💥Star Wars Introduced Leia's True Nemesis 42 Years Ago - And He's Still Canon💥
0Star Wars Introduced Leia's True Nemesis 42 Years Ago - And He's Still Canon
The Star Wars Legends continuity gave Princess Leia a prominent enemy before the events of A New Hope, and this villain exists in the current canon as well. Leia’s rival, the sinister Lord Tion, was introduced in the 1981 Star Wars radio drama, which is now a part of Legends. As with many characters, locations, and concepts from Legends, Lord Tion gained a counterpart in the current continuity, though he likely lacks the same background and fate as his original incarnation. In his brief appearances in the Legends timeline, Tion has a significant impact on the narrative of A New Hope.
The original Star Wars trilogy movies each received radio adaptations in 1981, 1983, and 1996, respectively. While largely faithful to the movies, each radio drama also added additional dialogue and entire narrative sequences to expand the movies, which are now canonically part of the Star Wars Legends timeline. The Return of the Jedi changes mention the events of the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project and Mara Jade herself makes a brief appearance. A New Hope has the highest quantity of changes, featuring a vastly expanded opening that follows Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, providing the latter with a new enemy.
Lord Tion is introduced early on in the 1981 Star Wars radio drama. As his name implies, Tion is a nobleman born into the House of Tion, a prestigious family that controls the Tion Hegemony, which contains numerous star systems in the Outer Rim. Lord Tion is also a Commodore in the Imperial Navy, with close ties to both Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, having captained the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator before Vader. While already a prestigious and powerful member of the Empire, Lord Tion – unsurprisingly – sought to further increase his standing within the Empire’s upper echelons.
Shortly before A New Hope, Lord Tion led the Empire’s brutal subjugation of the Core World Ralltiir, bombarding the planet from orbit before imposing martial law due to its opposition to the Empire and growing sympathy for the Rebel Alliance. Under the pretense of a mercy mission, Princess Leia and Captain Antilles supported Ralltiir’s local resistance with rebel troopers and the Rebellion’s powerful military equipment. Leia then manipulated Tion with his unrequited romantic feelings for her to leave Ralltiir without a cargo inspection, allowing her to escape a suspicious Darth Vader with a rebel spy aboard the Tantive IV.