Xizor/Legends

Prince Xizor (Shee-zor) is a major villain in the novel Shadows Of The Empire. He is a Falleen, and leader of the powerful criminal organization Black Sun in the time between the Battle of Hoth and the end of the Galactic Civil War. The book portrayed Xizor as a rival of Darth Vader, largely the result of a mixture of ambition and hatred. The latter arose when Vader obliterated much of Xizor's homeworld from orbit to halt the spread of a plague, killing most of Xizor's family in the process. Learning of Vader's quest for Luke, Xizor attempted to have the young Skywalker killed to humiliate his adversary. Xizor also persuaded Palpatine to let the plans for the second Death Star fall into rebel hands.

Prince Xizor was portrayed as a cold and ruthless risk-taker - indeed, his species has a reptillian semblance. Unlike the grotesque Jabba, Xizor had a refined and charismatic appearance, with a taste for "the finer things in life" that was strikingly juxtaposed with his merciless ambition. Similarly, while he was certainly "cold" in some respects, he behaved quite irrationally at times, most dramatically in choosing to pursue his dangerous machinations against Vader. He was assisted by Guri, an enigmatic and brutal "human replica droid" (HRD) assassin. (Guri survived her master's death, and was subsequently featured in a comic book mini-series titled "Evolution.")

Xizor also became enamored of Leia Organa, and attempted to seduce her. As with his other schemes, this backfired dramatically. This example of startling risk-taking coincided with the disintegration of Xizor's bold attempts on Luke's life. A slip of the tongue in a high-pressure situation reveals these plots against Luke, and Xizor is killed when he refuses to surrender to Vader.