4000–3998 BBY: Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon

After a well needed break, I'm back with another post.  For this post I read Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon but needed to refresh myself to it's story so I decided to read it again.  I'm going to give a very brief summary so that I can return and add to this post later.  So without further hesitations, let's begin.

In this story, Ulic Qel-Droma and his fellow Jedi knights are sent to Onderon to help the people against the beats riders (exiles of Onderon who have learned to tame the local beasts).  After arriving on Onderon their ship is attacked by some of the beast riders but the Jedi manage to make it to the city before they are blown out of the sky.  When the Knights land they are brought to the throne room to meet the Queen.  As they are meeting, the beast riders attack the throne room and kidnap Galia.  Ulic pursues the kidnappers and discovers that Galia intended to get kidnapped and to marry one of the beast riders.

After meeting with the beast riders, the Jedi realize that Galia's mother is tainted with the dark side and is one of the reason for the violence.  They form a plan with the riders to attack the city and free it from the dark side.  After the battle ended, the jedi find out that the Queen is being possessed by a long dead Sith that is an ancestor of the queen and Galia.  They destroy this dark force and free Galia's family.

So far I've really enjoyed reading about the old Republic.  The story of Ulic Qel-Droma has been one of my favorites so far.  Ulic kind of reminds me of Anakin Skywalker.  He just shows the arrogance and attitude I usually associate with Anakin.  But of course Ulic hasn't become a Dark Lord.

I only included some important points from the story.  I fully intend to add to this post as I continue with this blog but for know I'd just like to continue and move on to the next piece I will be looking at.  The next piece I will be reading is The Sega of Nomi Sunrider (#3-5) which is collected in Tales of the Jedi Omnibus volume 1.  Until next time, may the force be with you.....

Update and Star Wars the Clone Wars

Greetings all!  I'm back with a brief update about my blog and the recent announcement about the new episodes for Star Wars the Clone Wars.  To start off, I'm planning on re starting my blog.  Lately (as in the past few months) I've had a lot that's been going on, but I'm back!  I already have half a post done on the beast wars of Onderon (with Ulic-Qel Droma) so I plan on finishing it this weekend when I have a chance then publishing it.  I'm looking forward to writing again.

Now to the recent announcement about the Clone Wars.  Lucasfilm has decided to release the episodes from season 6 that we were promised on Netflix.  These episodes (and apparently some other never before seen directors cut episodes) will be released on March 7 and they titled The Lost Missions.  Now personally, I am very excited for these episodes as they will add some sort of closer to the events of the previous season.  I haven't read very much else on what these episodes may or may not contain so I can only look forward to watching them when they are released.

Anyway... I just wanted to let you guys know that some more posts are coming and to convey what I just heard with you about The Clone Wars (which I am very excited about).  Oh! I almost forgot... It has been just over a year that I started this blog so Happy Birthday!!  I have really enjoyed sharing my thoughts and hearing from you so thanks to my readers!

So on that note (and until my next point), may the Force be with you......

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......