A Beginner's Guide to Star Wars Legends

 A BEGINNER'S GUIDE   -   STAR WARS LEGENDS

Star Wars is not just a trilogy of movie trilogies. It has two expanded universes (EU) full of content in the form of games, comics and books.

Here I will be giving a beginner's guide to Star Wars' first expanded universe, dubbed 'Legends' after Disney's purchase of the IP in late 2012. I will give a brief overview on novels that I think are worth reading and focus primarily on the canon novels published in this EU - but that's not to say the non-canon novels or the comics or games are any less relevant or unworthy of your time.

The easiest way to start is to ask yourself when in the Galaxy Far Far Away you would like to begin your journey. For the sake of simplicity, I'll divide the timeline into more manageable chunks.

THE OLD REPUBLIC - THE RISE OF THE EMPIRE - THE REBELLION - THE NEW REPUBLIC - NEW JEDI ORDER - LEGACY

THE OLD REPUBLIC

This era of Legends is one that spans quite some time in-universe.

The most notable entries in this era include the KOTOR games, the 'Deceived' novel and the Darth Bane Trilogy.

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While the above entries don't directly contribute to the mainline events of Star Wars, they do tell interesting and engaging stories that should be read by fans new and old.

Knights of the Old Republic, or KOTOR, is a roleplaying videogame developed by Bioware and released in 2003. It is currently available on numerous platforms, such as the Nintendo Switch, XBox360 and on the Steam store for PC. It tells a story set around 4,000 years before 'A New Hope' and is in essence the story of the player character, pulled into a war set between the Republic and Jedi against the Sith forces of Jedi turncoats Darth Revan and Darth Malak. The story is riviting and the gameplay, while not to everyone's taste, holds up well after 20 years. You'll travel to worlds such as Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, and Dantooine, home of the Jedi Enclave - where you begin to learn the ways of the force from Jedi Masters. Along the way you can collect different companions to aid you in battle and provide you with their own backstories.

KOTOR was blessed with a sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords, released just one year later in 2004. Many consider this to be a superior story to the previous game, let down only by the fact that a large swath of content was cut from the game before release. Luckily modifications are available to restore this cut content and allow it to be played. In this game, you play as a character later known as ' The Exile', a former follower of Revan, who has cut themselves off from the force. Accompanied by a mysterious woman known as Kreia, and many more companions, you'll travel the galaxy in search of an answer for what drove Revan to the Dark Side of the Force, and fight unique and memorable enemy Sith Lords, such as the planet devouring Darth Nihilus.

Deceived is a novel set around 300 years after the KOTOR games, written by Paul S. Kemp, and mainly follows the journey of Darth Malgus, a Sith Lord part of the new Empire that is at war with the Republic. Darth Malgus was featured heavily in trailers for the game: Star Wars The Old Republic - a personal all time favourite game of mine. The book acts as somewhat of a prequel for Malgus' appearance in the MMORPG and features Sith politics and intrigue, lightsaber battles, loveable rogues and a heart-wrenching romance featuring the titular character. Parallels can easily be drawn between Darth Malgus and fan favourite Darth Vader as well. Not a necessary book, but definitely a highlight of the era.

Darth Bane might be a name you've heard before. He is the originator of the 'Rule of Two', a new line of Sith wherein there can only ever be two Sith Lords active at one time. The three part series, starting with 'Path of Destruction', is set about 2500 years after the events of Star Wars the Old Republic - Bane is initiated into the Sith Order, once again at war against the Jedi and the Republic. Quickly becoming disappointed in his fellow Sith, Bane takes the title Darth and causes the destruction of all his fellow dark lords. Finding and taking on an apprentice, Bane is the progenitor of a line of Sith Lords that will one day rule the galaxy. This is a trilogy of novels that starts off really strongly, though many readers have noticed a dip in quality as the trilogy ends; personally, I experienced no disappointment when reading, the story is engaging and the prose remains a consistently high quality throughout. 

RISE OF THE EMPIRE

The Rise of the Empire era of the Legends continuity spans less time than the previous era, but contains many more individual stories.

In my opinion, the most notable entries in this era include the movie prequel trilogy, Darth Plagueis, Republic Commando, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, Shatterpoint and Kenobi.

 

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The Prequel Trilogy of movies should be something you've already watched, if you're interested in the Expanded Universe. Revenge of the Sith, the third entry in the series, stands far above the other two - even more so when it comes to the novelisation. Penned by the brilliant Matt Stover, with insights from George Lucas himself, RotS is considered one of the best written novels in any continuity from the franchise. This book adds new scenes to enhance the story told in the motion picture, adding further characterisation to fan favourite characters, with beautifully written prose - action sequences, political intrigue and romance all feature heavily to in this fantastic space opera.

Did you ever hear the tragedy, of Darth Plagueis the Wise? Set before the Prequel Trilogy, Darth Plagueis tells the story of Emperor Palpatine's Sith Master, his political machinations and his work in fomenting darkness throughout the galaxy, as well as his training of the soon to be master of Darth Vader. The author, James Luceno, writes a wonderful story detailing many story elements that set up later Star Wars content, such as the creation of the Clone Soldiers of the Republic and the departure of Count Dooku from the Jedi Order. Many other parts of the Legends timeline are referenced in the novel, elevating the feeling of interconnection between multiple authors works.

The Clone Wars mass media project set about to deliver a series of books, games and comics expanding on aspects of the in-universe Clone Wars. Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, features the wise old Jedi Master and his teaching of two Jedi Younglings in a perilous situation against his former student, Count Dooku. The novel explores the relationship between the old men in great detail and features themes of morality and change.  Another book written by master storyteller Matt Stover, Shatterpoint, explores a mission undertaken by Jedi Council Member, Mace Windu to retrieve his former Padawan from Windu's own home planet - a world beset by Separatist forces, jungle terrors and a band of guerilla warriors, led by a vicious user of the Force, at odds with Jedi teachings. Often compared to 'Heart of Darkness' - the novel explores similar themes, but against a Star Wars backdrop. 

  Also part of the Clone Wars MMP is the 'Republic Commando' series. You may have heard of the videogame with the same name, a first person shooter where you play as one of the titular Republic Commandos as a part of Delta Squad, at the dawn of the Clone Wars - undertaking missions from sandy, insect-ridden Geonosis, to the arboreal world of Kashyyyk in an attempt to foil Confederacy plans. There is also however, a series of novels penned by Karen Traviss featuring a different squad of Commandos. Starting with 'Hard Contact', you can follow the exploits of the recently formed Omega Squad from their first mission as Republic Commandos, until their last. This series is unlike most other novels in the Star Wars universe, showing a more militaristic angle of the universe that is often glossed over by other media in the franchise. It really puts the War in Star Wars.

My final highlight for the Rise of the Empire era, is 'Kenobi', a novel set after the fall of Anakin Skywalker that sees the Chosen One's former master beginning his exile of the dusty desert planet of Tatooine. Follow Kenobi as he deals with feelings of loss and failure, questioning his abilities and worthiness as a Jedi, while attempting to watch over his ward in addition to setting up his new life as a wasteland dwelling hermit. Want to see the start of the transformation from the Obi-Wan of the Prequel Trilogy to the Old Ben of the Original series? Then this is the book for you.

 

THE REBELLION

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If Star Wars is known for any particular era in it's timeline, it's this one. This is the era in which we see the rise of Luke Skywalker, from farmboy to Jedi Knight - you can read of the past misadventures of lovable rogues like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian and of course, this is where the franchise all began, with 'A New Hope', 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi'.

 

Despite being such a well known era, there is really very little of interest novel wise. The mainline movies are a better way of consuming the story told within when compared to the novels. My picks for novels you'll want to read in this era are: Shadow of the Empire, the AC Crispin Han Solo Trilogy and Truce at Bakura.

 

Shadow of the Empire was the first attempt at a mass media project in the Star Wars franchise, featuring a videogame available on different consoles, comic book adventures and a brilliantly written novel. Set after the events of ' The Empire Strikes Back', the Rebellion takes on the Empire as well as criminal organisation Black Sun - sadly without the aid of Han Solo, having been frozen in carbonite during TESB. Han's role as the rogue of the rebellion is taken in part by Lando Calrissian, as well as a new character - Dash Rendar. The revamped gang tussle against the forces of Prince Xizor, leader of Black Sun, who wishes to subvert the power and authority of Darth Vader and take his place as second in command of the Empire. While the novel does have some questionable moments regarding Princess Leia and the aforementioned Xizor, the novel is well written and tells a concise almost self-contained story that fills the gap between movies 5 and 6 very nicely.

There are two trilogies of books concerning the past of Han Solo: the first, written by Brian Daley and published in 1974 takes place after the second, penned by A.C. Crispin over twenty years later. The Crispin novels, beginning with 'The Paradise Snare' is generally considered the better of the two series, being less pulp fiction than it's predecessor. While not technically set in the Rebellion Era, the novels do tell the backstory of one of the main rebels, as well as his first meeting with his partner Chewbacca and their forays into smuggling good for Jabba the Hutt.

Truce at Bakura is set shortly after the events of Return of the Jedi. The Empire, after it's defeat at the Battle of Endor, is beset by an alien force once allied with Emperor Palpatine and calls a temporary truce with the Rebel Alliance in order to quell the threat posed by the slave-taking mind altering reptile species known as the Ssi-ruuk. Luke Skywalker is warned by the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi to intervene in this crisis in order to halt a disastrous outcome. While I don't consider this to be an essential novel in the timeline, events are referenced in future novels and characters found within are re-visited in later stories.

 

THE NEW REPUBLIC

After the defeat of the Empire, the Alliance to Restore the Republic, most commonly known as the Rebel Alliance, does in fact restore the Republic. Founding the New Republic, the new galactic government chases down fragments of the Empire, now torn apart and held in pieces by many different self-styled warlords and claimants to be heirs to the Empire.

 

This era is rife with comics and novels, though many are critical of the 'Villain of the Week' style stories that are found in a fair amount of novels. In my opinion the best and most important stories to read are: The X-Wing series, Dark Empire, The Thrawn Trilogy, The Jedi Academy Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology.

 

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The X-Wing series is a fan favourite series of 10 novels that is really two series with the same basic premise, featuring some of the same main characters. Both series follow Wedge Antillies, one of only a few pilots to survive both Death Stars, as he commands Rogue Squadron and founds Wraith Squadron. 'Rogue Squadron' is the first of a series of books written by Michael Stackpole, telling of the re-building of the squad featured in the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. It expands on characters found in said movie and introduces a significant amount of world building that would be used to great effect in later novels. 'Wraith Squadron' shows Wedge as he creates a covert action unit of X-Wing pilots, brought in as rejects and failures but rife with special talents that would make them useful in ground and space based operations. Written by Aaron Allston, the books following the titular Wraith Squadron tend to be slightly less technical in regards to combat scenes, but are far more humourous.

The Thrawn trilogy, starting with 'Heir to the Empire' sees a tactically genius Grand Admiral Thrawn lead a remnant of Imperial forces after his supposed exile during Palpatine's rule. Timothy Zahn's trilogy of books is often considered the start of a renaissance or golden age in regards to the history of Star Wars expanded media. The trilogy sees the introduction of memorable and important characters like Grand Admiral Thraw, Captain Pellaeon, Mara Jade future wife of Luke Skywalker, and more. Han and Leia, now married (in another novel - The Courtship of Princess Leia), give birth to twins, Jaina and Jacen Solo.

Dark Empire is a comic series that showed the return of Emperor Palpatine via a clone body and his attempts to reunite the remnants of the Empire. That premise may sound familiar to you if you have seen the 9th Star Wars movie in the Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker. Set in the Legends continuity as apposed to Rise's Disney Films, Dark Empire features very stylized artwork - showing Luke Skywalker become the apprentice of Palpatine like his father before him, in an attempt to weaken the Emperor's power base and take down his reformed Empire from within. Luke struggles with the dark side as Han and Leia welcome their third child to the world - Anakin Solo.

The Jedi Academy has Luke Skywalker on the hunt for new Jedi apprentices to form the first new wave of Jedi after the fall of the old order. Some readers deride this series for it's at time wonky writing and extraneous details such as Lando's adventure at the blob races, but the core idea and general story serves it's purpose well. The trilogy brings in many new characters that will play important roles in later books. The series is also birthplace to Dark Jedi Exar Kun, who is a main character in a series of comics set prior to even Knights of the Old Republic. There is another, however, another book not apart of the series that is. I, Jedi, is an interesting novel, written in the first person - something very different for Star Wars novels - and covers the events that happen on Luke's Jedi academy from the perspective of Corran Horn, a member of Rogue Squadron from an earlier series of books. The first person viewpoint and refined style of writing allows for a very unique novel, though some fans do dislike the character of Corran, describing him as something of a Mary-Sue, top pilot, above average Jedi, tragic backstory and good with the ladies - you'll have to find out for yourself if you like Corran Horn in, 'I, Jedi'.

The Hand of Thrawn duology consists of two books, as duologies do, 'Specter of the Past' and 'Vision of the Future'. Written by Timothy Zahn, author of the Thrawn Trilogy, this two-part adventure sees the New Republic tremble in fear at the threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn's escape from death and return to the galaxy at large. Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade play central roles in this story, alongside the other members of the original crew. The series neatly bookends the New Republic era of stories and ties up loose ends from previous novels. While the story is not super important to the overall state of the galaxy, it does have lasting effects for our characters and heralds the end of era in regards to publishing. From around this time, Del Rey begin to publish Star Wars books, and look to create a long term series that would shake up the status quo. Enter...

THE NEW JEDI ORDER

The New Jedi Order is a 19 part book series that deals with an invasion of an alien species from outside the galaxy far far away, that plunges the New Republic and Imperial Remnant back into a state of war - only this time they share a common enemy. These invading creatures are called the Yuuzhan Vong and they have a species wide hatred of droids and a universal power to be unaffected by the Force. The series, being 19 books long, takes the opportunity heavily feature and develop characters from old stories and makes way to expand the galaxy, showing new cultures and problems that the terrors of war with an unrelenting foe bring about. I would highly recommend reading the series in it's entirety though I understand that it is quite a commitment. Del Rey did publish select books as hardbacks with the intent that you could read only the hardbacks to get the main gist of the story. 

Though many novels in the series are definitely worth your time and worthy of your enjoyment, there is one that stand far above the rest.'Traitor is comes just after the halfway point of the series and is written for your pleasure by none other than Matt Stover. Stover wrote four novels for the Legends continuity and all of them are absolute gems. Traitor gives insight into the aftermath of the capture of Jacen Solo, son of Han and Leia and prominent Jedi Knight. Jacen, along with a new character called Vergere, explores the force as in a deeper manner than has been seen before or since, asking questions like, are you truly evil if you give yourself to the dark? What is the dark side? A universal force for evil gnawing at all living beings in constant a battle with the good and righteous light side, or simply the perversion of self? Stover delivers yet another outstandingly written novel with a killer story to boot - this novel stands out among the best in the entire franchise.

 

The final novel in the series 'The Unifying Force' is a fantastic novel as well and serves as a good stopping point for many fans of the series. Further works do exist, but are often criticized by fans, who feel that major characters act out of character and make decisions that they would not be making. Other fans do enjoy the follow up adventures to the New Jedi Order, often preferring the works that follow. One such example is the Swarm War series, set after the Yuuzhan Vong War, that follows the Jedi intervention in a series of skirmishes against the Killiks - insectile aliens originally from Alderaan, that forcibly convert humanoid species to act as slaves, referred to as joiners, in their species-wide hivemind.

LEGACY

The Legacy era consists of stories set after the Swarm War until the most recent events in canon, mainly two 9 part series - Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi.

Legacy of the Force tells the story of the rise of Darth Caedus, as well as the training of Ben Skywalker, son of Luke and Mara Jade. Jaina Solo, twin sister to Jacen Solo is named Sword of the Jedi and trains with Mandalorian warriors in order to defeat Darth Caedus - a powerful force user that has many abilities from his time training with a variety of force sects across the galaxy. The Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, sucessor to the New Republic, is plunged back into war after the brutal Yuuzhan Vong war - this time against rebels from Han Solo's home planet, Corellia.

Fate of the Jedi integrates the characters and state of the galaxy from past stories with the lore of the Ones of Mortis from the Clone Wars animated TV show. In the Mortis arc of the Clone Wars, we learned of the Father, Son and Daughter - now we see Luke and Ben Skywalker hunt down a being once known as the Mother, now Abeloth - an eldritch creature once bound by a celestial prison made from the artificially constructed Corellia star system, now ripped asunder by the use of Centerpoint station during the Legacy of the Force series. At the same time, the Jedi are under attack, both politically from former Imperial Moff Naatsi Daala, and by a plague infecting the minds of force sensitive beings, that inflict psychosis and other terrible maladies.

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And that's it. In my opinion the above novels and games are among the best of their respective era to engage in.

If you're after a barebones guide, I'll quickly outline what I think are the most essential novels to see you through the main story beats and adventures exclusive to the Legends continuity.

Thrawn Trilogy - Jedi Academy - Thrawn Duology - New Jedi Order

 

The post Original Trilogy stories can be expanded further by reading:

 

The Swarm War - Legacy of the Force - Fate of the Jedi

You could jump back in time and see events before the Empire's rise by reading:

Bane Trilogy - Darth Plageuis - Revenge of the Sith

But at the end of the day, most novels are going to be fine to start with. Try not to jump straight into the middle of a series, as you'll likely be confused - but other than that you can really start wherever you'd like.

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