![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
footstepIt makes me a little sad that the EU gets such a bad rap; it's such cheesy, corny fun, but it's also dramatic and poignant and every now and then there's some good writing-- much like the movies themselves, eh? So, forthwith I shall celebrate my favorite moments from the first "half" of the EU.
"You are thinking of Qui-Gon." Anakin's voice was soft.
Startled, Obi-Wan turned to his Padawan. "How did you know?"
"Your face. It changes." Anakin shrugged. "Some knot inside you loosens. Something smooths out. I see it happening."
-Jedi Quest #1: The Way of the Apprentice, Jude Watson
"Did he love me?"
"There is no love left in a heart such as that one...I do not believe one would die lightly for one one did not care about."
"Did you love me?"
"I would have killed the galaxy to preserve you. I would have let the galaxy die. You are more precious than you know; what you have taught yourself cannot be allowed to die. You are not Sith. Not truly. And it is for that that I love you."
-Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
In my dreams, I always do it right.
...My blade doesn't light the underside of Fett's square jaw. I don't waste time with words. I don't hesitate.
I believe.
In my dreams, the purple flare of my blade sizzles the gray hairs of Dooku's beard, and in the critical semisecond it takes Jango Fett to aim and fire, I twitch that blade and take Dooku with me into death.
And save the galaxy from civil war.
I could have done it.
I could have done it.
-Shatterpoint, Matthew Stover
"I just...hope it's not too late," Lundi finished. His fragile body shuddered and went limp, and Anakin laid him gently on the floor. Dr. Murk Lundi was dead.
Several emotions clashed inside Obi-Wan. Confusion, frustration, relief, fear...
Anakin turned to face him. "I knew he was going to die," he explained. "And I didn't think he should end his life in a cage..."
-Jedi Apprentice Special Edition 2: The Followers, Jude Watson
"Jedi mind trick?" Anakin asked.
"If it was, I wasn't aware of performing it."
"Ten drinks will do that to you."
"Yes, and maybe it was the Twi'lek izzy-mold. What seems infinitely more likely is that we're about to walk into a trap."
"So we should be on guard."
"Yes, Anakin, we should be on guard."
-Labyrinth of Evil, James Luceno
...Every day they came in and tortured her a bit more, prodding her with sharp spears or beating her with the blunt shafts and short whips. It was more than a desire to inflict pain, Shmi realized, though she didn't speak their croaking language. This was the Tusken way of measuring their enemies, and from the nods and the tone of their voices, she realized that her resilience had impressed them.
-Attack of the Clones, R. A. Salvatore
"Respect is the cornerstone of the Master-Padawan bond," Obi-Wan said through his teeth.
-Jedi Apprentice #4: The Mark of the Crown, Jude Watson
..."Again, what do you want me to do?"
A muscle in Windu's cheek tightened. "We want you to go to Barlok and keep an eye on him."
Obi-Wan felt his mouth drop open. "Me?"
"I know," Windu agreed soberly.
-Outbound Flight, Timothy Zahn
(Ventress) closed her eyes, and in stillness she seemed like the center of a storm. She opened her eyes again. "I don't believe in coincidence. Obi-Wan and I are here on the same business." The tip of her pink tongue wet her lips. "I think I will kill him."
--
Trillot exhaled, and her face took on an arrangement that Obi-Wan believed to be a smile. "You think like a criminal," she said.
"One of my many failings."
"I like that in a man,"...
-The Cestus Deception, Steven Barnes
And the shaking began.
The shaking got worse when he met the ancient green stare of the tiny alien seated across the table from him, for that wrinkled leather skin and those tufts of withered hair were his earliest memory, and they reminded Obi-Wan of the friends who had died today.
The shaking got worse still when he turned to the other being in the room, because he wore politician's robes that reminded Obi-Wan of the enemy who yet lived.
The deception. The death of Jedi Masters he had admired, of Jedi Knights who had been his friends. The death of his oath to Qui-Gon.
The death of Anakin.
-Revenge of the Sith, Matthew Stover
Obi-Wan stood frozen, Kad's words echoing in his brain. You will always be a killer.
No matter how many meditations he had done, no matter how many talks with Qui-Gon he had had, nothing had done him any good. He could not wipe the guilt and shame from deep within himself. He knew that Kad had seen into his heart.
In his own eyes, he was a killer, too.
-Jedi Apprentice Special Edition 1: Deceptions, Jude Watson
Blood geysered, looking almost black in the antisepsis field's glow. It splattered hot against Jos's skin-gloved hand. He cursed.
"Hey, here's an idea--would somebody with nothing better to do mind putting a pressor field on that bleeder?"
--
Ji settled into a stance, legs planted low and wide. He raised his hands, beckoned with one in a flippant gesture. "Come, Jedi. Shall we dance a little?"
-Medstar I: Battle Surgeons, Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Qui-Gon pondered it momentarily, then shook his head again. "It has no name that I know, Padawan. Perhaps the mystery owes to nothing more than my inability to see beyond the moment. What do you feel?"
-Cloak of Deception, James Luceno
"Why am I chosen? Why is it me? Can't I refuse it? Can't you let me refuse it? Can't you take it away?"
"Anakin--"
"Take it from me. Please, Master."
...The depth of Obi-Wan's shock and compassion showed in his eyes, in the way he gently placed his hands on Anakin's shoulders. "My Padawan. I would do anything for you. I would bear your burdens for you if I could. But I cannot."
-Jedi Quest #7: The Moment of Truth, Jude Watson
"You all right?" (Barriss) inquired. She seemed unjustly composed.
"I was coming," (Anakin) wheezed, wiping water from his face, "to rescue you."
--
"You enchanted everyone entirely, Master." Anakin hardly knew what to say. "Myself included."
Picking at the sand by his feet, the Jedi shrugged disarmingly. "Such is the power of story, my young Padawan."
-The Approaching Storm, Alan Dean Foster
Yoda cackled. "A kind heart and a cunning have you, Master Leem. Jai Maruk, take a little wager with me, will you?"
Jai looked pained in the extreme. "Of course, Master, if you wish it."
"Watch the tournament, how it finishes. Of the remaining, should the young one finish in the bottom four, then to the corps will I send her."
..."And if she finishes in the top four?" Master Maruk said suspiciously.
"Second, third, fourth: then an apprentice she remains. But if she wins," Yoda said, poking Jai Maruk in the chest with his stick, "your Padawan she will be."
--
"For what it's worth, most Jedi make the same mistake. Learn from it; grow through it. If the Order were made up only of those invulnerable to love, it would be a sad group altogether."
..."Does that mean there is a woman to be discovered in even Master Obi-Wan's past?" Anakin inquired. "Tall, I imagine, and dark-haired. Pathetically desperate to have anyone at all, that much goes without saying--"
-Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, Sean Stewart
Qui-Gon shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "I'm not testing you, Obi-Wan. Life tests you! Every day it brings you new chances for triumph or defeat. And if you pass the test, it doesn't make you a Jedi. It makes you human."
-Jedi Apprentice #1: The Rising Force, Dave Wolverton
"You killed her. I don't care how evil she was...she was my mother...I loved her."
"I did not kill her. The dark power that supported her has fled. This place was powerful with the dark side...but my light is stronger."
-Tales of the Jedi #2
Obi-Wan's gaze traveled from the sealed hatch to Qui-Gon's face. Despite the presence of Vel and Noro, Obi-Wan was compelled to protest. "Forgive me, Master, but you put me in an unfair position. You ask me to disobey either you or the Jedi Council."
"I'm not asking you to disobey anyone, Padawan," Qui-Gon answered. "We both know you're ready for this mission. I want you to come to Esseles with us because I have a feeling we're going to need you there. If I'm asking for anything, it's your help." Turning to face the two seated Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows and asked, "Any questions?"
Vel and Noro swapped glances. Turning to Obi-Wan, Noro inquired, "Would you like a window seat?"
-Episode I Adventures #1: Search for the Lost Jedi, Ryder Windham
"Master," Obi-Wan Kenobi repeated softly, still holding him, bringing him closer now, hugging the lifeless body against his chest, and crying softly. "Master."
-The Phantom Menace, Terry Brooks
He had never wanted to be a hero. All he had wanted was to live a quiet, normal life with his wife and son. But his wife had left him, and the Jedi--those whom the galaxy looked upon as heroes--had seduced him into giving them his son.
He would never have caled any Jedi a hero--until he met Darsha Assant.
-Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Michael Reaves
Someone familiar seemed to stand at his shoulder, and lost in this un-Jedi emotion, self-critically, wonderingly, Obi-Wan murmured, "He is no more special than any other child, is he?"
Like a whisper, in reply, "To you, he is. And now you know."
--
"Is adventure the same as danger?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan said, a little too sharply. "Adventure is lack of planning, failure of training."
"Qui-Gon didn't think so. He said adventure is growth, surprise is the gift of awareness of limits."
For an instant, Obi-Wan wanted to lash out at the boy, strike him across the face for his blasphemy. That would have been the end of their relationship as Master and apprentice. He wanted it to end. He did not want the responsibility, or in truth to be near one so sensitive, so capable of blithely echoing what lay deepest inside him.
-Rogue Planet, Greg Bear
"You've lost your mind! But don't worry, I can take Dooku myself."
"Anakin! Imagine what you would have become if instead of Qui-Gon, that other Sith had found you on Tatooine! Who would you be now?"
-Obsession #5
"Do you mean a flaw, Padawan?"
"Yes. You have told me that I worry too much, and I've tried to work on that."
"Ah. You mean you've worried about worrying too much?" Qui-Gon's voice was light. He was teasing him.
"I can be impatient with living beings, too. I know that. And sometimes, I'm a little too confident of my abilities, perhaps."
Now Qui-Gon's tone was serious. "These things are true, Obi-Wan, but they are not flaws. I have seen how hard you have worked. I've seen what you can accomplish."
"Then what is my flaw?" Obi-Wan asked.
There came a silence so long that Obi-Wan wondered if Qui-Gon had fallen asleep. Then his voice rose out of the darkness, soft and deep.
"You will be a great Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know that with every breath, with every beat of my heart. You will make me proud I was there at your beginnings. If you do have a flaw, perhaps it is simply this: You wish to please me too much.
-Legacy of the Jedi, Jude Watson
"You are thinking of Qui-Gon." Anakin's voice was soft.
Startled, Obi-Wan turned to his Padawan. "How did you know?"
"Your face. It changes." Anakin shrugged. "Some knot inside you loosens. Something smooths out. I see it happening."
-Jedi Quest #1: The Way of the Apprentice, Jude Watson
"Did he love me?"
"There is no love left in a heart such as that one...I do not believe one would die lightly for one one did not care about."
"Did you love me?"
"I would have killed the galaxy to preserve you. I would have let the galaxy die. You are more precious than you know; what you have taught yourself cannot be allowed to die. You are not Sith. Not truly. And it is for that that I love you."
-Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
In my dreams, I always do it right.
...My blade doesn't light the underside of Fett's square jaw. I don't waste time with words. I don't hesitate.
I believe.
In my dreams, the purple flare of my blade sizzles the gray hairs of Dooku's beard, and in the critical semisecond it takes Jango Fett to aim and fire, I twitch that blade and take Dooku with me into death.
And save the galaxy from civil war.
I could have done it.
I could have done it.
-Shatterpoint, Matthew Stover
"I just...hope it's not too late," Lundi finished. His fragile body shuddered and went limp, and Anakin laid him gently on the floor. Dr. Murk Lundi was dead.
Several emotions clashed inside Obi-Wan. Confusion, frustration, relief, fear...
Anakin turned to face him. "I knew he was going to die," he explained. "And I didn't think he should end his life in a cage..."
-Jedi Apprentice Special Edition 2: The Followers, Jude Watson
"Jedi mind trick?" Anakin asked.
"If it was, I wasn't aware of performing it."
"Ten drinks will do that to you."
"Yes, and maybe it was the Twi'lek izzy-mold. What seems infinitely more likely is that we're about to walk into a trap."
"So we should be on guard."
"Yes, Anakin, we should be on guard."
-Labyrinth of Evil, James Luceno
...Every day they came in and tortured her a bit more, prodding her with sharp spears or beating her with the blunt shafts and short whips. It was more than a desire to inflict pain, Shmi realized, though she didn't speak their croaking language. This was the Tusken way of measuring their enemies, and from the nods and the tone of their voices, she realized that her resilience had impressed them.
-Attack of the Clones, R. A. Salvatore
"Respect is the cornerstone of the Master-Padawan bond," Obi-Wan said through his teeth.
-Jedi Apprentice #4: The Mark of the Crown, Jude Watson
..."Again, what do you want me to do?"
A muscle in Windu's cheek tightened. "We want you to go to Barlok and keep an eye on him."
Obi-Wan felt his mouth drop open. "Me?"
"I know," Windu agreed soberly.
-Outbound Flight, Timothy Zahn
(Ventress) closed her eyes, and in stillness she seemed like the center of a storm. She opened her eyes again. "I don't believe in coincidence. Obi-Wan and I are here on the same business." The tip of her pink tongue wet her lips. "I think I will kill him."
--
Trillot exhaled, and her face took on an arrangement that Obi-Wan believed to be a smile. "You think like a criminal," she said.
"One of my many failings."
"I like that in a man,"...
-The Cestus Deception, Steven Barnes
And the shaking began.
The shaking got worse when he met the ancient green stare of the tiny alien seated across the table from him, for that wrinkled leather skin and those tufts of withered hair were his earliest memory, and they reminded Obi-Wan of the friends who had died today.
The shaking got worse still when he turned to the other being in the room, because he wore politician's robes that reminded Obi-Wan of the enemy who yet lived.
The deception. The death of Jedi Masters he had admired, of Jedi Knights who had been his friends. The death of his oath to Qui-Gon.
The death of Anakin.
-Revenge of the Sith, Matthew Stover
Obi-Wan stood frozen, Kad's words echoing in his brain. You will always be a killer.
No matter how many meditations he had done, no matter how many talks with Qui-Gon he had had, nothing had done him any good. He could not wipe the guilt and shame from deep within himself. He knew that Kad had seen into his heart.
In his own eyes, he was a killer, too.
-Jedi Apprentice Special Edition 1: Deceptions, Jude Watson
Blood geysered, looking almost black in the antisepsis field's glow. It splattered hot against Jos's skin-gloved hand. He cursed.
"Hey, here's an idea--would somebody with nothing better to do mind putting a pressor field on that bleeder?"
--
Ji settled into a stance, legs planted low and wide. He raised his hands, beckoned with one in a flippant gesture. "Come, Jedi. Shall we dance a little?"
-Medstar I: Battle Surgeons, Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Qui-Gon pondered it momentarily, then shook his head again. "It has no name that I know, Padawan. Perhaps the mystery owes to nothing more than my inability to see beyond the moment. What do you feel?"
-Cloak of Deception, James Luceno
"Why am I chosen? Why is it me? Can't I refuse it? Can't you let me refuse it? Can't you take it away?"
"Anakin--"
"Take it from me. Please, Master."
...The depth of Obi-Wan's shock and compassion showed in his eyes, in the way he gently placed his hands on Anakin's shoulders. "My Padawan. I would do anything for you. I would bear your burdens for you if I could. But I cannot."
-Jedi Quest #7: The Moment of Truth, Jude Watson
"You all right?" (Barriss) inquired. She seemed unjustly composed.
"I was coming," (Anakin) wheezed, wiping water from his face, "to rescue you."
--
"You enchanted everyone entirely, Master." Anakin hardly knew what to say. "Myself included."
Picking at the sand by his feet, the Jedi shrugged disarmingly. "Such is the power of story, my young Padawan."
-The Approaching Storm, Alan Dean Foster
Yoda cackled. "A kind heart and a cunning have you, Master Leem. Jai Maruk, take a little wager with me, will you?"
Jai looked pained in the extreme. "Of course, Master, if you wish it."
"Watch the tournament, how it finishes. Of the remaining, should the young one finish in the bottom four, then to the corps will I send her."
..."And if she finishes in the top four?" Master Maruk said suspiciously.
"Second, third, fourth: then an apprentice she remains. But if she wins," Yoda said, poking Jai Maruk in the chest with his stick, "your Padawan she will be."
--
"For what it's worth, most Jedi make the same mistake. Learn from it; grow through it. If the Order were made up only of those invulnerable to love, it would be a sad group altogether."
..."Does that mean there is a woman to be discovered in even Master Obi-Wan's past?" Anakin inquired. "Tall, I imagine, and dark-haired. Pathetically desperate to have anyone at all, that much goes without saying--"
-Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, Sean Stewart
Qui-Gon shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "I'm not testing you, Obi-Wan. Life tests you! Every day it brings you new chances for triumph or defeat. And if you pass the test, it doesn't make you a Jedi. It makes you human."
-Jedi Apprentice #1: The Rising Force, Dave Wolverton
"You killed her. I don't care how evil she was...she was my mother...I loved her."
"I did not kill her. The dark power that supported her has fled. This place was powerful with the dark side...but my light is stronger."
-Tales of the Jedi #2
Obi-Wan's gaze traveled from the sealed hatch to Qui-Gon's face. Despite the presence of Vel and Noro, Obi-Wan was compelled to protest. "Forgive me, Master, but you put me in an unfair position. You ask me to disobey either you or the Jedi Council."
"I'm not asking you to disobey anyone, Padawan," Qui-Gon answered. "We both know you're ready for this mission. I want you to come to Esseles with us because I have a feeling we're going to need you there. If I'm asking for anything, it's your help." Turning to face the two seated Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows and asked, "Any questions?"
Vel and Noro swapped glances. Turning to Obi-Wan, Noro inquired, "Would you like a window seat?"
-Episode I Adventures #1: Search for the Lost Jedi, Ryder Windham
"Master," Obi-Wan Kenobi repeated softly, still holding him, bringing him closer now, hugging the lifeless body against his chest, and crying softly. "Master."
-The Phantom Menace, Terry Brooks
He had never wanted to be a hero. All he had wanted was to live a quiet, normal life with his wife and son. But his wife had left him, and the Jedi--those whom the galaxy looked upon as heroes--had seduced him into giving them his son.
He would never have caled any Jedi a hero--until he met Darsha Assant.
-Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Michael Reaves
Someone familiar seemed to stand at his shoulder, and lost in this un-Jedi emotion, self-critically, wonderingly, Obi-Wan murmured, "He is no more special than any other child, is he?"
Like a whisper, in reply, "To you, he is. And now you know."
--
"Is adventure the same as danger?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan said, a little too sharply. "Adventure is lack of planning, failure of training."
"Qui-Gon didn't think so. He said adventure is growth, surprise is the gift of awareness of limits."
For an instant, Obi-Wan wanted to lash out at the boy, strike him across the face for his blasphemy. That would have been the end of their relationship as Master and apprentice. He wanted it to end. He did not want the responsibility, or in truth to be near one so sensitive, so capable of blithely echoing what lay deepest inside him.
-Rogue Planet, Greg Bear
"You've lost your mind! But don't worry, I can take Dooku myself."
"Anakin! Imagine what you would have become if instead of Qui-Gon, that other Sith had found you on Tatooine! Who would you be now?"
-Obsession #5
"Do you mean a flaw, Padawan?"
"Yes. You have told me that I worry too much, and I've tried to work on that."
"Ah. You mean you've worried about worrying too much?" Qui-Gon's voice was light. He was teasing him.
"I can be impatient with living beings, too. I know that. And sometimes, I'm a little too confident of my abilities, perhaps."
Now Qui-Gon's tone was serious. "These things are true, Obi-Wan, but they are not flaws. I have seen how hard you have worked. I've seen what you can accomplish."
"Then what is my flaw?" Obi-Wan asked.
There came a silence so long that Obi-Wan wondered if Qui-Gon had fallen asleep. Then his voice rose out of the darkness, soft and deep.
"You will be a great Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know that with every breath, with every beat of my heart. You will make me proud I was there at your beginnings. If you do have a flaw, perhaps it is simply this: You wish to please me too much.
-Legacy of the Jedi, Jude Watson
