History Headscratchers / JediAcademyTrilogy

** Re-reading the novels, to be somewhat fair to her she was outed by another who knew of Tarkin's tactics (Admiral Ackbar) and was able to see through them during the attack on Calamari (it does not excuse why she did not keep an eye on that cruiser in construction and warned the other Star Destroyer of it leaving orbit). This works less well for the loss of her penultimate ship (anyone else would likely have found fishy the Sun Crusher appearing and attacking them such way, unable to damaging them and so close to a cluster of massive stars), and especially the loss of the first one (the three Star Destroyers could have ensnared the Sun Crusher with tractor beams while another blocked their path) and the final attack on the Maw, where she does not care at all about a reactor going critical and press on. Not that it matters too much, as this is no longer canon.

*** Ah, I see, thank you. Not having read this series in a long time apart from ''I, Jedi'', I'd forgotten any mention of civilians being on the planet. In which case no, I don't think it was an acceptable target any more than Coruscant would have been an acceptable target back when it was "Imperial Center". Still, for all the problems I have with Anderson's writing I liked the Kyp character, and considering that Han was able to talk him down and get him to reform it makes me wonder why Stackpole writes him as a complete bastard in his contributions to the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series rather than writing him as TheAtoner like Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl did in a short story they wrote set in 12 ABY. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of Stackpole's writing, but it seems that as far as Kyp is concerned he simply can't conceive that it's possible to come ''back'' from the dark side and be a good person, despite that kind of [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]] being a major theme in ''StarWars''. Vader, Mara, Luke...those are just some examples of people who've gone dark and come back from it. And then there's Pellaeon, who helped Thrawn almost ''destroy the entire New Republic'' before he changed his ways. I don't think that Pellaeon should be written as a mustache-twirling villain and I'm glad that Stackpole didn't do that with him, but it puzzles me that Stackpole can wrap his head around the idea that Thrawn's second-in-command can redeem himself, and that Palpatine's personal assassin can redeem herself, but can't bring himself to believe the same about Kyp Durron. (And bear in mind that we have no idea how many people Jade and Pellaeon killed, how many of them were civilians, etc.) Inconsistency like that just bugs me.

** Re-reading the novels, to be somewhat fair to her she was outed by another who knew of Tarkin's tactics (Admiral Ackbar) and was able to see through them during the attack on Calamari (it does not excuse why she did not keep an eye on that cruiser in construction and warned the other Star Destroyer of it leaving orbit). This works less well for the loss of her penultimate ship (anyone else would likely have found fishy the Sun Crusher appearing and attacking them such way, so close to a cluster of massive stars), and especially the loss of the first one (the three Star Destroyers could have ensnared the Sun Crusher with tractor beams while another blocked their path) and the final attack on the Maw, where she does not care at all about a reactor going critical and press on.

* Corran Horn. Mary Sue or not? He does get to lecture Luke and point out a lot of flaws in the Jedi Academy Trilogy. But he also gets himself nearly killed several times, once by overlooking something Exar Kun could do, and has to be bailed out by Mara, Elegos and Luke. Additionally, the story is told from his point of view, so of course he makes himself look good. Even then he points out that he can't hold a candle to Luke in the final fights.
** In the original Rogue Squadron books, he's written as a bit of a Mary Sue--certainly, there's no question he's the author's favourite--but he also takes steps to avoid making Corran a total Mary Sue. For example, Corran only had the second highest score in his squadron after Bror Jace, shows definite CharacterDevelopment across the series and in this book for sure, and as you say, his recklessness and lack of skill are definite problems. So overall, I think he's a good example of how to write a CreatorsPet without making them a Mary Sue.
** Short Answer: He's an AuthorAvatar, but AuthorAvatar =/= MarySue.

** In the original Rogue Squadron books, he's written as a bit of a Mary Sue--certainly, there's no question he's the author's favourite--but he also takes steps to avoid making Corran a total Mary Sue. For example, Corran only had the second highest score in his squadron after Bror Jace, shows definite CharacterDevelopment across the series and in this book for sure, and as you say, his recklessness and lack of skill are definite problems. So overall, I think he's a good example of how to write a CreatorsPet without making them a Mary Sue.

** Also one minor point: Luke has not been completely absolved of what he did to the first Death Star, either by himself (he had plenty of guilt once he found out how many people were onboard) or by the galaxy at large. (I forget which book this happened in--''Shadows of Mindor'', maybe?) It's just not been brought up as much, and/or it was dealt with/resolved fairly quickly. It could be argued this is due to Luke being TheHero and thus given a GetOutOfJailFreeCard, except for the civilian/military, imminent threat/distant threat divide. But anyway, at least Luke and some other characters has acknowledged the OP's original point.

* Corran Horn. Mary Sue or not? He does get to lecture Luke and point out a lot of flaws in the Jedi Academy Trilogy. But he also gets himself nearly killed several times, once by overlooking something Exar Kun could do, and has to be bailed out by Mara, Elegos and Luke. Additionally, the story is told from his point of view, so of course he makes himself look good. Even then he points out that he can't hold a candle to Luke in the final fights.

* Corran Horn. Mary Sue or not? He does get to lecture Luke and point out a lot of flaws in the Jedi Academy Trilogy. But he also gets him sell nearly killed several times, once by overlooking someing Exar Kun could do, has to be bailled out by Mara, Elegos and Luke. And the story is told from his point of view, so of course he makes himself look good. Even then he points out that he can't hold a candle to Luke in the final fights.

** If you're referring out of story...it's because the narration specifically says she's supposed to be one. In-story? Bad writing.

** The Doylist answer is that Kevin J. Anderson is just a bad writer, and wanted to one-up Timothy Zhan's Grand Admiral Thrawn but had no clue how to actually write a competent (let alone brilliant) commanding officer. Her soldiers follow her because the plot says so. From a Watsonian perspective, Daala is a combination of out-of-her-element and having slept her way to the top, and her soldiers follow her because those were there last standing orders, and there really isn't an Imperial authority left (that the novels make mention of) to give them new orders once the Maw group comes out of hiding. As for why they don't just say [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere "Well, the Rebels won, lets go home"]] Daala may have very strongly implied that anyone under her command would be tried and executed for war crimes if they turned themselves over to the New Republic.

* Why do people think Admiral Daala is a tactical genius? She starts off with a fairly substantial force (4 Star Destroyers) and gradually loses them all. She seems to think tactical brilliance is "copying what we did last time" and expecting the enemy not to notice. Sure, connections (being Tarquin's lover) can get her there in the first place, but who's going to keep following somebody who leads her forces to a string of defeats. What's worse, she later becomes President of the New ''New'' Galactic Republic!

** Whether it's intentional or not is unclear, but the tactical genius strategies which got Tarkin to notice her were for ''ground assaults''. If Daala was commanding stormtroopers on the ground, she might do well, but in space combat she's out of her element. ''Death Star'' also implies that Daala suffered brain damage due to a head injury, which might also explain why her strategies here are so inept. This doesn't explain why her troops still follow her admittedly.

*** Ah, I see, thank you. Not having read this series in a long time apart from ''I, Jedi'', I'd forgotten any mention of civilians being on the planet. In which case no, I don't think it was an acceptable target any more than Coruscant would have been an acceptable target back when it was "Imperial Center". Still, for all the problems I have with Anderson's writing I liked the Kyp character, and considering that Han was able to talk him down and get him to reform it makes me wonder why Stackpole writes him as a complete bastard in his contributions to the ''NewJediOrder'' series rather than writing him as TheAtoner like Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl did in a short story they wrote set in 12 ABY. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of Stackpole's writing, but it seems that as far as Kyp is concerned he simply can't conceive that it's possible to come ''back'' from the dark side and be a good person, despite that kind of [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]] being a major theme in ''StarWars''. Vader, Mara, Luke...those are just some examples of people who've gone dark and come back from it. And then there's Pellaeon, who helped Thrawn almost ''destroy the entire New Republic'' before he changed his ways. I don't think that Pellaeon should be written as a mustache-twirling villain and I'm glad that Stackpole didn't do that with him, but it puzzles me that Stackpole can wrap his head around the idea that Thrawn's second-in-command can redeem himself, and that Palpatine's personal assassin can redeem herself, but can't bring himself to believe the same about Kyp Durron. (And bear in mind that we have no idea how many people Jade and Pellaeon killed, how many of them were civilians, etc.) Inconsistency like that just bugs me.

*** Also, Luke was following the order of his commanding officer. The Rebel leadership decided to destroy the Death Star, to the deaths of its crew are ultimately on their heads as well. [[NuremburgDefense That doesn't completely absolve Luke of responsibility,]] but it does mean that he shares the blame. And as pointed out, the Death Star had already destroyed Alderaan and everyone on it, was about to do the same to Yavin IV, and would have gone on to do it to other worlds. Destroying it (and killing everyone aboard) saved countless other lives. Kyp blew up Carida completely on his own authority, essentially in a fit of pique.

* Why do people think Admiral Daala is a tactical genius? She starts off with a fairly substantial force (4 Star Destroyers) and gradually loses them all. She seems to think tactical brilliance is "copying what we did last time" and expecting the enemy not to notice. Sure, connections (being Tarquin's lover) can get her there in the first place, but who's going to keep following somebody who leads her forces to a string of defeats. What's worse, she later becomes President of the New ''New'' Galactic Republic!

** Also one minor point: Luke has not been completely absolved of what he did to the first Death Star, either by himself (he had plenty of guilt once he found out how many people were onboard) or by the galaxy at large. (I forget which book this happened in--''Shadows of Mindor'', maybe?) It's just not been brought up as much, and/or it was dealt with/resolved fairly quickly. It could be argued this is due to Luke being TheHero and thus given a GetOutOfJailFreeCard, except for the civilian/military, imminent threat/distant threat divide. But anyway, at least Luke and some other characters has acknowledged the OP's original point.

*** I second that, Exar definitely just erased some barriers, but Kyp himself wanted to use the Sun Crusher.

*** The issue there is that (as Stackpole has Corran point out in ''I, Jedi'', that if Kun was controlling Kyp he could have just had Kyp kill Luke, instead of Kyp leaving and Kun spending weeks trying to find other ways to finish Luke off. Exar Kun influenced Kyp to indulge his darker side, but he didn't make him do anything.