Are you a Legends fan? Are you hoping to see more characters than Thrawn brought into the new canon? Want to win a copy of the new Thrawn Trilogy paperback release?
You’re in luck! We have two copies of the Thrawn Trilogy to give away to listeners. We’d like one copy to go to a longtime Legends fan, and one to go to a fan who’s new to the books.
For the first: Comment on this blog post with a Zahn character you’d love to see brought into canon. It can be in a new book, comic, on Rebels, a movie–whatever works best. Then, tell us how you’d incorporate that character and what storyline they’d be a part of. If you feel so inclined to write us fanfiction, we will not object!
For the second: Comment on this blog post and tell us why you’re interested in reading the Thrawn Trilogy. What intrigues you most about Legends? Is there a character you’ve been wanting to learn more about? Are you just now starting to read Star Wars books, period? Inquiring minds want to know!
Good luck! This contest will be open through Monday, September 26. Winners will be announced on our next episode.
US residents only, please. Thank you to Del Rey for providing us with copies of the books!
In a perfect world, I’d say Mara Jade, but since she’s so tied to the Luke plot that a rewrite would be really difficult to make as powerful or meaningful, I’m going to say Shada D’ukal. She could still be the fake Tonnika sister in A New Hope cantina scene, and still be a assassin from a devastated planet who freelances to smugglers. I could easily see her wandering around in Rebels, but I would hope she got a role in a book where you really got to see her perspective as an outsider in the Republic/Imperial conflict. Maybe teaming up with Ciena from Lost Stars in navigating the post-Endor galaxy as people unable to join the Republic, but rejecting the Empire as well.
I am new to the Legends books in that I have not read any of the novels but I have read a lot of the Legends comic books so I’m not sure what category that puts me in so I will answer both questions.
I would like to see Mara Jade come back into canon. She is one of my favorite Legends characters and probably my favorite female legends character. If I were going to bring her back what I would do is have had Luke met her while during his travels to find Jedi “stuff” and they could also tell the story that she is one of the “knights” that Kylo Ren took out during his slaughter and that the reason Luke went into hiding after this disaster is because he was mourning her loss. As far as what story line I would put her in I am not really sure.
As far as why I want to read the books, I want to read them to get another perspective on stories such as the Thrawn trilogy than I got by reading the comic books and trade paperbacks. I am hoping that by reading the books I will get not only another perspective but more detail about the Thrawn character himself.
– Steve (@otter272)
I’ve become very interested in the Legends books of late. I loved Star Wars so much when I was a kid, but between the end of ROTJ and the release of Phantom Menace my fandom became dormant. I stopped reading the Star Wars novels and never went back. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that my fanboy leanings reignited and have since burned like [insert some meaningful or hilarious metaphor here about things burning; e.g. a fire in a recently attacked thermal oscillator (eh, that’s not good) or a terrible case of gonorrhea]. Now that I’m way into the Clone Wars and Rebels series, I have to find out why everyone is so super stoked on Thrawn coming into the new canon!
Im no US resident, but I’d like to post my canon storyline for one of Zahns characters anyway.
I’d live to have Captain Pellaeon coming back as the only elder First Order Captain in Episode VII.
He’ll be played by Tommy Lee Jones and in every meeting with Hux and friends he’ll be sitting in the corner, incredibly grumpy and the only thing he’ll do is sigh obnoxiously at any decison or argument made by the younger Officers.
When on his Star Destoyer (obviously the Chimera will make a return with him), he will have tried to copy Thrawns Room, everything packed with Art and everyday he will spend hours of staring at all the paintings and sculptures, completely clueless at how Thrawn managed to subtract anything useful out of this activity.
But he”ll do it anyway cause anythings better than dealing with Hux and the Rest of those unmature and naive First Order Guys… and dont let him get started on “Surpreme Master” Snoke and his whiny student whose tantrums have already damaged the Chimera twice…
Somewhere in his mind the Word “Ysalamiri” spawns and he catches a glimmer of hope… until he remembers those glimpses of strange events or thing have occured regularly and most of it proved to be completely nonsens.
He tries to eliminate the thoughts of an utterly crazy and stubborn but somehow kind of attractive Dark Jedi, whom he knows never existed, and instead focuses on the newest painting in his collection. It shows an abstract mixture of Grey and Black strokes. To Pellaeon the style seems rather childish (In fact, it is a Darth Vader paintings from young Ben Solo, that Hux stumbled upon while akwardly hanging out in Kylo Rens room at Kylos Birthday. He decided to take it with him and pull a prank on grumpy Pellaon, telling him it was a Mon Cala painting,
created unser the Impression of the “Second big Wave”).
Pellaeon stares at the canvas for two long minutes… somehow it reminds him of something dark and dangerous… He shruggs…”I Guess this expresses the Mon Calas Fear of being trapped… In the dark”, he mumbles to himself.
“Maybe we can try to cut the resistances supply of lightbulbs”, we hear as he moves on to spend half an hour locking at a picture of Tauntaun Dung (Hux really likes to pull prankes on him)…
Wow, this kind of turned into Fan-Fiction… And I don’t know if I like the directIon it took… But here ya go !
I’d like to start off by saying that I love the show, I love this contest, and even if I don’t win, I can’t wait to read everyone else’s ideas (which I will do *after* I post my own!). I’m sort of in-between “long time Legends fan” and “new to Legends”; I have read the Thrawn trilogy and a good amount of others here and there, but I’ve not been a completest by any means, though I’ve read nearly all the “new” canon.
This isn’t really a *character*, but if I could add a Zahn element to the new canon, it would be the Chiss Ascendancy. This is something I’ve hoped for ever since Thrawn was set to appear on “Rebels”. Here’s why:
The Empire, as an adversary, is going to get old after a while. I’m sorry, but it is! Maybe not now, but eventually. Even the First Order is too close to the TFA timeline to be a solid post-ROTJ foe. As we head toward new shows and new eras, we need new enemies with new ideals, and what better foe than a *different* empire, the Chiss Ascendancy? By incorporating everyone’s favorite blue warlords into canon, we have a place for Thrawn to go when he’s done with the rebels, as opposed to killing him off. We also have the chance for him to show up again with his Chiss forces either later in the OT timeline (perhaps in the comics or novels?), or during the Post-ROTJ timeline after the Aftermath trilogy ends. This would make him a lasting, meaningful villain, and I would love a story of how he falls out of favor with the Empire and is forced to return to his people. Plus, the Chiss Ascendancy could be canonized to be a formidable foe for the Empire as well, creating some very interesting “enemy of my enemy is my friend” scenarios with the Rebel Alliance.
They’re enemies we haven’t seen before, very ethnocentric, and have a unique design that still fits perfectly within the Star Wars aesthetic. Hell, maybe Ezra and Kanan and the Rebels crew could run off and join a top-secret Anti-Chiss spy cell, and that would prevent them from being killed off, while also giving them opportunities to show up later on (Snoke? …Just kidding).
I guess, my answer to who of Zahn’s characters, in addition to Thrawn, should be brought into canon, is, in a way… more Thrawn!
(NOTE: I have never read any books having to do with the Chiss Ascendancy, but I know of it due to years of Star Wars fandom. If there are any ridiculous aspects of it, then I trust LFL to clear those up in the new canon. :-] )
Mara Jade is my first love, but I also have a great fondness for Ghent and I’d love to see him cross over into new canon. The character doesn’t even need to be male or human/near-human, just introduce a young, slightly naive, expert slicer with that name and I’d be happy. I could see Ghent being part of the Resistance as a member of a special ops team. However, Ghent tends to be more interested in the slicing and decryption and can lose sight of mission objectives, putting the team in hot water.
It’s the obvious one, but Mara Jade, and just work her in to the Post-RotJ era mostly like in Legends, except over a slightly shorter period of time, then have her pop up in Episode 8 or 9. Or, if they must, have her have died pre-TFA. Oh, and obviously she’s Rey’s mum.
(I realize this will never happen, but I can dream).
Alternatively, Borsk Fey’lya, so I can be sure of who to hate while I deal with my conflicted First Order feelings.
Mara Jade is my real answer, but she’s been said enough ….
I’d love to see Talon Karrde. He’s another one of my favorites, and could be incorporated as another side character in Rebels, sort-of the anti-Thrawn, though not REALLY on the Rebel side. He could also be incorporated easily enough into the novels, though with things being quite a bit different, he could almost be developed as a more antagonistic (though villainous might be too big a break with character) character, or something closer to the Hondo Onaka type where he has a friendly relationship with a hero or two, but is ultimately still running afoul of the law.
I re-read Heir to the Empire a couple weeks ago, and I was struck by just how much I liked Karrde, so he’d probably be the next character I’d like to see brought in (especially with Mara seeming very unlikely). He may not be a chess player on Thrawn’s level, but he’s still impressively sharp, and I enjoy characters who operate in a shadier realm but still seem to have a code like Han and Hondo.
As for how I’d introduce him, I’d have to think a bit longer on the details of it. I think he’s a character who could slot in pretty nicely in a variety of projects without changing the things that make him interesting and entertaining. My favorite possibility would be putting him somewhere in the “Hanthology” movie. It could be something as small and simple as making him a patron at Maz’s castle who has a quick interaction with Han, but I’d be even happier to see him in a more prominent role. Perhaps he could even be an employer of Han before things get really desperate for the latter and he has to turn to a big but dangerous payday offered by Jabba. However he’s brought in though, Talon Karrde is the type of scoundrel I’d definitely like to see more of in future Star Wars storytelling.
I suppose I’m part of the second group, as I’ve read about ten Legends books and a few comic TPBs. This is my first full read-through of the Thrawn trilogy, and it’s interesting to see the “origin” of this character who has made the jump from Legends to canon.
The thing about Legends that I find intriguing is that there’s so much of it. It covers more than 50,000 years, across multiple forms of media.
A character in Legends (and this trilogy) that I’m interested in learning more about is Mara, who I only know as Luke’s wife. I also know that she has some history with the Empire, being part of a group known as “Emperor’s Hand,” but that’s about all I know, so it’s nice seeing her character fill out for me.
That last question, I guess I answered at the beginning (and like I said, that possibly makes me part of the second group?).
Well, I’m not super familiar with the EU or the characters from the Thrawn Trilogy. But I’m really enjoying Talon Karrde right now. I’d love to see them make the jump, but maybe change him a bit. Possible make him gender neutral because that’s what I initially thought about his character until I realized that Zahn was referring to his pet. (Speed reading isn’t my strength)
As why I’m reading. Well I started with Rogue Podren and I figured I’d follow along with the Thrawncast. Plus, I keep hearing about the glory of the EU and I’m curious if I’ll draw the same conclusion after reading the books. I won’t share what my thoughts are about the EU so far.