In 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the Star Wars Expanded Universe into Star Wars Legends and made it non-canon. Largely so the then-upcoming Sequel Trilogy wouldn’t contradict 30+ years of novels, videogames, comics, and more. So, Yoda swinging his lightsaber at Ivy Valentine in Soulcalibur 4 no longer happened in the main Star Wars timeline. Nor did Thok trade blows with Hoar as per Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi.
Newer canon series have crossed characters and generations, like Luke Skywalker meeting Ahsoka Tano in The Book of Boba Fett. But Legends still has some great character meetups exclusive to itself. Here are some of the best ones and where to find them.
5 Luke And Luuke Skywalker
Some of the more popular villains in fiction tend to be darker versions of the hero. Spider-Man has Venom, Superman has General Zod, and Green Lantern has Sinestro. In the films, Luke Skywalker stayed as his own man. But in Timothy Zahn’s The Last Command, the last book in the Thrawn Trilogy, Luke finally met his match in an evil version of himself.
Luuke Skywalker (seriously, 2 U’s) was cloned from the hand Luke lost to his father in The Empire Strikes Back. He’d even use the lightsaber that hand used to hold. Trained by Joruus C’baoth, himself an evil clone of Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth, Luuke had the advantage over his single-U’d counterpart. Joruus even kept Leia from interfering. Ultimately, he met his end when ex-spy-turned-goodie Mara Jade took him down.
4 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, And Luuuke Skywalker
Sure, one evil clone with a silly name is great. But how about another with an even sillier name? For April Fools 2012, Timothy Zahn wrote ‘Star Wars: An Apology’, a tongue-in-cheek satire of the Legends series after the Thrawn trilogy. Eventually published as the Epilogue to the Fate of the Jedi novel series, it featured a third clone of Star Wars’ Jedi hero, created by Grand Admiral Thrawn as one of a series of clones to keep the population in line.
Eventually, Luuuke worked on a time machine with another clone called Streeen that took the multi-vowel’d duo back and their army back to the Clone Wars. Luke may have sparred with his old ‘Uncle Ben’ and his robo-sith dad. But this gag story is the closest thing fans had to a story where a younger Obi-Wan and Anakin took on their future prodigy. Sort of.
3 Darth Vader And Darth Maul
In canon, Darth Maul got finished off by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he’d spend the next set of movies, cartoons, comics, etc., training Anakin Skywalker. By Revenge of the Sith, this would prove to be a bad move as he became Darth Vader. Vader’s already the most popular Darth, but Maul also has his fans for his scary look and neat skills with his double-ended lightsaber. But who would win in a fight between the two?
Issue #9 of the Star Wars Tales comics would give the answer. In it, Emperor Palpatine would order Vader to track down the stolen design plans for the Death Star. Vader’s best lead would take him to the former Sith moon colony Kalakar Six. Once there, he came across a Sith cult called the Prophets of the Dark Side. Disgusted by Vader’s Jedi past, the cult had revived Darth Maul in order to replace him. Fueled by hatred, Maul initially had the advantage in the fight, only for Vader to get the fatal blow by impaling both himself and Maul in one go. Maul’s hatred for all was great. Vader’s hatred for himself was greater.
2 Princess Leia And Yoda
Marvel’s ‘What If’ series has been a popular set of spin-offs for the company since the 1970s. So, Dark Horse Comics did something similar with Star Wars via Star Wars Infinities, which were a trilogy of non-canon, alternate versions of the classic films. For example, the one on A New Hope could essentially be called ‘What If Luke Failed to Destroy the Death Star?’.
Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back would be ‘What If Luke Died on Hoth?’. The short answer is that Leia would have to step up. Luke would use his dying breath to tell Han Solo about a Jedi master on Dagobah. After some miscommunication, Yoda would take Leia under his wing and teach her how to use the Force. She’d be the one to have the climactic battle against Darth Vader, but on Dagobah than the Cloud City. He’d kill Yoda and make the same offer to rule the galaxy to his daughter to no avail.
1 Darth Sidious And Darth Plagueis
Obviously, this meeting is canon. There was a Darth Plagueis (maybe), and the story Palpatine told Anakin was about him taking his master’s place (possibly). But that was all that was known. The exact details of their past were left unknown. Then author James Luceno decided to delve into this backstory with a novel. Originally planned for release in 2008, the book lingered in limbo until eventually being published in 2012.
The book goes through Plagueis’ history, from learning under his master Darth Tenebrous, to his death at the hands of his new pupil Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious. It’s an interesting tale of how the dark side controls its users as much as they control it. Plagueis mastered it just so he could toss Tenebrous aside and become immortal. Then Sidious took advantage of Plagueis’ faults, like his fear of death, to take his place. It makes his eventual fate in Return of the Jedi all the sweeter. Though whatever it does to Rise of Skywalker is anyone’s guess.