#Jai Maruk

[legends-expo]

Sometimes you just have to beg for the life of your padawan...

Watch the full panel A Clone Wars Novel with Matthew Stover and Sean Stewart now on our YouTube!

[graylinesspam]

I've been reading legends novels with my dad for a while now (we have a book club) and he made me listen to "Yoda: A dark rendezvous" SO I couldn't hold back this brain child. I hope it reaches the .1% of the star wars fandom that cares. (An everybody live/no body dies au)

When Jai Maruk was volunteered by master Yoda himself to take on a padawan he was sure the Jedi Master was trying to teach him something. After all it was his own disparaging comments that had prompted Yoda to bet him on the youngling's performance in the competition. Ever since he kept going back to that moment, wishing he hadn't accepted the wager. But at the time it had been so ridiculous. Why in the galaxy would Yoda be betting on the padawans and who was Jai of all people to turn him down?

So two months and two disastrous brushes with death later, here he was getting ready to be deployed again. This time with a barely force sensitive padawan to look after.

Trepidation was strong in him today but most of the initial distrust of his padwan had worn off somewhere on the crowded ship he'd been stuck in with her Yoda and the other Jedi for days on end.

Fear, anxiety, and a flicker of precious longing had replaced that feeling. As the war has dragged on Jai long ago dismissed the idea that he'd ever have a padawan. But the idea, tender as it has been since he was still being trained by his own master, had never fully left him.

He couldn't dwell on any of that though. He needed to allow his relationship with his padwan to grow naturally. That had become painfully clear in their journey to this point. Expectations were something Scout blew through like a reckless driver through sky lanes.

All he could worry about with any hope of achieving actual control was his own abilities. Since being released from medical He'd had to put in a considerable amount of physical therapy to get back into combat shape. He was always a man that lived in the training rooms. That might be the only thing him and his padawan had in common other than their stubborn streak.

Scout had been right beside him the entire time he was recovering. Not hovering really, just going about her day in tandem with his own. He remembers that her first master had been killed in the early phases of the war. His first deployment. She may be dealing with some feelings of abandonment. Or maybe She just wasn't well liked by her peers.

The other younglings still in the temple didn't bother to stop and talk with Scout while she was with him. And she was usually with him.

While he focused on restrengthening the muscles in his legs and arms from where they were weakened by injuries she was beside him doing cardio or core exercises or pull ups, crunches, lunges, bicep curls. Or even doing her own therapeutic exercises, like rolling out her muscles or working her fingers.

Those lightsaber burn on her hands weren't the only abuse she put her hands through and she had a complex routine to compensate for the physical strain she put her body through to keep up with her peers.

As Master Yoda had pointed out to him on their first discussion Scout was the hardest working padawan out of the bunch. She had to be.

He hoped that would be enough. That Scout could use her years of fighting ever single person around her just to keep from being trampled and use that will to survive the war.

Frankly Jai didn't know what he'd do if she didn't. He'd lost too many people already. And, very much against his will, he'd grown fond of her.

[ossidae-passeridae]

Might be some selection bias in your recollection of canon? Here's just a few examples off the top of my head of Jedi (members of the council) expressing love, mostly from central [George Lucas approved] canon. All emphasis mine.

Starting with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover, the official Lucas approved novelization of the movie:

The man he faced was everything Obi-Wan had devoted his life to destroying: Murderer. Traitor. Fallen Jedi. Lord of the Sith. And here, and now, despite it all... Obi-Wan still loved him.

"The Jedi are your family-" "No." Anakin turned on his former Master. "No, the Jedi are your family. The only one you've ever known. But I'm not like you—"

(Interestingly enough, later on in the book Anakin calls the Jedi his family when talking to Palpatine.)

"The greatness in you is a greatness of spirit. Courage and generosity, compassion and commitment. These are your virtues," Obi-Wan said gently. "You have done great things, and I am very proud of you."

Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice had gone soft, and his hand was warm on Anakin’s arm. “There is no other Jedi I would rather have at my side right now. No other man.” Anakin turned, and found within Obi-Wan’s eyes a depth of feeling he had only rarely glimpsed in all their years together; and the pure uncomplicated love that rose up within him then felt like a promise from the Force itself. “I… I wouldn’t have it any other way, Master.”

(there are honestly so many examples in the RotS novel, I've just picked a couple.)

***

Then there's Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover, which is all about Mace and his old Padawan Depa:

"She grew to girlhood in the Temple, and to womanhood as my Padawan. The proudest moment of my life was the day I stood and directed the Jedi Council to welcome its newest member."

Then later when fighting her:

These images burned in Mace's brain as he fought for his life against the woman who should have been his daughter.

***

Finally in the list of "ebooks I have on my phone right now" there's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous by Sean Stewart:

“The Universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light that can save me. Murdered Jai Maruk was when the looking after him I had; and Maks Leem; and all the many, many more Jedi I have lost. My family they were,” — Yoda on the Jedi

The Jedi show love and compassion all the time, at every level; from core canon all the way through to fully retconned works. When the "bad", "wrong" examples are the only ones fandom brings up 95% of the time, it's easy to forget the fullness of what canon entails. But it's still there :)

13 :)

Question from here

13. Were the Jedi right or wrong to ban attachments? What constitutes an attachment?

SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Attachment, as the word is used in Star Wars, is an attempt to translate the Buddhist idea of upadana. I… don't think it's a good one — I would have used rapacity personally — but uh, points for effort I guess. 

More than anything else, it's specifically and explicitly a cause of suffering. 

It's not love, not in any positive connotation of the word. It's coveting. It's greed. It's wanting to possess someone, not caring what their feelings are on the matter. Not letting them go, even if they beg. It's needing the next hit of a drug to function, even if you hate what the drug does to you, hate the person you become under the influence.

GFFA has an excellent post on attachment as we see it in the core lore (movies, TCW, word of god etc) if you want further explanation/examples.

So, back to the original question: are the Jedi right to ban attachments? (An aside: they don't ban it, they're not the church, but we'll ignore that for now.)

The Jedi are magical space wizards, with the power to cause mass destruction. They choose not to, because they've grown up understanding that they must be responsible, and live harmoniously with the world around them. This keeps both them and their society safe(r). 

Do I think people with built-in abilities to raze cities should be controlled by greed and fear? No, actually. I think that's a terrible idea. We had one darksider with Jedi-level powers completely destroy democracy in what was once the Republic after plunging the entire known universe into a years-long war. One. There are 10,000 trained Jedi Knights. 

I don't want to even imagine that universe. 

(All opinions expressed above are solely those of pass e. ridae and do not express the views or opinions of any affiliates or associates, passerine or otherwise)

[too-many-owls]

Be the maker of obscure shitty star wars memes you want to see in the world

[cienie-isengardu]

"Would you kill another Jedi?" Whie said abruptly. "If you thought he had gone over to the dark side?" "Yes." "Just like that? Aren't we all supposed to be family?" "Because he was family," Jai Maruk said. "A Jedi who has turned to the dark side is not a common criminal, Whie. His gifts and abilities give him a great power for evil." "You wouldn't give him a chance to reform?" "Once the dark side has you, boy, it doesn't let go." Jai cocked his head. Carefully, he said, "I hope, Padawan, you are not confusing a moment's weakness with a wholesale embrace of the dark side. We all have our vices-" "Even Master Yoda?" "Even Master Yoda! Or at least so he claims. I don't know what they are, though I will say that when Master Yoda is hungry, his temper does not sweeten."

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

[ilummoss]

Ah, the school placement convo. Never an easy choice in real life, but I do believe I know how things will end up in this case (because it’s a story and because I’m spoiled on it).

Also, Yoda loves dragging his grandkids:

“Maybe not,” Jai Maruk said grimly. “But children do not always want what is best for them.”

“Nor do Jedi Masters,” said Yoda dryly.

Grandpa knows you did not eat your vegetables last night, and he’s not going to let you forget it!

[jedi-order-apologist]

- I know ol’ Palps is a big doodoo liar pants but one of his line stuck out to me and I’d like to share my thoughts. He says “The Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way, including their quest for greater power.” Now, we obviously (hopefully) know that’s bullshit but I think it gives an interesting look into Papa Palp’s (and by extension, the Sith’s) philosophy on power in comparison to what we know about the Jedi. Hear me out. (1/3)

- The Jedi value and seek things like knowledge, wisdom, self-control, justice, and love. To them, these are powerful, however, these things are typically not associated with power—true power—in either our culture or the Sith’s. Be that as it may, in pursuing these things, the Jedi actually do gain power as it is traditionally defined, almost unintentionally. Jedi have combat skills enough to dominate most life forms in the galaxy, can influence the minds of other sentient beings, (2/3)

- and eventually even achieve immortality. These things are supremely powerful according to most definitions and yet they are not the type of power the Jedi actively seek for their own sake. But the Sith do seek them. And although they have the first two, the most of coveted of them—immortality—still eludes them. So from a certain point of view, Palps is right in saying both groups seek power. However what power means to each of them are very different. (3/3)

You could look at it that way, yeah - the Sith seek power to control others; the Jedi seek power to control oneself, and Palpatine either doesn't understand the difference or he's disingenuously conflating the two to manipulate Anakin (or both). But I think it goes further than that - the Jedi have power, yes, and they work towards developing their individual power as a means of using it responsibly, but they aren't obsessed with it or with gaining more like the Sith are. The Jedi have (or at least strive for) a healthy, cautious, balanced engagement with power - neither insisting on being powerless nor focused on being the most powerful there can be, but instead accepting where their power lies and how they can put it to use in the service of society, not over society.

I think Yoda's confrontation with Dooku in Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, where he challenges Dooku to turn him to the dark side, is an excellent demonstration of the difference in this attitude towards power between the Jedi and Sith:

“You want me to tell you about the power of the dark side?” Dooku said wonderingly.

Yoda had the dragon’s eyes again: half closed, gleaming under heavy lids. “Strong, strong the dark side is in this place,” he murmured. “Touch it you can, like a serpent’s belly sliding under your hand. Taste it, like blood in the air…Tell me of the dark side, apprentice.”

“I’m not your apprentice anymore,” Dooku said.

Yoda snuffed: laughed: stirred the air with his crooked stick. “You think Yoda stops teaching, just because his student does not want to hear? Yoda a teacher is. Yoda teaches like drunkards drink. Like killers kill,” he said softly. “But now, you be the teacher, Dooku. Tell me: is it hard to find the power of the dark side?”

“No. The lore of the Sith—that is another matter. But to touch the power of the dark side, to begin to know it, all you have to do is…allow yourself. Relax. We carry the dark side within ourselves,” Dooku said. “Surely you must know that by now. Surely even Yoda has felt it. Half of life, dark to balance light, waits inside you like an orphan. Waiting to be welcomed home.

“We all desire, Yoda. We all fear. We are all beset. A Jedi learns to suppress these things: to ignore these things: to pretend they don’t exist, or if they do, they apply to someone else, not us. Not the pure. Not the Protectors.” Dooku found himself beginning to pace. “To know the dark side is merely to stop lying. Stop pretending you don’t want what you want. Stop pretending you don’t fear what you fear. Half the day is night, Master Yoda. To see truly, you have to learn to see in the dark.”

“Mmmmmmmm.” Yoda hummed and grunted, eyes nearly closed now. “The dark side, power would give me.”

“Power over all. When you understand your own evils and the evils of others, it makes them pitifully easy to manipulate. It’s another kind of push-feather,” the Count said. “The dark side will show you the stiff places in a being. His dreads and needs. The dark side gives you the keys to him.”

“Hmph. Very fine that is, but Yoda has power,” the ancient Master said, examining his hairy toes. “I live in a palace bigger than this one, if I count the Temple as a palace. Dooku is a master of armies: but Yoda is a master of armies, too. So far, we are even.”

“Is there such a thing as too much power?” Dooku mused. “For instance,” he continued carefully, “there was a day when your power was clearly greater than mine. Today, however, I have waxed as you have waned. You stand in my citadel. I have at my command servants and droids and great powers of my own that I think would overwhelm even you. It is possible that at a single word, I could have you killed. And without you, how long would those dear to you last? I could have them, one by one: Mace and Iron Hand, Obi-Wan and precious young Skywalker, too. Surely you would feel safer if this were not so.”

Yoda cocked his head to one side. “Like Anakin, you do not?”

“Perhaps he reminds me too much of myself at the same age. Arrogant. Impulsive. Proud. I realize humility is high among the Enforced Virtues, the ones no one acquires by choice; but that being said, if Fate is looking for an instrument to humble Skywalker, I confess myself willing to volunteer.”

Yoda reached behind his back with his stick, trying to scratch a spot just between his shoulder blades. “Power over beings, need I not. What else can it give me, this dark side of yours?”

“What game are you playing here, Master Yoda?”Yoda smiled at the use of the term Master—curse him—and shrugged. “No game. Wasteful, this war is. Even you agree. Sent you the candle, did I: you know there can be coming home for you. Know this, both of us do, and if come back to the Temple you wish, I will take you there.”

“Very kind,” Dooku said dryly. “Decent of you to give me an arm to lean on.”

“Always catch you will I, when you fall,” Yoda said. “I swore it.”

Dooku flinched as if stung.

“But another way to solve the war there is. If you will not join with me, perhaps join with you I should. Tell me more,” Yoda said testily. “If power over beings need I not, what else can your dark side do for me?”

“What do you want?” Dooku snapped. “Tell me what you want and I will show you how the dark side can help you achieve it. Do you want friends? The dark side can compel them for you. Lovers? The dark side understands passion in a way you never have. Do you want riches—endless life—deep wisdom…?”

“I want…” Yoda held up the flower in his hand and took another sniff. “I want a rose.”

“Be serious,” Dooku said impatiently.

“Serious am I!” Yoda cried. He bounced to his feet. Standing on the desktop, he was almost as tall as Dooku. He held the flower imperiously toward his former pupil. “Another rose, make for me!”

“The dark side springs from the heart,” Dooku said. “It isn’t a handbook for cheap conjuror’s tricks.”

“But like this trick, do I!” Yoda said. “The trick that brings the flower from the ground. The trick that sets the sun on fire.”

“The Force is not magic. I can’t create a flower out of thin air. Nobody can—not you, not the Lord of the Sith.”

Yoda blinked. “My Force does. Binds every living thing, the Force I understand.”

“Master, these are games of words. The Force is as it has always been. The dark side is not a different energy. To use it is only to open yourself to new ways to command that energy, that have to do with the hearts of beings. Want something else. Want power.”

“Power have I.”

“Want wealth.”

“Wealth I need not.”

“Want to be safe,” Dooku said in frustration. “Want to be free from fear!”

“I will never be safe,” Yoda said. He turned away from Dooku, a shapeless bundle under a battered, acid-eaten cloak. “The universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light, that can save me. Murdered, Jai Maruk was when the looking after him I had; and Maks Leem; and all the many, many more Jedi I have lost. My family they were.”

“So be angry about that!” Dooku said. “Hate! Rage! Despair! Allow yourself, just once, to stop playing at the game of Jedi Knight, and admit what you have always known: you are alone, and you are great, and when the world strikes you it is better to strike back than to turn your cheek. Feel, Yoda! I can feel the darkness rising in you. Here, in this place, be honest for once and feel the truth about yourself.”

At this moment Yoda turned, and Dooku gasped. Whether it was the play of the holomonitors, beaming their views of bleak space and distant battles, or some other trick of the light, Yoda’s face was deeply hidden in the shadows, mottled black and blue, so that for one terrible instant he looked exactly like Darth Sidious. Or rather, it was Yoda as he might have been, or could yet become: a Yoda gone rotten, a Yoda whose awesome powers had been utterly unleashed by his connection to the dark side. In a flash Dooku saw how foolish he had been, trying to urge the old Master to the dark side. If Yoda ever turned that way, Sidious himself would be annihilated. The universe had yet to comprehend the kind of evil that a Jedi Knight of nearly nine hundred years could wield.

From the shadows, Yoda spoke. “Disappointment like I not, apprentice,” he snarled, in a wicked, wicked voice. “Give me my rose!”

To Dooku, there is never enough power. It's a goal in and of itself, and he's convinced he can have anything as long as he has enough power, even impossible things like never again being afraid, and he frantically shifts around the goalposts when Yoda picks apart the flaws in his logic.

Yoda, on the other hand, recognizes the limits of power and is satisfied with that, with what he has. And it's Yoda who has the much healthier outlook, here, who "wins" this debate. He doesn't turn to the dark side (what Dooku sees at the end of the excerpt is only a vision), and he renders Dooku very conflicted about the dark side (at least until Anakin shows up, and Dooku is so offended by Anakin's existence and his own conviction that Yoda likes Anakin more than him that he throws a fit and jumps right back into the dark side).

[gimblestank-the-goblin]

Dark Rendezvous was good yall

Yoda reached behind his back with his stick, trying to scratch a spot just between his shoulder blades. "Power over beings, I need not. What else can it give me, this dark side of yours?"

"What game are you playing here, Master Yoda?"

Yoda smiled at the use of the term Master- curse him- and shrugged. "No game. Wasteful, this war is. Even you agree. Sent you the candle, did I: you know there can be coming home for you. Know this, both of us do, and if come back to the Temple you wish, I will take you there."

"Very kind," Dooku said dryly. "Decent of you to give me an arm to lean on."

"Always catch you I will, if you fall," Yoda said. "I swore it"

Dooku flinched as if stung.

"But another way to solve the war there is. If you will not join with me, perhaps join with you I should. But tell me more," Yoda said testily. "If power over beings I need not, what else can your dark side do for me?"

“What do you want?" Dooku snapped. "Tell me what you want and I will show you how the dark side can help you achieve it. Do you want friends? The dark side can compel them for you. Lovers? The dark side understands passion in a way you never have. Do you want riches—endless life—deep wisdom…?”

“I want…" Yoda held up the flower in his hand and took another sniff. "I want a rose.”

"Be serious," Dooku said impatiently.

"Serious am I!" He bounced to his feet. Standing on the desktop, he was almost as tall as Dooku. He held the flower imperiously towards his former pupil. "Another rose, make for me!"

"The Dark Side springs from the heart," Dooku said. "It isn't a handbook for cheap conjuror's tricks."

"But like this trick, do I!" Yoda said. "The trick that brings the flower from the ground. The trick that sets the sun on fire."

"The Force is not magic. I can't create a flower out of thin air. Nobody can- not you, not the Lord of the Sith."

Yoda blinked. "My Force does. Binds every living thing, the Force I understand."

"Master, these are games of words. The Force is as it always has been. The dark side is not a different energy. To use it is only to open yourself to new ways to command that energy, that have to do with the hearts of beings. Want something else. Want power."

"Power have I."

"Want wealth."

"Wealth I need not."

"Want to be safe," Dooku said in frustration. "Want to be free from fear!"

"I will never be safe", Yoda said. He turned away from Dooku, a shapeless bundle under a battered, acid-eaten cloak. "The universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light, that can save me. Murdered, Jai Maruk was when the looking after him I had; and Maks Leem; and all the many, many more Jedi I have lost. My family they were."

"So be angry about that!" Dooku said. "Hate! Rage! Despair! Allow yourself, just once, to stop playing at the game of Jedi Knight, and admit what you have always known: you are alone, and you are great, and when the world strikes you it is better to strike back than to turn your cheek. Feel, Yoda! I can feel the darkness rising in you. Here, in this place, be honest for once and feel the truth about yourself."

At this moment Yoda turned, and Dooku gasped. Whether it was the play of the holomonitors, beaming their views of bleak space and distant battles, or some other trick of the light, Yoda's face was deeply hidden in the shadows, mottled black and blue, so that for one terrible instant he looked exactly like Darth Sidious. Or rather, it was Yoda as he might have been, or could yet become: a Yoda gone rotten, a Yoda whose awesome powers had been utterly unleashed by his connection to the dark side. In a flash Dooku saw how foolish he had been, trying to urge the old Master to the dark side. If Yoda ever turned that way, Sidious himself would be annihilated. The universe had yet to comprehend the kind of evil that a Jedi Knight of nearly nine hundred years could wield. From the shadows, Yoda spoke.

"Disappointment like I not, apprentice," he snarled, in a wicked, wicked voice. "Give me my rose!"

[legobiwan]

One of the many things I lament about have to do with Obi-Wan is why he doesn’t use jar’kai despite being, like, one of the best in the entire Jedi Order (and I’m pretty sure he knows it too (“YOU ARE MISTAKEN” as he ignited both his and Adi Gallia’s lightsabers while I scream loudly)). But why does he just use one?

You mean like when he did this????

AHEM

Anyway, this got me digging into the Legends info on jar’kai I think we can find our answer in there.

1) “It should be noted that the fourth form of lightsaber combat, Ataru, was also known to employ dual blades as part of its training regimen.”

Well, we know that Obi-wan dropped the Ataru form as a whole after Qui-gon was killed, opting to concentrate strictly on the defensive Soresu form. This would explain why he is proficient in Jar’kai (Qui-gon was known as one of the best Ataru duelists of his time) but doesn’t use it as his primary. 

2) “’…such fighters tended to rely too much on their blades, and pay too little attention to the Force.‘―Jai Maruk’s thoughts on Jar'Kai”

Obi-wan does not strike me as the type of person who is going to ignore the Force for pure blade work in a duel. One of the reasons he’s probably so good at jar’kai is that he is able to incorporate the Force and technical skill together, but I can see him not wanting to risk overusing a form that would distract him from the Force.

3) “Despite the advantages offered, Jar'Kai was not without its drawbacks. Firstly, as both hands held individual lightsabers, two-handed blows were impossible, and the duelist was unable to put all his or her weight behind blocks, weakening the defensive capabilities.”

This is self-explanatory. Obi-wan is more than strong enough (have you seen the man climb cliffs? If I were half as good a climber as his I swear…) But the defensive capabilities are weakened. You know that Obi-wan read all the treatises about the different forms, saw this, and had a terrible flashback to Qui-gon getting impaled. 

Bonus: “’What was to become of elegance and gallantry if a duelist couldn’t make do with one blade?’―Dooku’s thoughts on Jar'Kai”

While I don’t think Obi-wan would subscribe to this theory (which is hilarious and so Dooku), one could make an argument that Obi-wan would want to keep his form elegant and pure (civilized, so to speak). More to the point (thank you, Hondo), Obi-wan is all about containing himself, he rarely expresses his full power and abilities in the Force, thus keeping him a humble, good Jedi. But it’s in those moments when he doesn’t contain himself, when he decides he needs to play some dirty pool or the situation gets desperate - that’s when we see the real Obi-wan, the one who could dual-wield against two Sith at once.

You are mistaken, indeed. 

[thanatophobiic-blog]

         “I AM APROXIMATELY THREE-POINT-SEVEN SECONDS from Force-strangling Jai Maruk if he makes one more comment about these Younglings.”

@vitaphobic // luke

[legends-expo]

Please join us in wishing a very happy birthday to LegendsCon guest Sean Stewart, author of the fantastic and beloved novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous!

We are so excited to see you at our convention this September!

LegendsCon is a fan-run convention celebrating the original Expanded Universe books, comics, games, and other media that are now known as Legends. We seek to create an event that brings together fans in an environment that fosters positivity and inclusivity while we celebrate our love of Legends material. Our growing guest list includes Randy Stradley, Matthew Stover, Corinna Bechko, Sean Stewart, Barbara Hambly and Abel Peña.

We are an unofficial community organized event, which is not sponsored, run by, or affiliated with Lucasfilm Ltd. All event proceeds will go to The Peter Mayhew Foundation.

[teagrl]

@gffa has done a series of posts on prequel Jedi that I’ve found super interesting, particularly a recent one on what Jedi do with emotions, and I wanted to toss this into that conversation. I’m not reblogging because that thread would be massive and because this is not central to the point, more like support for a general idea and because I’ve gone on a tangent here on what to do with dark siders (spoiler alert I have no conclusion).

Of course, this is Legends and a lot has been discussed about how Legends is not canon, but it does offer an expansion on canon that I’ve always found super interesting.

This exchange is between Jai a normal Jedi dude and Whie a padawan (not his padawan) in which they discuss flaws and the dark side:

“Would you kill another Jedi?” Whie said abruptly. “If you thought he had gone over to the dark side?”

“Yes.”

“Just like that? Aren’t we all supposed to be family?”

“Because he was family,” Jai Maruk said. “A Jedi who has turned to the dark side is not a common criminal, Whie. His gifts and abilities give him a great power for evil.”

“You wouldn’t give him a chance to reform?”

“Once the dark side has you, boy, it doesn’t let go.” Jai cocked his head. Carefully, he said, “I hope, Padawan, you are not confusing a moment’s weakness with a wholesale embrace of the dark side. We all have our vices—”

“Even Master Yoda?”

“Even Master Yoda! Or at least so he claims. I don’t know what they are, though I will say that when Master Yoda is hungry, his temper does not sweeten.” Jai grimaced. “My own temper is not well regulated. It might be described as angry and resentful. I am too quick to condemn and too slow to forgive. I have struck men in anger.” Casually, now, careful not to place too much emphasis, “I have had feelings for women. This is natural. But though the dark side draws much of its power from such feelings, merely having them is not to have chosen the wrong path. Do you understand? It is the decision to dominate, to crush, to draw your strength from another being’s weakness that signals a turn to the dark side. Dark or light is not a feeling, but a choice.”

A couple of points:

1)To me this is more support to the notion that it isn’t EMOTION (”feelings”) that is at the center of the problem. Rather it is those (negative) emotions leading to destructive actions (”to dominate, to crush, to draw your strength from another being’s weakness”).

You can’t choose how you feel, you CAN choose your response. So that’s a welcome bit of nuance.

2)It’s interesting to see a Jedi who admits fallibility the way Jai does here.

3)It makes me think too of what it means to approach someone who has had a “wholesale embrace of the dark side.” The post RotJ EU treated Luke’s success at turning Vader as something to be emulated / a modus operandi for Jedi, but the more I think about it the more I feel like Luke bringing Vader back was truly an exceptional event that shows how strong kinship ties and Luke Skywalker’s own discernment are. But even with the latter it didn’t work with Kueller and by the time it did with Kyp, he had committed genocide. And so the problem is precisely that. Not necessarily the threat dark siders pose to light,siders, but rather the threat they pose to everyone else as they coast down to total nihilism.

So what then to do with them that isn’t say basically “cool story bro, still slaughter” and then use lethal force to stop them? It boils down to risk, right? As Jai says, a dark sider is not just a criminal, there’s the Force in play (hence the use of lethal measures to end conflict QUICKLY and DECISIVELY, it takes much more effort and is way riskier *not* to use lethal force). While you’re trying to turn the dark sider, that might give him an chance to continue hurting people. 

Do you risk the safety of vulnerable people for the off chance that this dark sider will respond/reform?

I think this is a variation of a problem I’ve called the Death Star calculus what I defined as “inflicting terrible damage out of necessity, to prevent even greater loss” and well, Luke doesn’t like it, because he certainly has experience with it.

I mean, there’s something to be said about the role of discernment/insight here as well. Luke’s ability to see the conflict within Anakin and know that he could be swayed. But, again, this seems exceptional. Obi Wan who knew Anakin and loved him dearly wasn’t able to see Vader’s redemption.

I don’t have any set answers to all this thinking out loud. I’m just left thinking redemption is risky business and wondering at all the uses that could have been given to ysalamiri, darling cop out lizards they were.

[cienie-isengardu]

"Frankly," Mace said, "I was surprised she was ever chosen to be a Padawan." The tip of Yoda's cane swirled slowly over the chamber floor, as if he were stirring the depths of a pond visible only to him. "To the Agricultural Corps she should be sent, think you?" "Actually, yes, I do." A note of sympathy entered Mace Windu's voice. "There is no dishonor in that. When you see how hard she has to fight just to keep up with children years younger than she is... Perhaps it would be kinder to let her work at her own level." Yoda cocked his head and looked curiously at him. "See her struggle do I, as well. But if you make her stop, tell you it is `kind,' she will not!" "Maybe not," Jai Maruk said grimly. "But children do not always want what is best for them." "Nor do Jedi Masters," Yoda said dryly. The burned Jedi forged on. "Let's be honest. Not every pairing of Jedi Knight and Padawan will be Obi-Wan and Anakin, granted, but the truth is we are at war. To send a Jedi into battle with a Padawan who cannot be trusted to hold her own is to needlessly risk two lives-lives the Republic cannot afford to throw away."

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

[ilummoss]

Jedi Master Jai Maruk clambered out of the cockpit. (…) The chief technician regarded him gravely. “You promised you’d bring my ship back without a scratch, Master Maruk.”

Grim smile. “I lied.”

Another piece of evidence pointing to the Jedi just being the worst when it comes to bringing ships back without severe damage. Even when they have promised 😂

[jedi-order-apologist]

I finished reading Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, and I have to say, I really, really loved it! Everyone who recommended it to me was 100% right - this book is great, and especially great in its representation of the Jedi. I think I like it even more than Shatterpoint, and I really liked Shatterpoint.

There are some weak points - it was a little slow to pull me in, and there’s a couple of Weird Legends Things™ that, with me not being particularly immersed in that continuity, don’t quite fit in with my conception of Star Wars (Dooku apparently having had a Master that was not Yoda; the infamous 13-year-old age limit (though I was at least familiar with that one), the Jedi being so far in the public eye that there exists a famous Yoda impersonator, etc), and I was a little iffy on how it handled the “Jedi shouldn’t be in the war” angle (I’m fine with there being Jedi who think that the Jedi shouldn’t be in the war. I’m less fine with an author deciding that other Jedi can’t find the words to defend their involvement, because that’s a cheap way of framing the argument), and a small moment of the “everyone falls in love” stuff I dislike.

But those were very small aspects of the book, all things considered, and pretty much everything else about this book is really, really good, and very Star Warsy - a very healthy mix of the wacky as well as the philosophical sides of the franchise, which suited my tastes really well. This book is fun - Yoda is the grumpy grandpa that he deserves to be, and spends a good portion of the book disguised as an astromech that gets into all sorts of trouble. Obi-Wan and Anakin have peak sibling energy in the handful of scenes that they show up in - Anakin at one point insisting that a woman would have to be desperate to want Obi-Wan, and only a younger sibling could possibly say something like that with a straight face to a man as attractive as Obi-Wan, as well as Obi-Wan lying to Mace Windu’s face to cover for Anakin and then immediately grumbling about it to Anakin that he doesn’t know why he does these things for him is such an older sibling thing to do.

Where this book really shines, though, is the serious stuff - the philosophy and the dark side and especially grief. What absolutely sold me on this story, and what made me sit up and go “this is going to be one of my favorite Star Wars books”, was the part where Yoda speaks to the padawans and helps them address and work through their grief. It was phenomenal, and beautiful, and absolutely everything I want out of depicting the Jedi - especially in the context that only a chapter earlier, Ventress had been hurling those standard accusations of “the Jedi don’t let you feel”, and this book wonderfully, completely demolishes that nonsense. This section is absolutely amazing:

Yoda set his bowl of gumbo regretfully aside. “Hear it working, do you?”

“Hear what?” Whie snapped.

“The dark side. Always it speaks to us, from our pain. Our grief. It connects our pain to all pain, our hurt to all hurt.”

“Maybe it has a lot to say.” Whie stared at the starscape hovering over the projector table. “It’s so easy for you. What do you care? You are unattached, aren’t you? You’ll probably never die. What was Maks Leem to you? Another pupil. After all these centuries, who could blame you if you could hardly keep track of them? Well, she was more than that to me.” He looked up challengingly. Tear tracks were shining on his face, but his eyes were still hard and angry. “She was the closest thing I had to a mother, since you took me away from my real mother. She chose me to be her Padawan and I let her down, I let her die, and I’m not going to sit here and stuff myself and get over it!” He finished with a yell, sweeping the plate of crêpes off the projection table, so the platter went sailing toward the floor.

Yoda’s eyes, heavy-lidded and half closed like a drowsing dragon’s, gleamed, and one finger twitched. Food, platter, drinks, and all hung suspended in the air. The platter settled; the crêpes returned to it; Whie’s overturned cup righted itself, and rich purple liquid trickled back into it. All settled back onto the table.

Another twitch of Yoda’s fingers, the merest flicker, and Whie’s head jerked around as if on a string, until he found himself looking into the old Jedi’s eyes. They were green, green as swamp water. He had never quite realized before how terrifying those eyes could be. One could drown in them. One could be pulled under.

“Teach me about pain, think you can?” Yoda said softly. “Think the old Master cannot care, mmm? Forgotten who I am, have you? Old am I, yes. Mm. Loved more than you, have I, Padawan. Lost more. Hated more. Killed more.” The green eyes narrowed to gleaming slits under heavy lids. Dragon eyes, old and terrible. “Think wisdom comes at no cost? The dark side, yes - it is easier for them. The pain grows too great, and they eat the darkness to flee from it. Not Yoda. Yoda loves and suffers for it, loves and suffers.”

One could have heard a feather hit the floor.

“The price of Yoda’s wisdom, high it is, very high, and the cost goes on forever. But teach me about pain, will you?”

“I...” Whie’s mouth worked. “I am sorry, Master. I was angry. But...what if they’re right?” he cried out in anguish. “What if the galaxy is dark. What if it’s like Ventress says: we are born, we suffer, we die, and that is all. What if there is no plan, what if there is no ‘goodness’? What if we suffer blindly, trying to find a reason for the suffering, but we’re just fooling ourselves, looking for hope that isn’t there? What if there is nothing but stars and the black space between them and the galaxy does not care if we live or die?”

Yoda said, “It’s true.”

The Padawans looked at him in shock.

The Master’s short legs swung forth and back, forth and back. “Perhaps,” he added. He sighed. “Many days, feel certain of a greater hope, I do. Some days, not so.” He shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

“Ventress was right?” Whie said, shocked out of his anger.

“No! Wrong she is! As wrong as she can be!” Yoda snorted. “Grief in the galaxy, is there? Oh, yes. Oceans of it. Worlds. And darkness?” Yoda pointed to the starscape on the projection table. “There you see: darkness, darkness everywhere, and a few stars. A few points of light. If no plan there is, no fate, no destiny, no providence, no Force: then what is left?” He looked at each of them in turn. “Nothing but our choices, hmm?”

“Asajj eats the darkness, and the darkness eats her back. Do that if you wish, Whie. Do that if you wish.” The old Jedi looked deep into the starscape, suns and planets and nebulae dancing, tiny points of light blazing in the darkness. “To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan.” His matted eyebrows rose high over his swamp-colored eyes, and he poked Whie with the end of his stick. Poke, poke. “Be a candle, or the night, Padawan: but choose!”

Whie cried for what seemed like a long time. Scout ate. Fidelis served. Master Yoda told stories of Maks Leem and Jai Maruk: tales of their most exciting adventures, of course, but also comical anecdotes from the days when they were only children in the Temple. They drank together, many toasts.

Scout cried. Whie ate. Fidelis served.

Yoda told stories, and ate, and cried, and laughed: and the Padawans saw that life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

I want to show this passage to every hot-take Yoda-critical fan who’s ever leveled that kind of nonsense at him. I want every one of them to read this and still try to tell me that Yoda is detached and uncaring of the galaxy around him. I want every fan who thinks the Jedi are expected to be unfeeling to read this and understand what the Jedi actually say and do and why giving into these feelings is the issue, not the feelings themselves.

The confrontation with Dooku is also amazing. Yoda challenges him to explain why the dark side is so great, and Dooku only gets more and more frustrated as Yoda is unswayed by any of what he tempts him with. I especially love this bit where Yoda lays out exactly why what the dark side promises is false:

“Want something else. Want power.”

“Power have I.”

“Want wealth.”

“Wealth I need not.”

“Want to be safe,” Dooku said in frustration. “Want to be free from fear!”

“I will never be safe,” Yoda said. He turned away from Dooku, a shapeless bundle under a battered, acid-eaten cloak. “The universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light, that can save me.”

That then leads into a bit where Dooku has a vision of what a dark!Yoda would look like, and realizes how utterly terrifying that would be.

Dooku also has abandonment issues on full display - lashing out at the lady who had given her son up to the Jedi, getting furious at her on the son’s behalf (but so clearly, his own, speaking of his own resentment towards his parents), and throwing an absolute hissy fit because he’s convinced Yoda likes Anakin more than him. I’m not kidding, he’s so offended by Anakin’s entire existence that just his mere presence in his house is enough for Dooku to stop feeling conflicted about the whole thing and jump right back into the dark side.

And there’s just so many good little moments throughout it all on top of all that. Whie’s dreams - and oh, I knew exactly what his dream of his own death was when he described it to Scout and it hurt at the end when he hugged Anakin while saying “I’m so glad you’re not coming to kill me!”. And Ventress, calling Dooku out on the fact that it’s so obvious that Sidious will end up replacing him (also for a more humorous bit - the fact that she apparently has some petty grudge against Anakin and Obi-Wan for stealing her ships so she goes out of her way to steal their ship at the end), and the droids, and Scout’s cleverness in winning the tournament despite her disadvantages, Jai Maruk’s last stand and refusal to fall when he was at the edge, and...so much, really.

And above all else, the book really latches onto the idea of Jedi as family, and you all know how much I really, really love the idea of the Jedi as a big found family. The idea that they consider each other to be family is driven home again and again, in their words and in their actions, and I absolutely adore this book for that emphasis.

[legends-expo]

Panel Announcement: A Clone Wars Novel

Join authors Matthew Stover and Sean Stewart in conversation on their contributions of fan-favorite novels (Shatterpoint, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous) to the “Clone Wars multimedia project”—a publishing initiative that told the official story bridging the three-year wait between Episodes II & III in real time.

Buy tickets now, and join us for a celebration of all things Expanded Universe in Burbank, CA on September 9th & 10th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/legends-consortium-2023-tickets-541786186067

Full Schedule: https://legends-con.com/guests-programming/