Retconning Star Wars EU- in my mind

[priest]

First off, I'd like to say that I don't HATE the authors of Star Wars. In fact, with the exception of my rants on Karen Traviss, I think that Star Wars attracts the best talent in the business...and Even Karen Traviss is an excellent author, I just do not like what she has done to the EU. I feel like the overall arch of the universe has moved into such a dark place, it isn't even recognizable anymore. Probably has something to do with the need to tie in the Legacy comics (which I also dislike for other reasons.) and the need some feel like they have to move to a darker, edgier, more 'adult' Star Wars. I feel none of that. I miss the days of the TRILOGY, giving each author responsibility for 3 books in a series, each trilogy tells its own story outlined by ONE author, and that story is finished by the end of the Trilogy. Trilogy are then linked together to form a timeline. I also don't mind the one off novels...where an entire story is told in just one book. All in all, I miss this model

 

So I got to thinking, why on earth do I have to 'accept' what's been written? First off, none of it is real, so if I want to make an Alternate EU...I don't see why I can't. Secondly, with the invention of the internet...specifically designed to let me whine to people I don't know about topics that don't matter in regards to other people's IP, I feel like I have the duty to share it with you. So here's what I would do...if my opinion mattered even in the slightest.

 

After Fate of the Jedi something happens and Ben dies, tragically. This breaks Luke, he resigns to hermitage, much like Ben Kenobi did, though instead of secluding himself on Tattooine, he continues his quest on understanding the Force. The Galaxy around him is crumbling, much to the power of Abeloth (if you haven't read the Fate of the Jedi series, this makes no sense to you) and Luke has this feeling that really...things shouldn't be this way. Even Jacen Solo's visions about the future, about the 'throne of power,' and whatever seem WRONG. he finds his way to Tython, where he uncovers knowledge from the very beginning; tying in the Rakata, and realizes that the Force, in and of itself has been torn, and because of that everything is out of control. If it is not fixed, the Force itself may be destroyed, destroying existence itself.

 

Luke learns a technique on how to dream walk, where he traces paths of the Force not just out of his body, but outside of Time in and of itself. He finds his way to the Temple of the Force, where he convenes with the great masters of the past, including Satile, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, Yoda, and his father, Anakin Skywalker. To change the future, the past must be changed. The Masters have watched events unfold, and have determined a nexus where things could be corrected...

 

The Death of Anakin Solo. (I pick this because I honestly think that this is where things started going downhill. Anakin was killed off to avoid 'confusion' from the preqel movies. )

 

They realize that his death was the catalyst to the end of the Force itself, that the Yuuzhan Vong had poisoned more than the Galaxy, but had planted seeds in reality itself that was un-weaving the fabric of existence. Luke is tasked with traveling back to Myrkr and to setting the Galaxy on the path that it should have taken. But there are forces at work against him. True Sith, who seek not balance, but destruction, are responsible for this tear, and they will stop at nothing to prevent Luke Skywalker from fixing the rift, and bringing order back to the Galaxy.

 

Thoughts?

[BenjaminminU]

In my opinion I just accept the EU stuff that sounds plausible within the star wars universe, things like the yuuzhan vong just seem rediculous and i'm glad TOR is set thousands of years before we ever see them.

[Listerman]

When it comes to authors like Karen Travis...She is indeed a pretty good writer. But it is her ideas and her implementations that I question.

Like really well written, but poorly thought out fanfiction that somehow made through a filter and into the hardcover section at Barnes & Noble.

[psandak]

I agree that I like the Trilogy format better than the series. there are exceptions (X-wing). that being said, like all novels I have read, there are some Star Wars novels I simply do not like.

 

I think a better solution would be to stop writing about the Rebelion Era characters (Luke, Han, and Leia). Obviously the group of authors are running out of material. They cannot kill off those characters and have basically killed off everyone around them in order to try to make believable stories. equally obvious is that it is not working as planned.

 

My suggestion would be to fast forward several hundred years. Complete new crop of characters, mention the Rebelion Era characters every now again but one would not have to have read every post-RotJ novel to appreciate the reference. Just knowing that a new character is the great-great-great-grandchild of that era should be enough to pique the interest of most Star Wars fans.

 

I think that one of the reasons TOR content of the EU has gained momentum recently is not just because of the video games (KOTOR, SWTOR), but because the setting and characters are "Star Wars" enough. Authors have the ability to create new characters with no connection to any known character and incorporate that protagonist's story into the weave that is the Star Wars Universe.

[Captain_Zone]

Not a fan of Karen Traviss here either. Her stuff about the Mandalorians was bantha poodoo, as was her killing of Mara Jade for no real reason other than she insisted on it. Imo, she was probably into it for the shock value more than anything else. To me, shock value is the last resort. It shows a lack of creativity on the part of the author when it's implemented for no reason. It made no sense. Tenel-ka? Yes. Jacen's daughter? Yes. Mara? No. Seriously, it was poorly thought out and executed.

 

As for her "work" making the Mandalorians into Kryptonians... ugh. Seriously, she tried to turn them all into Superman. It was only the brilliant writing of her former colleagues that managed to clean up at least one of her messes.

 

To be fair, I've read excerpts from some of her non-Star Wars fiction, and she isn't that bad. Just please keep her away from Star Wars from here on out. lol

[Mega_Jamie]

Not a fan of Karen Traviss here either. Her stuff about the Mandalorians was bantha poodoo, as was her killing of Mara Jade for no real reason other than she insisted on it. Imo, she was probably into it for the shock value more than anything else. To me, shock value is the last resort. It shows a lack of creativity on the part of the author when it's implemented for no reason. It made no sense. Tenel-ka? Yes. Jacen's daughter? Yes. Mara? No. Seriously, it was poorly thought out and executed.

 

l

 

I think the trouble with Traviss, was as yourslef and others have said, that Mara died because she was a fan favourite, and she wanted it to hit the fans that things got real. Which is fine, Chewie's death servered a greater purpose, although being equally as stupidly written, atleast that was just the circumstance, the reasons why he died made sense.

 

Whereas with Mara, who i'm being massively biased about as she was one of my favourites, died in perfectly executed circumstances....that it was so unbelievably out of character for her to die in... a Jedi Master, former expect assasin died from a mind trick? thats what it comes down to really doesn't it, and not even a good one, "oh hey, we've been fighting for like 20 mins, now I look like your son - poison stab!".

 

I will admit to crying when I read sacrifice, because of 1, the character, and 2, the bad writing, but never the 'sacrifice' that didnt happen, I could totally acept that death if there was an in character reason it happened, but there just wasn't.

 

TBH, I think they do need to start killing off the legacy characters, I seriously thought they'd took out Han in Apoc, theres great potential there, and Luke is Goku-ing his way up the power scale and would certainly benefit from a swift lightsaber slash, and what more ways to make a story compelling than to kill off a hero thats been around since before I was born?

 

To the OP, I think Anakin was destined for Jacen's role, and vice versa, but they switched them around as having Anakin fall would be just too close to Eps 1-3.

 

Though I do agree, these long series become so drawn out, and for what? the Vong stuff could have been handled in 5 books, not 19, and would have felt more compelling and more action packed. The most recent series again, not to give spoilers but "oh we killed abeloth, oh wait we didn't... again...again", over a stupid number of hardbacks, that finished off with the characters where exactly? pretty much exactly the same place they were in, no closure on any of the subplots going on, except the last chapter, which took them long enough to get around to...

 

Daala was poorly written, and fizzled out to "oh hey shes somewhere out there" again at the end, really the whole arc could have been skipped.

 

For those not in the know, wookiepedia it, or as a brief overview, Luke volunteers to leaving Coruscant so the Jedi can stay, taking responsibility for the actions of Jacen Solo, Luke and his son wander the galaxy learning about Jacen's fall, and picking up some cool force powers they never use and encountering some sith who were serendipitously saved from being stuck on a planet for generations by a sentient space ship with extreme commitment issues. These sith, who also can't decide whether they are supporting or destroying this series' big bad plod along doing bad stuff, while Luke decides hes had enough of this Jacen thing, and goes after the big bad. Then luke goes home, leaves again with the whole jedi order, and the sith secretely take over along with the big bad.

 

Then the Jedi go home and pound on some Sith because, much like the HSBC adverts (you guys get those right or there might be some cultural importance missing) the Sith know nothing about the culture they secretely took over, and stick out like secret sore thumbs. The big bad reveals itself, and everyone is like "ooooh sheep", and then its killed 4 different times by 4 different people, 1 of thes epeople did it by accident, oh and boba fett was there, and the other 1 was near death aswell, oh and the big bad lives to be bad another day.

 

The secret sith keep their secret homeworld, the secret princess is now just a princess, oh and Luke got to have a chat with Jacen and Mara, so that was nice.

 

 

Now tell me there isnt some space for TLDRing that into half the number of novels

 

Actually, may need to TLDR this too.

 

Traviss your a good writer, but nerd-rage all the same!

EU, I love you, but stop making me spend money on Hardbacks half filled with spam.

 

Also, since i did come in here to originally say this, as a response to how one person handles the EU;

Theres G-Canon, and this canon and that canon, and so on, then theres MegaJamie canon, which edits out bits of everything I want to edit out, to make the stories more enjoyable to me, and thats the level of canon I believe (and if george can be an egomaniac and name a canon level after him, so can i)

Edited April 18, 2012 by Mega_Jamie

[priest]

My idea for Luke is that he becomes one with the Force. I think it's fitting that a Jedi like he should have a unique ending. Though I'm not ready to kill him off yet.

[Onager]

I think they could've gone all Frank Herbert with Luke's story and it would've worked out a lot better than it did. Plus the framework is there in the force itself to allow for reincarnation. The galaxy really needed Anakin, especially after he became the balance that he was born (created) to become.

[Captain_Zone]

I think they could've gone all Frank Herbert with Luke's story and it would've worked out a lot better than it did. Plus the framework is there in the force itself to allow for reincarnation. The galaxy really needed Anakin, especially after he became the balance that he was born (created) to become.

 

Frank Herbert is the author George Lucas wishes he could be, imo. Loved the Dune series. At least Herbert never had to rewrite his own stories.

[ISDEnterprise]

I've been thinking of this recently.

 

In my opinion they should reboot the EU.

First off, it's so big it's unfriendly to newcomers. Second off a lot of it is stupid. I'm sorry but compared to the Legendary Star Wars movies a lot of it is really not up to par. There's like no quality control.

 

It over explains the force. There's no mystery to it.

They killed Chewie in what I believe to be a stupid fashion.

 

Well, I could go on but I won't. I just think we need a Star Wars EU-2.

[TheBentOne]

I've been thinking of this recently.

 

In my opinion they should reboot the EU.

First off, it's so big it's unfriendly to newcomers. Second off a lot of it is stupid. I'm sorry but compared to the Legendary Star Wars movies a lot of it is really not up to par. There's like no quality control.

 

It over explains the force. There's no mystery to it.

They killed Chewie in what I believe to be a stupid fashion.

 

Well, I could go on but I won't. I just think we need a Star Wars EU-2.

 

As bad as some of the EU is. The worst of it is still better than the prequels.

I'd reread "The Glove Of Darth Vader" before I watched The Phantom Menace again.

[priest]

As bad as some of the EU is. The worst of it is still better than the prequels.

I'd reread "The Glove Of Darth Vader" before I watched The Phantom Menace again.

 

LOL! Moffship, HO!!!!

 

on theforce.net, we had this wonderful thread devoted to TGODV...and we even had a theme song. it was comedic genious!

 

But in regard to rebooting the EU, that's what I'm talking about. Since none of it is actually REAL; I can think whatever the hell I want, (that's a novel idea for some people, apparently.) Since most of what I don't like has started with the New Jedi Order, I think that creating a branch from there would be great. Again, outlined above, I THINK that it would work. I hate Chewie's death, but I understand it. I don't understand Anakin's, I don't understand Mara's, and I don't understand Jacens' fall to the darkside and irredeemable death. All of it is FUBAR in my opinion...So I've just decided that I'm going to ignore it. That's the way that we used to play as kids, anyway- I didn't care what everyone else's story was. It was just mine, my brother, my friends...we all wrote our own stuff. Since Star Wars is leaving what made it wonderful, I'll let it go its way...I just don't have to follow.

[Colonelpandabear]

As bad as some of the EU is. The worst of it is still better than the prequels.

 

Sad, but true.

[Toonimator]

To the OP, I think Anakin was destined for Jacen's role, and vice versa, but they switched them around as having Anakin fall would be just too close to Eps 1-3.

Not quite... somewhere in the last several years, fans (including myself) have passed along that same story, but what REALLY happened (some fans did the legwork and found all the relevant material, which is available on Wookieepedia) is that Anakin was meant to be the ultimate hero of the New Jedi Order series, and Jacen was probably gonna die in a heroic sacrifice mid-series. But the simple fact that Anakin Solo was going to be the hero was enough for George to say "No, it's too close to the Prequels I'm making now, where Anakin SKYWALKER is the hero!"

 

And that was that. Del Rey had to change the game plan, so Anakin & Jacen's roles were reversed.

 

Troy Denning LATER proposed the idea of Jacen falling to the dark side around the time of the Dark Nest Trilogy. Anakin Solo was never supposed to imitate his grandfather & namesake. Because of the changed roles, Lucas' 'too similar' remark, and Del Rey having plans for their series while Bantam just let authors fill any ol' 6-month gap in the timeline with whatever they wanted, fans tacked on the "Jacen falls to the dark side" bit to the "Jacen is the hero of NJO" part, as it mirrored Anakin Skywalker's rise & fall (in our minds, if not as presented in the PT), and so included it in the story of how Anakin Solo & Jacen Solo's stories were switched because of George. It just kept getting passed around as if it were true, like all those emails and Facebook posts of misattributed quotes or lists or essays. They keep getting passed around, even when someone posts the correction.

 

Let's try to stomp that out here in the EU... Anakin Solo was NEVER supposed to fall to the dark side. He was merely supposed to be the ultimate hero of the NJO series in place of Jacen; had that happened, I doubt Denning would've ever submitted an idea about Anakin becoming a new Sith Lord or Del Rey ever seriously considered such an idea because THAT would've CLEARLY been too similar to Anakin Skywalker's story, and just flat-out lazy for them to pursue.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Toonimator