Here goes my first attempt at an actual column. I know I had a previous post but that was just filler and introduction. This here’s the meat and potatoes or more accurately, nerf steak and potatoes. So what are we covering today? Well I thought I would put together a little history lesson. A history of the expanded universe that is.
A note, though, if you will. There are a number of links hereafter to the unofficial star wars wiki, wookieepedia. The articles are fairly complete and accurate. If you don’t want too many spoilers, you should be careful how many of the links you click on. The good news is that the legacy of the force stuff is at the end of the articles mostly.
I’m not going to waste time going over the events of the movies. Hopefully, if you give two craps about this column you’ve seen all six episodes so I’ll jump right in after the movies.
Lando and Wedge blow up the second Deathstar. Luke redeems his father from the dark side of the Force. Han and Leia hug and everyone lives happily ever after.
Well not quite. It couldn’t very well be called “star wars” if there was no war involved. Unlike what Lucas would have us believe…
The road to liberating the galaxy was a long one. The galaxy is subjected to conflict after conflict. The one constant in it all being the heirs of Skywalker at the center said conflict, helping to keep the forces of the Dark Side (and others) at bay.
The cliff’s notes for the events are these:
They have 3 children, twins Jaina and Jacen, and Anakin.
Luke meets and marries former emperor’s hand Mara Jade.
Luke establishes a new Jedi order and opens an academy on Yavin 4.
Wedge gets married Iella Wessiri and has 2 daughters, Syal and Myri.
Lando marries Tendra Risant. Together they form the corporation Tendrando Arms.
That should give you the basics going into the Youzang vong war.
The Yuuzhan Vong are a race that lives outside of the galaxy. They don’t believe in machinery but instead engineer organisms to do all the things done by machines.
They invade the galaxy in order to spread their religion of organic technology and pain. Oh….did I mention that pain is an integral part of their religious experience? As a reward, you may have a hand or foot removed (without anesthetic) and replaced with an organic prosthetic. As you rise through the ranks, you get more and more ceremonial scars on your face. The more disfigured you are, the more powerful and revered you are.
So at this point you’re probably wondering what a bunch of s&m alien freaks could do against the mighty Luke Skywalker and his re-established jedi order. Well there’s the rub. Yuuzhan Vong don’t exist in the force. A jedi can’t detect them, feel them, or influence them.
The highlights of the war:
Chewbacca dies heroically saving Anakin Solo.
Luke and Mara have a son, Ben Skywalker.
Coruscant is conquered by the Vong and subsequently rebuilt by the Vong.
Anakin Solo dies on a mission to stop the production of voxyn. Voxyn are a creature engineered by the Vong to hunt and kill Jedi.
Jacen is captured and tortured by the fallen jedi, Verege in an attempt to turn him to the Vong ways.
Jacen overcomes the Vong and is instrumental in driving them out of the galaxy.
After this comes the Dark Nest Trilogy.
To be honest, I didn’t read that trilogy before starting the Legacy of the Force series. In general, I didn’t feel completely lost. There are a couple of characters I would have understood a little better. Here’s what I think you would have to know based on the information brought up in later series.
A group of aliens called Killiks show up and cause trouble. They are an insect like race who operate in a hive mind. They lured and then used the Jedi to help control and run their “nests.”
Highlights include:
Jacen finds out that he has a daughter with fellow jedi knight and ruler of the Hapes Consortium, Tenel Ka.
Leia becomes a Jedi Knight.
Alema Rar is defeated by Leia and left for dead.
The only other person of interest in the series is Boba Fett of all people and the Mandalorians.
Boba Fett is the current leader of the mandalorian people. In case you are unfamiliar, Mandalorians are a group of mercenaries that are renowned for their skill and fighting prowess. Boba Fett led a group of mandos against the Yuuzhang Vong and as a consequence, the Vong destroyed most of the Mandalorian homeworld.
I think that should just about do it. The next column will begin my reviews and impressions of the series.
Jezmon
