Thus begins the era that readers were first introduced to in 1991, when Star Wars publishing returned in a big, bestselling way. With the license for new fiction now at Bantam Books, author Timothy Zahn was first new author in eight years to pen a Star Wars novel. The audience was there all along, eager and waiting.
Heir to the Empire, the first book in the Thrawn Trilogy, began with introducing readers to The Depredations of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Over the course of the novel, Thrawn would prove that he had the potential to succeed where so many other Imperials failed. In this first book, Thrawn gathered Joruus C'baoth, the Spaarti cloning cylinders, and the cloaking device for his brilliant master plan. The extent of his cloning operations, revealed up front here in Chronology summary, did not become apparent until subsequent books in the trilogy.
The second book in the series describes how and why The Noghri Switch Sides. Dark Force Rising (1992, Bantam Books) also tells of The Katana Fleet and the Clone Troopers. This section of the summary also includes events from the last book of the series, The Last Command (1993, Bantam Books). This book has the birth of Jaina and Jacen Solo, and the mission to Wayland. The fact that Wayland's explosion covered up information vital to the Bothans is hinted at in this book, as well as The Last Command Sourcebook (1994, West End Games), but the actual connection to Caamas would not come to light for years.
The Last Command also contains Thrawn's Fall. The details surrounding the death of Rukh would not be confirmed until years later, in Specter of the Past (1998, Bantam Books).
It should be noted that the Thrawn Trilogy was also adapted into comic book format from Dark Horse Comics. Heir to the Empire was told in six monthly installments from 1995-1996, with a trade paperback edition in 1996. Dark Force Rising was adapted into six issues in 1996, with a trade paperback arriving in 1997. The Last Command was adapted into six parts in 1997-1998, with a trade paperback edition in 1999.
The Return of Isard begins with events that form the back-story to the Dark Empire comics series (1991-1992, Dark Horse Comics). The text pages of that series, as well as the supplementary Dark Empire Sourcebook (1993, West End Games), explain the Emperor's slow, methodical and painful return.
Isard's Revenge (1999, Bantam Books) brought Ysanne Isard back into the picture, and chronicled her final caper and the New Republic's capture of the Lusankya. Dodonna was brought back to the New Republic fold, and the so-called "Gray Cadre" is actually first mentioned in Dark Empire Sourcebook (1993, West End Games).
Probably the most frequently asked questions of readers undertaking their first steps into Star Wars literature is "What novel depicts The Resurrection of Emperor Palpatine?" They quickly learn that to enjoy the big picture, they must master multiple media of storytelling. The shocking return of the Emperor was told in Dark Empire, a six-part comics series that began in 1991 and ran through 1992. Published by Dark Horse Comics, it was the first new ongoing comics material published since Marvel's demise, not counting a handful of 3-D comics published in the interim.
The sudden strike by the unified Imperial fleet commanders is told as back-story to the first issue. At the start of issue #1, Coruscant is already in ruins. The Liberator had already crashed in the heart of Imperial City. Over the span of six issues, enormous events with huge ramifications would occur -- Han came face-to-face with his smuggling past on Nar Shaddaa, Leia found herself pregnant with a third child, Luke became a servant of the dark side, Boba Fett returned from the dyspeptic depths of the Sarlacc, and Emperor Palpatine had found a cheating shortcut to the path to immortality. A third edition of this series in trade paperback was published in 2003.
Dark Empire proved to be immensely successful, spawning two sequels. Dark Empire II #1-6 (1995, Dark Horse Comics) told the saga of Operation Shadow Hand, featuring Executor Sedriss, Kam Solusar, the Ysanna tribesmen, the Galaxy Gun and the birth of Anakin Solo. The series was released in a trade paperback in 1995. Carnor Jax's involvement in the events of this era would not become known until Crimson Empire.
The final segment of this story-arc, Palpatine Vanquished, was told in the two-part Empire's End series (1995, Dark Horse Comics), which finally killed off the resurrected Emperor once and for all. This series was released in a trade paperback in 1997.
Jax, Kanos and the Interim Council is another comics series adventure. Crimson Empire #1-6 (1997-1998, Dark Horse Comics) told of Carnor Jax and his Interim Council. The follow-up series, Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood #1-6 (1998-1999, Dark Horse Comics) told of Xandel Carivus' disbanding of the council, and the involvement of Nom Anor. Both series were gathered into trade paperbacks, with Crimson Empire being published in 1998 and the sequel in 1999.
The events that follow in this segment were first revealed in The Essential Chronology (2000, Del Rey Books) as a means of filling in the gaps between novels and setting up subsequent stories. The next time we see Pellaeon in the books, he is serving under High Admiral Teradoc in Darksaber (1995, Bantam Books). The new classes of Republic warships suddenly appear in numbers in the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy beginning with Before the Storm (1995, Bantam Books). Many of these vessels were detailed in Cracken's Threat Dossier (1997, West End Games).
