The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization is out, and has caused quite a stir since fans caught wind of what it has to offer. Many are shocked at the wild explanations behind stuff unexplained by the movies, but they really shouldn't be because this has been a common trend for these kinds of works over the years.
In fact, if one travels back through the past Skywalker Saga novelizations, some crazy things will be revealed. Here are some of the wilder things I dug up, be it simply because it was impressive, hard to imagine or just flat out bizarre.
Luke Was Totally Into Leia After A New Hope
In a galaxy where passionate kisses can only be seen as platonic, it's worth noting that the novelization of Star Wars: A New Hope said that Luke certainly had eyes for Leia after their first adventure. Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker describes Luke being unconcerned about the future of the Rebellion or future adventures with Han Solo and Chewbacca, as his mind is only occupied by the "radiant" Leia Organa.
Of course, Star Wars fans can understand how this bit of story gets written. Luke is the hero of Star Wars, and the twist that the two were siblings was not conceived by George Lucas until he was writing Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately, it doesn't make that whole kiss the two shared in The Empire Strikes Back any less awkward, and I can totally understand if the discomfort from all that was the real reason Luke was off in seclusion at the beginning of the Sequel Trilogy.
Palpatine Unnecessarily Dissed Yoda In His Encounter With Luke
Emperor Palpatine is one of Star Wars' most evil villains. As such, he's often portrayed as serious, menacing and uncompromising in his ability to be an asshole every time he gets the opportunity. As such, one wouldn't expect to hear some humorous banter from the Emperor, and yet, the novelization of Return of the Jedi does exactly that.
When Palpatine learns that Luke was trained by Yoda prior to their encounter, he begins to mockingly imitate Yoda's pattern of speech. It's a hilarious moment to imagine, especially given the meeting precedes one of the most dramatic scenes of the franchise. Personally, I'd love to at least hear Ian McDiarmid attempt to imitate Yoda as Palpatine, though the thought alone is enough to forever taint any future re-watches of Return of the Jedi.
Rey's Father Was A Failed Palpatine Clone
This reveal has received a good deal of attention already, but it's too wild to leave off the list. Not only did readers of the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization learn that Palpatine's essence possessed a clone of himself, but that Rey's father was an entirely separate failed Palpatine clone. According to the story, this clone had no Force sensitivity, but beyond that, he was completely normal.
It's a confusing bit to add to the story, especially given that the complete lack of Force sensitivity by Rey's father does little to explain her powers. Of course, Jedi can come from non-Force sensitive families, but is the same true of a lab-created clone that was dismissed on those exact grounds? To be frank, a lot of things about midi-chlorians don't exist, and I'd be surprised if they start making sense in regards to how Rey amassed her strong connection to the Force.
Little Anakin Skywalker Beat Up A Young Greedo
The Rodian Greedo lives on in infamy as the unlucky bounty hunter who Han may or may not have killed in cold blood, but this was not his first appearance in The Skywalker Saga. The novelization of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace features Greedo in the story on the wrong side of a beating by the young Anakin Skywalker. The moment was actually a deleted scene from The Phantom Menace, but was obviously cut from the final edit.
The intention of the scene was originally to show what Anakin was capable of, and the mistake that Qui-Gon Jinn was making in taking him in as an apprentice. It's a moment that didn't translate to film, but it apparently worked well enough to stay in the novelization. Personally, I just love the fact that these two stories including Greedo are the two times he got taken down by another Star Wars character.
Jabba The Hutt Kissed Leia On The Lips
It's truly undervalued just how much work went into bringing Jabba the Hutt to life in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It took three puppeteers to make the creature move on screen, but even with all that manpower, only so much can realistically be brought to the big screen. This may be why in the movie, Jabba is seen licking his lips as opposed to leaning in and lip locking Leia like he did in the novelization.
The idea of Jabba the Hutt kissing Leia on the lips is pretty wild, especially given the huge difference between mouth width. I can't even begin to imagine how that could be accomplished, and how much more disgusting that would be for Leia to get up close and personal with that massive creature-gobbling mouth. It also probably would've looked hokey compared to what Return of the Jedi ultimately went with, so I can respect the direction the movies actually went.
Leia's Force Ability Was On Par With That Of Obi-Wan Kenobi
Audiences were really shocked to see Leia Organa show such a command of the Force when she flew through space in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but they may not have had they read the novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens ahead of time. In the novel, it was confirmed that Leia felt the destruction of the Hosnian system through the Force, much like how Obi-Wan felt the destruction of Alderaan.
Now that Star Wars has revealed Leia's Jedi training via Luke, it isn't crazy to believe she developed her Force abilities to a level akin to Obi-Wan. That's not to say she was able to match his skills of combat, but I think being able to fly through space by Force pulling on a ship-attached object certainly qualifies for a sizable amount of Force mastery. Still, to see confirmation Leia accomplished something Obi-Wan did is pretty impressive, and a testament to just how powerful both Skywalker children were throughout their lives.
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