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euripides. jean little, “oranges”. cavan scott, the rising storm. claudia gray, the fallen star.

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something a little bit funny in how azlin is very obviously supposed to mirror elzar in not just character and story but in appearance as well, yet they only seem to have brown crayon enough for one of them and it’s not the one that’s one of the main leads of the entire project

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avar stellan elzar in that order

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eye of darkness is like. what if your best friend’s identity in death was stronger than yours is in life. what if a memory was more quantifiable than a man of flesh and blood. what if the only person who remembers you as you were before because she never learned what you’ve been through was a million miles away. what if there was an invisible wall between you that nothing can pass but your voice, yet you can’t hear her speak back. what if you couldn’t hear the force anymore but you heard his voice and it brought you home to him, but he is gone. what if you came back and there was no me but a man in the shape of me. what if you were orpheus that brought eurydice back for good but the man she knew has been washed away. is that still coming home? what if a mirror of what you could have been from a hundred years ago stood before you and looked right through you though he has no eyes, but perhaps he has something much more terrifying than that. how do you stitch together a wound in the shape of a man who has lost everything he thought he once was and everyone who knew what made him this way was dead? how do you come together again when you are all the past, and he is nothing but a shadow haunting the image of the man you remember? how do you reconcile finding strength in the way things used to be with the man who can never be that way again? is it still him? does the man you remember is the man that you found?

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the eye of darkness (2023)

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"i think [elzar’s] a character in his own right, to be honest. i can see there are parallels [between elzar and anakin], and i can understand why people make those connections, but I actually think he’s quite different in a lot of ways as well. He’s dealing with different problems. a lot of his issues are internalized. he’s made mistakes, and he doesn’t have someone whispering in his ear like anakin… [elzar’s] internalizing it all, and it’s not that he’s falling to the dark side or anything like that. i think it’s more that he’s struggling with the same things that a lot of people would struggle with in those circumstances… the lesson he needs to learn is that actually being elzar is enough. he doesn’t have to try and be stellan, he doesn’t have to try and be avar. he has to forgive himself for making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes, and he needs to just be elzar because elzar is what they need from him, what the galaxy needs from him." - george mann

the thing about comparing anakin and elzar is…we’re doing it wrong. their minor parallels don’t serve to highlight their similarities but rather they serve to emphasize their significant differences.

upon reading that elzar has yet to reach masterhood naturally our minds will gravitate toward anakin. it gives us the readers something to base elzar against while we watch his character unfold. elzar’s continued knighthood is surprising due to this innate comparison. he’s not too young, he’s not inexperienced, he’s not troubled, he’s not being manipulated into the council by the chancellor…elzar is simply not the easiest to work with. that’s all. his sporadic explorations without explanations lead his fellows to find him difficult and to the council, that reason is enough. while anakin’s masterhood being delayed is understandable, reasonable, and not unfair, elzar’s is. the difference here emphasizes that even within the jedi, those who do not fit into perfected molds are often inherently punished for doing so.

he thought it was unfair. he didn’t care about other jedi’s paths through the force—why should they concern themselves with his? he just wanted to follow his road where it led.

their reactions to this delayed masterhood also differ. this mistreatment irritates elzar since none of his innovations put others in harm's way, but his willingness to fail outshines the incredible knowledge he contributes to the order. and although he might disagree with the council’s decision he will still abide by them and listen to their judgment. it again emphasizes that elzar is older and has a level of emotional maturity that anakin was never allowed to reach.

when we learn that elzar and avar had a romantic relationship in the past our minds also jump to the forbidden relationship between a jedi and republic senator. especially considering one of elzar and avar’s first scenes elzar suggests retirement on the same island anakin and padme got married on. elzar’s differences from anakin are highlighted again when we watch him let go of avar in the epilogue of light of the jedi. elzar loves avar and he always will, but his attachment to her at this moment was not consuming him completely. avar reaches out to hold his hand and he reminds her that “we are jedi,” she invites him to dance and he declines until later, elzar describes his emotions with intensity but elzar also lets go. their relationship was never dangerous and the emotional intimacy they do maintain is enough for him.

avar was a friend. a fellow jedi master. they’d agreed long ago that’s all they would ever be. and it was enough. truly, it was.

the most common comparison i see drawn between these two is the usage of the dark side. understandably so, elzar is one of the only jedi in the high republic to tap into the dark side but the reason why he does differentiates him from anakin and even his closest peers. elzar doesn’t use the dark side to take lives, he doesn’t use the dark side to appease his own selfish desires, elzar uses the dark side to save a group of jedi. in his typical fashion elzar finds solutions and at his lowest point, in the middle of a battlefield, elzar sees that he can use his emotions to save lives. the build-up to this moment was written incredibly well, it combines elzar’s innovative mind, overly compassionate heart, and the emotional anguish that has been plaguing him for months. in contrast to other jedi and anakin, elzar has pure intentions even though his actions may not result in the best of outcomes.

"we have a jedi who does flirt to the dark side and realizes what road he's going down, where instead of embracing it, goes to a friend and says, "i need help." we didn't want elzar to be anakin 2.0." - cavan scott

the generalizations between these two often do their characters a disservice by ignoring their defining differences. differences that are intentionally being highlighted to further the contrast of each era and the contrast of the two as individuals.

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Avar & KC-78

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the thing about comparing anakin and elzar is…we’re doing it wrong. their minor parallels don’t serve to highlight their similarities but rather they serve to emphasize their significant differences.

upon reading that elzar has yet to reach masterhood naturally our minds will gravitate toward anakin. it gives us the readers something to base elzar against while we watch his character unfold. elzar’s continued knighthood is surprising due to this innate comparison. he’s not too young, he’s not inexperienced, he’s not troubled, he’s not being manipulated into the council by the chancellor…elzar is simply not the easiest to work with. that’s all. his sporadic explorations without explanations lead his fellows to find him difficult and to the council, that reason is enough. while anakin’s masterhood being delayed is understandable, reasonable, and not unfair, elzar’s is. the difference here emphasizes that even within the jedi, those who do not fit into perfected molds are often inherently punished for doing so.

he thought it was unfair. he didn’t care about other jedi’s paths through the force—why should they concern themselves with his? he just wanted to follow his road where it led.

their reactions to this delayed masterhood also differ. this mistreatment irritates elzar since none of his innovations put others in harm's way, but his willingness to fail outshines the incredible knowledge he contributes to the order. and although he might disagree with the council’s decision he will still abide by them and listen to their judgment. it again emphasizes that elzar is older and has a level of emotional maturity that anakin was never allowed to reach.

when we learn that elzar and avar had a romantic relationship in the past our minds also jump to the forbidden relationship between a jedi and republic senator. especially considering one of elzar and avar’s first scenes elzar suggests retirement on the same island anakin and padme got married on. elzar’s differences from anakin are highlighted again when we watch him let go of avar in the epilogue of light of the jedi. elzar loves avar and he always will, but his attachment to her at this moment was not consuming him completely. avar reaches out to hold his hand and he reminds her that “we are jedi,” she invites him to dance and he declines until later, elzar describes his emotions with intensity but elzar also lets go. their relationship was never dangerous and the emotional intimacy they do maintain is enough for him.

avar was a friend. a fellow jedi master. they’d agreed long ago that’s all they would ever be. and it was enough. truly, it was.

the most common comparison i see drawn between these two is the usage of the dark side. understandably so, elzar is one of the only jedi in the high republic to tap into the dark side but the reason why he does differentiates him from anakin and even his closest peers. elzar doesn’t use the dark side to take lives, he doesn’t use the dark side to appease his own selfish desires, elzar uses the dark side to save a group of jedi. in his typical fashion elzar finds solutions and at his lowest point, in the middle of a battlefield, elzar sees that he can use his emotions to save lives. the build-up to this moment was written incredibly well, it combines elzar’s innovative mind, overly compassionate heart, and the emotional anguish that has been plaguing him for months. in contrast to other jedi and anakin, elzar has pure intentions even though his actions may not result in the best of outcomes.

"we have a jedi who does flirt to the dark side and realizes what road he's going down, where instead of embracing it, goes to a friend and says, "i need help." we didn't want elzar to be anakin 2.0." - cavan scott

the generalizations between these two often do their characters a disservice by ignoring their defining differences. differences that are intentionally being highlighted to further the contrast of each era and the contrast of the two as individuals.

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one of my favorite parts of the rising storm was elzar and the hragscythe. it was heartbreaking to watch elzar realize that valo is his enriched cage as lonisa zoo is to the hragscythe, but it goes beyond that. the hragscythe is an embodiment of elzar’s internal struggle, his mental anguish due to his vision, the disappointment and frustration that has been building for years. its place throughout the novel progressed as elzar's emotional state did.

the hragscythe hides itself in the zoo foliage as elzar hides his anguish from others and himself. his distress is locked away behind a cage, a problem he hides, a problem he can handle himself.

“let them peer through their image-lenses and complain to the keeper droids that you were nowhere to be seen. you look after yourself.”

as the nihil attack the republic fair and throw elzar into a battlefield they too release the hragscythe from its confinement. all those pent-up emotions, the disappointment, frustration, desperation, all erupted out of elzar’s outstretched hand as the three-headed beast erupted from its gilded cage.

the hragscythe wants to kill elzar, it is simply the creature’s nature and elzar understands that. what elzar also came to understand was that his own mental struggle would kill the jedi he is.

“he ran a shaking hand over his face, glad that the war-cloud had rushed back in, hiding him from sight. these waters were deep. these waters would drown him, unless …unless.”

and when elzar came face to face with the hragscythe he did what he had always done, calm and tame the creature. only this time it wasn’t enough, this time his distress was too much to handle on his own.

“elzar mann was the one who solved problems, not posed them. he found solutions. answers. new ways of getting the job done. so, elzar did what he had always done: he tried to solve the problem alone.”

“animal control?” “that’s where you come in. it’s never been my forte …” “i used to think it was one of mine, before the hragscythe.”

ty yorrick figuratively killed this struggle inside elzar when she cut two heads from the hragscythe. she gave him the support he needed to get through the horror of the fair, the connection he needed to ground emotions with wing spans of 20 feet.

in the end elzar flies freely for all to see, no longer lurking in the foliage, no longer bottling his feelings, no longer the hragscythe in the cage.

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we all thought elzar was the one left behind while avar and stellan rose (even he himself was under this assumption) but it’s clear now, after SoS2 and the fallen star that the solution is not for him to change but for avar and stellan to come back down. they lost themselves in the climb up the career and success ladder and are only now finding happiness and purpose after being knocked off of it. and elzar was, is, waiting there for them without judgement & with love, like he always did.

this. this is my point. a point he always knew but never imposed on them or anyone, like he wished no one imposed on him, let them live their lives how they saw fit without judgement but ready to offer support when they need it. elzar is someone who embraces, not tries to fix and fit into molds.

and i really hope avar will come out the other end understanding she is more than her failures and her titles. like stellan didn’t have the chance to. that would be the best gift she could give his memory. what he would want for her. not vengeance. happiness and purpose in being just as she is.

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the connection between elzar mann and the nameless

intentional or not on the authors' behalf, elzar mann has been narratively set up to be apart of the solution to the threat of the levelers.

light of the jedi is excellent in its introduction to the era as a whole and also through it's establishment of marchion ro as an immense antagonist. elzar solidifies this threat posed by the deadly evereni when he experienced a vision of not just the destruction of the republic fair, but the agony the jedi experience due to the levelers.

“awful visions flashed before his eyes, things he could not understand, cast in a sickly purple light. jedi, many he knew, friends and colleagues, horribly mutilated, fighting battles they could not win against awful things that lived in the dark. things that lived in the deep.” - light of the jedi

elzar undeniably foresaw the fear and death the levelers bring about. jedi cast in the purple light of the staff that controls them, creatures that live in the deepest parts of the sea of the force, faces familiar and new torn apart by purple lightning.

from the very start of this era’s conflict, from the very first hint at what’s to come, elzar has been connected to it personally.

the end of the rising storm, the battle at grizal, is the first instance marchion used the leveler against the jedi. the first time it fed since being released from the ice and elzar was the first to experience it. shortly followed by bell and then loden who understandably received the worst of it.

“…for a split second elzar thought he saw something else, something hunkered down on all fours, throwing itself from the air lock.” - the rising storm

immediately elzar is thrown back into his vision. in his sheer pain and confusion he wonders why the force is punishing him rather than realizing that he is currently experiencing what the force tried to harshly warn him of. the levelers.

although elzar was right to question, why him? why had the force attempted to warn him of all the great jedi during this golden age?

what elzar does realize is the force’s true intention of the vision was not solely about the fair, no. the vision was warning him of something worse to come.

“i thought it was over, stel. i thought it was finished, but it’s not. they’re coming, stellan. they’re coming, and we can’t stop them.” - the rising storm

he doesn’t truly understand the they he is talking about here, a vague prophet even to himself. it could be the nihil he is referring to but based on the previous pattern i highly doubt it.

the fallen star carries on this connection between the elzar and the levelers (despite the grievances i might have about his writing in the novel.) trapped on a falling station with several levelers in the vicinity, elzar remained the only jedi unaffected by the growing effect the dark creatures had. orla jareni recognized this and remarked on elzar being one of the only solutions they had.

“you’re not calling upon the force in the same way you once were. that’s shielded you, to a degree—protected you.” - the fallen star

elzar shutting himself off from the force allowed him to remain, at least, mostly unaffected by the leveler's influence. we saw something similar in the trail of shadows with emerick caphtor who concentrated and controlled his emotions enough to momentarily withstand the leveler.

when elzar connected deeply with the force again he felt the effects of the leveler once again nearly getting killed as he descended starlight beacon in a pod.

with all of this in mind, i believe elzar is being set up to play a significant role in how the jedi overcome the leveler threat. he was introduced as a trailblazing problem solver who found solutions and force techniques others believed impossible, despite the odd looks he received for it. what was once considered a problem by others in the order might just be their greatest solution.

“elzar mann, you may be our only hope.”

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elzar calling space ‘the deepest sea of all’. eugheugheufh

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not to be a mean old grump but every time they throw a piece of kotor back into canon as a fun little easter egg i feel like i’m operating the atomic doomsday clock and moving it closer and closer to midnight aka when revan becomes a featured character in disney canon. i know whatever disney does won’t be close to my deranged shit and that doesn't bother me, but signs point to disney's revan being Wrong and i will have to sit and listen to star wars be wrong about revan because disney wants to fit a square peg into a round hole. yes there was the novel and swtor which is contentious but the revan novel is relatively obscure and the swtor appearances are limited. disney will do a bad revan, and while a bad revan no longer hurts me, what will hurt me is that they will make it Mainstream and that will be my curse to bear. it'll be like listening to people who want keanu reeves to play swtor revan except waaaaay more of them. and will go insane.

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we need to talk more about the quote ‘beacons could be scrambled or deceived. elzar mann couldn’t.’ technology can be deceived, manipulated, destroyed. the thing which whole basis of existence is to be more reliable than man. but not more reliable than elzar. madness. utter madness

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atton on malachor: crazy how through all of this i’m still horny. the human spirit is unbreakable

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I’m bored, what obscure hill should I die on to make myself feel whole again-

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please my fandom, it's very sick, it needs media literacy, please