A panel of 19 writers discussed rediscovering A New Hope through the eyes of everyone from the stormtrooper who hit his head to Aunt Beru.

Only a few days after the release of From a Certain Point of View, 19 of the 43 writers of the anthology gathered at NYCC to share stories about their favorite background characters, and what it took to bring the focus away from Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie to the many other players in the battle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

This anthology, developed as a celebration of the 40^th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope, tells stories centered around background characters — some more obscure than others — that make an appearance in the movie. It’s a limited edition, and all proceeds are going to First Book, a non-profit that gives books to children in need.

Moderating at Hudson Mercantile was Pablo Hidalgo, himself a writer included in the anthology. As 19 authors were present, it would have been impossible to have them all on stage at the same time. So as Hidalgo said, we met them in “flights” — the first group writers of characters in the Dark Side, the second group writers of the Rebellion, and the third group writers of characters that fall anywhere in between.

Stories from the Dark Side

Just because the characters are villains doesn’t mean that their stories have to be dark. There’s plenty of diversity, from a comedic HR report submitted by Admiral Motti after being Force-choked by Darth Vader (according to Mallory Ortberg, who wrote the piece, Motti is afraid to appear weak by complaining, so focuses instead on demanding that Lord Vader’s “private religious beliefs should not interfere with meetings,”) to deep character studies about characters like Doctor Aphra, who struggles with her own hypocrisy in the face of planetary genocide in Kieron Gillen’s story.

More than anything, though, stories from the Dark Side explore “the banality of evil,” as Adam Christopher put it. Tarkin is actually much more concerned with the way Krennic undermines his authority. The stormtrooper who hit his head, the stormtrooper who says “Move along,” and the commander who finds the Millennium Falcon in the bay all have their own dreams and motivations, and are often bored out of their minds by the bureaucracy of the Death Star.

Stories from the Rebellion

On the Light Side, things get more emotional. Both Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan look down at the events of A New Hope in stories by Claudia Grey and Kevin Scott. E. K. Johnston’s story was written shortly after Carrie Fisher passed away, following the female pilots present at the medal scene at the end of the movie, and acts as a tribute to the powerful figure of Princess Leia.

Meg Cabot writes a beautiful story about Aunt Beru, the woman “who washed leggings” on sandy Tatooine, and shaped Luke into the hero he became. Writing her story came from a sense of responsibility on Cabot’s part. How is it that Luke’s main educational influence has gone ignored for so long? She was the one who instilled in him the values that allowed him to become a good person… and a good Jedi.

More than anything else, the authors were fascinated with the idea that each character believes he or she is at the center of the story. Jason Fry pointed out that this is especially the case with fighters in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone thinks that they will be the ones to finally take down the Death Star, and go to battle with that in mind… only to discover that the main character in this story is actually someone else. This strange emotional dilemma is a wonderful moment to examine, because it’s when we see ego give way to selflessness, which is at the heart of all Star Wars stories.

Stories about everyone in between

And then there are the stories about characters that haven’t taken a side at all — at least by the time A New Hope takes place. Many of these are characters from the cantina, given their own tales in varying styles. Mur Lafferty’s contribution is Chapter 3 of the memoir of a member of the cantina band, while Chuck Wendig’s take on the bartender explains his aggressive attitude towards droids in We Don’t Serve Their Kind Here. Zoraida Córdova’s story follows two sisters, the only two visible women at the cantina, in a tale of fierce sisterhood and survival.

John Jackson Miller’s story touches on the Tuscan raider party, and their knowledge of Obi-Wan’s presence on Tatooine, as well as all the legends they create around the old wizard. Charles Soule, who has already written books about Lando Calrissian, puts a new spin on it by examining Lando’s first moments of doubt taking place at some point during A New Hope.

The line that connects all these stories is the presence of the Force. Whether it’s the return of a deceased character, examining past, present or future, or the ways those less well-versed in the Force react to seeing how it works on others, the Force is truly the power behind everything that happens in From a Certain Point of View.

At the end of the panel, voice actor and audiobook narrator Marc Thompson treated us to an amazing narration of There Is Another, by Gary D. Schmidt. In it, Obi-Wan’s Force ghost appears to Yoda and requests that he train the young Skywalker. Unfortunately, it may not be the same Skywalker Yoda has been thinking about.

The diversity of the stories, featuring the voices of so many different talented authors across many different genres, truly brings the galaxy to life in a way that difficult to achieve in any other format. Whether you’ve read Star Wars books before or not, From a Certain Point of View is a fun and refreshing glimpse into a beloved universe, and is a worthy way of celebrating 40 years since the release of Episode IV.

From a Certain Point of View is now available in bookstores, as is the audiobook.