Prince Xizor

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Star Wars character
Xizor
Image:Xizor.jpg
Portrayed by Nick Tate

Position Prince, Overlord of Black Sun, Crime Lord
Homeworld Falleen
Species Falleen
Gender Male
Affiliation Black Sun, Galactic Empire

Prince Xizor (Shee-Zor) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is a major villain in the novel,comic book and video game Shadows of the Empire.

Contents

[edit] Character overview

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. He also has smaller roles in The Han Solo Trilogy and The Bounty Hunter Wars.

[edit] Biography

Shadows of the Empire portrays Prince Xizor as a rival of Darth Vader, who obliterated much of Xizor's homeworld to halt the spread of a plague accidentally released from an Imperial biological weapons facility.

After learning from Emperor Palpatine of Vader's quest for Luke Skywalker, Prince Xizor sees an opportunity to lower Vader in the Emperor's esteem by having the young Skywalker killed. It is also at Xizor's persuasion that the Emperor decides to let the plans for the second Death Star fall into Rebel hands. The Prince is described as the third most powerful being in the galaxy, in terms of influence, behind only Palpatine and Vader.

Prince Xizor commands a vast organization, of which Jabba the Hutt is one of the main allies, and Durga the Hutt is a lieutenant. In one of their discussions, Xizor learns from the Hutt that Luke Skywalker is on Tatooine, residing there as a hermit. He dispatches a group of assassins to hunt down Vader's son, but a mercenary named Dash Rendar saves the young Rebel from certain death.

Later, Princess Leia Organa, who is searching for some contact with the Black Sun Organization, is lured into Xizor's dark veil. Xizor becomes enamored of Leia, and attempts to seduce her. The Overlord of the Black Sun says that, in hundreds of years, no woman could even match Leia as a woman of charms and beauty.

Xizor uses his pheromones to charm Leia; she succumbs, and both share passionate kisses. Fortunately, Chewbacca interrupts them and shakes Leia out of the trance. Chewbacca reasons with her, so she decides that he should escape to warn Luke. In the meantime, she buys Chewbacca time by pretending to be still under the trance. After entering the room again, Leia made her feelings clear when she refuses to undress in front of him. Enraged, Xizor locks her up.

Luke, Dash, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian rescue Leia from Xizor's palace on Coruscant. Luke and Lando hide the Millennium Falcon in a warehouse and go to the Southern Underground to get information from an old hermit named Spero. Instead, they meet up with Chewbacca, but then face an attack. Fortunately Dash arrives and helps them. They make a plan and decide to infltrate Xizor's palace through the sewers. They hire an engineer, Vidkun, as a guide through the sewers and arrive at the palace's recycler. Vidkun turns on them, but Dash kills him. They find Leia — who escapes on her own. They then encounter Xizor and his personal assassin Guri. Facing Xizor and his guards, they deploy a thermal detonator and escape. Xizor's palace is destroyed, but the prince himself escapes in his personal ship, the Virago, to his skyhook, the Falleen's Fist.

While escaping, Xizor vows that he will take revenge on Luke. Vader hears this and, onboard the Executor Star Destroyer, orders an assault on the Falleen's Fist. The Millennium Falcon, Outrider and Rogue Squadron fight in a three-way battle between Xizor's fleet and the Imperial Navy. The Rebels escape, and Xizor is executed as punishment, when the Executor opens fire on the Falleen's Fist, completely destroying it, along with Xizor.

With Xizor's death and the loss of invaluable data and artifacts in his palace, the Black Sun is dealt a crippling blow; worse, the Empire ends its detente under Vader's orders, and begins persecuting the various criminal syndicates that comprise it.

[edit] Theme music

Like Darth Vader's Imperial March by John Williams, Prince Xizor has 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.

[edit] See also