There’s a new buzzword in Hollywood: “Shared Universe.” Marvel and DC fans think their franchise of choice created the term, but in reality, Star Wars is the granddaddy of all shared universes. George Lucas loyalists see Star Wars as a kind of hipster blockbuster movie. Why? Because it shared universes before sharing was cool.

With Daredevil and Jessica Jones on Netflix, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and, soon, The Inhumans on ABC, Marvel has quickly become the media’s poster child for all things interconnected. Though it hasn’t gotten as much coverage, Star Wars is taking things a step further.

Star Wars is like a religion. Just like actual councils met to decide which books should be published in Old and New Testaments of the Bible, Lucasfilm Story Group officially made a decree: that all of the old (pre-2014) Star Wars "Expanded Universe" material would be given the non-canonical status of Star Wars Legends. From then on, only the six feature films and The Clone Wars would be considered canon.

In the meantime, however, Disney Lucasfilm has been producing novels, comic books, cartoons and video games, all set within the new shared universe, at a pretty fast clip, and it’s a lot to keep track of, so that’s why we’re bringing you the 32 Major Canonical Star Wars Events Not Shown in the Movies. Read this and you’ll be all caught up on the Star Wars universe in time for Rogue One.

32. Bail Organa is the Puppet Master

The arrival of Bail Organa is long overdue. Though his story has never received much attention, Organa’s influence was felt throughout A New Hope, and with Rogue One, we’ll finally meet the mastermind behind the Rebel Alliance. Though he will hold a lower rank in Gareth Edwards’ upcoming movie (which takes place prior to the peak of his powers), Organa remains the driving force behind summoning Obi-Wan back to the frontlines. Though Leia physically completed the task, Bail was the puppet master behind delivering the Death Star blueprints to the Jedi master.

He’s merely a senator in the narrative of Ahsoka, but Bail Organa still displays a great deal of political clout. While defending the Skywalker clan and tracking down remaining Jedi, Bail covertly assembles the rebellion. Thanks to his secrecy and savvy, Organa keeps his strategies invisible to the eyes of others, while single-handedly mounting the resistance against the increasingly unrestrained Empire.

31. The Siege of Mandalore & the Darth Maul Duel

Of all the major moments left off the big screen, The Siege of Mandalore reigns supreme. Though it has been briefly mentioned in many stories, E.K. Johnston’s novel, Ahsoka, shed more light on the significance of the siege. After Darth Maul and his band of criminals (known as the Shadow Collective) occupied Mandalore, the Republic declared war on the oppressors and sent Obi-Wan, Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker and the 501st clone battalion to lay the hammer down on Maul’s tyranny.

Anakin and Obi-Wan never made it to the frontlines, however, as they were forced to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous. Though these events played out towards the start of Revenge of the Sith, we never got to see Ahsoka lead the charge against Darth Maul. While she and the 501st helped liberate Mandalore, the battle climaxed with a duel between Maul and Ahsoka that saw the Sith Lord narrowly escape thanks to the Padawan’s mercy.

 

 

30. Red Lightsabers Explained

Red has always been a power color. For dark siders and their lightsabers, however, it’s more than a statement of allegiance. While the Jedi have a full cache of colors at their disposal, a Sith has no say in the matter. As revealed in Ahsoka, the crimson colors of Sith lightsabers have a violent genesis.

Kyber crystals have a peculiar sentience that allows them to be revealed to a select few. With a sort of spiritual reverence, they expose themselves solely to those who have been chosen, like fledgling Jedi students at the start of their training. Kyber crystals keep their distance from those on the dark side, however, forcing the jealous Sith to resort to extreme measures. Indeed, malevolent Force users can only use kyber crystals stripped from the corpses of their vanquished enemies. No matter the color of the crystal they steal, it will swiftly “bleed” into red as the Sith harness its power.

29. Why Leia Chose Politics Over Being a Jedi

Though she has been shown to acutely feel the Force, Leia ultimately chose a very different path than her biological father, brother and son. While some have speculated that Leia feared the temptations of the Force (having witnessed its overwhelming power over her immediate family), Leia instead directed her talents to the political sphere rather than the world of the Jedi. By following in the diplomatic footsteps of her adoptive father, the highly influential Bail Ogana, Leia found her calling. Indeed, she left the trials and tribulations of Jedi life to her more willing brother, becoming the fearsome General Leia Organa seen in The Force Awakens.

As she herself reflected, “I was raised on politics, but it never harmed the family.” This statement stands in stark contrast to the dark side of the Force which tore her family apart once, and reared its ugly head again with the betrayal of Ben.

28. The Enslavement of the Geonosians

When construction commenced on the first Death Star, it took place directly above the planet Geonosis. Despite the decades required to build the Empire’s most prized weapon, the Death Star remained a well-kept secret, except to the Geonosians.

After Poggle the Lesser was taken captive by the Republic, he crafted a cunning insurance policy by pledging his drones to the development of the Death Star. Backed by the Rebel Alliance, the Geonosians resisted the encroaching Empire until Darth Vader and his forces brought them down. The Rebels were decimated, and in the fallout, the Geonosians were forced to build the Death Star, embroiled in years of slave labor. As Grand Moff Tarkin himself revealed, “I have picked a likely candidate which will provide us with the raw materials and work force for the project. I suspect the Geonosians won’t see the benefit in this.” They didn’t, and a great many of them died in the process.

27. Anakin Skywalker had a Padawan

Between the time of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker took on a Padawan named Ahsoka Tano. While initially reluctant to be responsible for her, Anakin formed a strong bond with Ahsoka, who was training to become a powerful Jedi. Before she could complete her trials and become a full fledged Knight, however, Ahsoka was framed for murder by a former friend. Due to political pressure on the Jedi from Chancellor Palpatine, she was expelled from the Jedi Order.  

This initiated Anakin’s mistrust in the Jedi Council. Ahsoka’s rejection contributed to sewing the seeds of distrust that eventually allowed Anakin to turn his back on the council altogether, side with Palpatine, and accept the mantle of Darth Vader.

You can find more on this in The Clone Wars animated series and Star Wars: Rebels animated series.

26. Darth Maul is Still Alive

Star Wars fans were thrilled to see a new and exciting villain, Darth Maul, appear in The Phantom Menace. They weren’t so thrilled to watch his premature death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi. As it turns out, Maul’s bisection and interminable fall into the reactor pit was simply a flesh wound.

Several years later, Darth Maul reemerged with shiny new legs, a powerful apprentice named Savage Opress, and a hunger for revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi.  After subverting a group of Mandalorian mercenaries, however, he was captured by Darth Sidious and witnessed the death of Savage Opress. Maul managed to escape captivity and has remained quiet for all Star Wars stories since.

You can find more on this in The Clone Wars animated series and Son of Dathomir comics.

25. The Jedi and the Sith Aren’t the Only Force Users in the Galaxy

Star Wars is famous for its clearly defined struggle of good versus evil. The first Episode VII trailer mentioned “the dark side” and “the light” (as embodied by the Sith and the Jedi, respectively), but there are also some gray areas. Several other force users have been introduced, such as the Nightsisters of Dathomir, who practice a sort of dark side witchcraft using the Force, or the mysterious force wielders encountered by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker on the planet Mortis.

This proves that the Force is merely an energy source, and that the Jedi and Sith are more akin to strict religious groups than anything else. This leaves the door open for alternate ideologies among Force users, like the Knights of Ren.

You can find more on this in The Clone Wars animated series.

24. The Jedi Temple Was Built on top of a Sith Shrine

Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the Temple on Coruscant was built on the foundations of an old Sith Shrine. It has also been revealed that ancient Sith artifacts actually have the ability to possess people that come into contact with them, turning them into a sort of undead slave.

That’s not particularly healthy, nor is it advisable to be in close proximity to the nexus of the Jedi Council. Over the course of several thousand years, the shrine remained active, seeping dark side energy into the temple and clouding the vision of the Jedi Council. This prevented them from seeing Palpatine’s true identity or recognizing the extent of his ruthless plans.

After the defeat of the Jedi, Emperor Sheev Palpatine turned the Jedi temple into his own personal palace and made the former Jedi Council room his own personal chambers. After finishing the interior decoration on the temple, Sheev excavated the long forgotten Sith Shrine.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars novel Tarkin.

23. The Emperor Created Dark Side Warriors to Hunt Jedi

Although Darth Vader was the Emperor’s personal enforcer, Palpatine trained additional dark side warriors to serve as Jedi hunters in the years following The Clone Wars. It has been suggested that long before Anakin fell to the Sith, the Emperor started kidnapping force-sensitive younglings and training them to become dark side Jedi hunters. The true origin of these hunters, formally called the Inquisitors, has yet to be fully revealed.

Some Inquisitors were inspired by early discarded concept art for Kylo Ren, so it’s possible the group will have ties to the Knights of Ren in The Force Awakens.

You can find more on this in The Clone Wars animated series and Star Wars: Rebels animated series.

22. Obi-Wan and Yoda Were Not the Only Jedi to Survive Order 66

Although Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are the only Jedi present in the Star Wars original trilogy, several other Jedi survived the mass Jedi execution at the hands of the Clone Troopers.  Until the early days of the Rebel Alliance, Padawan Caleb Dume managed to escape and live in hiding for years under the name Kanan Jarrus. When the resistance began, he slowly returned to his Jedi roots and adopted Ezra Bridger as his Padawan.

Although Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi order, she remained a light side force user that served a significant role in the founding of the Rebel Alliance. To this day, she carries two white lightsabers to symbolize her lack of Jedi affiliation.

Although Kanan, Ahsoka and Ezra are the only ones we currently know of, there may be more Jedi in the massive galaxy of Star Wars.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, the novel A New Dawn, and the Kanan comics.

21. Exotic Lightsaber Styles Are Fairly Common After the Fall of the Jedi

Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber may be all the rage, but it’s considerably tame compared to other alternative lightsabers. The Jedi and Sith were very well trained with their lightsabers, so it wasn’t common for them to incorporate any frills. Still, that didn’t stop some people from thinking outside the box.

The Inquisitors, for example, all carry double bladed lightsabers with a full circle crossguard. This allows the lightsaber to spin in a helicopter-like motion. This might seem unnecessary and dangerous, considering the acrobatics performed during lightsaber fights in the prequels, but the Inquisitors need all the help they can get. They’re not full-powered force users, so they need a little assistance from their weapons to help them stay competitive.

Ezra Bridger also has a unique lightsaber style. He built a stun blaster into the hilt to give him extra firepower and versatility. As the half-baked Padawan of a Jedi dropout, he charts his own path as he completes his Jedi training on the run.

It would be ideal to use a standard saber, but in the world of Star Wars, circumstances rarely allow for the ideal.

You can find more on this in Star Wars: Rebels animated series.

20. The Death Star’s Superlaser Design Uses the Same Technology as a Lightsaber

The Death Star is basically a massive lightsaber. On a much larger scale, the Imperial superweapon is dependant on the same kyber crystals used in the construction of a lightsaber. Indeed, the process of forging a lightsaber remains known only to the initiated Jedi and Sith, implying the Death Star is actually a Sith inspired weapon.

This proves there was more happening behind the Empire’s closed doors than simple Research & Design. If the empire was developing ways to transform a Sith weapon into a planet-destroying superweapon, who’s to say they stopped there? It’s highly probable that additional dark side research was being conducted. We already know Starkiller Base is a new superweapon in The Force Awakens, but we’ll have to wait and see what else the dark side imperial research discovered.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars novels Tarkin and Lost Stars.

19. The Rebel Alliance Was Far Larger Than Seen On Screen

The original Star Wars trilogy depicted the Rebel Alliance in a massive David vs. Goliath fight against the Empire. The rebel fighters, depicted almost as a ragtag group of mercenaries, seemed to be overwhelmed by their enemy. While the movies focused on the more intimate stories of the heroes in the Rebel Alliance, there were countless heroes, bases, soldiers, and ships whose stories were simply not a part of the scope of the original trilogy.

While the movies hinted at the scope of the Rebel Alliance, the actual size of the battles were far larger than shown on screen. The Battle of Hoth, for example, had several more Imperial AT-AT walkers and an entire squadron of Snowspeeders (Corona Squadron) that were left offscreen.

Come December 2016, we’ll hopefully see an example of the actual scope of the Rebel Alliance. Rogue One is expected to be a full blown war movie set before A New Hope.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars novels Battlefront: Twilight Company, Lost Stars, and Moving Target.

18. Luke is a Rebel Poster Child, but Not Widely Accepted as a Jedi

When the most recent The Force Awakens trailer premiered, people wondered how the Jedi could be so easily forgotten. After all, Luke Skywalker was single-handedly dropping AT-ATs with a lightsaber and explosive charge. He should be a living legend, a household name.

Despite his talent and popularity, however, Luke’s Jedi skills weren’t widely recognized. Most of his training occurred in private and his most impressive feats happened away from the eyes of Rebel troops. That left only a handful of eye-witness accounts that amounted to hearsay, and everyone knows how war stories are exaggerated after the fog of war.

The public opinion on Luke is split. While some people believe he is a proper Jedi, the larger population of onlookers (those not in his immediate circle of comrades) simply scoff at his stories of heroism and blame it on luck.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars novels Battlefront: Twilight Company, and Lost Stars.

17. Han Solo Has a Wife

Han may be a “stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder,” but he seems to have a way with the ladies. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin and destruction of the first Death Star, we find him on a mission with Princess Leia when they are attacked and grounded by a bounty hunter. After chasing them down, the bounty hunter claims to be Sana Solo: Han’s wife!

The Millennium Falcon pilot denies the charges in full, explaining to Leia that the wedding was fake and that he didn’t really marry Sana. It was only a ruse as a part of pulling a con on a gangster. Who knows how marriage annulments, alimony and prenups work under the Galactic Empire. Will the New Republic honor any marriages conducted under the authority of the Empire? Needless to say, Han has some personal issues to sort out if he plans on getting sweet with the princess.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes comics.

16. Darth Vader’s Dark Side Powers Were Barely a Rumor to Imperials, and a Boogeyman Story to the Rebels

Like father like son. As with Luke, not everyone in the galaxy is quick to accept stories of a masked-man wielding magical powers. Instead, most saw Darth Vader as a talented and terrifying leader amongst Imperials. Sure, he regularly force-choked people in front of an audience, but that’s not the type of gossip you want to spread as an Imperial officer.

Vader also preferred the “take no [Rebel] prisoners” approach. So, although there may have been horror stories of him as a Sith Lord, or a Force-wielding menace, his presence was widely denigrated as lore by those who never witnessed his power.

You can find more on this in Star Wars novels Lords of the Sith, Tarkin, and Battlefront: Twilight Company.

15. The Emperor Was Secretly Setting up Stations Outside Charted Space

Sheev Palpatine’s plan to rise from Senator to Chancellor to Emperor is clearly chronicled throughout the Star Wars Prequels, but his political aspirations didn’t stop there. As it turns out, Palpatine was searching for the source from which his dark side power emanated. Conducting his search outside of the known galaxy, Sheev spent years sending teams to establish labs and communications stations in uncharted space.

After the Battle of Endor, an Imperial council was held to determine the course of the Empire. Yupe Tashu, Sheev’s former advisor, urged the other attendees to follow the Empire’s course: “Retreat from the galaxy. Go out beyond the veil of stars. We must seek the source of the Dark Side like a man looking for a wellspring of water." These events may have laid the groundwork for the First Order in The Force Awakens.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars novels Aftermath and Lost Stars.

14. Sheev Wanted to Replace Vader After the Death Star’s Destruction

Although Palpatine spent years grooming Anakin, he didn’t put all his eggs in one basket. In a secret research base near a nebula in the outer rim territories, Palpatine’s personal mad scientist, Doctor Cylo, performed crazy experiments to create human-alien cyborg hybrid warriors that could technologically mimic force abilities without actually tapping into it.

After Anakin’s defeat by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Palpatine considered activating Cylo’s creations as his personal enforcers, but instead provided Anakin with his new cybernetic body. When Vader failed to prevent the destruction of the Death Star, and proved unable to defeat the Rebels at an Imperial weapons factory on Cymoon 1, Vader faced off against Doctor Cylo’s “abominations.” With the force at his disposal, Vader demonstrated his superior strength to the hybrid warriors’ weak imitations.

Vader had already killed Doctor Cylo (who was going by Cylo IV), only for Cylo V to emerge via the resurrection system he had developed for such an occasion. It remains to be seen if anyone else in the Star Wars universe has access to this sort of technology.

You can find more on this in the Darth Vader comics.

13. Luke Gets a Second Lightsaber Between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back

Not long after the destruction of the first Death Star, Luke Skywalker was sent on a scouting mission to locate potential locations for a new Rebel base. During this mission, he met Taneetch Soonta, the niece of a Rodian Jedi Knight, Huulik, who was killed during the events of Order 66.

Although very few people remember the Jedi (and nobody is allowed to talk about them, per Imperial propaganda), Taneetch discovers that Luke is training to be a Jedi and gifts him her Uncle’s old amethyst-bladed lightsaber. Luke dissembles it to learn about lightsaber construction, only to find that the process requires precise control of The Force to reassemble, something he notoriously lacks.

The blade color and construction of the hilt make it clear that these parts weren’t used in the construction of Luke’s green-bladed lightsaber. His second saber was constructed after losing Anakin’s former blade (which makes an appearance in The Force Awakens) when Vader chops his hand off during their duel on Cloud City. The amethyst saber (or at least its components) may have a role to play in Luke’s quest to become a Jedi and rebuild the Jedi Order.

You can find more on this in the Star Wars novel Heir to the Jedi.