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| FAQ - Frequently Asked
Questions |
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Star
Wars Books is a guide to over 600 official books, comics and
short stories from the Star Wars galaxy.
Each book, comic or story is catalogued as
an event occurring before or after the Battle of Yavin* (the events
portrayed in the original 1977 Star Wars film: Episode IV:
A New Hope) and categorised according to their relevant Era
of Adventure.
*Events occurring during The Clone Wars are
catalogued as occurring after The Battle of Geonosis (the events
portrayed in Attack of the Clones) |
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General questions:
These are general questions regarding Star Wars
and the meanings of various terminology used by Star Wars fans.
Character questions:
These questions refer to major events and
situations that have happened to various characters, especially the
main characters from the original film trilogy: Luke, Leia, Han and
Chewbacca; in the course of hundreds of published stories.
Book questions:
These questions refer to specific book or comic
stories.
Site questions:
These questions refer to Star Wars Books (www.SWBooks.co.uk):
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Answers to general
questions:
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Where
should I begin reading Star Wars books?
With over 400 novels, comics and short stories published so far it
can be a daunting task for a newcomer to the world of Star Wars
books to know where to begin reading. That is why Star Wars
Books have published their own guide to where
to begin reading Star Wars books.
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What
does Expanded Universe (EU) mean?
Expanded Universe (usually abbreviated to EU) refers to all
officially licensed material including, but not limited to, books,
comics, short stories, video games and toys, that continue the Star
Wars story beyond the six movies: The Phantom Menace, Attack
of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The
Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; with a sense
of continuity. That is, events that occur in Expanded Universe
material do not, on the whole, contradict events that have occurred
in the films. Where a deliberate contradiction occurs, those
materials are not considered part of the Expanded Universe and as
such their events never occurred, for example the Infinities
comic story adaptation of A New Hope cannot be classed as a part
of the Expanded Universe because the events portrayed in that
particular story are derived from the premise that Luke Skywalker
failed to destroy the Death Star at the battle of Yavin, a clear
contradiction with the events portrayed in A New Hope.
(related topic: What does canon mean?)
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What
does canon mean?
Canon is the term used to define the Expanded
Universe information and stories that are considered official by
LucasFilm, i.e. endorsed products, or as having occurred within the
Star Wars mythos and continuity. To accommodate the various amounts
of endorsed products, there are several levels of canon that relate
to a product's importance within the Star Wars mythos and continuity
to: the higher up the level, the more important the events depicted
by the product are. The levels of canon (for novels, books, comics
and stories) are:
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G-canon:
George (Lucas) canon - events or characters created by George
Lucas himself, e.g. the six Star Wars films and their
novelizations. This is the highest level of canon and put simply
if any event or character in a lower level contradicts events or
characters in this level, or vice versa, then events or
characters in this level take precedence, i.e. there can be no
contradiction of events or characters witnessed in this level
and at the same time events or characters in this level can not
be relegated to another level.
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T-canon:
Television canon - events or characters created by companies
directly affiliated with George Lucas, e.g. The Clone Wars TV
series produced by Lucas Film Animation and the forthcoming
live-action TV series.
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C-canon:
Continuity canon - events or characters depicted by non-directly
affiliated Lucas sources, such as books publishers Bantam and
Del Rey and comics publisher Dark Horse Comics. Almost every
novel and story published is classified as C-canon, with the
exceptions of those pre-designated as N-canon (see below), and
material published pre-1991 which is classified S-canon.
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S-canon:
Secondary canon - in most cases this contains books and comics
produced pre-1991 (that is not already G-canon) such as the
Marvel comic series. For events or characters in this level to
be reclassified, they must be referenced in a C-canon event or
by a C-canon character, e.g. the character Luminya, who first
appeared in Marvel comics but was later used in the Legacy
of the Force series, is now classified as C-canon.
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N-canon:
Non-canon (aka Infinities) -
specifically events or characters that contradict events or
characters in any other level. This level includes issues #1 to
#20 of Dark Horse Comics' Tales
series (available as Star Wars Tales: Volumes 1 thru 5)
and other non-continuity material.
Where
possible Star Wars Books does not refer directly to
any story's canon level (except for N-canon materiel, see our Infinities
section), instead proposing that every story should be enjoyed for
its own merits whether it be a recently published novel or a thirty
year-old comic story.
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What
does retcon mean?
Retcon is an acronym for retroactive continuity,
that is attempting to establish a correlation between two or more
sources that may have inadvertently contradicted each other; this is
not the same as non-continuity or n-canon events, a simple writing
mistake has occurred and a solution or patch is devised to resolve
the contradiction. As an example imagine the contradiction suggested
when one character details their plans to take over the galaxy in
Book 1, but Comic 1 (set years before Book 1) witnesses this
character being killed; how can the contradiction be resolved?
Obviously nor Book 1 nor Comic 1 can be rewritten, so using other
publishing sources such as StarWars.com's Databank or Star
Wars Insider magazine, retcon stories are created that resolve
such dilemmas.
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Where
are Episodes 7, 8 and 9?
To be blunt and put simply, there are no Episodes 7, 8 or 9 and
nor will there be.
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What
does ABY and BBY mean?
These are abbreviations for After the Battle
of Yavin (ABY) and Before the Battle
of Yavin (BBY), the Battle of Yavin being the
events witnessed in the first Star Wars film made, i.e. Star
Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and the destruction of the Death
Star. All events within the Star Wars universe are described as
occurring either before or after the Battle of Yavin. Other variants
of these abbreviations include ASW4 and BSW4 meaning After
Star Wars [Episode] 4 and Before
Star Wars [Episode] 4.
For clarity, and where possible, Star Wars Books does
abbreviations.
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questions |
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Answers to character
questions:
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When
did Han and Leia get married?
Han and Leia tied the knot 8 years after the Battle of Yavin as
portrayed in the novel The
Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) by Dave Wolverton.
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When
were Han and Leia's kids born?
Han and Leia have had three children. The eldest are twins Jacen
and Jaina, both born 9 years after the Battle of Yavin, as depicted
in The Last Command
(1993) by Timothy Zahn. Then 10 years after the Battle of Yavin,
Anakin was born, named after his grandfather, as seen in Dark
Empire II (1994-1995) by Tom Veitch. Unfortunately he
died while only a teenager.
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When
did Luke fall to the Dark Side?
Luke Skywalker fell to the Dark Side 10 years after the Battle
of Yavin in an attempt to defeat the "reborn"
Emperor of Dark Empire
(1991-1992) by Tom Veitch. Luke was returned to the Light by the
intervention of his sister Leia.
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When
did Luke get married?
During the events of Vision
of the Future (1998) by Timothy Zahn, 19 years after the Battle
of Yavin, Luke proposed to Mara Jade and their wedding was captured
in Union (1999) by Michael A.
Stackpole.
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When
was Luke's son born?
Luke and Mara Jade-Skywalker were blessed with a son, Ben (named
after Luke's mentor Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi) 26 years after
the Battle of Yavin during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of The New Jedi
Order in Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
(2001) by Greg Keyes.
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When
did Chewbacca die?
Chewbacca, Han Solo's life-long friend and co-pilot, died 25
years after the Battle of Yavin saving the life of Han's
youngest son Anakin in Vector
Prime (1999) by R. A. Salvatore.
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When
was the Emperor "reborn"?
This was during the time when Luke Skywalker fell
to the Dark Side. (as portrayed in Dark
Empire (1991-1992) by Tom Veitch). It was discovered that
Emperor Palpatine was still alive, albeit as a clone. Palpatine had
established a secret cloning facility that enabled himself to be
"reborn" whenever he liked. Luke Skywalker eventually
killed the last clone of Palpatine and destroyed the cloning
facility 10 years after the Battle of Yavin.
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When
did Anakin Solo die?
Anakin Solo, the youngest of Han and Leia's
children, died 27 years after the Battle of Yavin in Star
by Star (2001) by Troy Denning during a mission to destroy the
nest of the Yuuzhan Vong's Jedi hunter-killer creatures, the Voxyn.
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When
did Mara Jade die?
Mara Jade, wife of Luke Skywalker and mother
of Ben Skywalker, was killed approximately 40 years after the
Battle of Yavin by her nephew Jacen Solo, who had fallen to the Dark
Side, in Sacrifice (2007) by
Karen Traviss.
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questions |
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Answers to book
questions:
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Will
there be any more Tales from... collections?
It is unlikely that there will be any more Tales from...
compilation novels such as Tales
from the Empire because these particular books did not sell that
well.
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Where
are Knights of the Old Republic: Volume 5, Dark Times: Volume 3;
Rebellion: Volume 4; and Legacy: Volume 6 graphic novels?
Readers and collectors of these comic book series graphic novel
adaptations may discover that their graphic novel collections for
any of these series witnesses a numeric jump in Volume numbers with
an apparent missing Volume. This is due to the nature of the Star
Wars: Vector story arc that crossed over all four of these
series to the point that the Vector storyline constitutes
each of these 'missing' Volumes. However rather than publish each of
the comic books series related Vector story separately as Knights
of the Old Republic: Volume 5, Dark Times: Volume 3 etc,
publisher Dark Horse Comics have collated the complete Vector
story arc into two separate graphic novels: Vector:
Volume 1 and Vector:
Volume 2. This is because the Dark Times and Rebellion
arcs of the Vector storyline were each told in just two
issues, not enough by themselves to warrant individual graphic novel
releases. Thus Vector:
Volume 1 constitutes both Knights of the Old Republic:
Volume 5 and Dark Times: Volume 3; while Vector:
Volume 2 is also Rebellion: Volume 4 and Legacy:
Volume 6.
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What
is the difference between a graphic novel, trade paperback (TPB) and
graphic novella?
The terms graphic novel and trade paperback (also known by its
acronym, TPB) refer to the same item. Although the terms are
interchangeable where possible Star Wars Books will
use the term graphic novel rather than trade paperback.
To increase readership of comic book stories, comic publishers will
often collate several issues of a comic book series (usually around
six issues depending on the number of pages each comic book
contains) that form a cohesive story arc or two or more
self-contained stories from the comic series' overall storyline into
a graphic novel. Thus, as the average comic book series can consist
of 50 or more comic books, then around 8 graphic novels are
published for that series (normally known as Volumes, i.e. Volume 1,
Volume 2, etc). This allows comic story readers the option of either
purchasing individual comic books or waiting until the graphic novel
is released. However, not all comic book issues are reprinted in a
graphic novel, hence Dark Horse Comics' ongoing Omnibus
Editions which endeavours to reprint those comic stories that
have never been printed in a graphic novel as well as out-of-print
and hard-to-find graphic novels. A standard graphic novel is the
same size as its comic book cousin at around 7" x 10"
(170mm x 260mm) and contains just over 100 pages - note that an Omnibus
Edition graphic novel is slightly smaller at 6" x 9"
(150mm x 230mm) but will contain several hundred pages.
A graphic novella is a graphic novel that contains one standalone
story that has not been previously available in comic book form
(although some may contain more than one story such as Clone
Wars Adventures). A graphic novella is smaller at just 5¼"
x 7½" (130mm x 190mm) and normally only has about 80 pages.
Graphic novella stories are designed to be "parent
friendly" with stories suitable for children (see our Guide
to Children's Books for some suggestions and recommendations).
Prices for graphic novels reflect the number of pages: thus the most
expensive are Omnibus
Editions, while the cheapest are graphic
novellas.
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Why
are The Clone Wars books, comics and TV series programmes not
included in your Timeline?
The reasons why the events depicted in new The Clone Wars
books, comics and TV series programmes (material produced 2008 and
beyond) are not included in Star Wars Books' Timeline
are two-fold:
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Continuity
problems - particularly events in the TV series (and its related
film and books adaptation) have caused with pre-existing
material. As an example, Anakin Skywalker is shown to receive
his scar from Asajj Ventress 31 months after the Battle of
Geonosis in the comic story Dreadnoughts of Rendili
(available as Clone Wars -
Volume 6: On The Fields of Battle), yet in The Clone
Wars movie (and subsequent TV series ), which is set about a
year after the Battle of Geonosis, Anakin clearly has his scar.
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Episodes
of the TV series are not shown in any chronological order. While
the books and comics have attempted to date their events, it is
only possible to fit a small number of TV episodes around events
described in the books and comics, the
majority of TV series episodes do not yet have an official
timeframe (other than sometime during the Clone Wars).
Once
these issues have been cleared up, not expected until the TV series
completes its final run in a few years time, events from The
Clone Wars TV series, books and comics will not be added to Star
Wars Books' Timeline.
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What
is Star Wars Books' spoiler policy?
Star Wars Books' spoiler policy is that all for all major
book and comic stories not yet published, and where a story summary,
synopsis, review or discussion may divulge significant plot points,
a warning similar to the one below will be placed on that story's
listing page:
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!! SPOILER
WARNING !!
This synopsis contains possible plot spoilers |
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This
warning will remain in situ for at least six months after the
story's publication.
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What
is Star Wars Books' canon policy?
Where possible Star Wars Books does not refer
directly to any stories canon level (except for
N-canon materiel, see our Infinities
section), instead proposing that every story should be enjoyed for
its own merits whether it be a recently published novel or a thirty
year-old comic story.
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questions |
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