WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #1-2, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
The Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy comic book series was created to specifically tie in with the opening of the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel and experience at Disney World. When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge first opened, Disney used a similar marketing strategy with the release of multiple books and other media to promote the new areas of Disney World and Disneyland. The series that most resembled the Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy comic was the Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon miniseries which consisted of two junior novels, a choose-your-own-adventure style book and multiple issues of Star Wars Adventures.
Both the Flight of the Falcon and Halcyon Legacy series centered on stories about a specific ship, with narrators of varying reliability. They used this focus to further expand readers’ understanding of how the Star Wars galaxy has changed over the centuries. While both series' intended purpose may originally have been to sell tickets to the various Disney Star Warsparks and rides, they also emphasized that the truth of stories always relies upon both the storyteller and the listener's point of view.
This focus on storytelling was a cornerstone of the Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon miniseries. Throughout the series, bounty hunter Bazine Netal traveled the galaxy searching for the Millennium Falcon at Kylo Ren's request, gathering stories of the Falcon's adventures over the decades to aid in her search. However, Justina Ireland's Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon: Lando's Luck revealed that the stories Bazine heard were all being told by unreliable narrators, and this emphasis continued throughout all of the works in the series. These tales also provided a glimpse of life in the Star Wars galaxy at different points from the age of the Empire to the rise of the First Order.
The storytellers that Bazine encountered all had different reasons for keeping their secrets. In Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon: Lando's Luck, Princess Rinetta Gan obfuscated the details of her story to keep her people safe from the First Order. Hondo Ohnaka wove elaborate tales with true and fictional elements because he was setting up a con, as revealed in Lou Anders' Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon: Pirate's Price. The miniseries had many authors to go along with the different points of view, further emphasizing the miniseries' theme of subjective truth.
Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy Tells A Longer Story Over Centuries
In contrast, the Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy miniseries has only one writer, Ethan Sacks, and one narrator, D3-09. The droid used stories of the Star Cruiser's past to distract the ship's guests from a pirate attack in Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #1-2 (by Ethan Sacks, Will Sliney, Rachelle Rosenberg, and VC's Joe Sabino). While D3-09 may seem like a more reliable narrator because she was a droid, she clearly was trying to pick stories that would comfort and distract the guests, with varying amounts of success.
In Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #1, she told the story of Jedi Master Nib Assek and Padawan Burryaga's fight against the Nihil, providing another perspective of the High Republic era. However, at the end of the tale, she realized that while the battle itself had a happy ending, the attack on the Halcyon was a key part of the Nihil's eventual takeover of the Outer Rim. She quickly backtracked, stating "Er, well, that's not part of this story. Let's focus on a happy ending, shall we?" This line showed that D3-09 was willing to obscure parts of the story that she deemed not cheerful enough for her audience, which was understandable given her purpose in telling the stories was to distract her audience and keep them calm.
D3-09's story in Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #2 had less of a connection to the pirate attacks. While she stated that her story would focus on how the ship had survived a solar flare in the past, it instead focused on Aurra Sing and Zam Wesell. The two bounty hunters were working together and took on a job protecting Colram and Wilmar Vestig, and this job led them to a dangerous combat arena created by the Hutts in which people were forced to fight against various creatures, including the Predavorexx. Aurra and Zam were triumphant, but the backdrop of the story was the Hutts' eventual ownership of the Halcyon, which would change the course of the ship's history.
While D3-09 has been the series' main narrator so far, she may not be the only one telling stories. Her audience already has been pushing back against her tales. In Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #2, Cimina Komrrin pointed out that D3-09's story did not actually feature the ship surviving a solar flare. Her grandfather, Shorr Komrrin, may also interject in future issues. Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #1 began with a flashback to the Clone Wars era, in which Shorr remembered his last trip on the Halcyon. The brief flashback hinted at an upcoming issue that focus on Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Asajj Ventress's battle on board the ship. When D3-09 eventually tells that tale, Shorr may provide his own perspective on the events as well.
The Star Wars universe has always been focused on the truth varying from different points of view, and the Flight of the Falcon miniseries emphasized this theme through the use of these different storytellers and different authors to tell their stories. In contrast, Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy has used one narrator so far, but D3-09's stories were still influenced by the details she thought that the guests would most like to hear. As the Halcyon Legacy miniseries continues, there may be opportunities for other narrators to provide more perspectives on the Halcyon and its history as D3-09 and the guests continue to try to distract themselves from the pirates' attack and approaching solar flare.