legendsliveon - Tumblr blog

[legendsliveon]

Day 107 | Mira

[legendsliveon]

Star Wars Legends Highlight of the Week: Honor Among Thieves by James S. A. Corey

This is a new feature where a fan will share one thing they love from Star Wars Legends – a book, a comic, an author, a character, an event, or anything else they want to highlight – and tell us more about it.

If you, too, love Legends, follow @from-a-legends-pov and check out our upcoming Star Wars Legends fanfiction event, From a Legends Point of View, HERE. Signups open April 28 - please encourage your favorite Star Wars writers to participate!

Today’s highlight is Honor Among Thieves by James S. A. Corey (actually the pen name of writing team Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, whom you may recognize as the writers of The Expanse), a 2014 Legends novel, and we’re talking with Dessi (@otterandterrier).

Tell us about your Legends highlight. What is it? What’s it about?

Honor Among Thieves is the second novel in the Empire and Rebellion duology (the first one being Razor’s Edge, a previous Legends highlight), and one of the last books published in the Legends universe by Del Rey. This book is Han’s story, and is told entirely from his POV.

The story is set about a year after Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and our heroes start off scattering through the galaxy in their respective missions. Han and Chewie are sent to the Core to retrieve Scarlet Hark, a high-level spy who is after a thief in possession of secret, deadly information stolen from under the Empire’s (and her) nose – and that the Empire is willing to do anything to get back. Han doesn’t want to get involved, as this is way above his paycheck. But then he realizes that Leia is at a gathering on Kiamurr, the very same planet their thief is headed to, which means the Empire will be hot on his heels. That makes up his mind about helping Scarlet get there first!

The plot is quite the wild goose chase, and you have to suspend your sense of disbelief many times and forget specialized bits of lore in order to buy it. Even so, it’s really fun and gripping, and I appreciate the way that the main conflict is used to give us excellent insight into our favourite smuggler’s mind.

What makes this a Legends highlight for you? What do you love about it?

This is one of my favourite Legends books, because I love Han Solo. I love the intensely caring, occasionally dorky, bad at flirting, barely concealing a soft interior Han Solo that somehow we were fortunate enough to get in the Original Trilogy and, somehow, so many people missed. And that’s the Han Solo we get here! I love getting to see the narrative peeling off his self-admitted layers, contemplating his involvement with the rebellion, his new relationships, and the man he could have been had circumstances not put him on the path of an old Jedi and an idealistic farmboy, by setting up a contrast with an old acquaintance that shows up. We also get to see how competent and clever he really is, something that is often neglected.

Favorite moment or scene?

There’s this scene where the group is walking through a jungle, and a character is about to shoot at a large mud creature that scared her—but Han stops her. He explains that the creature is harmless, then he pats its snout and tells it to look out for humans. Leia calls him an animal lover, to which Han replies: “If everyone got to kill anything that looked big and scary, Chewie would never be able to leave the ship.” I love this little moment because it shows that soft, caring, yet practical side of Han that not many people get to see, and it’s also a nice moment of connection between Han and Leia. Han’s concern over creatures that are “just trying to make it through another day” also gets called back towards the end, rounding off Han’s overall spot-on characterization—although that’s all I can say without spoiling the book.

Anything else you’d like to share about it?

A few other reasons I love this book:

It develops Han and Leia’s early relationship: as a shipper, the UST and the moments of deeper understanding between them here make me squeal. We see Leia through Han’s eyes and beyond his façade, and how he goes from “I can’t stand her” to “I will kill anyone who tries to hurt her.”

Scarlet Hark FTW: This OC is a bit of a perfect male fantasy, but I like her a lot. Intelligent, badass, take-no-shit female character? Yes please! I particularly love that she and Leia get along so well and it’s never a competition between them. She’s a really interesting character to explore, and I’d love to see the OT gang teaming up with her again.

Han and Luke’s relationship isn’t forgotten: I really appreciate that the authors gave this friendship the importance it deserves, with Han thinking several times that he’s sticking with the Rebellion mainly to look after Luke (which is a better motivation than him staying because he wants to sleep with Leia).

To learn more…

If you’d like to read more about Honor Among Thieves, you can check out its page on Wookieepedia or find the novel at your favorite library or used bookstore (like Razor’s Edge, it seems to be out of print for new copies, sadly).

And be sure to check out @from-a-legends-pov and our From a Legends Point of View fanfiction event; as another reminder, signups open April 28, 2024!

[legendsliveon]

My favourite part of the Thrawn trilogy is that every single main character sees Thrawn at some point, EXCEPT for Luke.

Han sees him, Lando sees him, Mara, Leia, Karrde, Chewbacca (I’m pretty sure); everyone gets to see Thrawn except for the one person Thrawn is actively pursuing!

And by “actively pursuing,” I of course mean that Luke was literally on the same ship as Thrawn AND he got caught in the Chimaera’s tractor beam twice AND he still NEVER sees Thrawn!

Why is this so funny? Because Thrawn is meticulous! He has done so much research on Jedi and Luke Skywalker specifically and he warns everyone he sends after Luke to be careful because Luke is the slipperiest fucker in the galaxy, but Luke literally has no idea who Thrawn is! Thrawn knows all about Luke, and all Luke knows about Thrawn is that he is a Grand Admiral!

Luke never even sees Thrawn, despite the fact that Thrawn sees Luke multiple times, and there is nothing in this world that is funnier to me than Luke just straight up never seeing the antagonist of the story.

(Though I also rather like that Thrawn and Pellaeon and everyone start the trilogy being like “How could Vader not catch one young man? Vader was so weak, he couldn’t even catch a boy” and then they end the trilogy going “This boy is impossible to catch, no one can do it.” Like, Thrawn in the second tractor beam scene just skips through all the stages of grief and goes straight to acceptance and just: “That was an impressive maneuver, I have to give them credit. I’ve never seen it work before.”

I just feel like everyone is mentally thinking: “Maybe I was a bit too harsh on Darth Vader…” Because goddamn Luke is so slippery even C’baoth can’t keep a grip on him with mind control (Mara helped, of course, but it’s implied (outright stated) that Luke was never convinced in the first place and was just kind of treating C’baoth like an old man with Alzheimer’s). Like, Luke is impossible I love him)

[legendsliveon]

Obi-wan and his friend Bant Eerin having a sad moment after certain events

[legendsliveon]

Day 131 | RC-1138 Boss

[legendsliveon]

From a Legends (Legend’s) Point of View 2024

Background

From a Legends Point of View (or From a Legend’s Point of View, see what we did there?) is a Star Wars fandom fic event dedicated to celebrating the characters and stories of the Star Wars Legends continuity during and around the time of the Original Trilogy (OT).

Building from the talents of the many writers in the Star Wars fandom, we hope to develop and share a diverse collection of approximately 40 stories of pilots, smugglers, spies, scoundrels, and other characters from the original Star Wars Extended Universe in mid-September 2024.

How It Works

At signup, writers will each pitch at least three (up to five) different ideas for a fic of 5k-10k words to write for the collection. The pitches should focus on Legends characters or situations during the Original Trilogy and must fit the other story and pitch guidelines listed below.

Mods will review signups and assign one pitch from each writer to be written for the collection, with a goal of creating a collection with stories covering a variety of OT-era time periods, characters, and events.

Writers will submit their fics to a collection on Archive of Our Own (AO3), which will then be shared with the fandom.

Schedule

Sunday, April 28: Signups open

Sunday, June 2: Signups close

Saturday-Sunday, June 8-9: Writers receive their assignments

Week of July 7-13: First check-in with writers

Week of August 4-10: Second check-in with writers

Sunday, August 11: Final drop out deadline

Sunday, September 8: Assignments due

Sunday, September 15: Collection revealed

(More details under the cut…)

Story and Pitch Guidelines

All stories should be set during or within six months of the events depicted in the Star Wars Original Trilogy films (0 BBY - 4ABY), and set within the main Star Wars galaxy (aka the Galaxy Far Far Away/GFFA).

Stories should focus on characters and/or events in the Star Wars Legends continuity, which can include any characters who appear in the three Original Trilogy films as well as characters from the Legends novels, comics, video games, or other materials.

Shipping guidelines: Stories should not be focused on romance or shipping and should not include smut. References to ships among characters in the story or among other characters are fine, but please limit these to mentions (for ships that do not include the point of view character) or subtext (for ships that do include the point of view character). Within these restrictions, any ships are allowed, regardless of whether they are considered canon in the Legends continuity.

Ratings and archive warnings: Any ratings or tags are allowed, as long as stories are appropriately tagged and follow the other story guidelines (e.g., no smut).

Each writer will submit at least three and up to five pitches for stories they would be willing to write for the collection. Across all the pitches, stories should feature a minimum of at least three different characters and a minimum of at least two different time periods during the OT. To ensure that we include a wide range of characters and stories in the collection, at least two pitches should feature a point of view character who is not one of the Original Trilogy main trio (Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo), and at least one pitch should feature a point of view character who is not another prominent OT character (Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, R2D2, C3PO, Darth Vader), nor a member of the Rogue Squadron “Fab Four” (Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, Tycho Celchu, Hobbie Klivian).

Stories for this collection are intended to add to the universe of fic we have for Legends; please do not submit pitches for stories you have already written and shared elsewhere, even if they fit the other guidelines.

Signup and Submission Details

Signups will be done via a Google Form, which will have space for you to share each of your three pitches and provide contact information, including your Archive Of Our Own (AO3) username.

Once all signups have been reviewed, one of the mods will contact you via the information provided to let you know which one of your story pitches has been accepted (your assignment), and will provide instructions on how to submit your assignment to the collection.

We will also provide a signup form for people who would be willing to serve as a beta reader or cheerleader for other writers. Writers can request a beta reader when they sign up, or at any time before the beta request deadline (approximately two weeks before assignments are due). Betas may be available on a more limited basis after that deadline, but cannot be guaranteed.

Mods will check in with all writers twice over the course of the writing portion of the event to see how they are doing and connect them with a beta reader, cheerleader, or other assistance as needed. Please be sure to check your messages regularly and respond promptly to messages from the mods.

If you realize you will be unable to complete your assignment in time, please let the mods know as soon as possible, but definitely prior to the August 11 dropout deadline. That will enable us to reach out to find potential pinch hitters as needed.

Assignments are due Sunday, September 8 at any time. You will submit your fic via AO3, mods will confirm that it follows story and tagging guidelines, and it will be approved for the collection. The collection will be open for submissions a few weeks ahead of the deadline if you wish to submit early.

Because we intend to reveal these stories as a collection, please hold off on sharing or promoting your story until the full collection is released on September 15. After that time, please promote your story and others in the collection as much as possible!

Questions?

We’ll be posting more information as the event grows closer, but here are a few ways to find out more:

Check out our FAQ post HERE.

Follow @from-a-legends-pov for more updates and occasional Legends-related content

Send an ask to @from-a-legends-pov or contact Tumblr mods @ewokshootsfirst or @lajulie24

Reach out the event mods by email: fromalegendspov@gmail.com

We’re excited to share this event with you — please help us out by spreading the word!

[legendsliveon]

[legendsliveon]

Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo Fancasting Resource

Tenel Ka is a "fierce-looking girl" with long, "braided red-gold", "rusty-brown", or "sunset-copper hair", sometimes "in a multitude of ceremonial braids, each decorated with feathers or beads". She has "large, cool gray eyes" and fair skin. She was born sometime between 8-10 ABY, so we don't know her exact age during these events, just a range. Tenel Ka is described as an "Amazonian" and "muscular" girl who is usually "dressed like other women from Dathomir, in a brief athletic outfit made from scarlet and emerald skins of native reptiles. The flexible, lightly armored tunic and shorts left her arms and legs bare." She is also missing her left arm at the elbow and down and does not get a prosthetic.

Ages: 13-36

~13-17 (Jedi Training)

~15-21 (Yuuzhan Vong War)

~25-28 (Dark Nest Crisis, she is 26-28 when she leaves the Jedi Order)

~30-33 (Second Galactic Civil War)

Note: I’m trying to pick actors who have usable footage, mainly where the attire wouldn’t be out of place in the GFFA, so bear that in mind. Movies/shows generally film for a year prior to release, so that's how I'm calculating age.

Misc Child Actresses

These are a few options for a young Tenel Ka that don't have a ton of footage and are hard to find ages for. Ellie Darcey-Aiden (left) in Robin Hood (season 3 episode 1) and possibly also in Borgia (season 2 episodes 11 and 12). Layla Burns (left-center) in Outlander (2014). Madeline Power (right-center) in The Last Kingdom (season 1 episodes 1 and 7) and Six Wives (season 1 episode 3). Clare Foley (right) on Gotham (she was on from 2014-2015) and she would've been 13-14.

Sophie Turner - Sansa Stark - Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

She was 14 during the filming of the first season, so good for her time at the Jedi Praxeum. Later seasons would work for the Yuuzhan Vong War. Her eyes are more hazel than gray, but she does have long sunset-copper hair. A lot of her clothes are fantasy royalty attire, but some suit Tenel Ka better than others.

Sadie Stanley - Kim Possible - Kim Possible (2019)

She was 17-18 during filming. She wears mostly modern clothes, but the main Kim Possible outfit is OK along with closeups. Her eyes aren't gray, but her hair is a nice copper-red.

Sophie Skelton - Brianna "Bree" Fraser MacKenzie - Outlander (2014-)

She joined the show in its second season, being 21-22 during filming, so good for the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Her eyes aren't gray, but her hair is sunset-copper that looks like Tenel Ka's when worn loose. Her clothes don't all work for the GFFA, but if you pick scenes where she wears muted attire/colors or closeups, it can work.

Katherine McNamara - Clary Fairchild - Shadowhunters (2016-2019)

She was ~20-24 during the filming of the show so good for the end and right after the Yuuzhan Vong War. Her eyes are pale green instead of gray, but she has red-gold colored hair. She isn't super muscular, but does have some nice fight scenes in the show.

Ceara Coveney - Elayne Trakand - Wheel of Time (2023-)

She was around 23 during the filming of season 2 when her character first appears. She has sunset-copper hair, but doesn't have gray eyes. She wears her hair long mainly, but her plain white outfit is good for the GFFA. She has large eyes and fair skin.

Ellie Bamber - Elora Danan - Willow (2022-2023)

She was ~24-25 during filming. She's blonde for some of the show, but there's at least one episode of her with red hair that works great for Tenel Ka. Her hair is long and red-gold in color. Her eyes aren't gray, but they are big.

Anna Demetriou - Princess Helle of Volsung - Viking Destiny (2018)

At ~25 during filming, she works great for right before Dark Nest. She has large, cool gray eyes and long, rusty red hair. She wears Viking clothes, most of which would work great. She even has a fishtail (?) braid in at least one scene. She is fierce-looking as well.

Amy Wren - Mildrith - The Last Kingdom (2015)

She was 25 during filming. She also has a baby in at least one scene you could use as Allana. Her hair is copper colored, but she doesn't have gray eyes. Her clothes are also relatively nondescript and would be good for the GFFA.

Rose Leslie - Ygritte - Game of Thrones (2012–2014)

She was in her mid-late twenties throughout her time on the show. She has red hair, but doesn't have gray eyes. Her love interest in the show is played by dark-haired Kit Harrington, who you could use for Jacen if you wanted. Her clothes are acceptable for the GFFA and her body type is one of the closer ones to Tenel Ka on this list. She is also a very fierce character on the show.

Tamzin Merchant - Rhonu - Dragonheart 3 (2015)

She was likely 27 during filming, so good for Tenel Ka during the Dark Nest Crisis. She has copper red hair with braids. Her clothes also work great as the warrior attire Tenel Ka likes to wear. She doesn't have gray eyes however.

Felicia Day - Tallis - Dragon Age: Redemption (2011)

She was 32 for this web series and if you ignore the pointy ears, the look is great for Tenel Ka.

Felicia Day - Charlie Bradbury - Supernatural S8.E11 LARP and the Real Girl (2013)

At 33-34, she's good for the end of the Second Galactic Civil War. I picked this one specific episode because it's the only one I recall where she isn't wearing modern clothes. She has copper red hair worn loose, but does not have gray eyes.

Jessica Chastain - Sara - The Huntsman: Winters War (2016)

At 38-39, she's a bit older than we see Tenel Ka at, but her hair and clothes work so well I just had to include her. Her eyes aren't grey, but they are big. She also has a more muscular build and is a fierce warrior.

[legendsliveon]

Day 077 | HK-47

[legendsliveon]

Star Wars Legends: Poll of the Week - Favorite Wraith Backstory, part 1

In the Star Wars Legends novel X-Wing: Wraith Squadron, Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson put together a new kind of group for the New Republic Navy – a combination commando unit and starfighter squadron. To conserve resources, Wedge and Wes recruited the initial members of the squadron largely from pilots who had promising skills, but had been identified as misfits or at risk of washing out of the New Republic navy.

Wedge, Wes, and ten other pilots with a variety of skills and backstories made up the original roster of Wraith Squadron (initially known as Gray Squadron).

Of these five original Wraiths to join Wedge and Wes, whose backstory is your favorite? (We’ll ask about the other half of the roster in part 2.)

Falynn Sandskimmer, an ace Y-wing pilot from Tatooine who was extremely sick of being compared to a certain X-wing pilot from Tatooine, and often got charged with insubordination for voicing her low opinion of Luke Skywalker and other famous Rebels.

Voort “Piggy” saBinring, a Gamorrean who had been genetically engineered for high intelligence and mathematical abilities, so skilled that he could do navigation calculations without an astromech and was an expert in pattern recognition; he had been charged with insubordination because other officers kept attempting to start fights with him, and merely blocking their punches was enough to get charged.

Myn Donos, a Corellian sniper and pilot who was the lone survivor when his former squadron, Talon Squadron, was ambushed; Talon Squadron was lured into the ambush thanks to false intelligence planted by Imperial agent Gara Petothel, and Donos was so troubled by the incident that he no longer would wear the Corellian bloodstripes he had earned previously.

Kell Tainer, an ace pilot and demolitions expert from Alderaan whose father, also a pilot, panicked during an early mission for the Rebellion and tried to flee, forcing Wes Janson to shoot him down and prompting Kell’s family to change their name due to his father’s reputation for cowardice; he constantly sought to be the best and to somehow make up for his father’s failings.

Jesmin Ackbar, a Mon Calamari and the niece of Admiral Gial Ackbar; Jesmin was a gifted pilot and communications expert but kept getting assignments way beneath her abilities, because nobody wanted to be the commanding officer who got Admiral Ackbar’s niece killed.

Hungry for more Legends content? Follow @from-a-legends-pov and check out our upcoming Star Wars Legends fanfiction event, From a Legends Point of View, HERE. Signups open April 28 — please encourage your favorite Star Wars writers to participate!

[legendsliveon]

Oh? We’re getting pre-Republic lore. That’s pretty interesting.

[legendsliveon]

It’s a real good thing Luke Skywalker was an incredibly famous respected hero of the Rebellion.

Because Luke really was like “Hey, first class, congrats on coming to my new praxeum, I just learned that word from Leia. I’m sorry yer the test dummies for learning how to teach Jedi. I’m your Jedi Grandmaster Luke Skywalker. I had a month long seminar with Grandmaster Yoda, and then he died making me Grandmaster through attrition. I’ve had a self guided study since of whatever I could scrape together from what the Empire didn’t destroy. The New Republic has been nice enough to let us squat in the historic abandoned Yavin Base. Don’t mind the nearby Sith Lord or comatose Jedi Master furry in nearby temples, they’re not important…yet.”

[legendsliveon]

Day 128 | Vestara Khai

[legendsliveon]

DISASTER LINEAGE APPRECIATION WEEK 2021

Day 7: Free Choice | Favourite Apprentice -> Asajj Ventress

[legendsliveon]

My new agenda is including Barriss with the Jedi Quest quartet. She is also supposed to be Anakin's age in Legends continuity. So anyway she got a ribbon from Darra!

✨🌙 ART LOG -> @404ama

[legendsliveon]

“[while being tackled by Karrde’s vornskrs] What’s his name?”

— Luke Skywalker

[legendsliveon]

Day 054 | Galen Marek