Theory: Asteroid Field In 'The Empire Strikes Back' Was The Test Planet For The Death Star

“Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one!”

-C-3PO to Han Solo

After the Battle of Hoth, Luke Skywalker decided to forge his own path through hyperspace to Dagobah in search of an elusive Jedi master. The rest of the Rebel Alliance forces scattered, making their own jump to safety, promising to rendezvous at a later time. Meanwhile, Han Solo, in the company of Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and C-3PO, tried to evade the pursuing Imperial Star Destroyer by going into a nearby asteroid field.

Where did this asteroid field come from? A few people on Reddit came up with a theory in the subreddit r/fantheories. Perhaps, the asteroid field was the test planet for the Death Star. After all, as Reddit user u/greatgerbil pointed out, “Normal asteroid field [is] largely empty after the first million years and have huge spaces between objects. But a new one (like from a recently destroyed planet) would be close together and have many collisions as it is still expanding and flinging [its] material about.”

Remains of Alderaan?

First and foremost, we could remove Alderaan from the list. This asteroid field cannot be the remains of Alderaan after its destruction by the Death Star. Alderaan was part of the Core Worlds, a great distance away from Hoth and the Outer Rim. The Millenium Falcon would have had to make a jump to lightspeed from Hoth to reach where Alderaan used to be, and we saw that it had a hyperdrive malfunction, which prevented it from jumping to hyperspace. Therefore, the Falcon was only able to “hobble” in sublight speed to Bespin.

According to the canon reference book Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition, the Alderaanian Graveyard, which was the name given to the asteroid field formed from the destruction of Alderaan, was held under Imperial blockade until the Empire’s defeat at Battle of Endor. The Falcon would have encountered more Imperial forces if this asteroid field was indeed the Alderaanian Graveyard.

Test Planet for the Death Star?

In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we saw the Death Star demonstrating its power on Jedha City and Scarif. The Empire was able to dial down the power of the Death Star to only cause destruction of Jedha City without obliterating the entire planet. The same happened during the Battle of Scarif where the Death Star’s turbolaser only destroyed a single target on Scarif, the citadel tower and the surrounding area, without affecting the rest of the planet. This means that a lot of tests would have been conducted, such that the operator was able to gauge the power needed to achieve the exact amount of destruction the Empire desired. Even though then Governor Tarkin commanded the Death Star to fire at less than full power, it would not do for a fearsome demonstration of strength to only burn a little hole in a building.

Most of the construction of the First Death Star occurred on Geonosis. It would make sense that the first tests of its power would have occurred in that area. With its massive size, it would not be strategic for the massive battle station to cross the sector all the way to the area near Hoth for testing especially since nothing of this size and power had been constructed before in galactic history. It would not do for the Death Star to be stranded out in the Outer Rim region far from Imperial control. The Empire could merely move out toward the Wild Space beyond Kamino and conduct its tests there. Thus, any asteroid field formed as a result would be nowhere close to Hoth.

Destroyed Planet That Predates The Death Star?

Reddit user u/murse_joe theorized that the asteroid field could be the result of a destroyed planet, but one that predates the Death Star. If we looked into Legends, the Rakata were a technologically advanced species that existed before the early history of galactic history. They were known for developing the hyperdrive technology which remained in use millennia later. About 30,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, and roughly 5,000 years before the rise of the Galactic Republic, the Rakata developed the Star Forge, which was a gargantuan automated shipyard designed to construct weapons, ships, droids, and other supplies necessary for the war effort. If the Rakata had the technology to create such a construction machine, one can postulate that they would have the technology to create something with the power to destroy an entire planet. After all, the Star Force was able to draw power from a nearby star to fuel itself. A planet destroyed by the Rakata more than 30,000 years before the Battle of Yavin could have formed into a dense asteroid field we saw near Hoth.

We may never know for sure the canonical origin of the asteroid field surrounding Hoth. It has been an interesting topic to ponder, speculate, discuss, and debate about. Personally, this author leans toward the postulate that it was an ancient planet destroyed by the Rakata millennia ago. Perhaps future Star Wars media will give us a definite answer.

Written by Apinya Wong

Source(s): Reddit

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