Star Wars Renaissance: The Thrawn Trilogy

By 1990, the Star Wars Universe was pretty much dead in the water. Lucas had made no developments other than a pair of Ewok films. It had been seven years since "Return of the Jedi" and there had not been one comic or novel published in that stretch of time.

Timothy Zahn

Enter Timothy Zahn, the man who saved Star Wars for my generation. From 1991 to 1993, Zahn released the books now known as "The Thrawn Trilogy". These books would take place five years after “Return of the Jedi” and introduce brand new characters, species and planets.

Not only were these books a breath of fresh air to old Star Wars fans, but they pulled a new generation of fans (my generation) into the Star Wars universe. These three books are the genesis of everything we now know of as the Expanded Universe.  Let’s take a look at just a few of the characters that were first introduced in these novels:

Mara Jade: Perhaps the most popular character in the expanded universe, Mara Jade is introduced as a force-sensitive freelancer. It is revealed that she was once Emperor Palpatine’s “Hand”. Palpatine sent her on a mission to Jabba’s Palace to assassinate Luke Skywalker and Mara is still brainwashed when we meet her in these books. She is struggling, internally, over whether she should kill Luke or not. Ironically,  Mara eventually marries Luke and gives birth to his son, Ben.

Mara Jade

Mara Jade is so prevalent in the Expanded Universe that it is hard to imagine that she will not be included in the Star Wars sequels in some way. Perhaps her exact backstory might change, but if Luke Skywalker is going to have a lover, it’s got to be Mara. She is a strong female that the Star Wars films lack. Yes, Padme & Leia could fight, but there was no edge to them. I hope to see Mara in episode VII.

Thrawn

Thrawn: Grand Admiral Thrawn is another complex character in a universe where Evil is sometimes only evil for Evil’s sake. Thrawn is the leader of a dying Empire five years after Endor. His species is Chiss and he has a love for the study of art. In fact, he seeks to understand his foes through the art of their cultures. He is a firm leader, but never unfair. He surrenders when he has to, but rarely has to. Thrawn is remembered for his final words “But… it was so artistically done”.

Jaina & Jacen

Jaina & Jacen: Leia gives birth to her first children in these novels. Though Jaina & Jacen are only babies when the series ends, they have a rich future ahead of them. Jaina & Jacen have many trials and battles as they grow through the Expanded Universe. They lose friends, family, and loved ones and eventually one falls victim to the dark side of the force (But, I won’t spoil anything.) This is another set of characters that I really hope to see in the sequels.

In addition to these four characters, Zahn’s novels brought us some important additions to the Star Wars universe. It was through his novels where fans first explored Coruscant, the capital of the galaxy.  It was Zahn, not Lucas, who named this planet and paved the way for its usage in the prequel trilogy.

Joruus C'baoth

Zahn was also the first to show how clones function in the Star Wars universe. Clones are central to the plot of his novels. The novels feature "Joruus C'baoth", an insane clone of Jorus C’baoth (a Jedi who died out during the Clone Wars.) Interestingly enough, Zahn originally wanted this character to be an insane-clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Lucasfilm would not have it.

The other clone that pops up during the series is Luuke Skywalker. (Apparently in Timothy Zahn’s mind, all clones must add an extra vowel to their name.) Luke and Luuke have a well-matched lightsaber duel in the final book of Zahn’s series.

"Luuke" Skywalker

There are many parts of Zahn’s trilogy to like, yet the books on their own would not make good movies. One way to make Episode VII work is to adapt some of the characters of the Expanded Universe to screen, but not directly adapt the books (similar to the way that Nolan took a lot of plot points from the Batman graphic novels when writing his “Dark Knight” trilogy).

Anyone else want to see Mara, Thrawn, or the twins in episode VII?