SPOILER "Aftermath: Empire's End" By Chuck Wendig (Discussion)

Just finished the book. Loved it. And somehow, I feel sorry.

Sorry for all those who only know the greatness of Star Wars just because of the movies. And that we will probably not see this on a movie. Sorry for those who see Return of the Jedi and thought that the Empire was gone for good and that the Victory Celebration probably meant: "and they lived happily ever after". They are missing so much. And maybe it is for the best. They will not shed a tear when that faithful battle droid was blown to bits just after saving his master Temmin. They will not know about Mr. Bones. (In this part, Mr. Wendig, you were any given George R. R. Martin with that death.). They won't feel conflicted by the character of this anti-heroine called Rae Sloane, the one who we are supposed to loathe due to her devotion to a falling Empire but that at times, we root for her to achieve her goals, even though we are aware how ruthless she's been, how she has endangered the life of the members of this rag-tag team.

And yet, Chuck Wendig gives us several great lessons. How war is not fair. How good or evil can be such a dangerous label, and in times of need, sometimes we need to create the most unthinkable alliances.

At one point I was almost cheering for Sloane to kill Rax. Like asking for a smaller evil to defeat the greater one. But I knew she was no good. And her obsession with "her Empire" might be understandable if we realized that, as she told Norra, she had nothing, so she held dear of that insane obsession towards the idea of an Empire.

What I got is that Leia did not know Snoke at all, as many thought. That is why I recall people taking tweets, interviews too much into account might want to wait to get the official version out of the canon material. She might have realized later that Snoke was that Dark presence she felt surrounding her unborn son.

Of course I had tears with that episode with Han and Ben. I could see that Han's thoughts about how he would not be able to communicate with his son same as Leia could due to her Force-sensitiveness was a mirror of what Timothy Zahn mentioned in "The Last Command" where Leia is giving birth and she thinks of how Han would not be able to communicate with her twins like she could.

I could see Brentin's fate coming. I feel bad because I wanted Norra to end up with Wedge but in some way that was coming for him: to sacrifice himself for his wife.

And yeah, maybe the loss I cared more about was Mr. Bones. If there is an afterlife for droids, I want to believe that he and Kay-too are hanging out and having fun. Both losses were heartbreaking even when Kay-too actually chose to be killed so Cassian and Jyn could get the plans, whereas Mr. Bones was just protecting his master and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

At some point, I thought most of the members of Norra Wexley's crew would be gone - including her. Of course we know her son survives until TFA, but I was not so sure about the rest of the team. I'm glad most of them make it through, though it is bitter sweet when I think of some other rag-tag team we met not so long ago and didn't make it. (Yes, I'm not over Rogue One, lol.)

P.S. Such an irony that while I'm posting this, my shuffle decided to play "Jyn Erso & Hope Suite" from the Rogue One Soundtrack.

Glad someone dear to us mentioned Rey was "very forgiving". (High hopes for the ST, people!)

5. May the Force be with Commander Agate. Her genius tactic took down the Ravager and I wish I could have seen that onscreen. Like that Corvette took on the Star Destroyer over Scarif.

As Supreme Leader Snoke said: "We shall see."

In some way it made me think of a poem called "Life is a dream" from Calderon de la Barca:

Where life and dreams are as one;
And living has taught me this,
Man dreams the life that is his,
Until his living is done.
The king dreams he is king, and he lives
In the deceit of a king,
Commanding and governing;
And all the praise he receives
Is written in wind, and leaves
A little dust on the way
When death ends all with a breath.
Where then is the gain of a throne,
That shall perish and not be known
In the other dream that is death?
Dreams the rich man of riches and fears,
The fears that his riches breed;
The poor man dreams of his need,
And all his sorrows and tears;
Dreams he that prospers with years,
Dreams he that feigns and foregoes,
Dreams he that rails on his foes;
And in all the world, I see,
Man dreams whatever he be,
And his own dream no man knows.
And I too dream and behold,
I dream I am bound with chains,
And I dreamed that these present pains
Were fortunate ways of old.
What is life? a tale that is told;
What is life? a frenzy extreme,
A shadow of things that seem;
And the greatest good is but small,
That all life is a dream to all,
And that dreams themselves are a dream.

It also made me think of one text included on the "Rogue One" novelisation by Alexander Freed about the perceptions of the Force and Jedha:

Spoiler: Rogue One novelisation

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA: PILGRIMS OF JEDHA
[Document #DN4624 (“Faith and the Force of Others”), fragment excerpted
from the archives of the Order of the Esoteric Pulsar; author unknown.]
What is the Force of Others? To ask this, you must ask one question and a
thousand.
To a cultist of the Huiyui-Tni, you must ask, “What is the exhalation of the true,
amphibious god?” To a Jedi, you must ask, “What is it that binds and defines all life?”
To a child of the Esoteric Pulsar, you must ask, “Show me the secret pages of the
Book of Stars.” To a faithless man, you must ask, “What power enables prophecy
and sorcery in a world controlled by logic and law?”
These thousand questions will garner a thousand answers, all pointing toward the
same truth.
Now ask, “Where is the Force of Others?” and one answer becomes inevitable:
the kind and cold moon of Jedha. For a thousand faiths see truth in Jedha’s
mysteries, no matter that their stories differ; no matter that not one history of the
Temple of the Kyber can explain each brick in its foundation, or that our legends
entwine and part in paradox.
I ask you to believe that Jedha is a nexus for faith, life, and the Force of Others in
all their forms. If the Force can be embodied in a vision or a living creature, why not
a place? Or why not an idea? Why can pilgrimage not be Jedha, and Jedha not be
the Force?
I ask you to believe this not because it is true, but because it is a beginning.
Imagine these things and you must conclude that every visit to Jedha is a
pilgrimage—that every visit to Jedha is an expression of faith and a search for truth,
intended or not. When a thief comes to Jedha to prey upon the vendors in the
markets, she does so in accordance with her nature; she will trick and lie and steal,
and if she does not trick or lie or steal then her faith and nature are altogether
different.
You say, “Why a thief? Why such a cynical conjecture?” To which I say, “Do you
not wonder why the Guardians of the Whills protect their temple so? Why the Jedi
carry their cruel swords of light, even here?” It is because our pilgrimages are in
accordance with our faiths, and faith can bring terrible conflict. A thief is but the
kindest example I can offer.
Jedha does not give answers to those who do not know what answers they seek.
Jedha does not bring into harmony those things that cannot harmonize. Jedha does
not express faith and the Force through its pilgrims; pilgrims express faith and the
Force through Jedha.
Pilgrims express faith and the Force through life.
For what is life but pilgrimage? And what is life but conflict?
There have been worlds and tyrants who have tried to prevent their people from
journeying to Jedha. But such a thing cannot be stopped. Living beings will always
find their way to the kind and cold moon, as they always have. Through the Force
and Jedha, they will act as they must, for good and ill.
And we will know them by their actions there.

What would the Bendu say?

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

 

From this book, I think somehow Mon Mothma was vindicated in my eyes.

She was a politician, and of course she wanted quick changes but the issue here was that using an absolute authority would take her closer to what Palpatine did with the Empire. And even so, she would rely on some quite unorthodox methods to achieve her goals.

I enjoyed terribly how she interacted with Sinjir. Sinjir is pure gold people. I was cracking with his remards along the book.

For some all that baby gift talking might sound silly but... Did Lando actually go ahead with that vintage pistol gift? And in some way, we can tell Ben Solo indirectly saved the Chancellor's life.

And regarding all the blackmailing and such we can see how a lot of the vices from the Old Republic and the Empire were hard to erradicate. That is why Victory Celebration is cool because they had won the day but they had to keep fighting.

Regarding Luke, I think this article makes a lot of sense:

http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/2016/10/luke-skywalker-hero-who-ran-away/

When I was reading about the Battle of Jakku, at one point I realised most of our main heroes were missing - Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Artoo, Threepio, Lando - but one part of the book includes a great description on how the Empire found its end. Maybe Jakku was the last blow, but it started dying since the day Order 66 was executed. It kept losing blood with all the tiny steps the Rebels were taking along all those years. And when all the X-wings were attacking over Jakku, I was thinking that Red Five and R2-D2 should be there at the thick of the action.

But I could understand the enormous weight on Luke's shoulders. Of course he had to go around the galaxy looking for more Jedi knowledge. Or maybe some surviving FS still around - Bendu? Maybe some dear characters we know? We shall see.