I’m not going to argue that the “Star Wars” prequel movies are as good as the original trilogy. They aren’t. However, the prequel era has added layers to “Star Wars” we couldn’t have dreamed of when it was a simple — albeit great — drama of good versus evil back in the early 1980s.
George Lucas’ most intriguing move was revealing that the Republic fell not so much because the Jedi were defeated in battle, but more because the Jedi pushed an outdated philosophy that caused dissent in its ranks. The Republic-era Jedi Order is — metaphorically, although it’s barely a metaphor — a powerful group of religious fundamentalists who haven’t kept up with changing times. Lucas managed to pull off that portrayal without causing an outcry among Yoda and Obi-Wan supporters. To me, Yoda and Obi-Wan are sympathetic not because they are holier than thou, but because they think they are holier than thou.
Author Karen Traviss has run with the themes introduced in the prequels. First, she explored what goes on under the helmets (or “buckets,” in trooper slang) of clone troopers in four “Republic Commando” books. Then she tied clone culture in with Mandalorian culture, something fans had been curious about ever since Boba Fett was labeled a “Mandalorian,” in three “Legacy of the Force” books.
Now she’s one of the authors of the “Clone Wars” books that tie in with the TV series. After writing the movie adaptation, she’s back with the original novel “No Prisoners.” The theme here is the Jedi Order’s prohibition on attachment. As we know from that poster for “Episode II” with Anakin and Padme standing back-to-back, “a Jedi shall not know anger, nor hatred, nor love.” We also know that stupid rule is largely what made Anakin turn into Darth Vader.
In “No Prisoners,” both Anakin and his Padawan, Ahsoka, wonder about the validity of “no attachment,” especially since they team up with a group of spin-off Jedi who don’t follow this tenet. Altis, the leader of this unnamed clan, was once married, and two of his top pupils, Callista and Geith, are wed to each other. And yet they aren’t evil.
Meanwhile, in a “Saving Private Ryan”-type plotline, Republic commander Pellaeon (who was recently killed off in the books at the other end of the timeline) leads a faulty ship on a rescue of a cornered spy, who happens to be his secret lover, Hallena. In the end, Hallena joins the rogue Jedi do-gooders (another thing that sets them apart: They accept non-Force users).
Is it rewriting “Star Wars” lore to add in all these spin-off Jedi? (The current “Fate of the Jedi” series, which started with Aaron Allston’s “Outcast,” is doing the same thing.)
I say if you can swallow Anakin suddenly having a Padawan, then you can go with this, too. Ahsoka seemed like an apocryphal addition when she was invented for the “Clone Wars” movie/TV series; now, I take her for granted. And I predict that her ultimate fate — a big question mark, since she’s absent from “Episode III” — will be to end up with Altis’ Jedi.
Traviss will certainly be writing more books about these guys, and I’ll happily be reading them.