Is SWTOR still canon?

[Kyneris]

I suggest that some of you actually read through this and other threads and you'll see that there are some significant reasons to doubt that SWTOR can be considered canon from now on.

Such as ?

 

Maybe it will, but we really need to wait for official word. So, please don't tell me things like "don't sweat it" when you don't have any information that I don't have.

I agree with this part, it could still go either way, so it's all more or less speculation until we get official word.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Kyneris
Spelling corrections

[LordArtemis]

I for one am very happy to see that this storyline will not longer be considered canon in any way shape or form. I really loathed the completely ridiculous idea of a "light side Sith" and now it is the stuff of "legend".

 

Legend, of course, meaning no longer considered relevant to the SW universe. This is a VERY good thing IMO.

 

On the other side of the coin, hopefully this gives Bioware even more breathing room to take the story in any direction they wish, since it's all "for fun" type shenanigans anyway now.

 

At any rate, though I feel we lost some noteworthy EU stuff, like Fett (except when he fell YET AGAIN into the Sarlaac pit), Kyle Katarn and the like, we are no longer saddled with Thrawn, the Ewok Adventures, The Crystal Star, Skippy the droid, the Jedi Prince line, Joruus C'boath, Sun Crusher...I could go on an on.

 

And of course, the abomination called "light side Sith". The very name makes me want to kick kittens.

 

Now I can truly say it and be 100 percent accurate...there is no such thing as a light side Sith in the SW universe, period. It is light alignment only...not the light side of the force.

 

As an added note, the only thing that is considered canon at this time...and this may change in the future....is the movies and the Clone Wars television show. That's it.

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/26/star-wars-expanded-universe-including-games-no-longer-canon/

Edited April 28, 2014 by LordArtemis

[ZionHalcyon]

All this stuff that happens over thousands of years before the movies has zero impact. It's not considered anything else but the old republic and it has zero effect on the movies.

 

They never say anything about it because it doesn't matter to them. It's not that it's NOT the canon, it's that it doesn't even remotely matter.

 

SWTOR is canon as creative license given to bioware.

 

Hate to break it to you, but Leeland Chee said the only things that ARE canon is the movies and the Clone Wars series of recent vintage. EVERYTHING else is now no longer Canon.

[Beniboybling]

I for one am very happy to see that this storyline will not longer be considered canon in any way shape or form. I really loathed the completely ridiculous idea of a "light side Sith" and now it is the stuff of "legend".

 

Legend, of course, meaning no longer considered relevant to the SW universe. This is a VERY good thing IMO.

 

On the other side of the coin, hopefully this gives Bioware even more breathing room to take the story in any direction they wish, since it's all "for fun" type shenanigans anyway now.

 

At any rate, though I feel we lost some noteworthy EU stuff, like Fett (except when he fell YET AGAIN into the Sarlaac pit), Kyle Katarn and the like, we are no longer saddled with Thrawn, the Ewok Adventures, The Crystal Star, Skippy the droid, the Jedi Prince line, Joruus C'boath, Sun Crusher...I could go on an on.

 

And of course, the abomination called "light side Sith". The very name makes me want to kick kittens.

 

Now I can truly say it and be 100 percent accurate...there is no such thing as a light side Sith in the SW universe, period. It is light alignment only...not the light side of the force.

 

As an added note, the only thing that is considered canon at this time...and this may change in the future....is the movies and the Clone Wars television show. That's it.

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/26/star-wars-expanded-universe-including-games-no-longer-canon/

If you think SWTOR is going to be able to contradict existing and future canon they I'm afraid your wrong.

[LordArtemis]

If you think SWTOR is going to be able to contradict existing and future canon they I'm afraid your wrong.

 

Well, I dont think that...nor am I certain what gave you the idea that I might.

[Beniboybling]

Well, I dont think that...nor am I certain what gave you the idea that I might.

On the other side of the coin, hopefully this gives Bioware even more breathing room to take the story in any direction they wish, since it's all "for fun" type shenanigans anyway now.

So what exactly do you mean by this, again BioWare can't do whatever the hell they want...

[LordArtemis]

So what exactly do you mean by this, again BioWare can't do whatever the hell they want...

 

It means what it says.....that perhaps not having to match up any longer to EU means more freedom. There are no longer any constraints EXCEPT the movies and Clone Wars show at this time, and any judgements that Disney may make, or establish as canon in the future.

 

So, to be clear, perhaps the great great grandfather of Thrawn could make an appearance, or perhaps they could expand the Mandalorian storyline and ignore prior EU established info. Now this might be possible, before it was not. All former semi canon items are up for grabs I would expect since it now all falls under the legends banner.

 

Hopefully that clears it up.

Edited April 28, 2014 by LordArtemis

[Beniboybling]

It means what it says.....that perhaps not having to match up any longer to EU means more freedom. There are no longer any constraints EXCEPT the movies and Clone Wars show at this time, and any judgements that Disney may make, or establish as canon in the future.

 

So, to be clear, perhaps the great great grandfather of Thrawn could make an appearance, or perhaps they could expand the Mandalorian storyline and ignore prior EU established info. Now this might be possible, before it was not. All former semi canon items are up for grabs I would expect since it now all falls under the legends banner.

 

Hopefully that clears it up.

If SWTOR becomes canon it will have this power, but if it doesn't we have no reason to believe it will be able to contradict any other Legend works. The Story Group still want things to be cohesive.

 

EDIT: An interesting concept though, perhaps a reason for making SWTOR canon.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Beniboybling

[Clarian]

It means what it says.....that perhaps not having to match up any longer to EU means more freedom.

I do think that SWTOR being non-canon gives Bioware more creative freedom. But I think the substance of that freedom is "not being completely subject to the Lucasfilm Story Group" rather than "not having to be consistent with the EU." For one thing, Bioware understands the value of rich lore, and I don't see any reason to think that they would go around contradicting it just because they could. For another thing, as always, there's still some amount of oversight from Lucasfilm, even if they're not stamping everything as canon.

 

To clarify a bit: Say Bioware invents a new character, Revan. The first question is: does he contradict anything in the existing lore, including the expanded universe? I think Bioware always did and still will want to be sure the answer is 'no', and Lucasfilm will double-check that or whatever.

 

But the question that characters in all future games and books will face, is: is this OK for the canon? Do we (the Story Group) want this in the Star Wars universe? Obviously, that's a trickier and less clear-cut question. If Revan had to face that question, would he ever have seen the light of day? Would Bastila? Traya? Nihilus? Vitiate? Who knows.

 

So, my guess is, SWTOR content will still have to face the first question, but not the second. Which means more creative freedom, though I expect Bioware will use it wisely.

Now I can truly say it and be 100 percent accurate...there is no such thing as a light side Sith in the SW universe, period.

There's no such thing as a light side Jedi, either...since the term "light side" doesn't appear in any canon material.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Clarian

[DarthDymond]

There's no such thing as a light side Jedi, either...since the term "light side" doesn't appear in any canon material.

True of the movies, but the opening narration of the Clone Wars episode Altar of Mortis:

[...snip...]The Father keeps a fragile balance between his Daughter, who allies with the light side, and the Son, who drifts ever closer to the dark.[...snip...]

I suspect it appears elsewhere in the show as well, but don't recall any other specific examples off-hand.

Edited April 28, 2014 by DarthDymond

[Clarian]

True of the movies, but the opening narration of the Clone Wars episode Altar of Mortis:

Ah, interesting. I was relying on Wookieepedia: "It is only mentioned by name in other sources from the expanded universe."

 

I always thought it was kinda cheesy-sounding myself...

[Manweth]

If another MMO is developed so soon it would have to be by a studio owned by EA, as have exclusive rights to develop new Star Wars games(except for mobile games) for about 9 and a half more years.

 

Where are EA's MMO teams? All working at Bioware. It is rather unlikely that they'd replace their own MMO with a new trilogy MMO. Not to mention the reason SWG died was because Sony decided not to renew the license(which is hard to afford when you're well under 50k players). There was also another Star Wars MMO running alongside SWTOR that was shut down last month, so the idea that two Star Wars MMOs can't exist simultaneously is false.

 

Unless you expected SWTOR to last 16-17 years, its unlikely that the new movies will do anything but extend SWTOR's lifespan.

 

Calling "that" Clone wars game an MMO is a travesty.

 

And EA has Funcom.

 

Let that nice image stay in your brain for a while, FUncom-butchered SW MMO.

[Arkerus]

Hate to break it to you, but Leeland Chee said the only things that ARE canon is the movies and the Clone Wars series of recent vintage. EVERYTHING else is now no longer Canon.

 

And what I'm saying is that it doesn't matter and it never mattered before. And people have you asked you several times now to produce anything that says that the Old republic whatever is specifically not canon and you have not done so. I read all the articles. They talk about the EU and the way they reference the material they are speaking about all the spinoffs stories during the time of the movies (half of which contradict eachother). SWTOR and the old republic stories are sort of a "no man's land" of story telling in the SW universe because they don't affect anything. They are 1000s of years before the movies.

 

They don't care about the the old republic story lines because it doesn't affect them.

 

And if it isn't "canon" (hate that word) I don't stop playing. I don't cry in the corner. I don't beg Disney to reconsider because its a game. I don't whine about how my life is ruined. Its a game with laser swords and if they say "your laser swords aren't really official" I don't really give a &*%$^.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Arkerus

[ZionHalcyon]

And what I'm saying is that it doesn't matter and it never mattered before. And people have you asked you several times now to produce anything that says that the Old republic whatever is specifically not canon and you have not done so. I read all the articles. They talk about the EU and the way they reference the material they are speaking about all the spinoffs stories during the time of the movies (half of which contradict eachother). SWTOR and the old republic stories are sort of a "no man's land" of story telling in the SW universe because they don't affect anything. They are 1000s of years before the movies.

 

They don't care about the the old republic story lines because it doesn't affect them.

 

And if it isn't "canon" (hate that word) I don't stop playing. I don't cry in the corner. I don't beg Disney to reconsider because its a game. I don't whine about how my life is ruined. Its a game with laser swords and if they say "your laser swords aren't really official" I don't really give a &*%$^.

 

Hey, that's fine. Personally, I don't care that I am playing in the LEGENDS EU - everything is still Star Wars enough to me that I really enjoy it.

 

SWTOR not being Canon doesn't bother me at all.

 

But I will say it likely isn't Canon, because you never know when Disney/Lucasfilm will decide to make a movie in this era, and they want the complete freedom to do so.

[ZionHalcyon]

It means what it says.....that perhaps not having to match up any longer to EU means more freedom. There are no longer any constraints EXCEPT the movies and Clone Wars show at this time, and any judgements that Disney may make, or establish as canon in the future.

 

So, to be clear, perhaps the great great grandfather of Thrawn could make an appearance, or perhaps they could expand the Mandalorian storyline and ignore prior EU established info. Now this might be possible, before it was not. All former semi canon items are up for grabs I would expect since it now all falls under the legends banner.

 

Hopefully that clears it up.

 

It also means they can reintroduce Thrawn in a different manner and with a different name into the official EU now.

[Arkerus]

Hey, that's fine. Personally, I don't care that I am playing in the LEGENDS EU - everything is still Star Wars enough to me that I really enjoy it.

 

SWTOR not being Canon doesn't bother me at all.

 

But I will say it likely isn't Canon, because you never know when Disney/Lucasfilm will decide to make a movie in this era, and they want the complete freedom to do so.

 

Yep. Its just creative license at this point. I just don't see any official ruling that THE OLD REPUBLIC as it stands is some banished creature that is definitely not canon. They didn't even touch on it. And yes, if they ever want to do a old republic movie they will stomp all over whatever they want. I agree. They will do whatever they want.

 

I just don't know if they will ever do one because the rest of the human population (outside of star wars geeks) has no idea what TOR is.

[AlaricSevGirl]

I, for one, think this is awesome. SWTOR can now put Zeltrons in the game as a playable race...woot!

 

Honestly, I was a little ticked too. Revan is the best story/character in the EU. I'd hate to see that go away. He epitomizes the good and evil intrinsic to the Star Wars universe.

 

On the other hand, I'd like to see Bioware stretch their wings and give us more and with it not being Lucas canon, they can. One more thing, Lucas is ...how do I say this...it's good he sold out to Disney. Star Wars needs a company behind it that will bring balance to the force.

[Apophis_]

So... only speculation. And a lot of confusion, especially I saw that on Reddit in past 2 days.

 

It really doesn't matter how anyone understood SWTOR in the past. It was part of Expanded Universe, yes, and for me it was part of one canon, but it's not important right now. Everything from now on, all upcoming novels, comics and games will be part of one canon, there is no "EU".

 

Also, there is no difference between "pre-RotJ Era" and "post-RotJ Era", it's just something they mentioned because of Episode VII. All books, no matter when set, are now labeled as "Legends", here are examples:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/13990483556_e12a6dc25d_c.jpg and https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/13990482356_79070bc0e0_c.jpg

 

SWTOR is now considered as "Legends", but it's an ongoing project. They cut an ongoing trilogy, and labeled 2 first books as "Legends", but last one is now considered as part of one-true-true-new-canon. That could mean, that anything until now related to SWTOR is non-canon, but any future expansions and patches are part of one canon. But it just creates bigger mess.

 

Why I care? Because I care about continuity, I love Star Wars, and I know EU. Expanded Universe for me is more important than movies. Episodes were just something that introduced me to this larger world. I love when there are references to other projects all over books that are not set in same Era. Hell, Luke was on Korriban and Dromund Kaas, I thought it was awesome!

 

Sure, they don't have to create problems with SWTOR, but if this game is labeled as "Legends" now, I just don't care, because it is as important as adventures of my other favorites characters like Jaina Solo, which are just "an inspiration" now.

 

And also I want things to be clarified. SWTOR as ongoing project, yet labeled as "Legends"? Something is wrong with that. Easy question - easy answer, right? I don't trust Lucasfilm anymore, because I basicly own every book ever released, and they are just irrelevant (but hey, maybe they are telling true and they will use those characters and basic concepts and all? but I don't know that until Episode VII), so I want to know if the game I play is also irrelevant for future Star Wars projects.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Apophis_

[JediMasterAlex]

So... only speculation. And a lot of confusion, especially I saw that on Reddit in past 2 days.

 

It really doesn't matter how anyone understood SWTOR in the past. It was part of Expanded Universe, yes, and for me it was part of one canon, but it's not important right now. Everything from now on, all upcoming novels, comics and games will be part of one canon, there is no "EU".

 

Also, there is no difference between "pre-RotJ Era" and "post-RotJ Era", it's just something they mentioned because of Episode VII. All books, no matter when set, are now labeled as "Legends", here are examples:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/13990483556_e12a6dc25d_c.jpg and https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/13990482356_79070bc0e0_c.jpg

 

SWTOR is now considered as "Legends", but it's an ongoing project. They cut an ongoing trilogy, and labeled 2 first books as "Legends", but last one is now considered as part of one-true-true-new-canon. That could mean, that anything until now related to SWTOR is non-canon, but any future expansions and patches are part of one canon. But it just creates bigger mess.

 

Why I care? Because I care about continuity, I love Star Wars, and I know EU. Expanded Universe for me is more important than movies. Episodes were just something that introduced me to this larger world. I love when there are references to other projects all over books that are not set in same Era. Hell, Luke was on Korriban and Dromund Kaas, I thought it was awesome!

 

Sure, they don't have to create problems with SWTOR, but if this game is labeled as "Legends" now, I just don't care, because it is as important as adventures of my other favorites characters like Jaina Solo, which are just "an inspiration" now.

 

And also I want things to be clarified. SWTOR as ongoing project, yet labeled as "Legends"? Something is wrong with that. Easy question - easy answer, right? I don't trust Lucasfilm anymore, because I basicly own every book ever released, and they are just irrelevant (but hey, maybe they are telling true and they will use those characters and basic concepts and all? but I don't know that until Episode VII), so I want to know if the game I play is also irrelevant for future Star Wars projects.

 

I'm in full agreement with you. It certainly is confusing. I think it would be nice if they offered us some clarification as soon as possible, because the answers are not self-evident.

[GrandLordMenace]

The Lucasfilm Story Group vetted SWTOR as canon officially, because the GSF credits INCLUDE the Lucasfilm Story Group. Therefore, if they are credited, SWTOR is approved by the story group, and is therefore canon. We can rest easy for now.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucasfilm_Story_Group

Edited April 28, 2014 by GrandLordMenace

[Arilou_skiff]

Also, there is no difference between "pre-RotJ Era" and "post-RotJ Era", it's just something they mentioned because of Episode VII. All books, no matter when set, are now labeled as "Legends", here are examples:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/...2a6dc25d_c.jpg and https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/...070bc0e0_c.jpg

 

One of the most interesting cases: There's apparently a series where the up-to-now released books are now "Legends" but the upcoming book in the same (set during the movie timeframe, IIRC) are now going to be canon... It's the DCNU all over again *sigh*

[DarthDymond]

The Lucasfilm Story Group vetted SWTOR as canon officially, because the GSF credits INCLUDE the Lucasfilm Story Group. Therefore, if they are credited, SWTOR is approved by the story group, and is therefore canon. We can rest easy for now.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucasfilm_Story_Group

All throughout SWTOR's existence, they have had to get approval from LucasArts for every bit of content they put in the game (I believe at a Cantina event tour they even said that included which pieces of armor they were allowed to put in the CM). Once the Story Group was formed, and before the Legacy/Canon system was even set up, it probably made sense to have the Story Group take over the responsibility of vetting that content.

 

If SWTOR is "Legends" it is still going to fall to some Continuity Team to make sure it remains consistent with the rest of the Legends-verse, and the Story Team (while their main responsibilities will be keeping things in the Canon-verse consistent) is probably going to have that as one of their jobs too.

 

I really don't think that the Story Group being credited for work they did before there was even such a thing as "Legends" is proof-positive that SWTOR is part of the new Canon.

 

They may end up making it Canon, but my money is on it being a Legends work that is grandfathered in and allowed to continue within that separate continuity.

Edited April 28, 2014 by DarthDymond

[ZionHalcyon]

The Lucasfilm Story Group vetted SWTOR as canon officially, because the GSF credits INCLUDE the Lucasfilm Story Group. Therefore, if they are credited, SWTOR is approved by the story group, and is therefore canon. We can rest easy for now.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucasfilm_Story_Group

 

 

Leland Chee is the head of that Group, and Leland Chee says anything NOT the movies or the clone wars is now LEGENDS and no longer a part of official continuity.

 

So guess what?

 

SWTOR is LEGENDS now.

 

Time for you to stop being in denial.

Edited April 28, 2014 by ZionHalcyon

[demotivator]

Yes. I was hoping Ep 8 would be a movie adaptation of The Crystal Star, with Christopher Walken as Hethrir and Rosie O'Donnell as Waru.

 

Now my dreams are shattered.

 

The thing is that many people - myself included - don't want the sequels to be simple adaptations to the screen of existing novels. Known material would have been nothing but a borefest especially when the movies have always been about new content.

[DarthDymond]

The thing is that many people - myself included - don't want the sequels to be simple adaptations to the screen of existing novels. Known material would have been nothing but a borefest especially when the movies have always been about new content.

^ Didn't get the joke.

(Crystal Star is pretty universally held to be a terrible novel even by EU die-hard fans... although Christopher Walken as Hethrir actually does sound kinda cool lol)

Edited April 28, 2014 by DarthDymond