I’ll never forget one key moment when Luke Skywalker received an unlikely lecture from one of Palpatine’s former agents – and the fandom would never forgive it. We tend to think of Star Wars as a movie (and TV) franchise, but in reality it is far more. That was proved in 1991, when Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy effectively relaunched the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Modern fans can’t imagine how important those books were. This was before the prequel trilogy, with Zahn’s books followed by a flurry of New York Times bestsellers; Zahn himself believes the success of these novels led to George Lucas’ return. But the years that followed weren’t easy, because the books’ quality differed, and the authors had different philosophies of the Force.

Zahn treated the Force with care, avoiding showing any Force powers that were too spectacular; he was wary of over-powered Jedi reducing the stakes. Kevin J. Anderson took a different approach, with Luke walking over a lava lake, and there was a sense of “power creep” over the years. Zahn couldn’t help responding – in-universe…

Mara Jade’s Lecture On The Force Explained

Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy introduced readers to Mara Jade, the former Emperor’s Hand, who initially served as an adversarial figure towards Luke – who she hated for Palpatine’s death. Mara’s hatred had been stirred by the Emperor’s dying wish for revenge, and this influence abated after she killed Luke’s clone instead. That set up the story Zahn always wanted to tell – a romance.

Many readers had spotted the sparks of attraction between Luke and Mara (even if other authors did pair Luke up with characters like the prequel era Jedi Callista). Zahn’s Vision of the Future, published in 1998, brought this to a head; it saw Luke and Mara spend some quality time together on a mission, and they resolved some unexpected differences.

Zahn penned an intriguing tale in which Mara was initially distant towards Luke, reluctant to work with him, frequently sarcastic; she taunted him for overly depending on the power of the Force. Finally, Mara explained her problem with him; she believed Luke had been tainted by the dark side after an incident with the reborn Emperor, colring everything he’d done since.

“Look, you’re the one in the middle of this. You’re the one who has to make the final call on what’s going on. But if you want my reading, it all began with that little jaunt you took out to Byss about nine years ago. Where you faced… whatever it was you faced out there.

Luke shivered. “The reborn Emperor.”

“Or whatever,” Mara said with an odd touch of impatience. Personally, I’m not convinced it was really him. But that’s beside the point. The point was that you decided – stupidly and rather arrogantly, in my opinion – that the best way to stop him would be to pretend to join up and let him teach you some of his dark side techniques.”

“But I didn’t really go over to the dark side,” Luke protested, trying to remember those dark days. “I mean, I don’t think I did.”

Mara shook her head. “Debatable; but it almost doesn’t really matter. One way or the other, you still willingly dabble in it. And from that point on, it colored everything you did.”

In Mara’s opinion, to be sensitive to the Force required learning not to overuse it for the more incredible feats. To do so was to shout, drowning out the Force’s faintest whispers, preventing it from being able to guide you.

Mara Jade’s Lecture Didn’t Sit Well With The Star Wars Fandom

Mara’s lecture was always going to sit uncomfortably with the fandom. Zahn was effectively imposing his own philosophy of the Force on Luke Skywalker, and that irritated people who preferred a portrayal of the Jedi Master who could use the Force in more spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, Mara was something a problematic author-insert – in part because the same book turned her own character upside-down.

Personally, I think Zahn came to like Mara Jade a little too much, along with some of his other Imperial characters. Zahn bought into the idea of the “noble Imperial,” the character who served the Empire out of a desire for order and security, and who was somehow uncorrupted by Palpatine’s influence. Vision of the Future suggested Mara was one of these (along with Grand Admiral Thrawn).

You can see why Zahn’s perspective was controversial. On the one hand, the Luke Skywalker of several other stories was revealed to have been tainted by the dark side; on the other, an actual servant of Emperor Palpatine – the one who lectured him on his faults – had somehow avoided it.

Did Mara Jade Have A Point?

The old Star Wars Expanded Universe could never quite decide whether Mara had a point, not least because the authors who followed all had their own opinions. Oddly enough, this is one thing I liked about the continuity now dubbed “Legends” – a willingness to explore the Force, to question it and discuss it in the actual texts.

Zahn’s argument is certainly a direct challenge to some of the worst aspects of the fandom, who tend to focus on feats and forget there’s more to being a Jedi than just what Force powers you possess. But I do think he chose the wrong mouthpiece through which to speak, simply because he’d come to love Mara Jade a little more than Luke Skywalker, leading to a problematic moment.