Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith had one of many all-time largest rereleases in historical past in 2025, because it returned to theaters for its twentieth anniversary. On the similar time, Lucasfilm celebrated Matthew Stover’s novelization of the movie by saying a deluxe version reissue coming in October. Whereas every of the prequel movies has its personal e book adaptation, Revenge of the Sith’s is the primary to get a big rerelease, and it’s one of many few pre-Disney Star Wars novels that Lucasfilm has reissued. And that may be as a result of Stover’s tackle Revenge of the Sith is the most effective novelization Star Wars has fielded to date.
A core difficulty with the Star Wars prequel trilogy is that the characters’ motivations are sometimes obscured by unexplained world-building or erratic selections. However Stover’s adaptation affords deeper insights on Anakin Skywalker’s transition to the darkish facet, addressing the ambiguities of George Lucas’ script. In contrast to most novelizations, Stover’s Revenge of the Sith enriches and enhances the unique materials with considerate characterization, attention-grabbing views, and astute descriptions of Lucas’ galaxy far, distant.
Anakin’s abrupt flip to the darkish facet in Revenge of the Sith continues to be jarring at this time. Whereas Hayden Christensen’s efficiency drew criticism, his appearing can’t be blamed for the speediness of Anakin’s fall from grace. It requires depths of emotion which might be arduous to discern within the film because of its storytelling hiccups. However the novelization affords extra perception into the Drive, its customers, and the political make-up of the galaxy. And Stover’s inside monologues for Anakin fill in some gaps as nicely, making his willingness to embrace the darkish facet much more believable.
Photograph: Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century-Fox Movie Company/Everett Assortment
Stover describes the concern inside Anakin as “a dragon,” which the character feels could possibly be contained if he turns into highly effective sufficient to defeat his enemies. It’s simpler to sympathize with him inside this context: After being raised as a slave on Tatooine, Anakin has hesitations about blindly accepting the orders of the Jedi Council, the members of which he should check with as his “masters.”
Guilt over his lack of ability to save lots of his mom, Shmi Skywalker, drives Anakin to seek for options that the Jedi Council isn’t keen to offer. His Jedi grasp, Obi-Wan Kenobi, feels the load of that very same burden. Whereas Qui-Gon Jinn is barely briefly talked about within the theatrical minimize of Revenge of the Sith, Stover’s novelization reveals that Obi-Wan has been haunted by the demise of his former grasp, who he felt would have been a greater teacher for Anakin. Obi-Wan believes he might have helped Qui-Gon defeat Darth Maul of their first encounter on Tatooine in the course of the occasions of The Phantom Menace. If Darth Maul hadn’t subsequently killed Qui-Gon on Naboo, Obi-Wan feels, Anakin won’t have felt such a necessity for a brand new mentor, and won’t have been open to Chancellor Palpatine’s affords.
Obi-Wan’s compassion for Anakin is exemplified by his insistence that they’re “brothers” as of Revenge of the Sith, since he now not feels that he has something to show his apprentice. Whereas the movie depicts Obi-Wan as a dutiful follower of the Jedi Council’s orders, Stover means that he privately disagrees with its therapy of his apprentice. As well as, Obi-Wan brazenly objects to having Anakin spy on Palpatine, feeling that it’s going to solely breed extra mistrust. This explains why Obi-Wan is chosen to search out Basic Grievous on Utapau; Palpatine removes Obi-Wan from Coruscant to create the right alternative to spring his entice.
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Within the movie, Grievous is launched abruptly, however Stover digs into why Palpatine is so eager to have a cybernetic warlord because the commander of the Separatists’ droid military. Rely Dooku, he feels, is simply too intelligent to be left alive — Dooku had assumed he can be a part of the scheme to take over the Republic. Stover notes the privileges Dooku has earned from his wealth, and the way he views folks as “issues,” not people. Whereas Grievous and Dooku don’t work together within the movie, Dooku’s evaluation is that the droid basic is a “revolting creature” that would by no means possess the true energy of the darkish arts.
Stover even offers extra context for Dooku’s look of shock when Palpatine orders Anakin to execute him. The e book describes how he was beneath the impression that the plan was to kill Obi-Wan, then reveal the reality about Palpatine’s plans to Anakin. Dooku, Palpatine, and Anakin would then conclude the warfare, and function the ringleaders of a brand new galactic order. Dooku’s final moments are extra graphic within the e book: After Anakin slices off his fingers one after the other, Dooku begs for his life earlier than being decapitated.
Whereas Grievous is a pawn who serves as an excuse for Palpatine to proceed the warfare after Dooku’s demise, Stover offers the droid extra character than the film does. Along with killing a number of Neimoidians who have been current above Grevious’ ship Invisible Hand, Grievous reveals trepidation upon encountering Obi-Wan and Anakin, as he acknowledges that they’re extra achieved than the opposite Jedi he’s confronted. The e book additionally expands on Grievous’ coaching beneath Dooku. Whereas his lack of Drive sensitivity makes it unattainable for him to ever be thought of a real apprentice, Grievous relishes any alternative to kill Jedi, believing that his cybernetic enhancements and lack of Jedi compassion make him superior to them.
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Grievous, like the complete Clone Struggle, is a diversion that Palpatine makes use of to distract the Jedi. Whereas the tactical benefit of the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk is just not explicitly acknowledged within the novel, Stover signifies that Kashyyyk was invaded to attract Yoda away from Coruscant, depriving Anakin of one other mentor. Mace Windu, regardless of his lengthy tenure as Yoda’s second-in-command, doesn’t actually perceive how the darkish facet tempts Anakin or the truth that Anakin wants safety and counsel. Mace nonetheless believes within the prophecy of the “Chosen One,” and thinks Anakin is incorruptible. And he feels that assigning Anakin to spy on Palpatine would sabotage the constructive bond they’ve shaped.
The story Palpatine tells Anakin in regards to the “tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Smart” — which has change into an web meme lately — is much much less ambiguous in Stover’s depiction. Palpatine reveals that Plagueis was his grasp who he killed in his sleep. His ruthlessness is of little concern to Anakin, because the Chancellor tempts him with the potential for proudly owning every thing from a brand new speeder to the complete star system of Corellia. Palpatine might even see this as a possibility to check Anakin’s greed, however Anakin’s ideas are literally centered on offering a protected haven for Padme, who Anakin is aware of is pregnant.
Stover’s description of lightsaber fight removes a lot of the silliness that reveals up within the theatrical model of the story. He provides perception on the seven types of fight taught inside the Jedi Order, together with Vaapad, the type Mace Windu has perfected. Mace’s try to arrest Palpatine is much less abrupt within the e book: It takes Palpatine various seconds to dismantle and dismember the opposite Jedi Masters who accost him. Though he decapitates Saesee Tiin and catches Agen Kolar off guard, Palpatine doesn’t execute Equipment Fisto till moments earlier than Anakin arrives.
Picture: Twentieth Century-Fox Movie Company/Everett Assortment
Mace’s downfall is a strategic failure, as Stover means that Palpatine feigns weak spot to border himself because the sufferer; it’s solely in Mace’s final moments that he acknowledges that Anakin’s need to guard Padme will supersede every thing else. And whereas Palpatine is blasted with Drive lightning, his ghastly look is meant not as the result of that struggle, however as a reveal of his true type. He remarks to Anakin that he’ll “miss the face of Palpatine, however the face of Sidious will serve.”
There’s little dramatic stress inside both of the lightsaber duels on the finish of Revenge of the Sith, as viewers who’ve seen the unique trilogy know that every one 4 combatants will survive. Nonetheless, Stover reveals that Obi-Wan and Yoda are each confronted with ultimatums. Yoda realizes he should go into hiding, as he now not has the perception to steer the Jedi Order as a result of he failed to stop the collapse of the Republic. On the similar time, Obi-Wan wrestles with the duty of getting to kill Anakin.
Previous to the duel, Yoda rejects Obi-Wan’s hypothesis about why Anakin joined the darkish facet with the comment “why issues not; there isn’t any why,” an homage to his well-known “do or don’t” line from The Empire Strikes Again. Nonetheless, Obi-Wan prolongs the duel with Anakin by constantly trying to disarm him; the drawn-out battle ensues as a result of he isn’t keen to kill his “brother.”
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Certainly one of Revenge of the Sith’s largest query marks is Obi-Wan’s willingness to let Anakin burn alive in molten lava, an unusually merciless destiny for somebody he claimed to like. Though Stover mentions that Obi-Wan feels that killing Anakin will “burn his coronary heart to ash,” he additionally admits that it “can be a mercy to kill him,” however that “he was not feeling merciful.” Nonetheless, Obi-Wan’s causes for departing Mustafar so shortly are finally sensible, not philosophical. Making the additional effort to kill Anakin would price Obi-Wan time, and he intends to flee the planet earlier than Palpatine arrives. Whereas his departure from the duel should still really feel abrupt, Obi-Wan is beneath the impression that Padme can nonetheless be saved.
Stover reveals that Anakin’s transition into Darth Vader is much less seamless than the movie implies. Whereas on the working desk being fitted with synthetic limbs, Vader is affected by the data that he killed Padme. As an alternative of the cringe-inducing cry of “no!” that seems within the film, Vader spends time adjusting to his lack of autonomy, with Stover likening him to “a painter gone blind.”
The liberty of an prolonged novel meant Stover might embody moments on this e book that have been minimize from the movie for time. Qui-Gon’s ghostly interactions with Yoda and the institution of Mon Mothma’s Insurgent Alliance are included in full. However the brilliance of Stover’s novel isn’t in his additions; it’s in his contextualization. Lucas put most of the proper items in place, however Stover presents them in a extra forceful means — pun supposed.
