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- "Ask Again Later"
- ―Eye of Mesra
The Eye of Mesra was a small, round fortune-telling toy. An old desert tradition, they were commonly used by children of Mos Espa, Tatooine.
Description[]
- "Everything Will Proceed As You Have Foreseen"
- ―Eye of Mesra
A fortune-telling toy known as the Eye of Mesra was small and round in appearance, and resembled an eye. The exterior was colored a light shade of pink, while the interior section was colored blue with a black colored pupil decal.[1] When the user asked the Eye of Mesra a question, it would respond with one of many types of answers, including a positive, negative, or noncommittal response.[2] In this way, the Eye of Mesra was similar to the Quay novelty toy, another type of fortune-telling device.[3]
History[]
- "I've spent years perfecting my crafting skills, and now I'm ready to announce my mastery to the galaxy. I've chosen an unusual subject for my masterwork: an obscure religious icon of the Weequay species called the Eye of Mesra. For my design I require a rare material, and I hope you can locate it for me."
- ―An unidentified citizen, to a spacer
The Eye of Mesra had its roots as an old desert tradition. Although they were commonly used by children in the Tatooine city of Mos Espa,[1] they could also be found on many other worlds of the galaxy, such as Naboo.[2] However, it did share a namesake with Tatooine's Great Mesra Plateau.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
- "In Dark Times, Nothing Is What It Appears To Be"
- ―Eye of Mesra
The Eye of Mesra received entries in a number of source books, including the Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide (1999),[5] Star Wars: Episode I The Visual Dictionary (1999),[1] and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (2008).[6]
Their first appearance was as an item in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts, prior to its closure on December 15, 2011.[2][7] The item acted as a sort of mini-game, allowing players to ask the the Eye a question in return for a random answer,[2] much in the same way as a real world Magic 8-Ball.[8] In fact, the game's directory tree files refer to the Eyes of Mesra text Strings Table File as "magic_eight_ball."[9]
Following the release of Publish 25's New Game Enhancements on November 15, 2005, the Eye of Mesra was modified to actually allow the player to type a question into a prompt window displayed by the item.[2][10] The Eye of Mesra was later featured in a December 1, 2015 StarWars.com news post, titled Let's Go Play Ball: Toys and Games from a Galaxy Far, Far Away by Tim Veekhoven.[11]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (First appearance)
- Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan
Sources[]
- Star Wars: Episode I The Visual Dictionary
- Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide
Chu-Gon Dar Cube Items on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (original site is defunct)
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
Let's Go Play Ball: Toys and Games from a Galaxy Far, Far Away on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
Notes and references[]

Eye of Mesra
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Star Wars: Episode I The Visual Dictionary, p. 59
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
- ↑ "The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays" — Tales from Jabba's Palace
- ↑ Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I
- ↑ *Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide
- ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 247 ("Eyes of Mesra")
- ↑
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT STAR WARS GALAXIES™ on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (original site is defunct)
- ↑
Magic 8-Ball from Alabe Crafts (1946) by Coopee, Todd on Toy Tales (backup link archived on August 3, 2020)
- ↑ Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided directory tree files and source data
- ↑
Publish Archive 2005 on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (original site is defunct)
- ↑
Let's Go Play Ball: Toys and Games from a Galaxy Far, Far Away on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
External links[]
Eye of Mesra on the SWG Wiki