The exceptional story of the Force Unleashed reminded us how badass the Star Wars fiction can be if placed in the proper hands. With Starkiller at the top of our list, we decided to dig through all the Expanded Universe material: games, books, comics and cartoons - for the best of the EU. Our one rule - if the character appeared in any of the Lucas Films, they were disqualified.

Since A New Hope was first released back in 1977, the "galaxy far, far away" has blossomed into something that is far too large for three or even six films to fully capture it. Books, comics, video games and television programs have all done their part in adding to the rich lexicon that is Star Wars' Expanded Universe. It is now standard practice to insert a "dramatis personae" into the front of any EU novel so that readers can know who among the hundreds of possible characters will be appearing. Until recently, the novels also opened with a timeline, situating the larger picture of the EU in relation to the canonical films.
Needless to say, spoilers run rampant throughout this feature. For those who haven't read many of the books and comics or played the games, you have been warned. We followed only a single rule in culling this list of the top 50 Star Wars Expanded Universe characters: they can't have been seen, even in passing, in any of the films. Favorites such as Wedge Antilles and Boba Fett (both of whom are still going strong more than 40 years after the Battle of Yavin) are immediately disqualified. So settle in as we journey back a long, long time to a galaxy far, far away with UGO's Top 50 Star Wars Expanded Universe Characters.

Daigoji_Gai via ugo.com »