Torture/Legends

"For every insult, you will scream a dozen times."

- Darth Vader, threatening Han Solo

Torture was any practice by which severe pain and/or suffering, whether physical or mental, was inflicted on a being. Torture could also be used for such purposes as obtaining from them or a third party information or a confession, as punishment for an act an individual had committed or was suspected of having committed, for intimidating or coercing individuals, or for discriminatory reasons of any kind. Torture was also occasionally the adverse by-product of either medical or scientific research, studies, or procedures, and usually without the expressed consent of the victim. Often times torturous methods were initiated by the directives of heads of state, though other individuals or groups were capable of inflicting torture for the same reasons. However, another motive for torture was simply for sadistic gratification of the torturer.

History
"I can use my powers to conjure up your worst nightmares and bring them to life before your eyes. I can drive you mad with fear, shred your sanity, and leave you a raving lunatic for the rest of your life."

- Darth Zannah, describing the effects of her powers to Caleb.



Throughout the galaxy, torture was widely recognized as a means to extract information from an individual who was not as forthcoming with information as the captor desired. Many different organizations implemented torture as one of their regular practices, practices that usually went unpunished. Torture varied in both method and purpose between species. Some species, such as the Yuuzhan Vong, glorified pain not only as a motive for action, but also as a state of living. The Vong warrior caste derived perverse pleasure from their own pain and from the pain of others.

An example of this was the former government of the planet New Apsolon, where dissidents were imprisoned and subjected to "reclassification", which was the government's term for torture. Prisoners were often kept waiting without food or water for long periods to break down their resistance, before being "reclassified". Separate rooms were designed for different forms of torture. One chamber had screens where the prisoners had to watch other victims being tortured, sometimes their own friends or family.

Methods


There was no set standard as to what could or could not be used for torture. Victims were usually held in place with restraints or rendered immobile by other means, so as to lessen any potential opportunity for a successful escape. Physical torture methods ranged from a beating with nothing more than fists and boots, to the use of sophisticated custom designed devices such as the IT-O Interrogator droid. Other types of torture could include sensory manipulation, or sleep deprivation, uncomfortable extremes of heat and cold, loud noises, or any other means that inflicts physical pain. Psychological torture used non-physical methods to cause extreme mental suffering.

The Burning
The Burning was a form of torture involving the use of a blaster set at low power, to scorch the flesh of an individual's body, leaving only blood-smeared bone. Usually, the interrogator would begin with a leg; immobilizing the victim, then continuing the process with other parts of the victim's body, burning off the flesh, inch by inch. Other prisoners were usually made to watch, as part of a psychological torture meant to break their will.

Jedi Historian Tionne Solusar fell victim of an act of violence very similar to the Burning. During the Confederation-Galactic Alliance War, the Galactic Alliance Guard was ordered by Colonel Jacen Solo to kill every Jedi at the Jedi Praxeum on Ossus. To draw other Jedi out of hiding, Master Solusar was held fast by Major Salle Serpa, who fired his blaster several times, burning away the lower part of her leg and most of her arm. Tionne fell to the ground writhing in pain, as the helpless Jedi trainees looked on. Then, as a literal "insult to injury", Serpa fired another blaster shot at the stump that was Tionne's brutalized arm, searing off even more flesh and bone.

Deprivation
To soften up the victim and break down their resistance before the actual torture session, the victim could be deprived of sleep, or be kept waiting without food or water for long periods of time. Another way to achieve this was to make the prisoner watch other victims being tortured, like their own friends or family. Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker suffered in this manner, while watching his friend Lon Shevu be tortured to death by the Sith apprentice Tahiri Veila.

The Embrace of Pain
"The Vong call it the Embrace of Pain. The more you struggle to escape, the more pain it inflicts."

- Darth Krayt to Cade Skywalker

The Embrace of Pain was an organic, rack-like restraint used to torture prisoners. A victim was kept face down in restraint bands, and tortured while the creature would read the electrochemical outputs of the victims nerve impulses and evaluate her or his brain chemistry. The resultant data was used to keep the pain at constant and optimum levels. The device had a number of different tools made to create pain, including stretching of ligaments and joints, acid, electric shocks, sharp devices, needles, thorns, injected biotoxins When the victim was at the brink of dying, the Embrace would tend to the prisoner's body by lowering them to the floor and letting them sleep for a time, while tending wounds and injecting the prisoner with enough water and nutrients to keep them alive.

Insects
"One bit me, then at the smell of blood the others swarmed over me."

- Bevel Lemelisk, describing the voracity of piranha beetles

Bloodslugs
The Lyran bloodslug was an omnivorous parasite used as a form of torture and punishment by the crimelords of Lyran IV. This slug could grow anywhere from 1 to 6 centimeters long. In its dormant state, it could take nourishment by eating wheat and grain, burrowing through piles of grain by exuding a trace amount of a powerful, toxic acid. If they got close enough to a sleeping (or restrained) person, they would use their venom to burrow into the person's body, and start feeding off the victim's viscera, slowly draining the her or him of blood over a period of several weeks. The host would slowly go insane from the pain, and eventually die.

Lava fleas
In their larval state, the Mustafar lava flea were worm-like borers about half-a-meter in length. The worms fed on the mineral rich rock-dust from the inner caverns of Mustafar, using acidic enzymes to break down the rock into needed nutrients. There were disturbing reports of the acid-filled pre-flea worms being used as a ghastly form of torture.

Muscle maggots
Muscle maggots were burrowing insects that entered their victims through their muscle tissue, causing extreme pain and anguish. The Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress used these insects on Obi-Wan Kenobi in her stronghold on Rattatak. There, Ventress tortured Kenobi in order to obtain information about Republic troop movements.

Piranha beetles


Emperor Palpatine himself was quite fond of torturing the ones of his subordinates who had earned his displeasure, such as Death Star I engineer Bevel Lemelisk. The Emperor subjected Lemelisk to numerous tortures, the first of which was having Lemelisk blinded and consumed by piranha beetles, ultimately resulting in Lemelisk's apparent death. To capitalize on his suffering, the Emperor would preserve Lemelisk's mind, and after each of his "deaths", would transfer his essence into that of a pre-existing clone body. Lemelisk was forced to endure seven of these grueling punishments in all.

Jabba the Hutt used a kind of bloodsucking worms as a form of torture of prisoners in his palace.

Mental anguish
Threats of physical torture could sometimes be just as effective as actually carrying out the action. The mere mention of physical pain, harm, or death was often times enough to cause the most determined resistors to cooperate. Mandalorian Protector Mirta Gev was one such individual. While under the custody of the Sith Lord Darth Caedus and his apprentice Tahiri Veila, Gev was threatened with disfigurement; Lady Veila intended on misshaping Gev's face, if she refused to disclose who it was that cut off Lord Caedus' arm. Mortified by the threat, Gev relented.

One of the many torture methods of the bloodthirsty Yuuzhan Vong involved a type of psychological torture where the Vong would feign the prisoner's execution again and again by repeatedly drawing the victim to within centimeters of the Sharp teeth of a yammosk.

Doctor Akanseh was an accomplished surgeon and a great philanthropist who was captured by Moff Kentor Sarne after the Battle of Endor. The Moff confiscated Akanseh's medical suite, and forced the doctor to work for him as an interrogator. Akanseh tried to carry out his duties in his own manner. Rather than resorting to torture, he tried to convince his subjects to trust him enough to disclose the information willingly. He knew that if he couldn't get the information in this manner, the prisoner would be turned over to Imperial interrogators and their savage droids, or worse, Akanseh might be forced to torture them himself. Once, while interrogating a stubborn resistance fighter, Sarne decided to drop in fora spot inspection to make sure the doctor was doing his job. Akanseh was forced to chemically torture the prisoner, or face the same fate himself if he didn't get some results soon. After being freed by New Republic forces, he joined the crew of the FarStar corvette, who were tasked to hunt down Sarne. Deeply regretful of his service as Sarne's interrogators, he hoping to make up for what he did.

Physical torment
Most times, torture was simply the act of subjecting the victim to prolong physical torment, ranging from kicks and punches to stabbings, proddings, or similar acts of violence. often times the victim was left severely injured, sometimes unconscious, or even on the brink of death.

The Mandalorian Walon Vau performed physical torture upon a group of captured terrorists, in the days just prior to the Clone Wars. Vau, along with a team of Mandalorians, clone troopers and Jedi Knights was assigned to destroy a Separatist spy and terror network on Coruscant. They captured group of Separatist terrorists, M'truli, Gysk and Orjul, and took them to a soundproof apartment. There Walon Vau proceeded to beat information out of them, to the point that the walls were splattered with blood.

Chemical torment
The Imperial Moff Sarne was fond of using exotic and painful pharmaceuticals to torture his prisoners. The liquid was injected into the victim's body with a hypo syringe, making the prisoner feel like blood was boiling in their veins.

After Cade Skywalker was captured by the Sith, he was taken to Darth Maladi's laboratory, where he was tortured for a whole day, being injected with lethal ixetal cilona again and again, to see if he was able to heal himself.

Scientific/medical methods
During the Mandalorian Wars several later, the Mandalorian scientist Demagol used the conquered people of the Outer Rim as subjects for his grisly studies. The doctor was particularly interested in finding a biological base for Jedi powers. Initially, Jedi were kidnapped for this purpose, before hostilities with the Galactic Republic surfaced, and a number of Jedi captured on Suurja poured into his lab on Flashpoint Station, to serve as new research subjects. When the Arkanian offshoot Jarael was captured by Mandalorians while impersonating a Jedi, she was taken to Flashpoint, where other Jedi were being tortured and tested by the Demagol. After arriving she met with Squint, a Jedi who had also been made into a prisoner. Upon seeing that he had a new test subject, Demagol wanted to study Jarael immediately. Squint, however, protested and insisted that he go in Jarael's place since he had already (and privately) discerned that she was not a Jedi, and knew that there were trials only a Jedi could survive.

Roughly ten years before the Battle of Naboo, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was captured and brought before the famed scientist Jenna Zan Arbor, who was studying the traits of Force-sensitive individuals (with hopes of genetically engineering Force sensitivity into normal beings). Her "experiments" included phlebotomy and torture, designed as test of Qui-Gon's endurance.

Anakin Solo

 * Make mention of the secret chamber hidden within the ship where Jacen kept the Embrace.

Lusankya
In 1 ABY, when the Star Dreadnaught Lusankya was commissioned for use by the Galactic Empire, it was taken to Coruscant and buried underneath Imperial City. While stationed there, a section of the Lusankya was used as a private corrections facility by the Director of Imperial Intelligence, Ysanne Isard. To thwart any potential escape attempts, the prison was fitted with a rotating artificial gravity generator. Prisoners believed they were right side up, but in truth, were upside down, so that any attempts to dig themselves to freedom would only lead them deeper within the prison. Isard used the dreadnaught's facilities for her Imperial intelligence-gathering needs, usually including torture and interrogation. Isard was ruthless during interrogation sessions with Lusankya's' prisoners, employing multiple methods as required&mdash; torture, drugs, and psychological conditioning&mdash;to learn what she desired.

Alderaan native Tycho Celchu was also sent to the Lusankya, having been captured during a failed spy mission to Coruscant. Isard tried to condition Celchu, and turn him into one of her agents, but the methods were too extreme and left him catatonic. The Corellian pilot Corran Horn was imprisoned within the bowels of the Lusankya, where he was tortured by Isard for vital New Republic secrets. When Isard realized that Horn would reveal nothing, she had him placed in the general population of the prison, where he would later escape.

Secret bunkers
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, there existed several secret interrogation chambers close to the solid surface of Imperial City. The constructions were disguised as non-descript, run-down buildings, but in reality, they were sealed bunkers protected by strong metal walls. The inside of the bunkers were a showcase of tools designed to induce pain; Racks, bed platforms with manacles and electrical rods, pain-inducing drugs and serums, interrogation droids and so on.

Carbon freeze
Carbonite was a metal alloy that was mixed with Tibanna gas, compressed, and flash-frozen, encasing materials for transport in an incredibly strong metal alloy. The freezing of living subjects in carbonite was used as a form of torture; the process was excruciating, and the victim was placed in a form of stasis hibernation, while still experiencing a form of consciousness.

Nerve disruptor
The nerve disruptor was an Imperial torture and interrogation device which resembling a small, three-legged droid. A built-in droid brain monitored the victim's vital signs to keep the her or him alive until interrogation was complete, whereas pain was inflicted through a variety of needles and microfilament injectors to deliver drugs (including truth serums) and trigger pain in the sensitive nerve clusters, as well as inducing spasms in the victim’s body.

Torture droids
In 3996 BBY, while reigning as Emperor over the Empress Teta system before the Battle of Yavin, Lord Keto, kept dissidents in line with the regular use of torture droids. Although their technology was seemingly antiquated, Keto's son Satal found them nonetheless effective when he became ruler of Empress Teta. Some droids could be modified from their primary functions to serve as torture droids. Satal Keto, leader of the Sith-inspired Krath, used ordinary medical droids and modified them to perform surgical tortures on individuals. Ulic Qel-Droma was a victim of Keto's torturous ways. When Ulic attempted to infiltrate the Krath, Lord Keto had the Jedi restrained in the dungeons of the Krath's Iron Citadel, where Krath torture droids administered excruciating punishments to him.

High Inquisitor Mox Slosin, one of the Empire’s most efficient interrogators, provided keen insight during the development of the Imperial IT-0 interrogation droids. Many of the sadistic tendencies shared by Slotin and other Imperial Inquisitors and ISB agents were programmed into the droids.


 * See SD-XX & relation to Ben Skywalker in Invincible (novel).

Entuurians
The Humans of the planet Entuur valued pain and suffering, which could partially explain the sadistic tendencies of the Entuuran High Inquisitor Mox Slosin, one of the Empire’s most efficient interrogators. During the years of the Rebellion, a report from Task Force on Alliance Security described him as perhaps one of the most sadistic and cruelest person in the Empire’s service. In his mind, torture was an art form, almost a game, where the challenge was to traverse the line of the victim’s pain and endurance without killing the person. Still, occasionally his enthusiasm would drive him too far, and his subjects died during "overly sensitive" interrogations.

Hutts

 * See Oola

Nightsisters of Dathomir

 * See Barukka
 * See Nightsister blood trail

Mandalorian conditioning
The life of the Mandalorians revolved around battle and war, both as a culture and as a source of pride and honor. Often working as mercenaries, assassins, and bounty hunters, Mandalorians were proven to be ruthless adversaries, known for their tough pragmatism and brutality. In battle, they would do whatever was necessary to reach their objective. While it is unknown exactly how common the use of torture were among these feared warriors, at least some Mandalorians had no qualms about using torture to achieve their ends. Notable examples were the mercenary and assassin Kal Skirata, mercenary Walon Vau and the bounty hunter Rav Bralor. The Mandallian Giant Feskitt Bobb employed a special torture method called the Burning, to apprehend his quarries. The clone commando RC-1136 ("Darman"), who was trained by Kal Skirata, went as far as saying that torture had to be done, and didn't make you a bad person.

Some bounty hunters even tortured their bounties if they were paid to. One of them was Boba Fett, who once said to the captive Nil Posondum that since he wasn't paid to hurt him, he wouldn't be hurt, but if he were paid to, Posondum would be in a "world of pain".

Tusken Raider lifestyle
Adolescent Tusken Raiders had to undergo ritual blood rites, in which they were obligated to capture and torture a lifeform for weeks before ascending to adulthood. The Tusken emerged more esteemed if the victim was sentient.

Yuuzhan Vong methods


"To understand us, there is one place to start. Let me introduce you to the Embrace of Pain."

- Shedao Shai

In the midst of the Yuuzhan Vong war, the Yuuzhan Vong Commander Shedao Shai made use of the Embrace of Pain to inflict pain on himself and others, including Caamasi senator Elegos A'kla.

When the Jedi apprentice Tahiri Veila was captured by the Vong, she was subjected to a painful shaping project by the Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad and her assistant Nen Yim, who attempted to make Tahiri closer to the Yuuzhan Vong, creating a new personality for her: Riina Kwaad.

Force-augmented torture
Force-users were capable of torturing individuals in unique ways, due to their abilities in the Force, inherent or otherwise.

Sith poison
Poisons were a tool, often implemented for a number of reasons during torture sessions. One such concoction was Sith poison; was a dark side-infused toxin created through the arts of Sith alchemy. Once introduced to the bloodstream of a Force-sensitive individual, the poison wears away their resistance to the dark side of the Force. The victim suffers from extreme anguish while being consumed by the dark side, over a prolonged period of time. Ulic Qel-Droma was administered a Sith poison by Lord Satal Keto, whilst being tortured by specialized droids, and interrogated about his intentions on Keto's homeworld.

Through Sith sorcery
Sith sorcery granted its masters an affinity for a power that subjected victims to bouts of utter terror, anguish, and despair. By influencing a person's mind, the sorcerer could make a victim relive their worst fears or nightmares, to such an extreme that the victim would be driven to madness in a desperate attempt to escape the horrors, only to feel them inside their head and mind instead, as the power attacked all aspects of the victim's sensory perceptions. At one point, this technique was used by the female Sith Lord Darth Zannah, which left the Anti-Republic Liberation Front member Cyndra in a permanent catatonic state.

Force lightning
Force lightning was a well known Force ability associated with Sith and the Dark Side of the Force. The attack channeled Force energy down the user's limbs, hurling arcing bolts of electricity from the wielder's hands. Force lightning caused unbearable pain, while slowly diminishing the victim's life. It was also nearly impossible to deflect.

In 3,998 BBY, the Jedi Master Arca Jeth was captured by King Ommin of Onderon. With the assistance of the Sith Lord Freedon Nadd's spirit, the king attempted to torture Arca to the brink of death with a lightning-based attack, believing that the Jedi Master would be forced to call upon the dark side of the Force to save himself. At that point, Ommin planned to destroy Arca's body and raise the fallen Jedi as a dark side spirit.

In year 4 ABY, when the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker refused to join Emperor Palpatine, the Emperor tormented Luke with Force lightning, beginning with an agonizing but non-lethal barrage, working his way gradually upwards in lethality in order to maximize Luke's suffering, seemingly deriving pleasure from Skywalker's torment.

Other Force abilities used for torture
The Sorcerer of Tund Rokur Gepta developed a Force ability called torture by chagrin, in which the subject was forced to relive all the worst memories and horrors of their life, everything from the merely embarrassing ones to the painful ones, but would not experience anything but the fear. The victim was forced to relive their nightmares over and over again, for days or weeks, until their will and resolve were utterly crushed.

Even proponents of the light side found resorted to torture on occasion. Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan tortured the terrorist Orjul mentally by projecting her own fear of being devoid of any direction into his mind by way of denial. Ignoring his gasping, squealing, panting and sobbing, she tortured him for an hour, before Orjul broke down and revealed everything. Etain justified her actions by claiming that she did it all without anger, which a Jedi wasn't supposed to feel, and that being serene made her actions acceptable.

The Sith
The life of a Sith apprentice, one aspiring to attain the rank of Sith Lord, was laden with mental and physical torture. This relentless "training" was designed to mold the apprentice into an individual who was strong, calculating, and determined.

After Jacen Solo was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, Vergere, who years later was revealed to be one of the Sith, held him trapped in the Embrace of Pain for weeks, forcing him to give into the pain and understand the strength gained from it when it was fully embraced.

The Embrace of Pain was used again by the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, who in 40 ABY used it to torture his own cousin, Ben Skywalker onboard the Anakin Solo. Hoping to forge Ben into a Sith apprentice, Caedus took Ben to the lower levels of the Star Destroyer, where he secretly had his own personal Embrace of Pain installed. Ben was subjected to Vong biotoxins injected via organic needles that caused immense pain and swelling. Ben was subsequently rescued by his father, Master Luke Skywalker, but his recovery was painstaking; the injections continued to cause him agony, and swelling from his wounds took weeks to heal.

Dread Lord Darth Krayt had previously experienced the Embrace of Pain after completing his apprenticeship with XoXaan on Korriban and being captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. As Dark Lord of the Sith, Krayt would use the Embrace as part of the training for certain members of the New Sith Order, including Darth Nihl, in order to push them towards the dark side. He would also have the Embrace of Pain installed in the underlevels of the Temple of the Sith.

Imperial organizations
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, torture was elevated to an art form. According to rumors, Emperor Palpatine himself kept private detention centers in the planet's lower levels, with IT-0 torture droids to tear information from the reluctant. When Pollux Hax, chief of the Emperor's propaganda dissemination section, wrote an article about the wonders of Imperial Center (a report commissioned by Palpatine himself), he claimed that the Emperor had no need for such "barbaric practices", and had "no need to keep secrets".

The Emperor also had established the Department of Punishment, an Imperial subdivision that was dedicated to the sole purpose of torturing captured criminals. The head of this branch of government was known as the Master Torturer.

ISB
ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) was part of COMPNOR (the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order), an umbrella organization designed to maintain support for Emperor Palpatine's New Order. As an organization created to increase the Emperor's knowledge of political events, one of ISB's tasks was to uncover beings or activities that might obstruct Palpatine's plans. The people caught who were suspected of withholding information were sent to Interrogation, one of ISB's branches. Apparently, few people really knew what happened to the suspects, since no one really wanted to know.

Imperial Intelligence
A rival to ISB, Imperial Intelligence had its own branch of Interrogation. Rebels or other enemy agents caught by the organization were usually sent to Interrogation, which was said to be somewhat less bloodthirsty than ISB, and therefore, slightly less effective in breaking Rebels' will. Unless the suspect Rebel was believed to hold vital information, interrogation would be light, compared to what it could have been, but many of the prisoner would be subjected to neuroprogramming or image surgery, turning the Rebel into the Empire's double-agent.

The Inquisitorius


The Inquisitorius was a secret division of Imperial Intelligence, consisting of Force-trained agents called Imperial Inquisitors. These agents performed various tasks for Intelligence, including surveillance missions and intelligence-gathering, but were most often called upon to assist with interrogation of prisoners.Intelligence would turn to the Inquisitorious when all other methods of interrogation failed, including drugs and torture. With their potent force-skills and powerful techniques of manipulation, they rarely failed to break the victim's will.

The agents were also charged with seeking out other Force-users, either turning them to the will of the Emperor, or eliminating them. Inquisitors were enlisted by the Emperor himself to destroy the last remnants of the Jedi Order, and would seek out, track down and capture Jedi who escaped the Great Jedi Purge. The captured Jedi were faced with an ultimatum - usually along with torture -; to turn to the Dark Side and join Palpatine's New Order, or be destroyed. The Inquisitors were known for their ruthlessness, and could torture an entire villa of innocents to draw one Jedi into a trap. The best Inquisitors had everything from starships to money at their disposal, including sophisticated torture instruments.

The Citadel Inquisitorius was the central base of operations for much of the Inquisitorious. The citadel was a towering black spire jutting from a position nestled in the mountains of the planet Prakith. There, the High Inquisitors were given assignments and came to confer with others of their order. Housed within the spire were a number of torture chambers and detention blocks used to detain and torture the most dangerous and strong-willed prisoners. Many citizens on Prakith whispered that the screams of the Jedi brought to the citadel echoed across the mountains for days at a time.

School of Torturers
Yet another testament to the Empire's tradition of extracting information the painful way was the School of Torturers, a training facility on Coruscant.

Galactic Alliance Guard
During the Confederation-Galactic Alliance War, a secret police organization was created by the Galactic Alliance. In order to counter Corellian terrorist activity on Coruscant, the Galactic Alliance Guard (GAG), as it was called, used brutal methods to achieve its goal. Suspected terrorists were rounded up, deported and interned, before being tortured during interrogation.

Darth Krayt's Sith Empire
During the reign of Darth Krayt, the agency in charge of torture was Sith Intelligence and Assassination. The Devaronian Sith Lord Darth Maladi presided over this "branch of government", and was herself an expert in the ways of torture.

One of her victims was the Jedi healer Hosk Trey'lis, who was interrogated by Maladi in her laboratory, and was made to reveal the identity of Cade Skywalker. Lady Maladi used torture droids to implement brutal punishments on the Bothan Jedi until she finally gleaned from him Skywalker's name.

Consequences
In addition to excruciating pain and serious permanent or temporary physical injuries, torture could seriously harm the victim mentally. Many individuals were badly traumatized, sometimes to the point of being unable to speak. This was the case with many of the citizens who were introduced to the IT-0 Interrogator droid after being unlucky enough to be rounded up by the Imperial Security Bureau. Some torture victims succumbed to madness, whereas others were so broken mentally that they simply existed as mindless shells. About a millennia before the Battle of Naboo, the Gen'dai bounty hunter Durge became a victim of unspeakable torture at the hands of the Mandalorians, who turned his species' natural longevity against him, finding ways of inflicting pain throughout his scattered nerves. Unable to die, his already dangerous psyche was pushed further past the brink of sanity. When the Rebel Bria Tharen and her Red Hand Squadron were tracked down by the Empire during the operation to secure the Death Star plans, she committed suicide by swallowing a lullaby poison capsule, knowing that she would more than likely be tortured if captured.

"You are strong, child&mdash;but I will break you!"

- Darth Malak, torturing Bastila Shan into accepting the dark side of the Force.

Sometimes, torture would be the catalyst in a Force-user's descent to the dark side. This was the case of Kam Solusar, who was tortured by the dark Jedi Sedriss until he submitted. During the quest to find the ancient Star Forge, Jedi Knight Bastila Shan and soldier Carth Onasi were captured by Admiral Saul Karath and tortured into revealing Jedi secrets. Later, when Bastila was freed, she was then confronted by Darth Malak, and tortured with needles and relentless barrages of Sith lightning. Finally unable to withstand the assault any longer, Bastila gave into the dark side, and became the apprentice to Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Withstanding interrogation
""So what are you going to do – torture me some more? Go ahead, I can take it." "I have no doubt. Still..." "Do whatever you want. I’ll never tell you what you want to know.""

- Mirith Sinn and Carnor Jax

Despite the fact that torture was viewed as an effective means of gleaning information from the reluctant, there were still those who were incapable of breaking, in spite of the extreme anguish.

Strength of will
"Listen, you can go back home and tell everyone you didn't crack, and they’ll give you a medal or something."

- Dirk Harkness to Jai Raventhorn, after having both endured imperial torture without breaking.



When Princess Leia was tortured by Darth Vader for the location of the Rebel base at Yavin 4 (then unknown to Vader), she resisted to the end and revealed nothing. It was only under threat of destroying Leia's homeworld of Alderaan by Grand Moff Tarkin did Leia relent, and expose the location of the decoy rebel base on Dantooine. Tarkin then obliterated Alderaan anyway, saying that Dantooine was too far, and that Alderaan was a prime target for testing the Death Star's superlaser's firing capacity. Another example was Leia's fellow Rebel Mirith Sinn, who refused to reveal anything while being tormented by Carnor Jax’s men in order to make her disclose the location of the former Emperor's Royal Guard Kir Kanos.

One technique to help a person withstand torture was called “drawing inwards”; this involved breathing techniques, and the visualization of mental images. This drawing inwards also separated mind from body, and helped the individual either remain oblivious to the pain to come, or relive the pain from previous moments, thereby ignoring the present torment. Mandalorians were trained to endure torture, whereas the Zabraks were known for their incredible willpower, being able to endure intense physical pain and torture without breaking their resolve.

Force resistance
Many force-users were able to endure pain through mental focusing techniques, which made them appear somewhat stronger than others in terms of handling pain. The Jedi Master Yaddle went through a torture session with the warlock Tulak without even screaming once.

The Zabrak Jedi Master Eeth Koth had an outstanding talent for Crucitorn, a Jedi technique for transcending physical pain that went far beyond the Zabrak ability to withstand torture.

In rare instances, a Force-user's pain control could be circumvented by another Force-user. This was the case of the Jedi-master Shylar, who was tortured to death by the Sith Lord and former Jedi, Count Dooku.

Death


Shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Shmi Skywalker, mother of Anakin Skywalker, was captured by Tusken Raiders and tortured for weeks. She died in the arms of her son, moments before he was able to successfully rescue her.

In 40 ABY, bounty hunter Ailyn Vel was led to Coruscant, where she hid in a Corellian community and was caught during the Galactic Alliance Guard's raids. Believing her to be a Corellian terrorist, Jacen Solo interrogated her. When she did not provide information, he used the Force to repeatedly slam her head into the table where she was sitting while attempting to enter her mind. The punishment was far more than Ailyn could endure, and she died in the midst of being questioned.

Rise of the Empire era
"You are the subject of scientific experimentation. You will not be hurt, only studied."

- Jenna Zan Arbor to Qui-Gon Jinn, as she prepares to torture him.

Three millennia after the Mandalorian wars, the female Sith Lord Darth Zannah used her sorcery to drive the ARLF member Cyndra insane, projecting images of Chiss woman's worst fears, climaxing in Cyndra tearing out her red eyeballs and entering a permanent catatonic state. A short time later, Zannah killed the healer Caleb by cutting him into many pieces over and over.



A few years later, Jedi Master Tahl was kidnapped by the Absolute Balog, injected with a paralyzing drug that kept her conscious, but immobilized, and put in a sensory deprivation device. She was still alive when her love, Qui-Gon Jinn, arrived to rescue her, but he was still unable to save her.

Right after the Battle of Naboo, the Mandalorian Silas was tortured by Count Dooku for information on Jango Fett. As a Mandalorian, Silas was trained to withstand torture, but Dooku's methods were too much for him to endure. After telling everything the count wanted to know, he was killed through an ultra-lethal injection.

In 29 BBY, while being a prisoner of the Twi'lek Kh'aris Fenn, the Jedi Master Tholme was introduced to Fenn's droid AX/RX, which tortured the Jedi Master through electrocution. Fenn ordered the droid to keep torturing Tholme until he was oblivious, but Tholme used the Force to drop his vital signs, making the droid believe he was unconscious, before throwing the Jedi in a cell.

In 31 BBY, Jedi Master Quinlan Vos embarked on a mission to the Twi'lek planet Ryloth, in search of his missing apprentice, Aayla Secura. When Quinlan confronted Aayla's uncle Pol Secura, who had taken her and was feeding her glitteryll (a powerful memory reducing narcotic), he tortured the Twi'lek man with Force lightning. Just as Pol confessed about where the supply of glitteryll was coming from, he was accidentally Force pushed from a balcony by Aayla.

During the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Alpha-17 were presumed dead after an explosion during the Battle of Jabiim. They had actually been captured by the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, and transported to her stronghold on Rattatak. There she tortured them to obtain information about Republic troop movements. She used a variety of methods including muscle maggots, a Sith torture mask on Kenobi, a knife, and a torture droid on Alpha-17.

Also during the Clone Wars, the Jedi Master Shylar was captured by Count Dooku and tortured to death.



After the formation of the Galactic Empire, the senate guard Isaru Omin helped his former partner Sagoro Autem, who was on the Empire's list of officers being purged from the Imperial Navy, escape from Coruscant. Isaru was caught, and tortured by Darth Vader himself. When Isaru admitted that he didn't know where Sagoro was and had only given him the warning, Vader cut him down with his lightsaber in a fit of anger.

A short time later, the Jedi Padawan Dama Montalvo was captured by the Galactic Empire and subjected to a torture session with the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who tried to extract the location of his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Jedi. When Dama refused, Vader snapped his neck.

Around 18 BBY, Darth Vader embarked on a mission to Vohai, in search of new cloning technologies. On Vohai, Vader was attacked by the Emperor's Hand Sa Cuis, who was easily overpowered by the Dark Lord. Vader then tortured Cuis via Force choke, in an attempt to force Cuis to reveal who sent him. He was subsequently killed by Darth Vader when he refused to reveal his employer.

During the same time period, the smuggler Schurk-Heren was electrocuted by Haka Hai's men to make him reveal where he hid the contraband he had promised to sell Hai. When Schurk-Heren passed out, they proceeded to torture one of his companions, the Nosaurian Bomo Greenbark, who escaped by pretending to also be unconscious, and then using his horns to break the chains holding him.

A few years before the Battle of Yavin, Lando Calrissian was tortured by the Sorcerer of Tund Rokur Gepta, who subjected Lando to torture by chagrin. Fortunately for Lando, he was able to escape.

Rebellion era
"Look at…what is left of him. Do you think saving his life would be a kindness?"

- LE-914 (“Ellie”) after Tay Vanis, a victim of torture, is found by his fellow Rebels

In 0 BBY, while a captive aboard the first Death Star, Princess Leia was tortured by Darth Vader in order to learn the location of the hidden Rebel base. Leia was introduced to an IT-0 torture droid, and pain was inflicted through needles, pressure points, fire-knives, and electro-shocks. Vader also employed mind-altering drugs and subliminal suggestion in his sessions with the Princess, which made Leia believe that her skin was on fire and her flesh being torn apart, causing the same reaction the real thing would.

Also around 0 BBY, the Galactic Empire commissioned the Department of Punishment, a government agency dedicated to the relentless torture of detained rebels and Imperial criminals. The department was run by the infamous Master Torturer Vengnar Heiff, who rather than use devices to torment his captives, used his massive reptilian claws to brutally slash and gore them. The very nature of Heiff's methods garnered him the nickname the butcher, and the majority of his peers sought to remain in good standing with him because of it. The screams could be heard throughout the Ithorian herdship Tafanda Bay as the Master Torturer tore apart his helpless victims.

After the Empire's ultimate weapon (the Death Star) was destroyed, Emperor Palpatine summoned the chief engineer, Bevel Lemelisk, to meet with him personally. There, Lemelisk was locked in a cage and eaten alive by hungry piranha beetles as the Emperor blamed him for the weapon's design flaw. After finally succumbing to what he thought was his death, Lemelisk awoke the next day in a clone body, with all memories intact. Palpatine told him that though his talents were quite useful, failure of any sort was intolerable. All in all, he would be executed seven times, every execution just as painful, from being lowered inch by inch into a vat of molten copper (which Palpatine told Lemelisk that it was what the smelter preferred that day), being flushed out of an airlock and crushed by hard vacuum, or being sealed in a room where acid mist gored and dissolved his flesh worse than the piranha beetles had.

While on a mission for the Rebel Alliance, Han Solo was captured by the information broker Jib Kopatha. Desperate to know the location of the Rebel fleet to escape Darth Vader's wrath, Kopatha left Han to his own personal torturer, Choba. Choba was surprised when Han proved to be stronger than the other victims he'd had on his table, and never got the chance to finish the job, as Han was rescued by Chewbacca and the smuggler Sheel Odala.

When the Rebel mathematician Jorin Sol was betrayed by the Jabiimi resistance fighter Tal Hesz, he was taken into Imperial custody, and tortured personally by Darth Vader. After giving Vader the logarithms used for rendezvous points of the Rebel fleet, he was taken to the Imperial base on Kalist VI, and tortured by the Imperial Intelligence Lieutenant Zuud. When Jorin was finally rescued, he had been brainwashed and given a special mission: "Destroy the Rebellion from the inside."

Three years later, Darth Vader again tortured Princess Leia, as well as Han Solo and Chewbacca on Cloud City knowing their anguish would reach Luke Skywalker through the Force and draw him to Bespin where he could be captured and delivered to the Emperor.

Prior to the battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance hero Tay Vanis was captured and tortured by Darth Vader, who left him a mindless shell of a man. After Vanis was found by his fellow Rebels, his droid LE-914 (“Ellie”) destroyed both herself and her master, as an act of mercy killing.

One week after Endor, the Rebel pilot Ten Numb was captured by the sadist Imperial General Weir, who tortured the Rebel with electricity from a live wire. Numb soon broke and supplied Weir with all the information he wanted, including sizes and secret locations of military forces.

During the same time period, the Zeltron Dani was tortured by the Nagai agent Den Siva. Eager to study the make up of her species, Siva subjected Dani to the analysis grid, a device designed to detect the physiology of species, by firing coherent beams of energy through a specimen.

New Republic era


After the return of Emperor Palpatine in 10 ABY, the rebel pilot Major Ntthan was captured and taken to Bast Castle, where the Dark Jedi Kvag Gthull tortured him for over twelve hours with needles and Scarab droids, until Ntthan finally succumbed and revealed the whereabouts of Princess Leia's twin babies.

In 11 ABY, the New Republic Intelligence agent Mirith Sinn was tortured by the aspiring Sith Lord Carnor Jax, who was seeking information on the whereabouts of the Emperor's Royal Guard Kir Kanos.

That same year, the secret Maw Installation was accidentally discovered by Kessel spice mine escapees Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Kyp Durron. They were then captured by the base commander, the notorious Admiral Daala, who upon interrogating them first learned of the deaths of Palpatine, Darth Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin.

In year 23 ABY, the Jedi apprentice Lowbacca, along with his fellow apprentices Jacen and Jaina Solo, was kidnapped and taken to the Shadow Academy. There, he was locked in a room where he was repeatedly exposed to high-pitched, ear-piercing sound, flashing, blinding lights, and jets of near-freezing water at extremely high pressure. The only way to stop his suffering would be to smash the sonic generator, which was incredibly heavy and reinforced, so the only way to destroy it would be to call upon the dark side of the Force. Eventually, Lowbacca could no longer endure, and smashed the generator in a fit of rage and horror.

New Jedi Order era
"They will not break your Jedi; they will reshape her."

- Vua Rapuung to Anakin Solo

When Jedi Knight A'Sharad Hett was captured by Yuuzhan Vong scouts, they imprisoned him and placed him in their Embrace of Pain. He was relentlessly tortured and subjected to biological experiments, replacing both his cybernetic eye and arm with biological Yuuzhan Vong components.

During the first stages of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Jedi Knight Miko Reglia was captured at Helska 4. There, he was introduced to a yammosk and subjected to "mind-breaking", where the Vong would feign his execution by drawing him in to within centimeters of the yammosk's voracious teeth, over and over again. Each pseudo-execution replayed in his mind nearly as vivid as the actual act.



During an encounter with the Vong Executor Nom Anor, Leia Organa Solo was hit across the legs with a heavy, sharp object, again and again, until she was unable to walk.

Later in the war, several Jedi were assigned to destroy the cloning facility at Myrkr, including Anakin, Jacen and Jaina Solo, and Tenel Ka, Tahiri Veila, and Zekk. The Jedi were captured and tortured - one of them, Ulaha Kore, almost died. The Yuuzhan Vong commander Duman Yaght showed particular sadism against the Jedi by repeatedly inflicting pain upon the already injured Ulaha, and by forcing Jaina Solo to choose which of her brothers was to be tortured.

Appearances
Titles set in bold means that the word torture, including inflections and compounds, is mentioned.