Lit The Elder Houses of the Galaxy, and new canon galactic history (spoilers)

Wealth....I am sure that even if they are not currently running things politically they are very wealthy and have parleyed that wealth into business success.

With that wealth I am sure they have a security force to protect themselves and their assets as well.

 

My guess would be that certain provisions surrounding the authority and autonomy of the Elder Houses are grandfathered into successive galactic governments under some form of charter, and probably only for the purposes of settling dynastic disputes over proper heads of state. That way, if the Elder Houses agreed to revoke a title from a hereditary head of state, while said noble might disagree, the Republic would side with the Elder Houses and view that noble as illegitimate.

Still, to what degree the Republic (or Empire) would interfere in terms of dynastic struggle is a big question, and I think that underscores the significance of this development in the new canon.

 

Well, it's like telling somebody that he/she will go to Hell: it only works if he/she believes in Hell. Same thing with being stripped of your title, especially if it's ceremonial. You don't really have to enforce it.

 

Which is why I think there should have been a little more to it then "you no longer have your title" There should have been more to it like no access to her families properties, assets or money....not only does she not have a title but no money, home, etc....all she would have is her job a senator and the paycheck that brings.

 

But what I meant is that, for someone like Carise, losing the recognition of her peers is everything.

 

I was interested in knowing more about the Elder Houses in the new canon as well. As someone else said, just sounds like another name for the EU Ancient Houses to me. I do not think it necessarily means that some of the other EU noble houses or nobility don't or couldn't exist in the new canon though. I just assumed it was more like an organization or alliance supporting the nobility, rather than an actual government or ruling body.

In the EU, I sort of got the impression that noble houses ruled many of the individual planets, or had a great deal of influence on the Pre/Old Republic eras. Then post Ruusan, especially the closer you got to the original trilogy era, their influence waned and democratic reforms or rebellious revolutionary governments started taking over . I got the same sort of vibe from Bloodlines and the quote below, just that the influence of the nobility is less and the pro-Democracy movement is even stronger in the new post-ROTJ canon. There still seemed to be a decent amount of nobles in power or in positions of influence in the during the Clone Wars per the TCW episodes, so it would make sense with respect to the quote below.

This was the original quote from the Claudia Gray interview about the Elder Houses:

 

This makes me wonder: What if the Empire promised to restore the power of the Elder Houses? "Emperor" is a title often used by monarchs, so Palpatine may have been invoking the glory that the Elder Houses once had by using that title.

 

Again, Dune could explain a lot of what the new canon is developing with these houses. Inter-family struggles would spill over into outright war and the Navigator's Guild and Imperial throne could make or break a house depending on which side they supported in the conflict. The nobility in Dune were also divided in duties within the Empire, so they had a role in the galaxy beyond ruling a planet each.

 

That was the impression I got in the Leigh Brackett ESB draft, where Leia talks about Ovan Marakel, who's described as controlling the Transport Guild and being the most powerful man in the galaxy next to Sheev and Vader. Leia tells Han to try to convince Marakel to support the Rebels.

 

Nice! I guess that would have only compounded some of the criticism towards Lucas from Frank Herbert et al. Not that the references have abated in the decades since Herbert's death, with the Nightsisters, the Sleeper, the bloated Navigator-like Hutt species etc. And now, noble houses that actually serve a function in galactic society. I guess in the EU, we had No-ships in the form of Ysalamiri lizards.
Still no face-dancers, unless we count changelings.

 

However, we know from Star Wars: Uprising that the Empire attempted to wipe out the Noble Court of the Anoat sector. However, I assume the Emperor only did so because the Noble Court leaders refused to bow before him. Apparently, the Anoat sector was independent even in the time of the Old Republic.

 

Always thought that since Palpatine declared himself to be an Emperor, that it probably was a title or position that was not completely out of the ordinary for the time. Though of course as a dictator he could have called himself anything he wanted.

Yeah the Dune influences do indeed come up now and again in Star Wars, which is definitely no problem in my book, another one of my favorites.

 

Having Palpatine use the Emperor title as a callback to Elder House times makes a lot of sense... it makes the transition in ROTS less jarring, him getting that title without a fuss was something illogical I always tended to tolerate before. But if there used to be several emperors on the system or sectoral level, and there's some nostalgia for that time after the chaos of the Clone Wars, it's no longer as big of a leap.

 

I wonder if, in addition to being the color of the Sith, red is the color of the Elder Houses. The Radiant VII, Queen Amidala's handmaidens, Palpatine's offices, and the Royal Guards are all red.

 

Well to COMPNOR (and the Rebel Alliance), the Empire was practically a fascist state with some monarchist trappings to lure the in the old money nobles. The Old Money nobles on the other hand saw the COMPNOR fascists as just a bunch of thugs with temporary staying power and Sheev as a kind old nobleman from Naboo. It worked out for Sheev the best, since he got to use all kinds of support. From hardline fascists, to militarists and nobility.

 

Hmm, that would make a lot of sense.

 

Actually, in the time of the Republic, red was associated with diplomatic immunity (per Star Wars Journeys: The Phantom Menace).

 

That explains the Radiant, but the rest could be the Elder Houses.

 

I wonder if there is any overlap between the Elder Houses and the "Core Founders" celebrated in statue on the Senate Plaza on Coruscant.

 

Threat Necromancy for this one is awesome and we need to discuss the Elder Houses of the Galaxy again, as well as their links beyond/between planetary family trees.

any new Elder Houses information ever since Bloodlines etc. mentioned them and this topic died?

 

You could always just create a new thread, you know. Thread necromancy is heavily frowned upon.

 

I actually think thread necromancy is preferable to creating new threads. But maybe that's just me.

 

Oh its not just to ask for news, Jello. And I rather use existing threads than create countless new, especially if old topics have interesting relevant posts still to reread.

So here goes some discussion I hope if enough are interested:

What noble houses could be related? Also given many worlds had removed rule by aristocracy in favor of democracy, what old surviving noble houses, even powerless ones or kept nominally only remain that repurposed their wealth to become business magnates?

I imagine the major corporations and their leaders are basically the follow up to some of the elder houses or at least still owned by them, even if the board of directors or such is not of aristocracy always anymore.

Also how do Elder Houses play into galactic politics? Might some territorial boarders and regions tell us what houses might be related? Nobility often sent their young to the military to become officers, even if just for prestige. May this in part have influenced later Imperial Warlordism by Elder Houses attempting to take over or reestablish some territorial rule using their military officers and their commanded chunks to secure their old territories? Maybe even some warlord oddball names like High Admiral or other out of chain of command title additions may be explained by old noble house titles and positions the got re-used or added?

Also like in the real world, nobility or former nobility lives in or near the capital still mostly and therefore is involved heavily in business and politics there. As Senators too maybe.

 

I'd be interested to see a good luck at how all the Elder Houses connect to one another. Like, my head kind of pictures that long ago, the nobility basically funding expeditions to other worlds to establish as their own respective territories. And this led to them forming the Elder House colonies of Alderaan, Serenno, Naboo etc. And each of these families spawned more nobility on their respective worlds. Also, on some of these colonies, the role of the Elder House varied. Some became so keyed into society that they were a major power bloc whilst in others their power maybe waned and were like nobles but had no power beyond name.

Maybe some of the New Mandalorians consisted of members of the Elder Houses? Cause we had Duchess Satine. Like with old canon, the Mandalorians conquered territories and made the natives into Mandalorians. So, maybe, Satine was an Elder House that became Mandalorians? Also, maybe the Tagge's could be added here? The Tapani Noble Houses could maybe even be brought back and linked to the Elder Houses. Also, what about the people on Shu-Torun? They had a monarchy style government. Maybe that could be merged into the Elder Houses.