SPECULATION The High Republic

“Jedi Knights of the Round Table” “Jedi: Texas Rangers” - alright, I’m listening.

“The Nihl”? Let me guess, a group of nihilists?

 

These 3 guys are the Jedi of the high republic? No wonder it failed.

 

So the Nihl are essentially Mad Max space vikings... Really hope they have a metal soundtrack.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 26, 2020, Original Post Date: Feb 26, 2020 ---

 

One thing about Star Wars names is that they're usually on the nose. So, yeah probably.

 

Only thing I question is the time frame. I think 200 years before TPM is to close. Think it should be set more like the original rumors of 400-500. Or to me even better like 400-500 in the future. The Republic and the Jedi are back and something at the edge of the known galaxy is happening.

 

They didn't call it the HIGH Republic for nothin'

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 26, 2020, Original Post Date: Feb 26, 2020 ---

@Trevor's avatar has never been closer to reality

 

It's difficult to have a strong opinion about this until the stories come out. These are some of the best writers Star Wars has right now. New stories in a new place is a bold move. I'm encouraged Lucasfilm is taking on some challenges.

 

Agreed, I would have set it at least 500 years before TPM. Ideally, I would have set it even further, maybe 1000 years before, and have this project revolve around the era of Darth Bane and/or the war between the Jedi and the Sith/Mandalorians mentioned in TCW and Rebels.

 

I feel you here. Honestly for me it was the quality of the crossovers (some of which I still keep an eye out for, and DC has gotten a little better, usually doing them about once every other year (as far as I keep track of, which isn't much these days...)). It was cool seeing Civil War lead into Secret Invasion and then into Dark Avengers because it all felt connected. But doing an annual event for the sake of an event is a surefire way to lose interest fast. DC seems to have taken this to heart and has been working on connecting the events to the fabric of the universe itself, which is a very nice change of pace. Or feels like a change of pace, but I guess has been a thing since crossovers started...sorry if none of that makes sense.

I think what will happen is that some will rise and others won't, but Lucasfilm has to look at why those that did well did so, not saturate the market with the same characters, and apply those lessons to brand new characters.

Marvel went through a phase like this in their comics a few years ago, where they replaced every major character with a person of color or a minority: post Civil War 2 (yes, that was the name of the event. It was terribly unoriginal and all-around bad) Falcon was the new Cap, Jane Foster was Thor, Riri Williams replaced Iron Man, Peter Parker wasn't Spider-Man anymore (we had Miles Morales and not-Peter...which is too confusing to get into right now), and Laura Kinney aka X-23 was the new Wolverine. Most of these changes on an individual level were lauded, but forcing them all at once created a backlash. The backlash was that people wanted their favorite characters AS WELL AS the new ones. Marvel took it as fans not wanting diversity (the wrong lesson), and soon the status quo was back to normal.

I do not think Star Wars will have the above problem in terms of diversity. This will be because the old favorites will still be around in the flagship comic and whatever books they decide to release to fill in that 30 year time gap.

What I DO fear is that Lucasfilm may take the wrong lessons away from whatever comics or books or stories don't do well. They seem to have done that with the Anthology movies (which I still think are good ideas for one-off stories...although now the idea of a one-season, 4-6 episode series of Rogue One is enticing...) and the ST, while less so, did have its fair share of production problems.

Overall the broad appeal is about getting a foot in the door, and I think it's...appealing...to me, but I definitely understand and can relate to your fears and why you have them.

500 years seems to be the sweet spot, more or less. I worry that if they go too far back then we run into the Sith again, which these artists and authors seem to be actively avoiding. We can't have the Sith as the ONLY major villain in history after all.

 

Then it isnt the high republic. Lets realize they are keeping High Republic and Old Republic separate.

 

Well they'd be getting closer to the Old Republic era, wouldn't they? It's far enough away that it doesn't have connections to the Old Republic while not being close to the Skywalker Saga. Plus, a lot can change in 200 years. I mean, look at how much of our own history has changed in 200 years.

 

Not sure if this has been addressed anywhere, but my biggest question with Project Luminous is why no Timothy Zahn? He wrote what is commonly revered as the benchmark for EU storytelling in the Thrawn Trilogy. Is it because he's busy with "other" Thrawn materials? Contract issues? Other responsibilities outside the GFFA? This isn't a slight to the authors chosen to launch this project, but I would have assumed LFL would have attempted to snag the best world-builder they've got for such a big literary event.

 

Sounds like that Timothy Zahn bloke is like the equivelant of Gav Thorpe, John French or Dan Abnett.

Regarding the whole writer's table thing, I know for Horus Heresy: The Siege of Terra, the writers had to read all of the previous material to build a time line of events and plot a map of the Sol System as well as Terra itself and cross-reference each other's works so that each would know what is happening at each specific point. A comprehensive range of information useful for narrative and campaign books which informed the writers of the overwhelming majesty and scale.

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One of the thing I enjoyed while reading the Horus Heresy series was building para-social relationships with characters as I followed their journey through these grand overarching narratives- though often they would die brutally. Also, as well as the grand battles, my favourite sections explored the perspectives of the ordinary people who tried to live their lives.

Just like the Dark Side, Chaos in Warhammer is not so much external as internal, the weaknesses and desires of mortal beings ultimately consuming them while tempting them with possibilities. The great tragedy of Horus Lupercal and the traitor legions is that they were not able to overcome this.

Also, like the Horus Heresy, there is no reason to keep it consistent as you could say that certain characters or elements have been mythologised, omitted or otherwise distorted over the course of history.

For a real life example, take the Spanish Armada. There are elements that are not mentioned in 'official' history:

• King Philip of Spain did not initially want war
• Disease was rife amongst Spanish sailors
• The Armada was meant to be an escort for an army group from another country (I believe it was the Netherlands)
• The Spanish fleet size was greatly overstated
• The British had a larger fleet (having appropriated merchant vessels)
• The British later attempted a Counter-Armada with twice as many casualties- information suppressed thanks to a certain William Cecil (courtier, spymaster and propagandist)
• The speech at Tilbury actually happened after the sea battle and many of the soldiers lost their jobs as the royal coffers ran out- many died of sickness and starvation, William Cecil noted with cold glee that if they were dead, the treasury would not have to pay them

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...th-lucy-worsley-series-1-2-the-spanish-armada

 

Yeah, fair enough. Guess I'm a little disappointed in that I love his work.

 

Well the Old Republic is when exactly? Could easily be a couple thousand years ago. So 1500 years between it and High Republic is more then enough time. Yes a lot can change in 200 years, but a lot can seem odd as well. Lets say 200 years before TPM they shrink the known galaxy. How much should the galaxy shrink old republic timeframe if it is 1800 years earlier.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 27, 2020, Original Post Date: Feb 27, 2020 ---

Maybe simply too busy for this and will be involved in later phases once he is done with the current Thrawn trilogy he is working on.

 

But they wouldn't have always been human... I have an idea. A Star Wars story of an extinct or evolving species. Or a story told on one world.

I know in Black Library anthology novels, there are short stories set in Warhammer 40K from the perspectives of people living on less technologically advanced worlds, having faced isolation and technological regression after the Age of Strife. These often provide new and interesting perspectives on the titanic figures and the impact they have. If they did the same with Star Wars, this would be great.

If you have the chance, also read The Fifth Head of Cerberus, you will not regret it.