Warning: Spoilers

I just finished reading the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster. This book was originally published in February 1978. That makes it 30-years old this month. I guess you could say it was the first Expanded Universe novel since it was the first novel that was not based directly on a movie.

I know many people consider Heir to the Empire (Book 1 of the Thrawn Trilogy) by Timothy Zahn in 1991 to be the first Expanded Universe novel because it was the first book to have major characters beyond the movie characters but I consider that to be a fine line. The Star Wars universe was already expanding before 1991.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye is one of the three full novels (not counting short stories and non-canon works) released so far that are set between Episode IV and Episode V. At this point in the storyline, Luke didn't know Vader was his father and he didn't know Leia was his sister. In February 1978, Star Wars fans didn't know either.

It's still not clear how much Vader knew about Luke at this point. From this book it is clear that he knew Luke was a farm boy from Tatooine and he knew he was the one who had fired the torpedo that destroyed the Death Star. And he knew his name was Skywalker. Or at least he knew that was the name the boy was known by among the Rebel Alliance. It's possible he considered Luke to be an up-start glory-hound trying to ride the coattails of the famous Tatooine pod racer named Anakin Skywalker. Or maybe he thought he was a long lost cousin. Or maybe he considered the name to be a trick from Kenobi to goad him.

Originally I had planned to skip reading this book because of it's age. The Star Wars saga has evolved so much since 1978, I was worried that it would be too out of step in the post-Prequel Trilogy world. I wouldn't have read it at all except that a free copy ended up in my hands. Since the price was right, I decided to take my chances and read it but I entered the pages cautiously and with great reservations.

I'm glad to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well it fits in. Sure, there are a few rough spots that could use some re-editing and I would very much like to see an expanded second edition released at some point. But it's not the worst of the novels, by far. There was one part that really astounded me and I'm not at all sorry that I waited so long to read this book. I'm glad I read it for the first time with 2008 eyes and not 1978 eyes.

Okay, here comes the real spoilers part.

The copy that I have is a paperback reprint. It's probably the same version currently being offered by most retail book stores. The picture on the cover is a depiction of a scene near the end of the book where Luke and Leia are in an ancient temple on the planet Mimban. Luke has been trapped by a stone that fell on his leg. Then Darth Vader appears. I won't say what the first thing was that he said as that would be too much of a spoiler but the second thing that he said was, "As for your 'droids, they are conditioned to obey orders. I had them turn themselves off." Later, after Luke and Leia have escaped (after all, we all know going in that all five have to part in reasonably good health so they can be re-united on Bespin), Luke reactivates R2-D2 and C-3PO and C-3PO says, "Oh, sir! Where is he? We couldn't escape him. He knew all the proper code words and commands."

Of course it makes perfect sense to us now, here in 2008 that Vader knew the "proper code words and commands" to shutdown Luke's two droids. They used to be his droids! Even if C-3PO was mind-wiped 20 years ago, the base codes were probably still there. I think this effectively answers the debate as to whether or not Vader recognized C-3PO on Bespin.

Now I need to go back and re-read The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader by Ryder Windham. Some of the references made there should make more sense to me now.

I wonder if we will see anything of Mimban in the new TV show.

May the Force be with you.