Roqoo Depot

The Origin of Killiks: From Kevin J. Anderson to Troy Denning

Whether you love them or hate them, Killiks are an interesting species in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Many fans were first introduced to them in Troy Denning’s Dark Nest Trilogy. However, something I wasn’t aware of was that the Killiks were actually invented by fellow Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson. According to Kevin…

I created the Killiks for The Illustrated Star Wars Universe with Ralph McQuarrie; Ralph painted these really cool abandoned insect cities, and I loved the idea. You can see the paintings, if you find the book. I liked the idea and decided to use something similar as I was writing Seven Suns, changed the name to Klikiss.

At the same time, Troy Denning had seen the descriptions in the Illustrated book and went off in his own directions for The Swarm War. I talked with him later, and he said he started reading Hidden Empire while he was writing his trilogy, and as soon as he got to the Klikiss stuff,, he had to put the book down and not read any more until he had finished his project.

The Illustrated Star Wars Universe was published back in December of 1995. The 208 page hardcover includes lots of images of the early concept art used for the original Star Wars films. Artists featured in the book included Ralph McQuarrie, Michael Butkus, Harrison Ellenshaw, Chris Evans, Nilo Rodis-Jamero, Joe Johnston, Michael Pangrazio, and Norman Reynolds. All eight planets from the original trilogy are explored with commentary and text by Kevin J. Anderson.

And if you’re looking for Killik info, you can also check out Troy Denning’s latest Star Wars novel Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse and Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart’s The Essential Guide to Warfare.

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.