Occasionally, aspects conceived by enthusiasts find their way into the official storyline. Typically, this involves widely accepted fan theories that writers ultimately embrace as factual, although sometimes it manifests as specific ideas or artwork from fans appearing on various online platforms.
The following is a compilation of fanon elements that have been integrated into Expanded Universe (EU) literature, thereby achieving canonical status.
The character of Stacy, who is the central figure in the Pink Five series of fan films, made an appearance within the pages of Timothy Zahn's novel titled Allegiance.
Joe Corroney adopted Shaala Doneeta for use in CIS Shadowfeed Year's Start Fete Day Edition. The character's persona was based on artwork that Bryan K. Borgman commissioned of a Force adept, which was created for his Star Wars RPG home game in the early year of 2000.
Various spacecraft designs by Ansel Hsiao, such as the Vigil-class corvette, the Altor-class replenishment ship, the Allegiance-class battlecruiser, the Assertor-class Star Dreadnought, the Procursator-class Star Destroyer, the Bellator-class dreadnought, and Naval Station Validusia, were featured in The Essential Guide to Warfare and subsequently added to the Holocron continuity database.
Abel G. Peña incorporated the concept of Grievous's mask into The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War. The idea that Thrawn might have eventually acquired Grievous's mask originated from a discussion on the Jedi Council forum. User Charles Phipps, known as Charlemagne19, initiated a discussion regarding Grievous's tactical performance against Thrawn, prompting forum members Mike Cooper and Kyle Hartshorn, aka Rogue_Follower, to suggest that it would depend on whether he had encountered Kaleesh art, specifically Grievous's mask.
Based on the data available, webmaster Michael Potts determined that the Trade Federation was founded in 350 BBY. He was pleased to see this date officially recognized in The Essential Guide to Alien Species.
During a conversation with Timothy Zahn at the 2004 Stellarcon, Albin Johnson conceived the idea of renegade vigilante stormtroopers. Zahn later integrated this concept, known as the Hand of Judgment, into his novel Allegiance.
The concept of this lightsaber form was widely circulated among fans before its inclusion in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook.
Curtis Saxton initially proposed the "Endor Holocaust" theory on his Star Wars Technical Commentaries fansite. Saxton asserts that this catastrophic event is scientifically unavoidable. Some sources, like X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble and the comic "Apocalypse Endor," refer to the theory as Imperial propaganda or an in-universe myth.
The notion that Endor was a rogue moon, previously orbiting a destroyed gas giant, originated in the Return of the Jedi novelization and was further developed in Curtis Saxton's Star Wars Technical Commentaries article, which expanded on the gas giant's disappearance. The Essential Atlas acknowledged (and refuted) the theory, mentioning an in-universe "hoax" which wrongly claimed that the planet was destroyed in a cataclysmic event.
Some fans speculated that Palpatine's full name was Cos Palpatine, based on an early version of the Star Wars script where his name was originally Cos Dashit.
While Palpatine himself was not given this name, his father was named "Cosinga Palpatine" in the novel Darth Plagueis, which, when shortened, becomes "Cos Palpatine."
Jedi Exile was a fan-created nickname for this character without a name (only referred to as "exile" in the game's dialogue). However, it was adopted in The New Essential Guide to Droids before the character was officially named Meetra Surik in The Old Republic: Revan.
John Jackson Miller identified Wookieepedia as the origin of the speculative name "Padawan Massacre of Taris," which appeared in Knights of the Old Republic 11.
The common fan designation of this ship as the "DP-20" or "DP20" was finally canonized in the revised version of Starships of the Galaxy.
The term "Force kick" is a humorous reference to a poorly executed fighting sequence in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. This spawned a minor trend within the Star Wars-focused segment of the YTMND community, where the term may have originated.
Eventually, the Force kick received a canonical mention in Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel, albeit as a joke, and was later fully canonized in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The name "Sith Triumvirate" was initially used by Wookieepedia for the trio of Darth Traya, Darth Sion, and Darth Nihilus until authors John Jackson Miller, Rodney Thompson, Sterling Hershey, and Abel G. Peña officially recognized the name for the group in Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide.
In his novel Survivor's Quest, Timothy Zahn named the 501st Legion after the international fan organization with the same name. The unit later appeared as Darth Vader's personal stormtrooper legion in Revenge of the Sith and was the focus of the game Star Wars: Battlefront II, as well as being prominently featured in the book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader.
For many years, fans have referred to the Star Wars galaxy as the GFFA, an acronym for Galaxy Far, Far Away. When Del Rey decided to create a new galactic government near the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, they named it the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances as a tribute to the fan-created term.
The BBY system, which is used in many sources to denote dates in the Star Wars timeline, started as an external dating system. After gaining popularity, it was retroactively established as an internal system used by the New Republic.
This company, mentioned in HoloNet News Vol. 531 50, released a series of Jedi trading holograms that the Jedi Council denounced as "random and arbitrary." Coleman Trebor stated, "They have Master Yoda's species listed as Lannik, and his midi-chlorian count at 4 million. That's just ridiculous," among such 'facts'. This, along with the company CEO's defense that the data only contained "minor inaccuracies...created using the best information available," appears to reference SuperShadow. Spotts also alludes to the popular Topps trading card manufacturers.
Legacy of the Force: Betrayal mentions how Aayla Secura "entered the folkloric cycles of several primitive cultures, where she often was merged with local historical figures or goddess-characters... Even today, educated immigrants from those cultures will write fictive cycles about her, some of them amazingly prurient."
Firmus Piett was not originally intended to be in Return of the Jedi, and was not in the script. However, during filming, a fan letter persuaded George Lucas to include him.
The droid R2-KT was created by a member of the 501st Legion fan organization, and it eventually made an appearance in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.
The "Han shot first" observation, which became a motto for purist fans, has been referenced as an in-joke in official Star Wars media. For example, in the game Star Wars: Battlefront II, when playing as Han Solo, enemy troops might exclaim, "It's Solo, and he's shooting first- that's not fair!". In the novel Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines, Boba Fett comments that Han should learn to shoot first. In Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy (Star Wars Insider 89), an in-universe report states that Han "is prone to 'shooting first'." There are several other references in the New Jedi Order time period and beyond where Leia makes remarks about Han always shooting first.
Occasionally, authors will name characters after Star Wars fans who are well-known within the community.
- Ausar Auset (named after a Dark Horse forum member ausar_auset. [4] )
- Vob Bitas ( Bob Vitas )
- Durnar (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
- JMM ( James M. McFadden )
- Lwothin (named after the online alias of Christopher McElroy , Nightowl)
- Meeshal (named after Mish'al Samman )
- Dama Montalvo (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
- Nict (named after Jedi Council Forums member AdmiralNick22)
- Orrimaarko ( Orrin Marko )
- Pepin ( Dany Pépin )
- R2-KT ( Katie Johnson )
- Krono Relt ( Nathan Butler )
- Tap-Nar-Pal (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
- T'Bolton (named after a Dark Horse forum member)
- Dunc T'racen ( Tracy Duncan )
- Xeltek (named after the message board screen name of Star Wars fan Christian Florbrant)
- Ram Zerimar (named after Raymond Ramirez , StarWars.com blogger and Iraq war veteran)
- Darth Bane in Star Wars: Legacy , appearance modeled on a costume by Thomas J. Spanos [5] .
- Guri , based on Leah Mangue . (by Joe Corroney , Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy )
- Ganner Krieg , based on Thomas J. Spanos . [5]
- Krono Relt , based on Nathan Butler . ( Empire 13 )
- Ishin-Il-Raz , based on Maikel Das , a regular contributor for the Official German Star Wars Fan Club magazine . (by Joe Corroney, Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals and Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241 )
- Palpatine (in a young clone body holding the Holocron of Bodo-Baas ) in 20 Most Memorable Moments of the Expanded Universe by Joe Corroney, appearance modeled on a costume by Thomas J. Spanos
- Shea Sadashassa , based on Roseanna Chickos , a Boston Rebels FanForce member. (by Joe Corroney , Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24 )
Originating from Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks, a collection of fan-made blueprints for the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, Cygnus Spaceworks has been referenced in sources such as X-Wing: The Official Strategy Guide and The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels as the manufacturer of Lambda-class shuttles and similar spacecraft. A reference to the Unification Wars in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross-Sections may also be inspired by the same source.
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross-Sections stated that the Imperial-class Star Destroyer was initially designated Imperator-class, a term repeated in subsequent sources when referring to the early years of the Empire. Like the name Cygnus Spaceworks, this term comes from a set of old, seemingly fan-made blueprints, specifically hull plans for a "Star Destroyer - Imperator Class." It's worth noting that the Marvel Star Wars comics used a different designation for Star Destroyers: "Star Destroyer-class Battle Cruiser."
A fan designed K'Kruhk's lightsaber and displayed it on their website. Artist Jan Duursema incorporated the design into Jedi: Mace Windu, mistakenly believing it was from an official source.
Jeisel's first name resulted from a misunderstanding. Jan Duursema's daughter, Sian, dressed as Jeisel for Celebration III. A photograph from the event was captioned "Sian Jeisel," which fans misinterpreted as the character's full name rather than the name of the cosplayer followed by the character she was portraying. This confusion led to The New Essential Guide to Alien Species using the name in its text, making it official.
Unsupported fan theories suggested that Salo Gardner played Trinto Duaba in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope because of the actor's resemblance to the alien (even though Duaba's appearance was achieved with a one-piece rubber mask created by Rick Baker and not makeup). When Gardner appeared in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, news sites wrongly connected him to Trinto Duaba based on this disproven theory. This mistake was repeated when Gardner's new character was featured in LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where he was incorrectly identified as Trinto Duaba.
When Lucasfilm directly invites fans to contribute to the Star Wars universe. While these elements weren't technically "fanon," they were created by fans and deserve recognition.
For the book Galladinium's Fantastic Technology, West End Games and the Role Playing Game Association held a contest allowing players of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game to submit examples of technology. Winning entries were included in the book. Nearly half of the seventy-five submissions were included, with Michael Zebrowski winning first place for his Repulsor Grappling Gun.
Star Wars Galaxy magazine held a contest for fans to submit artwork and descriptions of original Star Wars aliens. The winning designs were published in Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 7.
For the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series, Cartoon Network held an online poll for viewers to choose which of three Jedi would be featured in an upcoming episode. The winner, Voolvif Monn, appeared in episodes 20 and 22. The other two options, Foul Moudama and Roron Corobb, appeared later in the series.
Hyperspace members were invited to vote on the color scheme for R4-G9 in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
A monthly invitation for Hyperspace members to provide a backstory for a specific element of the films or EU. While the main subject already exists in the universe, fans can introduce additional new elements in their entries. Winning entries are published in the Databank.
StarWars.com gave members the opportunity to name Jacen Solo's Sith identity: Darth _____. Five fan-submitted names were nominated: Darth Acheron, Darth Caedus (the winner), Darth Judicar, Darth Paxis, and Darth Taral. Voting ended on February 27, 2007, and the winning name was included in the novel Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice, published by Del Rey. [1]
- Sha'ala Doneeta - Jan Duursema 's message boards
- The 501st Legion - organization's website
- K'kruhk's lightsaber - thelightsaber.com
- What's the Story? on Hyperspace (content obsolete and backup link not available)
- Episode III: You Pick the Droid Color on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Holocron continuity database questions on StarWars.com Message Boards. Posted by Leland Y Chee on May 3, 2006 at 5:45 PM. (content now obsolete; backup link)