Lit Rogue Squadron in Legends

So after seeing Rogue One it is obvious where the Rebellion got the inspiration for the title of Rogue Squadron in canon. However in Legends did the name Rogue have any special meaning to it at all as well or was it just a name they came up with?

 

There were two Rebel squadrons formed out of what was left of Red Squadron after Yavin. Rogue Flight, and Renegade Flight. I think there was a reference (maybe in EGTW?) to "rogue" squadrons that were directly attached to Alliance High Command.

 

To give a more detailed answer, there was both a novel series and a comic book series centered around Rogue Squadron, both by Michael Stackpole. Both are some of the very best stuff the EU has to offer, and worth checking out even if you're more interested in the New Canon.

 

The Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama had the aforementioned Rogue Flight and Renegade Flight, which were, after the debacle at Derra IV obliterated Renegade Flight, merged into the Rogue Group seen in ESB (notably, it's a group and not a squadron in the movie, though Rogue Squadron is elsewhere specifically descended from it).

The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook mentioned that starfighter wings attached to Alliance High Command, rather than to a Sector Command, were referred to as "rogue" wings.

And then, in Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn created the Rogue Squadron under the command of Wedge Antilles, the one we all know and love. According to the Heir to the Empire Sourcebook, the Squadron is notable for having no set mission profile or base of operations, which is presumably the reason it's "rogue." From its origins in The Thrawn Trilogy, it took off once the X-Wing novels and comics mentioned above hit bookstores.

 

We don't know if Nu-Canon will even have a Rogue Squadron beyond the Battle of Hoth.

 

We don't know if it will have a Rogue Squadron at all.

 

Well it still appears in Empire... but then again even there it was only referenced as 'Rogue Group'.

 

Indeed. I probably should have italicized "Squadron" instead of "at all," since that was the point I was trying to make.

 

Oh ok so fighters in ESB aren't considered Rogue Suardron just yet? I guess it would be better to say that the Rogue One group was inspiration for the name of Rogue Group instead of saying it was the inspiration for Rogue Squadron.

 

A few sources from the new canon have used the name "Rogue Squadron" for Hoth's Rogue Group --- notably Star Wars in 100 Scenes and a couple of sw.com databank entries.

 

Given the added weight that Rogue One lends the name, I'd be shocked if Rogue Squadron wasn't reused at some point. (It might even be a nifty launching point for the "sequel" Rogue film that we're been assured we won't get.)

I don't think there's anything in Legends that would preclude the original Rogue Squadron being named after a group of rogues who went after the Death Star plans in that continuity, BTW...

TC

 

Alliance Command fails to approve another important mission. Luke and Wedge decide to go rogue and do it anyway. Hence, Rogue Squadron is born.

That's my head canon until a book or comic tells me otherwise.

 

Does Luke ever go by any other callsign besides Red 5 and Rogue Leader? After all the casualties that Red Squadron takes at Yavin, I'm thinking maybe he could have been shuffled around to some other number...and he doesn't become Rogue Leader until a bit later, right?

 

In Legends he's Rogue Leader from the get-go, when Arhul Narra forms Rogue Squadron (later retconned to be Rogue Flight, a flight group that's smaller than a full squadron by The Essential Guide to Warfare) and places him in charge. After Empire, whenever he flies with the Rogues Wedge gives him the Rogue Leader call sign and flies as Rogue One.

Red Squadron doesn't fly again after Yavin; it gets reconstituted as Rogue Flight and Renegade Flight pretty much right away. ... Unless you count the Red Squadron that Ace Azzameen flew with, but Luke wasn't a part of that.

In Canon no one knows or seems to care.

 

It's really annoying Stackpole never made an OT-era Rogue Squadron book with Luke flying with them.

 

Ok so Corran Horn v Baron Fel who was the better pilot ?

 

Per the Wook it looks like they actually have been referenced as Rogue Squadron in nu-canon, but as @jSarek implied, basically anything post-Hoth with their activities seems to be a complete cipher, assuming it even lasted that long. Given that Red Squadron at Endor is straight up Red Squadron rather than the Rogues with a temporary new callsign and Wedge is leading Phantom immediately post-Endor and zero mentions of the Rogues elsewhere, it doesn't seem like the squadron exists anymore.

To be honest, I'm still flabbergasted by the NEU's systematic erasure of Rogue Squadron outside of the immediate timeframe before and after Hoth. Given how iconic they were in the EU it'd seem like a no-brainer to bring over the name and general concept with new faces and new twists on their adventures but they're just...gone, now. I've never gotten why.

 

Considering only a few months back, the whole EU pre Disney was denied I'm not to flabbergasted by the erasure of Rogue Squadron but like a lot of other things. It's a shame it got dumped

 

I think it's a symptom of how the new canon operates. In the old EU, it seemed like contracted authors could to an extent ask "Has this story been told yet? No? Can I tell it? Yes? Great!" Especially in the post-ROTJ era, which was decidedly the domain of books & comics and safe from future films & TV series, but also in a lot of the OT era. A lot of risks were taken and a lot of trails were blazed, because LFL had largely granted the EU carte blanche when it played in certain parts of the timeline.

In the new canon, though, you get the feeling that it's more along the lines of "Has this story been told yet? No? Can I tell it? No, because a future TV show might want to tell it? OK, I'll write another direct movie tie-in instead." Boba Fett hasn't escaped from the Sarlacc yet, Rogue Squadron are MIA, Quin's fate is unknown... it's easy to speculate that the most popular elements of the Expanded Universe aren't getting any love because they're being reserved for potential TV treatment. Thrawn was lucky enough that a TV show existed into which he could easily fit, but the Rogues --- arguably the biggest success story in EU history --- haven't had that kind of bone thrown to them yet.

 

A couple of things:

-I posted this before a few years ago, but has Michael Stackpole said anything about being asked, or even being interested, in writing a new Rogue Squadron book? I recall someone made a vague reference that he had been asked some years back and said no, but I don't know how true that is or what the context was. He still does a lot of interviews, but they're mostly reminscining.

-Considering that the few TV shows that HAVE aired feature a lot of tie-ins to other parts of the GFFA, I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of the planned shows/films that were put on ice over the last few many years (whow it's already been 8 years now?) featured stuff that they're trying to avoid. And now these things are, well, a void. So I think Jeff Son of Ferg is right there.

 

Should the in-game squadron designations in X-wing Alliance be treated as canonical (or well, if Legends were still canon)? I'm pretty sure they just slap "Red" or "Blue" or "Gold" haphazardly on whatever fighter group happens to be in the vicinity, and who knows if there's an identically named squadron somewhere else in the galaxy. If the Empire's "Alpha Squadron" were actually a permanent designation, well it's quite the coincidence that Ace Azzameen keeps running into them...and probably annihilated them twenty times over.

 

I agree except that I'd argue Mara Jade was a bigger success story than the Rogues (not saying they weren't big) even Lucas mentioned her and to this day Mark Hamil has brought her up

 

I mean, its hard to compete with the wife of Luke Skywalker.

 

Let the Past die. Kill it if you have to.

 

Well Michael Stackpole kindly answered that question for me. He said Baron Fel had the greater skill and did it with a Ship without Shields. Otoh Corran has Force abilities though Wedge is better than both.