Rant: Coruscant Nights Jedi Twilight
I really, really want to like this book. I mean, it's a Star Wars PI novel, and I spend a lot of time bemoaning the lack of SF and fantasy crossover procedurals. I'm only on chapter 3 right now, so I'm hoping that it's going to get better. But the odds of that, IMO, ain't so good
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Politically speaking they're terrorists. They blew up two Death Stars, and there were hell knows how many innocent aboard (families with kids, construction workers and whatnot), but no one ever talks about those. And yet, when the Yuuzhan Vong strive through the galaxy, commiting genocide whereever they can, the good Jedi actually wonder if it's okay to use this poison against them?
It's inconsistent. They try to demonise the Empire and each and every single member of it. Seemingly even the children of them, or they would have cared about rather capturing the Death Stars instead of blowing them up.
The Old Republic was corrupt, the Jedi Council hypocrites who withdrew more or less and only cared about themselves (those in power). If it had been different then Palpatine would have never succeeded to rise as emperor.
Oh, I came here from the SC mailing list. I'm Trooper of Tomorrow.
We seem to share some interests, community-wise as well. :)
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Politically speaking they're terrorists.
Yeah, that's one of the words I was thinking of, "criminals" being another. I have a very hard time hanging "freedom fighter" on someone trying to depose a big centralized government so they can put in a different big centralized government. If it was more of a planetary independence thing, I'd be quicker to back them.
I'm amused, though, that out of the million and one things I fault the Jedi/Rebels/Designated White-Hats for, you highlighted two decisions I actually agree with. Luke earned back a fair bit of my respect by saying no to biological warfare against the Vong. I'm not sure how I'd have ruled if it were up to me, but there's no question that with their ethos, the Jedi *shouldn't* be down with unleashing untested WMD. (Of course, they shouldn't be down with genocide and brainwashing infants, either, but that hasn't stopped them yet.)
I even agree with the decision to take out the Death Star (good strategic sense to remove the big-ass nuke analogue from the board) and to blow it up (good tactical sense, as they simply lack the manpower to capture it). What annoys me to absolutely no end is the way it was depicted, with them whooping it up afterward like it's some big fucking party. I made a post a few months ago contrasting this scene with the re-fought Battle of Witch Head in Andromeda (don't know if you've ever seen this show, if not, the first two seasons are well worth the bother), where the Good Guys (tm) had to blow up a Neitzschean fleet of about 300,000 enemy soldiers. Nobody cheered, not even the one character who'd suffered horribly at their hands, and you felt the magnitude of the decision they had to make and why they had to make it. This is what I'd like to see out of the designated good guys, some recognition that they took sentient life on a massive scale. (Particularly given that it's a *civil war*, it would be odd if at least one Rebel didn't have a friend or family member serving with the Imps.)
They try to demonise the Empire and each and every single member of it.
Agree completely. In the entire time I've been following SW, I've seen what, two? Three? Imperial characters that stayed Imperial throughout, and who weren't antagonist characters. Gilad Pellaeon, Jagged Fel, and... hmm... maybe Stele from the TIE Fighter game, except in the story he went turncoat at the end too. Come on, it's just ridiculous.
The Old Republic was corrupt, the Jedi Council hypocrites who withdrew more or less and only cared about themselves (those in power).
Yes, this. If there wasn't already a species extinction caused by the Old Republic Jedi to tip the balance away from them walking their talk, there was the way that the Council treated... oh, everyone, pretty much, in the prequels. Most notably young Anakin. Free the kid's mother, for fuck's sake. Let them correspond. Don't ask him to spy on someone he thinks of like a second parent. This isn't rocket science.
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I picked those two parts because they show the inconsistency pretty well. The Vong were an even bigger threat, in my opinion, than the Empire. So this way of thinking of the Jedi truly strikes me as way off. Well, I was not overly fond of that part of the EU storylines to begin with. The Vong seemed like an overkill to me. Compared to them the Empire comes off like child's play, and yet this hesitation?
Any Imperial hero, Veers for example, finds a truly pathetic end so bad I'm leaning toward just ignoring it.
They constantly get described as downright evil. Whatever good deeds or characteristics they have get played down or phrased in a way it makes them sound even more shallow.
That is another part I never understood. Why let the mother die? Why take a child away at infancy and then forbid the parents to ever talk to them again. While I'm childfree myself, I'm pretty much sure this is a major cause for hatred toward the Jedi in general (see Pavan in Shadow Hunter. And I'm certain he was not the only one who held a grudge against the Order).
I also wonder if this was a test from the Order, to have Anakin spying on Palpatine. If so, it makes the whole thing even more nasty, but I'd not be surprised if it were the case.
I'll friend you back. :)
We Sith/Empire sympathisers are a rarity indeed.
On an unrelated note; I do love your icon!
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IIRC, the weapon wasn't very well tested, and biological warfare always has a strong chance of throwing unintended consequences for those who use it. Not to mention that the good guys *should* pause before committing mass murder. You're right, though, they're inconsistent. I do think this was a case of good guys actually acting as good guys, as opposed to the many instances where they do not. I loved the NJO, though, because it had a ton of elements that I've been waiting a very long time to see someone do in SW. Did you notice how the Imperial characters kept saying that if the Empire were still around the war w/the Vong would be much easier to fight due to greater fleet strength? I loved this, and they're right. A lot of the Rebels' decisions came back to haunt them in this series, and I thought that the way the writers had them deal with this was realistic and in-character. (Not to mention that Traitor was hands down the best dissection of Force philosophy and argument against the Jedi ways that I've ever seen.)
They constantly get described as downright evil. Whatever good deeds or characteristics they have get played down or phrased in a way it makes them sound even more shallow.
I agree. It also serves to make the story literally unbelievable-- at least, it does to me. I don't like stark good vs. evil in my fiction, I like my fiction to look like real life in an unusual setting. What got me into the Sith, for instance, was all the talk about "at last we will have our revenge." Revenge for what? Genocide, it turns out. Fair motive indeed, though I don't consider Palpy's bunch to actually be Sith.
That is another part I never understood. Why let the mother die? Why take a child away at infancy and then forbid the parents to ever talk to them again. While I'm childfree myself, I'm pretty much sure this is a major cause for hatred toward the Jedi in general
I'm pretty militantly CF too. :) There is, IMO, a *lot* to hate the Jedi for in TPM. Particularly Yoda's horrible haranguing of a scared kid, telling him that his fear will cause suffering, simply for the sin of missing his mother. The hell? The Jedi have never looked more culty to me than at that moment-- a lot of cults practice disconnection from family as a way to gain control over their members. (Scientology, for instance, is infamous for it.)
We Sith/Empire sympathisers are a rarity indeed.
In female-dominated media fandom, especially. I get the impression that there are more people who think like us among the fanboys, especially gaming fanboys.
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And yes, even Han Solo stated he was wishing for a Death Star (okay, he said as a morbid joke, but still!).
Hm yeah, Maul would be the only one I'd see as somewhat Sith. Vader and Dooku not so much (they're more like Fallen Jedi IMO). Maul was trained from an early childhood on.
It made the Jedi look like some sect indeed. (On that note, my country deems Scientology as such, and it took them a long time to even be allowed to open a centre here. They have one in Berlin as far as I know. We Germans generally aren't very religious. I think, our country has one of the highest counts of Atheists worldwide even.) Their whole Code is idiotic.
There's no emotion? Sure. Tell yourselves that. Oh wait, in the case of the Dark Woman it's true. One of her own Padawan be kidnapped, and she never even went looking for her.
There is no chaos, there is harmony? Aha, I wonder why this line was omitted during Mara Jade's funeral. Not.
What was that about no attachments? Wonder why Mundi was allowed to have four wives then (yeah, I know, his race brings forth too few males, and yet Anakin is not allowed to miss his mother) I dare say, four wives and many kids are quite the attachment. He could have simply donated his sperm. I'm certain the SW Universe has such techniques.
Best thing Luke's ever done? Rewriting this idiocy.
Palpatine said it very well. They're hypocrites. They often remind me of fundamentalists.
The genocide of the Sith reminds me somewhat of the Crusades, witch hunts etc. "You do not share my religion? Die!"
I definitely know way more males who are pro-Sith/Empire. That's for certain. :)
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