When we read the novelizations of the OT we have to remember they were written way before the prequels. It is great. It has so much you can take from it to better understand the characters of the OT.
I have soooo many favorite lines of the original novelization of Return of the Jedi by James Khan like;
The Dark Lord was driven to his knees. He raised his blade to block yet another onslaught—and Luke slashed Vader’s right hand off at the wrist. The hand, along with bits of metal, wires, and electronic devices, clattered uselessly away while Vader's lightsaber tumbled over the edge of the span, into the endless shaft below, without a trace. Luke stared at his father’s twitching, severed, mechanical hand—and then at his own black-gloved artificial part—and realized suddenly just how much he’d become like his father. Like the man he hated.
This was Darkness—and it was the Darkness he hated. Not his father, not even the Emperor. But the Darkness in them. In them, and in himself. And the only way to destroy the Darkness was to renounce it. For good and all.
The old man smiled weakly; tears glazed his eyes, now. For a moment, he looked not too unlike Ben. It was a face full of meanings, that Luke would forever recall. Regret, he saw most plainly. And shame. Memories could be seen flashing across it... memories of rich times. And horrors. And love, too. It was a face that hadn’t touched the world in a lifetime. In Luke’s lifetime. He saw the wizened nostrils twitch, as they tested a first, tentative smell. He saw the head tilt imperceptibly to listen—for the first time without electronic auditory amplification. Luke felt a pang of remorse that the only sounds now to be heard were those of explosions, the only smells, the pungent sting of aioe fires. Still, it was a touch. ’Palpable, unfiltered. He saw the old eyes focus on him. Tears burned Luke’s cheeks, fell on his father’s lips. His father smiled at the taste. It was a face that had not seen itself in twenty years. Vader saw his son crying, and knew it must have been at the horror of the face the boy beheld. It intensified, momentarily, Vader’s own sense of anguish—to his crimes, now, he added guilt at the imagined repugnance of his appearance. But then this brought him to mind of the way he used to look—striking, and grand, with a wry tilt to his brow that hinted of invincibility and took in all of life with a wink. Yes, that was how he’d looked once. And this memory brought a wave of other memories with it. Memories of brotherhood, and home. His dear wife. The freedom of deep space. Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan, his friend...and how that friendship had turned. Turned, he knew not how—but got injected, nonetheless, with some uncaring virulence that festered, until... hold. These were memories he wanted none of, not now. Memories of molten lava, crawling up his back...no
This boy had pulled him from that pit—here, now, with this act. This boy was good. The boy was good, and the boy had come from sim— so there must have been good in fim, too. He smiled u again at his son, and for the first time, loved him. And for the first time in many long years, loved himself again, as well.
He focused on Luke once again, and saw his son was crying. Yes, that was it, he was tasting his boy’s grief— because he looked so horrible; because he was so horrible. But he wanted to make it all right for Luke, he wanted Luke to know he wasn’t really ugly like this, not deep inside, not all together. With a little self-deprecatory smile, he shook his head at Luke, explaining away the unsightly beast his son saw. “Luminous beings are we, Luke—not this crude matter.” Luke shook his head, too—to tell his father it was all right, to dismiss the old man’s shame, to tell him nothing mattered now. And everything—but he couldn’t talk. Vader spoke again, even weaker—almost inaudible. “Go, my son. Leave me.” At that, Luke found his voice. “No. You’re coming with me. l'll not leave you here. I've got to save you.”
“You already have, Luke,” he whispered.
But some things will clash with what was established in the sequels. For example: they made Owen be Obi-Wan's brother.
This already breaks TPM and AOTC plot in which dictates a Jedi cannot have contact with their families and they were taken very young to the Jedi Temple as they dont have an actual memory of their lives before the Jedi Order.
It also contradicts the very known fact Owen is "anakins half brother".
It also says that "Obi-Wan once thought he could have saved Anakin" when we know by the movie and stover novelization of the RoTS, that he did not think he could save him.
So... Take it as you wish.
I am not a fan of Disney Era books - as everything that comes to Disney has the tendency to mischaracterize everyone especially Anakin and his relationships, but some Disney content are great like bits and bits of Vader 2020 comics or a few of Luke comics as well.
But in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Beware the Power of the Dark Side! by Tom Angleberger we have this iconic quote
And now anakin sees his son's face: a handsome face, creased with concern and, yes, bearing its own battle scars. But at last Anakin sees him not as jedi or a warrior or a threat or a mistake, but as his son... and Padmé‘a son. And Anakin smiles.
Not even a smirk like Anakin might have shown Ahsoka back in his Jedi days. But a real smile. The smile that only Padmé ever saw.
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
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