the effect the Umbarans had on the lightsabres.

I suddenly realised that, maybe, it wasn't the connection between user and sabre that was taken away, when the Umbarans were nearby, but rather the leaching out of the infusion of the Force from the lightsabre itself. I racked my memory for Kemp's tweets on the subject, but I couldn't remember much. I could only remember the phrase '... otherwise everyone would be using lightsabres'. I think it was said in connection to the Force presence, and said leeching of it. But if I'm right, then the Umbaran's technique would mean that the taking away of the Force would make it useless, not the connection with the user, and thus non-Force users would be able to use it, and that since people don't use these weapons en masse would be because battles and skirmishes are fought, primarily, with blasters, as opposed to melee weaponry, and thus for the most part lightsabres would be utterly useless in combat.

And that got me thinking about the Ysalimiri anti Force bubble, and whether or not the blade is infused through or by the living Force, or the unifying Force, and that the bubble canceled out maybe on of those, yet left another in place, but stopped the user from connecting to it, which could leave the lightsabre usable, whereas the Umbarans literally took the Force away, and so it deprived the user and the lightsabre.

Though it was at this point that I finished the book and promptly fell asleep/into a catatonic state from my annoyance at the improper use of an adjective.

the Cerean would display a rare and difficult Force power (that of grabbing the lightsabre blade with his bare hands) after limited training

Honestly, I didn't care about the continuity issues like "How could the station be Rakatan technology?" or "How could the Umbarans affect the lightsabers?". Both of those issues are far too vague to complain about in the book overall. We don't know everything about the Rakatans. Only the Star Forge, really. That doesn't make us experts on their entire history and all of the technology they were ever able to create. And the Umbarans cut off the lightsabers. I actually thought that was cool, despite the fact that it grates against the powers of Ysalamiri. Granted, that is true. But again, it's vague. No one ever said the Umbarans and the Ysalamiri were using the same technique.

Anyway, regarding Jaden being transferred to a clone at the end...I thought this was a brilliant twist, because I didn't expect it. What I did expect, however, was for Jaden Korr to be a clone from the beginning. Like...all this time he's been a clone and we never knew. I expected Soldier to be the original for two reasons. One, he was the only one able to resist the Umbaran's power. Even Jaden couldn't do that. And at the very end of the book, it clearly says, "He had met his clone." What in the world did that mean? The Iteration was not a clone of Soldier. And, to our knowledge, neither was Jaden. So what did this mean?

So...my theory. Soldier is the original Prime. When it was realized that he was a perfected specimen, Jaden was cloned and planted as a normal human being in a sleeper cell type manner with his uncle. In this way, he was able to build his own lightsaber and such. From here he spent the rest of his life doing what we know about already. In growing to be a Jedi, his connection to the Light Side overrode his training as a sleeper cell and he was no longer susceptible to the code phrase. This explains several things:

1. Why Soldier is the only one that can resist the Umbaran's power (this ability did not make it through the cloning)
2. How they had Jaden's DNA so early
3. Why Nyss thought Jaden was a clone
4. Why Soldier thought Jaden was a clone

I realize there are several fragile parts to my plan, like how Jaden overcame the code phrase and how he was planted with his uncle. But any variation on this theory where Solider is the original greatly intrigues me. Having Jaden Korr be the original presents me with more questions than does having Soldier be the original. So that is my current thinking. Call me crazy, but...I kind of like it.

I loved Marr being able to stop the lightsaber. A crazy power, yes, but let's just call it a talent. Satele had it, we know. So why can't Marr? How come Luke and Co. couldn't use this power? Meh...you can't have everything.

@Life: Ha! I also wondered about the Umbarans having said relationship, and I thought myself disturbed for doing so, therefore abandoning the thought. But the fact that you also thought so and had it confirmed cracks me up! And further disturbs me.

I really hope for a sequel, since I can't see how they can avoid one at this point. Surely Jaden being the Iteration will come back to haunt him at some point. Perhaps they wanted Riptide released now and Apocalypse pushed back so that this could be incorporated? No idea. Just a thought.

Soldier's Plot:
"They came out of hyperspace, black overwrote blue, and the light of a nearby star painted the interior of the cockpit in orange."

Jaden's Plot:
"Junker came out of hyperspace and the blue churn gave way to black, to Fhost's system. The system's star painted the cockpit in orange light."

Nyss's Plot:
"Nyss felt a sense of loss as the scout flyer came out of hyperspace and real space hit him like cold water to the face. ... Syll partially undimmed the cockpit's transparisteel to reveal the mostly brown sphere of Fhost, backlit by its distant orange star."

I'm sure Luke could stop a lightsaber if he wanted to. Corran Horn can do it. The EU has insinuated that there are a few Force techniques that are innate rather than learned, such as Shatterpoint and that energy absorption. Given that Luke (rather arbitrarily) knows a rudimentary form of Shatterpoint, I'd posit that the bloodline of the Chosen One would have access to all these apparently innate abilities. Plus Corran had to learn the ability from someone.

Interesting! Jaden not being the original never even crossed my mind. It does fit together a couple things that didn't make sense. Makes me want to read it again.

The Outcast excerpt confused me too. I guess chronologically it's the next book... but still. It wasn't strong enough for me to call it a con though.

I didn't notice the writing repititions. *shrugs*

I hadn't really considered the idea that Soldier might be the original Jaden. Next time I read the book, I'll keep that in mind.

I had suspicions that Jaden was a clone from close to the beginning of the book. When the One Sith mention that a clone was sent to Coruscant, I consciously pondered who it could have been. As I continued reading, I began to get more and more of a feeling that it was Jaden. Just think: how did he know how to build a lightsaber? Amazing Force talent? Or subconscious training? And when Nyss tried unsuccessfully to use the code phrase, it not only says that Nyss thought he was a clone, but that Jaden overcame his Sith roots. Remember the theme of the book? “People are not equations.” I also thought Soldier might be the original, partly because it was just a hunch, and partly because of what the book says about their eyes being the same. The Iteration’s eyes were different. Mara’s point about the ability to resist the Umbarans seems to lend credence to the theory, as well. And at the end when he says that he met his clone, I thought that made it obvious. I also like the Jaden-is-a-clone theory because it means that if he overcame his subconscious programming once, he can do it again. Had they killed the original Jaden and replaced him with a sleeper cell clone, it might have ruined the ending for me, because I would never be able to completely see him as Jaden. I do wonder what the Iteration meant about the transfer not being ready, though.

As for the rest of the book, I liked the idea of Force-sensitive lightsaber crystals, although like everyone else, I wonder how the Umbarans’ power differs enough from ysalamiri that Luke could use his lightsaber on Myrkr. And I wonder why Soldier wasn’t listed under Dramatis Personae? But anyway, great book, and I hope to see a continuation of the storyline in either another sequel or FotJ.

Made you look

I never even noticed that. The entire time I was reading I thought Soldier was mentioned, and Runner wasn't. So I was pretty sure Runner would die early. Odd how I manipulated that, since it's exactly the opposite.