George Lucas once famously said that the movies are the movies, and everything else is a "parallel universe." That was back when the Expanded Universe (EU) was the wild west of publishing. Today, things are different. Mostly. When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, they wiped the slate clean to create a unified timeline. But then came the 40th anniversary of A New Hope in 2017, and with it, a book that fundamentally challenged how we digest lore: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View.
It’s a weird project. Honestly. It’s a collection of 40 short stories by 40 different authors, all retelling the events of the original film from the perspective of background characters. Think about the guy holding the ice cream maker in Cloud City (Willrow Hood) or the trash compactor monster (Dianoga). It’s clever. It’s also a massive headache for people who need their fictional timelines to be perfectly straight lines.
The title itself is a cheeky nod to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s infamous excuse in Return of the Jedi for lying to Luke about his father. "So, what I told you was true... from a certain point of view." This phrase has become the ultimate "get out of jail free" card for Star Wars writers. It allows for contradictions. It allows for myths. It allows for the fact that two people watching the same explosion might see two completely different things.
The Problem with "Truth" in Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View
If you’re the kind of fan who maintains a spreadsheet of hyperdrive speeds, this book series—which now includes volumes for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi—might drive you a little crazy. Why? Because the authors were explicitly told they didn't have to worry about "hard canon" in the traditional sense.
Take the story of the Dianoga in the first book, written by Nnedi Okorafor. In this telling, the monster in the trash compactor is named Omi. Omi isn't just a hungry beast; she’s a sentient, Force-sensitive being who "baptizes" Luke Skywalker rather than trying to eat him. It’s a beautiful, strange, and deeply spiritual story. Is it "real" in the same way that Dave Filoni’s The Clone Wars is real? Well, that depends on who you ask at the Lucasfilm Story Group.
Most fans accept that the events happen, but the interpretations are subjective. This is a huge shift in how big franchises handle IP. Usually, there is a "Word of God" approach. One truth. One timeline. But Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View treats the galaxy like history—messy, biased, and prone to exaggeration.
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Why Background Characters Matter More Than Jedi
We spent decades obsessing over Skywalkers. It's exhausting.
The brilliance of this anthology series is that it moves the camera six inches to the left. We see the Mos Eisley Cantina through the eyes of the bartender, Wuher. We find out why he hates droids. (Spoiler: It’s tragic). We see the Death Star’s destruction not as a victory for freedom, but as a workplace catastrophe for the thousands of independent contractors and low-level bureaucrats just trying to get a paycheck.
Authors like Christie Golden, Ken Liu, and Claudia Gray bring a level of emotional depth to characters who didn't even have names in 1977. This matters because it makes the universe feel lived-in. It’s the "used universe" aesthetic that Ralph McQuarrie and John Barry pioneered, but applied to psychology instead of starships.
There’s a specific story in the Empire Strikes Back volume titled "Faith in Old Bones" by Brenda Drake. It focuses on the Ugnaughts on Cloud City. Before this, Ugnaughts were basically just "the pig people who find C-3PO in the trash." Drake gives them culture. She gives them a reason to be there. It’s these small pivots that have kept the franchise alive for fifty years. People don't stay for the space battles; they stay for the world-building.
Breaking the "Lore" Barrier
Let's be real for a second. The Star Wars fandom can be... intense. There is often a demand for "purity" in the timeline. But Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View acts as a pressure valve. By labeling these stories as subjective perspectives, Lucasfilm allows creators to take risks that they couldn't take in a mainline novel like Resistance Reborn or Shadow of the Sith.
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- Varying Tones: Some stories are slapstick comedy. Others are harrowing war dramas.
- Contradictory Narratives: Two stories might describe the same hallway differently.
- Unreliable Narrators: Just because a character says something happened doesn't mean it did.
This mirrors how real history works. If you read five different journals from the Battle of Gettysburg, you’ll get five different versions of the truth. By applying this to a galaxy far, far away, the editors (Elizabeth Schaefer and others) have made the setting feel more authentic, even if it’s less "accurate" to a technical manual.
The Authors Who Defined the Perspective
You can't talk about these books without mentioning the sheer talent involved. We aren't just talking about "tie-in" writers. We're talking about Hugo and Nebula award winners.
In the Return of the Jedi edition, we get a story from Olivie Blake (author of The Atlas Six). Having a New York Times bestselling "literary" fantasy author write about the Max Rebo Band is a flex. It shows that Star Wars is no longer just a sandbox for sci-fi geeks; it’s a legitimate medium for high-level storytelling.
Then there’s Tom Angleberger’s contribution. He wrote the Origami Yoda series. His take on the Whills—the ancient beings supposedly recording the Star Wars saga—is meta, funny, and slightly fourth-wall breaking. It reminds us that at its heart, Star Wars is a myth. Myths change with the teller.
What This Means for the Future of the Franchise
Disney+ has clearly taken notes from the "Certain Point of View" approach. Andor is the most prominent example. It’s a show that refuses to focus on the "Great Men" of history (the Jedi) and instead looks at the logistics of rebellion. It’s grimy. It’s morally grey. It feels exactly like a story you’d find in these anthologies.
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Even The Mandalorian uses this perspective-shifting. The episode "The Believer" in Season 2, where Bill Burr’s character Migs Mayfeld confronts his former Imperial officer, is a masterclass in shifting the "point of view" regarding the Empire’s atrocities. It’s no longer just "the bad guys vs. the good guys." It’s about the people caught in the gears.
The success of these books—all three have performed exceptionally well in sales and critic circles—proves that audiences are ready for more complex narratives. We don't need every mystery explained. We don't need a Wookieepedia entry for every blade of grass. We just need stories that feel human.
How to Approach the Series if You're a Newbie
If you’re just diving into these, don’t try to read them cover-to-cover in one sitting. It’s too much. The tonal shifts will give you whiplash. Instead, watch the corresponding movie, then pick five stories that interest you.
- Check the character list: Find a character you always wondered about.
- Ignore the "Canon" debate: Don't stress about whether a story "really happened." Ask if it makes the movie better. (Usually, it does).
- Look for the "Big Three": Each book has at least one story that touches on Han, Luke, or Leia from an outsider's perspective. These are often the most poignant because they show us our heroes through the eyes of people who don't know they are "main characters."
The legacy of Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View isn't just that it gave us more content. It’s that it gave us permission to imagine the galaxy as a place where everyone has a story, not just the people with the lightsabers.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
- Read "The Baptist" by Nnedi Okorafor in the first volume to see how far the "Certain Point of View" concept can be pushed.
- Listen to the Audiobooks. Lucasfilm went all out with the production, using different voice actors (including Jon Hamm as Boba Fett) and full sound effects/music. It's a completely different experience than reading the print versions.
- Cross-reference with the films. Keep a copy of the movie handy and pause when you reach a scene described in a story. It adds a layer of depth to your next rewatch that you can't get anywhere else.
- Analyze the "Master & Apprentice" connections. Claudia Gray’s stories in these collections often tie back to her full-length novels, providing a hidden "meta-narrative" for those paying close attention to the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan lineage.