Ilum/Legends

"To Ilum we must go."

- Yoda

Ilum was the ice planet home to many of the Adegan crystals used in the construction of Jedi lightsabers. The caverns containing the crystals were long ago turned into a Jedi temple.

History
As part of his training, Anakin Skywalker, along with his mentor and friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, traveled to Ilum so that Anakin could build his first lightsaber. The two faced multiple challenges in scaling the slopes that lead up to the cave, including running into a nest of Gorgodons. Upon entering the cave, Anakin first faced Darth Maul's ghost before finally completing his lightsaber.

In 22 BBY, it was the location of the Battle of Ilum. After the fall of the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire established a base on the planet to intercept any Jedi who might return for lightsaber crystals.

Ilum was long used by Jedi as a location to find crystals for lightsaber construction. To ensure the security of the planet and the crystals, the planet had been left off of starcharts for that very reason. Because its existence was not known generally to non-Jedi, Ilum was virtually forgotten after the destruction of the Jedi and Palpatine's information purges. This gave the remaining Jedi a safe harbor.



After the Great Jedi Purge, Obi-Wan Kenobi received intelligence that his friend, Jedi Master Garen Muln, had returned to Ilum to hide in the crystal caves. Ferus Olin, a former Jedi apprentice, returned to the caves to retrieve crystals to build a new lightsaber. He also found Garen. The Jedi had grown weak. He gave Ferus his old lightsaber, which needed new crystals. Ferus inserted his crystals and carried the weak Jedi Master out of the caves. Obi-Wan arrived in a ship before the Imperials could take them hostage. Another Jedi also took refuge there: Fy-Tor-Ana. However, according to Garen, she returned to Coruscant to see if any other Jedi had survived. She did not return, but it was rumored that she was imprisoned on Coruscant.

During the Empire's hunt for Moff Kalast, who was leaking information to the Rebels, they discovered a Pirate base above Ilum, where Boba Fett (in the Slave I) tried to disable their sensors so an Imperial fleet could capture the Pirate Leader.

Behind the scenes
Ilum is an Urdu word meaning "knowledge".

The PC game Star Wars: Rebellion includes a planet named Adega, which the in-game encyclopedia describes as once being "the site of an ancient Jedi stronghold," and further names the planet as "the main source of Ilum crystals." There is no planet named Adega in the Star Wars universe, only the Adega system with the binary stars Adega I and Adega II. It is likely the game is intending to reference the planet Ilum.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Jedi Quest: Path to Truth
 * Jedi Quest comic
 * I am a Jedi Apprentice
 * Clone Wars Chapter 14
 * Clone Wars Chapter 15
 * Clone Wars Chapter 16
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning
 * The Last of the Jedi: A Tangled Web
 * The Last of the Jedi: Reckoning
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars: Rebellion

Notes and references
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