How aware were the makers of The Force Awakens of Legends/EU Cannon?
When Disney took over Lucasfilm, and announced the creation of new movies, current Extended Universe works were deemed to be non-canon.
Interestingly though, there seem to be a number of plot points within The Force Awakens that seem very similar to events that took place in the EU.
1. !The son of <PERSON> and <PERSON> trains as a Jedi with <PERSON> but turns to the dark side. (<PERSON> in EU).
2. !The name '<PERSON>' is used for a descendent of <PERSON> (in EU this was actually <PERSON>'s son, not <PERSON>/<PERSON>'s).
3. !<PERSON>'s Lightsaber that he inherited from <PERSON> turns up again despite seemingly being lost at Bespin (in EU <PERSON> encounters a clone of himself, cloned the hand he lost fighting <PERSON> and wielding his lightsaber. 503
<PERSON> later gifts this to <PERSON>).
4. ! A stormtrooper becomes disillusioned and runs away after being ordered to kill civilians (In the EU novel Allegiance four stormtroopers run away and become vigilantes for the same reason).
There are quite possibly other examples.
Additionally there is evidence that <PERSON> was fully aware of at least one of these plot points.
! <PERSON> actually got directly involved the <PERSON> storyline: 'it had been the creative team's intent to kill <PERSON> in <PERSON>'s place and have <PERSON> become the major hero. This was abandoned when Star Wars creator <PERSON> vetoed the idea of <PERSON> becoming the dominant figure, and the brothers' dramatic roles were swapped. <PERSON> became the central figure of the arc; according to editor <PERSON>, "in many ways, the NJO is really his series."' - http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Caedus
Is there any evidence that the writers were paying homage to the EU here? They certainly were happy to pay homage a LOT to A New Hope! Or is this all just coincedental. The EU is so massive that pretty much anything that could reasonably happen has happened. However, some of the plot points are pretty well known, so can we reasonably assume that somebody being paid a lot of money to work in the Star Wars universe may have been aware of these things. 865