Disposable Heroes?
The Death of Chewbacca and its ramifications for the Star Wars Universe
by Jennifer Cole
Published 2/6/00
The Death of Chewbacca and its ramifications for the Star Wars Universe
by Jennifer Cole
Published 2/6/00
By now, most Star Wars fans know that the latest novel, 'Vector Prime' by R.A. Salvatore, contains one of the most important events yet in the continuity of the Expanded Universe: the death of Chewbacca. Now that the dust has settled, and the message board calls to burn your copies of 'Vector Prime' have been addressed or ignored, perhaps it's time to look at what the death of such a major character actually means to the future of Star Wars continuity.
It's clear that many fans are angry at the development, but much of that anger seems to stem not from the fact that such a well-established and well-loved character has been killed off per se, but that he has been killed off by such a newcomer to the Expanded Universe. Who is this R.A. Salvatore, to so blithely draw the curtain on the career of our beloved Chewie? I somehow doubt that we would have had the same reaction if Michael Stackpole, Timothy Zahn, or even Kevin J. Anderson had signed the death warrant. But therein lies the main reason why Chewie's time was up: 'Vector Prime' was the first novel by new publishers who understandably wanted to make their mark. Taking over the Bantam license was always going to be a difficult task for Del Ray. The Bantam novels had been hugely successful, and were loved by dedicated fans who will continue to form the vast majority of Del Ray's market. In other words, by taking on this license, Del Ray took on a vast amount of baggage, both in terms of a huge supporting cast - they're stuck with Mara and the Solo kids, and I'm sure few here hope we've seen the last of Talon Karrde, Booster Terrik, Corran and Mirax, Winter and Tycho, Iella, Kam Solusar and countless others - and a ready-made readership base.
Del Ray had two options: continue the novels as if nothing had happened, leaving themselves open to accusations of being unadventurous and unoriginal (if not from die-hard Star Wars fans then from the industry), or do something radical and stamp their mark on the EU straight away, showing they meant business. They chose to do the latter, getting more publicity and media coverage for a Star Wars novel in the process than Bantam ever managed. It was a savvy marketing ploy, and we should never forget that selling books is what publishing novels is really all about. How many people do you think were planning to pick up 'Vector Prime' who had never bought an EU novel before? One percent of the total sales? Two? This was a book that was only ever going to sell to people who had bought dozens of Star Wars novels before - unless it could generate a huge amount of outside publicity. The death of Chewbacca ensured that it did.
Aside from the economic sense that killing off Chewbacca made, the move promises a number of important influences on the fiction itself. In more than two decades of Star Wars continuity, from 'The Truce at Bakura' to 'Vector Prime', this is the first time a major character has died and, as noted in the book, this bursts the bubble of invulnerability Han, Luke, Leia, and company had unconsciously erected around themselves. They're the good guys, so they can't die. Wrong. They know that now and, more to the point, so do we. If Chewie had not died in this book, we would all have gone into the next Del Ray novel, and the next, thinking that it was only a matter of time before someone found a cure for the disease infecting Mara, because Del Ray couldn't possibly kill off Mara. Now, we're not so sure, because if Chewie is expendable, Mara surely is, too. So Chewie's death has a second purpose: it puts Mara's survival in doubt. Assuming that Del Ray wanted us to be unsure as to whether Mara would pull through, Chewie becomes the obvious character to sacrifice: he's close enough to the central circle for his death to really make an impact, but he's not Luke, Leia, or Han - who really aren't expendable - and he's not Lando, who can't die because he's the token black member of the cast. The only minority group Chewbacca's death is going to offend is Chewbacca fans, and the media aren't really interested in them. Chewie was the most important character Star Wars can do without, and therefore he drew the short straw when somebody had to be killed off to make an impact.
Now that what's done is done, let's focus on the positive effects it can have on the Star Wars Universe. I've already noted that it makes everything less certain all of a sudden, making the stories less predictable and therefore heightening the tension. Suddenly, everyone but the big three has been relegated to the level of the Dramatis Personae of the X-Wing novels, which dares the reader to start caring about characters you can never be sure will survive to the end of the book. The next time Admiral Ackbar, Wedge Antilles, Mon Mothma, Kyp Durron, or Corran Horn heads off into danger, are you sure they'll emerge unscathed? Who's next on Del Ray's hit list? This kind of uncertainty can only be good for the dramatic tension of the coming novels.
Secondly, Chewie's death throws the relationships between the main characters into the air. Is Han really so selfish that he'll go on blaming Anakin for what happened? If he does, how will Leia react to this? Chewie's death might have driven a wedge between Han and Anakin, but it's built a bridge between Anakin and Jacen, showing that while they'll argue and disagree on Jedi semantics, they'll never forget the bond of brotherhood between them. How important is that going to be in future novels, as their ideas on the Jedi grow further and further apart?
Thirdly, Chewie's death throws open the possibility of inserting the teenaged Anakin into the coming novels not as a Jedi Knight, but as the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon. Luke and Mara are Jedi; so is Leia, freed of her political obligations. Jacen and Jaina are willing and able young apprentices. We don't need Anakin following the Jedi path as well - let him be a pilot instead, racing across the Galaxy and bringing back Han to a more active part in the stories. It's been too long since Han was anything other than Leia's consort and errand boy - let him fly off having fun with Anakin while the rest of the Solo/Skywalker family brings peace and justice to the Galaxy. It takes two people to fly the Falcon, but for Anakin to become its co-pilot, that job's current incumbent had to go. Again, Chewie's death comes down to a simple fact of plot dynamics.
None of this is to say that I'm not sad to see Chewie go. I am, although his death didn't move me to tears - neither at the time I learned of it by reading spoilers, nor when I came to it in the book. (I'd point out to those of you who haven't yet read 'Vector Prime' that knowing in advance that Chewie's death is coming doesn't ruin everything - you still don't know when, and there are a couple of false alarms and red herrings before his plug is finally pulled.) I actually found the death of General Crix Madine, killed off while our attention was diverted elsewhere by Callista's activities in 'Darksaber', far more shocking, and the death of Ton Phanan in 'Iron Fist' more sad.
I think what all the anger and tears really boil down to is not that one of our favorite characters has been killed off, but that he's been killed off in a book that, when all is said and done, really wasn't all that well written by an author we don't think cares about him as much as we do. Just try and take consolation in the fact that while this might be the last we'll see of Chewbacca, it won't be the last we'll hear. The coming months will see the repercussions of his death handled by other writers, beginning with the Dark Horse miniseries 'Chewbacca', and two novels by Michael Stackpole. Our favorite characters will mourn, they'll cry, they'll try to come to terms with Chewie's death, and they'll seek their revenge. How many of them will live to tell the tale is no longer as sure as it would have been had Del Ray not had the courage to take a Star Wars scalp in their very first post-Bantam novel, and that can only make the coming books more interesting.
(Despite having a full time job as an editor of the 'Official Star Trek Fact Files', and developing other SF and movie related products for Aerospace Publishing, Jennifer Cole can think of nothing better to do in her spare time that play on SW websites. She would like to let it be known that if any Del Ray author dares to harm a single hair on Tycho Celchu's head, she will not be held responsible for her actions.)