Star Wars: Legacy is a series published in 2006 by Dark Horse Comics that was purged from canon like most of the Expanded Universe after Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm. It ran for 50 issues and reached its planned conclusion in 2010. The series followed the exploits of Luke’s descendant, Cade, 125 years after Return of the Jedi. For fans who have only seen the films and found Rise of Skywalker to be an unsatisfying conclusion, Legacy offers an alternate ending that feels more fulfilling.

The Skywalker Saga began with the first Star Wars film, A New Hope, in 1977 and concluded with last year's Rise of Skywalker. Fans waited decades to see the grand finale and with expectations so high, there were certainly going to be fans who were disappointed. But no one could have predicted just how divisive Episode IX proved to be.

Some fans found it to be a joyful celebration of all that came before, a kind of ‘greatest hits,’ but a large swath of the fanbase felt very differently. The backlash against Episode IX has been harsh, with many pointing out the film’s glaring plot holes, forced fan service, and rushed pacing as its weaknesses. It’s unfortunate one of the most popular stories in modern history couldn’t quite stick the landing. However, for fans willing to pick up a comic book, there is hope in Star Wars: Legacy.

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Cade Skywalker with his crew of bounty hunter in Star Wars: Legacy.

At the center of the story is Cade Skywalker, a direct descendant of Luke and the last of his name. Cade bears many similarities to two of his other ancestors, as well: Anakin and Kylo Ren. Filled with fear and anger, Cade is susceptible to the lures of the Dark Side as well. He loses everything when a new Sith Order, under the command of Darth Krayt, wipes out the Jedi Order and installs a new Empire. He watches his father Kol Skywalker die so Cade can safely escape and it breaks him. Tapping into the Dark Side, he uses his fear of loss to heal his dying master, Wolf Sazen, and steals a fighter, defending the escaping Jedi in a suicide run. Believed dead by all but Wolf, Cade is found floating in space by pirates and eventually grows into a bitter, angry bounty hunter of considerable skill.

Cade actively hunts down Jedi, turning them over alive to the Sith and collecting a considerable reward. But Cade’s refusal to confront his destiny and process his significant trauma has led him to be addicted to deathsticks. He also uses them to dull his connection to the force. When visited by Luke's Force Ghost, he holds a blaster to his own temple, sincerely threatening to take his own life if the Living Force doesn’t leave him alone.

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Despite his reluctance, he soon finds himself at the center of Darth Krayt’s schemes and the fate of the galaxy resting in his hands. The politics of Cade’s future are complex. With Legacy set 125 years after Return of the Jedi, it's placed further in the future than any other Star Wars story. Being set in the old Expanded Universe, it draws on the decades of media before it to craft a vastly different future than what we see in the sequel trilogy. In this timeline Luke successfully rebuilds the New Jedi Order, just as his sister Leia builds the New Republic. But peace proves to be elusive. For years the New Republic battles the Imperial Remnant, eventually pushing them back to the planet Bastion near the outer rim.

Both Empire and Republic are caught by surprise when Invaders from a distant galaxy called the Yuuzhan Vong descends like a plague. Using strange biotech, they wage a war of conquest that destroys the New Republic. A Galactic Alliance emerges from the ashes and forms an uneasy truce with the Empire to team up against the Yuuzhan Vong. Together they achieve victory and, at the behest of the Jedi, exile the Yuuzhan Vong to a single planet as punishment.

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The truce between the Alliance and the Empire holds for decades as they both recover, but this peace is doomed before it even begins. Behind the scenes, a Sith Lord named Darth Krayt is training new apprentices and building an army of his own. He orchestrates an incident that makes the Yuuzhan Vong look guilty of serious crimes and the Alliance engages in quickly escalating in-fighting regarding how to treat the Vong.

Krayt makes a deal with the Empire and helps them take advantage of the weakened Alliance. As Krayt sends his Sith to hunt down the Jedi, Emperor Roan Fel sends his Imperial forces to take control of the crumbling Alliance. All events play according to Krayt’s plans. He overthrows Emperor Fel and claims the Empire for himself. At the start of Legacy, Fel is still alive and on the run, waging -- ironically enough -- a rebellion to reclaim his throne. Darth Krayt is keeping Fel’s rebellion at bay, but he harbors a devastating secret. Krayt is dying from Yuuzhan Vong experimentation, the biotech he was subjected to slowly encrusting him in bone-like plates. The Sith Lord catches wind of Cade’s ability to heal through using the dark side and suddenly the young Skywalker is the most wanted man in the Empire.

All of this is just the beginning of Cade’s journey. Along with his friends and fellow bounty hunters Delilah Blue and Jariah Syn, Cade eventually finds the light within himself and slowly reforges his connection to the Force. Over the course of his journey, he lets go of the past, forgives himself for his anger and chooses to embrace the Jedi code. Cade skirts as close to the dark side as he can without ever falling to it and eventually rejects it completely. Cade’s story serves as a perfect foil to Anakin’s, showing that the mistakes of the past do not decide the future. Where prior Skywalkers wavered and fell, Cade remains strong.

For those who found Rise of Skywalker lacking, Star Wars: Legacy is a well-told story that might be just what they need.

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