Meeting Tim Zahn-Questions

Heh, that reminds me of what Terry Pratchett said when people started bringing in like thirty books.

 

- When asked about writing a Ben story, he said to me at dinner he would like to write a story of Ben meeting up with a Thrawn clone, and how the clone was a clone of thrawn, but he wasnt THRAWN, so he would have to be expected to save the day or whatever

Could Revan be there, too?

 

- When asked about writing a Ben story, he said to me at dinner he would like to write a story of Ben meeting up with a Thrawn clone,

I can see a parallel that both Ben and the Thrawn clone try to break out of the shadow of their respective namesakes...but more clones of Thrawn? How 'bout coming up with a new character and idea. Zahn likes to have his cake and eat it, too. He gets the respect for having the gusto to kill a great villian at the end of his trilogy then he wants to lose all that respect by resurrecting him again and again?



and how the clone was a clone of thrawn, but he wasnt THRAWN,

If the Thrawn clone isn't really Thrawn, then why make him a clone of Thrawn at all? Any old blue-skinned, red-eyed, chicken-fried Chiss would do.



so he would have to be expected to save the day or whatever

When did Thrawn save the day? For whom?

 

If the Thrawn clone isn't really Thrawn, then why make him a clone of Thrawn at all? Any old blue-skinned, red-eyed, chicken-fried Chiss would do.

Because it would be another story then. It would not be about some new guy failing everybody´s expectations by not really being Thrawn, but his own person and finding - if he would find - his own solutions to problems he faces (and finding himself, his value as an individual etc&etc in the process).

 

Just don't ask him about any other Star Wars novels, Specificly LoTF. He said he doesn't keep up with anything because he doesn't read books anymore. His reasoning was that he becomes 'overly critical' of the stories he reads.
JN

 

I think if you stopped before your ellipsis, you would've been just fine. ;-) That's exactly what such a story would be about - breaking out of the shadow of their progenitors and being their own persons.

As for gusto, he had the gusto to clone the character once and kill him off without even letting him awaken. That took some cajones, too, you know.

Because you couldn't explore the ramifications for individuality and becoming your own person in the same way you could with the clone. Thrawn would still be dead - this entity clearly isn't the same being. Thrawn, as far as we can tell, never doubted being Thrawn. He possessed above average self-knowledge and wouldn't experience the sort of existential crisis that this clone would be experiencing.

Well, for the better part of the Thrawn Trilogy he was saving the day for the Empire.

 

Someone should ask how he got the name Suwantek for the ISB ship. Also if Brightwater is a play on Skywalker.
JN

 

Sigh more Thrawn Clones. In the duology we had a guy pretending to be Thrawn to another with some of his mind to a clone hidden away. We even had a short story of Thrawn super bounty hunter.
Seriously I know Zahn loves him but he needs to let him go he killed him off back in 93 its now 2007 its over Tim he's gone.

 

Some of the last people to get signed brought in all of his Star Wars books, including the Tales of.. he contributed too along with his other books. They prolly had about 20 books there and he signed them all.

 

Ha, that was probably me and my brother. Your count was exactly right- 16 of my books (including two Adventure Journals and the Star Wars Tales comic with a Mara Jade tale he wrote) and 4 hardcovers for a friend of mine who couldn't make it. He even signed each individual title page (of the stories he wrote, of course) in the Tales of the Empire/Republic books. And I had carry all that on a SEPTA train and walking 5 blocks to the library...

All in all, Mr Zahn was a very accommodating and nice person.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing a clone of Thrawn in a future Zahn SW book. I just want Zahn to do a Ben Skywalker novel with Ben having an adventure in Chiss Space and the Unknown Regions post-LOTF. Perhaps teaming up with a Thrawn clone as Zahn has said.

 

The Suwantek transport is highlighted in Stock Ships, a 1997 WEG sourcebook. I can't take credit for the stats, but I created the name in my 1995 story "Rendezvous with Destiny". Tere Metallo was the captain of the Star Quest, a Suwantek light freighter that Alex Winger stowed away on.

Char

 

Oh? That's a rather cool link, actually. I remember that ship.

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Heard it here first.

 

That would have been another way for Palpatine to make Vader edgy, if Vader knew from whom the crystal - or the whole lightsaber - came from. And that scene on Executor when Vader went crazy and tried to kill Mara... I bet it did not help Mara at all to had that kind of lightsaber. It would have made Vader even more homicidal.

 

That would be totally Palpatine - "Look Jedi. Your Uber-Crystal is now my tool!" and "Look, Vader. Remember that blade? Now TAKE A SEAT, Young Vader, I bet Mara will show us more interesting news than you..."

Even if Zahn wouldn't have had to pay royalties to me, I wish they'd let it in the novel. It would have made for one of the more subtle, intelligent retcons. Better than your random character name re-use or the gigantic everything-was-planned-from-the-beginning retcon. Totally in-character.

 

I think it's fair to consider it at least "quasi-canon" (for lack of a better term), since the novel does allude to it, though not outright stating that Mace's crystal is used. The second i read that passage early on in the novel, that was my immediate thought. So combining the allusion with the author-intent, i think it's fair to at least include it in personal canon, if not canon as a whole (at least until it's specifically contradicted).

 

There being another clone of Thrawn out there was hinted at at the end of SQ, IIRC.