Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (novel)

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a 1996 novel written by Steve Perry. It describes the events between the films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It was part of the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project.

Publisher's summary

Hardcover

Back Cover

It is a time of crisis. Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being taken to the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. As Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission and Darth Vader scours the Galaxy for Luke Skywalker, another sinister figure emerges. Cunning and ruthless, leader of a powerful crime syndicate, he will pit himself against Vader for the favor of their mutual master...the dreaded Emperor.

Inside flap

His name is Xizor, Underlord of a galaxywide criminal organization called Black Sun. He seeks to displace Darth Vader as Emperor Palpatine's right hand. To do so, he will hatch a brilliantly evil plan to discredit Vader in the Emperor's eyes. But in the meantime he will join the Dark Lord in an unholy alliance whose common target is the young Rebel hero, Luke Skywalker.

While Vader and Xizor bait their trap for Luke, Han Solo is being held captive, flash-frozen in a carbonite slab. Mourning the loss of the man she loves, Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission to free Han. She enlists the aid of Luke, who is sharpening his skill in the Force at Ben Kenobi's home on the edge of Tatooine's Western Dune Sea. Skywalker organizes a crack fighting force, including Wedge Antilles and his famous X-wing squadron; Lando Calrissian; and the mercenary Dash Rendar. Yet the fierce battle that ensues to rescue Han will not go according to plan. For the Empire's spies are everywhere.

What's worse, though he is cold and reptilian, Xizor has a certain predatory charisma that not even Leia can totally resist. Against the judgment of Chewbacca, who has promised Han to keep her from harm, Leia walks willingly into Xizor's lair in a dangerous play of passion and willpower to get the information she needs to defeat him. At the same time, Luke stands in the crosshairs of a conspiracy of assassins and bounty hunters recruited by Xizor's lieutenant, the beautiful but lethal Human replicant Guri. As the struggle between Xizor and Vader intensifies, Luke finds himself the potential prize of the two most evil entities in the galaxy — one who wants him alive, and one who wants him dead.

In a final, explosive showdown, the Rebels must infiltrate Xizor's impregnable stronghold and fight the combined forces of Black Sun and the Empire in deep space. With death and betrayal looming on every side, Luke, Leia, Lando, and Chewie must use every weapon and resource at their disposal, including the Rebel fleet and some intriguing new allies, if they are to prove victorious. In Shadows of the Empire, Steve Perry adds an exciting new chapter to the Star Wars saga and introduces important new characters and situations no Star Wars fan will want to miss.

Paperback

It is a time of crisis. Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being taken to the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. As Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission including Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and a brilliant young pilot, Darth Vader pits himself against a cunning and ruthless rival. Xizor is the leader of a powerful crime syndicate who seeks to supplant Vader for the favor of their mutual master, the dreaded Emperor. Their target: Luke Skywalker. Suddenly Luke finds himself the potential prize of the two most evil entities in the galaxy - one who wants him alive...and one who wants him dead.

Plot summary

During the events surrounding the Battle of Hoth, the scheming Prince Xizor discovers that Luke Skywalker is Darth Vader's son, and that the Dark Lord has promised capture and delivery of the young Rebel to his Master, the Emperor. Having long hated Vader for his past sundering of the Falleen homeworld, Xizor plots to assassinate Luke and blame the death on Vader's incompetence, thereby causing the Dark Lord to lose favor with the Emperor. Xizor, the most powerful crime lord in the galaxy, seeks further advancement and sees Vader as the principal obstacle to his standing directly at the Emperor's side. Xizor pretends that he wants Luke to become an agent of Palpatine's Galactic Empire, just as Vader is trying to realize. Though Vader is aware of Xizor's plans, Palpatine forces his pupil to trust the prince.

Following the trail of Boba Fett's ship Slave I, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca and Lando venture to the planet Gall in the hope of intercepting the bounty hunter and freeing the carbon-frozen form of Han Solo. The heroes are guided to Gall by Dash Rendar, the cocksure smuggler captain of the souped-up Outrider. Wedge Antilles and the X-Wing fighters of Rogue Squadron assist the Rebels in the space battle that erupts with Imperial forces over Gall. Luke narrowly avoids being shot down by friendly fire, as one of the Rogue Squadron astromech droids has been corrupted by a Black Sun assassin. While Luke neutralizes that threat, Slave I blasts away from Gall, outrunning the Millennium Falcon into hyperspace. Luke returns to Tatooine and continues his Jedi studies in Obi-Wan's abandoned hut. He constructs a new lightsaber to replace the one lost in combat with his father. Skywalker is attacked by a swoop gang hired by Xizor, but escapes their efforts to kill him by commandeering a swoop bike and leading the gang into a harrowing chase through Beggar's Canyon. Soaring to Luke's help is Dash Rendar, who has been asked to protect Luke by a concerned Princess Leia as she continues to investigate the attempts on Luke's life.

Luke and Dash intercept an important message from the Bothans that their spies have uncovered key information regarding a huge new Imperial military project. A computer carrying vital intelligence is en route to Coruscant aboard the freighter Suprosa. Luke agrees to train a group of rookie Bothan fighter pilots on Bothawi to intercept the ship. The Bothans succeed on capturing the computer, but at the cost of many lives. As Luke travels with the Bothans to Kothlis, he dispatches Dash to find Leia and update her about this discovery. Luke is attacked by persistent bounty hunters, but escapes with Lando's help. Vader had paid the bounty hunters to capture Luke alive, but Xizor had paid hunters to kill Luke. When the Dark Lord arrives on Kothlis, disappointed to find his quarry vanished, he brutally interrogates a hunter and learns about Xizor's death warrant on Luke. Leia's investigations into the criminal underworld lead her to a meeting with Prince Xizor on Coruscant. To facilitate travel into the Imperial capital, Xizor provides Leia and Chewbacca with false identities – they will travel as bounty hunters Boushh and Snoova. In the company of Xizor, Leia is nearly overwhelmed by the Falleen's natural pheromones, which make him irresistible to humanoid females. Her strength of will allows her to reject Xizor's advances, and he imprisons her, hoping to lure Luke into a trap.

Luke and Lando arrive on Coruscant and sneak into the planet's labyrinthine underworld, where they reconnect with Chewbacca and Dash. Luke can sense Leia's presence in Xizor's palace through the Force. Luke leads the infiltration of the fortress through the building's underground accessways. They rescue Leia, then leave aboard a shakily piloted Millennium Falcon helmed by C-3PO and R2-D2. A furious Prince Xizor commands his space forces from his orbital skyhook over Coruscant. He orders the destruction of the fleeing Falcon, foolishly naming Luke in an open transmission. Darth Vader, freshly returned to Coruscant, intercepts this message and has his Star Destroyer Executor destroy the skyhook, where Xizor is killed. The Falcon weaves its way through the dense orbital traffic, joined by Dash Rendar's Outrider and Wedge's Rogue Squadron. Leia and Luke see Dash's ship apparently collide with space debris and presume him lost. Having survived Xizor's assassination schemes, Luke returns to Tatooine to prepare for Boba's eventual return to Jabba's palace and to carry out the rescue of Han Solo.

Development

Shadows of the Empire was a coordinated effort to tell a single, unified Star Wars story across multiple media. When it became apparent that a projected 1997 release date for Episode I wasn't feasible, and a planned re-release of A New Hope was consequently moved from 1996 to 1997, an opportunity arose to create some sort of Star Wars event for 1996 that not only would engage fans but continue the momentum of creative development already underway at Lucas Licensing and its partners. It was accurately described as a “movie without a movie,” because all the tie-in products one would expect from a Star Wars theatrical release were present… except a movie.^[2]

At the core of the Shadows story was the novel from Bantam Spectra, which focused on the newly created Prince Xizor and his plot to assassinate Luke and discredit Darth Vader. A six-issue series from Dark Horse Comics, written by John Wagner with art by Kilian Plunkett and P. Craig Russell, explored Boba Fett's story as he faced rival hunters while trying to return to Tatooine with Han Solo. A videogame from LucasArts focused on Dash Rendar, a new smuggler character who served as the game player's proxy, and his various missions to help the Rebel Alliance. Other Shadows of the Empire releases that year included toys, action figures, a behind the scenes book from Ballantine Books, trading cards, roleplaying game supplements, pewter figures, ceramic mugs, Halloween costumes, T-shirts, baseball caps, posters and prints, sculptures, model kits, and even a full orchestra soundtrack CD from Varèse Sarabande.^[2]

The novel derives from the detailed notes and outline that its author, Steve Perry, created during the meetings with other executives at the Skywalker Ranch, so that it would be accepted by everyone, and then follow it. Perry then wrote a 400-page draft of the novel within the first four months. Perry wanted to make Vader vulnerable and somewhat frustrated, feeling still the spirit of Anakin Skywalker, and driven by some fatherly instincts. Perry tried to visualise scenes and dialogues and tried to deliver some lines to himself, making sure "it'd sound as if Vader had spoken it."^[5]

While sticking to the outline, Perry also had to take input from the other Shadows of the Empire projects, and frequently communicated with Ryder Windham to ensure consistency with the comic adaptation.^[5] When asked about cut or disputed content of the novel, Steve Perry explained, "I wanted to have Luke and Lando stop at the SW's equivalent of a gas station to use the phone, but nobody thought that was funny except me. At first, everybody was leery of having droids fly the FALCON, didn't want to do it, but I begged them to let me try and toss it if they didn't like it. They decided they liked it."^[6]

The cover was drawn by Drew Struzan, famous for the Special Edition posters of the Original trilogy, Indiana Jones films, and Star Wars book covers. In the first draft, Luke's stance would be looming above smaller figures of the villains, with an early version of Xizor; the backcover would feature Leia and Threepio, with the Falcon and a TIE in the background. In April 1995 Lucy Autrey Wilson provided reference material and notes, instructing for Luke to wear the khaki vest, clarified Xizor's palette, and replaced Threepio and the ships with Boba Fett and a swoop. In June more corrections for Xizor were suggested. The final cover shows the Dark Side triumphant over and around an intimidated Luke; the planet on the background unites the front and the back covers, and gives a feeling of "grandeur and scope", but colored with foreboding, "weird colors".^[5]

Media

Editions

American

• ISBN 0553100890; May 1996, Bantam Spectra, 340-page hardcover
• ISBN 0553100890; May 1996; Bantam Spectra; US hardcover, Science Fiction Book Club edition (11822)^[7]
• ISBN 9780553574135; March 3, 1997; Bantam Spectra; US paperback^[3]
• ISBN 9780307796349; June 28, 2011; Del Rey; US eBook^[4]
• ISBN 9780593974766; June 3, 2025; Random House Worlds; The Essential Legends Collection paperback^[8]

International

• ISBN 8025205991; 2007, EGMONT ČR, 304-page Czech paperback (Stíny Impéria).
• ISBN 8427021461;
• EAN 9788427021464; 1996, Martínez Roca, paperback (Sombras del Imperio).

Cover gallery

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

External links

• Shadows of the Empire: Star Wars Legends on Penguin Random House's official website (backup link)

Books Novel (unabridged · abridged) · Junior novelization Comics Shadows of the Empire: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 Trade paperback · Omnibus Kenner Special: 1, 2 · Galoob · Ertl · Battle of the Bounty Hunters Evolution: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · Trade paperback Legends Collections Epic Collection: Rebellion Vol. 5 · Rebellion Vol. 6 · New Republic Vol. 1 Marvel Omnibus: Rebellion Vol. 3 · New Republic Vol. 1 Reference material The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire · Sourcebook · Planets Guide The Official Strategy Guide · Game Secrets · Limited Collector's Edition Multimedia Video game · Soundtrack · Trading cards · Toy line Micro Machines · Embossed Metal Collector Cards Related material Assignment: Decoy · Secrets of the Sisar Run · Shadow Stalker The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt · Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1 Return of the Jedi radio drama · Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
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