Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[redirect:Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/StarWarsShadowsOfTheEmpire_001_4040.jpg
''[[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shadows_of_the_Empire Shadows of the Empire]]'' is a part of the StarWarsExpandedUniverse, coming out in 1996. Conceived as an {{interquel}} between ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''ReturnOfTheJedi'', it's a multimedia project, like TheForceUnleashed after it, designed to have all of the media that would surround a new movie without actually making a movie. There is a novel, a video game, a six-issue [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1067082.html comic]] [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1096401.html series]], a [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shadows_of_the_Empire_%28soundtrack%29 soundtrack]], a toyline, and trading cards. Not all its elements overlap - to get the full story, readers would have to see each story-related component.
The novel tells the overall story, focusing on the main characters. The comic book series focuses on bounty hunter Boba Fett's battle to keep possession of the frozen Han Solo. The video game allows players to control new character Dash Rendar, whose adventures in the game weave in and out of the overall storyline.
Throughout each of these, Prince Xizor, the head of the criminal organization Black Sun, finds out why Darth Vader, his bitter rival for the Emperor's favor, wants the Rebel hero Luke Skywalker. In order to gain the Emperor's favor and punish Vader for [[YouKilledMyFather killing Xizor's family]], Xizor plans to [[RevengeByProxy kill Luke]], while the the Rebels try to find Han.
----
!!This provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: How Luke, Dash and Lando sneak into Xizor's palace.
* TheAce: Han Solo's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Dash Rendar. He's annoying even to the characters, but they do acknowledge that [[AcePilot he's a good pilot]]. Luke once thinks "This guy was so full of himself it was a wonder he didn't explode and spew ego all over the place".
* AffablyEvil: Xizor certainly ''tries'' to be this, especially around Leia, but YourMileageMayVary on whether he succeeds, or just comes off as a creepy stalker/predator. [[KavorkaMan Or maybe that's his charm?]]
* AscendedExtra/ TheCameo: Durga the Hutt, who previously appeared as the BigBad of [[TheCallistaTrilogy ''Darksaber'']] the year previous (set years after this novel), show up as a Vigo of the Black Sun. Xizor pulls a BlofeldPloy on him to remind him that he isn't trusted.
** Jabba makes a brief appearance when Xizor talks to him via holoprojector.
* BigDamnHeroes: Rogue Squadron shows up during the escape from Coruscant at, of course, a dramatic moment when the ''Falcon'' and the ''Outrider'' are being hemmed in by Xizor's private navy.
-->'''Wedge''': "Hey, Luke! Mind if we join your party?"
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Prince Xizor is attacked by a young man named Hoff, who yells "YouKilledMyFather" to him, to which Xizor replies, "I'm sorry. Have we met?". It's subverted, however, since Xizor remembers the father once Hoff tells him the father's name.
* ButtMonkey: Lando, just a little bit. "It's not my fault!" is practically his catchphrase in this book.
* CaptainObvious: "There seems to be a slight problem, my prince." "So I noticed. Why are your ships blowing up, Commander?"
** [[GroinAttack "You resist me.]]
* TheCityNarrows: Coruscant's seedy underground districts.
* CollapsingLair: The heroes escape from Xizor's palace just before it implodes on itself.
* ContinuityNod: The radio drama for ''ReturnOfTheJedi'' makes an offhand mention to these events, namely the trip to Coruscant and allowing the droids to fly the ''Falcon''.
* CoolChair: Xizor's "Myostim unit". You sit in it and it ''[[KingpinInHisGym makes you buff]].''
* CoolStarship: The ''Outrider'' is a later model YT-series freighter (it's a 2400 to the ''Millenium Falcon'''s 1300) with plenty of modifications in the form of better engines and extra weaponry.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Xizor, obviously.
* DeathMountain: The canyons of Gall.
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Luke tries to save his dying Bothan friend, but it doesn't work, and Luke winds up getting captured anyway.
* TheDogShotFirst: A mechanic in an unknown enemy's employ tries to shoot Luke and misses, then is shot by Wedge. Luke is dismayed, since he wanted to question her and find out who paid her - he doesn't think it was Vader - but Wedge shrugs and says that the second rule of self-defense is to shoot first, ask questions later. The first is to be elsewhere when the shooting starts.
* DoomedByCanon: Xizor is not going to get to kill Luke. [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt Like They Would Really Do It]], anyway. Also, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando are trying to rescue Han, still in carbonite, from Boba Fett before Fett turns him over to Jabba.
* DownTheDrain: The Imperial City sewers.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Luke and Lando liberate some stormtrooper uniforms for their jaunt to Imperial Centre.
* EasyModeMockery: If you beat the game on Easy Mode, you don't get to see if Dash survives. The novel implies that he dies at the end, so you have to play the game to find out what really happens. [[spoiler:He lives.]]
* EternalEngine: Xizor's Palace.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Vader does not like politicking and spying and mucking around with double-dealing and triple-crossing, which is how he's forced to handle Xizor. He'll do it, but he feels soiled.
--> ''[[ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge Striking a man down with your blade was clean and honorable]]. Shooting him in the back from the darkness of an alley and hurrying to blame it on another was something else altogether.''
* EvilVersusEvil: Xizor and Vader... don't play well together. It's implied in the novel that TheEmperor sets up his various underlings in situations like this ''[[MagnificentBastard for the lulz]].''
** Actually he set situations like this up so that his underlings would become [[TheRival rivals]] and work even harder to gain Palpatine's approval by trying to outdo the other in obedience to the Empire. Nothing gets results like a threat to job security.
* {{Expy}}: Dash is an unsubtle expy of Han Solo.
** The Human Replica Droid [[TheDragon Guri]] is basically a {{Terminator}}. Simulates all human functions, so perfectly imitates a human that special tech or the Force is needed to tell otherwise (dogs probably wouldn't work), implacable, NighInvulnerable, faster and stronger than any human, and there is no being which can best her at hand-to-hand. [[spoiler: Except Luke Skywalker.]] Yet she's also starting to understand emotion, particularly the search for challenge. A later-set comic has her looking for ways to reprogram herself so she's not so violent.
* GoodIsNotNice: When it is time for the heroes to make good their escape from Xizor's palace, Lando takes a high-yield thermal detonator and drops it down a garbage chute. This earns him a WhatTheHellHero from the others, but he justifies it by pointing out that anyone working there ''had'' to know how evil their boss was.
* GroinAttack: Leia explains to Xizor that no really does mean no. Immortalized on a [[http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/1467/img196r.jpg playing card!]]
* TheGump: Subverted, actually. There's a mention of Vader once altering records to make it seem as if Prince Xizor was present on the Lars homestead when Luke's aunt and uncle were killed, but he wasn't there.
** Dash Rendar, however, WAS at the battle of Hoth. A brief mention in the book, but a playable event in the game.
* HeroicBSOD: Cocky bastard Dash gets one of these when he fails to stop a missile and twelve Bothans on his side are killed; previously he'd thought he was invincible.
** It turns out [[spoiler: the missile was.]]
* HeroicWillpower: Leia's righteous anger, once Chewie awakens it, lets her resist Xizor's supposedly irresistible pheromones; she feels a ghost of attraction still, but can shrug it off. Xizor is disbelieving.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Spearing two fleek-eels with the same trident. Another day, another credit - before taxes, of course. Going to entropy in a turbolift. What I know about programming you could inscribe on a microdiode lead with a dull sword. Like shooting snakes in a shoebox.
* HonorBeforeReason: Luke refuses to leave a dying Bothan ally and run for cover; this leads to him being captured.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Luke is depicted as still learning to become a Jedi, and there are several times when he struggles to use the Force. He does build his own lightsaber, though.
* HumongousMecha: The Gladiator boss.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Jabba the Hutt apparently can speak Basic perfectly well, as well as understand it. He just chooses to speak Huttese most of the time.
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Not the main point of Xizor's EvilPlan, [[XanatosGambit but definitely a side benefit]] along with BatheHerAndBringHerToMe.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Naturally, Luke is able to parry blaster bolts with the lightsaber he builds.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Xizor is an incredibly good shot who practices marksmanship constantly. However, he can't bring down a [[BadassAbnormal Jedi]].
* InsecurityCamera: Lando comes up with the idea of destroying the surveillance network in Xizor's palace to help them escape.
* InterspeciesRomance: Xizor tries to seduce Leia with his pheromones. Chewbacca interrupts.
* IOweYouMyLife: Luke comes to respect Dash a lot more after the latter shows up to help him fend off the swoop gang on Tatooine.
* ItsPersonal: On Prince Xizor's homeworld, when Xizor was off ruling his criminal enterprise, there was a hazard lab that a flesh-eating bacteria escaped from, and Darth Vader had the city around it, and the two hundred thousand people in that city, "sterilized" (ie. incinerated with lasers) from orbit. This included Xizor's [[YouKilledMyFather mother, father, brother, two sisters, and three uncles]]. The way this is phrased actually makes it seem like a comparatively benign decision on the Empire's and Vader's parts - this spared the billions of people on the planet, potentially trillions if it escaped into the rest of the galaxy, from "a horrible, rotting, always fatal infection for which there was no cure".
** ItMakesSenseInContext- Xizor describes the laboratory as one of Vader's "pet projects". It's actually not clear that Vader was personally responsible for the clean up that killed Xizor's family or if it was just the Imperial officers at hand, but either way Xizor blaming Vader makes sense since if it wasn't for his lab the planet wouldn't have needed sterilising in the first place.
* IWantThemAlive: Subverted. Xizor orders his forces to shoot down the Millennium Falcon, adding that capturing it and securing its crew and passengers would also be acceptable.
* IWillFindYou: Vader's personal mission in this book is to find Luke before Xizor does.
* JediMindTrick: Luke fumbles his way through doing this to make the guard to his cell open the door, let Luke out, and go to sleep. Later, with fewer mistakes, he gets a suspicious but not currently hostile Imperial officer to follow him into a refresher, strip, and go to sleep. Seems to be Luke's thing in this book.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dash Rendar, eventually. Early on he leaves the ''Falcon'' to fight its way out of an ambush alone because the Rebels had paid him to guide them, not to fight Imperials. Later on - yes, for some reason he was hired again - his arrogance gets several allied Bothans killed and this shakes him, though it can also be read as him being horrified because he'd thought he never missed.
** After he seems to die, Wedge informs Luke that [[spoiler: Dash didn't actually miss, and the missile that destroyed the Bothan ship was an experimental diamond-boron weapon invulnerable to blasters]].
* KingpinInHisGym: Xizor has an "exercise chair" that strengthens his muscles while not having him actually exert himself, though its also established that he does practice martial arts. Vader cuts down large numbers of lightsaber-wielding droids.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Listen to the soundtrack. Vader's leitmotif is played a few times, and Xizor has one of his own. The composer has expressed regret that he didn't include Leia's Theme.
* LiteralMinded: An obstructive droid clearly is this.
-->'''Droid''': "Master Melan is a very busy Bothan. Perhaps I can arrange for you to see him in, oh, perhaps a standard week? Your names?"
-->'''Dash''': "Okay, Goldie. My name is Man with a Blaster About to Cook You. Either you open the door or your busy Bothan is going to have to get himself a new receptionist."
-->'''Droid''': "Oh dear. Very well, Man with a Blaster About to Cook You."
* LocomotiveLevel: The hover trains in Ord Mantell Junkyard.
* LoveIsInTheAir: Xizor's pheromones. His creepy, creepy ''date rape'' pheromones.
--> An excited Falleen who loosed his full pheromonal arsenal was, for all practical purposes, irresistible to a member of the opposite sex. It did not matter what a woman's stance was on fidelity, that she had been a faithful partner to another for years or decades. Falleen pheromones were more potent than the strongest spice. Leia might want to resist him with her mind, but her body would ache for him. There was no antidote save one.
--> Xizor smiled. He would enjoy administering the single antidote to Leia. He would enjoy it very much indeed...
** Parodied in [[http://3do.jediknight.net/dcm/strips/76.gif this comic strip.]]
* MechaMooks: The battle droids encountered in many levels of the game.
* MildlyMilitary: Rogue Squadron, even moreso than in the XWingSeries. Here, they apparently have free rein to help Luke with whatever, and other than Leia the Alliance High Command is nowhere to be seen.
* MobWar: Between Black Sun and the Empire.
* MsFanservice: Guri has this effect on every (straight) male in-universe. Despite this, Lando notices there's something [[UncannyValley not quite right about her]].
* NamesTheSame: The novel was written by Steve Perry - No, not ''[[Music/{{Journey}} that]]'' Steve Perry.
* [[{{Narm/StarWars}} Narm]]: There are constant references to lube. Mostly they're said by or to droids, but not always.
** Chewbacca's buzz cut in the comic, after going to Xizor's palace.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: Dash.]]
* OhCrap: Xizor's reaction to Luke parrying blaster bolts.
* OminousChanting: The first part of "Xizor's Theme", and "The Destruction of Xizor's Palace", the climax of which is used in the final stage of the N64 game.
* PapaWolf: Vader is... displeased... about Xizor's efforts to kill his son.
* PunchClockVillain: The Barabel who captures Luke insists it's only business, and she has nothing against him personally (in fact, her species generally respect Jedi quite a lot).
* RacingMinigame: Mos Eisley & Beggar's Canyon (Type 2). Get to Luke before the biker gang does.
* ReactorBoss: The Skyhook core.
* RedheadedHero: Dash Rendar.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The BigBad ([[EvilVersusEvil more or less]]) is a reptilian-humanoid [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Falleen Falleen]]. Subverted in that the Falleen are considered [[TallDarkAndHandsome one of]] [[TheDarkSide the more]] [[EvilIsSexy attractive]] humanoid species in the Galaxy.
* RevengeByProxy: Xizor wants Luke dead and Vader in disgrace as payback for Vader killing his [[YouKilledMyFather family]]. And neighbors. And anyone else within a hundred-mile radius of [[DoomedHometown Xizor's old home]].
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Guri, Xizor's very expensive Human Replica Droid. She breathes, she has muscles and a heart that pumps fluid...
--> As [Xizor] watched her walk away, he briefly considered telling her to disrobe and join him in the [[ShowerOfLove water]]. He had made her do that a few times when he wanted company he could trust absolutely, and she had demonstrated to his satisfaction that she could pass for a woman in virtually every way during those times...
* {{Robosexual}}: Xizor and Guri.
* RunningGag: None of the voxchips in any of Prince Xizor's {{Cool Chair}}s seem to be able to pronounce his name to his satisfaction.
** SpellMyNameWithAnS: Xizor is apparently pronounced "SHEE-zor," with the X pronounced as in Portuguese. This issue is still being debated almost 15 years later.
* ShoutOut: "Thix? What is going on down there? Thix? Come in, sector one-one-three-eight, come in-"
** In the N64 version of the game, when Dash locates the supercomputer aboard the ''Suprosa''. If the player steps far enough back and looks at it head on... Looks an awful lot like [[ConsoleCameo an N64]] with a ''Shadows'' cartridge plugged in, doesn't it? Also, one of the Challenge Points is shaped like [[SamAndMaxHitTheRoad Max]].
* SmugSnake: Xizor's certainly clever and he's got style, but his arrogance leads him to make several mistakes that end up biting him ''hard''- most notably underestimating [[{{Badass}} Darth Vader]].
* SuperReflexes: Luke gets this when he opens himself to the Force during his fight with Guri - the narration says that he "felt as if he were moving at normal speed, though there was a crackling feeling to his motion, a sound like strong wind whistling about his ears."
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Dash Rendar in place of frozen Han Solo. Several characters actually comment on his similarity. If anything, though, Dash is even cockier.
* TankControls: In the N64 game, to an extent - pushing the joystick to the left or right causes Dash to ''rotate'' rather than just face that direction.
* TurnsRed: In the N64 game - as you destroy the Gladiator from the feet up, its attacks become deadlier.
* UnfortunateName: CannonFodder rebel pilot Dix.
* VillainousBreakdown
* VillainsOutShopping: The book once cuts to Xizor trimming a six-hundred-year old bonzai tree while thinking that he will reveal this patient, cultured side of himself to Leia, among other things. Later it cuts to him luxuriating in a bath, having [[BathtubBonding invited Leia to join him]] (he was rejected), thinking that soon his pheromones will overcome her willpower.
** There's quite a few of these cuts in the novel -- one shows Xizor inspecting a mansion he bought for his mistress as a good-bye gift, and in another he's [[ContemplateOurNavels contemplating his navel]] while dining on the ''StarWars'' equivalent of fugu.
* WeWillNotUseStageMakeupInTheFuture: Subverted, as with nearly all disguises in the StarWarsExpandedUniverse.
* WickedCultured: Prince Xizor. Part of the reason [[spoiler: the heroes ''know'' he's dead]] is that he never shows up again at any of Coruscant's most expensive restaurants, one of which he co-owns.
* YouGotSpunk: Xizor to Leia.
-->"So. [[GroinAttack You resist me]]."
-->"[[CaptainObvious You got that right]]."
* YouHaveFailedMe: After learning that a rescue party broke into his palace, Xizor plans to replace his entire security staff - and those other than foot soldiers, the supervisors, would find their dismissals particularly painful.
** On the other hand, when it comes time to flee the palace, Xizor takes note of the two guards who kept watch over his personal fighter, the ''Virago'' and decides that they would keep their jobs when the situation was taken care of (and possibly even earn a promotion).
* YouKilledMyFather: Comes up quite often, actually. Vader killed most of Xizor's family, Xizor [[DrivenToSuicide drove a would-be assassin's father to his death]], the Empire killed Melan's schoolteacher father for espionage...
----
''[[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shadows_of_the_Empire Shadows of the Empire]]'' is a part of the StarWarsExpandedUniverse, coming out in 1996. Conceived as an {{interquel}} between ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''ReturnOfTheJedi'', it's a multimedia project, like TheForceUnleashed after it, designed to have all of the media that would surround a new movie without actually making a movie. There is a novel, a video game, a six-issue [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1067082.html comic]] [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1096401.html series]], a [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shadows_of_the_Empire_%28soundtrack%29 soundtrack]], a toyline, and trading cards. Not all its elements overlap - to get the full story, readers would have to see each story-related component.
The novel tells the overall story, focusing on the main characters. The comic book series focuses on bounty hunter Boba Fett's battle to keep possession of the frozen Han Solo. The video game allows players to control new character Dash Rendar, whose adventures in the game weave in and out of the overall storyline.
Throughout each of these, Prince Xizor, the head of the criminal organization Black Sun, finds out why Darth Vader, his bitter rival for the Emperor's favor, wants the Rebel hero Luke Skywalker. In order to gain the Emperor's favor and punish Vader for [[YouKilledMyFather killing Xizor's family]], Xizor plans to [[RevengeByProxy kill Luke]], while the the Rebels try to find Han.
----
!!This provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: How Luke, Dash and Lando sneak into Xizor's palace.
* TheAce: Han Solo's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Dash Rendar. He's annoying even to the characters, but they do acknowledge that [[AcePilot he's a good pilot]]. Luke once thinks "This guy was so full of himself it was a wonder he didn't explode and spew ego all over the place".
* AffablyEvil: Xizor certainly ''tries'' to be this, especially around Leia, but YourMileageMayVary on whether he succeeds, or just comes off as a creepy stalker/predator. [[KavorkaMan Or maybe that's his charm?]]
* AscendedExtra/ TheCameo: Durga the Hutt, who previously appeared as the BigBad of [[TheCallistaTrilogy ''Darksaber'']] the year previous (set years after this novel), show up as a Vigo of the Black Sun. Xizor pulls a BlofeldPloy on him to remind him that he isn't trusted.
** Jabba makes a brief appearance when Xizor talks to him via holoprojector.
* BigDamnHeroes: Rogue Squadron shows up during the escape from Coruscant at, of course, a dramatic moment when the ''Falcon'' and the ''Outrider'' are being hemmed in by Xizor's private navy.
-->'''Wedge''': "Hey, Luke! Mind if we join your party?"
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Prince Xizor is attacked by a young man named Hoff, who yells "YouKilledMyFather" to him, to which Xizor replies, "I'm sorry. Have we met?". It's subverted, however, since Xizor remembers the father once Hoff tells him the father's name.
* ButtMonkey: Lando, just a little bit. "It's not my fault!" is practically his catchphrase in this book.
* CaptainObvious: "There seems to be a slight problem, my prince." "So I noticed. Why are your ships blowing up, Commander?"
** [[GroinAttack "You resist me.]]
* TheCityNarrows: Coruscant's seedy underground districts.
* CollapsingLair: The heroes escape from Xizor's palace just before it implodes on itself.
* ContinuityNod: The radio drama for ''ReturnOfTheJedi'' makes an offhand mention to these events, namely the trip to Coruscant and allowing the droids to fly the ''Falcon''.
* CoolChair: Xizor's "Myostim unit". You sit in it and it ''[[KingpinInHisGym makes you buff]].''
* CoolStarship: The ''Outrider'' is a later model YT-series freighter (it's a 2400 to the ''Millenium Falcon'''s 1300) with plenty of modifications in the form of better engines and extra weaponry.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Xizor, obviously.
* DeathMountain: The canyons of Gall.
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Luke tries to save his dying Bothan friend, but it doesn't work, and Luke winds up getting captured anyway.
* TheDogShotFirst: A mechanic in an unknown enemy's employ tries to shoot Luke and misses, then is shot by Wedge. Luke is dismayed, since he wanted to question her and find out who paid her - he doesn't think it was Vader - but Wedge shrugs and says that the second rule of self-defense is to shoot first, ask questions later. The first is to be elsewhere when the shooting starts.
* DoomedByCanon: Xizor is not going to get to kill Luke. [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt Like They Would Really Do It]], anyway. Also, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando are trying to rescue Han, still in carbonite, from Boba Fett before Fett turns him over to Jabba.
* DownTheDrain: The Imperial City sewers.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Luke and Lando liberate some stormtrooper uniforms for their jaunt to Imperial Centre.
* EasyModeMockery: If you beat the game on Easy Mode, you don't get to see if Dash survives. The novel implies that he dies at the end, so you have to play the game to find out what really happens. [[spoiler:He lives.]]
* EternalEngine: Xizor's Palace.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Vader does not like politicking and spying and mucking around with double-dealing and triple-crossing, which is how he's forced to handle Xizor. He'll do it, but he feels soiled.
--> ''[[ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge Striking a man down with your blade was clean and honorable]]. Shooting him in the back from the darkness of an alley and hurrying to blame it on another was something else altogether.''
* EvilVersusEvil: Xizor and Vader... don't play well together. It's implied in the novel that TheEmperor sets up his various underlings in situations like this ''[[MagnificentBastard for the lulz]].''
** Actually he set situations like this up so that his underlings would become [[TheRival rivals]] and work even harder to gain Palpatine's approval by trying to outdo the other in obedience to the Empire. Nothing gets results like a threat to job security.
* {{Expy}}: Dash is an unsubtle expy of Han Solo.
** The Human Replica Droid [[TheDragon Guri]] is basically a {{Terminator}}. Simulates all human functions, so perfectly imitates a human that special tech or the Force is needed to tell otherwise (dogs probably wouldn't work), implacable, NighInvulnerable, faster and stronger than any human, and there is no being which can best her at hand-to-hand. [[spoiler: Except Luke Skywalker.]] Yet she's also starting to understand emotion, particularly the search for challenge. A later-set comic has her looking for ways to reprogram herself so she's not so violent.
* GoodIsNotNice: When it is time for the heroes to make good their escape from Xizor's palace, Lando takes a high-yield thermal detonator and drops it down a garbage chute. This earns him a WhatTheHellHero from the others, but he justifies it by pointing out that anyone working there ''had'' to know how evil their boss was.
* GroinAttack: Leia explains to Xizor that no really does mean no. Immortalized on a [[http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/1467/img196r.jpg playing card!]]
* TheGump: Subverted, actually. There's a mention of Vader once altering records to make it seem as if Prince Xizor was present on the Lars homestead when Luke's aunt and uncle were killed, but he wasn't there.
** Dash Rendar, however, WAS at the battle of Hoth. A brief mention in the book, but a playable event in the game.
* HeroicBSOD: Cocky bastard Dash gets one of these when he fails to stop a missile and twelve Bothans on his side are killed; previously he'd thought he was invincible.
** It turns out [[spoiler: the missile was.]]
* HeroicWillpower: Leia's righteous anger, once Chewie awakens it, lets her resist Xizor's supposedly irresistible pheromones; she feels a ghost of attraction still, but can shrug it off. Xizor is disbelieving.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Spearing two fleek-eels with the same trident. Another day, another credit - before taxes, of course. Going to entropy in a turbolift. What I know about programming you could inscribe on a microdiode lead with a dull sword. Like shooting snakes in a shoebox.
* HonorBeforeReason: Luke refuses to leave a dying Bothan ally and run for cover; this leads to him being captured.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Luke is depicted as still learning to become a Jedi, and there are several times when he struggles to use the Force. He does build his own lightsaber, though.
* HumongousMecha: The Gladiator boss.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: Jabba the Hutt apparently can speak Basic perfectly well, as well as understand it. He just chooses to speak Huttese most of the time.
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Not the main point of Xizor's EvilPlan, [[XanatosGambit but definitely a side benefit]] along with BatheHerAndBringHerToMe.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Naturally, Luke is able to parry blaster bolts with the lightsaber he builds.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Xizor is an incredibly good shot who practices marksmanship constantly. However, he can't bring down a [[BadassAbnormal Jedi]].
* InsecurityCamera: Lando comes up with the idea of destroying the surveillance network in Xizor's palace to help them escape.
* InterspeciesRomance: Xizor tries to seduce Leia with his pheromones. Chewbacca interrupts.
* IOweYouMyLife: Luke comes to respect Dash a lot more after the latter shows up to help him fend off the swoop gang on Tatooine.
* ItsPersonal: On Prince Xizor's homeworld, when Xizor was off ruling his criminal enterprise, there was a hazard lab that a flesh-eating bacteria escaped from, and Darth Vader had the city around it, and the two hundred thousand people in that city, "sterilized" (ie. incinerated with lasers) from orbit. This included Xizor's [[YouKilledMyFather mother, father, brother, two sisters, and three uncles]]. The way this is phrased actually makes it seem like a comparatively benign decision on the Empire's and Vader's parts - this spared the billions of people on the planet, potentially trillions if it escaped into the rest of the galaxy, from "a horrible, rotting, always fatal infection for which there was no cure".
** ItMakesSenseInContext- Xizor describes the laboratory as one of Vader's "pet projects". It's actually not clear that Vader was personally responsible for the clean up that killed Xizor's family or if it was just the Imperial officers at hand, but either way Xizor blaming Vader makes sense since if it wasn't for his lab the planet wouldn't have needed sterilising in the first place.
* IWantThemAlive: Subverted. Xizor orders his forces to shoot down the Millennium Falcon, adding that capturing it and securing its crew and passengers would also be acceptable.
* IWillFindYou: Vader's personal mission in this book is to find Luke before Xizor does.
* JediMindTrick: Luke fumbles his way through doing this to make the guard to his cell open the door, let Luke out, and go to sleep. Later, with fewer mistakes, he gets a suspicious but not currently hostile Imperial officer to follow him into a refresher, strip, and go to sleep. Seems to be Luke's thing in this book.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Dash Rendar, eventually. Early on he leaves the ''Falcon'' to fight its way out of an ambush alone because the Rebels had paid him to guide them, not to fight Imperials. Later on - yes, for some reason he was hired again - his arrogance gets several allied Bothans killed and this shakes him, though it can also be read as him being horrified because he'd thought he never missed.
** After he seems to die, Wedge informs Luke that [[spoiler: Dash didn't actually miss, and the missile that destroyed the Bothan ship was an experimental diamond-boron weapon invulnerable to blasters]].
* KingpinInHisGym: Xizor has an "exercise chair" that strengthens his muscles while not having him actually exert himself, though its also established that he does practice martial arts. Vader cuts down large numbers of lightsaber-wielding droids.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Listen to the soundtrack. Vader's leitmotif is played a few times, and Xizor has one of his own. The composer has expressed regret that he didn't include Leia's Theme.
* LiteralMinded: An obstructive droid clearly is this.
-->'''Droid''': "Master Melan is a very busy Bothan. Perhaps I can arrange for you to see him in, oh, perhaps a standard week? Your names?"
-->'''Dash''': "Okay, Goldie. My name is Man with a Blaster About to Cook You. Either you open the door or your busy Bothan is going to have to get himself a new receptionist."
-->'''Droid''': "Oh dear. Very well, Man with a Blaster About to Cook You."
* LocomotiveLevel: The hover trains in Ord Mantell Junkyard.
* LoveIsInTheAir: Xizor's pheromones. His creepy, creepy ''date rape'' pheromones.
--> An excited Falleen who loosed his full pheromonal arsenal was, for all practical purposes, irresistible to a member of the opposite sex. It did not matter what a woman's stance was on fidelity, that she had been a faithful partner to another for years or decades. Falleen pheromones were more potent than the strongest spice. Leia might want to resist him with her mind, but her body would ache for him. There was no antidote save one.
--> Xizor smiled. He would enjoy administering the single antidote to Leia. He would enjoy it very much indeed...
** Parodied in [[http://3do.jediknight.net/dcm/strips/76.gif this comic strip.]]
* MechaMooks: The battle droids encountered in many levels of the game.
* MildlyMilitary: Rogue Squadron, even moreso than in the XWingSeries. Here, they apparently have free rein to help Luke with whatever, and other than Leia the Alliance High Command is nowhere to be seen.
* MobWar: Between Black Sun and the Empire.
* MsFanservice: Guri has this effect on every (straight) male in-universe. Despite this, Lando notices there's something [[UncannyValley not quite right about her]].
* NamesTheSame: The novel was written by Steve Perry - No, not ''[[Music/{{Journey}} that]]'' Steve Perry.
* [[{{Narm/StarWars}} Narm]]: There are constant references to lube. Mostly they're said by or to droids, but not always.
** Chewbacca's buzz cut in the comic, after going to Xizor's palace.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler: Dash.]]
* OhCrap: Xizor's reaction to Luke parrying blaster bolts.
* OminousChanting: The first part of "Xizor's Theme", and "The Destruction of Xizor's Palace", the climax of which is used in the final stage of the N64 game.
* PapaWolf: Vader is... displeased... about Xizor's efforts to kill his son.
* PunchClockVillain: The Barabel who captures Luke insists it's only business, and she has nothing against him personally (in fact, her species generally respect Jedi quite a lot).
* RacingMinigame: Mos Eisley & Beggar's Canyon (Type 2). Get to Luke before the biker gang does.
* ReactorBoss: The Skyhook core.
* RedheadedHero: Dash Rendar.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The BigBad ([[EvilVersusEvil more or less]]) is a reptilian-humanoid [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Falleen Falleen]]. Subverted in that the Falleen are considered [[TallDarkAndHandsome one of]] [[TheDarkSide the more]] [[EvilIsSexy attractive]] humanoid species in the Galaxy.
* RevengeByProxy: Xizor wants Luke dead and Vader in disgrace as payback for Vader killing his [[YouKilledMyFather family]]. And neighbors. And anyone else within a hundred-mile radius of [[DoomedHometown Xizor's old home]].
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Guri, Xizor's very expensive Human Replica Droid. She breathes, she has muscles and a heart that pumps fluid...
--> As [Xizor] watched her walk away, he briefly considered telling her to disrobe and join him in the [[ShowerOfLove water]]. He had made her do that a few times when he wanted company he could trust absolutely, and she had demonstrated to his satisfaction that she could pass for a woman in virtually every way during those times...
* {{Robosexual}}: Xizor and Guri.
* RunningGag: None of the voxchips in any of Prince Xizor's {{Cool Chair}}s seem to be able to pronounce his name to his satisfaction.
** SpellMyNameWithAnS: Xizor is apparently pronounced "SHEE-zor," with the X pronounced as in Portuguese. This issue is still being debated almost 15 years later.
* ShoutOut: "Thix? What is going on down there? Thix? Come in, sector one-one-three-eight, come in-"
** In the N64 version of the game, when Dash locates the supercomputer aboard the ''Suprosa''. If the player steps far enough back and looks at it head on... Looks an awful lot like [[ConsoleCameo an N64]] with a ''Shadows'' cartridge plugged in, doesn't it? Also, one of the Challenge Points is shaped like [[SamAndMaxHitTheRoad Max]].
* SmugSnake: Xizor's certainly clever and he's got style, but his arrogance leads him to make several mistakes that end up biting him ''hard''- most notably underestimating [[{{Badass}} Darth Vader]].
* SuperReflexes: Luke gets this when he opens himself to the Force during his fight with Guri - the narration says that he "felt as if he were moving at normal speed, though there was a crackling feeling to his motion, a sound like strong wind whistling about his ears."
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Dash Rendar in place of frozen Han Solo. Several characters actually comment on his similarity. If anything, though, Dash is even cockier.
* TankControls: In the N64 game, to an extent - pushing the joystick to the left or right causes Dash to ''rotate'' rather than just face that direction.
* TurnsRed: In the N64 game - as you destroy the Gladiator from the feet up, its attacks become deadlier.
* UnfortunateName: CannonFodder rebel pilot Dix.
* VillainousBreakdown
* VillainsOutShopping: The book once cuts to Xizor trimming a six-hundred-year old bonzai tree while thinking that he will reveal this patient, cultured side of himself to Leia, among other things. Later it cuts to him luxuriating in a bath, having [[BathtubBonding invited Leia to join him]] (he was rejected), thinking that soon his pheromones will overcome her willpower.
** There's quite a few of these cuts in the novel -- one shows Xizor inspecting a mansion he bought for his mistress as a good-bye gift, and in another he's [[ContemplateOurNavels contemplating his navel]] while dining on the ''StarWars'' equivalent of fugu.
* WeWillNotUseStageMakeupInTheFuture: Subverted, as with nearly all disguises in the StarWarsExpandedUniverse.
* WickedCultured: Prince Xizor. Part of the reason [[spoiler: the heroes ''know'' he's dead]] is that he never shows up again at any of Coruscant's most expensive restaurants, one of which he co-owns.
* YouGotSpunk: Xizor to Leia.
-->"So. [[GroinAttack You resist me]]."
-->"[[CaptainObvious You got that right]]."
* YouHaveFailedMe: After learning that a rescue party broke into his palace, Xizor plans to replace his entire security staff - and those other than foot soldiers, the supervisors, would find their dismissals particularly painful.
** On the other hand, when it comes time to flee the palace, Xizor takes note of the two guards who kept watch over his personal fighter, the ''Virago'' and decides that they would keep their jobs when the situation was taken care of (and possibly even earn a promotion).
* YouKilledMyFather: Comes up quite often, actually. Vader killed most of Xizor's family, Xizor [[DrivenToSuicide drove a would-be assassin's father to his death]], the Empire killed Melan's schoolteacher father for espionage...
----
