Star Wars Episode 7 Movie Cast, News, and Updates: Top 10 Expanded Universe Villains We'd Like to See In Episode 7
Within the Star Wars universe -- specifically, the Expanded Universe -- there are different levels of "canon," with "G" canon being the most official. For those not in the know, "G" canon refers to "George Lucas," the creator of Star Wars. "G" canon is the final releases of the six films, the novelizations of the films, the radio dramas based on the films, the film scripts, and any material found in any other source (published or not) that comes directly from George Lucas himself. G canon outranks all other forms of canon.
As Star Wars fans who are readers of this site have correctly pointed out, even though the Expanded Universe was sanctioned by LucasFilms to some degree, it is not "G" canon, and Lucas himself has mentioned that there are many stories & characters within the Expanded Universe that he hasn't approved (be it the storyline, origin story, or the actual creation of the character itself). While, of course, we as members of the Star Wars community must accept G canon as absolute canon, there's the issue of the creation of Jar Jar Binks that some of us can't get over.
Nonetheless, with Episode 7 rumors running rampant, here's our list of the top 10 Expanded Universe (EU to Star Wars insiders) villains we'd like to see in the new film:
10. Admiral Daala: Not the least of reasons being she's an actual human female (and how rare they seem to be in the "Star Wars" universe), Natasi Daala has not only an interesting origin story (first and only woman to earn rank in the Imperial Navy, lover of Grand Moff Tarkin), but her subsequent adventures would prove to be amazing onscreen (think Catherine the Great mixed with Ghengis Khan; needless to say, she's disliked by many EU fans, who feel that she's overly despotic and cruel, though that could be the sexism talking...).
9. Tahiri Veila: Yet another female (I know, right?), she's the apprentice of Darth Caedeus, better known as Jacen Solo, the son of Han Solo & Princess Leia.
8. Cypher Bos: While not as charismatic of a bounty hunter as Boba Fett (who, it should be noted, was originally a non-canon character -- he was first introduced in the unjustly reviled Star Wars Holiday Special -- that became canon), Cypher Bos has an interesting story as well: he kidnapped Han & Leia, eventually being killed by the former (what is it with Han & bounty hunters, anyway?).
7. Darth Krayt: Another Jedi-turned-Sith from Tattoine, he was the founder of the New Sith Order. He also abolished the old Sith Rule of Two, and instead placed the Rule of One into effect.
6. Thrackan Sal-Solo: Why is it that EVERYONE'S family in Star Wars has some kind of murderous tendencies? In any event, this is Han Solo's first cousin, who hired Boba Fett's daughter to have Han & his family killed. (It didn't work.)
5. Joruus C'baoth: He was introduced as a character by Timothy Zahn, who is considered by the Star Wars insiders to be the Father of the Expanded Universe. In Heir to the Empire, he was one of the clones of the Great Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth, but unlike his originator, Joruus was crazy, murderous, and Dark Sided.
4. Lumiya: She's actually one of the very first Expanded Universe characters (though it wasn't known as such at the time): her origins go back to 1981, when Marvel was doing comic books for Star Wars (it should be noted that both companies are now owned by Disney, which makes you think twice about the whole "Evil Empire" motif...). She was Darth Vader's Sith apprentice, and she loomed in the shadows until she could bring the Sith back to their glory.
3. Darth Bane: He established himself as a formidable Sith Lord 1,000 years before the destruction of the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin IV. There were rumors of him appearing in Episode 3, but alas, it was not meant to be.
2. Darth Malak: First of all, he has a metal lower jaw. I mean, awesome. Second, he had two equally bad-ass apprentices -- Darth Bandon and Bastila Shan. Third, the metal jaw. Did I mention the metal jaw?
1. Exar Kun (pictured): Look at him. No, seriously, LOOK AT HIM. Is this not the baddest of the baddest asses you have ever seen? He's a Sith Lord whose origin, like Bane's, dates to before the destruction of the Death Star. Unlike Bane, however, it took ANOTHER near-millenium to kill him, because his spirit lived on, eventually manifesting in Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. Unlike the sniveling, scrawny Palpatine, or Vader's more-machine-than-man badassery (face it, Darth Vader's a badass, but at the end of the day, it didn't take much to take him down -- and let's not forget what he was like as a teenager), Exar Kun was pure human, pure muscle, and pure Sith. He wasn't a man -- he was a "Force" of nature.