Star Wars Has A Canon Replacement For The Yuuzhan Vong

The future of the Star Wars franchise may truly lie in the Unknown Regions, as the latest novel unveils a canon replacement for the Yuuzhan Vong. Timothy Zahn's Thrawn: Alliances introduces a formidable new alien race, the Grysks, who share some similarities with the Vong - and have set their sights on conquering the galaxy.

Thrawn: Alliances is Zahn's second book in the new Star Wars canon, again focusing on the Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn. The chapters are divided across two eras; one during the last days of the Clone Wars, revealing Thrawn's first encounter with Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker, and the second is in the Imperial era. The two stories weave together, revealing a dangerous threat looming in the depths of the Unknown Regions. The Grysks have been watching the galaxy for decades, considering when it is best to act, and actually believed themselves powerful enough to plot an invasion when the Empire was at its height.

Long-term Star Wars fans will find some of the ideas surprisingly familiar; as Zahn has set up the Grysks, they could work as a canon replacement for an alien race from the old Star Wars "Legends," the Yuuzhan Vong. In so doing, he may well have established an important new plot for the entire Star Wars franchise.

This Page: The Yuuzhan Vong
Page 2: Behold the Grysks

The Yuuzhan Vong Were Very Important In Legends

Until the late '90s, the license to publish Star Wars novels had sat with Bantam. The publisher had run a hugely successful range of books, including a number of New York Times bestsellers, but Lucas Licensing decided they wanted a publisher who was more ambitious. They passed the license on to Del Rey, and in 1998 representatives from both parties met with author James Luceno. Del Rey felt that the Star wars franchise needed something of a shake-up, a move away from the same story of light versus dark. A new threat was needed. That threat was the Yuuzhan Vong.

The Yuuzhan Vong were extragalactic invaders, brutal, warlike and believing the galaxy was theirs to claim. Instead of using machines, they had a form of living technology, "shaped" by their bio-engineers in order to be of service. Where traditional Star Wars enemies were essentially PG-13 (it's no coincidence that lightsaber blades cauterize wounds) the Vong most assuredly weren't. They practiced ritual scarification, their equivalent for blaster bolts were thud bugs that embedded themselves in the flesh of an opponent, and they subjected prisoners to torture in the so-called Embrace of Pain. They were a truly fearsome foe, wearing armor that could turn away a lightsaber blade, wielding staff weapons that could match a Jedi blow-for-blow, and piloting living ships with micro-singularities to swallow up enemy fire.

These aliens were featured in the 19-book "New Jedi Order" series, with the Yuuzhan Vong cutting a bloody swathe through the galaxy and even conquering Coruscant. Nobody was safe from the Yuuzhan Vong's wrath; the series kicked off with the death of Chewbacca, and partway through the series the main hero, Anakin Solo, died at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong too. The Yuuzhan Vong were then subtly woven into the broader Star Wars continuity, with other novels revealing that a Vong scout arrived during the Prequel Era and even kidnapped a Jedi. Timothy Zahn's own novels confirmed that the Chiss were aware of the Vong, and were preparing for the war against them. Even the Star Wars comics explored the Yuuzhan Vong.

The Yuuzhan Vong Were Almost Canon

The Yuuzhan Vong, along with all previous Star Wars books and comics released up until that point, were made non-canon in 2014. Disney had faced a difficult decision; should they accept all the accrued weight of continuity offered by the old "Expanded Universe," or should they erase it from canon altogether and start rebuilding the mythology, retaining only the films and TV shows? They chose the latter approach, and in large part it was because of the Yuuzhan Vong.

The "New Jedi Order" range was simply too ambitious, transforming the galaxy so completely that it simply couldn't remain canon. Any viewers who tuned in to a post-"New Jedi Order" movie would be utterly bewildered. Besides which, Lucasfilm didn't agree with the decision to kill off Chewbacca. They believed the beloved Wookiee needed to come back in the sequel trilogy. Once that decision was made, the Lucasfilm Story Group swiftly realized that everything else from the old Expanded Universe would probably have to be discarded too.

Ironically, the Yuuzhan Vong themselves almost slipped through into the canon anyway. Lucas Animation planned a Yuuzhan Vong episode as part of the Clone Wars animated series. It would have seen an early Yuuzhan Vong scout kidnap one of the cast, with the Jedi rushing to the rescue. Unfortunately, The Clone Wars was canceled before a script had been produced. The Yuuzhan Vong were left as nothing more than "Legends."

But now, six years on from Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, they may be returning... in some form.

Page 2: Are The Grysks The New Yuuzhan Vong?

The New Yuuzhan Vong - the Grysks

Timothy Zahn's novel Thrawn: Alliances introduces a brand new alien race, the Grysks, who certainly fit a similar purpose as the Yuuzhan Vong in the new canon. Where the Yuuzhan Vong were extragalactic invaders who cut a swathe through the Unknown Regions before attacking the rest of the galaxy, the Grysks hail from the Unknown Regions. According to legend, they're a nomadic race with no home of their own. It's claimed the Grysks overwhelm their enemies with sheer force of numbers (a common Yuuzhan Vong strategy). Grand Admiral Thrawn doubts this is true; he rather believes they triumph through the use of unfamiliar weapons and maneuvers. Interestingly, Thrawn also suspects they do have a homeworld.

Even the Grysks' tactics are evocative of the Yuuzhan Vong. In the old Expanded Universe, Vong scouts monitored the galaxy for decades before the main attack. Infiltrators like Nom Anor used their ooglith masquers to present as humans, and undermine society. In the same way, the Grysks have apparently been monitoring the galaxy since before the Clone Wars, looking for the right moment to strike. Thrawn believed Grysk infiltrators had somehow undermined the Chiss race, while the Grysks also participated in a plot to undermine the Jedi during the Clone Wars in order to sow chaos and confusion.

Physically, the Grysks are similar to the Yuuzhan Vong; they're humanoid, and Zahn focuses in on their tapered foreheads. Their approach to technology is very different, however, as the bloody weapons like thud bugs and amphistaffs have been dropped, replaced with innovative lightning guns. The most interesting Grysk weapons are unique swarms of micro-droid "insects" that detonate on impact, releasing a chemical that quickly solidifies over and imprisons a target. When it comes to space combat, the Grysks appear to depend on manipulation of hyperspace. They use cloaked micro-gravity projectors to drag enemy ships out of hyperspace, preventing opponents from striking back at them, and potentially disrupting attack strategies. Imagine a scenario where reinforcements can't get to a battle in time because they keep being pulled out of hyperspace; or one where a Grysk fleet secretes itself in one system and barricades itself in, able to launch attacks but not to be attacked in return.

By the end of Thrawn: Alliances, the Grand Admiral has manipulated the Grysks with his customary skill. He drives them back, and even tricks them into believing they were attacked by the Chiss; thus he gives the Empire breathing-space. But Thrawn is confident the Grysks will return.

Will this Unknown Region Threat Return?

In Star Wars, everything really is connected. The Darth Maul cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story proved that; Maul was resurrected in the Clone Wars animated series, and average moviegoers could be forgiven for being taken aback at his surprise appearance. Lucasfilm really do believe in allowing the different mediums to relate to one another, and a plot element in one medium - say, in a novel - can potentially influence the entire Star Wars franchise.

The future of Star Wars appears to be in the Unknown Regions. Chuck Wendig's "Aftermath" trilogy revealed that Palpatine himself was obsessed with the Unknown Regions, and it's been confirmed that Supreme Leader Snoke himself hailed from this distant corner of space. Star Wars: Resistance is set to explore the secrets of the First Order, presumably including their origin in the Unknown Regions. Perhaps most significantly of all, Star Wars: Rebels ended with Thrawn's vessel lost in the Unknown Regions, with Ezra trapped aboard. The series closed with a scene set after Return of the Jedi, with Ezra's old friends deciding to head out into the Unknown Regions in search of him. Everything points to the Unknown Regions becoming increasingly important to the overarching Star Wars narrative - and the Grysks could potentially be a crucial part of Lucasfilm's plan.

The Grysk threat has the potential to be as important to the future of the Star Wars franchise as the Yuuzhan Vong were in the novels. They're a whole new threat, one distinct from the traditional light/dark dichotomy, and their science is still relatively unexplained. The Grysks appear to be motivated purely by a desire for conquest, with a possible secondary goal being resource acquisition, so no doubt the rest of the galaxy is still deeply attractive to them. By the end of Thrawn: Alliances, the Grand Admiral has tricked the aliens into retreating. But he's convinced that it's only for a time. So the only real question is, how will this race return?

Timothy Zahn is signed up for a third novel, so it's possible the Grysks will simply crop up there. On the other hand, though, Zahn has long had a close working relationship with Dave Filoni, the head of Lucas Animation; in fact, Zahn's first new-canon novel fleshed out characters from Star Wars: Rebels. Given that's the case, it would be no surprise to see the Grysks transition over to the animated shows, especially with Star Wars: Resistance likely to explore the Unknown Regions a little. The unexpected revival of The Clone Wars raises the possibility that Filoni will make an adapted version of that Yuuzhan Vong episode, only featuring the Grysks instead. They could even conceivably make the transition to the big screen, transcending mediums just as Darth Maul did before them.