4006 BBY: Knights of the Old Republic #33: Vindication

For this post I read a Knights of the Old Republic #33 pages 2-11.  However, for the purpose of saving time later in my blog I read the entire issue.  I tried finding a physical copy of this issue but unfortunately it's out of print and my local comic book shop wasn't able to hunt down a copy for me.  I resulted to downloading the Dark Horse app for my tablet and downloading it there.  I would still like to get a physical copy of this issue for my collection so if you know of a way for me to obtain one, please leave me a comment below.  Let's get started with this post.

The pages that I needed to read were basically a flashback of Haazen. Haazen is a failed Jedi Padawan who turned to the dark side.  This flashback takes place when Haazen is still a padawan.  It shows us what happened to Haazen to make him become a Sith.  Based on Haazen's actions, he comes across as clumsy and awkward.  When we first see Haazen he is trying to follow Dossa, a smuggler who sells weapons on the black market.  She easily catches on to Haazen following here and decides to confront him.  This is where I observed Haazen being clumsy and awkward.  As a Jedi (even a padawan) you should be able to follow someone for a long time without being detected by them.  Being detected so easily by a smuggler makes me wonder why Haazen is even a Jedi.  So after he was detected by Dossa, she attacked him and beat him up. She even stole his lightsaber.  As she was fleeing the scene, she blasted the piller that Haazen was under.  At this point I was thinking that an easy for shove by Haazen would stop this pillar.  But he didn't do that.  Instead he coward in fear under it as it fell.  But luckily Barrison (another Jedi padawan) was there to stop the crumbling pillar.    

They return back to a large house where the people there are getting ready for a Knighting ceremony.  Two of Haazen's fellow padwans that he trained along side were Knighted, but he wasn't.  This made him go into an Anakin Skywalker like rant about why he should be a Jedi Knight (even though Anakin was argueing about becoming a master) like his peers.  At the end of this flashback, Haazen is made Barrison's pilot so that he could continue to be around him.

Even though I didn't really know what was happening around the flashback in this issue of KOTOR,  I found it enjoyable to be able to see what Haazen started out as in the beginning and how he was slowly changed into the monster we see on the cover as the years past.  The story line by John Jackson-Miller was very good also.  I see now how easy it is for a Jedi to turn to the darkside.  All it could take is someone they know and care about being lost or something like what happened to Haazen.  That's why the Jedi are not supposed to hold any emotional attachments to things.  They must keep there emotions under control or else they open up the door to the darkside.

I'm really looking forward to reading more issue's of Knights of the Old Republic.  The next piece that I will be looking at is Tales of the Jedi: Ulec Qel-Droma and the Beats Wars of Onderon.  Until My next post, may the Force be with you.........

4904 BBY: Galactic Timeline: Record 11: Rebirth of the Sith Empire

For this short post I watched another video featured on swtor.com.  It's called Rebirth of the Sith Empire.    One of the things that continues to amaze me about the Sith is how resilient they are.  On numerous occasions the Sith have been thought to be extinct only to come back and attack their enemy again.  The Sith also know how to hold a grudge very well.  That all started when they met up with the Republic for the first time.  From that moment, the epic battle began. Now, lets get to this video.

The video is narrated by Master Gnost-Dural.  He speaks of the very first Grand Moff and the role that he played in reviving the Sith Empire to its former glory.  This Moff is Odile Vaiken.  He played key roles in the expansion of the Sith Empire on Dromund Kaas and the rebuilding of the Sith navy.  One of the operations that he played a particpated in was when the Sith were killing the vicious creatures that were native to Dromund Kaas so that more room could be made for the rapidly growing Empire.  Vaiken also played a key role om rebuilding the Sith army.  Vaiken died during a mission that's objective was to conquer an alien role.

Master Gnost-Dural said that the Emperor played a small role in what Vaiken was doing.  I've read the Old Republic book Revan and it seems that the Emperor in that novel was much like the one that is in this video.  What I mean by this is that no one really knows much about him.  I guess this is his way of hiding his immense powers from everyone and only using them if someone rises up against him.  Now that I think about it further, most of the Emperors that I know of (like Emperor Palpatine) played a role in the beginning of reviving their Empire but soon vanished only to appear to give instructions.  I may be wrong with these statements because I don't really know what Palpatine was doing "behind the scene" of his rule, but there may also be some truth in what I have said.  I look forward to finding out.

For my next post I will be reading Knights of the Old Republic #33: Vindication.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you..........

4975 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior

In this post I will be looking at the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior.  So far I've really enjoyed reading these stories by John Jackson Miller.  Even though there's the  issue I pointed out in my previous post I find that if you really pay close attention to the story and the progression of the characters, it's a very good read.  This post will be short so let's get started.

Now it's been 25 years since the Omen crashed on Kesh and the Sith aboard claimed that they were the Skyborn (Gods) to the Kesh people.  But now the Keshiri are seeing through the web of lies that the Sith have woven.  In my last post I made a small prediction saying that the Keshiri would rise up against the Sith in a violent way but after thinking about that I believe I was wrong.  The Keshiri would never win in a fight against the Sith.  Unlike the Sith who have the Force and lightsabers, the Keshiri don't really have anything that would put up a good fight against the Sith.  The alternative way to strike at the Sith that happened in this story is a much better idea.  The Keshiri waited until most of the Sith were on the mountain top where the Omen crash landed.  Then at the exact same time, they stole the Sith's Uvaks (flying creatures native to Kesh) and rode off.  This left the Sith stuck at the top of the mountain and the only way back down was by foot.  

But another resistance was putting their plan into action at the same time as the Keshiri.  Seelah and Jariad Korsin were planning to over through Grand Lord Korsin.  This plan to kill the Grand Lord was going well until Nida Korsin (the Grand Lords Daughter) arrived towards the middle of the battle when everyone was injured or dead.  I seems that there were three plans that were trying to be put in motion because the Grand Lord was planning to make Nida his successor so that she may follow his plans for Kesh through.  In the end , the Grand Lord was killed along with Jariad Korsin and Seelah was left paralyzed from the waist down due to massive boulders that crushed her leg.

For my next post I will be looking at Galactic Timeline Record 11: Rebirth of the Sith Empire.  Like one of my posts on the Great Hyperspace War, this also a video featured on swtor.com.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you.........

4985 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon

In this post I'm going to be talking about the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon.  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series.  One thing that I don't like about the series however is how it all begins.  It seems like the reader is just thrown into what is happening with the Omen without anything to tell them what's going on. If you have read Crosscurrent like I have, you would know what's going on.  But for the readers who haven't read Crosscurrent and have no prior knowledge of these events, you will have trouble understanding what's going on.  Let me know if you see it the same way.

So enough of my ranting, let's get to this piece.  The story starts 15 years after the Omen crash landed on the planet Kesh.  The Sith survivors have managed to trick the people of Kesh into thinking that they are the Skyborn but some of the Sith are getting tired of living on Kesh.  They have been trying to find different ways of getting off the planet or alerting a ship if they pass by.  But the Sith leader, Yaru Korsin, doesn't see them leaving the planet anytime soon.  Groups start to form based on who thinks there is hope to leave the planet and who thinks that there is no hope of leaving.

Ravilan (nicknamed the red man by the Keshiri people) was one of the few remaining pure blood Sith (red skin and tentacle beard).  He was sent to the Keshiri city's to look at a new kind of algae that may be able to provide light to the Sith buildings.  While visiting these cities, he purposely let loose a deadly plague that wiped out the city's entire population.  Among the dead was a human and Ravilan used this to promote his cause of finding a way off of the planet (because the humans thought that they were immune to any disease that may plague the land).  But Korsin managed to find out what really happened and he had Ravilan killed along with the people who were following him.  In the final pages of this story, a Keshiri rebellion starts to form.        

It looks like the Sith have managed to overestimate the power they think they hold over people again.  Some of the Keshiri have seen through the lies of the Sith and looked at who they really are.  I'm hoping that there is some kind of confrontation between these Keshiri rebels and the Sith.  If the Sith continue to fight with each other and kill themselves, the Keshiri may have a chance of winning.  I've read the Fate of the Jedi series and in the second book they take us back to Kesh.  Even though that story is very far away from this story, it looks like Keshiri blood is within the Sith ranks.  I don't know if this means that the rebels I was talking about actually did rise up and won, or the human Sith population started to fall and they were forced to mate with the Keshiri in order to save the Sith tribe.  I look forward to finding this out.

For my next post I will be reading another Lost Tribe story.  It's called Savior.  I look forward to finding out what happens next.  But until then, may the Force be with you.......

5000 – 4999 BBY:Galactic Timeline: Record 012: The Great Hyperspace War

In this short post I'm going to be talking about Galactic Timeline: Record 012: The Great Hyperspace War. This is a 5min video in which Master Gnost-Dural recites the events of the war according to Republic history (here is the link to the video, it's the very last video at the bottom of the page).

Master Gnost-Dural starts the recording by talking about the impact the war had on the Republic.  He says that the conflict the Republic is in today is in many ways "an extension of the War".  He goes on to talk about the role Naga Sadow played in the events of this War.  He made me realize even more how much Naga Sadow was able to fool people into thinking that he was right about the looming threat of a Republic invasion even though the Republic did not yet know of the Sith existence.  He was able to use Gav and Jori to his advantage this way.

According to Gnost-Dural, the Republic made a huge mistake when the war had concluded.  They sent a fleet to all of the planets the Sith were in control of before the war and started to wipe out the populations.  The Republic did this for fear of the Sith secretly rebuilding and eventually launching another attack.  Even though the Sith lost The Great Hyperspace War, I think in a way they won.  The Sith managed to shake the Republic.  Before the Republic thought that they were invincible and that their enemy's no longer existed or were too scared to face them.  They were given false security,  and when the Sith attacked that sense of security was taken away.  By going to the Sith planetes, they showed that the events of the war troubled them deeply.  And in an effort to renew their sense of security, they killed their enemy's people and tried to destroy the Sith empire.  At the end of the video, Master Gnost-Dural wonders what may have happened if the Republic handled the end of the war differently.  Who knows?  many things may have happened.  In the final seconds of the video, Gnost-Dural speaks of a new Sith lord that has replaced Naga Sadow.  I'm looking forward to finding out who this is.

In my next post I will be looking at the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon.  Until then, may the Force be with you......

  

5000 – 4999 BBY: The Great Hyperspace War and Sith Alchemy

In this post I'm going to be looking at two sections from The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham.   I have always said and will continue to say that this book is incredibly well done and the information inside is extensive.  I'm going to try and include my thoughts in the paragraphs about the topics instead of having a completely different paragraph.  Now, lets get started.

First, I will be talking about the Great Hyperspace War.  The author of this article is Odan-Urr.  He recounts the events of the Great Hyperspace War and the role that he played in it.  This article is pretty much a summary of what I have read and talked about in my previous posts with regard to The Great Hyperspace War.  He talks about the nightmare he had of the Sith launching an attack on the Republic.  But his dream was dismissed by most people.  He also talks about the Daragon's (Gav and Jori) and how they managed to get caught up in the conflict (read my posts on the rise and fall of the Sith Empire if you don't know what I'm talking about).  He recounts how the Senators in Coruscant refused to believe him, and then the attack started.  The detail used to describe the attack was incredible.  I felt as though I was also fighting the battle.  I can imagine the helplessness the Republic felt as wave after wave of the enemy attacked.  But then came the realization that the Sith were using illusions to make themselves seem stronger.  At the end of the article, Odan-Urr talks briefly about the Sith Holocron he found.  In this holocron are the forgotten histories and lore of the Sith.  The holocron also kept an up to date record of the attack, including the escape of Naga Sadow.

Next is Sith Alchemy.  This is what Naga Sadow used to conjure up the illusions of the massive beasts and warriors they used in the war.  Naga Sadow tells the reader how to perform Sith alchemy through three blood sacrifices.  He says that "Sith alchemy gives one the power to alter the molecular composition of living beings and reshape inanimate objects." (pg 174).  This is exactly what Naga Sadow did.  He made up illusions that tricked the enemy into thinking they had very little hope of winning the war.  Even though Sith alchemy is very dark, I find it very interesting that someone who has the ability to perform these acts can have such a huge impact on the battle.  But, both the light side of the Force also has a technique that can be used on enemies.  In the Golden Age of the Sith, Odan-Urr uses a Force technique to help end the Civil war between Empress Teta's people.  This technique makes the enemy think that all hope of them winning is lost which is very much like what Naga Sadow did when he performed Sith alchemy during the war.  It truly is very interesting that one person can have a tremendous impact on a major conflict like the Great Hyperspace War.

For my next post I will be reading the Galactic Timeline: Record 012: The Great Hyperspace War which is featured on swtor.com.  I will try to post more regularly but until next time, may the Force be with you....

5000 – 4999 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn

Hello again!  In this post I'm going to be looking at Skyborn which is the second book in the Lost Tribe of the Sith series.  I found the content in this story to be very good.  I will give a brief summary of this story and then go into my thoughts about it.

This story starts out before Omen crashed on the planet Kesh and then picks up from when Korsin see's somebody riding on the back of a uvak.  The story follows Adari Vaal and here first encounter with the Sith crew of the Omen.  Before she finds the burning wreckage,  Adari is being blamed for going against the religion of the Kesh people.  In most cases, the person would suffer big consequences but since she is the widowed wife of a uvak rider, her status has protected her from being harmed.  During one of the hearings she is attending, a large plume of smoke erupts from the mountain along with large fires.  Not believing that the mountain is a volcano, Adari decides to investigate.  She takes Nink (her deceased husbands uvak) and flies to this mountain.  This is when Korsin see's her flying on the uvak in the first short story of this series.  She witnesses Korsin kill his brother and flees the mountain.  But later she returns and makes contact with the crew of the Omen.  She informs the people of Kesh of the Sith arrival but they mistake them for being the Skyborn (gods that the people of Kesh believe in)  and the Sith take advantage of this.  With Adari being the ambassador for the Kesh people the Sith enlist the labourers of Kesh to help them stabilize their ship on the mountain and to help them find the right metals to repair it.  But that will never happen.  

Like I said before, I found the content of these stories to be very good.  John Jackson Miller has done a wonderful job of illustrating the rich Star Wars history in each of these story's so far.  Before I started this blog, I was reading the Fate of the Jedi series.  The planet of Kesh played a major role in the story line.  But I wish I had of read this series before the Fate of the Jedi series so I would have had better idea Kesh and its people.  It will take a very long time for the Sith to actually get of Kesh because of the time between this Lost Tribe series and Fate of the Jedi (with Luke Skywalker).

I look forward to reading more of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series.  If you have any suggestions on how I can improve my posts, leave a comment below.  My next post will be from Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force part one The Great Hyperspace War, and part four Sith Alchemy.  Until the next time, may the Force be with you.......

5000 – 4999 BBY: Fall of the Sith Empire #4 and #5

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post.  I've been extremely busy lately. In this post I will be looking at the final issues of the Fall of the Sith Empire.  I will give a brief summary of both issues then I want to talk about what may have happened if Naga Sadow had of received the Lignan ore before the battle of Kirrek.

In issue #4, Dogs of War, Gav flies to the location of Naga Sadow to confront him.  He fires at the meditation sphere that Sadow is in.  And because of this, the illusions that Sadow conjured up for the battle begin to fade away.  This gives the Republic a new sense of hope.  Sadow lures Gav into the meditation sphere.  But Sadow isn't there.  He set a trap for Gav and the Republic fleet that followed Jori.  He activates his weapon that creates solar flares on the nearby sun.  Both fleets escape but Sadows meditation sphere is too damaged to fly, so it explodes with Gav inside of it.

In issue #5, End of an Empire, Sadow returns to the Sith Empire.  As he arrives in the system, the presumed dead Ludo Kressh appears.  He states that he is the new Dark Lord of the Sith.  They engage in a brief battle.  Sadow, not wanting to lose his title, orders one of his ships to ram the ship Ludo Kressh is in.  Soon after, the fleet of Empress Teta enters SIth space and engages the already damaged ships of Naga Sadow.  The Republic fleet obliterates Sadow's fleet, but Sadow still manages to escape.  He escapes to the planet of Yavin IV where he begins his plan to return to the galaxy and exact revenge on the Republic.

I wonder what would have happened if Naga Sadow received the Lignan ore for the battle of Kirrek.  I would assume that the Sith would have won.  If things had of ended up differently, Star Wars as we know it would cease to exist.  Instead, we would be reading more about the actions of the Sith and their effort to rid the Galaxy of the Jedi instead of the other way around (the Jedi riding the galaxy of the Sith).  I'm glad that its the other way around.  I look forward to reading what happens to Naga Sadow after he arrives on Yavin IV (if anything actually does happen to him).

For my next post, I will be reading The Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn it may take me some time to track down a copy that I don't have to pay for.  Until then may the Force be with you.......      

5000 – 4999 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice

In this short post, I'm going to be looking at Precipice which is the first story in the Lost Tribe of the Sith series.  I'm deeply regretting not downloading all of the books to my tablet sooner because now I'm not able to get the free versions.  Instead, I will most likely have to buy the collected works.  I will cross that bridge when I need to.  Let's get started.

This story takes place after the Omen and the Harbinger collide as they both try to jump into hyperspace.  In the story, we follow the Omen as its crew fights to keep the ship from being destroyed by itself.  Omens captian, Yaru Korsin, is determined to return to Naga Sadow with his load of Lignan ore.  They come out of hyperspace and crash on an unknown planet.  Without any way to contact the Sith fleets, the survivors of the Omen are forced to wait until someone comes to their rescue.  But tensions begin to rise as some of the survivors start to fight with each other.

I really liked this story.  I really admire how the author is able to pick up right were the last story left of (after Crosscurrent when the two ships collided).  It continues to amaze me when I read one story for this blog written by one author and then go onto another story that's written by a completely different author and the story picks up right where I left off.  The people who write these story's are true Star Wars geniuses.  I look forward to reading more of the story's from this series.

For my next post I will be looking at The Fall of the Sith Empire issues #4 and #5.  I also look forward to reading the rest of those story's.  Until then, may the Force be with you......

5000 – 4999 BBY: Crosscurrent (Chapters 1-4, 8)

In this brief post, I will be talking about Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp.  More specifically, I will be talking about chapters 1-4 and 8.  Paul S. Kemp is a terrific author.  He is able to grip the reader from the start of the novel to the very end without the reader being aware of the time passing.  Its really a page turner.

For those of you who don't know, this book is set 5000 years before the battle of Yavin and 41.5 years after the battle.  The story follows Jaden Korr but unfortunately I won't be talking about him for a while.  Instead I will be talking about Relin, a ancient Jedi who lived 5000 years before Jaden and his struggle to disrupt Naga Sadows attack on Kirrek.  Relin is chasing after his former apprentice, Saes, who has recently turned to the dark side and decided to join Sadows forces.  Saes is searching for an ore that has the ability to enhance any dark side users powers so that they are nearly impossible to beat.  In order to dot this, Saes completely destroys a moon that has an abundance of the ore.

 Relin and his apprentice arrive to see Saes ships mining the ore from the ruins of the destroyed moon.  They quickly decide that if Sadows forces were to be in possession of this ore during the battle of Kirrek, there would be little hope for the Republic.  So they set a plan in motion to destroy the Sith cruiser before they have a chance to leave the system.  Relin manages to get on board of the cruiser.  He sets charges to the ship's hyperdrive, but is confronted by Saes and the two duel.  Relin loses his arm but manages to escape the cruiser on an escape pod after the explosion.  His apprentice dies in an attempt to try and stop the ship from jumping but it doesn't work.  The ship jumps, dragging Relin behind it.  They begin their travel through time.  

When I read the back cover of the book, I got really excited to start.  That's because it includes Jedi from the past and the present.  Jaden Korr is one of my favorite Jedi and I was happy that I could read a book with him in it so soon into my project.  But unfortunately I'm not going to be talking about him for a while. 

The idea of a damaged ship trying to make it through hyperspace without being torn apart only to find out that they are travelling through time is also extremely cool.  It's like on of those old (or new) Sci-Fi shows that have people from the past going to the future without having a clue what happened.  Another thing that I found cool and interesting (because I have talked about it before) was the way the Force directed all of the people involved in the story together.  Whether it being a Force vision or accidentally coming across a distress beacon, the Force managed to bring everyone together.  The Force keeps bringing these long time enemies (the Jedi and Sith) together in very strange ways.   I'm not going to get into it too much right now, but I found it interesting.

I look forward to reading more about the events of the Great Hyperspace war.  The next thing I will be reading is The Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice.  I am assuming that this story will be about what happened to the Omen after it was damaged by Saes cruiser before jumping to Hyperspace.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you.....    

5000 – 4999 BBY: Fall of the Sith Empire #1-3

In this short post, I'm going to talk about The Fall of the Sith Empire issues #1-3.  Like I said in my previous post I got the Omnibus version of these story's and accidently read to far before writing these posts.

The story resumes with Jori arriving back into Republic space and she is instantly arrested because of her previous crimes.  She is shipped to another world in the Koros system where prisoners are forced to work.  Meanwhile, the Sith Empire is gearing up for war against the Republic.  Before the Sith can leave Naga Sadow's base, Ludo Kressh returns to continue his fight.  Gav hits a button on the wall that blows Ludo's ship out of the air.

Jori is able to escape the prison world by stealing a ship and makes her way to the palace of Empress Teta so that she can warn her of the impending attack from the Sith army.  Since Odan-Urr expressed similar concerns, the Empress is very quick to react.  Empress Teta rally's her army so that they can get ready to defend the republic.  Soon after the Sith drop out of hyperspace and begin their assault on the Republic.  The Sith make their attack on Coruscant while the Jedi Knights try to fend them off.  With them, the Sith bring massive beasts that can crush all in their paths.  That'ts the end of issue 1-3.

I'm surprised that more Jedi didn't see this attack coming.  I would think that the vision that Odan-Urr received would be enough of an alert for the entire Republic to take action.  But instead, they said he was dreaming and that the Sith were long extinct.  Were they ever wrong.  Not only did the Sith use trickery (their trademark) to get a foot hold into the Republic.  But they managed to put together a full scale assault in a matter of days.  To me that's pretty impressive.  Their hatred of the Republic must have had something to do with that (It's fairly obvious).  I have really enjoyed these comics and I can't wait to report on more of them as I go further into goal of looking at Star Wars from beginning to end.

For my next post,  I will be reading Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp.  I have read some his other Star Wars novels and look forward to reading this one.  Until I finish the book, may the Force be with you......
         

5000 – 4999 BBY: The Golden Age of the Sith #0-5

I managed to finish reading this book before the end of the month.  I got the Omnibus version so that I had all of the issues in one place but I accidently read to far into it.  I didn't realize that it also contained the fall of the Sith empire, which will be in my next post.  I really enjoyed reading these issues because of the action and adventure that I found around every corner.

This series starts out with with Jedi Knight Odan-Urr, who is a Jedi scholar.  He is in the middle of his studies when his master informs him that he must go to the Koros system to help Empress Teta finish the civil war her system is currently waging.  In that same system, Jori and Gav who are brother and sister await the return of their parents from a supplies run to one of the war zones off planet.  Unfortunately,  their ship is shot out of the sky and they perish along with it. Odan-Urr meets up with a fellow Jedi and informs him that he has learned a new Force technique that could help end the struggle.  This technique is called Jedi battle meditation. This technique allows the Jedi to change the mid of their enemies and surrender.

In the next part, Jori and Gav become hyperspace adventures, which seems pretty cool.  They get to put random co-ordinates into the computer and see where it takes them.  But this time, their co-ordinates took them somewhere that was thought to be destroyed long ago.  They landed on the doorstep of the Sith Empire.  Of course, Gav and Jori had no clue that they were on Korriban so they acted as representatives of the republic wishing to set up a trade route with the Sith people.  Just before the pair land, the Sith are mourning the lose of the Dark Lord of the Sith.  Ludo Kressh is leading the procession as his nemesis, Naga Sadow, approaches.  The two get into a heated fight but Gav and Jori land on the planet to offer them a distraction.  Gav and Jori are captured by the Sith and held in two different locations.  Sadow starts to teach Gav the ways of being a sith.  Later, Ludo Kressh attacks Naga Sadows decoy base and Sadow urges Jori to flee back to the Republic.  But little does Jori know that he has put a tracking beacon on the hull of her ship.

   I liked how this story was told.  I was able to finish all the novels in under a week without missing out on some important details.  The authors of these issues did an incredible job of making sure that everything was authentic.  What I mean by this is that they didn't have lightsabers that have a portable battery pack like in the Clone Wars or the original trilogy do.  These lightsabers needed to be attached to the belt of the user be a chord in order to receive power.  Also, the ships didn't look modern.  Some of them had sails.  I also got to see the ways a Sith manipulate people up close.  It was very interesting to see Naga Sadow being kind and understanding with Gav and Jori but in the end, all he wanted to do was cripple the Republic and let the Sith Empire reign victorious.  He also did a very good job of turning the Sith people against Ludo Kressh so that he could guarantee his new title.

I'm going to use this last paragraph to talk about the decision that was made to cancel The Clone Wars.  I really love this show and I (and many others) feel that a huge mistake is being made by Disney and Lucasarts.  I have heard some rumors that bonus content will be released, but even that may (or will) leave some important points to the story out.  For example, what will happen to Ahsoka?  I really don't think that this "Bonus Content" will leave me satisfied.  I'm not even sure if Captain Rex was in Order 66 or if he gets killed before hand.  I need to know!!!!!  I was OK with season 6 being the last one but now that it's canceled, I don't know.  I have found this website that is dedicated to trying to save The Clone Wars.  I am going to write to Disney and Lucasarts to show my support of The Clone Wars and if your reading this and like The Clone Wars, I hope that you will show your support to.  It's not right for the series to end like this after all of the success it's had over the past 5 seasons.  

My next post will be on The Fall of the Sith Empire #1-3.  Till then, may the Force be with you.........

7000 – 6900 BBY: The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space

Sorry for the delay in my posting.  I had the first half
of this written but with the complications of daily life I wasn't able to get back to it until now.

I'm going to be talking about The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space in this post.  These two story's are taken out of Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide To The Force by Ryder Windam.  The book is one of my all time favorites because of the vast amount of information inside of it.

I'm still having trouble deciding about how I should right my posts so I may do something's different for this post.  As always,  I will give a brief summary of this section to start out.

The Hundred Year Darkness speaks of the great schisms between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi.  The Dark Jedi discovered that they were able to use the Force to turn creatures into deadly warriors and because of this, the Jedi and Dark Jedi waged war against each other.  And this left many worlds in turmoil.  This time became known as The Hundred Year Darkness.  The Jedi won the war and the remaining Dark Jedi were banished into the far reaches of space.  There they discovered the world Korriban which is the home world of the Sith species.  After conquering the Sith species, the Dark Jedi proclaimed themselves Sith lords.

This section goes on to talk about a Dark Jedi who was present during all of these events.  This Dark Jedi was Ajunta Pall.  It was said that he slew more than a dozen Jedi during these battles.  His tomb has been confirmed to be on Korriban.  It was among the fist burial sites on the planet.

This story has the discovery of the ancient Sith world Korriban.  Now this is where things really start to get good.  With these Dark Jedi starting the process of creating the Sith order, this opens the doorway for new events.  I find it interesting that the Force guided the shuttle that held the exiles to the planet of Korriban.  By doing this, it's setting up the age long conflict between the Jedi and Sith.  I'm also thinking that the Force intended for this to happen on purpose.  Maybe the galaxy needs this conflict in order to prevent a greater evil than the Sith from rising.  Maybe there's a worse enemy out there.  I will be talking more about this in the paragraphs below.

Next is The Conquest of Sith Space.  This is the story told by Ajunta Pall of how the Dark Jedi found themselves on Korriban and how they became the Dark Lords of the Sith.  He recounts all the events of The Hundred Year war but he also talks about how they conquered the Sith Species.  Like me, he also thinks that it was by the will of the Force that they landed on Korriban.  With the help of the Sith, they were able to build new star ships and weapons so that they may one day return to the galaxy and exact revenge on the Jedi.

I'm going to try and expand on the thought of the Force wanting this rivalry to happen for a very long time.  Before the Dark Jedi were banished, they did still have a conflict with the Jedi.  But maybe the Force foresaw this conflict ending sooner than expected (due to the weakness of the Dark Jedi compared to the Jedi) and it needed to do something so that the battle would continue.  So it helped the Dark Jedi find Korriban and the Sith species.  By doing this, the Dark Jedi become Dark Lords of the Sith and their numbers began to grow.  They are becoming more powerful so that they can challenge the Jedi.  Like I said before, I think that the Force is trying to prevent something worse than war than happening to the galaxy.

I'm starting to get angry with myself because I'm having difficulty with what I want to do in my post and every time I think of something new,  I revert to my old ways.  Maybe I need talk more about what I thought of the piece than try and relate different topics to it.  I guess it will take some more practice for it to happen but I'll keep trying.

For my next post, I will be looking at Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith.  I just got the Omnibus version of this graphic novel which includes issues #0-5 so hopefully I will be able to post it by the end of the month.  But until that time, may the Force be with you.....

15,762 – 15,609 BBY: Xim at Vontor

 I am finally able to report back on the latest piece I read.  This piece was Xim at Vontor.  As I have said in my previous posts, I find it hard to read plays.  I don't know why but there is something in my brain that attempts to deter any effort of reading them.  But this time I made it!

As I started to read, I felt like I was loathing every word.  But then I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Before I go into more detail as to why, let me give a brief summary of the story so that you know what I'm talking about.

This story of Xim starts out with an epic space battle in the Vontor system.  The battle is over some kind of precious metal/stone on the planet below that all pirate factions want for themselves.  But Xim's fleet has the upper hand.  They soon win the battle and all of the fleet Generals are invited to the capitol ship for a victory feast.  Some of Xim's Generals have been conspiring against him so Xim sets up a surprise.  During the meal, he orders one of his Generals to kill the other in cold blood.  However, this General is one of the lead people in the conspiracy so he takes this opportunity to attempt to kill Xim.  The General fires the shot at Xim's head.  Xim looses an eye and the traitors escape along with his beloved Queen, Indrexu, who I see as the kind of person that follows whoever is the most powerful at the time.  Xim gets outfitted with new robo eyes (which is pretty awesome) and sets out to Vontors surface to claim his prize of war and to try and find the traitors.  As this piece comes to an end, Xim realizes where the traitors must be hiding and orders all of his war bots to prepare for battle.

Now,  this part of the story of Xim was enjoyable for me.  At the beginning, I thought I would be faced with singing robots like I was in the first Xim story I read.  Instead I was picturing an awesome space battle.  For me this was a huge improvement.  The way that they were describing the battle and where and how the blaster bolts were striking helped to paint an even better picture in my head. What really made it cool for me was when Xim had his eye shot out.  At this point, Xim is starting to seems even more ruthless (and now he looks more like a pirate).

I am starting to realize that it's battles and miscellaneous violence that hook me into a story.  I'm not sure why this is but when story's have songs and musical robots, it tends to push me away.  I can only hope that the Xim story's that I read in the future will be structured as this one was.

For my next post, I'm going to be reading The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space from The Essential Guide to the Force book that I have.  This is one of my favorite books to report from.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you...........    

24,500 BBY: The First Dark Legion

Hello again, I'm back with another section from Star Wars: Jedi vs Sith.  The section of this book is in part 3 and it's titled, The First Dark Legion.  It was nice to take a break from reading the plays about Prince Xim (even though I only read one of them).  It may just be me, but I found it incredibly difficult to report my thoughts on a play.  But enough of my complaining, let me give you a summary of this section and make a character analysis.

  This section takes place in the form of a data card.  The data card had on it the voice of Jedi Apprentice, Danzigorro Potts, reporting on the aftermath of a war between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi.  He died during the first schism between these two factions.  The leader of the Dark Jedi was General Xendor.  Xendor was a powerful Force user.  The Jedi Council, outraged by his acts of disobedience,  decided to wage war against Xendor and the people who were following him.

As the data card starts to play, Danzigorro Potts is reporting on the outcome of the final battle between the Jedi and Dark Jedi.  He reports on the death of Xendor and expresses how relieved he is that the war is finally coming to an end.  He is fantasizing on what the next day will look like.  As Danzigorro lays on the ground, bleeding out, he announces that he is the soul survivor of the great battle.  He then reflects on what he had to do during the battle.  Danzigorro was forced to kill his long time friend, Blendri, and her apprentice during the battle.  The pair had turned on the Jedi order and joined General Xendor.

After Danzigorro reflects on the great battle, he starts to go on about how much he loved being a Jedi and how he would never have done anything to betray them in any way.  Danzigorro's final words were about how he thought that the Dark Side wasn't the only reason that Jedi were turning.  He believed that the Jedi order needed to have an enemy or else they would create one out of themselves and wage war against each other.

The character that I would like to quickly look at is General Xendor.  The way that Xendor is talked about in the book makes me think of people in our real world we see and have seen throughout history.  The impression that I got from the way Xendor was described is that he was a well liked person before he took control; he was confident, cool, and had the kind of personality that everyone just loved.  In the history of our planet, we have seen many people who are like that.  An example would be Hitler.  Before the events of WW2, he was gaining the trust and respect of others so he could build up his power and achieve his goal.  I make this comparison because I find both of these men to be similar in characteristics (even though the traits that Xendor posses were only briefly described).  It seems that characters like this pop up all over the Star Wars Universe.

For my next post I will be reading Xim at Vontor.  Until then my friends, may the Force be with you......

25,200 BBY: The Pirate Prince (Xim week)

Greetings, I'm back with a look at The Pirate Prince. This story was part of Xim week on the Star Wars website when they still had the Hyperspace section (thank you to MKB for making these files available to me).  It has been a couple of weeks since I published my last post, but I'm ready to jump back into the Star Wars universe.

I'm not to sure on how I should report on this piece, but let me give you a brief summary and then I will do a character analysis of Xim.  The reason I'm unsure on how to report on this piece is because it's essentially a play about the life of Prince Xim.

This play is said to be written by Xim's court poet, Lyechusas, at the request of Xim himself.  Lyechusas exposed Xim and showed all the "ruthlessness and arrogance later dramatists caricature to staggering exaggeration"(Xim, Intro) that Xim possessed.   Some say that the way Lyechusas portrayed Xim is a strike at Hutt propoganda.

The play starts out with a chorus of Xim's war robots singing about how the people of mortal blood will eventually turn on one another.  "Calculate we try, to crunch the numbers, the anger, the hate, the ever pressing need to annihilate, one's master, one's maker, one's father.  Never does it compute"(Xim, Act 1).   The robots are confused as to why the mortals start war with their own kind.  The robots are brothers in steel and will not crush themselves like the mortals do.  After this song by the robots takes place, the attention of the play then goes to Oziaf who is a loyal servant to Xim.  He releases Xim from being imprisoned by a carbonite slumber.  Xim awakes in a flurry of confusion.  He then immediately wants to confront his father.  Xim returns to his fathers palace.  Xim's father, Xer, enters the scene with a woman that Oziaf described as being like a poisonous snake.  Xim believed that he was an only child but his father reveals that he has more siblings.  Out of rage, Xim exits the scene to slay his siblings then returns to the scene and kills his father.  Xim becomes the new ruler of his worlds and the play ends.

First,  let me start of by saying that this was a good story.  However, I'm not a huge fan of plays so I think that because of this I wasn't able to fully enjoy the Star Wars history and story telling and I think it also has had an effect on the way I'm writing this post.  There were a few things that I was able to pick up on though.  One of these things being the character of Xim and the way that he acts towards the people around him.

Xim has been exposed to many things throughout his short life which is the reason why he has become so ruthless and arrogant.  Xim tries to please his father often by bringing back various treasures that he has plundered during his travels, but with no luck.  Xer keeps the secret of Xim's siblings from him and when the truth really comes out,  Xim acts only as he knows how and slays these unknown siblings then drives a sword through Xer's chest.  All Xim has known throughout his life is betrayal and treachery through the actions of his father.  He is the son of a pirate king and has had to go through many horrible things in his life to serve his father.  I believe that if Xim wasn't exposed to these things as a child, his reaction to the truth may have been different and all the blood spilled would have been avoided.  This was not the case and at the end of this play Xim is still a murderous tyrant and it seems like that his path of destruction is only getting started.

I'm curious to find out if later on in Xim's life, he realizes what he is doing wrong and corrects himself, or if he continues on until the time of his death.

I'm still not sure if I am looking forward to reading the rest of the Xim week plays.  My next post will be on the First Dark Legion which is in the Jedi vs Sith book.  Until then, may the Force be with you.....
     

26,000 BBY: Dark Jedi

Hello again! I'm back with an analysis of Star Wars Jedi vs Sith part three: Dark Jedi.  I ordered this book off of amazon.ca and received it within two days of ordering it.  This book will be a great resource for this project because of its seemingly infinite history of the Force and other topics.

This article was written by Jedi Master Tionne Solusar.  In the article, a Dark Jedi is described as differing from the Sith.  In the Old Republic, a Dark Jedi is a Jedi who was part of the order but they abandoned it to pursue their own selfish and malicious agenda.

Master Solusar goes on to play a Holocron that was made by Jedi Master Sar Agorn who is a strange, blob like being.  The story on this Holocron is that of a young boy named Cope Shykrill who is a Force sensitive that lived on the graveyard moon Sarcophagus.  Master Agorn and many other Jedi found him on this planet and offered to take him to the Jedi temple so he may focus his skills of the Force and train to become a Jedi.

The next part of this story I found to be a little creepy.  Another Jedi Master had expressed his concerns to Master Agorn that there was something different about Cope, but he swiftly discounted him by saying that Cope is one of their most "promising Jedi".  One night Master Agorn discovered Cope telling a story to three other young Jedi in training.  Sometime after this exchange he heard screams coming from were he had seen the younglings talking only to discover the three young Jedi dead on the ground and Cope unconscious.  Later Cope reveals that he is able to communicate with shadows and they tell him to do terrible things.  These shadows tell Cope to kill Master Agorn but as he attempts to do so, Cope is killed by another Master.

This story was very interesting to me.  One thing that I found interesting was that Cope Shykrill was known to be a dark person since he was little boy.  Others were afraid of him because of his telekinetic power.  As Master Agorn reflected back on the events, he started to piece together the clues on why his parents were so willing to let him go.  I don't know if this seems far fetched or anything but I think that since he was an unknowing Force sensitive due to the fact that he was just a young boy who knew nothing about the Force (and he grew up on a moon that was filled with burial sites), maybe he was a little more at risk of being tainted by the Dark Side.  Maybe there was a Dark spirit on this moon that managed to taint him and that's why he was listening to shadows.  Perhaps we will find out in the future.  I'm curious to know what you think.

I can't wait to read more sections in this book as I try to achieve my goal.  I would highly recommend this book to any Star Wars fan.  It's full of amazing art and other cool things from the Star Wars universe.  My next post will be on The Pirate Prince which was featured on the Star Wars website when they still had the Hyperspace section.

But until then,  May the Force be with you...........    

36,453 BBY: Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi Force Storm

Dawn of the Jedi:

Happy New Year!!  I am finally able to start up Star Wars: Beginning to End.  It took a couple of weeks to obtain my copy of Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi but as soon as I got it I dove right in.  It didn't take very long to finish but I was having trouble on deciding how to start my first post.  Also I will be adding Wookiepedia links to different words in order to save time on explaining what they are.

Let me start out by saying that this graphic novel was amazing!  It was chalked full of information about how the Jedi first arrived on Tython and how the battle between the light and dark side of the force began.  I will start out with a brief summary of what this piece is about and some of the key points that I think are important then go straight to an analysis of one of the main characters.

The novel starts out with beings of different species being called to the Tho Yor by the Force.  These beings entered the Tho Yor and found enlightenment.  Instantly the Tho Yor took off and brought the beings to the planet Tython.  It was on Tython that the beings became known as the Je'daii (which I am assuming will later become what we know as the Jedi).  The novel describes the Je'daii as being heroic protectors to the worlds that were in the Tython system but it says that they also became "Mysterious, Even feared figures of legend".  This may be because of the incredible power that they posses through being wielders of the Force.  The main part of this story is three Je'daii (Shae Koda, Tasha, and Sek'Nos)  all receive visions through the Force that a great evil is coming to Tython.  This evil is in the form of a Force Hound named Xesh.  He brings with him so much evil and hatred that a massive Force storm brews on the surface of Tython.  The three Je'daii are called together to defeat Xesh and stop the Force Storm that is ripping Tython apart.  As Xesh lands on Tython he instantly is engaged in battle with three Je'daii.  He is badly wounded in the end but it was because he saved the three Je'daii from being killed by a monsterous beast.

This was a very well done graphic novel as I said before. I would like to look at the character of Sek'Nos.  The first thing that I found interesting was that he is a Sith.  Not like a Darth Vadar kind of Sith but the Sith species.  When we are first introduced to him, he is showing of his abilities to a group of Je'daii females.  At first I thought that it was nothing special but after some further thought I started to make some connections between what he was doing and what makes someone a Sith.  What made me stop to think about this was when Sek'Nos was creating a ball of force lightning to show to the group of Jed'daii.  That's when he saw the Force vision but what he and his grandmother talked about after stood out to me.  His grandmother warns him that Force lightning calls upon dark emotions only, nothing light.  She later questions him on why he always want to test the boundaries to satisfy his own pride.  But Sek'Nos treats it as if he did nothing wrong.  His grandmother goes on to say "You act without ever considering the repercussions".  The illustration in the novel shows Sek'Nos laughing down at his grandmother as she says this.  Maybe the Sith species were born to become evil.  I think that this shows that Sek'Nos is already down the path to the dark side of the Force because he is arrogant, he acts blindly, and he figured out how to create a ball of Force lightning by himself for crying out loud!

I would also like to briefly go over the character of Xesh and what I think of him.  Xesh has always known the dark side of the force, nothing else.  But when he saved the three Je'daii, it was because of a strange feeling that came to him as he watched them battle the beast.  I believe that this feeling was compassion for Shae Koda.  I believe this because as the battle progresses and it looks like the beast will win, Xesh starts to leave them to fight for themselves.  But he turns back and see's what they are trying to accomplish and he glimpses Shae Koda and I think he feels that he can't let them be killed.  This might be the start of Xesh coming over to the light side.  He's only known darkness his whole life, maybe he will find something in the light side that strongly appeals to him.  I look forward to finding out.     

I feel that these Star Wars history stories effectively bridge a gap that to me previously was unknown.  I found the artwork in this novel to be very appealing to the eye and I look forward to reading more Star Wars Graphic novels in the future.  The next piece I will be reading is Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force (Part Three: Dark Jedi).  Since this was my first post, I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions on how I can improve in my writing or if I got something wrong please let me know and I'll take a look.

Until my next post, may the Force be with you.....