#amphistaff

Illustration by Darren Tan, “Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion.” October, 2012.

Pablo Hidalgo’s “The Essential Reader’s Companion” held a trove of Mara Jade art. Before the guidebook was released, Del Rey released several images to promote the book, including an illustration by Darren Tan depicting Mara Jade’s first encounter with the Yuuzhan Vong. Darren had these memories to share on his DeviantArt page:

This is from the first book of the New Jedi Order series called Vector Prime and it shows Mara Jade dueling Yomin Carr. She's the first Jedi to ever encounter, duel, and defeat a Yuuzhan Vong in single combat, albeit with great difficulty. This was an enemy unlike any other the Jedi has faced before and one that is formidable even to an experienced Jedi like Jade Skywalker. On top of looking like a pure badass the one thing that makes Yuuzhan Vong cool to me is their use of living bio-weapons like thud bugs (thrown projectiles) and the amazing amphistaff, which is a whip, sword, spear, and venom shooter all rolled into one and its apparently so tough that it can resist a lightsaber cut.

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