Author Troy Denning goes into detail on Abeloth, Ben, Allana, tying into the Legacy comics, and all that other spoilery stuff we read in Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse in an interview with Suvudu. He also talks about working with multiple authors, like this interesting bit from the New Jedi Order:
…When I was writing Star by Star, I got the manuscript for Balance Point and saw that Kathy Tyers had followed the outline exactly. She did exactly what the outline had called for, but it was all about fifteen percent off of what I thought she meant. I was 400 pages into Star by Star and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I have slightly different interpretations of these characters than Kathy does!” So I had to go back and rewrite the first 400 pages before I could go on.
He also talks about the differences in Fate of the Jedi and Legacy of the Force, the ‘Jacen Solo saga,’ the last words of Apocalypse, and leaving things open-ended.
Meanwhile, Rooqoo Depot talks to Lucasfilm continuity guru Leland Chee.
“I didn’t think it was in Vestara’s nature to become the next Mara. I mean, she was a Sith, she was raised a Sith. I think she came to the conclusion in Ascension that she couldn’t be a Jedi, that’s just not who she was.”
Sooooooo, being raised Sith precludes one from redemption/becoming a Jedi. Yeah that makes sense, you never see someone that was raised Jedi fall/become Sith.
I mean, it’s one thing if a character like Vestara makes a conscious choice not to go for redemption or become a Jedi, but to say that she can’t because of the environment she was raised in? Strikes me as a decidedly non-Star Wars kind of theme.
And remember – you have to make sure enough characters die, because otherwise there’s not enough suspense in the combat scenes!
“We didn’t want to repeat Luke/Mara.”
Mara has never been on the Dark Side! Remember a dialogue between her and Luke in the book “Vision of the Future”:
“Palpatine never really tried to turn me to the dark side, at least not the way he turned Vader and tried to turn you. Actually, I don’t think I was ever really in the dark side at all.”
“But everything you were doing was the Emperor’s work. If he was on the dark side, shouldn’t you have been, too?”
“I don’t know. But I wasn’t.”
So it would not be repeated. Moreover, if I remember correctly, it would be the first time when raised a Sith became real Jedi. Imagine how it might be cool? This story could be invoked in any dispute! We would say that even a Sith can became good…
to Lana
I completely agree with you. After all, in other universes raised villains became goodies, despite the environment they was raised in. For example, prince Zuko from “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, Kovu from “The Lion King II”, Coryn (formerly Nyroc) from “Guardians of Ga’Hoole”… The list goes on. So WHY Vestara can’t become a Jedi?
I’m disappointed.