Some months ago, upon finishing the GAR article for SWI, Karen Traviss posted on her LJ blog her fears about what conflict it might cause. I, and many other readers of her blog, assured her that nothing of the sort would happen.

We were wrong.

Now, there's the all-out troop strength war being waged in SW fandom, between those who are hardcore about troop strength numbers, and those defending the authors. I'd just like to get my two cents in about this.

All fiction you take in requires some suspension of disbelief. It's the very basis of fiction--believing something that is not true. Whether you're suspending disbelief that certain events can cause the exact results in a Tom Clancy novel, or that a nonexistent scientific procedure will exist in a Michael Chrichton novel, there is always some measure of faith involved.

Why does this have to exist?

To answer that, I'm going to use my favorite television show as an example. 24 is one of the most exciting, well-made dramas on television right now. Yet one aspect of the show causes massive complaints on the parts of many fans; travel times. Despite taking place in real-time, many of the show's characters seem to have superhuman abilities in getting from one location to another. A ten-minute drive across L.A. during rush hour simply doesn't happen in real life. However, the show's creators must ask for the suspension of that disbelief for the show's sake. Why? It simply makes the story better. There would be nothing more boring than to have several hours of the show dedicated to characters driving from one location ot another. Would you really want to see a guy driving for an hour straight? Maybe pickin his nose, or listening to the radio; generally doing nothing. No, of course not! So the realism of driving times is sacrificed to make the story better.

That is why the troop strength problem should not be one. Having a logical error there makes the story better. It's more entertaining. Would you rather hear that the GAR and the Separatists were evenly matched, or that the GAR was winning a war despite being overly outmatched in terms of numbers?

Essentially, what I am trying to say is that there's no good reason to debate the troop numbers. If it makes the saga more interesting, who cares? Hell, that's why it is a space FANTASY. If you can accept that there are beings who have superpowers and wield energy blades, why can't you accept that an army's size does not matter?

That's right. I said it. Size does not matter.

To the relief of men across the world. :-P

EDIT: For more on this matter:

http://blogs.starwars.com/karentraviss/23
http://blogs.starwars.com/pablog/26
http://blogs.starwars.com/karentraviss/28
http://blogs.starwars.com/RyanKaufman/10
http://blogs.starwars.com/karentraviss/32
http://blogs.starwars.com/moosepoodo/53
http://blogs.starwars.com/hydrospanner/4