A Tribute to the EU

 



            If you are a Star Wars fan, I'm pretty sure you've heard the terrible, tragic news. The people in charge of the Star Wars franchise(Lucas, Disney, etc) have decided that the EU is unimportant and gets in their way, so they have deemed it(everything except the movies, TCW, and Rebels- WTH!) uncanon, and all of it now considered 'legends'(not cool, bro, not cool. They sure do have a lot of nerve). Of course, I will always know that the EU is canon and I will never be convinced otherwise(and I will do my best to get new fans to read the EU and keep this belief in the integrity of the EU alive), but it still hurts and is a big slap in the face to fans who devoted a lot of our time to reading(and discussing) the works of fiction, as well as the writers who spent MONTHS(or even years) working on these books. I'm sorry, but, as a writer myself, I find this very cruel, since you should never just dump someone's hard work into the trash.
Also, if they make Obi-Wan have a granddaughter like that shitty rumor I've been hearing, I will rain fire/lightening down from the heavens like Azula. Because that is just DISGUSTING and VILE!

I could rant about this all day(and I have to my family and on tumblr), but right now, I want to appreciate the beauty of the EU and show Disney what exactly they are throwing into the trash without care. There is so much history, so many good stories, so many heartbreaking characters and chapters that are now gone. I mean, I'm glad that Taria, the Republic Commando books, and some of the not so great books are gone, but the good HIGHLY out-weigh the bad.

So, without further ado, here are some of the great things the EU has to offer.

The characters(especially the abundance of female ones)

The EU has(had according to people who don't still believe in the EU like myself) an amazing set of female characters. The Star Wars movies are really good in that regard, by showing strong capable women in leadership/fighter roles, and the EU expanded upon that. From Jedi like Siri Tachi, Jaina Solo, and Satele Shan, to Sith like Darth Zannah, Darth Traya, and Darth Cognus, to non-Jedi, but still badass, characters like Astri, Cerasi, and all the women from Jedi Apprentice/Jedi Quest, the EU is filled to the brim with awesome women and girls from all walks of life. They are all different, multi-layered, and interesting each in their own way(except Taria and Etain, but I chose to ignore those blights on the EU, since they are hardly there) and give good representation to most kinds of women, which is awesome in our media! Also, I really love a lot of these women. They have inspired me, excited me, and caused me all kinds of emotions over the years. So, thanks, people in charge, you just destroyed some of the best women in Star Wars(and some of my childhood heroes). As well as some of the best male characters as well. 

So, thank you EU, for giving me such characters as(male and female)

Siri Tachi

Jaina Solo

Tahiri Veila

Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo

Anakin Solo

Jacen Solo

Ferus Olin 

Satele Shan

Nomi Sunrider

Vima Sunrider

Bastila Shan

Mara Jade Skywalker

Meetra Surick(The Jedi Exile)

Tahl

Darth Bane

Darth Zannah

Darth Revan

Darra Thel-Tanis

Lowbacca

Bant Eerin

Scout(Talisibeth Enderwung-Esterhazy)

Astri

Cerasi

True Veld

Soara Antana

Ben Skywalker

Ry-Gaul

For Ty-Ana

Darsha Assant

Admiral Thrawn

Kerra Holt

Darth Cognus

And every other character I am forgetting. 

The stories.

    One thing I've always enjoyed about the EU was the stories it told. It filled in the blanks, told stories we wouldn't have otherwise have gotten, and was(on the whole), quite mature. However, without the EU, the Star Wars universe is very......empty. Character development of people from the movies and those exclusive to the EU, historical events, all nuked, all gone. All the back story, all the explanations that made the Star Wars movies even richer, are now going to be hidden away from new fans, who will most likely be discouraged away from them because so many count them as fanfiction(which they aren't since they were published by an actual company), or they won't hear about it in the first place. It is sad to think that so many new fans coming to the fold will miss out on such great stories like this.

Without the EU, we lose
Obi-Wan Kenobi's amazing character development; if you read a lot of the books, especially the ones written by Jude Watson, we really get an all-encompassing tale of my favorite Jedi. We learn why he is the way he is, we see him start out as a young boy who struggles with himself, to the calm, wise old man in the desert(who lives with his demons with a grace few could muster). We see him slip up, fall in love(with Siri), experience heartbreak, fight against his insecurities/anxieties, and learn what being a Jedi is all about. Without the EU, we lose all of this. We lose the man who tells Siri that she has grown stronger and smarter(as well as more beautiful) in Secrets of the Jedi; we lose the boy who worried that his Master would never accept him and who loved food; we lose the young man who grieved for his master and loved his young apprentice through it all and always tried to stand up for him and to take care of him(but wasn't, sadly, ready for such a task); we lose the child who did a masterful feat of the force at only thirteen, something only a Master should be able to do. Basically, without the EU, we lose a lot of what makes Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan.

Our deep connection to Anakin Skywalker; I remember, before reading the EU, the Anakin of AOTC annoyed me. However, after I picked up the Jedi Quest series(and later, the Revenge of the Sith novelization), I started to absolutely adore his character. While he did still annoy me from time to time, I still found him endearing and, especially in the ROTS novel by Mr. Stover, I found myself forming an extremely deep understanding of him. We understand his doubts, his fears, his obsessions in a way only a book can tell you. Without the EU, all of this connection, all of this empathy for the character, is lost.

Qui-Gon Jinn becoming an even more integral figure. I always loved Qui-Gon after seeing him in "The Phantom Menace", but his character became an even great favorite after reading the Jedi Apprentice series. He evolves into such a depthful character that, I'm sure, had I read the Jedi Apprentice series before knowing that Qui-Gon died, I would have cried during the death scene in the film.

The spanning epic of Jude Watson's work. Jude Watson's voluminous contribution to the Star Wars canon is one of the most important stories added. Her writing begins with a story about a young Dooku in the first section of "Legacy of the Jedi" to the beginnings of the rebellion in the Last of the Jedi series and a diary from the point of view of Leia. She wrote Obi-Wan better than any other writer, and gave us an amazing run.

 The beautiful, well-thought out relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi. Unlike the uncanon(to me) Satine and Taria, his actual relationship with Siri was well-developed, gradually grew, and somehow made Obi-Wan's character an even better person, unlike the other(fake) ones which didn't. And without this story, we don't see how Obi-Wan learned to "love with an open heart).

How deep, and tragic, and close Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship was(as well as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's).

We lose the perfect, tragic tale of the Revenge of the Sith novelization. We miss out on some very important pieces of Obi-Wan and Anakin's characters(as well as their relationship), we lose plot threads and explanations that are missing in the movie, and we lose the gorgeous language Matthew Stover used!! How dare they chop out- "Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the Stars"?!

We don't get to meet the Solo children and their fellow Jedi/friends. We don't get Jaina who loves mechanics and is the Sword of the Jedi, Jacen who loves animals but ends up turning to the darkside, Anakin(Solo) who loves peace and quiet and is a formidable Jedi, Tenel Ka who is a Jedi/Warrior princess who looses her arm but keeps being just as badass, Tahiri who talks constantly and hates shoes, Lowbacca who is a computer expert and nephew to Chewbacca, Mara Jade who is complex and is Luke's wife without that being her only point, and many more people.
We also won't be getting the Jaina Solo series we were promised

We don't get the backstory of Obi-Wan and Bail's strong friendship, which can be found in "Wild Space".

The peer into Mace Windu's psyche and the great person he actually is behind his stoic exterior in "Shatterpoint".

The exploration of the Force, as well as that of the Jedi and the Sith

The history of the Star Wars galaxies- it would appear that great conflicts like the Great Hyperspace war, the two Sith wars, etc never happened.

The entire storyline in the so-cool looking games of Knights of the Old Republic and the Old Republic(no Revan, no Bastila, no Jedi Exile, no Satele)

The Sunriders(Nomi and her daughter Vima)

Canon female Jedi Grand Masters

Canon female Sith Lords strong in the Force

Darth Bane and Darth Zannah's stories

and basically, all the good books(not the bad ones) that I've been enjoying since I was nine. :(


Another problem I find is that the authors, who put all of their hard work into writing these works of fiction and made sure it lined up with as much of the EU as possible, have been completely screwed over. Let's just say, that if I was a Star Wars writer, I'd be SO PISSED that all my work, all the hours I had put into crafting these works of fiction, were being thrown into the fire.

Now, of course, I don't plan on going down without a fight. I will do my best to make sure the EU is kept alive(and I'm talking about the REAL EU, not the crap they are trying to shut us up with that they will be releasing to fit 'their' version of things), by passing it on to new fans I come across, by encouraging Star Wars fans I meet to read the books/comics and play the video games, and by raising any kids I have to be EU fans. And hopefully there will be enough people, who believe the EU is real, to keep our stories alive and well into the future.

You may have blown up the EU, whoever is in charge, but we EU fans know that the EU is and always will be canon. And nothing that can be said or done will ever change that.

So, let's get reading!