Ordo
Enforcer of the Republic
Hey. I've called her unprofessional, immature, and a b!tch. Thats not a message of support for her person. I've said shes wrong on the size of the clone army; the issue that brought about her meltdown. You have nothing on me there.
On the Jedi though, I think you're dead wrong. And I'm glad you're the first person here to actually articulate why you dont like her work. I'd love to go into more detail, but I simply dont have time tonight, so I'll start with this.
What made the RC videogame so great was that it reinvisioned what star wars would look like from a Clone's point of view. Its bulkier, grittier, and darker. War is more real, it has real consequences. You fight you get injured. You're enemies gut splatter in your face. You're alone against some badass machines.
Its not the pretty ligths, philosophy, and romantic scenescapes of the ever-infallable Jedi.
This is what inspird Traviss, and me. The movies are told from high society. The Jedi rub elbows with Senators, live in their vaulted temple, recite their dogma. Where do we see Jedi solving a problem peacefully (Other than Qui-Gon using the force to influnce watto's chance cube?). Not once in the prequels do we see a Jedi helping the poor (Qui-Gon giving extra money to Shmi was the one exception) (I guess this proves Qui-Gon is the only true Jedi in the prequels...and he died.). Not once do we see Jedi passionate about an issue (other than Anakin being in love).
What if we looked at it from a different perspective? From the bottom up and NOT the top down? This is how Traviss examines the Jedi and why her books are not only unique but gronudbreaking.
They Jedi betrayed everyhting they stood for and they got waxd for it. They stood by as a tyrant stayed years past his terms, eroded democracy. They fought, led a galactic WAR even though they are peacekeepers. They were deeply involved in politics, asking their own members to lie (Anakin). Even Kenobi wouldn't stick up for that decision. They rotted from the inside out.
And you want to talk about genocide?! How about USING a pre-paid army of genetically modified theirteen year olds? Humans grown, without rights, without citizenship, without a choice to fight. Sending them into battle, killing them. Don't clones die too? How many civilians died in this war? How many Geonosians? How many Wookiees? How many innocents when fragments of starships cam crashing down into planets? People die in war. Jedi included. They were in a position to stop it and they failed at their duty.
The ironic part is even the Clone Wars has brought up these issues. Anakin has no qualms using torture. Bariss questions their role as peacekeepers. The Lurmen challenge the Jedi's role in the war. Slick challenges Clone's rights, their choice to fight. The difference has been that Clone Wars has never sided against the Jedi, but Filoni has challenged them. Traviss has just accepted that same criticism and subsequently wrote this brilliant series that protrays what its like to be a human trapped in the middle of a farsical nightmare of a war. She looked form the bottom up and saw a different story of the same events, a complimentary story that adds an amazing depth to the Star Wars universe.
Traviss wrote novels that THINK. She looked at something in a new way, a way I have always wanted to see. Regardless of what an ignorant, hyperactive di'kut she is, she still came up with the most brilliant star wars story since the prequels, and the characters to boot. I feel the same way about her as I do Lucas, who also ACTIVELY insults his fans and is rather dense himself. But he gave us a story, a brilliant story, and the story is what counts.