Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Author | Matthew Stover |
|---|---|
| Cover Artist | Steve Anderson |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Era | Prequel |
| Series | Film novelizations |
| Galactic Year | 19 BBY |
| Canon | G |
| Subject(s) | Star Wars |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
| Released | Hardcover: 2 April 2005 Paperback: 25 October 2005 |
| Media Type | Hardcover & Paperback |
| Pages | Hardcover: 432 Paperback: 480 |
| Size and Weight | Hardcover: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches 1.6 pounds Paperback: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches 7.8 ounces |
| ISBN | Hardcover: ISBN 0-345-42883-8 Paperback: ISBN 0-345-42884-6 |
| Preceded by | Labyrinth of Evil |
| Followed by | Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader |
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is a novelization of Star Wars—Episode III: Revenge of the Sith written by Matthew Stover and published on April 2, 2005 by Del Rey.
The plot of the book corresponds with that of the movie, beginning and ending at the same points. There are several elements added not seen in the film (Lorth Needa as commander of the Integrity at the Battle of Coruscant, for example), while several sections of the plot (most notably the Kashyyyk sequence) are removed for pacing. All of the deleted scenes with the founders of the Rebel Alliance are included. The Clone Wars micro-series is also referenced; Asajj Ventress, a Clone Wars character who does not appear in any of the films, is mentioned on more than one occasion in the novel.
Contents |
[edit] Narrative style
Stover makes frequent use of second-person narrative when describing a character's inner emotions ("The first light in your universe brings pain") and often introduces and describes characters with simple declarative statements ("This is Obi-Wan Kenobi," "This is what it feels like to be Anakin Skywalker," etc.) These literary devices are repeated at key points in the story.
There is also heavy use of metaphor as a means of foreshadowing; for example, Anakin's eventual fall from grace is set up by extensive descriptions of his fear as a dragon, one he thinks he can conquer by embracing the dark side. Also, the narration makes far greater use of events in the previous films to describe him as a character, particularly his past as a slave.
[edit] Notable differences between the film and the novel
[edit] Duel with Count Dooku
Dooku's personality is described in far greater detail in this novelization than in the films. Stover describes him as an evil man, incapable of seeing others as anything but tools to be used for his own ends. It also reveals that he has a total disdain for the galaxy's non-human species, and plans to exterminate or enslave them once in power.
During the duel, Dooku uses the Force to throw chairs and particles to the Jedi, which is left out from the movie. In the movie, this duel was relatively short, especially after Obi-Wan Kenobi was knocked to the floor.
Before the duel itself, there was a short conversation between Palpatine and Dooku, revealing the plan Palpatine used to lure Dooku into a confrontation with his new candidate for apprenticeship. This was the first scene in the various Star Wars novelizations to confirm Darth Sidious and Palpatine as one and the same.
The novel makes it clear that Anakin won the duel by giving in to his anger. After Dooku was disarmed and Palpatine urged Anakin to kill him, it becomes obvious for Dooku that he had been used as a pawn and a decoy.
[edit] The Battle of Kashyyyk
The Battle of Kashyyyk is completely absent from the novel. Luminara Unduli, Quinlan Vos, Chewbacca, Tarfful and Commander Gree do not appear, nor are they mentioned. This is largely due to the fact that the battle of Kashyyk was not a necessary part of the storyline.
[edit] Palpatine tests Anakin's thirst for power
This is a short dialogue not featured in the film, describing in metaphor the fall of Anakin to the Dark Side due to his lust for power.
In it, Palpatine offered to give Anakin anything he wanted. At first, Anakin wondered if the Chancellor was only playing a childish game with him. He wished for a new speeder, at which Palpatine wanted to know if this was all he wished for. The 'game' culminated when the word comes to Corellia. Sidious asked him if he wished only for the planet or the entire system. Anakin then told him that he desired the whole system. The point of this game is to further tempt Anakin towards the dark side and present Palpatine as the gateway to the power denied to Anakin by the Jedi.
Also, the novel states explicitly that Darth Plagueis was Palpatine's Sith Master; in the film, it is merely hinted at.
[edit] The arrest of the Chancellor
In the novelization, Mace Windu contacted Yoda once more after learning the truth of Palpatine's identity, marking his upcoming decision and action as approved by the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
The novelization stated that Darth Sidious could indeed sense the approach of the four Jedi Masters and the emotion of Anakin Skywalker, who was still in the Council Chamber. The novel also described how Palpatine prepared for the upcoming duel in detail, including how he recovered his Sith lightsaber and prepared an audio recording.
During the duel, Saesee Tiin was beheaded when Sidious tricked him and caught him off guard. Second to die was Agen Kolar, who had Palpatine's lightsaber pierced through his head.
Anakin rushed to the Chancellor's office, past Shaak Ti who stood in his way, trying to convince him not to go. Anakin brushed past her without a word, in an odd emotional state.
When he arrived, he witnessed a small part of the battle between Kit Fisto, Windu and Palpatine. He does not see who the combatants are yet, only their lightsabers. When the green blade disappeared, he rushed into the office. There, he found the dead body of Kolar and the heads of Tiin and Fisto. Anakin then watched the epic lightsaber duel between Windu and Palpatine for some time; in the film, he arrived just in time to see that the Jedi knocked Palpatine down.
Mace Windu could sense the approach of Anakin through the Force before he broke the office window, so it seems reasonable that Darth Sidious could have had the same experience. When the fight moved to the ledge, Mace sensed Palpatine hesitate for a moment, and the Sith Lord slowed down.
Windu confessed then that his lightsaber combat style, Vaapad, can not overpower the Sith Lord, and that it was in fact his ability to sense weaknesses, or "shatterpoints," which allowed him to gain the upperhand. In the book, Mace Windu did not kick Palpatine's jaw, and he sliced the Sith lightsaber in half instead of the Chancellor dropping his own weapon.
When Windu held Palpatine at blade point, he told his opponent why the Sith always lose: because they were always defeated by their own fear. Palpatine countered by screaming "Fool! Do you think the fear you feel is mine?" and blasts the Jedi Master with Force lightning.
During the fight, Windu realized that Palpatine's shatterpoint was Anakin Skywalker himself. When Anakin approached Windu, who was fighting against the lightning bolts, the Jedi Master sensed that Palpatine does not fear Anakin at all, and would make no move to defend himself. He then concluded that this is the shatterpoint of the Sith, and the absolute shatterpoint of the dark side itself.
When he was betrayed by Anakin and shot with Darth Sidious' lightning, Windu realized too late that, although Anakin Skywalker indeed was the shatterpoint of Darth Sidious, he forgot to look for the shatterpoint of Anakin himself - his desire to save Padmé Amidala, his secret wife, at any cost.
[edit] Order 66
Order 66 was described in a few short sentences, with no mention of any Jedi's death or any clone commander who executed the order by name. Only the scene in which Obi-Wan is attacked by clone troopers is the same as seen in the movie. Yoda's escape is not featured; he appears next when he meets Obi-Wan on the Tantive IV.
When Anakin, newly renamed Darth Vader, arrived in the Jedi Temple with the clone troopers, the narration describes how he murders the Jedi inside, including the gatemaster Jurokk. In the film, the scene cuts away after he ignites his lightsaber in front a youngling; the murders are merely implied.
Stover describes the Clone Wars as "the perfect Jedi trap". This is the first account of the full extent of Sidious' plotting.
[edit] The return to the Jedi Temple
In the novel, the full range of Obi-Wan's horror and grief upon learning of Anakin's betrayal is described in greater detail; among other things, he mourns the younglings more overtly, and says that he should have died before Anakin was discovered by the Jedi so his apprentice could have had a Master strong enough to keep him from falling to the dark side.
[edit] Emperor Palpatine's duel with Yoda
In the novel, it is implied that Darth Sidious is indeed superior to Yoda in lightsaber combat. Yoda also realized that the Jedi Order mistakenly focused on fighting the old Sith rather than the new, evolved Sith of Darth Bane's order. Yoda thinks that "he had lost before he started. He had lost before he was born."
In the novel, Yoda enters the Chancellor's holding office from a different direction, so the Royal Guards do not attempt to stop him. Yoda deflects Palpatine's Force lightning, blasting the Guards into unconsciousness; in the film, the lightning blasts him across the office. Yoda then knocks Palpatine to the floor with his physical body instead of a Force Push.
At the end of the battle, the lightning energy ball does not explode. Sidious safely leaps to a nearby podium, and Yoda follows. Palpatine turns around and blasts Yoda back against another podium which fell down to the bottom of an energy shaft.
Stover describes Palpatine after the duel as "a very old, very tired man." Palpatine can not direct the search for Yoda as he hurries to rescue Vader, but he tells the clones to destroy the whole building if they have to.
[edit] Obi-Wan's duel with Darth Vader
The duel between Obi-Wan and Vader is shorter than it is in the movie; the narrative focuses on their respective inner monologues instead of the battle itself.
[edit] Darth Vader's reaction to Padme's death
The novel is far more explicit than the film in describing Anakin's emotional transformation after learning of Padmé's death. It reveals that Vader blames himself, and subconsciously realizes that Darth Vader — the fearless warrior he imagined himself to be — does not really exist, and that only Anakin Skywalker is responsible for his fall from grace. Stover also describes in detail how it feels to be Vader; robbed of much of his former power and in constant agony from his injuries, he now feels like "a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf."
[edit] Other key information found in the novel
- Names and details are given for the lightsaber techniques the characters used in their respective duels. All the seven lightsaber combat forms were mentioned and described except Form VI.
- Anakin wanted to access the Holocrons of the Archives to know more about Darth Plagueis. Only Jedi with the rank of Master had the privilege of doing so, hence he became outraged when Mace Windu did not grant him the title.
