This is confusing. Isn't Rebels Canon due to the fact that Disney wrote it? Much like Clone Wars was Canon due to it being Lucas? Or has Disney said that Lucas is canon and we have a new canon that we will call legends?

Bear with me. I used to be good at the whole canon vs EU

Rebels is Canon.

That is why we're talking about Thrawn being Canon at all.

Until he was in Rebels, he was only a Legend.

CANON consists of:

The Original 6 Films by Lucas

The Clone Wars by Lucas/Filoni

++anything new produced by Disney after April 14(?), 2014.....

This includes the Rebels Series, as well as the new Books and Movies produced by Disney.

For Example:

Thrawn is in Rebels, and he is canon. But he has no Background.

Timothy Zahn will be releasing a new book next year (?) that has Thrawns "Canon" Background in it. That may cherrypick details from legends, but only what is written in that Book, will be considered "Canon" and "The Truth" of the background.

Gone are the days of Film canon, Core Canon, Lucas canon... GONE, GONE GONE.

Now, there is One canon.

The Canon of Disney, if you wish to call it that way... But truly, its the Canon of LFL and the Holocron... Where all new stories are essentially vetted by the Lucasfilm Story Group, to make sure they make sense in the greater galactic picture.

Right, that is what I always thought, (along with the video games due to them being Lucasarts). EU is ALL the other stuff from before, (the rpgs and all the paper backs). So what is LEGENDS? This is my confusion

Geez, looking at all these users reading this thread.

I'm NOT an idiot, I swear

Which is a blessing given the staggering mishmash of garbage and fan service with the occasional gem that was the EU.

Right, that is what I always thought, (along with the video games due to them being Lucasarts). EU is ALL the other stuff from before, (the rpgs and all the paper backs). So what is LEGENDS? This is my confusion

Geez, looking at all these users reading this thread.

I'm NOT an idiot, I swear

Legends is basically a fancy new name for the Expanded Universe. It's a way of recognising that, whilst all that writing and video game making might have been brilliant, it doesn't fit with the new stuff being produced.

The whole Canon/Legends thing is a bit weird, but if you read Marvel comics (a Franchise that belongs to Disney too now remember), it doesn't feel so alien a concept. In those, there are multiple Spiderman characters (spidermen?), multiple Daredevil narratives, multiple Captain Americas. Every so often, the Marvel universe will get a shake up, and then a new universe is created in which each of those characters gains a re-established back story. The previous comics aren't written off, but they're contained within a particular Marvel universe, and the writers and artists move on to the new one.

That's what we're seeing in Star Wars.

Right, that is what I always thought, (along with the video games due to them being Lucasarts). EU is ALL the other stuff from before, (the rpgs and all the paper backs). So what is LEGENDS? This is my confusion

Geez, looking at all these users reading this thread.

I'm NOT an idiot, I swear

What is "Legends?"

Its the EU.

To be precise:

"Star Wars Legends is everything that is Not-Canon in the Star Wars Universe."

The includes the Expanded Universe. The old Lucasarts Games that were of Questionable Canonicity in the First Place. And everything that is written on Star Wars *WITHOUT* Disney and the LFL Story Groups Direction and Input....

You're kidding? That is it? Legends is teh new expanded universe?

$(*^*@#$&%($#*)(!@&$_

edited for cussing

I feel like I just read the Star Wars equivalent of the "man on first" joke...

Sorry, I promise I'm not THAT stupid.

As usual, Dras hits it right on the noggin. I had to explain this to several people over the past year, and it was a bit confusing at first too.

Why not just leave it as expanded universe is my question. Why all the chicanery? Just Disney being Disney?

If you took over McDonalds, and could make more money by changing their Catchphrase (I'm lovin' it), but keeping the Original Symbol... Would you do it?

Because that's what it is. Its essentially brand marketing. Brand ownership.

The same reason why Intel referred to their 686 processor as the "Pentium"... You can own that word, you can't own 686 in that regards...

Good question. Branding vs Change? Dunno

Good question. Branding vs Change? Dunno

That was the call they made.

By making it "Legends", they can effectively force "ownership" over Star Wars "Legends", rather than relying on the nebulous wording that someone else came up with Expanded Universe.

Mostly because a lot of the EU Books are still in Print... And they are now printed as Legends... To Reinforce that Brand ownership.

Oddly enough, Dras, that makes sense.

Another reason I'm sure was to condense and simplify the universe. The old EU was over grown long before Disney came along. Trying to create new content while sorting through everything that came before would have been a nightmare. Besides, as much as there was to love in the legends EU, there was 100x more that was horrid.

Disney bulldozed the old EU and took the ruble to a dump named Legends. Every now and then they scavenge for parts there as they build a new canon EU on the site of the old one. Hopefully the worst parts of the Legends EU will end up in a smelter.

Another reason I'm sure was to condense and simplify the universe. The old EU was over grown long before Disney came along. Trying to create new content while sorting through everything that came before would have been a nightmare. Besides, as much as there was to love in the legends EU, there was 100x more that was horrid.

Disney bulldozed the old EU and took the ruble to a dump named Legends. Every now and then they scavenge for parts there as they build a new canon EU on the site of the old one. Hopefully the worst parts of the Legends EU will end up in a smelter.

Hopefully, the Lucasfilm Story Group will be policing a coherent and consistent (and, above all, compelling) Star Wars from 2014 on out.

Another reason I'm sure was to condense and simplify the universe. The old EU was over grown long before Disney came along. Trying to create new content while sorting through everything that came before would have been a nightmare. Besides, as much as there was to love in the legends EU, there was 100x more that was horrid.

Disney bulldozed the old EU and took the ruble to a dump named Legends. Every now and then they scavenge for parts there as they build a new canon EU on the site of the old one. Hopefully the worst parts of the Legends EU will end up in a smelter.

You're right. There was a ton of crap in the EU, which I'm not sad to see go.

Hopefully, the Lucasfilm Story Group will be policing a coherent and consistent (and, above all, compelling) Star Wars from 2014 on out.

And that appears to be so, thus far.

There are some parts that some may not agree with - BUT, at the very least, it is coherent, and will be consistent, with the new baseline.

@Nickvr628 How can you be sure?

@Dras I hate how legends has mashed together SOME canon and SOME EU. Confuses the heck out of me. So, Thrawn and Leia ALMOST having an affair is Legends?

Aside from Wookipedia is there an easy way to figure out what is Legends and what didn't transition from canon/EU?

You have it wrong.

Legends is Legends. Legends is inherently non-canon. Legends is the place where canon goes to die.

Bits and Pieces of it, however, can make it back to canon... Remember - if it is legends, it is Legends...

In that light:EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THRAWN, WITH THE SPECIFIC EXCEPTION OF WHAT FOLLOWS, IS LEGENDS.

For CANON:

The Only Backstory that Thrawn has right now, was what was presented in Star Wars: Rebels.

1) That he was recently Promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral by the Emperor.

2) That the promotion was in regards to an uprising he recently quelled.

3) That he is an appreciator of Art.

4) That he gets a "bigger picture"

5) That he Commands the 7th Fleet, in parallel to Admiral Konstantine, who commands the 6th Fleet.

THAT IS IT

Until such time as the new "Thrawn" Book is released, which will have some details of the background, I assume...

But that's all.

Outside of Wookieepedia - look at the Production Date of the Material or Source in Question....

In Short (and non-exhaustive, but here's the gist of it)

If it is:

Published Before that Fateful Date in April, 2014....

And not: One of the 6 Movies, or The Clone Wars TV Series...

Then it is not "canon"

It is "Legends".

Parts of it may make it back into Canon. But it must do that with a new source.

Wookieepedia just makes it easy with their Canon / Legends tab.

To clear up some confusion due to this post that has been glossed over, all SEVEN movies are cannon as are the close wars show AND the rebels tv show. As are all the books written after the afore mentioned date.

Not that it wasn't clear dras just people were glossing over the date post and just reading the list