To be fair, part of the problem was also that when the audio adaptations of the books came out, several of the names and words were a bit mangled, leaving a lingering confusion in the minds of everyone who heard them.
It wasn’t just my stuff, either. Anthony Daniels, who did one of the readings, later told me the pronunciation sheet he was given had Tatooine wrong, too.
—TZ
8 Thrawn doesn’t show this kind of emotion very often. It’s likely some of this is the distant memories of his encounter years earlier with the original, nonclone C’baoth.
Of course, I didn’t know that until years later when I wrote Outbound Flight. An other case of being able to fit pieces into a puzzle that at the time I didn’t even know I was making.
—TZ
9 This scene sets up a balance of two kinds of power that will affect the next three books: Thrawn’s military command and tactics-oriented mind versus C’baoth’s Force abilities and the danger of his completely unpredictable thought processes.
—BM
10 I caught more grief for this one than even the hot chocolate incident. The complaints mostly focused on the idea that the Force is created by living beings, and that it can’t be “pushed back” in the way I described, certainly not from other living beings.
Note, though, that I didn’t say that was the case. Thrawn did, and contrary to popular belief Thrawn doesn’t know everything.
What’s actually happening—and we’ll see it in action later—is that ysalamiri simply suppress the level of the Force to something below the threshold that Jedi can access. It’s a fine distinction, but an important one.
Still, the bottom line for Jedi—and more important for C’baoth—is basically the same. Thrawn can therefore be excused for perhaps oversimplifying his explanation.
—TZ
11 Actually, we know from The Empire Strikes Back that the cloaking shield was at least marginally functional at that time.
But the rumors may not have reached Thrawn, out in the Unknown Regions, until closer to Endor.
—TZ
12 I borrowed this from Sauron’s driving of his forces in The Lord of the Rings. Much as I sympathize with the Alliance, I felt there had to be something going on beneath the surface to explain their victory at Endor.
It’s also, I think, consistent with Palpatine’s pride and nature. Endor was to be his victory over the Rebellion, and he would have made sure he could claim it as such.
Logic aside, of course, I also needed this ability for C’baoth to use later in the books.
—TZ
13 Thrawn had spent years observing Palpatine, watching how he used his power, seeing what his goals and desires were. From that analysis, he would naturally have concluded that all Dark Jedi would want the same kind of power over people and worlds.
—TZ
14 Outbound Flight was essentially a throwaway line, a way to confirm that this C’baoth was indeed a clone, as well as to underline Thrawn’s military capabilities.
But it didn’t stay a throwaway for long. I ended up working out a few more details in Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, and ultimately did an entire novel, Outbound Flight.
I wish I’d known at the time that the project was going to grow to that size. I would have given it a much cooler name.
—TZ
15 Again, my assumptions about the Clone Wars were exactly backward: I assumed the clones would be fighting against the Republic instead of being on their side. (Nice twist, George!)
Fortunately, facing doesn’t necessarily mean fighting. My choice of words here was pure luck, but it helped me avoid a retroactive gaffe.
—TZ
Chapter 5
1 In Return of the Jedi, Mon Mothma said that Bothan spies had learned the new Death Star’s location and an Imperial code that would allow a surreptitious Rebel approach. Even though all that turned out to be a trap, I figured the Bothans would probably use that to work themselves into a good position in the fledgling New Republic hierarchy.
Especially if I gave them a high level of smooth political maneuvering skills. The result of that train of thought was Borsk Fey’lya.
But even beyond that, I wanted to show the New Republic as being a somewhat uneasy patchwork of differing political views, motivations, and goals. We have this conflict in any group of humans of any size—surely among different types of aliens the effect would be even more pronounced.
So, again, Borsk Fey’lya. For all the frustration and trouble he causes, he’s not a “villain” in the usual sense. He and his people simply have different ways of achieving their political goals. The fact that his approach causes chaos and possible destruction is apparently never a concern to him. It’s the way Bothans have always done things, and he—and they—see no reason to change.
—TZ
2 This seems to imply that Han first met Mon Mothma in Return of the Jedi, around the time of the Endor operation briefing. However, in Allegiance I have them meeting shortly after the Battle of Yavin, nearly four years earlier.
Does that make this line a goof? Well … maybe not. In a much later story, “The Tale of the ‘Tonika Sisters,’ ” from Tales from the Star Wars Cantina, I have a Rebel agent getting hold of a segment of the second Death Star’s prototype superlaser. Ergo, as far back as Yavin, rumors of a second Death Star would already be swirling around the Empire. Ergo, the line in Allegiance isn’t really a mistake.
Note that among other things, that bit of retrofitting implies that it took the Rebellion those same four years to track those rumors down. No wonder the Bothans came in for high praise when they brought the name Endor to Alliance attention.
Still, don’t let all these clever explanations give you the impression that I had this whole immense thing mapped out in advance. Right now, I’m using the Indiana Jones approach, and making it up (more or less) as I go.
—TZ
3 And Mon Mothma undoubtedly recognizes the problem and conflict: future dividends of Leia as a Jedi versus present dividends of Leia as diplomat. Present versus future: a decision we all have to make from time to time.
And that’s one of the reasons the Star Wars movies were so successful. They portrayed real people—with real, timeless, human problems and challenges—against the backdrop of a wondrous universe.
—TZ
4 “Just exactly like old times” perfectly calls to mind various scenes in the original Star Wars: Luke practicing his newfound Force abilities, Chewie and R2-D2 playing dejarik, Han and Leia sniping at each other. Therefore there’s no need to spell out what occurs between the end of this chapter and the beginning of chapter 6. Tim simply announces that the Falcon has arrived at Bimmisaari.
—BM
Chapter 6
1 One of the subtle tricks George used in the Star Wars movies was to show us only a few different planets, but to then use throwaway mentions of others along the way, thus giving us a feel for a much larger galaxy than we were actually seeing.
I wanted to continue that technique by throwing in short visits to lots of different worlds such as Bimmisaari.