Some thoughts on the Star Wars EU
Mar. 15th, 2006 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynneThe reasons I decided to read the EU were twofold.
1. I wanted to know what happened next to my favorite characters. I did know that the books aren't canon like the movies are, or at least aren't considered so by Lucas, but still. I'd been warned that some are good, some are okay, and some are crap, and
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
krabapple was kind enough both to give me an overview of the post-RotJ EU and physically send me the NJO (which I will get back to you sometime before I go home for summer, promise!). I'd started in the middle of summer, and in July and August, if you didn't find at least twenty-five Star Wars books on the floor beside my bed, you'd be surprised. But with five exceptions, I stuck to the post-RotJ EU--those five exceptions being the novelizations of TPM and RotS, Outbound Flight (which I just read on Saturday), Shadows of the Empire (which is just prior to RotJ), and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. Even then, I only read Outbound Flight because it was Zahn, and because Survivor's Quest made me want to know what the hell happened, and I only read Dark Lord because it was Vader, and he's my second favorite character, after Luke. But I mostly just read the post-RotJ EU, because of one thing: Luke. I wanted more Luke. The movies were wonderful, but there were only three of them, and I read the EU for the same reason I read fanfic: I want more of my favorite characters.2. I am a reader. I've always felt more comfortable with book-based (or manga, in terms of anime) fandoms, because it was far easier to reread my favorite bits, and go back and skip around, and so on. It's harder to do that with movie/TV based fandoms, and harder still with video games, and while that's never stopped me from being a fan of movies and video games (Star Wars and Final Fantasy being cases in point), book-based fandoms are just easier for me, both as a fan and a writer. And all six movies have novelizations, and most of the EU (except the video games) are things I can read. So, combined with the previous reason, I just got rather obsessed with Star Wars and the EU.
Which doesn't mean I like all of it. In fact, I dislike most of what I've read. I liked Outbound Flight, but I doubt I'll read it again (it has no Luke!). I liked Shadows of the Empire (except for Xizor, who is a gigantic Gary Stu), I liked all the Zahn books, and all the X-wing books (and I, Jedi). I liked Truce at Bakura. The Corellian Trilogy was interesting, though by then I was really tired of superweapons. Union was full of bits of trite dialogue and what I thought of as OOCness, and I thought the Imperial plot really stupid, but it's pretty much redeemed by being Luke and Mara's wedding. That's about it for EU I liked.
I haven't read The Black Fleet Crisis (well, I started it, read about to the thing with Luke's mother, and couldn't go on), or The New Rebellion (though that's on the floor beside my bed right now, and I guess I'll read it before I go back to school). Or The Crystal Star, because I've heard multiple people say it's the worst thing they've ever read, and the JC fanfic forums rating list has it rated as "an abomination". I've heard about this guy named Kyle Katarn, but I don't know where he shows up, so I only know what Wikipedia has told me about him.
All the other books, from the Dark Empire comics through Dark Nest, I didn't like. Especially Dark Empire, and the NJO. I liked bits of the NJO, most having to do with Luke and Mara, and later Ben, and I did rather like the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.
But I don't like the Solo kids, especially Jacen. And you know, I understand that Luke and Leia and Han are getting older, and that the younger generation has to do something, but...I started the EU because I wanted more Luke. I don't give a damn about the Solo kids, and when they started upstaging the original trio, I really didn't like it. The twin fixation the Yuuzhan Vong have? I thought it was a cool idea, though that's partly because I have a twin, and, erroneously or not, I like to think of twins as being special. But ever since that twin fixation came to light, I kept waiting for the Vong to care about Luke and Leia...and they never did. I kept thinking, What the hell? Han made one comment to Leia about her being able to take Luke, but that was about it for the original twins and their importance as twins. Considering that I never liked Jacen and Jaina, and that Luke and Leia accomplished far more things and were more important to the galaxy as a whole, the fixation on the Solo kids pissed me off. And I hated Jacen, who, aside from growing morally ambiguous (especially in the Dark Nest trilogy), kept upstaging my Luke.
There's my brief rant on the NJO. No more of it, promise. :p
Most EU characters I was uninterested in, though some I liked. Pretty much everyone who showed up in the X-wing books was good; I liked Corran, and if I didn't mind adultery, I'd love to read some Corran/Luke. I loved how people like Wedge and Hobbie and Wes Janson were fleshed out. I liked Talon Karrde, and really liked Mara Jade--though part of the reason I like her so much is that Luke fell in love with her (which I knew before I started reading the EU), and I guess I'm predisposed to like anyone he does. *g* (Well, except for the Solo kids. And Callista, but that's more related to Barbara Hambly. :p) Jag Fel was all right, as was Pellaeon.
One thing I rather don't like about the EU is how, hmmm, discrete it is. It stuck together, for the most part, and later books do build off earlier ones, but it seems that whenever authors who've written earlier books write later ones, they bring their OCs back into more prominence. Very understandable, and not exactly a bad thing, but I thought it made the whole thing lack some sort of cohesiveness, if that makes sense. Tim Zahn creates Karrde and Mara Jade and Thrawn in the Thrawn Trilogy, and brings them back in the Thrawn Duology, even though their roles were not half so prominent in non-Zahn books. Kevin Anderson creates Admiral Daala in his Jedi Academy trilogy, and, despite her absolute incompetence in those books, brings her back in Darksaber to head the Imperial navy. Aaron Allston creates the Wraiths in the Wraith Squadron books, and brings them back in an important role in...whichever NJO books he wrote, despite them not having even been mentioned in books between the Wraith Squadron books and those NJO books. It is understandable that authors want to write more about their OCs, and like I mentioned, it's not really a bad thing, but I thought it...disconcerting. I'm not sure that's the right word. Distracting, maybe.
So basically the thing with me and the EU is that I take what I like and discard what I don't, which I don't feel guilty about because it's second-degree canon, not first-degree like the movies. (And it's the other way around with Harry Potter, Narnia, and Lord of the Rings--the movies are second-degree, and the books first.)
*thinks* Do I have anything else to ramble about? Probably not. I'll shut up now. *g*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-19 12:46 am (UTC)Well, Zahn created her to be Luke's LI, though he wasn't given the go-ahead to get them married until late '93. But from that point until the Hand of Thrawn duology was published, all the authors of the books in between Zahn's trilogy and his duology knew that Luke and Mara would get together, so every other woman who was/might have been an LI was eventually deliberately put into "friendship mode" (his words) or just gone, like Callista.
I personally do not think that Callista was good for Luke, whatever Barbara Hambly's assignment was, but that could just be a discrepancy in how I view the character and how Hambly (and you, I suppose, since I assume from this comment that you like Luke/Callista and don't like Luke/Mara) views him. I happen to like Luke/Mara quite a bit, and disagree on her effects on him that you've mentioned. But it's been my experience that arguing about ships rarely changes the other person's mind, so I'll just leave it at that. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-19 05:46 am (UTC)No -- he didn't propose yoking Luke to that horrid beast until '93.
Excerpt from Echo Station interview:
ES: Well, finally, you put poor Luke out of his misery and matched him in a long-awaited romance with Mara. Are you proud to be the author that finally listened to the hordes of ravenous Luke fans and mercifully ended his bad luck in matters of love?
TZ: I’m of course pleased that LFL allowed me to give Luke a permanent relationship, especially since I’d always envisioned him and Mara growing into such a relationship in the first place. Do bear in mind, though, that I proposed this resolution in October 1993, well before most of the Luke fans really got going. So in this case it was not so much a matter of listening to the fans (or being influenced by them) as it was we were all on the same wavelength in the first place.
But from that point until the Hand of Thrawn duology was published, all the authors of the books in between Zahn's trilogy and his duology knew that Luke and Mara would get together,
No they didn't. If that is the spin that Del Rey or LFL books is trying to give now, then they are rewriting history to make the Mara fans happy.
Another excerpt from the Echo Station interview:
ES: How did Lucasfilm react to your plans to establish a final treaty of peace between the Republic and the Empire, effectively ending the conflict forever? Did they have any initial objections to this?
TZ: I had certain amounts of resistance from LFL to both the Luke/Mara and Imperial/Rebellion resolutions. (Particularly the first, as I recall) But I felt strongly that both plot threads needed to have closure, and made it clear that unless I could do both I wasn’t interested in doing any more Star Wars novels. That wasn’t a grandstand play, incidentally; if they’d turned my down we would have gone our separate way with no hard feelings. I simply wasn’t interested in doing another Star Wars book just for the sake of doing another Star Wars book. Fortunately,---because I really DID enjoy doing the books---they decided to trust me and gave me the go-ahead.
so every other woman who was/might have been an LI was eventually deliberately put into "friendship mode" (his words) or just gone, like Callista.
Callista was created as the love of Luke's life. That's a direct quote from Barbara Hambly. If there was an understanding among the authors that Luke would eventually be saddled with the red-gold gorgon, why was Hambly assigned to create the love of Luke's life?
I personally do not think that Callista was good for Luke, whatever Barbara Hambly's assignment was,
Doesn't really matter whether you think Callista was good for Luke or not; it was Hambly's assignment to create the love of Luke's life, and Callista was who she created. However, LFL must've struck its deal with Zahn shortly thereafter, because Hambly was told to write Callista out in her next book.
but that could just be a discrepancy in how I view the character and how Hambly (and you, I suppose, since I assume from this comment that you like Luke/Callista and don't like Luke/Mara)
Your assumption is half-right. I don't like Luke/Mara, in part because I hate Mara with a fiery passion, and in part because I think marriage to that hateful creature has destroyed Luke, divested him of his brain, his spine, and his morals. I loathe how the NJO authors, subtly and not-so-subtly, attempted to ease (heck, shove) Mara into Leia's place as primary heroine.
But I didn't like Luke/Callista either. Callista was whiny and annoying, and the whole concept of their relationship was just weird. I merely brought up Callista to show that there was no understanding among the authors that Luke would eventually be yoked to the shrew known as Mara -- because it was Hambly's specific assignment to create the love of Luke's life.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-19 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-19 08:21 am (UTC)I don't get the appeal of Luke/Mara. I never have, and I never will. I don't see Mara as a "strong woman," I see her as a nasty, insensitive, mean-spirited shrew who feels free to stomp all over everyone in stiletto heels -- while they walk on tiptoe around her.
I've seen people say that this is the first "healthy" relationship Luke has ever had. I fail to see what is so healthy about Luke completely subjugating himself to his wife, and forgetting all about his family. In the NJO, when Leia calls to him after being captured, he sits on his butt (contrast this with how Leia turned around to save him when he called to her on Bespin). When she's tortured, he's too busy stroking Mara's red-gold hair to comfort her through the Force, or even spare her a thought. When Leia's son dies, he once again offers her no comfort, or even thinks about her. He does nothing while Mara slams Leia, to her face and behind her back. She bashed Leia's mothering (although she herself knew nothing of what it was like to be a mother and fight for the galaxy at the same time -- and she ended up making the same decisions with regards to her kid that Leia made with regards to hers, yet didn't reflect that perhaps she had no business criticizing Leia), and Luke nodded like a puppet. Mara chewed Leia out for Ben's disappearance, and Luke just stood there. Mara bashed Leia behind her back for Ben's disappearance, and Luke just sat there, in awe of her.
He's no more respectful toward his dead family members. When his harpy wife hypocritically slams his father ("The Dark Side is the Dark Side -- if you knew Anakin later in his life, you wouldn't be so quick to defend him"), Luke just stands there.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-19 10:23 am (UTC)It's starting to sound like you're character bashing, and considering that you're talking to Mara fans, it is a bit rude. Personally, I like Mara okay, though I'm not especially interested in her. Then again, I'm not a huge EU fan. I prefer the films above all. And in those, Luke's only love interest was, well, his sister. XD I've no vested interested in defending Mara, especially since I abandoned the EU after reading The Courtship of Princess Leia, but at this point, it does sound like you're trying to antagonize people. I'm sure they don't mind you explaining that you don't like a certain character, but calling character's insulting names tends to get people's hackles raised. And really, there's more fun things we can all be doing. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-19 09:19 pm (UTC)I simply don't understand why Mara fans must be protected from reading things they don't like about her, while fans of the prequels are told to simply put up with bashing of what they like.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 12:36 am (UTC)I'm not saying you can't explain why you don't like her, because I certainly complain about things I don't like, but I always try to temper what I say around people who do like it, regardless of subject. It's just about courtesy, nothing more. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 03:17 am (UTC)I'm not saying you can't explain why you don't like her, because I certainly complain about things I don't like, but I always try to temper what I say around people who do like it, regardless of subject. It's just about courtesy, nothing more. :)
That's nice of you, and I appreciate what you're saying in theory. It's just that in practice, people don't learn by example. I've tried to turn the other cheek with regards to prequel-bashing, and it's only gotten worse. Meanwhile, EU fans in general and Mara fans in particular are insulated and protected from negativity.