Well hello there! It's been quite a while hasn't it? In fact, I'd say it's been a long time. Sorry I've been gone for so long. I'm sure many of you are probably wondering who I am and why I keep rambling. Well rest assured I have a point. Today I am here to talk about something that is actually quite rare for me; the Expanded Universe (in particular the new Legacy of the Force series).

Let's talk about Jacen Solo, the new and upcoming Sith Lord. Many have debated on his fall, and how it came about. There are many things that have brought this about, and truly the beginnings of this fall to the darkside started fairly early on in The New Jedi Order. Quite simply his fall is being brought about because of arrogance and ambition. Whoa. Now I know some of you are clamoring that this is not the case, that he lacks ambition. True some could make a case for that, with all the times he got after his brother Anakin about being a hero.

See, Jacen wants to save the galaxy. He sees endless war in the future if he doesn't do something, if he doesn't save it. The majority of Bloodlines dealt with him trying to ensure he wasn't doing things because of ambition, or him trailing his grandfather's past to see if he was making the same mistakes. What he fails to understand is that his desire to be unambitious is...well, ambitious. The fact that he believes wholeheartedly that he--and he alone--is the only one who can do anything to save the galaxy, or be a savior shows both this arrogance and ambition. He won't even consider the possibility that anyone else could help or be influential to the galaxy's fate. It is his ambition to save the galaxy, so far to the point where he won't let anyone help him, because he thinks he has to do it by himself.

Hell, this mindset truly started all the way back in the NJO: Balance Point. When he had his vision of the galaxy tipping one way or the other. He knew--was confident--that whether the galaxy tip towards salvation or destruction was dependent upon him, and his choices. This thought continued all the way through his capture and training by Vergere (which I'll go over next time), and right up to his battle with Oni. This savior complex truly comes back at the beginning of The Joiner King, when he decides to end his exile because he beleived the galaxy would need him in order to survive the next crisis.

Speakig of which, let us not forget his quest for power. His five year sabatical where he traveled the galaxy to study the Force from every culture possible. While many consider this to be a quest for knowledge as opposed to power. However, the fact that he's willing to adopt the sith ways (saying that he needs to study all aspects of the Force to have a complete knowledge of it) proves that it's not knowledge he's after...but power. Does he want this power for personal gain...not exactly. He wants it in order to help save the galaxy; but he still wants the power nonetheless.

Unfortunately that's all I have time for at the moment. But I do hope to continue this discussion in my next blog, where I'll talk about the specifics of what he's done and the motivation behind them. He's falling and he's falling hard so there's much to discuss.

I hope you've enjoyed this entry, and that you'll alll comment (because, as always I am open to comments). I also hope that those of you who once knew me will read this, and not be too upset that I've been away for so long. And to those of you I don't know yet, I say hello, and hope you will check out my other blog entries (which you can find here : Blog Index ).

Until next time. So long!

--DlZ