Spoilers for Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice
Do I really have to say this every time?
Just buy the damn book already
Sheesh

Silly people make me happy. Have I said that before? Because they do. They make me really, really happy. I don't know if they make me feel smarter myself, or it's tied into my deep love of arguments, but they give me warm fuzzy feelings inside. Teddy bears, bunny rabbits, that sort of thing.

Anyway, "Raxus" has decided he wants to continue the "Bring Mara Back" debate. There's another reason to love silly people. They're like punching bags; they just keep coming back for more action. Punching Bag Raxus here has instructed me to "Go back to your[my] blog and talk about me[him] and tell me I’m[him he's] an idoit for complaining…but, at least explain your[my] thinking…."

Well, I can hardly refuse such an eloquent request, can I? So, here's why I think Raxus is an idiot, now with explanations!

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"Mara’s death was COMPELETLY UNNESSACARY!!!!! I just read about it and I was so shocked!!! I loved that charactor because she could be sweet and caring and then, be ruthless and a grand saber deuler. I think they should revive Mara or something to bring her back. Sacrifice is in the “Ink” now…But, Maybe she can be resserected. I VOTE THAT THEY BRING MARA JADE SKYWALKER BACK!!!!!!!!!!"

Opinion: Idiot.

Explanation: I believe an explanation here is "compeletly unnessacary", but to satisfy dear Raxus...one exclamation point is sufficient per sentence. If you really must make a statement, up to three are excusable. Ten, plus capitalization, is due to either mental incompetancy or a broken keyboard. Possibly both. I've already stated my opinion on demanding an author "resserect" a "charactor" simply because a reader disliked their death. I've also already stated my opinion on a fan presuming they have a say in what happens in a book.

"O and one other thing….. JEDI CAN USE THE FORCE TO HEAL THEMSELVES OF POISON!!! WTF! I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS…..Some ppl just don’t read all of the stuff other ppl make….I mean seriously, read some SW history before making a real SW EU book…..This is ****ed up…Excuse my lang… Y don’t you all just kill Luke by him slipping in the tub!!!!! Or kill Han while he is shaving, he slits his throat!!! Come on! make Charactors die reasonably well at least! How stupid…..You guys need to either write something to fix that or something…."

Opinion: Hm...still an idiot.

Explanation: Even working under the remarkably unlikely assumption that Raxus is a highly-experienced chemist specializing in toxins, I sincerely doubt he has a full knowledge of Star Wars poisons and Jedi methods of countering them. Clearly, he also has little to no knowledge of literature, because anyone with half a brain can recognize a deus ex machina, which magically healing oneself of a supposedly fatal poison would be, and for someone to know something was a deus ex machina, and to insist on it anyway...that's beyond comprehension. Who wants something that stupid in a book? Who wants their book to be worse? Also, somehow I think the possibility that Mara would try to use the Force to counteract the toxin would occur to a Force-user of Jacen's skill. I believe he might just think of that, just maybe. But to continue..."ppl". Oh, dear gods, he said "ppl". In a debate requiring logic and analysis, a debate he expects to be taken seriously in, he said "ppl". Awesome. The next time I write a college paper, I'll say, "Most ppl believe that 4 god to exist he must B able to B seen." That should go over well. And again, all the SW books are approved before publishing, and no, Raxus does not have a better knowledge of Star Wars canonity than the people who invent it. Unless Raxus is secretly some sort of paid Star Wars consultant? If I prove him wrong, can I have his job? As for his ideas of Luke's death, and Han's as well...as much as I'd love to see Han accidentally slit his own throat, it's hardly the same case as Mara dying in combat with her nephew.

"Yeah! Anakin was Cool!"

Opinion: *shocked by level of idiocy* ...can you be surprised into cardiac arrest?

Explanation: I should probably mention that this was in response to someone suggesting
that they should bring Anakin back to life as well. I'm praying they were referring to Anakin Solo, not our Ani. The idea of spontaneously bringing Anakin Skywalker back to life at this point in time is something I'm trying to avoid pondering, because I'm afraid my head will explode.

"Hey another thing…..Darth Vader didn’t “sacrifice” anything….Until he killed Padme….But that was AFTER Sidious named him Darth Vader…..SO, Jacen didn’t need to kill Mara….The Ppl who wrote LOTF made that rule up."

Opinion: *shoots self*

Explanation: Okay, for the record? No matter how many times a character says it, Jacen isn't "becoming" Vader. He's "becoming" Palpatine. Let's just be clear on that. Anakin didn't plot how best to twist random laws into something that legalizes his military coup. And really. Anakin's prophecy and Jacen's prophecy are two different prophecies. I had assumed that was clear. "He will bring balance to the Force" does not equal "He will immortalize his love." So what Anakin did is irrelevant. Again, "ppl"? "Ppl"? Please. And just a tidbit of info, here: Star Wars is made up. Just so you know.

I'd continue, but I need to go have a life. Sorry, Raxus, I'd offer you an invitation, but you're kind of a lost cause.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK "STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: SACRIFICE"
POSSIBILITY FOR SPOILERS RUNS THROUGH THE ENTIRE POST.
YOU SHOULD TOTALLY HAVE READ THIS BOOK BY NOW ANYWAY.
SERVES YOU RIGHT.
SO THERE.
NYAH.

So I recently had the opportunity to continue my efforts against stupidity as I was searching for conversations about Sacrifice. Good book, Sacrifice. Jacen kills Mara. Oh so sad. Anyway, Clan Ka'ra is disappointingly short of people who keep up to date on the Extended Universe(Come on, vode! It's by Traviss!), so I joined a couple of mailing lists, checked out a few forums, promptly unsubscribed to the aforementioned mailing lists when I recieved 1000+ emails on how annoying Tony Blair could be(Wanna trade?)...you get the picture. Well, I was bored and out of luck, so I Googled Darth Caedus(aka Jacen. See, this is why you need to buy the book. I really hate having to make parenthetical asides like this. It's quite inconvenient.) and came across an online petition to have Mara brought back to life. Yes, you heard me correctly. They want The Powers That Be to come up with some sort of ULTIMATE FORCE DEUS EX MACHINA OF DOOM and have Mara be magically not-dead.

This petition, which I shall not link to(EDIT: BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO GIVE YOU BASTARDS ANY MORE GOOGLE HITS, NOT BECAUSE I'M TOO AFRAID TO POINT OUT WHAT I WAS ARGUING AGAINST, OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOUR COMMENT WAS. AND WHEN I SAY I WON'T LINK TO IT, THAT MEANS THAT I MIND YOU LINKING TO IT IN MY COMMENTS. FUCKING MORONS.), and the Wordpress page it was hosted on, which I shall also not link to, was compaining about how "pointless" Mara's death was, and how Jacen's murdering her would break up the Skywalker-Solo clan into immense conflict. And we totally know that wasn't the point of the whole damn LotF series. Basically, the morons were discussing writing to Lucas and Del Ray(like Del Ray gives a shit) telling them that they(all 16 of them) weren't going to buy any more Star Wars books until one of the LotF books brought Mara back to life. Their argument was that if the Sith could bring the dead back to life, so could the Jedi.

For starters, I don't recall the Sith ever actually bringing someone back to life. I'm going to have to assume they were referring to Palpy's little spiel to Anakin, and I wasn't aware we were on a "believe every word the evil manipulative Sith bastard says" policy. But maybe that's just me.

Also, it was a good book. Like, a really good book. Best Star Wars book I've ever read. Tied for the best book I've ever read, period(What can I say? I enjoy a good Phantom of the Opera rewrite. But only when it includes murder, sex, drug use, and cats.). 50% of why it was good was because Traviss is an exceptionally talented writer. I could survive on her books and the occasional Timothy Zahn novel. The other 50%, however, was because of the ending. The GIANT SUPER ENDING OF ULTIMATE ULTIMATENESS (AND DOOM). Jacen killed Mara and declared himself a Sith Lord, complete with meaningless Sith name(Vader means "Father". What does Caedus mean, you self-righteous wannabe twerp?). Luke goes a little nutso and beheads Lumiya(right up there with Darth Bandon in "Worst Sith Ever"). Boba Fett's a respectable leader(And, one can only hope, soon to be forced to hand over his close smuggler friend when Vader and...well...Boba Fett come to call.) Ben...does whatever it is kids do when they're Lieutenants in the Black Stormtrooper Club(black stormies was totally already done, by the way. You're gonna piss off Jax, you meanies.). Mara...well, Mara gets poisoned. And dies. And stuff. Let's see, if Mara's dead, and Jusik and Etain are dead of old age, if nothing else, then that leaves...um...yeah, we're out of tolerable jedi. Shucks. And I'll be damned if I fall back on Kyp Durron. I might be preoccupied, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about that little stunt with the Suncrusher and Carida. I liked Carida.

So. What does that leave us with? A really good book with an exceptionally gripping conclusion, full of drama and conflict and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WHEEEEEE!!!! And a bunch of fans that can't handle the fact that their favorite character died. I'd tell them to stay away from books rated PG and above, but Disney's Bambi novelization was pretty rough, too. They might become overly fond of the mommy deer.

Seriously, people. You realize how moronic it is to complain to a creator that you don't like his or her work? That's like driving cross-country to complain that someone 78348943278987249345 miles away didn't water his lawn. If you don't like it, stay on your side of the Continental Divide! For the love of Fi, buy a different book! See if we care! See if they care, either! This same piece of shit issue comes up again and again and again in Star Wars. Super Star Destroyers are as long as Lucas felt like making them in that particular film, there are THREE MILLION CLONES in the Clone Wars -- not eight million, not twenty million, not "Well, Coruscant alone would need a couple million just as a police force...", THREE  MILLION, Luke is not going to up and marry Callista, or Gaeriel Captison, or Han Solo, for that matter(hey, some of the fanfiction I've struggled through...), and Mara is dead(EDIT: Removed capitalization and bolding for the sake of people scrolling past, but you get my point). As a doorknob. Actually, I'm pretty sure we're the only SciFi series that even has doorknobs. Everyone else seems to prefer those little whooshy doors. But every once in a while on Naboo or Kuat or someplace like that, I'm sure a doorknob turns up. In any case, Mara is dead. As Chewbacca. As Vader, once he got that little bit on Bakura out of his system. And these idiots bitching about it are going to change absolutely nothing. For one thing, isn't Inferno or whatever's next already done being written? And the one after that is no doubt in progress. And I'm willing to bet the basic plotline of all the LotF books is pretty much decided on by now. When do they expect Mara's miraculous rebirth to come about? 860 ABY?

I felt the need to spell it out for them, and I'm sure with the amount of idiots we have, I'll be using this in the future. Man, as a Phantom phan the worst I have to deal with is the occasional idiot who thinks they're a full-blown incredibly knowledgeable fan after seeing the 2004 movie. No one there ever says "NO NO. RAOUL SHOULD BE SPANISH, NOT FRENCH. OTHERWISE IT'S NOT REALISTIC, DESPITE THE FACT THAT I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE MASKED MAN WITH INCREDIBLE HEALING ABILITIES THAT SPEAKS EVERY LANGUAGE IN EXISTENCE AND CAN CONTROL PEOPLE'S MINDS WITH THE POWER OF HIS VOICE."

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Dance, White Boy, Dance

Let's see, then. I'm a Democrat in theory and an anti-Republican in practice. (EDIT: Formally, a "Populist-leaning Liberal". Conservative economically, liberal socially, judicially(sometimes), and internationally.) I despise media and/or political bullshit of all kinds and have been known to avoid the television during times of "national crisis." In addition, I don't care how much of a tragedy something is, if I'm sick of hearing about it, I'll let people know, loudly and frequently. I rarely refer to Bush as anything other than "King Bushie the W," and never as "the President"--hell, I didn't vote for him; as far as I'm concerned, he's not my President. I greatly dislike the Republic form of government(that is, as opposed to monarchy, democracy, etc), and my biggest annoyance on the face of the Earth is that people believe America to be a democracy. Yet another form of idiocy spawned by political BS and educational incompetance. Also, I'm bisexual. No, I haven't seen Basic Instinct. Please don't ask. I can get pepper spray.

I consider myself to be three things before all else: a fangirl, a bitch, and completely and utterly disgusted with society. I apologize for none of the above. Yes, on occasion I will squeal like a Star Wars fan who’s just realized Lucas is planning on making Episodes I, II, and III. That’s because I am one. Am I a geek? No, not really; in fact, I can be a bit of a moron sometimes, and I’ve never had an interest in Dungeons & Dragons. Am I obsessed with the length of a Super Star Destroyer (or what the proper name for one is…), or that the idea of three million clones isn’t realistic (science fiction, people. Science FICTION!)? Honestly, as long as I get a newly-written Karen Traviss or Timothy Zahn book at least once every two years, I couldn’t care less. So three million clones possibly couldn’t have fought a galaxy-wide war. Maybe it was a small galaxy. Maybe the war wasn’t as big as we thought; the media certainly likes to shove war down our throats in RL. Maybe they happen to be clones that fire ray guns and fly around on spaceships with a bunch of telekinetic psychics! I love Star Wars as much as the next Fandalorian, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go stalk Traviss because she repeated something THE POWERS THAT BE said was canon. Fierfek, how do you possibly reason that? Beyond the fact that you don’t send people death threats, you don’t harass someone for the decisions of a superior, and you sure as hell don’t complain that a damn movie saga is unrealistic, I mean. Hell, I hate Bushie as much as those fools hate authors that disagree with them, but I’ve never mimed slitting his throat. And if I can do it, so can they. That doesn’t even get into the idea of canon. George Lucas says “x” about Star Wars. Lucas owns Star Wars. That makes “x” true. NO MATTER WHAT THE HELL YOU SAY. You don’t like it? Get a new fandom. I hear the Trekkies are hiring.

As for being a bitch, if you piss me off, I’ll let you know, don’t worry. I don’t pull punches unless I respect you, and the number of people I respect is in the single digits. I try (note: try) to play nice with others, but I by no means promise to. Especially not if you insist on being so damn annoying. And I follow the exponential principle. If you are bitchy to me, I will be bitchy to you to the 100th power. Understand that.

On the matter of religion...by normal standards, I'm an atheist. But I believe in God. Sure. I just don't give a flying fop what he/she/it thinks and refuse to worship the divine equivalent of a PMSing teen.

Throughout the journal, you'll see a lot of quotes from literature. The ones you do recognize are probably Shakespeare. The ones you don't are probably either Byron, Keats, or Shelley. Because I really don't care about any other poets. No, really, I don't. Wordsworth? Wordsworth? I have Byron. Who needs Wordsworth? But my point is that those three (with Shakespeare, four), and mostly just Byron, have said what I feel so many times I should just stop talking and start quoting them to communicate.

And to wrap it up. A few ground rules: I don't care what you think. Really. I don't. So don't act like I do. And swift and violent wrath shall descend upon all those who dare insult. Keep that in mind, and we'll be good.