Lit The Great River - The problem with the "the new EU"... A haven for Legends fans.

Very true.

The Approaching Storm tried to be a lead-in, apart from the Ansion adventure, but it was very weird - the leader of the Separatists was deliberately hidden until the very end, when we discover IT WAS COUNT DOOKU ALL ALONG! Which would've meant something if we had ever heard of him before.

 

Yeah. That was weird. I remember reading one of Ian McDiarmid's interviews prior to AOTC, and he was politely referencing how late the script came in. The actors must have been confused. I imagine the authors of some of these books were confused about how to foreshadow things properly. Lol. It has been argued by some that the job of the EU novels is not only to be fun but to clean of the mess of George Lucas. Kinda hard to do that sometimes.

 

Also the only other full adult level novel set during the 10 years post tpm was rogue planet which besides having anakin and obiwan and bejing set in this era was a tie into the njo.

 

I thought Luceno had access to the AOTC script when he wrote Cloak of Deception.

 

As far as I know, that is indeed the case, Wookieepedia says as much, which is why CoD could be considered the closest we ever got to an AotC lead-in.

 

Outbound Flight?

 

Forgot about aboutbond flight but was thinking greg bears rogue planet.

 

Cloak of deception was set before tpm

 

Yes, but it featured a number of concepts that were being introduced in AOTC - so in that sense, it was the closest to a true AOTC lead-in that we got despite being set prior to TPM.

 

I gotta say approaching storm is the lead in it ends a day or so before and deals with the confederacy of independent systems and a planet deciding on if it will stay in the republic or leave.

 

You're obviously thinking that the term "lead-in" refers to stories that, chronologically speaking, take place immediately prior to other stories. And yes, if you want to limit your thinking to the literal, that's true. But there can be lead-ins of concepts as well. The concept of the conflict between the Republic government and the cartels, which comes to a head in the Clone Wars that break out in AOTC, is set up in Cloak of Deception and almost nowhere else in the EU. That novel therefore CAN be considered a loose lead-in to AOTC.

 

I would argue that the conflict between the cartels and the republic is set up in tpm and even before that in the first chapter to the novelization of a new hope(all though there it was them manipulating palpatine not the other way around in the novelization). Both cloak and approachinhg storm just give us the details. both move the issue towards aotc but they are all part of one story of how the clone wars came about. Plageuis, cloak, tpm, approaching storm and the aotc plus some of the comics give show us how the republix failed to prevent the war. Cloak of deception give us the very important backstory bits for tpm like why Valorum was ineffectual, and how gunray became head of the trade federation.

Cloak does lead into aotc in several ways but it does so by explaining the situation that lead to tpm.

 

I'm personally using the new EU as cut off point, I've nearly read every SW book written from the old original EU 'Legends Era' and will just dip into to the new EU. I'm obvioulsy looking forward to the new films! But TV series and Lit I'll just pick up what I fancy....

 

I'm curious about the status of someone like Delta Squad--I'm not sure if this has been discussed before: Delta Squad originally appeared in the EU/Legends, and their story and personalities were developed there. Compare this to someone like Luke Skywalker, whose story and personality were fleshed out in the official canon--the Luke Skywalker in the EU/Legends is an afterthought, a throw-away, a character that can be done away with and we'll still be left with a comfortable canon Luke.

Now this isn't so with Delta Squad. Delta Squad's brief canon existence holds nothing to the Delta Squad in Republic Commando. Republic Commando is to Delta Squad as the official canon films are to Luke. But Republic Commando of course isn't canon, so, if I am being a strict adherent to canon, I must suspend disbelief about what I know with Delta Squad, and all I can consider is what exists in that single TCW episode.

So what does that mean for Republic Commando? This is clearly where Delta Squad comes from, and without it there would be no Delta Squad. How can Delta Squad be canon but not Republic Commando?

 

the same way Quinlan Vos is? or Aayla Secura?

 

In other words, canon is completely meaningless starting with how TCW handled things.

 

canon has been completely meaningless since Zahn refused to acknowledge Dark Empire

 

I refuse to acknowledge Dark Empire. I totally acknowledge Empire's End, though.

I kid. But really, every author has pretty much ignored Dark Empire.

 

I do sort of understand the original point being made: the fact that TCW wasn't originally meant to be part of a new continuity has resulted in some really weird artifacts.

On the other hand, though, it's not like there's really anything to say that at least the majority of Republic Commando couldn't have still happened just as it did in Legends. So I'm not entirely sure what the problem is.

 

But one of those "really weird artifacts" being Delta Squad makes me endlessly happy.

 

One of the best Luke arcs.

Which is pretty much the only thing to be acknowledged, albeit poorly (namely, Zahn when he finally had to, and in the NJO).

 

One of the best WEG manuals, certainly.

 

Stover didn't

*sobs*

 

I would say that it was earlier when they decided to completely ignore all the Marvel comics

 

Didn't Zahn talk them into setting Dark Empire after TTT, rather than just "refusing to acknowledge it"?

We know that the Dark Empire writers at least referenced The Glove of Darth Vader, in the endnotes - Zorba got a mention.