Questions for Aftermath

The second Death Star has been destroyed. Rumors are flying that the Emperor and his enforcer, Darth Vader, are dead. A new government is forming to replace the Empire. But the galaxy is a big place, and the fallout of this cataclysm will affect different worlds in different ways. Does everyone accept the fall of Imperial rule? Has everyone even heard the life-altering news? What rushes in to fill the vacuum the Empire has left? And who will try to stop them? 

Thus is the premise of the next novel in the New Canon of Star Wars - Aftermath by Chuck Wendig. News broke on this over at starwars.com. The novel is part of the 20 book blitzkrieg called Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is a prelude to Episode VII film release.

I'm keenly interested in reading this novel when it is released in September. I hope this will wipe the Expanded Universe clean of the novel Truce at Bakura. I could only get fifty pages into that novel before I was so turned off by it that I gave up. I hope the Ssi-Ruuk and their entenchment technology winks out of existence like the crack in space-time in a Doctor Who episode!

However I wonder how much latitude they will be able to take with the concept that many did not know the significance of the Battle of Endor. The quote above asks if everyone has even heard of the fall of Imperial rule. Remember that with the special edition release of Return of the Jedi we had a montage of locations where crowds had gathered to celebrate the victory, namely Coruscant, Cloud City, and Naboo. So we know that word spread pretty far and wide. It will be interesting to see how Wendig and the Lucasfilm Story Group handles this part of the canon.

I am reminded about the debate among historians about how much support the rebels/patriots had during the American Revolution. A frequently cited letter written by John Adams suggested that there were plenty of people who remained loyal to the British Empire. Some say as many as a a third of the country were opposed to the revolution.

While we will never know the exact figures, this quote by Adams does ring true: "Divided we ever have been, and ever must be." If this statement echoes into the galaxy far, far away, I think we are in for many interesting stories!