Courtship of Princess LeiaIs the Most ImportantStar WarsNovel Around

In the last 11 years sinceStar warfare ’ Expanded Universefaded into “ caption ” as a new canyon for the galaxy far , far forth was set out , many elements heavy and lowly from its time as Star Wars ’ ancillary school text have made their wayback into persistence . But one surprising book above all has had a huge influence on the stories Star Warsis telling today .

When you remember of the significant text edition of the Expanded Universe in terminus of what they ’ve charm in Star Wars today , you might turn towards the the like ofHeir of the Empire — the authoritative Good Book of the EU , its primogenitor , and the home ofGrand Admiral Thrawn ; games likeKnights of the Old Republic , which has influenced the ancient histories mine in shows like Clone Wars and Rebels , and inspired the High Republic publishing initiative ; or strip likeDark Empire , whose tale of Luke ’s struggles with darkness and a converted cloned Emperorleft heavy markson the continuation trilogy .

And yet , somehow , in the here and now , even as Thrawn himself is positioned as the current groovy terror of the Star Wars galaxy , I ’d fence that none of these text are having as great an impact on the franchise as one of the most infamous entries in the EU ’s canon : The Courtship of Princess Leia , the fib of how Han Solo and Princess Leia in reality got wed .

Image: Nicole Rifkin/Random House Worlds

Written byDave Wolvertonin 1994 , Courtship is remembered with thanksgiving and curses as one of the most convoluted , audaciously silly , and occasionally mildly - offensive - to - the - intelligence information interpretation of two of the most iconic characters in all of Star Wars , while also being almost just as wizardly for those exact same reasonableness . Even with the circumstance of its influence by , its legacy is an example of both the cause the EU had to be discarded for Star Wars to have a mainstream revival after Disney ’s acquisition and a reason the EU should be cherish for its bold , wild , and not always successful storytelling has made Courtship live on in infamy .

ButCourtship of Princess Leia ’s cheesy , demented , and labyrinthine story is n’t what has made it count so much , but how so many of its core idea have made a fundamental encroachment in being carried over , either wholesale or at least spiritually , into contemporary Star Wars medium . Warlord Zsinj , the Imperial Remnant officer that menaces Han and Leia during the novel , may not have jump into canyon , but the idea of warlordism he represent is being research through volume and shows likeThe Mandalorianto set up what became of the Empireafter Palpatine ’s fall .

Even Han and Leia ’s wedding — which , in current continuity was a much less complicated , kidnapping - laden affair than it was in Courtship — has shew a vital asset to Star Wars storytelling , especially in the idea that the nuptials were a key plus leveraged by the nascent New Republic . Arguably , metatexually it was even more crucial to modern Star Wars : by the clip Courtship was print , Han and Leia ’s marriage had already been well establish in other stuff , so the zaniness of the origin aside , it did n’t have much to add that affect other floor . In canon however , its depiction in The Princess and the Scoundrel was tied into promote Disney ’s pricey Galactic Starcruiser hotel — with Han and Leia ’s honeymoon aboard the in - universe vas a life-sustaining New Republic diplomatical mission as much as it was a romantic getaway . Did Courtship of Princess Leia lead to the precipitation of state pricey , absurd hotel experience ? Not directly . But there ’s a connection nonetheless !

Image: Drew Struzan/Random House

Image: Drew Struzan/Random House

Jokes aside , Courtship ’s true influence is now only really just being search in Ahsoka , through its most famous add-on to Star Wars : the planet Dathomir . In Courtship , Dathomir and its mysterious magical denizen known as the Nightsisters were largely an away — the world is one Han randomly wins in a card game after sulking that Leia is being hale into an arranged marriage , and where he eventually need her after he ’s kidnapped her to invalidate said union . But the basis it show for the planet and the sisters would be pick up by Clone Wars , where it flourished as the home base of Asajj Ventress , and even Darth Maul and his brother Savage . And now , in Ahsoka , Dathomir and the sisters have become not just vital to its plot through the Nightsister scoundrel Morgan Elsbeth , but as we study in “ Far , Far off ” this workweek , theDathomirans and their ancestors — which have association to things set up in Courtship — are the Florida key to exploring awhole other galaxybeyond Star Wars ’ own , leveraging an iconic , similarly ill-famed EU conception in contemporary canon for the first time .

It ’s wild to conceive that all these influential ideas were first explored in a book that turns 30 next yr , and a script that more often than not is bring up for its controversy than it is a specially beloved panorama of the Expanded Universe ’s long history . But it talk to the power and bear on the EU had on host of fans — lover who would go on to become creators in the galax far , far away themselves — and that perhaps there is indeed always a little Sojourner Truth in legends when it derive to Star Wars .

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Image: Oliver Cuthbertson/Random House Worlds