Films and Fiction

I recently started my journey into Star Wars literature with ‘Heir to the Empire’, the first book in Timothy Zahn’s trilogy from the 1990s, now classified as a Legends novel by Disney. It holds a special place in the Star Wars fandom for its introduction of Chiss master strategist Grand Admiral Thrawn as a villain, and for continuing the stories of the main heroes from the original trilogy.

Reading it, I can see why it’s so popular. It’s got a strong story that feels like a natural part of the Star Wars galaxy, dealing with the aftermath of the Empire’s defeat, and the struggles of the Rebellion trying to form a legitimate civilian government.

Thrawn is the real power behind the story. He’s the first real villain who doesn’t have any Force abilities, which makes him all the more intimidating, as he has to rely more on his intelligence to defeat his enemies.

He’s been brought to the screen, both in live-action and animation, in the shows Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka, but neither of these portrayals really do him justice. In the book, he feels much more dangerous, going so far as to kill a crewman who fails to trap Luke’s X-Wing in a tractor beam, and ruthlessly uses the Noghri to track down Leia. In the shows, Thrawn was often shown more as a mathematical genius, weighing up every possibility and calculating the outcomes of his battles, losing some of his threatening presence as a result.

For the most part, the original trilogy characters feel natural, though Zahn can overdo the references to past events by using exactly the same dialogue as the films. Even so, they never act out of character or feel forced.

One character I’m not sure how to take is Mara Jade. She’s certainly interesting, but her being the Emperor’s hand feels like a retcon, especially as she was sent to kill Luke on Tatooine, which seems out of place with Palpatine’s plans.

This is one of the unavoidable problems with the book. Being written before the prequel trilogy, it often doesn’t line up with the lore George Lucas created for characters like Palpatine. Sith are called Dark Jedi, and the references to the Clone Wars feel out of place.

Another is with Timothy Zahn’s writing style. It can get repetitive at times and doesn’t have the strength needed to support such a large, complex story where literally the fate of the galaxy is at stake.

These small things aside, it’s still a great read and only adds to the Star Wars universe, and it’s interesting to see what’s been brought into Canon, like Mount Tantiss appearing in The Bad Batch. Looking at it on its own merits, outside of the franchise it inhabits, ‘Heir to the Empire’ is still a strong story with threads that overlap in a pleasing way, and I can’t wait to see where it leads in the second and third books.