Prince Xizor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star Wars character | |
| Xizor | |
|---|---|
|
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| Position | Prince, Overlord of Black Sun, Crime Lord |
| Homeworld | Falleen |
| Species | Falleen |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6'3" (191 cm) |
| Affiliation | Black Sun, Galactic Empire |
| Portrayed by | N/A |
Prince Xizor (Shee-zor) is a major villain and antagonist in the novel and comic book Shadows of the Empire. He is a Falleen, and leader of the powerful criminal organization Black Sun around the time between Star Wars—Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars—Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
[edit] Biography
The novel Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry portrays Prince 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 to halt the spread of a plague accidentally released from an Imperial biological weapons facility, killing most of the Falleen's family in the process.
After learning from Emperor Palpatine of Vader's quest for Luke Skywalker, Prince Xizor saw an opportunity to lower Vader in the Emperor's esteem by having the young Skywalker killed. It was also at Xizor's persuasion that the Emperor decided to let the plans for the second Death Star fall into Rebel hands. The Prince was described as the third most powerful being in the galaxy, in terms of influence, (behind only Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader).
Prince Xizor was portrayed as a cold and ruthless risk-taker—indeed, his species has a reptilian resemblance. Unlike the grotesque Jabba the Hutt, 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 assassin.
The Overlord of the Black Sun space station was a valuable ally in Emperor Palpatine's eyes. Once, while en route to the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, the Falleen was attacked by a young assassin named Hoff. Of course, the Crime Lord eliminated such a threat easily, proving his own personal prowess. In addition to his massive shipping empire (and criminal syndicate) he was also co-owner of the most prestigious restaurant on all of Coruscant, the Manarai.
Prince Xizor commanded a vast organization, of which Jabba the Hutt was one of the main allies, and Durga the Hutt was a lieutenant. In one of their discussions, the Falleen learned from the Hutt that Luke Skywalker was on Tatooine residing there as a hermit. The Crime Lord dispatched a group of assassins to hunt down Vader's son but a mercenary named Dash Rendar saved the young rebel from certain death.
Later, Princess Leia Organa who was searching some contact in the Black Sun Organization, got herself eventually lured into the darkness veil of the Dark Prince
Xizor also became enamored of Leia Organa, and attempted to seduce her. The Overlord of the Black Sun stated that in hundreds of years no woman could even match Leia as a woman of charms and beauty. The Falleen had enjoyed some of the most beautiful women in the Galaxy, and to him Leia was obviously the greatest.
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. The Dark Prince became so attracted to the young woman that he used his pheromones to charm her. The former senator succumbed to the pheromones and both shared passionate kisses. Fortunately, Chewie had interrupted them and got Leia out of the seductive state when Falleen pheromones are released. Chewie reasoned with her and decided that Chewie should escape to warn Luke. Princess Leia made her feelings clear when she kneed the Falleen prince in the groin to buy time for Chewbacca to escape. Enraged, Xizor locked her up.
After some troubles around with bounty hunters and mercenaries alike, Luke, Lando, Dash, and Chewie decide to rescue Leia from Xizor's Palace on Coruscant. Luke and Lando hid the Millenium Falcon in a warehouse and went to the Southern Underground to get information from Spero, an old Ho'Din. Instead, they met up with Chewbacca, but then faced an attack. Fortunately Dash Rendar arrived and helped them. They made a plan and decided to infltrate Xizor's Palace through the sewers. So, they hired an egineer, Vidkun, as a guide and through the sewers and arrived at the recycler of Xizor's Palace. Vidkun, however, turned on them, but was killed by Dash. Then, they faced six guards, ran up a number of levels up while cutting video security feed lines, and ran into Leia—who escaped on her own. Unfortunately, they ran into Prince Xizor and his personal assassin Guri on level twenty. They were in a standoff, but they them with the threat of Class-A termal detenators facing the Xizor and his gaurds and they ran off, but Guri disappeared before that. In escaping, they met up with Guri and Luke had a small duel, then escaped barely in the Millenium Falcon. Xizor's Palace was destroyed, but the Falleen escaped in his personal ship, the Virago, to his skyhook, the Falleen's Fist. However, he slip the words in a high-pressure sititution "I've got you now, Skywalker" in a transmission to his skyhook. Darth Vader heard this and, onboard his Super-class Star Destroyer, the Executor, ordered an assault on the Falleen's Fist. The Millenium Falcon, Outrider and Rogue Squadron fought in a three battle between Xizor's fleet and the Imperial Navy. The outcome of the battle was the Rebels escaping and the Xizor's life, fleet, and skyhook being destroyed by the Empire. With Xizor's death and the loss of invaluable data and artifacts in his palace, the Black Sun empire was dealt a crippling blow; worse, the Empire ended its detente under Vader's orders, and began persecuting and prosecuting the various criminal syndicates that comprised it.
[edit] Theme
Like Darth Vader's Imperial March by John Williams, Prince Xizor had a leitmotif written for his character. The piece, known as simply "Xizor's Theme," was composed by Joel McNeely and is track #6 on the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack.
