Lit The Old EU - I LOVE it!!

Generally speaking I don't have anything against Disney Star Wars. Anyone who does can just not watch them can't they?
But at the same time - as a man in my 40s I often wax lyrical about a childhood in which there were only three SW movies. And if I I wanted further adventures? I'd have to pick up a book!
When I was a teenager I read Zahn's first three books, Kevin J Anderson's trilogy and Shadows Of The Empire. I also loved the Dark Horse comics. Star Wars got this kid READING. Not the worst thing in the world is it?

When the new movies started coming out and it was clear they'd be creating a new canon and disposing with the old one - I wasn't particularly bothered. But for the most part - Disney's movies just don't scratch my SW itch!!!

I decided to revisit the books.

I began with Shadows Of The Empire, Followed that up with Heir To The Empire and am currently partway though Dark Force Rising. And all I'm thinking as I read them is: THIS is the REAL Star Wars sequel! These books GET it!

I've downloaded a load of them on Kindle.

So if no one minds - I'm just going to accept THESE as canon and the Disney Universe as big budget blockbuster fan fiction. Yeah I'll still watch them and share them with my kids - but for sheer fan engaging SW fun... IMO the books are where it's at.

 

A lot of us do this already

 

I'm happy to hear that!

 

EU/Legends and Canon are both Canon a a far as I'm concerned.

The revelation of the World Between Worlds and its connections to time-space settled it for me. Even going so far as to say the divergences of the two timelines have something to do with Sidious meddling with the Word Between Worlds. Also, that part of what drove Luke into hiding after his incident with Ben Solo was that he had an experience in deep meditation wherein he lived the entire Legends timeline. Not sure if he just witnessed it, or actually lived that Luke Skywalker's life as well, but it was enough to see his nephew falling in both timelines, as well as the constant strife with Empire/Sith/darksiders before and after him in Legends to send the guy into a bad depression.

I'm reading The Final Prophecy right now.

IG: @jedisufism

 

MORE POWER TO YOU!!!!

 

World Between Worlds is not canon for me

I've browsed from one end of this forum to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one interdimensional portal network connecting everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my headcanon. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.

 

The idea that the EU was so miserable and depressing by the end it ended up being multiversally contagious does tickle me, somewhat.

While we're here:

What if the Son is the EU and the Daughter is the NU.

 

Welcome to the Lit Board, here you'll find people who share what you discovered.

That is, a deep love for the EU.

 

Genius.

 

I also don't think Canon Luke was in the frame of mind to see anything positive there. And perhaps there was some Sidious influence clouding his perceptions as well.

IG: @jedisufism

 

With my headcanon slotting the ST in 64-65 ABY (Ben Solo was a 4th son born out of frozen eggs/surrogacy, or Leia's Force empowered/tech assisted attempts at a 64 year old pregnancy), which I detail in my Crucible Canon thread (although it also works if you just slot only TCW Season 7 and the ST alone into the Legends timeline, with Zahn's April Fool's "An Apology" handling Chewie's resurrection), you now have a far more compelling reason for Luke to be depressed.

Not only was the EU so miserable, it also was all for nothing as all the Jedi (including Jaina and Ben Skywalker, although not before they had kids) were killed in the Jedi Temple destruction. Also, 83 year old Luke (who we'll assume looks good for his age) going into hiding to die, as he said, makes a lot more sense than 53 year old Luke doing the same.

 

I agree
I'd also recommend the Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston X wing Novels and IJedi as well as Timothy Zahn Hand of Thrawn Duology too

 

The issue came when they switched from Bantam to Del Rey. Del Rey went in a far different direction. Also to be frank Stoover aside there wasn't many good Del Rey Authors up to it either

 

The Old EU has become my primary interest in Star Wars, it is the universe that made me a bigger fan years ago, and it gave so much depth to the movies, to the point where i'm more of a fan of the EU than the movies themselves, of course i appreciate when there are good stories in the Disney Canon, but in my mind that is an alternate timeline or reality, with Legends being the main story.

I tried reading through Bloodlines back in the day, but i just wasn't feeling it, i don't know why, but i wasn't invested in the universe that novel took place in, maybe i got too used to the Legends Universe, New Canon comic books, on the other hand, i can enjoy.

 

New canon comic books without the ot characters are fine. Luke, leia and han are distorted beyond recognition. Leia left luke for dead to kill vader in vader down. Han gambled away the rebellions money. The legends versions, while they had their issues, wouldn't do those things. Legends leia wad more concerned with her and lukes safety than killing vader in splinter of the minds eye for instance. Legends han was also more honorable, taking the criminal path only when there was no other choice (see the huge difference in the circumstances and reasoning for freeing chewie in each continuity)

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I don't feel that way, i think their potrayals are fine according to the era in wich the comics are supposed to take place, and Han gambling the Rebellion's money was mostly played up for laughs, it's not a big deal, and Leia has a lot of anger towards Vader, since now we have hindsight, the authors are trying to have her inner Vader come out a bit, since she's his daughter. I don't remember much about the Solo movie so i can't comment on Chewbacca's liberation.

The New Canon comic that rubbed me the wrong way was Darth Vader from 2017, it just felt like the writers were too focused on Vader's cool factor to actually focus on the tragedy of Anakin's life, Vader is supposed to be at his post pathetic at this point in time, but in this series he just acts like normal Vader, wich i don't get, plus, the whole first arc not only did it rewrite Vader's "Nooo" scene to make it COOLER (making Sidious look weak in comparison, wich i don't like) and contradicted the film's depiction, but it's main focus is the crystal "bleeding" stuff, wich i'm not a fan of. Maybe it's me being spoiled by Vader And The Lost Command or Dark Times too much, but i felt that comic to be too disconnected from Anakin's state of mind post-Episode III, wich only hurts it this much because they decided to make it just right after Vader's transformation.

But overall i don't mind that the characters are a bit different from Legends, i can accept that with Han, Luke and Leia's cases, but with Vader it's more of what i think is the right way to potray him in general, there were Legends stories that got him wrong as well (although i can't think of any right now), and the 2015 Vader run got him right, at least. Luke, Han and Leia's characterization might have gotten worse after i stopped reading the main Marvel series, though, so what do i know.

 

Personally, I can enjoy both the EU and the New Canon. When the new movies were announced, I was thrown by the news that the EU would become Legends and that new novels would be released, which exist in the universe of the movies.

I poured countless hours into reading the old EU and, just like @May The Force Be With Stu , Star Wars got me reading. The New Canon will never replace that and I don’t think that I will ever develop a comparable nostalgic connection to the New Canon.

The EU spans a huge timeline and represents the collective work of a huge team of creative minds working over the course of decades. The EU reflects a creative freedom that will never be bestowed upon the New Canon.

That said, I now accept the New Canon for what it is and there are some truly great books there. Claudia Gray is a phenomenal Star Wars author and Lost Stars is one of my all-time favourite Star Wars novels. We’ve also got Timothy Zahn writing again and there’s another trilogy of Thrawn books in the works.

As for the New Canon comic books, I gave up on them a year or so ago. They just didn’t stack up against the Dark Horse comics and failed to really spark my interest. I might give them another chance.

I’m glad that I can now enjoy both timelines. That said, if I had to choose between the two, the old EU would win hands down.

 

the EU is my Star Wars too i feel sad when i finish read Legacy because that was the end of the Star Wars that i knew

 

I do think the old timeline tied hands a bit on things like the origin of the Jedi and Sith, and how each era often ending up looking like a xerox of another one. That said, Legends does still remain the richer timeline, and often more self consistent - even if the latter books got a bit bitter, for many.

 

I also consider the Legends universe to be my "main thing." Don't get me wrong, there are things that I appreciate from the Disney canon. Rogue One and the Mandalorian are wonderful. Solo and Rebels are okay. I mostly enjoyed the last season of TCW.

But despite that, to me all of these form a kind of alternate reality. I watch them and have fun, but that's all. I don't know the names of most of the background characters, unlike with the Legends. I don't delve into the history of people, events or things. I mostly don't know which firm manufactured what new ships, droids or weapons. I don't know the Atlas map positions of many of the new planets, etc. I'm also not into the One Canon thing.

Of the new EU, I haven't read a single thing. Not because I think it will be bad. But simply because I don't have the inclination. I'm content with my Legends collection.

 

I do hate the idea that the new EU and the old one have to be intrinsically in competition with each other, though of course it's natural. Generally speaking, I'm a fan of the new canon. I'm delighted we got the ST, which has given me one of my favourite Star Wars movies ever and another I love. I like a lot of the New Canon books, especially anything by Claudia Grey. And IMO it's given us more good comics in 5 years than Dark Horse gave us in over twenty, particularly that first Vader series by Gillen which is one of my favourite Star Wars stories in any medium.

But! I also still love the old EU. It's what got me *really* deep into Star Wars after all. I hopped aboard half-way through NJO, and I eagerly gobbled up the rest of that series as the Jedi and the New Republic clawed their way back from the darkest pits of defeat; I loved Quinlan Vos' story in Republic, and the Thrawn Trilogy and X-Wing series may still be my favourite Star Wars novels ever. Of course both have things to dislike - at least IMO, the old EU did have some pretty awful books, while new canon has given us some disjointed nonsense I'm not a fan of like much of Rogue One. But both are unquestionably net positives in themselves to me.

I am sad we lost such great stories, so I can't really begrudge anyone else for resenting the new canon for it; there are valid reasons to prefer either canon. But I prefer to spend time celebrating what I like about each.

 

You got that right! With a capital R! Mara Jade is where it's at for Luke as well! And THRAWN! He's a worthy opponent without being uber!

 

I've finished the trilogy now. Superb. Just superb.

 

Glad to see some reasonable discussion! I enjoy both the EU and the New Canon, but I'd have to choose EU overall. I love Luke more then anyone else, and there is just so much rich and interesting stories in the EU for him.

 

Yep. This is what I'm talking about right here.
As for the new canon... I've looked at quite a few of the comics (tpbs) and will check out some more. But other than that I really have no interest in it at all.