Topic: Darth Caedus or: Return of the Plot Holes

[B2C-Max Lazer]

This is something that's bugged me a bit for a while now. First I'll say that I haven not ready ANY of the Legacy of the Force novels, so maybe I am missing something; all my info comes from Wookieepedia.
Now, is it just me, or is Darth Caedus/Jacen Solo given way too much credit when it comes to his abilities? From what I gather, Caedus is supposed to be the most powerful Jedi/Sith since Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Yet, for some reason, his ability to win any fight seems to be inversely proportional to his alignment to the Dark Side. Think about it: as a Jedi, he beat back some of the greatest threats that the galaxy had known since the Empire. I read the last NJO book; I know he kicked @$$ then.
However, after he turned to the Dark Side, his track record becomes rather questionable...
Off the top of my head, following his turn to the Dark Side, Jacen wins only ONE Jedi vs. Sith battle. And he won it because he managed to trick Mara Jade, rather than any superior skill with a saber or the Force (granted, the way he tricked her makes it a legit move in my book). The only other time he seems to "win," the Jedi actually accomplished their objective, despite casualties. Other than those two fights, as far as I can tell, he gets beaten, if not pwned, in all other combat. I recall reading that he even loses limbs along the way!

So what happened? Does the Inverse Ninja Law not apply to books? Or did Caedus fail because he wasn't a real Sith Lord, and thus didn't achieve the necessary level of bad-@$$ to meet the Jedi evenly? I mean, for the second Sith to cause a Galactic Civil War in less than a century, at least Palpatine could take out 4 Jedi Masters in less than a minute. Perhaps Star Wars just ran out of good villains, since Palpatine already got the best villainous qualities...

[*<JO>*RinkXing]

The real problem with Caedus is his awful name and horrible beard. I think he should go back to being called Jacen, and lose the make-up, only then would he be accepted by society, thus peace returning to the galaxy.

As for Ninja Law... you do know that the first rule of the ninja is to flip out and kill people?

Personally though, I'm more of a pirate guy...

[Gabe Alkorda]

Caedus was still one of the most powerful Force-users in the galaxy.  He performed masterful feats in the Force, and really pushed the Force to its limits.  The only way he was able to be defeated was by his twin studying both extensive lightsaber arts as well as spending several months training under Boba Fett and other Mandalorians.  It was a known fact that no one could otherwise beat Caedus, not even Luke Skywalker, Kyle Katarn, Ben Skywalker, Mara Jade, etc etc.  I've read all the Legacy books, so I'm pretty up-to-date and accurate on this

[B2C-Max Lazer]

That still doesn't explain the fact that Caedus technically won only two of his fights throughout the series. And of those fights, the first he won through trickery, because nothing else he could do worked. The second fight was a Pyrrhic victory, since the Jedi still managed to complete the minimal objectives of their mission, albeit with losses.

As for his "power," let's put it in perspective: Darth Sidious controlled almost the entire Galactic Senate of the Republic when he came to power, thus forcing the Rebellion to be made of the three (quickly two) Senators who were willing to fight him, and anyone else who had not met the Emperor before that point.
Caedus couldn't even control his own Padawan (although it WAS Luke's son). He had to get some psycho as his apprentice. When portions of the Galactic Alliance finally rebelled against him, they took a much more sizable force than the Rebellion ever had to start with.

Jacen seems to be a lot like the Japanese in World War II: superficially powerful, but remarkably weak underneath.

[Gabe Alkorda]

Caedus was strong in the Force, you can't call him weak because the GA was weak.  Sidious slowly worked his way up, eroding what the Republic stood for over time, so that when the chance came, he was able to quickly and swiftly reform it into the Empire.  Caedus didn't have as much time, plus he was rather in experienced about all of those things.

So, as far as dictatorial skill goes, yeah sure Sidious outweighs him.  But, in the realm of strength within the Force, abilities mastered, etc etc, Caedus by far tramples over Sidious.

[B2C-Max Lazer]

Maybe, but he never seems to show it...I mean, if he's so powerful, why doesn't he just force choke everyone in the vicinity and get it over with. Darth Vader was more powerful than the Emperor, but he never achieved his full power thanks to Obi-Wan. I guess I should read the books, but is there ever any mention of Caedus actually researching the powers of the Dark Side?

[Gabe Alkorda]

He studies under Lumiya, plus he spent those years traveling the galaxy and learning various different approaches to the Force from other religious sects.  He didn't just kill everyone and get it over with because that wasn't his goal.  His goal wasn't absolute rule, power, wealth, anything like that.  His motivations were purely selfless in that he simply wanted to bring about a peaceful and secure galaxy.  He was driven to serve the greater good.  As such, he had to be tactful, and just killing everyone would defeat his purpose.  He was far more... benevolent than previous Sith in that aspect.

[*<JO>*Torran Naojin]

Max you need a beer and a cigarette and a dime of weed and a 8 ball of coke and 13 pills of ecstasy.