Legends/EU Material Adapted into New Canon

After purchasing the Ultimate Star Wars book the other day, I couldn't help but notice that it had a number of references to old EU/Legends stories and material in it. For instance, in the section on Yavin 4 it references wildlife such as Woolamanders, Stintaril, Runyip and piranha beetles. It also states that the temples were built by the Massassi, an extinct slave race once ruled by the Sith. There are plenty of other references such as Czerka Arms manufacturing the weapons of a number of characters and so on. Seeing as how everything in Ultimate Star Wars is approved by the Lucas Story Group, that means these little details have been adopted into the new canon going forward.

Therefore I thought it might be fun to see what other bits of Legends material that other forum members have caught in the new Star Wars canon going forward, primarily in the the books and comics of course, but also in other forms of media as well.

So what have others here on the forum noticed in the new canon?

 

I noticed the Clone one as well and had to chuckle a little, however that typo is pretty minor especially since right above where it says that the Clone Troopers were created to fight the Separatists. I also noticed it had Quinlan Vos' species listed as human despite the fact that he is Kiffar and even listed as such in the Databank on Starwars.com. Do you remember what other mistakes that you might noticed? Typos aside though its still nice to see them adding bits of Legends material into the new Canon. One of the authors even says as much in his post on starwars.com.

http://www.starwars.com/news/ultimate-star-wars-research-writing-and-revelations

Oh, and I noticed another nice Legends reference while reading the short story "The End of History" in Insider 154. In the story it mentions a charred metal plaque called The Chronicles of Med'eeth salvaged from the ruins of Ossus. The old EU nerd inside me was very happy with the reference to one of my favorite comic book arcs from the early days of Dark Horse's Star Wars comics.

The Armand Isard reference makes me really happy, I love the X-Wing novels from back in the day.

 

The Kiffar were a near human species, but not full human. As for Ysanne Isard, it would be really nice to see her appear at some point, the fact that Armand is in the new canon certainly hints at her existence.

 

Yeah, I agree, I can't find the interview, but I remember Leland Chee saying that all the planets and alien species still exist in the Star Wars universe, its just the stories themselves which have changed. The Sith species is what I figured may be an exception though, with them possibly not wanting to confuse fans with the distinction between the order and the species. I figure there are four possibilities for the Sith species in the new canon. First, they left them alone and there is still a Sith species, second, they erased them entirely, third, they combined the Sith and Massassi into one species, and fourth, they kept the species but gave them a new name.

In the new canon, there has been no definitive answer at this point regarding the existence of the Sith species. One possible clue is a vase mentioned in SW Aftermath that depicts dark robed figures with red faces, which could possibly by Sith, but it certainly isn't anything concrete. I think that the Sith species will probably appear at some point in the new canon, but that they will probably be a bit different than in the Legends material, whether that be under a different species name or origin, etc.

As for the Massassi entry in the Ultimate Star Wars book, they refer to the Massassi as an extinct slave race once ruled by the Sith. They do not specifically specify the ruins as Sith ruins however, just as Massassi ruins. They also don't mention the appearance of the Massassi, but if they are admitting that they are a distinct alien species, I see no reason for them to change their established appearance.

I always do like bits of Legends material make their way into the new stories, whether they are small details, or larger bits like old characters. Afterall, the EU may not be considered canon, but there are still lots of great stories and ideas to be lifted from in the new material.

 

I'm totally fine with the ruins just being Massassi ruins rather than Sith ruins, the fact that they kept the Sith connection with the Massassi is cool regardless. Although I did love the mythology built up around the ruins in the old Legends stories, particularly regarding Naga Sadow and Exar Kun. As for their appearance, I had forgotten about the reference in the Dark Apprentice, but I think if they do flesh it out in canon, it will be the red skinned Massassi that most are familiar with, they have way more presence in the minds of fans than the previous iteration, and frankly, I think they look cooler as well. Interestingly, the canon sources state that the Massassi built the temples 5,000 years ago, therefore if they wanted to they could still add in the bits about Naga Sadow and Exar Kun at this point.

As for whether the Emperor would have sensed the Rebels based on the Sith ruins, I believe it is easy to get around that in a number of ways if the writers really wanted to. Maybe he doesn't have a connection to those ruins like he had a connection to Moraband in TCW, or he would only sense the presence of a full fledged Jedi like Yoda, or maybe he wasn't even aware of those ruins because they had been lost to the sands of time in Sith History, etc.

If they did end up keeping the Sith backstory to those ruins however, one thing that would likely change is the presence of Sith spirits in the stories. Sam Witwer(the guy who voiced Maul in TCW and now Sidious in Rebels) put forth the idea that the Sith don't believe in life after death. Full Quote from Wookieepedia Below:

Sam Witwer, who has voiced Maul and Sidious in animation, opined the Sith do not believe in life after deathand that is why they go to such extreme lengths to survive. Whereas a Jedi will sacrifice themselves as they believe their deaths can inspire others, a Sith Lord believes they gain nothing. "You have Darth Vader, who lives a terrible life, he lives a pathetic, tortured existence but it’s still preferable to having nothing, which is how he views death. Same thing with Darth Sidious, you look at him in Return of the Jedi. He's over 100 years old and is a bent old man. But that's better than the alternative, which is nothing."

Here's the original article link http://www.hollywood.com/tv/sam-wit...s-fate-he-s-playing-a-long-game-q-a-57698611/

Now Sam Witwer is definitely not the final authority on these things, but seeing as how he was working on The Clone Wars while George was still in charge of things, that is likely where he got his information. If that is the case, the Lucasfilm Story Group is definitely big on respecting George's views on Star Wars, so that is a change we would likely see. Then again, storytelling needs may trump that, who knows. I lean towards that part changing however.

Another cool part of the old history that was recently canonized was the Hundred Year Darkness in a recent issue of Marvel's ongoing Star Wars title. We don't know the exact time frame, but we do know that it resulted in the same thing, a group of Dark Jedi splintering off from the Jedi Order and creating the Sith Order.

 

I'm totally cool with Sith not becoming ghosts. We still have darkside corrupted artifacts(like the helmet in Lando) and holocrons that can serve the same purpose in most respects as far as storytelling goes. We could therefore still have a lot of the same story beats if they chose to adapt the old stories into canon. Additionally, even though the Sith can't become ghosts, its easy to assume that people would spread legends of such things happening(especially because the darkside does have lingering effects), another reason it was great for them to rebrand the old EU stories as Legends. Do you have a link to anything about them confirming that change with the Sith? It would go a long way in settling some of the other arguments around here.

As for the Hundred Year Darkness, they didn't state a time period, so they could definitely change it. I always thought it odd that the Jedi Order was so much older than the Sith Order in old material. Wherever there is power, there are those willing to abuse it.