Lucas' Unseen Backstory

This thread idea was inspired by reading The Lard Biscuit's essay on AOTC.

As far back as 1977, Lucas has had information he wrote that wasn't included in the movies, yet was in the back of his mind and waiting to be included somewhere. A lot of times, it gets released in novels, toy packages, interviews, etc. Palpatine being the Emperor's name is a good example of this; it was never said in the movies before 1999, but Star Wars fans who had bought the toys or read the novel knew it. The famous lava duel was another, Boba Fett's name before ROTJ, etc. So I'd like to get a list of these elements that Lucas created, but left to other works to publish. I'm including ones that were said in the movies at some later point, but not in the movie where they were released. In the modern terminology, it's the G-canon bits of C-canon.

First, of course, are the names. Background names weren't so big in the OT, thus we get Walrus Man, Yak Face, Long Snoot, etc. But Lucas came up with actual names for a lot of the non-speaking characters in the PT, mostly the Jedi. I'm not going to do a whole list of these guys, mostly because I don't know where Lucas' names end and where the EU's begin. Lard Biscuit lists some of them in TPM here.

Even main characters get this treatment sometimes. Leia Organa's last name was never said until ROTS (and even then not in conjunction with her), and was left to the ANH novel. Bail Organa wasn't named until ROTS, and his first name was never said; this may have been in the ANH novel as well, I don't recall. Boba Fett wasn't named in the movies until ROTJ, but was first named in the Holiday Special. Kashyyyk (different pronunciation notwithstanding) got named and first depicted in the Holiday Special too. The Ewoks famously were never named in ROTJ (although I think they are named in the credits). Palpatine, of course, got named in the ANH novel, ROTJ novel, and action figures, but never in the movies until TPM. The Sith have been around since the ANH novel and press releases from the OT, too, but didn't get named until TPM either. Shmi Skywalker had to wait for AOTC to get her name spoken; Mace Windu until AOTC for his last name, and never for his first name. Theed, Otoh Gunga, and Mos Espa are never named. In the OT the Y-wing, A-wing, B-wing, and Mon Calamari get the same treatment. Star Destroyers and X-wings are never called that until ESB. The idea of Coruscant is a Lucas creation from long before TPM, though not the name.

There were also several deleted scenes referred to or readapted, in particular Luke's cut scenes from ANH at Toschi Station, from which Biggs' history and information on Luke's friends was taken.

Then there's the backstory. The lava duel was in the ROTJ novel and interviews, and never appeared until ROTS. Darth Bane was a Lucas creation that saw light in the TPM novel. The Whills and their Journal have been around from ANH to ROTS, and never so much as mentioned.

Labyrinth of Evil has plenty of this, but I don't entirely know what's Lucas' and what's Luceno's. Sidious' last speech to Dooku is, I believe, a Lucas creation, as is part of the clone army backstory (I think it was mentioned that Lucas' idea was that Dooku had ordered them, but Luceno changed that a bit). Grievous' backstory I'm not sure.

Apparently parts of TOTJ background material came from Lucas' notes, but I don't know any more than that. I'd guess the idea of the Sith originally being a rogue group of Jedi was one of those.

Anyone know any more or can help clarify some of these?

 

You got most of them I think.

The 7,000 BBY date stated in NEC for the origin from the Sith is also from Lucas notes, IIRC.

Some of Dark Empire has its conceptual origins in Lucas' shelved plans for a sequel trilogy, to...

And yes, the Sith = Dark Jedi backstory seen in TOTJ comes from Lucas (recall that Zahn originally was going to make the Noghri the Sith, but this was vetoed).

 

Darth Bane does come from GL? That's what I thought.

 

Darth Bane does come from GL? That's what I thought.

From the backstory for the Phantom Menace.

 

IIRC KJA partnered heavily with Lucas on TOTJ, especially regaurding Exar Kun..

 

I know that Rothana is a Lucas creation specifically entered into the EU, but whether it came from back story notes I don't know. Seems an odd addition though.

 

Sounds like a name; possibly an aquaintance.

The Dahl Peri Kenobi met in Shadow Hunter was the same name credited in the book's Acknowledgements. Black Fleet had several minor names too.

 

On the subject of names - a lot of the things mentioned in the initial post (Sith, Star Destroyers, X-wings, Mon Cals) appear in the scripts, though not the dialogue. There's a good piece at the official site on the Cantina Aliens, which deals with the differing inputs/visions of Lucas and the script-writing people, the on-set production crew, and the EU...

For the EU itself, most of what I've heard about involved Mr. Lucas answering questions and making corrections to outlines and drafts, rather than actively inputting stuff at the start. For Zahn, he responded to the outline by rejecting the Ben clone idea and the use of a "Sith" species (both probably good calls on his part); for TotJ, he filled out a questionnaire; for JA3, he suggested that the Dark Jedi villain be made a Sith Lord; and for ICS with Rothana, I think the point was that he wanted the dagger-design to be alien-originated and later appropriated by the human-supremacist Empire; and then there's the infamous decision to reject the initial story arc proposed for Anakin Solo in the NJO.

In all of this, it's not really clear how much he's working to a prearranged plan, and how much he's simply responding to ideas that don't 'feel' right to him. The one thing that really springs to mind as a proactive piece of Lucas input is the dating for the Clone Wars given in the early EU... though that's been retconned, and may have been derived from earlier EU sources.

It's possible that George does put more stuff in than we realise, or even that he reads and responds to the EU - for example, Anakin Solo's precocious habit of building droids from junk is also curiously like what was later established for his grandfather, and almost everything in the Prequel movies themselves, as distinct from the Prequel EU, fits very well with the Bantam and WEG backstory...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Coruscant is actually a Zahn invention. Lucas orginally called the Imperial Capital Had Abandon.

 

Actually, there's two stories about the naming of Coruscant.
Zahn made it up.
Lucas had a list of names for Zahn to choose from.
I had never heard of Coruscant before Zahn though (and usually ideas from Lucas pop up somewhere along the way, and Coruscant never did). So, I'm more apt to think choice one is correct.
I love the name though, so if it was Zahn, I congratulate him

(Wonderful idea for a thread! I hope it lasts a bit.)

 

The concept of Coruscant was Lucas' (well.....Asimov's to be precise)

The name was Zahn's.

The names Lucas tossed around included Alderaan, Utapau, Had Abbadon and a few others.