JC: Both are bad, really. I guess female? It's a choice between Nolan North sounding as stuck-up as possible or a lobotomy patient. JK: Male by a hair. SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE! Trooper: Female by a hair. Sorry, Varric. Smuggler: Male. Voice fits perfectly. SW: Male. Female sounds too old. BH: Female, male voice sounds like he gargles with nails and Gusano Rojo every 20 minutes. IA: Tie. Bertie Carvel and Jo Wyatt are both amazing. SI: Male.

Talon VII, I understand what you're getting at. Frankly, they'll never actually age the characters too much, the fans just wouldn't take it. I just don't think Mara's death is something that served SW very well in the long run, especially seeing as they've already had her return in ghost form oddly often already. and Talon, did you look at the FAQ I posted? She goes into quite a lot of detail about her perception of the Jedi. she doesn't hate them because they've been invulnerable in previous books, she dislikes them because she genuinely thinks they're immoral on some deep level. The clone thing is still coming into play, somehow, it would seem. Anyway, I'm going to send my Zahn books off to him to be signed fairly soon (he does it for free, the nice man), and maybe I'll slip in a letter and ask him about it myself. Can't hurt, right? Except it was her idea entirely, she came up with it, LIKE I SAID BEFORE. Which was kinda weird. And yes, what she did was against the author's wishes. Read any of the interviews they did with Zahn. The fact of the matter was, he was out of the loop and no one bothered to ask his opinion. And no, she didn't hate Mara. She does really have a thing about Jedi, though. Yeah there was, in that she thought it was a good idea. There are, however, many who disagree - and I think it's a perspective worth considering. Does that make it immune from criticism? Did you read the Wookiepedia article? Did you read Traviss' Jedi FAQ thing I posted? Did you actually look into this at all? Or are you just inadvertently revealing your own ignorance of what's going on in the guise of condemning my supposed ignorance? Quit with the pointless ellipses, and try not to embarrass yourself any more. And yeah, sure, it was approved by people higher than them. You know what else was approved at the highest level? Episode I. It doesn't mean it's invulnerable to criticism. To say nothing of the fact that it was Traviss' original idea and something she insisted on doing. That is absolutely something she was responsible for.

I liked the Vong overall. They may not have been perfect, but they were a ******** better than the trite stuff that was getting churned out up until their arrival on the scene.

Well, IMO, if you just got done with trooper, I would think you're about done with playing by rules and following orders in your class story. I would pick Smug, but don't abandon JK either.

Yeah, but there's no reason to sacrifice a character that can still be used productively pointlessly. There were about a million better Jedi characters to kill off (what about Kyp? He hasn't done anything in EVER). One of the Solo kids was going to die at some point, we all knew that, and there was no point having Chewie around anymore either. I agree that the Bantam books were playing it way, way too safe, but the sword cuts both ways. Not familiar with that series. Yeah, by Cade's time, everyone will be dead. Sure, whatever, even if you accept Legacy as canon. But those deaths won't and shouldn't be elaborated on or even mentioned, as it'll make Mass Effect's "Tali's face" controversy look miniscule by comparison. Just leave a huge *********** gap there. Just because they age and are mortal doesn't mean that they should just be killed off with no real sense behind it, to say nothing of the behind-the-scenes BS. And what's Saba's lifespan, btw? Just curious. Luke and Leia are both 63, yes. And Han is 73. You bring up a good point, however, there is one factor you're overlooking. In at least one book (Truce at Bakura), the author offhandedly mentions that the average human lifespan (due to all dat bacta, presumably) has now been extended by decades - to around 100-110, even 120 years old. Hell, force-sensitives have been able to extend their lives up to 800 years, according to Wookiepedia. 60-70 could be the new 40-50, for the SW universe. We shouldn't assume all our age paradigms apply there too. Obi-Wan kinda aged quickly because Tatooine does that to people. It isn't necessarily a glimpse into Luke's future.

Dude, she craaaaaaaazy. I half-expected a 2nd quest where you go back only to find her family forcing you into a shotgun marriage.

Where did you hear that? From everything I can tell, there's no way to not kill her. She doesn't seem like the type to be convinced to give up Tavus, either.

I know how you feel, but it's not like this is an entirely new or unprecedented thing though. it does happen in SW, albeit very rarely. If it was done right...I don't see why it shouldn't be done.

An interesting aside: Zahn has gone on record saying that he would be OK with actually, no joke, really, no-fakeout-this-time bringing Thrawn back to life in an interview he did in 2007, if "circumstances demanded it", IE the galaxy needed a really damn good commander really *********** fast. So Zahn is at least open to the idea of bringing characters back.

It's a damn hard choice, and I could genuinely go either way on it (I'm at the point now). Jorgan has the experience. He had the rank already, and only lost it because Command screwed him over. He's led people before, doesn't compromise, and is undoubtedly devoted and loyal overall. However, he's also unnecessarily abrasive and doesn't seem to work that well with Command or allied forces outside his squad. He's quick to anger and quick to focus on emotional reactions rather than thinking logically (doesn't he actually approve of executing Tavus instead of at least giving him the chance to come peacefully? Not good). He relies a bit too heavily on the "I'm entitled!" card when you ask him to sell himself for the position, and the fact that he throws a monstrous hissyfit when he doesn't get picked doesn't exactly prove the Captain wrong. Dorne knows every regulation forwards and back, and when she does skirt them ("discharge your blaster into his skull"), she generally has a damn good reason for it. She seems to be able to work with everyone, keeps a cool head in combat, and has the decorations to prove her valor and experience in combat as well. She seems also to have a strong moral compass in dealing with the Imps, which is usually a good thing. However, her Imperial background could cause issues of trust amongst those under her command, and she does have less experience in an actual command position than Jorgan does. It's hard. It also isn't helped by the fact that my Trooper's 'mancing Elara atm.

I have no idea why you would call it that. Well guess what: If Mara's brought back, none of that gets cancelled out. Sure. It still sucked, though. Although my problem is more with the idea than the actual execution of the idea. That's nice. Because the prime selling factor and reason people like SW is realism and utilitarian, non-dramatic fights between good and evil. I don't understand people's attachment to that damn term, as it's demonstrably incorrect. Let's not kid ourselves: she's wildly biased. Anyone who reads her books can tell that. Read the FAQ thing I posted, she *********** hates them. Then she should've stuck to RC and left the Jedi alone. I don't hate Karen Traviss, but I don't think you have the right to tell me to shove up opinions up my *** just because I think she did a terrible job. Because she did, and it unnecessarily lost SW a good character. I don't see why you're so defensive on her behalf, but I guess not everyone can be polite.

Yeah, an unpopular decision that she admitted she came up with on her own, plugged for, and insisted to Lucasfilm that she write, that also fit into her own visible and unpopular biases. She's a "fall guy" like a guilty criminal is a "fall guy" - it was entirely her idea and her decision and her action. I don't think Lucasfilm/Del Ray cares too much about keeping characters alive, from what I've read there never seems to have ever been much of a debate when they talk about the process of killing characters off, whether it was Chewie, Anakin, or Mara. Lucasfilm just kinda leaves the authors alone, as they know Lucas doesn't really care. The fact they were willing to accept what Traviss was pushing doesn't mean it was worth doing, necessarily. And I never quite got why so many people hated RA Salvatore - the SW book series as a whole was getting so trite and the characters so unchanging by that point, something had to give. And Chewie was an expendable character at that point.

Still, though. In SW, dead is USUALLY dead, but there are rare exceptions. Callista is one of them. It's not impossible, and I think would be justified.

So did Callista, technically, and she got brought back. Of course, because it isn't necessary anyway. I trust you mean in Cade's series? Yeah, that's 150 years in the future. Everyone's dead by then, but if, say, Luke got killed off in some manifestly stupid way in the current series they have going, I trust people would be angry about that as well, and rightfully so. Just because it's inevitable doesn't necessarily mean anything goes.

True, but even so, it's also standard procedure to, you know, check with other people involved in the thing before unilaterally acting to kill an important and potentially character off. IE, got ridiculously stupid. Are you actually Karen Traviss? Because here's the thing: according to Wookiepedia, Traviss thought up killing Mara as she was already writing Sacrifice, and purely on her own. It wasn't a pivotal moment, or part of some existing plan. It was Traviss' whim, because she thought it would make things more interesting. The other authors in the series had to scramble to change things in their books, and I believe they had to do rewrites as well to cover Mara being dead. It manifestly did not have to be done - the pivotal point (to me, anyway) was Jacen essentially turning into Vader on Coruscant, executing innocent people left and right, to say nothing of his acceptance of the title of Caedus. Zahn may not have total ownership, but that doesn't mean that authors should be allowed, in a multi-author series like this, to just change important **** around on what amounts to a whim.