsaber-wise, it's a good point that Jacen has never really shown himself to be a formidable lightsaber-user.

And truth be told, I might have appreciated a more unconventional Sith Lord. Jacen had some weapons other than a lightsaber, but I would have liked to see more. Perhaps more use of unconventional techniques -- Jacen had that five-year jaunt around the galaxy, but it might have been cool to see a mentally brilliant Sith Lord with plenty of tricks up his sleeve but not the best in a straight lightsaber duel.

... More Thrawn-like, even.

 

Caedus did do very well for himself in the fight with Luke before Ben stabbed him. Luke had a dozen casts on him afterwards didn't he? Also he was an instructor of lightsaber technique to jedi such as Nelani Dinn.

 

Perhaps. I'd have to check. But the fact that Caedus admitted to himself that Luke was better afterwards says more than any evidence, I would think. And remember that Luke could have killed Caedus during the fight if not for Ben...

If he taught Nelani lightsaber combat (I know he taught her, but I'm not sure about the lightsaber combat part), then that isn't saying all that much, since we have no evidence that Nelani is a capable duelist. As for Ben, whose training Jacen was responsible for, the Grand Master claims that he's fought rontos better than him... which I doubt was entirely false.

 

Luke was doing a lot of mental probing in that training session. Don't forget that Ben beat Tahiri.

 

I'm not defending either position here. Although I like the whole story and how it turned out. And don't forget Jaina sought and received help from a lot of people, while Jacen totally isolated himself.

As for Jacen's saber prowess, he clearly displayed a natural aptitude with the blade as far back as the YJK series, all of which I I have just finished reading. The books kept repeating this point...or so it seemed to me.

 

Frequent success.

And balls. Lots of balls.

 

I think it's important to remember that the Jedi Order's problems with killing Jacen didn't stem from lack of ability so much as a moral dilemma. Even with Jacen as an uber-Sith, they could have just sent twenty knights to hack him into itty bits.

And really, there's not much they could have done to make him better; Jacen has always been kind of pathetic. Just read "We Hav to Take a Trip with Jacen Solo."

EDIT:
@ Ulicus.... What... the... kriff?

 

Very true, Darth Caedus had many off screen victories. You always hear about how well he's doin in the back cover of the book, then you read the novel and the GA is splitting in two and Caedus gets shot in the knee.

 

What would've made him better? If he wasn't Jacen Solo but instead a fresh new character who becomes Jacen Solo's nemesis. He is in every way the opposite of Jacen Solo. Jacen Solo believed in ending conflict through peaceful solutions whereas Caedus believes in ending conflict with shere violence. It could've been interesting if they were seperate characters. It would've been the perfect follow up to the NJO. Jacen just stopped a war with using a peaceful solution. This series would've shown how he'd deal with a foe who believed in the very opposite of what he believed in.

 

Now that would've been a good idea, but who could be that enemy?