Contains major spoilers for The Hunger Games trilogy. What do
Chewbacca and Katniss Everdeen have in common? Both characters
made a sacrifice that readers could see as a waste. Many readers
don’t like it when a sacrifice was in vain, though these only
seem that way on the surface. Chewbacca died during Vector
Prime, the first book of the New Jedi Order. He died in the only
way Chewie could, a moon impaling a planet. He sacrificed his
life so that Anakin Solo could live. And then, several books
later, Anakin gives up his life to save the Jedi. Chewie’s
sacrifice could be seen as wasted here. I agree with the
decision to kill off Chewie. It set the necessary dark tone to
the series. Not only that, but it broke the idea that everyone
was safe. NJO wouldn’t have worked if no one major died in the
beginning. One could argue that what was the point in killing
Chewie to save Anakin if he was going to die? I don’t know when
it was decided that a Solo child would die, much less when
Anakin was chosen over Jacen. Eithe