Books Leia Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray

Had he not died the OT might not have happened as it did.

 

I thought it was quite obvious that he had to die even early in the book. You can't leave a thread like that hanging without an explanation going into A New Hope.

 

The Organas were in a situation where:

1) Do nothing, the galaxy suffers, eventually Palpatine would his eyes turn on the Core to exploit for the Imperial war machine.
2) Do something and you risk losing everything, which they more or less did.

We've seen how Alderaanians post-Disaster reacted in different ways to what happened.
- Nash Windrider buried his grieve so deep and turned his back on the past that it might be a matter of time before he snaps.
- Leia buried her grieve so as not to appear weak, though she did appear outwardly callous and uncaring (reminds me of the British Royal Family not being seen to openly grieve for Diana and was butchered by the press for it).
- Other Alderaanians blamed both sides and either chose neutrality (more or less just staying out of the fight) or joining the extremist view of both sides.

 

Hey all, I think I need your thoughts on this incident in chapter 12:

So Panaka recognizes Leia's resemblance to Padme and let's slip that he's likely to mention this to Palpatine, but what exactly is Panaka going to divulge?
Did Panaka know Padme had a relationship with Anakin?
Did he know she was pregnant?
Wasn't Panaka out of the picture as Padme's guard by AotC, replaced by Typho?
So how would he know these things about Padme and Anakin?
Wasn't Panaka a decent human being?
Didn't he care for Padme?
Would he betray Padme's daughter so easily?
Has he become that corrupted that he'd unmask Leia's identity just to gain favor with Palpatine?

 

sidv88 Like I said I can see how some people could see it that way, as just part of a trend, but in this particular example I liked the way those characters and their demise was handled.

We don't have a concrete answer. In Legends he found out about her and Anakin's marriage and told Palpatine. I'd assume that even though he wasn't her personal guard anymore they still communicated occasionally. He knew her well enough to identify her child, he probably had enough insight/sources to figure out she and Anakin were secretly married.

I doubt he knew Anakin became Vader. But Amidala's unborn child supposedly died with her. To have that child show up years later, coincidentally adopted by some of Palpatine's most vocal opponents? That would be more than enough to let Panaka know something fishy is going on.

Between this book and Lost Stars, Claudia Gray makes the point that even "decent" people can be misguided into serving a great evil. Panaka isn't corrupt and lining his own pockets like some Imperial officers. He thinks some officers go too far when it comes to using violence to keep citizens in line. But he still believes in the Imperial ideals of enforcing order through military strength, and is still incredibly loyal to Palpatine.

 

Because he's turned into an idiot here. I'm sorry, but I DON'T buy that character buying into Sheev's BS, or the Empire's nonsense. Nor do I buy him being blind to the fact that it's a systemic problem with the Empire, not just a few overzealous officers.

Also even him having these fascistic/authoritarian beliefs doesn't really ring true. This is where him not being in either AOTC, ROTS, or TCW makes things harder. Because none of this is set up with him in TPM.

 

An act can be heroic even if it's in the wrong.

In the end, history says who the heroes are, which can be as arbitrary as anything, as history is often skewed by the teller of that story.

Would Hitler be a here if the Nazis won? (Too use a heavy handed and over the top example.) If British was the Revolutionary War, would our the US forefathers be relegated to little more than terrorists? I'd do both perceptions are possible. Hero is a judgement of perception. But the act...again, can be heroic regardless of outcome.

Sent from my Moto X-Wing

 

Silly, silly man. Of course it does.

Sent from my Moto X-Wing

 

It's helpful at least to know some of this is taken from Legends, I imagine it was less shocking for those familiar with Panaka's trajectory in the old canon. (I stopped reading the EU in the early oughts, before the Disney reset.) The rest can be guessed at, and I don't have a problem with his story left a mystery for now, but thank you for verifying it wasn't covered elsewhere in the new canon. I was afraid I had missed something.

I really like that about her writing. The Empire was so huge it could not have succeeded with 'evil' people alone. There must have been plenty of good, decent folk like Panaka participating in all kinds of roles, even as Moffs, Governors, Admirals, etc. If Panaka is the choice to represent that, then that's great. He's minor enough to where few will be truly offended, but recognizable enough a name to prove the point that an evil this big has help from the naive and misguided.

I loved how Breha even mentions Panaka was on a sort of 'target list' for defectors to the rebellion until his demise. Makes sense. Panaka is the perfect arcetype that unwittingly gives rise to the Empire, slowly realizes its faults, then reverses course to correct it.


Thanks so much for all the info.

It was jarring for me as well, and confusing, but I do enjoy the revelation ultimately. Panaka is an example of how an Empire is forged. Good people, out of fear and naivety, can pave the way for terrible things.

 

This will be my next book

 

I agree with Jello. Panaka's home world was invaded by a droid army, and Naboo's (human) military was too weak to do much to stop it. Their plees to the corrupt Republic fell on deaf ears. He complained that they shouldn't take the Queen to a world controlled by the Hutts, which matches with the distaste for criminals he shows in this book. And when he thinks the Gungans were wiped out he doesn't seem too shaken up. (Possible non human bias? Or maybe just a bit of a ruthless streak?)

In short he's pro strong government, pro order, pro military, anti corruption, and anti criminal. Theses are all ideals the Imperial propaganda spouts (even if the actual Empire doesn't live up to them). Add to that the fact that he shares Sheevs home world and is good friends with him, and I can see him drinking the Imperial Kool Aid.

 

I want to know if in this book, some characters from the Princess Leia 2015 Marvel comic appears?

 

None whatsoever. Which is kinda weird. I certainly expected Junn or Evaan to be in it in some capacity.

 

Just finished it. Very good book (as we can always expect from Claudia Gray). I don't believe that was intended to be the same dance Thane and Cienna were at was it? This book took place in 3BBY while that dance (if I remember correctly) happened just a few months before ANH.

Weren't Thane and Cienna just in their first year at the acadamy in 3BBY?

 

Definitely wasn't the same dance, two different iterations of a dance that happens with every academy graduation.


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Now that I think about, must have been so sad for Leia to have to go back to that dance every year after her memories with Kier.....

 

I'm 3 hours away from being done the audiobook, but I have to say that I've mostly loved this book. Kier and Leia's relationship strikes me as an incredibly realistic first romance - despite how fiery and confident Leia is, relationships with peers are not something she has a lot of practice with and even with her maturity, I think it takes some of us a while to figure out who we are in romantic relationships, and what we really want and need in a longer term partner. The Kier/Leia dynamic reminded me a LOT of my relationship with my first boyfriend (um, until the end.... ) in that it's two young people caught up in the magic of connecting with someone you're interested in, the fun of having a significant other and going on "space dates" as someone said earlier, where they genuinely had a lot of good to offer one another but long term wouldn't have been good enough at supporting or understanding each other.

I loved loved loved getting to see young stubborn, idealistic Leia, and having events told from her perspective where she doesn't have all the pieces about what's going on with the Rebellion and her parents. I'm also a big sucker for the drama and nostalgia of the moments where Panaka is stunned to see her looking like Padme in the parade gown and where the Force flows through Leia and she saves Kier during the pathfinding class (in the audiobook, the Force theme plays making the moment extra poignant). I really like Claudia Gray's writing and how realistic I felt the characters were - complex people with good hearts who sometimes hurt others because of their short sightedness or who could (or should) have done things differently but were doing the best they could in their own eyes. And I really, really relished just getting to hear more details about Alderaan, even the insignificant ones.

(As a side note, I thought I saw that spoilers no longer need to be tagged in this thread, but if I read that wrong and I need to tag mine, I am happy to do that!)

 

http://www.starwars.com/news/11-revelations-from-claudia-gray-on-leia-princess-of-alderaan

 

So when Breha says that were it not for his loyalty to Palpatine, Panaka might have made a powerful ally for the young Rebellion, she's echoing Claudia Gray's thoughts. Fascinating!

 

I have a serious question and I hope someone can answer it. Since Tarkin mentions that he still has The Spike in the book would this book take place before the Tarkin novel? I'm trying to organize the books in chronological order.

 

No. This book is set in 3 BBY and the Tarkin novel takes place 11 years earlier in 14 BBY.

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