Dark Empire 1

Dark Empire 1: The Destiny of a Jedi was the first issue of the 6 part Star Wars: Dark Empire series of comics. It was released on December 12, 1991 by Dark Horse Comics and reprinted on August 18, 1992.

Opening Crawl

BOOK 1: THE DESTINY OF A JEDI Following the deaths of Darth Vader and the Emperor and the destruction of the second Death Star, the Rebel Alliance proclaimed a New Republic over three-fourths of the Galaxy. But without the thousands of Jedi Knights who formed the backbone of the Old Republic, the new confederation was a precarious one. Long years of struggle ensued, during which the Imperials regained strength, pushing back the Alliance until the majority of worlds, including the vital Imperial System, fell once again under Imperial control. Then, without warning, civil war erupted, as factions within the Imperial Navy battled the former Emperor's ruling circle for control of the Empire. The Rebels seized the opportunity to sow confusion among the feuding Imperials, using captured Star Destroyers to conduct hit-and-run sorties into the war zones. One such raid, over the raging Imperial City battleground, ended in disaster: the Alliance Star Destroyer <u>Liberator</u>, commanded by Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian, crashed on the planet's surface. Only Luke's skillful use of the ship's deflector shields and anti-grav braking system prevented all aboard from being killed. As our story opens, Princess Leia Organa and her husband Han Solo, together with the Wookiee Chewbacca and the protocol droid C-3PO, are on a daring mission to rescue their fallen comrades.

Publisher's summary

Six years after Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance has established a New Republic over three-fourths of the galaxy. The surviving Imperial Forces are torn by civil war and harassed by rebel attacks. One of these raids ends in disaster: Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian are shot down over the former Imperial City. When news reaches Han Solo and Leia Organa, they rush to the rescue… (along with Wookiee Chewbacca and droid C-3PO, of course!). But there's something else rushing toward the Imperial City… something that wants Luke.

Appearances

By type

Characters	Creatures	Droid models	Events	Locations
Organizations and titles	Sentient species	Vehicles and vessels	Weapons and technology	Miscellanea

Characters

Wedge Antilles C-3PO Lando Calrissian Chewbacca Huoba Neva (First appearance) R2-D2 Luke Skywalker Syub Snunb (First appearance) Han Solo Leia Organa Solo

Creatures

Nek (First appearance)

Droid models

Astromech droid R-series R2-series astromech droid Battle droid Weapons droid Protocol droid 3PO-series protocol droid XR-85 tank droid

Events

Galactic Civil War Second Battle of Coruscant (First appearance)

Locations

Coruscant

Organizations and titles

Galactic Empire Imperial Military Imperial Army Stormtrooper Corps Stormtrooper New Republic General New Republic Special Forces Jedi

Sentient species

Ewok Human Corellian Sullustan Wookiee

Vehicles and vessels

All Terrain Scout Transport All Terrain Armored Transport BTL Y-wing starfighter CR90 corvette Century tank (First appearance) EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Antares Six (First appearance) Rebel Star (First appearance) I-7 Howlrunner (First appearance) Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Emancipator Liberator Mon Calamari Star Cruiser T-65 X-wing starfighter TIE/LN starfighter YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon

Weapons and technology

Armor Stormtrooper armor Lightsaber Luke Skywalker's lightsaber

Miscellanea

Hyperspace wormhole (First appearance) Scav (First appearance) The Force Force storm

Adaptations

The events of Destiny of a Jedi were adapted in the Dark Empire (audio) radio drama, which featured the music of John Williams' score from the films, as well as a voice cast that included Billy Dee Williams reprising his role as Lando Calrissian.

An independently produced animated adaptation of Destiny of a Jedi was released online in October 2019, which used the radio drama and the original comic as its basis.

Collections

• Star Wars: Dark Empire trade paperback
• Star Wars: Dark Empire Third Edition
• Star Wars: Luke Skywalker, Last Hope for the Galaxy
• Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy
• Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Vol. 5

Cover gallery

• 
  Full cover art
• 
  Wuzard Ace Edition textless cover
• 
  Polish - Mroczne Imperium 1

External links

• Dark Empire #1 (of 6) in the StarWars.com Cargo Bay (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 (of 6) on Dark Horse Comics' official website (backup link)
• A Time of Darkness on Hyperspace (content removed from StarWars.com; backup link)

In other languages

• ქართული
• polski
• русский