Landonis Balthazar Calrissian

In the book From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi The Almighty Sarlacc tells C-3P0 that he perfers vegetation and wants to stop being force fed.

But in ROTJ it clearly shows that one of the Sarlacc's tentacles (or whatever you wanna call it) tries to pull Lando Calrissian in it's maw.

There are many notable and great LGBTQ+ characters from the Star Wars franchise in both Legends and Canon. What are some particular standouts for you folks?

In the image: Doctor Aphra (lesbian, poly), Lando Calrissian (pan), Vernestra Rwoh (ace/aro), Sinjir Rath Velus (gay)

Today is the birthday of actor Billy Dee Williams, who plays Lando Calrissian in 1980's Star Wars Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back, 1983's Star Wars Episode VI- Return Of The Jedi and 2019's Star Wars Episode IX- The Rise Of Skywalker.

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BILLY DEE!🎂

I know Yoda's true origins are pretty much an enigma to Us (the audience) but what about the rest of the Galaxy? has anyone in the Jedi order ever been curious to know where Yoda is from and who he is or anything about his family? If Yoda's species is unknown to the Galaxy wouldn't there be more people who want to know more about him? this universe does have scientists doesn't it? We haven't really gotten anything or at least I haven't seen any Stories about someone asking Yoda what planet he is from. Does anyone know of any Stories about Yoda Talking about himself? How Often do people who know Yoda think about what species he is?

Basically, what does the Galaxy and the people that know him know about Yoda?

What characters do you want to see further explored in novel form that haven't already been? Some characters have had further exploration like Ochi of Bestoon from the sequel trilogy and Sábe or even Qi'ra. While others have been left effectively as meaningless side characters (looking at you, Twi'lek Majordomo).

For me I wish to see Jannah and Kadara Calrissian explored in a novel. Jannah has interesting potential as a defected FO Stormtrooper with her backstory and future. Similarly Kadara has had few canonical appearances and is noted to have been the daughter of Lando Calrissian who was kidnapped by the FO as part of Project: Ressurection. With the conclusion of TROS there is definitely potential for a follow up.

Who are the characters you wish to see further explored?

Lando has the finest closet in the galaxy. Change my mind.

How do you think Hera chopper and the other surviving ghost crew members reacted to Lando joining and being an valuable part of the rebellion?

If you're confused watch the episode of rebels titled idiot's array I have it tagged

Introduction

Shadow of the Sith is an outstanding canon Star Wars novel. It ties together existing narratives while also bringing in new stories relevant to the larger picture of the sequel era.

Here, I examine Dathan and Miramir (Rey’s parents), and discuss how their characterizations and story have advanced in Shadow of the Sith.

Rey’s Parents (They have names!)

Dathan

I have been a long-time proponent on this forum of Rey being a descendant of Palpatine (see my bio for essays). And, in particular, how important Rey’s parents are, now named Dathan and Miramir, in The Rise of Skywalker. They are fundamental in tying Rey into the larger lore of the Saga, and provide an emotional backdrop that naturally leads into Rey’s own journey when she is formally introduced in The Force Awakens.

~ The humanity and individuality of Rey’s father, Dathan, is emphasized in Shadow of the Sith ~

I have been critical in the past about the decision to make Dathan’s character (then solely known as Rey’s father) as a “Palpatine clone”. The reasoning being that this would fundamentally take away from this character’s individuality, and deprive him of any original agency - the ability to make meaningful choices in the story.

Personally, I wanted Dathan to be conceived naturally by Sheev Palpatine during the end of the Clone Wars period, before Palpatine revealed himself as Darth Sidious. The novel did not go specifically in that direction. However, and to my overall satisfaction, the novel managed to distill the essence of what I thought was important about Dathan’s character, that he is effectively a genetically and developmentally normal human with free will.

Rey’s father is not a clone

In Shadow of the Sith, Dathan is not characterized as a “Palpatine clone”, which is now a clear mis-characterization that has previously confined Rey’s father to be fundamentally a lame carbon-copy of Palpatine himself. Shadow of the Sith largely dispels this overly simplistic interpretation (although without much fanfare).

Instead, Dathan’s biology is specifically described as a “hybrid strandcast” that “is not a direct cloned replicate of the donor” (pg 175), and has only “several markers characteristic of artificial replication and engineering” (pg 174). In other words, not that much genetic manipulation.

Shadow of the Sith introduces the word hybrid to describe Rey’s father. This is important in that it qualitatively separates Dathan’s biology from from that of a “standard” strandcast, an artificial life-form with genetic alterations to a primary template or donor. The word hybrid establishes that the primary genetic material that makes up Dathan is from at least two individuals, more like an in vitro fertilization (a common real-world practice) that is more similar to natural human development.

~ Dathan spent much of his youth in the Sith Citadel of Exegol. With the help a Symeong, he fled on Darth Vader’s ship as boy and began a new life ~

To emphasize Dathan’s normality and humanity, Shadow of the Sith demonstrates that Dathan was “raised from a babe (pg 73)” (i.e., not created in adult form), “developing and growing normally (pg 72)”. In addition, he learned from “training machines” as a child (pg 73). Therefore, Dathan’s overall biological and physiological development is that of a regular (non-clone) person.

Moreover, during a bio scan on Zargo Anaximander’s ice mining facility on the gas planet Therezar, it is revealed that Dathan is “thirty-three standard years of age“ (pg 174), “lacks genetic signatures of accelerated growth”, and “no [cloning] manufacturer labels were detected” (pg 175). Therefore, Dathan is, by-and-large, a genetically normal son of Palpatine with only some genetic tinkering, which is to be expected. These “doctors” are Sith cultists after all.

Another interesting addition is that Dathan’s age (33 standard years) puts his birth year at 12BBY, during the middle of the Galactic Empire and before Palpatine’s death in the Return of the Jedi.

So why is Dathan’s biology important?

Shadow of the Sith removes the label “clone” from Dathan’s description, and imbues his character with humanity and individuality, and, therefore, being relatable to the audience from an emotional perspective. Dathan being demonstrably human, carries a larger impact to not only his story, but to the larger narrative of his family (Maramir and Rey), and Palpatine himself.

However, Shadow of the Sith does not elaborate on who the other major donor may be (besides Palpatine) in this hybrid-style of genetic engineering. Even so, it is reasonable to assume it is most likely a female (possibly providing an egg). Since this was not mentioned specifically, and this novel may be the last we see of any new character development of Dathan, I can only deduce (for myself) that Rey has a donor grandmother.

Maybe this donor is an ancient female Sith, or simply a regular female cultist acting as a surrogate. Or, maybe the “hex charm” that the Symeong on Exegol gave to Dathan so that he would be “invisible” when he escaped, belonged to this donor. It may never be known or explored further.

Miramir

Maramir’s character embodies the concept of “normalcy” in the Star Wars universe. She a person with only natural abilities, no special political or economic connections, or hidden resources at her disposal. However, Maramir does have skills. She is a self-taught engineer, skills that she learned during her youth while farming, and working with agricultural technology on her homeworld of Hyperkarn.

~ The planet Hyperkarn, where Miramir is from and where Rey was born, is the antithesis to Dathan’s homeworld of Exegol. It is temperate with large expanses of forest ideal for farming ~

Miramir’s character fits well into a family dynamic that characterizes where Rey came from. We can see elements of Miramir that are echoed in Rey, evidence of a mother/daughter connection that enriches the generational struggle that is such a core theme in Star Wars.

Miramir’s determination to keep the ones she loves safe, using only what she brought with her from her simple life (and little luck thanks to Lando) makes Miramir’s character memorable and endearing. So much so, that even knowing how her story ends, you still find yourself rooting for her until the end.

~ Maramir is innovative and resourceful, driven by the love for her family and the determination to keep them safe ~

The only mystery that Miramir leaves behind is that of how she learned to adeptly fly starships. Shadow of the Sith purposefully only hints that this was taught by Miramir’s parents. However, we are told nothing of them as Maramir was largely raised by her grandmother. I feel that we will see more of this story in the future.

Conclusion

Dathan and Miramir’s story is tragic and dark. Rey’s parents were left with no choice but to leave her behind, at six years of age, until they could return. They never did.

Much of Dathan and Maramir’s tragedy lies in that they had no one except themselves to rely on. Even when Lando makes contact with them, they had no way to know they could trust him. Lamentably, the only being they could trust with Rey was Unkar Plutt. Although he was no friend, he did previously demonstrate to Dathan and Maramir, during their time on Jakku, that he could uphold his end of a bargain (if he profited).

The two themes that drive Dathan and Maramir’s story are (1) the love of family, resourcefulness, and the determination to do anything to keep them safe, and (2) the very real danger that exists to regular people in a world with murderous bounty hunters and Sith lords.

In what is a very realistic scenario, Dathan and Maramir could only rely on their own determination and wits for so long before the reality of their situation caught up with them. In what was very morbid, Ochi of Bestoon finally catches up to Dathan and Maramir and kills them, stuffs them in a box with a transmitter, and dumps them into space (later to be found, horrifically, by Lando).

Dathan and Maramir’s quiet and sentimental burial on Neftali by Lando and Luke was touching, put to rest by two people who didn’t know them, but who risked everything they had to help them, only to fall short. However, and what is such a powerful theme in Star Wars, hope (literally) survived.

Spoilers for Shadow of the Sith

Wow, terrific book. I’m still basking in its afterglow a little, but I think it’s an all-time favorite for me.

Both Brotherhood and now Shadow of the Sith felt like a bit of a return to form for Star Wars books, both reading like classic EU novels. The High Republic also felt that way, but these two kind of solidified that shift for me with the Skywalker Saga tie-in novels as well.

Adam Christopher really went all out on this one. Even with the ending predetermined, this was still a super engaging and thrilling buddy-mystery that better contextualizes TROS and stands on its own as a bona fide SW adventure.

• I really dug the dynamic between Lando and Luke. Lando was more of the grounding presence given he’s helping Rey’s parents for his daughter’s sake, but he still had that Billy Dee charm and swag that balanced out Luke’s stoic wisdom. It was appropriate that they weren’t best pals given how they never interacted in the films, but they complimented each other quite nicely.

• I absolutely loved Ochi and Kiza. They were fantastic pulp villains whose over-the-top characterizations just added to the melodrama, and I loved their parallel stories of being consumed by relics of the Sith. Ochi’s exaggerated pettiness and has-been glory seeking made it easy to root for Dathan and Miramir, and Kiza’s tragic consumption by Exim (a new ancient Sith!) helped round out the story into being something other than just a TROS gap-filler.

• Luke is presented in a very interesting way here. I’d almost say he seems absent-minded, like even though he’s on an important mission he just wishes he could spend all day with Lor San Tekka finding new Jedi lore. The fact that he rushed into an inferno in the middle of the duel with Kiza to save some Sith manuscripts underscored that for me. We know he’s spent a great deal of his time before his exile traveling the galaxy, and I think that’s changed him in a significant way.

• I really don’t like that TROS made Rey the Emperor’s granddaughter, but I was sold on Dathan and Miramir here at least. I actually was a little sad when we got to their deaths. They’re a cute couple, and the fact that they’re not the “filthy junk traders” TLJ suggested they were doesn’t bother me as much anymore. Lemonade out of lemons, I guess.

• I loved the dramatic irony and focus on Exegol throughout the book. Luke thought he solved the Sith threat by ending Exim, but there’s Palpatine waiting on the other side of the Red Space.

• Holy crap, all the references were awesome! Battlefront II, Aftermath trilogy, Greg Pak’s Darth Vader comics, ROTS novelization, even Dark Legends! A flashback to Depa and Mace?! All that connective tissue was super rewarding to see.

Some faster thoughts:

•Kotam is so awesome, love her ship and that surprise white lightsaber. Would love to see more of her.

•Enric Pryde has an Ewok pelt for a coat? Evil bastard. I did find it a little strange he was with the Corporate Sector and not the First Order by this point.

•Finally, they told us Luke’s temple is on Ossus! Great choice, though I miss Yavin 4.

•Luke was pretty explicit that he’s keeping the non-attachment doctrine, something fans picked up on in TBOBF. Seemed like it was driving a wedge between him and Ben in the book.

•Exegol is actually really cool and a goldmine for ancient Sith lore.

•I wish more concrete meaning was given to Luke’s vision on Exegol where he fought the Nine Wraiths. But man, ghost Anakin showing up to save Luke is still so freaking cool.

•Poor D-0, I’m glad the ST crew kindly adopted him.

•I’ll end by saying I thought the writing and pacing was unusually strong, which can be rare for a SW book. I was pleased with how well everything flowed.

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So what did you guys think of Shadow of the Sith?