Hello there everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Brennan and I’m an EU fan who operates the YouTube channel Quinlan Vos. After the new Star Wars EU Novel, Supernatural Encounters released, I decided to make YouTube videos breaking down all the easter eggs, references, and connections in a section by section series of analysis videos. To do this, I had to write extensive scripts for the videos. Rather then throw the scripts  immediately out, like I do with my other video scripts, I contacted Mr. Matt Wilkins, to ask if he wanted to throw these scripts up on the site with my notations and script breaking down the new book. And to my delight, he thought it was a cool idea. So here is the first of the text version of my video breakdown series. Hope you guys enjoy! Welcome to the video script for Episode 1 of Brennan’s Breakdowns of Star Wars Supernatural Encounters. A series where I go through the 1,050 page behemoth, chapter by chapter, and point out every reference and easter egg I spot in the book. This series is going to take a long time and a ton of research and editing, so I hope you will enjoy the journey we are about to embark on. Before we go any further I will mention the obvious: Spoilers for Supernatural Encounters, so if you want to read Supernatural Encounters without knowing any of the connections or spoilers, stop right now, and come back after you’ve completed the first portion. Before we delve into the text itself, let’s start off by talking about what Supernatural Encounters is. I’ve done a few videos on the channel in the past about Supernatural Encounters, so I expect everyone here will know what it is, but just in case, here’s what Joe Bongiorno wrote about the behind the scenes history of the work: -What's the behind-the-scenes history of the Encounters duology? "Cult Encounters of the Star Wars Universe" and “Supernatural Encounters of the Star Wars Universe” were originally intended to be published as articles in Star Wars Gamer magazine, as followups to "The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Marvel Series" in Star Wars Gamer (2000), an in-universe article Rich Handley (my co-author of Cult Encounters) and I wrote for the first issue of the magazine, with illustrations by Joe Corroney. Although Rich and I received the greenlight from Lucasfilm, only “Cult Encounters” was far enough along when Star Wars Gamer ended in 2002. They were later conceptually reworked as "Cult Encounters: Excerpts from the Last Days of Arhul Hextrophon" and Supernatural Encounters: The Trial and Transformation of Arhul Hextrophon, novellas that had been intended for publication on the Star Wars Hyperspace service, a Lucasfilm exclusive content initiative for which several articles, novellas, and short stories had been commissioned, such as Rich Handley's “Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array” in 2008. The framework of Supernatural Encounters was first written at the end of 2007. Pablo Hidalgo, an old colleague from my West End Games (and SWFA) days, who was then in charge of the Star Wars site, approved it for publication on Hyperspace. I signed a licensing agreement and a tax form and proceeded. A work of this nature--involving the ancient past--required a lot of work, research, and editing to make sure everything was right, and I was given the time time to continue working on the manuscript until it was put on the schedule. Work on Supernatural Encounters was yet ongoing when, in 2010, it was abruptly announced that the new management at LFL were discontinuing Hyperspace. Since CE and SE were never cancelled, it was hoped that they would find a new home elsewhere and I continued working on the manuscript. In the interim, creations original to the Encounters duology were incorporated into other works by my colleagues. Ampotem Za was added in the 2007 Hyperspace article “Aliens of the Empire,” by Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley. The Rozzum and Typhojem found their way into the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide and Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, by Dan Wallace. Then, in late 2015, Rich Handley and I approached Lucasfilm regarding the Encounters duology, as they had expressed interest in publishing the works on the new Star Wars Blog. Matt Martin (of the Lucasfilm Story Group, who then ran the site) and Dan Brooks (who ran the Blog) approved the works for publication, with the plan being to publish them in parts due to the length of Supernatural Encounters. I suggested an alternative means: posting them on my personal website as Abel G. Peña had done with SkyeWalkers, which had been published earlier that year. They could then be linked to or embedded in the Blog. They approved this and my plan to further edit the works over the coming months to ensure they were up-to-date. And here’s what he said about its licensing: Yes; I filled out the requisite legal documents (a CA-587 form, which is called a Non-Resident Withholding Allocation Worksheet and W-9 tax form) when the stories were first approved for publication by Pablo Hidalgo, the same licensing process I went through for my previous contributions to the Expanded Universe. There isn't any Lucasfilm licensing process beyond this.  The 2008 and 2013 emails between me and Lucasfilm which attest to the veracity of this can be read here. Now that we have an in depth understanding of what Supernatural Encounters is, from its original conception as a short story novella, that has now blossomed into a 1,050 page epic odyssey; let’s delve into the actual text. Before we get to Chapter 1, or even the prologue, first we have to take a look at the Introduction, which encompasses pages 12-14. We start with a paragraph quotation from an unspecified date, I assume a quotation from ancient times, that reads: “Over the Spirits of Mortals spread the Mantigrue Wings of Colossal Monsters and all manner of murky things that prey upon the heart and soul and body. Yet it may be, in some far day, the Shadows shall fade and their Dark Father be chained forever in his Abyss. Till then, Mortals can but stand up stoutly to the monsters in their own hearts and without, and with the aid of the Supreme Maker, he may yet triumph.” From The Teachings of the Dai Bendu, by Brother Rowade. In this paragraph we get our first reference, with the mention of the Mantigrue creature which are also known as Condor Dragons. The Mantigrue originally appeared in The Adventures of Teebo: A Tale of Magic and Suspense picture book, afterwards appearing in the Ewoks cartoon and in the Galaxies MMO video game. The Mantigrue is a creature native to Endor, so it is interesting that brother Rowade would be aware of an obscure Endorian creature for his analogy. We also get a reference to the Order of Dai Bendu, an ancient sect of Force Users who were precursors to the Jedi Order. The Order was founded before 37,453 BBY; and appeared in many EU sourcebooks as well as a prominent spot in the Dawn of the Jedi comic book series. Moving onto the true beginning Introduction of the book, we jump into 38 ABY, 2 years after the end of the Dark Nest Trilogy with the book’s introduction. An introduction that is in-universe, as it is revealed to be Mammon Hoole’s 2 page introduction to the history of Arhul Hextrophon’s in-universe writings and memoirs about his experiences, titled “Introduction to the Expanded Edition”. This is another amazing reference, as Mammon Hole is a main character featured in the Galaxy of Fear books who popped up in a ton of source material. A renowned Shi’Ido geneticist Hoole has an incredibly in-depth historical knowledge of the galaxy. The man he writes about, Arhul Hextrophon, the main protagonist of Supernatural Encounters is a character that was first featured in West’s End Games Star Wars Sourcebook. Arhul would later go onto appear in further West End Games material, shown to be a in-universe writer and avid historian; before Leland Chee retroactively named him as a previously unidentified character in the original Star Wars film, A New Hope. A Rebel who was seen during the Medal Ceremony at the end, played by Nick Joseph. Moving further into Hoole’s introduction, he describes the history of historian Arhul Hextrophon’s writings, explaining their origin, and how they were written and revised at 3 different times, after Arhul’s trip to Otherspace 3 years prior in 35 ABY. The original writing, shaving of content, and then reapplication of cut content from Arhul’s written account is a reference that reflects the real world writing process of Supernatural Encounters that Joe Bongiorno went through in writing the book, which is quite clever. We also get the reference to Otherspace, an alternate dimension filled with horrors that originated from the West End Games sourcebooks. Mammon Hoole mentions that the manuscripts were found at the house of Arhul Hextrophon, after his apparent death, on Chandrila. Chandrila being a prominent planet seen throughout the EU, that originated in The Star Wars Sourcebook, perhaps best known for being the home planet of Rebel Alliance Leader Mon Mothma. Mammon Hoole also mentions the primary sidekick of the book in the opening introduction, Arhul’s droid companion Q9-X7. Q9-X7 is apart of the Q9-Series of Astromech Droids, which made appearances in The Corellian Trilogy and later New Jedi Order. The Q9 series were considered to be extremely advanced and high tech; yet experimental. Despite the Q9 line of Droid appearing in several EU sources, this was the first appearance of this specific model, Q9-X7. Mammon Hoole goes on to mention that Arhul and Q9 collaborated in archiving the written accounts via Mistress Mnemos and a new character named Professor Misqa Tonique. Mistress Mnemos is an AI supercomputer that was associated with the Rebels… that first appeared in Russ Manning’s LA Times Magazine comic strips; the first appearance in the strips being in The Gambler’s World arch. Next Mammon Hoole notes that The New Republic Historical Council finds Arhul’s works to be incredibly controversial for their potentially galaxy changing revelations. The New Republic Historical Council is a group associated with the New Republic and the New Jedi Order; that appeared in The New Essential Chronology, the Book of Sith, and The Written Word Hyperspace articles. They essentially existed to attempt to unravel the Galactic Empire’s information wipe and muddling of history with propaganda. Mammon Hoole then makes mention of an adventurer and Black Market dealer who managed to obtain and leak the Historical Council’s heated debate over Arhul’s texts, as he was present for it; a leaked transcript that will be included in the following text. The adventurer is a character named Myk Bidlor, a character that first appeared in The Han Solo Trilogy: Rebel Dawn by AC Crispin. The character from Rebel Dawn is a tuckerization of Mike Beidler a writer and editor who has worked on several Star Wars EU works, such as Empire’s End or Lightsider. Mammon Hoole’s introduction goes on to note that Arhul’s written accounts tracking his adventure through the stars, visions of the origin of the galaxy, and the transcript of the two days of The Historical Society’s debate over the writings accuracy, have been meticulously compiled and organized by a plethora of doctors. The doctors are named Rygel Lawlins, Wes Adod, Trace Piskem, Royce Crater, Aryn Hort Thorn, Raphe Nahys, Obern Wentham, Grigem Etchill, and Watkins Milt. All of these Doctors are tuckerizations of the real world editors of Supernatural Encounters, I think its cool to learn that a team of characters in-universe, named for the real world editors and assistants; worked with Mammon Hoole to assemble the in-universe book. It is pretty easy to unscramble the names, Watt Milkins is a tuckerization of Matt Wilkins, Rygel Lawlins is Kyle Rawlings, Wes Adod is Edward Dodds, Trace Piskem is Patrick Maes, Royce Crater is Corey Carter, Aryn Hort Thorn is Harry Thornton, and Grigem Etchill is Greg Mitchell. I am still not sure who Raphe Nahys or Obern Wentham are though. Another extremely interesting piece of info gleamed from the introduction by Mammon Hoole, is that the illustrations within Supernatural Encounters are in-universe art pieces based on sketches that Arhul himself stored within Master Mnemom (A new character, who will later be revealed as a companion supercomputer to Mistress Mnemos). The sketches Arhul made were turned into full color epics by characters named Dirc Ch’los and Claudius Gemulo, who are apparently famous artists in the galaxy. The characters are tuckerizations of the real world illustrators Chris Cold and Guillaume Ducos. We also get an important piece of information, Arhul wrotee down additional scribbled notes in the margins of the pages of his writings. These are called “Hexnotes”, by Q9; and will be important for later on. Hexnotes essentially give additional historical information and context to the narrative of the story, essentially editor’s notes by Arhul on his own book. With that Mammon Hoole signs off from his narrative portion of the story, though don’t fear Galaxy of Fear fans, we will see him again in the pages to come. However, that wraps up every easter egg and lore reference I found of note in the 3 page Introduction of Supernatural Encounters. Thank you everyone for watching, and let me know if I missed anything! I hope you will all join me next time when we jump into the next part: Prologue: The Life and Death of a Historian.

By Lance Leibrock Gray Jedi are possibly one of the most polarizing concepts in the Star Wars mythos. Some people love them, and some hate them. But there are bigger questions that I think need answering: are they even canon? Were they even an official concept? Well, they’re not canon currently, at least since the Disney reboot, but we aren’t concerned with that. Are they canon to the EU? I think this answer is quite complicated and deserves a proper rundown. The first use of the term “Gray Jedi” occurred in Star Wars Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War as a descriptive term for Qui-Gon Jinn. Now, at that time, the definition was radically different from what it is now. Back then, the term was referring to Qui-Gon in reference to his frequent disagreements with the Jedi Council, not that he dabbled in both sides of the Force without succumbing to either side, which is the modern understanding of the term. Even if you don’t think this definition of the term suits Qui-Gon perfectly (I’ve heard some good arguments for this), it’s really a term that’s almost a pejorative term in-universe used by Jedi. Jedi Master Tyvokka accused Qui-Gon of being Gray and his concerns over it. Just because an in-universe character makes a claim about another doesn’t necessarily make it true. However, I don’t see anything narratively wrong with Gray Jedi in this respect, and whether you believe Qui-Gon was a Gray Jedi (according to this definition) or not, it’s undeniable the term and concept is canon to the EU, and it doesn’t present anything contrary to the established lore. The more common understanding of the term comes from Knights of the Old Republic, an RPG video game released in 2003. Jolee Bindo, who was one of the companions to the player character, is a self-described Gray Jedi who dabbled in both sides of the Force without falling to either side. Star Wars: Legacy and the Jedi Academy Training Manual also both include excerpts about Gray Jedi, and they use the exact same definition Jolee gives in KOTOR. The latter source also states that a “true” Gray Jedi is one who does not belong to any Force tradition and operates independently, using both the light and dark sides of the Force. Since then, though, the Lucasfilm Story Group have gone to claim that this concept of Gray Jedi is contrary to George Lucas’ view of the Force, which is if you continue using the dark side long enough, you will be corrupted by it. Matt Martin, a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, has gone on to say the following: "That sort of goes against what Star Wars is all about. The dark side corrupts." Now, I don’t disagree with Matt here, but I do disagree with the idea that it’s “just a fan thing,” which is where I want to get at with this article. If you look at the rest of the Twitter thread Matt was having with a fan, he claims that it’s a fan thing and isn’t official. Rather you like the concept of Gray Jedi is one thing, but it’s undeniable that it was once a part of the official continuity of Star Wars, via Expanded Universe material. As shown earlier, there are numerous sources that refer to Gray Jedi, with all three of the following definitions: 1. Jedi who operates independently of the Council and/or frequently disobey the Council. 2. Jedi who dabbles in both sides of the Force without succumbing to either side. 3. Force-users who act independently from all Force-based traditions and dabble in both sides of the Force. Now, in my personal view, the latter two definitions were never truly shown in the EU because they can’t really exist, just as Matt Martin says. Let me explain. The Imperial Knights in Legacy are the epitome of not being Gray Jedi, despite the Jedi Order thinking they are (this is a common theme as we will see). The Knights were light side users who had a strict allegiance to defending the Emperor using the light side. Many of them were even former Jedi. If you read the Legacy comics, there’s really no examples of Imperial Knights dabbling in both sides of the Force. They’re clearly light side users, and the Jedi accusing them of being Gray is probably because the Imperial Knights do not follow the Jedi’s strict dogmatic view of the Force, much like Tyvokka in Republic. The Jedi also claim that the Jensaarai were Gray Jedi, though this isn’t particularly true either. The Jensaarai, who were created by a former Jedi, did blend the teachings of the Jedi and Sith, though they did stay true to the light side of the Force. Blending Jedi and Sith teachings does not make one Gray; these are religious institutions, not sides of the Force. Even then, one can find wisdom in Sith teachings, and, if combined with the teachings of the Jedi, you can still stay true to the light, and that’s exactly what the Jensaarai did. As shown earlier, the Jedi are constantly accusing others of being Gray Jedi just because they don’t follow their exact philosophy of the Force; that doesn’t make it true. Lastly, Jolee Bindo, the character who started this controversy, really isn’t a proper Gray Jedi either. He’s clearly an old hermit who has been living in the Shadowlands for too long; he uses nearly exclusive light side powers, even threatening to betray the main character of KOTOR if they turn to the dark side, yet they won’t betray them if they stay with the Jedi. He clearly identifies with the light side; perhaps his years fighting Exar Kun’s Sith and seeing the strange wilderness of the Kashyyyk Shadowlands traumatized him, but there’s no way he’s a true Gray Jedi, at least with what Jolee himself describes. In conclusion, while Gray Jedi may not be exactly as George Lucas envisioned, what is certain is it is not a mere idea from fan fiction. Truly, it was a part of the official Star Wars canon at one point, and it is an official concept, despite there not being any true examples of it. Regardless, I hope this article can rid any confusion some may be having about Gray Jedi. Yes, they were an official concept. Long live the Expanded Universe!

The Imperial Remnant Friday, April 5, 2024 EU News & Updates Read More Touring the Galaxy: Maedocian Sector Thursday, April 4, 2024 Jason Dietzel Read More Touring the Galaxy: Deelang Sector Wednesday, April 3, 2024 Jason Dietzel Read More Touring the Galaxy: Eclorar Sector Tuesday, April 2, 2024 Jason Dietzel Read More The TRUE Fool's Monday, April 1, 2024 Matt Wilkins Read More First Prev 305 Next Last

Era by Era: Legacy Friday, February 23, 2024 Matt Wilkins Read More Touring the Galaxy: Esaga Sector Thursday, February 22, 2024 Jason Dietzel Read More Touring the Galaxy: Kurost Sector Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Jason Dietzel Read More Touring the Galaxy: Teraab Sector Tuesday, February 20, 2024 Jason Dietzel Read More Era by Era: New Jedi Order Monday, February 19, 2024 Matt Wilkins Read More First Prev 297 Next Last