Splinter of the Mind's Eye
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| Author | Alan Dean Foster |
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| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Era | Rebellion |
| Canon | C |
| Subject(s) | Star Wars |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Released | Hardcover: 1 March 1978 Paperback: 1 April 1978 |
| Media Type | Hardcover & Paperback |
| Pages | Hardcover: 216 Paperback: 199 |
| Size and Weight | Paperback: 3.8 ounces |
| ISBN | Hardcover: ISBN 0-345-27566-7 Paperback: ISBN 0-345-27566-7 |
| Preceded by | The Ruins of Dantooine |
| Followed by | Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back |
Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a 1978 science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. It is a sequel to both Star Wars and its novelization Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker. Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, it was the first original full-length Star Wars novel to be published after the release of the 1977 Star Wars film, retroactively making it one of the earliest Expanded Universe works.
The principal characters are Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader. The characters of Han Solo and Chewbacca do not appear, and Solo is only referred to by Luke Skywalker as "a pirate and a smuggler" he once knew at the end of the book. The book was originally written to be filmed as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the original film was not a success.[1]
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[edit] Plot
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This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2008) |
Luke and Leia are traveling to Circarpous IV to persuade the Circarpousians to join the Rebel Alliance. A strange energy storm forces them to crash land on the swampy planet Mimban. Luke, after finding Leia, begins looking for a station that would allow them to get off the planet. They instead reach a mining town where the Empire has a secret energy mine. In a bar, Luke claims that Leia is his servant girl to cover up Luke and Leia's true identities. An old woman named Halla comes over and quietly talks to them; she identifies Luke as one who is strong with the Force. She takes out a splinter of the Kaiburr crystal, a glowing crystal that magnifies and focuses the Force. Halla, who has been looking for the Kaiburr crystal itself for years, strikes a deal with Luke and Leia that if they help her find it, she will help them get off the planet. They leave together.
Upon emerging, Leia admonishes Luke for slapping her in the restaurant and calling her his servant girl. They begin playfully fighting as some miners emerge from the building. The miners claim that fighting in public is against Imperial law here, and they all get into a brawl.
Imperial stormtroopers intervene and take Luke, Leia and the miners to the local jail. They are questioned by Captain-Supervisor Grammel. The miners are taken away while Grammel continues questioning Luke and Leia. Grammel discovers and confiscates the crystal shard, along with Luke's weapons. Luke and Leia are placed in the maximum security cell with two drunken but friendly Yuzzem called Hin and Kee, while Grammel reports the incident and the crystal shard to the region's governor, Governor Bin Essada.
Halla shows up at the jail cell's window, and uses the Force to help the prisoners escape. The two Yuzzem go on a rampage killing Imperials while Luke and Leia make their way to the exit. They exit the jail together, and the Yuzzem give Luke and Leia their weapons. The four meet Halla, who steals a vehicle. They then make their way to Temple of Pomojema, which Halla believes to be the location of the Kaiburr crystal. They encounter a wandrella, a huge worm-like creature. It chases them; eventually they all must exit the vehicle. Luke and Leia split up with Halla, C-3PO, R2-D2, Hin, and Kee; Halla's group loses the creature, but it continues to chase Luke and Leia.
Luke and Leia hide in a deep well. The wandrella finds them but falls down the well in an attempt to reach them, and Luke and Leia are left trapped in the well. Halla finds them, and tells them that there should be a passageway back up to the surface in the well. Luke and Leia encounter a lake, onto which they must float using a lily pad-like boat. There they are attacked by a creature that Luke drives away with his father's lightsaber. They reach an abandoned underground city where they are attacked by Coway guards/patrols. They kill all but one of the Coway; the survivor escapes and tells his Coway tribe about the visitors. Luke and Leia follow the single Coway to the tribe, where they find Halla's group being held as prisoners. To save his friends, Luke defeats the Coway's champion fighter. The Coway become his friends, but Luke senses Darth Vader. Coway patrols confirm Luke's feeling: Imperials, led by Darth Vader and Captain-Supervisor Grammel, are attacking the underground cave.
When the Imperials arrive, they are surprised by the Coway tribe's powerful response and face a debacle. Vader and Grammel retreat with the handful of surviving stormtroopers, though Vader loses patience with Grammel for the defeat and kills him. Luke and company steal an Imperial transport left behind, and begin travelling to the Temple themselves. They beat Vader to the temple and find the Kaiburr crystal. They encounter a monster, and unsuccessfully try to fight it off with blasters. Luke tells Hin and Kee to get some rifles. Luke cuts down one of the pillars holding up the temple, crushing the monsters. Luke's leg is pinned under a fallen boulder. Darth Vader then enters the Temple of Pomojema, announcing that he killed Hin and Kee. Leia takes up Luke's lightsaber and begins fighting Darth Vader, but he toys with her, giving her multiple superficial burns with his own saber. Hin, mortally wounded, shows up and in his dying act, lifts the big rock off of Luke's leg. Luke fights Vader, showing more skill than expected, deflecting some Force-based attacks and eventually slicing off Vader's arm. Despite this, the Sith Lord seems about to win, but then falls into a pit. Luke senses that Vader is still alive. As the story ends, Leia and Luke, healed by the crystal, drive off with Halla into the mists of Mimban.
[edit] History
In 1976, Alan Dean Foster was contracted to ghostwrite a novelization for Star Wars. Foster was given extensive access to the shooting and draft scripts, as well as early story treatments, for use as source material in fleshing out the novel. Elements of this are visible in the resulting novel, such as the prologue, which borrows the Journal of the Whills title from Lucas' original synopsis.
Foster's contract also required a second novel, to be used as a basis for a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in case it was not successful. Though Foster was granted a great deal of leeway in developing the story, a key requirement was that many of the props from the previous production could be reused when shooting the new film. Foster's decision to place his story on a misty jungle planet was also intended to reduce set and background costs for a film adaptation. According to Foster, Lucas's only request upon inspecting the manuscript was the removal of a space dogfight undertaken by Luke and Leia before crash-landing on Mimban, which would have been effects-heavy and expensive to film.
The titular "Mind's Eye" of the story is a MacGuffin called the Kaiburr crystal. This was based on the "Kiber" crystal, a Force-amplifying talisman that was included in early drafts of the Star Wars story, but later eliminated by Lucas in favor of making the Force a more ethereal power.
By the time the novel was published, Star Wars had broken records in box office receipts, and the film adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye was abandoned in favor of Lucas' vision of a big budget sequel.[1]
The book was later adapted as a graphic novel by Terry Austin and Chris Sprouse and published by Dark Horse Comics in 1996. It incorporated characters from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back that did not appear in the original novel.
The Los Angeles Times listed Splinter of the Mind's Eye as one of the most influential works of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.[2]
[edit] Inconsistencies
During the lightsaber fight between Luke and Darth Vader, Vader states that he knows Luke is the pilot that shot him out of the way during the Death Star trench run, when it was Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon who fired the shots that disrupted the course of Vader's fighter.
[edit] External Influences
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This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2012) |
The god Pomojema is modeled after H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. It is described thus: "It represented a vaguely humanoid being seated on a carved throne. Leathery wings which might have been vestigial swept out in two awesome arcs to either side of the figure. Enormous claws thrust from feet and arms, the latter clinging to the ends of armrests on the throne. It had no face below slanted, accusing eyes - only a mass of Medusian, carved tentacles."
[edit] ISBN Information
- Splinter of the Mind's Eye, First Ed, Paperback, 1978. Alan Dean Foster, ISBN 0-345-32023-9
- Splinter of the Mind's Eye, First Ed, Hardback, 1978. Alan Dean Foster, ISBN 0-345-27566-7
- Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Book Club Ed, Hardback, 1978. Alan Dean Foster, Book Club # 2597
[edit] References
- ^ a b Fry, Jason. "Alan Dean Foster: Author of the Mind's Eye." Star Wars Insider. Issue 50, July/August 2000.
- ^ "Star Wars' expanded universe". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-starwars-expanded-2008-pg,0,6986243.photogallery?index=8. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
[edit] External links
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