Was Jacen (ie Caedus) really that bad?

He cared about his family.
He cared about his friends.
Text from his PoV shows that he honestly believed that what he was doing was right.
Text from his PoV shows that he tried very hard to prevent himself from being selfish, and the bad things that he did were not to give himself money or power; they were because he thought it necessary for the galaxy.

Was he wrong? Possibly, but evil? Not really, although he did have to be stopped, since his plans would probably hurt the galaxy if he were to succeed.

i think jacen just went about it the wrong way

Just because you only listed the positive things doesn't mean you can ignore the bad ones.

He believed in using the end to justify the means.

The end being: Galactic Peace.

However, the way he went about it was not good. Luke Skywalker wants the same thing but does it the Jedi way- selfless, not selfish.

Jacen also murdered his aunt and others to further his plot, did he not?

Indeed, but what matters is the way he saw his actions form his twisted yellow eyed point of view.

True that he did but wasn't that because Lumiya said he needed to kill someone?

Originally posted by REXXXX
However, the way he went about it was not good. Luke Skywalker wants the same thing but does it the Jedi way- selfless, not selfish.

Jacen also murdered his aunt and others to further his plot, did he not?

Yet he wasn't being selfish. He was genuinely doing it because he thought he was right; he even though, as shown in text from his PoV, that he was sacrificing his friends and family for what he believed to be the greater good. He even tried to avoid the path of Sidious because he thought that people like Sidious were selfish (which they were).

Still though, Caedus needed to be stopped.

Caedus wasn't too bad until one particular point. His entire purpose was to end the fighting, except there was a bit where the fighting could have ended iirc but he had the people meeting to arrange the ceasefire assassinated. At that point he was more interested in gaining power for himself then peoples lives, no matter hat his motives were, that was wrong. And then he had the guy who arranged the ceasefire (Orrin or whatever) assassinated by Ben, agan, so he could gain power.

In the back of one of the books theres an interview where one author says that Jacen is a person who's too smart for his own good. The trouble was that he knew he was smart and so thought he alone should run the universe. Again, thats were he crosses the line, even if he was good intentioned.

Originally posted by Nephthys
Caedus wasn't too bad until one particular point. His entire purpose was to end the fighting, except there was a bit where the fighting could have ended iirc but he had the people meeting to arrange the ceasefire assassinated. At that point he was more interested in gaining power for himself then peoples lives, no matter hat his motives were, that was wrong. And then he had the guy who arranged the ceasefire (Orrin or whatever) assassinated by Ben, agan, so he could gain power.

In the back of one of the books theres an interview where one author says that Jacen is a person who's too smart for his own good. The trouble was that he knew he was smart and so thought he alone should run the universe. Again, thats were he crosses the line, even if he was good intentioned.

QFT

Caedus took drastic measures to unite the galaxy, but he did unite it. He did in the end turn back to good, if not completely the Light Side, but stupid Jaina was too stupid too recognize it. I thought Jedi were able to sense the good in people. Stupid.

Jaina was doing the galaxy a favor by purging one of the biggest idiots ever. Jacen wasn't smart, he was a sadistic moron.

are you saying she should have passed on her chance to kill him because he turns partially good in a fight for 2 seconds? Doesn't matter how good he had turned, he was going to be executed in a court of law anyway.

Caedus was an . . . odd Sith Lord. He believed that abosolute authority was the only way to heal the galaxy. He was manipulated by Lumiya who preyed on the fact that he was suffering from PTSD. He didn't want to make the mistakes that the Sith Lords of old made - so he thought by being careful he wouldn't cause any damage. Instead he made whole new ones.

Jacen was like Vader. Good cause bad methods. Vader was just trying to save Padme but killed children and a lot of innocents and carried out horrible orders of genocide and extermination. Jacen was not much different.

Originally posted by Darth Truculent
Caedus was an . . . odd Sith Lord. He believed that abosolute authority was the only way to heal the galaxy. He was manipulated by Lumiya who preyed on the fact that he was suffering from PTSD. He didn't want to make the mistakes that the Sith Lords of old made - so he thought by being careful he wouldn't cause any damage. Instead he made whole new ones.

How is that odd? Sounds like Anakin to me...

he WAS anakin. Annoying how much like anakin he was. They told the same story, just gave him even WEAKER motivation than Anakin did to turn all evil. To do bad things? they gave him perfect motivation. when he started killing people though? That went against everything he stood for.

Who cares if Caedus was that bad or not... I really liked Jacen Solo's character arch. Out of all the 2nd generation he was the most interesting, even before going to the dark side.

Jaina is boring, all she cares about is fighting and trying not to get boned... Anakin would have been a great character, but they kill him off... in a blaze of glory... and Ben reminds me my annoying cousin...

Now Jacen didn't care what people thought, he was mysterious, held different points of view on the force, and did his best to meld all the knowledge of the force. I wish they didn't kill him. The whole time I was reading LOTF I was rooting for Jacen...

Makes you wonder, after visiting all the other force sensitives, if Jacen would have changed how the force is used. He could have been one of the most pioneering force users in the new era.

Yeah, I was actually rooting for Jacen too for about 3-4 books of LOTF. I really liked the idea of him being a nice, decent Sith who used his evil powers for good means. Like Revan was hinted to be in KOTOR 2, until Karpyshan dickretconned him into being a tosser in POD and TOR. Jacen was actually damn cool in the beginning. But then he started to go down the short path into Chaotic Stupid territory.....

🙁

What really gets me is that its love that makes him evil. I hate it when SW writers demonize love in jedi. Bunch of virgin hacks..... Jolee would be ashamed. 😒

Originally posted by Nephthys
What really gets me is that its love that makes him evil. I [b]hate it when SW writers demonize love in jedi. Bunch of virgin hacks..... Jolee would be ashamed. 😒 [/B]

Took the words right out of my mouth. I agree with you there completely.

Originally posted by Nephthys
What really gets me is that its love that makes him evil. I [b]hate it when SW writers demonize love in jedi. Bunch of virgin hacks..... Jolee would be ashamed. 😒 [/B]

I agree, but at least it was love for his daughter, and not for a woman.