| “ | If you cannot afford to lose, you should not play the game. | „ |
| ~ Prince Xizor's philosophy. |
Prince Xizor is the main antagonist of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire multimedia project in the Star Wars franchise
He was a Falleen Prince of House Sizhran and the leader of Black Sun, the most powerful criminal organization in the galaxy. Xizor was a ruthless competitor and charismatic public figure in high society with his headquarters in the city planet Coruscant. as Xizor's Palace: his home outside Falleen. Following the Battle of Hoth, Xizor was considered the third most powerful being in the entire galaxy, surpassed only Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, due to his exceptional wealth and influence through his criminal activities.
Personality[]
Prince Xizor was arrogant and he often overestimated his own abilities yet nonetheless was brilliant, charismatic and manipulative. His skills as a manipulator and criminal mastermind are evident in his status as the head of the Black Sun. Under him, Black Sun became the largest and most powerful crime syndicate in the galaxy, surpassing even the Hutts in terms of wealth and influence. His intelligence was such that he was able to deduce Darth Vader's identity as Anakin Skywalker. A master manipulator, he knew understood how people think and used it to his advantage and was mostly an excellent judge of character. He was also suave and seductive, but his romantic relations never lasted long. As a Falleen, he was capable of emitting pheromones who influence the minds of others, such as when he attempted to seduce Princess Leia.
With his wealth and background as a noble, Xizor was considered himself cultured and sophisticated. He preferred to life a luxurious lifestyle, wearing lavish clothes, eating fancy foods, and decorating his palace on Coruscant with treasures and fancy items, to the point the luxury of his palace was surpassed only by the Emperor's. Such a luxurious lifestyle demonstrated his hedonism.
Xizor's greatest weakness, however, was not his greed, but his pride. As said earlier, he was prone to overestimate his admittedly impressive skills while also underestimating those of his enemies and rivals. He underestimated the power of the Force and never understood it, although he was aware of its existence and respected it. He was also xenophobic and racist, viewing himself as superior due to his reptilian ancestry and saw mammalian lifeforms as inferior.
Biography[]
Background[]
After the fall of the Republic, the Falleen trickster who was born into Black Sun's royalty already befriended Emperor Palpatine and became one of the most important political icons in the galaxy. About seven years into the reign of the Galactic Empire, Darth Vader ordered the deaths of Xizor's family and several more after a deadly disease ran amuck in order to assure that it would cease to spread. The execution of his family angered Xizor, giving him a secret, life-lasting grudge against the Imperial commander.
Shadows of the Empire[]
| “ | To contend with Xizor, is to lose. | „ |
| ~ An example of Xizor's overconfidence |
However, the dastardly Falleen masked his anger and put on a polite exterior towards the Empire, assisting in the construction of the second Death Star and telling them the location of a rebel base. Though Vader distrusted Xizor, and for good reason too, he was forced to put on the same polite mask due to the fact the Emperor had a "genuine" friendly relationship with the criminal, spawning a fierce rivalry between the two. Between these times, Xizor made several dealings with Jabba the Hutt and made uncountable amounts of credits (making him one of the richest figures known to the galaxy, but still barely rivaling who else but the Empire), and also had built his personal hitman/bodyguard, Guri.
Xizor planned to kill Luke Skywalker by placing a huge bounty on his head in order to make Vader look bad in front of the Emperor in a form of revenge, as Vader was too searching for the Jedi knight. The rebels noticed the constant attempts of the assassination of Luke, so they sent Princess Leia to Xizor's palace to get to the bottom of it. After a failed seduction, Xizor attempted to personally terminate Luke, Dash Rendar, Chewbacca, and Lando Carissian when they came to rescue a now hostage Leia.
The struggle ultimately led to the complete annihilation of Xizor's palace via a thermal detonator, but both parties escaped and flew off into space for a final showdown. Though Xizor and his crew began firing upon Skywalker specifically, Vader, who was listening to Xizor's orders via a hologram communication, ordered Xizor to cease his fire and surrender to the Empire's custody. Xizor refused, believing he was safe as the Emperor would not allow Vader to execute the prince, but he was terribly wrong. After a few seconds of heart-stopping silence from the probably terrified Falleen, Vader ordered for his ship to be destroyed, which it was, thus ending Xizor's reign for good.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite being the main antagonist of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Xizor is never faced as the final boss of the game nor does he meet Dash Rendar in person. Instead, Dash faces a giant robot gladiator in Xizor's palace.
- Despite his young looking outline, he's over one hundred years old due to the fact that Falleen age slower than the average human.
- A small fad in the Star Wars universe and fandom is how one pronounces his name. However, it was eventually revealed to be "shē'zōr".
