Happy Fandom Friday! Each week, I highlight an aspect of the various fan communities that have sprung around mostly movies and TV shows, but sometimes books, games, or even just memes, if the level of dedication is awesome enough.
Welcome back from the holidays, Geekologists! I'm ashamed to say that I did a poor job of keeping up my favorite feature through Christmas and New Year's--even more ashamed after I witnessed this evidence of an epic fan worshipping at the altar of Star Wars. Yes, it's from four years ago, but it's no less impressive.
Yesterday Dark Horse posted this exchange from Yahoo! Answers, where a user named Tom asks the simple question (mistakes his),
What Happens after Return of the Jedi? Ive heard that Luke becomes like his father Darth Vader and that he is defeated by another Jedi that is Leia's and Han's son but this is just what Ive heard.
The short answer is that this guy is probably referencing various pieces of work from the Extended Universe novels and comics--namely, the graphic novel Dark Empire, where Luke does briefly dabble in the darker side of the Force and is defeated by Leia once she finally picks up a lightsaber; and the New Jedi Order series, which does feature young Jacen Solo making it all the way up to a Sith Lord.
But the answer that Tom got was from user Adorabilly, who, like many fervent fans, seems to have a tendency to ramble on in a response. No joke--he submits a 12,284-word response that ironically begins with "that is a lot of synopsis to cover but I'll try. here we go." I can't include the whole thing here--you can go to the link to see the breadth of it--but I've included excerpts that give you a good idea of what's going on. (Spoilers, btw)
about 20 years after the end of Return of the Jedi, a new era happens in the galaxy.. the New Jedi Order series of books is released. This new series of books introduced ntroduction of the Yuuzhan Vong-a race that exists outside of the known Star Wars galaxy. This race started attacking and destroying the new republics outposts, and attacking the Jedi directly.
...As Carr kills the remainder of the scientists left on Belkadan, his superior, Anor (who is also a Yuuzhan Vong operative in the organic disguise) travels up to the orbiting Mediator for talks of peace, only to fly out of his bomb-filled shuttle in an A-Wing as the shuttle docks and explodes, taking a large chunk out of the Mediator with it. He talks with the Vong leader on Helska and they decide their next target in their invasion of our galaxy will be the heavily populated Sernpidal. They will use organic technology to bring Sernpidal's moon down onto it. He also hopes to draw some New Republic forces out to wipe them out at the same time as he views the government as the Vong's major opponent in this galaxy.
...Back on the doomed Sernpidal, Anakin finds the thing that is bringing Dobido down - yet another of the Yuuzhan Vong's organic monstrosities. Anakin finds that the thing is impervious to blaster fire. Han arrives to pick up Anakin and the ex-mayor in the Falcon, which is filled to the rim with refugees unable to leave Sernpidal. But the old man (the ex-mayor) claims that he will not let this creature destroy another world so he destroys the creature with a thermal detonator, taking his own life in the process. Returning to the city, Han organizes the refugee convoy to follow him to a safe haven, and as they are about to leave, they hear the cries of a trapped toddler. Anakin and Chewie rescue him, but a boulder hits Anakin. Chewie struggles to throw Anakin up into the Falcon, as well as the toddler. As Anakin wakes up he flies the Falcon in closer to try to save Chewie. But Anakin knows they can stay no longer, and flies off leaving Han to watch Chewie be incinerated as Dobido crashes into Sernpidal...
...Luke summons all the Jedi Knights currently patrolling the galaxy back to Yavin 4 to give them missions to scout the Vong presence in the galaxy. Kyp, with a large faction behind him want to take the fight to the Vong, to stop them as soon as possible. Luke sees just how close he is skimming along the edge of the dark Side again. Luke assigns all the Jedi to recon missions to gather data on Vong activities and how they operate. He warns them clearly that they need to stick together or they, and the galaxy will fall. Luke assigns Anakin to accompany Mara to Dantooine where she hopes to gain some ground on her slowly advancing disease. Jacen, on the other hand does not want an assignment, claiming that he is considering giving up being a Jedi and turning into a hermit.
...Anakin brings a shocking discovery to Luke and Mara. Certain Knights have been studying superweapons in the data library. Weapons such as the infamous Death Stars, the Galaxy Gun, Darksaber, the Sun Crusher and the World Devastators. The prime suspect is Octa Ramis, who is Miko Reglia's ex-lover and is also a member of Kyp's faction. Ramis' hot-headed Twi'lek partner, Daeshara'cor has vanished, also making her a suspect. As Anakin searches Coruscant's spaceport for signs of Daeshara'cor's departure, he finds a homeless man, Chalco. Chalco saw the Twi'lek Jedi get on a freighter bound for Vortex. Chalco agrees to take Anakin, Mara and Luke to Vortex.
...Other Vong forces, including Executor Nom Anor and Commander Malik Carr meet with the pregnant Hutt ruler, Borga, on the Hutt throne world of Nal Hutta. Carr and Anor agree that the Hutts are foolish slugs, but they can be of use to the invasion. As the two sides work out the terms of their alliance, Borga pretends to fear the Vong, when in fact she doesn't. The Hutts have been contacted by New Republic Intelligence to act as spies for them, which Borga agreed to. Carr tells her to cease all activity around Corellia, Bothawui and Tynna, as those are the next targets of the Vong...
No--you know what, I can't even paste more to make it coherent. It's like the TV trope of a character talking on and on, where you keep flashing back to random points in the conversation. But hopefully these excerpts give you a sense of how much story needs to be covered.
The best part is, this isn't uncommon. I stopped reading the New Jedi Order books in 2002, and by then had already made it through several of the major battles and deaths. But around the time I started high school, I found that I couldn't keep up with the one-book-a-month pace; even trying to follow along on Wikipedia became exhausting. A few years later, I was chatting with a friend over IM when the Star Wars Extended Universe came up, and I discovered that my womanizing friend was a closet geek. I casually inquired into the state of the New Jedi Order since I had stopped reading, and he wasted no time in launching into his own summary--pretty hilarious when you consider this is a bro using IM abbreviations and his own sarcastic asides--of what I'd missed.
So thank you, Star Wars, for keeping us chatty. Devotees of other fandoms--have you run into this same situation, where you or someone you know has ended up rambling about your series' plotlines?
[via Dark Horse's Facebook page]
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