The Unofficial Clone Wars Site

Legacy of the Jedi

Author: Jude Watson
Cover Artist: David Mattingly
Cover Design: Keirsten Geise
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: August 1, 2003

Reviewed by Nathan “Valin Kenobi” O'Keefe

Summary: Dooku and Lorian Nod are young students at the Jedi Temple. Lorian “borrows” a Sith Holocron from storage, is too frightened by it to put it back, is found out, and tries to pin the misdeed on his best friend Dooku. Lorian is expelled from the Jedi Order, and lays the blame on Dooku for not covering for him. Dooku refuses to be guilt-tripped, rightly viewing the situation as Lorian’s own dumb fault. Over the next several decades, Lorian crosses paths with Dooku and his apprentice Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and finally Obi-Wan and Anakin during the Clone Wars.

Some SPOILERS ahead!

Reviewed by Nathan “Valin Kenobi” O'Keefe

What works: As usual, Watson has an excellent grasp of the various Jedi characters and is adept at drawing them in ways that are distinct from one another and true to their movie portrayals. She does a great job at extrapolating younger versions of Dooku and Qui-Gon from the hints in other sources.

Even at this early stage, Dooku is already proud, ambitious, and a bit emotionally distant. Even as a boy he realizes that persuasion and subterfuge can work better than all-out confrontation. And he already aspires to become more powerful than the Jedi Councilors, a desire that is amplified upon in Part II.

It’s interesting to note the contrasts between the various Master/Apprentice relationships in the book. Dooku’s relationship to Qui-Gon is coldly professional and oddly impersonal. There’s none of that close, harmonious bond that we later see with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. At this point Dooku is still a decent fellow, but he is distrustful and can be indifferent to others’ problems, in sharp contrast to Qui-Gon’s trusting nature and innate empathy. I actually felt sorry for Qui-Gon, stuck with a comparatively insensitive teacher who views him as a hindrance as often as not. Qui-Gon respects Dooku, but does not love him.

Later, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan have a much more informal understanding--their roles of teacher and learner are sometimes reversed, with Qui-Gon learning valuable lessons from Obi-Wan as often as the other way around. But with Dooku and Qui-Gon, the reader clearly sees who is the master and who is the student.

At any rate, the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is a compromise between the other two--closer than Dooku and Qui-Gon, but more distant than Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Not only because of Anakin’s late arrival to the Jedi ways, but also because Qui-Gon’s death saddled Obi-Wan with the responsibility to teach Anakin--something that he didn't choose and never seemed to fully embrace. By the time of LOTJ, Obi-Wan’s vague forebodings about his apprentice have solidified into sadness and dread. He already feels that he has failed in imparting the most important teachings to Anakin, and that it’s too late to do anything now. Plus Obi-Wan reflects that he rarely knows what Anakin is thinking anymore.

Towards the end there’s some nice dialogue about the relevance of love and the nature of redemption, all of it weighted with double meanings since the reader obviously knows where the story is headed.

The complex transformation from Anakin to Vader is certainly fascinating, yet in many ways Dooku’s downfall is just as interesting. Anakin has the ready-made “excuse” of his childhood--he was raised a slave, came late to the Jedi Temple, had no father, was separated from his mother, and more. Dooku was taken as a small child and raised in the Temple, with little to no contact with his biological family on Serenno. Despite all this, he still succumbed to the dark side. Even in the heart of the light side, evil can still develop.

We know from the films that Anakin’s downfall came about because he became too emotionally attached--mainly to his mother and to Padmé. But from reading LOTJ, I get the distinct impression that Dooku fell partly because he was not emotionally involved enough.

What Doesn't Work: Mainly just the length. The stories moved at a nice, crisp pace, which is good, however the flip side is that the book’s rather short. Even bearing in mind that hardbacks cost more, for $12.95 there’s not a lot of story, particularly considering I sped through it in under 24 hours.

I know I’m not the only one who disliked the insertion of Thame Cerulian as Dooku’s Jedi Master. From Attack of the Clones and various ancillary materials, we are led to believe that Yoda mentored Dooku one-on-one, in much the same manner that he taught Ki-Adi-Mundi and Luke Skywalker. In Chapter 3 Lorian mentions that Yoda has taken a personal interest in Dooku, but that’s as far as it gets. Even stranger, Thame is hardly used after being introduced, so I was left wondering why the character was created in the first place. At the StarWars.com message board, Leland Chee mentioned that this decision was a decree from On High, namely Lucas Licensing. I’d be quite interested to learn the motivation for this.

Interestingly and appropriately, Dooku starts the book as the “good guy” with Lorian as the “bad guy”. In Part II we see the gradual transformation, and by the time Part IV rolls around, Dooku has become the villain and Lorian helps the Jedi protagonists. I liked the fact that Dooku was made a sympathetic character for the first time, but in Part IV he basically devolves back into Übervillain Cliché Mode which we see in every other Clone Wars tale. I would have preferred more insight into his inner thoughts during this time.

On the whole I like the cover, but besides some of the saber colors being wrong, it’s too bad there’s no “youthened” picture of Dooku, to represent his younger version as a Jedi Knight. Mattingly just used a picture from AOTC instead of darkening his hair or anything. I also thought it was odd that there’s no picture of Lorian Nod on the cover, considering that he’s the only character besides Yoda to appear in all four parts (Dooku doesn’t appear directly in Part III). And this is a really trivial detail, but I’m not sure it was completely necessary to put the “A Clone Wars Novel” tagline on the cover, since only a quarter of it takes place in the Clone Wars, and the book has none of the Clone Wars trappings like the timeline. See, I told you it was really trivial.

Overall: Another characteristically high-quality tale from Jude Watson. Any fan of her two earlier Jedi series should certainly pick this up, and beyond that, it depends on your level of interest in the characters. Part IV is a cool side story, but isn’t especially consequential for the overall Clone Wars saga.

Rating:9/10

<<<Back to Reviews

Site Information: Contact Us | Frequently Asked Questions | History | Staff | Acknowledgements

Disclaimer: This is a completely unofficial, fan-made site. It is not sponsored, licensed, or approved by Lucasfilm Ltd. All "Star Wars" titles, unoriginal images, slogans, etc. are trademark/copyright their respective publishers and/or creators. "Star Wars" is a registered trademark of Lucasilm Ltd. If you're looking for the Official "Star Wars" Website, head over to http://www.starwars.com. Layouts, designs, and related content are © 2003 - present The Unofficial Clone Wars Site.