Hi Everyone,

Can you remember the first time you heard these immortal words;

LUKE: You fought in the Clone Wars?

BEN: Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father.

Ever since I first heard those words I, like so many others wanted to know more about the 'Clone Wars'. I've got to say that so far I've not been disappointed but a thought struck me the other night, has George Lucas' vision of the Clone wars and the role of the Jedi remained consistent since the late 70's or has it changed?

I imagine his vision of the War was the one I had, a titanic, heroic struggle of good over evil. In which the Jedi epitomized all that was good in the GFFA and the Sith all that was evil.

Don't get me wrong, I think in many ways that is how the War is portrayed in the movies. But ultimately once some control over what happens in the GFFA has been passed on, then things will inevitably change as each author adds a little (or a lot) of themselves to the saga.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing either. I love what Karen Traviss has done with the clones. I'm just finishing the last few pages of True Colours, which I'm re-reading to refresh my memory, ready for Order 66.
I agree with her sentiments that the use of the clone army is at odds with the Jedi's role.

It's just that I find it difficult to believe that GL would have imagined that the use of clones to fight a war would be used as a stick to beat the Jedi with. That the commissioning and use of this army would be seen to be emblematic of how far the Jedi had drifted from their own ideology and how they have allowed the corruption of the republic to corrupt themselves.
These ideas seem far removed from the reverential way that Obi Wan described Jedi Knights.

I know that there must have something in GL's mind that would explain the apparent lack of Jedi knights in the GFFA and I love the way the saga has gone but I do wonder what it would have been like if the Jedi had been allowed to remain those noble Knights of my childhood.

MTFBWY DD