Star Wars is generally associated with two era's, the Original Trilogy (OT) or the Prequel Trilogy (PT). These 2 era's are the most significant within the Star Wars universe, however, with the release of Bioware's MMO '
The Old Republic' a new generation of people are now exposed to a period that lies outside the accepted PT or OT time line in an era known as the EU (Expanded Universe).
The EU is not limited to a period of time that exists before the OT or PT, rather, it can be loosely defined as the period of time that occurs before, between (to a certain extent as the Clone Wars series fills in most of the details) and after the 6 movies.
EU is not a new concept for those who are engrossed in the SW universe and perhaps it would be wise to have a look at how some of the earlier origins of this canon developed.
The 2 pieces that had the most impact on the EU can be defined as the novel/comic Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn Trilogy. These two pieces of work gave fans answers to two questions that seemed to exist from almost the moment Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back and Episode 6 - The Return of the Jedi, these questions were "What happened to Han and how did he end up in Jabba's palace?" and "what happened to the Empire after the demise of the Emperor and Darth Vader after the defeat at Endor?" These 2 pieces gave us the first look into a universe far beyond to the 6 films and for those who read these a new world of potential opened up.
The first of the
Thrawn Trilogy, Heir to the Empire was published in 1991, a novel by Timothy Zahn. This gave fans their first look at the years after the battle of Endor where the Empire re-appears under the leadership of one of Emperor Palpatine's Grand Admirals. Grand Admiral Thrawn was introduced, which is an iconic moment as he is a non human (a blue skinned Chiss), something not typically seen in the upper echelons of the Empire.
In this trilogy we were introduced to the species the Noghri, a lethal species whose debt to the Empire was a result of Darth Vader and his interaction with their home world. The cloned mad Jedi Master Joruus C'Boath on a planet called Wayland. Mara Jade an ex-employee of the Emperor's court working for a smuggler Talon Karrde on the planet Myrkr, where a species of force repellent creatures exist.
This trilogy deals with the conflicts between people who hold others responsible for their current situation, while delving into the lives of the heroes we followed in the OT movies. Han and Leia are married and expecting twins, Luke is dealing with his fathers past, all these aspects and the new characters introduced couple with Zahn's writing style led to a thoroughly enjoyable first step into the unknown post the movies.
Shadows of the Empire followed after the success of the Thrawn trilogy. This novel dealt with the interplay between Darth Vader and a Vigo of the Black Sun criminal organisation named Xizor, a Falleen, both who were positioning for Palpatine's favour. Luke, Leia and Lando along with Wedge Antilles from Rogue Squadron are pursuing Boba Fett on his way to deliver Han to Jabba.
This novel continued the adventure style that we became accustomed to in Episode 6 along with a strengthening of the relationships between Leia, Luke, Chewie and Lando vying for their trust after handing Han over to the Empire in Episode 5.
Through the pursuit of Han we are introduced to another character being Dash Rendar, an individual who has no love for the Empire after the way his family was treated. Dash is hired to assist with trying to prevent Boba from delivering to Jabba.
The characters go through highs and lows on their way to getting to the point where Episode 6 begins, this reinforces the start of that movie, understanding how they came to be where they were and the change in characters, such as Bouush being played by Leia.
The success of these 2 stories led to a hole spawn of other EU novels, majority of these leading up to the last 3 main series of stories being the New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force and The Fate of the Jedi.
The New Jedi Order dealt with a new threat to the whole Galaxy by a species called the Yuuzhan Vong. The Yuuzhan Vong were a warrior caste that detested technology and considered only organic creatures to be acceptable and everything else being a perversion of life and as such waged war against what they thought to be an inferior collection of species.
This series was memorable for several reasons, one being the murder of Chewie very early in the series (the first time one of the main characters had been killed outside of the movies) and Anakin Solo later on, the other memorable being the capacity for the Yuuzhan Vong to resist all the techniques that Jedi could use, the lightsaber had no affect on their weapons or armour and the force was futile as they could not manipulate nor sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the force, this made for a particularly interesting time in Star Wars history as the EU went back to a dark place similar to the OT.
The Legacy of the Force series dealt with the slide of the Solo's other son Jacen to the dark side of the force through the guidance of
Lumiya, Jacen's relationship with his Uncle Luke was an interesting side note along with Jacen's torturous ways and his appreciation for the way that his Grandfather (Darth Vader) handled matters.
Under Jacen's command the military waged war on races of people and included the burning of the Wookiee planet Kashyyyk, used his influence with a Jedi apprentice Tehiri Vella who he had slay the Imperial leader
Giliad Pellaeon.
Jacen raised the fury of Boba Fett by killing his daughter along with Luke's wife Mara Jade. In the end it was Boba Fett who helped train Jaina Solo to fight her brother using Mandalorian techniques to overcome and eventually slay him.
The events of the Legacy of the Force flowed into the Fate of the Jedi Series.
Within the Fate of the Jedi Series we read about the power struggle between the Galactic Alliance leader
Natasi Daala and the Jedi Order, whereby she exiles Grand Master Luke Skywalker as a result of Jacen's actions. Luke takes the opportunity to trace Jacen's steps and to try and see where he went wrong.
While this is unfolding another series of events leads to the emergence of '
The Lost Tribe of the Sith' a race that has evolved in hiding from the days of
Naga Sadow. The race of Sith emerge in part to work with Luke Skywalker against the evil power known as
Abeloth, who has been awakened.
Events in this series unfold highlighting the power in the force and the link to past traditions are broken down, a tribe of Sith defies Lord Bane's rule of 2, Jedi have attachments and they are strong but help them identify who they are as well.
In the last few years we have also seen a shift in Star Wars EU literature, there is less of the 'After Battle of Yavin' (ABY) than previously written and more filling in the period of time identified as 'The Old Republic'.
The Old Republic tells stories of the Sith through 3 novels to date specifically:
Fatal Alliance
Deceived.
Revan.
These 3 novels tend t deal with the period of time before the rule of 2 and are approximately 3700 years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY).
There have also been several others that have been written throughout that deal with the evolution of the galaxy as we knew it in the movies.
Darth Bane established the 'Rule of two' which played key role in the 6 movies.
There have been other pieces that have been written about closer to the period of the BBY, in
Knight Errant some 1000 years (approx) before the modern movies.
My point is that we can no longer see Star Wars as purely OT vs PT when the EU has played such a big hand in the way people view Star Wars these days.
Merchandise
Merchandise has also embraced the EU, in the current Hasbro Line there are several EU figures on the market, two being Darth Malgus from 'The Old Republic' and Nom Anor a Yuuzhan Vong from the New Jedi Order novel series. Others released in this collection include Galen Marek from 'The Force Unleashed' computer games, Bastila Shan (shown below with Revan and Malak) from the original 'Knights of the Old Republic' computer game and Shae Vizsla also from 'The Old Republic' MMO.
Preceding this was in the Thirty Anniversary Collection with Darth Malak, Darth Revan both from the 'Kinghts of the Old Republic' (shown in the image below) and a Pre Cyborg Grievous.
Lego have also had sets that they released based upon the EU, some of these include the to be released Old Republic Sets:
Images sourced on Eurobricks forum
The Old republic has received a lot of merchandise support ranging from comics, computer accessories to clothing, offered by a company called
Jinx
Even the 12" figure market has been littered with EU characters, ranging from Darth Malgus a pack in for the Collectors Edition of 'The Old Republic' game to the Shae Vizsla and Darth Revan busts. The EU appears to be growing in popularity further supporting the claim that there are now 3 legitimate cannons OT, PT and EU.
The original break through in EU products was Hasbro's Power of the Force collection which shows the Dark Empire characters many of whom were in the Thrawn Trilogy, these figures came with a 3D diorama on the packaging.
 |
| Imaged Source from Brains Toys |
There was also the successful Shadows of the Empire line as well which featured the 5 figures shown below to accompany the first of the comic 2 packs (Darth Vader vs Prince Xizor and Boba Fett vs IG-88) along with Dash Rendar's Outrider and a Swoop with rider.
 |
| Imaged Sourced from Brians Toys |
It is my hope that through this post people have come to understand the role that the EU plays in the life of a Star Wars fan, I acknowledge that it is not too everyones liking, some see it as a perversion of the original story, I tend to view it as an expansion on the liberties we see in the original movies. The EU provides fans with the opportunity to see relationships grow, friends die, conflicts rise and enemies renew.
Material for this article has been sourced using Wookieepedia, Starwars.com, Rebelscum.com, Jeditemplearchives.com and Eurobricks.com
.jpg)