Star Wars authors explain the Great Disaster of the High Republic era

New details regarding Star Wars: The High Republic’s “Great Disaster” have emerged, which is said to be the catalyst for the main plot of the series.

On Thursday, as a part of the virtual panel at NYCC, several of the writers of the soon-to-be-released Star Wars: the High Republic series joined in to be interviewed regarding what to expect with the pending release just months away.

One of the biggest topics discussed was the “Great Disaster”, which is set to kick off the primary conflict of the series.

The Great Disaster was already revealed to Star Wars fans with the release of the first chapter of Star Wars: Light of the Jedi back in June, but the authors go into a bit more detail regarding the fall out of it during the panel.

The disaster itself is a large cargo vessel, known as the Legacy Run, colliding with an object while in Hyperspace heading towards the outer rim. This incident sends debris shooting through space at light speed, including the ship’s cargo and passenger carriers, causing a hazard for many unsuspecting planets around the galaxy far far away.

In the panel, writer Michael Siglain specifically states that this is the inciting incident leading into the series, and at the time of the disaster, the galaxy is in a state of peace and prosperity. He states that this disaster leads to a “cry for help” by the citizens of the Republic, and the Jedi are the ones to answer the call.

Expanding on this further, the writers state that the Great Disaster is not just the catalyst for the first book, Light of the Jedi, but for several comics and other novels as well and that it will lead to the introduction of a few familiar faces along the way, namely a younger Jedi Master Yoda.

Writer Daniel José Older states that at the time of the Great Disaster, Yoda is at the Jedi Temple training the Padawans and will appear in the High Republic Adventures comic, responding to the various “fallouts” of the Great Disaster, requiring both he and his Padawans to jump into action.

While the writers didn’t tip their hand to everything surrounding the Great Disaster, such as if it were just a freak accident or a planted attack, the fact that they state it sparks a galaxy-wide conflict spanning numerous books and comics means there is very likely, much more to the incident than has been revealed.

Keep up with the Books category on Dork Side of the Force for more High Republic news.