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

Well, we have seen a scene in a Forceback with bodies everywhere...

About the Acolytes...they aren't FS, apparently, but Kisa felt a sort of dark energy with her mask that clearly made her do things she would not normally have done. Later, when Rax murders Tashu, he reflects from the reaction of the well that the Dark Side artifacts he'd decked Tashu out in had a "great deal of energy." So a couple of related questions/points:

• Are the Dark Side artifacts and/or masks of the Acolytes holocrons, or are they somehow otherwise imbued with power, assuming by the Force?
• If they do confer power/Force, doesn't that make Acolytes and potentially KOR (if they are roughly the same group) FS by default?

 

Oh Snap (to coin a phrase my seven year old uses)! That is a great theory! It also helps explain where Threepio and Artoo were during the Aftermath series.

Speaking of Interludes from Aftermath: Do we know when they take place? I assumed that they were happening at the same time as the events in the corresponding book but that doesn't have to be the case.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 16, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 16, 2017 ---

I don't believe that a being is "Force Sensitive" just because they felt something when donning a Sith aritifact. I am reminded of the Chirrut Imwe and Jyn Erso's mother in "Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel" who clearly knew when a place was strong in the Force but neither were described as "Force Sensitive".

Instead, I think the Sith artifacts are simply cursed by the Dark Side.

 

Quick thought - Why wasn't 3P0 with Leia helping her and so forth - are we to assume he's off with Luke and R2 on whatever it is he's doing?

 

No, I don't think a non-FS person "using" a Sith artifact would suddenly become FS. I meant that if the person is being conferred "Force energy" from a Sith object--or whatever it is that makes Sith objects Sithy--they still have the power (of the Force?) flowing through them, in a manner of speaking. It seems it might give the person "artificial" Force ability, as long as the object is with/on them.

What makes a Sith artifact "cursed"? How do we know it's cursed? Because it has Dark "energy" in/around it?

I don't know--I'm just speculating, of course. These Sith objects are relatively new, so it's fun to try to figure out how it's all working.

 

You might want to read the Lando comic series. In five-issue run, Lando ends up stealing the Emperor's private cruiser, which has many Sith relics on them. On the ship, there is a special room that is protected by two royal guards. The room holds a Sith mask and the mask turns one of Lando's team evil. The person kills his own brother and attacks Lando and the others.

 

Thanks! I didn't read them, but I heard about that incident.

 

That is what I think.

 

Just (started and) finished the book yesterday!

Overall thoughts: Greatly enjoyed, but didn't love it. I think I liked Life Debt more, but it's hard to explain why right now. I think it's because I found Temmin more annoying in this one. I felt like all of the complaints about Ezra's character in Rebels apply more to Temmin* - he's whiny and bratty, and he more or less disengages me from the story. People listen to him when they really aren't obligated to, and he gets away with about everything. I had no connection to him. They're both teenagers, and for all intents and purposes child soldiers, but Ezra PULLS HIS WEIGHT IN THE CREW. *Rant Over*

Sloane is awesome. MR. BONES IS THE BEST CHARACTER INTRODUCED POST-ROTJ AND PRE-TFA. NOBODY is better than him. I was almost sad Sloane escaped; but all that means is that we have the chance to see her again in some way, shape, or form in the future.

The ending was perfectly bitter-sweet. Overall, this book was the finale the series needed.

And chess existing in the Star Wars universe is as hilarious as it is awesome.

*I'm not saying that I dislike Ezra - on the contrary I greatly like his character. It's just that the complaints I've heard made about Ezra fit better with Temmin in this book.

 

How many people read the books as opposed to listening to them on Audible? Cause if the voice actor MADE Temmin sound whiny and bratty I'm sure that would stick out to me as well lol. I actually liked his character.. seemed to be on par with Joph Seastriker from Bloodline. Was actually kinda cool they were together at the forming of the Resistance in the end

 

i still felt he was kinda a whiner, but i agree that if you're reading it off the page you can temper the voice in your head--you're not stuck with the audio interpretation.
to this day i think of hermione granger as a simpering idiot because of the way she was read in the first Harry Potter book ~ hahahaha

 

Good book overall. I was disappointed in the lack of combat action at Jakku. I really expected a more lengthy description of the events of the battle. I'm also left wondering if we'll see Jar Jar performing at some cosmic comedy club in future films. Chuck should have had Niima the Hutt eat him!!

 

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Aftermath trilogy. I expect that live action films are not going to happen, but how about animated films?

Sloane - She started out as a baddie, but she ended up solidly in gray territory. I don't see her getting on board with the First Order's way of doing things. She's more pragmatic - not at all fanatical. So she's essentially trapped with them. I don't see her lasting long.

Temmin/Mr. Bones - There are thousands(probably millions) of old B1 droids stored away in locked warehouses around the galaxy - right? I think it would be awesome for Snap to program a couple thousand to function like Bones to help the resistance make up for TFO's overwhelming numbers in Episode 9. I can see it in my mind. They line up and start marching just like they did in the final battle in Episode 1. The film cuts to the stormtroopers and officers lauging at how easy it will be to cut through them like butter. Then - FLASH - the droids start running and cartwheeling through the stormtroopers taking them out by the dozens. That would be awesome IMO.

Tashu/Rax/Jakku/?Snoke? - Okay, we now know that the NCC(New Canon Caretakers) like to pull rope-a-dope(in my case "dope" literally). I think it is safe to say they had all us readers KNOWING that Rax was Snoke - PSYCH!!! We were all suckers I guess(They also had many of us believing Jyn was Rey's mother in Catalyst). So why is Rey left on Jakku if the TFO knows the planet was not altered - or was it? Does Tashu actually die? Is the scarring on Snoke's face the result of injuries from being thrown in the "chasm/void" thing in Jakku. Did he survive it and come out of it with extraordinary powers and transform into Snoke?

Things that make you go Hmmmmm ....

Back to the rope-a-dope thing - I'm currently reading Bloodline hoping it will give some better TFO background info. I expect I will still be hoping when I get to the end though.

 

As long as no blood would be spilled and no female nipples would be shown, MPAA would probably be alright with it.

 

We definitely need an appearance by Mr. Bones in a SW movie. I'd love to see it in episode 9, but a stand-alone would work also.

Agree with Pawek_13 - it could be done within the turf of PG-13. How many beings were dismembered in the prequel trilogy and those were all PG-13

 

Okay - you have a very good point there!

--- Double Post Merged, May 17, 2017, Original Post Date: May 17, 2017 ---

'99.9% of people going "Wha...?!"'

Also, the regular audience knows what B1 droids are. And the lead-up dialogue in the movie would explain how Snap makes them into Mr. Bones. So, while they would not have the same affection for Mr. Bones that we have, they'd have the basic knowledge of who/what he is.

 

i dunno. Sloane strikes me as exactly First Order material in the worst way. she thinks she can do it better/right.
i had a lot of sympathy for this character at the beginning of the trilogy, but at the end she threw it all away when took Hux in hand.
it demonstrated she was no less a monster than any of them.
still lots of room for her to redeem herself in that, but at the moment i feel like we ended on a sour note with her.

 

i didn't say Sloane was going to redeem herself. i said she's irredeemably awful to me after Empire's End. which is not to say we might not learn something more about her later, but as is stands now, i hate her nasty guts and she's a villain as bad as any of them. hahahaha

as for her "bent" in terms of the Empire, it really depends on how you interpret the FO (which we know so little about, so it's kinda wide open at this point).
i think Rax had a plan that was not the FO. Brendol was following Rax. so it's someone else's influence that created what i see as the FO. could be Sloane, could be Thrawn. doubtful it's Snoke. whoever structured this junta believes the Empire was the right idea/wrong leadership model. sounds like Sloane to me. [shrug]

but again, if have a different interpretation of the FO, then you'll see it differently. we still have much to find out.