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Legacy of the Force: Difference between revisions
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A nine-book series set in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], about eleven years after the ''[[New Jedi Order]]''. Written in trios by [[Aaron Allston]], Karen Traviss and Troy Denning. Opinions on this series are mixed, as you can see by the examples.
To make a nine-book-long story short: once upon a time there was a Jedi named Jacen Solo, who starts having prophetic Force visions that, if he doesn't turn to [[The Dark Side]] and become a [[Big Bad|Sith lord]], [[Rocks Fall Everyone Dies|Rocks Fall and Everyone Dies]]. So he turns to the Dark Side and becomes a Sith lord, getting co-rulership of the galaxy in the process, and alienating a lot of people, such as his parents, Han Solo and Leia Organa; his uncle Luke Skywalker, aunt Mara Jade and cousin Ben Skywalker; and his twin sister, Jaina Solo. Jacen justifies his continuing [[Face Heel Turn]] with a lot of [[I Did What I Had to Do]]; an attitude his Sith teacher, [[Marvel Star Wars|Lady Lumiya]], encourages. Driving Jacen, furthermore, is concern for his lover, Tenel Ka, whose relationship to him is secret because she's the crown princess of a very vindictive culture…and their daughter, Allana, whose ''existence'' is even more secret. [[Revenge of the Sith|Umm…]] [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]
Notably, each author had a sort of pet character set that was almost entirely ignored by the other two. Allston had the aged pilot-general [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]], and by extension Wedge's family and friends. Denning had the Barabel Jedi [[New Jedi Order|Saba Sebatyne]] and the morally-questionable Jedi [[New Jedi Order|Alema Rar]]. Traviss had [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Boba Fett and the Mandalorians]], to the [[Plot Tumor|greatest degree]] of the three.
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* [[Bi the Way|By The Gay]]: Goran Beviin and Medrit Vasur are married. And both men. No character ever mentions this. On top of this, they also have an adopted daughter, two grandkids and a farm that bears their combined names (Beviin-Vasur).
* {{spoiler|[[Bittersweet Ending]]: The galaxy is reunited again by the end of the series at the cost of the fall of a hero, and Daala becomes Chief of State}}
** More like outright {{spoiler|[[Downer Ending]] as nothing good comes out of the ending. Even though [[Star Wars]] is supposed to be about redemption, our "heroes" instead brutally kill former hero Jacen, thus turning the entire [[New Jedi Order]] series into a colossal example of a [[Shaggy Dog Story]]. The Jedi learn nothing from this experience other than "ah well, it couldn't be helped" and then Daala, one of the biggest [[Card
*** This is even lampshaded before the war even starts. It's mentioned numerous times that the entire Second Galactic Civil War is a stupid idea that will accomplish nothing except wasting lives and mass destruction.
**** In the next [[Fateofthe Jedi|set of books]] {{spoiler|it is revealed that Jacen had a force vision of a [[Bad Future]], which he sets out to prevent. He does, but at the cost of releasing an [[Eldritch Abomination]]. }}
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** According to Lumiya, anyway; this ''is'' the same Sith who created [[Sadistic Choice|Force phantoms]].
* [[Depending On the Writer]]: Oh so very much.
** While the standard example of "Mandalorians as written by Karen Traviss vs. Mandalorians as written by everyone else" certainly applies, even more jarring is Jacen's apparent schizophrenia in the middle of the series, when the writers couldn't seem to reach a consensus on whether or not he was evil yet. This resulted in him being a [[Knight Templar]] (Denning), a [[Well
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: Tenel Ka has cousins?
** Actually, it was revealed years earlier that her father, Prince Isolder had an older brother who was assassinated. Presumably, he sired children before he died.
** Isolder's brother didn't, otherwise ''Courtship'''s plot makes no sense. ''However'', Ta'a Chume had a number of sisters, and they had heirs (they come up in ''[[New Jedi Order|Dark Journey]]''). They would be "cousins" of Tenel's, just not first cousins.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Traviss in particular is fond of throwing in [[Real Life]] references in Star Wars clothing. For example, a planet is mentioned where the young warriors have to raise a cute animal as a pet and then have to slaughter it in order to graduate (the SS did this in real life [not really]); '''D'''a'''rak'''a'''e'''r the legendary warrior who will return at the beating of his drum (Francis Drake); and some of Jacen's 'ends justify the means' quotes are borrowed from Tony Blair ("tough on chaos, tough on the causes of chaos"--"crime" in the original).
** Also used in-story, with people left and right drawing comparisons between Jacen and Anakin Skywalker, often to his face. He concedes the similarities but is convinced he can avoid making the same mistakes. [[It Got Worse|He can't]].
*** Another example, Jedi foresees a future where {{spoiler|Sith rule the galaxy}} because the galaxy was not united and they played the factions against each other before swooping in and assuming control. Jedi realizes the best way to stop this is to unify the Galaxy. {{spoiler|Said Jedi BECOMES Sith in order to do so, and promptly gets defeated, [[Xanatos Gambit|which achieves his objective anyway]].}} Jedi saves the Galaxy. {{spoiler|I'm looking at you [[Knights of the Old Republic|Revan]]!}}
* [[Dropped a Bridge On Him]]: {{spoiler|Mara and Jacen both die contrived and undignified deaths.}}
* [[Enemy Mine]]: Jaina and Fett. Also Jedi and Moffs
* [[Et Tu, Brute?|Et Tu]] Iacen Tahirique?
* [[Evil Counterpart]]: Lumiya to Mara, arguably Alema to Jaina.
** Also arguable Jacen to Jaina, as they are twins, and Lumiya to Luke, as they are the leaders of the two groups between which Jacen is torn.
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** The gay Mandalorians--notable because they are the only homosexual characters in the canonical Star Wars universe to date.
* [[Go Seduce My Arch Nemesis]]: {{spoiler|Tahiri tries to do this to Ben.}}
* [[
* [[Harmful to Minors]]: With all the stuff Ben has to deal with, one can only conclude that Luke and Mara are absolutely horrid parents who cannot see a Sith in front of them. Especially when [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|it's being played as pedophilia the whole time]].
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Jacen. Oh, so much.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Tahiri}}
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** Ben gets a bit too. Luke and Mara were both trained as assassins, but when on a mission to assassinate Vader and Luke respectively, they gave up that path. Also, Ben seems to have inherited his father's [[Chick Magnet|skill with the ladies]], including being the victim of an attempted rape. (It happened to Luke in ''The Courtship of Princess Leia''.)
* [[Karma Houdini]]: The entire goddamn Confederation. The war started because Corellia's asshattery (Jacen Solo wasn't even in the political picture and the factory he raided with Ben was producing illegal weaponry). They try to assassinate Tenel Ka. They were led by war criminal Thrackan Sal-Solo and [[Smug Snake|Duur Gejjen]], both of whom were grade-A assholes. They used germ warfare on Coruscant and tried to use Centerpoint Station to blow up Coruscant, a planet with multiple trillions of inhabitants. With the exception of Tralus, Corellia, Kashyyyk (and only then once the Jedi showed up), and possibly Gilatter VIII, they got pounded by the Galactic Alliance and their fleet was defeated. Yet, they escape the war actually having more planets than they started out, no one blames them for pretty much being the dicks that started the war, and they are independent from the GA and led by a former Imperial. [[Was It All For Nothing]]? You betcha!
* [[Kill
* [[Knight Templar]]: Jacen/Darth Caedus firmly believes that what he's doing will bring lasting peace to the galaxy, and that [[Utopia Justifies the Means|all his murders, betrayals, terrorism and other crimes are ultimately justified]]. One might also make a case for Lumiya, depending on if you think she considers the Dark Side "good".
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]
* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: the whole reason behind {{spoiler|Jacen's downfall}}
** Also {{spoiler|Tahiri just had loved Anakin too much to let go and so was corrupted by Caedus}}.
* [[Luke, You Are My Father]]: Averted in oh, so many ways. Appropriately enough, the alleged father is Luke. Of course, even if Luke ever did anything with Shira, either she would've had Brisha when she was a Rebel (which we know didn't happen) or she would've aborted when she crashed. And shouldn't Mara know this already, with their Force bond? Of course, {{spoiler|Brisha is Lumiya}}.
** But played straight by Boba and Mirta. Except Mirta is Boba's granddaughter.
* [[Mama Bear]]: Subverted in Lumiya's case; she doesn't have any children, and it's a pretense to lure the REAL [[Mama Bear]] out. Done ridiculously straight in Mara's case (the real bear) - and leads to a nasty catfight between the two of them. One for my caution checklist - never piss off an overprotective ex-assassin.
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* [[Overprotective Dad]]: Wedge. Syal states that when she started dating he made her start carrying blasters… Wedge insisted on two, but Syal usually got by with just one.
** Han has, ah, issues with Luke putting his children in danger again.
* [[
* [[Psycho Ex Girlfriend]]: Lumiya, although she ''says'' that revenge on Luke isn't her real motivation.
* [[Putting On the Reich]]: GAG uniforms
* [[Viewers
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Ben Skywalker
** And [[Your Mom|his mom]]!
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** Partially justified, as the previous books had made a point of showing how Jacen had put a LOT of time and effort into winning the loyalty of the common soldier.
*** Until he starts [[Bad Boss|snapping necks]] anyway...
* [[Tangled Family Tree]]: Between cloning, Boba's carbonited wife, and a case of [[Luke, You Are My Father]], the Fetts could give the Skywalkers a run for their money.
* [[Timey
** Flow-Walking isn't really time travel.
*** Its more like visiting the Force's memory of events, and since the Force is you know, everywhere it probably remembers a lot.
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* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: Not very obvious, it lasts through several books and shows itself fully near the end of ''Invincible''.
* [[Villain Sue]]: In addition to Caedus's massive (and undeserved) in-universe reputation as the greatest evil mastermind since Palpatine, the plot bends over backwards to ensure that he isn't defeated until the whole nine books are up. In the first half of the series, nobody seems willing to admit that he might ''possibly'' be evil, despite acting like Darth Vader Jr. In the later half, even heroes who have Caedus at their mercy won't kill or capture him, for various trumped up reasons.
* [[Well
* [[We Will Not Use Stage Make Up in The Future]]: Dolling up as impersonators of yourselves is a crazy idea, seriously.
** Bringing one to a ''peace conference'' might be a bit of overkill. {{spoiler|[[Crazy Prepared|Pellaeon]] was ''right'', mind you, but still…}}
* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: The conclusion of the war which drives the first part of the story is kind of glossed over by the end of the series. The last book is essentially about Jaina seeking out and fighting Jacen, and ends with Daala taking control of the Alliance. The outcome of the war is unclear.
* [[What the Hell Dad]]: Luke. A lot. Just read the Ben parts.
* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: {{spoiler|Neither Fett nor Mirta can't go back to Mandalore because of the nanovirus which was planted there by the Moffs }}
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