The way I see it, the wading through the vast expanded universe is largely a hit-or-miss exercise. Sometimes you Thrawn, others you get Admiral Daala and the Scary Imperial Superweapon, Mark XVIII. Or Waru.

Still, every novel has its moments, some more than others. In a similar vein as Abel Peņa and Enrique Guerrero's article in Insider (and expanded upon here) last year, I will attempt to articulate some of my favourite moments of the expanded universe. Some of the following are major turning points that took the expanded universe in bold new directions, some are very exciting or tragic, and others are moments that simply made me sit back, smile, and appreciate this great universe that Lord Lucas, along with countless authors, editors, game developers, comic book creators, artists, and anyone else I've forgotten have created.

Disclaimers:

1) I never read the Insider article, as I was not a hyperspace member when it was published. Therefore, I may repeat some of moments that were documented. However, I prefer it this way. I want to be able to read the expanded universe alone, without...bias.

2) The expanded universe is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to the expanded universe. (In the words of Douglas Adams, of course.) As such, I have not read every novel, played every game until my thumbs bled, or stared at every comic until my eyes got sore. So no attacks because I forgot this, ignored that, or should have included whatever. Also, this blog will be updated as I read more of the expanded universe. You may disagree with me, but I do not care.

3) If I didn't make it blindingly obvious before you clicked on the blog title, this entry is filled with spoilers. Anything is fair game here.

4) If you interpret this blog as an ill-conceived attempt to revive the long-dead "best moments of the EU" debate, you would be wrong. This list is personal, highly subjective, and consists mostly of an attempt to document my favourite moments of the expanded universe. It was indeed inspired by reading old blogs of Abel G. Peņa, though.

5) I'm going to stop making disclaimers so that we can get back to business now.



"It's a trap."
Dark Apprentice

Sure, most of us can tolerate the odd "I have a bad feeling about this" spoken by a character in a Star Wars novel. But many authors are guilty of movie-dialogue overuse to the point where readers want to pull a Thomas "Servo" Harrison and shout: "Yeah, the emperor just called! He wants his friggin' lines back!" Frankly, I can't stand it when movie lines are substituted for real characterization, an all too common occurrence in the expanded universe. But surprisingly, it was none other than Kevin J. Anderson who was able to successfully pull this stunt in Dark Apprentice.

As the less-than-impressive villain Admiral Daala, attacks Mon Calamari, she fails to realize that Ackbar, the great rebel strategist, is among his people. Ackbar recognizes her tactics and orders the Commander to leave the Mon Calamari shipyards undefended. Leia, is skeptical of this move, and asks Ackbar if this is wise. In this moment, we get one of the best copy-and-paste-from-the-movie-dialogue lines I have encountered thus far in Ackbar's reply: "It's a trap."

I didn't like the Jedi Academy Trilogy. And I rapidly got sick of the many subsequent insides jokes about Ackbar and traps that showed up in the expanded universe. But to the best of my knowledge, this one was the first of many. The set-up was brilliant and the delivery was flawless.

Now, if only this moment wasn't the sole high point of a lackluster trilogy.


"Coruscant ain't big enough for the both of us, Grievous!"
Labyrinth of Evil

I admit it, I'm a sucker for sci-fi Western. I blame Firefly (have you seen it yet?).

Mace Windu vs. Grievous. On top of the science-fictiony Star Wars equivalent of a train.

Best. Fight. Ever.

Need I say more?


Han shot first ('til infinity)
Han Solo at Star's End

Before the prequels, before the special edition releases, and before extravagant special effects budgets, there was a simpler time. Our princesses were snarky, our Jedi were few in number, and our smugglers shot first. And we liked it that way.

Then came a few new developments, some fanboys flew off the handle, and all hell broke loose.

But obviously, one author must have been unimpressed with the special edition Greedo-shooting-first scenario, jumped in his Delorean, fired up the flux capacitor, and traveled back to 1979 to write a book, sticking it to Mr. George Lucas, and forever cementing in expanded universe canon that Han Solo does, in fact, always shoot first.

In Han Solo at Star's End, author Brian Daley provides us with perhaps the best-ever Han Solo quotable quote in the expanded universe.

"I happen to like to shoot first, Rekkon. As opposed to shooting second."

Could Daley predict the future in some freakish supernatural way? Did he want to protect Han from his cruel special edition fate? Or are there greater forces at work here, giving us fans something to cheer about in a book published well before any special editions? We may never know. But one can't help but think, maybe Han really was meant to shoot first.


All ye be frakked, I'm retconning this!
Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future

This one actually consists of two moments, both in the Hand of Thrawn duology. Luke first has something of a revelation as he contemplates which dazzling force powers to use against a bunch of pirates, and has a vision of Darth Sidious and Exar Kun. The memory of seeing their threatening specters haunts him afterwards, and Luke struggles to figure out why. The definitive answer comes in a philosophical discussion Luke has with Mara Jade, of all people.

Mara confronts Luke, calling him out on a number of his actions during the New Republic period. These were the questions constantly on my lips as I read many of the post-Return of the Jedi novels. Why did Luke continue to run his Jedi Academy on Yavin IV if the place was full of dark side power? Why did so many of his students turn to the dark side, and why didn't Luke smack these punks down immediately when they did so? Why did the Solo children manage to get kidnapped so many times? These could effectively be summed up with, "just what in the nine Corellian hells was Luke thinking?" What had happened to Star Wars, indeed? Did the expanded universe really get this repetitive, unoriginal, and well, bad?

But suddenly, everything becomes clearer for Luke. He realizes that he is able to gain tremendous power from the force, yet he is still unsure of how to use it. So what was wrong with Luke? His encounter with a reborn Emperor (in Dark Empire) clouded his judgment. Suddenly, Luke wanted to save anyone and everyone, by any means necessary. Luke was instructing students to be Jedi while under the influence of the dark side himself. In his discussion with Mara, Luke realizes, finally, that he is able to gain insight and enlightenment from the force when he doesn't constantly use it for raw power.

Now, stop for a minute, and think about the implications of this revelation. It's the biggest "frak the rest of you!" retcon I've ever seen! But I agree with it completely. This revelation needed to be made, in order to save face after every questionable thing Luke had done in the post-Return of the Jedi era. It was an excellent way to end out the era, giving Luke a better and deeper understanding of the force, and make sense, once and for all, of just what had gone wrong.


Tank?
Empire #38

It began with A New Hope, or just plain old Star Wars, as they called it back then, when Luke dropped two names in his argument with his aunt and uncle about leaving the farm. Biggs Darklighter showed up in the movie, and got his own expanded universe backstory, but fans never found out what happened to Tank, and just who this Tank guy was, anyway. For almost twenty-nine years, the character's history was limited to a mere passing mention by Luke in A New Hope.

Then, expanded universe comic fans met an Imperial officer by the name of Janek Sunber. Though Sunber had originally hoped to be a pilot, his skills weren't up to scratch, and the Imperial proved himself in the infantry instead. But unlike the many Imperials in the Star Wars universe, Sunber was a character that one could actually root for. He was always dedicated to upholding the principles of the Empire, yet Sunber had a sense of innocence about him that made him a likeable and sympathetic character. In the To the Last Man story arc, Sunber was the underdog; he was fighting a battle he knew he would lose, while struggling to maintain his dignity among his corrupt Imperial colleagues.

Against all odds, Sunber survives to make a later appearance in the last story arc of Empire, The Wrong Side of the War. Luke, on a covert mission inside an Imperial base, is approached by an officer who obviously recognizes him as Luke Skywalker, not as his alias. Luke turns to face the officer, who turns out to be none other than Janek Sunber, better known to Luke as "Tank."

This wonderfully executed reveal, the depth to Sunber's character, the absence of Tank for such a long period of time, and the character-driven stories involving Luke and Tank that came after make this moment one of my favourites of the expanded universe.


Reason # 3562 to love Han Solo
The New Jedi Order: Star by Star

After Chewbacca's death, Han was overwhelmed with grief and isolated himself from his family. First he went on a lengthy cantina crawl, while the galaxy was off fighting a war. When he finally got past the self-pity stage, Han took off in the Falcon on a half-hearted mission to thwart the Peace Brigade, and reunite Droma, his temporary co-pilot, with his family. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Han virtually abandoned Leia and his children, causing quite a few problems with his marriage and his relationship with his family. During the New Jedi Order, Han was at his absolute worst, and it wasn't pretty.

Han and Leia later reconciled after the battle at Duro, but tragedy struck once more. Yet after Anakin's death comes one of the most touching, memorable, and beautiful moments in the entire expanded universe. Upon sensing of Anakin's death in the force, Leia completely breaks down. Han is angry, then devastated. But quickly he realizes that he can't fall apart like he did after Chewbacca's death, and that he needs to be strong for Leia's sake. Han holds her and says, "I'm here, Princess. I'll always be here."

This moment made Anakin's death all the more poignant, and builds upon Han's character arc from the early New Jedi Order stories beautifully. Han is able to grow from his second brush with grief, and emerges as a better man because of it.


A New New Hope
The New Jedi Order: Star by Star

As thousands of corralskippers descend upon Coruscant, the sky rains plasma, and warriors overrun what was once the galactic capital, Leia Organa Solo, broadcasts a message of hope from the comm center in Imperial Palace. She urges the people of Coruscant to never stop fighting:

"This is a war we know how to win. Keep fighting until you can no longer fight, then exhaust the enemy chasing you, and turn and fight some more. Keep fighting. I promise you, we will prevail."

Star by Star had a great deal of shock value. Anakin Solo was killed. The Yuuzhan Vong took over Coruscant. Yet the novel conveyed a strong message of hope in the face of calamity, tragedy, and despair. Star by Star begins as a dark and grim tale; yet the last hundred pages are absolutely inspiring. Every protagonist is dealt a painful blow in some way during this story: delusions are shattered, heroic stands end in failure or defeat, and again, characters learn that war has a terrible cost. The future is bleak for the New Republic, but like during the Galactic Civil War so many years ago, there is always hope. Two years before, the characters of Star Wars lived in peace and comfort. Now, they face a threat that is greater than the Empire. They have been defeated, but are not yet vanquished. The Jedi are the underdogs, yet they continue to fight. Regardless of how defeated the New Republic is, how terrible today is, and how grim tomorrow looks, there will always be people fighting.


Leia's speech to the rest of Coruscant takes readers back to the era of the Empire, where the rebels had lost their homes and the ones they loved, yet they had hope, and tirelessly fought for a cause they believed in. She urges the people of the New Republic to do the same. They must have hope, and they must never cease to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. Leia's inspiring speech was another great moment of the expanded universe, because it gave people hope in a time when they had little else.


A Hero's Death
The New Jedi Order: Star by Star

As usual in the Yuuzhan Vong war, things aren't going so well for the New Republic. The Yuuzhan Vong have engineered a deadly enemy for the Jedi -- the voxyn. Capable of hunting force sensitives, the voxyn is savage and lethal. Anakin Solo decides to lead a daring mission deep into enemy territory in order to destroy the voxyn, along with Jacen and Jaina Solo and several other Jedi. Yet as the Jedi strike team struggles to accomplish its vital yet ill-fated mission, they encounter setback after setback. Nothing goes as planned, and many members of the strike team are killed. Anakin is mortally wounded, but resolves to continue the mission instead of entering a healing trance. His is later killed in combat, dying in complete harmony with the force.

Cue the fangirl tears. Alright, alright, you can stop now.

The mission to Myrkr was doomed from the start, and Anakin's death, along with the deaths of many more of the strike team, was the price the Jedi paid for destroying the voxyn cloning facility. It was suggested in previous novels that Anakin was destined for something greater. Anakin represents youth cut down in its prime. Perhaps Anakin achieved a deeper understanding and connection to the force, which could have made the difference in the war, had he lived longer. But despite being destined for greatness, Anakin was mortal. Anakin's death emphasized the fact that everyone is vulnerable, and that every war has a cost.

Anakin's death was all the more poignant because he was such a long-standing expanded universe character. He was born in Dark Empire II, and many expanded universe fans saw him grow up as a minor character in the Bantam novels, and as a central character in the Junior Jedi Knights young readers. The New Jedi Order managed to make Anakin, an original expanded universe character, into one of the recurring stars of the novels, making him a fan-favourite to many.


God, I'm ugly. Oh, right, and I'm Darth Revan.
Knights of the Old Republic

There have only been a few surprises in fiction that have made my jaw drop. And even fewer where the shock didn't even fade after I picked it up off the floor. One was the Battlestar Galactica finale of season one, when Boomer was about to shake hands with Adama. Those of you who have seen it will know what I'm talking about. But that's not the point here. Another was this startling moment in Knights of the Old Republic, this epic revelation of [Luke]-I-am-your-father-like proportions.

After hours of traveling to the ends of the galaxy in search of the mysterious Star Forge, chatting up the locals, questing, sub-questing, and fighting it out with Sith, bounty hunters, and low-down dirty deceivers, all right under the collective noses of the enemy, the player comes face-to-face with the game's main villain, Darth Malak. And the player won't like what he has to tell you, not in the slightest.

Being of the prequel generation, I had never experienced the surprise and shock of Vader's statement in The Empire Strikes Back. Thankfully, I got the next best thing in Knights of the Old Republic. The flashback sequence began, replaying every hint dropped in the dialogue up until this revelation, mocking me for being so enraptured with the story that I missed their significance. And when Darth Revan removed his mask to reveal a face -- my face -- I wanted to scream, "No! That's not true! That's impossible!"

I would venture to suggest that this moment was even better than Vader's revelation in The Empire Strikes Back. Knights of the Old Republic provides the player with dozens of hours to fall in love with the characters, and become engrossed in the storyline. A movie such as Star Wars can accomplish this, but not to the same extent in such a short amount of time. More importantly, Knights of the Old Republic is personal. The player is able to both personify and personalize Revan throughout the game. Revan becomes the player, and the player becomes Revan, making the revelation of the character's origins so significant, so startling, and so upsetting. It truly shows, in the same vein as the Star Wars saga, that everyone is fallible, and anyone can become their own undoing and fall from grace.

People say they saw it coming. But they really didn't.


Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies
The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime

Like it or not, it changed the face of the expanded universe forever. You know what I'm talking about: Chewbacca's death. To put into simply: his death raised the stakes. You may recognize these next few paragraphs as what was said in this blog, but I am re-posting them here because that entry contains Serenity spoilers.

Chewbacca's death did justice to the character. Chewbacca swore a life-debt to Han, and was therefore obliged to protect him and his family. Chewie's last act was saving Anakin Solo's life, a selfless action that fits his character wonderfully. And I strongly believe that those who argue that Anakin's death later in the New Jedi Order series makes Chewbacca's sacrifice null and void are flat-out wrong. Anakin accomplished great things in the time he was given by Chewbacca. He made significant contributions to the war effort against the Yuuzhan Vong. He saved Mara's life on Dantooine, and Tahiri's on Yavin IV. He led the mission to Myrkr, which destroyed the Voxyn, protecting his fellow Jedi the entire time.

In the galaxy far, far away, Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and a slew of other characters had made it through crisis after crisis. But somehow, it wasn't the same anymore. Throughout the original trilogy, they were the always the underdogs. As Han piloted the Falcon from one situation to another, our heroes were always in danger. But twenty-five years later, after defeating Imperial warlords, a few Dark Jedi, and helping the New Republic through another political crisis every week, the characters of Star Wars had become invincible. No matter what kind of danger they were in, we knew they would survive, not because we had faith that they could pull through in the end, but because we knew that Lucasfilm wouldn't let them be killed off.

And then the New Jedi Order came, delivering a terrible shock. A new enemy, more ruthless and deadly than any that we had ever seen, was posing a threat to the galaxy. Even without the shock value of Chewbacca's death, the Yuuzhan Vong are a scary bunch. They are powerful, brutal, and utterly devoted to their cause. And yet, it is still easy to assume that the characters of Star Wars will be victorious in the end, without any significant losses.

Chewbacca's death struck this assumption down in an instant. If Chewbacca, a major movie character, could be killed, no one was safe. In my opinion, this was a brilliant move. As Han realized at the end of Vector Prime, his friends and family aren't invincible. This time, the stakes were higher. With the New Jedi Order, Luke, Han, and Leia became the underdogs again. They were constantly in danger. And most importantly, they were vulnerable. There was no guarantee that they would make it out of this story alive. The heroes may defeat the Yuuzhan Vong in the end, but this time, victory would carry a great price.


Three Against the World
The New Jedi Order: Traitor

I could simply populate this entire list with "Traitor, traitor, traitor," but I won't. Still, I feel as if I'm cheating this great book by lumping several moments together here.

"Here's our chance to show the Yuuzhan Vong what a grandstander and a bleeding heart can do."

"It'll be a show they'll never forget."

The last third of Traitor is absolutely awe-inspiring. Ganner Rhysode finds himself on Coruscant, in Yuuzhan Vong captivity, with Jacen Solo standing over him, informing Ganner that he is about to be sacrificed in the Well of the World Brain. Ganner first believes Jacen to have betrayed the Jedi, but he is soon told that the sacrifice is merely a ruse -- the two Jedi will sabotage the World Brain, an organism that controls the shaping of Coruscant into the Yuuzhan Vong planet Yuuzhan'tar. Jacen knows his role from the beginning, but it takes Ganner a while to realize the part he was destined to play. Ganner, the arrogant, foolish, grandstanding glory-hunter who had tried to be a hero his entire life didn't need to be anyone other than himself in order to buy the time for Jacen.

Ganner confronts thousands of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, holding the lightsaber of Anakin Solo, proclaiming, "none shall pass." Jacen becomes one with the World Brain, using it to teach the Yuuzhan Vong a lesson, sabotaging the shaping of the planet. And as Ganner battles thousands of enemies, Jacen emerges from the World Brain with Vergere beckoning him to escape.

I probably haven't done this moment justice with this description, but it is my absolute favourite moment of the entire expanded universe. Every little bit of philosophizing Jacen does in Traitor comes to a head here in a thrilling climax. Ganner's character comes to an epic end with his spectacular last stand, inviting endless comparisons to mythology. It is, quite simply, the most brilliant climax I have encountered in any novel.



Well, over 3800 words (and about 5% of my blog space) later, I still have a few more in mind that I would like to add. And, of course, feel free to add your own in the comments.