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sunnyskywalkerChapter One
Chapter Twelve
Chapters 1-9: Abridged
This New Year, I resolve to be more timely about these.
This chapter is mostly Luke being Yoda, only far more pompous. Isolder thinks it's annoying, but also wonders if maybe he really has a special destiny. At least he has a neat part where he shows he is a product of a Hapan upbringing when he gets pissy about Luke treating Artoo as respectfully as he did Isolder's mom.
There, now you don't even have to read the recap! But if you insist...
* Isolder's crashing over Dathomir, and there was nothing he could do to save his ship. Aww. And thank you, Dave, for letting me see the parallels to Han without dropping a "character parallels here!" anvil on me.
* He too sees the city lights. I sense a reunion in the future. I must have Jedi potential!
* During some exciting free-fall (don't worry, Artoo has ejected as well), Isolder observes that The ample light of two small moons let him see every rock, every wind-twisted tree, every gully and switchback. Hey! Did I not predict earlier that Dave included those moons for Isolder's night-blind convenience? Yet more proof that the Force is strong with me.
* Oh, shocking. The parachute doesn't open. But He flailed his arms, shouting - and miraculously, some type of repulsorlift field hit him, slowed him so that he dropped as softly as a feather. For one wild moment he imagined that the flailing of his arms was somehow carrying him, and he dared not stop flapping till he hit the ground. Hee! Luke must be laughing his ass off.
* Well, maybe not this Luke.
* The X-Wing crashes and makes a pretty fireball, just like cars in twentieth-century American action movies. What kind of fuel does this thing have?
* He looked all around, then saw something above: Luke Skywalker sitting with his legs crossed, eyes closed in concentration, and arms folded, floating to the ground. You know what this reminds me of? Shirley the Loon from Loony Tunes, floating and saying, "O what a loon I am... O what a loon I am..."
* I've also had "Wonderboy" stuck in my head all day thanks to this. Wonderboy, what is the secret of your power...
* Isolder knows nothing of Loony Tunes or Tenacious D, so instead we get, Skywalker, Isolder thought. Perhaps that is how his ancestors got their name. That could be a cool story, actually.
* Or maybe a lot of them were good pilots. And it could be cool if it came from something less obvious - what if the family was famous for hunting a certain kind of hard-to-catch bird called skywalkers, for instance? Or for predicting things based on the movements of clouds, or maybe stars and meteors, colloquially called skywalkers?
* Isolder asks Luke how he did that, the hair prickling on the back of his arms. Until that moment, Isolder had never felt like worshiping anyone or anything. So are Hapans atheists? Or just Isolder? And this does sound like the sort of creepy, creeped-out reaction someone would have to seeing something impossible.
* Luke explains that the Force is his ally, he faked death with a Jedi trance, etc. Fine. But then he goes on to make this speech about the desire to be in battle that he used to feel and that Isolder feels right now. That bloodlust, the call of the hunt, is bad! The dark side, it is! Come on, Luke, do you really think uninvited lecturing works for you? At least you asked Yoda to teach you - he didn't just pop up one day and start telling you about your destiny.
* "Tell me, who do you hunt?" "Han Solo," Isolder said angrily. Luke nodded thoughtfully. "Are you sure?" Luke asked. "You have hunted other men before. I feel it." Pause for this chapter's unintentionally slashy moment.
* But really, Isolder hunted Captain Harravan, the man who killed his brother.
* "Yes, Harravan," Luke said. "You loved your brother very much. I can hear you, as children, trying to fall asleep in the same large room. Your brother sang to you at night, making you feel safe when you were frightened." Uh... Luke? Now you're just being creepy. And unbelievably super-powered, like with the translating thing, but the creepy is more the issue here.
* Good grief, Luke! "Your anger burns in you, a black spot on your heart. You must forgive [Harravan] and serve the light side of the Force." Because when some near-stranger pries into my past and tells me I should get over it pronto, that really helps. How about some commiseration, some advice from your experience instead?
* Isolder asks why he should forgive a dead man, and Luke says, "Because now it is happening again [...] Once again, someone has taken a person that you love Leia? o rly? away from you. Han, Harravan. Hey, Harravan is just Han with some extra letters inside! Leia, your brother. Oh, veeery interesting. Leia as brother-replacement as well as fiancée replacement and coup-enabler.
* No, Luke's speech isn't over yet. "Your rage, your hurt from one ill deed long past colors your feelings now. If you do not forgive them, the dark side of the Force will forever rule your destiny." Luke, STOP CHANNELING YODA.
* Isolder protests that it doesn't matter because he doesn't have any special powers. This would be a great place for Luke to say that it doesn't matter whether you have them or not, the same principles apply to all, but noooo. Instead, "You have power," Luke answered. "You must learn to serve the light within you, no matter how dim in may seem." What, and Han can just not forgive anyone he likes because he's not Force-sensitive or something? Do please enlighten me.
* Isolder says he noticed Luke doesn't talk this way to everyone, and Luke gazes at Isolder in the moonlight with shadows playing over his face. This sounds... romantic. As in, I know I've seen this scene with romantic leads in it somewhere.
* Isolder wondered if Luke was trying to convert him because Isolder was the Chume'da, the consort to the woman who would become queen. Oh, this is actually nifty! Isolder remembers that he lives in a matriarchal society, and he's thinking in political-intrigue terms. Get the ear of the consort and you have the ear of the queen as well, yes.
* Does Isolder know that Leia is Luke's twin? Because influence, he has it already.
* "I talk like this to you," Luke said, "because the Force has brought us together, on a moonlit night? hmm because you are trying to serve the light side now. Why else would you risk your life, come here to Dathomir with me to save Leia? Vengeance? I think not." Uh, why not? He already did this once, remember?
* Isolder agrees with me. He tells Luke he's come to steal Leia away from Han. Does Luke find it offensive, or worrisome, or even just plain irritating that Isolder thinks of Luke's sister as booty to be stolen? Nooooo. Luke laughed softly, as if Isolder were some schoolboy who did not know himself.
* I remember Jacen being superior and mocking in the first NJO book while sparring with Anakin. It was annoying. That's one reason I quit the series early. And hey, now we know it's the first step to EVIL. So Luke? Should shut up.
* Using the handy life-as-journey metaphor, Luke segues from talking about the trip to the distant lights to Isolder's destiny: "Over there, about a hundred and twenty kilometers." He smiled secretively. "I warn you, the trip will not be easy. Once you choose to walk in the light, your path will lead you places you do not want to go. Like the Unnecessarily Secretive Wise Old Mentors Employment Agency? Already, the forces of darkness gather against us. " Yeah, I read the back cover copy too. Tell me something new.
* Yay, Artoo is parachuting down! He's safe! Maybe we'll survive the chapter.
* Pause for yet another unintentionally slashy moment: Luke says, "Are you coming?"
Isolder had acted almost without thought until now, but suddenly he felt frightened, more than he could have believed possible. His knees threatened to lock, and he found his face burning with shame.
* Isolder realizes Luke isn't just asking about the physical journey - he's asking him to follow his teachings! And he figured it out all on his... wait, Luke spelled it out several paragraphs back, didn't he? Or did Isolder take all that "once you choose to walk in the light" bit literally?
* Isolder also thinks that Luke is telling him he'll make tons of enemies, like all Jedi did. Enemies like his mom? She's not a fan of the spoon-benders.
* Isolder considered for only a moment. "Let me get some things from my ship," he said. "I'll be right with you." I can't help but wonder if this is another instance of Isolder's belated teenage rebellion. "I'm going to bend spoons and marry a pacifist and there's nothing you can do about it, so there!"
* So they wander through the rugged desert. Which has some purple grass. Exactly how much moonlight is there that he can make out purple?
* Luke keeps showing off by jumping down ten-meter crevices while Isolder climbs. Also, the Jedi did not sweat much, did not pant, showed no sign of being remotely human. Ooh! I know! HE'S A CYLON!
* Yay, they've found Artoo's landing place! He's back!
* They hide out in a crevice for the day before crossing the flat, waterless hardpan. Isolder's pissy because it's only midday by his internal clock, and he's always had trouble adjusting his sleep schedule. But he doesn't want to look too bad next to Luke, so he tries. It's almost cute.
* Then a bunch of large reptiles with pale blue scales go stampeding overhead. Somewhere, Simba is crying. One pops down to say hello and Isolder gets mad because Luke gives it some of their water. Luke has to explain that duh, they can ride across the desert now instead of walking.
* Luke once again demonstrates the Force's amazing babelfish powers. He knows the creatures' - excuse me, Blue Desert People's - daily migration schedules and social structure and everything.
* The beast likes to sniff Luke's feet. Uh... okay.
* They get off at a river, and Isolder asks if Luke can make the BDP carry them the rest of the way. Luke gets annoyed, I think for the first time this book. Progress! He explains that no, he's not a tyrant; he relies on volunteers.
* Isolder suddenly realized why he found Luke's behavior toward the Blue Desert People so discomforting: among the royal family on Hapes, they did not treat their servants so well. [...] But Luke treated his droid and these dumb animals as if they were Isolder's equals, or as if they were Luke's own brothers, and that... alarmed Isolder, to think that the Jedi saw him as no more important than a droid or a beast. Now this is a cool paragraph. Isolder is tolerant and accepting for a Hapan, but he's still absorbed a lot of his society's beliefs. As he should have - I just wouldn't believe that he was completely untouched by the kind of upbringing he would have gotten in his mother's court.
* Isolder has a little hissy fit about it to Luke, arguing that "The universe doesn't work this way!" and protesting that Luke shows a droid as much respect as he does the Ta'a Chume of Hapes.
* Luke replies, well, yeah, they all have the Force in them, so how could he not? Isolder says that now he knows why his mother wanted to kill Luke (did he know Luke knew that?) - he has dangerous ideas!
* "Perhaps they are dangerous to despots," Luke said, smiling. "Tell me, do you serve your mother and her empire above all else?"
"Of course," Isolder said. Does he really believe this? I mean, has he not been hoping that his new wife will help him counter his mother's power and possibly take over prematurely? Because if he really thought his mother would be thrilled about Leia... well, he's starting to seem a little slow on the uptake.
* "If you served her, you would not be here," Luke countered. "You would have been content to marry some local despot [...]" The local girl he was going to marry got killed, so he chooses someone even less likely to be acceptable to the bigwigs back home. He's got to be planning a coup. Or at least a thorough housecleaning of just about everyone other than his mother.
* And now Luke starts beating the destiny drum: "You tell yourself that you have come to rescue Leia, but I believe you have really come to Dathomir to learn the ways of the Force." Or Option C - he's come to further his independence from his mother. Or all of the above. It's not an either/or situation, Luke.
* But as much as Luke fails to convince me, A thrill coursed through Isolder as he realized that it might be true. He wonders if his every small impulse, each mad decision, could be taken as proof that Isolder was [Luke's] disciple, a servant to some higher power that Isolder was not even convinced existed. Any moment now, Luke's going to start steepling his fingers and calling Isolder "my young apprentice."
* The next section just baffles me. Isolder thinks maybe Luke isn't drawing on some mystical Force to float through the air, but on his own twisted mind. Uh. Either way, he's drawing on some supernatural power, right?
* Then Isolder remembers a story about a race of insectoid aliens on Thrakia who worshiped their ability to speak as an amazing, god-given power after they discovered it, though it was just their stupid mandibles clacking! So he's saying maybe the Force is really a sense anyone could have, but that most haven't discovered, similar to the ability to clack one's mandibles together?
* Was Luke truly led by some mystical Force? Or did he simply follow his own conscience, fooled into believing that his strange powers and crazed notions came from some outside influence? I'm still puzzled. I think Isolder is comparing floating through the sky unaided to mandible-clacking, and figures we could all do it if we just put our minds to it. Or something.
* With each step they took toward the mountains, Isolder had to wonder: are my footsteps being guided by the light side of the Force? And if so, where will this Force lead me? Right back to Hapes, living under your mom's rule. But you'll have a lizard-skin-wearing, spoon-bending wife.
* Cheese alert! Whatever answer Isolder found to that question, he knew it would change every future moment of his life. And now he's ready to write his personal statement for Jedi U.
That was... not as bad as the last chapter. More "meh" than anything. I could almost use a singing droid just to liven things up a bit. But at least there's whuffa wrangling coming up next chapter!
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 07:44 am (UTC)I kinda want to see a story where he tries this approach on, say, Chewbacca, and realises lecturing people isn’t the most effective way to get them to abandon rage… :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 08:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 08:36 am (UTC)loyal readershipsubconscious, telling you to write more Chewie. Chewie being snarky and/or growly re: Luke preaching Jedi philosophy would be extra-good.Also, I can't believe Lucas really did read and OK all the novels etc. published in the SW-verse. I know it's claimed he did, but gawd, they contradict each other so often...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 01:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 05:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-10 07:12 pm (UTC)Ooh! I know! HE'S A CYLON!
This would explain so much. ;D Ahhh...dear Star Wars - how can you at times be so great, and at other times be so...um...not great.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-12 02:50 am (UTC)Which probably means that half the GFFA are Cylons. No wonder they have genocide and superweapons every week!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-12 12:11 am (UTC)Keep up the good-if-painful work!
--Rel-->
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-12 02:51 am (UTC)