Tales from Vader's Castle puts a spooky spin on your favorite characters from a galaxy far, far away…
This exciting weekly series explores the hidden corners of the Star Wars universe and features Rebels stars Hera, Kanan, and Chopper; Obi-Wan Kenobi and Count Dooku; Han Solo and Chewbacca; the Ewoks; and of course, Darth Vader—all under the shadow of Vader's Castle!
Fans will be excited to discover these creepy stories by fan-favorite writer Cavan Scott with art by the greatest talent from across the galaxy, including Derek Charm, Kelley Jones, Chris Fenoglio, Corin Howell, Robert Hack, and Charles Paul Wilson III!
Lina Graf, and the rest of her crew, fly around in the Auric as the rebels attempt to outrun TIE fighters. The technician of the vessel, a Peasle named Skritt, is worried about the amount of damage the TIEs are landing on the ship whilst the lieutenant of the ship, Thom Hudd, tries to assure the technician they are doing their best.
The Auric comes under attack
Lina sides with Skritt and asks XM-G3 to use the ship's laser cannon against the TIEs. The droid is successful and the crew celebrates before Lina reminds them that the ship is in a bad shape. She asks another member of the crew, another droid called CR-8R, where they could possibly land. The droid comes up with one possible planet, Mustafar, though it is heavily guarded by Imperial forces.
The ship lands and Lina commands the crew to leave before they are baked within the ship as the engines are offline. CR-8R attempts to convince Lina not to send the crew outside the ship but is overruled by the ship's captain. CR-8R then starts to speak of a tale that he heard from C1-10P, known as Chopper, of the crew of the Ghost.
Hera Syndulla is attempting to contact an individual named Graysom, who is failing to respond. Hera tries to ask for Kanan Jarrus' opinion on what they should do next but simply finds him meditating as he attempts to unlock the holocron in his possession and potentially find other Jedi survivors. Chopper catches the attention of the pair and they realized the droid is trying to get their attention on the starship that is lodged in a nearby asteroid. It appears to be Graysom's ship, the Hoopaloo Nest.
Against Chopper's warning, Hera and Kanan venture outside and onto the ship but cannot see any sign of Graysom. They find signs that an escape pod was launched just before the ship crashed. Hera looks closer at a part of the ship and appears to be electrically shocked. She shrugs it off and assumes it to be some residual energy in the power coils.
The pair return to the Ghost and soon after find the escape pod of Garysom's. They bring it onboard and help the Hoopaloo out of the pod before making a claim that he crashed because his ship is haunted. Hera and Kanan try to calm Graysom down but soon after the lights turn themselves off and the Hoopaloo panics even more, thinking the spirit has followed him onto the Ghost.
First they can hear laughing, and then Hera is shocked by a similar source from the Hoopaloo Nest. Hera waves it off again as an energy discharge but Graysom claims that everything is about to go wrong. Kanan notices the cargo bay doors opened up and soon the three rebels are fighting to stay in the ship. Hera calls to Chopper to close the bay doors and the droid manages to just about do so in time to catch Kanan before he flies off into space.
The crew split up as Hera and Chopper attempt to figure out what is happening with the ship whilst Kanan looks after Graysom. The latter pair move over to Kanan's cabin in order to keep Graysom safe but are pushed into the room by an unknown force, the door closing and locking behind them. Back with Hera and Chopper, the pair attempt to communicate with the computer before Chopper is seemingly possessed by the spirit and starts speaking to Hera, warning her of its wrath that will fall upon the ship.
Kanan uses the Force to lift his lightsaber and cut through the cabin door from the other side to Graysom's amazement. Back with Hera and Chopper, the spirit reveals itself to be a Force wielder who was separated from their physical body by the Jedi. Hera then baits the spirit into trying to open the holocron, which she realizes is still on the floor of the cockpit.
The spirit possesses the holocron
After lying about the power that lies within the holocron, the spirit takes the bait and possesses the holocron instead of Chopper. They realize far too late and Kanan appears, escaped from the cabin, to stop the spirit from escaping the holocron. Kanan fully locks the holocron so the spirit cannot ever escape and the crew celebrates their victory. Though as CR-8R finishes his story, he notes that even a memory wipe may not remove all the scars of the experience for Chopper.
Back on Mustafar, Thom complains the story doesn't particularly relate to them since they will die if they stay inside the melting ship. Lina agrees and the crew of the Auric get out of their ship before it is melted by the planet's enviroment. The crew descend into arguments before Lina puts her foot down and commands that the crew head into the mysterious castle that stands on the planet's surface.
Originally, the issue's title was intended to be The Haunting of Hera Syndulla, but it was changed to The Haunting of the Ghost as a nod to Shirley Jackson's 1959 gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House.
- UPC 827714016321; October 3, 2018; IDW Publishing
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