Proposal: Entire saga from a common family POV

[SpaceMarine93]

I know Star Wars is essentially the story of the Skywalker family with the conflict between good and evil, epic starship battles, mystical powers, rise and fall of tyranny, political intrigue and lightsaber duels mixed in between.

But I think the whole saga focused too much on the big figures; what about the common people of the Galaxy? How do they fair and what are they doing in the background when the big events of the series are playing out in the foreground? How do their lives change for the better or worse when war raged and heroes and villains clashed? How would they react and deal with it?

We only see snippets of what's happening with the common people when the story plays out and they are usually either brief or just to set the scene for the big dramatic actions where the big heroes and big villains steal the glory. Those that are are all set in the EU and much of them set in the New Republic and Legacy Era. Not many of them goes through the actual prequels and main saga itself.

So here's the thought:

Instead of focusing on the Skywalker family, why not focus on another family? A family of common Humans/Aliens and side characters who experience the epic events of the six films first hand and try to make something out of it?

It could be new novel series set in the Star Wars films' time period that chronicles the struggles of a common, generally powerless family and the people they meet as they try to survive and prosper in a rapidly changing galaxy. This is going to be an epic saga that would cover their lives over three and a half decades and two generations: from the Invasion of Naboo at 32 BBY all the way to the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY.

It will see this family experiencing war, political turmoil, betrayal and other suffering.

It will see members of this family in difficult situations and forced to make difficult choices.

It will saw them prosper in one time and falling hard in another. It will see them becoming leaders or servants, becoming pure or corrupted,

It will see this family torn apart by differences and going on separate ways, often even forced to oppose and kill one another. It will see their lives thrown upside and down in ways that the Skywalker family did not.

It will see how other characters who crossed paths with this common family experiencing the changes as well.

It will see them confronted with new and terrifying villains and finding themselves in hopeless situations. Some will break, others will get stronger. Not all of them will get a happy ending.

Some of them would contribute to events of the original stories in many ways. Some of them would even fight alongside the Skywalker family and their allies as comrades or oppose them as bitter enemies.

Their experiences would reflect that of the untold stories of trillions over the galaxy during the events in the films.

What occurred to them happened in the foreground while the original story with its original heroes and villains of the saga occurred in the background, distant but nevertheless have huge effects on the family's situation and struggles.

Given the premise of my proposal, darker and edgier elements of the Star Wars universe and history should be explored in grander detail: the horrors of war would be experienced in full glory as the family survives the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. The atrocities committed by the CIS and the Empire and even by the Republic and the Rebels during the turmoils would be experienced on a more personal level. Moral ambiguity, "What the Hell, Hero" moments, grittiness and pessimism should be a lot more prevalent then in the film series.

How's that?

[The Romulan Republic]

Intriguing, but I'm concerned about it becoming too cynical. Realism is good, but I think sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that dark and cynical equals realistic. Such a story should show both the successes and failures of the family in question. Their should also be moments of idealism and heroism alongside moments of moral ambiguity.

And its not like the main characters in the films had it easy. Especially in Revenge of the Sith.

[SpaceMarine93]

Intriguing, but I'm concerned about it becoming too cynical. Realism is good, but I think sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that dark and cynical equals realistic. Such a story should show both the successes and failures of the family in question. Their should also be moments of idealism and heroism alongside moments of moral ambiguity.

And its not like the main characters in the films had it easy. Especially in Revenge of the Sith.

Sure, let's go with that.

What kind of characters do you think this family would produce over such a hypothetical series. It would be interesting if for example by Films 4,5,6 there are two brothers fighting on opposing sides of the Galactic Civil War. What kind of characters could they be?

[Adam Reynolds]

Intriguing, but I'm concerned about it becoming too cynical. Realism is good, but I think sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that dark and cynical equals realistic. Such a story should show both the successes and failures of the family in question. Their should also be moments of idealism and heroism alongside moments of moral ambiguity.

And its not like the main characters in the films had it easy. Especially in Revenge of the Sith.

This is one thing that I have a major problem with in much of the EU, especially the NJO. It seems that many Star Wars authors are of the opinion that killing characters is the most effective way to create drama in a a story. This is one of the best elements of Zahn's stories IMO as he very rarely kills major characters and relies on the clever ways he writes his characters as they think their way out of problems.