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That could be resolved with "Anakin was born on Tatooine, but was won by Watto at the age of three",


hence, him having assumed that Padme was asking "how long have you been here at Watto's junkyard" when he answered

"Since I was very little. Three, I think."

The 29 ABY thing can be resolved with the First Order having taken a few months to declare itself - and the Resistance being formally established in opposition to the First Order specifically.

EDIT: Jason Fry's Darth Vader, Sith Lord, acknowledges that it is uncertain whether Anakin was born there, or brought there- saying that some records say one thing, other sources say the other thing.

 

Sure it can be resolved, but it's still going against what TPM implies. The conversation is about Anakin leaving the planet.

And Leia formed the Resistance in Bloodline, which is 28 ABY. 29 ABY is just an error, and the material shouldn't be changed just to accommodate it.

 

Leia started forming The Resistance in Bloodline, before the First Order had revealed itself. It's reasonable for these "preliminary stages" to not count as "The Resistance proper" - with there being a (metaphorically speaking) "Declaration of Resistance" after the First Order revealed itself, and that being used as the "Official start date".

Just as it's reasonable for there to be "Rebel activity" before the Rebel Alliance is founded.

The TPM conversation is ambiguous enough for "Anakin misinterpreted Padme's question" to resolve it.

 

Really does seem Exegol was a long term plan of Sidious even before TROS. It really is Canon Byss.

 

I think Sidious had the outline for a Grand Plan done before the events of the films kicked off, inuding contingencies, including Exogol.

That's not to say that he knew every little detail of what was going to happen, (including his defeat in ROTJ) but I think Sith rule from Exogol was his eventual end game.

 

I agree. And it works well with the movie. But it doesn’t seem to fit too well with Exegol being the dark-side nexus that Palpatine was looking for and did not find until right before ROTJ, though, as it was portrayed in Aftermath and the Thrawn books.

I’m curious to see how they’ll deal with that issue. Maybe they’ll gloss over it, or maybe it’ll turn out to be an entirely different thing that Palpatine was looking for.

 

True

I guess the books never says WHEN he finds Exegol it just seems that Exegol was part of some sorta endgame similar to how Dark Empire was endgame in Legends. But the exact dates and Times were defiantly not.

Also in the TROS novelization doesn't it say about how the Clone body wasn't transferred to the "Safe Place" yet or something like that.

I do wonder what the "Original Intent" of some things in Aftermath were considering that book was still being written with the Trevorrow cut of 9, and Palpatine stuff was at least on the table since October.

Again TROS at least makes stuff in Aftermath retroactively better with the Contigency and how that endgame is a Palpatine return. But if it wasn't a Palpatine return I do wonder...

 

Aftermath doesn't suggest when/if he found that "source of the dark side". He was looking from around 20 BBY onwards.

 

And it does say (And I think The Star Wars Book does too) that they had A LOT of info thanks to Thrawn.

 

I guess you’re right, it’s a bit ambiguous. Here’s what the last book in the Aftermath series, Empire’s End, said about it:

“Before Palpatine’s demise at the hands of the rebels, the computers finished their calculations, finally finding a way through the unknown. The Emperor was convinced that something waited for him out there—some origin of the Force, some dark presence formed of malevolent substance.”

So technically, they have some room for interpretation there. Which, I’m sure, is precisely how it why it was written that way. I don’t know that Wendig ever had insider information beyond being asked to give some vague hints about the dark side and the Unknown Regions. It’d be interesting to learn more about that for sure. If Disney ever decides to be transparent about things, we might find out more. Which would be fantastic.

But yeah, they could make this be something different, and thus open the room for more storytelling, which would be great. Move away from the movies, do your own thing, new EU!

 

@Sauron_18

I mean I think the Unknown Regions are gonna be a big thing moving forward beyond whatever Palpatine is doing.

High Republic might deal with it.

Certain rumors about certain animated shows might deal with it.

Plus ever since the New Canon EU started the Unknown Region seem to be the focal point for...something.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head Sauron: the foreshadowing in Aftermath was likely kept deliberately vague so that it could refer to whatever the ultimate dark side threat in the ST ended up being. If Snoke had been the big bad in Episode IX then it would probably be interpreted as Snoke. As it currently stands, Exegol is the most likely explanation.

And like you say, because they haven't made the connection explicit they can always do something later and say that that was what Palpatine was sensing.

 

@Sauron_18

Kinda interesting to think in the Trevorrow version then the thing Palpatine may have been sensing was Tor Valum which would have been odd considering he died midway in the film

 

Ordered this from Amazon UK today - should come next week.

 

I’m actually wondering if it would’ve been Mortis instead. And I’m curious to know whether Trevorrow wanted to include it based on his own enjoyment of that story or, more intriguingly, if there was something in Lucas’s original sequel treatment that related to Mortis. I partly suspect so, and that might have been the basis for the hints provided in the books. But that’s just my speculation.

To add to that, there’s even a narrative opening in the Mortis arc in TCW, where the Father said the Sith were but one of many groups who sought his family’s power. That leaves the door open for it possibly having been Snoke (originally) who had found that power. And actually, isn’t that what Snoke’s internal narration implies in the TLJ novelization? Not Mortis specifically, but that he had found the knowledge/power that Palpatine had been seeking?

I feel like Tor Valum was already known to Palpatine, but perhaps not. After all, why would he have left Tor Valum alive if he’d previously encountered him? And that does fit a bit better with the idea that what he sensed was a person.

 

Possibly possibly....I do feel that Mortis was probably were Lucas was going given his own things he talked about....plus not to mention Rebels played a role in Rebels as well.

Granted reading Colin's draft I feel that Mortis was quite tame compared to what i think Lucas would have done. But that's just what's on the page.

I think we haven't seen the end of Mortis and I could see that being something they expand upon in other material and maybe even some post TROS pre TFA stories.

(And will mostly involves Ashoka)

 

This and The Mandalorian: Art & Imagery Vol 1 came today from Amazon UK.

 

I was rereading Empire’s End and I took a closer look at the language used to describe the dark signal that was calling to Palpatine:

“Palpatine said that this galaxy was to be his, but that it was only one among many. Again that phrase arose: the unexplored infinity. . . .​

Before Palpatine’s demise at the hands of the rebels, the computers finished their calculations, finally finding a way through the unknown. The Emperor was convinced that something waited for him out there—some origin of the Force, some dark presence formed of malevolent substance. He said he could feel the waves of it radiating out now that the way was clear.”​

What struck me this time was how biased I had been in trying to tie this to the sequels. There’s nothing there that limits the dark signal to the Unknown Regions. Indeed, the signal seems to be coming from beyond the galaxy.

So there’s no real reason why Palpatine coud not have had access to Exegol for decades. The fact that he’s tracking the signal with ancient computers suggests it could have been something the Sith had been obsessed with for centuries. Maybe extragalactic conquest has been their end goal for a lot longer.

Which, because the story takes place in a galaxy far, far away from us, has the added bonus of suggesting to readers, not quite seriously, that yes, Palpatine was coming for you!

 

Could be the Mortis gods/Abeloth/Celestials... I bet @ColeFardreamer could have a field day with this line of thought.

 

Oh I will have my field day with this soon enough!

For now, lets say that extragalactic signal may find use if retconning my beloved ALIEN EXODUS back into the galactic storyfold and giving it's ancient origins a proper far future ending post Legacy, thx to E.T. bringing it full circle.

 

@ColeFardreamer I had never heard of this before. Thank your for showing me this rabbit hole, through which I’m only just now starting to fall.

 

@Sauron_18

I mean this could defiantly be something future stories start to expand upon with new shows and other stuff, and high republic. A wider story happening even beyond the ST.

Future Ep 10-12 material here ;p

Or stuff for Post TROS material to touch upon in general

We all know Lucasfilm doesn't let a good idea die...Heck the ST pretty much used every scrapped idea from old drafts of Return of the Jedi and the Anthology Films and Mando is pretty much using all sorts of ideas from the unused Underworld series.

 

I got this book when it came out but have yet to read, how good is it?

 

So far not bad - I'm about halfway through.

 

Any interesting new info on the Sith Eternal or the First Order in particular?

I was thinking back on our discussion about Exegol and the Aftermath trilogy, and I’m pretty sure now the whole dark signal thing may have been a reference to Kotor 2. But I’ll post more about that in the Aftermath thread, since it might be veering too off topic for this thread.