#Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

[n64retro]

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

[alphamecha-mkii]

Star Wars: Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels - Dash Rendar's Modified Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-2400 Light Freighter "Outrider"

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Game) - Dash Rendar Jetpack Concept Art by Jon Knoles

[marvelstars]

I really loved Vader´s and Prince Xizor rivalry in old school star wars. Their conflict is different to the ones Vader traditionally has.

Xizor isn´t a military adversary, a jedi or a sith, he is a legitimate leader of a very powerful corporation that serves an important role in developing the construction for death star II but he is also a mafia Don,leader of Black Sun, an undersworld organization that shares intelligence with the rebels and the Empire because he is playing the long game and betting to both sides until there´s a clear winner, Xizor is sure the Empire will win but he is covering all his bases. He is also 300 years old so he has done this in the past with the Republic as well, his race lives for such a long time that he sometimes can get bored.

Xizor fight with Vader is mostly political and strategic, he wants to capture and kill Luke Skywalker for the Emperor in a way to show him his capabilities but also to take Vader´s role in the Imperial court, he is aware Vader is a Sith Lord but he doens´t know Palpatine is one as well and so his chances of getting Vader´s position in particular isn´t a safe bet but the Emperor allowed him to think he had an opportunity because his resources are useful and because he wants to test Vader on his political skills.

Vader prepares to confront Xizor because he doesn´t really want to relly on Black Sun for the death star, knowing all the intelligence he most definitely must be sharing with the rebels but more than that he is aware of Xizor ambitions but he isn´t truly worried about his own position, he is worried about Xizor killing his Son or hurting the Emperor which I find honestly cute, at that moment Luke and the Emperor are the people Vader cares the most about so their protection are his priority :D and so his whole role in this story, shadow of the Empire, is to get into the politics of it all, protect Luke, send Boba Fett and another of his agents to protect Han Solo´s carbonite block and keep an eye on Luke´s shennanigans, both the legitimate imperial politics and the underworld ones to keep his Son safe and to protect the Emperor.

This is an interesting story in which Vader´s foe isn´t fighting him directly but looking to show him innefective in his work as the imperial enforcer and leader of the army to defeat him politically, Vader´s initial reaction is to follow the game, aware of his Master expecting him to do that but once his darling Son and Lando decide to bomb to death Xizor´s Corustcant castle to rescue Leia and for his betrayal of the rebellion there´s clear evidence Xizor is trying to kill Luke and his friends right in front of him, so Vader no longer has to hold back.

Love this because this story is bassically about poor Xizor´s no good bad week with the Skywalker family, Leia spying on his archives, taking his intelligence of the death star, Luke bombing his castle and everything around him which is his style and Vader joining for the sake of protecting his boy but also because he kind of likes Luke´s style of burning everything in his sight even if this brings down all his political plans to deal with Xizor personally but he still offered Xizor to be captured out of professional etiquette.

This old flavor Vader is very refreshing, because he shows here how while politics isn´t his arena, he is no slouch at them whe he has to get involved there and I belive that´s something modern star wars comics have not tackled as well as this story did.

If there´s ever a Vader or Empire series, doubtful I know, I would like it to tackle his story from this perspective to truly connect the PT with the OT.

[alphacomicsvol2]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire #1 by Killian Plunkett

[zeldasminion]

Dianoga have seven tentacles, an eye stalk at their base, and a gaping mouth below the base of their eyestalk, so how the heck did the giant dianoga sport only four barbed tentacles, its base body on the ground floor, and its eyestalk conjoining at the same area as its tentacles? Must've mutated so much when it reached an insane size.

[that-dinopunk-guy]

I've also started rebuilding my collection of Star Wars novels.

So far I'm just sticking to the ones I remember enjoying (plus the Lando novels, which I have not read but sound fun).

...And these four which I have not yet read and know nothing about, because Timothy Zahn writes good Star Wars and come on, why would I not read a Star Wars story from the Expanse guys:

[randomisedgaming]

1996 - Developed by LucasArts & Published by Nintendo Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

AT-ST ‘Star Wars: Shadow Of The Empire’ Nintendo 64

[fonmythenmetz]

The Shadow

[didyougaming]

[n64retro]

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

[alphamecha-mkii]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire #1 by Killian Plunkett

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Topps - Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Trading Cards (1996) - #13 - Xizor Relishes the Good Life by Tim & Greg Hildebrandt

[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)

Hungry for more Legends content? Follow @from-a-legends-pov and consider signing up for our upcoming fanfiction event, From a Legends Point of View! Signups open April 28!

[rooksunday]

thinking about the narrative of clones “being made for the jedi” and there has to be a nonzero number of them that take the idea of ‘okay fine who is the diametric opposite of the jedi because stuff that’ and that’s how the lost battalion become the most fervent sith-sniffer-outerers in the galaxy. just turn up at dooku’s doorstep like, hi hello we’re your army let’s smush those jedi xoxo

and otoh this is playing into his master’s plan! wonderful discord!

otoh now he has two thousand badly socialised ten year olds tromping around his house and gardens what are you— would you put that DOWN— that’s not the right fork would you— okay everybody new plan, it’s time for the fine sith art of sitting very quietly while daddy deals with his headache okay

[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.