Skallagrim's ramblings

In my opinion, it's a bad idea to make villain factions "less evil" in all sorts of tiny little ways. This tendency is perhaps supposed to add nuance, but remarkably often misfires and instead just gives fodder to a certain type of fan; the type that wants to be able to say " See, the fascist dictatorship isn't so bad after all! " Naturally, there are settings in which various factions and sides exist, on a scale of grey-tones, and all or most are neither wholly good nor wholly evil. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about conscious attempt to "humanise" otherwise unambiguously evil factions. This is technically a general argument, but those who know me won't be at all surprised that I'll be using Star Wars as my main point of reference here. In the old Expanded Universe, before Disney purchased LucasFilm and shunted all of that off into a separate continuity, the Galactic Empire was as evil as anything can possibly be. We ...

In the context of Star Wars , the term infinity is used to refer to a non-canonical tale. The most famous use of the term is in describing a 'might-have-been': a story about a parallel version of the Star Wars universe, where things somehow went differently. I have already written a bit about what I consider the Star Wars 'metaverse'. In this post, I will explore two  'might-have-beens' of the Star Wars universe , based on one simple question: "What if the line of the Banite Sith had been extinguished at some premature point?" ------------------------------------------------- The Galactic Republic isn't in good shape when we see it at the start of the prequels. On the contrary: things have gotten very bad indeed. There is some reason to believe that even if Palpatine were to die on the eve of being made Supreme Chancellor, the Republic would still collapse into civil war before too long. The rot is already too deep. At the very least,...

Much has been made of the Jedi doctrine forbidding attachment, as introduced in the prequel trilogy. Some believe it to be a sign that the Jedi Order was hopelessly dogmatic and already caught in a terminal decline before Palpatine was even born. Others contend that the doctrine's meaning is typically misunderstood, and that the critical representation of the prequel-era Jedi aspiring to be (let us say) "Vulcan-like" in their attitude doesn't correspond to the actual Jedi beliefs and aspirations. I would like to argue that both these views are correct. The Jedi doctrine regarding attachments isn't what some critics make it out to be... but the actual doctrine also isn't the sensible ideal that its defenders would like it to be. More importantly, and often overlooked: the doctrine that we see in the prequels is not the historical norm for what the Jedi believe. First of all, let's define the Order's actual doctrine during the prequel era. The Je...

Of late, I've seen multiple discussions about the notion of a 'multiverse' in Star Wars. This is no doubt sparked by the almost certainly spurious rumours regarding the supposed impending creation of one. I've written about that notion here , and I personally think you could do some fun things with it. But putting those rumours completely aside, let's talk about the notion of a multiverse in general. I know some people don't like the idea, and they may well have solid arguments to support that position. I'd like to argue, however, that Star Wars actually already is a multiverse. Or, to put it more accurately, I think it's a metaverse . After all, the term "multiverse" can be understood in two general ways, in fiction. In one meaning, you have points of divergence, resulting in different parallel universes where "things went otherwise". (In the context of Star Wars , a comic like Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope is an example ...

There's this sensationalist rumour making the rounds that over at LucasFilm, there's an internal power struggle going on over the direction of the Star Wars franchise— and one faction wants to create a " Star Wars multiverse". This rumour is... let us be charitable and say almost certainly not true. Most likely, it's completely  made-up. But... it's actually a rather interesting premise. So even if it's nonsense, let's speculate a bit. It's what we're here for, after all. The way this idea would supposedly get implemented if the supposed proponents got their way is clever and would actually work, both in-universe and out-of-universe. I stress again, just in case you're getting ideas, that it's wise to treat the "rumour" as spurious nonsense. The source of it all is youtuber Overlord DVD, whose record with these things is, ah... hit-and-miss. The guy repeats every rumour he hears. So, yes, he's reported rumours ac...

Frank Herbert's masterful Dune offers a science-ficton saga unlike any other. Not only is the story intelligent, gripping and thematically interesting, the sheer depth of the world-building is staggering. I have loved it since began reading the first book at an impressionable young age, and I can talk about it at length. What I want to talk about right now, however, is what I perceive to be a logical flaw in the underlying plot. This flaw can be attributed to an oversight on the author's part, or can be explained as an error committed "in-universe", as it were. Before I go into it, be advised that I'll be spoiling some big things here. If you haven't read Dune , go do that. Read the first book, and then come back here. (And talk to me about it.) So, you've read it? We're set? Okay, here it is: the Bene Gesserit want the Kwisatz Haderach to be born, and they want him to be under their exclusive influence from the outset. To this end, Jessica was expl...