Lit Books Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen

It would be really nice if they came out with another chronology like for the first CWMMP that broke down TCW, its tie-ins, and related Clone Wars media like the Age of Republic comics onto a week-or-month ABG timeline. The artificial vagueness is likely a product of trying to future-proof for upcoming stories and prevent boxing themselves in.

 

I'd be pretty surprised if we ever saw a timeline with that level of specificity again, even for something safer like The High Republic. It seems like it runs counter to their current approach of avoiding contradictions by nailing down as little as possible.
In Legends, both the CW timeline and WEG's Holonet News dates ended up needing major revisions, so I guess you can't really blame them.

 

In the video interview, Chen states that in his mind at least it's a 4-6 month gap, which is actually pretty ideal because it allows time for multiple stories to still fit in that gap. I prefer at least 6 months myself.

My current personal timeline pegs the Season 3 TCW costume change at about the war's halfway point (18ABG), and the end of the season 5 youngling arc as about the end of year 2 (24ABG). The rest of seasons 5, 6, and 7 can then all fit within the final year of the war (25-36ABG), which plays out nicely since there is clearly still a bit of a time jump between the Season 7 Bad Batch arc and Revenge of the Sith/Siege of Mandalore itself.

This gives room for all canon stories to fit with breathing room and at least a few old legends stories for those of us who still wish to preserve them, not to mention more new stories after that in the future. Seasons 1, 2, and the first half of 3 can cover a roughly year long period until everyone grows a bit and changes their outfits. Son of Dathomir, the Crystal Crisis, and all the events of Season 7 can fit within the final 5-6 months of the war, which use yet another set of new character models and costume updates.

 

I thought Filoni or someone else who worked on TCW saying it took place about seven weeks after AOTC at one point. Am I misremembering?

 

That's a Fact Files magazine. More or less.

Pablo Hidalgo said in a deleted tweet it was about three or four months after AOTC.

According to a tweet, they did have a timeline idea using the Julian calendar but released a single image that puts the events of "Rookies" on Sept 25, 1955 (as 1977 is ANH, which makes the Treaty of 1647 is about 330 BBY, around the time or so the Trade Federation was formed.

Going by old Legends notes, AOTC begins on May 16th, ending around May 23rd or 24th.

 

Regarding continuity - with several mentions of Trade Federation's formation wish there were more details about it (either new or recanonized) or at least hints.

 

I enjoyed the book...it was very much like getting a Clone Wars prequel arc.

I liked Ruug.

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I liked them showing that all members of a species are not all the same...just like humans. And she presented that well. But I did not like how she referred to herself as murdering people. She is a soldier conducting military operations against enemies of her people. That is not murder.

 

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So in Chapter 7, there's a mention of Ki Adi Mundi's scar from a recent fight with Grievous... anyone know if this encounter has been shown in any form of canon yet?

 

Shown? No, but I think I heard somewhere the Catalyst novel mentions it.

 

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I agree that the plot was a bit too thin. I think 'Master & Apprentice' had a more robust plot that better supported the relationship stuff, where the Cato Neimoida stuff here was something separate that just so happened to be what was caused Obi-Wan enough trouble that Anakin had to come to the rescue. I like how the Neimoidians are reclaimed in this book from the racist caricatures they often seem to be, but it doesn't tie together with the whole 'brotherhood' theme, as far as I could tell.

However, I did want to take a guess at the reason for the bombing. I think Palps (and perhaps Dooku) was the one behind it, but I don't think it actually had anything to do with Cato Neimoidia or the Trade Federation at all. The Neimoidians were essentially being used and exploited just like throughout their history, in this case taking advantage of their neutrality and their strong feelings to create more extremism in the galaxy. Everyone has an opinion on the bombing and who's responsible, even if Cato Neimoidia itself doesn't join the Separatists yet, and it's chewing up people like Obi-Wan and Ruug, forcing them out of power or into the war. (Although I think it's notable that we see Cato Neimoidia as part of the war in RotS, so we know where its journey eventually ends.)

It's not an elegant chess move like we usually see from Sidious; it's just adding to the growing extremism and anger throughout the galaxy to expand the war. It's implied that this is one of the contributing factors to the Jedi being officially added to the military and given the armor at the end, and that pulls the Jedi more directly into the war and the Republic. Obi-Wan dismisses the way his speech was edited for the Holonet, removing the mention of the Republic's tech also being amidst the evidence he found, thinking that it's just about propaganda. But I think it's also about making Obi-Wan look like a Republic stooge to people in the Republic. The Jedi are being made to look like part of the Republic's corruption. Palpatine is turning up the heat all across the galaxy, and this was just one of several machinations he probably has going to that end. Granted, this is all only implied and I might be reading too far into things, but if it was actually intended, I kind of like the depiction of the Sith plots as being complex and far-reaching, compared to the small tactical stuff we usually see.

 

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That would be a reference to Grievous' debut in Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, wouldn't it?

 

Yes, yes it would.

 

There's a reference to a surprise attack on some Jedi on Hypori, and a crashed Acclamator. That's about as specific as it gets.

 

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I'd be fine if they re-canonized it in away to better fit with Grevious's portrayal in the rest of canon.
Maybe using tactics and trickery to defeat the Jedi instead of brute force?

Also I thought occurred to me while reading that I forgot to mention in my initial review: How much of the Gathering is common knowledge? In the show it seemed mostly like a myth with nobody being sure what was going on until it happened and Katooinie directly challenging Huyangs capability to train Jedi. Here the bulk of it was known beforehand with even rumors about Huyangs mythical origins. Maybe some younglings are more entuned with the rumor mill than others? At least it was consistent with having a Padawan learner lead the voyage.

 

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Or maybe reduce the number of Jedi participant, for example, from seven to four.

 

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IMO at very least have it so Grievous isn't confronting multiple Masters, or especially Council tier Masters at once.
I got no problem with him owning Padawan's, Knights, or even a Single Master without issues.
Both Mundi and Shaak Ti however is overkill.

 

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Really liked Anakin's interaction with Mill in Chapter 19. Nice to see that side of him.

 

Just getting started on this, Dex saying

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"Extremist only escalates when it's left unchecked. When you stay neutral in the face of it,"

on pg 40 feels so timely in the wake of Buffalo. And every other instance of white supremacist terrorism.

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And black supremacist terrorism, the recent New York subway attack for example.

Both sides to every supremacy.

 

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Agree. IMO, making Mundi a solo survivor can be an interesting variant.

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I got the impression that not all of her targets were legitimate military ones.

 

As far as I can tell, the dude was all over the place in his rants. Wildly swinging from anti-black to pro-black, anti-semitic, pro- and anti-Nazi. The ADL said his ideology is basically indecipherable.

Which is probably why he hasn't been charged with a hate crime.

Either way, I think you're telling on yourself more than you care to admit.

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....Don't press that button.

 

Yes, sir.

 

/Opens thread
/Closes thread
Dank ferrick