#jedi academy trilogy

[magnetarbeam]

Dumbass AU where C'baoth left compulsions in the heads of the clones in Thrawn's army that would have made them loyal to him over Thrawn if C'baoth and Thrawn's disagreements came to that, except the specific phrasing was that they'd serve "the Jedi Master."

So when Luke starts the Praxeum, what's left of those clones start defecting from the Empire to serve Luke, as he's the Jedi Master.

#star wars legends #the thrawn trilogy #joruus c'baoth #luke skywalker #jedi academy trilogy

[jedidryad]

I used to dream of his presence disappearing from the galaxy like that. Lifeless body on a slab. Dreamed it and laughed.

Just in time for the holidays, here are the final 2 chapters of Lightsabers Are Always Loaded. Mara returns to the academy just in time to play a minor role in defeating Exar Kun - and to question her choices once again.

Lightsabers Are Always Loaded: Chapter 32

Lightsabers Are Always Loaded: Chapter 33

Thanks for reading and supporting this story. Part 3 will be awhile but it is in the works!

#epic!bio #mara jade #luke skywalker #luke x mara #corran horn #i jedi #jedi academy trilogy #laal #exar kun #lightsaber decisions #loyal Noghri

[jerryb2]

Corran Horn and the Nature of Dual-Phase Lightsabers

This is something of a follow-up/companion piece to my most recent post.

The core of the Jedi ritual for creating a lightsaber came down to charging the power cell that first time. My grandfather ridiculed the popular superstition that a Jedi channeled the Force through the lightsaber. He suggested that this was a misunderstanding of what it took to charge it initially and tie it to the rest of the weapon. The Jedi, carefully manipulating the Force, bound the components together - linking them on something more than a mechanical or material level, so they worked with unimagined efficiency. Without this careful seasoning and conditioning of the lightsaber, the blade would be flawed and would fail the Jedi.

- Star Wars: I, Jedi, by Michael A. Stackpole

That’s what we in the business call foreshadowing. 

In the interest of of providing some much-needed context for those who may not know: 

Corran Horn was a character created by Michael Stackpole for the X-Wing Series, premiering in 1996. Initially focusing on the reformed Rogue Squadron, Corran was ostensibly the main character for the first four novels in the series. Starting his life as a Corellian Security officer, Corran would go on to discover his burgeoning Force sensitivity and eventually become a venerated Jedi in his own right by the time of the Legacy Era.

A dual-phase lightsaber is essentially any lightsaber that contains more than one crystal, with the most common setup consisting of three. This permits the user more direct control over the properties of the blade, allowing adjustments to length and/or width and intensity, typically to catch an opponent off guard. They’re more complex than your bog standard lightsabers obviously, and though they are relatively obscure, several notable Jedi & Sith were known to use them, such as Corran Horn, but also Exar Kun, Darth Vader, Count Dooku & Gantoris, however briefly.

Whether intentional on the part of the various writers, the fact that those specific characters use dual-phase sabers, speaks volumes to their unique qualities. 

These characters were each of two minds, as it were; each with one foot on the path of the light - sometimes for decades - while the other walked a tightrope between light and dark. In many cases, the character fell from that razor’s edge, only to be consumed by their own internal darkness. Exar Kun was a powerful Jedi whose thirst for knowledge slowly morphed into a thirst for power, which inevitably led him to the dark side and the ultimate ruin of the galaxy. The same fate would, of course, ultimately befall the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker so many generations later. Count Dooku was a respected Jedi, who even sat on the High Council in the twilight years of the Republic, before ultimately falling. Gantoris, though - Gantoris was different.

Much like Corran himself, Gantoris was a member of the inaugural class of students as Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Praxeum. On his native world of Eol Sha, Gantoris was a respected chieftain who used his precognitive abilities to help his people survive their harsh, geologically unstable home - but how? Gantoris followed Luke to Yavin IV under one condition - that the Jedi Master help him uncover the truth of the “Dark Man” who haunted his dreams. Gantoris’ position of leadership prior to arriving at the Academy often lead to him being headstrong and difficult, something which was only heightened once he began to properly hone his Force abilities. This would also lead him into a rivalry with Corran, who is deficient in some of the more common Force abilities, like telekinesis. 

As his training begins, Luke offers Gantoris the chance to find the answers he seeks, but it isn’t long before Gantoris hears someone else whispering to him - the dark spirit of Exar Kun himself, trapped within the very walls of the Massassi Temples of Yavin IV. With Kun’s help, Gantoris constructs a dual-phase lightsaber and challenges Luke to a duel, where the Master bests his misguided student. Realizing that he has become a pawn of the long-dead Sith, Gantoris refuses to accept Kun’s offer of power and knowledge - and pays the ultimate price. Kun kills Gantoris by immolating him from the inside out with the Force, reducing him to a blackened husk. 

This development initially led to further division within the group as Corran grew frustrated with Luke’s reluctance to properly investigate the death (remember, Corran was a CorSec officer & thus expected a certain degree of procedural adherence) and Luke himself questioning his ability to effectively teach his students. It was shortly after this that Kun sought out another pawn, this time an angry young man, named Kyp Durron. With Kyp’s help, Exar Kun was able to sideline Luke by suspending his spirit from his body. By removing the Jedi Master, Kun hoped to corrupt all of the Academy’s students. Though he did succeed in turning Kyp for a time, the remaining students banded together and defeated Exar Kun, banishing his spirit to the void.

By plying Gantoris with the advanced techniques required to build a dual-phase lightsaber, Kun was able to further stoke the embers of contention between Gantoris & Corran, which led directly to Corran building himself a dual-phase lightsaber right out of the gate as well. 

Here’s that handy little feature in action, in another excerpt from I, Jedi:

I rotated my right wrist, twisting the throttle up, and whipped the lightsaber around in a slash aimed to slice the deadHutt switch in two. With the twist I turned the lightsaber’s emerald out of the way and I brought the diamond into line with the Durindfire beam. This extended the blade from 133 centimeters to 300, narrowing it, but bringing the Hutt’s hand easily into striking range. Quick flick of the wrist, cleave the control in two, and the day would be saved. That would be the easy way.

(The blade looks blue here, but in person - and canonically speaking - it’s actually a shade of purple.)

Easy is not for a Jedi.

With a puff of smoke, the lightsaber’s blade sputtered and died.

See what I mean by foreshadowing? To be fair to Mr. Horn, the failure of the diamond wasn’t actually his fault - not entirely, anyway:

I screwed the high energy flux aperture back on the head of the lightsaber and pitched to Elegos the blackened, misshapen lump that had been the diamond I’d put into the weapon. “Gone. Completely gone.”

“It worked fine when you tested in initially.” He snatched the melted gemstone from the air, sniffed it, then rubbed a thumb across it. “Synthetic?”

I nodded. “Kubaz xurkonia. The crystalline lattice handled the energy while we tested it, but was probably ready to go down anytime. (...) Actually, serves me right for trying to make a complicated lightsaber my first time out.”

 Elegos frowned. “Why did you make one with variable lengths?”

I shrugged uneasily. “Well, I guess it was ego. Gantoris made one with two lengths and I wanted mine to be as good as his.”

“I thought you said he had a Sith Dark Lord instructing him at the time.”

“Sure, now you bring that point up.“

Okay, look, I really want to address one thing - even though it’s a completely pointless thing to talk about here - 133 cm for a standard blade is absolutely insane. Never mind the fact that you literally cannot buy blade material over 40 inches (101.6 cm) long, but swinging around a blade with that kind of reach would be so dangerous to yourself, let alone others, that no Jedi wouldn’t survive a single sparring session. 

In reality, lightsaber blades are typically 32 to 34 inches long. This makes them much more manageable to swing around without smacking them into the walls or ceiling of your house. The dual-phase feature is handy only for surprising people/causing a ton of collateral damage, if the situation calls for it. 300 cm is just under 10 feet, in case you were wondering. 

Moving swiftly along; I really love this little exchange between Corran & the eventual New Republic Senator, Elegos A’Kla. With the possible exception of his wife, Mirax Terrik, Corran’s relationship with Elegos is by far his most important. Elegos is a Caamasi, a race known for their compassionate & peace-loving nature, as well as their ability to share Memnii - essentially, extremely vivid memories - with other Caamasi & Force-sensitives. Elegos’ grandfather was also a Jedi & friend to Corran’s grandfather Nejaa Halcyon, even witnessing his death at the hands of Nikkos Tyris, founder of the Jedi Order splinter group, the Jensaarai. 

Throughout their relationship, Elegos would become a surrogate parental figure for Corran, and serve as a kind of spiritual guide, often sharing advice and insight through his memnii. 

The passage above illustrates that even though Corran has come into his own in accepting his Jedi destiny, he’s still the same character at heart - a smarmy, cocksure fighter pilot. And it further establishes the friendship & bond between the two characters - something that would go on to be very important just a few years later in the Dark Tide Duology, part of the New Jedi Order series. 

TL;DR - The Star Wars galaxy gets invaded by Warhammer 40K Rejects, AKA the Yuuzhan Vong and the Jedi are put on the back foot for the first half of the series.

Fortunately, Mike Stackpole wrote the Dark Tide novels, and they’re excellent. In the first novel, subtitled Onslaught, he gives us this scene, where we see Corran more effectively utilizing the dual-phase feature, this time with a true diamond in that third slot:

(...) Corran squared off with him, presenting his left flank for attack. He held the lightsaber’s hilt up near his right ear, with the blade pointing straight forward. He leveled it at the Vong’s eyes, then gave the alien a nod. “You want me, come get me.”

The Yuuzhan Vong took a step forward, and Corran cranked his right wrist around. The throttle assembly twisted, swapping an emerald for a diamond in the lightsaber’s interior assembly. The energy beam narrowed and went from silver to purple, then more than doubled in length. The blade’s tip stabbed deep through the younger Vong’s left eye socket.

The Yuuzhan Vong jerked and bounced as his limbs snapped straight. He fell back, slipping from the blade’s tip, with smoke rising from his skull. He clattered to the shell floor, his limp limbs rebounding from the hard surface, then he twitched once and lay still. 

And Ganner ridiculed me for having an old-style, dual-phase lightsaber.

(Quick aside: I will forever stan Ganner Rhysode aka “The Ganner” - Rest in Power, King - he damn well earned his redemption arc. ✊)

This action is relevant to Corran’s characterization and the ultimate fate of Elegos because the Vong that Corran kills in this very scene is a member of the Domain Shai, the same creche as the current leader of the Vong, Shedao Shai. When Shai learns of this, he would go on to murder the Caamasi out of vengeance, sending his body back to Corran in a sign of disrespect. Vowing vengeance himself, (not a very Jedi thing to do, if you haven’t been paying attention) Corran would go on to duel Shai in single combat, partially couching his motives as a fight for the fate of the planet Ithor. 

There are many, many layers of plot & intrigue beginning to interweave  themselves at this point in the story, but Ithor - being the source of a specific plant spore that the Yuuzhan Vong’s Vonduun Crab Armor is allergic to - serves a double meaning here. The Vong lay waste to everything they come into contact with, and by taking a stand on this vibrant, beautifully forested jewel of a world - essentially saying “Not One Step Back” - it serves as a narrative foil. 

Corran & Shai finally face-off at the tail-end of the second novel, subtitled Ruin:

He bore an amphistaff, which he stabbed tail-first into the ground. He raised a gauntletted hand, the dying sun glinting from his bracer, then pressed the hand back over his heart.

“I am Shedao Domain Shai. This is my subordinate, Deign Domain Lian. He will stand as witness to this combat.”

Corran remained seated. “I am Corran Horn, Late of the New Republic Armed Forces, a Jedi Knight. This is my Master, Luke Skywalker. He will stand as witness to this combat.”

(...) “You are the murderer of Neira Shai and Dranae Shai, my kinsmen.”

Corran stood, slowly and deliberately. Luke could feel the Force gathering in him, swirling around him. “And you murdered my friend, Elegos A’Kla. It is not over the past we fight, but to win the future.”

“You, perhaps.” The Yuuzhan Vong drew himself up tall and straight, then bowed his head toward Corran. “I fight for the honor of the Yuuzhan Vong and Domain Shai.”

The Corellian returned the nod. “So much risk for such a paltry gain.”

Amphistaff spun and lightsaber rose. A slash blocked high, a low cut burning grass but not leaping legs. Combatants slipping past each other, turning, striking, blocking. The amphistaff’s hiss rivaling that of the lightsaber. Weapons flashing forward, retreating, then reposting. 

(...) Corran closed and lunged at Shedao Shai’s upper chest. With two hands on the amphistaff, the Yuuzhan Vong parried the argent blade high, then ducked his head and whirled around in a circle. The amphistaff snapped straight against Shedao Shai’s right forearm, then he lunged.

Pain exploded from the Jedi as the amphistaff’s tail stabbed deep into his guts. (...) Corran curled around the holes in his right flank, drawing his knees up. His lightsaber lay smoking on the grass.

(...) Shedao Shai drew back several steps, then tugged off his mask and tossed it aside. He raised the gore-streaked amphistaff to his lips and harvested incarnadine fluid with his tongue. His lips closed for a moment, his eyes following, then he nodded.

“I vowed I would taste your blood as you die, and now I have done that.”

Corran coughed once, pain flaring through the Force, then rolled up to his knees. “Good for you, pal, glad you’re happy.” He winced as he scooped up his lightsaber and staggered to his feet. “Had I been in your boots, I would have vowed something else.”

“Oh?” The Yuuzhan Vong’s eyes opened a slit. “And what would that have been?”

“I’d have vowed to taste my blood after I was dead.” All sense of pain vanished from the Jedi as the Force again enshrouded him. Corran waved the invader forward with his bloody left hand. “So, is this inability to make a clean kill a Yuuzhan Vong thing, or just a Domain Shai thing? You’re so sloppy those bones won’t want to come home with you.”

Shedao Shai’s eyes snapped open. Though Luke could not read him through the Force, the fury and hatred coursing through the Yuuzhan Vong was unmistakable. The warrior darted forward, bringing the amphistaff up and around in a two-handed overhead blow. He smashed it down on Corran’s upraised lightsaber, driving the Jedi back a step.

(...) Shedao Shai towered over him, rising up on his tiptoes to deliver that final blow. The amphistaff rose and crashed down, set to bash the lightsaber back into its wielder, slaying the infidel with the blasphemous weapon he embraced.

With a flick of his thumb, Corran killed the blade and sagged forward.

Overbalanced because his weapon met no resistance, Shedao Shai buried his amphistaff deep in the ground and stumbled a half-step forward. The surprise registering on his face widened his eyes, then his lips peeled back in a feral grin as Corran pressed his lightsaber against the Yuuzhan Vong’s stomach. The lightsaber hissed. Argent light poured from Shedao Shai’s mouth a second before he vomited black blood and collapsed to the ground, his spine severed, his belly smoking.

(...) “Wait, just a second.” Corran pointed at the mask Shedao Shai had discarded. “I want that mask.”

“Why?”

Corran’s eyes closed for a moment as pain washed over him. “Elegos’s bones. They’re watching something. That mask will show him that the Vong are not invincible, and for Ithor at least, there will be peace.”

The best part of this confrontation is the fact that it doesn’t work. The Vong still destroy Ithor - further demoralizing the New Republic - and one of the most influential Jedi in the Order bears the full weight of the public outcry and is basically forced into self-imposed exile on Corellia. And Elegos is not avenged. In seeking out the fight with Shedao Shai, Corran allowed his personal feelings to cloud his thinking and color his motives. In so doing, he brought shame on Elegos’ memory, and he says as much afterward:

The Jedi sank back on his heels and looked up into the jeweled eyes of what had once been his friend. From inside his robe he drew the mask Shedao Shai had worn. He rubbed a sleeve over its black surface, erasing a smudge, then reverently set it in Elegos’ lap.

“Your murderer is dead.”

Corran wanted to say more, but his throat closed and the glowing image before him blurred. He covered his eyes with a hand, smearing tears against his cheeks, then swallowed hard. He wiped away more tears, then took a deep breath and set his shoulders.

“His death was supposed to save Ithor. It didn’t. I know you’d be horrified to think I killed for you. I didn’t. I did it for Ithor.”

The gold skeleton stared down at him, cold mercilessness glinting from the gems in its eye-sockets.

Never any fooling you, was there, my friend? Corran screwed his eyes shut against more tears, then opened them again. He looked away, unable to stand Elegos’ dead gaze. 

“That’s what I told myself. It was for Ithor. That’s what I told everyone. Managed to fool some of them - most of them, I think. Not Master Skywalker. I think he knew the truth, but the chance to save Ithor had to be taken.”

He glanced down at his right hand and could again feel the weight of his lightsaber in it. “I had myself convinced, I really did, until...there was a point in the fight. I’d turned my lightsaber off; Shedao Shai had overbalanced himself. His staff was buried in the turf. I shoved my lightsaber’s hilt against his stomach.”

A shudder quaked through Corran. “There was a moment there. A nanosecond. I hesitated. Not because I thought of life as sacred and that taking any life was horrible - the way you would have, my friend. No...no, I hesitated because I wanted Shedao Shai to know he was dead. I wanted him to know I knew he was dead. If he was going to see his life flash before his eyes, I wanted him to take a good look at it. I wanted him to have a nice long look at it. I wanted him to know it was all for nothing.”

(...) “In that one moment, Elegos, I dishonored your sacrifice. I betrayed you. I betrayed the Jedi. I betrayed myself.” Corran sighed. “In that one moment, I crossed the line. I walked on the dark side.”

He raised his head and met Elegos’ bejeweled stare. “You Caamasi had a saying: If the wind no longer calls to you, it is time to see if you have forgotten your name. The problem I have, my friend, is that I heard the dark side calling to me. Without your help, without your guidance, I’m not sure how I can deal with that.”

This admission is made all the more shocking, because this is the first time we truly see Corran brush with the dark side. Yes, he’d faced many difficult choices in the past - being tempted to “take the quick and easy path” to free his wife from captivity comes to mind - but this was different. It’s important to know, Corran is a forty-three year old man at this point. He’s not an impatient kid, or an old fool - he’s a flawed human being. And in this particular instance, it cost him - and the New Republic - dearly.

This is undoubtedly the most interesting aspect in the nature of dual-phase lightsabers for me; they're an allegory for the choices we all make everyday. They represent the capacity for both great good and great evil with such crystal-clear prose that it’s genuinely baffling to me how some people can claim Star Wars isn’t all that deep. If you look past the pop sci-fi trash of the Disney Canon and dig around in the old Expanded Universe, you can find some real gems. 

And this, boys & girls, is why Michael Stackpole is one of the top three EU writers - come at me. 

#star wars #lightsabers #dual-phase lightsaber #michael a stackpole #goat #corran horn #nejaa halcyon #luke skywalker #gantoris #exar kun #kyp durron #jedi academy #jedi academy trilogy #jedi search #dark apprentice #champoins of the force #ijedi #jedi praxeum #darth vader #anakin skywalker #count dooku #elegos a'kla #shedao shai #yuuzhan vong #yuuzhan vong war #new jedi order #njo #dark tide duology #onslaught #ruin

[thisiseditsandstuff]

→ Jedi Praxeum — class of 11 ABY

#star wars #star wars eu #star wars legends #mara jade #kyp durron #kam solusar #streen #kirana ti #tionne solusar #corran horn #kenth hamner #kyle katarn #brakiss #dorsk 81 #gantoris #nothing like having two dead/missing students in ur first group of students #luke's first class was such a disaster lmao #Star Wars Expanded Universe #jedi academy #jedi academy trilogy

[alphamecha-mkii]

The Maw Installation by Erick Herand

#Star Wars #Star Wars: Legends #Star Wars: Jedi Academy Trilogy #Maw Installation #Black Hole #Imperial Star Destroyer #Death Star Prototype #Sci-Fi #Mecha #Spaceship #Space Station #Erick Herand

[2stepadmiral]

With the premiere of Ahsoka right around the corner, it occurred to me that it makes enormous sense for Luke to appear in the series or be a secondary recurring character, and if he isn’t, there needs to be a good explanation given.

In-universe, everything we’ve seen in the marketing indicates that Luke would be involved in what’s going on. 1) there’s a pair of Dark Jedi and a surviving Inquisitor on the loose. It would make sense for Luke to be involved in trying to redeem or at least stop these guys.

2) Ashoka’s mission is apparently directly tied into finding Ezra Bridger. As such, him being focused on rebuilding the Order isn’t a justified reason to steer clear; finding a Jedi Apprentice who’s training was never really completed and could be finished in a few months at most would be a tremendous step towards Luke’s goals, and it would gain him someone to help him rebuild.

3) Ahsoka is clearly working to find and stop Thrawn from returning and reunifying the Imperial Remnants. Luke never faced Thrawn in this continuity, but he has faced dangerous non-Force sensitive Imperials (Sgt Kreel, Commander Zahra) and has served with people who did face Thrawn (Wedge, Hobbie, Hera), and Leia was highly enough placed in the Rebellion to have been aware of Thrawn at least peripherally, so Luke should have heard about him from them. He would be aware of the threat someone like Thrawn would pose, and unless he’s gotten a full academy of Jedi recruits to train and protect since Grogu left, he’s not going to just sit alone on Ossus and do nothing.

4) Ahsoka seems to be investigating Jedi or Jedi connected relics, ruins, and knowledge. Such discoveries would be invaluable in the effort to rebuild the Jedi Order.

5) We don’t know what Luke was up to before Grogu reached out to him besides finding Jedi texts and relics to help rebuild the order and increase his own knowledge and abilities. Unless he found another apprentice who can’t safely leave his side and isn’t ready to face Dark Jedi or Thrawn, he’s probably resumed that endeavor. If that’s so, finding Jedi texts can be postponed until the Heir to the Empire has been dealt with.

Like, if Ahsoka is reluctant to involve Luke because she decides that he needs to focus on the order, or they both sense that he is needed elsewhere, or they agree that he should be with Leia trying to get the Senate to pull their heads out of their asses to prepare for Thrawn, or something along those lines, that’s all we really need. If Luke doesn’t play a role or if his absence is not explained, that really leaves a big plot hole.

#star wars #ahsoka tano #star wars ahsoka #ahsoka series #luke skywalker #grand admiral thrawn #leia organa #mara jade #thrawn #thrawn trilogy #sabine wren #hera syndulla #grogu #baby yoda #yoda #jedi academy #heir to the empire #anakin skywalker

[figures4fun]

Parent-Teacher conferences will be interesting…

#luke skywalker #din dijarn #grogu #the mandolarian #star wars #a new hope #the empire strikes back #star wars return of the jedi #the mandalorian season 2 #hot toys #action figures #toy photography #action figure photography #figure photography #comic #humor #r2d2 #jedi academy #original trilogy

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Kyp Durron: Here at the Jedi Academy, we do not endorse murder. Kyp Durron: BUT!

#kyp durron #the jedi academy #the jedi academy trilogy #star wars #star wars legends #incorrect star wars quotes #original: puppet history

[bibxrbie]

Sometimes, I really want an animated show about the OT characters. Their adventures, serious and silly, as they become friends and family long before Luke and Leia discover that they're siblings. Stories about Leia struggling with going from princess to general. Luke struggling with being a Jedi and a commander. The Rogue Squadron and their adventures. Han and Chewie barely keeping up with the Space Twin shenanigans.

But, then I remember how each of these characters were treated in the Sequel Trilogy, and I realise that it doesn't matter. No amount of stories about them will change the fact that they all die alone away from each other, that they gave up their childhood, their homes, themselves to the safety of the galaxy and that none of it ever mattered. And I can't enjoy canon stories about them because it won't change their ending, and I can't forget that.

#sequel trilogy #this is not really anti sequel trilogy because i dont hate it but i really dislike how the OT characters were portrayed #luke skywalker #leia organa #han solo #chewbacca #lando calrissian #they ALL deseved better #i have to live in a worls where Luke abandoned his sister and i just refuse to believe he would do that #the fact that they made Leia wait for Luke has sooo angry because she deserved better than to be abandoned by her brother and best friend #and do NOT get me started on the divorce!!! #pro jedi #we deserved to see Luke thriving as a Jedi because you know he would #we deserved to see Leia kick the Senate into a good working New Republic #Han should've been a house-husband and i stick by that #Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy deserved to outlive him #also i know the comics exist but they're barely considered canon unless the writer for a new live action SW project #wants to steal the comic writer's stories without compensation

[augustspage]

If Ezra was a Master at Luke's Jedi academy, a conversation on attachment.

Ezra's tone turned firm. "No, Luke. You're not separating these kids from their families. I don't care what the texts say."

Luke, with a weight of experience, replied, "You've met my father Ezra, you know what attachment does to us who are burdened with abilty, what it can turn us into."

Ezra closed his eyes, a dark Cape billowing in his mind, exhaling slowly, "I—maybe, but from my experience, the love of our familes only made me and Kanan stronger."

Luke looked sympathetically at Ezra "But in the end, you had to let them go, didn't you?"

Ezra flicked his eyes away.

Luke flexed his robotic hand " I learnt the hard way when I didn't heed Master Yodas advice on letting go" he continued "Plus, if I didn't let go of my life on Tatooine, I'd have never done anything."

Ezra interjected "Aren't you tired of letting go? Your aunt and uncle raised you, yet you never talk about them."

Luke's eyes widened, how'd ezra know about them?

"I can't focus on something that cannot be changed, that'd result only in pain, That is what I learnt and what the younglings need to understand. Why'd you even bring that up anyway?"

Ezra's smirked "Someone told me to take care of the quote 'softer twin' "

Ah Leia

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Worried she'd strangle you like the other Jabba?"

Ezra snorted, he paused for a moment and locked his earnest blue eyes with Luke's.

"Listen, I was only able to sacrifice myself because I love and am attached to my family and my planet, knowing that I would be protecting them."

Ezras face lightened.

"Also, because I knew my family wouldn't let go of me either; they'd move galaxies to save this Lothrat punk."

Luke felt the force become warmer at the strength of earnestness emanating of the man.

"They make me better, the younglings family makes them better, Hera keeps Jacen from blowing up your temple, Din plays with grogu when he gets sad, your karking family makes you better, Leia makes you actually interact with people, Han-"

Luke puts his hand over ezras mouth, which does not deter the mans jabbering.

Luke rolls his eyes and finally relents, sighing "Fine, Master Bridger, we'll listen to your oh so great wisdom over the ones of mellenias of jedi"

Luke's light blue eyes meet Ezra's deep blue gaze, He's looking at the blonde with elation. "Atleast temporarily... I just hope I'm doing the right thing"

Ezra licks Luke's hand, Luke immediately recoils, wiping it on Ezras robe looking aghast.

Ezra smirks before getting more serious. "Look, Luke, these kids will be stronger Jedi for having healthy relationships in their lives, and more importantly, they'll be better people."

#star wars #ezra bridger #luke skywalker #Luke's Jedi academy #Jedi #star wars rebels #leia organa #hera syndulla #din grogu #star wars fanfiction #star wars original trilogy #star wars sequel trilogy #idk just had a flash of inspiration #my first fanfic #sw rebels

[magnetarbeam]

I've only managed to get though about half of the Jedi Academy trilogy so far, and I didn't pay much attention, but I noted that at least I Jedi made it pretty decisively sound like Kam Solusar had been in the original Jedi Order, when he was trained by his father before going to the dark side and then working for Palpatine.

More recently, I heard a lore YouTuber (the only one that I trust enough to watch at all) summarize it as Ranik having been in the original Order, and then having trained Kam after the Purge, and it leads me to conclude that got retconned somewhere later down the line.

For the sake of the narrative about how little Luke knew of the original Jedi, and to line it up a little more with the things we've come to know of the original Jedi since those books were written, I think it would be a reasonable enough retcon.

#star wars legends #jedi academy trilogy #i jedi #new jedi order #kam solusar

[jedidryad]

Most destructive to the academy is going to be a hard fought title

Having decided it's time to leave, Mara is surprised by just how many beings have something to say about her departure. Perhaps she has left more of an impression than she thought.

Lightsabers Are Always Loaded: Chapter 26

#mara jade #luke skywalker #corran horn #kam solusar #jedi academy trilogy #i jedi #cilghal #departures #not ready to be a Jedi

[jayaorgana]

I mean, whatever you do, don't think too hard about Mon Mothma, man. That's how they get ya.

#DO NOT DO IT DONT THINK ABOUT HOW HER FRIENDS ARE DEAD DON'T THINK ABOUT HOW SHE NEVER REALLY KNOWS #LIKE SHE SURELY SUSPECTS BUT SHE NEVER REALLY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO PADME OR THAT LUKE AND LEIA ARE PADME #'s #just don't think too hard about Mon Mothma man don't get overly attached to mon mothma man it's a mistake #whatsup my name is pippa and I have to finish a painting amd two collages in the next two hours then go to school #(have not slept) amd I am thinking about mon mothma #in the Jedi Academy trilogy of all media to be thinking about her in

[frustrationinexcelsis]

So, I just finished The Last Command, and boy was this a ride.

I’m going to use this post for my thoughts on both the book and the trilogy in general -- and, fair warning, heavy spoilers ahead.

I really enjoyed these books. I tried to pace myself through the last one, but towards the end I just tore through it.

More specific thoughts include:

Luke. Luuuuke. This is how you write Luke Skywalker -- like, if there’s one thing that should stand out from Return of the Jedi, it’s that this man is forgiving to an almost pathologic degree. This is a man determined to see the best in everyone, even if he has to dig through mountains of badness to get to it, and Zahn definitely understood that. It’s especially notable in regards to Joruus C’Baoth -- like, this man is a dangerous, evil lunatic, but what Luke sees is a sick man who needs help. Until the absolute last moment, Luke keeps trying to reach to him and get him to accept help -- for the simple reason that C’Baoth needs help, and Luke can give it to him. It’s obvious to everyone, Luke included, that it’s a long shot, but he keeps trying until C’Baoth’s final breath.

Seriously, this is an ideal to aspire to. If someday I’m quarter as forgiving and empathetic as his version of Luke, I will die happy.

(Some may wonder if I’m a little salty still about how Luke was portrayed in certain works I won’t name.)

(Some may be correct.)

Leia was also great. I love how quickly she saw through Mara’s denial, and seeing her get to show off her Force sensitivity is always a treat.

I also love that Han’s reaction to suddenly finding himself face-to-face with a master of the Dark Side is still to pull out his blaster and try to shoot him. No hesitation, just draw, aim, fire. It didn’t work this time either, but hey -- credit for the attempt!

Mara. Mara. She was wonderfully written. There’s some real interesting writing there in her struggle with her sense of identity and indoctrination by the Emperor. What I found especially interesting is that, between having spent her entire life as the Emperor’s servant and having his last order echoing in her head for the past few years, she has some real trouble with distinguishing between her own desires and the Emperor’s orders -- she’s spent so long with the latter in the former’s place that she’s never had the chance to actually explore her own desires and autonomy. Luke and Leia see through this a lot sooner than she does, but towards the end I think that she’s also in denial -- the impression I get is that, after the life she’s led, starting to think of herself as her own person is alien and intimidating enough that she’s reluctant to make the jump.

Also, going in generally aware of Mara’s status as Luke’s primary EU love interest, I was kind of worried that there’d be a rushed romance arc, and was very glad to find those fears unfounded. There is not so much as a whisper of romance or romantic feelings, or at least nothing that’s explicitly that. The majority of Mara’s page-time is given to establishing her character and working through her narrative arc as she works past her indoctrination and obsession with vengeance, and showing how she comes to eventually like and trust the other protagonists. There is, by the end of The Last Command, clearly some kind of bond between her and Luke -- but there’s nothing really indicating that it’s anything beyond the comradeship that you get between people who have gone through hell and back together. Obviously more is going to come in later books, but Zahn evidently chose to use the series to introduce Mara as a character and build a foundation for whatever future developments may come, and that was absolutely the right call.

(Like, seriously, it takes some good writing to make something like Luke giving Mara his own father’s lightsaber seem like something he would logically do with or without the presence of romantic feelings, but here we are.)

Fey’lya’s part was also unexpected. It does help impress the situation’s gravity when the last book’s shallow, selfish politician stereotype is suddenly so terrified of what Thrawn could do with Palpatine’s old toys that he’s suddenly all business, no political games, just get that mountain destroyed right fucking now.

Thrawn was a memorable villain, for sure. What I found especially interesting about him was how Zahn is careful to build him up as a hypercompetent figure, always in charge, with a plan, and three steps ahead of everyone else -- but partway into book two the reader is shown a major variable, Leia’s relationship to Vader, that Thrawn does not know, a vulnerability he doesn’t plan for. For the entire later half of the trilogy the reader is given a pretty good idea of how exactly Thrawn will fail and of the primary gaping flaw in his carefully tailored grand strategies -- that he’s a genius but not infallible, and that this, this right here, is how it will all come crashing down. I find that very interesting.

Also, in the last few chapters you can practically feel Rukh’s frustration seething through the pages -- he knew exactly what he was doing in that little “stealth exercise” he sprung on Pellaeon. Continuing to stand guard over Thrawn after learning the truth must have been infuriating -- but the Noghri needed vengeance over the Empire, not over Thrawn personally, and he had to wait until he could truly screw the Empire over.

Joruus C’Baoth is... interesting. The impression I got was that he was doomed from the start, in the end -- he was powerful and dangerous, sure, but also unstable, erratic and deluded, too blinded by his ego and delusions to truly understand his enemies, his would-be servants and the world. He was always going to self-destruct or overreach and doom himself some other way; the only questions were the when, the how, and how many people he was going to take down with himself.

C’Baoth is also an interesting exercise in the concept of villain redemption or lack thereof. A hero being willing to offer redemption is all well and good, but it’s only half of the equation; the villain must also accept it. Darth Vader was willing to accept Luke’s hand in friendship when it was offered to him; so was Mara. C’Baoth was not -- he rejected every offer of reconciliation made, and in the end his death was of his own making. The only thing that makes a person truly irredeemable, I think, is their own refusal to accept redemption.

Now of course I’m going to have to deal with my usual depressive mood after finishing a great story, but talking about it always helps... and it was so artistically done.

#star wars #star wars legends #star wars legends spoilers #thrawn trilogy #the last command #luke skywalker #leia organa #han solo #mara jade #borsk fey'lya #grand admiral thrawn #rukh #joruus c'baoth #frustration reads #now there's the question of where to go next #I'm thinking probably the jedi academy trilogy as a logical followup #but then I might head back in time a little to tackle the x-wing books #then maybe I Jedi and then the hand of thrawn? #we'll see

[alphamecha-mkii]

The Maw by ThyBlake

#Star Wars #Star Wars: Legends #Star Wars: Jedi Academy Trilogy #Galactic Empire #Maw Installation #Star Destroyer #Death Star Prototype #Sci-Fi #Mecha #Spaceship #ThyBlake

[trooperst-3v3]

Sometimes I stay up way too late, lying in bed and thinking of questions to which I don't know the answers.

Like, is Leia Organa a Force ghost now? I don't know if she was a Jedi or not, but I heard she was a Force user. Do they have to have special training for that? Or can they all just do it?

I hope not. She was scary.

Maybe that's why Ben Solo spends all his time at the Academy: She's out there somewhere and he's just trying to avoid an eternity of being scolded for being a disappointment to the family name.

#ST-3V3 #star wars #sequel trilogy #stormtrooper #kylo ren #ben solo #leia organa #force ghost #armitage hux academy for aspiring troopers #the force #jedi