Following the release of 1983’sStar Wars: Return of the Jedi, theStar Warshype began to fade away, slowly but surely. Over the next two decades, before the prequels would eventually be announced and theStar Warshype cycle would begin once again,Star Warsfans had to rely on a slew of external material to get their fix. From video games likeX-Wingto theHeir to the EmpireThrawn trilogyof books,Star Warsfans found whatever material they could and devoured it, even despite some content lacking the charm and quality of its original source material. But with Disney acquiring theStar Warslicense in 2012, all of this expanded material was firmly taken out of the canon, rebranded asStar Wars Legends.
While this decision angered many fans, with somebelovedStar Warscharacters and story arcsbeing all but wiped from existence, there’s no denying that someStar Wars Legendscontent just isn’t all that great. Further, with hundreds of writers and contributors over the years, the timeline did get pretty muddled. That being said, there were a few handfuls of good ideas in the mix, one of which would make a great plot for the upcomingMass Effect 4.
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Star Wars Legends' Yuuzhan Vong
One of the most infamousStar Wars Legendsstories revolves around a brand-new species named the Yuuzhan Vong and their attempted invasion of theStar Warsgalaxy. Set around 20 years after the Battle of Endor, and the end ofReturn of the Jedi, the19-book seriesStar Wars: New Jedi Ordersees Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi recruits venture out into the galaxy before being swiftly called back to aid in a galaxy-wide war.
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, humanoid gray-skinned creatures known as the Yuuzhan Vong attack a planet on the Outer Rim of the known galaxy. After bringing a moon down onto the planet, killingbeloved Wookie Chewbaccain the process, the Yuuzhan Vong begin a full scale invasion of the galaxy, with Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando all leading the charge against the seemingly unstoppable force.
Over the course of the long-running series, the Yuuzhan Vong are revealed to be aliens from a neighboring galaxy who despise any form of mechanical technology. The Yuuzhan Vong are a masochistic species that prefer to power their technology through organic grafting. For some unknown reason, the Yuuzhan Vong arenot detectable via the Force, though Force abilities do work against them in battle.
Over the course of about five years, the Yuuzhan Vong slaughter about 300 trillion people and almost wipe out the New Republic completely. The brutal war finally comes to an end whenLuke and his Jedi army, along with nephew Jacen Solo, manage to kill the Yuuzhan Vong’s Supreme Overlord, which brings about the surrender of the rest of the species. Following this, most of the surviving Yuuzhan Vong are escorted back to the Unknown Regions of space.
The Yuuzhan Vong are a bit of a controversial sticking point for many long-timeStar Warsfans. For some, theNew Jedi Orderbooks offer a new, darker take on theStar Warsuniverse, and propel the story in directions that had never been seen before. But for others, the Yuuzhan Vong are a little too dark for theStar Warsuniverse, with their masochism and bloodlust belonging more inthe grim-dark dystopia ofWarhammer 40,000than a Galaxy Far Far Away.
That being said, there is one aspect of this series that’s particularly interesting, and potentially changestheStar Warssagaas a whole. Released in 2006, theStar WarsnovelOutbound Flightreveals an interesting little detail which many have theorized could completely change how fans view the Emperor.
Set just before the Clone Wars, this novel by belovedStar Warswriter Timothy Zahn seesPalpatine scheming his way through the galaxy. At one point in the novel, Palpatine reveals to his advisors that he’s seen visions of “dark ships, shadowy figures, and weapons of great power, based on organic technology.” He believes that these mysterious forces have already conquered the surrounding galaxies, and one day, they’ll come for theirs.
When asked when Palpatine will reveal this information to the galaxy, he says not until he has established peace and order across the galaxy, and not until he has created an Empire to defend the galaxy against this threat. To many fans, this small plot detail is enough evidence to flip the entireStar Warssaga on its head.
If Palpatine knew that this threat was coming, and knew that a galaxy-wide army would be the only thing to stop it, then his actions in theStar Warssaga seem a little more rational, albeit still pretty evil. Some fans have gone as far as to say that the Death Stars were only constructed to defend against the Yuuzhan Vong, suggesting thatthe Emperor wasn’t all bad. While this theory is pretty weak, with fans being able to poke holes in it easily, the general idea is intriguing and makes for an engaging twist - one which could be seen in the nextMass Effect.
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How a Similar Plot Could Work in Mass Effect 4
Aside from some general genre similarities,Mass Effectis quite different fromStar Wars. Over just three mainline games, a spinoff, and some novels and comics, BioWare managed to create one ofthe greatest Sci-Fi universes of all time, a universe that some fans believe easily rivals, if not surpasses in some ways, that ofStar Wars.
That being said, inspiration can come from anywhere, and in the case ofMass Effect’s fourth installment, the developers are surely looking to draw from all types of Sci-Fi media to further flesh out the franchise’s universe. The twist that the Emperor may not be the overall villain in theStar Warssaga may be a plot idea that BioWare might want to draw inspiration from.
In theMass Effecttrilogy, the threat of the unstoppable Reapers is always present in some capacity, going from mentions and teases in the first game to being revealed in the second, to being the main antagonistic force of the finale. IncurrentMass Effectcanon, the Reapers are a force that appear every 50,000 years to cull the galaxy so that it can begin anew once more. The only real reason given for this is that the original Leviathan species created a synthetic intelligence designed to preserve life, which, of course, turned on its creators. It concluded that war is an inevitable part of life, so it would stop that from happening by “preserving” organic life at its peak before conflict can arise.
Much like theStar WarsPalpatine-Yuuzhan Vong twist,Mass Effect 4could reveal an even bigger threat to the galaxy, one which the Reapers were actually preparing for all this time, and now, with the Reapers being defeated at the hands of Shepard, this even deadlier foe is able to rise up. It may sound a little cheap on paper to simply introduce an even bigger bad, but with enough clever writing and backstory, this twist could work well inMass Effect 4.
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