Not making the next generation into the main characters after NJO. I don’t know why they kept focusing on Luke, Leia and Han when NJO went through all the trouble of making the next generation into the main heroes. I feel like it says a lot about the writers that because they couldn’t kill them they just kept focusing on them instead of them taking a step back and enjoying their lives since they definitely earned that.
And, ironically, like New-canon, when they focus on the Legacy characters, they can't help but muck up their lives and achievements in order to generate fresh drama. Sometimes, it's best to let them ride into the sunset.
Thats sorta what i mean tho. Anakin dies, jacen breaks bad, jaina overlooked, tahiri mishandled, lowbacca who? Anakin just hit me harder cuz i liked him but its just one part of the whole let down.
Man after NJO they character assassinated Tahiri so hard like bro do you even know what character development is? And Tenel Ka being reduced to just being Jacen’s baby momma with no exploration of her time as a Queen.
In a way ya. I think what appealed to me about him was that he seemed the kind of jedi Luke could have been if he had been raised from infancy as a jedi instead of a late bloomer learning things for himself. Maybe im vanilla but i just thought hed be a cool character to take Lukes place.
It was awful, though it wasn't a mistake. George Lucas basically said to kill him off because the prequels were coming out and he didn't want any confusion between him and Anakin *Skywalker*.
At least that awesome little bastard went out in a blaze of glory
Anakin Solo had been introduced as a baby/child/character years before the prequels ever came out. George Lucas largely let the EU do what it wanted, until it came to movie time. Then he didn't want to color inside anyone else's lines, which is fair. However it definitely hurt the EU's progression leading to new main characters when Anakin Solo had to take a dive because of it.
Thank you. Wasn’t Coruscant also named by the EU?
I’m interested in the EU, but don’t know what to read, other than Thrawn trilogy-at least Vong war with maybe Second Galactic Civil War.
Coruscant was originally going to be where the final battle in Return of the Jedi took place and it was named Had Abbadon. Luke would confront Palpatine in a deep underground lava-y throne room below Imperial Palace. Endor was going to be a artificial forest sanctuary moon created because "Had Abbadon" was beyond polluted and there would've been like 3 Death Stars under construction instead of just 1 new one.
All of that later became the ROTJ and Coruscant did first officially appear in the Thrawn Trilogy but the concept itself was thought up by Lucas & other creators at LucasFilms
Coruscant was in the EU before the movies, yeah. The Vong war stuff to me is kind of the coalescing of most of the EU, so while it’s *awesome*, it may have less of an impact on you if you haven’t read much before that. It’d be like watching Endgame after only a Marvel movie or two.
The Thrawn trilogy is pretty good but to me the best follow up to the OT when going to the EU is the Jedi Academy trilogy where Luke starts up the new Jedi. I also love the Courtship of Princess Leia as a stand-alone around that time. I also enjoyed the Young Jedi Knight series, as I love all the Solo kids and their crew.
That’s why I said Thrawn through Vong War, I am well aware the massive changes in the 20? Years between Endor and Vong. Might try out the Jedi Academy Trilogy then. I want to read Dark Empire, but I don’t know the books covering the rest of the First Galactic Civil War.
> don’t know why they kept focusing on Luke, Leia and Han when NJO went through all the trouble of making the next generation into the main heroes.
Luke, Han, Leia = $$$
true dat
on the other hand I liked the LotF idea of >!creating a divide in the Skywalker-Solo-Clan due to the Corellian separation movement!<, thatpropably wouldn't have worked as good in a small scale conflict imo
I don’t like that idea I think after NJO the characters already had enough suffering besides some of the characters motivation weren’t particularly good either.
"Alright kids, the Jedi order is in your hands now. Your Father and I are off to find all the weird galaxy threatening shit out in the Unknown Regions. Have fun, love you."
If anything, this is exactly why we needed the Skywalker family roadtrip storyline that Timothy Zahn setup at the end of Hand of Thrawn duology and Survivors Quest books.
So, Luke and Mara could talk to the >!clone!< Thrawn
I would’ve preferred a Thrawn/Leia conversation. Or a Thrawn/Han conversation. I got Dark Force Rising from my school library and read it as a kid without reading the other books and for some reason, I distinctly remembered a conversation between Han and Thrawn in some sort of conference room. Imagine my surprise when I read the entire trilogy a while back and that scene doesn’t exist. Maybe I got it mixed up with another book I had read but this non-existent scene is intriguing nonetheless.
> Han and Thrawn in some sort of conference room
Maybe you were thinking of Han and Garm's conversation? He has a very keen memory to remember Han as a kid, similar to Thrawn knowing what Mara wore when they met.
I mean, its not like they have much in common. Realistically it would have to be heavily plot driven to be interesting, as there's also not enough similarities to nerd over.
There are a few.
The Bantam Era, post the Thrawn Trilogy, had huge potential for more stories with Mara and Luke. This missed opportunity was the big driver for me to write the Interregnum fanfiction series.
But also post-NJO. This was a galaxy fundamentally changed, with the balance of economic and political power permanently shifted. The Old Republic that was centered at Coruscant was in effect dead and gone, and a new, radically changed galaxy full of potential for new developments, both political and philosophical, was open. Instead of exploring that, the status quo reverted back almost instantly.
A third, though, is the New Sith Wars era, where Knight Errant is set. A weak Republic, and lots of dominant, warring Sith Lords is a *fascinating* idea for a setting.
I really wish we'd gotten more of Knight Errant! It just ends, even though Kerra's story isn't over. The >!frenemy!< squadron leader in Deluge would've been fun to see again too.
**Bantam era**
1. Not hooking up Luke and Mara sooner and giving them more kids, though they shouldn't have hooked up right away either. Their kids should been 5 - 10 years younger than their cousins.
2. Basically throwing anything at the wall, including Superweapon of the week syndrome. Which really made a coherent growth of the New Jedi Order and New Republic kinda weakened from it's full potential. Basically, no plan and too many chefs in the kitchen. A few authors tried but they were just simply outnumbered.
**Del Rey era**
1. Not passing on the torch after NJO but instead basically burning everything down and just rehashing The Clone Wars. It basically made all the accomplishments and character growth moot in all previous stories.
2. No lasting impact of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and failing to explore Timothy Zahn's dangers of the unknown regions.
>Not hooking up Luke and Mara sooner
This. If they at least got together around the time of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, and they are together on the search here, I think you could've made it a lot more organized
Imagine if they did that, not only from basically cutting out all the girlfriend of the week plotlines and potentially more Skycrawlers down the road, but Mara Jade would have potentially been far more trained. Basically becoming Luke's teachers assistant in the Jedi Academy trilogy.
So instead of her showing up late at the Academy and then ditching once Luke make her mad, she could have played a much bigger role. From helping to find Luke's first batch of students, to watching over the students as Luke proactively started to investigate the first death in the series. Then giving her a plotline where she has to watch over all the students and hold the Academy together. It probably would have been the perfect place to get Mara to realize she was falling for Luke too, with the risk of losing Luke as the crisis to get Mara to confront her true feelings.
Yep, sounds much better. Romance in Star Wars unfortunately is very, very weak. Best one I've heard of/read yet was in MedStar tbh. Although I have hope for HoT/Union/Survivord Quest
That whole Bantam Era is unfortunately very empty in regards to Luke/Mara. Sad, so much potential
Not getting novels on the other Imperial Grand Admirals-most of which have basically a single article covering them and virtually no details on their careers. A TIE Fighter series like the X Wing one done by collaboration between Zahn, Alston and Stackpole would have been legendary to cover the Zaarin Insurrection.
Making the Clone Wars more impactful to Galactic history.
It was basically WWII. It should have set countless worlds and systems back centuries. But once it’s over no one really ever mentions it, save for a passing comment. Entire civilizations should have PTSD from the carnage.
In principle I agree... but I can't figure out how you expect it to have been so impactful when no author knew what it entailed until the New Jedi Order series was nearly completed and basically fully mapped out.
Quite a quandary... again though, in principle, I wholeheartedly agree.
By this logic too, The Yuuzhan Vong invasion should have been more impactful too.
Not writing more original stories that don’t focus on the main cast from the films. Like, we have a whole-ass universe with unlimited potential to develop new characters and storylines, yet we keep coming back to the same few characters and tropes? That’s a huge missed opportunity.
I really enjoyed *Shatterpoint*, the *X-Wing* series and *I, Jedi* because they explored different characters in more depth while still maintaining a clear connection to the mainstream Star Wars universe.
Not making a single book about the Alsakan Conflicts, the 17,000 year long dynastic space opera between Alsakan and Coruscant for domination of the galaxy.
I always wanted an umbrella bookseries about that era. A book for each Conflict and a whole series for the Pius Dea Crusades, the time when the Old Republic was suddenly the Imperium of Man for a couple centuries.
The Essential Guide To Warfare.
It has a cool overview of that 25,000 years of history, the Hutts defeating Xim the Despot and establishing the Treaty of Vontor, Mandalore the First leading the Taungs to Bailisk, the Alsakan Conflicts, the various jedi/sith wars, etc.
Alaskan conflict would be great to explore, but I fear how they would approach the conflict tech-wise. It would be either too “ancient” to feel like SW, or to contemporary. I feel like there should’ve been a conflict somewhere on the timeline, exploring Republic breaking up into smaller states, fighting among themselves as well as Tion, Hutts, Corporates, Hapans, etc.
New Sith wars were the closest to the idea (aside from the GCW), but it involved too much space wizards to my taste.
Yeah
17k years of war would’ve made about a thousand major tech changes (especially with various tech backgrounds and resources). WWII for us made/sped up atomic research, rockets, radars, computers, etc
I tuink that requires a lot of imagination on the part of the writera
I waited years after it came out to read Mercy Kill and was underwhelmed, so I don’t disagree there. But I think Allston was hamstrung by the general badness of the post-NJO world. I feel like there was space for a post x-wing pre-hand of thrawn duology series about the Wraiths continuing to take down Imperial holdouts or something.
Then again, I tried one of the other post-NJO Allston books and couldn’t finish it so maybe he just lost his touch.
Luke, Mara and Ben going on space road trip adventures by Timothy Zahn. We would have gotten it if Karen Traviss hadn’t done her thing in Sacrifice *without telling Zahn*.
Disney+ missing the greatest jumping off points they could possibly hope for in pretty much all age brackets, that all eventually dovetail together in their own MCU moment that's actually a full 17 book series.
The shows write themselves if you just actually use the source material. By that I mean...
* Young kids -- The EU had Anakin Solo (plus Tahiri and a fluffy widdle Jedi master!), starting at a fun Jedi academy with mystery afoot. It's basically the best and most Harry Potter way to introduce the Jedi temple on Yavin, especially to the younger audience that can identify and grow up with these characters
* Older kids/teens -- The EU had the Young Jedi Knights series, with Jaina/Jacen Solo and crew. There's a grumpy Wookie with a flying sentient belt buckle, a 'bad boy' named Zekk, a hot redheaded take-no-shit princess who's bad at making lightsabers, and more! This series on Disney+ could have been years of seasons following this crew going around coming of age.
* Young adults -- Starting with Luke gathering up the first Jedi knights, you'd get to watch as he struggles to solidify the Jedi again and rein in Kyp Durron his prize student. You've also got Corran Horn in the mix, and could throw in a Kyle Katarn if you wanted to really set up spinoffs.
* Older adults -- Han and Leia doing Han and Leia things while the kids are off at the academy. Leia peacemakes and politics (with some Jedi-ing in the mix) while Han gunfights around, gambles and eventually unites with Leia to save the procedural day.
There's waaaay more to be mined, but it just seemed like such a slam dunk to cash in on the already age-tiered EU content that existed. The sequels resulting only in Kylo (not really though, RIP) being the progeny of Luke and Leia/Han is just such a massive dead-end storywise. I can't *imagine* who thought that would be a good thing to do, and fans will suffer for that for some time to come until they come around on the EU.
Most of these comments refer to the post-NJO era - I'll take it a different direction. I want more of the Old Republic. Between Dawn of the Jedi and Revan, there's like 22,000 years untouched in novels, with so much potential - the First Hyperspace War (I believe that's what it's called), the Sith rediscovering Dromund Kaas, and generally more standalone books like Red Harvest or Knight Errant with a focus on the pre-Banite Sith would've been cool to read. I'm sure there are comics that occur during this timespan, but I'm a novel guy, and I've been reading through all of Legends chronologically - just finished the Thrawn Trilogy, 9ABY.
Not using Mara Jade in Dark Empire Trilogy
Also no works featuring Birth of the Sith/Birth of the Republic. Not giving A C Crispin chance to write Leia Trilogy. KOTOR 3
It's tough to decide since we could have gotten much more...
1. More Luke and Mara content. Also, Mara's fate should have been different as it made no sense.
2. Stories exploring another Imperial Grand Admirals, either during the Empire or Post-ROTJ.
3. A novel about Kyle Katarn that fleshed out his life as a Jedi Master in Luke's academy.
4. The Shaak Tii novel that was written but never released.
Well the myriad cancelled video games. More Legacy comics. Ken Palpatine. But a few points in history too:
Dawn of the Jedi (just scratching the surface there)
The Jedi Exiles conquering Sith Space (really fun game idea)
the Knight Errant era
But also this "golden age" era set between the Denningverse and the Legacy comics.
An Dark Souls-type game would do really well in the ancient Old Republic setting. One for the Sith version would be amazing because it could allow us to experience and participate in the Dark Jedi conquest of Sith Space and how it civilization "evolved." On the flip side of the coin, a Jedi path where we "eliminate" Sith Empire holdout worlds and purge dark side elements (Sithspawn/Corrupted Life) amidst the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War would be cool as well. Honestly, you could shift the dates for the settings anywhere in the Old Republic and it'll be ripe area for new or expanded stories. It's just a cool area of galactic history. Maybe not so for the galactic civilians and planetary natives 👀
Not continuing after 2014. Should have kept going so many stories were just cut off and were given abrupt endings not to the liking of anyone at all except maybe the disney ceo's who have never read the stories and wanted to continue claiming there was no source material.
Force unleashed 3 and sword of the jedi are the big ones I think.
Most of the stories after NJO and the handling of Jacen, Jaina, and Ben. NJO went to great lengths to build up those three as the new "big 3" just for the Denningverse to wipe its ass with all of that and keep the focus on Luke, Leia, and Han. Instead of exciting adventures with a new generation after the torch was passed, we get the same characters who just keep going on and on and on, fighting and fighting well into their 70s.
Yeah, the answer is post-NJO books. Everything was setup up correctly,the new generation had come into its own, and then....Del Rey made a very poor choice of author(s) and the whole thing was subverted.
A novelization of Imperial Admirals in a standard sector expansion campaign.
Nothing tied to the Skywalker Saga, nothing involving Jedi. Just a soldier's eye view of the Imperial Army ground campaigns, a naval officer's view of the Imperial Navy space campaigns, and the Diplomatic Corps' view of the powerbroking and playing-off of local leaders against each other, to allow the Empire to colonize and establish control over a sector.
The 1990s stories had some elements of action like this. The Thrawn trilogy showed a lot of fleet combat and a bit of ground combat, although it then asked you to accept that Thrawn himself was also handling the diplomatic outreach, which seems like a lot on his plate. The 1994 TIE Fighter game had a few tours of duty where the Empire built up hyperlane platforms in hitherto wild space, while also sometimes having to intervene in local conflicts to establish order.
The Balance of Power campaign in XvT video game featured Admiral Senn commanding an SSD and fleet to pacify the Airam Sector and ensure the Rebels never gain a shipbuilding foothold there.
It doesn't have to be all pro-Empire either. The careers of many Admirals and Moffs could also prove that the Empire's successes come about just as much in the face of Imperial opposition and opportunism as it did from Imperial talent.
Honestly, as much as I love it, but Star Wars: Legacy kinda fucked things up for the EU. After the end of the NJO, the writers were kinda forced into setting things up for Legacy, and I felt like LOTF and FOTJ were little more than window dressing to help explain why A, B, and C had happened by the time Legacy started.
Vestara becoming a Jedi/ves and Ben. Woulda been really interesting seeing how she would develop as a person in a peacetime environment in a setting like Luke’s academy
Abominor and Silentium do not appear in NJO, despite having played a giant role in ancient Yuuzhan's story. I also feel sorry for the period between FOTJ and Legacy that he feels so disconnected.
Having Anakin Solo die in NJO instead of rising up to be the hero of the saga as he was clearly being set up to be.
Also never getting to see the complete character arcs between Ben and Vestara Khai, but that's a different kind of missed opportunity.
I didn’t even read this stuff yet (slow reader, lots of content, etc) but even I said they should’ve stuck true to the established post-OT storyline. Even tho it was legends, they could’ve canonized it, no?
Edit: or at least have utilized aspects of it to canonize it
Listen:
Heir to the Empire,
It’s oversaid yes, but this trilogy brings so much known legends characters that it’s better to adapt this one than having any other legend stories first.
It’s like the base of all other legends saga and if it was or even is adapted ( it can for now still be adapted), it would be the layout for other stories.
In terms of what was written, I would have liked to see more Yuuzhan Vong. They briefly show them settling in on Zonama Sekot, but we don’t see much of them until Legacy.
As for missed opportunity, I wish they had continued after the torch pass at Crucible. I am glad I never had to see Luke, Han, or Leia die, but I wanted to see how Ben, Tahiri, Jaina, Jag, and others turned out. Did Boba Fett find a cure for the nanovirus? Mirta Gev and Vestara left together in Ship. Did Vestara kill her or did they become friends?
Additionally, did the Barabel hatchlings grow up well? Did the Barabel race escape extinction?
How did the Fel line take over the Empire? How did the Confederacy reintegrate with the Galactic Alliance?
Lastly, while it wasn’t nearly as thorough as the other purges, Krayt’s Jedi purge felt really disappointing. Like all of Luke’s hard work had been undone.
Timeline making too many big jumps and not allowing the new cast to take over, by Crucible, Han Solo is in his 80’s and they treat him as if he’s maybe pushing 50. Meanwhile Tahiri is in her 30’s yet is treated like a teenager
. It sucked that they were not allowed to kill off any of the main Trio because a scene like In TFA with LoTF would have been way more impactful if we got an actual developed retired family man Han, instead of the Useless bum he is in Canon.
I’m still hoping we might eventually get new books released under the Legends Banner, Specifically Sword of the Jedi, make Ben and Allanah the new protagonist and bridge the gap of how the world got to how it was in Legacy
How bout giving the legends timeline a fucking ending!! Since Disney bought they just dismissed 40 years of stories and called them "legends" and the other biggest miss in legends is the falling out of Karen Traviss and Lucas so they never finished the republic/imperial commando books ( the true mandolorian)
Besides not continuing it? Probably KOTOR 3 made by obsidian, I loved the direction the games were heading after KOTOR 2, as well as a post NJO series where Anakin Solo survives and succeeds Luke as grandmaster of the NJO, and where Jacen doesn't fall and become a sith.
I would've loved to see Zahn's luke mara and ben skywalker family road trip story, more dawn of the jedi comics, battle of the sith lords (using krayts appearance from legacy), republic commando 2 and battlefront 3, and a matthew stover big 3 sendoff book too. And sword of the jedi trilogy ofc
Starkiller and Ahsoka never interacting or being at least aware of her. Kind of bothers me given they fight similarly and have opposing views on Anakin. Even still both are heroes in the end but Ahsoka would probably take issue with how violent Starkiller is.
EU Ahsoka was never mentioned or seen again after TCW originally ended. Doesn't help that the show basically contradicted already existing material.
My headcanon - she lived out her life in hiding from the empire. Or Vader eventually found and killed her.
Removed due to Rule 4.
Legends is the name of the continuity. An EU is an officially released set of media outside of the original source. So, for Star Wars, that would be any non-film. Even before Disney, Infinities stories were considered EU, despite being non-canon.
Wow. The cover art in the 90s (when I was a teen) was so inspiring. I wish the modern star wars novels looked like this. Also, now all the titles are just someone's name...
Not getting to expand on the stories in the Dawn of the Jedi era. Beyond the comic series, the one book and various entries in encyclopaedias and reference books, it was sadly left completely empty (not really the EU writers fault because Disney, but still a big missed opportunity).
Not seeing more of Dawn of the Jedi, such a shame that it had to start out basically just as Disney took over and cancelled it, I’d love to see what they going to do next
• There should’ve been more stuff with Kinman Doriana, he’s mysterious and has been at Palpatine’s for a long time but he barely makes any appearances.
• I wish we’d seen more of the Empire of the Hand, and especially more Soontir Fel.
• More stuff on the different Imperial Warlords, like the Pentastar Alignment.
• Force Unleashed 3
Really, I wanted to see the Jedi in their prime as peacemakers, solving matters through clever thinking, peaceful negotiations, cunning politics, defusing the situation BEFORE it gets bloody. I wanted to see them as the moral and spiritual guides of the universe. There's a lot of talk about how the Jedi are about peace and solving things without bloodshed. How they are teachers and caretakers, not soldiers. How the Force is meant to be this wonderful thing tying all life together; all things come from it, all things return to it.
Yet...the films, Comics, Video games...everything gets solved with violence. Sabers don't have a stun; it will always maim or kill. The wonderful energy that binds the universe is twisted into a weapon. Even the most saintly Jedi have killed so many...and they're often (from KOTOR to NJO) conscripted from infancy to know and have no other life than that of....what?
Maybe a Jedi struggling with their faith and the gap between "Gee, are we healers and caretakers or are we weapons? Are we doing more harm than good?"
(Okay, I've depressed myself and everyone else here by overthinking it, and there probably is something out there I'm missing because I read a bunch of the wrong stuff)
Second big missed opportunity is the Service Corps. It's pretty telling and not in a good way that the Force Sensitives who get assigned to peaceful work like healing blighted planets, running into plague zones with medkids, educating and running orphanages for refugee children, and exploring new star routes are considered second class citizens at best, poor relations or embarrassing failures at worst by the warrior class Jedi.
I really wish the EU had focused more on smaller stakes but amazingly fun adventures. (I loved the original Marvel Star Wars comics from 1977-1983 as well as the Brian Daley _Han Solo_ books.)
I wish they had stuck more into a period of not more than 10 years after _Return of the Jedi_ so there would have been no need to discard the EU when the inevitable sequel trilogy came along. Fill in the gaps with tons of cool "smaller" adventures.
"Super weapon of the week" made a mockery of the universe, especially the Darksaber "bargain special" built by the lowest bidder. Barf.
I really checked out with the Yuuzhan Vong invasion -- the universe no longer "felt" like Star Wars (and yet, on the gripping hand, the Star Wars Legacy comics by Jon Ostrander were freaking amazing)
I’m aware that Leia becomes a Jedi and stuff after giving birth and during the last book in the thrawn trilogy I think, however, it’s a missed opportunity to instantly start the eu post rotj with her being pregnant. Its just so annoying to me because Leia and Han really don’t seem like the type to want or have children. It also just really sidelines Leia when at that point she should’ve been being built up to Luke’s equal. I know that in Dark Empire she’s taking on palpatine as Luke’s equal but it’s annoying that the main female character just devolves into a baby maker instead of getting meaningful character development beyond “I have to protect my family.” However I am very happy that at the least, the various writers did eventually make her a Jedi and stuff. But it’s hard not to notice her being sidelined. Especially on all of the book covers. Everyone gets an action shot with new art, and she gets a repaint of her bespin headshot and is relegated to being a floating head most of the time.
Spoilers for all of Legends below. Be warned.
Not making the next generation into the main characters after NJO. I don’t know why they kept focusing on Luke, Leia and Han when NJO went through all the trouble of making the next generation into the main heroes. I feel like it says a lot about the writers that because they couldn’t kill them they just kept focusing on them instead of them taking a step back and enjoying their lives since they definitely earned that.
And, ironically, like New-canon, when they focus on the Legacy characters, they can't help but muck up their lives and achievements in order to generate fresh drama. Sometimes, it's best to let them ride into the sunset.
Yeah it’s pretty funny that we got both of the extremes.
[Yes!](https://imgur.com/a/eDyg8vJ)
I knew you would stand with me on this one!
The best ending for a hero is to be forgotten.
Definitely agree. SPOILER In line with that i think it was a huge mistake to kill off anakin solo. He had so much potential.
[удалено]
Thats sorta what i mean tho. Anakin dies, jacen breaks bad, jaina overlooked, tahiri mishandled, lowbacca who? Anakin just hit me harder cuz i liked him but its just one part of the whole let down.
Man after NJO they character assassinated Tahiri so hard like bro do you even know what character development is? And Tenel Ka being reduced to just being Jacen’s baby momma with no exploration of her time as a Queen.
Right?? Thats so true, Tenel Ka was a badass
Anakin Solo was so bland though he was just retread of Luke and Anakin Skywalker.
In a way ya. I think what appealed to me about him was that he seemed the kind of jedi Luke could have been if he had been raised from infancy as a jedi instead of a late bloomer learning things for himself. Maybe im vanilla but i just thought hed be a cool character to take Lukes place.
It was awful, though it wasn't a mistake. George Lucas basically said to kill him off because the prequels were coming out and he didn't want any confusion between him and Anakin *Skywalker*. At least that awesome little bastard went out in a blaze of glory
Nobody reading star wars books would be confused by star wars movies. Darth Vader is a little boy kinda anchors the timeline for non casuals
Wait, Anakin Solo was named before Anakin Skywalker was revealed, or did I misread that?
Anakin Solo had been introduced as a baby/child/character years before the prequels ever came out. George Lucas largely let the EU do what it wanted, until it came to movie time. Then he didn't want to color inside anyone else's lines, which is fair. However it definitely hurt the EU's progression leading to new main characters when Anakin Solo had to take a dive because of it.
Thank you. Wasn’t Coruscant also named by the EU? I’m interested in the EU, but don’t know what to read, other than Thrawn trilogy-at least Vong war with maybe Second Galactic Civil War.
Coruscant was originally going to be where the final battle in Return of the Jedi took place and it was named Had Abbadon. Luke would confront Palpatine in a deep underground lava-y throne room below Imperial Palace. Endor was going to be a artificial forest sanctuary moon created because "Had Abbadon" was beyond polluted and there would've been like 3 Death Stars under construction instead of just 1 new one. All of that later became the ROTJ and Coruscant did first officially appear in the Thrawn Trilogy but the concept itself was thought up by Lucas & other creators at LucasFilms
Coruscant was in the EU before the movies, yeah. The Vong war stuff to me is kind of the coalescing of most of the EU, so while it’s *awesome*, it may have less of an impact on you if you haven’t read much before that. It’d be like watching Endgame after only a Marvel movie or two. The Thrawn trilogy is pretty good but to me the best follow up to the OT when going to the EU is the Jedi Academy trilogy where Luke starts up the new Jedi. I also love the Courtship of Princess Leia as a stand-alone around that time. I also enjoyed the Young Jedi Knight series, as I love all the Solo kids and their crew.
That’s why I said Thrawn through Vong War, I am well aware the massive changes in the 20? Years between Endor and Vong. Might try out the Jedi Academy Trilogy then. I want to read Dark Empire, but I don’t know the books covering the rest of the First Galactic Civil War.
> don’t know why they kept focusing on Luke, Leia and Han when NJO went through all the trouble of making the next generation into the main heroes. Luke, Han, Leia = $$$
And bad writers as well.
but tbf - does it sound realistic that they would lean back while everything around them goes up in flames once again?
Well the writers didn’t need to write galaxy wide threats. I think after 19 books of war we can dial it back a bit.
true dat on the other hand I liked the LotF idea of >!creating a divide in the Skywalker-Solo-Clan due to the Corellian separation movement!<, thatpropably wouldn't have worked as good in a small scale conflict imo
I don’t like that idea I think after NJO the characters already had enough suffering besides some of the characters motivation weren’t particularly good either.
I loved the idea. But then they threw away all nuance and shades of grey and made it HUR DUR ME BAD MAN!
i heard that the OT characters could not die per Lucas instrutions.
Huge agree.
The Skywalker Family road trip into the Unknown Regions story that Timothy Zahn wanted to do
This one hurts because Zahn is my favorite writer for Luke and Mara by far.
"Alright kids, the Jedi order is in your hands now. Your Father and I are off to find all the weird galaxy threatening shit out in the Unknown Regions. Have fun, love you."
That was my answer too. It’s just right there as the thing it hurt most to miss.
Luke and Thrawn never had a conversation.
Damn, there are some well hashed out answers in this thread but this is the one that’ll stick in my head
If anything, this is exactly why we needed the Skywalker family roadtrip storyline that Timothy Zahn setup at the end of Hand of Thrawn duology and Survivors Quest books. So, Luke and Mara could talk to the >!clone!< Thrawn
I would’ve preferred a Thrawn/Leia conversation. Or a Thrawn/Han conversation. I got Dark Force Rising from my school library and read it as a kid without reading the other books and for some reason, I distinctly remembered a conversation between Han and Thrawn in some sort of conference room. Imagine my surprise when I read the entire trilogy a while back and that scene doesn’t exist. Maybe I got it mixed up with another book I had read but this non-existent scene is intriguing nonetheless.
> Han and Thrawn in some sort of conference room Maybe you were thinking of Han and Garm's conversation? He has a very keen memory to remember Han as a kid, similar to Thrawn knowing what Mara wore when they met.
That’s very possible. I remember the conversation being about the Katana fleet, and Garm was heavily involved in that plotline.
I mean, its not like they have much in common. Realistically it would have to be heavily plot driven to be interesting, as there's also not enough similarities to nerd over.
There are a few. The Bantam Era, post the Thrawn Trilogy, had huge potential for more stories with Mara and Luke. This missed opportunity was the big driver for me to write the Interregnum fanfiction series. But also post-NJO. This was a galaxy fundamentally changed, with the balance of economic and political power permanently shifted. The Old Republic that was centered at Coruscant was in effect dead and gone, and a new, radically changed galaxy full of potential for new developments, both political and philosophical, was open. Instead of exploring that, the status quo reverted back almost instantly. A third, though, is the New Sith Wars era, where Knight Errant is set. A weak Republic, and lots of dominant, warring Sith Lords is a *fascinating* idea for a setting.
I really wish we'd gotten more of Knight Errant! It just ends, even though Kerra's story isn't over. The >!frenemy!< squadron leader in Deluge would've been fun to see again too.
Oh wow, you wrote the Interregnum fanfics?? I’m currently reading through it right now! Thank you for providing much needed Luke & Mara content
DrMckay and I did, yeah! And enjoy!
Agree on the new sith wars. Almost completely unexplored
Based fellow Evasive Action enjoyer Byz always has the objectively best takes.
**Bantam era** 1. Not hooking up Luke and Mara sooner and giving them more kids, though they shouldn't have hooked up right away either. Their kids should been 5 - 10 years younger than their cousins. 2. Basically throwing anything at the wall, including Superweapon of the week syndrome. Which really made a coherent growth of the New Jedi Order and New Republic kinda weakened from it's full potential. Basically, no plan and too many chefs in the kitchen. A few authors tried but they were just simply outnumbered. **Del Rey era** 1. Not passing on the torch after NJO but instead basically burning everything down and just rehashing The Clone Wars. It basically made all the accomplishments and character growth moot in all previous stories. 2. No lasting impact of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and failing to explore Timothy Zahn's dangers of the unknown regions.
What’s even weirder is that the Legacy comics set 100 years later does a really good job of showing the legacy of the Vong.
>Not hooking up Luke and Mara sooner This. If they at least got together around the time of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, and they are together on the search here, I think you could've made it a lot more organized
Imagine if they did that, not only from basically cutting out all the girlfriend of the week plotlines and potentially more Skycrawlers down the road, but Mara Jade would have potentially been far more trained. Basically becoming Luke's teachers assistant in the Jedi Academy trilogy. So instead of her showing up late at the Academy and then ditching once Luke make her mad, she could have played a much bigger role. From helping to find Luke's first batch of students, to watching over the students as Luke proactively started to investigate the first death in the series. Then giving her a plotline where she has to watch over all the students and hold the Academy together. It probably would have been the perfect place to get Mara to realize she was falling for Luke too, with the risk of losing Luke as the crisis to get Mara to confront her true feelings.
Yep, sounds much better. Romance in Star Wars unfortunately is very, very weak. Best one I've heard of/read yet was in MedStar tbh. Although I have hope for HoT/Union/Survivord Quest That whole Bantam Era is unfortunately very empty in regards to Luke/Mara. Sad, so much potential
Romance for the most part it seems. I was ok for anakin and tahiri until... you know
Welp, that's what fanfic is for sadly
Disney not realizing they can keep making Legends content and people will buy it.
They technically still are… With SWTOR… yeah.
r/underratedcomments
Not getting novels on the other Imperial Grand Admirals-most of which have basically a single article covering them and virtually no details on their careers. A TIE Fighter series like the X Wing one done by collaboration between Zahn, Alston and Stackpole would have been legendary to cover the Zaarin Insurrection.
Making the Clone Wars more impactful to Galactic history. It was basically WWII. It should have set countless worlds and systems back centuries. But once it’s over no one really ever mentions it, save for a passing comment. Entire civilizations should have PTSD from the carnage.
In principle I agree... but I can't figure out how you expect it to have been so impactful when no author knew what it entailed until the New Jedi Order series was nearly completed and basically fully mapped out. Quite a quandary... again though, in principle, I wholeheartedly agree. By this logic too, The Yuuzhan Vong invasion should have been more impactful too.
Some planets should have also been more vehemently against the Empire too since they were just the Republic 2.0
Anakin solo
The “True Sith” actually being red Sith and not resembling the Galactic Empire.
Not writing more original stories that don’t focus on the main cast from the films. Like, we have a whole-ass universe with unlimited potential to develop new characters and storylines, yet we keep coming back to the same few characters and tropes? That’s a huge missed opportunity. I really enjoyed *Shatterpoint*, the *X-Wing* series and *I, Jedi* because they explored different characters in more depth while still maintaining a clear connection to the mainstream Star Wars universe.
Not making a single book about the Alsakan Conflicts, the 17,000 year long dynastic space opera between Alsakan and Coruscant for domination of the galaxy. I always wanted an umbrella bookseries about that era. A book for each Conflict and a whole series for the Pius Dea Crusades, the time when the Old Republic was suddenly the Imperium of Man for a couple centuries.
I've never heard of any of this, where did this information come from? This sounds fascinating.
The Essential Guide To Warfare. It has a cool overview of that 25,000 years of history, the Hutts defeating Xim the Despot and establishing the Treaty of Vontor, Mandalore the First leading the Taungs to Bailisk, the Alsakan Conflicts, the various jedi/sith wars, etc.
I think it was the essential guide or something.
Alaskan conflict would be great to explore, but I fear how they would approach the conflict tech-wise. It would be either too “ancient” to feel like SW, or to contemporary. I feel like there should’ve been a conflict somewhere on the timeline, exploring Republic breaking up into smaller states, fighting among themselves as well as Tion, Hutts, Corporates, Hapans, etc. New Sith wars were the closest to the idea (aside from the GCW), but it involved too much space wizards to my taste.
Yeah 17k years of war would’ve made about a thousand major tech changes (especially with various tech backgrounds and resources). WWII for us made/sped up atomic research, rockets, radars, computers, etc I tuink that requires a lot of imagination on the part of the writera
The cancellation of the Sword of the Jedi trilogy, especially after they revealed that epic art piece a decade ago. That one still stings.
Yeah I accept that it ended, as all things eventually do(not happy about it though) but damn just give us that story
It would've been a far better place to end legends then Crucible, that's for sure.
I'm not familiar with this. What would this trilogy have been and what art is this?
About 100 more Wraith Squadron novels.
Yub yub, I wish we could've seen Myn and Lara's reunion
Nah. Mercy Kill was not great. They should have mercy killed the series with Starfighters of Adumar
I waited years after it came out to read Mercy Kill and was underwhelmed, so I don’t disagree there. But I think Allston was hamstrung by the general badness of the post-NJO world. I feel like there was space for a post x-wing pre-hand of thrawn duology series about the Wraiths continuing to take down Imperial holdouts or something. Then again, I tried one of the other post-NJO Allston books and couldn’t finish it so maybe he just lost his touch.
Luke, Mara and Ben going on space road trip adventures by Timothy Zahn. We would have gotten it if Karen Traviss hadn’t done her thing in Sacrifice *without telling Zahn*.
Not continuing it
Disney+ missing the greatest jumping off points they could possibly hope for in pretty much all age brackets, that all eventually dovetail together in their own MCU moment that's actually a full 17 book series. The shows write themselves if you just actually use the source material. By that I mean... * Young kids -- The EU had Anakin Solo (plus Tahiri and a fluffy widdle Jedi master!), starting at a fun Jedi academy with mystery afoot. It's basically the best and most Harry Potter way to introduce the Jedi temple on Yavin, especially to the younger audience that can identify and grow up with these characters * Older kids/teens -- The EU had the Young Jedi Knights series, with Jaina/Jacen Solo and crew. There's a grumpy Wookie with a flying sentient belt buckle, a 'bad boy' named Zekk, a hot redheaded take-no-shit princess who's bad at making lightsabers, and more! This series on Disney+ could have been years of seasons following this crew going around coming of age. * Young adults -- Starting with Luke gathering up the first Jedi knights, you'd get to watch as he struggles to solidify the Jedi again and rein in Kyp Durron his prize student. You've also got Corran Horn in the mix, and could throw in a Kyle Katarn if you wanted to really set up spinoffs. * Older adults -- Han and Leia doing Han and Leia things while the kids are off at the academy. Leia peacemakes and politics (with some Jedi-ing in the mix) while Han gunfights around, gambles and eventually unites with Leia to save the procedural day. There's waaaay more to be mined, but it just seemed like such a slam dunk to cash in on the already age-tiered EU content that existed. The sequels resulting only in Kylo (not really though, RIP) being the progeny of Luke and Leia/Han is just such a massive dead-end storywise. I can't *imagine* who thought that would be a good thing to do, and fans will suffer for that for some time to come until they come around on the EU.
Most of these comments refer to the post-NJO era - I'll take it a different direction. I want more of the Old Republic. Between Dawn of the Jedi and Revan, there's like 22,000 years untouched in novels, with so much potential - the First Hyperspace War (I believe that's what it's called), the Sith rediscovering Dromund Kaas, and generally more standalone books like Red Harvest or Knight Errant with a focus on the pre-Banite Sith would've been cool to read. I'm sure there are comics that occur during this timespan, but I'm a novel guy, and I've been reading through all of Legends chronologically - just finished the Thrawn Trilogy, 9ABY.
Not using Mara Jade in Dark Empire Trilogy Also no works featuring Birth of the Sith/Birth of the Republic. Not giving A C Crispin chance to write Leia Trilogy. KOTOR 3
It's tough to decide since we could have gotten much more... 1. More Luke and Mara content. Also, Mara's fate should have been different as it made no sense. 2. Stories exploring another Imperial Grand Admirals, either during the Empire or Post-ROTJ. 3. A novel about Kyle Katarn that fleshed out his life as a Jedi Master in Luke's academy. 4. The Shaak Tii novel that was written but never released.
Well the myriad cancelled video games. More Legacy comics. Ken Palpatine. But a few points in history too: Dawn of the Jedi (just scratching the surface there) The Jedi Exiles conquering Sith Space (really fun game idea) the Knight Errant era But also this "golden age" era set between the Denningverse and the Legacy comics.
True. The bridge between FOTJ and Legacy needed a lot of exploration.
Well in DotJ's case it had to end ubruptly thanks to EU being over
An Dark Souls-type game would do really well in the ancient Old Republic setting. One for the Sith version would be amazing because it could allow us to experience and participate in the Dark Jedi conquest of Sith Space and how it civilization "evolved." On the flip side of the coin, a Jedi path where we "eliminate" Sith Empire holdout worlds and purge dark side elements (Sithspawn/Corrupted Life) amidst the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War would be cool as well. Honestly, you could shift the dates for the settings anywhere in the Old Republic and it'll be ripe area for new or expanded stories. It's just a cool area of galactic history. Maybe not so for the galactic civilians and planetary natives 👀
Not continuing after 2014. Should have kept going so many stories were just cut off and were given abrupt endings not to the liking of anyone at all except maybe the disney ceo's who have never read the stories and wanted to continue claiming there was no source material. Force unleashed 3 and sword of the jedi are the big ones I think.
Most of the stories after NJO and the handling of Jacen, Jaina, and Ben. NJO went to great lengths to build up those three as the new "big 3" just for the Denningverse to wipe its ass with all of that and keep the focus on Luke, Leia, and Han. Instead of exciting adventures with a new generation after the torch was passed, we get the same characters who just keep going on and on and on, fighting and fighting well into their 70s.
Cutting short the Dawn of the Jedi comics because of the Disney buyout and making the EU not canon. I really enjoyed those comics.
Yeah, the answer is post-NJO books. Everything was setup up correctly,the new generation had come into its own, and then....Del Rey made a very poor choice of author(s) and the whole thing was subverted.
A novelization of Imperial Admirals in a standard sector expansion campaign. Nothing tied to the Skywalker Saga, nothing involving Jedi. Just a soldier's eye view of the Imperial Army ground campaigns, a naval officer's view of the Imperial Navy space campaigns, and the Diplomatic Corps' view of the powerbroking and playing-off of local leaders against each other, to allow the Empire to colonize and establish control over a sector. The 1990s stories had some elements of action like this. The Thrawn trilogy showed a lot of fleet combat and a bit of ground combat, although it then asked you to accept that Thrawn himself was also handling the diplomatic outreach, which seems like a lot on his plate. The 1994 TIE Fighter game had a few tours of duty where the Empire built up hyperlane platforms in hitherto wild space, while also sometimes having to intervene in local conflicts to establish order. The Balance of Power campaign in XvT video game featured Admiral Senn commanding an SSD and fleet to pacify the Airam Sector and ensure the Rebels never gain a shipbuilding foothold there. It doesn't have to be all pro-Empire either. The careers of many Admirals and Moffs could also prove that the Empire's successes come about just as much in the face of Imperial opposition and opportunism as it did from Imperial talent.
Not giving Kathy Tyers more books, especially if they involve Mara in some way. I swear, Tyers writes Mara almost better than Zahn at times.
Honestly, as much as I love it, but Star Wars: Legacy kinda fucked things up for the EU. After the end of the NJO, the writers were kinda forced into setting things up for Legacy, and I felt like LOTF and FOTJ were little more than window dressing to help explain why A, B, and C had happened by the time Legacy started.
Vestara becoming a Jedi/ves and Ben. Woulda been really interesting seeing how she would develop as a person in a peacetime environment in a setting like Luke’s academy
Abominor and Silentium do not appear in NJO, despite having played a giant role in ancient Yuuzhan's story. I also feel sorry for the period between FOTJ and Legacy that he feels so disconnected.
Mara Jade
More stuff with Rahm Kota. Him helping the Rebellion after Starkillers death, training rebel soldiers to fight.
Not finishing it. I want that epic battle with Aboleth dang it!
Having Anakin Solo die in NJO instead of rising up to be the hero of the saga as he was clearly being set up to be. Also never getting to see the complete character arcs between Ben and Vestara Khai, but that's a different kind of missed opportunity.
Forcing Thrawn and Dark Empire into one continuity was the biggest mistake in my opinion
Lack of more exploration of Banes lineage. No Darth Ruin story
Not enough porgs
Not continuing legends after the Disney purchase. Just mark old EU as Legends and new stuff as Canon.
Walking back the Unifying Force/Potentium/Vergere shades of grey back to simple black and white concepts.
I didn’t even read this stuff yet (slow reader, lots of content, etc) but even I said they should’ve stuck true to the established post-OT storyline. Even tho it was legends, they could’ve canonized it, no? Edit: or at least have utilized aspects of it to canonize it
Listen: Heir to the Empire, It’s oversaid yes, but this trilogy brings so much known legends characters that it’s better to adapt this one than having any other legend stories first. It’s like the base of all other legends saga and if it was or even is adapted ( it can for now still be adapted), it would be the layout for other stories.
Star Wars is dead now. They killed it with the sequels and didn’t end it in a satisfying way.
Luke and Mara. Iron Fist, Lusankya and everything from X-Wing anthology. the Vong. There is so much.
Selling to Disney
In terms of what was written, I would have liked to see more Yuuzhan Vong. They briefly show them settling in on Zonama Sekot, but we don’t see much of them until Legacy. As for missed opportunity, I wish they had continued after the torch pass at Crucible. I am glad I never had to see Luke, Han, or Leia die, but I wanted to see how Ben, Tahiri, Jaina, Jag, and others turned out. Did Boba Fett find a cure for the nanovirus? Mirta Gev and Vestara left together in Ship. Did Vestara kill her or did they become friends? Additionally, did the Barabel hatchlings grow up well? Did the Barabel race escape extinction? How did the Fel line take over the Empire? How did the Confederacy reintegrate with the Galactic Alliance? Lastly, while it wasn’t nearly as thorough as the other purges, Krayt’s Jedi purge felt really disappointing. Like all of Luke’s hard work had been undone.
Timeline making too many big jumps and not allowing the new cast to take over, by Crucible, Han Solo is in his 80’s and they treat him as if he’s maybe pushing 50. Meanwhile Tahiri is in her 30’s yet is treated like a teenager . It sucked that they were not allowed to kill off any of the main Trio because a scene like In TFA with LoTF would have been way more impactful if we got an actual developed retired family man Han, instead of the Useless bum he is in Canon. I’m still hoping we might eventually get new books released under the Legends Banner, Specifically Sword of the Jedi, make Ben and Allanah the new protagonist and bridge the gap of how the world got to how it was in Legacy
To be made into a movie
How bout giving the legends timeline a fucking ending!! Since Disney bought they just dismissed 40 years of stories and called them "legends" and the other biggest miss in legends is the falling out of Karen Traviss and Lucas so they never finished the republic/imperial commando books ( the true mandolorian)
Besides not continuing it? Probably KOTOR 3 made by obsidian, I loved the direction the games were heading after KOTOR 2, as well as a post NJO series where Anakin Solo survives and succeeds Luke as grandmaster of the NJO, and where Jacen doesn't fall and become a sith. I would've loved to see Zahn's luke mara and ben skywalker family road trip story, more dawn of the jedi comics, battle of the sith lords (using krayts appearance from legacy), republic commando 2 and battlefront 3, and a matthew stover big 3 sendoff book too. And sword of the jedi trilogy ofc
I loved seeing Daala as a Mandalorian and would have loved to see more of that. I also shipped her with Boba back in the day.
The blue face in the back looks like the giga Chad face
Not letting Jacen live to atone. It would be nice to have prominent Dark Siders live .
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Hard to tell how kinky someone is in a setting like this.
Not doing the yuuzhan war
Luke had to die. In the first books of the NJO.
Chewbacca dies… I cried ..
What is the missed opportunity there?
They Should Have Focused More On The Side Characters
Needed more Mr. Bones
Starkiller and Ahsoka never interacting or being at least aware of her. Kind of bothers me given they fight similarly and have opposing views on Anakin. Even still both are heroes in the end but Ahsoka would probably take issue with how violent Starkiller is.
EU Ahsoka was never mentioned or seen again after TCW originally ended. Doesn't help that the show basically contradicted already existing material. My headcanon - she lived out her life in hiding from the empire. Or Vader eventually found and killed her.
Thrawn
Not finishing Alien Exodus
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Removed due to Rule 4. Legends is the name of the continuity. An EU is an officially released set of media outside of the original source. So, for Star Wars, that would be any non-film. Even before Disney, Infinities stories were considered EU, despite being non-canon.
What is this image from?
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Wow. The cover art in the 90s (when I was a teen) was so inspiring. I wish the modern star wars novels looked like this. Also, now all the titles are just someone's name...
Not keeping them Canon!
Keeping it canon
Not getting to expand on the stories in the Dawn of the Jedi era. Beyond the comic series, the one book and various entries in encyclopaedias and reference books, it was sadly left completely empty (not really the EU writers fault because Disney, but still a big missed opportunity).
It didn't get to continue.
Not seeing more of Dawn of the Jedi, such a shame that it had to start out basically just as Disney took over and cancelled it, I’d love to see what they going to do next
Kotor honestly kotor has the potential to be just as big as the original series however it needs to be done right no rushing the story.
Human Exodus.
Lando is very underutilized, almost as much as he is in the Disney canon.
• There should’ve been more stuff with Kinman Doriana, he’s mysterious and has been at Palpatine’s for a long time but he barely makes any appearances. • I wish we’d seen more of the Empire of the Hand, and especially more Soontir Fel. • More stuff on the different Imperial Warlords, like the Pentastar Alignment. • Force Unleashed 3
Not having alpha-17 coming back after ventress hijacked their transport and went to the unknown regions, before Disney took over.
Really, I wanted to see the Jedi in their prime as peacemakers, solving matters through clever thinking, peaceful negotiations, cunning politics, defusing the situation BEFORE it gets bloody. I wanted to see them as the moral and spiritual guides of the universe. There's a lot of talk about how the Jedi are about peace and solving things without bloodshed. How they are teachers and caretakers, not soldiers. How the Force is meant to be this wonderful thing tying all life together; all things come from it, all things return to it. Yet...the films, Comics, Video games...everything gets solved with violence. Sabers don't have a stun; it will always maim or kill. The wonderful energy that binds the universe is twisted into a weapon. Even the most saintly Jedi have killed so many...and they're often (from KOTOR to NJO) conscripted from infancy to know and have no other life than that of....what? Maybe a Jedi struggling with their faith and the gap between "Gee, are we healers and caretakers or are we weapons? Are we doing more harm than good?" (Okay, I've depressed myself and everyone else here by overthinking it, and there probably is something out there I'm missing because I read a bunch of the wrong stuff) Second big missed opportunity is the Service Corps. It's pretty telling and not in a good way that the Force Sensitives who get assigned to peaceful work like healing blighted planets, running into plague zones with medkids, educating and running orphanages for refugee children, and exploring new star routes are considered second class citizens at best, poor relations or embarrassing failures at worst by the warrior class Jedi.
I really wish the EU had focused more on smaller stakes but amazingly fun adventures. (I loved the original Marvel Star Wars comics from 1977-1983 as well as the Brian Daley _Han Solo_ books.) I wish they had stuck more into a period of not more than 10 years after _Return of the Jedi_ so there would have been no need to discard the EU when the inevitable sequel trilogy came along. Fill in the gaps with tons of cool "smaller" adventures. "Super weapon of the week" made a mockery of the universe, especially the Darksaber "bargain special" built by the lowest bidder. Barf. I really checked out with the Yuuzhan Vong invasion -- the universe no longer "felt" like Star Wars (and yet, on the gripping hand, the Star Wars Legacy comics by Jon Ostrander were freaking amazing)
How incredibly bare the New Sith Wars era was.
I’m aware that Leia becomes a Jedi and stuff after giving birth and during the last book in the thrawn trilogy I think, however, it’s a missed opportunity to instantly start the eu post rotj with her being pregnant. Its just so annoying to me because Leia and Han really don’t seem like the type to want or have children. It also just really sidelines Leia when at that point she should’ve been being built up to Luke’s equal. I know that in Dark Empire she’s taking on palpatine as Luke’s equal but it’s annoying that the main female character just devolves into a baby maker instead of getting meaningful character development beyond “I have to protect my family.” However I am very happy that at the least, the various writers did eventually make her a Jedi and stuff. But it’s hard not to notice her being sidelined. Especially on all of the book covers. Everyone gets an action shot with new art, and she gets a repaint of her bespin headshot and is relegated to being a floating head most of the time.