Mimban is like a million other planets in the galaxy—a lot of trees, too much mud, and not much else. But one of Mimban's abandoned temples holds a powerful gem—the Kaiburr crystal—capable of magnifying and clarifying one's perception of the Force. Luke and Leia know it's there—somewhere—and so does Darth Vader. And that makes Mimban a whole lot livelier right now than those other planets!
Luke narrowly escapes drowning to death and wins the duel by using the Force to knock the Coway warrior unconscious. As a result, the Coway spare the lives of Leia, Halla, Hin, Kee, R2-D2 and C-3PO. However, there is little time for them to celebrate, as Luke has sensed the presence of Darth Vader growing closer. He helps to plan the defense of the Coway village against the impending Imperial attack.
The attack, led by Vader and Grammel, is repelled. As Vader retreats, Luke notices that the Dark Lord is heading in the direction of the Temple of Pomojema, which is said to hold the legendary Kaiburr crystal. Luke, Leia, Halla, the Yuzzem, and the droids sneak out of Mimban's subterranean levels, steal an Imperial transport, and make their way with all haste to the temple.
After beating Vader to the temple, Luke gets his leg pinned under a heavy block while subduing a giant lizard. While he and Leia struggle to move it, Darth Vader enters the temple. Leia picks up Luke's lightsaber and tries to defend Luke from the advancing Dark Lord. Leia is no match for Vader, who injures her to the brink of death.
With the help of Hin, who is nearly dead, Luke finally frees himself from the heavy block and catches the lightsaber thrown to him by Leia. Luke puts up a good fight against Vader, eventually cutting off the Dark Lord's right arm, but he is exhausted.
Vader calls his lightsaber to his left hand, and it seems that Luke's fate is sealed until Vader trips over his severed arm. With a scream of "NOOOOOO!" Vader falls into a dark pit.
Having retrieved it from the statue of Pomojema, Halla gives Luke the Kaiburr crystal, and he uses it to heal himself and Leia. Luke, Leia, Halla, C-3PO and R2-D2 get into the crawler that they commandeered and leave the temple for a meeting on Circarpous IV.
The comic adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye remained fairly faithful to its source material. Because of the requirements of the format and the limited space in which to tell the story, a number of elements were either altered or omitted. The departures from the book included:
- In the book, prior to the banquet held in Luke's honor, the Coway warrior acknowledges Luke's victory by hitting him, then Luke returns the gesture of respect. In the comic, the warrior shows his respect to Luke during the banquet in the same manner, but before Luke can return the favor, he is interrupted by the sensation of Darth Vader's approach.
- In the novel, the swamp crawler that the heroes hijack is described as being armored and having an enclosed compartment for the passengers and crew. In the comic, this swamp crawler is open-air and virtually identical to the one that they used to escape from the mine's detention facility.
- The homage to the cover of the book in the comic adaptation does not depict the Kaiburr crystal near the entrance of the temple. This is, however, in keeping with the text of the book, which describes the crystal as being set inside the chest of the statue of Pomojema, in the far side of the temple.
- During their duel in the comic, Vader calls Leia a "steel kitten." Though this did not happen during the duel in the book, this expression was a reference to the narrator's description of Leia's tone of voice when she tries to convince Luke to kill her instead of allowing her to be taken alive by Vader.
- In the book, before Leia throws the lightsaber to Luke after he has been freed by Hin, she turns it off. In the comic, Leia does not turn it off before she throws it to Luke.
- In the book, the ball of kinetite that Vader generates is described as "a ball of pure white energy." In the comic, the ball of kinetite appears to be a clear sphere framed by white lightning.
- Splinter of the Mind's Eye (TPB)
- Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection Volume 8: Splinter of the Mind's Eye
- Star Wars Omnibus: Early Victories
- Star Wars: Luke Skywalker, Last Hope for the Galaxy
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Rebellion Vol. 5
- Star Wars Legends: The Rebellion Omnibus Vol. 2