And of course, both reasons also require her to keep R2 intact, which she also didn’t want to do. Given subsequent events, it’s just as well she gave in on that point, too.
—TZ
Chapter 24
1 In the original outline, it was Han and Leia, not Han and Lando, who went to see Karrde. In that version, Chewie and Lando did little after Nkllon except fly around the New Republic, pretending Leia was aboard their ship, in the hope of drawing away all the unwelcome Noghri attention she’d been receiving.
The final version is much better. While Star Wars can be seen as being the story of Luke Skywalker, it really is an ensemble cast. The final version of Heir gives each person in that ensemble more of a role, and more of a chance to shine.
—TZ
2 In the real world, the repercussions of Jabba’s death would ripple a long way outward.
Little details like that were what helped make the Star Wars movies feel genuine and realistic, and I tried to put some of those same touches into Heir.
—TZ
Chapter 25
1 Though I tried to give each of the three main movie characters a fair share of the action in Heir, it was in the nature of this part of the story that Leia got a bit shortchanged.
Still, she has a few memorable moments, this being one of them. And of course, she’ll have a much larger and more pivotal role later in Dark Force Rising.
—TZ
2 I was pleased, during this reread, to find very few things I would have edited differently now from the way I did twenty years ago. One exception appears here. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Leia, and obviously some time has passed. Yet there’s no mention of her advancing pregnancy. It’s odd that I didn’t request a sentence or two, especially as I was going through my own first pregnancy at the time and discovering that there is not a moment when that developing child escapes a mother’s awareness. Yet Leia doesn’t give a thought to her baby bump in this very exciting chapter.…
—BM
3 I had a small problem with the Ewoks of Return of the Jedi. Not that they weren’t effective as aliens, but they were just so darned cute—as they were of course meant to be—that it was hard for me to visualize them as real fighters.
The Noghri were sort of my answer to that. They were roughly the same size as Ewoks, with a similar family and village life and a sense of honor and commitment to those they’ve accepted as friends and allies.
Only they’re true warriors, and extremely deadly. And they’re not at all cute.
—TZ
4 It would, in fact, be another ten years before the war with the Empire would end (in the Hand of Thrawn Duology).
And that brief period of peace would be quickly followed by the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, which would be followed by more trouble, and yet more trouble. Some galaxies never seem to catch a break …
—TZ
Chapter 26
1 Killing off a character, or even just lopping off one of his or her major body parts, can be highly traumatic, not only for the character but for the audience. Just ask Luke.
That’s one of the handy things about droids. You can rip off any component you need to, and after a quick visit to the body shop everything will be fine.
Gilbert Gottfried, who voiced the parrot Iago in Disney’s Aladdin, once commented that the screenwriters’ philosophy seemed to be, “When in doubt, hurt the bird.”
Not that I would ever deliberately think that way about R2. Of course not.
—TZ
2 Mara Jade’s creation began with a simple idea and plan: to tie the opening section of Return of the Jedi more closely to the main story presented by the Star Wars movies.
To elaborate a bit: Han’s rescue was, of course, a vital part of Jedi. But to me, it always felt a little disconnected from the main Rebellion plot line. (Which it was, of course. Rescuing Han was strictly personal, on everyone’s part.)
As I mulled it over, it occurred to me that, after Vader’s attempt to persuade Luke to join him in The Empire Strikes Back, the Emperor might very well have decided that Luke was more liability than potential asset and sent someone to take him out when he turned up at Jabba’s palace.
What kind of person might Palpatine send? It would have to be someone competent, naturally. It would also have to be someone who could meet Luke’s Jedi power head-on. Finally, it would have to be someone who was out of the normal chain of command, lest Vader get wind of the plan.
From all that came the idea of the Emperor’s Hand, a shadowy agent under Palpatine’s sole command. And from that, ultimately, came Mara Jade.
And although her early history still remains mysterious, I’ve now had a chance to tell a few of the stories of her life as the Emperor’s Hand, in Star Wars: Allegiance and the upcoming Star Wars: Choices of One.
—TZ
Chapter 27
1 In Greek myth, the Chimaera was a fantastical fire-breathing beast that combined lion, goat, and snake. It was also held to be unconquerable, though it was eventually killed by Bellerophon.
Nowadays, the word refers to something made up of disparate parts (usually as a result of grafting or genetic manipulation), or something wildly and grotesquely imaginary.
All of those elements went into my decision to name Thrawn’s flagship the Chimaera. Disparate elements (human plus Chiss), considered imaginary (and hence not taken seriously by others until Thrawn was ready to move), and unconquerable.
—TZ
2 Cloaking shields are one of those SF gadgets that almost beg to be abused by the writer. A cloak of invisibility that lets you sneak up right beside your enemies and deliver lethal blows can make life way too easy for you, and way too easy for your characters.
I would probably not have used cloaking shields at all if it hadn’t been for that comment in The Empire Strikes Back. Given that the Empire did have such a device, I couldn’t very well ignore it, any more than I could ignore the existence of clones and cloning.
Fortunately, by the time I began writing Heir, West End Games had already come up with the kind of limiting factor that cloaking technology needs. Along with its expense, they also postulated that it was a two-way shield, with no light or signal getting out that your enemy could see, but also no sensor data getting in that you could see. A doubleblind shield is automatically more difficult to use safely and effectively than the one-way type that often shows up in science fiction.
Fortunately, coming up with inventive ways to use limited and otherwise questionable technology is one of Thrawn’s specialties.
—TZ
Chapter 28
1 From the very beginning it was clear that Luke and Mara worked well together.
At least, when Mara was willing to cooperate.
—TZ
2 One of the unexpected complications with the Heir manuscript was that the copy editor evidently had never dealt with Star Wars before. When I got the manuscript, I discovered that this kind and thoughtful person had painstakingly changed all the stormtroopers to the more correct (at least for Earth usage) storm troopers.