The result was Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, a series of novels that debuted in 1999 to much fanfare. A Star Wars novel hadn’t received this type of attention since Shadows of the Empire was released as a missing piece of the original trilogy. New Jedi Order would make waves by killing off beloved characters, changing the nature of the galaxy, and introducing a horrifying new villain from outside the galaxy.
The Yuuzhan Vong invaded around 22 years after the Battle of Yavin, and almost immediately overwhelmed the New Republic. These invaders were part of an extra-galactic race of nomadic religious zealots who reject technology as blasphemy and use organic creations and experimentation to make their spacecraft, weapons, and other forms of “technology.” The Yuuzhan Vong didn’t arrive as grey-clad fascists or dark Jedi that hid in the shadows; they were a race of brutality and pain, with demon-like faces and technology unlike anything Star Wars had seen to that point.
Then Disney came to town, The Force Awakens was announced, and the Expanded Universe was firmly removed from the canon and renamed to Legends. The Yuuzhan Vong would be stored away for future use, which did come in a way with the introduction of the Grysk. But they’re still far away from what makes the Yuuzhan Vong appealing.
Creation and Origins
Del Rey Books / Lucasfilm
The initial thoughts on a new enemy for Star Wars in The New Jedi Order were far more traditional before George Lucas got involved and vetoed the idea. As revealed in a reader’s companion for the series, Lucas nixed a new group of dark Force users and requested that the editorial team “be more original.” That’s when the Yuuzhan Vong were born.
The name was derived from the Yunnan region in China after Del Rey employees stumbled upon names through the menu of a popular French-Thai restaurant named Vong. Mayan and Aztec cultures provided a framework for the race’s culture and faith, while it seems like the race’s monstrous look must be drawn from a skull’s shape, but forged out of pure darkness. The final product is a villain that Star Wars has never encountered, almost being invaded by Hell itself.
A Killer Entrance
Del Rey Books / Lucasfilm
While it was later revealed that the Yuuzhan Vong had been scouting the galaxy since before the Clone Wars, the first New Jedi Order novel, Vector Prime, made the invaders seem to have come from out of nowhere. The initial invasion force arrived under the radar, making a statement to fans by killing off Chewbacca after dropping a planet’s moon on him at Sernpidal.
The invaders considered everyone infidels, especially the Jedi and their belief in the force, which led to them breeding a beast called a voxyn to hunt and kill Force-sensitive characters. The invasion quickly takes Coruscant, which is renamed by the Yuuzhan Vong to Yuuzhan’tar after their former homeworld. The Force Awakens seemed to fall short in this department, showing the First Order and their crippling of the New Republic with Starkiller Base and leaving a lot of details for tie-in material it seems. If you’ve only watched the movies, you could miss it, but we’re not here to re-litigate this time around.
By the end of the New Jedi Order, the Yuuzhan Vong invasion killed upwards of 300 trillion lifeforms. The aftermath saw the Galactic Alliance work out peace terms with the remaining Yuuzhan Vong, who make Zonama Sekot their new homeworld inside the Unknown Regions after revealing it houses a seed connecting to their old home. It wrapped up the saga with a bow, with the race returning 100 years after their invasion in the pages of the Star Wars Legacy as eventual scapegoats for the Sith-Imperial War.
Should They Join Canon?
Del Rey Books / Lucasfilm
As previously mentioned, the Yuuzhan Vong did inspire the canon alien race called the Grysk, which were introduced in the 2018 Timothy Zahn book Thrawn: Alliances. What they lack that the Yuuzhan Vong had throughout their run is their terrifying looks. He even attempts to tie his 2006 novel Outbound Flight to the Grysks, noting a “massive” invasion from the “Far Outsiders” was coming, which would be the Grysk according to Zahn, but ended up revealed to be the Yuuzhan Vong at the time.
So if you buy that, the race is already in the canon and free to use with the right approval—assuming that’s how the Lucasfilm product is ushered to the masses. But if that’s it, we’re a bit disappointed. As an elder Star Wars fan, I can remember the introduction of the New Jedi Order and Yuuzhan Vong as villains, and it felt like a true outside invasion that bent the rules of the universe. What some characters had grown to understand about the galaxy was questioned and upended by the fanatical warriors, and they were scrambling.
How The Future is Shaking Out
Lucasfilm/Disney
It seems we’re in the middle of a down period for the Star Wars franchise due to some more recent Disney+ additions not named Andor falling flat. And while any sort of adaptation of The New Jedi Order is unlikely to happen, especially within the current slate, there is no reason the Yuuzhan Vong couldn’t be introduced as a new threat in the animated side of the galaxy.
Some concepts introduced in the New Jedi Order did make a jump to the mainline series, though it remains to be seen how far the influence can go. With the establishment of Rey’s version of the New Jedi Order at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, some comparisons with the EU novel’s version arise. Will it be a look at the Unifying Force between the light and the dark to achieve oneness with the Force? Will it devolve into a mess when authorities are involved?
Do you think the Yuuzhan Vong will arrive in the main Star Wars universe? Could we see some version arise as the villains of the future Rey film? Let us know in the comments.
