Lit The One Canon

So I've been trying to make a post-Endor One Canon timeline, fudging events and using broad strokes to make it kinda all fit. I got up to 8 ABY and I'm sure there are probably issues with it, but eh. Whateves.

Spoiler

4 ABY
-The Battle of Endor. Second Death Star is destroyed, death of Vader and first death of Palpatine. The Empire is delt a crippling blow. Palpatine transfers his essence to a clone embryo on Exegol. [NOTE: He also had cloning facilities on other planets, such as Byss in case his enemies found him before he was ready to return.]
-The Bakura Incident. First vague alliance between the Rebels and Imperials.
-Riot in Monument Plaza. News reaches Coruscant. A statue of the Emperor is toppled, leading to Imperial authorities to fire on the crowd. A brief civil war breaks out on Coruscant.
-This repeats elsewhere, leading to what later historians will call the Imperial Civil War as various warlords, Moffs, Admirals, and others declare themselves Palpatine’s true successor and start to carve out their own fiefdoms. These include Zsinj’s Empire, The Restored Empire and the Pentastar Alignment, amongst others.
-For the record, the surviving members of the Imperial Ruling Council declare Grand Vizier Mas Amedda as the official successor, (with Sate Pestage succeeding him as Grand Vizier) though he’s pretty ineffective outside of Coruscant. Another added problem was the High Human Culture of Coruscant (and really the Empire as a whole) freaking out by putting an alien as Emperor.
-Cobb Vanth finds Boba Fett’s armor and becomes sheriff of Mos Pelgo.
-Luke begins to train Leia.
-Lumiya forms her own little Sith group.
-The brief Nagai-Tof War is caused by some extra-galactic invaders.
-Emboldened by the victory at Endor and facing more open public support the Rebel Alliance reforms into the New Republic. Mon Mothma is elected as Chancellor and they set up a temporary capital on Chandrila.
-Operation: Cinder. One of Palpatine’s many contingencies kicks in, leading to the devastation of several cities/planets and causing Migs Mayfield to go AWOL and Iden Versio and Del Meeko to defect to the New Republic.
-Mission to Vetine. Luke Skywalker and Shara Bey recover a fragment of the Great Tree from the Empire.

5 ABY
-Both Kashyyyk and Ryloth are finally liberated.
-Sate Pestage is assassinated after trying to jump ship.
-The Coruscant Civil War ends with Ysanne Isard brutally putting down the uprising. Ysanne then basically takes over, keeping Amedda on as a puppet. This leads to the Official Committee of Grand Moffs to meet on Kessell in order to undermine Ysanne Isard. They decide to throw their support behind Trioculus.
-At the same time as the events on Kessell, a separate group of Imperials on Akiva pledge alliance to Gallius Rax.
-The Naboo Invasions.
-Kyle Katarn defeats Jerec and his Dark Jedi.
-Trioculus and his second-in-command, Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa are defeated by the New Republic.
-The Battle of Jakku signifies the final nail in the coffin for the Empire to regain control as it once had. Officially, the war ends here. In actuality, however, the war lasts for quite a few more years as the New Republic either wipes out the various Imperial Remnants or said Remnants join up with the New Republic.
-Seeing the writing on the wall, some hardliners (including Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and Commandant Brendol Hux) flee to the Unknown Regions.
-Both The Confederacy of Corporate Systems and the New Separatist Union are formed. They recognize each other as legitimate entities and sign a mutual defense pact. [NOTE: This is my headcanon here.]
-Jabba’s Criminal Empire is reformed by his father (Zorba) and nephew (Gorga), though it’s a shadow of it’s former self due to all the slave revolts that have been happening since Jabba’s death.
-The New Republic liberates Utapau and Clak’dor VII, while the Imperials straight up abandon Chazwa, Obroa-skai and Deysum III.
-Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano begin their search for Ezra Bridger.
-While on Ajan Kloss, Leia discontinues her training with Luke.

6 ABY
-Grand Admiral Octavian Grant defects to the New Republic.
-The Imperials abandon Commenor, Cyrillia, Foundry and Gyndine.
-The New Republic launches a massive attack on Coruscant, liberating it and moving their capital to it.

7 ABY
-The Bacta War.
-The Hunt for Zsinj begins.
-Admiral Betl Oxtroe begins secret talks with the New Republic about setting up Ederlathh Pallopides (the 11-year-old niece of Palpatine) as a puppet Emperor, but she (Oxtore, that is) is assassinated before those talks could go anywhere.

8 ABY
-Poe Dameron (who is only 6 at the time) begins to learn how to fly starships, with help from his mother Shara Bey.
-The Hapes Consortium opens its boarders.
-Zsinj is killed and his empire falls apart.
-Han and Leia marry.

It was about this point I realized that it was a lot of work and I kinda put it on the backburner while I worked on my fanfic (which is late in updating but that's neither here nor there).
Any suggestions are welcome. XD

 

Good questions!

Spoiler

A. I'll be honest, I haven't had the chance to read Tatooine Ghost yet (it's on my very long list). That being said, Ben Solo (who in my headcanon is named Jacen but looks like Adam Driver) has his Legends birthdate (9 ABY). I figured that was fine because it's only a 4 year difference, and it helps match him up with his siblings in terms of age. *shrugs*

B. At a guess, I'd say Sate Pestage's blockade of Chandrila is probably between Mas Amedda and Ysanne Isard respective "reigns." Not sure how that looks in regards to the Aftermath books.

 

Spoiler

I am combining Dark Empire/Legacy of the Force with the Sequel Trilogy, yes.

 

FWIW, while I don't think Tatooine Ghost is particularly memorable, it's also one of the only Troy Denning novels I don't dislike, so I guess it's sort of a split decision there.

...However, I'm actually making this post primarily because seeing it brought up in a One Canon context reminds me of one of the first and silliest Legends/Canon conflicts I saw brought up in Lit: in the novel, Teemto Pagalies is a washed-up loser barely eking out a living, but - as seen in an early TFA trailer - his racing flag is one of the flags hanging outside Maz Kanata's castle. Contradiction?!?

 

Obviously he had a career resurrection and became a famous and well-known podracer. XD

 

Sorry to double post, but it's been a few days so I thought it would be okay.

I had a thought that the Bib Fortuna in the Mandalorian is actually Nat Secura in Bib's body. (Due to the whole B'omarr brain removing thing going on.) And that frees up Bib to have his thing with Firith Olan.

I don't know if that works, necessarily...but I thought it might be interesting.

 

Something came to mind recently as I was re-reading Empire's End. Palpatine goes to Korriban to visit the remains of several of the Exiles. He states that it has been 10 years since he had last set foot on Korriban. Empire's End takes place in 11 ABY. Yet, much less than 10 years prior, in 4 ABY, he was on Korriban in a short battle against Renegade Squadron. While that entire event is absurdly unbelievable and contradicted the previously established canon, what if it didn't? If the skirmish on Korriban in 4ABY really was the last time Palps was there, and 10 years really did pass by until his next visit, then wouldn't Empire's End be set in 14 ABY?

 

Found this that One Canon fans might find funny

 

I think having characters rounding up/down every once in a while would be pretty believable. There's not enough "roughly 1000 years ago", it's always so literal.

 

Alternatively, what prevents that Renegade Squadron mission from being pushed back to 1ABY?

 

This is an approach that I use a lot, as it allows for a lot of flexibility in reading stories, particularly ones set in crowded years.

That actually would make more sense in terms of the Empire's End quote from Sidious, but as noted below...

...yep, but of course the game writers didn't factor in a quote from a '90s comic book. My own head-canon about Renegade Squadron is that while they are indeed real and part of a very elite and highly classified Alliance black-ops unit, this mission to Endor may have part of an assassination mission targeting Sidious specifically, or that it was simply a sort of virtual simulator exercise that wasn't actually real. At least to me, it doesn't make much sense that any sort of troops, no matter how elite, how be able to take on Sidious, and especially not on Korriban. I'm not even sure if Korriban should have even been known to the Alliance at all.

 

I have recently returned to the problem of Valance the Hunter's conflicting Legends and Canon storylines. Not only do they have conflicting backstories and personalities, but their storylines directly conflict to the point that the death and resurrection for the Legends counterpart is contradicted by the continuous story for the Canon counterpart. I'm not even sure if the extent of their cybernetics are identical across continuities. They are effectively two different characters with the same name. Previously I suggested that the Legends counterpart was the brain of Valance implanted in a droid body, while the Canon counterpart was the body of Valance augmented with cybernetics (and with a droid brain piloting the body, presumably.) I find this explanation to be clumsy and overcomplicated. My new suggestion is a little cleaner, if a little more contrived: the Legends Valance is the father of Canon Valance.

Valance the Elder

To review: Valance started out as a grunt in the Clone Wars* and was drummed into the Stormtrooper Corps following the founding of the Empire. Valance was grievously injured in the Kwymar Suppressions. When his body was restored using extensive cybernetics, he suffered a mental breakdown due to a hatred of droids and left the service to become a bounty hunter. He later got wrapped up in the pursuit of Luke Skywalker following the Battle of Yavin, but had a change of heart on droids thanks to C-3PO and confronted Darth Vader before dropping into the acid lake on Centares. Years later following the Declaration of the New Republic, Valance's body was recovered and revived thanks to the preservation of his brain inside of his metallic skull. He assisted in the search for the Great Life Jewels and used them to restore his body shortly before death.

In order to make this new theory work with Valance's preexisting backstory, all we need to do is insert a period between Valance leaving Imperial service and becoming a bounty hunter. Presumably, he went to the world of Chorin (otherwise called Shinbone) and became a miner. For whatever reason, his career as a miner didn't last and he left to become a bounty hunter.

* I don't know if the implication here is supposed to be that he was a clone trooper in Legends, but that would conflict with his pre-Star Wars 108 backstory. I suppose that his physical depiction in Star Wars 108 does resemble Able, to my eyes.

Valance the Younger

Beilert Valance was born on a mining planet called Chorin and later enrolled in the Imperial academy on Carida in the same class as Han Solo. He was injured first on the planet Qhulosk and then on Mimban (not sure how the order of events is supposed to work here) and was honorably discharged. Valance the Younger hasn't shown any dislike of droids or mental instability resulting from his cybernetics. He went back to Chorin, found his home abandoned, and then left to become a bounty hunter. As of the Battle of Hoth, he hasn't been killed yet.

If Valance the Elder is a clone, then Valance the Younger must have inherited his father's doubled aging. If the earliest he could have been born was 17BBY (when Valance the Elder received his injuries) and we assume that Han Solo: Imperial Cadet takes place around 9-7BBY, then it works. In my opinion, it is somewhat contrived for the son of Valance to suffer similar injuries under similar circumstances, but at the same time it's not as though the Force hasn't done this to fathers and sons before. There is the small hiccup that Canon Valance's family was supposed to be on Chorin for generations. We can assume that this is true--through his mother's line.

 

Left Valance and Right Valance, in fact.

 

A problem I've run into is that any One Canon timeline I try to make inevitably turns into Joe Bongiorno's timeline.

Grrrr. *shakes fist in mock fury*

So what I've done is I've compiled a list of all the differences between my personal headcanon timeline and Joe's, with my reasoning. (Not counting the Sequel Trilogy / Solo stuff cause I've talked about that already)

Spoiler

-The comic Tantive IV can totally take place between Rogue One and A New Hope. The only argument I can think against it is that it's a bit silly, but so is the Holiday Special and Mount Sorrow so it's fine. Nothing about it breaks the story or anything.
-He has the Forces of Destiny episode An Imperial Feast as taking place immediately after Return of the Jedi. I would argue that it actually takes place during, specifically right before the final celebration scene. Unless they had multiple celebrations spanning several days, which I suppose is possible.
-Related, the Battlefront II multiplayer mode "Ewok Hunt" takes place simultaneously with the ending celebration in Return of the Jedi. My main reasoning for this is that I absolutely love the image of happy "Yub Nub" uplifting music celebration and then you just cut to this Predator, Vietnam-like "OH GOD THEIR IN THE TREES!! THEY KILLED FRITZ!! THOSE MONSTERS!!! AHHHH!!!" nightmare fuel. That really tickles me. (Headcanon: The next morning, the surviving few Stromtroopers surrender to the first confused Rebel they see.)
-Less of a difference and more of what I think is an honest mistake, but the Droids episode A Race to the Finish is misplaced on his timeline. (It's set at the beginning of the series when it should be at the end) But whatever.
-While Luke is having his adventure in The Day after the Death Star! Leia is having her adventure in her titular comic.
-In terms of Roll Out: Maz's, Rey's and Finn's stories take place shortly before The Force Awakens, BB-8's story takes place during the Force Awakens, Chewbacca's story takes place during The Last Jedi and Ben Solo's story is actually about Anakin Solo, and takes place in 20 ABY.
-For completeness, Biomes and Vehicle Flythroughs takes place during the films (and show, in the case of the Sorgan section of Biomes) that you would expect.
-The Tales comics Hoth and What They Called Me can easily fit, I feel like.

There is probably more, but this is just what I can think of right now. (I am very tired XD).

 

Valance... I rarely loath a character but him and all his new comics are utter crap. sorry to those who like him, but I somehow can't get to like him. Even had to force myself to read a comic with him in it. Afterwards immedeately forgot what it was about even. No idea why honestly, but have you had the same with other characters? He somehow totally is not my kind of thing. And in Legends I was fine with him, only in canon I have that problem. Weird

 

So, I just finished Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray (really enjoyed it) and I'm curious about how everyone sorts it into the "one canon" timeline.

Specifically, I'm trying to figure out how Chancellor Kaj fits into the succession between Kalpana and Valorum. The book is firmly set in 40 BBY due to Obi-Wan being specifically seventeen in the book (unless it's possible to age him up?) and Kalpana was supposed to be Chancellor from 48 to 40 BBY in Legends. A possible thought I had was that maybe Kalpana didn't serve a second term and Kaj served from 44 to 40 BBY. However, in M&A, Kaj is said to have led the Senate for "many years," which to me suggests more than four years (though I suppose whether or not four years constitutes being "many years" is a matter of perspective).

Another possibility is that maybe Kaj served in a "Vice Chancellor" role (similar to Mas Amedda) and became an interim Chancellor due to something happening to Kalpana. That way, you could combine her years serving in that role with her years as Chancellor, which could easily amount to being "many years."

I plan on giving Dooku: Jedi Lost a re-read and I remember Kalpana being mentioned in that, so I'll see if there's anything there that would contradict or support my theories.

 

Dooku Jedi Lost establishes that Kalpana served before Kaj (Rael Averross is established to already be on Pijal in a scene that is specifically stated to occur during his term). So that leaves two possibilities, either he had two non consecutive terms or he only served one.
Personally I favor the one term solution just to make it less convoluted, plus having the chancellors before Palpatine each serve one term is a good way to show how unstable the Republic has gotten.

When I first read this book I assumed Quigons "Served for a Long Time" comment was more a reflection of his own POV than an objective fact. Keep in mind, he took Obi-Wan as his apprentice roughly four years ago, so its reasonable to think he's been very busy in that time.

One further curiosity (Not exactly a contradiction but something of note), Plagueis implies there is a certain amount of human centrism rising in the Republic during this era, in one statement the reason he uses Palpatine to gain political power is because he doesn't believe a non human can reasonably rise to the position of Chancellor. This kind of clashes with the presence of Kaj in the timeline, but it is possible her election was an upset, multiple candidates split the vote, or pure partisanship overtook prejudices. If that is the case it could offer some additional context to the reason she decided not to run again.

 

So, I was trying to figure out something and I'm curious what you guys think.

Basically, the book Thrawn: Treason has a Grand Admiral named Balanhai Savit, who is stated as one of the the twelve Grand Admirals. That tracks, as there are only supposed to be twelve at a time. However, all twelve Grand Admirals (plus Thrawn) are already identified.

My thought was that Savit could have been the replacement for Demetrius Zaarin (the bad guy from the TIE Fighter game) as that was the only Grand Admiral to die before the Battle of Endor. However, the timing doesn't really work out, with Savit being Grand Admiral three years before Zaarin's death.

So, my current thought is to have Savit be one of the original twelve, and then when he is arrested (and presumably striped of his title) in Thrawn: Treason, Zaarin would be promoted.

Thoughts?

 

I've always figured the rank of "Grand Admiral" in Canon now refers to Imperial numbered Fleet groups. Thrawn commands the Seventh. Savit commands the Third.

 

You're probably right. I'm not sure how many numbered fleets there are, and of course things get kinda messy after the Battle of Endor and the Empire splitting up into a bunch of different factions, but maybe there are 12 "main" fleets, each one controlled by a Grand Admiral?

I don't know if that works, I'm just thinking out loud here.