Scarif

Scarif was a remote, tropical planet in the Abrion sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Although a small and idyllic world, Scarif played an important part in the Galactic Empire's military-industrial complex, becoming a center for top-secret research beyond inspection distance of the prying eyes of the Imperial Senate. Among the projects developed here was the Death Star battle station, a construction so important the entire planet was covered by a planetary deflector shield that could only be entered via a Shield Gate.

Description
Scarif was a beautiful if relatively small world, measuring just over nine thousand kilometers in diameter. It had a remote and isolated galactic location in the Abrion sector of the southeast Outer Rim Territories. A deep-blue world speckled with clouds, Scarif was comprised of tropical, volcanic island chains rising from clear, shallow oceans. Deeper oceans were surrounded by rocky archipelagos. The planet's mantle was filled with dense metals that became valuable in starship construction. Scarif's beaches were tranquil and idyllic, and some led into jungle canopies filled with wildlife, comprised of areca nut palm trees which offered natural protection.

The Galactic Empire constructed its Imperial security complex across a wheel of islets and landmasses connected by sandy tombolos and artificial transit tubes. The region was surrounded by volcanic island covered in jungles, and the central islet housed the monolithic Citadel Tower.

Galactic Empire
Although Scarif's planetary mantle was filled with dense metals valuable in starship construction, its remote location deep within the Outer Rim Territories meant that supplying shipyards of the Core Worlds proved too costly. However, the Galactic Empire saw Scarif as a potential place to house their most classified projects away from the inspection distance of the Imperial Senate. To this end, the Empire built a major security complex on the planet's northern hemisphere, garrisoned by a special deployment of the Tarkin Initiative, centered around a Citadel Tower. Large swaths of land were excavated in order to build starships, and a high-altitude Shield Gate station allowed entry past the planetary deflector shield, which itself was protected by several Imperial Star Destroyers. Scarif became the principal construction facility for the Empire's vast war machine.

In 9 BBY, the Death Star, an armored battle station whose superlaser would be capable of destroying entire worlds, was moved from Geonosis to Scarif to continue its construction under the supervision of Director Orson Krennic. The designs for the station were transferred to the massive databanks of the Citadel. Despite the importance of the project, the officers of the garrison, commanded by General Sotorus Ramda, became complacent, mainly because of the confidence placed in Scarif's defenses.

Battle of Scarif
"He said we can find the plans. That they're in a data vault on the planet Scarif. Tell the Alliance: They have to go to Scarif and get the plans."

- Jyn Erso, to Cassian Jeron Andor on her father's message

The Battle of Scarif was a battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, taking place in the year 0 BBY. The Rebels had received information from Jyn Erso that the Death Star plans were being held in the Citadel Tower, and decided to make an attempt to capture them. Their attempt was successful, and they managed to transmit the plans to Princess Leia Organa. However, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin ordered the Death Star to fire a precise single reactor blast at the planet, not destroying Scarif itself but dissipating its planetary shield and obliterating the Citadel Tower as well as everyone in its vicinity in an unsuccessful effort to halt the transmission, as well as eliminate his longtime political rival, Orson Krennic.

Behind the scenes
Scarif is a tropical planet that was created for the 2016 Star Wars anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The first footage of the planet was shown in the Rogue One teaser trailer that was released on April 7, 2016.

Early in Rogue One's production, Scarif was conceived as a sort of "dry dock" for the Death Star, with an immense portion of the planet's surface excavated in order to house the battle station.

Director Gareth Edwards said the planet's nature came about after the crew noticed how George Lucas had been inspired by every theater of World War II except the Pacific front.

At the 2017 South by Southwest film festival, Edwards revealed that the planet's name, Scarif, came from a misspelling of his name on a coffee cup, telling the audience "I must have said, 'It's Gareth,' and they wrote 'Scarif.'"

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes