Star Wars is meant to be escapism. But with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, out Dec. 16, we're in for a tale of rebels struggling against a galaxy-wide authoritarian regime -- one that may reflect more of the present political environment than its creators expected.
The same is true of Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel (yep, Star Wars spin-off titles are getting pretty specific) by veteran Star Wars author James Luceno. The book, out this week, acts as a direct prequel to the movie. It isn't giving much away to say that the scene on the last page basically leads us into the earliest flashback sequence in the movie.
Jyn Erso, the hero of Rogue One, is featured infrequently in Catalyst, seen only as a babe-in-arms and then a toddler. Her father Galen calls her "stardust" because of the flecks in her eyes.
But this isn't her story; it is the story of her parents, and how they came to loggerheads with ambitious Imperial climber -- and Rogue One villain -- Orson Krennic.
The setup is a little complex, so it pays to know the background to Rogue One before you enter the theater. If you don't have time to devour Catalyst, but you still want to inhale all that scene-setting goodness before you see the film, here's what the book teaches us.
1. Jyn's father thought he was working on renewable energy, and was tricked into making the galaxy's worst weapon.
As the story opens, Galen Erso and his archeologist wife Lyra are in captivity on a Separatist world. (You may remember the Separatist or "Clone" war from the Star Wars prequels -- it was a giant ruse by soon-to-be Emperor Palpatine and his Sith apprentice Count Dooku designed to tear the galaxy apart and destroy the Jedi.)
Over the course of the book, Galen becomes fascinated -- to an unhealthy degree -- with the power of crystals to store and release energy. He thinks it will save the people of the galaxy from having to fight each other and grudgingly admits that a show of force against the Separatists will end the war quickly.
This is how Krennic, whose title is director of advanced weapons research, is able to manipulate Galen. Well, along with the fact that ...
2. The Ersos and Orson Krennic were old friends.
When Krennic arrives to "rescue" Galen from captivity, his ulterior motive is to put his talents to work on Palpatine's still-shadowy superweapon. But he gets away with it because he knows Galen and Lyra from the old days -- from the Galactic Republic's "Futures Program" that got Galen out of poverty and turned him into a brilliant scientist. (Even in a galaxy far, far away, they understand the importance of STEM education.)
Lyra, another student, met Krennic first, but was always more suspicious of the ambitious fellow than her soon-to-be husband.
3. The Death Star only works because of mystical "kyber crystals."
We've seen the "living" kyber crystals before, in the Clone Wars animated series. They are the mysterious power behind a Jedi's lightsaber. But Catalyst ups the ante in a drastic way.
Galen is presented with vast quantities of crystals -- first small ones, likely taken from the lightsabers of dead Jedi, then kybers the size of small buildings, which the Jedi had been hiding away.
He wonders why the Jedi didn't use them to store energy and help the galaxy on a massive scale: "They refused to share the secrets of the crystals out of fear of surrendering some of the power they enjoyed," Galen concludes.
Like the One Ring in Lord of the Rings, these crystals seem to exert a troubling influence on the minds of anyone who spends a lot of time with them. "Extended contact with kybers was detrimental to sleep," Luceno writes. Galen starts to become a bit Gollum-ish about the precious crystals, carrying one with him at all times.
He is almost entirely unaware that his project, called "Celestial Power," is being used by the Empire to figure out how the crystals could power and focus the Death Star's fearsome planet-destroying beam.
What finally snaps Galen out of it? His family.
4. Jyn's mother was a strong believer in the Force -- and very rebellious.
Though Lyra understands that "her skills were a far cry from those attributed to the Jedi," she does "embrace the Order's philosophy of generosity, compassion and peaceful resolution" because of her "enduring love of nature."
She's also the first Erso to start actively working against Krennic and the Empire, and is constantly trying to get through to the befuddled Galen. Krennic knows this, and does his meddling best to keep the couple apart.
In one of the international Rogue One trailers, we see Lyra handing her daughter what appears to be a kyber crystal on a necklace, and telling her to "trust in the Force." We're guessing this will come in handy in Jyn's fight against the defenders of the Death Star.
5. The Empire is strip-mining planets for resources.
Star Destroyers, those giant triangular ships, may not quite live up to their name. But they are apparently excellent at blasting a planet's continents and boiling its oceans, at Krennic's behest -- all in the name of mining more resources like kyber crystals.
Once Lyra sees this in action, she can't unsee it: the Empire is a menace to the environment on all the planets it owns, she realizes. "It's our obligation to the Force to protect worlds from exploitation," she says.
6. Krennic is locked in a power struggle with Governor Tarkin.
Remember Tarkin, played by Peter Cushing in the original Star Wars? Luceno has written about him before in the novel simply titled Tarkin. Here the wily rising star shows up to put a crimp in Krennic's plans.
The two are constantly competing for the Emperor's favor, and for which one of them will get to use Darth Vader as their henchman. No prizes for guessing who wins in the long run.
7. Jyn has already met Saw Gerrera.
The rebel leader played by Forrest Whitaker in Rogue One shows up towards the end of the book to aid the Ersos via some mutual friends. The young Jyn exchanges words with him -- which means they already know each other when they meet in the movie.
We don't know how Jyn met the rest of the Rogue One crew, however. Well, there has to be something left for the movie.
