Xizor/Legends

"You see, to contend with Xizor is to lose. As far as any reasonable person is concerned, attacking me will also be judged a suicide."

- Prince Xizor

Xizor was a Falleen Prince of House Sizhran and the leader of the powerful criminal organization Black Sun. Xizor was a ruthless competitor and charismatic public figure in high society with his headquarters in the city planet Coruscant. Close to the Imperial Palace, but less splendid was Xizor's Palace, his home outside Falleen.

Following the Battle of Hoth, Xizor was considered one of the most influential beings in the Galaxy (third, behind Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader) due to his exceptional wealth and secret criminal dealings, assisted by Guri, an enigmatic and brutal Human replica droid assassin.

Early life (c. 104 BBY to 32 BBY)
Xizor was born on Falleen into a royal family where he developed his taste for an expensive lifestyle. Falleen was home to a biological weapons laboratory that worked on secret projects for Darth Vader.

It is believed that in 32 BBY, Xizor was in attendance at the Boonta Eve Classic on Tatooine.

In 7 BBY, a flesh-eating bacterial agent was accidentally released from the bioweapons lab, causing Vader to order the lab, and the surrounding city, to be razed to prevent an outbreak and keep his projects secret. Xizor's father was the king of the local region, and his parents, brother, two sisters and three uncles perished in the orbital bombardment. Xizor was off-planet at the time, cementing his position as a Vigo in Black Sun, which still hadn't recovered from the assassination of its leader Alexi Garyn. Upon his return, he had virtually all knowledge of his position destroyed. He planned revenge on Vader but didn't want knowledge of his personal vendetta made public.

Building an Empire
In the years that followed, Xizor built two concurrent empires: one legitimate, one criminal. Xizor emerged as the leader of Black Sun and the proprietor of several major galactic corporations. To fund and facilitate his illegal empire, Xizor had his legal firms, such as Xizor Transport Systems, funnel funds, transfer contraband and launder millions of credits. Xizor was driven by his desire to restore his opulent lifestyle and to destroy Darth Vader. Learning of Vader's quest for Luke Skywalker, Xizor attempted to frustrate it and simultaneously lower Vader in the Emperor's esteem by having the young Skywalker killed. To disguise his planned revenge, Xizor used his connections to remove all record of Vader's involvement in the death of his family. Everyone assumed their rivalry was jockeying for favor from Emperor Palpatine (who subtly encouraged the rivalry).

The Bounty Hunter Wars
Xizor worked with the Assembler, Kud'ar Mub'at to bring about the destruction of the Bounty Hunters Guild. The goal was to create a supply of freelance bounty hunters (i.e., Boba Fett) for the Empire. However, he only succeeded in splitting the Guild into two warring factions. At one point, he tried and failed to wrest control of Kuat Drive Yards from Kuat of Kuat.

Shadows of the Empire
Shortly after the Subjugation of Bespin, Xizor contacted Tyber Zann, head of the Zann Consortium, a rival criminal organization and made a deal with him. Tyber agreed to steal tibanna from Bespin and share 50% of the profit with Xizor. Tyber did so, but suspecting a double cross, planted evidence pointing to Xizor during the raid, and kept all the tibanna for himself. Any fears of a reprisal from Xizor were soon calmed when Tyber learned from Thrawn shortly after the raid that Xizor was dead.

At this time, Xizor also worked with the Empire, assisting in the construction of the second Death Star. Xizor offered Darth Vader 300 ships for the construction project, and though Vader distrusted the crime lord, he could not refuse without answering to the Emperor's wrath.

Vader had good reason to distrust Xizor, however. He planned to destroy Lord Vader, the man who had condemned his entire family to death, by executing a masterstroke of vengeance. Xizor had Guri contact several bounty hunters through intermediaries (thus hiding his involvement), and gave them a contract on Luke Skywalker's life. Xizor planned to kill Skywalker, thus both killing Vader's son and preventing him from gaining the apprentice he sought.

Xizor was in the midst of another plot, however. He managed to convince Palpatine to allow the Rebel Alliance to get a hold of the plans for the second Death Star. Xizor figured that he could profit from this in one of two ways: he could deliver the Rebels to Palpatine, therefore earning esteem with him if the Empire won &mdash; and if the Alliance did win the war, Xizor would make sure they didn't forget the Black Sun's invaluable contribution to their victory.

Vader discovered Xizor's plans when he interrogated a group of Barabel mercenaries that had captured Skywalker on Kothlis shortly after the capture of the Death Star II plans. Vader discovered that not only did he have a reward posted (for capturing Skywalker alive), but that the Black Sun had one posted as well, for delivering him dead.

The fall of Xizor's Palace
Luke Skywalker, Dash Rendar, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian had infiltrated Xizor's massive Coruscant palace in order to rescue Leia, who had gone to the palace to get to the bottom of the attempts on Luke's life.

Xizor confronted the group during their escape, attempting to kill Luke himself. A standoff ensued when Skywalker pulled a thermal detonator rigged to a deadman's switch (set to go off as soon as it was released); if Skywalker died, Xizor would die too. Calrissian threw another thermal detonator down a garbage chute, set on a five-minute delay, and the five escaped to the palace's roof where the Millennium Falcon was waiting for them. Xizor escaped in the Virago and fled to his orbiting skyhook, seething as his expensive palace collapsed to the ground under the thermal detonator's blast.

Xizor's Death
"Carry out my orders, commander. Destroy the skyhook!"

- Darth Vader

Xizor wasn't finished, however. He ordered his StarViper fighters to fire on the Millennium Falcon. The timely arrival of Rogue Squadron helped the Rebels out, but the true turning point came from an unlikely source: the Empire.

Vader had jumped into the Coruscant system with a fleet of starships, including the Executor, and his launched TIE Fighters attacked Xizor's StarVipers. Vader sent a holo-message to Falleen's Fist, where Xizor was stationed, ordering Xizor to cease his attack immediately and surrender to Vader's custody. Xizor ignored the order, figuring Vader would never risk Palpatine's anger by killing him in an unauthorized attack.

In the end, Xizor played the losing hand in this confrontation by believing Vader was bluffing. Vader, aboard the Executor, ordered the destruction of the skyhook, killing Xizor.

After Xizor's death, his niece Savan took control of Black Sun.

Personality and traits
"If you cannot afford to lose, you should not play the game."

- Prince Xizor

Xizor, according to Moff Fliry Vorru, relied too much on his ability to read others. Whereas it was true that he was an excellent judge of character, he did believe himself to be inherently superior to everyone. The Falleen ability to produce intoxicating pheromones together with his formidable brain and resourcefulness backed up his claim somewhat. He did underestimate the power of the Force which was why Vader and Skywalker were able to get the better of him. He knew the Force existed and respected it but never truly understood it. Vader once Force Gripped him during a three-way conversation with the Emperor, but Palpatine told Vader to put him down, knowing the strength of Xizor's organization would prove to be a valuable ally.

He also considered himself a cultured man. He did appreciate High Coruscanti living, dining at exclusive restaurants, eating Moonglow three or four times a month (at the most exclusive restaurant on Coruscant, where he was a part-owner), sponsoring museums and galleries. He once forgave a rival after the rival presented him an extremely rare miniature Firethorn tree. Such a gift, Xizor mused, was enough to show him that the man was civilized and therefore his mistake could be forgiven.

Xizor also prided himself on his emotional control, which he attributed to his cold-blooded, reptilian ancestry. He felt that mammalian races such as Humans were too easily ruled by their emotions, and that in particular they were susceptible to uncontrolled rage. His own "cold" anger was more controllable, and thus, he felt, superior. While a Human might seek immediate vengeance, Xizor was content to plan his revenge carefully, so as to ensure success, even if it required waiting for years to implement the plan. However, while Xizor's anger built up slowly, in the end it was the very uncontrolled rage he believed himself immune to that doomed him.

Romances
Generally a fan of the short-term relationship, Xizor generally was quick to terminate his intimate relations, usually with large compensation to the female. He followed a strict no post-relationship contact policy, which on at least one noted occasion, he had to terminate the woman when she attempted to contact him again.

Xizor also became enamored of Leia Organa, and attempted to seduce her. As with his other schemes, this backfired dramatically. He used his pheromones upon her and for a while, Leia gave in. However, once she realized that she was being manipulated, she quickly rebuffed his advances by kneeing him in the groin, leaving an enraged Xizor to lock her up.

Equipment
The Falleen Prince's personal craft, the Virago, was a heavily modified StarViper Assault Fighter, a craft which resembled a Mandalorian Basilisk War Droid. There is no record of Xizor flying it in combat, but it was always kept ready for immediate departure from his palace or his Skyhook, Falleen's Fist.

Behind the scenes

 * During the production of Shadows of the Empire, George Lucas instructed those involved to base Xizor on the Dashade.
 * Xizor makes many cameo appearances during the podrace scene in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the micro-machine toy figurine of Xizor was used as a stand-in for members of the podrace crowd. However, as this cameo is used only as background fill-ins, it may not be considered an actual appearance of the character proper.
 * "Xizor's Theme," composed by Joel McNeely, can be heard on the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack.
 * Two action figures of Xizor were made in 1996 as part of the Shadows of the Empire assortment of the Power of the Force 2 line. The first was a single carded figure that included an energy weapon and the second came packed with Darth Vader and a staff weapon along with a reprinted comic.
 * Xizor's voice in the Shadows of the Empire video game was provided by Nick Tate.
 * In the game Star Wars: Empire at War, Xizor had a finished 3D model, but was excluded from the final game. He would make an appearance in holographic form in the expansion pack, Forces of Corruption.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Evasive Action: Prey
 * Evasive Action: End Game
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * The Hutt Gambit
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Allegiance
 * Side Trip
 * The Emperor's Trophy
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Shadows of the Empire game
 * The Mandalorian Armor
 * Slave Ship
 * Hard Merchandise
 * Shadows of the Empire: Evolution
 * Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand
 * X-wing Rogue Squadron 25: The Making of Baron Fel
 * Darksaber
 * Darksaber