Does “Star Wars” history feel historic enough? My gut reaction is “no” – I felt that way when first exposed to “Tales of the Jedi” (set 4,000-5,000 years before “A New Hope”) in 1993 and again with “Dawn of the Jedi” (set 36,453 years before “A New Hope”) in 2012. My local comic book dealer expressed a similar opinion that “Dawn” was just another “Star Wars” story with light-side vs. dark-side battles that could happen anywhere on the timeline.
Don’t get me wrong: Once I adjusted to the similarities to the classic trilogy era, I learned to adore the “Tales of the Jedi” saga, and I like a lot of things about “Dawn of the Jedi,” which tells of the Jedi Order’s formative years. But my sense that “it doesn’t feel old enough” lingers. The reason is easy to understand if we place the “Star Wars” timeline and the Earth timeline atop each other, with Luke Skywalker’s generation being the equivalent of modern day Earth:
5,000 years ago on Earth: We see early signs of what would become modern civilization. Agriculture and food storage allow people to pursue medicine, mathematics, paper-making and written language. People speaking English during this time would be incomprehensible to speakers of modern American English. If we were to time-travel to this era, adjusting to the language and culture would be frustrating, and we’d probably be killed by something or other in quick order.
5,000 years ago in “Star Wars”: In “Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith” and “Fall of the Sith Empire,” pioneers are beginning to discover new hyperspace lanes. But other than that, the technology in “Tales of the Jedi” is indistinguishable from the era of Luke Skywalker: lightsabers, blasters, spaceships with hyperdrives, and instantaneous interstellar communication. Immigration and emigration are common throughout the Republic, as a variety of species can be seen on all planets. Technology has not freed beings from manual labor, but nor will it do so 5,000 years later, when Luke is a farmer. Everyone speaks Basic. The vaguely ancient Egyptian feel of the architecture and costumes give the “Tales” comics a superficially historic flavor, arguably bailing out the saga. If Luke were to time-travel to this era, he’d effortlessly fit in.
36,453 years ago on Earth: Modern humans, in a biological sense, are just coming into being. There are no cities or recorded language, although they do use stone tools. If we were to time-travel and visit these humans, assuming they didn’t kill us on sight, they might revere us as gods if we unveiled metal-forged tools. Communication through a common spoken language would be impossible.
36,453 years ago in “Star Wars”: In “Dawn of the Jedi,” scripter John Ostrander and co-creator/artist Jan Duursema show us that hyperdrives, lightsabers and blasters have not yet been invented. However, the mysterious Tho Yor species and the dark-Force-using Rakatan Infinite Empire do have magical equivalents of what would become hyperspace travel, and the Force saber is a magical equivalent (you turn it on with the Force) of what would become the traditional technology-powered lightsaber. Slugthrowers are used instead of blasters. Interplanetary travel within the Tython system is no problem, nor is instant interplanetary communication. Several species co-exist in the Tython system, and the Rakatan Empire keeps several species as slaves – a primitive practice, sure, but one that still goes on during Luke’s time. Everyone speaks Basic. Luke could time-travel to this era and have no problem fitting in, except that he’d miss hyperspace travel.
These comparisons illustrate the oddity of the “Star Wars” timeline: Although the “Star Wars” galaxy is obviously more futuristic than modern Earth (particularly in space travel and communication through space), its technology, civilization and culture advances at a pace just slightly above stagnant, whereas ours features comparatively rapid progression. And in some key areas, the “Star Wars” galaxy is shockingly inept. Its war-making abilities are remarkably similar to modern Earth, as biological soldiers and the technique of individuals shooting at individuals are still used into Luke’s time. Most notably, the daily life of the average GFFA citizen is about the same as the average modern Earth citizen, in that we both punch clocks and collect paychecks and have a bit of spare time for hobbies. GFFA humans generally have slightly longer lifespans than Earth humans, unless they live on Tatooine, where they age quickly under the twin suns. Luke’s farmstead life, in fact, seems physically and financially harder than my life as a member of the lower U.S. economic class.
Considering that “Star Wars” is centrally concerned with the rise and fall of governments, is the Legends saga commenting on the way governments and wars stop and sometimes erase progress, knocking civilization back a few pegs every now and then? Well, considering that the relatively free markets of the Republic peacefully flourish for 1,000 years between Darth Bane and Darth Sidious, yet technological advancements are pretty much nil, I’d say no, the stagnant technology progression is not merely a commentary on heavy handed governance.
So is the “Star Wars” Legends saga a commentary on the technological stagnation that could happen once a galaxy makes the huge leap of being connected by space travel, communications and basic government services? The evidence says yes. However, I don’t think this was done on purpose. I think every time an author invented a past event on the “Star Wars” timeline, they erred on the side of making it as ancient as possible – starting with Tom Veitch and George Lucas devising the “Tales of the Jedi” era. Lucas always liked to use big numbers to give his saga an epic scope, going back to Obi-Wan saying “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice …” Lucas obviously loves technological advancement – he himself is a pioneer in the movie industry – but he also has a soft spot for nostalgia and permanence, and the latter won out when he laid down the groundwork for galactic lore.
Indeed, it should be noted that Ostrander did not invent the timeframe of “Dawn of the Jedi.” He was working from the timeline and history as laid out in 2005’s “The New Essential Chronology” by Daniel Wallace and Kevin J. Anderson, which codified references from various books, comics and video games. And more material was written from 2005-12, including Darth Bane exploring the ruins of Tython and Rakata Prime in the “Darth Bane” books. With that in mind, I’m willing to give “Dawn of the Jedi” a fair chance on this re-read. Despite the absence of a sufficiently ancient feel, “Dawn” has the same appeal as Ostrander and Duursema’s previous project, “Legacy,” in that it carves out a part of the timeline and – in this case – a part of the galaxy.
In the prologue of the five-issue “Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm,” a millennium before the heart of the story, the Tho Yor drop pyramids full of Force-sensitive settlers on Tython. Showing that different worlds evolve at different rates, the Wookiee culture on Kashyyyk, the Twi’lek culture on Ryloth and the Nightsister culture on Dathomir are identical to Luke’s era, but Ostrander portrays Tatooine as “a lush world” with “gleaming cities” and “blue seas.”
After this set-up, common “Star Wars” tropes drive “Dawn of the Jedi.” Tython is a planet-wide Jedi academy. (In his one nod to making the language feel a little bit ancient, Ostrander uses the term “Je’daii” – the same pronunciation used by the Yuuzhan Vong, although I think it’s coincidence.) Everyone who lives there is a Force-user who spends time in the nine Tho Yor pyramids – now temples offering distinct fields of study — across the planet’s surface.
The planet’s very climatic and tectonic stability is dependent on these Force users keeping themselves in balance. Tython has two moons that pull on it – Ashla, always in the light, and Bogan, always in the dark; those who venture too much into the dark side are banished to Bogan. The names of the moons are taken from Lucas’ early drafts of “The Star Wars,” as are the Dai Bendu monks, who are transported from Ando Prime to Tython in one of the nine pyramid ships.
Non-Force-users populate the system’s other planets because Tython is seen as too dangerous for them. This creates tension between Tython and the other planets – indeed, a civil war wrapped up merely a decade before the main action of “Force Storm.”
The second prominent trope is interstellar warfare. The Rakatan Infinite Empire’s first salvo in making war with Tython comes with the crash-landing of Xesh, a human who was raised as an obedient Force hound of his Rakatan master (or “predor”). Having no experience with the light side, he is utterly confused to find himself saving the life of the beautiful Dathomiri human Shae Koda.
As with “Republic” and “Legacy,” the Ostrander/Duursema team creates almost too many characters, but they are distinct enough in look and personality that a reader can keep them straight, and “Dawn” quickly grows into a vibrant saga. A trio of up-and-coming Je’daii journeyers are the protagonists: the aforementioned Shae; the humanoid Sek’nos Rath, who draws the eye of all the young women on Tython; and the Twi’lek Tasha Ryo, the rather timid daughter of a crime lord father and a Je’daii mother.
Shae spares Xesh because he tells her she is brave warrior who should have the honor of eating his heart – the cultural divide is so vast that Shae wants to learn more about Xesh before judging him. This is where another “Star Wars” trope comes in – the clash of generations. The Je’daii leadership votes to banish Xesh to Bogan (thus setting up the next miniseries) rather than pursue the matter further.
The planet itself has some neat aspects, although I got confused between two separate cuts into Tython’s surface: The Rift is a valley filled with dangerous seismic activity, whereas the Chasm (which I recall from the novel “Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void,” set further along the timeline) is even more foreboding. Je’daii who descend too far down the Chasm have visions that cause them to go crazy.
Perched above the Chasm is one of the nine pyramids, Anil Kesh, the Temple of Science. The winged rancor ridden by Shae is not an ancestor of rancors from Luke’s era, but rather an artificial creation. That’s yet another example of “Dawn of the Jedi’s” lack of ancient feel: The science (albeit Force-based rather than tech-based) is actually more advanced than in Luke’s time!
Still, viewed simply as a “Star Wars” yarn chronicling the beginning of the Jedi Order in an evocative setting, I can’t be too hard on this first installment of “Dawn of the Jedi.”