Star Wars: EU stuff in the ST.

I mentioned it a bit in the review of "Rise Of Skywalker".

And I stand by that that film is a love letter to fans of the old EU (expanded universe).

But, bits are sprinkled throughout the other two also.

So, let's break it down...

Star Wars: Expanded Universe stuff in the sequel trilogy.

                

Heavy spoiler for the ST, by the way, so back out now if you've managed somehow not to see them.

Okay, let's go by novel chronology order....

Splinter Of The Mind's Eye (1978)

-and-

The Courtship Of Princes Leia (1994)

Splinter is set between ANH and ESB.

Luke & Leia go to a planet called Mimban on a quest for The Kaiburr Crystal, a force artifact, and have to pose as miners, run into Stormtroopers, alien monsters, and finally Darth Vader.

In the final showdown with Vader, Leia picks up Luke's saber, and tries to fight him (as a retroactive hint that she's a Jedi) but fails, and is seemingly killed, then Luke recovers from a momentary unconsciousness, kicks Vader's ass, and uses the Kaiburr Crystal to heal Leia back to life.

So, we get force healing, and we get a premonition of Kylo force healing Rey back to life.

And, we get a premonition of Rey & Kylo teaming up against Palpatine in the first place.

Also, the Kaiburr Cystal would become Kiber Crystals that are retroactively the core of every lightsaber, and the power source of the Death Star's planet killing laser.

They would be shown and mentioned in "Rogue One", and then we see the crystal inside Luke's broken saber at the end of "The Last Jedi".

Hell, the Kaiburr Crystal may just be a big Kiber Crystal.

Also, Mimban is the muddy planet where Han meets Chewie in "Solo".

Courtship is set 4 years after ROTJ.

Luke, Han, and Leia go to a planet called Dathomir which turns out to have force witches, both good and bad.

Also, they ride Rancors, hence the one on the cover.

A guy who looks like Fabio tries to seduce Leia away, so Han has to compete for her affections.

Finally, Han (inevitably) wins, and he and Leia get married.

I lumped it in with Splinter, cuz we get another dose of force healing.

Here, Luke is telekinetically beaten to a pulp by evil force witches (called Night-sisters) and he taps into the lifeforce of all nature in the surrounding plants and animals, who give their force willingly, and regenerate him from the brink of death.

So, both Skywalker twins get a force resurrection.

In onscreen canon, Dathomir retroactively becomes the planet Darth Maul is from, and the Night-sisters help to revive him in "The Clone Wars".

Then Maul pops up again in "Solo", and "Rebels".

The Thrawn trilogy.

Heir To The Empire (1991)

Dark Force Rising (1992)

The Last Command (1993)

Set 5 years after ROTJ.

Courtship was the retroactive prequel the next year after TLC, see.

We get a big feast of ST material here.

A blue-skinned alien named Thrawn gathers the remnants of the Empire, and makes himself Emperor in everything but name, and gives our heroes a rough time.

Leia gets a lightsaber (built by Luke), and starts to be trained by Luke.

Something we see in flashback in TROS.

Leia gives birth to force-sensitive twins named Jacen & Jaina.

(This pays off later)

Thrawn finds a lost fleet of ships from The Clone Wars called the Katana Fleet that's all raring to be fired up, and put into service.

This is a premonition of Palpatine's surprise super-fleet of planet-killer ships in TROS.

Thrawn manipulates and exploits an evil Jedi called Joruus C'Baoth who hangs around in a bathrobe.

This kind of predicts Snoke in TFA and TLJ.

Luke fights an evil clone of himself named Luuke (grown from his severed hand in Empire).

This kind of echoes Rey fighting her force-vision Empress Rey self on the remnants of Death Star II in TROS.

Luke meets his future wife, Mara Jade, who he gives his old blue lightsaber to.

Dark Empire (1993)

Set 6 years after ROTJ.

This one's a smorgasbord.

TROS didn't crib from this, it feasted on it.

So, all while Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando fought imperial remnants in years 1-5 after ROTJ, Palpatine came back right after ROTJ by possessing a clone, sat back, built up a fleet, and right after Thrawn got beat, attacks Coruscant, and starts the whole mess all over again.

Leia has completed her Jedi training, and gets knocked up with a third kid she'll later name Anakin.

The flagship of Palpatine's new fleet is a super-duper Star Destroyer called The Reaper armed with a planet killer gun.

Luke gets turned to the dark side, and Leia has to save him.

Palpatine can make giant storms of force lightning.

Dark-Luke has light-year range force projection powers.

Leia meets a 400 year old Jedi woman named Vima-Da-Boda who gives her a second lightsaber.

Leia turns Luke back to the light side, and they tap into the force, and turn Palpatine's dark side storm powers back onto him.

And, holocrons (holographic memory cubes the Jedi use as training books) get introduced here.

Clone Palpatine?

Check.

Planet-killer Star Destroyer?

Check.

Jedi Leia?

Check.

Leia lightsaber?

Check.

Palpatine force storm?

Check.

Luke using force project?

Check.

Tapping into the force of the universe?

Check.

Turning Palpy's lightning back on him?

Check.

Vima-Da-Boda is kind of an echo of Maz Kanata.

Vima gives Leia a saber, Maz gives Rey one.

Rey turning Kylo to the light, and teaming up with him against Palps mirrors Luke & Leia doing it here.

The Sith Wayfinder is kind of like a holocron.

But holocrons also directly pop up in "The Clone Wars", and "Rebels".

Powered by kiber crystals.

Oh, and Boba-Fett shows up alive, and it looks like he's coming back in Mandalorian season 2.

TROS cherry-picks this the most, but we're not done yet....

The Jedi Academy Trilogy.

Jedi Search (1994)

Dark Apprentice (1994)

Champions Of The Force (1994)

Set 7 years after ROTJ.

Luke searches the galaxy for force sensitives that survived the Jedi purge, and finds them, and starts a Jedi academy.

A Sith ghost whispers in the ear of one of his students, and turns him dark.

The Sith ghost, one Exar Kun, force lightnings Luke into a coma, and Luke projects himself as a sorta-force ghost.

Luke's bad student steals an experimental Imperial star killing weapon called The Sun Crusher, and wreaks havoc.

Luke's students combine their force through the holocron, and expel Exar Kun, which awakens Luke from his coma.

Luke and his students turn the wayward student back to the light, he dives the Sun Crusher into the heart of a star and sacrifices himself, and the Imperials are sent packing by Han & Leia.

Sun Crusher = Starkiller Base.

BUT, the backstory of TFA and TLJ is the mirror opposite of this.

Luke's wayward student WINS.

He destroys the academy, turns other students bad, and kills all the good ones.

Also, we never find out where his academy was.

Here, it's Yavin from ANH.

The comics would go on to do prequels about the rise, and fall, and ghost entombment of Exar Kun.

They were very goth/emo.

Kylo would be proud.

New Jedi Order: Edge Of Victory II: Rebirth (2001)

-and-

Legacy Of The Force: Invincible (2008)

Rebirth is 22 years after ROTJ.

A bunch of stuff I don't care about happens, and Mara gives birth to Luke's son, Ben Skywalker.

Ben Skywalker?

Ben Solo?

Eh? Eh?

Right?

Invincible is 37.5 years after ROTJ.

Again, a bunch of stuff I don't care about happens, and an adult Jacen & Jaina (see Thrawn trilogy) now in their 30's, fight to the death.

Jacen having turned into Darth Caedus 

Jaina kills Jacen/Caedus.

This totally mirrors Rey & Kylo.

Except Rey heals Kylo from his lethal wound she inflicts on him, and then he sacrifices himself for her.

More Shakespearean that way.

"The Last Jedi", veered away and did its own thing the most, but the JJ Abrams ones totally stripped the EU like a hotrod builder at a junkyard.

BUT, as a fan of the old EU, I'm glad.

I liked that stuff.

Seeing it up on the big screen, even if Frankenstein-ed, gave me a big kick.

I dug it.

Like I said up top, it was a love letter to us EU geeks.

Love letter accepted.