William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return

Writing the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars trilogy meant I had more and more ground rules—of my own making—to remember with each volume. In Verily, A New Hope , I established the vocabulary of R2-D2’s beeps and Chewbacca’s growls, and the fact that R2 speaks English when he is alone, and the Shakespearean devices of rhyming couplets at the ends of scenes, and of course the iambic pentameter throughout. . . . In The Empire Striketh Back, I added Yoda speaking in haiku, Han and Leia speaking in rhyming quatrains to each other when alone (like Romeo and Juliet), and Boba Fett speaking in prose. By the time of this third installment, keeping these rules in mind while adding new ones—the Ewoks’ manner of speaking, Admiral Ackbar’s line endings, and so forth—was quite a juggling act. But what fun it has been immersing myself in this universe that I love and having an opportunity to put words into the mouths of characters I have known for decades.

As I mentioned in my afterword to The Empire Striketh Back, Return of the Jedi is my favorite of the three original movies. I know Empire is widely considered the best of the trilogy, and the older I get, the more I understand why. But I have a soft spot in my heart for Jedi. It was the first of the trilogy that I saw in a movie theater. I vividly remember being six years old, watching the film with my uncle Norman who sat in the row behind me and translated the dialogue into Japanese for my aunt Sooja. (What’s the Japanese word for “sarlacc”?) Furthermore, growing up, we had The Making of a Saga on VHS, which covered the whole trilogy but focused primarily on Return of the Jedi, which cemented its primary status in my young heart. I’ve always loved the Jabba sequence, and although the Ewoks’ charm has grown a little thin now that I’m an adult, I still love the movie as a whole. So writing this final book of the trilogy was, as with the first two, a real joy.

Of course, Return of the Jedi is where the story of Darth Vader comes full circle. The character development of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader—from Episode I through Episode VI—is a triumph of modern cinema. Vader’s transformation in Return of the Jedi comes across as both believable and natural, as if written by Fate, and that’s true whether you start watching at Episode IV or at Episode I. Return of the Jedi has more depth than people tend to acknowledge, due in large part to the cathartic final scenes between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Luke realizes how close he comes to the dark side, as he considers his own robotic hand and the severed limb of his father, which Luke himself cut off in a moment of fury. Darth Vader realizes he has a decision to make: save his son, or remain a slave to his Emperor. We see him make that choice in the most dramatic way possible, as he grasps the Emperor and casts him into the abyss to his doom. Those two events—the separate awakenings of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader—are masterful film moments, and utterly Shakespearean. Darth Vader realizes in the end that it is his son, not his Emperor, who matters, just as King Lear realizes before his death that Cordelia loved him better than Goneril and Regan ever could. These are weighty moments. I knew that even when I was six.

Thank you, all of you who have entered the world of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars trilogy. This has been a special journey for me; I hope it has been for you as well. May the Force be with you, always.

Acknowledgments.

Once again, there are many to whom I am deeply grateful. This book is dedicated to my parents, Beth and Bob Doescher, and my brother Erik, who have encouraged and supported me more than I deserve. I grew up in a family where Star Wars was part of the fabric of our lives, and for that I am grateful.

Thank you to the wonderful people of Quirk Books: editors Jason Rekulak and Rick Chillot, publicity manager Nicole De Jackmo, social media manager Eric Smith, and the rest of the gang. Thank you to my agent, Adriann Ranta, for her support throughout the trilogy and for looking ahead with me. Thank you to Jennifer Heddle at Lucasfilm for being a delight to work with, and to illustrator Nicolas Delort for making the pages dance.

Continued thanks to my college professor and friend Murray Biggs, who reviewed all three manuscripts to enrich the Shakespearean pastiche.