Elegy for a Mercenary

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Fanfiction
Title: Elegy for a Mercenary
Author(s): Eluki bes Shahar
Date(s): 1982
Length:
Genre: gen
Fandom: Star Wars
External Links:

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Elegy for a Mercenary is a Star Wars story by Eluki bes Shahar.

art from Warped Space #47, artist is Eluki bes Shahar

It was printed in Warped Space #47.

art from Warped Space #47, artist is Eluki bes Shahar

The story imagines a Boba Fett back story.

Fan Comments

"Elegy for a Mercenary" — someone finally took that joke about Boba Fett being Luke's mother and made a substantial serious story about it.[1]

Eluki's "Mercenary" is pretty good, though I think I prefer her humorous pieces. The idea is absolutely impossible and outrageous, but she handles it well. Hum, on second reading, I wonder if it's a humor piece after all, only more subtle than usual--combining the ideas of Darth as Daddy and Boba Fett as Mommy? It can't be serious! [2]

"Elegy for a Mercenary" started out well, but I was really disappointed in the ending. Oh, come on now — Boba Fett as Luke's mother? Uh-huh, sure. One thing Eluki failed to mention in her "How Not To Write" article was the unfortunate tendency in SW fiction to have everyone you ever heard of related in some way. This goes neatly with the "Sociological Implications" story that follows. So far we've had Obi-Wan as Luke's grandfather/uncle/great-uncle, Vader as Luke's father/ mother/brother, Han as the son of the Pretender of the Throne of the Old Republic, Obi-Wan as Vader's uncle, ad infinitum. What next? Yoda as Vader's grand-niece and Luke and Leia as long lost brother and sister? Come on, folks, it's a big galaxy. Perhaps St. George will prove me wrong and everybody will end up related to everybody else, but somehow I doubt it.[3]

...for someone who coined the delectable phrase " ... avoid the embar-assing simulacrum of a galaxy the size of East Lansing, MI ... " Ms. bes Shahar falls into a pretty deep trap in her own story, "Elegy for a Mercenary." I know George Lucas started it with Vader's revelations in TESB, but for gosh's sake, people, the only extrapolation I find even more unsavoury than the one making Boba Fett Luke's real father is the one making Fett Luke's real mother! And if Lucas does come up with that one, I will certainly upchuck on the Imperial floor (the Imperial being the Sanctum where STAR WARS and STAR TREK movies are shown in Montreal). So "Elegy" is a total loss for me, the more so since I expected it to shed some light on Jabba the Hut's intentions towards Han (nothing pornographic, I hope?). [4]

References

  1. ^ from Warped Space Supplement, LOCs for #46-#47, written in 1981-82, not published until 1983
  2. ^ from Warped Space Supplement, LOCs for #46-#47, written in 1981-82, not published until 1983
  3. ^ from Warped Space Supplement, LOCs for #46-#47, written in 1981-82, not published until 1983
  4. ^ from Warped Space Supplement, LOCs for #46-#47, written in 1981-82, not published until 1983