Reestablishing The Star Wars Expanded Universe

Unknown to those outside of the Star Wars fandom there has been a raging schism between different groups of Star Wars fans over the canon of the Star Wars universe. This schism was prompted back in 2014 after Lucasfilm revealed that going forward the Star Wars canon was getting rebooted in order to allow for greater creative freedom to new filmmakers and writers. This decision while lauded by some as abolishing the Expanded Universe, a group of stories told through various media formats from video games to novels for some 38 years which further expanded the universe beyond the six films had grown into a gordian knot size problem of too many inconsistencies. In the view of Lucasfilm and Disney, the Star Wars canon slate was wiped clean with the exception of the six films and the Clone Wars TV show as being the absolute canon of Star Wars. This decision sent shockwaves through the Star Wars Expanded Universe fan community which reacted by taking to numerous message boards and websites voicing their displeasure at what they loved being written out of existence from the Star Wars universe. This decision ranks as one of the most controversial Lucasfilm has made since the fan reaction to Jar Jar Binks. Fast forward a couple of years later and what started off as a decision to allow for creative freedom for new filmmakers and writers has turned into a P.R. nightmare for Lucasfilm. With the release of every new film, novel, and comic the pushback from the Expanded Universe fan community grows.

While the welcome return of Grand Admiral Thrawn into the new Star Wars canon might be taken as an olive branch from Lucasfilm to the EU fans there is certainly a solution that would alleviate this headache for Lucasfilm. That would be the reestablishment of a large swath of EU material mostly from Pre-Episode One sources. These sources which I will list below would allow EU fans to reclaim part of what was lost while also reintroducing these characters to new Star Wars fans. Given that most of what I am going to list takes place thousands of years before anything in the films or newer canon material they would not in any way contradict what has already been established given very little of the new canon sources deal with the Pre-Episode One history of the Star Wars universe. I will be using the era system established by Del Rey and Lucasbooks to establish in which era these stories take place.

Pre-Republic Era Sources:

Dawn Of The Jedi comics
Into The Void by Tim Lebbon

The Pre-Republic Era is covered in a wide variety of sources but mostly comes down to two major pieces of Star Wars material. This era establishes the history of the Jedi Order on their homeworld of Tython before the formation of the Old Republic. (This organization is referred to as the Old Republic in the new canon material before it was reorganized as the Galactic Republic about 1,000 years prior to Episode 1 in events I will detail later on.) This era also establishes the history of the Star Wars universe and the major players therein such as the Rakata Empire.

Old Republic Era Sources:

Tales Of The Jedi Comics
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Comics/Games
Star Wars: The Old Republic Game/Novels
Knight Errant Comics
Jedi Vs Sith Comics
Darth Bane Novel Trilogy

This era in the Star Wars: Expanded Universe covers a wide swath of the history of conflict between the Jedi Order and The Sith. From the Great Hyperspace War to the New Sith War a variety of Sith Lords rose and fell during the many wars with their ancient foes. The most notable characters from this period include Darth Revan, Darth Malak, Nomi Sunrider, Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, the Sith Emperor Vitate, and Darth Bane. The conflicts told in these stories establishes the central conflict of good and evil in the Star Wars films and why Palpatine is so hellbent on destroying the Jedi Order in the Prequel trilogy. Most notably the Darth Bane trilogy establishes the Rule Of Two and the history of Darth Bane and his apprentice Darth Zannah. Also establishes the formation of the Galactic Republic prior to Episode One as the Old Republic collapsed after a thousand years of conflict during what became known as the New Sith Wars before being reformed as the Galactic Republic at the end of the war.

Rise Of The Empire Era Sources:

Darth Plagueis Novel by James Luceno

While there are numerous sources of material that covers this era from the Clone Wars multimedia project to the Jedi Apprentice book series I shall focus on the Darth Plagueis novel by James Luceno and why it is important to the overall canon of Star Wars. In the novel the character of Darth Plageuis who is briefly mentioned by Palpatine in Episode Three, becomes more fleshed out in this story. Darth Plageuis originally known as Hego Damask, was a Munn who was trained to use the Dark side by his master Darth Tenebrous who he eventually killed in order to become the uncontested Dark Lord Of The Sith. Under the guise of Hego Damask, Plageuis schemes to further the Grand Plan which was put into place by Darth Bane to bring about the end of the Jedi Order and the Republic. In his scheming Plagueis comes into contact with Palpatine, the rich scion of a noble house on Naboo who had already taken an interest in Sith history before coming into contact with Plagueis. Plageuis offers to teach Palpatine the ways of the Sith after Palpatine brutally murders his whole family on their private starship. Both Plagueis and Palpatine know Darth Sidious manipulate the events of the galaxy furthering their desire for the Sith to return to power. Plagueis is ultimately killed by his apprentice during the events depicted in Episode One after Palpatine is made Chancellor of the Republic. This book helps establish the backstory of a very important character in the Star Wars universe (Palpatine) and further establishes the character of Darth Plagueis beyond the passing mention of his story in Episode Three that Palpatine used to draw Anakin closer to the dark side.

While I could go on further to detail why other EU sources such as The Force Unleashed or the Dark Times comics still matter to the overall story of Star Wars I feel the stories detailed above establish the important bedrock foundation of the history of the Star Wars galaxy and the lore behind the creation of the Jedi Order and the Sith which forms the basis for the central conflict in the Star Wars films.