Star Wars: The Secret History of The Four Death Stars – Prime
Today let’s take a look at the twisted story of all of the Death Stars, both those you knew about, and those you didn’t.
The Death Star is an iconic part of Star Wars. It is both a setting for and a major plot element of the original Star Wars movie. It serves to lay some of the core conflicts of the series, “technological terror” vs. the Force, and to demonstrate the real evil of the Empire. Since the first Death Star showed up in A New Hope, the franchise has lived in its shadow – quite literally in the case of Rogue One. Two out of the three original movies deal with Death Stars. The Death Star I made an appearance in the third movie of the Prequel Trilogy, while the Death Star II made one in the third movie of the Sequel Trilogy. The plans for the First Death Star also make an appearance in Episode II. The Force Awakens tries, and many would say fails, to create its own version of the Death Star, while Rogue One is even more about the Death Star I than the first movie was. All told six of the eleven movies contain a Death Star in one form or another.
Nor are the Death Stars limited to movies; both Rebels and the Clone Wars hint at Death Star related events. They’ve also shown up in numerous books, comics, and games, both from the old Expanded Universe and in the new Disney canon. The Death Star has, as a result of all this, become one of the most iconic images of the franchise and widely known around the world. Even many people who have never seen Star Wars recognize the Death Stars, and it becomes prevalent enough in the mainstream to feature in everything from art to political campaigns. As a result of its ubiquity, most people think they know the story of the Death Stars. There were two; one was destroyed at Yavin and one at Endor. Pretty simple right?
Well, yes and no. On a surface level, that description of the Death Stars is fine. If all you want is the basic surface info, you’re good and can feel free to get off this ride now. However, since you decided to start reading this article, I’m going to assume that you dear reader are looking for something beyond the surface level. You, the discerning reader that you are, want something a little more obscure and esoteric than the surface level stuff everyone knows. You’ve come here for the real tea on the Death Stars, and I aim to deliver. So let’s start with the simple fact that over the years, there have been not two Death Stars, but a total of four, and some of them have some wonky history. So strap into your StarSpeeder 3000, and let’s go for a ride.
The Death Star I
The history of the First Death Star is currently in the running for the most retconned bit of Star Wars lore. While it’s widely known that Princess Leia Organa has the Death Star plans at the start of A New Hope, just how she got them was the topic of some confusion. The stealing of the plans for the First Death Star was something the old EU covered a lot and in contradictory terms. No less than five video games, Star Wars: X-Wing, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Star Wars: Empire at War, and Star Wars: Lethal Alliance allowed players to play through the stealing of the plans. These plots where often contradictory. In one story, Rebel prisoners on the Death Star broke out and stole some of the plans. Another has Kyle Katarn stealing the plans. Yet another has Rebel forces from Toprawa attacking an Imperial convoy to steal them. Another even pins the stealing on Bothan spies.
All in all, a TON of people in the old EU could claim responsibility for stealing the plans. At one point or other famous people like Han Solo, Raymus Antilles, Kyle Katarn (and CO), Havet Storm, Rianna Saren, Keyan Farlander, and Biggs Darklighter could all claim to have stolen the Death Star “plans.” That list isn’t even complete, just composed of some of the most well-known names. The huge number of people involved led Star Wars guru Pablo Hildago to say once: “…if you had to throw a dinner party and invite everyone who had ever stolen the Death Star plans, you’d be surprised at how many place settings you’d have to worry about.”
Ultimately all these stories ended up being contradictory. Some attempts were made to make sense of the many stories. Some of the “plans” were later said to not be the full plans but just knowing that the Death Star existed, or the location it was being built at. Other times the some of the plans were said to be the original and then update plans. Some sources stated that the Death Star plans had been broken up for safekeeping, and each person stole only a part of the plans that were later put together.
The stealing of the plans wasn’t the only part of the Death Star’s history that changed over time. There were several changed and contradictions about who designed it, where it was built, and how it was tested. Even it’s size was debated, with various sources stating it was either 120 km, 160 km, or 216 km in diameter. Eventually, 120 km was settled as the canon size. A number of these discrepancies arose after the release of the Prequel movies, which showed that the Death Star had been conceived before the rise of the Empire and contradicted some earlier information. Overall the history of the First Death Star and its plans was a convoluted mess under the old EU.
When Disney took over the franchise, they jettisoned all the old stories. Over several years the history of the Death Star was condensed into a single narrative (the station’s size was also changed back up to 160 km). Originally construction on the station started during the Clone Wars around Geonosis. To keep the project secret, the Empire carried out a program of genocide on the native Geonosians with only a handful of survivors. After much delay, the still-secret station was moved to Scarif. Eventually, word of its construction leaked out, thanks in large part to Galen Erso. After it’s completion, the Death Star was test-fired at Jedha and later at Scarif. During this period, a group of Rebel operatives (Codenamed Rogue One) were able to steal a copy of the plans, including its fatal weakness, and transmit them to the Rebels. Not long afterward, the Death Star would destroy the planet of Alderaan and was itself destroyed at the Battle of Yavin. After taking twenty years to build, it was only operational for a handful of days. While many fans were sad to see favorite charterers, such as Kyle Katarn, written out of the narrative, most people were happy to have a single concise story about how the Death Star met its end.
The Death Star II
In contrast to the First Death Star, Death Star II has a relatively straight forward history and hasn’t been the topic of nearly as many stories. Construction on the Second Darth Star began around the time the first was completed and destroyed. Though planned to be a larger and better version of the original, the Death Star II had a double purpose. Not only would it destroy worlds, but it would feature in Plapatine’s grand plan to trap and destroy the Rebel Alliance. Most of the Death Star construction took place in orbit around the Forest Moon of Endor. It was initially overseen by Moff Jerjerrod and then later by Darth Vader himself, with the Emperor arriving for the final stages of the plan.
That part of the story has remained mostly unchanged since the release of Return of the Jedi. Also, the general scope of how the Rebels got the Death Star plans have remained the same. Many Bothans died to get them, but they were only able to do so because the Emperor leaked them to draw the Rebels into a trap. The old EU did detail, a bit, how the Bothans managed to steal the plans, but it was a fairly straight forward story. Under the new canon, that particular aspect hasn’t been shown, though the Rebels finding out about the Death Star was partially covered in the novel The Lost Stars.
One amusing story about the Second Death Star is the sad tale of IG-88A. IG-88A, the first of everyone’s favorite spindly assassin droids, had a long and convoluted history. Eventually, IG-88A decided that it was droids that should rule the galaxy and set out to overthrow non-droid life. After taking control of several droid factories and building a fleet for itself, the droid found out about the construction of the Death Star II. Pulling off a truly masterful heist, IG-88A was able to steal the computer core to the superweapon and upload itself into it. Once the core was installed in the station, IG-88A effectively became the Death Star II.
I was the droid’s plan to wait till the station was fully operational and then take full control of the station. At the same time, they would transmit a signal across the galaxy, awaking their sleeper agents and stating the droid uprising. During the Battle of Endor IG-88A, after an enjoyable period destroying Rebel ships, they decided that the time was ripe to put their plan into motion. Sadly(?) just before they could transmit the signal, Rebel ships managed to destroy the Death Star reactor killing IG-88A and ending the droid uprising before it started.
While the story of IG-88A becoming the Death Star is now legends, a bit of it survives. Current canon sources state the IG-88A was able to infiltrate the Death Star, before being stopped by the Imperial Astromech Droid R2-Q5. This seems to mostly be a bit of an in-joke, but it is nice to see some of the old EU sticking around.
The Death Star III
OK. So if your a bit of a Star Wars fan, a lot of what I’ve described might not be all that new to you. The first two Death Stars are pretty well known, and some of their details are common knowledge. However, knowledge of and the story behind the Death Star III is much less common and is quite the convoluted story about the strangeness of Star Wars canon.
The story of the Death Star III began in 1987 when the ride Star Tours debuted at Disneyland. Star Tours was a rollicking fun ride that took visitors through a series of high thrills and action sequences in the Star Wars universe. It was a fantastic ride and loved by many, myself included. It was also complete canon. While the idea of a theme park ride being part of a franchise’s canon may seem odd, it’s long been a staple of Star Wars. Indeed even in the modern era, the Rise of the Resistance ride and all of the Galaxy’s Edge attraction is considered canon.
The issue with the ride came up in its end. The ride ends with the guests’ StarSpeeder 3000 arriving at Endor and getting caught up in an attack on a Death Star. Since Death Star attacks were a core part of Star Wars in 1987, it’s clear why the ride’s designers would want to include it. However, it’s inclusion led to a few issues with the established lore. Firstly Star Tours takes place after the Battle of Endor when the Death Star II was destroyed. Also the visuals for the Death Star that the ride shows over Endor look more like the Death Star I than the Death Star II. Lastly, the battle culminates in a trench run, that does match how either Death Star was destroyed.
These discrepancies in the ride led hardcore fans to wonder what was going on. The battle, and Death Star, shown in the ride didn’t match either the Death Star I or II, so what could it be? Eventually, Leland Chee, whose job it was to fix continuity issues, came up with a fix. If the Death Star in Star Tours couldn’t be the First or Second, then it must be the Third. Makes sense, right?
The idea of a Third Death Star isn’t as far fetched as it sounds and had backing from more than just a theme park ride. Early drafts for Return of the Jedi had the final battle take place not over the moon of Endor but around the Imperial capital of Had Abbadon. In addition to its moon Endor, Had Abbadon was orbited by two Death Stars, as shown in concept art. These would have been the Second and Third Death Stars. Eventually, rewrites removed Had Abbadon from the movies (it was later renamed to Coruscant) and dropped one of the Death Stars, but the idea lingers in the concept art. Indeed this art was later said to have been of large “habitation spheres” being built around Coruscant for “peaceful purposes.”
Several canon articles on Starwars.com detailed in full the history of the Death Star III – these discussed both in-universe history of Star Tours, and the battles seen in it. The story goes that not long after Endor, one of the Emperor’s hitmen Ennix Devian took control of a pair of habitation spheres, the two pictured under construction around Coruscant. He then flew one of them to Endor and worked to convert it into a Death Star, using the existing framework to speed along the process. This was Death Star III. The Rebels, quickly found out about this plan, since they were also based at Endor, and sent a fleet to destroy the new threat, which it did.
Sadly the story of the Death Star III has been swept away into Legends as a result of the Disney reboot. The original Star Tours is no longer running, with a new version taking its place. While the battle station may no longer be canon, it is interesting to see how dedicated fans and discrepancies in a theme park ride could lead to a whole hidden chapter of Star Wars lore.
The Death Star Prototype
Finally, we come to the fourth and final of our Death Stars, the Prototype. Compared to the others, this has a pretty simple and short history. The Death Star Prototype was conceived for and featured in the Jedi Academy Trilogy of novels published in 1994. In the series, it was revealed that the Empire had built a secret installation hidden in the Maw, and cluster of black holes near the planet Kessel. The Maw Installation was used as a think tank, and the creation of most of the Imperial Superweapons was tied to it. Both Bevel Lemelisk and Qwi Xux, the designers of the First and Second Death Stars, worked there.
Before the creation of the First Death Star, a proof of concept Prototype Death Star was built at the hidden installation. While the Prototype had a working super laser, it was an underpowered version of the final laser. The station itself, while as large as the Death Star I, was just a rough framework, with minimal propulsion, reactor, and command sections installed. In 11 ABY, seven years after the destruction of the Second Death Star, rogue Imperial forces attempted to use Prototype to start their own campaign of conquest. Still, the station was ultimately drawn into one of the Maw’s black holes and destroyed.
Written in 1994, some aspects of the Jedi Academy Trilogy clashed with details of the Prequels when they came out around a decade later. In particular, the idea that the Death Star Prototype was built before the Death Star I started construction was an issue, as was the identity of the creators. Slight retcons were made so that the prototype was built at the same time as the Death Star I and Qwi Xux and Lemelisk became designers who worked on it, not the creators. All of that was tied into the many Death Star I retcons. Overall however, the story of the Prototype remained mostly untouched and contained to the Jedi Academy Trilogy until the EU was moved to Legends.
Other Superweapons
The Empire was very found of super weapons. The EU was filled with buckets of them, from the Death Star Prototype that could destroy a moon to the Sun Crusher that could wipe out whole systems. The new canon has it’s own share of them, from Starkiller Base to the Xyston-class Star Destroyer. Planet killers abound in Star Wars, and many have tried to replicate the Death Star, both its weapons, its terror and its success among the fandom. None have truly succeeded, and the Death Stars hold a special place in fans’ hearts, even if they think there were only ever two of them.
