‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’: Fans Theorize Unusual Connection To ‘The Force Awakens’


Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may still be several months away from its theatrical debut, but fans are already drawing connections between it and the most recent installment in the saga, The Force Awakens, suggesting that one of the key elements of the film is something we’ve seen before.

The newest in a long line of fan theories to stem from The Force Awakens, this latest speculation centers around Jedha, a new planet set to be introduced in Rogue One. Though the world, described as a holy land for followers of the Force, has yet to be revealed in the Star Wars lexicon outside of Rogue One‘s trailers, some fans are asserting this isn’t the case. According to them, we’ve all seen Jedha before, in its second life as Starkiller Base.

While at first glance this hypothesis seems arbitrary, the fans responsible for suggesting it do have a few compelling facts on their side. Lucasfilm revealed back in July that the Empire occupies Jedha in Rogue One for a very simple reason: kyber crystals. Once used by the Jedi to focus the blade of their lightsabers, these crystals were employed for a far more nefarious purpose by the Empire, becoming a key part of the Death Star’s planet-killing superlaser, as Entertainment Weekly noted.

This fact may have remained somewhat obscure within the vast context of the saga if not for a tweet posted by the official Star Wars account. Stating that “the Empire’s hidden resource became the First Order’s ultimate weapon,” the tweet contained an image that noted Starkiller Base was once a “little-known planet rich in energy-focusing kyber crystals,” pointing out that some of those were used in the construction of the Death Star.

While tenuous, the presence of kyber crystals isn’t the only fact fans have seized on to suggest that Jedha and Starkiller base may be one and the same. The Star Wars Databank describes Jedha as “a small desert moon frosted by a permanent winter,” as /Film points out. A nearly identical description is used for Starkiller Base in Star Wars: Complete Locations, where it is characterized as a “small, frozen world with a natural abundance of energy-focusing kyber crystals.” The description goes on to say that the planet was engineered into a superweapon when the First Order retreated to the unknown regions.

It is in the documented locations of Jedha and Starkiller Base that the theory finds its biggest obstacle. While Starkiller Base was apparently located in the unknown regions, Jedha is thought to be situated in the inner rim. Starkiller Base is actually described as originating from a point near the planet Illum, which featured in The Clone Wars as a site of Jedi pilgrimage where padawans selected the crystals for their lightsabers. This fact has led some fans to suggest that Illum and Starkiller Base may be one and the same, further complicating the theory.

There is a saving grace for the theory, however. When Starkiller Base is first revealed in The Force Awakens, the planet has already been moved to a particular star system in order to charge its primary weapon. The fact that Starkiller is mobile could help to explain away the inconsistency in location inherent in the theory, should it eventually prove to be valid.

The topic has yet to be addressed by any official source affiliated with the Star Wars universe. Little within the franchise is done by accident though, so it may come to pass that in the future, fans learn that Starkiller Base had a previous life as Jedha, and perhaps even Illum.

[Featured Image by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV]

Share this article: ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’: Fans Theorize Unusual Connection To ‘The Force Awakens’
More from Inquisitr