I get the impression part of the reasoning behind this is that with so much onscreen content already existing and being in development in the years among and between the years the movies take place they probably want something they can do novels and comics in without needing to coordinate with movies and TV shows that exist or are in development.
I think it's less about coordination with the movie side and more about just being free to create a separate sub-brand within the franchise that doesn't need a movie or TV show to cross promote. It's also a creative well they can just keep on mining for as long as they like.
It's pretty much the same thing they did back when Dark Horse developed the 'Tales of the Jedi' line, which eventually spun out into KoTOR and beyond. Only this time, it's more of a cohesive effort.
I agree. There's no way they're going to have everything be required reading in order to get what's going on, since they know there are young kids who'll read the middle grade reader novels but not the adult novels, and likewise grown adults aren't too likely to be inclined to read something written for eight year olds. Basic marketing 101, which I'm sure Lucasfilm and their Disney masters are aware of.
Yeah, I'm sure if one were to read every last thing you'd get a more complete sense of the story and texture of the era, but each medium's series' are going to be internally cohesive so you don't NEED to read everything, but it helps appreciate the context of certain things.
I wonder if we’re going to see Yoda as a Jedi Knight.
Well if we take his
"For 800 years have I trained Jedi!" line as gospel, he'd probably already have been a Master going on six centuries at this point. But yeah, I'm sure he'll show up sooner or later.
As an aside: I think the way it's supposed to work is that a Knight gets made a Master once they've trained their own Padawan to Knighthood. So unless they hold off on taking an apprentice for an unusually long time, have a long string of washouts, or refuse to train an apprentice at all, most Jedi probably don't spend much more than a decade as a Knight. Which for Yoda would have been a looooong time past.
Personally I really like this concept since it means the final trail of a Jedi is to pass on what they've learned.
It also seems to inform the tension between Anakin & the Council in RotS; he's insulted that he's on the council but not made a Master; their reasoning is that he hasn't earned it because his Padawan quit before she was Knighted; which is going to piss him off even further because the council are the reason she quit!
Jk, I know it's publishing. Publish away, Disney. But I'll reserve real pan-galactic excitement for future tv series' and films.
