Literature / From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back is the sequel to From a Certain Point of View, being to The Empire Strikes Back what the first book was to A New Hope. Released on November 10th, 2020, It is a collection of 40 stories from 40 authors, each from the point of view of a peripheral character.

The stories and authors are:

• "Eyes of the Empire" by Kiersten White: Taking place from the perspective of Maela, an Imperial who reviews visual feeds from probe droids.
• "Hunger" by Mark Oshiro: Taking place from the perspective of the Wampa on Hoth.
• "Ion Control" by Emily Skrutskie: Taking place from the perspective of Toryn Farr, a Rebel communications officer who talks to ion cannon control during the evacuation.
• "A Good Kiss" by C.B. Lee: Taking place from the perspective of Chase Wilsorr, a rebel passing between Han and Leia during their argument on Hoth.
• "She Will Keep Them Warm" by Delilah S. Dawson (Phasma, Black Spire): Taking place from the perspective of Murra, a Tauntaun at Echo Base.
• "Heroes of the Rebellion" by Amy Ratcliffe: Taking place from the perspective of Corwi Selgrothe, a journalist with the Rebellion.
• "Rogue Two" by Gary Whitta (Rebels, Rogue One): Taking place from the perspective of Zev Senesca, the snowspeeder pilot of Rogue Squadron who finds Luke and Han.
• "Kendal" by Charles Yu: Taking place from the perspective of Kendal Ozzel, depicting his thoughts as he is Force-choked by Vader.
• "Against All Odds" by R.F. Kuang: Taking place from the perspective of Dak Ralter, Luke's gunner during the Battle of Hoth.
• "Beyond Hope" by Michael Moreci (Adventures): Taking place from the perspective of Emon Kref, a Rebel soldier fighting on Hoth.
• "The Truest Duty" by Christie Golden (Dark Disciple, Inferno Squad): Taking place from the perspective of General Maximilian Veers as he reports to Vader on the Executor and commands the lead AT-AT on Hoth.
• "A Naturalist on Hoth" by Hank Green: Taking place from the perspective of Kell Tokani, we are treated to a letter he wrote about his time on the planet.
• "The Dragonsnake Saves R2-D2" by Katie Cook: Taking place from the perspective of the dragonsnake under the waters of Dagobah.
• "For the Last Time" by Beth Revis: Taking place from the perspective of Admiral Firmus Piett, who enters Vader's chamber to make a report.
• "Rendezvous Point" by Jason Fry (Servants of the Empire): Taking place from the perspective of Wedge Antilles as he and Wes Janson rebuild Red Squadron for an attack on a pirate base.
• "The Final Order" by Seth Dickinson: Taking place from the perspective of Captain Canonhaus, helming the Star Destroyer Ultimatum just before they enter the Hoth asteroid belt.
• "Amara Kel's Rules for TIE Pilot Survival (Probably)" by Django Wexler: Taking place from the perspective of Amara Kel during a TIE fighter group patrol into the asteroid field.
• "The First Lesson" by Jim Zub: Taking place from the perspective of Yoda as Luke arrives on Dagobah.
• "Disturbance" by Mike Chen: Taking place from the perspective of Emperor Palpatine before he contacts Vader.
• "This Is No Cave" by Catherynne M. Valente: Taking place from the perspective of Sy-O, the Exogorth/space slug hidden in an asteroid.
• "Lord Vader Will See You Now" by John Jackson Miller (A New Dawn): Taking place from the perspective of Rae Sloane.
• "Vergence" by Tracy Deonn: Taking place from the perspective of the Dark Side cave on Dagobah.
• "Tooth and Claw" by Michael Kogge: Taking place from the perspective of Bossk on a bounty hunting mission when he receives the summon to the Executor.
• "STET!" by Daniel José Older (Last Shot): A magazine article draft focusing on Zuckuss and 4-LOM, written by Parazeen Parapa and annotated by editor droid TK-7.
• "Wait for It" by Zoraida Córdova (A Crash of Fate): Taking place from the perspective of Boba Fett.
• "Standard Imperial Procedure" by Sarwat Chadda: Taking place from the perspective of Carl Ashon, a garbage disposal worker who sees the Falcon attached to the Star Destroyer's hull and has a run-in with Fett.
• "There Is Always Another" by Mackenzie Lee: Taking place from the perspective of Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Force ghost visits Dagobah as Luke is about to leave.
• "Fake It Till You Make It" by Cavan Scott (Adventures in Wild Space, Adventures): Taking place from the perspective of Jaxxon as he visits Lando Calrissian.
• "But What Does He Eat?" by S.A. Chakraborty: Taking place from the perspective of two Cloud City chefs told to prepare food for an Imperial delegation led by Darth Vader.
• "Beyond the Clouds" by Lilliam Rivera
• "No Time for Poetry" by Austin Walker: Taking place from the perspective of Dengar and IG-88 as they pursue (what they think is) the Millennium Falcon.
• "Bespin Escape" by Martha Wells
• "Faith in an Old Friend" by Brittany N. Williams
• "Due on Batuu" by Rob Hart
• "Into the Clouds" by Karen Strong
• "The Witness" by Adam Christopher
• "The Man Who Built Cloud City" by Alexander Freed (Battlefront: Twilight Company, Alphabet Squadron Trilogy)
• "The Backup Backup Plan" by Anne Toole
• "Right-Hand Man" by Lydia Kang: Taking place from the perspective of 2-1B, the medical droid who attaches Luke's artificial hand.
• "The Whills Strike Back" by Tom Angleberger: The anthology concludes with the unknown character beginning to write the next chapter of the Journal of the Whills.

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Tropes in this collection include:

• A Day in the Limelight: For different characters during the events of The Empire Strikes Back.
• Ascended Meme: Gary Whitta, the writer of Rogue One, pens the short story "Rogue Two", a meme about what the title to a hypothetical sequel to Rogue One would be.
• The Bus Came Back: Sloane's subordinate Lieutenant Deltic reappears for the first time since A New Dawn, the first EU work following the Continuity Reboot.
• Cain and Abel: Doshanalawook, a Trandoshan who works to liberate Wookiees from slavery, is the Abel to her brother's Cain, the Bounty Hunter Bossk.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Samoc Farr, a snow speeder pilot from Tales of the Bounty Hunters, appears in one story and is mentioned in another.
  • In 'Rendezvous Point' we have Tomer Darpen, Barlon Hightower, R5-G8, and Cinda Tarheel. Tarheel and Hightower originate from Star Wars (Marvel 1977), while Tomer and R5-G8 appear in the X-Wing Series.
• Chekhov's Skill: Chase Wilsorr always wanted to do something more exciting than serving caf and shuffling cargo haulers around Echo Base, but his knowledge of the layout of the Base and its many shortcuts is second to none and proves critical in helping a handful of Rebels reach the last transport ship during the frenzied evacuation.
• Continuity Nod:
  • One of the bounties that Bossk's sister knows about is his hunt on Lothal.
  • Likewise, one of the Wookiee leaders associated with Chainbreaker's group of escaped Wookiees is Wullfwarro.
  • Corwi mentions having worked with Imperial propagandist Alton Kastle, the HoloNet News reporter from Rebels.
  • Speaking of which, Corwi thinks about her propaganda artist friend Janray, a reference to the rebel propagandist Janray Tessime from Propaganda.
  • Bracca is mentioned.
  • Wedge remembers Hobbie comforting him when Wedge was grounded during the battle of Scarif and then Wedge doing the same when Hobbie was grounded for Yavin. Wedge being grounded for Scarif was a story choice in Rogue One to preserve his shock at the Death Star in A New Hope, but his voice can be heard over the intercom in the film. Hobbie being present at the Yavin base was referenced in the Rogue One Visual Guide.
  • Yoda reflects on his discussion with Obi-Wan in the Yoda story from the last From a Certain Point of View book, including remembering how he wished for Leia to train instead of Luke.
  • The story depicts Dodonna ordering the mission to scout Hoth and running the briefing on it, a factoid that was created for the updated edition of Absolutely Everything You Need to Know in 2017 and also referenced in the final issue of Gillen’s run on the Star Wars comic. Dodonna’s death, which also happened in Gillen’s run, is mentioned later.
  • The story mentions Piett’s time serving as a junior officer under Tarkin, which was depicted in the early chapters of Lost Stars when Piett went to Jelucan with Tarkin.
  • Palpatine uses a hidden chamber far beneath the Jedi Temple to deepen his control over the Force. This is likely tied to the buried Sith temple that was going to be used in an unmade Clone Wars arc, which was also mentioned in Tarkin.
  • Boba, Bossk, and Dengar remark on their history together as a part of Krayt’s Claw, Boba’s gang in The Clone Wars. The name was first used in Scum & Villainy while Córdova just recently wrote a story about them in Stories of Light and Dark.
  • The dining room where Han and Leia are trapped by Vader is apparently called the Rinetta dining room, likely named after the young princess Lando befriended in Lando’s Luck.
  • The location the Troglofs seek to get to is Lysatra, which was Eli’s homeworld in Thrawn. Their homeworld is Najiba, from the Adventure Journal.
  • Torro talks about how the Empire bombed the Jedi Temple on Devaron, the aftermath of which was explored in The Weapon of a Jedi.
  • The Punishing One is said to move like a Carnelion kite. The windy Carnelion IV was the primary setting of the Obi-Wan and Anakin comic, and it did indeed include kites.
• Convection, Schmonvection: "The Final Order" averts this: in his early service, Captain Canonhaus nearly died to an Orbital Bombardment not because the Star Destroyer was firing near his position, but because the bombardment was also superheating the planet's atmosphere to the point where its surface water started boiling off.
• Ejection Seat: After rookie TIE pilot Dawn ejects from her fighter in the asteroid belt, her wingmate Amara Kel comments that this is generally a bad idea. Most pilots who eject are struck and killed by battle debris flying through space, although Dawn ultimately survives.
• Everybody Lives: "Amara Kel's Rule for TIE pilot Survival (Probably)" features a lot of fighter combat in the incredibly dangerous asteroid belt and makes repeated comments about the short life expectancies of Amara's rookie wingmates, AKA "cloudflies." However, the story ends with the entire squadron alive, even though one pilot briefly gets lost in the asteroid field and another has to be towed back to their ship after ejecting (which is risky whenever there are floating rocks or debris nearby).
  Amara: Even Cloudflies sometimes get lucky.
• Evil Chancellor: One chapter follows a vagrant with delusions that he’s the king of Cloud City, and Lando is a treacherous regent who has willingly allied with the Empire.
• Funetik Aksent: In "STET!", Mozeen Parapa's dialogue is written like this at first. Editor droid TK-7 decides to rewrite the rest in regular Basic.
• Handicapped Badass: Chainbreaker (Doshanalawook) is this. Despite her physical condition, she has a crazy information network on both her allies in the freeing-wookiee trade but also those who hunt down wookiees (like her brother Bossk).
• Heel Realization:
  • The brutal destruction of Echo Base makes the video monitor who found the base reassess the Empire's nature and not tell her superior when another probe droid finds Luke on Dagobah.
  • Admiral Ozzel dies while reflecting on how doing the will of the Empire was morally wrong and a waste of his life.
  • Captain Canonhaus and his executive officer Tian uncomfortably discuss whether Vader had a right to kill Ozzel. Tian admits that she might not have been able to destroy Alderaanian refugee ships like Canonhaus did three years earlier (something which the captain feels guilt over). Canonhaus discusses how no one even read his report on killing the refugees to see if his actions were justified. He then reflects that if the Empire lasts another thirty years, then the Galaxy won't be worth living in. Canonhaus sends Tian off the bridge when their ship enters an asteroid belt, wanting his last order to be a noble one.
• I Just Want to Be Badass:
  • Rebel cook and glorified messenger boy Chase Wilsorr is frequently, yet futilely, applying to become a sentry (having been rejected previously for incompetence). During the Battle of Hoth, his knowledge of the base’s shortcuts and service routes does save some of his fellow rebels.
  • Penn Zowlie is a med-droid assistant who's never even been in a flight simulator before but convinces Janson to let him join the new fighter squadron based on sheer enthusiasm and stories about racing hover sleds as a child. Penn does prove to be a skilled pilot but is a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins, and he is quickly shot down and probably killed.
• Long-Lost Relative: In "Tooth and Claw", Bossk reunites with his long-lost sister.
• Men of Sherwood: Theta Squadron from "Amara Kel's Rules for TIE Pilot Survival (Probably)" is a Punch-Clock Villain example. It has many rookie pilots (mostly conscripts) in a profession with a high casualty rate while chasing the protagonists, but all of them survive the chase through the asteroid belt.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Chase passes a group of refugees from Habassa II in the base. The planet and its allegiance to the rebels after being subjugated by the Empire come from the old X-Wing game.
  • The dynamic between Wedge, Janson, and Hobbie (RIP) is taken straight from X-Wing stories, complete with Janson’s zany pranks and Hobbie’s dour stoicism.
  • Wedge tells Sila a story about his first kill being in a borrowed fighter, shooting down a gunboat full of pirates who had just taken people from him. The details are kept vague because in Legends this involved characters like Booster Terrik and Wedge’s current backstory seems to be different but this event was shown in a flashback in the second arc of the Rogue Squadron comic.
  • “The Final Order” goes into some detail on Captain Canonhaus’ early career suppressing an uprising on Haruun Kal, the setting of Shatterpoint. All the details mentioned about the planet and the Korun guerrillas are taken straight from the book. He also remembers watching a show called Laser Masters, a later episode of which involved a Laser Master’s last stand defending the Senate chamber from an army of monsters while saying “none shall pass” — referencing the New Jedi Order book Traitor, where the Jedi Knight Ganner Rhysode did precisely the same against the Yuuzhan Vong.
  • Cradossk, Bossk’s father and at least in Legends the head of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, is mentioned throughout the story. He was created for the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, and Cradossk being proud of his son for devouring his siblings upon hatching was mentioned in those books too. The briefly-mentioned gnathgrgs come from the trilogy as well.
  • Jaxxon imagines his business travelling from Kinooine to Sernpidal, both planets from the classic Marvel series Jaxxon himself is from.
• Orc Raised by Elves: Doshanalawook was raised by Wookies after being left for dead by her father Cradossk. As such, she does not shared her species prejudice views on Wookies, even becoming infamous for freeing the most wookies from slavery.
• Rationalizing the Overkill: In "The Final Order", this is one of the reasons for Canonhaus's disillusionment with the Empire. Whenever the Empire commits an atrocity, its people will come up with reasons why that atrocity was reasonable and necessary after the fact, thus evading any questions about abuse of power or culpability. The most relevant example in the story is Darth Vader's recent execution of Ozzel, which Canonhaus's junior Commander Tian is already convincing herself was justified.
• Shot at Dawn: In the prison where Dak Raltar was born, the guards forced the prisoners (including Dak) to serve on the firing squads whenever they had a prisoner executed.
• Shout-Out:
  • Admiral Ozzel's Heel Realization in his story may be a nod to a fan theory that he was an inside man for the Rebels who intentionally came out of lightspeed too close to buy Echo Base more time to flee.
  • In "The Whills Strike Back" one of the Whills mentions Starfleet, making his partner joke if Kirk and Spock show up later.
• Shower of Love: Amara and Howl, two of the TIE pilots who chase the Millennium Falcon through the asteroid field, end up kissing (and possibly having sex) in the shower after a near-death experience.
• Sympathetic P.O.V.: "Hunger" is set from the point of view of the wampa in The Empire Strikes Back. He came back after a failed hunt to find out that the rebels were living in his home and that his family were nowhere to be seen, so his aggression towards Luke is part hunger and part vengeance for them. The story itself has a "Ray of Hope" Ending, as he takes back his home after the rebels leave and resolves to search for them.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: The Cloud City chefs spend several minutes debating about whether they should poison a meal that Vader ordered. Ultimately, they decide that the retaliation would be too great and that Vader probably won't eat the food himself anyway.
• These Hands Have Killed: Freighter pilot Sila Kott shows reluctance to join the fighter squadrons due to a reluctance to kill anyone. Wedge discusses how he went from feeling good to feeling nothing to vomiting from the anxiety after his first kill. When Sila first goes into combat, she hesitates to destroy an enemy ship but ultimately does, telling Wedge that she isn't all right after that, "But I will be."
• Tragic Villain: The Wampa that nearly killed Luke was separated from its family when the rebels arrived to build their base. It has been trying to find them and get revenge ever since.
• What You Are in the Dark: Jaxxon had a choice to either help a Troglof family escape the Empire or just take the case full of valuable loot. He empties the case of its content, puts the troglof inside and helps smuggle them out of Empire-controlled Bespin.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: "A Naturalist on Hoth" describes a slug shrinking from three centimeters to fifty millimeters. Given that there are ten millimeters in a centimeter, this means the slug "shrank" from three centimeters to five centimeters.
• Undying Loyalty: Blizzard One (Veers' personal AT-AT) was decapitated when a snowspeeder flown by Derek Klivian crashed into it. The action injured Veers to the point of nearing death, but his unyielding devotion to carrying out Vader's will allowed him to stay conscious and ultimately survive long enough for Imperial medics to assist him.

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