#Shadows Of The Empire

[didyougaming]

[n64retro]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Lucas Arts Nintendo 64 1996

[from-a-legends-pov]

Star Wars Legends: Poll of the Week - Out-Of-Context Pictures

Which of these out-of-context pictures from a Star Wars Legends property is your favorite? (Context provided below)

1: “Heat stick”: Oh, no, that certainly doesn’t look like anything else, no….

2. Laser-eyes Leia: Is it possible to learn this power?

3. Hit where it hurts: He had it coming.

4. “Turn off the foam, Threepio!” I don’t know, that looks kind of fun, Luke.

5. Han punches an otter? An otter wearing fancy jewelry, no less.

6. Playing ships with a Sith: Vader plus younglings doesn’t usually go well….

And now, for some context:

1: “Heat stick” - Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson spend a cold night together on a mission, and yes, that is supposed to be a heat stick used to warm them and not a glowing something else (Star Wars - original Marvel Comics)

2: Laser-eyes Leia: Meet Leia Organa II, a replica droid of the Princess, designed to speak, move, and act like the real Leia, and equipped with blasters in her eyes. The real Leia Organa is captured and nearly forced to marry Trioculus, a three-eyed warlord claiming to be Palpatine’s son (he wasn’t – that was a different three-eyed guy), but right before the wedding Leia’s friends switch her with Leia Organa II. At the altar, the replica droid blasts Trioculus with a little pew pew straight from her eyes, killing him, and the real Leia is able to escape (Queen of the Empire)

3: Hit where it hurts: When Black Sun boss Prince Xizor’s attempted assault of Leia Organa (by drugging her with his powerful Falleen pheromones) is interrupted by Chewbacca coming to the rescue, Leia gives Xizor a well-deserved knee to the groin before escaping (Shadows of the Empire)

4: “Turn off the foam, Threepio!” On a mission with Leia and the droids, Luke Skywalker uses extinguisher foam to subdue some Blackhole troopers aboard a Hrakian ship (“Gambler’s World,” Early Star Wars Adventures)

5: Han punches an otter? Han Solo’s evil cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo has imprisoned Dracmus, a female Selonian who has been trained as a diplomatic envoy to humans. He forces Dracmus to fight Han, whom he has also imprisoned, but Han is familiar enough with Mandaba, the Selonian language, to convince Dracmus to go easy on him during the fight without Thrackan catching on. Han still loses the fight, but gains Dracmus’s trust, and when Dracmus is later rescued, Han is allowed to come along (Assault at Selonia)

6: Playing ships with a Sith: Plourr Ilo recalls her brother Harran (Harrandatha Estillo), who from childhood was an evil, vicious person who wanted her dead so that he could become ruler. Harran idolized Darth Vader, and when Harran met the Sith as a child, Vader made Harran his protégé, taking advantage of his sadistic personality and apparently also playing ships with him for hours (Star Wars comics, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron - The Warrior Princess)

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[tossawary]

I found a beaten copy of the "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire" novel (set between Ep5 and Ep6) in the thrift store and I'm trying to read it. I thought, "Oh, this was written in 1996, so that's before the prequels or any of the more recent shows. Even if this isn't good, it's not a long book, and it'll be interesting to catalogue some of the differences in world building and vibes."

And then I actually tried to read it and, uh, I would call the writing "competent on a basic level but not sophisticated". Like, I was trying to read some of the "Jedi Apprentice" novels earlier and I guess I was expecting, hm, something a little more advanced than those books? It's serviceable! There are many turns of phrase that I enjoy! It's just not as compelling stylistically or in world building as I might have hoped. And it wasn't long into the book before I was like, "Oh, right. Ah. Hm. I forgot what it was like to read Older Sci-Fi Written By A Straight Man. Of course, the main villain has a human-looking killer droid assistant who looks like a sexy blonde woman! Of course he does! Of course!" None of the characterizations are great, but the Leia POVs are making me since.

I'm having trouble taking the main villain seriously because he's just... he's just not interesting. Prince Xizor's secret backstory where his family's deaths were Darth Vader's fault are revealed to us in Chapter 3 via narration, he's just thinking about it, and it's like, "Well, that seems like it could have been saved for a more dramatic reveal later." And generally, he's such a Batman Gary Stu of a character so far: he's an unfathomably wealthy businessman, he's also an interstellar crime lord, he's also a master of martial arts, he's got an impeccable poker face, he's Vader's rival, he knows everything because he has spies everywhere, and the narration takes the time to tell us twice in 3 chapters that he is (and his species is) very, very sexy. Reader, you MUST know this. Trust us.

And I was reading these descriptions of him thinking, "This style of introduction reminds me almost EXACTLY of something else... but what...? OH. He's getting introduced like a HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVEL MALE LEAD." Which is super funny because Wikipedia claims this villain is supposed to try to seduce Leia later in the book; an attempt that the publishers apparently wanted to be successful but the author refused to do, fearing fan backlash. Which is just... thank fucking goodness, I WOULD have been pissed off, yes. WHY would Leia fuck this guy? Everything about him suggests she would choke him with a chain like she will with Jabba the Hutt. Let this woman have her loser smuggler with a heart of gold boyfriend!!! I hope she gets to shoot at this guy for a seduction attempt, but that won't make up for how incredibly boring this character is to read about in his every single scene.

[legends-expo]

With the passing of iconic artist Greg Hildebrandt, we thought we'd take a chance this week to shine a highlight on Shadows of the Empire, starting with the amazing work Greg and his brother Tim put into the ambitious multimedia project, that helped to launch the classic EU as we know it. The Hildebrandt brothers' art defined for many this gigantic leap into expanding the universe, when their artwork was used to capture and tie together scenes from all aspects of the project (book, comic, and game), in a series of Topps trading cards. The process of their endeavor is captured in the artbook "Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt."

[gameraboy2]

1996 Star Wars Shadows of the Empire ad

[videogamepolls]

Requested by anon

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Prince Xizor: You wanna read something? Leia Organa: ...I'm trying to think of how that could be a pickup line because it sounds like the beginning of one. Yes, maybe? Prince Xizor: Why don't you read my DICK Leia Organa: Oh. Prince Xizor: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Leia Organa: Okay.

[theresistanceneverquits]

I’ve been seeing stuff for Shadows of the Empire everywhere this past week (it’s a staple from my childhood) and then I came on here and saw a fanart of Shadow with his name written in large letters, and let’s just say I misread it.

[cienie-isengardu]

Vader stood at the ramp leading to the Emperor's personal shuttle, looking down at the shorter man. "I anticipate that I shall return in three weeks," the Emperor told him. "I trust you can keep the planet from falling apart while I am gone?" "Yes, my master." "I expect no less. [...]

Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry

[holonetwork]

George Lucas and Shadows of the Empire Part of a series I’ve put together focusing on the history of the EU. Sources: Howard Roffman (1, 2), Joel McNeely, Steve Perry (1, 2), Greg Hildebrandt (1, 2, Starlog #232), and Jon Knoles.

[swtechspecs]

Surronian Conqueror-Class Assault Ship

Source: Scum and Villainy (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)

[n64retro]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Lucas Arts, 1996) magazine ad for Nintendo 64.

[coelii]

It's because Shadows of the Empire shoulda been canon and Dash Rendar is one of the best Star Wars names out there.

Agreed

Also

Holy shit it’s on steam :0

[tossawary]

So, I don't really like the characterizations in this "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire" novel. They're serviceable for the most part? They're mostly fine. There hasn't been a "yeah!!! THAT'S the character I know and love!!!" moment so far for me, but there have been a few "ohhh nooo, HARD disagree on this characterization choice" moments. This following passage from Leia's POV is one of the paragraphs that wrinkled my nose the most with its baseline heteronormativity / amatonormativity / sexism:

(CONTEXT: Leia and Luke are on the Falcon with Lando, Chewie, R2-D2, and C-3PO, on their way to try and get Han back from Boba Fett, who has not yet delivered Han to Jabba the Hutt. Luke and Leia had actually separated after the events of Ep5, briefly, so that Leia could try to track Boba Fett and Luke could build himself a new lightsaber, but they have met up again for this mission.)

"She turned and watched Luke as he cleared the micrometeor dust from Artoo. Luke wanted to rescue Han as much as she did. Which was interesting, given that she'd felt the competition from them for her attention. A lesser man than Luke might take advantage of a rival's absence, but so far he had not. That was the thing about Luke. He wanted to win, but he wanted to win fairly." (pg55)

I don't like this. At all.

Where to start? I resent the fact that this is a thought being put into Leia's head as a character. A lot of Leia's thoughts in this novel are too focused on weighing the men around her as romantic partners for my taste, though this is partially because the book keeps having them hit on her. Like, yeah, she's thinking about Han all the time because she loves him and they're trying to rescue him from Boba Fett, but I feel the text could be flavored more with her also occasionally thinking about the loss of Alderaan or her career in the Imperial Senate or her work for the Rebellion, anything to remind us that Leia as a female character has a lot more going on in her life and past besides her male love interest(s).

"Luke wanted to rescue Han as much as she did. Which was interesting, given that she'd felt the competition from them for her attention."

Leia thinking it's "interesting" that Luke wants to rescue Han is a weird fucking choice. Luke and Han have been friends for a couple years at this point, working in the Rebellion together. They're FRIENDS. In the films, Han saves Luke's life once during the Death Star run in "A New Hope" and then again on Hoth in "Empire Strikes Back", so Luke also owes Han a couple life debts. Han was also only targeted and captured by Darth Vader because Vader was after Luke, so Luke is likely to feel partially responsible for Han's capture and wants to fix it. Of course he wants to rescue Han.

"A lesser man than Luke might take advantage of a rival's absence, but so far he had not."

Like, I understand that this is Leia thinking that Luke is DIFFERENT compared to other guys; this passage isn't suggesting that Luke Skywalker would ever leave a friend behind due to something as selfish romantic jealousy. Leia is thinking poorly of OTHER MEN not known to us, sure. But the fact that this is Leia's POV means that it's LEIA noticing again RIGHT NOW, years into their friendship, that Luke is a Nice Guy, and it just contributes to the problematic pattern of having Leia always weighing the men around her romantically. The particular timing of this passage makes it feel like Leia IS a little surprised here and now that Luke would weigh friendship over trying to "win" her attention away from a "rival", and that's a shitty thing to have Leia think at all about Luke and the other men in her life.

Leia's surprise implies to me that, while Luke was getting his robotic hand, they never had a normal fucking conversation about what had happened to Han and what they wanted to do about it. Like, framing him as a "competitor" suggests to me that she doesn't know Luke fairly well by now? Luke and Leia are ALSO FRIENDS, in my mind, but the poisonous "men and women can't ever be friends" mindset is insidious. If I was writing fanfiction here, the recovery post-Ep5 would be the perfect point to have a scene of Luke and Leia grieving together, even if they don't actually talk about it, so it's weird to me that that didn't apparently happen. Like, sure, maybe neither of them had a full emotional breakdown and talked about all of their feelings for hours, fine, they don't know they're siblings yet and their feelings for each other are weird, but I don't think it's OOC for Luke to have said something like, "This is my fault. Han saved my life and I owe him. Leia, we'll get our friend back, I promise."

Like, damn, just let them be friends. Friends who have confusing Force feelings about each other sometimes, sure, but still friends first and foremost rather than "woman" and "suitor". The way that Luke and Leia act in "Return of the Jedi" always suggested to me that Leia had flat-out told Luke by then that she's in love with Han and Luke was cool with it; honesty cutting through any more potential love triangle nonsense. There's no "competition" anymore!

"That was the thing about Luke. He wanted to win, but he wanted to win fairly."

Again, I DO NOT like Leia framing herself as something to be "won" at all. Gross. This is just... a weird thing for anyone to think to me, especially Leia, who has a thousand other things to think about in the fight against the Empire besides love. If Leia didn't come up with this thought on her own, then someone else must have said it or something like it, and I really don't like the idea that it might have been Luke, who ALSO has a thousand other things to think about in the fight against the Empire. I don't like this characterization.

Of course, this is one small passage, not written with bad intentions, and I can admit that I am not reading it with generosity. But the way Leia's POV scenes up until this point have largely prioritized potential romantic connections as the central thing she's thinking about has been really annoying, and this passage is where that pattern gets concentrated into something even more direct, so it annoys me even more than it might have on its own. I do kind of enjoy that most SW relationships are a hot, confusing, poorly defined mess on a good day; their lives suck a lot of the time. I do not need the story to be purely about THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP where no one is motivated by romantic love.

But I do wish I could ban anyone writing Leia's POV from ever having her think about the men around her as "rivals" for her attention. No. Bad. There's a fucking war on. Her parents are dead and planet is gone. Give her A SECOND THING to think about besides love, please, since apparently it's too much to ask SW that Leia (or Padmé after her) is regularly given another female character to talk to.

[legends-expo]

Shadows of the Empire was an ambitious multimedia project that, in both retrospect and at the time, helped to set the standard for what the classic Expanded Universe could accomplish. A movie-sized project "without the movie," it spanned a novel, comic series, video game, trading cards, soundtrack, and toy line that all tied together different parts of the same story. The novel followed the main plotline, which told our core heroes' story of trying to locate and save Han (frozen in carbonite) between Episodes 5 and 6. Luke, Leia, Lando, and Chewie were joined by new cast of fan-favorites such as Dash Rendar, against antagonists Prince Xizor, Guri, and the bounty hunters.