Death Star plans

"If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness, and exploit it.''" "''The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands."

- and

The Death Star plans were the blueprints of the, an  that was the brainchild of.

History
Via unknown means, a copy of these blueprints fell into the hands of members of the, stationed aboard the . Unfortunately, as the ship arrived at to ferry  to, it was intercepted by the  and Leia Organa, in a desperate gamble, entrusted the information within the blueprints to the memory systems of the. He and the  were then sent in an  to Tatooine, where they eventually ended up being purchased by, who gave them to  to look after. R2-D2, however, determined to fulfill the mission gave to him by Organa, tricked Skywalker into removing his so that he could seek out Kenobi.

Luke, worried about his uncle's reaction, sought out R2 in the, where he was rescued by the very Kenobi that the R2 unit was seeking. The group returned to, where Kenobi discovered that R2-D2 was carrying a message for him from Leia Organa explaining that R2 was carrying information vital to the survival of the Rebellion that needed to be delivered to Alderaan, but that the Tantive IV had been captured by the Empire.

The group secured passive to Alderaan on-board the , piloted by and. Upon the 's exit from at the 's coordinates, however, they discovered that it been completely obliterated by the very vessel whose stolen plans R2-D2 was carrying. The group managed to hide from the Empire and in sneaking aboard the vessel to disable its, found that Leia Organa was being held prisoner there. The group, sans Kenobi, hatched a to rescue her, while Kenobi disabled the tractor beam. Though Kenobi was killed in a with , the remainder of the group escaped and made their way to. There, the stolen plans were brought to the leaders of the Rebellion as the Empire pursued the tracked Millennium Falcon to the location. In an, the information from the stolen plans was used to eventually destroy the Death Star, effected by the firing a single by Skywalker.

Behind the scenes
The Death Star plans were central to the plot of the original Star Wars film, ultimately enabling the Rebellion to find a key weakness in the Death Star, allowing Luke Skywalker to destroy it. The plans were also seen in the prequel film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, showcasing the early development of the Death Star, known at the time as the "Ultimate Weapon." The means by which the Death Star plans were captured by the Rebellion was the subject of numerous stories in the Expanded Universe of Star Wars, later re-branded as Star Wars Legends, leading Pablo Hidalgo to comment that "...if you had to throw a dinner party and invite everyone who had ever stolen the Death Star plans, you'd be surprised at how many place settings you'd have to worry about. Notably, Hidalgo is part of the new Lucasfilm Story Group, a group designed to oversee a cohesive canon for the Star Wars franchise, so any future cohesive explanation of the acquisition of the Death Star plans would fall under his purview.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope