3,999 BBY
*So, Nomi Sunrider is married to a Jedi named Andur. They have a kid, Vima, and the three of them are in transit to some backwater planet where Andur is supposed to meet a Jedi Master that’s going to train him further in the Jedi disciplines. Andur is also delivering some Adegan Crystals to Master Thon.
*Bogga the Hutt gets wind of these crystals and sends some goons to kill the young Jedi and his family and take the crystals.
*Somewhere in the thousand years between the Golden Age of the Sith and this story, the Hutts have stopped being likable, affable father figures and become the sleazy, ruthless crime lords we know and love.
*So, Andur gets killed and Nomi picks up his lightsaber and kills his killers. She then decides to follow in his footsteps and become a Jedi.
*This is perfectly credible and is, matter of fact, a great way to get a character to decide to become a Jedi while also giving them their brush with the Dark Side. I like it as a way to thrust someone into the path of becoming a Jedi, right? I find that a compelling beginning to a character arc.
*Okay, going to a planet you’ve never been to, to find a Jedi Master you know nothing about, with no supplies and a young child is perhaps not the most illustrious opening to a Jedi’s career. What is it with going to desolate planets to train with Jedi Masters you know nothing about anyway?
*Okay, that Jedi is weird looking, even by the standards of this universe. It’s like his head is made up of Ramen noodles.
*And the Jedi Master is in fact the apparent pack beast that the weird haired Jedi (Oss Willum) was using to haul things around. Wow . . . a Jedi Master who doesn’t look like you’d expect him too . . . where do they get their ideas?
*And, by the way, the idea of a big Triceratops as a Jedi Master may have sounded cool in the table reading, but in execution it fails to truly inspire.
*In a truly interesting bit, Nomi wants to be a Jedi, but refuses to learn to use a lightsaber after using it in anger to kill her husband’s murderer. And of course, Thon, the Triceratops, can hardly argue with her since he, having only hoofs, can hardly use one.
*Meanwhile, this guy named Finhead Stonebone (go with me here) gets in trouble with Bogga the Hutt. Bogga agrees to spare his life, after messily murdering Stonebone’s first mate right in front of him, if he’ll pledge his life to Bogga. Stonebone does so.
*Our two Jedi casts merge when Tott Doneeta shows up to borrow Oss Willum to help with an uprising on Onderon, where the other story took place.
*Some bad guys show up, and, of course, they’re the same bad guys who killed Nomi’s husband (the ones she didn’t kill).
*Right, so it’s Bogga the Hutt’s forces, led by Finhead Stonebone; they’re after the Adegan Crystals still.
*Anyway, Nomi finally overcomes her demons and utilizes her husband’s lightsaber to protect Thon who appears about to sacrifice himself to the villains. Why she would have to save a Thon when he immediately starts tossing bad guys around telekinetically once she’s used the lightsaber is not gone into. Guess he was just jerkin’ her around.
*This one’s a lot quieter than the others, mostly taken up with Nomi’s slow progress toward becoming a true Jedi. It, however, works better than the galaxy spanning stories seen thus far, which were, for the most part, rather emotionally stunted. This still isn’t great stuff, or even good stuff to be honest, but it does resonate to a certain degree and it’s a good sign that the stories are moving in a more personal direction.
*CANONICAL STATUS: While Nomi Sunrider was certainly a historical figure, this attempt to create an origin story is a whitewashing of her early career as a Jedi, which was considerably more complicated. While many details here are accurate, even more are fabrications. This work is NOT RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.
** out of **** stars.
Tom Veitch
*Next time . . . hmm, what’s next . . . oh God . . . it’s back to Tales of the Jedi, the audio adaptation of these stories to see what they can do with The Saga of Nomi Sunrider. Oh boy.