Star Wars Discussion Thread contains spoilers (and may contain nuts)

[Queequeg]

http://imgur.com/gallery/HP8td

Sav called it.

[Syt]

45 minute video covering a large amount of references/cameos/easter eggs in Force Awakens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DglBQf3U5Xs

It closes with pointing out that Force Awakens has quite a few parallels to the story of King Arthur and Mordred which are also the subject here: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/3xkvlh/star_wars_the_force_awakens_spoilers_tfa_is_based/

I believe the real purpose of Kylo's saber is for the medieval imagery, to subconsciously remind us of Arthurian tales. The tri-sword obviously resembles a medieval broadsword. On top of that, Kylo also wears more of a tunic than robes like we've seen in the past, his cape on one shoulder is also reminiscent of what we see in some medieval movies. He has long curly hair like Jon Snow. Kylo is basically a Mordred/Sherriff of Nottingham type character. His helmet is much like a black knight. Maz Kanata is in a castle, which is decorated with banners much like medieval times, and we see lots of huge stone blocks - the appearance is very simlar to something we would see in England. Stormtroopers have shields. Kylo has his own Knights (like an evil Knights of the Round Table), which wear medieval style armor and helmets. Phasma has metallic armor like a knight. The sword fighting is now more medieval style, with large swings and heavy hits. Even most of the places they go are like European settings, with normal forests and lakes. You could imagine a LOTR or Game of Thrones battle happening in front of Maz's castle, in the snowy woods, or Luke's island. Luke of course, would be Merlin.

So then we have Rey, who is basically a poor peasant. She comes along and basically takes what Kylo believes is his birthright. He thinks his bloodline grants him the right to rule the galaxy like Vader because he is Vader's grandson. He probably had Snoke filling him with ideas of grandeur throughout his youth, like an evil Morgana/Morgan le Fay (Snoke was even supposed to be a woman at one point). But Rey is the true heir to Skywalker's legacy, like Arthur (Even with a British accent!). She was hidden when the Empire/Kingdom fell apart, but now has returned from obscurity to take her place. Mordred who Kylo is probably based on is famous for being King Arthur's traitorous nephew. Maz tells her the sword belonged to Vader and Luke, and now it calls to her - Maz bestows the sword that she has been saving all this time to Rey like the Lady of the Lake. Kylo sees the sword later and says it belongs to him. But then they have a sword in the stone moment and he can't pull it to himself. We are surprised when it suddenly flies out past him and to Rey instead. The sword chose her. The sword is much like Excalibur, a legendary sword with great importance and symbolizes Rey as the true successor.

Edit: As pointed out below, Rey means King in Spanish. Maz's castle is on a lake (Lady of the Lake).

In King arthur there is a magical island called Avalon where Arthur goes to hide after losing in battle to his nephew Mordred. It is a place associated with magic and Excalibur was forged there. After recovering from his wounds he returns from Avalon to lead his allies against his enemies. This parallels Luke losing to his nephew and leaving to find the ancient Jedi Temple, which happens to be on an island.

The video also surmises that Rey's vision is actually Psychometry, a jedi skill to see an object's past and connections to beings as previously used by Quinlan Vos (who appeared in the EU and also Clone Wars, so this power is technically canon).

[The Brain]

reminiscent of what we see in some medieval movies

Stopped reading there.

[Syt]

I suppose general Star Wars discussion goes here now? I didn't want to start a new thread.



I've finished the Aftermath trilogy of novels, and have to admit I liked it a lot. The hectic narrative style of the 1st book calms down in books 2 and 3, but it remains present tense which will put people off. Though it works pretty well for the action scenes.

Plot and spoilers to follow.

The series takes place after Endor, with the Empire reeling and trying to find its footing. The New Republic is facing internal struggle. Chancellor Mon Mothma is careful to avoid military build up (in fact, the military is largely decentralized), but the Empire is retreating faster than the NR can fill the void.

Ostensibly the Empire is led by Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, but behind her is the elusive puppet master Gallius Rax, an orphan from Jakku who was groomed by Palpatine to be the "contingency" in case Palpatine dies.

Over the course of the story, Sloane and Rax fall out, with Rax taking as much of the Imperial remnant to Jakku where he instills a brutal training regimen and also prepares for the Empire's future.

The "contingency", as envisioned by Palpatine, was that if the Emperor dies, the Empire has failed and doesn't deserve to survive. Basically, it's time to flip the board and move on to a new game. The plan is to draw the New Republic to Jakku for a climactic battle, then collapse the planet, destroying both fleets. A core of Imperials moves into the Unknown Regions to build a new Empire in a new galaxy.

To keep things short, the plan fails, mostly, the Imperial fleet is destroyed, and the NR triumphs. However, Sloane, with a few survivors making it to Palpatine's hidden flagship, the Eclipse, in the unknown regions where they start rebuilding (Sloane doesn't hold with the whole moving to a new galaxy thing, or Force mysticism; neither did Rax). Along for the ride is Brendol Hux, and his son, Armitage Hux (the redhead general from Ep. VII) who aim to indoctrinate kids from a young age to make them killing machines.

The characters were pretty decent. On NR side you have Leia, Han, Chewie, Wedge, and Mon Mothma as known folks. "Snap" Wexley (the, uhm, big boned, bearded pilot in Ep. VII) is still a youngster, and he's accompanied by his modified B1 battle droid who is both childlike, singing, dancing, and murderous with retractable blades ("I HAVE PERFORMED VIOLENCE, MASTER"), and overall pretty funny, almost reaching HK-47 levels (in fact, he has a trowaway line where he speaks like HK, so it's a clear homage). Wexley's mom, Norra, a Rebel veteran pilot, carries much of the plot. They're joined by a female Zabrak bounty hunter, a niece of Sugi who showed up in Clone Wars, and Sinjir Rath Velus a former Comissar Imperial Loyalty Officer who provides a heavy dose of cynicism and snark, and is probably the first major gay character in canon Star Wars. He redeems himself by the end and finds love.

On Imperial side you have Rae Sloane who believes in the Empire as a guarantor of peace, order, and stability. Gallius Rax, the puppet master envisions a more vicious, brutal, animalistic Empire.

The trilogy explains the beginning transformation of The Empire to the First Order. It establishes that Palpatine had an array of observatories in the Outer Rim, to chart the hazardous Unknown Regions, and to find the source of the Dark Side which he believed to be outside the galaxy. In fact, he kept around Thrawn, an alien, mostly because as a Chiss he knew those regions very well.

[MadImmortalMan]

They made the Eclipse canon? Is it the huge one from the comics?

[Syt]

They made the Eclipse canon? Is it the huge one from the comics?

Undetermined. It's probably just the name carried over, as it's stated that the Empire had 13 SSDs without any comment on the ship being bigger/special; Sloane tries to determine the fate of each one, and only comes up empty for the Eclipse, because it was secretly sent out of the galaxy.



Random notes: Wendig continued to use "interludes", short scenes not directly connected to the main plot showing what happens elsewhere in the galaxy; some of them are "mini trilogies." E.g. the Acolytes of Beyond are young fanatics worshipping Vader and the Dark Side, and turning into a terrorist force, or the Church of the Force, returning kyber crystals to their origins. Taris is canon, but little is known about its history, except that at some point it was a city planet that got destroyed. It's generally a shit place to live. Pazaak still exists. As do giskas.

[Berkut]

Are those new books?

[Syt]

Yes, the newest was released this month. Next month a canon novel by Timothy Zahn comes out: Thrawn. It's part of the new (coordinated) canon. It connects with Clone Wars, the original and prequel movies, the new movies, etc. They're also pulling in legends ideas where it fits. E.g. the planet of Taris, or - in Rebels - Grand Admiral Thrawn, the TIE-Defender, etc.

I've started following the new canon - some of it is good (Luceno's Tarkin novel is very good, and his Catalyst novel - a prequel to Rogue One - was also pretty decent, later Clone Wars, some episodes of Rebels), some a mixed bag (early Star Wars Rebels and early Clone Wars, some of the comics). It's seems better coordinated than the original EU on which I gave up at some point. I've started reading Twilight Company, a book to tien into the new Battlefront game, and it's surprisingly ok. Lost Stars was also decent, with a couple fighting on opposite sides of the Galactic Civil War.

[Syt]

Btw, the Star Wars audiobooks are pretty good - their use of music/sound effects may seem cheesy, but overall they can enhance an otherwise meh story.

[celedhring]

Syt, going through the new EU so I don't have to. 

[Syt]

Syt, going through the new EU so I don't have to. 

To be clear: this is not high literature or anything. It's a Star Wars fix for me, and between the movies, books, comics (thanks, Marvel Unlimited), and TV shows it's not too overwhelming.

I know a lot of people bemoan the end of the old EU, but when I look at stuff like the Yuzhan Vong invasion (or however you spell that) I don't feel like touching much it with a ten foot pole.

But I know the feeling - before the Thrawn trilogy, the only EU I knew of were the Marvel comics from the 70s/80s, and the Brian Daley and L. Neil Smith books about Han Solo and Lando. Almost all of it got wiped when the 90s EU took off. I hope that the Old Republic comics on which the KotOR games were originally based will be made canon in some form again. Exar Kun.

[celedhring]

The Tales of the Jedi comics were absolute boss. I love the mix of sci-fi and sword of sorcery, plus there were some neat stories in them. I wish the Kotor games actually incorporated that aesthetic, although I guess it wouldn't have been as recognizable to the general public.

[Syt]

Yeah, the KotOR games always seemed like more of a re-imagining of Star Wars to me. Taking the same concepts, technology, and locations, but doing different stories with them that don't have to worry about continuity.

[DontSayBanana]

Syt, going through the new EU so I don't have to. 

To be clear: this is not high literature or anything. It's a Star Wars fix for me, and between the movies, books, comics (thanks, Marvel Unlimited), and TV shows it's not too overwhelming.

I know a lot of people bemoan the end of the old EU, but when I look at stuff like the Yuzhan Vong invasion (or however you spell that) I don't feel like touching much it with a ten foot pole.

But I know the feeling - before the Thrawn trilogy, the only EU I knew of were the Marvel comics from the 70s/80s, and the Brian Daley and L. Neil Smith books about Han Solo and Lando. Almost all of it got wiped when the 90s EU took off. I hope that the Old Republic comics on which the KotOR games were originally based will be made canon in some form again. Exar Kun.

There's a good chance they'll just be brought into the canon because otherwise detangling Revan's presence in canon would be too complicated.

[Syt]

Some of the new canon is weird, though. Like Lando smuggling an inflatable sniffing pig. Or Dr. Aphra and her two murderous companions, not-C-3PO and not-R2-D2 (between them, Mr Bones, and HK-47, the murderous droid dark humor is getting a bit tired, though).





I liked Inspector Thanoth in the Vader comics (see avatar) - he hunts criminals and looks and talks much like a Victorian gentleman detective.