"With great power comes great responsibility" - Are the Jedi shying from duty?

Okay, I have already started my Independence day celebrating, so what I say might not be to coherent. Luke is not a wus or weenie, he is by far the best jedi in the GFFA. Think about the time when Kyp and most other jedi got wounded by the Vong or their scalely slaves (can't think of their name), I believ it was defending Ithor. Luke was able to alter the minds of the scaley slaves and make them fight each other. No other time in the NJO have we seen a jedi do such a thing. He might be a little passive but when it comes down to it; no one in the Galaxy can defeat him. He is a Skywalker and that title alone made the Emperor fear him, and the Jedi had been around for ages.(meaning he knew what the Jedi were cabable of but he Only feared the Skywalkers) I don't know what that means to you, but to me that makes him something special. A jedi with the ability to have multi strengths, not just telekenetic, but in every area we know the Jedi can to have great powers.

Happy Independence Day everyone, Let Freedom Ring throughout the World.

Nightsun

 

Lord_Darth_Bob: Mace kind of contradicted himself on that point in the clones wars, didn't he?
Also, they have a responsibility to protect the people of the galaxy. Even the old order agreed with that. They finally started fighting in Star by Star, and it didn't affect them then. They should have done something before billions of people had died.

 

I agree with u nightsun. Luke is my favorite character, and he is very powerful and all, but that does not change the fact that he hasn't acted like in the OT in the NJO (well he did in RS). I mean, he just took down a very powerful dark jedi, and helped save the galaxy countless times, killed many vong, blasted more skips than anyone in RD ('cept jaina of course),and... actually luke's not a weenie, he's star wars's verion of rambo (no, that's kyp). Now im confused.

 

I don't think Luke is a wuss either. He was great on DAntooine and in the battle for Helska. The thing is, the Republic wouldn't do anything about the threat of the Vong, it was obvious they wouldn't do anything about it from the beginning of Dark Tide when Leia addresses the Senate. Throughout the war, the Advisory Council continued to send the military to the wrong places, and half the time the councilors were only worried about protecting their own planets. Someone needed to take charge, and if the Jedi were worried about falling to the Dark Side themselves, they should have arranged for someone else to do the job.

 

It was Kyps extremist views fault, in Lukes attempt to further himself from it he stayed away from going fullbore against the Vong longer than he should have.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Are we going to have to go over this again? Let me get this straight- b/c Kyp endorsed Jedi-sanctioned action against the Vong, it is his fault that the Jedi didn't sanction action against the Vong? Ridiculous.

 

<bows respectfully>

If I may toss in my own two credits:

"With great power comes great responsibility"--Uncle Ben to Peter Parker.

Peter was told about this idea before Uncle Ben was killed, and only came to realize its true meaning after Ben's. I think that the events in Star by Star was the wake-up call to the Jedi (much akin to Parker's situation), and that they will be more active in subsequent NJO books. I would like to believe that Luke had faith that the New Republic could hold together and stand up against the Vong, which is why he delayed taking action.

 

Well, that definitely makes sense... I just wish that someone could have taken charge. But that comparison is very good, and very true. I only wish things could have turned out differently.

That would also explain why Kyp started the war early. He'd already had his Star by Star moment when his whole squadron and his apprentice were killed. Though you would think that Sernpidal would have been a wake-up call for Luke as well.

 

They can't do that without probably fighting a war against both the New Republic AND the Vong which would be detrimental to concerns like protecting innocent refugees. Your suggestion is that the Jedi rather then turn the other cheek and help where they could should, should further the dissent and cause more deaths and make things easier on the Vong. Imagine a Republic with a pro-Jedi war faction, anti-Jedi appeasement faction (big version of Peace Brigade), and a unionist faction fighting a three-way civil war. Is that your idea of helping the people? The only way to execute a clean coup'd'tat is to use the Dark Side and be a great threat to the people then help.

It's the kind of attitude on this thread that is what caused the New Republic to be torn apart. They were too busy saying "well if you had done this it wouldn't have been so bad.." well, IMHO, nothing would've made the Vong invasion less than horrible. What matters is that they fight now, and I don't think that 100 Jedi would've turned the tide without an all out full-front sabotage, and commando effort, of which would've killed countless Jedi, and I think at least a quarter of the survivors would've become Dark Jedi. Some solution.

 

"Though you would think that Sernpidal would have been a wake-up call for Luke as well."

That's a good point. I tend to think of it kind of like the Alderaan incident: although people weren't happy about it, the galaxy still remained under Imperial rule because no one could do anything about it AT THAT TIME. With Sernpidal its an outside force that destroys the planet, but people (and Jedi) think that the New Republic will be able to do something. You're right that it might have helped to have Jedi in the war effort a little earlier, but I think the rest of the NJO should showcase a bunch of Jedi whupping some Vong tail because no one else can (thus being the right time for a Jedi to get involved).

 

Kyp did do something about Sernpidal. He destroyed the worldship being made out of Chewbacca's gravesite while everybody else stood idly by. And yes, he lied and connived to those who trusted him to get it done, and that was wrong. But what if all Jedi took the same initiative, at least in spirit? I think the Vong might not have made it to Coruscant if they had to watch their flanks so much.

 

Lord_Darth_Bob: They wouldn't have to fight a war with the Republic if all of the military was in the hands of the Jedi, or more likely, someone the Jedi or the old Rebel Alliance Leaders had arranged. Someone like Traest Kef'rey, the Bothan Admiral.

I don't really care if the Jedi led it. I think they should have taken a more active role more quickly. And if the government hadn't been so ill-disposed towards the Jedi, the Jedi might have been encouraged to take a stronger stand. Leia in particular should have encouraged the New Republic military to lead a war against the Vong earlier.

In Rebel Stand, Wedge finally sets about acting without the Advisory Council's permission, and if had been on a different planet, or defending a planet at the beginning of the war, he would have won. If people like him had acted without the Council's approval at the beginning, the Vong would have been stopped before getting as far as they are.

 

Leia did try to exhort the NR to war. Did you not read Onslaught?

 

She tried to convince them that the Vong wee a threat, she never lied.