Star Wars Novelizations: 'Return of the Jedi' by James Kahn (1983)

Return of the Jedi was the last of the Star Wars Original Trilogy, and so James Kahn had a lot more material to work with in his novelization than Donald F. Glut for The Empire Strikes Back or Alan Dean Foster for A New Hope. Consequently, Kahn seems a lot more confident with the characters and story, spending much more time on added scenes and internal character motivation. Although not all of this material fits with the later movies and Expanded Universe, it makes for an interesting and well-thought-out interpretation of the story.

It's understandable that George Lucas didn't want to explain too much about Anakin Skywalker's fall -- and the birth of Luke and Leia -- in the film itself. Having committed himself to making the prequels eventually by numbering his movies IV, V, and VI, he surely didn't want to tie himself down to a particular story so early in the game.

The explanation in the novelization is different from the prequels. Mostly the changes are minor details -- for example, Owen Lars is Obi-Wan's brother rather than Anakin's step-brother, and Anakin's unnamed lover lives to take Leia to Alderaan -- but the basic story remains the same: Anakin turned to the dark side, Obi-Wan fought him and attempted to win him back, and Anakin fell into a lava pit and sustained injuries that confined him to his iconic suit.

Despite the fact that Obi-Wan's account to Luke is only a brief overview of Anakin's rise and fall, as well as the fact that much is no longer canon, the scene fills in some important gaps in the story and makes Darth Vader a more sympathetic figure.

Later in the novelization, on the forest moon of Endor, Kahn develops the Ewoks in a few extended scenes and scenes shown from Ewok perspectives. The Ewoks certainly became developed characters in the Expanded Universe, earning their own movies and cartoon series. Because we cannot understand their language, however, the Ewoks in the films don't have much more characterization than "fierce warriors who can nevertheless be easily swayed by shiny objects."

The novelization takes a more nuanced and respectful look at the Ewoks, portraying them as intelligent and thoughtful. Their joining the Rebellion is not as simple as in the film, with C-3PO telling the story of the Galactic Civil War and then proclaiming, "Wonderful, we are now part of the tribe!" In contrast, the Ewoks carefully consider the situation and the Rebels' arguments. Leia's diplomatic training and Force-sensitivity play an important part: her plea for help considers and respects the Ewoks' culture and values.

Most interesting, however, is the way Kahn describes the dynamics between Emperor Palpatine, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader. In the film Return of the Jedi, Palpatine's devious scheming finally becomes obvious, both in the way he draws the Rebels into a trap and the way he pits Luke and Vader against each other. The novelization, however, adds another layer to the throne room scene: long before Vader brought Luke before Palpatine, he had already made the decision to kill the Emperor.

In particular, Vader sought to learn everything the Emperor could teach him, then kill his master and take his place ruling the galaxy. The tradition of the Sith under the Rule of Two, of course, was for apprentices to kill their masters (although this was not explicitly developed at the time of the novelization). Now that Vader had found his son, successfully turning Luke to the dark side would give him an incredibly strong and talented apprentice.

Again, this exploration of character motivations results in a more interesting and nuanced scene. When Vader finally kills the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi, his planned course of action has not changed; rather, he has changed his reasoning.

Return of the Jedi is hardly a perfect novel; in terms of sheer quality of writing, Foster's novelization of Episode IV beats it by a long shot. The pacing is fine, but the descriptions are uneven, as if the writer were rushing through parts of scenes to get to the next bit of more interesting action. There are a handful of bizarre and distracting metaphors, and worst of all, Kahn writes out R2-D2's beeps and Chewbacca's roars in onomatopoetic dialogue, which looks terribly silly.

On the whole, however, Return of the Jedi is the best of the Original Trilogy novelizations. It captures the characters well and sticks close to the film, but still offers supplemental material to enhance and explain the story without being redundant. Despite the fact that some aspects of the novel are no longer canon, it still provides a great read and a wonderful interpretation of the film.