Have you got a list of the rebel bases Han, Luke and Leia occupied from Yavin IV to Hoth? Wookieepedia is giving me a list of every rebel base ever, and I’m stuck. (I’d just AU this thing, but planet names are not my forte.) Thank you so much!

Luke spent a few months on Thila after the evacuation of the Yavin IV base. He was relocated there as part of Rogue Flight, along with Alliance High Command, meaning Leia was there too, but it is not known whether Han was assigned there. (Personally, I would assume he was there, because where else would he be). This base was only temporary, and was discovered by the Empire around 2 ABY. After this, the next Rebel base was Echo Base on Hoth

I hope you weren’t needing more than just one base. Canon doesn’t leave room for more than that one in between Yavin and Hoth, but no reason you couldn’t make up some more. Which reminds me, if you don’t want to have to make up planet names, here’s an interactive map of the Star Wars galaxy. It can be a bit finicky, but I’ve gotten a lot of good use out of it.

Hope that helps a bit!

~ Jacen

Hiya Jacen. I’m lost as to where to start with the EE. Do you happen to have or know of a masterlist of it?

I’m assuming you mean the EU? Ooh boy. I’ve been using the timeline of Legends books and the timeline of canon books on Wookieepedia but, as you may notice, the Legends timeline has just so many books in it. The list is absolutely massive (if you’re also looking for comics and short stories, that’s a different list), so I’ll try to break it down a bit for you, starting with Legends.

The first eras, Before the Republic and Old Republic, are just so ancient that I’ve never been personally interested in them. Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, the Old Republic series, and the Darth Bane series are probably the most popular books from back then, and together they make up most of those eras.

The Rise of the Empire era is something I’m much more familiar with. The Jedi Apprentice series makes up a good chunk of it, and it’s one I would personally recommend (although I’ve been known to read anything involving Obi-Wan). The Clone Wars and Republic Commando series are both ones I’ve heard recommended but haven’t yet read, as well as the Last of the Jedi series. There are several great individual books in this era, some of which read like extra episodes of The Clone Wars – a few that come to mind are Rogue Planet, The Approaching Storm, and Kenobi. This era has a whole ton of worldbuilding details, so it’s definitely worth going through. It also has the three prequel trilogy books which, while I do love the movies, are better than the movies. For the record, I would sell my soul for the Revenge of the Sith novelization.

Rebellion era includes the novelizations of the three original trilogy movies, all of which are pretty good. I can recommend Allegiance and Truce at Bakura, but it’s been a while since I read anything from here.

New Republic era, I could go on and on about. The X-Wing series is a great one if you’re into the inner workings of the Republic and some of the minor characters and such. The Thrawn Trilogy, I must say, contains some of my all-time favourite books. The Jedi Academy Trilogy and the Corellian Trilogy are also good ones. I would recommend going in order of the books here, if you’re willing, because they’re all nice stories and they have plenty of background information. If anyone wants more recommendations from this era, I’ve read every single novel marked in blue on that list. Whoops.

The New Jedi Order era is made up almost entirely of one series, incidentally called the New Jedi Order series. It’s a good one, but if you don’t like major character death or committing to such a long series… maybe don’t. Again, I’ve read way too much from this era for my own good.

Legacy era is made up mostly of the Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi series. They’re good, especially the former, but they can get depressing. Plenty of major character death, others getting their lives ruined, everyone is getting older. It’s very nostalgic and contrasts sharply with the tone of the newer books, both Legends and canon.

Speaking of canon, there are also newer books that aren’t included in the Legends list. Some of the ones in the canon list haven’t come out yet, but the ones that have, I’ve heard good things about. So far I’ve read Dark Disciple and Ahsoka (I can highly recommend Ahsoka, it’s exactly my kind of story). I know others here have read Catalyst, and I’m sure someone’s read the Aftermath series and/or Bloodline, so if you’ve got anything to say about those ones it’d be great.

Uh, yeah, that got long and a bit off-tangent, but I hope it makes the EU a little bit more navigable. I started with all the post-Empire stuff, but I don’t think it makes a huge difference where you start. Also, both those lists are organized by in-Universe dates, so you can probably fit the canon books into the Legends ones. If anyone sees anything I’ve missed, or has any info for anon here, please don’t hesitate!

Good luck!

~ Jacen

Hi Jacen, thanks a lot for doing this amazing blog :) My question is in the same vein as two previous ones. What would life be like as a TIE fighter pilot? As in do they have day-to-day duties beside flying, but also habits, organisation, hierarchy… Also, are there any good sources out there where I can read more extensively about that? Many thanks in advance!

Thank you so much! I should first mention that duties vary depending on what branch of the Army or Navy they serve with. The Imperial Army is concerned with ground operations, and the Navy operates in space. Pilots in the Navy are considered part of the Starfighter Corps, which is a division of the Flight Branch (which is responsible for all of the flight operations of starfighters and warships within the Empire). The Starfighter Corps are broken down as follows:

Element: 2 starfighters, a leader and a wingmate.
Flight: 4 fighters, broken up into 2 elements
Squadron: 12 fighters in 3 flights (6 elements)
Group: 36 fighters in 3 squadrons (9 flights, 18 elements)
Wing: 72 fighters in 2 groups (6 squads, 18 flights, 36 elements)

(One wing of various models of TIE fighters is the usual compliment of an Imperial Star Destroyer.)

The rank titles within the Flight Branch from highest-ranking to lowest-ranking are:

General
Colonel
Major
Commander
Captain
Lieutenant
Officer

The pilots in the Army, used for ground support, operate under a ground support wing. This is a result of the Army wanting dedicated starfighters, and the Navy wanting to retain control over them. A ground support wing is a unit of 40 fighters (10 flights of 4 fighters each), and they technically originated from the Starfighter Corps, although the Navy has no control over these pilots.

TIE pilots in both the Navy and Army are usually stationed on board starships, usually Star Destroyers or Super Star Destroyers. The majority of a TIE pilot’s time while on duty is spent in a cockpit, on patrol. While off duty, they have access to recreation areas (on most ships) and possibly (this is my speculation) flight simulators to practice with. Some units are on constant patrols, others are not, and most have regular meetings to discuss missions, schedules, problems, etc. Other pastimes would include eating/socializing in the mess halls, possibly working out, and sleeping. Imperial pilots are not independent and have little freedom to take up hobbies or do what they want, and their flight schedules are probably very full in order to keep them busy, tired and obedient.

As for the general culture within these organizations, a dominant attitude is extreme arrogance and pride at the fact that they flew for the Empire. Only about 10% of pilots training in the Imperial Academy graduate – the rest become gunners or support staff – so, for those who do, it becomes a very central piece of their identity. All pilots under the Empire were considered elite, but those in the Navy (called vac-heads) are often considered superior to those in the Army (ground-hogs) because they are better recognized and a symbol of the Empire’s power. Thus, there is a vicious rivalry between the two groups.

Another peculiarity is that the pilots are very proud to be flying in craft with no shields, no hyperdrive and no life support system. Within the Empire, these things are seen as cowardly to use, and so the pilots are happy to die in the underequipped fighters rather than use better protected ones. In the earlier years of the Empire, before supplies started getting depleted, it was very common for a pilot to never fly the same fighter twice (except in the extremely elite squadrons, who were allowed to customize their armour and fighters). Pilots never develop attachments to their craft, and that is viewed as a strength, along with the fact that they are viewed and view themselves as completely expendable. Everything the pilots are taught really serves to keep the troops subservient, and they usually have very strained social lives, relationships and senses of self as a result.

There isn’t a whole lot of information available on the day-to-day life of an Imperial pilot, hence why I can only speculate about their practice routines. I would reccomend the Legends articles on TIE pilots, the Starfighter Corps and the Flight Branch. You might also want to look at the (more lengthy) articles on the Imperial Army and Navy. Wookieepedia is probably the most in-depth source on this stuff you’re going to find.

Alright, that got long. I hope it’s useful!

~ Jacen

Would it be possible for the Nightsisters to time travel (or let other people time travel)? I’ve seen some of their magic in The Clone Wars and at least some of them seem to be really powerful, but I’m not sure if they are powerful enough to influence time. Besides, if they can’t do that, is there any other way to time travel? Thank you!

There’s no known instance of a Nightsister being able to time travel, even Mother Talzin. However, she’s known to be able to teleport, create fire, and cause objects to materialize; if she or someone like her could influence space at a molecular level, I would not consider it too much of a stretch to say that they could also influence time.

Although I couldn’t say for sure whether the Nightsisters could do it, I do know that the Aing-Tii monks were able to use a form of pseudo-time travel and that other Force users were capable of learning it too. It’s called flow-walking and it doesn’t allow one to travel through time so much as transcend it through use of the Force and move backward and forward through time, seeing events that happened or will happen. Someone using this technique can’t influence the events they see except to leave a “Force imprint” in that time and place, which people could sometimes sense or see. In case you need to know, the theory is that the Force doesn’t allow significant changes in the timeline, and will ensure that minor changes are counteracted so that the future doesn’t change.

The whole Legacy of the Force series got really deep into this subject at one point, if you want to get a really good sense of how it all works. Basically, if you want to say that the most powerful Nightsisters could time travel, that’s your decision and I think it could work.

~ Jacen

Where do the officers/stormtroopers eat at SSD/ISDs? are there giant cafeterias for both? Do officers/technicians/stormtroopers/pilots eat at the same room or at separate ones? Do admirals have their own private areas? Sorry if this is too much lol I’d like to know about the Empire’s everyday.

It’s not too much! Sorry for taking a while to answer, though. School got in the way.

Officers and troops eat in large mess halls while onboard ships (and while on land). We know that the Executor-class Star Dreadnought’s mess halls were located in the bridge tower, and most SSDs follow the same basic layout. ISDs are often significantly smaller, but still share a bridge design with the Executors, so they probably also had multiple halls near the bridge. All enlisted men (stormtroopers, pilots, etc.) eat in the mess halls, although there’s almost always more than one mess hall in any ship or building, so they probably span several levels. Lower-ranked officers also don’t have their own areas, but, knowing Imperials, they probably congregated in one specific hall.

High-ranking officers like admirals have their own quarters, also found in the bridge tower, and could presumably eat there if they wanted, although I couldn’t confirm it. Admirals also have their own private escape pod near their quarters.

I hope that’s helpful!

~ Jacen

Is there a Star Wars equivalent of Valentine’s Day? I’ve seen fics mentioning ‘sweetheart’s day’ or ‘lover’s day’, but I’m unsure if these are just fan creations. Thank you :)

There is such a thing as the Festival of Love, but it’s held by the Ewoks and is only loosely based on Valentine’s Day. It’s more about love between clan members, often in a platonic/bandmates kinda way. I couldn’t find evidence of “sweetheart’s day” or “lover’s day” being canon, so I would guess they’re made up; if anyone else has heard of them, please correct me. No reason why you couldn’t use one, though!

Sorry that wasn’t quite what you wanted!

~ Jacen

This blog is amazing!!! Do you think this information and having seen the movies ( not the TV show or read any of the novels) I could pass off as an accurately informed writer in the SW world?

Thank you so much! And yes, I think you don’t need to meet any sort of requirement as to the amount of canon you’ve watched or read in order to write something accurate and informed. Don’t feel that you have to know everything about the universe in order to have fun writing about it (that’s what I’m here for)! The movies have plenty of material to work off of, and if you need anything else feel free to send me an ask.

~ Jacen

Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder actually called ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ in star wars? Or is there a different name for it?

Mental illnesses are very rarely mentioned by name in Star Wars. The only instances I’ve seen (which have all been in Legends), the illness was called by the same name it is in our universe. Psychosis, OCD and Multiple Personality Disorder (an outdated and inaccurate term) are all mentioned. I couldn’t be sure, but it seems very likely that if PTSD was mentioned, it would just be called PTSD.

~ Jacen

I’ve read on Wookieepedia that Colonel Veers was temporarily imprisoned on Zaloriis (in Legends). That would earn him the Prisoner of War Medal, right?

He was captured on Zaloriis, but I can’t find any evidence of a Prisoner of War Medal or equivalent within the Empire. Most medals awarded by the Empire in Legends were for TIE pilots. Are you just planning on using the real-life medal in your fic? There’s no problem with that, and if that’s the case then I would guess that yes, his capture would earn him the medal.

~ Jacen

Is there a communication device, handheld, that someone could use to communicate with someone on a different planet? My character is trying to be discreet while conversing with the Rebellion on Yavin 4.

Sorry to say, there is no such device. Anything sending transmissions that far needs a bigger power source than, say, a comlink. However, you could do a couple things. One, get a regular old comlink message to someone who has access to a subspace or hyperwave transceiver, someone within about 50 klicks of your character. Two, have the character themselves get to a more powerful transmitter, like you would find on a ship or maybe a private building.

It’s also important to note that the Empire shut down large portions of the HoloNet (the network used to carry hyperwave transmissions), causing the Rebellion a lot of trouble when it came to communicating with each other. It also didn’t cover a lot of the Outer Rim, but there were secret channels used by the rebels. Subspace transmissions were not routed through the HoloNet, but they did take significantly longer to reach their destination, and they were easier to intercept. Think about which would work better for your story.

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen