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| Darth Skuldren wrote: |
For me, the death of Mara was a bad thing for several reasons.
Firstly, her death didn't serve the purpose it was intended at that point. One could argue whether or not a character death was needed at that point in the series. However, Mara's death was a pretty lousy fill in for Jacen's sacrifice. A big deal was made about how Jacen needed to do a sacrifice to complete his Sith transformation. The problem is, Mara didn't serve that purpose. After killing Mara, Jacen still dithers on whether Mara was the right choice, and whether he's really completed his transformation.
When he killed Mara, Jacen didn't care about her. He'd already disowned both his parents (and tried to kill them) by this point. How is killing his aunt more significant? Even Luke would not have been insufficient. A Sith's sacrifice is something they really love. There was only one thing Jacen really loved, and that was Allana. Had he killed her, he would have completed his Sith transformation and severed his attachments completely. It was the only right choice, and the authors decided to not go there. They used Mara instead, and it just didn't work. The emotional pull wasn't there (in relation to Jacen's character).
Secondly, from a broader perspective, killing Mara diminished the entire EU. I'm not saying it was the end of the EU, but it certainly hurt the EU. Mara was the most prominent female character in Star Wars and removing her created a massive whole, one that still hasn't been filled. In time the damage can be undone, but taking that kind of hit in retrospect seems like a bad move on the publisher's part. |
For me, it wasn't so much that Mara, herself, was the sacrifice. But rather what else Jacen sacrificed by that single action. Before that one action, he could have done back and his family would have accepted and forgiven him. But once he killed Mara, there was no way he could get back the love he once had. Everyone he cared about would turn away from him the moment they learned the truth. His student, his lover, his sister, his parents, his uncle and teacher, and very likely his daughter once she was old enough. Not to mention all the friendships he had built over the years. All of it was thrown away with that single action.
It's also part of why I'd love a story where the sacrifice line turned out to be a lie. That he didn't have to sacrifice anything to be a Sith Lord, but he was told that to ensure that he cut off any option he had to turn back. Just like the Emperor did with Anakin by having him lead the attack on the Temple. Once that was done, there's no way those he loved could ever continue to do so.
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