Warning: contains a spoiler for Star Wars #34!Star Wars has just exposed another insidious method the Empire used to catch surviving (or aspiring) Jedi. A key part of Palpatine’s fascist coup was eliminating the Jedi Order, an endeavor that was, for the most part, successful. Not only did Palpatine turn the galaxy against the Jedi Knights, but he also cleverly manipulated local planetary populations into maintaining the Empire’s grip on their respective worlds, with one particularly sinister method being employed on Christophsis.
In issue 34 of Marvel’s Star Wars comics, by Charles Soule and Madibek Musabekov, Luke Skywalker searches for a Kyber crystal on Christophsis, nearly walking into a deadly trap in a local cantina before a fighter named Gretta saves his life by blasting the bartender and the cantina’s patrons. Gretta explains that the Empire has put a bounty on anyone looking for Kyber crystals on Christophsis, and that the entire town survives by turning over those who visit hoping to construct a new lightsaber. Any Jedi hoping to construct a lightsaber will walk right into a trap, just as Luke does here.
Christophsis Was a Kyber Trap
The Jedi are not only the greatest threat to Palpatine’s power as Emperor they are also the ancient, bitter enemies of the Sith Lords. Palpatine manipulated the galactic populace into believing that the Jedi betrayed the Republic and orchestrated the Clone Wars, making his orders to execute them on sight seem justified and moral. Throughout his reign, Palpatine further worked to bury the Jedi Order’s history by outlawing their teachings and artifacts, along with desecrating their holy sights on worlds like Jedha and Ilum. The trap on Christophsis shows how Palpatine created the conditions to turn normal people into informers on the very Jedi hoping to free them.
Palpatine’s Christophsis Makes Destroying Ilum Even Darker
The Empire’s bounty on Christophsis is just one of many ways that the Palpatine oppressed surviving Jedi and kept them villainized in the eyes of the galaxy’s populace. Christophsis is one of the few planets capable of producing Kyber crystals, and while the Empire gutted Ilum (setting it up to become the First Order’s Starkiller Base), they turned Christophsis into a planet-wide trap for Jedi. Jedi would be captured or killed without the Empire needing to be directly involved, thanks to the bounty on anyone seeking Kyber crystals. Even the sites the Empire didn’t directly control could serve Palpatine’s interests thanks to the way he turned the galaxy against Jedi.
The Empire’s Jedi trap on Christophsis goes even further, as it is part of a self-sustaining system of suffering that makes citizens far more likely to turn in or kill surviving Jedi. The Empire does not have a direct presence on every single world, often using groups like the Pre-Mor Authority to bully citizens into submission and only putting Imperial Army Troopers or Stormtroopers on the most important (or troublesome) planets. The bounty on any who seek Kyber crystals on Christophsis is both an effective Jedi trap and a way to keep the Jedi oppressed throughout the Star Wars universe without necessarily employing Darth Vader or the Imperial Inquisitors, proving Palpatine’s sinister genius.
Star Wars #34 is available now from Marvel Comics.