From the novel by Claudia Gray Star Wars: Bloodline we finally learned what happened to the Star Wars heroes between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and how the Galaxy Far Away came to live this way.
In 2014, Disney announced that the Expanded Universe was no longer considered Star Wars canon. In order to provide the creators of new films with maximum creative freedom, the events of books, comics, games and other works based on the saga were deleted from the history of a distant galaxy. Before the release of The Force Awakens, we didn't know what happened to the galaxy and heroes after the Battle of Endor. The books and comics published before the premiere contained only grains of information. For example, from Claudia Gray's novel Lost Stars, one could learn that the Empire suffered a decisive defeat from the New Republic at the Battle of Jakku.
But the seventh episode itself turned out to be stingy with details about the three decades separating it from Return of the Jedi. We met old heroes, but learned little about how their fates unfolded after defeating the Empire. They saw the clash between the First Order and the Resistance, but were left in the dark where they came from. They learned that the new Jedi order had died before it could be reborn, but they could only guess why. The creators of the new canon decided to postpone the answers to these and many other questions until later.
And now this “later” has come. In May, the novel Bloodline (Blood Ties) by the same Claudia Gray was released, the action of which takes place approximately six years before The Force Awakens. The book sheds light on many questions about the era of the New Republic and the lives of the heroes. We have collected the most interesting and important information for you.
The heroes' paths diverged
The main character of the novel is Senator Leia Organa Solo. For a quarter of a century, she remains one of the largest political figures in the New Republic and enjoys universal respect. Leia herself, however, is tired of politics and is considering saying goodbye to her senatorial seat and traveling with her husband around the galaxy. Leia was never able to learn the Force, and the princess’s personal life can hardly be called exemplary.
A quarter of a century after the Battle of Endor, Han and Leia are still married, but have been living separately for a long time. They still love each other, but they couldn't get along together. And Khan’s passion for adventure took its toll - he became a space racer, and then a racing manager. He parted ways with Chewie - he returned to his home planet of Kashyyyk and lived like an ordinary Wookiee. Leia regularly communicates with Han via HoloNet, but they practically do not maintain contact with her son.
During the course of the novel, Khan appears several times in the form of a hologram and in one short episode in the flesh.
Luke never really revived the Jedi.
Ben is twenty-five years old at the time of the novel, and he is still learning the wisdom of the Jedi under the wing of his uncle Luke Skywalker. But both Leia and Han have not spoken with Ben and Luke for a long time and do not know where they are now or what they are doing.
After defeating the Empire, Luke Skywalker set about restoring the Jedi Order. He preferred to train a new generation of knights away from the main planets of the galaxy. It seems that for twenty-five years, Luke has not trained accomplished knights, much less masters, who would lay the foundation of the new order. At least, the Jedi do not play any role in galactic politics, and Luke himself is even in the eyes of powerful of the world this turned into a semi-legendary figure.
There is a political struggle in the galaxy
At first glance, there is no special work for Jedi in the New Republic. After Palpatine's death, the Empire did not last long. The lost battle for Jakku was the last straw, after which the regime fell. Since then, relative peace and stability have reigned in the galaxy, and the war and the era of the Empire are perceived only as pages of history. The surviving ships of the Imperial Navy simply disappeared - no one in the New Republic knows where, and no one seems to care.
Armed conflicts have been replaced by political ones. For the time being, they were avoided thanks to the charisma and authority of Mon Mothma (senator of the Old Republic and leader of the Rebels during the Civil War), but now she has retired, and a fierce struggle has broken out between the two parties in the Senate of the New Republic. Populists, of which Leah is one, advocate for systems to be given autonomy.
Centrists, on the contrary, advocate a strong central government- approximately the same as it was in the Empire. They remember with nostalgia, if not all, then many of the orders of the Empire and strive to revive them. Many party leaders collect items from the imperial era.
Vader ruined Leia's career
The centrists manage to push through the introduction of a new government position - the First Senator, endowed with much greater powers than the Chancellor. Leia becomes the Populist candidate, but on the eve of the elections, her political opponents manage to get incredible incriminating evidence.
The fact is that Leia and Luke did not tell anyone except Han the truth about the identity of Darth Vader. Even Ben Solo doesn't know he's related to him. Leia waited for the right moment to tell her son whose grandson he was. But I just couldn’t wait. An old message from Bail Organa to his adopted daughter falls into the hands of one of the centrist senators, in which the ruler of Alderaan reveals to Leia who her father was. biological father. By making this information public, the centrists put an end to Leia’s reputation and political career. Ben, apparently, learns about Grandfather Vader from galactic news.
And he thinks about it...
First Order and the Resistance
The distant galaxy does not yet know about the existence of the First Order. Only a few centrist leaders who support the secret organization are aware of it. She is still keeping in the shadows, acting with someone else’s hands. With the help of criminal cartels and independent armed groups, the First Order obtains the resources it needs and destabilizes the situation in the galaxy, preparing its exit.
While investigating the activities of the cartels, Leia begins to realize that there is a powerful force behind them. At the end of the novel, after leaving the Senate, the princess, along with old comrades like Admiral Ackbar, recreates the Resistance in order to prepare to repel a new, as yet unknown threat. This brings us to the events of The Force Awakens.
The New Republic does not yet suspect the existence of the First Order
"Tradition", or as we call it - "canon", includes scripts, films, radio plays and novelizations. Some works appeared thanks to original ideas George Lucas, the rest were invented by other authors. But, between us: we read everything, and a lot is taken into account when constructing the overall sequence of events. Full list published works contains a huge number of plots with many branches, variations and parallel lines, surpassing in number any well-developed mythologies.
To understand canon and the universe as a whole, one must view Star Wars as a collection of stories written by different people that "document" the "events" that occurred. Although some stories are more reliable than others, they are all considered part of the overall "story." But it should be remembered that all stories are nothing more than stories: they contain many errors and inconsistencies, as they were told different people who had their own ideas about how to tell stories.
One can compare this situation with ancient Greek and Roman mythology or with the legends of King Arthur. Like the Star Wars mythology, they are made up of separate, albeit connected, stories told by different authors at different times.
Canon Studies[ | ]
Works on canon research have been published by Will Brooker (English), which links them to Steven Sansweet's Star Wars Encyclopedia (English).
According to Sansweet, canon are the films as they were made by Lucas (three films at the time of Sansweet's statement). “Close” to the canon are authorized adaptations: stories, radio plays, comics. "Almost everything else" is "quasi-canon".
Brooker proposes expanding the canon to include works created by "key contributors" creative group"Star Wars" (for example, adding "Caravan of Braves: An Ewok Adventure", among the screenwriters of which Lucas himself was). Brooker himself notes the difficulties of this approach, which essentially introduces a slightly lower level of canonization than the epic itself, using the example of the film “Star Wars. Holiday Special. On the one hand, Lucas was one of the writers, and Boba Fett appeared in the film for the first time. However, if we accept this film, later rejected by Lucas, as canon, then Chewbacca has a wife, Malla, which contradicts the rest of the canon.
Brooker notes even greater problems with the inclusion of "authorized" works in the canon, when the brutal scene of Obi-Wan Kenobi being killed by Darth Vader in the Marvel Authorized Comics directly contradicts the scene in the film where the lightsaber hits only the Jedi's empty robes.
Even within the original trilogy, questions about canon arise due to the changing iterations of the films themselves. Sansweet therefore highlights the 1997 version of the first trilogy, "the only guaranteed answer." Brooker asks the question: If the additions made in 1997 are considered canon, what are the scenes that were filmed but not yet included in the series, although we know about their existence? If in the 1997 version the Outrider began to take off (eng. Outrider, see Star Wars spaceships) (English)), then did Dash Rendar, its pilot, enter the canon? And if Rendar was included in the canon, then were other elements of Shadows of the Empire included? (English) or do they remain a figment of Steve Perry's imagination? Did Chewbacca shave his head to disguise himself?
Brooker notes that fans of the series are more strict about canon, and it is possible that their definitions are better than Sansweet's.
Canon and Expanded Universe[ | ]
When it comes to the absolute canon, the real history of Star Wars, you need to go directly to the films - and only the films. Even the novelizations are only interpretations of the events of the film, and although they largely correspond to the ideas of George Lucas (he worked closely with the authors), the methodology used in writing the books allows for minor deviations. The novelizations are written in parallel with the filming of the film, so the descriptions of details sometimes do not match. However, the novelizations should be considered very faithful reproductions of the films.
The further the work moves from the plot of the film, the more interpretations and fiction appear. LucasBooks is diligent in maintaining the integrity of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but there is still room for stylistic variation. Artists don't always portray Luke Skywalker the same way. Writers give heroes various characteristics. Some features of different types of works also play a role: in comics, the description of events involves less dialogue and a different plot line. Video games add interactivity, essential to gameplay. Role-playing and card games do the same, ascribing certain characteristics to characters and events, making them suitable for play.
An analogy can be made: every published Star Wars work is a window into the “real” Star Wars universe. Some windows are more foggy than others. Some completely distort the picture. But everyone has a particle of truth. As the great Obi-Wan Kenobi said: “Many of the truths we believe depend greatly on point of view.”.
The editor in the 6th issue of the magazine "" develops an idea about the place of printed sources of the Expanded Universe:
The canons are an authorized list of books that the editors of Lucas Licensing consider to be an authentic part of the official Star Wars history. Our goal is to present a continuous and unified history of the Star Wars galaxy, to the extent that it does not contradict or undermine George Lucas' understanding of the saga as presented in the films and scripts.
Integrity Holocron[ | ]
S-canon- “secondary canon”, materials used or ignored by authors depending on the situation. This includes mostly older works, such as many of the "series" comics that were released before continuity attempts were made, as well as other things that "may not quite fit." Many elements of the S-canon move into the C-canon through their inclusion in new works by authors concerned with integrity, although many other works (like "") were taken into account from the very beginning and thus were always C-canon.
N-canon- “non-canonical” works. Alternative versions of history (for example, stories published under the "" brand) and anything that directly contradicts elements of the higher canons. Only N-canon was not recognized as canon by Lucasfilm.
Disney canons [ | ]
In October 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for US$4.06 billion.
Since geeks are allergic to change, many Star Wars fans were furious when, in preparation for the upcoming Star Wars sequels, the entire Expanded Universe was trashed in favor of a whole new canon. This is a new chronology of the universe Star Wars.
For 35 years, the Expanded Universe has provided new experiences for Star Wars fans who have longed for more adventures beyond the screen. With Star Wars, George Lucas created a universe that sparked imagination and creativity. He opened up this universe for other people to tell their own stories. This is how the Expanded Universe (EU) came into being, consisting of comics, novels, video games, etc.
Heir-to-the-empire-legends Although Lucasfilm has always strived to ensure that all RV stories are compatible with each other and with new film and television content, Lucas has always made it clear that he is not bound by the RV framework. He considered the films he created to be canon. This canon includes six episodes of Star Wars, as well as hours of content on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which he worked on as a writer and producer. These narratives are the unmoving pillars of the Star Wars story, the characters and events from which all other stories must rely.
Now, with the future of Star Wars filled with exciting new film projects, all aspects of Star Wars storytelling will be interconnected. Under the leadership of Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, for the first time in the history of the company, story group, which will oversee and coordinate all projects in the Star Wars universe.
“We have an unprecedented list of new energy projects on the horizon,” Kennedy said. “We are bringing Star Wars back to the big screen and will continue the adventure in games, books, comics and new formats that are just being born.” "The interconnected narratives of the future will allow fans to explore the galaxy on a deeper level than ever before."
Dark Discipline
Preview: It may take the combined efforts of a Jedi and a Sith to defeat the dark side's mightiest warrior.Based on unproduced scripts from the blockbuster TV show Star Wars: The Clone Wars!
Lords Of The Sith
“When the Emperor and his sinister apprentice Darth Vader find themselves in the midst of a rebellion on an inhospitable planet, they must rely only on each other, the Force, and their remarkable combat prowess to survive... Cover by Aaron McBride.”A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....
When the Emperor and his notorious apprentice, Darth Vader, find themselves stranded in the middle of insurgent action on an inhospitable planet, they must rely on each other, the Force, and the ir own ruthlessness to prevail.
Tarkin
Bestselling Star Wars veteran James Luceno gives Grand Moff Tarkin the Star Wars: Darth Plagueis treatment, bringing a legendary character from A New Hope to full, fascinating life.A New Dawn
Fans read the text on the novel's dust jacket, a photograph of which Del Rey showed the day before. Miller once again writes about a lonely Jedi.“The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning.”-Emperor Palpatine
Heir To The Jedi
"A thrilling new adventure set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and - for the first time ever - written entirely in the first person from Luke Skywalker's point of view... Cover by Larry Rostant."Aftermath: Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens
The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos.Reading time:
The very first Star Wars trilogy (of which there will now be four, it’s crazy) used a very poor color scheme for the heroes. Like in fantasy: there are infallible heroes in shining armor, and there is absolute evil. This is not a drawback; the format required it and, in general, the oldest “Star Wars” is a cosmic Western fairy tale, where there is no place for halftones.
Times have changed, one canon grew up, was killed and gave way to a new one. And there is no longer such a deep gap between the good and bad guys. , for example, shows the most important episode in the history of the Galaxy from the point of view of imperial special forces, and from this angle the stormtroopers no longer seem like stupid minions in plastic armor.
In the new canon (and this was not uncommon in the old one), supporters of the Empire often turn out to be ambiguous, charismatic, and in many ways even positive characters.
One of the few characters from the old canon who ended up in the new version of the Star Wars universe. No wonder: Thrawn is almost the most popular and well-developed hero of the setting, even though he has almost no place in games and movies.
Thrawn's real name is Mitt'rau'nuruodo, and he himself belongs to a race of Chiss, harsh blue-skinned humanoids who managed to survive in the mysterious mess of the Unknown Regions. There also existed their state, the Chiss Dominion, very isolated from the affairs of the rest of the Galaxy. Thrawn achieved high position in the Dominion, which by then had discovered an unknown threat in the depths of the wildest regions of the Unknown Regions. Its scale turned out to be so great that the Dominion began to look for allies in the rest of the Galaxy.
At one time, the Republic seemed to the Chiss to be a very unreliable ally, mired in corruption, civil war and ready to sabotage the discussion of any important issue bureaucratically. After the transformation of the Republic into the Empire, the Chiss changed their minds. Thrawn was presented as an exile from the Dominion and “slipped” to the Imperial forces so that he would fit into their hierarchy and be thoroughly studied.
And so it happened. Thrawn is scary to think about! - fooled Palpatine himself, but he himself became an object of interest, because the Sith Lord was looking for some answers in the Unknown Regions (more about this in our material about the First Order). As a result, Thrawn began his career in the Imperial Navy: first within the walls of the military academy and as a weapons systems officer on a cruiser, and in the future reached the rank of Grand Admiral.
Thrawn seemed to personify his native Unknown Regions: frighteningly cold-blooded and cunning, he was always several steps ahead of his rivals and allies, and could recognize someone else's disguise from a couple of circumstantial clues, like Sherlock Holmes. At first he hunted for smugglers, and when the rebellion cells began to unite into the Alliance, Thrawn destroyed them too.
Thrawn's personality is best illustrated by his visit to the Lothal Weapons Factory, when the Grand Admiral forced one of the workers to personally test a speeder bike accelerated to its maximum speed. The bike exploded and killed a worker who was—surprise—part of a rebel cell. Thrawn later figured out the location of the rebel headquarters and moved closer to victory.
His talent as a commander and intelligence officer was limited only by the writers of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, because without their intervention Thrawn would have ended the resistance. It's a pity! This refined admiral, connoisseur of art and manipulator worthy of the Emperor, more than anyone else, deserved complete triumph. The ending of Thrawn's career has not yet been revealed - ahead is the end of the fourth season of Rebels, where he has an important role, the book Thrawn: Alliances and other works of the new canon.
Wilhuff Tarkin
Grand Moff Tarkin, played by the magnificent Peter Cushing, appeared in the very first film of the epic as a taciturn executioner, ready to blow up an entire planet in order to complete the task. And his reluctance to leave the Death Star at the moment of the decisive attack on it is presented more as self-confident stupidity than courage. However, Wilhuff Tarkin held his position for good reason.
Wilhuff came from a noble family, but did not become the caressed darling of fate, thirsting only for the fulfillment of his whims. His father raised young Tarkin in severity, not allowing him to soften, as often happens with children of noble families. He survived the test of survival on his home planet, and later entered service in the judicial department of the Republic.
When Tarkin met the ambitious Naboo senator Palpatine, his fate was sealed. While still a young Sith, recognizing Tarkin's potential as a cruel manager, he took him under his wing. Wilhuff received the post of governor of his home planet Eriadu, and then higher positions, in which he became increasingly convinced of the helplessness of the Republic, its rotten nature and the omnipotence of the Jedi Order, which was increasingly coping with its peacekeeping role. When Palpatine staged his coup, Tarkin wholeheartedly supported the Imperial order, for which he was rewarded.
Tarkin was very useful to Sidious. The selfishness of a Sith is the worst quality for an administrator who must daily resolve a lot of issues regarding the population of the entire Galaxy. Why the hell would some furry Wookiees on a forested planet surrender to him, the Lord of the Sith?! That is why Wilhuff Tarkin became Grand Moff, the third man in the Empire, and judging by his influence on politics and economics, the first in general. It was he who was entrusted with the construction of the ultimate weapon - the Death Star, and he coped with the task brilliantly, although he overlooked the “constructive sabotage” left by engineer Galen Erso.
Tarkin's power was so great that he could dominate Darth Vader, and it is difficult to say how much Palpatine relied on Wilhuff's advice in running the Empire. Perhaps Tarkin would have kept it after the death of Palpatine, if he had not died in orbit of Yavin?
Alexander Kallus
Empire, like any totalitarian state, spent a lot of money on the secret police. Imperial Security Bureau - this was the name of their analogue of the NSA, FSB and MI-6: a power structure with a lot of powers and more a large number myths around this organization.
Alexander Kallus was a devoted ISB agent, the very ideal of a security officer: a warm heart, cool head, clean hands. Kallus served the Bureau not out of bloodthirstiness or lust for power, but primarily because he hated lawlessness, and the Emperor in his eyes - thanks to propaganda - was a symbol of law and order. And Kallus considered the growing rebellion movement to be a gathering of terrorists threatening peace and tranquility. But deep down, Alexander was still vain and longed for recognition, regarding each of his successes in the service as a reward in itself.
Artist: lorna-ka.
Therefore, Kallus did not leave the field service, rejecting several offers for promotion. Kallus was always on the front lines with his subordinates and showed the ruthlessness worthy of a field agent - including towards his agents.
However, in the soul of Kallus, over time, a contradiction grew between the imperial ideals that he himself cultivated and the ugly methods that the Empire used. Is it possible to restore order through genocide? Should the law cut out everyone in its path? The further he went, the more broken Kallus became.
In the end, Alexander began to secretly help the rebels in their endeavors when he became convinced that their image in imperial propaganda and their real appearance were infinitely far from each other. Kallus stayed long enough double agent, risking not only his career, but also his life - even Thrawn noted that Kallus had a “rebellious heart.” They soon came for him, and Kallus finally fled to his new friends in the Alliance.
Sienna Rea and Thane Kirrell
Artist: lorna-ka.
In a recent campaign review Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) you could see that the plot of the game does not reveal new sides of the Empire (read all spoilers in Denis Mayorov’s review). It's funny, because among the Star Wars literature there are much richer and more contradictory stories. Even in those novels that are considered teenage!
This is what's great about the story told in Lost Stars: it doesn't force the hero to side with the rebels just to maintain his positive outlook.
Thane and Sienna are the Romeo and Juliet they would be if they were born in a Galaxy far, far away. They had been friends since childhood, and since their planet was occupied by the Empire, they shared a passion for space and flight. Together they entered the Flight Academy, but the sabotage that happened there showed the difference in their outlook on life.
After completing their training, they were assigned to different ships: Thane was lucky enough to become a TIE fighter pilot aboard a certain unknown station, and Sienna was assigned to Darth Vader's flagship. Since then they have looked at the Empire with different points vision. Thane deserted shortly after the Death Star explosion when his disappointment reached its peak - he became convinced of how unfair the Imperial regulations were that allowed slave labor. After meeting in their secret hideout, Thane and Siena, who had long been in love with each other, finally separated: the young man considered the overthrow of the regime the only way out, and the girl believed that the Empire would have a chance if they remained in its ranks good people. So they parted.
Their story culminated during the Battle of Jakku, when Siena Ree commanded the Star Destroyer Striker and Thane Kirrell served the forces of the New Republic. The Striker was boarded, and Siena sent it directly to the surface of the planet so that it would not fall to the enemy.
Thane broke through to the captain's bridge and forced his lover to use the escape capsule, after which she was arrested by Republican forces. But even human treatment in captivity (instead of the expected torture) and Thane's patronage could not persuade Siena to side with the New Republic.
And the “Smashing” remains on Jakku, given over to scavengers like Rey for plunder.
Sinjir Rath Velus
Of all the characters in this material, Rath Velus experienced the most difficult childhood. He endured years of abuse from his mother and still managed to have warm feelings for her. Living in constant fear made Sinjir sensitive to other people's emotions and behavior, and made him embittered and cunning. These qualities helped him become a loyalty officer in the ISB.
And if the rest of the Bureau units hunted for external enemies, then the loyalty officers kept an eye on their colleagues, looking for any little thing that could be interpreted as a lack of loyalty, sabotage or betrayal. The officers of this service were trained with particular cruelty, teaching both torture and resistance to it. Sinjir completed this training under Officer Sid Uddra. And later he confirmed his skills by extracting from Imperial Navy lieutenant Alster Grove the names of his accomplices in the conspiracy, the purpose of which was nothing less than the overthrow of Palpatine.
However, Sinjir's own loyalty was questionable. After the destruction of the second Death Star, he went on the run, stealing the identity and ship of one of the rebels, and then joined the New Republic, and in almost the same position. Only now he was hunting for the Imperials, who were scattering across the Galaxy with each passing day of weakening of the headless Empire, as well as its agents in the Republican Senate and other organizations. Chancellor Mon Mothma liked his talent so much that she appointed Sinjir as her personal adviser, and in fact, as a personal spy and provocateur.
Sinjir Rath Velus was not truly loyal to either the Empire or the Republic, and was simply trying to improve his position as much as possible. His cynical outlook on life allowed him to go over to the side of the uprising without remorse and serve those whom he had only recently hunted. That is why many did not like him, because it was precisely such opportunists who once allowed the Republic to be turned into an Empire.
Artist: SpikeSDM.
The new Star Wars canon is growing so rapidly that keeping track of its events is becoming more and more difficult. Fortunately, among the authors of this universe there are enough talented writers and screenwriters who make all sides of the conflict equally vibrant. On the big screen this is not so noticeable, because mainstream cinema avoids halftones so as not to confuse the viewer. And we will be waiting for new Star Wars games for a long time.
It will soon be three years since the Star Wars Expanded Universe was declared Legends and replaced by a new unified canon. After these years, the author of World of Fantasy and longtime Star Wars fan sadly admits that new canon he doesn't like it, to put it mildly.
He sent the expanded universe to the trash heap
The same book
Maybe I'm the wrong Star Wars fan, but I (and I'm not the only one) fell in love with a galaxy far, far away not because of the films, but because of the books. On a cold and gloomy April day in 2001, I purchased a nice black volume from a bookstore with the promising title “Han Solo at Star's End.” I had no idea who Han Solo was or what “Starstruck” was, but the title promised adventure and space adventure, and I bought it. I bought one book, then three more, and another, and another...
Then there were cassettes with films, which in the pre-Internet era had to be searched all over Moscow for about a year, the premiere of “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” in cinemas, the game Star Wars Episode I on the PlayStation, the first purchased issue of “World of Fantasy” with Darth Vader on the cover... But it all started with books.
I've never separated the Expanded Universe and the movies. For me these were two parts of a single whole. Books, comics and games fueled my love for Star Wars long years after the release of Revenge of the Sith, when it seemed that the Star Wars film history was over. Therefore, when, first in the Clone Wars series, and then in the new canon, the creators of my favorite universe began to openly ignore that part of it, thanks to which I fell in love with Star Wars, I felt offended.
The Expanded Universe was once as canon to fans as the films. And now half the people in this picture don’t seem to exist.
Intellectually, I understand that the “legendarization” of the Expanded Universe was inevitable. Hundreds of books and comics, thousands of developed plots significantly limited creative potential creators of the new canon. Moreover, formally no one forbids returning elements of the Expanded Universe to the canon, as was done, for example, with Grand Admiral Thrawn... And yet I am dissatisfied.
At one time, the Expanded Universe saved Star Wars, once again awakening people's interest in the saga. She deserved to be treated with more respect. And fans, who have been buying Expanded Universe stories for thirty years, deserved to know how the adventures of their favorite heroes would end, what would happen next to Jaina Solo, Ben Skywalker and Allana Solo, what the final adventure of Han, Luke and Leia would be - and much, much more.
He clumsily uses the old canon
The old Expanded Universe continues to be not only a source of ideas and characters for the new canon, but also a cash cow for its owners. Books and comics of the old canon continue to be republished under the “Legends” banner, some of their ideas are reflected in new books, comics and even films. Well, Grand Admiral Thrawn became the biggest fan service in the entire history of the saga.
When Dave Filoni announced the appearance of Thrawn in the third season of the animated series Rebels at the Star Wars Celebration convention in London, the audience simply exploded with applause. When fans mourned the loss of the Expanded Universe, the name that came up most often in conversation was the blue-skinned admiral. By returning him to the canon, Filoni received in one fell swoop new loan trust from fans and got rid of the main source of their dissatisfaction.
But... Thrawn is not the same!
Thrawn from the animated series is similar to Thrawn from the books only in that he is blue
Formally, in “Rebels” we see exactly the same character as described by Timothy Zahn. Blue skin, red eyes, white uniform, title, love of art, considered an unsurpassed tactical genius... But in fact, for half of the third season, Thrawn never showed his genius. For a dozen episodes he has been trying to cope with the elusive team of the “Ghost”, but there is no result. The writers of Rebels simply cannot show Thrawn in all his glory - otherwise the series would have to end already in the first episode of the third season due to the death of the main characters. However, the loss would be small.
He's just boring!
With the cancellation of the Expanded Universe, a galaxy far, far away was suddenly deprived of thousands of years of history, hundreds of planets, races, heroes and events. Instead... nothing came. The old canon was also not built in a day, but it expanded the world, there were dozens of stories in it that were in no way related to the films or related only indirectly. These stories complemented the galaxy, made it lively and diverse, and most importantly, they were interesting!
Books and comics of the new canon, as a rule, do not expand the universe, but only serve as additions to the main product - films and TV series. The Expanded Universe included adventure novels from the X-Wing series about brave fighter pilots, the detective thriller "Shadow Games", the noir trilogy "Coruscant Nights", its own version of "Heart of Darkness" and "Apocalypse Now" - "Weak Point", zombies horror "Death Troopers"…
The Expanded Universe began with these books.
The new canon cannot boast of anything like this. Here, all the books are either prequels to something, or novelizations, or adaptations, and independent plots are mainly found only in comics. And then most of the comics are devoted to the period between the fourth and fifth episodes - an era that was addressed in the Expanded Universe... five hundred times.
Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy laid the foundation for the entire post-Endor period of the Expanded Universe, talking about the state of affairs in the galaxy, introducing iconic characters and introducing readers to one of the greatest Star Wars villains. Chuck Wendig's Aftermath, which was supposed to introduce fans to the post-Endor period in the new canon, is inferior to Zahn's books on all counts. There is no galactic scope, no interesting and well-developed characters, no logical explanation for why the Alliance won. "Aftermath" is boring and uninteresting, while "Heir to the Empire" is still considered one of best books on "Star Wars".
He divided the fans
This icon now means "What you read may be cool, but it doesn't matter to the universe"
Some fans calmly reacted to the “legendarization” of the Expanded Universe, but the rest... Some took the change in its status as a reason to declare jihad to the new canon. They boycott new products, write petitions on the Internet and flood the offices of Lucasfilm and Disney with demands to return RV to canon. The latter, on the contrary, extremely meticulously study every book and comic in the store: what if this is not a new canon, but “Legends” and they accidentally buy “printed fan fiction”? For both of these categories, the canonicity of a story has suddenly become more important than its quality, and they cannot agree with each other.
He contradicts himself
The decision to "legendize" the Expanded Universe was explained by Lucasfilm as a desire to avoid conflicts between different works in the future. To monitor contradictions, a special unit was created - the Story Group. But nothing worked out for her.
Already in the first works of the new canon, Luke uses telekinesis twice “for the first time” - in the novel “Heir of the Jedi” by Kevin Hearn and the comic book “Star Wars” by Jason Aaron. In the same comic book series, Luke finds the diaries of Obi-Wan Kenobi, where he describes Yoda’s appearance in detail - how did Luke not recognize his future teacher in the fifth episode? In Claudia Gray's novel Lost Stars, the Death Star's first target is Alderaan. But by that time, Rogue One was already in development, and the story team had to know that the battle station would have other targets - Jedha and Scarif. In the Revenge of the Sith novelization, it is mentioned that Depa Billaba switched to dark side during the events of the novel "Vulnerable Point", and according to the comic book "Star Wars: Kanan", Depa remained on the side of light until the end of the war and died after Order 66.
He perverted the main characters of the saga
Han and Leia deserve the award for Worst Parents in the Galaxy. And the prize should be in the shape of Kylo Ren
In the Expanded Universe, the heroes of the original trilogy are not perfect either. Leia and Han lost two of their three children, with the eldest son turning to the dark side and seizing power over part of the galaxy. And Luke repeatedly failed as a teacher - almost half of his students went over to the dark side. But in RV the heroes continued to fight for their ideals and stuck to each other. Yes, Khan had a period when he was very upset about the death of Chewbacca and left his family for six months. But in the end he returned to Leia, and then this couple never parted.
What do we see in The Force Awakens? As soon as there was a smell of something fried, Luke and Han, like the last cowards, ran away, leaving Leia to deal with the consequences alone. Real gentlemen.
It has Kylo Ren in it.
The Force Awakens writers essentially cobbled together Kylo Ren from three characters Expanded Universe. Fallen Jedi Jacen Solo was given the name of Ben Skywalker and the costume of Darth Revan
I understand why the creators needed the image of Kylo Ren. If Dooku, Vader and Grievous were already mature villains, then Ren is still relatively young, he is confused in life, he wants to disassociate himself from the past, prove to everyone and, first of all, to himself that he is a worthy grandson of his grandfather.
But such behavior is justified when the character is seventeen. Kylo Ren, for a second, is thirty. At this age, men, as a rule, have already decided on life goals and work to achieve them. And this one just whines and whines like an emo teenager. Are we being asked to sympathize with the snotty, eared slob, whom we see for the first time in our lives and who just before our eyes stabbed to death the best character in the history of “Star Wars”?
Some of this story is borrowed from the Expanded Universe, which showed Jacen Solo's fall into darkness. But we knew Jacen from birth. We followed his adventures literally from the cradle, we saw how he grew up, matured, lost friends, gained experience and became a real hero. That is why his fall into darkness was an extremely painful blow. The fans really got attached to this character. And Kylo Ren... Kylo Ren, in principle, is not capable of causing positive emotions.
We must pay tribute to Adam Driver: he treats his character with irony
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If the “legendarization” of the Expanded Universe had been handled differently, if not all elements of the old canon had been scrapped, but only those that contradicted the new films, the new canon could have been forgiven. If its creators offered more interesting, original and simple good stories, there would be much fewer complaints against him. However, in the form it is now, it spoils my beloved universe.
The best of the new canon
Admittedly, even in the current Star Wars canon there are several truly worthwhile things that preserve the spirit of a distant galaxy.
"Rogue One"
This is how real Star Wars should be. Gareth Edwards perfectly captured the atmosphere of the original trilogy and masterfully wove his own story into the narrative. It was truly a shame to lose the heroes of Rogue One. For the first time, we saw a distant galaxy so dark, a war so brutal, and the rebels so ambiguous. And this is good.
Surprisingly, the novel written for a teenage audience turned out to be the most serious and adult in the entire new canon. There really is interesting story two heroes whose principles repeatedly prevented them from living and loving. There are real emotions here: love, resentment, hatred and the desire to serve the fatherland. There is real conflict here, where the characters have something to lose and are forced to make controversial decisions. Gray also very accurately conveys the atmosphere of a distant galaxy and very successfully fits his novel into the plot of the original trilogy.
Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larocca "Star Wars: Darth Vader"
The period between the fourth and fifth episodes was covered in great detail in the Expanded Universe. However, the Marvel publishing house decided that since the old RV is no longer canon, they can plunge into this period with renewed vigor. Of all the Marvel lines, Darth Vader has proven to be the most interesting and intriguing addition to the canon. We are used to seeing Vader as powerful, but in this comic he is forced to restore his position, shaky after the destruction of the Death Star. And in this he is helped by several extremely colorful characters - the black archaeologist Doctor Aphra and a couple of battle droids, a kind of dark version of C-3PO and R2-D2.
The backstory of Rogue One is written in the best James Luceno tradition: it is a tightly knit political thriller that tells the story of the early life of Galen Erso and Orson Krennic. There are many interesting details and details here, and most importantly, Luceno casually returns entire layers of the Expanded Universe to the new canon.