I feel like there's cool stuff in the new canon, and cool stuff (plus some terrible stuff) in Legends, and it's worth trying to fit the cool parts all together into one continuity. How do others try and make this work? What's canon in your games? Which parts of the Star Wars saga do you consider worthy of headcanonicity?

My own attempt at a consistent, cool headcanon:

Everything in all the movies (except midichlorians)

The Mandalorian

My SWRPG campaign (of course)

Clone Wars (except the Mortis episodes)

Rebels (except the time travel and minus the part where Ahsoka and Ezra survive at the end)

Knights of the Old Republic

KOTOR comic series

The Old Republic (except Shadow of Revan)

Zahn's Thrawn trilogy (except Ben is the child born, not Jacen/Jaina)

Battlefront 2 (except that the Battle of Jakku occurs after the events of the Thrawn trilogy)

Dark Forces (except the part where Kyle steals the Death Star plans)

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Pretty much everything from the new canon Marvel comics

Luke and Mara Jade's marriage (with Mara dying sometime well before Force Awakens)

For me, my headcanon ends with the Mandalorian because I have yet to meet a story later on in the timeline that I like (hoping Rise of Skywalker changes my mind on that, though I doubt it will), though I don't object too strenuously to the Legends version, up until you get to the Yuuzhan Vong at which point I check out entirely. I'm reading through the original Thrawn novels now and loving them.

I have a similar distaste for anything 60+ BBY. My headcanon is mostly as regards Mandalorians, I like the civil war/schism from Legends where the True Mandalorians fought with the Death Watch. I count the Republic Commando series as part of my headcanon and I love how they treated the Mandalorians as training the Clones.

I'd say my main separation from canon is that I still think that Jango and Boba should be Mandalorians. It doesn't make a ton of sense for them to not be.

My list of headcanon would be quite exhaustive, but in general, if a Legends source doesn't directly contradict Canon (or at least can be retconned [or occasionally cutting out bits] without too much trouble), I accept it into my headcanon, with the caveat that it pretty much has to be within the timeline I outlined above.

Anybody who knows me knows that I really, really hate time travel, but, shockingly enough, I think they did it right in Rebels. It was one of the very few times I liked time travel in a story.

One piece of Legends canon - don't ask me where, I've forgotten - that has become part of my headcanon is that Cliegg Lars is Obi-Wan Kenobi's father (and Owen Lars is OWK's full brother). This makes OWK Anakin's (step-)brother.

And while I enjoy the work of the celebrity in question, Stewjon is not an acceptable name for a planet. (There are too many blatant Tuckerisms in Star Wars.)

The only two sources which I make any effort to adhere to are the original trilogy (including the novelizations) and the old RPG by West End Games; and even in those cases there are some significant deviations (particularly with how events unfolded between the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor).

Everything else I mine for elements but I do what I want with them. For example: I had headcanon for what the Clone Wars were all about long before the prequel trilogy came out, but I really liked the droid armies and wanted to use them in some capactiy. So I made the droid armies a secret military project of the Hutt Cartels.

I have a general head-canon for what informs my games. However, the main game I run has a significant alternative universe elements and is already resulting in diverging timeline. Our game started eight years after Order 66 and it is now 10 years after Order 66. With that in mind, my general head-canon is:

Episodes I-III sans midicholrians.

The Clone Wars

Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Rebels sans hyperspace whales.

Rogue One

Episodes IV-VI.

The Mandalorian.

I include elements from other materials that I like without feeling overly beholden to them. I tend to be circumspect about comic and video game content, however, because they have a tendency to be over-the-top and involve credulity breaking power ups (esp. video games). Some materials I like are:

Dooku: Jedi Lost

The Jedi Apprentice series

Master & Apprentice

Queen's Shadow

Republic Commando: Order 66

Ahsoka

Lords of the Sith

Tales from the Empire

Most Wanted

The Guardians of the Wills

Scoundrels by Zahn

Allegiance by Zahn

Splinter of the Minds Eye sans potential incestuous references.

Inferno Squad from Battlefront II

The Truce at Bakura

The Courtship of Princess Leia

Tales of the Bounty Hunters

Tales from Jabba's Palace

Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

Rogue Squadron series.

The Thrawn Trilogy by Zahn.

Crackens Rebel Field Guide

I didn't include the sequels (Episodes VII and VIII) because I'm not sold on the presentation of The First Order and Snoke thus far. I don't have enough information to evaluate how well they really fit into the themes and overall story of the first six episodes. I'm waiting to see if Abram's ties the disparate bits together in Episode IX before settling that in my head. I do think Leia taking so much umbrage to Mon Mothma standing down the alliance military that she created a splinter counter-insurgency / militia is a very in-character and makes a lot of sense.

And, despite the derivative plot elements (I could have done without another Death Star), Episode VII had a lot of good going for it. It did set up two important questions about Rey ("Who is Rey?" and "What is Rey?), introduced three leads that I liked, and had a lot of great scenes in it. I thought Han's death was also well-handled. Episode VIII was much more problematic for me. It had a few fantastic highs, but even more horrid lows, and left me feeling like Rian Johnson is utterly clueless about Star Wars. Still, Luke's final moments were... awesome.

Like I said: we shall see.

Broadly, and in order as a source of inspiration:

The Clone Wars

Rebels (love the space whales too )

Episodes 1, 3, 2, 5, 4

Rogue One (took a while, but it's grown on me)

Knights of the Old Republic, game and comic

Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. Sadly they will no longer play on Macs because they aren't 64 bit

The Mandalorian (so far, so good, and it will likely move up some notches)

Episode 6

All the rest is dubious or forgettable. Like others, the inclusion of E7-9 will depend on how they tell that story in E9. But I have a bad feeling about it. I needed neither Emperor, nor Snoke, nor Death Star III to have a head cannon that still left plenty to do after E6...just like there are plenty of stories to tell even while the Jedi were at their peak.

It's a bit sad too, because, without listing them all, much of the post-E6 literature is pretty good, particularly Claudia Grey's works. But again, it really depends on how E9 is resolved.

I found a great way to have my cake and eat it too, at least during the reign of the Empire.

The galaxy is such an unknowable, ungovernable, and vast mess, with the great masses varying wildly in education and ways to communicate. The Empire is extremely slick in how it uses galactic media to send out disinformation and lies, and the Rebellion keeps its cells so isolated for their own protection that it is nearly impossible for all but a few on both sides of the conflict to truly know what the state of the galaxy is. This is the way it was even in the time of the Republic, and the Republic relied on the indifference of the masses to stay in power. The people of the Core Worlds live under an authoritarian regime, but also experience relative peace, unaware of the atrocities that the Empire commits on the fringes of the galaxy.

The events of the films, the Clone Wars, and Rebels did happen more or less as depicted, but so many people think they are just stories told by one side or the other. They believe that the Death Star was never real and is just Rebel propaganda, or that it was never destroyed, or that it was destroyed but not by the Rebels, or that the Rebels are far more powerful than the Empire lets on, or far less powerful, or that any of these things could be true. A real struggle of the Rebellion is to actually get people to believe what's happening and that the suffering many experience does in fact affect how others conduct their day-to-day life.

Old Republic Era material is how entertainment media depicts it. Meaning that the general idea of what happened might be true, but the reason that the ships, armor styles etc look so much like clone wars/empire/new republic era is simply that it's depicted incorrectly. Compare medieval depictions of biblical scenes where everyone is depicted in contemporary clothing, or films like Patton where (then) modern M48 Patton(!) Tanks played the role of german panzers.

Of course, holos depicting Jedi as heroes have been censored by the empire as harmful propaganda.

9 hours ago, penpenpen said:

Old Republic Era material is how entertainment media depicts it. Meaning that the general idea of what happened might be true, but the reason that the ships, armor styles etc look so much like clone wars/empire/new republic era is simply that it's depicted incorrectly. Compare medieval depictions of biblical scenes where everyone is depicted in contemporary clothing, or films like Patton where (then) modern M48 Patton(!) Tanks played the role of german panzers.

Of course, holos depicting Jedi as heroes have been censored by the empire as harmful propaganda.

In actual fact it might've been portrayed as a Shakespearian tragedy where; because they were so corrupt with power, the Jedi fought a terrible civil war that brought the republic down to it's knees and that it was only by the sacrifices of one woman, who was forced to let go of her love and sacrificed the remanence of the order on Malacore 4 with the second gravity bomb to end the civil war once and for all. Oh how she would turn in her grave when the order she seeded turned out to be just as bad as the one she just stopped. In fact, that was what happened just now; the war was fought between Jedi using countries as proxies, it was only the wise and courageous Emperor who saw through their scheme and prevented a repeat of history in a manner most decisive. Oh how we all owe that gracious heroic man. XD

1 hour ago, LordBritish said:

In actual fact it might've been portrayed as a Shakespearian tragedy where; because they were so corrupt with power, the Jedi fought a terrible civil war that brought the republic down to it's knees and that it was only by the sacrifices of one woman, who was forced to let go of her love and sacrificed the remanence of the order on Malacore 4 with the second gravity bomb to end the civil war once and for all. Oh how she would turn in her grave when the order she seeded turned out to be just as bad as the one she just stopped. In fact, that was what happened just now; the war was fought between Jedi using countries as proxies, it was only the wise and courageous Emperor who saw through their scheme and prevented a repeat of history in a manner most decisive. Oh how we all owe that gracious heroic man. XD

That's terribrilliant! I lovehate it!

15 hours ago, penpenpen said:

Meaning that the general idea of what happened might be true, but the reason that the ships, armor styles etc look so much like clone wars/empire/new republic era is simply that it's depicted incorrectly. Compare medieval depictions of biblical scenes where everyone is depicted in contemporary clothing, or films like Patton where (then) modern M48 Patton(!) Tanks played the role of german panzers.

This never bothered me, because I don't think the rate of technological innovation has to continue vertically. For most of human history, it was flat. Just because we're currently living through a vertical period doesn't mean it will continue forever, in fact it's possible it's already starting to flatten. There are certain physical limitations that just can't be overcome...solar panels can only become so efficient, and even if they were 100% efficient, that's 100% of a given amount of radiation which nobody controls.

So back to the SW universe, maybe the first few hundred years of spacefaring brought more innovations, but after that it could easily be incremental at best.

The biggest change I make in my headcanon is that the duration of the conflicts takes place over a much longer period than in the films. My understanding is that the Galactic Civil War has been going on for about one year prior to the Battle of Yavin. While the coming together of the Rebel fleet as seen in S3 of Rebels is canon, in my timeline multiple systems have been in varying degrees of open revolt for at least a year before Rebels even begins, with places like Mon Cal even succeeding in driving the Empire out, which puts the entire conflict from the first open revolts to the Battle of Jakku taking place over about 10 - 12 years.

The Clone Wars more closely resemble the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars in my headcanon as well. It's just not plausible to me that either side is able to mobilize on the scale we see over the course of just three years, as seen in the films and Clone Wars. There's lots of shifting alliances as groups like the Techno Union and the Commerce Guild switch back and forth depending on convenience. Each "war" is really more of a campaign in the larger conflict, which takes place over about 12 - 15 years. This also pushes back the events of Phantom Menace to about 45 years BBY, makes Anakin and Padme about a decade older by the time Luke and Leia are born, and makes Obi-Wan closer to his late 60's or early 70's by the time of his death in ANH.

I have very little "head canon" as I pretty much avoided all of the Legacy/EU material back in the day. I read a few of the book series, found them to be underwhelming at best (I'm looking at you Thrawn trilogy, you overhyped piece of poodoo), and terrible fanfiction at worst. Some of the comics were ok, but failed to keep my interest for any ongoing stories, or they were short run series that I read and promptly forgot. And after seeing how often the SW franchise keeps returning to the Fanservice Well for it's content, I feel like I don't really need to have any established line for anything, as it's all just reskinned stuff from the OT. Every bad guy is a Vadar knock-off who has a mask, despite not actually needing one for respiratory reasons like Vadar. There's always a scoundrel with a "piece of junk, but really awesome" ship. There's always a Wookiee, Twi'lek's are genetically designed to be strippers and nothing else. Someone is going to say "i've got a bad feeling about this." Or "Something something Hope." If there is a cantina, there will be that one band from Mos Eisley, etc etc.

I mean, it's always the same stuff. So it feels redundant to say any details are really canon or not, because it's basically all the same stuff.

Plus, canon is only important if you insist on tying your stuff back into everything else, which I feel is the biggest problem SW has in the first place. The franchise has been terrified for decades to really tell anything new, so it keeps dusting off the same tired old tropes, and selling them to the fans yet again.

3 hours ago, whafrog said:

This never bothered me, because I don't think the rate of technological innovation has to continue vertically. For most of human history, it was flat. Just because we're currently living through a vertical period doesn't mean it will continue forever, in fact it's possible it's already starting to flatten. There are certain physical limitations that just can't be overcome...solar panels can only become so efficient, and even if they were 100% efficient, that's 100% of a given amount of radiation which nobody controls.

So back to the SW universe, maybe the first few hundred years of spacefaring brought more innovations, but after that it could easily be incremental at best.

Sure, but 4,000 years without any significant progress to speak of is a little... odd.

Regardless though, it's not so much about the tech level. It's the fashion. Everything looks the same! Clothes, armor, ships etc. It's one thing when your choices to express yourself are the somewhat beige linen loin cloth vs the the off-white linen loin cloth.

Kotor was depicted quite differently in comics before Bioware got to make Star Wars game set there, but of course the game had to look like Star Wars so of course it needed not-stormtroopers, not-R2D2 and not-Milennium Falcon in it.

I would've loved to see something closer to the stuff in Tales of the Jedi... more...

I think the look they were going for could be accurately described as SPACE CONAN!

Love it, hate it, at least it was different.

8 minutes ago, penpenpen said:

Sure, but 4,000 years without any significant progress to speak of is a little... odd.

Well, it's all "odd"...I mean they still use draft animals...draft animals that pull floating sleds...!

9 minutes ago, penpenpen said:

Regardless though, it's not so much about the tech level. It's the fashion. Everything looks the same!

Yeah, a bit more variety is nice. Although that's one of the reasons I like the PT vs the OT...the costumes, buildings, theatres, art...all far more interesting than what is portrayed in the OT. TCW does a great job of expanding on that too, eg Mandalore.

2 hours ago, whafrog said:

Well, it's all "odd"...I mean they still use draft animals...draft animals that pull floating sleds...!

Perhaps a simple repulsorlift is significantly cheaper than the propulsion to make it move. Chances are, a repulsorlift propels itself by manipulating the anti-gravity field it generates, so having something pull it would cut out the need for the additional expenditure. And if you're on a farm and have draft animals anyway... Why not?

One of the things I really cannot stand in the Old Republic timeframe is the whole issue with going full-on fantasy. I can't remember the guy's name, but there was a particular picture that looked like it was straight from a medieval fantasy, and they just taped a lightsaber over a guy's sword. There were literally fauns with spears! The Jedi standing on the outcropping (I think he was part of the Army of Light?) had flowing blond hair and... Oh, found it (Yep, I was right, Army of Light):

How can you have starships with hyperdrives and yet still use swords, shields and spears? Tell me this doesn't look like they just drew lightsabers over a couple guys' weapons and called it a day.

Ah, found it. The guy's name is "Valentyne Farfalla" I knew it was something pretentious.

3 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

On 12/8/2019 at 4:49 PM, Bellona said:

And while I enjoy the work of the celebrity in question, Stewjon is not an acceptable name for a planet. (There are too many blatant Tuckerisms in Star Wars.)

When I populated the sector for my game a few years ago, I cleared out the B- and C-list names. Retep? Really?

Thankfully, most Star Wars planets are barely Wikipedia stubs and unknown to regular fans. I consider that fair game.

21 minutes ago, wilsch said:

When I populated the sector for my game a few years ago, I cleared out the B- and C-list names. Retep? Really?

Actually, I can forgive Retep more easily than Stewjon. Retep is an anagram, but at least it could masquerade as something vaguely ancient Egyptian (Hotep, etc.) or similar non-modern English.

The Stewjon tourism board hit squad has become a running gag in our campaigns.

I have no idea why Stewjon has a tourism board, nor why they need a hit squad. All I know is if they show up, you run.

My head canon includes most the actual "rebel" stuff, and bits and pieces from Jedi lore (Inquisitors yes, mortis no).

I prefer red lightsabers to be artificial rather than tainted, and an important headcanon to me is that stormtroopers are elite heavy assault forces, and not a bunch of idiots getting tricked by a kid.

For regular day to day imperial suppression, I let my players deal with imperial infantry (like the ones seen in Solo). Stormtroopers mean trouble, death troopers mean make your peace with the force.

8 hours ago, MaxXIII said:

SNIP...

and an important headcanon to me is that stormtroopers are elite heavy assault forces, and not a bunch of idiots getting tricked by a kid.

For regular day to day imperial suppression, I let my players deal with imperial infantry (like the ones seen in Solo). Stormtroopers mean trouble, death troopers mean make your peace with the force.

This. I use Stormtroopers the same way. They aren't run-of-the-mill garrison troops. My players see imperial army and naval troopers more often than storm-troopers.

11 hours ago, MaxXIII said:

not a bunch of idiots getting tricked by a kid.

QFT... Somebody should tell Filoni

Although there is a balance to strike here too... I mean, have you heard about the new VT-16s?

Although Rogue One and Solo did sort of reinforce the notion that stormtroopers are everywhere.

23 minutes ago, DaverWattra said:

QFT... Somebody should tell Filoni

Although there is a balance to strike here too... I mean, have you heard about the new VT-16s?

Part of the "problem" (IMO) is that in the OT our heroes are very much at the center of the most important events at the most sensitive locations and are therefore constantly dealing with the most elite troops. We don't actually see much of the mainline imperial military aside from naval personnel. As a result, the Stormtrooper is the undisputed iconic Imperial soldier and is instantly recognizable as such. A director / writer, especially in chopped-down short-form material, has to weigh that against the work required to introduce new uniforms, looks, and information into the story. I'm not saying they shouldn't do that work, but I understand why it is often ignored. You have to start answering new questions about the Imperial military that people will start asking. We actually see more parts of the Imperial military in Rebels than we did in media prior to it, even if it still leveraged Stormtroopers more than was strictly necessary. That's one thing I liked about Solo and Rogue One. They opened the can of worms of all those questions...