Darth Plagueis: The Canon Edit - A novel fanedit (Released)

DARTH PLAGUEIS: THE CANON EDIT is a novel fanedit designed to bring the iconic novel and its associated tie-ins into Disney’s canon timeline. Version 2.0 is out.

I’ve always loved this book and felt that it’s the most essential piece of Star Wars tie-in media. It contextualizes the entire Prequel Trilogy and discusses themes prevalent throughout the franchise. It should be alongside The Clone Wars as a crucial section of the PT, regardless of canonicity. However, it conflicts heavily with canon in a few major areas. Namely, the origins of Maul and the events surrounding Dooku’s departure from the Jedi Order differ completely from their canon depictions. These sections have been cleverly rearranged and rewritten to make them consistent with canon content such as Son of Dathomir and Dooku: Jedi Lost. The original novel was also interesting in that it heavily references and crossed over with two other novels: Cloak of Deception and Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. Since both novels do not clash with canon, they have been chronologically spliced into Darth Plagueis. The interesting thing is that the canon novel “Tarkin” (also by James Luceno) makes direct references to the events of Cloak of Deception, making its inclusion even more valid. Dialogue additions have been added carefully and with discretion to avoid this being fanfiction and keep the edits invisible. The result is a seamless (very long) epic about the years leading up to the Prequels. If you haven’t read the original novel or read it years ago, I think it would be incredibly difficult to spot where the book has been edited.

NOTE: There is still one contradiction to canon. Veruna’s status as a immediate predecessor to Padme is retained. This is because multiple canon sources differ on this. The Queen’s Peril books describe two Queens ruling immediately before Padme. Tarkin and canon reference books describe Veruna’s term as identical to Legends. The latter canon explanation has been chosen. References to EU Old Republic content have also been kept. Until they do KOTOR content, this won’t be contradicted in any case.

PM sent. Enjoy! It’s a fantastic book. Hoping that James Luceno will write more in canon.

PMs sent.

Nope. It’s a great story, but it’s impossible to fit within the book seamlessly. It’s basically a scene in the book, but from the perspective of Tenebrous instead of Plagueis. It’s also written in a completely different style to Plagueis. Shadow Hunter also has a chapter that overlaps with Plagueis, but it’s written in a similar style to the latter novel. You can almost blend both books together for that scene, making it so it’s impossible to tell where one book starts and another begins.

The best place to read “The Tenebrous Way” would be after Chapter 1.

Restraint and End Game are two tie-ins that aren’t included either. Restraint conflicts heavily with TCW. End Game actually fits into canon nicely, but I didn’t include it in this version. It overlaps with chapters similar to how Shadow Hunter does, so it would work to splice it in. You can read it separately for now if you want to. I may include it in a future update.

First thanks for sharing your work. I looked up the Dooku mentions, i like what you have done.

A quick feedback, i think in Canon, the unifying force has been renamed cosmic force. It is something else you could change in the future. ( only 3 references in this book)

Guiguioh said:

First thanks for sharing your work. I looked up the Dooku mentions, i like what you have done.

A quick feedback, i think in Canon, the unifying force has been renamed cosmic force. It is something else you could change in the future. ( only 3 references in this book)

I did not know that. Thanks for the feedback. There are some other things that I forgot to take out, but they’re minor. I’ll probably update them in a future update. These include a few references to Bando Gora that don’t really fit, as well as a reference to Qui Gon’s former apprentice.

Ooh, I’m interested in this!!! I’m really looking forward to book edits.

Since I’ve read the original Darth Plagueis I would like to have a summarised list of changes!

Sent!

References to Darth Maul’s mother (Kycina) are taken out. Maul’s origin is presented as compliant to the Canon explanation (Sidious took Maul from Mother Talzin who is actually the mother). Dooku leaves the order in 42 BBY instead of at the end of the novel. Dooku scenes in the 34-32 BBY era are rewritten to reflect. Palpatine’s final words to Plagueis are changed slightly to reflect Rise of Skywalker.

The version I’m working in right now will remove some out of place EU references (such as the Bando Gora and Xanatos) and slightly extend the references to essence transfer already in the novel. In canon, Plagueis attempted essence transfer as he died. Sidious also survived post ROTJ with this technique. Surprisingly, there is already a allusion in the existing novel that Plagueis is attempting something when he dies.

Very true. The inconsistencies in that are also more minor, such as references to the Republic comics or a lack of Ahsoka mentions.

I am interested, can you send a link?

Same with me pal. Can you private message me a link to as you worked hard on the project.

New (and presumably final) version of the edit has been uploaded. Out of place EU references have been removed. I’ve been working on something else recently, a fan edit of the Solo novelization that combines it with the EU Han Solo Trilogy. It’s the most ambitious edit I’ve done and I’m very happy with how it’s turning out. Will hopefully get a rough draft of that by next week.

Thanks for this, and i will give your Solo edit a look for sure. Do you have any interest in giving the ROTS novelization a canon clean up ?
(pmed you for the updated link )

Guiguioh said:

Thanks for this, and i will give your Solo edit a look for sure. Do you have any interest in giving the ROTS novelization a canon clean up ?
(pmed you for the updated link )

Sent. I think Darth Zounds has already done a ROTS novelization edit. Here’s a link to that.
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Revenge-of-the-Sith-A-Novel-Fan-Edit-released/id/90896

Hi, loved this book back when first read and it still sits in my head as canon. Would love to have a link please.

tangelo1023 said:

Guiguioh said:

Thanks for this, and i will give your Solo edit a look for sure. Do you have any interest in giving the ROTS novelization a canon clean up ?
(pmed you for the updated link )

Sent. I think Darth Zounds has already done a ROTS novelization edit. Here’s a link to that.
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Revenge-of-the-Sith-A-Novel-Fan-Edit-released/id/90896

This looks like more of a broad fan edit than just an attempt to fit the book into canon though. I’d still be interested in your take.

Can I get a link for this? Really interested in checking it out. First time hearing about a book edit.

Is this an audiobook?

I’d love to read this (and the latest version of Labyrinth of Evil) as well, please!

Hi! Can I get a link to this please?