Empire's End
Haven't posted in a while. Busy busy busy. But after reading the Aftermath finale, Empire's End, I felt the need to comment. The long awaited Battle of Jakku was finally explained in full, and the death blow of Palpatine's Empire was revealed. A good book, full of great moments (that moment with Han and baby Ben...yep). The ending explains the term "First Order" and sets us down the path that will once again lead to Jakku with a full-grown Ben looking for a clue to Luke Skywalker's whereabouts.
That being said, there is a discrepancy in the timeline in this book, and since I'm running a timeline webpage, I must comment on it. During the 2nd to last Interlude, on board the Imperialis, the header clearly states "25 years before", which would place that date as 20 BBY. It also clearly states it is 10 years since Galli and Palpatine first met. In the previous book, Life Debt, that first meeting was told to be "Three Decades Before", which at that point places it at 26 BBY. So...10 years later, a second meeting...that should be 16 BBY, not 20. See where I'm going with this? Not only that, but if the second meeting takes place in 20 BBY as Empire's End says, then why is Palpatine referred to as the Emperor during that meeting and clearly maimed by his battle with Mace Windu, even though this doesn't happen until 19 BBY? Erghhh...isn't the Story Group supposed to catch stuff like this?
Ok, all is not lost. We can fix this. There are a couple different scenarios that can make sense here. First, Chuck Wendig and the Story Group screwed up and what they MEANT was that it was 21 years before, which would make the second meeting take place in 16 BBY, and keep the first meeting at 26, three decades before Life Debt. But that would mean the Story Group messed up and canon is tarnished. OR...the 2nd scenario, which takes "three decades before" as ambiguous. It could mean 30 years, or 31 years or as I will argue, 33 years before, placing the first meeting at 29 BBY. That would mean the second meeting took place almost directly after Revenge of the Sith in 19 BBY, making the reference to "25 years before" only a year off. And if "25 years before" is a little ambiguous as well, then it fits. So, that is what I'm going with right now until Story Group explains it officially, if they ever do. In the meantime, if anyone has a better explanation, I'm all ears!