Books Journey to The Last Jedi - The Rebel Files by Daniel Wallace (Canon too!)

He didn't say that. Just if Bel Iblis is going to become a canon character, I would think that fans of his would agree with Lucasfilm, his premiere should be in an actual story, not a history book.

 

This reminds me of how Pablo used the Telaris system in the RO Visual Guide. In the old WEG Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, Telaris was mentioned as the system where Ackbar took command of the Rebel Fleet. So Pablo extrapolated that Telaris was an important system, deciding ultimately that it would be sorta like the "arsenal of the Rebellion", where Mon Cala cruisers were retrofitted for combat.

It's these kinda things I love. Weaving old sources into the new canon, making fun connections, and enriching the universe.

--Adm. Nick

 

Saw and Garm are actually fairly distinct - which is, I assume, a big part of the reason for why Dan and everybody else can't bring the latter back the way they can some more minor character. He doesn't fit, AFAWK, into the canon history of the Rebellion.

 

I suspect the Han Solo movie is at fault there as well... not that it necessarily will use Corellia, but if it does, it might go down the rabbit hole of Corellian history/politics/rebellion/etc that was a huge part of the old EU and Bel Iblis's backstory.

 

Yeah, I know. Just a litle sad that we won't be reading about this iconic character on a Rebel Alliance book

 

I am fine if it goes into all that stuff. even without Garm I want to see my beloved Corellia dang it!! I wish I could buy a Corellian flag. i would wear it to the Han film a la

 

Dan Wallace

Any chance this new guide sheds some light on Ackbar's rise to fleet commander following the loss of Raddus?

--Adm. Nick

 

Dan Wallace

Will we learn more about Cassian Andor and the Fulcrum program?

 

There is still a lot of unexplored time between Rebels and R1 for Garm to appear.

 

I wonder if they'll do listing for squadrons at Scarif, Yavin, Hoth or Endor and who survived. I doubt it but it'd be nice.

Maybe Daniel Wallace is open to that (and Pablo Hidalgo and Jason Fry?).

 

Personally, I'm really hoping we'll see some information on the following in this guide:

• Declaration of the Rebellion
• Clearer idea of who the founders of the Alliance are (outside of Bail, Mon, Saw, etc)
• Info on the secret Rebel shipyards in the Telaris system
• Some sort of Corellian connection to the Alliance
• Info on the Dorneans
• How Ackbar became commander of the fleet after Raddus's death

What about you guys? What do you hope to see?

--Adm. Nick

 

Both Ackbar and Raddus have bits in this, but since the book's entire narrative history is told through in-universe documents, some of the Rebel Alliance backstory is relayed in a between-the-lines sort of way. If that makes sense. There's a decent amount of ambiguity here and there, but hopefully there's still plenty of flavor.

Cassian is in a few parts, Ahsoka too.

The problem with things like this is that they have narrative implications. Listing the squadrons (not to mention the survivors) would be a semi-definitive "these guys are in, these guys are out," and Lucasfilm tries to err in favor of open-ended story possibilities.

They used to allow for more definitive fact-based stats--I'm thinking of the prequel cross-section books for example--but honestly in some ways those ended up causing as many problems as they solved.

 

Ooh, I forgot this was told through in-universe documents. I really like that, plus I totally get your point that the narrative and other details pops up organically via these documents (directly or indirectly).

Have you seen any of the art for the book yet?

--Adm. Nck

 

Not yet, but looking forward to it. Am anticipating some interesting graphical treatments for in-universe documents, and I intentionally tried to use several different recurring doc styles (top-secret Alliance memos are common, news clippings less common, some types of docs are unique) so there was visual variety but not so much that it looked like a random hodgepodge.

 

Nice touch! I'm a big fan of recurring in-universe docs, something I loved about WEG. It's those little details that make the universe feel more real and lived in/used, which is part of SW's charm for a lot of us!

Does the book just go through ROTJ, or does it touch at all on the first year of the New Republic between Endor & Jakku?

Also- I'm stoked that Mon Mothma is such a part of this book. Her emergence in the new canon has been awesome, it's about time such an important character in-universe gets her time in the spotlight.

--Adm. Nick

 

It goes right up to ROTJ, which is part of the in-universe conceit behind the whole project (which will make more sense once you have a chance to read it).

Mon Mothma does indeed have a prominent role in this, which is something I really enjoyed. I really tried to get to a point where I felt like I fundamentally "got" Mon Mothma as a person before I did anything else, and hopefully that comes through in the final product.

 

Is this supposed to actually have specific connections to TLJ or are they just slapping the label on anything coming out in the second half of this year?

 

There is definitely a depth to the character that the old EU missed on (with a few exceptions). Seeing Mon Mothma develop in the new canon has been a joy.

Any chance you guys touch on the state of Mon Cala between 0-4 ABY? In the old EU, it was liberated and Rebel territory by 1 ABY. In the new canon, we know that it was still occupied as of Rogue One. I'm hoping for some Mon Cala and Telaris references for sure.

--Adm. Nick

 

Funny, I got the "holding a document in your hands" feel from Rey's Survival Guide the most. I'd actually rank that one to be my favorites of the Jedi/Sith/Bounty Hunters/Imperial/etc. guides-like books. I'm probably biased, given that Rey is one of my favorite Star Wars characters, but I think the idea that "the character wrote the book" made it feel more important and personalized than "the characters annotated this textbook the happened to have." Not only were we getting factual info, but we were also getting into the character's head a bit, which the other ones didn't quite do.

Dan Wallace, looking forward to this release, given that I liked the other books in the "series" in general (of the pre-Disney ones, I think the Sith one you did was the best in terms of content presentation and design values), and have found your Star Wars reference books to be enjoyable reads.

The (admittedly very nice-looking) fancy boxed set with the Death Star thing looks like it'll be on the spendy side for Star Wars collectors on a budget. Are there plans to sell the book by itself like they did with the other ones?

 

Both Mon Mothma and Bail Organa were criminally under-explored characters in Legends. It's nice to see them getting more exposure this time around.