Star Wars Planets – Ilum
"“The mountainous ice planet Ilum is home to one of the Jedi Order’s most distant outposts. Nestled between snow-covered crags is an enclave used by the Jedi for generations, a shelter from the cold and a launching point for journeys into Ilum’s exotic crystal caves. These caves produce some of the most rare and powerful lightsaber crystals in the galaxy. Ilum hosts no indigenous population, although a number of larger animals survive in its environment. Its temperatures fail to reach the extremes of Hoth, but it has never been a target for colonization or occupation.”―In-game Codex"
Legends History:
In 22,800 BBY, a Jedi was navigating and felt a strong pull in the Force. This led him into the Unknown Regions of deep space and finally to the planet of Ilum. Once upon the location, he followed his senses and found the planet enriched with crystals (kathracite, mephite, and pontite). These crystals can also be located on the planet Halm, Mygeeto, and the Cularin System. The crystals also became what we know today as the lightsaber.
- Kathracite was the most common form of Adegan crystal, followed by Relacite and Danite. These crystals didn’t focus energy as well as their rarer cousins, and thus were usually reserved for use in training sabers.
- Mephite was a typical Adegan crystal used by the Jedi.
- Pontite was the rarest and most powerful type of Adegan crystal. Nearly impossible to find, it resonated with a powerful aura that cooled both skin and tempers.
The vast majority of lightsaber crystals were green or blue in color, and found in caves, but not connected to the Force like the Adegan crystals. When induced by resonant frequencies, the crystals emitted powerful bursts of light, and further components of a lightsaber harnessed this power into a rod-like beam.
Once Ilum was established and Jedi became aware of its location, many travelers arrived to build or fix their lightsaber. They would also spend time in a Temple where meditation and sanctity were practiced. To ensure this planet would be secured from any other travelers not known to the Jedi, they kept the planet off the star-charts, and knew that it could be found with one simple hyper-jump by a force sensitive from Metellos to Ilum’s orbit.
During the Cold War, the Sith launched an assault on the Republic on Ilum. The Jedi could not contain and lost control to the Empire. The Jedi were never able to retake the planet and resistance against the Empire remains minimal at best. What was to be believed as an attack to keep Jedi away from garnering any crystals, it actually was a maneuver to garner the crystals to manufacture a new weapon that may tip the balance to the dark side of the Force. The weapon was a sister ship to Malevolence and it used the crystals from the caves to power up gigantic ion pulse cannons, which were capable of destroying worlds. Eventually, the Jedi regained the planet.
Perhaps Ilum will come into play in the sequel trilogy, in which we may see a new generation begin its journey on the path of the Jedi… or the Sith.
Once the Clone Wars began in 22 BBY, Ilum became the location of an ambush when Count Dooku led a battalion of chameleon droids into the Crystal Caves, which became heavily damaged. Yoda, Master Luminara Unduli and Padawan Barriss Offee defended the attack from the droids. This led to the belief that Jedi trainees should not travel to Ilum because it was too dangerous, instead they had the crystals delivered to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
As Unduli was observing the shipments, the starship Sedawan began to get attacked by Nightsisters led by Sai Sircu, to take the crystals and install them for an ion pulse ship cannon called the Devastation, which was in conjunction with Count Dooku and the Confederacy.
SEE ALSO: Go inside Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Yavin IV
Those that made the pilgrimage to Ilum did so prior to the time of the Clone Wars. A young Obi-Wan Kenobi went to Ilum with his Master Qui-Gon Jinn to build a lightsaber. Anakin Skywalker also went along for training to also build his first lightsaber. Anakin faced several trials that included scaling slopes, and… running into a Gorgodon nest.
Gorgodons possess blaster-proof hide and very strong bone structure. Don’t get bitten by them, as they have three rows of razor sharp teeth. Hiding won’t do you any good either as they have excellent smell and hearing senses because their sight is diminished. They can survive on just plants, and when they hunt they do so in groups. They are a reptilian predator and walked on two legs with a tail and four limbs. Their weak spot is the back of their neck, and striking this creates paralysis on the creature.
Gorgodons construct nests with shelters inside using boulders, sheets of ice, and snow as well as their saliva, which acts like a mortar and held the structures together. The nests can be camouflaged to blend into the surrounding environment, mimicking the steep slopes of the mountains on which they are built.
Ilum is a planet shrouded in the mysteries of the Force and ingrained in the history of both Light and Dark Side users. Perhaps it will come into play in the sequel trilogy, in which we may see a new generation begin its journey on the path of the Jedi… or the Sith.
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Information used is from the website The Old Republic Wiki and Wookiepedia.