Thrawn trilogy

The Thrawn trilogy, also known as the Heir to the Empire trilogy, is a series of best-selling science fiction novels written by Timothy Zahn. They are set in the Star Wars expanded universe approximately five years after the events depicted in the 1983 Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. The series introduced several notable characters, including Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, and Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the more notable villains in the expanded universe. The Thrawn trilogy was followed by The Hand of Thrawn, a two-book series (1997 and 1998) also authored by Zahn.

With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014.^[1][2][3]

Summary

As the first book opens, the Rebellion, now known as the New Republic, is still fighting to mop up final Imperial resistance and set up a functional government. Out in the fringes of the galaxy, the most brilliant of all the hand-picked Grand Admirals is gaining strength and preparing to attack the New Republic. After convincing a Dark Jedi to join his side, Grand Admiral Thrawn is confident in his victory.

Books in the series

1. Heir to the Empire, 1991 (ISBN 0-553-07327-3)
2. Dark Force Rising, 1992 (ISBN 0-553-08574-3)
3. The Last Command, 1993 (ISBN 0-553-56492-7)

Denis Lawson narrates the abridged audiobook of Heir to the Empire audiobook,^[4] and Anthony Daniels narrates Dark Force Rising and The Last Command.^[5] Marc Thompson performs the unabridged 20th Anniversary editions of the Thrawn trilogy audiobooks.^[6][7][8]

Reception, sales and influence

Heir to the Empire reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list,^[9] and the trilogy sold a combined total of 15 million copies.^[10]

The Thrawn trilogy is widely credited with revitalizing the Star Wars franchise.^[11][12][13] In The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski suggests that this renewed interest was a factor in George Lucas' decision to create the prequel trilogy.^[13] The series also introduced the popular expanded universe characters Talon Karrde, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, and Gilad Pellaeon.^[14][15] It has been called "influential, much-loved, and ground breaking".^[14]

In August 2011, the series was voted into NPR's top 100 science fiction and fantasy books (coming in at place 88), as voted on by over 60,000 participants.^[16]

At the 2016 Star Wars Celebration in London, it was announced that the character Thrawn would appear in season three of Star Wars Rebels. Star Wars: Thrawn, a new book written by Zahn, was published in April 2017.^[17]

Adaptations

All three books were later adapted as comic books by Dark Horse Comics. The series was divided into six separate issues per book, and re-released in 2009 as a single hardcover graphic novel for the trilogy. A soundtrack of the trilogy had been in discussions by Robert Townson, the vice president of Varèse Sarabande Records, but did not go any further than that.^[18]

Role-playing game adaptations

Each novel in the trilogy had its own Star Wars role-playing game sourcebook created for it by West End Games. When the rules for the Star Wars RPG changed the three volumes were collected into one book for the entire Thrawn trilogy which also served as a second edition to the original three source books. According to Zahn, the writing of the trilogy was coordinated with preexisting West End Games materials (at the behest of Lucasfilm), and that "They filled in a bunch of gaps I hadn't got around to filling in."^[13]

References