Dawn of the Jedi: Force War
We jump forward in time one year to find the Tythan system under siege by the Rakatan fleet and their foot soldiers, mutated Rakatan warriors called Flesh Raiders, a name that sounds like it could also be any number of other perverse things. Daegen Lok, the completely insane slavemaster visionquest psycho from the last book, has been released from the Evil Moon of Bogan and put in charge of the Je’daii armies for some reason, while Master Ravioli, a bald and somewhat boring monk, commands the combined forces of Tython and the non-Je’daii worlds. Despite this he still contributes nothing to the plot. Xesh, emodouche protagonist, has taught the Je’daii how to manufacture Forcesabers, which have become their primary melee weapon against the similarly armed Flesh Raiders.
Redheaded love interest Shae Koda (and presumably Sek’nos Rath, Shae’s (best? I don’t even know) friend, as well but I don’t think it’s ever clarified) has been promoted from Je’daii Journeyer to Je’daii Ranger, a meaningless distinction with no bearing on the text. I guess Sek’nos and Trill, the Force-hunting double-agent sent by Predor Skal’nas the Big Evil Space Guy, are dating now, because sure, whatever. Poor, neglected Tasha Ryo, one of three equally prominent protagonists in the first volume, is marginalized even more in the finale. Since she sucks at fighting, she’s become a Je’daii “seer” and now just sits around with other seers, all of whom are nameless, trying to divine the future and see where the Rakata will strike next. She does nothing of consequence for the entire book until the end, where she dies. Spoiler alert!
We open with all our main characters (except Tasha, because she’s not even a main character anymore) engaged in battle on Shikaakwa. They kill a bunch of Flesh Raiders and beat back the Rakata forces with their armada of monsters (including Butch, the flying rancor-dragon!). You would think that these creatures wouldn’t be much use against the Rakata’s advanced technology and starships, but fortunately the Rakata’s Force Hounds apparently have their own beast-mounted air cavalry for some reason, and the Je’daii kick their ass. Also apparently Xesh’s armor-and-helmet look from the first volume wasn’t unique to him but was the generic Force Hound uniform, which makes his co-Hound Trill’s red bustier and leather pants even more ridiculous.
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Some Flesh Raiders in action. |
The allied Je’daii and non-Je’daii forces beat back the Rakata’s advance, and Sub-Predor Ceh’let, a female Rakata (which you can tell because she has a ponytail), is none too happy with how things are going. She confronts warlord Skal’nas about how much he sucks at winning wars and demands to know why he is so obsessed with capturing Tython. Skal’nas explains that the Rakata are slowly losing their connection to the Force.
[Continuity Note: All of the Rakata’s technology is powered through the Force, including their starship hyperdrives and navigation. In the videogame Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the player rediscovers the remnants of the long-forgotten Infinite Empire and learns that the Rakata were ultimately destroyed by a plague that cut them off from the Force. Unable to use their weapons or technology, the Rakata fell prey to mass slave revolts and lost control of their empire. By the time the game takes place, only a few tribes of Rakatan primitives remain on their lost homeworld, Rakata Prime (later retroactively renamed Lehon because continuity). What we are seeing in Dawn of the Jedi is the beginning of their downfall.]
Rakatan legend tells of a world so rich in the Force that it can renew the Rakata’s failed connection to it. This world also contains a Prime Gate, the greatest of the Kwa Infinity Gates. Unlike other Infinity Gates, which linked only to a sister gate on a single other world, the Prime Gate can instantly take you anywhere in the galaxy. Skal’nas plans to use this gate to make the Infinite Empire infinite in fact as well as in name. Ceh’let is flattered to be told all this and asks if Skal’nas plans for her to be his queen when he becomes Over-Predor of the empire. Skal’nas says, “No, I just wanted you to understand the prize you were losing out on before you died,” and vaporizes her with Force lightning.
Meanwhile, Xesh continues to be angsty. He has a nightmare wherein twisted Rakatan visages tell him he can never escape the darkness inside himself and wakes up screaming. Shae runs into his tent and confesses that she loves him and Xesh is like “. . . uhhhhhhh . . .” Shae turns to go but Xesh tries to make up for his comical awkwardness by telling her something about himself that no one else knows. “Xesh” is his slave name, but he has secretly renamed himself “Tau,” the only word from his native language that he remembers. It means “soul.” It is a stupid name.
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I just threw up in my own mouth. |
That said, this may explain why Sek’nos didn’t make anything out of Xesh and Trill both being named after Aurebesh letters, something I wondered about in the previous review. The implication, then, would seem to be that Aurebesh, the most commonly used alphabet in the Star Wars galaxy at the time of the films, originated as the Rakatan alphabet. So basically the Rakata are responsible for everything in Star Wars: the alphabet, the lightsaber, the hyperdrive, the Sith name “Darth,” spreading humans across the galaxy, turning Tatooine and Korriban into deserts, hyper-accelerating the foliage growth on Kashyyyk, creating the Twi’lek and Zabrak species, giving pyramidal holocron technology to the Sith, and forcibly driving the Celestials from the galactic stage (prior to the invention of the Rakata, the Celestials were the EU’s go-to ancient advanced civilization for explaining lingering cosmic mysteries). I love the Rakata but it’s a bit much, isn’t it?
Anyway, then Xesh and Shae fuck.
The next afternoon, Xesh, Daegen Lok, Ravioli, and for some reason Tasha Ryo convene a council of war in Hawk Ryo’s brother’s fortress, because they are friends with him now. Xesh says that this is the first time the Rakata have ever faced defeat (which is untrue, because they were driven out by the Sith species when they tried to annex their territory a few thousand years earlier, but John Ostrander probably didn’t read that obscure online reference article), and if they kill Predor Skal’nas, the Rakatan sub-predors will destroy themselves fighting for command. Daegen Lok helpfully adds that Xesh must have come up with that strategy by studying how Lok won the Despot War by killing Queen Hadiya.
I hate to admit it but I’m starting to get over Daegen Lok. His badass bearded crazy-person look from Prisoner of Bogan is gone; now he just has long greasy hair with a scruffy little goatee and wears sleeveless body armor and looks like a douchebag. Now that he’s got what he wanted, fulfilling his vision and becoming the commander of the Je’daii, he’s not that interesting or fun to read about anymore.
The Je’daii formulate a plan to attack the Rakatan base on Ska Gora and kill the predor. Trill informs her master, however, allowing him to set a trap. Many Je’daii are captured in the attack, including Xesh, Sek’nos, and Daegen Lok, and Trill deserts the Je’daii and returns to her master. Sek’nos is turned into a Force-battery to power a Rakatan ship, while Predor Skal’nas removes the memory block he placed on Xesh. Xesh remembers what happened aboard the Rakatan scout ship he arrived on. He had sent his “Force shadow” out to investigate Tython, and what Shae, Sek’nos, Tasha, and Lok (and presumably Lanoree Brock, although she isn’t mentioned) saw back in Force Storm was this shade, not a true vision from the Force. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be some “gotcha” plot twist because it means nothing and changes nothing, but there it is.
On secret orders from Predor Skal’nas, Xesh murdered his former master and all the Rakata on the ship so that Skal’nas could claim Tython for himself. He then intentionally crashed the ship, killing thousands of slaves on board. Xesh now remembers all the atrocities he has committed at the behest of the Rakata, killing innocents and enslaving planets for them (including the Sith planet, judging by the accompanying collage, but the timing on that doesn’t fit with established lore).
Honestly I had no idea that he had forgotten this much of his history; it was never made clear in the text. I’m not even sure what the point of Skal’nas hiding it from him was. Blocking Xesh’s memory of his mission to infiltrate the Je’daii and intentionally crashing his ship makes sense, so the Je’daii don’t sense any deception in him, but he remembers everything else about the Rakata and tries to kill the Je’daii when he first meets them anyway, so why erase the extent of his evil? If he doesn’t even know what a bad person he is in the previous two volumes, his paper-thin character arc becomes transparent. This plot is kind of dumb.
But now that he remembers that he has done a lot of bad things, Xesh willingly rejoins the Rakata and submits to being Skal’nas’s slave, because that’s totally what it makes sense for him to do and isn’t at all contrived, right? After interrogating Daegen Lok, Skal’nas believes that the Prime Gate is hidden at the bottom of the Chasm, the seemingly bottomless pit on Tython where Lok had his vision. The defenses protecting it are what drives Je’daii mad when they venture too deep into the Chasm. Lok says that he misjudged Xesh and never realized how much darker and more cunning he was than Lok himself. Because I guess we’re still supposed to buy Lok McCrazy VisionQuest as this super-evil psychotic mastermind despite him failing at basically everything he tries to do in this book.
Skal’nas intends to stop the Je’daii from learning his plan to take the Prime Gate by neutralizing the seers. Using Xesh and Trill as conduits to boost his power, he sends out their Force shadows just as Tasha and the other seers are having a vision of Tython being attacked. Xesh suddenly appears in their vision and somehow blinds them, physically and to the Force. So for the rest of the book Tasha goes around with her eyes all white and charred lol. The seers have bought the Je’daii just enough time to begin preparations for the Rakatan assault, although they do not know its true target.
So the Rakata attack Tython and Xesh and Skal’nas take Lok down to the Chasm to find the Prime Gate. Xesh says that the only way to pass the barrier in the Chasm without going mad is to have nothing by the spoked-wheel symbol of the Tho Yor in your mind when you go through. I’ll take your word for it, buddy. They descend into the Chasm on jetpacks, leaving Daegen Lok chained to a rock for the Flesh Raiders to eat. I have no idea why they even brought him to the planet with them in the first place. He didn’t have any more information to give them; just kill him on the ship. But since they didn’t do that, we get a scene where Lok wrestles a Forcesaber away from a Flesh Raider and cuts himself free, shouting, “This is what I saw in my vision! This is who I am! Invincible! Unstoppable! Come to me, fools, and die!” Then he gets knocked down and begs for mercy.
Forunately, Sek’nos Rath escapes from the Rakata and arrives just in time to save him, having been drawn to the Chasm by sensing Xesh in the Force. Shae arrives shortly thereafter, riding Butch (!) and followed by Fake Morpheus, her Je’daii Master who was briefly important way back in the first volume. I think Hawk Ryo and Jane Krakowski do literally nothing in this story arc. Lok implants the Tho Yor symbol in Shae’s mind and Butch carries them both into the Chasm.
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Okay, his real name is Quan-Jang, but does it really matter? |
Trill shows up and makes fun of Sek’nos for his “balance” being so weak compared to the dark side, but his rage gives him the power to overcome her. He declares that he doesn’t care if he lives or dies, just so long as he gets to kill her. “No, Sek’nos! Don’t let the darkness consume you! Do not become them! You are Je’daii!” cries Morpheus. Having knocked out Trill, Sek’nos is convinced by this rousing speech to spare her life at the last second. “YAAAAAARGH!” he shouts, then slings her unconscious body over his shoulder and walks out of the story forever. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to infer he does with her afterward but the options are not looking good.
Not that Trill was a great character or anything, but I like how she didn’t even fight Xesh in this final story arc, let alone resolve the weird grudge she bore against him for “betraying” their friendship. It was pretty obvious to me in the previous arc that they were setting up for Xesh to reveal that the reason he suggested she be given to Predor Skal’nas after kicking her ass wasn’t to diss her but so he wouldn’t have to kill her. But no, I guess her pseudo-romance plot with Sek’nos was a way more appropriate note for that character to end on.
At the bottom of the Chasm, Skal’nas and Xesh have found the Prime Gate. While Shae tries to talk Xesh out of being evil again, Lok battles Sek’nos. He tries to use his signature “Mind Twist” trick on the predor, but like what happened with Xesh, the Rakata’s mind is too dark for him to endure. Lok starts freaking out and Skal’nas runs him through with a Forcesaber. Really, dude, that trick of yours kind of sucks.
Meanwhile, Tasha Ryo and a cardboard cutout called Ters Sendon are trying to consult with A’nang’s holocron for help. For reasons never explained, Tasha is still the only one ever able to activate the device, so Ters Sendon cheats the plot and channels the Force through Tasha into the holocron. A’nang’s avatar appears and Tasha tells him that the Rakata are invading Tython. A’nang tells her that he can return the Force to her so that she can awaken the Tho Yor to defend the planet, something only a Je’daii seer can do (good thing she got that job!), but it will kill her. Ters Sendon says, “Stop, don’t, come back.”
Tasha takes the holocron to some giant pit filled with light in the Je’daii temple above the Chasm. She levitates into the column of light, which heals her eyes because, duh, why wouldn’t it. “I now understand who created the Tho Yor . . . and why . . .” she says. Is it just me or was this already fairly obvious? The Kwa created the Tho Yor to defend Tython after they failed to stop the Rakata the first time. We never find out what exactly was revealed to her, however, because she explodes.
In the Chasm, the Prime Gate opens at Skal’nas’s touch, becoming a window onto a multitude of worlds. Shae continues pleading with Xesh to no effect; he still goes to stand with Skal’nas, but offers her the chance to go with them. She refuses and starts talking about love and forgiveness or something, but Skal’nas is like “Jesus, will you shut up already?” and blasts her with Force lightning. Skal’nas claims that love is a lie, power is everything, and with the Prime Gate, he is power. “You are meat,” Xesh corrects him, and attacks. So really the power of love did nothing to dissuade him, it was just some guy messing with his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, Tasha’s death activates the Tho Yor and they start shooting lasers everywhere and blowing up the Rakatan ships. The pillar of light that annihilated Tasha blasts into the Chasm, destroying the Prime Gate (pssst, nobody tell Skal’nas that there’s a Gree hypergate he could use to do the same thing, it’s right next-door, nobody say anything and maybe he won’t notice). “Betrayer!” Skal’nas shouts as he crosses blades with Xesh. “This is not betrayal,” says Xesh. “This is rebellion.” Just like in Star Wars! He disembowels the predor.
Famous Last Words: “GYAAAAH!” – Predor Skal’nas
For some reason, Shae and Lok are both still alive. They don’t have enough jetpacks to get back to the surface before the Chasm collapses, but just then the true hero of the story returns to save the day. Butch the flying rancor bravely risks her life by coming back to get them and carries them to safety. “I am not your hound. I am not your slave. I am not Xesh,” Xesh says to Skal’nas’s dissolving bones. “I am Tau.”
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Everyone’s always in favor of saving Hitler’s brain, but when you put it in the body of a flying rancor, suddenly you’ve gone too far. |
Some time later, the rest of the Rakatan fleet has been destroyed by either the Tho Yor, infighting among the various sub-predors, or the remaining ships of the Tythan worlds. The Je’daii decide to renounce their Forcesabers and go back to using regular swords, because constantly drawing on the dark side to power the weapons has put the order in peril. Daegen Lok refuses to give up his weapon, however, and claims that those who follow him won’t do so either. The Je’daii threaten to send him back to Bogan, but he says he’ll never let them put him there again: “It’s no place for a hero.” Well, at least he got a little of his coolness back at the very end.
Elsewhere, Xesh and Shae make out, then walk off to go backpacking across Tython. THE END!
Meditations
Frankly this last Dawn
of the Jedi arc kind of sucked, and I can’t help feeling that the series as
a whole ended up a failure. The setting and premise had a ton of potential, but
very little of it made it into the plot or the characters. I don’t doubt that a
lot of that is due to the license transfer to Marvel Comics killing the series
prematurely, but even before this truncated conclusion, the story wasn’t being
told in the best way it could have been. Xesh is a boring, lifeless character
and a weak protagonist, and this setting was already rich and detailed enough
to sustain a story without immediately introducing a brooding emo doofus from
the outside galaxy.
Like I’ve said before, I love the Rakata and I loved seeing them at the height of their power in this series, but the story may have been better served by slowly building up the Tythan worlds and all the characters and factions that inhabit them over several issues or arcs before bringing in the Rakata. Of course, for that to happen the series would have had to run longer than 15 issues, and even before losing the Star Wars license Dark Horse Comics was notorious for canceling some of their most promising or creative titles when they were barely off the ground. Chalk it up to the hazards of the medium’s market.
I’m not sure why but I also enjoyed the art a lot less as
the series went on. I won’t say it got worse, exactly, but there was so much
screaming and snarling and spitting that characters were drawn a lot uglier and
became less pleasant to look at. Lok’s, Xesh’s, Shae’s, and even Tasha’s
character designs lost a lot of their uniqueness after their first appearances,
their clothes and hair becoming more homogeneous and bland, less visually
arresting. I don’t know much about comic books but that’s probably the last
thing you want to happen in yours.
To discuss this volume in particular, though, it feels like watching a TV show that was canceled unexpectedly so the writers threw together one last episode to try to wrap everything up. I don’t know what John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s (despite Ostrander being the sole writer, they both collaborated on the story) original plans were if the series had been allowed to continue unmolested, but presumably we wouldn’t have immediately jumped a year into the Rakatan invasion.
I suspect that that story arc would have ended much the
same, however: with the Rakata’s defeat only marking the beginning of the Force Wars (plural), which
according to previous lore were supposed to last ten years and involve the
followers of the light and dark sides fighting one another with Force-imbued
swords. The next arc probably would have seen the Je’daii, now wielding metal swords
again, swaying from their ridiculous “balance” philosophy to the Force’s light
side in order to combat Daegen Lok and his dark-side devotees. Because for a
series called Dawn of the Jedi, these
three arcs were really about anything but.
Speaking of balance, one thing that came up throughout Force War that I didn’t mention in the summary because it affected nothing was the idea that the war against the Rakata was seriously impeding the Je’daii’s ability to maintain their internal balance between the light and the dark. Well no shit, you idiots; you’re exclusively using weapons that only work if you give in to the dark side. That’s stupid. It’s never even adequately explained why the Je’daii need the Forcesabers at all. The Flesh Raiders wield them, and it was shown earlier that Forcesabers cut through Je’daii swords, but later on the timeline both the Jedi and Sith will wield metal swords made lightsaber-proof through the Force. Why didn’t the Je’daii just do that? Did they just not think of it?
The Je’daii most shown to be struggling with the dark side
throughout this series is Shae Koda, the first Je’daii able to activate a
Forcesaber. In this arc, there are several scenes of her giving in to her anger
while battling the Rakatan forces, while Master Morpheus cautions her to
control her feelings and stay in balance. This ultimately has nothing to do
with anything; even after Xesh betrays her and rejoins the Rakata, she still
forgives him and tries to save him despite him showing no signs of repentance.
Why even bother stressing her anger issues so much in the final arc if they
don’t factor at all into the climax or endgame?
Tasha Ryo may have been seriously shafted in terms of page-time, but at least she got to do something that mattered at the end. Shae doesn’t even get that. Nothing she does matters, only what’s done to her; it’s Skal’nas’s attack that prompts Xesh to action, not Shae’s words. From “Love Interest” to “Damsel in Distress” to “Plot Device,” the character arc of Shae Koda must be one of the least rewarding of any major character in the saga (I should probably cross my fingers when I say that).
Overall, okay first arc, pretty good second, fairly dismal third, although not entirely by the fault of the writers. I could say more about Sek’nos randomly dragging off Trill like a caveman, or the retired war criminals from the previous volume never being seen or mentioned again, or Hawk Ryo being completely marginalized after finally becoming interesting and losing a foot, or Daegen Lok becoming a huge pussy, but . . . nah. It’s disappointing, but I’m glad to be done with this series, and this era as a whole. It hasn’t been a promising start to our journey through the EU, and given that we’re about to encounter our first run of Kevin J. Anderson stories, it doesn’t look to be getting better any time soon.
2/5 Death Stars.
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