Journal of the Whills/Legends

The Journal of the Whills was a legendary record of events in the galaxy. Ostensibly, the Journal was maintained by the Whills, a mysterious order of which very little was known.

History
During the Galactic Civil War, some individuals wished their efforts be recorded in the Journal of the Whills. This reference provides fertile ground for the assumption that the Journal was not something written at a certain point far in the future, but it was rather an on-going recording of the history, widely known as a tradition to the inhabitants of the Galaxy. The recording of their names and efforts in the Journal, signaled their importance to the history, hence honorary.

Content
The inclusion of a brief overview of the fall of the Galactic Republic and the rise of Palpatine's New Order in the Journal's First Saga established that the Journal’s beginning included at least the Clone Wars, though how far backwards or forwards in history the Journal’s first segment covered was unknown. As well as not having a clear beginning, the style of the Journal was inconsistent. Whereas the First Saga was expository, written in the past tense with a third person perspective, another known excerpt was written in a formatted poetic style reminiscent of many religious texts. The excerpt read as follows:


 * "... And in the time of greatest
 * despair there shall come a savior,
 * and he shall be known as:
 * THE SON OF THE SUNS."
 * Journal of the Whills, 3:127

Although it was never confirmed, it was possible that this excerpt dealt with the Prophecy of the Chosen One seeing as that it did seem to make what could be considered references to Anakin Skywalker. The numeric reference was important as it indicated a possible chapter and verse from which the excerpt was taken. The style of the excerpt was also written in the future tense with a prophetic tone, a clear difference from the larger excerpt from the First Saga. However, the First Saga excerpt did indicate that some form of poetic style may have been consistent throughout the Journal, as it stated:


 * "The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that... it was the Republic."

Behind the scenes


In his early drafts, George Lucas ostensibly planned to use the Journal of the Whills as a plot device to connect the Star Wars galaxy to our own. In Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, Lucas explains his original intent:
 * "Originally, I was trying to have the story be told by somebody else; there was somebody watching this whole story and recording it, somebody probably wiser than the mortal players in the actual events. I eventually dropped this idea, and the concept behind the Whills turned into the Force. But the Whills became part of this massive amount of notes, quotes, background information that I used for the scripts; the stories were actually taken from the 'Journal of the Whills'."

In 2005's The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, Lucas intimates that he intended the stories told in his films to be relayed to a Keeper of the Whills by R2-D2, who would record them in the Journal.

The Journal, as a plot device, has several precedents. Several of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were published in the form of narrations by Dr. Watson. J. R. R. Tolkien's Red Book of Westmarch was supposedly the ultimate source of The Lord of the Rings and his other Middle-earth works. Frank Herbert opened each chapter of his first Dune novel with quotations from texts based on sayings and teachings of the main characters and groups/societies.

"Journal of the Whills" is also the name of the fanclub edition of Star Wars - Das offizielle Magazin, the official German Star Wars magazine.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization