#mostly Disney canon but with some parts of Legends to spice things up

[dracothulhu]

The Temple Jedirodyne AU

Presume for a moment that the Jedi a thousand years prior to the PT were not so absolutely sure that the Sith were extinct. Presume that they looked at the ravages of the Dark Side presence from the occupations and battles pressing at their senses like a miasma, and decided that more needed to be done. The Temple on Coruscant had been attacked and occupied at least once during the Jedi-Sith War, after all. So they looked at the possibility of creating an guardian that would stand for as long as the Temple existed - the Temple itself. 

The Temple is alive; suffused with the presence of one of those ancient Jedi to defend the younger generations far into the future. The structure itself is reinforced with extra, hidden defences - concealed blast doors, enough power generation (solar, wind, geothermal, whatever) to support itself even cut off from the Coruscant power grid, a shield generator capable of withstanding orbital bombardment, and so on - all of which the Temple itself can control. It’s a fortress of last resort, even if it pretends not to be - even ignoring that the Temple is tapped into the Force nexus within the heart of the mountain that it caps, which gives it terrifying power compared to a mortal wielder.

Meanwhile however, the Temple is not merely a silent guardian. That first generation of Jedi after it came to life knew it after all, and would have no reason not to keep speaking with a fellow. The Temple can see, hear, and speak through both mundane means (cameras, microphones, and so on) and the Force itself, and its immense Force presence is a beacon across the whole planet - for the Jedi, a warm and encompassing comfort, like a psychic hug; for the Sith and others of the Dark Side, burning like the air too close to a raging bonfire. The Temple speaks to the Jedi across the generations, and becomes something of a fixture for the Order as a whole - like a close uncle or aunt, an entity who can always be relied on for support and guidance no matter the Jedi in question (though the Temple vigorously refuses any formal position of authority).

Skip forward to the Clone Wars: like with the rest of the Jedi, the Temple has been slowly battered down by the encroaching misery of the war, the fatigue and stress of the Jedi and the constant slow trickle of their deaths. By the close of the war, the Temple is near catatonic and no longer responding to the presence or calls of its inhabitants. Then Order 66 happens.

The Temple feels the one-two punch of the Jedi around the galaxy dying, everywhere, all at once, and it finally feels the Sith presence from Palpatine and Anakin Falling. This - the sudden agony of its charges dying, and the re-emergence of the ancient enemy and the purpose for the Temple’s current existence - is enough to shock the Temple out of its stupor and it begins to enact the measures that it had planned for for a thousand years and never needed to enact. The Temple orders all of the Guard inside, and then locks down. Every entrance is sealed, every defensive system (unused, but thanks to a small army of maintenance droids, dutifully kept in working order and updated through the centuries) fired up. Operation Knightfall is a resounding failure, the Temple remains unbreached (though it will remain under interdiction and observation for the duration of the Empire), and the Jedi inside survive - the old, the young, the wounded, and everyone who was there to recuperate in their ancient home. (Palpatine knew, more or less, that the Temple was aware, from the fragmentary knowledge of previous Sith and the knowledge he’d carefully gleaned from the young Anakin Skywalker in years past. He perhaps thought it would be a delightful cruelty to break the entity to his will, to fully cement his victory. He did not know of the titanic power it could wield to tear apart the surrounding plaza to hurl and scatter troopers like sown grain and cast lightning from the spires to destroy aircraft. He wouldn’t have reason to. He can’t go near the thing now - Vader survived only barely, and clings to life inside a new life support suit, but the Temple would crush Sidious like a bug without remorse.)

Some of the Jedi leave, and the Temple sends them out through forgotten passages into the depths of the undercity where the Empire cannot maintain a watch. Many others remain, safe in the Temple, and stay there until the day the Empire dies.

[bearfeathers]

do you have any jedistormpilot headcanons you'd like to share?

YES. (this got really long so it’s under a cut lol)

So, canonically (I guess? Tbh I do so much lore spelunking I forget what Disney has divided into Canon and Legends these days), Poe wears his mother's wedding ring in a chain around his neck. He wants to give it to someone someday. Well, in my own headcanon, his mother was shot down in her A-wing when Poe was 8 and his dad passed away from Creek Fever when Poe was 17. (His dad was stubborn and Luke was off-world training with Ben at the time, so something which could have been recovered from/cured, cost Kes his life. So Poe ran away for a couple years to be a spice runner before eventually returning to the Resistance.) He wears his dad's ring, too. More out of a need to keep a piece of both his parents with him. But he does find it a little alarming that, hey, he's got these two wedding rings—one which he had made a decision to give someone else someday—and now these two amazing people right in front of him.

Poe doesn't deny his love for either Rey or Finn, but he does have trouble sort of... like accepting it. He thinks Finn and Rey make an amazing couple. And he adores them, he does, but he wonders if he's not just playing third wheel. They're both Force sensitive, younger than him, they have this connection, and he's pretty sure he'll live and die in the Resistance, which is not the most stable grounds for a relationship. Sure, his parents had made it work, but he’s not sure he’s like them—not sure he can be anyone other than General Dameron.

He offers the rings unexpectedly after they’ve won that pivotal battle at the end. It’s not even a marriage proposal, exactly, just an awkward sort of like... I love you both more than anything and I can’t words right now but I need you in my life forever.

Finn has never really had anything to base this relationship on. It’s not as though there weren’t stormtroopers who broke the rules, who had relationships and had sex, he just wasn’t really one of them. He formed attachments, sure, did some experimenting physically when the opportunity arose, but romantic attachment was something that eluded him. Until he met Poe and Rey. Because like I said, he’d felt things for people before—his heart has always just been too damn big for his own good—but this was different. He felt things for people who felt things for him, who made him feel things. It’s not just a baseless human need to form attachments and bonds, Rey and Poe love him. They inspire him, they help him grow in ways he never thought he was capable of, that he thought the stormtrooper program had stripped him of. As much as Finn pushes that he’s independent, that he’s an individual, deep down he’s afraid that the program took that away from him. He’s afraid that he’s just play-acting, mimicking things that he sees other normal people do. He’s afraid that a lifetime of being molded into a tool has robbed him of whatever spark it is that makes humans what they are. But then when he’s with Poe and Rey, he feels so many things that he thinks, perhaps, there are just some fires you can’t put out, no matter what you throw on them or how hard you stomp on them.

Rey is a little complicated. She craves attachments, craves having a family. But she waited so long for her parents to come back for her, was so focused on that as her primary goal, that she couldn’t allow for anything else to interfere. However much she yearned to connect to people, to form relationships of her own choosing, she was afraid that the moment she began to do that, she would be giving up on her parents. The slightest lapse in diligence could mean missing them after having waited so long for them to come back for her. So she keeps to herself, mostly. I think that’s part of why she’s so enthusiastic about having BB-8 with her on Jakku—he’s a friend she can have that doesn’t inhibit her goal of finding her parents again. Finn and Poe feel very complicated to her. Because she can feel herself trying to plant roots, wanting to be with them. Even getting as close as she has with them—and with others like Luke, Leia, Rose, Chewie, etc.—sets off alarm bells because she’s forgetting her true mission. And then she finds out who her parents were and what happened to them and why she was left on Jakku. And it’s freeing. She no longer has to wait for people who aren’t coming back for her and she dives headfirst into the relationships she’s held at arm's length. Her enthusiasm surprises Finn and Poe both (though not in a bad way). It’s like a wall’s come down with a few sharp blows and she’s putting the pedal to the metal. 

The three of them together takes very little adjusting to. Being in a war, you get used to keeping close quarters with a lot of people. So it’s not all that big a leap for them to start sharing quarters. It’s cramped, yeah, but they’re used to worse. And at some point Poe brings up that, you know, his parents’ house is still on Yavin 4. Still liveable. And it’s got that Force Tree planted out front from Luke, so, you know, maybe Rey would like that? Finn and Rey think it’s funny that Poe has such a long-winded way of asking them to move in with them lmao.

[atamascolily]

An incomplete review of the Star Wars EU/Legends canon

I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually very thankful there will never be another Star Wars EU/Legends book in the old - now non-canon - universe. I've been revisiting those books recently as part of my recent Star Wars kick, and let me tell you, I stopped reading them just at the right time - when Vector Prime came out and they killed Chewie off. It's all downhill from there.

Anyway, the Legends universe is a hot mess, but for me, the five Thrawn Books by Timothy Zahn - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future - are amazing and totally canon in my heart for pretty much everything. Everything else is pretty much "meh" except for a few books that evoke some late '90s nostalgia (because really this blog is all about late '90s nostalgia).

So in my head, Luke and Mara Jade are happily married, and so are Han and Leia; their three children, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin, are all happy-go-lucky teenagers who can use the Force with their besties - Tenel Ka of the Hapes Cluster, Chewie's nephew Lowbaccha, and Tahiri Veila - and getting kidnapped/saving the galaxy every few months. The New Republic is alive and going strong on Coruscant (which never gets invaded by aliens from outside the galaxy), Luke runs the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; the remnants of the Empire are scattered and disorganized and sue for peace with the New Republic and Captain Pelleaon finally gets the retirement he deserves. It's really great.

But let's face it, I read just about all of the books published prior to 1999 because I was a Star Wars geek and that's just what you did in the late '90s. (They were New York Times best-sellers so I know I wasn't the only one.) In general, I love the art on the books because it looks just like movie posters for films that were never made and that's exactly what I wanted.

Random thoughts on said EU/Legends canon cut below, for length:

-Ben Kenobi's last appearance to Luke in the Legends AU: "You're not the last of the old Jedi... but the first of the new." (TAKE THAT, DISNEY EPISODE 8!) -Awesome things from the Thrawn books: Mara Jade - check. Talon Karrde - check. Art as a major form of military strategy - check. Secret commando ninjas - check. Leia's title as "Lady Vader" - check. Borsk Fey'lya -check. Camaas Document macguffin-thingy- check. Ysalamiri - lizards that block the Force - check. Vornskrs - Force-sensitive predators - check. Insane Jedi master- check. Lots of clones - check. Lawful Evil Imperials - check. Mara fulfilling her orders to the Emperor in the most badass way possible in The Last Command - check, PLEASE. -Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo forEVER! -Also, Coruscant and New Republic forever!! -Shadows of the Empire: WTF, Xizor/Leia sex pollen (okay, pheromones) seduction scene???; Dash Rendar is a Han Solo expy, you're not fooling anyone.   -Truce at Bakura: wow, Ssi-ruuvi are full of Fridge Horror, powering their tech with human life force; maybe the Imperials aren't so bad after all; Luke and Gaeriel have no chemistry and also her entire religion is against the Jedi on principle, and she's not interested in changing it for you, Luke, sorry; of course Dev dies after his redemption arc; watching the force-ghost of Anakin Skywalker try to talk to Leia is amazing, because Leia is so not interested in his shit. -The Courtship of Princess Leia: I love the Hapes cluster, but man Han buying a planet in a card game and kidnapping Leia with the Hapan Gun of Command (pretty much what it sounds like) is NOT OKAY; Teneniel Djo is awesome and so is Dathomir in general. Isolder is okay once he gets over Leia, which takes most of the book. Also on the cover on one edition, Leia looks like Sarah from Labyrinth during that dream sequence with Jareth - what? On the other, she's wearing her Endor outfit, as are Han and Luke and there's a Rancor there, too for no good reason that I can recall.   -Jedi Academy Trilogy: Yay getting to see the Kessel spice mines; I'm not so into the Sun Crusher and the Maw Installation, but Qwi Xux and Wedge Antilles are adoreable together, poor Admiral Daala and Imperial sexism (yet another reason Tarkin is an asshole); yay for a Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; Kyp Durron seriously needs to chill, Luke's in a coma for a lot of the series, Exar Kun is not as clever as he thinks himself. -I, Jedi: I'm supposed to like you, Corran Horn, and I'm just not interested and your narrative voice is kinda annoying.... Just sayin'. -The Crystal Star: super weird and trippy, Han and Leia's kids are kidnapped by "The Empire Reborn", which is as dark and terrible as it sounds, Crystal Star explodes, do not read. -The Black Fleet Crisis: super dark and trippy, especially the Yevethan culture; reveal that Luke's mother was one of the Fallanassi - pacifist Jedi who hid when the Empire was formed - only it turns out to be a huge macguffin, which is too bad. -Children of the Jedi: EVEN TRIPPIER AND DARKER THAN THE CRYSTAL STAR, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE; Luke gets a love interest who's a Force ghost trapped in a ship's computer; sacrifice, body-swapping, creepy song motifs. -Darksaber: Hutts try to build a Death Star, what can possibly go wrong? Luke's new Jedi girlfriend can't live without her force powers when she loses them, so she leaves him. -Planet of Twilight: Luke goes chasing off after Callista and they don't get back together, so that's good. Also dark and trippy.   -The New Rebellion: SUPER DARK AND TRIPPY, LOTS OF MASS MURDER, NOT A FAN. Thank goodness for Mara Jade and Talon Karrde showing up with ysalamiri to turn the force off so Leia can shoot the Evil Dark Jedi behind it all with a blaster. I can't believe I read this. -Ambush at Corellia/Assault on Selonia/Showndown at Centerpoint: also weird and trippy. Han has an evil identical cousin. Luke has to go back and ask Gaeriel for help (she's married now and it's awkward). Lando tries to marry for money and after some awkwardness ends up with Tendra Risant, who is awesome. Lots of things blow up. Kids save the day at the last minute. -I only read one of the Junior Jedi Knights series, Lyric's World, about young Anakin Solo and his friend Tahiri, taking some time off from their Jedi studies to help a friend metamorphose into a new life stage, and I remember it being really charming, despite the inevitable intelligent secret animal sidekick. I later learned that Anakin and Tahiri were kinda an item and then it went horribly wrong in New Jedi Order so I'm glad I didn't read that. -Young Jedi Knights: yay young adult Star Wars novels from the '90s; I  stopped reading after Diversity Alliance, but these were fun - especially Tenel Ka, who was a badass, and I quietly shipped her and Jacen (and then that ALSO ended badly in later books - why can't we have nice things?) Especially good in my memory: Shadow Academy (trying not to get corrupted to the dark side at an academy for Dark Jedi), Lightsabers (Tenel Ka has to deal with losing a hand during a training accident); Diversity Alliance (aliens get pissed off at human dominion in the New Republic government but decide that killing the humans off is the only way to achieve justice).

We're not going to even go into all the stuff that happens post-Vector Prime, because it is truly awful. Go look it up if you're curious.

I did read a few stand-alone books this week, though:

-The later Zahn novels lack the spark and vigor I remember from the Thrawn books. Scoundrels couldn't keep my interest. Allegiance and Choices of One feel very weird to me because Luke and Mara manage to work together without actually meeting each other. Survivor's Quest ought to have been good except somehow Luke and Mara encountering the Outbound Flight expedition was BORING and it shouldn't have been. It's not clear if reading the follow-up novel set during the Old Republic era - titled Outbound Flight - will help with this. -Also, I dislike the retconning so that Mara and Luke make references to Naboo and the Trade Federation, which they didn't do in earlier books, and also Thrawn's major motivation for everything is getting the galaxy ready for the impending invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong in New Jedi Order, which I just - really don't like, especially since NJO was pretty awful. -Also, there are an awful lot of Jedi healing trances in Survivor's Quest, which are only tolerable because the code word that Luke and Mara use to snap each other out of it is "I love you". D'aww. -Also, perhaps this is just me reading too much fanfic, but would it hurt to have at least an allusion to the fact that Luke and Mara have sex on occasion - in addition to snuggling and having Force mind-meld sessions? I'm not asking for porn, mind you, but just anything beyond platonic Force buddies would have been good. -Kenobi, by  John Jackson Miller was another, relatively recent Legends book that ought to have been good. I mean, it's Obi-wan Kenobi hanging out on Tatooine, dealing with Tusken Raiders and moisture farmers - I eat that sort of fanfiction up - but although there were some good bits, it just really didn't work for me. -Those handy timelines in the front - listing every single book and how it fits into the convoluted chronology - is really helpful, though! The only thing that would make it better would be to add authors and dates. But that is what the Internet is for, I guess.

Conclusions and Follow-Up Questions to Research:

-Wow, the '90s were an interesting time. -Bantam Spectra line of EU novels: mostly good, some weirdness. Del Rey line: ARGHHHHH. -Wow, there are a lot more Star Wars books out there then I remember. -Wow, Mara Jade is awesome. -I have a lot of strong opinions on the subject. -Since they stopped putting out Legends novels as of April 2014, I never have to care about keeping up with canon or anything I don't like about this universe ever again. -Has fanfiction spoiled me for the "real" thing? Or is it just a failure of the published works to address the topics I'm REALLY interested in? -Is the Disney EU canon any better? (My guess, given how I feel overall about the direction of the recent movies: probably not for me, but maybe worth checking out.)