A bit of a missed opportunity that I’ve noticed with the High Republic is that due to it still being relatively close to the prequels in terms of timeline, Yoda isn’t that much different compared to how he is in the main saga. This did make me wonder, though: how different do you feel Yoda would have been as a younger Jedi, in whatever constitutes both young adulthood and middle age for his species?
A while back I made a post detailing how each of Salem’s four main lieutenants (Cinder, Watts, Tyrian and Hazel) could work as a foil for one of the members of Team RWBY. But this got me thinking. If they had gone with the idea of Watts being a foil to Weiss and sort of her series-wide arch-nemesis (well, besides Jacques, anyway), how do you imagine their rivalry could have played out in the series itself?
Personally, I’d have it so that Weiss not only plays a more active role in exposing Jacques’ treachery aside from just retrieving her mother’s security footage, but also manages to re-secure her status as the next inheritor of the SDC in the process, maybe with Whitley’s help if they’ve reconciled by that point. Being defeated and having his legacy seized by the very daughter he tried to sever from the Schnee family name would be pure karma for Jacques, and while Weiss getting her status back would admittedly probably not matter much since the Fall of Atlas would likely ensure the SDC’s dissolution, her taking back her family’s legacy from the man who stole it would have been very satisfying.
I mean, unlike other lightwhips, this weapon doesn’t just have the plasma blade, but additional, solid extensions made from beskar, ensuring that the lashes were not only far more painful, but also much harder to dodge or evade, which is how she defeated Luke the first time around and forced him to use a second lightsaber in their rematch. Even if Lumiya herself never becomes canon again, I’d love to see someone use a lightwhip like hers, because she and Githany from the Darth Bane books are probably the best examples of how deadly this weapon can truly be.
In my last post about A Vision of Shadows, someone suggested that Mistystar could have started developing dementia like her brother Bluestar in the aftermath of the Kin’s brief takeover of RiverClan, and that they could have made the RiverClan succession crisis from A Starless Clan into a B plot for The Broken Code. What are your thoughts on this idea, and do you think it could have worked in conjunction with the imposter/Ashfur’s reign in a six-book series? I feel like you’d have to either add a RiverClan POV character or replace either Bristlefrost, Shadowsight or Rootspring with a RiverClan POV cat in order to make this work, but there’s also the risk regarding pacing and managing two story arcs like this in the same series…
This series is kind of infamous for having a pretty great first half but sort of tanking in the second half, with the lack of a central antagonist and a lot of plot decisions in River of Fire and The Raging Storm especially seeming to draw a lot of criticism. So if you had the chance to rewrite this half of the series, assuming things up to the end of Shattered Sky played out mostly the same as in canon, what do you think would need changing? For me, here’s a couple of things:
Instead of flip-flopping between ThunderClan and SkyClan in Darkest Night, Twigpaw’s conflict regarding where she belongs is noticed by both Bramblestar and Leafstar, resulting in Twigpaw being given an ultimatum of having to choose where she belongs once and for all even as Violetpaw leaves for SkyClan. While she’s tempted to join her sister and father, Twigpaw ends up deciding to stay in ThunderClan by the end of the book, so the whole debacle in River of Fire doesn’t really happen here.
Even after ShadowClan is disbanded by Rowanclaw in Darkest Night, some elements of the Clan still hold out, with their leader becoming the unofficial head of a ‘ShadowClan’ that nobody else recognises as legitimate. This proves problematic when Tigerstar II returns to the lake with Dovewing, their kits and the missing ShadowClan warriors - the remnant ShadowClan that held out during his absence refuse to recognise Tigerstar as their leader out of resentment for how he abandoned them, which divides ShadowClan into two factions even as it’s officially restored: one that backs Tigerstar, and one that backs the other leader (maybe Juniperclaw?). This, combined with SkyClan’s problem of co-existing with an unstable Clan on its border, serves as the main plot of The Raging Storm.
The effects of RiverClan’s withdrawal are more seriously impacted upon, and the emphasis placed on ThunderClan, WindClan and SkyClan being the only three ‘stable’ Clans around the lake is more heavily focused upon.
Alright, here’s a challenge to Hollyleaf fans or those who just wish the series had taken a different direction with her character. How would you change canon so that the following events take place up until the end of A Starless Clan?
Hollyleaf survives the events of Omen of the Stars and steadily re-integrates into ThunderClan proper - possibly even having a chance to talk with Crowfeather in Crowfeather’s Trial much like Lionblaze and Jayfeather did.
During the events of The Broken Code, Hollyleaf is made deputy of ThunderClan after Squirrelflight assumes leadership once the imposter/Ashfur has been deposed, and after Squirrelflight disappears, she temporarily assumes leadership herself, though she still gains a lot of counsel from Graystripe after he returns from his journey seen in Graystripe’s Vow.
After the events of The Broken Code, Hollyleaf ends up becoming the new deputy of ThunderClan on a permanent basis after Squirrelflight steps down, with Bramblestar remaining leader. However, once Bramblestar retires and becomes Brambleclaw again in A Starless Clan, Hollyleaf becomes Hollystar, and names a cat not related to Firestar as her deputy (my personal bet is Mousewhisker, but feel free to choose whoever you think a more mature Hollyleaf would want to pick).
I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is what Riyu’s final destiny is going to be, especially considering how the troubles related to the Source Dragons and the Merge seem to stem back to the death of the Source Dragon of Balance, and we know through Thunderfang that it’s possible for normal dragons to be elevated to the rank of Source Dragon. That, and Riyu sharing a similar colour palette to the Source Dragon of Balance, has made me feel like this is the most likely outcome for him.
Let’s assume this is a sort of Superior Spider-Man kind of situation where Victor Fries ends up taking Bruce Wayne’s place as Batman for at least one real real-world year and trying to live up to Batman’s legacy, since I feel like he’d be one of the villains who be the most interesting to see in that role. How do you imagine Fries would interact with the rest of the Bat Family while he was Batman, and how do you see this career change impacting Freeze as a character?
Let’s say that Jaune’s teammates, Emerald and Oscar all fall into the Ever After as well and end up getting time displaced like Jaune was (maybe scattered throughout the Ever After to reinforce Jaune’s sense of loneliness, or some other circumstances that contribute to his deteriorating mental state by the time he reunites with Team RWBY. Assuming Jaune still becomes the Rusted Knight, what identities or personas could you see these other members of the group taking up as Team RWBY encounter them on their journey through the Ever After?
I’ve got be honest - given that Euphrasia is now travelling with the ninja as of this latest season, I honestly wouldn’t mind her becoming the sixth ninja, assuming something happened to make her pass on her duties protecting the Cloud Kingdom to another person. Wind is one of the elemental powers I’ve most wanted to see among the new ninja (as well as Shadow and Poison, the latter of which really should have been Frak’s elemental power), so this seems like a ripe opportunity. Then again, it’s entirely possible she’ll be more like Wyldfire - being part of the team but not technically being a ninja herself.
And how do you think this would have changed his relationship with Spider-Man, involvement in certain storylines, and character development moving forward? Furthermore, who do you think could have taken over Sandman’s role in stories (my personal bet is Hydro-Man - he’s literally just like Sandman except he’s composed of water instead of sand).
Do you prefer the idea of the Green Goblin as a separate persona of Norman’s subconscious or do you prefer him to be Norman on a power trip from the Goblin formula? In all honesty, I prefer that it’s just Norman power-crazed by the Goblin formula - it better ties into him being a foil for Peter, being a man with incredible wealth, intelligence and power, but having none of the responsibility that Peter does. The Goblin being a split personality sort of takes away from that, and it hasn’t exactly aged that well with modern understanding of DID either…
I honestly hope they take at least partial inspiration from these books for James Manigold’s movie (assuming that’s still happening), because these were a great snippet into the earliest years of the Star Wars galaxy’s history. Shame they got cancelled prematurely…
These three are probably the most notable cases of a villain taking over the Spider-Man mantle and being left rattled or having an epiphany through that experience. So if you could describe their respective epiphanies through your own words, what would they be?
It really does feel like a thematic sequel of sorts to the Revenge Of The Sith novelisation, which of course was also written by the same author, Matthew Stover. Anyone who’s read that book will remember how Anakin is dealing with this all consuming dread of one day losing everything. This is emphasized by the fact that there’s this voice in his head referred to as a dragon that constantly reminds him that all things die. Even stars burn out, harkening back to when he saw a dead star for himself as a kid. Something that really shook Anakin.
In Shadows of Mindor, Luke has a similar existential crisis that gets taken up to eleven. He actually sees the literal heat death of the universe itself, and he’s stuck there for what’s described as an eternity as part of the villain’s plan to break and take control of Luke. This all shakes Luke to his core, and he seriously questions for a time what’s the point in continuing to fight if everything is just gonna end like this.
But unlike Anakin, who probably would have gone mad from an experience like that, Luke eventually decides that just because nothing lasts forever it doesn’t mean that life isn’t worth fighting for. As Vision said in Age Of Ultron, a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts. Who says that Luke in Legends is just a boring power fantasy with no depth or meaningful struggles?