Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

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When Darth Vader arrives in the Jedi Temple with the 501st, it is described how he killed some Jedi, including the gatemaster Jurokk. Humanoid Abomination: The novel consistently depicts and refers to Darth Sidious as "the shadow," the terrifying, inexorable manifestation of the dark side of the Force that merely adopts the affable persona of Palpatine. In this scene, Palpatine states explicitly that Darth Plagueis was his Sith Master. In the film, this is merely hinted at. There’s more focus on Senator Bail Organa and we’re introduced to Mon Mothma. And there are scenes hinting at the beginning of the Rebel Alliance. Anakin's guilt at killing Dooku in cold blood is expanded upon compared to the movie, showing his inner thoughts reflecting upon his actions.

A happiness that doesn’t last as he has another premonition. This time he dreams of Padmé’s death. And that colours everything he does going forward. The movie famously does a muddled job of portraying this: you know Anakin will do anything to save Padmé's life, but by the time he turns on the Jedi, he comes off as petulant and deeply unlikeable. In the novelization, you spend so much time in his head that you sympathize with his desperation – it adds so much texture that the movie probably wants you to feel, but couldn't quite get on the screen. Here—" The Chancellor rummaged around within his desk for a moment, then brought forth a document reader. "Do you know what this is?" When Anakin thinks about his vision, he muses that there were cases when attempts to prevent catastrophes mentioned in prophesies did cause them and he can actually be the cause of Padme's death by trying to prevent it, only to conclude it's impossible.

Author Q&A

I found Stover’s writing style engaging. There’s nothing elegant or flowery about it, more workmanlike; it certainly held my attention enough to not want to put the book down even though I knew what was going to happen. Tell Me How You Fight: Stover goes into detail about the fighting styles of Jedi and Sith. The headstrong Anakin uses the powerful Djem So; the aristocratic Dooku favors the elegant Makashi; the peaceful Obi-Wan has mastered the defensive Soresu; tiny Yoda uses Ataru gymnastics against larger foes (which for him is almost everyone); uber-badass Mace Windu is the only master of the dangerous Vaapad, which taps into one's inner darkness without the user going over the edge (hopefully). Spirit Advisor: The Force ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn is briefly mentioned in the film; he appears here having a conversation with Yoda at the end, offering to teach Yoda the secret of disembodied immortality. Yoda accepts a position as his apprentice and advises Obi-Wan to expect training from the spirit as well. It is implied that Qui-Gon, having been a less conventional Jedi in life, will also teach Yoda how to train Luke to defeat the Emperor, which the traditional and set-in-his-ways Yoda could not accomplish himself. The book isn’t a complete copy of the film. Some moments have been left out or changed to fit in with the layout of the novel. Personally, I believe this has strengthened the story and made it more complete.

That's what led to Stover dialling in on each character's inner psychology instead. "I decided to focus the book on the interiority of the characters – to try and express how I thought they would feel about what they were going through. And so the idea was that the book would be kind of the interior, the feeling of it, and the movie would be the visual parts. That was more or less my plan – to try and make a story that would expand on and complement the film rather than just retell it." Palpatine: When I die, my knowledge dies with me. Unless, that is, I have the opportunity to teach it ... to my apprentice ...

Anakin and Obi-Wan. Kenobi and Skywalker. From the beginning of the Clone Wars, the phrase Kenobi and Skywalker has become a single word. They are everywhere… Exact Words: Doubles as a subtle Call-Forward. As Obi-Wan tells Padmé, the prophecy states that the Chosen One will destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force, but it never said anything about whether said Chosen One was actually a Jedi... Hypocrite: Palpatine makes a fair point that it would be wrong for the Jedi to kill someone without a trial simply for being Sith. This is exactly what he had Anakin do to Dooku. Palpatine: Fight you? But what will happen when you kill me? What will happen to the Republic? What will happen to Padmé? In the novel, Dooku is depicted as being clearly overpowered by the Jedi, with both Obi-Wan and Anakin being nearly as powerful as he is. He panics and spends most of his energy to take out Obi-Wan before Anakin kills him.