I didn't read much of Invincible once I knew they were going to kill off Jacen but I did read his death and Han and Leia's reactions to it and felt unclean afterwards. I completely agree about the redemption issue and that book and series with its completely off-base characterizations murdered my love for SW.
It was done in a very ugly way, wasn't it? And even though they flail around and try to justify not even trying to bring Jacen back before killing him outright, it doesn't really work and actually paints the characters in a pretty unpleasant light.
It was very ugly and as you say further down in the replies, there was so much potential for questions about redemption and Jacen also dealing with what he'd done. They threw it all away in such a stupid, repugnant way that I just can't deal with it any more.
Pretty much share your thoughts about Invincible. ESPECIALLY with how Jacen was handled. Why even bother with a some odd 20 long ass book series to develop Jacen just to do a contrived trip the dark side and kill him off.
It just makes me foam at the mouth at the character development that's been destroyed because DR couldn't think of anything better to write. Also as someone who hated NJO I even feel cheated at how Jacen's story ended. Would it have been so difficult to capture Jacen and redeem him? It's just utter laziness.
Exactly - if you're going to have him turn to the dark side, actually deal with the repercussions. RotJ didn't have Luke decide that Vader was irredeemable after all and plant a lightsaber in his chest because Vader said "No, thanks" to Luke's first attempt to get him to leave the Empire.
The more I hear about "Invincible" the less I want to read it. I feel like I should, for fic and fandom purposes, but the idea of everyone deciding that Jacen is beyond redemption (I mean, even Luke? Really?) is hard for me to stomach.
It seems to me that the long-term consequences of a redemption arc would have been perfect for upcoming books. The characters never really got to deal with the fallout of Vader's turn back to the Light, Mara was never a Sith, and everyone else's brushes with the Dark Side have been glossed over. I for one, would have liked to read about Jacen learning to live with the things he'd done, and how everyone else would have coped.
But now it seems like typical the Sith is Dead, Long Live the Sith.
I put off reading it for a long time for the same reason, and it's really not a very well written book, even if it didn't have a lazy resolution.
Redemption would have opened a wealth of fascinating questions, wouldn't it? I mean, just for starters, how hard would it be for Luke to forgive a redeemed Jacen for Mara's murder? He forgave Vader, but Vader hadn't hurt him directly on so personal a level, though he had cost plenty of other people their loved ones. It would be a huge test of Luke's principles. And then there's Jacen, having to make amends for everything, having to heal from his own damage, having to live with how much pain and death he's caused. So many possibilities...
So... George Lucas is the master of complications and depth in comparison to this book? Scary thought! If Jacen had actually lived and had to struggle with redemption and his family that he'd hurt, I might actually read the books.
These books don't just pale next to the movies, they seem to have missed the entire point. Considering that this is a published continuation of the saga, you'd think they would have a passing familiarity with the themes of the source.
Taking it down the redemption path would have been much more interesting -- and would mean that the series had a point, rather than building up across eight books just to bow out with a whimper. Much like poor Jacen. *sigh*
The early NJO books were pretty terrible. Luckily (or unluckily) I was crazily obsessed with all facets of Star Wars way back then, and was somehow buffered through. Some of the later books were decent, but who would want to have to read through seven or ten other books to get there?
Oh, I am so very tempted. The setup for it is right there, it's just that Jaina didn't bother to stop for a second and consider what Jacen was saying. *ponders*
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It just makes me foam at the mouth at the character development that's been destroyed because DR couldn't think of anything better to write. Also as someone who hated NJO I even feel cheated at how Jacen's story ended. Would it have been so difficult to capture Jacen and redeem him? It's just utter laziness.
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It seems to me that the long-term consequences of a redemption arc would have been perfect for upcoming books. The characters never really got to deal with the fallout of Vader's turn back to the Light, Mara was never a Sith, and everyone else's brushes with the Dark Side have been glossed over. I for one, would have liked to read about Jacen learning to live with the things he'd done, and how everyone else would have coped.
But now it seems like typical the Sith is Dead, Long Live the Sith.
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Redemption would have opened a wealth of fascinating questions, wouldn't it? I mean, just for starters, how hard would it be for Luke to forgive a redeemed Jacen for Mara's murder? He forgave Vader, but Vader hadn't hurt him directly on so personal a level, though he had cost plenty of other people their loved ones. It would be a huge test of Luke's principles. And then there's Jacen, having to make amends for everything, having to heal from his own damage, having to live with how much pain and death he's caused. So many possibilities...
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Taking it down the redemption path would have been much more interesting -- and would mean that the series had a point, rather than building up across eight books just to bow out with a whimper. Much like poor Jacen. *sigh*
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*I quit reading after Dark Tide I because I thought the movies had fewer plotholes and better dialog and got bored. This should not be the case.
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Oh, I am so very tempted. The setup for it is right there, it's just that Jaina didn't bother to stop for a second and consider what Jacen was saying. *ponders*
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