The Reluctant Jedi (Star Wars story)

Fanfiction
Title:	The Reluctant Jedi
Author(s):	Susan Sizemore
Date(s):	1983
Length:
Genre(s):	gen
Fandom(s):	Star Wars
Relationship(s):
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The Reluctant Jedi is a Star Wars story by Susan Sizemore.

It was printed in Skywalker #6.

Summary

"The Rebellion has many enemies ... and one person fighting on its side it doesn't even know about."

Fan Comments

"The Reluctant Jedi," by Susan Sizemore also suffers from this same problem although on a different slant. Here, Boba Fett takes on surprising new dimensions as a character, leading to a worthy climax. Unfortunately, the middle of the story was not fleshed out, and motivation (part of characterization) for all characters was omitted.

Susan Sizemore's "The Reluctant Jedi" bothered me because I could not decide what the story was supposed to be about. I didn't know as a reader whether I was supposed to focus in on the character of Han Solo as a reluctant member of the Jedi or on the mysterious character of Boba Fett. The title would lead one to decide in favor of the Han Solo element, but Boba Fett was the more interesting of the two. I suspect from the way this was written that it is the lead in for a series of stories about the two of them having adventures around the galaxy, but it still left me as a reader without a discernible climax or transcendent point to the story. I would also think that readers may have some difficulty with Susan's characterizations: Han's behavior patterns are those of an unruly 12-year-old, and Boba Fett has no visible or concrete motivation for what he does when he takes Han off to Hero School. On the positive side, I liked the interpretation of Boba Fett as far as it went. His aloofness makes for an intriguing story element, and I would like to explore further Susan's ideas about him.

...fun to read. [Gave me the] feeling that there should be some more to [it]. Not really incomplete but just some questions left unanswered.

"The Reluctant Jedi" is a nice handling of a possible reason for Boba Fett's existence besides being a bounty hunter. Like Vader, to me there is much more hidden behind those masks. It may be on purpose, but for whatever reason it gives fan writers something to build on when very little about a character, especially a masked one, has been revealed.

I liked "The Reluctant Jedi" by Susan Sizemore. It had a rather fresh viewpoint on the Force, which I enjoyed. While reading the story, I began to call Boba Fett's philosophy the "Neutral Side of the Force" — although I suppose, as Susan brought out in the story, it had more shadows in it than sun. I've read a number of stories in which Han becomes a Jedi (no, I'm not tired of this theme yet!) and this one was one of the most believable. It had a light touch, too, that I enjoyed. Han was kept well in character, I thought, which is important in this type of story since he professes not to believe in the Force. It takes some fancy verbal footwork to turn his ideas around while still keeping him recognizable as Han Solo. The new view of Fett was also intriguing. I thought I caught an implication, not followed up in this story, that he might be some relation to Kenobi? That kind of dangling hint, plus the ending where Han decided to go back with Fett for more Force training, practically begs for a sequel.

"The Reluctant Jedi" had a fascinating idea, too, in supposing that Boba Fett, while not a Jedi, might be a Force-user in his own way and for his own purposes. The main effect of the story on me was to want to know more about Fett's background and motivations—he's left somewhat mysterious—and quite frankly, to know what happens next, not so much about Han's training (he's such an obvious unconscious Force user that I don't think there's much doubt about the outcome of his training) but about whether he and Fett will actually become Jedi. Personally, I hope they don't I found Han's continued insistence that who ever learned to manipulate the Force had to be a Jedi a little wearing, and after the first conversation with Fett, hard to believe even for Han, though it certainly fits with his rejection of the Jedi and the Force in SW:ANH. However, it seemed to me in that movie that Han's rejection was of the philosophy and what he saw as the religious aspects of the Force, not necessarily to the Force per se; and he certainly had evidence in Luke of how the Force could be used. I'd have expected him, once it was clear that Fett had no more love for the formal and philosophical aspects of the Jedi than he did, to jump at the chance to become a Force user and retain his independence. Being able to manipulate the Force consciously would be a tremendous help to Han, as it's undoubtedly been to Fett. So I also found his renewed insistence at the end that the Force was intimately linked to being a Jedi, and his seeming acceptance of that fate for himself and even for Fett, somewhat unlikely. I would really like to see the Force treated in a scientific way, as something that clearly exists and can be manipulated by anyone with the proper ability and training, regard less of philosophical persuasion. Being an independent Force user without the strictures of the Jedi might, in fact, be a more difficult task ethically, and I'd like to see some one deal with that idea. Susan's set up the preliminary work for a treatment of the Force rather different from that found in most fan stories, and I hope she continues.

Susan Sizemore's "The Reluctant Jedi" is a very interesting idea, well handled, and certainly original. I like it a lot better than the idea that Fett is actually Luke's mother.

"The Reluctant Jedi" has my vote as one of the two best stories in the zine. The tableau of what Solo would do after coming out of carbon freeze on Boba Fett's ship has been done numerous times before...Here is an excellent example of how a single twist can make for an original and interesting story. For once. Solo realizes it's not the time for action without thought. For once, someone has done their homework on bounty hunters and realized that leading that kind of life with any kind of survival record requires an extremely disciplined form of existence and an ace or two up one's sleeve. In this case, the ace is the Force...but surprise! Fett is on neither side but his own. The concept that there might not be such sharply defined boundaries between dark and light in the Force, or that there might be individuals who, for their own questionable reasons, straddle both sides, is an unexplored one in fanlit. It may not serve George Lucas' purposes in the series, but Susan Sizemore is right...unless there are characters that stand between the two, there could be no Han Solo. Fett recognizes this potential, and the story takes off from there. I'm not as fond of her theory that Fett has made a virtual career of pursuing Solo as a potential assistant, but she redeems the story with a wonderful ending. Not only is it the typical Solo solution for handling a problem, not only is it the only probably way Solo would deal with accepting the fact the he was going to be a Jedi, but it was pure Solo for him to turn right around and start "converting" Fett...

"The Reluctant Jedi" was an interesting story, especially well received because Boba Fett didn't turn out to be Luke's father/mother/Ben Kenobi/a good guy in disguise/etc./ad infinitum. Why won't more people take Boba Fett as a separate and distinct character and stop looking for the Other behind every bush (of course, I realize that by the time this LOC sees print, we'll all know who the Other is), but still it's irritating to see such a potentially interesting character go to waste. Nice to see some music with filks for a change. Too few people do it, which leaves you wondering just what tune you're supposed to sing to.

Susan Sizemore's Boba Fett in "The Reluctant Jedi" was very well drawn; liked him a lot as a character. I certainly hope he can maintain his independence against the conversion-enthusiasm she has Han adopt. That change of heart in Solo was my only quibble with the story, since she had done such a fine job of establishing a separate, individual experience of the Force that Solo was/is so well suited for. Rather than have think to make a Jedi out of Fett, I can see' him falling in step with Fett because the man has finally presented a method of combining his past and present life experiences that does not clash with the lifestyle Han embraced so long ago. ...One of my objections to most of the post-TESB stories has been the assumption of writers that Luke knows all about Leia and Han. Somehow I could never picture Leia being so insensitive that she blubbers the sad story all over Luke, and Lando appeared too quick on the uptake not to see this was dangerous territory and bow out quickly with a shut mouth. Chewie? Naw, especially not after Larry Kasdan has said his intentions, mostly undercut by editing, were to show a bit of jealousy on the Wookiee's part over the Han/Leia romance.

"The Reluctant Jedi" by Susan Sizemore: I liked it. Simple and to the point. I could say the characters worked, that I could believe Boba Fett and that I can even imagine what we know of him working into that story, but those things aren't as important as the over-all; it worked. The whole thing. I like that there was provided a third alternative. I, unlike George Lucas, don't like things being black or white. I like the grays better than either of the extremes. In this story Susan has provided us with a character from the gray who was very, very believable. I also like the feeling of another story to follow. I hope it does.