Hello everyone!
I am back with my Star Wars reads, something that I haven't done in a while now, but in my defense, I usually don't even have the time when Christmas hits.
I'd been meaning to read this particular book for a while because of the two main characters portrayed within, but then of course life intervened, and other things happened. Now it looks like I'm back on the Star Wars train for just a little bit, as you do occasionally, and I'm really pleased with the choice I made for book material.
It might come as a surprise to some, but I'm actually a really big Prequel fan, and with that a fan of the Old Republic timeline. I enjoy exploring more of the Republic during its heyday, or at least during a time when it was still functional, to a degree.
Obviously the Prequels details the fall of the Republic just as much as the fall of Anakin Skywalker, but I've always been a lot more fascinated with the Republic as such, more than with the building of the New Republic after the Originals.
Some people may call it blasphemy, but I call it everyone has their own taste.
So let's check out Master & Apprentice and see what it's all about, shall we?
Claudia Gray is an author who has a number of works to her name within the Star Wars group, but this is the first of hers that I managed to get my hands on. I'll probably be taking a look at some of her others though, because I enjoyed her writing style.
The pairing which came to life on screen through portrayals by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor has often been used as the heart of a book, since I've done research and know there are other books in the Legends continuum that feature them. But I believe Master & Apprentice is the first one in the DisneyCanon that details some of their relationship, so here we go.
And it's a relationship BEFORE the Prequels.
Obi-Wan is seventeen years old in this one and frustrated with his master more often than not. During what should have been a routine mission to the planet Teth, the two Jedi end up having to use aggressive negotiations to try and fight their way out of the Hutt palace. Unfortunately, because their connection seems to be glitchy, they don't exactly act in-sync, which means that Qui-Gon actually does have to negotiate his way out.
Which, honestly, isn't even a problem, he's a masterful Jedi and strong in the Force.
But it's problematic that he and his Padawan still haven't found common ground, no matter that they'd been training together for quite a few years now.
Obi-Wan considers Qui-Gon to be as obtuse as they come, wondering why he can't just tell him what he wants instead of expecting Obi-Wan to read his mind, and Qui-Gon wonders where he managed to fail his apprentice since said apprentice is bound by the rules and laws of the Jedi so much it's like he's erected the Great Wall around himself.
Qui-Gon was never a rule follower like that. He's focused on the living Force, on the here and now, and that means occasionally (okay, more often than not, sometimes) going against the Jedi Order, or toeing the line of what's right and what's wrong.
And then comes the first bigger hurdle.
The Jedi Council invite Qui-Gon to join them, something that surprises him precisely because of what I just explained up above. Why would they want a rebel like him on the Council? Are they finally prepared to listen?
But there's another thing which this invitation brings: Qui-Gon will lose his apprentice. It's not that Jedi on the Council can't have them, it's simply that the initial years of sitting there on one of those hot seats takes up most of your time and energy, so you can't dedicate that to a young Padawan learner.
This means someone else will have to complete Obi-Wan's training, if Qui-Gon accepts.
He decides to tell his Padawan about this later as they're summoned to the Chancellor's office about a political crisis on the planet of Pijal, but of course Murphy's Law is at play and the Chancellor herself congratulates him on the nomination, so Obi-Wan hears it from HER first, which naturally hurts him more than if his Master had simply opened his mouth and said something. Now Obi-Wan believes that Qui-Gon's going to chuck him aside and move on, and considering he was almost left without a Master to begin with, and THAT means Obi-Wan did something really wrong again to fail his Master so much.
Note: Obi-Wan was an apprentice during the reign of one relatively popular Chancellor before Valorum, who we remember and know from the movies, came to office, and before Palpatine was then elected, which gives us some additional timeline, as well.
Qui-Gon insists that nothing is wrong, except for the fact that both of them know their bond isn't what it's supposed to be - but still, Obi-Wan is genuinely hurt, and Qui-Gon is worried.
The mission to Pijal couldn't have come at a worse time.
What about Pijal, then?
Well, if you all remember, Qui-Gon was Dooku's apprentice once upon a time. At this point, Dooku has left the Jedi Order, but his OTHER apprentice, Rael Aveross, has asked for help from Qui-Gon directly, because he's stumped about a political upheaval on the planet.
Rael was sent to Pijal by the Jedi Order to try and help him get his head on straight after the death of his own apprentice, who died during a mission where she and Rael were supposed to take back a ship hijacked by pirates. Rael decided to charge the pirates directly, and his apprentice got brainwashed by some technology and turned against him, so he killed her and then completed the mission, but considering the bond between Master and Padawan is pretty much sacred ... yeah.
You can see how that would bother him.
You can see how that would bother him.
So now he's on Pijal as Regent to Princess Fanry, who will take the mantle of Queenship when she turns fourteen, and at that point they can sign a treaty to open up a hyperspace corridor which would connect Pijal and some other planets long-disconnected to the Republic, and hopefully bring prosperity to the region.
Only, there's been protests.
As Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan arrive, they're quickly pulled into court intrigue, into dealing with Rael himself, and into trying to figure out just who wants to hurt Fanry. It quickly becomes obvious to the reader that there are TWO separate groups, because one, originating from theatrical performers, has always had pretty harmless pranks and activist motives, while the other, the blackguards, seem to want Fanry dead.
They demonstrate their willingness to get things done with a lot of explosions, breaking into her private chambers, attempting to assassinate her during a traditional hunt (when Obi-Wan discovers he has an affinity to connect with animals through the Force and enjoys riding a whole lot), that sort of thing.
It also doesn't help that Qui-Gon isn't sure he trusts Rael, but he does some investigating on his own, Obi-Wan in tow, and on Pijal's moon, with the help of two jewel smugglers, they find the base of operations for these blackguards, and also what looks to be kyber crystals.
Quick recap: kyber crystals are the ones Jedi use in their lightsabers, and are heavily guarded by the Jedi themselves.
If this is a new cache of them, however, the smugglers might make a fortune. Except, it's not actually kyber, but fake kyber. Almost, but not quite the same.
Qui-Gon's worried, especially since his relationship with Obi-Wan continues to fracture, despite the fact that both Master and Apprentice save each other's lives more than once during this mission to Pijal, and you can clearly see the loving bond between them. Qui-Gon wants only the best for Obi-Wan - and is devastated that the young man who wants his Master to save himself and leave him thinks he isn't good enough. As for Obi-Wan, he just wants to please his Master and show him that he'll be a good Jedi under his tutelage, so fear of failure is a big, big thing.
Throw in visions of the future and you've got a steampot ready to go off.
Qui-Gon keeps dreaming of the coronation day, even as he and Obi-Wan actually meet the activist leader and learn that the corporation which already has a strong grip on Pijal (and deals in slaves, something the Republic has outlawed years ago, but never policed strictly) will practically be made legal after the hyperspace corridor treaty is signed.
This prompts Qui-Gon to point-blank deny signing it as the Republic representative, and he and Rael get into a stalemate since neither wants to give an inch.
Of course this leaves Obi-Wan in the middle and basically left to his own devices, so he does what one of the two Master Jedi should have (but obviously we all know who the grand negotiator is going to be) and contacts the Council. They decide to make Obi-Wan the Republic representative, much to Qui-Gon's surprised dismay since his Padawan went behind his back - except he then realises that Obi-Wan was left with literally no choice whatsoever.
Plus he's always complained that his student needs to bend the rules a little bit. Careful what you wish for.
And exactly his vision during the coronation itself when Fanry reveals she's damn well NOT signing the treaty but taking back absolute power for Pijal, and she's going to kick the corporation into hyperspace herself.
She also almost kills Obi-Wan, after having switched his kyber crystal for the fake kyber, but that changes the colour and properties of his lightsaber and he actually manages to penetrate the shield that no other lightsaber can get through otherwise. This saves his life, but they need to stop Fanry before she does something drastic, like, say, annihilate the corporation mothership, where there's hundreds of innocent souls aboard.
Luckily there's a rebellion going on there - one of the two smugglers had been captured while helping the Jedi, because she'd escaped the corporation years back and they sucked her back in, so the other one goes to rescue her, and pandemonium ensues, but that doesn't sway Fanry, no matter that Qui-Gon explicitly tells her she has no jurisdiction and the Republic WILL rain the consequences on her head.
Even as she gives the order, her own people turn against her: her loyal servant, also a freed slave, who expected that Fanry would want to FREE the slaves, not KILL them, points a blaster at her queen's face and forces her to abdicate. Pijal then crowns a different queen, who signs the amended treaty, and abolishes the monarchy while she's at it.
It's during all this chaos that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon also find a rhythm to the two of them, finally, as Obi-Wan learns how to communicate with the living Force and let it flow through him, which enables him to predict things and know what his Master wants without the other Jedi saying anything.
It's also worth noting that it's stated Qui-Gon has difficulties reading emotions off others sometimes, so he has to do it like everyone else, but we know Obi-Wan will eventually be able to do so through the Force, so we can see the beginnings of the great Jedi he'll someday be.
All this seems to come as too little, too late, however, since the invitation to the Council still stands, but Qui-Gon turns the other Jedi down. He wants to focus on other things, meditate about this whole Force vision ability or gift he's been given, look into the ancient prophecies, and also finish Obi-Wan's training while he's at it. To say the Council's surprised is an understatement - but I also feel Yoda and Windu at least are proud of the outcome.
After all, it was Yoda who supported the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan pairing, and it was, as the two realise, because Obi-Wan was a big rebel as a child. So the only way to make him rebel IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION was to give him to a Master who was the biggest rebel himself. Obi-Wan would have no choice but to become the perfect Jedi in retaliation, without even realising it.
And Rael? He hears back from Dooku, who invites him over to the Dark Side (we see more of Rael, Qui-Gon and Dooku through flashbacks, and that Dooku was flirting with the Dark Side even then), but he turns his old master down, saying that you don't follow the light because it's the light - you follow it because it's the right thing to do.
Flash-forward after that revelation to just before Qui-Gon's funeral on Naboo where a distraught Obi-Wan is trying to make sense of things. He vows to finish what his Master started - he'll train Anakin Skywalker to become a Jedi. Since Qui-Gon strongly believed the boy was the Chosen One, Obi-Wan is just going to have to believe, too.
As he says himself - he CHOOSES to believe.
And that's all that matters.
An interesting book that delves deeper into the whole Master/Padawan dynamic, it can definitely drag for some because the real action doesn't happen until the very last bit on Pijal during the coronation. But I personally wasn't in it for the action sequences - I wanted to know more about Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both, and especially Obi-Wan.
If you look more closely at his character, you realise that a big part of why he is how he is happens because nothing was ever handed to him. He had to work for just about everything, the use of the Force, understanding it, his lightsaber technique, the Jedi history, all of it was something that he needed to apply himself to so that he could eventually master it. That's what made him such a powerful but incidentally humble Jedi - he knew the work that went in. He knew nothing was ever his unless he made it so, and for that reason he never CLAIMED anything, or felt that anyone OWED him anything.
He's a fascinating flip side of the coin to Anakin Skywalker, who had a hell of a lot of potential, but didn't really have to work that hard for it. Because of his tremendous strength in the Force and his Force-abilities, his natural gift with the lightsaber, Anakin was GIVEN a whole lot more than what he actually had to work for. That made him think he was OWED things, and he didn't know how to appreciate what he had, in contrast to his Master.
I'm not going to go further into that since it could be an entire case study, but it's definitely an interesting thing to consider! This book definitely explains a lot about the man who would eventually become probably the greatest Jedi of all time, or at least one of them, and if you want to know why he hates flying, you'll have to flip through this book.
It gets explained. And it's funny as heck.
xx
*image not mine
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