3964-3963 BBY: The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol

I’m going to call this post “Fixing George’s mistake”.

Remember back in ’99, when we all anticipated the release of the Phantom Menace? Remember how excited we were? Remember how we thought that this movie was going to be the best Star Wars movie ever?!? Remember how disappointment crept in to our subconscious when we left the theatre? Sure the lightsaber duel between Maul and Kenobi was awesome, but… Jar Jar Binks aside…

Midichlorians?!? Seriously?!? The Force is a genetic/biological entity?!? Whaaaaaaat???

***

In The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol, the protagonist, our old friend “the flesh carver” from the KOTOR comic series, narrates his journey from the beginnings of flashpoint station, to being captured by Rohlan “The Runner”.

The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol offers the reader a few interesting perspectives on the events of the KOTOR comic series. From Demagol’s complete incomprehension of Marn and his relationship to Zayne, to some interesting Mandalorian perspectives on the Jedi, to his fear of Squint/ Malak. Demagol’s most interesting thoughts, however, concern the Force, and that unexplainable equation which makes a Jedi a Jedi.

The Journal starts with ideological tension between Demagol and Cassus Fett, and how they envision the Mandalorian war machine. From Demagol’s perspective: “Fett sees the Mandalorians as a blunt weapon. I will craft them into a scalpel”. It is Demagol’s ambition to unlock the genetic secret of the Jedi, and use that biological answer to augment the Mandalorian forces, so they too may use the Force.

There are a few funny lines in this story, all dealing with Demagol’s incomprehension of Marn and Zayne’s relationship: “The boy -- they call him Zayne -- seems to be no Jedi, after all, but some kind of reject. He is moving around junk at the bidding of a Snivvian. I have always wondered what happens to Jedi who fail to reach knighthood. It appears they are made to become orderlies for smugglers. A strange practice.” Not only did I find this amusing, but also Demagol’s references to Marn as “The Lord of this vessel”, and Marn as Zayne’s “Snivvian overlord”.

In hearing about Zayne’s predicament, and how some in the Jedi order framed Zayne for murder, Demagol mused at the view most people had of the Jedi order: “For such a revered body, the Jedi order may be as fraught with intrigue as the Mandalorians are”. What I found most interesting about this line was not the bit on intrigue, but that even the Mandalorian view the Jedi order as a “revered body”.

I found JJM’s numbering of one of the entries clever. In first mentioning Malak in this story, or Squit as he is known at this time in history, Demagol’s entry is marked #6066. Drop the 0 and we have the sign of the beast. Demagol also goes on to say that: “He would not want to meet this one in a darkened alley”. Demagol tortures Squit significantly, and through this torture we see how Squit begins his transformation to the darkside: “he endures all wearing a look of sheer hate even I can recognize”. Later on in the journal, Demagol flat out says “I fear his presence”. Strong words coming from a trained Mandalorian.

All discussions of clever dialogue aside, I found that the most interesting part of this story was Demagol’s view of the Force. I think in this tale Miller is attempting to correct, what I deem, is one of the biggest mistakes ever made to Star Wars mythology, and to the continuity of the Star Wars story. Bringing this post back to my opening statements, in the Phantom Menace, Lucas gave us a scientific explanation of the Force. As the conversation between Anakin and Qui-Gon went, midi-chlorians are: “...microscopic life-forms that reside within the cells of all living things and communicate with the Force”. With this explanation, The Force moved from an unexplainable, mysterious thing, so something which could be documented, categorized, numbered, and labeled. The Force was now the stuff of laboratory experimentation. To continue in the vein of my last few posts, it went from the realm of the mysterious sacred, to the realm of the secular scientific.

With this small tale, I think that Miller is attempting to rescue the Force for us.

Demagol makes the transition from believing the Force is something genetic, something which can be controlled by science, to almost believing that the Force is something to be awed by: “Pulsipher rejects my conclusions that "Force powers" are inborn genetic traits -- natural mutations, that any being can be modified to have. What does he think gives Jedi their powers? Why, magic, of course! Mystic talismans and trinkets, that's what he believes!” Indeed, it is also what I myself want to believe. By the end of the tale, however, Demagol’s tune has begun to change: “ I am half-prepared to believe this “Force” is an actual external phenomenon”.

This ‘half-thought’ is then again echoed by Rohlan at the end of the tale: “He was wrong about Jedi” says the Mandalorian of Demagol. Demagol was indeed wrong about the Jedi and the Force, as I believe Lucas was wrong about the Jedi and the Force as well. Even though Lucas created “the Force” of this world, I think he has lost touch with what it represents. He no longer follows ‘the will of the Force’. But who am I to question Lucas’ Star Wars, and who is Miller to correct Lucas’ mythology? The people have been telling the Emperor he has no clothes on for some time now.

Regardless, thank you for trying to save the Force JJM. I appreciate your effort.

For my next post I’ll be moving on to a very special source of Star Wars history, and a genre not yet covered in the chronology project: The timelines offered by the developers of The Old Republic MMO. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.

4975 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior

Believe it or not, I’m glad JJM wrote a fourth installment to his Lost Tribe of the Sith series. I ended the third volume with the sentiment that I was glad to be done with his work. But now at the end of the fourth volume I’m left wanting more. His prose was easier to read this time around as well.
The fourth installment of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series finds Yaru Korsin, the Grand Lord of the Sith on Kesh, at the centre of assassination plots and schemes of spite.

In true Sith fashion, power struggles and coups have come to fruition as Commander Korsin celebrates his people’s 25th anniversary of being on Kesh. The Sith, under the leadership of Korsin, have decided to leave the top of the mountain, and live among the Keshiri in their villages.

After the move down the mountain, Seelah, Korsin’s wife, unraveled her plans for control, which consisted of placing her own son, Jariad (both nephew and step-son to Yaru) as Grand Lord. Her plans did not come about however, as Yaru Korsin had his own daughter secretly trained and poised to challenge her half brother and mother for leadership.

The story ends with Yaru Korsin and his faithful servant Gloyd killed in the coup, Seelah crippled, Jariad dead, and Nida Korsin the new leader of the Sith on Kesh. The way this all came about was intriguing and fast paced, and as I said earlier, I really enjoyed the ending of this series (if it has indeed ended).

The most interesting storyline in this novella however, was the Keshiri plot headed by Adari Vaal. Instead of collecting the Keshiri to challenge the 600 Sith on Kesh in some sort of civil war, she decided to steal the Sith’s only mode of transportation, the uvak flyers, and take the creatures along with her people to a distant and remote part of the planet where I assume they intend to rebuild and live free of Sith rule. Nida Korsin was not aware to the extent of the Keshiri plans, but as she puts it, the Keshiri: “…plunged themselves into a pit of lava. In spite – or fear. It doesn’t matter” (LTOTS 30). Even though Miller makes it clear that Nida does not really know where the Keshiri have gone, she is dead on with their motivation. I found this plot line a-typical, and really enjoyed it. I thought for sure there would be some sort of reckoning of the Keshiri and the Sith, but Adari Vaal’s move was one of spite. I enjoyed where Miller brought this story. I enjoyed how Miller ended it.

In the last volume of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series, I was attempting to come to terms with the idea of a “Sith Empire”, or as I had put it an “Empire of pure evil”. I was attempting to understand with how an Empire of evil can get anything done, because at some point co-operation has to occur. The idea simply did not make any sense to me.

After going through the KOTOR video game, and reading the first four chapters of Crosscurrent, and coming across some interesting lines in LTOTS 4, the idea of a Sith Empire, or Sith culture began to make a little more sense to me. The way I now understand the Sith empire, is through the view-point of a capitalist/corporate/imperialist society. The Sith Empire and how I now understand it, works very much like our own secular humanist culture, just ramped-up and caricatured. A caricature is never accurate, but contains kernels of truth. One simply needs to pull a headline from a newspaper to see what I mean: power, greed, and fear are the underpinnings of our daily lives. Examples such as the Enron debacle, the Bernie Madoff affair, the BP oil spill, the disrespect for the common worker, the unfair treatment of educated immigrants, etcetera. This is all Sith: control of power by the few, subjugation of the many by the wealthy, and the exaltation of the self. (For the record this is not what I actually believe of Western culture, I believe there is more to Western culture than just this, but I can’t fully argue against this viewpoint if someone else were to understand and believe that this is, in truth, what consumerist North America culture really is).

What I found interesting about Savior, was that Yaru Korsin had to work against the fundamental philosophies of Sith culture in order to survive: “ So many people, so many ambitions to manage. It was why Korsin had allowed them to think that he had indeed activated the emergency beacon once, before it failed. The prospect of departure had the power to unite; so did the specter of the arrival of a punishing superior power” (LTOTS 2). If Krosin did not lie to his people, Sith power struggles and raging ambition would tear the society apart. He had to work against what his society stood for, in order to keep it standing.

I think I’m on to something with my Sith vs. Jedi, secular vs. sacred comparison. In order for secular humanism to really work, it has to release the grasp the sacred world holds over its people. One way to do this is to call into question the idea of the divine, or to make foolish the belief in anything beyond the self. This is what Yaru Korsin does with the Keshiri, yet with an ironic twist. He uses the sacred as a tool of control: “Everywhere he’d look in this palace, the Keshiri had plastered something depicting his divinity. He chuckled to himself. We’ve really done a sales job” (LTOTS 11). The secular world needs to make belief in divinity a “sales job” in order for it to eventually be called into question.

Sith culture in this story also works as an imperialist society: “Adari brought people claiming to be the Skyborn into their midst to reshape the Keshiri standards” (LTOTS pg 13). Like the British brining “civilization” to India, circa the 1800’s, The Sith are bringing a “higher standard” of living to the Keshiri.

In my grade 12 Religion class, I show my students a documentary called Affluenza, which begins our discussions on how media affects self image and self esteem. Needless to say we quickly figure out that the basic message behind a lot of marketing is “you suck, so buy our product and you won’t suck anymore”. This is especially important for girls, as they are constantly bombarded with unrealistic expectations of femininity. Keeping people dissatisfied with their current position, and hungering for more is also what I deem as Sith in nature, and the constant pursuit of perfection, of a “higher standard”, is what keeps Sith culture competitive, cutthroat, and apathetic to dignity.

Seelah Korsin, in her pursuit of Sith perfection, kept among the humans on Kesh this hunger and desire for a perfect body image: “But the Sith were already more pleasing to look at. She’d instilled in the younglings a respect for their bodies, a lust for physical perfection.” (pg 16). I think what makes Sith the embodiment of evil, is that it twists virtue into vice. Seelah installed “respect for their bodies” which is the virtue, but twisted the virtue into the vice of vanity by making sure the younglings then “lusted for physical perfection”.

All-in-all I enjoyed the fourth installment of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, and I’m looking forward to JJM’s new project Knight Errant. Though I’m not sure what I’m going to do to fit it into the chronology project. I suspect, and partially hope, that I’ll be beyond that era in Star Wars history when Knight Errant will be eventually released, so I may have to simply make posts here and there throughout the project to include it, or perhaps ignore it all-together, wait for it to wrap up completely, then tackle it as a comprehensive whole. I don’t know. Much remains to be seen. Though, as a Star Wars fan, and author of a Star Wars Chronology Project, this is a good problem to have. It shows just how deep this world really is, and how abundant in story the world of Star Wars has to offer.

I’m going to continue with my back-logging of Star Wars history with another piece by JJM: The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol. Once I’m done with that I’ll be looking at one of the timelines offered by http://www.swtor.com/, which discusses some of the details of Star Wars history after the KOTOR comic, and before the KOTOR video game. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.

5000-4999 BBY: Crosscurrent

I make this post with great hesitation.

Besides the fact that I’m back-posting on Star Wars history, and my own blog’s chronological unity has been broken again, I’m hesitant because posting on this novel in its proper timelines requires me to break the unity of the novel’s plot, which is something that does not still well with me. I have yet to decide what takes priority in the SWCP: stories as a whole, or the chronological line they follow in Star Wars history.

I ran into this problem before with the KOTOR comic series, where in issue 33, there were several flashbacks to the Barrison/Hazzan relationship. Back then, I had made the decision that I didn’t want to deal with flashbacks, but rather I’d prefer to deal with a source text as a whole, and engage with any flashbacks the medium presented in the context of its narrative. Then I posted that I regretted that decision when I had finally reached volume 6 of the KOTOR series. So now I am unsure as to what to do when a source text is broken up into several timeframes.

Looking ahead in the project, to books like Legacy of the Jedi, The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader, each are scatted all over the Star Wars timeline, and I’m going to have to make the call: Do I deal with each chapter and page as Joe Bongiorno has properly delineated as chronologically correct? Or do I follow the spirit of what this blog is all about, which is a PhD in Star Wars-ology, and simply read a book as a whole when it enters Star Wars history?

By virtue of this post, I guess I have decided to follow Star Wars history at the expense of a novel’s unity of plot, which, like I’ve said, does not sit well with me. I could possibly be dealing with the same novel four or five times in this project and I’m bothered by this notion. I think I’d rather make a post about Crosscurrent as a whole in what is its proper chronological context at 41.5 ABY, yet here I am, making a post about Crosscurrent’s first four chapters.

At the end of the day, I understand that it does not have to be one way or the other. This is, after all, my blog and I can do with it what I want. So, with all that being said, I make my post today with the disclaimer ‘I don’t like braking up the unity of a text, but for the most part, this is something that I’m going to be doing – but not always’.

Moving on, Crosscurrent, by Paul S. Kemp, begins its story in 5000 BBY, and situates itself at the heart of the Great Hyperspace War. In this narrative we are privy to the events which set in motion the dramatic dealings of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series. In its first four chapters, background is give to the lines in JJM’s story: “Fully loaded with Lignan crystals, Harbinger and Omen had readied to leave Phaegon III for the front when a Jedi starfighter tested the mining fleet’s defenses.” (LTOTS 1, PG 3).

In Crosscurrent we learn why the Harbinger failed, why it careened into the Omen, who was piloting that “Jedi starfighter” and why, and what fate awaited the crew of the Sith ships. We also learn about the fallen Jedi Saes, who Commander Korsin regarded while his own ship was plummeting to the planet of Kesh.

Again, I wish I had dealt with this source in its chronological order, because it made much sense of the first book of JJM’s Lost Tribe of the Sith series. Lines like: “Saes, captain of the Harbinger, was a fallen Jedi: an unknown quantity. You couldn’t trust someone the Jedi couldn’t trust, and they would trust just about anyone”. I remember reading that line and being mildly irritated by it because the way it was written almost felt like as a reader I was stupid for not knowing what JJM was referencing. Well, now I do.

I have three points I’d like to discuss in today’s post: the first being Sith philosophy, the second being the nature of the Force as presented in Crosscurrent, and the third being the element of the “retcon”, and how the retcon’s presented in this work (as well as in JJM’s material) has affected Star Wars history.

Firstly, a line that jumped out at me in this book was: “There was no absolute right or wrong” (pg 3), which I think speaks heavily to Sith philosophy. This is a thought which Saes, the fallen Jedi, thinks as he destroys an entire moon to retrieve Lignan crystals for the Sith war effort. I find that this thought is the truth which most people cling to in a secular humanist society, and indeed, is very Sith in nature. With this thought, the ends, whatever they may be, do indeed justify the means. Following this line of thinking through then, I believe that this premise brings about some very interesting questions and comparisons of Sith teaching when juxtaposed to present capitalist/corporate society. Indeed, I think one may be able to successfully argue that capitalism, at its very core, is an individual person’s wants, desires, and dreams, over the common good of society. If there is no “absolute” truth, if there is no “absolute” right or wrong, then each individual is “free” to interpret the world around them for themselves, and “free” to have their environment (whatever it may be. I don’t just mean environment as in ‘nature’) adapt to them, rather than the other way around. I enjoyed this line of the text, because I feel it properly sums up the dichotomy of the Sith and the Jedi: the secular vs. the sacred.

Secondly, I want to question one of Kemp’s lines. Narrating through the eyes of Relin, Saes’ former Jedi master, Kemp writes: “He (Relin) saw in that beauty the Force made manifest, a physical representation of the otherwise invisible power that served as the scaffolding of the universe. But the scaffolding was under threat. Sadow and the Sith would corrupt it” (pg 9). It’s the last line I want to focus on and nit-pick a little bit. How can Sadow, who draws his power from ‘the dark side of the Force’, then, through his use of it, corrupt that power? How does the Force come under threat through the use of the darkside? To reconcile what Kemp wrote, I guess one could argue that the Force is neither light nor darkness, and Sadow’s intent was to make the Force itself evil, so that any future Force wielder would naturally become Sith when being trained to call upon that well of power. But I’m not really sure I agree with this idea, or what Kemp meant by this. If my reckonings are correct how does Sadow, or any other darkside user “corrupt” the Force itself? It makes the Force, in my eyes, rather weak and itself a separate entity from everything else, and not something which “flows through all living things” to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’m just not entirely sure what Kemp meant here. And if he means what I think he means, then that weakens what the Force is, as I understand it.

The last point of discussion I want to focus on with regards to Crosscurrent, is the idea of the “retcon”. Here, we have yet another retcon of Star Wars history, and a move by Star Wars writers to expand that time in history known as the Great Hyperspace war. I understand why writers would want to expand this section of history: to make the “Great Hyperspace War”, seem much ‘greater’ than what we have to read about. In truth, I believe that writers like Kemp and Miller have been successful with that, but adding Jedi to the mix (as both have done in their stories) voids the idea that Jedi and Sith did not have any contact prior to the attack on Kirrek and Coruscant (aka The Great Hyperspace War). I believe that the book Jedi vs. Sith, The Essential Guide to the Force, makes this point clear somewhere in its pages. I rather liked this idea. That the Sith just basically fell out of the sky on top of the Republic and caught the Jedi order unawares.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of Crosscurrent, and I’m looking forward to engaging with it again down the line. I find Kemps style easy to read and enjoyable. I enjoyed the relationship between Relin and his padawan Drev, and how Drev liked to find the humor in almost anything. I little like myself I felt.

After two months of hiatus I’m back. I’m literally on the last part of the KOTOR video game. I have the game saved right before I go in to challenge Malak, and hopefully I’ll be finishing it tonight. But expect an increase in posts over the next few weeks.

For my next post I’ll be looking at JJM’s fourth installment of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series. Untill then my friends, may the Force be with you.

3956 BBY: Payback

Revan and Malak’s victory over the Mandalorian forces shattered the Mandalorian war-machine, but more importantly to the Dark Jedi’s cause, their victory decimated the Mandalorian culture. Now scattered throughout the galaxy as mercenaries for hire, the Mandalorians want to avenge their destructive loss. Though unable to confront the new Sith Empire in large scale, the Mandalorians have moved to guerrilla warfare, and attack the Sith in small controlled skirmishes.

Payback, a minatures scenario by Wizards of the Coast, is the story of a small band of Mandalorians taking the fight to the Sith on the planet Taris. As the adventures reads: “a small group of Mandalorian mercenaries trapped on the planet take it upon themselves to exact a little payback on a newly established Sith outpost”. Using the element of surprise, the Mandalorians ambush the Sith outpost. The Sith however, are ever prepared, and thus the stage is set for this particular piece of Star Wars history.

As with all stories of an RPG miniatures nature, it is not the outcome of the events that are important, but simply that the events themselves took place.

Moving away from the source text itself though, I want to comment on this particular pieces' placement in Star Wars chronology

In Joe Bongiorno’s chronology he has placed this miniatures RPG scenario after the KOTOR video game, but since I have become more intimate with the KOTOR game, I think Payback should go before KOTOR, because in this particular piece of historical record the planet of Taris is still standing.

At the end of the first act in KOTOR, Malak maliciously destroys Taris, along with all of its inhabitants, in a fearful attempt to prevent Bastila Shan from escaping the planet’s surface. Since in this RPG scenario the Mandalorians are taking the fight to the Sith on the planet of Taris in revenge for their defeat by Malak and Revan’s forces, I think it should be placed before KOTOR.

As it is, I was biting at the chomp to get a post in before the end of the month, and Payback was a small bit of chronology I could easily post on.

This bit of text aside, It still might be a while yet before I write a post on my reactions to the KOTOR video game. I’m nearing the end of the Tatooine segment, and it’s the first time in a while that I’ve felt like the there is light at the end of the tunnel. Video games will defiantly be the most difficult challenge for me in the Star Wars chronology project. With a source like this in front of me, I wish I were an irresponsible teenager with tons of free time again, but alas, I’m not.

No bother though, as a few more sources have surfaced which I will be able to engage with while I crawl my way through KOTOR’s content. As Plaristes has pointed out to me, the fourth installment of the Lost Tribe of the Sith e-books, Savior, has been recently released. There are some chapters in the Star Wars novel Crosscurrent I can look at, and Hyperspace just released an exclusive called The Secret Journal of Doctor Demigol. I also just read on starwars.com that a novel set in the time of the Old Republic called Fatal Alliance has been scheduled for release in July, (and yet another novel about the enigmatic Darth Malgus has been scheduled for release in late December – but I’ll probably have to backlog that one) so hopefully I’ll be able to read and report on it as I begin playing my way through KOTOR 2.

With all that being said however, video games will defiantly be the most challenging media I come across in my pursuit of this PhD.

Before I sign off I just want to share with you, my reader, some of my own Star Wars thoughts, hopes, and dreams, and what I would love to do with Star Wars when I’ve finally completed this little project of mine.

I would love to help resurrect the Star Wars Adventure Journal again. I know that Wizards of the Coast has chosen not to renew its license with Lucasfilm and produce RPG texts, so I wonder now where that leaves the Star Wars role-playing game. I would love to see Star Wars RPG go back to the D6 system, but ultimately, I really don't care if it stays in the D20 realm, or moves on to some other incarnation. I don’t even play the game anymore; I just love the books the RPG genre produces.

So here’s my idea, and where I daydream my role in it: I would love to edit the second edition of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, which would be made up of mostly good fan fiction, and the work of professional writers. I think Hyperspace and the short stories it produces fills this Star Wars short story niche to some extent, but recently I’ve read some really good fan fiction, and my first thought was, “man, it would be awesome to have these writers work’s canonized somehow”. Specifically I’m thinking of a story I read on the swtor forums called An Unexceptional Jedi which I really enjoyed.

Imagine a bi-monthly or tri-monthly publication featuring the work of amateur writers (and professionals), who get to add to the universe they love. This would be coupled with art and RPG stats of the main characters at the end of the story. I know that this was basically the idea of the Star Wars Adventure Journal to begin with; the new element to this idea being that the bulk of the work came from fans, with the submissions being peer edited by those at Lucasfilm who have every intent of keeping continuity intact.

I would love to be one of its editors. Basically I’d love to have the job where I get to read fan fiction and add it to the giant mosaic that is already the Star Wars universe. Make sense? Or am I just sounding like a true Star Wars fanatic?

Anyway, I think it’s time I ended this post.

My next post (if it’s not KOTOR) will most likely be my reactions to the fourth part of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series. I’ve given up on the idea that I can keep my chronological study of Star Wars completely inline, so for the next little while I’ll be doing some time-travel across a galaxy far far away. Until next time my friends, May the Force be with you.

Miscellaneous Missings: 25,000 BBY – 3956 BBY

When Plaristes pointed out to me sources I had missed in the text, Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, I was irritated at myself for having overlooked important bits of chronology essential for the completion of my project. When I had initially engaged with the JvS text, I only looked at the pages I thought were important to what I was dealing with; namely, the 100 year darkness and subsequent stories. What I failed to do was look at the book as a whole. I did not read the book in its entirety because I wanted to look at Star Wars with a fresh perspective, and I did not want to be influenced by future historical events. It’s important to me that I deal with events in their original source texts before I get to second hand accounts, which is what the JvS text is – second hand accounts. Even though I have already read a great deal of Star Wars EU, I want to see if reading the story of Star Wars in chronological order makes any difference in what it has to offer a devoted fan (I’m not really convinced it does, but that still remains to be seen).

I became even more irritated at myself when I completed reading the sources in question. Firstly because my Star Wars chronological line was broken (again), and this time it wasn’t because of sources coming out after I had begun the project (Xim for example), but because I wasn’t careful enough with the source text in the first place. Secondly, the stories I missed were not only important because of what they offered with regards to Star Wars chronology, but they were also vastly entertaining and original. Indeed, after engaging with JvS in a more thorough manner, my appreciation for it has grown tremendously.

I don’t think I’ve heaped enough praise on Ryder Windham for this book. Now that I’ve engaged with it in more detail, I can see that the writing in this book is phenomenal, and reminds me in many ways of the Xim material I’ve recently covered. I think I overlooked it for a few reasons. First of all, because it was the initial text I dealt with when I started on my quest, and therefore I did not really notice what this book had to offer in the ways of Star Wars history and writing. And secondly, because its subject matter is the Force, and Jedi, and Sith, and all things “Star Wars” I think I took the content of this work for granted.

In this text Ryder Windam writes from multiple “in-universe” perspectives, much like way Kogge used the character of professor Skynx in the Xim material. His narrators though are many and varied, being Masters of the Force, Dark Lords of the Sith, or green Jedi apprentices. Their commentary ranges over topics such as: the early history of the Jedi order, the nature of evil and the darkside, and the first battles between the lightside and darkside of the Force. Wyndams’ writing is artful and well done, as each character he proffers has his or her own unique voice, intonation, and personal philosophy.

So, now that I have engaged with Jedi vs. Sith in a more comprehensive manner, I have a lot to say.

For my post today I’m going to reach all the way back into the near beginnings of Star Wars history, and take into account certain highlights of early Star Wars chronology I should have addressed back when I started. I’m going to begin in the year 24,500 BBY with the Jedi apprentice Danzigorro Potts. I’ll then move ahead a few millennia to Sar Agorn, an ancient Jedi Master. From there I’ll jump ahead a few more millennia to the perspective of the darkside and the words of Ajunta Pall, Naga Sadow, and Kla (and what I myself think is the most intriguing point in this post). I’ll move back into the light with the words of Masters Odan-Urr, Thon, Vima Sunrider, and Tolaris. Finally, I’ll end with the words of Darth Revan, and set myself up nicely to continue the Star Wars Chronology Project in its proper chronological order – with my next post focusing on my reactions to the KOTOR video game (which I’m STILL working my way through).

The recorded words of Danzigorro Potts offer the Star Wars historian the very first 1st -person account of Star Wars history. Set in 24,500 BBY, Potts, after surviving the battle of General Xendor and the first Dark Legion, records his thoughts and emotions on a holorecorder after the battle. This was the first Great Schism of the Jedi order, and prior to this the Jedi lived in relative harmony with each other for 500 years. The schism occurred because General Xendor, himself a Jedi, believed that the Jedi did not have to obey the authority of the council. Xendor’s perspective and use of the force was for the self, and the furthering of one’s own personal power. This, of course, set him in conflict with the Jedi order which proffers a selfless view of using Force powers.

Many Jedi were swayed by Xendor’s new perspective on freedom and joined his cult. One member who joined Xendor’s cult was a dear friend of Danzigorro Potts, Culhallox – a friend Potts was forced to confront in battle. Potts’ holo-recording after the battle had been won was fraught with uncertainty and emotion, and was a moving piece of Star Wars literature written by Wyndam. After reading this holo-recording, the reader is provided with a real sense of how difficult this battle was physically, but more so emotionally. After reflecting on the battle, and attempting to come to terms with having just killed his friend (and her Master), Potts does not condemn her actions, but instead tries to come to terms with what just happened from her perspective, and indeed, the Jedi apprentice places some blame on the Jedi order: “I think she just got tired of all the Jedi rules, being told what to do, how to behave, how not to behave, all the time. I think it crushed her a bit”.

Strict obedience in the face of individualized temptation is a difficult challenge to overcome. This episode in Star Wars history reminds me of a video I show my grade 12 religion class during the unit of conscience formation. I show a documentary from BBC called “The Monastery”, and there is an interesting scene in it where the abbot talks to the new recruits about obedience and overcoming temptation, and seeing freedom not as one’s ability to indulge one’s self, but having the freedom to say no to temptation, and then to take the next step and humble one’s self to an order. Obedience to superiors is obedience to God, says Saint Benedict. In this clip, go to the 3:36 mark and watch to the 8:00 mark to see my point. “Obedience to your Master, young padawan, is obedience to the Force”, says ancient Master Onodrim.

Sar Agorn, an ancient Master (approx 18,000 BBY) long after Danzigorro Potts, provides for the Star Wars Historian events prior to the First Great Schism. Master Sar Agorn’s sentiments (as are recorded through the Jedi historian Tionne Solusar) reflect those presented in the above video. I enjoyed his mention of monastic life, and that an education in proper moral judgment was essential for a Jedi in order to use their powers ethically. What is more, Agorn says that “patience, humility, and self sacrifice are paths to enlightenment” (JvsS, pg 54 – last paragraph). The mention of enlightenment here reminded me of the Story of Freedon Nadd, and his failure to reach enlightenment, and hence, the rank of Jedi Knight.

Agorn goes on to talk about Tython, the ancestral home of the Jedi, and where the first Jedi of the Republic came from. This is the first time in Star Wars chronology that this planet is mentioned. Not only is the ancestral home of the Jedi mentioned, but Agorn talks about “Ashla” and “Bogan”, the names the first Jedi gave to the lightside and darkside of the Force respectively. What I also found interesting was Agorn’s discussion of the first Force users in the galaxy; the “Mystic Order of Dai Bendu”, the “Followers of Palawa” who practice at the “Legendary Chatos Academy” and the “Ashla Worshippers of Tython” (presumably the first Jedi Knights).

The most interesting bit of history Master Sar Agorn had to offer was his story of the ‘first’ Jedi to turn to evil, and the “shadows” of the Force. He enters into a discussion with a student, who asks him the question “what is evil?” In response Agorn tells the story of Cope Shykrill. It’s a chilling tale of Cope Shykrill’s murder of three children, and his almost demonic like possession by the darkside of the Force. The most chilling line in that story was when Master Agorn questioned him on the shadows: “I inquired if the shadows ever spoke to him. He answered ‘You know they speak to me. They spoke to you, too. I heard them” (pg 124). I encourage you to read his story from wookieepedia which I’ve linked. I genuinely found it frightening. I couldn’t help but think of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series as a read this. Cope was a willing student: polite, helpful, and quiet, much like Tom Riddle.

Star Wars chronology then moves ahead a few millennia, to the words of Ajunta Pall, and into the pallor of the darkside. In his holocron reflections, Pall speaks of the second great schism with the Jedi, and the movement to the planet Korriban. But that’s not what interests me here. One line caught my attention, and allowed me a piece of text I could ‘hang my hat on’ so to speak, and proffer one of my own Star Wars theories. For the record, I’m not sure if any other Star Wars-phile has offered this theory. To be honest, I’ve resisted investigating to see if anyone has, for fear that my one original Star Wars thought is not original at all, and is old news to hardcore fans.

Pall, when speaking on the malleability of the Massassi, says: “Although I personally prefer to rely upon the Force to create organic wonders… (pg157)” (bolded italics added by me). This just about stopped me in my tracks. Later on in the text, Freedon Nadd, who came after Pall says: “Sith Alchemy gives one the power to alter the molecular composition of living beings and reshape inanimate matter…” (pg 174). My thoughts immediately turned to Anakin Skywalker.

Here is my theory: Anakin Skywalker was created by Darth Plagueis the Wise, as revenge on his pupil Palpatine. Darth Plagueis knew that Anakin would one day destroy Palpatine, as he knew that one day Palpatine would destroy him. Darth Plagueis was playing the long revenge card. In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine says to Anakin: “Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life”. He smirks and looks at Anakin as he says this. I know I like to call this “my theory” but in all reality the way the scene was directed one cannot but understand what Palpatine was inferring in his parable. Darth Plagueis was clearly the progenitor of young Anakin Skywalker. I think it was because he saw into the future and could foresee his pupil betraying him. Therefore, Anakin was Plagueis’ last laugh.

Moving on with the Sith’s perspective on history, Kla, a fallen Jedi and subsequent follower of the Sith, offers his insights into the fall of the Sith Empire, but as experts on Star Wars chronology to this point, it’s nothing we already don’t know.

With the conclusion of Kla’s thoughts, Odan-Urr, a Jedi Master we’re familiar with discusses a few things of interest. Much like the words of Ajunta Pall and Naga Sadow stopped me in my tracks, so did the words of Odan-Urr, our consummate academic. When speaking on how a Jedi should conduct themselves in public, I couldn’t help but think of the current state of the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church: “When a Jedi behaves badly in public, an observer might think, If this Jedi is representative of the whole Order, then plainly no Jedi is worthy of respect. On meeting a second Jedi, who behaves better than the first, that same person might think, Does this say that half of the Jedi are good, and half bad? On meeting a third Jedi, who behaves as well as the second, the person thinks, Was the first Jedi an exception, then? In this way, only by the good behavior of several Jedi can the public be certain that the poor behavior of one Jedi was unusual. Thus, it takes many Jedi to undo the mistakes of one” (pg 56). The problem, however, with my comparison is that it was not one priest in one parish behaving badly. It was several, around the world. This is what deeply saddens me. Still, Master Odan-Urr’s words ring true.

Moving on, Odan-Urr’s comments again on the devastating ability to sever the Force completely from an individual. As he says, it is the: “most devastating attack possible using the powers of light”. This, or course, was utilized by Nomi Sunrider on Ulic after he had killed his brother.
Though I understand how devastating it is, I wonder why it is not utilized more by lightside Jedi. It seems to me the most powerful non-violent attack a Jedi could use. Would not a Jedi want to sever the Force from Revan or Malak? Would not Luke want to strip Palpatine of his powers? I believe this is a very respectful power. It does not kill, thus not disrespecting life. But it does not respect a beings judgment and ability to use a power benevolently.
Granted, it does become a question of ‘my morals are more worthy than yours’, or ‘my worldview is more correct than yours’. But what is the point of adhering to a system of belief, if you do not believe that it is actually the most correct way to live? I know Odan Urr, after explain this power to Nomi places a disclaimer on it saying something like: ‘but to strip any force user from the force is a terrible thing…blah, blah, blah’. My retort to Master Urr would then be ‘but Master, if we really believe that we are the guardians of light and peace and justice, is it not our duty to trade one person’s misery or separation, not death, but merely a tumultuous emotional state, for peace, prosperity, and the common good of all?’ ‘Why, Master Odan-Urr, are we worried about this Dark Jedi’s feelings?’

I don’t know, that’s just me. I’d be severing Dark Jedi from Force left right and centre.

Master Thon, a contemporary of Odan Urr, discusses in the holocron the ability of battle meditation, and calls it: “among the most worthy of skills.” Battle meditation is apparently quite rare, and is the central ability of Bastila Shan in the KOTOR video game.

Finishing off on our last two lightside speakers, Vima Sunrider, the daughter of Nomi, and Tolaris, a contemporary of the Qel-Droma’s, talk about the events of the first Sith War. Vima focuses on her tutelage under Ulic sans Force Powers, while Tolaris talks about the four stages of seduction to the darkside. His basic warning was that all Jedi, even the most wise and most noble of the Masters, must always be mindful of their actions, least they fall to the darkside without even knowing it.

To complete my dealings on the Jedi vs. Sith text, I end on the words of Darth Revan, and the blinding arrogance of the dark. Darth Revan says: “Those who serve the light are limited in what they can accomplish”. I’m always so dismayed at the obliviousness of the power of the light held by the Sith. Darth Revan is not the first Sith to believe the notion that the dark is more powerful than the light. I wonder then, how they reconcile their view of the Force when they are eventually defeated by the light. I guess it’s all part of being Sith. There is this inability, weakness even, to recognize the strength of the light, a blinding arrogance, one could say.

Before I sign off I want to comment one more time of the artwork in this book. The work is truly absolutely stunning. I’ve decided to buy myself a second copy, and carefully cut the artwork out to have multiple pieces of Star Wars art from this book placked and placed around my classroom. My students already know I’m a Star Wars nut, so this won’t really make a difference.

My next post may not be for a while. I’m approaching the Tatooine section in the KOTOR video game, and I know I still have much more content to go. Wish me luck. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.

15,762-15,609 BBY: The Despotica: Xim at Vontor

Michael Kogge is one of the most innovative Star Wars EU writers.
As has already been stated on this blog, the Xim material is by far the most original EU work out there. The History of Xim and the Tion Cluster, and The Despotica parts I and II gave three different looks at the writing prowess of Kogge, and provided for Star Wars fans a fresh way to experience the universe they love.

Kogge has allowed us to look at the universe we enjoy through new perspectives, whether it be through the eyes of a star cartographer, the lectures of a Ruurian historian, or through the deeply ancient history of a playwright. And now through the work of The Desptoica part III: Xim at Vontor, Kogge has given us yet another viewpoint of the Star Wars universe, that of holomaker (aka movie director).

With regards to Star Wars chronology, Xim at Vontor is an ‘in-universe’ movie script that situates itself in the years 15,762 – 15,609 BBY, placing it a full 10,000 plus years after the works of Lyechusas, and a full 8600 plus years before our next chronological source, the stories of the Jedi exiles and the foundations of the Sith Empire.

There is so much to say with regards to this piece, I can only start at the most logical place: the beginning.

Xim at Vontor begins with an academic preamble, presumably by our old friend professor Skynx. He provides for the reader some history into the evolution of Xim storytelling in the Star Wars universe. Marking its evolution from dramatic stage performances, to “holoplays”, Peshosloc, the ‘director’ of the holoplays gives to the galactic community a new way to experience “The Despot”. My favorite line in professor Skynx’s preamble is: “critics hailed Peshosloc's scripts as more than just bang-and-boom. Where others had tried and failed, Peshosloc succeeded in "blowing up" The Despotica for popular consumption because he never wrote down to his audience. Throughout dazzling detonations and sordid villainy, he wove simple tragedies of the heart, the very foundation of good space opera”. Peshosloc is to the Star Wars universe what George Lucus is to ours, and what is more, Xim at Vontor is to the Star Wars universe what “Star Wars” is to ours.

After Skynx’s preface, we get into the script of Xim at Vontor. What I love about this piece of writing is that it’s written like an actual screenplay, complete with set direction and font that emulates what an actual screenplay looks like:
“FADE IN:
EXT. SPACE.
TRIPLE MOONS part their celestial junction to reveal the GIANT PLANET they orbit...
TITLE: Vontor System, Si'Klaata Cluster.”

Xim at Vontor tells the story of Xim’s third battle at Vontor, his betrayal by his Queen and Generals, and his de-humanization and subsequent revenge.

Three scenes caught my attention in the telling of this story, the first being the presentation of Xim, the second being his ruthlessness on the battlefield, and the third being his Oedipal blinding at the end of the holoplay.

The opening description of Xim is very familiar to us, as it is very ‘Vader-like’: XIM THE DESPOT, hands folded behind a scarlet shimmercape, gazes out the viewport. He is calm, almost serene, as fireballs engulf the starfield”. This can’t but recall to Star Wars fans’ minds’ the classic scenes we have of Vader, standing on the deck of his Superstar Destroyer, surveying the spacescape of “his new Empire”.

As the battle progresses, Xim commands his General to “discharge the pulse canons” at the thickest part of the battle, knowing his own forces, along with his enemies, will face the brunt of his attack. His general hesitates, and then does as he is ordered. Xim makes his point with the line: “Thanios's men know there is no greater sacrifice than to give their lives to the glory of my legend”. This scene recalled for me the movie Braveheart, when Richard the Lionheart ordered his arches to fire into the battle, knowing his own troops would be hit with the arrows along with the Scottish.

Finally, the last scene I want to comment on, and the one scene that caught me by surprise, was Xim’s blinding by his own hand. After the assassination attempt by Jaminere, and Xim’s betrayers subsequent hasty exit, the Despot is left alive (unknowingly by his enemies) with a gaping hole in his head where his eye used to be. Struggling down the corridor of his ship, he is found by his faithful servant Oziaf. His head of engineering then helps his master by replacing his gaping eyehole with the eye of one of his war-droids. Xim responds with: “So this is how they see. In the infrared. Ultraviolet. And the twenty spectrums. (Optic lens rotates) I should have done this sooner”.

Xim then plucks out his own eye: “No, master, don't-- Squishes, a POP, and Xim plucks out his eye”. This is utterly gruesome, and endlessly entertaining. I was reminded by Oedipus Rex in this passage: “He rips off her brooches, the long gold pins holding her robes-and lifting them high, looking straight up into the points, he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying, 'You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness-blind!" Much like Oedipus, Xim is now blind, but yet, like Oedipus again, he can see far more than when he had his own eyes.

It’s unfortunate I won’t be dealing with anymore Xim material for a while. It’s not until 671 BBY before I come across the name of our favorite pirate and despot again, and before that I’ll have to complete two video games and three novels. So it is here I say goodbye to the works of Michael Kogge. In the meantime I’m still working my way though the KOTOR videogame, and for my next post I’m going to engage with some miscellaneous items I’ve missed in the Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force text. Plaristes was good enough to point out some areas I’ve missed, so I’m going to go over them and report my findings (If I’m going to complete my PhD is Star Wars-ology, I’m going to have to look at everything!). Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.

25,200 BBY: The Pirate Prince

I wish I had begun the Star Wars Chronology Project with the Xim material, but unfortunately, my Star Wars chronological line was broken when this material surfaced after I had begun my historical examinations. I have to apologize in advance for the length of this post. Get comfortable, this is going to be a long one. I’m going to be dealing with three sources, and not simply one.

I’m mildly irritated I didn’t have the option of dealing with this material first, as I find it endlessly fascinating. I think the project might have taken on a bit of a different feel, had it started out with the history of a known despot and pirate, rather than the epic struggle of good vs. evil as is personified through the Jedi and the Sith. Or maybe nothing changes, and I’m just being hyperbolic.

Like I said, in my post today I’m going to deal with more than one source. I know Star Wars History, from a textual perspective, begins with The Despotica: The Pirate Prince (Part 2 of a 5 part series), but I feel it necessary to start with The History of Xim and the Tion cluster written by Jason Fry, which provides for the reader a history of Xim and the region of space he comes from (and is cited as 10 ABY from a chronological perspective), and the Despotica part 1, written by Michael Kogge, which is actually from 9 ABY in-universe. I’m then going to complete my post with examining The Despotica part 2: The Pirate Prince. I think it necessary to begin with these two sources before I get to The Despotica part 2 because they set up the proper context for understanding the Xim material, and the drama of The Pirate Prince.

Let us begin…

Jason Fry, who is the co-author of Star Wars: The Essential Atlas, wrote The History of Xim and the Tion Cluster almost from an in-universe perspective, though there is no defined narrator. There were a few things I found interesting in this article, namely, its depth of detail, the almost ‘real-world’ resemblances of Xim to characters like Alexander the Great or empires like the Roman Empire, and the fact that Xim seemed to accomplish so much, yet exhibit no Force powers.

The depth of detail in this article is what makes it feel like an authoritative source. It’s quote like these: “Xim's legions left none alive in the Timber Palace of Pasmin, set the royal barges of Eibon adrift in the heart of the Spiral, and razed the High Fane of Xo on Nuswatta” that I enjoyed, even though I do find them somewhat frustrating. I find them frustrating because I have no idea what any of this means or what the ‘Palace of Pasmin, the ‘heart of the Spiral’, or the ‘High Fane of Xo’ are. But it’s this name-dropping of events we ‘should’ know about which gives to the reader an idea of how ‘lived-in’ the Star Wars universe really is. There are epic backstroies to all of these one-off references, and back stories we can only begin to possibly imagine.

As one reader points out in the comment field of the Xim material from starwars.com: “I love the way this article has clear influences from Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and modern scholarly debate and interpretation of certain historical events (the scholarship around Socrates came particularly to mind for me), but without being a direct translation of any one thing into the Star Wars universe.” Indeed, there were references in this article which I found to be particularly Greek/Alexandrian/Roman, for example: “Legend has it he himself (Xim) explored strange stars, ranging as far as distant Pelgrin, whose legendary Oracle he supposedly visited.” This reminded me of Leonides prior to the battle of Thermopyle. What is more, the reference to Xim’s subsequent capture reminded me of references made in the works of Josephus, when the Romans paraded the captured Jewish leaders through the streets of Rome after the revolution of Judea had been put down: “Xim was not just defeated but captured, and paraded in chains through Hutt Space. Scholars disagree on both the date and manner of his death; some say he died at Vontor, others that he was taken to Varl and blinded, and died a slave in Kossak's dungeons.” Even the reference to his blinding echoes the fate of Oedipus Rex.

Above all though, what I found most intriguing in the history of Xim and his meteoric rise to power, was what was not mentioned: The Force. Xim was, by most accounts, a ruthless Despot, but not a wielder of any Force power, either good or evil. In the Star Wars universe, I find this truly remarkable. Other more “powerful” beings after Xim, namely Ajunta Pall, Freedon Nadd, and Exar Kun, and others of their ilk, were only known for subduing only one planet, or a singular species, whereas Xim conquered entire swaths of known space, subjugating species after species, conquering planet after planet. In a universe where control of the Force is usually the mark of the key to political domination, it’s wildly remarkable that Xim managed to do so much without the universe’s greatest source of power.

Moving on to the second source of examination, The Despotica part 1, by Michael Kogge, was one of the most interesting pieces of Star Wars writing I have come across. It breaks the mold of ‘Star Wars writing’, in that the narrative is a university professor’s musings on the state of current Xim scholarship (circa 9-10 ABY). It’s a thick, academic, insider’s look into the history of Xim, written like an actual professor lecturing on the current state of Shakespearian scholarship.

The “in-universe” author of the article is professor Skynx, a leading authority on Xim history (and pictured above). The Despotica part 1 goes through the history of Xim the Despot and the current state of Xim scholarship. With regards to this particular piece of writing, I want to comment on the other researches Skynx references in his work, the use of footnotes in this piece, and the allegorical connection Kogge makes, almost accidently (or perhaps not) comparing the current state of Xim scholarship, with the actual state of Star Wars fiction as found in the expanded universe.

In his discussions around other Xim scholars, Skynx mentions Ebeen Q3 Baobab. This reference to: “Imperial Laureate, Ebenn Q3 Baobab” literally made me laugh out loud. This is the depth of the Star Wars universe I love, because I instantly thought, ‘Is this ‘Laureate’ a relation to Mungo Baobab, hero of the Droids cartoon from the 80’s?’ I smiled to myself as a quick check of Wookieepedia proved my suspicions correct. What is interesting is that on Wookieepedia these two characters do not have a simple footnote, but extensive history. I was shocked to find how much information there actually was on Ebenn Q3 Baobab.

Footnotes were another aspect which caught my attention in this piece. My absolute favorite part of this article was its third footnote, when professor Skynx noted: “The author of this introduction wishes to express his perpetual gratitude to another holo-legend, the audacious Han Solo, who assisted in locating Xim's fabled treasure. Much to Solo's regret, the treasure provided little in the way of pecuniary reward, but for Ximologists everywhere, its trove of kiirium ingots, mytag crystals, beamtubes, and antique automatons is priceless. (See Han Solo and the Lost Legacy: A True Story of the Scoundrel and a Scholar, by S.V. Skynx, University of Rudrig Press.)” I think Skynx’s reference to his own book about Han Solo is absolutely priceless. I swear, I’m going to take a page from Professor Michael D.C. Drout and write a book about books that don’t really exist, but do exist in the Star Wars universe; The True Story of the Scoundrel and a Scholar will be one of them.

My final point of discussion with regards to The Despotica Part 1 centers upon a particular line in the piece, in which the “author” of the article, professor Skynx, mildly laments at the volume of material produced in the Star Wars universe which inaccurately re-tells the ‘mis’-deeds of the Despot. I took this as an almost allegorical reference to the Expanded Star Wars universe you and I currently know as a whole. Skynx states: “It is this motley jumble of the amateur and the masterful--a galactic resistance to a canon of quality--that imparts The Despotica with its unrivaled originality and has propelled Xim across the cultural-species divide into the pantheon of universal monsters.” This could be re-written to explain the phenomenon of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, with only a simple reworking of words ‘It is this motley jumble of the amateur and the masterful--a galactic resistance to a canon of quality--that imparts STAR WARS with its unrivaled originality and has propelled STAR WARS across the cultural divide into the pantheon of original universes.’ Indeed, Star Wars fiction includes, I think, both the amateurish and masterful, and despite the best efforts of Lucasfilm, has about it a “galactic resistance to a canon of quality”.

Finally, my third point of discussion today revolves around The Despotica Part 2: The Pirate Prince, and the actual starting point of Star Wars history from a textual perspective.

One name came to mind after I had read this bit of Star Wars chronicle: Euripides.

In The Despotica part 2, we have a female playwright, Lyechusas, who was commissioned by Xim the Despot to create a drama about his life, the result of which is known as The Despotica, the oldest piece of history contained within the Star Wars universe.

Seriously…how cool is this?

I could literally write 10,000 words about what I found interesting in this text, but I’m going to keep my comments to three points of interest, the three being: the use of a chorus, carbonite freezing, and what makes this piece ancient Greek in nature and what reminds me of Euripides.

The Pirate Prince is literally a play about Prince’s Xim’s killing of his father and brothers, and then rise to power. It even has a chorus of war robots! Let me say that again: A CHORUS OF WAR ROBOTS!!! This is like someone taking the Star Wars universe, and then smashing it into actual ancient Greek literary history, and creating a tiled mosaic of the of the shattered bits, the end result being The Despotica Part 2: The Pirate Prince. I find this absolutely brilliant.
The play begins with the words of the war robots of Xim:

“We are the war-robots of Xim,

and of wrath we beep, the rage of mortal blood

and the devastation it wreaks.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 fatherNever does it compute.
For we of gears and generators,

plastrons and pulse cannons,we do not deactivate our directors,

nor crush our comradesno matter make or model, class or function,

flesh or metalunless our programming propels usor our circuits are countermanded,

brothers-in-steel all are we."

Kogge’s writing here is awesome . He obviously knows what he is doing, and is well versed in ancient Greek drama. I loved this opening.

Oziaf, Xim's faithful servant, awakens the prince from four years of slumber in a block of carbonite. This scene echoes the fate of Han Solo in Return of the Jedi, when Princess Leia pulls Han from the carbonite, and he suffers hibernation sickness. Oziaf says to the Prince:

“Relax, prince, relaxallow the dark to wash out the white

and your eyesight will return in time.Hibernation-sick you are and will be,chill for some days and hours;

we cannot stop the laws of time

without a modicum of punishment.”

This is similar to what Princess Leia said to Han after she awoke him from the carbonite in Jabba’s Palace. For 15 years Xim was in carbonite freeze, returning home with Pirate plunder and the head of the king of Cron, his father Xer’s greatest rival. When he arrives home he is greeted by his father and his father's new lover. Xim is taken by his father’s lover’s beauty, but is also shocked to learn that his father has sired other sons, brothers Xim immediately takes as threats to his rightful spot as sole heir to his father’s kingdom.

While his brothers are discussing how to split the riches of the kingdom, Xim murders them all. When his father enters the room, Xim turns his sword on him as well, and afterwards, takes his father's lover as his own. Xer, hoping Xim would share his kingdom with is brothers, grossly underestimated his son. After killing his brother and father, Xim says:

“For a kingdom cannot have kings, only one, and that is I, Xim,

Ruler of Worlds, Emperor of Raxus, Eibon, Brigia,

and Cron.”

Three Euripidean plays sprung to mind after I had read this: Orestes, Baccahe, and even to some extent Medea. In each of these Greek dramas, family members turn on each other. It’s seems to be a theme in Greek drama where family members regularly murder one another. You could argue that Greek drama of a Euripidean nature features highly dysfunctional families. Again, I’m impressed with Michael Kogge’s talent here, successfully mixing the Star Wars universe with ancient Greek literary history.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts concerning these bits of Star War history. I apologize for the length of this post.

For my next entry I’m going to look at The Despotica Part 3: Xim at Vontor. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.