A Young Fan and the Book That Changed Him

Before I get started, I’d like to tell you a brief story about how I became a Star Wars fan. This will be the short, short version. I’m at the age where I wasn’t born yet or I was too young for the Original Trilogy, and maybe a little older than the target audience for the Prequel Trilogy. I was, however, born into a family that loved Star Wars—mostly my two older brothers. They had the toys, the bed sheets, and the Burger King Star Wars drinking glasses. I got to play with, and destroy many of their toys; sorry my dudes. No really, I still feel terrible about that. It was the real vintage stuff that I was playing with back then, and I ruined so many of them while my G.I. Joe’s fought a war against Star Wars. In my defense, many G.I. Joes were destroyed during those battles too!

When I was a very young boy, I was able to watch the Original Trilogy, and was even able to see Return of the Jedi in the theater. I don’t remember much of it because I was four years old at the time, but I can at least say I was able to see one of the originals in the theater—I suppose that also makes me old-ish. During my preteen years and early teens, I was more into G.I. Joe and Transformers. That was until the early to mid 90’s when Star Wars Power of the Force action figures began to flood the now non-existent toy stores around the world. For Christmas one year around that time, I received almost the entire collection as a wonderful gift from my oldest brother. The collection even included the Shadows of the Empire action figures. Shadows of the Empire is a Legends story that took place in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. That book had its own video game and action figure line—that’s how loved some of these Expanded Universe stories are.

The collection included some of the Expanded Universe action figures and I was like, “What is the Expanded Universe?” Right around that time the hype began for new Star Wars movies coming soon, and the announcement of The Phantom Menace coming to theaters. So this mysterious Expanded Universe thing, and a new Star Wars movie on the way were here for me to fall in love with. My interest in Star Wars was growing rapidly.

I was talking to one of my closest friends about these things, and he mentioned a book he read and loved titled: Heir to the Empire. He had never mentioned it prior to this because in this timeline, Star Wars fans were made fun of or worse. The nerd culture in the 90’s was pretty much underground, and not the huge phenomenon it is today. It wasn’t cool to go out in public wearing a Star Wars t-shirt; now today, I have a whole dresser drawer filled with them!

My friend lent me his copy of Heir to the Empire, but before I read it, I decided to re-watch the Original Trilogy since back then, Heir to the Empire along with its two sequels were dubbed as the continuation of the Star Wars story. While it may have never been officially set in stone, the Thrawn Trilogy was the original Sequel Trilogy for a very long time. Everything changed for me after reading this book. I was hooked. Begun my Star Wars fandom had.

Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (1991)

While it’s no longer considered canon; some say it never was canon even though it was dubbed from the beginning as the continuation of the Star Wars story. George Lucas was fine with this being considered the sequels because he had no intention of continuing the story there at the time. So keep in mind, that this is now part of the Legends stories, and the true canon of Star Wars is the Sequel Trilogy—The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.

Whether you’re a fan of the canon or not, if you love Han, Luke, Leia, and the rest of the OT crew then this book is for you. I highly recommend reading it, and listening to the audio version too. Honestly, the narrator, Marc Thompson, along with all the music and sound effects make it feel like you’re listening to a Star Wars movie. Mr. Thompson does a phenomenal job voicing all of the characters; his Han Solo and Lando Calrissian are so good that I remember double checking to make sure Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams weren’t reprising their roles for the audio book.

While the narration and audio production were superb, I cannot stress enough how well the author, Timothy Zahn, seamlessly brought the characters from the movies and placed them into his novel. It’s easy to see that he knows the characters just as well as the creator. They each do and say things in a way you’ve become used to from the movies. I’m not saying their words or actions are predictable. He was just attuned to their characteristics and as I’ve said, it’s done in a way that it feels like you’re watching the next movie by reading the book.

One of the best things about this story is the creation of new and fresh characters. The two biggest characters to come out of this novel are none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Mara Jade. With Darth Vader and Palpatine gone, it’s up to Grand Admiral Thrawn to hold the remnants of the Empire together, and to destroy the Rebellion. In his fight against the heroes, he enlists a Dark Jedi that happens to be an insane clone to help him in his fight while promising the cloned Jedi he’ll deliver Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo and her yet to be born twin force sensitive babies. The Dark Jedi has his own twisted plans for the force users.

Mara Jade—some people love her character while others do not. Her role in this story is really well written and crafted. I will say that the Thrawn Trilogy is just as much about her character arc as it is about all the other characters in the story. She is on a mission. To hunt down, capture, and kill Luke Skywalker. She manages to capture him early on, but isn’t prepared for anything that comes after.

The Force is Strong with this One

I won’t go into anymore details about the story because if you’ve read them, you know, and if you haven’t read them, I want it to be new and exciting for you. I understand this book and its sequels aren’t for everyone; especially now that there are new canon stories taking place after Return of the Jedi along with the Sequel Trilogy later on. For me, it’s exciting to see which elements are pulled from the Expanded Universe, and used in the new canon. Many story beats, and some characters have been brought into canon, and there are arguments/discussions all over the fandom about which have hit and which have missed. With his appearance in Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka, Grand Admiral Thrawn’s jump to canon has been mostly well received.

Heir to the Empire, along with many other Expanded Universe books, and the Prequel Trilogy, re-ignited my interest in Star Wars, and turned me into this collectible junkie, Star Wars podcast host with Star Wars tattoos and t-shirts, and a person with an undying love for this beautiful thing George Lucas created.

While the action figures sparked my interest, it was this book that shaped me into the fan I am today. For those of you that listen to my podcast, you’ve likely heard me defend Heir to the Empire and the Expanded Universe on the regular. The Expanded Universe is my first Star Wars love, and I will always fight for it. Because that’s what we do—we fight to save the things we love.