Heir to the Empire is the first book in the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. It is a science fantasy novel with elements of dystopian literature set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and it takes place approximately five years after the Rebellion’s defeat of the Empire in George Lucas’s film The Return of the Jedi.

Heir to the Empire follows Luke Skywalker, Leia Skywalker, and Han Solo as they help build the New Republic, the government that has been established since the fall of the Empire. The novel also follows the antagonist, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who controls the remains of the Empire.

This guide uses the Ballantine Books 20th Anniversary Edition (2011) on Kindle.

Plot Summary

Five years after the Rebel defeat of the Empire in George Lucas’s film Return of the Jedi, the rebellion has established itself as the New Republic, and the power and size of the Imperial army has weakened. The New Republic believes they have accounted for all remaining Grand Admirals, one of the highest positions in the Imperial army, but the novel opens onboard the Chimaera, a Star Destroyer under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn is the only non-human to ever be awarded the rank of Grand Admiral in the Empire, and he has taken over control of the military with plans to regain Imperial power and defeat the Rebels. Thrawn’s next-in-command on board the Chimaera is Captain Pellaeon.

Meanwhile, the heroes of the original Star Wars trilogy—Luke Skywalker, his sister Leia Skywalker, Leia’s now-husband Han Solo, and their companions—are building a New Republic through political and economic efforts. Luke, still grieving the loss of his Jedi masters, struggles with the weight of being the only remaining Jedi. Leia, who is exploring her own burgeoning Jedi powers, is pregnant with twins; everyone expects that Luke will instruct them in the ways of the Jedi. Leia, with her background in politics, provides political support and acts as an ambassador to planets that might join the New Republic. Han has surrendered his wartime title of general and is currently attempting to recruit smugglers to help the New Republic build the economy it needs to survive.

Thrawn’s maneuverings to overthrow the New Republic begin with quiet efforts at gaining resources. After a raid on New Republic territory, Thrawn directs the Chimaera to Myrkr, where he captures many ysalamiri, creatures with the little-known ability to repel Jedi powers. On Myrkr, Thrawn meets smuggler Talon Karrde, the most powerful smuggler boss since Jabba’s death. Karrde offers help collecting the ysalamiri, glad to have the opportunity to observe the Imperials and gain some information.

Thrawn’s next stop is Wayland, where the Emperor stored secrets and resources in a local mountain with a Guardian to watch over it. Thrawn expects the Guardian to be Jedi or Sith, which was his primary reason for gathering the ysalamiri.

On Wayland, the Guardian’s place has been taken by a man who calls himself Joruus C’baoth. Joruus uses his Jedi powers to attack Thrawn, but the ysalamiri protect him and his men. Joruus does not wish to join Thrawn until Thrawn reveals that there are Jedi still living: Luke, Leia, and the twins Leia is carrying. Joruus agrees to help if Thrawn delivers Luke and Leia to him. Back on board the Chimaera with Joruus, Thrawn reveals to Pellaeon that the man is not Joruus but rather the dead man’s clone.

The hunt for the Skywalkers begins. Luke, Han, and Leia first encounter an attack from a mysterious race—the Noghri—on Bimmisaari. The trio have come as ambassadors to win over the Bimms to the New Republic, but one politician was bribed into providing an opening for the Noghri, sent by Thrawn, to attack. Luke, Han, and Leia create a diversion before fighting off their attackers and reuniting. Together they defeat their enemies and return to the Millennium Falcon. Han makes the executive decision to return to Coruscant in case the Noghri have backup, despite the problems the return causes with one member of the council, Fey’lya.

Following this defeat, Joruus threatens to abandon his deal with Thrawn before following through on his end. Pellaeon suggests that the Empire plant rumors around the galaxy to draw Luke to a mysterious remaining Jedi on a sparsely habited planet, leaving Luke, the more difficult prey, to Joruus while Thrawn and his men continue to pursue Leia.

Thrawn, with the support of Joruus to coordinate his troops, conducts a three-prong simultaneous attack (also called a “hit-and-fade”) on New Republic planets, retreating before reinforcements arrive. Han and Leia inspect the damage on a planet called Bpfaash; while there, they are again attacked by the Noghri, who try to trick them into capture by bringing a ship of the same model as the Millennium Falcon. Leia and Han realize the Noghri want to capture them alive. They defeat their assailants yet again, but Han insists they find somewhere for Leia to lie low. She convinces him to make it a place where they can secretly tap into New Republic communications so she can stay up to date and return if need be.

They turn to Lando Calrissian for help, just as they did in The Empire Strikes Back. He is now on a new planet, conducting legal work with machines called mole miners. Luke shows up at the same time as Han and Leia after discovering a device on Dagobah of a type he had seen in Lando’s possession. Just as they arrive, Imperial troops attack, stealing 50 mole miners before disappearing. In the aftermath, Lando can’t help them, but Chewie offers an alternative: Leia can stay on his home planet, in Kashyyyk, while Han flies the Falcon elsewhere to trick others into thinking Leia is still with him. Lando helps reprogram C-3PO to reproduce Leia’s voice to make the trick more believable. He also offers to join Han.

Lando tells Luke that the device he found is a beckon call, to call one’s ship from a distance. Luke realizes it must belong to the Dark Jedi that is rumored to have fled to Dagobah years ago, where Luke assumes Yoda defeated him and used the combined dark and light power of the Force as a shield to hide his whereabouts.

When the group leaves Lando’s planet, Thrawn deduces their plan. Joruus travels to his chosen planet to await Luke as the rumors have already been set in motion. Thrawn, however, wants to intercept Luke and decide whether to kill him or hand him over. Luke, hearing the rumors, heads for the planet. As per Thrawn’s plan, Luke believes he is pulled out of lightspeed near another ship that the Empire is trying to capture, leaving him in danger. Luke is nearly taken, but he uses an unusual maneuver to trick the other ship into locking the tractor beam onto another object. He escapes, but Thrawn recognizes the maneuver and knows that Luke’s hyperdrive will die shortly as a result. Not wanting to delay his preparations for other attacks, he sends information about Luke’s flight path to bounty hunters including Karrde.

Karrde refuses to hunt Luke, but his second-in-command, Mara Jade, finds Luke, feigning that it was an accident. Karrde knows Mara wants to kill Luke, but he takes Luke prisoner instead and transports him to Myrkr until Karrde can decide what to do; Karrde has ties to both the Empire and the New Republic, so he is in a difficult position.

In Kashyyyk, Leia is again attacked. The Wookiees help her escape, but before leaving the planet, she speaks with one of the Noghri they took prisoner in a prior bout. The Noghri reveals that he recognizes by Leia’s scent that she’s Darth Vader’s daughter. He claims Vader saved his people, and he treats Leia like royalty. She believes she convinces the Noghri to meet his people and then take her to his home so she can determine what kind of help the New Republic might be able to provide. With this, Leia hopes she has neutralized the threat from the Noghri.

Han, still looking for smugglers to help the New Republic, seeks out Karrde with Lando’s help. They earn a life debt with one of Karrde’s men, who in return takes them to Myrkr to speak with Karrde, who is currently holding Luke prisoner. Shortly after their arrival, the Chimaera also arrives; Thrawn wishes to speak to Karrde about his refusal to join the hunt for Skywalker and to request ships.

When Luke is moved to a new location, he is able to use wires from an outlet and the power from his artificial hand to open the door of his room and retrieve R2-D2. They escape to one of Karrde’s own ships, but Mara Jade sees the ship take off. Thrawn sees Mara’s pursuit and their crash in the forest; he sends his own stormtroopers to the site. Han and Lando discover who the prisoner was, and Karrde is forced to admit the truth and agree to help them save Luke from the stormtroopers.

A disguised Luke and Mara are taken prisoner by a suspicious officer. Han, Lando, and Karrde’s men have planned an ambush. They attack, and Luke traps and crushes the stormtroopers beneath a collapsed archway. Han, Luke, and Lando escape, and Thrawn deduces that Karrde helped them.

Deciding to stop by Sluis Van before going to Coruscant, Han, Luke and Lando happen to arrive as Thrawn begins the attack that he tells his men will be the beginning of their final defeat of the Rebellion. The Imperial troops are using the stolen mole miners to steal New Republic ships for their own use, so Lando uses his radio codes to have the mole miners drill into the ships’ hulls, preventing the Empire from gaining more ships.

Thrawn declares that with the resources the Emperor left on Wayland, they will still defeat the Rebels. Meanwhile, Han and Luke are called back to Coruscant urgently, as Admiral Ackbar has been taken prisoner on charges of treason due to the machinations of the power-hungry Fey’lya.