This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #9.
New Star Wars comics have brought back a creature associated with the Yuuzhan Vong from the old Expanded Universe - the vonduun crab. The Star Wars Expanded Universe was really launched in 1991, when Bantam published Timothy Zahn's "Thrawn trilogy." These books became New York Times bestesellers, and over the next few years Bantam published a wide range of different books featuring the stars of the original trilogy. Then, in the late '90s, Bantam lost the license to Del Rey, who had a rather more ambitious vision.
Del Rey launched what was, at the time, the boldest initiative in Star Wars history; an ongoing "New Jedi Order" series of books written by a range of authors including the likes of Troy Denning, Aaron Allston, Matt Stover, and Greg Keyes. It moved away from the traditional light-dark dynamic, introducing a race of alien invaders called the Yuuzhan Vong, whose very existence served as a philosophical challenge to the Jedi - because they did not exist in the Force. The Yuuzhan Vong worshiped pain and suffering, and they possessed unique bio-technology that had been genetically engineered by a caste known as the Shapers. Their weapons were strange and exotic - they wielded living amphistaffs, that could match lightsabers and spit venom - and their armor, composed of the shell of a vonduun crab, was tough enough to resist glancing lightsaber blows. The "New Jedi Order" series was positively received, although it's generally viewed as losing its way at the mid-point; it's now considered non-canon, with Disney branding all the old Expanded Universe "Legends" when they acquired Lucasfilm back in 2012.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #9, by Daniel Jose Older and Toni Bruno, has actually brought back the vonduun crabs. The issue focuses on Jedi Master Qort, revealing that he originates from a planet at the edge of the galaxy named Zav Alox. The inhabitants of this inhospitable world are both incredibly violent and born with prodigious strength, essential for defending themselves against their world's greatest predator, the vonduun crab. As part of an initiation ritual, Aloxian children are sent on hunting expeditions to hunt down one of the vonduuns. Should they survive the encounter, the child wears the head of their first kill; Aloxians believe the skull fuses to the head of its wearer, helping to balance out their aggressive natures. Eventually the vonduun skull ceases to grow, and the Aloxian head - still growing - shatters it. This is seen as the moment when an Aloxian fully becomes themselves.
The vonduun crab is a delightfully deep cut into Star Wars lore, and - most amusing of all - this new backstory works perfectly well for both canon (where the vonduun has never been mentioned before) and the old Expanded Universe. There, the Jedi eventually learned the Yuuzhan Vong originated from their own galaxy and had been banished; presumably, they visited Zav Alox on their way out of the galaxy, and their Shapers took samples to engineer.
Star Wars is unlikely to ever bring the Yuuzhan Vong themselves into canon; they're too alien, too different to anything else seen in that beloved galaxy, too brutal and bloodthirsty. The Yuuzhan Vong didn't just kill Jedi - they slaughtered them, tortured them, flayed them alive, and even shaped them. In truth, thematically they were never a great fit for the franchise. But it's exciting to see Star Wars acknowledge them nonetheless and give the Yuuzhan Vong an admittedly minor legacy in canon.
