The hand of thrawn

I just reread the hand of thrawn books and noticed something. is the "unknown threat" way deep in the outer rim that they mention in Visions of the future perhaps the Yuuzhan Vong?

 

Mayhaps a scouting party, yes. Or just another threat from deep in the Unknown Regions that the Chiss have been protecting the rest of the galaxy from.

I forget, did Zahn know about the NJO when he wrote HoT? Maybe he wrote that in as a connection. Or maybe it was random, a plot point to be used by future authors that he just layed out there. And then Del Rey and the authors of the NJO created the Yuuzhan Vong.

Remember, Sootir Fel has lost many children to some un-named threat in the Unknown Regions.

 

Nice user name

 

88- No, Zahn was actually trying to set up the next series of stories. The NJO is a spawn of what TZ and MAS wanted to do. So, ya, he planned for a new threat... too bad that he was planning on the sith, not the Vong.

 

Ah but after the Vong are pushed back and defeated, the Sith could rise yet again and continue on with the EU.

 

Command Decision and VotF hinted at multiple threats. Chissdude (a member here) says that after writing to Zahn, he got back a letter which said that the Vong were indeed the major threat that was referred to in HoT.

 

once again, dev is right on.

 

Its interesting, however, because Vector Prime is nowhere near the Unknown Regions. So yes, it makes sense that the Vong would be the nameless threat, but if they were, then wouldn't you think that the Chiss would know how to beat them...and people like Jag Fel would have a lot of combat experince against them? And they don't and he doesn't.

 

Maybe they were kept secret from all but the highest of the Chiss? That wouldn't be too implausible. They are, based on everything that we've seen, a relatively authoritarian culture that would try to control news of any major threat.

 

The only problem with the theory is that the Vong didnt come from the outer rim but from another galaxy. and who knows if the chiss know how to stop them. as far as I know they havent been mentioned since VotF.

oh and sorry Darth Thrawn I didnt know anyone else had this name I used the underscore on first try so it never told me the name was taken.

 

"Nice user name"

Huh?

And Lance, thats the first time I've been called "88." Heh.

Enough about me though. . . The topic at hand.

 

Ibelieve that the original Darth Thrawn (1999) was referring to the username of Darth_Thrawn (2002).

 

Ohh ohh ohh. Gotcha. You understand my confusion though. Its also 11:30 at night, so. . .

 

Dev...
This is most likely a ret-con on his part. The ret-con being that Zahn planned for the Vong specifically - as opposed to some, any, crazy wild threat - to sweep through the UR.

We know that as of 1998, after HoT had been completed that he had no idea of NJO plans. At that time, no one was even sure of the time period of Del Rey's new novels. He's commented about the following:

"At this point Del Rey hasn't asked me to do any SW books, so the current answer is no." [with respect to doing any books for Del Rey]

"I don't know if the Unknown Regions will be dealt with in the Del Rey books. I would hope they would pick up on that plot thread, but they might not."

"If Del Rey picks up the story line, I would hope they would use the threats in the Unknown Regions as enemies. Not knowing what---if anything---Del Rey has in mind for that era, I can't answer further."

"If the Del Rey timeline picks up after Vision, I would presume they would honor the peace. But as yet they haven't announced where in the SW history their books will be set..."

As of HoT Zahn had no idea what Del Rey's plans were, much less anything about the Vong. Prior to Del Rey getting the license, no one knew the Vong even existed, much less Zahn.

Now, he can say that yes, they are the ambiguous, unnamed threat, because his threat was left ambiguous and unnamed. A threat has come - just not through the UR. However, to state that his threats in HoT were the Vong would be rather inconsistent with earlier comments about the same threats.

 

88 - I found it to be fitting.... and faster to type.

 

"A HUNDRED threats out there." VOTF 429.

The Vong might be one, but they're not the only one. And probably not that big a threat, most likely a scouting party.

 

I don't think Zahn would touch the NJO. He's good enough to write an series by himself. I think he was leaving himself a backdoor.

 

Zahns goals when writing the duology were to wrap up all Bantam loose ends, and set up for the next series of books. Originally when the NJO was being planned DelRay planned to have the Sith re-emerge, but LFL said no. So thye created the Vong, the opposite of jedi, being almost anti-midichlorians.

 

Yes Zahn wrote me and said the Vong are the threat, but thats not his dicesion. He may just be trying to spite Del Rey...

 

I find it hard to believe that Timothy Zahn wrote you confirming these things chissdude, ESPECIALLY after Genghis's post with quotes from Zahn himself. If you had the e-mail to post as proof it would be easier to swallow. Especially since after Dark Journey we know... (spoilers I guess)





That the Chiss aren't holding back the Vong in the UR. Why do we know this? It's pretty safe to say that Jag Fel, who leads the Chiss's best squadron would have been in the "fighting" holding them back. It makes no sense that the Chiss by themselves would be able to hold back the Vong if their original intentions were to have a two-pronged attack sweeping the galaxy from oposing sides of it. The chiss from my understanding have excellent snub-fighters but what about capital ships? If the Vong were to attack through the UR as well at the same time, given on what we know of them, it would be safe to assume that the size of that flotilla would atleast be the size of the praetorite vongs. The chiss wouldn't have stood a chance and the UR would be Vong territory.

I concur with a Sith re-emergence especially now that Lucas has said the Post-quel Trilogy won't be made and fans would like the EU to continue and LFL will oblige them.

 

I sincerely hope that the Vong are not the darkness Thrawn was worried about. Even if Zahn did leave the threat unnamed that doesn't mean he can't come back later and install another threat after NJO.

Perhaps that's what he had in mind all along.

 

It has been discussed. chissdude really got this letter from Zahn.

But he had no right to say his threats are the Vong. Anyway, a letter from a writer can't be used as proof when it comes to continuity, so...

 

Even though Zahn didn't know about the vong at the time he wrote VOTF, that doesn't mean the unknown threat can't be the Vong. They could have sent scout forces into the UR or something like that. My brain isn't working to well tonight, but do you get what I mean?

 

Absolutely, you're right. I never tried to say the opposite. But WE DON'T KNOW. It could be in part the Vong, or not.

 

I think, Rhysology, that PrinceXizor et al where referring not to the POSSIBILITY of the Vong being the unknown threat, but to the author's state of mind on the issue at the time. (forgive me, PX, if I'm speaking out of turn here).

PrinceXizor: ' "A HUNDRED threats out there." VOTF 429. '

However, in the context, "out there" refers to the UR. There's no evidence to suggest that the Vong where even in the UR, to my knowledge. (but then again, there's no evidence to the contrary... I think I'll just shut up now... )