Chuck Wendig ’s Aftermath Book act as as a sort of in - between trilogy , bridging a batch of the break between the original Star Wars trilogy and The Force Awakens . Each book has been good than the one before it , and Empire ’s final stage is the good by far . It also brings a lot of alteration and addition to the new canon . Here ’s everything we get wind about a galaxy far , far away .
mark : I ’m not going to get into the patch minutia here . you’re able to and should record the book for that . ( particularly since every graphic symbol is a treasure treasure trove of fun line and the close is a smashing action piece of music . ) That said , there are still a few things that might be deem spoilers , so …
The Emperor Had a Plan
I can not emphasize enough how much more bananas Emperor Palpatine was than we thought . He did n’t just found the Empire as a way to give himself powerrrrr , unlimited powerrrr , he also fully believed that the Empire should not continue on without him . His philosophy was fundamentally the opposite of “ the senior pilot go down with the ship . ” It was more “ if the captain pass down , check that the ship and everyone on it is muck up to pieces for permit the captain snuff it . ” Palpatine gave Aftermath ’s main Imperial antagonist Gallius Rax the “ blowing the Empire to pieces ” job . ( Also , by all odds read this book to get Palpatine ’s view on chess . Spoiler alert : Letting the big businessman go down is the regretful failure possible )
So while the Rebellion and Luke Skywalker ’s actions at the Battle of Endor are of import , the Empire ’s dissolution was hastened by Palpatine ’s own pattern . Also , part of his plan was to figure out calculations to leave this galaxy and head out to another . Those reckoning finished after Palpatine die , but that ’s where his Super Star Destroyer ended up , and it ’s probably where a slew of the First Order was produce . Go watch Return of the Jedi again with that knowledge rattling around your brain .
Jakku Is Much More Interesting Than You Thought
Speaking of mysterious Palpatine architectural plan , the desert cosmos that Rey find oneself herself on is so much more interesting than what we saw in The Force Awakens . For one matter , it used to be cover in water and plant life . At some distributor point , it changed into desert , but with a “ spark ” of life still hidden in its core .
Jakku was also one of several worlds that the Emperor established “ Observatories ” on . An observatory held any bit of things the Emperor thought necessitate to be hoarded : Sith artifact , weapon , prison house , etc . They all have replicas of the Emperor ’s flagship and sentinel robots programmed to act like the Emperor and have his aspect projected on them , which vocalise incredibly creepy . Jakku ’s lookout was built as part of Palpatine ’s “ in the upshot of my death ” plan . Also , the Observatories can destruct the planet its on ; Jakku narrowly obviate this destiny .
Jakku is the home plate planet of Gallius Rax , who was originally an orphan in the guardianship of a religious ordering on the planet , and take the vow made one an “ Anchorite . ” minor were left to be raised with the Anchorites , who are very abrasive in their expectations .
At one peak , Norra Wexley is in a study bivouac on Jakku where her rations are discover almost identically to what we saw Rey eating in The Force Awakens ( “ a ballooning musical composition of scratch ” ) . It ’s minorly interesting that the same ration that Norra was afford will also be what Rey depend on to exist .
Also , if you want to acknowledge how epical a engagement has to be to justify why people are still combing Jakku to salvage character in The Force Awakens , this book apply it to you . And during the battle , Wedge Antilles mention the Tierfon Yellow Aces , which is nice continuity since the helmet Rey has in her small AT - AT home in The Force Awakens belonged to one of their original .
talk of the engagement of Jakku , Snap Wexley ( played by Greg Grunberg in The Force Awakens ) flies with Wedge ’s Phantom Squadron in the conflict of Jakku and crashes on the planet . I like to imagine Snap and Rey compare annotation on the sandiness of the satellite .
Snap also ends this book a ) grow some nape , like he romp in The Force Awakens b ) heading to the New Republic flying honorary society on Hosnian Prime c ) doing that with the gentleman in flush being Wedge Antilles , who is basically his stepfather at this spot . I really desire Wedge was n’t still on that planet when it set off in The Force Awakens .
With the Empire Gone, Crime Has Flourished
It turns out that having the two biggest power midpoint in the beetleweed focus on each other is a good thing for crime syndicates . So upright for them that they do not want the war to end . To that end , the Black Sun crime syndicate — one of the things invented in the sometime extend Universe that ’s made it back into canon in a big way — and the Red Key Raiders ( a offense syndicate out of Tatooine ) actually work together to falsify the New Republic into dragging out the war .
The idea basically is that , once the Empire is taken caution of , the New Republic will turn its eyes on slavers , moon-curser , gun runners , etc . The longer the warfare goes on for the Republic , the good for the criminal
The war was also made it potential for pirates to get their script on Imperial military hardware . Eleodie Maracavanya return in Empire ’s terminal , a character who appeared in Aftermath : Life Debt just beginning to consolidate her power as “ the plagiarizer swayer of Wild Space . ” Here , Maracavanya orders her fleet to aggress regal ship fleeing Jakku , promising to institutionalise the bill for this “ uncontaminating - up ” to the New Republic . There are so many disparate power floor in different stead in the Star Wars Universe , and these criminal grouping are just a few examples .
There Are Force Cults Everywhere
One interlude in this book tracks the effort of a radical of Pilgrim Father to Christophsis , a planet where the Seperatists clash with the Republic during the Clone Wars ( and which come out in Clone Wars TV series ) . Christophsis has a slew of crystallization , and , on the face of it , it is one of the planets where the Force - sensitive Kyber crystals can be found . Many crystals there were take to be used on the Death Star , but now pilgrims of the Church of the Force are return them to the place they came from . The Church of the Force has access to the Journal of the Whills , which poetically key out the Force and the Jedi . Part of it was transcribe in The Force Awakens novelization , but we get more of it in this book ( the last linemay sound a bit intimate ):
The truth in our soul
Is that nothing is true .
The question of life
Is what then do we do ?
The core is ours
To penance , we hew .
The Force binds us all
From a sealed point of view .
In addition to a church commit to the Light Side of the Force , we also have groups on the Dark Side , which all seem to be related to / predecessors of Kylo Ren ’s Knights of Ren .
One of these is the Acolytes of the Beyond , one cell of which is on the planetDevaron . Like the Church of the Force , the Acolytes believe everyone is connected by the Force . But while the former assure all life as part of the Force , the latter watch everyone as a slave to the will of the Force . So Dark Side user are those who can fight the fortune the Force is , well , forcing on the great unwashed . The Acolytes trust they are being directed by visions of Sith who have died . The cell on Devaron also has its custody on a Sith lightsaber .
One of their living masters is Yupe Tashu , who advised Palpatine and aids Rax . Tashu is all in on the major power of the Dark Side . Tashu believes that there are mask which have soaked up the Dark Side of the Force and can give power . He might be on to something , since he gives a mask to an Acolyte who is tangle away by her ira , and uses it and a lightsaber to win a conflict on Devaron . That impression in masquerade seems exactly like something Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren would take up and help oneself explain why Ren want Darth Vader ’s masquerade party so badly .
The Birth of Ben Solo
finally , after the Empire miss on Jakku and Imperial rein council member Mas Amedda crawls out of where Rax tried to imprison him , Amedda get through the New Republic to surrender on behalf of the Empire , ending the war . On the daylight the “ Instruments of Surrender ” are signed , Ben Solo is carry .
Ben Solo ’s birth is important enough to be the subject of a billion different rumors , told all over the beetleweed .. Luke Skywalker might have been there , the stories differ . The stories also differ on whether it was a difficult or easy birth , and whether he was born with a full head of pilus . One tale mentions that Ben was accept with a full set of tooth — which is an prognostication we ’ve given Napoleon , Ceasar , and Henry VIII . That is a passel of speculation and prospect for one Thomas Kyd to develop up with .
Leia also described her unborn baby ’s presence in the Force as “ He is less a human being - shaped affair and more a impulse , bread and butter band of light . Light that sometimes dims , that sometimes is pierce through with a vein of darkness . ” Some not - so - elusive prefiguration , even though Leia include that Luke severalize her everyone mixes Light and Dark like that .
The New Republic
The new canon Book congeal in the post - paying back of the Jedi , pre - The Force Awakens point have all made very clear why Leia has to regain the Resistance rather than campaign the First Order with the New Republic . And that understanding is basically that the New Republic is mired in tardily - moving politics . Throughout this record , the citizenry running against Mon Mothma make it unbelievably hard to strike back at the Empire , even though they know that what ’s leave of the Empire ’s fleet is hanging out above Jakku . Mon Mothma loses the first vote to authorize military action and that stalls the final engagement . If Rax ’s plan was n’t to fulfill the Emperor ’s destination of burning it all down anyway , they ’d have turn a loss their luck .
Another example of the way of life that the New Republic is more political than practical is that everyone call for in the liberation of Kashyyyk from Aftermath : Life Debt gets a citation and are exiled : A citation because it was a successful action and , PR - wise , it looked good , and exile because it was n’t actually an authorised mission . As a outcome , people like Wedge Antilles — Wedge fucking Antilles — are given jobs with no literal worth .
Meanwhile , the New Republic is n’t the only mathematical group to spring forth after the Empire ’s fall . Mon Mothma names other main groups springing up across the galaxy in the tycoon vacuity the Empire is leaving : The New Separatist Union ( presumably a callback to the Separatists of the Clone Wars ) , the Confederacy of Corporate Systems , and the Sovereign Latitudes ( the name pirates have given to their attempt at self - government ) .
The Foundation of the First Order
This record also explains why Armitage Hux ( Domhnall Gleeson ) has so much influence in The Force Awakens . It was hinted in the previous Good Book , but Empire ’s End says for certain that Armitage ’s father Brendol Hux was the designer of a system that produced highly loyal , extremely lethal small fry soldiers . Brendol , who does n’t like his boy and has clearly handle him ill , is rate by Grand Admiral Rae Sloane to train Armitage in the methods he used . Rax also puts him in charge of the first - generation of his father ’s new troops . That ’s all the background signal to this substitution from The Force Awakens :
Kylo Ren : How capable are your soldier , General ?
General Hux : I wo n’t have you call into question my methods .
Kylo Ren : They ’re obviously skilled at perpetrate high treason . Perhaps Leader Snoke should reckon using a clone army .
General Hux : My men are exceptionally groom . Programmed from birthing .
Most significantly , Armitage Hux and his loyal and vicious children , his father , and a number of officers deemed “ firm ” to the Emperor are charting a path through the Unknown Regions using the calculations Palpatine had ordered made . This is doubtless the core from which the First Order will uprise .
The Return of Chewbacca’s Son Lumpy
Okay , maybe this is n’t really plot relevant but it ’s very satisfying . Way back in the oft - mentioned , but unsufferable - to - endure 1977 Star Wars Holiday Special , we met Chewbacca ’s endearing married woman Malla , ahis father - in - law Itchy , and his son Lumpy . Lumpy was turned into an literal character over the grade of the old Expanded Universe , and his name became “ Lumpawaroo , ” which itself became “ Waroo , ” a definite improvement over “ Lumpy . ”
Chewbacca and Lumpawaroo are reunite after the liberation of Kashyyyk . So there ’s at least a small part of the Star Wars Holiday Special that is now authentic canyon . How you sense about that is entirely up to you .
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