So, About the First Gay ‘Star Wars’ Character in the Upcoming Novel
This story’s buzz is already winding down, I heard it in the morning radio news so you know it’s basically a dinosaur now. But as I keep reading comments on other blogs (a mistake, I know), I feel like it’s worth clarifying how big of a deal this still is.
For those who don’t know, in the upcoming Star Wars novel Lords of the Sith, an LGBTQ supporting character will be introduced who is driven by the death of her wife.
From NPR:
Star Wars is getting its first official LGBT character. Her name is Moff Delian Mors, and she’s a character in Paul S. Kemp’s upcoming Star Wars: Lords of the Sith novel. Penguin Random House describes Mors as
“Moff Delian Mors is a supporting character in Star Wars: Lords of the Sith. She was a promising officer of the Empire, who was assigned to an undesirable post at the far end of the galaxy. At nearly the same point in her life, her wife was killed in a transport accident, and the weight of these burdens led to Delian becoming lax in her duties, and left her personal life in disarray. The events of Star Wars: Lords of the Sith occur a few years after her loss.
The novel is scheduled for release on April 28th.
Editor Shelly Shapiro had this to say in the Full of Sith (great title) podcast:
“It’s not something I really think about, it just makes sense. There should be diversity in Star Wars. You have all these different species and it would be silly to not also recognize that there’s a lot of diversity in humans. If there’s any message at all, it’s simply that Star Wars is as diverse (or more so because they have alien species) as humanity is in real life and we don’t want to pretend it’s not. It just felt perfectly natural.”
What’s worth clarifying here is that, yes and no, this is and isn’t the first gay character in Star Wars. But it really kind of is.
The collateral damage/blessing from the Disney purchase was the giant sweep of Star Wars extended universe material — countless comic books, novels, video games, etc. — which was given the umbrella “Legends” label. The stuff that is now “official” canon are the core movies, the animated series, and I think a few of the video games. That’s it. The giant rack of Star Wars books you see in the sci-fi section of Barnes & Noble don’t count anymore, not that they really ever did.
No matter what progressive comments the extended universe tackled, they didn’t impact. It’s unfortunate, but you have to at least see that. Even Knights of the Old Republic, which was an insanely popular video game, had a lesbian Jedi in Juhani, but people aren’t naming their kids after her like they did Luke. (Besides, Old Republic is “Legends” now.)
The giant sweep resulted in nerd rage from cargo shorts-wearing fanboys awhile back, and I will admit it is a tiny bit condescending to the devoted fans who have lived almost forty years with this stuff. But really, is even half of the Star Wars EU worth exploring? No doubt I’m sure there are amazing stories and adventures, but not all of that could be literary or artistic gold. By its sheer numbers there have to be duds. It’s fine if you liked it, but when you look around and realize you’re the only one, that’s gotta say something about its quality. Our own Jonathan London spoke about art and its resonance in The People vs. George Lucas: Art isn’t just the work of an artist, it’s the culture that embraces it. My culture didn’t embrace The Green Hornet movie even though I think it’s an awesome piece of work. Power Rangers was the first American TV show to star teenaged superheroes of color, but people don’t exactly dwell on that fact do they?
So don’t take it too hard when I say the Star Wars extended universe wasn’t really that important. No, I’m not spitting on the artists who made that stuff, but the EU was just a big-ass pit everyone threw their stuff into and collected a check from.
This new character, Moff Delian Mors does matter. She really, seriously is now, the first official canon gay character introduced in the ultra-corporate, four-quadrant-pleasing franchise behemoth that we know and love as Star Wars. While we may or may not see this character in any of the upcoming movies (I hope we do), face it: her creation is worthy of news.
Besides, our stories are growing and becoming more diverse. Is that a bad thing to buzz about?
Also, it’s a fucking book and she isn’t even the main character. You don’t need to read it if you’re so worked up about it.
