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Hey everybody,

I'm new around here. Actually I've been lurking around for some time, just reading posts. But since reading Invincible I'm pretty agitated and now I need to add my two cents about Invincible and LotF in general. I think this is the right thread. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with my opinion as I am a big fan of Jacen and I know there are not too much of them :-) But hey, be nice with the newbie.

Had I been the author of Invincible, the book would have ended with a funeral. A quiet ceremony among the Jedi. A funeral not for Darth Caedus, but for Jacen Solo, the man he'd been for almost thirty years. The man who had helped save the galaxy more than once. I think he deserves the credit for that. And in the end that's all he had ever wanted, even as Darth Caedus. I did't like Invincible too much, but I liked how Denning wrote Jacens death and the instant reaction of his family. With only a few sentences he had me cry my eyes out. And especialy one line has burned itself into my memory: Something like: "Jacen had sacrificed everything - his name, his family, his reputation and his life - to bring peace to the galaxy." I think this says it all. That's exaclty what had happened. Jacen did not start his dark journey out of a personal lust for power. He would never have sacrificed all that just for the sake of ruling. Being Leias son he had seen enough to despise people who just clung to power. Jacens cause was very selfless in that he did not care what would happen to him. And I think that also shows in his death when he stopped trying to sav his own life to save Allana and Tenel Ka. I could kiss Denning for writing that. I makes Jacens death a little more bearable for me. But still, at "my" funeral scene Jacen would not vanish into the Force because, as much as it hurts me, in my opinion he is not redeemed. Giving his life for Allana does not mean that he reversed his path. Quite the contrary: it was just consequent. It just means that there was still a human trace in him.

Which brings me to the next point. I think it's pretty hypocrite how Luke, Jaina and even Tenel Ka decided that Caedus had to die. TK said, to come back to the light, you must want to come back. I don't think Darth Vader wanted to come back to the light. It was a matter of seconds oder maybe minutes when he decided to put his sons life over his own. And nobody (at least not the Jedi) doubts that he has come back to the light in the end - which to me he has no more than Jacen has. Luke was more that ready to try and save his father. A man he had not even known as his father but only a Dark Lord who had killed millions. Still he forgave him. He also had no problem to fall in love with Mara who has also had her share of murder. But he did not really try to bring back his nephew whom he had seen grow up as a good and honest young man. Who was only Sith for what, a year? Nobody really tried to talk or if need be beat some sense into Jacen when they realised what was happening. They were all to ready to write him off. All they did was scolding him: Son, what are you doing? All his family should have went after him before it was too late ans try to find out what drove him down the path he was going. Most of all I'm disapointed in Jaina. Sure, she had sworn never to fight by his side again after he had manipulated her in the Dark Nest Trilogy. But hey, she was his sister. They shared a unique bond and she sould have put her pride aside and mke Jacen see reason. She even could have done in her own blunt way. But she should have done something.

My last point. It has been said before and I'll say it again. There's a lot of wasted potential in LotF. And what angers me the most: If they had to turn my favorite character into the arch villain, why did they have to make him a sad copy of Vader? Why couldn't they have created something original and new? It almost hurt physically when Caedus lost his arm or when he choked that Lieutenant. And wouldn't it have been much more interesting to see what would happen if Jacen/Caedus did really good things with his dark powers? How would the Jedi have reacted if his means had been rigouros but not plainly violent? Wouldn't it have been a real chalange for the Jedi, to see that you can do good with Sith Power? Because that was how it had started out at the beginning. Jacen reluctantly accepted the Sith teaching to do something good. It would have been an interesting twist to actually see him succeed. And that would fit his new philosophy from the NJO that there is no dark side of the Force.

Wow, I see there was a lot bottled up inside of me. I hope someboby will read anyway and answer :-)