Star Wars essay: How the First Order came to be

     I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, whether it is the classic Legends or the new canon version. I bought my first adult novel when I was twelve in Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn and eventually read literally hundreds of the books. I'm not against the reboot because I think they covered literally everything they possibly could with the classic trio up to Crucible by Troy Denning. 

    However, there are some issues with world-building as we don't know much about the new villains in The First Order or how they came to be. At least on screen. Thankfully, the Expanded Universe is always there to fill in the gaps as long as you're willing to shell out the money necessary to fill in the gaps.

    We're still learning a lot of things about the First Order, their methods, and their origins but I think we can build a rough timeline of events from the Battle of Endor to the destruction of Hosnian Prime that ticks off the Second Galactic Civil War. This is a very nerdy series of speculations but I am, in fact, a huge nerd. I hope you guys enjoy.

Sources for this:

* Shattered Empire
* Battlefront II
* Alphabet Squadron
* The Aftermath Trilogy
* Uprising
* The Mandalorian
* Bloodline

* Before the Awakening* Resistance (series)
* The Force Awakens
* The Last Jedi novelization

THE RISE OF THE FIRST ORDER (4 After the Battle of Yavin to 34 After the Battle of Yavin)

    The death of Emperor Sheev Palpatine was part of a one-two punch that caused the rapid disintegration of the Galactic Empire. The other part being the destruction of the Second Death Star and all of the resources that had been devoted to it. The Empire's aura of invincibility had been punctured by the events of the Battle of Yavin but it was utterly destroyed by the Battle of Endor. The Empire, much like in Legends, was not meant to survive Palpatine's death and the only person who could save it, Darth Vader, was redeemed by the love of his son.

Trust these guys when they say your world has to die.

    Emperor Palpatine had some sort of plan to follow-up his death. The details of which remain nebulous. This was called the Contingency and was implemented by a mixture of droids and hand-picked agents. Originally, I was of the view that it was just meant to be a "kark you" to the galaxy and presumably Darth Vader since I'm inclined to think that Palpatine assumed if he was ever killed then it would be at the hands of his apprentice. Since then, it has been shown to be a much-more complicated and intricate plan involving the creation of the First Order. It's possible, depending on the events of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker that it may include Palpatine's resurrection but we'll have to see about that when it comes.

    Phase One of the Contingency was was Operation: Cinder with red robed Sentinel droids seeking out the most die-hard fanatics of the Empire to implement the Contingency. These include Admiral Versio, Moff Raythe, and so on. Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, a defacto Emperor's Hand if there ever was one, had a different role in this. Operation: Cinder involved weather-altering satellites to be placed in the orbit of thousands of worlds that would eventually cook the population of the planets' alive. Planets targeted included Naboo, Vardos, Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abednedo, Commenor, Nacronis, and other worlds. No attempt was made to differentiate the loyal from the treasonous: both were equally guilty in the eyes of the Emperor.

Take that, Imperial loyalists! How dare you be loyal!

    The Contingency was carried out with the purpose of making sure the Empire is destroyed as punishment for its failure to protect Palpatine and to make sure no one else takes over the Empire after his death. The perpetrators of the attack don't believe they're destroying the galaxy for no reason but accept on blind faith that this is all part of a cunning master plan to restore the Empire. They're delusional fanatics but that's why they're chosen. The perpetrators, however, generally accepted that there was a greater plan at work and the atrocities were necessary to intimidate the public into submission. It was meant to be a show of strength that forced the galaxy to its knees but had the opposite effect of making it clear there was no redeeming the Empire. If loyalty and submission earned the same death as treason then treason was the only rational path.

The mother of the First Order.

    Operation: Cinder backfired tremendously to the delusional fanatics' goal. As we see with the events of Alphabet Squadron, the twin punches of Alderaan's destruction and the Battle of Endor heavily hurt the Empire but it wasn't until this that all but the most fanatical Imperials saw the true horrific face of the regime. The Rebellion also helped save many worlds, winning a lot of badly needed publicity. This is exactly as Palpatine planned. This also has the effect of rapidly increasing the size of the New Republic military as millions of defectors are put to work against their former comrades. The rapid re-stablishment of the Republic Senate on Chandrilla also lent the New Republic a legitimacy it did not possess in Legends until the fall of Coruscant.

    The Empire's regent during this time was Mas Amedda but he was swiftly put under house arrest by the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). The ISB was secretly under the control of Gallius Rax who used his assassins, codes, connections, and more to eliminate potential successors to Palpatine. Rax also used Admiral Sloane as a figurehead Grand Admiral to rally the military's remnants around. Contrary to some people's statements, was hardly a puppet as she does a lot of diplomacy and gathering of Imperial forces as we see in Aftermath.

    Galliux Rax prevented the NR and Empire's remnant making peace with a terrorist bombing plan aimed at the New Republic Senate under a flag of truce.He also covertly seized control over the entire Empire under the title of Counselor. He gathered the bulk of the Imperial fleet at the backwater planet of Jakku, his home planet, while planning to destroy the world in a cataclysmic explosion that would eradicate both the Empire as well as New Republic. Instead, he was assassinated by Grand Admiral Sloane and the New Republic eradicated the Empire's forces in a lengthy battle. Grand Admiral Sloane escaped on the Emperor's yacht with Brendol Hux, a handful of child soldiers, and the coordinates for the Emperor's flagship the Eclipse. Palpatine had the plan to "purge" the Empire of all weakness and have only the most diehard fanatics gather at the Eclipse flagship in the Unknown Regions.

Shouldn't the Republic remove that?

    Sloane's intentions were to build a bigger, better, and stronger empire. While her Grand Admiral status is questionable, she certainly was a senior officer and in a good position to found the First Order. My inclination was that she did so and, being a fascist, immediately doubled down on all the Empire's worst qualities with child soldiers replacing clonetroopers as well as Stormtroopers. It may have been Palpatine's will to create the First Order but it was Sloane's insights as well as decisions that created the military junta that would become the basis for Star Wars' version of HYDRA. 

    How many Imperials joined Grand Admiral Sloane and Brendol Hux in the Unknown Regions at the Eclipse is unclear. However, in Legends, the Dark Empire was founded by Palpatine gathering massive numbers of ships in the Deep Core. Here, it seems to be an answer of, "enough to conquer and construct a new Empire capable of challenging the New Republic." Star Wars: Rebels stated that Grand Admiral Thrawn had helped the Emperor chart and conquer the Unknown Regions, so that means that he'd been building a military reserve here for some time.

    Mas Amedda was then used by the New Republic to formally surrender the Empire under the terms of the Galactic Concordact. With most of the Empire's soldiers having defectors, the surviving officers are declared war criminals, conditional pardons are made for non-combatants, and higher ranked members are put on trial. While Grand Moff Randd escapes Jakku with his fleet and there are insane events like a pirate fleet with a Super Star Destroyer, the Galactic Civil War is for all intents and purposes over.

    Mon Mothma promptly demobilized the New Republic military. Given the New Republic military was now mostly ex-Imperials, this made more sense than perhaps was initially apparent. The Military Disarmament Act was implemented a month after the final victory in Jakku, dramatically reducing the New Republic military's size. Princess Leia opposed this act but finds herself overruled. The New Republic then settled into a period of military stability but political instability as the conflict over whether a strong federal government (headed by the Centrist party) vs. a weak one (Populists) began.

A heroic effort to protect our children's future.

    Meanwhile, in the First Order, the organization began its rebuilding of the Empire's might under a new name. They made extensive contact with fringe slavers and begin purchasing massive numbers of human children for training as operatives. Protectorate Gleb oversees this as well as the mass looting of Unknown Region worlds of resources. This is referred to as Operation: Resurrection and goes largely unseen by the rest of the galaxy. Given that Protectorate Gleb was recruited by Inferno Squad during Operation: Cinder, that means the Contingency always included a plan to educate a new generation of fanatics. They also loot whole planets of resources. At some point Snoke, perhaps working for the real Palpatine, seized power in the First Order and became its Supreme Leader.

    The First Order trained its armies of children before turning them into Stormtroopers, Naval officers, and spies. They proceed to start sending out their agents into the galaxy as a whole. These people like Lady Carise start contacting Imperial Remnants and recruiting some while positioning others. They also begin infiltrating the Centrists and subverting them to their own purposes with moderates like Senator Casterfo eventually purged.

    The First Order conquered numerous planets in the Unknown Regions and hollows out planets as well as exterminates whole resources in preparation to create Starkiller Base. Most of what we've seen is less interested in holding planetary populations than gathering resources to build up their fleet to conquer the New Republic. We do see mining facilities and other signs there's a civilian population of the First Order. Not many signs of them but enough to know they exist.

But what about her e-mails?

     Rather than use the Eclipse, Snoke constructed the Supremacy to be the FO's mobile capital. They also use kyber crystals in their star destroyers, possibly from a hollowed-out Illum, that makes their weapons almost unstoppable. Kyber crystal-based weapons are put into many of their new and improved brands of Star Destroyers that would violate any treaties the Republic had with the former Empire, were they aware of the First Order's existence.

    The Centrists successfully seceded from the New Republic with their new laws. However, it's not actually a very large secession. Maybe about eight or nine Sectors worth, enough that it's a big deal but not the end of the New Republic or beginning of the end. Leia's actions may have prevented that from happening. The "public" First Order is presumably swiftly conquered by the actual First Order. Previously, the Republic was unaware of the First Order as it is a "secret" organization as of Bloodline. This is 28 ABY and fairly close to the timeline of The Force Awakens, meaning the public First Order is a fairly recent creation.

    Despite not being Imperials, the First Order is forced to sign the Galactic Concordact. We get some hints in the short stories the First Order has a lot of credits to spend and use them to buy new technology, buy Senators' allegiance, and keep up with the advance of galactic technology. Snoke made a move to recruit Ben Solo and successfully seduced him to the Dark Side with Luke debating killing him only for Ben to interpret it as an actual assassination attempt.

    Princess Leia, disgraced as a politician by the revelation of her parentage, formed the Resistance against the First Order. She has no idea how large or how dangerous the First Order is, only that it is extremely dangerous. The New Republic covertly supports it as both the opening crawl and General Hux both state it. Many NR forces are allowed to join up without losing their ranks. As a deniable asset, though, it fails because the First Order plans to conquer the galaxy. They even begin covert operations to take fueling depots like the Colossus and invade independent worlds. It is only the possible arrival of Luke Skywalker that triggers their final plan, though.

====

Whew! I hope you enjoyed this write-up guys and are as excited as me about Episode IX!

The People vs. George Lucas

    I love zombies, don't get me wrong, but aside from finishing What Zombies Fear I'm a little zombied out. So, instead, I decided to watch a movie about a bunch of people shambling along and moaning--about Star Wars.

    Okay, that's unfair.

    The People vs. George Lucas is going to be one of my rare negative reviews, sadly. I applaud the filmmaker's skill, the fact they made a film about a subject which was near to my heart, and the obvious love of the franchise built into the work. Unfortunately, the movie's relentless negativity really dampened my mood.

    The People vs. George Lucas is more or less an hour and a half about why Star Wars fans really-really hated the Special Editions and prequels. It shows the infectious raw enthusiasm of countless fans enjoying the movies from their release in theaters to the long drought until the prequels being released. The rest of the documentary has an almost message-board-like quality of everyone in the film explaining why the movies sucked and/or ruined their childhood.

    They specifically say, "raped" their childhood. A comparison which they utilize several hundred times and even make a couple of musical cues regarding--which I found to be both tasteless and problematic for a work about Star Wars. The People vs. George Lucas includes the footage from the South Park episode where Indiana Jones is sexually assaulted by Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas too--which, again, I didn't particularly like either.

    Nor did my wife.

    Listen, I've been a Star Wars fan since I was three-years-old and until the New Jedi Order followed by the Legacy of the Force novels, I was as obsessed with it as anyone else. I know something about fandom rage. I was there when the backlash against the Star Wars Prequels began, continued, and I'd say ended but that would imply there's still not people talking about the subject.

    The Star Wars Prequels were disappointing to me as well. They were empty spectacles with bad writing, bad acting, and a lot of exposition which got in the way of any sort of character development. George Lucas really needed a script editor or someone to write the script for him.

    George should stuck to using his vast knowledge of visual film-making to make the prequels the eye-candy they needed to be (and were--if nothing else). He  could have hired anyone in the world for the writing, Neil Gaiman showed up on this documentary for crying out loud, which makes it a double missed opportunity.

    However, I got over the prequels being a disappointment.

    Years ago.

    The really annoying thing about this movie is there's so much interesting stuff inside it. They talk about fandom films (showing scenes from some truly epic ones), people's personal memorabilia collections, and a few stories about what Star Wars meant to people. Star Wars helped develop my moral sensibility as well. All this gets ignored to focus on the immense sense of 'betrayal' fans have from George Lucas making movies they didn't like.

    They also do a few segments about what sort of responsibility filmmakers have to preserving their original work versus tinkering with it. Any of these would make a better subject for this documentary than people's sense of betrayal about the fact George Lucas made some mediocre movies. There's some really cute segments in this film too, including someone remaking Misery with George Lucas and a particularly obsessive fan. I actually want to check that one out because I really liked the girl's acting.

    But seriously, the movie's point seems to be about displaying the obsessive nerd rage of a large number of my people. I got to live it the first time and it wasn't that much fun in the first place. Its one-sided too with no real attempt to present the opinions of those who thought the prequels had merit (albeit one small merits). The documentary barely touched on the Star Wars Expanded Universe too, which annoyed me since it was pretty huge even if followed by only a fraction of the total fandom.

    In the end, my advice regarding this movie is this--if you want to watch a movie about people complaining about Star Wars for two hours then this is it.

    I don't.

4/10

Buy at Amazon.com

An essay of mine on Star Wars has been published on a website...

Hey fans,

As the title says, a essay of mine has been published on a website I love called 1138.

http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/2013/10/continuity-vs-accessibility-the-struggle-of-star-wars-writers/

It's about the struggle of Star Wars Expanded Universe writers to write fiction which can be appreciated by causal fans as well as new ones.

I hope you'll check it out.

Why Starkiller fits into the Expanded Universe

    Starkiller a.k.a Galen Marek is one of the most controversial figures of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Introduced in The Force Unleashed multimedia event, he proved extremely popular but numerous objections were raised to his inclusion in the canon due to the massive changes he was perceived as making.

    As a fan of both Galen Marek and the greater Expanded Universe, I’d like to take a moment to discuss some of the more common controversies surrounding Starkiller and why I don’t think they’re as troublesome as some people are making them out to be. Take note this is all my opinion and while I will attempt to back up my claims with evidence from the greater Star Wars universe, whether or not he “fits” is largely a matter of opinion.

    I hope you enjoy.

Controversy 1#: Starkiller as Darth Vader's apprentice breaks the Rule of Two.

    Some individuals are upset about the fact Starkiller is Darth Vader's apprentice. According to the Rule of Two, there's no way that Darth Vader should be training another Sith while Darth Sidious is still alive. This is despite the fact that Darth Vader and Sidious discuss training Luke Skywalker in the Empire Strikes Back. One could make an argument both Sidious and Vader knew one of them would die in order to make room for the Son of Skywalker, but that’s stretching things.

    Anyway, the SWEU has already given Darth Vader a large number of apprentices. The most prominent of these is Shira Brie a.k.a Lumiya the Dark Lady of the Sith. First introduced in Marvel comics' Star Wars 65#, she was retconned into being Carnor Jax's Sith Master and the holder of Sith Lord King Adas' holocron. Eventually, she corrupted Jacen Solo to the Dark Side of the Force and was killed by Luke Skywalker on Terephon.

    Lumiya wasn't the only apprentice of Darth Vader, either. In Star Wars Annual 3#, we discover a young Belderone human named Flint. An idealistic young man, Flint's mother was killed and he decided to become important. Flint was discovered by Darth Vader cradling his mother's body, the victim of a terrible accident. Lord Vader made the uncharacteristic decision to take Flint under his wing and teach him the ways of the Force.

    Ultimately, Luke Skywalker redeemed Flint from the Dark Side and he was retconned as dying at the hands of Lumiya. Notably, Flint was important enough to warrant a visit to Luke by all three Endor Force Ghosts (Anakin, Yoda, and Ben Kenobi). He also wore armor similar to Darth Vader's own.


    The list of Darth Vader's apprentices doesn't end there. The Procurator of Justice, Hethrir, was taught the secrets of the Dark Side of the Force by Darth Vader. Joining him was Hethrir's mate, Rillao, who resisted the lure of the Dark Side and became a Jedi Healer. The fact Darth Vader didn't kill her raises many questions. Did he believe he could corrupt her given enough time or did he want to punish her for his betrayal?  The Crystal Star, which introduced both, doesn’t address the issue.



    The list is capped off by Star Wars adventure module, Planet of the Mists, which introduces Vost Tyne. A former Imperial Admiral, he had a close friendship with Darth Vader, and instead of getting force-choked like Admiral Ozzel--ended up getting tutored in the ways of the Dark Side. Vost Tyne is notable for the fact he was allowed to resign his commission in the empire and retire to heading up a secret Imperial hyperbaride synthesis plant.
   


    Having established the Dark Lord is no stranger to educating apprentices, Starkiller fits in neatly to the canon as the first of many. Having failed with Starkiller, it makes sense Darth Vader would educate more darksiders to replace him. It also speaks well to the Dark Lord he began plotting against his master almost immediately after rising to power in Revenge of the Sith.

    But really, is Starkiller a Sith? That is questionable. Darth Bane said that was possible to educate individuals in the Force without making them true Sith or violating the Rule of the Two. Starkiller thinks Lord Vader is educating him for the purpose of overthrowing Palpatine but is he right? Starkiller never receives the title of Darth and his only confirmed Sith abilities are Force Lightning and training in their style of Shien.

    On Corellia, Darth Vader says to Starkiller he intends to overthrow the Emperor but "not with you." Is it possible Starkiller is not Darth Vader's Shadow Hand? That he is merely muscle the Dark Lord is teaching the ways of the Force to make his position more convenient?

    This is a question not answered by The Force Unleashed. There's evidence either way and it's possible Starkiller is merely a Dark Jedi or False Apprentice like Darth Maul is described as in the Darth Plagueis novel.

    Even if Starkiller is a fully-educated Sith Lord, is this so bad? There's no indication Darth Maul was taught less than any other Sith other than Darth Sidious' reassurances to Darth Plagueis. Darth Maul certainly displays all the manipulation and intelligence expected of a Sith Lord in The Clone Wars.

    Yet, Darth Maul was trained by Sidious while Plagueis was still alive and died only shortly thereafter. We also know Darth Tenebrous violated the Rule of Two by training Darth Veramis to replace Plagueis. Would Darth Vader be any less treacherous? Darth Sidious reacts to Starkiller's presence by forcing Vader to kill him. He reacted similarly to Dooku's training Ventress in the Sith arts. In short, it seems likely Palpatine was quite outraged at the violation of the Rule of Two—which is an appropriate response.

Controversy 2#: Starkiller's Force Powers are too strong

    One of the major complaints about Starkiller is his over-the-top Force abilities. People have said he's more powerful than Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Obi Wan Kenobi. They claim Starkiller diminishes the role of Luke Skywalker and makes it questionable why Yoda considered the latter to be the Jedi's last hope.

    Given Starkiller can defeat Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, and a fully-trained Jedi Leia in the non-canon The Force Unleashed DLC and lays low Darth Vader twice in the canon campaign, there is some degree of merit to this argument.

    Yet, I disagree.

    First, I'm not sure Starkillers' powers are as impressive as people maintain. Starkiller possesses the following abilities: Force Lightning, telekinesis, Force Push, the Jedi Mind-Trick, and the power to release a telekinetic burst of power in all directions. He is also trained in "Sith Shien" and, later, Jar'kai double-lightsaber combat. These are all abilities displayed by the Jedi Knights and Sith in the movies.



    Starkiller mows through hundreds of Stormtroopers during The Force Unleashed and The Force Unleashed 2 but we see similar feats against droids during the Prequels. During the opening sequence of The Phantom Menace, Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn easily tear through almost a dozen B-1 battle droids. While Stormtroopers are superior to battle droids, the difference isn't so much that were the Star Wars movies rated R instead of PG, we might not see our heroes slaying them in equal numbers.

    Starkiller manages to defeat AT-STs in hand-to-hand combat as well as Rancors but the latter feat is replicated by Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. We never see Starkiller fight an AT-AT and his defeat of the Gorog, a beast which defeats Rancors for breakfast, is done by dropping the repulsor arena they're located on down for literally miles. All of Starkiller's force powers are ineffective against it and he can't defeat the monster without trickery.



    We've seen the Jedi and Sith both display incredible physical feats both in the Prequels as well as the Expanded Universe. Star Wars: Clone Wars, in particular, depicts the Jedi Knighthood displaying physical and Force-based feats far superior to Starkiller's own. Mace Windu, in particular, defeats an entire droid army during the Battle of Dantooine.

    Knights of the Old Republic, one of the better-regarded video games in the Star Wars canon, has Darth Revan and two compatriots assault the Star Forge and face dozens of Dark Jedi Masters and Sith Lords they slaughter without difficulty. Kyle Katarn, a largely self-taught Jedi Knight, defeats seven Dark Jedi and their armies. His apprentice, Jaden Korr, defeats Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos while the latter is possessing Tavion.

    However, these aren't the most common complaints about Starkiller. They are more upset about Starkiller's most well-known feats of pulling down a Star Destroyer and defeating Darth Vader. These are the two more controversial facts about Starkiller and should be addressed in their own separate sections.

Controversy 3#: Starkiller pulling down a Star Destroyer is dumb.

    In order to galvanize resistance against the Emperor, Starkiller is ordered by Darth Vader to attack Raxus Prime's shipyards. After using an ore cannon to destroy the shipyards, an Imperial Star Destroyer starts falling into the atmosphere and Starkiller is told by Jedi Master Rahm Kota to stop it with the Force.
Massive objects have been moved with the Force before. Yoda stated the only difference between moving rocks and an X-wing was in Luke's mind. The famous "Size matters not" quote is a statement about the infinite power of the Force. Neither midiclorians or an upper limit to the amount a person can lift is mentioned.

    We get a demonstration of this with Dorsk 81, Khommite clone, who is never indicated to be anything special in the Force. However, infamously, he is able to summon the power of his fellow Jedi to drive away a fleet of Victory-class Star Destroyers. Naga Sadow destroyed suns with the Force, Darth Nihilus annihilated a Miralukan colony world, Darth Sidious destroyed much of the New Repuiblic fleet in Dark Empire with a Force storm, and Darth Vitiate eradicated an entire world with the power of the Dark Side.

    Starkiller does none of this.

    Instead, he merely manages to redirect the flight path of a Star Destroyer which is still partially in-flight. Given the Star Destroyer’s repulsors are still nominally working, this would actually be far easier than it appears. It is also an incredible test of Starkiller's abilities and requires him to draw on his love of Juno to achieve it. Cheesy as it sounds, the power of love as a channel for the Force is probably greater than hatred.

Controversy 4#: Starkiller defeating Darth Vader diminishes the films’ central villain.

    Perhaps the most egregious act in fanboys’’ eyes is the defeat of one of an iconic villain. Darth Vader is one of the most formidable bad guys in the history of cinema and any time he's defeated either in Expanded Universe material, people object. In the case of Starkiller, Galen Marek defeated Darth Vader not once but twice. Given Darth Vader is frequently given credit for destroying the Jedi Order, an act which we now know was mostly accomplished by the Empire's armies, this is terrible offense.

    The first question we need to ask ourselves is: how formidable is Darth Vader, really? The answer is considerably so. While we don't know his exact count of Jedi killed; we do know he's defeated such Jedi Masters as Cin Drallig, Obi Wan Kenobi (who threw the fight to help Luke Skywalker escape), the Dark Woman, Roan Shryne, Axton Tredway, Jocasta Nu, Koffi Arana, and Hylon. He is also notable for slaying the resurrected Darth Maul during an encounter on Kalakar Six.

    Darth Vader is not invincible, though. The comic Purge depicted Darth Vader needing to resort to trickery in order to defeat a cabal of Jedi bent on his death. Boba Fett was briefly able to fight him to a standstill in Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire.

    Possessed by Obi Wan Kenobi's ghost, Luke Skywalker defeated Darth Vader on Mimban in Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Luke Skywalker would eventually prove his superiority to his father on the Second Death Star, maiming him during their climatic ROTJ duel. Finally, no depiction of Darth Vader's combat prowess would be complete without Obi Wan Kenobi's crippling defeat of him on Mustafar.

    Having established the Dark Lord's credentials, let us turn to Starkiller's less impressive ones. Starkiller has clearly been acting as Darth Vader's assassin for some time by the events of The Force Unleashed, enough that he has gone through several pilots before Juno Eclipse was assigned to him. Yet, it is only by the time of the game he is assigned to hunt down a Jedi Knight.

While Starkiller defeats Rahm Kota, he fails to kill him. He is more successful at killing lunatic Jedi Master Kazdan Paratus and Jedi High Councilwoman, Shaak-Ti. Later, Starkiller proves his skills by killing numerous Imperial Royal Guardsman and Shadow Guards. The latter which may or may not be the precursors to Emperor Palpatine's Sovereign Protectors (of which future Sith Lord and Emperor Carnor Jax was one).

    Starkiller is certainly no slouch but he is the clear underdog in this contest. So, is it believable that he is able to defeat Darth Vader? As a fan of both the Dark Lord and Starkiller, I'm torn. I don't even like admitting Luke Skywalker defeated Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. While one might argue Vader has fatherly feelings towards Starkiller, it's highly unlikely they're anything close to those he had for the child of his beloved Padme.

    In fact, what only saves the first victory for me isn't Starkiller is powerful enough to defeat the Dark Lord. I don't believe he is. I think Starkiller could give his master an excellent workout, maybe even fight him to a standstill, but defeat him? No. I think, instead, Starkiller defeated Darth Vader's suit.

    During Evasive Action: Recruitment, Darth Vader faces down a number of Jedi Agricultural Corps members who have been selected for candidacy in the Imperial Inquisition. It is a pathetically one-sided contest but the future High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne attacks the controls on Darth Vader’s suit. This temporarily disables the Dark Lord.

    Darth Vader’s suit being his Achilles Heel is borne out by Return of the Jedi where it is damage to his artificial lungs which finally kills the Dark Lord, not Palpatine’s Force Lightning. When Starkiller defeats Darth Vader during their battle on the first Death Star, it is the destruction of the Dark Lord’s helmet which disables him. While Darth Vader is able to get up after Emperor Palpatine “kills” Starkiller, he is clearly missing his breathing apparatus and probably needs immediate medical attention.

    The second battles' gameplay implies Darth Vader learned his lesson from his first confrontation with Starkiller. The battle against the Dark Lord is significantly tougher with his armor more or less ignoring Starkiller's dual lightsabers, Force Lightning, and thrown objects. Vader is hit literally hundreds of time without problem and it's quite possible that he's improved his armor since their last confrontation.

    Starkiller's victory over the Dark Lord only comes when Galen Marek thinks Vader has killed his one true love. Abandoning himself to the Dark Side of the Force, Starkiller proceeds to channel the electricity stored in Kamino's power towers to enhance his Force Lightning powers. You still have to use Galen's Dark Side and power-station enhanced electricity dozens of time in rapid succession in order to force Vader to his knees.

    Even here, Starkiller's victory is questionable. Darth Vader's purpose on Kamino was not to kill Starkiller but corrupt him to the Dark Side. Having failed that objective but discovered Juno Eclipse is Starkiller's Achilles' Heel, it's entirely possible Darth Vader decided to surrender to the Rebellion as part of a larger plan.

    The Dark Side ending to The Force Unleashed 2 reveals Darth Vader was in no real danger with a nearby loyal Starkiller clone ready to intervene. Given the complete inability of the Rebellion to hold someone as formidable as Darth Vader prisoner, it's highly likely the only result of his capture was the revelation of the Alliance’s Dantooine base. As Vader says in the ending, “As long as she [Juno Eclipse] lives, I will control you.” These are not the words of a beaten man.

    Besides, we know Darth Vader escapes and resumes command of the Imperial military. In short, Starkiller achieves pyrrhic victories over Darth Vader. He is able to beat him but it is questionable how much of a triumph either of these battles was in the long run.

Controversy 5#: Starkiller’s role in the creation of the Rebellion diminishes its other founders.

    A major point of contention with The Force Unleashed is it retcons the foundation of the Alliance to a secret plot by Palpatine and Vader to lure out the Empire’s enemies. Starkiller gathers Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Princess Leia, Rahm Kota, and Garm Bel Iblis together before convincing them to join together into an organized rebellion. The Rebellion is so impressed by Galen Marek's actions they choose to adopt his family crest as their symbol.

    As much as Galen Marek deserves credit for his role in the foundation of the Rebellion, it should be noted his role is not quite as amazing as some fans have made it out to be. Likewise, the Sith shooting themselves in the foot is a frequent occurrence in canon.

    Jan Dodonna was unwilling to join the Rebellion until assassins literally broke down his door. The Second Death Star was a trap conceived by Palpatine to destroy the Rebellion in a manner very similar to the action which created it. Heck, Luke only joined the Rebellion due to the murder of his Aunt and Uncle. As Princess Leia told Tarkin, "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

    It has been established in the Expanded Universe that Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and Garm Bel Iblis were all heads of their own revolutionary movements beforehand. Rahm Kota was also head of a militia carrying out attacks against the Galactic Empire during this time period. In short, all four of them were already in open resistance against the Empire. They were not alone either as it the Alliance's chief benefit was uniting existing resistance against the Empire together. The Mon Calamari, Bothans, and Wookiees would eventually join in the struggle to liberate the galaxy.

    The fact these individuals did not already get together may bother some fans but we have an established in-canon distrust between Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma. All three were ostensibly Imperial Loyalists, so it's understandable why the three were hesitant to join together. The Delegation of 2000 was the last time Imperial Senators sought to resist Palpatine and it proved to be a disaster.

    Even so, Bail Organa tells Starkiller he's got friends he could gather together for their resistance and was already working with Rahm Kota. In short, the Rebellion was well on its way into being formed. Starkiller merely made things considerably easier by destroying the shipyards at Raxus Prime and rescuing them from imprisonment on the first Death Star.

    As for the symbol of the Rebellion being Galen Marek's family seal, it is notable the Alliance Firebird bears a strong resemblance to several already famous symbols. The Jedi Order symbol, the Jedi-Republic Symbol during the Great Galactic War, and the crest of Adar Tallon all bear similarities to the Marek family crest.







    In short, it's an already famous symbol. Leia is less devoting their flag to Galen Marek in particular than honoring him by taking up the equivalent of an eagle from his family heraldry. People in the galaxy would get the symbolism even if they had no idea who Galen Marek was.

Controversy 6#: Luke vs. Galen – Why do we need both?

    This is a final complaint about Galen Marek. Having been created as an "Anti-Luke" or what would have happened if Darth Vader had corrupted his son to the Dark Side, Starkiller has a great deal of similarity to the Son of Skywalker. Galen Marek is Darth Vader's adoptive son if you are sufficiently twisted enough to consider Sith apprenticeship a form of fatherhood. Certainly, Starkiller considers Darth Vader to be his archenemy and manages to inflict massive damage on the Empire during his rebellion. With Galen Marek a canonical character, why wouldn't the Rebellion have him teach Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force? Why wouldn't they team up and destroy the Dark Lord? The original game answered this question by killing Galen Marek but The Force Unleashed 2 brought him back.

    My response to that is "a story untold is not a story by itself." It's still some time before the events of A New Hope and anything could happen in the meantime. Starkiller could lose the Force, be killed (again), end up imprisoned in carbonite, or simply choose to abandon the Rebellion.

    In The Force Unleashed 2, he makes it clear his only priority is Juno Eclipse and has cares little for the Rebellion he helped create. Starkiller doesn't hate the Empire, he only hates its masters. We see this expressed in his disgust when Darth Vader orders him to eliminate all the Imperials at the TIE factory Rahm Kota is attacking. While unlikely, it's possible the Emperor might capture Starkiller and convert to the Dark Side again. In short, there's many ways that Starkiller's saga can end without him being just off-camera at the Battle of Hoth.

    Frankly, Starkiller is a poor substitute for Luke Skywalker in reviving the Jedi as well. Rahm Kota gives Galen Marek little Jedi instruction during their time together, pointing him like a blaster at the Empire. Starkiller, instead, relies on his Sith training to eradicate the Rebellion's enemies.

    The only Jedi instruction he receives is at the hands of Dagobah's cave and what he manages to learn from his father's ghost. In short, Starkiller has all the power of a Jedi Knight but none of the wisdom. For that, he'll need to divorce himself from Rahm Kota and find a real teacher.

    Perhaps Luke Skywalker after the Battle of Endor.

Why Starkiller should be a major part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe

     Warning: This essay will spoil the events of The Force Unleashed and The Force Unleashed 2.

    Star Wars is a franchise with hundreds of heroes but only a few who matter. Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Amidala are the heroes everyone remembers. Why? Well, the obvious answer is because they're the ones in the movies. Star Wars is always going to be remembered chiefly for the films and those heroes of other media aren't going to make as large an impression.

    However, does that mean their stories are any less important to the greater saga as a whole. Some of my favorite stories in the Star Wars Expanded Universe star characters outside of the "Big Ones." Mara Jade, Nomi Sunrider, Ulic Qel-Dromel, Darth Revan, Bastila Shan, Corran Horn, and Kyle Katarn are all characters who you will have only heard about if you're a fan of the SWEU. Still, I absolutely love them. Yet, out of all of them, I'd like to see one character make a return to the Post-Disney SWEU.

    Galen Marek a.k.a Starkiller.

Galen is very much the Anti-Luke Skywalker. However, the irony is that he's far closer to Luke than the vast majority of characters meant to represent the Skywalker legacy.

   Galen Marek is the star of the multimedia The Force Unleashed project. He is the star of two games, two novel adaptations of the aforementioned games, a similar comic book adaptation, and almost nothing else. It's a curious situation as Darth Revan has been referenced in multiple books, games, and continuity guides. Part of this may be explained by Lucas Arts keeping him to themselves but Starkiller is conspicuous by his absence in the larger SWEU.

    I believe this is because Starkiller is a character whose importance to the Star Wars continuity is so considerable he's hard to just causally "plop down" in a story. A bit like Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's padawan, he's got important relationships with a lot of characters.You need to think about these relationships before writing him.

Whether accidental of deliberate. Darth Vader killed Galen Marek's father. He is also Galen's father.

     The Force Unleashed has Starkiller playing a pivotal role in the foundation of the Rebellion. As Vader's foremost apprentice and, in a sick-sick way, surrogate son--there's a lot of interesting conversations that could be had with Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. Yet, with the unlikelihood of there ever being a Force Unleashed 3, it seems we'll probably never have these conversations.

    It seems silly to want to see the protagonist of a video game deal with issues like, "how well did you know my father" but it's no more silly than worrying about the importance of midiclorians and whether Endor is doomed due to falling Death Star wreckage. But why? Why do I like Starkiller? Why do I think he's important to the Saga?

Well, for one, Starkiller has a LOT of issues. Ones which make him an interesting character.

    For me, the reason I like Starkiller is he helps answer a number of interesting questions about both Lord Vader as well as Luke Skywalker. The first question is what sort of plans was Vader making before the arrival of his son? Well, it turns out he was plotting to kill the Emperor even before he met Luke Skywalker.

    What sort of mentor would Darth have been to Luke if he'd corrupted him to the Dark Side? Unsurprisingly, a brutal one. We get a sense of Vader's self-loathing being projected on his chief student. The more heroic Starkiller or Luke would have acted, the more Vader would want to disabuse him of those impulses. God help Luke if he ever fell in love.

    Conversely, we get a sense of Luke Skywalker not only as a Sith Lord but as a Jedi Knight. The brutality and power Luke would develop under Lord Vader's tutelage would give him an immense advantage but his innate goodness would win out over the Dark Side. Starkiller might have ambitions to be the most powerful Sith there is but when called to endanger the lives of those he cares about, he discovers that takes a secondary importance.

Let's hope Juno isn't secretly his sister.

    You may wonder why I am bringing up Galen Marek to illustrate What-Ifs about Luke Skywalker and Vader. After all, they're different characters. Right? Yes, they are. However, what I enjoy about Galen is that he's a very well written foil for Luke and Vader. A man who grows up knowing very little about his father but developing an idealism about him which serves as his beacon to become a Jedi. A man whose love for the wrong woman threatens his position in his order and drives him to betray it.

    They're all three immature when they start their galaxy-changing crusades but rapidly grow into the roles  they've been assigned. They also have rebellions against their mentor figures as they realize they fundamentally disagree with them--Starkiller, obviously, more than Luke. Much like Ahsoka Tano, Mara Jade, and even Siri Tachi--Starkiller helps illustrate a different side to our protagonists. He also manages to be an interesting character in his own right.

    For me, the best SWEU characters don't just serve as the protagonists of their own stories in the Star Wars universe but have something to add to the tapestry. You can sit them down with the cast of the movies and it would be an interesting scene where the newbies can hold their own weight. As the heretofore only known "Light Sith" to serve as a protagonist, he adds a number of interesting dimensions to the Saga. Not to mention he's also a character who, as mentioned, would be darn interesting to sit down with the better-known heroes.

I even like the non-canon "Darth Stalker" character - what happens if Galen Marek falls to the Dark Side for a second time.

    Some individuals may say Starkiller subtracts rather than adds. That his pivotal role in the Rebellion's founding undermines Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Garm Bel Iblis' roles. That having another fully trained Force User around the time of the Rebellion makes Luke less pivotal. Indeed, you might argue that Starkiller's power level makes Luke and Darth Vader less impressive.

    I say thee nay.

    While Starkiller's story needs to be wrapped up so we know what he does from just prior to the Battle of Yavin to the Battle of Endor, I think there's plenty of reasons why he might not be able to carry the mantle of the Jedi like Luke can. For one, twenty-years of Sith training is going to be pretty hard to shake. Two, his intense attachment to Juno is unhealthy as much as redemptive. Three, we know it's Luke who redeems Vader--an infinitely more impressive accomplishment than defeating him.

    As for undermining Bail, Mothma, and Garm--I actually like the fact they were kind of treading water for twenty years. It takes the illusion of a Jedi, which Galen impersonates, to provide them the moral courage to put aside their differences and create the Alliance. Given the Alliance didn't achieve any victories until just before the opening crawl of ANH (The Battle of Topwara), the Alliance has to be a relatively recent event versus something failing for two decades.

Three Senators, a Jedi Knight, a Princess, and Darth Vader's apprentice. The Corellian Treaty is kind of out there.

    I don't think Galen's ridiculously impressive powers are cause for alarm either. For one, Darth Vader displays the exact same level of power in his battles with Starkiller. The opening mission for The Force Unleashed allows Vader to crush his opponents with the fully-charged abilities Galen eventually displays. No, Darth Vader doesn't pull down a Star Destroyer but we know Luke Skywalker levitates one down in Dark Empire. It was already in the atmosphere and out of control.

     Admittedly, if Galen Marek is around during the Rebellion, doesn't this mean he should be training Luke in the ways of the Force? At the very least, shouldn't they be doing some lightsaber sparring? For me, I think that just paves the way for new and interesting stories to be told. What was Galen doing during the latter part of the Rebellion? Did he and Luke swap stories? Was he uncomfortable being around the father-idolizing son of a man he knew to be a monster? Perhaps Luke taught Starkiller about decency while Starkiller taught Luke secrets of telekinesis in time for The Empire Strikes Back? There's a lot of ways to screw this up but equally a number of fascinating stories to tell.

    No, Galen Marek isn't the Other Yoda spoke of. Return of the Jedi is quite clear that's Princess Leia. Yet, the addition of another Jedi-in-training to the Rebellion period isn't as devastating as it could be. We've already got numerous Jedi survivors in the present SWEU and integrating Starkiller is a hell of a lot easier than those two dozen or so guys. Part of me would like to see Starkiller fail at being a Jedi while succeed at being a hero. The possibilities are endless if you think about them and that, to me, is a sign the character works.

I also think Samuel Witwer is a good enough actor to show up in any medium they choose to put Starkiller.

    We're undoubtedly going to be revisiting the Rebellion period with the post-Disney SWEU. There will be countless tales of Luke, Han, and Leia's exploits in a period already extensively covered. However, we can differentiate these new stories from the old ones by giving them a new supporting cast. The post-ROTJ SWU was always more interesting to me because of characters like Mara Jade and, later, the Solo children bringing out different sides to our heroes. Wouldn't it be interesting to see our heroes interact with their own new supporting cast in the Rebellion period? Characters like Juno Eclipse, Starkiller, and original creations will prevent repetition. It's one of the reasons I liked little-known character Deena Shan.

    Of course, there's nothing preventing Starkiller from never interacting with the mainstream heroes during the ANH to ROTJ period. In a hypothetical The Force Unleashed sequel, maybe he's a prisoner of Lord Vader for three to four years. Maybe he's killed again. It could be they just have different adventures which keep them from interacting much. If they wanted to go the Mysteries of the Sith root, maybe a wholly original character is required to bring back Starkiller from the Dark Side after Koto dies or something equally traumatic. That's not even covering the fact the majority of the Rebellion is unaware a founding member used to kill Jedi for the Dark Lord of the Sith. It's entirely possible the Rebellion wouldn't take too kindly to this revelation.

     There's also ample for Starkiller's story to diverge from Luke Skywalkers in an interesting way. The Force Unleashed 2 illustrates Starkiller's priorities when he chooses to abandon the Rebellion in order to rescue Juno Eclipse. Starkiller's loyalty is to his personal circle of friends, not any higher cause, so it's quite possible Luke and Starkiller's stories may diverge in profound ways. Barring something cataclysmic, Rahm Koto will have to die before A New Hope and this may be the straw which breaks the camel's back in terms of allying Starkiller to the Rebellion.

    Galen Marek has an infinite amount of stories in him and I'd love to see these tales told. While it's unlikely Disney will add the character to their stable of regulars--we can always hope.

    My .02.

Should the Star Wars Expanded Universe be rebooted?

    Every Generation Has A Legend. Every Journey Has A First Step. Every Saga Has A Beginning.

    These words were accompanied to the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace teaser trailer. To me, they were the beginning of a new phase of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Years before George Lucas decided to make his trilogy of Prequels, the Star Wars Saga had been continuing across multiple media with fairly tight continuity. Yet, the above words can very easily have something added to them that no one wants to face.

    Every Saga Has A End.

    This is a curious statement since we're just about ready to begin a new stage in the Expanded Universe. With Disney's purchase of the Star Wars franchise, it's entirely possible for another generation of new stories about our heroes to be created. However, these stories will inevitably contradict and conflict with the already expansive number of stories having been written about the Original Trilogy's heroes.

    For those unfamiliar with Star Wars Expanded Universe, it more or less chronicles the next hundred and fifty years after Return of the Jedi. We see Luke, Han, and Leia all have children. We watch these children grow up. We watch these children become heroes in their own right. Hell, we even watch these children die.

This is Han Solo's daughter, Jaina. She eventually becomes Empress. I kid you not. Oh and she kills her brother.

    No one has written the death of Han, Luke, and Leia. George Lucas, wisely, realized there was plenty of marketing potential in them decades after their last movie. Still, we have a rough idea how their lives go until the characters are in their eighties. Likewise, we know they're not around a century and a half after the Emperor's death. That would be silly.

    Silly like a Hutt with a beard.

This is Jabba the Hutt's Dad with Kyle Reese from Terminator. Oh wait, no, that's a guy pretending to be Emperor Palpatine's three-eyed son. Seriously.

    Our heroes served as somewhat dubious guardians of the galaxy. After defeating the Empire, they had to overcome an extra-galactic invasion which killed a third of the galaxy. Then the Sith took over the galaxy, again, lead by Han Solo and Princess Leia's son. Then the Sith took over the galaxy, again, with the help of Star Wars Cthulhu. Then the Sith took over the galaxy, a third time, before Luke's drug-addicted great-great grandson saved the universe because no one outside the holy bloodline could.

    Still, the galaxy was still standing after our heroes were done with it so that's something. Han, Luke, and Leia's legacy may be a wrecked galaxy and quite a few dead loved ones but they powered through. They defeated brainwashed pig-men powered battle moons, starfighters capable of blowing up suns, and a race of eel-wielding pain-worshipers.

Don't forget the Green Pirate People. They were a major threat to the galaxy!

    That's not to say I haven't gotten an immense amount of enjoyment out of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I own, literally, over a hundred novels and at least as many comics. I know more about Star Wars history than I know about real-life history and I have a Masters degree in the latter. The Star Wars Expanded Universe is my childhood, basically, and quite a bit of my teenage years. I love it more than anyone else on Earth.

Okay, SHE might love Star Wars more than me. Hint: It's Katie Lucas.

    However, there's a time for every story to wrap itself up. As Semisonic says in "Closing Time": Closing time. Open all the doors and let you out into the world. Closing time. Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl. At what point have we told enough stories that the EU has become full? You could tell an infinite number of stories in the galaxy far-far away but if all of the characters have every day of their lives filled in--it becomes a bit pointless.

    So what am I suggesting? I'm saying it may be time to start Star Wars Expanded Universe 2.0. A clean slate with the exception of the movies and some select ongoing pieces of the EU like The Old Republic, The Clone Wars, and so on. Everything else would be regulated to Star Wars Expanded Universe 1.0. It won't become discontinuity, just the continuity of an alternate universe. Like Star Trek: The Next Generation, it exists in its old universe. JJ Abrams knew the majority of movie goers recognized Trek for Kirk and Spock with the same applying to Han, Luke, and Leia.

    Wouldn't it be interesting to follow the characters again on a new road?

Do we really want to follow seventy + year old Han? Really, Harrison and Han need to understand it's time to let go.

    For me, I think giving a definitive ending to the original Expanded Universe and starting over in a new universe is the best solution to the question of where to go with the setting. Unlike Superman, the Flash, and Batman--our heroes would have a chance to retire with dignity. Better still, we will regain a sense of surprise and suspense about what's going to happen with our characters. Han, Luke, and Leia are eternal but their individual incarnations may follow any number of different roads.

    In conclusion, I'm not afraid of a reboot. I welcome it. I'm afraid, instead, of trying to plow forward well after the time new ideas should have been given a fresh canvas.

    That's my .02.

The Nature of the Sith - Can They Be Good?

Where it all began.

    In The Empire Strikes Back, we're introduced to the Sith. Before, A New Hope implied that Darth Vader was nothing more than a fallen Jedi Knight. While the order is never changed, Darth Vader's master clearly practices some form of religion different from the Jedi Knighthood as the prospect of luring Young Skywalker to the Dark Side trumps the danger a renewed Jedi Knighthood might pose.

        EMPEROR: We have a new enemy -- Luke Skywalker.
        VADER: Yes, my master.
        EMPEROR: He could destroy us.
        VADER: He's just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him.
        EMPEROR: The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not
        become a Jedi.
        VADER: If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally.
        EMPEROR: Yes. Yes. He would be a great asset. Can it be done?
        VADER: He will join us or die, my master.

     Supplemental materials published by West End Games and other sources identified Darth Vader as a "Dark Lord of the Sith" but no one knew what a Sith was. Timothy Zahn, for example, originally intended the Noghri race to be the Sith. George Lucas, undoubtedly having an idea of what he wanted to do with the race, wisely nixed these ideas.

    The Sith remained a mystery for years thereafter, finally being revealed when Kevin J. Anderson was given a set of notes for his Jedi Academy novels. Originally intending the character of Exar Kun to be a Dark Jedi, George Lucas suggested he would be better as a Sith Lord and gave him a short outline of their order. This would further be expanded in Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith where we discovered the Sith were an ancient civilization of Darksiders destroyed by the Jedi Order.

Exar Kun - 3rd Lord of the Sith.

    Ultimately, we'd get a full knowledge of the Sith race with the comic book series Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith which would expand on their back story further. The Sith were once a race of force-sensitives until Dark Jedi conquered them and turned them to the ways of evil. Since that time, there have been many expansions on the Sith. Different orders of darksiders claiming the name, getting wiped out by the Jedi, and the cycle of vengeance continuing.

Naga Sadow - a member of the original Sith race and a practitioner of their debased Dark Jedi-influenced religion.

    Despite the Sith's integral role in the Star Wars' mythos, it took a long time to learn anything about their beliefs. As stock villains in a franchise known for its monochromatic depictions of good and evil, no one was in a hurry to detail what the Sith stood for. This changed with the first Knights of the Old Republic video game. One of the missions lead the player to infiltrating the Sith Academy on Korriban and finding out just what the Sith believed.

        Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
        Through passion, I gain strength.
        Through strength, I gain power.
        Through power, I gain victory.
        Through victory, my chains are broken.
        The Force shall free me.

    To those familiar with Star Wars lore, this is a near complete inversion of the Jedi Code first presented in West End Games materials.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

    This nicely sets up what was always a thematic element of the Sith. They are the literal polar opposites of the Jedi, chromatic inversions of their philosophy and practices. A Jedi is stoic, a Sith is passionate. A Jedi seeks peace, a Sith exploits violence. A Jedi serves, a Sith serves no one. But is the Sith Way evil?

Darkness vs. Light. The eternal struggle of the Jedi and Sith. Or is it?

    The Sith Code extolls the virtues of emotion, strength, and freedom. None of these qualities are innately evil. It's called Star Wars, after all, and violence is a tool of our heroes. The Jedi Knights always seek peace but they rarely find it. Indeed, Star Wars is a story of the overthrow of an oppressive government so our heroes can live in a free galaxy.

    There's nothing at odds with the Sith Code and being a plucky freedom fighter trying to liberate the galaxy. Well, nothing other than the fact the Sith are usually the ones enslaving the galaxy. The Galactic Empire, Revan's Sith Empire, and the Sith of the Old Republic are all based on the same Space Nazi stereotypes meant to indicate the Dark Lords are bad news. Even non-fascist Sith Empires tend towards extremes with the Ancient Sith practicing slavery and ritual sacrifice.

The Triumph of the Will homage here doesn't say much about the Sith's governing skills, does it?

    In short, the Sith tend to be the oppressor rather than the liberator for all their code's talk of freedom. I believe this is because the Sith Code exalts strength and passion. It's all too easy for those practicing the Sith Way to hold the weak in contempt. A Sith would not submit to slavery so anyone who does deserves it, right? Admittedly, this is just an extrapolation but it fits with what we know about the Sith. They're monstrously selfish.

     But do they have to be?

    The idea of a redeemed Dark Lord of the Sith is nothing new. The number of Sith Lords redeemed to the light side include: Darth Vader, Ulic Qel-Dromel, Darth Revan, and Ajunta Pall if you choose the right options during Knights of the Old Republic. However, is it possible to reject the Dark Side of the Force and continue to embrace the way of the Sith?

    I say yes.

    Star Wars: The Old Republic offers the opportunity to be a Light Side Sith Warrior and Inquisitor. The choices for being a Lightsider aren't always moral: one mission gives you the opportunity to mercy kill a bunch of slaves or torture them but not free them. However, the game says that a Sith Warrior can glow with light to Force Precognitive Jaesa Williams while the Sith Inquisitor can speak of reforming the Empire to his Gray Jedi apprentice.

He has Jedi friends and wants to be one but, really, he's horrible at the Jedi Way.

    The Force Unleashed and its sequel offer the opportunity to play Darth Vader's apprentice. Ultimately, the story is one of redemption but our hero never gets the opportunity to claim the mantle of Jedi. Indeed, he opposes the Emperor and Darth Vader purely with the skills he learned from the latter. With the Star Wars franchise changing hands, it occurs to me this is the perfect time to explore the nuances of the opposition's philosophy.

    This has already been done with the Galactic Empire. Timothy Zahn, in particular, has expanded on the Empire to the point they're actually able to serve as co-protagonists in several books. If we can lend the dignity of a valid point to a group known for blowing up planets of pacifists, shouldn't we consider doing the same to the Jedi's mortal enemies?

    Sure, it might seem gimmicky but we've seen plenty of corrupt Jedi over the years. Not just Jedi fallen prey to the Dark Side but arrogant and ossified Force-Users who misunderstand basic human reaction. Why not show the opposite? Sith who are not fully committed to the ways of evil and might, just possibly, have a point.

     I think the Star Wars EU can only benefit from this.

Disney buys Lucasfilm...and my childhood

A Short Time Ago In Our Galaxy...

    Disney buys Lucasfilm, Star Wars, and announces there will be a new Star Wars movie entitled Episode VII in 2015. When I logged on yesterday to find out this news, I've got to say I was completely blown away and it's taken a bit of time to fully process the news. When Revenge of the Sith finished its credits, I was fairly sure Star Wars was finished. There might be animated series, books, or television shows but the movies were the heart of the beast.

    George Lucas has always been the father of Star Wars and I think the backlash against him has been somewhat unfair. Okay, not entirely unfair because the Prequels had horrible acting and numerous terrible ideas but they were still enjoyable--at least to me. Lucas has always been an idea man with the original trilogy primarily benefiting from his immense vision. I encourage anyone who thinks the Prequels were flukes to watch some of the screen tests for Star Wars and hear some of the original dialogue.

    It's atrocious.
   
    Still, Star Wars isn't a fluke either. If you ever thought it was, you just have to look at Indiana Jones. It was George Lucas' idea that he and Steven Spielberg do a work based on the old pulp serials. Really, given Harrison Ford was involved in both projects, I'm inclined to think he was a major guiding force in dealing with some of Lucas'....quirks. In any case, at the age of 68, he's at retirement age and should be able to enjoy his remaining years. Given he's being paid two billion dollars in cash and two billion in Disney stock, presumably he'll retire on whichever planet he chooses to buy.

    What does this mean for Star Wars as a franchise, though? The revelation they're going to make Episode VII indicates it's going to be a living franchise now. Even if George Lucas dies, the series will continue on indefinitely. In some ways, this is a bad thing. Say what you will about George but he's always done what he wants to do. George could have kept churning out Star Wars movies indefinitely like they've done with the Aliens franchise. Hopefully, Disney isn't going to do this but the fact is they've now got time George as a movie mogul doesn't. Two hundred years from now, Disney will still be around and hocking Cinderella merchandise.

    The difference is, now, they might be hocking Jedi merchandise as well.

     I think future generations deserve a chance to experience Star Wars in the theaters and keeping it a living franchise is a good thing. I'm not particularly worried about what happens with the Star Wars Expanded Universe since I have a somewhat Doylist view on the subject. There is no "true" story of Star Wars. Han shot first in the first movie but shot second (after Greedo's incredibly **** first shot) in the Special Edition. Stories like the New Jedi Order build on previous continuity but I consider these to be features of a well-written story as opposed to an absolute necessity.

    Some of my favorite Star Wars stories are Crisis on Cloud City, Domain of Evil, and the Otherspace duology. Even if you're a die-hard EU fan, you probably haven't read about these stories because they're tabletop RPG modules. They're stories about how a set of heroes stopped a nanotechnology plague, redeemed a fallen Jedi, and fought against other-dimensional death cultists. There's no way to say how these things happened in the "real" Star Wars universe because they were different for every Gamemaster who ran them. This is how I view the Star Wars universe, to an extent, as a playground for people to tell their stories.

    The Disney corporation may declare all of the novels non-canon, start the next trilogy immediately after the Battle of Endor, and kill Luke Skywalker in the first five minutes. None of this will affect my version of Star Wars. Luke Skywalker married Mara Jade, had a son named Ben (also a daughter named Padme I made up), had many adventures, and died centuries later.

    When the opening crawl first came into theaters, it ceased to be entirely George Lucas' tale and became the property of all of us. I'm eager to see what other storytellers have to say but won't get bent out of shape over them.