Mara Jade runs the gauntlet!

Originally posted by Lightsnake
Well, Theed palace isn't exactly 'dark catacombs of Planet X' that she was able to fight Jacen in so there's a bit that's up in the air...

I was a little less than clear, my mistake;
I mean, a lot of what Palpatine taught Mara about stealth and intrigue, he definitely would have taught to Maul when he was training him, so a lot of what Mara knows, Maul'd probably have a one-up on her at the moment.
And Maul, to his credit, did take on Anoon Bondara, with much more experience and probably as much training-given the acknowledgment as the Order's likely Battlemaster, given Cin's assuming the position the same year of Anoon's death and Anoon's skill, and destroy him completely, so I wouldn't put the experience as too great a factor.
Mara could take it, no questions, but in my mind, it'd become a cat and mouse game as the two hide from one another and stalk the other....though if Mara forces a direct confrontation like she tried to Jacen, she is going after someone with enough raw strength to wrestle a Barabel to the ground and break its neck...

I say you need to get IM sometimes, but for the Mara/Jacen fight:

Mara lures Jacen into the Catacombs and ambushes him. They engage in a short saber duel, that ends with Mara pretty much tackling him....both take extremely bad injuries-including stab wounds- but it's really just a down and out brawl, that ends when Mara gets the upper hand and pins Jacen to the ground and raises her vibroblade for the killing blow...and Jacen creates a force illusion of Ben, causing her to hesitate for a split second, allowing Jacen to stab her in the thigh with a poisoned dart.

For a minute he's afraid she'll be able to fight off the poison, but with her already bad injuries she's not able to. Jacen tells her not to fight it and Mara's last words are quite badass:
"You think you've won...but Luke...will crush you. I refuse to let you...destroy the future...for my Ben..."

I despise Jacen. I can't wait for the book in which Luke gives him a thorough assbeating. He's Anakin 2.0 -- only worse since he has no excuse for ignorance of the dark side.

Anyways, yeah. Mara ambushes him, collapses a tunnel on him, and they end up in a brawl, where here 50-something-year old body manages to beat the shit out of his. The omniscient narrator does note that her Force powers are "crude" compared to his. But she's simply so intelligent and skilled.

She and Lumiya have a catfight earlier in that book, too. It's deadly. All the Emperor's Hands must be fighting geniuses.

Originally posted by Faunus
Meh. It go either way. But theoretically. . .

*sniff* Jacen is one screwed up guy. And as of LotF, and awful character altogether. Talk about cliché.

Care to hear what Luke does to Lumiya when he thinks she murdered Mara?

Originally posted by Lightsnake
It's entirely possible, though Maul's not exactly a slouch in the Force department himself...if Maul were a dumb brute, I'd agree Mara could take him, but given that Maul'd presumably recognize her abilities, he could indeed give Mara serious problems

Jacen's a pretty evil SOB by all accounts...

Care to hear what Luke does to Lumiya when he thinks she murdered Mara?

Originally posted by Faunus
Chops off her head, right? Luke's still mildly cool, at least. Does Lumiya put up a fight?

She tries.

Luke essentially beats the shit out of her, and moves her "like a battering ram" off the edge of a cliff. He reaches out and grabs her arm and tells her: "I'd never let you fall..."

And then he decapitates her.

Dope. He finds out later that she's not responsible, I'm guessing. Does he know Jacen's the one yet?

Originally posted by Faunus
Dope. He finds out later that she's not responsible, I'm guessing. Does he know Jacen's the one yet?

No.

Which is stupid, but hey! Luke's never been a genius.

He assumes, now, it's another Dark Jedi. I keep forgetting her name.

No, which is why LOTF sucks. They'll probably play a game of cock tease for the next 3 books until Invincible, in which Luke better kill off Jacen, cause if it's the other way around, George Lucas is getting my foot up his ass.

Originally posted by Faunus
Dope. He finds out later that she's not responsible, I'm guessing. Does he know Jacen's the one yet?

It's a pretty sweet scene...Lumiya's outmatched by Luke in more or less every way. Luke now thinks it was Alema Rar who killed Mara-he doesn't want to let himself believe Jacen's pure evil

Ehh... I still don't think Jacen's pure evil. He's a deluded little freak. Mara said Jacen is as "vile" as Palpatine, but she doesn't realize how messed up he really is.

How many murders does he need to plan and commit before we can classify him as evil?

A lot more than what he's done already. He's just comfortably confused, like a bisexual girl claiming to be a lesbian.

Originally posted by Lightsnake
How many murders does he need to plan and commit before we can classify him as evil?

I didn't say he wasn't evil. I said he wasn't pure evil.

She goes down hard at kenobi. That said, she might not even make it past 1.

Originally posted by Gideon
No.

Which is stupid, but hey! Luke's never been a genius.

He assumes, now, it's another Dark Jedi. I keep forgetting her name.

If I were writing the books, Luke would only be outsmarted by fast paced, intelligent plans and readers would never get bored waiting for Luke to do something or think something smart. All the writers need to give their work to Matthew Stover. He's the one responsible for most of the popularity of Count Dooku and Mace Windu and perhaps even SW books in general.