I'm not quite sorry for making this.

the mental image of elzar visibly trembling as he turns around to see the woman he fought to bring home for an entire year, losing himself along the way, and not able to utter even a single word at the sight of her i’m giggling and kicking my feet are you serious someone call jane austen NOW

Eye of Darkness is NOT letting Elzar escape the polycule allegations he is literally always thinking of Stellan and Avar ghxjsialk

What if this will be their "I love you" signature? They are both allergic to expressing their feelings, and two certified yearners for each other. So why not "need" instead of "love"?

finally got around to finishing this!

Elzar Mann and Avar Kriss from the High Republic series in the painting Meeting on the Turret Stair by Frederick William Burton!

I am not an artist but please don't post this anywhere else without crediting me :)

The Eye of Darkness comes out this week and Phase 3 comics are already out meanwhile I’m still stuck in phase 2 of The High Republic

Please clap guys both because I made it out of phase II and because I just walked into a bookstore where the clerk knew my name and bought this. As annoying as I am online, I’m still sometimes a little cagey about my level of nerd offline so the fact that I casually bought it from her and am reading it in public is a big step. I’m probably going to read it at a bar later. Progress.

I was forced into it, it’s such a nice day out, I wasn’t ready to go inside and tragically my iPad battery started to die. I’m glad they had it!

As much as I enjoyed phase II, I’m ready to catch up with our faves! I am a little sad rn because it seems like Indeera isn’t going to show up at all? Which is kind of weird after Fallen Star but ok I guess I’m used to latching onto characters that canon creators don’t actually think are that important. Kind of disappointing tho, after Bell’s Fallen Star subplot, which I loved. (The quote about him wanting to be by her side with Ember if the end was really coming is one of the quotes that stuck with me since I first read Fallen Star.) But anyway, onwards!

the thing about comparing anakin and elzar is…we’re doing it wrong. their minor parallels don’t serve to highlight their similarities but rather they serve to emphasize their significant differences.

upon reading that elzar has yet to reach masterhood naturally our minds will gravitate toward anakin. it gives us the readers something to base elzar against while we watch his character unfold. elzar’s continued knighthood is surprising due to this innate comparison. he’s not too young, he’s not inexperienced, he’s not troubled, he’s not being manipulated into the council by the chancellor…elzar is simply not the easiest to work with. that’s all. his sporadic explorations without explanations lead his fellows to find him difficult and to the council, that reason is enough. while anakin’s masterhood being delayed is understandable, reasonable, and not unfair, elzar’s is. the difference here emphasizes that even within the jedi, those who do not fit into perfected molds are often inherently punished for doing so.

he thought it was unfair. he didn’t care about other jedi’s paths through the force—why should they concern themselves with his? he just wanted to follow his road where it led.

their reactions to this delayed masterhood also differ. this mistreatment irritates elzar since none of his innovations put others in harm's way, but his willingness to fail outshines the incredible knowledge he contributes to the order. and although he might disagree with the council’s decision he will still abide by them and listen to their judgment. it again emphasizes that elzar is older and has a level of emotional maturity that anakin was never allowed to reach.

when we learn that elzar and avar had a romantic relationship in the past our minds also jump to the forbidden relationship between a jedi and republic senator. especially considering one of elzar and avar’s first scenes elzar suggests retirement on the same island anakin and padme got married on. elzar’s differences from anakin are highlighted again when we watch him let go of avar in the epilogue of light of the jedi. elzar loves avar and he always will, but his attachment to her at this moment was not consuming him completely. avar reaches out to hold his hand and he reminds her that “we are jedi,” she invites him to dance and he declines until later, elzar describes his emotions with intensity but elzar also lets go. their relationship was never dangerous and the emotional intimacy they do maintain is enough for him.

avar was a friend. a fellow jedi master. they’d agreed long ago that’s all they would ever be. and it was enough. truly, it was.

the most common comparison i see drawn between these two is the usage of the dark side. understandably so, elzar is one of the only jedi in the high republic to tap into the dark side but the reason why he does differentiates him from anakin and even his closest peers. elzar doesn’t use the dark side to take lives, he doesn’t use the dark side to appease his own selfish desires, elzar uses the dark side to save a group of jedi. in his typical fashion elzar finds solutions and at his lowest point, in the middle of a battlefield, elzar sees that he can use his emotions to save lives. the build-up to this moment was written incredibly well, it combines elzar’s innovative mind, overly compassionate heart, and the emotional anguish that has been plaguing him for months. in contrast to other jedi and anakin, elzar has pure intentions even though his actions may not result in the best of outcomes.

"we have a jedi who does flirt to the dark side and realizes what road he's going down, where instead of embracing it, goes to a friend and says, "i need help." we didn't want elzar to be anakin 2.0." - cavan scott

the generalizations between these two often do their characters a disservice by ignoring their defining differences. differences that are intentionally being highlighted to further the contrast of each era and the contrast of the two as individuals.

No point dwelling on it. Focus on what you can do. Not what's already come to pass. You just have to keep going... Keep trying. You'll get there in the end.

from Star Wars: The Eye of Darkness by George Mann

THIRTEEN DAYS LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO

Loving the Eye of Darkness audiobook so far but why the heck did George put a character named Pel on a ship with Bell

eye of darkness is like. what if your best friend’s identity in death was stronger than yours is in life. what if a memory was more quantifiable than a man of flesh and blood. what if the only person who remembers you as you were before because she never learned what you’ve been through was a million miles away. what if there was an invisible wall between you that nothing can pass but your voice, yet you can’t hear her speak back. what if you couldn’t hear the force anymore but you heard his voice and it brought you home to him, but he is gone. what if you came back and there was no me but a man in the shape of me. what if you were orpheus that brought eurydice back for good but the man she knew has been washed away. is that still coming home? what if a mirror of what you could have been from a hundred years ago stood before you and looked right through you though he has no eyes, but perhaps he has something much more terrifying than that. how do you stitch together a wound in the shape of a man who has lost everything he thought he once was and everyone who knew what made him this way was dead? how do you come together again when you are all the past, and he is nothing but a shadow haunting the image of the man you remember? how do you reconcile finding strength in the way things used to be with the man who can never be that way again? is it still him? is the man you remember the man that you found?

Will always love Eye of Darkness for the image of Burry setting his fur on fire multiple times a day cuddling Ember I really needed that

Eye of Darkness spoilers

Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann together again! Happy day!

That was an excellent read. I'll probably have more to say once I've processed it all, but as always High Republic books deliver on the climax.

Also no fucking way Porter is dead. Porter Vs Viess round 3 will happen.

Avar & Stellan

I am overjoyed ( and anxious) for The Eye of Darkness realease in less than two months and to finally have Avar and Elzar back again ( although separated, I still have high hopes that they will be reunited by the end of the book).

But I really need this book to explore the aftermath of Stellan's death from Avar's POV

From the synopsis, we know that in EOD there will definitely be Elzar struggling while dealing with his death.

But I really need more insight into how Avar will do it.

We know so little about her relationship with Stellan (and much of what we know of their friendship is told to us by Elzar), plus the only times we see them together their friendship seems to have already thinned out and they practically argue all the time.

But what really happened between them? In TFS we are told that it is Avar who is with Stellan when he finds Rana's sword and is promoted to council member. So they seem to be as close as they are with Elzar.

Is it only what happened on the Starlight and because of Avar's activity as Marshall that their relationship has thinned? Is this alone enough to ruin a ten-year friendship? And more, Stellan seems, for unspecified reasons, to be the only member of the council to lash out fiercely at Avar (especially in the comics 🤷).

I don't know, they REALLY need to explore their relationship more because so far, due to the few interactions they've had, their friendship seems a bit weak and it's a shame, because they presented them as firebrands/constellation with so much potential that it seems wasted at this point.

So, finger crossed for EOD guys🤞

part of me wants to take my time with eye of darkness so i can enjoy all of it and the other wants to read it as fast as i can so i can talk about it. its a struggle