Fate of the Jedi was the second and last nine book, three author collaboration series written for the Star Wars Expanded Universe, now Legends. Chronologically it is among the last books in the timeline before the discontinuation, with only X-Wing: Mercy Kill, Crucible and the Legacy comics happening after it. In our own timeline it was released between March 24th of 2009 to March 13th of 2012. Unfortunately however, this series is hardly ever talked about within the community, in fact it is probably better know as the series no one talks about. Not because it was bad or forgettable, though you could probably find people who think either of those things about it, but rather because people are almost afraid to talk about it. In fact I am also guilty of this despite having read it myself. However, I think it is time for that to change, and I'd like to be a part of that change by explaining why it hasn't been talked about and why those reasons are no longer relevant.
So as for the why I think that is very obvious. This series wrapped up in 2012, two years later the EU was cancelled. At that time it was generally assumed that the only people that had read FOTJ were the people who were up to date on everything. As it was the last of the big collaborative book series both chronologically and release date wise, most fans assumed that a majority of the fanbase hadn't yet had the chance to read it by 2014. Now while not necessarily required it is helpful to have read Legacy of the Force, New Jedi Order, Dark Nest, and even the Bantam novels to get the full FOTJ experience, and that's a lot of books to read before you can even start on this series. But again that's just a recommendation not a requirement as people have read FOTJ without having read any of those previous series and got along just fine. But people still had that mindset, that you had to read all of those books to get the full story and that was a lot of books. Especially as back when the EU was still being published. If you had come in to it late and wanted to read all of that, you had to do so while also keeping in mind that about half a dozen new books were coming out every year. It was thought that some people were simply too far behind to catch up on the story, and keep up with the new releases. So FOTJ was the one series that no one wanted to talk about, because no one wanted to spoil it for anyone else. But while this somewhat made sense back in 2014, it is no longer 2014. We have had seven years of next to no Legends content outside of one comic book and an Old Republic short story about once or twice a year. Even if there was someone that was behind in 2014, they've had seven years now with next to no new releases to catch up. Legacy of the Force, which was openly talked about with spoilers and all back in 2014 had only been out for 6 years at that point. And that was 6 years with a new book coming out almost every other month. LOTF also had the same prerequisite reading list of FOTJ, with only itself missing from that list, but again that's still dozens of books you have to read to get the full experience. But despite this LOTF is talked about both back then and nowadays. In fact it is even mocked openly these days. And yet FOTJ isn't even talked about. All because the perception was people hadn't had enough time to read it and people didn't want to spoil anything. But that brings me to the point of what in FOTJ is there to spoil? Obviously it has spoilers but what is there in FOTJ to spoil that is on the same level as the deaths of Chewie, Anakin, Mara, and Jacen? All of which are openly talked about within the community, so much so that most people don't even give spoiler warnings when bringing them up, as it is generally considered that these things are common knowledge. The only thing I can think of that's a big spoiler in FOTJ is Darth Krayt's involvement in the finale but even that is common knowledge at this point. You can't honestly tell me that the deaths of Cha Niathal, Akanan, or Callistia would be that much of an earth shattering spoiler to anyone outside of Matt and his 3 alt accounts.
So at the end of the day, I think it is a shame that Fate of the Jedi isn't talked about much within the wider community and that the reasons for it not being talked about are outdated. Yes there is a lot of reading to do for the series if you want the full story, but it has been almost 10 years since this series concluded, and any spoilers that do exist aren't any more special or impactful than the spoilers for other books that are openly talked about. Hopefully we can get over this outdated thinking and give this series the the same level of discussion afforded to the other major collaboration series.
But those are just my thoughts, sorry for the break from the EU by the Numbers Series, I had this idea and had to get it out there sometime. But don't worry the article about the numbers for the EU series is coming out tomorrow so look forward to that.
To see more EU news, updates, and original content about the Expanded Universe, click here!