Category: Opinion

Background Details: The Problem with Jedi from Birth

Posted on August 13, 2013by Cry Havac
When you get right down to it, these guys are all pretty samey, aren’t they?

In the process of writing about the supporting-character situation of the Expanded Universe, a few thoughts occurred to me about the pernicious effect of prequel-style Jedi characters — specifically, the way that Jedi-from-birth recruitment, and its corresponding tendency to identify Jedi purely as Jedi, limited opportunities to define Jedi as unique characters. Nanci’s excellent article on Tosche Station soon afterward hit that same point as part of a larger critique of the prequelization of the Jedi, so I decided I could let the topic sit briefly before I returned to it. Now, I think, is the time to revisit the topic in depth.

A diverse Jedi Order

Before the prequels established that the Jedi of their time were taken from their families in infancy and trained in seclusion from the galaxy, the Expanded Universe ran with the idea that most Jedi were trained as adults or youths. Furthermore, given Luke’s example as a farmer-turned-freedom-fighter-and-fighter-pilot, the EU did not take the calling to be a Jedi as an exclusive vocation, a full-time occupation for monks dwelling in a Temple away from society.

The result of this was an incredibly diverse Jedi Order. The first Jedi candidates were adults who had escaped identification as Force-sensitive; by necessity this meant that they had already developed identities independent of the Jedi. Corran Horn was a police detective who became a fighter pilot and married a smuggler. Kyle Katarn was a farmboy who signed up to be a stormtrooper, but defected after the Empire killed his father and became a Rebel mercenary and commando. Tionne was an avid historian and musician with an interest in the Jedi. Kam Solusar was an Imperial Dark Jedi redeemed by Luke. Kyp Durron was a child political prisoner put to work as a spice miner. Mara Jade was an Imperial spy and assassin who served the Emperor personally before becoming second-in-command of a smuggling and information-brokering cartel, then a merchant captain. Streen was a hermit who loved birds. Gantoris was a leader of his remote, hardscrabble people. Cray Mingla and Nichos Marr were accomplished scientists and engineers. Dorsk 81 worked a nine-to-five job in a cloning center. Cilghal was an ambassador. Leia was a princess and senator who became a freedom fighter and diplomat, then political leader of the galaxy while raising a family.

An ambassador, a cop, a commando, a fighter pilot, an assassin, and a hunter walk into a Jedi Academy . . .

These Jedi were a collection of people with different skill sets and life experiences. They had families, friends, and lives outside the Jedi Order. This Jedi Order of spies, commandos, scientists, fighter jocks, cops, businesswomen, diplomats, smugglers, and farmers was bursting not only with background detail, but different competencies that informed the characters’ story roles and the personalities they brought to the table. Rather than being defined by their status as Jedi, they had independent existence that ensured they were fully-formed characters.

This continued even with those generations of Jedi who trained as youths. Because they were not separated from their families before they could walk, individuals were still able to develop outside the Jedi Order and gained unique backgrounds. Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin had famous parents and a set of adventures under their belts before they were even old enough to start attending the Academy. Anakin and Jaina shared an aptitude for mechanics, while Jacen preferred animals and jokes. Jaina was a talented pilot who was friends with Zekk — an orphan scavenger who became a Jedi trainee himself. At the Academy, they met Tenel Ka Djo, an outdoorsy princess; Raynar Thul, slightly pompous heir to a merchant house; Lowbacca, Chewbacca’s nephew with his own immediate family who played into the story; Tahiri, raised by a tribe of Sand People; and Lusa, a former Imperial captive who became ensnared by an extremist group before joining the Jedi.

Furthermore, these rounded characters were not required to act identically. Full-time Jedi weren’t required; Jedi could live on their own and hold down different jobs while being Jedi, just as Luke had been a fighter pilot commanding a squadron in the Rebel military at the same time he had become a Jedi Knight. Leia was a Jedi and the president of the New Republic simultaneously. Kyle Katarn learned to be a Jedi, then returned to fighting the Empire in a commando unit. Jaina Solo joined Rogue Squadron during the Yuuzhan Vong War while still serving as Mara’s apprentice. Cilghal became a senator after graduating from the Jedi Praxeum. Keyan Farlander continued serving in the military, rising to become a general. Corran Horn kept flying with Rogue Squadron until he retired, and rejoined the military during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Kyp Durron put together an independent pirate-hunting squadron. Danni Quee continued her scientific endeavors while training with the Jedi. Some Jedi remained single, while others married and started families. Students and teachers lived at the Jedi Academy, but graduate Jedi Knights roamed the galaxy.

The influence of the prequel Jedi

These Jedi, so diverse in lifestyle, background, and characterization, stand in sharp contrast to the Jedi of the prequel model. By having its Jedi trained from birth inside a rigid Jedi Order, the prequel model eliminates so much of this potential diversity. There are no cop Jedi, no fighter jock Jedi, no scientist Jedi, no politician Jedi, no business Jedi. There are no Jedi with families. No Jedi serving in the Senate, in a fighter squadron, in the laboratory. Jedi may train in a few specialties, but this doesn’t replace the experience of being in one of those roles in a Jedi-independent context, surrounded by Forceless colleagues, defining oneself through a career. Instead, all Jedi have the same monotonous background: Jedi raised inside the Jedi Temple by other Jedi raised inside the Jedi Temple, going on Jedi missions with other Jedi who go on Jedi missions. The option for a character like Saba Sebatyne, whose upbringing within Barabel culture has left her with an incredibly distinctive and unique personality, simply isn’t there.

It is not impossible to develop individual characterization in this situation. A sharp writer like John Ostrander can do a great deal to set Jedi characters apart with strong personalities and genuinely unique story roles. But most prequel Jedi, even the better-characterized ones, are not quite as distinctive as Ostrander’s. Qui-Gon is distinct from Obi-Wan in outlook and attitude — but he is not nearly as different as he could be. Given twelve Jedi at once in the form of the Jedi Council, creators did an admirable job of trying to develop some sense of distinction in personality and specialization — but they couldn’t escape the fact that they are stuck doing variations on the same basic template. You could switch out Eeth Koth, Saesee Tiin, Kit Fisto, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Adi Gallia in most stories and not notice any difference at all. The restrictions on storytelling potential are real and significantly limiting.

One of these Jedi Councils is visually diverse. The other is diverse in character.

The prequel Jedi Council of twelve prequel Jedi — one of whom is a little more aggressive than the others, one of whom hasn’t taken an apprentice and is a great pilot, one of whom knows Chancellor Valorum, etc. — is a significant change from the Jedi Council of the New Jedi Order — a married couple consisting of a sweet-natured farmboy fighter pilot and a harsh-but-loving reformed assassin/spy/smuggler, a hard-bitten veteran commando with a history of struggling with the dark side, an intensely practical detective/Starfighter Command colonel married to a smuggler, a reformed Dark Jedi and his musician wife, a bachelor ex-slave miner who committed genocide in a vendetta over his family, a gentle healer with a political background, etc. Mike Cooper will point out that the prequel Council is much more visually diverse, but it is the New Jedi Order Council that is vastly more diverse in character.

This distinction is especially clear in the creation of brand-new Jedi protagonists. Jedi created outside the prequel context during the New Jedi Order still had distinctive characteristics. Kenth Hamner was an ex-fighter pilot and current military liaison, which informed his by-the-book, law-and-order personality and his administrative, diplomatic, and leadership expertise. Saba Sebatyne was raised in Barabel culture, giving her a distinctly alien personality and the mindset of a hunter. Wurth Skidder had no particularly unique background, but was infused with a headstrong, cocky personality and a particular agenda to take the fight to the enemy. Ganner Rhysode was an arrogant, narcissistic Jedi who saw himself as a naturally superior hero before he got his ego under control.

Ben Skywalker’s time in the Galactic Alliance Guard gave him military and police training and time with non-Force-sensitives, helping set him apart from his generic fellow Jedi in characterization and skills.

Post-NJO, when the prequelization of the Jedi took hold? Quick, tell me the difference between Valin Horn, Jysella Horn, Natua Wan, Kolir Hu’lya, Seff Hellin, Doran Tainer, and Thann Mithric? If you answered, “I don’t know,” you’re correct! All are born Jedi who have never done anything other than hang around the Temple and go on Jedi missions, which Troy Denning increasingly further genericized as purely commando strikes and StealthX fighter operations, in which all Jedi are blandly and uniformly competent.

Other prequel-influenced stories like Scourge, Fatal Alliance, Dark Times, Red Harvest, and Crosscurrent have struggled to make their Jedi protagonists stand out as characters. Their creativity seems crippled by adherence to the generic career-Jedi norm. Even the efforts to subvert that norm have been so hemmed in by uniformity as to spawn a new trope — the plucky-but-underpowered young female Jedi trainee who lacks confidence and worries about washing out. See Darsha Assant, Etain Tur-Mukan, and Scout.

In conclusion

The painful truth is that the Jedi-from-birth template, especially as exacerbated by Troy Denning’s tendency to run roughshod over any distinctions in Jedi roles in favor of making them interchangeable commando-pilots, produces cookie-cutter Jedi characters. They have the same life experiences and the same basic outlook. Their options for character definition are restricted by the removal of so many tools for diversification from the author’s toolbox, and the uniformity of the pattern discourages further innovation in all but the most creative authors. The unchecked spread of the Jedi-from-birth prequel model across the timeline and into authors’ heads must stop. It’s time for authors to return to diversity in background and role for Jedi characters. Their characters and stories will be so much richer when they do.

Senatus Populusque Res Publica Galactica: A Long Time Ago, Part 1

Posted on August 12, 2013by This Belongs in a Museum

A Republic is formed in a central region, is led by a Senate, undergoes a great period of expansion, fights wars against nomadic invaders and its cultural antecedents, and transitions from a republic to an empire under the direction of a charismatic leader who outlived his detractors. Many storylines and facets of various fantasy universes draw on Roman history, from the Malazan Empire of Malazan Book of the Fallen and the Septim Empire of The Elder Scrolls to the the Valyrian Freehold in A Song of Ice and Fire. Star Wars is no different in this regard. Several significant similarities exist between the Galactic Republic and the Roman Republic, from their languages to their enemies.

Lingua Franca Galactica

Declaration_page2

The Latin alphabet has been canonized within the Galaxy Far, Far Away as the ancient language of the Republic. For years, Latin letters have appeared in the EU- see, for example, the signatures on the Declaration of a New Republic. Latin was canonized as the High Galactic Alphabet by John Hazlett, known to TF.N posters as jSarek, in his article The Written Word. High Galactic originated with the Alsakani, one of the founding cultures of the Republic. Within the GFFA, it is still used for signatures, droid designations (note that, to paraphrase Dan Wallace, we never refer to a certain smarmy astromech as ReshTwo-DornTwo, or his flighty counterpart as Cresh-ThreePethOsk), and names of starships. Whether or not Latin itself exists within the GFFA is debatable. While various Latin and pseudo-Latin names appear frequently in Star Wars– the Imperial Navy is replete with vessel classes such as the Praetor, the Acclamator, the Venator, and the Imperator— such words could also originate other Core World tongues.

Senatus

Maccari-CiceroRepublicFinancialReformBill-POP

Like the Roman Republic, the Galactic Republic was governed by a Senate. The Senate was led, of course, by the Supreme Chancellor. While many of the details of the office of the Supreme Chancellor align more closely with modern European prime ministerships, it is notable that the Chancellor’s office was represented by a fanned spear, similar to the fasces, the symbol of the authority of the consul (The fasces was an axe surrounded by a bundle of sticks, symbolizing the power of a Roman consul or dictator to dole out capital punishment, if necessary). Notable differences exist, however, between the Galactic Senate and the Roman Senate. In particular, the manner of representation differed greatly between the two organizations. The Galactic Senate was composed of representatives from member worlds, systems, or regions. Every region had explicit representation in some form or another. Elections were usually left up to the individual star systems. In contrast, the Roman Senate under the Republic was appointed either through the censors or by election to a magistracy. There was no Senator of Achaea, no Senator of Mauretania- it was a Senate of, by, and for the Romans.

Socii

Miscellaneous_regions

One of the many fascinating sections of the Essential Atlas dealt with the Allied Regions, semi-independent sectors within the Old Republic. Allied Regions often originated as the domains of early adversaries of the Galactic Republic who chose accession over violence, and were generally left to govern their own affairs. Many of the Allied Regions could be found along what had been, at various points in time, the Republic’s frontier. Allied states were also a staple of Roman administration, first in Italy and later along the frontier. During the Republic, many of the Italic cities constituted autonomous states within the Roman Republic complete with their own citizenship, language, and local governance. In exchange for obeisance, taxes, and troops, these cities were largely left to govern their own affairs. Along the frontiers of the Republic- and later, the Empire- allied client kingdoms were established in sensitive regions that the Romans did not wish to directly control. Rather, Rome ruled through client kings (who often had Roman citizenship) in areas such as Bithynia and Armenia. The Galactic Empire had similar arrangements with Hutt Space and the Corporate Sector.

I Fear the Tionese Even When They Bear Gifts

Shuttles_img

The enemies of the Galactic Republic at times bore a striking resemblance the adversaries of the Roman Republic, and to a lesser extent the Roman Empire. Early on in her history, the Republic fought a series of vicious clashes with polities in the Tion Cluster. The Tion were already an ancient human culture by the year 24000 BBY, and Tionese culture had influenced much of the rest of human culture in the GFFA– certain Core worlds, such as Alsakan, even believed themselves to be Tionese colonies. However, by this point in time the Tionese had entered a long decline- Xim was long dead, the Hutts had ravaged many of their worlds, and the cluster itself had fractured into feuding polities. The Tionese War ended in a resounding Republic victory, as the Republic glassed Desevro. This conflict rather resembles the Macedonian Wars, a series of wars fought by the Roman Republic in the 2nd Century BCE against the Antiochids of Macedonia. Like the Galactic Republic, the Romans were fighting an enemy who had exerted a great cultural influence over them- a culture that was perceived to have fallen from a putative golden age and returned to a set of small feuding city-states and kingdoms following the death of Alexander. Jason Fry’s Xim Week and John Hazlett’s The Written Word pretty firmly established the Tionese as Hellene analogues in the GFFA (more on that next time), going so far as to officially canonize the ancient Greek alphabet as the Tionese language (thereby explaining the presence of Lambda-class shuttles and Delta Squad).

Mandalorians at the Gates

mando attack coruscant

Thousands of years later, the Republic would clash with nomadic invaders from the Outer Rim: the fearsome Mandalorians. The Mandalorians would take part in several wars against the Republic, wreaking havoc from Dxun and Eres III to Duros in the Galactic Core, and even briefly striking at Coruscant itself during the Great Sith War. The Mandalorians were originally portrayed as a staple fantasy nomadic warrior culture- something of a cross between the Vikings and the Mongols. In recent years- particularly since Karen Traviss gave her own take on the Mandalorians- the trend has moved more towards portraying the Mandalorians as Space Celts. And the Romans were quite familiar with fighting Celtic cultures. To the Romans, the Gauls were a cultural bogeyman similar to the role played by the Persians in the Greek psyche. Traditionally the Gauls had harried the Romans from Northern Italy for centuries- in 391 BCE, the Gauls even managed to sack the city of Rome itself. On a more general level, the clashes between the Republic and the Mandalorians are reminiscent of the wars between the later Roman Empire and nomadic groups such as the Franks and the Goths. Notably, both the Mandalorians and the Goths served as mercenaries for the very governments they famously fought.

Transition to Imperium Galacticum

res gestae

The earliest canonical mentions of the Old Republic are found in Episode IV, when Tarkin informs the rogue’s gallery of admirals, generals and Sith Lords aboard the Death Star that the Imperial Senate has been disbanded, and “the last vestiges of the Old Republic have been swept away”. The prequels would later elaborate on the transition from Republic to Empire, a transition which occurred at the behest of one Chancellor Palpatine- a figure who was inspired by many historical figures, among them Augustus Caesar. Augustus was able to engineer his election to the consulship soon after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44, and utilized his position to eliminate his opponents and consolidate his hold over the Roman government. Most of his powers were in fact voted to him by the Senate- during the Second Settlement tribunician power was granted to him, as well as censorial power (Tribunican power gave him the power to propose and veto legislation, while censorial power allowed Augustus to appoint and dismiss senators. This all was in addition to the executive powers he held as consul.). During and following his consolidation of power, Augustus embarked on a series of military campaigns throughout the Mediterranean world, incorporating new areas into the Empire and reasserting control over regions where control had been tenuous. All of which should sound very familiar to the career of Chancellor Palpatine. Like Augustus, Palpatine was able to effectively rewrite the history of his rise to power in order to suit his needs– Palpatine portrayed the Jedi Order as the perpetrators of the Clone Wars, as well as suppressing or rewriting accounts that contradicted his narrative. Augustus, in his Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Accomplishments of the Divine Augustus- the funerary inscription listing Augustus’s achievements) whitewashed his actions during the Second Triumvirate and the Civil Wars, glossing over the widespread murders of his political opponents while trumpeting how he “brought peace” to the Roman people.

Conclusion

Senate_seal

While it lacks a Romulus-style foundation myth, the Galactic Republic nevertheless followed many of the precedents set by the Roman Republic. The Galactic Republic’s enemies took many cues from the Roman Republic’s enemies, from culture and language to their own history. These kinds of historical references abound in the Star Wars films and Expanded Universe, and are likely to appear in Disney’s iteration of the franchise as well.

 

Next time on A Long Time Ago, Tyler will explain why the Tionese are Space Greeks and how Xim the Despot is a less competent Alexander the Great with beam-tube technology.

Fleet Junkies, Ho! – 5 EU Starship Designs That Should Be in the Sequel Trilogy

Posted on August 9, 2013by The Armchair Admiral

With the possible exception of the lightsaber, the most iconic aspect of the Star Wars saga is its starships. When audiences first saw the Rebel Blockade Runner fleeing from a massive Imperial Star Destroyer, it was apparent that the Star Wars universe was going to show starships of a different sort when compared to other science fiction. Instead of retro-looking rocket ships or silver saucers, ships were incredibly detailed, showed wear & tear, and set the pace for all science fiction movies to follow. Just as the Prequel Trilogy of the past decade showcased designs that were intended to appear as the precursors to the famous starships of the Original Trilogy, the new ships of the Sequel Trilogy should be their logical successors.

While I have no doubt that the good folks at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic will create some incredible new starships, they would do well to look to the Expanded Universe for inspiration as well. Nearly two decades of novels, comic books, and video games have produced hundreds of incredible designs that would fit perfectly into the Sequel Trilogy or spinoff movies. Therefore, I propose the following five vessels from the Expanded Universe that should have a place in Episode VII.

THE TOP FIVE

ewing

1. The E-wing Starfighter

The toughest act to follow for the Sequel Trilogy will be the X-wing starfighter. Easily one of the most recognizable ships of the Star Wars saga, the fighter was the personification of the Rebels’ war fighting efforts. While it may be tantalizing for the creative minds behind Episode VII to use this fighter, the Expanded Universe already has a fighter that would serve as a great follow on to the X-wing. First shown in the comic miniseries Dark Empire (which was so loved by George Lucas that he gave copies to the staff at LFL one Christmas), the E-wing assault starfighter would be the perfect frontline weapon of the new Republic. With a nose and main fuselage that evokes the X-wing’s lines but more angular and possessing a pair of bent wings, it hearkens back to both the famous Rebel fighter and the ARC-170 of the Prequels. With three laser cannons and a powerful number of proton torpedoes, the fighter is the GFFA version of the F/A-18 Hornet, capable of dogfighting and assaulting larger targets.

Admittedly, the E-wing has a tough row to hoe. The EU tried on several occasions to make the craft the New Republic’s primary fighter, only to be repeatedly ignored and replaced by the ubiquitous X-wing. The fighter, for better or worse, is so iconic that few EU authors are brave or creative enough to retire it. Instead, we have literally gone through a dozen or more variants of the X-wing. Hopefully, the only X-wing in the Sequel Trilogy will be used by an aged Jedi Master Luke Skywalker out of nostalgia. Either way, whether as a primary fighter or in support of the X-wing, the E-wing fighter can and should be in Episode VII.
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Politics and the Expanded Universe (Part II)

Posted on August 7, 2013by Imperial Court Circular

Ah, the Clone Wars. Where to begin? Always controversial, the Clone Wars presents a veritable motherlode of potential discussion topics, from the characterization of the Jedi, to the failure to employ original characters to the extent of the post-ROTJ EU, and extending beyond those to the innumerable discussions of clone troopers. There have been a lot of let downs in the Clone Wars era, and a lot of missed opportunities to make that conflict have the dramatic heft it truly deserves. One aspect of the juvenility of the Clone Wars is simple: the lack of a truly compelling villain. We’re told that there are heroes on both sides, but – if you’ll excuse the mixed metaphor – we rarely ever see that grand-sound phrase ever ring true.

A lot of ink has been spilled – and electrons shuffled – over why the Separatists are cookie-cutter caricature villains. We need not dwell on that aspect too heavily. Suffice it to say that the EU – and The Clone Wars animated series in particular – has singularly failed to answer the question of why anybody would ever want to be a Separatist in the first place, if the movement and its supposedly charismatic leader waste no time in subjugating its erstwhile allies at the nearest possible opportunity. Instead of providing a catalogue of the various ways in which the EU has failed to convincingly portray a credible Separatist cause, I thought I would instead propose three changes that would have made the Separatists good villains.

These changes are not strictly political – indeed, this article is more about how the political faction that was the Confederacy of Independent Systems could have been a more credible group.

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Star Wars and Genre: Spy Fiction

Posted on August 6, 2013by Cry Havac
When I say "spy," you think of this guy. Well, one of these guys. Or maybe all of these guys. But you think about them. I know you do.
When I say “spy,” you think of this guy. Well, one of these guys. Or maybe all of these guys. But you think about them.

“Spy fiction” may conjure images of the Cold War, but the genre was already well-established beforehand and has remained incredibly popular long after the collapse of the Soviet Union, permeating film, literature, and television. It’s true that spy fiction blossomed as espionage took center stage in the Cold War, but it was born decades earlier in the balance-of-power struggles of the European great powers, matured in the World Wars, and continues in prominence with the centrality of the intelligence community to the War on Terror. Stories of spies, assassins, saboteurs, analysts, and secret agents have played an important role in our entertainment for a long time, and it is worth considering how they could apply to Star Wars.

From the globetrotting adventure of the James Bond films to the brooding gravity of John le Carré’s novels, spy fiction comes in many forms. The wildly different tones of such major spy TV series of the last decade as Alias, 24, and The Americans attest to the diversity of stories in the genre. Protagonists can be super-competent killers like Jason Bourne or mild-mannered bureaucrats like George Smiley. What unites the stories is their focus on the complex and dangerous world of espionage and its many storytelling opportunities.

The Star Wars films have taken advantage of some of those opportunities and contained some espionage elements. A New Hope‘s plot was driven by a set of stolen blueprints to an enemy weapon system. In Return of the Jedi, spies discovered the existence of the second Death Star, only for that information to be revealed as the result of a wartime intelligence effort by the Empire designed to bait the Rebellion into a trap. Attack of the Clones featured political assassination attempts which led Obi-Wan to investigate their source, discover a secret clone army, and learn the war plans of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Many Bothans died to bring you this storyline

The films did not make espionage a significant theme, however; the real intelligence efforts in the original trilogy happened almost entirely offscreen. There were no spy or secret agent characters. Consequently, spy stories have not gotten a great deal of attention in the Expanded Universe. Main characters occasionally go on secret missions or must unmask a spy, but these are usually cast as general adventures.

Espionage is most often one element of a larger story. Timothy Zahn’s novels, with their focus on the importance of information, did more to incorporate espionage elements than most others. Thrawn’s Delta Source and the New Republic’s consequent counterintelligence effort; Thrawn’s black ops against Leia, Ackbar, and Mara Jade; the missions to obtain information about Thrawn and the Katana fleet; Wedge, Corran, and Moranda Savich’s counterintelligence operation on Bothawui; and the various efforts to obtain the Caamas Document all reflected spy fiction elements.

The most prominent intelligence-oriented stories for a long time were those of the Wraith Squadron novels, but they mixed intelligence work with battlefield action sequences, resulting in more of a genre hybrid. The recent X-wing: Mercy Kill moved the Wraiths more fully in the direction of intelligence operations, but most straight spy stories have been of lesser prominence. A pair of short stories Aaron Allston wrote for Insider featured Old Republic intelligence officer Joram Kithe during the Clone Wars, but the tales are not well-known. More famous during the Clone Wars is the storyline of Quinlan Vos, a Jedi working undercover as a mole inside Dooku’s circle of Dark Jedi.

Agent of the Empire: James Bond meets Star Wars

It took approximately thirty-five years for the arrival of the first prominent story marketing itself specifically as Star Wars spy fiction: the Agent of the Empire comic series, starring James Bond pastiche Jahan Cross. The comic only made it through two arcs before it was canceled, but the adventures of its secret agent protagonist perfectly captured the Bond spirit.

I believe that there is room for a great deal more spy fiction within the Expanded Universe, however. Espionage scenarios are well-suited to adding variety to wartime stories. Rather than yet another story where Luke, Han, and Leia battle the Empire, stories in which they work to convince an Imperial to defect or turn double agent, work with a local cell of Rebels to identify a mole, or engage in an elaborate scheme to feed the Empire false intelligence could provide strong hooks for fresh stories. Likewise, there have been more than enough stories of Obi-Wan and Anakin chopping up battle droids and dueling Ventress; I would like to see a few more in which they go undercover or focus on intelligence-gathering or sabotage behind enemy lines rather than attacking.

Spy fiction also presents an excellent mode for stories outside the galactic war context. Intelligence operations are well suited to providing tension and action in a smaller-scale peacetime context. When big battles are not available, infiltration, covert operations, and counterintelligence give the heroes avenues for action and offer Jedi unique challenges they cannot overcome via brute-force application of the Force. Ferreting out Sith operatives from the Lost Tribe could provide Jaina and Ben something to do without another galactic crisis, while prequel-era stories might call upon Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to infiltrate a gang of smugglers or terrorists and gather information on their operations.

There is also the potential of adding spies as characters. Luke, Han, Leia, Obi-Wan, Jaina, and the other main protagonists cannot function purely as spies, though they can sometimes play a spy role. Characters who function purely within the intelligence community, however, can bring greater presence of spy elements into the Expanded Universe. Whether it be as supporting characters — an intelligence service chief who provides the heroes with information, Wraiths or other agents who work alongside the heroes on missions or hold down spy plotlines within mainline books and comics — or as main characters in their own side stories, intelligence personnel and others in spy roles could provide storytelling diversity to the universe.

Mara Jade, the most famous secret agent in Star Wars

I am especially intrigued by the possibilities of spies as leading characters. Jahan Cross’s adventures were incredibly fun and fresh, marrying diplomatic intrigue with assassination, undercover work, and pulpy action setpieces. More of that sort of secret agent storytelling would be refreshing; with luck, Mercy Kill will spawn more Wraith novels. A member of the Bothan Spynet could provide limitless opportunities for spy storytelling as a lead character. A taut tale of a Rebel cell operating in secret, trying to avoid the Empire’s counterintelligence agents, would be a change of pace. The ambiguity of the Clone Wars, in which a Republic sliding from decadence to tyranny battled an outwardly idealistic but secretly corrupt Separatist movement, could be perfectly captured by a novel or three about disillusioned, morally compromised spies. The post-New Jedi Order period, desperately in need of non-Jedi supporting characters, could catapult the Zel twins into greater prominence by giving them a spy novel — something Blood Oath may have done if it hadn’t been canceled. Mara Jade could be well served by a book or comic series set during her time as the Emperor’s Hand that isn’t weighted down by additional leads, and her name recognition would give such an effort a better chance of success.

In a franchise that could always use more variety in stories and protagonists, spy fiction offers an easy avenue to expand options with a genre the public loves. Tales of assassination, sabotage, informants, secrets, and double agents are a longstanding element of our entertainment and mesh perfectly with the adventurous, action-packed universe of Star Wars. I am tremendously disappointed by the premature end of Agent of the Empire, but I hope to see more spy stories from the Expanded Universe in the future.