Battle of Coruscant/Legends

"Now is the time to strike. Now is the time to launch our final operation."

- Darth Sidious

The Battle of Coruscant was a crucial Clone Wars battle in 19 BBY. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, knowing the Jedi were close to discovering his alter ego, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, ordered his apprentice, Dooku, public leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to kidnap him.

The Confederacy, led by General Grievous, swept into the system, catching the Republic completely by surprise. The Confederate Navy hammered the few defending warships, destroying them, before assaulting the planet itself. Meanwhile, Grievous, along with his MagnaGuard droid elite, landed on the planet, heading for Chancellor Palpatine's secret bunker. Grievous fought his way there, leaving destruction in his wake, as several Jedi and dozens of clone troopers were killed. He succeeded in taking Palpatine, before fleeing to his flagship in orbit, the Invisible Hand.

However, the Separatists were unable to leave, as Republic reinforcements had arrived. The two fleets engaged each other, firing volleys back and forth. Two Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, who had just arrived at the battle, flew into the heart of it, determined to rescue the captive chancellor. They succeeded in boarding the Invisible Hand, and after a duel, Skywalker killed Dooku. The duo, along with the now-freed Palpatine, were unable to escape however, as Grievous's droid captured them. Skywalker and Kenobi were able to best his MagnaGuards, forcing the general to flee. With that, the Separatist fleet retreated, having lost much of their fleet. Chancellor Palpatine was safe in Republic hands. However, the Jedi were unaware that Palpatine had orchestrated the battle, and was also testing Anakin Skywalker, who he considered a good choice for his apprentice.

The Separatist invasion of the planet
"General, I'm certain you recall the plans we discussed some time ago, regarding the final stage of the war.''" "Regarding Coruscant." "''Regarding Coruscant, yes. We must accelerate those plans. Prepare, General, for what will be your finest hour."

- Darth Sidious and General Grievous, shortly before the Battle of Coruscant

Prior to the attack, the Outer Rim Sieges had enmeshed billions of Republic and Separatist warships in vast campaigns in the galaxy's spiral arms. As a result of this, most of the Republic's Jedi were locked up in battles far away from the Core Worlds, and thanks to carefully controlled propaganda, the general populace believed that a total Republic victory was near.

With the Republic fleets spread throughout the Outer Rim Territories and the Coruscant Home Fleet depleted and off guard, the Confederates had an opportunity to deal a mighty blow to the Republic by attacking Coruscant. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Republic, was aware that the Jedi were searching for a Darth Sidious, a mysterious Sith Lord who they believed had orchestrated the war. Unknown to them was that Palpatine was Sidious, and he was controlling both sides, in hopes of obtaining his true goal&mdash;complete galactic control. Palpatine planned a lightning raid on the planet led by General Grievous, Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies. Grievous assembled an armada of thousands of destroyers and frigates&mdash;led by the Providence-class destroyer Invisible Hand&mdash;for a strike on Coruscant.

General Grievous timed the strike to coincide with Chancellor Palpatine's State of the Republic Address. Thousands of delegates, including Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa, who would otherwise not have been on Coruscant, remained planetside for post-speech celebrations, and would be there when the Confederates struck.

Through the use of a secret hyperspace passage through the Deep Core supplied to them by Darth Sidious, the Separatists managed to jump right on top of the Coruscant Home Fleet, catching them completely by surprise. Most of the Republic ships, caught off-guard with their shields down, were destroyed instantly. Using a jamming signal similar to the one deployed at the Battle of Praesitlyn, the Confederate Navy managed to disrupt all HoloNet transmissions throughout the planet.

However, once the initial surprise wore off, the Republic fleet closed in on the Confederate ships and positioned themselves in a defensive screen around the planet. Grievous tried to create the impression that his strike was borne of desperation, as he haphazardly dispersed his warships to target communications satellites, orbital mirrors, and random targets on the surface.

Numerically inferior due to half the home fleet being reassigned to the Outer Rim Sieges, the Republic naval commanders fought conservatively while they waited for reinforcements to arrive from the distant battlefields. Anticipating this, Grievous positioned warships at key hyperspace reversion points and deployed mass shadow mines to delay the arrival of any additional Republic ships.

The Republic quickly figured that the Confederacy was using the same jamming device as they did on Praesitlyn and were able to eventually return transmissions to normal. They also began inflicting some losses on the CIS fleet, even managing to destroy several battleships. In retaliation, Grievous ordered Vulture droid fighters to perform suicide attacks on landing platforms, skyways, and pedestrian plazas in Coruscant's Senate District, causing many military and civilian casualties. Separatist landing craft were deployed onto the surface of the planet, unloading hundreds of thousands of battle droids to create an elaborate diversion while Grievous prepared a raiding party intent on capturing the Supreme Chancellor. Chaos ensued throughout the city, with much collateral damage inflicted in the fighting.

Republic actions
Desperate to repel the Confederacy, the Jedi sprung into action alongside the Grand Army of the Republic. Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu led the clone security forces on the surface in the defense of the besieged Senate District. After ordering Shaak Ti and Stass Allie to find and protect the Chancellor, Windu and Saesee Tiin boarded Jedi interceptors and engaged enemy starfighters in the skies above Galactic City. Windu's starfighter was eventually overwhelmed by a swarm of Separatist ships. Though his wings were rammed off, sending his fighter plunging down, he managed to jump out and take control of an enemy Vulture droid, which he used to assist ARC-170 squadrons.

Elsewhere, Yoda used the Force to throw droidekas into enemy fighters and pull enemy landing craft into one another. Afterward, he moved to help clone forces being overrun by Separatist battle droids and super battle droids in Sector Four. The clone troopers were aided by Windu, who crash-landed his Vulture droid in the middle of the battle droid formation.

Hoping to gain reinforcements, Yoda contacted the Jedi Aayla Secura, located on the far-away world of Felucia, but Secura determined that she was too far away and so instead put in motion a plan to capture Shu Mai, one of members of the Separatist Council.

Meanwhile, on Coruscant, Amidala was leading the evacuation of the Senate Apartment Complex with Captain Typho and her droid C-3PO when she met up with fellow senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma. On their way out, the three ran into the Jedi Shaak Ti and Stass Allie, who informed them that they were looking for the Supreme Chancellor. The Jedi lent the senators Allie's speeder to get them to a shelter. With Organa piloting, they fled for safety, but were shot down by Vulture droids and crash-landed in a public plaza. Unfortunately for them, the droids followed them and prepared to attack the three Humans. Amidala and Organa found blasters in a nearby crashed speeder and began to goad the droids into a position where Low Altitude Assault Transports could take them out. However, the droids suddenly stopped, and took off into the air.

In space, Jedi Master Saesee Tiin led a group of twenty-two Jedi in Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptors past the Separatist blockade in order to relay a distress signal through the Jedi's emergency HoloNet beacon. Tiin then proceeded to help lead the orbital defense of Coruscant. He landed in the hangar of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Impavid. The vessel was critically damaged by enemy turbolaser fire, and Tiin and his troops boarded the Providence-class carrier/destroyer Prosperous, commandeering it and using the ship's turrets to blast other enemy ships.

The 501st Legion was immediately given mission objectives to board their starfighters in a Venator-class Star Destroyer's hangar and head out to counter the Separatist fighters, engaging them in fierce dogfights. Their goal was to clear a path for Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The pilots proceeded to destroy a Munificent-class star frigate, as well as the shields and communications array of a Providence-class carrier/destroyer. Several 501st fighters then landed in the enemy cruiser hangar, exited their vehicles, and manually blew up the inner engine cooling tanks. Jumping back into their fighters, the pilots circled the Providence cruiser, destroying its bridge and stymieing the enemy efforts.

Despite these successes, the Jedi realized too late that the Republic had been lured into a feint and that General Grievous had outmaneuvered them to reach his primary objective&mdash;Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

The capture of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
"Kenobi, Skywalker, Coruscant is under siege, and General Grievous has abducted the Supreme Chancellor. You must return immediately. You must rescue Palpatine."

- Mace Windu

As the battle raged around his quarters in 500 Republica, Palpatine's advisors begged him to evacuate his apartment and move to a hardened bunker in the Sah'c District. Soon, Shaak Ti and Stass Allie arrived and ordered the Chancellor to evacuate his apartment.

Before they could leave, Grievous crashed though the apartment window, intent on grabbing the Chancellor right in the midst of his security force. The Jedi managed to escape with Palpatine, while a squad of clone troopers and a Senate Guard remained behind to deal with the general. Easily disposing of this force with his lightsabers, Grievous went after the Chancellor and his Jedi bodyguards, joined by his own bodyguards. However, after a lengthy chase, the Chancellor escaped.

After alerting Homeworld Security Command that Grievous had broken through the defenses, Shaak Ti took the Chancellor and his entourage of Red Guards to 500 Republica's subbasements. There, they met up with Windu and Fisto and commandeered a maglev train that would take them close to the bunker complex.

However, battle droids boarded the train, followed by Grievous himself. Fisto took on two of the General's MagnaGuards while Windu dueled the cyborg atop the train. After an intense duel, Grievous was thrown from the roof. But the general managed to survive by hanging on to the rails, and commandeered a Republic gunship while a droid gunboat led his pursuers on a chase throughout the city.

After several duels and narrow escapes, the Chancellor and the Jedi arrived at a turboshaft leading to the bunker. Staying behind to deal with any hostiles, Shaak Ti sent the Jedi Roron Corobb, Foul Moudama, Roth-Del Masona, and B'ink Utrila down with the Chancellor in case she failed, but it was all in vain.

The hijacked gunship opened fire on Shaak Ti and Allie, and Grievous emerged. The general and his MagnaGuards cut a swathe through Palpatine's guards, killing more than forty clone troopers. While Shaak Ti fought off dozens of MagnaGuards, Grievous slaughtered all four Jedi Knights inside the bunker and seized the Chancellor. When Shaak Ti finally arrived, having sensed the setup, she was quickly disarmed, and left trussed up by a force field wire in order to inform her rescuers that the Chancellor was gone.

Windu arrived just in time to witness Grievous's departure. The general prepared to confront the Jedi Master, however, it never came to a duel. Windu used the Force to crush Grievous's chest, leaving. As Windu attempted to board, the shuttle took off, leaving the Jedi fuming on the landing platform. Immediately after this, the Jedi Padawan Drake Lo'gaan arrived, although he was too late to help stop Grievous. .

In the bunker, Windu discovered the slaughter, and Shaak Ti, who still lived. Though Windu was astounded by the general's audacious move, he and Fisto were soon in hot pursuit, along with other Jedi pilots including Tiin, Kolar, L'lacielo Sageon and Pablo-Jill. Meanwhile, Grievous piloted the shuttle into orbit, followed by several Jedi. He flew through the heart of the battle to reach the Invisible Hand, evading Jedi starfighters during the transit, despite his shuttle sustaining damage.

A failed rescue
As the shuttle carrying Palpatine and Grievous neared the Invisible Hand, several Republic frigates and corvettes diverted from the main battle and joined the Jedi in their pursuit. Windu and the Jedi were right behind Grievous when a swarm of five hundred droid fighters, launched from a Trade Federation battleship, enveloped the shuttle in a defensive screen.

As the shuttle neared its destination, the flagship opened fire on the pursuing Jedi fighters. While one of their comrades was killed, Pablo-Jill and Sageon were captured by the Invisible Hand's tractor beams and brought into hangar bay. The two Jedi attempted to defeat Grievous and rescue the Chancellor, but were killed by the droid general in a lightsaber duel. Their bodies were jettisoned into space for the Republic's citizens to see.

Safely aboard his command ship, Grievous broadcast a message across the HoloNet, revealing the capture of the Chancellor, and proclaiming an end to the Republic's corrupt reign, inciting panic and fear amongst the Republic populace. However, before he could flee, thousands of Republic warships from the Open Circle Fleet arrived in system and engaged the Separatist fleet. The reinforcements and the beleaguered Home Fleet trapped the Separatist ships in Coruscant's upper atmosphere, under the planetary shields. Falling ships from both sides struck the planet's surface, the impacts destroying large sections of the city.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker had been searching for Count Dooku on Tythe. After exploring a ruined building where Dooku had been, they headed to Nelvaan after receiving word that General Grievous was there. Just as the two finished freeing the Nelvaanian males, who were being held for experimentation by the Techno Union, word of the attack on Coruscant reached them and the Jedi immediately readied their interceptors and prepared for battle.

Skywalker and Kenobi's intervention
"This is where the fun begins!"

- Anakin Skywalker

Unable to escape Coruscant, the Invisible Hand had sustained heavy damage from the guns of Republic Star Destroyers over the course of a full day of battle. A screen of Separatist battleships, destroyers, and frigates sheltered the flagship from further harm, but after hours of sustained fighting, the craft's deflector shields were failing.

At that instant, Kenobi and Skywalker jumped out of hyperspace with a vanguard from the Fifth Fleet of the Open Circle Fleet. They were unable to communicate with the Jedi High Command due to heavy Separatist ECM scrambling, and were unsure if any other Jedi were out there fighting to rescue Palpatine. As they approached, they found hundreds of Vulture fighters and tri-fighters swarming protectively around the general's command ship, and the Jedi engaged the fighters with the help of Clone Flight Squad Seven. The clones took heavy casualties, and Skywalker was ready to go back and help them.

Kenobi, however, would not let him, insisting they stick to the mission. As the duo closed in on the destroyer, they were attacked by a swarm of Vulture droids. The droids fired missiles at them, but Anakin managed to evade them by utilizing the Slip-jaws maneuver. Kenobi, however, could not avoid the missiles targeting him, and they finally exploded, releasing buzz droids that attached themselves to his ship's hull. His astromech droid R4-P17 was destroyed, and the droids were rapidly disabling Kenobi's Jedi interceptor as well. Skywalker desperately tried to save his wingman by smashing into his ship and crushing the droids, but he destroyed the starboard dorsal radiator in addition to the buzz droids.

As they hurtled toward Grievous's flagship, Skywalker took advantage of the fact that the warship's main deflector shields had been partially compromised and destroyed the atmospheric containment shield protecting the hangar bay entrance. With Kenobi's ship's engines failing, the two fighters breached the vessel's defenses and crash-landed in the hangar, where the Jedi quickly eliminated all security droid resistance. After R2-D2 located Palpatine's homing beacon, they headed towards the signal emanating from the upper observation deck.

As the two Jedi headed towards Palpatine, they were confronted by more droids in the hall along with wreckage and locked doors, but were able to overcome these obstacles. After a brief misadventure when the lift they were using was stopped, Kenobi and Skywalker were assisted by R2-D2 in getting to the top of the Invisible Hand's conning tower&mdash;the location of the general's quarters&mdash;where Palpatine was being held captive.

The Duel on the Invisible Hand
"Get help. You're no match for him. He's a Sith Lord." "Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our speciality."

- Palpatine and Obi-Wan Kenobi

Before the Jedi could release him, however, Dooku arrived, flanked by two super battle droids. Leaping down from the balcony whence he came, he engaged the Jedi. The two Jedi began the duel by utilizing the forms Ataru and Shien in an attempt to deceive Dooku. At first, Dooku was able to easily counter their attacks with his mastery of Makashi. However, he was caught off guard when they switched to their more advanced and preferred forms of Soresu and Djem So. Dooku, unable to combat both at once, Force-pushed Kenobi out of the way so he could focus on Skywalker. Despite this, Dooku still began to tire as Skywalker furiously drove him up the stairs to the balcony. Meanwhile, Kenobi brought down the two droids and headed over to attack Dooku from behind. However, Dooku kicked Skywalker aside and quickly incapacitated Kenobi, slamming him into one of the walls with the Force. Debris toppled over Kenobi, leaving him unconscious. Left to face the Sith Lord alone, Skywalker attacked, using the dark side to fuel him and provide aggression. Dooku was barely able to lift his arms to defend against Skywalker's powerful strikes, let alone fight back. With his strength and aggressive lightsaber technique, Skywalker finally overpowered Dooku's defenses and cut off both his hands.

The shackled Palpatine commended Skywalker's victory and encouraged him to kill Dooku. Skywalker initially hesitated, claiming that it was not the Jedi way to execute a defenseless enemy. Despite his misgivings, Skywalker gave in to his anger and desire for revenge and sliced Dooku's head off, bringing an end to the Separatist firebrand.

Continuing battle
As the confrontation between the Jedi and Sith ended, the Invisible Hand entered a direct engagement with the Venator-class Star Destroyer Guarlara, exchanging broadsides with the warship. Both sides used heavy cannons lined along the sides to demolish each other. The Republic destroyer managed to take out the Invisible Hand's primary systems. Sustaining crippling damage, the Separatist command ship temporarily fell toward Coruscant before regaining control. However, with artificial gravity, tensor fields, and inertial compensators failing, the ship had become a rapidly decaying space wreck. Escape was now Skywalker's priority. He gathered up the unconscious Kenobi, despite Palpatine's demand to leave him and headed back for the bank of turbolifts.

Kenobi soon regained consciousness and the Jedi headed for the hangar with the Chancellor. As they headed back to the hangar, the Jedi were confronted by battle droids, which they dispatched. They then received word that a Republic cruiser was being attacked by a Separatist cruiser, and its systems were failing fast. Anakin took control of a laser turret nearby, and fired on the Separatist cruiser, eventually destroying it. After this, the Jedi continued on to the main hangar bay. Before they could reach it however, a ray shield dropped, trapping them in hallway 328 of the Invisible Hand. The Jedi, along with the Chancellor and R2-D2, were captured and taken to the bridge and brought before Grievous.

The droid general took Kenobi and Skywalker's lightsabers, boasting about adding them to his collection, but the Jedi were able to recover them with the help of R2-D2, who fired super-hot beams of electricity at Grievous, distracting him. The Jedi were able to summon their lightsabers back as Grievous ordered his MagnaGuards to dispose of the Jedi. After a quick battle, the Jedi defeated the droid warriors and closed in on Grievous, intent on capturing him. Grievous grabbed an overloaded electrostaff wielded by one of his MagnaGuards and threw it into the damaged bridge viewport, shattering it violently.

Grievous allowed himself to be sucked out into space, and later re-entered the ship through an escape pod hatch. In an attempt to foil the Jedi's escape, he launched every escape pod on his flagship and fled to a nearby Trade Federation battleship. Simultaneously, a communications error between Republic forces led to Home Fleet Strike Group Five savagely attacking Invisible Hand, this time dealing fatal damage to the ship's systems. The Separatist command ship began a meteoric plunge toward Coruscant.

Taking control of the helm, Skywalker attempted to pilot the wreck to a safe landing on Coruscant. Losing structural integrity, the entire rear end of the Invisible Hand tore off due to atmospheric stresses. Despite this, Skywalker successfully crash-landed the ship on a long runway in Galactic City. With the loss of their flagship, the failure of their main objective, and the recovery of their supreme commander, Grievous, the surviving elements of the depleted Separatist armada retreated in disgrace to the Outer Rim.

Aftermath
It was later revealed that the battle's only purpose was to get Darth Sidious off the capital to thwart the Jedi's attempts to track him down. Sidious also used the capture of his alter ego Palpatine to see if Skywalker could use his anger to defeat Count Dooku and become the perfect apprentice for Sidious. His ruse was so effective that even the Jedi were fooled.

With the loss of Dooku, Grievous assumed the title head of state of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, but it greatly destabilized the Separatists' power structure. Without the assurances of victory from the Sith Lord, the members of the Separatist Council began to doubt the abilities of their new leader to keep them safe for much longer. Back on Coruscant, the Jedi Council made tracking down Grievous and bringing him to justice their utmost priority.

Behind the scenes
The Battle of Coruscant was created for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It serves as one of the biggest and most important battles of the Clone Wars, and the biggest battle in Revenge of the Sith, where it appeared on-screen. The Battle of Coruscant has also been described in other sources, such as the novel Labyrinth of Evil, which is actually its first appearance, and the animated television series Star Wars: Clone Wars. In video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II and the Revenge of the Sith video game, portions of the battle are playable. Labyrinth of Evil and Clone Wars both lead up to Revenge of the Sith, as they end at the point where Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are preparing to arrive at Coruscant, which is where the film begins.

In the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas said that he wanted the Battle of Coruscant to serve as a bridge between the prequel and original trilogies. He did this by showing older vulture droids from The battle of Naboo in Episode I and then show X wing forerunners (ARC-170) from a Episode IV.

The New Essential Chronology states that the battle lasted for a week. However, most other sources indicate it lasted for a much shorter time, with the Revenge of the Sith novelization stating it lasted only a "long, long day."

There is much confusion amongst fans as to what constitutes the canonical account of the battle, due to the fact that the Star Wars: Clone Wars series and the novel Labyrinth of Evil (published before Clone Wars aired) give differing versions of what happened. This has been a topic of debate among fans, with many feeling that Labyrinth of Evil is the real story, and that Clone Wars is too "silly" to be true canon. The following points are the chief conflicts between these two sources:

In the animated series, Mace Windu and Yoda together destroy a small army of battle droids, whereas Labyrinth of Evil implies that Yoda did not participate at all and depicts Windu dueling Grievous aboard a maglev train. The duel on the maglev train is also mentioned in the Revenge of the Sith novelization; this mention further strengthens Labyrinth of Evil's telling of the story.

In Labyrinth of Evil, the Jedi defending Palpatine (Roron Corobb, Foul Moudama and Shaak Ti) are defeated relatively quickly by Grievous, whereas in the animated series they are involved in a long chase before finally being defeated by their quarry. However, the webstrip Reversal of Fortune shows the Jedi discovering the body of Corobb in the bunker&mdash;which takes place in Labyrinth of Evil&mdash;perhaps lending credence to the novel rather than the television series.

In the series, Skywalker and Kenobi are on Nelvaan before they go to Coruscant, while in the novel they go directly from Tythe to Coruscant. However, this particular discrepancy has been addressed by Leland Chee, who has said that they went from Tythe to Nelvaan and from there to Coruscant.

Some fans have tried to form a cohesive timeline, resolving all of the above discrepancies, but an official such timeline has yet to be given. This article uses the Labyrinth of Evil story, incorporating events from Clone Wars when possible so as to limit the number of contradictions.

Non-canon appearances
The Battle of Coruscant also appears in the non-canon video games LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and Star Wars: Battle Above Coruscant. The first two function similar to the film and the Revenge of the Sith video game, with Kenobi and Skywalker battling droid starfighters in space, and then fighting battle droids in the hallways of the Invisible Hand. The latter resembles the space portion of the Battle of Coruscant.

Appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Reversal of Fortune
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Clone Wars Chapter 23
 * Clone Wars Chapter 24
 * Clone Wars Chapter 25
 * Star Wars: Battle Above Coruscant
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith video game
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novelization
 * Evil Eye
 * Star Wars Dark Times 6: Parallels, Part 1
 * Star Wars Republic: The Hidden Enemy
 * Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Skywalkers
 * Walking the Path That's Given
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader

Notes and references
Schlacht von Coruscant (19 VSY) Seconde Bataille de Coruscant Bitwa o Coruscant (19 BBY) Segunda Batalha de Coruscant (Guerras Clônicas)