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- "Coruscant... the entire planet is one big city."
- ―Ric Olié
Coruscant, also known as Coruscanta in Mando'a, Triple Zero to some clone commandoes, Imperial Center during the reign of the Galactic Empire, and Yuuzhan'tar after its conquest by the Yuuzhan Vong, was the political center of the Galaxy for millennia.
The actual planet-wide city of Coruscant was known as Galactic City, or Republic City under the Galactic Republic, Imperial City during the rule of the Galactic Empire and New Republic City under the New Republic.
Coruscant was the capital of the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, the New Republic, the Yuuzhan Vong occupation at various times, and, finally, the Galactic Alliance. It was generally agreed that Coruscant was the most important world in the Galaxy, evidenced by the fact that its hyperspace coordinates were (0,0,0).
A large number of the Galaxy's trade routes—including the Perlemian Trade Route, the Corellian Run, the Metellos Trade Route, the Koros Trunk Line, and the Leisure Corridor—went through Coruscant, making it one of the richest worlds in the Galaxy.
Overview
An aerial view of Galactic City
The entire surface of Coruscant had been covered over throughout the thousands of generations of galactic history by sprawling skyscrapers and cities, some of which reach up into the lower levels of Coruscant's atmosphere. The planet's oceans had all been drained and kept in vast underground caverns for future reuse. The only body of water visible was the artificial Western Sea, with many artificially-created islands floating on it, used by tourists on holidays. The only pieces of Coruscant landmass that were left untouched were the Manarai Mountains, twin peaks that stuck up out of the ground near the famous Imperial Palace. Many floating restaurants revolved around the Mountains, giving patrons a unique view of the natural wonders.
Since there were no bodies of water available to feed and water its trillion inhabitants, Coruscant's architects, along with many others from around the Galaxy, worked together to build a self-contained eco-system in the massive buildings set all over the planet. Engineers also developed a complex series of huge pipes that polar ice was pumped through to the cities of Coruscant. Almost everything on the planet, from clothes to packaging and machinery, was recyclable. Another problem for a world like Coruscant was the unimaginable amounts of carbon dioxide that its trillion-being population generated each day, so atmospheric dampeners were put into place in orbit to remove it. Galactic Standard Time was developed on Coruscant and revolved around the hours Coruscant had in a single day, which was 24 hours, with 368 local days a year.
Galactic City was divided into several thousand quadrants, with each quadrant subdivided into numbered sectors. Some of these numbered sectors received colloquial names. For example, H-46 was also called Sah'c Town, named for the family that owned much of it. Some areas were specifically designated senatorial, governmental, financial (including banking zones), commercial, and residential. Larger areas of the planet were designated for industrial or manufacturing use only. The largest of these areas was known colloquially as "The Works". The Works had manufactured spacecraft parts, droids, and building materials at an astonishing rate for hundreds of years, but as construction in space became more efficient, The Works fell in disrepair. It gained the reputation as a hub of high criminal activity and many locals stayed away from it. Another area of Coruscant was CoCo Town (short for "collective commerce"). Many diverse species lived here and worked in manufacturing.
History
Pre-Republic
Coruscant was considered by many to be the Human homeworld. Millennia ago, the Architects could have removed Humans from Coruscant with which to populate Corellia.
Around 200,000 BBY, the near-Human Taungs attempted to conquer the 13 baseline Human nations of the Battalions of Zhell. A volcano decimated the Zhell, the ash filling the skies for two years, so the Taungs adopted the name Dha Werda Verda (Warriors of Shadow) for themselves. The Human Zhell eventually recovered and drove the Taungs offworld—the Taungs fled to Roon.
Galactic City as of 5,000 BBY
One hundred millennia later, Coruscant was surveyed by the Columi, who dismissed the planet as a primitive disappointment, despite the planet-spanning ecumenopolis of Galactic City. New buildings were built on the old. As a result, there was virtually no exposed land. In the forgotten underlevels of the city, there was darkness, pollution and crime. Higher up, there were government offices and penthouses owned by the elite. The lower 50 levels of the ecumenopolis last saw sunlight around 95,000 BBY.
Coruscant was one of many worlds conquered by the Infinite Empire of the Rakata, who used human slaves to build the Star Forge in 30,000 BBY. Under Rakatan domination, the humans of Coruscant's colonization attempts were limited to sleeper ships, which ended up on Alderaan, in the Tion Cluster, Seoul 5, Kuat, Alsakan, Axum, Anaxes, Atrisia, Metellos, Corulag, and many other worlds. The Rakata were eventually decimated by a massive plague, leading to slave revolutions on Coruscant and other subjected worlds.
Over the next two centuries, Coruscant was linked to other Core Worlds, including Corellia and Duro, by hyperspace cannons. It was during this time that the Coruscant government peacefully absorbed the nearby Azure Imperium. During these pre-Republic years, the languages of Coruscant and its neighbors meshed to become Old Galactic Standard.
Early Republic
In 25,000 BBY, the Corellians and Duros invented the hyperdrive proper, allowing Coruscant to become the capital of a democratic union—the Galactic Republic. The planet remained the Republic's capital for twenty five thousand years. Shortly after the formation of the Republic, the Perlemian Trade Route was mapped, linking Coruscant to Ossus and bringing the Jedi Knights into the Republic. Over the next millennium, the Corellian Run was mapped, linking Coruscant to Corellia and beyond. Blasters were also invented on Coruscant around this time, and the famous Galactic Museum was constructed in 12,000 BBY.
From the very beginning, Coruscant, as the Republic's capital, was the primary objective in several wars. The earliest among these was the Tionese War with the Honorable Union of Desevro and Tion in 24,000 BBY, in which Coruscant was bombarded with Tionese pressure bombs. Other early battles included the Alsakan Conflicts, the Duinuogwuin Contention, the Great Hyperspace War, the Third Great Schism, the Great Droid Revolution, and the Great Sith War.
Following the devastation of Ossus, the Jedi Council took up residence in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, to which many Jedi relics from Ossus were taken. The Temple was greatly expanded, including the building of the original Jedi Council Chamber. The Temple was repeatedly expanded including in 3,519 BBY, 2,519 BBY (when the Jedi Archives were built), 2,019 BBY, and 1,000 BBY (when the Temple spires were built).
In 2,973 BBY, the Senate Rotunda was founded, replacing the previous assembly place. The exterior of this massive structure would survive the planet's transformation into the new Yuuzhan'tar.
End of the Republic
In 31 BBY, Coruscant was almost destroyed by Ashaar Khorda using the Destroyer of Worlds. Jango Fett, Zam Wesell, and Yarael Poof saved Coruscant, although Poof sacrificed himself to do so.
In 23 BBY, near the end of the Separatist Crisis, the Confederacy of Independent Systems began to become a significant threat against the Republic, causing several systems to secede, including Ando and Sy Myrth, resulting in a mass exodus of Aqualish and Sy Myrthians from Coruscant.
The mushroom-shaped Galactic Senate building during the Declaration of the New Order
During most of the Clone Wars, Coruscant was subject to frequent Separatist terrorist acts and assassinations of leading Republic figures. These included the holding of Senator Meena Tills hostage by Korunnai terrorists in 22 BBY (actually cover for an attempt to turn the Corporate Sector against the Republic). 21 BBY saw a wave of such disasters, including the Coruscant Insurrection and the assassinations of Finis Valorum and Senator Viento.
Such incidents prompted the Republic to implement numerous changes on Coruscant in the name of increased security. Huge stretches of the cityscape were transformed into military staging areas, and clone troopers were seen everywhere. The fanatical pro-human COMPOR was founded, the local SAGroup led by Nenevanth Tion marching in a patriotism parade. COMPOR pressured Tannon Praji into deporting from the capital all members of species whose homeworld had joined the Confederacy. Vice-Admiral Terrinald Screed was placed in charge of Coruscant Planetary Defense.
Yet in 19 BBY, the Confederacy of Independent Systems succeeded in making a raid on Coruscant. Using secret hyperspace routes through the Deep Core provided by Darth Sidious, a Separatist fleet under the command of the dreaded General Grievous made a raid on the city planet. While the Separatist fleet engaged the Republic fleet, an army of battle droids landed on Galactic City. The invasion distracted the defending Jedi and clone forces while General Grievous and a squad of his elite MagnaGuards captured the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. However, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi succeeded in rescuing the Supreme Chancellor from the infamous Separatist flagship Invisible Hand. The Second Battle of Coruscant eventually turned to the Republic's favor and the Separatist's armada was forced into a full retreat.
Near the end of the Clone Wars, Coruscant was transformed into Imperial Center following Chancellor Palpatine's Declaration of a New Order, reorganizing the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.
Galactic Empire
- "Imperial Center was a world with enough diversions for just about anyone."
- ―Mara Jade Skywalker
During the reign of Emperor Palpatine, the official name of Coruscant was Imperial Center, or occasionally just Center. While the name was officially changed, most denizens of the Empire continued to call the planet-city by its old name. As part of the Humanocentric policies of the Galaxy, non-Human species were also compelled to live in segregated parts (also known as "ethnic neighborhoods") of Imperial City, such as Invisec.
During Imperial times, a proclamation by Palpatine made Imperial Center the only planet in the Galaxy where political science students could do postgraduate work. The reason was twofold: foremost was the hope that the future politicians and technocrats of the Galaxy would be more likely to accept the values and rule of the New Order; second was that the brightest of them could be detained, either voluntarily or by force, on Center to assist in the running of the Empire.
Emperor Palpatine also began to shape Coruscant with his own designs, and this included the installment of thousands of surveillance systems throughout the ecumenopolis. Massive shield generators were placed all over Coruscant, and where they overlapped, powerful storms took place, giving the planet a gothic look, which mirrored the utter desperation of many of its inhabitants as they choked under Palpatine's iron rule.
The Emperor also had the Palace of the Republic rebuilt and renamed the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace was a massive pyramidal structure and was the largest construction project in Coruscant. Other distinctive structures of the Galactic Republic, such as the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Temple, were either destroyed or eclipsed by newer buildings.
Crowds celebrate the death of Palpatine
Following the death of Palpatine at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, an uprising took place on Coruscant. Billions of Coruscanti revelled in their new-found freedom, and an armed uprising sprang out from the non-Human-dominated sectors. Imperial patrols were attacked in the streets, statues of Palpatine were toppled and other Imperial symbols were desecrated.
In the midst of all the celebrating and rioting, Imperial authorities ordered a massive crackdown on the rebellious elements in the city-planet's population and gave full power to the local military force to end the uprising and restore order to the system. The military retaliation was horrendous and the death-tolls rose as the Empire struck down the insurrectionists and brought the populace back under its control.
Following that, the Grand Vizier Sate Pestage assaumed control of Imperial Center. Unfortunately, he was opposed by Palpatine's former advisors who formed the Inner Circle. The Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard operated as a neutral intermediary between the two opposing factions. Unfortunately for them, she had been secretly pitting them against each other so that she could become Empress though neither sides realized her true plans until it was far too late. She eventually assumed control of Imperial Center in 5 ABY though her reign was plagued by the threat of rival warlords and the expanding New Republic.
Before she left Imperial Center, she contaminated the city's water supply with the deadly Krytos virus that only affected non-human species. Eventually the New Republic destroyed the virus and captured Imperial Center, returning it to its original name of Coruscant. Then Ysanne Isard used her Super Star Destroyer Lusankya to tear off a large part of the cityscape and escape into hyperspace, killing millions.
New Republic
Coruscant was eventually rebuilt by the new galactic government, the New Republic. In 9 ABY, Coruscant was attacked by the Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn, who bombarded Coruscant with about twenty asteroids during the Second Battle of Coruscant, as part of the Thrawn campaign.
In 10 ABY, the remaining members of the Imperial Inner Circle succeeded in recapturing Coruscant from the New Republic. Prior to the assault, the Chief of State Mon Mothma ordered an evacuation of the planet's population. After defeating the New Republic forces, the Imperial warlords began fighting among themselves. Coruscant was devastated during the conflict, with half of the Imperial Palace destroyed, many toppled buildings and billions of deaths. The space around Coruscant was littered with countless starship wreckage that would not be cleared for years.
After Palpatine's final death in 11 ABY at the Battle of Onderon, the New Republic retook the planet and made a massive effort to clean up the world and restore it to its original beauty. Billions more flocked to live at the bright center of the galaxy, replacing those that were lost in the bloodshed surrounding the horror of the reborn Palpatine.
In 17 ABY, following the Black Fleet Crisis, while Leia Organa Solo was preparing for a speech, the Senate Hall was attacked and severely damaged by Brakiss and Dolph, forcing the the Senate to relocate to the Grand Convocation Chamber.
Yuuzhan'tar
The Millennium Falcon attempts to rescue Borsk Fey'lya during the Fall of Coruscant
Coruscant's darkest hour was at the peak of the Yuuzhan Vong War. During the Fall of Coruscant, the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong overwhelmed the Republic defenses in three attack waves and conquered the planet. Coruscant, which had been completely covered in city sprawl for millennia, was devastated during the assault. Billions of lives were also lost during the battle.
Also, many of the landmarks that made Coruscant unique either met their end or were altered to suit the invaders needs. The Imperial Palace was destroyed when Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya detonated a suicide bomb in his office; the Manarai Mountains, the last part of the planet untouched by cityscape, were blasted into giant craters; the Western Sea, the planet's sole body of water, was turned into a giant Succession Pool; the Senate Building became the location of the World Brain, which was in charge of the terraforming of the planet.
The Yuuzhan Vong designated it Yuuzhan'tar, after the name of their species and their chief deity Yun-Yuuzhan, and terraformed it to overwhelm the city covering its surface and restore a natural ecology. In order to get Coruscant to match their homeworld, large dovin basals pulled the planet closer to Coruscant Prime and biological processes were set forth to create the jungle. One of the moons was also destroyed, creating an asteroid belt, known as the "Rainbow Bridge", that they were familiar with.
The vast majority of the planet's non-Yuuzhan Vong population was shipped offworld in massive refugee ships, though some people did stay behind in the substructure of the city. When the living planet Zonama Sekot suddenly arrived in the system, it caused another of Coruscant's moons to be "slingshotted" out of orbit, and pulled Coruscant closer to its original orbit. The Galactic Alliance eventually retook Coruscant from the Yuuzhan Vong during the Battle of Coruscant.
Galactic Alliance
The Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong then signed a peace treaty, thus ending the Yuuzhan Vong War. It was decided that Coruscant would be rebuilt as the capital of the Galactic Alliance. However, the World Brain would still remain in the Senate Building. A new Jedi Temple was also constructed. A large park called Unity Green was also constructed to symbolize the treaty between the Yuuzhan Vong and the Galactic Alliance. As the government transfered back to the world, additional new buildings were constructed, such as the new Senate building, Executive building, and Defense Force headquarters.
Planetary features
Fauna
Behind the scenes
Coruscant at sunset
Coruscant first appeared in the Expanded Universe and was called such for the first time in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire. Coruscant wasn't seen on screen until the 1997 Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi, and then later appeared in The Phantom Menace. Coruscant is therefore one of the few EU elements that made its way in to the films.
The name "Coruscant" comes from the English word "coruscate" meaning "to sparkle" or "to glitter", probably referring to the night side of the planetwide city. Traditionally pronounced with a hard 'c' – ko'-rus-kant' – the word is pronounced Ko'-ru-sant in the Star Wars Universe, but only after the "real-world" introduction of The Phantom Menace. Beforehand, audiobooks, dramatizations, and the like used the hard 'c' pronunciation.
Originally the planet, which was then called "Alderaan", was to appear in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but the budget wouldn't allow, so a lot of action on Alderaan was moved to the Death Star and Alderaan became the name of Leia Organa's home planet, which is destroyed in the film. The concept of seeing the Empire's home world, renamed "Had Abbadon", came up again in Return of the Jedi, and the concept of the entire planet being a city came up for the first time. However, it was realized that such a city on screen would be impossible given the technical limitations at the time, and so the idea was abandoned.
In various novels, characters aligned with the Empire refer to Coruscant as "Imperial Center". Within the stories, this is explained as an administrative renaming undertaken to emphasize the differences between the Old Republic and the Empire.
Some fans, despite the use of the words "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" in the opening of each Star Wars film, have imagined that the Star Wars saga takes place in the far future, and speculated that Coruscant is a futuristic Earth. However, Coruscant has four moons to Earth's one, and is the sixth planet rather than the third from its sun. Moreover, Earth is much farther from the core of the Milky Way galaxy than Coruscant is supposed to be (25,000 to 28,000 light years to Coruscant's 10,000 light years). The question of how Humans ended up in the Star Wars galaxy has never really been asked or answered in any canonical source.
Inconsistencies
Coruscant
In the large volume of material that exists relating to Coruscant, there are conflicting statements about the ecumenopolis.
The population is variously stated as 176 billion, 1 trillion, or 1 quadrillion. The smaller figures are illogical, but usually stated. The official figure in the book Inside the Worlds of The Phantom Menace is 1 trillion.
Most sources, including all illustrations, show Coruscant as having negligible surface water. However, the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy states that Coruscant has two continents, a large one that contains Imperial City and a smaller one. More than half of this version of Coruscant is ocean. No other source follows this version, and the discrepancy is usually solved by referring to the "ocean" as artificial.
The intro of the 1994 game Star Wars: TIE Fighter shows an orbital view of Coruscant, very faithful to the appearance of the planet in the prequel movies as will be seen five years later. However the Collector's edition, which features a remade intro, shows an Earth-like Coruscant, blue with clouds.
Inspiration
The concept of a city covering an entire planet is not entirely new. The planet Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels is probably the first fictional planet to be totally urbanized, but it was not the last. Indeed, one of the draft names of Coruscant was Jhantor, in homage to Asimov's work. Later, Expanded Universe sources even used the name Trantor for a planet much like Coruscant.
It has also been speculated that certain aspects of Coruscant were inspired from the look of 2019 Los Angeles in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner, including the gigantic pyramid of Tyrell Corporation.
There is also skepticism that the Coruscant chase scene in Attack of the Clones was heavily inspired by or even blatantly copied from Luc Besson's The Fifth Element.
Adjective of Coruscant
The adjective form of "Coruscant", including the word used for a Coruscant inhabitant is Coruscanti.
Appearances
- Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
- Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
- Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (flashback)
- Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
- Cloak of Deception
- Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight
- Coruscant Nights II
- Coruscant Nights III
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars Republic: Outlander
- Star Wars Republic: Emissaries to Malastare
- Star Wars Republic: Twilight
- Star Wars Republic: Infinity's End
- Star Wars Republic: The Hunt for Aurra Sing
- Star Wars Republic: Darkness
- HoloNet News
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
- Outbound Flight
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Honor Bound
- Shatterpoint
- Star Wars: Clone Wars
- The Cestus Deception
- Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
- Labyrinth of Evil
- Star Wars Battlefront II
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- The Last of the Jedi: Underworld
- Evasive Action: Recruitment
- Star Wars: Rebellion
- Star Wars Empire 14: The Savage Heart
- Star Wars Republic 78: Loyalties
- Star Wars: TIE Fighter
- Shadows of the Empire
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- Marvel Star Wars 60: Shira's Story
- Marvel Star Wars 61: Screams in the Void
- Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand
- Heir to the Empire (First identified as Coruscant)
- Dark Force Rising
- The Last Command
- Dark Empire
- Jedi Search
- Dark Apprentice
- Champions of the Force
- Darksaber
- The New Rebellion
- Before the Storm
- Shield of Lies
- Tyrant's Test
- New Jedi Order
- Mission to Myrkr
- The Joiner King
- The Unseen Queen
- The Paradise Snare
- Empire at War
Sources
Coruscant in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)- The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
- The Phantom Menace Visual Dictionary
- Inside the Worlds of The Phantom Menace
- The Essential Guide to Alien Species
- The Wildlife of Star Wars
- Inside the Worlds of Attack of the Clones
- Coruscant and the Core Worlds
- Ultimate Adversaries
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Illustrated Star Wars Universe
See also
- List of districts on Coruscant
- Category:Coruscant locations
- Gallery of Coruscant images
