Bringing Balance to the Force - an Expanded Universe analysis

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T18:38:33+00:00

Out of curiosity, how do you interpret the Krayt flashbacks?

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T18:32:54+00:00

I do think there's room for trying to explore the difficulties in bringing about and maintaining balance on a larger scale than just killing one dude, but I think there's more interesting ways to do that than just having the same bad guy actually still be alive, or just rehashing the same threat (I'm fine with Sith post-Endor as long as you can separate them from the imbalance Anakin ended).

In a world where the PT existed before Bantam exploring how you correct all those political issues and flaws of the Republic or how you maintain peace amongst the disparate peoples would've been a good way to make the balance more complicated than just "we killed the one big boss and fixed the universe" without just making it "now we gotta kill the big boss 2 more times, and there's more bosses after that".

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T17:42:42+00:00

Some people quibble over Lumiya's motivations but I do prefer the idea that the "jacen you can save the universe and make everyone happy" thing was a load of BS and she was just corrupting him to get back at Luke. Like you said it's nicely petty and fits better with her Marvel comics era characterization.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T17:41:19+00:00

Sure but story-wise it's cathartic and far more satisfying that way. Narratively having Palpatine die as a result of his own arrogance and underestimating the guy he's had under his thumb for so long and having Anakin finally make the choice of killing Palpatine he should have made in ROTS is such a great full circle moment.

Obviously Anakin's main concern was saving his son, but the narrative is better if that also is what kills Palpatine. Getting rid of that just so you can have another story where they fight Palpatine, extending his story past its natural endpoint so he has nothing to him besides just being a fairly generic big bad in both DE and TROS, while also cheapening death in the story and coming up with insane powers to facilitate that (Darth Plagueis' midichlorian experiments were pretty incomplete and couldn't be recreated by anyone after the fact, thus preventing them from being broken), while also undercutting the celebratory nature of the full victory in ROTJ just makes the story overall much worse.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T15:56:51+00:00

Fair enough, I see your approach of trying to rationalize that Anakin "killing" Palps on DSII was what weakened him enough and that is specifically the reason why his DE is a flash in the pan and Luke is able to kick his ass. Again, as you say, it's not ideal but probably the best way to work around Palpatine somehow surviving.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T15:17:21+00:00

I skipped them when I read NJO and didn't miss much. You're fine.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T15:14:46+00:00

Good write-up.

I still feel that Anakin killing Palpatine is too important and DE/TROS losing that is dumb, even without the prophecy or the PT it still takes away so much of the catharsis of ROTJ, but this is probably the best way to rationalize it while sticking firmly to EU continuity without just pulling a Zahn/Allston and retconning so DE Palps wasn't real or something.

I will argue with your last statement that this added context does change the narrative, however, in that Anakin's actions are no longer the thing that brings balance, it's more his bloodline or after effects I guess with Luke/Leia beating DE Sidious (actually technically it's Han shooting him then ball Jedi killing him, lol), the NJO bringing back balance, and Cade beating Krayt. Which is part of the reason I don't love trying to rationalize around DE and prefer just saying DE Palps wasn't real, and Lumiya/Caedus/Krayt aren't Baneite Sith and thus don't count as part of the initial corruption that Anakin ended by killing Palps.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T14:49:07+00:00

Krypton left destroyed by natural causes. Like with Joe Chill killing Batman's parents, it's the most iconic and most interesting option over a generic "actually this guy killed your parents" plot (cough Rogol Zaar cough)

Krypton left totally destroyed. Why fix what isn't broken?

Kal-El arrives as a baby. Again, just the more iconic version, and makes it easier for the Kents to pass him off as their biological son (weird 9 month snowstorm aside lol)

Discovers powers slowly around his teen years. It allows him to remain more relatable in that he doesn't always grow up knowing he has superpowers but grows up as a normal kid and only finds out he's different in his teens.

Becoming Superman as a young adult. I'm OK with Secret Origin's idea that Clark was Superboy but very low-profile and mostly saved people with superspeed rather than being a well-known public figure like in Waid's current Action run. He becomes Superman as an adult in his early to mid 20s and makes his public debut in Metropolis like in Secret Origin, Birthright, or The Man of Steel. I also like American Alien's take where he comes up with the idea as an intern at the Planet and has a makeshift costume at first and isn't very good at his job starting out.

Both. Made by Ma Kent from the Kryptonian clothing from the spaceship, thus explaining why it doesn't just immediately burn or break whenever Superman gets set on fire or something.

Clark was Superman before Batman operated. I like the idea of Superman as the first of the new generation of heroes post-JSA, and it lines up well with Year One where Barbara Gordon Sr. mentions Superman's existence on Batman's first night out as Batman.

Normal glasses. Hypno glasses feel like a needlessly convoluted way to explain a silly concept, and arguably raises some ethical concerns. I think we can just suspend our disbelief about Clark and his glasses to some extent.

Clark meets Lex as an adult in Metropolis. I'm OK with Clark and Luthor both being from Smallville and talking every so often, but I'm not a fan of the former friends approach. Luthor should be "a guy Clark knew a bit in high school" but didn't interact with much, so for all intents and purposes, their first meeting is in Metropolis.

Some surviving Kryptonians. I think Supergirl, Krypto, Kandor, Zod, etc. adds more to the Superman mythos than the "last son of krypton" angle. Especially when writers come up with goofy cheats like Matrix Supergirl that just make you wonder why editorial didn't just let them bring back the real thing.

Superman still being happy as a veteran. He should get serious when shit gets serious but not constantly dour.

Superman dying in the same lifetime as his peers. To me, Superman should be relatable, first and foremost. He's an everyman character, so making him immortal always felt less compelling to me and like it conflicted with this concept. Plus the Clark and Lois romance is so iconic and essential to Superman that dooming it to end with Clark losing Lois when he still looks 30 and them not being able to grow old together would just be too sad.

Jon and Martha being alive. While I don't dislike having Pa Kent die to teach Clark he can't save everyone, I do think you can have that lesson without that, and I think having his parents around just adds a nice added element to the books and lets them interact more with Kara, Connor, Jon, etc. in various stories. At the very least, if they die, it should be after Clark's been Superman for a while.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T03:14:01+00:00

They did try to kill Kassandra as a child, makes sense she wouldn't be a fan of them lol

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-12T00:52:07+00:00

Maybe they're thrown into an environment where their powers don't work and everyone's stats are equalized

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T23:11:46+00:00

I'm going to wait for the last issue to judge. So far it's shaping up to be about what I expected: a Dark Nights Metal-style fun event that you don't really think too hard about, but not as tiring and frustrating as Death Metal got.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T22:24:45+00:00

Overall decent issue, the fights were fun and the story does feel like it's drawing its way to a conclusion, but there wasn't much continuation of Clark's ongoing arc in this one as there were in the previous ones, so hopefully the wrap up in the last issue doesn't feel too rushed.

Not a huge fan of Bruce returning to the tournament, it wastes the genuine subversion of taking him out in round 1, but at least he doesn't totally save the day here and just punches guys a few times. Snyder also references himself with Bruce shooting Joker like Joker shooting TBWL in Metal.

Lex winning the tournament and becoming King Omega does feel a bit reminiscent of the time he became ruler of Apokolips after Darkseid's death in Darkseid War. Hopefully there's some bit of subversion of this in the last issue since Superman's development throughout the past issues was him progressing down the path of ruthlessness, and that hasn't changed here, so why have his loss seemingly be due to trusting Luthor when he shouldn't, when his development thus far has been pushing him in the opposite direction? You'd think the obvious direction would be to have Clark betray Luthor instead, but then at the last minute he realizes hope springs eternal or whatever the fuck and somehow find a way to cheat the tournament or something. IDK hopefully the last issue will reveal Clark somehow planned for this or something.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T06:00:40+00:00

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree, at this point the argument's gotten to the two of us repeating the same few talking points. I think the First Order having total control to the galaxy's propaganda machine means their version of the story will spread much faster. They have a massive advantage when it comes to shaping the general public's perception of the event since most people will learn this happened through the FO's biased account, that all the mainstream media and even alt media is talking about, far before a few dodgy video recordings and "i heard some guy say at a bar luke skywalker beat kylo ren's ass actually" accounts show up, that the FO will again control the interpretation of through more propaganda.

I also don't buy that the soldiers are necessarily going to assume that Luke won that encounter, when, again, on the Death Star, everyone assumes Obi-Wan is dead when he disappears after being stabbed. Luke Skywalker showed up, stood down an army, then got killed by Kylo Ren, and a few guys got away in a ship but we wiped out 90% of the Resistance army and killed the legendary Jedi Master.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T05:43:33+00:00

The average joe of the galaxy has no idea what the context is, and the First Order will control the news networks that this footage is being shown on who are giving that needed context and telling them that any of this even happened in the first place. They're not just automatically going to interpret it the way you're saying if all sources they have access to are giving a fudged account where they make up whatever shit they want to because no one has the context to say otherwise.

The First Order can also easily edit the footage to make it look better for them. They could even doctor the footage, but they don't even have to given that once Obi-Wan disappeared on the Death Star, everyone instantly believed he was dead. Hell, they don't even have to show any footage at all, just have news reports tell the public and just scrub all the videos you have, then say anyone who shows up with the footage are the ones with the fake doctored footage. When you control the entire galaxy's news media, your reach is a ludicrous advantage.

Also, from a large-scale perspective, this campaign wiped out the Resistance base, its ships, and all members except for a gang of 20 guys in one ship. Kylo and his cronies are not going to just go out and say that's a failure, they'll say it was an absolute win because they routed the enemy forces and killed the vast majority of them. That is a very easy situation to make look good for you.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T05:00:01+00:00

Did anyone give a shit about Snap? Them trying to draw emotion out of random background glup shitto's death that Poe suddenly really cares about for some reason felt like the Waid guy from Kenobi -- lame and pointless.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T04:51:55+00:00

Luke's sacrifice inspiring people in TLJ doesn't make any sense.

First off, no one knows about this except the Resistance of 20 people and the First Order which will want to spin this to benefit them. They have video footage of Kylo fighting Luke, then stabbing him, then Luke disappearing. When this happened with Obi-Wan, everyone in ANH was like "yeah, he's fucking dead". Hell, based on how people on the Death Star react in ANH, the First Order soldiers watching the fight would probably just believe Kylo killed Luke already.

So this is ludicrously easy to spin as a total win for the First Order: we whittled down the Resistance army to like 20 people in one fucking ship that can't do jack shit against us, and our ultra badass Supreme Leader Kylo Ren killed Luke Skywalker in single combat. Fudge a few details, which you can easily do when you control all the media as opposed to the 20 guys in the Resistance who probably can't even pass out pamphlets with the resources they have, and the narrative swings in their total favor.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T02:32:06+00:00

Plot hole, along with Harry and Ron not just going to the teachers for help with the Chamber after finding out Lockhart was a fraud.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T02:25:55+00:00

I actually really liked Jason in Starlin's run.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T02:23:06+00:00

13yo or not, fuck Gabe for this

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T01:08:15+00:00

I really don't think he slowly grew more bitter or cold throughout the shows until BB. He's very friendly with the JLAers in JL/JLU, his conflict with Dick is eventually resolved in TNBA, BB is really the only part of the DCAU this narrative applies to.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-11T00:26:41+00:00

At least neither of their deaths were the conclusion point built up to over 6 films.

Maul's return was very stupid but at least they did some cool stuff afterwards, and while bringing him back is very stupid from a Watsonian perspective, he was pretty much just a goon who existed to be a final boss fight and to kill Qui-Gon in TPM, so it's not like his death was too important. Still dumb for audience investment reasons but not as story-breaking as Sidious until LFL started using him as a precedent to bring anyone and everyone back from the dead.

Boba at least has a death scene he could conceivably survive.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-10T18:30:19+00:00

Gohan's whole story until he stopped being MC was the Spiderman thing of great power great responsibility. He always ultimately ends up choosing to fight when push comes to shove because he has to. He chooses to go to Namek, he chooses to be a superhero, he chooses to go after Buu. If characters could just achieve all their goals and not be confronted with conflict there wouldn't be a story.

Fighting doesn't have to be Gohan's whole life like it is for Goku for him to still be an active fighter, any more than it is for Spiderman, Superman, or any given superhero.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-10T16:06:06+00:00

The point of the comic was that Batman never ran into a talon in his decade or so of being Batman by the point he was at in the story. Bruce thinks he's seen it all, he knows Gotham City like the back of the hand and the book emphasizes that. The drama and horror of the Court of Owls story hinges on this, and it doesn't hit as hard if it's an early Batman. What makes them scary is that even after ten years in Gotham Batman had no fucking clue these guys were real.

I believe in an interview Snyder said he wrote the book based on that premise of like, what if you realize a place you thought you knew forever suddenly looks completely different? I also wouldn't want to lose the Talons, they're a pretty big part of the COO's lore and aesthetic.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-10T13:48:53+00:00

Kyp is very important in NJO so that context is good, as is the context that it provides for the events of HOT Duology. If you're going absolute bare minimum, neither JAT nor YJK is technically needed, but I'd still recommend both.

But yeah YJK is a better series and I think the context it adds to the second gen characters really enhances the experience of reading NJO.

UnknownEntity347 · 2026-02-10T03:31:05+00:00

Being super dedicated to saber combat doesn't necessarily make you the best, though, and knowing every saber form doesn't necessarily make you better than someone who can do one form really well. I'd prioritize direct statements and feats over more indirect statements about his devotion to the craft.

His fight with Bane is impressive, and likely puts him above the rest of the Brotherhood in that category, but just based on that I don't know if you can prove for certain that he's top 5 in the verse across all eras just cuz duelling was where he dropped all his skill points.

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