Quite Possibly The Worst Star Wars Story Idea Ever

[Chris Parr]

Okay, let me make this clear. The mutant would not, I repeat he WOULD NOT tear people to shreds psychokinetically just because they hold a negative opinion! He lost all his friends and family, and experienced over a trillion deaths telepathically, and he doesn't want to go through that again. After all, just because he looks like a monster specifically like something out of "Village of the Damned", doesn't mean he wants to be a monster.

Also, he knows that things like true friendship and admiration cannot be forced, it must be an individual's free choice. So he won't force them, either telepathically or with threats. If he does, those people become nothing more than puppets, and what is the value of expressed love or admiration from a puppet that you control? None.

Also, I would like to point out once again that while this mutant is powerful, he is not all powerful. The effective range of his powers is roughly the interior of a star system. Sounds like a lot, I know, but it's just a tiny speck in the Galaxy as a whole.

Oh, and I remembered something else—according to Corran Horn a Jedi Master's "Sphere of Responsibility" can cover an entire star system. So you see the mutant is not orders of magnitude more powerful than the Jedi, they are roughly equal.

[Purple]

Also, he knows that things like true friendship and admiration cannot be forced, it must be an individual's free choice. So he won't force them, either telepathically or with threats. If he does, those people become nothing more than puppets, and what is the value of expressed love or admiration from a puppet that you control? None.

That depends on your point of view. There are plenty of genuine physical perks to any sort of love and admiration, or at least obedience that could make his life very comfortable. It's basically the distinction between a pet and cattle. A pet gives you emotional satisfaction but the cattle keeps you fed. What if he decides to enslave a bunch of people to be his "cattle" and than keep one or two of them as free minded "pets"? That's what I'd do.

[Chris Parr]

Well, he's so powerful that he doesn't need slaves. He can accomplish all the tasks an army of slaves would perform with a thought, so what does he need with them?

[Zixinus]

Oh, and I remembered something else—according to Corran Horn a Jedi Master's "Sphere of Responsibility" can cover an entire star system. So you see the mutant is not orders of magnitude more powerful than the Jedi, they are roughly equal.

I am continuously amazed how you keep finding small, obscure tidbits to make the Jedi far more powerful than they are while still not realizing that they just aren't, your supercharged psychic is still massively more powerful than the most powerful Jedi we have seen in the franchise. The sphere of power being limited to just within a star system is still massively larger than anything demonstrated in the franchise.

If you paid attention to the novel, you'd note that the more you spread out that sphere of responsibility to less details you are able to notice. The smaller it is the more detailed view you gain. One can spread it out into a star system but then they'd only notice big differences there.

[Chris Parr]

All right.

[Chris Parr]

Okay, just because he's more than a match for the Jedi and the Sith that doesn't mean he can't be challenged! Does anyone know whatever became of the Architects who constructed the Maw and the Corellian System? Massively powerful beings who could rearrange planets and stars at will would seem to be a daunting challenge even for this super powerful mutant.

[Lord Revan]

Irrelevant, who or what those architects were doesn't matter or does it matter how powerful they are because they're long gone and aren't showing signing of returning.

You're still looking at this the wrong way, instead of thinking ways to justify including this super-wanked out mutant in your story maybe your should look at ways you can change the mutant character so that he fits the verse you're putting him on better.

Remember that immortal demi-god character I mentioned earlier, he works cause as verse is my own invention I can craft it so that that character isn't totally out of scale with rest of the universe he exists in.

[Chris Parr]

Okay, but what about Abeloth? Wasn't she a seriously wanked out psycho Force Wielder? If I remember right it took the combined might of the Jedi Order and the Lost Tribe of The Sith to take her down. Maybe the mutant will have to face the combined powers of the Jedi order as well? I mean, sure, the Jedi are like insects to him, so one lone Jedi would be overmatched, but a thousand Jedi working together—well, let's just say that you can be killed if you're attacked by a thousand bees. Not that I want to slaughter my mutant, just bring him to his senses.

[Elheru Aran]

Abeloth is... a bit of a mess. More bad canon management there. I haven't read those books, and don't intend to.

The fact of the matter, IMO, is that I think you're overthinking things. If you want to write a fic, go right ahead. If we have issues with how you're doing it, we'll tell you, and you can either rewrite or just carry on however you like. You don't need to analyze your character in such depth in order to evoke a compelling story. Overanalysis can in fact go the opposite direction, turning you *off* from writing your story.

[Chris Parr]

Sorry, I'm just thinking of possibilities, throwing them out there and seeing if they'll stick.

Which brings me to another idea—the Sith!

No, I'm not talking about flashy lightsaber moves and Force lightning. I think the Sith would more subtle, using temptation to try to lure and entice the mutant to their ways because they would seriously covet his power. It could work as an attack because as I've said before the mutant is psychologically vulnerable.

[Purple]

Well, he's so powerful that he doesn't need slaves. He can accomplish all the tasks an army of slaves would perform with a thought, so what does he need with them?

For the same reason we need cars even though we can walk everywhere just fine. It's simply nice to have someone else do the hard work for you. Even if it is not really hard.

[Chris Parr]

Well, he's so powerful that he doesn't need slaves. He can accomplish all the tasks an army of slaves would perform with a thought, so what does he need with them?

For the same reason we need cars even though we can walk everywhere just fine. It's simply nice to have someone else do the hard work for you. Even if it is not really hard.

Yeah, but the reason we need cars is, cars are faster than us. They can get us to faraway places much more quickly. But the mutant is superior to any race of beings in the galaxy who might be enslaved, so what's the point? It would be like riding a giant tortoise to get around—a pointless waste of time.

[Zixinus]

He is on an entire planet's worth of infrastructure all left to him, all he has to do is figure out the right passcodes and authorizations that would make the droids, computers and security systems obey him. He does not need slaves when droids will suffice, at least for most mundane needs. If the drug killed people fast enough then there is probably a whole bunch of stuff still working that he can use to his leisure.

The only enemy he'd have are security systems he'd need to bypass. As it is, there is canon evidence of a Force ability that lets you see past events and people related to an object. Say, a security keycard. With more power behind it you can use it to remember security passes.

They can get us to faraway places much more quickly. But the mutant is superior to any race of beings in the galaxy who might be enslaved, so what's the point?

The same reason why people use motorbikes to get to the nearby shops: they don't need to expand personal energy but the machine's energy to do it.

[Chris Parr]

Personally, I think a droid valet is the way to go. That way he can still be waited on hand and foot and focus his energies on more important things.

[Purple]

Yeah, but the reason we need cars is, cars are faster than us. They can get us to faraway places much more quickly. But the mutant is superior to any race of beings in the galaxy who might be enslaved, so what's the point? It would be like riding a giant tortoise to get around—a pointless waste of time.

You missed the point. It's not about efficiency but about saving time. Humans and human derived beings tend to have things they like doing and things they do not like doing. And we tend to find machines or other people to do that work for us. Sure your dude could be 10000 times more efficient at farming, cooking, cleaning and all sorts of other stuff than enslaved people. But what if he really is not into all that stuff and just wants things done for him so that he can sit back and watch reality TV?

[Chris Parr]

Well, he can just use droids for that. Enslaving people with his telepathic powers seems a bit too dark for this character.

[Purple]

Well, he can just use droids for that. Enslaving people with his telepathic powers seems a bit too dark for this character.

The key is describing it in a way that does not come off as a cheap cop out like "it would not be real affection." Like, show him actually having a reasonable moral qualm against enslaving people. This would be especially interesting when it comes to people that have oppressed him directly. These are the kind of moral dilemmas that make character development interesting.

[Lord Revan]

Well, he can just use droids for that. Enslaving people with his telepathic powers seems a bit too dark for this character.

The key is describing it in a way that does not come off as a cheap cop out like "it would not be real affection." Like, show him actually having a reasonable moral qualm against enslaving people. This would be especially interesting when it comes to people that have oppressed him directly. These are the kind of moral dilemmas that make character development interesting.

This, Purple might have his problems relating to other people but he has a point here.

You want to make you character motivations and development seem organic to the character. Maybe the planet was a corrupt oppressive dictatorship where everyone was forced to pretend like it was paradise even though it wasn't and your character part of de-facto slave class, that could explain why he wouldn't want a hordes of slaves with fake smiles as he was once like that and would not wish that fate even to his worst enemies.

You don't have to do exactly that but it's a suggestion for a direction you could take it, the key here is to make sure that everything serves the story first and foremost and seems like it could logically happen within the framework of the story.

[Zixinus]

The problem would be more along the lines of "drunk superman in a china shop": he might not be malevolent but that does not mean that he has precise control over things or that in a careless moment he might unintentionally do things that end up doing massive damage. For example, say he finds a survivor, someone who is isolated from the drug and for him to survive he'll need to get his shit together fast. Your psychic uses his incredible mind powers to see that it is distress over his family that is keeping him from moving or doing anything. So he represses their memories temporarily so he isn't distracted and manages to survive.

Except that it wasn't temporary and what seemed like a quick, simple fix jumbled up a whole, massive lot of associated memories and thoughts. Like shoving down a pair of pliers into the middle of clockwork to get out a stuck screw. The guy doesn't know who he is and he is turning insane trying to get his head together. So one thoughtless, panicked move follows another one and another. You pretty quickly end up with a guy's mind held together by instilling direct commands to stop him from doing self-destructive stuff, hastily relieved memories and spit.

He might not go out saying "hey, I want to go out dominate a hot girl's mind and make it my willing sex slave". It might be tiny things that make his slide down a slippery slope. It might be to save the target's own life, it might be to prevent the target dying (like making a stormtrooper believe he can't see them) and so on. And if you the guy is desperate to earn admiration and respect he might nudge the person away from some distracting thoughts or try to use telepathy to help them see past their prejudices.

As for appearance, this guy must really look like something of a night terror to be effective. This is an universe where guys with a crown of horns atop of their heads is normal.

[Lord Revan]

Or maybe have him physically look more or less normal, possibly even plain, but have constant be unintentionally be transmitting this "I'm a moster" aura because of how he/she (it doesn't have to be a guy after all) feels about themselves, kind of like how in WH40K a blank could be the attrative person in the galaxy but still most people would feel uneasy and discusted being near said blank and psykers would need considerble effort to even stand in the same room.

[Simon_Jester]

Did I mention the social and psychological difficulties this mutant has to face?

As far as quests go, his is a simple one. See, he lost everything in that Cataclysm—his family and friends are gone. Moreover, he's a monster now. Not exactly ugly but very creepy looking. All he wants is to be accepted for who he is, and he won't use his telepathic powers to force anyone either, because to him that's just not real.

So he has to do it the hard way, EARNING the acceptance that he craves...

[Shakes head]

What I'm trying to communicate is that this is one of the hardest classes of stories to write well. And if you write it badly, it will seem incredibly stupid and pathetic: "Oh, pity this amazingly powerful outcast, isn't it sad that he looks different and has to restrain himself from obliterating people with a thought in order to have a normal life?"

I would honestly advise you to put this idea on a shelf until you've written well-accepted, well-liked stories based on other plot premises. It takes skill as a writer and a lot of insight into human nature to write the "omnipotent weirdo who just wants to be loved" competently. Get some practice with easier things first.

[Chris Parr]

Okay, this is just getting way too angsty. Angsty angsty angsty.

Never mind, I'm pulling the plug on this depressing thing before it gets any worse.

[Lord Revan]

I'd second what Simon said (no pun intended) start simple and only once you have firm grasp as to how to write charaters try something that's this difficult.

[Simon_Jester]

Basically, this character concept depends on the author's ability to write highly sympathetic characters. So you should first try to create stories of characters in 'reasonable' situations, situations that are basically similar to what you might see in other fiction, and see if you can convey to an audience how the character feels.

If you're successful there, move on. If you're not, analyze WHY you're not and build up your skills.

[Chris Parr]

Or I could write really cheesy fiction with a wanked out main character, lots of explosions, speeder chases, blaster fights, fancy lightsaber duels, etc. You may love the concept, or you may hate it, but you will never forget it.

Like Rambo. Everyone remembers Rambo! This wanked out Vietnam vet/super soldier/action hero will always be remembered for charging into a hail of enemy gunfire without his shirt, without one single bullet ever touching him, mowing down insurgents with his BFG like he was some god mode video game character! Yeah baby!