Thank you very much! I always wanted more stories with the Solo and Skywalker families but the EU started killing them off, which hurt. Then Disney decided they didn't exist, which was an even bigger disappointment. Rewriting *The Force Awakens* to bring back the Solos and Skywalkers was one of my main motivations for re-imagining the movie.
I'm glad you enjoyed this fanfic. Part two will be up this month as well, so please stay tuned!
Honestly, I don’t really care about anything SW unless it has the names Revan or Exile attached, but this was about a thousand percent better than the actual movie.
Oh, my goodness, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D
Knights of the Old Republic is one of my favorite games, and I name-drop Revan in the Episode VIII rewrite/AU. I really wish they had made more mention of him in later material than they did because he is A LOT of fun.
Have you seen the trailer for the revamped KOTOR game SW said they were coming out with? I have it around here somewhere. It was too darn short - I wanted MORE!
Unfortunately my least favorite part of the EU - and so naturally a part Disney chose to b@st@rdize and put in their sequels, but at least your version of Darth Jacen isn't pathetic.
I still hold that if they were going to have Jacen go dark side, it should have been during the Yuuzhan Vong war and had Jaina fight and redeem him then. Warmaster Jacen would have at least been interesting, and if what he was put through in that storyarc didn't turn him, then I can't believe anything later would. And I know the argument is that the events in that storyline laid the groundwork, but it was still a letdown and a diminishment and a betrayal of the character after all he went through.
I also see you've got Anakin Solo alive. His death was rough, but I actually came to appreciate it: I came to see him as the Sir Galahad of the Jedi: he accomplished so much and became the epitome of a Jedi, but lived a short life for it.
I never liked how they handled Darth Jacen. Kylo Ren was worse, I believe, but I hated what they did to Jacen. Like you, I thought the better time to make him turn to the Dark Side would have been earlier. But not only did they do it later, they drew it out for no good reason and irreparably wounded the Solo family in the process. I wanted to fix that, and I had some slight hopes the films would do so. I knew better, but I did hope.
To be perfectly frank, I hated the Yuuzhan Vong arc. That is why they are not in this fanfic/AU. I didn't like the initial concepts or how they tried to retroactively fit them into the SW galaxy. While I understand that you found merit in this Expanded Universe arc, I decided long ago not to include it at all. The Knights of Ren from the films seemed like a better option and so I used them instead to precipitate Jacen's fall.
Anakin Solo's death in the Expanded Universe struck me as a waste, start to finish, and simple cruelty heaped on Han and Leia (who would go on to lose their older son later). In my opinion it was particularly egregious to hurt the already traumatized Tahiri by killing Anakin. What they did to her in the Expanded Universe is as unforgivable as what they did to Han and Leia.
While I can appreciate Anakin being a Galahad-type character, I agree with the author who - if memory serves - had to write his death and protested doing so: It was a waste. It was cruel. That is why, in this AU, he lives and has Tahiri as his wife. It is also why I named their son Hananiah in honor of Han, since Anakin was originally to be named for his father, not his grandfather. Additionally, I think Anakin loved Han enough he wanted to keep his name "in the family." This is why the youngest Solo child lives in my fanfic/AU.
The NJO arc had its bad spots, but I liked having an enemy that was completely different from the Empire and the Sith - otherwise the franchise was retreading old ground.
And...an alien enemy of essentially space Aztecs animated by a hostile religion that tells them all life is theirs to shape, for whom "peace" is synonymous with "submission," who create a refugee crisis with their invasion and aren't above using said refugees to send spies, enemy agents and bioweapons, and who are assisted by venal politicians and misguided collaborators...something tells me that story could not be written today.
It ended with something of a fizzle. I mean, the obvious ending would have been for the Jedi to "cure" the Vong of their perceived need to shed the blood of sacrifices by presenting them with a "perfected" sacrifice that makes further bloodletting unnecessary - bit of a preconfiguration. But somehow I don't think that would have made it to the page.
There was also something of a spiritual dimension I detected in Keyes' Conquest and Rebirth duology, with the shamed Vua getting a vision telling him to go help Anakin, hinting there was something opposing the YV "gods."
And I liked the hint in Conquest that the YV shapers were toying with the dark side and awakening something more dangerous than they realize.
I love this! Running with the Solo kids and Luke's little family, with a still-active Jedi Order and the First Order as at least a fanatical faction of the Imperial Remnant, if not the whole thing, would have been so much better, even just from a business standpoint. Way more places to go with it, spin-offs, merchandise, etc.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it! Honestly, this is what I was *hoping* - however faintly - that Disney would do with the franchise. I disliked Anakin being killed off in the Yuuzhan Vong War and I had issues with most of the following NJO series, so I just couldn't stop thinking: "If you put the Solo kids and Luke's family in these movies, then tweaked and trimmed the two plot lines until they knit together well, it would have *worked* and been enjoyable."
Plus, I really hated that Anakin and Tahiri never got married and never had a family. They'd have been perfect together! So, I got them married and gave them a little boy they named after Han. Since Anakin was almost named for his father rather than his grandfather, it only seemed fitting for the youngest Solo to honor him in that way.
I went to the first (and maybe last, the lady who ran it got into a bad accident not long after, pray she is doing better) LegendsCon and they had a whole panel with people who were in the room as the NJO Vong saga was being developed. All of them thought Anakin should have lived.
That panel was fascinating insight into how that and how the EU worked in general. Women had plenty of power over the direction of the EU let me tell you! I really hope they have that con again. It was entirely fan-run, with barely an iota of Disney blessing. Really good time, though people were a little...LA.
That was fun. I think it is my favorite so far, even including John Wright's because it has all the family there.
Thank you very much! I always wanted more stories with the Solo and Skywalker families but the EU started killing them off, which hurt. Then Disney decided they didn't exist, which was an even bigger disappointment. Rewriting *The Force Awakens* to bring back the Solos and Skywalkers was one of my main motivations for re-imagining the movie.
I'm glad you enjoyed this fanfic. Part two will be up this month as well, so please stay tuned!
Honestly, I don’t really care about anything SW unless it has the names Revan or Exile attached, but this was about a thousand percent better than the actual movie.
Oh, my goodness, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D
Knights of the Old Republic is one of my favorite games, and I name-drop Revan in the Episode VIII rewrite/AU. I really wish they had made more mention of him in later material than they did because he is A LOT of fun.
Have you seen the trailer for the revamped KOTOR game SW said they were coming out with? I have it around here somewhere. It was too darn short - I wanted MORE!
Oh yes, I’ve been following that whole saga quite closely. If they mess this up, someone is eating a lightsaber the wrong way.
So you're going with Darth Jacen eh?
Unfortunately my least favorite part of the EU - and so naturally a part Disney chose to b@st@rdize and put in their sequels, but at least your version of Darth Jacen isn't pathetic.
I still hold that if they were going to have Jacen go dark side, it should have been during the Yuuzhan Vong war and had Jaina fight and redeem him then. Warmaster Jacen would have at least been interesting, and if what he was put through in that storyarc didn't turn him, then I can't believe anything later would. And I know the argument is that the events in that storyline laid the groundwork, but it was still a letdown and a diminishment and a betrayal of the character after all he went through.
I also see you've got Anakin Solo alive. His death was rough, but I actually came to appreciate it: I came to see him as the Sir Galahad of the Jedi: he accomplished so much and became the epitome of a Jedi, but lived a short life for it.
I never liked how they handled Darth Jacen. Kylo Ren was worse, I believe, but I hated what they did to Jacen. Like you, I thought the better time to make him turn to the Dark Side would have been earlier. But not only did they do it later, they drew it out for no good reason and irreparably wounded the Solo family in the process. I wanted to fix that, and I had some slight hopes the films would do so. I knew better, but I did hope.
To be perfectly frank, I hated the Yuuzhan Vong arc. That is why they are not in this fanfic/AU. I didn't like the initial concepts or how they tried to retroactively fit them into the SW galaxy. While I understand that you found merit in this Expanded Universe arc, I decided long ago not to include it at all. The Knights of Ren from the films seemed like a better option and so I used them instead to precipitate Jacen's fall.
Anakin Solo's death in the Expanded Universe struck me as a waste, start to finish, and simple cruelty heaped on Han and Leia (who would go on to lose their older son later). In my opinion it was particularly egregious to hurt the already traumatized Tahiri by killing Anakin. What they did to her in the Expanded Universe is as unforgivable as what they did to Han and Leia.
While I can appreciate Anakin being a Galahad-type character, I agree with the author who - if memory serves - had to write his death and protested doing so: It was a waste. It was cruel. That is why, in this AU, he lives and has Tahiri as his wife. It is also why I named their son Hananiah in honor of Han, since Anakin was originally to be named for his father, not his grandfather. Additionally, I think Anakin loved Han enough he wanted to keep his name "in the family." This is why the youngest Solo child lives in my fanfic/AU.
The NJO arc had its bad spots, but I liked having an enemy that was completely different from the Empire and the Sith - otherwise the franchise was retreading old ground.
And...an alien enemy of essentially space Aztecs animated by a hostile religion that tells them all life is theirs to shape, for whom "peace" is synonymous with "submission," who create a refugee crisis with their invasion and aren't above using said refugees to send spies, enemy agents and bioweapons, and who are assisted by venal politicians and misguided collaborators...something tells me that story could not be written today.
It ended with something of a fizzle. I mean, the obvious ending would have been for the Jedi to "cure" the Vong of their perceived need to shed the blood of sacrifices by presenting them with a "perfected" sacrifice that makes further bloodletting unnecessary - bit of a preconfiguration. But somehow I don't think that would have made it to the page.
There was also something of a spiritual dimension I detected in Keyes' Conquest and Rebirth duology, with the shamed Vua getting a vision telling him to go help Anakin, hinting there was something opposing the YV "gods."
And I liked the hint in Conquest that the YV shapers were toying with the dark side and awakening something more dangerous than they realize.
I love this! Running with the Solo kids and Luke's little family, with a still-active Jedi Order and the First Order as at least a fanatical faction of the Imperial Remnant, if not the whole thing, would have been so much better, even just from a business standpoint. Way more places to go with it, spin-offs, merchandise, etc.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it! Honestly, this is what I was *hoping* - however faintly - that Disney would do with the franchise. I disliked Anakin being killed off in the Yuuzhan Vong War and I had issues with most of the following NJO series, so I just couldn't stop thinking: "If you put the Solo kids and Luke's family in these movies, then tweaked and trimmed the two plot lines until they knit together well, it would have *worked* and been enjoyable."
Plus, I really hated that Anakin and Tahiri never got married and never had a family. They'd have been perfect together! So, I got them married and gave them a little boy they named after Han. Since Anakin was almost named for his father rather than his grandfather, it only seemed fitting for the youngest Solo to honor him in that way.
I went to the first (and maybe last, the lady who ran it got into a bad accident not long after, pray she is doing better) LegendsCon and they had a whole panel with people who were in the room as the NJO Vong saga was being developed. All of them thought Anakin should have lived.
That panel was fascinating insight into how that and how the EU worked in general. Women had plenty of power over the direction of the EU let me tell you! I really hope they have that con again. It was entirely fan-run, with barely an iota of Disney blessing. Really good time, though people were a little...LA.