#Wraith squadron

[jbk405]

A few days ago I started re-reading the Wraith Squadron trilogy in the Star Wars X-Wing series. I last re-read them about five years ago (I know because I actually found some posts I made back in 2019), and I decided to revisit them because I was in the mood for a simple, White & Black Morality, Good vs. Evil story.

Warlord Zsinj is an evil despot who is trying to conquer the galaxy because of his own desire for power. That's it. There's no attempt to give him a sympathetic background or moral motivation. No backstory about growing up under a Brutal Dictator who oppressed his people and so Zsinj decided to become a Good Dictator and wound up being corrupted by the position. No looming outside threat which forces him to Take Charge For the Greater Good. Just personal ambition, like so many real-life warlords in any era.

He's still a fascinating, compelling character. He's smart enough to not fall to cliche "I will kill my own people at the slightest inconvenience and then act surprised when they turn against me" self-sabotage. He's pays his people well, and actually pays them when it's time. He even lets them actually retire once they've aged out of being useful. So he's a competent, scary threat that takes close to a half-dozen books to be defeated. But he's still A Villain, who the books NEVER try to position as "Maybe he's right after all...."

And I gotta say, it's refreshing to have simplicity like this in fiction every once in a while. I love a morally gray, emotionally complicated story as much as the next person, but eventually if that's all you read then it's easy to forget that sometimes things really are Black & White. And people sometimes get so fixated on "Maturity" or "Complexity" that they try and introduce moral ambiguity where there is none.

So, here it's nice and simple. He's a former officer in the Galactic Empire who struck out on his own after the death of the Emperor, and that's all he has to be.

The series does introduce moral ambiguity elsewhere in the story. Particularly with Gara Petothel/Lara Nostil, a former Imperial Intelligence operative who enlisted in the New Republic military with plans to betray them to Zsinj before realizing that she would rather stay there than return to the Empire. She does have the tragic backstory, and she is wracked by guilt over what he's done. But it's clear: What she did was Wrong, and now she's Making Up For It. The story still has Right and Wrong and she changed sides, there's never a question that she may have been Right before, or that the sides are so similar that it's no different.

This clarity can be a boon all on its own.

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Star Wars Legends + text posts (part 4/?)

[star-wars-trash]

Lieutenant Kettch is my favorite thing Star Wars has ever done and I need him to be in a movie immediately

yub yub

[jayaorgana]

Surprising no one, I am becoming a Tyria girly.

[magnetarbeam]

The Rogues and Wraiths should collectively have, like, a sibling squadron rivalry, I think.

[legends-expo]

We're remembering the late Aaron Allston on his birthday today - who captured our imaginations as author of the Wraith Squadron run of the X-Wing novel series.

[tookarask]

listening to the new wraith squadron audiobooks and i forgot about the exchange between wedge and falynn where she accuses him of being 40 and he’s like ☹️☹️☹️ I’M TWENTY-EIGHT 😭😭😭

[accidental-spice]

And thus began the greatest inside/running joke in the galaxy

[redtworoguethree]

We should all aspire to be as Wedge-like as possible 🙌

I think my fav thing about Wedge is that he's famous, but you never really notice it while reading Legends. Like, this is the only guy to fly in both Trench Runs (think about it, I'll wait) and he's also the leader of the most prestigious squadron in the fleet. From his perspective though, and from the perspectives of people in the books, he's generally just Some Guy who's a pro at flying and is in charge. To the squadron he's Dad, to some politicians he's a chess piece (affectionate), to others he's a chess piece (derogatory). And then he'll be in a scene with normal people and everyone knows his name and you're thrown bc this guy is famous. Like, he goes to high-end political parties! He attends elite Republic galas! He's personal friends with Han and Leia and Lando, and he served with Luke so they're practically brothers! But he's super humble about it and totally downplays his experiences (and turns down every promotion) so it just. Isn't noticable. And I love him for it

[bitwhizzle]

Yesterday was Aaron Allston’s birthday. He would’ve been 64.

Aaron gave us the wonderful Wraith Squadron and imbued Wedge and the rest of Michael Stackpole’s Rogue Squadron with immense humour, and wit, and life!

Michael and Aaron gave the Star Wars EU a new viewpoint, that of the pilots - no Jedi powers (well…we’ll ignore Corran as one does 😆) - just soldiers who were sacrificing their all for this Rebellion. Pacifists, Imperial defectors, idealists, wash-outs - the Rebellion was made up of all kinds, but united by their struggle against the Empire and desire for democracy and justice.

Wedge and Hobbie and Wes and Tycho were the Everyman. They had their flaws, they weren’t perfect, but they were honest. And I love the Fab Four so much!

I reread the X-Wing series often, they are my favourites of the now-Legends books, and I wistfully bemoan the stories that could’ve been - stories that Michael and Aaron could’ve contributed to the now canon universe.

Happy birthday Aaron. Thank you for Face and Ton, and Piggy and Kell, and Tyria and Myn and Cubber and Runt and Emtrey and and and…

You are very much missed. May the Force be with You.

[jkcorellia]

🚨RED ALERT🚨 THE ESSENTIAL LEGENDS COVER FOR SOLO COMMAND HAS SHALLA AND RUNT ON IT

finally a good, official image of Shalla Nelprin

[notasapleasure]

The greatest treasure in the Star Wars collection I finally have the space to unpack and store properly isn't my beloved giant Wedge and Biggs figures, nor is it my Ewan MacGregor autograph, nor even is it my precious MicroMachines set for Heir to the Empire. No, it is far and away the folder full of early '00s print-offs from Aaron Allston's website:

This is like....you can pinpoint the exact moment she discovered fandom!! You can see how floppy the paper was from the ink when I printed out the pictures :')

Yup, Aaron said 'Star Wars canon is whatever you want it to be'. He also changed Hobbie's hair colour though, so maybe he just had a thing about Hobbie.

He also hosted a bunch of fanart, which was my first exposure to the genre and which I utterly ADORED. Here are some by Jenny Kauer and Sixten because they include my blorbo Janson:

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

Admiral Ackbar: What pilot in their right mind would join Wraith Squadron? Wedge Antilles: Not looking for right-minded pilots, as it happens.

[from-a-legends-pov]

Star Wars Legends: Poll of the Week - Crimes of Fashion

Which of these fashion crimes from a Star Wars Legends property is your favorite?

The rejected designs for Mara Jade’s wedding dress, which included a computer-generated dress, a “traditional” design from a Hutt, a neo-Imperial design with a black cape and hood (Leia: “Yes, but the bride doesn’t want to look like the father of the groom”), and one design that was simply a thong and a large bow, which Mara refused to try on (Star Wars: Union comic)

Wes Janson’s cape that he had specially made for him on Adumar, adorned with flatscreen panels that played a holo of “a line of Jansons, arms linked, doing high kicks like a dancing chorus” (X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar)

Leia Organa’s Kabray dress – which, due to a luggage mixup, was the only dress she had to wear to an important diplomatic banquet – after a group of enthusiastic Zeltrons “fixed” it (read: cut it to pieces and added glitter) to make it more in keeping with Zeltros fashion and to hide the stains on it (Star Wars #95, original Marvel comics)

Prince Isolder of Hapes’ outfit when presenting the Hapan Consortium’s 62 gifts (plus himself, gift #63) to Leia Organa on Coruscant: “He wore a silver circlet that held a black veil in front of his face, and his long, blond hair fell down around his shoulders. The man was bare-chested except for a small silk half-cloak fastened with silver straps…” (The Courtship of Princess Leia)

The disguises for “Yokel Group” (Wedge Antilles, Myn Donos, and Face Loran) of Wraith Squadron, who for a mission dressed up as a group of stereotypical backwater tourists who had traveled from Agamar looking for brides, wearing shirts with loud prints, clashing shorts, and mismatched hats. “Sir, permission to kill Face?” “Granted. But keep your hat, like Face says” (X-Wing: Wraith Squadron)

Hobbie Klivian’s dress outfit to meet the perator of Cartann, “a riot of lines and angles…every hem of every garment was decorated with trim of eye-hurting yellow, making it almost a dizzying experience to look at him walk.” As Hobbie said: “There are three types of dress clothing…the type that offends the wearer, the type that offends the viewers, and the type that offends everybody. I’m going for the third type” (X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar)

Hungry for more Star Wars Legends content? Follow @from-a-legends-pov and check out our upcoming Star Wars Legends fanfiction event, From a Legends Point of View, HERE. Signups open April 28 — please encourage your favorite Star Wars writers to participate!

[yubsie]

In case you're wondering what it's like to raise a potential third generation Star Wars fan, my dad is currently trying to teach my toddler to say "Yub yub, Mommy!"

[magnetarbeam]

This is exactly how I think it should always sound when Force-users try to describe what they feel in words.

Like, you can't do it without freaking people out at least a little.