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I originally posted the majority of this essay to the Jedi Council Forums on theforce.net. I was responding to a question that Tobey-Wan had posted. He asked, "What do you like Corran best as: Corsec officer, Rogue Squadron pilot, or Jedi Knight? Why?" I had originally meant to post just a short reply to the question, but when I got to the end of it, I realized I had just typed up an entire essay. I have chosen not to edit it, so as to preserve the flow-state aspect of it, so forgive me if I ramble somewhat. Spoilers exist for the Enemy Lines duology.
What is Corran's best role? Depends on his age. I think he is the role he needs to be for the point he is at in his life. Just starting out, being a CorSec officer was perfect for him. He would not have been ready to be a Rebel pilot or a Jedi Knight at that period in time.
After being set adrift for two years, Rogue Squadron was the right place for him. CorSec was no longer the perfect place for him because of the changes both he and CorSec had gone through, yet he wasn't ready at this point to become a Jedi Knight. As a CorSec officer, he had been willing to dedicate himself to protecting the Corellian sector. As a Rogue, he was able to extend his sphere of responsibility to include anyone the New Republic sought to protect. Same thing, but just a wider group of people under this umbrella. Corellian sector to New Republic.
As we know, he does stumble across his Jedi heritage, and in I, Jedi, he does pursue it. To some extent. At this point, he is somewhat torn between the two. He could see himself being either a pilot or a Jedi. The thing is, he still wasn't fully ready in himself yet to embrace completely his Jedi heritage, so he chose to remain a pilot. At this point in his life, one could argue which role was better for him. One could say that staying a pilot held him back and delayed his Jedi training and full acceptance and incorporation of his heritage, or one could say that he had some lessons to learn yet with Rogue Squadron before he would be ready to dedicate himself to being a Jedi Knight.
Whichever view you choose to use, being a pilot was the one thing he could give enough of himself to, so that was his best choice. As long as the Empire existed, he felt he had to fight it in the way he best knew how. Walking away to complete his training would have felt wrong to him, and he sure didn't want to take on the Empire in a role with which he wasn't entirely comfortable.
Of course, after the treaty with the Empire was signed, that was no longer an issue. He didn't feel needed by the Rogues anymore, especially with all of his friends retiring. Maybe he even took a look at his family and saw being a Jedi could only help his own children, who would be following that path themselves. Anyway, he was finally able to allow himself to complete his training and embrace his heritage fully. It was only then that being a Jedi was the right thing for him.
Of course, with the Enemy Lines duology, one can now wonder what role is best for Corran. He "left" the Jedi Order at the end of Ruin, ostensibly because he could blunt a political attack on the Order, but really because he'd crossed the line briefly at Ithor and probably felt he wasn't worthy of being a Jedi anymore. He went into seclusion for a year, and was drawn somewhat reluctanctly (in my mind) back into the fight in Star by Star. Luke asked him to return. But yet, at the slightest hint of danger to his kids, he freaks out and is practically hysterical. Not very Jedi-like and part of what led him to the Dark Side last time. Anyway, in Rebel Dream, we see him all of a sudden want to rejoin the Rogues, which he does. I just find it interesting that now he seems to be retreating into a role that better suited him in the past. Kind of like in I, Jedi where, after he had that dream of his grandfather, he all of a sudden decides that his CorSec background is more vital to him than anything in his Jedi background. As we know, he ends up having to utilize what he's learned at the Academy if he was ever going to get Mirax back. Will something like this happen to him again, where he ends up having to return to the Jedi of his own accord?
Personally, I think that his role in the NJO is Jedi Knight, and that returning to the Rogues is a mistake. He probably returned to them so that he could find where he last knew himself or something like that, but I think he returned to them because he's running from his fears of what he could do if he crosses the line too many more times. He was usually able to defend those he cared about and loved when he was a pilot. As a Jedi, I think he's finding himself helpless to protect others, and I think that's part of his problem. Someday he's going to have to realize that returning to Rogue Squadron isn't going to solve his problems. He is going to have to find another way.
Wow. Didn't mean to go on like this. Anyway, to make it short, I don't think there is a role I prefer to see Corran in, but instead I prefer to see Corran in the role that best suits him at the time I'm reading him. In the NJO, that would be a Jedi Knight.
Copyright September 3, 2002 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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