The Essential Novels

by James Luceno

  What’s even cooler is that the featurette of that episode on the DVD specifically credits the maneuver to Heir. Thrawn would have been pleased.

  —TZ

  18 I’m often asked where the whole art-as-tactical-insight idea came from. Sadly, I have no particular epiphany or historical reference I can point to. It’s just something that popped into my mind during the Thrawn development process.

  —TZ

  19 One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is how I came up with the idea and person of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

  The Star Wars movies revolved around villains who led by coercion and fear. That may work for short-range operation (Vader’s crew certainly put their hearts into their work), but it’s not so good long-range or long-term.

  So I decided to do something different to try to create a commander who could lead by loyalty.

  What qualities does such a commander have to have? The first, obviously, is strategic and tactical skill. His troops must believe that any operation they’re going into has a good chance of success, with as few casualties on their side as possible.

  There will be many other examples of Thrawn’s tactical skill throughout the book, but here’s the first: he defeats an entire New Republic task force without, apparently, ever even bothering to leave his meditation room.

  There are a few other qualities that I came up with when mulling over Thrawn’s character. I’ll comment more on those as we go along.

  —TZ

  20 Thrawn never did accept the legitimacy of the New Republic. Later, as I’ve filled in more of his backstory, I’ve tried to give some of the reasons for his stubbornness on this point.

  —TZ

  Chapter 2

  1 Having Ben show up in a dream was to be an echo of Luke’s vision of Ben (possibly his first visual contact) in his near-unconscious state in the swirling snow of the Hoth night.

  On Hoth, I’ve assumed the timing and circumstances of the vision were mostly factors of Luke’s inexperience and lack of strength in the Force, requiring that borderline state of mind and body for Ben to make his appearance. Here, conversely, it’s Ben’s weakness or distance that dictates the means of contact.

  —TZ

  2 I used a fair number of movie quotes in these books, not just to remind readers of those scenes (like any of us Star Wars fans really needed reminders), but also because important or traumatic events in a person’s life tend to remain vivid for years to come. Luke’s last conversation with Yoda would be one of those events, and something he would never forget.

  —TZ

  3 One of the parameters I wanted to set for the trilogy was that Luke would be entirely on his own as a Jedi, with no one he could call on for help or advice.

  And though I didn’t know it at the time, the line about “the first of the new Jedi” nicely sets up Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy, as well as many other future books.

  —TZ

  4 In the frenetic, life-and-death challenges of the movies, it’s easy to forget that Luke’s really had a pretty hard life. It’s the kind of thing that comes back most depressingly in the darkness and silence at three in the morning.

  —TZ

  5 One of the things I wanted to set up early in the book was that Force guidance didn’t always come as flashes of knowledge or the ability to block blaster shots. It can also come in more subtle ways, under circumstances where Luke himself might not understand the reason or even recognize that the nudge was coming from the Force. By the end of the Thrawn trilogy, it will become clear that Luke’s uneasiness about setting up shop here had good, solid reason behind it.

  —TZ

  6 At the time I knew that Coruscant was a planet-wide city, but I assumed that there would still be a few areas of wilderness (maybe called parks by the inhabitants) that would have no buildings on them. Mountains, for one thing, would probably not be cost-effective to knock down.

  Besides, the rich and powerful always want some nature-type areas left open where they can build their private country retreats.

  —TZ

  7 Work-related problems are another of those cheery thought categories that usually hit about 3 A.M.

  —TZ

  8 This was one of those odd thoughts that came out of the blue and struck me as both clever and logical. Hot chocolate wouldn’t be something desert people would naturally gravitate toward. (There are cold deserts, of course, but with two suns I always assumed Tatooine is mostly pretty warm. Now, of course, the Star Wars Essential Atlas and other official material backs up that assumption.)

  I also caught way more grief for this than I ever expected. Quite a few people took me to task for putting an Earth-based drink into the Star Wars universe.

  Of course, those same people apparently weren’t bothered by the Millennium Falcon, or lightsabers. It was, though, a reminder that you never know what word or image might jolt someone out of their suspension of disbelief.

  Anyway, why would anyone want to live in that Galaxy Far, Far Away if they don’t have chocolate? Inconceivable …

  —TZ

  9 C-3PO always seems about three steps behind everyone else, on pretty much everything. One of his many charms, and a lot of fun to write.

  —TZ

  10 When this book was being written, no one involved had a glimmer that one day one of Leia’s unborn children would someday turn to the dark side. Perhaps her time in the Imperial Palace was a contributor to that event …

  —BM

  11 As we’ll see in Dark Force Rising, the place where the Emperor died is heavy with residual effects of his presence there.

  —TZ

  12 Did Obi-Wan and Anakin have any of this same sense of Luke and Leia when Padmé was carrying them? An intriguing question, and one I’m not sure we ever had an answer for.

  —TZ

  13 One of the best parts about writing Heir was the opportunity to create new characters and fit them into the Star Wars universe. Winter was the first person I introduced into the “good guy” side of the equation.

  Aside from her general usefulness as a character, she also gave me the opportunity to express my opinion that Leia always seemed too tomboyish to fit comfortably into the role of a soft, pampered member of the aristocracy.

  Which, given that we now know her mother was the feisty, down-in-the-dirt Padmé, isn’t all that surprising.

  —TZ

  14 Siblings, even twins, usually have vastly different personalities. But given the way Luke and Leia had approached their Rebellion duties, I figured that they would both have similar tendencies to occasionally feel overwhelmed by the tasks still facing them. Especially since both would likely feel that they were the only ones who could handle their particular jobs.

  —TZ

  15 As no official map of the Star Wars galaxy existed at this time (and wouldn’t for many years to come), any positional relationship between Coruscant and Tatooine was pure guesswork.

  —TZ

  16 The lesson of Greedo’s carelessness is apparently still remembered in these parts.

  —TZ

  17 This was one of those little things that probably never even occurred to some of the Alliance leaders in the heat of the Rebellion: that all the ships they were converting to fighters or using—and often losing—as transports would translate to severely lowered carrying capacity once they tried to get the New Republic up and running.

  There would be myriad such details, and I certainly couldn’t go into all of them in the book. But I wanted to give a flavor of why Leia is feeling such weight on her shoulders.

  —TZ

  18 A universal rule of human behavior: if you want someone to do something for you, make it profitable for them.

  —TZ

  19 Though this clearly is a job that only Han can do, and though he may grouse about it, there’s none of Luke’s or Leia’s angst over the burden. That’s just not the kind of guy Han is.

  —TZ

  Chapter 3

 
; 1 “Sturm und Drang” (storm and stress) was an eighteenth-century German romantic literary movement emphasizing struggles of the individual against society. I thought those names would appeal to Karrde, whom I saw as being an educated, pun-loving sort.

  This one didn’t get me nearly as much grief as the hot chocolate reference. My assumption is that those who caught the reference were more amused than annoyed by it.

  —TZ

  2 I wrote this scene long before we had any cats of our own. Little did I know just how true-to-life it was.

  —TZ

  3 In some ways, Karrde is my vision of how Han might have ended up if he hadn’t dropped into the Mos Eisley cantina that afternoon for a quiet drink. Both men have a code of honor, especially toward their friends, and both are willing to be part of a larger group, though Han admittedly dragged his feet a long time before getting to that place.

  —TZ

  4 Not sure Imperial ships (or Rebel ships, for that matter) had their names or operating numbers anywhere on their hulls. Still, it is something most Earth navies do, so I figured it was reasonable here, too.

  —TZ

  5 At the time of Heir, we had no idea what the common honorific was in the Star Wars universe. C-3PO called Luke master, but that might have been a droid thing. Other people were typically addressed by rank or title.

  Still, I think this is the only time I used Mr. in the book. Even Karrde is later referred to as captain, though I’m not sure that’s really accurate. (He owns and runs ships, but doesn’t usually captain them.)

  Now, thanks to the prequels, we know that master is indeed the universal term.

  —TZ

  6 One of the tricky things about writing Star Wars (or any other shared media work) is to not only keep track of what was done in the movies, but also keep track of what wasn’t done. If something that could have been useful wasn’t done, it means there must have been a good reason why not.

  The ysalamiri are a good example. A creature that can block Jedi abilities should have been used all over the place throughout the movies by anti-Jedi forces … unless they were unreliable, difficult to find, difficult to use, et cetera. To be on the safe side, I invoked two of those limiting parameters: the creatures are relatively unknown (the Jedi would hardly broadcast their existence, after all), and they’re hard to get off their trees without killing them.

  —TZ

  7 Early on, I set up Karrde to be more than just a smuggler, but also a seeker of information. That would turn out to have useful ramifications here as well as in several other books down the line.

  —TZ

  8 Karrde’s not alone here—there are many readers who also want to learn Mara’s backstory.

  On the other hand, there are also many readers who want that backstory to remain shrouded in mystery. Whatever I end up doing on this one, I’m going to be in trouble with somebody.

  Still, there are a few things we do know about Mara’s past. We’ll get to those in a bit.…

  —TZ

  Chapter 4

  1 I had a whole hyperdrive system worked out, modeled on the time-dilation formula from Relativistic physics, with a range of possible lightspeed numbers that ran exponentially from zero (dead stop) to one (infinite speed). It was elegant, looked very cool, and allowed me to actually use some of my college physics.

  Alas, later on, when I wasn’t looking, Lucasfilm and/or West End Games came up with an entirely different system. Still, it was fun while it lasted.

  —TZ

  2 With the official definition of Sith still a few years in the future, I had to come up with a label for a Jedi who has fallen to the dark side. I chose the descriptive if not very original term Dark Jedi.

  The definition is unfortunately a bit squishy, referring nowadays to both a fallen Jedi and also a Force-user who never underwent proper training, but perhaps learned under the tutelage of another Dark Jedi.

  For this reason (and probably a few others), the term is somewhat discouraged. At the time, though, it was the best any of us had to work with.

  —TZ

  3 Tantiss was named after Tantalus, a son of Zeus who was admitted to the company of the gods—and then abused the privilege. (The stories about how he did so are many and varied.) That seemed to fit the Emperor—he had the gift of the Jedi, but had abused his power to enslave the galaxy.

  The Sith philosophy, we know now, isn’t quite that simple. But it still involves the use and abuse of power.

  —TZ

  4 One might ask why Thrawn didn’t routinely wear body armor, given that this shows he had it available.

  The answer is that body armor tends to be heavy and uncomfortable, and Thrawn would normally not bother with it unless he expected to be going into danger.

  —TZ

  5 My original reasoning was just what’s laid out here: that whomever Palpatine had left to guard his storehouse had been killed by Joruus C’baoth when he somehow stumbled on the place.

  To my mild surprise, speculation quickly arose that C’baoth was the original guardian, and it was merely because of his insanity that he thought he’d killed someone and taken his place.

  Such speculation is wrong, of course.

  I think …

  —TZ

  6 A Jedi Master like no other! George Lucas’s first three films gave us Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Darth Vader. The concept of someone wielding Jedi powers whose grip on reality is, shall we say, tenuous, was entirely new.

  —BM

  7 In my first outline this character was an insane clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi, created before the Clone Wars by the Emperor and put here to guard the storehouse. That would have given me a very interesting dynamic to work with, especially when Luke faces him in Dark Force Rising. At that point, with his own emotions running high, Luke would have to determine whether this was a trick, or in fact a reincarnation of his old friend and Master.

  Lucasfilm vetoed the idea. I lobbied very hard to keep it, modifying it six ways from Sunday to try to make sure I didn’t step on George’s yet-to-be-written prequel toes. But it was to no avail. Reluctantly, grouchily, I rewrote the part for C’baoth instead.

  Now, as is the case with so many of the strictures and boundaries Lucasfilm put on me, I’m glad they reined me in. Not only is C’baoth an interesting character in his own right, but my subsequent Outbound Flight novel would have had to be drastically different.

  C’baoth, incidentally, is pronounced SA-bay-oth, with the first vowel pronounced like the a in has. If I’d realized how hard it was going to be for everyone else to figure out, I would have changed the spelling.

  To be fair, part of the problem was also that when the audio adaptations of the books came out, several of the names and words were a bit mangled, leaving a lingering confusion in the minds of everyone who heard them.

  It wasn’t just my stuff, either. Anthony Daniels, who did one of the readings, later told me the pronunciation sheet he was given had Tatooine wrong, too.

  —TZ

  8 Thrawn doesn’t show this kind of emotion very often. It’s likely some of this is the distant memories of his encounter years earlier with the original, nonclone C’baoth.

  Of course, I didn’t know that until years later when I wrote Outbound Flight. An other case of being able to fit pieces into a puzzle that at the time I didn’t even know I was making.

  —TZ

  9 This scene sets up a balance of two kinds of power that will affect the next three books: Thrawn’s military command and tactics-oriented mind versus C’baoth’s Force abilities and the danger of his completely unpredictable thought processes.

  —BM

  10 I caught more grief for this one than even the hot chocolate incident. The complaints mostly focused on the idea that the Force is created by living beings, and that it can’t be “pushed back” in the way I described, certainly not from other living beings.

  Note, though, that I didn’t say that was the case. Thrawn did, and contrary to popular belief Thrawn
doesn’t know everything.

  What’s actually happening—and we’ll see it in action later—is that ysalamiri simply suppress the level of the Force to something below the threshold that Jedi can access. It’s a fine distinction, but an important one.

  Still, the bottom line for Jedi—and more important for C’baoth—is basically the same. Thrawn can therefore be excused for perhaps oversimplifying his explanation.

  —TZ

  11 Actually, we know from The Empire Strikes Back that the cloaking shield was at least marginally functional at that time.

  But the rumors may not have reached Thrawn, out in the Unknown Regions, until closer to Endor.

  —TZ

  12 I borrowed this from Sauron’s driving of his forces in The Lord of the Rings. Much as I sympathize with the Alliance, I felt there had to be something going on beneath the surface to explain their victory at Endor.

  It’s also, I think, consistent with Palpatine’s pride and nature. Endor was to be his victory over the Rebellion, and he would have made sure he could claim it as such.

  Logic aside, of course, I also needed this ability for C’baoth to use later in the books.

  —TZ

  13 Thrawn had spent years observing Palpatine, watching how he used his power, seeing what his goals and desires were. From that analysis, he would naturally have concluded that all Dark Jedi would want the same kind of power over people and worlds.

  —TZ

  14 Outbound Flight was essentially a throwaway line, a way to confirm that this C’baoth was indeed a clone, as well as to underline Thrawn’s military capabilities.

  But it didn’t stay a throwaway for long. I ended up working out a few more details in Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, and ultimately did an entire novel, Outbound Flight.

  I wish I’d known at the time that the project was going to grow to that size. I would have given it a much cooler name.

  —TZ

  15 Again, my assumptions about the Clone Wars were exactly backward: I assumed the clones would be fighting against the Republic instead of being on their side. (Nice twist, George!)