LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales is a 2021 animated LEGO Star Wars sci-fi horror comedy Halloween Special premiering on Disney+. It is a quasi-sequel to The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special.
Set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, Poe and BB-8 are forced to make an emergency landing on Mustafar, where Graballa the Hutt is converting the castle of the late Darth Vader into his dream resort. Stuck with nowhere else to go until they can get his X-Wing repaired, Poe and BB-8, as well as child mechanic Dean, listen to three spooky stories by the Sith lord's former attendant Vaneé:
- "The Lost Boy": The tale of how Ben Solo first encountered the Knights of Ren and began being drawn towards the Dark Side.
- "The Dueling Monstrosities": Darth Maul and General Grievous, both Sith apprentices brought back from the brink of death as cyborgs, duel for a powerful Sith lightsaber so one of them can deliver it to Emperor Palpatine.
- "The Wookiee’s Paw": A What If? story where instead of meeting R2-D2 and C-3PO, Luke Skywalker uses a cursed wookiee’s paw to get away from Tatooine… and ends up fighting for the Empire.
Little do our heroes suspect that a sinister plan involving an ancient prophecy lies in wait for them beneath the castle...
It released on October 1, 2021. It was followed by the 2022 special LEGO Star Wars: Summer Vacation.
Tropes in this special include:
- Adaptation Distillation: In typical LEGO adaptation fashion, "The Lost Boy" is a more comical adaptation of Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren. For starters, Ren and his Knights are humorously portrayed as a biker gang of Anti Role Models, and Kylo Ren isn't shown directly or indirectly bringing harm to his fellow students.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Ben doesn't harm his fellow students in "The Lost Boy," and as a whole the Knights of Ren are lower-scale delinquents whose crimes are merely Poke the Poodle, up until they tell Ben to burn down Luke's temple.
- Adaptational Villainy: Luke Skywalker in "The Wookiee's Paw" makes wishes on the titular item that progressively make him more evil and more ambitious. It's lampshaded in-story when someone asks if the events described are what actually happened, and Poe emphatically denies it.
- Appropriated Appellation: "Kylo" is revealed to be this, as the Knights of Ren use it as insult towards Ben before he decides he likes the name.
- Artifact of Doom: The Saber of Scardont, a powerful Sith lightsaber that can drive its wielder to madness.
- Audience Surrogate: Poe at different points in the special reacts to some elements like fans only familiar with the movies might. From not knowing who Graballa the Hutt is, to questioning how Darth Maul could survive his duel with Obi Wan at the end of the The Phantom Menace.
- Bait-and-Switch: Poe runs into Vader in his castle’s lobby... Only for it to glitch out, revealing that it's just an automaton promoting the gift shop.
- Badass Adorable: BB-8 curb-stomps the droids guarding Poe's X-Wing.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The moral to "The Wookiee's Paw", according to Poe. Luke makes a series of wishes that eventually lead up to him joining the Empire as a pilot and Darth Vader's student. When he wishes to become the most famous pilot in the galaxy, it becomes true when he blows up the Death Star on accident. Gets an Ironic Echo when Dean tosses the holocron towards the lava, forcing Vaneé to drop his Hostage for MacGuffin scheme and try to retrieve it in mid-air, sending himself into the lava.
- Big Bad: Vaneé. He exploits Poe and Dean with his stories in order get his hands on the Sith Holocron and the Saber of Scardont, all so he can combine their power in order to terrorize the galaxy and fill the Evil Power Vacuum left by Palpatine.
- Big Damn Heroes: Dean flies Poe's x-wing and shoots most of the droids saving Poe.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: At one point, Baash and Raam are scared of a large, creepy shadow in a hallway, only for the shadow to turn out to be a mouse droid.
- Brick Joke: After spending the entirety of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures trying to find the perfect place to open a resort, Graballa has finally done it, having bought Castle Vader to turn it into a luxury hotel.
- Call-Back:
- Vaneé, Darth Vader's attendant at his castle and best known for being in Rogue One, is apparently still alive.
- Graballa the Hutt and his henchmen Baash and Raam from LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures return, and they've converted Castle Vader into a luxury resort, as a nod to Graballa trying to set up a resort throughout the series.
- Poe indeed has dealt with a hutt before in the Poe Dameron comics.
- Some of Luke's training in the Original Trilogy was redone with Vader in "The Wookiee's Paw".
- Vanée mentions General Grievous's previous identity: Qymaen jai Sheelal, his real name from the Legends continuity that has been re-canonized.
- Canon Foreigner: A variation. We see Ren, Mother Talzin, and the Nightsisters, who never had minifigures, so their models were made specifically for the special.
- Continuity Nod: A Halloween Special set in Vader's Castle while telling various spooky stories is likely a nod to the Star Wars Adventures comic's Halloween-annual miniseries, Vader's Castle.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Dean's mother owned a mechanics shop on Arkanis, but it was destroyed by the First Order, which is how Dean came to work for Graballa. Poe's "tough childhood" was also referenced.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In The Rise of Kylo Ren, Ren was fatally stabbed after an intense fight with Ben. Here, in "The Lost Boy", Ben buries him under a pile of rocks.
- Disney Villain Death: NI-L8 and the AT-AT she’s piloting get pushed into the lava river below Castle Vader, and Vaneé later falls into the same river trying to grab the Sith Holocron after Dean threw it over the edge. Subverted when the ending reveals them both to be Not Quite Dead.
- Dragon Ascendant: Vaneé served as merely Vader’s majordomo in his castle, but now seeks to become a threat to the galaxy in his own right now that Vader and Palpatine are gone.
- The End... Or Is It?: The special ends with NI-L8 crawling out of the lava she and Vaneé fell into, barely intact, and filled with remorse over failing her master. Then Vaneé’s hand rises out of the lava to grab her as he laughs maniacally.
- Evil Is Hammy: Vaneé chews the scenery with his bombastic speeches and lightsaber-wielding mech.
- Evil Laugh Turned Coughing Fit: General Grievous attempts an evil laugh while duelling Maul for the Saber of Scardont, but it results in a cough instead.
- Evil vs. Evil: "The Dueling Monstrosities" has General Grievous and Darth Maul fighting over the Saber of Scardont for the honor of delivering it to Palpatine.
- Expy: Dean is kind of an expy of Kazuda Xiono. Both idolize Poe and are mentored by him, Poe calls them both "Kid". Their homes were destroyed by the First Order (Dean's mother's shop in Dean's case). Both are hypnotized by Sith artifacts (Kaz by red Sith lightning, Dean by the Saber of Scardont) and are lead to a Sith triangle-shaped artifact when they hear voices from them (Kaz mistakeningly thinks the voice is coming from the "tiny jar" and not the trap in the floor, Dean hears voices of past Sith leading him to a Sith holocron). Poe recruits them both into the Resistance. Ironically, he recruits Kaz the pilot to be a mechanic and Dean the Mechanic to be a pilot.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Vaneé is mostly known for being Vader’s creepy little servant, but here he proves that being Vader’s servant has given him quite the education in the ways of the Sith. He puts it to good use by becoming a powerful villain in his own right.
- Handicapped Badass: Darth Maul during his battle with General Grievous.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Vaneé dangles Poe over lava, threatening to drop him in unless Dean hands over the holocron. Dean pulls Exact Words on him and chucks the holocron towards the lava, forcing Vaneé to drop Poe (laterally, landing safely away from the lava) to try and catch it.
- Hurricane of Puns: Maul unleashes this when he defeats Grievous.
- In Spite of a Nail: The Death Star still gets blown up by Luke in "The Wookiee's Paw", albeit this time due to his incompetence rather than as a genuine act of heroism.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Poe mocking the likelihood of Maul surviving his apparent death at Obi-Wan’s hands and his subsequent return takes the words right out of fans who had this reaction to the announcement of Maul’s return about a decade prior.
- The Mentor: Poe serves as this to Dean (with a bit of Papa Wolf thrown in ).
- One-Winged Angel: Vaneé combines the power of the Sith Holocron and the Saber of Scardont, as well as Ren’s helmet, to become a lightsaber-welding Giant Mecha.
- Only Sane Man: Poe, of all people, is very reasonable and responsible here.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Palpatine doesn’t mind Maul competing against Grievous for the Saber, since he doesn’t care who gets it as long as he eventually gets it. Once Maul returns victorious, he simply takes it and shoves him out the window.
- Punny Name: NI-L8, i.e. "annihilate", which Poe figures out late into the special.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Those driven mad by the Saber of Scardont get them. The battle droids also get them after NI-L8 corrupts their programming.
- The Remnant: At the beginning of the special, Poe is being harassed by some ex-First Order stormtroopers tailing him in TIE fighters. He comments they aren’t the first survivors of the Battle of Exegol to give him a problem.
- Shout-Out: There are a few shout outs to some horror movies and shows.
- The Twilight Zone (1959): Vaneé introduces "The Wookie's Paw" in the style of Rod Serling's introduction.
- Carrie (1976): Final shot referenced at the end.
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Children singing Huttese nursery rhyme in Ben Solo's nightmare.
- The Fly (1986): "Be afraid, be very afraid!"
- The Shining: Graballa hides in a room and a droid smashes through the door and sticks his head in.Zombie Droid: Heeeeeere's B-14961138815!note
- Jurassic Park: Graballa notes he “spared no expense” on his resort.
- Nosferatu: A mouse droid somehow recreates the iconic shadow.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Obi-Wan Kenobi escaped off the Death Star alive in "The Wookiee's Paw", and is seen piloting an X-Wing during the Rebel Alliance’s trench run.
- Take a Third Option: When Vanee tells Dean to give him the holocron to spare Poe's life, Dean throws the holocron into the volcano causing Vanee to make a grab for it, releasing Poe.
- What If?: "The Wookiee's Paw" answers the question, "What if Luke joined the Imperial Academy?". Thanks to the titular paw, he becomes a pilot for the Empire and gets trained by Darth Vader in the Dark Side of the force.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: Poe at one point interrupts "The Dueling Monstrosites" to point out how far-fetched the idea of someone getting cut in half, living, and getting put back together by witches sounds.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "The Lost Boy" is one to, well, The Lost Boys. Complete with shirtless Bith sax player.
