As expected for a film series this popular, the Star Wars Expanded Universe is immense; in fact, there's a very real argument to be made that Star Wars established the "Expanded Universe" concept as we know it. (While the concept certainly existed long before Star Wars, it was this particular EU that was the first to become a financial and mindshare juggernaut that in some ways became bigger than the films themselves.) Made-For-TV films, Animated Adaptations, a series of Radio Dramas, Video Games and a large series of novels all fall under this banner. Even with how massive the project is, Star Wars has one of the most elaborate, internally consistent canons in the history of media publication. It is also unusual in that pretty much every licensed Star Warsanything is entirely canon unless it is directly contradicted by the films, including the video games and comics. TV Tropes has a very incomplete list of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. See Wookieepedia for a really complete list.
The canonicity (or lack thereof) of the Expanded Universe is a matter of some heated debate among the fans. Some take the view that since it's published, it's official. Others point out that George Lucas himself considers it a separate project apart from "his" canon. This has led to lots and lots of Fan Dumb from all sides. The fact that some of the installments of the Expanded Universe, most notably Dark Empire, not only had Lucas' direct involvement, he even suggested what goes into the story (or more accurately, what shouldn't go into the story) doesn't help the decisiveness of the subject, either, nor some of Lucas' flip flop decisions on canon in the movies themselves, for that matter. There is however a loose system as to what can be considered canon that can be found here (also, see further down the page). The best way to describe the official word from Lucasfilm on the subject is that, while Lucas does not consider the EU part of his story, it is considered canon unless directly contradicted by the films.
With the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney in 2012 and the stated intention to begin releasing movies set after Return of the Jedi, the canonicity of any Expanded Universe media based on the future of the setting is very likely to be invalidated, unless the new writer happens to be a Promoted Fanboy who reads the books (at this point, nobody knows).
Word of warning: the Star Wars Expanded Universe is vast. Therefore, please only add works that have their own pages on this wiki. The books listed are each part of their own series. They are heavily outnumbered by standalones and two-part series. A list of all Star Wars media is here. Warning: Huge. To give you an idea, pretty much every background character seen in the films, even that alien guy just passing by the screen, has not only a name and a species listed, but a fully fleshed out biography. Typically no more than that, but still. Oh, and even the movie'sbackground props have received their own stories. As of mid-2012, the list shows 2,337 items. Thankfully, a book has been published that ties everything published up to its release date into a neat timeline and has summaries of most of it.
Please put works within each medium, wherever possible, in in-universe chronological order.
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Books
Go here for a list of all books in chronological order.
G-canon (George Lucas Canon): Primarily contains of the six movies along with anything stated by George Lucas to have ''happened'', acting as the absolute canon. The deleted scenes are also considered G-canon so long as they don't contradict the final cut (like Shaak Ti's death scenes).
C-canon (Continuity Canon): Anything from the Expanded Universe that doesn't contradict the movies. Things such as RPG elements such as gender and age chosen by fans and stats and gameplay of video games are excluded from C-canon and are part of N-canon. This is because only the stories themselves are canon.
Note that George Lucas himself considers only the six theatrical films and the Clone Wars cartoons to be any sort of canon at all.
Tropes used throughout the Star Wars Expanded Universe:
A God Am I: Many Sith Lords, especially the heads of their current organization, fancy themselves this. Occasionally an overconfident Jedi will step into this territory. A few other Force-sensitive characters from various groups fall under this, too.
Abusive Precursors: The Rakata. The Ancient Sith Empire might also qualify, at least from the perspective of most of the later eras.
Any grounds of Sith teachings qualifies, like the Korriban Academy or Trayus Academy.
Advantage Ball: Any practitioner of Battle Meditation. Bastilla Shan, Nomi Sunrider and Darth Sidious are notable examples.
Aerial Canyon Chase: The Star Wars Expanded Universe loves this in general. If a book has "X-Wing" in the title (and even occasionally if it doesn't), expect there to be at least one of some sort. X-Wings are actually somewhat slower and less maneuverable than TIE fighters, but there are a few reasons why the canyon trick can work. TIE fighters, with those wings, have greater air resistance, and those pilots who haven't trained in atmosphere often don't compensate for that. And an X-Wing can turn on its side and use its targeting computer to get through a gap only a handful of meters wide, while TIE fighters are almost as wide as they are tall. As Iron Fist showed, a TIE interceptor can pull off a similar maneuver due to it having a narrower profile than a TIE fighter.
Alchemy Is Magic: Notably with Sith Lords using Sith Alchemy. Exar Kun, Darth Zannah and Darth Sidious are three famous practitioners.
Amnesiac Dissonance: Darth Revan in the first Knights of the Old Republic game.
Anti-Human Alliance: The Diversity Alliance in the Young Jedi Knights series. It's leader is the sister of Oola (the slave Jabba fed to the rancor in Return of the Jedi) and it's formation was motivated by the extreme anti-alien attitudes of the Empire.
Anti-Magic: Ysalamiri actually void the Force in a vicinity about them. This makes Force users much more vulnerable in their presence. However their rareness and how hard they are to transport them stop them being a convenient countermeasure.
Anything That Moves: Zeltrons seem to live and breathe this trope, to the point that it might be considered a cornerstone of their culture...
Badass Normal: Han Solo is Star Wars' best example, EU or not.
Boba Fett has certainly earned himself a reputation as a badass. The man took on Darth Vader and did better than most Jedi (mostly because he survived intact). Boba has badass dialogue at times as well.
"I swear by the soul I don't have, I am going to kill you."
WedgeAntillies - Only pilot in the universe to survive BOTH Death Star runs... and still kicking 25+ years later
Badass Grandpa: Numerous examples, particularly when you start dealing with the fact that classic Star Wars characters are aging.
Bad Black Barf: Mnggal-Mnggal zombies drool and vomit dark gray goo. Worse, the goo is in fact Mnggal-Mnggal itself, and it can go on to infect the new victims.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: Darth Vader's armor being able to protect him in the void of space is a fairly consistent ability (Fitting, as the armor exists in the first place because early drafts of A New Hope had him enter the Tantive IV on "foot", through space). There are also the rare research flubs where characters are shown piloting TIE ships without the trademark TIE Pilot suit.
Became Their Own Antithesis: Jacen Solo went from a compassionate Jedi Knight to a pitiless Sith Lord. Anakin Solo was originally planned to venture to the dark side, but he was killed off instead.
Begone Bribe: According to ''The New Essential Guide to Characters", Jar Jar Binks once found employment as a shudderup musician; people pay to shut 'em up.
Big Bad: Several, primarily stemming from Sith Lords, but others carry on the role as well.
The original galactic Big Bads were the Rakatan Infinite Empire, a race of powerful dark side-using Abusive Precursors who are long gone during most of galactic history, but are basically the spiritual predecessors of the Sith. Oh, and they're alive and well during the Dawn of the Jedi comics, the earliest chronological works in the EU.
The first major Sith Big Bad is the prototypical Dark Lord, Naga Sadow, ruler of the original Sith Empire during their very first major conflict with the Jedi Order. He's not the first Sith Lord- not by a mile- and several other Sith from his era would cause problems for the galaxy- but he is the first one from the original Sith Empire to declare war on the Republic.
Fascinated by forbidden, Dark Side-laden teachings, Exar Kun would rise to become the second major (though self-proclaimed) Dark Lord to wage war against the Republic and the Order, as leader of the Brotherhood of the Sith (with allies in the Krath cult and the Mandalorians).
Although tempting to say "If it isn't a Sith, it's a Mandalorian", the only Mandalore that really earned being called a Big Bad is Mandalore the Ultimate. The last known Taung (original Mando species) to claim the title, Mandalore the Ultimate re-consolidated the clans under the Neo-Crusader banner and fought against the Republic in the Mandalorian Wars.
Formerly curious Jedi Knights, Revan and Malak came to be known as dreaded Dark Lords, and led their original Sith Empire (founded from splinter Republic armies) during the Jedi Civil War.
Following the Civil Wars' end, Darth Traya, Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion were the three Dark lords responsible for nearly driving the already-crippled Jedi order onto the brink of extinction, particularly during the second game of Knights of the Old Republic.
The Sith Emperor commanded The Remnant from Sadow's empire, rebuilding that civilization for over a thousand years, before finally launching an attack on the Republic and the Order around 3600 years prior to the movies. In his bid for revenge, he was also the one that spurred the Mandalorians into waging war against the Republic, as well as persuading Revan and Malak into doing the same. His attack sets off the Great Galactic War, which lasts 28 years and results in a stalemate, leading to a lengthy Cold War. By this point, The Sith Emperor has become a Bigger Bad and left running The Empire to his Dark Council.
Eventually, the Sith Empire finally collapses and the Republic enjoys a period of relative peace....until one Jedi Master Phanius underwent a Face Heel Turn, abandoned the Jedi Order and united the surviving Sith remnants into a New Sith Empire under the name Darth Ruin. Ruin is defeated, but his actions set off the New Sith Wars, a Big Bad Shuffle which last a thousand years and sees a succession of Sith Lords and Sith Orders waging a series of violent and costly wars on the Republic, notable ones being Dark Underlord, Darth Rivan, and Belia Darzu. All are defeated, but both the Republic and the Jedi are left shadows of their former selves.
The Sith, however, are not much better off and devolve into an Enemy Civil War that only ends with the formation of the Brotherhood of Darkness, led by one Lord Kaan, who struggles to keep the Sith from devolving back into infighting while both the Republic and the Jedi manage to rebuild themselves and their strength and move to take out the threat. Eventually Kaan is duped into killing them all, including himself unintentionally, by one....
Darth Bane. Bane, disgusted by Kaan's joke of a Sith Order, reforms it based on the Rule of Two, which states there will be One Master and One Apprentice, to prevent such squabbling ever happening again. He also sets in motion a grand Evil Plan to conquer the galaxy, which he expects to succeed in roughly 100 years.
It takes The Sith another thousand. Exactly what they were getting up to in all this time is still a bit of a mystery, but eventually we arrive at the time of The Movies and to Darth Plagueis and, more importantly, his apprenticeDarthSidious, aka SenatorPalpatine of Naboo. After murdering his master in his sleep Palpatine finally executes the Sith's millenia old Gambit Roulette, successfully getting himself elected Supreme Chancellor and, with the help of CountDooku, initiates another Galactic Civil War that ends with Dooku dead, the Jedi devastated, and Palpatine with dictorial powers. He takes troubled Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice DarthVader and has him lead The Purge against the remainder of the Jedi. Palpatine reforms The Republic into The Empire with himself as Emperor, and spends the next couple of decades ruling the galaxy with an iron fist until The Rebellion, including Anakins son Luke and daughter Leia, destroy his second Death Star and Vader undergoes a Heel Face Turn and hurls Palpatine to his death.
After the Emperor's death, Ysanne Isard took over as the main Imperial antagonist during the X Wing Series.
New Jedi Order introduced the YuuzhanVong, with their Supreme Overlord being Shimrra, but it's really Onimi that's pulling the strings. Over the course of a good 19 books the war with the Vong, driven by their toxic religion, kills hundreds of trillions of sentient peoples and sees the deaths of countless worlds, and though they are defeated and peace is made, the galaxy is left in a wreck...and The Sith are about to return...
And finally, there is Darth Krayt and his One Sith for Legacy, set Twenty Minutes In The Future, long after all the other main characters are dead. The Republic is finished, and The Empire is back but is now the lesser evil, and Krayt sets about executing a plan to bring order to galaxy he has been preparing for more than a century. His DragonWyyrlok briefly contests the title, but Krayt puts him down before finally being killed off himself.
Break the Haughty: The Selkath from Knights of the Old Republic suffer this greatly. Neither the Sith or the Republic wanted to attack Manaan because it was the planet which provided Kolto, the best healing agent of the time, and the Selkath abused that to make neutrality laws and had no problem imprisoning people from both sides who broke those laws. Fast forward to the discovery of Bacta, a far more effective healing agent than Kolto and Manaan suddenly crawls to the Republic to join and retain a strong economy. Manaan was denied and later was conquered by the Sith, who made the Selkath their slaves.
Breather Episode: The Millenium Falcon novel, which interrupts the very dark Legacy of the Force series. Also counts as Lighter and Softer.
Broad Strokes: Star Wars really is the poster child for how this trope works. The franchise as a wholepublishing company for the books fans of the Expanded Universe consider just about everything in the Expanded Universe canon in some way. See this article in Wookieepedia for how it all works. It basically boils down to a seniority: Movies > Television > Newer Material > Older Material (Subject to be ignored) > Non-Canon (What-If stories).
Card-Carrying Villain: Before some rehabilitative Character Development, many writers had Flanderdized the Empire and its servants into this. Ship names like Tyrant, Eviscerator, and Corrupter reinforce the ethos, as does the infamous phrase "I bid you dark greetings!".
Cerebus Syndrome: The 'verse has gone from about the same level of edginess as the original trilogy to Kill 'em All status over time.
Choke Holds: Jedi are trained in martial arts. Choke holds are preferred by some as it leads to victory in a fight without causing damage to the loser or requiring much energy expenditure on the part of the Jedi.
The Chosen One: Both the Jedi and Sith have their version. The Sith called theirs the Sith'ari. It was told that the Sith'ari would destroy the Sith but would revitalize the Sith into a stronger group than ever before afterward. This was accomplished when Darth Bane eradicated the current Sith of his time, the Brotherhood of Darkness, and then established the Rule of Two, which lead to the Sith finally ruling the galaxy when Darth Sidious' plan was enacted.
The Jedi have their Chosen One in Anakin Skywalker. The Chosen One was to bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith. While "bringing balance to the Force" is generally unclear, Anakin did destroy the Sith filling the spots of the Rule of Two (himself and Darth Sidious).
Comic Book Time: Averted for a long time. Compare the in-universe dating of any story up to about a quarter of the way through the New Jedi Order with its' date of first publication and you'll find that the difference between "years ABY" and "years since 1977" seldom exceeds 5 and the former never exceeds the latter.
Continuity Nod: "Kiss my Wookiee!" "I love you." "I know." "It's a trap!" "Perhaps you'd like it back in your cell?" "Great. I always wanted a walking carpet following me around." Some are painful.
Cool and Unusual Punishment: Palpatine would kill and then resurrect Bevel Lemelisk no less than 6 times as punishment. Among them is being slowly devoured by beetles and being thrown into a vat of molten copper.
Corrupt Politician: This is the hat of the Bothan race. They genuinely hate the empire, but they're backstabby jerks who are detrimental to the New Republic war effort, except as far as intelligence gathering goes. They're fantastically effective spies, and willing to take casualties.
Darker and Edgier: The EU has been steadily creeping this way and towards Bloodier and Gorier. Compare the main horror of the first major novel, Heir to the Empire, to that of one of the most recent, Death Troopers. One is an adventure novel, and the horror is of being hunted down and captured by someone who wants to take your children. The other is survival horror, and the big fear is of being eaten by/converted into a zombie. There have been zombies in Star Wars before, but never quite the classical type.
The Legacy comics are all about this. Cade Skywalker is a drug-addicted Bounty Hunter who wants nothing to do with the Jedi or their force and constantly betrays and abandons friends and potential allies... and he's supposed to be the HERO.
The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Happens quite a bit. The gain of significant power, wealth and influence makes a lot of Dark Side practitioners forget their past.
Deadpan Snarker: By far the most prevalent form of humor in the galaxy. In way of characters, we have Mara, Ben, all of the Solo family, all of Rogue and Wraith Squadrons...everyone of any importance will get at least one snarky line in.
Death World: Kashyyyk is the usual example, but also Ryloth (the Twi'lek homeworld), Tatooine and others.
Defector from Decadence: A lot of Imperials who leave the Empire do so because they can't stand something about it anymore. Most of them join the Rebellion.
Democracy Is Bad: The government of the New Republic is so massively dysfunctional that it survives less than a generation. It is replaced by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, which is so blatantly incompetent that they totally miss the fact that a Sith Lord pulls off a repeat of Palpatine's takeover of the Old Republic simply by slipping an amendment into a bill that gets casually passed by the legislature without notice. The Sith Lord in question's mother is the only one who observes that this is unconstitutional, as the office of Chief of State can supposedly only be gained via election. The government seems not to notice or care, even when he proceeds to go on a rampage against any world that does not submit to his rule. Following this debacle, the GFFA government again allows the office of Chief of State to go to someone arbitrarily appointed, in this case an Imperial Admiral who once tried to destroy their capital planet. She likewise attempts to create a police state, once again largely unimpeded by a compliant legislature, forcing the Jedi to become defiant outlaws. In contrast, the authoritarian Empire is increasingly depicted as better-run, complete with leaders who are noticeably more competent and even-handed than their counterparts running the GFFA.
Depending on the Writer: So very much. Luke or Leia: who is the calm, humble, quiet one? Who takes more after their father? Does Han Solo say "Please" without sarcasm? What expletives do specific characters use, and what word substitutions? Thrawn: a mere Dangerously Genre Savvy tactical genius, or so near-omniscient that taking him down was a fluke? What household animals might civilians have? How are droids treated? Are stormtroopers soldiers following orders and doing what they think is right, or near-mindless evil Mooks who are okay to slaughter? Chewbacca: a character, or just a background detail? Does everyone know Luke and Leia's parentage? Is Leia utterly badass or a Damsel in Distress? Are Jedi demigods, unobservant and pathetically easy to kill, or somewhere in between? Daala: a complete General Failure or the second coming of Thrawn? Can X-Wing pilots contribute to the plot in any way besides flying around during a battle?
The most prominent Depending on the Writer issue is undoubtedly the question "How much about the main characters is common knowledge among the ordinary people of the galaxy?" Many writers assume that the galaxy is essentially made up of people who saw the Star Wars films and therefore Luke can't go anywhere without being recognised. On the other hand, other writers reduce the in-universe prominence of the main characters and knowledge about them—The Thrawn Trilogy's plot basically relies on the fact that nobody except Luke knows what happened on the Second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, and the general public are still debating whether Darth Vader died there or just went missing. In this version of the Star Wars galaxy, nobody except the main characters knows that Darth Vader was also Anakin Skywalker and was Luke and Leia's father. However, by Legacy of the Force, everything is apparently common enough knowledge that Han Solo makes jokes about Boba Fett's childhood on Kamino.
Development Hell: The Reenlistment Of BaronFel is sitting in comic book and novella forms on the hard drives of the writers, unsold.
To say nothing of the tortuous, on-again, off-again paths of Crimson Empire III and the Darth Plagueis novel; only the latter has finally seen release.
Displaced Origin: The Sith were not originally Dark Side Force users who opposed the Jedi Order.
"The term Sith actually refers to a species of red-skinned beings who were native to Korriban." -Vestara Khai
Disturbing Statistic: Luke is disturbed to learn that over a million people were on the Death Star when he destroyed it.
Doesn't Like Lightsabers: Nomi Sunrider in Tales of the Jedi until Master Thon manages to convince her that they're as much a tool as the Force, not just weapons.
Alan Moore created a couple for several stories he wrote for a UK Star Wars magazine in the 1980s.
Embarrassing Nickname: Luke's childhood nickname was Wormie, acquired because he was the smallest in his group of friends.
Endless Daytime: Ryloth, the Twi'lek homeworld, a tidally locked planet.
Escape Battle Technique: If you fight Yoda, you have one of these. Usually a combination of Force Speed and distracting Yoda by endangering someone in the vicinity.
Even non-Sith practitioners of the Dark Side very rarely meet any success which lasts. Greed, jealousy and arrogance all wind up leading to the end of some Dark Sider's life.
Exotic Extended Marriage: The Cereans (the species to which Ki-Adi-Mundi belongs) have a sex ratio unbelievably lopsided towards females, and that's why they are polygamous. Even Jedi like Ki-Adi are allowed and advised to practice polygamy, since every unmarried or not married enough male is a demographical hazard to the entire race.
Expansion Pack Past: Pretty much everyone—most notable in the Tales sub-series, which famously gave virtually every bit character in every crowd scene a backstory. Even the priest that married Anakin and Padmé has his own Wookieepedia page.
Fan Nickname: Pelly (Pellaeon), Farmboy (Luke), and as meta examples, Talifan (Mandalorian haters/Karen Traviss detractors) and Fandalorian (Mandalorian fans).
Fantastic Racism: The Imperial policy of High Human Culture started as a justification for the lack of visible aliens in a clearly multicultural society and rapidly took on a life of its own.
Fantastic Recruitment Drive: Luke spends a lot of his time wandering around the galaxy looking for hidden Jedi as well as people with raw talent.
Fast Roping: ARC troopers are seen doing this during the Battle of Kamino.
Rookiee One, the protagonist of Rebel Assault I was a typical Featureless Protagonist with no face, for whom you would select both name and gender. In the second game, he was actually played by a {male} actor in live-action cutscenes. Still haven't got a name though.
For Jaden Korr, the protagonist of Jedi Academy, the player would choose gender, species (Human/Rodian/Zabrak/Twi'lek/Kel Dor), facial details and costume. Years later he made several cameo appearances in various novels, which canonized him as dark haired Human male. He eventually got a major starring role in Crosscurrent and its sequel, Riptide.
The Protagonist of KOTOR, for whom players selected name, face and gender at the start, was later given the name of Revan within the game itself. The Old Republic MMO eventually gave him a canonical face.
Similarly, the Protagonist of KOTOR II received the name Meetra Surik in the novel Revan, while The Old Republic showed us her "true" face. Interestingly, she was canonizes as a woman by non-fiction sources back in 2006 and remains the only departure from "White Human Male" model the above 3 examples followed.
Fictional Political Party: The Expanded Universe details a very diverse political climate with a very large number of different political organizations and movements all across the galaxy. Some are parties that involve themselves in the local affairs of a single planet; others try to make an impact in the Galactic Republic or New Republic. Among them...
During and around the time of the Prequel Trilogy, the two main factions in the Galactic Republic are the Separatists, led by Count Dooku, who wanted to leave the leave the Republic as see that it was disbanded and the Loyalists, led by Senator Palpatine, who wanted to remain with it; as we all should know, this eventually led to the rise of the Galactic Empire.
The True Victory Party was a political party comprised of radical Bothans who wished to continue ar'kai (i.e. "genocidal warfare") against the Yuuzhan Vong.
The POWER Party (that's Preserve Our Wild Endangered Resources Party) of the planet Telos IV was an organization created in opposition to the Telosian government granting a Mega Corp control over the planet's national parks and sacred lands for the mining of resources, which the POWER Party believed should be illegal.
Fixed Forward Facing Weapon: The Darksaber is a cylindrical ship that houses a superlaser and makes up the majority of the ship itself.
Genre Shift: Occasionally someone will use the setting to do something different. The Galaxy of Fear series is kid-lit horror, the Coruscant Nights trilogy is detective noir, and Death Troopers is a zombie story.
Gossip Evolution: Often done by agents of the Galactic Empire to use fear as a means of control. Darth Vader fought against a group of 8 Jedi at the Conclave of Kessel and required assistance from the 501st Legion to prevail. After a bit of fact editing, the story changed to Darth Vader single-handedly wiping out 50 Jedi.
Heel Face Revolving Door: Boba Fett is a good example of this. Is he the villain to Han solo's hero? Is he the guy training Jaina to defeat one of the most powerful Sith of all time? Or is he just the man leading his people and avoiding galactic conflict while picking off certain people for money?
Heroic Willpower: Luke. Fighting the Empire, Yuuzhan Vong, Sith and more and emerging alive should require more of this than any single person could have.
Han also displays notable willpower on occasion, all the more impressive considering he does not have Force training.
Boba Fett deserves a mention. He was able to resist Vader's attempts to mess with his mind in their battle. And to be able to successfully kill as many Jedi as Fett has is most impressive. So impressive that Jaina sought him out when she wanted training.
Hollywood Tactics: Any works featuring the prequel-era battle droids, who never, ever, use cover (necessitating the creation of more threatening droids with armor and intelligence). The clones started out acting like this, but it got quickly dropped in favor of the Space Marine trope for them (See Rookies, for instance).
Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Sith "alchemy" can allow even wildly different species to interbreed. Among other things, this is apparently why the Mon Calamari have traits of both arthropods and mollusks.
In the Blood: And how! Ben's a Chick Magnet like his father in Invincible. Before that, Anakin Solo is in NJO, like his father. Jacen follows in his grandfather's footsteps. And Ben's the third Skywalker or Solo attract the romantic interest of the Hapan royal family.
List of Hapan royal family members who Totally Have The Hots(tm) for the Skywalker/Solo clan (running count: 4).
Taryn and Trista Zel to Ben (Invincible)
Isolder to Leia (The Courtship of Princess Leia)
Tenel Ka to Jacen (Young Jedi Knights, Dark Nest Trilogy) Had a kid
Incest Subtext: Averted. Practically no EU work written after 1983, and none set after 4 ABY, mentions Luke's crush on Leia.
There's a perfectly natural explanation for all of it, but Luke's first scene in Heir to the Empire could easily lead someone unacquainted with canon to believe that he and Leia are married.
Inexplicably Awesome: A few major characters have their backstories as a complete mystery, and considering how in-depth canon goes on everyone else, it's got to be deliberate.
We still don't know, and probably never will, where Mara Jade came from. Homeworld, parents? Complete blank.
Yoda has the nearly unthinkable status of never even having his species defined.
It Sucks To Be The Chosen One: It really sucked for Anakin Skywalker during his lifetime. PROXY and Galen Marek even touch on the subject a bit.
PROXY: I hate being him. Marek: I think he does, too.
Legendary in the Sequel: Luke Skywalker. He's so famous as the first of the revived Jedi Order that a nascent bar fight aborts just because he happens to be in the room. Everyone, even the arguing interlocutors, stop and wait for Luke to solve the problem. He ruminates on the reputation of the Jedi, but we know who's really famous. An in-universe Memetic BadassWarrior Monk.
Also, the Grand Admirals. In order to be promoted to Grand Admiral status, you have to be the best of the best of the best. Acquiring this rank carries with it legendary status, a warrior to be feared beyond all others. Grand Admiral Thrawn, of course, takes this Up to Eleven by being so amazingly good that even the Emperor, a human supremacist, is willing to promote him. In-universe and out, Memetic Badass.
Loads and Loads of Characters: If they're named, they have a backstory. And if they don't have names, they probably will soon.
Loophole Abuse: Darth Sidious was a follower of the Rule of Two, which states only two Sith may exist at once. However, Sidious had dozens of Dark Side followers besides Darth Vader, who was Sith #2. The loophole? They were taught the ways of the Dark Side but no Sith teachings. Darth Krayt abused the same loophole for his One Sith philosophy.
Not quite; Krayt just flat-out defied it. As he had every right to, because the One Sith is a different Sith Order. It doesn't have to follow the Rule of Two. The Rule of One is not based on the Rule of Two; its intended to supplant it.
Love Redeems: You'd think the Jedi would be more accepting of love considering it tends to work well at making people turn away from the Dark Side. Vader's love for Padme almost redeemed him before Luke ever picked up a lightsaber (then did actually redeem him in Return of the Jedi). Nomi Sunrider was being tempted but her love for Ulic Qel-Droma shook her out of it. Revan's love for Bastilla brought her back to the Light Side. Luke and Leia's love for one another helped turn Luke back to the Light Side after Luke tried to destroy the Empire from the inside. Galen Marek was trained by his father as a Jedi, then was made Vader's apprentice for years. The love for a woman was what kicked off his redemption.
Machine Empathy: Many of the novels state that pilots turn down their inertial dampeners so that they can get a feel for space flying (even though Space Does Not Work That Way).
Magitek: While the films do not really give any indication of machines having any special connection to the Force, technologies and even outright magical items crop up quite a bit in the EU, especially the comics. Examples include the Rakatan Star Forge, Naga Sadow's flagship, his amulet later used by Exar Kun and Sith Meditation Sphere's. The Jedi and Sith Holocrons also probably qualify, as they appear to be impossible to duplicate with regular technology, and only work properly for Force-sensitives.
Mainlining The Monster: One of the novels had a spider monster that produced a spice called glitterstim, which needs to be harvested in complete darkness. The spider uses it to make its webs, while other creatures use it for some kind of mind reading.
Mentor Ship: Luke/Mara and Bane/Zannah. In fanfic, Luke/Corran, Luke/Kyp, Jacen/Ben, Anakin/Ahsoka, Mara/Palpatine, and of course Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan/Anakin, and Anakin/Ahsoka.
Mile-Long Ship: Kilometer-plus length seems to be fairly standard for capital ships. In particular the Empire built dozens of ships collectively termed "super star destroyers". Most were one-off designs and only the Executor-class star dreadnought went into wide production. Meanwhile Mon Calamari Star Cruisers are often longer than Imperial-class star destroyers
Mind Screw: The ambiguously-canon Sandstorm has a ten-year-old Luke run away from home into a sandstorm, where he sees a tall dark figure and then meets a ten-year-old boy named Annie who is strikingly similar to him. Luke kills a krayt dragon, and when he's rescued from the storm there is no sign of it or Annie. It's pretty clear that Annie is a young Anakin Skywalker, but what is he? A hallucination? Some projection of the Force? It's weird.
Mind Rape: Darth Zannah uses this from time to time but arguably the most notable example is The Sith Emperor Vitiate, who is outrageously skilled at this. Most of the beings on his planet suffered this at some point and are under his control. He can do it to Jedi Masters and Sith Lords as well, as he was able to completely dominate the minds of Revan and Malak, two phenomenally talented Jedi. And he did it to them at the same time.
Mobile Factory: World Devastators from the Dark Empire series.
Modern Stasis: Or Future Stasis, possibly. The EU timeline(s) extend over 25,000 years... but the technology and culture has developed over that time so little it's mind-boggling.
If you look at the galactic timeline, there actually has been a good amount of technological development. Lightsabers didn't exist in their modern form until 5,000 years before the movies, before that they had energy guzzling sabers that had to be connected to a belt of power packs. Hyperspace technology has gone from requiring nearly all ships to travel within a "lighthouse" network of hyperspace beacons at the time of the Great Sith War to ships having individual navicomputers that do the same thing. Jedi fighters require hyperspace booster rings in the prequel trilogy but X-Wings have individual hyperdrives by the time of the original trilogy. Not as fast a rate of technological advancement as our world, relatively, but it's not a constant stasis either.
Also, this may be stretching it, but weapons and such improve in ways we don't see. As does armor. Sure, blaster rifles in Darth Revan's time only look as powerful as blaster rifles in the classic trilogy, but that's because the Sith armor and blaster rifles alike were made with inferior materials and technology. Take a classic trilogy blaster rifle to the Knights of the Old Republic era and you'll have some seriously powerful weaponry for the time.
The galaxy went through a Dark Age about a thousand years before the movies. In reality, we lost a lot of technology due to the dark ages...
Mugging the Monster: You'd think a lightsaber would be a good anti-mugging thing to dangle from your clothes. It isn't.
My Hair Came Out Green: In I, Jedi, Corran accidentally dyes his hair green while attempting to disguise himself as Kieran Halcyon.
No One Could Survive That: Recalling his rescue from Jabba, Han wonders if he's really seen the last of Fett. This was the (wrong) answer he received.
Calo Nord in Knights of the Old Republic lampshades this when he tells Malak, "I am hard to kill, Lord Malak."
Off with His Head!: Marka Ragnos dueled Simus for the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. The battle ended with the latter's head being separated from his body. Darth Bane decapitated Sirak in their final duel. Shimrra Jamaane of the Yuuzhan Vong also lost his head in his battle against Luke Skywalker.
Person of Mass Destruction: Numerous examples, especially beings behind planet-destroying machinery. Bonus points to Sith Lords such as Darth Nihilus and Emperor Vitiate as they wiped planets clean of life with the Force almost instantly.
Planet of Copyhats: Nearly every minor alien character in the movies spawns an alien race with their characteristics in the EU.
Planet of Hats: Played straight, averted, subverted. There's a lot of species with a lot of stereotypes out there, so there's a lot to do with this trope.
The Power of Love: Jolee Bindo explains it to Revan. He believes love can save a person (see the Love Redeems entry for details backing his claim) but the passion in love is what should be monitored with great care.
Predecessor Villain: There's a whole smattering of villains who have never actually appeared in any work, only been mentioned, usually in reference texts. The earliest were the Sith King Adas and the Dark Jedi leader Xendor, whose traditions would eventually be united under Ajunta Pall, the first Dark Lord of the Sith. Pall's tradition would eventually give rise to Naga Sadow, but before him were Lords Tulak Hord and Marka Ragnos (Marka would get a chance to be a post-mortem Big Bad in one of the Dark Forces Saga games). Similarly, there's a whole line of Sith Lords that sprang out of Darth Bane's teachings which is really only notable so far for producing Palpatine and his apprentices but which also included Darths Zannah, Cognus (these two at least have supporting roles in the Darth Bane novels), Millennial, Vectivus, Guile, Gravid, Gean, Ramage, and Tenebrous.
Prequel In The Lost Age: There are many novels and games set in the time of the Old Republic, usually thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Wookiees, obviously, but also the Noghri, the Chiss and many others.
Canderous Ordo makes the Mandalorians seem like space Spartans. As do Boba and Jango Fett.
Redheaded Hero: Quite a few, though the rarity (and therefore conspicuousness) of redheads is still called out at one point.
Retcon: The current policy seems to be that there's no inconsistency so big that can't be patched up by some well-placed retcon.
Ripped from the Headlines: Many examples, eg. the devastation of Honoghr is the Chernobyl disaster IN SPACE.
Sapient Ship: Various space ships that are operated by droid brains.
Scary Dogmatic Aliens: In addition to dark side users, rogue Imperials, and the criminal underworld, one of the most common villain types. Most famously, the Yuuzhan Vong, but other examples include the Ssi-Ruuk, the Yevetha, the Vagaari, and in the backstory the Rakata, the Hutts (before their hat switched to organized crime) and the original Sith Empire (back when the Sith were still a species, rather than a religion). The Empire, of course, are Scary Dogmatic Humans, as alien characters in the post-ROTJ era will often be quick to point out.
Scoundrel Code: Han's mentor Roa has Roa's Rules: Never ignore a call from help, steal only from those richer than you, never play cards unless you're prepared to lose, don't pilot under the influence, and always be prepared to make a quick getaway.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: Mara? Callista? Authors fought over this one. Repeated with Luke's niece Jaina, who only takes some 15 years to choose a guy.
Sidenote Full Story: For literally everything in the movies. Not only is a backstory provided for every character who appeared onscreen in the movies (and even some of the Faceless Goons), but you also get stories that explain exactly what a "nerf herder" is.
Single-Biome Planet: Just as bad if not worse than in the movies: Kashyyyk is the jungle planet, Ithor is the forest planet, Dantooine is all grassy plains, etc.
This is partially justified/averted with Kashyyk. Partially averted in that we see that it has oceans, beaches - the areas around which are not so dense, i.e. the trees are only huge rather than ginormous, etc. It is partially justified in that KOTOR explains that Kashyyk plants were effectively fed steriods when the Rakata's agricultural farming went a bit... out of control.
Knights of the Old Republic makes it clear that Tatooine is a desert planet before the player even leaves the enclosed settlement.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: From all the way on one end to right down on the other end, depending on the media. The most recent ones strongly tend towards Cynicism.
Star Killing: The Sun Crusher, Centerpoint Station (although Star Killing requires perverting the latter from its original purpose).
Naga Sadow as well. He could make a star turn into a supernova.
The Starscream: An intentional part of the Sith philosophy. The apprentice is supposed to kill the master to "graduate," then train a new apprentice to eventually kill him. In Darth Bane's novels, he becomes disappointed because Zannah isn't murdering him when she has the chance.
The "Revenge of the Sith" novelization implies that Palpatine comes to feel the same way about Vader; he had groomed and tutored Anakin for years because of his literally unmatched Force potential. After Vader's dismemberment, his ability is cut in half and it is obvious that after being rebuilt he will never be as strong in the Force as the Emperor. It is unknown whether Palpatine was searching for a true heir to continue the Rule of Two someday as the Sith established dominance or simply wanted a powerful lieutenant to serve him as he claimed ultimate victory. Palpatine being Palpatine, either outcome is conceivable.
State Sec: COMPNOR (Commission for the Preservation of the New Order) basically is the Empire's equivalent of the SS. It has an executive committee, its own military and intelligence wings that are separate from the regular army and navy chain of commands, a social engineering agency, and its own youth group.
Strong as They Need to Be: Anakin, especially in the Episode III novel where he defeats Count Dooku, who finally goes all out against the young Jedi. In the Geonosis battle at 22 BBY, Dooku completely demolished Anakin in their fight, after toying with Obi-Wan. Fast forward 3 years later aboard the Invisible Hand. Anakin has not only learned a new fighting style but mastered it to a degree most Jedi would require decades to reach. Justified, as there's a war going on, his Force sensitivity is greater than Yoda's and Anakin is often portrayed as being a quick learner in various EU stories.
Expect Darth Sidious to be capable of just about anything when he is not reserving himself. He killed 3 Jedi Masters in front of Windu before Mace could do anything. One of those Jedi (Kit Fisto) has recently been shown as a match for, if not a superior to, General Grievous. And Sidious can create Force Storms capable of wiping out entire fleets of capital ships.
Super Speed: All over the place in the video games for Force users.
Post-movie comics also establish that Darth Sidious is very quick whether he is in a new clone body or even an advanced age as seen at the end of Return of the Jedi. By the time of Dark Empire Luke's mastery of the Force had surpassed Yoda's, and Luke had trouble keeping up with Sidious in their lightsaber duel.
Tabletop Games: Two unrelated systems; the earlier, now out of print West End Games version was the source of a lot of ideas that later ended up in the novels and comics.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Ships that can destroy stars, a gun that fires its ordinance through hyperspace, and a weapon that seems to be a combination of the former two.
UnintelligiBall: Throughout the EU, Sabbacc has received some pretty detailed rules, making it difficult to follow scenes that focus on a sabbacc game. *
It's like blackjack with tarot cards (major arcana are negative) where the idea is to get 23, -23, or a Fool, 2 (or Empress, as in the tarot card Empress, not the Queen), and 3 (or Emperor, as in the tarot card, not the King): 023, with nothing else. Cards randomize. Now they've added Legates, which are worth eleven but beat a Page or whatever it's called. Okay, yeah, it's complicated. Court cards are all by rank, not just tens.
Uniqueness Decay: Frequent, as different authors want their own versions of originally unique monsters/characters to play with. See the trope page for details.
What Could Have Been: One of the most famous is the proposed mid-nineties novel Alien Exodus. This was intended to reveal the origin of humans in the Star Wars universe, with a group of astronauts escaping a computer-dominated future Earth (supposedly the same as the one featured in THX 1138) and somehow ending up "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: In multiple ways. Weaker beings who turn to the Dark Side are often consumed by it and lose their minds, resulting in a loss of sanity. Sometimes those who can control the Dark Side become so powerful that the arrogance overcomes their reason. Then there is the Force Insanity trick which allows a Force user to make others insane. Finally, the loss of certain power can lead to insanity, such as when Jorak Uln was booted from the top position of the Korriban Academy. Revan calls Jorak a madman when they converse.
Vampiric Draining: Some force users can devour the lifeforce of their victims. The strongest Sith lords (eg.Sidious,Nihilus) are even able to drain life from entire worlds.
Vibro Weapon: Besides lightsabers, there are some older melee weapons (like swords) that are still used that use vibro technology to make them more dangerous.
for a really complete list.
The canonicity (or lack thereof) of the Expanded Universe is a matter of some heated debate among the fans. Some take the view that since it's published, it's official. Others point out that George Lucas himself considers it a separate project apart from "his" canon. This has led to lots and lots of Fan Dumb from all sides. The fact that some of the installments of the Expanded Universe, most notably Dark Empire, not only had Lucas' direct involvement, he even suggested what goes into the story (or more accurately, what shouldn't go into the story) doesn't help the decisiveness of the subject, either, nor some of Lucas' flip flop decisions on canon in the movies themselves, for that matter. There is however a loose system as to what can be considered canon that can be found here
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