On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm announced that in preparation for the upcoming Sequel Trilogy, the Expanded Universe would not be in any future material and would be declared non-canon.
As a fan of the Thrawn trilogy and other Star Wars books & comics such as John Jackson Miller’s Kenobi, Drew Karpyshyn’s Darth Bane: Path of Destruction John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s Star Wars: Legacy and the critically acclaimed Bioware RPG video game Knights of the Old Republic, I was disappointed in the announcement. The idea that we were getting brand new Star Wars stories was exciting, but a lot of fans did not see it that way.
Most of you by now know of the “Give Us Legends” groups, and the many “Disney is ruining my childhood” posts. And the constant bashing of new Star Wars content on official Star Wars Facebook pages. Dark Horse finished its Star Wars run in August, and Del Rey has published two official Star Wars canon books, A New Dawn and Tarkin. There isn’t anything that’s non-canon in Star Wars that’s still ongoing – except Bioware’s MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic (Or SWTOR for short). SWTOR is still running and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere for a while. I had an idea, which I thought was silly at first, but the more I think on it, the more I like the idea.
Why doesn’t Bioware create expansions based off old EU stories? Unless the Lucasfilm Story Group is telling Bioware something that we don’t know, Star Wars: The Old Republic is non-canon. It’s still running and it’s still making a profit. Why can’t Bioware just go nuts? There’s so much content in the old EU to use. What if Bioware creates a “Legends” expansion?
Can you imagine playing SWTOR as a level 55, and coming across a Yuuzhan Vong? Imagine playing your Knight, Consular, Inquisitor, or Warrior and having Mara Jade or Kyle Katarn at your side.
Imagine playing a Smuggler with Talon Karrde. Or imagine playing a Soldier with Corran Horn. Imagine taking assignments as a Sith, Bounty Hunter, or Imperial Agent from the Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn. Would it not be a mind-blowing experience for someone who got attached to these characters in their youth?
The sky is the limit for an expansion like that. For those who cry out “give us Legends”, you would finally be getting “Legends”. EA would profit from it for sure, because people who haven’t even tried SWTOR would have more of a reason to play. That goes for old subscribers who dropped the game a while ago as well.
And for those who would complain about where’s Jacen, Anakin, and Jaina, think about it: YOU are Jacen, Anakin, or Jaina of your own story. The Skywalkers and Solos would probably be off-limits, but Bioware makes you the main character of SWTOR stories. Because SWTOR would now be considered non-canon, there’s so much they can do. They aren’t limited by the boundaries of official canon.
And it’s obvious that SWTOR is a long ways from being done. It’s very unlikely that SWTOR won’t be running while The Force Awakens is in theaters. It makes too much money to be dropped and the new movies will help bolster the game financially even more.
I guess the only concern would be how it would affect SWTOR’s story. Well in that case, how about we focus on one character for a sec: Mara Jade.
Most of you know her backstory by now. Mara Jade was taken from her parents by the Emperor, was trained on Coruscaunt and became the Emperor’s hand, or at least one of them. If you’ve played the Sith Warrior story in SWTOR, you know that you eventually become the Emperor’s Wrath, and later on you will receive a message from “Servant One of the Emperor’s Hand”. Mara might need a few tweaks to her backstory (being trained on Coruscaunt might cause story problems), but only a few tweaks. For the most part her backstory would stay intact, and she could fit into SWTOR’s story.
As a Sith Warrior or a Sith Inquisitor, she could join you to hunt down the Jedi that killed the Emperor, or simply search for the Emperor himself. As a Jedi Knight, she could start out as an enemy, but eventually be turned into an ally with a little persuasion.
What good reason is there for this not to happen? Money? Considering how many “give us Legends” groups there are out there, I’m pretty sure EA would get a return on its investment. Story? There are a bunch of EU elements already implemented in SWTOR; you can find a way to fit others in there as well. I’m hoping somewhere, someone at Lucasfilm, Bioware, and/or EA are reading this, because I’m going to say something I thought I’d never say.
Please, give us Legends.
Actually, Fantasy Flight has also been given the green light to continue printing content within the scope of the EU in their RPG books, so we have another outlet as well.
Bur Legends novels is what we want. A continuation of all our favorite characters is all they would have to put out to make the group happy. 🙂
Horrible idea.
Although – or actually because – I really like the Legends timeline, the very last thing I want to see is those great characters and stories getting messed up in a desperate attempt to push them into SWTOR’s time frame. Mara Jade being the Hand of Emperor Vitiate, not Palpatine, would just seem incredibly wrong to me and probably the vast majority of all EU-fans.
Yes, a continuation of the EU would be great – but I’d rather have nothing than just a cheesy mashup.
(Sorry for possible grammar mistakes etc, second language and stuff 😉 )
I think something like that could work – but it would require a massive reboot of the game. Which, as fandom is semi-mad at massive reboots would be ironic at best.
I don’t miss the old EU, and I’m glad it’s dead. Bring on the new canon. I’ll be glad to go back to a Star Wars galaxy where every little background character DOESN’T have some greatly important role, and where all the truly hokey, bad ideas of the EU are able to be jettisoned and forgotten, while the few good ideas can be plucked out and dropped into canon with a little refinement.
As far as I’m concerned, the Star Wars universe is FAR better off without KOTOR baggage, and if anyone wants to dump more lousy ideas and ridiculous cyborg Sith into it, that’s fine with me… As long as it doesn’t bubble over into the official canon.