Comparing
the current political situation of the United States of America to the
fictional Galactic Empire in the Star Wars franchise is, in a word
gauche. It is not for a lack of similarities,
even as originally imagined by George Lucas the comparison is there to how it
operates, and the current administration’s authoritarian tendencies are
certainly in line with that, however, that does not actually create material
good from the comparison. It is also
made gauche by the franchise and Lucasfilm being owned by the Walt Disney
Company, a multibillion-dollar corporation, for any expectation of contributing
to the fight against authoritarianism (only if it provides the right amount of
money). Yet, the franchise’s latest
publishing initiative, Reign of the Empire, seems to at the very least
be in conversation with the fight against authoritarianism. This is a planned trilogy, two already
published and the third coming in 2027. Alexander
Freed’s The Mask of Fear as the first installment stands tall on its own
as an exploration of how people live under a newly formed authoritarian regime,
resisting in their own ways and placing their faith in hope in various causes believing
that the inevitable end of empire would be coming. Freed sets the novel up with false hope,
Palpatine was already an old man with the formation of the Galactic Empire and
the hope is that he will die before he does too much lasting damage. Palpatine is an off-screen villain, this is a
novel more interested in dealing with the day-to-day formation of the rebellion
and consolidation of power that understands the need to push the needle further. The public would revolt if full
authoritarianism occurred once the Jedi fell, but the Senate was already
clearly corrupted. He does not need to
be on page because his presence is felt through every moment of the novel, the
protagonists were never going to succeed.
Palpatine is far too strong to allow even an inch, he already has the
government in his back pocket, having just enough “on the side of good” to
ensure any limits on his power will fail.
The novel follows
three characters, all featured in other pieces of Star Wars media, at
different stages of rebellion. Saw Gurrera
is the most straight forward, not needing any convincing that the Empire needs
to fall, even if he is unable to overthrow the government for his own
purposes. It is telling that his perspective
and storyline is the least interesting of the three, simply because the audience
is already on his side of freedom and rebellion. He is the first to act and his rebellion is
providing essentially as much chaos and obfuscation as possible, even if it is
essentially the lashing out of an unruly child.
It is certainly not bad, and where he intersects with the other
protagonists of the novel are interesting, but his storyline is the one that
has the least to develop, his character stays stagnant. He begins The Mask of Fear a radical,
and ends with those beliefs reinforced. The
same cannot be said for Senator Bail Organa, representing the middle stage of
radicalization. Organa can clearly see
the authoritarianism around him and the subjugation of others and himself. While he has not false hope that Palpatine
can be reasoned with, there is one last hope that through legislation there
could be some limits put on the power of the Emperor, the novel ending with that
vote failing and the system functioning as intended. Organa has the terrible choice to make, that
of not knowing how far he can push his actions before the danger of his
daughter, Leia, is put explicitly in danger.
This is something he can only grapple with emotionally, his actions
shifting to whatever will keep his daughter safe and alive. Freed is particularly interesting in that while
Leia being adopted is clear on Bail Organa’s mind, there is this lovely secret
that he does not know the real extent of everything. He thinks Anakin and Padme are both dead. Self-preservation is not something to be
taken lightly, and it is perhaps not the most morally correct path, but it is
still a noble one. It is telling that Organa’s
perspective is the perspective that the novel spends the most time in, not advocating
for the middle ground that he represents, but for that of a man trying to
ensure a future for somebody else. The specter
of his own death does hang over him in the mind of the reader throughout.
The third
primary character is the one whose journey has the longest road to go, despite
the fact that she loses the most in the establishment of the Empire. Mon Mothma is one of the few female
characters in the original trilogy given any dialogue, appearing in Return
of the Jedi, and being given the role of Senator in Revenge of the Sith. Her perspective here is of a woman who slowly
loses her freedom, knowing that that freedom is being taken away, and yet is still
disillusioned. There is the balance of
keeping Mon Mothma’s growth as the most that occurs for a character, and yet by
the end of the novel there is still a sense of a longer way to go. Mothma and Organa do spend much of the novel
together, even if as Senators and people they do not actually like each
other. The alternating perspectives
explore how two people can have the same goal but be working essentially at cross-purposes
until the turning point of the novel. There
is a psychological element to Mothma’s arc as well, the government detaining
her unjustly and employing intense interrogation techniques in the attempt to
give up the rebellion. What keeps her
safe, ironically, is her faith in the system that must be shattered by the
novel and that becomes the best part of the book.
Overall, Reign
of the Empire: The Mask of Fear works not because of a specific parallel to
real world politics, even if those parallels apply, but because of the strength
of the protagonists. As an outsider to
larger Star Wars fandom, I found that the choice of protagonists worked
as they adapt characters who to me are completely minor (although I do know
they have become larger figures in the streaming spin-off series as well as
other novels). The thesis of a novel is one
of keeping hope, but not keeping complicit despite the day to day deterioration
of freedom under an authoritarian state.
8/10.
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