Savage Opress gave me six insights as to why Star Wars is really a story about revenge

Three villains from the Clone Wars television series. From left to right:
Darth Maul (yes he lived), Savage Opress, and  Pre Vizsla (leader of Death
Watch). They are all motivated by revenge. Pre Vizsla wanted revenge on
those factions on Mandalore who had turned the populace away from
their historical warrior-like way of life. In the U.S., he'd be a member of the N.R.A.

A little background first so you aren't sitting there scratching your head in confusion.

Savage Opress was a Dathomirian Zabrak Nightbrother who became a Sith Lord alongside his brother, Darth Maul, during the Clone Wars television series.  He came about in the third season because Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) demanded that Count Dooku kill his most prized apprentice, Asajj Ventress. Asajj had become too powerful and as a result, created a "disturbance" in the force. In a nutshell, Darth Sidious did not want his own apprentice (Count Dooku) to rise up and overthrow him (which is entirely possible if he trained an apprentice with as much power as Dooku wielded). It's also great foreshadowing to the fact that Sidious is overthrown by his own apprentice (Darth Vader) in "Return of the Jedi." I love that scene because it's a testament of how powerful Darth Vader really was.  He single-handedly did it all himself and relied on no help at all. Just kind of a "You know what old man? I'm really tired of your crap, and I've decided this is your retirement party." And it was done. Something Yoda, Mace Windu, and probably countless others could never accomplish.

It must be difficult being a powerful Sith Lord. Not only do you have to worry about the Jedi, but you must always look to your own for possible backstabbing. It kind of makes the whole "this is a team effort" motif problematic, because your team could turn on you at any time.

Anyway, the reason for my post today is (up until I got introduced to Savage Opress) I kind of thought the Star Wars universe was this big space opera that could inspire all kinds of fan fiction, and that it's so huge that you could literally tell any story. I suppose that at least part of that is true. However, I also think that if you wanted to stay with Lucas' vision for whatever reason (since Star Wars is his baby), I believe you'd want to stick with the whole "revenge" theme in any plot or story you wrote. Revenge literally infuses practically every story line and drives all the evil you see present in Star Wars from the movies to the television series and probably even the comic books and novels. Here's my "rudimentary" evidence:

1) Lucas called the third prequel "Revenge of the Sith." That's pretty straight-forward. Obviously the Sith are very butt hurt at being oppressed by the Jedi and really really want their revenge. And it matters so much that the very word makes it into a title.

2) In the television series, Savage Opress is birthed out of revenge when Asajj Ventress survives and wants revenge against her former master that tried to kill her. So the Nightsister witches make Savage Opress out of black magic and then plan on using him as an assassin that they can control once he learns enough from being Count Dooku's apprentice.

3) The whole "dark side" seems to be motivated out of revenge. In other words, the Sith often seem to channel hate for some wrong that they feel they've been dealt and want revenge against the people who wronged them.

4) Darth Maul is cleverly re-written as someone who survives being cut in half and naturally, he wants revenge on the person that cut him in half, i.e., Obi-Wan Kenobi. So he gets his revenge by killing Duchess Satine right in front of him about mid-way through Season 5, because Obi-Wan loves Duchess Satine. Nice revenge plot there.

5) Anakin starts to slip to the dark side when he kills a whole clan of Tuskan Raiders after they kill his mother. If that isn't revenge, I don't know what is.

6) Bounty Hunter Boba Fett is totally motivated out of revenge after witnessing the Jedi cut down his father Jango Fett in the second movie. They even show the boy touching his head to his father's helmet.

So there you have it.  Savage Opress gave me six insights as to why Star Wars is really a story about revenge. So I predict episode VII will probably kick off three more movies centered around revenge. Someone will be extremely butt hurt over something and then they will spend three movies trying to deal with that "wronged" person. I actually hope it's not formulaic like that, but let's be honest...a lot of Star Wars is formulaic. A lot of publishing for that matter. We are creatures of habit and we love our formulas!

Don't even get me started on James Bond.

The entire fight between Palpatine, Darth Maul, and Savage Opress should leave you awestruck

This weekend's season finale of The Clone Wars reminds me continuously why 1) I wish I had this kind of programming when I was a kid and 2) why Star Wars is so cool and can continuously reinvent itself. For those of you who have kept up with the storyline, Darth Maul and his apprentice/brother Savage Opress (it falls to him to continue the legacy of the lightsaber staff) have taken over Mandalor from Duchess Satine. Remember: Darth Maul only got cut in half when he battled Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. With the technology available in the Star Wars universe, he now has a cybernetic lower half that is hinted about via a belt of shiny illuminated buttons that girds his waist.

I first spoke of season 5 in this post located HERE. And as predicted in that post, my favorite scene happened in "The Lawless" which premiered this weekend.

Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine (the ruler of Mandalor)
have found themselves in this situation a lot.

Season 5 Episode 16 called "The Lawless" ended with a spectacular lightsaber battle between Palpatine, Darth Maul, and Savage Opress. Needless to say, it did not go well for either of these upstarts. I had a few favorite lines, most of them spoken by Palpatine.

Palpatine: (Upon admitting that he is impressed with what Darth Maul has accomplished he hurls both him and his apprentice against the windows of the throne room cracking the transparisteel glass and says) "You have become a rival! (thus starting the lightsaber duel to the death).

Palpatine: (Upon killing Darth Maul's apprentice) "There is only one reality of the sith: there can only be two, and you have been replaced." At that point, he just cooks Darth Maul with force lightning which reminds one of the same treatment Luke Skywalker received at the hands of the Emperor in the film "Return of the Jedi."

A ton of things happened in this episode. Duchess Satine (who is in love with Obi-Wan and vice-versa and also a major character through at least three seasons) was imprisoned by Darth Maul who is now in control of the crime lord syndicate. She did manage to get a message off to Obi-Wan. Of course, Yoda and the Council of Jedi's can't do anything because Mandalor is a neutral territory, and the senate won't get involved in a territory that has openly declared it's neutrality. This doesn't stop Obi-Wan from going to the rescue. Already a great jedi by this point, Obi-Wan reminds us of why he's such a great hero and also, that he's not immune to love.  All is in vain because this happened (a difficult scene for those in love with the series):

I wanted to scream "Nooo! You can't kill Satine! You bastards!" I hate it when my favorite characters die.

So yeah, Darth Maul using a black lightsaber killed Satine right in front of Obi-Wan, and he couldn't save her (I think that's rather cool, because previously I'd only known of three colors for the lightsabers). It's also quite poetic because now Obi-Wan has lost two people he loved to Darth Maul (his former master went that way as well, and he couldn't save him either).

Obi-Wan also finds out who Duchess Satine's sister is (leader of the rebels on Mandalor). In a way, Mandalor is a mirror of the Old Republic's fate. It's completely overrun by criminals who ultimately are enslaved by the sith in the form of Darth Maul. Although by episode end, it's essentially headless as far as we know unless Darth Sidious wants to use Mandalor somehow in his plots within plots. By far the most spectacular part of the episode though (minus the emotional drama) is when Palpatine took out two powerful sith all by himself because he views them as rivals.

I love how the extensiveness of the universe that Lucas created essentially makes for infinite storylines with characters and villains from the original series popping up all over the place to give credit to what I'm watching.

Below in the 4 minute YouTube clip is the most exciting part of "The Lawless" in which you see the entire interaction between Darth Maul, his apprentice, and Darth Sidious (Palpatine). If hearing about the death of Duchess Satine didn't tug at your heart strings and make you fall madly in love with this cartoon series because of its emotional content, then the entire fight between Palpatine, Darth Maul, and Savage Opress should leave you awestruck  because this is a Saturday morning cartoon. Impressed? Nods head.

Are you watching "The Clone Wars?" If so, what have you thought thus far of season 5? Does the crispy clean super-detailed HD make you think "boy, kids sure have it nice these days with mp3 players, smart phones, and high definition so clear it's better than what we got in movies in the nineties).

Have a great Monday my writer friends.