The State of the Post-Palpatine Star Wars Galaxy (Part 1 of 2)

Sheev Dies

With the Shattered Empire comic series just recently wrapping up, we thought it would be a great time to flesh out some of the details in the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens stories and what they may mean for the future of Star Wars. Do you want to have a general idea of what these stories brought to the table in regards to canon, but don’t want invest all that time and money?  Look no further, we’ve got you covered.

 

Some non-major spoilers for The Force Awakens will follow. Some of this post will also include some speculation.

 

Well, the evil  Sith Lord is dead, and his Empire is fractured without him. But even with a master manipulator, dark lord, and war criminal dead, the Galaxy is far from at peace, and since conflict is the soul of drama, the next three major Star Wars movies are going to be about – you guessed it – another Galaxy-wide war. Recent narratives from the Journey To The Force Awakens line have painted a clearer picture of what to expect in the Palpatine-free Galaxy, and they have provided key hints at what we’ll see in the new film. In Part 1 of this article, we’ll be covering the novels Lost Stars and Aftermath, the Shattered Empire comic series, and the Uprising mobile game.

 

[The information and speculation in this article is provided by Pomojema (PJ) and Hard Case (HC)]

 

Lost Stars Full Cover

Book Description: 

 

The reign of the Galactic Empire has reached the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan, where aristocratic Thane Kyrell and rural villager Ciena Ree bond over their love of flying. Enrolling at the Imperial Academy together to become fighter pilots for the glorious Empire is nothing less than a dream come true for the both of them.

 

But Thane sours on the dream when he sees firsthand the horrific tactics the Empire uses to maintain its ironclad rule.  Bitter and disillusioned, Thane joins the fledgling Rebellion—putting Ciena in an unbearable position to choose between her loyalty to the Empire and her love for the man she’s known since childhood.

 

Now on opposite sides of the war, will these friends turned foes find a way to be together, or will duty tear them—and the galaxy—apart?

 

Characters to look for in The Force Awakens:

 

Thane Kyrell

Ciena Ree

Kendy Idele

Nash Windrider

Dalven Kyrell (Thane’s brother and an Imperial)

 

Story Points That May Relate to The Force Awakens:

 

The Battle of Jakku begins in the books final chapters.  It takes place about one year after ROTJ.

 

We are given the name of the crashed star destroyer from the second teaser trailer (Inflictor), and we learn how it came to its final resting place on the surface of Jakku.  The ship was purposely crashed into the planet by its new captain, Ciena Ree (the novel’s female protagonist), due to Thane Kyrell (the male protagonist) and a Rebel strike team having boarded the ship in attempt to take it over.  The Rebels disabled the self-destruct, and Ciena was forced to take matters into her own hands rather than allow the ship to fall into Rebel hands.

 

The Imperial factions begin to disappear and it seems that the New Republic has finally won the war. However, unknown to the Republic, the factions have begun to unite once again and rebuild.

 

For the full SWNN review of Lost Stars by Hard Case Click Here.

 

 

aftermath_new.6.red_

Book Description:

 

The second Death Star has been destroyed, the Emperor killed, and Darth Vader struck down—devastating blows against the Empire, and major victories for the Rebel Alliance. But the battle for freedom is far from over.

 

As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but is taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.

 

Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former Rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world—war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close the enemy is—or how decisive and dangerous her new mission will be.

 

Determined to preserve the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a top-secret emergency summit—to consolidate their forces and rally for a counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies—her technical genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial defector—who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s oppressive reign once and for all.

 

Characters to look for in The Force Awakens:

 

Norra Wexley

Temmin Wexley

Sinjir Rath Velus

Jas Emari

Jom Barell

Rae Sloane

Olia Choko

Adelhard

Krysta Agate

Jak (youth from Coruscant)

Dav Taffral (rebel from Saleucami)

Pade (youth from Uyter)

Mercurial Swift (bounty hunter)

Hatchet (Weequay and Imperial slave)

Palabar (Quarren and Imperial slave)

Greybok (one-armed Wookiee and Imperial slave)

The Acolytes of the Beyond (The Knights of Ren? – HC)

Iggs (youth from Coruscant, freedom fighter, orphan on Naboo)

Adwin Charu (employee of the Red Key Mining Co. – searching for something valuable on Tatooine for his employer)

Cobb Vanth (possible Boba Fett alias? – HC)

Kars Tal-Korla (miscreant from Bespin, aka “The Scourge of Cloud City”)

Corwin Ballast

Unidentified Imperial Fleet Admiral (Thrawn archetype? – HC)

 

Story Points That May Relate to The Force Awakens:

 

The empire is basically in ruins and standing on its last leg.  They have one Super Star Destroyer left, under the command of Admiral Rae Sloane, who gathers the top remaining Imperials to the outer rim planet of Akiva to plan their next move.  It is revealed at the end of the book that Sloane answers to an unnamed fleet admiral who appears cold and calculating with a penchant for the arts (sound familiar?).

 

In one of the books many interludes between chapters, Han and Chewie set off on a secret unsanctioned mission to liberate the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk from the Imperial remnant that is in control of the world.

 

Jawas on Tatooine are in possession of a complete set of damaged Mandalorian armor.  A mysterious man named Cobb Vanth, who fancies himself the “sherrif” claims the armor for himself.  Could this man be the notorious bounty hunter himself or is he just a pretender?

 

We are introduced to a mysterious group of fanatics known only as the Acolytes of the Beyond who may be in possession of Darth Vader’s lightsaber that was lost in ROTJ.  Could this group have a connection with the recently revealed Knights of Ren?

 

Mon Mothma, the head of the new Senate, has resolved to reduce the New Republic’s military presence by 90% once the war is over in an effort to allow diplomacy ro resume.  This may prove to be a fatal mistake in the end.

 

A former adviser to Palpatine, Yupe Tashu, has a great respect for the late emperor and the Sith order.  He suggests to the Imperial powers that be on Akiva that they “move toward the Dark Side”.  He states that Palpatine believed that the source of the Dark Side came from beyond the known regions of the galaxy and during his reign sent men and women into the unknown regions in an effort to discover the source of the Dark Side.

 

(In the “Mortis” arc from Clone Wars, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka unknowingly pass from their galaxy into another dimension.  They encounter a mysterious world overflowing with the Force called Mortis.  On this world they meet the “Daughter” who is basically a conduit for the Light Side of the Force, and the “Son” who is a conduit for the Dark Side.  The “Father” of the pair serves as protector of the universe by keeping his children in balance.  During this arc, Anakin is proven to be the “chosen one” as he was able to tame both of the Father’s children at once.  In one of the episodes, the Father says that all of the Dark Side is channeled through Mortis.  Could Palpatine have been looking for the mysterious extragalactic Force world of Mortis? – HC)

 

Tashu suggests that the Imperial forces regroup and rebuild outside of known space and in the meantime seek out the source of Palpatine’s power.  The implications here could be huge for the upcoming film.  Is it possible that a discovery in the unknown regions sparks the awakening described in the film’s title?

 

In the novel, there is one character, simply referred to as “The Rebel”, who briefly appears in an interlude (he is strongly implied to be Luke – PJ). He’s seen on his own and seemingly facing a spiritual quest. This seems to parallel one of the proposed endings to Return Of The Jedi, where Luke left the Rebel Alliance after the deaths of the Emperor and Darth Vader in order to pursue the path of restoring the Jedi Order.

 

For the full SWNN review of Aftermath by DEKKA129 Click Here.

 

 

ShatteredEmpire

Comic Description:

 

Emperor Palpatine’s twenty-year reign of terror came to an abrupt and fiery end in the skies above the forest moon of Endor. A decisive victory for the Rebel Alliance, to be sure, but even with the loss of its leadership, the Empire’s Moffs and regional governors retained their hold on important systems from the Core to the Outer Rim, thanks to the might of the Imperial Starfleet. Now, with a power vacuum atop the Empire, those Moffs will jockey for position and control, and the heroes of the Rebel Alliance will soon discover that a wounded and fractious Empire may be more dangerous than any threat they faced before!

 

Characters to look for in The Force Awakens:

 

Shara Bey

Kes Dameron

 

Story Points That May Relate to The Force Awakens:

 

The comic follows Shara Bey, a human female pilot who served as a lieutenant in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. She is married to Kes Dameron, a Rebel pathfinder scout. They both fought against the Galactic Empire in the Battle of Endor, during which Bey was part of Green Squadron and Dameron was part of Han’s strike team on the forest moon. After the Empire’s defeat during the battle, both Dameron and Bey participated in an assault on an outpost manned by Imperial holdouts on the farside of Endor.

 

Shara and Kes are the parents of Poe Dameron, who is a small child during the events of ROTJ.  Many speculate (given Leia’s fondness of Poe and his own patriotic devotion to the Resistance in Moving Target) that Shara and Kes will eventually die sometime before TFA and Leia will have raised Poe in their stead.

 

In issue #4, Shara (disguised as Commander Beck from Smuggler’s Run) aids Luke on a mission to retrieve some Jedi artifacts that were previously being held by the Emperor and are currently still under Imperial guard.  The artifacts turn out to be saplings of the tree we see planted at the Jedi temple on Coruscant during the Yoda arc of the Clone Wars: Lost Missions.  Shara and Kes are seen planting the tree on a jungle world near some temple ruins at the end of the series.  Some have speculated this to be Yavin IV.  The tree may have significance in TFA.

 

The final issue also showed us a Luke Skywalker that was very proficient with his Force powers and his lightsaber.  Add another 30 years of training under his belt by the time of The Force Awakens and it’s easy to see how powerful Luke could potentially be in the upcoming film.

 

Click the following links for the full SWNN reviews of the Shattered Empire comic series by Kyle: issue #1, issue #2, issue #3, issue #4

 

 

Star Wars Uprising poster

How does Uprising fit into all of this? So far, it appears that the game is fairly standalone and does not explain very much about the post-Palpatine Galaxy as a whole. Fitting, considering that the Anoat sector is blocked off from the rest of the galaxy by Adelhard’s Iron Blockade, a group that denies that the Emperor is dead in the first place. Leia’s message from Aftermath is featured as a neat little tie-in, along with Lando and Lobot assisting in the fight to liberate Cloud City in the same story, but otherwise, there is little to tie in with the other stories set in the time period. That being said, there are some organizations from Legends that are pulled over into the canon such as the Zann Constortium (Empire At War: Forces Of Corruption)as well as some planets from the Star Wars Role Playing Game such as Anoat, Mataou, and Burnin Konn.

 

Characters to look for in The Force Awakens:

 

Adelhard

B9-DT

Tam Bastion

Commander Bragh

Brask

Deathstick

Riley

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

 

What are your thoughts on these stories? Share your comments below.

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

41 thoughts on “The State of the Post-Palpatine Star Wars Galaxy (Part 1 of 2)

  • November 10, 2015 at 7:51 pm
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    It’s frustrating honestly.

    We are trying to fill a 30 year gap, in 6 months before a movie – with for the most part poorly written or dare I say crammed together stories.

    • November 10, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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      Nice point. At the end of the day the “new Canon” will suffer from the same problems as the old EU.

      So I will stay with old EU and despise TFA… Thrawn Trilogy is the true sequel to the OT.

      • November 11, 2015 at 2:36 am
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        Man, the Thrawn Trilogy is so dope. After everything I’ve seen though, I’m still really optimistic for TFA. And if it sucks, we’ll always have the Zahn novels.

    • November 11, 2015 at 2:39 am
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      Not really though. They’re trying to tell about a years worth of stories out from RotJ prior to the movie. I suspect that the other 29-ish years worth of stories will come once the movie releases and the state of galactic politics is no longer a spoiler. Everything so far has stayed well within a couple years time of RotJ. As far as being poorly written and crammed together, I’d have to agree with that to a point. Although they do have to deal with the aftermath of RotJ prior to TFA since failing to do so would leave the more-than-casual-fans with a big WTF on opening night. I think if the second run of material has a little more lead in time we’ll be OK. I’m actually surprised at the amount of material coming out this fall TBH. The lead time for novels is usually pretty long.

  • November 10, 2015 at 8:10 pm
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    I enjoy most of the new canon thus far, but I do have to say that unfortunately I’ve been a little underwhelmed :(. I think all the stories we’ve been told are really good, but they don’t do a whole lot to hype me up about the stories involving the force awakens. However, I do believe that we will get better stories once the force awakens releases. I think Lucasfilm is just keeping those stories on the back burner so that they don’t give any information away that would spoil the film.

    • November 11, 2015 at 2:31 am
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      Agreed. They can’t go into the state of the galaxy or come to close to TFA timeline wise without spoiling things at least a little. Once the movie comes out we’ll have 30 years worth of backstory coming down the pipe.

  • November 10, 2015 at 8:12 pm
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    Its distressing to me that so many of the new main characters are women. Im all about having more women in the Star Wars story, and Daisys ‘Rey’ so far looks like a home run, but I dont want this stuff shoved down my throat.

    Whatever, Lost Stars was really good and the Darth Vader comics were pretty cool. The rest of it was pretty meh.

    • November 10, 2015 at 8:52 pm
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      yeah man totally not realistic i mean it’s not like 50% of all people who ever existed were women why should we even care about their stories AMIRITE

      • November 10, 2015 at 9:02 pm
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        “AMIRITE”? You aint never been right about nothing! Seriously though I never said I didnt want to see the stories of women in the Star Wars universe. Im sure you can read so tell me where I wrote that? War has historically been a male business, unfortunately. Im talking about political correctness here just for the sake of it.

        • November 10, 2015 at 9:11 pm
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          lol nice.

          it’s so hard to believe that an imaginary culture might have different sexual politics than earth. totally with you there. there’s no way in that galaxy (or the culture of the Rebellion, specifically) women might not be viewed as second-class citizens. man who would want THAT message shoved down their throat.

        • November 11, 2015 at 2:29 am
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          It only becomes PC for the sake of being PC if the characters are either throw aways, kept shallow, or get forced in for an agenda. It’s a bit early to tell at this point but I think so far they’re alright. Kinda depends on how things balance out in the next year or so though.

    • November 10, 2015 at 9:12 pm
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      Hey, you forgot to mention Kanan series and Shattered Empire they are pure gold.

    • November 11, 2015 at 2:34 am
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      Dude, how is this being shoved down your throat? The majority of the new headline characters are still men (Kylo, Poe, Finn vs. Rey & Phasma). 50% of the population are women, do you feel like they’re rubbing it in your face when half the people walking down the street aren’t dudes?

  • November 10, 2015 at 8:13 pm
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    the storys were pretty out of reach from what we wanted to know but obviously they want us to wait till after episode 7 to find out. im okay with that

  • November 10, 2015 at 8:16 pm
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    The mere concept that the Imperial citizens of Coruscant would celebrate the defeat of “their” forces (!) in the Special Edition of ROJ always looked childish and naive to me, so I’m happy that Disney took a different path.

    On the other hand I wonder what the Alliance tried to accomplish in the first place, as obviously neither the destruction of the first or the second Death Star overthrew the reign of the fascist Galactic Empire. Didn’t they have a better plan?

    Yoda once said “wars don’t make one great”, thus I wonder if the continuation of the basic premise (Rebels vs. Imperials) is really helping in the long run.

    • November 10, 2015 at 9:18 pm
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      I’m not a fan of all the added special edition stuff, but saying Disney is taking a different path then the movie makes no sense at all. The Blu-Rays and Digital HD films still show the special edition. Just because you wipe something from your mind doesn’t mean it didn’t mean it didn’t happen. It’s like someone saying Anakin was never part of the Jedi order and turned bad because you don’t believe in the prequel.

      • November 11, 2015 at 12:24 am
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        Not to mention that the Aftermath book opens with that very scene…

        • November 11, 2015 at 2:27 am
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          This exactly.

        • November 11, 2015 at 2:41 am
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          It is a slight reinterpretation of that scene though, showing a crackdown that was never implied by the movies.

          • November 11, 2015 at 2:01 pm
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            No it isn’t a re-interpretation, it is a continuation. Re-watch the scene. It lasts for exactly 17 seconds and pans up precisely when Palpy’s statue comes crashing down…. which is right where the passage opens in the book.

          • November 11, 2015 at 2:14 pm
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            That’s semantics, though, my point was the original scene never suggested anything but mass celebration across the galaxy once the Emperor went down. So even if the book scene technically happens *just* after the scene in the SE, it’s a “twist” in the sense that it plays with the expectations left by the original. That was even part of the marketing — I remember they posted excepts of it, the point being the book would change your perception of events after ROTJ.

          • November 11, 2015 at 3:41 pm
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            Semantics (from Ancient Greek: σημαντικός sēmantikós, “significant”) is the study of meaning.

            Have you actually read the passage to which we are referring?

            I’m sorry, but your personal interpretation is the product of your semantics. I only stated the facts of the topic. You said it yourself, the original scene “suggested” a particular outcome, from which you drew your personal interpretation ( I had the same when I first saw the scene), which the book clearly added to after said interpretation (which changed how I now interpret the scene). This is a small scale example of what happened with the prequels, and how many were incensed that their “interpretation” of past events didn’t match up with what they saw or thought should have happened.

          • November 12, 2015 at 1:32 am
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            Sweet man, thanks for explaining to me what semantics means. My point is, let’s not get technical or pedantic, your last point is basically the same thing I’ve been saying, your only issue is that I used the word ‘reinterpretation.’ I have trouble seeing what your problem is with with that tiny thing, when even you agree the book changes your interpretation. The “facts” as you call them, don’t affect that at all.

  • November 10, 2015 at 9:18 pm
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    My old tinfoil hat theory was that Plaps survived the shaft fall,like Luke did in Empire,also that Luke will dark side after loosing his shit with Vader in Jedi,
    Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will….looks like both were wrong.

    • November 11, 2015 at 12:25 am
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      That’s all well and good, but Bespin didn’t explode shortly after Luke fell into its depths, either…

      • November 11, 2015 at 6:00 pm
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        True, but Luke ain’t the Emperor,a similar thing happened with Yoda in ROTS,big fall off that podium then escaped through some maintenance shafts,into a speeder and off…
        Anyway only and OLD theory I’ve had.

        • November 11, 2015 at 8:16 pm
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          Okay, let’s assume he survived the fall, and the resulting catastrophic explosion. Did he then turn on his rocket thrusters in his boots and fly down to Endor?

          See my point?

  • November 10, 2015 at 9:25 pm
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    Nice article guys.

  • November 11, 2015 at 2:25 am
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    Well put together. I think we’ve got a lot of little surprises coming in the next moth or so. I have a feeling that there will be some significant things re-canonized or reworked to fall neatly within the new canon over the next movie or two and over the next few novels and comics. There may have been a LOT of dead weight with the old EU but there was a lot of good that could be kept from the pre-NJO era.

    • November 11, 2015 at 2:39 am
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      Yeah, will be interesting to see how they interpret things differently. I’ve been rereading the Zahn novels for reference while I wait. I think one thing it’s looking like they’ll salvage is the light/dark family dynamic between the 3rd gen Skywalker kids. Always loved that idea in the novels, but never thought they executed it well. Let’s hope they do a better job with Rey and Kylo (assuming, of course, they are related, but hey that’s the assumption I’m making).

      • November 11, 2015 at 2:42 am
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        The Zhan novels are good but they were sloooooooooooow. His later Star Wars books were much better with pacing and IMO much better stories overall.

        • November 11, 2015 at 2:44 am
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          Yeah a little slow in places, it’s true. But I loved his dialogue, all those planning/strategising scenes, not as fast-paced as the movies, obviously, but I thought it was really well done and fun to read.

          • November 11, 2015 at 3:42 am
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            Well done and fun yes, I do like them and I do re-read them on occasion as I have old hardbacks sitting on my shelf of them. Regardless of the pacing though, they were the first new Star Wars at the time and for all we knew the only new Star Wars we would ever get, so there’s always the nostalgia kick from that too…

  • November 11, 2015 at 4:11 am
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    20 year reign of terror? More like 36 considering he was elected in TPM. Granted, He was doing blatently evil things early on but he was behind the scenes of them.

  • November 11, 2015 at 4:51 am
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    I’m still trying to figure out who the two orphans are in Aftermath.

    • November 11, 2015 at 5:21 pm
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      Finn and Rey?

      • November 11, 2015 at 5:32 pm
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        Rey and Kylo?

        • November 11, 2015 at 5:59 pm
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          Possible, but very open. If one is a skywalker, then why were they an orphan? Lots of story to fill in.

          • November 12, 2015 at 12:21 am
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            percieved orphans perhaps – either deliberately relocated (a la Luke/Leia) or missing, presumed lost?

      • November 11, 2015 at 5:57 pm
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        Don’t think so, seeing as how they are apparently introduced to each other in TFA

  • November 11, 2015 at 3:08 pm
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    I honestly don’t remember an interlude about “The Rebel.” Maybe I accidentally skipped a chapter or something. Where was that in the novel? Which interlude?

Comments are closed.

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