Stone Needle/Legends



The Stone Needle, otherwise known as the Eye of the Needle, was a rock formation in Beggar's Canyon on Tatooine. The formation was a tall stone tower with a "loop" rock on top of it situated in the middle of a ditch. The loop, lined with jagged rock teeth, was just large enough to allow small repulsorcraft to pass through.

History


Swoop bikers showed off their piloting skills by "threading the needle," or flying their swoops through the loop, a maneuver that required high speeds.

Luke Skywalker and his friends would often pilot their T-16 skyhoppers through the Stone Needle while growing up on Tatooine. Days before the death of his aunt and uncle, Skywalker challenged his friend Laze "Fixer" Loneozner through the bottleneck. With another of his friends, Windy Marstrap, riding along with him, Skywalker beat Fixer through the loop. Frightened by Skywalker's near-suicidal maneuvering, Windy squealed through the whole race. Skywalker later admitted to himself that he brought Windy along to prove to him that he was cut out for more than the simple life of a moisture farmer. Luke's success piloting through the Stone Needle convinced him that he was Imperial Academy material.

A year after the Battle of Yavin, Skywalker led several members of Rogue Squadron on a leisure run through Beggar's Canyon, introducing them to the Needle.

Years later in 3 ABY, Skywalker evaded a group of assassins hired by Prince Xizor by leading them on a swoop chase through Beggar's Canyon, and finally through the Eye of the Needle. Skywalker survived the maneuver, as he had many times before, but his final pursuer did not.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode I Racer
 * A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker
 * Star Wars Radio Drama
 * Star Wars: Empire: Darklighter
 * Luke's Fate
 * Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
 * Rebel Force: Renegade
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Shadows of the Empire game
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale