Thread:Atarumaster88/@comment-104549-20151030184059/@comment-31421-20151030224501

So I was primarily basing this off her article, so we're coming at this from a common ground. Now, mind you, I don't have anything against 'ol (or is it young?) Rinny, so for me, this is just a couple guys shootin' the breeze about a fanon character one of us came up with.

For the ones we agree on, I'm not going to spend the keystrokes, so here's my takes on where we disagree. In particular, I'll be addressing the spirit of the test question and why it's asked, and how I felt Rin Sakaros matched up with. And a lot of them are semantic/dependent on interpretation, so if nothing else, this may drive improvement to the test.
 * 1) I interpret this one as indicative of author attachment to the character. That's why it's there. The test question itself does explicitly say "This can be your first name, middle name, or the name you go by in chat or irc." For example, let's say that Brandon Rhea's SWF username was "Ussej Padric Bac." That would make me more likely to believe that the author is writing a wish-fulfillment fantasy in his character. Is it indicative alone? No. It's a contributing factor.
 * 9) I'm not going to dive into the human-Twi'lek interbreeding controversy, but I considered the fact that you had two species interbreeding and it resulted in a genetically advantageous hybrid to be sufficiently outside the norms to be considered "magical." In other words, it's a cheap plot device to get out of aging normally. Why? Because the character is awesome/has a special destiny. Heck, even the Jedi do this. See Sacrifice cover Mara Jade. She's like 60 in that cover? Why? Because Del Rey wasn't done writing novels about Mara Jade and it was a convenient way to extend her lifespan without her being done with all the Jedi-fu stuff that they're famous for.
 * 13) The prosecution would like to call Keltrayu and Jextar Star to the stand. Why is this question in there. Because it's tied into fantasy-fulfillment. Maybe the fantasy isn't to have everyone/lots of people attracted to them. Maybe it's to have one (or two) people attracted to them and those people are really special.
 * 19) Yes, I am making that stretch. How it happens doesn't matter--the ship could've been a stolen hot rod ala the Ebon Hawk.
 * 21) This question was a bit misinterpreted in that it should be read as "(long-lost child) OR (descendant) OR (sibling) of a&hellip;" It's basically "is this character part of the family your entire body of work revolves around?"
 * 35-36) I'll concede on 35. It's arguable, and I made an inference. On 36, let me put it this way: Rin's allies all universally back her up. She's never betrayed. She's never challenged by an upstart rival. Even her grumpy brother and abusive dad make it up with her. You're talking about a despotic, nepotist, conquering dictator who never, ever has to deal with a major upstart to her rule from within her circle. I could buy that for a story, even a trilogy. But over a period of decades&hellip;that would be unprecedented from every dictator ever.
 * 38-39) Dathomir. She betrays and swap sides multiple times, causes multiple battles, and eventually is pardoned and allowed to leave, along with Keltrayu. Denarii. She strikes down her father and takes over his fleet with no repercussions whatever. Prior to that, she leaves her father and just says ok.
 * 41) The implied follow-up question there should be: do any of them matter? She largely gets what she wants, wins every (important) battle and is surrounded by a retinue of loyal hangers-on. She's benevolent, off-the-charts powerful. You know the saying about power corrupting? Doesn't apply to Rin Sakaros. You know the saying about uneasy lies the head that wears the crown? Doesn't apply to Rin Sakaros. Her biggest flaw is her willingness to enforce her whims at the point of a blaster/lightsaber--but it never really punishes her aside from Keltrayu's death and doesn't really change the overall tone or direction of her story.
 * 44) The question should be interpreted as "Force-user".
 * 54) Rin learns Force/combat techniques from Miraluka, Aing-Tii, Matukai, Sith, Zeison Sha, Bothans, Chiss, Claatuvac Guild, Nightsisters/Dathomiri, Fallanassi, Followers of Palawa, Baran Do, B'omarr, Echani and Mistryl in a time-span of twenty-two years. At age 30, she kills two Jedi Knights in the first seconds of a battle. But at any rate, I'm going to postulate that just by writing a character described as "second most Force potential behind Anakin Skywalker" should answer this question as yes. And neither Mace Windu nor Yoda could even come close to Rin's abilities. Yoda, at 900 years old, couldn't cut people off from the Force, stop orbits, use Vaapad, or read shatterpoints. He had one or two rare abilities. Same with Mace. He could do one or two things really well and the rest competently. You unlocked virtually every Force power and every combat training for her. If this was a video game, Rin would have nearly every ability from all the classes, including the ones that are class-specific. She breaks all the rules even more than Palpatine and Jacen Solo, who at least are very flawed villains.
 * 76) Perhaps this question should be reworded as "by means peculiar to herself and significantly outside the norms of recovery." You can argue that Khan's blood reviving Kirk in Star Trek Into Darkness isn't magic or mysticism. That doesn't change the fact that it's a convenient plot MacGuffin peculiar to the character used to circumvent norms.
 * 81) I can't read your response with a straight face after reading the "The destroyer of worlds" and "The turn of the tide, the fall of a hero" segment of the Rin Sakaros article. I see the quibbble about exact power level referred to in this question, but Rin's powers eclipse all but that of the most-powerful Force users. That means this is a very easy "yes."
 * 84) "Drain Knowledge" is the Star Wars plot device to explain why their character can learn stuff they shouldn't be able to otherwise learn due to logical and natural reasons. That's why it's a "yes" from me. Also, in 29 years, Mace Windu was a Jedi Master. He was not also a Zeison Sha, Sith, Dathomiri, Fallanassi etc. adept like Rin is, and Palpatine/Jacen Solo were very flawed villains. Rin Sakaros is the protagonist.
 * 87) Or that time she took out her dad and the entire fleet just said "Yup, okay with that. We follow you now!"

As you can see, most of my disagreements with your assessment about the frequent use of convenient plot devices to create a character who is the most powerful despot of her time, who has unprecedented Force powers, a loyal retinue of retainers, who is both an imperialistic, absolute despot who is also (usually) magnanimous and benevolent. She has no noticeable personality flaw that truly costs her, has the best army, all the Force powers, is the best fighter, and is long-lived at a level beyond virtually all her peers. She breaks numerous conventions about Force usage, is incorruptible, relational, and has a massive empire. I wrote about Goodwood giving Laera Reyole an aurodium parachute in his later two novels. If Reyole had an aurodium parachute, Rin Sakaros--by intentional design--has an aurodium Star Destroyer and the will to use it.