Lit GENERAL QUESTION THREAD (What to read? Where to start? What's canon? What's not? Duros, etc.)

"Rebellions are built on hope."

 

Did Leia have Noghri bodyguards stuck to her permanently from the Thrawn trilogy all the way to FOTJ and beyond? Or was this just sort of an on-again, off-again thing depending on the author?

 

The name also dates back to the original novelization.

 

I think it was the latter.

 

Same here

 

There is a vignette in WEG's JAT Trilogy Sourcebook, "Cutting Ties," in which Leia fires her Noghri bodyguards after they cause one too many problems with her diplomatic efforts.

 

I think there's an allusion to Leia having officially disbanded her bodyguard, but still using them, for emergencies, in secret, in Planet of Twilight.

Leia glanced behind her at the four small, gray, wrinkled humanoids who seemed to have melted from the antechamber's walls. The smallest, who barely topped Leia's elbow, regarded the bronze doors with narrowed yellow eyes.
Several years had passed since, in the face of mounting pressure from the Council, Leia had eliminated her bodyguard of Noghri hunter-killers.
Leia understood it; even before the unfortunate incident of the Barabel ambassador, there were those who said it ill behooved her to wield a weapon that had been Palpatine's. Bringing them on this mission had been a terrible risk.
Do not trust Ashgad, the message had said.
She had sent for them, secretly, just before departure. There were some risks greater than schism in the Council.

Since they're openly present in Specter of the Past, I would speculate that it was her kidnapping in Planet of Twilight that convinced her that she needed to be allowed to use them openly, and, after Planet of Twilight, she made it clear to the Senate that she was repealing the disbanding.

 

Nice continuity there - the "unfortunate incident of the Barabel ambassador" is a very direct reference to the story in the JAT Sourcebook.

 

She also had them in Crimson Empire III

 

Since according to Wookieepedia, that was literally the same year (possibly in the second half of the year, with the Death Seed Crisis in the first half?), the proposed "repealed disbanding" would make sense.

 

Are there any examples of ships having 'keys', like cars would for example? Most times in SW people can steal ships pretty liberally, so I'm wondering if that trend was ever bucked.

 

Apparently there were "voice-activated starship locking systems" - and devices made to fool them.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/VoiceBox_Speech_Pattern_Duplicator

 

WEG also included a shipjacking kit in one of their equipment books, a set of tools designed specifically to circumvent starship security codes and allow them to be stolen. So "starship security codes" are also a thing, but we never really see characters having to enter codes to "unlock" their ships so what form those codes take is uncertain.

 

In Stackpole's entries in the BattleTech series, usually it's a voiceprint with a particular phrase, designated by the user in advance, spoken when activating the 'Mech - if the code phrase matches and the voiceprint matches, the 'Mech starts up.

Maybe he did something like that with Star Wars too, but I don't know for sure. Do we ever see characters in X-Wing do that - have to recite a phrase before the X-Wing can be flown?

 

There's a scene in Balance Point where Mara has this combination keypad on the Jade Shadow, but it's actually a fake and the real switch to open the ship is buried underneath and can only be flipped using the Force. Or, I guess if somebody were to cut it open...but they probably wouldn't know about it in the first place. Anyway, probably means that combination keypads are the standard security mechanism for ships.

 

Cool! Seems like there's a small risk of not being able to get into your ship if you can't concentrate enough to reach the Force (Nihil gas) or are prevented from using the Force (ysalamiri).

 

Now that I think about it, what if it's Han or Lando who are trying to get aboard, and they're being chased by angry Yuuzhan Vong warriors? That would put them in quite the pickle. Well, unless it's possible to use a blaster to shoot off the fake cover or something...

 

Those things are not that common, people forget that most people IU don't really expect to face Force users (if you do you are either a big bad boy, or have an overdeveloped sense of selfimportance), and/or don't know about counters too them.

And Mara at that time was very cocky regarding her own ability

 

Are the Legends Junior Jedi Knights, Jedi Quest, Jedi Apprentice, and Last of the Jedi series of a lower reading level then the current Canon junior novels such as Race to Crashpoint Tower, A Test of Courage, Spark of the Resistance, The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear!, Dark Legends, etc. (which are listed with an age range of 8 - 12)?

 

Yes, I've read the Young Jedi Knights series and the Canon junior novels, basically anything over 200 pages. Some of it has been hard to get through to be honest, which is why I'm concerned about the reading/enjoyment level of similar novels that are even shorter (typically 120-160 pages in length).

 

Was Coruscant established as being a ecumenopolis prior to TPM?

 

Yes. In the Thrawn trilogy and in Dark Empire, if not earlier