Heir to the Empire

“I’ve found that what most people call luck is often little more than raw talent combined with the ability to make the most of opportunities.”

Karrde’s words reveal that he suspects there is more to Mara Jade’s story than she has revealed to him. The words foreshadow Mara’s revelation to Luke about her role as Emperor’s Hand and the reasons for her hatred of him.

“Thrawn had proved time and again that he knew what he was doing. Still, Pellaeon couldn’t help but wonder uneasily if the Grand Admiral recognized the extent of the power he’d awakened from its sleep on Wayland.”

Pellaeon’s concern foreshadows the instability and anger within Joruus that reveals itself when the first attempt to capture Luke and Leia fails. The moment reads as foreshadowing for the rest of the trilogy, since Joruus’s storyline is not resolved by the end of Heir to the Empire.

“Mourning the loss of a friend and teacher was both fitting and honorable, but to dwell unnecessarily on that loss was to give the past too much power over the present.”

Part of Luke’s inner conflict is the tension he feels between what he should and should not do as a Jedi. He mourns his mentors, but he feels guilty for mourning them for longer than is “fitting.”

“Luke rubbed a hand across his chin, forcing back the sense of dread gnawing at him. Giving in to fear would only rob him of the ability to think, and that was the last thing he could afford to lose at this point.”

This passage provides an additional example of Luke facing his fears as part of his inner struggle. He fears not only the future and The Weight of Responsibility to rebuild the Jedi Order; he also feels guilty any time he struggles with fear in actively threatening circumstances given what is required of him. He forces down his fears, but he struggles to face them directly.

“For the Jedi, there is no emotion; there is peace. Luke took a deep breath, forcing back the black thoughts. No, he would not give up.”

Luke attempts to fight fear by ignoring his “darker” emotions. This tactic allows him to deal with the situation at hand, but the frequency of his anxiety and his memories of Yoda’s words indicate that a larger struggle still remains for him.

“‘Ah,’ Leia said, the momentary discomfort easing as she once again found herself feeling like a raw and not very bright diplomatic beginner. It was easy to forget that, despite their somewhat quaint-looking arboreal villages and their own animalistic appearance, Wookiees generally were quite at home with high technology.”

Leia acknowledges her own assumptions, recognizing that she was wrong—a moment that speaks to her character. This moment also reveals an underlying theme of many Star Wars stories: racism (or xenophobia). This trait is something that is commonly associated with the Empire, as illustrated in Pellaeon’s noting that Thrawn was the first non-human to be named Grand Admiral.

“[B]ut as Luke gazed back at her, he saw something else along with the anger. Something that looked like a deep and lingering pain.”

Mara Jade’s anger comes across as all-consuming and irrevocable, but Luke sees something in her. Her story about losing everything when the Emperor died explains some of it, but moments like this foreshadow that there is more to Mara Jade than her past with the Emperor.

“There were stories he remembered from his childhood about fortresses with trees growing up through them. Frightening stories, some of them, full of danger and helplessness and fear. And in every one of those stories, such fortresses were the home of evil.”

Luke feels anxiety and paranoia about future evil at Karrde’s base, even though Karrde reveals himself to be a man of honor on some level, helping Han and Lando to free Luke from the stormtroopers, despite his imprisonment of Luke. This moment reveals more about Luke and his struggles with fear and helplessness.

“This face was a nightmare image: long and lean, with pale blue skin and eyes that glittered like two bits of red-hot metal.”

Thrawn’s effect on others is clear, and potentially a weapon he uses to his advantage. Karrde’s reaction, however, also reveals the consistent human struggle in the Star Wars Expanded Universe with racism and fear of the other.

“For a pair of heartbeats he stayed where he was, torn between the need for haste and the need to satisfy his internal sense of ethics. He and Artoo had to get out of here with all possible speed; that much was obvious. But if he turned his back on Mara now, without even pausing to check on her condition…”

Luke’s inner morality wrestles with his urgency to save his own life and return to his friends and family. Despite the risks, Luke remains true to his ethics and his commitment to help others.

“I’ve wanted to kill you for a long time. I dreamed about your death every night for most of that first year. Dreamed it, plotted it—I must have run through a thousand scenarios, trying to find exactly the right way to do it. You can call it a cloud on my judgment if you want to; I’m used to it by now. It’s the closest thing I’ve got to a permanent companion.”

Mara Jade has been steadily poisoned by hatred and regret for years, and she finally admits to the reasons for her hatred when she and Luke are in the forest. In this moment, Mara’s obsession is revealed, foreshadowing a future tension between what she thinks she knows about the Emperor and Luke.

“[H]e should by rights be wide-eyed with pumping adrenaline by now. Maybe he was just faking it, hoping she would lower her guard. It was probably something she would try, under reversed circumstances. But then, maybe there was more to him than met the eye. More than just a family name, a political position, and a bag of Jedi tricks.”

Mara reassesses Luke as she observes his calm in the face of abduction. She does not take back her opinion of him, but the moment foreshadows her need to reconsider what she knows.

“He paused at the door to take one last look at the forest, a shiver of melancholy and something that felt disturbingly like fear running through him. No, the Grand Admiral wasn’t going to be happy about this. Wasn’t going to be happy at all. And one way or the other, Karrde knew that his life here was at an end.”

Karrde faces the reality of his situation: He cannot avoid angering Thrawn, particularly if he lives by his value of hospitality and debts of honor. He can no longer rely on his ability to play both sides equally, swearing Loyalty and Trust to both the Empire and the New Republic. A choice must be made.

“Somewhere in the back of his mind, though, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was the sort of trick a Jedi should use.”

With Yoda’s admonitions about the Dark Side following Luke throughout this part of his journey, Luke struggles with decisions that reside in a moral gray area. He uses deception to save himself and Mara, knowing it is necessary and that it will not do harm in and of itself, but he questions whether deception is an acceptable practice as a Jedi.

“Solo was the type to hold debts of honor sacred—something he’d probably picked up from his Wookiee friend somewhere along the line.”

Karrde recognizes himself in Solo, a fellow smuggler who resides by a code of honor. Solo claimed, in the original trilogy, that he only looked out for himself, but he has always abided by debts of honor. Karrde recognizes this in him, and he hopes that Solo delivering on their agreement will give Karrde the resources he needs to patch up his business relationship with Thrawn.

“Thrawn had lost too much here to simply shrug it off as the fortunes of war. He would be back…and he would be coming for blood.”

Despite Karrde’s hope to repair business relations with Thrawn, part of him knows that he will not be able to do so. He now must uproot his entire operation if he hopes to protect himself and his people from Thrawn who is fueled by a desire for Power and Control.

“So much for his protestations of neutrality […] Karrde and his betrayal will keep for later.”

Karrde’s hopes to salvage a business relationship with Thrawn seem doomed. Thrawn has an uncanny ability to see through the machinations of others, and he has deduced Karrde’s role in Luke’s escape.

“I will not waste ships and men trying to change that which cannot be changed.”

Timothy Zahn demonstrates the formidable nature of Thrawn as the trilogy’s primary antagonist by revealing just how strong a tactician and warrior he is. Thrawn may be enraged by their loss at Sluis Van, but he is confident in his plan and keeps his eye on the end goal.

“Pellaeon issued the order to retreat. And wondered, once again, what the Battle of Endor would have been like if Thrawn had been in command.”

Pellaeon’s recognition of Thrawn’s capabilities and of the Power and Control he wields in his quest to destroy the New Republic builds dramatic tension toward a key trope of science fantasy narratives: an ultimate battle between good and evil. Thrawn may not have Jedi powers, but he has used intellect and knowledge to become as terrifying a villain as Darth Vader or the Emperor.

“‘Would you rather the Imperials have gotten it whole?’ Han demanded from behind him, trying to ignore his own mixed feelings about this whole thing. Yes, it had worked…but at what cost?”

Despite their best efforts, the heroes consistently face difficult questions about the greater good. Frequently forced to choose the best or only option in the moment and deal with the consequences later, Zahn’s protagonists feel The Weight of Responsibility in their decision to return to Coruscant.

“‘Well, fortunately, Fey’lya’s only one voice,’ Luke offered. ‘Yeah, but it’s a loud one,’ Han said sourly.”

Here, Zahn foreshadows the news that Han, Luke, and Lando are about to receive about Fey’lya and Ackbar. Han has been wary of Fey’lya for the entire novel, and his suspicions are about to be confirmed in ways he did not expect, reinforcing Han’s characterization as the steady voice of reason in the New Republic’s leadership.

“‘I think I’ve taken care of our other problem,’ she said. Her voice, he noticed for the first time, sounded tense and more than a little ragged. ‘At least for the moment.’”

Leia has made an agreement with one of the Noghri, hoping he will meet her and show her his home so that she has a chance to win them over. Her lack of certainty demonstrates the scarcity of true Loyalty and Trust in a war-torn galaxy. Her words foreshadow future negotiations and struggles in the trilogy.

“If Fey’lya and his faction pushed too hard and too fast—and knowing Fey’lya, he would almost certainly push too hard and too fast.”

This moment foreshadows a new antagonist for the next part of the Thrawn trilogy. Thrawn may be the primary antagonist, but the heroes’ threats within their own government are growing as well, laying the groundwork for future narrative conflict.