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......