List of fanon elements in continuity

Occasionally, elements developed by fans make their way into the Expanded Universe. This usually involves popular theories held by fans that are eventually accepted by authors as truth, however are sometimes more specific as ideas or artwork by a fan appearing on web sites or forums.

Below is a list of fanon elements that have been included into EU literature and thus have become canon.

Stacy from Pink Five
Stacy, the main character from the Pink Five series of fan films, made an appearance in Timothy Zahn's novel Allegiance.

Shaala Doneeta
Adopted by Joe Corroney for use in CIS Shadowfeed Year's Start Fete Day Edition. Sha'ala's character was based on artwork commissioned by Bryan K. Borgman of a Force adept created for his Star Wars RPG home game in early 2000.

Hsiao vessels
Various vessels created by Ansel Hsiao, including the Vigil-class corvette, the Altor-class replenishment ship, the Allegiance-class battlecruiser, the Assertor-class Star Dreadnought, the Procursator-class Star Destroyer, the Bellator-class dreadnought, and Naval Station Validusia, appeared in The Essential Guide to Warfare and later entered into the Holocron continuity database.

Grievous's mask
Adopted by Abel G. Peña for use in The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War. The notion that Thrawn might eventually have obtained Grievous's mask originated in a forum thread at the Jedi Council. User Charles Phipps, aka Charlemagne19, posed the question of how Grievous would do tactically against Thrawn, in response to which forumers Mike Cooper and Kyle Hartshorn, aka Rogue_Follower, posited that it would depend on whether he had seen Kaleesh art; namely, Grievous's mask.

Trade Federation founding date
Webmaster Michael Potts extrapolated a founding date of 350 BBY for the Trade Federation based on available information, and was pleasantly surprised to see this time made canonical in The Essential Guide to Alien Species.

Hand of Judgment
During a conversation he had with Timothy Zahn at the 2004 Stellarcon, Albin Johnson came up with the idea of rogue vigilante stormtroopers. Zahn later included the idea, as the Hand of Judgment, in his novel Allegiance.

Tràkata
This lightsaber form was a widespread fan concept that was eventually included in the Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition Core Rulebook.

Endor Holocaust
The Endor Holocaust theory was first put forward by Curtis Saxton on his Star Wars Technical Commentaries fansite. Saxton claims that it is scientifically inevitable for the holocaust to happen. Some sources, such as X-wing: Wedge's Gamble and the comic Apocalypse Endor, mention the theory as in-universe Imperial propaganda or myth.

Endor Moon Hoax
The concept that Endor was a rogue moon, formerly orbiting a destroyed gas giant, originated in the Return of the Jedi novelization and was reproduced in Curtis Saxton's Star Wars Technical Commentaries article, which elaborated on the gas giant's absence. The Essential Atlas acknowledged (and debunked) the theory, mentioning an in-universe "hoax" which wrongly claimed that the planet was destroyed in a cataclysmic event.

Force kick
The term "Force kick" is a joking reference to a poorly choreographed fighting instance in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. This sparked off a minor fad within the Star Wars-oriented part of the YTMND community, in which the term might have originated.

Eventually the Force kick was made a canonical mention in Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel (Mentioned as a joke) and then was fully canonized in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Fan nicknames
Unnamed entities usually acquire fan-made nicknames, and sometimes, these make their way into canon.

Jedi Exile
Jedi Exile was a fanon nickname for this nameless character (called just exile in the game dialogues), however this has been adopted in The New Essential Guide to Droids, before she was given the name Meetra Surik in Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan.

Padawan Massacre of Taris
John Jackson Miller identified Wookieepedia as the source of the conjectural name "Padawan Massacre of Taris", which appeared in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 11: Reunion, Part 1.

DP20 frigate
The common fan designation of this ship as the "DP-20" or "DP20" was finally canonized in the revised version of Starships of the Galaxy.

Sith Triumvirate
The name "Sith Triumvirate" was first coined for the trio of Darth Traya, Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus by Wookieepedia until authors John Jackson Miller, Rodney Thompson, Sterling Hershey, and Abel G. Peña made the name for the group official in Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide.

The 501st Legion
Timothy Zahn, in his novel Survivor's Quest, named the 501st Legion after the international fan group of the same name. The unit would go on to be featured as Darth Vader's personal stormtrooper legion in Revenge of the Sith and be the focus of the game Star Wars: Battlefront II, as well as being prominently featured in the book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader.

The Galactic Federation of Free Alliances
For years, fans have been referring to the Star Wars galaxy as the GFFA; an acronym of Galaxy Far, Far Away. When Del Rey set out to create a new galactic government near the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, they christened it the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances as an homage to the fanon term.

BBY/ABY calendar system
The BBY system used in many sources to represent dates in the Star Wars timeline originated as an out-of-universe dating system and, after becoming popular, was retconned into an in-universe system used by the New Republic.

The Spotts TradeChip Company
This company mentioned in HoloNet News Vol. 531 50 released a set of Jedi trading holograms that the Jedi Council denounced as "random and arbitrary;" among such 'facts' Coleman Trebor said "They have Master Yoda's species listed as Lannik, and his midi-chlorian count at 4 million. That's just ridiculous". This, combined with the company's CEO's defense of the data only containing "minor inaccuracies...created using the best information available" seems to be a reference to SuperShadow. Spotts is also in reference to the popular Topps trading card manufacturers.

Fanfiction
Betrayal mentions how Aayla Secura "entered the folkloric cycles of several primitive cultures, where she often was merged with local historical figures or goddess-characters... Even today, educated immigrants from those cultures will write fictive cycles about her, some of them amazingly prurient."

Fan letter
Firmus Piett was not originally intended to appear in Return of the Jedi, and was not in the script. However, during the filming, a fan mail convinced George Lucas to include him.

R2-KT
The droid R2-KT was created by a member of the 501st Legion fan organization, and it eventually was given an appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.

Han shot first
The "Han shot first" observation which became a motto of purist fans has been referenced as an in-joke in official Star Wars media. For example, in the game Star Wars: Battlefront II it is possible, while playing as Han Solo, to hear the enemy troops exclaim, "It's Solo, and he's shooting first- that's not fair!". In the novel Bloodlines, Boba Fett remarks that Han should learn to shoot first. In Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy (Star Wars Insider 89), an in-universe report states that Han "is prone to 'shooting first'." There are several other references in the New Jedi Order time period and beyond where Leia makes remarks about Han always shooting first.

Characters named after fans
On occasion, authors name their characters after Star Wars fans that are well known in the community.
 * Ausar Auset (named after a Dark Horse forum member ausar_auset)
 * Vob Bitas (Bob Vitas)
 * Durnar (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
 * JMM (James M. McFadden)
 * Lwothin (named after the online alias of Christopher McElroy, Nightowl)
 * Meeshal (named after Mish'al Samman)
 * Dama Montalvo (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
 * Orrimaarko (Orrin Marko)
 * Pepin (Dany Pepin)
 * Shon Kon Ray (Sean Connery)
 * Krono Relt (Nathan Butler)
 * Tap-Nar-Pal (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
 * T'Bolton (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
 * Dunc T'racen (Tracy Duncan)
 * Xeltek (named after the message board screen name of Star Wars fan Christian Florbrant)
 * Ram Zerimar (Starwars.com blogger and Iraq war veteran)

Art based on fans

 * Darth Bane in Star Wars: Legacy, appearance modeled on a costume by Thomas J. Spanos.
 * Guri, based on Leah Mangue. (by Joe Corroney, Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy)
 * Ganner Krieg, based on Thomas J. Spanos.
 * Krono Relt, based on Nathan Butler. (Star Wars: Empire 13: What Sin Loyalty?)
 * Ishin-Il-Raz, based on Maikel Das, a regular contributor for the Official German Star Wars Fan Club magazine. (by Joe Corroney, Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals and Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24)
 * Palpatine (in a young clone body holding the Holocron of Bodo-Baas) in 20 Most Memorable Moments of the Expanded Universe by Joe Corroney, appearance modeled on a costume by Thomas J. Spanos
 * Shea Sadashassa, based on Roseanna Chickos, a Boston Rebels FanForce member. (by Joe Corroney, Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24)

Mistaken identity
When an author or artist un-intentionally implements a fan idea, due to mistakenly believing it to already be canon.

Cygnus Spaceworks
Apparently originating in Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks, a series of fan-made blueprints for the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, Cygnus Spaceworks has been mentioned in such references as X-Wing: The Official Strategy Guide and The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels as the manufacturer of Lambda-class shuttles and similar vessels. A reference to the Unification Wars in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross-Sections may also be inspired by the same source.

Imperator-class Star Destroyer
In Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross-Sections, it was stated that the Imperial-class Star Destroyer was initially designated Imperator-class, and this term has been repeated in subsequent sources with reference to the earliest years of the Empire. Like the name of Cygnus Spaceworks, this term derives from a set of old, and apparently fan-made blueprints, hull-plans for a "Star Destroyer - Imperator Class". As a matter of trivia, it is worth mentioning in this context that the Marvel Star Wars comics did use a distinct designation for Star Destroyers; but this was "Star Destroyer-class Battle Cruiser".

K'Kruhk's lightsaber
Adopted by Jan Duursema for use in Jedi: Mace Windu. The design for K'Kruhk's lightsaber was developed by a fan and displayed on his website. Artist Jan Duursema implemented the design into her own work, mistakenly thinking that the design was from a canon source.

Sian Jeisel
Jeisel's first name was the result of a misunderstanding. Jan Duursema's daughter, Sian, dressed as Jeisel for Celebration III. A photograph of her from that event was captioned "Sian Jeisel"; fans confused this as the character's full name, rather than the name of the person in the costume followed by what the costume portrayed. This confusion apparently led to The New Essential Guide to Alien Species using this name in text, making it official.

Official invitations
When Lucasfilm specifically invites fans to provide input into the Star Wars universe. While these elements were technically never "fanon", they were created by the fans and deserve mention here.

The Fantastic Technology Contest
For the book Galladinium's Fantastic Technology, West End Games and the Role Playing Game Association held a contest allowing players of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game to submit various examples of technology; winning entries were included in the book. Out of about seventy-five submissions, nearly half were included in the book, with first place going to Michael Zebrowski for his Repulsor grappling gun.

Design an Alien contest
Star Wars Galaxy magazine held a contest inviting fans to submit artwork and descriptions of original Star Wars aliens. These winning alien designs were published in Star Wars Galaxy 7.

Clone Wars Jedi poll
For the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series, Cartoon Network held an online poll which allowed viewers to pick which of three Jedi would be featured in an upcoming episode. The winning choice, Voolvif Monn, appeared in episodes 20 and 22. The two other choices, Foul Moudama and Roron Corobb, appeared later in the series.

Episode III: You Pick the Droid Color
Star Wars Hyperspace members were invited to vote for the color scheme of R4-G9 appearing in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

What's The Story?
A monthly invitation for members of Star Wars Hyperspace to provide a backstory for a certain element of the films or EU. While the main subject already exists in the universe, fans are able to introduce additional new elements in their entries. Winning entries are published in the Databank.

Darth Who? -- Name the Newest Sith Lord!
Members of StarWars.com were given the chance to give Jacen Solo his Sith name: Darth _____. Five fan-submitted names were nominated: Darth Acheron, Darth Caedus (which was the winner), Darth Judicar, Darth Paxis and Darth Taral. Voting concluded on February 27th, 2007, and the winning submission was included in the novel Sacrifice, from Del Rey publishing. 

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption canonicity
The LucasArts website held a poll to determine how Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption would be fit into continuity. The options were:
 * 1) As much of it as possible should be included.
 * 2) The basic storyline, but without a lot of the gameplay elements, should be included.
 * 3) Only things like the units and characters should be considered part of continuity.
 * 4) None of it should be included.
 * 5) I really don't worry about such things.