Star Wars Expanded Universe/Ho Yay



Search your feelings. You know everything expressed on this page is true.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe might have less Narm than the movies, but it makes up for it with characters who seem a bit closer than the writers may have intended. Some of this is explored in the Star Wars section of Fanfic Recommendations.

A lot of the Ho Yay in the Star Wars EU seems to surround ace X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles and the Imperial master strategist Mitth'raw'nuruodo. Who knows what would have happened if they had ever met.

Wedge Antilles
""Lieutenant, I want you to understand two things: First, I have the utmost trust and confidence in Captain Celchu. I have no reservations - none - about him, his service, his skills, or his commitment to the Alliance.""
 * In the X Wing Series, Wedge and Tycho get paired together frequently, despite both having their own well-liked het marriages. During the period where Tycho was framed for  and suspected of being an Imperial agent, Wedge defended him constantly.

"Wedge: Tycho, let's get this situation patched up. If it comes to war, with you and Syal (his daughter) where you are, I'll have family on both sides. Tycho: Aww. You're going to make me cry."
 * He also was not shy in praising Tycho at any occasion. When either appears in a novel, so does the other, and of all the Aaron Allston characters these two spend the most time together.

"Wedge felt something hollow open up inside his gut [...]. He instantly recognized the void - I'm jealous! - That surprised him for a moment, then he realized how the emotion had been born. Luke had always been a special friend, but as he had grown into his heritage as a Jedi Knight, distance had formed between them. They still got along well and had a great time in each other's company, but Wedge's inability to understand what it was to be a Jedi also forced them apart. Now someone who does not know him as well as I do, someone he barely knows at all, is being offered the chance to learn about a side of Luke I can never know."
 * And at one point Wedge says "I feel about Tycho what Iella feels about Corran", Iella and Corran being old partners on the Corellian Security Force. Old partners who once fell for each other, but didn't do anything because that would have ruined Iella's marriage. Now, Wedge was subtly courting Iella at the time.
 * This troper has heard people say the same about Corran/Wedge and Corran/Luke.
 * In Starfighters of Adumar, Wedge spends a couple pages describing himself, Tycho, Hobbie, and Wes. Wes looks youthful, Hobbie is perpetually hangdog, and Wedge thinks he personally looks average, but Tycho? Tycho's features are handsome, and he "looked in every way the cold aristocrat... until one looked in his eyes and saw the humanity and the signs of distant pain there."
 * Look at the end of The Krytos Trap. Luke greets Wedge with a hug and says something that takes several sentences and more than a quarter of the page to finish before he finally steps back. Then he meets Corran Horn, grandson of a Jedi, and with Wedge there and watching, tells Corran, "I want you to join me. Come with me. Train and learn with me."


 * Just in general, Wedge is... popular with the Big Three. In Return of the Jedi, Luke hugged him; they rarely interact face-to-face in the EU, but they do hug again in The Krytos Trap, as stated above. Leia kisses his cheek after Holding Hands and asking him if he's thought about having children. Han hangs out and ruffles his hair; a later novel has him self-consciously tell the narration that he's got the kind of hair that invites ladies' fingers to run through it. Heterosexual Life Partners / Platonic Life Partners, or is there just something about Wedge Antilles?
 * During Isard's Revenge, Wedge and the Rogues end up in an Enemy Mine with Ysanne Isard and some of her pilots. One of them, Colonel Vessery ends up training the Rogues for a mission, but really he's never shown even talking to any of them but Wedge, to whom he is unfailingly polite and sympathetic, even trying to comfort Wedge about some of his pilots dying. Later Isard asks Vessery if he has developed "affection" for the Rogues. Vessery says he has, but he will do his duty.
 * In Dark Apprentice, Wedge hugs Luke. Harmless, right? It takes half a page to describe it. Yeah.
 * Then there's that time in Solo Command when Wedge orders Wes Janson to strip. It Makes Sense in Context, but still...
 * There's also those same two characters in this panel from an issue of Marvel Star Wars.

Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Pellaeon: "Then he's chosen someone else," Pellaeon finished, the words a sharp ache in his heart. "And there can be only a very few reasons why he would do that." Second: * firmly* "It can't be position. You are Supreme Commander, after all. And it certainly can't be competence. What's left?" Pellaeon: "Vision, perhaps." [Pellaeon is trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the New Republic, which Thrawn might or might not have approved of. But why not just tell him to call it off? Is this where Thrawn wants him, about to talk to the New Republic?] * pained* "Or else simply out of his way. Where I can't interfere with whatever he's planning."
 * Thrawn himself might as well be Asexual, but quite a few characters clearly don't feel that way about him.
 * Thrawn and Pellaeon. In the Thrawn Trilogy, Pellaeon was watching and trying to second-guess the various things Thrawn did. A little Ho Yay there, but not much, considering. Maybe the most notable incident was the one where Thrawn pragmatically subverted You Have Failed Me in The Last Command, and Pellaeon realized that everyone on that bridge - including him - would die for the Grand Admiral. He also blushes when Thrawn compliments him and gets a shiver up his spine when Thrawn smiles.
 * Timothy Zahn also wrote the Hand of Thrawn Duology. Pellaeon, who at that point in time is the Supreme Commander and basically the head of the Imperial forces, violently denied the rumors of Thrawn's return - "I watched him die!" - actually losing his temper, which is a big deal for Pellaeon. After calming down he told his second in command that he'd been with Thrawn for just over a year, and was his senior fleet officer, his student... perhaps even his confidant. Thrawn had not picked him at random; very little that he did was random. But if he had returned, and he hadn't come back to Pellaeon...

Second: * lengthy pause, uncertain voice* "I don't believe he would do that to you, sir. Not after all you went through together."

Pellaeon: "You don't believe that any more than I do." * Quietly* Thrawn wasn't human, you know, no matter how human he might have looked. He was an alien, with alien thoughts and purposes and agendas. Perhaps I was never more to him than just one more tool he could use in reaching his goal."

Second: * hesitates, reaches out and touches Pellaeon's arm* "It's been a long road, sir. Long and hard and discouraging. For all of us, but mostly for you. If there's anything I can do...""

"Car'das: "What exactly do you want from me, Commander Mitthrawnuruodo? Mitth'raw'nuruodo: "Nothing too burdensome. I merely wish your company for a time. Partly to learn about your people, but primarily so that you may teach me your language. [He will also teach the human his language, Cheunh.] But I doubt you'll ever be able to properly speak it. I've noticed you don't even pronounce my name well." Car'das: * blushes*"
 * Then there's Outbound Flight, set before the Clone Wars and featuring a much younger Thrawn and three Corellian traders he's hosting as captives/guests. One flatly dislikes him and tends to be ignored. One idolizes him from almost the moment she meets him. One is the viewpoint character. Thrawn likes the viewpoint character; he's curious, observes everything, is generally pleased and amused by this curiosity and quick learning and the fact that the viewpoint character can be nudged into picking up on some of the things Thrawn picks up on. Okay, that's not a lot, considering, but there's this exchange.

"Parck nodded, a warm glow of satisfaction filling him. Satisfaction, and the usual admiration for his commander."
 * The viewpoint character also notices that the idolizing character is giving Thrawn the kind of look "a language student shouldn't be giving her teacher. An unpleasant sensation began to drift into his gut. She couldn't actually be falling for Thrawn, could she? Surely she wouldn't let herself be drawn in by his intelligence and courtesy and sophistication."
 * In Choices of One, Thrawn and Car'das are always together, except in one of the final scenes (or when Thrawn is only a voice in a commlink). Car'das once asks Thrawn why he chose Car'das, who thinks of himself as a failure, for this duty. In a moment of surprising vulnerability, Thrawn tells him "You're the only one I can trust", which shocks and touches Car'das.
 * Command Decision, a short story Zahn wrote for the Star Wars Adventure Journal, has a brief section where Parck, the captain who brought Thrawn back from the Unknown Regions and is going into "exile" with him is the viewpoint character. As part of an Obfuscating Weakness ploy, Thrawn sent Parck and some troopers out unarmed to be captured, and Parck's faith in his admiral is absolute. And rewarded, since like in every similar situation, the enemy is doing exactly as Thrawn planned, and Parck is either informed of these plans beforehand or is savvy enough to pick up on his own that everything is falling into place.

"Parck: "There's never been any question in Thrawn's mind that he can trust you." Niriz: "You could have fooled me. If he trusts me so much, why didn't he let me in on what he was doing? " Parck: "Oh, you were proving you were trustworthy, all right. But you weren't proving it to Thrawn. You were proving it to yourself.""
 * A chunk of that story is about the viewpoint character for most of the story, a Commander Contrarian who doesn't know Thrawn, doesn't like the plans he's using, and discusses committing treason in order to get someone else in command - but stops short of actually doing it, because Thrawn talked him into trusting that the admiral knew what he was doing. At the end he has a talk with Parck where he's told that his resignation as captain was denied, because even though he'd contemplated treason, he hadn't done it.

""I know this sort of thing embarrasses you," Captain Niriz said as he poured his guest a glass of aged R'alla mineral water, "so I'll only say it once. When I heard the reports of military action on Corellia, I was concerned for your safety. I'm glad to find out my fears were unfounded.""
 * The discussion then turns to both of them getting inspired by the knowledge that under Thrawn they would do great things, and Parck smiles dreamily.
 * Niriz clearly learns the lesson. In Side Trip, when Thrawn goes on a potentially dangerous mission disguised as Jodo Kast, he fusses over his safety, and expresses great relief when he returns.

""You've met Thrawn. Any true warrior would have given up whatever was necessary for the chance to serve under him.""
 * Isard's Revenge, set directly after The Last Command - the first scene actually takes place during the Battle of Bilbringi - has Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel as its villain. ...He spends every bit as much time thinking about Thrawn as he does about the Rogues. See, he used to serve under Thrawn, and he didn't like the Grand Admiral's tactics and the whole art-analysis thing, so he tried to teach Thrawn that ruthless conduct worked better. Thrawn didn't appreciate this lesson and sent Krennel back to Coruscant. When he's not talking to the Isard clone, smirking at the New Republic, or drastically underestimating the Rogues, Krennel thinks back to Thrawn and how wrong he was with his art and his not being completely evil, and while a couple scenes of this is a simple enough demonstration of a petty villain feeling snubbed, Krennel does cross the line into seeming jilted. There's even a scene where he destroys something, looks at the wreckage, decides that it's art, and thinks How better to be the artist than to be the one studying the art.
 * Voss Parck, in the Hand of Thrawn duology, regards Thrawn with almost worshipful levels of respect. He believes so firmly in Thrawn's rightness, in the promise Thrawn made to return a decade after he was reported dead, that Mara Jade thinks he's a little delusional.

Everybody else
"Luke had forgotten how stunning Brakiss was. Brakiss's Blue Eyes pierced anything they looked at. His nose was straight, his skin flawless, and his lips thin. Leia had once called him one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. She was right."
 * In Death Star, it really does seem like the bouncer and the Force-Sensitive trooper have some chemistry. The bouncer even told the bartender, near the start of the book, that he'd admire girls, but he wasn't interested.
 * The Last Command also has what Joruus C'baoth did to General Covell; there's a chunk from Covell's viewpoint, and he's become so fanatically dependent on C'baoth that there's absolutely nothing left in his head. He literally dies when C'baoth leaves is cut off from him by Applied Phlebotinum.
 * Darklighter, a comic featuring Biggs Darklighter, has... well, first, there's Biggs and Luke. They do a lot of touching, have heart-to-hearts, and dwell on each other quite often. At one point Luke sits on his roof looking at the binary sunset, wondering what Biggs is doing, what he's thinking. And when Biggs is going to join the Rebellion and wants someone to know in case something happens to him, it's Luke he tells.
 * The same comic has Biggs and Hobbie Klivian. ...Oh dear. It starts as mild Foe Yay. At one point when they're being antagonistic, Hobbie takes a cup from Biggs, drains it, and hands it back. Biggs takes it back. They pose like this while arguing. When they become friends and Hobbie has become a cyborg, there's this exchange, which is generally taken to mean that Hobbie lost his penis. How does Biggs know that? And of course there's the whole thing where Hobbie gets hurt and has a nasty disease, and Biggs is so intensely concerned and has to find the cure himself, and Hobbie opens his eyes as Biggs dies. Biggs does have a girlfriend late in the comic, but she seems like a very last-minute sort of character.
 * In Marvel Star Wars, the nearhumans called Zeltrons are attracted to Force-Sensitives. On a visit to their world, Luke briefly picks up a gang of Zeltron fangirls... and one fanboy.
 * Also in the Marvels, we get a primitive society straight out of Frazetta where everyone wears revealing clothes. Two of the men, apparently blood brothers, are constantly complimenting each other, including about their appearance.
 * The Dark Nest Trilogy has Jaina and Zekk, one of the three men who was jockeying over her in the New Jedi Order, end up hiveminded together as Joiners, sharing thoughts and having a lot of sex. When they're fighting Jag, another of the men who was into Jaina, it's Zekk who realizes that they could bring Jag into the hivemind... that would be nice.
 * There's a little between Corran Horn and Luke Skywalker towards the end of I, Jedi, when they're in flight towards Susevfi. After all the criticisms Corran had for Luke earlier on, suddenly they're very comfortable with each other, ribbing one another about various things, talking about Luke's childhood aspirations, realizing that neither of them had grown up with siblings, and Corran playfully grabs the back of Luke's neck. While thinking that here, in a ysalamiri's anti-Force field and not connected to the rest of the universe, Luke lost that brooding edge and seemed younger.
 * There's this picture, representing a scene sometime during Corran's training in I, Jedi. Technically, that's a duel between Corran and Kam Solusar, with Luke keeping an eye on them. However, one can't help but notice which part of Kam's anatomy Luke is actually staring at, and his very pleased expression..
 * The New Rebellion has Brakiss, handsome Dark Jedi. Everyone comments on his good looks, from Luke to Leia... to a young mechanic who thinks Brakiss is the most beautiful male he's ever seen.

"In the space of a conversation, Brakiss nearly had abandoned everything. For Skywalker. [...] His feelings got too confused around Skywalker. It was almost as if Skywalker could turn him with a few words, a glance, an idea."
 * Brakiss literally breathes his trope in The New Rebellion. In addition to his good looks, he also has a fixation on Luke Skywalker that is supposed to be that of a traumatized student for his former mentor, but comes up as that of a man who's had to face a hopeless situation of unrequited love.

""You don't hate Skywalker. You hate the way he makes you feel.""
 * Later, Brakiss talks to the current Dark Lord, Kueller, and tells him "I hate Skywalker." Kueller denies this.

""Kiss for luck?" "Get out of here.""
 * Incest Subtext - Jacen names his flagship the Anakin Solo. Symbolically, Jacen is inside his brother.
 * The first two second and third gay characters are Goran Beviin and Madrit Vasur, who act like any other married couple.
 * What's especially notable about these two is that they're openly gay but no one makes any big deal about it. This troper didn't even realize they were gay until halfway through the book, and certainly none of the characters ever point out that there's anything unusual about them.
 * Les Yay - If Revan is female, you get a Gay Option. If LSFR redeems Juhani, Juhani becomes a non-canon romance.
 * In The Crystal Star, Han seems rather concerned about Luke's sex life.
 * Matt Stover's superior Novelization of Revenge of the Sith has its share of this.
 * Anakin and Obi-Wan are said to be "closer than friends, closer than brothers." A short ways into the book, Anakin has a vision of Count Dooku on his knees with lightsabers held at his throat, thinks this means the end of the war, looks into Obi-Wan's eyes, and is overcome by emotion. The audiobook version puts soft, swelling happy music in at this point, too.
 * When going to Master Yoda about his vision of Padme dying, Anakin is aware that Yoda knows he's talking about losing someone he's very close to - and decides to let Yoda think it's Obi-Wan, because that's "close enough".
 * On Grievous's flagship, the part where Obi-Wan wakes up while being carried by Anakin is from Obi-Wan's POV, he starts by opening his eyes to see Anakin's butt - or he assumes it's Anakin's butt, since he hasn't seen it from this angle (upside down) and so close before. It's not just a sentence or two, either. This goes on for about a page. Really, Master?
 * Anakin outright states in the narration that he loves Obi-Wan. Later Padmé asks Obi-Wan, "You love him too, don't you?", and Palpatine, after revealing himself as Sidious, tells Anakin that his choice - kill him or join him - comes down to who he loves more - Obi-Wan or Padmé. Stover's not shy of using that word.
 * The climactic battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan has the narration lamenting that the two are closer than brothers, closer than lovers, two halves of the same warrior. Obi-Wan has to let go of his love for Anakin to beat him.
 * The moments are collected here, and there are many.
 * Karen Miller's tie-in novels to the Star Wars:Clone Wars series take the Anakin/Obi-Wan Ho Yay Up to Eleven as well as throw in a little Bail Organa. No, seriously. Wild Space alone involves Obi Wan holding a crying Anakin, Obi Wan tenderly touching Anakin's face after a sparring match, looking his shirtless former padawan "up and down," Anakin cradling a wounded Obi Wan and wanting to hold his hand, and Bail and Obi Wan comforting eachother as they nearly die in eachother's arms.
 * Also, in the first chapter, both Obi-Wan and Padme try to visit a wounded Anakin in the Temple Infirmary, causing the healer to remark that that he is "just as bad as her." In regards to the other, both Obi-Wan and Padme think to themselves the equivalent of "I love Anakin more than you ever could" at separate points in the book.
 * In Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, Face Loran of Wraith Squadron is working undercover with Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, wearing a mask that makes him look like one of the Vong. As he's about to go scout a potentially dangerous bridge, he asks Mara for a kiss for luck, prompting her to remark that she doesn't know whether to mark that down as 'exceptionally daring' or 'exceptionally stupid'. Undaunted, Face turns to Luke.

""They don't need any more reasons. You're a better pilot than any of them. And you're even prettier than Colonel Darklighter of the Rogues." She thumped his chest. "All right, you're prettier than Captain Reth with the Blackmoons." She thumped him harder. "Prettier than Wes Janson with the Yellow Aces?" "I'm going to break a bone you'll need later.""
 * Also in Rebel Stand, Jaina and Jagged have just entered into a relationship; this being an Allston book, Jag teases her rather than acting like a block of wood. Jaina's supposed to find someone and persuade them to leave their squadron and join hers, another reason for all the other squadron commanders to hate her.

"And Roan. It was Roan Lands' face that he saw when he woke, Roan's voice he heard when he drifted off to sleep."
 * Allston seems to like Ho Yay; at a convention, a Yaoi Fangirl asked him if Wes and Hobbie were friends or life partners. One question later, he joked that Hobbie was with Wes throughout the NJO.
 * Fate of the Jedi has some pretty kriffed-up Ho Yay. Allston regularly describes Ben as well-muscled. That's fine, except he's narrating from Luke's perspective!
 * There's Wynn Dorvan and Raynar Thul in the same series. The former is the aide of a president who is the epitome of anti-Jedi thinking, while the latter is a full-fledged Jedi Knight. And yet, Dorvan takes to having lunch with Thul everyday on the steps of the Jedi Temple, something which even Dorvan's boss finds amusing. Later, Dorvan even risks his life to protect Thul from a whole army of Mandalorians sent by his own employer - and he does so in front of the cameras, with half the Galaxy watching...
 * There's a Scholastic book series, Last Of The Jedi, following the adventures of Ferus Olin, an Order 66-escaping Jedi who'd previously featured in another series alongside Anakin. He's got a close friend in Roan Lands with whom he formed a business, called Olin And Lands. Ferus Olin's fondest memory is of skinny-dipping with Lands. Vader kills Lands to provoke Ferus.
 * Early in the Rebel Force series, Ferus thinks about all the people he'd lost. Most are just a name, but...

"Ferus gasped, choking on the blood that bubbled in his throat. His lips formed the name he hadn't spoken aloud in years. Soft fingers brushed his forehead. "Did you really think I would leave you here alone?" You left me alone for all those years, Ferus wanted to say. I always hoped you were waiting for me. I always hoped I would see you again. Roan Lands, dead for nearly two decades, gazed down at him, his eyes full of warmth and humor. Roan, who had found Ferus after he'd fled the Jedi Temple, and taught him what it meant to truly live. Roan, who'd been Ferus's partner and friend for the best years of his life. Roan, whom he thought he'd lost forever. Ferus's fear was gone, replaced by a deep, calming peace. He had done what he could for the people he loved. He had fulfilled the mission Obi-Wan had set out for him, protected Anakin's child until she was strong enough to protect herself. He had fought as best he knew how, for as long as he could. And now Roan was here, and Ferus was ready to go. "I'll stay with you," Roan said, squeezing his hand. "For as long as you need me." Ferus let his eyes drift shut. His world narrowed to the sound of Roan's voice, and the warmth of Roan's hand. "You Are Not Alone," he heard Roan say. And then he heard nothing at all."
 * When Vader finally kills Ferus, Ferus has a vision as he lies dying.

""There had been something in the kid's look that had set his skin tingling.""
 * Everyone in the Jedi Academy Trilogy describes Kyp Durron as "handsome". Yep, even the guys.
 * Not sure if it counts, only because Dorsk 81 is neither male nor female, but in Darksaber, Kyp and Dorsk 81 "fit together".
 * Allegiance has that moment in a bar where Luke Skywalker looks at LaRone.

"The other, smaller man was dressed in a sodden and filthy Rebel Alliance flight suit, and his damply tousled hair of radiation-bleached blond stuck in tangles to a tanned face whose features, Klick ever-so-slowly realized, had the exact contours of his very fondest dream..."
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

"We all wonder, in our quieter moments, maybe late at night in the still between sleep and waking - we all question what the moment of our deaths will feel like. Will I scream? Will I cry? Will I be overcome by precious regret and terror? What will my final thought be, we wonder? And Luke... I find, to my amazement, I think of you."
 * There is a noncanon comic in Star Wars Tales called A Wookiee Scorned. In it, Chewbacca is jealous of Leia. Very jealous. He feels like Han's blowing him off to be with Leia, and fixes a feast for Han which goes unappreciated. Han has to reassure him by saying that he's finally found someone he loves as much as Chewie. Leia reassures him by saying that she would never want to come between them.
 * In a comic mini called My Brother, My Enemy, focused around Luke's childhood friend Tank, who'd become an Imperial, Tank knows Luke's on the Rebel side. All through a fight against Rebels he thinks of Luke, but not the way you'd think. "I had a dream last night, Luke. You were in it." He thinks they're destined to meet again, and though he feels hurt and betrayed and focused, he doesn't seem angry. When things go wrong for the Imperial side, this happens in his narration.

"C-3PO put his golden arms around R2-D2 and gave him a clanking hug. "I thought I'd never see you again, Artoo!""
 * Cut back to a closeup of Tank, and he's got tears welling in his eyes, one sliding down his cheek.
 * R2-D2 and C-3PO, in most of the EU, have much the same antagonistic buddy dynamic that they have in the films. But in Rebel Force: Firefight, they reunite after a particularly intense mission.


 * Threepio then bickers with him some and says "I think it's best that from now on, you stay close to my side, for your own safety."