In this article you will learn:

The universe is truly huge, it consists of a trillion galaxies. But one galaxy is most interesting, since it was in it that all significant Star events wars.

The Star Wars galaxy has a diameter of 120,000 light years or 37,000 parsecs (1 parsec = 3.258 light year). There is a black hole at the center of the galaxy. Two satellite galaxies revolve around the Galaxy, one of which is called the Rishi Labyrinth. At the edge of the Galaxy, there is a hypercosmic disturbance that makes all hypercosmic routes beyond the disk impossible.

There are about 400 billion stars in the Galaxy, and about half of them have planets suitable for the existence of living organisms. At 10%, life has reached an advanced stage, and at every thousandth of them, creatures endowed with intelligence have appeared. The galaxy is inhabited by about 100 quadrillions various forms life.

All characters and events by tag .

History of the Galaxy:

The first formation was the Rakata Infinite Empire. The galaxy as an official entity came into existence millennia later, when humans discovered hyperspace travel and made contact with alien races. When several worlds and species learned about each other, they formed a free community that adopted common laws and a monetary unit. The Republic has become the primary form of government in this galaxy. The smaller Sith Empire went into opposition to the Republic, and it was here that the great opposition in religion to the understanding of the Force was born. The Sith were defeated and revived several times. Finally, after a thousand years of hidden existence, the Sith were able to rebuild their Empire, dissolving the Republic and replacing it with the short-lived Galactic Empire. Imperial tyranny lasted for two decades, but after the Galactic Civil War, the Republic was eventually restored. Despite this, the remaining imperials continued to resist the new government for more than ten years, until a peace treaty was signed. After the truce, a race from another galaxy known as the Yuuzhan Vong began an invasion of the galaxy. Their invasion devastated most of the Galaxy, including the capital of Coruscant, although in the end the interventionists were defeated, and some of the Yuuzhan Vong joined the galactic community. this time not related to the dark side. The new Galactic Empire was at war with the re-created New Sith Order.

Astrography:

The galaxy is divided into several regions. The regions are sorted by the degree of distance from the center of the Galaxy. Each region, in turn, is divided into sectors, systems and planets.

Core

In the very heart of the Galaxy is a small region - the Core. The worlds included in it are unusual: due to the gravitational influence a large number stars, local time is partially warped, which at best creates problems for traveling through hyperspace. The region was considered inaccessible until Emperor Palpatine installed several safe routes. The area remained a stronghold of the Empire for almost twenty years after the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY.

Core Worlds

The ancient region bordering the outer zones of the Core, the Core Worlds, includes some of the most prestigious, well-developed, well-known and densely populated planets in the Galaxy. The Core Worlds are the original domain of the human race. The Galactic Republic and subsequently the galactic government were born in the Core Worlds and extended their influence throughout the galaxy. It is here that the planet Coruscant is located, which was the capital of the Galaxy during the times of the Republic and the Empire. The people supposedly originate from this region.

Colonies

The Colonies are the region of the Galaxy between the Core Worlds and the Inner Rim. It was one of the first areas to be colonized, the worlds here are usually densely populated and industrialized. During its reign, the Galactic Empire actively used force to subdue the Colonies, so the New Republic quickly gained support in the region.

Inner Ring

The Inner Rim is the region between the Colonies and the Expansion Region. It was originally called simply "The Ring" as it was believed to be the outermost space in the known Galaxy for centuries, but hundreds of years after the Inner Rim, the Expanded Ring was discovered. During the reign of Palpatine, the Galactic Empire ruthlessly ruled the Inner Rim. But instead of resisting, many of the inhabitants of the region chose to flee to the Outer Rim. After the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Empire, despite its unpopularity, held sway over the region for much longer than expected. Subsequently, many resented the New Republic's slowness in reclaiming the region. And even after joining the New Republic, many worlds openly feared that the government was not strong enough to hold on to power. Their doubts were resolved after Palpatine's return, with the Empire reclaiming most of the Inner Rim.

Region of Expansion

The Expansion Region became the site of an experiment in corporate control of the worlds. Powerful corporations actively exploited the planets for their own benefit, extracting materials, metals and ores from them. The local population was oppressed while corporations sucked all the resources out of entire star systems. Eventually, popular unrest began to spread from system to system. Due to constant pressure from the inhabitants, the Galactic Republic has established control over the systems, limiting or completely rejecting the demands of the corporations. The Expansion Region remains a supplier of raw materials, but natural resources by the Age of Empire were in most cases depleted.

Middle Ring

With less natural resources than neighboring regions, the Middle Rim is a region where residents are forced to make great efforts for everything they have. Some planets have built impressive economies. In relatively unexplored areas, remote from the main trade routes, pirates often hide.

Outer Rim

The Outer Rim are the last well developed territories before Wild Space and the Unknown Regions. It is dotted with secluded worlds and harsh, primitive frontier planets. Due to its distance from the Center, the region has become home to many Alliance supporters. At one time, Imperial Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin received difficult task to bring order to the entire Outer Rim.

Beyond the Outer Rim

Several sectors are located outside the Outer Rim in various arms of the galaxy. Intergalactic travel is considered impossible due to the turbulent energy field surrounding the galaxy.

Sleeve Tingel

The Tingel Arm is an arm of the outer spiral of the Galaxy. It houses the Corporate Sector, a political entity partially independent of the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire. Under the Galactic Empire, the sector expanded from a few hundred to thirty thousand systems.

Unknown Regions

The name "Unknown Regions" usually refers to the large unexplored expanse between Bakura and the Remnants of the Empire, where the Chiss mostly rule. The Unknown Regions are made up of several billion stars that are not part of the 400 billion that make up the Galaxy. For reasons yet unknown, only a small number of reliable hyperspace routes exist in the region. The concept of "Unknown Regions" includes unexplored areas in dense nebulae, globular clusters and galactic halos.

wild space

Wild Space is the boundary of the galactic community, separating the explored parts of the Galaxy from the Unknown Regions. Near the end of his reign, Palpatine made attempts to explore the region in more detail. Wild Space differs from the Unknown Regions in that part of this region has been explored, although not in great detail. The Unknown Regions, on the other hand, remain a mystery.

Transport Routes

Hyperspace routes run through the sectors. Pilots involved in laying new routes are called "Hyperspace Explorers". These include, for example, Gav Daragon and Aitro Kurnacht. Astromech droids are responsible for guiding ships along hyperspace routes.

• Rimma trade route
• Perlem trade route
• Hydian way
• Corellian path
• Corellian trade route
• Kessel arc
• Eason Trade Corridor
• Arc of Sisera
• Arrow Mito
• Daragon Way

Power and Politics:

The galaxy has had various governments throughout the millennia, with the earliest galactic entity being the Infinite Empire. The most widespread Republic. Other smaller political entities in the Galaxy are listed below:

• nerd space
• Centralia
• Chiss Realm
• Confederation of Independent Systems
• Confederation
• Corporate sector
• Kron's Mandate
• Empire Hand
• Region of Expansion
• Hapes cluster
• Hutt space
• Fragments of the Empire
• Juvex sector
• Senex sector
• Ssi-ruuvi empire
• Tion Cluster
• Tion Hegemony
• Vagaari Empire

Economy:

The economy of the Galaxy is complex and varied. The main currency of the Galactic Republic is a credit equal to 10 decicreds.

Races and species:

Life exists on 10% of the planets in the Galaxy, but only on one out of a thousand such planets has its development reached the stage characterized by the appearance of intelligent beings. There are about 20 million such species. In total, there are about 100 quadrillion different life forms. The dominant species is humans. Presumably originating from Core Worlds, humans formed the main governments of the Galaxy. Representatives of other races are usually referred to simply as "alien". Aliens are also divided into humanoids and non-humanoids. Droids, for obvious reasons not considered a separate race, play a prominent role in the community, helping the coexistence of the species. On Naboo, highly intelligent droids are considered equal to sentient beings.

Extragalactic connections:

It is believed that at some time in the past, extragalactic aliens visited the Galaxy in an unspecified way and for unspecified purposes and made contact with local species.

Despite the fact that intergalactic travel is impossible due to the turbulent energy field surrounding the galaxy, by the time of the Clone Wars, it was possible to establish contact with two satellite galaxies, one of which is called the Rishi Labyrinth. The intergalactic banking clan was able to extend its influence to them.

The Extragalactic Society is an organization dedicated to the search for life forms outside the galaxy. In the last days of the Republic, Senator Greblips, the leader of the planet Brodo Agosi, launched an expedition to another galaxy, but all reports of its outcome are suspicious to say the least. Rumor has it that an expedition has been sent to a galaxy called the Milky Way.

The most notorious extragalactic races are the Abominor/Silentium, the Kua, the Ssi-Ruuk and, of course, the Yuuzhan Vong interventionists who managed to nearly destroy a galactic civilization that had just recovered from the Galactic Civil War.

Languages:

The universal language of the Galaxy became human, which was transformed into the main galactic language. It comes from the usual human language and includes partial borrowings from several ancient human languages, like the old Corellian. As humans dominate the galaxy, the primary language is adopted by many alien races.

The second common language is the language of the Hutts, which spread due to the criminal and financial activities of the Hutts. This language is adopted by races that have worked closely with the Hutts over the centuries, such as the Rodians.

Droids have the ability to memorize millions of forms of communication and, based on them, understand and use even more languages. Acting as interpreters, protocol droids are extremely useful in interracial encounters.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe is a vast array of books, comics, and other spin-offs set in a galaxy far, far away. But the term "Expanded Universe" is already in the past. When Disney studio acquired Star Wars, the new owners decided that future films would be based on completely new stories. And to avoid confusion between the plots of films, books and comics, the entire Expanded Universe was deleted from the canon and transferred to the category of "Legends". Let's remember how the Expanded Universe arose and how it died, and what we are offered in return for it.

Forerunners

Star Wars first appeared in the form of a book written from a script, and only then - on the screen

The Star Wars books predate even the movies. In 1976, Alan Dean Foster's novelization of A New Hope appeared on bookstores, with George Lucas on the cover. Of course, at that time there was neither the term "Expanded Universe" nor a program for its development. But even then, Lucas realized that the potential of his world extends far beyond the boundaries of films. Books continued to be published - in 1978, Foster, already under his own name, released the novel "Shard of the Crystal of Power".And in January of the same year, Marvel published a comic book series.

The early writers of the Star Wars books and comics ignored each other's work and relied on very little information from the films. So, Foster wrote "The Shard" based on Lucas's ideas about what would happen in the continuation of "Star Wars" if the budget of the second part was cut. Therefore, there is no Han Solo in the plot (Harrison Ford did not yet have a contract), and Leia is ready to have an affair with Luke, who is not her brother yet. And many comics even hinted that Star Wars takes place in our world.

Most of the materials of that time had nothing to do with the unified canon and for the most part were thrown out of the canon even under the "old regime".

Start

The construction of a unified universe began in 1987, when West End Games began publishing scripts for role-playing games based on Star Wars. Since this required a lot of previously unknown details, the writers also developed guides to the universe.

The materials came in handy a few years later when Bantam Spectra began publishing Star Wars books. Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to an Empire revived interest in a distant galaxy and marked the beginning of the Expanded Universe. In the same days, Dark Horse publishing house launched the Dark Empire comic book series. Now the plot of the story seems crazy, but then "Empire" became one of the foundations of the new canon.

The book that kicked off the Expanded Universe celebrated its 20th anniversary four years ago, with a special annotated edition released for it. You can also get acquainted with the "Heir of the Empire" in the form of a comic book

At that time, everything that did not contradict the films and previous books became canon. All the characters, all the events of the new stories were entered into the West End Games directories. In order to avoid contradictions, each new author had to familiarize himself with a pile of reference materials before starting work.

Over time, the directories were merged into a common database - the Holocron. Its keeper, Leland Chee, was instructed to ensure that the authors did not contradict each other, and even more so films. At first he did so, but in last years the policy changed, and authors were encouraged to write without regard to the canon. Therefore, Leland often had not to eliminate inconsistencies, but to invent explanations for them.

The drawing of early comics now seems strange. Here you, without looking at the clouds with the text, can you guess where Luke is in the picture, and where is Palpatine?

Canon levels

The Expanded Universe had a strict division into levels of canonicity:

• G-canon(from General) - the main level of the canon. These are projects created with the participation of George Lucas: six films and their scripts, novelizations and radio dramas based on them. Not a single plot could contradict the G-canon.
• T-canon- television canon. This included The Clone Wars, which Lucas also worked on.
• C-canon(from Continuity, "connectivity") - referred to him most of books and comics of the Expanded Universe.
• S-canon(from Secondary, "secondary") - outdated and inaccurate works. They were considered canon as long as they did not contradict G- or C-canon.
• N-canon(non-canon) - most obsolete works, as well as humorous and alternative stories (such as the Infinities comic book series).

Relationship with Lucas

The Expanded Universe was built with the knowledge and consent of George Lucas, who "gave" the authors the era after Return of the Jedi. He forbade talking about events before A New Hope, because he was going to shoot prequels. However, this did not stop Kevin Anderson from creating a series of comics "Tales of the Jedi" about the distant past of a distant galaxy.

In the early nineties, things were going badly for George. The popularity of Star Wars is a thing of the past, and financial condition undermined the divorce from his wife. Lucas had long abandoned plans to shoot three trilogies and hoped only for prequels - there would be funds. And then came the novels of Timothy Zahn and his followers. Interest in Star Wars returned, the money flowed like water, and Lucas got a chance to make his dreams come true. In those days, he did not hesitate to express his gratitude to the creators of the Expanded Universe.

But George easily denies what was said earlier. When he released the prequels, it turned out that they contradicted the Expanded Universe in many ways. Even though its authors at one time personally consulted with Lucas. George began to deny any connection between his world and the work of other authors. But at the same time, he continued to earn good money from their work and borrowed their ideas without embarrassment.

I don't follow all of this. I haven't read a single book. I don't know anything about this world, it is different from the universe I created. But I try to keep conflicts to a minimum. There is now an Encyclopedia of Star Wars. And if I come up with a name or something, I look in there to see if anyone else came up with it before me.

George Lucas

The last days

The troubled days of the Expanded Universe began in 2008 with the release of The Clone Wars animated series. Previously, the course of this war was detailed in comics and books, and George did not interfere in this. This time around, Lucas controlled the scripts himself, so the show runs counter to the Expanded Universe every now and then. In doing so, George's involvement automatically gave The Clone Wars priority over other material. Leland Chee had to come up with explanations for more and more inconsistencies.

"The Clone Wars" from the very first frames made it clear that they did not intend to focus on the old canon. For those who did not understand it right away, we prepared a screen version of Quinlan Vos - the most complex and dramatic character in the Expanded Universe turned into a cheerful rastaman. Well, most of all fans of the Expanded Universe were upset by the pacifist Mandalore. However, the scriptwriters quickly realized the absurdity of such an idea, and the militant faction Death Watch came to power on the planet.

At the same time, publishing houses Del Rey and Dark Horse began to declare that they no longer intend to look back at the canon. If earlier the authors were required to get acquainted with the mountains reference material, now ignorance of the Expanded Universe has become almost an advantage.

The fate of the Expanded Universe was finally sealed when Disney bought Lucasfilm. On April 25, 2014, the entire pre-existing Expanded Universe was given "legendary" status. All her material became non-canon.

New rules of the universe

This Lucasfilm pill was sweetened with two pieces of news. First, new authors are not forbidden to draw ideas from the old canon. Only that which directly contradicts the plot of new films and series is considered completely non-canonical.

Secondly, Lucasfilm ditched "canon levels". They only existed because Lucas' opinion was decisive. After George retired, all the creators were equalized. And in order to follow the canon when creating new films, TV series, comics and games, Lucasfilm created the Story Group. It included, among others, Leland Chee and Star Wars guidebook author Pablo Hidalgo.

In fact, little has changed. The story team is doing what one Leland Chi used to do. And the same people who once failed to do this task will follow the canon. Even the authors of the book cycle were called basically to everyone famous people With: John Jackson Miller, Alan Dean Foster, Paul Kemp, Christie Golden and James Luceno.

Was there another way?

With the abolition of the old canon, the Star Wars universe lost its uniqueness. Despite minor inconsistencies, for thirty years it was almost the only multimedia universe that managed to maintain a single canon, without any " parallel worlds adopted from Marvel and DC. Now, we are not immune from the fact that in twenty years the franchise will not be rebooted for the sake of the next series of films.

From a business standpoint, Disney's decision not to tie new films to the Expanded Universe makes perfect sense. Yes, many fans have dreamed of making a movie adaptation of the Expanded Universe books, most notably the Thrawn trilogy or the New Jedi Order series. But these were pipe dreams- no one will ever film the accompanying literature. The new films are intended for the average viewer who has seen six old films at best. You can not demand that the audience read dozens of books.

This is not to say that Disney and Lucasfilm had no other choice. It was possible to include elements of the Expanded Universe in the plot of the seventh episode and tell about the events shortly after the end of Return of the Jedi. Except that Hamill, Ford and Fisher would have missed the new films because of their age. Or it was possible to transfer not the entire Expanded Universe to the “Legends” category, but only the events after the sixth episode. But then Story group I would really have to interfere in the work of screenwriters and writers. It looks like Chi and company decided to make life easier for themselves.

Was the game worth the candle?

The cancellation of the Expanded Universe caused a lot of controversy among the fans. Some welcomed the innovations, while others did not recognize anything but films before. Others felt that they were deprived of part of the story, which they perceived as one. There's even been a "Bring Back the Legends" movement that is collecting signatures for a return to the old canon and bombarding Del Rey and Marvel with them. But they do not represent any real power.

Actually, it's not all that bad. No one forces fans to part with books, games and comics and erase their contents from memory. Another thing is that in a year and a half new canon did not offer anything interesting in return for "Legends". Most of the new books and comics are set in the era of the Original Trilogy - fans have seen this a hundred times before.

The Expanded Universe wasn't built in a day either. But so far, the new universe resembles a huge house, from which the old owners have moved out with all their things, and the new owner has not yet moved in, and a draft is walking in the empty rooms. The world of Star Wars has lost its carefully crafted history, geography, and chronology. Authors of books and comics habitually refer to titles from the Expanded Universe, but in the new canon nothing is connected with them.

The scarcity of the new universe was clearly shown in the first book of the new canon, Chuck Wendig's Aftermath. Fans were expecting a digression into galactic history, a story about a new alignment of forces, and received a novel about a petty mess in the outskirts of the galaxy. Yes, it is not easy to rewrite the history of the whole world. But twenty years ago, Timothy Zahn did it - and "Heir to the Empire" became the basis on which the entire Expanded Universe arose.

"Aftermath" reflects another problem - the new books cannot yet match the best works of the Expanded Universe in terms of quality. Although Del Rey used well-known authors, even James Luceno and John Jackson Miller wrote rather mediocre things on the new material.

Things are somewhat better with comics, where the Star Wars and Darth Vader series came out. Yes, writers Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen are exploiting the original trilogy era that has been used hundreds of times, but at least they make it interesting. And this inspires hope that at least something worthwhile will appear in the place of the RV.

The comic "Darth Vader" is a pretty good example of how you can present familiar characters in an interesting way.

The first issue of Marvel's new Star Wars became the best-selling comic book in the last twenty years. The issue sold over a million copies. It was followed by "Darth Vader" - a good example of how you can interestingly present familiar characters.

Most recently, Star Wars #1 came out. It would seem that the next issue tells about the adventures of the heroes of the famous franchise. From a story point of view, this issue does not play a special role, but for a galaxy far, far away, it marked the beginning of a new era: Star Wars is now part of the Marvel Megaverse. This event will be dedicated to the first numbered issue of the Guide, in which you can find out about all the films, comics, books and other media that have been released and are being released in the new canon.

Movies

Six films created by the genius George Lucas have long since gained cult status. It is with them that one should begin acquaintance with the universe. Discover for yourself a galaxy far, far away from the prequel trilogy (episodes I-III) or from the original trilogy (episodes IV-VI), it's up to you. If you want to focus on a great adventure, look by release date. If you are more interested in watching the inner experiences of the characters, then watching episodes 1 to 6 will give you an amazing tragedy.

After watching the saga, you should pay attention to two animated films:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a kind of prologue to the series of the same name and tells about the acquaintance of Anakin Skywalker with his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano. The events of the film take place after the second episode.

• Star Wars. Rebels: Spark of Rebellion- an hour-long prequel to the Rebels series, which tells about a company of daredevils who decide to fight the Empire. This animated film allows you to learn a lot of new and interesting things about what happened between the third and fourth episodes.

In future:

The premiere of the long-awaited film will take place on December 18 this year. Star Wars. Episode 7: The Force Awakens, and over the next few years, five more serial parts of the saga and four spin-offs will be released.

Serials

The best way to immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe is to watch the two canonical series. An expanded story of familiar and not-so-familiar characters will make you look forward to the release of each episode with trepidation and involuntarily shed a tear at the end of each season.

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a captivating chronicle of warfare with your favorite characters on the front lines. Battles between armies of clones and droids, ruthless battles of huge fleets in the vastness of the galaxy, amazing adventures and cunning intrigues merge into a wonderful animated series. And don't be fooled by the childish visual style: this series sometimes tells dark, truly adult stories full of violence. In total, 6 seasons were released with 20-22 episodes each. For the most ardent fans of the franchise, they also released 4 unfinished episodes that you can watch.

• Star Wars Rebels. The series, which has just started airing, is already delighting us with interesting details about life in the Empire five years before Luke and Ben met. While the episodes are too childish, the characters are too naive, and the plots are too simple. However, the Inquisitor, whose duties include finding and luring children sensitive to the Force to the dark side, as well as destroying the surviving Jedi, has already managed to intrigue all fans. far, far away galaxy. In total, 12 episodes and 4 mini-episodes have been released so far, as well as 10 very interesting promo videos in the form of news that you can watch.

In future:

Already on March 2, a new episode of "Rebels" will appear, and the second season of the series will soon be released.

Comics

A format that allows you to realize the most daring ideas of the authors, because not all stories are ready for Disney producers to put on the screens. Thanks to this, comics become especially valuable for fans. If you love Star Wars, then these series are a must-see:

• Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir. The favorite character of the author of this text was awarded his small but detailed comic strip. The tragedy of Maul, of course, will never be compared in its epochalism and significance with the fate of Anakin Skywalker, but it is still capable of making readers empathize and sympathize. The history of Maul has always been mysteriously attractive and monstrously cruel towards the little Zabrak, by chance, came to Darth Sidious. Growing up in fear and bereft maternal love the anti-hero never became a real Sith Lord, he was only a killer, a tool in the hands of a manipulator. The lack of proper attention to the personality of the character in the film and the series did not allow the audience to understand the motives of the hero. And only four issues of this comic for the first time showed Darth Maul not as an insensitive villain, but as a real person.

• Star Wars: Rebels—Ring Race. Curious purely from a story point of view, the comic was exclusively released in Star Wars Rebels Magazine No. 1. Unfortunately, it was the plot that turned out to be the weakest element of the work: it is too simple and predictable, although it sheds light on one important detail. But the visual style of the comic was a pleasant surprise: it has a special charm. But still, buying a magazine for the sake of this little adventure is definitely not worth it.

• Star Wars(2015) - the newest series of comics published by Marvel, has already become a hit, and yet only 2 issues have been published so far. The quality of performance is at its best, the plot is intriguing, and the main characters have already become part of an interesting story. miss such good comic no true fan of the franchise can.

• Star Wars: Darth Vader- George Lucas dedicated the entire saga to the personal tragedy of Anakin Skywalker - a personality with a very deep inner world. His experiences, motives and actions are always justified, there is a certain reason behind every act, and few people can remain indifferent to his story. Each new page from his media biography - whether it's a film, series or comics - makes you admire every step of the hero with rapture. That is why every fan should read the first issue of Darth Vader, which is literally woven from the pain and hatred of Skywalker.

In future:

The sequel will be released February 25 Star Wars: Darth Vader; March 4 will debut completely new series comics Star Wars: Princess Leia; On March 11, the third issue will reach the shelves of digital stores Star Wars(2015); the first issue of the prequel to the series "Rebels" Star Wars: Kanan: The Last Padawan, which tells the story of a Jedi survivor of Order #66, will be available for purchase starting April 1st. Read about how and where you can buy Marvel comics.

Books

Saturated small details, filled with the feelings and thoughts of the characters, with a carefully crafted story, the books allow you to carefully study the inner world of each character. Instead of entertainment and spectacular scenes, there is a leisurely narration and monologues that perfectly reveal your favorite images. If you are ready to spend quiet and cozy evenings with a good book, then these literary works about the characters of Star Wars will not disappoint you:

• Star Wars: Tarkin- a novel whose main character is Wilhuff Tarkin - one of the most cruel officials of the Galactic Empire. The plot of the work takes place 5 years after the Clone Wars and tells about the life of the governor of the Outer Rim, driven only by his hatred of the enemies of the Empire. One of major achievements novel, oddly enough, it turned out that Palpatine finally received the name - Shiv.

• Star Wars: A New Dawn- A Jedi named Kanan Jarrus, who survived the destruction of the order, survived in a cruel world ruled by the Sith. Trying by any means to hide his past and avoid the fate of his comrades-in-arms, the hero soon realizes that sooner or later he will have to take a fateful step and start fighting the Empire.

• Star Wars: Blade Squadron, Star Wars: One Thousand Levels Down and Star Wars: The End of History- some interesting stories released in different rooms magazine Star Wars Insider. Blade Squadron from Star Wars Insider#149 and #150 describe one of the unused scenes in episode six: an elite squadron of B-wing starships embark on a dangerous mission during the Battle of Endor. One Thousand Levels Down from issue 151 tells of the fate of two Alderaanians trying to escape during the Imperial genocide. The End of History tells about Mira Nadrinakar, a girl who kept Jedi artifacts for many years after the destruction of the order. This story was released in issue 154.

In future:

Very soon in Star Wars Insider#156 will appear short story about pilots Last Call at the Zero Angle, and in #157 a little story of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader called Orientation; these two Sith will also be the subject of a novel Lords of the Sith, coming out April 28; you can read about the fate of another servant of the dark side of the Force, Asajj Ventress, on July 7 in the book Dark Disciple.

Location of Star Wars in Marvel

The Marvel Universe has a complex layered structure. The basis is the so-called "Earth-#", "chronologies" and "sequences", each of which exists in a unique time and space. All classic versions of the characters live on Earth-616, which, in addition to the planet itself, includes all the surrounding galaxies. Alternate and parallel universes (such as Earth-1610 "Ultimate" or Earth-199999 where the films are set) contain the same characters, but give A New Look on their history and destiny. All realities associated with the classic make up the Marvel Multiverse. But if the sequence has nothing to do with the main chronology, then it is part of the Megaverse. So, Star Wars will be located in the Megaverse for the time being, so you should not expect a full-fledged Avengers vs. Sith crossover in the coming years.

The original Star Wars trilogy was released over thirty years ago. Over the years of its existence, she managed to acquire not only two official prequels (the second trilogy and the animated series "The Clone Wars"), but also an insane amount of desktop and computer games, books and comics. Although George Lucas said that he personally considered all of these stories to be non-canon, Lucasfilm continued to license them without much hesitation. As a result, thanks to this, the Star Wars expanded universe arose, which tells about the ancestors and descendants of the Jedi from the movie saga, about where the Mandalorians came from, where the Sith originally lived, and who was the great-great-grandson of Luke Skywalker.

In April 2014, Disney, which became the new owner of Lucasfilm and ZV, decided to independently rewrite the future from the expanded universe. What actually happened there will now be invented anew, and all existing stories will be apocrypha. On May 4th, the official Star Wars Day, the site recalls the most incredible episodes from the biographies of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, as well as their friends and relatives. So, in the Star Wars Expanded Universe...

Jedi accept Hutts and sentient furry animals

Regarding the Jedi and Sith, the expanded universe was much more democratic than the canon. In the classic Star Wars, there is not much choice: to join any side of the Force, it is best to relate to one of the kindred people of the races. That is, to be a Zabrak, a Twi'lek, a Togruta, or just a human. In the expanded universe, there were significantly more options. Almost anyone could master the control of the Force, including even the Kushibans - intelligent furry animals that lived in the Outer Rim, and the Hutts.

Why the Jedi Order even undertook to raise the Hutt Beldorion is unclear. Otherwise, his biography is similar to the stories of other Padawans: he was raised in a temple on Coruscant, successfully completed his training, became a Padawan, and then passed the tests and became a Jedi Knight. Fulfilled missions by order of the Council. Once he could not stand the temptation and went over to the dark side of the Force and was a tyrant on the planet Nam Choris, where he sat out the destruction of the Jedi and during years felt good. However, everything ended sadly for him anyway: despite the fact that Beldorion was not a strong, intelligent and muscular creature in the Huttish way, this did not save him in the battle with Leia Organa, and she cut her former comrade in the order almost in half.

Although the Kushiban Ikrit was never tempted by the dark side, his fate was no less dramatic. He was a student of Yoda and a friend of Anakin Solo, for whom he ended up sacrificing his life. Notably, the Kushiban, who was a highly gifted Jedi, did not use a lightsaber. This happened after he almost killed his friend with it because of a trifling argument, and Yoda had to stop him, risking his own life.

The Jedi were among the Jawas, and one of the Star Wars RPG books even featured an Ewok using a lightsaber to fight off comrades taken as slaves. His fate, however, has not been described in detail.

Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia die on Endor

The Force Unleashed dilogy is not the best thing that has happened to Star Wars games, but in our case it is worthy of a mention. In one of the additions to the second part, you can replay the finale of the battle on Endor and Return of the Jedi. Namely - alternately kill Chewbacca and Han Solo, and then Princess Leia.

Leia and Han Solo's children become Dark Jedi and kill each other

In the expanded universe, which has now definitely ceased to be canon once and for all, Luke Skywalker, after many not-so-successful novels, married an Imperial agent, Palpatine's assistant and just beautiful girl Mare Jade and became the father of Ben Skywalker. He took the place of the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and raised his new generation. Luke's life, however, was not cloudless: he took part in a huge number of conflicts and wars, at some point he was widowed through the fault of his own nephew, and even temporarily ended up on the dark side of the Force.

His sister was even less fortunate. Of the three children of Han Solo and Leia Organa, only daughter Jaina survived, while both sons, Anakin and Jacen, perished. Even sadder, Jacen decided that he was chosen to save the galaxy and switched to dark side Forces. As a result, he was killed by his own sister. A consolation for the elderly couple of the Solo Organa was their granddaughter Allana, Jacen's daughter, whom they began to raise after the death of their son.

Luke Skywalker's severed arm becomes Luke Skywalker

The scene where Luke Skywalker's arm is cut off at the end of Episode 5 has not gone unnoticed in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. As can be learned from Timothy Zahn's so-called "Admiral Thrawn Trilogy", a famous series of novels set in the New Republic, a clone of Luke named Luyuk was created from a severed hand by Vader. Luyuk dies in the same book where he appeared, and at the hands of Mara Jade.

Boba Fett gets out of the world three times

The most famous bounty hunter in Return of the Jedi allegedly died after falling into the mouth of the Sarlaak sandworm. According to the Dark Empire comic book series, Boba Fett actually survived and continued the hunt for Han Solo. Moreover, in the trilogy of novels The Bounty Hunter Wars, it is said that Fett managed to go inside Sarlaak three times. Each time, Boba was saved by Mandalorian armor and, as the book says, "iron will".

BioWare writes the oldest history of "Star Wars"

The history of the old republic began back in the 90s, when the first comics began to appear, dedicated to the early conflicts between the Sith and the Jedi. But she achieved popularity thanks to the games of the BioWare studio. The events take place four thousand years before the original film trilogy. As the developers explained, they could have made a project that would unfold in parallel with the Clone Wars (and then the story would have a chance to enter the canon), but in the end they decided to go back in time. The remoteness in time and space allowed them to approach the plot more freely and invent for their game the Jedi/Sith/Jedi again Revan, his friend and enemy Darth Malak, his beloved Bastila Shan, ancient race rakat and many other interesting stories, which then continued in the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Qui-Gon Jinn's first apprentice jumps into an acid lake

Qui-Gon Jinn, like his most famous student, Obi-Wan Kenobi, were and will remain part of the canon universe. But Qui-Gon's other Padawans were less fortunate. True, there were not so many of them: only two. Fimor and Xanatos.

Femor was Qui-Gon's very first Padawan, and his story is not very dramatic: he successfully trained and became a Jedi. Only the teacher refused him after the failure with the second Padawan. Xanatos rebelled and fell away from the Jedi Order. For several years, he vexed this organization in every possible way (and even tried to kill Yoda), but did not succeed. Qui-Gon tracked down Xanatos and tried to bring him to justice, but was unsuccessful. former student preferred death to prison and committed suicide by jumping into a lake of acid. Saddened by his pedagogical failure, Qui-Gon became disillusioned with his own teaching skills and decided that Fimor's success was purely accidental, so he could not take credit for raising this wonderful Jedi.

Indiana Jones finds the remains of Han Solo

One of the craziest stories in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. According to the plot of the comic book Into The Great Unknown, Han Solo and Chewbacca, leaving the chase, make another hyper-jump and find themselves in our solar system. Recognizing Earth as a kind of Endor, the friends land on the future territory. North America. As a result of the encounter with the Indians, Solo receives several arrows and dies. Chewbacca, having avenged a friend, is left alone on an unfamiliar planet. 126 years later, the skeleton of Solo and the Millennium Falcon is discovered by Indiana Jones, traveling through the caves of the United States - as usual, on important business.

Jawas brew beer from bows

The small but very businesslike and gifted inhabitants of Tatooine Jawa are part of the canon, but the recipe for their famous beer is not. But from the expanded universe, one could find out what was the secret of the taste of this drink, which is served in the cantinas of Tatooine and exported to drinking establishments throughout the galaxy. It turns out that its obligatory ingredient is the skin of a bantha (yes, that very large and good-natured horned animal that can be found almost anywhere in the galaxy).

Darth Vader finds a replacement for the laser sword

Fighting Soul Calubur 4 was remembered for many unexpected participation in it by Darth Vader and Yoda. The first one has an interesting story. In the single player campaign finale for Vader, he suddenly decides to change his usual weapon - a red light blade - and changes it to a pair of huge swords.

Ewoks save children in low-budget 'Return of the Jedi' sequels

Ewoks (along with Jawas) are among the most funny and touching races in Star Wars (despite the fact that they are cannibals, savages and, it seems, degenerates. Therefore, cute and bloodthirsty teddy bears were awarded two of their own TV movies that came out on the wave of Star Wars popularity (and, it seems, also in order to somehow recoup the cost of his props and not throw away costumes after a single shoot.) The first came out in 1984, and the second in 1985. Both tapes were prequels to Return of the Jedi. The plot of the films on the planet of the Ewoks constantly ended up with children, whom they were forced to protect.George Lucas worked on the film scripts, but he seemed to do it without much enthusiasm: both films were low-budget, and their stories had little to do with Star Wars "and were closer to traditional fantasy. For example, in the second picture, a completely classic witch Charal appeared, who, with the help of mysterious artifact turned into a crow.

However, the two Ewok stories were by no means the most infamous TV movies during the existence of Star Wars. Much worse was the 1978 Canadian tape, which aired only once. The main characters of the next Star Wars Holiday Special series were Chewbacca and Han Solo, who went to the Wookiee planet to celebrate a family holiday, and at the same time fought against imperial agents. The film turned out to be monstrous in every way, and the authors of the original film saga (as well as the actors who starred there) tried to forget it as soon as possible. But the Internet remembers everything, so the Christmas "hurried" can still be found and watched (albeit in terrible quality).

Bonus track. R2D2 sings a duet with Jon Bon Jovi

On Christmas Day 1980 music album Christmas in the Stars you can find the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas. They are performed by Star Wars droids and a young Jon Bon Jovi. It was the first professional recording of the future soloist, it is clear which group.

Text: Nadezhda Vainer, Stanislav Lomakin

old Star Wars Expanded Universe dead, heartlessly renamed "Legends", replaced with new events that will keep pace with the movie franchise. Long live the Expanded Universe! But before we finally dive into the nostalgia for the old RV, let's remember that at the time when she had wonderful stories(the Thrawn trilogy), there was also a lot of stupid stuff (almost everything else). As Lucasfilm digs into the old Expanded Universe, let's revisit some of its worst, most embarrassing moments.

Jackson the space bunny

The Star Wars comic book universe needed its original character to be the face of the Expanded Universe. Instead, she fixated on Jackson, a man-sized green rabbit who was a sarcastic but charming smuggler created after Bugs Bunny. It was a mixture of Han Solo and the Trix the rabbit, and ended up being nothing more than an excuse for a series of horrible puns of a rabbit in space. His ship was called the Lucky Rabbit's Paw. He was part of a group of failed heroes assembled by Han Solo called the Star-Hoppers. It was rumored that George Lucas hated Jackson so much that he personally asked Marvel to stop writing him in the comics. Again, this is just a rumor, but guess what: the guy who thought goofy Jar Jar Binks was good enough for movies doesn't think the green space bunny is good enough for comics.

Clone Madness!

The Expanded Universe needs stories and villains, and good story you can't write if all the bad guys are dead. So the writers of the old RV decided to fall back on an old classic Star Wars idea: clones. Need a live bad guy, even if he's already dead in the movies? Clone it! So they did with Emperor Palpatine, who died in Return of the Jedi but had the foresight to secretly create a clone of himself that would come with his memories pre-loaded. Fan-favorite RV villain Grand Admiral Thrawn is also clone-obsessed, cloning Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker. What were the clones' names? Booba Fett and Luyuk Skywalker. RV has never been original.

Sorrow, Weeping Mountain

Did you know that the forest moon of Endor was a mountain that was alive and had a face, a mouth, a nose, and a pair of eyes that she used to cry and cry like a giant baby? Oh, and that her tears could heal the sick and the wounded? This goes beyond the delusions of a lunatic, this is Star Wars. Mount of Sorrows was famous character in a comic called Ewoks 7: The Perilous Laughing Spell, the seventh in a 14-issue series published by Marvel Comics between 1985 and 1987. fall flat on your face tripping over scary Star Wars ideas.

sun crusher

The Sun Crusher was a giant golden ice cream cone in space. In almost every possible way, it looked like a parody of the Death Star. He could take down the whole solar systems with one shot. He was indestructible and cool. And once received a direct hit from the prototype of the Death Star. It was the most powerful superweapon in the galaxy, and even the Emperor didn't know about it. But perhaps the dumbest thing about the Sun Crusher was its size. It was much more powerful than the Death Star and only slightly larger than the regular one. star fighter. It was a sad vehicle that kids made from an old traffic cone when their parents couldn't afford Star Wars toys.

Jedi Master Bates

In his script for Star Wars: Jedi Council, the prelude comic to the Star Wars prequels, writer Randy Stradley wrote a dialogue where the Jedi are called by name: Mace, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and so on. After its editor, Sue Rostini, got her hands on the scripts, she added the Jedi title "Master" to the names. Stradley didn't like this, so he came up with a little prank. He created a Jedi named Sun Bates ( English Skin softening solution), hoping that Rostini, as usual, would add the "master" and pick up the joke, then they would laugh about it for a long time over a cocktail. Unfortunately, Rostini didn't edit that name specifically, and just a month after the issue was on the shelves, she left a ridiculous joke that the editor should have caught. Not much is known about Jedi Master Bates other than his legendary skills with his saber.

The Ridiculous Return of Robotic Darth Maul

Darth Maul died in The Phantom Menace... but is he really? That's the kind of question the custodians of the Star Wars sequence would like to ask, stupid as it is. According to lore shared by both the old Expanded Universe and the new official canon after The Force Awakens, Maul reached for a dumpster after being cut in half by Obi-Wan at the end of The Phantom Menace, and somehow gained brand new robotic legs. spider. In addition, he lost his memory, but thanks to his brother (oh, he also has a brother), he was able to restore it.

Zombie Stormtroopers

The rotten, stinking hands of zombie mania have not spared this franchise. Yes, there were zombies even in Star Wars. In 2009, horror author Joe Schreiber published two Star Wars novels. The first was Death Troopers, which was a story about a prison ship filled with murderers and lunatics split in space. The entire crew scavenge for parts on a derelict Star Destroyer, unaware of the effects of the zombie virus that is infecting everyone on board. The most formulaic zombie story with Han and Chewie showing up to remind everyone that this is Star Wars and not the script for George Romero's 900th zombie movie.

third law

Issue #48 of the original version marvel comics A Star Wars movie called The Third Law was really something special because it has one of the dumbest stories in the franchise. And it is this: the rebels need money. So Leia goes to the bank to get a loan. And Darth Vader is trying to thwart Leia's attempts. By the way, did you know that all Star Wars planets share the same ecosystem? Endor is forest, Hoth is snow, and Tatooine is desert? All these planets are solid banks. They are 100% banks. Banks are not an ecosystem, which in itself is the dumbest idea that someone tried to pass off as official canon, but it continues. Vader kills the planet's finance minister... who turns out to be a robot. It doesn't really matter, because Vader doesn't even think about preventing the loan, because he wants to steal the planet's crown jewels in order to... You know what? Never mind. Just... forget it.

Yuuzhan Vong

The Yuuzhan Vong are a vile-looking race of genocidal lunatics hell-bent on destroying the galaxy, and they almost succeeded. By the time they were defeated, they had killed 365 trillion beings across the galaxy. Sounds scary, right? How can this be so ridiculous? Here's how: the Yuuzhan Vong existed "out of the Force", that is, one mystical energy that binds all life (both films, and TV shows, and comics, and novels), means nothing to them, because they don't care about it immunity. Why? Because the Force drove them out. Literally. They are such an evil that the Force does not want to mess with them. They are even immune to lightsabers. Their main weapon is a staff, which is actually some sort of space snake that can push back lightsabers without being cut in half like butter. This race is an alien threat created specifically to break all the rules of the Star Wars universe. Do you want to know what really makes them stupid? They are responsible for...

Death of Chewbacca

The Yuuzhan Vong started small before moving on to a full-blown takeover of the galaxy. And by "small" they mean that they smashed the moon into a planet, thus killing countless lives, including Chewbacca. While helping Han Solo's son, Anakin Solo, Chewbacca was blown away by a strong wind and thrown there. Knowing his fate, Chuba snarled at the moon like a Wookiee before a huge space rock crashed down on him.

Luke Skywalker falls in love with... a ship?

In the RV novel Children of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker falls in love with spaceship with emotions - the one who was a Jedi during the Clone Wars. Yes, it's stupid, and the explanation for it doesn't get much better. The ship contains the spirit of a Jedi named Callista, who (just before her death in an attempt to destroy the Eye of Palpatine, a huge dreadnought disguised as an asteroid) transformed her entire vital energy into the vehicle. Later, after Luke is arrested and taken prisoner aboard the Eye, Callista communicates with him via monitors. She falls in love with him, and he with her. But alas, the ship must be destroyed for the safety of the galaxy. But wait! The student's lover sacrifices her body, allowing Callista to restore physical form. Not bad. Not many restaurants can host a killer spaceship on a date.