A Ronin Sith Story From STAR WARS: VISIONS Is Getting Novel Expansion
I cannot wait for Star Wars: Vision to hit Disney+ in September. It’s an anime anthology series with different anime studios contributing different stories and it looks so cool. One of the stories is “The Duel” from Kamikaze Douga with Takanobu Mizuno directing.
The story combines the Jedi and Sith with a bit of Japanese lore, and now a whole novel is being created around this one anime short. Emma Mieko Candon is creating Star Wars: Ronin: A Visions Novel which will release on October 12. The novel will follow an unnamed Sith known as Ronin as he travels the galaxy. James Waugh of Lucasfilm Story Group said that this book came about as they wanted more from the world Mizuno had created.
Out of all the shorts, The Duel felt most rife for an ongoing story in a novel. Another one of Ronin’s adventures. One of the things I always loved about the short was that it was clear there was a larger history at play. That this wasn’t the first adventure this warrior had been through and it certainly won’t be their last. What are those stories? The team at Kamikaze Douga were very generous in obliging our interest in continuing the storytelling and had a ton of ideas to lend in the creative process. Visions allows us to explore Star Wars expressed in new ways. And this book is unlike anything we’ve done before.
Talking about creating Star Wars content and expanding its universe, Candon said:
I’ve dreamed of contributing to the Star Wars mythos since I started writing in earnest, but I never imagined I’d be able to do so from such a personal angle. In that sense, Visions — and Ronin in specific — has been a gift, both as a fan and as a creator.
In brief, jidaigeki [period dramas], Japanese monsters and folklore, and war trauma. The Duel is very much in conversation with period dramas a la [Akira] Kurosawa, while the latter two felt like natural Japanese extensions of the ‘Star’ and ‘Wars’ parts of Star Wars. Jidaigeki love samurai as protagonists because they’re suspicious of samurai as a class, and our Ronin falls right into that trope. I had to ask how this man rejected (or was rejected by) his social role, and why he continues to cleave to it. Why does he still carry that tell-tale red blade? And why does he hunt his own?
A Star Wars movie made me ‘get’ representation, and I’ve tried to honor that feeling in this book for my own sake and for other people. Besides being Japanese, I’m also a chronically ill, queer cyborg, and all of that showed up in some regard.
Here’s the official synopsis for Star Wars: Ronin:
A mysterious former Sith wanders the galaxy in this stunning Star Wars tale. An original novel inspired by the world of The Duel from the Star Wars Visions animated anthology.
The Jedi are the most loyal servants of the Empire.
Two decades ago, Jedi clans clashed in service to feuding lords. Sickened by this endless cycle, a sect of Jedi rebelled, seeking to control their own destiny and claim power in service of no master. They called themselves Sith.
The Sith rebellion failed, succumbing to infighting and betrayal, and the once rival lords unified to create an Empire…but even an Empire at peace is not free from violence.
Far on the edge of the Outer Rim, one former Sith wanders, accompanied only by a faithful droid and the ghost of a less civilized age. He carries a lightsaber, but claims lineage to no Jedi clan, and pledges allegiance to no lord. Little is known about him, including his name, for he never speaks of his past, nor his regrets. His history is as guarded as the red blade of destruction he carries sheathed at his side.
As the galaxy’s perpetual cycle of violence continues to interrupt his self-imposed exile, and he is forced to duel an enigmatic bandit claiming the title of Sith, it becomes clear that no amount of wandering will ever let him outpace the specters of his former life.
You can pre-order your copy of Star Wars: Ronin now.
Via: StarWars.com
