Star Wars Books Thread

[Reverend]

Have any of you guys read the new OT novelizations that came out recently?

No, but I have recently starting reading the RotS novelisation for the first time. I'm only about up to where Anakin is being placed on the council but I can already see why it's held in such high regard as it gives a much better window into the character motivations and context for what was going on. I also like how the author wisely just skips right over some of the big action set pieces like the re-entry/crash scene and almost the entirety of Anakin & Obi-Wan's hijinks in getting from the hanger bay to the chancellor. Plus Grevious is a stone cold killer. Much more of a monster and less of a cartoon villain.

That said, I can also already see where it could benefit from an updated re-write. Anakin's resentment at being denied the rank of Master makes much more sense in light of what happened to Ahsoka. Contrary to what the EU authors seemed to assume, Mastership is typically earned once a Knight's first Padawan passes their own trials of Knighthood. In the scene where Mace & Yoda invite her to return to the order, it's implied that they're offering her a Knighthood. When she turned it down, she also (in Anakin's eyes) cheated him out of the recognition he felt he'd earned.
It also informs his resentment and distrust of the council since he'd blame them for pushing Ahsoka away, just as much as he resents Ahsoka for letting him down.

On top of that Yoda is characterised as being much more "grumpy" and distrustful of Anakin than he is either in the movie itself or TCW. It just doesn't feel right.

Then I guess you don't like it then? Why oh why I mean I get so emotional about this-the Star Wars EU made the franchise more than six or 9 or 12 movies. It's worldbuilding was only surpassed by LOTR period.

I'm just so depressed over it.

Why depressed? It hasn't gone anywhere, it's all still out there or in the process of being re-printed and there's certainly TONS of material to enjoy, good and bad. All they've done is just stopped adding to it. Not a terrible idea because from the last few books it was clear they'd long run out of ideas. As much as the Vong storyline wasn't my cup of tea, at least it had a sense of purpose. Everything after that was as much mediocrity and meandering nonsense as the later Bantam books.

Honestly, so far the newer novels are so much better. Not that they've all been masterpieces or anything, but the average quality is certainly higher with so far the worst novels being merely "meh". It also helps that everything feels like it belongs together. The EU's attempts at maintaining continuity was more often than not, disjointed and inconsistant.

 

[USS Firefly]

I don't think that the Order would offering Ashoka a knighthood, wasn't she only 16 or 17 at the time?

 

[Ithekro]

They did though, as they said that she had passed her trails, meaning she was ready to be a Jedi Knight in the eyes of the Council.


Anakin was made a Jedi Knight at 20 after having a very late start as a Jedi.

Obi-wan didn't become a night until nearly 30, but seemed to be a slow learner and was almost passed over from being a Padawan at all.

What I am surprised about is the conflict of signals we get in the old EU and the TCW on the age a youngling becomes a Padawan. Ahsoka was worried people would think she is too young to be a Padawan and tried very hard to prove herself at what age 12? In the novels I think Obi-wan was going to be put to pasture at age 13 because he was passed up too many times by Jedi Masters and Knights. Anakin was too old at 10.

 

[The Wormhole]

How much have you read exactly? The NJO through FOTJ? The Bantam Era stuff? The Republic and Prequel Era stuff?

You say you never read much of it and then say not much of it was good.

Off the top of my head, I read:
The Thrawn Trilogy
The Darth Bane Trilogy
Death Star
Darth Plageuis
Cloak of Deception
Labyrinth of Evil
Death Troopers
Red Harvest
Shadow Hunter
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Kenobi
Dawn of the Jedi
Heroes and Rebellion: Razor's Edge
Honor Among Thieves
The ones bolded are the ones that left any kind of an impression on me. Although I did hesitate about the Thrawn trilogy, while the character of Thrawn is memorable, the trilogy overall is, IMO, overrated.

Come on man people like me were attached to those characters, those events, those placed, I'd invested in it emotionally, financially, intellectually, and arguably spiritually. Your so callous.

Take a page from Star Trek, "all good things must come to an end." It was obvious the EU was coming to an end the moment it was announced Disney had acquired the franchise, though they didn't officially announce their canon policy until a year and a half later. You had time to prepare yourself. And besides, do you think you're the only one who has had to deal with the end (abrupt or otherwise) of a fictional series they were a fan of? We've all been there, we've all dealt with the stages of grief associated with the ends of a TV/movie/novel/comic series and so on. Deal with it and move on, there's plenty of other fish in the sea. And all those EU novels are still around for you to re-read and continue to get enjoyment out of anyway.

Obi-wan didn't become a night until nearly 30,

Is that how old Obi-Wan is supposed to be in TPM? I know Ewan McGregor was in his late twenties filming it, but I was always under the impression the character was supposed to be in the vicinity of twenty or so. Although I suppose having him be thirty in TPM would make him in his 60s by ANH, approximately the same age Alec Guinness was filming the movie.

 

[WebLurker]

I myself like a lot of the Legends stuff. Many of the novels were pretty good, I like a lot of the characters they introduced (still do). Most of the stories still have their entertainment value. I never really found the Old Republic era that interesting (although I do love Knight Errant, to be fair), but the movies era stuff and the post-ROTJ stuff was generally good.

However, for me, it began to run downhill from '99 or thereabouts, esp. with the post-ROTJ timeline. New Jedi Order was okay (although I think the Vong are pretty overrated villains and kinda think they're an imperfect fit in the Star Wars world). But Legacy of the Force was really weak, and Fate of the Jedi is my most hated of all the book series I've read. To be fair, I really liked the stand alone novels that were being produced concurrently, but that was the smaller portion of the output and overall, the Legends line was running out of steam.

So, while I was not initially a fan of the Disney reboot, I've found that I'm enjoying the new tie-in materials a lot overall, in some cases, even more than the stuff Legends had. I consider myself a fan of both, but I think I prefer the Disney version; so far, there's been less weak or uninteresting materials, I much prefer their version of the post-ROTJ timeline, and it's introduced new characters that I'm really invested in.

Take a page from Star Trek, "all good things must come to an end." It was obvious the EU was coming to an end the moment it was announced Disney had acquired the franchise, though they didn't officially announce their canon policy until a year and a half later. You had time to prepare yourself. And besides, do you think you're the only one who has had to deal with the end (abrupt or otherwise) of a fictional series they were a fan of? We've all been there, we've all dealt with the stages of grief associated with the ends of a TV/movie/novel/comic series and so on. Deal with it and move on, there's plenty of other fish in the sea. And all those EU novels are still around for you to re-read and continue to get enjoyment out of anyway.

The funny thing is, even if the full-scale reboot hadn't happened, much of Legends would've been undone with Force Awakens. Even when Legends was canonical, the movies still overwrote them and were always made without taking the tie-ins into account. So, Legends was doomed, so to speak, the moment that a new movie was announced.

I don't blame people for being unhappy with a change in status quo (I've got ones in other franchises that will always gaul me). But I do kind of agree that it's starting to reach a point where the naysayers and "Continue Legends" factions have said their piece.

 

[Ithekro]

Is that how old Obi-Wan is supposed to be in TPM? I know Ewan McGregor was in his late twenties filming it, but I was always under the impression the character was supposed to be in the vicinity of twenty or so. Although I suppose having him be thirty in TPM would make him in his 60s by ANH, approximately the same age Alec Guinness was filming the movie.

They shifted it again on me. Obi-wan is 25 year old during the events of TMP and dies at the age of 57 on the Death Star.

I hadn't remembered that Obi-wan spent a year on Mandalore protecting the Satine. I remembered he mentioned the mission, but not that it was a year long one.

 

[fireproof78]

Why depressed? It hasn't gone anywhere, it's all still out there or in the process of being re-printed and there's certainly TONS of material to enjoy, good and bad. All they've done is just stopped adding to it. Not a terrible idea because from the last few books it was clear they'd long run out of ideas. As much as the Vong storyline wasn't my cup of tea, at least it had a sense of purpose. Everything after that was as much mediocrity and meandering nonsense as the later Bantam books.

Honestly, so far the newer novels are so much better. Not that they've all been masterpieces or anything, but the average quality is certainly higher with so far the worst novels being merely "meh". It also helps that everything feels like it belongs together. The EU's attempts at maintaining continuity was more often than not, disjointed and inconsistant.

This is my attitude towards any EU continuity. The "new" EU hasn't destroyed anything and I still reference an old "Star Wars Encyclopedia." from time to time. I read books from every time period in the universe. Some are good, some are bad. Some contribute to the overall universe while others are mainly annoying.

I personally don't worry about "worldbuilding" in the sense that I expect to see what I read up on the screen. That boat sailed with the PT and TCW. I know that the official stance was that it wasn't canon and it actually made it more enjoyable. It gave a different perspective on my own assumptions (and even GL's) on the Star Wars universe..

That said, there are some elements of the Old EU that I'm glad are not official any more. The Vong is my chiefest complaint, as well as how the Solo kids ended up. Mara Jade is annoying once we get passed the the whole clone Emperor thing, and the way the New Jedi Order ended up. Also, Cade Skywalker

The idea that somehow the old EU is "lost" because of the new canon is confusing to me. It was never official in a way that would make it in to Episode 7. It was there as part of the big sandbox that is the Star Wars universe. So, why not enjoy it?

 

[Set Harth]

Why depressed? It hasn't gone anywhere, it's all still out there or in the process of being re-printed and there's certainly TONS of material to enjoy, good and bad. All they've done is just stopped adding to it.

No, what they've done is decanonized it. That's why some people are depressed. It's not official anymore. It's been retroactively made into pricey glorified fan fiction.

I know that the official stance was that it wasn't canon and it actually made it more enjoyable.

No, the official stance was that it was canon, despite the fact that every day the internet claims otherwise. That was the whole point of decanonizing it, which would have been meaningless if it had been noncanon in the first place.

 

[Ithekro]

Being canon or not does not take one's enjoyment of them away. Nor does it make it fan fiction since it is still licensed by Lucasfilm.

If enjoyment is dependent of a think being canon or not, than reading fiction is not something one should be doing. History is were its at for that sort of thing.

 

[Reverend]

What I am surprised about is the conflict of signals we get in the old EU and the TCW on the age a youngling becomes a Padawan. Ahsoka was worried people would think she is too young to be a Padawan and tried very hard to prove herself at what age 12? In the novels I think Obi-wan was going to be put to pasture at age 13 because he was passed up too many times by Jedi Masters and Knights. Anakin was too old at 10.

Everything about Anakin's training was unorthodox. I think the way it's supposed to work is the Jedi bring in new younglings as babies or toddlers at most, become initiates at around three to five years old when they're placed into clans and expected to be able to pass their Padawan trials between twelve and fourteen. At which point they'd spend about a decade under the instruction of their Master before undergoing the trials of Knighthood. Anakin skipped over being an Initiate and went straight into Padawan instruction, though he still spent a decade with Obi-Wan before being Knighted, though again, at an unusually young age.

IIRC Ahsoka was 14 when we first met her and it wasn't so much that she was concerned that she was too young, just a little touchy about being called "youngling", having presumably only just passing her Padawan trials. There may have been a comment about her age, though unless I'm misremembering, that was mostly just Anakin being quarrelsome.

Some of these ages can be a bit flexible if we assume that not all species mature at the same rate. I mean for all we know about Wookies, Gungi could have been older than Obi-Wan when he underwent the gathering ritual.
But yeah, you're not wrong that the EU was all over the place with a lot things like this. It's one of the reasons that I hope the 'Path of the Jedi' handbook is still the main source of reference since it was the first publication to really codify some details about Jedi training and progression and actually have it make sense.

Being canon or not does not take one's enjoyment of them away. Nor does it make it fan fiction since it is still licensed by Lucasfilm.

If enjoyment is dependent of a think being canon or not, than reading fiction is not something one should be doing. History is were its at for that sort of thing.

Not surprisingly, I've found that the ones most bothered by this are the same people that insisted that the EU was always canon before (contrary to reality) and that crazy tiered system of continuity was somehow supposed to make it all OK.

Ever since the old comics and Droids/Ewoks cartoons I always operated on the assumption that all of this kind of thing was supplementary and never really expected it to affect the movies. I think the only time LF sort of gave the impression that something in the EU was "canon" was the 'Shadows of the Empire' project. Though that was more inferred from Lucas's personal involvement (the extent of which I'm still unclear on) than anything explicitly said by the company.

It's not just Star Wars, I've seen fans of other IPs just just as bitter if not openly hostile at the mere suggestion some book or RPG supplement they spent money on might be "non-canon", regardless of quality.

Maybe I'm strange, but I just don't assign value based on whether or not something is canonical.

 

[Set Harth]

Tell me I'm not one man alone against a galaxy.

Is that an old Marvel Star Wars comic reference? If so: nice.

Being canon or not does not take one's enjoyment of them away.

I'm not discussing enjoyment, I'm setting the record straight on the historical franchise position. People keep misrepresenting it.

 

[Ithekro]

IIRC Ahsoka was 14 when we first met her and it wasn't so much that she was concerned that she was too young, just a little touchy about being called "youngling", having presumably only just passing her Padawan trials. There may have been a comment about her age, though unless I'm misremembering, that was mostly just Anakin being quarrelsome.

I finally was able to watch the Clone Wars film (I'd managed to watch all the episodes, but hadn't seen the film in its entirety yet). Ahsoka was worried she was too young to be a Padawan and wanted to prove she was old enough for Yoda to have confidence in her. It was around the time she sat down and had a talk with Anakin as he was trying to figure out what she had to prove. It was around that time when he finally started training her and quoting Qui-Gon and probably Obi-wan for lessons. Followed by his own teaching of course, which are much more reckless but work.

The Younglings were supposedly younger than normal when they went for their Gathering mission, but that was because of the war and the need to get more and more Jedi out into the field to lead the Clones. One wonders if Kanan was brought in younger than normal as a Padawan, prior to Order 66 of course.

Or course there is the longer standing complaint from back when TMP came out of Anakin being too young (for many reasons) to be a Jedi. But then of course we have Yoda stating that Luke in ESB was too old to start his training as 22. In the days before the PT, it was assumed that Anakin Skywalker was around the same age as Luke when Obi-wan first encountered him as a great pilot that was strong in the force. As that made sense to most people that you'd have a story about an older teen to twenty year old who was a hot shot pilot. So when the slave boy, pod racing 10 year old shows up, the crowd panicked, and then are told even he is too old to be a Jedi. At which point all the question marks were brought up. With AOTC and seeing the younglings being trained by Yoda, the questions started to be answered, but that window between films brought a lot of questions to what was considered known and assumed as logical.

 

[fireproof78]

No, what they've done is decanonized it. That's why some people are depressed. It's not official anymore. It's been retroactively made into pricey glorified fan fiction.
No, the official stance was that it was canon, despite the fact that every day the internet claims otherwise. That was the whole point of decanonizing it, which would have been meaningless if it had been noncanon in the first place.

It was canon right up until GL disagreed with it and put something else on screen. GL didn't agree with most of it, didn't read it, and it didn't influence his considerations of stories one way or the other.

Canon was broken down in to different levels, and while it was "canon" in the sense that it was official and licensed, it wasn't on the same level as the films and never would be.

Semantics? Possibly, but this is a nerd discussion on the Internet

Being canon or not does not take one's enjoyment of them away. Nor does it make it fan fiction since it is still licensed by Lucasfilm.

If enjoyment is dependent of a think being canon or not, than reading fiction is not something one should be doing. History is were its at for that sort of thing.

Thank you. I was about to post a similar thing. There is not a single facet of canon status that makes a story more or less entertaining. There are several ideas that are introduced as canon that I don't like and simply ignore as part of my own enjoyment.

Personal enjoyment is something that no one can take away. I may not own Star Wars or have any say in the canon, and that's fine. But, I do own my reactions, emotions and imagination of reading those stories. And not one single thing can take that away.

 

[WebLurker]

I personally don't worry about "worldbuilding" in the sense that I expect to see what I read up on the screen. That boat sailed with the PT and TCW. I know that the official stance was that it wasn't canon and it actually made it more enjoyable. It gave a different perspective on my own assumptions (and even GL's) on the Star Wars universe..

I think there are enough references that Legends was officially considered canonical. However, I'm not sure if it was of any practical use, as they were functionally ignored for the most part by the movies. There's also the problem that the word "canon" seems to have been used interchangeably to mean both "official licensed materials" and "this really happened" in different contexts.

Fans who were invested in Legends being canon also tend to forget that in the mid-90s, that material was officially considered "quasi-canon" in reference works (which went out of their way to make it clear that the tie-in may or may not be "official "canon). There was also no original canon policy; originally everything just did its own thing. The idea of an internally consistent storyline and timeline in the tie-ins didn't start until the '90s, and even that the start of that, they were up front that this "official continuation" could be disregarded at any time.

So, was Legends canon. Yes, I think it was. But it's also easy to forget that it didn't start that way, was given provisional canon status when the idea was first seriously started, and that Legends being part of the official story was always honored in the breach only.

(It'll be interesting to see if Disney does the same thing. Unlike before, the official word is that everything is canon now, so if they do make a major retcon or ignore something, it'll mean suggest that they didn't really mean it.)

That said, there are some elements of the Old EU that I'm glad are not official any more. The Vong is my chiefest complaint, as well as how the Solo kids ended up. Mara Jade is annoying once we get passed the the whole clone Emperor thing, and the way the New Jedi Order ended up. Also, Cade Skywalker

The idea that somehow the old EU is "lost" because of the new canon is confusing to me. It was never official in a way that would make it in to Episode 7. It was there as part of the big sandbox that is the Star Wars universe. So, why not enjoy it?

Not sure I understand what you're referring to in the bolded text.

 

[Reverend]

I finally was able to watch the Clone Wars film (I'd managed to watch all the episodes, but hadn't seen the film in its entirety yet). Ahsoka was worried she was too young to be a Padawan and wanted to prove she was old enough for Yoda to have confidence in her. It was around the time she sat down and had a talk with Anakin as he was trying to figure out what she had to prove. It was around that time when he finally started training her and quoting Qui-Gon and probably Obi-wan for lessons. Followed by his own teaching of course, which are much more reckless but work.

I took that talk as more of an expression of her own self doubt than actually being technically too young. But then it's not supposed to be a rigid system. A student is ready when they are ready. That they tended to get so hooked up on the rigid formalities is just another (intentional) sign that they Jedi had lost their way and didn't even realise it.

It was canon right up until GL disagreed with it and put something else on screen. GL didn't agree with most of it, didn't read it, and it didn't influence his considerations of stories one way or the other.

I'm afraid that's just not how the concept of canon works. By definition it's a binary state. Something either is, or is not. There's no metaphorical wave function of "possible canon" that collapsed every time Lucas did something new. What canon means is that a thing happened, or a thing exists within that world and that all other entries in canon must respect it as fact. The *only* media that this rule ever applied to pre-Disney was the movies and The Clone Wars series.

The EU was always it's own thing and that tiered system was just a way of maintaining it's own internal continuity (which is not a synonym for "canon", mark you) and was always in a running battle to retroactively keep itself in-line with the new material (that was actual canon) as it arrived. Which is why it quickly became an ungainly mess as it was constantly retconing every third sentence because it contradicted at least five other sources.
It had ZERO impact on the movies or the show beyond begin a source from which to borrow the odd design or concept.

The cold hard fact is that Lucas had very little to no interest in the stories being told in the EU and was happy for them to more or less do as they pleased, within reason. Most if not all of the directives to authors and publishers typically attributed to him didn't come from him at all but from Lucasfilm's licencing department. He did however get to see all the artwork produced, which was about the limit of his attention.

 

[fireproof78]

I think there are enough references that Legends was officially considered canonical. However, I'm not sure if it was of any practical use, as they were functionally ignored for the most part by the movies. There's also the problem that the word "canon" seems to have been used interchangeably to mean both "official licensed materials" and "this really happened" in different contexts.

Fans who were invested in Legends being canon also tend to forget that in the mid-90s, that material was officially considered "quasi-canon" in reference works (which went out of their way to make it clear that the tie-in may or may not be "official "canon). There was also no original canon policy; originally everything just did its own thing. The idea of an internally consistent storyline and timeline in the tie-ins didn't start until the '90s, and even that the start of that, they were up front that this "official continuation" could be disregarded at any time.

So, was Legends canon. Yes, I think it was. But it's also easy to forget that it didn't start that way, was given provisional canon status when the idea was first seriously started, and that Legends being part of the official story was always honored in the breach only.

(It'll be interesting to see if Disney does the same thing. Unlike before, the official word is that everything is canon now, so if they do make a major retcon or ignore something, it'll mean suggest that they didn't really mean it.)



Not sure I understand what you're referring to in the bolded text.

Spoiler: About Mara Jade

Once she killed the clone Luuke Skywalker, she no longer felt drien to try and obey the Emperor's final command. She then joined with Luke at his Jedi Academy, and felt like a bit of a foil for him. I was ok with that, up until a certain point, but when she was killed I just got annoyed and gave up.

I took that talk as more of an expression of her own self doubt than actually being technically too young. But then it's not supposed to be a rigid system. A student is ready when they are ready. That they tended to get so hooked up on the rigid formalities is just another (intentional) sign that they Jedi had lost their way and didn't even realise it.



I'm afraid that's just not how the concept of canon works. By definition it's a binary state. Something either is, or is not. There's no metaphorical wave function of "possible canon" that collapsed every time Lucas did something new. What canon means is that a thing happened, or a thing exists within that world and that all other entries in canon must respect it as fact. The *only* media that this rule ever applied to pre-Disney was the movies and The Clone Wars series.

The EU was always it's own thing and that tiered system was just a way of maintaining it's own internal continuity (which is not a synonym for "canon", mark you) and was always in a running battle to retroactively keep itself in-line with the new material (that was actual canon) as it arrived. Which is why it quickly became an ungainly mess as it was constantly retconing every third sentence because it contradicted at least five other sources.
It had ZERO impact on the movies or the show beyond begin a source from which to borrow the odd design or concept.

The cold hard fact is that Lucas had very little to no interest in the stories being told in the EU and was happy for them to more or less do as they pleased, within reason. Most if not all of the directives to authors and publishers typically attributed to him didn't come from him at all but from Lucasfilm's licencing department. He did however get to see all the artwork produced, which was about the limit of his attention.

I might be misremembering, but my statements were based upon interviews with GL that I had read, as well as LF official stances. The idea of tiered canon is not my own, but what was put forward in those interviews.

 

[Reverend]

I might be misremembering, but my statements were based upon interviews with GL that I had read, as well as LF official stances. The idea of tiered canon is not my own, but what was put forward in those interviews.

Oh I didn't mean to suggest you were making any of it up, just that the word "canon" is often misunderstood and thus misused. By definition, it can't be a one-way street, which is what that tiered system really was. Not a way of picking what was canon, but what was in their ever changing continuity (which I suppose is also a contradiction in terms.)

As for the reality of what Lucas did or didn't chime in on, Pablo tweeted some very revealing facts back in May about just how uninvolved and uninterested Lucas was.

 

[fireproof78]

Oh I didn't mean to suggest you were making any of it up, just that the word "canon" is often misunderstood and thus misused. By definition, it can't be a one-way street, which is what that tiered system really was. Not a way of picking what was canon, but what was in their ever changing continuity (which I suppose is also a contradiction in terms.)

As for the reality of what Lucas did or didn't chime in on, Pablo tweeted some very revealing facts back in May about just how uninvolved and uninterested Lucas was.

That's very interesting. Thank you for sharing. I recalled the interview with GL stating that in his story that Luke never gets married, among other plot points. I found that to be very telling as far as his attitude and goals with the films and TV series.

Also, as a side note, one of my favorite EU characters is Kyle Katarn, hands down. Now, does my liking him in any way diminish due to "Rouge One" showcasing how the Death Star plans were really acquired? Nope. I still think Kyle Katarn is amazing, and think he adds a lot to the story, Legend or not.

 

[Reverend]

Also, as a side note, one of my favorite EU characters is Kyle Katarn, hands down. Now, does my liking him in any way diminish due to "Rouge One" showcasing how the Death Star plans were really acquired? Nope. I still think Kyle Katarn is amazing, and think he adds a lot to the story, Legend or not.

I suppose it helps that "stealing the Death Star plans" is almost entirely incidental to his story. I mean, it's only the tutorial level, no?
But yes, I agree, Kyle not being canon doesn't even remotely detract from my enjoyment of the games. He and Jan are still fun and memorable characters and they kinda/sort of live on in a sense in the form of Kanan & Hera.

Vaguely related aside: While reading the new Ahsoka novel, there's a point where she acquires a ship described only as "a freighter". What made me mentally harumph was a scene where she was said to have landed it inside a Blockade Runner's hanger bay. The only way my brain could picture that unlikely docking was if she was flying a HWK-290 ...which I have only just this second realised has been made canon. Neat!
Seriously though, who labelled that thing a freighter? Is it even big enough to have a cargo bay?!

 

[Ithekro]

Pre-TPM, everything from the Thrawn Trilogy onwards was considered "basically canon" simply because it was felt there was never going to be any more films, so these new adventures was all we had. When TPM came out things changed. There were films again, and the thing that no one really wrote about directly, the Clone Wars, was a possible thing now. Afther that set of movies there had been some major changes and the EU adapted as best it could while moving forwards with the Heroes of Yavin (who had not changed much in the PT) and with new stuff around the new films. Then TCW started and threw a part of the EU books around it into the Great Heap. But the Heroes of Yavin were still untouched by this. Only when it was finally decided there would be sequel movies did the now long line of novels about the Heroes of Yavin post- Endor become "well that didn't happen in this version of events". Maybe cause we never really thought a sequel would be made anymore.

Does it change that the novels exist? No. Does it take away from the enjoyment they caused? No. Will it be difficult to get people who have not read then the read them? I don't know. There is a large potential for confusion now with a large number of novels verse both TCW and TFA. Not so much Rebels as that was an area that wasn't all that explored, and when it was it was via a known character. So far nothing is really off with Rebels verses what we've know before outside of some details that were covered mostly in roleplaying games rather than the older novels.

About the only things we don't know if they happened or not and probably won't because I doubt the canon will shift back to it again, is all the Ewoks materials (the cartoon and the two TV movies). Wicket's adventures on Endor are easily isolated from the rest of the universe and could have happened or not without disturbing the rest of the canon.