So I already did a review and a top ten moments video for Aftermath: Life Debt, but there
were so many connections and new little details revealed about the Star Wars universe, I thought
it would be cool to do a video that quickly covers all of them.
So these are fifty new connections and fun facts from Aftermath: Life Debt.
Keep in mind that this video is full of spoilers.
That said, let’s get started.
Emperor Palpatine was exploring the origin of the Dark Side before even the Clone Wars
began.
He did so by placing beacons and sensors in the Outer Rim on worlds like Jakku.
There was a bar on the Death Star.
Not an overly important fact at all, but it’s fun to think about.
What other amenities did it have?
A laundromat?
A spa?
Luke’s relationship to Darth Vader was not common knowledge.
We know from Bloodline nobody knew about Leia and Vader for a long time, but for some reason
I figured everyone knew about Luke.
Rae Sloane makes yet another canon appearance.
This is her third book, and she’s also appeared in the comics and multiple short stories.
She’s a fantastic character, I hope John Jackson Miller is thrilled to see her pop
up again and again.
The mysterious admiral from the first Aftermath is Gallius Rax.
Some people are already theorizing that he’s Snoke.
I don’t agree with that, but he is a very manipulative and intimidating antagonist for
the Aftermath trilogy.
Coruscant was largely abandoned by the Empire, and fell into civil war.
The Imperial Security Bureau is pretty much the only holdout left.
Mas Amedda remained on Coruscant, and had little real power in the Imperial remnant.
The New Republic wouldn’t even accept him as a prisoner.
General Hux’s first name is Armitage.
General Hux was also a bastard.
I don’t just mean he’s a jerk, I mean he was Brendol Hux’s illegitimate son.
Brendol doesn’t think very highly of his son, calling him weak and skinny, but does
have hopes for greatness in his future.
There are multiple references to the Empire needing children to survive, foreshadowing
the philosophy of the First Order.
This connects back to the Servants of the Empire series and also The Force Awakens and
Finn’s story of being taken from parents he never knew.
The Empire formed a Shadow Council to run everything behind the scenes.
It was led by Gallius Rax.
Rae Sloane, Brendol Hux, and other Imperial military minds were members.
There are vague rumors surrounding Palpatine’s death, claiming that he lived many lives.
This could be a cheeky nod to his clones in Legends.
To be clear his clones are not canon, thank the Force.
I just think Wendig snuck a little easter egg in.
Snap got his nickname from Wedge Antilles himself because of his nervous habit of snapping
his fingers.
The Visual Dictionary claims he got the nickname because of his temper, which is also present
in the book.
Maybe Wedge was just being nice when asked why he gave him the nickname.
Han and Leia got married on Endor right after the battle.
They wasted no time, unlike Legends where they took years to get married.
There are hints that Gallius Rax has been pulling strings for a long time, possibly
manipulating or at least influencing Count Vidian from the book A New Dawn.
Rax has certainly been around long enough, and connecting him back to previous villains
is a good way to make him more imposing.
The Empire had thirteen super star destroyers at the time of the Battle of Endor.
By the time of Aftermath most of them were destroyed or commandeered.
The Emperor had a personal super star destroyer named the Eclipse which may or may not have
been destroyed.
This is at least a partial recanonization from Legends.
We have yet to see the ship, but I think it’s likely they only share a name as another nod
back to Legends, and specifically Dark Empire.
The Annihilator, General Tagge’s super star destroyer from the Darth Vader comic, was
overtaken by pirates.
The Acolytes of the Beyond stole a possibly ancient red lightsaber from a museum during
a riot they started.
They were nonviolent in the first book, but they’ve clearly changed their minds.
I’m still not sure what they’re up to.
Sloane hunts for clues about Gallius Rax in the wreckage of the Imperialis, the same ship
we see destroyed in the Lando comic.
That ship was Palpatine’s personal yacht, and it was filled with Sith artifacts until
Lando blew it up.
The surviving Alderaanians received scrap from the original Death Star to construct
a space station as their new home.
They seem to be pleased with that, but I think it’s kind of strange to live in the remains
of the weapon that blew up your planet.
The Black Sun was still operating, and set up a base on Nar Shaddaa.
That means they now have bases on at least three planets which also include Mustafar
and Ord Mantell.
Wedge has a limp and other injuries he received in the first Aftermath.
He was captured by the Empire, beaten, and tortured.
These injuries could explain why we don’t see him in The Force Awakens.
Maybe he’s retired or incapable of flying in his older age.
The New Republic developed new capital ships by dismantling Imperial ships and creating
the Nadiri Mark One Starhawk, which might be the same ships seen in The Force Awakens.
The Jedi that survived Order 66 made a last stand on a planet called Madar or Morad, Sloane
couldn’t remember the name, but a last stand did happen.
I wish Sloane were a better history student.
I also hope we get to hear more about this later.
Sloane grew up on a lawless planet called Ganthel.
The Empire’s ability to bring structure to her home world was what drove her to join
it.
The Empire has a hidden secret fleet to use against the New Republic.
I believe the Eclipse is part of that fleet.
ME-8D9 has been at Maz’s castle longer than Maz has.
She is somewhat of a security droid that helps enforce the main rule at the castle: no fighting.
An underground Coruscant prison called Leminscate is mentioned and could be a reference to the
Lusankya prison from Legends.
The Leminscate isn’t a star destroyer, and I may be grasping at straws on this one.
It’s kind of a reach.
Wicket gave Leia the seed of a sanctuary tree, and she planted it.
I love that she and Wicket had a special connection.
Luke taught Leia some Force techniques, which she practices.
Thanks to Bloodline and The Force Awakens, we know her training doesn’t really go anywhere,
but it’s cool seeing her at least take some interest.
Leia first learns that her child is a boy through the Force.
She sees that he will be smart and strong, and tells Han he will be an angel.
Is that irony, or is it foreshadowing for future films?
The rancor’s name, and it was Pateesa.
One of the Interludes is about Malakili, and how he’s basically suicidal after its death.
That is until he finds a new purpose.
Alien hatred has been strongly hinted at in the new canon, but it’s outright confirmed
here.
Sinjir talks about how the Empire is made up of almost entirely human because the Emperor
considered aliens to be inferior.
We also see a Grand Moff hunt aliens and talk about enjoying the meat of other sentient
creatures.
Han confirms saving Chewie from slavery was the catalyst for the life debt, but also claims
that Chewie saved him from traveling down a dark path.
I expect we will learn more about this in the Han Solo movie.
Kashyyyk was a worldwide prison labor camp during the Galactic Civil War.
Wookiees were tortured, forced to breed, and used to build some of the Empire’s more
heavy duty weaponry.
The reporter Tracene Kane and her Trandoshan cameraman Lug, both introduced in Aftermath,
reappear here.
In fact many small characters from the first Aftermath show up again.
These interludes look like we can piece them together to form individual short stories.
There is an area on Kashyyyk called the Black Forest which has been dead for thousands of
years, poisoned by some as of yet unknown event that left its mark.
I really hope we learn more about that somewhere down the line.
We really need to get some Old Republic stories.
Wookiee slaves had inhibitor chips similar to the ones explained by Anakin in The Phantom
Menace.
They could be used to cause pain or death in rebelling Wookiees.
Wroshyr trees on Kashyyyk can grow so large that they can take half a day to walk around.
I always knew they were huge, but I think this is the best description I’ve read that
helped me understand how truly massive they are.
The New Republic offers therapy droids that are very similar to BB-8 to injured veterans.
Ewoks have also offered themselves as therapy Ewoks.
This is silly but could explain how Ewoks began to spread through the galaxy, as shown
in Perfect Weapon.
Leia dreams of Padme’s death, Han dead in the snow, Chewie in a cage, and Luke lost.
Padme’s death has already happened, and Han dead in the snow could foreshadow his
death on Starkiller Base.
Chewie in a cage could represent his being in a prison for most of the book.
But Luke lost?
I wonder when we’ll see that, or if we ever will.
Evaan from the Princess Leia comic reappears.
Chuck Wendig did a really great job of incorporating canon elements from lots of different sources,
and I was glad to see Evaan still having a close relationship with Leia.
Yendor from Lost Stars and Bloodline is present for the Empire’s retreat from Ryloth, and
is immediately nominated as the Twi’lek representative to the New Republic, the position
he holds in Bloodline.
Cham Syndulla is mentioned, but it is unclear if he is still alive.
He has been fairly prominent in the new canon, so I expect we’ll find out more about him
soon.
If he’s dead I feel like we as an audience deserve to see that story on screen or on
page.
Han and his team steal a Star Destroyer, which is something he claims to have done before.
Maybe we’ll see that in the Han Solo movie.
Wedge forms Phantom Squadron from a group of washouts and weirdoes.
This is basically Wraith Squadron from Legends.
Even the names are similar.
Phantoms and Wraiths are the same thing.
I would be surprised if this wasn’t a straight up reference, but why not just call it Wraith
Squadron again?
Maybe the Story Group has plans for the Wraiths in the future.
Crix Madine is likely killed in a mass assassination attempt on Chandrila, although his death isn’t
one hundred percent confirmed.
While he has never been hugely important, I’ll be a little bummed if he’s dead.
He was also killed in the novel Darksaber.
Mothma is shot during the same event, and this could lead to her health issues that
cause her to step down as Chancellor.
We learn about those health issues in Bloodline.
At this point Han and Chewie part ways to be with their respective families, although
we know they reunite.
I wonder if we’ll ever see Chewie’s family.
If we do I hope it’s handled better than it was in the Holiday Special.
We do know from the book Weapon of a Jedi that Chewie’s wife’s name is still Malla,
same as it was in the special.
And there you have it!
Fifty facts and connections from Aftermath: Life Debt.
Hopefully that helps you get a better idea of the state of the galaxy and our main characters,
along with some new trivia to impress your friends with.
I’ve never done a video like this, so if you liked it or didn’t like it, either way
let me know in the comments!
Until next time, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!