Mos Eisley

Mos Eisley was located in a valley somewhere to the southeast of the Jundland Wastes and roughly 80 kilometers north of Anchorhead, near the desert palace of Jabba the Hutt.

From a distance, the spaceport appeared as a haphazard collage of low-grade duracrete, stone, and plastoid structures that spread outward from a central power and water distribution plant. The city lacked a main landing facility; therefore it relied on 362 individual hangars. By order of the Empire, all of these hangars were equipped with time-lock devices. Illegally parked vessels were not an uncommon sight.

The town was really larger than it looked, as a good portion of it lay underground. In fact, it had a population of around 40 to 60 thousand people, varying seasonally.

Streets in the city included Corporation Road, Curved Street, Outer Curved Street, Straight Street, Spacers Row, Paradise Road, Dune Street, and Kerner Plaza. Many citizens rode rontos, dewbacks, and other beasts of burden.

The streets of Mos Eisley.

Mos Eisley was divided into the "New Quarter" and the "Old Quarter". The Old Quarter was originally wheel-shaped and contained a thriving marketplace. Jabba the Hutt also maintained a residence there, known as the Desilijic Complex, since it was difficult to make business from his palace. The New Quarter was more tourist-friendly and was a merchant district where tourists could relax (though there was still much crime). Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina served as the hub of the newer quarter. Each quarter had individual neighborhoods, such as the rough-and-tumble Tar Mass area.

During the Galactic Civil War, the Empire established a small garrison in Mos Eisley, although this did not help with the city's massive crime rates. The base was located near the cantina and whenever an expansion was required, the Empire would simply level surrounding buildings. To support the constant flow of spacers, Mos Eisley featured a large number of hotels, casinos, and cantinas.

The shops district was close to a hangar, the markets, a warehouse, and a housing complex.

The New Jedi Order

The New Jedi Order was the restored and reformed Jedi Order, in the wake of the Great Jedi Purge and subsequent fall of the Galactic Empire. The Jedi Knights, reduced in number to only a handful, were slowly restored, primarily under the leadership of Luke Skywalker, son of the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

Slow in developing, it existed for a number of years as a disparate group of Force-sensitives with various degrees of training. After a first attempt to train new Knights was thwarted by the Reborn Emperor, Luke Skywalker initiated the first formal training school for Jedi in decades—the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. Starting with an initial group of twelve students, the Order slowly grew in numbers and stature, becoming a core part of the New Republic that sponsored it. This meant it was repeatedly targeted by enemies of the Republic, such as Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala, the Empire Reborn, and the Second Imperium. Members of the order were involved in many of the key conflicts in the galaxy during the prime of the New Republic, including the Nagai–Tof War, Operation Shadow Hand, the Black Fleet Crisis and the First Corellian Insurrection.

This involvement culminated in the Jedi involvement in the Yuuzhan Vong War. Despite their commitment to defending the galaxy from this threat, the Order was vilified by the galaxy's citizens, and was betrayed on numerous occasions. Their involvement in the war cost nearly half the Order’s Knights. Out of this conflict, a more centralized Order was born. It would continue to grow and serve the galaxy for decades to come, until the Sith–Imperial War once again dispersed the Order and made its members fugitives. They subsequently returned to their place in the galaxy at the end of the Second Imperial Civil War.

The Dark Side Cave

The Dark Side Cave, also known as the Cave of Evil, was a cave on Dagobah corrupted by dark side energies.

Hundreds of years before the Clone Wars, the Jedi Minch battled and killed a powerful Bpfasshi Dark Jedi leader, and his energies absorbed into its surroundings, first tainting the passage with the dark side.

During the Clone Wars, Yoda had a vision of the Dark Side Cave during one of his meditations. In this vision, Qui-Gon Jinn guided a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker into the cave to face his fears, telling him the same thing Yoda eventually told Anakin's son, Luke, many years later.

Later, Yoda himself entered the cave under the guidance of Qui-Gon who had learned how to speak from beyond. Here Yoda had visions of the fall of the Jedi Order and of the rise of Darth Sidious.

During the Great Jedi Purge, Yoda realized that proximity to the Dark Side Cave could help neutralize his strong light side Force signature—thus preventing his detection by the Sith—and took up residence near the cave, living there for the next two decades, through the reign of the Galactic Empire.

Soon after the exile, an Imperial scout named Keog Boorn investigated a signal near the cave. A hidden Yoda saw how the scout left the place after remembering about the Bpfass Dark Jedi and hearing some terrifying sounds. Keog Boorn left the planet and reported that there was nothing in Dagobah, the signal just an atmospheric disturbance.

Yoda experiences a vision of Darth Sidious in the cave

During the birth of the Rebellion the clone of Starkiller spoke with Yoda briefly before entering the cave to look for the answers he sought. Inside he was unable to use his Force powers, except for the Jedi mind trick, which he utilized several times. He faced down other clones of Starkiller and had to carefully traverse some deep pits. He made it deep into the caves, and received a vision of the assault on the Salvation. Starkiller exited the cave, and left Yoda still sitting there and watching.

When Luke Skywalker traveled to Dagobah to train with Yoda in 3 ABY, the elder Master tasked him to enter the cave. Luke confronted an illusion of Darth Vader within and defeated it in a lightsaber duel, dipping into the passion of the dark side in the process. It was there that he realized what would happen if he turned to the dark side of the Force. Behind the mask of Darth Vader, he saw his own face. It also presaged the revelation that Vader was, unknown to him at the time, actually his father, Anakin Skywalker.

Luke re-visits the cave in 9 ABY.

Five years after Yoda's death, Luke Skywalker returned to the cave. This time, he had a vision of a possible past, one where Mara Jade accompanied Jabba the Hutt's retinue to the Sarlacc. She was able to pull Luke's lightsaber away from him, and Luke was pushed towards the Sarlacc when his vision suddenly ends. While in the cave, he found a beacon left behind by Jorj Car'das.

In 14 ABY, the dark side power of the cave was siphoned by the Disciples of Ragnos. This supposedly removed all of the dark energy, but it presumably returned to its source when the Scepter of Ragnos was destroyed or otherwise somehow regenerated itself. In 22 ABY, Anakin Solo, Tahiri Veila and Uldir Lochett entered the cave after Anakin had a recurring nightmare of becoming the infamous Darth Vader. There, Tahiri encountered a vision of her parents and grandfather, and Anakin faced the manifestations of his own doubts. The two both emerged victorious. Uldir, however, encountered nothing in the cave but vast emptiness.

Other Force-sensitive beings to enter the cave include Tash Arranda and Zak Arranda.

Zona Luka

Zona Luka was a female Vultan Jedi Knight who was active during the Great Sith War. She was trained in the Jedi ways by the respected Jedi Master Dominus, who considered Luka his dearest student. In 3996 BBY, Luka and a group of fellow Knights were visited on the library-world of Ossus by the Jedi Exar Kun, who claimed to be the keeper of Force knowledge forbidden by the Jedi Masters. Intrigued, Luka and the other Jedi agreed to join Kun on a journey to reveal the lost secrets of the Force. They traveled in Kun's starship, Starstorm One, to the dark side–tainted moon of Yavin 4, and Luka and the others were led to the base of a large temple by Kun. There, Kun revealed his true intentions when he shattered a Sith holocron and released the dark side spirits trapped within, which possessed Luka and the other Jedi Knights. Kun, in reality the Dark Lord of the Sith, commanded Luka and the Jedi team—now subjects of the dark side—to kill their former Masters. Luka tracked Dominus to his home and struck him down after a brief lightsaber duel; however, the dying Dominus mustered enough strength to kill the Vultan Jedi through an exertion of the Force.

Anakin Solo

Anakin Solo was a Human male Jedi Knight of the New Jedi Order who was the third child of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo and the younger brother of Jaina and Jacen Solo.

Named after his maternal grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, as a child Anakin often feared succumbing to the allure of the dark side and becoming a Sith himself. At the age of eleven, he attended the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, where he became fast friends with Tahiri Veila. Together, they enjoyed numerous adventures, which included freeing the imprisoned souls of Massassi children.

Anakin was one of the pivotal figures in the Yuuzhan Vong War, participating in several of the major battles and developing effective tactics against the Yuuzhan Vong. As a result of his mission to rescue Tahiri and to help Vua Rapuung compel Mezhan Kwaad to speak the truth, the Jeedai heresy—a heretical movement that ultimately helped bring the end of the war—quickly spread among the Shamed Ones. Later, Anakin led the Myrkr strike team to end the scourge of the Jedi-killing voxyn, where he gave his life to end the threat.

Mara Jade Skywalker

Mara Jade Skywalker was, during different times in her life, an Emperor's Hand, a smuggler, and later a Jedi Master who sat upon the Jedi High Council. She was raised as a servant to Emperor Palpatine and became a high-level Force-using operative. As an Emperor's Hand, Jade carried out the Emperor's bidding, killing Rebels and corrupt Imperials alike with cold professionalism, even as a young woman. As Palpatine's assassin, she received top-notch training from experts in a variety of fields as well as training in the Force, which was continued by Luke Skywalker years later. After Palpatine's death, she received his last command, which was to kill Luke Skywalker; however, the death of her Master caused her to go rogue. Eventually she joined smuggler chief Talon Karrde, becoming one of his best smugglers and his second-in-command. During the predations of Grand Admiral Thrawn, she was forced to work with Skywalker, and developed a grudging respect for him. During the Galactic Civil War, Mara Jade proved herself skilled in a variety of fields; she was a good pilot and mechanic and trained in the use of both a blaster and hand-to-hand combat even without relying on the Force.

Over the years, she continued to work for Karrde and interact with Skywalker intermittently, training at his Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 for a short period of time. She was groomed by Karrde to take over the Smugglers' Alliance and had a brief relationship with Lando Calrissian as part of that role, although she later admitted it was a charade. She also continued to grow closer to Skywalker and worked alongside him on numerous occasions, including the Almanian Uprising and the First Corellian Insurrection. The two finally realized in 19 ABY while on a mission to Nirauan that they were in love, and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

After marrying Skywalker, Mara Jade took the surname Skywalker and devoted her life to the New Jedi Order, becoming a Master in her own right. Shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong War, she fell ill due to deadly coomb spores that she'd been infected with by a Yuuzhan Vong agent. She used the Force to slow their progress even as she continued to fight against the alien invaders on numerous battlefields including Dantooine and Ithor, but the disease was only purged from her system after the birth of her son Ben in 26 ABY. After becoming a Master, Jade Skywalker took her niece Jaina Solo as an apprentice until she reached Knighthood. During that time, she participated in Jedi offensives against the Yuuzhan Vong, aiding in the war effort. After the fall of Coruscant, she helped Cal Omas become elected as the Chief of State as the New Republic reorganized itself into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Jade Skywalker ultimately saw her efforts against the Yuuzhan Vong rewarded in the war's final battle on Coruscant with the destruction of Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane.

In the following years, Jade Skywalker was active during the Dark Nest Crisis and the subsequent Swarm War, wherein she helped to thwart the expansionist plans of Raynar Thul and the insectoid Killiks who were spreading into Chiss space and subverting many other people into becoming Joiners under the influence of several Dark Jedi. Jade Skywalker was insistent that the Jedi who had joined Killik communities would be withdrawn, as they were using their skills in combat against the Chiss, provoking them. She continued to serve by the side of her husband as a Jedi Master during the Second Galactic Civil War, first serving alongside the Galactic Alliance against the rebellious Confederation. The re-emergence of the Sith Lady Lumiya was another threat that Jade Skywalker had to confront, but though she and her husband skirmished with both Lumiya and the fallen Jedi Alema Rar on multiple occasions, the darksiders escaped. As the war escalated, Jade Skywalker was killed by her nephew, Jacen Solo, whom she had learned was a Sith and therefore saw as a threat to her family personally, to the Jedi Order, and to the galaxy at large.

Cad Bane

Cad Bane was a Duros male bounty hunter from the planet Duro who earned a reputation as the galaxy's best, deadliest, and most fearsome mercenary during the Clone Wars. Though he worked for a number of clients, his loyalty was ultimately to credits—and by extension, the highest bidder. Bane employed a variety of weapons and allies to ensure that he always got his pay, and he became the leader in his line of work after fellow bounty hunter Jango Fett perished in the opening battle of the war. His renown attracted the attention of Count Dooku and even the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, the latter of whom employed him numerous times for his own means. Working for Sidious, Bane stole a Jedi holocron from the Jedi Temple to unlock the Kyber memory crystal, a repository of all recorded Force-sensitive infants in the galaxy. After pilfering the crystal from Jedi Master Bolla Ropal on Devaron and forcing Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to unlock it, Bane was sent to kidnap four of the infants listed in the crystal. Despite being captured halfway through his job by Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, Bane escaped from Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu by luring them into a trap on his hideout, Black Stall Station.

Bane was later hired by the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure and the Hutt Grand Council to break Jabba's criminal uncle, Ziro Desilijic Tiure, out of Republic custody on Coruscant. Forming a team of hunters to execute his job, Bane launched a brazen raid on the Republic Executive Building and captured ten prominent members of the Galactic Senate, using them as hostages to force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro. Once he had secured Ziro's release from the high-security Central Detention Center, Bane disbanded his posse and delivered Ziro to the Hutt Council. When Ziro escaped from their custody on Nal Hutta, Bane was re-hired to track down the crime lord. Though he arrived on Teth too late to secure his bounty, he managed to evade Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos, who failed to apprehend him for his crimes. At the close of the bounty hunting season, Bane's total bounties surpassed those of all others in field.

After breaking criminal mastermind Moralo Eval out of the Republic's Central Detention Center, Bane became a candidate in Eval's plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine for Count Dooku and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Bane thus entered Eval's Box competition to become one of the five mercenaries who would be hired for the job. After passing the tournament alongside fellow hunters Embo, Derrown, Twazzi, and Rako Hardeen, Bane was personally selected by Dooku to lead the operation, and they traveled to Naboo to capture Chancellor Palpatine during the Festival of Light. Despite Bane's success with abducting Palpatine, Dooku betrayed him, having intended for the bounty hunters' operation to simply be a diversion for his own attempt to kidnap the Supreme Chancellor. Abandoned by Dooku, Bane was defeated by Hardeen, who turned out to be none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had gone undercover to infiltrate and foil Eval's plans. Bane nevertheless retained his formidable reputation throughout the Clone Wars, after which he became one of the preferred freelancers for the Galactic Empire.