logo Sign In

What if the prequels were designed to match the old Expanded Universe and the Original Trilogy?

Author
Time

So I started to toy with the idea of a an alternate version of the prequels based on everything we knew about the PT before the actual PT and the '90s EU, stories like Thrawn, Dark Empire etc. These are some general ideas I had and wanted to get feedback, the reimagined saga which will match everything we knew in the OT and the Pre-PT lore. (I love the PT, this is just a possible alternate version of them if George was using the old EU as a blueprint)

Anakin Skywalker

Originally a 19-year-old orphan on the Planet of Corellia, Anakin (Nicknamed “Kane”) is an idealistic young man and a Pilot who doesn’t have friends besides Owen Lars and Beru. He is bullied by the local bullies and has similar character traits to that of Luke in Episode 4. When Obi-Wan arrives in Corellia, he instantly shows interest in the young Anakin after noticing his Piloting skills. Obi-Wan is amazed at how strongly the Force is within Anakin, and the two share similar ideals. Obi-Wan offers Anakin to fight alongside him in “The Clone Wars”. Owen doesn’t want his friend to join this crazy wizard on a “damn fool idealistic crusade”, but Anakin is not listening to him and joins Obi-Wan, who nicknames him “Skywalker”. During the war, Anakin became “The best Star Pilot in the Galaxy and a cunning warrior. And he was a good friend”, a hero of the Old Republic, facing the evil Clones of the “Dark Worlds Alliances” and achieved fame.

Due to the horrors of the war, Anakin became from the kind, innocent young man from Corellia to something else. The more battles he won, the more injuries he sustained, andy started to lose organs, becoming “more machine than man”. After his home planet was nearly destroyed, he started to adopt fascists and authoritarian methods and ideology believing at in “all meanings possible” tactics, inspired by his new ally, President Palpatine.

He became ruthless, aggressive, and cold, willing to slaughter anyone who would stand in his way, in order to end the chaos in the galaxy. Deciding that the War should end at all costs, Anakin betrayed the Jedi Order and joined forces with President Xon Palpatine, he became a Dark Jedi and slowly started to hunt down the Jedi Knights one by one, in a long and brutal campaign, believing it is the right thing to do to end the War and bring peace. Obi-Wan eventually confronted Anakin, which led to a tragic showdown between the two that resulted in Anakin falling into a volcano pit and becoming Darth Vader.

Since we know Lucas likes to take inspiration from classic myth and other fiction stories, Anakin is basically Arthur and Lancelot merged into one. He is a classic “Hero’s Journey” at the beginning, and is inspired by characters like Michael Corleone.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

The last Apprentice of the Legendary Master Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a brash and arrogant, but wise and balanced Jedi Knight. During a mission on Corellia, Obi-Wan encounters the young Anakin and takes him under his wing after being impressed by the young man’s talents. Obi-Wan served the House of Organa during the war, fighting side by side alongside Antilles Organa, the viceroy of Alderaan. Obi-Wan believed he could train Anakin just as well as Yoda, but that resulted in Anakin becoming a ruthless fascist and a mass murderer who kills innocents to achieve his goals. Obi-Wan eventually learned from his mistakes too late, as Anakin was too far gone which led to their tragic showdown. Obi-Wan is the brother of Anakin’s best friend, Owen Lars, who is jealous of Obi-Wan for being a Jedi.

Nellith Arcadia

Lady Nellith Arcadia is a member of the Alderaanian aristocracy, she is a compassionate, altruistic, and idealistic young woman, an individual with the heart of a true Jedi. She wanted to help others and was extremely empathetic. She was originally supposed to marry Antilles Organa, but the wedding was canceled as she fell in love with the young Anakin. During the War Nellith joined the Republic forces to protect those in need. Her parents eventually allowed her to marry young Anakin (Like Michael and Apollonia). Her political views clashed with that of Anakin, and as she noticed his descent towards darkness she started to drift away from him. She eventually noticed that Anakin is becoming weird in home, and eventually discovers the horrible truth: Anakin is hunting down the Jedi Knights. She broke up with him but Anakin tried to get her back by force, she rejected him and went into hiding. Unbeknownst to Anakin, Nellith was pregnant with his young child.

Starkiller

A mysterious dark-side warrior who was raised in the “Dark Worlds”, Starkiller is the Apprentice of the “Emperor”. He leads the Clone Army against the Republic and develops a grudge against Anakin. He is a brilliant and cunning military strategist, fanatic supporter of the Dark Side and a ruthless Jedi killer who also has a political agenda of his own. He has similar characteristics to that of Thrawn and Sinestro and is loosely inspired by Napoleon.

Supreme Master Bendu (An allegory to Dumbledore with Jorus C’baoth design)

The first Apprentice of Master Yoda and The Leader of the Jedi Knights takes the place of Yoda (who is only mentioned, never seen). He is pretty much an allegory to Jorus C’baoth and Albus Dumbledore as the wise Jedi Master.

Prince Antilles Organa

The Prince of Alderaan, the Leader of the House of Organa, and the candidate of the Alderaanian Party for Presidency. He is a space JFK, charismatic and charming, an older brother-esque figure, a mentor to Nellith, and a friend of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He is the political rival of Xon Palpatine and knows exactly what he is up to. He eventually decides to join the War efforts to protect his people and helps to form the rebel alliance alongside the House of Organa.

Xon Palpatine / The Emperor (Lucas likes to take inspiration from politics and based Palpatine on Richard Nixon. Ni-Xon)

Since we know Lucas likes to take inspiration from real-life politics (for example Vietnam war), this trilogy is a criticism of America before Vietnam, Watergate, and Reagan’s Capitalism, Therefore, Palpatine will be a mix of Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Xon (Nixon. Ni-Xon) Palpatine is secretly an ancient dark-side wizard who lived for generations and possesses Clone bodies that will contain his soul. He is the ancient rival of Master Yoda. He is at first the candidate of the “Imperial Party” for Presidency and is known for his populist rhetoric and authoritarian ideology. He eventually becomes President after his team of officials sabotages the campaign of Antilles Organa and rigs the election, and as the trilogy progresses he slowly corrupts the Republics from within alongside the Imperial officers, who are his servants. He allows the chaos in the galaxy to spread, which eventually allows him to take all the power in the Republic to himself. Palpatine is a member of the line of Dark Side Emperors and he is the last Emperor of the Dark Side. He is the mentor of Starkiller and leads the Clone Masters

Tarkin

One of the members of the Imperial party who works under Palpatine and helps him to corrupt the Republic.

Jedi Knight Mace Windu

A Jedi Knight who serves the House of Organa alongside Obi-Wan

Governor Atha Prime

The Leader of the Republic’s rivals, the “Galactic Alliances”. He is a Clone Master who Seeks to bring new order to the Galaxy and has a similar role to that of Tarkin. He is loosely based on Cherchenko and secretly works with Palpatine until is betrayed by him

Jaster Mereel

Young and unstable Clone in the Dark Worlds Alliances’ Clone Army who becomes a bounty hunter.

Antilles’ father who is hesitant about forming the Rebel Alliance at first.

There will be Planets that will be similar to that of the OT and meant to be memorable like them, for example The Republic capital of Coruscant, Had Abbadon, Anakin’s home planet of Corellia, Alderaan, and more. This planets will introduce new memorable races like how Endor introduced the Ewoks.The Clone Wars is an allegory to the Cold War and WWII, The Republic are the US while the “Galactic Alliances” are the soviet union. The Republic is using human fighters while the Galactic Alliances are using unstable Clones much like how the Thrawn trilogy described. The Clones are created by the Clone Masters.

The first movie is named “The Beginning” and introduces us to Anakin and his hero’s journey, the beginning of his training, and we are introduced to the rest of the supporting cast and the War.

The second movie is named “The Clone Wars” which shows us Anakin’s slow fall to the Dark Side and becoming scarred by the War while developing a romance with Nellith, the Republic’s fall to fascism, and Obi-Wan’s struggles. Anakin defeats Starkiller, has a fallout with Obi-Wan and becomes Palpatine’s apprentice at the end.

The third movie is named “Rise of the Empire”, and takes place 5 years after EP2. Anakin hunts down the Jedi Knights one by one and leads the campaign against them while Obi-Wan tries to stop and redeem him.

The Clone Wars are multiple wars between the Republic and the Clones that took place 35 years before Episode 4 and 15 years before EP1. The Jedi Knights are not monks but are more Arthurian Knights and they can have children. They are dressed more like how Luke was dressed in Episode 6 or like how the Jedi were dressed in the Expanded Universe.

Author
Time

screams in the void said:

dude , it’s great that you want to discuss this topic , it is an interesting question and one that has popped up on these boards over the years …but how many times are you going to post the same basic topic in multiple threads ?

Sorry, just wanted it to get more attention I guess

Author
Time

I love the idea, and it seems something that would get more attention and some momentum if done as a comic book or animated short, or something similar?

Still think it is a shame that Lucasfilm won’t allow authors to continue any of the Legends era stories (pre-2014, that goes against their new canon, which they’ve already gone against themselves on a number of occasions).

“The thing about Star Wars is that there’s one universe” & “Everyone wants to know stuff, like, where did Mace get that purple lightsaber? We want to establish that there’s one and only one answer” - Leland Chee, Continuity Database administrator for Lucasfilm, aka ‘Keeper of the Holocron’, 2008.

Author
Time

Your synopsis is much closer to how I always imagined the Prequels than what we actually got. The prominence of Alderaan in the narrative, Anakin’s love interest as an Alderaanian princess/aristocrat, the main villain getting killed by Anakin at the end of Episode 2 and acting as a catalyst for Anakin’s fall… all of that is what I imagined the Prequels would be, and arguably, is much closer to what was implicitly suggested by the tidbits of backstory mentioned in the OT.

Lady Nellith Arcadia is a member of the Alderaanian aristocracy, she is a compassionate, altruistic, and idealistic young woman, an individual with the heart of a true Jedi. She wanted to help others and was extremely empathetic. She was originally supposed to marry Antilles Organa, but the wedding was canceled as she fell in love with the young Anakin. During the War Nellith joined the Republic forces to protect those in need. Her parents eventually allowed her to marry young Anakin (Like Michael and Apollonia). Her political views clashed with that of Anakin, and as she noticed his descent towards darkness she started to drift away from him. She eventually noticed that Anakin is becoming weird in home, and eventually discovers the horrible truth: Anakin is hunting down the Jedi Knights. She broke up with him but Anakin tried to get her back by force, she rejected him and went into hiding. Unbeknownst to Anakin, Nellith was pregnant with his young child.

This is awesome and really seems like the obvious way Anakin’s love interest should have been implemented. I still can’t fathom why Lucas drifted so far off course. Somehow we ended up with a romance between a 10 year old boy and Natalie Portman