As promised, here is the next post on the original Thundercats! I know it is overdue, but this has been a wild and wacky year for everyone. There were days when this blogger just could not find the time or the energy to write, which meant the posts she was supposed to write got shoved onto the back-burner.
But we are here now, so let’s celebrate! Today’s subject is Jaga the Wise, the mentor and surrogate father figure for Lion-O, the young Lord of the Thundercats. The court adviser and magician, Jaga was the only person outside of the royal family who could wield the Eye of Thundera and the Sword of Omens’ full power. It is never explained why this is so, but given how much magic he possessed, it does make some sense.
Of course, it is just as possible that Jaga was somehow related to the royal family. Though he is supposed to be based on the jaguar, to this blogger’s eye, Jaga has always had a more leonine appearance. Since he and the other Thundercats were of the nobility, and nobility regularly intermarries with royalty, this writer’s theory might have some weight. What makes her theory somewhat more plausible is when one considers the 2011 series, where Lion-O’s ancestor Leo was in love with a female panther. Thus intermarriage among the various upper echelons of Thunderan society only makes sense, from both a historical and a narrative position.
Regardless of how he was able to wield the Sword of Omens so effectively, the fact is that Jaga could do it. Even so, we only saw him wield the Sword in flashback; during the first episode – “Exodus” – Jaga has no visible weapon. We never see him physically engage with the Mutants, but since he was running around the ship, it seems safe to assume he did some fighting. He was certainly impressed that a twelve-year-old Lion-O could use the Sword after almost dropping it some minutes before vessel was attacked.
As the royal magician, it appears that Jaga was acting as regent for Lion-O when the final Thunderian refugee fleet fled the dying planet. He was the unquestioned commander of the flagship and he is the one who told the rest of the fleet to use evasive maneuvers. The fact that Panthro, Cheetara, and Tygra all answered to him without question only supports this idea.
Unfortunately, Jaga’s efforts to protect the Thunderian remnant traveling with Lion-O’s ship are not successful. As far as viewers can tell, the entire convoy is wiped out in a few minutes by the Mutants, who then board the lead vessel in an attempt to steal the Sword of Omens. They are repelled, of course, but they do enough damage that even Panthro cannot repair the ship to the point it can limp to the Thundercats’ original destination.
Neither can he make the ship do more than sputter in the direction of Third Earth. Jaga then demonstrates his wisdom by ordering the rest of the crew into the suspension capsules, so that they may live until they reach Third Earth. Due to his advanced years and the fact that the capsules only slow the aging process, not stop it, even if he were to use one himself Jaga will die by the time the ship lands. He says his good-byes to the rest of the crew, including a poignant farewell to his young king, then takes the helm as the others settle into hibernation.
Since this was the 1980s, the decade of Star Wars. While I do not have a problem with the Obi-Wan Kenobi effect per se, the fact that the writers made it so obvious for Jaga in “Exodus” does kind of tweak my desire for a more…original exit. That being said, it is not a bad send off for him, and it makes his subsequent ability to offer ghostly guidance more believable than it might be otherwise.
From this point on, Jaga only shows up as a spirit who winks in and out of view when he needs to impart moral advice to the young king. It is hard to tell if Lion-O is the only one who can see Jaga when he drops in, or if the other Thundercats can see him as well. Captain Shiner does not see him during the episode where the heroes first encounter the mercenary captain and Willa, leader of the Warrior Maidens, also does not seem to perceive Jaga’s ghost when she and Lion-O first meet. Though perhaps she did see him, and she just didn’t want to interrupt him. She never says anything that would let us make a definitive judgement either way, so that is left to conjecture.
After Lion-O “grows up” following the Anointment Trials, Jaga imparts moral advice a little less frequently than he used to. From that point onward he operates in the manner of a good court advisor and fatherly ghost, bringing Lion-O news of danger he would normally learn about too late to defend against. Though the young king and his former regent are temporarily reunited when Lion-O must rescue his mentor from a spirit dungeon, they never come into actual contact again during the rest of the series.
In many ways, the 2011 series did Jaga more favors than it did other Thundercats. He even had his position in the court firmly established this time around; the ambiguity around his original position is dispatched by the simple statement that he is the head of the clerics and, therefore, advisor to the Lord of the Thundercats. His super speed is a little hard for this writer to buy, but considering the writers nailed two out of three points, that qualifies as a minor annoyance that can be rectified with little trouble.
What has always been more annoying about the 2011 Jaga, for me, is the caste of clerics themselves. It is never stated just what their function in Thunderan society is. Are they religious clerics? Considering how Cheetara and, later, Wilykit offer moral guidance to Lion-O and the others, that seems to be the entire point of their existence. But we do not see them officiate a religious ceremony or attend to any other duty except to protect (or try to protect) the royal family.
If they were meant to be warrior or magician clerics, then that would have been a nice tidbit to learn. And it would not have taken the writers more than a couple of lines of dialogue or a few background scenes to clear that up. As it is, the most we see the clerics do is try to fight Mumm-Ra, only to die en masse in one enormous explosion. And why are they all blindingly fast, when there is only one Cheetah among them (that we can confirm, anyway)? In the original series, only Cheetahs could move with the speed the clerics demonstrate. So why do all the clerics, who are not of the same subspecies as Cheetara? If the answer is “magic,” that would have been nice to know while the series was on the air! Ugh….
Putting Jaga in charge of a group of warrior magician monks/nuns is not a bad idea. Not telling us what these magician monks/nuns are supposed to do, how they wield their magic (Cheetara specifically says some of Jaga’s magic flows through her – what?), and how they are all as fast as the speediest cat in the land IS bad. It leaves the entire system feeling slipshod and tacked on; if they had taken the time to explain what the heck the clerics were for and how they operated, it might have worked. As it is, to this blogger, it just felt like unnecessary baggage.
So while I can say that I liked the 2011 version of Jaga, I cannot say I enjoyed the manner in which they fit him into the universe. And that is not counting how they made him a ghost advisor to the young Lord of the Thundercats. Trapping his soul in a magic lamp to torture him into giving up information is not kosher, guys. Having the Lizards or the other Mutants kill him while Mumm-Ra gloats, only to be shocked when the Thunderan mage fades away – that would have worked much, much better.
But beggars can’t be choosers, right? Two out of three is not bad at all. For the most part, 2011 Jaga is a nice homage to the original 1980s character, and the writers deserve praise for that. He’s not perfect, but hey, neither is anyone else.
With luck, I will see you next week with a film review, readers. Until then: “Thunder…Thunder….
A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, this author posted a list of some of the greatest heroines in the original Star Wars Expanded Universe (or EU, for short). The list was so long and so detailed that it had to be split in two to give these many characters as much attention as they deserved. This post will follow the same lines, as I have learned more about other heroines in the EU since those earlier posts were released.
Not all the details about these characters will be in order. I may also mix a few items up, the way I did with the previous lists. To quote Mara Jade Skywalker, however, “I was young then.” My skills in research and my experience reading more Star Wars EU material has made it a little less likely that I will bungle my descriptions. At the very least, my mistakes won’t be as egregious now as they might have been had I attempted this list at an earlier time.
Still, be forewarned that this is not a comprehensive or perfect catalog. If you want to know more about these heroines from a galaxy far, far away, I suggest doing your own reading and research. There are plenty of other fans out there who know more about these ladies than I do, and they will be happy to tell you about them!
Now, let’s get started, shall we?
Tash Arranda: An Alderaanian girl with Force-senstivity, Tash and her younger brother Zak were orphaned when Tarkin ordered their homeworld destroyed. Why they were off-world at the time this blogger does not recall, since she has yet to read any of Zak and Tash Arranda’s adventures. I believe that, during the course of their books series, they travel around either with their uncle or with a recording of their uncle’s consciousness stashed in a droid. He may have come back in the flesh, having feigned death, but at this moment I cannot recall for certain which it was.
Both Tash and her brother have an interest in archaeology, just like their parents (who perished on Alderaan). This helps them in their adventures across a war-torn galaxy as they run across ancient terrors and present threats. I am not sure just what Zak did after rising to the rank of Jedi Knight, but Tash focused primarily on archeology. She may have done the occasional diplomatic mission or settled minor disputes, but that was the extent of her involvement with the new Jedi Order. Outside of the big battles, where it was all hands on deck, we didn’t see much of her after this. What a shame.
Xaverri: A stage magician of considerable skill, Xaverri makes her first appearance in A.C. Crispin’s Han Solo Trilogy (which comes with a lot of Warnings for Younger Readers!). Not much is known about her history, as she only shares the bare outlines with Han during their six months together. Even so, we do know that at one point Xaverri had a husband and several children.
Somehow, she or another member of her family crossed the wrong people in the Galactic Empire. Or they were in the wrong place at the really, really wrong time. Either way, the response was swift and horrible; Xaverri’s husband and children were all killed. How she survived is a mystery, but the fact is that she did. And she made the Empire pay repeatedly for robbing her of the most precious people in her life.
After her six month stint as Han’s girlfriend, wherein he helped her grift and hoodwink numerous Imperial officials out of lots of money and into a lot of trouble, Xaverri disappeared from his life. He was able to call on her to help defend Nar Shaddaa, the moon that is a homeworld to thousands of smugglers and other criminals, from an Imperial assault. But she made it clear she didn’t want to get back together with him. In point of fact, she had sworn off marriage and motherhood altogether, determined never to be hurt as she had been before.
The last time we see Xaverri is in Vonda N. McIntyre’s The Crystal Star. In disguise, Xaverri watches the extra-dimensional alien Waru as it heals people with injuries – after devouring other lifeforms hoping for healing. Han watches this happen to an alien child and, as a father himself, is so sickened by the event that it takes Xaverri some time to help him calm down. This leads to an unfortunate misunderstanding between him and Luke, who is already suffering from the space/time warping effects of the titular crystal star.
Leia, thankfully, is only too happy to meet Xaverri when the woman helps rescue Anakin Solo in the novel’s grand finale. Having heard about her from Han already, though their meeting is brief, the two women reach an understanding that requires few words to pass between them.
Where Xaverri goes after this is anyone’s guess, but it is likely that she maintained her one-woman crusade against the Empire for the rest of her life, even after the Imperial Remnant signed a peace treaty with the New Republic. They had to have corrupt and/or bloodthirsty officials still in their ranks, after all. And that means they were perfect fodder for a grifter with nothing left to lose.
Rillao: Unfortunately, Rillao only appears in Vonda N. McIntyre’s The Crystal Star. A Firrereo, this Force-sensitive alien woman was once a student of Darth Vader. But she was a complete disappointment to him because he could not corrupt her to the Dark Side. Finding the Dark Side repulsive, Rillao used her skills to heal and help others rather than dominate and harm them.
Her Firrereo mate, Hethrir, on the other hand was the perfect apprentice. Vader was able to turn him completely to the Dark Side, to the point that when the Dark Lord told him to prove his “humanity” by destroying his homeworld, Hethrir did so. He loaded all the adults of his people aboard ships to watch their world and their children burn. Then he put the surviving adults in cryostasis and sent them on a silent voyage into the depths of space.
After this event, Rillao fled both her mate and Vader. Due to their strong ties to the Force (both Rillao and Hethrir used the Force rather than khyber crystals to power their lightsabers), Vader had hoped that any offspring they had would be even stronger. However, when Rillao and Hethrir’s son was finally born, he proved to have no Force-sensitivity at all.
Rillao didn’t care about that. She was content to have Tigris and to see him grow up. But she never told him about his father, a mistake that came back to bite her after the Emperor fell. Tracking down his erstwhile mate, Hethrir stole Tigris from her and imprisoned her in a torture web on one of the cryostasis ships holding the remnant of their people. He left her alone there for five years, until Leia discovered and freed her while searching for her own kidnapped children.
Nothing more is known about Rillao and Tigris’ fates after the two were reunited in the final battle of The Crystal Star. Finding his son had no Force-sensitivity, Hethrir abused him by treating him as a servant, promising him power he could never deliver. The five-year separation and the fact that his mother had refused to tell him about Hethrir at all severely strained Tigris’ relationship with Rillao, but Han thought it likely they would find happiness together at some point in the future. I rather wish the EU writers had shown them as a content mother-and-son team in other stories, but unfortunately they never got around to it. Le sigh…..
Cilghal: A Mon Calamari and a diplomat, Cilghal appears in Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy trilogy. She reappears in a minor role in the Young Jedi Knights series, when Jacen and Jaina Solo and their friends tangle with the Diversity Alliance. And she has a fairly substantial role in the New Jedi Order books as a member of Luke’s Jedi Council, from what I have heard.
From what little this author has read of her, Cilghal is a fairly calm character with a soothing bearing. In some ways, she reminds me of the X-Men’s Storm; motherly, regal, and fierce in defending those who cannot protect themselves. During the Jedi Academy books Cilghal has to use her still untrained healing abilities to save Mon Mothma from a debilitating illness.
She soon finds, however, that this sickness is man-made – literally. Mon Mothma was poisoned with nanomachines that slowly kill her cell by cell. Desperate to save the New Republic’s Chief of State, Cilghal siphons off the microscopic machines with the Force one at a time.
The process takes all night but, in the end, Mon Mothma lives. Cilghal practically has to crawl out of the Chief of State’s hospital room, where she collapses in the arms of a nearby guard with a bowl full of the nanites that she removed. Filling the men in, she staggers off to her quarters and takes a well-earned rest. But this tediously courageous act won her fame and respect across the New Republic, which makes it easy to ignore her lightsaber skills – something the Diversity Alliance discovers the hard way. 😉
Kirana Ti: A Witch of Dathomir, Kirana Ti doesn’t pop up too often in the old EU novels, though she might have been seen more in the comics. We first meet her in The Courtship of Princess Leia, when Han and Leia have their fiery, days-long date on the forgotten world. After the Hapan Prince, Isolder, tries to convince Leia to marry him, a jealous and fearful Han kidnaps her to avoid losing her forever. He brings her to a planet he won in a Sabacc game: Dathomir.
Unknown to Han, though, the planet is ruled by women. Since most men cannot wield the Force and a fair number of women can, the women rule by rite of being able to fend off the natural threats of Dathomir with their “magic.” More disconcerting for the stranded Rebel hero and Princess, however, is the fact that the Empire has a base on Dathomir – a base run by Warlord Zinj, who has it in for Han Solo!
Kirana Ti is among the warrior women of the Singing Mountain Clan, which takes Han and Leia in after they are shot down over Dathomir. She helps pull the Millennium Falcon into the clan’s mountain abode. Later on, she helps her clan deal with the Nightsisters, the Dathomirian Witches who have gone over to the Dark Side and now seek a way to get off planet to spread their evil. When Teneniel Djo, mother of future young Jedi Knight Tenel Ka, uses the Dark Side in a fit of rage Kirana is there to see her do it. She bursts into tears at the sight of her sister warrior’s actions, jolting Teneniel back to her senses.
Sometime after this, Kirana Ti joins Luke’s first class of Jedi hopefuls. She leaves behind a daughter and a husband on Dathomir to do it, and I do not know if she continues to live on her homeworld or if she only visits it occasionally after completing her training on Yavin IV. My money is on her leaving home from time to time to attend to Jedi and galactic business. From what I can tell, the Witches of Dathomir like staying on their planet more than traveling around the galaxy. After a few missions Kirana Ti probably went home, where Luke or another Jedi could come by any time and pick her up for a mission if they really needed her.
Gara Petothel: Gara Petothel has a complex history. Born on Coruscant to Imperial intelligence operatives, when they died on a mission the Empire took her in and trained her in the same art. After the fall of Coruscant (or Imperial Center, as it was known under the Empire) to the New Republic, Gara decided to find a new career with one of the Warlords that had risen up to claim power, fracturing the Empire into dozens of little territories run by them.
After one of these battles saw Imperial Admiral Trigit betray his crew to save himself, Gara activated an escape plan to protect herself and the others on board. Furious that an Imperial officer and captain of a Star Destroyer would do this to his people, she leaves him and his command crew to die at the hands of a Wraith Squadron pilot. She ejects in an escape pod and is picked up by the New Republic, which she plans to stay in until she can get a job with Warlord Zinj.
In the process, though, she is hired by members of Wraith Squadron to clear a female squadron mate’s record. This woman is being blackmailed by a member of the New Republic military. Her male compatriots want him gone and their friend freed. At first Gara wants to say no, but she suddenly realizes this would be a great way to get into Zinj’s good graces. So she says yes – on one condition. If she pulls this mission off, she has to be guaranteed a place in either Rogue or Wraith Squadron.
The boys aren’t happy about this, but they can’t use official channels to help their friend. It’s Gara or no one. So they accept and, after she pulls it off (and ends up in the infirmary because the bad guy punched her hard), Gara is accepted into the Wraiths under her false name.
At first it’s just another mission. Just more data to compute. But then Gara soon becomes attached to her squadron mates, developing a sense of loyalty to them. She also starts to fall in love with fellow Wraith Myn Donos – the shell-shocked leader and sole survivor of an X-Wing squadron she helped destroy while under Admiral Trigit’s command.
These competing signals nearly drive Gara insane. When her identity is finally revealed she swears loyalty to the Wraiths and the New Republic. But Myn blanks out in a blind rage and nearly shoots her down. Only the speedy, smart actions of another Wraith pilot and her quick hand on the hyperdrive lever lets her escape.
Joining up with Zinj at last, Gara maneuvers herself into a position to beam information on his movements to her squadron mates. She escapes Zinj’s embarrassing defeat with a group of aliens he had modified mentally and physically. Once secure in a new identity to avoid prosecution (former spy and all that; the New Republic can’t just let her go, even if she did help them out…), she makes contact with Myn and invites him to come visit her to see if there’s still a chance for them to have a relationship.
According to later material, there was more than a chance. Gara and Myn got married and had a family. During the Second Galactic Civil War they managed to rescue some of their former squadron mates. Though Gara is happy to see them, she insists they not try to recruit her children into their ranks to fight in the war.
On the whole, Gara is probably one of the most interesting heroines in the original Expanded Universe. Her story is fantastic, a must-read for any Star Wars fan. You can find her in Aaron Allston’s Wraith Squadron books, which carry next to no Warnings for Younger Readers. The books are some of the best in the original EU, and Gara is a big reason why. Don’t take my word for it – pick up the Wraith Squadron books and read them to meet her “in person”!
Dia Passik: A Twi’lek from Ryloth, Dia Passik (or Dia’passik, as the Twi’leks spell it), was a slave for many years. Coaxing piloting lessons out of men who would stop off at her master’s pleasure barge, she eventually stole a ship and blew up said barge – with her owner on it. Eventually, she worked her way to the New Republic military and got accepted to Wraith Squadron.
During an undercover mission to Zinj’s Star Destroyer, one of her fellow Wraiths was caught and killed. To keep up the disguise for the rest of the team, Dia shot his dead corpse in the throat – and smiled like a predator when she did it. On the way back to the base she had a psychological meltdown as the enormity of what she’d done hit home. She’d shot a dead friend, someone they should have fought to bring home in one piece. And she did it without remorse or hesitation.
Garik “Face” Loran
Coupled with all the fighting she’d done beforehand and the abuse she’d received as a slave girl, Dia’s distress at this action led her to try to kill herself. Garik “Face” Loran, an actor turned New Republic officer and Wraith, was able to prevent her from committing this heinous act. The two entered a relationship thereafter that lasted at least as long as their stint fighting Zinj. After the Wraiths were disbanded, they apparently split up amicably.
That was Aaron Allston’s intent, anyway. Later writers had the two married. Dia had a daughter by this point (though apparently this girl wasn’t Face’s biological daughter – don’t ask me how that works), and they were very happy together. Dia had to take their daughter on the run when assassins came after them to get to Face, but by the end of the adventure the family was reunited and safe once more. Not a bad ending, all things considered.
Rhysati Ynr: Rhysati was a human woman introduced in the X-Wing novels. She joined the Rebellion after the Battle of Endor and became a member of Rogue Squadron when Wedge Antilles re-assembled it to fight the campaigns that would eventually win Coruscant for the fledgling New Republic.
Almost as soon as she joined the Squadron, Rhysati began a Romance Reel with fellow pilot Nawara Ven. Trained as a lawyer, the Twi’lek was an average pilot, but he definitely won her heart on the first go around. The two were an item not long after signing on to the Rogues, and this helped them infiltrate Imperial-held Coruscant more easily.
During a battle, however, Nawara lost the lower part of one leg when he was forced to eject from his X-wing. Though outfitted with a prosthetic, this severely limited his already standard flying and fighting capabilities, reducing him to a position in the administrative side of the Squadron. He and Rhysati still saw each other a lot during this time, and after a while they decided to quit the Rogues to get married and start a family.
Whether or not Twi’leks and humans could have children in the old EU, I do not know. Given how the new timeline treats the subject, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rhysati and Nawara did have children of their own at some point. In either case, ten years after Admiral Thrawn’s campaign against the New Republic, Nawara and his wife were happily helping smuggler and professional pirate Booster Terrik run his Star Destroyer-turned-casino, the Errant Venture.
Rhysati and her husband seem to disappear after this, but that might be a good thing. Considering how much of a mess the Yuuzhan Vong invasion made of the galaxy, this author prefers thinking that they found a nice, safe place to raise their family while all the fighting occurred somewhere else. Still, I expect they made an appearance or two at the Rogue Squadron reunions later in life!
These are all the heroines I have for you today, readers. If you can, check out the books in which they appear or read their files in the “Legends” section of Wookieepedia. These are ladies who deserve to be remembered – especially since Lucasfilm would rather they stay forgotten!
If you are thinking that this blogger is on a bit of a Star Wars kick, readers, you would not be far wrong. The main reason for this is that I have had time to explore both SW timelines further recently. With all of this new information and entertainment in front of her, this blogger has had little else on her mind except for a galaxy far, far away.
And before you ask, no, I have not seen Rise of Skywalker. Nor do I intend to see it. The film was never on my radar, in no small part due to the fact that the sequel trilogy lost me with The Last Jedi. Rian Johnson insulted this writer and at least half the fan base for Star Wars with that film, leaving J.J. Abrams to make the best of a bad situation – one which, arguably, began with the poor treatment of the original characters in The Force Awakens.
There were plenty of good stories from the original EU that Disney could have adapted for film. Most will automatically think of the Thrawn trilogy, and while that would have been a great animated movie series, I personally think Disney should have done damage control on the Yuuzhan Vong story line and following arcs. As stated elsewhere here at Thoughts, doing this wouldn’t have been terribly difficult. Rather than take that tack, however, Disney chose to do what they have done. The results speak for themselves, so this author will say nothing more about them.
With that less-than-positive introduction, we turn to today’s subject. Revan is a book based on the sequel to Lucasfilm/Bioware’s runaway video game success, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. At least, I believe the novel is based on the script for Knights of the Old Republic II. It may have left some details out, but that is not necessarily a demerit. Both KOTOR games could be played for hours on end, even when the gamer knew the story so well they could skip certain sections with ease.
The book is set two years after Revan saved the Republic from his former friend and Dark Side apprentice, Darth Malak. Now married to Bastila Shan, he and she are living quietly in an apartment on Coruscant, well out of the public eye. On a city world of millions it is easy for two people – even two powerful Jedi – to disappear and stay out of sight.
But while he is enjoying his hard-won peace and happiness, Revan is troubled. For the last three nights he has awoken in a cold sweat after dreaming of a world covered in perpetual lightning storms. Getting out of bed, he rinses his face in the refresher sink before stepping out onto the balcony.
The Capture of Revan
He is not out there long when Bastila joins him, having awoken despite his best efforts to let her sleep. The two discuss the past, with the young wife reminding her husband that he is no longer a Dark Lord of the Sith. She also laments her part in his mind wipe, realizing now that it was not a good thing to do. However, Revan is grateful for the mindwipe. If it hadn’t been for that, he reminds her, then they would never have met or married.
With the problem seemingly settled, the two go back to bed. But only one falls asleep. While Bastila gets some rest her husband remains awake, trying to figure out what the dreams mean. So far, all that is clear is that a storm is coming, one borne on the wings of his past actions. And even though it is still far off, it threatens to wipe out the Republic, the Jedi, and everyone for whom the Prodigal Knight cares.
Meanwhile, on the storm world of Dromuund Kaas, Lord Scourge steps out of his shuttle. Dromuund Kaas is the heart of the Sith Empire, and Scourge has not been to the planet since his academy days. He has only returned now because a member of the Dark Council, Darth Nyriss, has requested his help ferreting out assassins who have attempted to kill her several times.
He quickly learns that he was not, in fact, summoned by the Dark witch of her own volition. The Sith Emperor has implied that members of her retinue are responsible for the assassination attempts. In order to quell the trouble, he “suggested” she employ Scourge to investigate the people of her house. And any “suggestion” from the Emperor of the Sith practically counts as an order.
Should the young Sith Lord discover that the Councilor has engaged in treasonous behavior, he will of course make that report to the Emperor, at which time Nyriss’ life will be immediately forfeit. The only problem with that plan, naturally enough, is that Nyriss might catch him before he makes his report – or even after he does make it – and kill him. If he wants to live, let alone advance into the upper echelons of the Imperial court, Scourge must tread carefully.
Between the two of them, Revan and Scourge grope their way to a horrifying realization. As one searches for answers from his past and the other is drawn into a present conspiracy, they each discover the same terrifying solution to the puzzle. For the Emperor is not only powerful; he is stark, raving mad. And that madness will sweep away all life in the galaxy if he isn’t stopped.
As other reviewers have noted, the prose in this book is not the best. I suppose, though, that since the target audience for this novel is not the general Star Wars fan base. It is mainly meant for the people who played Knights of the Old Republic one and two.
Scourge receives more character development and “screen time” than Revan, which is a bit of a bummer. The writer may have also been told that he didn’t have to focus on the Prodigal Knight much. Still, the scenes we get with Revan are fun and give gamers who played KOTOR more time with the protagonist they pretended to be for the duration of the story.
We also get a nice look at Mandalorian culture in this book, along with some quality time given to Canderous Ordo, everyone’s favorite barbarian warrior. Although he is given too much of the limelight in my opinion, Scourge makes up for it by being an interesting guy. He is ruthless and horrible, as the Sith usually are, but he also has a twisted sense of honor that can’t help but win a reader’s affection.
There are no explicit or extreme content Warnings for Younger Readersthat I noticed. Nothing the married couples in the book do is dwelt on, while the evil perpetrated by the villains remains at acceptable levels. To be perfectly honest, this blogger believes that Revan probably qualifies more as a novel for younger Star Wars fans than it does for the adult members of the fandom.
For that reason, I have no reservations about recommending it to them and suggesting more mature fans avoid the book. It’s not bad if you know what you are getting into and don’t care, but if you pick it up believing it will match the more adult entries in the Expanded Universe, you will be disappointed. This was a book designed for youngsters and die-hard fans of a video game, not experienced readers looking to spend some quality time in a galaxy far, far away.
A couple of years ago, after several conversations with the girls over at The Elven Padawan, this blogger began posting videos about the original Star Wars Expanded Universe. This was to give fans who may be interested in reading the “Legends” timeline some extra information about the EU. This writer knows a great deal about that timeline, but since she does not have time to write about it (and still has gaps in her knowledge which need filling), she has begun posting videos for her readers to enjoy.
Below are a new set of vids on various subjects within the original Star Wars EU. There may be a few which cover familiar territory, but the sad fact is that it isn’t easy to keep track of all the videos that this blogger has picked up. And, since the old EU has been closed to new writers for the last eight years, there is only so much that fans can talk about without returning to well-known material. If that is the case, I do apologize, as I try to make sure these posts focus on things that have not already appeared here at Thoughts.
Thankfully, several the videos here go over new items and/or people. I especially enjoy the first video about how powerful “Legends” Luke Skywalker is. Some of the abilities the videographer lists in his review were familiar to this author, but there were others which were completely new. That is one video I highly recommend watching!
I hope you enjoy these vids, readers. With the conclusion of the new sequel trilogy last year, there is still a lot of Star Wars territory for fans to peruse. If the new timeline isn’t to your taste or you just want to know where the new writers are getting their ideas, then these videos should help whet your appetite for more Star Wars adventures.
‘Til next time –
“The Force will be with you, always.”
How Powerful Was Luke Skywalker (Canon and Legends)
Mara Jade Skywalker: Luke’s WIFE – Star Wars Explained
The Tragic Story of a Clone who tried to be Darth Vader’s Friend [Legends]
How Darth Vader Trolled an Imperial Gunner who was Trolling him in Return [Legends]
Luke Skywalker MEETS The Long LOST Clone Trooper – Star Wars Comics Explained
When Boba Fett saw what the Empire had done to the Clones on Kamino [Legends]
The Female Yoda and Why Her Death Devastated Anakin – Yaddle [Legends]
The Mandalorian Great Purge Fully Explained – Star Wars Explained
How Powerful Was Darth Vader (Canon and Legends)
10 POWERS You Didn’t Know DARTH VADER Had…
How Vader PROTECTED an Imperial Moff from Emperor Palpatine’s Wrath! (Legends)
Greetings from a galaxy far, far away! It has been a long time since this blogger posted anything on Star Wars Rebels. While part of that was due to the inherent busyness of the previous year another, greater part of it was the fact that the series ended on such a disappointing note. As mentioned previously, I was not pleased by the series’ finale and I still have not watched it. For this blogger, Rebels ended with season three.
Why has the Mithril Guardian suddenly returned to Rebels? Well, to be perfectly honest, she never actually left. She enjoys re-watching episodes from the first three seasons occasionally and often discusses the characters with friends. One of those chats led to the subject of this post: Captain Hera Syndulla, the mother-figure for the crew of the Ghost who later became a general in the Rebel Alliance.
To be perfectly honest, Hera never really won me over, and that always struck this author as odd. The reason this seemed strange to me is that there are many things to like about Captain Syndulla. For starters, she is a very good “space mom” to her crew. Her piloting skills are on par with those of Han Solo, Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker, Tycho Celchu, Corran Horn, and dozens of other original characters. She believes wholeheartedly in the Rebellion and the Force. She is capable, pleasant, and an all around good person…which should make me like her.
So why don’t I like Hera?
This has bothered me for some time, not as an issue to be remedied so much as a subject to be understood. And, after much thought, I believe I have found that understanding. This blogger has come to the conclusion that her biggest problem with Hera has nothing to do with the character herself. It does, however, have everything to do with what the writers did to her.
This is not meant to be an insult to Dave Filoni or his crew. They did a fine job with the show. But they were operating under some obvious handicaps, and a great many of the choices they made for the series demonstrate this, especially the ones involving Hera. Having watched a few Clone Wars episodes with a friend, the strictures holding Filoni down became a bit clearer. He and the other showrunners must have been told by the Disney bigwigs to make the women in Rebels outshine the men in every possible way and as often as they could manage it, something Filoni did not have to do in Clone Wars.
This is why Sabine tended to show Ezra up even after his training and experience should have given him enough strength and strategic planning to match her. While some of this can be put down to her longer Mandalorian training, there are situations which occur during Rebels that do not account for or excuse the moments where the writers blatantly pander to the “I am woman, hear me roar!” crowd. Clone Wars kept a much more balanced view of the heroes and heroines’ separate biological, mental, and physical advantages in combat. Rebels was not allowed to do this with Sabine or, more importantly, with Hera Syndulla.
Allow me to explain. When we are introduced to Hera she is the unquestioned captain of the ship, heart of the crew, and mother figure to the younger members in the group (including Zeb, who is young at heart if not in actual fact). She is also the only one to have knowledge of and contact with the Rebel Alliance, a constraint which is meant to protect both her “space family” and the Alliance. Additionally, she is the only member of the crew totally committed to the Rebellion and the Force. Also, she alone has scars that do not begin bleeding at the slightest touch.
Portraying Hera this way makes a lot of sense. In a group of broken, battered, disillusioned people, you would want at least one member of the gang to have a level head and emotional maturity. This person would also have to have enough love in their heart to make everyone feel welcome and thus determined to stay, no matter what old wounds are opened or who steps on their toes. Hera fits the bill nicely and accomplishes her task very well – when she is allowed to do it.
This is where the problems begin. Hera Syndulla is rarely given permission to be herself in the latter seasons of Rebels. Rather than let her be the warm, gooey glue who holds the crew together and leads them down the path to healing, she is forced to “be more than the ‘space mom’ of the Ghost.” In addition to this potent place she holds in the story and the crew, she is forced to become a political firebrand and a general.
No one behind Filoni and his staff, it appears, ever thought to ask why she needed to be either of these things in addition to being a mom. Was it because the corporate suits thought she had to “be more powerful”? To “be stronger”? To show that “women are just as good as a man” in war? Begging your pardon, Disney/Lucasfilm, but I would like to see a man successfully hold the crew together the way that Hera Syndulla did when Filoni wasn’t forced to make her dance to your PC tune.
Before anyone makes the obvious point that men can hold together a “family” of this sort, too, permit me to say a few words on that. Generally, when men are put in a unifying position for a pseudo family, they do this job far differently than women such as Hera do it. Captain America is the grounding and uniting force for the Avengers, true, but his role is that of a “battle father.” And as a father, he has to be in the field, leading the charge, because that is what men do. They lead. They fight. They build. They sweat and toil, enduring deprivation and pain so that the rest of the family can stay home to make home a place worth fighting, living, and dying for.
Mothers do not do that. They cannot do it because they do not have time for it. They are too busy making sure the kids get to school on time, taking care of the house (or ship, in this case), not to mention keeping an eye on the money and food. These are all things that men can do, too, but they typically do not have time to do it because they are fighting off outside threats. Whether these threats are natural – i.e. storms and animals – or whether they come from other people like the Empire does not matter. What matters is that this is what they do while the moms stay home to keep the hearth fires glowing.
Notice I said moms do not fight. Women can and have led armies. They can and have entered combat. And when their family is threatened, moms will step up to the plate to defend those they love from harm. In each case, however, they have done so in small numbers or due to necessity rather than choice. This is because most women are much happier (and more comfortable) running a household than they are fighting on the battlefield or shooting bad guys from the cover of their living rooms.
While some missions would have called for Hera to leave the Ghost, the majority would have let her stay home and run the household, a.k.a. the ship. That was her primary domain, the place where she could do the most good – in no small part because it was her ship and she was the best pilot in the group. No one else could fly the Ghost or run the vessel the way she could because there she was the boss and her word was literally law.
She did not need to “be more” than the “mom” for the crew. Hera had more power in her pinky finger as mom and captain of the Ghost than Princess Leia or Mon Mothma had as leaders of the Alliance. She was also far tougher and more powerful than Sabine. Specter Five may have been able to go toe-to-toe with adult, fully trained Stormtroopers and Mandalorians, but Hera ran the ship twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Which job is harder – beating up bad guys, or getting everyone around the dinner table on time? (Hint: the answer is not smacking Stormtroopers.)
Hera’s place, to me, was always on the Ghost. I liked her best when she was at her most motherly and/or piloting the ship. That was when she was at her finest. That was when she was strongest. When she was allowed to be a woman and a mother, Hera absolutely fascinated this blogger. I would have followed that version of Hera from Lothal to Endor and straight into the old EU’s Yuuzhan Vong War arc (which, in case you who have only just discovered this site, is an arc I absolutely despise).
Unfortunately, Filoni and the other writers could not let her stay there. They had to put her in A-Wing, Y-Wing, and X-Wing fighters. They had to send her to make inspiring political speeches. They had to have her, a relative nobody in the Rebellion’s upper echelons (who remembers the Senator’s daughter?), tell off a bunch of politicians so she could lead an attack on the Lothalian TIE Defender factories. (With a handful of freaking fighters, NOT a detachment of cruisers and blockade runners that could at least hold their own with an armada of big bad Star Destroyers!!! Aargh…!)
The Disney bigwigs did not want to give Mon Mothma or Leia the floor. They did not even want to give a new female character made specifically for the moment the job of facing “the patriarchy.” No, they had to yank the “space mom” away from home and family to do a job meant for a stateswoman or – gasp – a man like Senator Bail Organa.
Senator Bail Organa
Seriously, exchange Hera for Bail in that rousing speech scene in episode eight of season four. I guarantee you the scenario works better with him telling the wishy-washy Senators to get off their butts and strike while the iron is hot than to have Hera do it. When this blogger heard Hera give her “stirring lecture,” she had to roll her eyes to avoid yelling at the screen. Hera’s speech sounded empty and flat, which it should not have. It was (a) not a bad speech and (b), she is a good enough character that she should have been able to make it work. She just could not make it work outside of the Ghost because, dang it, the ship is her province and main sphere of influence.
That ship and her crew are the ones who need to hear her speeches, not a bunch of sniveling political blowhards who haven’t got enough courage among them to fill a teaspoon. This is another problem with that scene: we know that Bail Organa has a great deal of fortitude – he helped to found the Rebel Alliance, despite being from a pacifist world that has no weapons whatsoever. Why is he suddenly reluctant not to take a stab at the Empire? The Bail Organa of the original EU would have ordered the strike without a second thought. Why does this version suddenly start tiptoeing around the idea like a ballet dancer?
And whose bright idea was it to send the near-pacifistic Mon Mothma to tell Hera to go give the political leaders a tongue-lashing in her stead? For Pete’s sake, in previous season four episodes, Mon Mothma was all for running and hiding!!! Now she’s going to send another woman and to start a fight on her behalf?! In the name of Heaven, why?!?! (*author slaps head on desk repeatedly*)
It was choices like these which kept my admiration for Hera Syndulla at a moderate level. She was designed to be a mom and a pilot, but Filoni could not leave her there because Disney had to maintain the attack on the “evil patriarchy” no matter what. This meant that he had to attack the “patriarchy” or lose his job at Lucasfilm, along with his chance to maintain some sanity in a galaxy far, far away. Thus he had to essentially ruin a fine character who, while she was good, could have been truly great if he had been free to leave her on the ship.
Does this mean Rebels is not worth watching, or that Hera is a terrible character? The answer to both questions is no. Rebels’ first three seasons are good, and Hera is a fine character. But she and the series would have been much, much better if Filoni’s bosses hadn’t been such short-sighted twits. If they had left him alone, then Rebels would have been more fun than it already is.
In order to end this post on a positive note, I can say that the series is worth a go. I am really sorry they could not do more than they did, but what they pulled off during the show’s first three seasons was good. It is not bad entertainment and I recommend watching it when you get the chance. Just bear in mind what Disney/Lucasfilm did and recognize that it could have been better if they had left the writers alone.
Hello, Readers! As you know, thanks to a number of conversations with the girls at The Elven Padawan, this blogger went to youtube to see if there were any videos about Star Wars‘ original timeline. Having found several valuable videos there, I thought I would to post them here at Thoughts so curious readers could learn more about the original Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Since I know a fair bit about the original Expanded Universe, but not as much as I’d like, these video have filled in gaps in my own knowledge as well. Below you will find a number of videos on the Jedi, smugglers, and bounty hunters who inhabited the original Star Wars universe.
Enjoy your trip down these fantastic original Star Wars hyperspace memory lanes, readers! And remember –
“The Force will be with you, always.”
5 Space Creatures Powerful Enough to Destroy Capital Ships | Star Wars Legends Lore
5 Deadliest UNKNOWN REGIONS Species and Monsters | STAR WARS LEGENDS
5 Most Advanced Alien Civilizations in Star Wars Legends | Star Wars Top 5
7 Gray Force Orders That Competed With and Rivaled the Jedi and Sith Orders
How Powerful Was Starkiller – Star Wars Explained
Why More Jedi Didn’t Use Double-Bladed Lightsabers
Why Were Yellow Lightsabers So Rare For Jedi? – Lightsabers Explained
Why the Sith Break the Rule of 2 – Star Wars Explained
Previously, this blogger expressed great affection for Wedge Antilles, one of the best known third tier characters in the Star Wars franchise. She also stated that she wished to read more of his Expanded Universe adventures someday, not only to “get to know him better,” but to see his future wife. Iella Wessiri Antilles was little more than a name and an image in the books I had read at the time I wrote about Wedge and that was a situation I hoped to rectify.
With help from Mr. Bookstooge, this author managed to do just that. Hunting up the X-Wing novels, she has bought and read seven out of the eleven books in the series. Number eleven, Mercy Kill, is not on my TBR list because it is set after the Yuuzhan Vong War. Both that War and the New Jedi Order storyline are, in this author’s opinion, not written in the spirit of Star Wars and are therefore not worth her time.
Since this opinion has been expressed elsewhere in greater detail, I will not rehash it now. It suffices to say that all of the X-Wing books reviewed here at Thoughts will take place before the Yuuzhan Vong War. Also, as seen in previous Star Wars posts, there will be Warning for Younger Readersattached in each review. This way those younger fans who want to begin exploring the old EU can do without worrying about stumbling on mature material they wish to avoid. It should also make coming back and enjoy an older Star Wars adventure when they are prepared to do so easier.
All right, with these items covered, we can get down to business. Star Wars X-Wing: Rogue Squadron is the first novel in the series of the same name. Set two years after Return of the Jedi and three years before the Thrawn trilogy, the book begins with a training simulation. Corran Horn is working to become a new member of Rogue Squadron, and he has arrived at his final test: the Redemption scenario.
The simulation is based on Rebel rescue missions performed prior to the Battle of Yavin. Medical shuttles and the corvette Korolev bring their wounded to the Alliance ship Redemption. In the middle of the offloading process, the Imperial frigate Warspite pops into the system and drops off several wings off TIE fighters. These fighters attempt to take out the X-Wing pilots and/or destroy the vessels they are protecting.
Everyone dreads the Redemption scenario. It is the toughest examination a fighter pilot faces in training, and failing to pass would mean exclusion from the Rogues and other elite units. Corran is no less nervous about his score than the others, but he is determined to take the test. “Flying in” with wingmates Oorl Qyrgg, Nawara Ven, and Rhysati Ynr, they get set up in time to see the TIE fighters appear. Controlled by their fellow Rogue Squadron candidates, the simulated TIEs swoop toward the X-Wings to begin the practice battle.
Corran and the rest put up a good fight, but the other pilots are “killed” and Horn is left dead in space. Believing he lost the exercise, the former CorSec officer is startled when Rhysati explains that he actually won. Thinking he beat Bror Jase, a Thyferran and the other top pilot in the running for the Squadron, Corran receives a second shock when an officer with brown hair and blue eyes congratulates him on his performance. Simultaneously impressed and worried by the stranger’s skill, the Corellian cannot help wondering just who almost beat him.
Elsewhere, Wedge goes to discuss the Rogues’ contenders with Admiral Ackbar and General Salm, the commander of the training facilities which the new fighter squadrons are using. Though happy with most of his candidates, Antilles has a couple of pilots he wishes to add to the team. Both are opposed by Salm and, while Wedge knows he cannot change the man’s mind, he also knows Ackbar likes him enough to potentially give him what he wants. If he plays his cards right, Wedge will get these pilots on the Rogues’ roster without too much fighting.
He starts the meeting off by explaining that Gavin Darklighter, the young cousin of Biggs Darklighter, has personally asked to join Rogue Squadron. While not as close to Biggs as Luke, Wedge considered him a good friend. In honor of Biggs he wants to bring Gavin into the Rogues. Salm has refused on the grounds that the Tatooine farmboy is sixteen years old and therefore far too young to join a military unit.
After a little back and forth, it is agreed that Gavin will be admitted to the Rogues only if he passes the Redemption scenario. Confident the boy will not fail, Wedge makes his second request. He wants Tycho Celchu to be the Executive Officer for his squadron.
Tycho Celchu of Alderaan and Rogue Squadron
Salm absolutely refuses. Though the Alderaanian pilot has had a distinguished career in the Rebellion since Hoth, a recent mission put his loyalty in question. Captured by the Empire during an undercover assignment to Coruscant and taken to the elusive Lusankya prison run by Imperial Intelligence, Tycho escaped some time later.
Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but past experience with those held in Lusankya has made the Alliance cautious. While no one knows where the penitentiary is, what is clear is that Lusankya is both a detention center and a brainwashing facility. When they have a person thoroughly under their influence, Imperial Intelligence director and current Empress-wannabe – Ysanne “Iceheart” Isard – lets one or more prisoners “escape” to rejoin the Alliance. The mind-controlled minions feed information to the Empire before Iceheart orders them to assassinate, sabotage, or otherwise destabilize the nascent New Republic.
Tycho cannot remember his time in Lusankya, which makes him automatically untrustworthy in the eyes of Salm and the Alliance. Although Celchu, Wedge, and their close friends are sure he was not brainwashed or broken, Tycho has no way of proving this certainty to the brass. Without evidence to demonstrate that his free will is intact they cannot trust him, and thus they have to keep him under observation at all times since his escape.
Wedge won’t have it. He won’t allow his friend – a man he considers his brother in all but blood – to have his name tarnished by the Empire. Not when he has done so much for the Rebellion, and not when his training techniques can help keep the new pilots in Rogue Squadron alive. He actually startles Ackbar when he lists off the limitations Tycho has agreed to abide by if he becomes the Rogues’ XO. Summoning Celchu to the meeting, the Admiral points out that the boundaries set for Tycho equate to slavery, something he would know since he was held as a “pet” for five years by Grand Moff Tarkin.
Admiral Ackbar
Acknowledging the admiral’s point, Tycho insists that he wants to fight the Empire. If this is the only way he can do it, then he will put up with the constraints the brass insists on. He wants to stay in the fight war however he can – even if he has to sacrifice his freedom to do it.
Moved by his answers, Ackbar takes a gamble and assigns Celchu to Rogue Squadron. When he asks Tycho’s opinion of the new pilots he trained just minutes ago, the Alderaanian is succint: if the candidates for the Rogues are any indication, the Squadron will be ready to go in two months. And after that, they will become the Empire’s worst nightmare.
X-Wing: Rogue Squadron is a clean book. There is no gratuitous gore and no descriptions of romantic liaisons to disturb Young Readers. The Twi’lek Nawara Ven and the human woman Rhysati Ynr are stated to be a couple but do not do anything overt to hint at it.
One of the women in the Rogues, Erisi Dlarit, does her best to attract Corran’s eye as well. He makes a comment about how her hair rests on the back of her neck, along with the fact that she left the front of her flightsuit open so he could see more of her than he should. She also tries to corner him in his cabin, but Corran holds her off until Mirax arrives, forcing Erisi to leave. These mild, brief moments and the villain’s vain attempt to have a lustful reaction to Ysanne Isard are the only troublesome items mentioned in the prose. They are easy to skip and therefore do not stay in a reader’s mind.
All in all, I enjoyed this X-Wing novel a great deal. The space fantasy aspects of the franchise take a backseat to the more mundane military sci-fi tropes of the Rebellion, which is a nice change of pace. It is fun to see the X-Wing pilots’ day-to-day lives and missions as they fight for the New Republic, and it helps a reader get to know old favorites (namely Wedge and Tycho) better than a novel following Luke, Han, or Leia’s ongoing adventures would.
I definitely recommend reading X-Wing: Rogue Squadron at the earliest opportunity. A strong installment in the old EU, it carries the same feel as the original movies, albeit with a different focus. If you ever wanted to be an X-Wing pilot, readers, this book is one of the best chances you will have to get in the cockpit! And remember –
Last year, conversations with the girls at The Elven Padawan led this blogger to investigate youtube in search of videos about the original Star Wars‘ timeline that could fill in gaps of her knowledge about the old EU. Having found several videos that helped me to get a better handle on the original SW Expanded Universe, I began posting them here at Thoughts, along with links to information about the original Star Wars Expanded Universe.
There are no links available today beyond the videos listed below. It has taken some time to discover them all, but it is amazing what one can find when she isn’t really trying. These are all items that tie back to the original Expanded Universe for Star Wars, so you won’t find any Disney/Lucasfilm material here. It is all old school. 😉
I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I have, readers. Until next time, please remember:
“The Force will be with you, always.”
The Mithril Guardian
Darth Vader’s Only Friend in the Empire [Legends] – Star Wars Explained
The Dark History Of The Rakatan Infinite Empire – Star Wars Explained
The Horse who piloted an X-Wing (in Star Wars Legends)
Rogue Squadron | Star Wars Legends
The Purest Jedi Master to ever Exist – Master Fay [Legends] – Star Wars Explained
The Jedi Master Anakin Looked Up to the Most – Jorus C’baoth [Legends] – Star Wars Explained
The Best Weapons to Kill Jedi [Legends]
When a Jedi Youngling Opened a Sith Holocron [Legends]
8 Light Side Orders That Competed With and Rivaled the Jedi Order
Once again we travel to a galaxy far, far away, readers! This time the destination is Star Wars: Survivor’s Quest. Strap into your X-wings and hold onto your lightsabers, because here we go!
Set three years after the Hand of Thrawn duology and three years before the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion, Surivivor’s Quest begins with Talon Karrde aboard Booster Terrik’s traveling casino, the Errant Venture. He is anxiously waiting to hear from Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker. Someone in his organization betrayed him. They stole a message meant for the Skywalkers, then rushed off into the Unknown Regions with it.
Knowing how trouble-prone the two Jedi are and what the difference a few days can mean where important messages are concerned, Talon has practically paced a rut into the Errant Venture’s command deck waiting for Luke and Mara to get his message to meet him at the casino. Booster tries to calm him down, but all he succeeds in doing it making Talon stop pacing. The smuggling chief doesn’t like letting his people or friends down, and even though Mara is now a Jedi and the wife of Luke Skywalker, she’ll always be his friend. The idea that this message’s delay could put her and her husband in jeopardy does not sit well with him.
Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of this, Mara Jade Skywalker is in a cantina on an Outer Rim world negotiating with a gang that used to work for Karrde. Having turned his organization into a neutral intelligence agency that reports to the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, Karrde has been gradually disengaging from the smuggling world for the past three years. Mara has been helping him out, in part because she is also been working on separating herself from his organization.
It is hard to say how the previous meetings went, but this one isn’t looking like it will be smooth sailing. The leader of this gang has stocked the cantina with all of his friends, most of whom have blasters pointed at Mara’s back. Since Talon is cutting them loose, the gang leader demands Mara forward them half a million credits as a “tide-me-over” until they can connect with another, more powerful organization like Karrde’s to maintain their operations.
The demand is more than a little unreasonable, and Mara has no intention of fulfilling it. She is also not as helpless or alone as the gang thinks. Using the Force and her lightsaber to distract the group, she buys Luke enough time to make his fantastic entrance. There is a brief scuffle, but the Skywalkers end it without bloodshed. Mara promises to transfer a generous but sane amount of money to the group just as a young man rushes in to tell his boss they received a message from Karrde for Mara.
Luke takes the opportunity to scare the crooks with an apparent Jedi mind trick by reciting most of the message, which was forwarded to him from Mara’s ship. Having suitably impressed the bunch, the Skywalkers leave. Knowing Karrde wouldn’t send a message to them and throughout his network of contacts unless he really needed to talk to them, they head out to meet the Errant Venture.
Once there, they find the Venture getting a new paint job. Booster is having it painted bright red, perhaps in the hopes of making the Star Destroyer less intimidating. Contacting Karrde and Booster, they learn about the message. Turns out it was from an Admiral Voss Parck on Niraun.
Mara and Luke share a look. Last time they saw Parck was in Vision of the Future, when they blew up a hangar full of his fighters. The fact that he suddenly wants to talk to them is more than little surprising.
It also doesn’t bode well, since Parck was adamant that there were hundreds of threats the Republic wasn’t capable of facing in the Unknown Regions. If one of those threats is headed their way, they need to know about. Saying good-bye, the Skywalkers head to Niraun….
To find that they’ve been invited to see the remains of Outbound Flight. By the Chiss.
Destroyed by Thrawn on its way to another galaxy, the colonizing ship Outbound Flight was thought lost for good. But now the Chiss have found relics of the vessel in an asteroid field. Since Outbound Flight was primarily a Jedi project, the Chiss have invited Luke to come and pay his and the new Order’s respects to the victims.
Mara is less than pleased. The whole thing is a little too neatly packaged. Provided the Chiss have found what is left of Outbound Flight, the timing of the message’s delivery was such that, even if it hadn’t been stolen, she and Luke wouldn’t have had time to tell anyone in the New Republic where they were going. Although her danger sense isn’t prickling and she’s not getting any warnings from the Force, the whole thing feels too much like a set up.
Nevertheless, she knows as well as her husband does that they have to take this mission. The why is still a mystery, but they can both sense they’re being guided by the Force into this mission to the Chiss. Getting the coordinates from Parck, they head out to meet the Chiss envoy…
…And then the fun begins.
If you want to see what Luke and Mara’s married life is like, Survivor’s Quest is a must-read. Although they haven’t had the first three years of their marriage all to themselves, by this point they are an even more exceptional team than in previous novels. They have grown together and become far stronger than they ever were apart. I wish Zahn had been allowed to write up more adventures like this for them!
As usual, since this is a Timothy Zahn novel, there are no Warnings for Younger Readers. Everything is completely above board. No sex, no gratuitous violence, and nothing remotely offensive. It is just a fun romp in a galaxy far, far away. No one could ask for better than that.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. Pick up Survivor’s Quest at your earliest opportunity, readers. You won’t regret it!
Here we again return, readers, to the burning deserts of the planet Zi! Although there will be more Zoids posts coming out next year, this will be the final one until 2019. I wanted to cover the main cast for the show before the year was out, so it seemed best to shift my earlier plans around in order to give Moonbay her dues today. There will be more and different Spotlight! articles forthcoming in January, however, so don’t think I have forgotten any of my promises! 😉
That being explained, let’s stop beating around the bush and get to business. First encountered by Van and Fiona in the episode “Sleeper Trap,” Moonbay serves as the mother figure of their group during the first half of the season. In this way she is a little like Star Wars Rebels’ Hera Syndulla. But where Hera is relaxed and laid back, Moonbay is feisty, fiery, and more than willing to tell off her hotheaded young charge, Van Flyheight.
Sharp-tongued and flirty, Moonbay has a good head for business and brooks no nonsense she herself does not commit. Though she can strike viewers as a bit greedy in her business dealings, the reality is that Moonbay is not a mercenary. Because she loves to travel and wants to preserve her independence, she needs to acquire a respectable influx of cash whenever she can get it. After all, it isn’t easy maintaining a zoid or buying supplies that will last over the course of long distance trips.
This is especially true after she hooks up with Van, Fiona, and Irvine, whom you can read about here, here, and here. Once she joins their party, Moonbay has three other mouths to feed and two extra zoids to maintain. Since the distances between villages and cities are rather long, that means more food has to be bought so the gang doesn’t run out of chow in the middle of nowhere.
The episode “Moonbay’s Waltz” demonstrates clearly that Moonbay is not the mercenary she first appears to be. In the course of this episode, Moonbay runs into an old sweetheart, a millionaire known only as McMan. McMan reveals he previously asked Moonbay to marry him, inviting her to a ball to introduce her to his family, but she never showed. Moonbay eventually admits that she ran away because she believed they were so different that a marriage between them would not work.
Thus one can see that the reason Moonbay is always looking for a big score isn’t because she loves money. She could have had more than enough if she had married McMan. The reason she is always bargaining for extra cash or, sometimes, swindling money from someone is so that she can support her footloose lifestyle. Being a carefree “transporter of the wasteland” is what she wants to do, and she will do whatever she must to ensure that she can keep going in this profession. Now that I think about it, she and Lando Calrissian would probably get along very well, not to mention have bucket loads of fun together.
In terms of fighting skill, Moonbay is actually pretty good at hand-to-hand combat. She does not do it often and, in a straight up physical competition, she would lose to a man in a few seconds. But when push comes to shove, she can and will fight. In the episode “Jump! Zeke!”, she took a Republican soldier by surprise, disarmed him, and held his arms pinned to his sides. Since he was about a head and a half to two heads taller than she was, not to mention broader, it is unlikely that Moonbay could have kept him prisoner for very long.
But as she proved in the next scene, she only had to hold him for a few seconds. What she lacks in terms of physical fighting power Moonbay more than makes up for in her wits. Keeping the soldier’s arms pinned to his sides, she managed to broker a deal to help the Republican Army defeat an incursion attempt by the Imperial Army in the following installment, “The Battle of Red River.” The deal paid well at the same time it got her, Van, Fiona, and Irvine out of trouble for blowing up a Republican sleeper trap. Using her business sense, wits, and the element of surprise, Moonbay hauled the entire gang out of a nasty bit of legal trouble.
These particular skills extend to her piloting abilities as well. Moonbay’s primary zoid throughout the series is her fuschia Gustav which, though it has thick armor, is not much of a fighter. Moonbay was only able to install one set of twin cannons beneath an armor joint between two of the shell’s plates. Though Irvine once told her she should install more weapons on it, Moonbay pointed out that the zoid would be too heavy to travel if she did that. So she sacrificed greater firepower for mobility.
As she proved, however, the Gustav can do plenty of damage when no one sees it coming. Using the zoid’s thick armor and hidden cannons, Moonbay could achieve a variety of attacks in combat. These ranged from bowling over two-legged opponents to firing two precise and incapacitating shots into an enemy zoid, disabling it at once. There were other occasions when Moonbay used the Gustav as a shield to protect herself and others from deadly explosions or shots as well.
Moonbay also became an excellent Pteras pilot. (More on that zoid next year – I promise!) She literally learned that skill on the fly, but proved to be a quick enough study that she and her passengers survived the experience. Due to her transporter skills, she also mastered the enormous Ultrasaurus later on in the series. A huge zoid that was basically a walking city/military base, once she was in the cockpit Moonbay grabbed the controls and didn’t let go. Despite constant reminders, she loudly and publicly proclaimed the zoid was “her” Ultrasaurus. Since she was the one piloting it ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, no one could really argue with her on that one.
Moonbay in her “Legendary Fireball” attire.
Though it was only revealed in the standalone episode “Phantom,” Moonbay also had a “need for speed.” She was once a champion racer known as the Legendary Fireball. Eventually, she quit the racing circuit for some unknown reason, only to return to the track briefly in “Phantom.” Due to a mistake during the race she lost the competition and, as far as I know, that was the last time she raced.
When it comes to relationships, in the first half of Chaotic Century Moonbay is definitely the mother figure for the younger members of the gang. This is most apparent in her relationship with Van; as noted previously, she will happily tell him off when he misbehaves or does something foolish. Occasionally she adds force to her lessons, punching, elbowing, or shoving Van around to get her point across. The reason for this is because she is trying to drive home the point that he has to “look after [him]self,” as there will come a time when no one else can or will take care of him.
Although their relationship is fraught with these kinds of confrontations early on, the fact is that the two do care about each other a great deal. Moonbay is not one to wear her heart on her sleeve, but she does admit that Van is “a pretty good kid,” and that she admires his determination to succeed no matter what. Even when he is older and more able to manage his own affairs, Moonbay still appears to consider him “her boy.”
This may have been shown best when she interposed her Gustav between Van’s downed Blade Liger and Raven’s resurrected Geno Saurer. Despite the fact that this resulted in a grave wound for her zoid, Moonbay didn’t regret the sacrifice when Van apologized in the next episode. While her reassurances didn’t alleviate his guilt, the fact that Moonbay blew off the severe damage showed she considered it a small price to pay for protecting him.
Her relationship with Fiona was less motherly and more sisterly. During the first half of the series the younger girl’s naïveté meant that she had to be watched over and protected more than a normal girl her age. When not “flying RIO” with Van in combat she remained with Moonbay, who took her under her wing. Slowly, through her time spent with the older girl, Fiona became assertive, gaining a decisiveness she had not demonstrated beforehand. Although she never became as feisty or fierce as Moonbay, the older woman did help instill in Fiona a strength of will that aided her later in life.
Moonbay also helped the girl relearn her way around zoids. As the go-to mechanic in the gang, both Van and Irvine relied on Moonbay to keep their zoids healthy. This was due not only to the fact that she was a good engineer, but because she knew a technique that would help zoids to “self-recover” faster than normal. Fiona often helped her on these occasions, giving her the opportunity to become Van’s personal mechanic later on. This skill also allowed her to aid scientists in upgrading his Blade Liger when she was older, which impressed Moonbay a great deal.
Another area in which the two were connected was in the way they worried over their men. As Fiona grew, she worried about Van more frequently because he began facing stronger and more deadly opponents. Knowing worry was useless, despite the fact that she often engaged in it herself, Moonbay did her best to support Fiona and help her relax before every big battle. The two were really close, shown by the fact that the only one Moonbay worried about more than Van was Fiona. If the younger girl was kidnapped or put in danger, Moonbay was instantly on the alert. Though she wasn’t much of a physical fighter, she would do her best to go after and rescue Fiona, no matter the danger to herself.
Finally, with regard to Irvine, Moonbay sincerely respected and liked the mercenary. Throughout the series they flirted with and teased each other; their behavior was so natural that sometimes a viewer could almost swear they were married. Being somewhat older than Irvine, she had more experience in certain matters than he did – namely the management of funds and the foresight necessary to finance a group that included herself, two growing kids, and one eighteen year old man who was used to living and fighting on his own. Where Irvine acted as the voice of combat experience during the first half of the series, Moonbay maintained the group’s social order and discipline. She made sure everyone ate on time, slept on time, and kept a tight rein on the way money was spent.
This meant that the two rarely argued or interfered with the other’s role in managing the kids, especially Van. When Irvine told Van off for wallowing in self-pity or blaming everyone except himself for a mistake, Moonbay held her peace and let him do it, recognizing he was more effective in this area than she was. But when it came time to let the boy alone to think things through or to tell him the hard truth about how the world worked, then the mercenary would let Moonbay do the talking since she was the one who had more experience in such matters than he did.
None of this is to say that their relationship was without its rough patches. Irvine had to repeatedly tell Moonbay to jettison her cargo of Imperial ammunition in “Sleeper Trap,” since her pride in never failing to deliver goods to an employer was putting them all at risk. In turn, she had to verbally slap him upside the head after his Command Wolf was wrecked by Raven later on in the series.
These instances of violent disagreement were rare and brief. Moonbay and Irvine made a good pair, shown by the fact that together they “raised” Van and Fiona right. To be perfectly honest, I’ve always suspected that they married after the series ended; they clearly cared about one another a great deal. During battles where Irvine was thrown around or injured, Moonbay often shouted his name, the way that Fiona would cry out if Van was injured. And while the mercenary often stated that Moonbay could “take care of herself” and was “pretty good in dangerous situations,” he didn’t appreciate it when she was threatened.
A future romantic relationship between the two is conjecture on my part, though, since the series leaves their relationship openended from start to finish. But while the writers may not have intended for them to be more than friends, I prefer to think Moonbay and Irvine became a couple at some point. She certainly couldn’t get away with saying she and he were “too different” to make a good match – not after everything they had been through together!
The more I write about these characters, the less I am able to think of actors, actresses, and directors who could ably bring them to the silver screen. It’s more than likely that an attempt to put them in a live action film would fail completely. They’re perfect the way they are.
If a competent, respectful group of creators could be found to make a solid, beautiful film (series) out of the show, then I might be more hopeful. But as things stand I am much happier to have the anime than a film (series).
Which reminds me: if you want to see this great show yourselves, readers, it is available in its entirety on Amazon.com. For those of you who want to test the show out before laying down hard-earned cash for it, check out the English dub of Zoids: Chaotic Century here at www.watchcartoononline.com. Don’t quit if you find the first two episodes a bit draggy and boring; wait until you reach “Sleeper Trap,” “Jump! Zeke!,” and “The Battle of Red River” before you make a decision. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. 😉
Thoughts on the Edge of Forever 