The opening crawl for Star Wars: The High Republic has been unveiled, and it kicks off with an ominous note. Formerly known as Project Luminous during its inception back in 2018, The High Republic is meant to be a "blank slate" opportunity for writers to experiment across various novels and comics with new Star Wars stories.
Star Wars: The High Republic has been delayed to 2021 due to the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but is not entirely shrouded in mystery. The High Republic is set about 800 years after the events of the "old republic" storylines, or 200 before the events of the Skywalker Saga. The era has been described as more civilized and elegant in many ways, and as the title may suggest, during the high point of the Republic's power and influence.
The opening crawl was posted to Star Wars on their High Republic banner. Not associating itself with any Star Wars films or TV shows, it starts off by acknowledging the status of the Republic in the galaxy, but quickly turns ominous. You can read it in full below:
The crawl alludes to the main antagonistic presence of The High Republic, the supposedly less organized and more brutal Nihil, who are comparable to space vikings. It's an interesting concept, not too far removed from George Lucas' original inspirations of the Roman Empire. After all, the fall of Rome was due greatly in part to the constant invasions of northern barbarians just after its peak. Though the Republic obviously won't completely fall apart since it's still hanging around 200 years later when the mainline story kicks off, the notion of a significantly more lawless and individualistic adversary is exactly the kind of chaos Star Wars could use to get away from its established "good vs. evil" formulas.
There's no clear word yet on exactly how big a project The High Republic will be, or how far into other media forms it could spread, but already it seems to be growing bigger than initially expected. Fans are very exciting for this publication, partly because of its new and unusual setting, but mostly because of the potential it shows for new and more complicated Star Wars stories. There are no tie-ins here, just a whole new set of stories in a whole new and entirely unexplored part of the Star Wars canon. If The High Republic is a success, of course, tie-ins may be inevitable down the road, but for now, the creative leeway for the artists at work is as vast and free as space itself.
Source: Star Wars
https://ift.tt/2GjgsdO
October 08, 2020 at 05:31AM
