Heir to the Empire

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1991

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-14

Chapters 15-22

Chapters 23-32

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Cultural/Genre Context: The Star Wars Expanded Universe

Heir to the Empire is an important novel in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Although Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (1978) marked the beginning of the Expanded Universe, it is not always considered the true beginning. It was written before Return of the Jedi and before George Lucas had decided that Luke and Leia were related, so the novel shows Luke and Leia as having feelings for one another—although they never act on their feelings, Luke does declare his love.

Because of this variance from what turned out to be universe canon, Heir to the Empire is considered by many to be the work that truly kicked off the Expanded Universe and fueled its popularity. The novel is wildly popular and deemed by many fans to be the best novel of the Expanded Universe—with the best villain (Grand Admiral Thrawn) after Darth Vader. All of the Expanded Universe is built off of the Thrawn trilogy to continue the story. Heir to the Empire, in other words, is the primary foundation for the Expanded Universe. Thrawn himself has also appeared in other stories. Timothy Zahn wrote a novel about Thrawn’s history, Star Wars: Thrawn (2017), due to the popularity of the villain.

Another important element of the Star Wars Expanded Universe is the change that occurred when the Walt Disney Company acquired the Star Wars franchise. Upon acquisition, Disney executives chose to revoke the status of the Expanded Universe as canon, so that they could create new stories without the limitations of the canon as it existed. For the most part, Disney did not pull from the Expanded Universe in their subsequent releases.

Since the release of both the newest trilogy and several stand-alone movies and Disney+ series, many fans have expressed dissatisfaction with how Disney has handled Star Wars and with the stories they have chosen to tell. In response to this dissatisfaction, Disney has chosen to pull from the Expanded Universe (now called Legends) more frequently, including revisiting Thrawn as a villain. Thrawn has appeared in the animated series Star Wars Rebels, and is the villain of the Disney+ series Ahsoka. He is the only Expanded Universe character that Disney has included in their new releases with little to no changes to the original character.

Genre Context: Science Fiction Versus Science Fantasy

Star Wars is often called science fiction, but in truth, it fits within the genre of science fantasy. Works are considered science fiction if they conform to the rule that even if the technology seems fantastic, it fits within a scientifically possible future—events that presumably could happen based on scientific fact. Star Wars does not conform to this genre convention, using unlikely technology and supernatural or magical abilities such as Jedi powers and the Force.

Despite this distinction, Star Wars does contain elements of both genres, combining common tropes of each. Science fantasy, or fantasy more broadly, is often backwards-looking, glorifying the past; an example from traditional fantasy would be the glorification of past kingdoms in The Lord of the Rings. In Star Wars, the Jedi embody this trope: The conversation about Jedi often centers around the past, and the power of the old order of Jedi is glorified. Science fiction, on the other hand, is traditionally forward- or future-looking. It highlights the way things improve, or how things will be better in the future. This is the role of the Rebellion and, subsequently, the New Republic, which promises to provide a better future.