Following the release of 1983's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the Star Wars hype began to fade away, slowly but surely. Over the next two decades, before the prequels would eventually be announced and the Star Wars hype cycle would begin once again, Star Wars fans had to rely on a slew of external material to get their fix. From video games like X-Wing to the Heir to the Empire Thrawn trilogy of books, Star Wars fans found whatever material they could and devoured it, even despite some content lacking the charm and quality of its original source material. But with Disney acquiring the Star Wars license in 2012, all of this expanded material was firmly taken out of the canon, rebranded as Star Wars Legends.
While this decision angered many fans, with some beloved Star Wars characters and story arcs being all but wiped from existence, there's no denying that some Star Wars Legends content just isn't all that great. Further, with hundreds of writers and contributors over the years, the timeline did get pretty muddled. That being said, there were a few handfuls of good ideas in the mix, one of which would make a great plot for the upcoming Mass Effect 4.
Star Wars Legends' Yuuzhan Vong
One of the most infamous Star Wars Legends stories revolves around a brand-new species named the Yuuzhan Vong and their attempted invasion of the Star Wars galaxy. Set around 20 years after the Battle of Endor, and the end of Return of the Jedi, the 19-book series Star Wars: New Jedi Order sees Luke Skywalker's new Jedi recruits venture out into the galaxy before being swiftly called back to aid in a galaxy-wide war.
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, humanoid gray-skinned creatures known as the Yuuzhan Vong attack a planet on the Outer Rim of the known galaxy. After bringing a moon down onto the planet, killing beloved Wookie Chewbacca in the process, the Yuuzhan Vong begin a full scale invasion of the galaxy, with Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando all leading the charge against the seemingly unstoppable force.
Over the course of the long-running series, the Yuuzhan Vong are revealed to be aliens from a neighboring galaxy who despise any form of mechanical technology. The Yuuzhan Vong are a masochistic species that prefer to power their technology through organic grafting. For some unknown reason, the Yuuzhan Vong are not detectable via the Force, though Force abilities do work against them in battle.
Over the course of about five years, the Yuuzhan Vong slaughter about 300 trillion people and almost wipe out the New Republic completely. The brutal war finally comes to an end when Luke and his Jedi army, along with nephew Jacen Solo, manage to kill the Yuuzhan Vong's Supreme Overlord, which brings about the surrender of the rest of the species. Following this, most of the surviving Yuuzhan Vong are escorted back to the Unknown Regions of space.
The Yuuzhan Vong are a bit of a controversial sticking point for many long-time Star Wars fans. For some, the New Jedi Order books offer a new, darker take on the Star Wars universe, and propel the story in directions that had never been seen before. But for others, the Yuuzhan Vong are a little too dark for the Star Wars universe, with their masochism and bloodlust belonging more in the grim-dark dystopia of Warhammer 40,000 than a Galaxy Far Far Away.
That being said, there is one aspect of this series that's particularly interesting, and potentially changes the Star Wars saga as a whole. Released in 2006, the Star Wars novel Outbound Flight reveals an interesting little detail which many have theorized could completely change how fans view the Emperor.
Set just before the Clone Wars, this novel by beloved Star Wars writer Timothy Zahn sees Palpatine scheming his way through the galaxy. At one point in the novel, Palpatine reveals to his advisors that he's seen visions of "dark ships, shadowy figures, and weapons of great power, based on organic technology." He believes that these mysterious forces have already conquered the surrounding galaxies, and one day, they'll come for theirs.
When asked when Palpatine will reveal this information to the galaxy, he says not until he has established peace and order across the galaxy, and not until he has created an Empire to defend the galaxy against this threat. To many fans, this small plot detail is enough evidence to flip the entire Star Wars saga on its head.
If Palpatine knew that this threat was coming, and knew that a galaxy-wide army would be the only thing to stop it, then his actions in the Star Wars saga seem a little more rational, albeit still pretty evil. Some fans have gone as far as to say that the Death Stars were only constructed to defend against the Yuuzhan Vong, suggesting that the Emperor wasn't all bad. While this theory is pretty weak, with fans being able to poke holes in it easily, the general idea is intriguing and makes for an engaging twist - one which could be seen in the next Mass Effect.
How a Similar Plot Could Work in Mass Effect 4
Aside from some general genre similarities, Mass Effect is quite different from Star Wars. Over just three mainline games, a spinoff, and some novels and comics, BioWare managed to create one of the greatest Sci-Fi universes of all time, a universe that some fans believe easily rivals, if not surpasses in some ways, that of Star Wars.
That being said, inspiration can come from anywhere, and in the case of Mass Effect's fourth installment, the developers are surely looking to draw from all types of Sci-Fi media to further flesh out the franchise's universe. The twist that the Emperor may not be the overall villain in the Star Wars saga may be a plot idea that BioWare might want to draw inspiration from.
In the Mass Effect trilogy, the threat of the unstoppable Reapers is always present in some capacity, going from mentions and teases in the first game to being revealed in the second, to being the main antagonistic force of the finale. In current Mass Effect canon, the Reapers are a force that appear every 50,000 years to cull the galaxy so that it can begin anew once more. The only real reason given for this is that the original Leviathan species created a synthetic intelligence designed to preserve life, which, of course, turned on its creators. It concluded that war is an inevitable part of life, so it would stop that from happening by "preserving" organic life at its peak before conflict can arise.
Much like the Star Wars Palpatine-Yuuzhan Vong twist, Mass Effect 4 could reveal an even bigger threat to the galaxy, one which the Reapers were actually preparing for all this time, and now, with the Reapers being defeated at the hands of Shepard, this even deadlier foe is able to rise up. It may sound a little cheap on paper to simply introduce an even bigger bad, but with enough clever writing and backstory, this twist could work well in Mass Effect 4.