History Literature / TheCallistaTrilogy

* AndIMustScream: Callista on the ''Eye of Palpatine''.

* ArmedWithCanon: At the time that ''Darksaber'' came out, there was a massive difference of opinion on the nature of the status quo in the galaxy. Timothy Zahn had decided that the Rebellion and the Empire had flipped roles, with the New Republic being the legitimate authority, which had more people and more hardware than the Empire. In this scenario only someone like Grand Admiral Thrawn could make the Empire a threat to stability. Tom Veitch, on the other hand, decided that a galactic civil war, with the Empire splintered into different factions and no power having any more claim to true rulership of the galaxy than any other, was better. This made the New Republic just another player in a galactic morass. The novel authors preferred Zahn's vision, but with ''Dark Empire'' still being in the same canon as the novels, this caused some obvious problems. Therefore Darksaber is a sort of FixFic wherein Daala changes the Veitchian status quo into the Zahnian one, creating the Imperial Remnant that served as the main antagonist for (most of) the rest of the line.

* BodyBackupDrive: Prominent mention is given to how the Emperor used to have Bevel Lemelisk executed for his failures - slowly, painfully, often via... creative methods - then immediately reanimate him in a cloned body. He would often "awaken" to find his corpse still nearby, apparently in case the horrible, horrible death he'd just suffered wasn't enough of an object lesson. It was later hinted Palpatine did this partly to see if [[ComicBook/DarkEmpire the technology would work on himself]].

* CallBack: Durga in ''Darksaber'' briefly alludes to his time serving under the legendary crime boss [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Xizor]]. Notably, this also doubles as {{foreshadowing}} as ''Shadows of the Empire'' had not been released at the time ''Darksaber'' was published.
** During a brief visit to Hoth in ''Darksaber'' Luke encounters the wampa that captured him in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. [[spoiler: This time he kills it]].

* {{Determinator}}: Luke spends most of the first book exhausted and in pain, mostly using the Force just to keep going, and still never gives in. Callista is also this trope, but it's deconstructed--she spends so much time yearning to [[spoiler: get her Force powers back]] that she never considers becoming a BadassNormal--she's still a trained Jedi with a lot of lightsaber skills, after all. It's either [[spoiler: get her powers back]] or nothing--and [[Literature/FateOfTheJedi look how that turned out]].

* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The Darksaber.
* GeneralFailure:

* GenerationXerox: What Leia and the rest of the New Republic believe is the case regarding Seti Ashgad, who they think is the son of a same-named Senator that Palpatine exiled to Nam Chorios. [[spoiler:Turns out [[MyGrandsonMyself he's the original Seti Ashgad]], having been kept alive and young by a mutated droch beetle.]]

* HoldYourHippogriffs: A variation of "Might as well be hanged for horse theft as for stealing chicken feed"-"In for two credits, let's rob a bank!"

%%* TheInfiltration: Several in ''Darksaber''.

* KilledOffForReal:
** [[spoiler:Crix Madine in ''Darksaber'', the first film character with a speaking role to die. Also a ShaggyDogStory since he went on that mission to destroy the Darksaber, but as events transpired, he might as well not have bothered.]]
** [[spoiler:Dorsk 81 bites the big one in ''Darksaber'', dying after pooling together all the Jedi's powers to repel Pellaeon's fleet when it began its attack on Yavin 4.]]

* TheRemnant: ''Triple subverted'' in ''Children of the Jedi''. Luke's investigative mission to the ''Eye of Palpatine'' starts with the [[ThatsNoMoon dreadnought]] shooting them down, leading to a crash-landing on a planet where they are confronted by a garrison of Imperial stormtroopers... consisting of one old man, Triv Pothman, who immediately helps patch them up. He's been waiting for the ''Eye'' to pick him up for decades. Then it ''does'', brainwashing everyone into being stormtroopers--again, in Triv's case. ''Then'' Luke helps him snap out of it and he remains on the good-guy side, eventually experiencing the CallToAgriculture at the end of the novel.

* ScaramangaSpecial: One of the Imperial warlords can take off the medals and accouterments from his uniform and assemble them together into a bladed weapon.
* ShaggyDogStory:

** As mentioned elsewhere, the trilogy is something of this out of universe - in the words of Barbara Hambly, she was hired to write the perfect match for Luke in ''Children of the Jedi'', then, because the fandom had latched on to Mara Jade as a romantic interest for Luke, she came back for ''Planet of Twilight'' to write that same "perfect match" out.

* SuccessThroughSexAccusation: In ''Darksaber'', Admiral Daala relates to her NumberTwo Admiral Pellaeon that during her rise through the Imperial Navy, a disgruntled male officer accused her of [[SleepingTheirWayToTheTop sleeping her way to the top]]--with some cause, given she was Grand Moff Tarkin's [[TheMistress mistress]] at the time. Tarkin reacted quite poorly to this and [[ThrownOutTheAirlock threw him out an airlock]] in a decaying orbit with his spacesuit's radio locked in the "on" position [[MakeAnExampleOfThem so that everyone on the planet could hear his screams as he burned up on reentry]].

%%* UntouchableUntilTagged: How Callista died.
* VillainDecay: {{Lampshaded}} and addressed. At the end of ''Darksaber'', [[spoiler: Daala resigns her commission because she feels that after her repeated defeats, she can no longer ask her men to follow her lead.]]
* VillainousValour: When Daala gasses the warlords, most of them only scream and plead and try to break out (as expected). One, however, methodically takes off all of his medals and uniform accouterments and assembles them together into a bladed weapon. Daala is impressed at his focus and wonders if he will be able to complete his task before succumbing. [[spoiler:He does finish the weapon, but collapses before he actually reaches her]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Ismarens get away, and aren't seen again until the Literature/NewJediOrder.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: {{Averted}}. Say what you like about how [[spoiler:Madine]] died, but at least Durga was smart enough to ensure that it was properly carried out.
* WouldNotShootACivilian: Averted with Daala, who orders Colonel Cronus and his massive fleet of Victory-class Star Destroyers to launch a terror campaign against a large number of civilian and military targets, including Khomm, the Chardaan Shipyards, and a library world. She already showed her willingness to do it in previous books, and most Imperials have no problem with this.

* DeathbringerTheAdorable: One of Leia's adoptive aunts had four pet pittins (analogous to kittens). Their names were Taffy, Winky, Fluffy, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers AT-AV (short for All-Terrain Attack Vehicle)]]. Leia named that one herself. Obviously harmless, but it is easy to imagine a kitten analogue behaving in a manner that would earn it such a name.

* TheMagnificent: In a spectacular case of SmallNameBigEgo, the various warlords in ''Darksaber'' keep trying to top each other in terms of ridiculous titles. Supreme Warlord, High Admiral, Superior General, High Moff, Honored Overlord, Supreme Leader, Supreme Commander and Omnipotent Battle Leader. That last was so ridiculous that background sources later retconned it as a title Palpatine used to hide his return in ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire''.

In the meantime, Durga and his minions have been constructing the new Darksaber superlaser in Hoth's famous AsteroidThicket. Unfortunately, he's as bad at hiring good help as Daala is at military strategy; the HiveMind creatures who are doing the actual construction are [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny easily distracted]] and tend to get confused when they return to work, resulting in a nearly non-functional space craft. Nonetheless, the New Republic sends a small strike team (led by General Madine) to sabotage the project. [[spoiler: The team fails, and Madine is killed]]. Durga and his minions are ultimately defeated when [[spoiler: the superweapon fails to work and the Darksaber is pulverized by asteroids]].

As the New Republic goes back to day-to-day life, Luke receives a message from [[spoiler: Callista]], revealing that [[spoiler: she survived the battle, but she cannot continue a relationship with him until she regains her Force powers -- on her own]]. Also revealed is [[spoiler: that Daala survives the battle, but renounces her rank]] and supreme command of the Imperial forces is handed over to Pellaeon.

It's all a ruse; Leia is kidnapped upon arrival, her invite to the negotiations having been merely a lure. Luke now has to both find his old flame and rescue his sister before she becomes a mere bargaining chip. There's also a subplot with a plague that sends Threepio and Artoo careening from one misadventure to another before being rescued by [[spoiler:a retired Admiral Daala]] of all people, who then proceeds to help out because [[EvenEvilHasStandards she hates the Imperial moff]] involved in the political upheaval of said backwater system. Sentient power crystals are also involved.

* TheRemnant: ''Triple subverted'' in ''Children of the Jedi''. Luke's investigative mission to the ''Eye of Palpatine'' starts with the [[ThatsNoMoon dreadnought]] shooting them down, leading to a crash-landing on a planet where they are confronted by a garrison of Imperial stormtroopers... consisting of one old black man, Triv Pothman, who immediately helps patch them up. He's been waiting for the ''Eye'' to pick him up for decades. Then it ''does'', brainwashing everyone into being stormtroopers--again, in Triv's case. ''Then'' Luke helps him snap out of it and he remains on the good-guy side, eventually experiencing the CallToAgriculture at the end of the novel.

* RememberTheNewGuy?: The way Cray and Nichos are introduced in Children of the Jedi makes it seem like they are important reoccurring characters that the reader should be familiar with, complete with the early chapters "recapping" their relationship and history as Luke's students. They are completely new characters.

* PostDefeatExplosionChain: The [[spoiler:''Knight's Hammer'']] is destroyed in such way when [[spoiler:Callista]] infiltrates her and in an unguarded hangar full of TIE bombers causes all of them to fire against the bulkhead separating them from the engines, with both the bombers' weaponry and the explosions destroying them leaving the ship engineless, with no power and (most critically) propulsion on a direct trajectory towards Yavin.

** Bevel Lemelisk, the primary designer of the Death Star, was initially rewarded instead of being murdered, but after the Death Star was destroyed due to an overlooked weak spot, [[YouHaveFailedMe he was tortured to death by a furious Palpatine]] (as revealed in ''Literature/TheCallistaTrilogy''). Then [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou Lemelisk was resurrected with dark magic so he could build a second, improved Death Star.]]

* MyGrandsonMyself: Seti Ashgad presents himself as his same-named son in ''Planet of Twilight''.

* PostDefeatExplosionChain: The [[spoiler:''Knight's Hammer'']] is destroyed in such way when [[spoiler:Callista]] infiltrates her and on an unguarded hangar full of TIE bombers causes all of them to fire against the bulkhead separating them from the engines, with both the bombers' weaponry and the explosions destroying them leaving the ship engineless, with no power and (most critically) propulsion on a direct trajectory towards Yavin.

* GenerationXerox: What Leia and the rest of the New Republic believe is the case regarding Seti Ashgad, who they think is the son of a same-named Senator that Palpatine exiled to Nam Chorios. [[spoiler:Turns out [[MyGrandsonMyself he's the original Seti Ashgad]], [[NightmareFuel having been kept alive and young]] [[NauseaFuel by a mutated droch beetle]].]]
* GetItOverWith, FacingTheBulletsOneLiner and FaceDeathWithDignity: Bevel Lemelisk's reaction to Wedge's threat of final execution as a threat to galactic peace? A resigned sigh of "Ah, well. If you're going to kill me, at least make sure you get it right this time." It especially makes sense given how ''many'' times he [[NightmareFuel already died and was reborn.]] One guide to characters claims he made this his LastWords before the firing squad after he was sentenced to death by the New Republic for genocide.