i agree about Alema....she is a great character...with a different amount of depth then say ur average baddie! hows thing SUE!?

4 more books to go....now starts all the twists and turns eh?

More of the latter. Alema's character development evolved during the NJO and we had planned for her to be a major character in LOTF, but we didn't plan this during NJO particularly -- so Luke's foreshadowing was to leave her character unresolved and available. She's one of my MANY favorite characters, by the way.

I'm glad that she was left open at that point as I really like her role in DN and LOTF and I hope she will play a big part in Inferno(are you able to say how big a part she will play?)

Sue, was Alema's fall planned a while back as well, for example Luke forshadowing her fall in NJO, or was Luke's forshadowing to leave room for her to become a villan later?

"You didn't see the scene they made me cut from Dark Nest."

This is so true -- too funny. I do try to stay true to what we see in the movies -- i.e., nothing further than a kiss... oh, and then Anakin and Padme did wake up together that morning...

That scene with Jaina and Zekk went a bit farther in the manuscript.... ah... I'll try to find it and blog it for everyone. I'm always looking for things to blog about, since I'm so bad at it.

Whether that path was actually conclusively determined back during the NJO, they didn't say.

No, it wasn't thought of during the NJO -- our minds were very much taken with trying to end THAT series!!

*Sue - am I allowed to ask whether the idea for Jacen to turn dark began way back before/during the time of the NJO? *

You are, of course, allowed to ask anything! This one, though, I'll even answer...

The idea came up during the Dark Nest Trilogy, before, I believe, Troy had finished the last book. I believe Troy brought it up, and we all agreed, after considerable discussion. Again, I have more to say, but not until the series is over. I should save all these and post a blog....

*Do you and the authors already have the ending for LOTF planned out? *

Yep. From the first story conference. Then we went back and forth for a few months on another possible ending, but stuck with the first one. I'll talk about this more once the series is over.

Jeff Ferguson -

Agreed about DN. Incredible characterizations is right on.

Furyan -

1. Is this true?
At the LOTF panel at C4, in the course of answering a question about Jaina's love life, Troy said, "You didn't see the scene they made me cut from Dark Nest." :^O He did not refer to a Killik orgy, or say anything more specific about what it may or may not have involved. The context of the question implied it involved Jaina (rather than, say, Jacen and Tenel Ka - or possibly Han and Leia), but it was not specifically identified as Jaina and Zekk.

Perhaps that's what Troy meant, but it's not what he actually said.

3. Is there a chance of it being retconned back into the story?

"Better mission partners than we would be lovers, too," Jaina observed.
"No surprise," Zekk grunted. "We've actually been on missions together."

Legacy of the Force: Tempest, by Troy Denning, page 175. Straight from the tree's mouth.

Yes, thanks Lex. I always suspected Troy, as at this interview with Randomhouse, he says the following:

It started one Sunday night when Shelly sent a note out saying that she and Sue were looking for ideas for the next series. I pitched something that had been developing in the back of my mind while I wrote Dark Nest, and that became the seed.

I still pity those who fail to see the incredible characterization in Dark Nest, and decry it as a bugloving orgy.

Suzanne -

At the LOTF panel at C4, Troy mentioned that part of his intended storyline for Dark Nest, even before LOTF was planned, was to start the steps of Jacen's fall. Also, he commented (and Karen and Aaron agreed in their own remarks) that Jacen's fall in LOTF is, in part, a direct consequence of the effects of Traitor. So I think it seems reasonable to infer that Jacen's fall was a storyline objective at least as far back as the pitch for Dark Nest.

Whether that path was actually conclusively determined back during the NJO, they didn't say. Certainly the seeds were there (in Traitor in particular), but their post-NJO growth might not have been entirely preordained. Leaving options open until you need to close them and all that.

If we're good, maybe Sue will tell us?