Murder, assault and battery, breaking and entering...just to name a few.

Who did he "murder" that didn't deserve it?

Who did he assault that didn't assault him first?

Breaking and entering . . . I'll give you that, but weren't those places he broke into and entered being used by criminals themselves?

Didn't someone describe him as someone who lies to liars, steals from thieves, cheats cheaters, and responds with violence to those who initiate violence?

Not terribly different from what the police are supposed to be doing isn't it?

Ken V.

Having read the original Adversary Cycle series before the Repairman Jack spinoff, I would feel ripped off if the ending was changed to accomodate Jack. That would be as bad a move as Greedo shooting first!

Having read the original Adversary Cycle series before the Repairman Jack spinoff, I would feel ripped off if the ending was changed to accomodate Jack. That would be as bad a move as Greedo shooting first!

I agree. It's a good story line. Don't mess with it.

Ken V.

I've always viewed Jack as an Otherness inspired and justified vigilante.

I've always viewed Jack as an Otherness inspired and justified vigilante.

A sort of modern, urban version of Paladin in the 1950's TV series Have Gun, Will Travel.

Ken V.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!







[SPOILER]So Jack goes through hell for the entire series. First he gets drafted into the whole thing, then one by one his family members start getting offed. Even his unborn kid gets wiped out. His girl and his suragate daughter keep getting thrown in harms way.

What for?

So he can help out in the big fight. That's it. Help out. I mean, seriously, it all strikes me a MAJOR unfair that he gets put through all of this and never gets his shot at the Big R.

Its almost like I would like to read an alternate ending where Jack has to take on Rasalom and Glaeken gets to stand on the sidelines and chant away the darkness.
[/SPOILER]


Am I the only one feelin this way?

Probably not, but I think you're missing a couple of points in your assumptions. First off, the original NIGHTWORLD fit fine in the original series. At the time it was published Jack had appeared in THE TOMB and a couple of other FPW short stories. He then showed up as a supporting character in NIGHTWORLD, just like several other characters from the other books in the Adversery Cycle.

Secondly, the new NIGHTWORLD is going to be heavily modified to conform with the new Jack "mythology." And it seems highly likely that Jack will be taking a far more central role in dealing with the events in the new version of the book. It's probably best if you consider the original Adversery cycle to be an "alternate world" version of the new Cycle that incorporate the RJ series.

Really, I'd rather they didn't modify Nightworld. I think it would really ruin what Jack stood for, and Glaeken as well. What I COULD see are Jack novels set after Nightworld. Hear me out once...

We have to remember that Rasalom will be reborn or replaced, as he was in his 2nd incarnation(?) already when he was killed in The Keep. I think that after Nightworld... Glaeken isn't going to age normally. That last burst of power that was granted to him is gone, the power that granted it considers the field won and has this time pulled all its power from this tile of the board to be used in another part of the game. Glaeken would age more quickly to the point he was at before the sword enlivened him. He would be reduced to a supporting character, a tragic hero.

This brings up the problem that any child that was to be embued with the otherness would still have to grow up. Or maybe not... In Gateways we saw several that were touched by the otherness, but maybe we didn't see them all. A healthy child, moved away by fate, where the seeds of the otherness touched him in other ways than the physical.

You can see where this can lead. The otherness gave Rasalom one last chance after his failure in The Keep. But later laid some of it's power (albeit dormant) in another vessel as a failsafe. With Rasalom's mistakes of not destroying Jack and later Glaeken when he had the power to do so, and his ultimate failure at the culmination of Nightworld, the Otherness would have retreated until it believed it's opponent to be gone.

With Jack and Gia's unborn child out of the way, Jack no longer has a pressing need to rejoin society, so in a few years, Jack is still doing fix-it work. Then he begins encountering the otherness once more...

Blackgato.

Welcome Blackgato.

Interesting ideas for a first post....and I do like them. Having read both versions of Nightworld, I still do prefer the newer version for it's expanded explanations and scenes.

But remember, that The Man has said before that he wouldn't write any post-Nightworld book(s). I, for one would like to see that, but sometimes really good things have to end.

Having read the original Adversary Cycle series before the Repairman Jack spinoff, I would feel ripped off if the ending was changed to accomodate Jack. That would be as bad a move as Greedo shooting first!

LOVE the reference! And Greedo DID shoot first

Greedo shot first in the rewrite/re-release, not in the original, which was my point. Anyway, back to your original post, it would be a much bigger "rip-off" to have Glaeken stand in the sidelines in the finale than it would be Jack. You have to remember, Jack only went through 30-something years of "seasoning" to prepare him for Rasalom. Glaeken has fought him for thousands of years. If you read both versions of Nightworld, Jack had a much bigger role in the re-write than the original ending. I think that incorporating additional material with tie ins to the other books is great, but completely changing key plot elements would suck. THAT would be a rip-off.