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

One of the bits of characterization that I liked from Heir to the Empire back in the day was that C-3PO didn't like Lando - a lingering distaste from the circumstances of their first encounter. I don't recall that getting carried over or expanded upon in any of the subsequent novels and comics I read before stepping away from the EU sometime around the middle of the Bantam era. For those more conversant with Legends than me, did that ever get touched upon later? Was there ever a story where Threepio's dislike of Lando was mentioned again, or was there ever a point where they hashed things out and Threepio ultimately gained more of an appreciation for the Old Smoothie?

Weird question, I know, but it's a thing I remember from HTTE and it reappears in my memories of that novel with some regularity.

 

Having read through most of the Bantam Era in the last year, no it doesn't come up again.

And in fact some of the latter books, I'm thinking Planet of Twilight, imply Threepio is programmatically incapable of disliking humans.

 

If I recall correctly, in the Black Fleet Crisis, Lando, Lobot, Threepio and Artoo are exploring a ship of some kind, and Lando and Threepio do get into it a bit.

 

On October 2006, Leland ran a sith naming contest to determine Jacen's Sith name, with a long list of example names from throughout Star Wars. All of the names there are used in official media except for Darth Karnage, does anyone know what that name was for?

My current theory is the unpublished article Vader's Legacy, which was meant to release in Insider 88 in June 2006, and then later in Insider 90 on October 2006 before ultimately never getting published.

Alternatively a character meant for Legacy?

 

As far as I know, it's never been stated what the name was intended for. Although it does feel like a Legacy Sith name (like Darth Kruhl). I wonder if someone could message Leland Chee about it, if he remembers (or is at liberty to say).

(Also, I really wish Abel Pena would come back and just drop Vader's Legacy on us. Of all the EU "lost media," that's like my "holy grail" along with the unpublished Nomi Sunrider novel)

 

Ouch.

 

If you click on "show comments" on Leland's blog post, Pena commented that he liked Karnage as a name, which somewhat reads as cheekiness of we assume it's from his article.

But yeah, looking at a list of One Sith names, Karnage fits in with "Stryfe, Rauder, Ruyn, Nihl, Kruhl, Havok", there is a clear deliberate "delinquent" air to One Sith names with misspellings that don't change the pronunciation, simple shortening of words, and a guy named "Warlock".

It's also possible for both of these to be true with the article featuring a new member of the One Sith, like a Noghri sith inspired by Vader in Legacy era to cap off the article.

But yes I would love for Vader's Legacy to be released.

 

I feel like they need to come up with better Darth names. The only ones I really like are Vader, Tyranus, Plagueis, Revan, Malak and Traya.

 

Names are not meant to be overthought in my opinion. It's easy to develop writer's block trying to come up with a "good name" but names are ultimately neutral signifiers for the most part and your opinion of the name will typically just correlate with your opinion on the signified. I rarely think to myself "oh I really like this specific name" either in real life or in fiction.

So long as a name functions as something to refer to someone, conveys something about them, and isn't something like "Darth Icky" or "Darth Steve" it's a good name and even then something hokey can have some appeal if you develop an attachment to whoever the name is signifying, I've grown to appreciate "Darth Millennial" and "Andeddu".

I honestly kinda like the "biker gang" shift when it comes to sith names in the Legacy era, though I can't comment on the One Sith themselves since I have not read those comics.

 

According to Supernatural Encounters,

Spoiler

Tulak Hord was also known as Darth Karnage.

 

Anyone have thoughts on which Mandalorian training Sargeant gave Rex his Jaig' eyes? And what act of Valor he might have earned them for?

 

What are some good sources on the galactic nobility? Did the Empire have an established peerage system, or were things more local and varied? We know Palpatine could ennoble distinguished Imperials. Are there any good sources on the intersection of force users and noble houses, particularly the Jedi lordships?

 

Lords of the Expanse would be a good start, though mainly focused on the Tapani Sector, to my knowledge. Findable as pdf, too.

And perhaps more recently - the Edge of Empire core rulebook?

 

Having just finished Ahsoka, is all that's left in the "Filoni-verse" the two theatrical films, Mando and Grogu and the mysterious grand finale, or are there other things in the pipeline too?

 

Ahsoka season two is in pre-production per the most recent Insider.

Nothing more is presently announced but I'd be on the lookout for news from Celebration Japan next month.

 

Thank you. Do we know any more about the grand finale by the way? I recall it being said it'll involve details from everything Filoni has worked on, and it's heavily speculated to be a Thrawn Trilogy adaptation, but that was at least a year or two ago and I haven't heard anything since.

 

Which Star Wars books are most like reading a fantasy novel?

 

Quite a few comics I guess - including Jedi vs Sith and some of the Phase 2 High Republic books?

Dawn of the Jedi: Enter the Void also qualifies fairly well at times, but it's mixed in with other stuff.
And of course, Lost Tribe of the Sith as a series, surely has many such elements...

 

I feel like Planet of Twilight had a good fantasy-scifi vibe too. My first into Republic/Imperial Commando, as good as the books are, has left me wanting more wizardry and bizarre magic stuff.

 

The Ronin novel from the Visions series was very "fantasy". Paper ships, a planet of ghosts, people possessed by kyber mirrors, Sith witches, etc.

 

What, if any, was Grand Moff Kaine's involvement with the construction of the DS-II?

 

Why does Anakin Solo start Jedi school at 11 but Jaina and Jaina start at 13?

 

@Sinrebirth (since you seem to be one of the more active mods) - could I make a poll on what different types of villains/antagonists we'd like to see in future EU works? (And a discussion so it's open to more ideas too).