Maybe. But you forgot to mention that Senator/Chancellor Palpatine was himself a Sith. And that Darth Vader, like the other Darths before him - Maul, Tyranus - was converted from the way of the Jedi through manipulation by Palpatine (Sith name Darth Sidious). And that Palpatine/Sidious did so for his own gain and to wipe out an enemy (the Jedi).

Accounts of war, especially in times past, are typically written by the winners. Perhaps the biggest thing to take away from your article is that people need to be sceptical about the details.

Amusing, I always thought you were good at fiction.

I forgot to mention that the book is being launched at 6.30PM on Wednesday, May 29 at the Celtic Club in Melbourne cnr Queen and La Trobe. .. details on the Connor Court site..

Carz - what you say is quite right about Palpatine being a Sith, as far as the films (and books) go.. but it is my contention that the winners also threw in that piece of propaganda to divert attention from uncomfortable allegations that their rebellion was quite illegal. Rebellions are, by their nature, illegal unless they happen to succeed. Apart from the rather nebulous complaint that they were being "oppressed" - what form did the oppression take? - the rebels didn't have a lot of justification. Basically they didn't want to pay taxes to a distant Imperial capital(the American justification)and wanted the freedom to oppress one another, rather than have others do it. So why not accuse the Emperor of being a Sith? Cuts out a lot of tedious effort in finding excuses.

Bugsy - long time.. as you can see the debate on that other issue got repetitious and boring. At least with this issue you don't get abusive responses.. well, not many..

I would never have picked you for a fanfic kind of guy. Just goes to show, you never can tell...

If you don't think that you get much abuse from this 'issue', then you haven't been hanging out on the right forums. Some Star Wars fans can be a funny lot.

Let me know when you write your alternate universe novel about how the South was wronged and will rise again. I know it's been done, but that shouldn't stop you, now that i see it's right up your alley.

Ok, great stuff again.

Now please write me a history that has me become king of somewhere.

Somewhere wealthy, that does not have a revolution overthrowing the monarchy, until long after I have passed.

I await with bated breath.

>>the black suit, black full-face helmet and heavy breathing were probably added to the Vader character by later writers.<<

No they weren't. As a young man Vader suffered life-threatening burns. The suit isn't there to look stylish: it is an essential life support system and without it Vader would have expired long before the events depicted Star Wars: ANH, TESB, ROTJ. Do your research Mark.

>>In fact, Vader's one real sin may have been to lose the war to hold the empire together<<

Yeah... that and the genocide. And the attempted homicide. Richard LeParmentier died last month. He was the actor that played Admiral Motti - the Imperial Admiral that Vader would have murdered (without the timely intervention of Grand Moff Tarkin) for mocking Vader's religion. Such poor impulse control and disregard for human life on Vader's part suggests that he may have suffered from Antisocial Personality Disorder.

I look forward to Mark's follow-up article on why the Nazis were all really top blokes and the only reason they're portrayed as genocidal nutters is because they got a good thumping. Sometimes the losers are just bad.

Cheers,

Tony

Hasbeen

I'll see what I can do about promoting you to king, but my fantasy universe comes first.

Tony Lavis

Um, I think you've somewhat missed the point. I'm well aware of the history as given in the films and I would expect all my audience to be. I'm suggesting the history was rewritten. Bit of fun. Lighten up. All the other posters got it. Look on my site www.vaderisinnocent.com and you'll get what I'm driving at.

Star Wars was always mythologically wrong anyway.

First, if the universe has a dark and light side, then they are both valid and part of everything. You can't "choose" a side.

Secondly, the "dark" side of mythology was always the chaotic, anarchic side, not the side of order, control, hierarchy.
If Darth was dark, he'd be a "rebel" not a ruler!

Star Wars, so very, very wrong. Dumb and wrong, but fun.

Tony Lavis, the Nazis may not be fun, but suffer the same misconception.
Their aims weren't "dark" at all, they were all about Purity, Order, Precision, Control, Masculinity.

Exactly the same aims as the Allied "heroes" who bombed Hiroshima and Dresden and starved a million German POWS to death.

The "Light" extreme can be even more dangerous than the Dark.

>>Secondly, the "dark" side of mythology was always the chaotic, anarchic side, not the side of order, control, hierarchy.
If Darth was dark, he'd be a "rebel" not a ruler!<<

Have you read 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'? The dark side in that myth - the White Witch - is all about order, control and hierarchy. She turns her enemies to stone, makes it always winter but never Christmas and calls herself the Queen of Narnia. Personifying - lionifying? - the light side we have Aslan - always portrayed as good, but he's not a tame lion. The tail end of chapter 15 - Deeper Magic from Before the End of Time - and the start of Chapter 16 show Aslan in al his chaotic, anarchic glory.

There's one for you, Curmudgeon. I'd love to see an essay on the unfair hand dealt to Her Imperial Majesty Jadis of Narnia by four punk kids and a talking lion. Maybe a follow-up piece on their subsequent military coup against the Telmarines to install the illegitimate monarch King Caspian X.

Cheers,

Tony

Dark = Order? Light = Chaos?

Sounds like C. S. Lewis is suffering the same affliction as George Lucas.

Mark Lawson here

Shockadelic - now that is interesting. Never thought about the dark and light part before. May cut and paste your comments over to the website www.vaderisinnocent.com , with attribution of course..

Tony Lavis - of course, four punk kids and a talking lion get political. Why didn't I see it before? I may indeed do something along those lines..