In the year since the Great Disaster, the Republic has mostly recovered from the disruption to travel across the Outer Rim, although sporadic raids by the Nihil and infestations of Drengir haunt the galaxy. Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh remains driven to continue her Great Works by holding the Republic Fair on Valo to show the galaxy how much the Republic can accomplish when working together, with an eye towards improving relations with several weary species like the Togruta.
As preparations are made for the fair to begin, tensions arise within the Republic as Senator Tia Toon pushes for a defense fleet to be established while Jedi Master Stellan Gios struggles with his new seat on the Jedi Council. His friend Elzarr Mann faces his own struggles following a terrifying vision in which he witnessed darkness descend on the galaxy. Meanwhile, Machion Ro plots in the shadows against the Jedi and Republic as the Tempest Runners plot and push against his authority over the Nihil. Finally, former padawan and monster hunter Ty Yorrick is hired for a job that will bring her closer to the Jedi than she wants to be. When all of these threads converge on Valo, events at the fair will shake the Republic, Jedi, and Nihil to their very foundations.
Showdown at the Fair is a picture book retelling the events of The Rising Storm for a younger audience.
It was released on June 29, 2021.
Tropes in this novel include:
- Adaptation Expansion: Along with reintroducing Talortai into the Star Wars universe, Udi Dis's perspective provides far more information on their culture and history than was ever given in Legends, including the name of their homeworld and an explanation for why they're so rare.
- Anyone Can Die: Much like the previous novel, several major and supporting characters die, including Loden Greatstorm, Mantessa Chekkat, Udi Dis, Vam Targe, and Mikkel Sutmani.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Togruta fleet arrives at Varo and chases off the Nihil fleet that was were bombarding the surface after their ground attack faltered.
- Canon Immigrant:
- Tython's moon Ashla is reintroduced and is a site for Jedi pilgrimages like in Legends. Wingmaws, a predatory winged species from Star Wars: The Old Republic found on Tython, are now on the moon.
- Drethi are mentioned, which are an obscure winged beast bred to kill Jedi.
- Udi Dis is a Talortai, a highly Force-sensitive avian species from Empire at War: Forces of Corruption.
- Chancellor Soh mentions the Duinuogwuin, a spacefaring race from Legends that resembled many-legged dragons.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Nihil partly run on this trope, with almost every single viewpoint character from their faction plotting against at least one other member of the Nihil over the course of the novel. It culminates with Lourna Dee setting up Pan Eyta and a small portion of his faction to die in a Republic ambush in retaliation for him leaving her to die on Valo when he bombed it.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Elzar Mann taps into the Dark Side to hurl a floating island away from his friends. While it does save innocent lives, he's terrified when he realizes that he felt joy from all the Nihil deaths he caused.
- Dragon Rider: In the thick of the Nihil invasion, Elzar Mann - known for brash ideas - gets the desperate idea to use the Jedi's Beastmaster abilities to risk taming one of the more monstrous inhabitants of Valo Zoo: a three-headed flying lizard. A few chapters later, another Jedi witnesses the result with elated awe:"Elzar Mann was riding a dragon into a dogfight! Because, who else would it be?"
- Eaten Alive: When the Nihil attack the fair, several deadly predators are released when their exhibits are damaged and proceed to chow down on civilians and Nihil alike, with Mantessa Chekkat being devoured by a hragscythe.
- Entertainingly Wrong: The Jedi come to the conclusion that Lourna Dee is the leader of the Nihil after reviewing footage in the aftermath of the attack on Valo.
- Escape Pod: Pan Eyta has a hidden one aboard his flagship that is equipped with a path drive with preset coordinates for his homeworld of Dowut, as he knows no one would look for him there due to how much he hates it. Pan utilizes the pod during the Battle of Cyclor to fake his death and plot revenge against Marchion and Lourna.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Apparently, Asgar Ro was wary of using the Great Leveler.
- Hero of Another Story:
- Avar Kriss only briefly appears and spends most of the novel leading a task force against the Drengir, as detailed in The High Republic 2021.
- Ram Jomaram, one of the protagonists of Race to Crashpoint Tower, makes a few appearances when the events of the two stories intersect.
- Hope Spot: At the end of the novel, a Nihil attack on Cyclor is repelled with heavy losses to the raiders and the Jedi have tracked the Nihil to their current headquarters on Grizal and have them in retreat while also rescuing Loden Greatstorm. However, Marchion unleashes the Great Leveler and kills Loden before escaping to continue his reign of terror while now armed with a creature that can easily defeat any Jedi with its mere presence.
- Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: Marchion murders his cousin Kufa after she leads him to the Great Leveler and is later revealed to have finished off his father after he was badly wounded in a assassination attempt.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Several Nihil plot revenge against other members of the group who spoke down to or abused them, among them Pan towards Marchion and Amarant to Lourna.
- Mythology Gag: OrbaLin is said to be the first Ugor to ever join the Jedi Order. This applies not only In-Universe, but across the whole franchise, as there have never been any Ugor Jedi before, even in Legends.
- When Loden feels Bell nearby, able to finally rescue him, he describes it was "a presence he had not felt since..." - trailing off exactly as the famous line by Darth Vader in A New Hope.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Great Leveler, which is a creature frozen underneath the surface of the planet Rystan in Wild Space. It severely disorients and cuts force users and sensitives off from the force with its presence alone. Marchion retrieves the Leveler and melts the ice holding it in stasis and is capable of controlling it with a mysterious rod. He unleashes it at the end of the novel on Loden Greatstorm and Bell Zettifar, turning the former to stone and causing a complete breakdown in the latter.
- Toxic Phlebotinum: Mantessa Chekkat powers her energy draining device with recainium, which is highly radioactive and its use is banned by the Republic.
- Wham Line: Marchion Ro's quest to find out which of the Tempest Runners betrayed his father and mortally wounded him in a treacherous attack takes on an entirely new light with the flashback showing Asgar Ro's final moments.In life, Asgar had never treated his son with kindness, never treated him with respect. It was somewhat fitting that, bleeding out in his quarters, he was forced to beg that same son for help. Ro hadn't even crouched down, standing over his father. "Who did this to you?" Blood had spilled from Asgar's mouth as he replied "I...I don't know." "A shame," Ro has said. "That at least would have been useful." The first kick had dislocated the dying man's jaw; the second had fractured his cheek. The third had probably killed him, but there was no way to be sure. As for the fourth and the fifth and the sixth and the seventh, well, they'd just been for fun.
