Zahn had 'Hand of Thrawn' planned all along...?

Zahn included little plot points (the landing beacon on Dagobah, Fey'lya's obsession with the destruction of Mount Tantiss) in The Thrawn Trilogy that were never resolved; however, they played integral roles in the Hand of Thrawn duology, which was published 6 years later. Clearly, he had to have had the events of the Hand of Thrawn in mind while writing the Thrawn Trilogy - but are there any interviews with the author or any information about this process? Was he planning on writing the follow-up books right after TTT? Did he know he was going to have to wait 6 years and 10 in-universe years to write THoT? I'm just impressed with this apparently tremendous foresight, and just wondered if there was any more information about this (I can find scant little anywhere) - any thoughts or help would be great!

 

Anderson says that the Luke/Mara marriage was planned, but he couldn't actually write Mara into YJK because that would be a spoiler.

I don't believe it.

 

No, he didn't.

The success of HTTE, like DE for DHC, took Bantam by surprise, a big part of why Bantam's EU was piecemeal and only came together at the end was they did not expect a consistent continuity to be in such demand or so popular.

That said, there was material and details that would lend themselves to future development, should it ever happen, which is what HoT was. In effect Zahn got to start and close Bantam's EU run but I don't think it can be said it was anticipated and expected. What you're looking at is HoT and considering it to have been an inevitability so Zahn must have planned for it, but it's probably more accurate to say TTT had the seeds of HoT, but whether they got tapped was, in 1993, to be decided.

 

The Luke/Mara marriage was planned when Zahn was contracted to write Hand of Thrawn --- it was one of his conditions for agreeing to the contract, that he got to marry the two of them. Barbara Hambly was told to introduce a permanent love interest for Luke in Children of the Jedi, but Zahn was contracted for HOT shortly after, and Anderson was thus tasked with knocking Callista out of the picture.Darksaber came out before any of YJK, so I think it's safe to say that Anderson definitely knew about the marriage when he was writing YJK.

All that info is from Anderson's Chronoradio interview (can't remember if it's Part 1 or Part 2).

 

Thanks for all the great info! I just wonder what it was like reading TTT as they were published (I only read them after HoT was already published) and thinking, "What the hell was that beacon for? What was Fey'lya's deal?" It would make reading HoT years later quite the "Aha!" moment!

 

It just feels awkward. Luke and Mara married, with Mara no where around. You can't write that without it being awkward.

 

The explanations in the New Essential Chronology (I think that's where it was) make sense, though, and Zahn delved into it further in Survivor's Quest, and then Stackpole dropped hints of things that went on with Mara and Mirax in the Dark Tide books. It makes sense that Mara wouldn't feel comfortable jumping into a leadership role at the Praxeum when she's just become a Jedi; plus she can't just stop working for Karrde cold-turkey. And Luke can't turn over control of the Academy cold-turkey, either.

Of course, it WOULD have been nice to have Mara around during the YJK sometimes, especially since she becomes Jaina's master, but alas, that's what happens when books are released out of chronological order. And it is why I would like Del Rey to go back and do some more books that take place between HoT and NJO.

 

JediMara77 posted:

Of course, it WOULD have been nice to have Mara around during the YJK sometimes, especially since she becomes Jaina's master, but alas, that's what happens when books are released out of chronological order. And it is why I would like Del Rey to go back and do some more books that take place between HoT and NJO.


Woot! Sounds stellar!

But if we want it done right, JM77 needs to do it.

SQUEEEEE!