Poll: Are you outraged by the current Expanded Universe? (updated)
If you’re one of those fans who’re unhappy with the post-NJO EU, this is your chance to register your dissatisfaction. (Thanks to polgarawolf for her indispensable help in compiling and formatting the list, and for the wonderful quote at the end.) This poll contains many major complaints, but it’s hardly definitive. I’m prepared to consider any additional points you send in.
Corrections and/or updates welcome.
Please recommend other communities to post this poll. (Unfortunately, the EU community is out. snarkel has already confirmed that the poll violates the community’s code of non-antagonism.)
You should only vote on the points which strongly speak to you.
This is not a vote to find the least popular element of the EU. This is a poll to register the fans’ dissatisfaction with all the points listed below.
We ask that anybody who does wish to vote on an issue please include the specific number of the topic you’re voting on in the body of your reply. Example: 1, 2, 13, 14, 21, 26.
Important note: While this poll is tolerant of respectful dissention and debate, they are not at all encouraged. The point of this poll is not debate, nor mindless bashing. This is a poll to register certain fans’ strong dislike for some aspects of the current EU, as set forth in the poll (and spelled out for reasons of clarity only).
How to vote:
Unfortunately, I have been so far unable to create a proper poll that will allow for my specified parameters. (Any help in creating such a poll would be greatly appreciated!) So for now, I must ask everybody to post their votes in their replies. I will then compile the votes somewhere and post them upon request.
Everybody gets a maximum of one vote per issue. It’s that simple.
#1: Anakin Solo’s death in Star by Star
Anakin Solo was a great character. He was cool. He was smart. He was funny. He had the potential to be everything that Anakin Skywalker could have been, if not for his fall to the dark side. He was the best choice for the new main character of the post-ROTJ eras. Without him, the EU will never be nearly as good as it was when he was alive. Killing him off was just plain wrong.
#2: Mara Jade Skywalker’s death in Sacrifice
Mara Jade Skywalker was one of the coolest characters in the EU. She had so much more story material in her. So much better material. Killing her off was cheap, stupid, pointless, and awful. And it wasn’t even about Mara. It was just a stupid plot device in Jacen’s story arc. Every detail about her death is completely inexcusable.
#3: Chewbacca’s death in Vector Prime
Chewbacca’s death was a horrible, horrible mistake. It served as nothing more than cheap sensationalism. It turns him into just another expendable, throw-away character, and invalidates the fact that he is as much a main character as Lando or the droids. It goes against the very nature of Star Wars, a tragedy that can’t be fixed or reversed. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi got triumphant returns as Force ghosts after their deaths, to prove that everything is all right. Chewie gets nothing.
#4: Killing off main characters in general
One of the most insidious and preposterous notions holding sway in the current EU is that a big epic Star Wars storyline cannot be any good without the death of at least one main character. The fact is that quality goes sharply down with each subtraction from the main cast, and never goes back up. Ever. And there’s no good reason for it. The EU would be vastly improved if it went back to the “invincibility Force bubble” around the entire post-ROTJ Skywalker-Solo family, including those presently dead, and the biggest non-Solo-Skywalkers, such as Chewie, Lando, and the droids.
#5: Killing off characters for no reason
Most, if not all the important deaths since NJO have served as mere plot points, to make characters react a certain way. Even the deaths that don’t fall into that category are usually cliché, contrived, and/or only serve to sensationalize the story. Killing off characters can be bad enough, but that just adds insult to injury.
#6: Jacen Solo’s fall to the dark side
Whatever happened to the maturity and wisdom he picked up in NJO? Maybe Vergere was teaching him how to be a Sith, but that sure as hell wasn’t what he was learning. Jacen always saw things from the humanitarian perspective. He would never be so stupid as to fall into the same trap that his grandfather fell into. His fall in Dark Nest and LOTF is totally out-of-character. Jacen didn’t have the history of problems that Anakin Skywalker did, nor the volatile, over-protective personality Anakin had. And yet suddenly, all Anakin Skywalker’s faults were dropped onto Jacen in Dark Nest, without any of the warning signs that went along with them, or the history that explained them. Jacen’s fall is just a cheap retelling of his grandfather’s, without any of the validating background. Now that all this stupidity has been dumped on Jacen, his cool factor has gone negative, and his arrogant, self-righteous, self-delusional, Mara-murdering evil makes reading every passage he features in nothing short of torture.
#7: God-modding Jacen Solo
Ever since NJO, Jacen Solo has accumulated more powers, “screen time” and importance to the greater story than any three main characters have any right to. Jacen is the one who learns all the special Force techniques. Jacen suspects Viqi Shesh, has Anakin Skywalker talking to him, and incurs the personal hatred of Tsavong Lah in Balance Point. Jacen learns about the Yuuzhan Vong in Traitor, finds Zonama Sekot in Force Heretic, ends the war peacefully, defeats Onimi, and saves everyone from Nom Anor in The Unifying Force. Jacen defeats the Killiks’ brainwashing and Lomi Plo’s invisibility trick in Dark Nest. Jacen is the only Jedi who can get Ben to use the Force. Jacen is the main character of LOTF, and anything really important that isn’t about/handled by Luke is handled by Jacen the Ultra-Character. Even Mara’s part in Sacrifice was just about magnifying her death, and killing her off had nothing to do with Mara herself, and everything to do with continuing Jacen’s storyline.
#8: Luke Skywalker is a murderer
This just does not happen. Han can contemplate killing someone else in cold blood, but that’s because he’s Han Solo. Luke Skywalker is the moral center of the Star Wars saga. After ROTJ, and his complete rejection of the dark side, Luke Skywalker would never fall so far as to kill a helpless opponent. He definitely wouldn’t call it “justice,” not for any length of time. He’s smarter and much more moral than that. Luke murdering Lumiya goes completely against character. More than that, it goes against the spirit of Luke’s character, as set forth by George Lucas in the Original Trilogy.
#9: Mistreatment of Jaina’s character
Ever since the NJO, Jaina has faded more and more into the background. As Jacen’s twin, she deserves equal story time, equal capability, and equal importance to the story. Instead, she’s become just another minor character, doing all secondary work, and finding it harder to do than Jacen finds saving/ruining the galaxy. Despite being Jacen’s equal in potential Force-strength, Jaina usually looks like a Jedi of middling strength at best. She also requires rescuing (from minor threats Jacen would laugh off) far more often than she solves problems for herself. And now she’s disappearing from the story to boot! Her entire contribution to the first five LOTF books was just above nil, and she appears on less thirty pages of most of them. Compare that to precious Jacen’s 50-75 percent of the storyline. Jaina Solo is Jacen Solo’s equal in every way, and should be treated accordingly.
#10: Mistreatment of Mara’s character
Mara Jade was a cool, complex, independent character. However, her portrayal in Dark Nest and LOTF belied all three. She came out looking like a petty, useless sidekick character, with a titanically overdeveloped motherly instinct. The only book that begins to redress this travesty and re-empower Mara is the one where she’s killed off. Obviously, she only gets a big, powerful role in Sacrifice to spark a bigger reaction from the fans upon her death. What’s more, no one in Star Wars canon is less likely to fall for Jacen’s innocent act than Mara. If there’s something suspicious going on, Mara wouldn’t rest until she got to the bottom of it. She wouldn’t take excuses, much less make them up herself. Mara Jade has to know the truth, no matter how horrible. The very fact that the Emperor managed to fool her so completely negates the miniscule possibility that she would ever let anyone else do the same.
#11: Mistreatment of Leia’s character
At the least, Leia was on the threshold of Jedi Knighthood at the end of the New Republic era. From Vector Prime to Joiner King she was little more than a beginner. And even by the end of the Dark Nest trilogy, they were calling her a Jedi Knight, but there’s been very little corroborative evidence. She’s used the Force on occasion since then, but nowhere near as much as she’s capable of. Leia is Luke’s twin, his equal in potential Force strength, but so far, all the power she’s shown has been lower middling. She doesn’t act like a Jedi Knight either. She acts like Han’s copilot and sidekick. Han is always the one in charge, the instigator of events, and Leia just helps out. She should be dragging Han around most of the time, doing real Jedi stuff, instead of just tagging along meekly behind him.
#12: Mistreatment of Tenel Ka’s character
Tenel Ka used to be a cool, complex character, with her own unique personality. However, in Dark Nest and LOTF, she is presented as basically a non-entity. The audience no longer gets to observe her thoughts and emotions, understand her character. There is a bit of description in Tempest but that’s all. As the mother of Jacen’s baby, Tenel Ka deserves main character status, but she has been undercharacterized and under-presented. Her one-chapter appearance in all three Dark Nest books, her minor appearances in Tempest and Sacrifice, and her complete absence from Betrayal, Bloodlines and Exile denies her proper character status and relegates her to nothing more than a bad plot device.
#13: Minimization of the droids’ roles
Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio are as essential to the Star Wars saga as Luke, Han, Leia, and their EU family. They carried significant amount of the story in the Original Trilogy, and Artoo, at least, had some kind of storyline (even if it was extremely minor) in all of the Prequels. And yet their appearance in and contribution to the recent book series has been practically nil. They did little enough in NJO, and hardly show up at all in LOTF. Artoo did play a minor part in the Dark Nest trilogy-as a plot device. In all three books, Artoo exists solely to reveal the truth about Padmé to Luke and to heighten the dramatic effect by keeping that information away from him. The only way either of the droids can get any story attention is as plot devices, not as characters in their own right.
#14: Consistent characterization giving way to plot
Practically everything that happens in NJO, and especially Dark Nest and LOTF happens because it’s part of story plan. The authors guide the established character’s personalities to conform to the story. When necessary, they distort those personalities, and they increasingly break completely out-of-character to keep the story going in the “right” direction. Han’s reaction to Chewbacca’s death is not at all in character. Neither is Luke’s inability to hold the Jedi order together throughout NJO. Neither are Luke and Leia’s apparent disinterest in learning more about their mother once Luke finds the recording in Artoo’s memory banks in Dark Nest. Neither is anyone’s inability to recognize how far Jacen has really fallen and their unwillingness to do something about it in Dark Nest and LOTF. For that matter, almost everything the established main characters do in LOTF is at least 75 percent plot-driven, with consistent characterization slinking in only if the story allows. Good characterization brings the characters and their story to life. Bad characterization leaves them both dull and lifeless.
#15: Wooden character relationships
Lately it seems that all the emotion has gone out of the relationships between characters. The rich, nuanced relationships they once shared have been pushed aside and neglected. This tendency is exemplified in Jacen’s relationship with Tenel Ka. The audience is told that they love each other, but never shown any moments of affection, tenderness, respect, trust, commitment, honesty, friction, conflict, or anything else that points to a developing relationship, let alone a fully developed one.
#16: Sexism in general
The whole EU has become more and more gratuitous in its sexism. The all-around degradation of long-established strong female characters is hardly the only examples of the franchise’s gross male chauvinism. The protagonists in Star Wars: Legacy, KOTOR (comics), and Dark Times are all male. It’s almost always these and other male characters who save the day/damsel in distress, and do everything actually important. Eleven times out of twelve, the most important and the most powerful characters to be found in any Star Wars medium these days are male. Moreover, almost all the powerful female villains perfectly fit one of these three stereotypes: the madwoman in the attic, the sexless manhater, or the ambitious and amoral seductress. There is, unfortunately, precedent for some of these sexist attitudes in the films, which is precisely why the EU should be working to counter the damage, instead of taking it to the extreme.
#17: Characters age as if they were modern Earth humans
People seem to have forgotten that the humans in Star Wars are not exactly the same as humans on Earth. They’re far more advanced, and that includes longevity. Humans without Force-powers or other life-extenders can still be alive and active at the age of 160, and can probably live to 175 or 180. Humans with Force-sensitivity can live at least 300 hundred years, probably a lot longer. And yet lately, humans have been presented as if their life spans are no different from those on Earth. The New Essential Guide to Alien Species goes so far as to say that Star Wars humans who aren’t Force-sensitive rarely live to 100, and never beyond 120, while Force-users can only live to 200, all of which is in violation of previously established canon.
#18: Age-ism among human characters
The EU’s policy for characters appears to be that they have to be young or they’ll never accomplish anything. The sole exception it makes is for characters who were introduced young, but grew up throughout the course of the story. And even then, the characters who (going by Earth standards) should be middle aged still act like they’re young and fit, but are treated like they’re feeble and elderly.
#19: Excessive human bias
As far as the EU is concerned, Star Wars is not a story about humans and nonhumans. It’s all about the humans. The only way truly nonhuman characters get any real importance anymore is as the Bug-Eyed Monsters of early Sci-Fi, that the heroic humans always had to clobber. The Yuuzhan Vong, the Killiks, the Ssi-ruuk, the Yevetha, and the Taung Mandalorians are all excellent examples. Whenever a nonhuman character does play a heroic role, the differences usually only run to biology and a few cultural quirks. The only solution the authors seem able to find for this problem is to make all main characters, good and bad alike, exclusively human, relegating all nonhuman characters (even the droids) to ultra-minor character status, as in the case of LOTF.
#20: Time travel
There is no time-travel in Star Wars. There is time dilation, but time-travel to the past? Right out. If time-travel were as easy as DN/LOTF make out, then the characters would have no good excuse not to go back in time and avert some of the really bad stuff that’s happened. In other words, to change previously established canon. Which the author’s can’t legally do, but they can’t realistically not do in-universe unless time-travel is impossible. Besides, the addition of time travel to the past, by whatever means, adds a dynamic to a universe that doesn’t really fit with the rest of the Star Wars universe. Star Wars just works better as a no-time-travel zone.
#21: No more redemptions
Redemption is one of the greatest themes of the Star Wars saga. Anakin Skywalker’s redemption in ROTJ is perhaps the most important moment of the movies. And yet LOTF’s take on redemption is nothing short of contemptuous. After everything Mara said about Lumiya being unredeemable, killing Lumiya off constitutes an utter rejection of redemption as a whole. “Anakin Skywalker’s redemption was a fluke,” it said, “nothing more. It’s still better to go out and kill all the other evil people, without even trying to redeem them first.” Jacen’s and Alema’s portrayal in LOTF make the chances of redeeming either of them vanishingly small. And even if they are redeemed, thanks to Lumiya, their redemptions will only be regarded as exceptions to the rule. This is a colossal outrage and a gross misinterpretation of one of Star Wars’ most fundamental themes.
#22: Excessively dark storylines
The prequel trilogy was dark, but even at its worst, it kept a strong sense of optimism. And it only worked because everyone knew that the original trilogy comes after it, that light wins out in the end. The prequel trilogy works as a contrast to later, brighter events. Most if not all of the recent Expanded Universe storylines (e.g. NJO, Dark Nest, LOTF, Star Wars: Legacy) are only concerned with darkness for its own sake, not the triumph of light at the end, which is what Star Wars is about. There’s not a single good thing that’s happened since the films that’s been allowed to remain a good thing, and most of the good things achieved by the films have been nullified or are in the process of being nullified by the current EU storylines. The authors have obviously bought into the mistaken idea that true quality cannot be achieved without a whole lot of death, doom and gloom, an idea which is anathema to the post-Original Star Wars eras.
#23: No more happy endings
Star Wars is about happy endings. The prequel trilogy did not have a happy ending, but only because it functions as a prequel for the originals, which did have a happy ending. And even the prequels’ ending was optimistic. The NJO and Legacy eras are sequels, not prequels. With all the darkness left over from NJO, the even greater darkness of LOTF, and the darkness of the Legacy comics awaiting in the not-too-distant future, a happy ending for the characters we’ve loved and followed ever since ANH is impossible. The tragedies already vastly outweigh any potential future triumph. This is an unconscionable affront to the spirit of Star Wars.
#24: Star Wars: Legacy premise
Star Wars: Legacy may be a good story, but the foundations for that story are simply catastrophic. It takes place only 150-odd years after Luke and Leia’s birth. And yet they are presumed to be dead, and so are their children. If Cade Skywalker is indeed “the last descendant of Anakin Skywalker” that means that not only are Jaina and Jacen dead, but all of their descendants as well. That’s just wrong. Also, the galaxy has fallen to the dark side (and the Sith) once again, effectively negating everything that Anakin Skywalker and everyone else accomplished from ROTJ through to LOTF. All their triumphs, all their defeats, the victories and the tragedies, were for nothing. Star Wars: Legacy has no business “fixing” the future of the saga at all, let alone such a bleak future. The future should not be set before the present is even finished.
#25: Sith still around after ROTJ
“You’re referring to the prophecy of the one who will restore balance to the Force … but only for a couple years”? Come on. Anakin Skywalker destroyed the Sith at Endor. That’s the whole point of the prophecy and the Chosen One. It’s the whole point the films! You can’t just have the Sith come back after that. Lumiya and Jacen and Darth Krayt and everyone else can claim they’re Sith however much they like, but you have to point out that they aren’t. The real Sith died at Endor, as per the prophecy, never to rise again.
#26: Diminishing of minor characters’ roles
Star Wars is not just about the main characters. It’s about all the characters, minor and major. Even ROTS, which focused mainly on Anakin, gave some attention to the minor characters. But in the EU, minor characters, and even “lesser” main characters have faded far into the background, so that the authors can devote more and more attention to a very small group of main characters. It’s gotten to the point where the minor (and not-so-minor) characters’ contribution to the story is even less than it was in ROTS.
#27: Lack of nonviolent conflict resolution
Throughout the movies and the EU that the Jedi Knights aspire to higher, more enlightened standards. They are tolerant beings, who respect and revere all life. So how come they always rely on their lightsabers to solve their problems? If they’re so intelligent and moral, why can’t they find more creative solutions to conflict than matching violence with violence, which of course only breeds more violence?
#28: Rampant commercialism
Lately, the Powers That Be in the EU have gone overboard in their commercialism, and story quality has been one of the worst casualties. Killing off Anakin Solo in the EU supposedly focuses people’s attention on Anakin Skywalker and the movies, which are much more profitable than the novels. Then there’s the insistence on churning out as much merchandise as possible in as short a time as possible. And the storylines that rely on sensationalism more than anything more substantial, meaningful, or satisfying. LOTF is rushed, with many plot holes and inconsistencies that could have been fixed with a little more time and energy. Star Wars: Legacy is just as obviously a way to capitalize on a lucrative market, even though publishing it at the same time as LOTF detracts greatly from both. The people in charge of the EU should be focusing on quality, not quantity. It’d be better for the integrity of the franchise, and in the long-run, more profitable.
#29: Recycling old, tired plot devices ad nauseaum
Some plot devices can only be used once per franchise before becoming cliché. Example: a member of the Skywalker family falls to the dark side. Other devices can only be used very occasionally. Example: A story’s main character falls to the dark side. Or one character deliberately sacrifices their life for one or more other characters. Or the Sith take over the galaxy and destroy the Jedi order, except for a handful who form a rebellion. All these devices and many more were used to good effect in the movies, and gratuitously overused by the EU. These people have to learn just how many times you can use any given major plot device over a given block of time/material. In addition, the EU relies much too heavily on general science fiction clichés. Example: The “alien invaders from outside known space” storyline. Or the evil bug-eyed monsters that go back to at least the 1940s. Creativity should be one of the pillars of the Star Wars franchise, not predictability.
#30: Favoritism of the Big Three
The attitude toward Leia, Luke, and Han in the Expanded Universe is that since they’re the main characters they can do no wrong. Oh, they can make mistakes, but they can’t intentionally do something bad, because they’re the main characters. Even Luke’s murder of Lumiya was perfectly all right, partially because she was evil, but mostly because it was Luke doing it, so he was obviously in the right. The authors need to wake up to the fact that even the purest heroes intentionally bad things, either because they’re weak (everyone’s weak, just as everyone’s strong), or because they don’t recognize their actions for wrong (nobody’s right all the time).
SW is about hope and coming together and persevering/triumphing over seemingly impossible odds. The saga is a comedy, not a tragedy. Destroying all that the characters have fought for and suffered for invalidates the triumphs of the saga, reverses a part of the major genre-type of the saga, and betrays the trust of the readers who have suffered along with the characters for a chance to see that things can be made better in the GFFA.
Corrections and/or updates welcome.
Please recommend other communities to post this poll. (Unfortunately, the EU community is out. snarkel has already confirmed that the poll violates the community’s code of non-antagonism.)
You should only vote on the points which strongly speak to you.
This is not a vote to find the least popular element of the EU. This is a poll to register the fans’ dissatisfaction with all the points listed below.
We ask that anybody who does wish to vote on an issue please include the specific number of the topic you’re voting on in the body of your reply. Example: 1, 2, 13, 14, 21, 26.
Important note: While this poll is tolerant of respectful dissention and debate, they are not at all encouraged. The point of this poll is not debate, nor mindless bashing. This is a poll to register certain fans’ strong dislike for some aspects of the current EU, as set forth in the poll (and spelled out for reasons of clarity only).
How to vote:
Unfortunately, I have been so far unable to create a proper poll that will allow for my specified parameters. (Any help in creating such a poll would be greatly appreciated!) So for now, I must ask everybody to post their votes in their replies. I will then compile the votes somewhere and post them upon request.
Everybody gets a maximum of one vote per issue. It’s that simple.
#1: Anakin Solo’s death in Star by Star
Anakin Solo was a great character. He was cool. He was smart. He was funny. He had the potential to be everything that Anakin Skywalker could have been, if not for his fall to the dark side. He was the best choice for the new main character of the post-ROTJ eras. Without him, the EU will never be nearly as good as it was when he was alive. Killing him off was just plain wrong.
#2: Mara Jade Skywalker’s death in Sacrifice
Mara Jade Skywalker was one of the coolest characters in the EU. She had so much more story material in her. So much better material. Killing her off was cheap, stupid, pointless, and awful. And it wasn’t even about Mara. It was just a stupid plot device in Jacen’s story arc. Every detail about her death is completely inexcusable.
#3: Chewbacca’s death in Vector Prime
Chewbacca’s death was a horrible, horrible mistake. It served as nothing more than cheap sensationalism. It turns him into just another expendable, throw-away character, and invalidates the fact that he is as much a main character as Lando or the droids. It goes against the very nature of Star Wars, a tragedy that can’t be fixed or reversed. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi got triumphant returns as Force ghosts after their deaths, to prove that everything is all right. Chewie gets nothing.
#4: Killing off main characters in general
One of the most insidious and preposterous notions holding sway in the current EU is that a big epic Star Wars storyline cannot be any good without the death of at least one main character. The fact is that quality goes sharply down with each subtraction from the main cast, and never goes back up. Ever. And there’s no good reason for it. The EU would be vastly improved if it went back to the “invincibility Force bubble” around the entire post-ROTJ Skywalker-Solo family, including those presently dead, and the biggest non-Solo-Skywalkers, such as Chewie, Lando, and the droids.
#5: Killing off characters for no reason
Most, if not all the important deaths since NJO have served as mere plot points, to make characters react a certain way. Even the deaths that don’t fall into that category are usually cliché, contrived, and/or only serve to sensationalize the story. Killing off characters can be bad enough, but that just adds insult to injury.
#6: Jacen Solo’s fall to the dark side
Whatever happened to the maturity and wisdom he picked up in NJO? Maybe Vergere was teaching him how to be a Sith, but that sure as hell wasn’t what he was learning. Jacen always saw things from the humanitarian perspective. He would never be so stupid as to fall into the same trap that his grandfather fell into. His fall in Dark Nest and LOTF is totally out-of-character. Jacen didn’t have the history of problems that Anakin Skywalker did, nor the volatile, over-protective personality Anakin had. And yet suddenly, all Anakin Skywalker’s faults were dropped onto Jacen in Dark Nest, without any of the warning signs that went along with them, or the history that explained them. Jacen’s fall is just a cheap retelling of his grandfather’s, without any of the validating background. Now that all this stupidity has been dumped on Jacen, his cool factor has gone negative, and his arrogant, self-righteous, self-delusional, Mara-murdering evil makes reading every passage he features in nothing short of torture.
#7: God-modding Jacen Solo
Ever since NJO, Jacen Solo has accumulated more powers, “screen time” and importance to the greater story than any three main characters have any right to. Jacen is the one who learns all the special Force techniques. Jacen suspects Viqi Shesh, has Anakin Skywalker talking to him, and incurs the personal hatred of Tsavong Lah in Balance Point. Jacen learns about the Yuuzhan Vong in Traitor, finds Zonama Sekot in Force Heretic, ends the war peacefully, defeats Onimi, and saves everyone from Nom Anor in The Unifying Force. Jacen defeats the Killiks’ brainwashing and Lomi Plo’s invisibility trick in Dark Nest. Jacen is the only Jedi who can get Ben to use the Force. Jacen is the main character of LOTF, and anything really important that isn’t about/handled by Luke is handled by Jacen the Ultra-Character. Even Mara’s part in Sacrifice was just about magnifying her death, and killing her off had nothing to do with Mara herself, and everything to do with continuing Jacen’s storyline.
#8: Luke Skywalker is a murderer
This just does not happen. Han can contemplate killing someone else in cold blood, but that’s because he’s Han Solo. Luke Skywalker is the moral center of the Star Wars saga. After ROTJ, and his complete rejection of the dark side, Luke Skywalker would never fall so far as to kill a helpless opponent. He definitely wouldn’t call it “justice,” not for any length of time. He’s smarter and much more moral than that. Luke murdering Lumiya goes completely against character. More than that, it goes against the spirit of Luke’s character, as set forth by George Lucas in the Original Trilogy.
#9: Mistreatment of Jaina’s character
Ever since the NJO, Jaina has faded more and more into the background. As Jacen’s twin, she deserves equal story time, equal capability, and equal importance to the story. Instead, she’s become just another minor character, doing all secondary work, and finding it harder to do than Jacen finds saving/ruining the galaxy. Despite being Jacen’s equal in potential Force-strength, Jaina usually looks like a Jedi of middling strength at best. She also requires rescuing (from minor threats Jacen would laugh off) far more often than she solves problems for herself. And now she’s disappearing from the story to boot! Her entire contribution to the first five LOTF books was just above nil, and she appears on less thirty pages of most of them. Compare that to precious Jacen’s 50-75 percent of the storyline. Jaina Solo is Jacen Solo’s equal in every way, and should be treated accordingly.
#10: Mistreatment of Mara’s character
Mara Jade was a cool, complex, independent character. However, her portrayal in Dark Nest and LOTF belied all three. She came out looking like a petty, useless sidekick character, with a titanically overdeveloped motherly instinct. The only book that begins to redress this travesty and re-empower Mara is the one where she’s killed off. Obviously, she only gets a big, powerful role in Sacrifice to spark a bigger reaction from the fans upon her death. What’s more, no one in Star Wars canon is less likely to fall for Jacen’s innocent act than Mara. If there’s something suspicious going on, Mara wouldn’t rest until she got to the bottom of it. She wouldn’t take excuses, much less make them up herself. Mara Jade has to know the truth, no matter how horrible. The very fact that the Emperor managed to fool her so completely negates the miniscule possibility that she would ever let anyone else do the same.
#11: Mistreatment of Leia’s character
At the least, Leia was on the threshold of Jedi Knighthood at the end of the New Republic era. From Vector Prime to Joiner King she was little more than a beginner. And even by the end of the Dark Nest trilogy, they were calling her a Jedi Knight, but there’s been very little corroborative evidence. She’s used the Force on occasion since then, but nowhere near as much as she’s capable of. Leia is Luke’s twin, his equal in potential Force strength, but so far, all the power she’s shown has been lower middling. She doesn’t act like a Jedi Knight either. She acts like Han’s copilot and sidekick. Han is always the one in charge, the instigator of events, and Leia just helps out. She should be dragging Han around most of the time, doing real Jedi stuff, instead of just tagging along meekly behind him.
#12: Mistreatment of Tenel Ka’s character
Tenel Ka used to be a cool, complex character, with her own unique personality. However, in Dark Nest and LOTF, she is presented as basically a non-entity. The audience no longer gets to observe her thoughts and emotions, understand her character. There is a bit of description in Tempest but that’s all. As the mother of Jacen’s baby, Tenel Ka deserves main character status, but she has been undercharacterized and under-presented. Her one-chapter appearance in all three Dark Nest books, her minor appearances in Tempest and Sacrifice, and her complete absence from Betrayal, Bloodlines and Exile denies her proper character status and relegates her to nothing more than a bad plot device.
#13: Minimization of the droids’ roles
Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio are as essential to the Star Wars saga as Luke, Han, Leia, and their EU family. They carried significant amount of the story in the Original Trilogy, and Artoo, at least, had some kind of storyline (even if it was extremely minor) in all of the Prequels. And yet their appearance in and contribution to the recent book series has been practically nil. They did little enough in NJO, and hardly show up at all in LOTF. Artoo did play a minor part in the Dark Nest trilogy-as a plot device. In all three books, Artoo exists solely to reveal the truth about Padmé to Luke and to heighten the dramatic effect by keeping that information away from him. The only way either of the droids can get any story attention is as plot devices, not as characters in their own right.
#14: Consistent characterization giving way to plot
Practically everything that happens in NJO, and especially Dark Nest and LOTF happens because it’s part of story plan. The authors guide the established character’s personalities to conform to the story. When necessary, they distort those personalities, and they increasingly break completely out-of-character to keep the story going in the “right” direction. Han’s reaction to Chewbacca’s death is not at all in character. Neither is Luke’s inability to hold the Jedi order together throughout NJO. Neither are Luke and Leia’s apparent disinterest in learning more about their mother once Luke finds the recording in Artoo’s memory banks in Dark Nest. Neither is anyone’s inability to recognize how far Jacen has really fallen and their unwillingness to do something about it in Dark Nest and LOTF. For that matter, almost everything the established main characters do in LOTF is at least 75 percent plot-driven, with consistent characterization slinking in only if the story allows. Good characterization brings the characters and their story to life. Bad characterization leaves them both dull and lifeless.
#15: Wooden character relationships
Lately it seems that all the emotion has gone out of the relationships between characters. The rich, nuanced relationships they once shared have been pushed aside and neglected. This tendency is exemplified in Jacen’s relationship with Tenel Ka. The audience is told that they love each other, but never shown any moments of affection, tenderness, respect, trust, commitment, honesty, friction, conflict, or anything else that points to a developing relationship, let alone a fully developed one.
#16: Sexism in general
The whole EU has become more and more gratuitous in its sexism. The all-around degradation of long-established strong female characters is hardly the only examples of the franchise’s gross male chauvinism. The protagonists in Star Wars: Legacy, KOTOR (comics), and Dark Times are all male. It’s almost always these and other male characters who save the day/damsel in distress, and do everything actually important. Eleven times out of twelve, the most important and the most powerful characters to be found in any Star Wars medium these days are male. Moreover, almost all the powerful female villains perfectly fit one of these three stereotypes: the madwoman in the attic, the sexless manhater, or the ambitious and amoral seductress. There is, unfortunately, precedent for some of these sexist attitudes in the films, which is precisely why the EU should be working to counter the damage, instead of taking it to the extreme.
#17: Characters age as if they were modern Earth humans
People seem to have forgotten that the humans in Star Wars are not exactly the same as humans on Earth. They’re far more advanced, and that includes longevity. Humans without Force-powers or other life-extenders can still be alive and active at the age of 160, and can probably live to 175 or 180. Humans with Force-sensitivity can live at least 300 hundred years, probably a lot longer. And yet lately, humans have been presented as if their life spans are no different from those on Earth. The New Essential Guide to Alien Species goes so far as to say that Star Wars humans who aren’t Force-sensitive rarely live to 100, and never beyond 120, while Force-users can only live to 200, all of which is in violation of previously established canon.
#18: Age-ism among human characters
The EU’s policy for characters appears to be that they have to be young or they’ll never accomplish anything. The sole exception it makes is for characters who were introduced young, but grew up throughout the course of the story. And even then, the characters who (going by Earth standards) should be middle aged still act like they’re young and fit, but are treated like they’re feeble and elderly.
#19: Excessive human bias
As far as the EU is concerned, Star Wars is not a story about humans and nonhumans. It’s all about the humans. The only way truly nonhuman characters get any real importance anymore is as the Bug-Eyed Monsters of early Sci-Fi, that the heroic humans always had to clobber. The Yuuzhan Vong, the Killiks, the Ssi-ruuk, the Yevetha, and the Taung Mandalorians are all excellent examples. Whenever a nonhuman character does play a heroic role, the differences usually only run to biology and a few cultural quirks. The only solution the authors seem able to find for this problem is to make all main characters, good and bad alike, exclusively human, relegating all nonhuman characters (even the droids) to ultra-minor character status, as in the case of LOTF.
#20: Time travel
There is no time-travel in Star Wars. There is time dilation, but time-travel to the past? Right out. If time-travel were as easy as DN/LOTF make out, then the characters would have no good excuse not to go back in time and avert some of the really bad stuff that’s happened. In other words, to change previously established canon. Which the author’s can’t legally do, but they can’t realistically not do in-universe unless time-travel is impossible. Besides, the addition of time travel to the past, by whatever means, adds a dynamic to a universe that doesn’t really fit with the rest of the Star Wars universe. Star Wars just works better as a no-time-travel zone.
#21: No more redemptions
Redemption is one of the greatest themes of the Star Wars saga. Anakin Skywalker’s redemption in ROTJ is perhaps the most important moment of the movies. And yet LOTF’s take on redemption is nothing short of contemptuous. After everything Mara said about Lumiya being unredeemable, killing Lumiya off constitutes an utter rejection of redemption as a whole. “Anakin Skywalker’s redemption was a fluke,” it said, “nothing more. It’s still better to go out and kill all the other evil people, without even trying to redeem them first.” Jacen’s and Alema’s portrayal in LOTF make the chances of redeeming either of them vanishingly small. And even if they are redeemed, thanks to Lumiya, their redemptions will only be regarded as exceptions to the rule. This is a colossal outrage and a gross misinterpretation of one of Star Wars’ most fundamental themes.
#22: Excessively dark storylines
The prequel trilogy was dark, but even at its worst, it kept a strong sense of optimism. And it only worked because everyone knew that the original trilogy comes after it, that light wins out in the end. The prequel trilogy works as a contrast to later, brighter events. Most if not all of the recent Expanded Universe storylines (e.g. NJO, Dark Nest, LOTF, Star Wars: Legacy) are only concerned with darkness for its own sake, not the triumph of light at the end, which is what Star Wars is about. There’s not a single good thing that’s happened since the films that’s been allowed to remain a good thing, and most of the good things achieved by the films have been nullified or are in the process of being nullified by the current EU storylines. The authors have obviously bought into the mistaken idea that true quality cannot be achieved without a whole lot of death, doom and gloom, an idea which is anathema to the post-Original Star Wars eras.
#23: No more happy endings
Star Wars is about happy endings. The prequel trilogy did not have a happy ending, but only because it functions as a prequel for the originals, which did have a happy ending. And even the prequels’ ending was optimistic. The NJO and Legacy eras are sequels, not prequels. With all the darkness left over from NJO, the even greater darkness of LOTF, and the darkness of the Legacy comics awaiting in the not-too-distant future, a happy ending for the characters we’ve loved and followed ever since ANH is impossible. The tragedies already vastly outweigh any potential future triumph. This is an unconscionable affront to the spirit of Star Wars.
#24: Star Wars: Legacy premise
Star Wars: Legacy may be a good story, but the foundations for that story are simply catastrophic. It takes place only 150-odd years after Luke and Leia’s birth. And yet they are presumed to be dead, and so are their children. If Cade Skywalker is indeed “the last descendant of Anakin Skywalker” that means that not only are Jaina and Jacen dead, but all of their descendants as well. That’s just wrong. Also, the galaxy has fallen to the dark side (and the Sith) once again, effectively negating everything that Anakin Skywalker and everyone else accomplished from ROTJ through to LOTF. All their triumphs, all their defeats, the victories and the tragedies, were for nothing. Star Wars: Legacy has no business “fixing” the future of the saga at all, let alone such a bleak future. The future should not be set before the present is even finished.
#25: Sith still around after ROTJ
“You’re referring to the prophecy of the one who will restore balance to the Force … but only for a couple years”? Come on. Anakin Skywalker destroyed the Sith at Endor. That’s the whole point of the prophecy and the Chosen One. It’s the whole point the films! You can’t just have the Sith come back after that. Lumiya and Jacen and Darth Krayt and everyone else can claim they’re Sith however much they like, but you have to point out that they aren’t. The real Sith died at Endor, as per the prophecy, never to rise again.
#26: Diminishing of minor characters’ roles
Star Wars is not just about the main characters. It’s about all the characters, minor and major. Even ROTS, which focused mainly on Anakin, gave some attention to the minor characters. But in the EU, minor characters, and even “lesser” main characters have faded far into the background, so that the authors can devote more and more attention to a very small group of main characters. It’s gotten to the point where the minor (and not-so-minor) characters’ contribution to the story is even less than it was in ROTS.
#27: Lack of nonviolent conflict resolution
Throughout the movies and the EU that the Jedi Knights aspire to higher, more enlightened standards. They are tolerant beings, who respect and revere all life. So how come they always rely on their lightsabers to solve their problems? If they’re so intelligent and moral, why can’t they find more creative solutions to conflict than matching violence with violence, which of course only breeds more violence?
#28: Rampant commercialism
Lately, the Powers That Be in the EU have gone overboard in their commercialism, and story quality has been one of the worst casualties. Killing off Anakin Solo in the EU supposedly focuses people’s attention on Anakin Skywalker and the movies, which are much more profitable than the novels. Then there’s the insistence on churning out as much merchandise as possible in as short a time as possible. And the storylines that rely on sensationalism more than anything more substantial, meaningful, or satisfying. LOTF is rushed, with many plot holes and inconsistencies that could have been fixed with a little more time and energy. Star Wars: Legacy is just as obviously a way to capitalize on a lucrative market, even though publishing it at the same time as LOTF detracts greatly from both. The people in charge of the EU should be focusing on quality, not quantity. It’d be better for the integrity of the franchise, and in the long-run, more profitable.
#29: Recycling old, tired plot devices ad nauseaum
Some plot devices can only be used once per franchise before becoming cliché. Example: a member of the Skywalker family falls to the dark side. Other devices can only be used very occasionally. Example: A story’s main character falls to the dark side. Or one character deliberately sacrifices their life for one or more other characters. Or the Sith take over the galaxy and destroy the Jedi order, except for a handful who form a rebellion. All these devices and many more were used to good effect in the movies, and gratuitously overused by the EU. These people have to learn just how many times you can use any given major plot device over a given block of time/material. In addition, the EU relies much too heavily on general science fiction clichés. Example: The “alien invaders from outside known space” storyline. Or the evil bug-eyed monsters that go back to at least the 1940s. Creativity should be one of the pillars of the Star Wars franchise, not predictability.
#30: Favoritism of the Big Three
The attitude toward Leia, Luke, and Han in the Expanded Universe is that since they’re the main characters they can do no wrong. Oh, they can make mistakes, but they can’t intentionally do something bad, because they’re the main characters. Even Luke’s murder of Lumiya was perfectly all right, partially because she was evil, but mostly because it was Luke doing it, so he was obviously in the right. The authors need to wake up to the fact that even the purest heroes intentionally bad things, either because they’re weak (everyone’s weak, just as everyone’s strong), or because they don’t recognize their actions for wrong (nobody’s right all the time).
SW is about hope and coming together and persevering/triumphing over seemingly impossible odds. The saga is a comedy, not a tragedy. Destroying all that the characters have fought for and suffered for invalidates the triumphs of the saga, reverses a part of the major genre-type of the saga, and betrays the trust of the readers who have suffered along with the characters for a chance to see that things can be made better in the GFFA.