I want to talk about Jaster. Like many among us I knew him first through fic, and he fulfills some very specific roles there. This is cool. I like fic!Jaster and I like those fics. But as this is not a fic, and as we all know misinformation is the death of democracy, I want to draw attention to a couple of things from the only source he actually appears in (andis his original appearance).
One is the general idea of Jaster being the Mand'alor, rightful king of Mandalore, basically Arathorn to Jango's Aragorn or whatever. So, uh. These continuities really do barely mesh, but at his inception, Jaster was the leader of a militia- a mercenary army. They called themselves The Mandalorians (the 'True' bit was added later). There was a leadership challenge and a split, which is where Deathwatch comes from. Deathwatch wanted to do straight conquest instead.
Jaster's previous job had been law enforcement on Concord Dawn. And look, I refuse to read the traviss book, so anything introduced there could prove me wrong and I don't care. But it doesn't really seem like Jaster was ever in the actual government- or for that matter trying to be.
As an aside I just want to note that the darksaber at this time was probably in the hands of Tor Vizla. I think it was Tor Vizla. The Vizla that challenged Jaster for control of the militia and then formed deathwatch, anyway. If the darksaber means something.
It's an interesting trend that fanfic so often has him claiming a throne and at the head of an empire, because that's… what the deathwatch split was about. Power and conquest was what they wanted.
The main thing about the Jaster of the comic though, is the nature of his work. There are mercernary militaries in today's world, and they're generally considered bad fucking news. But Jaster is fictional, so why can't he occupy an idealized role? This is the quote at the top of his wookiepedia page: "So what's wrong with being a mercenary? Is your war worth fighting? If it is, then why does it matter who fights it for you? Aren't we imbued with the righteousness of your cause when we take up arms for you? Would you rather your own men and women died to make the point? And if your war is so noble, so necessary—why aren't you fighting it for yourself? Think of all that before you spit on us, aruetii."
That doesn't sound so bad, right? But weirdly enough, that's nothing like what he's shown actually doing. Actually the canon is surprisingly realistic about what being weapons for hire actually looks like, as we're given two 'slice of life' missions to serve as backdrop for his ongoing conflict with deathwatch.
They involve working for corrupt governments to supress "poorly armed natives" and "political activists". I am not using scarequotes, those are direct quotes. There is no suggestion of taking prisoners- they are there to kill, and that's what they do. They are not fighting armies. They are not choosy about their clients. They take easy credits for killing natives with less equipment and training than them.
I guess this is barely on topic since I'm not even making this into a case about why he shouldn't rule mandalore. I just know that while many of us have watched the clone wars and therefore at least know Satine through the show, Jaster is a hazier figure.
There are a few other misconceptions. The True Mandalorians are generally depicted as diverse in fic, for example, but that is a fanon addition to the lore, originally his whole gang (except for jango) were drawn as white men. There's also the whole thing about valuing children- there's no suggestion that he doesn't, mind, but his version of correct child rearing certainly does not match everyone else's values. I've read umpteen fics where he's appalled by padawan endangerment, for example, but uhhh he was sending Jango into combat as an 8(? i am told) year old.
So those are the main fandom misconceptions that come to mind for Jaster.
I could probably write an essay on why I would choose Satine and why she did a better job. Maybe I will. But for now I'm going to leave it at this: ultimately, he was murdered by deathwatch. And ultimately she was murdered by deathwatch. Same foe, different decade.
So maybe the idea that he would have saved mandalore where she couldn't is some sort of easily demonstrable wishful thinking. Since they met the same fate and lost to the same group of guys.
