Star Wars Legends

"The analogy is that every piece of published Star Wars fiction is a window into the 'real' Star Wars universe. Some windows are a bit foggier than others. Some are decidedly abstract. But each contains a nugget of truth to them. Like the great Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi said, 'many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.'"

- Chris Cerasi of Lucas Licensing

The Expanded Universe (also known as the EU) encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background, of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. It includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films, television series, toys, and other media. This material expands and continues the stories told in the films, taking place anywhere from 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace to 40+ years after Return of the Jedi.

Development
The early development of the Expanded Universe was sporadic and unrefined, particularly because there was so little official material for the creators to build on. For example, the "Expanded Universe" is now considered to have begun with Alan Dean Foster's 1978 Star Wars spin-off novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye. This novel drew inspiration primarily from an early draft of the Star Wars script.

Much of the early EU material from the early 1980's contained analogies to the real world, rather than embracing the wholistic fiction of the Star Wars films. Much of this material now seems rather detached from the rest of the EU.

A turning point was reached when West End Games began publishing the Star Wars Roleplaying Game in 1987. In order for players of the roleplaying game to create new adventures, West End Games needed to provide supplemental material describing the Star Wars universe in previously unknown detail. For example, the Aurebesh alphabet was originally a random piece of set dressing in Return of the Jedi. Stephen Crane copied those symbols and turned them into a complete and coherent alphabet (which would later be used in the feature films). Developing details like this in a consistent fashion turned West End Games' Star Wars products into a de facto reference library for other EU developers.

Around this same time, Dark Horse Comics acquired the Star Wars license and used it to launch a number of ambitious sequels to the original trilogy, including the very popular Dark Empire stories. Shortly thereafter, in the early 1990's, Bantam published Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Widely publicized as the "sequels which were never made", Zahn's novels reignited Star Wars fandom and sparked a revolution in Star Wars literature.

All this development began to feedback on itself: West End Games was producing roleplaying supplements detailing the material from Dark Horse's comics and Zahn's novels. Novelists and comic creators were using West End Games' supplements as reference material. Sequels to the novels were being published as comics and vice versa. And the scope of the Expanded Universe grew at a prodigious rate.

To date, the bulk of the Expanded Universe has detailed the Star Wars universe after the end of Return of the Jedi.

It was decided in the late '90s that using the Empire as the villains had become repetitive and monotonous. Hence a new threat, the Yuuzhan Vong, was introduced in the New Jedi Order, more specifically, in the first book of the series Vector Prime.

The EU and the prequels
Prior to the release of The Phantom Menace, Lucasfilm specifically prohibited development of the time period prior to A New Hope in the Expanded Universe. With the release of Episode I, however, that changed a broad range of new possibilities opened.

Since The Phantom Menace was set in a time of peace, it was hard to invent any kind of threat for the heroes to fight against. Thus most material that built on The Phantom Menace was either set before or during the film, rather than after.

Attack of the Clones, on the other hand, introduced another fresh conflict -- one which fans had wanted to see for over twenty years. Aside from being explored in comics and novels, the Clone Wars would be given their own animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars, which would serve to lead up to the release of Revenge of the Sith. In this series, many battles throughout the galaxy are shown, with the Force shown to seemingly its full extent in fantastic fights, such as Mace Windu destroying a whole droid army. The first (2004) season of the series concludes by introducing the newest villain, General Grievous, an important character in Episode III. Grievous was also a main player on episodes 21-25, released in 2005 and leading directly to Episode III. Following the release of Episode III, events between the two trilogies are now being elaborated, like the Great Jedi Purge.

Film and television

 * The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) was a two-hour television special portraying Chewbacca's return to his home planet of Kashyyyk to celebrate Life Day with his family. Numerous TV and Music stars of the late 70's appeared in variety show-type acts. The Holiday Special occupies a unique place in the Star Wars universe. The content is considered "canonical", but the film itself has been reviled by fans and virtually disowned by George Lucas. The Holiday Special features the first appearance of bounty hunter Boba Fett (in an animated sequence), and the first reference to Kashyyyk. The general look of the Kashyyyk sets from the Holiday Special formed the basis for the settings used in Revenge of the Sith (2005).
 * Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) was the first of two films featuring the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi. In Caravan of Courage, the Ewoks help two children rescue their parents from a giant known as Gorax. This and the next film are notable for having their stories written by Lucas himself, one of his few contribution to non-film Star Wars productions, other than allowing them.
 * Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985). In this second Ewok film, Wicket, Cindel, and the Ewoks ally with a hermit named Noa to defeat the Marauders who attacked their village.
 * Star Wars: Droids (1985-1986) was an animated series following the adventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It featured Anthony Daniels as the voice of C-3PO.
 * Star Wars: Ewoks (1985-1987) was an animated series featuring the adventures of the Ewoks prior to Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2004) aired on the Cartoon Network and depicted events between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The series received an Emmy Award and introduced the character of General Grievous.
 * Future film and television projects. On April 23, 2005, at the Celebration III fan-convention, George Lucas announced that two new television series would be produced. The first will be a fully 3-D, half-hour length series continuation of the Clone Wars cartoon to be produced by Lucasfilm Animation. The show is scheduled for a tentative Fall 2007 debut. A second series will be an hour-long live-action show, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It will focus on very minor characters from the films, with the possibility of cameos by some of the main characters. The live-action show is expected to make its debut sometime in 2007 or 2008.

Radio and audio drama

 * See also: Star Wars (radio)

A radio adaptation of A New Hope was first broadcast on National Public Radio in 1981. The adaptation was written by science fiction author Brian Daley and directed by John Madden. It was followed by adaptations of the next two films in the original trilogy: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The radio adaptations were notable for including background material probably created by Lucas but not used for the films. Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams reprised their roles as Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and Lando Calrissian, respectively; John Williams music from the films was used; and Ben Burtt, who designed the sound for all of the Star Wars movies, did the same for the radio adaptations.

In 1983, NPR broadcast an entirely original Star Wars radio drama, Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell. Like the radio adaptations of the films, Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell was written by Brian Daley.

For more than a decade, Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell was the only Star Wars drama not adapted from a feature film. Then, between 1995 and 1998 more than a half dozen audio dramas were released as audio tapes and CDs. These audio dramas were adapted from Dark Horse comic books, and includes: Tales of the Jedi (1995), Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (1995), Dark Empire (1996), Dark Empire II (1996), Empire's End (1997), Dark Forces (1998), and Crimson Empire (1998).

Adaptations of the prequel films have not been made at this point.

Books

 * See also: Star Wars books



Star Wars-based fiction predates the release of the first movie, with the 1976 novelization of "A New Hope" (ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster and credited to George Lucas). However, Foster's 1978 novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, was the first Expanded Universe work to be released. In addition to filling in the time between the movies, this additional content greatly expanded the Star Wars timeline before and after the film series.

Star Wars fiction flourished during the time of the original series (1977-1983), but slowed to a trickle afterwards. In 1991, however, Timothy Zahn's celebrated Thrawn Trilogy debuted, sparking a new interest in the Star Wars universe. Since then, several hundred tie-in novels have been published by Bantam and Del Rey.

Notable books in the series include The X-Wing Series, by Michael A. Stackpole, and the New Jedi Order series, by various authors. Another series of books is the Young Jedi Knights, by Kevin J Anderson, which follow the adventures of Jacen and Jaina Solo and their friends.

Comic books and strips

 * See also: Star Wars comic books

Marvel Comics published Star Wars comic book series and adaptations from 1977 to 1986. A wide variety of creators worked on this series, including Archie Goodwin, Howard Chaykin, Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon, Tom Palmer, Carmine Infantino, Walt Simonson, Michael Golden, Chris Claremont, Whilce Portacio, Mary Jo Duffy, Jan Duursema, Tom Mandrake and Ron Frenz. Some fans, including some officials at Lucasfilm, no longer consider the Marvel series story canon, although some events have been mentioned in Star Wars reference books. In the 1980s, as part of their Star Comics line aimed at young children, Marvel also published the short-lived series Ewoks and Droids, based on the two Saturday morning cartoons of the same name.

Star Wars was also a daily newspaper comic strip from 1979 to 1984. Among the creators were Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson.

In the late-eighties, Marvel initially were to publish a new Star Wars comic by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy. However, Dark Horse Comics published "Dark Empire" instead, and have gone on to publish a large number of original adventures set in the Star Wars universe. These include: Star Wars Republic, Star Wars Empire, Star Wars Tales and Star Wars Tales of the Jedi. Dark Horse has also published the Marvel series in a collection entitled Classic Star Wars. In addition, the company has reprinted several Japanese manga-interpretations of the films which retell the stories using the artistic devices and idioms of the form.

Computer and video games

 * See also Star Wars computer and video games and List of LucasArts Star Wars games.



Since 1983, over 120 video games have been published bearing the Star Wars name, beginning with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back published for the Atari 2600 by Parker Brothers. Other early titles include the Star Wars Nintendo Entertainment System game (published by JVC) and three other titles for the Atari 2600.

Atari produced arcade games based on the original trilogy, beginning with Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which were both 'flight sim' style games that utilized vector graphics. The third, Return of the Jedi, used more traditional raster graphics.

Star Wars has also, and not surprisingly, opened the way to a myriad of Space-flight simulations that take the space wars of the saga in a more serious manner, teaching the player to fly various Star Wars Universe starfighters along the lines of more traditional "Modern Aircraft" flight simulators. The first among these were "X-Wing" and its two expansions, "B-Wing" and "Imperial Pursuit", dealing with the Rebellion's side of the war, taking place in the period right before, and up to, the destruction of the first Death Star. The second was "TIE Fighter", dealing with the Empire's starfighters at the time prior to Episode VI. Both games were released for DOS. "TIE Fighter" also had an expansion disk, "Defender of the Empire". In addition, both the original "X-Wing" and "TIE Fighter" games saw two collector's edition releases (one for DOS and another for Windows 9x) which featured enhanced graphics quality and added missions. Newer simulators are also available, with "X-Wing Alliance" in the lead.

The first Star Wars first person shooter, "Dark Forces", was introduced by LucasArts in February 1995. Telling the story of Kyle Katarn, Imperial soldier gone mercenary, the game featured a little over a dozen levels where the player explored various original and familiar settings. Featuring an original and interactive soundtrack by renowned game composer Clint Bajakian using the iMUSE sound system, along with state-of-the-art graphics, the game succeeded in capturing many gamer's imaginations. The 1997 sequel, Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, was notable for having a few cut scenes which were made up of live action footage of certain Expanded Universe characters, such as Kyle Katarn.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was a cross-platform title on Nintendo 64 and PC which allowed the player to experience a more arcade-action version of the same gameplay in "X-Wing" and "TIE Fighter". The game consisted of piloting several different Star Wars vehicles through missions on planet surfaces and in space. "Rogue Squadron" saw two sequels, both on the Nintendo Gamecube system.

Star Wars: Rebellion allowed players to compete in the Star Wars universe on a larger scale, focusing more on the strategic aspect of handling (or defeating) a rebellion, with resource management and agent-allocation, as well as large-scale conflicts between entire fleets of starships.

Other games are: Knights of the Old Republic by BioWare, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Obsidian Entertainment, Battlefront, Galactic Battlegrounds, Republic Commando, Episode III: The video game, Lego Star Wars, Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, Star Wars Galaxies, and Empire at War.

Board and roleplaying games
In a 1996 game from Hasbro, entitled Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game, which is set during the era of the original trilogy, new live-action scenes were shot of Darth Vader on the Death Star around the events of Return of the Jedi. The footage was made available on a special VHS tape, included in the box of the game. When playing the board game, the players could put in the tape, which would play while they were in a game. David Prowse reprised his role as Vader, and James Earl Jones returned as the voice of Vader. Some of the original crew for A New Hope came back to shoot these scenes.

Two Star Wars role playing games have also been published, and in 2005, Hasbro developed and released a DVD TV Game based on Star Wars and utilizing the Trivial Pursuit game-play format.

Multimedia projects

 * Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (1996) was an ambitious multimedia project created by Lucasfilm. Dubbed "a film without a film", Shadows of the Empire told the story of the events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and introduced a new villain named Prince Xizor. Utilizing all previous types of media that have been used to present the Expanded Universe, the project included a novel written by Steve Perry, multiple comic book series, a soundtrack, a video game, concept art, action figures, and the like.
 * The Clone Wars (2003-2005). Using methods similar to the Shadows of the Empire project, Lucasfilm directed a widespread project to tell the stories of the Clone Wars. This project was made up of films, novels, video games, comics, and even its own animated series (described above).

Mockumentaries

 * Return of the Ewok (1982) was a 24-minute fictional mockumentary-style movie, focusing on Warwick Davis' decision to become an actor and act as Wicket in Return of the Jedi.
 * R2-D2: Beneath the Dome (2002) was a 20-minute mockumentary-style movie, focusing on the "true" story of R2-D2's life. It was made as a fun side-project by some of the crew of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, but was later deemed suitable for television and for its own DVD.

Star Tours

 * See also: Star Tours

In 1987, Lucasfilm and Disney, utilizing the power of ILM, teamed up to produce Star Tours, an amusement park simulator ride through the Star Wars galaxy. The ride is advertised as an opportunity to take a tour to the forest moon of Endor via the Starship 3000. The ship is controlled by a robot named Rex (voiced by Paul Reubens of Pee Wee Herman fame), who happens to be new at giving the tours, and your riding experience happens to be his first time at the controls. Along the way, the rider encounters many mishaps, including run-ins with Imperial Star Destroyers, and near collisions with asteroid fields, until their ship finally makes it safely back into the port. A Star Tours II has been announced by George Lucas, to be based on prequel situations. Although exactly when it will begin production or its opening date are as of yet to be confirmed.

Toys
In addition, many other toys have been made. The Star Wars toy phenomenon began in 1978 with the original action figures, toy lightsabers and blasters, twelve-inch figures, toy vehicles, and much more products. These toys are known as the vintage Star Wars toys. Today many of these "vintage" figures are quite rare and hard to find. Many are also worth a lot of money. Recently, a toy line called Star Wars: The Original Trilogy Collection, brought back elements of the original vintage toy line, such as vintage packaging. With the coming of Star Wars: Episode I, Lego began creating little (and quite large) buildable Star Wars characters and scenes. Recently, the Lego creators have invented light-up lightsabers for their figures. Lego even made a video game (metioned above).

Many types of toys have been made. Darth Vader helmets and voice changers now inhabit the shelves, usually right next to the Ultimate Lightsaber Kit, which contains parts to design and assemble your own functional lightsaber toy.

Continuity and canonicity

 * Main article: Star Wars canon

The Expanded Universe is intended to be a continuation, and an expansion, on the six Star Wars theatrical films, produced by George Lucas from 1977-2005. All EU material, combined with that presented in the films is meant to function as a complete story. However, in order to allow this story to function as a whole, it must be kept under in an order of continuity. Lucasfilm holds this of such high importance that a team's sole job at Lucasfilm is maintaining continuity between Lucas' films, and the EU, which is written by many other authors and artists, many times out of order, and with many different ideas. Lucas, however, is free to go in any direction he wishes in his films to tell the story he intends. He acknowleges and supports the works of the EU, however, he still tells the stories he wants to tell in his films. When asked in an interview his general opinion on the EU, he replied:


 * I don't read that stuff. I haven't read any of the novels. I don't know anything about that world. That's a different world than my world. But I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it up and see if it has already been used. When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one. They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions. - George Lucas, from an interview in Starlog #337

George Lucas retains ultimate creative control over the Star Wars universe. For example, the death of central characters and similar changes in the status quo must first pass his screening before authors are given the go-ahead. In addition, Lucasfilm Licensing devotes considerable effort to ensure continuity between the works of various authors across multiple companies. Nothing in the Expanded Universe is supposed to contradict the films or any other part of the Expanded Universe. Upon occasion, Lucas' new films, reedited Original Trilogy films, or statements have contradicted existing EU material, and several retcons have been used in an attempt to fix these inconsistencies. Unfortunately, the success (or lack thereof depending on who you ask) of these retcons has not healed the rift opened up with the release of Episode I.

Some purists reject the Expanded Universe as apocrypha, believing that only the events in the film series are part of the "real" Star Wars universe. This line of thought is supported to an extent, as some of the EU was based upon what little information was given (the origins of Vader, or the repercussions of the Battle of Endor) and therefore made what could be construed to be erroneous conclusions. However, elements of the Expanded Universe have been adopted by Lucas for use in the films. For example, the name of planet Coruscant first appeared in Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire before being used later in the prequel trilogy. Unfortunately, this has ended up confusing the issue, as it has blurred the lines between the Expanded Universe and "his world."

There are also minor disputes about what is, and what is not, part of the Expanded Universe. For example, the two Star Wars spin-off films: Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor were written by George Lucas and are films, but they are not one of the six main films in the series, so they are usually considered to be a part of the Expanded Universe.

Official levels of canon
The Holocron is an internal database maintained by Lucas Licensing for the express purpose of trying to maintain continuity within all licensed products. The Holocron is sorted into four levels of canon, reflecting LFL's canon and continuity policies: G, C, S, and N.


 * "When it comes to absolute canon, the real story of Star Wars, you must turn to the films themselves - and only the films." - LucasBooks' Chris Cerasi, 2001


 * G (George Lucas) canon is absolute canon. This category includes the six films, some of the deleted scenes from the films, the novelizations of the films, the radio dramas based on the films, the film scripts, and any material found in any other source (published or not) that comes directly from George Lucas himself. G canon outranks all other forms of canon.
 * C (continuity) canon refers to the main body of EU work, and is the next most authoritative level of canon. All material published under the Star Wars label but not falling into either G, S, or N is C canon, and is considered authoritative as long as not contradicted by G canon.
 * S (secondary) canon refers to older, less accurate, or less coherent EU works, which would not ordinarily fit in the main continuity of G and C canon. For example, this includes the popular online roleplaying game Star Wars Galaxies, the controversial Jedi Prince series, and certain elements of a few N-canon stories.
 * N continuity material is also known as "non-canon" or "non-continuity" material. What-if stories (such as those published under the Infinities label) and anything else that cannot at all fit into continuity is placed into this category. "N-continuity" is not considered canon.

Lucas' use of the EU

 * See also List of C-canon elements in the movies

C-canon elements from licensed creators have been known to appear in Lucas' films. Most of these are brief, cameo appearances, almost taking the form of Easter Eggs, but others are more substantial.

On the other hand, Lucas has been known to ignore C-canon material when creating the prequel trilogy, even when this material is well-established and central to the EU continuity. This has led some to believe that the C-canon material is not, in fact, closely aligned with Lucas' vision. Examples of these inconsistencies include:


 * While in the EU the Republic was established to be extant for 25,000 years, in Attack of the Clones Palpatine says that the Republic has stood for a thousand years. This almost deleted the majority of the EU. Authors invented the Ruusan Reformation, in which the Republic is reorganized following the defeat of the Sith, occurring a thousand years before the movies, in order to explain this statement.
 * Similarly, in Attack of the Clones, Sio Bibble states that "there hasn't been a full-scale war since the formation of the Republic." This is not true; indeed, dozens of wars have occurred since the Republic's formation such as the Great Hyperspace War, the Sith War, the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Civil War, the New Sith Wars, and numerous Great Schisms. Bibble, like Palpatine above, must have been referring to the post-Ruusan Reformation Republic, as that is the only explanation that makes sense without undermining much of the EU.
 * The deaths of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Darth Vader in the original trilogy made it appear that dead Jedi typically disappeared and reappeared as Force ghosts. The prequel trilogy, particularly Revenge of the Sith, revealed that this has happened for these three characters and Qui-Gon Jinn.
 * Boba Fett's origins originally named him 'Jaster Mereel', a Journeyman Protector from Concord Dawn. This backstory was later rearranged and became part of Jango Fett's backstory (in Open Seasons, Jaster Mereel is Jango's mentor on Concord Dawn).
 * The Clone Wars, as described in Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, were a struggle between the Old Republic and the Clone Masters. Attack of the Clones, on the other hand, revealed that the Clone Wars were fought between the Old Republic (using clones) and a Separatist movement (using droids). The exact date of the conflict had yet to be pinned down, and so Zahn's estimate was at least a decade out. This was easily explained, since it is the Noghri who mention the date, and this species would thus be using their own unique dating system.

Lucas has often worked very closely with EU creators:


 * Lucas helped Kevin J. Anderson develop aspects of the Sith for the Tales of the Jedi comics.
 * Lucas wrote the stories for both of the Ewok films from the mid-eighties: Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor.
 * In writing the novelization of The Phantom Menace, Lucas informed Terry Brooks of the extensive history of the Sith and Jedi before that time period, including Darth Bane, so he could include it in his book. Lucas also gave Brooks other extensive bits of info of what went on during The Phantom Menace.
 * Lucas decided that Delta Squad should have colored armor in Republic Commando, to match Episode 3.
 * James Luceno based his book Labyrinth of Evil the background Lucas informed him of, of what happened right before Revenge of the Sith.
 * Lucas also gave Genndy Tartakovsky information on specific events during the Clone Wars, which Genndy used in part of the series. Lucas also will likely give input on the upcoming 3D expansion of the series.
 * Lucas is planning to write, direct, and produce part of the upcoming Star Wars: Live-Action TV Series.