Lit One Canon - Merging Legends and the New Canon - TFA spoilers, very much so

Alright, that works.

 

Thinking of this thread, it's shocking how easily TFA could fit into the EU after the NJO books, and eliminating everything from Dark Nest onwards, if Han had just yelled Jacen instead of Ben in the film.

Chewie was obviously found alive after the Vong War. Mara, Ben, and Jaina all went down in the Knights of Ren Jedi Purge. The New Republic reformed after the Vong War on Hosnian Prime, and the Admiral Ackbar in TFA is Gial's relative.

Losing Jaina, Mara, and Ben is too painful for the Big 3 to talk about, so they don't (and it's too much to explain to a film audience anyway). The Big 3 can't change the past, and can only focus on trying to redeem Kylo/Jacen for now.

If Ben were named Jacen instead, it's almost as if Kasdan and Abrams had finished reading The Unifying Force and said, let's start writing about what happened 5 years from this book.

My personal take on preserving EU best with Disney canon now is still eliminating everything post-ROTJ except the Jedi Knight games, Truce at Bakura, Shadows of Mindor, and Scourge. But it's still unnerving how much TFA parallels the old EU.

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'Ben' could be a family nickname, or a middle-name; not so?

 

But how is that really unifying canon if you cut out major parts? Sure, plenty of people don't like the post-NJO EU, but isn't the important part making sure the stories flow together?

 

I sincerely admire what you're trying to do here, Sinrebirth, although I don't really understand it. With all due respect, this seems a bit delusional.
“Your EU is dead, son,” Cliegg said decidedly, “accept it.”

 

Don't get me wrong, no one would have been happier than me to see the whole Legends package stay (yes, all of it: the good, the bad, and the ugly). But well... we didn't get to decide.

 

some thoughts about Dark Times and Marvel's Vader I wanted to get some input on; Jedi Ben suggested I post this here

So to be clear, years ago I bought and read the first TPB to Dark Times, a story where Vader is concerned about what the Empire will do now that they have the Galaxy. The story has a lot to do with Vader wondering about Palpatine’s plans for him and the Galaxy, coloring their master/apprentice relationship in interesting and logical wats. I never read the rest of the series though all the new great Vader content is making me want to.


This new series’ first 6 issue arc is similarly concerned with Vader’s relationship with Palpatine as Vader learns of alternate apprentices and the secret existence of his offspring.

Even though these series are separated by company and over a decade the first trade of the new Marvel Vader series really felt like a great conclusion to the Palatine/Vader arc Dark Times depicts. It seems the farther we go to prequel era the more Palpatine is trying to please Vader and to convince him that he made the right choice.

By the time Marvel’s Vader is happening Vader is trying to please Palpatine and seems devoid of all the idealism he was holding onto in Dark Times. Similarly it seems that Vader was the Emperor’s perfect pupil until the re-emergence of his offspring which is such a ridiculously interesting idea to me. Not only am I hooked into the new Vader series but now I desperately want to go back and read the Dark Times series I never finished to see how the Vader/Emperor relationship develops, especially in light of Vader’s proclamation near the end of the first Vader arc that he “now understands his relationship with the Emperor perfectly” or something like that.

The biggest separator I’m guessing is that dark times Vader is well aware of Mara Jade, other Hands, Inquisitors etc. whereas Marvel’s Vader seems to be much more in the dark about the Emperor’s other apprentices who have much less to do with the darkside in this new universe.

Is anyone willing to

1. Summarize how Vader and Emperor’s relationship develops in dark times and
2. Connect that to the culmination of that we’re seeing in the new Vader series?

Given the nature of the ‘wipe’ I know there’s no perfect linkage, but I still think it’s legit to trace this arc as part of analyzing different depictions of the Vader/Sidious relationship.

 

Actually, as mentioned before and how Lucasfilm continuity gurus did in the past, the answer to the whole thing is pretty simple. The dates are wrong. Every single one of them. You know how we're supposed to just say the dates for the Clone Wars in the Thrawn trilogy are simply wrong? Or the dates of the Clone Wars multimedia project are wrong? Well, the dates, times, ages and years from Truce at Barakua to Crucible are totally wrong.

The entire OT era of the post ROTJ EU simply happened earlier. As in everything. It all happened before TFA (and Han & Leia had four kids, Ben didn't get talked about much because he was odd). Or, more accurately, when Crucible ends, right after that is the destruction of Luke's New Jedi Order by Kylo Ren. By Crucible, the only surviving EU Solo kid at that point is Jania and Luke's kid is Ben Skywalker. They're dead too. Bought in in the Jedi Massacre. Only Ben Solo / Kylo Ren is left. Since we don't have a concrete date for when Kylo killed Luke's students, let's say, uhm.... 25 years after Endor.

So there we go. It's true. All of it. It just happened much quicker.

You're welcome.

 

Just in case, here's my reply to your post in the thread you created regarding this question:

In summary, in Dark Times we see pretty strong hints of what's to be of the relationship between Vader and Palpatine in the Marvel comics. Despite the fact that both stories are in different continuities, so far Dark Times remains compatible with both Legends and the new canon.

 

Like I said, the ages and dates are all wrong! Even Dark Nest to Crucible. so Anakin Solo died when he was I guess 15. So Darth Caedus died when he was, I dunno, 21. his grandkid only lived to be 3. Jania only lived to be 25. Ben Skywalker only lived to be 15 or whatever. Jania Solo and Ben Skywalker died in the Jedi Massacre by Kylo Ren (bonus points for moar grief for Han & Luke to run away). From that point on, TFA canon takes over. (And any reference in canon to "decades of peace" or only one kid is a lie.)

 

I don't mind being spoiled on DT. I kind of need to be spoiled to decide what to buy, the DH stuff getting expensive. Even Marvel's reprints are 10 bucks more than the DH omnibi.

Does DT remain Vader centric after arc 1?

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Dark Times isn't very Vader centric in general, so yes, while you can expect as much Vader in the rest of DT as in the first arc, that isn't much. If you want Vader centric stories, I suggest you read Darth Vader and the Last Command and Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison. And of course, the current Marvel series.

Spoiler

For the spoiler part, Palpatine turns an Order 66 surviving Jedi to the Dark Side and forces him to find other Jedi. Eventually Vader finds the new servant of Palpatine and kills him.

 

Alright, okay, she's five or whatever. As I saids, so view the EU ages and dates are all wrong anyway. These are fictional people who lead exceptionally busy lives. Just ask Wolverine or Spider-Man, they get a hellova lot crammed into a single day.

 

Maybe a good way to go about working out the inconsistencies is that as they evolve, just write them out on a time scale and see where you can move the conflicting data to fix it.

 

I agree that a timeline, or really any kind of visual would be helpful to keep track of all these adjustments.

Maybe one of you guys can throw together a timeline with the most important EU stories and where they go relative to the movies. Here's some free online interactive timeline tools: http://elearningindustry.com/top-10-free-timeline-creation-tools-for-teachers

 

Right now, it appears that the Killik Crisis/Swarm War would take place in the Legends equivalent time as The Force Awakens: both are around 36 years after the Battle of Yavin (assuming that TFA is strictly 32 years after ROTJ and that ROTJ is 4 years after ANH).