Legendary Adventures: Revenge of the Sith

The Clone Wars come to their destructive and fiery ends as a new Empire rises from the ashes… Join the Legendary Adventures as we reach, arguably, the best Legends novel: Revenge of the Sith!

“This, then, is Obi-Wan and Anakin: They are closer than friends. Closer than brothers. Though Obi-Wan is sixteen standard years Anakin’s elder, they have become men together. Neither can imagine life without the other. The war has forged their lives into one.”

When we left our heroes in Labyrinth of Evil, the whole galaxy was burning. Well, maybe that’s a bit hyperbolic, but really, not overstating it by that much. Anakin and Obi-Wan, hot on the tail of the mysterious second Sith Lord, race to Coruscant as the Separatists make their boldest move yet: kidnapping the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. The search for the second Sith takes a back seat when the most important person in the Republic is captured.

It is at this moment that the tide of the war finally shifts to its end game. Most of the threads that we have been following so far evaporate as Darth Sidious makes his final moves to take complete control of the galaxy. Obi-Wan and Anakin’s camaraderie has never been closer, as the novel continues to remind us, setting us up again and again for further and greater heartbreak. The Man without Fear and the Negotiator, as they have been come to be known across the galaxy, are here to save the galaxy, yet again. Everything seems to be right with the Republic: when these two heroes are on the scene, nothing can go wrong.

And, unfortunately, that’s exactly what Darth Sidious wants to happen. He has been content, so far, to let the Separatists come up with their own schemes to move against the Republic and kill Jedi. They’ve created Jedi killing droids, attacked Republic hospitals, tried to infiltrate their government, and have tried to create many bioweapons (seriously – many). But Sidious has a greater, more viable weapon in mind: Anakin Skywalker, soon to be Sith Lord extraordinaire.

This is the prime time for Anakin to be turned. Because, despite the appearance of the galaxy’s greatest heroes, support for the Jedi and the war has been at an extreme low point. After a failed attempt at peace between the Separatists and the Republic, the galactic citizens are in a state of panic. The clones are even starting to distrust the government that created them for war. Even Anakin has been starting to question his role as a Jedi and the Jedi’s Code itself. If there was ever a time to stage a massive coup and take control of a government, it would be now. But despite how much he lost, Anakin still clings to what he has. Some of it is out of love. Some, maybe more, is out of selfishness and pain. He cannot bear to lose anymore. Threats to Padmé, Obi-Wan, to Palpatine, are threats he takes personally. Even his descent into darkness can be blamed, in part, on his need to protect.

So, Anakin Skywalker races to save the man who has already decided his future for him. Even Dooku believes that Anakin would become a great general for a Grand Sith Army – one who would fight on their side to bring the galaxy to subjugation. The War has cost Anakin a great deal, from friends and motherly figures, so his heart is at a breaking point. Even his Padawan, whom he grew to trust and care much for, has walked away from the Order. Matthew Stover describes Anakin’s rage as a dragon, trapped in the bowels of his soul, and it is ready to be unleashed and turned against the entire galaxy. All it takes is a a subtle nudge in the direction of the things that Anakin cares for most – his friends. Obi-Wan has been considerably weakened by the war. His wife has to remain a secret from everyone, putting immense strains on their relationship.

Though she is not named in the novel, it is hard not to feel the absence of Ahsoka. At first, Anakin hated the girl and wanted nothing to do with her. He would pick at her, gnawing at her self-confidence and making her doubt her own abilities as a Jedi. As she started to prove herself alongside Admiral Pallaeon, Anakin started to afford her a wary bit of trust. Soon, the two were almost as inseparable as he and Obi-Wan. But now, she is gone. She hasn’t come up in months, and Anakin feels rudderless. What affections – and clinginess, and desperation, and need for love and approval – Anakin could not give and receive from Padmé in public was channeled into Ahsoka instead. Now, she is gone, and Anakin has nobody.

As Anakin and Obi-Wan find themselves in the main hangar of the Invisible Hand, a brief lightsaber duel ends with Dooku’s beheading. Not Anakin’s first kill – not by a long shot – but maybe the one that finally sealed his fate. The dragon that burned inside of Anakin was ready to burst. Whatever happened next, Darth Vader was inevitable because Darth Vader was already living inside of Anakin. Even a beacon of light in his life, news that he is to be a father, cannot extinguish the growing darkness that is Vader.

But if the Sith Lords have a weapon, Darth Vader, so does the Republic: Mace Windu. Mace knows, personally, the cost of war. His former apprentice had fallen to the Dark Side on his home planet, Haruun Kal. She joined with militants who hurt innocent people and participated in an endlessly cyclical civil war. Mace’s ability to sense Shatterpoints, or pressure points, shows him that the war is coming to an end. The Shatterpoint of the war is Anakin: the fate of the galaxy rests on his shoulders. Because of this, Mace acts hastily to end the War now rather than letting it drag out longer and longer.

The death of Count Dooku seemingly signals the end of the Separatist Alliance. They abandon their post on Utupau, and the Republic receives a tip (probably from Sheev himself) that General Grievous is on the planet. Obi-Wan is dispatched to capture the General and end the War. The rest of the Jedi are spread far throughout the system – Barriss is still working as a healer, Ki-Adi-Mundi on Saleucami, Quinlan Vos has moved from Boz Pity to join Luminara Undili and Yoda on Kashyyyk to repel the droid attack. The pieces are moving into place for Sidious’s final move: Order 66.

After dispatching General Grievous, Obi-Wan faces a new challenge: the fall of the light. Sheev contacts Cody to deliver the news: it is time to execute Order 66. The Jedi have turned against the Republic and they must be executed for their crimes. The clones, who harbor some dislike for the Jedi already, are all too ready to turn on the Jedi and gun them down. As far as we know by the novel, the clones were not programmed. They simply knew it was time. Across the galaxy, night falls as the flame of the Order is extinguished. After a brief duel in his office, Palpatine/Darth Sidious, has dispatched 1/4 of the Jedi Council by killing Kit Fisto, Mace Windu, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar. Anakin, who hates Mace for how Mace has treated him, helps Sidious fight Mace before he is christened as Darth Vader. He is to finish off the Jedi and the Separatist Council; Vader is all too willing to do both.

Vader heads the Separatists off at Mustafar, wherein he executes the entire Council while deactivating the droids. Obi-Wan and Padmé arrive on Mustafar for a confrontation: Padmé is desperate to bring Anakin back to the light while Obi-Wan is just as happy to destroy him. Padmé confronts Vader, only to meet the full force of his anger, brought to a point in a Force choke that crushes her windpipe. Obi-Wan and Anakin’s duel traverses the surface of the planet, breaking each other’s hearts each time their sabers clash. If the Jedi, Separatists, and Republic have died today, one of the two will go down with it. Either way, Anakin Skywalker loses.

There is hope in the darkness, though: Yoda escapes his duel with Darth Sidious and Obi-Wan leaves Vader mortally wounded on the lava banks of Mustafar. They rejoin on the Tantive IV, where they decide what to do with Anakin’s children. Twins, in fact, named Luke and Leia. Yoda tells Obi-Wan that he is to train with Qui-Gon, who has found the power to transgress death and speak to the land of the living.

Matthew Stover is, hands down, one of the greatest Legends novelists we had. His prose is powerful and affecting, grand and intimate at the same time. He speaks with such poetic power that you can’t help but be drawn into everything he describes, falling yourself swayed by his powerful word choices. When the novel goes dark, his writing reflects that. But when the novel hits the soaring heights of joy the movie tries to capture, the prose goes up with it. To never have another Stover novel in the galaxy would be truly a dark day indeed.

The galaxy is dying – but there is light on the horizon. But, for now, the Legendary Adventures are moving into the Dark Times.

Legendary Travel Tips:
-This novel is preceded by Labyrinth of Evil and coincides with Republic Commando: Order 66.
–Because this novel was written before the film, we get a lot of insight into the birth of the Rebellion. This means that Padmé has a huge role in the novel that she doesn’t in the film, unfortunately.

You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor!

Movie Reviews:
The Last Jedi