History Literature / TheGloveOfDarthVader

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The Grand Moffs apparently can fight much better than their Stormtroopers. Grand Moff Hissa even gets to take Ken hostage and personally defeat Zorba the Hutt. Also, the Prophets of the Dark Side are [[InformedAbility supposed to be]] even more powerful.

* FixingTheGame: Zorba the Hutt takes Cloud City from Lando after beating him in Sabaac, using a deck of marked cards with UV-reflective symbols (which he can see.)

* CanonDiscontinuity: Even before being relegated to [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]] with the rest of the Expanded Universe, this series suffered from this. It wasn't total, but the events of the books have been made a lot less significant to the overall ''StarWars'' story than the writers probably intended. The decision to cancel the series just as other, better received, EU novels (such as [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Zahn's trilogy]]) were getting big has been interpreted by some observers as a damage-limitation exercise. At one point it was pretty much treated as completely non-canon (some gaming sourcebooks aside), but later Lucasfilm policy seemed to be that nothing was so contradictory to the rest of the EU that it can't be fixed with a big enough {{retcon}}. Some examples:

* TheyFightCrime: Actually, they [[GreenAesop save the whales, rainforest, polluted atmosphere, etc.]]

* MeaningfulName: "Trioculus", 'Tri' -- meaning 'three', and 'oculus' -- a form of the word ocular, 'of the eye'; so, three eyes. And the man he serves as a doppelganger for, literally named Triclops.

* RedRightHand: Trioculus' three eyes. Plus, he literally receives a RedRightHand as one of the unintended side-effects of his medical droid's modifications to Vader's glove.

[[caption-width-right:220:Looks pretty badass, huh? [[CoversAlwaysLie Well...]]]]

* FantasticAesop: The Empire hunts [[CallARabbitASmeerp whales]] -- er, Whaladons, [[AndThatsTerrible which is bad]]. Except it kind of ''really is'' horrible, because Whaladons are whales with human-equivalent intelligence and self-aware sapience who can talk to the humans and ask them to stop, so hunting them really ''is'' more or less equivalent to murder. Which does make the Empire obvious bad guys, but also reduces the applicability of the GreenAesop to real life, where things are less clear-cut and whales less human-like.

* CardCarryingVillain: The baddies in these books take this to the level of {{Narm}} - see that entry below as well as AndThatsTerrible, above.

* FantasticAesop: The Empire hunts [[CallARabbitASmeerp whales]]-- er, Whaladons, [[AndThatsTerrible which is bad]]. Except it kind of ''really is'' horrible, because Whaladons are whales with human-equivalent intelligence and self-aware sapience who can talk to the humans and ask them to stop, so hunting them really ''is'' more or less equivalent to murder. Which does make the Empire obvious bad guys, but also reduces the applicability of the GreenAesop to real life, where things are less clear-cut and whales less human-like.

** Ditto, while Trioculus eventually bites the dust, Supreme Prophet Kadann never gets his comeuppance, and remains in charge of the Empire as of the final pages.

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Ken finds out that he's Triclops' son - and hence Emperor Palpatine's ''grand''son.]]

* MeaningfulName: "Trioculus", 'Tri'- meaning 'three', and 'oculus'- a form of the word ocular, 'of the eye'; so, three eyes. And the man he serves as a doppelganger for, literally named Triclops.

* UnwittingPawn: Trioculus believes himself to be the true ruler of the Empire, and Grand Moff Hissa believes ''he'' is, courtesy of being [[TheManBehindTheMan Trioculus' handler]]. Actually, however, ''both'' men are little but pawns for Kadann and the Prophets--as Hissa eventually finds out when the latter [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness have no further use for him]].
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: The books are goofy light adventures for young readers, and it shows: Trioculus, Hissa and Zorba are buffoonish much of the time, and rarely genuinely threatening. However, the Prophets of the Dark Side (and specifically Supreme Prophet Kadann) are much more sinister in just about every way, as well as surprisingly competent, to the point that they work quite well as ''serious'' villains. Especially with the upgrade they got in subsequent fluff.

* WrittenSoundEffect: One of the series' major {{Narm}} sources. It's hard to escape the conclusion that the writers might have been better off doing a comic book. Or that they were being paid by the letter - "KRR-RR--AAAAAAANG!" is the sound of two submarines docking. Even R2-D2's beeps and buzzes are written out as dialog.

* FixingTheGameL Zorba the Hutt takes Cloud City from Lando after beating him in Sabaac, using a deck of marked cards with UV-reflective symbols (which he can see.)

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Since the plotlines were rarely referenced by later books, what became of its main characters was left fairly vague. Ken, for example -- did he become one of Luke Skywalker's Jedi trainees later on? Or did he just disappear again, as happened to some others?