Is Starkiller Canon in Star Wars?

In 2008 and 2010, LucasArts released two games under the title Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The initial game and its sequel were supposed to be big hits for LucasArts but as it turned out, The Force Unleashed received lightly positive comments, while its sequel was heavily criticized for a lot of its gameplay aspects. In today’s article, though, we at Fiction Horizon are not going to talk about the gaming value of the games, but rather about its main character, Starkiller, and his canon status within the larger Star Wars fictional universe.
Galen Marek, a.k.a. Starkiller, is not canon at this moment. Before Disney’s acquisition, The Force Unleashed was part of the “C-Canon”, meaning that it was canon unless it contradicted other material. After Disney’s acquisition, the game and its protagonist ceased being part of the canon.
In today’s article, we are going to talk about Starkiller, the main character of both Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games. You are going to find out whether he is a canon character or not, and the reasons behind the answer. As always, we have prepared an interesting text for you so stick with us until the very end.
Is Starkiller canon?
Galen Marek, also known by the alias Starkiller, was the son of the Jedi knight Kento and was trained by Darth Vader to be his secret apprentice who would, ultimately, help him take down the Emperor. After the Sith Lord killed Galen’s father on Kashyyyk, Vader took the little boy with him and trained him, ruthlessly and harshly, in the arts of the Dark Side of the Force.
During the following years, Galen carried out assignments for his master under his code name Starkiller, which consisted mainly of eliminating spies and traitors, all of while not remembering his actual origins. It wasn’t until year 2 BBY that he was able to take on more difficult tasks and track down the last remaining Jedi.
Together with his pilot, Juno Eclipse, and the holodroid PROXY, he then faced, among others, Rahm Kota and Shaak Ti. Later, however, after a visit to Kashyyyk, he realized that he had only been a pawn in the intrigues of Vader and the Emperor.
As a result, Galen played a crucial role in the establishment of the Rebel Alliance before he was killed in a rescue operation on the first Death Star in battle with Emperor Palpatine.
Now that we’ve gone through Starkiller’s story – briefly, at least – we can answer the question from the beginning of this section. Starkiller’s canon status, of course, follows that of the whole Force Unleashed universe, and in an earlier article, we have already established that the games aren’t, as of Disney’s acquisition of Lucas’ universe, canon.
Disney significantly reduced the Star Wars canon, following, more or less, Lucas’ initial idea on what the canon should be. By reducing the large canon to only the movies, the television series and one unfinished script, Disney changed the canon and this resulted in The Force Unleashed becoming part of the Legends universe, which is part of the larger Expanded Universe, but is more of an alternative take on the canon than anything else in today’s conditions.
Historically, Starkiller, as well as the games, were part of the so-called “C-Canon”, which means that they were canon unless they explicitly contradicted the movies and the books from the main narrative canon.
Why Starkiller isn’t canon?
This somewhat of a complex answer, especially for the pre-Disney area. Namely, the two Force Unleashed games were initially part of the so-called “C-Canon”, the least important canon in the larger Star Wars universe. The movies were, of course, the primary source for the canon, the books came second, while the “C-Canon” consisted of comic books, video games and the likes. What does this mean for Starkiller?
Well, this means that the games actually were canon but only if they did not contradict the books and the movies. So, if you picked up all the information from the movies and the books and found something that happened in the games that did not contradict these information, you could be sure that it was canon. Everything else? Non-canon from the very start.
Taking all of this into consideration, Starkiller could, theoretically, have fit into the main canon, but a lot of the narrative elements from The Force Unleashed contradicted both the movies and the books, which means that his full story, as presented in the games, never became canon. Parts of the story probably were, but seeing how expansive the original canon was, it’s really difficult to determine which parts were canon.
As far as the modern era is concerned, Starkiller isn’t canon simply because Disney erased the old system, leaving only the movies and some TV shows as parts of the original canon.
How can Starkiller become canon?
Now, seeing that Starkiller isn’t canon since Disney’s acquisition, but part of the Legends universe. Since there is only one way for a Legends character to become canon under the current conditions, there is also just one way for Starkiller to become part of the current canon, and that is to appear in at least one canon material.
The principal movie series is done, as far as Starkiller’s introduction is concerned. The new TV series created by Disney are somewhat of a possibility, especially since the upcoming Kenobi series offers a lot of space for the introduction of Starkiller, but we don’t have any precise information on that topic. Some video games are also a possibility, but they would have to do something about The Force Unleashed continuity first.
To sum it up, there certainly is a space for Starkiller to join the main Star Wars canon under Disney’s coordination, but as of yet, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that it might happen in the recent future, especially since The Force Unleashed never became as popular as the producers initially intended for it to be.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we gave you all the information you were looking for! See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!